This shout suddenly woke everyone up from their dreams, and the voice came from Lao Dao's tent. When Zha Wenbin and Chaozi rushed over.

  "What's going on?" asked Zha Wenbin.

  "He's dead." Lao Dao said expressionlessly, watching as his last living brother also left him. His heart had already begun to lose its edge, he could allow his comrades to be blown to pieces, but he couldn't accept this one after another mysterious way of dying.

  Cha Wenbin lowered his head, wanting to take a look, but was stopped by Zhuo Xiong who had just entered the door: "Don't touch that thing, it's a corpse worm!" As he spoke, people saw that the dagger in his hand was skewering a fire leg-sized corpse worm, although it was pierced by the knife tip, it hadn't completely died yet, its body still slightly twisting.

  "Just found at the entrance, this thing is going to drill into your tent. Its native place is the snowy plateau where human footprints are rare. Maybe our smell attracted them and became prey."

  Apart from Zhe Luo and Lao Dao, others have experienced the terror of this thing. In the past, at Qi Feng Mountain, if it weren't for San Zu Ge appearing in a timely manner, they might have already become its snacks. Now that they've arrived at the true place of origin and seen this thing, to say they're not intimidated would be a lie.

  "Old Knife, back off a bit. This kind of insect is extremely venomous, one bite can kill a person instantly. It seems we've entered their lair, we need to think of a plan before we can rest. Chaozi, this corpse silkworm might still be on the human body, be careful when you and Zhuo Xiong handle it."

  "Don't worry." Chaozi squatted down to take a look and indeed found a small hole on the foot of the sleeping bag, "It's from here that it got in, sorry brother, maybe we'll have to move you." After saying this, he signaled for Lao Dao and Cha Wenbin to go out, then together with Zhuo Xiong, they pulled up the foot of the sleeping bag, gave a strong tug backwards, and the entire sleeping bag was pulled off the already darkened corpse. At the same time, a white, soft, and fuzzy insect fell to the ground, arching its body again to crawl back onto its prey.

  "Whoosh!" The dagger in Chaozi's hand was thrown with great force, accurately hitting the seven-inch mark on the corpse worm and pinning it firmly to the ground. After struggling for a short while, it stopped moving.

  Chao Zi said to Zhuo Xiong: "Blind man, go and check again if there are any other bugs on his body, don't miss any."

  The thick cold-proof clothing on the corpse was lightly cut open with a dagger, although they didn't want their comrade to be disrespected even after death, but this was an unavoidable move, as one poisonous centipede could destroy the entire team.

  Fortunately, they did not find any new corpses. The wound from the bite on his calf had already lost a piece of flesh as big as a fingernail cover. They dressed the corpse, put it back in the sleeping bag, zipped it up and carried it to the door.

  Outside, Cha Wenbin was using sulfur to carefully encircle the entire camp with a ring. He explained: "This can cover up the smell and prevent insects. Later at night when sleeping, someone still needs to keep watch in shifts, no relaxation is allowed... this corpse..." Cha Wenbin looked at Lao Dao again and asked: "How should it be handled? You decide."

  "Burn it then, can't leave it here for eagles or wolves to eat, let alone feed the worms."

  Zha Wenbin said, "That's fine, I'll do a Buddhist ritual to send him off, and we can burn it here. Kunlun is full of dragon veins everywhere, no need to choose a spot, just scatter it here."

  He simply set up a memorial platform, used the dry rations he carried with him to make some offerings, and placed the body quietly in front of the camp. Old Knife knelt before the bodies of his subordinates, a hint of sadness in his voice as he said: "Brothers, I owe you an apology. I brought you here, but I couldn't take you out again. Don't worry, it won't be long before big brother comes down to join you too. Don't blame me for being strict with you all the time, a bit more strictness means a bit more safety. It's just that I didn't think we'd leave so soon."

  Zha Wenbin burned some paper money for him, lit incense and candles, recited the Rebirth Mantra, hoping that this young man could be reborn with a good fate in his next life. That's all he could do.

  "People can't come back to life, so let's mourn and move on. I think you should light the fire yourself." As he spoke, Cha Wenbin handed the lighter to Lao Dao. After a moment of silence, Lao Dao took it and shouted: "Say goodbye to your brothers for me! When I leave, your parents will be my parents too, and I'll take care of them for you. Take care!"

  The sleeping bag had been sprinkled with compressed fuel, and the lighter ignited with a "boom", a large fire accompanied by thick black smoke began to rise, Zha Wenbin recited the Buddhist scriptures for the dead again and again, hoping to bring more good karma to the deceased.

