High School of Demon Hunting-Chapter 1509 - 253: The Journey Beyond the Door

Opposite the desolate and pitch-black world.

The world beyond the door was filled with endless pale whiteness—somewhat like The Land of Void Zheng Qing had once visited, but not entirely the same. Because this world wouldn’t peep into the hearts of its visitors, nor was there an ethereal voice repeating every thought in Zheng Qing’s mind.

Standing at the doorway was that figure donning a yellow robe, with his back towards Zheng Qing.

Hearing Zheng Qing’s footsteps, He turned around.

As before, his face was still covered with a white soft mask, hands tucked into his sleeves, his lower half submerged in the thick white mist, with tentacles vaguely visible rolling in the mist.

The hint of green in His eyes was one of the few colors in this pale land.

"You’ve come?" rasped the Yellow-clothed Man.

Zheng Qing pretended not to notice the mockery in His voice—perhaps there was no intention to mock, but Zheng Qing thought he detected it.

"You, sir, you should remove your mask." He tried to make his voice sound more polite: "If you are willing to see me, if you wish to say something to me, why not take off the mask and meet honestly?"

"Mask?" The Yellow-clothed Man seemed somewhat puzzled: "What mask?"

"The thing on your face."

Those green eyes beneath the hood flickered: "I am not wearing a mask."

"Not... wearing one?" Zheng Qing’s heart suddenly tightened, his voice turning a bit dry: "Not wearing... fine. I know someone called No Face, she looks quite like you... You said earlier this place is Hell, I didn’t expect Hell to look like this..."

The Yellow Robe interrupted the Young Wizard’s disjointed pleasantries:

"For you, this is Hell."

Zheng Qing opened his mouth, like a fish out of water, feeling a numbness in his tongue.

After a long while, he asked hoarsely: "...And then?"

He let him enter through that narrow door, and then what?

This is his own Hell, and then what?

He had reached Hell, and then what?

"...I must know what I am facing." The Young Wizard mustered up the courage, asking once more.

The yellow robe fluttered without wind, sleeves billowing, the white mist enveloping the hem surged, within which the thick tentacles seemed to be churning and rolling.

"Truth is the most terrifying thing in the world." This statement from The Yellow Robe, Zheng Qing found it somewhat familiar. He thought for a long time before he realized that not long ago, during private tutoring, Mr. Wu had said something similar.

And in that class, Zheng Qing learned many truths—such as the real identity of Professor Yao, the huge bomb deep within his own soul, and so on—giving him a very profound understanding of the power of that statement.

At this moment, hearing the mysterious Yellow Robe wanting to talk about ’truth’, Zheng Qing almost felt an impulse to smear his face with a pail of ’yellow slurry’ from the toilet.

The last thing he needed in his life was the truth.

Isn’t it blissful to live in ignorance?

"Want to know who I am, why you were brought into this world by me, how to leave here, even how to depart Dreamland, wanting to take that little girl away, or to do something for your mentor... Then, muster your courage and keep moving forward."

These words from The Yellow Robe plunged Zheng Qing into chaos.

Zheng Qing had no doubt that this Yellow Robe standing opposite him was a great being from the Deeps of Starry Sky. Only those legendary, or even beyond legendary wizards could have the confidence to suggest that he ’do something for the mentor’.

The only problem was, according to what Mr. Wu had said before, those wizards who headed to the Deeps of Starry Sky were walking a path starkly different from that of the Mage Alliance or the wizards of First University.

Would walkers of two different paths cross each other’s way?

Zheng Qing didn’t know.

He only knew he had no other choice: "Why me?"

"Coincidence... or you could call it the arrangement of destiny."

"Must I go down?" Zheng Qing looked down at his feet—both were standing on a circular platform, with a narrow iron door behind him, and in front of him were layers of white steps. The tumbling mist submerged the steps, obstructing his view of what lay beneath them.

The Yellow Robe patiently replied: "If you stay here, there is no way out."

"Why must I go down?" The young wizard bravely glanced into the eyes of The Yellow Robe.

"A test," under the yellow hood, those green eyes seemed to hide countless vortexes; Zheng Qing only glanced at them and felt an excruciating headache: "Only after you pass this test, will you be qualified to know the truth."

"What if I don’t pass?"

"...Then you will directly find yourself on the other side of The Land of Void."

Zheng Qing’s mouth twitched.

Following the last ’explosion’, he had ventured into The Land of Void; Mr. Wu told him, that it was a realm between the living and the Death World, where confused souls would briefly linger, ultimately deciding whether to be reborn or to walk towards death—It is said that the emissaries of the God of Death loiter on the outskirts of The Land of Void.

The ’other side of The Land of Void’ mentioned by The Yellow Robe was probably the embrace of the God of Death.

He didn’t expect such an expressionless fellow to speak with a touch of poetry in a roundabout manner; the young wizard thought wryly amidst his hardships.

"Is it dangerous down there?" He continued to mentally brace himself.

"Don’t know."

"Can I use magic down there?"

"Don’t know."

"How far do I have to go once inside?"

"Don’t know," maybe slight impatience tinged The Yellow Robe’s voice upon the young wizard’s incessant questions, after the third ’don’t know’, The Yellow Robe paused then added a few more words:

"Perhaps you will have to walk a great distance, or maybe just a few steps... You will naturally find out the outcome once you go down. I can’t tell you more than that up here."

"Just a friendly reminder, during this journey, you will see all kinds of things. Feel free to take anything; whatever you take can come back with you to reality. And the next time we meet, for every question you ask, you will have to give up an item as payment. So, try to take as much as you can! For more answers, and for more wealth!"

Without turning back, Zheng Qing paused briefly then headed straight towards those white steps, walking into the roiling mist. And in the depths of his heart, his thoughts churned as restlessly as the fog.

Who knows what this fellow in The Yellow Robe is really thinking, His words can at best be trusted by half, no, a quarter. For instance, that last bit of advice, if there is indeed a next time we meet and chat for a fee, then it makes sense to take more things; but what if there is no next time, or what if I die as soon as I descend?

Logically speaking, if I die right after going down, there’s no need for him to go out of his way to remind me to take more things.

But on another note, wizards seldom act on logic, especially those from the Deeps of Starry Sky—as the books say, they are all madmen.

And then, what exactly are the things that He mentioned to take?

The jumbled thoughts gave Zheng Qing a headache.