Holy Lake Mist
The seventh Mani pile is less than half a day's journey from the holy lake, but the journey is extremely difficult.
Qidiao Yanfei was weighed down by worries, and the contents of Tashi Phuntsok's letter were like a thorn in her side. "Another life must be sacrificed"—these words echoed repeatedly in her mind, each time bringing a piercing chill.
She secretly observed Jiacuo walking in front of her. The young man's upright back looked particularly resolute in the sunshine of the plateau. He had no idea of the fate he was about to face, but he was still full of hope to find a cure for his family's disease.
"Look, the holy lake!" Jiacuo suddenly reined in his horse and pointed into the distance.
Qi Diao Yanfei looked up and saw a deep blue lake, like a gem, nestled among snow-capped mountains. It was Namtso Lake, a sacred lake in Tibetan Buddhism, a mythical water said to reflect past and present lives.
The closer we got to the holy lake, the stranger the scene became. The water took on an unnatural blue-purple hue, and the plants growing along its banks grew in bizarre shapes, some even emitting a faint fluorescent light. An inexplicable sense of oppression hung in the air, and even the horses seemed restless.
"It feels... wrong here." Jiacuo frowned, his hand unconsciously pressing on the Tibetan knife at his waist.
Qi Diao Yanfei nodded silently. She could sense something unusual about this area—not that it was sacred, but rather that some supernatural force was converging here, distorting the normal laws of nature.
Following the markings on Tashi Phuntsok's map, they headed north along the lakeshore. The further north they went, the thicker the fog became, until they could barely see anything more than ten steps away. Strangely, the fog was confined to the lakeshore, leaving the snow-capped mountains in the distance clearly visible.
"This fog is unusual," Jiacuo looked around cautiously, "It seems alive and moving with us."
Qi Diao Yanfei felt the same way. The mist swirled around them like tentacles, sometimes even forming vague human shapes, only to vanish without a trace. More than once, she glimpsed a familiar silhouette through the mist—the face of Tashi Phuntsok as a young man, with the smile she remembered.
Was it an illusion, or was he really approaching in some form?
At dusk, they finally arrived at the "time-space node" marked on the map. It was a circular clearing, barren of grass, the ground as smooth as a mirror, as if meticulously polished by some immense force. In the center stood a two-person-tall black stone tablet, engraved with complex symbols that resembled neither Tibetan nor any other known language.
The most surprising thing was that a simple camp had been set up in front of the stone tablet, and the embers of the campfire were still warm, which showed that someone had been here not long ago.
"Someone got here before us." Jiacuo immediately became alert, with his Tibetan knife drawn.
Qi Diao Yanfei dismounted to inspect the camp. The tent was empty, but it had everything it needed for daily life. There was even an open notebook lying on top of the sleeping bag. She picked up the notebook, flipped through its contents, and her heartbeat quickened.
That was Tashi Phuntsok's handwriting, recording the research and calculations of time and space nodes:
"According to my calculations, the space-time node will be fully activated at midnight tomorrow evening and will last for about an incense stick of time.
When a node is turned on, a channel connecting different time and space will be formed.
But stabilizing the channel requires enormous energy, which can only come from life itself.
Dorje Gyaltsen’s life energy allowed me to return briefly and leave clues.
But to fully cross over, another willing sacrifice is required..."
The notes ended abruptly here, and the last page was torn off.
"Voluntary sacrifice..." Qi Diao Yanfei murmured to herself, and the uneasiness in her heart became more and more intense.
Suddenly, Jiacuo's exclamation was heard outside the camp. Qi Diao Yanfei immediately rushed out of the tent and saw the young man standing by the lake, pointing at the water and unable to speak.
She hurried to the lake's edge, and the sight before her made her gasp—the reflection wasn't their own, but a dynamic image: Tashi Phuntsok standing in a room filled with bizarre equipment, operating something intently. He looked a few years older than she remembered, his face more mature and resolute, but his eyes still had the familiar clarity she'd known.
"That's... him?" Gyatso asked in shock. "Where is he? What is that place?"
Qi Diao Yanfei didn't answer. She noticed that the room where Tashi Phuntsok was was filled with equipment she had never seen before: glowing screens, flashing indicator lights, complex machinery—all of it was beyond her comprehension.
Tashi Phuntsok in the lake seemed to have noticed something and suddenly looked up, his eyes fixed on them. His lips moved, without making any sound, but Qi Diao Yanfei clearly understood the lip language:
"Wait for me tomorrow on the full moon night."
The picture then disappeared, and the lake returned to calm, reflecting only the astonished faces of the two of them.
Back at the camp, Qi Diao Yanfei was preoccupied with preparing dinner, while Jiacuo carefully examined the black stone tablet, trying to decipher the symbols on it.
"I've never seen these symbols before," Gyatso frowned, "but some parts look very similar to the patterns in the ancient scriptures of the Khampa family."
Qi Diao Yanfei walked over and reached out to touch the stone tablet. It was cold to the touch, and the stone was too fine to be naturally formed. Even stranger, as she touched the stone tablet, the phoenix eye bodhi beads on her wrist suddenly emitted a faint fluorescence.
