Chapter 79.1
The Dragon Descended with a Monstrous Flame Capable of Extinguishing the World (1)
Inside the principal's studio.
The sky outside the window was dark and the large studio was shrouded in a layer of faint twilight.
The narrow, cramped room was filled with old scrolls and a few candle flames were placed in various parts of the room high and low, the dim light of the candles illuminating the crowded studio.
Old Principal Pei sat alone in a dark red armchair.
His eyes were downcast as he flipped through the translation before him. As he clutched a ballpoint pen in his hand, he proceeded to scribble on a piece of paper.
The rustle of the pen's tip against the paper echoes in the quiet studio.
After a long time, he put the pen down and turned his head to look out of the narrow, slender window.
It was late in the day.
Old Principal Pei stood up shakily and straightened the scroll in front of him with his pale hands.
He took the script from Shi An's seat and casually glanced down to scan it.
It had to be said that Shi An was the most gifted student in the ancient language he had seen since his teaching career.
Although the other party's recent translations were elementary, they were all very accurate.
A hint of appreciation passed under Old Principal Pei's eyes.
At this moment, his gaze suddenly gave a slight pause and his eyes lingered on a particular place on the parchment.
There was a random circle drawn there, with a few scribbles outlined next to it, looking like a duck with its beak open, with childish strokes that made people smile when they looked at it.
However...
Old Principal Pei showed a thoughtful look.
He had an impression of this location.
The main reason he left the studio late today was because of this.
He had difficulty translating this whole paragraph.
Old Principal Pei caressed his fingertips on the location where the other party had drawn a circle and fell into deep thought.
After a long time, he seemed to have suddenly thought of something and could not help but be slightly baffled.
Old Principal Pei reached out for the walking stick at one side and went to the top of the spire alone.
The ancient book brought by Mu Heng was somewhere here.
As the ancient books were extraordinarily precious and challenging to preserve, they had to be stored in a small, closed, dark space and there were also strict requirements for the concentration of magic values in the air. To protect the ancient books and reduce the damage caused by frequent turning, the translations they used to carry out were not done directly on the books.
However, some ancient books could be photographed and some could not.
This was determined by the material of the writing paper and the type of magic power attached to it.
The book Mu Heng had brought with him could not be photographed as the magic attached to it could interfere with the machine's ability to take images, so they could only use the most primitive method, which was to transcribe it by copy.
The assistant in charge of the transcription had been working with Old Principal Pei for more than twenty years and was experienced in this area and had made virtually no mistakes his entire career.
But...
As long as one is human, one can make mistakes.
As Old Principal Pei gazed at the original ancient book in front of him, he lowered his head again and looked at the transcript he was holding.
A tiny dot was missing above one of the symbols in the spot circled by the scribble.
Although the difference between the two was only slight, the effect this had on the entire passage was almost fatal due to the peculiarities of the ancient human language.
Old Principal Pei gazed in awe at the original text before him.
Since the mistranscribed version could also be translated, even he had not associated the possibility of a transcription error.
But... Shi An not only found it but even circled it precisely.
Soon, Old Principal Pei returned to his senses.
He took out the pen from his pocket and did the quickest possible translation from the original version.
After a long time, he stopped his pen and looked at the paper covered with scribbled notes before him.
After a brief translation, the whole passage had been roughly shaped, talking about something related to dragons and fire-breathing.
Old Principal Pei thought of something and twisted his head to look at Shi An's manuscript.
That duck with its mouth open, could it be...
A fire-breathing dragon?
Old Principal Pei stood frozen, gazing fixedly at the paper in front of him, almost in disbelief.
How could he have found the slightest error in the transcript without him noticing it and managed to figure out the whole meaning of the passage. In this case...
No matter how talented he was at translating ancient texts, an ordinary young adult student would never have been able to do what he did.
Was it truly possible for such a thing to happen?
Or was he overthinking it?
... Whatever the reason, he had to figure it out.
Old Principal Pei pondered for a long time before craning his head toward his back and calling out his assistant's name.
"Help me look for Shi An's contact information."
However, his voice was like a stone thrown into the bottom of a well and there was no reply for a long time.
Strange.
When he came in, the assistant was waiting outside, so had something happened?
Old Principal Pei frowned and turned to walk out.
As soon as he stepped out of the room, he saw his assistant lying face down on the floor, crimson blood slowly spreading out from his body and soaking the wooden floor.
Old Principal Pei's eyes snapped open.
This... This...
At that moment, several figures clad in black robes slowly emerged from the surrounding darkness, their bodies seeming to merge with the shadows behind them, their faces covered by hoods, their aura dark and dangerous.
"Mr. Old Pei, good evening!"
The group leader said in a hoarse voice, "I didn't expect you to be here at this time... It seems that our source has made a mistake."
The white-haired elder's expression suddenly turned stern.
Like a gushing river, a tremendous amount of magic power exploded.
The wooden construction in the tower emitted a cracking sound and wood chips and pieces of paper flew and raged under the powerful force.
Several people were instantly knocked off their feet, their bones shattering as their backs hit the walls hard.