After a long discussion, I felt it was best not to venture out; disturbing those two groups of foreigners would only bring us endless trouble. So I told Baishiqi, and after a moment's hesitation, he said he needed to hear Zhuoma Yangjin’s opinion.

Just then, a foul stench washed over us, immediately followed by an overwhelmingly intense killing aura. Snow Demon! I jolted, every hair on my body standing on end. I quickly urged everyone to run.

As I spoke, sure enough, three or four tall, sturdy snowmen, about five feet seven or eight inches high, began to surround us from the only exit, emitting indistinct grunting sounds.

Run? Run where?

We instantly backed together, the few of us armed men leveling our rifles at the Snow Demons. They showed no fear, approaching us slowly and deliberately.

I felt my palms turn cold. Looking around, there were nothing but cliffs; not a single escape route was visible. It seemed we had no choice but to fight the Snow Demons head-on.

“Don’t be afraid, they fear guns!” Tang Minghao’s voice trembled slightly as he quietly cautioned us. His words bolstered my courage. We had plenty of bullets; if they came any closer, we would not hesitate to turn them into hornet nests.

The smell emanating from the Snow Demons was too awful; I was nearly suffocated. “Should we shoot?” I quietly asked Baishiqi.

“No, we must capture them alive. Don't you know the Himalayan Yeti is something everyone dreams of possessing?” he said smugly. “No one has ever seen their true form, at most finding only a strand or two of hair. Tell me, if we walked out with four whole Snow Demons, how much prestige would that bring us, how impressive would that be?”

I suspected Baishiqi had lost his mind. He was thinking about capturing Snow Demons at a time like this, knowing what terrifying creatures they were—their appearance alone brought such a dense killing intent. We should be thankful we weren't annihilated by them.

My suspicions proved correct. The Snow Demons were clearly not to be trifled with. Their slow approach earlier must have been a probe. Seeing us standing motionless, huddled together, they seemed frightened, and their courage immediately swelled.

One of the Snow Demons let out a low growl, extended a long arm, and lunged straight for Zhuoma Yangjin beside me. I quickly shoved Zhuoma Yangjin aside and instinctively fired a shot at the Snow Demon.

That single shot enraged the other three. I saw a flash of white blur past my eyes, followed by a heavy blow to my arm that nearly made me drop my rifle.

Damn it! Being bullied by these brutes! Fury surged in me, and I aimed at the one in front of me and fired! “Don’t shoot, don’t hurt them! Alive!” Even then, Baishiqi was still yelling hysterically.

The Snow Demon I hit paused, roared, and brought both hands down toward my head. I ducked just as I collided with Wangmu. She shoved me aside, and a very distinct sound of a dagger slicing into flesh—Chik—rang in my ears. Terrified, thinking Wangmu was injured, I fired at the creature again.

Unexpectedly, just then, Old Li rolled over and bumped into me, throwing my aim off. The bullet whizzed past the beast’s fur. It shrieked, abandoned Wangmu, and came charging back at me.

“Luo Lian, run, it fears me!” Wangmu shouted. “It fears my dagger!” With that, she lunged forward and plunged the knife into the Snow Demon’s backside again. Stung by the pain, the Snow Demon finally faltered. It was then I realized the bullets were having no effect on it whatsoever.

In the ensuing panic, Zhuoma Yangjin grabbed me and Old Li and pulled us toward the side. “Quick, there’s a spot up there we can hide in temporarily,” she gasped, catching her breath. “Above the Stone Buddha.”

Baishiqi was faster; he had already scrambled up there somehow. The remaining two, Shisan and Thirty-eight, were still locked in a desperate struggle with the Snow Demons below. “Come!” He tossed a rope down to Zhuoma Yangjin. “Grab hold, quickly.”

Zhuoma Yangjin didn’t even look; she quickly looped the rope around my waist. “Baishiqi! Pull!” Before the words were out, my waist tightened, and with a rushing sound of wind, I was instantly yanked up by Baishiqi.

The ledge we landed on was barely three feet wide; one misstep and we’d fall. Down below, two Snow Demons were attacking Old Li and Zhuoma Yangjin. I screamed in anxiety, “Yangjin, Yangjin! Old Li! Behind you!” My throat was raw.

Baishiqi nimbly snatched the rope from my hand and shouted, “Princess Yangjin, catch! You have to get up here!” He immediately threw the rope in front of Zhuoma Yangjin. While she hesitated, Old Li had already looped the rope around her waist, shouting, “Pull!”

Baishiqi pulled with monstrous strength, and Zhuoma Yangjin shot up with a swish, whisked upward through the air toward us. I rushed to catch her.

“Yangjin…” Holding her, I recalled her actions just moments before, and my eyes stung with unshed tears.

“Quick, quick, pull them all up!” Zhuoma Yangjin urgently told Baishiqi. “Tang Minghao and Wangmu can hold them off for a while. Hurry and pull the other three up first.”

Baishiqi immediately followed suit, hauling Old Li and his two men up. Now, only Tang Minghao and Wangmu remained below. Tang Minghao relied entirely on his agility, firing a shot and using the Snow Demons’ slow reaction time to dart over and rejoin Wangmu. The Snow Demons were extremely wary of the dagger in Wangmu’s hand, confining themselves to evasive maneuvers while simultaneously trying to attack Tang Minghao.