"Look there!" Jiacuo pointed to the bottom of the stone tablet.
Under the light of the rosary, a line of previously invisible small characters appeared at the bottom of the stone tablet:
“Only true love can transcend life and death, and only selflessness can penetrate time and space.”
Qi Diao Yanfei chewed over this sentence over and over again. She understood that true love could transcend life and death. But what did "only selflessness can penetrate time and space" mean?
As night fell, the fog around the holy lake grew thicker, nearly engulfing the entire camp. Visibility was reduced to a minimum, and even the light from the campfire was confined to a tiny area.
Qi Diao Yanfei and Jiacuo sat around the fire, each in silence. Tomorrow was the night of the full moon, and the truth would soon be revealed. Both were filled with anticipation and fear.
"Mercier," Gyatso suddenly spoke, breaking the silence, "Do you think we can really find a cure for the blood curse?"
Qi Diao Yanfei gazed at the dancing flames and whispered, "I believe everything has its cause and effect. Where there's a disease, there's a cure."
"Even if that means paying a huge price?" Gyatso's eyes flickered in the firelight.
Qi Diao Yanfei's heart tightened: "Why do you ask?"
Gyatso looked down at his hands. "The night before my father died, he called me to his bedside and said something strange. He said the fate of the Khampa family was closely linked to mine, and that I would soon face a grave choice—between my own life and the fate of my family."
Qi Diao Yanfei held her breath. "Do you remember his exact words?"
Gyatso raised his head, his eyes determined. “He said, ‘When that moment comes, don’t hesitate, follow your heart. Because true love and sacrifice are the only keys to breaking the curse.’”
True love and sacrifice... Qi Diao Yanfei suddenly understood something. Dorje Jianzang seemed to have foreseen this moment and was guiding his son to make a choice.
But what exactly is that choice?
Late at night, Gyatso returned to his tent to rest. Qidiao Yanfei, however, was not sleepy at all. She sat alone by the campfire, took out the biography of Tsangyang Gyatso's poems, and read by the firelight.
"It's best not to meet each other, so that we won't fall in love.
The second best thing is not to know each other, so that you won’t miss each other.
…”
She recited softly, her voice sounding especially lonely in the thick fog. Eight years of waiting, eight years of searching. Tomorrow she would finally meet the person who had made her let go of everything in the world but never let go. But why was her heart filled with anxiety rather than joy?
"I will not let down Tathagata, I will not let you down..." She stroked the verses on the pages of the book, tears welling up in her eyes.
At midnight, a slight noise woke her up from her thoughts. She looked up and saw a vague figure walking towards her in the thick fog.
"Who?" She immediately stood up and put her hand on the Sky Burial Knife.
The figure didn't answer, but continued to approach. When it emerged from the dense fog and entered the circle of light from the campfire, Qi Diao Yanfei's breathing almost stopped.
It was Tashi Phuntsok. Not the mature version reflected in the lake, but the younger version she remembered—the Tashi Phuntsok who had died in her arms eight years before.
"Yan Fei," he called her name with a smile, his voice as gentle as he remembered, "I'm back."
Qi Diao Yanfei stood there in a daze, unable to believe her eyes. Was this real? Or was it just an illusion created by the thick fog?
"You...you're really back?" Her voice trembled with excitement.
Tashi Phuntsok nodded and held out his hand to her. "Tomorrow, on the night of the full moon, we will be together forever. But first, I need your help."
"What kind of help?" Qi Diao Yanfei asked cautiously. Although the person before her looked exactly like the Tashi Phuntsok she remembered, some intuition told her that things were not simple.
"Opening the space-time node requires life energy," Tashi Phuntsok's expression became serious. "Dorje Gyaltsen's voluntary sacrifice allowed me to return briefly, but to fully cross over, I need another life—a life connected to my blood."
Qi Diao Yanfei was shocked: "Connected to you by blood? What does that mean?"
Tashi Phuntsok's gaze drifted towards Gyatso's tent. "The Khampa blood curse actually originates from my own bloodline. Many years ago, one of my ancestors fell in love with a Khampa girl and had offspring. That disease is a genetic trait in our family."
This explanation left Qi Diao Yanfei dumbfounded. Was Tashi Phuntsok actually related to the Khampa family?
"So Gyatso..."
"He's a distant relative of mine," Tashi Phuntsok continued. "His life energy is the most compatible with mine and can stabilize the space-time channel."
Qi Diao Yanfei took a step back and shook his head, "No, I can't let you sacrifice Jiacuo. He trusted me and followed me here to cure his family's illness, not to die."
Tashi Phuntsok's expression turned painful. "Yanfei, I've waited for eight years, traveling through countless time and space, just to be with you. Now the only chance is right before your eyes. Are you willing to give up?"
Qi Diao Yanfei looked at the face she had longed for, feeling conflicted. Of course, she wanted to be reunited with Tashi Phuntsok, but at the cost of another innocent life? And that life was Gyatso, the one who had trusted her and protected her all the way here?
