Chapter 433 – No Saints Among Them, Storming the Deathless Tomb - Part 1

“Then did you at least tell Ping'an the Khagan is only eleven this year?” Xue Ning asked.

“Of course I did,” Li Yuan replied.

Xue Ning laughed, and the tiny crow’s-feet at her eyes unfurled. Watching her son get thrashed didn’t make her sad or angry. If anything, it cheered her up.

Li Yuan took the hint, squeezed her hand, and said softly, “I know you’re still worried about Ping'an. Don’t be. I’ll train him well.”

“You should mind your own business. The boy’s over 30 years old now. What more is there to teach him?” Xue Ning gently smiled as she leaned lightly against the man’s shoulder.

By now, the palanquin was already being escorted by direwolf riders, who guided the group deeper into the blizzard. Behind them stretched a column that kept growing longer.

Little by little, everyone crossed the so-called Evernight Line and vanished into the everlasting night of wind and snow.

“It’s dark now.” Xue Ning murmured as she looked outside. Here, she couldn’t see her hand in front of her face; her gaze couldn’t even make out the carriage’s own window. Only touch and hearing still worked.

Icy snow tangled through the pitch-black darkness.

The wind howled like invisible pythons sliding over the frozen earth at the rim of creation.

She was only an ordinary woman; for her, a place like this might as well have been hell. But her son and her man were here. If this was hell, so be it. She wasn’t afraid.

From beyond the curtains came the racket of Ping'an hurtling back from the distance, his voice still lively.

“Nice move, let’s run it back!”

Naran might be young, but that one exchange had already told him what he needed to know about his older brother, so...he wasn’t much interested in taking another swing.

The Sunmother hadn’t blessed this elder brother; her favor fell on him alone. In that case, of course his brother would be a bit weaker.

In terms of age, Naran was a full 20 years younger than Ping'an. In killing, though, he had done far, far more.

Ping'an, at most, killed on assignment. Naran had carved his throne out of a true night of life and death, paving the way with brutality, blood, and bones while trapped with no way out.

Still, Ping'an was bound to bristle, convinced the problem was that he just wasn’t ready.

Only when Li Yuan called out from inside the carriage that Xue Ning needed to rest did Ping’an stop. He walked beside the palanquin, refusing to mount the direwolf Naran had prepared for him. He knew it was childish, but he couldn’t easily swallow the fact that he’d lost to his 11-year-old little brother.

The group pressed deeper into the frozen tundra. After a day’s worth of travel, they passed by the Trueflame Tribe encampment without entering.

Riding his wolf alongside the carriage, Naran said quietly, “Honored guests, if you’re planning to stay awhile, the White Deer Tribe is now the best place to settle.”

“Alright, we’ll do as the Khagan says.” Li Yuan didn’t question the sudden change at all.

Just hearing Li Yuan’s voice made Naran happy. He lowered his voice and said, “The Trueflame Tribe is crowded, too many eyes and ears. The White Deer Tribe is almost empty now because of the relocations and merging, and it’s cut off from the outside. It sits deep in the permafrost. Anyone who tries to get in can’t slip past my patrolling wolf packs.”

“That’s thoughtful of you,” Li Yuan said as gently as he could. Out of all his children, Naran was the one he felt most guilty toward.

“Ah...” Naran hesitated. He kept feeling he and his father ought to say more to each other, but he couldn’t think of a single thing to add. It was a maddening feeling. Clearly they should be close, yet they didn’t know how, and maybe...maybe it was already too late. The thought stuck in his chest like a pebble you can’t cough up.

He had thought about his father a thousand times, Li Yuan holding his hand, teaching him how to ride a wolf, helping him cultivate, and doing all sorts of things with him... But that was all in his imagination. Faced with reality, he realized what he’d longed for had never existed...and probably never would. Right?

This was the lone fine thread beneath the young Khagan’s brutality.

SMACK!

He suddenly slapped his direwolf’s head, swung the golden great axe onto his back, lifted his chin, and surged ahead. His black hair tossed like a lion’s mane. Wind and snow spattered him, and a thin mist rose off his body.

He gallantly led his warriors, galloping through ice and darkness.

˙·٠✧🐗➶➴🏹✧٠·˙

Two more days passed.

Ahead, a pinprick of fire appeared. The fire grew, clearer and larger until light and warmth rushed back in the frozen darkness.

“We’re here.” Naran reined in his direwolf.

Li Yuan glanced at the flame outside the carriage and blinked. The fire’s color had shifted ever so slightly. Others might not notice, but as a

living flame

he sensed the White Deer Tribe’s bonfire had changed from the usual red to a faint, withered charred, and its heat and vigor had ticked upward.

He suddenly thought of the Evernight Line drifting east. He narrowed his eyes, said nothing, and let Naran handle the arrangements. This wasn’t the time to poke at that mystery; he had to focus on getting Xue Ning safely into the Deathless Tomb.

Soon, Naran had everyone settled into tents and brought in a staff of maids and servants.

Most of these maids and servants were the descendants of disgraced tribesmen, mainly people from the Bronze Clad Tribe implicated in the previous revolt.

The Khagan would not forgive their crimes; every wrong deserved its punishment. None of the women dared step out of line; the Khagan’s savagery had already frightened them straight.

