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[Binding Host to role: ERROR. Following System philosophy of ERROR. Host should work hard to ERROR. Please excuse any errors while this System resolves some technical difficulties. Host may experience ERROR. Good luck!]

One moment, Shen Yuan had been raging at his computer, furiously typing out his longest comment yet in response to the final chapter of Proud Immortal Demon Way, and the next, he was blinking awake. Immediately he could see that the ceiling above him was not his apartment, and it didn’t look anything like the hospitals he’d seen on TV, either.

Other than the garbled nonsense he thought he might have heard before waking up, there was no other indication of where he was. Shen Yuan tilted his head to look down at his clothes. Simple, yet vaguely historical, robes? Long hair spilling out around his head? So it was transmigration, then. “System, are you still there?” he whispered cautiously. There had been a voice calling itself a system, right? “What story is this? Who am I supposed to be?” 

[Thank you for contacting System. This System has 24-7 customer support available for Host. This System is currently unavailable. Sorry for the inconvenience!] a very text-to-speech sounding voice responded. Well great, that was fucking useless. Apparently Shen Yuan was on his own with this one.

“Shidi!” a real voice called out. Shen Yuan slowly sat up and looked at the man who’d just entered the room and then frozen in the doorway. He only had a few moments to take in the man- who clearly looked like some kind of protagonist- before he ran over and dropped to his knees next to the bed. “You’re awake,” he said with absolute relief. The guy clearly really cared about whoever had previously inhabited this body, which was pretty awkward. 

“What happened?” he asked in a neutral voice. He’d claim amnesia if he had to, but hopefully this would be a story he was familiar enough with that he could get by, because amnesia storylines always sucked. 

The other man let out a long sigh. “Shidi had a qi deviation and was unconscious for two days. Mu-shidi thought… but that hardly matters. I am only grateful that you are alright.”

Shen Yuan waited for the guy to leave after repeating several times that he had no wish to see the doctor. Then Shen Yuan immediately got up and started looking closer at his surroundings for clues. He didn’t get far before someone else entered the room. “Shizun! How are you feeling? Is there anything you need from this disciple?”

He looked over at the boy standing in the doorway. Honestly, he just looked like a generic background type character, but he had at least added to the meager supply of knowledge Shen Yuan had- he was a teacher. Between that and ‘qi deviation’, Shen Yuan could put together that this was a xianxia setting. Was he a cultivator? Because that would actually be pretty cool.

“This master is fine,” he said evenly, not sure how he was supposed to be acting since that useless system hadn’t told him anything important before peacing out. “How have my disciples been in my absence?” Then he internally winced. What if this kid was his only student, and it was like an apprenticeship kind of situation?

Luckily, the boy didn’t seem to pick up on anything strange. “Everything on Qing Jing has been running smoothly!” the boy assured him.

Shen Yuan froze for a moment. Qing Jing and cultivation? Then he’d been transmigrated into that shitty book he’d last read? And worse, if he was the shizun of Qing Jing, then didn’t that mean he was the scum villain of the story, Shen Qingqiu??

Given Shen Qingqiu’s canon ending of being turned into a human stick and then tortured for years before dying, Shen Yuan definitely wanted to do anything possible to avoid that fate. He could only hope that it wasn’t too late yet. This boy here must be his head disciple, Ming Fan, and he still looked pretty young. “Where is Luo Binghe?” he suddenly asked, hoping that he wasn’t going to sound like a crazy person if this was before the protagonist had been taken into the sect.

Ming Fan scowled. “Chopping wood, if he knows what’s good for him.”

“Fetch him,” Shen Yuan commanded. Ming Fan perked up, like he was excited to see his shidi get beaten half to death. Boy, you’re headed right for the ant pit if you keep up this bullying behavior!

While waiting, Shen Yuan did his best to make himself look presentable. Luckily, the robes he found in the closet weren’t too complicated to put on. Real ones probably would have been harder, but of course that hack author wouldn’t have bothered to put any research into his faux historical setting. It worked out for Shen Yuan in this case, but it was still damn lazy writing.

He was browsing through the stack of documents on the desk when he heard the boys approach, and Ming Fan announced their arrival. “Enter,” Shen Yuan called out.

He turned around to greet them, and was nearly blinded by the bright golden aura surrounding the newcomer. Even without a name tag to look at, Shen Yuan could immediately guess that this was the protagonist, Luo Binghe. Still in his innocent little white lotus phase, where he was determined to keep working hard until he proved himself to his deranged shizun.

But now that Shen Yuan was in charge, there was nothing stopping him from hugging the protagonist’s thighs and preventing the gruesome future of the original goods. When Luo Binghe awkwardly bowed, his sleeves rode up, revealing bruises. Shen Yuan hated the original goods even more at the blatant evidence of abuse. How could anyone want to hurt the Luo Binghe? 

Shen Yuan tossed over a little jar of medicine he’d found while rummaging. “Take that and make good use of it. This master was hasty in his previous judgement, and upon reflection, has decided that Binghe was the one who was wronged.” He didn’t even know what the specific circumstances had been, but he could easily guess that whatever had happened before the qi deviation, it wouldn’t make Shen Qingqiu look very good.

Luo Binghe stared up at him with wide eyes. “Sh- Shizun?” 

Shen Yuan could not stop himself from smiling a little as he looked at that earnest young face. Luo Binghe was still a child, but it was not hard to see the potential to become a great man someday. Even if Shen Yuan didn’t have the advantage of having read the entire book first, he was pretty sure he’d still have been able to pick out Luo Binghe as the most important character. “My disciples must take better care of themselves,” he said, not caring about how out of character such a statement was. Worst case scenario was the other peak lords suspecting that he’d been possessed, but surely as a transmigrator he would not be caught out by any of the usual tests? 

Luo Binghe clutched the small jar to his chest, like he was worried that Shen Yuan would change his mind and take it back. “Shizun!” He dropped forward to bow again. “This lowly disciple thanks Shizun for his kindness. I promise to work hard and never let Shizun down!”

Shen Yuan waved his hand. “No need. If it is Luo Binghe, then of course he will succeed at whatever he puts his mind to. Binghe need not prove himself to anyone, least of all to this old man.” Then he took pity on the boy, who looked like he was about to faint from having his usually evil shizun act somewhat decently towards him. 

He dismissed the boys, then went back to his investigation. He figured that as long as he treated Luo Binghe well from now on, and obviously avoided any potential betrayal involving the Endless Abyss, then he was on track to have a much happier ending for himself as well as for the protagonist. Reading about all of those hardships might have made sense in a book in order to build up the main character, but Shen Yuan had no interest in witnessing all of that suffering for himself now that he was actually here.

Satisfied that he was on the way to making a good plan of survival for this situation, Shen Yuan was taken completely by surprise when a blue screen popped up in front of his face. There was a garble of text, but he could make out large ERROR messages sprinkled throughout, and then-

,,,

Shen Yuan woke up and immediately felt a sense of wrongness about himself. For a moment, he wondered if the whole transmigration thing had just been a dream. He forced himself to open his eyes, then furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. The room he was in looked just as much like it was from a movie set as the previous one, though this one had a lot more swathes of red gauze draped around, giving the whole place a hazy vibe.

Shen Yuan sat up and looked around. When he looked down, the sense of wrongness grew worse as he took in the sight of a much larger chest than he’d ever seen on himself before. Had he… transmigrated again? Had Shen Qingqiu’s body died or had Shen Yuan just been kicked out of it? And why was he now a woman?? What kind of unscientific process was this??? He was just lucky that Luo Binghe was still an innocent little sprout, or Shen Yuan might have to worry about being brought into the infamous PIDW harem. 

At least he’d woken up alone this time, which gave him a little while to come to terms with whatever glaring mistake had ended up with him in this body. For the sake of the woman who actually owned this body, Shen Yuan silently promised that he would not look down if it could be at all avoided. 

Standing up, Shen Yuan was annoyed to realize that he was about the same height as he’d been in his own original body- not because he’d been short, but because this miss was clearly just freakishly tall for a woman!! Still, it made him wish for Shen Qingqiu’s body again, even if it had only been his for a couple of hours. 

Heading to the door, Shen Yuan paused when he heard sobbing outside. He took a moment to compose himself, then grabbed a very lovely fan off of a display on the wall to hold it in front of his face. He could only hope that hiding his face would help him get away with it if he couldn’t figure out which wife this was right away.

He opened the door, and saw two servant girls kneeling in the hallway, crying. He cleared his throat, suddenly feeling very awkward about intruding. Both girls looked up, eyes wide. “Lady Mao!” they cried out. Both scrambled to their feet, the slightly taller one looking at Shen Yuan like he was a ghost. “You- you’re alright!” 

An annoyed voice came from the other end of the hallway. “What is the commotion?” 

Didn’t that voice sound a little too familiar…? But in this world Shen Yuan had not spoken with anyone other than Luo Binghe, Ming Fan, and the man who’d been by his side when he’d woken (who in hindsight could only be Yue Qingyuan, since he’d called Shen Yuan ‘shidi’). 

The younger servant turned to bow towards the figure coming into view. “Master Shen, this servant apologizes for the disturbance. It’s only that our lady has been so sick lately, but now she’s even gotten up!”

Master Shen? But wouldn’t that be-? Shen Yuan squinted to look at the figure coming closer. He’d only seen Shen Qingqiu’s face in an imperfect mirror, but the one in front of him now seemed to match that. So the original Shen Qingqiu was still alive after all? Was that why Shen Yuan had been moved to someone else’s body instead? Lady Mao didn’t bring any specific characters to mind, so there were equal odds that she was an unnamed side character, or one of the hundreds of wives that were completely forgettable.

Shen Qingqiu looked at Shen Yuan with sharp suspicion in his eyes. “Is that so. And when did Lady Mao first fall ill?”

Sorry, but this lowly side character really doesn’t know the answer to that! If Shen Yuan had known that he’d end up stuck in this world, he would have studied in advance, but there was nothing to be done about it now. All he could do was bullshit and hope for the best.

Luckily, the servant seemed to assume that his lack of response was because he still wasn’t feeling good, so she answered Shen Qingqiu in his place. “Answering Master Shen, our lady fell sick with grief after the death of Lady Fu three days ago.”

Shen Qingqiu continued to look at Shen Yuan with piercing eyes. He moved forward with more grace than Shen Yuan had been able to display even in the same body, and reached out to grab Shen Yuan’s hand without permission. There was a soft, cooling feeling that gently poured into his wrist and seemed to spread through his veins for a moment before Shen Qingqiu dropped his hand and took a small step back. “It would seem that Lady Mao has fully recovered.” Then he turned and went back the way he’d come without another word.

One of the servants let out a heavy sigh. “Those immortal masters are so intimidating!” Then she looked at Shen Yuan. “Do you need some more rest? Master Chen requested you see him as soon as you wake up, but if you’re still not feeling well-”

“It’s fine,” Shen Yuan cut her off. There was nothing new to be learned from further lounging around. He didn’t realize that agreeing to see this ‘Master Chen’ would involve being shoved back into his room, clothes stripped from him and new robes and makeup put on by one girl while the other did his hair. Was Master Chen someone terribly important? Shen Yuan thought that there might have been a cultivator from one of the other sects with that name, was that who? Perhaps this was some kind of cultivation conference? 

Nothing struck him as familiar as he was led through a decent sized estate, which was a little strange, because there was probably no one who knew the story of Proud Immortal Demon Way better than Shen Yuan did, not even the hack author who clearly never bothered to reread his own work for the sake of continuity. 

After a few minutes, they entered a receiving room, where Shen Qingqiu was sitting primly on the edge of his seat, two little sheep in white and green robes standing attentively by his sides. One of them was Ming Fan, the other was unknown to Shen Yuan. An older man with a round belly was sitting in the main chair. He looked up with some irritation at being interrupted, but then his eyes lit up when he spotted Shen Yuan. “Ah, Die-er! You’re feeling better! Come, come, let this master see for himself that you have recovered!”

Feeling some regret now that he hadn’t feigned illness for longer, Shen Yuan reluctantly crossed the room- alone since his servant remained in the doorway. As soon as he was close enough, the man, presumably Master Chen, reached out to wrap his arm around Shen Yuan’s waist and yank him forward, pulling him to rest on Master Chen’s lap. Shen Yuan wanted to puke at this kind of treatment.

