Forbidden Read!
Chapter 22

Chapter 22: Shortening Distance; Sand Storm Caught

Scorpion's tail!

But because he felt the prick, Xie Lian was able to grab his tail and catch the snake precisely. He squeezed it hard until the snake fainted. Even after being pierced, Xie Lian's face never changed, and threw the beast to the ground indifferently, "Everyone be careful, there might be more snakes around here..."

He felt a grip on his wrist before he finished his words, and saw that it was San Lang who caught and held his wrist.

"San Lang?" Xie Lian looked at the teenager in confusion.

San Lang's expression was somewhat ominous; indescribable, so cold that it made everyone afraid to look at it. His eyes focused on the wound on the back of Xie Lian's hand that was now swollen from the deadly poison. The small puncture wound became visibly enlarged to the size of a knife due to the craze swelling.

San Lang's face darkened. Without a word, he grabbed Ruoye from Xie Lian's arm and immediately tied her firmly to her wrist, preventing her poison from growing or spreading. While Rouye was usually so spoiled at Xie Lian; at San Lang's hands, he didn't protest at all like he was an inanimate object.

Ever since they knew each other, Xie Lian had never seen San Lang look like this. He opened his mouth to speak but San Lang turned around to pull a dagger from the waist of one of the merchants. Nan Feng looked at it and instantly knew what San Lang was going to do, and lit a torch. Without looking at it, San Lang burned the tip of the dagger to disinfect before returning to Xie Lian and drawing a cross mark on the mouth of the scorpion's puncture wound.

Just as he was about to lower his head to hand, Xie Lian hurriedly said, "It's okay! This poison is aggressive, sucking it will not help much. I don't want you poisoned either..."

San Lang ignored him, tightened the grip on Xie Lian's hand and placed his lips on it. His hand trembled slightly and Xie Lian could not explain the reason.

Next to him, Fu Yao said in disdain, "I can't believe you're doing something like this and getting yourself stabbed. What are you doing catching a snake when the boy might not even be bitten? you're just making unnecessary trouble."

His words may be true. Xie Lian remembered the way San Lang played with the snake in the cave; he probably wouldn't care about any attacks and wouldn't be bitten. But just in case. Just in case San Lang did not notice the snake and was bitten, it was too late.

Xie Lian waved a hand that was not exposed to the poison, "Don't mind. It doesn't hurt, and I won't die for it."

"You really don't feel pain?" ask Fu Yao.

"really. I don't feel pain anymore." Xie Lian answered honestly.

Because Xie Lian had extremely bad luck, every time she ventured deep into the mountains, eight out of ten times she would step on a venomous snake or meet a poisonous insect, and be bitten, stung, stabbed, stabbed, stabbed, or poisoned in a thousand ways. Perhaps because of his heavenly status, he could not die, so at most he had a fever. After three days and three nights of fever, he would get better upon waking up and proceeding as if nothing had happened. Slowly he became more and more insensitive to pain, and simply lived with it.

Right after those words came out of his mouth, San Lang finally looked up. The red swelling that was on the back of Xie Lian's hand had deflated, a red bloodstain appearing on San Lang's lips. His eyes were extremely cold, and he turned his gaze to the snake that had fainted on the ground. BOOM UP! The snake suddenly exploded into a pool of blood and flesh.

The sudden explosion frightened everyone, but no one knew who did it. Although, his blood did not even splash on anyone, they were still shrouded in anxiety.

Tian Shen who still remembered that Xie Lian had also been stabbed, asked anxiously, "Gege, you were also stabbed! What are you gonna do?"

Xie Lian felt a bandage on her wrist and smiled, "Don't worry, young man. We'll stick to our plan to go to BanYue ruins and look for ShanYue plants."

Another merchant asked, 'You're leaving? What about us? Should we also send someone to go with you?"

"You can all stay here. The BanYue region was a dangerous place, the more people there were, the more bad things that were likely to happen. We'll find the plant and bring it back to you within 24 hours" Xie Lian said.