Tang Minghao fired, dodged, and cursed breathlessly, “Damn it! Why isn’t he afraid of guns anymore!”

Wangmu, feeling emboldened, actively covered Tang Minghao, shouting for him to be pulled up quickly.

Baishiqi was drenched in sweat and running out of strength. He had to call me over to help, and together we managed to drag Tang Minghao up. Wangmu was much easier to deal with next. Although the four Snow Demons hadn't suffered any skin wounds from our bullets, the impact force of the gunfire was not negligible. After a back-and-forth struggle, they were no longer as fierce as before, especially the one nicked by Wangmu’s dagger, which lagged far behind the others. Whenever Wangmu raised her hand, it recoiled in terror, keeping its distance.

Wangmu was remarkably brave, maneuvering around the Snow Demons while asking, “Princess, are you alright?”

Zhuoma Yangjin clutched my hand tightly and chided, “You stubborn girl, aren’t you coming up? Are you trying to make me die of anger?”

A Snow Demon was right in front of her. Wangmu stabbed with the dagger, and the beast quickly dodged. Wangmu then turned back with a playful, almost coquettish smile. “Okay... you tell Baishiqi to pull me up then…”

Baishiqi was completely spent, so Old Li and I worked together to pull her up. As soon as Wangmu was safely on the ledge, the Snow Demons below suddenly clapped their hands and laughed, stomping their feet as if a child’s prank had succeeded. Even the one Wangmu had cut, whose backside fur was now stained red with blood, was clapping and stamping its feet in sheer amusement.

This narrow ledge, only three feet wide atop the Stone Buddha, was now packed tight with us; turning around was difficult, let alone anything else.

I stared at the beasts below, wishing I could just toss a bomb down and blow them all to kingdom come.

Exhausted, Baishiqi plopped down, dangling his two feet over the edge of the Stone Buddha, panting heavily.

Wangmu had reverted to her usual self, two dimples appearing when she smiled. She said to Baishiqi, “Don’t sit on the ground, the dampness in these mountains is heavy.”

Baishiqi replied weakly, “Even if I died, I couldn’t stand up right now.”

Hearing him say that, I realized I was equally drained. It must have been the extreme tension that had held me up; now that the adrenaline had faded, I felt utterly lifeless.

Suddenly, everyone wanted to sit.

Unfortunately, those damned Snow Demons below gave us no such opportunity. Only a few seconds after Baishiqi sat down, they immediately buried their heads in the nearby brush, searching for something. I found it strange and was about to ask Zhuoma Yangjin what they were doing when, before I could speak, two or three rocks the size of washbasins came hurtling toward us.

Oh, for heaven’s sake! Did they intend to wipe us out completely? My temper flared, and I reached for my gun again, but Tang Minghao stopped me instantly: “Forget it, save the bullets. They clearly don't fear guns.”

I snapped back crossly, “But you said earlier they were afraid of guns!”

Tang Minghao sighed helplessly, “How was I supposed to know? They were afraid at first, but now they aren't…”

Old Li, fearing an argument would break out, quickly urged us to quiet down.

In the short time it took, the four brutes picked up more rocks and started hurling them at us. Baishiqi wasn't paying attention and was grazed on the foot by a rock, nearly sending him tumbling off. He quickly scrambled up, his face etched with fear. “Let’s go, let’s go! These beasts clearly don’t want us up here.”

As soon as he moved, the beasts cheered twice and went back to picking up stones to throw at us. For a while, we couldn't dodge fast enough and were nearly hit several times.

There was nothing to do; our guns were useless against them. We certainly couldn't jump back down to fight them with Wangmu’s dagger again. If we couldn't fight them, we had to hide.

Baishiqi stopped mentioning the Snow Demons as precious animals. He wordlessly followed us as we moved.

The intuition returned: Go left.

Without hesitation, I led everyone along the narrow rock face to the left. The beasts, seeing us move, immediately dropped the stones they held and clapped their hands in celebration.

I truly wanted to annihilate every single one of them.

What was most infuriating was that, apparently thinking we were moving too slowly, they threw a few more rocks—aimed perfectly—that landed right by my feet, scaring me so badly I nearly fell.

Zhuoma Yangjin urgently told me to be careful. I could only proceed cautiously, watching out for their potentially lethal stones while moving forward.

Fortunately, the rock face wasn't long. After a wide, gentle bend, we could no longer see those beasts. We were safe, at least for the moment.

“Alright, we can finally rest,” I said, pointing to a small cave at the end of the path, which looked relatively safe.

Tang Minghao and Old Li agreed, saying they needed to rest inside. Baishiqi and his two men offered no comment.

We cautiously approached the entrance of the small cave only to be stunned: the drop below was into a bottomless ravine, thick with trees and undergrowth. One wrong step and we’d be left without bones. The mouth of the cave, however, was relatively clear of vegetation, and the soil and rock were dry—it looked naturally formed, not man-made.

To hell with it, it should be fine. Let’s rest. We were just too tired.