Chapter Summaries

Zhang Cunyi arrived through Zhang Xiao’s shift talisman, subdued the Basilisk’s deadly gaze, and left Zhang Xiao to face Tom Riddle and the snake. Hogwarts students and teachers rushed in to save Zhang Xiao, driving Tom to flee with the Basilisk, while Zhang Cunyi met Dumbledore elsewhere in the Chamber of Secrets.

• Zhang Cunyi appeared, restrained the Basilisk, and broke the sinister power in its eyes before warning Zhang Xiao to subdue it himself.
• Zhang Cunyi vanished as his shift talisman’s effect ended, and Tom Riddle ordered the Basilisk to attack Zhang Xiao.
• Tom raised his wand to kill Zhang Xiao, but McGonagall, Flitwick, Snape, and a crowd of young witches and wizards burst into the Chamber to rescue him.
• Zhang Xiao confronted Tom with confidence, and Tom escaped on the Basilisk by diving into the pool.
• Zhang Cunyi greeted Dumbledore and introduced himself as Zhang Xiao’s grandfather.

Zhang Xiao and the professors pursued Tom and the Basilisk to the Black Lake, where the students’ rescue party realized how dangerous the situation had been. As the decisive battle began, Zhang mounted Norbert and armed himself with a Horse Lance, preparing to face the Basilisk.

• Dumbledore and the Old Celestial Master watched the students explore the Chamber of Secrets while the professors and students gathered around Zhang Xiao.
• Zhang warned Professor McGonagall, Professor Snape, and Professor Flitwick that Lockhart was possessed by Tom Riddle and that the monster was a Basilisk.
• Professor McGonagall ordered the professors to pursue Tom and the Basilisk, while Flitwick sent a Patronus to seek help from the Ministry of Magic.
• At the Black Lake, the professors confronted Tom and the Basilisk, and Zhang Xiao assured McGonagall that he would keep the creature occupied.
• Zhang Xiao summoned Norbert, mounted the dragon, and revealed a Horse Lance as the students cheered from Hogwarts.

Zhang Xiao used Norbert, Fawkes, and the Azure Luan to wound the basilisk in a close-quarters assault while Tom fought three professors. The basilisk was still alive, and Tom escaped the professors’ attacks long enough to cast the Killing Curse at Norbert.

• Zhang Xiao used Norbert’s dragon fire to scorch the basilisk, forcing it beneath the lake’s surface.
• Zhang Xiao rode Norbert into a dive, then used the horse lance to pierce and slash the basilisk before evading its tail.
• The Azure Luan and Fawkes helped Zhang Xiao return to Norbert while students at the castle cheered the fight.
• Tom held off Professors Flitwick, Snape, and McGonagall, then transformed into black smoke and shot out from beneath the basilisk.
• Tom pointed at Norbert and cast Avada Kedavra.

Zhang Xiao unleashed his strongest state to rescue Norbert and wound the basilisk, then received a sudden insight into Transfiguration from Dumbledore. As the basilisk lunged at him, Zhang Xiao’s golden light surged beyond his body and a faint crack sounded within him.

• Tom’s Killing Curse struck Fawkes, who swallowed it and was carried away by Azure Luan, while the professors forced Tom to evade their attacks.
• The basilisk bit Norbert and paralyzed him with venom, prompting Zhang Xiao to release the Book of Cognition and enter his strongest state.
• Zhang Xiao summoned the Thunderstruck Wood Wand and blasted the basilisk, freeing Norbert and shrinking him into the Spirit Beast Collar.
• Dumbledore sent Zhang Xiao an insight about Transfiguration, and Zhang Xiao pondered that imagination and self-imposed limits shaped what he could achieve.
• The basilisk lunged at Zhang Xiao as his golden light surged outward, extending three inches beyond his body after a faint crack sounded within him.

Zhang Xiao used a giant water figure to decapitate the basilisk, then collapsed from exhaustion and swallowed poisonous blood. Dumbledore and Zhang Cunyi freed Lockhart from the possessing spirit, but the battered Diary they found afterward seemed suspicious.

• Zhang Xiao transformed lake water into a towering figure, and the Old Celestial Master’s spell gave it the form and voice of an ancient emperor.
• The water giant struck down the basilisk, and Zhang Xiao fell into the lake as the construct dissolved.
• Dumbledore contained Tom in a sphere of water while the exhausted Heads of House discussed the battle and the students’ bravery.
• The Old Celestial Master examined Zhang Xiao and determined that his antidote could only suppress the basilisk poison for now.
• Zhang Cunyi drove a spirit out of Lockhart, and a battered black Diary fell from his robes.
• Dumbledore and Zhang Cunyi inspected the Diary and realized that something was wrong with it.

