The black gas disappeared, and the soul with Voldemort's face returned to the crown.
Cyrus knew that his plan had worked, and he had almost fooled Voldemort himself. Of course, this was actually very easy, after all, his existence was a sign that he was a Horcrux.
Even if Voldemort was more careful, he probably could not have imagined that his Horcrux would be possessed by another body.
As for Cyrus, he could have saved himself the trouble, but he didn't intend to use the crown only once. He had to be careful when he was with Voldemort. At least when the crown was still on his head, he had to be "Riddle".
Fortunately, Tom Riddle's brain block technique is still very powerful. Even Dumbledore couldn't see through his thoughts. Cyrus absorbed all of Riddle's magical knowledge, so he would not slack off on useful magic such as brain block technique.
Cyrus didn't go anywhere, but opened the Jewish Book of Abraham right there.
This is a copper book with only twenty-one pages in total. Every seventh page is numbered, and the page number is also "seven". In alchemy, three and seven are very special numbers.
Among them, three may represent the "triple greatness", which means repeating the greatness three times.
"Perhaps this means that a certain element needs to be sublimated three times."
There is no doubt that this element is mercury, also known as quicksilver.
But this alone is obviously not enough. Cyrus had previously tried to achieve a perfect world with three pillars, ten elements, four worlds and twenty-two paths, but ultimately failed.
"Is there something missing?"
"And it's a very crucial point!"
He looked at several pictures imprinted on the books. Two snakes were entangled with each other, one was being swallowed by the other, which represented the fusion of matter; the second picture was a snake nailed to the cross; the third picture was a group of snakes gushing out of a spring in the desert...
What do snakes really mean? Is it mystery, taboo, or immortality itself? The shed snake skin symbolizes the decayed body, but does the new life that is born from it represent a new life?
This constant alternation, over and over again, in order to achieve eternal life, is like the basilisk, which has existed for nearly a thousand years but is still far away from death.
Maybe I should add something snake-related to the potion, such as the basilisk's snake skin?
On the road leading to the secret room, there is a huge snake slough of a basilisk. The basilisk itself is a product of magic, and its slough has many functions. Its extremely powerful magic resistance can be used to make armor. However, the most important thing is that the slough has always been a symbol of immortality and rebirth. What if the slough of a basilisk is added in the process of making the Philosopher's Stone? "Add snake slough? Do you really think that you can make a unique Philosopher's Stone in this way?" The soul in the crown laughed, "I don't know when you became so naive. If I hadn't seen you being made with my own eyes, I'm afraid I would have doubted whether you were really me."
"What do you mean?" Cyrus' heart skipped a beat and he asked in a deep voice.
But Voldemort didn't actually have any doubts, he just thought it was a little funny.
To actually interpret the contents of those pictures as snake shedding is simply an insult to the Dark Lord's reputation.
Or was it because I was too young when I made the diary as a Horcrux, so the other party's soul was too naive? "You actually asked me what I meant? Snakes devouring each other, snakes nailed to the cross, a man raising an iron axe to chop at Hermes' feet, the Holy Grail carrying countless blood, babies being slaughtered..."
Voldemort repeated the bloody scene word for word, especially the last picture, in which a king was holding a sword and ordering his soldiers to kill many babies. The mothers of the babies were kneeling in front of them and begging for mercy. Next to them were some containers similar to buckets and crucibles, in which the babies' blood was collected, and the sun and the moon were bathing in the blood.
"Tell me! If you want eternal life, what is the price?"
"What can be weighed against it on the scale of life?"
Voldemort's voice was like the terrifying ghost king in hell, questioning Cyrus' soul in the deepest way.
It was as if he was holding a hammer and hammering the sharpest nail into the place that Cyrus had never dared to look at before, causing blood to flow.
There is only one answer -
"Only life!"
The price of life can only be life.
This was actually something Cyrus had already understood. If he wanted to be resurrected, he had to absorb a person's vitality. Only when the life of the person he possessed was completely drained would he be able to influence reality.
Kill an innocent soul and then forge a Horcrux.
This is the true equivalent exchange. If alchemy is a balance, then "life" is placed on one end of the scale, and the other end must also be measured with "life".
Voldemort was well aware of this, and he had killed too many people in order to create his Horcruxes.
"Life is an exchange. It has been like this since ancient times. Eagles kill rabbits, snakes hunt mice, lions and tigers hunt cattle and sheep... Only when others die can you live!"
But for Cyrus, he wanted to avoid killing any innocent life in his resurrection, so he tried other methods to replicate the Philosopher's Stone. However, the more he studied, the more he realized that life was an indispensable price.
If this is the case, then everything he does will lose its meaning, so he is subconsciously unwilling to think in this direction.
However, Voldemort finally ruthlessly broke this window paper.
At the same time, this also made Cyrus face the real truth.
Magic itself is a kind of idealistic power. Sometimes, if you want to accomplish something, you don’t care about spells, wands or complicated rituals, you just need a spiritual desire.
On the other hand, if even you are deceiving yourself, how can you succeed in refining the Philosopher's Stone?
"If you want to refine the Philosopher's Stone, you must use the blood of something to forge it, otherwise you will never succeed."
"But Nicolas Flamel, do you really think he is a man capable of doing such a bloody thing?" Cyrus asked back.
"People of his generation..." Voldemort just snorted. It was obvious that he did not understand all the "goodness" in this world. He probably thought that all kindness and justice were false, and the truth hidden under lies and deception was always bloody!
Voldemort's views were certainly paranoid, but that also meant he wasn't entirely wrong.
Yes!
Nicolas Flamel lived for more than six hundred years. Who knows what life was like in his time?
The further back in time goes, the bloodier and more cruel the civilization becomes, and this is also true for the magic world. Six hundred years ago, even black magic was probably just ordinary magic in the eyes of people at that time.
Moreover, judging from the fact that Nico has not been able to replicate the Philosopher's Stone for so many years, perhaps he himself did not notice this exchange of lives.
"You think so?" Voldemort asked.
"I prefer that he knew, but when he tried again, he lost the revelation of the prophecy."
Voldemort did not think Nicolas Flamel was a naive person. How could a master of alchemy fail to notice such an obvious equivalent exchange? Besides, it takes more than a little blood to refine the Philosopher's Stone.
It is rumored that at some point Nicolas Flamel hunted down a large number of Dark wizards, but it is not known whether this is true or not.
But if it is true, then he is most likely preparing to refine the Philosopher's Stone.
"The Jewish Book of Abraham once revealed part of its secrets to Nicolas Flamel, but after Nicolas successfully refined the Philosopher's Stone, that revelation disappeared."
"If so, how do we find this revelation?"
"Looking? No! When this book is in your hands, the revelation will be complete!" said the soul in the crown.
Thank you for your 1000 points reward to Mingyue Mujixu. Thank you baby
It turns out that I am not too sleepy, I am crying because I am sick (End of this chapter)