Mysterious Room

By the time Zhang Xiao withdrew from the world inside the book, utterly exhausted, his head was spinning and his body felt completely drained.

No wonder he had needed to pass the test of sitting in meditation before beginning his training in earnest. If he had not already laid some groundwork...

Zhang Xiao doubted he would have lasted very long at all. He barely managed to close the book, with only one thought left in his mind. I can't go on. I need to get some sleep, now.

After forcing himself to put the book back into his bag, he relaxed his mental grip and toppled straight toward the floor.

The Room of Requirement faithfully fulfilled its duty. The entire room transformed at speed, and an enormous curtained bed rose from the floor.

A soft velvet mattress lay atop it, catching Zhang Xiao perfectly. The curtains fell shut on their own, and the quiet, cozy darkness wrapped around him like a gentle veil.

The room continued to change. An enormous gilded dressing table appeared, soft carpets covered the floor, flames sprang to life in the fireplace, and all manner of ornaments adorned a gleaming cabinet.

Several books on a mahogany desk slowly closed and floated toward the bookcase. A woman's long glove rose slowly into the air, as though an invisible hand were inside it, and snapped its fingers softly. The entire room grew dark.

A faint voice drifted away with it.

"Sweet dreams."

Zhang Xiao slowly opened his eyes. He felt as though he were lying on a cloud, his whole body enveloped in softness. Only when his senses returned did he realize he was lying in a large room.

He stared at the luxurious room, with its distinctly feminine style, for a long while before remembering what had happened. Wasn't I in the Room of Requirement? How did I end up here?

Climbing out from beneath the velvet bedding, he stood barefoot on the soft carpet. Surprise crossed his face when he spotted his Heaven and Earth Bag and silk cloth nearby.

Was this... the Room of Requirement?

After gathering his belongings, he walked over to the enormous desk. A few objects still sat on it, their style suggesting the Middle Ages, with a quill resting in an ink bottle.

The ink inside still reflected a faint sheen, as though time had no effect here. He tried taking a book from the bookcase, but an invisible force held everything in place. After several attempts, he gave up.

As he surveyed the room again, a strange feeling suddenly arose in Zhang Xiao's mind. This room was alive. It had merely been generous enough to lend itself to an exhausted student for a while, but it would not let him examine its contents.

Who owned this place? Ravenclaw? Zhang Xiao recalled the novels he had read in his previous life. More than one had speculated that this was the source of Hogwarts' power.

Some had even speculated that the Room of Requirement concealed the Grey Lady's secret chamber, where she waited for her daughter.

That doesn't seem right. Zhang Xiao frowned and dismissed the idea. According to Hogwarts: A History, this place should have been a gift to Hogwarts from the Ministry of Magic.

Besides, although the furnishings were luxurious, their style differed from Ravenclaw's decor. Tastes like that were generally difficult to change.

So who exactly owned this room?

Zhang Xiao pushed open the bedroom door and left the Room of Requirement. Closing his eyes, he silently repeated, I need a room to rest in. I need a room to rest in...

When he opened his eyes, a door had reappeared before him. Yet when he pushed it open and went inside, he found a space resembling a Common Room.

That's not right. Could it be a place to sleep? Zhang Xiao tried several more times, but he could never summon that room again.

It was as though that exquisite, luxurious room had been a wonderful dream, appearing only to give him a comfortable night's sleep.

Wait! Zhang Xiao froze. He checked his mental state in astonishment. His mind was clear, and he felt the invigorating freshness of a deep rest. He was in remarkably good shape.

What was going on? If he had relied on sleep alone to recover from his earlier exhaustion, he would have needed at least two or three days of quality sleep.

Could this be the room's secret?

Zhang Xiao felt a little regretful. A room that improved the quality of his sleep was more important to him than medicinal pills.

Taking too many pills was no good, and the same went for potions. If only he could find a way to summon that room.

With lingering regret, he summoned his practice room again. He still needed to review and organize what his father had taught him.

According to his father, Daoist magic was divided into "arts," "implements," and "methods." Arts were spells, implements were objects, and methods were the true teachings.

Arts and implements could be studied upon entry, but methods were taught only through direct transmission. Those who had not received talisman investiture could not learn them.

First came the Golden Light Spell. Zhang Xiao had even asked out of curiosity why it was considered fundamental.

Zhang Chengdao had answered with a question:

"What do you think is the most fundamental thing when slaying demons, exorcising evil, and sweeping away the uncanny?"

"Advance preparation and powerful magic?"

"Good answer, but wrong. The most fundamental thing is making sure you stay alive!"

After being beaten up for thousands of years, Huaxia's demons, monsters, and ghosts had long since learned one lesson: never fight the Daoist Order somewhere it had prepared in advance.

When a properly invested Daoist priest erected an altar and performed a ritual, supported by arts and implements, the power he unleashed was terrifying. It could even exceed his own strength several times over.

The best way to deal with a Daoist priest, then, was to give him no opportunity and charge straight at him, forcing a head-on clash. That was when the Golden Light Spell's importance became clear. Even if you could not win, it could at least help you withstand a few blows and flee quickly.

Zhang Xiao wholeheartedly agreed and decided to make practicing the Golden Light Spell his highest priority.

The most fundamental of the arts, meanwhile, were talismans. He leafed through the Compendium of Talismans his father had given him. None of the wealth talismans, romance talismans, or guaranteed exam-pass talismans sold in later-era Daoist temples were there. Everything in it was highly practical.

At present, he could practice only a handful of basic talismans, such as the Tracking Talisman, Fire Talisman, and Thunder Talisman.

His Heaven and Earth Bag contained piles of these talismans, so he was hardly short of them. What truly interested Zhang Xiao were the Thunder Talisman and the technique of Void Talisman Drawing.

First, he took the learning supplies his mother had given him out of his bag: precut talisman paper, specially made by the Daoist Order. Not just any store-bought yellow ritual paper would do.

The ink was specially made as well.

There was also a brush made from spiritually imbued hairs taken from spirit beasts-that is, fantastic beasts.

As its name suggested, the Thunder Talisman contained thunder magic. But unlike what Zhang Xiao had imagined, it did not unleash a bolt of lightning to attack an enemy.

Talismans that unleashed lightning did exist, of course, but even his father could not draw those advanced ones. He had heard that no more than five people on Dragon-Tiger Mountain could make true Thunder Talismans. They were extraordinarily complex and difficult.

Once activated, this Thunder Talisman would release a deafening thunderclap, carrying an imposing force of righteousness with a trace of lightning's essence.

It could intimidate evil creatures. As Zhang Xiao understood it, it was a fantasy version of a stun grenade.

A true Thunder Talisman, meanwhile, was more like a laser weapon...

Drawing a Thunder Talisman was relatively simple, too. While making one, he had to form a hand seal with one hand and hold a brush in the other to draw a special symbol. The symbol resembled a bird, yet was not a bird; it resembled an ox, yet was not an ox. It was very strange.

The whole process had to be completed in one uninterrupted flow, and while drawing it, he had to visualize flashes of lightning and peals of thunder.

In other words, the greatest difficulty in drawing this talisman lay in dividing his attention between two tasks.

Zhang Xiao tried several times. Either he focused entirely on what the symbol looked like while drawing, or he imagined the lightning and thunder and forgot how to draw it.

He shook his head. There were no shortcuts here. To become proficient, he would first have to put in steady, painstaking practice until drawing the symbol became second nature.

Having understood the key points, Zhang Xiao stopped insisting on finishing it in a single day. He packed up his things and prepared to leave.

After all, he, Malfoy, and the two little ones had detention that evening. He needed to make some preparations.