the last priest

The snow-capped mountain that Ji Yunlong verified is located near the famous sacred mountain Gang Rinpoche in Tibet. It also belongs to Mount Gangdise. It is a famous Buddhist holy place, including the sacred "Shiva Temple" in India. It was built to imitate the appearance of this mountain.And the mountain they were going to was still two days away from the sacred mountain.

In the self-defense counterattack against India in 1962, a reconnaissance team once went to a mountain that was not marked on the map. Out of professional sensitivity, someone in the team drew a rough topographic map of the mountain.And a veteran who participated in this battle was still in Ji Yunlong's army, and his identity was just an old gatekeeper in the messenger room.When encountering a map that they could not understand, they would ask this old man for advice, because no one is more familiar with the terrain of Tibetan areas than him, and every mountain here has left his footprints when he was young.And when the old man saw the parchment that Ji Yunlong handed over, he took off his glasses tremblingly, tears streaming down his face.

At the foot of that unknown mountain, the life of a comrade-in-arms was left behind. Trembling, the old man drew a circle with a pen on the high-resolution military map. It is a mountain that has not yet been named. So far no one has been there.And the location of this mountain is the legendary Sunba Jingxue, which is known as the origin of Tibetan civilization.

When Zabu learned that the purpose of their trip was Gang Rinpoche, the piety and anticipation on his face was completely different from the hippie smile in the past, because this mountain was also called "the center of the world" in his mind .

Gang Rinpoche means "Mountain of Gods" in Tibetan and "Shiva's Paradise" in Sanskrit. It is said that the most famous Mount Sumeru in Buddhism refers to it.Hindus call this mountain kailash and also believe that it is the center of the world.Among the three main gods of Hinduism, Shiva, the most powerful and highest-ranking god, lives here.India's Indus River Basin and the upper reaches of the Ganges River originate here, so a large number of Indian pilgrims can be seen near Kailash every year.

Sitting in the car, Ji Yunlong introduced the destination of this trip to them: "Kang Rinpoche has always been a place of fascination in the minds of pilgrims and explorers, but so far no one has been able to climb this sacred mountain, or So far no one has dared to offend the center of the world."

"Why?" Zhuo Xiong asked. He knew that many snow-capped mountains in the Tibetan area are the targets of mountaineering enthusiasts, but the altitude and difficulty of this Gang Rinpoche is not the highest.

Ji Yunlong shrugged his shoulders and said: "Because in the past 40 years alone, there have been many earthquakes above magnitude [-] near this mountain. Who would dare to climb a mountain that may avalanche at any time?"

"It's the gods warning offenders." Zhabi said disapprovingly. In his heart, that sacred snow-capped mountain has always been a solemn and inviolable object.

For religious believers, the army's education has always been to avoid conflicts and respect their customs as much as possible, so Ji Yunlong did not refute but said to Cha Wenbin: "Mr. Cha, do you know where the drop of water you want to take is located?" ?"

Cha Wenbin shook his head and said, "I don't know, but there is such a record, so I want to try it."

"Can a drop of water really save a vegetable?" Ji Yunlong seemed very interested in this.

"According to our Taoism, the vegetative state is because some of the three souls and seven souls are lost. If the lost soul can be found, this person can wake up."

Because it was a plateau, Zha Wenbin was a little uncomfortable, and it was very difficult to say a few words.One of the team members was a medical soldier. After he fed some medicine to Cha Wenbin, Cha Wenbin leaned on the seat and began to feel drowsy.

Along the way, Zhuo Xiong and Ji Yunlong chatted about being soldiers in the past. When those soldiers heard that they were seniors, they all listened to him talking about the things they encountered in the Tibetan area before, such as wolves and silkworms. The same sounded so thrilling, I couldn't help but secretly admire this veteran.

Zhuo Xiong casually picked up a [-] bar and fiddled with it a few times: "Isn't it all changed to [-], why do you still use this?"

Ji Yunlong said with a smile: "The weather here is bad, and I can't serve those precious things. It's still good, and the guns are still firing at tens of degrees below zero." He has seen through Zhuo Xiong's mind, a veteran is still a soldier at heart , I have a special feeling for soldiers with guns. A soldier without a gun cannot be called a soldier.

