Chapter 210: The Necromancer

"A Shadowbinder can wield both flame and darkness," Tam said calmly.

"That's true." Bu Cheng nodded, then turned his head to scrutinize Dany with a strange expression. Noticing that she appeared slightly bulky, he couldn't help but ask, "Are you wearing armor?"

"Chainmail. Besides being a priestess, I am also a knight."

"Heh, we really are quite similar. I am also a swordsman." Bu Cheng patted the short sword at his waist and chuckled. "After what happened, it feels safer to carry a weapon when going out."

"Lisbon was an exception. Too many people saw the gold on him," said Corbett, a Reaper Priest from Qohor, in a detached tone.

Indeed, almost every non-monotheistic culture had its own god of death—such as the Stranger among the Seven, the Wild Lion of Yi Ti, or the Black Goat, whom the Qohorik worshipped as their god of death.

For monotheistic faiths, such as the followers of R'hllor, their god was both the Creator of all things—the Lord of Light—and the god of death—Shadow R'hllor.

"Speaking of Lisbon," Bu Cheng stroked his beard and tentatively asked the Shadowbinder, "A wizard's corpse retains magical power. As the number one genius of the younger generation, Lisbon's remains are even more valuable. Would it be possible for me to purchase his corpse? Perhaps I could craft a Fire Mage Revenant."

What the—? Just moments ago, I was admiring your poise, and now you're showing your true colors?

Dany had expected the Shadowbinder to fly into a rage and reject the idea outright. However, Tam barely hesitated before nodding. "It's possible, as long as you provide his family with appropriate compensation."

"Haha, even Westerosi know that Prince Bu never lacks money," the fire mage behind Bu Cheng chuckled.

Bu Cheng hailed from the royal lineage of the Bu Dynasty in Yi Ti. While calling him a 'prince' was an exaggeration, he was undoubtedly wealthy.

Bu Cheng lifted his chin proudly. "I will pay twice the market price for Lisbon's remains."

"Uh… wasn't Lisbon our comrade?" Dany couldn't help but interject.

"Which is why I'm offering double the price," Bu Cheng replied nonchalantly, glancing at her.

"Studying others in life, being studied in death—such is our fate," the Shadowbinder remarked indifferently, as if stating an obvious truth, like "people need to eat to live."

Recalling the male sorcerer's dried corpse that the Widow of Qarth had gifted her (her late husband, to be precise), Dany fell silent.

But only for a moment—her curiosity soon got the better of her. "What exactly is a revenant?" she asked.

Bu Cheng pondered for a moment before explaining, "Through millennia of research, the Yi Ti Necromancer Society has discovered a fundamental truth of nature—when a person dies, their body loses some 'Yang Spirit' while also generating some 'Yin Spirit.'

'Spirit,' as we define it, can be considered a unique life essence—a distinguishing factor between living beings and non-living entities like stone, seawater, or soil.

While alive, the body contains only Yang Spirit. In the early stages of death, some Yang Spirit transforms into Yin Spirit, creating a mixture of both. As the corpse decays, the amounts of Yin and Yang Spirit gradually diminish until they fully return to nature."

After delivering this lengthy explanation, Bu Cheng noticed that all six listeners wore blank expressions. Dany and Tam, both masked, had unreadable faces.

"Did you understand what I just said?" he sighed, turning to Dany.

"You explained it clearly. I'm not stupid—why wouldn't I understand?" Dany responded in a lighthearted tone.

The other eight people gave her strange looks. This girl might have talent, but she had no magical ability whatsoever—she didn't know a single spell. Yet her confidence was certainly impressive.

Still, Tam and the other six listeners subtly nodded, their expressions showing a hint of understanding.

After all, the young Shadowbinder had just stated that anyone who wasn't stupid could understand.

No one wanted to be seen as a fool.

"However," Dany dragged out her words, hesitating slightly, "Master Bu, it seems you've made a mistake. The loss of Spirit within a corpse is not directly proportional to its rate of decay."

