Tomb Raiding: My Family's Last Clan Chief is Little Brother

Chapter 393 The Khampa People
Ma Chongshan suspected that there must be some kind of mechanism inside the Buddhist temple that had hidden the real passage, so he ordered his men to enter the temple to search for it.

The Tibetan guide hurriedly stopped them, saying that their actions were a sign of disrespect to the deities present and would bring punishment upon them.

Ma Chongshan didn't believe this at all. In his view, the so-called Buddhist Lotus Holy Land was actually a treasure trove. Buddhism emphasizes cause and effect, so since they found this place, it meant they had a connection with it.

Even if there are deities here, they only take a little bit of things. Monks should not be concerned about these material possessions.

The Tibetan guide tried to stop him, but Ma Chongshan gave him a look, and his men stepped forward, knocked him unconscious, tied him up with rope, and threw him into a corner of the main hall.

The fog inside the main hall was very thick; you couldn't see what the other person looked like from two or three meters away.

After everyone dispersed, Ma Chongshan and his younger brother walked towards the giant Buddha statue directly opposite them. They felt that the most special thing here was the large Buddha statue at the very top, and perhaps the mechanism was hidden around the Buddha's seat.

However, after searching, the two found nothing.

Ma Chongshan was not discouraged. He knew that haste makes waste. Since they had already arrived at the Buddhist temple and had a map in hand, the Buddhist treasures inside couldn't possibly be lost.

He returned with his younger brother to the entrance of the palace where they had started, intending to study the sheepskin map of the white scorpion sitting on a lotus again.

But when they walked to the temple gate while shouting, they found that there seemed to be only the two of them there, and even the Tibetan guide who had been tied up in the corner at the beginning was nowhere to be seen.

The two were filled with doubt and were shocked. They wondered what was going on. Had his subordinates discovered the entrance first, been tempted by greed, and gone in directly, leaving them and Ma Chongfeng, the two in charge, behind?

Ma Chongshan was furious. The more he thought about it, the more likely it seemed. So he led Ma Chongfeng around the edge of the main hall from the right. If those people had already activated the mechanism, they would definitely have left traces.

However, once they left, they realized something was wrong.

The main hall, which was originally within sight, suddenly became so large, seemingly endless, with no end in sight.

Ma Chongshan sensed something was wrong and instinctively turned around, only to find that the area they had just passed behind was now shrouded in thick fog.

The two panicked and tried to climb the steps, since they could see further from a higher vantage point.

But in the blink of an eye, the steps that had been adorned with hundreds of Buddha sculptures disappeared, and even the white jade nine-turn lotus at the very top vanished.

The two of them were completely engulfed in this vast, misty fog. The blinding whiteness obscured their vision, and they could not discern any direction.

Ma Chongshan, being older, remained relatively calm. He pulled Ma Chongfeng to sit down on the spot and prepared to go over the events from beginning to end.

Upon further investigation, they discovered something was amiss; Ma Chongshan realized that his memory seemed to be malfunctioning.

He only remembered what he and his team had experienced before they encountered the blizzard, but he had no idea what happened after they entered the hot spring crevice.

Upon further inquiry, Ma Chongfeng was found to have the same experience. They both seemed to have inexplicably lost a piece of their memory at the same time, as if they had been teleported here in an instant.

From the moment they smelled the alluring aroma in the hot spring cave, they lost their senses, as if something had controlled them and brought them here.

And while they and their men were searching separately, they used the same method to get rid of the rest of them without them even realizing it.

Or perhaps, only the two of them were taken away, while the others remained where they were?

Looking around, Ma Chongshan felt increasingly that the second possibility was more likely: he and his brother had been brought here by some strange thing without their knowledge.

In an instant, this place, which was originally like a fairyland, became eerie. The previously enticing fragrance disappeared, replaced by a chilling aura that lingered around us at all times.

We can't stay here any longer. Ma Chongshan sensed that something unexpected was about to happen, so he hurriedly pulled his younger brother to his feet and said urgently, "Let's go, we need to get out of here first."

Ma Chongfeng was a little scared. "Brother, the fog is so thick here, which way do we go?"

Ma Chongshan was speechless for a moment. Yes, the fog was incredibly thick. Even seeing Ma Chongfeng's face clearly, who was standing face to face with him, was difficult, let alone finding the right direction.

