After escaping the snowstorm, we set off again and found A Ning’s group encamped on a slope. At the same time, we also found that the mysterious snowy mountain, which had been on the mural in the undersea tomb, had suddenly appeared in the distance. But when we asked our guide, Shunzi, how to get there, he shook his head and said that we could never go there.

“Why?” I asked him, while thinking to myself, didn’t you say that you could climb all four hundred kilometers of these snow-capped mountains? Why can’t we go to this one?

“That mountain is called the Three Sacred Mountains [note: this is a pseudonym],” Shunzi explained. “Only a very small part of that mountain is on our side. The other side—along with everything above the snow line—is all in Korea. We can’t go there.”

Fatty had a stunned look on his face as he asked, “The Three Sacred Mountains? Is this the first mountain where the Volunteer Army’s logistics troops set up the postwar lifeline to send supplies when Commander Peng aided Korea in resisting U.S. aggression?”

Shunzi nodded, “Yes, that’s the mountain. It’s more than 2,400 meters above sea level. If you climb over this mountain, you’ll be in North Korean territory.”

As soon as I heard this, I felt like my heart was going to break.

Anyone who had been a soldier or was interested in modern Chinese history knew that there were three highly guarded borders in the world: one was between India and Pakistan, the second was between Israel and Lebanon, and the third was this fourteen-kilometer border on the Three Sacred Mountains.

In fact, China and North Korea had always been on friendly terms. Anyone who was familiar with the situation would know that it was very easy to cross the border on Changbai Mountain’s western slope, and there weren’t many checkpoints. Around 1996, when Changbai Mountain’s forested region on the Chinese side was suffering an economic depression, many people often crossed the border to dig up a Chinese medicine herb called “alpine roseroot” to make money. Even though the North Korean soldiers caught them, the Chinese managed to escape and used guerrilla tactics to fight them off. Many people who came to secretly dig herbs also brought alcohol and tobacco with them, so if they were caught, they could exchange the alcohol and tobacco for their freedom. As time passed, the borborderline the western slope became something that existed in name only.

The section of the border on the Three Sacred Mountains, however, was still tightly guarded. No one knew the reason, but it was said that this border was the old border between China and North Korea. Since the North Korean border was above the snow line, in order to quickly transport strategic materials to them during the Korean War, many temporary strategic passages and underground fortifications were built on the mountain. Both sides could quickly send troops through these passages, so strict precautions had to be taken.

At present, our food provisions wouldn’t allow us to take the long route around those high-altitude border areas. As such, the only way we could make up for lost time was to head straight for the Three Sacred Mountains Pass, directly cross the border, and climb towards that snowy peak.

It seemed that instead of worrying about hidden mysteries, strange tricks, or zombies, we’d have to watch out for the very real bullets of Type-81 automatic rifles fired by a company of regular troops.

The others more or less knew about the situation regarding the Three Sacred Mountains, and all had worried expressions on their faces. We exchanged glances, trying to figure out what to do next.

“Don’t worry, you guys,” Pan Zi comforted us. “There must be a way to sneak across the border. Shunzi here was a soldier in the area, so he must know of a way. We can persuade him to take us there and just give him more money.”

He then went to talk to Shunzi, but to our surprise, Shunzi firmly shook his head and said, “No, it’s impossible. There are only a few roads up the mountain over there, and they all have tall guard posts with searchlights set up every ten meters. Everything from the foot of the mountain and up is all military-restricted areas. Although there aren’t many people, there are a lot of guard posts built close to each other. It’s impossible to get close to the border guards on our side, let alone cross the border. When I was serving, the order I received was to fire a warning shot in the sky if I ever saw a stranger come into view. If they didn’t retreat, the second shot would hit them directly in the leg. We didn’t need any other justification to shoot.”

“Then let’s buy some fruit, take it with us, and pretend to be ordinary people coming to express our appreciation for their hard work,” Fatty said.

Shunzi smiled, “Boss, you’re too good at telling jokes. Of course that won’t work. First, this isn’t a place for relaxation. Second, where would we find fruit in a cold, snowy place like this? If we carry fruit above the snow line, we’d look even more suspicious than if we showed up empty-handed.”

Fatty clicked his tongue and asked, “Then what should we do? Are you saying we’ll be shot to death if we try to break through the border? I don’t believe it. Even the Macedonian defense line was breached. How can the border guards here be stronger than that? Or do you think we’re not offering you enough fucking money? Just say it, how much do you need?”

Shunzi scratched his head in embarrassment, “Oh, this isn’t about the money. If there really was a way, do you think I’d refuse your money? If you guys had told me earlier that you wanted to go to North Korea, I wouldn’t have taken you this way. Now that we’re here, we really don’t have any other options.”

We were all a little surprised that Shunzi said there was no room for negotiation. But this area wasn’t rich, and crossing the border wasn’t considered a serious crime, so if there really was a way, Shunzi definitely wouldn’t have kept it from us.

Monk Hua and the others weren’t the type to decide things on their own, so they walked over to Chen Pi Ah Si and asked the old man what he thought.

In fact, it all boiled down to whether we wanted to keep going or turn around and go back. If we kept going, we’d have to do as Shunzi said and detour around the border areas, which may double our travel time. Plus, we’d have to spend those last few days climbing the mountain hungry. If we chose to stop here and turn around, we could go back and rest before trying again. But that essentially meant that all the climbing we did over the past few days was in vain, and all our hard work was for nothing.

I was more inclined to keep going. I didn’t know why Uncle Three had deployed us for such an urgent operation, but A Ning and her team were certainly making me feel pressured—I really hoped to see Uncle Three soon. Of course, the only reason I could think of continuing forward at the time was because I didn’t know the pain of climbing a snow-covered mountain while hungry.

Chen Pi Ah Si sighed, obviously not expecting this matter to be so troublesome. This old Changsha grave robber was willing to do anything to cover up his misdeeds, including murder and arson, but as soon as government officials got involved, he immediately backed down. It was just like that old saying: the poor couldn’t fight the rich, and the rich couldn’t fight the officials. He thought for a long time without saying a word, his frown becoming deeper and deeper.

I was feeling a little anxious and glanced at Poker-Face to see if he had an opinion on the matter, but he wasn’t participating in our discussion at all. Instead, he was staring at the snow-capped mountains in the distance, as if all of this had nothing to do with him.

The conversation kept going in circles, but no one could come up with a viable solution. Just as we were starting to feel at a total loss, however, Ye Cheng suddenly called out to us.

We all stopped talking and looked towards the slope, only to find that A Ning’s team had started to move again. Judging by the direction they were headed, their goal was undoubtedly the Three Sacred Mountains.

