Chapter 195

Others might be fine, but how could those tough guys who never let that kind of liquor leave their lips and could slaughter wolves without even frowning be scared into this state? Yet looking at their posture, they weren't collapsed haphazardly in the chaos; they all faced one direction, lying prone on the ground with faces down, their bodies trembling in waves. I found it even stranger! Could it not be excessive panic, but rather they were worshipping something? But they had only reached the slope at the exit of the Bone Burial Gully less than a minute ago—what could possibly happen in such a short time?

As I thought, I quickened my pace, and just as I stepped out of the narrow gully, I stood frozen on the spot—only to see a hazy white light rise in the northern sky, the light flickering and swaying; this strange beam of light happened to encircle the silver peak of the snow mountain, and in an instant, it seemed to produce a holy radiance like the sun and moon embracing, harmonizing and shining together—this was the Jade Crown Buddha Light I had long heard of, a once-in-a-thousand-years phenomenon in the Kunlun Mountains! Only those with affinity could behold it.

I too was awed by this sacred sight, though I am not a Buddhist believer, I also felt I should quickly kneel on the ground to pay homage. At that moment, people behind came up one after another, and before they could even see clearly, that miraculous light had already vanished into the night. Uncle Ming and the others only caught a glimpse, and they all stomped their feet and beat their chests, filled with regret too late.

Shirley Yang also caught a glimpse and told everyone: "Don't regret it—this is absolutely not the once-in-a-thousand-years Buddha Light! What you just saw was merely a synchronized discharge phenomenon in the cloud layer; the cloud masses beneath the snow mountain are too thick, and at night they produce this phenomenon. A true Buddha Light that appears only once every thousand years—how could it be so easily encountered?"

But Yiyi and the others firmly believed it was the Buddha Light's holy vision, and that whoever saw it would be blessed with good fortune. He told us that such minor Buddha Lights are quite common in Kalamail, but the genuine thousand-year Great Buddha Light only appears atop the distant Yunnan Kawagebo Snow Mountain in his old hometown; it is said to have appeared only a few seconds roughly a thousand years ago, and was painted in the《Ten Aspects of Freedom Diagram》, passed down—according to a living Buddha's prophecy, it will appear once more within the next ten years, and as the time approaches, many pilgrims will travel ten thousand miles to worship at the holy mountain's base.

After having just paid respects to the Buddha Light, the porters became elated, shouting as they gathered the cattle and horses; they checked supplies and equipment, fortunately losing little, and so continued onward. When daylight came, they found a gentle slope to set up camp; after resting a full day and night, replenishing their spirit and strength, they prepared to enter the Divine Spiral Gully glacier.

During this period, those evil wolves never showed their traces, but they were surely lurking somewhere, watching us, so we dared not let our guard down for a moment. Especially after we continued advancing two days deeper into the mountains, we were about to enter a more dangerous and mysterious region—the Divine Spiral Gully.

The Divine Spiral Gully glacier is a unique low-altitude ancient glacier on Earth, with its lowest point at only 2,800 meters elevation. The glacier flows between two great snow mountains, extending into the primeval forest below for approximately several kilometers; beneath the glacier lies dense primeval forest, towering ancient trees, growing countless exotic flowers and strange herbs, possessing the alpine cold desert zone and rich animal and plant resources.

Entering the forest of the Divine Spiral Gully, the problem of high-altitude hypoxia and extreme cold can be resolved, but we encountered a new difficulty that followed suit—this place fundamentally has no roads, yaks and horses cannot descend from beneath the glacier, and moreover we must cross a great ice barrier.

It seems we can only set up the supply camp here. Originally, the plan was to leave only two porters to guard the supplies, while the rest would carry loads into the glacier, but our encounter with the wolf pack created a potential threat, and leaving too few guards might fail to protect the camp and livestock.