After the basilisk battle, Zhang Xiao woke at St. Mungo’s and discovered his golden light had reached three inches, qualifying him for the next stage of his cultivation. He found Tom Riddle’s Diary in his bag, learned Dumbledore had treated it and entrusted it to him, then opened it and received a suspiciously Lockhart-like reply.

• Miriam Strout told Zhang Xiao he had been poisoned by basilisk venom in water and that Dumbledore had brought him to St. Mungo’s.
• Zhang Xiao reviewed the battle and found his golden light had reached three inches, meeting the requirements for talisman investiture.
• Zhang Xiao discovered Tom Riddle’s Diary in his Heaven and Earth Bag and sealed it in the Four Symbols Jade Box before reading Dumbledore’s note entrusting it to him.
• Zhang Xiao examined the Diary, wrote “Hello, Tom,” and received a reply asking who Tom was in a manner that reminded him of Lockhart.

Zhang Xiao discovered that the Diary’s Tom could barely reason and suspected the Old Celestial Master had altered it. He learned the Dharma Eye from Zhang Chengdao, then used it to inspect the Diary and realized Voldemort had made a shocking mistake with his soul.

• Zhang Xiao questioned the Diary and found that Tom answered like a mindless, pompous machine, even revealing that he was a Horcrux.
• Zhang Chengdao told Zhang Xiao that the Old Celestial Master had visited him and dealt with a Cao Dai elder, confirming that his grandfather had inspected the Diary.
• Zhang Xiao entered the Golden Book and Jade Register, where Zhang Chengdao congratulated him on reaching three inches of golden light and taught him the Dharma Eye.
• Zhang Xiao mastered the Dharma Eye, tested its vision in the hospital room, and drank his Weakened Draught of Living Death before sleeping.
• Zhang Xiao used the Dharma Eye to examine the Diary, compared what he saw with an illustrated book, and realized Voldemort had split his seven corporeal souls.

Zhang Xiao realized that Voldemort’s Horcruxes contained his seven po, explaining why he could not make more and why his personality had deteriorated. Recovering in St. Mungo’s, Zhang read newspaper coverage of the basilisk incident and the Ministry’s growing scandal.

• Zhang Xiao concluded that Voldemort had split off his seven po to create his Horcruxes, and that further splitting would require a far greater sacrifice.
• Zhang Xiao asked Mellium for letters from his friends and copies of the Daily Prophet, learning that his fame had filled two expanded storerooms with mail and gifts.
• Zhang Xiao read a Daily Prophet report describing his battle with the basilisk and praising him for protecting Hogwarts.
• Zhang Xiao learned that the Ministry was struggling to contain the scandal over Lockhart’s role in opening the Chamber of Secrets and removing Dumbledore.
• Zhang Xiao read that Dolores Umbridge had been exposed for embezzlement and taking bribes.

Zhang Xiao read about Umbridge being made the scapegoat for the Chamber of Secrets scandal, then considered his plans to clear Sirius’s name and track Voldemort. As he read letters from friends, his parents arrived at the hospital, and Zhang Chengdao asked whether Voldemort had bullied him.

• Zhang Xiao read that Umbridge had been arrested and blamed for the scandal, while Fudge apologized and the petrified students recovered.
• Zhang Xiao planned to help Sirius before summer and ask his grandfather whether the Diary could help locate Voldemort.
• Zhang Xiao read letters from Draco, Hermione, Harry, Ron, Cedric, Fred, George, and Neville, who shared updates and wished him well.
• Zhang Xiao learned from Neville’s letter that Neville had a surprise for him and that his grandmother admired Zhang Xiao’s courage.
• Zhang Chengdao and Li Qingshu arrived at the hospital, and Zhang Chengdao asked Zhang Xiao whether Voldemort had bullied him.

Zhang Xiao told his parents that Voldemort had bullied him and showed them the Diary, but Li Qingshu explained that its soul fragment could not be used to attack Voldemort directly. Zhang Xiao revealed his three inches of golden light, and Zhang Chengdao immediately announced the achievement to the Daoist Order, drawing furious replies.

• Zhang Xiao asked Zhang Chengdao and Li Qingshu to hunt down Voldemort and showed them the Diary containing one of Voldemort's corporeal souls.
• Zhang Chengdao recognized that Voldemort had split his seven corporeal souls, and Li Qingshu explained that the fragments were too independent to reveal attacks on them to Voldemort.
• Li Qingshu said they could still curse Voldemort through an effigy, but Zhang Xiao said Voldemort's lack of spiritual cultivation would eventually lead to his destruction.
• Zhang Xiao produced three inches of golden light, impressing Zhang Chengdao and prompting Li Qingshu to reach for her talismans.
• Zhang Chengdao used the Group Communication Talisman to announce Zhang Xiao's achievement, and furious voices came from his Heaven and Earth Bag.

