Nepal.
Mount Everest, 6,500 meters above the snow line.
A climbing team was camped in the lee of a glacier. Several team members sat around a smokeless stove, resting, checking their camera equipment, and heating military-grade dehydrated beef to replenish their energy.
Not far away, the young guide emerged from a tent and walked towards the edge of the glacial cliff.
He wore a traditional hood that revealed only a pair of deep-set eyes. The rest of his face, from the bridge of his nose down, was obscured by yellowish bandages, leaving only a slit for his mouth.
He was of average height, but his build was extremely rare, possessing the fierce resilience and lean strength characteristic of the ethnic minorities living near the high-altitude snow line. His steps on the ice field were steady and solid, like those of a silent, formidable snow leopard.
He walked to the cliff’s edge, gazed at the majestic, snow-shrouded peaks in the distance, and bowed.
“I told you he’d come out,” said a team member by the stove, adjusting his camera without looking up. “He bows to the mountain every five hundred meters. I don’t know if it’s a tradition for their Sherpa people. I heard they call Everest ‘mother’…”
“Da Liu!” the team leader chided. “Say a few words less!”
Da Liu just smiled, unconcerned.
Not far away, a female team member bit her lip, picked up a can of beef, and walked towards the young man.
“Hey, um… A’jia, would you like something to eat? The return journey will take a lot of energy—”
The guide finished his bow and stood silently for a moment before turning to look at her.
His entire face was hidden behind bandages, but his brow bones were deep-set and his eyes were extremely bright, possessing the spirit of an eagle on the snow plains.
The female team member was taken aback. Only then did she see him shake his head. He sat cross-legged on the ice and snow and took a piece of dried food from his clothes, taking a bite.
“A’jia…”
“I don’t eat your food,” the young man’s voice was hoarse. “Thank you.”
The female team member was a little embarrassed, but seeing the dark, jerky-like food in his hand, which looked like something between tough dried beef and rubber, her curiosity was piqued. “What is that? Is it a 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, as if no one else was there, took another bite of the dried snake meat and swallowed it whole with barely any chewing.
The female team member, filled with shock and curiosity, wanted to ask more, but she saw the young man facing the distant mountain peaks, as if everyone around him didn’t exist.
After a moment’s hesitation, she brushed the snow aside and sat down next to him. She imitated his gesture, bowing remotely to the mountain peak, and then bowed reverently for a while before smiling. “Is this your way of praying?”
The young man stopped swallowing and stared at her with a strange gaze.
“I… I heard that to you, Mount Everest is as sacred as a mother, so…”
“No,” the young man said. “In the center of that great mountain lie the bones of my mother.”
His voice was very low, but it sent a shock through everyone. Just then, Da Liu, who had been adjusting his camera, suddenly exclaimed, “Look! What is that!”
Everyone looked up in confusion and saw a streak of light and shadow flash across a nearby snow peak. It was as dazzling as a rainbow in the vast white world. After circling in the high sky for a few seconds, it trailed a long tail of light and rushed to the back of the snow peak!
In that moment, no one could believe their eyes. Even the steady and experienced team leader shot to his feet, stunned. “What was that? Was it a bird?! Da Liu, quick, take a picture—”
“I got it, I got it!” Da Liu quickly reviewed the photos on his camera, then suddenly paused, letting out a soft, incredulous sound. “This—this is impossible…”
Trembling, he handed the camera to the team leader. “It’s a peacock…”
The team leader was dumbfounded. Everyone crowded around to look at the picture taken in haste, shocked into silence.
“This is impossible. How could a peacock live on a snowy mountain… This is definitely not a peacock. This is the greatest discovery in the history of ecological expeditions…” The team leader was so excited he was incoherent. Just as he was at a loss for words, a hand reached out from the crowd and, gently but irresistibly, took the camera.
Everyone turned to see the guide flipping through the photos before pressing the delete key.
“Wh-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!”
But the young guide easily sidestepped, casually tossing the camera back to him. “We must descend the mountain immediately,” he said.
The crowd was in an uproar at this turn of events. Da Liu fell onto the snow with a thud. He got up, his face red and neck thick, about to charge again, but the team leader hurriedly blocked him. “Wait! Guide, why do we have to go down? We need to go up to the snow peak to investigate. You may not understand, but this is an unprecedented ecological discovery in human history. If you have some religious taboo—”
“It’s not a belief. You cannot go.”
The team leader was stunned. “Why?!”
Everyone stared at the guide, but his gaze was firm, without a trace of wavering.
“Because our prior agreement was not like this. I bring you here, we turn around, we go down the mountain, and the matter is over. Your commission is paid up to this point. Going further up is not within the scope of our agreement. I do not accept.”