He could see a similar sense of disgust on Shen Qingqiu’s face, though it was quickly hidden behind a pretty fan. Master Chen settled back in his seat, content to have Shen Yuan remain on his lap. “This is my precious little Die-er. The loss of her poor sisters gave her such a shock that I was worried I’d lose her next. Peak Lord Shen will catch this demon before it can take my last little flower, won’t he?”

“...the demon will be caught,” Shen Qingqiu agreed. 

After excusing himself with the least amount of politeness he could probably get away with, the disciples were left to question Master Chen more thoroughly about whatever demon he’d called them here to deal with. As Master Chen held him tightly, Shen Yuan was already planning to grab whatever valuables he could and get out of here as soon as the cultivators were gone. You could not pay him to stay here like this, now that he understood the situation!

At least hearing about the demon attack could be interesting- so of course Shen Yuan wasn’t allowed to hang around. “Ah, Die-er, tonight I’ll show you how happy I am that you are alright, but for now, why don’t you go and rest some more? The details are far too gruesome for your delicate ears.” 

Simultaneously annoyed, offended, and grateful, Shen Yuan took the out. He didn’t bother listening in at the door, since there were a few too many servants around to get away with that. His own servant quietly started to lead him back to his room, but Shen Yuan paused along the way when he spotted the outer gates. “Actually, perhaps it would be good to get some fresh air on a walk.”

The girl’s eyes widened. “Ah? But it’s too dangerous! What if something happens to Lady Mao?” 

“I’ll be fine,” Shen Yuan assured her. He was just glad that she hadn’t protested by informing him that he wasn’t allowed outside or something. “Just a quick walk, and I’ll be back by nightfall.” It was a reasonable guess that the demon was only active at night, since that was usually the case in these kinds of side quest mini arcs. 

The servant grew even more reluctant when Shen Yuan made it clear that he wanted to go out on his own, but in the end he apparently had enough power to do as he pleased. He hurried out before the servant could change her mind and try to call him back.

Shen Yuan found that it wasn’t too difficult to walk around. These robes were much more feminine than what he’d worn in Shen Qingqiu’s body, but the basic cut of them was pretty similar. His shoes were a bigger annoyance, so his first goal was to buy a pair that were more easily walked in. 

As he walked through the market that was not too far from the Chen Estate, he spotted a familiar face and smiled indulgently at the sight. Luo Binghe was wandering through the market with a young female disciple, and Shen Yuan could guess that that was Ning Yingying. Were the two of them on a date together? 

Unable to hide his curiosity at the thought of witnessing a date between the protagonist and his childhood sweetheart, Shen Yuan tried to stealthily move closer. But his stupid shoes got in the way, and he accidentally stepped on the hem of his robes, which sent him tumbling forward.

He expected to collide with the ground, but was caught by a pair of strong, if thin, arms. Shen Yuan blinked a few times, then looked up to realize that he was far closer to Luo Binghe than he had been before. “Binghe,” he breathed out without thinking.

The adorable little white lotus tilted his head to the side in confusion. “Have we met before, Miss?” 

Shen Yuan laughed nervously as he righted himself and brushed down the front of his robes. “Aha, no, my mistake.” He glanced back to make sure that Ning Yingying wasn’t offended to have lost Luo Binghe’s attention, and then frowned. “What happened to your friend?” he wondered.

Luo Binghe whirled around, and gasped when he was unable to stop Ning Yingying either. “She’s-” He turned back to Shen Yuan and bowed. “Apologies, Miss, but this disciple must find his shijie immediately!”

Shen Yuan reached out to pat Luo Binghe’s head without consciously deciding to. “What a good friend,” he praised. “Wait, before you go, allow me to offer my thanks for saving me from a nasty fall.” He didn’t have any money on him (which, now that he thought about it, would have been an annoying obstacle when it came to obtaining some new shoes), but his hair had been done up so nicely that he was sure there was something of value in there. He reached up to carelessly pluck free a hair pin. It was a silver pin with a gold butterfly on the end, the wings kingfisher blue. And Master Chen had called Shen Yuan Die-er, hadn’t he? Two guesses about who had gifted him the pin. “Here.” 

Luo Binghe stared at him blankly. “Miss-”

“I insist,” Shen Yuan said, hoping that the gold would actually sell for a fair amount. “You look like someone who deserves to get himself something nice.” 

Luo Binghe still seemed hesitant, but when it was clear that Shen Yuan wouldn’t take the pin back, the boy reluctantly reached out and accepted it. “Thanking Miss for this gift.” He carefully slid the pin up his sleeve. “Now this disciple really must go.” Shen Yuan watched the boy hurry off, and then-

,,,

Okay, this was really starting to get old. Could he maybe get through a whole day before waking up in some new body again?? “Shixiong, shixiong, please wake up,” a terrified little voice pleaded.

Shen Yuan groaned as he opened his eyes. His whole body was sore, like he’d been hit by a truck or something, and he was once again somewhere unfamiliar to him. Small hands helped him sit up, and he looked around. He was lying in some grass near a dirt pathway that seemed dark with… blood??

“What happened?” 

He looked at the girl who was kneeling next to him. She was dressed in cultivation robes, but not the ones he’d seen on Qing Jing, and there were tear tracks running down her cheeks. “Shixiong, this shimei is so sorry! You told me to run but I was so scared, and Shixiong was the one who-! I thought you were dead!” she blubbered.

Shen Yuan carefully got to his feet and assessed his condition. He wasn’t a medical expert, but other than the general soreness, it didn’t seem like anything was broken or severely maimed, which was a good sign. “The one who attacked me,” he started slowly, trying to prod for more information about the exact situation.

The girl sniffled as she also got to her feet, then she clenched her fists and looked up at Shen Yuan with determination, like she really believed that he alone would be enough to protect her from whatever the danger. “That demon said that I was not worth the effort of killing, and continued on to meet up with the others. I heard really loud noises coming from the direction of the bridge. I think… I think they broke it and trapped us. Shizun is still away, so what are we going to do?”

“Do what I told you before and hide,” Shen Yuan instructed, mind already racing to sort through what he’d been told. He could only assume that this was another peak on Cang Qiong. And if there were multiple demons and broken bridges, then this had to be the demon invasion arc. He was probably a Qiong Ding disciple, old enough to have a sword, which he quickly scooped up off the ground.

The girl gave him an uncertain look, but Shen Yuan did his best to look confident even though he had absolutely no idea what he was doing. Couldn’t he have at least been given a training montage before being put right in the middle of this kind of situation???

He waited until she’d scampered off, and then he turned to head the opposite way from the bridge, assuming that that was where the demons would be going. He encountered some more disciples along the way, all of them looking very relieved to see him. This old man really wouldn’t be able to do much to save anyone, but the confidence boost was appreciated!

It didn’t take too long before he reached an actual crowd, and when he was noticed, most of the other disciples moved aside to let him pass through, which was nice of them. Though it was most likely because they figured that they would be safer with one more person in between them and the demons. Even the older looking ones called him ‘shixiong’ and bowed their heads as he passed by them. He must be someone important, then. 

When he got to the front of the crowd, he saw a bunch of disciples in the same robes as Shen Yuan, and they were facing off against a bunch of demons. There seemed to be a stand still for the moment, but Shen Yuan had no idea how long that would last. Well, even if the man was scum, Shen Yuan took some comfort in the fact that Shen Qingqiu was supposed to show up pretty soon.

For now, though, everyone seemed to be looking to Shen Yuan for help. He took a moment to close his eyes and take a deep breath in, and then continued forward. He paused for just a moment when he spotted Luo Binghe in the crowd, and gave the boy a nod and a small smile before looking towards the threats.

The girl standing in front of the demons must be Sha Hualing, based on her skimpy clothes and the bells that were tied around her ankles and wrists. Obviously this was still early in the story, but it was still strange to see her looking like a little brat rather than a grown woman. “What’s going on?” he demanded to know, trying to make his voice as imposing as possible.

He wasn’t sure if he succeeded, but he was at least loud enough to get the demon saintess’ attention. She looked at him appraisingly, and then seemed to decide that he was worthless. “Ah, there’s no need for a little no-name disciple like you to get involved. This Ling-er is just playing, anyways.”

One of the other disciples called out indignantly, “Don’t speak so carelessly! Gao-shixiong is the head disciple of Qiong Ding Peak and will be the Sect Leader of Cang Qiong someday!” 

Thank you for that exposition, random student number one! 

Sha Hualing looked him over again, maybe trying to see what might be so impressive about him that he’d be a sect leader. Well it’s not like Shen Yuan had any answers for that, he just got here! Though if this all meant that the head disciple had originally died during the demon invasion, that didn’t really bode well for Yue Qingyuan’s judgement, did it?

Back to the situation at hand, though. Shen Yuan already knew what was supposed to happen next, but it would probably make the most sense to just stall and wait for Shen Qingqiu to show up and trigger the next event. To his relief, he only had to bullshit for a few minutes before Shen Qingqiu showed up, allowing Shen Yuan to move back towards the rest of the crowd while Shen Qingqiu turned his scathing personality onto Sha Hualing.

Since the situation was being dealt with by someone with more seniority, Shen Yuan didn’t feel bad about backing off. He didn’t have to think too hard before making his way over to Luo Binghe, who was watching everything with wide eyes. Admittedly, Shen Qingqiu was a very talented and powerful man, as to be expected of a peak lord, so his battle was truly riveting when Shen Yuan bothered glancing back at it.

Once he was close enough to Luo Binghe, he cleared his throat, then paused as he realized that this character had no reason to be approaching a random Qing Jing disciple. But Shen Yuan couldn’t help it. This would probably be his only chance to see the protagonist up close without playing a villain at the time! “Your shizun is good,” he said gruffly as he tried to think of something else to say.

Luo Binghe tore his eyes away from the fight to look up at Shen Yuan in surprise. “Ah, shixiong is speaking to this lowly disciple?”

“Mn.” Based on previous experience, Shen Yuan had no clue how long he’d be here, and he also didn’t know how much the real head disciple would remember once Shen Yuan was gone (since he was assuming that Shen Qingqiu’s continued survival meant that the other body he’d been popped in had also lived. Hopefully.) Shen Yuan held out his sword. He wasn’t trying to make waves by changing the plot too much, but he could at least help Luo Binghe avoid suffering quite so much, right? Why else would he be here? “Binghe should take this.”

Luo Binghe stared at him with wide eyes. “Ah- shixiong, that’s-” 

He didn’t get a chance to argue, because suddenly Shen Qingqiu’s cold voice rang out sharply. “Luo Binghe, get over here.” 

The poor boy was trembling from nerves, not yet the all powerful demon lord who would never fear anything again, and he clutched Shen Yuan’s sword tightly to his chest. This time, Shen Yuan eagerly watched the entire battle. Even with the sabotaged cultivation manual and lack of proper teaching, Luo Binghe was amazing out there. And despite having someone else’s spiritual weapon in hand without any time to get used to it, he was able to use the sword to great effect.

The fight didn’t last as long as it had seemed to in the novel, and when it was over, Shen Qingqiu didn’t even give Luo Binghe another look before he turned to talk to Sha Hualing again. Well, that just couldn’t stand. Someone had to cheer on that boy. And luckily, Luo Binghe was walking back towards Shen Yuan, perhaps to return the sword to him. 

As Luo Binghe got closer, Shen Yuan reached out without thinking, ruffling up the boy’s hair, which was somehow still in perfect condition even after such a tiring fight. “That was very impressive,” he complimented. “Binghe- er, Shidi, was very cool out there. No wonder your shizun chose you.” They both knew what utter bullshit that was, since Shen Qingqiu had only chosen Luo Binghe to humiliate him, but it’s not like that could be said out loud.

Luo Binghe’s cheeks flushed. “Ah, Shixiong is too kind!” As he held out the sword to return it, there was a strange, searching look in his eyes, though Shen Yuan had no idea what he was looking for. 

