Chapter 10: Huan Hua
Chapter 10:
Huan Hua
AFTER ESCORTING the two juniors out of the borderlands, Shen Qingqiu picked a direction opposite to theirs.
He’d been walking until the moon was high in the sky when his terrifically keen hearing caught the indistinct peal of demonic bells.
“You’re exactly like a ghost that won’t move on,” Shen Qingqiu said without even turning his head.
With her presence discovered, Sha Hualing didn’t intend to keep hiding, and she confidently strolled into view, coiling red gauzy cloth around her fingers as she laughed. “Who taught this distinguished gentleman to make Ling-er so curious? You took such attentive care of those two. What sort of relationship does your distinguished self have with Cang Qiong Mountain?”
Shen Qingqiu turned around and wagged his finger. “I won’t fight you, and you shouldn’t try anything with me either.”
Sha Hualing couldn’t do anything to him with her current ability. He was just thinking about scaring her a little when, out of nowhere, his entire body jolted. It felt like a millipede was crawling through his internal organs. A familiar and frightening sensation began to unfurl from the pit of his stomach.
Sha Hualing’s smile was sinister. “I’m indeed no match for you, but did you think that means I have no way to control you?”
For a moment, Shen Qingqiu’s legs went soft, but he still managed to stand firmly. He clenched his teeth. “When did you make me eat it?”
“How was the food and drink in town today?” Sha Hualing asked coquettishly. “Was the waitress pretty? It’s fortunate you ate at all. If you were more devoted in your cultivation, avoiding food and practicing inedia, you would have really given Ling-er a headache.”
Fuck. In the moment, his entire attention had been comprehensively captured by the gossip brigade captain’s beautiful and heartfelt performance. Gossip kills, ah!
“Do you know what’s currently inside your body?” she asked as she circled Shen Qingqiu, overflowing with glee. “This is no ordinary poison.”
Shut up! I’m more familiar than you. I’ve already eaten heavenly demon blood twice—twice! Normally, you eat it once and die once. Who’s hit the jackpot as many times as me?!
No one was capable of controlling heavenly demon blood other than said blood’s owner. As the blood mites were already starting to stir inside Shen Qingqiu’s body, that could only mean one thing.
Sha Hualing bowed to someone behind Shen Qingqiu. “This subordinate did not fail your trust. I have already captured him.”
Shen Qingqiu stiffly turned his head.
A rift that looked like dark lightning had split the air and was now slowly sealing back up, and behind him stood a tall and slender silhouette. As Shen Qingqiu turned, he met that stare head-on.
Luo Binghe was looking down on him from above. Though he had no expression, under those eyes, like twin cold pools, Shen Qingqiu could forget another layer of whiskers—even a more advanced disguise would have seemed to vanish into nothing.
Shen Qingqiu fixed his gaze on him.
While indeed cold, the Luo Binghe of the past had been like the reflection of warm sunlight on fresh snow. Even in Jin Lan City and the Water Prison, he had more or less possessed some traces of humanity, some faint expressions, and would lose control and grow angry. But this young man’s countenance looked like a landscape of snowy wastes and glaciers that had been frozen for a thousand years. The sight of him chilled one to the bone.
Despite this, Shen Qingqiu’s current state of mind was quite different from what he’d expected. It was difficult to explain; all sorts of emotions were tangled up in his head, but the single emotion that should have been most prominent was missing: fear.
Maybe it was because he’d failed to avoid Luo Binghe despite all his exhaustive planning, with a series of freak accidents sending him back to square one. Either way, he found himself calm and felt that none of this really mattered.
For a split second, Luo Binghe’s expression was puzzled, causing his face to appear to soften, just a little. But soon this sliver of softness dissipated without a trace. His pupils contracted, and a red mark flickered at the center of his forehead in a burst of light.
Luo Binghe’s sleeves hadn’t even fluttered when Sha Hualing was abruptly hoisted into the air as if by an incorporeal hand squeezing her throat. She coughed painfully.
At the same time, that drop of heavenly demon blood in Shen Qingqiu’s internal organs split into thousands of frenzied threads, boring through his insides. Cold sweat soaked his back.
“You certainly have some guts,” Luo Binghe said breezily.
Though his tone was light, anyone could have felt the violent rage concealed beneath the surface.
You have some guts? Was he saying that to Shen Qingqiu or Sha Hualing?
Shen Qingqiu’s brain shifted into high gear. Luo Binghe shouldn’t have been able to recognize him, even though this current face did somewhat resemble Shen Qingqiu’s. With Luo Binghe’s observation skills and ability to notice details, he could effortlessly pick out the minute differences even through a layer of whiskers. But it looked like Luo Binghe had taken him for someone with a similar face…
Though that did fuck-all for him. Being recognized would indeed have been a disaster, but it turned out that not being recognized wasn’t much better.
Sha Hualing didn’t know why Luo Binghe had become so furious, and she struggled while frantically scanning the area through tear-blurred eyes, trying to figure out exactly what had brought on this punishment. When her gaze swept over Shen Qingqiu’s face, she suddenly looked like she had seen a ghost.
“My lord, forgive me, this subordinate knows her mistake, but this subordinate swears that it was a complete coincidence!” she said in a terrified voice. “My lord, forgive me, I honestly didn’t do it this time!”
Inside, Sha Hualing was bitterly grousing nonstop. You see, she had a rap sheet. Ever since joining Luo Binghe’s forces, she had watched Luo Binghe spend all his time gazing at Shen Qingqiu’s corpse and managed to more or less guess a couple of unspeakable things. Thinking herself clever, she’d found a person whose face was about similar to Shen Qingqiu’s by about five parts of ten, then asked a capable demon to perform some minor modifications to make the fake perfectly match the original. One could have called it a work of otherworldly quality. Afterward, she’d sent the counterfeit to Luo Binghe, and the result? Not only had it failed to make Luo Binghe happy, it had sent him into a terrible rage instead. He’d nearly wiped out the entirety of Chi Yun Cave in a horrible massacre.
