Chapter 16: Suicide

After two days of travel, we finally arrived at the glacier valley of the Lesser Holy Snow Mountain. Everyone's hair was covered with snow and we were exhausted, but as the sun was setting, we climbed up to look out, and the scenery around us intoxicated us greatly.

However, we were shocked by Men Youpingzi's behavior at this time. We didn't know why he knelt down in front of the snow mountain and performed a very respectful salute, as if he had some special feelings for this mountain.

After bowing, he returned to his indifferent expression, climbed up the bare rock on the side, and closed his eyes to rest. I couldn't help but get curious again. I really couldn't see through it. What was hidden in his dark eyes?

Everyone knew what kind of person he was, especially us, so no one asked him what was going on. We didn't expect him to answer, but from the looks of Chenpi and Ah Si, they were obviously very puzzled. Only Shunzi didn't care, probably because he thought Menyouping was also Korean.

Everyone was thinking about their own things, enjoying the scenery while taking a rest. After a while, our strength was restored. The fat man lit the smokeless stove, and we gathered around it to make tea to keep warm. At the same time, Shunzi started to do his homework. After drinking a few sips of hot wine to calm down, he pointed to several snow-capped mountains around and explained to us their origins.

This is his duty as a tour guide. This guy is very dedicated.

He said that in the legend of Changbai Mountain, the Little Holy Snow Peak, the Big Holy Snow Peak and the mysterious Three Holy Mountains were one snow mountain in the ancient times. When Dayu was controlling floods, he passed by here and chopped it twice with a magic blade, which turned one mountain into three.

Before liberation, this place was not open to the public. He heard from his grandfather that after climbing these three snow-capped mountains, the surrounding scenery is completely different. For example, on the Xiaosheng Snow Peak, you can see the Sansheng and Dasheng peaks, but on the Dasheng Peak, you can only see the Sansheng Peak, not the Xiaosheng Peak, which is very strange. The most peculiar thing is on the Sansheng Mountain. In addition to the two large and small holy peaks on both sides, you can also see behind the Sansheng Mountain, facing it from a distance, there is a snow-capped mountain that is more majestic than the Sansheng Mountain, called Tianti Peak. That mountain is shrouded in clouds and mist all year round, and its true face cannot be seen. Legend has it that there is a ladder on the mountain that can lead directly to the heavenly palace, which is the passage between the human world and the fairyland. If the sky is high and the air is fresh, you can see a rainbow-like glow between the Tianti Peak and the large and small holy mountains, just like a fairy pen drawing, beautiful and strange.

After hearing this, the fat man said to us, "This legend must be wrong. The Heavenly Palace is clearly on the Three Holy Mountains, so how could it be on the Ladder Peak? The person who passed down this legend must have a problem with his eyesight."

Monk Hua thought for a moment and shook his head, explaining, "No, I studied this legend before I came here. I guess this might be a mirage formed by the refraction of the snow on Tianti Peak and the surrounding snow-capped mountains when the Yunding Palace was built. Because Tianti Peak is foggy all year round, the fog becomes a reflective curtain, and the image of the Yunding Palace is hidden in the fog, as if the palace is really in the sky."

Mirages mostly occur in desert lakes and are very rare in snow-capped mountains. I'm afraid it's not a coincidence. It may be because this is the source of the dragon vein. This phenomenon is called "Shadow Palace" in Feng Shui. I have only seen it once in an ancient book, and I don't know what the specific meaning is. Here is a treasure cave, with many strange directions, so nothing is strange.

We spoke in dialect, I spoke in Hangzhou dialect, Hua Heshang and the others spoke in Changsha dialect, Shunzi didn't understand what we meant and didn't pay attention. After talking about the scenery, he stood up and said to us: "Bosses, you guys take a break first, eat something, and then do whatever you want, but you have to hurry up, it's getting dark, we can't set up tents here, the road will be difficult to walk after dark, we have to find a relatively flat place overnight, and it may be windy at night." As he said that, he poured tea and distributed it to us, and wisely stood far away to rest.

I looked at the watch and there was still more than an hour before the sun set. The time was neither long nor short, and I had rested enough. It seemed like it was time to get down to work.

However, the surroundings were covered with snow, without any special traces. If there was a tomb for the deceased, it must have been buried in the snow, and the entrance should be in the snow layer under our feet. The environment of the snowy mountain was too different from that on the ground, and we had no experience and didn't know how to start.

We all stood up and gathered around Chenpi A Si to discuss what to do next.

Chenpi Ah Si still hadn't recovered after such an intense trek, so Lang Feng handed him a wine gourd and asked him to take a few sips. Monk Hua rubbed his back to promote blood circulation, and his complexion gradually eased, but he still looked very depressed. When he heard us ask him, he just glanced at the surrounding mountains and said to us: "The location of the treasure cave is right under our feet. I don't have a good idea. Let's shovel a few times to see what's under the snow before making any plans."

