White Wind Master; Swirling Sandstorm
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The voice had sounded from above their heads. Xie Lian immediately looked up in surprise. "Which esteemed lord has arrived?"
There was no answer. Instead, he heard some strange whooshwhoosh sounds, like swift gusts of winds. The sounds grew steadily louder, and as it neared, Xie Lian realized that what he heard was really the roar of surging winds!
The howling gale hit them abruptly. Before he could so much as blink, Xie Lian found his feet leaving the ground as he was bodily swept up by the winds!
The cyclone swirled and howled in the Sinners' Pit as it snatched them all up and sent them hurtling out toward the skies!
Xie Lian immediately turned and grabbed hold of San Lang who was the closest to him. "Be careful!"
San Lang calmly wound an arm around him in turn. Xie Lian felt himself spinning through the air, his world turning upside-down as they were blown out. Then the winds died. For a brief moment, they remained suspended in the air, before falling down.
Xie Lian promptly shook Ruoye out. "There's nothing scary here anymore," he said hurriedly. "Be good now Ruoye, come out and save us!"
He gave Ruoye two quick pats to coax it, and Ruoye finally unfurled and lengthened out. However, empty space and barren landscape surrounded them, and the Sinners' Pit at the bottom offered no purchase for it to grab on to. Ruoye flew out, made a turn, then flew back into its hiding place. Resigned, Xie Lian began adjusting his posture in the air in preparation for a nasty landing.
In the past, he would have landed headfirst and stuck himself three feet deep into the ground. But this time, just before he hit the ground, San Lang effortlessly turned him around so that he actually managed to land on his feet. When he found himself standing firmly on the ground, Xie Lian was still busy feeling amazed until he spotted a figure in black staggering over towards them.
Xie Lian stared for a moment. "Nan Feng!" he exclaimed in delight.
It really was Nan Feng, and he was cutting quite a sorry figure indeed. His clothing was in tatters, and he was covered head to toe in dust like he had rolled several rounds on the ground in a brawl while being trampled by horses for a whole night. Nan Feng silently held up a hand when he heard Xie Lian's call, and wiped at his own face, seemingly having lost the will to live. Xie Lian reached out to support him. "What happened to you? Did you get beaten up by those two ladies?"
As he spoke, his eyes were drawn to two silhouettes behind Nan Feng, walking towards them. One of them was the woman in white, her horsetail whisk resting in the crook of her arm. She beamed at Xie Lian. "Hello, Your Highness."
{T/N: Previously described as a hossu by Sakhyulations, but these are actually 2 different items although they look pretty similar. The Horsetail Whisk is a special weapon made by binding the hair from a horse's tail to a long wooden handle. The hossu is a short staff of wood or bamboo with bundled hair (of a cow, horse, or yak) or hemp wielded by a Zen Buddhist priest. One is for fighting, one can't even kill flies.}
Despite feeling utterly clueless, Xie Lian's manners kicked in at her friendly greeting. Not knowing how to address her, he returned her smile and waved. "Hello to you too, friend."
The young woman in black was silent and aloof as she sauntered over, sweeping a cool, detached gaze over them. She did not spare Xie Lian more than a cursory glance, but her eyes wavered for a moment when they rested on San Lang. Her footsteps faltered as she regarded him in suspicion.
The wind earlier had sent everyone spiraling out of the pit in one powerful gust. The two women walked past Xie Lian and stopped directly in front of Pei Su. Pei Su did not seem in the least bit surprised to see them. After all, when he had been acting as Ah Zhao, he had already caught a glimpse of these two within the city. He knelt down before the woman in white, his head lowered. "Lord Wind Master," he said softly.
Xie Lian was stunned.
So the woman he had always taken to be some form of demon or evil spirit that had popped out of nowhere was actually a Heavenly Official? And the Wind Master at that? The same Wind Master who had thrown out a hundred thousand merits in the spirit communication array?!
