Chapter 22: A Thousand Miles in a Step, Lost Within a Sandstorm
The scorpion tail!
However, right after he was stung, Xie Lian had also grabbed onto its tail. In fact, he had securely caught hold of the whole Scorpion-Tailed Snake in its entirety. Following that, Xie Lian tightened his grip until the snake completely fainted.
Despite having been stung, his expression didn’t change in the slightest. He only tossed the unconscious snake to the ground and said, “Everyone should continue to be careful, there may be more snakes nearby……”
Xie Lian hadn’t finished speaking when he felt something tighten around his wrist. When he lifted his head to take a look, he found that it was San Lang who had grabbed hold of him. Slightly startled, Xie Lian asked, “San Lang?”
The reason why he had asked this was because the expression currently present on the young man’s face wasn’t quite right. It was difficult to use words to describe it, but it basically made others tremble with fear.
San Lang stared intently at the minuscule wound on Xie Lian’s hand. This wound had originally been approximately the same size as a pinprick. However, the poison had spread fast, and thus the back of his hand had swollen into a massive, purplish-red hard lump. That small, pin-sized wound had also been stretched until it resembled a cut from a knife.
San Lang remained composed. Completely silent, he grabbed Ruoye and used it to tie a tight knot around Xie Lian’s wrist, which stopped the poisoned blood from spreading further. Although Ruoye liked to act like a spoiled and pampered child around Xie Lian and wasn’t always that well-behaved, it was incredibly docile in San Lang’s hands, to the point it seemed as though it was dead.
Ever since the two of them became acquainted, Xie Lian had never seen this expression on him before. Just as he was about to speak, San Lang pulled out the dagger hanging at the waist of one of the merchants. Having seen this, Nan Feng instantly understood what he was about to do and called forth a Palm Flame upon his right hand.
San Lang didn’t even look in his direction. Instead, he merely placed the tip of the knife into the fire. After sterilizing it, he turned around his head, before he gently yet swiftly sliced a cross mark onto the wound located on the back of Xie Lian’s hand.
San Lang was about to stoop down when Xie Lian quickly said, “There’s no need. The Scorpion-Tailed Snake’s poison is too toxic, so it’s useless even if you sucked it out. You should be more concerned about getting yourself poisoned……”
However, the young man didn’t allow him to explain. He just held his hand tightly before he pressed his lips to it. Unsure of the reason why, Xie Lian felt his arm, the one San Lang was holding, tremble slightly.
On the other side, Fu Yao said, “How can you even get stung like this? Your luck is truly something else. He might not have been bitten at all, so why would you go and grab it? You’re simply just causing us more trouble.”
These words were actually the truth. In fact, now that Xie Lian recalled San Lang’s carefree attitude as he tried to tie the snake into a knot, even he felt that San Lang wouldn’t have been bitten. And perhaps, even if he had been bitten, San Lang might not have minded it at all.
However, it was better safe than sorry. If the young man truly hadn’t noticed the snake and was bitten, wouldn’t it be useless to regret it then?
He waved his other, unwounded hand and said, “In any case, it doesn’t hurt and it wouldn’t kill me. Don’t mind it.”
Fu Yao asked, “It really doesn’t hurt?”
Xie Lian honestly replied, “Yes. I don’t feel it anymore. ”
This much was true. Xie Lian, being himself, was extremely unlucky. When he traversed through mountains, eight out of ten times he would step on poisonous snakes, startle poisonous bugs, and so on. He has already been bitten by an assortment of poisonous creatures a thousand times over, but his tenacity made it so that he just wouldn’t die. At most, he’d get a fever for three days and nights and upon waking up, he would be completely fine. In addition, Xie Lian was really insensitive toward pain. No matter what kind of pain it was, he would just let it hurt and hurt until he became used to it.
By the time he finished talking, San Lang finally lifted his head. The swelling on the back of Xie Lian’s hand had gone down. From the corner of San Lang’s lips, a thread of blood trickled down. Gaze extremely cold, he moved his eyes toward the Scorpion-Tailed Snake that laid on the ground.
Suddenly, a ‘bang’ sound rung out mournfully. That purplish-red snake had exploded into a pool of purplish-red minced meat.
When everyone saw how the snake had exploded, they were all taken aback. However, no one knew who did it. Although none of the blood had spattered onto them, they were still terrified.
TianSheng still remembered that Xie Lian had also been stung. He anxiously said, “This gege, were you also stung? What are you going to do?”
Xie Lian tightened the bandage around his wrist. With a smile, he said, “You’re a good kid. I’m fine. We’ll follow the original plan. Next, we will enter the city to look for the Kindred Moon Herb.”
A merchant hastily said, “If you guys are going, then what about us? Should we also send someone too?”
Xie Lian replied, “There’s no need for you guys to go. The ancient land of Ban Yue Kingdom is likely very dangerous. An additional person is merely another accident just waiting to happen. After we find the Kindred Moon Herb, we will bring it back and give it to you before the twenty-four hours are up.”
Several merchants exclaimed in succession, “Re…Really?! We would be too grateful….”
“How could we have the nerve……”
However, the moment Xie Lian spoke his next line, the expressions of the merchants immediately changed. He said, “In order to find the ancient kingdom of Ban Yue as quickly as possible, I would have to inconvenience you all to temporarily lend us this brother so he may show us the way. ”
The one he wanted to borrow was naturally A-Zhao. If one said the expressions present on the merchants’ face earlier were gratitude and joy, now the majority bore a look of hesitation.
Xie Lian also thoroughly understood why. The merchants were worried that once they took their guide and found the Kindred Moon Herb, they’d run off on their own. Even if A-Zhao had a conscious and decided to not run off with them while being willing to come back, much time would be delayed.
Yet, the merchants were indeed unwilling to go to the “With every passing, half the party goes missing” damnable place. This made them torn between the two choices.
This was human nature, and was thus understandable. Xie Lian immediately added, “But I’m afraid there may be other things that might come attack you all. So, Fu Yao, stay behind and look after them.”
Since they were leaving someone here, most of the merchants finally nodded and said, “Alright, as long as A-Zhao is willing to go with you.”
Therefore, Xie Lian turned towards A-Zhao and said, “Young friend, are you willing to help us? It’s alright even if you aren’t.”
A-Zhao nodded and replied, “I can. Although, the ancient kingdom of Ban Yue is actually rather easy to find. If you follow and walk down this direction, you will be able to find it.”
After they said their goodbyes to the merchants, A-Zhao walked at the very front to lead the group. Xie Lian, San Lang, and with Nan Feng followed closely behind him.
