They soon reached the foot of the mountain, and by afternoon, the whole team had pushed to the snow line. Since it was summer, Mount Kunlun was not completely frozen, and only a few hardy ferns and alpine moss grew on the exposed rocks. There were no signs of life here, cold and oxygen-poor.

  At first, Chaozi was still laughing and joking, but now he has also become more serious. With his rich experience on the plateau, he and Zhuo Xiong took the initiative to replace Zhe Luo as the guide, because by this time, he had almost nothing to offer, and all he could do was help share the load for people like Lao Wang who were lagging behind in the team.

  Cha Wenbin divided the team into three parts, Zhuo Xiong and Chaozi, a pair of plateau soldiers, were responsible for scouting. Heng Roulian Dashi and Zhe Luo and Lao Wang paired with another subordinate to stay together, after all, he was the weakest person here, needing care, while Cha Wenbin himself went with Lao Dao and the remaining soldier to cover their rear.

  Zhe Luo repeatedly warned that on this snowy mountain, one must pay attention to several key points: first, prevent avalanches; second, beware of snow pits; and third, be aware of the risk of ice blocks detaching and causing landslides. Each of these hazards can be fatal, and although he has lived in these mountains for many years, it is almost impossible to distinguish which step will trigger disaster.

  Above the snow line is a vast expanse of fog, and no one knows how high this mountain really is. If you want to find the dragon, it's best to be able to climb to the top of the mountain to see it.

  The hardest part is to get through the cloud layer, where not only the humidity is high, but also the visibility is extremely low. The cloud layer here is very thick and presses down heavily. Zhang Wenbin initially used a method of tying a rope with a hornet's nest on it.

  The first wave of people must give the next wave a safe signal before they can continue walking, and the signal is to pull on the rope in their hand. Although this method is simple, it has two drawbacks: one is that the mountain climbing efficiency is extremely low, and the other is that the people behind cannot see the footprints left by the people in front, and cannot completely replicate them.

  Very soon, Chaozi and Zhuo Xiong led the way into this cloud layer. Once in the cloud layer, they could only rely on their own reconnaissance experience to move forward, as they couldn't see any reference objects. In such a large unfamiliar area, it was like walking with their eyes closed, which was also quite dangerous.

  Because scientists have that famous theory: if you give someone a large enough open space without any obstacles and cover their eyes, starting from their own intuition and walking in a straight line, they will eventually find themselves back at the starting point. The final movement trajectory is a circle.

  The scientific community has long had a conclusion about this phenomenon, which is also one of the most important things for reconnaissance soldiers to overcome: sometimes their intuition is wrong, and they need to constantly correct their original intuition, that is, go against their intuition. This requires extremely strong psychological quality and professional wilderness training.

  Originally, Cha Wenbin thought that after entering, he would still have some visibility, but the complexity of the situation was beyond his expectation. Inside, not only were there thick clouds, but also howling mountain winds, these clouds seemed to be circling around the big mountain non-stop, and people couldn't even communicate with each other in language, they could only let the person in front lead them.

  Suddenly Wen Bin felt the rope hanging from his waist being pulled forward fiercely, and both ends of the entire team were pulled towards the middle by a huge force.

  Someone started shouting loudly, but couldn't make out what was being shouted, nor could they see what had happened, only faintly hearing the sound of gunfire and human screams amidst the howling wind. The gunshots were continuous, and later Old Knife said that this was a burst fire mode, firing an entire clip of bullets.

  The chaotic scene subsided in less than half a minute, and everything seemed to have returned to calmness. Chao Tzu and Cho Hsiong hastily stopped the team and gathered everyone together. Outside, a group of people surrounded Cha Wen-pin, Lao Tao, and Ho I-chao, who were squatting on the ground, and with the human wall blocking the wind, they managed to have a difficult conversation.

  Lao Dao shouted desperately with a hoarse throat: "It's something that happened in my group, I don't know who it is yet!"

  Then Chaozi immediately got up and lightly counted the number of people. The team, which originally had nine people left, now only had eight. Moreover, Chaozi lay on the ground for a while before discovering that there was already a hole the size of a washbasin on the ground where they had just passed through, with hot bloodstains still remaining at the edge of the hole and sticky to the touch.

  He quickly reported the situation and then counted the number of people who had changed shifts again, only to find that one of the four people brought by Lao Dao was missing!

  Lao Dao's face was ashen, his fists clenched tightly. The five brothers had set out together, but in the blink of an eye, three were gone, leaving only one other and himself. Now they had barely made it to the foot of the mountain, let alone the summit - not even halfway up. Their team had already been reduced to a ragtag group. He felt a sense of defeat he had never experienced before, and at the same time, he knew that in this situation, his comrade's chances of being rescued were zero.

