Chapter Text
Luo Binghe woke not long after. He was on the grass below the statue as he peered up to the now still figure. He scanned his surroundings again, looking to see if anyone was there. No one.
He suddenly felt really stupid as he whispered to the statue with hope in his heart that it would answer, “don’t worry, no one’s here. You can show yourself to me.” He looked up with pleading eyes. It didn’t move.
Luo Binghe sighed. Of course it was just a statue, not the real thing, not someone so kind and doting, yet strict and sassy like the person he had conjured up in his dreams. As he turned to leave, he wondered if that was how the real sect founder would’ve acted if he was still alive.
What if he would feed him till his stomach was full?
What if he would replace his robes the moment he saw a single frayed sleeve?
What if Luo Binghe would start to look forward to tomorrow?
He shook his head. “What ifs and why nots are stupid questions,” he mumbled under his breath, though in the back of his mind he felt deep jealousy towards the mountain’s first disciples. Being taught by such a man, he wouldn’t be surprised if he learnt some even fell for his dangerously gentle eyes, soft pale skin, and long silk like hair.
Suddenly the statue behind him started to rumble and crack, like someone was trying to loosen up their joints, as if they’ve been still for a long time.
As Shen Yuan breathed in the cool mountain air, he stuck his nose up indignantly as he cracked his fan open.
“Hmph! I wanted to stay all nice and mysterious!!! Stupid fucking system,” Shen Yuan thought.
The system only responded with a deadpan voice. “System apologises, but protagonist, Luo Binghe was feeling dejected and this world bends to the protagonist’s every whim. Therefore the user can not choose to ignore him.”
Shen Yuan sighed and turned to Luo Binghe’s now happy face.
“Greetings Binghe, this master finds it a delight to finally be able to talk to his student face to face.”
Luo Binghe, though he had hoped this statue would talk, didn't fully believe that it would, so he stood still…for a very long time before almost squealing in joy, the same way Ning Yingying would when Shen Qingqiu got her a new toy.
Before he could get so loud that even the An Ding peak lord could hear him, Shen Yuan had slapped a hand on his mouth, bent down, and whispered in his ear slyly.
“Binghe, this master does not want to be caught by my current peak lords and be taken away from Binghe~, unless Binghe wants this master to disappear?”
Binghe turned as red as a tomato, shaking his head.
Shen Yuan stepped back and away, satisfied with his answer, and started fanning himself.
It was still night time. Shen Yuan estimated for it to be around midnight, perfect, he had enough time to wake up Xiang Fei.
He started to walk out the forest. Luo Binghe didn’t move.
“This master calls upon dear Binghe to show him to the library.”
Luo Binghe jolted awake, nodded, and jogged towards Shen Yuan out the bamboo forest and into the courtyard.
Shen Yuan glanced around. This peak really had changed. Nothing was where it was meant to be.
The stables were no longer on the peak and it looked like it had been repurposed into disciple housing. The biggest building, which was meant to be the disciple’s quarters, was now the immortal master’s living space, and the old immortal master’s living space was now the lecture hall.
But one thing stayed the same, and that was the library. It was basically smacked right in the middle of the courtyard.
Shen Yuan smiled a reminiscent smile as he entered the place.
And this time he took the lead, walking through the various halls and protective talismans that were meant to keep people out.
Luo Binghe had never been this deep before, and the deeper this place went, the dustier the books and the duller the cover’s colours.
Finally they reached the end of the library and it was just one big shelf.
Shen Yuan tapped his lips with his fan and sighed before pulling the shelf off and revealing a door that had a Sect founder’s seal on it.
Many places on this peak had a sect founder’s seal; it usually meant that they had explored the place and it was dangerous.
But this one was a seal, and it wasn’t Shen Yuan's, it was Xiang Fei’s.
Shen Yuan blasted it open and found a statue of the other sect's founder.
Luo Binghe scanned the man. He was laying on a stone couch, writing something down on a scroll with a content smile. He looked small and meek like a hamster.
Shen Yuan grabbed Luo Binghe’s wrist and held it softly as he placed Luo Binghe’s hand on Xiang Fei’s shoulder.
Though the touch was only fleeting, Luo Binghe knew he was never gonna wash his hand ever again.
Soon Xiang Fei’s statue loosened and, though slower than Shen Yuan’s transformation, he started to turn marble into skin and cloth.
While the two waited, Luo Binghe asked Shen Yuan.
“s-She-shizun…”
Shen Yuan stiffened at that title. He hadn’t been called that in a long time.
Shen Yuan made sure to relax himself before turning to Luo Binghe.
“Yes?”
“Am I the reason that the two of you came back to life? Because of my heavenly demonic heritage?”
Shen Yuan could already hear the next question form on Luo Binghe’s tongue.
“Is my kind the reason you’ve been trapped for so long? Did we seal you?”
Shen Yuan decided to interrupt him before he could even ask the question.
“no, your kind did not seal us as statues for 30,000 years,” he sighed. “We didn’t want to live forever, but we did want to protect the mountain we worked so hard to raise, so instead we sealed ourselves and only by a heavenly demon’s touch will we come back to life. Whether they are dangerous or not, it’d be a pleasure to finally see what one would look like, and actually get to see how powerful these ex gods are.”
Shen Yuan comforted the boy with more head pats. He found it to be quite easy to calm him. Such a sweet and innocent child.
Shen Yuan internally shed a tear for the woman hoarding stallion he was bound to become.
Luo Binghe nodded and turned to the hamster man. He had finally finished transforming and instantly all he could do was look up and saw the piercing glare of his martial brother.