Sha Hualing would never forget that, nor did she wish to see that expression of Luo Binghe’s again. From then on, she was careful, not daring to touch on anything even slightly related to the subject. Who could have known that the vessel she had settled on this time would also coincidentally share some similarities with that fucking Shen Qingqiu’s eyes and brows! This was definitely another violation of Luo Binghe’s major taboo!
“I seem to have previously warned you not to try anything with this face,” Luo Binghe said.
Strung up in midair, Sha Hualing’s face was flushed red from asphyxiation. After a stream of choking noises, she said, pained, “This time…this subordinate truly didn’t do it on purpose…”
Though Shen Qingqiu didn’t know the ins and outs of the situation here, he’d pretty much guessed that it was related to this face of his. He shut his mouth, fretting inside. He’d already been dead for five years, and just looking at someone with a similar appearance still made Luo Binghe profoundly angry. It looked like he’d really left some severe scars on Luo Binghe’s psyche.
Suddenly, a sharp pain assaulted Shen Qingqiu’s abdomen, like tens of thousands of steel needles were piercing through his organs.
This time, no level of bountiful spiritual energy would help him. His vision darkened and he coughed up a mouthful of blood, red with a hint of black.
The air pressure around Luo Binghe had dropped to extreme lows, and his gaze was that of a person looking at something dead. At his waist, Xin Mo trembled in excitement while humming unceasingly, as if about to exit its sheath. His hand pressed down on the hilt, and an all-consuming red welled from the depths of his eyes.
Shen Qingqiu wiped at the blood by his mouth, a little stupefied by the sight.
Logically speaking, after starting the Demon Realm arc, Luo Binghe should have rewired himself into a relatively stable state. Sucking someone dry every month should only have consolidated him further. So why did he have the feeling that Luo Binghe’s internal balance had, instead, worsened? It was even more turbulent than when Shen Qingqiu had incidentally helped suppress it after self-detonating.
As Sha Hualing was hoisted increasingly higher, she saw Shen Qingqiu cough up blood, and she knew that Luo Binghe had the intent to kill—that he was currently manipulating the heavenly demon blood within the vessel’s body.
“My lord…you absolutely mustn’t kill him…” she said, frantic. “Tonight is the full moon, and he’ll undeniably be useful… There’s no one more suitable than him…”
She wasn’t really concerned about whether Shen Qingqiu lived or died. It was just that if she let Luo Binghe kill this weirdo in a rage, even if his body’s demonic qi didn’t suddenly surge and cause him to go berserk, his next step would have nothing good in store for her either.
As she thought this, Sha Hualing felt that her life was rife with misfortune, and she became even more desperate, shouting herself hoarse. “Even if you don’t care about him and don’t care about me, think about…think about your…the one who…” She threw it all out, raising her voice. “Think about the Holy Mausoleum!”
Upon hearing those last two words, Luo Binghe’s movements slowed.
The Holy Mausoleum was the place where past generations of the demon race’s ruling class were laid to eternal rest. Other than the current supreme ruler, the miscellaneous remainder of demonkind were, with no exceptions, forbidden from entering, and all violators were killed.
Within the Holy Mausoleum, the generations had accumulated various funerary treasures of rare quality in enormous quantity—talisman charms and spiritual artifacts, stuff that anyone would drool over. Rumor had it that within the Holy Mausoleum, there was even a mystical artifact capable of bringing the dead back to life in defiance of the natural order. With Sha Hualing as his double agent, the original Luo Binghe had successfully climbed to the top of the Demon Realm and infiltrated the Holy Mausoleum. Everyone knew whose hands those treasures had ended up in.
If Sha Hualing was mentioning the Holy Mausoleum now, was she reminding Luo Binghe that he still needed her for something?
Whatever it was, she’d obviously found the right angle.
On hearing those two words, a somber red still flickered in Luo Binghe’s eyes, but Sha Hualing’s body suddenly dropped a bit, and the tips of her feet could now touch the ground if she strained.
“You managed to remind me.” Luo Binghe’s fingertips languidly stroked Xin Mo, soothing the restless, agitated sword as he said in a low voice, “True, there’s still the Holy Mausoleum.”
Sha Hualing was about to gasp for breath when she heard Luo Binghe say, “Are you threatening me?”
Sha Hualing’s soul almost fled her body. “This subordinate wouldn’t dare!”
Just…tragic. All else aside, she was one of two main female leads of Proud Immortal Demon Way, who’d for years on end ranked in the top three of the (female) character popularity rankings—how had she ended up in this state?!
Shen Qingqiu hadn’t managed to finish lamenting when it felt like someone was pulling on his front, and his entire body was abruptly hauled upward.
His vision blurred, and in an instant, his chest had chilled to the point of freezing. When he looked down, he saw Luo Binghe had pressed one hand against the left side of his chest.
The following sensation was like someone had fired a cannon into his chest, the ammunition being pure, black, demonic qi. Once it entered his body, it spread like an explosion through his limbs and bones via his meridians.
The System’s jarringly clear, shrill notification made his head throb:
【 Touch verification successful! 】
【 Connected to central power source, storing power! 】
【 System self-evaluation: all operations normal. Thank you for your continued patronage! 】
Isn’t this touch verification a little too advanced?!
The spiritual energy within Shen Qingqiu had started off as a full reservoir, but after this one brief link, more than half was sucked away.
