"I remember that the lands of Yi were divided into three parts, with three emperors standing side by side. One was the orthodox Azure Dynasty of the Bu clan, occupying the southern capital of Yi;
another was Chai Rong, a descendant of the Yellow Dynasty that perished a thousand years ago, occupying Carcosa by the Hidden Sea in the Far East; and the last was the founding ancestor Bo Xiong of the Orange-Yellow Dynasty, who occupied the northern trade towns."
The Sea King asked in confusion, "There are only three emperors in Yi. How could three emperors jointly issue a proclamation to suppress bandits? Surely they wouldn't be attacking themselves?"
"You forgot that on the Juggsnai Plains in the north of Yi, there are also the zebra people!" the plump woman said.
"But Yi has established a state religion and a state preceptor. What does that have to do with the zebra people?" the Sea King grew even more puzzled.
"The Long Night has lasted for more than half a year. The zebra people are running out of food too, so they're taking the opportunity to head south and raid for supplies," the zebra person said matter-of-factly.
"From the Juggsnai Plains to the southern capital, they would have to cross at least two thousand kilometers, practically cutting through all of Yi. Is it really necessary to go that far just to plunder?" the Sea King found it strange.
"You think the zebra people plan to return north? The Long Night might last an entire generation. Even the Dragon Queen has said it will be difficult to end it within ten years," the plump woman shook her head.
"Letting wolves into the house," the Sea King sighed.
The fat priest disagreed. "The zebra people are bound to head south anyway. With a hundred thousand iron cavalry, they will either flatten the other lords of Yi or bring disaster further south.
"The southern capital lies at the southernmost edge of Yi, close to the sea and richest in resources. The palace of the Son of Heaven of the Bu clan is even larger than King's Landing. Think about it, if they don't plunder him, who else would they plunder?"
"So the eighteen great sects, thirty-six rebel kings, seventy-two bands of outlaws, and one hundred and eight strongholds are mainly going to the southern capital to seize wealth and grain, and eliminating the Church of the Seven is just an excuse?" the Sea King asked.
"Not exactly. Without the issue of arbitrarily establishing a state religion and a state preceptor, the many lords would not have been able to unite.
"Behind those rebel kings and warlords are extraordinary sects, and many cities are directly ruled by priests and shamans of the gods.
"They don't care how many common people die during the Long Night, but they cannot tolerate even the slightest appearance of a state religion or state preceptor in Yi," the zebra person explained.
"Westeros is dealing with the Others, so why is Daenerys causing trouble in Yi? And the Son of Heaven of Yi too, with the Long Night ongoing, shouldn't he be keeping a low profile?" the Sea King asked, puzzled.
"I've heard that before the Long Night, Daenerys signed a sacred marriage pact with the Bu clan. In the future, one of her sons or grandsons would marry a direct daughter of the Bu clan and inherit the throne of Yi.
"In other words, Daenerys would use her power to extend the Azure Dynasty of Yi for another thousand years, while the Targaryens would integrate into Yi and become its rulers. This benefits both sides.
"Since she herself would become the ruler of Yi, it would be only natural to establish the Church of the Seven as the state religion."
"I see. But she seems a bit too impatient. Her son hasn't even been born yet," the Sea King laughed.
"The Long Night is the best time to spread faith, especially for foreign religions, replacing the old with the new.
"Daenerys' idea isn't wrong. If the Church of the Seven becomes the state religion first, it will make it much easier for her future son to ascend the throne.
"It's just that she isn't from Yi and didn't expect its situation to be so complicated," the old woman sighed.
The Sea King nodded. "You're right. She chose the right timing but the wrong method.
"But why has her scripture-transmission team attracted the attention of the gods? Do the gods of western Essos need to compete for faith in Yi? Or is it…"
"Because of Ragnarok, they are targeting her?" the Sea King lowered his voice.
"Ragnarok is only a minor factor. The key is that eating the flesh of a holy monk grants immortality!" the old woman said in a low, eerie voice, a faint trace of greed flashing in her aged dark eyes.
"Where does that come from?" the Sea King asked curiously.
"Do you know who is in the scripture-transmission team?"
The Sea King shook his head. "I only heard about it today."
"Do you know Saint Matthew?" the old woman asked.
The Sea King gasped. "That's an angel of the Seven, a powerful demigod! Who would dare eat him?"
"Eating Saint Matthew only gives about a fifty percent chance of advancing to a demigod, and his cost-performance ratio is far too low. He's not the holy monk from the legends," the old woman said mysteriously. "Do you know the Son of God? The direct kin of a true god?"
The white dragon horse's neck bells rang sharply as it carried Qizang and his four disciples.
It was not easy to travel east to spread scriptures; achieving great merit was even harder.
Tessa carried the five dwarves, a load of scriptures, and several chests of indulgences as they left Dragonstone and crossed the Narrow Sea.
When they landed at the docks of Pentos, the enormous wyvern caused a commotion among fishermen and merchants.
Dressed in a splendid kasaya, Qizang spoke to the city guards who rushed over after hearing the news, under the watchful eyes of the crowd. "Sir Knight, I am a missionary from the Great Sept of the Seven in the west. I hope to meet your Prince and discuss the matter of spreading the faith in Pentos."
The soldier's attention was drawn to Qizang's luxurious attire, and he was pleased by being addressed as "Sir Knight." He kindly reminded him, "Priest, our Prince is about to die. You'd better not waste your time. Leave Pentos early. The Princes here have no interest in seeing you."
