Walking in the cycle of reincarnation

Chapter 49 Blood Pact

Zhang Nanfeng used his shoulders to push aside the snow at the cave entrance, then dragged over two pieces of withered pine to block the gap in the rocks. Only after the wind and snow could no longer get in did he turn around and walk back into the cave.

Deep within the crater, Wanyan Yue lay curled up, wrapped in her pungent sheepskin coat, still unconscious. Indistinct words in the Northern Plains dialect escaped her lips intermittently:

"Kill...kill them all..."

"Human beings... all deserve to die... despicable things..."

Zhang Nanfeng silently lay down three feet away from her, his wolf-like eyes filled with a deep, cold light.

He gazed at the face that still retained a childlike innocence, yet was now deathly pale from the erosion of hatred, feeling no pity, only scrutiny.

This girl's past is unknown, and her hatred is boundless. Keeping her alive is tantamount to hanging a sharp blade over one's own neck.

But at that time, the golden thread binding him had dimmed, and he acted instinctively without having time to consider the consequences. Now that the person has been rescued, the trouble has also subsided.

If we act now, biting through the throat would be the easiest thing to do.

But he couldn't bring himself to say it.

It wasn't out of pity for the beautiful woman, but because that golden line of fortune seemed to be a tributary derived from the golden thread on his back, sharing the same origin and vein.

He couldn't bear to part with the thread, and therefore he couldn't bear to part with the person connected by it.

Zhang Nanfeng pondered for a long time before finally suppressing the murderous thought in his heart.

Let's wait until she wakes up before making a decision.

If, after the girl opens her eyes, he sees greed or hostility in them, just like the three hunters before him, then he will no longer hesitate.

No matter how mysterious the golden thread may be, it is ultimately ethereal and unknown. But a living person who harbors a hidden threat is a real source of trouble.

He would never allow himself to make the same mistake twice.

Having made up his mind, Zhang Nanfeng slowly lowered himself down, resting his chin gently on his front paws, intending to close his eyes and rest for a while.

But just as he calmed down, he suddenly opened his eyes again.

Corpse.

The two orc corpses still lay on the snowfield.

Though the snowstorm was fierce, it could not ultimately bury the bloodshed. Once the pursuers from the Toqto'a tribe arrived...

Zhang Nanfeng let out a low sob, feeling extremely impatient yet helpless. He struggled to his feet, pushed aside the snow at the cave entrance once more, and plunged into the snow curtain.

Outside, the wind and snow were raging, and the heavy snowflakes were hitting his face, making it difficult for him to open his wolf-like eyes.

He ran back to the place where he had fought, relying on his memory, but the corpses of the pig-man and the fox-man had disappeared.

Zhang Nanfeng's nostrils twitched frequently as he carefully detected the lingering scent of blood.

The fishy smell was still there, only lightly covered by the newly fallen, thick snow.

He did not dare to rush forward. Instead, he crouched down behind the frozen rock, strained his ears, and carefully examined every rustle of wind and grass within a radius of a hundred feet.

After confirming that there were no ambushes, no pursuers, and no ferocious beasts lurking in the shadows, they stealthily made their way away.

He first went to find the fox spirit.

The fox-person was thin and was still shallowly buried in the snow.

He grabbed the body by the collar and dragged it along the shady side of the mountain ridge into the dense forest. He dug a shallow pit with his claws, kicked the body into it, and covered it with pebbles and snow, layer by layer.

After dealing with the fox-people, Zhang Nanfeng turned back to look for the pig-people, only to find himself in a dilemma.

This beast is far too heavy.

The pig-man lay sprawled in blood, covered in snow, resembling a sturdy snow-capped mountain.

Although his bones and muscles are growing stronger, this white wolf body is still less than a year old and has limited strength. To drag such a corpse is like an ant carrying a mountain.

He paced around the corpse twice, a fierce glint flashing in his eyes. He then bent down, his claws and teeth tearing at the pig-man's tendons and joints.

For Zhang Nanfeng, dismembering the body was no less than a form of torture.

Although this pig-man looks like a half-pig, he is ultimately stained with human blood.

Peel back the thick layer of black hair and rough skin, and underneath are clearly visible human bones and sinews.

With each strike of his claws, it felt like tearing apart a real "human." Memories of his past life as a human were now backfiring wildly, churning his stomach and making him feel nauseous.

What he found even more unbearable was the blood of this pig-man.

It wasn't the usual stench of wild beasts; instead, it reeked of decay, as if the body had long since rotted inside and out.

Zhang Nanfeng had to stop several times to rub his mouth and nose with snow before he could continue.

After a long and arduous process, he finally dismembered the mountain-like corpse into several pieces, dragged them to distant places, dug deep pits to bury them, and covered up the traces.

Once the last handful of frozen soil was compacted and sealed, the howling wind and snow in the world mysteriously stopped.

Standing on the vast snowfield, Zhang Nanfeng looked at the suddenly clear yet even more chilling sky and let out a low sneer.

The weather in Kitahara is truly more unpredictable than the human heart.

