As he thought, the red shadow suddenly grew closer and was immediately within its reach.
San Lang was dragged into that windstorm too!
Xie Lian shouted at him, "Don't panic!" But as soon as he opened his lips, he got his mouth back full of sand. At this point Xie Lian was already accustomed to eating the sand which forcefully filled his mouth. He tried to tell San Lang not to panic, but to be honest he didn't think the kid would panic at all. Ruoye continued to roll back to Xie Lian, closing the distance between him and the boy who had just been blown into the sky. As he expected, San Lang didn't look the least bit anxious, looking as if he could calmly open a book and read right then and there. Xie Lian wondered if San Lang was dragged intentionally.
Ruoye wrapped himself around their waist to tie them up, and Xie Lian then ordered, "Go and try again, but don't bring any more people!"
The silk ribbon shot once more but this time, it grabbed Nan Feng and Fu Yao!
Xie Lian felt tired. "Ruoye," he said wearily, "I didn't say anything, but I didn't mean it literally ... all right."
Xie Lian then turned to the ground and shouted, "Wait, you two!" Below, of course Nan Feng and Fu Yao did their best to try and land themselves on the ground, but the wind was too strong and soon two other silhouettes joined them in a whirlwind. When the wind blows, a tornado grows higher and higher, building a sloping column that connects the sky and the ground. Now the four of them, bound together by Ruoye, swirled in a whirlwind, higher and higher from the ground, the wind and sand blending and blowing. Blow them away.
"How did you two get carried by the wind to get here too?" Xie Lian shouted while holding all the sand into his mouth.
"Ask your stupid Ruoye!" Fu Yao shouted back, also getting a bite of sand that entered his mouth.
With nothing but visible sand and wind blowing, they could only shout at each other back and forth to be heard. Xie Lian seized the 'stupid Ruoye' with both hands and desperately said, "Dear Ruoye, the four of us depend on you now. Please don't take the wrong thing anymore. Go now!" Xie Lian sadly released Ruoye once more.
"Stop relying on that toy! Think of something else!" Nan Feng shouted. But at that moment, Xie Lian felt a tug from the edge of her silk ribbon, and then her eyes were filled with enthusiasm. "Wait! Give him one more chance! Ruoye caught something!"
"It's better he doesn't catch random pedestrians! Let the poor poor man go!" Shouted Fu Yao too.
Xie Lian was also afraid of the same thing. He pulled back to Ruoye but his pull remained tight and firm, and Xie Lian heaved a sigh of relief. "Ruoye ties something solid, it's quite stable!" Then he ordered Ruoye "Pull!"
Against the crazy whirlwind, Ruoye quickly shortened, and dragged the four out of the whirlwind and away from her. Slowly, Xie Lian could see a large, black, half-round contour below the size of a small temple. When they finally touched the ground, Xie Lian saw that this round structure was actually a large rock.
In the midst of the wind storm, this stone is like a fortress, a perfect shelter. But on the previous road, none of them had seen a rock like this. Who knows how far the tornado brought them. When they landed, they immediately turned back to hide from the wind, and saw, there was a hole. "Thank you, thanks to Heaven!" Xie Lian cheered.
The hole was two doors wide apart, but the length was only about half the size of a person's body. Even though it was rather short, the large stone was still possible to enter if someone bent. The opening of the hole is jagged but appears to be made by humans rather than naturally formed. When Xie Lian entered, he found that the inside was actually hollow, and quite deep. It was dark deep inside, so he didn't bother looking around before sitting where there was light, patting the sand on Ruoye, and tying it back on his arm.
Nan Feng and Fu Yao entered, spitting in the sand from their mouths, they covered the fringe from head to toe, in their mouth cavities and in all their clothes. They took off their outer robes and shook them, throwing small mounds of sand on the ground.
Of the four, only San Lang seemed calm; He was lazy to clean himself and returned to normal. Aside from the ponytail, the carefree form remains unaffected. The hair was tied by Xie Lian and had been tilted, so the small breeze didn't make any noticeable difference.
Nan Feng wiped his face and started cursing while Xie Lian threw sand from her hat. "Huh, I don't think you two will be interested too. Why don't you use a thousand pound spell?"
"We did it! It's useless!" Nan Feng said angrily.
From the side, Fu Yao still shook the sand from his outer robe and said viciously, "Where do you think we are now? This is the northwest desert, not the main base of my gender."
