"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'tgo on!' in his head, Xie Lian resolutely dropped to the ground to fake his death, but evenin 'death' he was trampled to the point of passing out. It was water choking him thatwoke him, because corpses were usually thrown into the rivers after battles. Xie Lianwent 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 unbrokencompass to start off 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 aftera clash between the two armies. Were you involved in that?"With his reminder, and recalling what was written on the memorial, some things werecoming 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 saveme, and got flattened.""..."Xie Lian instantly remembered the agony of being trampled by thousands, and hehugged his arms in spite of himself, but when he saw two others watching him withunreadable expressions, he pulled himself back in a hurry and said, "Not flat. Not tooflat."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 childup and run away immediately, but we didn't retreat fast enough and got caught betweenthe 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 Iam? So much can happen in just a decade, there's no way to remember everything indetail. Besides, some things are best forgotten. Rather than remembering how I wasbutchered and trampled hundreds of years ago, I'd prefer to remember that I ate adelicious 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. Ifyou'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 Idon't think you're the kind of child who sought revenge and betray others... Will you tellme 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 whybut 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 beingcaptured. Even if you say it wasn't intentional, I've heard all that before. All those peoplecross the Pass were certainly all injured by your snakes. Show me your hands, you'reunder arrest."Ban Yue shut up and extended both arms. Fu Yao immediately took out a God-Bindingrope and apprehended both Ban Yue and Ke Mo, then said, "Alright. We'veaccomplished 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 to further interrogation and turned to Ban Yue, "Canyou not control any of your snakes?"Ban Yue answered, "I can control them, and they'll obey most of the time. But there aretimes 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 andnodded.Soon, a wine red scorpion snake slithered out from underneath a corpse, raisedits head and curled itself above a pile of dead bodies, and soundlessly flicked its tongueto the group.Xie Lian was about to take a closer look at the snake but saw Ban Yue widen her eyes,face strange. Xie Lian's heart dropped and thought, "Oh no."As he thought, after flicking its tongue the snake opened its mouth and pouncedtowards him in attack.It was a sudden lunge, but Xie Lian was ready, and was about to grab for it when boom!Something exploded. When he opened his eyes again to see, the snake was already asplatter of guts on the ground, having thoroughly blown apart. It was a calculated blasttoo; none of the venom spilled. Xie Lian immediately remembered another instancewhere a snake died like this before they entered the BanYue ruins, but there was noneed to say who did it at this point. He hadn't even had the chance to look at San Langbefore a red sleeve flashed before him, barring and separating him from Ban Yue.On the other side, Fu Yao also said cooly, "I knew she lied. Did you think this snake canmanage to bite him under these circumstances? Foolish."Ban Yue's face was already pale when she saw that snake, and when she heard himher head shot up, "I didn't do it. I said there are some snakes that don't obey, and thatone was one of them just now."Fu Yao didn't believe a single word, "Who knows if it was actually disobeying or obeyingyou?""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 outfrom under a different corpse, flicking their tongues and watching them intently. Then athird, a fourth, a fifth... from the mountains of dead bodies, and from all around everycorner of the pit, came innumerous scorpion snakes!Everyone stared at Ban Yue who was kneeling on top of pile of corpses, and Fu Yaostarted spinning a ball of spiritual energy in his palm, shouting towards her, "Make themgo away! They can't all disobey!"Ban Yue scrunched up her brows, looking as if she's trying to drive them out. Yet moreand more scorpion snakes appeared, curling and crawling, slithering ever closer. Bitesfrom one or two snakes might not kill them, but hundreds and thousands was harder tosay. 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 snakesslithered to a certain distance, they would stop and hesitate, forming a weird circlearound 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 scorpionsnakes seemed to be able to read his eyes and didn't dare approach. They backed offbit by bit, lowering their savage heads as they did so, and pressed against the groundsumbmissively like servants.But there seemed to be another power controlling them, making them unable toabandon attacks and leave completely. Thus, many of the snakes turned around andslithered towards Fu Yao. Fu Yao swung his hand and a blast of flames burst from hissleeve, killing a circle of snakes.That wouldn't last long, however, and Xie Lian said, "Let's go up and get out of herefirst!"Whoosh, Ruoye shot out from Xie Lian's arm and flew upwards. But soon, anotherwhoosh and it was back on Xie Lian's arm. Xie Lian was taken aback and raised hiswrist, admonishing the silk band, "What are you doing back here? The array wasreleased, hurry and go!"But Ruoye remained wrapped on his arm, trembling, as if he bumped into somethingterrifying at the top. Xie Lian was still chiding it when suddenly, a long rope of somethingfell. 'Plop', it dropped on Fu Yao's shoulder. Fu Yao went to grab for it, and his facechanged the moment he brought it before his eyes – it was another scorpion snake thatfell from the sky!This took Fu Yao off guard, and after getting bitten, he hurled the snake towards BanYue. Even with her hands tied, she still unconsciously tried to catch the snake, andhaving 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 themoon, Xie Lian raised his head and only just barely saw this sight: hundreds of littlewine 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 offire 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 roseto 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! Thankgoodness 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, andshouted at Ban Yue, "And you say those snakes don't obey you? If it weren't youcontrolling 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 sensetrouble. 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 onwith those snakes first. Let's charge out."Fu Yao sneered, "What's going on? Either the Guoshi of BanYue is lying, or the onenext to you is causing trouble."Xie Lian looked at Ban Yue, then looked at San Lang, and said, "I don't think it's eitherof 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 faceilluminated by the flames was unkind, 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. Doyou still know your place? I'm sure you're already very aware of what exactly that thingis next to you. I won't believe you hadn't realized it at all!"