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Shizun was here. That was obvious seeing as the palace master had sent him specifically because shizun was supposed to be here, but seeing him in person was so much more damning, so much more real it nearly made his heart squeeze into mush. The sowers weren’t even hard to catch, the first one he’d nabbed was dumb enough to just walk up to him expecting Binghe not to immediately grab and throw it into a cage. Wastes of space.
He was here though, he stood in the same room as Binghe and looked right at him like…like he wasn’t entirely sure if he was real. Did he think he would kill Binghe with that throw? He was a demon, he was thrown down there because of that. The abyss was a place of demons and he was one of them, of course he wouldn’t die because of a few lost limbs. Shizun didn’t think he would die there, he couldn’t have. Not when he reacted so concerned over a mere scratch on his arm. Not with that look, that look as Binghe was falling away. That was not a look of shoving someone to their death. He may not have known what that look was for, but he knew that much at least.
The ease in which he managed to lose the other disciples of Huan Hua palace was something he was proud of at least, even as he moved and caught several sowers on his way. Honestly, if they didn’t want to be caught they should have hidden better. Five sowers ended up in the cage before he could finally make his way towards the place he knew his shizun was staying without stopping.
It shouldn’t have been as easy as it was to get in, shouldn’t have taken him less than a minute to be through the door and standing outside the one he knew the other was behind. The sound of his breathing was the only indication he got as to whether he was awake or not, years of listening to it making him surprisingly aware of exactly how awake the other was. His hand rested against the door, frowning down at the handle like it would magically open if he kept staring at it long enough. Right, if he could hear shizun, shizun most likely could hear him. Soon as his hand lowered to knock, a voice started to speak from behind the door.
“Screwed that up,” came the muttered voice from inside, not addressing him at all. His hand paused its movement, unconsciously leaning forwards to press his ear to the door. It was silent for a while, long enough he nearly thought the other was only going to be saying that and nothing more.
“Two years early,” he suddenly hissed and Binghe pulled his hand away from knocking to slightly open the door and peek in. Shizun was standing in ruffled robes, collar messed up to the point it looked like it had been tugged on repeatedly. His hair was a mess like he’d run his hands through it several times, mostly because he was halfway through running his hands through his hair. He paced slowly around the room, avoiding the only thing in there beyond the bed which was a tub for bathing, steam rising off the forgotten thing.
“Two years. You’re supposed to be back in two years how–heh.” He pulled his hands away from his face and looked to something Binghe was only now noticing. There was a small painted picture about the size of his palm sitting upright thanks to it’s folds on the bed. In the center was a face he couldn’t see the detail to, but knew the shape of nonetheless.
Shizun’s had a picture of him? That he carried on his person enough he was here with it? He couldn’t have known Binghe would be here, they’d arrived after the Cang Qiong people, no one even mentioned him outside Huan Hua. So he just, what? Carried a picture of Binghe on him after throwing him into the abyss? Where did he even get the painting? He knew it hadn’t existed when it was still there, he would have seen it, he would have remembered it. After he fell, did shizun make it? The brush marks didn’t look as delicate as shizun’s other pieces though, more heavy handed. Had someone else made it for him then? Why? Why make it after all that happened? Why carry it if he…why carry it after he pushed Binghe in? He stayed silent where he stood, carefully keeping still in his hiding place.
“We’re really in this now Binghe.” He still called him Binghe, the name sending his heart thudding in his chest to hear. He still called him Binghe to his picture, spoke with him like he didn’t hate him. He sank to the ground with a sigh, leaning his back against the bed and picking up the photo as he went. Shizun frowned down at it, hands curling around the soft paper as he did.
“I’m not going to be able to talk to you like this again, am I?” Leaning his head back and against the bed he exposed his neck to the fullest, lowering the picture down to the floor face down.
“I suppose Luo Binghe would be appropriate. Lord Binghe? Lord Luo?” He talked to Binghe like this? When he wasn’t there? He joked at Binghe’s picture like he was there to receive the joke. In the past his face would have gone red after hearing the words, now it only went a mild pink as he leaned further in. Why was he acting so different from how he did when they met a few minutes ago. In the house where Binghe caught that sower, shizun had only acted terrified, pretended not to feel anything and put up that noble mask he always wore around other people.
Years of seeing behind that mask nearly sent Binghe to his knees when he realized he was not only on the other side of it, the whole cause of it being put up was him. This shizun, sitting silently on the floor of a room he didn’t know and staring off at nothing, he no longer had any mask on. His head lowered as he dropped the card of Binghe onto the ground, curling his legs up towards his chin like he did whenever he was tired in the bamboo hut. He looked tired, exhausted even, and Binghe didn’t think once before finding himself pushing the door open and taking a step into the room.
The door clicked shut behind him and he took a step closer, only going as far as that before he simply stood there staring at his shizun. He should say something, make the other acknowledge his presence. Nothing came out. His mouth opened several times, then it shut again a second afterwards. He looked so small right now, curled up on the ground breathing so lightly Binghe nearly worried he was asleep. The only reason he knew he wasn’t was because of his head raising up a moment after he thought it as though Binghe had somehow summoned his attention through sheer willpower. Raising his head, he looked up at Binghe through his lashes and smiled bitterly.
“Binghe,” he greeted, voice soft despite the smile. Binghe nearly reeled away from his voice, the greeting so much different from their earlier meeting it nearly threw him into disarray. He stood there blinking at him for a moment. He didn’t cuss him out, nor pretend he wasn’t absolutely terrified to see Binghe like he did earlier. The most he’d done was acknowledge he was there. As well as that, might he add, he didn’t use the title Lord Luo for Binghe.
Numbly, his feet moved him forwards towards the other who watched him until he sank down besides him and leaned his back against the bed too. Again, there was no response beyond the others eyes following him like a doll as he moved, tilting his head when he had to only to keep watching with only his eyes. When Binghe stopped moving, his eyes flickered away and to the wall they were both facing, frown pulling his lips downwards. Why wasn’t he saying anything? Why was he just sitting here next to Binghe like it meant nothing? Did it mean anything at all?
“Binghe usually speaks more,” the others voice cut through his thoughts. Rolling his head to the side, he saw the other hadn’t moved other than opening his mouth, eyes still blankly resting on the wall in front of them like it was the most interesting thing he’d ever seen. He wanted to know what Binghe was thinking? Wanted him to talk? After their reunion earlier, Binghe truly couldn’t fathom what he was expecting to hear.
“Honestly, of all the things I expected from you, sowers? A whole city? Surely there are other ways to get revenge. What’s next? Laughing with your whole harem of women behind you as you chop off my limbs?” Blinking, he furrowed his brows.
“I would never,” he tried to defend, mind connecting to the rest of the sentence a moment afterwards. “What harem? I don’t love any women? Besides, I had nothing to do with the sowers,” he tried to defend, only receiving a small hum. Did he not believe him? At all? “Truly, I don’t.” Why would he believe Binghe had anything to do with them? Was it because of his demon heritage? Did shizun just expect all demons to meet up for a conference every month deciding who got to get their revenge with who?
“I suppose it doesn’t matter. If Binghe did then fine, if not then fine too. The outcome is the same.” What was that supposed to mean? The outcome for what remains the same? His reactions had been so wrong, so different from what he’d expected to happen. He’d expected anger, maybe even fear. Honestly, he wouldn’t put it beyond him for the man to jump out the window to avoid him. He wasn’t expecting whatever this was though.
“Does shizun not like my reappearance?”
“Dislike? Despite it being early, I am amazed by Binghe everyday.” Amazed? By Binghe? Who says something like that after all that happened? After all he did to him?
