Hogwarts Summoning Guide.

With the ball arranged, the entire Hogwarts was enveloped in a thick atmosphere of hormones. Every student—whether seventh or first year—spent their days in a state of romantic ecstasy. Everywhere, male and female students could be seen confessing their love to each other and making dates. Bai Lin wondered if Valentine's Day had been brought forward. On Christmas Eve, those without a dance partner were destined to receive ten thousand points of real damage and be crowned with the honorary title of "single dog."

On the third day at noon, hundreds of large owls flew into the lively banquet hall, each carrying one or two exquisite gift boxes. Every Hufflepuff student in the banquet hall received a gift.

"Is Santa Claus appearing?!" The twins were completely stunned and exclaimed.

The Hufflepuff table was filled with jubilation, as if the children had won the Quidditch Cup. They eagerly opened the gift box, inside which lay a brand-new formal suit, made of wool, complete with accessories, and bearing the sleeve patch of a famous London shop. The Hufflepuff crest was embroidered on the chest, its gold thread gleaming in the firelight.

Slytherins scoffed at the Hufflepuff students' overreaction; they generally came from well-off families, but deep down, who wouldn't want a beautiful dress as a Christmas present? The Gryffindor and Ravenclaw students, however, were far more enthusiastic, with many crowding around to watch the spectacle and marveling at the Hufflepuffs' treatment.

Harry also received a custom-made suit from Sirius Black. Although it looked a bit old, probably from when Black was a child, Harry liked it very much. Even the silly Neville received a new suit from his grandmother. In comparison, Ron was the most miserable. He was biting into a piece of turkey meat, seemingly venting his dissatisfaction.

Bai Lin felt no pity for him whatsoever. This guy was the one who ultimately stole the female lead away, making him arguably the most successful second male lead in history. It's a pity he wasted his feelings.

Time passed day by day, and before we knew it, it was the 22nd. At this time last year, Catherine was busy at the clothing store and couldn't accompany him to London. This year, it seems that Catherine has taken a long vacation and has been spending time with her juniors at Beauxbatons.

Yuqian and Bai Lin were inseparable, but Bai Lin didn't just bring her along; Zhuo Bi and Qi Qi also accompanied him to London, one on each side. After the explorer family gathering, they would head directly to the East, hoping to make some great discoveries. Bai Lin needed to bring a few helpers with him.

This year's gathering was not held in the small open-air square last year, but next to a small church by the sea. At first glance, it looked like a wedding venue for young people. The scenery was beautiful, and there was a gentle breeze, with no hint of winter chill.

The entire area was enveloped in a thin mist, which meant that a temporary spatial barrier had been created, so there was no need to worry about Muggles accidentally wandering in.

As dusk fell, dozens of glass lamps floated into the air, illuminating the area brightly. More than ten long tables were arranged in a circle, with a small stage in the center, where gentlemen and ladies who loved to dance were already gracefully dancing to the music.

Yuxi and the others couldn't get into the party venue and could only wait at the hotel. Bai Lin walked in alone, looked around, but didn't see any familiar faces. Fudge, Moritz, Elder Ross, and others hadn't arrived yet.

"It seems I've arrived a bit early," Bai Lin murmured, taking a glass of champagne from the tray of the house-elf waiter beside him. He took a sip and found it surprisingly fragrant and pure, clearly a product of a renowned winery. Just for this wine, Bai Lin felt that the trip was worthwhile.

He strolled around the venue, where family members who had arrived earlier were chatting enthusiastically in small groups, like long-lost friends.

At a table some distance from the central dance floor, a conversation among several middle-aged people attracted a large crowd, and Bai Lin curiously joined them.

"The Barris has sunk." A bearded man said forcefully, seemingly suppressing some emotion.

"Have we entered the Antarctic Circle yet?" a middle-aged man nearby asked.

The bearded man closed his eyes in pain, shook his head, and said, "I don't know. All the positioning devices malfunctioned at the time, and the teleportation magic also failed."

Bai Lin suddenly remembered that during last year's gathering, some family members (unfortunately, Bai Lin couldn't remember which country these distant relatives were from) said that Muggles had discovered what appeared to be ancient magical relics in Antarctica. They wanted to go and investigate. Going to Antarctica wasn't like going downstairs to buy groceries; it would definitely require a long period of preparation. A year had passed in the blink of an eye, and he never expected to hear from them again, only to find that their ship had sunk.

