High School of Demon Hunting-Chapter 1595 - 339: Before the Xuanhuang Wood

To earn the succinct remark "truly bright" from Professor Yi, it naturally wasn’t the small fireball exploded by the paper crane.

It was the thread of destiny connected to that letter. ƒrēenovelkiss.com

While the Divination professor fixated on that thread, calculating rapidly in his mind, Old Yao had already finished reading the contents of the letter, biting his pipe and tucking the letter into his coat.

"Something happened at the school?" Professor Yi stared vacantly into the distance, casually asking in an offhand tone—this wasn’t difficult for him. He could see at a glance exactly where the "very bright" thread was tethered.

"Yes." Old Yao took a puff from his pipe, exhaling a dense plume of smoke, his brows tightly furrowed, his expression heavy with worry: "Based on prior calculations, the Xuanhuang Fruit was supposed to mature in half a month’s time, which is why I tasked Little Su to temporarily keep an eye on things during this period."

"Which Little Su?"

"The one all the boys fancy."

"Oh."

"...But it seems like the plan couldn’t keep up with the changes." Professor Yao sighed heavily: "This morning, she was supposed to attend the inquest meeting in Danghag, but unexpectedly received an urgent summons from the Black Prison halfway through... then the school’s guardianship temporarily became vacant... In that brief time, the Protect Legal Formation was activated."

"What a coincidence." The vacant look in Professor Yi’s eyes gradually receded, and a flicker of vitality returned to his gaze.

"Under destiny, there’s no such thing as coincidence." Professor Yao removed the pipe from his mouth, tapped it against the wall to clear the ashes in its bowl, then refilled it with amber-red tobacco: "...But no matter, the school has adequate safeguards to protect itself. I just hate this feeling of being toyed with."

...

...

Sharing Professor Yao’s frustration was Lady Shi Hui, Vice Principal of the First University.

At the moment, she was standing before a towering tree over ten meters tall, its profound leaves and golden fruit casting a shadow, as she frowned deeply at several humanoid figures wrapped in the air roots below.

As the war approached, the General Staff issued a "cleansing order" to eliminate a batch of high-risk prisoners to prevent unpredictable variables—these included demons captured in preemptive timeline operations and certain longtime detainees transferred from the New World in the Black Prison.

The so-called "execution" was essentially sending these prisoners under the Xuanhuang Wood, using their flesh and spiritual essence to nourish this towering tree.

Originally, this was a straightforward matter.

The Xuanhuang Wood’s appetite had always been voracious, accepting whatever sustenance was brought to its air roots. But to everyone’s surprise, an anomaly occurred today.

After "consuming" the demons, the fruits hanging on the Xuanhuang Wood were unexpectedly catalyzed into premature ripeness, plunging the entire tree into a chaotic slumber, rendering the other prisoners delivered simultaneously into an awkward predicament.

If they were extricated from the air roots and returned to their cells, it would not only require exhausting additional manpower for their supervision but might also irritate the Xuanhuang Wood—it was particular about its food, and if the witches inadvertently roused it from its chaos while relocating the "meals," compromising the quality of the Xuanhuang Fruit, the risk would be intolerable to anyone.

However, ignoring these "meals" carried equivalent dangers. No one knew the exact condition of these prisoners entangled in the air roots—what if they retained a sliver of consciousness? Once war erupted, these "meals" could turn into the greatest liabilities.

Due to its sensitivity, not even the sharpest diviners could provide definitive advice on handling the matter, leaving the General Staff with no choice but to escalate it to the two Vice Principals.

Thus, Shi Hui had no choice but to revisit the ancient castle’s inner city during this critical juncture and stand before the ancient tree.

Feeling terribly vexed, she refrained from assuming her mature form, instead adopting her bright-eyed, pearly-toothed adolescent guise. This allowed her to lose her temper freely without appearing incongruous.

A gentle breeze skimmed through the treetops, a crimson-black leaf swayed slowly from a branch and fluttered before the witch’s eyes.

Shi Hui extended her hand and pinched the leaf.

"Who’s entangled in the air roots now?" she asked irritably, rubbing the profound leaf in her palm. The red-black leaf gradually crumbled at her fingertips, dissolving into strands of dense spiritual energy and merging seamlessly into her aura.

The caretaker of the Xuanhuang Wood was an elderly wizard with snowy hair, a towering frame, and a Crane’s Beak Hoe for support.

"A few divine spirits from the New World," the wizard replied calmly, unlike the other prison guards trembling in fear at Vice Principal Shi’s harsh tone: "Old-school gods captured during the pioneering campaign who’ve lost much of their power after losing believers’ worship. The list is here; they include..."

"I don’t care about the full names of foreign gods if they exceed a hundred words!" Shi Hui decisively interrupted the wizard, waving her hand: "...Skip that part. I only want to know—if war breaks out, can you ensure these prisoners remain silent like this."

The wizard was quiet for a moment, adjusting his grip on the hoe, and held the topmost part of the handle.

"I can only promise they won’t escape the Black Prison’s bindings from within," he said cautiously, "but if some Great Demon breaches your defenses and appears behind us... anything could happen."

"This is endless!" The witch ruffled her hair, scowling and grumbling: "Those diviners in the General Staff are utterly useless; every second I see a new loophole..."

"When you attempt to peer into the truth of the future, you must learn to endure destiny’s backlash," the old wizard responded calmly, "I assumed this was a lesson every incoming student at the First University would learn during their first Divination class... the Black Prison’s defenses don’t have that many flaws; it’s just that your efforts in patching these gaps only exacerbate this world’s burdens, plunging it teetering into an endless oscillation between choices."

Behind them, the gray-robed, black-robed, and white-robed witches all lowered their heads, pretending not to hear the wizard’s lecture toward their Vice Principal.

But Shi Hui couldn’t pretend not to hear.

"What if I add an array for you?" She interrupted the wizard’s rambling, producing a notebook from nowhere, where her feather pen darted rapidly across the pages:

"I can temporarily allocate a large-scale one-time-use array to assist your defense... For instance, the Big Five Elements Heavenly Evolution Sword Formation developed by Shu Mountain, or the Red Dust Mig Barrier Formation, Nine Twisted Yellow River Formation, Wuhou Bagua Formation, or the Key of Solomon—only these five options; all are backups, and there’s only one unit for each."

"Destiny’s flaws can never be fully patched," the wizard reiterated his stance, his hands unconsciously stroking the hoe’s handle before hesitating and finally nodding: "Let’s go with the Wuhou Bagua Formation... Even if seven or eight Big Wizards break through, we can still buy more time."

Shi Hui nodded, paused her feather pen on the notebook, and immediately, a ray of light burst from the page and flew off toward the ancient castle’s outer layer.

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