"Be... Did ya? Thank you so much―!"

"How could we..."

A number of merchants started to stutter in thanks to them, but then their faces changed as Xie Lian continued, "To reach BanYue as soon as possible, I want to borrow your guide for a while, if it's okay."

Naturally, what Xie Lian meant was A-Zhao. Traders went from feeling grateful and relieved to hesitant. Xie Lian knew where the taste came from. They were afraid that Xie Lian would run away with their guide once she found ShanYue's plant; and even if A-Zhao did not run, her time would still be delayed. Nonetheless, none of them wanted to go to that evil place where 'at least half would be lost'. Their worries were entirely understandable, so Xie Lian added, "And just in case something else attacks you, Fu Yao will stay until we return."

A man for a man, there is now a guarantee that Xie Lian will return. The merchants finally agreed and nodded, "Alright. As long as A-Zhao's willing."

Xie Lian turned to A-Zhao, "Are you willingly willing to help us, my friend? If not, it's okay, too."

A-Zhao nodded and said, "Yes. But the ruins of BanYue are actually not difficult to reach; keep heading in this direction."

After saying goodbye to the merchants, A-Zhao took the lead, with Xie Lian, San Lang, and Nan Feng following right behind him. A while later, Xie Lian asked, "A-Zhao, do scorpion snakes often appear in this area?"

"Not often. It's also the first time I've seen them." replied A-Zhao.

Xie Lian nodded and had no more questions. To be honest, he had indeed lived in the BanYue area for several years, and this was also the first time he had seen a scorpion snake. A-Zhao's answer wasn't strange. Nan Feng realized Xie Lian's intentions and asked in a low voice, "You're suspicious of this A-Zhao?"

Xie Lian replied in a whisper, "After all, we've already taken her out. Just watch him."

In the past, it was usually San Lang who would talk to him first, but since the previous incident the boy did not look approachable, walking quietly and quietly. Xie Lian did not know what was going on and did not know how to talk to her, so she continued walking as well.

The four continued their journey through the vast Gobi desert; the windstorm had long since passed, and without any obstructions they advanced swiftly. Soon, they could see the weeds here and there growing in the crevices of rocks and sand. At the moment when the sun was sinking, Xie Lian finally saw an ancient fortress at the foot of the sky.

The fortress was difficult to see because it was a color of sand, camouflaged in yellow and fused with the desert. Some parts of the fort walls were also split and buried. As they approached, they found that the fort walls were extremely tall, towering over hundreds of feet. It was not difficult to imagine its beauty in the past, how majestic the fortress was.

Passing through the gate, the four finally entered BanYue kingdom.

Once the gates were wide, empty city streets, dilapidated houses on each side; rotten beams, broken bricks scattered about. Out of habit, A-Zhao warned the others, "Please be careful and don't leave the group alone."

The other three people did not need that warning. The true BanYue Fortress might be different from what he had imagined, and Nan Feng wondered, "This is the kingdom of BanYue? It's smaller than a capital city!"

"A kingdom in the desert will only be as big as an oasis in which it was built." Xie Lian explained. "At its peak, the population here was only about ten thousand people. It's actually quite lively for a small fortress size like this."

Nan Feng continued to observe his surroundings, "It might only take a few days to besiege a kingdom of this size."

Xie Lian shook her head, "Not always. Don't underestimate the people of BanYue, Nan Feng. Even if their population was no more than ten thousand people, they had always kept the average number of soldiers at four thousand. There were more men than women; besides the sick, the elderly, and the peasants, most men joined as soldiers. Moreover, most of the soldiers were over nine feet tall, each more ruthless than the others. With an oversized staff in their hands, they would continue to fight even with a sword piercing their chest. They're very hard to fight."

A-Zhao was surprised and glanced at Xie Lian, "This young master knows a lot."