“Does shizun ever think about his throwing Binghe into the abyss.” Somehow his voice managed to be even when he’d said it, his voice not even cracking on the word abyss as he feared it would. A snort sounded directly next to his ear, the person from which it came from smiling bitterly at nothing.
“Think about it…? Think about it, no, that’s not enough, that’s not the right words. You say it as though there was another reason for my traveling these past few years, as though there is any way to save something by just thinking on it.” As though cold water had been dunked over his head, Binghe couldn’t help shivering at his words, eyes unable to look away from the look in the others eyes as he snarled his own words to the room around them.
“Thinking on it’s for when you plan to fix things, when you can, when you have a right to. I pushed. I shoved, whatever you want to call it, you went right down into hell because I decided it. Not you, me. I acted and I acted without explanation–ha! No, there was an explanation, a piss poor one,” he laughed out, the tone to it so wrong and unlike the poised nobleman he usually portrayed himself as. If anything, this act reminded Binghe more of the man he used to be, the cruel one who poured tea over his head. Only in spirit though as there was still a significant different between him and his current shizun, the difference being he was now being cruel to himself rather than Binghe.
“Why did I say that,” he wondered aloud, smile falling right off his face as he continued staring blankly and Binghe’s heart continued to sink in his gut.
“Why would I say it like that? I didn’t want to say it like that. Why would I tell you that? Why? I should have told you–I should have told you I wanted you to go down there because I couldn’t keep you safe. I still can’t keep you safe. Could I ever? I should have told you no matter how strong you think I was, I couldn’t keep you safe. I should have told you I just wanted you safe, it was the safest place for you, hell or not.” His voice grew in volume, halfway growing to shouting over nothing as he snarled at his own words. Even as he continued, he didn’t stop staring at that wall.
“This master–do I even deserve that title?” Opening his mouth, Binghe tried to cut in only for the other to continue without so much of a glance his way. He didn’t like him like this, didn’t like seeing his shizun this way, didn’t like how little emotion he could see on his face despite his voice overflowing with it.
“This one, this man, I regret ever even speaking to you.” Shutting his mouth with a click, Binghe’s eyes widened a fraction before shutting. Of course, how could he ever expect there to have ever been a different sentence to come out of his mouth–
“I regret helping everyone I did, I regret interfering, I regret not helping sooner, I regret I couldn’t help sooner, I regret being born after so much…damage had already been done.” He…regretted that? He regretted it? He was the one to cause the damage, how could he have possibly been born after. Despite all he wished it so, no one wakes up and magically finds themselves in another body, with another fate. How could he say that–how could he say that? The deed was already done, three years of his life were already wasted away and gone from him and the other was still staring at that damned wall.
Why? There wasn’t anything there? It was just a wall. Like he was possessed, the man would not look away. His heart was thudding in his chest painfully, enough his breathing had started picking up. He was, scared? No, Binghe didn’t get scared, he wasn’t ever scared. Not by his shizun, never him. Hurt? Yes, betrayed? Oh yeah. Helplessly heartbroken enough to start crying right then and there? Thousand times over. Scared though? Never, shizun, this shizun, this kind shizun of his, he never scared Binghe like his original self had before his deviation.
Why would he be scared now then? A smile had started to grow on his face while Binghe had zoned out, a deprecating thing that finally made him realize, he wasn’t terrified over the others words, he was terrified because he would never say them to him. Shizun would never do any of this, yet here he was, looking like a man on deaths row just by talking to Binghe.
“Binghe deserves better, a better master. Should have been someone else to get thrown down there. Maybe it should have been me.” Eyes widening, he nearly fell back and away from him with how far he threw his head back. Should have been…shizun? No, no it should never have been anyone in general, not him, and not shizun. Neither of them should have ended up in or near that hell, but Binghe would rather it have been him out of the two of them that ended up there. Why would he be so adamant about one of them having to fall?
“You’re scaring me,” he admitted quietly, eyes glancing over the others face. It didn’t hurt him to say, didn’t even make his ego take a hit. Admitting that to anyone else might have, but shizun’s was different. He wasn’t even sure he heard Binghe anyways.
“Binghe should’ve never been scared.” That…that wasn’t what he wanted to hear. He wasn’t even entirely sure what it was he wanted to hear anymore, all he knew was that wasn’t it.
“Is shizun…alright?” A dark laugh erupted from the others form, the force of it shaking his shoulders and sending the already loose hair crown wobbling around the messed up hair until it rolled off and onto the floor, clinking lightly as it let the hair fall around his face wildly. While the visage of his shizun with his hair down framing his face with it’s dark strands would usually send Binghe’s heart souring, all he could feel right now was the desperate urge to fix it, to make him stop laughing like that, to just make whatever this was stop.
“Am I…alright?” His laugh stopped suddenly, not even the barest hint of a smile on his face as he finally looked away from that wall towards his hands which had been laying limply in his lap since Binghe walked in.
“No. I don’t suppose I am.” What happened? His shizun should never be so sad, so not alright. His shizun was bright and happy and carefree, he was lovely and noble and kind. He lazed around and expected food, he delighted in surprise snacks and smiled whenever Binghe managed to come back early from an outing. Who was this? Why was he so wrong? No, shizun had been like this before, on quiet days where he stuck to himself, where he used to not go out. Those days hadn’t happened as much when they left for the conference, had they started to get bad again without Binghe there?
He was thinner, now that he looked, his shizun was impossibly thin. Was he always this small? No, no Binghe clearly remembered him being much more like he’d seen a hearty meal at least once in the last year. Were they not feeding him enough on Qing Jing? Did he even eat anymore? Ming Fan used to yell at him for causing shizun to not eat when he was gone, and Binghe knew more than anyone how bland the food on the peak was. He had to make something for him, he was too small, too thin. The fear still hadn’t fully left his system, face pinched as he stared at the other who hadn’t met his eyes since he’d first come in.
“Shizun shouldn’t be in pain,” he said with as much conviction as he could manage, wanting desperately to go and demand away the kitchen and get something in the man’s body. He needed to eat, needed sleep, needed something, anything at this point.
“Does it matter?” Something in his voice had Binghe freezing. “I will pay for what I’ve done soon enough. You’ll kill me and that will be all.” Heart dropping, he genuinely thought he might’ve seen hell incarnate for a second before he blinked away and was left to look at the blank face of his shizun who still would not look at him. Why? Was he so ashamed he couldn’t look Binghe in the eye anymore? Had he looked him in the eye once since seeing each other in that house earlier?
“I would never,” he said, wanting so badly for his voice to have risen to the shouting boom he wanted it to instead of it’s barely above a whisper tone. The only thing he got in return for his words was a cold snort. Was this a ploy to get Binghe to not hurt him? Did he think Binghe would if he didn’t do this? Did he even care if it was really all a ploy?
“Really,” he started, reaching out to grab the others hands in his own. They were cold to the touch, like the only warmth he’d seen in the last three years was the abyss’s flames and Binghe decided he really couldn’t care less if this was a ploy, because this man meant too much for him to care anymore. He was in pain and Binghe wanted to help him, however he could.
He was expecting more frowns, another snort perhaps. He was not expecting the man’s eyes to widen as he scrambled back up and away from Binghe, pulling his hands from his loose hold as he ran as far back as the bed behind the wall would allow him, running his back into the wall with a loud thunk that would wake the neighbors if there were in fact neighbors.
“Fuck, you’re real!” Hands suddenly left empty and hanging in the air, Binghe felt anger at the loss for a half second before the others words caught up to him. Frowning, he lowered them to his lap and looked up at the other through his bangs.
“What might shizun have thought this one was?”
“A hallucination?! I don’t know!” Opening his mouth, Binghe tried to think of some kind of way he could respond to that and could think of nothing.