I also did not want Yiyi and the other locals to follow us into the mountains, for I did not know what further dangers lay ahead, and I truly did not wish to implicate others. But Yiyi insisted on coming to help, saying that excavating the demon tower of the Demon Realm is an act of accumulating merit, and if successful, he would not intend to send his third son to the temple to become a lama practitioner. Having seen the Jade Crown Buddha Light, his confidence grew even more. We discussed it for a long time, and in the end we could only leave four porters to guard the cattle and horses; each of them has a hunting rifle, making them skilled wolf hunters, and we also left them some explosives and detonators—four people should be sufficient.

The remaining eight people formed a team: inside they wore diving suits, outside they wore windbreakers, donned mountaineering helmets and other protective gear, distributed weapons and ammunition, and the two assault rifles were respectively given to Pangzi and Shirley Yang for use; I and Peter Huang used shotguns, Yiyi used a hunting rifle, and aside from Axiang, everyone was issued an MI911, carrying necessary supplies and equipment. After finalizing everything, we set out.

The entrance to the Divine Spiral Gully glacier is what locals commonly call the "Great Ice Barrier." Going down is very easy—it's all ice slopes between forty and sixty degrees; grab the rope, and it's like sliding down a chute. But coming back up will probably require some effort.

Yiyi brought us to a spot where this Great Ice Barrier looks gentle and seems easy to descend, but in fact there are many fragile ice crevices and ice caves inside; when a person's weight presses down, it will break the thin ice shell on top, causing them to fall to their death below. Only the narrow passage discovered by Yiyi and the monks when they came years ago to gather medicine in the Divine Spiral Gully is relatively safe by comparison.

We set up three long ropes hanging down into the ice barrier below, with Yiyi leading the way as he first slid down, the others following in turn, and we reached the bottom of the ice barrier into the Divine Spiral Gully quite smoothly.

After I descended, I raised my binoculars to look into the distance—forest and snow mountains, vast and boundless. This glacier should be of the composite type: its main body is ancient glacier, but it also contains many areas formed by avalanches of various periods, creating modern glaciers of all sizes, all enclosed and surrounded by forest. Ice leaks, ice caves, ice gullies, and great ice waterfalls—too many to count. In the lower-elevation forest, melted ice water converges into streams; heaven knows where that demon tower is buried.

Although this place is not entirely a snowslide danger zone, some areas must not produce too much noise, lest they awaken the silver snow mountain deity. Thus, guide Yiyi advised everyone to disengage the safeties on their weapons, and before safety is confirmed, no one should fire a shot. If wild beasts attack, we will greet them with cold weapons.

We advanced along the glacier into the forest, walking while referencing the terrain, studying the possible location of the demon tower. The Samsara Sect, until a few hundred years ago, still frequently sent people here to hold rituals, possibly leaving traces. According to that Samsara Secret Transmission Sutra, the specific location should be within a glacier encircled by four snow mountains—that is what is called the Phoenix Divine Palace in Tantric feng shui.

So we walked through the forest for about two days. This day, as we continued forward, Yiyi told us some legends of this Divine Spiral Gully along the way, as well as his own experience gathering medicine here years ago. In Buddhist legend, this place was once an inland sea, with a giant sea snail at the bottom that transformed into a demon, its magic power reaching heaven; because of it, nearby living beings suffered greatly, until the Buddha used Buddhist doctrine to elevate the ocean into a highland mountain, subduing it. The sea snail demon god willingly took refuge in the Buddha's gate, and ultimately became a guardian deity of Buddhism. After it attained Buddhahood, its sea snail shell transformed into this ancient Divine Spiral Gully glacier.

This legend is not recorded in any scripture; it may merely be a fabrication of earlier people. Yet it does conform to the nature of ordinary Buddhist legend. Buddhism is the most inclusive religion—no matter what demon, monster, or ghost, as long as one lays down the butcher's knife, one can become a Buddha instantly. Thus, in Buddhist scriptures and legends, many regional demon gods have been absorbed as guardians.