“We can add to the price!” the team leader said excitedly. “I’ll give you double, no, five times! Ten times! We have enough oxygen, we can definitely go to the back of the snow peak!”
“It’s not a problem of oxygen. If you see that peacock again, you—” the young man pointed at the female team member, “—all of you except for her, will die.”
His tone was so casual that it silenced the excited crowd. After a long moment, 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 anyone on this snowy mountain who sincerely prays to my mother, I must protect them from dying on the ice field… I don’t care about the others.”
The young man walked past them towards the tents and picked up his gear bag.
The team members looked at each other, then at the team leader with questioning gazes, as if finding all this utterly absurd. Some even exchanged glances, wondering if they should imitate the female team member’s earlier gesture and bow.
Without this young man’s help, it would be very difficult for them to return by the original route. Moreover, this was not just any guide—Sherpas are the natural sons of the Himalayas, able to trek to the high plateaus of five or six thousand meters from childhood to graze their herds. And only those who have climbed above the eight-thousand-meter snow line are honored as “Tigers of the Snow.” The first to receive this title was Tenzing Norgay, who climbed Mount Everest three times with different British expeditions in the 1950s. To commemorate him, there is even a mountain range on Pluto named after him.
And among the Sherpa people, there was another kind of person called a “Shada.”
No one knew the criteria for selecting a “Shada,” but within this mysterious clan, the “Shada” held great status and power, able to command all the Sherpas in a climbing team. If there was a “Tiger of the Snow” in the team, he too had to obey the Shada’s orders.
—This young man named A’jia was the “Shada” of this generation of Sherpas.
The team leader hesitated for a moment, but finally, unable to contain his elation and excitement over the great discovery, he caught up with the young guide who had already shouldered his gear bag. “Twenty times, how about it? As long as you take us to the back of the snow peak, I will not only pay you twenty times the reward, but if anyone on the team dies, it will have nothing to do with you…”
The young man’s bandaged face turned to him, his eyes devoid of any expression. “No.”
The team leader, not giving up, was about to continue persuading him, but just then, a loud, sharp cry came from above their heads. The young man’s face changed dramatically, and he whipped his head around to look at the snow peak!
—At the very top of the snow peak, a giant peacock had flown out. Before the shocked eyes of everyone, it spread its colorful, gem-like tail feathers. Its head and neck looked down disdainfully, coldly watching the humans below.
The young man cried out, “Stop—”
But it was too late.
A mocking smile appeared in the peacock’s eyes, and it let out a deafening shriek that shook the heavens!
—The world suddenly fell silent. Then, a tooth-grinding creak sounded from the snow cap above them!
“Ava-avalanche…” someone stammered, then scrambled back, letting out a terrified scream. “Find cover!—The avalanche is coming!”
A cloud of snow erupted from the distant peak. It was silent at first, but then a sound like rolling thunder rapidly approached, carrying an increasingly massive wave of snow and ice, crashing down on everyone’s heads!
In front of the tents, the young man cursed, his body arching like an arrow released from a bow, and charged straight into the avalanche.
The team leader could hardly believe his eyes—on an ice field at an altitude of 6,500 meters, someone could actually charge forward several zhang in an instant as if riding the clouds and mist!
But in the next second, something even more shocking happened. The young man leaped into the air, tore off his outer coat to reveal tight, short-fitting clothes underneath, and drew two curved blades from his lower back, diving towards the peacock!
“Maha—”
The peacock instantly transformed into a man, holding a single blade. With a loud “CLANG!”, he blocked the world-splitting blow in mid-air!
“Don’t get in my way,” Maha’s beautiful face was expressionless in the wind and snow. “—or I’ll kill you too.”
The young man said sternly, “That’s what I should be saying to you!”
He exerted a sudden force, pushing Maha back several steps down the snow peak!
At that moment, the earthquake, wrapped in the avalanche, swept over them, creating a spectacular giant wave between heaven and earth.
The young man gritted his teeth and turned. His form transformed in mid-air into a giant Roc. Its golden wings spread out, blotting out the sun and sky. With a thunderous “BOOM—!”, it took the full force of tens of thousands of tons of rushing ice and snow on its back!
The next second, it let out a long cry, its giant talons snatching up the string of climbers on the snow, and it dived down the mountain!
·
Darkness.
Drowsiness.
It felt as if invisible saw teeth were being dragged back and forth in her mind. The female team member slowly opened her dazed eyes. It took a long time before she could barely recover from the intense pain in her internal organs.
