Chapter 368: Borrowing a Corpse to Return a Soul

Murphy saw Lukas.

She seemed to have fainted, bound at one corner of the hexagram formation.

"Voldemort." Murphy looked at Harry. "What do you want to do? It can't possibly be that you're really reviving Slytherin, can it?"

"Ah, Slytherin." Harry said with a smile. "I did indeed borrow his ritual."

As he spoke, he pointed at the nearby ceramic coffin. "He's right here."

Murphy looked toward the ceramic coffin, his gaze piercing the ceramic barrier, and saw a dry corpse inside.

At this moment, the corpse was rapidly sprouting flesh as Magic Power was infused, and simultaneously a profoundly deep passage opened behind the body. When Murphy looked, he seemed to see an endless desert, a dead silent ocean, and a fortress faintly revealed in the mist; beyond that, he also saw a shadow.

The shadow was crawling along the dark passage, forged by the students' Magic Power and lives, coming from an unknown distance in the spirit realm, crossing the gap between life and death, attempting to return to the material world.

"This secret chamber is Slytherin's masterpiece; he linked a small fragment of the spirit realm with the material world and placed his own body within this chamber."

"As long as there is enough power, one can break through the barrier between the present world and the spirit realm; with a small coordinate, he can locate his position from the spirit realm and thus use that Magic Power conduit to return here."

"Of course this involves countless complex Black Magic; even I cannot fully comprehend it, but he is close to succeeding."

"When the school was first founded, they chose a location where Magic Power was most active, and such places are usually closer to the spirit realm; therefore Slytherin built the secret chamber here."

"And to find enough wizards as human sacrifices, where is more suitable than a school? It gathers thousands of young wizards, and under the powerful Magic they have almost no ability to resist."

Murphy looked at him. "But reviving Slytherin is clearly not your goal."

He looked at a point on the corpse that glowed with Magic Power the same color as Voldemort's, and asked, "Did you turn this body into your Horcrux?"

"Can you see it?" Voldemort was somewhat surprised. "You seem to have a very unique observational ability; Harry's memory mentioned a technique for observing Magic Power, is that so?"

Murphy did not deny it, but glanced at the room's arrangement: at the corners of the hexagram formation, besides Lukas, the other two corners each held a Voldemort—one about sixteen years old, presumably revived through a Ring, and one about eighteen, arms covered in blood, the same one Murphy had previously encountered.

In another corner there was also a pendant, another corner was empty, and the ceramic coffin seemed to have been moved from its original central position to the last corner.

"I guess the last corner holds the Basilisk?" Murphy asked.

"Ah, you guessed it." Voldemort laughed. "Indeed, seven is a number imbued with Magic Power. To accomplish this, I must split my soul into seven pieces."

"Then, have each gather Magic Power to fill the gaps of the soul, and merge them into one."

"Thus, I can break free from this world's constraints and become the greatest wizard in history… just like Merlin once did, becoming the god of wizards."

"And to achieve this, I need a little deception."

"Relying solely on seven ordinary souls cannot break the thing that limits our power, unless one of the souls comes from over a thousand years ago, from an era when that oath had not yet become fully widespread."

"After leaving the school, I studied many Slytherin documents and finally discovered the true purpose of the secret chamber. He did not build it to purge Muggle bloodlines from the school, but for his own resurrection."

"In fact, I'm glad that in my youth I didn't fully open the secret chamber."

"Because, if my guess is correct, Slytherin's heir, as his blood descendant, will serve as a 'coordinate' and container in this ritual; had I opened the chamber then, I would likely have become his puppet."

"But now I have long surpassed my ancestors; I see his arrangement clearly. I attached my soul fragments to his corpse, so Slytherin will resurrect on his own body and then become my nourishment."

Murphy frowned; he began to understand.

Voldemort is one of the most brilliant wizards in history; he early on reached the "wizard's ceiling," and his way to break this ceiling is to borrow the power of Horcruxes.

Horcruxes can, by certain means, absorb others' Magic Power to resurrect; the seven soul fragments are seven Voldemort powers, and if merged into one, theoretically the total Magic Power should exceed that "ceiling."

However, this method is too crude; to ensure success, he also turned Slytherin's corpse into a Horcrux.

Since Slytherin lived over a thousand years ago, he is not bound by that "ceiling," so when Voldemort's soul fragments combine with Slytherin's spirit returning from the spirit realm, they likewise gain the ability to break the ceiling.

Then it merges this soul fragment with the others into its body, achieving the breakthrough.

A Horcrux is essentially a blood‑lock pendant; Voldemort used it to break death, allowing him to venture many extreme measures. However, a Horcrux cannot increase Magic Power, so he created seven of them, and his first Horcrux, the Diary, possessed the ability to absorb others' Magic Power to resurrect, laying the foundation of his magical strength. Yet merely increasing Magic Power might still not break the ceiling, so he turned his attention to his ancestors.

This soul‑borrowing resurrection is quite similar to Murphy's past use of a Soul Seed on Albert Runcorn's corpse, then transforming Tom into Lukas's shadow.

Murphy felt it should be fairly feasible.

"Are you still going to stop me, Professor Murphy?" Harry looked at him.

Murphy hesitated; on one hand, he was eager to see whether Voldemort's scheme was viable and to know if this method could break that "ceiling," after all he is similarly constrained, and Voldemort's actions could provide some reference for his own predicament.

But if he doesn't stop him, Lukas and those students might have to be sacrificed.

After thinking, Murphy smiled, "You've been calling me professor all along; are you really just Voldemort now?"

Harry was startled.

At that moment, a Lightning Crow landed on Lukas's head; the next second, a flash of electricity erupted, burning all the ropes binding her, and with a bang it vanished, taking her away from the spot.

Ultimately, Voldemort's actions can only serve as a reference, not Murphy's own path; for his own path, Lukas's role as a General‑purpose Artificial Intelligence is actually very important.

Because getting involved just for the spectacle and mixing his own things in would not be worth it.

"Cheater!" Harry shouted angrily, raising his wand to attack Murphy.

"Hoo—"

At that moment, a terrifying inhaling sound echoed from the ceramic coffin, followed by a gaunt, age‑spotted hand reaching out of the coffin.

And in that instant, Murphy felt a stir in his heart.

He finally sensed a trace of the Holy Mother's aura.

It's right here!

(End of Chapter)