Lu Xuan used a secret Taoist technique to establish a mental link with Daenerys, entering her world of consciousness. This was a trick he developed based on some spell models of male wizards, combined with his own Taoist magical principles.
Flames are the symbol of Daenerys's consciousness space. If Lu Xuan's soul hadn't been incredibly resilient, this connection probably wouldn't have been possible at all.
Endless flames filled Daenerys's mental world, and above this sea of fire hung an even larger sun. That must be Drogon, the dragon with whom Daenerys had the deepest connection.
There was only one sun. Lu Xuan frowned. He recalled a prophecy in the original work: dragons have three heads, and it seemed Daenerys was only one of them. This foreshadowed that the other two dragons would eventually fall into the hands of others.
Daenerys sensed Lu Xuan's arrival. The surrounding flames scattered. The remaining embers quickly coalesced, eventually forming the image of Daenerys.
Her meditation was beginning to show results, and she could now influence her mental world at will. However, there was still a huge obstacle she couldn't overcome: she discovered that she could now control the magic within her body, and even draw upon the magic of dragons to some extent. But she couldn't use this power.
It was incredibly awkward; the immense energy was right there, yet she couldn't unleash even a tiny fireball.
Tell me how you feel.
Lu Xuan also found it somewhat strange. Logically speaking, with Daenerys's immense magical power, she should have experienced a magical outburst or something similar. He moved the training grounds to the open air to prevent Daenerys's intense magical power from burning down her manor.
However, unexpectedly, even though Daenerys was able to draw magic from the dragon, she still couldn't release any magic power outwards.
“I’m not really sure, it’s just that I feel… like something is holding me back. No, not quite. It’s more like it’s like I shouldn’t be using magic. Well, I’m having a hard time describing that feeling.”
Lu Xuan was also completely baffled. Although no real magicians appeared in the TV series, magic definitely existed. For one thing, the dragons' flames were absolutely magical. Lu Xuan had already checked; these dragons didn't have any organs like biological nuclear reactors. Their fire-breathing was a manifestation of magic. Furthermore, Melisandre, the priestess of the Red God, could also manipulate fire. She was quite powerful in the series. Why couldn't it work for Daenerys?
But at that moment, a thought flashed through Lu Xuan's mind. Melisandre...
Lu Xuan suddenly realized something. Melisandre wasn't a pure wizard; she was a priestess, a priestess of the Red God Rahrol—these were completely different concepts.
Rahlor is the god of shadows, but he is far more than that. All his divine prophecies are displayed within flames. This fellow definitely wields a portion of the power of fire. Thinking about it carefully, in the entire world of ice and fire, apart from dragons and the priests of the Red God, it seems there are no other wizards capable of using fire magic.
Shadowbinders can use shadow magic, but it seems that all Shadowbinders are inextricably linked to R'hllor. It is said that even if one does not believe in R'hllor, one will fall into his hands after death.
Upon realizing this, Lu Xuan seemed to understand that it wasn't that Daenerys lacked talent, but rather that someone had blocked her access to fire magic.
The laws of fire in the world of Ice and Fire are partly controlled by R'hllor, but not entirely. For example, dragonfire is genuine fire magic, and a naturally occurring, high-level fire magic at that. R'hllor cannot seal it off. This shows that its authority isn't actually that high. At least the dragons are on par with it. However, the dragons' authority seems more innate; their intelligence is limited, they know what to do, but not why. They can maintain their authority, but they can't expand it outwards. R'hllor can't do anything to the dragons, but when humans like Daenerys want to use fire magic, it gets excited. If it can't control the dragons, it can certainly control you, right?
Moreover, given Daenerys's exceptional talent, R'hllor would never allow her to truly master her magic. Daenerys's magic is practically the ultimate form of fire. If she were to gain control of her power, she would inevitably covet the laws of fire in the future.
"Dani, calm down and let's try a different approach."
With this in mind, Lu Xuan instructed Daenerys to follow his rhythm and use a fire-based magic seal from the Daoist school.
"Don't resist, I may have found the root of the problem. Follow my lead."
Lu Xuan directly guided Daenerys in forming a series of complex Taoist hand seals in the spiritual world.
A flame ignited in her hand and quickly transformed into a lifelike fire crow.
Daenerys opened her eyes and looked at the fire raven in her hand with surprise.
"I did it!"