A lot of their supplies were unloaded from the horses and randomly discarded in the snow—probably to lighten their load and increase their speed—causing the whole slope to look like a cluttered mess.

“That’s odd,” Ye Cheng said. “Don’t these guys know that the area up ahead is the border? What’s wrong with their guide? Surely he told them the same thing Shunzi told us. But carrying so many weapons with them…aren’t they basically begging the border guards to treat them as target practice?”

I shook my head, telling myself that it was impossible. I knew their company’s habits quite well, so there definitely had to be a local guide, and probably more than one at that. Such a professional private investigation company was skilled when it came to research and public relations, so they definitely knew the terrain here better than we did. They must have set a fixed route before coming and wouldn’t change it so easily.

Fatty, doubting Shunzi’s business capabilities, suddenly asked him to explain it—was it possible that there was a route others knew about but he didn’t?

Shunzi squinted at the departing group and said, “Based on the direction they’re headed, there’s only one possibility—they’re going to take the mountain pass in front of us to go around the other mountains, cross the border on that side, and then head back towards the Three Sacred Mountains from the North Korean side. Although it’s a big risk, it’s much better than trying to break through the border defense here. Their team is bigger than ours, so if they have enough food, or if they’ve bought people on the North Korean side who can get them through, then they’ll be able to make the long journey.”

“Then what should we do? Should we keep following them?” Ye Cheng turned to Chen Pi Ah Si and asked.

Chen Pi Ah Si shook his head and remained silent, but then he suddenly pointed to the other side, where we could see a small snowy peak next to the Three Sacred Mountains. “What mountain is that?” He asked Shunzi.

Shunzi picked up the binoculars and looked at it before saying, “That’s the Little Sacred Mountain, and it’s on our side of the border. The Three Sacred Mountains and Little Sacred Mountain, together with the Great Sacred Mountain on the North Korean side, are collectively called the Five Sacred Mountains.”

“From here, can we reach the Little Sacred Mountain?” Chen Pi Ah Si asked.

As soon as he said that, we all froze in shock, not knowing what the old man wanted to do. Shunzi also found the question a little odd, but still responded, “There’s no problem. We can reach it within a day. It’s also far from the guard posts and the scenery is good, but the route is a little difficult to walk.”

Chen Pi Ah Si brushed the snow off his pants, stood up, and said to Shunzi, “Alright, take us there.”

Everyone was puzzled by this decision, and Monk Hua immediately spoke up, “But why? Boss, it’s a waste of time to go there. Our food will only last so long—”

Chen Pi Ah Si waved his hand, pointed to the seemingly endless mountain range stretching out on either side, and said, “The mountain range here covers a long distance and is covered in snow all year round. If you look at the three sides, you’ll find that it’s a rare Three-Headed Dragon. According to the concept of large feng shui, this is the so-called ‘Sitting Group of Dragons’. These three mountains are dragon heads, which makes them very suitable for a group burial. If the heavenly palace is on the slopes of the Three Sacred Mountains in the middle, then the two small dragon heads on either side should contain the tombs of the empress or the emperor’s deputies.”

The Three-Headed Dragon array was very peculiar in that the three heads had to be connected. Otherwise, the three dragons would fly off in any direction. If that were to happen, a huge mess would be created and the descendants of the tomb owner would end up killing each other. Therefore, if a tomb was really built there, it should have a secret passage underneath that connected it to the main tomb in the center, where the heavenly palace was located.

Throughout history, many ancient tombs have been built in Three-Headed Dragon arrays. For example, in 1987, three interconnected tombs from the Warring States period were excavated at Mount Mang in Henan. In other words, there were three related ancient tombs arranged on three peaks in the same mountain range. The two ancient tombs on both sides originally had tunnels that were about half a meter wide leading to the main tomb in the middle. Unfortunately, the tunnels collapsed during the excavation, so the archaeological team didn’t know whether these tunnels were really connected or if they were just a symbolic decoration.

We looked to where Chen Pi Ah Si was pointing and saw three snow-capped mountains far off on the horizon, surrounded by other snow-capped mountains.

I couldn’t see any difference between them, so I didn’t know what Chen Pi Ah Si was basing his judgment on.

After he finished speaking, Chen Pi Ah Si glanced at Poker-Face and asked, “Young man, am I right?”

For the first time, Poker-Face actually reacted to another person’s question—he looked back at Chen Pi Ah Si but didn’t say a word before turning back around and continuing to look at the snow-capped mountains in the distance.

None of us understood the concept of large feng shui, so we all felt confused even after hearing Chen Pi Ah Si’s explanation. In my opinion, it all sounded a bit mysterious, but since the old man said so—and Poker-Face seemed to agree—I decided it was best not to voice my doubts.

We made our way down the mountain to the place where A Ning and her team had camped. A bunch of equipment was scattered in the snow, but most of it had been picked through before it was discarded, which meant that no food had been left behind. We obviously went through it just in case, but all we found were either useless items or duplicates.

Fatty even found several guns, but all the bullets had been removed from them, leaving only the empty barrels. He still wanted to take one with him, but Shunzi stopped him, saying that it would be difficult to make a deal if we ran into the border guards here while carrying a gun. If we didn’t have a gun, it’d be easier to lie to them. Fatty put the gun back down, saying that it was a pity he couldn’t take it with him.

Behind the flat slope where A Ning and her team had been encamped was a mountain valley, where we could see a long line of footprints leading deeper into it.

We took some time to get ourselves organized and then followed Shunzi in the other direction, headed straight for the Little Sacred Mountain. Soon, we found ourselves walking into a world of white, where everything in front of us was nothing but endless snow, with the occasional bare rock and icicle to break the monotony.

Changbai Mountain was probably the only snow-covered mountain in the world that you could climb up relatively easily. And compared with the glaciers in the Kunlun Mountains, the environment here was much better—there was no huge ice sheet full of cracks, so you didn’t have to worry about the ground breaking beneath your feet. However, the glaciers in Changbai Mountain were also typical ancient glaciers, with various landforms interrupting the mountain terrain, such as glacial landforms, crater holes, giant cirques, and bottomless ice wells. In any case, I wasn’t very familiar with the various landforms that could be found on snowy mountains, so I won’t say much about them here. All I know is that there were many times throughout the journey when the path in front of us disappeared, so we had to go around these strange landforms or crawl up them. It definitely made the journey extremely thrilling.

There’s nothing to say about the rest of the journey. When we were on the slope before, the route to the mountain seemed like a straight shot that would only take a few hours, but we actually ended up walking almost the whole day. When we finally arrived at the valley at the base of Little Sacred Mountain, it was already evening.

We dug a snow cave on the slope about five or six hundred meters above the valley, set up camp, and ate something hot. At such a high altitude, the stars in the sky were extremely bright and clear. Chen Pi Ah Si used a compass and his knowledge of astronomy to roughly determine our route for the next day.

