Unlike the hunting most people imagine.

The Shanglin Garden Spring Hunt is much more ’civilized’.

The young wizards participating in the Spring Hunt don’t need to wear cumbersome hunting clothes, nor spend days in the Hunting Ground chasing demons, nor wield small knives to carve magical materials from Houdou and Ming Snake.

The Spring Hunt at Shanglin Garden is more like an elegant practice assessment.

After registering, hunters take the stage in order, draw bamboo slips, and then complete the requirements on the slips within the prescribed time—they might be a spell, a magic potion, or a talisman, a magic circle.

High-aged and virtuous Wizards from various clans serve as judges for the hunting party, collectively scoring each hunter’s performance, with the total score serving as the standard for the first round of rankings.

Then, based on the rank, the hunting party prepares a suitable prey for each hunter, who must not only slaughter the prey with their own hands but also divide the hunted game into three parts—’sacrifice’, ’feast’, and ’storage’, known as ’Three Products’ or ’Three Killings’, taken from "The Book of Changes": ’Six Four, regret gone, field yields three products’.

The third round is a ’challenge match’; hunters dissatisfied with their ranks from the first two rounds can challenge any hunter ranked above them; everyone can challenge once and can only be challenged once.

After three rounds, the highest scorer is the final winner of the Spring Hunt and can receive a badge of ’Star of Shanglin Garden’.

"...Overall, the competitive atmosphere of the Shanglin Garden Spring Hunt isn’t very intense, with a more leisure feel." Jiang Yu, holding a wizard’s arm and an apple juice, said with a hint of annoyance, "I’ve always felt these hunting parties are like kids’ playhouse games, but adults never tire of them; I really don’t know what they think about every day."

"I don’t find it simple."

Zheng Qing followed alongside the witch with a worried face: "That ’Three Products’ in the second round, someone like me will definitely score poorly... This is a sacrificial skill you wizards from clans need to master, right?"

Jiang Yu was silent upon hearing this.

This year’s Spring Hunt venue was at Crescent Lake in Shanglin Garden.

The lake is shaped like a crescent moon, hence the name.

When Zheng Qing and Jiang Yu arrived at the lakeside, the outer curved side of the shore was already crowded with young wizards. They gathered in groups of three or five, gazing across the not-so-wide water, waiting for the Spring Hunt to officially begin.

On the opposite shore, the inner curved side was dominated by a towering stone mountain, not steep in shape, with overlapping cliff walls, revealing faint silhouettes. Above the cliffs was a rolling mist, resembling that above Fallen Dragon Rock. Zheng Qing guessed that this stone mountain must be a crucial node of the Shanglin Garden Secret Realm’s Protect Legal Formation. If this stone mountain were shattered, the entire Secret Realm might instantly appear before the world.

He was startled, shaking his head vigorously, unsure why such a dreadful thought surfaced in his mind.

"What?" Jiang Yu immediately noticed the boy’s movement beside her.

"Nothing, nothing." Zheng Qing forced a smile and pointed to the stone mountain on the opposite shore: "I’m saying, that mountain looks strange... Are those people standing along the mountainside Spring Hunt judges?" 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

The witch looked carefully, shaking her head slightly.

"No, those should be observing guests, mostly either family elders or invited external envoys." While speaking, she subtly pointed to the mountain foot: "According to tradition, judges should be at the Magic Stage for a clearer view and to facilitate rescue... even if the competition isn’t fierce, each year there are hunters who underestimate themselves and get injured by magic backlash or prey counters. As for this mountain..."

She raised her head, her gaze traveling from the mountain foot to the clouds-free peak.

"This mountain is called ’Centimeter Mountain’; its name’s origins are unknown."

Her eyes squinted, seemingly possessed by Xiao Xiao. Her voice was not loud but full of intonation: "’Centimeter Mountain; the southern side contains jade stones, the northern side rich in Radix Isatidis, and within the mountain a magical creature known as ’Xi Qu’ can be found, resembling a bull with grayish-blue fur, its cry like a baby’s wail. Its blood can be used to concoct magic-infused ink, and its fur can be tanned into high-tier Talisman paper; there’s also a Jie Dog, much like a hyena, with fish-scale-like patterns on its legs, a long tail, no fur on its body, a tuft of bristle-like hard hair on its neck—an excellent material for making a Talisman pen... Since this year’s venue is here, I think the second round ’Three Products’ might encounter them. Now, let me tell you the key points when cutting these creatures..."

The gentle breeze swept over the lake’s surface, and Zheng Qing seemed to truly hear the sound of a baby crying from the mountain.

"Little Yu Yu, over here!"

A cheerful voice greeted from not far away.

The two immediately stopped in their tracks, looking towards the sound. They saw a beautiful witch in a pink robe, with a ponytail; a bright green hawk perched on her shoulder.

She was waving smilingly at Jiang Yu, standing together with a few other witches. Each one was tall and fair, standing together, creating a striking, fresh feeling like spring wind brushing by.

Jiang Yu did not say a word, subtly shifting her direction, leading Zheng Qing to walk away.

"Who is she?" Zheng Qing was a little curious.

"Didn’t see clearly," the witch answered coldly, her attitude somewhat poor: "Maybe someone I know."

The use of the word "maybe" was very interesting.

The warlock obediently tugged his hood tighter, obscuring his face further. Whether it was an illusion or not, he felt those witches had glanced at him a few times earlier.

An illusion, it must be an illusion, he advised himself internally.

...

...

"Why did she run away?" The pink-robed witch, in disbelief, looked at her hand again, then at Jiang Yu’s distant back, turning her head in bewilderment to her companions.

"Who is next to her?" Another witch in a white robe squinted her eyes, asking softly.

"I don’t know."

"Seems like a warlock?"

"Is she in love? Didn’t hear her mention it around New Year?"

"So, did she flee because she’s shy?"

"Jiang Yu being shy? Isn’t that rare!"

"You’re also from the First University, didn’t you know if she was in love?"

"The First University is so big, the four schools are so far apart, who would pay attention to such matters. You graduated only a few years, have you forgotten the bookworm style of Jiuyou Academy?"

The witches chatted and laughed melodiously like silver bells, attracting frequent glances from surrounding warlocks who appeared eager to meet but hesitated due to courtesy not to disturb others with the hunting party about to start.

In the hunting ground of spring, the air churned with the scent of hormones.