High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 1483: Chapter 227 Master Atar

”This sounds like a joke,” Zheng Qing expressed his skepticism toward the Doctor’s ’allegedly’.

”Life itself is but a combination of numerous jokes,” Xiao Xiao shrugged indifferently.

Jiang Yu interrupted their dispute.

”If I remember correctly,” she cautiously expressed her view: ”The phrase the Doctor just mentioned should originally be from a poem in Apennine, ’In this world, only time, beauties, and fine wine should never be disappointed’, right?”

Zheng Qing chuckled and patted Xiao Xiao on the shoulder.

The short-statured warlock shook his shoulder and flicked off the young sponsored student’s paw.

”It wasn’t me who said it,” he stated indifferently, ”even if it was borrowed, it was the President’s words, I’m merely reiterating for you.”

During their casual conversation, the Pumpkin Car’s speed gradually slowed down.

Zheng Qing leaned out to look through the window.

The car had arrived amidst a cluster of gray buildings. Surrounding them were towering pillars, ancient spire roofs, intricate walkways between the buildings, chimneys emitting blue smoke, and alleys paved with pebbles. Like other places in Wusa, you could hear the meowing greetings of cats and their comfortable purring sounds everywhere within this cluster of gray buildings.

The Pumpkin Car stopped in front of the museum.

The guests disembarked, Flower Cat tipped its hat brim amicably towards the Witch, then cracked the whip, urging the Zus to resume their journey. It seemed to dislike the atmosphere here.

The noise quieted the chattering meows around for a while, and Zheng Qing noticed a pair of amber eyes peering from the shadows, filled with wonder and a touch of inquiry and caution.

He couldn’t help but smile, his tail slipped out from beneath his robes and swayed in a friendly gesture.

The cats spying on them instantly multiplied, their gaze eager and testing, and even a few bold kittens had slipped out of the shadows, cautiously circling not far from the young wizard, fixated on that black tail.

Jiang Yu bent down, holding some dried fish in her hand, her black hair’s white ears trembling slightly, striving to show goodwill to the masters of this city.

The kittens seemed quite tempted but remained hesitant and wouldn’t approach.

”They are shy with strangers.”

An unpleasantly sharp and screeching noise, like rusted doors opening and closing, came from inside the museum, reaching the ears of the young wizards and making all who heard it shiver.

Zheng Qing looked in the direction of the voice and found that a cat was speaking.

It was a very old, hairless cat with large eyes, black pupils that took up a quarter of its face, looking very eerie. Its skin was pale, covered in wrinkles and scars, and it held a dry branch crutch in its hand—its shape reminiscent of the Old Seal.

Aged and terrifying, this was the first impression that formed in the mind of the young sponsored student.

The old cat leaned on its crutch, moving slowly, and finally stood behind the threshold of the museum, stopping to scrutinize the unfamiliar wizards. Its gaze lingered on Zheng Qing’s tail and Jiang Yu’s ears for a moment before moving away, continuing in its harsh voice, ”... Is there something you need?”

”We are students from First University, and we have an appointment with Elder Atar from the temple,” Xiao Xiao delivered a note courteously, on which several young wizards had imprinted their academy’s emblem.

As the most powerful center in the Wizard World, First University holds a lofty reputation among many forces in numerous worlds. Dreamland is no exception.

”First University, huh... It has been a long time since wizards from there have come here.” The old cat narrowed its eyes slightly — this made the proportions of its features more harmonious, and its face appeared less frightful — it examined the school’s emblem, academy’s emblem, and the marks on the note carefully before finally nodding its head, and with its grating voice, it said:

”Then you may enter... pay attention to keep up with me, and do not wander off.”

Similar to the museum of First University, the space within this museum also appeared vast and towering. Exhibits of various forms were displayed in glass cabinets, silently immersed in the faint white glow, completely devoid of the clamor found in the exhibits of First University’s museum.

Of course, it could also be because there were outsiders now, so they had become a little more docile.

There were no visitors in the museum, but as Zheng Qing and the group passed through the third gate, a gray short-haired cat turned the corner from the wall, its mouth gripping a creature outlined in brown — the little thing was struggling for its life in a final effort to survive.

Seeing the old cat, the gray cat immediately laid down on the floor, releasing the Zu Ge from its mouth.

Relieved, Zu Ge did not have time to beat its chest before attempting to run to safety but was caught off guard when the hairless old cat swiftly pointed its withered staff, piercing Zu Ge in the neck and pinning it to the spot.

”Do not let your prey escape.”

The old cat nodded slightly to the gray cat and huskily advised, then continued to walk forward, muttering under its breath, ”These dirty, sneaky creatures... good for nothing... wasting precious space...”

Zheng Qing was somewhat unsure whether it was cursing at those Zu Ge or dissatisfied with the gray cat.

The temple was located at the deepest part of the museum.

There sat a spacious hall — Zheng Qing guessed that the hall probably belonged to a tower.

The reason he used ’probably’ is because Zheng Qing had not seen the exterior of the building. But inside, he could see the round hall, the dome too high to see the top, and the layers of wooden stairs circling around, with lush vines clinging to them.

Elder Atar of the temple sat behind an ivory-colored lectern at the far end of the first-floor hall.

It is said that when this Elder was very young, his family owned an inn, and the boy who once prayed to the Nameless under the moon had stayed at Atar’s family inn; later, Atar had also seen at dusk that all the cats in Wusa had gathered under the tree of the cursed couple’s home, forming two orderly lines and circling the decrepit house in slow, solemn steps, as if performing some unprecedented animal ritual.

Of course, all that was a very, very long time ago.

This old man is now close to four hundred years old.

But he still had clear eyes, a keen mind, and a sharp memory.

Xiao Xiao hoped to receive sufficient guidance from this elder who was well-acquainted with Dreamland and had good relations with First University. At the very least, to have a clear understanding of the challenges they were about to face — it would be even better if the elder had happened to see Zhu Si or knew the whereabouts of some Faceless Demon.

As the young wizards followed the old cat towards the ivory lectern, Master Atar was intently gazing at a rapidly spinning top on the table.