Hearing this, Qizang instead showed delight. "To be honest, I am skilled in sacred healing and can treat the Prince's illness. My fourth disciple is also a surgeon-priest, capable of scraping bone and removing decay."
"So you are a priest," the guard said.
Nowadays, true priests of the Seven held a very different status in both the extraordinary and mundane worlds. The blue-bearded guard immediately became respectful, bowing before shaking his head. "His Highness the Prince has no illness. He is to be sacrificed to the gods of earth and sea to appease their wrath."
"Sacrifice the Prince?" Qizang was shocked.
The senior disciple stepped forward. "Master Qizang, this is a tradition in Pentos. After the Doom of Valyria, the Princes lost their backing and gradually became puppets. Real power fell into the hands of merchant princes like Illyrio.
"Whenever the city suffers defeat in war or poor harvests, they slit the Prince's throat and offer him to the so-called 'gods of the sea and earth.'"
"I've heard of this, but this is my first time leaving the country and coming to Pentos. It's hard to imagine," Qizang murmured.
The dwarf asked the blue-bearded guard, "What happened in the city this time?"
The guard pointed at the sky. "The sun has been gone for half a year. Everyone is cold and starving. We can barely survive."
"Heh, then you people of Pentos can watch a Prince being beheaded every day," Senior Brother Tyrion said with schadenfreude.
"There are that many Princes?" Qizang asked in surprise.
Second Brother, with his hands tucked into his sleeves, stamped his feet and said, "There are over forty old noble families in Pentos. They take turns. One every two months. That should last until the Long Night ends."
"This… we need the Prince to stamp our travel documents. What should we do?" Qizang said anxiously.
"Completely unnecessary!" Senior Brother said impatiently. "Forget the documents. We can just fly to Yi. Who can stop us?"
"You don't understand. The documents are only part of it," Qizang stepped back and whispered into his disciple's ear. "Our goal is to establish a channel of faith. In every city we pass, we must gain the approval of its ruler. It would be best to build a temple and use indulgences to win over a group of believers."
"Westeros is too far from Yi. The transmission of divine power from the Seven is sluggish and suffers great loss. Up to now, the Mother has not shown any miracles in Yi for this very reason." Qizang's voice dropped so low it was almost inaudible.
"That's why we came to Pentos first. Braavos already has a sept, and its High Septon was arranged by the Great Sept of Baelor."
Senior Brother suddenly understood. "In normal times it would be difficult, but now it's the Long Night, and we have indulgences."
"Alas, Illyrio has already been executed. If we had arrived two days earlier, we could have asked him for help," the dwarf said regretfully.
Second Brother looked somber and said lightly, "Even if we had, it wouldn't have helped. Because of my sister, his relationship with the royal family was very poor. And after selling off his assets, he was no longer considered a merchant prince."
Senior Brother patted his shoulder and sighed. "He saw his granddaughter before facing execution. One could say he died without regret."
Second Brother shook his head, unwilling to dwell on the death of a friend of decades. Turning to the anxious Qizang, he said, "Meeting the Prince is both difficult and simple."
"Wuneng, do you have a good idea?" Qizang asked happily.
Hearing his new Dharma name, Second Brother's chubby face twitched. He walked to the blue-bearded guard, handed him two gold dragons, and said directly, "Tell your master that if we see the Prince before tonight, there will be three thousand gold coins."
"Gulp!" The guard clutched the gold coins, swallowing hard. His eyes seemed to turn into gold. "Sir Priest, are you sure? Three thousand?"
Without another word, Second Brother pulled out a stack of golden notes from his belt, parchment dyed gold.
"Take a good look. These are bearer certificates from the Iron Bank."
"I guarantee you will see the Prince this afternoon," the guard said immediately.
He kept his word. Two hours later, Qizang and his four disciples arrived at the palace of Pentos.
"How did you know that blue-beard's family had such influence?" Even as they walked along the stone path from the palace to the altar, the dwarf still found it unbelievable.
"Years ago, Pentos was defeated by Braavos and signed an agreement limiting its military power: no more than twenty warships and no more than five hundred city guards.
"There are over forty princely families in the city, and with merchant princes and nobles, more than a hundred families in total. Think about how valuable a guard position is."
Pentos was a coastal city, and the temple within the palace was built by the sea. The sacrificial altar stood on a cliff, half suspended over the water. It had a diameter of twenty meters, with a marble base covered by half a meter of blue sand.
The altar had three tiers. The central platform, five meters in diameter, rose two meters above the ground.
A middle-aged man in luxurious robes knelt at the center, his eyes dull and filled with despair. He was likely the Prince of Pentos.
Beside him stood four burly men, naked, their skin painted with patterns of the sea and earth.
To the strange chant of a hunched old priest dressed in blue and black robes, the four men spread their legs and danced a primitive ritual dance around the Prince.
Outside the main altar were two more rings on two levels. The inner circle had two to three hundred people dressed in solemn attire, mostly black and purple, with family crests on their chests. Many had distinct Valyrian features. The outer circle had fewer than a hundred people, dressed in colorful and extravagant garments of various styles and races.
"There's no chance today. Let's wait for the next Prince. I need to use the restroom. Varys, come with me," Tyrion said as he shook his head and walked away.
But less than ten minutes later, the eunuch came running back in a panic, shouting as he ran, "Master, something's wrong! Senior Brother has been captured by a demon!"
(End of Chapter)
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