But then again, there was probably nothing wrong with that. Back then, the woman in white had said something along the lines of "where did those people run off to, do I really have to drag them out one by one to kill them", which certainly sounded ominous and gave him the impression that she was out to murder them. But in fact, "those people" may have actually been referring to the Ban Yue soldiers instead. But his first impression of her had been too vivid, and so her every movement had seemed to carry ill-intent to him.
Awe and reverence danced in Xie Lian's heart at this Heavenly Official who could scatter out a hundred thousand merits like so much confetti with a wave of the hand. "Why didn't you tell me she was the Wind Master earlier?" he sighed at Nan Feng. "I actually thought she was some kind of snake or scorpion demon. It was really rude of me."
Nan Feng's face was dark. "How would I know that was the Wind Master?" he gritted out. "I have never seen the Wind Master looking like this before. The Wind Master has always been... forget it."
Xie Lian nodded understandingly. The Wind Master is likely wearing a guise. He did not pursue further and asked instead, "Why would the Wind Master be here in Ban Yue?"
"Here to help," Nan Feng said curtly. "They were wandering around in Ban Yue city earlier to look for those Ban Yue soldiers."
Ah. Xie Lian's mind swiftly recalled the time he had asked about the happenings in Ban Yue pass in the spirit communication array. During the ensuing silence that had followed his query, the Wind Master had suddenly thrown out a hundred thousand merits which drew away everybody's attention. In all likelihood, the Wind Master had taken note of his interest.
As he mulled over his thoughts pensively, on the other side, the Wind Master had crouched down in front of Pei Su. "Xiǎo Pei ah, I heard everything."
{T/N: (Xiǎo) – little. Pei Su is usually called General xiǎo Pei (General Pei Junior) to differentiate him from General Pei. The Wind Master calling Pei Su 'Xiao Pei' aka 'Little Pei' is actually kinda cute.)
Pei Su lowered his head. The Wind Master said, "Do you admit to having lured travelers into the Ban Yue City in these past two hundred years?"
Having already been caught, Pei Su did not try to defend himself. "It was me," he said quietly.
The Wind Master asked, "Why?"
Pei Su paused, then said, "The Wind Master has long since been suspicious of me. Are you not able to guess?"
The Wind Master lifted a brow. "Because these tortured souls are ironclad evidence of your bloody and brutal past when you were mortal, and may one day hinder your path in ascension to glory, no?"
Pei Su declined to comment. Xie Lian had been listening from the side and could not stifle his curiosity any longer. "But wait, why didn't you just kill them off directly? Why did you have to feed them living people to appease them instead? How is this different from using one man's flesh to assuage the hunger of another man?"
{T/N: Meaning to solve a problem by creating another problem.}
But San Lang said, "He cannot."
Oh right. In the Upper Court of Heaven, a Heavenly Official like Pei Su is bound to have eyes trained on his every move. There were many matters he could not directly involve himself in. His divine self could not come down to wipe these aggrieved souls out, nor could he send troops on his behalf to eliminate them without drawing too much attention. In order to ensure that this matter would remain hidden, he could only covertly send down this puppet, Ah Zhao.
By using the Scorpion-Tailed snakes that were Ban Yue's famed pets to attack travelers and draw them here to be cast into the pit and assuage these grievances, it was the perfect plan to kill with a borrowed knife.
The Wind Master continued, "Your family's General Pei would not have done such a thing. I'm afraid this time you've crossed the line somewhat."
A Heavenly Official from the Heavenly Court sending down a puppet to Ban Yue pass to wreak havoc for almost two hundred years by luring numerous travelers off the beaten path into the hungry mouths of dead Ban Yue soldiers. However you looked at it, this was no trivial matter. Pei Su's head bowed. "This youngster understands."
The Wind Master twirled her horse-tail whisk. "It's good that you understand. Take a good long look at yourself and reflect on your actions. We'll talk again once we're back up."
"Yes," Pei Su murmured.
