Chilly wind howled in the frozen world that seemed boundless.

Carrying a heavy rucksack on his back, Su Yan trekked alone in the snow. Though having hiked for more than 10 kilometers, he didn’t feel any tiredness until the night fell. Indeed he got quite a good stamina, which was all due to his long years of practicing martial art.

He moved on after a short break and reached his destination soon.

“Here I am again. It’s been three years. This time I must climb to the top of the mountain!”

Gazing at the far end of the horizon, his black eyes brightened with excitement.

In the far distance there lay a snow-capped mountain shooting high up into the sky. How spectacular was that!

Watching the undulating snow mountain, Su Yan found that Mount Qomolangma looked even more magnificent than before and he felt an irresistible urge to climb it immediately.

It was an impulse from his innermost heart. Every time he came to Mount Qomolangma, he felt like he was on his way back home.

Su Yan was about to graduate from college. He had climbed Mount Qomolangma for a dozen times in recent years, which all ended in failure. There was even a time when he nearly died due to insufficient preparation. Thank goodness! He was saved by a kindhearted Tibetan.

Taking a deep breath, Su Yan headed to a small village nearby. With the temperature below minus twenty degrees, few villagers could be seen outside.

Reaching the old Tibetan’s house, he pushed the door open and went in, exposing a room with simple furniture.

Seeing Su Yan walking through the door, the old Tibetan laughed heartily and treated him with delicious food without any delay.

After the meal, Su Yan had a cup of hot tea. Feeling warm all over, he exhaled a breath of cold air and smiled heartily to the old Tibetan, “It’s like my second home here.”

Every year, Su Yan would stay here for some time. And it was fate that the old Tibetan’s granddaughter became his junior schoolmate.

"According to the latest report, the altitude of Mount Qomolangma is now over 12,000 meters. It is researched that…"

The sudden news on the old TV made Su Yan lost in thought, leaving no comment on the detailed report. Though some scientific crazies had been studying the mystery behind the ascent of Mount Qomolangma without rest for the past three years, nothing had come of it.

The height of Mount Qomolangma had increased from 8,000 meters to 12,000 meters in three years, shocking the whole world!

The latest technology could only detect that the mountain was still growing, but the exact cause of the increase remained unknown.

Some guessed that it got a life of its own!

“I feel it is alive…” Su Yan couldn’t help murmuring to himself. Moreover, Mount Qomolangma started mutating exactly when he climbed it for the first time.

“Don’t be silly! Even if Mount Qomolangma is closely related with who you are, you can’t really be a Monkey Sun jumping out of a rock.”

Note: In a classical Chinese novel – Journey to the West, one of the protagonists Monkey King – Sun Wukong jumps out of a stone egg that forms from an ancient rock created by the coupling of Heaven and Earth.

A cool voice came from the outside.

A shapely girl walked in, her dark hair falling at her waist, her eyes big, her skin fair and delicate, exuding a unique and impressive air of icy beauty.

“Yisi,” regaining his composure, Su Yan looked at Yin Yisi, the old Tibetan’s granddaughter, and said with a forced smile, “It’s just some casual talking.”

“I don’t want to be the butt of jokes.” Yin Yisi retorted back. As the famous icy beauty in college, her well acquaintance with Su Yan because of the old Tibetan made many male schoolmates jealous.

Unnoticedly taking a glance at Su Yan’s clean face, Yin Yisi felt an inexplicable affinity with Su Yan who had no outstanding appearance nor prominent family background or else she wouldn’t have chosen to study in the same university as his.

Looking at them with smiling eyes, the old Tibetan sighed, “Little Yan, you don’t have to be so persistent about it. Although the relic your parents left you is concerned with the snow mountain, it is way too difficult to get to the top.”

Hearing that, Su Yan fell into silence with his head down and his fist clenched tight, feeling extremely bitter in heart.

He was an orphan and grew up with his adoptive parents. For the past twenty years, he had been trying to figure out his origin, find his parents and ask them why they would be so cruel to abandon him.

But the only clue led him here, Mount Qomolangma.

“Anyway, I want to get to the top and see if I can find something.”

Su Yan touched the crystal pendant that he had been wearing since birth with his slender fingers. Inside the pendant was a miniature Mount Qomolangma that could be seen clearly with naked eyes and the inscription of his name.