But this depleted state lasted for only an instant. The flesh body formed by the Sun-Moon Dew Mushroom began to generate a rapid influx of spiritual energy. This influx was then absorbed even more rapidly by Luo Binghe.
Shen Qingqiu felt like a mobile power bank.
Okay, in my last life, maybe I ranted a little too much in the comments section, he howled internally, but honestly, I only ranted about Airplane Shooting Towards the Sky’s writing quality and never the male lead—so why is Luo Binghe always picking on me?!
Luo Binghe made a sound of surprise and withdrew his palm.
This body differed from his previous vessels. He’d extracted the majority of its spiritual energy and poured an enormous amount of demonic qi into it, yet it could still rapidly and automatically replenish itself. It seemed that Sha Hualing’s single-minded insistence on capturing this person, and all the great trouble she’d gone through to do so, had been justified.
With a thump, Sha Hualing fell to the ground in a seated position. She knew that she had been correct to capture this person and that she’d now survived great calamity and escaped death. Still terrified, she ignored how her knees were trembling and hurriedly corrected her posture to kneel on one knee.
“I don’t care if you did it or not,” said Luo Binghe. “Remember to never let me see him using this face.”
Sha Hualing hastily bowed her head. “Understood!”
Luo Binghe casually sliced open a spatial rift and stepped inside. The flippancy with which he left as he pleased was practically infuriating—just up and dumping the two of them in the wastes, like he was altogether unconcerned with whether Shen Qingqiu went or stayed.
But true enough, he had no need to be concerned, since Shen Qingqiu had drunk his blood. Wherever he fled, he could never truly escape. With a flick of his fingers, Luo Binghe could appear in front of Shen Qingqiu and leave him mired in excruciating pain.
So…does this mean I’ve become Bing-ge’s lackey? Shen Qingqiu thought.
Luo Binghe hadn’t recognized him, so if he followed along and did his job properly, maybe his prospects would actually be pretty good?
(Like hell.)
Wasn’t it just once a month? A couple more rounds of this, and he could get used to it!
Currently disoriented as he was, he was caught off guard when Sha Hualing moved to claw at his face. Shen Qingqiu blocked her with two fingers. “What are you doing?”
Sha Hualing clenched her teeth. “Didn’t you hear? He said just now that he doesn’t want to see your face!”
Shen Qingqiu stared at her, then reached out and tore a piece of gauzy cloth from her body.
“What are you ripping my clothes for?!” Sha Hualing shrieked.
Shen Qingqiu punched two holes into that cloth and covered his face with it, leaving only his eyes exposed. “My clothes are already ragged enough, so I’m borrowing yours. Is clawing faces your only solution to everything? Covering myself with a cloth does the job. Must you resort to disfigurement?”
If Luo Binghe hadn’t needed to use this person once a month from now on—meaning she had to guarantee his absolute safety—Sha Hualing would have wanted to hack him to pieces. Though if she thought about it more, even if Luo Binghe hated counterfeits, he probably wouldn’t have liked seeing this face drenched in blood either, so Sha Hualing could only swallow her anger and yell, “Go!”
No issues with that. After all, it would be the same wherever he went, so he figured he might as well take things step by step and observe.
By Shen Qingqiu’s calculations, after Luo Binghe completely suppressed Xin Mo, he probably wouldn’t need a vessel anymore. Then it’d be goodbye forever, and that day likely wasn’t far off. He just had to be especially careful so Luo Binghe didn’t discover that he’d pulled off a great escape using the Sun-Moon Dew Mushroom.
Having adjusted to his new role ridiculously quickly, Shen Qingqiu followed Luo Binghe’s lead and stepped into that rift. Sha Hualing was the last to enter, and the opening slowly sealed up behind her.
The star employee of the demon race’s ability to adjust her mental state wasn’t too shabby either. After several deep breaths, Sha Hualing had calmed down and asked, “Your name?”
The other side of the rift connected to a long corridor, its two walls decorated in hundreds of complicated designs, though the lighting was rather dim. Shen Qingqiu was thinking that this place looked somewhat familiar as he said absentmindedly, “Peerless Cucumber.”
Sha Hualing muttered, “Peerless Cucumber?” Then exploded in anger. “Are you mocking me?!”
The more Shen Qingqiu looked around, the more he felt that even if he’d never been here before, he must’ve at least heard the description somewhere, and in the process, he fully ignored Sha Hualing.
Having received no response, she threatened him angrily. “No matter where you’re from, now that you’ve drunk heavenly demon blood, you henceforth belong to the lord. If you try to rebel, death and a desecrated corpse will be a kindness!”
After turning a corner and passing several disciples wearing familiar light yellow robes, Shen Qingqiu was finally certain: this was Huan Hua Palace, Luo Binghe’s headquarters in the Human Realm.
But this was far too different from the Huan Hua Palace he knew. Huan Hua Palace was supposed to be resplendent and majestic, dazzling with gold and jade, each plank and stone grand and lavish to the utmost. But the architecture before his eyes could only be described with one word: lifeless.
Past generations of palace masters had to a one adored extravagance, and Luo Binghe was no exception; it was just that his love was for extravagant darkness. Even the two rows of oil lamps lining the corridor seemed on the verge of flickering out.
In the blink of an eye, Sha Hualing had changed into the apparel of a Huan Hua Palace disciple. When deliberately suppressing her demonic qi, she looked just like any ordinary, beautiful human girl. Luo Binghe passed through hall after hall like he was in a fugue before he sat down in the main palace hall.
Shen Qingqiu had wanted to go for a stroll elsewhere, but Sha Hualing grabbed him. “Where are you going? Don’t wander around. Follow me!”
