Harry Potter: From Muggle Cousin to Conceptual Wizard

Chapter 504 The Personnel Structure and Special Gifts of the Chinese Team!

The magnificent palace, shrouded in auspicious clouds, floated all the way up to the Hogwarts playing field.

Then, cloud steps were laid out, and the gates of the celestial palace were opened.

Two distinguished elderly gentlemen stepped forward first; one was dressed in a Taoist robe, and the other in an exquisite suit embroidered with traditional Chinese patterns.

Judging from the details of their postures, the old wizard in the suit showed great respect to the old practitioner in the Taoist robe, and consciously lagged behind by half a body length.

Then, four young secret cultivators, three women and one man, emerged from the celestial palace, all dressed in traditional Chinese clothing.

Dali had seen these four people in the memories of the ghost cultivator Mo Xuan; they were former members of the China Criminal Investigation Team.

Dali vividly remembered the young man who followed the two old gentlemen closely; he was none other than Li Yubo, the array cultivator who had defeated the ghost cultivator Mo Xuan and could not even be reasoned with.

Following the four young secret cultivators was a group of Chinese wizards of varying ages, including five middle-aged and young wizards and ten junior wizards.

Their attire was a blend of Chinese and Western styles, the same as the old wizard leading the way.

Dudley knew that this was part of the core team that Dumbledore had mentioned before, the team that China wanted to establish a wizarding school.

Over the past few centuries, although China has also developed wizarding schools and a Ministry of Magic, and has become more integrated with the international community, the transmission of Chinese wizarding traditions has been either through studying abroad or through family, master-apprentice, or small school teachings, rather than through the establishment of large-scale schools.

This is mainly because there are already many extraordinary schools and cultivation branches within China, and imported concepts like wizards and magic are not very widely accepted.

Or to put it more accurately, it takes time to accept.

The numerous cultivation branches and magical techniques within the Chinese cultivation world are not all indigenous creations; many were introduced from abroad and, after localization and adaptation, were gradually absorbed and accepted.

Of course, during periods when there is no interaction with foreign countries, there will always be extraordinary individuals who do not wish to interact with foreign countries, and such individuals will never be lacking.

Because the pie is only so big, each branch and school wants to recruit promising disciples to pass on their skills for generations. The more cultivation schools there are, the more people will compete for disciples.

The drawbacks of a closed system are also obvious.

Without the stimulation of new blood and vitality, development will gradually stagnate, and if not careful, it will fall behind.

Moreover, no one knows when the supernatural world abroad might develop some kind of deadly weapon or powerful magic that could pose a threat.

The issue must be viewed comprehensively.

This time, the establishment of the Chinese Wizarding School and the exchange and learning at Hogwarts were not unanimously supported by the more than ten orthodox cultivation branches within the Chinese cultivation world; otherwise, there would have been more than just four young secret cultivators coming.

It should be noted that the Chinese anti-crime team formed to hunt down the ghost cultivator Mo Xuan had a total of eleven members, each belonging to a different cultivation branch.

Fortunately, the four strongest orthodox cultivation branches in China reached a consensus and made a decision on these two matters.

The Taoist priest leading the Chinese team is from the Art Cultivation lineage, one of the four orthodox cultivation branches. He is the current patriarch of the Art Cultivation lineage with the highest cultivation level and also practices the art of talismans.

According to Dudley's perception, this person's cultivation level was at the legendary wizard level, slightly higher than a newly entered legendary wizard, stronger than Eckeris, and weaker than Grindelwald.

Of the seven teams that came to Hogwarts for this exchange, he had the highest cultivation level.

Further down the line, there were no more legendary wizards among the exchange teams.

The deputy leader of the Chinese delegation, who was also Dumbledore's old friend and the former Minister of Magic of China, was the old wizard Liu Tao, who wore an embroidered suit. His magical skills were very close to those of a legendary wizard.

But he was also close to a hundred years old, and his magical cultivation had long since reached the limit of his bloodline, with no further advancement possible.

As for Mr. Akinbad, the leader of the African team, although his magical skills are currently somewhat inferior to Mr. Liu Tao's, he is only in his forties or fifties, has excellent talent, has not yet reached the limit of his bloodline, and still has room for improvement.

Given time, he will be able to become a legendary wizard on his own.

Next up are Master Ribasius of Castelobusch and the old headmaster of Iphamoni. Their magical cultivation is more than three times that of elite professors, but they have also reached the limit of their bloodline.

As for the other school leaders, their magical cultivation level is at or below the elite professor level.

Karkaroff was the weakest; he was only slightly stronger than an average professor, and not even as good as the middle-aged wizard leader from that small Australian magic school.