Zhang Xiao explored St. Mungo's while waiting for his parents, then reunited with Neville and met his grandmother, Augusta Longbottom. Neville revealed that his parents had been tortured into insanity by Death Eaters and that he had come to visit them on his mother's birthday.

• Zhang Xiao left the ward and looked around St. Mungo's crowded lobby and its unusual patients.
• Neville arrived with his grandmother, Augusta Longbottom, and happily greeted Zhang Xiao.
• Augusta thanked Zhang Xiao for helping Neville and praised his bravery, then urged Neville to speak openly about his parents.
• Neville told Zhang Xiao that Death Eaters had tortured his parents into insanity and that he had come to visit them on his mother's birthday.

Zhang Xiao accompanied Neville to visit Neville’s parents, Frank and Alice, at St. Mungo’s, where their injuries from Death Eater torture had left them unable to recognize or understand their son. The visit left Zhang Xiao deeply shaken, and he called for his parents to come to the ward.

• Zhang Xiao entered the communal ward with Neville and saw patients being cared for by a healer.
• Neville drew back the curtain to visit Frank and Alice, while Mrs. Longbottom proudly described their service as Aurors and their torture by Death Eaters.
• Neville introduced Zhang Xiao to Alice and offered her the flowers, but she did not understand him and covered her face with leaves.
• Alice gave Neville a Drooble’s Best Blowing Gum wrapper, and Neville quietly kept it despite Mrs. Longbottom telling him to throw it away.
• Zhang Xiao answered the Far-Seeing Mirror and asked his father, Zhang Chengdao, to come to the ward with his mother.

Zhang Chengdao and Li Qingshu discovered that Frank and Alice Longbottom’s souls still existed but could not use Retrospection Technique without a memory of the night they were tortured. Mrs. Longbottom provided Neville’s preserved memory, and the Golden Book and Jade Register revealed the Death Eaters tormenting the Longbottoms when Neville was a baby.

• Zhang Chengdao diagnosed Frank and Alice with soul separation syndrome and said divination showed their missing souls still existed.
• Mrs. Longbottom revealed she had kept a memory of the night the Death Eaters tortured the Longbottoms, which Dumbledore had extracted from Neville.
• Li Qingshu used the Golden Book and Jade Register to view the memory with Zhang Xiao and Zhang Chengdao.
• In the memory, Bellatrix Lestrange and Barty Crouch Jr. tortured Frank and Alice with the Cruciatus Curse while baby Neville cried in his cot.
• Bellatrix seized Neville and threw him in front of his parents, and Alice tried to reassure him despite her pain.

Zhang Chengdao, Li Qingshu, and Zhang Xiao broke the illusion of the Longbottoms’ torture when their anger erupted, then Zhang Chengdao discovered that Neville had been holding his parents’ souls in place through his longing. Neville confirmed that thinking of his parents always hurt, leaving Zhang Xiao and the others to understand the painful devotion keeping Alice and Frank near him.

• Bellatrix tortured baby Neville in the illusion and threatened his parents, while Alice tried to comfort him with bubble gum.
• Barty Crouch Jr. crushed Alice’s hand, and the anger of Zhang Chengdao, Li Qingshu, and Zhang Xiao shattered the illusion.
• Zhang Xiao said the Ministry had kept Bellatrix and the others alive, and Li Qingshu vowed their family would not spare them if they met again.
• Zhang Chengdao examined Neville and saw his spirit holding Alice and Frank’s souls; he explained that Neville’s longing had anchored them for ten years.
• Zhang Xiao asked Neville whether missing his parents hurt, and Neville said it hurt terribly because he thought of them always.

Zhang Chengdao explained that Neville had been sustaining Alice and Frank’s fragile souls, so he needed to go to Dragon-Tiger Mountain for treatment. Zhang Xiao then gave Dumbledore Tom Riddle’s Diary and explained the cost of making Horcruxes, ending by offering to reveal where they were hidden.

• Zhang Chengdao told Mrs. Longbottom that Neville’s attachment to Alice and Frank had kept parts of their souls bound to him, and said they needed treatment at Dragon-Tiger Mountain soon.
• Zhang Xiao asked whether Neville could learn sword techniques there, while Neville rejoiced at the prospect of his parents recovering.
• Dumbledore arrived, accepted Zhang Chengdao’s explanation, and agreed with Mrs. Longbottom that Neville should receive treatment.
• Dumbledore told Zhang Xiao that Norbert was recovering under Hagrid’s care after Snape treated the basilisk venom.
• Zhang Xiao showed Dumbledore Tom Riddle’s Diary and identified the soul fragment inside it as a Horcrux.
• Zhang Xiao explained that Horcruxes required splitting one’s po and drove their maker toward madness, then asked Dumbledore whether he wanted to know where they were.

