Chapter 8: The Mysterious Legend of No. 60 High School
Translator: Henyee Editor: JulesNye
Everyone had probably heard the same legend from a young age — No. 60 High School used to be a graveyard.
Although w.a.n.g Ling had no way of officially checking whether this was true or not, the fact was that he could tell that the ground he was treading on really used to be a graveyard. The price for graveyard land had always been cheap, and six hundred years ago, this land had been acquired by the government's Education Department, which was when No. 60 High School had been built.
w.a.n.g Ling's hair stood on end at the thought.
No. 60 High School's sports field used to be part of the graveyard. Now, energetic students jumped around every morning to the two hundred and fiftieth set of radio gymnastics 1 , which was no different to disco dancing on burial mounds!
This would explain why so many bizarre things had shown up in their Dao talismans cla.s.s.
In short, it was reasonable for w.a.n.g Ling to be worried.
He was unable to precisely control the release of his spirit energy. In addition, No. 60 High School used to be a graveyard. With these two deadly factors combined, w.a.n.g Ling couldn't guarantee that he wouldn't summon some weird ghost that Teacher Pan wouldn't be able to deal with.
Noticing that w.a.n.g Ling was slow to act, Teacher Pan slowly strolled over, her hands clasped behind her back. In her mind, if it wasn't because w.a.n.g Ling had good luck, then it was a bug in the system at the time which had enabled him to join the elite cla.s.s. In fact, he seemed to be a real slacker.
"Why aren't you drawing a talisman? Or was there something you didn't understand from earlier? I can guide you through it!"
Didn't understand?
That was simply insulting his intelligence.
In his mind, w.a.n.g Ling silently rolled his eyes at Teacher Pan. This was a matter of life and death! What did she know?
But in this situation, he wasn't the one making the decisions. While staying low-key was the most important thing, he also didn't want to be pointed out by people as the loser who had snuck into the elite cla.s.s by luck.
Staring deeply at the yellow talisman paper, w.a.n.g Ling exhaled, then lifted the writing brush.
At this moment, he could only try his best to control the release of his spirit energy...
The moment the talisman was completed, w.a.n.g Ling was already holding his breath. The people around him watched eagerly, looking forward to a show.
Like for everyone else, the yellow talisman floated in the air for a moment, and was then followed by a dazzling light.
Then, a monstrous, cyan-colored silhouette appeared in front of everyone's eyes.
In an instant, Teacher Pan turned petrified.
The surrounding students turned petrified.
Even w.a.n.g Ling himself turned petrified.
...
The sky-swallowing toad had never expected that through this method, for the third time in its life, it would be confronted with the person whose existence was like a shadow over it.
Given w.a.n.g Ling's strength, if he couldn't control his spirit energy, the chances were high that he would summon an imperial-ranked ghost.
And in No. 60 High School, the highest ranked ghost was its d.a.m.n self!
After its spirit had been sealed, the sky-swallowing toad had exhausted all its options before a sliver of its soul had broken off and was able to escape the seal. But little did it think that w.a.n.g Ling would actually summon it here again.
At this moment, the poor toad's heart crumbled a little.
Looking at w.a.n.g Ling, its cold sweat flowed non-stop.
"Ribbit..." The moment it called out, the poor toad wanted to cry, but had no more tears left to shed.
It had already detected w.a.n.g Ling's killing intent; if it made the slightest suspicious move, it didn't doubt at all that w.a.n.g Ling would speedily dispatch it without the slightest hesitation.
In order to save the last sliver of its soul, the sky-swallowing toad would swallow any future humiliation it might face.
So the toad let out the simplest croak to show that it was harmless.
Who could have imagined... a monster that used to be a fifth-ranked demon king was now hard-pressed to the point that it had to rely on pretending to be a dumba.s.s in order to prove that it wouldn't be a public nuisance.
...
w.a.n.g Ling had never expected that through this method, for the third time in his life, he would be confronted with the existence that was like a shadow over him.
The culprit who had screwed up his grand plan for two hundred years' worth of crispy noodle snacks had appeared before his eyes once again, and for the sake of holding on to what little life it had left, it was actually pretending to be a pet, submitting itself to the whims of others.
He wanted to ask if this grand demon king still had any integrity left...
But seeing this wretched appearance, w.a.n.g Ling really didn't have the heart to attack it.
...
Even though all that remained of this fifth-ranked demon was its spirit, it was still a ferocious monster in the eyes of many.
But this sky-swallowing toad was smart — with just one croak, its reputation was instantly wiped clean.
"It seems Student w.a.n.g Ling and the sky-swallowing toad are fated to encounter each other..."
Thirty seconds after the sky-swallowing toad had appeared, Teacher Pan was still bewildered.
She knew very well that with her current strength, it was unlikely that she would have been able to deal with this demon. But when it croaked, it completely set her mind at ease.
It turned out that it was just a wretched creature too weak to even utter a word!
...Then what the h.e.l.l did she need to be frightened of!
"Don't worry, students, this demon is already too weak to fight back. I shall seal it."
Upon saying that, Teacher Pan used Immortal Guidance to swiftly seize the sky-swallowing toad's remaining spirit with one hand, and the ghost of the skeleton dog with the other, as she prepared to fuse them together.
w.a.n.g Ling knew very well what the outcome would be when an imperial-ranked monster was chemically fused with a low-ranked creature.
The demon king's substantial spirit energy would help reconstruct the puppy's corporeal body and also conveniently provide it a physical body to inhabit.
This was a win-win solution; on the one hand, the sky-swallowing toad's remaining spirit could be confined, and on the other, it could be seen to give the poor puppy that had been eaten after its death some closure.
Of course, the sky-swallowing toad was aware what it meant to be fused with the ghost of the skeleton dog — its spirit energy would be ma.s.sively reduced and it would completely become a dog...
Should I go along with your act of complete ignorance, or should I act like everyone's favorite toad?
In that moment, w.a.n.g Ling could almost hear the despair in the sky-swallowing toad's heart.
Teacher Pan was indeed worthy of her reputation, as one of the vanguard teachers that had been at No. 60 High School for ages. With smooth and natural skill, almost without pause, she fused the two spirits together.
"Everyone, I have subdued the demon. How unexpected, though its spirit was already sealed, a small part of its soul had broken off. But it's alright now, it has been confined to a physical body, so it can only use a very small amount of spirit energy." Pleased, Teacher Pan said, "Everyone, just take it as our cla.s.s mascot from now on."
In a halo burst of light, a brand new puppy with blue-green fur appeared in front of everyone.
"Ah, it's a j.a.panese akita!"
Lotus Sun's maiden heart instantly overflowed.
"But this dog's color is strange, why is it green?"
"Probably because it was fused with the sky-swallowing toad." Master of Dopey pushed his gla.s.ses up, and sighed. "We judge everything by appearance in this day and age. If you're good-looking, who's going to care about the color of your hair?"
Super Chen picked the akita up in delight, and squeezed its fat cheeks. "Shall we give him a name? How about... Loopy Toad 2 ?"
w.a.n.g Ling: "..."
Loopy Toad: "..."
"Hey, why is it so quiet? You should woof woof woof , understand? You're a dog now, not a toad."
Loopy Toad: "..."
It looked silently at w.a.n.g Ling nearby, who had an indifferent look on his face.
Only now did Loopy Toad suddenly realize, the most miserable thing to ever happen to it wasn't encountering w.a.n.g Ling three times, but that though it was very angry, in front of w.a.n.g Ling, it had to keep smiling...