Having walked for some time, Xie Lian opened his mouth to ask, “A-Zhao, do Scorpion-Tailed Snakes frequently appear in this area?”
A-Zhao replied, “Scorpion-Tailed Snakes don’t appear often. This is also my first time seeing them.”
Xie Lian nodded and didn’t inquire further. In reality, he had lived near Ban Yue Kingdom for a period of time in the past, but this was also his first time encountering a Scorpion-Tailed Snake. Therefore, there was nothing wrong with A-Zhao’s answer.
Nan Feng had sensed something to some extent. He quietly asked him, “You suspect A-Zhao?”
Xie Lian also lowered his voice and said, “In any case, we already brought him out, so just keep an eye on him.”
If it was in the past, the first one to speak to him would inevitably be San Lang. But at the moment, although Xie Lian was unsure if it was because of what had happened earlier, the young man’s expression was still unpleasant. San Lang wouldn’t utter a single word. Xie Lian also didn’t know what was wrong. Since he was unable to talk to him, he could only continue to walk.
The four of them walked in the vast Gobi for slightly less than an hour. The storm had long gone, so without any wind or sand blocking their path, their travelling speed became awfully quick.
Gradually, they were able to make out a few hardy weeds that grew within the cracks in-between the sand and the rocks. It was until the sun had almost set when Xie Lian finally saw the ancient city emerging from the horizon.
This ancient city was difficult to spot because it was khaki in color, which blended in with the vast yellow sand that surrounded it. The city wall had crumbled, and there were a few sections that were buried amidst the yellow sand.
It was only after they had walked closer did they discover that the city wall was extremely tall. In fact, the tallest parts were more than thirty or so meters high, so i wasn’t difficult to imagine the wall in its former grandeur.
After they entered through the city gates, the four of them had officially entered the land of the ancient Ban Yue Kingdom.
Like always, the main street past the gates was wide and empty. Both sides of the street were filled with broken walls, dilapidated houses, and worn-out rocks and wood.
Perhaps repeatedly warning others had already become a habit, because A-Zhao said, “Everyone, be careful. Don’t wander.”
However, the other three naturally didn’t need him to remind them of this.
Probably due to the immense contrast between the ancient city of Ban Yue Kingdom and the one he had imagined, Nan Feng asked in disbelief, “This is Ban Yue Kingdom? How could it be so small? It can’t even be compared to a city.”
Xie Lian replied, “As a small desert kingdom, the bigger the oasis, the larger the kingdom. Even during its flourishing period, Ban Yue Kingdom consisted only of around ten thousand people. It truly is only this big. It had been alright when there was a lot of people around, and was even pretty lively.”
Nan Feng examined the area and said, “Defeating this kingdom was probably a matter that only took a couple of days.”
Xie Lian shook his head. “That hard to say. Nan Feng, don’t underestimate the people of Ban Yue. Although their population had only been around ten thousand people, there were always at least four thousand people in their army year-round. There were more males than females. Apart from the old and the sick and not counting the farmers, practically all the remaining men all joined the army. In addition, all the Ban Yue soldiers were all at least nine foot tall. Their personalities were also brave, fierce, and aggressive. While holding a wolf-toothed club, they still dared to charge forward even with a sword stuck in their chest. The soldiers of Ban Yue were extremely difficult to fight against.”
A-Zhao appeared to be slightly surprised. He glanced at Xie Lian and said, “This young lord seems to know quite a lot.”
Xie Lian kept smiling. Just when he was just about to casually spew some nonsense, Nan Feng spoke again, “What is that wall?”
What he had been referring to was an enormous, yellow dirt building in the distance.
It didn’t seem quite right to depict it as a building, because strictly speaking, it could only be described as four, giant earthen walls encircling something. There was no door and no roof, just four walls, and each was taller than thirty meters high. Stuck on top of the walls was a pole with something attached, and it was so battered that it wasn’t clear if it was a flag or something else that fluttered in the wind. For an unknown reason, the sight sent chills into one’s heart.
Xie Lian turned around, took one glance and said, “That’s the sinner’s pit.”
Just the name made it obvious that it wasn’t going to be anything good. Nan Feng frowned, “Sinner’s pit?”
After muttering to himself for a moment, Xie Lian replied, “You can think of it as a prison. It’s a place specifically for imprisoning criminals.”
Nan Feng said, “It doesn’t even have a door, how are they imprisoned? Don’t tell me they just tossed them down from the top?”
Xie Lian had been considering whether or not to reply when San Lang suddenly said, “They’re thrown in. In addition, what’s waiting for them at the bottom are poisonous snakes and scorpions, as well as starving beasts.”
Xie Lian felt himself relax when he finally heard San Lang speak. He glanced at him, but San Lang’s gaze only met his for a moment before the boy quickly averted his eyes.
Nan Feng cursed, “How the hell is this a prison, this is practically torture! It’s too cruel! If the Ban Yue people aren’t sick in the head, then they must be savages!”
Xie Lian massaged the space between his eyebrows. “Not entirely. Some of the Ban Yue people had been quite cute.”
At this moment, Xie Lian suddenly stopped speaking. While his eyebrows furrowed, he said, “Wait.”
The other three stopped walking. Xie Lian raised a hand and pointed. “Do you all see the pole at the top of the pit? Is that a person hanging from it?”
The sun had set and the night had fallen. Since they were also very far away from it, it had been difficult to tell what exactly was dangling from the pole. However, after they had walked a bit closer and saw the silhouette of the dangling object, it was obvious that it was a scrawny person dressed in black, clothes ragged and tattered. They were hung above the sinner’s pit, appearing rather like a worn-out doll as they were blown back and forth by the wind.
San Lang said, “It is.”
As soon as A-Zhao saw it was a person hanging up there, his face became slightly pale. This scene appeared extremely mournful and strange. Even someone as calm as A-Zhao couldn’t handle it.
At that moment, San Lang inclined his head a bit and quietly said, “Someone’s here.”
He wasn’t the only one to have noticed. Xie Lian had also heard the sound of very faint footsteps. Both sides of the street had dilapidated houses, so the four of them immediately dispersed to hide within them.
Xie Lian and San Lang ducked into the same house, while Nan Feng and A-Zhao hid in the house across from them. After a short while, a female official dressed in white appeared at the end of the beaten road.
The woman wore light, flowy robes that were as white as snow, while a hossu rested in the crook of her arm. As she walked down the street, she glanced left to right with her very bright eyes.
Her expression made it seem as if this place was not a long abandoned ancient city, but a little garden she could visit whenever she liked. Not too far away from her was a young woman dressed in black. With her hands clasped behind her back, she slowly followed behind the woman in white.
