"Ke Mo, what's going on?" The Guoshi asked in BanYuenese as she landed.The moment she spoke, Xie Lian thought her voice was very different than what he hadimagined. Although still cold, her voice was tiny, like the grumblings of a sulky child, notone that's cool and powerful. If not for his good hearing, he might not even hear herproperly."What's going on?? THEY'RE ALL DEAD!!!" Ke Mo shouted."How did they all die?" The Guoshi asked."Isn't it because you pushed them all down and trapped them in this godforsaken hell!""Who's here? There's another person." The Guoshi said.At the bottom of the pit there should be two other 'people', but San Lang had no breathsnor heartbeat, so the Guoshi didn't detect his presence. It was also complete chaos ontop of the walls earlier, and no one kept track of who fell and and who ran away, so shethought there was only Xie Lian there."It was they who killed all of my soldiers, are you happy now? Everyone you wanted tokill are finally dead!"The Guoshi was silent, and suddenly a tiny burst of light flared, illuminating a small,black clad girl with a palm torch.The girl looked to be fifteen or sixteen, both eyes blackened, not unbeautiful, but justunhappy, her forehead and cheeks full of bruises, clear and distinct under the light. Thehand controlling the palm torch was shaking, causing the flames to flicker.If it wasn't confirmed earlier, no one would think this pale little girl was the Guoshi ofBanYue.The flames in her hand illuminated herself and her surroundings. Next to her feet waspiled with armoured corpses of BanYue soldiers.Xie Lian couldn't help but sneak a look beside him.That palm torch in the Guoshi's hand was very small, and did not light up the entire pit,so they were still immersed in darkness. But using the wee light, Xie Lian could still seefaintly that the one next to him was dressed in red. It wasn't clear, and he wasn't sure,but he could still somewhat distinguish what's close to him. San Lang was already tallerthan him, but now, maybe, he seemed taller than before.Xie Lian moved his eyes up, paused at the neck, then continued upward, stopping at anelegantly shaped chin.San Lang's upper face was still hidden in the shadows, but Xie Lian thought the bottomhalf was distinctly different than before. Still handsome, but the lines were much moredefined. Feeling he was being watched, San Lang tilted his head, and his lips curledupwards slightly.Perhaps he wanted to too much to get a better look, to get closer, that without realizingit, Xie Lian took a step closer to him.Just then, Ke Mo wailed in the distance, seeming to be in shock after seeing the bloodytragedy before him. Xie Lian abruptly snapped out of it and turned to look, and saw KeMo was clutching his own head, but despite the general's cries, the Guoshi' expressionremained wooden, and only nodded, "Good."In the midst of mourning, hearing those words made Ke Mo rage once more, "GOOD?What's good?? How do you mean?!""Good means we're finally freed." Guoshi said.She turned to Xie Lian who's still shrouded in the dark, "Were you the one who killedthem?""This... was an accident." Xie Lian replied."YOU'RE LYING THROUGH YOUR TEETH!" Ke Mo exclaimed.Xie Lian responded bold facedly, "Life is full of accidents!"Guoshi gave him a look but her expression was unreadable, "Who are you?"Her words were actually spoken in perfect Han dialect*, and it wasn't in an interrogativetone either."I'm a heavenly official. This one here is... my friend." Xie Lian replied.Ke Mo couldn't understand their words, but could still tell they weren't fighting, anddemanded, "What are you two saying?"The Guoshi looked Xie Lian over, eyed San Lang for a moment before quickly lookingaway and said, "We've never had heavenly officials visit before. I thought you've allalready abandoned this place."Xie Lian had thought they would have to fight the Guoshi of BanYue, but was surprisedto find she was this despondent, devoid of any will to fight. She spoke up again, "Do youtwo want to leave?""Of course we do, but there's an array set in this pit, so we can't." Xie Lian said.Hearing this, the Guoshi walked to one of the walls, raised her hand and drewsomething, then turned around and said, "There. I released the array. You two can leavenow.""