Chapter Text
The pain that seemed to be splitting his head in two cut off so abruptly that Shen Qingqiu didn’t understand that what he was hearing was himself at first. The sound he was making seemed hardly human, and with his awareness back, Shen Qingqiu found it extremely shameful. Swallowing any more sounds, Shen Qingqiu allowed himself to collapse into Luo Binghe’s arms. He could feel the solid arms wrapping around him, constricting enough it almost seemed like Luo Binghe wanted to suplex him into unconsciousness.
“Shizun…” Luo Binghe was only quiet for a moment, and then not immediately getting a response, he started shaking Shen Qingqiu urgently. Shen Qingqiu flopped like a rag doll and wanted to hit Luo Binghe. Why did he not know not to shake people like this? This master’s head was going to fall off!
“Shizun, what happened to you?”
That was a valid concern though; was there something wrong with his plant body somehow, some side effect of Airplane’s fertilizer, or was this the famed qi deviation? Sweat dotted his brow, and his limbs felt weak. There was a staticky crackle from his fingertips, though that was fading quickly; for a brief moment, Shen Qingqiu wondered if maybe he’d been hit by lightning. Yes, indoors, and with Luo Binghe who’d been above him completely intact. Shen Qingqiu was running out of explanations.
“I… This teacher doesn’t know either.”
In his panic, Luo Binghe had called out earlier for his minions, and now they belatedly thronged in the bamboo house. A hulking giant couldn’t fit in the door and settled outside the window, peeking in with its one eye. Shen Qingqiu grew more alert at that, and pulled his clothing to rights. Still, the demons glimpsed his bared chest and then looked at their demon lord. They really were demons, because they all looked varied levels of approving and impressed before Luo Binghe drove them back again. Shen Qingqiu wanted to swear at them. If that bear child knew what he was doing and had such impressive skills, his bedroom partner wasn’t going to be screaming like he was being murdered, surely!
It would be strange to think later that that was the official start of Shen Qingqiu, or rather Shen Yuan, becoming the enemy of the entire cultivation world.
--
Ding!
[Congratulations! New Story Branch Unlocked! B points +1,000!]
So many in one go? Shen Qingqiu was immediately suspicious.
[Accept “Two Masters, World’s Hatred” Quest, Y/N?]
What was with the dramatic quest name? Still, by that point, Shen Qingqiu couldn’t deny that Luo Binghe had pulled aggro so effectively he was hated by the world, but at least he still had the backing of Huan Hua Palace. But who were the ‘two masters’ the System was referring to?
Maybe… the sect heads? Yue-zhangmen and the missing Palace Master?
Were they going to lead an attack against Luo Binghe?
Shen Qingqiu felt apprehensive. If sect heads were involved, this wasn’t as simple as when Sha Hualing proposed a contest of strength to an elder. It was easy to imagine this leading to a bloodbath, something more in line with the original work. Maybe it meant Luo Binghe blackening even more, as he’s forced to use Xin Mo without any of his wives to dampen the effect of the blade on his mind. Would Shen Qingqiu even be able to stop him? Hesitating over the ‘No’ button, the System warned him: [Not accepting the quest means returning the B points received for unlocking the story branch. Protagonist also loses 2,000 coolness points.]
…! This morally bankrupt System!
Shen Qingqiu jabbed at the ‘Yes’ button viciously, comforting himself that if Luo Binghe was going to lose so many points just for Shen Qingqiu denying a possibility that wasn’t even in the main storyline, it must be a character defining story arc that was about to come. Maybe it was even a story arc for Luo Binghe to fix his reputation and prove himself as the protagonist!
[Quest accepted!] The System seemed to lag for a bit, repeating after a pause its usual fanfare, and then additional words, [Quest accepted! Please work hard!]
[Mission: Reach the gates of the Holy Mausoleum to trigger a new event. Time limit: 5 days.]
The Holy Mausoleum?
