My Journey to Immortality Begins with Hunting-Chapter 547 - Blade Without Rival, the Khagans Finale - Part 2
Half a month later,
Li Yuan had entered what was once the territory of the Western Extremes.
The night wind whispered as wolves patrolled in the dark, their movements faint and fleeting. But how could mere direwolf riders ever hope to detect Li Yuan or the Crowmother?
Li Yuan hadn’t asked Naran to bring Snow out this time. Instead, he trekked to the lands near the White Deer Tribe.
The White Deer Tribe, assigned to house the family of the former Khagan, hadn’t changed much. The only new sight was a man sitting quietly behind the scorched barrier before the bonfire—a worn-down figure, scarred head to toe, timeworn and heavy with fatigue.
Though he stood over ten feet tall, the man’s back was hunched. His eyes were cloudy, his breathing shallow. Even seated, he labored with every breath. In his hand, he clutched a shattered axe handle, staring at it in a daze.
Nearby, twin-headed wolf riders patrolled the perimeter.
Li Yuan reached the threshold of the camp but didn’t wish to startle the guards. He turned to the little crow at his side and said, “Go call him out. Tell him to bring your Fifth Mother.”
The bond between Sheng’er and Naran had never been broken, so speaking like this came naturally.
The little crow chirped obediently, then soared off, far and fast until it landed on Naran’s shoulder.
He had long since become used to her presence, especially after she had rescued him. So he let her perch without a word.
But this time, the little crow suddenly spoke, “Naran, get your mom and take a wolf out. Someone important is waiting for you outside. And don’t let the other riders follow.”
Naran froze for a moment. Then he chuckled and shook his head gently. “No one’s important anymore.”
The crow replied, “I don’t feel like arguing. Just do as you’re told.”
Suddenly, Naran burst out laughing. But the laughter faded. He sighed and said, “I can’t leave.”
“Can’t leave?” The little crow was surprised.
“Meng Xingxian wants me to go find you. She wants you to agree to let her escort me with her dire wolves into the Deathless Tomb. Then she’ll have me rest there. She says if I don't agree, then I’m not allowed anywhere,” Naran explained. “Don’t you see? I’m already trapped here. Unless I say yes to her terms, I’ll never leave.”
“That woman is up to no good. She clearly wants to use the escort as an excuse to get her direwolves into the tomb. She’s planning something, probably to get control of my real body, and from there, seize the tomb.” The little crow scoffed. “She might not kill me outright, but I guarantee she wants to chain me up.”
“That’s why I refused,” Naran said calmly.
The crow squawked louder, “Well then I’ll just fight her myself! I’ve still got a third rank body parked here. Who’s afraid of who?”
“She still commands troops, three-headed direwolves too. You can’t beat them. And I don’t want you two fighting,” Naran replied. “Your nephew is 20 now. He can’t grow up with just Meng Xingxian around. He needs you, too. His aunt.”
Then he tilted his head back and laughed at the sky.
“If Father hasn’t gone to rest in the tomb, how could I as his son lie down before him?” Naran said with a bitter smile. “And if Meng Xingxian’s trying to use our bond to corner you, then I’ve got even more reason not to play along.”
He glanced at the direwolf riders in the distance and said quietly, “They’re all hers. Not mine.”
The little crow said dryly, “Wow. You’ve really fallen.”
“...” Naran fell silent.
The crow flapped her wings. “Wait here. I’ll be back.”
Afterward, the little crow flew back to report the situation to Li Yuan.
Li Yuan said, “Go tell him. Then have him bring your Fifth Mother to see me.”
The little crow flapped its wings and flew off once more.
“What now? You and that important person of yours figured out a plan?” Naran chuckled.
The little crow leaned close to whisper, “He’s not some important person. That’s your dad.”
“Huh...?” Naran blinked.
The crow repeated, slower this time. “Dad. Your father.”
Even though Naran had spent his entire life navigating chaos, from a youth entangled in every major upheaval to shattering seven nations' armies by the banks of the Eternal Rest River and being revered as a living demon god...he was frozen.
Gone was his usual calm. In its place was pure, unfiltered shock.
“No way. Are you messing with me right now?” Naran blurted.
The crow said softly, “Why would I lie? He’s waiting outside. He wants you to leave the camp with Fifth Mother.”
And with that, the little crow fell silent.
She understood why Li Yuan was doing this.
Before, he stayed silent because he didn’t want to stir up trouble too early. But now...it was something else.
If Naran had already given up on himself...if he truly believed he should rot here, be controlled by that woman named Meng Xingxian, then Li Yuan wouldn’t intervene.