“Shizun has hallucinated this Binghe?”
“I have hallucinated many things but, yeah!” He’s hallucinated Binghe? He thought Binghe was not only not here, but said those things to what he thought was an empty room? His eyes unconsciously fell on the still face down picture he knew his own likeness was on and he made a decision right then and there. Rising onto his feet, Binghe looked over to see shizun’s was still busy staring at him with wide eyes having not taken in his movements at all. His eyes had gone blank again, like there was something else there to pay attention to.
He sank on the edge of the bed, far enough away if he wanted shizun could still scoot out without touching Binghe, but not far enough if he wanted he couldn’t reach over and touch his leg. Should he speak? He should probably say something, what though? They were just staring at each other–or at least, he was staring at his shizun whom he wasn’t entirely sure was seeing Binghe right in front of him. Why couldn’t he just see him? What was making him space out like this?
There were times he’d do this too back when Binghe lived in the hut, but most days it was accompanied by an annoyed scoff and going on, not this. His eyes had been clear, they were clear when he realized he was actually facing Binghe, they had cleared to the degree of what they were when they’d seen each other in that house, to the degree of clearness they’d been before the abyss. Had they been clear like that at the abyss? Thinking back was always hard, the awakening of his demon blood and the pain tended to blur things, including the events happening after. He didn’t remember seeing such a clear look in his eyes as he said those things to Binghe, more like a foggy panic. Was he only remembering it as such in some desperate way to explain away the other’s actions? Or was it something else entirely. Binghe wasn’t the smartest person in the world, he would easily admit that to himself, but he wasn’t stupid either.
“Shizun?” His eyes started to clear again as Binghe spoke, the panic of the situation starting to show on his face and in his fidgeting, eyes darting towards the window Binghe knew was behind him. Well, at least he was aware again, but Binghe wasn’t about to let him pull the whole jump out the window ploy he seemed to be planning.
“Shizun, I have a question.” His eyes skirted back over to Binghe, mouth pulling down into a small frown. The mask was back up, in the way his eyes still half darting to the door without fully committing, the hands ducking down to continue fiddling out of Binghe’s sight, everything he built himself up to show was in place on his face and clear to anyone who might’ve looked at him. Shen Qingqiu was back in place and Binghe didn’t want it. He wanted whoever was just here, the person he’d only just gotten a glimpse at, the pieces to a puzzle he’d barely even started to piece together correctly.
“…go ahead.”
“May I still call you shizun?” Eyes focused on his face as the others mouth opened slightly and shut just as quickly.
“You may?” His voice almost squeaked as he spoke, his shizun clearing his throat right after he’d said it. “Let me ask you a question in return though.” Nodding, he watched as the other winced, clearly deciding how to say whatever it was he meant to.
“Did Binghe mean what he said? The sowers had nothing to do with him?” Blinking, he thought back to their conversation then nodded. His own infection had already healed, only the red still there for pretense. He let it fade quickly though.
“This one’s only reason for coming here was hearing shizun would be here as well. Sowers are too unruly and unkept.”
“Oh.”
“May this one be allowed another question?”
“I suppose?”
“Shizun wanted so badly not to throw this one into the abyss as he did, why?” There were half a dozen other questions floating around in his head, each one demanding for an answer just like the others, but this is the one he most needed to know. Did he care so much about Binghe he regretted what happened? He’d said he did, admitted it to Binghe with sincerity in his voice. Why though? Why regret a decision he himself made. Shizun started to try and crawl away and off the bed, and Binghe reacted without thinking. Shooting his arm out, he grabbed ahold of the others ankle and pulled him towards him, trapping his shizun beneath him where the only way out was Binghe getting off him. The other made a feeble movement to wiggle away, but Binghe only sat down on the others stomach with enough weight to keep him in place and nothing more while trapping the others head in a cage between his arms. The goal was to keep still, not crush.
“Why won’t shizun answer?”
“Get off first.”
“No.”
“Shameless!”
“Answer the question. You pushed me into the abyss, told me I was irredeemable just because I was a demon, now you’re telling me that wasn’t the reason you did it?” Without his wanting them to, tears welled behind his eyes, lips pulled tight across his teeth as he attempted to keep himself from letting them spill. Shizun wouldn’t want him crying on him, what if he got tears on his robes and dirtied them?
“Binghe–“ he started as he shook his head lightly, voice calmer than it had been the entire time and the damn broke. Why would he say this? How could he say this to him?
“I don’t understand what I’ve done,” he let out around the tears as they rolled down his face and dropped onto the others. “What did I do? If you hate demons so much why would you tell me that? Why would you grieve me when I’m right here!” Shizun’s eyes had opened, face going blank as he looked up at Binghe’s own crying one. His hands raised up, and for a moment he feared he would strike him. Shutting his eyes, he tensed away, already aware he deserved it for daring to touch him so thoughtlessly.
It didn’t happen, what happened instead was two cold hands slipping onto his face and running over where the trails of his tears were. Eyes snapping open, he stared down at the other and was met with the sight of him frowning as he looked over Binghe’s face.
“I–“ he what? Lips trembling, he looked dead into the others eyes as more tears fell, dripping one by one onto the others cheeks and leaving marks on his pale skin from where they struck. He’d gotten him dirty, infected him with his demonic self. Bitting down hard enough on his lip to draw blood, he tried to pull back, to draw his face away from the other and stop getting him dirty. The others hands held firm against his face though, unwilling to let Binghe pull away.
“Binghe has done nothing wrong.” His voice was so quiet Binghe nearly didn’t hear it, eyes snapping back up to the other as he said it. He looked back at Binghe this time, their eyes meeting as he went.
“Binghe did nothing wrong,” he reiterated as though Binghe might’ve not heard him the first time. “I’m the one in the wrong.”
“No, shizun’s done nothing wrong.”
“I didn’t tell Binghe why he was sent to the abyss, treated you like a monster and never told you I didn’t believe a word I said.”
“Shizun’s said he regretted it,” he said simply, watching the others face as he questioned when he said that before apparently remembering their whole conversation in which he thought Binghe was fake.
“I did. I do. I…I wish I had, but I didn’t tell Binghe anything.” Sniffling lightly, he searched over both of shizun’s eyes, only seeing the same beautiful brown of his years on the peak, only seeing the same look he’d always received. Almost always received.
“Does shizun still accept this disciple as his?” He weakly asked only to receive a light scoff.
“Of course! You think I would let just anyone call me shizun?” Frowning, he nodded lightly, still staring at the other. He still accepted him, he still wanted Binghe as his disciple. Heh, the rising demon lord Luo Binghe, nearly brought to his knees by a few words.
Years spent wandering though, long nights left thinking about it and wondering and pondering it over and over again, and he finally knew. He still didn’t quite understand all of the others words, nor the full range of why he had taken such actions towards him, but he was staring down at his shizun’s face and there was not one bit of that anger and disgust he feared there would be when he first came here.
“Why is Binghe staring so hard?” Without saying a word, he pulled his hands away from their cage around his shizun’s head and bent down to scoop around the others waist, burying his face in the others shoulder. The body in his arms was as cold as the hands had been, tensing up beneath him for a moment before relaxing into the touch, one of his Shizun’s hands coming up to smooth his hair atop his head and the other resting lightly on his shoulder. They probably should be talking about this further, actually explaining things beyond saying sorry and moving on. He couldn’t keep himself from holding onto the other tighter though, eyes squeezed shut against the skin of the others neck. He still got to be here, got to be in his shizun’s life.
“Your swords poking into my side,” the other said lightly and Binghe nearly flung himself right off the bed in an attempt to sit up and unattached it from his waist, face already starting to heat up at what else the words might’ve implied. Thankfully, it seemed his body for once decided to leave him alone and he got the sword off and controlled it to go out the open window.
