Chapter 395 — The Heir Apparent Appears

"Long Pang!" Snow Fox called out. The dragon qilin knew how grave things were, and at once it shook its body and revealed its true form, becoming a colossal beast. Ling Yuxiu and Si Yunxiang leapt onto its back. Yan Jingjing said in a fluster: "They are in the Sun Temple of my Sunherd clan. Go that way—the tallest, the grandest temple of them all!" The dragon qilin at once put forth its strength and raced toward the place where the next Sun Warden was being chosen. When they came to the Sun Temple, they saw that the doors bore the emblem of a three-legged bird, the bird set within a sun. Two giants stood leaning on their battle-axes to either side of the temple gate—adult Sunherds, of immensely towering stature—and they sealed their axes toward the center, barring the way. "Outsiders, halt!" The two Sunherds' faces were stern as they called out in deep voices: "This is sacred ground, the holy precinct of the temple. Outsiders may not trespass!" Snow Fox jumped down and said: "It was your Sun Warden who sent us! Go and tell your clan chief at once—something terrible is about to happen!" "Wait here!" One of the Sunherds turned at once, pushed open the temple doors and went in; after a moment he came back out and said with courteous formality: "The clan chief bids you enter and observe the rite." They entered the temple, and at once felt how small they were. Here were gathered the giants of the Sunherd clan, towering of frame; walking among those giants, they barely rose above their ankles. The giants surrounded a vast round platform, watching the selection below, and now and then a gasp of amazement rose from them. Snow Fox leapt up, wanting to see what was happening below, but the railing around the platform was too high and she was too small; even leaping five or six zhang into the air, she still could not see over it. Snow Fox hastily wagged her tail, and her body floated up until at last she could see the scene beneath the platform. There, many Sunherd youths, boys and girls, were arrayed in two rows to either side, and at the center of the platform stood three statues, each a three-legged monstrosity with wings, feathers spread, body bent, together bearing a great furnace upon its back. That furnace was unlike any other: round and squat, hollowed out in openwork all around, and within it there was nothing like medicine or minerals. A strapping Sunherd youth was cutting his wrist and letting his blood flow into that huge round furnace, then urging his true fire to try to kindle it. Soon a cluster of flame appeared within the furnace, growing larger and larger, and blazing radiance burst out through the openwork on every side, ever more dazzling. From the furnace surged wave after wave of obscure, dreadful force, and there came a roar like that of some strange beast, soul-seizing. The Sunherds around showed delight—but just then the light suddenly dimmed, and the furnace fire went out. "Next!" Another girl came forward, strong past all belief, and cut her wrist. She failed as well, though she did better than the boy before her: within the furnace fire an apparition even surfaced, a fire dragon coiling round. But the apparition was fleeting, gone in the blink of an eye. Snow Fox looked across; there sat the aged clan chief of the Sunherds with several white-haired elders, watching the trial below. Her heart stirred, and she flew straight over. An elder was saying: "A pure yang body is very hard to find. In the past there was Jingjing, and she held out for ten years. Now, if we cannot find another pure yang body, I fear tonight will be the day Dawnspring is breached." The elders all looked worried. Without a pure yang body, no one could withstand the Dawnboat's unimaginably terrible, surging power; and even one who forcibly seized the Dawnboat's power would soon be burned alive by it. "Pure yang bodies are far too rare." The old clan chief sighed: "If we cannot find one, then I will take command of the Dawnboat and fight those demon gods from alien realms to the death!" His constitution was not that of pure yang, but his cultivation was profound enough that he could hold out a while longer. Below, one youth after another tried to kindle the Sun Furnace, and one after another they failed, leaving the elders grim-faced. Ling Yuxiu and the others came to where the old clan chief sat. He raised a hand, and a slab of bluestone rose from beneath their feet, lifting them and the dragon qilin up so that they might observe the rite. "Clan Chief, the Human Emperor Shen is helping you kindle the sun. If the sun is set alight, I fear it will burn him to ashes!" Ling Yuxiu said hurriedly: "Please, Clan Chief, go and lend the Human Emperor your strength!" She was clever enough to know that other appeals would hardly move this Sunherd clan chief, and so she brought out Shen Mu's title of Human Emperor outright. The old clan chief shook his head: "He cannot kindle the sun. That sun has gone out; only a pure yang fire god appearing in the world can light it. Set your minds at ease—young friend Shen cannot light it, and he cannot even draw near that sun, for it is too hot there. Even an extinguished sun possesses no small power. Look." He raised his arm, long as a flying bridge, and pointed steadily downward: "When we Sunherds select a Sun Warden, it must be one born with a pure yang body, who can use his pure yang blood, aided by true fire, to kindle the Sun Furnace. The Sun Furnace is only an ordinary treasure—and kindling it is already this hard. To kindle the sun is even more impossible." Ling Yuxiu said angrily: "The Human Emperor Shen has a Sacred Pupil. Perhaps he truly can..." The old clan chief cut her off: "To kindle the sun, we Sunherds have sought out Sacred Pupils and god-blood these many years, and every one of them failed without exception. Say no more. Watch the rite." Ling Yuxiu was furious: "We came to help you kindle the sun, with all our hearts, and when we ask you for aid, you will not give it. Do the Sunherds not fear that this will chill people's hearts?" The old clan chief's gaze fell upon her, and he said gravely: "It is not that we Sunherds lack all feeling and reason. It is that we must select the next Sun Warden. When the sun sets, darkness invades; that is when the Sun Warden's soul returns to the Dawnboat—she can hold on no longer. Without a Sun Warden, our Sunherd clan will surely be unable to withstand the evil demons' incursion. The Moonherds are already extinct. If the Sunherds perish too, and those demon gods take the Desolate Ruins, do you think the world beyond the Ruins could still hold them off? Right now, choosing the next Sun Warden is of the utmost importance!" Ling Yuxiu was dumbstruck. Si Yunxiang said with a cold laugh: "Even if you choose the next Sun Warden, so what? She will still die in the Dawnboat, assimilated and devoured by it, will she not?" The old clan chief said sternly: "To die protecting one's people and guarding the Desolate Ruins—that is a worthy death." An elder beside him said: "Rest easy, young friends. Young friend Shen will be fine. He cannot draw near that black sun, and he will retreat when he sees the difficulty." The other elders nodded. Just then a vast, boundless fluctuation came surging in; the old clan chief and those elders could not help but change countenance, and they rose at once, shock on their faces: "This fluctuation—it is that extinguished sun! Oh no! Young friend Shen!" Boom! The old clan chief and the elders shot skyward, and the towering hall of the Sun Temple was smashed open into a great hole by these old giants. Snow Fox cried out hastily, and the dragon qilin at once bore them up in soaring flight, out through the hole in the hall, and they looked upward. The sunlight was blinding. That black sun had vanished, and in its place was a sun flashing with yellow-white radiance, wantonly spilling torrents of heat. "The young master won't come to harm, will he?" Snow Fox hastily sent t