The air in early summer was a bit humid, and the ancient scholar trees and weeping willows by the roadside, having brewed a winter's worth of greenery, cast their shadows over the small shops lining the street.
The streets of Four Seasons Square were paved with long, blue flagstones, flat and clean.
In the past, tourists flowed incessantly through the streets, and mischievous Tree Sprites often swung on the long branches of weeping willows, leaping from one customer's head to another, occasionally dropping small trinkets made from willow branches and scholar tree leaves.
Now, all the Tree Sprites were hiding in their tree hollows, trembling, staring in terror as the tree trunks vibrated with the thunderous drumbeats.
Under the trees, on the street.
The pig demon galloped on the flagstone road, its four stubby, fat hooves making a rapid clatter.
It was like rain hitting banana leaves, or a pig falling onto a jade plate.
The three Talisman characters that had floated out from Thomas's spell book earlier, following his Spell, transformed into wisps of extremely fine Qi, merging into the vast, ocean-like air between heaven and earth.
The Little Elves hid themselves deeper in their tree hollows.
They sensed a terrifying aura swirling about.
Zheng Qing's eyes widened.
He felt the air was angry.
Every wisp, every breath, bristled with its own Qi strands.
Stinging everyone who breathed this air, leaving them numb all over.
Thomas stood in front of Zheng Qing, letting out a soft exhalation of turbid Qi.
A low rumble of thunder began to sound.
The sound was muffled and long.
As if from far across the sky.
He turned his head and gave Zheng Qing a mischievous smile.
"Cover your ears!" he shouted.
Zheng Qing opened his mouth wide, covered his ears, and tried to say something.
But his voice was drowned out.
Thunder, like popping beans, exploded by his ears, continuous and overwhelming all other sounds.
The angry air seemed to have finally found an outlet, roaring and raging without restraint.
The entire world was submerged in an endless tremor.
Although his ears were plugged, Zheng Qing still felt his whole body buzzing.
He struggled to keep his eyes open and saw rolling thunder strike the wild boar demon.
It exploded.
The wild boar demon, whose tusks had already pierced the light barrier, howled and rolled.
Chunks of flesh mixed with blood clots fell from its body.
Leaving a cruel trail on the flagstone road.
The air was filled with the freshness of ozone and the aroma of roasted meat.
But Zheng Qing only felt a strong urge to vomit.
After a long while.
The thunder temporarily ceased.
The air returned to its usual warmth and tranquility.
The Tree Sprites relaxed their curled bodies in their tree hollows, still not daring to come out.
Zheng Qing rubbed his face, opened his mouth, looked at the bloody, mangled pig demon not far away, and shouted to Thomas: "Is it dead!"
His ears were still ringing, and if he didn't shout loudly, he wouldn't know what he was saying.
Thomas shouted back at him: "It should just be unconscious! This level of massage won't kill it."
"This level!" Zheng Qing grumbled, somewhat exasperated: "This Spell almost exploded on us, just a few meters away! What kind of lunatics are at Starry Sky Academy!"
"That's personal attack! You'd lose academic credits at school!" Thomas laughed broadly.
Even before entering the school, Zheng Qing had already deeply felt the uninhibited way Starry Sky Academy operated.
He was now very glad that he hadn't walked into the Starry Sky Academy's examination hall in his dream back then.
A few hours ago, Thomas's efforts to project a serious, reliable image were completely shattered after this raging thunder.
"Do you want to go take a look!" Thomas asked.
"I need to wait for my Tranquility Talisman to fall first!" Zheng Qing looked up blankly at mid-air.
When the thunder had suddenly erupted, he had been so nervous that he dropped the few Tranquility Talismans he was holding.
Several of them turned to ash in the furious thunder.
Two others, carried by the airflow, floated high up, escaping the calamity.
Now these two Talismans were circling, preparing to land.
Zheng Qing decided to wait for them.
Ever since he discovered he was a poor and destitute wizard, he had started to be very frugal.
At Yunxiangyi, he heard some students buying clothes mention that there was a flea market at school where one could exchange Talismans, potions, Formation Plates, and other items for experimental supplies.
This made his heart pound.
He had a box full of prepared Talismans accumulated under his bed; perhaps if he traded them, he could get a lot of things!
He jumped up, grabbed a Talisman paper that was floating lower, and stuffed it into his gray bag.
The other Talisman paper was affected by the airflow from his jump and drifted further away.
Zheng Qing took a breath, looked up, staring at the Talisman paper, and followed it.
Beside him, Thomas, holding a spell book in one hand and a quill pen in the other, was scribbling furiously in the spell book.
He glanced at Zheng Qing and instructed: "Don't go too far. We'll go back once I finish copying this Spell."
Zheng Qing agreed and followed the Talisman paper towards the center of the street.
Pedestrians on the street were still sparse.
The Little Elves wandering in the ancient scholar trees and weeping willows on either side were still hiding in their tree hollows for refuge.
The pattering footsteps echoed particularly clearly on the flagstone road.
Zheng Qing stopped.
The yellow Talisman paper floated above the wild boar demon's bloody and mangled body.
Bowl-sized wounds covered its entire body, the wounds charred, occasionally sparking tiny electric flashes.
The three thick folds on its neck had completely disappeared, revealing its gruesome tooth sockets and upper jaw.
Its originally pale tusks were branded with black marks, and the sharp tips of its teeth were broken by the rolling thunder, revealing bloody stumps.
Zheng Qing carefully kicked its curled hoof.
The pig demon didn't move an inch.
He then kicked its belly.
A wave of flesh rippled.
The pig demon still lay stiffly on the ground, its eyes closed.
So he confidently looked up, searching for his Talisman paper.
The Qi between heaven and earth had stabilized, and the powerless Talisman paper, after drifting in mid-air for a long time, eventually ran out of steam.
Zheng Qing watched gleefully as it got closer and closer to his hand.
Then he heard a heavy breathing sound.
A bad thought rose from the bottom of his heart.
He held his breath, rolling his eyes, and carefully looked down.
A pair of scarlet little eyes.
Hungry, brutal, chaotic.
Time seemed to stand still at this moment.
At the street corner, Thomas had just finished copying a Spell. He put away his spell book and looked up, searching for Zheng Qing.
There were no pedestrians on the street, it was empty and quiet. He easily spotted Zheng Qing's figure.
At the same time, he also saw the wild boar demon slowly raising its monstrous pig head.
There was no time left; Thomas looked at the two figures with some despair.
His spell book never recorded weak Spells.
And any of those powerful Spells, if they landed on Zheng Qing, would mean death.
He seemed to see the principal roaring at him.
He saw some desperate, crying faces.
Then he saw a faint yellow hue.
Zheng Qing held his breath.
Watching the yellow Talisman paper gently sway in mid-air and land on the panting wild boar demon's nose.
The wild boar demon stared at the Talisman paper with its scarlet little eyes.
Slowly, the air from its nostrils became more and more relaxed.
Then it closed its eyes.
Its snores were like thunder.
Zheng Qing let out a sigh of relief and plopped down onto the ground.