We were all exhausted after walking all day, but it was still too early to go to bed. Fatty started pestering Shunzi, asking if there were any hot springs nearby.

Shunzi was also thinking about hot springs, but he said that we were too high up and he didn’t come here often, so it would be difficult to find any. If we were bored, we could walk around and look for them. Or, we could visit the place where some ancient people were buried in the ice. It was a little more than one kilometer away from our camp.

Corpses always had a way of grabbing a grave robber’s attention, and it wasn’t like we had anything else to do at the moment. So, when we heard that there were corpses nearby, we all immediately became curious.

Chen Pi Ah Si was exhausted so Monk Hua stayed behind to take care of him while the rest of us followed Shunzi out of the camp.

We headed in a leftward direction, which took us to a valley. After walking for less than half an hour, we eventually arrived at a cliff. There was a glacier valley below, but it was so dark that I couldn’t see anything.

Shunzi found a good place to stop, lit a cold firework, and threw it down.

In the layer of ice at the bottom of the valley, I saw a lot of black shadows curled up into balls. They were densely packed together, but I could still make out some human silhouettes among the many small black specks. There were even some traces of sacrificial offerings around the glacier valley.

Shunzi said that in ancient times, ice burials were popular among the mountain villagers. Even in the early days of liberation, there were still people who chose to be buried here, so some old people still came here to pay their respects. The glacier here was thickening year by year, which meant that the bodies in the innermost layers of ice—those little specks that were barely visible—were likely thousands of years old. On the other hand, the ones in the outermost layers were likely decades old.

I roughly counted the black specks I could see and found that there were thousands upon thousands of them. Obviously, it was impossible to get an accurate count since so many corpses had been accumulating in this frozen cemetery for thousands of years. But Little Sacred Mountain should have other glacier valleys like this, which meant that it was essentially just an extra-large burial mound.

“Among these corpses, do you think there are any Eastern Xia slaves who helped build the heavenly palace?” Fatty suddenly asked.

“It’s possible,” Poker-Face said while looking at the depths of the glacier valley in the gradually fading light. I didn’t know what he was thinking about.

The bodies were buried in the ice, so it was impossible to dig them out. We looked around for a bit but found nothing of interest, so we went to look for some hot springs. We managed to find one, but it was so small that we could only wash our feet and faces instead of taking a full dip. We quickly returned to the camp feeling warm all over and told the other two what we had found, which made Monk Hua envious.

I found it kind of strange how on the snow-capped mountains, you could feel sleepy whether you were warm or freezing to death.

We ate dried noodles for dinner, and then the drowsiness hit us again. The wind picked up outside, so we all climbed into our sleeping bags and went to bed early, except for Shunzi who was going to keep watch first. There were so many of us that we didn’t need everyone to take a shift in one night, so Shunzi, Lang Feng, and Pan Zi were the three who would keep watch first.

I was very tired and fell asleep quickly, hoping to have a restful night’s sleep. But within an hour, Monk Hua, Fatty, Lang Feng, and Pan Zi began to snore at the same time. The sounds came one after another like a symphony, which caused me to have a nightmare and wake up.

I couldn’t fall back asleep, but it was too uncomfortable to just lay there, so I climbed out of the tent and told Shunzi that he should go and get some sleep; I would take his shift tonight.

Shunzi was smoking a cigarette and dazedly staring at the huge black mountain under the moonlight. When he heard that I wanted to change shifts, he shook his head and said, “No, I took your money. It would be bad if I couldn’t even do this much.”

As you wish, I thought to myself as I took out a cigarette and asked him for a light. Then, I added some fuel to the stove and started chatting with him.

Talking with a guide was a great way to gain some knowledge. I told him a lot about ancient tombs, which seemed to interest him a lot, while he told me about the local customs and interesting stories about the mountains and forests. While chatting with him, I didn’t feel sleepy at all—in fact, the more we talked, the more energetic we became.

Later, we talked about our current expedition. Shunzi told me that he was a border guard for seven years, but he had been in the reserves for four years. He used to be an herb picker before he joined the army, so that was why he was familiar with the mountains. His comrades even used to call him ‘Alangcai’, which meant ‘son of the mountain’, so we could definitely count on him. After all, there weren’t many people who could bring others into the snowy mountains here, but he was definitely one of them.

I still felt skeptical, then why did you faint before we really entered the mountains? He was definitely trying to show off, but seeing how serious he was, I knew there was no point in trying to tear him down, so I just continued listening to him.

We talked for a long time and covered a wide range of topics until we gradually became more comfortable with each other. At this time, Shunzi suddenly asked me, “Boss Wu…why are you guys really here in the mountains? Can you tell me?”

I was taken aback when I heard this and didn’t know how to answer for a while, which caused a sudden silence to fill the air.

How should I explain it? If I told him that our purpose was to find the Heavenly Palace on the Clouds, would he even believe it? It was impossible to tell him that we were here to rob a tomb, but it was also obvious that we weren’t tourists. I thought about it for a long time before I eventually sighed and asked, “Why do you need to know? I can’t tell you.”

Shunzi seemed to expect this answer because he just smiled and said, “That’s fine. I was just curious.”

I felt uncomfortable because I didn’t want to lie to him, so I changed the subject and started talking about something else. I asked him why he became a mountain guide since he used to gather herbs.

Picking herbs in Changbai Mountain was not only very profitable but also much easier than being a thankless guide. This was the main reason why there were so few mountain guides.

Shunzi looked at me and suddenly said something that almost made me vomit blood.

“I’m not a professional guide. I’ve actually been picking herbs since I left the army. I’d occasionally take people up the mountain, but we never went that far—I’d usually turn back at Maiden Lake. This is the first time I’ve brought a group this far in.”

I smiled at him, “Stop joking.”

“Really, Mr. Wu, I’m telling the truth. No professional guide will take you into the mountains this time of year. If I didn’t do it, you guys would have come here by yourselves.” He smiled at me. “It’s too dangerous. In fact, if not for the Buddha’s blessing, we would have already died. It’s a miracle that we could make it this far without losing anyone. But you don’t have to worry. Although I haven’t brought anyone in this deep before, I’ve been here many times and am very familiar with the area. Nothing will happen.”

His expression was very serious as he spoke, making it obvious that he wasn’t joking. I cursed to myself and then asked in a surprised tone, “If it’s so dangerous, then why did you bring us here? Are you short of money?”