He didn't know what to do, so he could only grit his teeth and think, "Just pick a direction and walk around. Maybe I'll stumble upon a way out. This place is only so big. The reason I can't see the road is probably because it's covered by fog."

In any case, taking action is better than sitting still and waiting to die.

The two linked arms, lit the last tinder they had, and took a step forward. The air currents they created as they walked caused the surrounding mist to sway.

Not long after the aroma faded, hunger quickly caught up with them. Their empty stomachs would spasm and ache intermittently. The two hadn't eaten for a long time, their weak steps felt light on the ground, and their vision was blurring. They supported each other and continued to walk forward.

Ma Chongshan was so hungry that he could almost smell the aroma of meat on his own body. Suddenly, he felt a sharp pain in his shoulder. He turned around and saw that it was Ma Chongfeng, who was so hungry that he was dizzy and lightheaded, biting him.

Ma Chongshan mumbled something and slapped Ma Chongfeng without saying a word. Because he was exhausted, the slap only lightly touched Ma Chongfeng's face without making a sound.

Ma Chongfeng swayed, and in a daze, he loosened his mouth, but suddenly his whole body shrank, his legs went weak, and he fell to the ground.

Ma Chongshan hurriedly bent down to help him, but he couldn't muster any strength. After struggling several times, he ended up falling to the ground, and the tinderbox in his hand fell to the ground.

In his hazy state of consciousness, Ma Chongshan heard what sounded like someone talking beside him, a soft rustling sound, but he couldn't make out what they were saying.

He slowly raised his eyelids and looked ahead, only to be stunned. A lotus flower, a golden lotus flower, had appeared before his eyes without him noticing.

At first, he thought it was a hallucination caused by hunger, so he closed his eyes and opened them again. He found the lotus flower was still there, and Ma Chongfeng beside him was also staring intently at it. Only then did he realize that what he was seeing was not a hallucination. Legend has it that Shakyamuni Buddha was born as a Chakravartin (universal monarch) in Lumbini Garden from the right side of his mother, Queen Maya. Buddhist scriptures say that the Buddha could walk immediately after birth, taking seven steps, each step creating a lotus flower.

In an instant, fragrant breezes wafted everywhere, flower petals rained down, celestial music played in harmony, and all the gods and humans in the heavens praised in unison. Two springs also gushed forth from the ground, one cold and one warm, fragrant and pure.

Ma Chongshan was stunned for a moment, then overjoyed. He took out the map he had hidden on his body and saw that the white scorpion and lotus pattern on it had indeed changed again. A straight gold line had appeared in the original brown and blue lines.

"Follow Buddha Lotus...follow Buddha Lotus..."

Ma Chongshan muttered to himself, and suddenly a surge of strength welled up within him. He helped Ma Chongfeng up and was about to lead him forward when he suddenly realized that the golden lotus in front of him was gone.

Ma Chongshan was startled and subconsciously knelt down again. The lotus flower reappeared before his eyes, and there was more than one he had seen before.

Around the golden lotus, which is the size of a Nebraska star disk, nine palm-sized golden lotuses are clustered between the nine petals, blooming in the mist, hazy and holy, beautiful beyond compare.

Ma Chongshan then realized that these golden lotus flowers were actually patterns carved into the floor, colored with a special gold powder pigment. The lotus flowers glowed under the faint light of the tinderbox.

Moreover, Ma Chongshan also noticed that the fog seemed to be much thinner in the area close to the floor below, making it much easier to breathe.

Ma Chongshan crawled forward two steps on his knees, picked up a tinderbox, and shone it on the floor beside him. After several experiments, he concluded that only the large cluster of lotus flowers in front of him would glow, while the lotus flowers in other places would remain their original color when the tinder shone on them.

Realizing this, Ma Chongshan was overjoyed and hurriedly woke up Ma Chongfeng, who had already fallen asleep, and told him that he had found a way out.

Following the route on the parchment map, the two continued forward and, sure enough, found the same lotus that could also illuminate and glow in the next location.

Driven by their survival instincts, the two ignored their hunger and crawled forward following the distinctive lotus flower. After their tinderbox burned out, they cut off their thick felt coats with a knife, lit them with a flint and steel, and continued on their way.

