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Despite a numerous harem that had no finite number (not just because of him, but also from betrayals, deaths, and, to his shame, the imposition of his wives' hands on him for one reason or another), for some reason not clear to him (later; much later, demons told him that Heavenly Demons were known for an inordinate history of incest, which was a miracle they hadn't died out before Luo Binghe was born) he didn't have that many children.
A total of six in the fifty years since he became the Emperor of the Three Worlds. There would have been ten, but some didn't live that long due to the complicated and improper mixing of demonic blood. In fact, Luo Binghe had two children from his human wives and four from demonic wives.
If Luo Binghe were to be completely honest, the most time he spends is only with A-Xin, his and shijie's daughter; and that is because Yingying looks at him with that same stern gaze and takes him by the hand towards his first wife's spacious chambers.
In truth, he hardly takes any interest in his children; he is protective and protective, as a father should be, but Luo Binghe has never had such a figure in his life, and he does not feel skillful enough in matters of parenting to try in this matter. This is what he tells his wives fondly and regretfully, with apologies on their skin and accepting their consolations.
Old Man Mo, on the other hand, only snorted at this when his second child was born.
'You just don't care', the demon said, and Luo Binghe didn't lie to refute it.
He wouldn't want to be the kind of father who doesn't care about his children, so he'd rather be aloof, and then...
And then his seventh child turns six, and Luo Qing is nothing short of a disaster.
Luo Qing is his fifth son and that second child by a human wife who wasn't even a cultivator and passed away in childbirth.
The boy was born healthy, with dark hair like him and brown eyes like his wife. She gave him a name with a character that he wouldn't have accepted had she stayed alive, insisting on anything else, but... Luo Binghe respects the wishes of dead mothers. Perhaps it wasn't even about him (he knows his wife didn't get along with Mingyan, which isn't exactly news, not many people get along with Liu Mingyan), and it was just a desire to piss her off.
Luo Binghe could already foresee Mingyan's displeasure, but he could handle it if the child was raised the first few years away until his second wife's ardor subsided.
Which could be anywhere from a couple days to a few years, because anything that could touch Liu Qingge was always cause for a fight.
After a while, Luo Binghe barely remembers another one of his children when three more are born afterward.
Luo Binghe meets his six-year-old son out of the blue, or rather, at the center of a sudden political scandal. His son has the same face as him (as do his other two children out of ten), and is the only one of all with wavy hair.
And right now, that son was trying to steal food from a clan of aggressive, albeit seemingly harmless, Demonic Black-bellied Swallows. And what food! Melon seeds!
Mobei-jun, just in time as always, grabbed the boy by the scruff of his neck before he would have lost his head.
“Hey baba!” the child waved at him, recognizing him as if they saw each other every day while Luo Binghe touched his chest for a second, feeling the frantic rhythm of his heart.
Never before had any of his children been so close to danger; was this what other parents had been telling him all these decades?
No.
He didn't know, he knew nothing, he suspected nothing.
Children are creatures who tend to kill themselves most of the time, and parents are the ones who keep them from doing so.
Luo Qing is a wild child; in a way that would please demon parents, but not like Luo Binghe, who grew up among humans and knows the fact that Luo Qing's body is closer to humans than demons, let alone Heavenly Demons.
The boy tries to show his mortality too often, after which he smiles that strange childish smile that charms everyone but Luo Binghe himself.
His generals? Stunned in an instant. Mobei-jun? For two smiles. Sha Hualing? She's buying him silver jewelry! Shijie and his human wives? Pfft, would die for the boy without a second thought.
Even Mingyan patted his son on the head and gave him a sword!
Liu fucking Mingyan!
And why is everyone looking at Luo Binghe like he's the weird one here!
“Baba, don't feel bad, they love me because we have the same face”, concludes his son older for his age and offers him a marshmallow given to him by someone who came over. Luo Binghe sighs, grudgingly taking the sweet and taking a bite.
He rolls his eyes, taking the poisoned gift from the child, nonchalantly finishing his portion; throws the child into the hands of Mobei-jun, who enjoys his role as babysitter a little too much, and goes to find whoever he's going to execute today for the assassination attempts on one of the princes (it's not hard when all the assassination attempts are on only one of his children).
Luo Qing is ten years old, and every year he becomes more and more like Luo Binghe, which is almost phenomenal. His advisors for some reason suggest Luo Qing, who has definitely impressed them with something (who would doubt it), as his heir, overlooking his first four sons, not to mention his two daughters, who are not much inferior to their brothers in strength. But more importantly, what makes them think he'd put someone who brings an ancient monster from nowhere into the house with the words “baba, can we keep him” as his heir?
Only his son's last loss destroyed a land comparable to a small island when that one was tried to be washed away!
Luo Binghe is sure Luo Qing will ruin his empire faster than a scented stick burns out and that's without intending to do so.
When Luo Qing is kidnapped by his cousin who suddenly came out of the grave, another Heavenly Demon, even though Luo Binghe was thought to be the only one, Luo Binghe wonders. Do they really need to save his son that much? At worst, the demon would just return him to them.
“Junshang”, Mobei-jun said grudgingly and briefly, instead of a long cautionary and accusatory speech, and Luo Binghe sighs.
Who knew that being the father of just one problem child was such a problem? And he can't even just marry that one off like a daughter! He wouldn't have collected such an expensive dowry in hundreds of years either!