Hogwarts: This holy light is righteously evil.

The potential unleashed in life-or-death situations is terrifying; the force of its struggle increases exponentially with each effort.

The dragon had to concentrate all its strength, gripping the basilisk's body and head tightly with its claws, just to barely maintain its imprisoned posture and prevent its opponent from breaking free and escaping.

In its current position, it has no extra claws to continue tearing and prying at the basilisk's skull.

But Puni had already devised a completely new tactic to break the deadlock in a very short time.

The basilisk is weakened by the curse, its skull is loosened, and its body is firmly imprisoned, presenting a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to strike.

If we hesitate and miss this opportunity, allowing this ancient behemoth in its prime to break free and escape into the depths of the secret chamber, it will be a long time before we find such a perfect hunting opportunity again.

Having made up his mind, Puni no longer hesitated.

A terrifying burst of holy light!

The explosive holy light burst forth with an eerily fast speed, without making a sound as it pierced the air, and locked onto the exposed, pale white skull of the basilisk.

The moment the holy light touched the bone, there was no collision, obstruction, or shock. Ignoring all physical defenses and magical resistance, it penetrated the basilisk's skull cavity without any hindrance, as if piercing through the void.

The next second, the basilisk, which was still struggling and twisting its body to fight back, suddenly stopped moving.

Its muscles, which had been taut to the extreme, instantly relaxed, and its massive body completely lost the strength and explosive power to struggle.

The body that had been trembling continuously fell silent, its limbs and long tail drooping limply, and the entire giant beast was completely in a state of rigidity.

"Kill it!"

A crisp sound of bones cracking suddenly rang out, and the basilisk's hard skull was forcefully blown away, crashing heavily onto the stone ground beside it.

Precise, decisive, and efficient.

With its claws closing, it forcefully ripped out the entire brain core from the basilisk's skull.

The brain tissue, still vibrant and warm to the touch, was exposed to the air and, the moment it was separated from the body's blood supply and magical nourishment, it rapidly lost its activity.

The fair skin darkened and hardened at a visible rate, gradually transforming into a lifeless gray.

Having completely lost its brain core, the basilisk didn't even have time to let out a final mournful roar before its massive body instantly lost all life force.

The ancient behemoth that had occupied the secret chamber for hundreds of years was now completely dead. Its massive body crashed heavily onto the hard stone floor with a deep, muffled thud, sending up a shower of fine stone dust.

The battlefield instantly returned to calm.

The dragon vanished as specks of light.

Puni walked slowly forward, looking down to carefully examine the huge serpent monster corpse at his feet.

His body was completely relaxed and stiff, all the magical energy fluctuations in his body dissipated, his skull was empty, his brain core was completely removed, and his life force was completely cut off.

Even if this ancient monster possesses a unique physical structure and a hidden reserve of life essence, there is absolutely no possibility of it being resurrected. It is truly and completely annihilated, posing no further threat.

After a long period of tension, Puni's mind completely relaxed, and the fierce and stern look in his eyes instantly disappeared.

With the fierce battle over, the most crucial step now is to collect all the top-tier magical materials from this thousand-year-old serpent monster.

His gaze first locked onto the hard, single horn standing upright on the top of the basilisk's head.

This basilisk itself does not possess the ability to cast spells actively; all its combat power relies on its physical talent and the suppression of its venom. However, the single horn on its head constantly gathers the rich magical power from the underground chamber, and is filled with pure and heavy magical energy, making it extremely unique in texture.

Whether the inner core is cut off to be used as the wand core, or the whole thing is polished and shaped to be the main body of the wand, it is a top-quality material that is rare in the world and its value far exceeds that of ordinary magical materials.

After a brief moment of thought, Puni abandoned the idea of ​​directly cutting and sawing it off.

Forcibly cutting off the horn would damage its integrity and waste its natural magical patterns, which would be a loss.

He plans to collect and preserve the unicorn horn and the intact basilisk skull together, and then disassemble and process them in detail to preserve the original quality of the materials to the greatest extent possible.

His gaze naturally shifted downwards, landing on the crimson crest of feathers atop the basilisk's head.

Despite its name, crested hair has a texture that is completely different from ordinary hair.

