"All living beings in the world, at the moment of their creation, were modeled after the forms of the gods, including you humans," said the Black Sun.
"That's quite a novel idea," Dany nodded, then asked, "What principle was behind the magic you used to burrow into the Night Watchman Shufu's body?"
"You want to learn it?" the Black Sun teased.
"I'm just curious. But if you insist on teaching me, then with no other choice, I suppose I can reluctantly listen."
The Black Sun seemed to pause for a moment.
After a long while, it said proudly, "That cowardly human fell into despair after the Great Wall collapsed. Despairing humans are the easiest to attract the attention of the dark gods.
"I filled his hollow, deathly silent heart, and within his heart, the current me was born.
"I did not wear his human skin. I have always lived within his heart. This kind of ability is not something you can learn."
Dany gave it a cold look. "So you didn't rush to the Eastern Sea Watch to ambush me only after the great explosion at Oros?"
"Sigh, I arrived long ago. I simply misjudged that you had entered a reverse overclocking state and were severely weakened, so I acted rashly.
"I should have waited, waited for a better opportunity, at the very least when there weren't so many Night Watchmen present," Rahlo said regretfully.
"Why are you so determined to deal with me?" Dany frowned.
"Because of fate."
"Speak plainly."
"You were born with a mission. According to the predetermined destiny, you were meant to become the kindling that drives away the long night. But now, you have betrayed that originally glorious and great mission," the Black Sun said angrily.
"Kindling?" Dany's gaze turned dangerous. "Explain it. Give me an explanation of this 'kindling' that I can accept."
"Why are you unwilling to sacrifice yourself to save this world? This was your fate to begin with," Rahlo said furiously.
"Be specific. How exactly is this 'kindling' of mine supposed to be sacrificed?"
"Do you know how the sun emerged last time?" Shadow Rahlo asked instead of answering.
"The Mother of the Lorne River sang the Song of Water and summoned the sun back to the mortal world," Dany said with a frown.
"Then do you know who will summon the sun this time?" There was a hint of arrogance in Rahlo's voice.
"It won't be you, will it?" Dany was startled and said in disbelief, "You are the King of Light. After the sun was extinguished, you should have died immediately, just like the Daughter of Light back then.
"Even if you managed to cling to existence as a 'Shadow Demon,' you couldn't possibly still have the power to summon the sun."
"You know quite a lot," Rahlo said in surprise.
"That's right. Every generation of Kings of Light are spirits of the sun. They are born from the newborn sun, their power and life both originating from it. They bear the sun as it illuminates the land, rising in the morning and setting in the evening, day and night without rest.
"Once the sun disappears, the King of Light loses their divine power and the foundation of their existence, with a very high chance of falling into eternal oblivion, just like the Daughter of Light back then."
"But I am not only the King of Light! Before becoming the King of Light, I was the Fire God of the world's beginning.
"It was I who sang the Song of Fire, separating the last primal flame from the earth's core, allowing the Mother Goddess of the Lorne River to extract it and forge it into the sun of this era.
"So do you understand now? The sun was born because of me, not the other way around. I was not born from the sun. I will not enter annihilation just because it goes out," Rahlo said proudly.
"So the King of Light is born from the sun," Dany was momentarily stunned, then asked in confusion, "Then why are you the King of Light of this generation? You already mastered the Song of Fire. There was no need for you to seize the non-eternal 'Song of Light.'"
"The Song of Light cannot last forever. Do you think the Song of Fire or any other Song of the Laws can?" The Black Sun's mocking laughter carried a trace of bleakness and resentment.
Dany fell silent.
Wasn't Rahlo himself the best example of the Song of Fire's inability to endure eternally?
"After discovering that only the last trace of primal fire remained in the earth's core, I foresaw that in the coming era, the Song of Fire would undergo tremendous changes. That was why I wanted the Song of Light, to gain an extra measure of self-preservation.
"I never expected that in just a few thousand years, the Song of Fire would change hands twice," Rahlo said with emotion.
"No wonder you lost the Song of Fire. Turns out you lacked the resolve to advance bravely and cross the single-log bridge," Dany sneered.
"What do you know?!" Rahlo roared in fury. "If it weren't to elevate the rank of the Song of Fire, why would I waste time and effort helping a group of shepherds create dragons and helping them develop a civilization of earthfire and dragons?"
"You walked down a crooked path. Cultivation is the most personal of matters. How could you entrust it to others?" Dany mocked.
"In that case, hand over what Yuliangmu gave you. Those were your own words. Cultivation relies entirely on oneself," Rahlo said calmly.
"You're going down another crooked path with that logic. Cultivation does, of course, rely on oneself, but that doesn't mean rejecting opportunities outright. It just means you should place your main effort on diligent cultivation and not forcibly chase after opportunities."
"Easy for you to say. Haven't I tried hard? I've been striving since the beginning of the world. Tens of millions of years, hundreds of millions of years have passed, yet I still haven't improved at all!" Rahlo said with grief and indignation.
"Uh…" Dany froze for a moment, then sighed. "Your talent really is terrible."
"Yes, my talent is poor," the Black Sun admitted without hesitation. "After countless eons, I finally came to realize this. I understood that relying solely on my own effort wouldn't work, so I could only seek another path.
"You humans have short lifespans and weak foundations, but your cultivation talent is truly astonishing.
"If a human holy spirit could help complete what I lack in talent, I would certainly be able to change this tragic fate of the world's endless descent."