Ji Yunlong smiled and said: "You know the rules, so I didn't prepare for you this time."

Zhuo Xiong nodded, he understood that as long as he took off the clothes, the familiar Bayi Bar would become unfamiliar to him, Zhuo Xiong handed the gun in his hand to the soldier next to him, and said to Ji Yunlong: " I've forgotten how to use it."

The convoy stopped and went, and there were supplies in the military depots along the way. When they actually arrived at Gang Rinpoche, it was already seven days later.

A huge mountain made of rocks was displayed in front of them, and Zharu, who had just got off the car, immediately knelt down on the ground and performed the worship ceremony.The mountain is shaped like a pyramid, with very symmetrical walls, which are quite different from the surrounding peaks. Especially on the south side of the mountain, the huge ice trough vertically descending from the peak and a horizontal rock formation form the most sacred pattern in Buddhism: Swastika!

Although Cha Wenbin belongs to Taoism, he had to be overwhelmed by the aura of such a mountain range, and he couldn't help sighing: "What a holy mountain!"

This is not their final destination. The place they are going to go on this trip should have to walk west for two days from here, because there is no road further west.The roads here are basically built by the Tibetan troops after liberation. If you go west, you must browse this sacred mountain.

If you want to build roads in Tibetan areas, you must blast the mountains. You have to move the sacred mountains. Not to mention that the people in Tibetan areas will not agree, the frequent earthquakes here throughout the year doom this road to construction.So, when we get here, even if the road is broken, no one has been there for decades.

There were a total of ten of them on this trip, and Ji Yunlong brought six soldiers, one of whom was a medical soldier.Cha Wenbin, Zha Brown and Zhuo Xiong were equipped with food, a military satellite phone and navigation.Except for Zha Wenbin, all of these people have field experience in the highlands. As long as there are no special circumstances, the destination of this trip should be reachable.

After a few days of ups and downs, Cha Wenbin also began to adapt to the cruel environment in the plateau area. After allocating the salutes, everyone began to follow the team and prepare to march westward.Because people come to worship this mountain all year round, and those who worship choose to circle this mountain. It is said that as long as they can circle more than ten times, their souls will surely ascend to the Paradise of Ultimate Bliss after death.

The pilgrims left them a very small road, through which they successfully detoured to the west of the mountain.Looking forward, everyone was dumbfounded. For some reason, this side began to be shrouded in a snowstorm. You must know that the east side of the mountain is still clear at the moment.The hazy line of sight and the gray sky seemed to cast a shadow over their trip from the very beginning, but the climate in Tibetan areas is so unpredictable, and they have long been used to it.

Only Zha Wenbin stood alone for a while, and a strange feeling rose in his heart. He took out his compass to check the geomantic omen of this place, but he was urged by the soldiers behind: "This is a Tibetan area. The set of our Central Plains doesn’t work, you just go, we’ll just look at it.”

The sightlines in the snowstorm were very bad, and the snow under my feet was one foot deep and one foot shallow, and I walked very slowly.The group of people walked for about three hours, and there was no sense in not seeing the wind and snow. Ji Yunlong said: "I have to find a place to avoid it. The wind and snow are too strong. We will continue when it stops."

They found an abandoned temple. This kind of temple built with stones is not uncommon in Tibetan areas. The building with only half of the wall can withstand the frontal attack of wind and snow. The dilapidated inner courtyard shows that it has been abandoned for a long time. No one ever came.

Two soldiers were ordered to collect some firewood. If there is no fire on a snowy night in Tibetan areas, they will encounter big trouble at night: they will either freeze to death or be attacked by wolves!

Their luck seemed to be good, and the two found the wood they needed in the northwest corner of the courtyard: a pile of planks with some sticking out of the ground.After the two of them pulled and tugged violently, they heard a "boom", and the ground around them suddenly collapsed. The terrified screams quickly brought the others over, and a large black hole appeared on the ground. , the two fighters were rubbing their knees and arms in the cave.

"Underground palace?" This was Cha Wenbin's first reaction, but are temples in Tibetan areas also popular in building underground palaces?Soon, the answer was revealed, and there was a combed wooden door tightly closed under the exposed pit...