Each crest feather is hard and firm, with a toughness comparable to a thousand-year-old vine, and a rough and resilient feel.

Although it does not come with any special magical effects and cannot be used for casting spells or crafting magical items, it is extremely sought after in the magical materials market and is a rare collectible.

A strange rumor circulated inexplicably flashed through my mind: some people claimed that grinding the feathers of such ancient monsters into powder had special therapeutic effects.

Puni shook his head slightly, dismissing the absurd idea.

He never intended to resell these rare materials. Firstly, he was likely to use them in his future crafting tools. Secondly, the source of the basilisk materials was too unique to explain to outsiders, and rashly circulating them would only cause trouble.

Then Puni reached out and precisely pinched the basilisk's two long, hollow fangs, gently pulling them out with a slight force.

Snake fangs are inherently regenerative. The basilisk's jaw structure was loose, and after the severe electric shock, its periodontal tissues were already damaged and loose. Without much effort, the two intact and sharp fangs were easily removed, with the fangs intact and the hollow venom tubes clearly visible.

He continued collecting methodically, carefully peeling away and storing the complete venom glands connecting the fangs and the flexible, long forked tongue. As for the dense, dark green scales covering the basilisk's body, there were too many to disassemble and collect at the moment, so Puni put them aside for the time being, planning to come back later to clean and store them all at once.

Of all the spoils, Puni valued the basilisk's eyeballs the most.

Throughout the fierce battle, he avoided direct attacks on the eyes and failed to damage the basilisk's eyes. As a result, the eyeballs, which possess the power of a deadly gaze, were preserved in perfect condition without any damage, making them the most valuable core material of the entire corpse.

Puni understood the key characteristic: the basilisk's eyeballs stored a massive amount of condensed primordial magic power, but once separated from a living body, the magic power would rapidly and continuously decay, and could not be sealed and preserved for a long time.

This is also the biggest weakness of the basilisk's eyeballs, which cannot be used as a regular trump card.

Otherwise, given its inherent deadly gaze effect, if it could be preserved for a long time, it could instantly dismantle the enemy's combat power and crush a group of wizards in a large-scale team battle. Its lethality and practicality even far exceed unforgivable curses like the Avada Kedavra, making it an over-the-top, bug-level ability.

Looking at the two intact eyeballs in his palm, Puni suddenly had a completely new idea to try.

Since conventional sealing methods cannot lock away the magic power of the eyeball, if the entire eyeball is directly devoured by the Enlightened Saint Realm, can the magic power and special abilities within it be preserved?

However, the current energy is insufficient to complete the creation of a new device.

Puni stared at the snake monster's eyes, which he couldn't deal with properly, his heart filled with helplessness and entanglement.

The priceless treasures were within his grasp, yet he was unable to collect and utilize them due to his limited abilities. This situation of watching rare resources stagnate and go to waste filled him with a sense of helplessness and distress.

After completing all the finishing touches, Puni finally prepared to leave the underground chamber.

From infiltrating the secret room, battling the basilisk, counting the spoils, to thoroughly cleaning up the battlefield, the entire process took an extremely long time.

The sky, which was supposed to be dark at night, had already completely darkened, and the time had quietly passed to three or four in the morning.

The entire Hogwarts was shrouded in deep silence; all the teachers and students were fast asleep, and the entire castle was eerily quiet.

The chilling atmosphere of the night slowly spread along the secret passage, and Puni looked up at the dark end of the passage.

At the same time, in the resting area of ​​the small statues deep inside the secret chamber, the stone wall, which had been silent for many years, suddenly trembled slightly, and the stone texture of the wall vibrated, awakening the long-dormant mechanism.

The moment it sensed the mechanism being activated, the small statue immediately reacted, muttering to itself in a tone full of anticipation.

"It's finally here."

The moment the words were spoken, the stone fireplace, which was originally embedded in the wall, began to slide smoothly outward, gradually detaching from the wall groove and completely revealing the hidden space behind it.

As the fireplace was moved aside, a stone doorway, identical to the one in the underground chamber, slowly came into view, its patterns ancient and its shape exactly the same.

A dazzling blue light suddenly shone in the doorway, flashing for a moment before quickly receding and dissipating.