The young woman wearing black had facial features that appeared rather cold. Her gaze was not unlike that of an unsheathed dagger, while her long hair was draped over her back. In fact, the woman herself seemed to emit a chilly aura. And although she had been walking behind the woman wearing white, no one would mistake her as an underling.
These two were precisely the people Xie Lian and his party had seen outside the little rundown building at noon.
At that time, these two had flitted past them. The figure of the one wearing black had been very tall, hence Xie Lian had been unable to discern whether they were male or female. Only now did he realize that the two of them were both females. The one wearing white could only be the Ban Yue Grand Tutor, but the one wearing black…..who could she be?
That Ban Yue Grand Tutor swayed the hossu about in a leisurely manner. “Where did those people run off to now? As soon as our attention slipped, they vanished. Do I really have to drag them out one by one to kill them?”
Xie Lian thought to himself, Sure enough, as soon as they entered the city, someone immediately began watching them.
The woman in black walked forward. With an expressionless face, she walked past the woman dressed in white and said, “You can call your friends out to help you kill them.”
By ‘friends’, she could only be referring to the extremely deadly Ban Yue soldiers. The Ban Yue Grand Tutor laughed and said, “Ha ha ha! I don’t like asking other people, I only like to ask you. Doesn’t that make you happy?”
However, the woman in black didn’t leave her with any face. She icily said, “Being asked by you to come here and do these kinds of things isn’t anything to be happy about. Hurry up, let’s go.”
The Ban Yue Grand Tutor raised an eyebrow, although she indeed began walking quicker. The conversation between the two women made it seem as if their relationship were that of good, old friends.
These two definitely couldn’t be ordinary people, and the one dressed in black definitely couldn’t be someone with an obscure reputation. As someone who was familiar with the Ban Yue Grand Tutor, who could they be? A mysterious person from the same sect? Or perhaps, there had been a queen regnant or a female general in Ban Yue Kingdom?
While he rapidly analyzed this, Xie Lian also held his breath. He definitely didn’t want to be discovered right now. At present, it seemed that the Ban Yue Grand Tutor’s temper was very unpredictable.
What if she saw them and in a moment of excitement, called forth a horde of the legendary Ban Yue soldiers who were rumored to be nine foot tall and wielded wolf-tooth clubs? If that happened, they would have to fight for quite a while. And with only a twenty four hour deadline, losing even two hours only meant an increase to the danger.
But who would have thought, with Xie Lian’s luck, the more he didn’t want something to happen, the more likely it was to happen. As the woman in black walked past the front of their house, she suddenly halted. Following that, her perceptive gaze swept towards them.
The Ban Yue Grand Tutor had already walked ahead a few steps. However, upon seeing her companion stop, her body began leaning back. “Hey, are we going or not?”
The woman in black said, “You, move back.”
The Ban Yue Grand Tutor said, “Oh” before retreating. The woman in black had been just about to raise her hand, when suddenly, an explosive noise erupted from across the street!
On the other side, the house Nan Feng and A-Zhao had been hiding in suddenly collapsed. As the house caved in, the buildings beside it followed. In a split second, sand and dust billowed onto the street.
A black shadow suddenly leapt out of the sand and then expelled a stream of powerful flames towards the Ban Yue Grand Tutor. And yet, the woman in black had already turned around and stood protectively in front of the Grand Tutor. Her left hand still remained behind her back, while her right easily contained the stream of flames in her palm with a grab. Then, she immediately shot the flames back.
That shadow was also incomparably quick and nimble like a rabbit. After it dodged the attack by a hair, it left behind a cloud of dust as it escaped into the distance. The Ban Yue Grand Tutor gave chase, but the one in black glanced towards Xie Lian and San Lang once before she followed after her.
This entire event all happened in a single instant. Xie Lian inwardly said, “Good job, Nan Feng!”
He knew that the Nan Feng who had been hidden across the street must have seen that they were about to be discovered. Thus, he created a diversion and helped lead the enemies away. And since Nan Feng had been the only one who jumped out, A-Zhao must still be in the house.
After he confirmed the three of them were far enough away, Xie Lian pulled San Lang out and called, “A-Zhao, you’re still alive, right? Are you hurt?”
Instantly, a muffled sound came from beneath the collapsed house. “……I’m fine.”
Reassured, Xie Lian replied, “As long as you’re alright.”
Although he trusted Nan Feng had used utmost precision and control when he collapsed the house and had thus left enough space for a living person, in the end, Xie Lian still needed to confirm this to assuage his worries.
With a single hand, Xie Lian lifted a rotten roof beam. After a while, A-Zhao crawled out from under the house with some difficulty. His entire head and face were covered in dust, but after he patted himself off, he recovered his usual tranquil expression.
Xie Lian said, “Now there’s only three of us left. Nan Feng is being chased, so we need to act even faster. A-Zhao, do you know where the Kindred Moon Herb is located at?
A-Zhao only shook his head and said, “My apologies. I only know the location of the ancient city. I haven’t actually came here before, so I’m unclear as to where the Kindred Moon Herb grows.”
To the side, San Lang said, “It is said that the Kindred Moon Herb likes shade. It’s a small plant with incredibly delicate roots, yet its leaves are comparatively large. Its shape is similar to a pointy peach. You might as well look for it around a tall building.”
Xie Lian thought it over. “A tall building?”
On the topic of tall buildings, within a kingdom, what kind of building could be larger and more magnificent than the imperial palace? In addition, the legend said that after the banquet, the queen had plucked a leaf from the Kindred Moon Herb. This could also serve as evidence that the Kindred Moon Herb indeed grew within the palace.
The three surveyed the area. Sure enough, at the center of the city, they saw a palace built from stone, dirt and wood.
From afar, the palace looked quite imposing. However, from up close, the decline of the building was only slightly better than the houses on the streets. After passing through the main gates of the palace, there was a large garden. Perhaps it hadn’t been a garden but a plaza or something similar in the past. But now, after years of neglect, only a patch of land remained, one filled with all sorts of greenery.
That was right. What they were currently stepping on was not sand, but mud. It was probably the last vestiges of the oasis.
In fact, the Kindred Moon Herb was probably hiding amongst the rich vegetation. Xie Lian said, “Let’s be efficient. We only have twenty four hours. However, you must be very careful of the Scorpion-Tailed Snakes.”
A-Zhao agreed, while San Lang also gave his consent with a hum. Thus, the three of them all lowered their heads to search.
