nycdaug Chapter 739 Dathomir Wizard
Chapter 739 Dathomir Wizard
Chapter 739 Dathomir Wizard
Rankmon stayed outside the red stone forest.
It is too small to fit into narrow canyons.
Fu Qinghai followed Xili in.
The two of them spiraled up along the path and stairs carved out of the red rock, passed through a triangular archway formed by two collapsed boulders, and came to a space shaped like an atrium.
"Sister Sillie!"
Hearing the footsteps, two girls ran out of the cave cheering. Suddenly they saw the tall and strong man following behind Xili. They stopped immediately, stood there, looked up at Fu Qinghai in a daze, with confused looks on their faces.
Fu Qinghai was also looking at the two girls.
He had the same pale skin as Sylvie, but without the black symmetrical tattoos on his face. He was wearing simple, plain fabric clothes and looked like a child in a refugee camp.
"Becky! Eula!"
Silly knelt down and hugged the two girls.
The girl was held in Xili's arms, but she couldn't help but look up and stare at Fu Qinghai, with curiosity and vigilance.
"This is... Qingshan, my friend."
Xili introduced Fu Qinghai to the girls.
"Oh."
The two girls answered timidly.
Fu Qinghai withdrew his gaze and began to look around. There was light shining down from above the atrium area surrounded by the stone mountain, just like a skylight, and there were caves extending in all directions around it.
Fu Qinghai had seen the animation "The Clone Wars". In his impression, during the Battle of Dathomir, the Nightsisters lived in a forest - that's why the Confederate Army deployed incinerator tanks to burn the forest, just like the US military used Agent Orange in Vietnam. The red stone forest canyon in front of him was not consistent with what he saw in the animation. The Nightsisters were likely to move their hiding place after the defeat.
"Sirri!" "Sister Sirri is back!"
As they went deeper, more and more people ran out of the cave. The more Fu Qinghai looked, the more he felt something was wrong - why were they all children? The youngest one was estimated to be only seven or eight years old, and was held in Xili's arms.
"wrong."
Fu Qinghai grabbed Xili's arm:
"Why are there so many kids here? You said you can't make a decision, can these kids make the decision for you?"
"You come with me."
Xili put the little girl down in his arms, comforted the other half-grown children and asked them to return to their respective homes, then led Fu Qinghai to the deeper part of the cave.
No wonder Syllie was so afraid that I would find her tribe... If the Nightsisters were really left with only these seven or eight children, then they would have no resistance to external dangers. Any bounty hunter could kill them without the need for an army.
Fu Qinghai thought to himself.
The two of them walked up the stone steps, passed through a gap so narrow that only one person could pass through sideways, and climbed up the nearly vertical rock wall by holding on to the protrusions of the red stone cliff. Finally, they came to a hidden cave.
Xili found and lit a candle at the entrance of the cave. The small flame illuminated the dark cave. With the help of the faint light, Fu Qinghai also saw the environment and layout of the cave:
The cave is not big, about the size of a room. In the center of the cave is a cracked circular stone altar as big as a millstone. Mysterious runes are carved on the altar, and some wooden carved dolls and totems are scattered around it.
So, who is the one who makes the decision?
Fu Qinghai did not see the third person in the cave.
Cyril slowly knelt down in front of the altar.
The witch lowered her eyes and chanted some obscure spells with complicated gestures, just like when she summoned the Blade of Talzin before. As she "continued to cast the spell", a fluorescent translucent green liquid slowly flowed out from the cracks in the altar.
Under Fu Qinghai's gaze, the green liquid quickly evaporated and turned into a hazy green mist. The mist quickly rose above the altar. The green light illuminated the dark cave, and the mist turned into the image of an old woman as it rolled and flowed.
This was a very old woman, with sagging skin on her face, gray hair piled up on top of her head, and she was very short, only about 1.5 meters tall. She had the same pale skin as Sylvie, and symmetrical black tattoos on her face, and she was wearing a simple short robe.
Is this considered... a Sith ghost?
Fu Qinghai looked at the old woman's translucent body and the green mist rolling and floating beneath her body, and thought secretly.
"Old Daka."
Xili cried out softly and knelt down.
"Silly, my child, get up."
