After departing the Deathless Tomb, Li Yuan and the Wolfmother soon reached the Blood Arrow Tribe. 0
Their bonfire blazed crimson in the snowy night. He noticed something odd. The flame was exactly the same size as that of the Trueflame Tribe. No, it appeared the bonfires of every tribe of the Nine Flames was the exact same size.0
When the tribesmen saw the Khagan and Wolfmother sharing a single direwolf, cheers burst forth. Exotic instruments jingled; the Ice Folk clapped time, dancing round the flames, shadows spinning like gears in the firelight. It was the celebration dance of the Nine Flames, an expression of reverence and joy.0
They revered the Wolfmother. She was an ancient, mysterious helper rooted deep in their culture. The Khagan was a new Everflame, harder to accept until they saw him ride so closely with her. Old and new wove together, and relief and delight spread. 1
“Khagan! Wolfmother!” “Khagan! Wolfmother!” “Khagan! Wolfmother!”0
The entire tribe danced and chanted around the bonfire with abandon.0
From the chieftain’s tent, Tsus’gar Yankhan strode out, bowed, and beamed. “Greetings, Khagan. Wolfmother, have you become husband and wife?”0
The Wolfmother lifted her chin, divine light in her eyes. “By the decree of the gods, Wolfmothers of every generation shall coexist with the Khagan.”0
Yankhan pumped a fist. “Excellent! The Nine Flames now have both a Wolfmother and Khagan to shield us. Truly a blessing!”0
Li Yuan glanced at the woman beside him but said nothing. He had no wish for entanglements with her, or with a line of Wolfmothers. Too many unknowns; the sort who might slit his throat in his sleep.5
Besides, in beauty she couldn’t compare with Cui Huayin, and he’d already grown resistant to lesser charms. Even Jen’gal Snow, an ordinary girl of the Trueflame Tribe, surpassed this exalted Wolfmother in his eyes.1
Still, if her claim served his purposes, he could play along. A coexistence in name only. He’d explain everything to Snow later.0
Thoughts flickered; he said, “Yankhan, take me to the wolf pens.”0
“At once, Khagan!” Eyes blazing, the chieftain led the way.0
The Blood Arrow Tribe raised the Wolfmother’s direwolves, including many pups. Still growing, they were only ninth rank, perfect for Li Yuan’s needs. He took his time and forged spiritual links with five pups, his current limit.0
The Wolfmother watched, intrigued. “I hadn’t expected the Khagan to be so…versatile.”0
Li Yuan laughed. “Care to change your mind?”0
“Teach me your art. Let me go in your stead to see the distant horizons.”7
She looked ready to tear her hair out.0
Deep within the Deathless Tomb, a direwolf pup guided by an adult padded toward the maze.0
At the entrance stood Li Yuan cradling the remaining four pups, with the Wolfmother beside him.0
He didn’t mind flaunting his beast taming skills; it was no longer his ace. His true trump cards were the black market ghost domain, Azure Serpent, Yang domain, and Formless Blade Qi. 0
This kind of power could obliterate an opponent like Qing Hancheng, if not severely wound them. Additionally, anyone injured by Azure Serpent would be cursed by Yan Yu.6
Even this casual display, however, was anything but simple in the Wolfmother’s eyes.0
The Wolfmother had already guessed what he was up to. Eyes wide, she asked, “Khagan, are you using that pup’s eyes to see what lies inside?”0
Li Yuan nodded, then softened his tone. “To the Nine Flames, we now appear husband and wife. We’re not in fact, but we are allies, so there’s no need to hide one of my trump cards from you.”0
She blinked. “You truly think of me that way?”0
“Yes, that’s why I’m letting you know,” he explained. “It seems I can only tame the ninth rank direwolves. That’s why I needed the pups. Speaking of which, I still don’t know your name.”0
“I have none,” she said, shaking her head. “Since I first remember I’ve been the Wolfmother; that’s all anyone calls me. A strong man like you will live a long life. When I die, the next Wolfmother will still be your woman. I’m sure she’ll make the same choice I have.”0
Li Yuan set the four remaining pups down, gripped her shoulders, and said gravely, “In my eyes there is only one Wolfmother, the one who went from stranger and foe to someone I can trust.”3
Her slender body trembled; no one had ever spoken to her like that. No one could have.4
Li Yuan drew the enigmatic woman into his arms. A faint hum rang in her skull, then blankness. For a heartbeat she melted into the embrace, then an unseen force tugged her back onto destiny’s rails. Confusion cooled to ice, a cold smile tugged at her lips, quickly masked by a coy grin.0
“As long as the Khagan agrees to guard this land,” she purred, “every Wolfmother will be your wife, every child of the Nine Flames your subject.”0
The people of the tundra had once called themselves the Nine Flames; outsiders dubbed them the Ice Folk, and when Li Yuan crowned himself Khagan, they too embraced their distant past.0
Releasing her, Li Yuan sensed the shift. His improvised play had worked, yet something had overwritten it just as fast. Two schemers now stood side by side at the maze’s mouth.0
He scooped the pups back up, keeping them warm so they could go in one after another when the first fell. 1
Under normal circumstances Li Yuan would never do this, but he had no choice. He could only command the ninth rank direwolves, and of those hardy enough for the cold, only these pups were available.0
The first pup, legs pumping, trotted deeper and deeper. Endless cold stiffened its little body, but before it froze solid it reached the far end of the labyrinth and saw it.1
A bizarre double‑fish idol, a hundred feet tall, rose among forests of clear blue ice columns. One fish black, one white, tails twined in perpetual swim—the cycling of sun and moon. The bodies were pocked with countless hollows, each hollow an eye, and in every eye rested a translucent sapphire coffin, aglow with sanctity.1
Li Yuan skimmed the scene through the pup’s vision. He saw 6 ,974 coffins in all, each clear enough to reveal its occupant—men and women, even white‑bearded elders, all naked, utterly still yet utterly unfrozen, as if merely sleeping. Whatever strange state held body and soul, their numbers were unreadable to him. Perhaps only after the lids were lifted would their stats return.0
But opening a coffin meant waking something mighty. Far too risky. Still, the Deathless Tomb was real. If Xue Ning or the others ever neared the end of their span, he would bring his loved ones here. Gods or no gods, they deserved a coffin in this place.0
The pup’s vision abruptly winked out. Li Yuan set down the second pup, then the next, until he’d mapped the whole interior. Of the 6, 974 coffins, 6, 174 were already filled.1
He asked, “Have you been guarding this place for thousands of years?”0
“Closer to 10,000,” the Wolfmother replied.0
“10,000 years?” Li Yuan’s eyes narrowed. “Have you ever seen a god brought here for burial?”0
The Wolfmother stiffened, her voice abruptly harsh. “Never speak of the gods. Never pry into their secrets!”0
Li Yuan shrugged. “So you’ve never actually seen one. Fine. What’s this big secret you promised me?”0
“Isn’t the graveyard of the gods secret enough?”0
He bent to scoop up the last pup to stumble back from the maze alive, thawing it against his chest. Stroking its small head, he murmured, “From now on your name is Finn.”[1]0