Chapter 25 : Obscure Hua Lian Fall Into the Sinners’ Pit at Night (II)

Touching and Embracing in the deep, dark pit

Xie Lian said, “San Lang, are you really alright? How about you put me down.”

But San Lang said, “Don’t get down.”

Xie Lian paused in confusion, and wondered, “What’s going on? Is there something on the ground?”

Both arms were still holding tightly onto him, and it didn’t seem like San Lang was about to release him anytime soon. Xie Lian was about to raise his hand to push lightly against San Lang’s chest, but before he could move, he vividly recalled how after he had been caught during his fall, he had carelessly felt the youth up all the way to his Adam’s apple. Xie Lian furtively withdrew his hand.

Really, he doesn’t know what’s wrong with him. After hundreds of years, Xie Lian still could not recognize what ‘awkward’ was unless smacked in the face with it. In his heart, he heard a tinny voice admonishing him to conduct himself with decorum and keep his wayward hands to himself

At this moment, a howl filled with rage and grief echoed resoundingly from the other side of the pit. “What happened to all of you!?”

It was spoken in the Ban Yue dialect. And judging from the voice, it belonged to General Ke Mo whom Xie Lian had dragged down with him. Being already dead, the fall did not kill him. He was merely embedded into the ground in a man-shaped dent from the forceful impact. As soon as he crawled out, he began bellowing, “What happened? Soldiers! My brothers, what happened to you?!”

When he had stood high above the pit and shouted down a rallying call, a hundred thousand voices had responded to him, the pitiful wails and terrible cries echoing up from the deep abyss like the departed souls of hell, raging to be fed. But right now, besides his furious and anguished roars, all Xie Lian could hear was deathly silence. And despite being so close to him, not even San Lang’s breathing nor the sound of his heartbeat could be heard.

Xie Lian held his breath, and realized why it felt so wrong.

That’s right, he was practically plastered against San Lang, but he could not hear him breathing or his heart beating at all!

Ke Mo screamed in rage, “Who killed you, who killed you!”

When Ah Zhao fell in, Xie Lian had heard the terrible sounds of gnawing from below. But after San Lang jumped down, everything had been quiet. Who else could have killed them?

Ke Mo immediately came to the same conclusion as well. “Damn you for killing my men, you’re dead!”

Although it was too dark to make anything out, Xie Lian could keenly feel the danger heading towards them from the side. His body shifted as he said, “San Lang, be careful!”

But San Lang replied, “Don’t worry about him.” With his arms still wrapped around Xie Lian, his feet shifted lightly, and his body seemed to have turned around.

In the dark, Xie Lian could hear something tinkling in soft, silvery chimes, sweetly musical and pleasant to the ear, yet sharp and clear. It was fleeting and faded after a moment. Ke Mo had lunged over to grab them, but found himself grasping empty air. He spun around and made to attack again, but each time, San Lang would deftly spin away on light feet, dodging with breathless ease. Xie Lian’s hand again moved subconsciously, climbing up to clasp tightly on to San Lang, gripping the clothing on his shoulders.

However, the arms around Xie Lian remained just as perfectly steady as before, while San Lang nimbly dodged and weaved. Only, from time to time, Xie Lian could feel something icy cold and hard on those arms pressing painfully against him. He couldn’t help staring blankly. In the pitch blackness, silvery flashes of light flickered and darted around. The sound of sharp blades whistling through the air came from all directions, mixed with Ke Mo’s enraged howls.

The Ban Yue general seemed like he ought to have suffered heavy injuries, but he remained dauntless and refused to back down. In a fit of anger, he came at them again. Xie Lian called, “Ruoye!”

In answer, the ribbon of silk flew out. With a ‘pa’, it wrapped around Ke Mo and lifted him into the air, flipped him over, then smacked him to the ground. Ke Mo dragged himself back to his feet and snarled, “The both of you! Two against one, despicable!”

Xie Lian thought, You’re trying to kill us, who cares if its many versus one. Whether its despicable or not, right now our lives are more important, we’ll discuss this again after we’ve pummeled you to death. San Lang laughed softly. “You won’t stand a chance even if it’s one on one. You don’t have to step in.” The last sentence was directed at Xie Lian, his tone low and somber, the previous mockery in his words at Ke Mo fading away completely. Xie Lian answered, “Okay.” Then he proceeded to remind the other again. “San Lang, it’s better if you let me down, I’ll only be hindering you.”

