Silan slid through the pipe into the outer perimeter of the Chamber of Secrets, opened Chamber of Secrets door, and walked to the vicinity of the Slytherin Statue.
Many stone pillars carved with coiled serpents stood silently, their serpentine sculptures staring wide-eyed at Silan.
The statue, bathed in that eerie green light, cast a huge shadow that enveloped Silan.
Looking up at the statue's forehead, Silan didn't rush to act, but instead released the Basilisk first.
"Hiss hiss hiss..."
Back in its familiar surroundings, the Basilisk kept flicking its tongue and wriggling its body on the floor.
It has lived in the Chamber of Secrets for over a thousand years; this place can almost be considered its ancestral home.
After a long separation, a sense of emotion naturally arises upon reunion.
But with Silan still nearby, the Basilisk dared not be too presumptuous, carefully lying prone on the ground and swishing its tail.
"What's your impression of Slytherin?" Silan asked suddenly, looking at the tall statue in front of her. "Was he really as insane and bloodthirsty as the rumors say?"
There aren't many records about the Four Founders of Hogwarts; most of them are just fragmented rumors.
Now that the Basilisk, a contemporary of the Four Founders, is here, it's a good opportunity to gather some information.
"This is a complete and utter lie!"
Upon hearing the name Slytherin, the Basilisk's emotions suddenly intensified, and its voice involuntarily rose.
He explained quickly, "Slytherin is definitely not what people say it is."
"He was of noble blood, came from a wealthy family, possessed extraordinary talent in magic, and was even very handsome at the beginning."
Blinded, the Basilisk, relying on its familiarity with the Chamber of Secrets of Secrets, shook its head and looked at the Slytherin statue.
"At that time, he and Gryffindor were best friends, no, they were closest friends."
"Slytherin always tirelessly cleans up the messes Gryffindor makes." The Basilisk's tone suddenly became ethereal, as if it had swum across the river of time and returned to the past.
"The Wizarding World back then wasn't as peaceful as it is now. By your current standards, almost all wizards of that era were dark wizards. They would capture promising children with their own servants and apprentices, turning them into their new servants and apprentices."
"Every parent was terrified. They had to hide their children, but this meant the children could hardly receive a normal magical education. To solve this problem, the Four Founders jointly established Hogwarts and began to systematically teach magic."
As a good listener, Silan did not interrupt it and listened quietly the whole time.
"When Hogwarts was first established, it became a target of widespread hatred, with groups of dark wizards attacking Hogwarts teachers and students."
Despite some disagreements with his best friend regarding teaching, Slytherin still fulfilled the promise he made when founding Hogwarts, doing everything in his power to protect the students and teachers. In that era, Dark Magic was rampant, and Slytherin possessed a remarkable talent for it. In his pursuit of power, his understanding of Dark Magic deepened, and ultimately...
As the Basilisk spoke, its massive body trembled, as if it had thought of something that even it found terrifying.
After a moment of silence, the Basilisk slowly spoke.
"Finally, Slytherin became addicted to Dark Magic. This had a tremendous impact on both his soul and body..."
"He became increasingly paranoid as a result. Coupled with the rampant witch hunts at the time, the conflict between Muggle and wizards became increasingly irreconcilable, and he began to despise Muggle and Half-blood students. It was for this reason that Slytherin built the Chamber of Secrets."
Hearing this, Silan nodded.
This corroborated the information he already possessed.
"So, Slytherin's original intention in creating the Chamber of Secrets was to teach students he approved of?"
Silan offered his own conjecture.
Yes, that's right.
The Basilisk's massive head nodded. "Slytherin would select Pure-blood wizard he approved of and teach them powerful Dark Magic in the Chamber of Secrets of Secrets. But precisely because of this, the differences between him and Gryffindor grew wider, and their arguments became more frequent."
At this point, the Basilisk paused for a moment, as if this memory was too distant for it to process carefully.
"In the end, these two once inseparable friends nearly broke off their friendship..."
"Slytherin left Hogwarts on a bright morning, just as he had when he first arrived. Slytherin had said that the two things he was most proud of in his life were having a close friend like Gryffindor and founding Hogwarts."
"So even after he left, his heart remained with Hogwarts. He kept me here, hoping someone would inherit his secret treasure."
Silan frowned and asked, "What about the massacre of Muggle and Half-blood- blood wizards?"
The Basilisk talked for a long time but never mentioned this issue, which puzzled Silan.
"This is not a Slytherin order!" the Basilisk roared angrily. "It's Tom Riddle! This is his order!"
The Basilisk twisted its body and continued, "He's the only person in all these years who has discovered the Chamber of Secrets and can still communicate with me."
"And he passed the initial test. So I obeyed his orders..."
That explanation makes sense.
Voldemort's obsession with Pure-blood was already evident in his fifth year.
Slytherin was one of the Founders of Hogwarts, so it's hard to believe he would deliberately create Basilisk to kill students.
Furthermore, the Basilisk's killing efficiency is far too low; Slytherin clearly had better ways to purify the school if they really wanted to.
After much thought, it's likely that Slytherin's ultimate purpose in leaving the Basilisk behind was to select a successor to inherit their treasure.
After pondering for a while, Silan put the Basilisk back into his Suitcase and conjured several staircases from a few pieces of Parchment.
He walked down the stairs to the head of the Slytherin Statue and took out the potion he had prepared in advance.
Even knowing that the Basilisk was likely telling the truth, Silan still didn't completely believe it.
First, she cast several protective Spells on herself, then used Parchment to create several stone walls to surround herself. With both magical and physical protection in place, Silan began her attack.
He used his wand to control the potion and a small brush, and slowly flew to the top of the Slytherin Statue's forehead.
The bottle tipped over, and the liquid slowly dripped onto the statue's forehead. The small brush immediately followed, spreading the liquid evenly.
After it was over, Silan took a few steps back.
The statue, coated with a potion, emitted an eerie green light from its forehead, and the patterns on its forehead transformed into several long snakes.
They bite each other head to tail, forming a circle.
The long snake-shaped ring circled several times, and a low, hoarse hissing sound echoed in the Chamber of Secrets.
This is authentic Parseltongue.
A cold, sticky voice rang out without warning. "My successor, welcome..."
... Divider Line...
I'm taking the day off today, so there will only be one update.
For detailed reasons, please see the author's note at the end of the article.