Ah, so it was that. Maybe Shen Qingqiu did suffer a qi deviation after all. And then Luo Binghe, pitying his master and finally remembering to be a filial disciple, goes to the Holy Mausoleum to find a sacred treasure to help straighten his meridians or some such. Only, when Luo Binghe tried cycling spiritual energy through him, there didn’t seem to be any blockages. Shen Qingqiu couldn’t keep back a reflexive flinch. But even though the touch of spiritual energy was cool and probing, it also had a pawing, desperate quality to it that had Shen Qingqiu lifting his arm to pat at Luo Binghe’s head.
“This teacher is fine,” Shen Qingqiu said, before remembering the Holy Mausoleum story arc they were supposedly at. If Shen Qingqiu was okay, they weren’t going to leave, were they? But before Shen Qingqiu could even think about how to feign illness and contradict himself, Luo Binghe was already pulling him up, tucking him back in bed before sitting beside him. He held on to Shen Qingqiu’s hand.
Luo Binghe’s hand was actually sweaty, which was surprising enough that Shen Qingqiu gaped at him. In the original novel, Luo Binghe never panicked this much after blackening, even over one of his wives. For example, wife F was kidnapped by a warlord, and Luo Binghe forgot about her for three whole chapters (Shen Yuan had the suspicion that it was the author who forgot) before finally leaving off the plotting and going to rescue her, apologizing to her later with papapa. On the other hand, this Luo Binghe, ah, he’s really…
Much more lovable, was a thought that did not cross his mind. Shen Qingqiu coughed and abruptly yanked his hand away, rubbing absently at his wrist. Luo Binghe continued to watch him raptly, as if at any moment he was likely to start rolling on the floor again. Shen Qingqiu wanted to hide his face behind his fan.
“Does Shizun feel no abnormalities in his body? Earlier, it seemed that Shizun was in considerable pain.”
Don’t remind him! Shen Qingqiu inclined his head, before thinking that this was actually a good opportunity. Earlier, there had been flashes of… something… He thought he’d seen figures who must have been human, and some sort of dark hallway. None of it was clear enough, but tying it now with the Holy Mausoleum arc, that must have been the place! Come to think of it, filling the plot holes with Zhuzhi-Lang hadn’t worked out very well before, and he didn’t know where the other was now. Shen Qingqiu also still had his blood inside his body. Maybe there was some kind of demonic spell at work?
The question was, how to get the blackened and naturally suspicious Luo Binghe to believe him.
Luo Binghe had checked his body over and over, so he must have found there was nothing technically wrong with it. Thinking about it, it would also have been easy for Shen Qingqiu to pretend distress to get out of the, cough, situation before. Well, Shen Qingqiu could only try explaining, and see if his disciple would believe him…
“This teacher suspects it was a spell,” Shen Qingqiu said, adopting what he felt was a scholarly pose. “Some images of a place appeared in my mind before. Judging from the descriptions I’ve read in a book, it must have been the Holy Mausoleum.”
Was that too direct? He’d already blurted it out before thinking too much of the wording, but there Luo Binghe was, already nodding like that was reasonable, like that was just a thing that happened randomly to people. Luo Binghe, with that attitude, you’re going to get scammed!
“This disciple wonders, the images Shizun saw, were they from the inside or outside?”
Shen Qingqiu tilted his head, fixing his sleeves. “From the inside.” It was the classic dark hallway type of thing, nothing really recognizable. Anyway, the System had already mentioned the new mission directive, and if it came down to it, if they somehow needed to enter the Holy Mausoleum, as long as Luo Binghe found them a way in, Shen Qingqiu was confident he could recognize the interior and help identify the traps and monsters inside.
Nodding to himself, he missed the narrowing of Luo Binghe’s eyes.
“Then this disciple must go to the Holy Mausoleum,” Luo Binghe decided. “There have already been preparations to open it, but they have taken a while, and this disciple has abandoned his endeavors for a few days.”
“This teacher will of course go with you,” Shen Qingqiu said quickly, and was relieved when Luo Binghe gave a soft, “If that’s Shizun’s wish.” Luo Binghe left to get ready after conscientiously asking Shen Qingqiu to rest.
