Xie Lian said, "I really can't remember anymore!"
Even though he's more resilient than a roach, being hacked at like that was still a bit too much. At that time, his immediate thought had been, "I can't go on like this ah!" and then he promptly toppled to the ground. While playing dead, he was trampled on a goodly number of times until he finally fainted. It was only when he was choking on water that he regained consciousness. Turns out, after the battle had ended and the cleanup commenced, all the dead bodies had been unceremoniously dumped into the river. Xie Lian floated along with the current like so much discarded debris and was eventually washed ashore in Yong'an country. After spending three to four years nursing his injuries, he packed up, picked up a functioning compass and once again set off on his long delayed journey. At long last, he arrived at his original destination in the South, and no longer paid attention to the affairs of the Ban Yue nation.
{T/N: 百打不死 (Bǎi dǎ bùsǐ) – lit. beat hundred times, won't die}
Ban Yue again said softly, "I'm sorry."
Fu Yao frowned. "Why does she keep apologizing to you?"
San Lang suddenly spoke. "Earlier, Ke Mo said that the Ban Yue State Preceptor only left for the Central Plains after a revolt broke out. Was this revolt in any way related to you?"
At this reminder, Xie Lian also recalled the inscriptions on the stone stele. He blinked and seemed to vaguely remember something. "Ah, I think..."
Ban Yue said, "It was to save me."
Everyone turned to look at her. She lowered her head and said in an undertone, "General Hua was trampled flat because he was trying to save me."
"..."
Xie Lian was suddenly visited by the vivid memory of being violently crushed under hundreds and thousands of stomping feet. He curled an arm around himself out of reflex, then realized that two pairs of eyes were regarding him with intense scrutiny. He froze, then hastened to say, "Nono, not flat, not flat at all!"
For whatever reason, Fu Yao seemed irked by his reply. "Oh, you were really quite the hero weren't you," he said, a peculiar lilt to his tone.
Xie Lian waved a hand and said airily, "You flatter me. Besides, unless I'm mistaken, I just happened to be at the scene and decided to bring the child away, before immediately making good my escape. But before I could withdraw, I ran into both armies instead..."
"If that was the case, how could you have possibly forgotten?" Fu Yao demanded.
Xie Lian said, "May I remind you that I'm already a couple hundred years old? A lot of things can happen in one year, even a person can be completely unrecognizable after ten years. This incident happened a very long time ago, I can't possibly remember each and every detail clearly. What's more, a lot of things are better off forgotten. Rather than reminiscing on how I was repeatedly stabbed and trampled some hundred years ago, isn't it better to savour the memory of the delicious meat bun I had yesterday?"
{T/N : Meat bun (usually pork). Click for pic.}
"I'm sorry," Ban Yue said.
Xie Lian sighed. "Ban Yue ah, saving you was my choice, it wasn't your fault. If you must apologize, then perhaps you should be saying it to someone else."
Ban Yue looked startled, then lowered her head silently.
Xie Lian added, "But... it may be that my impression of you still remains at how you were two hundred odd years ago. I find it hard to believe that you would actively scheme for vengeance's sake and betray the trust of those who depend on you... would you be willing to tell me what really happened? Why did you open the city gates?"
Ban Yue considered his words briefly, then shook her head and remained mute.
Xie Lian said, "Then, why did you send the snakes out to attack people?"
This time, Ban Yue chose to reply him. "I didn't send the snakes."
Xie Lian paused in surprise. "What?"
Ban Yue repeated, "I didn't send the snakes, they went on their own accord. I don't know what happened, but they no longer obey me."
Fu Yao's lips thinned from impatience. Ban Yue said, "General Hua, I'm telling the truth."
Before Xie Lian could say anything, Fu Yao cut in brusquely. "Save it, everyone says the same thing once they've been caught. I've heard these excuses many times before. Intentional or not, it doesn't change the fact that people have been bitten by your snakes while crossing through the pass. Hands out now, it's time to go."
Ban Yue fell silent and obediently stretched out her hands. Fu Yao immediately shook out a length of Immortal Binding Rope from his sleeve and proceeded to tie her and Ke Mo up. "Alright, we've settled what we came to do, case closed!"
San Lang spoke up lazily from the side, "There's no reason for her to lie."
Xie Lian too, felt that he couldn't just allow the matter to drop. He said to Ban Yue, "Are you not able to summon the Scorpion-Tailed snakes at all?"
Ban Yue replied, "I can call on them. They do listen to me for the most part, but sometimes they don't. I don't know why either."
"How about you call the snakes out now, let us have a look," Xie Lian suggested.
Earlier, Ban Yue had been kneeling in front of him. Now she finally stood up and nodded. Before long, a purplish-red Scorpion-Tailed snake slithered out from under one of the corpses and reared its head, its tongue flickering silently at them. Xie Lian was about to cautiously venture closer for a better look when he spotted Ban Yue's eyes widening slightly, a peculiar expression on her face. Xie Lian's heart sank as he thought, "Oh no."
Sure enough, after tasting the air with its tongue, the Scorpion-Tailed snake's jaws suddenly gaped wide, its fangs glistening threateningly in the air as it struck at him!
Even though the snake's attack was abrupt, Xie Lian had been on his guard. He could anticipate the snake's moves clearly, and stretched out a hand to seize the snake. But before his hand could even reach the snake, there was a sudden 'pēng' sound, like something had exploded. He stared blankly at the snake as it fell limply to the ground, it's innards spilling out like a flower in bloom. And what was more, the explosion itself was very neat, not a single drop of venom had splashed out.
