After the Ban Yue's State Preceptor jumped down, she immediately spoke in the Ban Yue dialect, "Ke Mo, what happened?"
Once she opened her mouth, her voice sounded far different from what Xie Lian had imagined it to be. Her tone was cold, but it could not disguise how young the speaker was. She sounded like an unhappy little girl talking to herself, instead of a callous and powerful evildoer. If it was not for the fact that Xie Lian has pretty good hearing, he may not have heard it clearly at all.
Ke Mo snarled, "What happened? They're all dead!"
The State Preceptor asked, "How could they all be dead?"
"It's because you threw them all down here and trapped them in this cursed place!" Ke Mo spat.
The State Preceptor ignored him. "Who's here? There's one more person."
In fact, down here in the pit, besides Ke Mo, there should be two other 'people'. But San Lang has neither breath nor pulse, the State Preceptor of Ban Yue could not detect his presence at all. Additionally, it had been a chaotic mess above, there was no way to keep track of who had jumped down and who had run off. And so she thought only Xie Lian alone was present.
Ke Mo said, "It's them, they killed my soldiers, are you happy now? Everyone is finally dead!"
The State Preceptor was silent for a long while. Suddenly, a burst of light flickered into existence. It illuminated a young girl in black holding a small flame in the hollow of her palm.
The girl looked to be only seventeen to eighteen years old. She was garbed in plain black, and her eyes were deep and dark. She wasn't ugly by any means, and was actually rather pretty. But she wore a deeply unhappy expression, and her forehead and the corners of her mouth bore some bruising. All this was thrown into sharp relief by the flames.
Truly, if Xie Lian had not sought for confirmation earlier, no one would have expected this pale young maiden to be Ban Yue nation's State Preceptor.
The flames in her hand also illuminated their surroundings. At her feet, the bodies of the Ban Yue soldiers in armor littered the ground.
Xie Lian could not resist throwing a quick look sideways.
Because the flames summoned by the State Preceptor were rather small, most of the Sinner's Pit was still hidden in the gloom. Their bodies were still mostly shrouded in shadow, but from the dim light cast by the small, flickering flame, Xie Lian could make out a figure dressed in red by his side.
It may be a trick of the eye, San Lang has always been taller than him, but right now he seemed to be even taller than he remembered. Xie Lian's gaze slowly traveled upward and paused when it reached the youth's throat. Then, it continued up and hovered over the graceful jaw.
The upper half of the youth's face was still hidden in the dark, but the lower half seemed subtly different from before. It was still beautifully elegant, but the cut of his jaw seemed even more defined. As if having noticed Xie Lian's gaze, the shadowed face tilted slightly, then turned towards him. There was a faint curve at the corners of the lips.
Moved by the urge to get a better look, Xie Lian unwittingly took a step towards the youth.
At this moment, they suddenly heard Ke Mo give voice to a miserable howl. If one had to guess, it was likely that Ke Mo has finally seen the devastation around him with his own eyes, and was struck with anguish. Xie Lian came to himself with a start. He turned around and made for the source of the noise. Ke Mo was cradling a head in his arms, and the State Preceptor was quietly listening to him wail and cry without any trace of emotion on her face. She merely nodded and said, "Good."
The grieving general was furious. "Good? Good?! What the hell do you mean?!"
The State Preceptor replied, "Because now we can finally be free."
She turned around and pinpointed Xie Lian accurately in the dark. "You guys killed them?"
Xie Lian said, "It was an accident."
Ke Mo roared, "What baldfaced lies are you spouting?!"
Xie Lian replied unabashedly, "Life is full of accidents ah!"
The State Preceptor glanced at him, but could not make out his men. She asked, "Who are you people?"
Strangely enough, this sentence was spoken fluidly in the standard Han dialect. Xie Lian replied, "I am an official from Heaven. This is... my friend."
{T/N: Mandarin}
Ke Mo could not understand them, but he could tell that they were not quarreling. He asked warily, "What are you talking about?"
The State Preceptor's eyes slowly moved over Xie Lian and paused on San Lang. Then she looked away. "No Heavenly Official has ever stepped foot here. I thought you people have long since turned your backs on us."
Xie Lian had been quietly prepared to have to fight with the Ban Yue's State Preceptor, but unexpectedly, she did not seem inclined to fight at all. He was left feeling somewhat surprised. The State Preceptor asked, "Are you getting out or not?"
Xie Lian replied, "Of course we want to get out. But the spell array above is preventing us from doing so."
The State Preceptor took a few steps to the side of the Sinner's Pit, raised a hand and slapped her palm on the wall once. She turned around and said, "I've removed the spell array. You may go."
"..."
Isn't this being too accommodating!