They didn't know how far they had crawled, nor how many times they had fainted along the way.

When Ma Chongshan regained consciousness, he saw many people dressed in ancient Tibetan robes surrounding him.

Various sounds swirled around his ears. The language these people spoke was ancient and sounded somewhat similar to Tibetan. Ma Chongshan had a hard time distinguishing them and couldn't quite understand their meaning.

When the people in Tibetan robes saw that he had woken up, someone went out to report the news. Soon, a person wearing an ancient blue brocade Tibetan robe and a half-silver mask lifted the tent flap and came in.

Ma Chongshan observed that the people around him held this person in high esteem.

He guessed that this person must be the chief or priest of this ancient tribe, because the man looked very strong, and his large Tibetan robe could not hide his majestic physique. He was very imposing in every move.

The most obvious difference between this person's clothing and that of the others was that he had a fist-sized bronze octagonal bell hanging from his waist.

Because of the low angle, Ma Chongshan could see very clearly that there were two human finger bones tied together with colorful threads below the large bell, but he couldn't see what was inside.

Ma Chongshan tried to communicate with the man in his broken Tibetan, but the man in the blue robe ignored him, whether he didn't understand or not. He simply took off the large bell and dangled it near Ma Chongshan's ear. Ma Chongshan immediately felt his muddled mind clear up considerably.

Afterwards, the man in the blue robe said something to the others around him, and the crowd gradually dispersed. Ma Chongshan saw that his younger brother was also wearing a Tibetan robe and was peeking out from the edge of the tent.

Although his mind was clear, for some reason he still couldn't move his body.

Seeing that everyone had left, Ma Chongfeng scurried up to Ma Chongshan and comforted him, "Brother, don't worry, we're saved."

Ma Chongshan breathed a slight sigh of relief, then asked him about the situation, "What exactly happened? Which tribe do these Tibetans belong to? Have we already left that snow mountain?"

“No.” Ma Chongfeng shook his head. “We are now deeper into the snow-capped mountains.”

Ma Chongfeng woke up a day earlier than his brother. When the adults weren't looking, he used a small jeweled dagger he carried with him to get a little information from a boy named Bai Mugesa who was sent to guard him.

This Tibetan tribe, hidden deep in the snow-capped mountains, is called Kangbaluo. The people here are very mysterious and wary and hostile to outsiders. It is said that the Ma Chongshan brothers were found by the tribe's hunters in a hot spring cave filled with bells.

That place was a forbidden area for the Khampa people. Every few days, a hunter specially appointed by the tribal priest would go there to patrol. It just so happened that he saved the Ma Chongshan brothers, who were about to freeze to death.

"What do you mean?" Ma Chongshan asked, puzzled. "You mean, the two of us walked out of that Buddhist temple on our own?"

“No, we didn’t go in at all.” Ma Chongfeng said seriously, “When we entered that cave to take shelter from the wind and snow, we accidentally touched the bell and entered the maze. All those Buddhist temples and lotus flowers were just illusions.”

Ma Chongshan was shocked and couldn't believe that what he had seen with his own eyes could be fake. "Where's the map? Is that sheepskin scroll still there?"

“Yes, there is indeed a lotus scorpion on it, but it changed color because something on it came into contact with the sulfur in the hot spring.” Ma Chongfeng took out the Buddhist scripture parchment from the chest of his close-fitting Tibetan robe.

Ma Chongshan strained to look up and saw that the picture only showed the scorpion coiled on the lotus flower, without any other gold or silver threads. Only then did he believe Ma Chongfeng's words, but he was also greatly disappointed. In the end, after all that trouble, he not only got nothing, but he also almost lost his life.

"Where are the others? Where did all those guys go?" he asked.

“They’re all dead.” Ma Chongfeng returned the parchment to his brother. “Little Gesa took me to see their bodies. Lord Rengarawa said that they were all taken away by Iron Yama Raja in their sleep.”

Ma Chongshan felt his head buzzing; he couldn't understand a single word his younger brother had uttered.

However, it's fairly easy to guess that it's a kind of demonic incarnation, similar to the concept of the Black and White Impermanence in the Han Chinese underworld.

Thank you so much to the generous donor [Lost in Memory, But Not in You]! Sending you love...*
(End of this chapter)