At that moment, a strange movement suddenly stirred in Theodore's heart. Profound light flashed through his eyes as The Secrets of Heaven Can Be Measured began operating on its own.
"Hm?"
"Someone is plotting against me? Malice has arisen?"
Yet only a moment later, the mysterious light in Theodore's eyes receded. Far from becoming alarmed or tense, he instead showed a trace of delight.
"There is a warning, yes—but not the slightest sense of danger."
"That means the one plotting against me is vastly inferior to me in strength."
"And this heavenly secret corresponds to a demon…"
"Could it be that the divination I made earlier, regarding the primary ingredient of the Myriad-Demon Golden Pill, is now being fulfilled?"
"A creature close to possessing the bloodline of a great demon really is coming to my door?"
At that exact moment, warning text also appeared across the System screen.
[Though the great tribulation has not yet begun, repeated disturbances have already drawn the attention of the Saints, and hidden arrangements have been made.]
[A bloodline of great demon has now descended, bearing the command of a Saint. It seeks to contend for the destiny of the tribulation and is hurrying toward the host.]
[This thing carries demon blood, is savage by nature, possesses great divine powers, and can be counted a heaven-proud talent. The host is advised to be cautious!]
Theodore only smiled.
With the cards he currently held, even if he were truly standing in the primordial world, then against one of the younger talents of the Chan lineage in the Jade Void Palace—as long as the opponent's seniority and cultivation did not far exceed his own—victory or defeat would still be uncertain between them.
In the whole primordial world, Theodore's only true weakness was his lack of an innate exalted origin compared to some cultivators born with terrifying foundations.
But in every other respect, the methods at his disposal already counted him among the heaven-proud.
So what, then, was this so-called "great demon bloodline" of the magical world? This so-called "heaven-proud talent"?
At most, it was only some demonic mongrel.
Compared to the true orthodox descendants of Chan or Jie teachings in the primordial world, it was nothing more than a clay chicken and a tile dog—something that could be casually killed with one hand.
Theodore gave a light laugh.
"So it seems my opportunity has arrived."
"My destiny has clearly grown stronger lately. Fortune really is improving. There is no need even to seek opportunities when they come delivering themselves to my door."
"The path of destiny truly is mysterious beyond mystery."
…
In the blink of an eye, Christmas arrived.
From early morning, the sound of owls beating their wings echoed around the towers of Hogwarts, almost like a fleet of helicopters.
Theodore slowly opened his eyes.
At his current level of cultivation, not sleeping for a day or two meant nothing. Even if he stayed awake for years, he would still remain sharp and full of vigor.
But this was a holiday, after all. Some sense of ritual was still worth preserving. So the night before, he had actually allowed himself to sleep, intending to wake today and see what gifts had arrived.
The moment he opened his eyes, however, what met his gaze was not merely a pile of presents at the foot of his bed—
it was a mountain.
Packages were stacked almost all the way to the ceiling, occupying half the entire dormitory by themselves.
By then Ron, Harry, Neville, Seamus, and the others in the room had all woken up as well.
The moment they saw the mountain of packages, they stared in blank amazement.
Ron swallowed audibly.
"Theodore… how many presents did you get?"
"Did the whole of Hogwarts send you something?!"
Theodore laughed and waved a hand, a pleased smile appearing on his face.
Sure enough, kindness toward others really did pay off.
Look at this network of acquaintances of his.
What was meant by friends across the world? This was what.
At Harry and the others' urging, Theodore began opening the packages with all due holiday ceremony.
Cries of astonishment soon began sounding one after another through the dormitory.
The very first package came from an unexpected source—Snape.
Inside was a large collection of extremely rare potion ingredients.
Theodore's heart moved slightly.
The gift was very carefully chosen.
Previously, Theodore had taken many ingredients from Snape. Now Snape had gone and collected fresh copies of several of the same materials and sent them over.
In other words, Theodore could continue refining Flying Tiger Pills.
With his current skill in alchemy, producing Golden Pill-grade Flying Tiger Pills was almost as easy as turning over his hand.
Though they were no longer useful to him, they were still excellent resources for turning Hermes into an Iron-Beaked Sky Eagle—or later, for helping Harry, Hermione, and the others cultivate.
The second package came from Madam Pince. It contained an exquisite magical bookmark made of pure gold and inlaid with gemstones.
According to the note she enclosed, the bookmark would remember exactly what page Theodore had reached in any book and could even turn pages automatically. It was, she said, an exceptionally convenient alchemical item for lovers of books.
Beyond that, many professors—Dumbledore and McGonagall included—had all sent Theodore gifts.
Most surprising of all, Filch had given him an intricately hand-drawn map of the castle, marking every secret passage he knew.
Though it could not move and did not show names, it was otherwise almost comparable to the Marauder's Map. There was no telling how much effort Filch had put into drawing it by hand.
And if the professors had sent so many gifts, then there was no need to mention Theodore's friends and classmates, with whom his relationships were especially close.
Harry had given him a pair of dragon-hide gloves. They could be worn while working with alchemy or potions, but they were also suitable for Quidditch.
Hermione had given him a protective charm she had made herself. It shimmered faintly, and was clearly layered with several defensive spells.
For Theodore, it had no practical value at all.
Even so, warmth rose in his heart, and he carefully fastened the charm around his neck.
Ron, for his part, had given him a very special wizard's chess set.
"Look," Ron said proudly, "not only is it beautifully made, but at night the pieces automatically light up with a Lumos charm, so they can double as candles."
"And the king can tell the time and remind you to get some sleep."
"Theodore, you're the greatest night owl I've ever seen. This way, it can keep you company and remind you to stop staying up all night."
Ron scratched his head and grinned foolishly.
Theodore laughed too.
It was true that little wizards had very limited means and could not offer much in the way of grand gifts.
But the weight of the feelings behind them mattered far more than the gifts themselves.
Theodore carefully put every single one away.
There were gifts from Malfoy among them too, sent quietly enough that Theodore almost missed them. Even more unexpected, Gemma Farley—the Slytherin Head Girl he had only met in passing—had sent him something as well.
Then, after putting away the gifts and watching Harry and the others eagerly tearing open the packages Theodore had prepared for them, his gaze fell on one final package without a name.
He quietly made his way toward the Room of Requirement.
Once he opened the anonymous parcel, he found that an Undetectable Extension Charm had been placed upon it.
Inside were three complete dragon hides—
and not just any dragon hides.
They all came from Hungarian Horntails, the fiercest breed of dragon in the magical world.
Unless Theodore personally went and skinned one of the hidden horrors in the magical world, it would be very difficult for him ever to obtain leather better than these three hides.
Even for Voldemort, securing them must have cost no small amount of effort.
At the thought, Theodore almost felt he might have been a little too harsh on the Dark Lord.
He was squeezing profit from the cracks of Voldemort's very bones.
But the thought passed as quickly as it came.
At this moment Theodore's eyes were burning with excitement, fixed entirely on one thing.
"The final material is here…"
"With everything ready—today is the day the Grand Celestial Constellation Formation flag must be completed!"
With that, he raised a hand.
The three enormous dragon hides flew out, vast enough to blot out the sky, and descended into the Heavenly Demon Fire.
As the demonic flames began to burn, a banner-skin with an ancient and desolate aura emerged within them, floating and sinking in the fire.
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