After the Imperial Master jumped down, he asked in Banyue language, "Kemo, what's going on?"

As soon as she spoke, her voice was quite different from what Xie Lian had imagined. It did sound cold, but it was very quiet, as if a depressed child was talking to himself. It was not a cold and powerful voice. If Xie Lian had not had good hearing, he might not have heard it clearly. Ke Mo said, "What happened? They are all dead!"

The Imperial Master asked, "How could they all be dead?"

Ke Mo said, "It's because you pushed them all down and locked them up in this damn place!"

The Imperial Master asked, "Who is here? There is another person."

In fact, besides Ke Mo, there should be two other "people" at the bottom of the pit. However, San Lang had no breath or heartbeat, and Ban Yue Imperial Master could not detect any trace of his existence. It was also a mess up there just now, and she could not remember who fell and who ran away. Therefore, she thought there was only Xie Lian. Ke Mo said, "They were the ones who killed my soldiers. Are you happy now? All those you wanted to kill are finally dead!"

There was silence from the Imperial Master's side for a while. After a while, a ray of fire suddenly ignited in the darkness, reflecting a black-clothed girl holding a small flame in her palm.

The girl looked only fifteen or sixteen years old, with dark eyes. She was not ugly, but she looked very unhappy. There were bruises on her forehead and mouth, which were clearly visible under the firelight. The hand holding the fire seemed to be trembling, causing the flame in the palm to tremble. If it had not been confirmed in advance, no one would have thought that Ban Yue State Master was such a pale girl.

The flames not only illuminated her, but also her surroundings. At her feet were the bodies of the Half Moon soldiers in armor.

Xie Lian couldn’t help but glance to the side.

Because the flame held up by the national teacher was very small, it did not illuminate the entire bottom of the sinners' pit. They were still hidden in the darkness. However, with the little firelight in the distance, he could see a red-clothed figure beside him. Although he could not see it clearly, he could still see it vaguely because it was very close to his eyes. He didn't know if it was an illusion. Sanlang was taller than him before, but now he seemed to be taller.

Xie Lian’s gaze slowly moved upwards to the boy’s throat, paused for a moment, and then continued upwards to rest on the beautifully shaped jaw.

The upper half of San Lang's face was still hidden in the darkness, but Xie Lian felt that the lower half of his face seemed to be subtly different from before. Although he was still as handsome, the lines and contours seemed to be clearer.

Perhaps noticing his gaze, the face turned slightly to the side, with the corners of the lips slightly curved.

The curve was extremely attractive. The two were already very close. However, if they wanted to see the upper half of Sanlang's face clearly, they had to get even closer. Unconsciously, Xie Lian took another step closer to him. At this time, he heard a mournful cry from the distance. It seemed that he had seen this tragic scene with his own eyes and was greatly shocked. Xie Lian turned around. The national teacher heard him shouting, but his expression was wooden. After a while, he said, "Well, I am finally free."

Ke Mo was grieving and flew into a rage when he heard this: "What do you mean by good?!"

This anger didn't seem fake at all. It seemed that he really hated the Imperial Master. The Imperial Master said, "All are freed."

She turned to Xie Lian in the darkness and asked, "Did you kill him?"

This sentence was actually very standard Chinese, and it was not a question. Xie Lian said, “This is… an accident.”

The Imperial Master asked again, "Who are you?"

Xie Lian said, “I am a priest from the Heavenly Court, and this is my friend.”

Ke Mo didn't understand, but he could tell they were not arguing, so he asked cautiously, "What are you talking about?"

The Imperial Master’s eyes slowly swept over Xie Lian, lingering on San Lang for a moment before retracting and saying, “No priest has ever come here before. I thought you had already given up on this place.”

Xie Lian originally thought that he would fight with this Ban Yue Imperial Master, but he was surprised to find that she was extremely depressed and had no fighting spirit. She asked again, "Are you guys going out?"

