High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 1660: Chapter 404: Before the Sun Rises

Someone once said: The deepest darkness will disappear because of the weakest ray of light.

Standing outside the endless darkness, Zheng Qing was aware of the terrors of darkness, but not until he walked into the darkness could he experience the suffocating aura beneath its fearfulness.

One mile, five miles.

Thirty miles, sixty miles.

One hundred miles, two hundred miles, three hundred miles...

At the end of the darkness, the light point used by Zheng Qing and others as a signpost not only didn’t become larger and clearer as the distance shortened, but instead dimmed at one point, turning from a milky white dot to a dark red.

As if a supernova, after the ultimate sublimation, the remains were slowly burning.

This made Zheng Qing question whether they were truly moving towards the right direction in a straight line.

But under the night sky of the Black Prison World, apart from that light spot, the group had no other means to determine direction. Whether spells or compass, they could only roughly point to the east, west, south, and north, the powerful confusion spell surrounding the Black Prison Castle interfered with all attempts to magically position its location.

Four hundred miles, eight hundred miles.

One thousand miles, two thousand miles, three thousand miles...

The journey in the dark seemed endless, the Black Cat had long ceased singing, its upright tail drooping down behind it, like a soft water snake gone boneless.

Zhu Si was also tired of the monotonous surroundings and began to doze off on Zheng Qing’s back.

Instead, Zheng Qing and Jiang Yu seemed to always find a topic.

From the predictions of the Old Fishman in Quanke Lai Li to everyday interests and hobbies; from Zheng Qing’s study life experience in the World of Commoners to Jiang Yu’s growth path in the Magical World; from the name of Uncle Ferna’s dog (May) that the old patrolman from Lin Zhong Lake used to keep, to the authors of those simple sketches behind the classroom doors (may); then to the five types of Calm Heart Talisman drawing methods, the Heart Sutra recitation taboos and tricks, the main points for the end-term review, and so on.

From time to time, the Witch would take out a few sweet magic drinks from her purse to refresh the throats of the two, and Zheng Qing would also pull out some snacks from the Grey Cloth Bag he had prepared earlier for Zhu Si—some of which had already been consumed in the Dreamland, but there were still a few left.

The two young wizards exchanged words as they strolled in the endless darkness.

Though not chatting incessantly, they never stopped, keeping a hint of life and vitality in this small adventure team, countering the seemingly endless dead silence surrounding them.

The Herbs Candle had long been exhausted.

In fact, after walking over two thousand miles, the young wizards had realized that their preparations were slightly unnecessary, as there was really no need to conceal their aura.

Just like the Old Witch Demon had said before departure.

In the Black Prison, any prisoner of even slight renown had been recruited and captured by those Great Demons to attack the Black Prison Castle, leaving behind mostly lowly little monsters.

And these little monsters mostly had a strong aversion to light, hiding away early upon seeing the five floating ’Little Stars’ in mid-air.

Even the bold ones that rushed into the area covered by starlight posed no harm. To deal with these little monsters, the Black Cat didn’t even need to lift a paw, as the Old Witch Demon responsible for acting as bait had already resolved most of the troubles.

There was another interesting occurrence during this journey.

About a thousand kilometers from the starting point, the group passed through a region filled with the aura of dead silence. Compared to the rest of the Black Prison, this region’s dead silence appeared somewhat ’fresh’.

Just like a region where not a blade of grass grows, the barren expanse of the desert resonates with the world that nurtures it, the desolation is natural; whereas a forest or grassland ravaged by fire has a hint of vitality amidst the dead silence, a desolation that is unnatural.

According to Jiang Yu, this region’s dead silence lacked a ’sense of historical weight,’ and one could even feel a trace of magical fluctuations remaining in the air, as if two powerful wizards had just dueled here not long ago.

Zheng Qing held the Charm Gun cautiously, neither affirming nor denying the Witch’s speculation.

Because of that trace of leftover magical fluctuation, the group temporarily halted their advance, and the Black Cat summoned ’the moon is bright’ with a wider range to illuminate the entirety of this wasteland.

All they saw was a scene of grey ashes, with no large rocks, no withered trees, no demons, not even a slightly abrupt small hill on the flat wilderness—the entire wasteland seemed to have been smoothed out by a giant’s palm, the ground covered in black ashes.

Zheng Qing’s eyelid twitched slightly, and he quietly lowered the muzzle of the Charm Gun held in his arms.

Jiang Yu frowned as well, her nostrils flaring slightly as she discovered in bewilderment that this dead silent region emitted a familiar deja vu, as if she had encountered it somewhere before.

The Black Cat, with its tail upright, leisurely strolled back from the front. The Old Witch Demon hunched over, humbly trailing not far behind the Black Cat.

”Did you do this?” The Black Cat glared at Zheng Qing unceremoniously.

Jiang Yu’s face lit up with realization.

Zheng Qing turned his face awkwardly—when ’the moon is bright’ rose, he distinctly felt that the residual magic in this area had an inexplicable interaction with his Charm Gun. Recalling his reckless firing into the air upon entering the Black Prison earlier, he suddenly realized that this ’fresh’ dead silence was his doing.

After that Charm Bullet disappeared into the night, Zheng Qing once worried about whether it would cause any trouble, but considering that the Black Prison had only prisoners and wasteland, he eventually brushed off this concern.

Never had he thought he would see his own ’handiwork’ here again.

”Lucky indeed,” the young paid student laughed dryly twice, lowering the muzzle of the Charm Gun in his hand even further: ”I was worried before that I might have accidentally shot a wizard guard of the Black Prison... Now I can finally breathe a sigh of relief.”

The Black Cat tilted its head, staring at the young man.

”Is it amusing?”

The Black Cat scrunched its dark cat face into a frown, eyes full of anger: ”Right now, you’re like a three-year-old child, carrying a dagger made of Taibai refined cast metal, swaggering through a bustling market... Every shot you fire attracts curious eyes, every shot you fire carries the risk of self-harm... Still find it amusing?”

Zheng Qing lowered his head obediently, honestly accepting the admonition from his shadow.

This made the Black Cat feel like its paw had grasped only cotton.

”Since there’s nothing unusual, let’s continue our journey,”

Jiang Yu timely broke the tension, while pointing to the round moon, about the size of a pot cover, in mid-air: ”’the moon is bright’ consumes quite a lot of magic, and it’s too bright, making it hard to discern the position of the ’lighthouse’... Let’s continue using ’Little Star’ instead.”