Chu Yang walked forward step by step. In the center of the Chamber of Secrets was a large human face statue. Undoubtedly, the owner of this face was the famous Salazar Slytherin.
Behind the statue was the hiding place of the Basilisk.
The mechanism of the statue, like the bathroom above, required Parseltongue to activate, so Chu Yang chose a more direct method.
He formed hand seals.
Chu Yang once again used Earth Release.
Earth Release: Fissure.
Chu Yang slammed his hands on the ground, and the ground began to collapse section by section until the statue of Salazar Slytherin shattered with a crash.
Behind the rubble, a dark opening appeared.
Hiss, hiss, hiss~~~
The sound of the Basilisk's tongue flicking and crawling entered Chu Yang's ears.
Then a colossal creature quietly appeared at the opening.
The Basilisk was enormous, its body about two meters thick. It coiled up and stood, looking down at Chu Yang.
Chu Yang closed his eyes, not meeting its gaze.
The Basilisk's eyes, like the legendary Medusa, caused death if looked at directly and petrification if seen indirectly.
A hint of human-like mockery flashed in the depths of the Basilisk's pupils, and then it slowly glided towards Chu Yang.
Although Chu Yang had his eyes closed, his Observation Haki had already spread out, and every move of the Basilisk was within his perception.
The corners of his mouth curved slightly upwards.
Suddenly!
The ground swelled.
Emerald green vines burst out of the earth, coiling around the Basilisk's body like iron chains, fixing it in place, unable to move.
The startled and enraged Basilisk constantly twisted its body, trying to break free from the vines attached to it, its roars echoing in the Chamber of Secrets.
However...
The vines wrapped around the Basilisk not only did not break but grew more and more, coiling tighter and tighter.
After a fierce struggle, the Basilisk opened its maw and began to spew venom.
An unpleasant, dizzying smell immediately filled the air, and Chu Yang took a few steps back.
The venom slowly corroded the vines on the Basilisk's body.
Seeing this, Chu Yang smiled. The reason he didn't kill the Basilisk immediately was to let it spew out as much venom as possible.
Besides destroying Horcruxes, Basilisk venom had many other uses, and Chu Yang wanted to collect a large amount of this venom.
A moment later, the Basilisk sensed that something was wrong. No matter how much venom corroded the vines, the annoying vines would continuously grow back the next moment.
It stopped spewing venom and frantically twisted its body with its last strength.
"Its intelligence isn't low, what a pity..."
Chu Yang mumbled, then increased his Chakra output, and the vines immediately grew into thick trees, pressing the Basilisk firmly to the ground. The trees grew larger and larger until they completely swallowed the Basilisk's body and broke through the ceiling of the Chamber of Secrets.
Chu Yang collected most of the venom spewed by the Basilisk before its death, and the rest flowed into the pool in the Chamber of Secrets.
Chu Yang was not sure if the water here would circulate to the school, so he simply destroyed the entire Chamber of Secrets.
The violent tremor even affected the Slytherin student dormitories.
Snape thought there was an earthquake and quickly told the students to evacuate to the courtyard.
The students were halfway there when the tremor stopped, and a group of people stood in the corridor, looking at each other.
Snape frowned.
On the other side, Chu Yang had already returned to the small wooden house. Not long after, Dumbledore returned with Sirius, bringing the last Horcrux—Slytherin's locket.
"All the Horcruxes have been collected," Dumbledore said with a relieved smile, the heavy weight in his heart finally lifted.
"Headmaster Dumbledore, I found this in the Forbidden Forest. Perhaps it can affect the Horcruxes."
Chu Yang handed a bottle of Basilisk venom to Dumbledore.
Dumbledore took the venom, examined it carefully, then pulled out a silver object with intricate patterns from his Arms and poured the venom onto it.
The silver object instantly melted.
Dumbledore's eyes lit up, and he nodded, "Such potent venom can indeed damage Horcruxes."
Once a Horcrux is damaged beyond repair, the soul residing in it will be completely destroyed.
"So, all of Voldemort's Horcruxes can be destroyed as long as Harry's problem is solved next?" Sirius showed an incredulous expression. Even though Dumbledore had told him a lot just now at the ancestral home, he still found it hard to believe.
"I also feel like I'm dreaming," Dumbledore said meaningfully. "But I believe everything is fate's arrangement..."