The moment the blue light faded, Puni's figure appeared steadily in this unfamiliar rest room, landing smoothly without experiencing any dizziness or discomfort caused by spatial teleportation.

Before the spatial fluctuations around him had completely subsided, the little statue's voice resounded throughout the room, filled with shock and admiration, reflecting a completely changed attitude.

"Lestrange brat, I completely misjudged you! I never imagined that someone your age and cultivation level could actually kill that serpent monster that had been entrenched in the secret chamber for a thousand years!"

"Well, it's getting late. Goodnight, I have to go now."

The little statue chuckled and corrected, "Perhaps you should say good morning; it's already bright outside."

Puni paused for a moment, then calmly changed his words: "Good morning then, see you next time."

After saying goodbye, Puni turned and walked straight away from the hidden lounge concealed in the wall.

The small statue silently watched his figure disappear into the distance, and for the first time, a strong sense of satisfaction and anticipation arose in the heart that had been silent for thousands of years.

During its long years of hiding in the secret chamber, it had never seen such a wonderful and dramatic battle. Today's battle had given it a complete glimpse into the ultimate magical game and tactical maneuvering.

It murmured to itself, its tone carrying a confident prediction; though it was a question, the answer was already clear in its mind.

"This boy named Puni will surely grow into the most powerful and top-tier mage in the entire magical world!"

At this moment, its long-dormant obsession rekindled its light.

Confined in the sealed chamber for endless years, its greatest wish is to break free and regain its freedom.

Puni's rise gave it hope of realizing its dream.

"It seems my dream of escaping this prison may come true within the next few decades!"

Overwhelmed with anticipation, the little statue completely lost control of its emotions.

It lacks the tear glands of other living beings and cannot shed tears, yet the emotional fluctuations emanating from its body are more genuine and intense than those of any weeping creature.

This is not a sorrowful grief, but the ultimate joy and excitement of finally seeing the dawn after thousands of years of accumulation.

Chapter 133 Guardians of the Stars

Ravenclaw's common room is often filled with diligent upperclassmen studying magical theories and spell notes late into the night. Puni knows that if the tower doors were to open by themselves when no one was around, it would seem particularly strange and would be more likely to arouse suspicion. In comparison, being seen by upperclassmen who were studying early in the morning returning to their dorm late at night is just a harmless little thing.

Most students within the academy are well aware that prefects, even those of the same or higher year, rarely deduct points from their own academy students for going out at night. In the eyes of most students, occasional nighttime outings are not considered serious violations; at most, they are just casual, unauthorized actions. Of course, there are a few exceptions in the Weasley family.

But the moment Puni stepped into the lounge today, he immediately sensed that something was wrong.

In the spacious and bright rest area, all the other seats were empty except for a slender figure sitting on the sofa by the window. Qiu was sitting quietly with a book in her hands. The moment she looked up, her eyes met those of Puni, who had just entered the room.

Her originally clear and gentle eyes were now subtly clouded with a faint anger, her gaze fixed on Puni without shifting even slightly.

Puni's mind raced, and he instantly understood her situation. She was clearly not studying there by chance, but had deliberately stayed there, waiting for his return.

Puni awkwardly scratched the back of his head, then sat down next to Qiu with a hint of apology, and took the initiative to speak tentatively.

"You've been here all this time, waiting for me to come back?"

Qiu did not respond, but simply gazed at him silently, her quiet gaze concealing unspoken dissatisfaction.

Puni couldn't stand such a quiet gaze, so he could only lower his head and admit his mistake first.

"I know I was wrong. I shouldn't have gone out all night and stayed out until dawn, making you wait so long for nothing."

Puni understood that Qiu's displeasure wasn't about him breaking school rules by going out at night without permission, but rather about his being out of contact all night and not returning home, leaving her worried and anxious.

Hearing his words of admitting his mistake, the anger in Qiu's eyes subsided slightly. She stopped staring at him with a look of grievance and reproach. She turned to the side, picked up a cup of black tea that was sitting quietly on the table, and spoke softly.

"I asked the house-elf to prepare it in advance, and I specially added goat milk, but it has been sitting for too long and has gone cold."

“It’s alright.” Puni immediately smiled and took the teacup, his tone relaxed and reassuring. “I can accept warm drinks, and naturally, cold ones are no problem either.”