Ming Ma thought for a mont and replied, "This is our Holy Mountain, and it’s our path. If we encounter danger while climbing, it is punishnt from the God, and also the price of our greed. Our path is here, and the trials we go through are rely tests for us to reach the end. The people in your city wouldn’t understand."
Qing Chen mused, "I see, you have faith as well. You go ahead, I’ll wait here for your return."
Too many people flaunt their photos and certificates after summiting Mount Everest to the world, yet they are just passersby. Only the Sherpas truly belong here.
...
...
Countdown 18:00:00.
At 6 AM, dozens of Sherpas buried oxygen tanks at Camp 3, 7,300 ters above sea level, for the climbers to use later.
They knelt in the black blizzard, facing Mount Everest, bowing and begging for their God’s understanding and protection.
After rising, they faced the blizzard and began to ascend higher.
On the way, all the Sherpas remained silent. They knew this place well; it was a path they’d traveled countless tis over more than a decade.
No one knew how long they’d been walking when Ming Ma looked at the endless dark sky in the distance. His mood gradually sank to the bottom, as his experience told him this black storm might last a dozen more hours.
If they couldn’t complete setting the ropes at the Hillary Step within 12 hours, then half of the 81 Sherpas might forever remain on this Holy Mountain.
Ming Ma struggled at the front, driving in ground nails and securing safety ropes.
However, at that mont, a gust of wild wind blew through, and Ming Ma, unable to control his body, was knocked down onto the snowy slope.
This snow slope angled at 60 degrees, too steep even for an off-road vehicle to climb.
Ming Ma’s tumbling knocked over two other clansn, and the three of them rolled down the mountain together.
Their combined weight was too great; the ground nails they’d driven in couldn’t hold, pulling out one after another, dragging more Sherpas into a fall.
Nima, in the middle of the team, pulled out a dagger from his waist. He knew what he ought to do at this mont.
Cut the safety rope, sacrifice the 12 ahead to save the more than sixty companions behind!
Nima’s face was full of frost; he hesitated, but Ming Ma’s roar ca through the wind: "Cut it!"
Just as Nima was about to slice, they suddenly heard the sound of crampons biting into the ground behind them. Soone hurtled over and knocked the knife from Nima’s hand.
Nima froze, turning his head to see their young boss appearing there without them realizing, stomping both feet into the snow with remarkable force, creating pits deeper than the ground nails.
In that instant, Qing Chen gripped the runaway safety rope with all his might and roared furiously.
The safety rope pulling the Sherpas’ fall suddenly stopped in its tracks, the youth seemingly god-like, wielding the power to turn the tide!
Amidst the furious snowstorm was an even wilder youth; the wind raged on.
The fire runes on the boy’s face were like the only light source within the black storm, as if molten lava coursed beneath his skin, unleashing the most primitive power of the human body.
The rope burned in his palms as the descent continued unrelentingly.
Roaring, the youth suddenly gripped harder, maximizing the friction between his hands and the rope!
That terrifying safety rope halted all at once!
Ten seconds passed and Ming Ma, suspended in shock on the snow slope, was oblivious to what had happened, or how the fall had stopped.
The next mont, he felt soone rapidly pulling the safety rope, bringing them back up the mountain!
Ming Ma hadn’t witnessed the process with his own eyes, thus was not as deeply shocked by it all.
But Nima and the others were astounded, watching that young boss single-handedly pulling up a safety rope holding twelve people.
People often speak of the strength of nine bulls and two tigers, but even that doesn’t compare on the snowy mountain, does it?
Could this still be the young boss they feared might die on the snowy mountain? Nima felt the person wasn’t here to climb, but to move mountains...
After dragging back the fallen comrades, Qing Chen shouted loudly, "I’ll lead the way. All of you follow behind, carefully, don’t fall behind."
The wind was loud, only the nearby Ming Ma and Nima could hear this.
The two Sherpas looked at each other. On Mount Everest, when did it beco soone else’s turn to save the Sherpas...?
But before they could react, Qing Chen had already lifted the safety rope and continued forward.
Walking more steadily than any of them, as though on flat ground!
Bear in mind, Qing Chen was still carrying that massive climbing pack!
The Sherpas bewilderedly reached Hillary Step, watching the young boss, without any protective gear, gracefully climb up while carrying a heavy pack...
The Hillary Step was notorious, a nightmare for every climber. Even Sherpas sotis hesitated before it.
With its nearly vertical angle, it required climbing over three ladders and two ropes to summit.
Ming Ma shouted in alarm at the base of Hillary Step: "Be careful!"
Before his voice could be lost in the wind, the young boss had already summited and thrown down a safety rope.
The Sherpas silently watched this scene unfold; for them, rely climbing the Hillary Step would take over an hour.
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