Something niggled at the back of his mind, though. Shen Qingqiu replayed their conversation, wondering where the wrong note was coming from, before he realized. There were already preparations for the Holy Mausoleum because Luo Binghe had wanted to summon him back, and the Holy Mausoleum had a powerful array that supposedly could bring back the souls of the dead. It wasn’t a one-use cheat either; that array was there to stay, but using it was complicated. Still, when he’d read about it, it had left Shen Yuan wondering why the demon monarchs would even allow themselves to die. Weren’t demons all about gaining and maintaining power?
But maybe that was it. None of them must have trusted anyone with that array.
But that was beside the point!
The point was, Shen Qingqiu’s body was stolen, presumably by that weirdly sincere snake, and with the Holy Mausoleum plotline now… Shen Qingqiu wasn’t an idiot. For some reason, Zhuzhi-Lang must have tried to resurrect him.
So, the ritual somehow failed? Maybe it was because Shen Qingqiu had been anchored in his plant body for five whole years, so it wasn’t that easy to unstick his soul from the new container. Or maybe, more simply, it was because he wasn’t Shen Qingqiu in the first place. They must have called for the wrong soul, and while the spell was strong enough that it affected Shen Qingqiu in some way, the ritual was still voided in the end.
But what happened to his body, or rather, the real Shen Qingqiu’s body? By now Zhuzhi-Lang must know that something was deeply wrong. The Holy Mausoleum’s sacred artifacts didn’t come with a fail rate, and interference from outside was impossible. Which meant what was wrong had to do with Shen Qingqiu himself.
…Hopefully, it only meant Zhuzhi-Lang would guess the fact that Shen Qingqiu was currently already occupying a body was to blame.
Hurriedly, Shen Qingqiu knocked on the System. “What happens if someone finds out I transmigrated?” There better not be an abysmal point deduction!
[Transmigration does not exist in this world. Anything related to transmigration is rewritten to fit this world’s own rules.]
Shen Qingqiu wheedled for more information. “What does that mean? If I talk about transmigration, would other people not hear what I’m saying, or would their memories of that magically disappear? Or would they just not believe me no matter what I say about it?” Having your perception rewritten just sounded creepy, all right?! And it further cemented the idea that this was a book world, and things that threatened the reality of it could be clumsily ‘rewritten.’ Though, to be fair, Shen Yuan had no idea how his own world would have reacted to characters from a book coming to alter its own reality. For instance, would Luo Binghe still have his full powers then? Did he get turned fully human? Things like that.
In short, it was giving him a headache.
[Customer shouldn’t worry! The customer’s experience already has a parallel in this world, so please rest assured!]
System, that just sounded too carefree. Shen Qingqiu could only sigh. In any case, leave all the preparations to Luo Binghe.
--
This disciple of his was really too powerful; in less than half a day, Luo Binghe had prepared everything. However, the five days the System gave only to reach the Holy Mausoleum was comforting enough that Shen Qingqiu decided they should have some time to breathe first. Just earlier in the day, he’d thought he was so idle that his old bones were going to turn brittle. Now, he actually hesitated. There was also the fact that they hadn’t properly reconciled. He hadn’t questioned the way they’d both acted with familiarity earlier, but was it really all right to leave things the way they were with no explanations?
Finally, Shen Qingqiu advised Luo Binghe to wait for one night.
Traveling at night in the demon realm was dangerous of course, but for someone with Heavenly Demon blood, how could day or night make any difference? Still, Luo Binghe readily acquiesced. He didn’t forget to prepare dinner either, so in the end, master and disciple sat across from each other, food spread out on the table like it was a normal day at Qing Jing Peak.
The smell of the food was achingly familiar, making Shen Qingqiu’s head hurt even more from thinking. Shen Qingqiu’s cultivation had been high enough to forego food. The time without Luo Binghe that Shen Qingqiu spent outside wandering, he’d already gotten used to hardly eating anything, subsisting mostly on water and tea. He didn’t know when it had started, but he only ate when he had company. That time with the junior cultivators, too, he’d just instinctively ordered food for himself, and had gotten distracted into eating. Normally, maybe Sha Hualing wouldn’t have been able to poison him.