Nan Feng continued, "North is the territory of two Pei generals, and the west belongs to Quan YiZhen. You will not find Nan Yang Temple within a hundred mile radius here."
There is a saying that a strong dragon cannot win against a local ruler's snake; Nan Feng and Fu Yao represented generals in the southeast and southwest, so their strength was limited outside their own territory.
"It really is very difficult for you." Xie Lian saw their annoyed faces and sympathized thinking this might be their first time being pulled into a whirlwind and tumbling.
"So are we just going to sit here until the storm stops?" San Lang asked from next to Xie Lian.
"That seems to be the case," Xie Lian answered.
"No matter how strong the tornado is, it is impossible to blow a giant rock into the sky."
"You never know. As you said, there is something strange about the wind."
Suddenly a thought came to Xie Lian, "San Lang, may I ask a question?"
"Please," San Lang replied.
"Witch Ban Yue is actually a woman, right?" Xie Lian asked.
"That's right."
Xie Lian continued, "Previously when we were resting at an abandoned inn, didn't we see two figures passing by? The ones dressed in white were female soldiers."
Fu Yao looked doubtful, "That robe can be worn by either a man or woman, and that person looks taller than an ordinary woman. Are you sure you saw it properly?"
"I'm absolutely sure," said Xie Lian. "So I thought he might be Head Reverend Ban Yue."
Xie Lian thought the two figures were not ordinary people because of how strange their steps were. Initially he did not connect them with evil, but given the current circumstances he had to follow the line of thought. Nan Feng considered the idea and said, "That's possible. Then ... then who is the figure in black next to him?"
Xie Lian replied, "It's hard to say, but that person runs faster than the other one and clearly has the same strength. That person is not a prey. Head, a friend, a subordinate; one of the three."
"Could that be the head of another evil priest, Fang Xin?" Fu Yao wondered.
"Um, I think in connection with that, all the titles of 'Two Evil Masters' are given only because historically what they have done is the same, both are equally evil, so people connect them together as twins to help remember them more easily. Like 'Four Views' or 'Four Crimes', even if there aren't four of them, they call it four because it's simpler. " Hearing this, San Lang burst out laughing and Xie Lian looked at him.
"It's nothing," San Lang said, "I just think what you say makes sense."
Xie Lian continued, "In reality these two evil masters should not have a relationship with each other. I've heard about Master Fang Xin; he is the Head Reverend Yong An, born hundreds of years earlier than Master Ban Yue."
"You don't know the Four Evils / Disasters in the ghost realm, but do you know about Mr. Fang Xin from Yong An in the mortal realm?" Fu Yao asked in disbelief.
"There are some things that I hear when collecting garbage in the mortal world. It's not like I am collecting garbage in the ghost realm, so naturally I don't hear things about them." Xie Lian explained.
The wind outside the hole seemed to be blowing softer, and Nan Feng walked closer to the hole, patting the rocky surface here and there, feeling the results. "Why is there a rock like this in the middle of the desert?" He thought the stone was rather suspicious, but Xie Lian didn't think so.
"They are not uncommon. At that time the people of Ban Yue will build a shelter like this to hide from a sandstorm or even to spend the night while tending livestock. Some holes are not dug but exploded by themselves." Xie Lian said.
"How could anyone dig a rocky hole like this in the desert?" Nan Feng asked, confused.
Xie Lian smiled, "That doesn't mean two hundred years ago in this whole region. There used to be an oasis."
"Gege," called San Lang,
"Yes?" Xie Lian replied.
San Lang raised his hand and pointed, "The stone you are sitting on seems to have a writing on it."
"What?" Xie Lian looked down, then stood up and found that where the stone he was sitting on was actually slate. After cleaning the dust, there are indeed letters on the surface. The characters there are lightly carved vertically, and with slate buried in the sand, the words are unattractive and fade in the dark.
If there is writing it must be checked! "I don't have much strength left. Can anyone lend me to the light of the palm? Thank you!" Xie Lian asked.
Nan Feng snapped his fingers and small bursts of fire blazed in his palm. Xie Lian glanced at San Lang, but he did not look surprised. Xie Lian thought that after seeing the Array Shortening the Distance, there was nothing surprising. Nan Feng moved his palm to where Xie Lian directed it and brightened the writing on the slate. The characters are strange, as if drawn by a toddler, crooked and wild. "What is this?" Nan Feng wondered.