Everyone nodded. In fact, I also knew that there was no better way. Tomb robbing is a matter of course. After finding the dragon point, the next step is to locate the cave. The only difference between dynasties is the tools used to locate the cave, and the process is almost the same. So if there is no excitement at the moment of opening the coffin, tomb robbing is actually a boring job.

Snow was much softer than mud, so the shovels went very smoothly. Monk Hua and his men were very quick, and soon they had a dozen exploratory holes in the snow. However, almost all of the shovels could not be pushed in any further after digging about five or six meters into the snow slope. The fat man thought Ye Cheng was as weak as the skinny monkey, so he ran to help. Even with brute force, they could only dig a little deeper. Every time they pulled the shovels out, they found that they had not brought anything in.

Monk Hua looked at the shovel head and found a few ice crystals stuck to the tip. He then knew what was going on. Below was a glacier surface formed by permafrost and ice, which was as hard as concrete. The shovel could not penetrate it, and he could not bring anything up with him.

"It has been snowing here for thousands of years. When the snow accumulates, it turns into ice. Do you think the tomb will be frozen in the ice underneath?" asked the fat man.

We all nodded, thinking it was very possible, but the Luoyang shovel couldn't penetrate the ice, so even if we knew the thing was underneath, we wouldn't be able to find it.

Pan Zi said to us, "The main thing is that the snow is too much of a hindrance. Do we have explosives? When I was in the army, I heard from some of my brothers that when they were in Daxing'anling, the production brigade there regularly went up the snowy mountains and slopes to clear blood. With just one blast hole, we can blast all the snow down, which is very worry-free. After the snow is blasted, the situation under the snow will be clear at a glance, and it will be much easier for us to find it, and we don't have to dig a tunnel to steal."

I know what he said, every time it snows, there are gaps in the snow layers, so if there is a small explosion, the whole mountain will shake, and the whole snow layer will slide down, forming a chain reaction, and finally collapse layer by layer.

There are several small snow-capped mountains in the Greater Khingan Range forest area. In order to prevent avalanches from being caused by thick snow and endangering the forest area, the local engineering team often had to clear the snow manually after a heavy snowfall. The conditions were poor at the time and the personnel had to go up and blast holes themselves, which was somewhat dangerous. Now they use mortars directly.

Monk Hua pinched the snow and said, "I do have explosives, but look above our heads. Wouldn't it be suicide to set off explosives here?"

We looked up and saw towering snow cliffs. The Hengshan Mountain Range stretched forward and backward like a snow dragon. We were just a few ants below, so small that if only a little bit of snow fell on top, we would be buried here forever.

Pan Zi was also a little dizzy, but he still insisted: "Changbai Mountain is a tourist attraction. Snow is cleared at every point here. I don't think it will be a big problem. If you don't clear the snow, then we should go back as soon as possible. You want to dig things hidden in the snow in the snowy mountains, isn't it the same as looking for a needle in a haystack? I tell you, the Tibetan snowy mountains also do the same thing to find the mountaineering team in distress. There is no other good way. The old man is awake. Even if you have located the cave, you still have to use explosives, otherwise you will never be able to dig down the hole. This shot, you are sure to hit it."

I thought about it and disagreed, "This risk is too great. I'd rather spend some time shoveling with a shovel."

Pan Zi said, "Young Master San, we used explosives because we didn't have time. If we had time, we would have waited until summer. We have to give it a try anyway. Master San is still waiting for us."

Monk Hua waved his hand to stop us and pointed at Lang Feng: "Don't argue, what we say doesn't count. Let's listen to the opinions of professionals."

I was stunned for a moment. I had no idea what role Lang Feng played among them all the way here. When I heard what Monk Hua said, I was a little surprised. Could he be an expert in this area? Several people looked at Lang Feng to see how he would react.

Lang Feng felt a little uncomfortable when he saw us looking at him, and said to us: "I think what Lao Pan said should be feasible. In fact, I had anticipated such a situation before I came here, and I had made certain preparations. Moreover, I am an expert in this. I can control the power of the explosives, and the sound will not be too loud. In fact, as long as there is a small vibration under the snow, the goal can be achieved. Sometimes, all you need is a firecracker."

"Are you sure?" the fat man asked. "This is not blowing up a tomb. What we are doing now is equivalent to setting off firecrackers in tofu. We want you to blow a hole in the tofu, but it cannot be seen on the surface. This is a delicate job."

Lang Feng nodded: "When I was a miner, I placed more than 10,000 blastholes. This is not considered difficult."

Monk Hua looked at us and pointed at Lang Feng: "Don't be fooled by his silence. This guy is a 20-year veteran miner. He started blasting at the age of 14 and has blasted down no less than 20 mountaintops. He was spotted by the old man and has been in the industry for only a year, but he is already known as the God of blasting. When it comes to explosives, no one knows more about it than him."