However, Xie Lian suddenly recalled that the Ban Yue Grand Tutor could control Scorpion-Tailed Snakes. Therefore, after traipsing onto her home territory, the Scorpion-Tailed Snakes should have made more appearances. Yet, after they entered the ancient Ban Yue Kingdom, they hadn’t seen another Scorpion-Tailed Snake.
He straightened his back and was just about to speak. However, at this moment, his hand suddenly touched something cylindrical.
Xie Lian bowed his head to take a look. It was a human leg.
Chapter 23: A Thousand Miles in a Step, Lost Within a Sandstorm
“AHHHHHHHHH!!!”
Xie Lian withdrew his hand, momentarily speechless. He had discovered that every time he saw or bumped into something in the dark, more often than not he would be the one who completely didn’t react to the frightening scene, while the other party would have already started screaming. However, wasn’t he the one who ought to be the most afraid?
The shrubs and grass in the garden had grown to be very tall and dense. Just now, there had been someone who was stealthily hiding among the plants, before Xie Lian ended up touching their calf.
That leg retracted at lightning speed. Rustling noises came from the bush before someone yelled, “Don’t attack, don’t attack! It’s me, big brother!”
Xie Lian stared. Indeed, he had truly not expected that the one screaming ‘don’t attack, don’t attack’, would actually be the thick-browed, big-eyed youth—TianSheng. When TianSheng saw Xie Lian had recognized him, he let out a relieved sigh.
However, Xie Lian didn’t heave a sigh of relief and instead became even more vigilant after he realized who the teenager was. After raising an arm, he held it in front of himself protectively before saying, “Didn’t you stay behind with the others at the previous place to watch over the injured people? Why are you here? Are you truly TianSheng?”
For him to appear under these circumstances, it was more likely that this was something else; a fake passing themselves off as TianSheng. However, TianSheng hurriedly said, “It’s me! It’s really me, and I’m not the only one here. Three uncles also came here with me! They’re right inside, if you don’t believe me, just take a look!”
He pointed towards the inside of the palace. Indeed, not much time had passed before three people came running out of the dilapidated palace. These guys were precisely some of the people from the group of merchants. When they saw Xie Lian, the three looked collectively startled before appearing embarrassed.
Xie Lian sighed, and only then did he stand up. As he dusted off the hem of his white clothing, he asked, “What’s going on, you guys?”
When he asked this, all of the embarrassed merchants stayed silent. After quite a while, Tian Sheng mumbled, “Not long after you big brothers left, Uncle Zheng’s poison flared up again. It was really serious, and we……didn’t know when you would return. We were worried that you might not be able to find it, or that you would come back too late. A-Zhao ge had said before that we would be able to find the Ban Yue Kingdom if we followed that road. We thought that it would be possible to find it faster if there were more people helping, so we also came over…….”
No matter how they explained, the main idea was that they had regretted it. Maybe they were afraid that after Xie Lian and his companions found the Kindred Moon Herb, they would take A-Zhao and slip away. Or perhaps, they just didn’t feel reassured and ended up chasing after them.
Xie Lian was also completely capable of imagining how Fu Yao would become too lazy to stop them if he had been unable to convince them to stay. It simply wasn’t possible to stop obstinate people who refused to listen to advice and rushed toward their own deaths.
Xie Lian helplessly said, “You guys are truly too courageous. It’s not like you don’t know what could be in this city, or what could happen here, yet you guys still dared to come?”
It could be assumed that even TianSheng knew their actions clearly meant they didn’t trust Xie Lian, so he felt a bit guilty. Earlier, the reason he hadn’t dared to make a noise when he was lying in the shrub was probably because he felt embarrassed. TianSheng said, “Sorry. The worth of someone’s life is beyond value. Once we panicked, we just…..”
One couldn’t do anything about it. When it came to matters of life and death, growing another heart was also human nature. In addition, being willing to risk their lives in order to retrieve the herb for someone else was also considered as good comradery.
It wasn’t good for Xie Lian to say anything more about this. Thus, he rubbed his forehead and said, “You guys are truly fortunate to not encounter anything on your way into this ancient city. That being said, how did you know you needed to look for the Kindred Moon Herb near the palace?”
Tian Sheng scratched his head and said, “We didn’t know where to look. However, in the red clothing-gege’s story, didn’t the Empress pick the Kindred Moon Herb? Empresses aren’t capable of casually leaving the imperial palace, so I thought we should try our luck at the palace.”
Xie Lian thought that this kid’s brain worked pretty well, since he actually got it right. At that very moment, San Lang, who had been standing by his side, suddenly spoke up, “Found it.”
When Xie Lian turned around to look, San Lan raised his hand. What he held in his hand was a bluish-green leaf that still had some roots attached to its bottom.
The leaf were only about the size of an infant’s palm, and the roots were incredibly slender. It was shaped like a peach, and the end of the leaf were pointed. There was simply no need to ask A-Zhao for confirmation—Xie Lian intuitively thought that it had to be the Kindred Moon Herb from the legends.
But before Xie Lian managed to speak, San Lang had already seized his injured hand.
When it had been stung, that hand had swelled to the point of scaring people. But after San Lang helped him suck out the poison, although the poison hadn’t been neutralized, the swelling was reduced by a lot.
At this moment, San Lang supported Xie Lian’s wounded hand with one hand, and held the Kindred Moon Herb with his other. He closed his five fingers around the herb. While he appeared to not have exerted any strength, when he opened his fist, the leaf had broken down into a pile of green powder.
San Lang took the pile of green powder and spread it thinly onto the back of Xie Lian’s hand. Immediately, a gentle and slightly cool feeling slowly expanded from the site of the wound. Xie Lian said, “San Lang, many thanks.”
However, San Lang did not reply. After he finished applying the medicinal herb, he let go of Xie Lian’s hand.
Xie Lian kept feeling as if there was something strange about the mood existing between the two of them, but he also didn’t know how to ask about it. No matter how Xie Lian tried phrasing his words, they never seemed suitable.
However, the other people could not sense the subtle mood. Tian Sheng eagerly said, “Big brother, do you feel a bit better? Does this herbal medicine work?”
Xie Lian snapped out of his daze and said, “I feel a lot better, so this ought to be the correct plant.”
When they heard his words, all the merchants became very excited. They all said, “Hurry, let’s keep looking.”
Before long, A-Zhao also raised his hand while holding a bunch of green leaves. He said, “I also found it.”
The Kindred Moon Herb leaves he was holding was much bigger compared to the small and pitiful leaf San Lang had just found. When the merchants took a look and saw that the shape and characteristics were all correct, they all rushed over. One after another, they exclaimed in pleasant surprise:
“There’s a large patch of Kindred Moon Herbs here, ah!”
