Mike Gold Cypress Plano.

One of the two major student societies at the First University, the president of the Hemophilia Association, even in the entire Alliance, he is somewhat famous and is regarded as one of the representatives of the new generation of young wizard forces.

Therefore, Zheng Qingyuan expected to see him at today’s Shanglin Garden Spring Hunt.

For this, he had already rehearsed in his mind how to deal with that burly wizard—considering his current status, he was happy to use the title of a teaching assistant to suppress that guy when they met.

Unfortunately, after watching the scenery at Crescent Lake for a long time, he still didn’t catch a glimpse of Sepulano’s figure. Coupled with successive unexpected events, he momentarily forgot about it.

At this moment, Uncle Zhang Zhi went on stage and stirred up his thoughts.

"Sepulano?"

Jiang Yu hadn’t had time to speak when Vivian, holding her arm, waved her hand with disgust: "Why mention that fatty? We’re not from the same family, and we don’t like him... Who would invite him?"

Xiao Xiao had analyzed the power distribution of Alpha Academy for Zheng Qing many times, so it was obvious that the ’we’ she referred to was originally the conservative wizards of Alpha who supported Sir Friedman, the aristocratic disciples who valued bloodline more.

Zheng Qing didn’t want to show support for any faction in public, so he could only pretend to be deaf and dumb, feigning to have heard only the first sentence: "...not from the same family?"

Jiang Yu obviously knew his little thoughts, and with a smile, she interrupted: "How do you usually address Sir Friedman? And how do you address Sepulano?"

Zheng Qing paused for a moment and then suddenly realized.

Friedman’s last name is Karen, but usually, everyone calls him "Sir Friedman," which is his first name; while Sepulano is a last name—in other words, even the young wizards of the First University generally think Sepulano can represent his entire family, whereas Friedman can only represent himself.

This was a perspective Zheng Qing had never considered before.

"Then why didn’t Sir Friedman come?" He immediately thought of the leader of the Alpha Academy conservatives.

"Because Karen’s family is one of the rare, very pure Moon Blood Race." Vivian’s demeanor became noticeably more refined when mentioning the Duke: "Under normal circumstances, he wouldn’t come to Shanglin Garden but would attend the Baddminton Winter Hunt... I remember there’s also a classmate from Karen’s family in your class, right? Didn’t he also not come?"

Zheng Qing nodded slightly.

A cluster of blue flames silently appeared by Jiang Yu’s ear, transforming into a Green Bird, perched on her shoulder, whispering softly against her cheek.

The witch blinked at Zheng Qing.

"Sorry to interrupt your chat... We should go prepare for dinner now."

The last sentence was said to Vivian.

The pink-robed witch who had been chatting lively with Zheng Qing said nothing upon hearing the words "prepare dinner," withdrew her arm from Jiang Yu’s, and awkwardly dropped a line: "Oh, I just remembered I needed to prepare for the performance of magic..."

Before she even finished speaking, a beautiful peach blossom opened where she had been standing, and she disappeared without a trace.

She was so frightened by Jiang Yu’s words that she directly used ’Peach and tender.’

Zheng Qing watched this scene, quite dumbfounded.

Jiang Yu smiled and took the warlock’s arm again, and before others around could react, they both transformed into a flame, disappearing from the lakeside of Crescent Lake.

When the flame in front of them dissipated, Zheng Qing found that they were standing on a quiet tree-lined path, and at the end of the winding road, he could faintly see the high tower of an ancient castle.

He looked around.

No kitchen, no dining table, and no sign of anyone.

"This is..." The warlock’s voice carried a hint of hesitation.

"A walk."

Jiang Yu smoothed her somewhat untidy long hair due to casting a spell, her tone light: "I’m going to prepare dinner later. I probably won’t have time to wander around with you... Vivian hates cooking the most, so I guess she’ll flee upon hearing this news."

As she said the last sentence, she couldn’t help but laugh again, put her hands behind her back, and hopped a couple of steps forward, her footsteps revealing a hint of small pride.

Zheng Qing jogged to catch up.

"Preparing dinner? You? Personally?"

His tone was tinged with disbelief.

Having been at the First University for this long, he’d eaten countless delicious meals, but he’d never seen the kitchen. Even during the time he lived in the Greenhill Mansion, the closest he got to dinner was the dining room.

This experience made him baselessly believe that all delicious food was magically cooked.

Hearing the boy’s questioning, the smile on Jiang Yu’s face faded a bit, and her bouncing steps also halted.

"Yeah... That’s why I’ve always disliked coming to Shanglin Garden."

She turned around on the spot, walking backward while looking at Zheng Qing, let out a heavy sigh, a hint of vexation in her tone: "According to tradition, the young witches participating in the Spring Hunt need to prepare dinner for the Hunters, and they aren’t allowed the help of sprites... Originally because ancient witches had limited magic ability and lacked enough alchemy servants to do these tasks... Of course, there were also safety concerns. In short, having the womenfolk in charge of dinner was both an assessment and a tradition... Just like the Magic Stage assesses warlocks’ ’Three Products and Three Kills’ ritual ability. However, after being passed down from generation to generation, the Three Products and Three Kills are no longer exclusive to warlocks; witches can also do it. But dinner remains exclusively the witches’ task... and at some point, it became an unchangeable tradition..."

In her words, there was quite a bit of resentment.

Zheng Qing carefully watched over her back, afraid that the witch walking backward might accidentally bump into a tree or step into a pit and fall, then come and beat him up.

"How tragic." Zheng Qing cursorily offered a little sympathy.

"After all, it is one of the Three Ancients and Four Paths." Jiang Yu also sighed again.

This was yet another new term he’d never heard before. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

Seemingly guessing the confusion in Zheng Qing’s heart at this moment, Jiang Yu counted on her fingers to give a simple explanation: "The so-called ’Three Ancients and Four Paths’ are the seven virtues—or rather skills—that witches from aristocratic backgrounds need to master—the Three Ancients refer to ’Ancient Rituals,’ ’Classical Dance,’ and ’Ancient Recipe Cooking,’ and the Four Paths refer to ’Tea Ceremony,’ ’Flower Way,’ ’Symbol Way,’ and ’Yu Dao.’

The first three sounded somewhat straightforward to Zheng Qing.

But the latter categories felt a bit vague.

"Is Symbol Way talisman painting?" he curiously pursued a question.

Jiang Yu frowned, thought carefully, nodded, then shook her head: "To be precise, it’s just ’the style of talisman painting,’ you can understand it as ’the artistic expression of talismans.’ Hmm, like how you usually paint talismans using the very traditional ’Kunlun Style,’ where the strokes are horizontal and light, vertical and heavy, structured squarely and densely, with a dignified and magnificent momentum... This is also why the Ness family initially mistook you for being from Kunlun... And we need to master different styles of talisman painting, learning to appreciate, so that when facing unfamiliar wizards, we can have a simple and intuitive understanding of them."