But now, faced with a table full of food, and this old disciple of his who’d made the food… The feeling was complicated.
Shen Qingqiu still found his chopsticks moving. Luo Binghe had attentively waited for him to start eating before making any move to eat himself. Shen Qingqiu’s heart soured a little. It was only in little things like this that Luo Binghe remembered to respect his elders. To think this bent protagonist actually turned around and pursued the scum villain, even after said scum villain changed bodies—Shen Qingqiu truly didn’t know what to think!
“Jinlan City,” Shen Qingqiu opened, watching Luo Binghe’s shoulders tense again, “It really wasn’t you?”
It really, really wasn’t you? Shen Qingqiu himself knew he was like a broken record by this point, but after Luo Binghe’s attack on Cang Qiong Mountain, it was hard to just go back to trusting Luo Binghe. Luo Binghe for his part seemed to think that saying anything to defend himself was a lost cause, only saying blandly, “Shizun is overly concerned about this.”
“This teacher wants to understand what happened, who else could have made a move right then, and why,” Shen Qingqiu said. “There were too many coincidences to explain. You must also be clear about this point.”
Luo Binghe seemed to digest this slowly. Probably guessing that it was a peace offering from Shen Qingqiu, Luo Binghe also answered seriously this time: “After the incident in Huayue City, that person Qiu Haitang disappeared. When this disciple took leadership of Huan Hua Palace, she was already gone and couldn’t clarify things. As for the sowers, I could only discern they were from the southern provinces.”
Thinking of the demons from the southern tribes, a name sprung to mind. Shen Qingqiu adjusted his sitting position, but decided not say anything and confirm his suspicions later.
Seeing Shen Qingqiu react, even slightly, Luo Binghe guessed it was at the mention of Qiu Haitang. He added immediately, “This disciple never hurt Qiu Haitang. This disciple also means to ask, was Shizun and Qiu Haitang really…”
Shen Qingqiu sighed. To think that woman was part of Luo Binghe’s original harem, but now this Luo Binghe was so eagerly shaking her off, and was even of a mind to gossip about her with another man. Shen Qingqiu said coldly, “This teacher has never been entangled with her.”
But thinking of the fate of her family, Shen Qingqiu couldn’t be so shameful as to reject any connection; even if it was the original goods that was responsible, Shen Qingqiu felt that he owed them to at least tell part of the story. Anyway, it was only Luo Binghe here. “As for the Qiu family, that part of the allegations were true. As for the reason… this teacher asks Luo Binghe to not pursue this matter.”
Surprisingly, a little wide-eyed, Luo Binghe did shut up. He simply sat there staring at Shen Qingqiu long enough that Shen Qingqiu grew more self-conscious. He shifted on his knees, trying to concentrate on the food. Still, he couldn’t help making a wry remark, “Disappointed?”
“This disciple could never be disappointed,” Luo Binghe answered smoothly. Given the way the protagonist was, though, Shen Qingqiu was sure Luo Binghe had only covered up his shock with those words and didn’t truly mean them. Hence, he only sighed and didn’t become flustered.
“Binghe, in human relations, acting with sincerity does not always guarantee that good things happen back. It’s not strange for anyone to prioritize their survival and forget sincerity. But sometimes, you can’t help but be sincere, but the result is still bad.”
It was a bunch of meaningless words in the end, but Shen Qingqiu could only impart this mysterious wisdom to muddy the waters and not make Luo Binghe think of how much Shen Qingqiu was OOC from the time of the original goods. Maybe the protagonist was still kind-hearted enough to believe that there was more to the past than the original goods obsessing over cultivation and killing an entire family for it? Shen Qingqiu could only hope so!
Casting a glance at Luo Binghe, he found him dutifully nodding along like a daruma doll. Shen Qingqiu felt his lips quirk, before schooling his own expression.