“There’s so much!”
“Quickly, pick some extra!”
“If we pick a lot, can we sell them after we return?”
As the merchants busied themselves with picking the herbs, Xie Lian turned around and took a look at the back of his own hand. Despite having nothing to say, he forcibly found a topic and asked San Lang, “The field they found, weren’t you looking there before? Did you not discover it at the time?”
After he spoke, even Xie Lian himself felt that the question he asked was pointless. However, San Lang shook his head and said, “You shouldn’t use the herbs from there.”
Finding it odd, Xie Lian asked, “Why?”
Who would have thought that before San Lang managed to answer, they would suddenly hear a miserable shriek, “Go away!”
Everyone was stunned. Actions pausing, they asked one after the other:
“Who is the one screaming?”
“I wasn’t the one ah!”
“It wasn’t me either……”
Once again, they heard that voice mournfully say, “Go away, you’re stepping on me……”
This time, everyone finally noticed—the voice was coming from underneath their feet!
In the span of a split second, the people gathered at the patch of Kindred Moon Herbs all scattered. Xie Lian had already long become used to taking the lead at times like this—when other people retreated, he would advance forward. Thus, he walked over to where the scream had originated from. After reaching out with one hand, he slowly pushed aside the dense branches of the shrubs.
The moment he pushed aside those branches, everyone’s breathing all ceased.
What had been buried under the bushes and within the mud, was shockingly a man’s face.
There was actually a living person buried in the patch of soil here, and he was buried to the point that the only thing left outside was his face!
This scene truly looked incomparably strange. Immediately, the few merchants had been scared to the point that they began huddling together and screaming.
Once again, Xie Lian began comforting them in an extremely skilled manner, “Don’t panic. Everyone, calm done. It’s only a face, it’s nothing alarming. After all, doesn’t everyone have a face?”
That face chuckled. “Did I scare you guys? Sigh……I also frequently scare myself.”
Xie Lian half-squatted down before he began carefully scrutinizing the face buried in the mud.
This was a man’s face. When he wasn’t smiling, it appeared very flat, and when he did smile, there were many wrinkles. One couldn’t tell whether he was old or young, and one couldn’t say whether he was ugly or beautiful.
Xie Lian stared at the face for quite a while, but he still couldn’t make out what this face was. Without a better option, he had no choice but to directly ask, “Who are you?”
The face buried in the mud questioned back, “Who are you guys?”
Xie Lian said, “A caravan just passing by.”
The face buried in the mud sighed before saying. “A caravan just passing by? Once, I was also from a caravan just passing by. Although, that is a matter from fifty or sixty years ago.”
After he said this, the entire affair seemed even more abnormal.
This person had actually been buried in the lands of an abandoned ancient city for fifty or sixty years. Could he still be considered a human?
Trembling with fear and trepidation, a merchant asked, “Then……Then why would Mister……Why would Mister be here……ah?”
The face buried in the mud coughed a few times, before he wrinkled his face and said, “I……I was captured and brought here by a Ban Yue soldier. I wasn’t careful and accidentally entered the city and got captured. They ended up burying me here, so I would become fertilizer for these Kindred Moon Herbs……”
It turned out that these Kindred Moon Herbs had grown using living people as its fertilizer. No wonder they looked so plump and healthy!
Some merchants immediately threw away the Kindred Moon Herbs they had been holding. They felt that holding those herbs was the same as touching corpses. Even Xie Lian couldn’t help but lower his head to look at the back of his wounded hand. However, San Lang said, “There were no problems with that herb.”
No wonder San Lang hadn’t picked any of those plump and healthy Kindred Moon Herbs even when he had clearly searched around this piece of land. Xie Lian was afraid that San Lang had long seen the face buried in the mud and had guessed that these herbs were all raised with this kind of fertilizer.
Thus, San Lang had completely ignored these things before he turned around and left. Following that, he helped Xie Lian apply the medicine only after he had found a clean herb that had grown up normally in a remote corner.
Xie Lian said, “San Lang is so considerate. I truly thank you.”
San Lang shook his head. He still appeared calm and collected.
Ever since Xie Lian had been poisoned by the Scorpion-Tailed Snake before they entered the ancient Ban Yue Kingdom, San Lang’s attitude had continued to be like this. When the two of them had been living together before, San Lang had always been calling him ‘gege’. However, now he never called him that.
Other than the times San Lang had helped Xie Lian suck out the poison and apply the medicinal powder, it seemed as if San Lang was avoiding contact with Xie Lian’s body as much as possible. It truly made Xie Lian feel extremely baffled. Since he couldn’t make sense of San Lang’s attitude, even he felt a bit uneasy.
At this moment, the face buried in the mud began speaking again. “It’s already been many years since I’ve seen living people. You guys……you guys, come closer and let me get a better look, alright?”
Everyone stared at each other in dismay. They unanimously thought that it would be better if they didn’t do what he had asked. After a while, when the face buried in mud saw how no one had replied, he muttered, “What, no one is willing to? Sigh……what a pity……”
Xie Lian turned his head and asked, “Why is it a pity?”
The face buried in the mud said, “Ever since you guys came in, there is a matter I care a great deal about. I want to use my own eyes to confirm this matter before telling you guys. That’s why I told you guys to stand closer and let me take a better look, because I want to carefully get a good look of every one of you.”
Xie Lian asked, “What matter?”
The face buried in the mud smiled strangely, “You guys, don’t be afraid if I say it……I saw someone among you fifty years ago.”
The moment he said this, the hair on everyone’s backs began standing on end.
If it was someone the face buried in the mud had seen fifty years ago, nowadays they had to be at least sixty or seventy years old. However, among the few people here, even the oldest didn’t look over forty years old. How could this be possible?
Unless……that person wasn’t ‘human’!
Xie Lian’s gaze began sweeping over everyone’s face. Starting from A-Zhao, and ending with TianSheng, he saw slightly startled faces, frightened faces, bewildered and stupefied ones. Everyone’s reactions all conformed to reason. If he had to point out someone who hadn’t reacted according to common sense, then it could only be San Lang, who hadn’t responded at all. However, when it came to this teenager, no reaction was probably the normal one for him.
Xie Lian turned his head and asked, “Who are you talking about?”
The muscles on the face buried in mud twitched a few times, before he revealed an incomparably eerie smile. He appeared as if he was doing his utmost to make himself look even a little bit more reliable, but it still couldn’t conceal the sinister smile seeping out from the bottom of his heart. He said in a mysterious manner, “You……You, come a bit closer, and I’ll tell you.”
