Chapter 2967 - 1185: Appendix

Chapter 2967: Chapter 1185: Appendix

"Where’s the cat?"

The gentleman didn’t answer the Starry Sky Guest’s question directly. Instead, he tilted his head and asked.

"Coming, coming!"

A familiar voice came from above the hall. Zheng Qing abruptly raised his head and looked up, unsurprisingly seeing the figure of the Yellow Flowered Cat. It had mysteriously ventured somewhere, with parts of its fur matted and dusty.

Under the watchful eyes of all, it leaped down from the balcony, tail hanging, but in no hurry, trotted to the gentleman, causing the legends to step back and make way.

Zheng Qing noticed a scroll hanging on the Yellow Flowered Cat’s back.

Arriving in front of the gentleman, the Flower Cat stood up straight and removed the scroll from its back, handing it to him.

"Master, this is what you asked for!"

Rarely did the Yellow Flowered Cat maintain such decorum—this was the first time in Zheng Qing’s memory—because of its short stature, Zheng Qing quickly stepped forward to receive the scroll, presenting it to the gentleman.

The scroll was somewhat heavy.

It felt smooth to the touch, neither like paper nor cloth, more like a slippery piece of leather. As he held it, Zheng Qing vaguely sensed that the capillaries under the leather seemed to tremble slightly, but he couldn’t tell if it was just an illusion.

The gentleman didn’t take the scroll but directly instructed the boy:

"Unroll it."

Following orders, Zheng Qing slowly unrolled it. There was no dazzling light, no rising glow, nor any wailing souls or mysterious whispers. It seemed like an ordinary scroll being unfolded normally.

There were no words inside the scroll.

Only a simple sketch of a ruler and compass.

And at the moment he unfolded it.

The ceiling of the First Hall shone brightly with the seven large stars on both sides of the purple starry sky.

Almost simultaneously, an invisible large door appeared above Miss Bubble’s head, decorated with several spheres, each bursting with billions of light, which seemed to sway as if ready to fall at the next second.

The hair on Nya’s Child’s head stood upright, revealing a deep, somber color block above, with souls howling intertwined together. On closer look, the color block quickly morphed into countless images, from Egyptian Pharaohs to librarians, and then to graveyard caretakers. Their gaze towards the scroll was full of abomination and fear.

Meanwhile, above Nicolas’ head emerged a dark green forest, with dangling branches like tentacles, dripping slime, which fell in the void as various small figures. These figures ran a few steps before turning into wisps of black smoke and returning to that dark green forest.

The Demon Ancestor had a blood-colored river flowing above its head, from the void, to the void, with incessant gurgling sounds;

R’lyeh was a vast ocean, but compared to the other substantial manifestations, his ocean appeared insubstantial and unstable.

A panda still remained above the Panda’s head.

Above Abraham’s head was a book. Despite no wind in the hall, the book was flipping through pages by itself, and faintly countless illusory figures struggled within its pages.

Compared to the ancient entities, the legends behaved more uniformly—they all stepped back simultaneously, as if they saw something extremely frightening.

In the whole hall, there seemed to be only three and a half unaffected—The gentleman, Zheng Qing, and the Yellow Flowered Cat, the remaining half was Montelio, who had lost himself. Even so, his body involuntarily swayed a bit, and on his rigid face, there emerged a hint of hesitant struggle.

"What is this?"

The young wizard opened his mouth but ultimately did not ask the question under such circumstances.

Yet the gentleman seemed to hear his unspoken words.

"—This is the rule."

The gentleman’s voice was not loud but echoed clearly in every wizard’s ear in the hall: "The offspring of truth, derivatives of rules, appendage of order. As long as one exists in this World, they all must abide by the rules... Low-Level Wizards lack the ability to break the rules and will naturally follow them; High-Level Wizards, having touched the edge of truth, might accidentally disrupt the rules, facing backlash from truth... Hence, Low-Level Wizards are indifferent to rules, whereas High-Level Wizards avoid them like the plague."

After a simple explanation, the gentleman indicated to Zheng Qing: "—Insert it at the last page of your book."

My book?

Law book?

Zheng Qing paused for a moment but complied, flipping the Law book to the last page and placing the skin upon it. Initially, he thought it was a simple act of inserting the skin, but as soon as the skin fell onto the Law book, the edges turned into a candle-like wax, transforming into a thick liquid, slowly seeping into the book.

Simultaneously, the skin kept changing, in shape, thickness, and texture. It didn’t take long before Zheng Qing’s Law book gained an additional blank page.

The four corners of the additional page had ’ruler’ watermarks, while the edges formed lines of ’compass’, resembling a peculiar border, setting it apart in style from other pages.

Long, slender, and crimson spells from other corners and pages of the Law book crawled into this additional page, transforming into faint watermark patterns.

The gentleman took a pen, pricked his fingertip, leaving three lines of crimson words on that additional page.

—Those who disrupt the First University, shall be dead.

—Those who trespass onto Buji Island, shall be detained.

—Those who harm the faculty and students, shall be punished.

These three sentences seemed merely to address the disturbances that happened at the First University today, but Zheng Qing, pondering deeply, felt there was much more to it.

"—Whether what drives this World’s operation is conscious or unconscious, is a philosophical magic problem without a conclusion to this day. Even I don’t have a definite answer right now."

The gentleman’s voice resounded in the hall again: "But we know, what distinguishes humans from beasts is not nature, but the rules within our hearts. I am willing to believe that human nature is inherently good; but I likewise believe that people are inherently alike, and habits set them apart. If not educated, nature will deviate. Without caution, one can easily stray from the original intention.

In this World, there are countless lives, each unique. Their choices intertwine to form the chaotic and unpredictable river of time and Destiny above us. I understand that for many here in this hall, the shackles of time and Destiny may seem insignificant, and some can even achieve belonging neither here nor there, lingering at the edge of concepts, as an uncertain existence... Hence, I leave these few rules to provide a bit of certainty to everyone."

With that, he glanced at Leviathan, speaking gently:

"—Now, write your name upon it."

The graceful young man respectfully agreed.

But a hint of melancholy flashed through his eyes.

When munching on bamboo, they didn’t think of me. How come when it comes to signing something like this, I’m the first up?