Chapter 31: Out of the Pass Part 7

As soon as the words left his mouth, Xiang Xian froze!

Xiao Kun just wanted to escape. He tossed out over ten taels of silver from his pouch. The musicians and dancers rejoiced. Instantly, strings and pipes blared in unison—the vertical harp and sheng harmonized, the hourglass drum thundering like a downpour. Someone began to sing a song from the Rubaiyat Collection. Though the meaning was unclear, the mighty voice evoked the vast desert expanse, with windswept sands stretching endlessly.

Surrounded by the girls, Xiao Kun danced past the lead Hu dancer. The steps he took were impeccably standard whirling dance! For a Western Regions man to perform the whirling dance was already impressive. Clad in martial robes, with long legs, Xiao Kun spun his robe hems in fluid rotations—now whirling, now halting. As a martial artist, his movements naturally incorporated scholarly poise, his aura contracting and expanding with effortless control at each abrupt stop.

Moreover, embarrassed and unwilling to show off, he kept his hands clasped behind his back, following the Hu dancer’s steps. This only made him seem all the more leisurely, strolling at ease with perfect command, drawing loud cheers from the crowd.

Xiang Xian’s eyes reflected Xiao Kun’s figure beneath the myriad lanterns by Crescent Moon Spring. For a long moment, he was speechless.

Xiao Kun occasionally glanced at Xiang Xian, seemingly finding great amusement in surprising him.

The song ended, and Xiao Kun declared, “No more dancing. That’s it for tonight.”

With those words, he swiftly extricated himself from the crowd amid the cheers, proactively slung an arm around Xiang Xian’s shoulder, and the two vanished into the night.

“You know how to dance the whirling dance?!” Xiang Xian could hardly believe it.

“Master taught me, many years ago. Luckily, I haven’t forgotten.” Xiao Kun wiped his face, slightly tipsy. With his usual temperament, he would never dance in public, but for some reason tonight, he suddenly wanted to show off to Xiang Xian.

Xiang Xian sized Xiao Kun up from head to toe. Xiao Kun’s face flushed red, yet he smiled. “Want to learn? I can teach you.”

Without a word, Xiang Xian mimicked Xiao Kun’s movements, brushing past him.

“You’re trying to trip me,” Xiao Kun said. “Slower! Too reckless.”

Xiao Kun turned sideways, reached back with one hand to rest on Xiang Xian’s lower back. Xiang Xian remarked, “Too easy to step on your feet.”

“The crossing step is like this—it requires rapport.” Beneath the starlight by Crescent Moon Spring in the desert, without music, Xiao Kun tapped a rhythm to teach Xiang Xian the dance. He explained, “This is a poem from Omar’s Rubaiyat Collection: ‘From nowhere comes the endless, coming like flowing water returning to the firmament, to nowhere goes the endless, I shall pass like the wild wind.’”

“Coming like flowing water, going like the wind, to who-knows-where, ending who-knows-how…” Xiao Kun’s voice echoed in the starry night.

“Beautiful.” Xiang Xian, led by Xiao Kun, gradually adapted to the slow whirling steps.

Xiao Kun suddenly felt awkward and let go of Xiang Xian’s hand.

“Master used to love singing this tune late at night,” Xiao Kun said. “As a child, I often watched her dance the whirling dance alone. Sometimes she’d teach me, have me dance a segment with her. That’s how I learned—it’s not hard.”

“Didn’t Le Wan Shuang count as Han people?” Xiang Xian asked.

Xiao Kun: “I don’t know. Maybe she had a Western Regions lover she loved but couldn’t be with?”

Xiang Xian tried the crossing step again, earnestly learning the whirling dance. Suddenly, a voice came from behind.

“Hold it,” said several Tangut Guards and their captain. “What are you two?”

Xiao Kun and Xiang Xian turned simultaneously, noticing them.

Xiang Xian signaled to Xiao Kun that he would handle it.

By starlight, the captain pointed his horsewhip at Xiao Kun. “We’ve had our eyes on you for a while. You! Come with me!”

Xiao Kun said nothing. Xiang Xian eyed the group. “What’s this about? Even arresting someone needs a lawful reason! Or do you want to fight right here?”

Xiao Kun: “We’re from Kaifeng of Great Song. I’m afraid there’s some misunderstanding.”

With their skills, escaping would be child’s play, but they couldn’t just attack ordinary folk. Xiao Kun still hoped for a peaceful resolution—they needed to stay the night in Shazhou, after all.

“Misunderstanding?” the captain barked. “You killed someone! The wanted posters are out across Great Xia…”

“Impossible!” Xiang Xian shot back without thinking. “How could he kill anyone? You’ve got the wrong man!”

Xiang Xian was growing impatient. The captain unfurled the portrait. “Isn’t this you? Speak up, young man! We don’t do guilt by association! Don’t play the hero with your rivers and lakes code!”

Just as Xiang Xian was about to tell them to scram, Xiao Kun tapped his shoulder, signaling it was fine.

“It’s me,” Xiao Kun said. “I did kill someone.”

Xiang Xian: “Oh, then… why didn’t you say so?”

Xiao Kun: “When I fled to Yinchuan with Sa Luan, I killed several Jin Kingdom assassins chasing us outside the city.”

“Got it,” Xiang Xian said.

Then Xiang Xian turned to the captain. “He did kill someone, so what? Those he killed deserved to die.”

Xiao Kun: “……”

In the next instant, the Tangut Guards nocked arrows in unison. The two moved with perfect synchronicity, performing the same actions—leaning back, crossing steps, spinning around in the whirling dance they had just practiced. With a whoosh, they vanished from sight.

They dashed up Mingsha Mountain. Halfway, Xiao Kun nearly tripped, drawing a burst of laughter from Xiang Xian, who pulled him up. Hand in hand, they sidestepped down the endless rear slope, kicking up rolling clouds of sand under the starlight, shaking off their pursuers.