Shunzi gave me a meaningful look and said, “Money is also a factor, but there’s another reason… It’s because my father, he…he disappeared ten years ago. At that time, he also brought a group of people into the mountains, taking a route much similar to the one you guys want to take. But in the end, their whole group disappeared somewhere in the mountains. I vaguely remember that the tourists who came looking for him at that time were dressed very similarly to you guys, and they also wanted to climb the mountain during wintertime. So, when I saw you guys, I suddenly felt that I had to follow you. First, I didn’t want you guys to die like my father did. Second, I had a naïve thought that maybe your reason for entering the mountains was the same as that group of people ten years ago, so maybe I could finally figure out what happened to my father. Of course, this is all just wishful thinking.” He smiled self-deprecatingly. “My father may have simply been caught up in an avalanche and is buried somewhere on this snowy mountain.”

“So that’s why you asked me why we really wanted to enter the mountains…?” I said knowingly.

Shunzi nodded a little sheepishly, “You wouldn’t understand the feeling of knowing that your father is buried on this mountain, but you don’t know where.”

I didn’t expect Shunzi to be so sensitive. I used to think that he was just an ordinary tour guide with a smooth tongue, but now I suddenly had a whole new level of respect for him.

But those similarly-dressed tourists who had disappeared in the mountains ten years ago…were they also looking for the Heavenly Palace on the Clouds? I felt my heart thump, but then I quickly dismissed the idea—no, that was impossible. There were too many places in Changbai Mountain where a person could disappear, so surely such a coincidence was impossible. His father and the others may have encountered some sort of accident and died in the mountains.

Seeing that I didn’t speak, Shunzi thought that he had said too much and quickly tried to downplay it, “Boss Wu, I think you’re different from the others, so that’s why I told you these things. But I hope you won’t tell them; I’m afraid they’ll have misgivings.”

I’ll definitely never tell them that this is your first time bringing people here, I thought to myself. I may not know what Chen Pi Ah Si will do to you, but Fatty will definitely beat you to death.

So, I nodded in agreement. At this time, a yawning Lang Feng came out of the tent to take over Shunzi’s shift and stopped in surprise when he saw the two of us chatting. Shunzi packed up his things, peed in the snow, and then went into the tent to get some sleep. I had nothing to say to Lang Feng, so I wished him a good night and then went back to sleep.

Amidst the deafening snores, I lay there in a half-awake, half-asleep state, dreaming of Shunzi’s father from ten years ago. He looked like an older, bearded version of Shunzi, and he was leading a group of people up the mountain. Strangely enough, in my dream, I kept feeling like I had seen those people somewhere before. I tossed and turned, my sleep becoming very restless.

The next day, we got up before dawn and continued our journey, following the trend of the mountain range.

Judging from Shunzi’s question last night, he must have already realized that we weren’t ordinary climbers. We obviously weren’t good at pretending considering how no tourist would be rushing up the mountain so frantically like this, but we weren’t that worried about it. In any case, as a Changbai Mountain tour guide, he had long been aware that there were all kinds of mysterious groups coming here, from poachers to illegal herb pickers to Korean pilgrims. Every year, there were between eight hundred and a thousand of them, all with their own secrets. So, it was fine to let him guess what we were here to do.

It was even more difficult to walk on the mountainside—the slope in many places became steep, and there were lofty peaks covered in snow above our heads, which were prone to collapsing and causing avalanches. It was because of this that we couldn’t speak too loudly. Moreover, the snow that had been accumulating for thousands of years was so thick that we couldn’t see the craters that were sometimes hidden beneath it. Occasionally, some of us would fall into them up to our chests, unable to get out without the help of the others. In the end, all we could do was probe the path ahead with long icicles bit by bit, as if we were walking through a minefield.

Fatty was the fastest—probably due to his previous experience in snow expeditions—so he walked up front the whole time. Our tongues started to tingle and go numb due to altitude sickness, and with the exception of Chen Pi Ah Si’s occasional adjustments to our direction, there was only the sound of panting in the air. In fact, our surroundings were so quiet that it felt as if the whole world was devoid of life.

After crossing the snowy field on the mountainside, we walked into a frozen valley with huge snow-covered slopes on either side. This was a place where the sun didn’t reach all year round, so the snow was completely frozen. The mountain slope became steeper and steeper, and the temperature was extremely low. Inside the valley, we finally saw the location of the dragon head treasure well that Chen Pi Ah Si had mentioned before. It was a steep, snow-covered cliff set at an almost sixty-degree angle to the mountain.

We stretched out in a long line and continued to climb up one by one, using icicles and ice hammers to climb up the steep slope.

Small Sacred Mountain wasn’t one of Changbai Mountain’s sixteen peaks so we didn’t pay much attention to it when we first started this journey, but it wasn’t some nameless small peak, either. This mountain and the distant Great Sacred Mountain on the opposite side formed a valley in the middle, and with the way they were placed in front of the Three Sacred Mountains, they looked just like two gatekeepers. This kind of landscape was called “The Heavenly Soldiers Guard the Immortal Gate”.

According to the concept of small feng shui, the immortal gate and two mountains formed a coiling dragon and crouching tiger, which absorbed a lot of energy. If it weren’t for the border between China and South Korea and the constant disputes, this place would have been full of tombs belonging to imperials and nobles alike. Even at my level, I could see the strange trend of the mountains here. But with such a strong dragon spirit, we were now more confident in our assumption that there was a tomb on this mountain.

Climbing the steep slope was different from walking in that it consumed more energy. This was especially true for Chen Pi Ah Si, whose strength reached its limit after he had climbed for a while. With the old man unable to keep climbing, Lang Feng ended up having to carry him on his back, which slowed our progress even more.

After about three hours, we finally climbed to the top of the snowy slope. By this time, I had stopped thinking completely and was following Fatty almost reflexively.

The first one to reach the top actually turned out to be Fatty. After stepping on the snow above, his strength had finally reached its limit and he was clearly a little delirious—he made a big show of taking a big step, opened his arms wide, and said to us, “This is one small step for me, but one fucking leap for mojin.” Then he fell down in the snow and didn’t move.

My own legs suddenly began to feel weak and I almost collapsed. Pan Zi tried to pull me up when I started to slide down the slope, but he lost this strength after several attempts and ended up falling to the ground himself.

I slammed my ice axe into the snow hard to stop myself from sliding and then watched as the others fell to the ground one by one, gasping for breath and looking around.

The top of this slope was a huge snow field with almost no end in sight. If we didn’t have Chen Pi Ah Si to guide the way, we wouldn’t have thought that there was anything special about it. The snow-covered surface was very smooth, with only a few black rocks sticking out of it. The Three Sacred Mountains were to our left at this time and appeared much closer than they did yesterday. The top of the sacred mountain was covered in white snow and towered over us like a giant monster, its white-topped black rock appearing to be much steeper than the other surrounding peaks. In the light of the setting sun, a strange pale blue mist seemed to envelop the whole mountain. That mystical-like fog filling the air made for an amazing sight.

