My Journey to Immortality Begins with Hunting

"Woody," Suljagar called, "come with me."

Li Yuan followed. They slipped out of the crowd and into the main tent. Suljagar shooed the women inside away, then patted a broad chair, brushing warm furs smooth.

"Sit."

"Yes, sir." Li Yuan sat.

Suljagar rested an elbow on the fur-draped chair, his other hand lazily propping up his chin, his polished bone crown reflected the warm glow of the bonfire outside. A flicker of amusement crossed his face.

"Snow, like most of our people, knows almost nothing about the world beyond the ice. I, however, wandered outside when I was young and even spent two years with a martial sect. So, spare me the tale that you're some hunter's son."

The two men locked eyes for several seconds.

"But IamSnow's man," Li Yuan replied.

"What is it you really want?"

"I want to enter the Deathless Tomb."

"If that's all, it can be arranged." Suljagar filled a horn cup with a milky liquor, took two long pulls, and went on. "Yet, since you now stand as one of the Jen'gal, theTrueflameTribe, I would have you help us seize settlements beyond the tundra.

"I've learned that the outlanders are weak. I mean to lead my tribe out, let our people live in those settlements, return home from time to time, and at life's end journey to the Deathless Tomb to rest.

"If you knew all this, why haven't you acted before?" Li Yuan asked.

"Because knowledge is not the same as certainty. My warriors fear the unknown. But with a seasoned outsider like you, we can attempt what I could not. Agree, and I will grant you the Jen'gal surname itself, not merely the status of a man married into the clan.

"You outsiders gain long life when you reach a certain cultivation; we, no matter how strong, die after a century.

With the surname, you would stand in line to succeed me. If none rise stronger, the tribe would be yours."

Li Yuan folded his arms. "And the other tribes on this frozen land? If you leave, getting back may be hard."

"Many chieftains share my worries. Something is stirring in the far depths of the tundra; we need another road."

"What is happening?" Li Yuan pressed.

"When you bear the Jen'gal name, I'll tell you."

"I understand. Give me time to think."

"Good." The bone-crowned giant smiled and raised his cup. "Tonight, enjoy your victor's spoils. Men like us are meant to possess everything."

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A servant guided Li Yuan to his quarters, a little compound ringed with crooked wooden rails and four hide tents. Three were old; the fourth had just been pitched. A sturdy, baby-faced girl in a fur kilt hammered pegs into the ground.

Hearing footsteps, she straightened, hurried over, and bowed.

"I'm Jen'gal Rong. I belonged to Blacktooth. Now I'll serve you."

Li Yuan rubbed the bridge of his nose. The situation left no graceful way to refuse, so he let it pass.

Rong's ruby eyes glimmered as she trailed a finger along his sleeve. "How did you pierce Blacktooth in one thrust? He bragged he was unbeatable, but he was nothing to you. I really chose the wrong man before."

Li Yuan, seeing no polite reply, said only, "Finish your work for now."

Then, he ducked into the main tent.

Inside waited the two pale beauties who had tended Changar, Jen'gal Ulana and Jen'gal Lan. Whatever feelings the two women had for the warrior had vanished after he lost the duel. Now, they gazed at Li Yuan with moist, hopeful eyes, as though eager for whatever might come next.

A commotion outside drew him back to the doorway.

Rong crossed her arms and clicked her tongue. "Blacktooth and Changar lost to you and scurried off to the far edge of camp to take over two weaker men's tents. That's all they're good for."

"I see." Li Yuan said nothing more.

The tribe was nakedly primitive. Strength ruled, and the weak drooled. Everyone, both men and women alike, accepted it.

To Blacktooth and Changar, their defeats were temporary setbacks; they simply preyed on weaker tribesmen.

To Rong, Ulana, and Lan, bearing children for a stronger man benefited the tribe. And a foreign man like Li Yuan also appealed to their curiosity.

Li Yuan made an excuse that he was tired from the honor duel and politely waved off the three women. Instead, he lay in the warm furs with Snow.

Outside, the wind was howling; inside, amber firelight rippled across the hide walls.

"Why didn't you tell me your tribe is like...this?" he asked.

"I did!" Snow propped herself on an elbow. "I said my people love tograb, grab, and grab!"