The old woman looked at the witch kindly.
Old Daka? This name sounds familiar.
Fu Qinghai recalled it briefly and soon remembered it.
During the Battle of Dathomir, Mother Talzin knew that the Nightsisters could not resist the robot army led by General Grievous, so she asked a mysterious old woman in the tribe to cast witchcraft to resurrect the dead Nightsisters in the cemetery into zombie-like forms to assist the surviving Nightsisters in resisting the enemy's attack.
At the same time, Talzin, as the strongest fighter of the Nightsisters at the time, did not waste the Force on fighting the robots, but decisively opened up a second battlefield - she used the collected hair of Count Dooku and combined it with Dathomir witchcraft to make a puppet, and tortured the puppet madly, causing Count Dooku to suffer the same damage, in order to force the Confederation of Independent Systems to withdraw.
On the front battlefield, the Nightsisters suffered heavy losses and were defeated, but on the battlefield of the Force, Matron Talzin almost killed Count Dooku from a distance.
The mysterious old woman that Matron Talzin requested, the elderly Nightsister who summoned the army of the undead, was called "Old Daka". Based on the plot in the animation, Fu Qinghai guessed that Old Daka was similar to the "elder" in the tribe.
But Fu Qinghai clearly remembered that in the animation "The Clone Wars", old Daka and Talzin were chopped to pieces by the four lightsabers wielded like electric fans by General Grievous. They were dead beyond death, but they appeared again before his eyes.
The Night Sisters are indeed proficient in soul witchcraft!
Fu Qinghai was not surprised by this.
After the death of her physical body, Matron Talzin has been continuing to cause trouble in the form of a soul. In the comic book "Darth Maul: Son of Dathomir", Matron Talzin once took over the body of Count Dooku and possessed Count Dooku to fight Darth Sidious. So the death of the physical body is not the end at all for these Dathomir witches who are proficient in soul witchcraft.
Xili stood up and walked in front of Lao Daka, and began to speak in a language that Fu Qinghai could not understand. While speaking, he pointed back at Fu Qinghai.
What is this? Encrypted call?
Fu Qinghai frowned slightly.
Old Daka turned her head and looked at Fu Qinghai.
"Young and powerful Force-sensitive, Syllee tells me that you wish to learn Dathomir sorcery?"
Old Daka asked hoarsely.
"Yes, respected old Daka."
Fu Qinghai nodded heavily.
"Um……"
Old Daka fell into deep thought.
Sillie said something else.
There was a hint of worry on his face.
"You come with me."
Old Daka slowly floated towards the cave entrance.
Fu Qinghai immediately followed.
……
Because Silli summoned the soul of Old Daka from the crack in the altar, Fu Qinghai once thought that Old Daka could only stay near the altar. He did not expect that after she was summoned, she could move freely as she pleased.
Old Daka's soul floated in the air, passing straight through the winding and narrow caves and bottomless chasms. Fu Qinghai followed Old Daka floating in the air, climbing and jumping over countless obstacles, and came to a dark forest.
"Have you ever heard of the Nightsisters before?"
Old Daka asked as she floated forward.
"Have heard a little bit."
Fu Qinghai nodded and jumped over the tree trunk lightly.
"The galaxy has long been aware of our presence, and the powerful will reward us for our services, for the skills we have honed on the beasts of Dathomir are superior. The most skilled among us will leave this planet to serve as guards and hunters for those who need our services - this is all most people know about the Nightsisters, and I guess you are no exception."
Old Daka looked ahead and said lightly.
"You may have heard or seen that among the countless races in the galaxy, there are countless beliefs in the Force. Almost every religion claims that it is the only correct belief. These contradictory beliefs cannot all be correct - in fact, none of them are correct beliefs!"
Old Daka said almost arbitrarily.
Fu Qinghai raised his eyebrows when he heard this.
"Yes, the savage magic of the daughters of Arya is the true way of the Force. Our shamanic faith permeates the galaxy, influencing other faiths of the Force even when their followers are unaware. Our faith comes from only one source: the Web of Life on Dathomir."
Old Daka turned and looked at Fu Qinghai and said.
Fu Qinghai stopped and thought.
Dathomir's Web of Life?
