High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 2752: Chapter 973: The Most Beautiful Person in the World

Birthday?

Gift?

Upon hearing these two words, a dazed look flashed across the Black Gem Cat’s face, even causing the main body sleeping far away in Dorm 403 to murmur uneasily, turning over in bed.

He felt it had been a long time since he last heard the word.

When was the last birthday?

In theory, it was last year, just three hundred and sixty-five days ago. But so many things happened in this year that he felt as though a lifetime had passed—not as if a lifetime had passed, but a true ’lifetime’ had passed. Whether it was the adventures in Dreamland, the explosion of the Black Prison’s great event, or stepping out of the First University to truly explore other corners of the Wizard World, it was, for him, another and another ’Otherworldly’ journey.

As for the gift.

Last year, the teacher gave him a class schedule, teaching him what ’The Three Paths of the Gentleman’ are—namely, ’The benevolent are not worried, the wise are not confused, the brave are not afraid’—through three classes, allowing him to deeply understand the relationship between wizards and demons, teaching him how to handle the relationship between wizards and the Under the Moon Clan, while measuring whether he could bear the truth of demons.

Although it has only been a year, this gift has already given him a sense of greatly benefiting him, and his intuition tells him that even in the distant future, the value of this gift is incalculable.

”My class schedule is really full this year.”

Hearing the words ’Happy Birthday’, the Black Gem Cat was moved and couldn’t help but flick the tip of his tail, mumbling softly, worried that the teacher would throw him another class schedule, occupying his newly squeezed time for play at night.

The Yellow Flowered Cat beside him, who had always kept its eyes closed, suddenly opened its eyes, and shot a sidelong glance at the little black cat at its feet.

Initially thinking that after more than a year’s training, this kid had grown a lot, it didn’t expect him to still be a child that couldn’t grow up—being privately tutored by a teacher is such a huge blessing, and he dares to say he doesn’t have time? If the professors at the school, no, the council members of the Grand Wizard Council of the Alliance knew there was a chance to attend the teacher’s lecture, they would probably fight each other to the death to win a spot.

The breeze seemed to be startled by the Black Gem Cat’s heartfelt words and stopped brushing.

”Only the dead have no time!”

The Yellow Flowered Cat reproached, raising its paw to give the Black Gem Cat a slap, but as it raised the paw it remembered the guy beside it was just a gem replica, hitting it would only hurt its own paw.

Just as it hesitated.

A light chuckle came from the wind.

The rustling of the leaves re-emerged.

”——Speaking of time... do you remember the gift I gave you when you were twelve?” The teacher’s tone carried a hint of nostalgia, which was quite unusual.

Have to know, for a wizard like the teacher, ten or twenty years pass in the blink of an eye, what is there to be nostalgic about?

The Black Gem Cat’s mind flashed with surprise, but he quickly answered the teacher’s question:

”I remember, it was a pocket watch.”

And it was a magical pocket watch capable of reversing time, he supplemented in his mind.

It’s just that this pocket watch is significantly different from the time-turning hourglass issued by the school, most notably, Zheng Qing can use the time-turning hourglass to adjust timelines, but to this day, he still can’t stick his finger into the glass case of that pocket watch.

So, for him, up to now, that pocket watch is just a very precise timekeeper.

”What did I say at that time?”

”——You said, my most precious asset is time.”

”Right, now I’ll explain this phrase to you again, but from another perspective.”

The breeze paused slightly, though the Black Gem Cat didn’t open his eyes, he seemed to see the leaves gently swaying on the branches: ”Before explaining, I have a small question: do you know who is the most beautiful person in this world?”

The first words that emerged in the black cat’s mind were ’mirror’, ’witch’, and ’fairy tale’.

Then he shook his head.

In his mind, he was immediately occupied by the silhouette of that Big Fox.

”Su Shijun?” he tentatively answered.

The Yellow Flowered Cat let out a light snort of disdain in his ear.

The teacher chuckled lowly, seemingly unsurprised by the boy’s answer: ”Ah, indeed, that little girl from the Su Family is indeed beautiful; it’s common for someone your age to admire beauty... but that’s not what I’m referring to. In my eyes, the most beautiful people in the world are girls aged sixteen or seventeen, even if they are utterly unremarkable in appearance. Do you know why?”

The Black Gem Cat already entered the class mode.

After a moment of hesitation, he gave the only answer he could think of: ”Because they are all very young.”

”That’s right, young.”

The breeze pressed the branches to sway up and down gently, as if the teacher was nodding softly: ”——The girls of sixteen or seventeen years old all look good because it’s not the person that’s pretty, but the youthful vigor and exuberance. For any life, this state is the most beautiful. Some people are already listless at a young age, while others still have a childlike innocence even after living for hundreds of thousands of years.

The difference lies in ’mentality’.

When I gave you that pocket watch, I once said, I don’t fear death or old age, only occasionally worry about my own helplessness. A powerful wizard can overcome death, but it’s hard to overcome vitality being slowly taken away by time.

Old Huang always mutters in my ear that you are not mature enough—”

The Yellow Flowered Cat snorted, seemingly displeased with the teacher airing grievances in his face. The Black Gem Cat didn’t mind since the Flower Cat had said worse things to his face.

”——But I hope you can maintain this not mature enough state as long as possible.” The gentle evening breeze gently brushed against the Black Gem Cat’s head, as if feeling the vitality surging within it: ”Because this state can retain your vigor. Being too calculating and cunning is a poison to longevity; in the short term—I mean spanning a few hundred years or even longer—you might not feel the harm of this poison, but instead, you might think this maturity brings you more benefits.

But prolonging it, over a thousand years, three thousand years, ten thousand years, this mindset of calculating profit and loss in everything, always unable to resist calculating with your fingers at any time, will unconsciously erode your vitality, turning you gradually into a cold machine, becoming something like rotting wood or stone.

By then, you won’t be you anymore.

Remember Hui Zi Ji?

Some of the old people living there are pitiful people eroded by the poison of longevity who can only rely on the time loop to prolong their lives. They have to use magic power to recall certain emotions from when they were young, to avoid a ’quiet heart’. I know you’ve always thought the sign of Hui Zi Ji is old and wanted to change them to newer ones. But if you try, you’ll find that no matter how new the sign, once hung on their shops, it’ll soon gather dust, becoming an outdated relic.”