Ye Cheng was gasping for breath but still managed to sigh with emotion, “It’s so beautiful. No wonder they say Changbai far surpasses Penglai. It was worth the long climb.”

Although our group was full of nothing but coarse people, we were all intoxicated by the beauty of the scenery set against the backdrop of the setting sun. This was especially true for the snow-capped peaks—the feeling of standing under that zenith was even more awe-inspiring.

I thought about pulling out my camera and taking a picture of the scenery in front of me, but Fatty suddenly poked me and directed my attention to the side.

I looked to where he was pointing and saw that Poker-Face had knelt down in the snow, his head bowed respectfully toward the Three Sacred Mountains in the distance. On his usually expressionless face was a very faint, mournful expression.

After two days of harsh trekking, we finally reached Little Sacred Mountain’s glacial valley. Everyone was covered in snow and exhausted, but when we climbed up and looked out at the scenery in the setting sun, we all immediately became entranced.

At this time, however, Poker-Face did something that surprised us all—he knelt down facing the snow-capped mountain in the distance and bowed very respectfully to it. None of us knew why he did it, but it seemed that he had some special feelings for this mountain.

After completing this gesture of respect, his expression returned to its usual indifference, a look that I could achieve only when I was asleep. Then, he climbed up a bare rock on one side and closed his eyes as if to rest. I couldn’t help but be curious again—what kind of thoughts were running through his head? What was hidden in those dark eyes?

During the journey, everyone became aware of what he was like—especially the few of us who had already met him before—so no one asked him what was going on. I figured he wouldn’t answer even if we did ask. But based on the looks Chen Pi Ah Si and the others exchanged with each other, it was obvious that they were very puzzled. Only Shunzi didn’t seem to care. He probably just assumed that Poker-Face was also from North Korea.

Everyone got lost in their own thoughts as they rested and looked out at the scenery. Our strength finally recovered after a while, so Fatty lit a smokeless stove and we all gathered around to make some tea and keep warm. At this time, Shunzi finally started doing his task as a guide—after taking a few sips of the hot tea, his energy seemed to recover and he pointed to the surrounding mountains, explaining their origins to us.

This was his duty as a tour guide, and he was very dedicated.

He said that according to the legend of Changbai Mountain, back in the prehistoric era, the Little Sacred Mountain, Great Sacred Mountain, and mysterious Three Sacred Mountains were a single snow-capped mountain. When Da Yu was trying to control the floods, he passed by here and cut the mountain twice with a magic blade, thus turning one mountain into three.

Originally, before liberation, this place wasn’t open to outsiders. He had heard from his grandfather that the view was different depending on which of the three mountains you were on. For example, if you climbed up the Little Sacred Mountain, you could see the Three Sacred Mountains and Great Sacred Mountains, but if you climbed up the Great Sacred Mountain, you could only see the Three Sacred Mountains. Although this was very odd, the strangest one was still the Three Sacred Mountains—in addition to seeing the other two sacred mountains on both sides, you could also see a snow-capped mountain far off in the distance behind it. This mountain was more majestic than the Three Sacred Mountains and was known as Heavenly Ladder Mountain. It was shrouded in clouds all year round, which prevented its true form from being seen. It was said that there was a ladder on the mountain, which could directly reach the heavenly palace. It acted as the passage between the mortal realm and the land of the immortals. If the weather was good, you would be able to see rainbow-like rays of light appear between the Heavenly Ladder Mountain and the Small and Great Sacred Mountains. The sight was said to be both beautiful and strange, as if painted by an immortal.

Upon hearing this, Fatty said to us, “This legend must be wrong. The heavenly palace is obviously on the Three Sacred Mountains, so how could it be on the Heavenly Ladder Mountain? Whoever passed down this legend must have a problem with their eyes.”

Monk Hua thought it over for a while, and then shook his head and explained, “Not necessarily. I studied this legend before I came here. I believe it may be a mirage formed by the refraction of light on the snow on Heavenly Ladder Mountain and the surrounding mountains when the Heavenly Palace on the Clouds was built. Because Heavenly Ladder Mountain is covered in fog all year round, the fog became a kind of reflective curtain where the projected image of the Heavenly Palace on the Clouds appeared. But since it was hidden in the fog, it looked like it really was floating in the sky.”

Mirages were phenomena that mostly occurred around desert lakes, so it was very rare to hear of them appearing in snow-capped mountains. However, the fact that one might be here made me think that it wasn’t a coincidence—this may be the source of a dragon vein. In feng shui, this kind of phenomenon was called a “Reflected Palace”. I only saw it once in an ancient book, so I didn’t know much about it, but it wasn’t surprising to see it here since we were already at the treasure well and many strange things occurred in such places.

We were all speaking in dialects—I used the Hangzhou dialect, while Monk Hua and the others used the Changsha dialect—so Shunzi didn’t understand what we were saying and didn’t pay much attention to us. After talking about the scenery, he stood up and said to us, “Gentlemen, you guys should rest first and get something to eat. If you want to do something, go ahead and do it, but you have to hurry up. It’s getting dark, and there’s no way we can pitch our tents here. It’ll be difficult to walk once it gets dark, and it may be windy, so we need to find a relatively flat place to spend the night.” After saying this, he poured us all some more tea and then sensibly moved far away to get some rest.

I looked at my watch and saw that we still had about an hour before the sun went down. The time was neither long nor short, so I knew that it was time to get down to business.

But the area all around us was covered in snow, and there were no special traces as far as I could see. If a tomb really had been built here, then it must be buried under many layers of snow, and the entrance should be somewhere under our feet. But the snowy environment here was so different from the soil we were used to that we didn’t have any experience and didn’t know where to start.

So, we all stood up and gathered around Chen Pi Ah Si to discuss our next plan of action.

It was obvious to see that Chen Pi Ah Si still hadn’t recovered after such an intensive trek. Lang Feng handed him a wine flask and urged him to take a couple of sips while Monk Hua rubbed his back to get his circulation going. His complexion gradually improved, but he still looked completely exhausted. When he heard what we were asking, he looked at the surrounding mountains and said to us, “The location of the treasure well is at our feet, but I don’t have any good ideas on how to get to it. Let’s try digging to see what’s under the snow before making any plans.”

Everyone nodded in agreement. In fact, I also knew that there was no better way. After all, when it came down to it, grave robbing was still grave robbing. No matter how the circumstances or technology changed, its essence remained the same: after finding the dragon’s acupoints, you would calculate where to start digging. The only difference between now and the past dynasties was the type of tools used for exploring the acupoints; the process was practically the same. That was why, other than the excitement when opening the coffin, grave robbing was actually a pretty boring job.