Old Daka turned back and continued to float forward:
"I served as the Nightsisters' shaman for many years before Talzin rose to become leader. One of the core truths of the Nightsisters is that there is a world of spirits that exists parallel to our own. There are animal essences, natural forces, and our ancestors. It is ruled by male and female gods."
Old Daka expounds on the worldview of the Nightsisters.
"Do you believe in the existence of the soul, Qingshan?"
Old Daka suddenly stopped again.
Dingding looked at Fu Qinghai and asked.
"Based on what I have seen and heard so far."
Fu Qinghai nodded seriously:
"I believe."
If the soul does exist objectively, why can't we believe it? Whether in the official universe or the legendary universe, there are settings related to the spirits of the Jedi and the ghosts of the Sith.
The difference is that the spirits of the Jedi seem to be able to run around in the entire universe and appear anywhere and at any time, but their existence is relatively short-lived, and they often have to "return to the Force" after a few hundred years. The spirits of the Sith usually parasitize in an object, and as long as the object is not damaged, the spirit of the Sith can continue to exist. The mask that the Sith Lord Darth Momin parasitized has existed for thousands of years without being damaged.
"Spirit keeps our tribe alive and well."
Old Daka continued:
"When sickness and death befell our sisters, they visited us too, taking the souls of the dead with them. However, only on Dathomir are the two worlds close enough for us to observe, and only here do the middlemen between the two worlds exist. The Nightsisters' shamans can cross the canyon of death and dreams, passing information between the world of spirits and reality."
Old Daka raised her head and looked at the sky.
Seems to be lost in some memories.
"I was giving birth to my first daughter, and my soul called to me for the first time as I lay shaking in agony. In that moment, hanging between life and death, bathed in the light of Dathomir's four moons, I saw the parallels of the two worlds clearly. It was then that I understood how the soul can exist within a living body, and how it can continue after the body is gone."
Old Daka's narration was somewhat long-winded, messy and trivial.
Fu Qinghai helped her sort out and summarize it in his mind.
Some powerful Jedi Masters or Sith Lords may become Jedi spirits and Sith ghosts after death, which is nothing strange. However, the "souls" described by the Nightsisters do not seem to be limited to Jedi spirits and Sith ghosts. The Nightsisters believe that all things have spirits, and there is also a world of souls that corresponds to the real world.
Heaven? Hell? Hades? Hades? The Warp?
Fu Qinghai didn't know what to call this world.
Anyway, the Nightsisters believe that there is such a plane or dimension in the universe, which is inconsistent with the views of the Jedi and the Sith. Neither Old Man Hu Xian nor the "Book of the Sith" mentioned the existence of a soul world.
And Old Daka believes that only on the special planet of Dathomir can one have the opportunity to observe the existence of another world. The Nightsisters can communicate between the two worlds. Is this the theoretical basis for their soul witchcraft?
Fu Qinghai also practiced in Dathomir for many days, but his Force perception never sensed the existence of another world. According to Old Daka's recollection, she saw another world when she was dying during childbirth. Fu Qinghai is a man, and he cannot replicate this experience.
If I can't see it with my own eyes...
Fu Qinghai scratched his chin and thought:
How can we prove that the spiritual world really exists?
"Sirri told me that although you do not admit that you are a Jedi or a Sith, you have mastered the Force skills that are clearly those of a Jedi and a Sith, and you use them skillfully."
Old Daka said calmly:
"Groups like the Jedi and the Sith describe the existence of the soul in strange and cold terms. They talk about the unity of the light side and the dark side, the living force. We must forgive their ignorance, for they are not the witches of Dathomir. Their leaders have not been tried and tested like us, and cannot understand the concept of the soul."
Both Jedi and Sith have the same view on the Nightsisters. They all believe that the Nightsisters belong to a group or a school that believes in and uses the dark side of the Force. However, the Nightsisters themselves do not seem to think that they belong to the dark side of the Force. They even do not agree with the division of the light side and the dark side, nor do they agree with the more fashionable force theories such as the theory of life force and the theory of unified force that developed later.
"There is no need to completely separate what they call the Life Force from the Unified Force. Both are manifestations of the Twin Gods, and both are beings full of life and power."
Old Daka continued to expound her theory of the Force.