And so the rest of dinner actually passed by pleasantly. Luo Binghe retreated with the dirty dishes and didn’t try to get into his bed again, so Shen Qingqiu’s heart eased up a bit more. Shen Qingqiu burrowed into the blankets and caught the smell of his own sweat in them, plus something he couldn’t quite identify that must have come from Binghe. It wasn’t a wrong smell, exactly, but… Shen Qingqiu decided it wasn’t important and stopped thinking about it, closing his eyes to sleep.
And then Shen Qingqiu was back to that time in Sha Hualing’s cave, freeing Luo Binghe’s wives, startling at Qiu Haitang and pretending not to know her. He found himself focusing on her pinched face more now than he had when he met her. He didn’t focus this much on her face, did he? Why did it seem like he was trying to count her pores…?
The furthest back his memory could go of Qiu Haitang was when she was accusing him. It wasn’t a particularly good memory, so Shen Qingqiu scrunched up his nose. Then as if rearing away guiltily, the dream went further back: to Shen Qingqiu traveling incognito as a rogue cultivator, looking over a distant village where there’d been news of a vicious haunting. Cycling fast through the faces he met. Liu Qingge shouting at him from above, successfully finding him once again like he had GPS. Madam Meiyin reading his fortune… What kind of dream was this?
After a while, Shen Qingqiu reached up and pulled down, patting at the head near his own. He breathed into an errant tuft of hair tiredly, “Binghe, settle down. Don’t make trouble.”
The bundle in his arms stiffened instantly. “This disciple apologizes,” it said.
“Hm.” Shen Qingqiu resumed petting, finding it relaxing. “Just sleep.”
--
When he woke up later in the morning, Shen Qingqiu didn’t bring up this dream with his disciple. How would the demon lord feel if he knew his old teacher was aware of him bounding into his dream like an overeager puppy bumping against a glass wall? He had to give him some face, all right?
It also wasn’t strange for Luo Binghe to be suspicious, or to want to know what happened during the time he was in the Endless Abyss. Shen Qingqiu even felt some relief that Luo Binghe had thought to sift through his dreams. See, this teacher wasn’t an asshole while you were gone! Shen Qingqiu wanted to say. He was saving the common folk and completing his monster encyclopedia!
…Thinking about it, his idle wandering outside hadn’t helped improve his reputation at all. He’d thought the whole ‘mourning like he lost his soul’ business would be forgotten once they saw him willing to leave his bamboo house, but maybe he’d overdone it, because they thought he was escaping from his grief instead. How would Luo Binghe view that wandering phase?
For his part, Luo Binghe must have felt guilty about peeping into Shen Qingqiu’s dreams, and prepared breakfast even more diligently than normal. Eating that exquisite meat congee with three other dishes and some light dessert, Shen Qingqiu decided that he forgave him.
Shen Qingqiu had thought they would travel with a whole kingly retinue, but Luo Binghe led him to a much smaller group than he expected. The demons that scuttled about only helped with packing things and leashing the black moon python rhinoceroses together to form orderly rows. And they didn’t stay around either, as if this entire enterprise scared them. Luo Binghe had had a demonic beast prepared for Shen Qingqiu, with what looked like a leisurely young master’s palanquin on its back. Luo Binghe himself rode beside the palanquin, his demonic aura keeping the black moon phyton rhinoceroses in check.
In fact, this was everything they needed. If not for the System, Shen Qingqiu didn’t even need to be there. Though with his plant body now and its seemingly endless well of spiritual energy, Shen Qingqiu felt strong enough to really deserve being in a party with the protagonist. His knowledge of demonic beasts must also come in handy at one point.
Sha Hualing was summarily left in charge of the stronghold, with whatever directive Luo Binghe deemed fit to leave her with (For example, not engaging Liu Qingge if he appeared). Then Luo Binghe urged the beasts forward. It was miles and miles of traveling on relatively flat terrain. The closer they went to the Holy Mausoleum, the fewer signs of life there were, without even the trace of a single demon appearing to assassinate or cause trouble.
