Chapter 293: Glacier World, the Mysterious Cave at the Peak of the Snow Mountain

After pitching his tent behind Da Long's den and staying the night, Ning Fei once again set out on his upward climb.

With two snow leopards and a white falcon, his evening had been full of fun.

The newly arrived female snow leopard was clearly very satisfied with Da Long's home, so she settled down there.

By noon the next day, Ning Fei finally reached the site of the previous avalanche.

In the aftermath of the avalanche, everything had returned to a pristine white.

The snowpack was thicker at the lower elevations, swallowing his legs up to the calves with every step, but the snow gradually thinned out the higher he went.

If he hadn't been carrying a backpack, Ning Fei could have walked nimbly across the snow. Weighed down by his gear, he had no choice but to trudge forward slowly.

The lowest stretch of the path was a bit difficult, but it only lasted for a short distance. Further up, the route actually became easier to traverse.

Along the way, Ning Fei used the Treasure Seeking Technique once again.

However, the location indicated by the Treasure Seeking Technique was still the deep pit where the Ice Nether Flower had been.

A wave of disappointment washed over him.

This meant that the precious orb was very likely not here.

"Whether it's here or not, I must reach the summit this time."

Afterward, Ning Fei arrived at that steep cliff and began his free solo climb.

Every step he took made the viewers' hearts clench.

"This is the place that made Temple Master Ning famous, isn't it!"

"Made him famous isn't quite right. This is just one location among Temple Master Ning's many classic moments."

"Taking a screenshot for the memories! Seeing this cliff reminds me of the scene where Temple Master Ning plummeted through the air."

"Yeah, that was way more thrilling than ski jumping!"

"A true boss!"

Ning Fei scaled the cliff without any real danger, despite the suspense.

First, he went to take a look inside the deep pit where the Ice Nether Flower had grown.

Following the avalanche, the area was packed with snow, but traces of the Ice Nether Flower could still be seen within.

Then, Ning Fei looked up at the highest point of the snow mountain.

Originally, the peak had been piled high with thick snow.

After the avalanche, the snow that had accumulated over countless years had tumbled down, exposing the original surface of the glacier instead.

Ning Fei took out his ice axes and began climbing upward along the ice.

"Last time, it was right here that I ran into the avalanche," Ning Fei said, recalling his previous experience.

Then, he continued his ascent up the glacier.

With every step, he needed to drive his ice axes deep into the ice layer and use the leverage to pull himself up.

The drone's camera zoomed out, and then zoomed out further.

When the viewers watched Ning Fei scale the glacier from a close distance, they hadn't felt an overwhelming sense of danger. But when the drone backed away at high speed to capture almost the entire mountain in its frame, they finally realized just how incredible his current feat truly was.

It was an incomparably massive snow mountain.

Compared to it, a human being was like a fallen leaf tossed into a stormy sea, looking as if they could be torn to shreds at any moment.

At the summit, the air was thin, the biting wind howled, and the white snow stretched on endlessly.

Yet, in such a harsh environment, Ning Fei continued to climb at an unhurried pace.

His expression was calm and full of unwavering resolve, his eyes as clear as ever. Just a single glance at him was enough to bring a profound sense of peace to one's heart.

"I'm finally up." Ning Fei drove his ice axes in for the last time, hoisting his body over the rock face and stepping onto a plateau.

"Temple Master Ning is a badass!"

"!"

"Invincible!"

The viewers cheered him on in the chat.

No matter how you looked at it, what Ning Fei was doing was an incredibly impressive feat in its own right.

At this moment, the drone's camera slowly panned to the area behind Ning Fei.

Upon seeing the scene before them, the viewers' pupils widened in awe.

Ning Fei also turned around to look behind him, a flash of pleasant surprise appearing on his face.

The highest point of the mountain was a world made entirely of ice.

As far as the eye could see, transparent ice crystals coated the jagged rock formations.

Ning Fei looked down at his feet. He gently swept the snow away, revealing the rock hidden beneath the thick layer of ice.

Striking it a few times with his ice axe, he found the ice to be exceptionally solid and thick. Even when the ice axe was driven all the way in, it didn't touch the rock layer at the bottom.

"This place... is far too beautiful."

The viewers had never imagined that they would one day witness such a breathtaking sight.

At this very moment, Ning Fei's Live-stream Room completely blew up.

And it wasn't just ordinary netizens tuning in.

The leadership of the National Geological Bureau, along with many scientists who had studied geology their entire lives, as well as glacier experts, were all watching Ning Fei's broadcast.

The location where Ning Fei currently stood was a true forbidden zone for humanity.

Even a fully equipped expedition team could encounter unforeseen disasters if they attempted to climb this high.

Yet Ning Fei had accomplished such a monumental feat entirely on his own.

"Our Huaxia truly has remarkable talents hidden among the masses!" a scientist from the National Geological Bureau sighed in deep admiration upon watching Ning Fei's stream.

