"Hmm..." A faint voice, audible only to him, sounded right beside his ear—or rather, inside his mind. "Difficult. Very, very difficult. You have quite a bit of courage, without a doubt. And your mind... well, it's decent enough. You're not stupid. And, oh my... This is remarkable. You have a powerful desire to prove yourself... And... good heavens... What is this? Such pure, such powerful dark magic, lying hidden in the depths of your soul... All of this points perfectly to one place..."
The voice continued, with a hint of temptation, "Slytherin. Without a doubt, Slytherin will help you achieve greatness, help you become someone remarkable..."
"No! Please, not Slytherin. Anywhere else, just not Slytherin." Harry squeezed his eyes shut and silently repeated the words over and over with all his might.
"Not Slytherin?" The voice sounded surprised. "Are you sure? You have all the qualities Slytherin values... All right, all right, if you insist... Then there's only one place that will suit you... Best be—"
"Gryffindor!"
Facing the whole Great Hall, the hat shouted the final word with all its might.
Harry felt as if every ounce of strength had been drained from him. He took off the hat in relief and staggered toward the Gryffindor table.
The cheers there were the loudest and most frenzied of the night so far.
The entire Gryffindor table erupted. Everyone stood up, applauding and cheering for him.
Fred and George Weasley even bounced around his seat like a pair of gorillas, shouting over and over, "We've got Potter! We've got Potter! Just you wait, Slytherin!"
Lin Yuan watched it all in silence, his mind racing.
"The hat doesn't assign students at random. It really does read their thoughts and personality traits. Hufflepuff values loyalty and hard work, while Ravenclaw values intelligence and a thirst for knowledge... So Slytherin values ambition and pure-blood status, while Gryffindor values courage and recklessness... No, daring."
He began to wonder where he would be sorted.
Cultivators pursued the Great Dao, transcendence, and freedom.
From that perspective, he had enough ambition for Slytherin and enough "wisdom" for Ravenclaw.
As for Gryffindor's impulsive rush into danger, it didn't quite fit his "plan first, act later" nature. But pursuing the Great Dao of immortality was, for a cultivator, the bravest undertaking of all.
As for Hufflepuff's "loyalty," he was loyal only to his own "Dao," if that even counted.
"So where will I end up? Slytherin? Gryffindor? Ravenclaw? Ravenclaw's common room has a library, so in theory it's the best choice. But Slytherin... Malfoy is there, along with the descendants of plenty of ancient Pure-blood families. They probably know more ancient magic and forbidden spells than the library does. Besides, Harry's 'research material' is in Gryffindor. It would be inconvenient to observe him if we were too close."
Only a handful of students remained in the line.
At last, after the final boy, whose surname was Zabini, was sorted into Slytherin, Professor McGonagall glanced at the end of the long parchment scroll. Her eyes settled on the final name.
She looked at the lone young man standing there, calm as still water, and a hint of anticipation flickered across her stern face.
McGonagall paused, then read the name in a voice clearer and slower than she had used for any of the others:
"The last student... Ryan Lin!"
It was his turn.
Lin Yuan calmly stepped out of line. The entire Great Hall seemed to linger on his unfamiliar Eastern features for a few seconds longer.
He walked composedly to the stool, picked up the greasy hat, examined it, then placed it on his head.
The hat covered his eyes, plunging him into darkness.
An ancient, hoarse voice sounded directly in his mind.
[Oh... An interesting soul... Very, very interesting... I've never seen one quite so... resilient and ancient. It's like a rock weathered by a thousand years of time.]
Lin Yuan's heart stirred, but he didn't respond.
[Let me see... Your mind is full of knowledge, and your thirst for it surpasses almost everything else... Ravenclaw would welcome you.]
[But... oh... What's this? Your ambition... It's bottomless, like a dark ocean. You don't seek power or wealth, but something... eternal? Transcendent? You're pursuing the very thing Slytherin's founder dreamed of...]
[Courage? You certainly have it, but yours is built on absolute reason and calculation, not the hot-blooded recklessness of a Gryffindor. Loyalty? You're loyal only to your own path.]
The Sorting Hat fell into a long silence, as if faced with a problem unlike any it had encountered before.
[This is too difficult... You embody Ravenclaw at its finest and Slytherin at its core. Child, where do you want to go? Your choice will determine your path.]
The Sorting Hat left the choice to him.
Lin Yuan's thoughts raced.
Ravenclaw? Keeping yourself shut away and studying wasn't the answer. Knowledge needed to be tested in practice.
Slytherin? The Pure-blood circle was cliquish and troublesome. And it would make him an obvious target, leaving him vulnerable to Dumbledore and the future Voldemort at the same time. That wasn't conducive to quietly making a fortune... No, to conducting research in peace.
Then...
The image of Harry Potter appeared in his mind.
That boy was the "eye of the storm" in this world, the center of every major event.
From the Magic Stone to the Soul Artifacts, from the basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets to the dragon in the Triwizard Tournament, every rare, extraordinary, and dangerous magical phenomenon would gather around him like moths to a flame.
For a researcher, could there be a better place to conduct "fieldwork"?
The knowledge in the library was lifeless, and Slytherin's schemes were hollow. Only firsthand, living "miracles" unfolding before his eyes offered a shortcut to understanding the laws of this world.
To conduct research as efficiently as possible, he couldn't stay in the rear. He had to go to the front lines.
And Gryffindor would be the "main battlefield" of this world for the next seven years.
"I choose..." Lin Yuan calmly made up his mind. "To go to the eye of the storm."
[The eye of the storm?] The Sorting Hat paused, then let out a knowing laugh only Lin Yuan could hear. [Hahahaha! Not for glory, not for friends, but to face the greatest challenges and turn danger into opportunity! Using Slytherin's cunning and Ravenclaw's wisdom to follow a Gryffindor's path! I like it! I love this choice!]
The Sorting Hat turned outward and shouted, in one of the loudest voices it had ever used:
"Gryffindor!"
For half a second, the entire Great Hall fell silent.
At the Slytherin table, Malfoy's smile froze on his face. The Ravenclaw students looked surprised, too.
Then, after a brief moment of stunned silence, the Gryffindor table erupted in cheers even more enthusiastic than those that had greeted Hermione.
The Weasley twins, Fred and George, blew shrill whistles and shouted, "We've got a mysterious Eastern wizard!"
Harry and Ron clapped delightedly, clearly overjoyed to have their new friend join them.
Lin Yuan took off the hat and calmly placed it back on the stool, then gave Dumbledore at the High Table a polite nod.
He saw a deeply knowing, approving smile flicker in Dumbledore's blue eyes.
Without changing expression, Lin Yuan walked over to the Gryffindor table and took the empty seat beside Harry and Ron.
"That's brilliant! I knew you'd come to Gryffindor!" Ron exclaimed, patting him on the shoulder.
"Welcome to the best house," Hermione said with a smile. She seemed a little rueful about getting her prediction wrong, but was mostly happy.
Lin Yuan simply smiled and nodded, but his gaze passed over the noisy crowd to the castle doors, which opened onto an unknown future.
The path to immortality was full of trials and dangers.
But now, he had successfully joined the "main cast" and secured a VIP seat in the front row.
His time at Hogwarts was sure to be... very "eventful."
Before you continue