Chapter 25: Dallying Hualian; Nightfall in Sinner's Pit (Part 2)

"San Lang, are you really alright? Put me down." Xie Lian said.

"No." San Lang replied.

Xie Lian was taken aback by the response. What's going on? Was there something on the ground?

That pair of arms were still holding him tightly without any intention of letting him go. Xie Lian was going to raise his hand and gently push himself away, but just as he laid his hand on San Lang's chest, he abruptly remembered how he was randomly touching him all over just now, even feeling up his Adam's apple, and quietly withdrew his hand again.

It's been hundreds of years since the last time Xie Lian cared to learn what 'awkward' meant, but now there was a voice in his head telling him that he better stay still and stay decent.

Just then, an enraged, sorrowful wail roared from the other side of the pit, and a voice cried, "WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU!?"

Those words were shouted in BanYuenese, and upon hearing the voice, it was General KeMo that XieLian had dragged down with him. Since he was already dead, the fall wouldn't have killed him, only blasting a human crater in the ground when he crashed. But when he climbed up from his hole, he started screaming, "What's going on? My brothers, WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU?!"

When he howled into the pit earlier from the top of the wall, there were hundreds and thousands of voices that answered his call, as if the pit was filled to the brim with angry, menacing ghosts. But right then and there, other than KeMo's cries, XieLian could only hear dead silence. There wasn't even any sound of breathing or heartbeat from SanLang, who was next to him.

XieLian's breathing hitched, suddenly realizing what was amiss. That's right. Even though XieLian was pressed against SanLang, he couldn't detect any sounds of his heart beating or his breathing.

KeMo roared, "WHO KILLED YOU? WHO KILLED ALL OF YOU!!!"

When A-Zhao first fell, there were still horrifying sounds of flesh being ripped apart, but after SanLang jumped, there were no more sounds. Who else could it be?

KeMo himself must have realized this and shouted towards them, "Killing my soldiers, you're dead! I'm gonna kill you!"

Although he couldn't see, XieLian could still sense danger rapidly approaching and jerked his body, "SanLang, watch out!"

"Don't worry about him," SanLang said, still holding him tight. He made a small sidestep and spun around.

In the dark, XieLian heard a series of broken clanking sounds, clear and intense, swishing here and there. KeMo rushed to capture them but missed the first time, and turned around to attack again. However, SanLang also easily sidestepped again and avoided him. XieLian's arms involuntarily climbed up SanLang's chest again and held on tight to his shoulders, unconsciously clutching his clothes.

But the arms carrying him were steady, even with all the spinning and sidestepping, the hold was still strong and secure. Just, XieLian could feel something cold and hard on those arms that would poke at him every so often and was a little confused. In the endless blackness, streaks of silver shimmers flashed everywhere, and sounds of a sharp metal inflicting wounds were accompanied by KeMo's angry roars.

It was obvious that BanYue General is heavily wounded by now, but as tough as he was, he refused to admit defeat and once again rushed towards them. XieLian called out, "Ruoye!"

The silk band answered his call and shot out, a large 'snap' sounded in the air, and KeMo seemed to have fallen over from getting smacked by Ruoye. KeMo shouted from the ground, "You two! Two against one! Unfair!"

'You were gonna kill us, who cares if it's two against two against one, or if it's fair or unfair? Saving my life is more important; I'll kill you dead first.' XieLian thought.

SanLang, on the other hand, only sneered, "Even one on one, you won't win. You don't have to fight."

The last line was directed to XieLian, and the words had none of the gibe tones.

"Alright," XieLian responded but also prompted, "SanLang, why don't you put me down? I'll be in your way like this."

"You're not in the way. Don't come down," SanLang said.

"Why can't I come down?" XieLian asked curiously. This guy couldn't possibly enjoy fighting while carrying someone?

SanLang's answer only had two words: "It's dirty."

"…"

XieLian had never imagined that to be the answer, in such seriousness too, and thought it was kind of funny, but it also made him feel kind of strange, the feeling hard to describe, only that his heart was warm. "You can't possibly keep holding me like this?"

"I could," San Lang replied.

Xie Lian was only joking, but San Lang's words had no trace of half-heartedness, and suddenly Xie Lian didn't know what to say. In the time they were talking, Ke Mo had never ceased to attack. Both of San Lang's hands were firmly holding him, but something else was keeping Ke Mo at bay, whipping him to defeat. He shouted while slowly backing off, "That bitch made you two..."

He hadn't finished his words before a large boom sounded off, and the massive man fell to the ground, no longer able to stand. Xie Lian hurriedly said, "San Lang, don't kill him! We'll still need to question him if we want to get out of here."

San Lang heeded his words and stopped. "I wasn't planning on killing him anyway, otherwise he wouldn't have lasted til now."

A dead silence ensued anew in the Sinner's Pit.

After a moment, Xie Lian asked, "San Lang, did you do all of this down here?"

Even if nothing was visible in the dark, with such an overpowering stench of blood and bloodlust covering the pit, plus the enraged madness of Ke Mo, it was obvious what had happened down here. It was another momentary silence before Xie Lian heard San Lang's response.

"Yes," he said.

It was an expected answer. Xie Lian sighed, "How should I say this..."