It did seem like they were traveling to a grave.
But where, in the human world, the cultivation sects that had dwindled and whose halls had turned into mass graves could only expect looters to appear, or even for ‘reputable’ sects to cannibalize them, demon faith was such that they stayed away instead. But given how notorious and eccentric the demon leaders were, maybe it wasn’t so much a question of faith but self-preservation.
Still, it seemed even Elder Meng Mo hadn’t advised against going to the Holy Mausoleum. With the line of Heavenly Demons seeming to have ended with Tianlang-Jun as the last recognized sovereign, it meant that Luo Binghe could only break in the Holy Mausoleum if he wanted any of the treasures within. Being able to enter the Holy Mausoleum could also get him the acknowledgement of the more stubborn old demon families. In any case, no ordinary demon or human could hope to get that far.
They made few stops along the way. Luo Binghe insisted on serving Shen Qingqiu his meals even when they were traveling. Shen Qingqiu also wanted them to stop so he could check Luo Binghe’s condition. The Holy Mausoleum was a difficult instance after all, so even if Shen Qingqiu was confident he had enough fighting power to not pull Luo Binghe down, it was still a good thing to prepare.
It turned out he was right to worry.
Probably owing to his lack of wives, Luo Binghe’s demonic energy was growing too fast for his spiritual energy. Since that first time Luo Binghe transferred demonic energy to him and sucked out spiritual energy in exchange, Luo Binghe had also not approached him for help. Right now, sending his spiritual sense over Luo Binghe’s body, Shen Qingqiu could tell that his demonic energy was close to overpowering his spiritual energy again.
If this continued, the protagonist was actually risking qi deviation!
Shen Qingqiu muttered darkly under his breath, tapping Luo Binghe on the forehead to get him to stay still while he transferred spiritual energy to him. “How did it get to be like this?” Shen Qingqiu chided him. “While I was gone, didn’t you do anything about it at all?”
He glanced at Xin Mo. The sword was Luo Binghe’s biggest cheat, but it was also the reason why his strength wasn’t improving stably. It was probably too careless to ask Luo Binghe to let go of the sword though, and by this point, much too late: the sword pact meant Luo Binghe couldn’t just abandon this sword without the possibility of also harming his cultivation.
Luo Binghe was strangely docile, letting Shen Qingqiu fuss and do as he pleased, to the point Shen Qingqiu became nervous again. Say something ah!
Worse, Luo Binghe started smiling. A small smile like he was remembering something fond, which more or less made Shen Qingqiu’s brain stop working for a few seconds. When he came to, it was to realize that he was maybe transferring too much spiritual energy to Luo Binghe.
Too much spiritual energy wasn’t good either. Shen Qingqiu had to draw back.
When they finally reached the Holy Mausoleum, it was nearing dark. The path inside was shut, but not minding it, Shen Qingqiu dropped down from the palanquin and stepped closer and closer until he reached the gate. Still, there was an uneasy feeling, even as he put his hand on the stone surface of the gate. The System was quiet.
Luo Binghe had also gotten off his mount. The black moon python rhinoceros nearest to him made a hissing sound, stamping its feet. Shen Qingqiu kept his palm pressed against the locked gate.
Luo Binghe said conversationally, “Is Shizun trying to confirm something?”
Still busy with the System, Shen Qingqiu only made a vague sound. He shook his head. “This teacher… also doesn’t know what’s wrong.”
He wasn’t expecting the gate to open for them or anything, but Shen Qingqiu still desperately knocked on the System. What sort of bug is this? I’m already touching the gate, shouldn’t you be reacting? Hurriedly, he pulled out the mission banner again.
[Mission: Reach the gates of the Holy Mausoleum to trigger a new event. Time limit: 3 days, 22 hours.]
He already reached the gates, but only the time limit changed to reflect the amount of time that had passed since he received the mission. The System didn’t notify him that he’d finished the mission, or even that he’d failed it. What was happening? Frowning to himself, Shen Qingqiu tried asking the System, “What’s my progress on finishing this mission?”
