High School of Demon Hunting-Chapter 2393 - 614: Taboos, Excavation (Part 1)

February 14th is the first day of the Lunar New Year.

It’s also Valentine’s Day.

Suitable for weddings, moving, relocating;

Unsuitable for business openings, excavations, planting.

Staying up on New Year’s Eve continued until dawn, and the whole of Buji Island was shrouded in a deep slumber mid-morning, to make up for the energy expended last night.

But Zheng Qing felt more exhausted sleeping than when he was awake.

Last night, after being caught red-handed by Su Shijun sending flowers, he found himself in a dream once he fell asleep, waving a little hoe around the small garden of the Greenhill Mansion, loosening the soil, watering, and fertilizing. Under the supervision of Su Shijun, he replanted the flower seedlings he had picked, barely pausing. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Even so, Councillor Su, standing at the edge of the garden, was still unsatisfied, swinging a fluffy fox tail whip, making the air crack sharply, his intimidating intentions were explicit.

Crack!

Whether it was an illusion or not, Zheng Qing felt the last lash was exceptionally real, as if it wasn’t something that happened in a dream.

He groggily opened his eyes, just in time to see a blue fox tail expanding in his view, then slap heavily onto his face.

Crack!

Poof, poof!

The young cost student spat out the fox fur stuffed into his mouth, sitting up in panic, only then realizing that the tail belonged to Poseidon. At this moment, the little fox was wearing a pretty little black robe, with a jade pendant hanging around its neck, bouncing energetically on his bed, full of vigor.

Ah, youth.

The warlock muttered, letting out a sigh of relief from the bottom of his heart.

Plop, he lay back on the pillow, closing his eyes—before he closed them, he had been working hard in his dream, accidentally planting an oleander crookedly and getting whipped fiercely by Su Shijun—fortunately, oh so fortunately, it was just a nightmare.

Squeak!

Seeing Zheng Qing seemingly wanting to go back to sleep, the little fox immediately became displeased, bouncing vigorously on his chest with its big fluffy tail, while chirruping and urging him to put on new clothes and go outside.

However, Zheng Qing had already passed the age of getting excited about wearing new clothes and going on holidays.

"Stop it."

The warlock pushed away the furry ball on his chest weakly, picked up the pocket watch from beside his pillow, and glanced at the time with a hint of peripheral vision, it was already one in the afternoon, yet he felt as if he had just closed his eyes, or rather, he felt even more tired than before he fell asleep.

Squeak!

The little fox persevered, jumping back onto his chest, urging him again.

"I’m not going, what’s the point in going shopping on the first day of the Lunar New Year... sigh, sigh..." The warlock felt his eyelids were about to stick together again, he needed to seize the moment, before labor resumed in the dream, to sleep a bit longer: "...You slept like a baby last night while we were staying up for New Year’s Eve, I didn’t even bat an eye... phew, phew... cough cough!"

A severe cough disrupted his drowsiness.

A glob of cold, sticky liquid rushed roughly into Zheng Qing’s throat, causing him to cough repeatedly, then the cold sensation spread rapidly from his stomach to his limbs and bones, in the blink of an eye making him feel as if he was thrown into an ice hole.

Hiss!

The warlock gasped, bouncing upright from bed like a zombie rising from a coffin.

"Awake now?"

Su Shijun stood at his bedside, hands behind her back, looking at the bewildered young man, she blew a small, fragrant breath on his face, "Since you’re awake, get up quickly... you need to pay respects to your elders!"

The fragrant wind hit his face, but it couldn’t stir a ripple in his heart.

"What did you just make me swallow?" Zheng Qing wiped his mouth in a panic, his tongue was numbed by the coldness and tasteless, he instinctively glanced at the witch’s hand but did not see the whip from the dream.

Fortunately, fortunately, the word flashed through his mind again.

"An energy potion, with a bit of extra peppermint oil, I thought it would be useful for you." Su Shijun scooped up Poseidon, who was bouncing on the bed, and turned to leave: "Your new clothes are on the bedside, get up quickly... after breakfast, you need to pay respects to the elders."

Zheng Qing turned to look at the side of the bed.

His new clothes were a black robe, made with thick fabric, feeling smooth like satin to the touch, with the hem occasionally flashing with intricate runes, clearly, it should have lots of protective magic which wouldn’t be cheap.

Paired with the robe were ruby cufflinks and a Kunlun jade breastpin.

During breakfast, Zheng Qing realized that his outfit and Su Shijun’s and Poseidon’s new robes matched in color and style, including the breastpin, all three wore the exact same design on their chests.

"Are there any other elders from the Greenhill Mansion here on Buji Island?" The young man forced himself to ignore the small details about the attire, turning to inquire about the ’paying respects’ mentioned by Su Shijun twice this morning.

Implying, that if it involved leaving the island, he wouldn’t go.

"Greenhill? Of course not." The witch’s reply was unexpected yet reasonable: "I’m an Upper House Member of the Moon Council, throughout the whole Moon Council, among all the wizards on Buji Island, my status is the highest!"

"Then the ’elders’ you mentioned earlier..." Zheng Qing’s tone carried a hint of hesitation.

"Oh, of course, it’s your elders." The witch leaned over, helping him brush off a blue fox hair clinging to his shoulder, she said with a smile: "Isn’t your teacher on the island? I remember you’ve been looking for him lately... Well, today’s the Lunar New Year, maybe today will be your lucky day."

Zheng Qing wasn’t as confident as her.

Because if the teacher wanted to meet him, when he went to San You Bookstore a few days ago, he wouldn’t have seen an empty, dusty room.

...

As it turned out, Zheng Qing was right not to get his hopes up.

Today, San You Bookstore was still empty.

And there was no cat either.

"... Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened..."

On the street, a group of Northern District Wizards was having a holiday parade, with chaotic slogans mixed in with content from Chapter 7 of the Gospel of Matthew, reminiscent of the ’Please Give Me a Frog’ movement, but at this moment, it made Zheng Qing quite annoyed.

"I’ve been knocking all day, and no one has opened the door." The warlock mumbled, cautiously glancing at Su Shijun beside him, only to find the witch was keenly watching the vendors following behind the parade.

"Since it’s not convenient today, let’s come another day." She wrapped her arm around the warlock’s, pulling him without waiting for his consent, towards the group of vendors: "Today is the first day of the Lunar New Year, don’t keep thinking about going back and burying yourself with those Fu Bullets, you should relax when you ought to... I see cloud cakes, buy some for me!"

"Don’t... Be careful." The young man uneasily avoided the bustling crowd around.

"Don’t worry, as long as you wear your hat properly, no one will recognize who we are." The witch dusted off his sleeves, her tone carrying a bit of smugness: "These robes aren’t just pretty!"