“CUC-CUCUMBER BRO HAVE MERCY I SWEAR I THOUGHT THE BUTTON WAS FA-”
Shen Yuan once more had another man’s mouth to prevent him from speaking too loudly, this time in front of the protagonist.
Shen Yuan’s eyes darted back and forth from the protagonist to Xiang Fei, trying to say, “you idiot! He’s right here, don't tell him about our real identities!!”
Xiang Fei only caught on after 5 minutes, nodded, and tried to look as composed as possible for someone who was just freaking out a second ago.
Shen Yuan released him to let Xiang Fei introduce himself.
“Hello young disciple, I am Xiang Fei, the third founder of this sect…and your name is?”
Luo Binghe decided to study the man’s interaction with his shizun…and decided that he did not like the third founder.
HOW DARE HE MAKE SHIZUN MAD!
He turned his nose up in the air the same way Shen Yuan did when he woke up that day and grumbled, “I am Luo Binghe, disciple of Shen Qing….Yuan, and I suppose it's a pleasure to meet you.”
Xiang Fei made an offended face.
“MY-MY SON HATES ME!!!”
He thought, his mind full of turmoil, regret, mourning, and the pursuit of vengeance as he turned to Shen Yuan, glaring the best he could.
Shen Yuan smiled pettily and patted Luo Binghe’s fluffy head of hair cheekily as Luo Binghe only nuzzled in further.
Shen Yuan retracted his hand, making Luo Binghe miss the sweet touch on top of his head.
The two sect founders turned to each other.
“So, what's been going on, Cucumber bro ?” Xiang Fei asked.
Shen Yuan slapped his fan handle onto Xiang Fei’s head.
“imbecile, call me by my proper name!”
Just as Xiang Fei was about to speak, Shen Yuan interrupted him with his answer.
“Nothing much has happened but Luo binghe told me that he had fought against the demon elder and earlier this night I was pulled into his dream realm.”
Xiang Fei inhaled deeply…oh god, they were already that far into the story.
Not much could happen to the sect now…okay, so far their plan has gone the way it was meant to go, they met the protagonist, Shen Yuan gained his trust enough that they hopefully don’t die.
But Shen Yuan had been pulled into the dream, instead of Ning Yingying!
He calmed himself down before turning to Luo Binghe.
“Tell me, when is the immortal alliance conference taking place?”
Luo Binghe ignored him.
Shen Yuan smiled at this stupid author who ruined his life, bent down to eye level with Xiang Fei’s son, and asked Luo Binghe, “Binghe, tell me, when is the immortal alliance conference? And where is it talking, hmm?”
Shen Yuan’s lips curled into a smile as Luo Binghe turned red once more and exclaimed loudly, “IN THREE YEARS MASTER SHEN!”
Shen Yuan giggled as Luo Binghe answered him like a soldier answering a sergeant. He decided the boy deserved more head pats and gifted them to him sparingly.
“Allright Cucu-master Shen, I suppose that means we have 3 years to teach young Binghe and get him ready for the immortal alliance.”
Shen Yuan smacked the back of Xiang Fei’s head again, reminding him that he can’t say such things towards the protagonist as if he knew there was danger coming soon.
Besides, Luo Binghe didn't have enough confidence to assume that he would get picked to go.
“Why would you try and train me for the immortal alliance?”
Luo Binghe caught onto the weird words Xiang Fei had spouted like an idiot.
Shen Yuan immediately tried to smoothly simmer down the protagonist's suspicion of Xiang Fei.
“I mean, well Binghe, we’re immortal masters, remember? And we have completed our duties to grow a beautiful, righteous sect, have we not? So once we train you, we hope one day you can repay the favour and take us out of the sect without anyone noticing we’re actually alive,” Shen Yuan said, successfully calming the protagonist’s suspicions.
But he soon caught onto the disappointed look on Luo Binghe’s face and covered up his words even more.
“but of course if you wish these two masters to stay then you may ask it of us, we do not mind, we’ve got forever to wait for you to be ready.”
Shen Yuan knew Luo Binghe had attachment issues. That was a big part of the reason he had gained so many wives in the original book, so the idea of losing the two most important factors to your growth as a cultivator in your life wasn’t ideal.
Luo binghe latched onto Shen Yuan’s arm and buried his face into Shen Yuan’s chest.
“Master Fei doesn’t need to stay, I only need Shizun.”
Shen Yuan patted the boy’s head and smiled.
What a sweet little lotus.
Xiang Fei felt the need to break this up before his son got even more attached to his number one anti fan.
Shen Yuan turned to his martial brother once more and said, “every night at nine o-clock meet me where you placed me to stand for 30,000 years.”
Xiang Fei pouted.
“why can’t you come here!!!”
“Because people would notice if a statue that's in a clearing of the bamboo forest would be missing, no one even knows there’s a statue of you.”
Xiang Fei nodded as Shen Yuan and Luo Binghe turned to leave.
Luo Binghe was apprehensive on leaving Shen Yuan, but he had to go to bed or else Shen Yuan would get mad at him for not sleeping.
He entered the wood shed, closing the door, and made home on the small pile of hay he called a bed and went to sleep.
As for Shen Yuan, he went to his place on the small pillar where he stood for 30,000 years and posed once again.
Tomorrow would be a long day, for now though he just needed to rest. He had 3 years to teach Luo Binghe the importance of equality, modesty, diplomacy, and the art of not having to take 300+ wives to stay sane.
He sighed as his legs turned to stone and his posture rigid.
The next three years of Luo Binghe’s life will be the most critical.
He closed his eyes and put on the same serene smile he had been forced to wear by this stupid system and waited for the troubles of tomorrow.