But if Naran was still willing to walk out of that camp, to take Snow and the direwolves with him, then Li Yuan would step in again, take the next step.
He and his beloved were one. But children? Children were separate branches of the same tree.
He would help them. Teach them. But once they made their own choices, he wouldn’t interfere anymore.
If Jen’gal Naran himself couldn’t take that first step, why should a father waste his warmth on a situation where both parties had already agreed to suffer?
“Don’t disappoint Father.”
With that, the little crow gave Naran a firm kick in the head.
He stared down at the axe handle in his hand. His eyes began to sharpen.
“I won’t fail you. I won’t fail the tribe. And now...I don’t want to fail my parents either,” he muttered.
He stood and walked to the central tent.
And before long, a tall, elegant woman stepped out beside him.
When he entered the tent, he’d still carried doubt in his eyes. But now, walking out again, there was fire in them. Clearly, Snow had told him the truth. His father really was alive.
Naran went to fetch his direwolves.
At the direwolf pens, a guard bowed respectfully. “The Khatun has instructed us. Please, Khagan, remain and continue your recovery.”
“And what if I insist on leaving?” Naran asked.
The guard hesitated. The Khagan had grown soft over the past year, following Meng Xingxian’s every word. So he said carefully, “Please, Khagan, don’t make things difficult for me.”
“Difficult?”Naran smiled.
“Then go to the other direwolf riders on watch. Tell them that I will leave. Ask them, what do they think should happen?”
The guard turned pale and rushed off.
Snow helped Naran mount his direwolf, then climbed onto another herself.
The two direwolves loped off, their fur glowing faintly in the dying light of the bonfire.
At first, the direwolves cast no shadows, the bonfire at the heart of the tribe erased them. But soon, the shadows appeared again. They lengthened, darkened, then began to fade into the snow.
All around them, the tents stirred ever so slightly. Here and there, an old woman’s weathered face peeked out, watching quietly.
And then, just as quietly, the tent flaps fell shut again.
Inside and outside the camp, sharp, rapid sounds began to stir.
A sudden tension rippled through the air like a taut bowstring.
Direwolves surged in from all directions, surrounding the Khagan and his mother as they approached the camp’s exit, blocking their way.
At the front, a direwolf rider with a long blade in hand called out coldly, “If the Khagan wishes to leave, please state your destination. I will request permission from the Khatun.”
His voice was clipped and firm, laced with a certain arrogance. In his eyes, there was only one true authority, Meng Xingxian. That’s why she had him stationed here, to keep the Khagan in check.
Besides, what was there to fear?
The Khagan might have been mighty once, but now he was past his prime. Just a toothless old tiger, what threat could he possibly pose?
As for his prestige? What prestige could remain for a general who’d suffered defeat on the Eternal Rest River?
“Impudent!” Snow snapped.
A hush fell over the direwolf riders, then quickly gave way to mocking laughter.
The lead rider sneered. “Please go back.”
But he had barely finished the sentence when his voice caught in his throat.
Because a jet-black crow descended slowly through the air, landing right on Naran’s shoulder.
The laughter died instantly.
The direwolf riders, including their leader, straightened at once, voices respectful.
“Crowmother.”
The Crow Totem and Grey Wolf Totem were the twin totems of the Western Extremes.
And in the presence of a living embodiment of one of them, no one dared show the slightest disrespect.
Especially when everyone knew the Crowmother’s real body was nearby.
The crow cawed coldly. “I’m taking him. You going to stop me?”
The lead direwolf rider gave a wry smile. “We only ask, Crowmother, where do you intend to take the Khagan?”
Out for a walk, the crow almost said but caught herself. Lying here was pointless. Everything in this camp was under Meng Xingxian’s watchful eye. A bluff would only make her look weak.
So instead, she said calmly, “Tell the Khatun that the child of the Sunmother is weary. He will be led to the place of slumber, where his soul shall find peace.’”
The direwolf rider nodded. “I will relay your words. But...may I ask Crow Mother to wait just a moment?”
The crow flared her wings. “You dare ask me to wait? What did you eat today, wolf heart and leopard gall?!”
“...” The direwolf rider fell silent.
But just then, a strange cracking noise echoed from the nearby glacier.
In a flash, a woman appeared amid the frost, seemingly sculpted from ice and snow, serene and silent, holding a gleaming ice staff, her gaze as frigid as her form.
The direwolf rider immediately raised his arm.
The mounted troops parted like melting snow, swiftly opening a path.
The woman of ice sank back into the earth, vanishing just as suddenly as she came.
The little crow perched proudly on Naran’s shoulder as he and Snow guided their two direwolves through the gap with unhurried grandeur, like royalty on parade.
