Chapter 28: Dallying HuaLian; Night-Fall in Sinner's Pit (Part 5)

"I really don't remember, alright!" Xie Lian said.

Even if he couldn't die, he couldn't stand that kind of butchering. Thinking 'This couldn't go on!' in his head, Xie Lian resolutely dropped to the ground to fake his death, but even in 'death,' he was trampled to the point of passing out. It was water choking him that woke him because corpses were usually thrown into the rivers after battles. Xie Lian went with the river flow and floated back to the Kingdom of YongAn like a heap of junk.

Afterwards, he took several years to recover from his wounds, picked up an unbroken compass to start anew, and finally made it to his original destination in the South, and stopped minding what went down in the Kingdom of BanYue.

"I'm sorry," Ban Yue muttered again.

Fu Yao furrowed his brows, "Why does she keep apologizing to you?"

San Lang suddenly spoke up, "Ke Mo said Guoshi of BanYue left for the Midlands after a clash between the two armies. Were you involved in that?"

With his reminder, and recalling what was written on the memorial, some things were coming back to Xie Lian, but only a small bit. "Ah, maybe…"

"It was to save me," Ban Yue said.

Everyone turned to look at her, and she mumbled, "General Hua entered the fray to save me and got flattened."

Xie Lian instantly remembered the agony of being trampled by thousands, and he hugged his arms in spite of himself. But when he saw two others watching him with unreadable expressions, he pulled himself back in a hurry and said, "Not flat. Not too flat."

Fu Yao didn't look so smug anymore and said awkwardly, "Well, aren't you a saint."

Xie Lian waved dismissively, "Nothing of the sort. I think I was just going to pick the child up and run away immediately, but we didn't retreat fast enough and got caught between the two armies…"

"If that's the case," Fu Yao said, "How can you not remember something like that?"

Xie Lian looked at him solemnly, "Do you not know how many hundreds of years old I am? So much can happen in just a decade, there's no way to remember everything in detail. Besides, some things are best forgotten. Rather than remembering how I was butchered and trampled hundreds of years ago, I'd prefer to remember that I ate a delicious meat bun yesterday, no?"

"I'm sorry," Ban Yue said.

Xie Lian sighed, "My dear Ban Yue. Saving you is my own choice; you're not at fault. If you're going to apologize, perhaps it should be to others."

Ban Yue was taken aback and hung her head in silence.

"But… maybe it's because my impression of you was from two hundred years ago, but I don't think you're the kind of child who sought revenge and betrayed others… Will you tell me what exactly happened? Why did you open the fortress gates?"

Ban Yue contemplated, shook her head, and continued to remain silent.

"Then, why did you let the snakes out to bite people?" Xie Lian asked.

This time, Ban Yue answered, "I didn't release the snakes."

Xie Lian was taken aback, "What?"

"I didn't release the snakes," Ban Yue said, "They ran off on their own. I don't know why, but they don't listen to me anymore."

Hearing this, Fu Yao grew impatient. Ban Yue pleaded, "General Hua, I'm not lying."

Before Xie Lian responded, Fu Yao cut in rudely, "Anyone would say that after being captured. Even if you say it wasn't intentional, I've heard all that before. All those people across the Pass were certainly all injured by your snakes. Show me your hands; you're under arrest."

Ban Yue shut up and extended both arms. Fu Yao immediately took out a God-Binding rope and apprehended both Ban Yue and Ke Mo, then said, "Alright. We've accomplished our goal for this trip. It's all over now."

Just then, San Lang spoke up, "She had no reason to lie." Xie Lian also felt there was a need for further interrogation and turned to Ban Yue, "Can you not control any of your snakes?"

Ban Yue answered, "I can control them, and they'll obey most of the time. But there are times when they won't. I don't know why."

After some thought, Xie Lian said, "Why don't you call them out and show us?"

Ban Yue had knelt down before him earlier; now, she finally rose to her feet and nodded. Soon, a wine-red scorpion snake slithered out from underneath a corpse, raised its head, and curled itself above a pile of dead bodies, soundlessly flicking its tongue to the group.

Xie Lian was about to take a closer look at the snake, but he saw Ban Yue widen her eyes, her face strange. Xie Lian's heart dropped, and he thought, "Oh no."

As he thought, after flicking its tongue, the snake opened its mouth and pounced towards him in attack. It was a sudden lunge, but Xie Lian was ready, about to grab for it when boom! Something exploded.

When he opened his eyes again to see, the snake was already a splatter of guts on the ground, thoroughly blown apart. It was a calculated blast; none of the venom spilled. Xie Lian immediately remembered another instance where a snake died like this before they entered the BanYue ruins, but there was no need to say who did it at this point. He hadn't even had the chance to look at San Lang before a red sleeve flashed before him, barring and separating him from Ban Yue.

