Chapter Text
The skies over Jin Lan City were full of clouds, dark and looming. The people in town were full of dread, and hid from the outside world and each other. The main sign of life was the flowers everywhere - trees and bushes bloomed with the colors of spring. But beyond that, residents of Jin Lan had put out vases full of flowers on every surface.
Possibly they were trying to combat the gloom that lingered like a miasma over the city due to the epidemic of rotting flesh spreading there. Possibly they were more practically trying to cover the stench of rot with the sweet fragrance of fresh blossoms.
Either way, the attempts were only partially successful - no matter how many flowers people put out, the stench underneath was still a clear and present threat.
As Shen Qingqiu chased the hunchbacked figure into the brothel with Gongyi Xiao, they stepped into a fugue of rot and death. No one here had put out flowers.
The furniture was overturned and things lay strewn about. Brothels were typically meant to be inviting but this one was neglected and abandoned. Or - not abandoned. As Shen Qingqiu and Gongyi Xiao searched for the suspicious figure they had been chasing, they searched room after room and found only dead bodies. They were dressed in their best clothing and had laid there to await their deaths.
Shen Qingqiu paused for a moment, staring at the corpse of the woman on the bed. She had donned her finest - a colorful, beautifully embroidered jacket. Hair ornaments of pearls and jade. She had laid there calm and relaxed, as though going to sleep.
Shen Qingqiu wondered if he should do the same.
He and Shang Qinghua had worked together to plant and grow the Sun and Moon Dew Flowers. All too aware of the looming deadline they were working with, they’d poured time, effort, and qi into growing the bodies. It had been very effective, and the bodies had finished growing weeks ago.
But if they weren’t used soon, they would begin to rot.
And that brought Shen Qingqiu to this point. Because he had been enjoying living as Shen Qingqiu. The friends he had made, the people he cared for. He was going to have to give it all up if he was going to escape his canonical torturous death at Luo Binghe’s hands.
He pressed his hand against the breast of his robes. Tucked away against his heart was a sheaf of papers - letters, to everyone back at the sect. And one, the most important, to Binghe. All the explanation Binghe would ever get for his master’s betrayal - all the explanation the System would allow.
Shen Qingqiu wasn’t even certain the letter would reach Binghe; he would be relying on Yue Qingyuan to deliver it, and the success of that really depended on Binghe’s mood when he emerged from the abyss. But Shen Qingqiu knew he had to try. He owed Binghe that much.
Shang Qinghua had procured the venom of the scarlet manticore, and Shen Qingqiu could feel the small vial of it up his sleeve. The death it caused would be painless. Better than having his limbs ripped off and left to rot in a dungeon until Binghe allowed him the sweet escape of death.
And tonight he would be using that venom to move on to a new life. One not haunted by the sins and mistakes of this one. Mu Qingfang and Liu Qingge would be busy dealing with the plague. Shen Qingqiu would be alone for long enough.
Shen Qingqiu turned away from the body on the bed. He hadn’t brought fine clothing or jewelry; he hadn’t thought to. He only had the travel clothes he normally brought on such trips and his guan, while ornate as befitted a Peak Lord, was not his best. It would have to do.
He heard movement and voices from upstairs; he turned back and climbed them with Gongyi Xiao, but as he ascended the steps he recognized Luo Binghe’s voice.
“It’s no trouble.”
Shen Qingqiu’s breath caught in his throat.
He stepped into the room to see the body of the hunchbacked figure he and Gongyi Xiao had chased, lying in the corner. Golden robed cultivators standing around it. And one in the middle, in plain black robes, with an unadorned longsword.
It was Luo Binghe. Alive and well and out of the Endless Abyss two years early.
Shen Qingqiu hadn’t thought he’d be able to see Luo Binghe before he changed to the mushroom body. He’d thought Luo Binghe was years from escaping the abyss. Yet here they both were.
And Shen Qingqiu found that he was glad to see Luo Binghe, before the end. It was fortunate that Shen Qingqiu had everything ready - whatever plot Luo Binghe was hatching to capture and return vengeance on his former teacher, it wouldn’t be fast enough.
In the mushroom body Shen Qingqiu would be staying far away from the protagonist and the plot. So Luo Binghe’s early escape meant that Shen Qingqiu could see the disciple he had betrayed, one last time.
In his peripheral vision Shen Qingqiu could see the System coming back online. Activated by the return of its power source. But in this moment Shen Qingqiu only had eyes for Luo Binghe. And Luo Binghe gazed back at him in turn.
“Shizun?” Luo Binghe asked, with a perfect warm smile on his beautiful pale face.