This conversation could be said to be weird, but Xie Lian still communicated with her calmly, saying, “I want to go out. But there’s a formation set up around here, so I can’t go out.”

After hearing this, the Imperial Master walked to a high wall of the prisoner's pit, stretched out his hand and tapped on the wall for a while, then turned around and said, "I opened it."

“…”

This is so easy to talk about.

Xie Lian didn’t know what to say. At this moment, a voice came from above, saying from afar: “Is there anyone down there?”

It’s Fuyao’s voice.

Xie Lian seemed to hear San Lang beside him tut-tut. He immediately looked up and saw a figure in black looking down. He shouted, “Fuyao! I’m down there!”

After shouting, he waved his hand and Fu Yao said from above: "How come you are really down there? What's down there?"

Xie Lian said, “There…are a lot of things down there, why don’t you take a look for yourself.”

Fuyao seemed to think that it was better to see for herself than to listen to him, so with a "boom", she released a huge fireball and threw it downwards. Instantly, the entire bottom of the sinner's pit was illuminated by the firelight, as bright as day, and Xie Lian finally saw clearly what kind of place he was standing in.

Surrounding him on all sides was a mountain of corpses and blood. The bodies of countless Half Moon soldiers were piled up one on top of the other. Their dark faces and arms, their shiny armor, their purple blood. And where Xie Lian was standing was the only empty space at the bottom of the Sinners' Pit that didn't have any corpses.

All of this was done in a flash in the darkness after Saburo jumped down.

Xie Lian turned around again and looked at the young man beside him.

Just now in the darkness, he vaguely saw that San Lang seemed to have suddenly become taller, and some subtle details were also subtly different. However, at this moment, under the bright firelight, the handsome young man standing beside him was still there. Seeing him looking at him, he smiled slightly. Xie Lian lowered his head to look at his wrists and boots. Sure enough, they were the same as before, nothing unusual. He understood in his heart. However, Fu Yao was coming, so it was better to hide to avoid any trouble. Just as he was thinking, he heard a muffled sound, and Fu Yao also jumped down.

Xie Lian asked, “Aren’t you looking after the people in that caravan?”

Fuyao had just come down and was not used to the bloody smell at the bottom of the pit. He frowned and fanned the air with his hand, saying calmly, "I have waited for three hours and you still haven't come back. I think something has happened. I drew a circle for them to stay in. Come over and take a look first."

The circle he drew was of course a protective circle, but Xie Lian still felt overwhelmed when he heard it, and said, “A circle won’t last long. If you leave like this, they’ll inevitably be suspicious. What if you run out of the circle?”

Fuyao disagreed and said, "If a person wants to die, eight horses can't stop him. What can we do? What's going on with these two? Who are they with?"

He was very alert to the other two people at the bottom of the pit, but soon found that Ke Mo was beaten all over and had difficulty moving on the ground. The Ban Yue State Master hung his head and said nothing, with a look of surprise on his face. Xie Lian said, "This is the general of Ban Yue State, and this is the state master of Ban Yue State. Now they..."

Before he finished speaking, Ke Mo suddenly jumped up.

He had been lying there for so long that he finally gathered enough strength. He shouted, stood up, and struck Master Ban Yue with a palm.

A burly man beating a little girl, such a scene would never have happened in front of Xie Lian in the past. However, Ke Mo had plenty of reasons to hate the Imperial Master. The Imperial Master could have avoided it, but he didn't. Xie Lian couldn't get involved in other people's grudges. Ke Mo said to the Imperial Master, "Where are your scorpion-tailed snakes? Come on, let them bite me to death! Quick, give me some relief!"

The Imperial Master was thrown around like a broken doll by him. He said sullenly, "Ke Mo, my snake doesn't listen to me anymore."

Ke Mo spat, “Why don’t I bite you to death!”

The Imperial Master whispered, "I'm sorry, Ke Mo."

Ke Mo asked, "Do you really hate us so much?"