"Keep dreaming. Who would be willing to sacrifice themselves to fulfill you, an evil god?" Dany sneered.
"This is your fate!" Rahlo shouted. "In this era, it is my turn to summon the sun, but the final mass of primal fire has already been exhausted."
If I fail, the entire world will fall into darkness. You will all die in the end anyway. Do you truly lack the resolve to fear no sacrifice for the salvation of all living beings?"
"I only have the resolve to rejoice after the world rejoices," Dany said with a wave of her hand. "Such foolish acts as fearing no sacrifice have nothing to do with me and never will."
"Old Tree really ought to see this, see what kind of successor He chose," R'hllor said angrily.
From his expression, it was as if the Dragon Queen had taken some enormous advantage of Him.
Dany gave a mocking smile and did not pursue the matter further. "The Gate God told me that the First Fire was exhausted long ago."
"The Gate God?" The Black Sun sounded puzzled.
"The Old Tree you speak of, the weirwood, the God of Wind."
R'hllor fell silent for a moment before saying in a deep voice, "The First Fire He mentioned should be the fire that gave birth to the world.
The First Fire I speak of is actually a secondary First Fire, or rather, the embers left behind by the burning of the First Fire.
In the beginning, the sun was forged by the true First Fire and burned unextinguished for tens of millions of years.
There was no winter in those days. The entire world existed in an eternal summer.
Flowers bloomed in abundance and never withered.
When we began forging suns with the secondary First Fire, winter arrived. The lifespan of the sun grew shorter, from several million years to several hundred thousand years. This current era lasts only a mere eight thousand years.
Now even the secondary First Fire is gone. Even if there is a next era, it likely will not last long.
Only I can change this. Give your talent to me. I can sing the true Song of Fire and summon the Song of Fire that calls forth the First Fire.
This is the reason fate allowed you to be born."
"Why can it not be me who summons the First Fire?" Dany asked with a faint smile.
"You? Hahahaha." The Black Sun threw his head back in wild laughter, as if he had heard the most ridiculous joke in the world.
"Is that so funny?" The smile vanished from Dany's face, and her gaze turned dangerous.
You are a prisoner, yet you dare mock this queen. Are you tired of living?
"Two problems," the Black Sun sneered. "You must solve two problems. First, sing the complete Song of Fire. Second, become a true god.
Even your ancestor, the Valyrian Sheep Egg, spent more than a thousand years before wresting the Song of Fire from my hands.
How old are you this year?
By the time you manage to sing the Song of Fire, the entire world will already be occupied by the Others, forever fixed in a cold and dark winter."
"A thousand years." Dany was not discouraged. Instead, her eyes flashed as she recalled someone else who had said something similar: You must come. This time I truly want to help you, at least to save you a thousand years of cultivation.
Brynden Rivers.
Had he seen something back then?
Under normal cultivation, Dany estimated it would indeed take her a thousand years to barely have a chance to sing the Song of Fire. But she had eaten the weirwood seed paste.
It was very likely that Brynden Rivers knew something and sincerely wanted to help her.
"My talent is exceptional. I am confident I can sing the Song of Fire within ten years," Dany said with assurance.
"Impossible!" The Black Sun blurted out his denial. "No matter how great your talent is, it cannot be that fast."
"Fine, I will tell the truth. I cheated. I ate weirwood seed paste." Dany had no intention of letting the evil god before her go free, so she did not care whether her secrets were exposed.
"Weirwood seed paste?" The Black Sun sounded confused.
"It is a divine medicine that can push human talent to its absolute limit, the fruit borne from the root system of the Gate God's true body."
"I have never heard of such a divine medicine," the Black Sun said uncertainly.
"Think about the greenseers, the Three-Eyed Raven. If they did not eat weirwood seed paste, how could they go from ordinary people to omnipotent greenseers in just a year or two?"
The Black Sun fell silent.
After a long while, He sighed. "We have always been puzzled as to why greenseers grow so quickly. So it was weirwood seed paste!
You are truly fortunate. A Valyrian descendant, yet so favored by Old Tree."
"No. This has nothing to do with the Gate God. The previous Three-Eyed Raven was from House Targaryen. Though he was a bastard his entire life, at least when his will was clear at the end, he pulled some strings for me once."
The Black Sun fell silent again.
"The Three-Eyed Raven is also helping you alter fate? Did he forget his duty to 'guard the world'?" He said in disbelief.
"At first, he desperately tried to uphold the predetermined fate, because according to that fate, this Long Night could be safely endured. But I was unwilling. My life is mine to decide, not Heaven's!"
Dany, with her sharp tongue, uttered a line that sounded extremely ill-omened.
"Even if you can quickly sing the Song of Fire, you are not a true god and still cannot summon the sun."
"I must be a true god?" Dany frowned.
"Of course. If you are not a true god, how could you touch the core of the Sea of World Laws?"
"Why do you think I cannot become a true god?"
"It is not a matter of what I think. In the world as it is now, a true god simply cannot be born.
Look at Sheep Egg and you will understand. He managed to take the Song of Fire from my hands, yet he was stuck at the threshold of true godhood his entire life."
"Sheep Egg has always wanted to devour me, but I can devour Him as well. If I devour Him, I can break the shackles and become a true god," Dany said.
"This…" R'hllor hesitated.
After a long silence, He shook His head and sighed. "If it were before, you might have had a thirty percent chance. But now, it will not work."
"Why?"
"Because Sheep Egg is crippled."
(End of chapter)
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