CHAPTER 1793: CHAPTER 14: CHICKEN SOUP AND REALITY

"Many people died because of me."

Zheng Qing thought about the slender red sky pillar he had toppled, recalling the teacher’s words just now—people die like extinguished lamps, and death means everything is lost. This made him feel increasingly sorrowful.

"How do you know you didn’t save more people?"

The teacher seemed to disagree with his self-assessment and asked back, "I mentioned death is cruel, hoping you’ll seriously reflect on your recent experiences without being overly anxious or doubting and denying yourself."

"In this world, evaluating a person or an event is extremely complex and difficult."

"Sometimes, you need to judge a person’s goodness or righteousness and an event’s success or failure based on results; yet, other times, you must base evaluations on the initial intention. Observing the world with a dialectical attitude is the most appropriate, safest, and relatively neutral standpoint."

"Gold is not pure, nor are people perfect. No one is infallible."

"If someone introduces an event or person to you by prematurely giving you a stance—such as this person is utterly bad, this event is terrible, or this outcome is awful, and so on—you need to immediately stay cautious and alert, as what others want you to know may not be the complete picture."

Saying this, the teacher found two small blue and white porcelain bowls from somewhere, pushed one towards Zheng Qing, and held the other in his hand. The young wizard uncovered his bowl; it was filled with warm soup, clear and bright, with tiny streams of oil darting along the bottom in the morning light.

Zheng Qing mimicked the teacher’s actions, carefully sipping a mouthful.

The soup was unexpectedly refreshing, not greasy at all; the fragrance was also just right, without giving a sensation of being overwhelmed with spices, reminding Zheng Qing of the teacher’s earlier words while eating an orange—a taste of life cured by sunshine.

"How’s the chicken soup?" The teacher put down the bowl in his hand, smiling at the young wizard opposite.

"It’s very tasty."

Zheng Qing felt the warmth and comfort spreading from his stomach, sincerely praising it while imagining if such delicious soup involved precious herbs or high-level magic in its preparation. He held the bowl more delicately.

With such thoughts, he felt waves of warmth flowing through him, relaxing him more and more.

"Having some chicken soup when tired or weary is indeed beneficial."

The teacher nodded, reached out to collect Zheng Qing’s emptied bowl, and in a blink, the bowl vanished from Zheng Qing’s sight: "Good as chicken soup is, one must not overconsume it... let’s continue with our previous topic, returning to the accident in the Black Prison major event."

"You know, I know, many people know as well, that the sky pillar’s collapsing and damaging the Black Prison Castle’s defensive magic array was not your intention. Quite the opposite, you wanted to protect this world, to safeguard more wizards... that is enough. Those wizards sacrificed because of the accident—I won’t forgive you on their behalf, nor do I wish you to completely forgive yourself—but I hope you realize this: you didn’t do anything wrong."

"A good intention leading to a bad result often happens."

"On the battlefield, anything unexpected can occur; if restrained by the mere possibility of accidents, wizards would never achieve today’s successes."

"Hence, bear this heavy heart, raise your head, and keep moving forward."

A broad hand rested on the young wizard’s shoulder, warm and reassuring. Zheng Qing took a deep breath, slowly exhaling, feeling the final burden in his heart vanish before lifting his gaze to the teacher with a bright smile:

"I’m alright, no need to worry."

The teacher nodded slightly, noncommittal, and patted his shoulder again: "Anything else you’d like to ask? I might be quite busy for a while, and may not have time to check on you."

With the mental burden gone, a series of encounters from this period sprouted and grew wildly like weeds in spring from deep within Zheng Qing’s memory, yielding a chain of perplexing fruits.

For instance, the relationship between Dreamland and reality, are the creatures in Dreamland multi-dimensional beings? What exactly was the yellow-robed guy Zheng Qing met in a Dreamland dream trying to do? Was Nicolas, mother of the Mountain Goat of the Forest, always eyeing the school?

Furthermore, can the teacher help revoke his school probation? Will the school hold him accountable in the fall for accidentally poking through the School Guardian Array and breaking the Little White Tower on Lake Heart Island in Lin Zhong Lake? What about final exams?

One question mark after another emerged in his mind.

Quickly, Zheng Qing identified the biggest and freshest question:

"Xuanhuang Fruit..."

As soon as these three words were spoken, the teacher laughed, raised a hand making a gesture to calm down: "Xuanhuang Fruit was the fuse for this Black Prison war, but not the fundamental cause."

"Everything that happened in the Black Prison brims with tangled contradictions and cause-and-effect. Like the tension between wizards and demons, conflict between extreme conservatives and progressive wizards, demons confronting some existences deep in the starry sky, wizards against the depths of the starry sky, etc."

"The most urgent and principal conflict, however, is between the continuous swelling of new power and the overly stable traditional order. Think of it, I bear a little responsibility here too."

Zheng Qing widened his eyes in surprise.

The teacher adjusted his glasses, sighed: "Remember talking about my advancement with you... well, you can imagine it as a massive fish turning into a roc bird, leaving the ocean, creating large waves and tides extending far and wide... while many smaller fish can ride those waves to places they couldn’t have reached in their lifetime."

"Originally, the power between wizard and demon was balanced, but the rapid rise of high-tier demons and wizards unsettled the old equilibrium... those new generation powerhouses need to voice themselves."

At this point, the teacher shook his head, then turned the conversation back to the previous matter: "From the outset, Xuanhuang Fruit wasn’t the ultimate goal for the wizards, nor were the Four Seas Demon Ships and Dark Beasts their target."

"The school’s hardliners and new generation wizards united, using Xuanhuang Fruit as bait to lure demons into the Black Prison World’s primary scene, aiming to ’purify’ those demons about to ascend to legend through war."

"Hardliner wizards promoted their staunchness, new generation wizards gained their accomplishments, and those demons nearing legendary status required Xuanhuang Fruit to enhance their advancement odds... thus, from the beginning, it was a war coexisting with opposition and compromise."