But San Lang said, “It’s fine, don’t get down.”

Xie Lian could not help himself. “Seriously now, why not?” It can’t be that this youth liked to carry people around when he got into fights right? Even if you look down on your opponent, you don’t have to do it this way.

Th youth only replied to him with one word. “Filthy.”

“……”

Xie Lian least expected to be given this sort of reason, and with such earnestness to boot. He felt it was a little funny, and also felt something a little strange which he could not put into words. It was a faint, fluttering heat in the pit of his stomach. “You can’t carry me around like this forever,” he reasoned.

San Lang said, “Not necessarily.”

Xie Lian had only spoken in jest, but San Lang had sounded dead serious, leaving him at a loss for words. While they were speaking, within the deep darkness, Ke Mo had begun to launch another assault with unyielding tenacity. San Lang clearly had both arms around him, yet was somehow able to beat Ke Mo back again and again. As he was driven back, Ke Mo shrieked furiously, “That slut sent you……”

His tirade was interrupted by a loud, booming ‘dōng‘, and an immense body toppled down with an earth-shaking rumble. This time, he was smashed directly into the ground and did not get back up. Xie Lian listened intently, then said, “San Lang, don’t kill him first. I fear we still need him to tell us how to get out of here.”

San Lang obediently halted and stood motionless. “I’m not trying to kill him. He would not have lasted this long otherwise,” he said.

The Sinner’s Pit descended into deathly stillness again.

After a short moment of silence, Xie Lian said, “San Lang, what happened down here, was your doing?”

Even though nothing could be seen due to the suffocating darkness, but the all pervasive reek of blood and death, coupled with Ke Mo’s previous wild display of grief and ire, was enough for him to clearly delineate what had happened here. After a long pause, that Xie Lian finally heard San Lang’s reply.

“Yes,” he said.

The answer came as no surprise. After a while, Xie Lian sighed. “How should I say this……”

He mulled over his choice of words, and finally mustered up a heartfelt appeal, “San Lang ah, if you come across this kind of pit again in the future, you absolutely must not jump in willy-nilly. I kept trying to stop you but you jumped in anyway. I really don’t know what to do with you ah.”

San Lang seemed to choke a little, evidently surprised by his words.

When he spoke again, his voice sounded a little strange. “You have nothing else to ask?”

Xie Lian said, “What do you want me to ask?”

San Lang said, “For example, whether or not I am human.”

Xie Lian rubbed at the space between his brows and replied, “I don’t think there’s any need to ask this.”

San Lang, “En? No need?”

Xie Lian said, “En. Is it necessary? Human or not, it doesn’t really matter.”

San Lang said, “Oh?”

Xie Lian shifted up a little from the crook of his arms, explaining, “When meeting people, it is not up to us to decide if we will be kindred spirits. It is determined by our respective natures, and not by our lots in life. If I like you, I would still like you even if you were a beggar; but if I loathe you, that feeling would not change even if you were the Emperor. Is this not how it should be? It is but the simple truth. Which is why, there is no need to ask.”

San Lang laughed and said, “En, what you said makes perfect sense.”

Xie Lian said, “Truly?” He also laughed along. They laughed and laughed, but there was the feeling that he had overlooked something. And then it finally hit him.

He had been unexpectedly held in San Lang’s arms all this time, and the worst thing was, somehow or rather, he had unconsciously gotten used to this position!

{T/N: Yea, get comfy in that princess carry.}

This was really getting too much for him. Xie Lian gave a light cough, and said tentatively, “By the way, San Lang ah, we can chat about this again next time. It’s really for the best if you put me down now, alright?”

San Lang seemed to be smiling as he said, “Just a moment.”

As he carried Xie Lian, he seemed to be moving down towards a direction, before gently lowering him. Xie Lian’s feet touched something solid, and he finally stood on firm ground. “Many thanks.”

San Lang gave no response. After expressing his gratitude, Xie Lian lifted his head and looked upwards.

The moon shone bright and round against the backdrop of the deep blue night sky, breathtakingly beautiful to behold. Unfortunately, the view was framed by the four sides of the walls in a square, bringing to mind the story of the frog in the well.