Xie Lian was already at a complete loss for words. At this moment, a voice echoed down from far up above. "Wei! Is anybody down there? If not I'm leaving!"
It was Fu Yao's voice.
Xie Lian seemed to hear San Lang by his side make a 'tsk' sound. He raised his head, and sure enough, he could make out a dark figure gazing down. He called out, "Fu Yao! There're people down here! I'm down here!"
After that, he also waved his arms. From above, Fu Yao sounded disbelieving. "Seriously, why are you even down there? What else is there besides you?"
Xie Lian replied, "Well... there are a lot of things down here besides me. How about you see for yourself."
Fu Yao apparently agreed that it was better to see for himself rather than continue listening to him. With a rumbling boom, he lit up a giant fireball and tossed it down.
Instantly, the entirety of the Sinner's Pit was illuminated by the blaze like a small sun had descended. Xie Lian was finally able to clearly make out his surroundings.
Surrounding him in all directions were piled up mountains of corpses, the ground awash in a sea of blood. The bodies of numerous Ban Yue soldiers were stacked up on one another, their bright armor forming a stark contrast against the dusky skin of their faces and arms and the dark blood trickling down in rivulets. Xie Lian was standing on the only spot in the entire Sinner's Pit that wasn't occupied by a corpse.
This was all done in the brief moment after San Lang had jumped down into the deep, dark pit.
Xie Lian turned his head to look at the youth beside him again.
Earlier in the dark, he had the vague notion that San Lang suddenly seemed to be taller than he was before, and he had also faintly perceived some other subtle differences. But right now, under the blazing glow of the fireball, the one standing by his side was still the same, handsome youth. Catching his gaze, San Lang gave him a faint smile.
Xie Lian lowered his head to look at San Lang's wrists and boots. Nothing has changed. There was nothing there that could have made the soft, tinkling sounds he had heard earlier.
At this moment, there came a muffled thud. Fu Yao has jumped down as well. Xie Lian asked, "Aren't you supposed to be watching over the people with the caravan?"
Having just arrived at the bottom of the pit, Fu Yao wrinkled his nose at the heavy reek of blood. His brows were drawn into a frown as he flapped a hand before his face in a futile attempt to clear the air. "None of you came back after three hours, so I figured that something may have happened. I drew a ward around them and told them not to stray, before coming over here," he deadpanned.
Xie Lian said, "You shouldn't have just dumped them. A ward doesn't last long. What if they start to worry that you've abandoned them and go wandering around?"
Fu Yao replied, "Let them wander if they will, not even a team of horses can hold fools back once an ill notion strikes their fancy. What's up with these two here? Who are they?"
He eyed the other two people in the pit guardedly, but quickly realized that Ke Mo, who was prone on the ground and barely able to budge, was already thoroughly beaten up all over, whilst the Ban Yue State Preceptor merely hung her head silently. A faintly puzzled expression crawled over Fu Yao's face. Xie Lian began explaining, "This is the Ban Yue nation's general, and this is the Ban Yue nation's State Preceptor. They're now..."
He broke off when Ke Mo suddenly leapt up. After having lain on the ground for so long, he had finally mustered enough strength to clamber to his feet with a thunderous roar and aim a strike at the State Preceptor with his palm. A burly, hulking man attempting to hit a petite young girl, was a scene Xie Lian has never come across. But Ke Mo does have grounds to hate the State Preceptor, and the State Preceptor could obviously have dodged the blow, but she did not. She was flung to the ground like a broken doll. Ke Mo panted angrily, "Where are your Scorpion-Tailed snakes? Come on, summon them to bite me to death! Release me from this hell!"
The State Preceptor said softly, "Ke Mo, my snakes no longer obey me."
Ke Mo sneered derisively, "Then how come they've not bitten you to death yet!"
"..." The State Preceptor whispered, "I'm sorry."
Ke Mo said, "Do you really hate us so much?"
The State Preceptor shook her head, but Ke Mo grew even angrier. "You're really pissing me off! If you don't hate us, why did you betray us?! You despicable traitor, turncoat, thankless self-seeker!!"
Fu Yao watched as the one-sided fight escalated in intensity, with one doing the beating and the other being beaten up. He frowned. "Hey, what the hell are they talking about? Should we stop them?"
Xie Lian could not stand being a silent spectator any longer, he stepped forward to pull Ke Mo back. "General! General! How about you tell us who the Yong'an thief was instead, we..." Suddenly, the State Preceptor grabbed hold of his wrist.
{T/N: 贼 (zéi) – thief, traitor, saboteur, evil. This term did not turn up in any of the previous chapters, so I'm a bit puzzled as to who XL is referring to. Maybe it's the head that was buried among the Kindred Moon Herbs.}
The sudden grip on his wrist was tight and unyielding. Xie Lian's heart sank at the thought that she must have been feigning before to plot against them. But when he lowered his head, the State Preceptor was half sprawled on the ground, the corners of her mouth bruised purple, her head lifted to look back at him. She remained mute, but her pitch-black eyes were boring into him with startling intensity.
