Chapter 324 Visitors From the East

Just then, the fireplace burst into a hissing sound at an inopportune time again, and with a bang, the green flames erupted with fangs and claws.

A wizard in dark golden clothes walked out slowly.

The wizard's face was covered with wrinkles like an old tree, and his black and white hair was tied up high with a bamboo hairpin. From the outside, he looked older than Newt and Charles, probably about the same age as Dumbledore.

But he did not give people a sense of decadence because of his old face. On the contrary, like Dumbledore, he had a very strong aura when he just stood out, and everyone at the scene held their breath and focused their eyes on him.

Obviously, this is a powerful wizard, not much different from Dumbledore, and his temperament and gorgeous clothes revealed his noble status in both explicit and implicit ways - only those who are used to being in a high position and have power can have this temperament, which is what most people think at this moment.

From the expressions of the people present, it can be seen that most people have recognized the identity of this wizard, and the surprise on their faces also shows that his arrival is beyond everyone's expectations, except Dumbledore.

The wizard obviously felt that the atmosphere was a little wrong, but he didn't seem to care. He still greeted everyone with a faint smile on his face, "Ladies and gentlemen, good evening!" He cleared his throat, "Please forgive me for coming all the way here, and I apologize for my sudden appearance and abrupt interruption of your conversation - it seems... I came at a bad time?"

Dumbledore's face first showed an expression of joy that could not be concealed, but as his eyes revealed a little doubt, he carefully looked at the fireplace in the principal's office, confirmed that the flames had receded, and then said: "Oh ! My old friend, thank you very much for coming - look at what you said, it has been almost 70 years since the last Phoenix Call... We haven't seen each other for so long, so naturally there are a lot of things to talk about..."

"Oh? Really?" The wizard had a strange look in his eyes, showing a playful expression, but he didn't delay on this topic. He directly changed the subject and said: "Dumbledore, I know what you are thinking, you don't have to wait any longer - I am the only one here today..."

"Liu, what's going on?" Dumbledore frowned deeply, obviously this was a bit beyond his expectations.

In this world, due to the appearance and disruption of Schelling, the situation faced by the Order of the Phoenix is ​​far worse than in the original book - and the complexity of the situation in the wizarding world is far beyond the description in the original book, whether it is the ancient lost black magic and ancient fierce plants that appeared in the third project of the Goblet of Fire, or Grindelwald's mysterious escape from prison without a wand after decades, and Hermione Granger was kidnapped in the Hogwarts Castle that he built himself...

These all gave Dumbledore a very bad feeling.

Although he has not had direct contact or conflict with the Shadow of the Dragon and the Knights of Walpurgis, it is not difficult to guess with his wisdom that they must be behind the bizarre events in the wizarding world in recent years.

Therefore, unlike him in the original book, he decisively used the "Phoenix Call" that he never used until his death in the original book, and the result is that the Order of the Phoenix in this world is also much stronger than in the original book.

The last time the "Phoenix Call" was activated was when Grindelwald first called his global supporters in Paris. Nicolas Flamel and Eulalie Hicks, a professor of Charms in North America, had a conversation about how to respond. That conversation also laid the foundation for the group led by Newt to resist Grindelwald.

But even that time, it did not alarm wizards in the circle except those in Europe and North America.

It can be seen that this time, Dumbledore was so determined that he directly activated the highest level of "Phoenix Call" and invited this important figure in the Eastern wizarding world.

The wizard called "Liu" by Dumbledore is Liu Tao, who met Dumbledore when he was young. In the Fantastic Beasts movie, Liu Tao appeared as the Chinese Minister of Magic, and competed with Grindelwald and Vicinitya Santos for the position of President of the International Confederation of Wizards in the election.

Although he did not have any dialogue in the whole play, and he eventually lost to Santos in the election, he is actually a master of combat magic in the Eastern wizard world, and is one of the two great war gods along with Kaguya Yagyu of Japan.

Putting aside his own combat power, the Liu family he came from is also one of the pure-blood families with the longest heritage and the strongest strength in China.

The Liu family has produced many legendary wizards, the most famous of which is Liu Xiu, the great magician of the Han Dynasty.

Wizards in that era were not as feared by ordinary Muggle people as they are today. In addition to being a powerful wizard, Liu Xiu was also an excellent emperor. In his famous battle "Battle of Kunyang", he used "Mist Summoning" and "Meteor Summoning" to create the largest-scale battle in Chinese history with the most disparity in military strength, where the few defeated the many.

Compared to the Western world, China's wizarding world is relatively low-key and mysterious. There are not many pure-blood families that can be compared with the Liu family in terms of external popularity, but the Zhang family, which inherited from Zhang Guo of the Tang Dynasty, is definitely powerful enough to be called one of them.

Five years ago, before Harry entered school, some scum in the Chinese wizarding world had caused a zombie riot in the Xiangxi region. At that time, Dumbledore, who was the chairman of the International Confederation of Wizards, was invited to help the Chinese Ministry of Magic quell the riot. In that incident, Dumbledore also established a deep friendship with the Liu and Zhang families who participated in the action.

According to Dumbledore's guess, as long as the Liu family sent Liu Tao, who was good at dueling, and the Zhang family sent Zhang He, a master of transfiguration who was famous for his transfiguration, it would be enough to make the Phoenix Order rise several levels in succession.

What's more, Zhang He and himself were both masters of transfiguration, and they often had academic exchanges. His granddaughter also studied at Hogwarts and visited him during the Quidditch World Cup at the beginning of this year. He had used the highest level of "Phoenix Calling Order" and was obviously in a very troublesome predicament. It was a time when he urgently needed help. In any case, he did not expect that he would be absent from such an important occasion.

"Zhang... is he really not coming?" Although Dumbledore was mentally prepared, he still asked again.

Liu Tao shook his head gently and said softly: "He won't come..." Liu Tao continued: "Maybe you are busy and didn't notice that, in fact, he has rarely appeared in the Phoenix Contact Book in the past few years..."

"I heard..." Liu Tao looked at Dumbledore deeply, with an ambiguous expression on his face, and said: "He is very close to the Malfoy family in Great Britain... To be precise, he should be closely related to a young man in the Malfoy family, um... that is, the young wizard who just won the Triwizard Tournament and is in the limelight... Sherin Malfoy..."

Dumbledore took a deep breath.

He believed in Liu Tao's words.

Facing his invitation and request for help, with the relationship between the two of them, Zhang He had no reason not to come - even if he was busy, he should have asked someone to bring a letter to him. There was only one explanation for his absence - he did not want to come at his own will.

Dumbledore had long known that Schelling had established his own circle in the international academic community, but he had never expected that Schelling's influence would be enough to influence a master-level figure - you know, there are less than ten people in the world who can be called masters of Transfiguration!