Chapter 203

The second wave of dozens of feral wolves had already charged to our front in an instant; I, Pangzi, Shirley Yang, Peter Huang, and others had no time to reload our guns, and we all raised our pistols and fired. The. 45 ACP rounds almost always dropped a wolf with one shot, taking down each wolf that lunged at us; the steady gunfire boosted our courage, dispelling the fear in close combat.

Chu Yi then used the front fork of his hunting rifle to knock down a feral wolf, then dropped the rifle and slashed wildly with his hidden knife. An old wolf dodged a bit too slowly, and its nose was half sliced off by a lightning-fast blade, making it whine in pain; Chu Yi swung his knife again and chopped off its wolf head.

From the moment Chu Yi fired the first shot, in less than two minutes the ground was littered with wolf corpses, mixed with a few wolves not yet fully dead, still occasionally exhaling white vapor-like breaths.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, the tense nerves relaxing; the scene before us was extremely gruesome, this time the wolves of Kalamir could basically be considered wiped out. I never expected the battle to end so quickly, but if it weren't for Chu Yi's preemptive strike, the corpses scattered across the snow might not have been just wolf corpses.

However, just as we had barely escaped the tense state of the fierce battle and were slightly careless, a white ghost-like shadow suddenly appeared behind Chu Yi. The Wolf King had already pounced on Chu Yi's shoulder; no one saw where the white-furred Wolf King came from, wanted to shoot, but found our pistols empty and hadn't had time to reload.

This one-eyed old white wolf was practically becoming a spirit; it seemed to know this was an opening, staring wide-eyed as the wolf pack was completely shot down, it lay motionless in the snow until it spotted an opportunity, then attacked unprepared. It should also know that once it revealed itself, although it could bite one or two enemies, it would surely die itself. But it seemed to have been summoned by its ancestor, the "Crystal Free Mountain," abandoning its life for a full-force strike, directly lunging at the herdsman who had disrupted its attack plan and disturbed its ancestor's soul.

The white wolf moved like a ghost; even Chu Yi didn't anticipate this trick, still thinking the Wolf King had already been killed in the melee. Wanting to strike back was already too late; everything happened too suddenly. In less than the blink of an eye, the white wolf pounced on Chu Yi, and they rolled together into the hole on the top level of the Demon Pagoda.

At the same time, I replaced the magazine in my M1911, rushed forward and leapt into the Demon Pagoda, with Pangzi and others following closely. Upon reaching the top level, I saw Ming Shu pointing at the level below and saying: "Hurry! They rolled down to the lower level..."

I was so anxious my head felt like it would explode, I chased down level by level, and finally found Chu Yi and the Wolf King's corpses at the bottom. The Wolf King clung tightly to Chu Yi's neck, Chu Yi's long blade lay atop it, but the skinning knife in his hand was fully embedded in the Wolf King's heart. The Wolf King's silver-white fur, stained with their two bloods, turned completely red—from their struggle atop the Demon Pagoda to the bottom, all blood had drained, breathing long ceased.

Chu Yi was brave and heroic; although he hadn't spent much time with me and Pangzi, we got along extremely well, very compatible. My heart felt like it was being cut, I couldn't help but want to cry, I slumped to the ground, staring blankly at Chu Yi and the Wolf King's corpses.

The others were also deeply grieved; Shirley Yang took my hand and comforted me: "If you want to cry, just cry—it'll feel better..."

I shook my head, feeling as if my heart were bleeding, but tears wouldn't come—another trusted comrade lost, that kind of pain isn't eased by a loud cry—now I just don't want to speak to anyone.

Ming Shu also comforted me: "The Wolf King killed by Brother Chu Yi is a descendant of the White Wolf Demon Slave; his death is of immeasurable merit! A warrior dies on the battlefield, dies rightly. We will pray for him, bless him to attain Buddhahood soon! Death is paramount, we still follow their customs and properly arrange his affairs."

I nodded at Ming Shu, letting them handle Chu Yi's corpse; my mind now felt like a boiling pot, I just wanted to calm down first.

Ming Shu had Peter Huang and Pangzi help separate Chu Yi and the Wolf King's corpses, as if they had landed squarely on "Crystal Free Mountain," not knowing if they had shattered it. Pangzi wiped his tears and snot, stopped everyone and said: "Wait! Chu Yi is my brother, he died heroically, I must first say a few words of mourning for him."

Ming Shu and others had no choice but to step aside, letting Pangzi hold a memorial for Chu Yi. Pangzi sighed, choked up as he spoke to Chu Yi's corpse: "We warriors, through our combat lives, seek to exchange for the happiness of all mankind; may we sprinkle this blood and these tears across the world's free flowers..."

Pangzi rambled on for a while, which slightly eased the sorrow in my heart, then had Peter Huang come help with the burial. As soon as he lifted the Wolf King's corpse, he found the Wolf King's corpse had shattered "Crystal Free Mountain"—just a touch, and it cracked with a splash into several fragments. Everyone sucked in a cold breath, hearts pounding, ears strained to listen for outside movement, not daring to take a breath.

After a moment, the glacier atop the Demon Pagoda remained utterly silent; had Shirley Yang misjudged, and the "Crystal Free Mountain" inside was not actually a sound wave that could collapse snow peaks? Perhaps after being frozen in the glacier for too long, it had failed. Whatever the case, for now we breathed a little easier.