A vague, distant memory of a small figure rose, and seemed to overlap with the sight before him. Xie Lian blurted, "It's you?"
The State Preceptor also said, "General Hua?"
{T/N: 花 (Huā) – Flower. So it's General Flower… lol.}
This exchange caused everyone in the pit to stare at them blankly. In a single step, Fu Yao darted forwards and stunned Ke Mo with a blow. He asked, "You know each other?"
But Xie Lian had no mind to spare to answer him. He crouched down and took hold of the State Preceptor's shoulders, studying her face carefully.
The distance between them earlier had made it difficult to get a good look, and the girl's appearance had changed after growing up, not to mention that it has been over two hundred years since he last saw her. All this was to say, it was not surprising that he had not recognized her immediately. But now that he's gotten a good look, there was no mistaking that face!
Xie Lian was speechless for a good long while, before he finally uttered, "Ban Yue?"
The State Preceptor grabbed his sleeves, a rare trace of emotion on her face. "It's me! General Hua, do you still remember me?"
Xie Lian said, "Of course I remember you, but..."
He stared at the girl for a moment, then sighed. "...But, how did you end up like this."
A hint of sadness flickered in her eyes at his words.
She whispered, "I'm sorry Colonel...I, I messed up."
{T/N: 校尉 (xiào wèi) – colonel, about 2-3 ranks below General, based on the ancient Chinese military hierarchy}
First there was a general, then a colonel, how could the others listening in not catch on? Fu Yao looked stunned as he mumbled, "Colonel? General? You? What is going on?? What about that general's burial mound then?"
Xie Lian nodded. "That's my burial mound."
"Didn't you say you were just collecting scraps here two hundred years ago???" Fu Yao exclaimed.
Xie Lian said, "This... is a bit hard to explain. That was my original intention back then."
On one day two hundred years ago, for whatever reason, Xie Lian could no longer wander about aimlessly in the East. Opting to lie low until the fuss died down, he decided to head South through Qinling to seek new lands and new scraps to recycle. And so he set off, compass in hand.
{T/N: 秦岭 (Qín lǐng) – a mountain range in Shaanxi forming a natural barrier between the Guanzhong plain and Han River}
But the longer he journeyed, the more discouraged he became. Why do the roads and landscape seem wrong? The roads should be heavily shaded with foliage, with bustling signs of humanity along the way, so why did his surroundings seem to grow more and more barren and desolate?
Despite mounting doubts, he still steadfastly stuck to the direction he had chosen, until step by step, he arrived at the Gobi dessert. After being buffeted by the winds and swallowing several mouthfuls of sand, he finally realized that the compass he had brought was broken.
The compass had been pointing him in the wrong direction all along!
Ah well, there was no helping it. And so, with the mindset of "since I'm here, may as well take a look at the desert scenery", he adjusted his direction, and began trudging northwest. He finally reached the border, and temporarily settled himself somewhere near the Ban Yue nation.
Xie Lian continued, "I initially intended to only pick up scraps and whatnot around the vicinity. But the border was in a state of unrest, there were always plenty of deserters, and the army would go around randomly seizing people to replenish the numbers."
San Lang asked, "So you were forced to join the army?"
Xie Lian replied, "Well, I was grabbed. But it was all the same to me anyway, since I was enlisted, may as well go along with it. Later, after driving away some bandits several times, I was somehow promoted to colonel. Those who wanted to honor me would call me General."
Fu Yao looked at him doubtfully. "But why did she call you General Hua? Your surname is not Hua."
Xie Lian flapped a hand to dismiss it. "Don't mind it. At that time, I just came up with a name on the spot for them, I think I was called Hua Xie."
{T/N: 谢 (xiè) – The same 'Xie' in Xie Lian's name. A point I find interesting, is that 'xie' can mean 'thanks', but can also mean 'wither' when referring to leaves/flowers. So Hua Xie means withering flower.}
San Lang's expression changed subtly upon hearing that name, and the corners of his lips seemed to curve into a brief smirk. Xie Lian did not notice this, and continued, "Battles occurred frequently at the border, and many children were orphaned. During my free time, I'd sometimes play with them. And one of them... was called Ban Yue."
When fighting against bandits, Xie Lian was undoubtedly the bravest and strongest soldier amongst them. No one dared to stand in his way, and no one dared to stand too near him either. But when there was no fighting going on, it seemed that pretty much anyone could order him around.