“Probably shouldn’t fling Xin Mo around like that,” he muttered, watching the blade go out until it disappeared from sight altogether, still laying back against the bed beneath Binghe.
“How does shizun know of Xin Mo?” He asked lightly, only a second afterwards realizing the weight of his words as his shizun looked up at him in an almost panic.
“I was guessing at it, hard to say seeing as there’s enough swords in the world but it’s the only one this master could think of worthy of Binghe–“
“You don’t have to answer,” he cut off carefully, covering the others mouth with his hand. He didn’t mean to force the man into an awkward situation, leaning over him with wide eyes as he did so. “This one doesn’t need to know, purely careless curiosity I asked. Shizun needn’t answer any questions he doesn’t want to.” The man beneath him blinked up at Binghe and nodded lightly, lips brushing against Binghe’s hands. Pulling his hands back like they burnt, he went to apologize again when the other spoke up as though that had not in fact just happened.
“Binghe is smart,” he said quietly, as though the words were not words he was supposed to hear. Before he could question what that meant, footsteps started to stomp towards their door, footsteps Binghe recognized no matter the time. Leaning back, he raising himself onto his knees and glared at the door, entirely prepared to fight the man he knew was coming towards them. Before they’d even gotten to the door, his shizun had hooked his hands over Binghe’s shoulders and reversed their situation, settling on top of Binghe with what he was assuming to be his whole weight.
He slapped his hands over Binghe mouth as though he’d planned to say anything and looked towards the door where the footsteps had stopped behind. Neither of them made a single noise, Binghe carefully holding his breath as the other controlled his to sound like he was sleeping. Without warning, a hand pounded on the door.
“Shen Qingqiu, are you awake?” With such a loud voice, how could anyone sleep through it? Though, he was basing that off his own reaction to things trying to wake him. There were several mornings in the bamboo hut nothing would wake the man above him except time. He would’ve chuckled at the memory if he weren’t currently busy keeping himself from making any noise. The knocking came again and shizun shifted atop him, legs moving across Binghe’s torso as he shifted closer, hair falling from his shoulder across Binghe’s chest and neck. He was biting his lips, red pooling around where his teeth bit and–
Whoop, the wall behind him was increasingly nice, yeah. Don’t know why when shizun’s was staring at it earlier he didn’t realize exactly how beautiful it was. The small stains, the brilliant yellowish color to it. This bed was surprisingly comfortable, even with someone sitting atop him. Binghe would bet it would still be comfortable if they were to–
And look at that ceiling. Wow, what great design. Was that circular stain looking suspiciously like a leak always there or did they get that just for Binghe? How could they have known he would need something to stare at? Ten out of ten, would stay ag–shizun moved again, shifting back and further down Binghe’s torso as he pressed his stomach to Binghe’s, legs tightening against his thighs.
“Shen Qingqiu?” Again, no answer, and Binghe was left to just focus on not feeling anything at all even as he could feel his skin flush beneath the others touch. At least before he was sitting on Binghe’s stomach, he wouldn’t have been able to tell anything was amiss. That was not an option now, and if it was, that was only because he panicked and revealed their location. He really didn’t want to deal with Liu Qingge though, so when it started to rise, he just stared dead ahead and hoped the other was too focused on his fellow peak lord to notice anything was off with Binghe. Footsteps finally began retreating from the door along with a harsh sigh and grumbling. Both managed to stay still until they were long gone in their noise.
Shizun sighed atop him, dropping his body down onto Binghe like he’d lost all his strength, breaths coming out in small puffs against his neck and, yeah, that was not helping. Clenching his hands besides his face didn’t help. Tensing the muscles in his body also didn’t help, but it did lead to the other sitting up and blinking down at him with wide eyes as though having forgotten he was sitting on Binghe.
“Apologies,” he half squawked, climbing off Binghe and settling into the place Binghe had originally sat, switching their positions as he laid there limply. Right, he should probably move or sit up, do something beyond lay there like a dead corpse.
“Why is Liu-shifu visiting shizun in the middle of the night,” he asked lightly, not moving an inch from where he lay. Shizun glanced over at him and apparently saw something he didn’t like seeing as he glanced away nearly in the same second.
“Just checking on the no-cure,” he responded, voice an odd pitch. Frowning, Binghe finally sat up and grabbed the others hand in one smooth movement, inspecting the limb and finding there was more than just no-cure in it.
“Sower?” He guessed, looking up through his lashes at the other who nodded. Truly, this was the others unlucky arm. Frown deepening, he ran his fingers lightly over the raised bumps, the red of it sending worry through him. His shizun was infected by those disgusting things without his noticing, how stupid of him. How could his eyes have skipped past this? He could fix this, but to fix it would require a certain…transplant…that he no longer had any need or wish to do.
Bitting down on his lip, he felt once more as he broke the surface and blood collected in his mouth. Terrible stuff, but effective in keeping him present. Next to him, the other took in a shuddered breath, shivers going up his body enough for his hand to shake in Binghe’s grip. Pausing, he sent a look the others way and found him forcefully glaring at nothing with a red face. Had Binghe made him mad with the touch? How did he do that? No, wait, shizun didn’t show anger like this, when he was angry he would smile in your face before beating you. What he didn’t do was look anywhere but at Binghe as shivers went up and down his body at the touch with a red face.
He didn’t know what emotion it was that would cause that exactly, but he had a few guesses. At the top of his list was something that sent his heart thudding painfully in his chest as his mouth ran dry. Licking his lips, he carefully kept his head ducked low as he ran his fingers lightly over the others injury again. What he seemed to have missed the first time he’d done it was the clenching of his teeth, how his eyes shut for a moment when Binghe did so. It didn’t seem to have hurt him, if anything, the movement seemed more pleasurable than anything.
“Is shizun alright,” he asked lightly, running his fingers over the others arm again. He hummed back at Binghe, the tone of it going up and down as he did so, freezing a second after it came out to pop his eyes open and stare down at Binghe. Faking the best innocent look he could manage, he raised his head and look back at the other while continuing to stroke along the others arm. Whatever it was the sowers carried, if seemed effected by Binghe’s existence in a way he had very much not been expecting. Did he understand how this worked? No. Did he like seeing the others face flush from his touch alone? Yes, yes he did.
“Binghe,” the other started, lips twitching down as he spoke, his eyes narrowing at his innocent look. “Stop.”
“Stop what?”
“You know wh–what.” Blinking, he tilted his head and continued doing exactly what the other had told him not to do.
“This one doesn’t know what shizun may be referring to.” Again he stroked up the others arm, watching his eyelashes flutter before he could fully recollect himself.
“You damn well do.”
“Oh? Is it…this?” Moving his hand up the others arm, he carefully grasped his elbow in one hand, leaving the other to shake from just the one touch. He tried feebly to keep glaring at Binghe, only to drop the look soon as he started to be tugged forwards.
“Or, would shizun rather I didn’t do this?” Reaching up, he carefully cupped the others face in his hand as he tugged him towards him, folding his lips against the others as he went. Was this a bad idea? Yes. Should he stop before he ruins any semblance of a relationship they still had? Probably. Was he going to? No.
