Fuyao frowned and said, "Why does she keep saying sorry to you? Did something happen?"
Sanlang spoke, but his question went a step further. "Ke Mo said that Imperial Preceptor Ban Yue went to the Central Plains after a riot. Did you have anything to do with that riot?"
After he reminded him, and recalling the contents of the stone tablet, Xie Lian finally vaguely remembered something and said, "This..."
Ban Yue fell to the ground and said, "It was to save me."
Everyone looked at her, and she whispered, "General Hua rushed in to save me, and got crushed."
“…”
Hearing her say "squashed," Xie Lian instantly recalled the feeling of being trampled by thousands and hundreds of people. The other two also stared at him with unfathomable expressions. He quickly stopped talking and said, "Not squashed, really not squashed."
Fuyao didn't know what she was feeling proud of, and said sarcastically, "Oh, you really are selfless."
Xie Lian immediately waved his hands, saying, "I don't deserve it. That's absolutely not the case." He rubbed his temples and said, "I don't remember the details clearly. I think there were a few kids playing there, and I just wanted to pick them up and run away. Who knew I wouldn't have time to retreat, and when I turned around, I ran into a fight between the two sides."
Fuyao asked, "If that's the case, how could you not even remember something like this?"
Xie Lian was speechless for a moment, then said, "Don't you see I'm already hundreds of years old? A lot of things can happen to me in just ten years, and it's impossible for me to remember everything clearly. Besides, many things are better forgotten. Instead of remembering how many times I was hacked and trampled on hundreds of years ago, it's better to remember that I ate a delicious meat bun yesterday, isn't it?"
Ban Yue said, "I'm sorry. It's all my fault."
Xie Lian turned around, sighed, and said, "Ban Yue."
He didn't know what tone to use to speak to the girl. After considering for a moment, he slowly said, "If you want to apologize to me for this, there's no need. Saving you was my own choice. You're not wrong. If you want to apologize, maybe you should say it to someone else."
Ban Yue was silent.
Xie Lian said, “I don’t know why you opened the gates and led your army to slaughter the city, and I don’t know why you released the scorpion-tailed snake to bite people. But…”
After a pause, he said, "However, maybe my impression of you is still stuck in two hundred years ago. I always feel that you are not a child who would do such a thing. So, are you willing to tell me what happened?"
After hearing this, Banyue kowtowed to him several times and finally stood up from the ground.
Tears rolled down her eyes as she said, "It was my fault for opening the door. But, General Hua, I didn't release the snake on purpose."
Xie Lian was startled and asked, “What?”
Ban Yue said, "My magic power is weak, and the snake doesn't listen to me anymore."
Hearing this, Fuyao showed impatience on her face and rolled her eyes, saying, "I've heard this many times. Everyone says the same thing after being arrested. Even if you say it wasn't intentional, it's useless."
Ban Yue quickly wiped her face, wiped away the tears, and said, "It's true, General Hua. I didn't lie. But those who passed through the checkpoint were indeed bitten by scorpion tail snakes. It's my fault. You can arrest me."
As expected, she stretched out her hands, completely ready to be punished. Fuyao immediately pulled out a binding rope from her sleeve and bound her and Ke Mo. She said, "Alright, our purpose has been achieved. We can end this now."
Xie Lian, however, felt that this might not be the end yet, and lowered his head in thought. At this moment, San Lang beside him said, "She didn't have to lie."
Xie Lian nodded, agreeing with him, and said to Ban Yue, "Are you completely unable to summon the scorpion-tailed snake now?"
Ban Yue shook her head and said, "I can summon them. Most of the time they listen to me, but sometimes they don't. I don't know why."
Xie Lian thought for a moment and said, “Call the snake out and show it to us.”
Ban Yue finally stood up and nodded. A moment later, a purple-red scorpion snake emerged from beneath a corpse, raised its upper body, coiled itself atop the pile, and silently spat its venom at the crowd.
Xie Lian was about to take a closer look at the snake when he saw Ban Yue's eyes widen slightly, a strange look on his face. Seeing this, Xie Lian's heart sank, and he thought to himself, "That's not right."
Sure enough, after the scorpion-tailed snake spit out its tongue, it suddenly opened its teeth and suddenly jumped towards him!
Although the snake's attack was sudden, Xie Lian was prepared and saw it clearly. He was about to grab it, but before he could touch it, he heard a "bang", like the sound of something exploding. Looking closely, the snake had fallen limply to the ground, exploding from head to toe, from the inside out. Moreover, the explosion was very measured, and no venom splashed out. Xie Lian immediately remembered that before entering the Ban Yue Kingdom, a scorpion-tailed snake also died in the same way. It was self-evident who did it. Before he raised his eyes to look at San Lang, he saw an arrow sleeve connected to a red robe stretched out, blocking him and separating him from Ban Yue. And over there, Fu Yao said coldly: "Sure enough, she lied to you."