As we spoke, we arrived before a great ice waterfall. Yiyi had everyone halt their advance, pointing at that ice fall and saying: "That ice slab ahead was just below the ice waterfall, while above the ice waterfall is the main peak of a snow mountain. Over ten years ago, I discovered a stalk of eighty-eight-flavor pearl lingzhi grass up there, and climbed the ice waterfall to harvest it, but the terrain here is extremely perilous—not only did I fail to pick the eighty-eight-flavor lingzhi grass, I nearly fell to my death. If you seek the place encircled by four snow mountains, then this ahead is it, for when I went up to gather medicine, I personally saw that this place happens to be surrounded by four giant snow peaks. Kalamail's snow mountains are many—one here, one there—but connected ones are not easy to find. As far as I know and have seen, this is the only such place. Yet I have never dared to enter this basin before, for legend says it is the center of the Sea of Disaster, and when we enter, we must be doubly cautious."

I also saw that the atmosphere here is extraordinary—not a matter of feng shui, but just beholding the tens of millions of tons of snow piled on this great snow mountain makes one's heart turn cold. Fortunately, the forested belt sandwiched between the glaciers is very wide; detouring around the ice waterfall and threading through the forest, as long as no major accident occurs, we will not trigger an avalanche.

The heart of the forest is a patch of undulating glacier, where elevation suddenly rises, and the glacier lies above the snow line. Judging by appearance, in several thousands or tens of thousands of years ago, this place was either an alpine glacial lake or a block of alpine basin, and sure enough, the four surroundings are four towering snow peaks of comparable scale—this is the "Dragon's Spine," the backbone of heaven and earth. The demon tower that worships evil gods may well be frozen within this glacier.

Upon finally having a lead, everyone was energized, eager to press forward, hoping to find the nine-story demon tower in one go before nightfall. Here the ice is unusually slippery, like mirrors; Peter Huang, who has always been in the south, has never been in such an icy snowy land, and finds it hard to adapt. Walking a little faster, he slipped several times in succession, nearly cracking his tailbone, so he had to be supported by Pangzi and Yiyi as they walked.

Just as we were about to continue forward, I noticed the headcount was off—one person missing: Han Shuna. This glacier is full of ice crevices, ice pits, and ice leaks; if she truly fell in, it would be trouble. Ice pits are manageable, but if she fell into an ice leak, there's no way to haul her up, and moreover there are no footprints on the ice, making it hard to retrace our steps. But even at the base of the great snow mountain, we dare not shout her name—even Axiang lacks clairvoyance to see beneath the ice.

Everyone could only leave Peter Huang in place to keep watch, while the rest scattered in formation, retracing our path along the way back, then changing angles, and after switching directions twice, we discovered a trampled ice pit (this pit is not that pit—a geographical term referring to voids and gaps within the glacier, shaped like a basin like a dipper). I shone my wolf-eye flashlight inside, and Han Shuna was lying unconscious within, showing no response even when we softly called her name. According to my visual estimate, this ice pit is seven or eight meters deep.

No one knows why she deviated from the route and passed through here. Seeing his wife fallen below, life or death unknown, Uncle Ming was frantic, running in circles. I reassured him not to worry—this place is not too deep, everyone is wearing full protective gear, at most she fainted from fright upon falling; we just need to go down and pull her up, and nothing serious will happen.

I gathered the ropes, preparing to descend now. Shirley Yang first threw in a cold smoke flare to illuminate the interior and avoid stepping into connected ice crevices. Unexpectedly, the descending cold smoke flare lit up the four walls of the ice cellar, and everyone looking down exclaimed "Ah!"—the ice walls encased many ancient corpses dressed in old garments and hats, all maintaining a standing, bowed-head posture, forming a circle, as if these ancient corpses were still alive, lowering their heads to stare at the unconscious Han Shuna. What we saw was only the outermost layer; deeper in the ice layers, who knows how many more frozen corpses remain.