"Ban Yue's language, correct." San Lang replied.
"I'm sure he meant the meaning of those words," Xie Lian said, "Let me see." Xie Lian cleaned more dust and sand from the slate, and revealed the first column of writing with the greatest character.
They must make headlines. The same character also appears repeatedly in various parts of the body of the writing. Fu Yao approached and also lit a fire from his palm. "Do you know how to read Ban Yue's language?"
"To be honest, I've collected garbage in Ban Yue before." Xie Lian replied.
Feeling his silence, Xie Lian looked up, "What's the matter?"
"Nothing," Fu Yao humped, "Just wondering where you haven't collected the trash yet?"
Xie Lian smiled and looked back at the character, and suddenly said, "General,"
"What?" Nan Feng and Fu Yao answered at the same time. Xie Lian glanced at them and explained, "The first word on this slate is 'General'." He paused for a moment, "But there is another character after that I'm not sure of its meaning." Nan Feng sighed in relief, "You keep looking and thinking."
Xie Lian nodded and Nan Feng shifted his palm even further to ignite other words. Something doesn't feel right, thought Xie Lian. There seemed to be something more on the edge of the stone. With both hands pressed to the stone, Xie Lian raised her head.
On the slate, flickering flames illuminated the rigid human face. This face, with its swollen eyes, looked straight at him.
"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH !!!!!! !!!!!!"
The person who shouted was not Xie Lian or Nan Feng, but that stiff face.
Nan Feng immediately took his other hand and turned it on too. He put his hands together and lit a fire until it was finally bright enough to illuminate the entire cave.
The person whose face was revealed by the light was the one who had been hiding in the shadows all this time, and as the fire grew he rushed along the wall to the inner cave, and there Xie Lian saw seven to eight people huddled in trembling fear.
"WHO ARE YOU?" Nan Feng shouted.
Nan Feng's angry scream echoed in the cave, and Xie Lian, whose ears were still ringing from the previous scream, covered her ears. The noise from the windstorms had deafened their ears, and since they entered the cave they had talked about Witch Ban Yue and then writing on the slate, no one noticed anyone else hiding in the same sanctuary. Seven to eight people shook for a while before a man in his fifties stuttered, "We are a commercial caravan that traverses the area. Ordinary trader. My name is Zheng. The sandstorm is too big, so we are hiding here for now."
He seems to be the leader of the caravan and the most calm. Nan Feng asked, "If you are an ordinary trader, why are you hiding secretly?"
Zheng would respond when a young man of around seventeen yelled, "We don't plan to do anything sly! But you suddenly rushed over, who knows if you are good or bad? Then we continue to hear you talk about Witch Ban Yue, some like a ghost realm, and light a fire in your palm; we think you are Ban Yue warriors who patrol and hunt for meat! There's no way we would dare to make a sound! "
"Stop talking, Tian Shen." The old man calmed the boy, afraid that he would anger the other party.
The young man had thick eyebrows and big eyes, the face of a tiger. But he immediately shut his mouth when an elder spoke. Xie Lian put her hand down, her ears no longer rang, and smiled brightly to relax the atmosphere. "That's all a misunderstanding. Let's relax and not panic."
He continued to explain, "We are not Ban Yue's army. This lowly one is only a cultivator from a small temple. These are ... people ... from my temple. We only know small tricks, nothing fancy. You are normal traders, and we are normal cultivators without malice. It so happens that we all enter the same sanctuary to hide from the same sandstorm. "
Xie Lian's voice was friendly and gentle, every word spoken softly to calm everyone's nerves. After many explanations and guarantees, everyone finally felt relaxed.
Suddenly, San Lang laughed, "I think they are too humble. The merchants aren't as simple as they say."
No one understood what he meant and looked at him in confusion, "Isn't at least half of the travelers lost when passing through the Small Road in Ban Yue? To cross this land when knowing this rumor, surely you are all very brave. There is nothing normal about you guys. "
"That's not all true, young man." Answered old man Zheng.
"Some of the caravans have passed without anyone being in danger before!"
"Oh really?" San Lang muttered.
"As long as you find the right guide and tour the Ban Yue area then everything is fine. So, this time we specifically find local people to lead us," said old man Zheng.