"How could it sink? The Barris is a ghost ship!" On the other side, a young woman with Slavic features asked in surprise. She was pretty, and it took Bai Lin a while to recognize her. It was Polina, the newcomer who had attended the gathering with him last year. However, she seemed to have successfully lost weight, and now only her figure was noticeably slimmer. She can no longer be considered fat.

However, Polina's words make a lot of sense. Bai Lin thought of Durmstrang's ghost ship, which could teleport hundreds of people underwater. How could it have sunk?

The bearded man seemed to recall something; his eyes widened, and his face flushed red, as if some extremely terrifying image was replaying in his mind.

"Zemuus... has appeared!" The bearded man seemed to utter a muttered sentence from his throat.

However, most of the family members watching clearly had never heard of this name before. They looked at each other, wondering why the bearded man was behaving so strangely.

The bearded man shook his head, unwilling to continue, and just kept drinking.

"Zemuus is a deep-sea monster..." A familiar voice suddenly rang in Bai Lin's ears. He turned around and saw Lulu with black hair standing behind him, whispering in Bai Lin's ear. Her breath tickled Bai Lin's ear.

Lulu naturally took Bai Lin's arm and led him to the Ross family's table. Several subordinates separated them from the other family members, allowing Lulu to chat with Bai Lin about new information privately.

"The ancient magical ruins in Antarctica must be the place you're talking about," Lulu whispered.

"R'lyeh?" Bai Lin asked in a low voice.

Lulu nodded, a hint of worry in her eyes, and said, "Gracua has been completely silent lately. I suspect he doesn't have the ability to enter R'lyeh on his own."

"Why does he want to enter R'lyeh? As far as I know, R'lyeh is the prison that seals the Great Old One Cthulhu, and Cthulhu and Hastur are sworn enemies," Bai Lin asked.

Currently reading: Chapter 167, News from Antarctica. Find the latest chapters here.

Lulu frowned slightly and leaned closer, saying, "Is the news accurate? If so, it might have a significant impact on the entire battle."

Bai Lin subtly moved aside, precisely because he really liked Lulu and couldn't stand her intimate actions, especially since his current girlfriend was Youxi.

"Never mind the source of this information... Anyway, there's a high probability it's true... Hastur's order to Gracua was probably to open the portal to Earth as soon as possible, but Gracua is determined to go to Antarctica. This leads to two possibilities: first, the key to the portal is in R'lyeh; second, Gracua betrayed Hastur! Which possibility do you think is more likely?"

Lulu touched her cute chin with her finger and said, "I guess it's the latter. If what you're saying is true, there's no reason for the gods to leave a teleportation device at the seal site that would allow other Great Old Ones' minions to enter Earth!"

"That's right. Since the Judgement Mentor said that Gracua is just Hastur's weakest minion, if a stronger one is summoned, Gracua is likely to become a subordinate. In this case, he may not actively promote the construction of the portal, and may even have the ambition to dominate the Earth," Bai Lin analyzed.

"I've been searching for something similar to that ancient boundary stone in Assatir for a while now, and sure enough, it's not that rare... The ancient Maya and Egyptians called it obsidian. The followers of Hastur infused obsidian with special magical energy, which is how they created the boundary stones for teleportation. I think that if Grakua collects enough boundary stones, he can open Hastur's portal and attract more monsters..." Lulu moved a little closer, basically confirming Bai Lin's conjecture.

"Either he wants to surrender to Cthulhu, who is already on Earth, or he wants to obtain some kind of power... By the way, what is this Zemers we just mentioned?" Bai Lin asked.

Lulu said, "Perhaps you've heard of its other name... Kraken. It's called the Kraken because it once appeared in the seas around Northern Europe, but in reality, this enormous squid monster lives in Antarctica, guarding the sunken ancient city of R'lyeh."

It was this ship that attacked the Barris, which was on a family expedition to Antarctica, killing more than twenty wizards and hundreds of Muggles. The bearded man was named Steel, the ship's navigator and the only survivor. He was the first to be thrown out during the attack and landed on an ice floe, thus saving his life...