..."This was way too easy!Xie Lian really didn't know what to say now. Just then came a voice calling from above,"HEY! IS ANYONE DOWN THERE? IF NOT I'M LEAVING!"It was Fu Yao's voice.Xie Lian heard San Lang 'tsk' next to him, and immediately looked up. There was ashadow of a man looking down into the pit, and Xie Lian shouted, "FU YAO! THERE'SPEOPLE DOWN HERE! I'M DOWN HERE!"After Xie Lian shouted he also waved, and Fu Yao shouted back from above, "You'reactually down there? What's at the bottom besides you?""Um... a lot of things. Why don't you come down and see for yourself?" Xie Lian said.Fu Yao probably thought the same, and blew a large ball of fire into the pit. In an instant,the entire Sinner's Pit was lit up, bright like day, and Xie Lian finally saw clearly the kindof place he's been standing in.All around him were mountains of bloody corpses piled high; innumerable bodies of theBanYue soldiers stacked on top of each other, faces and limbs blackened, dark bloodsmearing the bright armours. The corner Xie Lian was standing was the only spot in theentire Sinner's Pit that did not have a dead body.This was all done in a flash, in the dark, by San Lang after he jumped in.Xie Lian turned to look at the boy next to him again.Before in the dark, he thought San Lang looked taller and was distinctly different invarious places, but now, under the bright firelight, the one standing next to him was thesame handsome youth he'd known. When he saw Xie Lian looked over, he grinned. XieLian looked down to check his wrists and boots, and both were also the same as before,having nothing that would cause any jingling sound.Just then, Xie Lian heard a muffled sound, and it was Fu Yao who had jumped down."Weren't you looking after the merchants?" Xie Lian asked.Having just entered the pit, Fu Yao wasn't yet used to the stench of blood and fannedhis hand to make the air flow, the he replied indifferently, "We waited for over six hoursand there was still no sight of you, so we figured something had happened. I drew acircle for them to wait in, and came to check things out myself."Xie Lian frowned, "The circle won't last long. With you gone, what if they leave the circlethinking you'd left them behind?"Fu Yao shrugged, "Eight horses can't stop a man who really wants to seek death; I can'tstop stubborn people, so nothing. What's with those two over there? Who's who?"Fu Yao was tense, ready to defend against the two unknowns, but soon discoveredastonishingly that Ke Mo was already heavily wounded on the ground, barely able tostand, and the Guoshi of BanYue had her head lowered and silent."That one is the General of BanYue, and the other one is the Guoshi of BanYue. Rightnow they're..."Ke Mo suddenly leapt up before Xie Lian could finish.He had been lying on the ground gathering his strength, and was finally able to jump upin a shout, aiming his fists at the Guoshi of BanYue. A large beefy warrior attacking alittle girl; in the past Xie Lian would never allow this sort of thing to happen before him.But Ke Mo had every reason to hate the Guoshi, and she could very well defend herselfyet she didn't, letting herself be thrown around like a broken ragdoll.Ke Mo shouted at the Guoshi, "Where are your scorpion snakes? Come on! Let thembite me to death too! Give me that release!"The Guoshi gloomily replied, "Ke Mo, my snakes don't listen to me anymore.""Then why don't they kill you??" He tsked."...I'm sorry, Ke Mo." The Guoshi apologized softly."DO YOU REALLY HATE US THAT MUCH?"The Guoshi shook her head and Ke Mo became angrier, "YOU'RE GOING TO BE THEDEATH OF ME! IF YOU DON'T HATE US, WHY DID YOU BETRAY US? YOUSHAMELESS SPY, DISGUSTING MOLE, TRAITOR!!"Fu Yao watched him strike harder and harder, and the blows were all single sided, andcouldn't help but frown, "What are they saying? Shouldn't we go stop them?"Xie Lian couldn't watch anymore either, and rushed forward to stop Ke Mo, "General!General! Why don't you tell us who that YongAn thug really is, we'll..."Suddenly, the Guoshi grabbed his wrist.The grip was hard and came unexpectedly, and Xie Lian's heart dropped, thinking shewas going to ambush him, but when he looked back down at her, the Guoshi was on theground, a small bruise at