{T/N: The Frog in the Well is a Chinese idiom that refers to a narrow-minded person who doesn’t see the larger world around them. From the frog’s point of view, all it could see was the piece of sky that was not blocked by the walls of the well.}

Xie Lian tried to send Ruoye up again, and the silk cloth flew out. As expected, when Ruoye was midway up, it was blocked by an invisible barrier of force and bounced back. It could advance no further.

San Lang said, “There is an array set up around the Sinner’s Pit.”

“Yes, I know. I was just giving it a try, else I wouldn’t feel at ease,” Xie Lian replied. “I wonder how the rest of those up there are faring. Will the maiden in black also sweep them all down here?”

He told San Lang about how the maiden who had been strung up from the long pole suddenly came to life and swept a whole squadron of soldiers down. When he was done, Xie Lian took a few steps forward but stepped on something that felt suspiciously like an arm. He flailed for a moment before quickly regaining his balance, but San Lang continued to support him. “Be careful.”

He added lightly, “I told you, the ground is filthy.”

Xie Lian finally understood what he meant by ‘filthy’. “I’m fine. I wanted to use Palm Flame to look around and plan for our next step.”

San Lang fell silent. At this moment, from somewhere distant, Ke Mo’s voice rang out, “You are working for that slut, all of our nation’s ghosts who died unjustly will curse you!”

Xie Lian turned around and spoke in the Ban Yue dialect, “General Ke Mo, exactly who…… are you talking about?”

General Ke Mo screamed back hatefully, “You dare to ask? It’s that demon!”

Xie Lian said, “Is it the female official wandering about in the city?”

{T/N: 女冠 (nǚ guān) – Female official was the term used by Sakhyulations. A nǚ guān is a female Taoist. Click for pic.}

Ke Mo spat fiercely. It seems that Xie Lian was correct. He continued to ask, “Are you not loyal to the Ban Yue Grand Tutor?”

Ke Mo was stirred into a frenzy again by his words. “I will never be loyal to her again! I will never forgive that slut!”

He immediately launched into another vile, lengthy diatribe. Ke Mo was so worked up that his speech was launched at rapid fire speed, so much so that after a long while Xie Lian wore a stupefied expression on his face. He could not understand a single word. He whispered furtively, “San Lang, San Lang.”

San Lang answered promptly, “He’s swearing up a storm. He says that the Tutor betrayed their country, opened the city gates, allowing the soldiers from the Central Plains to massacre everyone within the city, and threw his brothers-in-arms down into this hell hole. He wants to hang her to death again a thousand times, no, ten thousand times.”

Xie Lian broke in hurriedly, “Wait, wait!”

How could this be, there are clearly two gaping holes in this narrative!

First of all, the ‘female officer wandering about in the city’ that Xie Lian mentioned, was referring to the woman clothed in white. But now, Ke Mo kept cursing at the Ban Yue Grand Tutor as a ‘slut’ and claims that she pushed his brothers into this hell hole. Earlier, when the maiden in black had swept his officers and soldiers down from the wall, Xie Lian had heard Ke Mo raging at her. Adding on to the fact that Ke Mo wanted to ‘hang her to death again a thousand times’—-Xie Lian suddenly realized that they don’t seem to have been talking about the same person at all.

{T/N: Recap, in the previous chapter when the maiden in black attacked, Ke Mo had said “It’s this slut again!”}

Secondly, the Ban Yue nation was betrayed by the Ban Yue Grand Tutor?!

Xie Lian interrupted him to say, “General, the Ban Yue Grand Tutor you were talking about, is the girl in black who was hanging from a pole over the Sinner’s Pit?”

Ke Mo replied, “Who else if not her?!”

“……”

So the maiden in black who was swinging like a corpse from the pole was the real Ban Yue Grand Tutor!

But if that was the case, then just who was the female officer in white who said she wanted to drag them out to kill them, whilst strolling idly within Ban Yue’s city walls? And who is the young woman in black who was accompanying her?

The maiden in black possessed incomparably strange martial arts, she was capable of sweeping tens of soldiers down from the wall in the blink of an eye in a single, powerful sweep. Why would she be hanging over the Sinner’s Pit?