At this time, Ning Fei walked slowly forward across the glacier at the peak of the snow mountain.

Simultaneously, he explained to his viewers:

"To most people, glaciers are both familiar and completely alien."

"Take the Hailuogou Glacier at the foot of Mount Gongga, for example. Its lowest elevation is under 3,000 meters, and it's only 300 kilometers from the city of Chengdu. Tourists visit it year-round to admire its beauty."

"However, the vast majority of Huaxia's glaciers are distributed across the extremely high snow-capped mountains of the west."

"These places are blanketed in ice and snow, starved of oxygen, and bitterly cold. They are incredibly remote, and very few people can ever reach them."

Walking upon the glacier, Ning Fei spoke in a slow, steady voice.

The scene before them looked absolutely mind-blowing.

He was talking about how the area was oxygen-deprived, freezing cold, and uninhabitable, yet he didn't show the slightest sign of discomfort. Instead, he looked completely relaxed.

Coupled with the vast, boundless snow mountain in the background and a clear sky that looked as pristine as if it had been washed clean, Ning Fei appeared just like an immortal who had descended from the heavenly realms.

"Did Temple Master Ning literally climb into the immortal realm?"

"Maybe he was an immortal to begin with."

"This is insane. He's so calm on such a high snow mountain, without a hint of altitude sickness."

"I heard someone analyze this before. They said Temple Master Ning has been undergoing ascetic cultivation since he was a child, and he's eaten a lot of natural heavenly treasures. His physical constitution is inherently different from ordinary people."

"I noticed that when he was interacting with the snow leopard. Temple Master Ning isn't afraid of fierce beasts at all. He must be extremely confident in his own strength."

"Filming a documentary on such a remote glacier would normally require an unimaginable investment of manpower and resources. But in Temple Master Ning's stream, he just broadcasts it to everyone live."

"Haven't you noticed how Douniao Live's official team is giving Temple Master Ning all sorts of recommendations now? Thanks to Temple Master Ning, they even got their ads on TV programs. Who else has that kind of prestige?"

The viewers discussed this fervently.

"I suppose my luck is pretty good," Ning Fei said with a sudden smile.

"If it weren't for that avalanche, this place might still be buried under countless layers of hard, thick snow, and I wouldn't have been able to see the glacier's true appearance."

Hearing Ning Fei's words, the viewers were left temporarily speechless.

Getting caught in an avalanche... is considered good luck?

However, looking at the glacier now, it truly was filled with a mysterious, captivating beauty.

Ning Fei walked up to the face of a massive glacier.

It was a section of blue ice. The towering structure glowed with a translucent blue hue, rising to a height of nearly several dozen meters, stretching endlessly out of sight.

"This is an alpine blue glacier, the rarest type of glacier there is," Ning Fei explained.

"It was formed from seawater that existed tens of millions, or even hundreds of millions of years ago, permanently frozen in place here."

"Unlike the glaciers in Antarctica and the Arctic, a glacier at an elevation this high is practically immune to melting."

Hearing his explanation, everyone felt a profound sense of wonder.

An ocean from tens of millions of years ago, frozen for tens of thousands of centuries.

Such a scale of time was simply too ancient, too incomprehensibly vast for a human mind to fully grasp.

A glacier expert from the National Geological Bureau also nodded in agreement. "Indeed. There are countless secrets hidden within the glaciers. The portion of nature that humanity has managed to peek into is still far too small."

Ning Fei continued to observe the glacier. He clicked his tongue and added:

"It's a good thing the glacier here has been frozen for so long. Otherwise, encountering a glacial calving event would be the real danger."

"Compared to a glacier collapsing, an avalanche is nothing more than child's play."

Hearing this, the viewers hurriedly urged:

"Temple Master Ning, please say something a bit more auspicious."

Ning Fei didn't say any more on the subject and continued walking forward.

This was the highest mountain in the Valley of Death, and the glacier atop it had been frozen for an unknown number of years.

Massive, towering formations of ice were everywhere. Walking among them, Ning Fei felt as though he had stepped into another world.

The wind on the mountain was incredibly fierce, howling as it blew past.

Right at that moment, however, Ning Fei heard a bizarre sound.

"Woo— Woo—"

It sounded like the low growl of a wild beast.

"Did you guys hear that?" one viewer asked with a hint of worry after catching the sound.

"I heard it. What a deep, rumbling noise."

"How could there be a sound like that at the top of a mountain?"

"It's not a Yeti, is it?!"

"It doesn't sound like an animal's cry."

As Ning Fei listened to the sound, a trace of joy gradually welled up in his expression.

"That's the echo caused by the wind blowing through a cave or a stone chamber!"

"In other words, there's a cave at the summit!"

Then, he silently told himself, 'This should be the true Kunlun Heavenly Palace, then.'