The Imperial Master shook his head. Ke Mo became even angrier and said, "Then you can seek revenge on whoever you hate! You are the Imperial Master, if you want to kill someone, just tell me and I will help you kill him! Why did you collude with others to harm us!"

He became more and more angry as he spoke, and grabbed the imperial teacher's hair. Fuyao saw that they were beating harder and harder, and it was a one-sided beating, so she frowned and asked, "What are they talking about? Should we go up and stop them?"

Xie Lian couldn’t bear to watch this any longer, so he stepped forward and grabbed Ke Mo, saying gently, “General, I think there may be something you haven’t clarified between you two, so don’t get too excited.”

Ke Mo said, "What is there to say? It couldn't be clearer!"

Xie Lian couldn't tell what was wrong, but he felt like he had missed something important. Suddenly, the Imperial Master grabbed his wrist.

The grab was sudden and tight. Xie Lian's heart sank at first, thinking she was going to take advantage of the opportunity to plot against him, but he didn't expect that when he looked down again, the Imperial Master was lying on the ground, looking up at him, her two black eyes staring at him, the corners of her mouth were a little purple, and her lips were trembling slightly. She clearly didn't say anything, but it seemed like she had a lot to say. This look overlapped with a scene that was very far away in his memory.

At that moment, Xie Lian blurted out, “It’s you?”

The Imperial Master also trembled and asked, "...General Hua?"

This back and forth left everyone at the bottom of the pit stunned.

Fuyao rushed forward and knocked Ke Mo unconscious, saying, "Do you know each other?"

Xie Lian had no time to answer him. He squatted down, grabbed the Imperial Master's shoulders, and looked at her face carefully.

He was far away and couldn't see clearly. In addition, the girl's appearance changed as she grew up. Two hundred years had passed. For various reasons, he didn't recognize the girl's face at first. But now, this face was still the same as he remembered!

Xie Lian was in disbelief and was speechless for a long while. After a long while, he sighed and said, “Half a month?”

The Imperial Master suddenly grabbed his sleeve. His face, which seemed to be very unhappy, suddenly became a little alive and a little excited. He said, "It's me, General Hua. Do you still remember me?"

Xie Lian said, “Of course I remember you. But…”

He stared at the girl for a moment and sighed, "But how did you get yourself into this state?"

Hearing him say this, the Imperial Master's eyes suddenly filled with tears.

She whispered, "I'm sorry, Captain."

After saying this, she suddenly knelt down in front of him, put her forehead on the ground, and then did not get up.

Xie Lian wanted to help her up, but he couldn't. He was already in a state of confusion. He finally rubbed his forehead and felt a splitting headache. He didn't want to say anything. However, after these few calls, the general and the captain had already given such obvious hints, how could others not hear it?

Fuyao was slightly stunned and asked: "Captain? General? You? How could this happen??"

Xie Lian said, “…I also want to ask, why is this happening?”

He didn't answer directly. Sanlang looked solemn and didn't ask any more questions. Fuyao was still stunned and asked, "Where is the general's tomb?"

Xie Lian said, “My grave.”

Fuyao said: "Didn't you say that you came here two hundred years ago to collect scraps???"

Xie Lian looked at the black-clad girl lying on the ground, sighed again, and said, “This is really… hard to describe in words.”

About two hundred years ago, one day, Xie Lian planned to cross the Qinling Mountains and live in the south for a while. So, he took the compass and walked south. He was depressed all the way. Why did he feel that the scenery on the road was not right? It should be full of green trees and densely populated, why is it becoming more and more desolate? However, despite his doubts, he kept walking unremittingly until he came to the Gobi Desert. When he was blown by the strong wind and had a mouthful of sand, he realized that the compass he had taken had been broken for a long time, and the directions it pointed to him along the way were all wrong!

There was no way to deal with the wrong direction, so with the idea of ​​"since I'm already here, I might as well take a look at the desert scenery", Xie Lian continued to move forward, but he temporarily changed his destination to the northwest. Finally, he arrived at the border and temporarily stayed near the Half Moon Kingdom.

