?

  I stared in amazement, what the... is this a game of whack-a-mole? It fell into one hole and popped out of another.

  No... that's not the point, the key is how did this other hole come about? Just now that place was clearly intact and undamaged, how did it suddenly break? The little flower at the other end seemed to be surprised as well, and muttered something under his breath, then immediately said to everyone: "Fall back." Of course there's no need for him to remind us, Xiu Xiu and those few men who came with her had already retreated far away, and San Ba and I also fell back, in order to avoid being swallowed up by the continuously expanding snow pit.

  After a while, the cave entrance finally stopped expanding, and the entire snow cave expanded to nearly five meters in diameter, completely blocking the road.

  At this time, passerby A beckoned to Xiaohua and the others with a wave of his hand, his voice neither hot nor cold, saying: "Go around." He actually had an expressionless face, as someone who was causing trouble for the team, without any guilt, his thick skin was truly unmatched.

  I noticed that the pedestrian had an extra pair of gloves on his hands, and they were on both hands. Due to the distance being a bit far, plus the sunlight was too dazzling, I couldn't see clearly, only seeing the color as black, seemingly with a metallic texture, and the front end was very sharp. In my heart, I understood that although I didn't know how the hole appeared, it was obviously related to these gloves. It seemed that my initial idea wasn't wrong after all, and pedestrian A indeed had some skills.

  I and Sanba waited ahead, watching Xiaohua's group come over along the edge of the snow ditch. As soon as they merged, a lot of time had been wasted. At this moment, there were already a large number of snowflakes mixed in the wind, covering the sky and confusing people's eyes, much more than at first. I hurriedly said: "Sanba, this weather seems to be not right."

  Xiu Xiu's face was frozen bright red, but her spirit remained unchanged, and she didn't look tired at all. All I heard her say was: "This doesn't seem like snow, it seems to have been blown down from above." She pointed to the road up the mountain opposite us.

  Samba's face was tense, "It seems that the east wind is blowing, and the snow on the mountain top is being blown down. Now the sun is shining brightly, the snow is melting, and with this wind, it's easy to trigger a snow flood. We have to hurry up, this valley is not safe." He finished speaking, his face serious, and immediately led the way.

  I sighed inwardly, indeed it wasn't going smoothly, and asked: "Can we get out of here today?"

  Samba looked up at the sky with a worried expression, shook his head and said: "Can't be sure, depends on the weather. If this wind doesn't stop, we'll have to stop when we get to the front of the mountain waist. I remember there's a cave there where we can take shelter."

  Xiao Hua made a gesture and said, "Let's go first and talk later. Be careful." The five big men responded in unison. In the past year, I didn't have much contact with Jieyu Hua, but I felt that his personality had changed a lot... or perhaps this was his true personality. In the Sichuan government cave that time, he left me alone and injured to advance towards the target. At that moment, I understood his ruthlessness.

  Or rather, it's something that the successor of Lao Jiu Men must undertake, but even so, at that time he covered everything very well, at least from the outside, he was a humorous person, but one year later today, he seems to have shed even this outer layer and become more difficult to approach.

  I don't know if it's because of the pressure from the Huo family or something else I'm not aware of, but the current Yuxuehua makes me feel like a stranger.

  I took a deep look at his stiff face, lowered my head and continued on the road. The group's pace became even more cautious, but the wind showed no signs of weakening, instead it grew stronger and stronger, until it was almost impossible to keep one's eyes open, and our faces were frozen stiff. All I could feel was the icy wind and cold snow hitting me in the face, my nostrils filled with cold air. It was bitterly cold.

  I don't know how long we walked, but suddenly Xiu Xiu called out: "It's no good, the wind is too strong. If we keep going, it might be dangerous." She stood against the wind and snow, her voice almost blown away by the gusts.