At this moment, the entire Chinese team had descended the cloud steps.

In mid-air, the celestial palace, surrounded by auspicious clouds, instantly shrank to the size of a palm and flew into the hands of the leading Taoist priest, who then put it into the sleeve of his robe.

The light effects of auspicious clouds, ancient music, and dragons, phoenixes, and cranes also dissipated.

Dumbledore and Dudley were already heading towards the Chinese team's landing spot.

Upon seeing Dumbledore arrive with his men to greet him, Mr. Liu Tao took a few extra steps forward and began exchanging pleasantries with Dumbledore in English.

His words were full of longing.

Back when they fought against Grindelwald, Liu Tao and Dumbledore were good partners and comrades-in-arms.

This is truly a reunion of the century.

"Albus, I never thought we'd meet again," Liu Tao said with a touch of emotion.

Then, remembering the occasion, he quickly stopped talking, stepped aside to make way for the old gentleman in the Taoist robe, and introduced him to Dumbledore:

"Albus, this is the authentic patriarch of the cultivation lineage, and he is the leader of our Chinese team this time. You can call him Mr. Zhang."

Mr. Zhang can understand some simple English. If we want to have a deeper conversation with him, I, along with the other five associate professor wizards who came with me, can act as translators.

In addition, four young talents from a secret cultivation branch intensively studied English for a year, enabling them to complete simple communications.

“No need for trouble. I’ve also learned Chinese, so communication won’t be a problem,” Dumbledore said with a smile.

He then extended his hand in a friendly manner to Master Zhengyuan and greeted him in Chinese, saying, "Hello, Mr. Zhang."

The fact that Master Zhengyuan was able to lead the team to Hogwarts meant he wasn't some rigid, unapproachable old scholar. He was very pleased to see that Dumbledore could speak fairly fluent Chinese and was taking the initiative to be friendly.

He first reached out and shook hands with Dumbledore, then withdrew his hand and bowed to Dumbledore.

"Hello, nice to meet you. We volunteered to come here for exchange and learning, and compared to other teams, we have the most people here. So, we would like to offer you a small gift, please accept it!"

Master Zhengyuan spoke gently, and at the same time took out a brocade box from the sleeve of his Taoist robe, held it with both hands, and handed it to Dumbledore.

Seeing Dumbledore's stunned hesitation, he further explained the meaning of 'accept with a smile'.

This really stumped Dumbledore.

It's not that he's never received gifts before, but in this kind of situation, none of the other six teams have given him any gifts. If he were to accept a gift from the Chinese team, wouldn't that embarrass the other teams?

If he doesn't accept it, where will the Chinese team put their face?

Torn between his thoughts, Dumbledore instinctively looked at Dudley beside him.

“Please accept it, Headmaster Dumbledore,” Dudley said with a smile. “This is a Chinese custom and etiquette; we need to respect it.”

When Dudley said this, he used a high-level amplification technique to ensure that his voice was clearly heard by everyone on the playground without being harsh.

He was speaking in English, and the wizards leading the other six teams, who were already focused on him, immediately understood his meaning.

This was the way Dali offered them a way out.

This is also one of the methods that can currently balance both aspects as much as possible.

With Dudley's help, Dumbledore no longer hesitated and accepted the brocade box handed to him by the patriarch Zhengyuan with a smile.

According to British custom, gifts from guests should be opened on the spot, and the recipient should express their gratitude and compliment the gift, depending on its specific nature.

Dumbledore instinctively reached out to open the brocade box.

Dali knew that Chinese customs were quite different, and upon seeing this, he immediately asked in fluent and clear Chinese:

"Mr. Zhang, may we see what gift you have given us now?"

Master Zhengyuan looked at Dudley with a hint of surprise. Liu Tao had just whispered to him what Dudley had said to Dumbledore.

Hearing Dali speak authentic Chinese again now is quite surprising.

At the same time, he recalled the incident where the ghost cultivator Mo Xuan was severely injured by the Hogwarts professors. According to information gathered by the China Criminal Investigation Team, this young wizard named Dudley was young but incredibly strong, reportedly even stronger than the Hogwarts professors.

"Of course, we also respect your customs."

Master Zhengyuan replied, then changed the subject, "You must be the famous Assistant Instructor Desley, right? Truly, heroes emerge from among the young. Not only are you powerful and exceptionally intelligent, but you also speak our Chinese language so well."

"You flatter me. Of course I will study this valuable knowledge diligently," Dali replied with a smile, but a trace of sadness lingered in his heart.

Dumbledore stopped opening the box when Dudley spoke, and only continued after hearing Master Zhengyuan's permission.

The next second, the brocade box was opened, and inside was...