Big Black was now larger than a police dog, weighing a full forty pounds and requiring two fat sheep daily.
Dani had no choice but to craft a large basket for him, similar to the round bamboo baskets used by rural folk to carry fodder, though shallower to prevent him from getting stuck and to keep him comfortable.
The Black Dragon crouched with two legs and half his body inside the basket, his broad wings draping over the sides and concealing the entire structure. His long neck rubbed against Dani's shoulders as he shifted his weight, allowing him to swivel his upper body freely.
"Your Majesty the Queen, I can only escort you this far," Paiya said, stopping at a fork in the path.
They stood before an oval wooden door set into a wall shaped like a human face. The door itself served as the mouth of the face, a gaping maw.
Dani felt like prey being offered to this monstrous, wide-mouthed beast.
The Wizard seemed to have a particular fondness for keeping Dwarves. Standing before the round-mouthed door was a Dwarf in a lavish purple and blue robe, holding a silver tray in his small pink hand. On the tray rested a slender crystal goblet filled with a thick blue liquid.
Dani had never imagined such a tiny human could exist. He was barely twenty centimeters tall, and even wearing flat sandals, he didn't reach her knees.
It was rare for someone with such a deformed physique to possess a handsome face.
His palm-sized face was wrinkled and crumpled into a ball, looking like a steamed bun that had been pinched into shape. In stark contrast to his small face, his nose was remarkably prominent, as if he were trying to compensate for his lack of height with a towering nose.
"Present the Spring of Wisdom to the Dragon Mother," Paiya commanded.
The Dwarf hurried forward, stopping before Dani and raising the tray high above his head.
Dani bent down, picked up the crystal goblet between two fingers, and held it up to the light. "Is this the Nightshade Water?"
"Drink it," the sorceress nodded, extending her hand in invitation.
"Will my lips turn blue?" she asked hesitantly.
"This cup will merely grant you the perspective of a mage. You will hear the truths of the world and glimpse ancient wisdom," Paiya said softly, her expression filled with an indescribable pride.
Dani raised the goblet to her lips and tentatively licked a drop.
She almost gagged to death.
It was as if she had taken a bite of rotten, diseased pig fat slathered in feces. Every nauseating taste she had ever experienced in her life erupted on her tongue, and Dani nearly collapsed from the sheer revulsion.
But the next moment, the blue liquid seemed to come alive, wriggling from her throat into her chest in countless, continuous threads. Her heart felt as if it were wrapped in a blazing flame, the searing heat so comforting that she almost moaned with pleasure.
*If only every self-immolation felt this good!* she thought.
Then, all the earlier revulsion vanished, replaced by the exquisite sensation of her first tastes of cotton candy, sugar-coated hawthorn, and KFC.
In that instant, all the cherished flavors of Dani's life flashed through her mouth in succession.
She was lost in the moment, desperately trying to hold onto them, but the cup emptied.
Dani smacked her lips, torn between wanting the Dwarf to pour her another cup and fearing she had just gotten high on otherworldly magical drugs, not to mention the ugly blue lips.
Paiya, however, swiftly took the empty cup from her hand and said urgently, "Listen carefully. What I'm about to say is crucial to your safe exit from the Hall of Immortality."
"Hmm," Dani immediately cleared her mind and focused her attention.
"This door only leads inward. Unless you see an Immortal, you won't be able to return to where you came from, even if you try to retreat."
"I understand."
"Once you enter, you'll find four doors in the room: the one you came through, and three others. Please take the rightmost door each time. If you encounter stairs, climb them—never go down. And never choose any door other than the first one on your right."
"Stairs? But this house is so short?" Dani asked, puzzled.
Paiya replied gravely, "You'll understand once you're inside. Remember this: the Hall of Immortality has the same path in and out. The way you came is the way you'll return.
Always climb upward, always choose the first door on your right.
Other doors might open automatically, and you'll see strange sights. But don't let them distract you.
Some visions will be beautiful, some will be your deepest desires, and some will be your greatest fears. But unless it's the first door on your right, don't enter any of them."
"Can I look at them?" Dani asked.
"As long as you don't enter the room, you can do whatever you please," Paiya said with a sigh, her expression complex. "The images you see and the sounds you hear may exist in the past, in the future, or may never happen at all. At that moment, the river of time you inhabit is disturbed."
"I understand. Always go upward, and the first door on the right," Dani nodded solemnly. "Anything else?"
"When you finally enter the Immortal's chamber, please be patient and don't grow anxious. We have a different perception of time than the eternal Immortals. Just listen carefully and engrave every word in your heart," Paiya warned.
"I'll remember. I will show the utmost respect to the great Immortal," Dani promised.
"Then go ahead."
