Changsheng: Peak at the Beginning

In the summer, the ice and snow in Kunlun Mountains melt, and the snow water irrigates the grasslands and fields at the foot of the mountain. The end of summer is followed by a long winter, so there is a busy scene everywhere where people live.

Karamir, where Jiang Xinxin and her team were going, would even start snowing in August, and the weather was extremely bad, so the number of people entering the mountain was reduced again. The archaeological team was reduced to two people, and their movements were also restricted. They could not just focus on their work, but had to follow Jiang Xinxin's wishes in everything.

The Institute of Archaeology had consulted a local guide long ago. Although he himself was unwilling to venture deep into the snow-capped mountains, he provided a very detailed map, which just made up for the fact that Ak had not gone deep into the four snow-capped mountains.

Ake pointed to a narrow strip of land called the Bone Valley on the map and said, "The poem says that the Demon Kingdom has a very powerful guard called Crystal Mountain. No one knows what it looks like, but it can summon wind and snow to kill all offenders and sinners."

"And this bone-hiding ditch is said to be the place where wild beasts offer sacrifices to the Ghost Mother, and it is presided over by Crystal Freedom Mountain."

Jiang Xiaoguan added: "The Bone Storage Valley itself is an altar, with many eye-like patterns inside. The Zhang family recorded that there was a group of wolves living nearby, led by a huge white wolf, whose lifespan was longer than that of an average human. On the first and fifteenth day of every lunar month, the white wolf would lead the pack to drive nearby wild animals over and force them to jump into the Bone Storage Valley for sacrifice."

Wen Yan, another member of the archaeological team, couldn't help but gasp. They had followed their commander on archaeological expeditions everywhere and boasted that they had heard and seen quite a few customs and strange things. But when they heard about the white wolf in Zanggugou driving wild animals to be buried with the dead, they found it a bit weird.

One of the archaeologists spoke tremblingly: "Wolves are indeed intelligent and can easily learn things and teach the next generation, but the ecological chain in this snowy mountain is weaker than in other places. These wolves keep driving away wild animals for sacrifice, which means they will not treat the animals that died in the bone-storing ditch as food. This is really against their nature."

Yes, not only humans know how precious food is in the snow-capped mountains, but wild animals have a more personal experience of it. However, this group of wolves has been repeating this action for thousands of years, driving the wild animals to the Bone Canggou for burial, which is itself a very magical thing.

It took a group of people almost a day to find the bone-hidden ditch. The archaeological team used instruments to detect that the magnetic field here was very neat and special. It seemed that this special and neat magnetic field affected the wild beasts that could receive this magnetic field, guiding them to come to the so-called Yanshoutai even if they fled in panic.

Earlier, everyone wanted to see the eye-shaped pattern, but they couldn't find it in the dark. But after the bonfire was lit, Hu Bayi's bonfire was right on top of an eye-shaped pattern. When Fatty saw it clearly, he was so scared that he fell down with his chair, "I can't find it when I'm looking for it, and it suddenly appears when I stop looking!"

The archaeological team members hurried up to take pictures, and laughed when they were done: "How come there is a fat guy along the way? It's such a surprise."

The fat man thought this was a compliment, and immediately forgot about the embarrassment of being frightened just now, and said proudly: "That's right, it's not easy to get things done here, we must learn to have fun on our own, otherwise it will be sad to have a sad face every day!"

Because it was not the first or fifteenth day of the lunar month, the bone ditch was relatively quiet. Only the firelight illuminating the corpses of dead beasts around it added a bit of horror to the atmosphere, and the sound of the wind was also a bit shrill. Most people did not sleep well at night. Fortunately, there was a lively guy like Fatty. He followed the two archaeological team members and helped record the various conditions of the bone ditch. The atmosphere of the whole team added a bit of joy.

After walking for another two days, everyone finally arrived at the foot of four snow-capped mountains. Hu Bayi took the opportunity of a rest to check the surrounding situation and concluded that the area beyond the snow-capped mountains was where the Dragon Peak was. The logistics support also caught up, so everyone continued on their journey after a good rest.

It was already the next morning when they crossed the snow-capped mountains. Looking at the sun above the snow-capped peaks, such pure beauty made Akdu stunned. Jiang Jiuri and Jiang Xiaoguan passed a message to the back, asking everyone to be careful when going down the mountain.

One of the archaeologists came over to ask Jiang Jiuri and Jiang Xiaoguan if they had found anything unusual. "If it's convenient, could you explain it more clearly?"

Jiang Xiaoguan ignored the question and motioned Jiang Jiuri to handle it. Jiang Jiuri thought about it and felt that he couldn't say anything unscientific to these people who firmly believed in science, so he organized his words a little and said, "It's still midsummer outside. Even though this place is covered with ice and snow all year round, the high temperature in summer will melt some of the ice."

"And the ice layer below is definitely not a solid whole. There are gaps. These gaps are likely to be covered with a thin layer of ice. If people walk on it without carefulness, they can easily fall in."

This explanation was very scientific and everyone accepted it. They were indeed very careful when going down the mountain, and they did so until they reached the place surrounded by snow-capped mountains below.

Hu Bayi, Jiang Xiaoguan and Jiang Jiuri learned almost all the art of star positioning, which means using the stars in the sky to locate. They couldn't see the stars during the day, so naturally they couldn't do anything. Moreover, the compass had been out of order since they crossed the snow mountain. Even Jiang Xinxin's consciousness was suppressed so that she could only see a distance of a little over ten meters below the ice. Fortunately, it could still be used for early warning. After everyone settled down, they didn't encounter any ice cracks.

But this does not mean that there is no other danger here except the ice cracks that can take lives.

After everyone settled down, Jiang Xinxin whispered to Ake, "There is a creature similar to ice and snow wandering around under the ice. Perhaps because there are so many of us and we are so angry, we have alarmed the creature. Do you know what it is?"

Ake was shocked, took a deep breath and asked quickly: "Is it a fat thing that looks like a snowman?"

Jiang Xinxin nodded, "Some of them look like the fat snowmen you mentioned, and the rest are mostly the size of a fist. They wander in the snow gullies and ice cracks, but they are afraid of sunlight or fire and dare not come out."

Ake's voice just now startled the others, and they hurried over to listen to Jiang Xinxin talking to Ake. Ake looked around and said, "There is indeed a creature called Snow Maitreya here. It got this name because it looks like a fat snowman."

"These creatures are very powerful. They will come out from the snow trenches and ice cracks at night to eat the dead bodies. Once they have eaten the dead bodies, they will immediately swell up and then eat all the living things within their sensing range. After they are done eating, they will disappear back into the snow."

"There is a record in the poem that there was an overflow of snow Maitreya more than 700 years ago, which is recorded in the Biography of the Great Master Tsongkhapa. The only weakness of snow Maitreya that I can think of is perhaps sunlight."

Shirley Yang saw that some people were uneasy, and racked her brains to start preparing immediately: "In the five elements of yin and yang, sunlight represents yang energy. In science, sunlight mainly represents ultraviolet rays, high temperature and high brightness. We'd better prepare separately while it's still dark!"