Chapter 489: Chapter 165: Assassination, Fire Theft, Peace, Wolf Mother, Invasion

Zhenyan Xue collected snow from outside to cool him down and served him with all her heart.

At first, the Clan Leader and the other Elders came to see him out of concern.

But Li Yuan’s illness was truly bizarre.

Over a month passed...

Over two months passed...

Over three months passed...

He didn’t recover; instead, his condition worsened, leaving him too weak to move even his fingers.

His whole body started emitting a pale heat, his forehead was hot enough to fry an egg, and his flesh occasionally expelled foul impurities, while solid food was hard to consume; only fluids like goat milk could barely enter his stomach.

And in Li Yuan’s own view, his stats were declining, showing the weakness he had seen in others who were frail or severely injured.

The Clan Leader had high hopes for Li Yuan and exhausted all his strength to heal him, but the treatment had minimal effect.

Half a year passed...

A child was even born in the clan.

The Zhenyan Clan would never let a weak or sick person hold a high position.

Li Yuan’s position as "Grand Elder" was reclaimed by the original holder, Chen Shou.

Li Yuan’s tent naturally moved away from the fire.

More ridiculously, Zhenyane Cang’er, who had been suppressed by Li Yuan, sneaked over to Zhenyan Xue, with a lewd smile saying, "Zhenyan Yuan desecrated the Divine Spirit and was cursed, he’s done for. You might as well be my woman."

Zhenyan Xue dared not hit him, only turning him down verbally.

Perhaps because the influence of Li Yuan’s "Grand Elder" status still lingered, Zhenyane Cang’er dared not do anything and could only leave, disappointed.

Another month passed...

The Zhenyan Clan seemed to forget about this once-world-renowned Grand Elder, starting to see him as a weak and dying person.

The Clan Leader, after several visits, was also puzzled, but he knew... this was not an illness.

He couldn’t say what it was.

But he had given up.

Zhenyan Xue decided to take Li Yuan away from the Zhenyan Clan.

She took some jerky and, when the camp was quieter, carried Li Yuan on her back and quietly left the Zhenyan Clan, returning to their original mountain.

It was deep autumn outside at that time, and Zhenyan Xue found their old house, surviving by fishing and hunting for Li Yuan, occasionally using the mountain spring water to clean Li Yuan’s body.

By this time, Li Yuan had grown increasingly weak.

He watched helplessly as his stats plummeted but was powerless.

He fell into a "confused" state, not to the point of death, but he would fall just by walking, and if he used force, blood would burst from his entire body.

’Is it really the curse of the fire?’

’But I felt I had already succeeded...’

’Or perhaps this is a necessary path to success?’

Li Yuan began to doubt himself.

However, he wasn’t planning to wait any longer.

So while Zhenyan Xue was out, he used every ounce of his strength to dip his fingers in his coughed-up blood and write a letter. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

The letter, written in crooked, simple words, read:

To Xue’er,

Wait for me for two years. If I don’t return, consider me dead.

Zhenyan Yuan.

After finishing the letter, Li Yuan activated the "Thousand-Mile in a Line," instantly appearing next to the cabin in the Tang Sect Forbidden Land.

He understood his own body.

Death was unlikely, but he had to constantly battle this high temperature.

His mind and spirit were in a state of confusion, and his skin was fiery red, looking like a cooked person.

Soon, a pretty girl in splendid clothing ran to the entrance. Seeing the person outside, she exclaimed, "Steward Li?! How are you so soon to be cooked?"

Everything before Li Yuan was a blur, but he still recognized the girl.

"Xiaopang, call the Sect Leader."

Tang Pang immediately ran back inside.

A moment later, a drunken woman in a red robe came out, and upon seeing Li Yuan lying on the ground, she was shocked and quickly ran over, lifting him up horizontally and taking him to the underground palace beneath the small cabin.

This was Li Yuan’s first time entering.

The palace was incredibly luxurious, filled with young ladies from various noble families.

Li Yuan lay there.

But the bed he lay on was wrapped in thick white gauze, making it impossible to see his appearance.

Various miraculous doctors began to visit the place, but each was shocked after feeling his pulse.

All the doctors were amazed at how Li Yuan was still alive.