Inside the "Crystal Free Mountain" emerged a fully transparent female corpse, with silver light flowing beneath her skin, her bones and organs deep red like agate, while the outside looked like clear crystal; this should not be a real corpse, but rather a marvelously crafted artifact—could this be the "Glacier Crystal Corpse"? It didn't seem particularly remarkable.

No matter how Ming Shu viewed his treasure, I and Pangzi carried Chu Yi's corpse to the eighth level, wanting to continue upward, but suddenly felt utterly exhausted, slightly short of breath, possibly from excessive grief, a choked breath, so we decided to rest for now.

Pangzi said to me: "I say, Commander Hu, can't we go up one level to rest, guarding these eighteen black-faced, black-headed Arhats, giving everyone goosebumps?"

Although my mind was a bit fuzzy now, I clearly remembered this level had nineteen seated guardian corpses, so how did Pangzi say eighteen Arhats? Did he miscount? Or had a corpse suddenly disappeared? I immediately became alert, counting them one by one. Indeed, only eighteen, six per row, three arc-shaped rows; I clearly remembered there should have been seven in one row—was I misremembering, or had a corpse vanished?

I wanted to go see what had changed; this was Shirley Yang bringing Axiang up, with Ming Shu and others following, and he and Peter Huang had already tied the "Glacier Crystal Corpse" with rope, stuck the Funeral Mound seal with tape to its forehead. Preparing to hoist it up with rope, the pair of crystal balls—one blue, one white—with natural star maps were also brought along.

I asked Shirley Yang whether this eighth level indeed had nineteen corpses in total; Shirley Yang nodded: "Correct. Nineteen total, what's wrong?"

I worried Axiang might hear and get scared, so I whispered to Shirley Yang: "I don't know when, but one is missing; I'll go check what's happening. You guys hurry up, let's leave this ghostly place as soon as possible."

I patted the askew tactical flashlight on my mountaineering helmet; one hand gripped the black donkey hoof, the other held the M1911, feeling my way forward to examine those tall ancient corpses, I discovered in the dark corner of this wooden pagoda, a large crack had appeared, these ancient corpses leaning against the wall. Could the missing corpse have fallen in? Just as I hadn't even approached, I heard a sound, like a large piece of wood shifting in the crack.

I poked my head down to look; the ruptured corner of the pagoda slanted downward like a bottomless abyss, a bulky white figure, like a fat adult, was slowly prying open the black timber, apparently trying to clear space for itself to crawl into the Demon Pagoda.

It was the Snow Maitreya that had eaten Shu Shu'na's corpse; I saw it hadn't noticed me, so I quickly shrank back, intending to ask Pangzi for some explosives, to throw it down and blast the cave below, burying it.

Just as I was about to call Pangzi, Ming Shu and Peter Huang both shouted "Not good!" simultaneously; they had successfully lifted the "Glacier Crystal Corpse" to the eighth level, but at that very moment, a dense cracking sound came from below, the frequency increasing rapidly, within moments countless sounds merged into one—I suddenly realized: disaster, the "Crystal Free Mountain" was not ineffective, but once that demon god's bones were raised to a certain specific height, it would trigger internal sonic vibrations—meaning, theoretically, no one could ever take the "Glacier Crystal Corpse" out.

A series of muffled thunder-like sounds came from above; the millions of tons of snow on the snow peak would soon bury the Dragon Peak Glacier, in less than half an hour the cold snap would freeze these snows, and by this time next year, don't even think about getting out.

Ming Shu and Peter Huang were so frightened their faces turned ashen; the two carrying the "Glacier Crystal Corpse" dropped it to the ground, the rumbling avalanche sounded like ten thousand horses galloping, shaking the ground, I worried they'd lose formation, hurriedly shouting: "Don't panic, all hide in the corners of the pagoda walls—that's sturdier..." but by then I could no longer hear my own voice.

Unknown whose "Wolf Eye" flashlight had fallen to the ground, it happened to roll beside that strange "Glacier Crystal Corpse," the beam shone on its mouth—I unintentionally glanced, and the crystal female corpse's mouth suddenly swung wide open...

I couldn't pay attention to the avalanche above, instinctively reaching into my pack to pull out the air-pressure sprayer; if that kind of insect capable of igniting "Infinite Karmic Fire" appeared, I'd spray it a few times with ginger juice first.

Indeed, from the mouth of the Glacier Crystal Corpse flew a tiny ladybug; I aimed and sprayed it twice, but it had absolutely no effect; by now I could see clearly, this "Da Pu" that had drilled out of the crystal female corpse's mouth, though identical in shape to that blue insect, was also fully transparent, resembling a seven-spotted ladybug, but its entire body was silver-white, like a minuscule ice crystal vibrating its wings in midair; after a brief pause, it flew toward Peter Huang, the nearest to it.

Peter Huang, unaware of its danger, reached out to swat it dead; I shouted to stop him, but my voice was drowned by the avalanche's roar; trying to save him was already too late—I only saw Peter Huang slap the ice-crystal-like bug onto the ground, and instantly a layer of frost coated his hand, not even giving him time to make a panicked expression, bright crystalline frost spread across his entire body; Peter Huang froze into a stiff corpse, immediately collapsing to the ground, shattering into countless ice dust, a faint cold light flying from his mouth.