The snow was much softer than mud, so the shovels went in very smoothly. Monk Hua and the others were very quick and soon dug more than a dozen holes in the snow, but almost all the shovels seemed to get stuck after going about five or six meters deep. Fatty thought that Ye Cheng was as weak as a skinny monkey and ran over to help him, but even after using brute force, the shovel only went in a little deeper. Every time he pulled it out, the shovel head came out clean.

Monk Hua, after inspecting the shovel head and finding that there were little ice crystals stuck to the tip, knew what was going on—below the top layer of snow was a layer of glacier ice formed by frozen soil and ice. It was as hard as concrete, so the shovels couldn’t penetrate it or bring up anything that was below.

“It’s been snowing here for thousands of years. If the snow accumulates too much, it will turn into ice. Do you think the tomb is frozen in the ice below?” Fatty asked.

We all nodded. It was indeed possible, but the Luoyang shovel couldn’t break through the ice, which meant that even if we knew that something was below, we couldn’t get to it.

Pan Zi suddenly spoke up at this time, “The main problem is that the snow is too much of a hindrance. Do we have any explosives? When I was a soldier, I heard some of the guys say that when they were in the Daxing’anling Mountains, the supply team there regularly cleared the slopes. With just one explosive, all the snow would be blown away without any trouble. After we blow the snow away, the situation below will immediately be clear. Not only will it be much more convenient for us to search, but it will also save us the hassle of having to dig a tunnel.”

I understood what he was talking about. Every time it snowed, a new snow layer would form on top of the old one. Pockets of air would form in the middle of these layers, so as long as a small explosion shook the entire mountain, the upper layers of snow would slide down, taking the bottom layers with them. This chain reaction would continue until all the layers of snow collapsed.

There were several small mountains in the Daxing’anling region. In order to prevent too much snow from accumulating on these mountains and causing avalanches that would damage the forested areas, the local engineering teams often had to manually clear the slopes after a heavy snowfall. At that time, the method for doing this was not only simple and crude but also dangerous—personnel would climb up the mountains and set off the explosives themselves. Now, however, they simply bombarded the slopes with mortars.

Monk Hua pinched the snow. “I do have explosives, but look above our heads. Don’t you think setting them off is tantamount to suicide?”

We looked up and saw a snow-covered cliff towering above our heads. It stretched out on either side, eventually connecting to the distant mountain range which looked like a snow dragon. We were like a bunch of tiny ants in comparison—as long as a little snow fell from above, we’d be sleeping here for all of eternity.

Pan Zi looked at it a little dizzily, but still insisted, “Changbai Mountain is a tourist attraction so the snow here should be cleared away sometimes. I don’t think it’s a big problem. But if you don’t want to clear the snow away, we’ll have to turn around and go back. Wanting to dig up things buried under the snow on a mountain is like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Just so you know, people also set up explosives when trying to find a missing mountaineering team in the snowy mountains of Tibet—there’s no good way to go about it. When the old man is feeling better enough to point out the right spot, we’ll still have to use explosives. Otherwise, we’ll never be able to dig a tunnel through the ice. We’re definitely going to have to use explosives no matter what.”

I immediately disagreed, “It’s too risky. I’d rather take the time and try to dig our way through with our shovels.”

“Little Master Three,” Pan Zi said, “I’m suggesting we use explosives because we don’t have time. If we did, we could just wait until summer to come back. But we have to try anyway—Master Three is waiting for us.”

Monk Hua waved at us to stop and pointed to Lang Feng, “Stop arguing, you guys. Our opinion doesn’t matter. Let’s listen to what a professional has to say.”

I was taken aback—this whole time, I couldn’t figure out what Lang Feng’s role was among their little group, so it was a little surprising to hear Monk Hua say that. Was Lang Feng an expert in this field? We all turned to look at him to see how he would react.

Lang Feng clearly felt uncomfortable under our scrutiny, but still said to us, “I think what Pan Zi said should be feasible. In fact, before we left, I had already anticipated that we would encounter such a situation so I made some preparations. Besides, I’m a professional—I can control the power of the explosives so the sound won’t be too loud. In fact, we can achieve our goal as long as there’s a small vibration under the snow. Sometimes, just a firecracker is all it takes.”

“Are you sure?” Fatty asked. “This isn’t the same as bombing a tomb. What we’re trying to do now is equivalent to setting off a firecracker in tofu—you have to blow a hole without it being visible on the surface. This is a delicate job.”

Lang Feng nodded, “When I was a miner, I blasted no less than ten thousand holes. This isn’t difficult.”

Monk Hua looked at us and pointed to Lang Feng, “Don’t judge him based on the fact that he doesn’t talk much. This guy’s been a miner for twenty years. He started blasting holes at the age of fourteen and leveled no less than twenty mountains. It’s only been about a year since the boss took a liking to him and invited him to work with us. He’s been called the God of Explosives ever since. When it comes to explosives, no one is better than him.”

“You’re the God of Explosives?” Off to the side, Pan Zi’s eyes widened in shock, making it obvious that he had heard this name before.

Lang Feng scratched his head in embarrassment, his expression far different from the coldness he had been displaying over the past few days, “It’s just a nickname; something my colleagues came up with to flatter me.”

Monk Hua said to him, “You don’t have to be so modest. You have to play up your strengths on occasions like this.” Then he turned to us and said, “Lang Feng’s never made a mistake before, so if he says it’s possible, then I absolutely believe him. I think we can give it a try. Do you guys have any objections?”

Fatty looked at me. He had experience in snow expeditions before and had heard a lot about avalanches so he obviously felt a little leery, but he was on my team, so he looked at me silently and waited for me to express my opinion.

I thought it over. Chen Pi Ah Si and the others were a real group of professional grave robbers who heavily relied on explosives to an unimaginable degree, unlike my Uncle Three who took the more traditional approach when entering ancient tombs. So, if Monk Hua said that Lang Feng was quite skilled, then it must be true.

I steeled my heart and nodded to Fatty—let’s take the risk. In fact, there was actually no way out. Even if I didn’t agree to it, I couldn’t help but wonder if they’d even listen to me.

After we agreed, Lang Feng and Ye Cheng took out a Luoyang shovel, screwed on a special shovel head, and dug several holes in the snow.

Then, Lang Feng used several kinds of powder to make an explosive and buried a few low-power detonators deep in the holes they had made. I knew that this kind of explosive was used to blast holes in the sealing stones of ancient tombs, so its power was specially modified to be equivalent to about ten firecrackers. But that was too strong for our purpose, so Lang Feng re-adjusted the formula to reduce its power even more.

