On Thursday night, Zheng Qing lay in bed, tossing and turning.

This state was very rare for him in recent weeks. The reason was simple, it was the Shanglin Garden Spring Hunt abruptly mentioned by Jiang Yu in the afternoon.

The young teaching assistant calculated that in this busy spring, he would have to pay attention to three Hunting Competitions consecutively— the privately organized student Hunting Competition, the Shanglin Garden Spring Hunt, and the school’s traditional Spring Hunt in mid-April.

Thinking about this time last year, time passed like flowing water, leaving almost no deep impression on his freshman year except for the aftertaste of the Black Tide and the thunder of Awakening of Insects. Unlike this semester, endless matters have desperately crammed into his already expanded timeline, still unsatisfied.

The Ruby Ring flashed by his pillow.

This was a message sent back by the Devil of the Seven Sins; Zheng Qing touched the gemstone on the ring. Lucifer confirmed participation in tomorrow’s meeting. It was the last to reply. Adding the previous Six Paths messages means all seven devils could spare the time.

Zheng Qing sighed heavily, burying his head into the pillow, trying to smother himself.

The devils of the Seven Sins can only be considered a minor ailment now.

The most pressing concern is the Shanglin Garden Spring Hunt.

Jiang Yu gave him a brief introduction to this event; it is an annual social hunting event for the offspring of Aristocratic Wizards. Undoubtedly, the Qingqiu Su Family is considered as part of it. Zheng Qing didn’t know if Su Shijun would participate this year, but he believed there would surely be many admirers of Su Daxu appearing at this Spring Hunt.

He was very worried he would be shot on the sly during the hunt.

Life is tough enough now— early graduation, learning, teaching assistant work, small tasks, seven devils, etc.— so much so that he can’t imagine having any path left in school if he stirs up such gossip.

Or rather, he’s not even sure if he would return alive if he went to participate in the Spring Hunt.

At this thought, he couldn’t help but sigh again.

"Where do you get so much air in your belly, sighing nonstop?" The Fat Wizard couldn’t resist any longer and shouted irritably from his tent: "...Can a person still sleep?! It’s Alchemy tomorrow morning! If we don’t get good sleep tonight, we’ll definitely be hypnotized in class within a minute tomorrow!"

Fatty Cat promptly yowled, expressing its weariness with someone’s endless sighing.

"Even if you got good sleep tonight, you’d still be hypnotized in Alchemy tomorrow." Doctor Xiao’s sarcasm was forever sharp.

Zheng Qing didn’t engage in the usual banter he enjoyed. He turned restless in bed again but felt his mind still chaotic, urgently needing an objective and clear suggestion.

He cleared his throat.

"I have a student," he cautiously posed a hypothesis, then cut off all ensuing troubles: "from Edge Academy, of course, you don’t know him... He’s from the North District, hmm, got the order from Sister Korma to go to Silent Forest and harvest a very rare herb... But this herb is guarded by aggressive magical creatures, um, Yu, you know about Yu right? The shadow-shooting bug... The herb is guarded by a group of Yu, and the collection risk is very, very, very high!"

"So much nonsense."

The Fat Wizard muttered, summarizing Zheng Qing’s ’example’: "So, because of the high risk, your student doesn’t want to go, but has to?"

"Yes, yes," Zheng Qing nodded vigorously under the covers, full of anticipation: "How do you think he can both comply with the Great Sage’s order and not anger the shadow-shooting creatures?"

"Are the Yu shadow-shooting, or are you shadow-shooting." Xiao Xiao’s lazy voice came from another direction, which usually made Zheng Qing feel at ease, but now he just wanted to plug his mouth with cow dung more tightly.

"I don’t know what you’re talking about." He replied dryly.

"Your student, what’s the name of the herb he’s supposed to collect?" the Doctor continued to ask.

"I don’t know." Zheng Qing thought this answer was truly clever.

Xiao Xiao sneered: "Yu are bugs that prefer shade, cold, and water, and don’t like to live in colonies. If a colony of Yu appears somewhere in the Silent Forest, their research value to the school exceeds most valuable herbs on the market. Even Sister Korma wouldn’t alarm a group of Yu for those few herbs... From another perspective, if the herbs’ rarity surpassed a group of Yu, then Sister Korma wouldn’t give the task of collecting them to ’your student.’"

The Doctor emphasized the last four words.

Zheng Qing listened, dumbfounded.

This is the downside to not memorizing the Encyclopedia; any lie you tell will easily be torn apart by the heavy gravity of reality.

"Maybe I heard wrong, um, maybe it’s just one Yu, just one!" Zheng Qing stammered to correct himself.

This time, even the Fat Wizard couldn’t help sighing: "Yu are just uncommon in their attack method; to a Wizard familiar with them, they’re not that dangerous. An adult Yu is only palm-sized, aside from spitting sand at people, they attack shadows... Both attack methods have major flaws. Like if you wore a full-body Dragon Skin Protective Suit, chose to go out on a cloudy day, then you could pin it on the ground with a finger... Aren’t Wizards from the North District that unskilled? I thought their field collection experience, especially around the edges of Silent Forest, was very rich!"

Zheng Qing fell silent completely.

Phew.

In the dark room, a small white stone from Xiao Xiao’s bedside fell into Zheng Qing’s tent.

"What is this?"

"Spot on the white jade; it becomes very bright when lies are told, you can try." Xiao Xiao’s voice brimmed with delight, like a cat toying with a mouse: "...Now, if you want to continue seeking our advice, hold the jade stone and repeat your question."

Zheng Qing, crestfallen, reached out two fingers to pinch the stone, and it immediately emitted a faint white glow, as though merely touching it revealed the person before was a big fraud.

"It’s Shanglin Garden Spring Hunt."

He confessed the truth self-destructively, of course, only in front of these two companions did he dare to say this: "I agreed with Jiang Yu before the new year to go... I thought it was small-scale at the time, so I agreed directly... But now, you see, it’s so complex... Will the Qingqiu Su Family participate in Shanglin Garden Spring Hunt?"

His words seemed somewhat disjointed, but remarkably, he communicated everything he wanted to say clearly and completely.

More importantly, the Spot on the white jade didn’t become brighter yet.