Chapter Text
Needless to say, Huan Hua Palace had indeed gone all out.
As soon as Cang Qiong’s people arrived, they were met with hordes of smiling, pleasant servants, offering to take their bags and escort them to their temporary lodgings. Their enthusiasm kind of freaked Shen Yuan out, as it seemed as though they truly believed that serving cultivators and cultivating disciples was the thing that made them happiest in the world.
Sure, Shen Yuan was used to servants - gods know that Cang Qiong had plenty - but these seemed… different, in a way that he had a hard time articulating. It almost reminded him of the time that his family had gone to Disney in Shanghai, in a weird sort of way, like all of the workers were just focused on making you have the best possible time at the expense of no longer resembling human beings. It was a weirdly uncanny valley sort of feeling, and he found himself wondering if it was the norm in this world, and Cang Qiong were the odd ones out. After all, it wasn’t like the original work had really mentioned servants as much more than being set decoration.
‘It’s like they’re animatronics or something,’ he thought to himself.
Still, it was hard to deny that Huan Hua had put on quite the show. Everything was decorated immaculately, with silk strips and even more bells and ribbons than many festivals. It was beyond colorful, and it seemed as though the kitchens were cooking for an army, with many delectable scents wafting from the building that had been set up for that purpose. It was enough to make even his cynical stomach rumble.
The whole time, Shen Yuan gave Luo Binghe a look as if to say ‘I told you so’.
‘I mean seriously, what’s the purpose of all of this decorating?’ The transmigrator thought to himself, even as he plastered a smile on his face for the sake of politeness. ‘It just comes across as being wasteful!’
Even he knew better than to say something like that out loud, though.
At least, in a place where it was possible that someone from Huan Hua could hear him complain.
However, it seemed as though most everyone else was eating it up, which Shen Yuan found all the more annoying. He figured that even supposedly-wise and otherworldly cultivators could still fall victim to shameless flattery. How disappointing!
Though most of the other disciples from the visiting sects allowed themselves to be herded over to the temporary cabins that Huan Hua Palace had arranged for them, Shen Yuan found that he was feeling restless. Maybe it was still his nerves, or maybe it was all the traveling, but either way, he couldn’t imagine himself resting quite yet. And, judging by the way that Luo Binghe had yet to leave his side, the younger boy felt the same way.
‘Or, at the very least, he’s not tired enough to leave me,’ the transmigrator mentally amended, remembering just how Binghe was.
Really, the fact that he was so loyal made him even more endearing! Even if a part of him was tempted to tell him that it was okay if he wanted to rest or eat something, Shen Yuan just couldn’t help but want to indulge his friend. So, it seemed as though they were going to be moving as a pair, and the older boy really did not like the vibes of this set up so far.
It was with this mindset that Shen Yuan decided that he might as well go and bother his Baba. After all, with Shen Qingqiu largely remaining in his carriage, they had barely spoken on the journey.
‘Surely, Baba of all people will understand that this is incredibly freaky instead of welcoming,’ he reasoned to himself.
There was a large crowd of people to push through, which made sense; not only were all of the major sects present, there were also plenty of minor ones, as well as the occasional rogue cultivator. The mix of people almost reminded Shen Yuan of a crowded city street, which just added to the feeling of this being a festival. There were people in robes of seemingly every color of dye that was possible, and some that he could have sworn weren’t possible.
However, this led him to a realization of something that only added to the feeling of wrongness. Something that he wasn’t sure how he hadn’t noticed before.
In PIDW, it had been mentioned that Huan Hua wore gold - something which made sense, considering their vast wealth. Basically every time the Little Palace Mistress was mentioned, her fancy golden robes were mentioned, as well as about a million accessories that had made Shen Yuan’s - as well as, he was sure, most other readers’ - eyes glaze over. The distinction made it easy to tell which of the many disciples were from Huan Hua Palace, something which he supposed would be quite useful.
However, him being able to take note of the disciples that hailed from their host sect made him realize that not only were there seemingly a million of them, but that they were all shockingly young.
Shen Yuan remembered reading that there were many young disciples, but he could have sworn that it wasn’t mentioned just how young. He’d assumed that meant that there were fifteen year olds, but some of the children that he saw didn’t even look ten. To his eyes, someone who was no longer a child even by modern standards, they looked like babies, running around and playing and shouting as children tended to do. He even saw one girl who was holding a doll.
This would be alarming enough, but something that made a shiver run down his spine was the knowledge of just what would happen at this Conference.
‘How many did Airplane say died?’ The transmigrator thought to himself, frozen in the crowd as he tried not to let the horror show on his face. How many of these children, who hadn’t even formed a golden core yet, were going to be slaughtered?
Many. So many. And many more would be injured, and all of them surely traumatized for life.
Suddenly, Shen Yuan could relate to the way that Shang Qinghua hadn’t made eye contact with him since they first started on the journey to Juedi Gorge.