Moving slowly, he kissed the other and felt no resistance to the movement. If anything, the other was the first to deepen the kiss, letting Binghe explore him to the fullest. No clue what he was doing, he carefully sucked on the others lips before slipping his tongue into the others mouth, the other returning the motion back to him as their saliva mixed. Still holding the others arm, he swung them around and laid his shizun down flat onto the bed, pressing himself to the other lightly. Clearly it wasn’t enough judging by the others free hand coming up to hook around Binghe neck to tug him further down, his other arm falling from his grasp to do the same. Smiling against the others mouth, he complied with the request, stroking the others cheek in his thumb. He was kissing him, he was kissing Binghe with as much enthusiasm as Binghe. Was he pushing too far? What if he was? No, if he was, he’d already been slapped, possibly even stabbed. He wasn’t though, hands holding onto his neck for dear life. If he weren’t currently clinging to him with everything he had, he might’ve chuckled at the idea.
Laying next to each other, he couldn’t help but stare at the other who was simply breathing calmly with his eyes shut, hands curled by his face only a few inches from Binghe’s own face. His thumb continued to draw circled along the others hip, cold air from the room behind him keeping him awake.
“Shizun’s alright?” He murmured to the room around them, receiving a hum from the other as he smiled softly his way. Suddenly, as though having not connected the dots before at all, he was hit with the fact of not only what they’d done, but how willing the other was to participate. His shizun blinked his eyes open next to him as if sensing his panic, the look he gave Binghe lazy with his eyes barley open. Glancing between the others eyes, he made a decision and committed to it, slipping his hands that had been against the others hips still around his waist and pulling him flush against Binghe’s chest in a hug. The other snorted lightly in his arms but curled his arms back around Binghe’s neck.
“What’s this for?”
“Shizun is amazing,” he said simply, arms tightening around the other and making it impossible for him to miss the slight catch in the other breathing. The others jaw brushed against his shoulder as he opened his mouth, probably going to scold him for something. The words never came, instead the arms around his neck tightened and the full weight of others head rested against his bare shoulder and neck. A soft breath tickled against his skin, the other doing nothing but holding Binghe as tightly as he held him.
“Binghe?” He hummed. “How likely is it that bathwater is still warm?”
“Why?”
“My legs are sticky.” Opening his eyes, he searched the room for the bath and found it, focusing solely on the steam still somehow rising off what he was assuming to be an enchanted bath and definitely not how his words had sent a jolt through his system at the mere idea of what he’d left behind on his shizun. Getting an idea, he smirked slightly as he pulled an arm free of the others waist and slipped it beneath his knees instead.
“I believe so,” he said as he lifted the other against his chest and stood from the bed in one swift movement. His shizun let out a cry as he did so, arms tightening around Binghe’s neck as they moved, his skin pressing against Binghe’s own with no chance of hiding away.
“Binghe,” he hissed, glaring up at his smirking face.
“Shizun shouldn’t have to walk after that, I wouldn’t want you to feel any discomfort from doing so,” he explained simply as he sank the other into the tub. He wasn’t lying, he really didn’t think the other would be able to walk all the way, especially considering the others legs were still shaking in his hold and his breaths still came in a little too fast. Pride seeped into him as he pulled his arms free, increasingly proud of reducing the other to such a state.
The pride started to go away though when he remembered they hadn’t said a word about this. He probably wouldn’t want Binghe to be around him again after that. Or maybe he would, but only for that and not because he wanted all of Binghe. He wished he wasn’t as alright with that as he was, but to even have that of his love, he would be fine with it. Dropping his smile, he started to pull himself up onto his feet again to turn and collect his clothes. He’d probably have to return to that place he was supposed to have stayed in with those other disciples, have to pretend to sleep in a cold bed void of his shizun’s lithe body.
Before he could move too far, the others hands flung from the water and caught his arm, dripping onto the floor as he went. They might have to pay for that if it damaged anything. Binghe jerked to a stop, careful not to hurt the other with his going too far as he looked back at the others face.
“Where are you going?” Opening his mouth, he went to speak when he made eye contact and fully took in the other figure. He’d folded an arm over his own shoulders, his hand gripping at his own thin ones as he looked up with a frown at Binghe, knees the only other part of him meeting the surface of the water.
“I love you,” he said, not regretting saying it at all. There were other ways to lead up to that, build up he could’ve said instead of all that, but this would get his point across the fastest. If he said it now, the other would let him leave faster and he wouldn’t have to see such a look of disgust for too long. The hand on his arm loosened significantly before tightening again, face set in a way Binghe didn’t see very often.
“I am aware.” His mind went blank, staring down at him in a way that must’ve looked dumb if the other felt such a need to scoff and tug him down until he was on his knees in front of him again, face having to tilt up to look up into the shinning face above him. Pulling his other hand from the water, he settled them both on either sides of Binghe’s face.
“You don’t think I have sex with anyone because of a pretty face do you?”
“Shizun…loves me too?”
“Of course. I’m sorry I hadn’t said it earlier, how could I n–mphf!” He cut him off, leaning forwards and capturing the others lips once more, heart soaring in his chest far enough he feared it might jump right out. The other responded by tilting his head down and pulling Binghe closer until they were kissing flush against one another again, at which time Binghe rose up onto his knees and gripped the man’s shoulders. Neither of them backed away until they couldn’t breath, only then did he open his eyes and look back into the warm brown he’d always loved.
“Binghe?”
“Yes?”
“This tub has room for two.” And so began round two for the night.
By the time they actually stopped and managed to get into a bed striped of sheets, they only achieved a few hours of actual sleep. Binghe woke first, eyes opening not to the dreaded nothing of his usual room, but to an unfamiliar room with a body he knew well curled up in on arm. His shizun’s head rested on Binghe’s forearm, hands curled between them clutching at the blanket covering their waists. His breathing was so calm, his skin flush against Binghe’s and finally starting to have some heat to it. His hair was a mess, spread over the bed and sheets beneath them, covering his arm and mixing with Binghe’s messier hair, halfway obscuring his face.
Picking his free arm up off the mattress, he tucked the strands behind his ears and smiled at the visage of the others sleeping face. He loved him, he loved Binghe, he wanted to be with Binghe. Just yesterday he thought the other had hated him, only to find out not only did he regret what had happened, but was trying to keep Binghe safe. Terrible way of doing it, but the fact he only wanted Binghe’s safety meant everything to him. Glancing down at the hand resting closest to his face, he settled his hand atop it and pulled it free of the blanket, intertwining their fingers instead as his eyes went over the clear skin. When he prodded at the others spiritual energy, there was little he found to be worried over. The sowers infection was cleared up with part of Binghe now being in him, not the part he’d planned on but better all around in his opinion.
Some of his blood had been ingested by the other when they’d kissed and he hadn’t cleaned away his self made injury. Though, oddly enough, it seemed it had another effect to it as well. The others eyes blinked open a few moments later, a quiet yawn escaping his lips and he burrowed his head against the pillow he’d made of Binghe’s arm. Chuckling quietly, he pressed a small kiss against the others knuckles.
“Good morning.” The other let out a mumble slightly resembling a good morning, not panicking, nor screaming despite seeming to have woken enough to recognize the situation. He wanted to be here then, was okay being next to Binghe like this. Grinning like a fool, he kept staring at the others face as he thought. He had a theory he wanted to prove, something he knew he only had a few seconds while the other was still half asleep to ask.
“The no-cure was cured,” he said lightly, no longer looking at their hands and instead watching as the others eyes snapped widely up to him and face went a deep red. He didn’t look surprised, more like he hadn’t expecting Binghe to notice that yet.
“Shizun knew then?” Going by the faint grumbling the other did as he ducked his face back into Binghe’s arm, he did. A smile grew on Binghe’s face as he took in the others form, face redder than it was all night and attempting to hide away from him.
“Shizun sure knows many things.” He drew the others eyes onto him. “Certainly explains why you wouldn’t let this Binghe pick the flower by the abyss.”
“I wasn’t going to tell Binghe about this,” he mumbled, eyes glaring at him as though Binghe had ever assumed he would. No, if it were up to him, he would probably have tried to die with it. A good thing he hadn’t then.