It was probably the only relic his parents left him and the reason why Su Yan would unremittingly climb the mountain for the past three years.

The room fell into dead silence. Knowing not how to comfort Su Yan, the old Tibetan felt a bit helpless.

“I’ll help you.”

A cool voice broke the silence and brought some warmness to Su Yan’s heart. Face beaming with joy, Su Yan raised his head and looked at the girl walking toward him. She always kept her emotions to herself, even he himself couldn’t tell…

Although Yin Yisi was a girl who might look weak, growing up in this frozen world, she was quite familiar with Mount Qomolangma.

Opening his mouth, the old Tibetan intended to say something but gave up. Now his granddaughter had grown up, he would no longer interfere with her decision.

The next morning, it was still dark outside.

A tall man came to this village. Though a bit messy after a long journey, he got a quite gentle and cultivated appearance, like a breath of fresh air.

The minute Zu Yan stepped inside, he said with a weary smile, “Su Yan, Yin Yisi, here I am! It’s really difficult to find this place.”

Zu Yan was Su Yan’s classmate, a legendary figure in college who was born in a wealthy family and loved mountaineering.

Having climbed many famous mountains together, they were good friends now.

Zu Yan also brought some high-tech equipment, which Su Yan believed would make their attempt this time quite smooth.

Zu Yan initiated the climbing plan, and they did a lot of homework for this.

Due to their previous appointment, they didn’t stay long and set out shortly after breakfast.

“Why does him look so familiar to me…?”

Watching them leaving, the old Tibetan frowned. At the first sight of Zu Yan, he felt a sense of familiarity.

“Ah, yes!”

Standing up abruptly, the old Tibetan took out an old case from his room. Inside it lay an old photo and a yellowing notebook.

Though the person in the photo looked a bit blurred, he was so much alike with Zu Yan.

The old Tibetan couldn’t even believe his eyes. Was Zu Yan a descendent of the person in this photo?

The old Tibetan remembered clearly the contents recorded in the notebook originally owned by his grandpa.

It wrote that a mysterious adventure team had stayed in his grandpa’s house for five whole years and climbed Mount Qomolangma for hundreds of times, seemingly looking for something.

One day, the team leader got drunk and said that there lay a vast space beneath the mountain that harbored infinite power – the core of the earth!

“Hard to tell whether it’s good or bad.” The old Tibetan walked to the door and gazed at the undulating snow mountain at the far end of the horizon, feeling inexplicably anxious.

At this moment, Mount Qomolangma was a famous tourist site. Numerous tourists were heading towards it with hearty talks and happy laughter.

The early morning light cast down on the snow mountain, making it extremely magnificent. As if alive with its own spirit, Mount Qomolangma breathed the golden rays, looking so splendid like a giant pyramid.

Struck in awe, all tourists felt that the difficult journey was worth it.

“How amazing is this mountain!” Zu Yan smiled, “No idea when the secret behind it can be unveiled, but I have a feeling that we’re going to have a different journey.”

“A different journey…” Looking at the snow mountain with firmness in eyes, Su Yan said, “Let’s begin! Hope we can make it to the top in two days.”

Yin Yisi looked cool and charming. Glancing at Su Yan, she looked firm and decisive, “I wanna help Su Yan.”

Time elapsed, and the sun went down.

One day passed, Su Yan and his friends had long disappeared in the white world without leaving any trace.

When night fell, the last group of tourists looked horrified.

Mount Qomolangma changed in the weirdest way ever! The original white snow covering the mountain now turned red as if drenched in blood and it reflected lights that even tinted the sky red, exuding an air of something hideous yet melancholy beautiful.

“Wh…what happened?” Some tourists stuttered, too shocked to say anything.

However, the Tibetans at the foot of the mountains were excited for unknown reasons. They kowtowed towards the mountain, worshiping piously and hailing “Goddess”. In Tibetan, Qomo means Goddess.

“Look! This is incredible!”

“The legend is true. It’s happening again!”

The world’s top miracle was closely monitored by Huaxia’s (Huaxia is an ancient name for China) top management. The images sent by satellites to various mysterious agencies caused great stir in the country. According to some unverifiable documentation, the same scene had happened once in the Anti-Japanese War.