Countless monsters and demons would flood the gorge, and these disciples - if they could even be called that - would be like sitting ducks. It was going to be a massacre, and the two transmigrators were the only ones here who knew. And they couldn’t even tell anybody.
The shouts of playing children were easy for his mind to transform into screams of terror.
For a moment, Shen Yuan found himself spiraling; in all honesty, he nearly had a panic attack. This was going to be so, so much worse than the demon invasion of Cang Qiong had been a couple of years ago.
Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Binghe looking at him, an expression of concern on his face.
‘Of course he’s worried,’ Shen Yuan thought to himself near-hysterically. ‘I just froze in place staring at a bunch of children. He probably thinks I’m acting like a real basket case right now!’
“Shixiong?” The half-demon asked quietly, grabbing the older boy’s sleeve. “Are you alright?” The look on his face made Shen Yuan sick. To think that all this time, his primary worry had been Luo Binghe - someone who, while he would certainly suffer a great deal during and after the Conference, would survive. All of a sudden, the transmigrator found himself feeling horribly selfish.
Still, he knew that he couldn’t just fall apart; not only would he look downright insane, he was already worrying Binghe enough.
“I’m fine,” Shen Yuan said, giving his friend a slightly strained smile, trying to avoid eye contact. “It just… it just hit me how close we are to being able to prove ourselves, that’s all! Nothing to worry about.”
Luo Binghe wasn’t stupid; it was one of the many traits that Shen Yuan had admired about him, even from the beginning when the half-demon had been nothing more than a series of words on his screen. The transmigrator knew for a fact that his friend didn’t buy his excuse, and he wasn’t comforted at all by his words. However, he also knew that Binghe was a nice guy. He wasn’t going to pry, especially not in such a public place where anybody could easily overhear them. Even if he was worried. Even if he didn’t know what was going on with his shixiong.
So, Shen Yuan wasn’t surprised when Luo Binghe met his smile with one of his own, though it wasn’t quite as brilliant as smiles from the protagonist were normally. “If you say so, Shixiong,” the boy said softly, and he quickly found the older disciple’s hand to give it a brief squeeze.
It didn’t exactly make Shen Yuan feel better; after all, he’d just realized just how much devastation was about to occur. Still… something about the gesture made him feel a little less lost to his despair.
He took a breath. ‘Alright; I can freak out properly later,’ the transmigrator told himself. ‘For now, I’m just… going to push it all down, and try to act normal when I’m talking to Baba. Otherwise, I’ll have both the protagonist and the antagonist of this story bugging me about things I can’t talk about!’
Within just a few moments, the boy spotted his father and was about to head over, when he noticed that Shen Qingqiu wasn’t alone.
While Yue Qingyuan was to the peak lord’s left, what stood out to Shen Yuan was the old man that they were both speaking to. He was unfamiliar, and, for a moment, the transmigrator had a hard time piecing together who it could be. That was, of course, before his mind noted the truly incomparably opulent clothes the man was wearing, almost similar to those of an Emperor.
‘So… that’s the man himself,’ Shen Yuan thought. It was the Old Palace Master!
Before he even knew what he was doing, the boy found himself walking towards the men, Luo Binghe following behind without even questioning him.
As he approached, Shen Yuan could hear Yue Qingyuan speaking. “Truly, it is such a gift to be able to see so many young cultivators finally get a chance to show off their skills,” the man said pleasantly. Beside him, Shen Qingqiu let out a sniff that, if one was generous, could be read as agreement.
However, before the Old Palace Master could respond, Shen Yuan approached from behind.
‘Well, time to act like a brat,’ the transmigrator thought wryly. Honestly, he was kind of relieved to be able to put himself far away from his prior freakout.
“Baba, weren’t we supposed to have a meal together when we arrived?” Shen Yuan asked, putting on his best impression of a spoiled young master. It probably helped that he had ample experience with being one.
What? He might have tried his best not to be an asshole when it wasn’t necessary - and, most of the time, he’d succeeded - but that didn’t mean that he couldn’t admit that he’d been spoiled as hell in his past life. It was the kind of thing to happen when your family was as rich as the Shens were, but something that was unavoidable when their precious youngest son was sickly and weak.
…and okay fine, maybe he counted as being a bit spoiled in this life as well.
Judging from the look in Shen Qingqiu’s eyes when he looked at the boy, the peak lord had caught on to his ruse - but, rather than call his son out, had decided to use it to his advantage. “Ah, A-Yuan, you really must learn not to interrupt important conversations…” he said, though the tone of his voice was far more indulgent than it was anywhere near properly scolding.
‘He sounds like Yue Qingyuan!’ Shen Yuan thought, glancing over at the oblivious sect leader with barely contained amusement.
“Ah, so this is the famous Shen Yuan, I see!”