"Oh? What do you mean?"

"The moment of death, over half of the Spirit is lost instantly. After that, it stabilizes at a certain level before beginning a linear decline."

Dany had indeed understood his explanation. She had no idea how the Yi Ti scholars had conducted their research, but their millennia of study hadn't been in vain. Their so-called 'Spirit' likely referred to ethereal essence, with Yin and Yang Spirits representing different types of it.

Before meeting Bu Cheng, she had always assumed that the colorful motes of energy she perceived were fundamentally the same—like sunlight passing through a prism, splitting into red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet, yet still all part of the same light.

But after listening to the necromancer's theory, she suddenly realized—just as red and violet light have different wavelengths and properties, different forms of Spirit might also serve distinct functions.

"How do you know this?" Bu Cheng asked, suspicious.

By burning corpses—personal experience.

"From The Ravings of Saint Baelor," Dany said proudly.

"What's that?" Bu Cheng and the others looked confused.

But the fire mage among them froze for only a moment before exclaiming, "The delirious ramblings of Baelor before he starved to death?"

"What's the story behind that?" Bu Cheng turned to his subordinate.

The fire mage spoke slowly, deep in thought. "Have you ever heard of Baelor the Blessed? After discovering that his wife had an affair with his cousin, he fasted in the Sept, praying for guidance from the Seven.

Perhaps he was simply starving, but during that time, he spoke many seemingly incoherent words—though the septons insisted he had received divine enlightenment.

Of course, if word got out that he had been cuckolded and then starved himself to death, it would have been a disgrace. Naturally, the Faith did their best to glorify his image.

In any case, some septons recorded his dying words, which came to be known as Baelor's Ravings.

However, King Aegon—his cousin, the very man who stole his virgin bride—burned all records that defamed House Targaryen. No one knows exactly what Baelor said before he died. Some believe fragments of the manuscript were secretly preserved by the maesters of Oldtown."

Well done, fellow countryman! You really helped me cover for that one—saved me a lot of trouble. Much appreciated!

Dany nodded along. "I only managed to get my hands on a few fragments. Unfortunately, I couldn't fully understand them, but after hearing Master Bu's explanation, I suddenly had an epiphany."

She did not accidentally let something slip and reveal information that should not have been disclosed.

The key was that if she pretended to be confused, the "expert" would never have had a deep conversation with her.

"But the Seven Gods are fake," Corbett frowned and said.

"The Targaryen sorcerer bloodline, however, is undeniably real. Perhaps Baelor truly communicated with some deity of wisdom from another dimension," the Shadowbinder said calmly.

"Master Bu, please continue. What comes after the Yin-Yang Spirits?" Dany urged.

Bu Cheng had originally not intended to continue speaking. After all, no one would understand even if he explained, so what was the point?

But now, realizing that Dany not only understood but also offered a completely new theory, he couldn't help but become interested.

"Before the establishment of the Necromancer Association, we scholars of Yi Land only sought to unravel the mysteries of life and death. We never intended to create ghostly or undead beings."

"You wanted immortality too?" Dany asked with an odd expression.

"'Too'?" Bu Cheng asked in confusion, then shrugged and said matter-of-factly, "Who wouldn't want that?"

"Fair enough. Please continue, Master."

"At first, scholars did not recognize the difference between Yin Spirits and Yang Spirits. Back then, they had only one idea: after death, the spirit would be lost. But if the spirit were replenished in the corpse, could the dead be brought back to life? Could they even achieve immortality?"

Bu Cheng's expression grew passionate, as if he had transformed into a scholar from millennia ago, exploring the secrets of life and death.

"I'm afraid that's very difficult," Dany sighed.

She had thought of the same idea before and had even tried multiple times. Unfortunately, not only could corpses not accept her spirit infusion, but even living people couldn't.