"Yes!" The young man, Tian Shen spoke, "It all depends on the guide! We owe everything to A-Zhao! If it wasn't for him we would not have been able to avoid all the quicksand. When the sandstorm started, he knew exactly where to take us to hide. We will be lost and we will get danger without him! "
Xie Lian checked this guide; This A-Zhao looks rather young, apparently in his twenties with a clean and respectable face. When he was praised by the other two, he did not show it, only frowned, "It's nothing. Just doing my job. Hopefully when the wind subsides no carriages or shipping will be damaged."
"They will definitely be fine!"
The traders were all very optimistic, but Xie Lian had a feeling that things were not as simple as they all thought. If all problems can be avoided by not crossing into Ban Yue territory, then do all the ex-groups who lost their lives die because they don't believe in rumors?
One or two groups cannot help, but after having a historical example, how could anyone make the same mistake then?
Xie Lian thought about it and said to Nan Feng and Fu Yao in a low voice, "This is too sudden. After this storm has passed, we must make sure these people pass safely before going to the ruins of Ban Yue."
Without hearing the dissent of the two minor officials, Xie Lian returned to decipher Ban Yue's writing on the slate. He recognized the word 'General' before, but that was because it was a word that was often used. It has been two hundred years since he last visited the kingdom of Ban Yue. Even if he was fluent in Ban Yue back then, everything had been forgotten long ago. To suddenly take on the burden of translation really requires time and patience. At that time, San Lang said, "General's Grave."
Xie Lian remembers now. The last character is the word for 'Tomb'; "Grave", "Funeral" and other synonyms. He looked at the boy, "San Lang, do you understand Ban Yue language too?"
San Lang smiled, "Not much. I only know a few words because they are interesting."
Xie Lian was used to saying that. The word 'tomb' is not used often; if San Lang really only knew 'not much', how could he know exactly what that one character meant? "Not much" means "Ask me all you want," and Xie Lian took the chance. "Amazing! Maybe the character you recognize is the one I don't know. Come closer and let's check this together."
Xie Lian waved to San Lang to approach, and the boy complied. Nan Feng da Fu Yao stood next to them, lighting up the slate for them to read with light from his palm. Xie Lian lightly touched each word with her finger, reviewing the writing in a low voice with San Lang, gently reading word for word. The more they read, the more amazed they see, before gradually becoming more moody. The merchant boy Tian Shen is still young, and teenagers tend to have great curiosity. After a few previous fights, it was as if they had become close, so he exclaimed, "Gege, what is written on that stone?"
Xie Lian approached and replied, "This slate is a memorial / memorial / tomb; it tells the life story of a general."
"A Ban Yue general?" Tian Shen asked.
"No, a Central Plains General." San Lang replied.
"A central plain general?"
Nan Feng asked, "Why would the people of Ban Yue build a memorial stone for a Central Plains general? I think the two kingdoms continue to fight each other?"
"This general is special," San Lang replied.
"Although the memorial stone calls him a general, he is actually no more than a captain. Although at first, he led hundreds of troops, before shrinking to seventy troops, then to fifty." "In other words, repeated demotion."
The feeling of being lowered to its lowest point was quite familiar to Xie Lian, and he could feel many pairs of eyes pointing at him. He pretended not to notice and continued to decipher Ban Yue's writing there. Tian Shen could not understand and asked, "What kind of official is demoted to a lower position? As long as he does not make a big mistake, there should only be a delay in promotion, not demotion? How many failures do you have to experience?"
Xie Lian folded her right hand into a fist and raised it to her lips. He weakly cleared his throat and answered in a serious tone, "My friend, receiving continuous demotion is not as rare as you think."
"Hah?"
San Lang laughed, "That's right. That often happens." He stopped before continuing, "
This captain was demoted many times not because he was incapable and incompetent to serve, but because despite poor relations on both sides, instead of winning battle on the battlefield, he continued to block his troops on the road. "
"What do you mean, 'blocking'?" Nan Feng asked.
"He prevented his enemies from killing civilians in the highlands, and he also blocked his own army to kill the people of Ban Yue. Every time he did this, he was demoted."
San Lang spoke lightly, seven to eight merchants sitting closer to him like they were telling stories. Immediately they got into the conversation and started commenting.
"I don't think a captain made a mistake!"
Tian Shen said, "It shouldn't be a problem if you let soldiers kill each other but not civilians, right?"