As he spoke, Chu Yang felt Dumbledore look at him.
Dumbledore continued, "Given Voldemort's current state, he cannot create new Horcruxes in a short period."
Sirius said, "Then he's no different from an ordinary person now; he only has one life. The problem is, how can we kill him again?"
If Voldemort were determined to hide, no one would probably find him, which has been the case for the past decade or so.
Dumbledore smiled, "What I've done isn't entirely secret. At least someone in the Ministry of Magic should be able to guess my intentions, so Voldemort will receive the news soon."
Dumbledore's implication was that he knew some people in the Ministry of Magic were remnants of Death Eaters.
Chu Yang frowned, "You deliberately let them know? Even if it's to draw out Voldemort, it's too dangerous."
"It is indeed very dangerous. If it weren't for your help, this might have been the biggest mistake of my life," Dumbledore said thankfully. "But thankfully, everything went smoothly."
Sirius asked, "How many people in the Ministry of Magic are connected to Voldemort?"
Dumbledore shook his head, "Perhaps only one or two, perhaps..."
Horcruxes were Voldemort's last trump card. Once he confirmed that all his Horcruxes were gone, he would surely become desperate.
Those Death Eaters lurking in the shadows would also become extremely fanatical.
They might even target all the teachers and students at Hogwarts.
In such a situation, if Dumbledore still had to look after Harry, he would surely be overwhelmed.
This was also why he wanted to send Harry to the Forbidden Forest from the very beginning.
Dumbledore took a bottle of venom from Chu Yang and returned to the school, dedicating all his energy to improving the spell.
Sirius continued to stay in the small wooden house.
A week later, the Ministry of Magic suddenly sent people to inspect Hogwarts. They stayed for a whole day, spending the longest time in the Headmaster's office, seemingly looking for something.
After the inspectors left, Dumbledore gathered the teachers, explained the situation, and declared Hogwarts to be in a state of emergency.
Not long after, news came from Azkaban of a large-scale prison break.
"Don't worry, Harry, close your eyes and take a deep breath."
"It might be a bit uncomfortable later; you must endure and persevere until the ritual is complete."
Harry closed his eyes nervously.
Dumbledore stood opposite him, slowly guiding Harry.
He had completed the spell's improvement, and today was the day to remove Voldemort's soul fragment.
Sirius, watching from a distance, looked even more nervous than Harry.
Hermione and Ron were locked in the small wooden house by Hagrid. He was afraid they would run around and disrupt the ritual.
So they could only huddle by the window, desperately trying to look out.
Ron grumbled, "Why can Chu Yang be outside?"
Hermione said enviously, "Because he passed the O.W.L.s..."
Ron was confused, "What test?"
Hermione rolled her eyes and turned away, no longer bothering to explain to him.
In fact, Chu Yang not only passed the O.W.L.s but also took and passed a N.E.W.T.s exam with Dumbledore's special permission. However, to the outside world, Chu Yang only admitted to completing the former to avoid unnecessary trouble.
Dumbledore's spellcasting quickly began, visible magic gathering into blue light bands flowing from the tip of Dumbledore's wand.
The magic flow circled in the air and gradually surged into Harry's body as Dumbledore continuously chanted the incantation.
Harry's entire body suddenly erupted in dazzling light.
Painful groans came from Harry's mouth, followed by continuous muffled grunts.
The process of tearing away the soul fragment was even more painful than Harry had imagined, not at all the "a bit uncomfortable" Dumbledore had described earlier.
But in his current state, he couldn't complain to Dumbledore; only meaningless interjections came from his mouth.
Painful as it was, the effect was very obvious.
Chu Yang had already seen a smoke-like mass gradually emerging from Harry's body.
That was Voldemort's soul fragment.
Without a host, the soul fragment would vanish at an extremely fast rate.
Throughout the process, Harry's own soul was not affected at all; only his body suffered a bit.
Dumbledore raised his wand high, his voice suddenly rising, and the magic, like a pair of large hands, forcefully dragged Voldemort's soul fragment.
In the blink of an eye, the remaining soul fragments were also pulled out by him in one go.
The light disappeared.
Harry collapsed, his eyes closed, falling into a coma.
Sirius rushed over and began to check Harry's body.
He was fine.
Harry's breathing was steady; he looked like he was just sleeping.
Dumbledore wiped the sweat from his forehead.