Chapter 202

Although the terrain of Dragon Peak belongs to the snowy mountain glacier permafrost zone, it is currently at the end of a melting period that has lasted over a year and two months, and its geographical location is low-altitude, so the snow on the summit is not permanent; after the melting period, little snow remains, and moreover, the area is surrounded by four snow peaks with large gaps between them, which do not easily transmit sound, and with the dilution of sound by wind and snow, we found after gradually mastering the terrain structure here that sounds like gunfire on the snow plain are not easily triggered to cause avalanches.

However, if the wind and snow cease, after two full days of snowfall, the snow on the snow peaks will reach full load, at which point it becomes very dangerous; Shirley Yang said this piece of "Crystal Free Mountain," with its densely packed scale-like ripples inside, might be a special sound wave accumulated within, and if this crystal stone is broken, it will immediately trigger a large-scale avalanche; furthermore, the posture of the white wolf demon slave also indicates all this, bearing white destructive power descending from heaven, which also matches the description of avalanche and ice collapse scenes in ancient mythological legends.

Those who have not experienced an avalanche do not know what it means; when the guide learned on the first day that an avalanche might occur, the muscles on his face tightened involuntarily; in Kalamir, avalanches are very common; sometimes on clear, bright days, one can hear thunder rolling continuously from the horizon, which is the sound of avalanches in the mountains; from ancient times to the present, untold numbers of people and livestock have been swallowed by the divine white fury; the people living at the foot of the snow mountains are born with a complex sense of awe toward the ferocity and sanctity of the snow peaks.

When I first joined the army, I also encountered a major avalanche; that white, torrent-like destructive force remains vivid in my memory; gazing at the wolf god on the "Crystal Free Mountain," I muttered to myself: "This damn thing is practically a time bomb..."

At this moment, Ming Shu was somewhat desperate, holding a flashlight to illuminate the object beneath the crystal stone, wanting to see what the "glacial crystal corpse" that people have long coveted, worth a fortune, actually looks like; the beam of the "Wolf Eye" shone on the crystal, and I and Pangzi, among others, had also wanted to see it clearly, but before we could get a good look, Ming Shu suddenly jerked his hand back in fright, and the "Wolf Eye" slipped from his grasp, appearing about to strike the thin surface of the "Crystal Free Mountain."

Our hearts sank with the falling flashlight, but it happened too suddenly for us to reach out and catch it; we watched helplessly as it landed on the crystal stone; though the sound was not loud, it dealt a heavy blow to our psychological defenses; Ming Shu's legs went weak, and he nearly collapsed to the ground.

The base of the tower was silent, not a sound to be heard, as if everyone's breath had frozen at that moment, until we saw that the "Crystal Free Mountain" was not cracked, then we all exhaled in relief; I told the group: "It's fine; no matter what, this is still a piece of stone, much sturdier than we imagined."

I picked up the flashlight that had fallen to the ground and said to Ming Shu: "Ming Shu, you really are my uncle; you've dropped the flashlight twice today—next time, hold on tighter, will you? If your hands and feet won't obey, you might as well not do things yourself; just let Old Huang hold the flashlight for you."

Ming Shu explained: "No, no... I'm also someone who has sailed ships and seen great winds and waves—how could I lack courage so much? Just now I saw something moving beneath that crystal, alive, and still... still moving." As he spoke, he produced the "Heaven Official Copper Seal" and asked me: "How do you use this treasure seal?"

I didn't hear the second half of what Ming Shu said; could the "glacial crystal corpse" have come back to life? What is moving? Hearing this, we felt even more uncertain, so we steeled ourselves to look again at what was inside the "Free Mountain," and the longer we looked, the faster our hearts pounded—there really was something alive inside...

Although the name "Crystal Free Mountain" contains the character for "mountain," it is actually not that large; at most, it is no bigger than a washbasin, oval in shape, with several arc-shaped golden rails around it for lifting and lowering; it lies horizontally in the pit at the tower's base, symbolizing the force of snow peak collapse—the white wolf demon slave—carved on the upper surface facing up; viewed from above, it somewhat resembles an eyeball set in an eye socket.

If examined closely, within this crystal shell there are many mercury-like substances flowing slowly, and the shadow lines of this mercury are distinct, forming exactly the shape of a woman; within the mercury-like human form, there are some deep red substances faintly glowing; judging by position and shape, these appear to be the heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and other internal organs of the human body.

Because it is wrapped in this outer layer of crystal stone, we cannot see the true appearance of this mercury-like flowing human form; it truly seems like a living person, but that should merely be an optical effect; we can only preliminarily judge that the internal human form might also be a piece of clear, translucent liquid crystal, and most likely it is the "glacial crystal corpse" that Ming Shu is seeking.