After the Wind Master was done extracting a confession out of him, she stuck the horse-tail whisk into the back collar of her robes and got up. She turned to smile at Xie Lian and cupped her hands in greeting. "Your Highness, it's a pleasure to meet you at last, I've heard so much about you."
Time for proper formalities then. To Xie Lian, the phrase "heard so much about you" was hardly complimentary, but since it was just a few words spoken out of courtesy, he returned her smile. "No no, to be able to meet the esteemed Wind Master, the pleasure is mine."
The Wind Master said, "I'm really sorry about what happened earlier."
Xie Lian gave her a blank stare. "Earlier? What happened earlier?"
"Did you not encounter a sandstorm in the desert earlier?"
Xie Lian absently recalled being fed a mouthful of sand. "Yes."
The Wind Master said apologetically, "I started the storm."
"..."
The Wind Master said, "I raised the sandstorm to keep you guys away from the Ban Yue Kingdom. But not only did you not get blown away, you somehow managed to find your way into the city instead."
As Xie Lian listened, he found it to be increasingly strange. Again, the issue of the sandstorm being created to keep them away from Ban Yue Kingdom was brought up. What does this mean?
He held back and listened silently, waiting to see what else she had to say. "In this matter however," the Wind Master added. "It is best if Your Highness does not involve himself in it."
Xie Lian darted a quick glance at Ban Yue who was still curled up on the ground, a sense of dread building up in his heart.
He had always been worried. Once this issue is brought up to the Heavenly Court, it is feasible that some Heavenly Officials may add or subtract the evidence recorded with a few strokes of their brushes as they pleased, thereby portraying General Pei Junior as entirely blameless in this matter, with Ban Yue as the scapegoat. For the Wind Master to tell him to keep his nose out of the affair, does she mean to protect Xiǎo Pei?
Without batting an eyelid, Xie Lian took a single step forward, coming to stand in front of Ban Yue. "I am already neck deep in this," he said mildly. "It's a little pointless to tell me not to involve myself now ha."
The Wind Master gave a little laugh. "Be at ease. You can bring the State Preceptor of Ban Yue away with you first."
This went entirely against Xie Lian's expectations. As he gaped foolishly for a moment, the Wind Master added, "We have already heard everything we need to know about this matter. Even though she's on the cusp of turning into a Wrath, while I was exploring the inner city earlier, I saw the Ban Yue State Preceptor trapping the Ban Yue soldiers in spell arrays she set up, before releasing the mortals that had been captured by the soldiers. Not only does she do no harm, she even goes out of her way to rescue lives. I will only be bringing away General Pei Junior and Ke Mo with me. You need not worry that I will drag in someone to be a scapegoat."
{T/N: Ghosts are ranked as Fierce, Severe, Wrath, and Devastation. Wrath ranked ghosts could massacre a whole city.}
Relieved, Xie Lian said, "Shame on me! It was I who was overly suspicious."
The Wind Master replied, "It's perfectly normal to be concerned. I do not deny there are indeed a lot of underhanded practices up in the Heavenly Court."
The young woman in black who had been standing by the side finally lost her patience. "Done talking? Can we go now?"
"Oi!" the Wind Master retorted. "What are you in such a rush for? I'll talk all I want!" Despite her words, she was already trotting towards her companion. Drawing a folding fan from her waist, she said to Xie Lian, "Your Highness, if there is nothing else, let's meet again in the Heavenly Court?"
At Xie Lian's nod, the Wind Master flicked open the fan with a snap. The front of the fan showed the '风' character in bold strokes, and on the back were three flowing lines depicting the movement of a breeze. Presumably, this was the Wind Master's divine weapon. She flapped the fan three times facing upwards, then flipped it over and fanned thrice again.
{T/N: 风 – wind}
Suddenly, a burst of wind swept through the plains, whipping up the fine sand and gravel in dizzying twists. Xie Lian lifted his sleeves to block the wind. By the time the winds died down, the two women, Pei Su, and Ke Mo were no longer there, leaving behind only Xie Lian, San Lang, Nan Feng, and Ban Yue who was curled up on the ground.