Concerned that the fox-man might be hiding something, he immediately returned to the forest, dug through the snow, and dragged the fox-man's body out again.

He had already searched the pig-man before dismembering him. The pig-man had nothing on him except a necklace made of finger bones. Zhang Nanfeng considered it unlucky and left it alone.

In contrast, the fox-person was much cleaner. Besides ordinary clothes, he also had a well-tanned leather scroll hidden in his arms.

Zhang Nanfeng used his claws to pry open the scroll and saw that the course of mountains and rivers was outlined in charcoal ink, with many vermilion ink marks, and the lines were filled with densely packed Northern Plains script.

Although he was illiterate, he could still tell that it must be a map or a strategic deployment document between tribes.

He couldn't understand the text in the picture, and even if he could, he wouldn't understand the complex relationships between the various factions in Beiyuan, so it was useless to him for the time being, like a chicken rib.

But upon further reflection, it was fate that brought them together, and it would be inappropriate to abandon them without reason.

Zhang Nanfeng picked up the leather scroll, then glanced at the fox-person's still intact fur coat. After a moment's hesitation, he finally used both claws and teeth to peel it off completely, gathering it together with the leather scroll, and carried it away.

......

Back in the cave, Wanyan Yue was still fast asleep.

Zhang Nanfeng gently draped the fox-person's relatively clean fur coat over her, adding another layer of warmth for her.

He casually tossed the strategic map aside, leaving it for the time being.

The girl's brow had relaxed slightly, perhaps because the warmth around her body was gradually increasing.

Zhang Nanfeng didn't linger any longer. He turned and stepped out of the cave, walked to a sheltered protruding rock not far away, and lay down facing the waning moon in the sky.

The moonlight, like water, poured down from the gaps in the clouds, drenching his white fur.

He closed his wolf eyes, focused his mind and breathed, taking in strands of clear light into the depths of his pupils, nurturing and reshaping the nearly exhausted fixed light bit by bit.

……

Wanyan Yue was awakened by an unbearable stench.

The smell made her head throb, as if someone had stuffed a whole block of rotten mutton fat into her nostrils.

She frowned and tried to raise her hand to rub her eyes, but a dull pain came from her wrist.

She struggled to open her eyelids.

It was dark all around, with only a sliver of light shining in from the cave entrance, illuminating the surrounding scenery in a half-light, half-dark manner.

Beneath her was rough, rocky ground that made her back ache. She was covered with two fur coats, one of which reeked of mutton and had a foul stench. The other was slightly better, but it still carried a foxy smell.

I'm alive.

The thought took root in her mind, and even Wanyan Yue herself found it somewhat absurd.

She closed her eyes, slowly gathering her scattered thoughts.

The camp of the Tuotuo tribe, the black horse in the stable... it was the swirling snow, it was the pursuit from behind...

And then...

She poked the pigman's eye socket, and the foxman fled...

White Wolf!

Was it the white wolf that rescued me and brought me here?

She looked down at the fur coat covering her body, then around the cramped cave, and a strange, inexplicable tremor rose in her heart.

The white wolf is the eyes and ears of the Eternal Heaven, a symbol of good fortune. But what right do I, a daughter of a vanquished clan, have to inherit this?

Wanyan Yue shook her head and struggled to sit up.

The wooden shackles on his wrists had already become loose from the impact during the escape, and after a night of freezing temperatures, the wood had become brittle and cracked. With a little more effort, they could be broken open.

She reached into the lining of her fur coat and her fingertips touched a familiar, cool handle.

The dagger is still there.

She breathed a sigh of relief, slowly drew her short blade, and examined it in the dim light of the cave entrance.

One corner of the blade was already chipped off.

Wanyan Yue's pupils contracted sharply, and she gently stroked the gap with her fingertips, her fingertips trembling with heartache.

This dagger was a gift from my father, forged by the best blacksmith of the Wanyan tribe over a period of forty-nine days and countless hammerings. Now it has been destroyed on that beast's eye socket bone.

She had intended to use her dagger to break the wooden shackles, but now she feared that this last remaining hope would be shattered completely in her own hands.

We still need to find another sharp rock.

Wanyan Yue gripped the dagger tightly, braced her shoulders and back against the rock wall, and slowly pushed herself up.

After lying down for so long, her legs felt numb and weak. She steadied herself by holding onto the stone wall, dragged the wooden cangue, and slowly made her way toward the cave entrance.

Suddenly, my foot slipped.

She fell forward, her jaw slamming hard against the rock, the pain causing her to see stars.

Wanyan Yue grunted, grimaced, and propped herself up, turning to look at the culprit.

A roll of tanned leather lies quietly in the shadows.

At first she didn’t pay attention, but when she squinted and saw the lines on her skin in the dim morning light seeping in through the hole, she was struck dumb and stood frozen on the spot.

That was a picture.

The terrain is outlined in charcoal ink, and the rivers meander like veins, covered with vermilion dots marking dozens of key points. Beside those vermilion dots and red dots, there are tiny characters indicating place names and troop deployments.