Before he could ask, Shen Yuan detected movement out of the corner of his eye, and he moved without thinking. He wrapped one hand around Luo Binghe’s arm to yank him out of the way at the same time he grabbed his sword with the other and held it out. The demon that had fought Luo Binghe had tried to rush at him, but ran right into Shen Yuan’s sword. Shen Yuan squeezed his eyes shut as he tried not to think too hard about the fact that he’d just stabbed someone. 

There was shouting and Sha Hualing and Shen Qingqiu were clearly getting pissy with each other, but Shen Yuan only had eyes for Luo Binghe. “Are you alright?” It was only a moment later that Shen Yuan remembered that Luo Binghe had a protagonist halo that would have kept him safe. 

“Shixiong-”

There was a painful stinging feeling in Shen Yuan’s hand, and he dropped his sword as his hand seemed suddenly unable to keep a grip on it. A dizzy feeling swept over him, and then he abruptly collapsed. Luo Binghe dove forward to catch him so that he wouldn’t slam into the hard ground. He heard someone in the distance say something about Without-A-Cure, and Shen Yuan wanted to sigh in disgust at that lazy naming that was so typical of Airplane. 

“Shixiong!” Luo Binghe called out again, much more urgently.

Shen Yuan smiled, and if his arm didn’t feel like it weighed a million pounds, he would have reached out to pat that little white sheep’s head again. Suddenly he couldn’t remember if anyone had praised Luo Binghe’s performance during the fight, which was just completely unacceptable. “Binghe did so well,” he murmured. “Binghe-”

,,,

“Binghe-” Shen Yuan cut himself off as he realized that he’d jumped ship yet again. This time it had actually been his fault, though, and he felt guilty at the thought. Even though a head disciple was strong, they were probably not strong enough to fight off a poison like Without-A-Cure, so even if that boy would have survived being possessed, Shen Yuan’s actions had most likely gotten him killed anyways. Shen Yuan didn’t know how to feel about that, and didn’t want to keep thinking about it.

It was more important to figure out where he was now, what role he was meant to be playing. Honestly, though, all this jumping around was just exhausting. Was this going to be the rest of his existence? Spending a few hours as one person only to be suddenly torn away and sent somewhere else? And he couldn’t even be sure how much time had passed between each jump. What a shitty transmigration this was. System, Shen Yuan would really like a refund!!

[Thank you for contacting ERROR. This System has 24-7 customer support available for ERROR. This System is currently unavailable. Sorry for the inconvenience!] Great. Useless piece of shit System. 

Shen Yuan heaved out a long sigh, then looked around. It took a moment to realize why everything looked so empty and hazy. Was this the dream realm? Glancing down, Shen Yuan furrowed his eyebrows when he saw that he was wearing baggy gym shorts (that had never actually seen the inside of a gym) and one of his ratty old t-shirts. Well, that only made his current appearance slightly more anachronistic than some of Airplane’s crap anyways.

He couldn’t help feeling somewhat curious, though. Would he always look like himself in the dream realm because that’s how he saw himself? Or did it mean that he hadn’t been placed in a new physical body yet? 

“Hello?” a familiar voice tentatively called out from behind him.

Shen Yuan turned around, and smiled at the sight of the little protagonist. “Binghe.” If nothing else, at least he got to see some more of his favorite character. 

The boy was cautious in his movement as he approached Shen Yuan, looking at him with searching eyes. A few long moments passed in silence before Luo Binghe finally asked, “Who are you?” and it occurred to Shen Yuan once again that he had no reason to know anything about Luo Binghe.

Shen Yuan’s mind raced to think of a good excuse. “Ah? Aren’t you the one who dragged me here?” he quickly bullshitted. “This must be your dream realm, right?”

Luo Binghe furrowed his eyebrows. “But this disciple does not know Gongzi.” 

Actually… Since Shen Yuan didn’t have that annoying System hanging over his head, was there any reason to lie? Sure, the adult blackened protagonist would probably kill him for the crime of being a man in his vicinity, but this was still the little white sheep version, so what harm could it do? 

“We have met before,” Shen Yuan told him, taking delight in the adorable look of confusion on the boy’s face. “We’ve met three times before this. I’m not from this world,” Shen Yuan waited breathlessly for the System to interfere. Nothing happened, so he let out a deep breath, and continued. “I guess you could say that I have possessed a few people- not by choice!” he hurried to add, lest Luo Binghe mistake him for a malevolent demon. “I was your shizun briefly, then a young mistress, then the Qiong Ding head disciple.” Luo Binghe’s eyes grew wider and wider as Shen Yuan spoke, but he did not interrupt. “I gave you medicine, a hair pin, and a sword, in that order.”

He wasn’t sure how Luo Binghe would react to that information. “You… So it was all you,” he said quietly. “This disciple did not understand why those people acted so kindly in one moment only to turn around and…” he trailed off with a little frown.

Shen Yuan crossed his arms over his chest. He could guess how Shen Qingqiu acted because he’d read about it so much, but what about the other two?? “What did they do after I left??”

A moment passed, and then Luo Binghe shook his head. “There’s no need to bother gongzi with the actions of others.” Then he smiled up at Shen Yuan, and it was so bright that he thought he was being blinded for a moment. The power of the protagonist was truly too much for a mere mortal like him!! “Ah, what should I call gongzi?”

“I’m Shen Yuan. There’s a possibility we may meet again, so maybe we should come up with some kind of code so you’ll know it’s me again? If we’re around other people, I won’t be able to constantly introduce myself as Shen Yuan.” Afterall, the previous three bodies had all had just one thing in common- they’d given him a short window of time to interact with Luo Binghe, so it seemed fair to assume that it might happen again.

“Mn. What kind of code would Yuan-ge like to use?”

‘Ge’!! It was like a one-hit KO, how could anyone bear to turn against this earnest and bright sheep??? “Lotus,” Shen Yuan blurted out, since it was the first thing that came to mind. Wanting to move on before he died to that golden smile, he shared what had come to mind about this current situation. In the dream realm after the demon invasion? This had to be because Sha Hualing had had her interest piqued and reached out to Meng Mo to investigate Luo Binghe. “Ah, we should figure out how to wake you up.” Of course it was supposed to be Ning Yingying here- maybe he was technically in that body in the waking world? Eugh, that was creepy to think about, so Shen Yuan quickly shoved that thought far, far out of reach. 

Luo Binghe followed him through the hazy environment without any question. Protagonist, how could you be so trusting?? Sure, Shen Yuan wouldn’t know about the gifts he’d given if he hadn’t actually been there, but he still could have been a dangerous stalker or something! Ah, but that was because Luo Binghe had not yet been blackened into hating and distrusting everyone in the world. Shen Yuan felt a pang of guilt at the thought that he wouldn’t be able to stop that from happening. If he’d stayed in Shen Qingqiu’s body then he could have simply chosen to not push his disciple into the Abyss, but as it was, Shen Yuan was helpless to do anything. Even a warning probably wouldn’t change anything, since Luo Binghe was still at the point where he thought it was possible to change his shizun’s mind about him. 

They walked together in comfortable silence for a little while before reaching a city. It didn’t take long to notice the eeriness of every person that they passed by missing a face. “It’s just a dream,” Shen Yuan reminded Luo Binghe, figuring that if he was creeped out, then the younger boy would be as well, especially when he didn’t have his love interest here to hold his hand through it. When they heard pitiful whimpers and looked down an alley to the sight of a very young Luo Binghe being beaten by a group of older boys, Shen Yuan had to look away. “Everything you see is an illusion created from you, and you cannot do anything to them without harming your own mind.” If he couldn’t even bear to look, he couldn’t imagine how Luo Binghe felt about the horrific sight. 

“Yuan-ge, where are you from?” Luo Binghe suddenly asked. “Yuan-ge seems to know so much about this place.”

Telling Luo Binghe he was from a different world was one thing, but telling him that his whole life was just the subject of a badly written book just seemed cruel. “I just read a lot,” Shen Yuan mumbled. 

Luo Binghe was harder to read than Shen Yuan would’ve thought he’d be at this age. There was an intense look in his eyes, though Shen Yuan had no idea what it meant. “Yuan-ge-”

[ERROR]

Chapter Text

Luo Binghe had not led a charmed life. It made him all the more grateful for the moments of happiness he had been able to find, even if they all inevitably led to more pain. He had a loving mother, but was unable to protect her from growing ill and dying. He was accepted into a prestigious cultivation sect, but his shizun and martial siblings all hated him. He had made his first friend in Ning Yingying, but she unintentionally led him into sticky situations that brought about more bullying. And most recently, he had learned that he had the potential to be very powerful, at the cost of accepting his demonic heritage that would have everyone turn on him in an instant if they ever found out.

Perhaps the gods had decided to reward Luo Binghe to make up for all of the suffering by offering him something else. He hadn’t put the pieces together on his own, confused by a moment of kindness from his shizun, from a random stranger, from a disciple of a different peak. But he knew better, now.

He heard a heavy sigh somewhere in the back of his mind. “Boy, are you going to think about anything else today?” 

Luo Binghe looked up from the empty medicine jar and the hairpin he was holding. He had to keep them carefully hidden in the wood shed so that they would not be lost as his precious jade guanyin had been, but sometimes he could not help but take them out and look at them again. Two random moments of kindness, seemingly unrelated at the time, but now he knew the truth. Both had been gifts from Shen Yuan. 

“Do you think there’s a way to find him again?” he asked. If he had met Shen Yuan in the dream realm once, then surely it could happen again, right? And from there, perhaps he could have an easier time finding Shen Yuan again in the waking world, though that might be more difficult if his spirit was still moving between bodies. 

The dream demon sighed again. “If anyone were to have trouble believing that you’re a demon, this new obsession of yours would bring them over,” he muttered. “This elder did notice something strange. Even one as old and wise as I needed permission to settle down in your head. And yet your spirit claims that he possessed multiple people, who just happened to have access to you, and it was not by choice?”

Luo Binghe frowned as he thought about that. Of course Shen Yuan could have been lying, but Luo Binghe really didn’t think that there had been anything malicious about the spirit. “Maybe I could try talking to Gao-shixiong?” he suggested. There was no way Shen Qingqiu would answer any questions and Die-er had been executed by Shen Qingqiu, which meant that Gao-shixiong was the only real possibility. Of course he was still holed up on Qian Cao, but with Meng Mo’s help, he should be able to visit the older boy in the dream realm, right?

If Gao-shixiong was able to confirm whether or not he’d given Shen Yuan permission to take over his body temporarily, then it would be enough for Luo Binghe. “You wouldn’t be able to do it,” Meng Mo bluntly told him. “You haven’t been training for longer than a couple of days.”

“But you could do it?” Luo Binghe asked.

From the frequency Meng Mo sighed at, one would think that Luo Binghe was truly asking the world of him each time they spoke. “Tonight, this elder will take a look at the boy’s memories, if he remembers anything at all. Such a thorough possession is not something this elder is well acquainted with. Any number of side effects could occur.” 

Though it might make Luo Binghe’s search more difficult, he couldn’t help but think that it would be for the best if Gao-shixiong didn’t remember anything. If he knew about Shen Yuan, he would surely call him a demon and blame him for the poison, even though Shen Yuan had only been trying to protect Luo Binghe.

Thinking about it, Luo Binghe was also glad that Shen Yuan had not stayed in Gao-shixiong’s body. It would have been easier to meet up with him again, but that body had been poisoned and would be uncomfortable, if not outright painful, for someone at that level of cultivation. 

Even if it was probably for the best, that didn’t stop Luo Binghe from feeling disappointed when Meng Mo reported to him the next morning that Gao-shixiong did not remember anything from the time that Shen Yuan was using his body. “If it weren’t for the fact that he’s clearly still alive now, this elder would think that the boy had already died before that spirit took over. A rare demon may be able to pilot an empty body, but they wouldn’t leave it alive again once they were done with it.”

“You saw him in the dream realm already; is there any way to find him again?” 

“Haven’t you already asked?” Meng Mo sounded aggrieved at the fact that Luo Binghe was more interested in this than in actually learning from the dream demon. “Finding people in the dream realm may be an old trick for this elder, but spirits are not people and do not dream in the same way. This elder searched, but found no signs of your ‘Shen Yuan’. Although based on his choice of clothing, I would assume he’s a demon rather than a spirit in the first place.”

