Spring Hunt, Summer Seed, Autumn Slaughter, Winter Hunting, collectively known as the Four Hunts, are based on the different seasons. Before these concepts were born, demons were not yet a major concern for the wizards. Back then, the main targets for wizards were various magical creatures, such as Fire Dragons, Azure Phoenixes, Great Kuns, Ba Serpents, and even the savage Giant Tribe.

Spring Hunt, meaning spring search, hunts for magical creatures that are not pregnant; pregnant creatures are not allowed to be hunted, as spring is the breeding season for most magical creatures. To avoid exhausting resources, one must learn to hunt in moderation. Similarly, the nurturing period is also exempt.

Summer Seed means hunting magical creatures that harm spirit grasses and magic potions in summer. Since summer is when most magical plants grow most abundantly, wizards need a large amount of these grasses to prepare magic potions for daily use, so it’s imperative to protect those plants from invasion by magical creatures.

Autumn Slaughter follows the autumn’s killing aura, hunting those plump wild creatures at the season when grass and trees wither. As the ancient saying goes, ’On the day of slaughter, observe divinations for the next year’s caution,’ meaning at the start of autumn hunting, you should foresee if there’s anything to beware of in the coming year, such as foreign enemies or disasters.

Winter Hunting is a siege hunt, indiscriminately hunting all. Magical creatures that still come out and wreak havoc in winter are dangerous to wizards, similar to the First University’s annual Winter Hunting, aiming to prevent the rampage of the next spring’s Silent Black Tide.

Of course, nowadays, whether it’s a pregnant Mountain Ghost or an unpregnant water demon; whether it’s a Man Bear stealing Vermilion Fruit or a Kappa gnawing on Radix Isatidis; or whether a Guhuo Bird has a broken wing, or a Green Chi is too fat to fly, in short, all magical creatures can no longer be hunted at will and must follow the hunting regulations set by the Alliance.

So the Spring Hunt and Autumn Slaughter long ago lost their original meaning.

Moreover, only those ancient wizard families still retain the old tradition of the ’Four Hunts’ today.

However, as time goes by, these old traditions have also gradually changed subtly over time. Most notably, the Four Hunts have transformed from official, large-scale wizard hunting activities, through various mergers, refinements, and ritualizations, into some form of social and festive occasions.

Just like the ’Shanglin Garden Spring Hunt’ that Zheng Qing is participating in this time, it is a combination of the ancient ’Spring Hunt’ and ’Grand Hunt Ritual,’ serving as a platform for socializing and mingling among the young scions of wizarding families under the spring sun.

"Young scions? Spring sun?"

Zheng Qing, listening to the witch’s introduction beside him, looked at those cheerful figures around and softly repeated the protagonists’ identities on this stage, his expression somewhat subtle.

At this moment, he and Jiang Yu have arrived at the hunting ground of the Shanglin Garden Spring Hunt, just landing at a place called ’Fallen Dragon Rock.’ The environment here is not beautiful; it seems to have once been a valley, with rolling hills and dense forests in the distance, and near is a series of barren giant stone mountains like finger pointing to the sky.

Above is a thick mist, rolling several hundred meters off the ground. When he and Jiang Yu descended on the Haired Dragon, they traveled through that mist for quite a while.

Zheng Qing speculated that the mist might be one of the protective barriers of the Shanglin Garden Spring Hunt’s hunting ground, or rather, the mist was the barrier between the hunting ground and the real world.

Due to the mist’s obscuring, the sun could not be seen here, the light appeared somewhat cold, completely unable to feel the beauty and vitality of spring hunting. This was also why Zheng Qing’s expression was somewhat subtle when he heard Jiang Yu mention the words ’young scions’ and ’spring sun.’

The witch might know what he was thinking.

"Do you know what day it is tomorrow?" She linked arms with him, guiding him toward a less crowded area while tilting her head with a bright smile on her face.

It was still early; the Spring Hunt had not yet begun, but many guests had already changed into gorgeous attire, searching around for familiar or unfamiliar faces, beginning initial social interactions.

To avoid trouble, Zheng Qing and Jiang Yu were acting particularly low-key. Despite wearing robes, they also donned wide hoods, covering most of their faces under the hood. So when Jiang Yu tilted her head to look at Zheng Qing, he could only see a small part of her fair face and fresh lips.

Looking at that bright smile, Zheng Qing felt his gaze stung slightly, instinctively shrinking back.

"What day? The weekend?" He tried to keep his tone calm, but the arm held by the witch involuntarily exerted some force, and his steps became much more awkward.

"Tomorrow is the Vernal Equinox!"

The witch’s tone carried a hint of reproach but still cheerfully explained: "I always thought when I was little that the name ’Spring Hunt’ simply came from seasonal hunting, taking the first and last words of Spring Hunt, Summer Seed, Autumn Slaughter, Winter Hunting... But now I think a more appropriate understanding is ’Hunting in Spring,’ or it can also be interpreted as ’Foolish Hunting,’ depending on where you position yourself. Because at this kind of hunting ground, clever hunters often appear as prey, only those foolish guys would think they are going as hunters."

Zheng Qing licked his dry lips, surprised by the few ’extremely inappropriate’ words she used in that sentence, always feeling there was more to her words.

"I won’t dance with others." He tentatively expressed the deeper meaning he understood.

"Dance with whoever you want." The witch turned her head, looking into the distance, casually answering: "There are originally not many restrictions and rules at this kind of occasion, don’t set too many barriers for yourself..." 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Zheng Qing could be sure, this sentence needed to be understood in reverse.

Jiang Yu seemed unaware of the boy’s mechanical steps beside her, leading him to the edge of the Fallen Dragon Rock: "... In short, the Shanglin Garden Spring Hunt is the annual social feast for the wizard families or noble wizards in the alliance. The young people socialize here, the elders trade; there are many opportunities worth looking forward to, so I suggest you don’t miss it."

"Spring Hunt turned into Shanglin Garden Spring Hunt, what about Summer Seed, Autumn Slaughter, and Winter Hunting?" Zheng Qing, racking his brains, finally found a flawless opportunity to shift the topic.

"Summer Seed evolved into the World Cup, this year’s Baddminton World Cup takes place in June, well, we have final exams at that time, probably no time to attend."

The witch counted on her fingers: "Autumn Slaughter is in Mulan, called ’Mulan Autumn Slaughter,’ primarily a competition among the noble hunting teams; and there’s Baddminton Winter Hunting, more participated by Moonlight Nobles and their vassals... You could entirely consider, Shanglin Garden Spring Hunt belongs to the Wizard Council, while Baddminton Winter Hunting belongs to the Moon Council."