  I also hastily asked: "Sangba, how much longer until we reach that cave?" Sangba had very little equipment on him, lighter than all of us. He lowered his head and constantly scanned the surroundings. To me, the scenery around us was all the same - white snow, grey withered branches, it was impossible to tell which direction to go. But Sangba looked at the red sang that poked out from the snowy ground, looked at the footprints left by animals, and could always find the way. He said: "Not far now, next will be a big blizzard, we must stop."

  As expected, the wind and snow grew stronger. I looked up at the sky, but the sun was nowhere to be seen, hidden behind thick clouds. After more than four hours of walking, we finally exited the snowy valley and found ourselves on a flat, snowy road, no longer having to worry about snow pits. Sanba led us in search of the cave, and soon discovered it.

  It's particularly eye-catching, with snow covering everywhere, only that area exposing yellow rocks, making it very noticeable in the snowy ground. The top of the cave is lined with dead old trees, and the thick trunks block the snow, revealing the bare rocks below.

  We entered the cave, and the fierce wind and snow that had been blowing against us suddenly disappeared without a trace. The strong contrast felt like walking into an air-conditioned room on a hot summer day when you've just worked up a sweat.

  Those big guys rushed to remove their equipment as soon as they entered the cave. Perhaps it was my experience over the past two years, but I habitually observed the surrounding environment first. At this time, however, I found that the cave was very deep, with a circular empty space outside and a gradually narrowing passage inside. There, I discovered some traces of a bonfire.

  There is an obvious pile of ashes on the ground, and there are also leftover food packaging around it. It looks like someone had stopped here not long ago, and judging from the number of food packaging, either they stayed for a very long time or there were many people.

  My heart skipped a beat, and I thought to myself, "Could it be my second uncle?" He's been searching for that map, could he have also gone to Kunlun Mountain? Although I had my doubts, there was no solid evidence. I shared my thoughts with Xiaohua, who furrowed her brow and said, "If it were your second uncle's people, that would be okay."

  "I asked: 'Isn't it possible that others have also gone to that damned place?'"

  Yehua Flower smiled and said, "I don't know if there's anyone else, but... these people have stayed in this cave, probably because they encountered the same situation as us. Sanba, is this kind of weather common?"

  There were two big men on the bare tree at the top of the cave, cutting off many branches. Sanba was making a fire and said: "Wind and snow are common, but such a big wind and snow usually only occur when the east wind is strong, and it's rare to encounter several times in a month."

  I listened to the conversation between the two of them and thoughtfully asked: "Do you still remember when was the last time it was this windy in these mountains?"

  Samba thought for a moment and said: "It was probably about a week ago." A week ago, it was exactly the time when my second uncle knocked me unconscious.

  "Then is there a team like ours going around this mountain?"

  Sangba thought for a moment, shook his head and said: "I don't know about this. We're close to Qinghai Lake here, there are many tourists, and many people climb these snow-capped mountains too. I don't have any impression of it, but speaking of which, like you guys who don't climb the mountain but instead go around from behind, I've never seen that before."

  He looked at me and seemed to think I was easy to talk to, so he asked: "Is the mountain behind you Ganggang Cuo? Are you here for an adventure?" In local dialect, "Ganggang" means very big or very far away. He thought it was strange, after all, the snowy plateau behind Nima was a place of nothingness to him.

  I smiled and didn't answer, lying down with my backpack as a pillow, staring blankly at the top of the cave.

  I have a very strong intuition that it was my second uncle and his group who took shelter in this cave, not only because of the time coincidence but also because of what Xiuxiu said about Chen Wenjin, her appearance is too coincidental.

  If Third Uncle had gone to the Heavenly Tomb a year ago, then Chen Wenjin might be there now, followed by Second Uncle in front of us, and then us, with four batches of people ahead and behind.

  Chen Wenjin said 'All the secrets are hidden there, perhaps that is the last hope', what does this last hope refer to? What is that secret about?

  Is it referring to the ghost seal, or is it referring to everything behind the bronze door? If all of this is for finding the third ghost seal, then it's a bit too much trouble. If I let them know that I have one of the ghost seals in my hand, I don't know if Chen Wenjin and Third Uncle will jump with surprise.