"He's too soft-hearted for a soldier, but overall, he hasn't committed any crimes?"
"Yes, he saves someone's life, not killing people!" Xie Lian smiled at all the comments.
The merchants before them had never lived a day on the border of a war-torn, and were not the same person two hundred years ago. The Kingdom of Ban Yue has long perished. It was easy for them to say this, to criticize it, even to praise it, but the captain's actions were not so forgivable at the time, it would not be as simple as that "He was just soft-hearted."
A-Zhao, as a local resident in the merchant group, understood better, "Now, two hundred years ago was two hundred years ago. The hatred between the two kingdoms was unimaginably so deep and heavy at that time. Only accepting demotion was already is a blessing. "
But Fu Yao, clicked his tongue. "Something to laugh about."
Xie Lian could guess what he was about to say, and rubbed his forehead. As he expected, Fu Yao looked rather troubled in the flickering flames. "One must carry out the tasks required by their position. If he becomes a soldier, he must always remember to defend his country, and kill the enemy on the front lines. Victims are inevitable in war. Soft hearts such as having no place in war, and will only drag down his fellow soldiers. His enemies will also consider him stupid. No one will thank him in the end. "
Fu Yao's words had irrefutable logic, and silence immediately filled the cave. He continued plainly, "Such people have only one end - death. They will die in battle or in the hands of their own people."
Xie Lian broke the silence after a short pause, "You are absolutely right. He did indeed die in battle."
"How did he die?" Demand Tian Shen. Xie Lian chewed on his words and slowly answered, "On the rock it describes his last battle, where at that moment his carelessness appeared, his shoelaces came loose and he stumbled."
Everyone thought death was tragic but filled with the impression of heroism, so when they heard that, everyone was surprised once again. Then suddenly, they couldn't help it and started laughing en masse, "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH"
"... So he was slaughtered by soldiers on both sides who could no longer distinguish friends from enemies." Xie Lian finished calmly.
"HAHAHAHA HAHAHAHA..."
"Is that funny?" San Lang raised his eyebrows.
Xie Lian coughed, "Yes, that's rather tragic. Let's be more sympathetic and not laugh so hard. After all, we're at his grave, let's give him a few faces."
"I didn't mean anything bad by laughing!" Tian Shen immediately claimed, "But his death was just ... I see. Ahahahahah ..."
Xie Lian could not help it. Reading the epitaph up to this point, he even wanted to laugh, so he didn't comment and continued translating. "However, although this captain does not have a good reputation and army, border residents are all very grateful for his efforts and called him 'General', and built this memorial to him"
"And herding their sheep here when they are free, offering fresh hay." San Lang completed the translation.
Xie Lian looked at him in confusion, "What-? Why is the straw fresh? He's not a lamb!"
San Lang snickered, "I'm just making this up."
Xie Lian looked back at the slate and saw that it was indeed the end of the sentence and there were no more words. He laughed, "pfft ... Why are you like this?"
San Lang stuck out his tongue, and the two chuckled peacefully. At that moment, someone screamed, "WHAT IS ÎNI ???"
The scream echoed in the cave, echoed sharply on the wall, causing all the hair to stand up. Xie Lian immediately turned towards the origin of the scream and asked, "What happened?"
Where the merchants had sat before, everyone moved from their place in an instant, hurrying away in fear and warning.
"SNAKE!"
Nan Feng and Fu Yao moved their palms towards the commotion and lit the ground in that direction. Curled up on the sandy floor is a slim, brightly colored snake! "Why are there snakes ?!"
The crowd was increasingly worried. "Why ... why isn't this snake making a sound when it's creeping out?"
When the fire is burning, the snake is directly on standby and raises itself to the attack position. Nan Feng was about to burn it when someone casually walked over, and easily grabbed the snake with his left hand, holding it carefully. He brought it closer to examine it and said, "Isn't it normal if there are snakes in the desert?"
Someone who is immoral and brave is of course San Lang. They say to fight with snakes, take where the heart is, and if pressed hard enough, no matter how venomous the fangs are, it is helpless. The snake weakly wrapped its long tail on San Lang's left arm, and within a closer distance Xie Lian could clearly see that the snake had translucent skin, its bright red interior mixed with visible black threads, resembling internal organs and rather disgusting. The tail is flesh-colored, segmented like a hard shell, not like a snake but a scorpion.