Shen Qingqiu didn’t want to clash with her, so he could only line up beside her on the side of the main hall, back perfectly straight. Immediately thereafter, some disciples entered to make their reports. Several paid their respects to the throne, reverently relaying information.
At first, Shen Qingqiu listened without paying attention, but suddenly he heard a name that jabbed him like a needle.
“Palace Master,” a disciple said, “during the time you were gone, that Liu Qingge came twice more. When he was unable to find you, he demolished Ling Hua Domain.”
As Shen Qingqiu listened to this, his chest tightened, his gums aching slightly.
If Liu Qingge had done such a thing… Surely he isn’t taking revenge for my sake, right?
The lack of concern on Luo Binghe’s face said: Whatever, my important self has plenty of money. “Let him demolish what he likes. Anything else?”
The disciple glanced at him, wiped at his cold sweat, and spoke his next words with excessive carefulness. “One more thing… The Little Palace Mistress…wants to see you.”
Shen Qingqiu’s first thought was that Luo Binghe was about to summon his beloved concubine to the hall with a doting expression on his face, but to his surprise, Luo Binghe remained frosty and indifferent. As if even speaking would be too much, he wearily waved his hand, implying rejection.
“But…” the disciple said awkwardly.
“But I’m already here!”
The mere sound of this voice made Shen Qingqiu’s teeth and body ache. Before he knew it, the Little Palace Mistress had already stormily charged into the hall, her presence as forceful as spitting flames. Following alongside her was a comely, slightly older woman in a light yellow robe. Her eyes were hazy, as if on the verge of tears. It was Qin Wanyue.
Shen Qingqiu did a subtle double take, a little surprised.
At this time, these two maidens should still have been blossoming flowers in their prime, but when he looked at them, there was a clear impression of haggardness. The Little Palace Mistress was especially afflicted. Those two splotches of uneven crimson on her face were probably due to a rushed application of cosmetics.
No matter how he looked at her, she had not even the slightest bit of a well-pampered mistress’s radiant glee.
The Little Palace Mistress lifted her chin, looking straight at Luo Binghe. “You’ve returned.”
Luo Binghe glanced at her and didn’t say anything.
“Little Palace Mistress, let’s go back…” Qin Wanyue said quietly.
“Do you imagine I don’t know who you think of, day and night?” the Little Palace Mistress asked caustically. “The reason you endure humiliation and remain by my side, exhaustively thinking and scheming—isn’t it all to lay eyes on him again? So why are you retreating now that you finally see him, acting all fragile and pitiful? Why not try to stop me before we got here instead of only attempting to dissuade me now?”
Head lowered, Qin Wanyue dared not speak, her ears flushed.
The Little Palace Mistress clicked her tongue, directing it to the hall. “Have you found Daddy?” she asked.
“The Old Palace Master has gone into traveling seclusion,” Luo Binghe said. “No one has seen a trace of him.”
This was an incredibly egregious example of a stock insincere answer. As far as Shen Qingqiu understood it—and this went for various dramas and novels—it was widely accepted that anyone on the throne who said this line was the main culprit who had caused “no one to see a trace” of the previous leader.
The Little Palace Mistress laughed harshly. “That line again. Would you have to expend too much energy to even think up a new excuse for me? All right, I won’t talk about Daddy. I’ll just talk about myself—if I didn’t come find you, would you ever come to see me?” she asked shrilly.
How dare you imply Luo Binghe is the kind of scoundrel who recklessly wastes resources? Who tosses his women aside without sleeping with them? Don’t insult his dignity as a top-shelf stallion novel male lead!
Too bad Luo Binghe plainly didn’t care to preserve that dignity.
Several Huan Hua Palace disciples appeared in the palace hall. Shen Qingqiu assumed they were going to console the Little Palace Mistress, but in actuality they forcibly grabbed her and dragged her off. On the way, she screamed and yelled. Qin Wanyue followed alongside her, but sometimes she shot tearful glances at Luo Binghe out the corner of her eye, as if hoping for something.
Before this point, Sha Hualing had been staring straight ahead, her posture perfectly upright, but now she wrinkled her brow and followed them out, standing in the corridor to berate them. “What have you lot been doing? You were asked to keep an eye on her, and this is how you do it?”
Shen Qingqiu had always maintained a respectful distance when it came to the fights between female characters, but having observed this, he felt like the gap between his expectations and reality was too great to ignore. He hurried out after them, continuing to observe.
“I’m sorry, I neglected my duties,” Qin Wanyue said while holding back tears. “I didn’t stop the Little Palace Mistress…”
Sha Hualing swiftly cut her off. “It was entirely your fault! I’ve heard that saving face is especially important to Human Realm women, but even though you’ve failed to seduce the lord many times, you shamelessly refuse to leave—so that’s all your face amounts to. Moreover, not leaving is one thing, but you can’t even keep a proper eye on a single person. You’re her shijie, so her cultivation is inferior to yours, yet you didn’t stop her, and you even let her throw a tantrum before the lord. Who are you humiliating yourself and acting pitiful for?”
Listening to Sha Hualing point out her inadequacies to her face, Qin Wanyue wanted to die of shame and resentment. Even in the original work, Sha Hualing had deeply hated Qin Wanyue and always found fault with her. It seemed that though they hadn’t entered the harem together this time, their relationship hadn’t improved in the slightest.
Sha Hualing then turned her head and swapped out her entire expression. She spoke to the Little Palace Mistress while full of smiles. “These past few years, the Little Palace Mistress has lived a life of luxury, just like she did before. Other than the occasional house arrest, you’ve suffered no real mistreatment, right? So why are you so aggrieved?”
“Who the hell are you?” the Little Palace Mistress asked viciously. “How dare you, an indecent vixen seductress from heavens know where, speak like that to me in Huan Hua Palace! How is the way he treats me any different from a kept pig?!”
