?

  Passerby A looked up at me and didn't say a word, treating me like air, and continued to look down at the map. Xiaohua smiled and asked, "Are you feeling better?" I nodded, also not saying thanks or anything, and instead asked, "What's the plan from here?"

  That map I saw before was a very abstract map, and it was purely hand-painted. The route followed the eastern edge of the Kunlun Mountains, along the remaining veins, this section of mountains stretched out with several connected snow peaks, the highest point had an altitude of over 5,000 meters, stretching towards the main trunk of the Kunlun Mountains. Even Sangba couldn't name these mountain peaks. The route on this map was painted very vaguely, and the endpoint was a picture of a door. I don't know why, but every time I saw that pattern, I involuntarily thought of the bronze gate in the Changbai Mountains.

  Xiao Hua shook her head, pointing at the map and said: "The general route is available, but this map is rough, and I don't know how far it is. Most importantly, I'm not sure if this is the destination."

  The pattern on the door is where he pointed, according to Grandpa's note in Old Lady Huo's notebook, this map is not complete. This one was buried by Grandpa in Old Lady Huo's courtyard at that time, and the other half of the map in Grandpa's hand may have been passed into Zhang Dafo's hands or drifted elsewhere. In short, we only have half of the map now, so the place with the painted door may be the final destination, but it is also possible that it is just a special place along the way.

  Just then, a voice suddenly came from the snowy ground. It was Lao Mao, who was dragging someone towards us while scolding him. I took a look and found that it was Sangba. I immediately asked: "Lao Mao, what are you doing?"

  Lao Mao gave me a sideways glance, and with one swift motion, pushed Sanba down in front of Xiao Hua, saying: "Ninth Master, this little brat wanted to run away and stole our things." Sanba was pushed by Lao Mao into the snowy ground, and upon hearing this, he quickly waved his hands and bowed, saying: "Zan Sheng Shen, I only wanted to take a bit of food to get over the snowy mountain, I didn't steal anything." Lao Mao sneered, saying: "Didn't steal? I'll let you not steal." After finishing speaking, he kicked Sanba with one foot, and reached out to search his body. Upon touching something, indeed found an object. I took a look, and couldn't help but be surprised - it was actually my wallet.

  Samba's face suddenly turned green, his expression was both ashamed and angry, but he didn't dare to erupt. His black eyes glanced at me, without saying a word.

  Lao Mao slapped his wallet and patted Sanba's face, saying: "Isn't this stealing? Do you believe I'll kill you?" Xiaohua suddenly smiled and said: "Mao DeGui, you have guts... Hmm, did I say I wanted to kill him?"

  Lao Mao's expression changed and he smiled: "Ninth Master, have I done something wrong?"

  Xiao Hua was still smiling, and on that face which was even more beautiful than a woman's, there was once again the enigmatic smile from a year ago. He opened his mouth and said softly, "You're not wrong." Lao Mao saw Xiao Hua's enigmatic smile and couldn't help but become more restrained, no longer paying attention to Sang Ba, instead tossing his wallet at me and muttering, "Damn it, you know how to pick the soft persimmons, you have guts coming to steal my wallet, I won't explode your head if I don't."

  Samba fell into the snow like a timid daughter-in-law and didn't dare lift her head.

  I just felt annoyed and irritated, looking at it made me angry, listening to Lao Mao's whispers, I couldn't help but feel a surge of anger in my chest. If it were before, I would have definitely retorted back with my mouth, but this time I didn't, instead I drew out the dagger that was tied to my thigh and directly threw it at Mao DeGui, making a "whooshing" sound in the air.

  Ma DeGui's face changed color in fright, and he hastily dodged, but was not quick enough. Although he avoided it, his face was still slashed with a gash. The dagger shot out far away, and finally landed with a "pa" sound, stuck in the snowy ground.

  Everyone fell silent at this scene, and Samba raised his head, frightened.

  Ma DeGui touched the wound on his face, then lowered his head to look at the bloodstains on his hand. A moment later, he raised his head and sneered at me coldly, saying: "Wu Jia Xiao San Ye, you have guts." He wanted to say something else, but was stopped by Xiaohua.

  Xiao Hua finished drinking and said faintly, "That's enough. This trumpet is mine. You'd better think clearly about who you're doing this for." Ma DeGui wiped the blood off his face with a swipe of his hand, his gloomy eyes scanning me before turning to enter the cave.

  I flicked my dagger, and my heart calmed down. I had some regrets for being so impulsive, after all, the road ahead was long, and no one could do without anyone's help. It was clear that making things awkward now was not appropriate. But thinking again, this guy surnamed Mao, on the surface, was very respectful to Xiaohua, seeming to flatter her everywhere, but in reality, his actions didn't seem like he was following Xiaohua at all.

  I didn't notice it at first, but now that I think about it, I find it a bit strange. This Mao DeGui seems not as simple as XiuXiu said, is he really attached to the Ye family?