"Also, the light side and dark side categories are wrong. Does killing necessarily mean evil? Would those who answer yes to this view be happy to see carnivores die of starvation, while herbivores can eat all the plants on the earth without hindrance and all die in the subsequent famine? Is this the utopia that the moral Jedi Knights imagine, where there will be no more killing?"
Old Daka asked a series of rhetorical questions one after another.
Emmmmm...
Fu Qinghai holds a different opinion on this.
Fu Qinghai felt that Old Daka's view of the Jedi was narrow and one-sided, although the Jedi Knights had always advocated peace concepts such as non-aggression and universal love, including the Zero Sword Style in addition to the Seven Jedi Sword Styles, which required every Jedi Knight to think about non-violent solutions before taking action.
But the Jedi are by no means saints!
What the Jedi Knights pursue is never that the light side completely overwhelms the dark side, but that the light side and the dark side should reach a balance. The ecological balance between carnivores and herbivores in nature that Old Daka gave as an example is also a kind of balance, which is not contradictory to what the Jedi Knights pursue.
The Jedi Creed opposes the endless and unrestrained pursuit of power, which is the fundamental difference between the Jedi and the Sith. The Sith Creed is basically the Force version of social Darwinism - I am strong so I conquer, you are weak so you are ruled, so there is no bottom line for the pursuit of power.
Old Daka didn't know what Fu Qinghai was thinking.
She is still explaining the philosophy of the Nightsisters:
"What the Jedi Knights call the 'dark side' is the essence of life discovered by the Nightsisters. Even some of our own kind have made the same mistake as the Jedi, ignoring the souls' thirst for blood and labeling them evil. If you sincerely want to learn Dathomir sorcery, Qingshan, do not be troubled by the classification of the dark side and the light side. This is just the nonsense of those outsiders!"
Old Daka stared at Fu Qinghai and said:
"Our abilities are given by our souls. The Winged Goddess and the Fanged God endow all things with negative and positive energy and make them live. You cannot deny your own existence. Don't let false dogmas limit your vision."
Oh, the key words appear.
Fu Qinghai captured it keenly.
Old Daka has always mentioned the so-called "two gods" and "the soul world is ruled by male and female gods". Now she finally gave the specific titles of these two gods:
The Winged Goddess and the Fanged God.
……
The topography of Dathomir is extremely complex.
Fu Qinghai followed Lao Daka all the way through the dark forest and misty valley, climbed the cliffs to the top of the mountains, and Fu Qinghai discovered that there was a relic standing here.
Giant stone slabs formed a platform on the top of the mountain, and the stone pillars that had not yet collapsed formed a few simple arches. The man-made buildings had long been ruined by the erosion of wind and rain.
Fu Qinghai thought that Old Daka would continue to talk about the secrets of the Winged Goddess and the Fanged God, but he didn't expect that Old Daka suddenly changed the topic when she reached the top of the mountain and began to talk about the history of the planet Dathomir.
"How do we know that our home is unique among all the stars in the universe?"
Old Daka looked into the distance and said:
"I have the eyes of a shaman, and with them I see the evidence. I see spirits passing through smoky portals in the forest, shuttling between our world and theirs."
"If you study the history of those outsiders, you'll find that my conclusion is correct. Since the beginning of recorded history, great civilizations have always been drawn to Dathomir."
"look."
Old Daka raised her hand and pointed to the valley bottom between the mountains. Fu Qinghai looked in the direction of her finger and saw a group of blue dinosaurs gathered beside the bubbling black asphalt lake, rubbing their necks together.
"The gregarious Ronaquai, who hunt in the brush at the edge of the tar pits, are descendants of an ancient intelligent species called the Qua. Once favored by the Spirit, they built Infinity Gates that could travel between planets, but their machines created unnatural holes in space and damaged Dathomir. In anger, the Spirit called upon the Rakata to utterly destroy the Qua. The Spirit forced the Qua back into animal form so that they could no longer use the power of technology."
Old Daka pointed at the valley and spoke slowly.
Were those blue dinosaurs once intelligent life?
And he is the one who invented the Infinite Gate?
Fu Qinghai was very surprised by this.
"So this is the ruins under our feet?"