One day, he made a fire against a sand wall, and used his own helmet to cook in. As he cooked, the odor of food drifted in the air and drew the annoyed attention of several other soldiers, who came and kicked over his makeshift pot of food. Aggrieved, Xie Lian went to pick up his helmet. When he turned back, he was stunned to see a filthy and bedraggled waif of a child squatting on the ground, reaching for the hot mush which had been spilled, heedless of the scalding heat. Alarmed, he had cried out, "Don't! Wait wait little one, you-!"
As expected, the child blew twice on the hot food that had been picked up from the ground, and stuffed it into her mouth. Then she gave an ear-piercing shriek, retched, and burst into tears with a waaaah. Xie Lian was given such a fright that he picked her up upside-down and ran about frantically. It was a while before the child finally spat back out everything she had swallowed. Relieved, Xie Lian crouched down, mopping at his own sweat as he said gently, "Are you alright now, little one... sorry ah, but please please don't tell your parents what happened here, and next time don't simply pick things up from the floor to eat... wait wait whatareyoudoing!"
The child's eyes were brimming with tears, but she still tried to pick up the food to eat again. When Xie Lian grabbed her, he realized that the child's belly was practically sticking to her spine.
For one who has starved to this extent, they would be willing to eat anything. Despite being sickened to tears, they would still be willing to eat.
Xie Lian was at a loss, and could only think of retrieving the last of his own rations to give to her. After that, he frequently caught the girl secretly peeping at him from hidden corners.
From his impressions of her, this child called Ban Yue seemed to wear a perpetually unhappy expression, and her face and body were always marked with bruises. Every time he spotted her, she would always be staring at him fixedly, just like the way she was looking at him now. Because the child Ban Yue was excluded from the other groups of children, asides from Xie Lian, only a young Yong'an boy who lived in the same border would sometimes look out for her, so she would always trail after these two people.
She was a quiet child, but she could speak the Han dialect, so Xie Lian had never been able to figure out where she came from. Since there did not seem to be anyone minding the child, Xie Lian would sometimes bring her around with him. When he had time to spare, he would teach her some songs, how to tumble and wrestle, and even stage some rock smashing performances, and so on. Their relationship had been pretty good.
{T/N: Click for pic. The principle of the act is that the rock absorbs the inertia of when the hammer comes crashing down, so the person suffers very little impact.}
Xie Lian said, "I thought the 'Ban Yue' of 'Ban Yue State Preceptor' was referring to the country's name. I didn't realize that the State Preceptor's name was actually Ban Yue."
Fu Yao said, "So what happened next?"
Xie Lian replied, "Next... what happened was pretty much the same as what was inscribed on the stele at the General's burial mound."
{T/N: A stele is a slab (either made of wood or stone) that is generally erected as a monument or funerary memorial. Click for pic. Previously translated as 'stone slate' by Sakhyulations.}
San Lang had been silent up to this point. "The inscription on the stele said you died," he noted.
When reminded of the stele again, Xie Lian felt a little depressed.
Aren't eulogies supposed to sing exaggerated praise for the dead, and paint a beautiful commemorative picture of the dearly departed? Exactly what was so amazing about being demoted till he could be demoted no further? Even if he could overlook that, did it have to describe his humiliating death in such excruciating detail as well???
While sheltering from the sand storm and reading the text on the stele, his eyes had started twitching once they reached this particular passage. If it had not been for the fact that San Lang could decipher the Ban Yue script as well and had also been standing right next to Xie Lian, he would have skipped over the part depicting his ignoble death entirely and pretended it didn't exist. Even he himself had nearly choked, how could he blame others for laughing out loud? Still, the people who had sought shelter at his own burial mound from the wind and sand had seen the inscription describing his past deeds on the stele, and had even broken into a lively discourse about him, interspersed with guffaws. How could he bring himself to ask them not to laugh? Actually, he had been feeling a little glum about it all. Xie Lian felt that the space between his brows must be red by now from all his kneading. He said, "Ah, that, of course I didn't die. I faked my death."
Fu Yao looked at him incredulously. Xie Lian hurried to explain, "I really couldn't get back up as there were too many feet trampling over me. Faking death was the only option."
Actually, Xie Lian couldn't really recall the specifics of his 'death'. He couldn't even really remember why the two countries kept clashing with each other either, just that it was over some little matter which had been blown out of proportion. He hadn't wanted to fight at all, but at that time, he had already been demoted to the bottom-most rung, so no one had been willing to listen to him. Both sides were already berserk with blood lust, and when Xie Lian rushed out, somehow, he was suddenly met with both swords and knives. Fu Yao began chastising him, "You must have stuck yourself in the middle and pissed both sides off, didn't you? Else why would they immediately chop you down when you showed up? And you knew that they hated you, you could have just avoided the mass of people, why did you have to charge in headlong? If you had wanted to avoid them, you definitely could have."