Most modern grave robbers had considerable engineering knowledge. With only a few low-power detonators, they could blast a hole big enough to accommodate a person anywhere. I had long known about it in theory, but this was the first time I got to see it with my own eyes.

Shunzi, who was drinking tea off to the side, suddenly went crazy when he saw what Lang Feng was doing. He had seen Korean pilgrims raise the national flag, poachers sneaking out at night, and people crossing the border illegally, but this was definitely the first time he had ever seen a group take out detonators to blow up the mountain after enduring countless hardships. He ran over to stop Monk Hua and shouted, “What are you guys doing? Boss, you’re crazy—!”

But before he finished speaking, Lang Feng came up behind him and knocked him out with a pickaxe. Shunzi fell into the snow and was dragged aside.

Seeing this, I felt a phantom pain on the back of my own head and thought to myself, he’s already had it hard enough being our tour guide. Not to mention all that walking, but now he has to go through something like this. But after thinking about it, I knew that there was really no other way—Shunzi could tolerate just about anything, but he would never tolerate us blowing up the mountain. After all, he still wanted to live. If he hadn’t been knocked unconscious, we wouldn’t be able to continue our work.

“What should we do with this guy?” Fatty asked Monk Hua.

“Just leave him be,” Monk Hua said. “We still have to rely on him to go back down the mountain. We’ll take him to the underground palace and put him aside somewhere. When he wakes up, we’ll just give him more money. It’s not like he’ll be able to do anything anyway.”

Lang Feng prepared everything in an extremely professional manner, choosing to work alone instead of letting us help him. After the detonators were arranged based on a force-bearing structure model, he motioned for everyone to climb onto a nearby rock, lest we get dragged down by the chain reaction of collapsing snow.

I thought the sound of the explosion would be very loud, or there’d at least be a wave of snow sent flying into the air, but to my surprise, when Lang Feng pressed the detonator, I didn’t hear anything at all. Instead, I saw the level field of snow suddenly crack, and then large chunks of snow began to fall down the slope like a waterfall. The slope also suddenly became steeper, and the ground beneath our feet suddenly disappeared.

But the torrent didn’t last long. When the snow finally stopped falling, a large, muddy, and uneven mixed layer of white ice and snow was exposed under the slope. This was the surface of an ancient glacier from the Quaternary period, just like the ones mentioned in textbooks.

Fatty, who was next to me, had his eyes closed so he wasn’t aware that the explosion had already occurred. As soon as I shook him, he opened his eyes and said in surprise, “Oh wow, there really wasn’t any sound. So amazing.” Then he anxiously looked at the cliff above our heads.

I didn’t know if it was luck or Lang Feng’s excellent skills, but with the exception of a little bit of snow that slipped down from above due to the lack of support below, there didn’t seem to be any problems. We waited for a while, but nothing else loosened or fell, so we gradually relaxed.

I gave Lang Feng a thumbs-up, and Pan Zi patted him on the back to show how impressed he was.

Lang Feng started to show an embarrassed smile, but before the corners of his mouth had fully turned up, a big chunk of snow suddenly hit him on the head.

Everyone’s expressions immediately changed, and Fatty quickly waved at us and whispered, “Shh!”

We all instinctively fell silent and looked up again, only to see an inconspicuous yet bone-chilling black crack appear about a hundred meters on the snow-covered slope above our heads. It slowly expanded, spreading countless tiny cracks across the layer of snow. As these cracks spread, small chunks of snow broke apart and began falling down all around us.

I immediately felt cold all over, already realizing what had happened.

It looked like Lang Feng was going to lose his “God of Explosives” title today.

**Changbai Mountain is known as Paektu Mountain in Korean. Koreans and Manchus assign a mythical quality to the volcano and its caldera lake, considering it to be their country’s spiritual home, so Shunzi probably thought Poker-Face was being respectful because of that.**

**Da Yu, also known as Yu the Great, was a legendary king in ancient China who was famed for his introduction of flood control, his upright moral character, and his establishment of the Xia dynasty, which inaugurated dynastic rule in China.**

**The Quaternary period is the current and most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy. It follows the Neogene Period and spans from 2.58 million years ago to the present.**

“No one is allowed to speak or even fart,” Fatty said to us in a very soft voice. “Look for any protruding rocks or ice crevices nearby—we’re in trouble.”

“Impossible,” a dumbfounded Lang Feng muttered. “I calculated the amount right…”

Monk Hua covered Lang Feng’s mouth and motioned for him to keep quiet—he could talk later. We were all covered in a cold sweat as we looked up at the snow-covered cliff above our heads, quietly put our equipment on our backs, and looked for a place to take refuge. The layer of snow above us wasn’t thick, so even if there was an avalanche, it would only collapse in a small area. But the place where we were standing wasn’t ideal since it was too close to the surface fracture—as soon as the snow collapsed and fell, we would get swept up in it and plummet down the steep slope below.

Since there was no place to escape, our best bet was to do as Fatty said and find a protruding rock to hide under or find an ice crevice. But this idea seemed like something from the movie “Vertical Limit”, so I didn’t know whether it would actually work or not.

The rock we were currently standing on was too flat, which meant that we would still be hit by the snow if we tried to hide under it. Fatty pointed to a huge walnut-shaped rock on the side, where we could see a small space underneath that should act as a more suitable shelter.

The snow that had previously been between us and the rock was all gone, leaving only the glacier’s icy surface. It was slippery as hell, but there was no time to put our crampons on so we had to make do with what we had. Fatty tied a rope around his waist, handed the other end to us, clenched his teeth, and then stepped onto the ice.

One step, two steps, three steps…he took every step like he was walking on eggs. I kept waiting to hear the “click” of the eggshell breaking and see the yolk go flying, but Fatty had a knack for impressing people sometimes—after taking those three steps, he finally made it to the rock on the opposite side. He climbed up, gripped the rope around his waist, looked at the cliff overhead, and then beckoned us over.

We grabbed the rope and took turns going over. Pan Zi and Poker-Face went first, then Lang Feng carrying Chen Pi Ah Si on his back, and then Ye Cheng carrying Shunzi, leaving me to go last. When I saw that they had all made it over safely, I felt a lot better.

At this time, a chunk of snow as big as a watermelon had already fallen from above, indicating that the crack in the snow layer wouldn’t last long. Fatty motioned for me to hurry up.

I smacked my cheeks, tied the other end of the rope around my waist, and then took my first step onto the ice.

My balance had been bad ever since I was a child, so I always ended up falling and getting bruises all over my body when I was learning how to skate and ride a bike. But this time, I felt even more panicked—I kept thinking that the ice under my feet would disappear at any moment, which caused my legs to start trembling.

Fatty, seeing that I would be the most difficult to deal with, said in a low voice, “Don’t overthink it. It’s only two more steps. You can make it in one jump.”