As for whether it is truly a human corpse or, like the outer layer of this "Crystal Free Mountain," merely a symbolic object, we cannot know without opening it to look. My reason for agreeing to accompany Ming Shu into Kunlun Mountain this time is simply to hope to find, within these nine demonic towers, a method to use the "Mourning Dust Pearl" to eliminate the curse on my body. But this demonic tower, in which I placed great hope, has actually yielded no information at all, leaving only the corpse of this evil god unexamined. I had long prepared myself with the resolve of "not giving up until reaching the Yellow River," so I called on everyone to help, lifting the "Crystal Free Mountain" out of the pit.

Ming Shu hoped to find a way to move it upward, then transport it out of Kalamir before opening it, so as not to worry about triggering an avalanche; he could smash or cut it as he pleased.

I said this is absolutely out of the question. Although this glacial ice crystal stone is much sturdier than we thought and not so easily shattered, using mountaineering ropes to tie the golden rails and hoist it layer by layer upward would be like balancing a bomb on one's head while juggling. Moreover, not only must it be moved to the snowy summit, but it must also pass through the icy, snowy Divine Spiral Gully, which is practically harder than climbing to heaven. To extract the "glacial crystal corpse," we must take the risk at the tower's base; although this seems dangerous, it is actually far safer than transporting it out.

After convincing Ming Shu, I checked my watch—it was getting dark soon. Based on the First Day's understanding of wolf nature, the wolf pack will certainly launch a full attack before the snow stops tonight; they have been enduring hunger and cold in the snow gully, now nearly at their limit; once this demon tower is dug open, the wolf pack will have no inhibitions. Moreover, this "Crystal Free Mountain" is the ancestral holy relic of the wolf pack, and they will not tolerate humans disturbing it at will. It seems that tonight, one side must be completely wiped out for this to end.

I estimate the remaining wolves won't be many either; we must first set aside other matters, deal with the wolf pack, then talk later. Thus everyone returned to the first level of the Nine-Story Demon Tower, piled fuel onto the fire, and left Ming Shu and Axiang here, while the rest returned to the glacier buried under heavy snow. Although we are on two levels, the distance is short, so we can respond in time if anything happens. When First Day was about to go up, he gave all the salt to Ming Shu. If the Snow Maitreya emerges from somewhere, just sprinkle the salt to splash it.

The outside sky had turned completely dark, the snow gradually lessening; it looks like the snow will stop before midnight. Everyone piled up the black wood dug from the tower into a defensive circle, and each checked their weapons and ammunition.

I loaded the shotgun and pistol with ammunition; it's time to settle the score with that white-haired old wolf—actually, our grudges are hard to clarify. At the Great Phoenix Temple, it was precisely the Wolf King who bit Xu Gan Shi to death, thus saving my life. But it was also he who led the wolf pack to besiege us, tearing out Gema's intestines. I also, together with Pangzi and others, slaughtered many wolf pups in the Valley Gully—these matters are tangled beyond clarity. Since we are fated to meet as enemies, we can only settle it with a life-or-death duel.

We saw the surrounding snow plain deathly silent, with no trace of life; Peter Huang waited anxiously, unable to help asking First Day: "Will the wolf pack really come? Why is there not a single sound?"

First Day nodded to Peter Huang; since childhood he has deeply hated wolves, and now, with battle imminent, his eyes are slightly bloodshot from excitement. He touched the scar on his face; in mountain snows, First Day's intuition is even sharper than a wolf's; only see him lift his wineskin and take a big gulp of barley wine, then draw his hidden knife, spraying all the wine in his mouth onto the blade, and say in a low voice to everyone: "Here they come." He raised his hunting rifle with one hand—"Bang!"—a gunshot rang out. Only see on the white snow not far off, a spray of red snow mist erupted; a giant wolf, entirely white, was hit by the bullet and collapsed to the ground.

In the snow on all sides, nearly simultaneously dozens of vicious wolves leapt out, stirring up large amounts of snow mist as they rushed forward. At this moment, our eyes seemed to produce an illusion, as if the entire snow slope suddenly trembled and boiled. The wolf pack had long lain in ambush in the nearby snow gullies, waiting for us to emerge from the demon tower and lower our guard before attacking. They had just prepared to launch a surprise assault, but First Day saw through it in advance, shooting the nearest wolf dead; the rest came charging madly.

Although we are few in number and lack the firepower of assault rifles, among these five of us there are no shortage of top-tier marksmen, and the wolf pack's numbers are limited. Previously, we had already lost over twenty of them; now fewer than seventy remain. Immediately, we fired a chaotic volley; on the white snow, countless blossoms of bright red blood burst forth.

The wolf pack's estimation of our firepower is very precise. If they had hidden too close before, they would have been discovered by us; if too far, they could not reach us in time; so they hid within a thirty- to fifty-meter zone. It appears they prepared to sacrifice a dozen or so wolves as the price to quickly close in for close combat. In that case, our firearms would not be very effective, but all these plans were disrupted by First Day.

However, the distance between the wolf pack and us remains too close; after shooting down the thirty-odd giant wolves in the first wave, our five men's long-gun ammunition ran out. The second wave of vicious wolves had already come like a white whirlwind, lunging at close range.