Sha Hualing pouted. “Then why doesn’t the Little Palace Mistress tell me: What else can she do other than eat and sleep like the animal she brought up?”
Qin Wanyue sobbed. “Little Palace Mistress, let’s go. Everything…has long since changed…”
“On what grounds can you make me leave?!” the Little Palace Mistress said hysterically. “This is my Huan Hua Palace—mine! Get out of my way! Traitors, the lot of you!”
The scene fell into complete chaos, with people sent flying every which way.
Shen Qingqiu had discovered a most shocking truth. He carefully counted on his fingers:
Sha Hualing: Was made not a wife but a subordinate. Toils to death on overtime, and her pay and benefits are nothing to write home about. From her boss’s attitude, doesn’t look like he wants an office romance either. X
Liu Mingyan: Didn’t even exchange the sword tassel love token. X
Ning Yingying: After puberty, stopped demonstrating the fanatical love from her naive youth toward the male lead. Seems like her lovesick brain’s been cured. X
The Little Palace Mistress: Bitter locked-up woman. She herself said that Luo Binghe treats her like a kept pig. X
Qin Wanyue: Bitter locked-up woman the sequel. Failed at offering herself countless times. Moonlights as the Little Palace Mistress’s nanny. X
Qiu Haitang: After dragging Shen Qingqiu down, she’s supposed to be happily going down to cuck town with Luo Binghe. Why’s she still wandering about like a vagrant? X
The three Daoist nuns: A second in the spotlight, hello and goodbye. XXX
…
Looking down this list, Luo Binghe had really…ended up in an awful state!
As the hale and hearty male lead of a stallion novel, are you doing okay or not?
A perfectly good harem had been broken down to the point that it was coughing up smoke. If this were a novel, and the plot had unfolded to this point without the protagonist collecting a single wife, what satisfaction points were there to be had?!
Shen Qingqiu promptly called up the System to check the various categories’ point values. Unexpectedly, he discovered that, beneath the B-Points, the protagonist satisfaction points not only hadn’t decreased, they had actually risen to over nine hundred.
Because many of the points had been added while the System was offline and hibernating, he hadn’t received the notifications. Shen Qingqiu prodded open the many new windows providing detailed calculations that he’d unknowingly received. Lined up within them were a bunch of new records.
【 Ning Yingying: Subverted the trope of a female character being a brainless martyr for love. B-Points +100. 】
【 Ming Fan: Subverted the trope of a side character being an illogical idiot. B-Points +50. 】
【 Liu Mingyan: Subverted the trope of a female character being a nonsensical martyr for love. B-Points +150. 】
…
The ubiquitous love martyr female characters and idiot cannon fodder: these two points together constituted the classic landmine elements of stallion novels. Now the female characters weren’t relationship-based martyrs for the male lead, and the side characters’ EQs and IQs had also risen, so naturally the B-Points had risen too. This Shen Qingqiu understood.
But while Luo Binghe hadn’t bedded a single girl, the System hadn’t deducted any of his satisfaction points—that part was unscientific!
Could it be that currently, the male lead’s satisfaction points were no longer bound to the male lead himself? Or to say it another way, what determined the male lead’s “satisfaction” no longer lay in such pleasures?
Could it be…
Shen Qingqiu couldn’t resist the urge to raise his eyes and take in Luo Binghe’s dismal expression. He suddenly felt that he couldn’t stare straight at him anymore.
It was criminal, criminal—could it be that he’d raised an otherwise totally fine stallion novel male lead…to be asexual?!
Shen Qingqiu closed the windows, his feelings complicated. Then he realized that something about his location didn’t seem quite right.
Just now he’d definitely been in Huan Hua Palace, minding his own business, so how had he ended up walking into a forested grove without noticing? And regardless of how he studied it, it was a strikingly familiar-looking bamboo forest.
The bamboo forest rustled as a gentle breeze blew through it.
Shen Qingqiu didn’t even need to guess the identity of the location. Even if he’d been shown only a corner of this place, he’d know where he was.
Cang Qiong Mountain, Qing Jing Peak.
How could he not be familiar with the place where he’d thus far holed up for the longest period of time in this life?
【 Your current location: the land of Luo Binghe’s dream realm. 】
When Luo Binghe’s consciousness was unstable and its fluctuations were especially large, outsiders were often affected, sucked into a dream realm that was as vast as a deep-sea vortex. Or, you could say, they became collateral damage for Luo Binghe’s incomparably huge black hole of an imagination For a specific example, please see the beginning of the Meng Mo instance from way back when.
Shen Qingqiu had run through the Meng Mo scenario with Luo Binghe at that time. This was operating on the same principle as “strangers the first time but familiar the second.” It was similar to how, after connecting to a Wi-Fi network once, the second time you would connect automatically without needing to enter the password.
Shen Qingqiu quickly touched his own face and found no beard. Within the dream realm, he’d returned to his original appearance, leaving him with absolutely no sense of security. Just as he was thinking of finding a place to hide and wait for Luo Binghe to awaken by himself, some disciples walked toward him in twos and threes, and Shen Qingqiu jerked to a halt, wholly forgetting to conceal himself.
The problem was that although the expressions on these coming and going disciples were slightly wooden, every single one had noses and eyes, their facial features complete. Shen Qingqiu could even name quite a few.
Not even Meng Mo was able to simultaneously support a vast barrier while guaranteeing the facial features of the life forms within. Yet Luo Binghe could already do it, and to such a great level of detail.
Though Shen Qingqiu had long known that Luo Binghe’s OP-ness could eclipse the heavens, he still couldn’t help but let out a sigh. “Amazing.”