Seeing this, Xie Lian's face changed, and exclaimed, "Be careful of its tail!"
Before Xie Lian finished his sentence, the body of a long snake wrapped around San Lang's left arm suddenly released itself, the tip of its tail was parallel to the head that jerked back, and tried to stab viciously towards San Lang.
Toxic like his fangs, San Lang's right hand is faster, and easily catches its tail. Now holding his head and tail, San Lang flaunted the snake to Xie Lian as if it was an interesting toy, and smiled, "This tail is so cool."
At the end of the tail grew long red flesh like needles, and Xie Lian heaved a sigh of relief. "I'm glad you're not pierced. It looks like this is a scorpion snake."
Nan Feng and Fu Yao came to observe the snake too, "Scorpion Snake?"
"It is true." Xie Lian said. "Those are rare poisonous lice that are only found in Ban Yue, the numbers are quite rare. I've never seen them before but I've heard about them. Snake's body, scorpion's tail, poison is the power of both, and if bitten or stabbed ... "
Xie Lian was silent watching San Lang spin the snake, pulling and squeezing it like a towel, stopped tying it into a bow. Xie Lian was silent for a few moments. "San Lang, stop playing with something as pitiful as that, it's dangerous."
San Lang laughed, "Don't worry, gege, it's fine. The scorpion snake is a symbol of Chief Reverend Ban Yue, must take this rare opportunity to examine it!"
"Chief Reverend Ban Yue's symbol?" Xie Lian asked in awe.
"It is true." San Lang said. "Apparently it's because the Head Reverend can control this scorpion snake so that the people of Ban Yue believe in its power and worship it."
Hearing the word 'controlling' brought a warning to Xie Lian. When it comes to controlling anything, whatever it is, they usually come in bulk. "Everyone, leave this cave! There may be more than one scorpion snake."
"Aaaah !!!" A voice shouted before Xie Lian could finish his words.
"SNAKE!"
Other voices began to shout, "So many snakes !!!"
"In here also!"
Out of the shadows, seven or eight scorpion snakes silently crept into the cave. They come so quickly and quietly from unknown gaps but they don't attack anyone, just watch, judge. Without sound in movements and attacks, not even hissing from their tongues. Nan Feng and Fu Yao released two fireballs and fired them at the snake, exploding inside the cave.
"Exit!" Xie Lian shouted.
Nobody needed to be told twice, and everyone ran out. Luckily it was still bright and a whirlwind had long since passed, the typhoon had died down. Their group fled to the open ground and continued to run. Xie Lian only thought that this misfortune continued to come to them when Zheng's parents, who were supported by Tian Shen, fell. Xie Lian dashed, "Are you alright?"
Pain filled the face of old Zheng's man, and he raised a trembling hand. Xie Lian took a hand and frowned, noting the growing swelling anger that spread rapidly in the palm of her hand, and inside red and purple there were two small pricks, almost invisible. This small wound won't be seen before it's too late.
"Everyone, check and see if you have any wounds on your body!" Xie Lian immediately shouted, "If there is, use a rope to tie it!"
Xie Lian turned her hand to examine it further, and saw that red and purple swelling climbed the tendons in her arms. He was about to release Ruoye when next to him A-Zhao tore a piece of cloth from his own clothes and immediately tied it tightly to the old man's biceps to prevent the poison from developing. Xie Lian was amazed by his speed. He looked up and Nan Feng wordlessly took a medicine bottle and took out a pill for the old man to swallow.
"Uncle! Are you alright?"
Tian Shen shouted, "A-Zhao-ge, uncle won't die, right?"
A-Zhao shook his head, "Bitten by a scorpion snake means death within four hours."
Tian Shen was shaken, "Then ... what should we do ??"
Zheng's parents were caravan leaders, and other traders also became agitated, "This friend only gave him pills, right?"
"That's not the antidote," Nan Feng said,
"This is to prolong life for a while. The most he can give him is 24 hours."
The crowd was more depressed, "Only 24 hours?"
"Does that mean we can only sit here and wait for death to come?"
"Is there no one who can save the old man?"
San Lang stepped in, "There's a way."
Everyone turned to look at him. "A-Zhao-ge, if there is a way why don't you say it?" Tian Shen asked happily. But A-Zhou was still silent, and silently shook his head.