Xie Lian immediately recalled the time before they entered Ban Yue nation. A snake had died in a similar manner. Well then, it wasn't much of a guess as to who had done it. Before he could even shift his gaze towards San Lang, a long arm clad in a red, narrow sleeve stretched out in front of him, blocking him off from Ban Yue. From the side, Fu Yao said coldly, "As expected, she was trying to trick you. Did you really think the snake could have successfully bitten him under these circumstances? Idiot."
Ban Yue's face had turned rigid at the sight of the snake. At Fu Yao's words, her head jerked up quickly. "It wasn't me. I said some snakes wouldn't listen to me, that snake was one of those."
Fu Yao gave a derisive snort. "And who's to say if that snake hadn't been acting on your orders instead?"
Ban Yue said hollowly, "I didn't even summon this snake here."
Xie Lian opened his mouth, but spotted two deep magenta Scorpion-Tailed snakes writhing out from beneath the corpses, hissing menacingly as they slithered towards them. Immediately after, a third appeared, then a fourth, then a fifth... from within the corpses and every nook and cranny in the rocks, a multitude of Scorpion-Tailed snakes began swarming out!
Everyone's eyes fell on Ban Yue who was crouched on a pile of corpses. Bright beams of light burst forth from Fu Yao's hand. "Tell them to back off, surely some of them still obey you," he snapped at Ban Yue.
Ban Yue's brows drew together tightly in concentration, as if attempting to figure out how to drive the snakes away. Yet more and more Scorpion-Tailed snakes continued to pour out, forming a large writhing mass that continued to draw near them. While one or two snake bites would not kill them, they'd be hard-pressed if it were a hundred or a thousand. And even if they didn't die, they'd still be a very sorry sight indeed. Xie Lian raised a hand, ready to put Ruoye to action, but then he saw the snakes halting several feet from them. As if reluctant to get any closer, they formed a grotesque, hissing circle around them.
A sudden flash of realization hit Xie Lian, he turned to look at San Lang. The youth stood straight-backed beside him, his eyes fixed on the Scorpion-Tailed snakes with an air of arrogant contempt. The Scorpion-Tailed snakes seemed deterred by his haughty gaze and recoiled. Bit by bit the snakes retreated, heads lowered to the ground in submission.
However, they also seemed to be driven by some strange force which did not permit them to give up their attacks and retreat. And so the Scorpion-Tailed snakes changed their target and began slithering towards Fu Yao instead. With a casual wave of his sleeve, Fu Yao sent a blaze roaring at the them, charring a ring of snakes.
But this cannot last long. Xie Lian said, "Let's leave this pit first."
At his unspoken command, Ruoye unraveled and flew upwards with a whoosh. But before long, Ruoye returned with another whoosh. Xie Lian was faintly startled. He said to the white silk coiled around his wrist, "Why did you come back? The spell array has been removed, there's nothing blocking your way. Go go."
But Ruoye remained wrapped around his arm, shivering as if it had met with something unspeakably horrible up above. While Xie Lian was still trying to coax it, something fell down from above and landed with a smack against Fu Yao's shoulder. When Fu Yao grabbed at it, his expression abruptly changed. He brought the thing in front of him for a look—-what had dropped out of the sky was also a Scorpion-Tailed snake!
Caught unprepared, Fu Yao was bitten. He abruptly flung the snake at Ban Yue. Ban Yue reflexively reached out with her bound hands and caught it. The purplish-red snake wound its body around her pale wrist but did not make to attack. At this moment, another dull thud sounded, and a second snake landed on the ground!
Xie Lian could roughly guess why Ruoye had refused to go up. When he raised his head, from the faint rays of moonlight, he could just barely discern hundreds of small specks of purplish-red snakes hurtling down from the top of the Sinner's Pit.
It's raining snakes!
Seeing how the purplish-red dots were rapidly getting closer, Xie Lian said, "Fu Yao! Fire! Send the fire upwards, deal with then while they're still in midair!"
Fu Yao bit down on his palm, breaking the skin. With a wave of his hand, he sent a single bead of blood flying up, before transforming it into a blazing shield of protective flames. The barrier of fire was suspended ten feet in the air, and the Scorpion-Tailed snakes which collided against it were rapidly incinerated to ashes. The rain of snakes was effectively cut off.
At this momentary reprieve, Xie Lian relaxed a little. "Great! Thanks a lot, Fu Yao!"
This level of magic would inevitably drain a huge chunk of their spiritual energy. Fu Yao's face was already showing the beginnings of strain. He turned and also drew a circle of flames around them on the ground, crisping the snakes there. He said to Ban Yue, "Do you still insist that they do not obey you? If you are not the one manipulating them, why are the snakes not attacking you?"
San Lang grinned. "Maybe you're just unlucky? They're not attacking us either ah."
Fu Yao whirled to face them, his eyes raking over the both of them, expression grim. At this, Xie Lian felt some misgivings, but the beginnings of a hunch about their present situation was also forming. There isn't enough time to sort his thoughts, and he really doesn't want to see them get into a brawl right now. "We should get out of here, it's best to figure out what's wrong with these snakes first," he said.
Fu Yao's mouth stretched in a sneer. "Figure out what's wrong? If the Ban Yue State Preceptor is not the one lying, then it's the thing next to you that's making mischief!"
Xie Lian's gaze flitted from Ban Yue to San Lang. "I don't think its them."
Although his tone was mild, it brooked no argument. This was the conclusion he has arrived at after much thought, but Fu Yao was sure to assume that he was deliberately shielding them. The fire illuminated the twisted expression on Fu Yao's face, as if he didn't know whether to laugh or implode in fury. "Your Royal Highness, can you ditch this ignorant act of yours. Do you still remember who you are? That thing beside you, surely you have long since known what it is, you must have realized by now!"