Chapter 3019 - 32: Golden Apple

Chapter 3019: Chapter 32: Golden Apple

Leaving Su Shijun’s study.

The figure of the Qingqiu Ancestor silently appeared in midair above another mansion not far away, smiling as she stood beside an old lady with a head of silver hair and a kindly, benevolent face.

The old woman wore a plain black robe, leaned on a dragon-headed cane, and had a wide-brimmed, pointy Wizard Hat on her head.

She had originally been bowing her head, overlooking her own Zhongshan Mansion.

In the back garden of the mansion, a young Witch was not using any Magic Power; she was brandishing a pair of big shears, angrily trimming a rose bed that had already been neat and tidy. Snip, snip—the scattered petals fluttered down, piling up together, and had already formed a small red carpet under the young Witch’s feet.

She sensed someone coming.

Without even raising her head, the old lady cursed, "—Get the hell away from here, don’t foul my yard! You’re already such a grown thing, yet you’ve no sense of propriety at all! You’ve made the whole street stink of fox musk!"

At this point it wasn’t just beating around the bush.

She was cursing right to her face, bright and blatant.

Even with the Qingqiu Ancestor’s sharp and clever temperament, her expression couldn’t quite hold. The warm smile vanished in an instant, replaced by cold laughter: "—Everyone says in a Black Wizard’s eyes, everyone looks like a Black Wizard, and wherever a Dung Beetle goes it smells shit. You say the stench of lust fills the whole street—obviously, you’re stinking yourself."

Elder Mrs. Jiang flew into a rage, raised her head to look at the uninvited guest, and heavily slammed her cane down into the empty air.

The sharp tip of the cane jabbed into the void, like a chisel striking glass; a light yet undeniably real cracking sound echoed above the whole of Buji Island, and space itself rippled and folded like waves, blossoming at her feet.

The Qingqiu Ancestor was not about to concede either. Eight thick Fox tails unfurled behind her like lotus blooms; with a gentle sweep, those crisp cracking sounds were ground into dust, and along with them, the starlight and moonlight overhead seemed to twist out of shape.

...

...

Inside First University.

On the Astronomical Tower.

A few Great Divinors who were currently carrying out an observation task stared, shaken, at the tremoring space-time before them. Professor Yi frowned, while Professor Yao wore a thoroughly helpless expression.

Whoosh.

Elder Ruoyu, draped in a wide Black Robe, appeared silently on the tower’s top.

"—I’m leaving this to you," he nodded toward Old Yao, concise and to the point: "Although they’re very likely to know their limits, accidents still need to be prevented... and mind you, don’t disturb the children’s classes tomorrow morning."

Before his words faded.

His robe sleeves flared, and he vanished again without a trace.

Not giving Old Yao any chance to refuse.

"Am I really the right person to meddle in this?"

The Dean of Jiuyou Academy was so startled he forgot he still had a pipe in his mouth. The bowl of the pipe tipped, spilling a few glowing embers that burned several deep black holes in the air. He hurriedly smoothed over the rifts in space-time, then looked around, only to find that the whole school had only one Legend left—him. Even the Flower Cat and Little Green Snake beside Zheng Qing were nowhere to be seen. His old face scrunched up: "—Tsk! What kind of people are these! Just now when they were watching the show, each one crowded closer than the last!"

"People who don’t want to invite trouble."

Professor Yi’s voice drifted to his ear: "The ancients said, ’Only women and petty men are hard to handle’... Those two are both Legends and women, so their trouble level is doubled. In this whole school, aside from that cat, you’re probably the only one who can count as Zheng Qing’s ’proper, legitimate’ elder. If you don’t step out, who will?"

"Zheng Qing is a Dean himself now—if he causes trouble, do the elders still have to clean up after him?" Professor Yao huffed as he tamped tobacco into his pipe bowl.

"Before he figures out what his relationship with those two little girls actually is, the adults of both families probably won’t meet him together. That would be against the rules, and it wouldn’t be safe."

So spoke Professor Yi.

Old Yao sighed and tossed his pipe away.

...

...

The pipe passed through the void and fell between Elder Mrs. Jiang and the Qingqiu Ancestor.

The two Legends said nothing, but each very tacitly took a small step back, leaving a tiny patch of space for the pipe, then let the bluish-white smoke rising from the bowl smooth out the folds in space-time that had just been disturbed by cane and Fox tails.

They paused for two or three seconds.

Only then did Old Yao come dawdling in, appearing beside his pipe.

"—Let’s talk this through nicely. We all see each other all the time on campus, so let’s at least keep things a bit dignified, eh!" He chuckled awkwardly, smiling to both sides. After waiting and seeing no one pick up the line, he had no choice but to bite the bullet and go on: "Anyway, in this matter, it’s Zheng Qing who handled things poorly..."

Elder Mrs. Jiang cut off his attempt to smooth things over and asked straight out, "What is the school’s actual policy?"

"This is Dean Zheng’s private affair..." Old Yao adopted an extremely cautious, bureaucratic tone.

"We’re asking about the school!" The Qingqiu Ancestor kept a smile on her face, but her tone was very serious: "Moon Council or Wizard Council—you have to make a choice."

With a question that blunt, Old Yao had no room to fudge.

He stuffed the pipe back into his mouth, took a puff, and finally blew out a square-looped smoke ring: "—First University is a very inclusive place. Jiuyou and Alpha have been at each other’s throats for so many years, yet they’ve always sat nicely side by side, haven’t they? Of course, I don’t endorse that ’E Huang and Nü Ying’ kind of model. Times are changing, and everyone’s acceptance of new ideas is constantly improving..."

"Besides Jiuyou and Alpha, First University has three other academies." The Qingqiu Ancestor’s smile at last vanished without a trace: "What do you mean by bringing up that example?"

Elder Mrs. Jiang also frowned, a hint of vigilance appearing on her face: "Someone else wants to get involved? Who? That little girl from the North District? Is Old Rat Head that idle? No wonder I just saw his sneaky silhouette..."

The only one who could split off a slice of cake from between two Legendary factions would be another Legend.

The relationship between the Rat Immortal and Korma was no secret among these beings at the pinnacle of the Wizard World. What made it subtler was that, aside from his almost-foster-daughter Korma, the Rat Immortal also had a real daughter, whose relationship with Zheng Qing was quite good.

At that thought, both Legends of Qingqiu and the Jiang Family fell silent.

"That’s exactly what I want to remind you of."

Professor Yao bit down on his pipe, his voice slightly muffled: "Zheng Qing is the golden apple Eris threw in front of everyone. Perhaps in the eyes of Heavenly Queen Hera and the goddess of wisdom Athena, this apple must belong to one of them... yet the result of their quarrel was that the apple ended up in the hands of the third goddess, Aphrodite. This World is vast, and these children are still very young. All of us have once watched, upon the long river of Destiny, the terrifying uncertainty of the future... As long as your two families maintain a tacit understanding, you can secure the greatest possible advantage. That alone already puts you far ahead of the others. So what is there to fight over?"