After exiting the little bamboo forest, he came upon Qing Jing’s Bamboo House. Between the scattered stalks of bamboo, some tall and some short, spring water flowed in a rush, tinkling rhythmically and reflecting the sunlight in a rainbow of colors. Shen Qingqiu was worried that Luo Binghe was inside the house and halted his steps. Having strolled this bamboo forest countless times while idling about, he easily found a place to hide and came to a stop within the shadows.
Suddenly, there came the sound of footsteps on fallen leaves, and from within the overlapping, verdant bamboo, out walked a youth in white, fifteen or sixteen years of age.
This youth’s skin was fair, and he appeared to have run all the way here. A layer of sweat covered his forehead while his cheeks were rosy, which made for an incredibly adorable sight. The lines of his eyes and brows were precise without being sharp, and they radiated a sense of youthful inexperience.
Shen Qingqiu mourned despite himself. It’d been a long time since he’d seen the youthful Luo Binghe, that small, refreshing sun.
While cultivating on Qing Jing Peak, Luo Binghe had liked to wear white. But after his rebellious phase began, the devil incarnate Luo Binghe had come to wear only black, pretty much the polar opposite of before. This youthful tenderness was even more a memory, and it was no longer in evidence at all.
Luo Binghe strode forward, calling out in high spirits, “Shizun!”
Shen Qingqiu was hidden in the shadows, so naturally, this call wasn’t for him. He turned his gaze, and as expected, he saw a form in teal robes standing at the far end of the cobblestone path.
The “Shen Qingqiu” forged from memories in the dream realm stood in the midst of a stretch of verdant, flourishing bamboo. His figure was slender, like unto a thin stalk of bamboo himself, and his expression was unperturbed, radiating the cool aura of an immortal, while his poise was veritably somewhat otherworldly. As a bystander, the current Shen Qingqiu judged him from head to toe and still had to applaud.
To be able to fake it to this level, he was really too superb!
Also, that Luo Binghe could perfectly restore all these tiny details—as expected of the man who would personally succeed Meng Mo!
The Shen Qingqiu in the midst of the bamboo appeared to have been lost in thought. He cocked his head and asked, “Finished running?”
Luo Binghe nodded. “Ten laps… All finished.”
Shen Qingqiu finally remembered what slice of memory this was.
The “ten laps” Luo Binghe spoke of referred to ten laps around the fence encircling Qing Jing Peak. Shen Qingqiu had personally assigned him this task.
He hadn’t done it because he had a twisted hobby of inflicting corporal punishment upon the great male lead, but because he just couldn’t endure it any longer. After taking over Luo Binghe’s education, he’d mulled it over and decided that since he was to be a role model and worthy teacher, he ought to at least do some proper teaching. This way, after they fell out in the future, he would be able to utter the phrase, “Within a master-disciple relationship lies the grace of knowledge passed down,” without reddening from shame before the words left his mouth.
In his course curriculum, the first thing to correct was the absolute mess that was Luo Binghe’s footwork and form.
As for the results, he’d mentioned it a while back. The most significant outcome was that Luo Binghe had repeatedly fallen into his arms for half a month.
“Once more,” said Shen Qingqiu. “If you get it wrong again this time, it won’t be only ten laps.”
Luo Binghe obediently performed the maneuver once more. While he certainly didn’t fall into Shen Qingqiu’s arms this time, instead, his legs buckled and he ended up directly embracing Shen Qingqiu’s waist.
Shen Qingqiu was silent.
“Shizun, this disciple is useless,” Luo Binghe said bashfully. “After ten laps, my legs have no strength.”
Shen Qingqiu sighed.
“This disciple knows,” Luo Binghe said, fully aware. “Twenty laps.”
“What laps? Go back and rest.” Shen Qingqiu had no interest in abusing children.
At that time, he’d truly given up.
Let him do whatever he wants. No more teaching! There’s no sense of accomplishment whatsoever. I’m throwing out the textbooks!
Luo Binghe failed to realize that he’d been declared a hopeless case. “Thank you, Shizun!” he said in high spirits. “This disciple will absolutely make up the twenty laps tomorrow. Is there anything Shizun would like to eat tonight?”
To the side, Shen Qingqiu rubbed his forehead.
Luo Binghe in those days…had genuinely been naive and sweet to an exceptional degree.
Enduring labor, resentment, beatings, and verbal abuse, being stepped on, kicked, and made to cook… Ahem, of course Shen Qingqiu hadn’t done most of those things.
After watching this artificial master-disciple pair, one tall and one short, walk off while conversing, Shen Qingqiu came out of his hiding place and lapsed into bewilderment.
Within the dream realm barrier Luo Binghe had constructed for himself, he would naturally choose to relive only his most wonderful memories. If any memories of Qing Jing Peak could occupy such a niche, they should have been the ones related to Ning Yingying. So why had this one played out?
The dream realm precisely reflected the truth of a person’s heart—it would neither lie nor deceive. Within Shen Qingqiu welled up a thought he’d never had before.
This thought was admittedly a bit shameless, but…probably, maybe, possibly, those memories of this “master-disciple relationship” occupied a better place in Luo Binghe’s heart than Shen Qingqiu had thought?
At the very least, it could be said that he’d given Luo Binghe a couple of moments that were decent enough to look back on. So perhaps the entire thing hadn’t been completely unbearable.
However…was Luo Binghe a bit of a masochist? Shen Qingqiu didn’t want to badmouth him, but normally a memory about being punished with ten or twenty laps could never have anything to do with the word “wonderful,” right?!
Suddenly, a trace of chilly air unfurled over Shen Qingqiu’s nape, as if a gaze both hot and cold was crawling upward along his back.
He unconsciously looked behind him. Luo Binghe, clothed in black, was leaning against a stalk of bamboo and staring straight at him.