Dani nodded and stepped through the door. She found herself in a square hall of gray stone, about 40 square meters, with a doorway on each of the four walls.
Remembering Paiya's instructions, she should enter the door on the right. However, her intense curiosity about the Hall of Immortality made her pause. She stood in the center of the hall and peered into the other three doors.
Disappointment.
They were pitch-black, revealing nothing.
So, with the dragon on her back, she pushed open the door on the right and entered another stone chamber.
It was identical to the first one.
After entering the square stone chamber with four doors for the third time, Dani couldn't help but wonder if she had stumbled into a maze.
However, her resolve remained unshaken, and she pushed open the door to the fourth room.
This time, something was different. It was an oval wooden house with walls visibly riddled with insect damage and a total of six doors.
Dani opened the first wooden door on the right, only to find herself in a dimly lit corridor instead of another room.
The ceiling was high, and torches emitting plumes of black smoke lined the right wall. When Dani reached into the orange flames, she felt the sting of real heat.
"Real torches, not an illusion," she murmured.
*Hiss—* Big Black hissed in her ear, snapping her back to the present and urging her onward.
A long corridor was carpeted with moldy fabric, its golden stripes glimmering faintly under the torchlight. The fabric seemed to whisper to Dani of time's relentless passage—once precious and magnificent, now tattered and worn.
"Strange, all the doors are on the left," Dani noted after walking dozens of meters, yet still saw no doors on the right wall.
She wasn't anxious, however. Even though there were no doors on the right wall, the last door on the left wall was the first one on the right.
She just needed to reach the end of the corridor.
*Thud—Scrape, scrape—*
The carpet beneath her feet absorbed the sound of Dani's footsteps, but strange noises occasionally emanated from behind the wooden doors on the left: the sound of something colliding with the wood, the frantic scratching of mice against the timber, faint human voices, and the strains of musical instruments.
But when a chorus of moans from a nearby door revealed the sounds of lovers, Dani could no longer restrain herself.
*As long as I don't go inside, I can do anything,* she told herself.
Then, with a *bang*, she— She took two steps back, poised to flee, as Big Black shattered the wooden door into rotten splinters with a flick of his tail.
No terrifying monster charged out. Instead, a warm, soft yellow light spilled from the room onto the gray-green carpet.
"Big Black, you're amazing!" Dani praised without hesitation.
After all, he was a dragon, naturally immune to curses.
*Sgarr—* Big Black nuzzled affectionately against her neck.
Dani patted his massive head and peered into the room.
Hmm, a restricted scene.
A tall, voluptuous blonde with fair skin lay naked on the ground, limbs splayed wide. A Seven-Pointed Star flag covered her face, and four small figures swarmed over her body.
Like the dwarf who had offered Dani the Nightshade Water, they were short, with pink hands and long, pointed noses like those of lecherous rats.
The four dwarves paid no attention to Dani, completely absorbed in their violation of the woman.
"What the hell is this?" Dani asked, utterly bewildered but not the least bit embarrassed.
She tilted her head, searching for details for a long time, but found nothing.
"Big Black, Dragon Dream!"
Suddenly, Dani switched to the Black Dragon's perspective. The woman's body plummeted into an endless abyss, and she followed without any means of support.
Then, a brilliant light surged up from the depths. Dani found herself floating above an unfamiliar continent—a long, narrow landmass where she could clearly see the ground below, yet also take in its entire shape.
The sounds of battle cries, wails, clashing swords, and triumphant laughter rose from the land below.
Suddenly, a flash of inspiration struck her. A vivid memory surged back.
It was in White Cloud City, on the high tower at the city gates, that she and Jorah discussed "Jorah's Story."
To make it clearer for Dani, Jorah used stones to draw a map of Westeros on the balcony.
Bear Island, the North, Ironman Bay, Lannisport, Oldtown, Dorne, King's Landing, Braavos across the Narrow Sea.
"This is Westeros!" The unfamiliar continent below matched Jorah's crude drawing one by one.
Dani gradually understood the true meaning of the vision she had just seen: "The beautiful woman represents Westeros, and the Seven-Pointed Star covering her face symbolizes the Church of the Seven Gods! When the teachings of the Seven Gods are ignored, four ugly figures run rampant across the Seven Kingdoms."
"Who do those four dwarves represent?" Her understanding of the Seven Kingdoms came entirely from the TV series, but her real-life experiences had taught her that while the plot could serve as a reference, it couldn't be trusted completely.
"Never mind, I'll just go ask Jorah later."
Dani broke free from her dragon spirit state, and the room returned to its previous 5p scene.
*Bang!*
Now that she understood the symbolic meaning behind each scene in the room, Dani's interest in the Hall of Immortality grew. She took a few more steps forward, and Big Black opened a door.
"Shit!" She was startled.