Me and the devil

二十

The village chief sped ahead of the entire group once he saw Xie Lian and grabbed his hand.

"Daozhang! Xiao-Hua! Welcome back!!!" The chief vigorously shook Xie Lian's hand.

"We brought gifts! You two have been gone for a long time! We've been preparing them since we noticed you here a few days ago!"

"Thank you! Thank you! You really didn't have to!" Xie Lian said at the same time Hua Cheng spoke in the communication array.

"As they should."

"San Lang! That's so harsh! I'm not a prince anymore!"

"You're right. My gege's a king."

Xie Lian spluttered, knowing Hua Cheng was completely serious. The villagers hung around until the sky started reaching its peak. Slowly, they drifted off, promising to visit him again soon.

~

Xie Lian and San Lang had just finished lunch when someone started knocking urgently on the door, shouting.

"Daozhang! Something's happened! Help, Daozhang!"

Xie Lian opened the door and saw some of the villagers crowding his doorway. The chief saw the door open and cried out in relief.

"Daozhang! This man looks to be on the brink of death! Please, save him!"

Xie Lian rushed out to the troup of villagers standing in a rough circle around what seemed to be a cultivator. He was unkempt and disheveled, and there wasn't an inch of him not dripping with sand. His robes and shoes were in tatters. It seemed as if he had been running for his life for a long time before collapsing in the village, where the villagers had brought him to Puqi shrine in a hurry.

Xie Lian looked at the crowd. "Don't worry, he's not dead."

"He isn't alive either." Hua Cheng spoke in the communication array.

Xie Lian nodded, just imperceptibly enough that he knew only Hua Cheng would notice.

Xie Lian quietly scanned the body for weapons and found a few spiritual accessories: an eight trigram map, a steel sword and quite a few other things.

Not long later, the cultivator slowly opened his eyes and asked with a croaking voice, "...Where am I?"

The chief butted in, "This is the village of Puqi!"

The man mumbled to himself, his eyes glazed. "I'm out... I'm out... I've finally escaped..." He looked around, tears sprung to life in his eyes.

Xie Lian had to admit, the skin was a good actor.

Suddenly, he shuddered and screamed, "S-save me! Help me!"

Xie Lian had expected this and said, "My friend, what's going on? What are you escaping from? Don't be afraid, take your time."

"Yeah don't be scared! We've got an immortal cultivator on our side, he can fix all of your problems!"

"..." These people had never actually seen him do anything amazing and they still really believed that he was a god. "Solve all problems? I definitely can't guarantee that..."

Xie Lian asked the cultivator, "Where did you come from?"

The cultivator shook, and replied, "I... I've come from Banyue pass!"

"Where's that?"

"I don't know, never heard of it."

Xie Lian explained to the confused villagers. "Banyue pass is in the northwest, a fair distance away. How did you run all the way from there?"