Thinking of Meng Mo seeing Shen Yuan’s scantily clad body made Luo Binghe frown. “If you find him, don’t look at him so much,” he grumbled.

“The disrespect towards this elder,” Meng Mo grumbled in return. 

,,,

“This is not sustainable,” Shen Yuan complained out loud. The horse he’d woken up next to gave him a weird look, but Shen Yuan ignored it. He wasn’t yet at the point where he planned on taking criticism from animals. He groaned as he got up, brushing itchy hay off of his clothes. He finally had pants again, so at least there was that. But he could not spend the rest of his life bouncing around from body to body with barely any time to breathe in between. It would drive him crazy for sure. 

The stable doors were wrenched open, and a woman with a bright red face glowered down at him. “Fan Bolin!” she barked out. “How dare you laze around so late into the day? Do you think that the chores will do themselves?”

“Do themselves?” Shen Yuan repeated, barely able to refrain from laughing. 

The woman must have seen the amusement in his eyes, though, because she only seemed to get more angry. “Fan Bolin! You get that smirk off your face or you’ll be sleeping on the streets tonight!”

“Can’t be much worse than in here,” Shen Yuan grumbled just quietly enough that the woman didn’t hear his exact words. Fuck this shit, he wasn’t going to stick around and be treated like this, even if he was only going to be here for a couple hours! “How close are we to Cang Qiong?” There was still more stuff he wanted to talk about with Luo Binghe.

The woman just scoffed. “You think that just because your brother is a cultivator that someone like you would ever show any talent?” She shook her head. “Just get to work before you regret it. And don’t even think of bothering those cultivators!” Then she turned and stomped away. What a completely unpleasant person.

Maybe this time Shen Yuan could actually leave his host body (? ugh, no, that made him sound like some kind of alien parasite…) better off than they’d started. Surely no one would want to stay here and be treated like this. Maybe this Fan Bolin just didn’t realize that he could pack up and leave.

It wasn’t until he stepped out of the stable and saw some people milling about that he realized something was off. When that woman had been standing away from him, he hadn’t noticed, and he did know that real life horses were massive thanks to a couple of attempts at learning to ride when he was younger, so that hadn’t stuck out to him either.

But now that he was able to walk right up to an adult, it was quite blatant that Shen Yuan was far shorter than they were! Was he a literal child right now?? How could he, in good conscience, head out into the world and potentially leave a child behind in some random place once Shen Yuan inevitably moved on again? Ugh. And knowing his luck, this would finally be Shen Yuan’s permanent placement, leaving him to go through puberty for a second time. What a cruel world this was.

Shen Yuan was really tempted to duck out anyways, and at least spend his time wandering through town instead of doing chores, but he was worried that that would leave the real Fan Bolin with a harsh punishment, so he reluctantly headed into the inn next to the stable. Hopefully someone had at least left a list out so he knew what he was supposed to be doing. Shen Yuan barely knew how to do chores in his first life, let alone now in this shittily written fantasy ancient China.

Once he was inside, he remembered what that nasty woman had said about not bothering the cultivators. To his immense amazement, he saw a small group clearly decked out in Qing Jing robes. Was he eternally fated to revolve around this one sect or what? 

But his luck was apparently not too great, since he didn’t recognize any of them. At least it meant that Shen Qingqiu wasn’t around to be a dick, but it also meant that there was no sign of Luo Binghe. Shen Yuan let out a disappointed sigh.

A young man who somewhat resembled the mean lady hissed out, “Fan Bolin!” a couple of times before Shen Yuan realized he was the one being addressed, and he hurried over to the front counter. “Rooms six and seven need hot baths, go fetch their water.” 

Ah?? That kind of heavy manual labor was surely too much for a body this small, wasn’t it?? But the man didn’t seem to be joking. Shen Yuan wasn’t even sure where to find the water. Maybe in the kitchen? If he fetched it from a nearby stream then it wouldn’t be very hot, so there must be a closer source. As he wandered around, trying to casually take everything in in the vague hopes that there would be a convenient signpost telling him where to go, he finally spotted something good. 

Rushing down the stairs with his hair in a bit of a mess, was Luo Binghe. It was hard to tell how long it had been since their last encounter, since Luo Binghe definitely looked taller, but Shen Yuan was also in a much shorter body. All the same, he wasn’t going to let this opportunity go, regardless of what that harpy had said.

He hurried forward to cut Luo Binghe off at the bottom of the stairs. “Binghe!” God, his voice was so squeaky, it was embarrassing. How had he not noticed that right away when he’d woken up here? 

The disciple paused on the bottom step and looked at Shen Yuan with narrowed, searching eyes. “Yes?” 

Shen Yuan almost said it was him, but then remembered at the last second that it would make things really awkward if he introduced himself by name when there were people around who knew he was supposed to be Fan Bolin. That was the whole reason they’d set up a code word in the first place. He didn’t want to sound like a complete idiot, though, so he had to at least try and work the code word into a sentence. “Ah, does, uh, the young master like lotus root tea?” he asked awkwardly.

Luo Binghe’s eyes widened, and he leaned in closer. “Yuan-ge?” he whispered.

Again with the ‘ge’! Shen Yuan cleared his throat multiple times before nodding once. “Mn.” 

Then Luo Binghe smiled, and Shen Yuan was abruptly reminded of the lyrics to an ear worm of a pop song that he’d heard at one point. Your smile could light up New York City after dark was certainly accurate, even if Shen Yuan had thought the words to be nonsense when he’d first heard them. Nothing else about that song was relevant, though, because Luo Binghe definitely did not have an ugly heart. “Yuan-ge, it’s been so long. This disciple started to think he’d never see Yuan-ge again.”

Shen Yuan shrugged helplessly. “I don’t have any control over where I go,” he said apologetically. “How long-?”

“Half a year,” Luo Binghe informed him glumly. Then he lit back up again. “But you’re here, so it’s alright now.” 

“You shouldn’t get your hopes up, Binghe, I don’t know when I’ll be tossed around again.”

Luo Binghe nodded thoughtfully. “Hm. We need to find a way to keep Yuan-ge anchored in one place, then.” 

“Preferably not this body, though,” Shen Yuan hurried to say, lest Luo Binghe think he’d want to stay like this.

After giving him a quick up and down look, Luo Binghe agreed. “What about Yuan-ge’s real body? The way it looked in the dream realm?”

“I don’t think that body’s in this world.” 

“Fan Bolin!” the young man from before barked out. “What are you doing, you lazy wretch? Get that water!” 

Shen Yuan let out a heavy sigh. “I guess I have to get some chores done first.”

Luo Binghe’s back straightened. “This Binghe will help,” he said in such an earnest way that Shen Yuan couldn’t find it within himself to argue (not to mention that he really hadn’t been looking forward to doing all the heavy lifting by himself anyways). 

Either that guy wasn’t paying attention or just didn’t care as long as the chores were done, because he didn’t say anything when Luo Binghe led the way towards the back of the inn. Recalling details from PIDW, Shen Yuan could guess that Luo Binghe was usually responsible for these chores if there wasn’t an employee available. 

He watched with amazement as Luo Binghe was able to fill one of the heavy wooden basins stacked by the back door, lifting it without too much strain. This was still just the white sheep version; Shen Yuan could hardly picture what it would be like once Luo Binghe had reached the full height of his power!

After they carried the water up together, Shen Yuan reached out to grab Luo Binghe’s sleeve as he remembered one of the things he’d wanted to warn the boy about before. “Ah- Binghe. You should know that…” he trailed off as he realized that as much as it was important for Luo Binghe to know, it still seemed cruel to actually tell him. Shen Yuan took a deep breath, then slowly let it out. “Your cultivation manual is no good. It’s why you aren’t progressing your cultivation as quickly or safely as you should be.”

Luo Binghe stared at him with wide eyes, then let out a tired little laugh. “Yuan-ge knows so much about this Binghe,” he said softly. 

Shen Yuan stared back. “You don’t sound surprised…”

“Ming Fan always gets a certain look about him when he’s causing trouble for others. He had that look when he gave this one a manual. But what can this lowly disciple do about it? Shizun approved of it, and when this Binghe tried sharing with Ning-shijie, Shizun got angry. This one can only do his best with what he is given.”

Shen Yuan scowled, and kicked at the wall. “That’s bullshit. In a less gifted student, that kind of dumb ‘prank’ could be lethal!” All those comments he’d left about how Shen Qingqiu should be castrated and tortured were entirely justified! How could anyone look at this innocent little protagonist and dare to harm him so badly?? 

Luo Binghe looked startled for a moment. And then, to Shen Yuan’s surprise, he started laughing, this time sounding more genuine. “Yuan-ge, you-”

“What?” Shen Yuan snapped, suddenly feeling embarrassed. 

“Nothing, nothing. It’s just that… Yuan-ge really cares.”

Shen Yuan felt his face go red and he huffed loudly, turning around so that Luo Binghe wouldn’t be able to see his face. “Whatever! Keep using that piece of shit manual if you want, see if I care!” 

Then it was Shen Yuan’s turn to be startled as arms suddenly wrapped around him, pulling him back into a hug. It didn’t last very long, but Shen Yuan was infused with a sense of warmth that he had not felt in a very long time. “Yuan-ge, you’re too good to this one,” Luo Binghe whispered. “Please stay.” Shen Yuan sighed as he stepped away from Luo Binghe and turned to look up at him. 

“If I had any say in the matter, I would stay.” Shen Yuan assured him. Getting the chance to be some kind of sidekick character to the Luo Binghe? Who wouldn’t take an opportunity like that? He could even be a mentor figure (preferably not the kind killed off to launch a cheap revenge plot), or maybe even a childhood friend, despite their vast age difference (of approximately 4 or 5 years now). 

“Hm. Well, then Yuan-ge must at least stay as long as possible.” He gave that bright smile again.

Thinking of the many hardships that he knew were yet to come in Luo Binghe’s future, Shen Yuan felt sick to his stomach. It was one thing to root for the protagonist as he went through those troubles as characters on a screen, but now that he was a real person standing in front of him, it felt so wrong. But realistically, what could he even change? Warning about the manual didn’t change anything. What if warning about the Abyss only made things worse somehow?

Shen Yuan reached out to grab Luo Binghe’s arm, really wishing that he wasn’t in this short little body at the moment. “Binghe, I don’t have much control over my life at the moment, but I promise that no matter what happens, no matter where I end up, I will always look for you. Even if things seem absolutely terrible, I’ll keep looking no matter what.”

Sensing that there was something heavier on Shen Yuan’s mind, Luo Binghe gave him a long, shrewd look, then nodded. “This Binghe will hold Yuan-ge to that, then.” 

There was no way to know how much time Shen Yuan had left, and Luo Binghe hadn’t been given any real duties on this night hunt, so there was no one to notice when the two of them slipped away together, just to wander around the town and chat. Shen Yuan may have read about Luo Binghe’s whole life, but actually hearing the stories from Luo Binghe’s mouth was so much better. And Luo Binghe was weirdly interested in hearing about Shen Yuan’s boring life as well. It was the longest time he spent in a single body before the error screen inevitably popped up, and Shen Yuan was whisked away to wherever he would end up next.

,,,

Okay, now the System was just taking the piss. “Are you fucking kidding me right now??” Or at least that’s what he would have said, if anything other than pathetic meowing came out of his mouth. He was a fucking cat! And not some cool hybrid creature with a dumb name but awesome powers, no. Just a regular, boring old house cat. Or alley cat, to be more accurate. What the actual hell was up with this bullshit?? “System I want a refund!!” he screeched in his mind.

“A-Luo, A-Luo, look at this!” a girlish voice called out.

Shen Yuan looked up in alarm and saw Ning Yingying. She definitely looked at least a couple years older than when he’d seen a glimpse of her during the demon invasion. Had he really left Luo Binghe behind for so long? What bullshit! 

Then he registered what she’d actually said. She was with Luo Binghe right now? Was this another one of their dates?? As Luo Binghe approached and crouched down next to Ning Yingying, Shen Yuan was suddenly filled with utter humiliation at being caught like this, just a pathetic little kitty.

