High School of Demon Hunting

"Hmm, a lie is..."

After uttering these few words, the Shadow Cat suddenly paused, took a deep breath, and then spoke again, replying at an extremely fast pace:

"A lie is going in and eating and drinking, and waiting for the forbidden curse seed to grow. In reality, your physical constraints can’t bear the burgeoning and growing of that seed. However, the two-dimensional world is a realm without ’height’; as vast as your heart is, the tree can grow just as tall. Using the essence of many worlds as resources, that seed quickly germinates, branches out, and grows large. Each leaf is a world, each branch a future. When it bears its first fruit, all the leaves wither instantly. To the outside world, it’s as if thousands of worlds are destroyed simultaneously."

Breath exhausted, the Shadow Cat closed its mouth, having said all it intended to say.

The white feather pen beneath its paw continued to struggle desperately, like a small fish caught in a dried-up rut.

The Black Cat was stunned for a few seconds, a suspicion rising in its heart, its face suddenly turning black: "You ate that fruit?"

"And then I suddenly came out."

The Shadow Cat laughed dryly, rarely showing a hint of embarrassment on its face, yet its paw didn’t relax at all, still pressing down firmly on the feather pen, emphasizing: "Of course, like I said, this is a lie! False! False!"

"I knew it!"

The Black Cat cursed as it stood up, its eyes faintly showing relief but unable to hide its annoyance: "With my habits, where would I have the resolve to destroy thousands of worlds! No wonder you were beating around the bush, creating an air of mystery, talking a bunch of nonsense... and yet you just lounged on the moon playing thousands of script games then ate a fruit?"

The Shadow Cat lifted its other paw, using both to press down strongly against the still-struggling feather pen, earnestly correcting: "Those weren’t script games, they were my real experiences! My time wandering in the two-dimensional world, the experiences I gained, are entirely real! The principles I just discussed with you are definitely not wrong, many are top-secret information I’ve heard from certain departments... ordinary wizards wouldn’t know!"

Crack!

The white feather pen finally stopped struggling, broken into two by the cat’s paw, falling to the ground. Its tip twisted, dripping its last drop of perplexed ink, not understanding why its diligent work led to its snapping.

"This was an accident, a pure accident!" The Shadow Cat glanced at the broken pen beneath its paw, then at the Black Cat sitting opposite, trying to explain with a dry laugh.

"Then why didn’t you just tell me how you got out from the start?" the Black Cat still seemed a bit angry.

"Weren’t you going to write a thesis?"

The Shadow Cat felt its good intentions were being misconstrued: "A thesis, isn’t it? Without some substance, how will you explain to Su Da Fox? She’s particularly difficult to deal with!"

Listening to this, the Black Cat felt even more disheartened.

...

...

"Is it really okay to introduce him to these concepts now?"

In the San You Bookstore, the Yellow Flowered Cat squatted in front of a teacup, looking at the reflection of the two Black Cats beneath the Cat Fruit Tree in the clear tea water, a rare troubled expression appearing on its face:

"Old man, weren’t you always against hastening things, thinking it wasn’t a good analogy? Why let those guys in the school mess around? It’s not just hastening, this is simply, simply..."

It mumbled ’simply’ for quite a while, unable to find the right words, then irritably got up and leapt onto the nearby bookshelf, knocking down a book titled "The Six Ren Prediction Class" with a swipe.

The sound of the book’s landing startled the bookstore owner awake who was lying on the lounge chair.

The old man opened his eyes, glanced at the teacup on the table, and murmured softly, "Early? It’s not early, not really... he’s about to graduate, after all, he should learn something heavier. Wizards long for transcendence, just like commoners yearn for the starry sky; it’s an instinct drawn by magic power."

"He’s not even a registered wizard yet!" The Yellow Flowered Cat suddenly leapt onto the desk, leaning toward where the old man was, speaking sternly.

The old man looked up at the ceiling, as if gazing through the roof at the boundless starry sky beyond, and after a long while, he answered in a soft voice: "Do you know why humans remain on the earth?"

"Because they don’t have wings," the Yellow Flowered Cat replied, sitting back with a huff.

The old man wasn’t offended, as if he hadn’t heard the Flower Cat’s words, murmuring to himself: "Because they lack support in their hearts, they must stand on solid ground to avoid being swallowed by the infinite void above. That void is the boundless starry sky’s projection in the deepest parts of each person’s heart..."

"What’s this got to do with whether it’s too early for us to discuss these concepts with the boy?" The Flower Cat, having followed the old man for many years, had grown weary of such diviner-like exchanges, impatiently interrupted.

The old man still didn’t answer its question directly, instead continuing at his own pace, speaking slowly: "...The ground has endless appeal to humans, impossible to escape. Everyone can feel this gravitational pull from the moment they’re born, adapting to its presence every moment of their growth. Logically speaking, humans should forever remain on the ground. However, the creator hasn’t completely ruled out any possibility. It has given humans the ability to look up."

"Cats can look up too." The Flower Cat lay on the table, supporting its chin with a paw, its eyes glancing at the tip of its swaying tail behind, sounding a bit bored.

The old man lifted his finger, causing the thread-bound book on the floor to float back to the shelf nimbly, his voice uninterrupted: "...Humans look up, then they can gaze at the starry sky, can spend the night fixating on a star that attracts their attention, listening to whispers among the stars, imagining great things that can never be seen or heard from the ground."

The Yellow Flowered Cat finally showed some interest.

"Isn’t the starry sky a dangerous place? How come you’re talking about gazing at it so casually? How can humans tell which star is dangerous and which isn’t?" It threw out a string of questions.

This time, the old man looked at it seriously and replied: "It’s simple, listen to your heart, watch with your heart."

"That sounds a bit too easy." The Flower Cat yawned.

The bookstore owner sighed: "Truth is often refined infinitely, becoming so simple and elegant... so you must learn to conclude and discern on your own. I won’t always be there to guide you."

The Flower Cat pursed its lips, twitched its ears, stood up, pacing around the edges of the desk with feline steps, its tail happily swinging slightly left and right, keeping its body balanced: "...But I still don’t understand how what you said relates to whether it’s too early for the boy to encounter the concept of transcendence."

"Because his shadow said something very true—he has ’height’." The old man earnestly replied, "He, like ordinary wizards, easily looks up at the starry sky, but finds it even easier to hear and see the truths hidden deep in the silent starry sky. So he needs to light a lantern in advance, one that will shine in the distant future, illuminating his path forward to avoid deviating. Moreover, not everything in this world must have meaning... remember that symmetry is merely the beauty humans deliberately seek. Asymmetry is the prevalent reality in the universe."

The Yellow Flowered Cat’s face scrunched into a ball: "The beginning was fine... but isn’t that last sentence a bit too abstract?"

"The world has always been this abstract from the start." The old man’s eyes revealed a hint of humor.

Ding!

A melodious, clear sound suddenly rang out beyond the window, interrupting the bookstore’s idle chat.