Bai Lin couldn't help but click his tongue and said, "Just thinking about it is terrifying enough. What are your plans for next year?" He was feeling very confused about the Church of Hastur. The Sun God seemed to want him to take up the banner against the Great Old Ones, but he had no idea how to start. Lulu, on the other hand, seemed to have a very powerful intelligence network and execution capabilities.

"We definitely have to go to Antarctica... but I need to find a ship that's big enough and good enough. You know, Muggle icebreakers are no match for Zemurus... I need to find a stronger ghost ship, preferably one with powerful dark magic attack capabilities..." Lulu said.

"A ghost ship that's big enough... and has the ability to attack with dark magic...?" Bai Lin suddenly had a picture in his mind: "I think you're talking about Durmstrang's Flying Dutchman!"

"What number was it again?" Lulu was taken aback, not understanding Bai Lin's explanation. Bai Lin waved his hand and said, "Don't worry about the details... Let me think of a way, maybe I can sway that ship over..."

Lulu nodded and said, "That's only one aspect. By the way, you're from the East, do you know anything about witchcraft?"

"Ya Sheng?" This time, Bai Lin was taken aback. This was a very ancient and unorthodox word. To put it bluntly, it was a kind of curse technique. It relied on the sorcerer's hatred for a certain person or monster to generate a completely insincere energy to curse the target. At best, it would take their life, and at worst, it would affect the surrounding area.

"You must have heard of this, right? Have you noticed how strikingly similar this curse is to the Hawada curse?" Lulu said.

"Why are you suddenly asking this?" Bai Lin frowned and asked.

Lulu pulled a newspaper from her magic handbag and handed it to Bai Lin, saying, "Since you're about to return to the East, why not take the opportunity to find out more? Let me know if you get any information." Bai Lin had previously announced his return to the East to everyone in the team chat.

Bai Lin was curious about the contents of the newspaper, but as they chatted, many attendees arrived, including the host Nicholas, the chubby Sir Ryan, some old wizards and witches they had met last year, and of course, the even more robust Barnard, who looked more like a bear. He would occasionally glare at Bai Lin and Lulu with very unfriendly eyes, though his gaze toward Lulu seemed to carry a fanaticism.

Fuji arrived late, and a group of people rushed over as soon as he arrived, seemingly having a lot of trivial matters to attend to, keeping him extremely busy. Bai Lin was too lazy to go over, lest Fuji assign him some small tasks at this time.

"Is Elder Ross not planning to attend?" Bai Lin asked Lulu, putting away the newspaper.

"Grandpa's planning to retire, he's leaving everything to me," Lulu said with a smile. Bai Lin looked at her stunning face and thought, "Wow, you're one of the most powerful women in Europe now." Anyway, Bai Lin had never heard of any other young lady who could so easily mobilize both a wizarding team and Muggle mercenaries simultaneously; it wasn't just a matter of money.

The Explorers Family Gathering officially began as House-Elves played the British national anthem, "God Save the Queen."

There were no new young wizards joining this year, nor was there the power struggle in Azkaban that happened last year. Bai Lin was focused on the situation in Antarctica and what was happening in the East, so he simply laughed off the fame and fortune of the Explorers family and did not express his own opinions.

Bai Lin had assumed Lulu would represent the Ross family in revealing information about the Hastur Church, but Lulu listened with a smile throughout the gathering and showed no intention of making a move. Bai Lin quickly realized that discussing this in public would only expose themselves and had no practical effect. This gathering was actually a way for the explorer family's elders to distribute benefits, not to solve problems. Even the Antarctic expedition was treated as an accident, and the elders decided to give the victims' families a sum of money to settle the matter.

Since no one stepped forward to stir up trouble, the entire rally proceeded quickly and smoothly, and the second half was filled with singing and dancing.

"Cousin Kairi, let's dance," Lulu said to Bai Lin as she stood up. Bai Lin looked up and saw several young wizards who seemed to want to invite Lulu over, but Lulu had extended the invitation to Bai Lin in advance.

Bai Lin couldn't help but chuckle. He hadn't expected that he would make up for missing the Hogwarts ball here. Looking at Lulu's big, watery eyes, he felt his mind go blank and stepped forward to hold Lulu's hand.