Nepal.
Mount Everest, 6,500 meters above the snow line.
A climbing team had set up camp in a sheltered spot on the glacier. Several team members rested around a smokeless stove, checking camera equipment and heating military-grade dehydrated beef to replenish their strength. Not far away, a young guide emerged from a tent and walked towards the edge of the glacier cliff. He wore a traditional hood, revealing only a pair of deep-set eyes. From the bridge of his nose downwards, his entire face was wrapped and covered with yellowing bandages, with only a slit left for his mouth.
He was of medium height, but his physique was exceptionally rare, possessing the hardy and robust build characteristic of ethnic groups living near the plateau snow line. His steps on the ice field were steady and firm, like a silent, powerful snow leopard. He reached the cliff edge, gazed at the distant, majestic mountain peaks perpetually shrouded in wind and snow, and bowed.
“I told you he’d come out,” a team member by the stove said, adjusting his camera without looking up: “He bows to the mountain every five hundred meters. I wonder if it’s a Sherpa tradition. I heard they call Mount Everest ‘Mother’…”
“Da Liu!” the captain reprimanded: “Say less!”
Da Liu smiled indifferently. Not far away, a female team member bit her lip, grabbed a can of beef, and stood up, walking towards the young man.
“Hey, um… Aga, do you want something to eat? It’ll take a lot of energy for the return journey—”
The guide finished bowing, stood silently for a moment, then turned to look at her. His entire face was hidden behind bandages, but his brow bones were deep-set, and his eyes were exceptionally bright, with the spirit of an eagle on the snowy plains. The female team member was momentarily stunned, then saw him shake his head, sit cross-legged on the ice, and take out some dry provisions from his怀 (bosom), taking a bite.
“Aga…”
“I don’t eat your food,” the young man’s voice was hoarse, “Thank you.”
The female team member was a bit awkward, but seeing the dark, rubbery-looking dry food in his hand that seemed like tough dried beef, she couldn’t help but feel curious: “What is that? Is it traditional Nepalese food?”
“No,” the young man said without looking up, “It’s snake meat.”
“—Snake meat?!”
Several team members turned their heads in surprise, but the young man bit into the dried snake meat as if no one else were there, swallowing it whole with barely any chewing. The female team member was filled with shock and curiosity and wanted to ask more, but saw the young man facing the distant mountain peak, as if everyone else around him didn’t exist. After a moment of hesitation, she patted the snow and sat beside him, mimicking his bow to the mountain. She then devoutly bowed for a long time before smiling: “Is this how you pray?”
The young man stopped swallowing and stared at her with a strange gaze.
“I… I heard that Mount Everest is as sacred as a mother to you, so…”
“No,” the young man said, “The bones of my mother are buried in the center of that great mountain.” His voice was very low, but everyone was shocked. Just then, Da Liu, who had been adjusting his camera, suddenly exclaimed: “Look! What is that!”
Everyone looked up in confusion, only to see a streak of light flash across the nearby snow peak, dazzling and colorful like a rainbow in the vast white world. After circling in the sky for a few seconds, it plunged to the back of the snow peak, trailing a long streak of light! At that moment, no one could believe their eyes. Even the seasoned captain suddenly stood up, astonished: “What is that, is it a bird?! Da Liu, quick, photograph it—”
“Got it, got it, I took the picture!” Da Liu quickly reviewed his camera, then suddenly paused, letting out a soft, incredible sound: “This—this is impossible…” He trembled as he handed the camera to the captain: “It’s a peacock…”
The captain was dumbfounded. Everyone gathered to look at the hastily taken picture, shocked into silence.
“This is impossible; how can peacocks live on snow mountains… This is absolutely not a peacock; this is the greatest ecological discovery in the history of ecological research…” The captain was so excited he was incoherent, not knowing what to say, when suddenly a hand reached out from the crowd and gently, irresistibly snatched the camera away.
Everyone turned their heads to see the guide flip through the album, then press the delete button.
“You, you, what are you doing!” Da Liu was the first to jump up as if stung by a bee, lunging to hit him: “What are you doing! Give it back!”
The young guide, however, easily dodged, casually tossing the camera back to him, saying, “We must descend the mountain immediately.”
Everyone was stunned by this turn of events. Da Liu fell onto the snow with a thud. He got up, his face red and his neck strained, about to charge over again, but the captain hurriedly blocked him: “Wait! Guide, why do we have to descend? We need to go up the snow peak to investigate. You might not understand, this is an unprecedented ecological discovery in human history. If you have religious taboos—”
“Not faith. Cannot go.”
The captain was stunned: “Why?!”
Everyone stared at the guide, but he merely gazed back with resolute eyes, without the slightest wavering.
“Because our prior agreement was not like this. I bring you here, turn around, and descend the mountain; this matter ends. Your commission is paid up to this point. Going further is not within the scope of the prior agreement, and I do not accept.”