Li Yuan fell silent. Fair enough, she had said that. He had simply never imagined it could be so extreme.

How does a tribe like this even hang together?Yet the more he thought about it, the more it made sense. If every aggressive tribe on the tundra worked the same way, then this was their culture.

In truth, the termbarbariansfit them better thanIce Folk.

And after the talk with the chieftain, Suljagar, it was clear what those barbarians wanted—to invade the Great Zhou.

Left unchecked, Li Yuan mused,the next few decades might become an age of barbarian invasions

A single tribe already held nearly a thousand sixth rank warriors; give them a generation to breed and that number could climb past 10,000, enough to drown the sects and noble clans of Cloudpeak Province combined.

The Central Plains might win out in terms of peak powerhouses, but in the middle ranks, the barbarians would outnumber them ten to one.

Which means, I should turn this to my advantage,Li Yuan decided. He had no intention of breeding armies of sixth ranks just to throw them into battle. The smarter thing to do was learning the secrets behind the Everflame and Deathless Tomb. Like this, he'd be unlocking the Ice Fok's realTech Tree.

Then, if the warring factions of the Central Plains ever marched on Cloudpeak Province, he could simply open the gates and let the barbarians run wild.

"What are you thinking about?" Snow twined a long white leg over his waist.

"The chieftain wants to give me the Jen'gal surname."

Her eyes went wide. "That's a huge honor! No outsider has ever—"

"What good is it?"

"Plenty! You could be an elder instead of a hunter."

The big-hearted girl still hadn't grasped what sort of man she'd married.

"Do I have todoanything?"

"No. A man just has to be strong, that's all."

Li Yuan chuckled, pulled her close, and slept.

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The next day.

Within the Evernight, morning never truly came. When he felt rested, Li Yuan rose and walked to the main tent.

"Made up your mind?" Suljagar asked.

"I have. I'll take on the Jen'gal surname. I'll become a part of theTrueflame Tribe," Li Yuan said. "But in any campaign against the world beyond the Evernight, I need real authority."

"Oh?" Suljagar's genial look flattened into two bronze disks. "Here, power speaks."

"What sort of power?" Li Yuan stepped outside. A quiet, ocean-deep pressure rolled off him, stirring the air.

Suljagar's followed as Li Yuan led him to a blue-white ice ridge well away from the fire. Two fingers came together like a blade. He tapped the glacier.

A bite over 30 meters deep vanished from the ice as if gouged by some colossal beast.

"Will that do?" Li Yuan asked.

Suljagar's throat bobbed. He knew how hard that ice was; his strongest punch would leave maybe a two-meter hole at best.

Who is this young man? A monster?Had Suljagar not witnessed the weakness of the people of the Great Zhou, he might have believed the world beyond was full of such frightening beings.

"Who are you, really?" The chieftain's voice was hushed.

"Jen'gal Yuan," Li Yuan answered.

Silence stretched, long and heavy.

At last, the bone-crowned giant drew a breath, spread his arms, and smiled.

"Welcome, Jen'gal Yuan. I will prepare the finest rite of induction. The chieftain's seat cannot pass to you at once. You've only recently joined the tribe, after all. But you shall be an elder, theGrand Elder!"

Translator's Note

Did a lot of localizing here with the tribal names. At first, I was just going to translate the names purely into English, like Zhenyan (真炎) intoTrueflame—and I sort of did. But it still didn'tfeelright to me. So, I decided to go with a pseudo-Mongolian, Eastern Steppes theme.

That said, the focus will always remain on readability. My translation choices stem from two reasons—

First, when we have many people belonging to the same clan sharing the same surname, like we did in the Holy Tree Temple arc, it can get confusing and annoying pretty quickly. This is also in part why the Ice Folk are mostly referred to by their given names instead of their full names.

Second, we're exploring a nomadic tribal culture that'soutsidethe common Eastern Asian setting. So, we have a plausible excuse to shake things up and experiment instead of sticking to everyone having the usual Han Chinese names.

The naming convention will follow this logic. If it can be translated in English and doesn't sound too odd, like Blacktooth (黑齿), we'll go with that. And if it doesn't, like with the names Yong (勇), Cang'er (苍耳) and Xiong (熊), we'll localize it to Changar, Baatar, and Suljagar.