Xie Lian said slowly, “Initially, I was just collecting scraps around here. However, the border was difficult, unrest was frequent, and there were often deserters, so the army would just randomly capture people to fill the numbers.”

Sanlang asked, "You were forcibly taken in?"

Xie Lian said, “I was arrested, but it didn’t matter what I did, so I just stayed as a soldier. Afterwards, I chased away a few border bandits, and somehow I was promoted to captain. People gave me face and called me general.”

Fuyao asked again in doubt: "Why does she call you General Hua?"

Xie Lian waved his hand and said, “Don’t worry about that. I just made up a fake name at the time. I think it was called Hua Xie.”

Upon hearing this name, Sanlang’s expression slightly changed, and the corners of his lips curled up slightly, but it was unclear what his expression was. Xie Lian didn’t notice and continued, “There were many wars at the border, and there were many orphans. In my free time, I occasionally played with them. One of them… was named Banyue.”

He shook his head and said, "I originally thought that the word 'Ban Yue' in 'Ban Yue Guo Shi' refers to the country, but I didn't expect that the name of the Guo Shi is really Ban Yue."

In his memory, the little girl named Ban Yue always had such an unhappy expression, and there were always bruises on her body and face. When she looked at him, she looked up from the bottom, eagerly. She could speak Chinese, and played with children of the same age from the Central Plains all day long. Xie Lian could never figure out where she was from. Anyway, when he saw the children walking around, he would take care of them. When he had time, he taught them to sing songs, wrestle, and occasionally perform a chest-breaking stone show. Because this child was very thin, he took extra care of her and shared a piece of the extra cakes with her, and they had a good relationship.

Fuyao asked: "What happened next?"

Xie Lian said, “Afterwards… it was almost exactly as what was written on the stone tablet at the general’s tomb.”

After a moment of silence, Sanlang said, "The tombstone says you are dead."

When Xie Lian mentioned the stone tablet, he felt very depressed.

Aren't all inscriptions on tombstones supposed to extol the merits of the deceased and glorify him as much as possible? It's fine to criticize him again and again, but how can you write down such a shameful way of death in such a serious manner? ? ? When he read this paragraph while taking shelter from the wind, he couldn't bear to read it. If Sanlang, who could read Banyuewen, hadn't been watching him, he would have pretended that there was no such paragraph about the way of death on the tombstone. When he wrote this, even he wanted to laugh when he saw it, so how could he blame others for wanting to laugh when they saw it? People came to his memorial tomb to avoid the wind and sand, and when they saw his deeds on the stone tablet, they commented on them and laughed. He was too embarrassed to ask everyone not to laugh, which was really a bit depressing.

Xie Lian felt that his eyebrows were almost red from being rubbed by him, and said, “Ah, that, of course I’m not dead. I was just pretending to be dead.”

Sanlang was silent, and Fuyao looked incredulous. Xie Lian said, “After faking his death, he was thrown away as a corpse. He returned to the Central Plains and only spent five or six years recovering from his injuries.”

In fact, Xie Lian didn’t remember exactly how he “died”, nor why the soldiers of the two countries fought that battle. He only knew that it was some very boring little things. He really didn’t want to fight at all. Whether he won or lost, it felt like there was no point. However, at that time, he had already been demoted to the lowest level, and no one listened to him. The two sides were killing each other, and he rushed out. When they saw that it was this man, they rushed at him with swords and knives. Although Xie Lian was invincible, he couldn’t stand such a way of being hacked. He thought to himself on the spot: “This won’t work!” He quickly lay on the ground and pretended to be dead, but he was trampled on and knocked unconscious. When he woke up, he was choked by water, because after cleaning up the battlefield, the bodies were thrown into the river. Xie Lian followed the river and was washed back to the Central Plains like a pile of rags. Later, after recovering from his injuries, he finally reached the original destination in the south, and he didn’t pay much attention to the affairs of the Half Moon Kingdom.

Ban Yue whispered again, "I'm sorry."