  After Ma DeGui left, no one spoke for a while, the atmosphere was a bit awkward. I cleared my throat and changed the subject, asking Sangba: "Why did you run? We didn't say we wouldn't let you go." I put away my wallet, not intending to pursue this matter further. Sangba looked at my actions, seeming to breathe a sigh of relief, but also not daring to face Xiaohua and others, carefully said to me: "I heard those people say that they still want me to lead the way next, so...my mom is still in the hospital, I...I want to go home."

  I found it a bit strange and asked, "Why don't you want to guide us? We can pay more." Samba hastily shook his head and said, "No way, really no way. This mountain range is the place of Zan Sheng Shen Ku La Jie, ordinary people cannot enter. If Zan Sheng Shen gets angry, there will be disaster."

  The Tibetans worship the mountain god, with the mountain god as the highest worship. The Kula Dzayé mentioned by Sambhava is the main god of the southern region. It is said that he controls the area south of Kunlun Mountain. In Tibetan legend, Kula Dzayé rules over Kunlun Mountain and can ride the wind and snow, with a demonic wolf as his mount.

  This combination of semi-divine and semi-demonic is a typical pattern in Tibetan mythology, also influencing surrounding ethnic groups. For example, to the west of Yunnan, near the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, there is an ancient village where people worship the Xianshen God, depicted as a two-faced person with a human head and snake body, both sides being front-facing, one male and one female. It is said that this god has boundless magical powers, can transform into nothingness, and that if the female face looks at you, it can create what you truly desire in your heart, while if the male face looks at you, it will take away everything most precious in your life.

  This kind of combination of gods and demons is common in Tibet and the Sichuan Basin, which were far apart from each other before, but how this similarity was formed cannot be verified.

  The person was found by Xiaohua, and this time the one who was caught was also him. Xiaohua didn't say a word, and I couldn't bring myself to ask for his release, so I patted Sanba's shoulder and said, "Get up first and talk later." Sanba's eyes were filled with gratitude, making me feel uneasy, thinking: I'm not some kind of good person, why are you looking at me like that? My conscience is really uncomfortable. Just as I was about to speak, a passerby suddenly spoke up, saying: "The general route is no problem, but the Kunlun Mountains are different from other snowy mountains. Inside, there are things that can't be said, and the terrain is strange and unpredictable. The ancestor of the Huaxia Dragon Vein, the terrain is steep and unpredictable, it's necessary to find someone familiar with the snowy mountains."

  Samba's face turned gloomy as soon as he heard this, and he looked at me with a pitiful expression. I cleared my throat and pretended not to notice, shifting my gaze to the map. In sync with Road Person A's words, I nodded and said, "Yeah, you're right."

  Passerby A suddenly stopped talking, looked up at me, twitched the corner of his mouth and coldly spat out two words: "Hypocrite." I almost didn't breathe backwards, holding back a breath without going up or down, finally could only swallow hard.

  The three of us didn't bother with the samba, holding the map to study our next route and possible situations. As we talked, it came up about the tomb. I said: "You say, is that place a tomb or what? If it's a tomb, who could have built it inside there?"

  "You're a monster."

  I was about to retort, but saw Samba nodding vigorously beside me. I felt something was off and asked: "What are you nodding for? You don't even understand."

  Sangba said: "I know what you're talking about."

  For a moment, it seemed as if the wind had stopped, and the three of us turned our eyes to Samba at the same time. Samba was stared at nervously, his voice also becoming smaller: "This thing, we've been listening to it as a story since childhood."

  I was the first to react, quickly pulling Samba down to sit, and kicking passerby A with one foot, saying "Let's sit." Passerby A cooperated, slowly getting up with his hands clasped behind him, revealing a large rock under his butt. I pressed Samba down and said, "What story? Tell us about it."

  But then Samba suddenly clammed up and refused to say a word, so I had to use emotional appeals and logical reasoning to persuade him: "We're not bad people either. To be honest with you, I have an uncle who's an expert in Feng Shui. A group of grave robbers kidnapped him and took him to the Kunlun Mountains, forcing him to find a tomb for them. You see this map? This is the tomb they want him to find. If he doesn't listen, they might just smash his head with a shovel like smashing a watermelon. Samba, I've been pretty good to you, right? Tell me what you know, and I'll be able to find my uncle. We can call it even, and I won't pursue the matter of you stealing my wallet."

  I finished speaking, and saw Xiaohua with a seemingly smiling yet not quite smiling expression, her eyes clearly having a teasing meaning. I ignored her, trying my best to look sincerely at Sangba, but unexpectedly Sangba stared at me for half a moment, then suddenly said: "You're deceiving me."

  His tone was so resolute that I didn't even have room to refute it. At this time, Xiaohua smiled and said, "Don't worry about whether he's deceiving you or not. You can say it if you want, and we won't force you if you don't." As she spoke, Xiaohua picked up the dagger I had thrown on the ground and began to play with it in a seemingly careless manner. The gleaming dagger reflected cold light under the sunlight, and Sangba swallowed hard before slowly nodding his head and saying, "I'll say it."

  Xiao Hua's mouth hooked up at the corner and she spat out a single word: "Speak."