When the face had first made its claim, Xie Lian had deemed him eighty-percent trustworthy. However, after this line, he deemed him only fifty-percent trustworthy.
How was one to know if this monster wasn’t just trying to coax someone close, before suddenly revolting?
Xie Lian naturally wouldn’t listen to the face. After getting up, he withdrew. The face buried in the mud hastily said, “You guys truly don’t want to know who that person is? He will end up killing all of you, just like how he had ended up killing all of us!”
Chapter 24 (I): Obscure Hua Lian Fall Into the Sinners’ Pit at Night
The more he acted like this, the more Xie Lian thought it was dangerous. He said, “Everyone, retreat. Don’t approach it, and don’t pay attention to what it says.”
Everyone rushed to follow his words and hurriedly dispersed. The face buried in the mud gave a forced chuckle as he said, “Sigh, don’t leave. Why are you being like this? I’m also human; I won’t harm any of you!”
Xie Lian thought to himself, “You’re overthinking it. In this condition, you do not resemble a human at all!”
Who would have thought that right at this moment, a sudden change would occur. A merchant probably thought that no matter what, they still had to bring back some medicinal herbs to save people. Thus, that merchant took a few furtive steps forward before he stooped down to pick up the Kindred Moon Herbs he had just thrown away in fright.
The eyeballs of the face buried in the mud rolled around before they fixated on the merchant. Following that, a bright light flashed through the eyes of the half-buried face.
Xie Lian mentally thought ‘what bad luck’ as he rushed over and yelled, “Don’t pick them up! Come back!”
However, it was already too late. The face buried in the mud suddenly opened its mouth, before a strip of scarlet slipped out.
It was an extremely long tongue!
Xie Lian grabbed the back of that merchant’s collar before he repeatedly withdrew. Unfortunately, the thing that flew out of the half-buried face’s mouth was incomparingly long. Accompanied by a squelch, it slipped into the merchant’s ear!
Xie Lian felt the body he was holding undergo a fit of violent trembling. That merchant released a short, blood-curdling scream as his four limbs spasmed incessantly before his knees hit the ground. Swiftly, the long tongue scooped out a huge, bloody lump from the inside of the merchant’s ear, before it withdrew back into the mouth of the half-buried face.
The half-buried face laughed while chewing. He chewed until his entire mouth was practically dripping with blood, while he laughed until his deafening voice nearly overturned the roof of the dilapidated imperial palace. In a screech, the face said, “Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Deliciousdeliciousdelicious, deliciousdeliciousdelicious! Deliciousdelicious!! I’ve been starving to death, I’ve been starving to death!”
This voice already sounded both sharp and shrill, while both the face’s eyes were completely bloodshot. He truly looked extremely disgusting!
This person had been buried here for over fifty years. They had long been assimilated by this demonic kingdom, and had thoroughly become something completely inhumane.
Xie Lian let go of the merchant’s collar which he had been holding with his right hand. He was just about to chop this disgusting thing in half, when he suddenly heard the half-buried face screech again, “General! General! They’re here! They’re here!”
Following that, everyone heard a howl that was even more ferocious than a wild beast’s. A black shadow dropped down from the sky, before landing heavily in front of Xie Lian.
The moment this black shadow fell onto the ground, it almost appeared as if the ground had trembled from his landing. And by the time he had slowly stood up, everyone became shrouded within the immense shadow cast by his figure.
This ‘person’, was truly too tall.
His complexion was as dark as iron, while his facial features seemed vicious and aggressive. In fact, his face appeared similar to that of a beast’s. Armor covered his stomach and was also draped across his shoulders. As he was over nine chi tall, rather than say he was human, it was better to describe him as a gigantic wolf that could walk upright. And behind him, he was followed by one, two, three……more than ten ‘people’ jumped down from the roof of the imperial palace.
Each and every one of these people were tall and strong. The build of their bodies were similar, and atop their shoulders, all of them carried cudgels that were densely covered in sharp wolf teeth. It created an illusion that a pack of wolves had transformed into people. After they landed on the ground, they completely surrounded everyone in the garden and made them feel as if they were encircled by immense iron towers.
Ban Yue soldiers!
Waves of black spiritual energy emanated off of these soldiers. Without doubt, they had long been deceased.
Xie Lian’s entire body was stretched taut. If things took a turn for the worst, Ruoye would immediately be ready to move.
However, when those Ban Yue soldiers saw them, they didn’t immediately pounce on them and attack. Instead, they let out howling laughter that shook the heavens. Then, they began using a tribal language to loudly converse with each other.
That language sounded quite strange. The pronunciation seemed tricky, and there was a lot of tongue-rolling involved. It was precisely the language of Ban Yue Kingdom.
Although two hundred years had passed and Xie Lian had already forgotten almost all of his Ban Yue vocabulary, it could be considered that he had just reviewed it with San Lang at the General’s burial mound. In addition, with how these soldier’s voices were as loud as a large bell, and how their enunciation was crude while their vocabulary was simple, it wasn’t hard for Xie Lian to understand them.
He heard all the Ban Yue soldiers call the first soldier ‘General’. As they conversed with each other, Xie Lian also heard words like ‘drag them away’ and ‘don’t kill them for now’.
He breathed in deeply, before he softly said, “Everyone, don’t panic. For now, these Ban Yue soldiers won’t kill anyone. It seems like they want to bring us to another place. By all means, don’t act blindly without thinking. I can’t guarantee that I would be able to beat them, so let’s act according to the circumstances.”
Xie Lian only needed a single look at these soldiers to know they would be hard to deal with. Each of them were coarse-skinned and thick fleshed. Even if he had Ruoye on hand, Xie Lian was afraid that strangling a single one of them would take up a decent amount of time. Since a dozen had arrived simultaneously, they wouldn’t be easy to handle. In addition, several ordinary people were also present at the scene. Without a better option, the next best thing they could do would be to quietly watch for changes.
San Lang didn’t say anything, and everyone else didn’t really have an opinion. Even if they wanted to act blindly without thinking, they didn’t know how to act blindly without thinking, so they could only tearfully nod their heads. Only the half-buried face was still screaming, “General! General! Let me go! I helped you detain the enemies here, so let me go back home! I want to go back home!”
Ever since he saw this group of Ban Yue soldiers, the face became extremely excited. He kept shrieking while sobbing, and there were some clumsily pronounced Ban Yue vocabulary mixed in with his shouts. The face ought to have casually learned them during the fifty or sixty years he stayed there as fertilizer.