the corner of her mouth, her head raised, watching himintently. She didn't say a single word, but her dark eyes were intense with a flamingsense of life.This demeanour overlapped with an image from a fargone memory. After a pause, XieLian blurted, "It's you?"The Guoshi voice also trembled, "General Hua?"This back and forth stunned everyone in the pit. Fu Yao rushed forward, knocked Ke Moout with a punch, and demanded, "You two know each other?"Xie Lian didn't answer him. He knelt down, gripped the shoulders of the Guoshi, andexamined her face.Earlier they stood too far apart and he couldn't see clearly. Plus it had been over twohundred years, this girl had matured in that time, and for many various reasons, hedidn't recognize her at first. But now that he looked again properly, it's the same face inhis memories.Xie Lian couldn't speak for the longest time, and it was a good moment before sighed,"Ban Yue?"The Guoshi quickly clutched at his sleeves, and the gloomy face suddenly came aliveand excited, "It's me! General Hua, do you still remember me?""Of course I remember you. But..." Xie Lian gazed at her for a moment and sighed, "Butwhat have you done to yourself?"Hearing his words, her eyes suddenly filled pain."I'm sorry, Captain... I messed up." She muttered.In that exchange, there was 'General' this, 'Captain' that, making it glaringly obvious tothe bystanders. Fu Yao was in shock, "Captain? General? YOU? How did this happen?Then the Tomb of the General is?" Fu Yao pushed."My tomb." Xie Lian replied."Didn't you say you only came to collect junk two hundred years ago???" Fu Yaoquestioned."This... is a long story. That was originally the plan." Xie Lian answered.Around two hundred years ago, due to some reason, Xie Lian couldn't muck around inthe East anymore, and decided to stay out of sight for a while. He had planned to crossthe Qing ridge and head to the South to start a brand new life of scraps. Thus, he tookup his compass and walked southward.But the more he walked, the more he thought woefully, how come the sceneries were allwrong? There should be an abundance of trees and greeneries, cities and crowds, sohow come his path was becoming more desolate?Suspicions aside however, Xie Lian stubbornly continued on, until he walked andwalked and came upon the Gobi desert. It took a gust of wind blowing a fistful of sandinto his face before Xie Lian finally realized that his compass was broken.The direction it was guiding him this entire journey was wrong!Since there wasn't anything he could do about the whole thing, he might as well takethis chance to visit the desert sceneries, and continued walking. Only, he changedcourse slightly and traveled northwestward, and finally arrived at the border where hesettled nearby the Kingdom of BanYue."At first, I was just collecting junk around the area." Xie Lian said, "But the border wastroubled, and with so many skirmishes, there were often runaway soldiers, so the armywould draft anyone into recruit to make up the numbers.""So you were forced into the army?" San Lang asked."Yea," Xie Lian replied, "But doing anything was more or less the same, so it didn'tmatter to me. And then after chasing away some bandits a couple times, I somehow gotpromoted to Captain. The people gave me face and would call me General too.""Why did she call you General Hua?" Fu Yao questioned. "Your surname isn't Hua."Xie Lian waved his hand and said dismissively, "Don't worry about it. I randomly madeup a fake name at the time. I think it was 'Hua Xie'2"Hearing the name, San Lang's expression changed slightly, his lips twitching. Xie Liandidn't pay attention and continued, "With a battle-torn border came many orphans.When I was free I'd play with them sometimes. One of them... was named Ban Yue."When there were bandits, Xie Lian was surely the bravest soldier, and no one daredblock his way, nor did anyone dared stand beside him even. But when there weren't, itwas as if anyone could order him around.One day he went and sat by a wall to start a campfire, using his own helmet to cook. Ashe cooked the smell of it drifted out, and a few enraged soldiers came to kick overwhatever it was he was cooking. Xie Lian picked up his helmet with a broken heart, butwhen he looked