“This is…”
She struggled to get up and saw that the surrounding snowfield was in complete chaos. Black megaliths and blocks of ice were overturned everywhere, looking like the gaping, bloody maws of countless giant beasts from a distance.
“Captain… Da Liu…” She looked around in panic, her voice trembling as she screamed shrilly, “Where is everyone? Where are you? Captain, Da Liu—!”
A hand covered her mouth from behind. The female team member turned in terror to see the young guide standing up from the snow. His bandages had come loose, revealing a handsome, firm, and blood-stained profile.
He wore only short-fitting clothes. The exposed parts of his body were extremely lean and powerful. He held a bright curved blade in each hand and stomped the ice shards off his feet.
“You…” the female team member gasped in fear. It was a long time before she asked, her voice choked with tears, “Who… who on earth are you? What just happened?”
The young man looked up ahead.
A graceful and slender figure was slowly walking down the glacier. His face was as beautiful as if carved from ice and snow. His long hair, dotted with snowflakes, was loose at his sides. His feet were bare beneath his white robe, stepping carelessly on the snow.
“—My name is Jia Louluo (Garuda)…”
The young man narrowed his eyes, the twin curved blades in his hands emitting a dazzling cold light:
“That one in front is my brother, who’s been stuck in his rebellious phase for a thousand years.”
“Jia Louluo.” Maha stopped on the snow, tilting his head slightly and smiling. “It’s been many years. Is this how you welcome me?”
It was a very ordinary gesture, but when he did it, it had an evilness that was a mixture of beauty, innocence, and temptation. Jia Louluo stared at him for a moment before retorting, “It’s been many years. Is this how you visit me?”
The two brothers faced each other in the wind and snow, no trace of excitement from a long-awaited reunion on either of their faces. After a long moment, Jia Louluo crossed his arms and looked his older brother up and down. “I heard that to escape from the Demonic Prohibition Grotto, you were beaten severely by Father, then you injured Mother, and finally ran off to the Sea of Blood in Hell to become a tyrant… Why, have you suddenly come to disturb my peaceful cultivation because you miss your little brother?”
“Don’t be so heartless. I’m here to apply for cohabitation.” Maha’s expression was very innocent. “Would you mind if I lived on this mountain for a few years, my dear brother?”
Jia Louluo looked at him with some surprise, but Maha’s expression, apart from its pure innocence, revealed nothing.
This behavior from him was extremely rare. Jia Louluo hesitated for a moment but still refused. “No. I don’t want to find human limbs in the snowy mountains 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 his front. As expected, he was holding a bright, long blade. The smile on his face deepened. “—Well then, would you like me to kick you out, little brother?”
The cold wind suddenly tightened, whipping past like sharp blades with fragments of snow, lifting the corners of both their clothes at the same time.
Jia Louluo narrowed his eyes, a cold glint flickering within them. His handsome face, similar to his father’s, was as cold and merciless as if carved from a blade in the wind and snow.
“…I see,” he said suddenly, staring intently at Maha. “Brother, you have aged.”
Maha’s expression changed.
“No wonder even Mother had to lock you in the Demonic Prohibition Grotto. Your divinity was actually destroyed by the heavenly lightning—” Jia Louluo lowered his voice, seeming to find it a bit incredible himself. “The you now must rely on eating people to absorb energy, otherwise you will rapidly decay with time like all beings in the six paths, grow old, and finally enter the cycle of death, right?”
The smile on Maha’s face finally vanished completely.
He stared fiercely at his younger brother. From this expression, Jia Louluo got his confirmation.
Jia Louluo frowned, as if feeling a bit of irony.
“If Father locking you in the Demonic Prohibition Grotto had the suspicion of opportunistic revenge due to early father-son conflicts, then Mother must have set up a mechanism to protect you. After all, ancient legends say the Phoenix’s true form is extremely divine and has the effect of ‘substituting for divinity’… Wait, how did you escape? It’s said you seriously injured Mother?”
Maha said angrily, “Shut up!”
But Jia Louluo ignored his fierce expression. “So what are you going to do now? Find a way to eat a lot of people every day, or go into the heart of the snowy mountains to guard the Phoenix’s bones and use the residual divinity on them to delay your decay?” He raised an eyebrow, amused. “I still suggest you go back to Father, admit your mistake乖乖, and go back to the grotto to be locked up—”
That scene would certainly be interesting to watch. Jia Louluo’s lips curled. “At least being locked up underground in a city in the human realm is better than being in the earth’s core of the Himalayas. The only thing in common is that you’ll never get out in this lifetime…”
“Shut up!” Maha interrupted him irritably. “I went back! The grotto has already been destroyed by Zhou Hui!”