Ning Yingying reached out like she was going to pet Shen Yuan, but Luo Binghe quickly, but gently, grabbed her wrist. “Shijie, wait. There’s something unusual about this cat.” 

Ah? Was Shen Yuan actually some kind of cool demon cat afterall? At least then this utterly ridiculous situation would have some perks. Luo Binghe let go of Ning Yingying then held his hand out towards Shen Yuan. And, well, it’s not like he could talk to explain his identity, so Luo Binghe would never know, and… before Shen Yuan could second guess himself, there was a warm hand stroking along his back, and he started purring as if on command. 

Luo Binghe smiled warmly as he carefully scooped Shen Yuan up, and Shen Yuan didn’t bother trying to break free and run away. It’s not as though anyone could escape the protagonist anyways! (And sue him if he wanted just a little bit of comfort after the exhaustion of constantly being bounced around from body to body!)

“What is it?” Ning Yingying asked quietly. “It looks like a normal cat to me.” 

“Hm.” Luo Binghe started scritching the top of Shen Yuan’s head (and he really hoped that it was being in this cat body that made such an action feel so damn good). 

As he settled into the crook of Luo Binghe’s arm, he noticed something dangling just a little in the faint breeze. He lazily stretched out one paw to bat at it. Ning Yingying laughed. “Ah, no, that’s my favorite ribbon!”

Luo Binghe tilted his head and looked closely at Ning Yingying. “That’s the lotus patterned one,” he said, before looking down at Shen Yuan, who was putty in his hands. “You-” His eyes darted towards Ning Yingying again, and then he slowly stood up.

Ning Yingying clapped her hands together in excitement. “Are you keeping it? A-Luo, I want partial ownership of this kitty! I found it first!”

“Alright, alright, but at least let this shidi name it, hm?”

Ning Yingying let out an exaggerated noise of contemplation. “Wellll I suppose that’s alright.”

“How about Yuan?” Luo Binghe suggested.

Shen Yuan immediately perked up at the sound of his name, and he looked at Luo Binghe in amazement. How had he known-? Well, that must be the amazing power of the protagonist at work. Even in the most bizarre of circumstances, he could put the pieces together just like that. Now that Luo Binghe knew he was holding a person, and not a real cat, it should have been extremely awkward, but Luo Binghe just kept alternating between petting Shen Yuan and scratching gently as his head and chin, and it felt too good to put up a fuss. Shen Yuan ended up drifting off to sleep without any trouble at all.

When he woke up, it was to the smell of something absolutely heavenly. He stretched as he got up, marveling about how fluid his whole spine felt, and then wandered in the direction of the amazing aromas. He found himself in a kitchen that seemed absolutely enormous, though that was most likely a perspective issue more than anything.

Luo Binghe was in front of the stove, carefully stirring around something in a pan. “Where are we?” Shen Yuan wanted to ask, but of course only a soft meow came out of him.

Luo Binghe turned and smiled at him, bending down to scoop Shen Yuan up and place him down on the counter to give him a better view. “Yuan-ge seems too skinny. This one decided to make some food.”

Weren’t cats supposed to eat different food from people? Ah, well it wasn’t really Shen Yuan’s problem. After reading the descriptions of Luo Binghe’s god tier cooking skills, Shen Yuan would never turn down the opportunity for a taste, even if this was an unusual situation. 

The timing was just about perfect, and it wasn’t long before Luo Binghe was plating up a bowl that was far too fancy for a cat, placing it down in front of Shen Yuan. It was beautiful, snowy congee with some vegetables and a few small strips of crispy duck. Shen Yuan had never eaten without utensils before, but when he bent down over the bowl, he felt his instincts come into play, helping him scoop up mouthful after mouthful of the delicious food. It was better than anything he’d ever had before. 

Luo Binghe laughed joyfully. “Take your time, there’s plenty more if Yuan-ge is still hungry. I’m glad that Yuan-ge likes it.” Shen Yuan took a moment to look up and nod eagerly before tucking back into his meal. If he had a human voice, he would have been sure to heap on the praise and point out that Luo Binghe would have no problem getting a wife (or several hundred) if he cooked for them like this. 

He wasn’t able to get through the entire bowl before feeling absolutely stuffed, but he still snuck a few extra bites anyways. It was just so good! He easily let himself be picked up again and carried over to the table as Luo Binghe sat down and gently placed Shen Yuan on his lap. He spoke quietly about everything that had happened since their last meeting while stroking his hand along Shen Yuan’s back, and he didn’t think he could be blamed at all for quickly falling back asleep.

,,,

Shen Yuan didn’t care what kind of role he’d landed in this time, he was just happy to be a human again! Looking down at his gaudy golden robes though, he couldn’t help  but think that he’d landed somewhere quite well off. Hopefully that didn’t mean that there would be a lot of people who would know him and realize that he was acting differently than whoever the original goods was.

“Shidi,” a kind voice spoke up. “Have you just been standing around? Have you gotten your bracelet yet?”

Shen Yuan turned and looked up at a young man wearing the same gold robes as Shen Yuan. Ah, so he was a cultivator again. Most likely from Huan Hua Palace, based on how expensive the robes looked. The young man had a handsome, youthful face, but of course when one lived in a world with Luo Binghe in it, there was no one who could ever compare. “Bracelet?” When the disciple gave him a look of slight exasperation, Shen Yuan realized that he was supposed to know what this guy was talking about. “Ah, sorry! This one, er, forgot.”

The man shook his head, but didn’t seem genuinely annoyed. “Shidi is often forgetful,” he said with some amount of amusement in his voice. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a little bracelet. It was just a bland string with nothing on it, but Shen Yuan dutifully held up his hand and let it be secured around his left wrist. “Just don’t forget what this one has told you. No matter what the Sect Leader has said, your safety is what’s most important. Know your own limits, just like we practiced, and if you come across anything too tough for you to beat, there is no shame in leaving it behind. And use your emergency flares if there is an emergency.”

“Yes, shixiong,” Shen Yuan dutifully answered.

The boy gave him a somewhat strange look, but before Shen Yuan could panic too much about having said the wrong thing, he nodded, and then smiled. “Good luck, shidi. I know your first conference is always the most scary and the most exciting, but you’ve been working so hard that I know you will do well.”

Wait- conference? Surely it couldn’t be- was it already the infamous Immortal Alliance Conference? Surely it was way too soon for that, though? Even though logically he knew that Luo Binghe looked a little more grown up each time they saw each other, to Shen Yuan it felt as though it had been maybe a handful of days since the end of his first life. This hardly seemed fair at all!

Shen Yuan had not even had any time to practice cultivation, and now he was expected to go into that arena when he knew that he would soon be filled with more deadly demons than planned and that a great many disciples from each sect would be killed? He didn’t even know the name of the random canon fodder he was currently masquerading as!! He could always drop out now and at least save this random disciple’s life, but then wouldn’t that seem kind of suspicious once everything went down? And besides, what if there was something he could do to help Luo Binghe in there?

Even though he was practically shaking in his boots at the thought of doing this, Shen Yuan found a group of similarly robed disciples and stuck with them as they listened to the rules being repeated. Killing monsters would earn beads, once inside the arena would be closed until the end of the third day, blah blah blah. 

Once they were given the signal to enter, Shen Yuan shuffled in with his martial siblings. A couple gave him strange looks, but presumably wrote off any strange behavior as a sign of nervousness, and let it go.

Perhaps at this point it should not have been surprising when he encountered Luo Binghe so quickly. Whatever was going on with his messed up transmigration, it was obvious by this point that he was meant to have some part in Luo Binghe’s life, even if he couldn’t yet figure out what that might be. “Binghe!” He called out after Luo Binghe heroically swooped in and took care of a monster that had been about to get one of the Huan Hua disciples. Luo Binghe immediately turned to look fully at him, giving him a scrutinizing look. “Binghe,” he started, ready to think of a clever way to use their code word, then stopped.

It couldn’t have been more than a year or so since he’d last laid eyes on the protagonist, but Shen Yuan couldn’t help it when it felt like his breath was taken away. How had Binghe grown so tall in that time? And his shoulders were wider, and his face had lost most of the baby fat. Shen Yuan didn’t know why his mouth felt so dry as he took in these changes.

Binghe stared at him quite intensely before offering a polite, but distant, smile. “Were you going to ask this one about his tea preferences again?”

Somehow, Binghe had already figured out that it was him. Shen Yuan wasn’t going to question it, though. Of course if anyone could so easily figure it out, it would be Binghe. Shen Yuan smiled in return, and nodded once. “Maybe, although I get the feeling you have a preference for lotus?”

The politeness fell away from Binghe’s smile, leaving something more genuine in its place as he strode forward. “Yes, you could say that,” he said in a deep voice. 

One of the other disciples looked back and forth between the two of them. “Ah, have you met before?”

“Mn,” was the only answer Binghe gave her before quickly focusing back on Shen Yuan, which was a little strange. Shouldn’t he have at least some interest in any remotely attractive woman he came across? Shen Yuan didn’t know the names of the girls in his group, but just based on the logic of PIDW, they would all end up in Binghe’s harem. “This Binghe is glad to see that Yu- that you- are doing well. Perhaps it would be for the best to work together for a little while.”

Shen Yuan didn’t even get to answer, because the other Huan Hua disciples all interpreted the invitation as being directed towards them, and immediately began fawning over Binghe. Honestly, it was a bit sickening to see in person. Shen Yuan just wondered which of these girls had to be Qin Wanyue, who would be poisoned by bad luck and then cured by Binghe at some point during this conference. 

Binghe seemed disappointed to have so many people hurrying to cling to him. He probably realized that it would be difficult to do very well in the conference if he was constantly looking out for all these randos. “Ah… if it’s too much trouble, then Binghe needn’t bother…”

Binghe quickly shook his head. “It’s no trouble. This Binghe is happy to help.” 

Even though Shen Yuan’s legs in this body weren’t particularly long, somehow it quickly ended up with Shen Yuan and Binghe leading the group by a decent distance, giving them enough space to speak with some privacy. “How have you been? Has anything exciting happened since last time?”

Binghe pouted- pouted! He was almost a grown man now, how could he do that and actually make it work so easily?? “Nothing is exciting when Yuan-ge isn’t around.”

Shen Yuan snorted as he remembered the many adventures Binghe had gotten up to even in his innocent disciple era. “Somehow I doubt that. We barely even know each other. Binghe has spent far more of his life away from me than with me,” he pointed out.

It was a light-hearted observation, but it brought a dark look to Binghe’s face. “Yes. This one is aware.” 

They continued on for a little longer, with Binghe occasionally stepping aside to take care of a monster that got too close to their group. He kept pulling Shen Yuan along with him when the less threatening creatures approached, and Binghe would do most of the work but then let Shen Yuan get the final blow so that he would get the points for it. Shen Yuan tried to protest, but Binghe looked at him with wide, teary eyes, and Shen Yuan had folded immediately.

Overall, it was a pleasant way to spend the day, even if Shen Yuan was aware of the constant ticking time bomb that was the Abyss. When the others decided to splash around in the water for a bit, after complaining endlessly about being far too tired to continue walking, Shen Yuan made up his mind. Even if it wouldn’t accomplish anything, Binghe deserved to know what was going to happen. “Binghe, there’s something I need to tell you. Something very important. I don’t know exactly when, but-”

He was cut off by a shrill scream, and spun around, gripping tightly at the sword that felt unfamiliar in his hands. The other disciples were screaming and rushing away from the water. At first he couldn’t see anything, but then the surface of the water rippled and Shen Yuan’s eyes widened. “A nu yuan chan? That shouldn’t be-” It was way too high level to have intentionally been brought into the Immortal Alliance Conference, which meant that it must have escaped from the Abyss. Everything was happening too soon, but there was no denying what must be happening, and his heart started racing. 

He started to move without thinking, wanting to help those poor children, but Binghe held up his arm to stop Shen Yuan. “Wait here, this disciple will help them.” 

Shen Yuan nodded, secretly relieved to not wade closer to danger, and he just stood there, watching the tragic scene with wide eyes. Binghe tried to help one of the girls reach one of the others, but they weren’t able to grab her in time before she was snatched up by the powerful water demon. Shen Yuan shivered and looked away, not wanting to see a person die like that. 