When the nine chi tall man who was called ‘General’ saw how there was something in the soil that kept twisting around and screaming, it seemed that he also thought the face was very disgusting. The general hammered down his cudgel embedded with wolf teeth, and the numerous sharp and pointy teeth pierced the half-buried face’s head.
The half-buried face screamed once. Since the sharp teeth were already lodged into the front of the head, when the general lifted his cudgel, he ended up completely uprooting the half-buried face. Ironically, the general took the face out of the dirt, realizing the face’s ‘let me go’ wish.
However, what was connected to the face’s neck after it broke through the ground wasn’t a person’s body at all. Instead, it was a thickly-boned skeleton!
A few of the merchants who saw this frightening scene were scared into yelling. The face that had been half-buried in the mud dropped off of the teethed cudgel and was completely covered in blood. When the face saw its own body, it seemed like he had also been frightened. He gasped and asked, “What is this? What is this?!”
Xie Lian reminded him, “This is your body.”
It was easy to comprehend after thinking about it. This person had been buried in the desert sand for fifty to sixty years. The flesh of his body had long been transformed into nutrients for those Kindred Moon Herbs. He had been entirely consumed until the only thing remaining was a mere skeleton.
The face that had been buried was still unwilling to accept the truth. He asked, “How could this be possible?? My body isn’t like this. This isn’t my body!!!”
His voice sounded incomparably mournful. The scene looked frightful yet lamentable, causing Xie Lian to shake his head. However, San Lang sneered before saying, “You can’t bear to see your own body right now? If that’s the case, what was the thing that had came out of your mouth? You think there was nothing wrong with it?”
The face that had been buried in the mud immediately retorted. “What’s wrong with it?! It’s only……It’s only a bit longer than an ordinary person’s tongue, that’s all!”
Both the corners of San Lang’s eyes and the tips of his eyebrows expressed his derision. He said, “Nn, not bad. Only a little bit longer. Ha ha.”
The face that had been buried in the mud said, “That’s right! It’s only a little bit longer! And it’s only like this because for these past several years, for the sake of surviving by eating flying and crawling insects, it slowly got longer and longer. That’s why it became like this!”
When the face had first been buried into the soil, perhaps he had still been alive. And in order to keep on living, he would desperately stick out his tongue to eat all sorts of insects. Gradually, the face stopped being a human, so that tongue grew longer and longer. And the ‘food’ he ate also changed from flying and crawling bugs to things that were even more frightful.
However, because he had always been buried in the soil, the face hadn’t been able to see the state of his body for all these years. He was simply incapable of accepting, nor was he willing to believe, that he was no longer human. The face that had been buried in the mud strived to explain, “There are also people whose tongues are relatively long!”
San Lang smiled. When Xie Lian saw this, he felt an indescribable chill. The smiling face of this youth gave people a grim feeling, as if he was on the verge of peeling off someone’s face.
San Lang asked, “Do you believe you’re still human?”
After he was asked this question, it seemed as if the face that had been buried in the mud felt a sense of danger. He suddenly became jittery and said, “Of course I’m human. I’m human!”
As the face yelled this, he expended much effort in an attempt to move the hands and feet that had already turned into white bone. It seemed like he wanted to crawl on the ground.
Perhaps it was because he had finally emerged from the dirt, but the face felt genuine happiness. Howling with laughter, he said, “I can go back, I can go back now! Ha ha ha ha ha ha……”
“Cough!”
His laughter had been too ear-piercing, so it finally irritated that Ban Yue general. In a single stomp, the skull of the face that had been buried in the mud instantly shattered. His shrill cries of ‘I’m human’ would also never occur again.
After that ‘General’ crushed the annoying face that had been buried in the mud, he shouted something at the soldiers in a loud voice. In response, the crowd of soldiers brandished their cudgels embedded with wolf teeth and roared a few times at the group of people. Then, the soldiers began herding the people toward the exit of the imperial palace.
Xie Lian was at the very front, and as always, San Lang followed right behind him. Even though they were being forcibly escorted by a group of fiendish Ban Yue soldiers, the youth’s footsteps were as measured as always, as if he was just taking a stroll.
Ever since earlier, Xie Lian had been trying to find an opportunity to talk to him. After walking for a while, he noticed how the Ban Yue soldiers began once again chatting with one another. Since they didn’t seem to be paying too much attention to them, Xie Lian quietly said, “They call the leading Ban Yue soldier ‘General’, I wonder what kind.”
Sure enough, San Lang still answered him the moment Xie Lian asked a question. He said, “When Ban Yue Kingdom was destroyed, there was only one general. His name translated into classical Chinese is ‘Ke Mo’.”
Xie Lian repeated, “Ke Mo?”
This name was indeed quite strange. San Lang said, “That’s right. Reportedly, his body had been delicate and frail when he was young, so he was frequently bullied. As a result, he vowed to become strong. He developed his strength by grinding down a rock, and so he earned a name like this
Xie Lian couldn’t resist thinking, “If that was the case, they could have also called him ‘Da Li’…...”
San Lang spoke up again. “The legends proclaim Ke Mo as Ban Yue Kingdom’s bravest and fiercest General in all of history. With a height of nine chi and extraordinary strength, he had been the Ban Yue Grand Tutor’s faithful supporter.”
Xie Lian asked, “And he is still a supporter after his death? Is he bringing us to the Ban Yue Grand Tutor right now?”
San Lang replied, “Perhaps.”
If there were even more Ban Yue soldiers there, how would they escape? In addition, how was Nan Feng doing after he had drawn away those two? They had also gotten a hold of the Kindred Moon Herb, but how were they supposed to deliver it into the hands of the poisoned within twenty-four hours?
Xie Lian contemplated these questions as he walked. He also noticed that General Ke Mo was leading them somewhere increasingly remote. In the end, he brought them to a place that was at the very edge of Ban Yue Kingdom, and only then did General Ke Mo come to a halt.
Xie Lian stopped walking and raised his head to look up. An incomparably tall and yellow wall stood in front of him, bearing a resemblance to that of a giant person.
Their destination was unexpectedly the Sinners’ Pit.
Although he had once lived near Ban Yue Kingdom for a period of time, Xie Lian hadn’t actually entered Ban Yue City that much. Of course, he had also never approached the Sinners’ Pit. Now that he was seeing the Sinners’ Pit from up close, his heart had inexplicably sped up.
There was a staircase on the outside of the yellow wall. While they slowly climbed up the simple and crude staircase, Xie Lian glanced down. As he constantly surveyed his surroundings with his eyes, he finally understood why his heart had sped up.