The two of them stared at each other without speaking.
In the flesh…?
In the flesh!
Shen Qingqiu’s initial reflex wasn’t to make a break for it but to remain in place unmoving and adjust his expression to be as natural as possible.
This wasn’t because he was scared stiff with legs too weak to run, more that he’d long since psychologically prepared himself to encounter this kind of scenario. Running couldn’t solve the problem at all. This barrier was Luo Binghe’s home field, so he could run as fast as he could and it’d still be pointless.
That gaze being simultaneously hot and cold hadn’t been his imagination, nor was it a mistaken description. Luo Binghe’s expression really did seem like both ice and fire—a deep chill within, as well as a burning heat. The two temperatures combined bizarrely and condensed within his eyes, which were locked securely on Shen Qingqiu’s form.
Shen Qingqiu braced himself, letting their eyes meet.
After a long while, Luo Binghe sighed first. He murmured, “Being able to dream is also a wonderful thing.”
When Shen Qingqiu heard this, he realized that he’d managed to get away with his risky maneuver.
By summoning his courage, he’d actually won the gamble. At this moment, Luo Binghe’s absentmindedness had enabled Shen Qingqiu to be taken as a dream realm creation.
Shen Qingqiu studied Luo Binghe leaning against the bamboo, stare fixed on himself. He thought of Luo Binghe’s numb appearance on the throne earlier that day, all alone. When he compared that to the scene in the original work of Luo Binghe surrounded by splendid luxuries, his every call answered by hundreds, Shen Qingqiu’s heart throbbed a bit, though he tried to stop it.
Luo Binghe didn’t have a single wife by his side to heal his injuries, to pamper and ask after him. How could his heart not throb? A perfectly fine stallion novel male lead had fallen to such a state. What man could bear to look?
“Shizun, won’t you speak with me a little?” Luo Binghe asked.
At this moment, Shen Qingqiu’s heart was full of sympathy for Luo Binghe. “All right,” he said amicably. “What do you want to talk about?”
When he spoke, Luo Binghe unexpectedly went rigid, then straightened at once and left the bamboo stalk, the expression on his face one of slight disbelief.
Oh, no, Shen Qingqiu thought. Was something amiss in the reaction I came up with?
But since he’d already started acting, he had to act until the end; he absolutely couldn’t give up halfway. Embarrassment was a small thing, blowing his cover was not. Shen Qingqiu smiled. “Didn’t you ask this master to speak with you?”
He used the tone he’d often deployed in the past when interacting with Luo Binghe. The corner of Luo Binghe’s mouth twitched, and he unhurriedly walked toward him. Shen Qingqiu kept his expression steady while casually and gently opening and closing the folding fan in his hand, using the small movements to alleviate his anxiety.
Luo Binghe was silent for a moment. “In the past, Shizun wouldn’t even glance my way and would walk off without paying me heed—forget about talking to me. Perhaps my imagination today is a little too indulgent.”
Shen Qingqiu’s heart stirred.
Though he still felt that something was off, these words really did sound a tad pitiful. Could it be that within Luo Binghe’s mind, “Shen Qingqiu” always treated him with indifference, and was lofty and unfeeling?
Luo Binghe really did have slight masochistic tendencies, huh…?
As Shen Qingqiu thought this, in his distraction, his hand unconsciously began to move, and in accordance with the natural order, he patted the top of Luo Binghe’s head. He’d performed this action countless times. The saying went that it was forbidden to touch men’s heads and women’s waists, but the more something was “forbidden,” the more he felt the urge to do it.
Shen Qingqiu especially loved patting people’s heads. Unfortunately, as a grown adult, he couldn’t often indulge this sort of rude impulse, and moreover no one would let him touch them however he wanted. Luckily, the Luo Binghe of the past hadn’t minded when Shen Qingqiu placed his hands on his head, so Shen Qingqiu had aimlessly patted him whenever, until it had eventually become a habit. And now he was doing it again.
He had barely patted Luo Binghe two or three times when he was caught off guard. Luo Binghe lifted his own arm, his right hand grasping Shen Qingqiu’s left wrist.
Shen Qingqiu’s expression stiffened as he thought, Isn’t this a bit too close?
Straight after, his right wrist had been firmly captured as well. Lifting his head in shock, Shen Qingqiu felt his vision blur.
Something like a feather delicately brushed his cheek. From on top of his lips came a foreign sensation, soft and slightly cool.
In this way, his eyes opened wide, and he met gazes with Luo Binghe’s pair of pitch-black irises. His throat bobbed once with difficulty.
He wanted to speak, but he couldn’t open his mouth. Because someone was biting down on his lips.
Luo Binghe shut his eyes, his jet-black eyelashes casting curved shadows on his cheeks; it made him look incredibly endearing, but his hands and mouth were a totally different story. He angrily held Shen Qingqiu’s lips between his teeth, chomping, the action carrying a hint of childish resentfulness. His right hand released Shen Qingqiu’s frozen limb and moved to the center of his waist instead, pressing Shen Qingqiu into his arms. Even though their builds were similar, he could still entirely enfold Shen Qingqiu with this simple one-armed embrace.
Shen Qingqiu’s worldview repeatedly collapsed and re-formed, collapsed and re-formed, cycling infinitely at the speed of light.
What broke through his breakdown was a System notification, accompanied by celebratory background music:
【 Satisfaction points +500! Congratulations! Congratulations! Congratulations! Important things must be said three times! 】
“What the fuck?!” Shen Qingqiu snapped in his head.
He finally understood why, even though Luo Binghe hadn’t slept with a single girl, even though neither hide nor hair could be seen of his innumerable harem of beauties, his satisfaction points had never fallen.