Unfortunately, there were not just trees and shrubs behind him, and Shen Yuan stumbled back in alarm when he saw what had to be the Rabbit-Finned Deer fish. From its stupid name and description, Shen Yuan had not been impressed while reading, but now it looked quite terrifying. “Binghe!” he cried out in alarm. Then the creature rushed forward, knocking Shen Yuan to the ground, and-

Chapter Text

Shen Yuan jolted up with a sharp gasp, heart still racing (even though adrenaline really should not be transferable between bodies like this, wtf System??). He reached up to press a hand over his chest, and grimaced as he realized that he was once again in possession of boobs that were not his. Ugh. At least he could take comfort in knowing that he wouldn’t be here like this for very long. 

He looked around, and saw that he seemed to be inside a cave made of dark purple stone. He was lying on a proper bedroll and there were the burned out embers of an extinguished campfire nearby. Well, there were probably worse caves to wake up in.

As Shen Yuan got up and stretched, he quickly realized how skimpy his clothes were, and he let out an irritated sigh. Couldn’t this lady have at least dressed in more layers to prepare for Shen Yuan’s arrival? 

There was a small pouch tied around his waist, and when Shen Yuan opened it, he was delighted to discover a qiankun pouch. Trying to find anything specific was nigh on impossible, but it was still such a cool concept to see in real life that he couldn’t help sticking his whole arm into the pouch multiple times. He could still clearly feel his arm, and yet there was obviously no way to see it past the shoulder. It was so weird and also so very cool. 

After a few minutes, he got bored of playing around and turned the pouch upside down, shaking out all of the contents onto the bedroll. There wasn’t too much to find; just a couple extra sets of robes (which he carefully sorted through in order of modesty before changing into the one with the most coverage), a small bag of money, a pouch with some barebones medical supplies, and a somewhat fancy looking box. The box looked like it had talismans carved into the sides, and when Shen Yuan opened it, he found that the inside was as cold as a refrigerator, and there were several large chunks of raw meat inside. Shen Yuan could only hope that he wouldn’t be in this body long enough to get hungry, because he did not know what to do with raw meat. 

Now that he thought about it, it was very bizarre to realize that the last time he remembered eating had to have been quite a while ago, when Binghe had cooked for him as a cat, which made it so strange to not feel hungry right now. He supposed that it was just another quirk that came with body hopping like this.

There were no weapons to be found, though Shen Yuan didn’t really know what he’d do with them anyways, so it was probably for the best. Thinking of when he’d stabbed that demon during the invasion made him shudder and quickly brush the memory aside. 

Shen Yuan finally moved towards the cave’s only entrance, and poked his head outside. There was a foreboding feeling in his gut that only got worse as he stepped out, almost like an insistent buzzing in the back of his head. He felt quite uneasy as he looked around.

He seemed to be at the base of a ravine, with sharp walls of that same purple stone going up as high as he could see. The air was hot and damp, which made it a little more difficult to breathe than usual, and there was a faint red haze to the air that Shen Yuan could only see when he squinted and concentrated.

“I don’t suppose you have any idea about which way I should go?” he asked the System, not really expecting anything to come of it. 

[System is currently undergoing update 2.4 and will not be available until ERROR] was the useless response.

Shen Yuan rolled his eyes. He slowly turned in a circle, noting that the buzzing feeling seemed to get worse when he faced one way versus the other. Wait- was that actually demonic energy he was sensing?? He looked down at himself again. Was he a demon right now?

All thoughts of caution slipped away as he hurried to follow the trail of the demonic energy, fascinated to figure out more about how a demon’s senses worked. He slowed down after a few minutes when he heard a loud shout in the distance. Shen Yuan hesitated, but then there was another shout, and this time, he was able to recognize the voice. That was Binghe!

As he raced forwards, Shen Yuan put the pieces together to realize that he must be in the Endless Abyss right now. He was lucky that he hadn’t encountered any monsters yet, though maybe it was because he was an intimidating demon himself? It was hard to verify that without outside input, though.

Shen Yuan quickly reached the end of the narrow ravine and emerged into a much wider area, with large ponds of boiling hot orange liquid scattered around. In the center of the area, he could see the swift movements of a battle, but it was happening too fast for him to make out any details at first.

But he had a good eye for observation (in fact, it seemed that this demon had better eyesight than any of the previous bodies Shen Yuan had inhabited), and he was soon able to pick up on a few things. Like the glowing red huadian on Binghe’s forehead, and the way that his robes were all torn and bloodied. And he recognized the creature that Binghe was fighting, it was a Golden-Tailed Giant Skink. 

Quickly recalling the specific weaknesses of that creature, Shen Yuan charged forward. He didn’t have a weapon, but even as he thought that, he felt his nails sharpen and grow into fearsome claws, which he dug into the skink’s back. With its attention now divided between two enemies, the skink was thrown off balance, and it didn’t take long for the two of them to finish the creature off.

They both just stood there panting for breath for a moment, while Shen Yuan sent a silent thanks to the muscle memory and instincts of this woman that had just helped him. Binghe recovered quicker than Shen Yuan, and looked at him with narrowed, suspicious eyes. “Thank you,” he bit out, like the words were painful to speak.

Thinking of everything he’d read of Binghe’s journey through the Abyss, Shen Yuan could fully sympathize. The poor protagonist had been betrayed and cruelly pushed into hell, where he was forced to constantly fight for his life. And the few times he encountered seemingly friendly people, they would either try to stab him in the back the moment they got the chance, or they would only offer their aid after seducing him. It had to leave poor Binghe with some trust issues.

Maybe it was actually a good thing that Shen Yuan was in a female body at the moment. Binghe was already on the path towards blackening, and he really hated men, so this body would make for a more gentle reunion between them.

Unable to keep quiet a moment longer, Shen Yuan hurried to speak. “Binghe, it’s me! Er, lotus! I mean, I’m Shen Yuan, but-”

Binghe rushed forward and wrapped his arms tightly around Shen Yuan, pulling him into a hug with so much strength behind it that it might have cracked a few bones in a more fragile body. “Yuan-ge!” he choked out. “This Binghe thought you were-” he cut himself off, and shoved his face into Shen Yuan’s shoulder. It took a moment for Shen Yuan to feel the wetness of tears hitting bare skin. 

Shen Yuan reached up to wrap his arms around Binghe in return. “I’m so sorry this happened to you, Binghe.” He gently rubbed Binghe’s back until the protagonist’s tears finally dried up, and he stepped back, though not very far. “I can lead you somewhere safe for now, but we should hurry. I don’t know how much time we’ll have.”

Binghe nodded solemnly, and then reached out to take hold of one of Shen Yuan’s hands, interlocking their fingers together. Binghe’s hand was so warm, and yet for some reason the gesture sent shivers down Shen Yuan’s back. Must have something to do with weird demon biology.

With their hands clasped together, Shen Yuan led the way back to the cave he’d woken up in. A quick search showed that nothing had moved in while he was gone, and the bedroll and fire remnants were still where he’d left them. Shen Yuan pushed Binghe down onto the bedroll and then began rummaging through his qiankun pouch to find the medical supplies. 

He didn’t realize how much his hands were shaking until Binghe reached up to gently take hold of them, tugging Shen Yuan down. Obviously he meant for Shen Yuan to sit next to him, but the poor angle made Shen Yuan’s feet stumble slightly, causing him to awkwardly land right on Binghe’s lap. “Ahaha, sorry, I’ll just-”

“Yuan-ge,” Binghe cut him off, his deep voice rumbling comfortingly through Shen Yuan’s side. “What’s wrong?”

Shen Yuan frowned and looked down at his own lap. Binghe was still holding his hands, so he couldn’t even awkwardly fidget with the loose material of his robes. “Ah, it’s stupid.”

“What is it?” Binghe pressed.

Shen Yuan sighed. “I’ve never… it’s just that I’m not very used to fighting. In my world, there wasn’t a common need for it.”

“Yuan-ge should have stayed back, then,” Binghe said, sounding worried. 

Considering that he had probably seen Shen Yuan get attacked back during the Immortal Alliance Conference, that was a fair fear. But Shen Yuan just rolled his eyes at the thought. “Binghe needed help, I couldn’t just stand around and watch.” 

Binghe sighed heavily, and then shifted around. Shen Yuan assumed it was an attempt to get them both seated separately, but instead Binghe just pulled Shen Yuan even closer, encouraging him to rest the side of his head against Binghe’s chest. Hearing the slow, steady beat of Binghe’s heart should not have been so comforting. “Yuan-ge should just rest for now.”

“Mm,” Shen Yuan mumbled, already starting to drift off as the adrenaline died down. Did demons even have adrenaline rushes the same way humans did? Eh, it didn’t really matter. Then he forced himself to open his eyes again. “Wait- I need to tell Binghe more about the Abyss before I have to go.”

Binghe pressed his lips together, then nodded once. He shifted again, this time standing up and bringing Shen Yuan with him. Despite still being a teenager (even if he was quickly catching up to Shen Yuan’s age), Binghe was able to hold Shen Yuan without the slightest sign of straining himself. The show of strength sent flutters through Shen Yuan’s stomach that he did his best to ignore. Anyone would appreciate the might of the protagonist, okay??

Then Binghe knelt down to carefully lay Shen Yuan out on the bedroll by himself. “This Binghe can salvage some meat from that creature so that we can eat while Yuan-ge talks.” 

Shen Yuan shook his head. “No need.” He patted around his waist to find the qiankun pouch and then tossed it up to Binghe, who easily caught it in one hand. “There’s some stuff in there, in a cold box. Don’t worry about feeding me, though. I’ll probably be gone before I get the chance to feel hungry.”

“Hm.” Binghe then turned to focus on starting the fire back up. He pulled out a small pan of his own, which had been in his kit for the Conference that all disciples were given, and set it up over the fire. It must not have been long since the Conference, because Shen Yuan could remember that Binghe had ended up losing most of his supplies over the course of his five years in the Abyss, inevitably needing to fight or papapa his way into getting new stuff. 

As Binghe focused on cooking (somehow making it all smell amazing despite the fact that Shen Yuan definitely hadn’t had any spices in his pack, and he doubted that Cang Qiong provided seasoning for the competing disciples), Shen Yuan focused on remembering every detail about the Abyss.

“If I had spare paper I’d write it down, but Binghe will just have to do his best to memorize it all,” Shen Yuan told him apologetically. Then he launched into an explanation of the fiercest monsters, their weaknesses, and the valuable parts he could safely take from their corpses after beating them. He described the confusing layout of the Abyss as best he could, though the fact that he’d only read descriptions of it in the book didn’t help much with that. He warned which demons would try to kill him and which ones were safe to sleep with. “They’ll all want something either way, though, so use your best judgement.” And then once he’d finished describing as much as he could, he finally, reluctantly brought up Xin Mo. “It’s a very powerful weapon, and Binghe is certainly strong enough to wield it, but Xin Mo won’t make it easy. It will always try to overtake its owner, and if Binghe isn’t careful, it could still take control. But it is the only way I know of for you to get out of the Abyss.”

Binghe frowned thoughtfully. “Is it just a matter of willpower and concentration?” he wondered.

Shen Yuan felt his cheeks flush red as he thought of the many, many, MANY poorly written papapa scenes in PIDW. “Ah… it requires dual cultivation,” he answered delicately. There was a moment of silence, and then Binghe let out a loud wheezing noise. Shen Yuan sat up and reached out to him. “Binghe? Are you alright?”

Binghe nodded. “Yes, this one is fine, Yuan-ge.” He cleared his throat several times, and then looked at Shen Yuan with those dark, intense eyes of his. Certainly no one could look at those eyes and truthfully claim that Binghe was undeserving of the sheer amount of women who were constantly throwing themselves at him. 

He finished cooking, and then made a plate for Shen Yuan despite his protests. And even though he knew that Binghe would need the food more, Shen Yuan couldn’t help but feel eager for another taste of that heavenly cooking, this time with a humanoid mouth. “Mm! Binghe is truly the best,” he happily praised after his first bite. 

Binghe seemed hesitant, and set aside his own plate, leaning forward so that his face was quite close to Shen Yuan’s. “Yuan-ge… do you really not mind this one’s dirty blood?”