The brothers looked at each other for a moment. Jia Louluo said with regret, “Oh. It seems Father’s desire for you to die hasn’t changed either.”
The wind and snow grew denser. In the distance, the glacier, after the avalanche, revealed large patches of black rock. The ten-thousand-li snowfield was a mess. The wind swept over the large, overturned frozen rocks, making a sharp, whistle-like cry as it rushed towards the horizon.
Maha’s beautiful face was filled with gloom. After a long moment, he said softly, “There is one other way. Perhaps it’s worth a try.”
He tightened his grip on the ice blade, holding it horizontally before him in a dangerous offensive stance. “—We’re brothers, after all. If I were to take your divinity…”
The air suddenly froze, as if countless strings were pulled taut!
The veins on the back of Jia Louluo’s hands, which were gripping the twin blades, bulged. He stared intently at his brother. After a long time, he said coldly, “Feel free to try.”
·
Chu He felt as if he were walking through an endless night.
He couldn’t see his hand in front of his face. The ground was wet and muddy. He would walk a few steps and fall, then prop himself up with his scarred hands, grit his teeth, and stumble forward again.
Where was his destination? Which way was the path?
He knew nothing, only that his knees were numb from the intense pain of repeatedly falling and getting up, eventually losing all feeling.
Finally, just as he was about to give up, in the distant darkness, a figure incredibly similar to himself faintly appeared. It was Maha.
—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. It took all his strength to struggle back up, only to see Maha walking away in the darkness. No matter how he called, he wouldn’t turn back.
A burning anxiety rose in Chu He’s heart.
Don’t go there, come back! Maha!
Just then, another familiar figure suddenly flashed in the darkness. It was Jia Louluo.
—Jia Louluo!
Chu He’s heart instantly tightened. He immediately called out his younger son’s name hoarsely. But Jia Louluo only glanced back at him, his gaze blank, as if he didn’t recognize him, then turned and chased in the direction Maha had gone.
Don’t go, Jia Louluo!
Don’t go into the depths of the darkness, come back!
The figures of both Maha and Jia Louluo disappeared into the vast, heavy darkness. Chu He couldn’t stand at all. The tearing pain in his internal organs made him let out a desperate cry.
He knelt down, trembling, but suddenly a dim yellow light lit up before his eyes.
He looked up, stunned, to see Zhou Hui holding a lamp, standing silently in front of him, as if waiting for him.
—Yes, Zhou Hui. In the end, I still have Zhou Hui…
Chu He gasped for breath and stood up. With a desperate gamble, he stumbled forward, trying his best to let out a weak and helpless cry to Zhou Hui.
But just then, another pair of hands, like iron pincers, grabbed him from behind.
Those hands were so strong and inescapable, firmly imprisoning him and preventing him from moving forward. Chu He desperately tried to break free, his heart anxious and desperate. But then, those hands seemed to reach into his very marrow and blood vessels. The slightest struggle brought a heart-wrenching pain.
In front of him, Zhou Hui seemed to finally lose patience. He held the lamp and turned towards the darkness.
—Don’t go, Zhou Hui! Don’t leave me!
But his calls were useless. Zhou Hui turned a deaf ear, and like Maha and Jia Louluo, walked away into the distance. That single, dim, warm light finally, slowly, disappeared from Chu He’s sight.
Chu He let out a cry of pain, tears streaming down his face, his sobs hoarse and inhuman. He finally turned his head to see who was holding him back. But in the next moment, he saw behind him, the face of Sakyamuni.
“Wh-why…”
Chu He’s eyes widened in terror. He subconsciously gasped and shook his head, his tear-streaked face wretched. “Let go of me, Sakyamuni… Let go of me—!”
But Sakyamuni looked down on him, his face solemn and wrathful, his eyes faintly revealing an ancient, unchanging, mocking sneer.
“—Ah!”
The next moment, Chu He awoke abruptly from the nightmare.
His pupils contracted violently. For several seconds, he just stared blankly at the ceiling, his expression empty.
…Only after his consciousness slowly returned did he realize he was lying on the large bed in the bedroom. The doors and windows were tightly shut, the curtains drawn. The room was dim, and he was almost completely soaked in a cold sweat.
His rapid breathing slowly subsided. 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 gruesome, bloody line marked the break. This bloody line would soon disappear, but the trace of the injury would soak deep into his bloodline, difficult to erase for thousands of years.
His gaze moved up, and his eyes widened in slight astonishment—
He saw that a black iron chain was locked around his left wrist, the other end firmly locked to the bed headboard forged from fine steel.