“We can increase the price!” The captain excitedly said: “I’ll double it for you, no, five times! Ten times! We have enough oxygen, we can completely go to the back of the snow peak!”
“It’s not about oxygen. If you see that peacock again, you—” the young man pointed at the female team member, saying, “Except for her, you will all die.”
His tone was so calm that even the agitated crowd fell silent. After a while, the female team member pointed at herself, her lips trembling as she asked, “Wh-wh-why?”
“Because you just prayed to my mother’s bones,” the young man said coldly, “I once made a vow that I would protect anyone who sincerely prayed to my mother on the snowy mountain from dying on the ice field… I don’t care about anyone else.”
The young man walked around them, heading towards the tent and picking up his equipment bag. The team members exchanged glances, then looked at the captain with questioning eyes, seeming to find all of this very absurd. Some even exchanged glances, wondering if they should also bow like the female team member had just done.
Without the help of this young man, it would be difficult for them to return by the same route, not to mention that this was not just any guide they had casually found—Sherpas are natural sons of the Himalayas, able to hike up to five or six thousand meters on the plateau for grazing from childhood. Only those who have ascended above eight thousand meters are honored as “Tigers of the Snow Mountain.” The first person to receive this honor was Tenzing Norgay, who climbed Mount Everest three times with different British climbing teams in the 1950s. To commemorate him, there is even a mountain range on Pluto named after him.
Among the Sherpa people, there is also a type of person called “Shada.” No one knows what the criteria are for choosing a “Shada,” but in this mysterious clan, a “Shada” holds immense status and power and can command all Sherpas in a climbing team. If there is a “Tiger of the Snow Mountain” in the team, they must also obey the Shada’s orders.
—This young man named Aga was the current generation’s “Shada” of the Sherpa.
The captain hesitated for a moment, finally unable to resist the excitement and thrill of the colossal discovery, and caught up with the young guide who had already shouldered his equipment bag: “Twenty times, how about it? As long as you take us to the back of the snow peak, I’ll not only pay you twenty times the reward, but also, if anyone in the team dies, it won’t be your concern…”
The young man’s bandaged face turned towards him, his eyes devoid of any expression: “No.”
The captain was still unwilling to give up and tried to persuade him further. However, at that moment, a loud shriek suddenly came from above them. The young man’s face immediately changed drastically, and he turned to look at the snow peak!
—Only to see a gigantic peacock flying out from the summit of the snow peak, and in the shocked gaze of everyone, it spread its colorful, jewel-like tail feathers, its head and neck looking down from a high vantage point, coldly observing the humans below.
The young man cried out: “Stop—”
But it was already too late. A mocking smile appeared in the peacock’s eyes, and it let out a deafening shriek towards the sky!
—The world instantly fell silent, followed by a teeth-grinding creaking sound, emanating from the snow cover above them!
“A-avalanche…” someone stammered, then scattered backwards, letting out panicked screams: “Quick, find cover!—An avalanche is coming!”
They saw a mist of snow surge up from the distant summit above them. At first, it was silent, but then a rumbling sound, like thunder, rapidly approached from afar, carrying increasingly massive waves of snow and ice, crashing down upon everyone’s heads!
In front of the tent, the young man cursed, his body arching, and he charged towards the avalanche like an arrow released from a bowstring. The captain could hardly believe his eyes—on an ice field at an altitude of 6,500 meters, someone could actually rush several zhang in an instant as if riding on clouds and mist!
However, an even more shocking scene occurred the next second. The young man leaped into the air, shedding his outer jacket to reveal a tight-fitting short garment. He pulled out two curved blades from his lower back with a backhand and plunged towards the peacock!
“Maha—”
The peacock instantly transformed into a human, holding a single blade. With a “clanging!” sound, he blocked the heaven-splitting blow in mid-air!
“Don’t get in my way,” Maha’s beautiful face was expressionless amidst the wind and snow, saying: “—Otherwise, I’ll kill you too.”
The young man sharply said: “That’s what I should be saying to you!” He suddenly exerted force, forcefully pushing Maha back several steps down the snow peak! At that moment, the earthquake, accompanied by the avalanche, swept in, raising a spectacular giant wave across the land.
The young man gritted his teeth and turned, his form transforming into a gigantic roc in mid-air. Its golden wings spread, covering the sky and obscuring the sun. With a “boom—!” a loud sound, it forcefully took the impact of tens of thousands of tons of rushing ice and snow on its back! The next second, it let out a long cry, its huge claws grabbing a string of climbing team members from the snowy ground, and plunged towards the base of the snow mountain!
Darkness. Haziness.
It was as if invisible sawteeth were pulling back and forth in her mind. The female team member slowly opened her unfocused eyes. After a long time, she barely regained consciousness from the intense pain in her internal organs.