Shen Yuan scoffed. “There’s nothing dirty about Binghe,” he answered firmly. Then he gestured to himself. “Besides, aren’t I a demon right now too?”

“That’s different,” Binghe stubbornly insisted. “Yuan-ge is not normally like this.” Maybe, but your Yuan-ge is not normally like anything, protagonist, so that was a pointless argument to make! 

Shen Yuan set his own plate aside (though not without a brief, mournful glance towards the remainder of his food). He reached out to gently rest his hand on Binghe’s arm. “Binghe, Shen Qingqiu is a bitter old man who takes out his anger on his innocent disciples because he-” Actually, the book had never given any motivation for the main villain. More poor writing choices. “Because he’s a bad person. Nobody with half a heart could meet Binghe and think for even one moment that there is something lesser about you. The fact that you are strong and smart and brave and handsome and kind is the same no matter whether you are a demon or a human. Besides, if there can be humans as rotten as Shen Qingqiu, then don’t you think that there can be pure-hearted demons too?”

He probably should have expected that that speech would lead to another hug, which Shen Yuan was quick to return. If he could do nothing else to help Binghe through this awful low period of his life, then at least he could do this.

,,,

“My king?” a pathetic sounding voice woke him up.

Shen Yuan groaned. He felt like he’d been hit by a truck. Like the one and only time he’d gone out drinking, on his eighteenth birthday. His older brother had insisted that it was a tradition and he’d been plied with drinks all night, only to wake up feeling like utter shit in the morning. Right now felt something like that, though with just slightly less of a nasty taste in his mouth. 

“My king!” that annoying voice squeaked out again, clearly determined to disturb Shen Yuan’s rest. It felt like a monumental task to open his eyes and look around. He was sprawled out on a shiny floor of a large room that looked like it belonged in a palace or something. 

He struggled to sit up properly, and when he glanced behind him, he saw the head-shaped crater smashed into the floor where he’d been lying. That was… definitely not a good sign. It also left it ambiguous whether the buzzing feeling in Shen Yuan’s head came from a concussion or from him being in another demon’s body. Then he turned to look at the owner of the annoying voice. He didn’t recognize the man, though the style of his robes seemed somewhat familiar. “What the fuck is my life,” he groaned.

The other man froze. “My… king?” he asked hesitantly. When Shen Yuan didn’t respond right away, the man jumped to his feet and pulled out a sword and a talisman at the same time. “You aren’t my king,” he asserted. 

Great. The first time he was caught out and it was while dealing with some cultivator. He got to his feet, stumbling slightly as he realized just how tall he was, much taller than when he’d been Shen Qingqiu. And his arms were tinged slightly blue from what he could see through a tear in one sleeve. So possibly a demon from the northern desert clans? Cool. Literally. 

Well, since he’d already been caught, there was no point with pretenses. “I don’t have time for this. Where’s Binghe?” Based on all of his previous bodies, he had to assume that Binghe was somewhere nearby.

The man furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, eyes darting around as he looked from Shen Yuan to the smashed up floor, and then back again. “You…” he trailed off with uncertainty, and lowered his sword a little bit. “Proud Immortal Demon Way?” he asked. 

Shen Yuan’s eyes widened. “You’re a transmigrator?” he guessed. The man nodded. “So I’m not the only one!” This was great news! Maybe his new bro would have some advice on how to stop being bounced around like a pinball.

The man sheathed his sword and put away the talisman, apparently deciding that a fellow transmigrator was not a threat, and he looked excited for a moment. Then it was like his entire body deflated, and he just looked even more pathetic than he had a moment ago. “My king,” he whispered sadly to himself.

Shen Yuan realized what the man was thinking, and he quickly shook his head. “I’m not going to be in this body permanently. This guy will probably be fine.” Assuming that Shen Yuan didn’t do anything to get him killed.

The other man looked relieved, and then smiled up at Shen Yuan. “That’s good. It’s just that- um. The story wouldn’t be the same without Mobei-jun in it. That’s all.” 

Wait… a cultivator calling Mobei-jun his king? There was only one person that this guy could be. “You’re Shang Qinghua?” Thinking of the terror he’d felt during the Immortal Alliance Conference, and how innocent disciples had died, and how Binghe had been betrayed and shoved into the Abyss, he felt himself fill with anger. It came to him easier than usual, and he wondered if it had something to do with the body he was in. “So it’s all your fault!” 

Before he could tackle Shang Qinghua to the ground and beat him to a pulp for what he’d done, a pair of heavy doors swung open, slamming them into the walls. Binghe strode in, and all thoughts of Shang Qinghua were banished from Shen Yuan’s mind. He couldn’t think of anything other than Binghe.

It had to have been a couple of years since their last encounter, and the changes really showed. Binghe was even taller now, shoulders even more broad, hair long and shiny and glorious. His demon mark was hidden, but there was a slight red tinge to his eyes that made them look even more intense than before, and Shen Yuan couldn’t help but stare.

Binghe didn’t seem to notice, he just nodded once. “Good, you’re up. We still need to discuss that western tribe-”

“Binghe,” Shen Yuan managed to say, even though his tongue suddenly felt too heavy and dry to be of much use. 

Binghe froze, and his eyes widened. The buzzing from his demonic aura grew stronger for a moment before abruptly dying down completely, hidden away. “Yuan-ge?” 

Shen Yuan hurried forward, even though it was awkward moving in a body so much bigger than he was used to, and the two met in the middle of the room for a hug. Both of them ignored Shang Qinghua standing in the corner looking like he was having some kind of existential crisis.

“How long has it been?” Shen Yuan asked as he was ushered down the hallway of what he now knew to be Binghe’s palace in the demon realm.

Binghe’s smile flickered for a moment. “Three years. This Binghe escaped from the Abyss thanks to Yuan-ge’s aid two years ago, and has since been building up a united demonic empire.”

One year?? Binghe speed ran the entire Abyss in one year??? “Binghe has been working hard.” Also- hang on, if Binghe had been seventeen when he’d been pushed into the Abyss and it had been three years since then, then that meant-

“Yuan-ge?” 

Shen Yuan didn’t even realize that he’d come to a dead stop in the middle of the hallway, but his current revelation was not an easy one to accept. “Binghe is twenty now,” he said softly, and there was no disagreement. “Then… then we’re the same age now?”

Binghe’s eyes widened slightly, and then he turned his charming grin up to ten. “Yuan-ge, you’re just…” he trailed off and shook his head. “Come on.” 

He led Shen Yuan to a very nice suite that was heavy with the feeling of Binghe’s demonic aura. “Is this your room?”

“Mn.” 

Did this giant palace not have any guest rooms? Well, it would be rude to ask about it, if that were the case. Just because Binghe’s had a couple of years to work on expanding his power doesn’t mean that palace renovations had been a priority. Not that it really mattered if Shen Yuan had his own room anyways, since he doubted that he’d be able to stay the night, so this probably made the most sense all around.

After patiently answering Shen Yuan’s questions about what had happened in their time apart, Binghe frowned. “This one has done much research, but is too stupid to understand how to help Yuan-ge.”

“Ah? What do I need help with?”

Binghe gave him a look of exasperation. “Does Yuan-ge enjoy being unable to settle down anywhere?”

“Oh, right. That.” Since the problem was due to a faulty System, somehow Shen Yuan doubted that there was anything that could be done to help him. Even the almighty protagonist was surely not as powerful as the System itself (even if the System did mostly seem like a useless jerk). 

Although… Maybe there was someone who could be of some use. Shang Qinghua had immediately assumed that Mobei-jun was gone and permanently replaced by Shen Yuan, which implied that he hadn’t had the same issues as Shen Yuan throughout this transmigration. “I might have an idea.” 

Binghe looked so excited at the thought of there being a solution that he didn’t even complain when Shen Yuan asked to meet with Shang Qinghua in private. It wasn’t that he wanted to exclude Binghe, but if Shang Qinghua did have a working System, then there would probably be some rules about discussing transmigration in front of the protagonist.

“This is so weird,” was the first thing Shang Qinghua said once the two of them were sitting in a small meeting room together. “You aren’t anything like Mobei-jun. And how do you know Luo Binghe?” Shen Yuan explained everything about his messed up transmigration. When he was done, Shang Qinghua just stared at him for several long seconds. “So weird.” He cleared his throat and leaned back. “Sooo… I’m guessing you’re looking for a way to anchor yourself somewhere?”

Shen Yuan. “That would be nice. Do you have a System? Can you ask how to fix this kind of glitch? Not to stay in this body, of course,” he hurried to add, so that Shang Qinghua would know that Shen Yuan had no intention of staying as ‘his king’. “I was actually thinking that maybe we could work with the Sun and Moon Dew Mushroom. I would have no way of adding my actual DNA, but at least then I’d know for sure that I’m not taking over some other poor sap’s life.” 

Shang Qinghua gave him a long look, (which seemed to hold some confusion in it, though it was probably safe to assume that not everyone recalled as many details from PIDW as Shen Yuan did). Then the peak lord was quiet for a minute as he stared off into the distance, presumably communicating with his System. Eventually, he focused back on Shen Yuan. “So the good news is that your System can be forcibly restarted, which should send you to one body and leave you there, although I don’t know if you’d have any choice about whose body.”

Shen Yuan frowned as he sensed a ‘but’. “And the bad news?”

Shang Qinghua gulped and laughed awkwardly. “Ah it seems that the System thinks you’re the bug, and there’s an equal chance that fixing your System will mean that it will immediately terminate your account.” 

They both just stared at each other for a moment, and then Shen Yuan lunged over the table to grab Shang Qinghua by the collar. “Stupid fucking hack-!” 

Shang Qinghua held his hands up in self defense. “Wait- wait- wait- bro, I have an idea! I have an idea!” 

Shen Yuan huffed and sank back into his seat. “Fine. Let’s hear it.” He crossed his arms over his chest and hoped that whatever he was doing with this unfamiliar face was at least intimidating.

,,,

...

......

.........

Are you fucking kidding?? “System, can’t you at least let me hear the solution to the problem that you caused??” Shen Yuan raged, getting nothing but the blue error screen in response. Looking around, Shen Yuan quickly recognized that he was back in the dream realm, in his own body. There were worse places he could have ended up, but it would have been so much easier if he could have just sat down and figured everything out with Shang Qinghua in one go rather than having to go searching for him and Binghe again. At least there was something comforting in knowing that he was not alone in this anymore. 

“Oh good, you’re actually here this time. That brat had better appreciate this elder’s hard work,” a cranky voice spoke up from somewhere off to the side.

Shen Yuan turned to see an old man hovering nearby. His whole bottom half faded into a swirling shadow, and he had an implausibly long white beard. He guessed that it had to be Meng Mo. “Can you bring me to Binghe?”

There was a lot of grumbling about how no one showed proper respect to a vaunted elder such as himself, and then he faded away. Before Shen Yuan could insult the demon, his surroundings rippled and changed until they resembled Binghe’s room in the palace. Binghe was there, angrily ripping up a piece of cloth or something, but he tossed it aside as soon as he felt Shen Yuan appear. “Yuan-ge!”

Shen Yuan reached out to pat Binghe’s head without thinking about how difficult it would be due to their height difference. It was truly so disrespectful that Binghe had dared to grow so tall! Luckily, Binghe was a clever man and he ducked down enough that Shen Yuan could easily reach his head. “We really need to figure out the solution, I am getting so sick of this.”

“This Binghe would also feel more at peace knowing that Yuan-ge would no longer be yanked around without his choosing. Did you and that rat come up with anything useful?”

“Maybe,” Shen Yuan hedged. “Actually, since we’re in the dream realm anyways, maybe it’s something you could take a look at. I’m going to try something, and it will probably look like I’m just staring at nothing, but if you see something, let me know, okay?” Binghe looked a little puzzled, but nodded earnestly. Shen Yuan looked up. “System, can you give me any hints about how to fix your stupid glitch?”

[System is currently offline due to ERROR during update 2.4. Please hold for the next available ERROR. This System appreciates your patience!]

Shen Yuan rolled his eyes, then looked at Binghe again, who had furrowed his brows. “Yuan-ge intentionally summoned that viewing screen?”

