He quickly turned around, looking at the short figure standing directly opposite the hall.
He was wearing a black cloak, his hood covering his head, making his face indiscernible. Although his stature was small, he exuded a mysterious and ancient aura.
"May I ask who you are?" Liu Qian asked cautiously.
"Ossarion, a Blood Wizard of Valyria, the master of this tower, and the de facto ruler of this city..."
The Blood Wizard's voice was like sandpaper, "Outsider, you have seen these histories that have not been annihilated. Do you have many questions in your heart?"
He walked along the wall, approaching Liu Qian.
Liu Qian, however, walked in the opposite direction without a change in expression, and so it devolved into the two of them circling the hall.
As he walked, Liu Qian asked, "Lord Ossarion, is this the history of Valyria? But how is it that I heard Valyria originated from a nation of shepherds on the Dothraki Sea?"
Ossarion paced, letting out a laugh that sounded like metal grinding, "Heh heh, Valyrians originated from a nation of shepherds? That statement is only half-right. Do you know why only the Dragonlord families of Valyria were Dragonriders, while other families could not ride dragons?"
Liu Qian was startled; he also had no answer to that question.
"That is because the Dragonlord families were all products of inbreeding." Ossarion's small voice resonated like a great bell in the circular hall, "The ancestors of the Valyrians once interbred with a nation of shepherds. This union was a necessity caused by the scarcity of female Valyrian members. Only a small number of males could marry females of their own clan, while other males had to seek partners from other races. This led to the dilution of the Valyrian bloodline; some people forever lost the qualification to ride dragons, while those with pure blood became the later Dragonlord families..."
"And the true origin of Valyria is Golden Empire of the Dawn in the eastern Yi Ti. The Valyrians are the descendants of the Amethyst Empress, who was killed by her own brother and husband. After the Long Night, they migrated to the west of the Bone Mountains and, relying on blood magic, rebuilt their civilization."
"This is the true history of Valyria."
Every word from Ossarion landed in Liu Qian's heart like an earthquake.
The Valyrians actually came from Yi Ti? They are actually descendants of Golden Empire of the Dawn?
This is unscientific.
"May I ask, my lord, the appearance of Valyrians, their hair and eye color, are clearly different from the people of Yi Ti. How could they come from Yi Ti?"
Ossarion stopped, and Liu Qian also halted his steps.
"Part of it is blood magic, and part is intermarriage with Westerners. Golden Empire of the Dawn was the earliest nation to use blood magic in history. The emperors of Golden Empire of the Dawn used blood magic to transform themselves, allowing their bodies to undergo a certain degree of evolution and gain extraordinary sorcery. When the body is transformed, the appearance changes, as do hair and eye color."
"But why are you telling me all this, just because I am from Yi Ti?"
Liu Qian asked the question in his heart.
Ossarion's smile gradually turned dark and chilling: "Because I have been waiting for you, outsider from the East. I saw you visiting Teria in the black stone, and I saw that you will wield the Dawnbreaker and end the Long Night once again. You will become the legendary Azor Ahai, and this is my only chance for rebirth."
He took off his hood, revealing not a human face, but rather a lizard skull covered in pale, shriveled skin.
In its sunken eye sockets were a pair of beast eyes glowing with a cold crimson light. The nose area was reduced to two small holes, and the lower jaw protruded abnormally forward. The tightly closed lips had stiff lines, as if they had never shown emotion.
Most unsettling was that the hand occasionally exposed through the gaps in his cloak was covered in thick, dark-gold Scale Claws, the edges of which shimmered with a metallic, cold luster, yet also conveyed a sense of impending rigidity.
This was no human; it was clearly a Scale Claw monster!
Liu Qian's heart sank. He saw the large door behind Ossarion slowly open, and countless Scale Claw monsters, identical to him, emerged, staring at him with blood-red, malevolent eyes.
"These are Scale Claws I control with blood magic, stitched together from my own flesh and blood. I believe the battle won't last long... As long as you surrender, I will make you suffer less pain."
"As long as I strip away your soul, my soul can take advantage of the void and occupy your original body... My body can no longer sustain itself, and your body will be my new vessel... Don't worry, if you die, I will resurrect you as a puppet with sorcery and then cast the spell. Even if you lose limbs, I will stitch together a perfect body for you... This way I can completely escape this place..."
Ossarion revealed a mocking smile, as if talking about something trivial.
Liu Qian frowned deeply, cursing inwardly. This guy wanted to seize his body.
Before he could think further, all the Scale Claws, as if commanded, pushed off their legs and pounced, their sharp beast claws splayed open, gleaming with a cold, silvery light.
Liu Qian's expression was calm. The Scale Claw monsters posed no threat to him; they were merely experience babies for farming Dragon Spirit.
He immediately activated Prairie Fire, spewing Dragon Flame Breath from his throat. Streams of fire, as hot as volcanic magma, poured over these flesh-and-blood monsters, the intense heat scorching their proudly hard scales until they curled and blackened.
The Scale Claws let out sharp screams, falling from the air. The flames on their bodies clung to them like maggots, refusing to dissipate, making crackling sounds of intense burning. A smell of char filled the air of the circular hall.
Seeing the Scale Claws instantly dealt with by Liu Qian, Ossarion was not surprised. He gently pressed a spot on the wall beside him, and the ground in the circular hall shook violently, as if an earthquake had struck.
The black flagstones on the ground slowly separated, and a deep, dark pit slowly appeared before Liu Qian.
The pit's depth was unknown, but the cold air blowing from within carried a strong smell of blood and decay. Three pairs of crimson, bloodthirsty eyes flickered in and out of sight within the pit.
Under the glow of the gems, Liu Qian finally saw clearly.
It was a terrifying monster, thirty feet tall.
It had the head of a lion, the body of a goat, and a tail made of a python.
A goat's head also protruded from its body, making it look hideous and terrifying.
Those three crimson eyes belonged to the three different beast heads.
It was another Chimera, stitched together from flesh and blood.
A thick shadow fell over Liu Qian's face. He hadn't expected that Ossarion not only created Scale Claw monsters but also a Chimera stitched from flesh and blood.
Although it was not as large as the Purple monster bird, that monster bird was not killed by him alone.
Moreover, birds have many feathers, making it easy to find weak points.
But this Chimera had sparse fur on its body, allowing the sculpted lines of its muscles to be clearly seen.
Ossarion at this moment gazed at his masterpiece with obsession: "A Chimera, a terrifying monster stitched from flesh and blood! Do you see? This is the power of a Blood Wizard! Alas... alas, time is too short, otherwise I would certainly be able to resurrect the long-extinct dragons!"
Ossarion tore at his throat, making a strange sound.
And the Chimera's three differently shaped heads all glared at Liu Qian, opening their bloody mouths, and crimson fire gathered in their throats... Outside the tower, Jelena and Teres were still in a standoff.
Jelena was determined to wait for Liu Qian to come out.
She wasn't afraid that Teres would actually take Liu Qian to clean the city walls, but rather worried that Liu Qian might encounter misfortune inside.
After all, she had promised her sister that Liu Qian would come out safely.
Just then, long horn calls echoed from the black city walls of Teria in the distance.
Jelena and Teres's expressions instantly changed. They exchanged glances, and without another word, quickly organized their troops and marched towards the city walls.
On the black city walls.
The patrol guard blowing the horn still couldn't believe his eyes. His face was filled with fear as he looked into the distance, where a boundless black ocean vaguely appeared in the thick fog.
It was a vast Scale Claw legion, advancing in an orderly fashion towards Teria.