“What’s your name?” He blurt out, only regretting it when the words were already out. Shizun blinked up at him, the hand holding his own going tense before relaxing into the hold again.
“Has Binghe hurt his head?”
“I know your title is Shen Qingqiu,” he said in defense, looking down at their hands like it would somehow answer him. “But this one also believes there might be a more…appropriate name to call shizun by.”
“When did Binghe have come to that conclusion?”
“Shizun is kind.” The others brows furrowed as he opened his mouth, only getting that far before Binghe looked solely up at him. “Shizun wasn’t always so kind.” He shut his mouth, searching between both of Binghe’s eyes and sighing slightly.
“It can’t punish me if you came to the conclusion yourself,” he grumbled, most likely to himself and he scooted closer to Binghe. Taking the hint, he undid their hands and settled his hand on the others waist again, drawing him in and against Binghe’s chest. The others arm encircled his waist, an airy sigh being let out against his neck as their skin pressed against each other again, his warmth soaking into the others chill without pause underneath the single sheet they still had over their waists. The other didn’t say anything and Binghe didn’t push, the pair of them simply laying in the bed and listening to each other’s breaths.
“Shen Yuan.”
“Thank you, Shen Yuan.” That’s all he wanted to know, that all he needed to know. If there was more Shen Yuan felt the need to tell him, Binghe would happily listen when he did. Until then, just knowing the others name would be enough. Stomping had started to come towards their room again, the footsteps they both recognized walking briskly towards the room they were in. Binghe had his back to the door, but he already knew who was bound to burst in.
“Shen Qingqiu, get out here, there’s a situation,” the voice shouted as the door opened. “Are you up ye…” he could tell the exact second the other noticed the person visible on the bed was not Shen Yuan but someone else with curly hair and broader shoulders. The body in his arms had tensed up considerable, ducking his face into Binghe’s chest as he fought to not tighten his hold too much on the others body. The door shut again behind him, the body behind it standing there frozen for a moment before it stomped off somewhere else. Shen Yuan let out a sigh against his skin, the movement something Binghe was willing to bet had to do with his lack of breathing while the other was here.
“How am I supposed to explain the sudden disappearance of a poison called no-cure,” he muttered, glaring meekly up at Binghe. Smiling, he answered honestly.
“I have enough strength and power no one would dare to say anything against it. If they do, it would only give this one reason to respond.”
“Hmm, well, he said there’s a situation.”
“One I’m sure he can take care of.”
“Only if it involves his fists.” Chuckling, Binghe ducked his head to press a kiss against the others temples but pulled back after doing so, beginning to stand only because the other would get up whether Binghe wanted him to or not. His pants were easy enough to find and tug on after they’d been knocked off the bed some times in the night, his top robe wasn’t though. He couldn’t find the thing amongst the many things that had fallen off the bed. Soon as he turned around to ask if the other had seen it, his mouth went dry.
Shen Yuan was frowning down at his lap, hands tugging Binghe’s outer robe over him. It was much bigger, his muscle mass against the others being vastly different as the other practically swam in it. He frowned down at it, hands dropping the collar of it to stick through the sleeves. The tips of his fingers barely poked out the ends of the sleeves when he stuck them out in front of him, legs folded cross cross beneath him and barely hiding anything beneath the fabric.
The black robes looked so out of place against the others skin, only serving to make the bruises and marks of the night before stand out against his skin. He glanced up, opening his mouth, probably to ask something, only for Binghe to take hold of his face between his hands and kiss him once more. The other responded in a muffled squawk, but settled his hands against Binghe’s hips nonetheless. They only pulled back because of air, at which time the other raised a brow at him.
“Situation?”
“It can wait ten minutes,” he breathed against the other, a hand straying down to the others waist, fingers gliding over the skin there.
“Probably even twenty,” he replied swiftly.
They did eventually get dressed, both wearing their respective clothes and Shen Yuan’s hair tied up in it’s crown again thanks to Binghe’s help. Kinda. Soon as he went to stand, he started to let out a low groan, hands straying to his waist. Frowning, no the reached over to rub at the skin there.
“Shen Yuan is alright?”
“Cocky bastard, you damn well know I’m not. How am I supposed to go anywhere?” Smirking brightly, he messaged at the other until he was letting out a low moan.
“If preferred, I could carry you instead,” he offered as the other glared at him, raising the fan he’d collected moments before to hit Binghe atop the head.
“No.”
The moment they stepped outside, an earth shattering roar rose up and cheers started to ring out through the entire city. The ground was nearly shaking beneath their feet with the power of it.
“What’s going on,” Shen Yuan muttered, his steps stuttering as the cries rose. Reaching out, he took the others arm into his hand and steadied him as a teenager started to bound towards them. Even from a distance it was impossible not to notice his excitement.
“The city gates are open!” He cried soon as he came within range, only sparing Binghe a curtesy glance before returning his gaze to Shen Yuan.
“The gates are open?”
“Yes! All the sowers were caught and are being held in the temple!” With that, the kid who looked close to tears turned and started to continue on his way, joy clear in his movements.
“They’re all caught?”
“Not a surprise,” he said simply, waiting as the other looked over to his smug face and furrowed his brows.
“How many did you catch?”
“Five.”
“How many were there?”
“Seven.”
“And you left two? Why?”
“They weren’t on the way to see shizun.” Silence, then, a snort as the other shook his head.
“Let’s go.”
“Of course.” Following along obediently, he only pulled his hand back from the other when they started to see other people. It seemed those cultivators who had hovered around the city with no actual intention to go in and help had decided to swoop in at the literal last minute, hooting and cheering at the caged sowers as though they were the ones to put them there.
Liu Qingge was standing near the medical peak lord who was currently giving out sower antidote pills, Mu Qingfang, and frowning at the group. Binghe didn’t try to approach him, and neither did the man next to him, only came to a stop a safe distance away.
“Shouldn’t you go and stand with Huan Hua palace?” Shaking his head, he frowned lightly as he glanced to the disciples who hadn’t noticed him yet.
“Much preferred I stand with shizun. They seem to perceive me as their own personal…”
“Being of light? Savior? Great god who protects all?”
“Shizun has put a lot of thought into this I see.” Before he could respond, the appearance of Yue Qingyuan and the Huan Hua palace master threw everyone into cheering once more. Not wanting to cause too many problems for Shen Yuan, he carefully shifted away slightly and ducked his head enough his mark wasn’t too painfully obvious. The Cang Qiong sect leader made a beeline for Shen Yuan the moment he caught sight of him, looking him over worriedly.
“You look exhausted, I knew I shouldn’t have let you come.” Pressing his lips together, Binghe couldn’t help the smirk that still shown through the look, Shen Yuan no doubt sending a mock glare his way. Of course he looked tired, he wanted to say, Binghe was willing to go longer if he wanted to. A pity he didn’t.
“I’m fine. Mu-shidi’s patients just kept me up all night with their wailing.” As of summoned by convenience, the man in question popped up by his arm along with the Bai Zhan war god.
“How could they have done that? You shouldn’t have been able to hear them from where you were?”
“Well I could.” Before he could even think to cut in, he noticed the group of people making their way towards him, the one in the front the city lord he’d met the night before, and carefully sidestepped away from the Cang Qiong sects people into his own space. They seemed to have seen around his ducked head, smiled bright as they kneeled down in front of him.
“Our gates are open again thanks to the help of this immortal master! If you should ever—ever—need anything, please, don’t hesitate to ask! We will do everything in our power to help!” Crap, he thought, throwing on that winning smile people seemed to love so much.