Honestly it was hard to say whether it was a good thing or not that Binghe had been able to see it, but Shen Yuan decided to take it as a positive sign. “Yes. If I did it again, do you think you could find the source of it?”

“The source?”

“That screen you saw is what’s responsible for my instability in this world. I need to reboot it, but it’s not like there’s a convenient power button to turn it off and back on again. And I don’t see a plug to pull out or anything. But maybe if you can find the source you could figure out how to do something? You are the- you are Binghe.” If there was one thing Shen Yuan knew without a doubt about this world, it was the fact that the protagonist should be able to accomplish anything that he put his mind to. 

Binghe nodded with determination. “This Binghe will do his best-”

“Wait, not yet! I don’t want to be stuck as Mobei-jun forever!”

The look of distaste on Binghe’s face showed that he felt the same way about that possibility. Then he shook his head once. “That should not be the case. This Binghe can confirm that the real Mobei-jun has already awoken back in his body.”

“That’s good, but then I don’t know where I will end up. Wherever it is, I’d do my best to find you, but permanently taking over some random person’s body just doesn’t seem right.”

Binghe reached out to take hold of Shen Yuan’s hands, and gave him a long look. “It should not be a problem. This Binghe has had time to come up with a solution for at least that part of things.”

“Well, if you’re sure. Then I guess now is as good a time as any?”

Binghe nodded. “Yes. It is most likely best to do this while Yuan-ge is not connected to any physical body yet. Yuan-ge can summon the one entrapping him, and this Binghe will take care of the rest.”

Shen Yuan wasn’t sure how Binghe could sound so confident about it when the guy had no idea what a computer even was, but Shen Yuan fully trusted that if Binghe said he’d be able to do it, then he would be able to. That’s just how it worked in this world. 

He took a deep breath (even though he probably didn’t need air while in a dream?? Further research required…) and then jutted out his chin as he looked up. “Alright, System, are you ready to fuck off?”

[ERROR, this System cannot-]

,,,

As Shen Yuan woke up, he couldn’t help feeling weirdly- normal? Oh god, don’t tell him this was going to be an ‘it was all just a dream’ cliche. He opened his eyes and sat up, and could immediately see the familiar outlines of his room around him. There was a sinking feeling in his stomach, and Shen Yuan suddenly didn’t want to get up at all.

So that was it, then? Had he really just dreamed himself into such a bizarre and fucked up version of transmigration? Maybe that’s why he skipped through so much of the story of PIDW, because his sleeping brain couldn’t be bothered to fill in all the little details.

Shen Yuan felt so heavy as he shoved aside his blankets and got to his feet. Of course there were at least a few moments that he’d rather not have experienced, and the constant jumping around had been far too whiplash inducing, but the trade off had been getting the chance to know Luo Binghe, his favorite character. But none of that had even been real, apparently.

Shen Yuan shuffled over to the door and flipped on the light, glancing back just to double check that his mind hadn’t been tricking him. But no- all he could see was his own bedroom. The only thing that didn’t quite make sense was the lack of trash and dirty laundry on the floor, but Shen Yuan chalked that up to either his brother or a cleaner hired by his brother, and set the matter aside. All he could do now was continue on with his regular, boring, old life.

Shen Yuan pushed his door open and shuffled out into the hallway. He could hear the sound of the TV, which was unusual since he tended to just watch stuff on his laptop unless he was watching with someone else. Maybe his brother was still here, ready to scold him for living in such a mess?

He made his way to the living room, then paused in the doorway. The person sprawled across his couch like a king on his throne was most certainly not Shen Yuan’s brother. But his mind was having a very difficult time accepting that, since the world he lived in was always meant to be entirely separate from the fantasy and magic found in the books he liked to read. 

The name slipped out without him even thinking about it. “Binghe?”

The figure jumped up from the couch. He was still wearing his demon lord robes, which looked much cooler than any of the fanart Shen Yuan had seen before, and Xin Mo was strapped across his back. “Yuan-ge!” 

,,,

Luo Binghe knew that he had only survived the Endless Abyss thanks to Shen Yuan’s help. It was therefore intolerable that Luo Binghe was able to do nothing to help Shen Yuan in return. All he could do was continue to wait and hope that their next encounter would be soon. As each year passed, Luo Binghe felt more and more certain that he would never get the chance to meet Shen Yuan again.

And then, like a miracle who always showed up right when he was most needed, Shen Yuan had returned. It was a little strange to see his normally blank-faced right hand man showing so much expression, but ultimately that only helped Luo Binghe distinguish Mobei-jun from Shen Yuan. (And he was grateful that Mobei-jun wouldn’t recall his possession, because he didn’t think that either of them would survive the fallout of hugging so shamelessly in the throne room where anyone could have walked in on them). 

Shen Yuan hinted that Shang Qinghua was from the same world as him, and then the two of them had gone off to talk together. Luo Binghe had been left to wonder about what it meant. Considering how Shen Yuan always seemed to know so much about Luo Binghe and about the world, it did make sense in a weird way that Shang Qinghua had that same knowledge, since he also seemed to constantly know things he shouldn’t. But Shang Qinghua wasn’t stuck bouncing from body to body, and he didn’t have the same etherealness that Shen Yuan had. Clearly they were a different class of people even if they were from the same place.

When Shang Qinghua had slunk before Luo Binghe and dared to say that Shen Yuan was already gone again, Luo Binghe had been angry, but refrained from doing anything he might regret. Afterall, Shen Yuan had seemed to think that Shang Qinghua might hold some answers for him. As much as Luo Binghe respected Shen Yuan’s right to privacy, Shen Yuan was gone and Luo Binghe needed to know how to help him, so he demanded that Mobei’s pet human tell him everything.

The man had explained in very vague terms, but it was enough for Luo Binghe to start to understand. Both Shang Qinghua and Shen Yuan were beholden to the god who had brought them to this world in the first place. A god that was always watching. But something had gone wrong with Shen Yuan’s arrival and the god was either punishing him or had simply lost control. Either way, it sounded like the solution was to destroy the god. 

“Please don’t be rash about this, Junshang,” Shang Qinghua entreated him. “There is a chance that your interference will cause Shen Yuan to be sent home, where he is most likely already, well. Um.” Shang Qinghua looked queasy at the thought.

“This lord understands.” 

Over the next few months, all while waiting to find Shen Yuan again, Luo Binghe started delving into Shang Qinghua’s dreams. (Oftentimes he found himself having to immediately leave again, because he did not want to know what that rat thought of Mobei and his abs!) He paid attention while awake, as well, and eventually caught onto the pattern of what it was like when Shang Qinghua’s god communicated with him. A certain strum of power that could only be felt in those moments. 

Using that knowledge, Luo Binghe slipped into Shang Qinghua’s dreams one last time, with the intent of following the strings of that slippery god until he could find it and confront it. He would not allow it to retain control over people who had already joined this world and should now be left alone.

But no matter how much Luo Binghe tried, he kept hitting the same dead end. The god was too strongly secured in Shang Qinghua’s mind. If Luo Binghe wanted to reach it, he would have to go through Shen Yuan, though of course that would come with risks of its own. Not to mention that it would require actually finding Shen Yuan again. 

In the meantime, Luo Binghe worked on another project suggested by Shang Qinghua- creating a body for Shen Yuan to reside in once the god had been dealt with. Using what he’d seen of Shen Yuan in the dream realm, he did his best to implant that image into the seed before carefully burying it. 

And then Meng Mo came through for him, suddenly bringing him to Shen Yuan in the dream realm once more. Luo Binghe was more than ready to take care of the god once and for all. He had assumed that its poor connection to Shen Yuan would make it much easier to face than what was holding onto Shang Qinghua, but Luo Binghe had underestimated it. It needed only the tiniest opening to latch deeper into Shen Yuan and start dragging him away.

But Luo Binghe was a Heavenly Demon with full access to his powers, and he had a sword that could cut through space as easily as it could cut through bone. Focusing all of his intent on Xin Mo, Luo Binghe forced himself to wake up and then followed when Shen Yuan was taken away from him. 

And then Luo Binghe thought he understood the source of the problem. Shang Qinghua had indicated that Shen Yuan’s real body would be dead, and had implied that his own was as well. Shen Yuan’s body was not in good condition, but not dead just yet. And with a few drops of his blood inside to start working on repairs, Luo Binghe was determined to fix it.

He summed up the most important parts of all of that when Shen Yuan asked him what had happened. Shen Yuan just continued to stare at him for several long seconds, before letting out a startled laugh. “Binghe! Thank you.” Then he finally moved forward to hug Luo Binghe.

It was the first time Luo Binghe had properly held Shen Yuan in his arms, and it felt so right. He already knew that he would not want to ever let go again. And he wouldn’t have to. Now that he knew Shen Yuan was better, they could use Xin Mo to return home, and if anything happened to this fragile human body, then there was a backup in waiting. But hopefully that would not be an issue for a very long time, because Luo Binghe knew that Shen Yuan was as tired of changing bodies as Luo Binghe was of constantly seeing him leave. 

,,,

Shen Yuan explained in great detail why the show Luo Binghe had been watching was utter trash, thanks to its poor pacing, the fact it had continued on far past the point where it was necessary, the low budget towards special effects despite the mountains of cash being paid to the actors, the bad writing choices, the-

He cut himself off as he sat on top of his suitcase to squash it down enough that he could finish zipping it up. “Ah, you shouldn’t have let me ramble on like that!”

Binghe just gave him a sunny smile. “Anything Yuan-ge wants to talk about, this Binghe will listen to.”

“But it must be boring.”

Binghe shook his head. “This Binghe’s attention is thoroughly captured by Yuan-ge’s passion.”

Shen Yuan cleared his throat a few times as he hopped back to his feet. Binghe was a weirdo, but Shen Yuan definitely couldn’t complain. He did try to put up a token protest when Binghe reached out to grab the suitcase for him, since Shen Yuan had perfectly working hands of his own, but decided it wasn’t worth the fuss. 

Before Binghe unsheathed Xin Mo, Shen Yuan reached out to grab Binghe’s free hand. “Are you sure about this? I mean, if you think about it, you barely even know me, and I don’t have any real experience with navigating your world, so I’d be relying on you for everything, and-”

Binghe gently squeezed Shen Yuan’s hand, and then used that point of contact to tug Shen Yuan closer to him. “Yuan-ge has done so much for this Binghe- for me- and cared so much for this one. It would take a bigger fool than I to let go of Yuan-ge now that I’ve finally found him.” 

That earnest little speech, those sparkling eyes, the strong arm that wrapped around Shen Yuan’s waist- all of it sent a flutter through his stomach and made his heart beat faster. Shen Yuan knew that his family loved him, but apparently no one had even noticed that he’d been in a comatose state in his apartment for several days. No one other than Binghe cared so much when Shen Yuan was gone, and would go through so much trouble just to find him again. 

Before he could second guess himself too much, Shen Yuan stood up on his tiptoes to press a very brief kiss against Binghe’s cheek, more just a light brush of the lips than anything. Binghe froze for a moment, then pulled Shen Yuan even closer. “Yuan-ge,” he practically growled in a lower voice than usual. “You-”

“Let’s just go,” Shen Yuan squeaked out, face bright red with embarrassment at his own boldness. He didn’t even like guys, okay, but this was Luo Binghe! Nobody was immune to the protagonist’s charm, it was impossible to be! Luo Binghe had been his favorite character in an otherwise garbage story, and also maybe his favorite out of any other story too, for good reason! And as an actual person, he was so much better than he’d ever been as just words on a page, but there’s no way Shen Yuan had enough face to say any of that!

Taking pity on him, Binghe didn’t say anything else, though it was likely that they would have to actually talk at some point. For now, Binghe just held Shen Yuan and the stuffed suitcase close, and drew his sword. As Xin Mo cut a portal into the air, Shen Yuan was filled with a renewed sense of excitement. He was finally going to get to explore the world of PIDW in his own body (though he got the feeling that he wouldn’t fully believe it until he made it through a whole night of sleep without waking up as someone else). But most importantly, he was going to stay with Binghe, and there was no force that could make him leave Binghe’s side again.