Zhang Xiao told Dumbledore that the Daoist Order could locate Voldemort’s Horcruxes, then learned how to use Nicolas Flamel’s recording cube. After leaving St. Mungo’s, Zhang returned to Hogwarts with Professor McGonagall, who welcomed him by Apparating into the Entrance Hall despite the school’s usual ban.

• Zhang Xiao confirmed that the Daoist Order could use a soul fragment to divine the locations of the Horcruxes, and Dumbledore reacted with renewed hope.
• Dumbledore explained that the silver cube recorded objects Zhang had fully Transfigured and could reproduce their mechanisms, with space for 256 records.
• Dumbledore warned Zhang not to use his wand to directly kill anyone, then told him his friends were waiting for him at Hogwarts.
• Dumbledore helped Zhang Chengdao and Li Qingshu take Frank and Alice out of St. Mungo’s, where Zhang saw Lockhart insisting that Voldemort was returning.
• Dumbledore told Zhang that some Ministry officials ignored recent dangers for stability while others acted out of fear.
• Professor McGonagall met Zhang outside St. Mungo’s, Apparated with him into Hogwarts’s Entrance Hall, and said the school had opened its doors for him.

Dumbledore honored the students who had helped confront the Chamber of Secrets crisis, praising Zhang Xiao and the bravery and contributions of all four houses. He awarded the House Cup to all four houses, and the celebration ended with a feast.

• Zhang Xiao entered the Great Hall to cheers as Lee Jordan introduced him as Hogwarts’ defender and the Dragon Knight.
• Dumbledore praised Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Malfoy, and Cedric Diggory for their courage, intelligence, judgment, and support during the crisis.
• Dumbledore contrasted Zhang Xiao with Tom Riddle, praising Zhang for uniting the houses and defeating the Basilisk.
• Dumbledore awarded the House Cup to Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff, and the students celebrated together.
• Dumbledore filled the tables with food and drinks and announced that the feast could begin.

Zhang Xiao rested at Hagrid's Hut and planned how to handle Sirius and Peter before leaving for China over the summer. He asked Professor Flitwick to teach him the Patronus Charm and learned that his silver mist already counted as a successful, if basic, Patronus.

• Zhang Xiao relaxed beneath a tree while Norbert lounged on Hagrid's Hut and reflected on his plans for the next two months.
• Zhang Xiao considered resolving the matter of Peter and helping Sirius before his summer trip to China.
• Zhang Xiao decided to improve his Patronus Charm in case Dementors appeared at Hogwarts.
• Zhang Xiao showed Professor Flitwick the silver mist produced by his Expecto Patronum spell and asked what he was doing wrong.
• Professor Flitwick demonstrated a corporeal eagle Patronus and explained that Zhang Xiao's mist was already a successful Patronus that could repel a Dementor.
• Zhang Xiao asked Professor Flitwick to teach him how to cast a corporeal Patronus.

Professor Flitwick explained that a corporeal Patronus required more than happy memories: its caster also had to understand their own heart and what they wanted to protect. Zhang Xiao continued practicing the charm, and Cedric and Hermione gave him lists of books to consult.

• Flitwick told Zhang Xiao that a Patronus’s form reflected what its caster wanted to protect, and Zhang Xiao thanked him before leaving.
• Cedric and the other Dueling Club members reported growing interest from students in joining, but Zhang Xiao kept the club small and suggested members teach their own houses.
• Zhang Xiao revealed that he was practicing the Patronus Charm and conjured a stream of silver mist around himself.
• Cedric listed several books about Patronuses for Zhang Xiao, and Hermione named more than twenty references.

Zhang Xiao searched the Library for useful guidance on the Patronus Charm, then visited Lady's Glove in the Room of Requirement and received her warning to protect himself. After several disappointing books, Lady's Glove gave him an unmarked book that might help him produce a corporeal Patronus.

• Zhang Xiao borrowed a large stack of books about the Patronus Charm from Madam Pince as Gryffindor struggled after losing to Slytherin.
• Zhang Xiao found Lady's Glove in the Room of Requirement and told her about recent events, while keeping many details to himself.
• Lady's Glove warned Zhang Xiao to protect himself while he was still vulnerable, and Zhang Xiao wondered about her power and background.
• Zhang Xiao read books on Patronuses, finding little practical advice but learning about rare forms such as Hedley Fleetwood's mammoth and Andros the Invincible's giant-sized Patronus.
• Lady's Glove opened a locked bookcase and gave Zhang Xiao an unmarked hardback to help inspire him to produce a corporeal Patronus.