Chapter 428: Flight

Looking ahead, the pitch-black darkness must be that thieves' den; I'll charge up and kill them spotless!" Bai Lang hummed an uncivilized tune as he wandered through the pitch-black Forbidden Forest. The forest's trees were extremely dense, all thick and oddly shaped giant trees; the ground was covered with shrubs and the trees' roots, plus uncleared fallen leaves, so one misstep would send him tumbling. Especially at night it was hard to walk—but for Bai Lang, even if the treetops blocked the moonlight, it made no difference to him.

He jumped around in the Forbidden Forest, moving silently like a big cat. "The naked eye can hardly see any creatures, but if you sense vital energy, there are forest spirits everywhere here." He saw a strange creature on the tree that looked like it was made of branches; with a light leap and a hook of his hand, his fingers, like blades, dug into the branches, pulling his body upward, and he looked at the small thing before him.

"What is this thing called? Tree-protection...?" Bai Lang muttered, and with a casual flick he sent the small creature lunging at him flying—this little guy must have seen Bai Lang grab the branches, saw wood chips and resin flying, and tried to rush over to gouge his eyes; Bai Lang had no intention to kill, so he just lightly flicked it away. He relaxed his hand, and his whole body landed silently on the ground. Bai Lang hooked his foot and lifted the wand that had been lying under the tree, grabbing it with one hand.

After that he moved purely like a raptor skimming low through the dense forest—the wand was really handy; a point of the wand in his left hand gave him leverage, combined with his feet and right claw, letting him glide as lightly and silently as a forest eagle-owl. "Is this a unicorn?" On a thick tree trunk, Bai Lang crouched silently, observing the beautiful creature before him.

It was a silver-white horse that glowed faintly under the night sky, with a pale gold horn on its forehead. The horse stood in a clearing in the forest, its lines extremely graceful; Bai Lang, looking at such a unicorn, also wanted to take a photo—but Hogwarts is unfriendly to electronic devices, and Bai Lang had no interest in bringing a film camera—it would have to be an old-style mechanical camera. However, after watching it a while, he let out a malicious laugh.

At once the unicorn bolted away, leaving only Bai Lang's loud laughter. "Is the Forbidden Forest dangerous? Not at all!" He casually squeezed the head of a poisonous snake until it burst—this snake had silently approached to bite him; without even looking, he grabbed it and a pinch made its head explode, then he flung the dead snake and the blood on his hand away. He cheerfully turned around, preparing to leave the Forbidden Forest—because it was late, time to go back to sleep.

"Huh?" Bai Lang noticed a sound from the side, glanced over, and said, "I'll come back another time. That side seems to have a rather ferocious beast."

Bai Lang returned from his night wander, and it was no surprise that he didn't hear Harry and Ron's breathing—those two kids hadn't slept either, but had slipped out for a night wander. In the Gryffindor dormitory, out of the ten boys in the male dormitory, three or four weren't in bed; it seems that night wandering is a tradition among the lion house students. "Filch really is pitiful." Bai Lang muttered, then he lay down on the bed and fell into a loud sleep.

The next day's schedule included a flying lesson; Bai Lang always thought flying on a broomstick was rather unreliable? "Witches aside, why must wizards ride broomsticks? Couldn't it be a flying carpet or something?" However, his classmates were quite excited, many boasting about how skilled they already were as flyers. This lesson was held together with Slytherin, and Bai Lang naturally saw Draco Draco Malfoy, so he gave a grim laugh and edged closer.

Whether it was Crabbe or Goyle, they came over like thug bodyguards from society, only to be slapped aside by Bai Lang's palm. Another guy had just raised his wand when Bai Lang seized his throat with one hand and lifted him up, his face turning purple as he couldn't breathe. Then Bai Lang tossed him to the side, saying, "Stay humble in front of me—understood?" At this point Bai Lang was no different from a bully; although the Slytherin young wizards might not turn out to be good people later, for now they truly didn't know how to handle such a straightforward violent criminal.

This was purely Bai Lang's proactive provocation, and even the Gryffindor lot stared agape—though they were griffin kids, after all, isn't such bullying behavior usually more typical of older Slytherins? Draco Draco Malfoy now looked less like a white peacock and more like a partridge; this guy's mouth only ever says "my father, my father..." but his behavior has become much weaker. And Bai Lang didn't lay a hand on him; he just coldly laughed while squeezing in and out, as other Slytherins either stepped forward or backed away.

They were all eleven-year-old wizards; who could match Bai Lang, this old ruffian, in ruthlessness? The Gryffindor crowd burst into laughter, and Bai Lang, seeing he'd made his point, retreated back into the Gryffindor group before Madam Hooch arrived. Yet Bai Lang already felt a slight distance; those Gryffindor youngsters seemed to be a bit afraid of him. Bai Lang leaned on his wand and merely smiled; when Madam Hooch came, he led the young wizards to the lawn.

Everyone had a broom at their side, and Bai Lang muttered, "This thing can fly, but I think it's better suited for sweeping the floor." Meanwhile, the Slytherin young wizards, after the teacher arrived, had recovered their original swagger—though they said nothing else, perhaps they were sharp‑sensed people; they could all sense that Bai Lang seemed to be subtly isolated by Gryffindor as well. "All right, what are you waiting for?" Madam Hooch barked, "Everyone, stand by a flying broomstick. Quick, quick, hurry up."

"Extend your right hand, place it above the broom handle," Madam Hooch shouted from the front, then said, "Up!" Everyone immediately shouted, "Up!" It was no surprise that Harry's broomshot straight into his hand, while the other wizards' brooms showed no special movement, and Draco Draco Malfoy's broom zoomed into his hand— the Slytherin brooms responded even more. Meanwhile, Bai Lang's broom, like Neville's, remained completely still. Consequently, Draco Draco Malfoy burst into vengeful laughter.

"Up!" the wizards whose brooms hadn't responded kept shouting; this time most brooms responded, but Bai Lang's broom remained utterly still, while conversely his wand suddenly rose up in his hand, and before he realized it he had let go of his wand. This time Draco Draco Malfoy laughed especially loudly, and Bai Lang had to chase after his flying wand. "Maybe I'll end up as the man who rides his wand to fly!"

Bai Lang chased after his wand as he ran; at this moment even Madam Hooch couldn't help but chuckle, though she was busy correcting the young wizards' technique and warning them how to avoid falling off their brooms. Harry happily watched Madam Hooch constantly faulting Draco Draco Malfoy's movements, while he paid more attention to Bai Lang's wand‑grabbing action—the wand kept flying toward the castle, and Bai Lang's running speed was simply outrageous.

When the wand was about to hit the castle wall, Bai Lang strode up the wall like a running athlete, using the momentum to surge a few steps, flip, and jump, snatching his wand back—this parkour move earned cheers from Gryffindor and even some Slytherin young wizards....