I looked at the distance separating us—sure enough, as long as I could fully exert my strength, I could definitely jump over. With that thought in mind, I clenched my teeth, took a step forward, and bent my waist, preparing to jump up.

But unexpectedly, when I tried to exert force to jump, my feet suddenly sank—it seemed the layer of ice I stepped on ended up shattering because too many people had stepped on it just now. My foot slipped on the slope, and then my whole body started to slide down.

I scrabbled for purchase with my hands and feet, but there was nothing on the icy surface that I could grab onto. I kept falling until the rope tied around my waist stopped my descent. As I hung there on the icy cliff, body straining against the rope, I suddenly heard the click of a carabiner. I looked down and saw that the carabiner’s latch had actually opened, and I was about to become unhooked.

I cursed to myself, this fucking knockoff good! Must have been produced in some basement!

The force of my body jerking to a stop almost pulled Fatty off the rock, but fortunately, Pan Zi grabbed his belt, and the others grabbed him, so it turned out ok. Once they regained their balance, they tugged on the rope hard and started pulling me up.

But every time they pulled, the rope’s knot got closer to that open latch. Feeling anxious, I tried to place my feet against the icy cliff in order to support my weight as I closed the carabiner’s latch, but the ice was so slippery that my feet kept sliding down every few seconds.

Seeing that the carabiner was about to fall off, I desperately pulled out my ice axe and slammed it into the cliff hard. After ensuring that it was firmly affixed, I placed my left foot on the ice, supported my weight, and hurriedly lowered my head to fix the carabiner. But before I could, a strange vibration suddenly came from overhead.

When I looked up, I saw that everyone was looking at me with dumb expressions on their faces. But before I could figure out what was going on, I suddenly saw a white, snowy fog explode in the air, blocking my whole field of vision.

It was an avalanche!

There was no time to scream or be surprised; I don’t even remember what I was thinking at that time. All I remember is hearing Fatty shout, “Grab your ice axe! Cling to the ice!” Then it suddenly became dark all around me, and I felt my body start to sink as if more than a dozen people had suddenly grabbed onto my clothes and were pulling me down violently. The rope around my waist suddenly dug into my flesh and air mixed with snow choked my lungs.

Then, I fell into what seemed like primordial chaos as forceful blows hit every single part of my body. I couldn’t even lift my head, and my throat soon began to tighten to the point that I felt like I was going to suffocate. I felt as if I had been thrown into a chestnut roaster—countless chunks of ice and other cold things pummeled me from all directions, and there was a brief moment when my mouth and nose were full of foamy snow.

It was only at this time that I remembered that ice was an excellent shock conductor, especially thick ice, which had extremely strong resonance. My ice axe just now had been the final catalyst for the avalanche to occur.

I almost wanted to slap myself, but it was too late to regret it now. My whole body was knocked around like a spinning top, and I tried to grab onto my ice axe, but I couldn’t even feel where my hands were.

Just as I was starting to feel overwhelmed and unsure of what to do, I suddenly felt the rope jerk, and then my body was lifted a little bit.

I was startled—were Fatty and the others trying to pull me up?—and then I immediately felt hopeful. Since I could feel the rope moving with their actions, it meant that the amount of snow coming down from the avalanche wasn’t very thick, and they were strong enough to pull me up against the flow.

I hurriedly began pushing my body up, trying to swim through the snow all around me. I was pushed back several times, but with the help of the others pulling on the rope, I suddenly heard a roaring in my ears and a bright light hit my eyes—I was free!

Fatty and the others were hiding under the walnut-shaped rock as the avalanche rushed overhead, flowing like a waterfall in front of them. Luckily, they were all safe and sound. Fatty and Lang Feng were the ones pulling on the rope, and when they saw me emerge from the snowy onslaught, they shouted, “Are you ok?!”

Busy gasping for breath, all I could do was nod. That endless wave of snow and fog was still pummeling me, so I tugged at the rope with everything I had and started to move toward them against the flow. But the flow was so strong that I couldn’t stand up at all, and my hands couldn’t seem to move no matter how hard I tried. In the end, Fatty had to maintain his hold on the rope to keep me steady as we waited for the snow to flow past.

The avalanche came and went quickly—in less than half a minute, the snow stopped flowing past me, leaving numerous chunks of snow behind. I looked down, saw the whole valley beneath my feet shrouded in white fog, and suddenly felt a belated fear—if I had been swept away with the avalanche just now, I would have definitely died.

The others dragged me under the rock, all breathing heavily from the lingering fear. Fatty patted me and said, “Kid, you’re really lucky. Fortunately, it was just a small collapse with a little bit of snow instead of a full-blown avalanche. Otherwise, I probably would have been pulled down with you.”

I didn’t know what I was feeling at this time, but I knew that I had lost my hat, my ears were red with cold, and I couldn’t hear anything clearly. Not knowing what else to do, I patted him on the back and turned to look at the glacier’s surface on the opposite side.

All the snow had slid down the slope to the bottom of the valley, revealing a huge glacier in front of us. From time to time, chunks of snow fell down from above, reminding us that there was still the danger of a second avalanche occurring.

A glacier’s surface was formed when layers of snow and ice were put under pressure for thousands of years. This was what we often called “glacial ice”. This kind of ice formed naturally, and in high-altitude mountainous areas, it would wrap around the whole mountain to form glaciers. It was generally found on snow-capped mountains, between the snow layers and the mountain itself. The ice wasn’t too thick, but there would be a lot of crushed snow on top of it.

With the exception of Fatty, none of us had ever seen an actual glacier before. In the light of the setting sun, seeing such a huge cliff of ice exposed in the snowy mountain valley below was like seeing a giant bar of Diao Pai soap. It shocked not only me but everyone else as well—we all stopped and stared in stunned silence.

“Looks like Lang Feng’s explosion wasn’t totally useless,” Ye Cheng muttered from the side.

After looking at it for a while longer, we all gradually pulled ourselves together. Monk Hua turned on a flashlight and pointed it at the ice, trying to find traces of the tomb. The inside of the ice looked murky, chaotic, and so deep that it seemed bottomless. The average mountain glacier was only about ten to twenty meters thick, but this glacier seemed to be abnormally thick.

Fatty had excellent eyesight, so it wasn’t surprising to hear him let out an exclamation as if he had suddenly found something. He quickly grabbed the flashlight from Monk Hua’s hand and took a closer look at whatever had grabbed his attention.

Straining our eyes, we followed his gaze and saw that under the flashlight’s weak glow, a huge, looming shadow was lurking in the dark depths of the bluish-green glacier. It occupied nearly half of the icy cliff, and its shape looked like that of a big-headed baby curled up in the fetal position.