“Thank you, but it wasn’t only I who accomplished this, I must thank Cang Qiong for their help as well as the other sects for their sacrifices as well.” He hoped that would shift the peoples focus onto someone else, anyone else. It didn’t and the man only moved closer to Binghe.
“Last night I saw this immortal master capture the demons with such poise! Truly, none can compare!” When did he see Binghe catch them? When did he see that! Were there people just following him around? No, that would be ridiculous, it’s more than likely he was just so focused on seeing Shen Yuan that he’d forgotten to check the surrounding area for other people. Probably shouldn’t make that mistake again.
“It was an outstanding sight! A great teacher can only produce a great student!” His eyes glanced over at Shen Yuan, their eyes connecting and the smile on his face unknowingly turning softer. It didn’t matter what happened to him though, what mattered was the way Shen Yuan’s anxious gaze relaxed when he found Binghe, a smile growing on his face as well before he flicked his fan open and hid the smile behind it.
“Palace master, truly your leadership is impossible to compete with.” Gonna have to fix that one. He didn’t want to be known as Luo Binghe of Huan Hua, he barely even wanted to be known as The demon lord Luo Binghe, which already was in most places. The only thing they should be tacking onto his name is Shen Qingqiu’s Luo Binghe. They could use Shen Yuan’s title, it was meant to impress after all.
His eyes slipped off his Shen Yuan’s face and glanced over to the palace master who beamed at Binghe, that look he kept having on his face showing again, like he was already married to his daughter, or even him. Unconsciously, he shifted his body closer to Shen Yuan. The sowers started to make noise again, calling out cruel and crude words. Binghe wrinkled his nose lightly at the sight of them, already beyond disgusted by their existence. How dare they not only sully the air he breathed but also that in which Shen Yuan breathed.
“How should we handle these things?” He heard Yue Qingyuan ask of Shen Yuan, the one in question frowning as he tugged the fan to higher up his face to wave around.
“From what I’ve found these creatures fear high temps. Fire can properly corrode away their bodies.” He was so smart. Binghe’s shizun was so smart. If he could, he would move over and kiss the other for being so cool. He didn’t want to make him uncomfortable in any way though. If Shen Yuan wanted his fellow peak lords to know of them, he would tell them himself. In the meantime, Binghe got to silently look proudly towards him knowing he was his and his alone.
“Such a cruel method, wouldn’t using it make us no better than them?”
“Burn them.”
“Yeah, they killed how many of us, fire!”
“Anyone who opposes should be burnt too!”
“Brother Luo, isn’t this too cruel?” Without his noticing, Qin Wanyue, a girl who he tolerated more than the others due to her calm nature, had snuck up next to him. Calming his racing heart, he sent a bright smile her way while wanting to say no aloud. If it were him, he would stop at nothing to burn these things, and he was happy to watch them go down in flames, especially considering their existence had caused his shizun unnecessary fear of Binghe.
She seemed distracted after seeing him smile, eyes going dazed as she turned back to the crowd. He seemed to have that effect on people more often than not, something he would much prefer he did not have, though it came in handy when it seems to make people unaware of what the mark on his head meant for them. Slipping back and away, he scooted himself into the space next to Shen Yuan to glare at the little sobbing sower. All the others seemed content with their imminent death, yet this thing had the nerve to go and cry despite having taken the actions it did. It even tried to throw itself at the cage near his shizun.
“Immortal master Sh…” Any semblance of calm he had left him as he let a fourth of his power leak through to them, it’s eyes widening when it saw him. Silently, he commanded it in another direction altogether and it backed away with a sob, throwing itself at another place in the cage while peoples attention were gathered on it.
“Palace master, please! We only heeded your instructions! Please!” Silence rang across the crowd as the palace master in question’s eyes widened, taking a step back and away from the cage. Those around Shen Yuan who had been paying attention noticed the way the thing had thrown itself at the cage next to him, eyes glancing towards him but saying nothing seeing as those near him were those of Cang Qiong, the peak lords in fact, with seemingly no clue who he was. Fair enough, it’s not like he made an effort to appear in front of any of them, though with Liu Qingge’s frequent trips to try and cure no-cure, Binghe thought he would recognize him at least. He did not.
“What is the meaning of this!” The palace master cried, voice traveling across the sea of silent cultivators easily.
“Why does the sower know palace master?” Qi Qingqi asked, her voice carrying over the crowd as well and letting the damn of people wanting answers loose. Binghe had never really interacted with Qi Qingqi before, never had a reason, but his opinion of her went up severely at her words, especially considering he knew she was one of the few to notice the thing pawing at the gate in front of Shen Yuan.
“It’s clearly lying! There’s nothing here to believe!”
“Then why did it name you specifically?” Binghe didn’t know who spoke, only that several other voices followed directly behind their questioning. The logic was little more than lacking at best, but he knew better than anyone what a crowds mentality towards a person could mean.
“It started to accuse Shen Qingqiu as well,” he tried to defend, only garnering peoples attention long enough for them to scoff.
“When? None of us saw that!” One of the disciples of Huan Hua claimed, the Gongyi Xiao Shen Yuan had been so familiar with the night before. Well, not as familiar as Binghe. A few of the other disciples clearly thought he was being crude for speaking up, one even raked his eyes over Shen Yuan looking for any sign of the palace masters words having rung true. His eyes paused on Shen Yuan’s hand and Binghe activated the blood he’d accidentally gotten in the others body, the cells wiggling their way to his right hand and making it glow to look like the infection.
It was too late as the kid had already taken his eyes away, but now it was there when he stepped forwards. Shen Yuan glanced over at him when he stared moving the cells and he carefully flicked his sleeve to look like the wind. Really, he was lightly tapping at the others hand to show it was okay. His own hand still looked much like the infection, something he’d only brought back up when they started mentioning these things. No one was looking for it though, not one person having noticed.
“This disciple has something to say, though I don’t know if it’s appropriate or not.”
“If you don’t know if it is or not, don’t say it,” Shen Yuan said calmly, closing his fan as the kid glared over at him.
“Last night I and several other disciples witnessed what looked like the sowers infection on Shen Qingqiu, but today there’s nothing.” With his statement, all eyes shifted to look over at Shen Yuan’s hands, and all eyes found the red on his right hand matching Binghe’s own.
“My shidi is the picture of noble and unblemished to a fault, he wouldn’t be doing such a thing as that.”
“Noble?” The palace master half snorted out. “Unblemished? That isn’t what I’ve heard.” What could he have possibly heard then? There was nothing but that to this man. Hell, Binghe was willing to bet if asked, he would try and claim he wasn’t noble at all, thus insuring his nobility.
“If there something else palace master would like to say, he had better say it rather than wait for us to guess.” Shen Yuan punctuated his words with the reopening of his fan.
“Of course, of course, I wouldn’t waste my disciples time otherwise. I can only speak from the words said to me, but I can’t imagine the Cang Qiong sect cares much about their disciples, what with Qing Jing abusing their disciples.” Small gasps went through the crowd as Binghe heart sank in his chest. Next to him, Shen Yuan’s grip on his fan had started to tighten, his lips beginning to pull down in a frown as he unconsciously glanced at Binghe.
“I will be the first to say I know my shidi is not known to pamper his disciples, but abuse? That’s too far.” And now his opinion of Yue Qingyuan was going up. They needed to be more careful with how they acted or he’d start thinking Liu Qingge wasn’t an absolute moron.
“Can’t making a disciple fight against a member of the demon clan with hundreds of years worth of experience count as abuse?” Qin Wanyue spoke up.
“Seeing as this master also pushed said disciple out of the way and saved him from poison spikes, I don’t believe so, no. Would you agree Luo Binghe?” Eyes suddenly found away to him, dozens of wide eyed spectators who had no right to look so surprised at his surviving whispering amongst themselves. The smile he hadn’t dropped stayed firm on his face as he let them speak.