Xie Lian chewed on his words and organized his thoughts before speaking up in a serious tone, "San Lang, next time you see a pit like this, don't just jump in randomly. I couldn't even stop you. Really, I didn't know what to do."

San Lang didn't seem to expect this kind of response and let out a confused "eh?"

When he spoke again, he sounded a bit odd, "You don't want to ask anything else?"

"What else do you want me to ask?" Xie Lian said.

"For example, whether if I'm human," San Lang replied.

Xie Lian rubbed his forehead, "Hmm. I don't think that's necessary."

"Is it not?"

"Is it? It's not important whether if you're human or not," Xie Lian said.

"Oh?"

Xie Lian crossed his arms while in San Lang's arms and said, "Relationships should depend on chance and whether if we're on the same wavelength, not on identity. If I like you, you can be a beggar and I'll still like you. If I dislike you, you can be the emperor and I'll still dislike you. Shouldn't it be like that? It's simple logic. So, whether if you're human is irrelevant."

San Lang laughed out loud, "Yeah. You're very right."

"Right?" Xie Lian said, laughing along too. But the more he laughed, the more he felt something was off, and it came to him suddenly.

He was still letting San Lang carry him, and the scary thing was, he had gotten used to being in this position without realizing it!

What kind of situation was this?? Xie Lian cleared his throat quietly and said, "Um, San Lang. We can talk about that later. How about you put me down first?"

San Lang seemed to have chuckled and said, "Hold on."

He carried Xie Lian and walked on for a bit before gently letting him down. Touching ground, Xie Lian could feel hard, flat ground. "Thanks!"

San Lang made no gestures in response, and after thanking him, Xie Lian looked to the sky.

Above them, the navy blue sky hung a crescent moon, bright and beautiful. Just that, watching the view from a square frame made it feel like they're a frog in a well.

Xie Lian commanded Ruoye to try and reach for the top, but expectedly it was stopped halfway as if it bumped into an invisible wall, and Ruoye rebounded, unable to go higher.

"There's an array drawn around the Sinner's Pit," San Lang said.

"I know, but I wanted to try anyway," Xie Lian said, "I couldn't give up until I've tried, you know. I wonder how the others are up there. Would the girl in black also sweep them down?"

He retold of how the girl hung on the pole suddenly came alive and swept all the BanYue soldiers down into the pit to San Lang, and while talking, he stepped on something on the ground, appearing to be an arm, and Xie Lian almost tripped. He steadied himself immediately, but San Lang still reached out and helped to support him, chiding, "Be careful."

"I told you the ground was dirty," San Lang added nonchalantly.

Xie Lian now understood what "dirty" meant and said, "Don't worry. I want to ignite a palm torch; see what's happened down here and go from there."

San Lang didn't say anything. Just then, from afar, Ke Mo's cold voice cried again, "You two doing the deeds of that bitch, all of the thousands of dead souls of this kingdom will curse you. CURSE YOU!"

Xie Lian turned towards Ke Mo and asked using BanYuenese, "General Ke Mo, who is that... that person you speak of?"

Ke Mo responded with hatred, "Why pretend to ask? That wicked witch!"

"Is it the woman cultivator roaming in the city streets?"

Ke Mo spat angrily on the ground, and Xie Lian took that as a yes. He continued to question, "Weren't you a loyal supporter of the BanYue Guoshi?"

Ke Mo was provoked by his words and yelled, "I, KE MO, WILL NEVER AGAIN BE LOYAL TO HER! I WILL NEVER FORGIVE THAT BITCH!!!" Afterward, he started uttering a string of curses, inflamed and hysterical, his words rapid and incomprehensible, and Xie Lian blanked, unable to follow. He looked to San Lang and quietly called, "San Lang, San Lang."

San Lang translated, "He's cursing. He said that woman betrayed his country, opened the fortress gates and let in YongAn army to slaughter the city. She's got the blood of her people on her hands, and his brothers whom she pushed into this pit. He will hang her dead a thousand times. Ten thousand times."

"Wait, hold on!" Xie Lian quickly exclaimed.

How could this be? There were two things that didn't match!

First, 'the woman cultivator roaming in the city streets' Xie Lian spoke of earlier was supposed to be the lady in white. But now, Ke Mo continuously called the BanYue Guoshi 'bitch', saying she pushed his brothers into the Sinner's Pit, and earlier when the black-clad girl swept the soldiers into the pit, Ke Mo swore and cursed her the same thing. Plus the last bit, "to hang her dead a thousand times" – Xie Lian suddenly realized that they weren't possibly talking about the same person.

Second, it was BanYue Guoshi who had betrayed the Kingdom of BanYue?!

Xie Lian interrupted Ke Mo, "General, the BanYue Guoshi you speak of, was it the girl in black hung on the pole of the Sinner's Pit?"

"WHO ELSE COULD IT BE IF NOT HER?" Ke Mo shouted.

The scrawny, corpse-like little girl in black was the real Guoshi of BanYue! But if that's the case, who was the lady cultivator and her black-clad companion, strolling through the streets looking to kill them? The girl in black obviously had immeasurable powers and could easily sweep dozens of hostile BanYue soldiers off the wall, so why was she hung above the Sinner's Pit?