Fu Qinghai reacted immediately.
"Yes, the ruins of the Infinite Gate."
Old Daka nodded slightly and said.
Hyperspace travel is the main mode of transportation in the Star Wars universe. The so-called Infinite Gate should be something similar to a star gate. Fu Qinghai had never heard of it before.
As for the war between the Kwa people and the Rakata people, Fu Qinghai had some impression of it. That was a setting in ancient times, about tens of thousands of years ago. As for whether the truth was really as Old Daka said, that the Kwa people angered the souls because of their use of technological creations, Fu Qinghai was not sure.
So the Nightsisters reject technology because of this?
Fu Qinghai then made this association.
The Star Wars universe is a sci-fi universe, and many technologies are very popular. Even on a remote planet like Tatooine, technological creations are still everywhere. However, the primitiveness of the Nightsisters, from tribal architecture to daily necessities, is beyond imagination. Unless they deliberately follow this lifestyle, it is impossible for them to be so backward.
Old Daka continued to tell the history of Dathomir.
"Over the centuries, many groups have come to Dathomir. The Persians came here to take root and multiply, and the Sith did the same. They felt the raw power on Dathomir, but could not perceive its true appearance."
"Many years after the Sith abandoned their Dathomir Academy, the Jedi exiled one of their own to this planet. She was known as the Mother of Witches, Alya. She gained the favor of the souls, and her daughters became the first witches to use soul magic."
Mistress Alya was originally an exiled female Jedi, and the Sith Order was also founded by a group of exiled dark Jedi. Both the Nightsisters and the Sith Knights originated from the Jedi. It feels like the Jedi are the source of all the Force practice groups in Star Wars... Fu Qinghai thought to himself.
"Hundreds of years later, the Jedi returned again. Their large training ship, the Chuthorn, was deployed in orbit above the planet. However, the Jedi Knights who wanted to make us surrender did not have the power to match us. Even the most powerful Jedi among them, Master Yoda, had to abandon the ship and flee."
Huh? Master Yoda abandoned the ship?
Fu Qinghai expressed great doubt about this.
I feel like there's a bit of bragging going on here.
"After that, Dathomir saw only a handful of visitors. But after Matron Talzin defeated Matron Zalem and united all of Dathomir's clans, the Nightsisters have spread to all corners of the galaxy. By serving others on their missions, we have made our way known to the galaxy and carried out the will of the spirits."
……
Old Daka never stayed in one place, she always talked while walking, but this old witch was already in the state of soul, she floated in the air, sometimes she could go straight through some objects, Fu Qinghai had to climb over many obstacles to keep up with her. He was not sure if this was also a test, but fortunately it was not difficult for him at all.
"It is a blessing to be born in Dathomir... but also a burden. We are favored by the souls and carry many expectations. We must avoid technological pollution that harms our homeland. We must respect the rituals that connect the real world and the spiritual world. However, it is disappointing that even with such simple rules, many witches still cannot comply."
Old Daka looked a little angry when she spoke of this.
"It was written in Alya's original manuscript that those who are ignorant will never understand what greatness is, and those who fear death will never have power."
"But after Alya passed away, some of her daughters added the contents of 'good' and 'evil' to her manuscript. Perhaps the Jedi blood flowing in their bodies made them weak. They claimed that Alya advocated these blasphemous remarks in the last moments of her life. These witches called this forged manuscript "The Book of Order."
"And those witches who resisted this forged manuscript and defended Alya's true words were the first generation of Nightsisters. Our ancestors were exiled from their homeland because of their beliefs. But relying on the support of their faith, they restored Alya's original theory, that is, the balance between the real world and the soul world. They named it "The Book of Shadows."
Fu Qinghai understood.
The relationship between the witches of Dathomir and the Nightsisters is one of inclusion and inclusion. The Nightsisters are a branch of the witches of Dathomir, and they should be the dark side branch. In other words, in addition to the Nightsisters, there were witches on Dathomir who believed in the light side of the Force.
But these are not the key.
The key lies in Alya's manuscript!
Divided into two books by her descendants:
The Book of Order and the Book of Shadows.
This is what Fu Qinghai wants.
"You are eager for this knowledge, aren't you?"