The towering snow mountain was now drenched in blood, creating a dazzling and breathtaking view.

Suddenly, the mountain roared as if awakened. It was like gods and demons howling together, creating immense power that dispersed all the clouds and nearly brought about violent earthquake.

“Look! Oh my god! Look!”

Some tourists roared uncontrollably at the bloody lights that spurted one by one from the tip of the mountain and soared into the sky, painting all the stars red like blood.

The scariest of all, space satellites were annihilated in a flash.

This sudden change petrified all tourists.

“What the fuck! Run! Run for your lives!”

A middle-aged man was the first to react. Losing control of his legs due to fright, he rolled and crawled to escape.

A tossed stone stirs countless spoondrift.

Tourists scattered in all directions and ran for their lives. Yet some bold ones snapped photos quickly.

However, no one noticed that at the tip of the mountain stood three vague figures that looked extremely horrible like legendary god and devil against the majestic snow mountain.

Su Yan and his friends were more panic than other tourists, because they were dragged up here by a strange force during their climbing.

Yin Yisi collapsed in Su Yan’s arms, her face ghastly pale and her body trembling. As a girl, only Su Yan’s strong body could give her some security and support.

“What’s going on?”

Su Yan felt his blood boiling and burning, and something mysterious in his mind was about to wake up, giving him a splitting headache.

“Ah!” Su Yan cried out in pain. In his brain, the mysterious power erupted and nearly made him faint. It was like a key bursting free, unlocking something hidden between the heaven and earth, which attracted Su Yan’s full attention upon its very appearance.

“Coffin!”

Su Yan was overwhelmed by a shudder of horror. He noticed that in the sky above the snow mountain, a bloody and huge coffin appeared gradually, exuding an air of antiquity and bleakness, thick as the heaven.

On the surface of the bloody coffin carved many golden inscriptions. Every inscription looked ancient and dim as if they were about to disappear after long years of erosion.

Su Yan recognized some. They were bronze inscriptions from ancient China!

Seeming to have lost his soul, Su Yan walked uncontrollably towards the coffin. Something in his blood drove him forward…

“Su Yan, come back!”

Yin Yisi looked at Su Yan with horrified expression, who was now walking in the air as if treading on the flat ground, heading straight to the bloody coffin.

The bloody coffin, full of mysterious magic, pulled Su Yan to its side step by step, who involuntarily stretched out his hands and pushed the coffin-lid open!

“Dragon!”

Su Yan was stunned by what he saw, a golden dragon full of metallic heaviness prancing out of the coffin and soaring to the sky!

It was only an arm’s thick with two crimson horns on its forehead, casting traces of golden rays that lit up the bloody firmament.

Dragon soaring in the sky and overlooking all!

That was the golden dragon in ancient Chinese mythology, a totem of Yan-Huang. It gave out an air that shook the earth like falling thunders.

The fleeing tourists at the foot of the mountain all collapsed to the ground. It was an irresistible force that could tear up their bodies, causing infinite fear that prevented them from looking up.

A dragon speeding across the nine heavens, stirring up heavenly winds, overturning the frozen world, shaking the stars…that nearly brought all to fly with it in the air.

Boom!

The heaven swayed, and the earth quaked at every breathing of a real dragon. The whole galaxy roared, and stars rotated and arrayed as if recreating laws.

The whole universe trembled with the dragon’s breathing.

For this moment, the sun set, and the moon fell. What a monstrous scene!

All of a sudden, the dragon swooped down from the sky and swallowed all the golden bronze inscriptions breaking away from the bloody coffin.

“Why did they disappear?”

Zu Yan was absorbed in those mysterious inscriptions but then they were all gone before he could finish reading.

Su Yan stared at the dragon with extreme terror, which then went back to the bloody coffin and vanished.

He instinctively looked inside the coffin, and saw a bottomless abyss at first glance, which exhibited an air that made the blood all over his body bubble to the extent of flowing backwards, his heart throbbing violently.

“It’s impossible…”

When he looked at it again, the chaotic abyss dispersed, replaced by a scene that chilled Su Yan’s bones, his blood freezing because of fear.