  That night, there were a few people who could sleep soundly, of course, except for the snoring king, Heng Roulian Dashi, even if it was raining gold coins outside, most of them had nothing to do with him, this guy slept so soundly.

  On the second day, early in the morning, when the sky was slightly brighter, Zhang Wenbin got up early and saw Lao Dao sitting outside smoking a pipe.

  "Wake up so early?" Seeing it was Cha Wenbin, Lao Dao just nodded symbolically, "Mm."

  Looking down from the middle of the mountain, it's breathtaking. The morning fog is particularly thick, and the sea of clouds is surging around them, less than 10 meters deep. It feels like being in a heavenly palace. The sun has not yet risen, so Cha Wenbin decides to take a look at the terrain of this mountain.

  From here, looking up, they seem to have walked almost half the way. Further up, there is no dense fog, and it will take at least half a day to hurry, because the higher the place, the thinner the air, and the lower the temperature.

  This Kunlun cannot be said to be the first sacred mountain of China, the majestic Kunlun is three thousand feet tall, the white snow gives it a mysterious and solemn veil. Cha Wenbin only feels that standing here is like being an insignificant ant, he can see the golden light flashing on the cloud sea in the distance, which is the sunlight emitted by the cloud layer, that is to say, the sun rises from the back of this mountain. They are now located on the west side, also known as the back of the sun, if you want to catch a glimpse of Kunlun's true appearance, it may be necessary to cross over the top of the mountain first.

  Lao Wang's condition has improved significantly compared to yesterday, after a night of rest, at least his complexion is much better. After packing up their luggage, the remaining few people started a new journey again.

  It's not easy to walk on this road, and everything must be guarded against. Now it seems that humans are not the only living beings here, at least those ghostly corpses can appear at any time.

  The higher they went, the more unusual things began to appear. They saw some large stones piled up, somewhat like the mani piles in Tibet, most of which were already covered with snow and couldn't be seen clearly how big they were. If the snow here was melted, perhaps the exposed things could change the history of the entire ancient era, because they actually found bronze pillars here!

  A bronze pillar with a diameter of twenty centimeters was exposed on the ground, and the remaining part was only about ten centimeters long. It was accidentally kicked by Zhe Luo. They dug down for a long time but couldn't see the bottom. Heng Roulian and Chaozi tried to pull it out together, but it didn't budge.

  On the pillar were carved some ancient characters, Zha Wenbin recognized them, but he had forgotten to ask Yun Dazong about their meaning, because these characters had appeared on something that was not so glorious: Soul-destroying nails!

  The ancient soul-destroying curse was alternately carved on this pillar, bringing a shock no less than the sacred tree of Fusang unfolding before him. What is the use of such a huge soul-destroying nail?

  Zha Wenbin thought to himself: Could it be that there is still some ancient evil buried below, requiring the use of such a large number of soul-destroying nails?

  After trying for a long time, they gave up the idea of bringing this thing up to take a look. At this point, it was only half an hour's journey from the top of the mountain, and with one more effort, they could complete their task before sunset.

  Zha Wenbin said: "Let's go up and take a look first. With this thing here, at least it explains that there was human activity here before."

  Not yet at the top of the mountain, but saw white fog on top rolling upwards, which aroused everyone's curiosity. Unconsciously, an even stranger phenomenon was discovered: the snow around began to disappear slowly, and the temperature was much higher than before!

  The first one to reach the top was Chaozi, who almost shouted in an unbelievable voice: "My god!"

  When Zhang Wenbin finally reached the top, he was completely speechless. What a magnificent divine mountain it is! No wonder people can't see its true face - it's because those who don't reach the top will never think that there is another side of the mountain with an entirely different landscape!

  If we say that Zhang Wenbin is now standing at the outermost petal of a lotus flower, then what's in front of him is the real pistil.

  A mountain peak, slightly higher than the one in front of them, stood facing them, surrounded by a series of rolling hills that tightly wrapped it in the middle. The mountains stretched out like lotus petals in all directions, with half of the mountain waist floating amidst the turbulent sea of clouds and snow. In contrast, the main peak in the middle presented a lush green landscape, not only densely covered with trees but also adorned with clusters of blooming flowers. White clouds drifted gently around it, while geese and cranes circled above its summit.

  If described with more vivid vocabulary, this is a Tian Shan Snow Lotus blooming in mid-air when shot from the sky!

  Zha Wenbin was at a loss for words for a moment, and only after a while did he say: "The paradise on earth is no more than this, it's not in vain that it's the origin of myths!"

  "Come and see, there's a well here with hot water inside!" Chaozi was already shouting loudly over there. A large eight-character well appeared on the ground, with a big chain tied to its side. The hot water in the well was gushing out, and the white mist was rising from it.

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