What decent person keeps radiating black energy?

The streets were deserted.

The night around him was like ink, making the buildings lining the road, barely visible beneath the dim moonlight, seem even more sinister and terrifying.

Li Weide silently followed behind the flame, heading all the way out of Hogsmeade.

Before long, he had left Hogsmeade. The Wind Lantern that had been following his shadow finally stopped at the stone bridge at the village entrance.

Following the flame, Li Weide soon turned onto a narrow path and gradually made his way deeper into the woods.

As the trees along the path grew denser, the dim moon overhead gradually vanished from sight.

Li Weide looked up. He could no longer see the night sky, only the heavy shadows cast by the thick canopy in the darkness, like enormous beasts lurking in the shadows, waiting to devour their prey.

At that moment, the only light before him was the faint glow left by the blue flame.

"Lumos!"

The white light shining from the tip of his wand pierced through the darkness of the forest.

With enough light, Li Weide's nerves gradually settled.

The flame appeared to be leading him toward the Forbidden Forest.

Li Weide waved his wand.

"Protego!"

A transparent Protective Shield suddenly appeared, enveloping Li Weide's entire body.

Although the Shield Charm was an advanced spell, it was not difficult for Li Weide to master with the magical strength of an adult wizard.

Not long after moving to Hogsmeade, he had specifically sought Aberforth's guidance and learned this highly useful defensive spell from him.

After all, he had only recently suffered at the hands of the Wizarding Supremacists because of the Shield Charm.

Tom had wanted to learn it then as well, but unfortunately, his magical strength was still insufficient. Even with his extraordinary talent, he could only make the Shield Charm partially take shape...

A few minutes later, Li Weide followed the flame into the Forbidden Forest.

There were no paths at all in the Forbidden Forest. Even if there were, they were probably closer to Hogwarts.

After struggling through the pathless Forbidden Forest for another five or six minutes, the flame finally stopped before something that looked like a large boulder.

Li Weide raised his wand, and its light illuminated the boulder before the flame.

Only then did Li Weide see clearly. It was no boulder at all, but a finely carved, enormous stone toad!

Just as Li Weide was about to inspect what was special about the giant toad.

The stone toad suddenly opened its mouth wide and swallowed Li Weide, Shield Charm and all, in one bite!

Li Weide's vision went black, but he discovered that the Shield Charm around him showed no signs of being attacked. In other words, this toad did not seem hostile! "Whoosh!"

Li Weide felt his body spin, and then light flooded his vision.

His feet landed on solid ground again! Li Weide looked around and realized that he was no longer in the Forbidden Forest!

He seemed to be inside an absurdly huge stone chamber.

The chamber looked to be at least half the size of a football field, while the distance from floor to ceiling was nearly ten meters! Yet despite being so enormous, it was completely empty.

Unlike the Forbidden Forest, though, this underground chamber had no visible source of light, yet it was brightly lit as though it were daytime...

Li Weide turned around and saw a gigantic stone toad statue behind him, nearly identical to the one in the Forbidden Forest.

That stone toad was actually a Portal?

The method of transport was just a little strange.

It swallowed him over there, then spat him out over here...

He had no idea where it had transported him.

"If I were you, I'd get away from that giant toad right now. Otherwise, it might send you back to the Forbidden Forest again."

The voice that had once appeared in his dreams echoed in Li Weide's ears once more.

Li Weide looked around, but he did not see anyone in the underground chamber.

Clearly, that person was not inside the chamber.

"Come up..." the voice sounded again.

At the same time, a series of rumbles suddenly sounded from the ceiling.

Then, a large section of the ceiling slowly descended at an angle, forming a steep upward slope.

After the slope formed, it changed again. Before long, a long stone staircase appeared before Li Weide.

Looking at the long staircase, Li Weide could not help rubbing his sore, numb thighs.

"Yeah... I just love climbing stairs..."

"If you love it, climb some more."

As soon as the voice finished speaking, the already long staircase extended another fifty meters! Li Weide: ?

This time, Li Weide kept his mouth tightly shut and strode up the staircase.

Only after painfully climbing the entire staircase did Li Weide discover that the level above the enormous stone chamber was another enormous stone chamber!

"I'm here. Where are you?" Li Weide asked as he looked around.

The moment Li Weide finished speaking, waves of white mist emerged from nowhere...

The mist swiftly filled the entire enormous stone chamber! Li Weide stared at the familiar mist, and his expression immediately turned grave.

"Nightmare Magic..."

The instant the name of the spell appeared in Li Weide's mind.

The surrounding environment changed in an instant! The bare stone chamber transformed into a vast garden filled with birdsong and fragrant flowers in the blink of an eye!

Li Weide stared at everything in shock.

There was no doubt that the other party's Nightmare Magic was far stronger than his. It had already reached the point where it could affect other people...

Li Weide did not feel discouraged by this, since he had only been learning the spell for one day at most.

He believed that one day, he too would reach this level.

At that moment, Li Weide finally understood that the final step described in Nightmare Magic was not false.

"Come over. Let's talk."

Li Weide looked toward where the voice had come from.

There was a gazebo there. Inside stood a round table and two chairs.

One of the chairs was occupied by a very strange person.

He was strange because he did not look human at all...

What decent person kept radiating black energy all over himself?

Li Weide strode over and sat down across from the strange man.

Only after getting closer did Li Weide see clearly that he was a strange man wrapped from head to toe in eerie black energy!

"We finally meet, Weide. I know you must have many questions. That's fine. You can ask them now."

The strange man seemed to be smiling as he spoke, but Li Weide could not see his expression.

Li Weide nodded and, without any ceremony, asked directly, "Who are you? Why were you looking for me?"

The strange man sighed. "I'm merely a pitiful person enslaved by power. As for why I was looking for you... it's because only you can save my life!"

"Me? I can save your life?"

A lighter glowing with faint blue light floated out of Li Weide's pocket and gently landed in the strange man's hand.

"This lighter... only you can see the light on it, isn't that right?"