"Are you the God of Cannons?" Pan Zi on the side opened his eyes wide, obviously having heard of this title.

Lang Feng scratched his head a little embarrassedly, and changed his cold attitude from the past few days: "It was all given to me by my colleagues. It's just a nickname."

Monk Hua said to him, "You don't have to be modest. You have to use your expertise in this situation." Then he turned to us and said, "Lang Feng has never failed. He fries things into whatever pieces he says. I absolutely believe him. Since he said so, I think we can give it a try. Do you have any objections?"

The fat man looked at me. He had experience in snow exploration and had heard a lot about avalanches. He obviously found it a bit mysterious, but he was on my side and he looked at me to get me to express my opinion.

I thought about it, Chenpi A Si and the others are a real group of professional tomb robbers, unlike Uncle San who is still relatively traditional and likes to use old methods to enter ancient tombs. These people rely on explosives to an extent that we cannot imagine, and since Monk Hua said so, Lang Feng should be quite capable.

So I made up my mind and nodded to the fat man, saying, "Let's fight. Actually, there is no way out now. I wonder if they will really listen to me after I blow them up?"

After we agreed, Lang Feng and Ye Cheng took out a special Luoyang shovel, started to screw on a special shovel head, and dug several exploratory holes in the snow.

Then Lang Feng mixed several kinds of powders to make an explosive and buried several low-power detonators deep inside it. I know that this kind of explosive was specially formulated and has a power of only about ten firecrackers. It is used to drill holes and destroy the sealing stones of ancient tombs. After Lang Feng re-adjusted the formula, its power must be even smaller.

Most modern tomb robbers have considerable engineering knowledge. They can blow a hole anywhere that is large enough for a person to pass through with just a few low-power detonators. I have known this for a long time, but this is the first time I have seen it with my own eyes.

Shunzi was drinking tea nearby, and he went crazy when he saw this scene. He had seen pilgrims planting national flags, poachers sneaking out at night, and people sneaking across the border, but this was definitely the first time someone had gone through so much trouble to come up and take out detonators to blow up the mountain. He ran over and stopped Monk Hua, shouting, "What are you doing? Boss, you are crazy!"

Before he could finish, Lang Feng knocked him unconscious with a pickaxe from behind. Shunzi fell into the snow and was dragged aside.

I felt a pain in the back of my head watching this, thinking that being our tour guide was miserable enough, not only did he have to walk a lot of roads, but he also had to endure this. But then I thought, there was really nothing I could do. Shunzi could tolerate everything, but he would definitely not tolerate us blowing up the mountain. After all, he still had to stay here. I couldn't continue my work without knocking him out.

The fat man asked Monk Hua: "What are we going to do with this kid in the future?"

Monk Hua said, "Don't worry about him for now. We still need him to get back. Just take him to the underground palace and leave him aside. Then give him some more money. What else can he do?"

Lang Feng was extremely professional and almost didn't let us get involved. He worked alone, and the detonators were arranged according to a model of a load-bearing structure. He waved his hand and asked everyone to climb onto the bare rock to prevent a chain reaction from engulfing us all.

I originally thought that the sound of the detonator exploding would be very loud, at least it would stir up a snow wave. However, when Lang Feng pressed the detonator, I heard no sound at all. I saw the flat snow surface suddenly crack, and then large pieces of snow began to pour down the slope like a waterfall. The slope suddenly became steeper, and there was suddenly nothing under our feet.

However, this outpouring did not last long. The snowflakes stopped rolling down, and a large area of turbid, uneven white ice and snow mixed layer was exposed under the snow slope. This is what the textbooks call the surface of the ancient glacier from the fourth century.

The fat guy was standing by with his eyes closed, thinking that there was no explosion. I shook him, and he opened his eyes and said in surprise, "Ahab, there is really no sound, it's amazing." Then he immediately looked up nervously.

I don't know if it was luck or Lang Feng's skill, but except for a little bit of snow above us sliding down because of the loss of support below, there seemed to be no problem. After a while, there was no major loosening, and we gradually relaxed.

I gave Lang Feng a thumbs up, and Pan Zi also patted him and made a gesture to show him how great he is.

Lang Feng smiled sheepishly, but before the corners of his mouth could crack wide enough, a piece of snow suddenly hit him on the head.

Several people's faces changed. The fat man waved his hand at us and whispered, "Shh!"

We all subconsciously fell silent, and a few of us looked up again, and saw an inconspicuous but chilling black crack gradually appearing on the snow slope about a hundred meters above our heads. It was slowly bursting, and countless tiny cracks were spreading on the snow. As the cracks spread, tiny pieces of snow rolled down and hit us all around.

I immediately felt cold all over and knew something had happened.

It seems that Lang Feng's title of "God of Cannons" will come to an end today.