"No, it's far from good enough!" Lu Xuan poured cold water on Daenerys's enthusiasm.
"Why?" Dani looked at the fire crow in her hand, not understanding what Lu Xuan meant.
Lu Xuan casually extinguished her fire crow, and then the two of them worked together again to try once more. This time, they failed.
Daenerys looked on incredulously.
"What's going on? Why?"
Seeing this phenomenon, Lu Xuan was basically certain of his guess.
"I think I understand what's going on. Don't worry, I already have a solution. However, simply solving this problem isn't enough. We need to plan carefully, at least to make some guys pay a price..."
Making R'hllor, one of only two gods in the world of Ice and Fire to perform miracles, pay the price is no easy task. Although various signs indicate that this creature seems somewhat lacking compared to a true god, he is undoubtedly a genuine divine being—the kind capable of influencing reality from a month's distance. Lu Xuan doesn't believe he can defeat such a being head-on. However, as far as he knows, during the Valyrian Freehold era, the great wizards basically treated R'hllor as nothing. Therefore, to deal with R'hllor, he first needs to complete Valyria's meditation methods, and even complete the lineage of the great wizards. This will require a great deal of time. And now, Astapor faces a new problem.
Yunkai and Meereen have assembled an army of 40,000 to retake Astapor.
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Chapter 259 Barristan's Self-Recommendation
Daenerys has ruled Astapor for seven months now, while her sister cities Yunkai and Meereen have only just managed to muster their armies to attack. Lu Xuan is worried for them with such a slow response.
Lu Xuan had been keeping a close eye on their counterattack and had prepared various contingency plans. However, after seeing how poorly they fared, he lost interest. Seven months had passed. Twelve thousand Unsullied, plus the newly formed army of eight thousand, meant Astapor now had a force of twenty thousand.
Moreover, there was seven months of unlimited spending to stockpile war resources. Astapo's current food reserves are enough to sustain the entire city for more than a year. Simply put, Lu Xuan's side was fully prepared and waiting for the enemy to tire themselves out before they even made their move. If he didn't utterly crush their opponent, Lu Xuan felt he would be letting down his centuries-long military career.
"Both Yuankai and Meereen have a certain reserve of Unsullied, totaling about two thousand. It's not that they don't have more, but the slave owners can't possibly send out all their resources. So, forty thousand people, most of them are mercenaries. This includes the famous Wind Chaser Corps, the Second Son Corps, and the Raven Crow Corps, among others."
In addition, they assembled approximately sixty warships, preparing for a pincer attack by land and sea, aiming to crush all of Astapo's defensive forces in one fell swoop.
Listening to his subordinates' report, Lu Xuan remained completely unmoved. In truth, aside from the navy, which was currently somewhat troublesome, Lu Xuan had never taken the so-called 40,000-strong army seriously. And those 'famous' mercenary groups? Lu Xuan wanted to laugh just hearing about them.
As far as he knew, in the original story, when Daenerys attacked Meereen, the enemy hired the Second Sons for defense. However, the second son of the Second Sons took a liking to Daenerys, and that very night he killed his leader and led his men to defect to Daenerys. This action truly blew Lu Xuan's mind. Is this how you fight a war?
Lu Xuan wasn't in a hurry, but someone else was. Barristan, who was still working as a junior instructor at the training camp, felt he couldn't remain silent any longer after hearing about this. He considered himself the best general in Westeros.
He felt compelled to step forward and help the kind queen save the city. Of course, there are countless versions of who the greatest warrior of Westeros is. The most widely accepted answer is Randyll Tarly, but considering the actual battles throughout the A Song of Ice and Fire series, he wasn't really that great.
Barristan went straight to Daenerys's palace and told the guards, "I am Barristan. Just tell the Queen my name, and she will see me."
While this statement may be arrogant, it is indeed true. Anyone from Westeros knows the name Barristan. This loyal and fearless knight is essentially the moral standard of Westeros.
In fact, Joffrey and Cersei's dismissal of Barristan left Tywin Lannister completely bewildered. He even openly criticized his daughter and nephew's absurd actions. His exact words were as follows.
"They even drove Selmy away. What's wrong with them? Yes, he's old, but the title 'Barristan the Bold' carries a lot of weight in the kingdom. Whoever he serves benefits..." This shows that Joffrey the Great and Queen Cersei's wisdom is truly among the best in the Seven Kingdoms...