"Sigh, it's not just difficult—it's impossible. The association has researched for ten thousand years and still hasn't succeeded, though they have produced a lot of byproducts," Bu Cheng sighed dejectedly before continuing, "Through their research, scholars gradually discovered the distinction between Yin Spirits and Yang Spirits.

Living beings can only bear Yang Spirits, while corpses contain a stable entangled state of both Yin and Yang Spirits.

When scholars attempted to disrupt this balance and extract all the Yang Spirits, they became necromancers, and the corpses became undead creatures that could move and follow commands."

"So that's how it is!" Dany was thrilled—this gathering was truly worthwhile.

Or rather, Kui Xi's prophecy was incredibly accurate—she needed to go east, to Asshai, to uncover the truth of the world.

Of course, Dany also realized that Asshai itself wasn't the key—the important part was engaging more with extraordinary individuals.

Even though the magical power of this world was somewhat weak—so much so that grand mages could be killed by common thieves—the accumulated wisdom of thousands, even tens of thousands, of years was not to be underestimated.

It was all because this world was too low in magic, making the lives of mystical practitioners miserable.

"Master Bu Cheng, would you be interested in exchanging knowledge about protective arts with me?" Dany shamelessly leaned in and asked.

"You want to learn necromancy?" Bu Cheng chuckled.

"Ahem, Layla, Shadowbinders wield the power of fire and shadow. The fire mages you acquired from Lisbon can be useful, but necromantic magic is incompatible with them," Tam reminded her.

"Hey, I haven't even officially transitioned to a Shadowbinder yet!" Dany protested.

Tam turned her head and gave Dany a cold stare, as if questioning her: After all the effort I've put into you, are you planning to betray your mentor?

Bu Cheng waved his hand with a smile and said, "Priestess Layla, I'm afraid it's unfortunate—you are not of Yi Land, and necromantic secrets are rarely passed on to outsiders."

"Why?"

"It's a rule set by our ancestors."

"..."

Tam remained silent for a moment before saying slowly, "There are other necromantic sects in Asshai. Layla, if you truly wish to learn necromancy, I can introduce you to a few corpse thieves."

"Corpse thieves?"

"Necromancers need corpses, and corpse thieves always know where their clients are."

"You're such a good person, Tam!" Dany said sincerely.

"Both necromancers and Shadowbinders can assist in dragon hatching," the Shadowbinder remarked indifferently.

"Uh..."

Bu Cheng frowned and said, "Necromantic magic originates from Yi Land. Only sorcerers trained by the Necromancer Association are accepted by society. Wild necromancers, even in a place as tolerant as Asshai, are not allowed to operate openly. In some regions, they are even exterminated on sight. Lady Layla, you must be careful."

"Why?" Dany asked curiously.

"Wild necromancers lack discipline and possess incomplete magical theories. They prioritize power over wisdom and engage in acts that are utterly inhuman.

You must understand, our Necromancer Association does not exist to spread terror. Our ultimate pursuit has always remained the same—eternal life."

The Moon Singer glanced toward the hall's entrance and whispered, "Malachor is here."

Everyone immediately turned to look and saw a burly man in black armor striding heavily toward the stage.

The warrior was clad in full plate armor—matte black steel from head to toe. His steps were steady and powerful, exuding an aura of heroism and dominance, much like a victorious general fresh off the battlefield.

"That's Malachor, the most prominent leader of the Tiger Party as of late. He is also the supreme commander of the allied forces in Volantis, which is why he frequently wears armor to these gatherings—for show! Every single one of the hundreds of Volantene people here holds voting rights," the Moon Singer whispered beside Dany.

"Hmm."

Dany's gaze, however, remained fixed on the group of Ghiscari men trailing behind Malachor, each dressed in gilded, tasseled Tokar robes.

"Why are the Ghiscari following Malachor? I heard he has always rejected their attempts to win him over. The Ghiscari delegation is staying at the Elephants' Naisiso estate," she asked, puzzled.

(End of Chapter)

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