Li Yuan’s whole household fully moved in. That consisted of Cui Huayin, Jing Shuixiang, Yao Jue, Sheng'er, Tang Nian, the four maids—Mei, Lan, Zhu, and Ju—and even the hundred odd Ice Folk children around Naran’s age and their parents.

It was basically like picking up the entire Dawn Manor, Tang Nian included—and moving it here. As for the Tang Sect, Tang Nian had handed it off to Tang Ling. Now she could devote herself entirely to studying her puppets.

Inside the White Deer Tribe, the place bustled with life... and beyond it, wolf riders ringed the camp, patrolling in all directions.

Li Yuan sat by the bed, looked at the frail woman lying there, then glanced at the warm glow trembling on the brown leather of the tent wall. Heat seeped in from outside, turning the interior into a little spring.

He spoke gently. “It’s bright here now. Xue Ning, rest for two or three nights first. Once you’re feeling stronger, I’ll take you there.”

Xue Ning answered softly, “Alright.”

The couple were still talking when a deep, muffled voice came from outside the tent.

“Honored guests, are you free?”

“Come in, Naran,” Li Yuan said.

The curtain lifted, and in strode a man nearly ten feet tall, muscles cording, eyes bright as stars, a rolling murderous aura pouring off him. He halted, a touch self-conscious, before Li Yuan. He spared the old woman on the bed a glance, then drew his gaze back.

Li Yuan pointed at the side table. “Have a seat.”

Naran obediently sat down.

Li Yuan took the chair opposite. His lips moved. He wanted to say something but found it hard to begin. The usual small talk—

Are you well? How have you been?

—no longer fit the moment.

“...” Naran felt the same.

Silence stretched between them.

At last, Li Yuan broke the ice. “How’s your training in the Nine Suns Divine Art coming along?”

“I’ve already learned all the forms,” Naran replied. “This power feels tailored for me. Father, you really are the Sunmother’s most favored firstborn. You brought out the full potential of the Nine Flames.”

Li Yuan glanced at the 3,952~21,600 flickering beside him and smiled. “The Sunmother’s most favored child isn’t actually her firstborn. It’s you.”

“Really?” Excitement lit up in Naran’s face.

Li Yuan blinked. Once he realized Naran wasn’t joking, he ran out of words.

This youngest son of mine... He really is the classic all-brawn-no-brains type... Or maybe he’s actually that devoted to the Sun? He’s still young after all. Does he actually believe that I’m the Sunmother’s firstborn...?

However, Naran quickly shook his head and explained, “Not me, Father. Mother said every line in the Ancient Sun Canon is the truth.”

Li Yuan let it go and stood with a smile. “Want to spar a little?”

“Absolutely.” Naran brightened. “It’s been so, so long since I got to practice with you!”

The last time, he’d only been a slightly sturdier little brat...

Just then the tent flap lifted again, and a quiet, demure young woman with a long ponytail stepped inside.

The newcomer was Sheng'er.

She no longer needed a cane; every strand of her hair hid a crow, and every crow was an eye. She’d fully adapted to walking like anyone else.

She called softly, “Papa.”

Naran turned at the voice, saw the woman, and recognized her. But the Khagan’s dignity made it hard for him to acknowledge any family besides his father, at least not out loud.

Li Yuan laughed. “Perfect timing, Sheng'er. Watch me and your little brother get a little practice in.”

Sheng'er nodded, blinking curiously at Naran.

He only flicked a glance her way and said nothing.

˙·٠✧🐗➶➴🏹✧٠·˙

A short while later.

Outside the tents, far from the White Deer Tribe’s bonfire, out in the ice and snow, Li Yuan gripped a wooden walking stick while Naran slowly drew his golden, gleaming axe and leveled it at him.

It was Naran’s way of showing respect to his father.

Even so, he didn’t believe this aging man was truly his match. Even the Sunmother’s favored firstborn was, in the end, old.

Li Yuan crooked a finger and called, “Naran, come.”

Naran surged forward, and the two immediately entered a head-on clash.

Li Yuan didn’t ragdoll him the way he had Ping'an. He met him evenly, trading blows while keeping a quiet eye on the flaws in his son’s strength. Then, carefully, he guided him, just enough for the boy to notice each mistake and correct it himself, and grow.

A long time passed, then longer still.

Li Yuan started huffing on purpose. “Nope... That’s me done... I’m done...”

Beaming, Naran rushed over. “Father, sparring with you, I’ve improved so much. If you hadn’t slowed your movements a little, I feel like I would have lost!”

Li Yuan gulped air and grinned. “The Nine Suns Divine Art is something I compiled. Maybe the way I use power gave you a bit of inspiration?”

“So that’s it.” Naran was delighted, and he believed every word. He came closer, patting his father’s shoulder to help him catch his breath.

The distance between father and son drew a little shorter.

Li Yuan said, “Naran, I asked you to summon the Wolfmother. Has she come?”

“Not yet, but she will, for sure,” Naran said. “She should arrive in about half an hour. Once she’s here, let her wait.”

“Then let’s head back,” Li Yuan said.

Naran fell silent, a touch reluctant. He knew that once he returned, he’d no longer be a son. He’d be the Khagan.

“We can walk back slowly,” Li Yuan said.

“Okay!” Naran said, delighted.

He walked at his father’s side, with Sheng'er on the other. The three of them chatted as they went—nothing but easy, everyday things like what they usually ate and what they liked.