The Old Palace Master smiled at Shen Yuan, who, caught a little off guard, smiled back. The old man seemed to be relatively genial, but there was a spark of something strange in his eyes that the transmigrator couldn’t quite read. It was honestly a little weird; most of the time, he didn’t find it hard to know what others were thinking, especially when they were present in PIDW. But, for some reason, this random old man seemed to almost be an exception to that.
‘Gods - I am definitely going to avoid Huan Hua Palace after this…’
Yue Qingyuan stepped in then. “Indeed! This is Shen Yuan, the beloved only son of our very own Shen Qingqiu.”
‘Beloved, huh…’ the boy thought to himself, bowing politely as he was introduced. “It is a pleasure to meet you,” he murmured, a little put out by having to suddenly pivot from his spoiled young master approach.
The Old Palace Master gave a chuckle which should have been grandfatherly, but which Shen Yuan couldn’t help but feel was fake. It just read as too practiced, too perfect; it was the kind of performance that you might see on a drama, but that would stand out as not fitting in real life. “Ah, truly, the pleasure is all mine to meet such a fine young man,” he said jovially. “And who, might I ask, are you there, gongzi?” He asked, his gaze going beyond Shen Yuan.
This question was aimed at Binghe, who looked somewhat startled to be acknowledged. “This lowly one is Luo Binghe,” the half-demon explained with a bow of his own.
Once again, Shen Yuan really couldn’t place the look on the old man’s face as he smiled. “Interesting. Very interesting indeed!” It looked as though he was going to say something else, before thankfully Shen Qingqiu interrupted with a pointed clearing of his throat.
“If you will excuse us, Old Palace Master, but this master believes that he did in fact promise his A-Yuan that they would dine together.” Though Shen Qingqiu’s voice was marginally less icy than it normally was, it was still quite clear that he would not accept being a part of this conversation for much longer.
Still, the Old Palace Master’s smile never budged. It was a different sort of smile from Yue Qingyuan’s; while the sect leader’s pleasant demeanor was certainly fixed, it never once felt fake.
Shen Yuan couldn’t say the same about the Huan Hua sect leader.
“Of course, of course,” the Old Palace Master replied, voice politely neutral. “Well, this old man won’t keep you waiting any longer - there are other sects to greet, after all, with other people to meet before the Conference truly begins! I wish you all farewell, and look forward to seeing your outings, Luo Binghe and Shen Yuan.”
Out of the four of them, only Yue Qingyuan and Binghe bothered to give a proper goodbye back.
Once the Old Palace Master was out of earshot, Shen Yuan turned to his father. “Thank you, Baba,” he said, relieved at not having been called out by the peak lord. “I don’t know why, but he kind of gave me the creeps!”
Despite having said it halfway as a joke, his words seemed to light a spark in Shen Qingqiu, those cool green eyes briefly blazing with passion. “No need to thank me. A-Yuan should listen to his instincts, especially when it comes to men like that. I have never liked the Old Palace Master, and it seems as though every time we meet, he is determined to give me another reason.”
For some reason, he glanced at Luo Binghe with a look that almost read as being worried.
Though Shen Yuan would have expected for the sect leader to disagree with Shen Qingqiu’s words, Yue Qingyuan instead nodded, his smile for once gone. “It is important to exercise caution,” he said softly.
‘I feel like I’m missing something,’ the transmigrator thought to himself.
Beside him, however, Luo Binghe nodded with a serious expression. “This one will keep that in mind,” he said, and his voice sounded odd.
Shen Yuan was a little confused, but he nodded as well, quick to make up for the expectant look on his Baba’s face. “Of course,” he agreed, giving a small, somewhat awkward smile in an attempt to relieve the situation of at least some of the strange tension that it was suddenly flooded with.
Shen Qingqiu looked him over for a moment, as though he was assessing something that the transmigrator couldn’t possibly understand, before he looked satisfied. “Good,” the Xiu Ya sword then turned with a dramatic flick of his sleeves, heading towards the temporary buildings that Huan Hua had set up. When he was not immediately followed, he glanced over his shoulder, shooting the other three a sharp look. “Well? This master believes that a meal was discussed.”
Out of the corner of his eye, Shen Yuan could see Binghe do a double-take, as if surprised to be invited. However, the boy quickly perked up, all of the seriousness of before melting away from him. “Yes, shizun!” He chirped happily, quickly going to follow.
Yue Qingyuan seemed pleased as well, his smile having returned. “Excellent idea, Shen-shidi.”
‘Well… at least I can maybe have one last memory of things being normal,’ Shen Yuan thought to himself as he joined their little group. ‘And, like… inviting someone to eat together with you isn’t exactly a sign of being willing to push them into the equivalent of hell… right? It’s gotta at the very least be a good indicator of their relationship having improved!’
The System was silent, and, afraid of what that might mean, Shen Yuan elected to ignore it, and just hope that he was right.