Water Dancers follow a light and swift style.
When they crossed blades, their figures were like two shifting, leaping shadows; the frequency of their sword clashes was so high that the sparks from grinding steel never faded.
But when swords are fast, the fight ends just as quickly.
One moment, the two were entangled like twin stars; the next, Arya was sent flying three or four meters back, crashing hard onto the stone floor of the corridor.
Daenerys stood where she was, chin raised proudly and a smile at the corner of her lips. Arya braced herself against the wall and slowly rose to her feet.
"Why did this happen?" Arya's long face was deathly pale, her eyes vacant as they moved between herself and Daenerys.
There were three two-inch slashes in the cloak around Daenerys's waist and abdomen, while a conspicuous boot print marked the leather armor over Arya's chest.
She reached down to touch her burning, stinging left leg. Behind her thigh, the fabric was damp.
Her leg had been cut, and her body suddenly lost coordination. In the instant her movement stalled, Daenerys drove a heavy kick into her chest.
"My techniques and experience may be a little inferior to hers, but I'm faster than her, stronger than her, steadier in mind, and my eyesight is better.
I struck three blows at her vital points. Why am I the one who fell?" Arya demanded hoarsely.
Dany lifted her chin toward Daenerys. "Let her see."
Daenerys sheathed her short sword, unfastened her leather belt, and removed the gray thick wool cloak she wore outside, revealing a finely woven chainmail shirt that outlined her flat, girlish figure.
After staring at the matte-black lightweight chainmail for a long while, Arya's expression gradually shifted to understanding. "Valyrian steel?"
"Convinced now?" Dany asked with a smile.
"I'm not convinced. She's wearing Valyrian steel chainmail. That's not fair."
"Equipment is also part of strength."
Arya fell silent.
"Do you want me to stop the bleeding?" Dany asked, looking at her leg.
"No need. It's just a scratch."
Dany led her to her lounge and asked, "You're still here. Did you come to see me about something?"
"Actually, Bran sent me. I'm a Faceless Man, and I've cultivated according to the Scripture of the God of Death that the Faceless Men stole from the Citadel.
Bran said the meditation method has major flaws and asked me to be your test subject to help research the dark laws of ice and death.
In return, you'll help me find a way to overcome the Other-like transformation of outward form and emotion."
Arya was very straightforward. After speaking, she fixed her emotionless gray eyes steadily on the Dragon Queen.
"Ah, so you've been practicing evil sorcery. No wonder your aura feels so cold. I thought before that you didn't seem human," Daenerys exclaimed in sudden realization.
"Why can I solve the flaws of the Scripture of the God of Death?" Dany asked knowingly, though she wore a puzzled expression.
In truth, this matter could not be hidden from the Three-Eyed Raven at all. Bran knew the Dragon Queen had given a magical jar to Jaqen. Then Arya told her brother that the Scripture of the God of Death came from a godly jar of death that Jaqen had stolen from the Citadel.
Didn't that immediately connect the dots?
"Bran said you've mastered multiple top-tier meditation methods and are the world's number one Archmage."
Arya was simply repeating her brother's words, but the title "number one Archmage" made the Dragon Queen feel faintly irritated.
She had used that nonsense to fool the Red Priestess before, and now it was being used to fool her. Had he forgotten that she was the one who first invented the title "Archmage"?
Still, Dany was indeed curious about the evolution and ultimate effect of the True Scripture of the God of Death.
After all, the ice-and-death True Scripture of the God of Death was truly her own meditation method.
Back then, she had not even counted as a demigod, and the True Scripture of the God of Death she created had indeed been somewhat crude. Now that her realm had advanced and she even possessed the divine office of the Stranger, she could certainly take it further.
If she also had Arya as a test subject, there might truly be hope of comprehending the Song of Death.
After all, creation through fire combined with death through ice, the cycle of life and death, was the complete Song of Ice and Fire (ps).
"The payment you're offering isn't enough," Dany said, shaking her head.
Arya frowned. "What else do you want?"
"Answer a few questions first."
"Ask."