Old Daka saw the light in Fu Qinghai's eyes.
"This is why I came to Dathomir."
Fu Qinghai did not hide his desire at all.
"Every witch on Dathomir knows that only women have the ability to maintain the balance between the dual callings of the Winged Goddess and the Fanged God. Men lack this ability. Men are often simple-minded, like beasts. We respect the Nightbrothers, but we find that they can better serve the spirits only when they are separated in clans."
Old Daka glanced at Fu Qinghai and said calmly:
"In the past, men were still part of the clan as servants or slaves. But the Nightbrothers tended to live in isolation unless summoned. In their settlements, the Nightbrothers naturally formed a tight-knit structure and devoted their energies to combat training. This has been the way of life on Dathomir for hundreds of years."
“I don’t agree with this lifestyle.”
Fu Qinghai expressed his opposition without hesitation.
He had his doubts in his heart about all of Lao Daka's previous narratives, and he completely disagreed with some of them, but he did not directly express his opposition - except for this conclusion that discriminated against men. Why can't we men learn soul witchcraft?
Old Daka was obviously hinting to him that if he wanted to join the Nightsister clan, he would have to become a Nightbrother according to his gender. Not only could he not learn soul witchcraft, but he would also have to serve these witches who could learn soul witchcraft.
Qingshan Khan can't stand this kind of grievance!
"Times have changed, ma'am!"
Fu Qinghai looked at Old Daka and said seriously:
"During its heyday, Dathomir could continuously export assassins and killers, earning commissions from these mercenaries while promoting the Nightsisters' belief in the Force. But what about now? How many living people are left in the entire Dathomir? I only saw nine underage girls in the cave. Is this the future of the Nightsisters? Is this all there is to the Nightsisters? I think you know better than me, old Daka, that it is a complete pipe dream to want to use these children to revive the Nightsisters!"
Don't forget that the Nightsisters are also a school of Force practice. In other words, if you want to learn soul witchcraft, gender is secondary. The first thing is to have Force agility.
According to Old Daka, at the peak of Dathomir, there were only more than 5,300 people on the entire planet. Even if half of the Night Brothers were counted, among the more than 5,300 people, there were force-sensitive people such as Old Daka, Talzin, Syllie, Asajj Ventress, and Darth Maul, including Merlin from the game "Star Wars: Fallen Order". The ratio of 5,360 to 5,300 is already very, very high.
Dathomir can be said to be a Feng Shui treasure land.
That’s why so many power-sensitive children are born.
In fact, the vast majority of Nightsisters are not Force-sensitive at all. They are just a group of well-trained assassins and killers. Compared to the Nightbrothers, they are indeed qualified to learn Dathomir sorcery, but they cannot learn it without Force-sensitive. At best, they can only be regarded as Force worshippers rather than Force users.
"You claim that the Nightsisters' belief in the Force is the only correct belief in the Force in the entire universe, but with all due respect, the Nightsisters have no hope and no future. Dathomir's soul witchcraft will sooner or later disappear in the long river of time, just like all the Force religious groups that disappeared in history before! Unless you can break the rules and allow men to learn how to serve souls, as you said to me before - don't let false dogmas limit your vision!"
Fu Qinghai used Lao Daka's original words to refute her.
And this is indeed the case.
Dathomir sorcery was largely lost later on.
"We only have nine children left."
After a long silence, Old Daka said slowly:
"But we can wait, we still have time."
"Darth Sidious has established the Galactic Empire and proclaimed himself emperor. The future is the era of the Galactic Empire. Do you think the emperor will allow the Nightsisters to rise again?"
Fu Qinghai opened his arms and asked Lao Daka.
Old Daka fell into silence again.
"Do you know the Mandalorian?"
Fu Qinghai suddenly asked.
"I've heard of those warriors."
Old Daka nodded and replied.
"The original Mandalorians were not like this. The original Mandalorians were warriors unique to the Taung people. But now, no matter what race you are, as long as you agree with the spirit and philosophy of the Mandalorians, you can become a Mandalorian."
Fu Qinghai uses the Mandalorian as an analogy.
"Times are changing, ma'am."
Fu Qinghai looked at Old Daka deeply:
“Only by adapting to the changes of the times can we have a future.”
…………