The Lost Tomb Vol. 3

Chapter 4: Kunlun Fetus

The sun had almost set, its bright rays barely visible above the clouds now. This meant that the layer of ice gradually became darker, and the huge shadow inside became more distorted.

The shadow's shape was very strange and unlike anything we had ever seen before. With its big head and those long spikes growing all over its body, it almost looked like an animal fetus that had frozen to death. Just looking at it was creeping me out.

Ye Cheng, who had been staring at it with his mouth wide open, suddenly said to me, "Damn it, if you don't pray to the Bodhisattva before going to work, you'll always run into something strange. What the hell is this thing?"

Fatty and I shook our heads—we had never seen this kind of thing before either. Judging from its size, it was as tall as a five-story building, and it was frozen in the depths of the glacier. If it was indeed the tomb of someone closely associated with the main tomb owner, then how was it built in there? Or maybe it was some kind of prehistoric creature?

It was said that hundreds of thousands of years ago, the area around Changbai Mountain was still a vast ocean, but because of a volcanic eruption, it rose to the surface. Could such a large thing be the corpse of some giant marine animal from that time?

But after thinking about it, that didn't seem right. When this ancient glacier first formed, the mountain was already here, which meant that any corpse would have been fossilized long ago.

Although I had just experienced the thrill of surviving an avalanche, in reality, it was really nothing more than a landslide—it didn't have that thunderous momentum of an avalanche and it also ended very quickly. Although everyone was still terrified, our fear was quickly replaced by curiosity when we saw the shadow in the ice.

We drove ice screws(1) into the ice, tied our ropes to them, put on our crampons, and went down to the surface of the glacier to get a better look at the strange black shadow frozen in the glacier. But even after carefully examining it, we still didn't understand what it was.

At this time, Chen Pi Ah Si finally seemed to come his senses. Monk Hua and Ye Cheng helped lower him down from above, and then we carefully helped him to the front.

Despite looking much better, Chen Pi Ah Si was still a bit sluggish—he rubbed his eyes, squatted down, and stared at the shadow in the glacier for a long time before suddenly saying, "This shadow... is it a Kunlun fetus?" Then he shook his head.

"What's a Kunlun fetus?" None of us had ever heard of such a thing, but it must've been amazing given how excited he was.

"A Kunlun fetus is a strange natural phenomenon that occurs at the source of a dragon vein. In other words, it's said to be the place where the spiritual qi of heaven and earth is gathered. Sometimes a strange, baby-like thing will form within rocks, glaciers, and trees. In ancient texts, these things are called 'earthborn fetuses'. Legend has it that after thousands of years of evolution, some 'earthborn fetuses' will become spirits. One such example is Sun Wukong from 'Journey to the West',"(2) Monk Hua explained to us. "I remember seeing it mentioned in a book from the Tang Dynasty. At the end of the Western Han Dynasty,(3) it was said that some Tibetans found a massive fetus-shaped piece of ice under a giant ice cirque in the Kunlun Mountains. Not only was it as big as a mountain, but it had lifelike facial features that made it look like a baby girl. Because of this, the 'earthborn fetus' was called 'Kunlun fetus'. Later, a temple was built on the baby girl's belly button and called the Temple of the Kunlun Child. In feng shui, a Kunlun fetus is a natural treasure well determined by heaven, which makes it different from a feng shui acupoint that is determined by men. It's impossible to determine the place in the dragon vein where the Kunlun fetus will form, so you can only rely on luck to find it after it's already started to form. If one is found, it's excavated in such a way that the fetus's shape is retained, and then the tomb is built inside of it. But such a treasure well is rare. Legend has it that only the most esteemed person acknowledged by heaven is qualified to be buried there. In fact, the only person in recorded history who is said to be buried in a Kunlun fetus is the Yellow Emperor."(4)