High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 2942: Chapter 1160: On Rules

”I am indeed the first to break through the realm of the Ancient Ones, but not the first wizard to leave this world.”

The gentleman pointed at the veins of the leaf under him, chuckling softly: ”—Just like how you can leave university after studying at the First University for four years without becoming a registered wizard or obtaining a diploma... Leaving the world is not achieved by just one method. Some choose the metamorphosis of their True Spirit, some opt for physical smuggling, while others, like me, persist in taking the most traditional path. In this respect, Azathoth, who paved the Starry Sky Path, appeared particularly conservative, which is why He failed to break through and dissolved into the cosmos... Many Ancient Ones made choices similar to His. I just happened to walk a little further than them.”

It sounded understated.

However, Zheng Qing could imagine the vast difference behind it.

He couldn’t help but ask, ”—How did you do it?”

This time, the gentleman did not respond perfunctorily but pondered for a moment, ultimately shaking his head without providing a definitive answer: ”To be honest, I don’t know either; one day, I just knew I had become... In hindsight, many factors could have contributed. For instance, founding the First University brought me immense fortune; organizing Forbidden Curses may have drawn the world’s favor; or perhaps, the Xuanhuang Wood nurtured by the school matured into its climate, or even the world itself was on the brink of ascension, and I just happened to be at the right place at the right time... Any of these conditions could be true, but like many truly successful people, who are often confused and ambiguous about the reasons for their success, we find it difficult to gain a clear, complete, and correct understanding of ourselves from our current standpoint.”

This answer was somewhat different from what Zheng Qing had expected.

”So...” Zheng Qing suddenly found himself at a loss for words—if even the gentleman himself was unsure how He broke through the realm of the Ancient Ones, how should those who come after proceed?

”Just because I can’t see through it doesn’t mean future generations can’t.”

The gentleman softly laughed: ”—If life has taught me anything, it’s that no matter how much you grow, there is always room in this world for further growth. Therefore, you must be full of hope... and reverence for the future. Just like in the San You Bookstore, where everyone’s life is like a book on the shelf, each book eventually reaches its last page. However, some books end with a period, some with a question mark, some with an ellipsis, and others with ’To Be Continued.’

You are my disciple; from the very first day you entered the Wizard World, you were freed from most of the world’s worries. But from today onwards, you will begin to face the future alone—the unpredictability and the sense of losing control that belong to the future will let you truly find the meaning of living.”

Zheng Qing naturally had some aversion to this feeling of ’losing control.’

The gentleman seemed to notice the resistance in his eyes.

”You just asked how I surpassed the Ancient Ones.”

He drew a line in front of Zheng Qing, allowing it to transform into a square, a circle, a triangle, with a hint of encouragement in his tone: ”—In fact, this is one method you can try. You are already ’Order,’ so you should explore the fields ’beyond Order,’ to see what ’Chaos’ feels like, what ’losing control’ is like, what kind of experience ’unpredictability’ brings. One of the most underestimated challenges in life is knowing when to leave your current comfort zone to enter the next phase of life. Similarly, the most challenging part of the magical path is venturing beyond the known to explore the unknown. Do you know what is most important to a wizard with great mana?”

”Definitely not spellcasting skills,” Zheng Qing mumbled.

”A very cunning answer.” The gentleman tapped his forehead.

Zheng Qing covered his head, suddenly recalling some key terms the gentleman mentioned not long ago, combined with novels and movies he had read before, his face suddenly showing a bit of realization: ”—Could it be Will, Soul, or Love? Ahem, what I mean is, perhaps a sense of responsibility to this world?”

The gentleman glanced at him, seemingly with a hint of amusement in his eyes, and then shook his head.

”It’s the rules.” ℴ

He didn’t continue with any riddles but directly revealed the final answer: ”Every powerful wizard has their own rules, which, using the terminology more widely accepted by the gods, are called laws. Rules or laws are what every Legend, every Ancient One, cares most about.”

”Aren’t rules just Order? But that seems to contradict what you just mentioned about ’losing control,’ doesn’t it!” Zheng Qing forgot about the pain on his forehead, lowered his hand, and furrowed his brow.

”That’s exactly the part I want to emphasize.”

The gentleman slightly deepened his tone: ”Order or Chaos is a choice, a path, a ’Tao,’ but rules are the fundamental way you maintain your self while walking on these ’paths.’ Your Tao is ’Order,’ so you especially need to be mindful of the subtle distinctions between your Tao and the rules you should follow.”

Zheng Qing listened with some anxiety: ”I still don’t quite understand...”

The gentleman looked up at the flowing lights beyond the Five-Colored Radiance, then down at the leaf veins, before looking back at the young wizard: ”Well, to use an analogy, it’s like two countries, one valuing Order, the other allowing Chaos. These are two different developmental paths. Meanwhile, these two countries each maintain some ’core’ that allows them to exist as a country without being swept away by the ideologies they advocate.

When it comes to individuals, powerful wizards need to integrate countless subtle and real wills within and outside of themselves. To put it in simple, scientific terms, every cell in the human body, like every natural person in society, has its own consciousness. Ordinary wizards will only engage with their superficial consciousness, while a true Legend must command the consciousness of tens of trillions of cells in their whole body... Without rules, the collective consciousness and unconsciousness will easily devour the self. In classic wizard terminology, this is known as transforming the Tao or falling into madness. A lost Legend is consumed not only by the self but also by the world they belong to... unless stopped by other powerful wizards.”

Zheng Qing understood a bit of the reasoning.

But he still didn’t know how to determine the rules he should follow.

”—Born from the morning dew, the Sun will eventually sink among the stars born from the night dew. Dew (Road, Tao) is not in the early morning, but beneath your feet.”

Perhaps because it was the last lesson, the gentleman was particularly patient: ”In Europa, there was a wizard named Nietzsche who was somewhat extreme, but he made an interesting statement—Life in the latter half is composed of habits, and his habits were formed in the first half. Some interpret the latter part of this statement as ’while in the first half, people battled against these habits.’ Whether you’re fighting your own bad habits or cultivating good ones, your current age is just right for it.”