"Is there any other way?" she asked with her last glimmer of hope.
Tashi Phuntsok shook his head. "This is the only way. On the night of the full moon, when the space-time node opens, you must guide Gyatso to stand at the center of the node. Leave the rest to me."
He wanted to say something else, but his figure suddenly began to flicker, like a candle in the wind.
"Time is running out. I must go back." His voice became erratic. "Remember, tomorrow, on the night of the full moon, at midnight. For our reunion..."
Before he finished speaking, his figure had completely disappeared in the thick fog, as if he had never appeared.
Qi Diao Yanfei stood alone by the campfire, her heart swirling with emotion. This Tashi Phuntsok seemed different from the lover she remembered—more eager, more persistent, even a little...cold.
In our memory, would Tashi Phuntsok, the young man who would rather give up his identity as a reincarnated soul boy than let her down, sacrifice an innocent life for his own return?
"Are you okay?" Gyatso's voice came from behind. He had walked out of the tent and looked at her with concern.
Qi Diao Yanfei quickly gathered her emotions and shook her head, saying, "I'm fine, I just... had a nightmare."
Gyatso sat down beside her, gazing at the dancing flames. "I can't sleep either. Tomorrow is the full moon, and I have a feeling...something big is going to happen."
Qi Diao Yanfei was silent for a moment, then suddenly asked, "Gyatso, if you had to choose between yourself and your family, what would you do?"
The young man didn't answer immediately, but instead looked up at the moon, obscured by thick fog. After a long pause, he whispered, "A Khampa man is born ready to sacrifice for his family. If my death could cure the family's blood curse, I would do it without hesitation."
This answer made Qi Diao Yanfei's heart ache. Gyatso's calmness and selflessness formed a sharp contrast with Tashi Phuntsok, who demanded sacrifice.
"But what if it's not to cure the blood curse, but for some other purpose?" she couldn't help but ask.
Gyatso turned his head and looked her straight in the eye. "Mourner, you are hiding something, aren't you? About tomorrow's events, about the true intentions of that Tashi Phuntsok."
Qi Diao Yanfei avoided his gaze: "I...I'm not sure."
"Tell me the truth," Gyatso said in a firm, calm voice. "Whatever it is, I have a right to know."
Under the young man's clear gaze, Qi Diao Yanfei finally could no longer hide the truth. She told him the contents of Tashi Phuntsok's letter, the vision she had just had, and all her doubts.
After hearing her narration, Gyatso's expression was unexpectedly calm: "So, my life energy can stabilize the space-time channel and allow him to return completely."
Qi Diao Yanfei nodded, her eyes filled with pain: "But I won't let him do that. Tomorrow, we will leave here early in the morning."
To her surprise, Gyatso shook his head: "No, we want to stay."
"Why?" Qi Diao Yanfei asked in shock.
A strange light flickered in Jiacuo's eyes. "Because this is what my father instructed me in a dream. He said that when the messenger of death arrives at the holy lake, the time and space node will open, and the fate of the Khampa family will usher in a turn for the better."
"But that may mean your death!" Qi Diao Yanfei said excitedly.
"Or, it could mean the end of the blood curse," Gyatso replied calmly. "Don't forget, Tashi Phuntsok said we're connected by blood. If his time travel can change anything, perhaps it can break our family's curse."
Qi Diao Yanfei was stunned. She had never considered the problem from this perspective.
"Besides," Gyatso smiled slightly, "you said that Tashi Phuntsok was different from the one you remembered, right? Perhaps that wasn't the real him at all."
"What's the meaning?"
"There's an ancient legend among my people," Gyatso said, gazing at the sacred lake shrouded in thick fog. "The sacred lake not only reflects past and present lives, but also reveals the deepest desires and fears of the human heart. The mist sometimes transforms into the person we most want to see and speaks the words we most want to hear, but that's merely an illusion, a prank played by the lake."
Qi Diao Yanfei's heart moved. Could it be that the Tashi Phuntsok that had just appeared was just an illusion created by the holy lake?
"But those letters, those notes..." she wondered.
"Part of it may be true, and part of it may have been tampered with," Gyatso analyzed. "The only thing we can be sure of is that tomorrow, on the night of the full moon, the time and space node will indeed open. Then, the truth will be revealed."
Qi Diao Yanfei was silent for a long time, and finally nodded: "Okay, we will stay. But promise me, don't sacrifice yourself so easily. If someone must pay the price, it should be me - after all, this is the moment I have been waiting for eight years."
Gyatso neither agreed nor refused, but simply turned his gaze back to the campfire and said softly, "It's almost dawn."
In the east, behind the thick fog, the first rays of dawn were quietly approaching. The full moon had arrived, but the fog over the Holy Lake seemed thicker than ever.
Qi Diao Yanfei clenched the Phoenix Eye Bodhi beads in her hand, feeling their warmth. No matter what she faced, she was ready.
I will not let down the Buddha and I will not let you down - this oath will be put to the final test tonight.
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