Wanyan Yue's hands began to tremble.

She recognized this pattern; it was called that by the Toqto'a army—

Dome map.

She scrambled forward, hastily picked up the scroll, and greedily scanned every vermilion mark with her eyes.

Tuotuo's main camp, sentries, pastures, granaries... Her gaze swept across the leather surface inch by inch until it landed on a mountain valley heavily circled in dark ink in the lower left corner of the scroll, where her breath caught in her throat.

She knew that ravine location all too well.

Mother...is she not dead?

Ecstasy, like scalding liquor, poured down her throat, burning her eyes. But before this ecstasy could spread, a chill rose from the soles of her feet, freezing the warmth in her heart into shattered pieces.

wrong.

Throughout their conquests and battles, the various tribes of the Northern Plains have always adhered to the ironclad rule of "beheading and expelling followers."

The able-bodied men of the Wanyan tribe were all killed, while the elderly, weak, women and children were usually captured and enslaved, or driven into the wilderness to fend for themselves.

Since the Tuotuo tribe had already won a great victory, why bother pursuing a group of "remnants"? Besides, that mountain valley was in a remote location and posed no threat to the Tuotuo tribe's main camp.

unless......

There must be something hidden in the mother that the Tuotuo tribe is determined to obtain.

Wanyan Yue glanced at the scroll in her palm again, then clenched it tightly, her knuckles cracking.

The Eternal Heaven spared my life, perhaps not so that I could live a wretched existence!

......

Outside the cave, the light of day broke through the darkness.

Zhang Nanfeng lay prone on a protruding frozen rock, his white fur covered with snow, almost blending into the snow-covered earth.

His figure was as still as a stone sculpture, with only the very slight tremor of his ear tips revealing a hint of his focused concentration.

There was movement inside the cave; the girl had woken up.

He showed no intention of entering the cave, but slowly straightened up, shook off the frost covering his body, and strolled to the highest point of the rock. Standing there, he looked down at the cave entrance, his posture cold and aloof.

It felt as if the narrow path from a past life had been revisited.

At that time, he also stood still, waiting for Meng Jinchuan to stagger to his side, look up and see him, then kneel down, kowtow, and weep profusely.

He wanted to recreate that scene.

If this girl is truly destined to be entangled with him in this life, then he must firmly grasp the reins of this fate from the very beginning.

He wanted her to look up at him, to feel awe, and to submit to him.

To establish authority, one must begin from the very first impression.

......

Inside the cave, Wanyan Yue repeatedly memorized the contents of the map three times until she knew every word by heart. Then she carefully folded the scroll and tucked it close to her body.

She took a deep breath, dragged the wooden shackles, and walked step by step towards the cave entrance.

Outside the cave, the wind and snow had stopped, and the morning light was faint.

As Wanyan Yue stepped out of the cave, her first action was not to look around and investigate the situation, but rather to squint her eyes and mentally review the last detail on the map.

She was so focused that she ignored the changes in the surrounding energy.

Until a chilling feeling of being watched pierced the back of his neck like a needle.

Wanyan Yue froze and suddenly looked up.

Three zhang away, atop a solitary, cold rock, stood a white wolf, gazing at her from afar.

Wanyan Yue was shocked, but she suppressed her fear in an instant.

She looked into those wolf eyes, but did not kneel, did not bow, did not express gratitude with tears streaming down her face, and showed no piety.

High on the cliff, Zhang Nanfeng also lowered his eyes and gazed at her, carefully interpreting the emotions deep in the girl's eyes.

There was no fanaticism, no covetousness, and no cowardice.

In those eyes, which still retained a touch of childishness, burned a fierce and scorching light.

That's ambition.

Before Zhang Nanfeng could react, Wanyan Yue had already made her move.

She gripped the dagger in her right hand with the blade facing inward, and slashed it fiercely at the palm of her left hand.

Fresh blood gushed out and dripped down his knuckles.

Her brows didn't furrow at all, as if she hadn't been torn in her own flesh. Then she slammed one knee into the snow, her bloodied left hand pressing down heavily, leaving a bloody handprint on the snow.

Then, trembling, she raised the chipped dagger high above her head, turned the tip of the blade, and pointed it at her throat, offering it to the white wolf on the rock.

This posture is not like offering up a weapon; it is clearly like offering up one's own life and all one's courage, leaving one to the judgment of the other party.

"May the Eternal Heaven be above, and the winds and snows of the Northern Plains bear witness!"

Wanyan Yue raised her head, her voice hoarse, yet each word struck the snow like iron:

"Today, Wanyan Yue swears an oath in blood, and pledges her life, to the Lord of the White Wolf! From this day forward, we will share the same fate, fight together against the same enemy, and follow each other through life and death!"

If you abandon me—

She brought the dagger closer to her throat, trembling, yet resolute:

"—Then please use this dagger to sever my throat! I would rather die by your hand than suffer dishonor under the enemy's hooves!"

The words had barely left his mouth.

The already loose wooden shackles on her wrists shattered with a crack.