...

A month passed.

Snow once again covered this land.

One day, Li Yuan said, "Take me to the Black Market Ghost Realm."

Mrs. Tang agreed.

She personally took a puppet, delivered Li Yuan to the Black Market Ghost Realm, and handed him over to Yan Yu.

The Cyan Robe Evil Ghost carried the young man, eerily drifting toward the depths of the Black and White Ghost Realm, bringing him to an open space in the center, using their legs as a pillow, letting him quietly watch the sky.

Snowflakes drifted in the sky.

The Yin Qi around gathered like a vortex.

This made Li Yuan feel a chilly breeze.

Yan Yu spoke with a tone of affection like a big sister to a child, "Just knew you’d mess around."

Li Yuan said nothing, his heart was extremely calm.

Over the past year, his life had been full of ups and downs, with his plans cut short.

The tiger falls to the plain and is bullied by dogs; before even exploring the Immortal Tomb, he had fallen ill.

And the Barbarians, without him, would still invade, wouldn’t they?

For that land, he still had many mysteries to solve.

Yan Yu frowned and said, "Stop overthinking, just rest well."

She waved her icy cyan long sleeve, revealing her pale and slender fingers, gently combing Li Yuan’s fiery hair, her fingertips lightly massaging him.

And with each massage, a faint Yin Qi seeped into Li Yuan, seemingly neutralizing and balancing something.

Li Yuan felt a great fire raging within him, but now it was as if rain from the sky was gradually extinguishing that fire.

Yet, since the fire was there, it would only diminish but not completely extinguish.

Li Yuan could almost confirm that the fire within him... was the fire of the Zhenyan Clan.

Was this considered stealing the fire?

He didn’t know what the final outcome would be.

But he had endless time to adapt and wait.

At that moment, he revealed a calm smile, "Sister Yan, I should have come to you sooner."

Yan Yu replied, "You belong to the human world, not to me."

"Mm..." Li Yuan softly responded, closing his eyes, unprecedented peace leading him into sleep...

...

...

Frozen soil, Eternal Night...

In front of a towering flame, ten shadows, long and short, stretched outward, falling on the ground.

Any flame would have surrounding tribes, but this flame had no tents around, only giant icy gray wolves surrounding it.

Seen from above, there were over a hundred of these gray wolves, truly terrifying.

This only emphasized the extraordinariness of the ten figures.

If Li Yuan were here, he would naturally recognize one of the figures as the Clan Leader of the Zhenyan Clan — Zhenyan Xiong.

Above Zhenyan Xiong was, unexpectedly, a girl.

The girl’s face was delicate and holy, her gaze deep as if leading to some mysterious unknown place.

She was wrapped in a snow-white fur cloak, her lips thin as blades, yet not tilted up or down, her expression neither happy nor sad.

A tall and brawny man, like a fire copper statue, spoke in a muffled voice, "Honored Wolf Mother, among our Nine Clans, six have already decided to leave this frozen soil and venture into the outside world... and now, we need you to make a choice.

Presently, the outside world has entered winter, heavy snow sealing the mountains, making roads difficult, and assistance hard to come by from various places. It’s the perfect time for us to break through one place after another."

The girl slightly lowered her gaze, seemingly lost in thought.

After a long while, she raised her head and said in a cold and solemn voice, "Go, my friends, I will let my children go with you to the expedition.

Bring back the news of victory for me, go and see the outside world for me...

And I will forever guard this land, so that whenever you return, you may do so safely."

The man, like a fire copper statue, said, "Alright! Since the Wolf Mother agrees, we’ll gather the young and strong and set out!"

He stood up, stretching his neck, pointing to three figures, "You refuse to leave, so stay here, but don’t expect to enjoy the towns we conquer!"

The three figures were evidently the Clan Leaders of the three clans refusing to leave.

The fire copper man glanced at Zhenyan Xiong, who wore a bone crown, and said, "I heard your tribe had a powerful Grand Elder, where is he?"

Zhenyan Xiong sighed and said, "He’s no longer with us."

"And he was called powerful?" sneered the fire copper man.

Zhenyan Xiong replied, "He was truly powerful... what a pity..."