The Lost Tomb Vol. 7

Chapter 36: Nest (Up Top)

My previous experience with the Queen of the West made me very resistant to recalling the memories. There was a kind of physiological rejection, so when I associated the scene before me with the previous one, I suddenly felt that the rock wall had become ugly. The black-and-blue stone and the holes in it made the whole mountain look like the corpse of a rotting and perforated behemoth. And the green moss was like pus and fungus on the corpse. I didn't feel like this before.

Fortunately, it was only a moment before Xiao Hua's Sichuan buddy interrupted my thoughts. Under his guidance, several locals removed the ropes from the mules and tied them to a piton, which was a small piece of rock-climbing equipment that could be inserted into a crack in the rock and would stick instantly.

We had a complete set of climbing equipment: safety belts, descenders, safety locks, rope slings, safety helmets, climbing shoes, magnesium powder and powder bags. The world's earliest climbing association may have come from the Soviet Union, but these items were all made in Switzerland and looked very reassuring.

Xiao Hua didn't fully comply with the regulations, however. He took off his coat, and while only wearing his harness, hung a rope around his waist and started climbing with his bare hands. He was very thin and had no obvious muscles, but for some reason, watching him climb was just like an acrobatic show. He did a lot of movements I dared not think of, such as hanging one handed on the protruding cliff rock, using the strength of his waist to send his foot to a tree far away, and hooking his foot on the tree and hanging upside down. If he couldn't reach the rock higher up, he would turn over on the cliff very quickly, hold his body in place with the instep of one foot while hooking his other foot's heel on a spot level with his head and then pull up instantly. He did it cleanly and even with a special aesthetic feeling.

The most amazing thing was his speed. I truly realized what it meant to move like a ninja [1]. All his climbing was extremely fast— even faster than walking— except for those areas where he encountered difficulties in climbing. But even so, it took him nearly four hours to climb to the top of the cliff and when he reached the top, I could hardly see his position clearly. It wasn't until he dropped the rope that I was sure he had really made it.

All the people below applauded heartily, and I couldn't help expressing my admiration as I told myself that this guy must have studied "Journey to the West" when he was learning opera.

We used the rope he dropped down to us to hoist all the equipment up through a pulley system. Seven ropes were thrown down from the top and became seven "ladders" to assist rock climbing. I didn't know how these ropes were going to be used, but when I thought about Xiao Hua's skill, I suddenly realized that they were probably for me.

I didn't feel ashamed. If anything, I just felt scared. If I were allowed to climb up and stay, maybe I could accept it, but if I had to keep shuttling up and down these ropes... fuck. I really couldn't guarantee that I could persist for so long without falling to my death.

After that, several Sichuan guys set up the so-called "nest". It was made of steel-like claws that could hold a sleeping bag, and many of the fixed rings on the bag and claws were connected by six metal rings. The claws were hung from the cliff with their palms facing inward.

After looking at it, I finally understood why it was called a nest. This thing would enable us to sleep on the cliff, and sure enough, it couldn't be called anything besides a nest [2].

Xiao Hua's assistant told me that this was an instrument invented by the Finns for bird photographers to photograph eagles on cliffs. Since it was hard to observe eagles in their natural habitat, they made these claws, and with the sleeping bag, they could live on the cliff for several months without falling. There were so many holes in the cliff that it would take us at least a week or two to look for them all, and the cliff was so high that it may take ordinary people a whole day just to get up, so we could only stay on it.

The nest would be placed at the top of the cliff, where there was more light, less moss, and no dampness. The last step was to hang me up.

I had a little experience rock climbing, so I wasn't too embarrassed this time. It was just that when I got to the middle of the cliff and looked down, I only saw the trees' green canopies and felt a little dazed. I thought of the fault at the edge of the snake marsh, and a lot of things flashed through my mind. I couldn't help but wonder at my change. If I had been in such a place before, I would have felt my legs go soft, but now I could remain calm.

When I got to the top of the cliff, I saw the setting sun. We were really at the peak, with almost no place to stand and only some low trees and shrubs present. Under the yellow light of the setting sun, the lofty but gentle snow-capped mountains around us became mysterious, while the surrounding cliffs and valleys formed an ethereal white mist. The shadow of the backlit mountain was already dark, and coupled with the smoke from the mountain village and everything else, it formed a strange artistic picture.

Xiao Hua was sitting on a stone with his feet dangling in the air above the abyss. He looked at the snow-capped mountains with a solemn look in his eyes.

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Notes:

[1] The characters are Fei Yan Zou Bi = to leap onto roofs and vault over walls (usually associated with martial arts) so I took some liberties.

[2] It's called a portaledge if you want to get technical but the raw calls it a nest.