The System answered this time: [Hello, dear customer! Progress bar is at 69% Fufufu!]
‘Fufufu’ my ass!
But why was it only at sixty-nine percent? It wasn’t all so the System could make a dirty joke, right? Just to be sure, he asked the System to show him the mission progress bar. Before his eyes, then, he saw the progress bar gain an additional percent, changing from sixty-nine to seventy. The progress bar also changed from a red to green color, as if to say that he was in the safe levels of progress.
Shen Qingqiu tapped on the gate. Nothing changed. Even after a few minutes, the progress bar also stayed at seventy percent, no longer rising.
What exactly was happening?
Should I send a negative review? Shen Qingqiu thought sourly. Following this threat, the System supplied helpfully, [Customer should know, both you and your partner need to reach the gate to finish the mission.]
Shen Qingqiu looked at Luo Binghe, who was near their steed and passively watching him, probably standing back so he could keep the moon python rhinoceroses in check if they panicked or tried to leave. Shen Qingqiu decided that was a negligible concern right now and motioned him closer. “Binghe, come here.”
But even when Luo Binghe was standing side by side with him, the progress bar didn’t change by even one percent.
[Customer’s partner is not Luo Binghe. You cannot change partners in the middle of a mission.]
Bemused, Shen Qingqiu asked, “Who else can it be?”
[Customer’s partner is of course the one he has from the beginning.]
Shen Qingqiu stared blankly. In truth, he wasn’t aware this System even came with a partner for him. Wasn’t he the only one steadily toiling away to finish missions and brush up points? He’d even confirmed with that quack Airplane Shooting Toward the Sky that they had different Systems, so it wasn’t like they could be partnered up. In fact, in this situation, Luo Binghe was his only guess. But now, analyzing everything the System had told him so far, wasn’t there… another one…?
Shen Qingqiu had been looking steadily at the gate with his gaze blank, but now his expression changed. He turned his face towards Luo Binghe. Luo Binghe seemed a bit surprised by his sudden movement, but didn’t say anything as Shen Qingqiu kept staring.
Finally, Luo Binghe said, “Does Shizun want to open this?” He rapped his knuckles on the gate once, almost like he wasn’t paying it any mind. Just that single tap, and the wards around the Holy Mausoleum activated, rippling into existence in front of them with a strange groaning sound as though it had warded off a strong blow.
Shen Qingqiu dropped his gaze, expression still a little off. “Then, this teacher will have to trouble you.”
“This disciple said before,” Luo Binghe said. “It will be as Shizun wishes.”
The words themselves sounded dramatic, especially with Luo Binghe’s intense eyes. But this was reality, with no cinematic cuts that could have served the atmosphere well, so Luo Binghe still had to go and ready the black moon python rhinoceroses. In the meantime, Shen Qingqiu tried not to think of anything extraneous.
For example, he was definitely not thinking about whether they would find the real Shen Qingqiu there, breathing and alive and maybe just a bit pissed off about getting his body stolen.
From on top of one of the black moon python rhinoceroses, Luo Binghe reached out for Shen Qingqiu’s hand, reminding him that he had to get away from the gates. Shen Qingqiu didn’t hesitate to reach back, pulling himself up behind Luo Binghe. The jolt forward as the black moon python rhinoceroses moved had Shen Qingqiu wrapping his arms around Luo Binghe’s waist, squeezing tight against an instinctive fear of falling.
“Your ears,” Luo Binghe warned, lifting his hand to recite something a moment before the black moon python rhinoceroses opened their mouths at the same time, letting out a piercing noise. Shen Qingqiu swallowed hard, ears ringing even with the protective spell. Everywhere around him, it was as if he could hear his own heartbeat pressing against his head, and nothing else. From the mouths of the black moon python rhinoceroses, their snake tongues appeared, also screaming. With that cry, the wards visibly cracked.
And then they were thundering forward, forcing the gates open like a swarming battering ram.
They had entered the Holy Mausoleum!