Xie Lian maintained her smile and would talk to her even more when Nan Feng pointed at a building far ahead there, "What wall is that?"

Building is not the right word to describe it, because it is a giant enclosure formed from four large mud-colored walls without doors or roofs. Each wall was over a hundred feet tall, and at the very top was a pole, with something tattered hanging there, flying in the wind. It was a terrible sight.

From the name alone, it was clearly not something fun.

"Rosa's Hole?" Nan Feng frowned.

"You can think of it as a prison. It was made specifically to imprison criminals." Xie Lian explained in a heavy voice.

"How to imprison someone if there is no door? Throw them in from above?" asked Nan Feng.

Xie Lian hesitated to reply, and San Lang suddenly spoke, "They were thrown in. And the pit was filled with poisonous snakes and starving beasts."

Hearing him finally speak, Xie Lian felt relieved, but when she looked towards San Lang, the boy looked at her and turned around.

Nan Feng cursed, "That's not a fucking prison! That's torture! So mean! Those BanYue people are mentally ill or psychopaths?!"

Xie Lian rubbed her forehead, "Not everything is like that. Some BanYue people are very sweet..." He stopped suddenly. "Wait."

The other three people stopped, and Xie Lian pointed up, "Something was hung on a pole above the wall. Is that a person?"

In the dim light of the setting sun and with such a long distance, it was hard to see what was actually hung on the pole. But the closer they got and observed its shape, it became clear that it was a small and skinny person dressed in black, in messy clothes, hanging and blowing in the wind like a rag doll.

"That's the guy," San Lang confirmed. "And she is a woman."

When A-Zhao saw the hanged man, his face paled. It was such a terrifying and ominous sight that a calm person seemed to not even bear to see it. Just then San Lang slightly turned his head, and said in a low voice, "There's someone here."

He's not the only one who's aware of that. Xie Lian also heard footsteps as light as feathers approached. The four soon moved to hide among the dilapidated houses on the side of the road. Xie Lian and San Lang entered one of the houses, while Nan Feng and A-Zhao hid in the house opposite him. Immediately after, at the end of the broken path, it was revealed a female cultivator dressed in white.

The woman, dressed in a light white robe, with a whiskey in her hand, wandered along the street, peering here and there, her eyes shining and observant, as if she were in the garden behind her own house, and not in the ruins of BanYue. Walking right behind her was another woman dressed in black, her hands behind her.

The black-clothed woman looked beautiful yet cold, her eyes were piercing, her hair was long and freely unraveling, as if emitting a cold aura from her person. Even though he walked behind the female cultivator, no one would consider him a subordinate.

It was the same two women they had seen outside the abandoned inn during the day.

By the time they passed quickly, Xie Lian could not see the details of the woman dressed in black, but she now saw clearly that she was indeed a woman. If the white-clothed woman was the Chief Priest BanYue, then who was that black-clothed woman?

The Priestess waved her whiskey casually and said, "Where are those people going now? We were careless for a moment and they all disappeared. Do I have to get them out and kill them one by one?"

As Xie Lian had expected, the two people saw them as they entered the fortress.

The woman in black clothes approached and calmly said, "You can call your friends to help you kill them."

'The 'friends' in question must be BanYue warriors. The Head Priest laughed, "I don't like to call others. I'd rather call you. Are you not happy?"

The black-clothed woman ignored him completely and said, "There's nothing fun being summoned by someone like you for something like this. Go."

The Head Priest raised his eyebrows but still continued walking away. Listening to them, it sounded as if they were close. They were not ordinary people, so the black-clothed woman was definitely someone famous. Someone close to the Chief Priest BanYue? A mysterious cultivator? Or is there a queen or a general they don't know about?

