Dumbledore fell silent.
The wisdom that was enough to see through people's hearts seemed to fail him in front of Lin Yuan.
He could not define the boy before him as either "good" or "evil."
Because Lin Yuan's pursuit had already transcended the boundaries of good and evil. It was a pure, cold, almost cosmic-law-like "thirst for knowledge."
A "scientist" who wanted to turn even himself into a subject of study.
Dumbledore suddenly felt an inexplicable chill.
He looked at Lin Yuan, then at the mirror, and a terrifying thought welled up in his heart.
Grindelwald and Voldemort wanted to control magic and enslave the masses. Their destruction was still within the bounds of understanding.
But what if... what if the boy before him succeeded?
If he became an existence that was itself the "law of the world," how would he treat this world?
Would he be like a programmer, casually modifying a piece of "code" he disliked? For example, deleting the "Emotion Module"? Or removing the setting of "death" from the world?
That would be an ending more complete and more impossible to resist than the rule brought by any Dark Lord...
"Mr. Lin." Dumbledore took a deep breath, his tone becoming more serious than ever. "I must remind you again. Becoming lost in this mirror will only make you lose yourself. What it shows is an illusion you can never touch. The true 'Dao,' if it really exists, certainly will not be inside a mirror."
"I understand."
To Dumbledore's surprise, Lin Yuan nodded, and a relieved smile even appeared on his face.
"In these few minutes of talking with you, I have already figured it out."
He turned around and took one last look at the mirror. The fervor and obsession that had filled his eyes before were gone, leaving only clarity.
"You're right. It's only a 'projector,' a 'telescope.' It can let me 'see' the end, but it can't pave the road to that end for me. If you keep staring at a map, you'll never reach your destination."
"It is a delicious poison. A few days ago, I was intoxicated by its sweetness. But now, I've had enough, and I've successfully extracted the 'poison' I needed—the 'obsession' that has made my Dao Heart even firmer."
"Now, this candy has no value to me anymore."
After saying this, Lin Yuan gave Dumbledore a slight bow.
It was an ancient Eastern gesture of respect.
"Thank you for your guidance, Headmaster. It allowed me... to see through my inner demon."
Then he turned around and walked out of the Room of Requirement, his steps calm and resolute, disappearing into the darkness of the corridor.
Only Dumbledore remained, standing dazed in place.
He looked at the Mirror of Erised, which still gave off a faint glow, then at the direction in which Lin Yuan had disappeared. Yet the chill in his heart only grew heavier.
See through his inner demon?
No.
Dumbledore had a strong intuition.
This boy had not seen through his inner demon.
He had transformed his inner demon into the most terrifying fuel for his own advance.
He looked at the mirror. In it, Ariana's smiling face flashed past.
He let out a long sigh, his voice filled with unprecedented exhaustion and confusion.
"Fawkes," he called softly, "I feel... as if I've seen a 'future' even more unfathomable than Tom Riddle..."
After that conversation with Dumbledore in the Room of Requirement that night, one that could aptly be called "Discussing the Dao," Lin Yuan's life trajectory returned to the precisely calculated track.
The "Mirror of Erised" in his heart had already been shattered by his own hand. The illusion within it was no longer a poison that made him lose himself. Instead, he had purified and extracted it, turning it into an unwavering "Dao marker" pointing toward the end.
He no longer needed to glimpse the shadow of the "Great Dao" in the mirror, because he had already understood that the entire world was the truest manifestation of the "Great Dao."
Every class at Hogwarts, every disturbance, and every so-called "plot" was an excellent sample for him to analyze the laws of this world.
And the Harry Potter Trio were undoubtedly the most active and unstable "sample source" in the school.
The trio's investigation into Nicolas Flamel and the Magic Stone finally achieved a breakthrough one afternoon.
After being driven out of the Potions Classroom once again by Snape with the excuse, "Five points from Gryffindor for that bird's-nest you call a head," Harry inadvertently pulled a Chocolate Frog Card he had finished eating long ago from his pocket.
On the card, Albus Dumbledore was smiling and winking at him.
"I got him again." Harry said to Ron with some disappointment.
"I already have six of him," Ron complained. "Want to trade? I'll give you a Ptolemy for him."
But Harry did not hear him. His eyes were firmly drawn to the writing on the back of the card.
He read it aloud in a low, hurried voice:
"Albus Dumbledore, current Hogwarts Headmaster. Widely recognized as the greatest wizard of the modern era. Dumbledore's widely known contributions include defeating the Dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945, discovering the Twelve Uses of Dragon's Blood, and... highly fruitful research into alchemy with his partner Nicolas Flamel..."
"Nicolas Flamel!"
Hermione abruptly lifted her head from a pile of parchment assignments. Her eyes went wide, like an owl that had discovered treasure.
"How did I not think of that!" she cried excitedly, jumping up from her chair and spinning around twice. "I swear I've seen this name somewhere!"
"I knew it! I knew I had read it somewhere!" Hermione exclaimed, her face flushed with excitement. She suddenly leaped from her chair and rushed toward her dormitory like a whirlwind, dragging out from beneath her bed a gigantic, musty old book she had brought home with her during the holidays.
"I found this at a secondhand bookstore before Christmas, Great Alchemists and Their Immortal Works. I knew it would be useful!" she said, flipping through the pages at a dizzying speed. "Flamel, Flamel... Aha! Found it!"
With a loud thump, she spread the book open on the table and pointed at a page.
Three small heads immediately leaned over.
The page showed an old man with a long white beard who looked kind and amiable. The description beside him, however, made them draw a sharp breath.
Nicolas Flamel: famous alchemist, sole creator of the Magic Stone.
Magic Stone: a legendary substance refined through complex alchemy. It has two primary functions. First, it can transform any metal, such as lead, into pure gold. Second, it can be used to create the Elixir of Life. Drinking this elixir can grant a person immortality.
Mr. Flamel and his wife, Pernelle, had already lived to the remarkable age of six hundred and sixty-five thanks to the Elixir of Life. They were currently living in seclusion in Devon, enjoying a peaceful old age. The only source sustaining their lives—the Magic Stone—was currently being kept on Mr. Flamel's behalf by his old friend, Albus Dumbledore.
Silence.
Before you continue