Because he’d used Shen Qingqiu to make up for the deficit, ah!
The Shen Qingqiu who’d suddenly understood the truth was half-horrified and half-enraged. He raised his foot and kicked.
Luo Binghe neither ducked nor sidestepped and took the kick head-on, but he didn’t retreat a single step. He even continued to hold Shen Qingqiu without letting go.
“I’m not even allowed to dream?” he asked, looking both angry and wounded.
Hurry and wake up! Even though this is a dream, you didn’t dream up this big shot!
He couldn’t slap Luo Binghe awake, but he couldn’t let him continue this foolishness either!
This was the real being stuck between a rock and a hard place!
Shen Qingqiu hadn’t figured out what to yell in order to calm himself down when his back was slammed into a stand of bamboo without warning, and he was pressed into it. Luo Binghe lowered his head and descended once more.
It wasn’t Shen Qingqiu’s first time being kissed, but it was his first time feeling the threat of someone going crazy and biting off his lips.
Between disordered breaths, Luo Binghe whispered, “Shizun, I was wrong…”
Shen Qingqiu managed to free one of his hands and pushed against Luo Binghe’s chest. He really didn’t want to do this kind of “woman from a good family resisting a ruffian” pose, but—
You fucker, does this look like you knowing that you’re in the wrong?!
Shen Qingqiu was the one who had been wrong, really wrong, completely wrong. “Wind from an empty cave”—yeah right! There was a scientific basis to all that jianghu gossip. Every single gossiper must have been a fallen angel in their previous life, hence their ability to see past the surface to the reality beneath!
Shen Qingqiu hadn’t raised the male lead to be an asexual, and it wasn’t an issue of whether or not Luo Binghe was a masochist. The reality was much more terrifying: he’d raised the male lead to be gay—ahhh!
No wonder he hadn’t collected a single wife! No wonder his harem was in shambles! Women could no longer attract his interest, and they were no longer linked to his satisfaction points!
What the actual fuck!
Shen Qingqiu absolutely refused to submit, tenaciously resisting and struggling with all his might. He was just considering which option would result in a worse conclusion, self-detonating again or kicking Luo Binghe’s crucial bits, when Luo Binghe released him without warning. He looked at the sky above them with its swirling vortex of clouds, and his expression abruptly darkened.
In an instant, the scenery and people before Shen Qingqiu’s eyes crumbled and dissipated, the illusion shattering into a thousand pieces. At the same time, on the roof of Huan Hua Palace’s main hall, Shen Qingqiu sprang to his feet.
Now this was the real world!
Shen Qingqiu took in a series of violent breaths and finally managed to settle his mind. Suddenly, he realized that every area beneath the main palace had been lit, and the alarm bells were ringing together en masse. He poked his head over the edge, his clothes flapping ceaselessly in the night wind, and looked down from above. Countless lights were converging on the palace. Those were the disciples of Huan Hua Palace’s various domains, swarming here from all directions.
“Stand guard! This is an order to all domains: stand guard!”
“Another breach,” someone cursed. “How many times has he broken in by now? Have we managed to hold him off even once?”
Shen Qingqiu rejoiced. An invasion was ideal. It would let him escape in the chaos. Who cared about that heavenly demon blood or whatever? His integrity was more important. Leave first and worry later, goodbye! But in the end, he hadn’t flown two steps before he heard someone say:
“He went in the direction of Huan Hua Pavilion. Form up and stop Liu Qingge!”
Shen Qingqiu’s feet slipped out from under him, and he immediately turned around and ran back.
Dammit. Liu Qingge just had to come now. Shen Qingqiu couldn’t just throw him to a wholly broken down and presently raging Luo Binghe, right?
Huan Hua Pavilion was where successive generations of Palace Masters had lived and cultivated, and it wasn’t too far. With a couple of steps, Shen Qingqiu leapt off the roof, mingling with the main unit and hurrying over. They had yet to enter Huan Hua Pavilion when wave after wave of frigid, threatening wind assaulted them head-on. From within the structure there came an enraged shout full of murderous intent.
“Get out!”
When they’d heard the alarm bells, some ignorant disciples had burst in, and the several dozen people in front were sent flying by an enormously powerful wave of qi. Shen Qingqiu was in the wave after, so he managed to dodge this blow in time. Picking out a good position, he took advantage of the chaos and slipped inside. A freezing chill hit him the moment he entered, eliciting a wave of goosebumps.
It was as if the entirety of Huan Hua Pavilion had become an enormous ice cave. A single step inside was like entering a land of frost and snow. Chill wind flooded Shen Qingqiu’s robes and sleeves, and the cold sweat on his back and forehead rapidly froze into a thin layer of ice. One could imagine exactly how inhospitable the interior had to be.
Not only was the temperature abnormally low, the doors were all sealed shut, the windows airtight. It was both freezing and dark. If it hadn’t been for the intruder (that is, Cang Qiong Mountain’s Director of Demolitions, Liu Qingge) forcibly blowing open a huge hole in the walls, the place would have been like a coffin made of ice.
The top of the sitting platform at the center of the pavilion was half-shrouded by curtains, and several black and white outer robes were messily piled beside it.
Luo Binghe was only wearing an inner robe, and he looked like he’d just gotten up from bed. His black hair was disheveled and his clothes were in disarray, the neckline gaping and crooked. His face was abnormally pale, yet his lips had color, while his eyes flashed with a cold light, the aura sinister and menacing. It seemed he was prepared to fight, his claws and fangs bared.
Liu Qingge faced him from seven steps away, the bones protruding on his sword-holding hand, his entire face ashen.
He stared at Luo Binghe, who calmly sat next to the platform, and enunciated each word: “You bastard.”