On the other side, Fu Yao also said coolly, "I knew she lied. Did you think this snake can manage to bite him under these circumstances? Foolish."

Ban Yue's face was already pale when she saw that snake, and when she heard him, her head shot up, "I didn't do it. I said there are some snakes that don't obey, and that one was one of them just now."

Fu Yao didn't believe a single word, "Who knows if it was actually disobeying or obeying you?"

"That one wasn't even called forth by me," Ban Yue said.

Xie Lian was about to speak when another two wine-red scorpion snakes peeked out from under a different corpse, flicking their tongues and watching them intently. Then a third, a fourth, a fifth… from the mountains of dead bodies and from all around every corner of the pit, came innumerable scorpion snakes!

Everyone stared at Ban Yue, who was kneeling on top of a pile of corpses, and Fu Yao started spinning a ball of spiritual energy in his palm, shouting towards her, "Make them go away! They can't all disobey!"

Ban Yue scrunched up her brows, looking as if she's trying to drive them out. Yet more and more scorpion snakes appeared, curling and crawling, slithering ever closer. Bites from one or two snakes might not kill them, but hundreds and thousands were harder to say. Even if they didn't die, it wouldn't be pretty.

Xie Lian raised his wrist about to call forth Ruoye but saw that when the snakes slithered to a certain distance, they would stop and hesitate, forming a weird circle around him and San Lang. It dawned on Xie Lian, and he glanced at the boy next to him.

He was watching the snakes condescendingly with immense contempt. The scorpion snakes seemed to be able to read his eyes and didn't dare approach. They backed off bit by bit, lowering their savage heads as they did so, and pressed against the ground submissively like servants.

But there seemed to be another power controlling them, making them unable to abandon attacks and leave completely. Thus, many of the snakes turned around and slithered towards Fu Yao. Fu Yao swung his hand, and a blast of flames burst from his sleeve, killing a circle of snakes.

That wouldn't last long, however, and Xie Lian said, "Let's go up and get out of here first!"

Whoosh, Ruoye shot out from Xie Lian's arm and flew upwards. But soon, another whoosh, and it was back on Xie Lian's arm. Xie Lian was taken aback and raised his wrist, admonishing the silk band, "What are you doing back here? The array was released; hurry and go!"

But Ruoye remained wrapped on his arm, trembling, as if he bumped into something terrifying at the top. Xie Lian was still chiding it when suddenly, a long rope of something fell. 'Plop,' it dropped on Fu Yao's shoulder. Fu Yao went to grab for it, and his face changed the moment he brought it before his eyes – it was another scorpion snake that fell from the sky!

This took Fu Yao off guard, and after getting bitten, he hurled the snake towards Ban Yue. Even with her hands tied, she still unconsciously tried to catch the snake, and having caught it, the dark red snake curled itself up around her arm and did not attack.

Just then, another 'plop' and a second scorpion snake landed on the ground!

Xie Lian could guess why Ruoye refused to go up now. Borrowing the faint light of the moon, Xie Lian raised his head and only just barely saw this sight: hundreds of little wine-red dots were falling rapidly into the Sinner's Pit.

A snake deluge!

The red dots were coming closer, and Xie Lian yelled, "Fu Yao! Fire! Shoot a stream of fire upwards and get rid of them halfway!"

Fu Yao bit his palm to break skin, swung his hand, and a series of blood drops shot out, transforming into a curtain of fire, jetting upwards the pit. Those sweeping flames rose to over tens of feet and hung midair, disintegrating all scorpion snakes that'd touch it, turning them into ashes, dissolving the snake deluge.

Temporarily safe, Xie Lian let out a breath of relief. "That was good, Fu Yao! Thank goodness for you."

Yet that spell consumed immense powers, and after one round, Fu Yao's face was pale. He turned around and ignited a ring of fire, dispelling the snakes on the ground, and shouted at Ban Yue, "And you say those snakes don't obey you? If it weren't you controlling them, why wouldn't they attack you?"

San Lang laughed, "Maybe it's because of your bad luck? They didn't attack us either."

Fu Yao turned to look at him, his eyes sharp and narrowed. Xie Lian could sense trouble. With the ample hints he'd gotten that he hadn't had time to digest in his head, he didn't want to see the two start fighting and said, "Let's figure out what's going on with those snakes first. Let's charge out."

Fu Yao sneered, "What's going on? Either the Guoshi of BanYue is lying, or the one next to you is causing trouble."

Xie Lian looked at Ban Yue, then looked at San Lang, and said, "I don't think it's either of them."

His tone was gentle but firm. It was the conclusion he had come to after much thought. However, Fu Yao must have thought he was shielding them intentionally; the face illuminated by the flames was unkind, and Xie Lian couldn't tell if he was angry or laughing.

"Your Royal Highness," Fu Yao said, "Don't play pretend when you know the truth. Do you still know your place? I'm sure you're already very aware of what exactly that thing is next to you."