Xie Lian tried to connect the dots quickly in her mind. But, hold his breath. This is not the time to be found. It seemed as if the priestess had a strange personality; if she found them and excitedly summoned the legendary, nine-foot-tall, BanYue warrior, holding an oversized scepter, it was, then more time would be wasted to fight them. Twenty-four hours. An hour wasted is another hour they sink deeper into danger. But, nothing could prevent his misfortune; anything he did not want would definitely always happen. The black-clothed woman walked past the house where Xie Lian was hiding, but she stopped her steps, her sharp gaze sweeping the exterior of the damaged building.

Reverend BanYue's head was already far ahead but noticing that the black-clothed woman had stopped, he turned around. "Hey, aren't you coming?"

The black-clothed woman did not return her gaze. "You. Back away."

"All right." The Head Priestess responded obediently and completely retreated. The black-clothed woman was just about to raise her hand when suddenly, a loud rumbling sound exploded from across the street!

Across that street, the house where Nan Feng and A-Zhao were hiding in had collapsed! The collapse of one house caused another collapse across the entire strip. Dust and sand flew through the air and covered the entire street. From within, a black shadow leaped out, shooting out flames that were yapping towards the priest's head, but the black-clothed woman ran in front of him and blocked the priest's head from harm. With his left hand still behind his back, he flipped his right palm and easily absorbed the fire before bouncing it back. The black shadow repelled him as he fled, and soon disappeared. The Chief Priestess immediately chased after him, but the black-clothed woman stared at the house behind him before going to follow the preacher's head who had already left.

"Bless you, Nan Feng," Xie Lian thanked him mentally. All of this happened so quickly, but Nan Feng did not hesitate to somehow find out that they would get into trouble and make a diversion to mislead the enemy. He was the only one who jumped out, so A-Zhao must still be inside the collapsed house. After making sure the head priest and the black-clothed woman were actually gone, Xie Lian dragged San Lang out of their hiding place and called out, "A-Zhao are you still alive? Are you hurt?"

Moments later, a sulking sound came from under the rubble, "...I'm fine."

Xie Lian was relieved. "Thank God."

Although Xie Lian believed in Nan Feng's ability to control the explosion and would undoubtedly leave enough space for A-Zhao to remain safe, it is still more convincing to see it with his own eyes. He raised one of the weathered beams with one hand, and after a while A-Zhou emerged from underneath, covered in dust from head to toe. He patted himself slightly and returned to his calm expression.

"Now it's just the three of us" said Xie Lian. "Nan Feng is distracting, so we should move faster. Do you know where we can find the ShanYue plant, A-Zhao?"

The young man shook his head and said, Excuse me. I only know where the castle is, but I've never been here before, so I don't know where the plant can be found."

San Lang spoke, "They say that ShanYue plants prefer a shady place, the plant is small, the roots are thin but the leaves are wide, like a heart-shaped peach. Why don't you search near the big building?"

"Large building?" Xie Lian pondered.

If they were talking about a large building, there was no building larger than a palace. In legend, the queen took ShanYue leaves after the celebration was over, which could mean that the plant was growing in the palace grounds.

The three looked into the distance, and in the middle of the fortress, there was indeed a palace built of bricks.

From a distance, the palace had an aura of grandeur, but looking at it closer, it was not much better than the dilapidated houses on the streets. Passing through the palace gates, there was a large garden; perhaps in the past it was not a garden but rather a palace square, but as it had been for many years abandoned, weeds flourished and spread.

Right, under their feet was not sand but mud. Most likely it was the last sign of an oasis that used to exist; shanYue could have grown among all the other plants.

"Don't waste time" said Xie Lian, "We only have 24 hours, but watch out for scorpion snakes."

A-Zhao and San Lang muttered in agreement and lowered their heads to start searching among the plants there. As they searched around, Xie Lian suddenly recalled that if the Chief Priest Ban Yue could control the scorpion snakes, there should be more of them crawling in this region. But ever since they entered the fortress, they had not seen a single snake.

He stood up straight and was about to speak when one of his hands touched and felt a long object.

Looking down again, he realized that it was a human foot.