He was whole and healthy and practically glowing with power. This was no longer Shen Qingqiu’s white lotus disciple. Luo Binghe had been betrayed by the teacher he’d trusted. Had fought his way out of that hell, through all the monsters that lived there.
Shen Qingqiu had known Luo Binghe would survive, but a part of him had always feared otherwise. That part of him calmed now, on seeing Luo Binghe alive and well.
He looked glad to see Shen Qingqiu. Happy.
So that was how he wanted to play it? Shen Qingqiu was happy to oblige.
“Luo Binghe,” Shen Qingqiu said, letting his fondness show. “You’re alive. I’m so glad.” Shen Qingqiu’s voice was rough with emotion.
Luo Binghe the protagonist of Proud Immortal Demon Way was alive. Luo Binghe, disciple of Qing Jing was gone.
Let’s play a little game of pretend. In front of all these witnesses, let’s act like master and disciple, so happy to see each one another after so long parted.
Let’s pretend we live in that happy world where I didn’t ruin you.
“It really is Shizun,” Binghe said, and unshed tears glittered in his eyes. A masterful performance. “I’ve missed you.” His voice cracked on the words.
Let’s pretend we still care for one another.
“Mu Qingfang will want that body for study,” Shen Qingqiu said with a calm he didn’t feel.
Then he spotted red marks on Luo Binghe’s wrist. Shen Qingqiu affected a look of concern. “You should go to him to get that rash seen to; he’s working on a cure.”
Let’s pretend that rash means anything to you. Let’s pretend you’re not a heavenly demon, deceiving everyone right now in your rise to power.
“Yes, Shizun!” Luo Binghe even sounded like the eager white lotus he’d once been.
Shen Qingqiu couldn’t help the smile that formed on his face then.
Let’s pretend to be happy together.
Shen Qingqiu looked over at the Huan Hua disciples that surrounded Luo Binghe.
“You’ve gone over to Huan Hua, I see. I know… I know Qing Jing no longer deserves you as a disciple. I don’t deserve you as a disciple,” Shen Qingqiu said regretfully.
Luo Binghe had emerged from the abyss and gone to Huan Hua to rouse them against his villainous teacher. But here and now Shen Qingqiu would pretend it was a simpler choice, that Binghe had just decided Huan Hua held a better future for him.
“I hope everyone at Huan Hua Palace appreciates you,” Shen Qingqiu said.
He knew he sounded tired and resigned. But a teacher who’d lost a bright star of a pupil would, wouldn’t they?
“You’ll do great things there,” Shen Qingqiu finished.
“Shizun, no, it wasn’t like that! I thought-” Binghe protested.
But he was silenced as Shen Qingqiu drew off the necklace he had been wearing and held it out, revealing a fake jade guanyin pendant. Shen Qingqiu had worn it selfishly, to keep it close when he died. To keep the memory of his Binghe close.
But it was Binghe’s precious pendant, a memory of the mother he’d loved. It belonged to him. Shen Qingqiu handed it over.
Luo Binghe stared back at him, with wide glistening eyes. He took the pendant with a reverent awe. He stared at the jade in the palm of his hand like he couldn’t believe it was real, then looked up at Shen Qingqiu.
“Shizun! You found it? And kept it, all this time?” Tears threatened to spill across flushed pink cheeks.
Binghe was the picture of innocence and beauty. No one would look upon him and think of the plans he was hatching. Even Shen Qingqiu, having read thousands of chapters of deceit and brutality and blood, couldn’t keep the reality of that Luo Binghe in his head as he watched this Binghe, so like his little white lotus.
“It’s nice to see you, Binghe. I’m glad you’re doing well.” Shen Qingqiu gave into the urge and patted Luo Binghe on the head.
He had to reach up to do it, now. Luo Binghe had grown so much during his time in the abyss. How much had he changed?
“Make sure you see Mu Qingfang - about the body, and that rash. Don’t take risks with your health.”
Shen Qingqiu turned to Gongyi Xiao. “Make sure he takes care of himself,” Shen Qingqiu commanded. “He’s part of your sect now, and I hope you will show him the care he deserves.”
There. And wasn’t that a lovely performance for the Huan Hua Palace disciples watching. Just a teacher and his former disciple, parting on good terms. No demons, no betrayals, just a disciple moving on after he’d outgrown his teacher. A beautiful lie.
Then Shen Qingqiu turned and left. Ignored Luo Binghe reaching out as though to stop him. Ignoring the Huan Hua Palace disciples gathering around him to do as Shen Qingqiu had bade, and make sure Luo Binghe got medical help.
They could only delay him so much. Shen Qingqiu needed to return to the inn and set out the letters and take the poison, before Luo Binghe’s machinations could be set in motion.
It was time to go.