back, he saw a small disheveled and grimy child crouched behind him,picking at the stuff knocked to the ground with her hands without caring whether if it wastoo hot, and stuffing it into her mouth. He was shocked, "DON'T! Wait, little kid, you!"As expected, that little kid scarved down a few lumps of the stuff she picked off theground then dry heaved heavily, crying loudly. Xie Lian was so shaken he picked her upupside down and ran laps until all the stuff she ate came back out. After that was done,he crouched down and wiped away his seat, "Are you alright little kid... I'm so sorry. Butdon't ever tell your parents about this, and next time, don't pick up anymore randomstuff off the ground to eat... WAIT WHAT ARE YOU DOING NOW!"That child was face covered in tears but still went to pick off the ground again, stillwanting to eat. It was only after Xie Lian grabbed her before he realize that this child'stummy skin was practically pressed to the back of her bones.When people starved to this point, anything could be eaten. Even if it was disgusting tothe point of tears she would eat.Xie Lian had no choice, and went back to bring her the last of his rations. Thenafterwards, he could often see this child stalking him in the shadows nearby.In his memories, the little girl Ban Yue was always gloomy, her body and face full ofbruises, and when she looked at him she would stare just so from below. Because shewas singled out by the BanYue children, other than Xie Lian, there was only a YongAnboy living at the border who'd sometime pay attention to her, so she'd spend her daystagging along behind the two of them.She rarely spoke, but she was fluent in the Han dialect so Xie Lian didn't know whereshe came from, but she was a random wandering child, so he randomly took her in.When he was free sometimes he'd teach them songs, sometimes wrestle, sometimesshow off his busker move 'Shattering Boulders on Chest', or something, and they gotalong quite well.Xie Lian shook his head, "I had thought the 'BanYue' in the Guoshi' title was the country,I didn't realize it was actually the name of the Guoshi.""And then?" Fu Yao asked."And then... it's pretty much the same as what the memorial wrote." Xie Lian said.After some silence, San Lang spoke up, "The memorial said you died."On the subject of that memorial, Xie Lian felt quite bummed out.Weren't memorials usually praises and exaggerate good deeds to glorify the deceased?All those mentions of the demotions aside, why did it have to so solemnly record theembarrassing way he died???While they were hiding away from the sandstorm and he read to this part, he couldbarely look at it straight on. If it wasn't for San Lang who also understood BanYueneseand was watching him, he was going to pretend that segment never existed. Havingsomething like that written down, even he wanted to laugh, nevermind other people?That he had the nerve to ask those seeking shelter in his memorial to not laugh as theycommentated and laughed at his epitaph, it made him feel really bummed.Xie Lian's forehead was becoming red from all the rubbing. "Oh, that. Um. Of course Ididn't die. I faked it."Fu Yao was a face full of disbelief. Xie Lian explained himself, "I got trampled on toohard and couldn't get up, so there wasn't any other way besides faking my deathanyway."Truthfully, Xie Lian couldn't quite remember exactly how he 'died', nor why that battlebroke out in the first place, only that it was over something petty. He really didn't want tofight; victory or defeat was meaningless. But by then his rank could go no lower, and noone would listen to him. In the midst of battle, everyone saw red, so when he rushedout, it was blades and swords coming at him from both sides cutting him down.Fu Yao questioned, "It must be because you're an eyesore standing the middle that youraised the ire of both sides, right? Otherwise why would people just cut you down whenthey see you? Besides, I'm sure you knew there were many who hated you, so whydidn't you evade all those people? Why did you have to charge in? I'm sure youcould've dodge if you wanted to."
1.Han was the dialect of YongAn. ↩2.The name 'Hua Xie' is meaningless, but the character for 'Hua' is the same asthe one in Hua Cheng's name. ↩