“This is…”
She struggled to crawl up, only to see the surrounding snowfield utterly ravaged. Gigantic black rocks and ice chunks were scattered everywhere, looking from afar like countless monstrous beasts with ferocious, bloodthirsty mouths.
“Captain… Da Liu…” She looked around frantically, trembling as she screamed tragically: “Where are they? Where are you all? Captain, Da Liu—!”
A hand covered her mouth from behind. The female team member turned back in horror, only to see the young guide standing up from the snow. His bandages had come undone, revealing a handsome, chiseled, blood-stained profile. He wore only short, tight-fitting clothes, his exposed body parts extremely lean and strong. He held a gleaming curved blade in each hand and stomped off the ice shards from his feet.
“You…” The female team member gasped in fear, then after a long while, she asked with a sob: “You… who exactly are you? What just happened?”
The young man looked up ahead.
A graceful and slender figure was slowly descending the glacier. His face was as beautiful as if carved from ice and snow. Long hair, stained with snow fragments, cascaded down his sides. His feet beneath his white robe were bare, stepping carelessly on the snow.
“—My name is Jia Louluo…”
The young man narrowed his eyes, and the two curved blades in his hands gleamed with dazzling cold light: “That one ahead is my brother, who has been stuck in his chuunibyo phase for a thousand years.”
“Jia Louluo.” Maha stopped on the snow, tilted his head slightly, and smiled: “Long time no see. Is this how you welcome me?” Even though it was a very ordinary gesture, when he performed it, it carried an evil mix of beauty, innocence, and temptation. Jia Louluo stared at him for a moment, then retorted: “Long time no see. Is this how you visit me?”
The two brothers faced each other in the wind and snow, with no hint of excitement from a long-awaited reunion visible on either of their faces. After a while, Jia Louluo crossed his arms, sizing up his elder brother:
“I heard that in order to escape from the Demon Seal Grotto, you were thoroughly beaten by Father, then injured Mother, and finally ran off to the Hellish Sea of Blood to become a king… So, you suddenly came to disturb my hermitage. Could it be that you miss your little brother?”
“Don’t be so heartless. I’ve come to apply for cohabitation,” Maha’s expression was innocent: “Do you mind if I live in this mountain range for a few years, dear brother?”
Jia Louluo looked at him somewhat unexpectedly, but Maha’s expression showed no hint of anything beyond pure innocence. This appearance was truly too rare. Jia Louluo hesitated for a moment, then refused: “No, I don’t want to discover human remains every day in the snowy mountain where my mother’s bones are buried. You should leave.”
This refusal did not surprise Maha at all. His arm slowly moved from behind his back to in front of him. Sure enough, he was holding a gleaming long blade, and the smile on his face deepened: “—Then, do you want me to force you out, little brother?”
The cold wind suddenly tightened, carrying fragmented snow that scraped past like sharp blades, simultaneously lifting the hems of their robes. Jia Louluo narrowed his eyes, a cold glint in them. His handsome face, similar to his father’s, was as sharp and emotionless as a carved blade in the wind and snow.
“…So that’s it,” he suddenly said, staring closely at Maha: “Brother, you’ve grown older.”
Maha’s expression changed.
“No wonder even Mother had to lock you in the Demon Seal Grotto. Your divinity was actually destroyed by heavenly lightning—” Jia Louluo lowered his voice, seemingly finding it a bit incredible: “Now you must eat people to absorb energy every day, otherwise you will rapidly decay, age, and eventually enter the cycle of death, just like all beings in the Six Realms, right?”
Maha’s smile finally vanished completely from his face. He glared fiercely at his younger brother, and from that expression, Jia Louluo received a positive answer. Jia Louluo frowned, as if feeling a bit sarcastic.
“If Father locked you in the Demon Seal Grotto, there might still be suspicion of him taking the opportunity to retaliate due to early father-son conflicts. But Mother should have set up mechanisms to protect you. After all, ancient legends say the Phoenix’s true body possesses great divinity, with the ability to ‘replace divinity’… Wait, how did you escape? And you reportedly severely injured Mother?”
Maha angrily said: “Shut up!”
But Jia Louluo ignored his fierce expression: “So what are you going to do now? Are you going to find a way to eat a lot of people every day, or go deep into the snowy mountain to guard the Phoenix’s bones, using the residual divinity on the bones to delay your decay?” He raised an eyebrow, finding it quite amusing: “I still suggest you go back to Father, apologize obediently, and go back to being locked up in the grotto—”
That scene would surely be quite something to see, Jia Louluo’s lips curled into a smile: “At least being locked up in an underground city in the human realm’s interior is better than being in the core of the Himalayan mountains. The only thing they have in common is that you’ll never get out in this lifetime…”
“Shut up!” Maha impatiently interrupted him: “I went back! The grotto has already been destroyed by Zhou Hui!”