He wasn’t trembling with fear because he associated this place with one that used torture. It also wasn’t because he was worried that the soldiers would push them down into the pit. Instead, his heart palpitations were purely a response to him sensing the presence of a spiritual array.
Someone had deliberately set up an extremely powerful spiritual array using the terrain and layout of the Sinners’ Pit.
And this spiritual array only had one purpose——to make the people who fall down into the pit, be eternally unable to climb back up again!
What the so-called ‘unable to climb back up again’ meant was that, even if someone threw down a rope or put up a ladder and the person at the bottom grabbed hold of this one opportunity to live to climb up, when they got halfway to the top, the array would activate and punt that person down again.
Without batting an eyelid, Xie Lian placed a hand onto the wall. He brushed his hand across a small section of the wall and roughly made out what the wall was composed of. Xie Lian discovered that although this wall seemed to be made out of earth or clay from afar, it was actually created from incomparably hard stone. In addition, there was probably some kind of a spiritual incantation used to fortify the wall, making it inevitably hard to break through.
When they got to the top of the staircase, they arrived at the roof of the Sinners’ Pit. What was located above the ledge of the yellow wall was a sight to behold at first glance. One could only use the word ‘shocking’ to describe the scene.
The entire Sinners’ Pit was precisely created by the enclosure of four tall walls. Each of those tall walls were more than thirty zhang long and twenty zhang tall, and every wall was four chi thick. Towering above all, they looked extremely awe-inspiring.
What the four walls were encircling was a huge, four-sided room. However, there weren’t any platforms to stand on across the top of the Sinners’ Pit, or even a horizontal beam.
It was already evening, and one completely couldn’t see the bottom of the immense dark pit. From time to time, only waves of cold air and the smell of blood wafted up from the bottomless darkness.
Everyone was walking on the ledge of a tall wall, and it didn’t have any protective fences whatsoever. Since they were walking at a high altitude where the ground was at least ten zhang away, not many people dared to look down.
After walking for a while, the people at the front came across an erected tall pole. A corpse was hung on the pole, and it was precisely the dead body they had previously seen from the ground. That corpse appeared quite small, and was the body of a black-clothed young girl. Her clothes were worn out and in tatters, while her head hung low.
Xie Lian knew that the pole was specifically used to hang the sinners the soldiers wanted to humiliate. Usually, the jailors would tear away the sinner’s clothing, before hanging them up all naked. Then, they would let the convict starve to death or dehydrate to death.
After the sinner died, their corpse would sway with the wind, be exposed to both the sun and rain, and would ultimately air-dry. While their limbs and body rotted, their flesh would also fall down. The appearance of their dead body would be extremely unsightly.
Since the corpse of this young girl still hadn’t rotted, not much time should have passed since her death. Perhaps she had been a resident who lived in the vicinity. But these soldiers actually hung a little girl’s body in a place like this. They were truly extremely savage and cruel.
When A-Zhao, TianSheng, and the others saw this scene, their complexions all paled. They came to an immediate halt and didn’t dare to go forward. Fortunately, Ke Mo had also stopped walking. He turned around and faced the Sinners’ Pit, before he made a long and loud yell.
Xie Lian thought it was strange. ‘Why did he need to yell like this?’
The next moment, he received the answer to his question.
Appearing to be the response to Ke Mo’s loud shout, a snarl came from the bottom of the dark pit. It sounded like the roar of a tiger, a wolf, a monster, or even a tsunami, but the sound was multiplied by a hundred times and was deafening. Everyone on the ledge of the wall was practically jolted by this roar until they could barely remain standing. Very clearly, Xie Lian heard the slight rustling sound of the falling debris and stone that had been unlodged by vibrations of the snarl.
Only criminals were thrown into the Sinners’ Pit. Could it be? Was the thing responding to Ke Mo the souls of the deceased sinners?
At this moment, Ke Mo once again yelled into the pit. Xie Lian listened carefully. This time, Ke Mo hadn’t roared something incomprehensible, and it hadn’t been a curse either. On the contrary, it ought to have been encouragement.
In fact, Xie Lian was very certain that he heard the words——‘fellow brothers’.
After Ke Mo finished roaring, he yelled something at the soldiers detaining Xie Lian and the others. This time, Xie Lian completely understood what Ke Mo had ordered.
The General said, “Just drop two people down there.”
Chapter 24 (II): Obscure Hua Lian Fall Into the Sinners’ Pit at Night
Although everyone else didn’t understand what Ke Mo had said, they could probably roughly guess what the soldiers were intending to do. As a result, their complexions simultaneously turned white.
When Xie Lian saw how they were all scared to the point they could barely remain standing, he moved a step forward and softly said, “Don’t be nervous. If something happens, I’ll face it first.”
If by chance, someone had to be thrown in later, then Xie Lian would just brace himself and go down to take a look first. In any case, only the stereotypical vipers, ferocious beasts, malicious spirits or demons would be at the bottom of the pit. Since Xie Lian wouldn’t die from the fall, or die from being beaten, or die from being bitten or poisoned, as long as there wasn’t any lava and raging flames, or Corpse Transformed Poisoned Water , then he wouldn’t become too unsightly even if he jumped down.
In addition, Xie Lian still had Ruoye. Even if the spiritual array hindered him from using Ruoye to climb back up, if these Ban Yue soldiers threw someone else down, he would still be able to catch them.
Ke Mo had said ‘bring the others away and keep an eye on them’. That meant the other people would be relatively safe for the time being. After all, catching live people in the Gobi desert wasn’t an easy thing to do. They couldn’t just let them be all eaten at once, so the soldiers probably wanted to hoard them and let them be eaten one at a time.
Xie Lian had thought things through. However, who would have thought that there would be someone in their group who couldn’t keep their cool.
Other than Xie Lian and San Lang whose expressions hadn’t changed, everyone else were all trembling with fear ever since they had climbed to the top of the Sinners’ Pit——especially A-Zhao.
Perhaps it was because he thought death was certain and that it would be better to try and desperately fight, A-Zhao fisted his hands and suddenly revolted. With a bowed head, he charged at Ke Mo!
It appeared that A-Zhao had the determination to take down Ke Mo with him to death. In other words, he was charging at him in hopes of knocking Ke Mo down into the pit with himself. And despite Ke Mo’s tall stature that could be likened to an iron tower, even he retreated three steps in the face of a collision that encompassed one’s last resolution before death.
Since Ke Mo nearly lost his footing, he was immediately angered. After roaring once, he flipped over a hand and pushed A-Zhao down.
When they saw the youth fall dow