Ban Yue's face was already grim when he saw the snake. Hearing this, he suddenly looked up and said, "I didn't. I told you that some people don't listen to me, and that one was one of them."
Fuyao was completely unconvinced and asked, "Who knows whether he listened to you or not?"
Ban Yue said, "I didn't summon it at all."
Xie Lian was about to speak when he saw two more deep purple scorpion-tailed snakes emerge from beneath the corpses, spitting their tongues at them in a show of force. Then, a third, a fourth, a fifth… From every corner of the mountain of corpses, countless scorpion-tailed snakes emerged!
Everyone looked towards Banyue, who was kneeling on the pile of corpses. Fuyao swirled a ball of white light in her hand and said to Banyue, "Tell them to retreat. It's impossible that they will all disobey you."
Banyue closed her eyes and chanted an incantation, as if trying to find a way to drive them away. However, more scorpion-tailed snakes continued to appear, tumbling and tangling, slowly approaching. Even if one or two snakes couldn't kill them, hundreds or thousands of them might be a different story. Even if they couldn't kill them, it would probably be a very ugly sight. Xie Lian raised his wrist, about to summon Ruo Xie, but the snakes stopped within a few feet of them, hesitating, forming a strange circle. Xie Lian suddenly realized something and glanced up at Sanlang beside him. He was looking down at the scorpion-tailed snakes, his eyes filled with contempt. As if they understood his gaze, the scorpion-tailed snakes didn't dare to approach, retreating a little further, lowering their heads as they retreated, pressing their ferocious heads to the ground in a gesture of submission. However, as if some force compelled them, not allowing them to abandon their attack and simply leave, many of them turned and swam towards Fuyao. Fuyao waved his hand casually, and flames burst out from his sleeves, burning one circle to death and forcing another to retreat. However, this could not last long. Xie Lian said, "Let's go up first and leave here first."
Hearing the sound, Ruo Xie shot upwards with a whoosh. Unexpectedly, not long after, it slipped back with a whoosh. Slightly startled, Xie Lian raised his wrist and said to the rolled-up white silk, "What are you doing back? The formation is already set. Hurry, hurry."
Ruo Xie, however, was trembling on his wrist, as if it had encountered something terrifying. Xie Lian was about to comfort it when something fell from the sky with a "snap" sound, hitting Fu Yao's shoulder. Fu Yao grabbed it with his hand, and his expression changed drastically. He raised his hand in front of him and saw that the thing that fell from the sky was also a scorpion tail snake!
Fuyao was caught off guard and, after being bitten, she flung the snake at Banyue's face. Even though her hands were bound, Banyue instinctively reached up to grab it, only to catch it. The purple-red snake coiled around her pale wrist, but didn't attack. Then, with another snap, a second scorpion tail snake fell to the ground!
Xie Lian probably guessed why Ruo Xie refused to go up.
He raised his head, and with the help of a little moonlight, he could barely make out the scene: hundreds of tiny purple-red dots were rapidly falling from above the sinner's pit.
Snake rain!
Seeing those purple-red dots getting closer, Xie Lian shouted, "Fuyao! Fire! Send up a screen of fire and finish them off in mid-air!"
Fuyao bit her palm and waved her hand. A drop of blood shot upward, transforming into a blazing barrier of flames that flew upward to meet the attack. The barrier rose dozens of feet, hanging in the air and burning. Any scorpion-tailed snakes that came into contact with it were instantly burned to ash, intercepting the rain of snakes that were falling.
Seeing that he was temporarily out of danger, Xie Lian breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Good! Fuyao, it's all thanks to you."
This kind of spell was bound to consume a lot of mana. After casting it, Fuyao's face turned a little blue. She turned around and set a circle of fire on the ground, burning away the snakes below. She said to Banyue, "You still say these snakes don't listen to you? If you weren't controlling them, how could these scorpion-tailed snakes not attack you?"
Saburo laughed and said, "Maybe it's just because you're unlucky? It didn't attack us either."
Fuyao turned around, her eyes sweeping across the two of them fiercely. Xie Lian had a bad feeling, but since he had a vague idea in mind, he didn't have time to sort it out. He didn't want to see them start a fight, so he said, "Let's first figure out what's going on with these snakes."
Fuyao sneered, "What's going on? Either this Banyue Imperial Master is lying, or the one next to you is up to something."
Xie Lian glanced at Ban Yue, then at San Lang, and said, "I don't think it's them."
His tone was gentle but resolute. This was the conclusion he had reached after careful consideration. However, Fuyao must have felt that he was deliberately covering up for her. The firelight illuminated his face, making it difficult to tell whether he was angry or amused.
He said, "Your Highness, please don't pretend to be ignorant. I think you should have known what that thing next to you is. I don't believe you haven't noticed it yet!"
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