"Will you return to Braavos in the future?"
"No. I don't mind killing, but I refuse to become an assassin controlled by others. My purpose in going to the House of Black and White was the same as that of noble children going to the Citadel, purely to learn knowledge and skills."
Dany looked at her deeply. "I'm afraid the House of Black and White does not see itself as a vocational school."
"I once worried about how the Braavosi would react and hesitated over whether to tear things apart completely. But Bran assured me that no Faceless Man can approach the Starks of Westeros.
Personally, I'm not afraid of the Faceless Men coming after me. The only thing about the House of Black and White that makes me wary is their ability to threaten my brothers and sisters."
"You feel no attachment at all to the House of Black and White or the people there?" Dany asked again.
Arya was stunned for a moment, then said softly, "There were companions who trained with me and mentors who taught me. I respect and am grateful to them, and I will remember them forever. But I don't want to become a tool without will."
Dany nodded. This Arya had not rotted completely.
"I can help you, but you should understand that no one wants to make a losing deal."
"Let's hear it," Arya said.
A sharp glint flashed in Dany's eyes as she said in a low voice, "If you can become a demigod, you must swear to become a subordinate deity of the Stranger."
A subordinate deity to a principal god is like the host of celestial immortals to the Jade Emperor.
"Can I really become a god of death?" Arya's mouth fell open in shock.
"I don't know." Dany shrugged, speaking casually. "If you can become a god, it means I helped you a great deal, and you should repay me. If you fail to become a demigod, I lose a little, and you don't gain much either."
Arya calmed down and said slowly, "What is a subordinate deity?"
Dany's gaze was deep and meaningful as she said, "It is somewhat like the relationship between a feudal lord and a king, but a divine contract is far more binding than an oath between ruler and subject.
It is not merely a verbal constraint, but a real power that guarantees the oath will be fulfilled.
A subordinate deity's faith and understanding of laws all fall within the authority of the chief god, just as a lord must pay taxes to his king, render military service, and publicly report every aspect of his domain's livelihood, military strength, and other affairs."
"This…" Arya looked tempted.
Had she been a modern person, she likely would have started shouting already.
But Arya was a feudal princess born and raised in that world. Since she saw nothing wrong with a lord swearing loyalty to a king, she did not find the Dragon Queen's demands excessive either.
As the other party had said, the more one gains, the greater the price one must pay.
Becoming a demigod was an enormous benefit.
"But I don't believe in the Seven," Arya said with a frown.
"Do you believe in the Cold God, then? Do you know who the Cold God is?"
"I do. Saegon of Karhold sacrificed his son to the Cold God. But I believe in the Old Gods."
Dany smiled strangely. "Ordinary followers of the Seven think there are seven separate gods, and often say foolish things like, 'I believe in the Mother but not the Warrior.'
Most people of the North believe in the Old Gods, yet they do not even know who the Old Gods they worship actually are.
In this regard, you are far inferior to the ancient peoples beyond the Wall.
The Drowned God and the Storm God worshiped by the ironborn are Old Gods. The master of the Others, the Cold God, is also an Old God. Even the Lord of Light was once an Old God.
'Old Gods' is simply a general term. Its meaning is straightforward: ancient deities are called Old Gods, while those born in the course of human civilization are considered new. It is as simple and direct as calling someone old or young."
"Then who is the Old God my father and I worship?" Arya was truly a little lost.
After believing in the Old Gods for so many years, she did not even know whom she worshiped.
Was that not a bit absurd?
"Think carefully. Where did your father take you to pray, and to whom?" Dany prompted.
"Beneath the weirwood. The heart tree in the godswood of Winterfell is a weirwood. Wherever we were, we prayed to the face carved into its trunk."
Arya felt as though she had grasped something, yet she still could not pierce through the final layer of fog.
"It is the weirwood. All the people of the North and most of the ancient folk beyond the Wall worship the chief god of Westeros, whose true form is the weirwood."
"So that's how it is. I should ask Bran about this properly." Arya suddenly understood.
"But the weirwood is dead," Dany immediately revealed a shocking truth.