“Shizun did in fact save this disciple, something I will never forget.”
“Is that Luo Binghe?”
“I thought he died?”
“Obviously not, Shen Qingqiu just said he died, what did he shove him in or something?”
“No, if he did, why would he be standing so close to him?”
Their words were about as helpful as the sowers, only serving to annoy Binghe with their uselessness. Those from Huan Hua who had come to expect to see Luo Binghe next to the palace master stared at him across the way, several of their eyes glancing between the two parties.
A body was trying to shove their way through the crowd, her voice quiet but Binghe could hear her. He’d seen her a few times around Huan Hua, no doubt with the way her eyes were glued onto a specific person she was here for a reason Binghe wouldn’t like.
The peak lords who had only just now noticed his being there stared at him wide eyed, more than one berating him for not coming back sooner. He couldn’t hear their words though, nor his shizun’s shushing them. Frown flickering across his face, he pretended to scratch his nose and actually reached to lightly grab one of the dozens of beads off of Qi Qingqi’s sleeve. She didn’t notice it’s coming loose, none of them did, which is why he’d done it. Flicking it from his fingers, it was sent on a direct course into the woman’s face, knocking her out just before she called Shen Yuan’s name. Her body started to fall forwards and he screamed in his mind for a certain useless demon to move his ass, saying he had more important things to do than wait.
She woke up before her body ever hit the ground, the bead hitting the floor and rolling away from her feet. As though in a daze, she caught herself on the nearest person and shook her head before raising up to look around, eyes scanning the crowd until they fell on a certain face.
“Shen Jiu? Is that you?” Her eyes had landed on the palace master, the man in question frowning as he looked at her. Shen Yuan had tensed up by his arm, the fan in his hand jerking around in movements resembling his usual calm fanning without actually being right. Shen Jiu, huh? Well, it would only be a moment before she was bound to tell them her tale, and the palace master didn’t quite seem fully aware how much he screwed up trying to shift the blame to Binghe’s shizun yet. Glancing off the man’s face, he looked towards the peak lords and noticed Yue Qingyuan’s eyes widen as he glanced between not the palace master and her but her and Shen Yuan.
Those around him also glanced his way, eyes narrowing on Shen Yuan’s face who so pointedly did not look to them. Qi Qingqi was the first to notice the bead that rolled to her feet, brows twitching downwards as she lightly picked it up and frowned down at it. Indeed they were worthy of being called peak lords as one by one their eyes met the bead and looked over at Binghe, narrowed and wide eyes alike. He met their gazes without hesitation, smile slipping into a smirk before he returned his gaze to the scene in front of them.
It was so easy to watch happen, her accusing him of catching her family home on fire and murdering everyone, watching as the palace master tried to say she lied and point his finger another direction once more. Those around them had grown tired of his finger pointing though, already ready for a massacre after the torture they’d been put through. Palace master tried to look back at Binghe as they began leading him away to be held in the Huan Hua water prison, an infamous place Binghe he seen once before in his tour of the place. Binghe ignored his gaze though, shifting along with the peak lords as they began to retreat.
None of them acknowledged what had happened at all until they’d exited the city and taken to the boats, numbers now one person more. He’d left Xin Mo where it was, figuring he could summon it at a later time without issue. Climbing in next to Shen Yuan, they sat with both Shang Qinghua and Yue Qingyuan, both who continued looking between the two of them without actually having said a word. Why the former was so surprised to see him he couldn’t guess, it’s not like he never saw the peak lord speaking with Mobei, and even then he’d always seemed to know when something was about to happen. Almost like his shizun, but in a more cowardly way.
The trip from Jinlin city to Cang Qiong wasn’t a short trip, hours spent in carriages still not speaking as he stayed faithfully next to his shizun the entire time. For all their silence on the way back, soon as they were lead into the meeting hall the peak lords always gathered in, several voices exploded at once.
“What was that?”
“How long have you two been in contact? Were you planning this?”
“We all thought he was dead, why would you say he was dead?” Shen Yuan cleared his throat next to Binghe, hand tightened around his fan.
“Shizun stepped in for this one on his behalf,” he said without any intention to explain any further. Narrowed eyes shifted to him, taking in his appearance, the mark on his head, and they seemed to only grow more distressed in the lack of actual explanations.
“Why is no-cure gone?” The question was not one he’d been expecting, nor was he expecting to hear it from Shang Qinghua of all people. The squirrelly man was staring at Shen Yuan with wide eyes, something telling Binghe he already knew the answer to his question.
“No-cure? What do you mean?” Without waiting for an answer, Yue Qingyuan stepped closer, only being beaten out to grab his shizun’s hand by Liu Qingge who frowned down at it like it was magic itself.
“He’s right, there’s nothing left to it,” Liu Qingge said loudly, though there was never another setting on his tone, snapping his head up to look at Shen Yuan again. Steadily, the man was making direct eye contact with the wall behind the peak lords, lips drawn in a thin line across his teeth. Binghe couldn’t stop the smirk growing on his face as he stood there and made eye contact with anyone who so looked to him when Shen Yuan wouldn’t answer.
“What…is that mark in your head for?”
“I’ve already said shizun stepped in on my behalf at the conference, this one merely repaid the grace given to him.” Shang Qinghua choked on his own spit, eyes wider than before and directly staring at Shen Yuan. He must know then, why would he possibly know this? The only reason Binghe knew was because of that morning, and Shen Yuan only seemed to know because of whatever it was that kept him here. Could his fellow peak lord be the same? It would explain how his shizun could’ve become so close with someone like him.
“Will anything that just occurred affect our sect in any way?” Mu Qingfang jumped in, placating those around him with his raised hands.
“No. Nothing this one does from now to the end of time will ever have a negative effect on shizun, such promise extends to Cang Qiong as well.”
“And if it should?”
“Then I will personally take care of it.”
“Then I see no reason to continue this discussion. I’ll be taking my leave.” Half of them left along with the medic, the others watching as Shen Yuan made his excuse to leave, Binghe tagging along behind him without a second thought. Should he had stayed back though? Should he have not come in the first place? He’d been expecting a worse reaction to what had happened. None of them seemed concerned over what had happened though, already moving on and accepting it as though it were a normal day. Then again, he’d lived here for several years, no one knew better than him the fact this was a normal day.
Would shizun want him to leave still? He hadn’t said anything yet, leading Binghe around the peaks and over the bridge connecting them. They could fly he supposed, but he didn’t have a sword and he didn’t want to make the other uncomfortable. Would he be uncomfortable riding on a sword with Binghe? After the night before, he couldn’t imagine that’s what would make him uncomfortable, but he couldn’t know.
Before they’d stepped foot into Qing Jing, they suddenly both stopped. He hadn’t seen this place in three years now. Would it be different? The same? A warm hand suddenly sank into his own, drawing Binghe from his mind to snap his gaze over to the other. When he’d been unfocused, the other had taken his fan and unfolded it, hiding his face behind it. He couldn’t hide the pink ears though, leaving a breathless Binghe to stare at him.
“Shizun?”
“Doesn’t Binghe want to come with this master?” Lips trembling, he nodded harshly.
“If shizun will allow it.” His voice came out stupid, pitch going up and down despite him not wanting it to. Stupid, he wasn’t usually such a crybaby, only when it came to his Shen Yuan.
“Silly, if I didn’t I wouldn’t be here.” Smiling brightly, he tightened his hold on the others hand.
“Then this one will accompany Shen Yuan. Anywhere.” He scoffed lightly, beginning to tug them both forwards again.
“How about we start with the bamboo house, hmm?”