"Of course it's not easy for him to say," said San Lang,
"How can he tell you that those who are bitten can only be saved at the expense of the lives of others?"
"San Lang, what do you mean?" Xie Lian asked.
"Gege, do you know the story behind the scorpion snake?" Asked San Lang.
In legend, hundreds of years ago, there was a king Ban Yue who, while hunting, inadvertently captured two spirits transmitted from venomous creatures - one snake and one scorpion.
Both poisons that grow deep in the mountains, do not know the world and do not cause suffering. But the king considers their nature and believes that they will cause evil sooner or later and will execute them. They begged and begged for their lives to be liberated, but the king was cruel. He forced the two creatures to have intercourse at one of his many celebrations in the presence of a drunken audience, and after that celebration they would still be executed.
Only the queen sympathizes and pities the two creatures. In order not to go against the king's will, he could only cover their dead bodies with mint leaves.
Snakes and scorpions became vengeful spirits and cursed offspring born from their marriages to forever live in the kingdom of Ban Yue to destroy his people. Since then, scorpions have only appeared in the region of Ban Yue, and if someone is bitten or stabbed, the poison will spread like wildfire and they will die miserably.
However, thanks to one act of kindness from the queen, the mint leaves which were used to cover up the corpse became an antidote to their poison.
"That plant is called ShanYue, and only grows inside the walls of Ban Yue." San Lang finished in his explanation.
"Is ... is the legend true?" Traders ask anxiously, "It's about someone's life and death, don't joke around!"
San Lang smiled but said nothing, refusing to talk more after telling Xie Lian's story. Tian Shen turned towards A-Zhao, "A-Zhao-ge, is what the red-clothed gege said true?"
A-Zhao finally spoke in a low voice, "Whether the legend is true or not, I don't know. But the ShanYue plant grew inside the walls of Ban Yue, and it was indeed an antidote to the scorpion snake's poison."
"Then the only way to live after being bitten is to venture into the kingdom of Ban Yue?" Xie Lian said slowly.
No wonder so many caravans will cross the Ban Yue area despite knowing deadly rumors. Not because they are stupid and stupid, they have no choice. With so many scorpion snakes roaming around, it will be difficult not to be bitten, and once bitten they have to go to Ban Yue to get the antidote.
The scorpion snake is a symbol of Witch Ban Yue, and is also controlled by it. The appearance of snakes is not just a coincidence. With only the four of them, there was no way they could protect the entire merchant group, Xie Lian thought. And no one knows how many more snakes will appear. Xie Lian raised two fingers and pressed them to her temples, trying to connect to the spirit communication arrangement to see if she could borrow more junior officials with her thick skin, and get more help protecting people. There are no dice. Connection does not want to give a response.
Xie Lian lowered her hand and wondered, "I haven't used all my strength, right? I counted it this morning and there's still a little left." He turned to Nan Feng and Fu Yao, "Can you guys try to enter the spirit communication array? I not in."
After a while, the other two also looked grim.
"I can't come in either." Nan Feng said.
Couldn't a sandstorm interfere with their connection? Although there are cases where the connection will be slow in areas there is a high evil aura, reducing the power of various Heavenly Officials, and that seems to be the case now.
Xie Lian paced in a circle and wondered aloud, "Maybe because we are too close to the kingdom of Ban Yue." At that moment in the corner of his eye a red flash flashed.
Nan Feng and Fu Yao were busy trying to reconnect with the spirit communication arrangement and everyone was busy checking the wounds on their bodies. The Tian Tian boy anxiously grasped the old Zheng man and did not see a burgundy scorpion snake that silently climbed to his spine, curled up on his neck and opened his mouth. However, his fangs did not point at Tian Shen's neck, but at San Lang's arm next to him!
The snake leaned back, then pounced!
In one second's speed, before the snake had a chance to thrust its fangs into San Lang, Xie Lian's hand shot and snatched the snake right in the heart with blinding precision.
Considering its strength, Xie Lian can break a snake's heart if he wants; break the innards and spill the inside. But he didn't know whether the snake's meat was poisonous or not, so he didn't dare to press it harder. Xie Lian raised her other hand to grab its tail, but the snake was slippery and agile, making it difficult to catch. Xie Lian squeezed it but only felt something soft and cold slip between his fingers, and the next moment, pain from a sharp needle flared from the back of his palm.