"The Old God I worship is dead?" Arya was horrified.
"It died eight thousand years ago. Recently, with the collapse of the Wall, it has completely vanished."
"This…" Arya's mind was in turmoil, filled with fear and confusion. "What should we do?"
"The Weirwood God chose a human as its successor," Dany said softly.
"Ah, does that mean I'll have to worship Bran from now on?" Arya asked in distress.
"No. The successor chosen by your Old God is me," Dany said calmly.
Arya was stunned again, left speechless.
If the Dragon Queen truly were the successor of the Old Gods, then worshiping her would be no better than converting to the Seven.
Though she thought so inwardly, she still questioned, "You don't believe in the Old Gods. How could you become their successor?"
"You can ask your brother," Dany turned her head toward the large raven standing on the open balcony. "Danys, open the door and let Bran Stark come in."
"Bran?" Arya stood up and leaned forward to look.
"Caw, caw, it's me." As the door connecting the bedroom to the balcony was pushed open, the raven flapped its wings into the sitting room and landed on the table.
"Arya, you can agree to Daenerys's request. Keep your faith in the Old Gods and become a subordinate deity of the Stranger. It would be a rather good ending," Bran said directly.
Arya's expression changed several times. Bran's words were tantamount to acknowledging what the Dragon Queen had said earlier: she was the successor of the Old Gods.
"Do you and Jon still believe in the Old Gods? Will the people of the North have to convert to the Seven in the future?" she asked with a complicated expression.
"No. Daenerys is merely the inheritor of the Mother God's power. The faith of the Old Gods will not change in any way."
"Then whom do the followers of the Old Gods worship now?"
"The weirwoods, the forests, the earth, the rivers, and the mountains are all parts of the Mother God. As long as Westeros exists, the faith of the Old Gods will never disappear," the great raven said firmly.
"It still seems more proper to believe in the Seven," Arya said, conflicted.
The great raven fell silent.
Like Stannis, Bran knew very well that the Dragon Queen had usurped the position of the Seven, yet he did not dare tell others.
Faith originates from expectation. What believers long for is a Mother who performs miracles, not seven unresponsive pieces of wood.
If the truth were widely announced, the Faith of the Seven would collapse for a time. Then, seeing that the Mother's miracles continued as before, the vast majority of believers would transfer their worship of the Seven onto the Dragon Queen herself.
At that point, although the Faith would lose a portion of its most devout adherents to doctrine, the Dragon Queen would inevitably become the sacred divinity of the continent, the sole earthly god in the hearts of ordinary people.
Every word she spoke would represent divine revelation. Every decision she made would determine the course of action for millions.
Such a scene was too terrifying. Dany herself did not want it, and Stannis and Bran could not endure it either.
(P.S. A Song of Ice and Fire first appeared in Chapter 355. The Gate God cried out about A Song of Ice and Fire because He saw Dany's talent for creation through fire. It was only talent; she had not yet condensed the Song of Fire or the divinity of Fire Creation. He also saw the faint power of icy death she had obtained from the Others.
If Dany were to chant the true Song of Ice and Fire, she could forgo the Song of Water and the Song of Earth, but the law of icy death must not be omitted.
When she created the True Scripture of the God of Death for the Faceless Men, its foundation was the icy death of the Cold God.
The ultimate goal of cultivating that meditation method was also to condense the polarity of icy death and the two laws of darkness.
Of course, the True Scripture of the God of Death leaned more toward the polarity of icy death. The darkness law Dany had obtained from the Others at the time was almost nonexistent.
As the founder of the True Scripture of the God of Death, Dany can harvest the talents and insights of those who cultivate it, just as Yang Dan harvests the talents and insights of all who practice the great wizards' meditation methods.
Without question, throughout A Song of Ice and Fire, aside from "Blood Child" Arya, no one is more suited to cultivate the True Scripture of the God of Death.
However, when Dany first created the True Scripture of the God of Death, she had not thought this far ahead. Now she is merely seizing an opportunity as it presents itself.)
(End of chapter)
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