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Chapter 70: Voldemort's best-kept secret.

He looked back in disbelief at the basilisk, observing its green, oak-like girth, seemingly as healthy and normal as ever. He couldn't understand why its gaze had lost its effect.

Wait a minute, how could such a destructive magical creature be so quiet?!

Voldemort scrutinized further, only to find the basilisk "obediently" coiled up in the corner of the room, eyes closed, shivering all over...

The hissing snake language continued to come from Voldemort's mouth, urging the basilisk to attack Dracula.

If Dracula was not affected by the basilisk's gaze, then use the venom to deal with him!

As Voldemort thought this, the hissing became increasingly urgent.

However, the basilisk ignored his commands, even shrinking back with an innocent and appeasing expression.

"This is impossible..."

Voldemort was extremely shocked, his voice seeming to come from between his clenched teeth.

"There is nothing impossible," Dracula said, approaching the basilisk with a half-smile. "I can only say... the true arrogance and ignorance belong to you, Mr. Voldemort."

The basilisk lowered its head submissively, closing its eyes as Dracula patted its smooth, cool head.

"You are neither a descendant of Slytherin nor can you speak Parseltongue... why does it obey you?" Voldemort asked, unable to accept what he was seeing.

"Perhaps it fears I might bully it?" Dracula nudged the flexible snake body, shaping it into a sofa-like form, and then comfortably lay on it.

During this time, the basilisk didn't dare to move, only shifting its body in response to Dracula's movements, willingly becoming a smooth snake-skin sofa.

In fact, Dracula had known the basilisk, Slytherin's great pet, a thousand years ago, even forming a deep "friendship" with it.

At that time, Slytherin had not yet split from the other founders and was secretly building an experimental base for dark magic transformation.

Following the breeding methods left by the vile Helbo, he successfully hatched a basilisk.

Dracula became interested in the basilisk's gaze. As a vampire who enjoyed courting death, he secretly entered the breeding cave and forced the poor basilisk to meet his gaze...

The fact is, Dracula remained intact until now.

The basilisk's gaze is indeed a powerful and difficult-to-resist magical talent, but it has its limitations.

According to Salazar Slytherin's tests, the basilisk's gaze must be direct and unobstructed to be most effective; any obstacles that cause the gaze to deviate will weaken its effect—such as through mirrors or glass, which will diminish the basilisk's gaze to varying degrees, resulting in death or petrification.

Furthermore, this magical talent is not limitless and is powered by magic. If the basilisk faces a wizard with profound magical power, it is unlikely to kill instantly.

Additionally, this magic only works fully on living beings. If the basilisk meets with ghosts, wraiths, or other non-living beings, the magic only produces partial effects, such as petrification.

Unfortunately for the basilisk, Dracula embodied the latter two limitations:

He was highly magical, far beyond what a basilisk could compare to; and vampires, while alive, are considered as undead, so the basilisk's gaze does not work fully.

As such, Dracula, after meeting the basilisk's gaze, only felt a slight floating sensation and no further reaction.

A thousand years ago, Dracula experienced this sensation many times, depleting the basilisk's magic to the point of its suffering.

The basilisk learned its lesson and, upon seeing Dracula again, instinctively closed its eyes to avoid the gaze, thinking it had escaped torment... only to be beaten by Dracula and forced to use its gaze.

Between being beaten and depleting its magic, the basilisk chose to expend magic to avoid being beaten...

Since then, whenever it saw Dracula, the basilisk would reflexively close its eyes.

When it emerged from the pipes today and saw the demon with its frightening yellow eyes, it nearly died of fright, thinking it was experiencing a millennia-long nightmare!

It dared not follow Voldemort's orders to attack Dracula!

One was Slytherin's dear friend, the other was a degenerate descendant of Slytherin; the basilisk knew which was more terrifying!

Seeing the basilisk's docile behavior and Dracula lounging on it, Voldemort gritted his teeth, suddenly dashing towards the still unconscious Harry and prodding his forehead with Quirrell's wand.

"Let me go, Dracula!" he said viciously. "Or I'll kill your precious student!"

Dracula frowned slightly, standing up from the basilisk, and took a few steps forward.

"I am quite disappointed, Mr. Voldemort," Dracula said softly, looking at the disheveled face in front of him. "If you had chosen to duel with me, I might have regarded you more highly, recognizing your Dark Lord status."

"I did not expect you to first think of using a hostage to protect yourself rather than defeating me."

"Enough talk, Dracula!" Voldemort said sharply. "Let me go, or let Potter die here. Make your choice!"

Upon hearing this, Dracula looked at him with a strangely unsettling gaze, causing Voldemort to feel uneasy.

"It is an honor," Dracula suddenly said with a sinister smile, "to know that I am so morally upright in your eyes?"

Voldemort immediately felt something was wrong, and his entire form turned into black smoke and scattered.

The next moment, a blood-red arc struck where Voldemort had been, carving a deep trench into the hard ground!

Voldemort had no time to retrieve the Philosopher's Stone, only quickly gathering the black smoke into a skeletal shape and rapidly fleeing towards the perimeter of the Forbidden Forest.

"Troublesome, with this trick again."

Dracula shrugged and extended a pair of sharply clawed wings, flapping them to follow.

...

With Dracula pursuing closely behind, Voldemort dared not pause, desperately using the convenience of his smoky form to fly wildly.

It wasn't until he approached the edge of the Anti-Disapparation Jinx boundary near the Forbidden Forest that Voldemort relaxed slightly and looked back.

He saw that Dracula seemed to be flying leisurely, merely gliding and occasionally flapping his wings, trailing behind by a significant distance.

Voldemort was overjoyed, preparing to cross the Anti-Disapparation Jinx boundary and soar freely!

At that moment, he vaguely saw an illusory dark moon appear behind him, and Dracula flew straight into it, abruptly vanishing from sight—

"How did he disappear in the Anti-Disapparation area?" Voldemort was momentarily stunned.

Then, in the next instant, the dark moon suddenly appeared before him.

Dracula materialized in the dark moon's glow, silver hair flowing in the wind, black wings blocking half the moonlight, casting deep shadows on Voldemort's eerie face.

A blood-like silk flowed from behind Dracula's wings, forming a bright red river, curving gracefully outside the dark moonlight, following the path traced by Dracula's slender fingers.

Finally, the blood river formed a circle, creating a crimson water prison that completely surrounded Voldemort, flowing and swirling continuously.

"Even if you can turn into smoke, how will you escape when every inch of space is enclosed?" Dracula said softly.

Voldemort, seeing the situation, tried to escape by darting left and right within the smoky body, but the blood water corroded and hissed, failing to penetrate the blood river's water prison.

"Wait, Dracula!"

Realizing he couldn't break through the crimson water prison, Voldemort felt a bit desperate but forced himself to remain calm.

"What is it? Do you have any last words?" Dracula said impatiently.

Seeing Voldemort's undignified escape earlier, Dracula had completely lost interest in this Dark Lord.

"Don't be hasty, Dracula! I believe we can still turn enemies into friends!" Voldemort said urgently, seeing Dracula's impatient expression. "I have a secret I've never told anyone, something that every wizard dreams of but can't obtain!"

The tightening of the crimson water prison paused.

Dracula, slightly intrigued, thought that despite Voldemort's lack of decorum, any secret he had might be of interest.

"Alright, I'll give you one last chance," Dracula said.

Voldemort, seeing the water prison pause, sighed in relief.

Then he regained his confidence and said with pride, "A wise choice, Dracula."

"Join me, Dracula, and I'll tell you the secret of eternal life!"

Dracula: "..."