The brothers stared at each other for a moment. Jia Louluo regretfully said: “Oh, it seems Father’s desire to see you dead hasn’t changed either.”
The wind and snow grew denser. In the distance, the glacier revealed large patches of black rock after the avalanche. The vast snowfield was a mess. The wind swept over large overturned frozen rocks, making a sharp, whistling wail, howling towards the horizon. Maha’s beautiful face was clouded. After a long moment, he softly said, “There’s one more way, perhaps worth trying.”
He tightened his grip on the ice blade, holding it horizontally in front of him, adopting a dangerous attacking posture: “—After all, we’re brothers by blood. If I take your divinity…”
The air suddenly paused, as if countless strings had been sharply pulled taut! Jia Louluo’s hands, gripping the two blades, showed bulging veins. He stared intensely at his brother. After a long while, he coldly said, “Go ahead and try.”
Chu He felt as if he was walking in an endless night. It was pitch black all around, and the ground was covered in damp mud. He would fall every few steps, then, supporting himself with his scarred hands, he would grit his teeth and struggle to his feet, continuing forward. Where was the destination, and in what direction was the path? He knew nothing, only feeling the sharp pain in his knees turn numb from countless falls and rises, eventually losing all sensation.
Finally, when he was almost unable to stand, a figure incredibly similar to himself, surprisingly Maha, faintly appeared in the distant darkness.
—Maha! My stolen child, come back to me!
A surge of strength rose from somewhere within Chu He. He gritted his teeth and ran forward, but then fell heavily to the ground again. This fall almost shattered his internal organs into countless bloody fragments. He spat out a mouthful of blood in the intense pain, struggling with all his might to get up, only to see Maha receding into the darkness, not turning back no matter how he called.
A burning anxiety rose in Chu He’s heart.
Don’t go there, come back! Maha!
Just then, another familiar figure suddenly appeared in the darkness, surprisingly Jia Louluo.
—Jia Louluo!
Chu He’s heart instantly tightened, and he immediately hoarsely called out his second son’s name. But Jia Louluo only looked back at him once, his gaze very blank, as if he didn’t recognize him, then turned and chased in the direction Maha had left.
Don’t go, Jia Louluo! Don’t go deeper into the darkness, come back quickly!
Both Maha and Jia Louluo’s figures disappeared into the dense, boundless darkness. Chu He couldn’t stand upright at all. The tearing pain in his internal organs made him cry out in despair. He trembled and knelt down, but then a dim yellow light suddenly lit up before his eyes. He looked up in surprise, only to see Zhou Hui standing silently in front of him, holding a lamp, seemingly waiting for him.
—Yes, Zhou Hui, finally I still have Zhou Hui…
Chu He gasped violently and stood up, stumbling forward with desperate resolve, trying his best to call out weakly and helplessly to Zhou Hui. However, at that moment, another pair of iron-like hands grabbed him from behind. Those hands were so strong and inescapable, firmly restraining him and preventing his forward movement. Chu He struggled desperately, anxious and despairing, but then those hands seemed to reach into his bone marrow and blood vessels, causing agonizing pain with every struggle.
Zhou Hui ahead seemed to finally grow impatient. He held the lamp and turned into the darkness.
—Don’t go, Zhou Hui! Don’t leave me!
However, his calls were useless. Zhou Hui ignored him and walked away into the distance, just like Maha and Jia Louluo. That tiny, dim, warm light finally slowly disappeared from Chu He’s sight. Chu He cried out in pain, tears streaming down his face. His sobs were hoarse, not human. He finally turned to see who was holding him back, but the next moment, he saw Shakya’s face behind him.
“Wh-why…”
Chu He opened his eyes wide in horror, instinctively gasping violently and shaking his head, his tear-streaked face looking utterly disheveled: “Let go of me, Shakyamuni… let go of me—!”
However, Shakyamuni looked down, his face solemn and wrathful, his eyes faintly showing an ancient, unchanging mocking sneer from millions of years ago.
“—Ah!”
The next moment, Chu He suddenly woke up from the nightmare. His pupils constricted violently. For several seconds, he just stared blankly at the ceiling, his expression empty.
…It was only when his consciousness slowly returned that he realized he was lying on the large bed in the bedroom, with the doors and windows closed and curtains drawn. The room was dim, and he was almost completely drenched in cold sweat. His rapid breathing slowly calmed. He managed to turn his head to look at his hand. His left arm had been reattached. The muscles were still very weak and pale, and a grotesque red scar had formed where it had been severed. It wouldn’t be long before this scar disappeared, but the mark of the injury would permeate deep into his bloodline, difficult to erase even after millions of years.
His gaze moved upwards, and he opened his eyes wide in slight astonishment—
He saw that his left wrist was indeed locked with a black iron chain, the other end firmly secured to the steel-forged headboard.