  They had to start adjusting, the remaining seven people were divided into two factions. Chaozi, Zhuo Xiong and Lao Dao, along with the remaining soldier, walked in front, four people hugging each other's shoulders, linked by a rope at the waist. Behind them stood the remaining four people, keeping close distance from the person in front, each responsible for staring at the back of their own man's head.

  A sense of unprecedented danger spread to the bottom of everyone's heart, no one knew exactly what had just happened, but in that instant a life was gone. Describing their current state as "walking on thin ice" is most appropriate.

  The cloud and low temperature made a thick layer of frost on everyone's eyebrows and eyelids, breathing became more and more difficult, Old Wang was forced to inhale oxygen several times during this period, the rugged-faced big mountain almost hugged his waist and pulled this chubby body up with the strength of his arms, if not for him, Old Wang would probably have died in such a harsh environment.

  Zha Wenbin once said that everything in Taoism comes from nature, and when you fight against heaven, people seem so small. No need to appear any troublesome ghosts or spirits, but just such a mountain can bury wave after wave of people who try to find treasure. Now walking on this difficult road, he finally understands that if he wants to glimpse the way of heaven, relying solely on "The Wishing Book" is not enough. If everyone in the world could become enlightened through a single book, then there wouldn't be only a few names left in the Taoist art of alchemy.

  Persevere! He still has many things he hasn't done, the little girl's spirit is still suffering, and even this year she can't feel that dream, but this doesn't mean it's a good phenomenon. He offended too many things, and it won't be easy to deal with him, Zhang Wenbin. Dealing with his relatives will always work. In all these years, among the people who had dealings with him, how many ended up with a good outcome? Just this one time, three lives have already been lost. If not for his actions this time, it wouldn't have come to the point where people lost their lives. Whatever you say, he can't escape some kind of relationship with all this.

  Heavenly retribution, solitary star! Cha Wenbin didn't want to have such a fate either. Since heaven gave him this fate, he would either follow it to death or resist with his chest out! He didn't want any more trouble because the heavens had tormented him too much. He hadn't wronged anyone in the world, but the heavens had wronged him! An even more terrifying thought began to form in his mind: if he couldn't become a Daoist immortal, then as a ghost, he would stir up heaven and earth, and those who owed him would have to pay back every last bit.

  Nor did they know how long they had walked, nor whether it was day or night now. Their legs were numb and their lips were frozen. Everyone's body was almost at the limit of collapse, except for Cha Wenbin, who was truly a walking corpse, because the small bronze wheel on his chest kept emitting a warm stream, which was getting warmer and warmer.

  When someone discovers the bright starry sky on their head, they finally broke through the clouds. The low temperature and fatigue are now the biggest enemies to face. The more at this moment, the more you can't relax. These old hands who have experienced many battles, how could they not understand this truth? But the body can no longer unify with thought. Everyone fell on the snowy ground, panting heavily. The thin high-altitude air originally had a low oxygen content, but now it's like entering an early morning forest, with an indescribable sweetness.

  Some people wanted to sleep, like Zhe Luo, who couldn't take it anymore. Cha Wenbin had some warmth, but his physical strength was almost exhausted, however, he looked like the most optimistic one at the moment, struggling to find non-smoking coal from everyone's bags to ignite, although the fire was much smaller than on the mountain below, but there was still a faint flame.

  He used snow to melt and boil ginger tea in a pot, the water here would never reach one hundred degrees. After feeding each person a little bit, those with better physical condition gradually came back to their senses. High-calorie foods were mechanically swallowed without anyone being able to savor the taste, but everyone knew they had to eat because if they didn't, they wouldn't see tomorrow's sun. In this place, don't put too much hope in your comrades; you can only rely on yourself.

  After recovering for a while, Zhuo Xiong and Chao Zi, along with Lao Dao, dragged their numb bodies to dig several sleeping pits in the snow. This simple dwelling, similar to a Shaanxi cave, was currently the best place to keep warm. They set up their tent inside, and no one stood guard that night, as everyone was too exhausted, wrapped in their sleeping bags and snoring loudly.

  Apart from Old Wang's condition being relatively poor, the others were just physically weak. After giving Old Wang medicine and an injection, Zhang Wenbin specially arranged for him to sleep in the middle of the crowd so that he could warm up a bit. He had also forgotten about the two snoring Wangs; perhaps when people are extremely tired, they wouldn't even care if there was an earthquake.

  At night, Lao Dao heard a "hissing" sound in his dream, which was very similar to the feeling of a plastic bag being cut open with scissors. He might have been too tired, and usually vigilant he heard this sound, but his body didn't have a conditioned reflex to stand up, only the sentence in his mind: Never mind, sleep.

  A moment later, "Ah!" a mournful cry pierced through the entire valley...

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