Work Text:
“This disciple has returned, shizun,” Luo Binghe announced with a slightly too shallow bow, ignoring the disciples' whispering in favour of observing Shen Qingqiu's reaction.
Which was, so far, rather underwhelming. Shizun's signature fan covered half of his face, its slight movement sending his hair aflutter in the breeze. Other than that, he might have as well been a statue carved out of jade.
Binghe straightened out, staring his shizun directly in the eye. He'd give him this one chance; It was already more than he deserved.
Why was he giving it to shizun in the first place? He wasn't sure. When he had first managed to escape the Endless Abyss - mere days prior - a large part of him wanted to launch a revenge plot immediately, to extract the justice he was owed.
But… A small part of him wanted to see how shizun would react upon seeing him return. It would change nothing; There would be no obstacle stopping Binghe from collecting his dues afterwards.
That miniscule part of the white lotus disciple still inside of him, having sheltered deep inside of his heart - having survived shizun's scorn, survived the Endless Abyss - it kept whispering pleas of mercy in the back of his mind.
It would be easier to enact his revenge without it. Easier still if shizun was the one to kill it, once and for all.
The fan closed with a sharp snap, moving to pat against shizun's other hand. This was it, the moment of truth. Shizun's final judgement-
“Finally, the beast has grown a spine," Shen Qingqiu said, a cold smile stretching his lips. “And it only took the Endless Abyss to achieve." His nose twitched in distaste. “Though your personal grooming still leaves a lot to be desired."
“...Apologies, shizun," Binghe offered, feeling as if he had slipped into an absurd dream. Grooming? That's what shizun had a problem with? That's what he’d expel Luo Binghe over this time?
Shen Qingqiu turned with a swirl of his robes, clearly preparing to leave. Binghe would do so as well, start carrying out his half-baked plan to take over the Huan Hua Palace-
“Follow me," Shizun ordered. Then, his voice turning a bit more pointed. “I'm sure the rest of my disciples know their duties. This master doesn't recall spreading gossip being one of them.”
Binghe followed his shizun through the bamboo groove as if in a daze. the rest of my disciples, he had said, as if he counted Binghe amongst their number. As if shizun claimed him! For the first time since pointing him out of the crowd of hopeful hole-diggers!
Was that the requirement for his shizun's approval? A jaunt through a literal nigh-unescapable hell? Has the bar always been placed that high, or was that just for him?
Shen Qingqiu paused before the entrance of his bamboo house.
“Bring water," he ordered as he glanced back, nose scrunched. “The state of your hair alone is enough to warrant a talisman-enhanced bath."
That at least answered one of the many questions Binghe had in regards to the current situation; Already one more answer than he had been expecting.
Maybe he'd be able to toss his clothes into the tub as well, to finally wear something clean even if it was still wet.
…It'd feel like a novelty, to wear something wet with water rather than blood and gore.
He activated the talisman carved at the bottom of the bucket as he scooped in the water. It was a similar array to the one which made qiancun pouches work, allowing him to gather an entire tub's worth of water in one go.
When Binghe came to pour the water in, shizun pressed his fingers against the warming array at the edge of the tub and ordered Binghe to disrobe. Or, rather, told him that “those rags don't even deserve to get incinerated", while fiddling with a talisman which, if Binghe were to guess, would turn his clothes to ashes.
“Ah…” Binghe hesitated, reflexively clutching at his robes, battered as they might be. “This disciple doesn't have a change of clothes-"
“Obviously," Shizun snorted in derision. “Proper clothes have been arranged. Now, drop that trash."
Mentally thanking his clothes for serving their purpose, Binghe stripped and climbed into the bathtub before the talisman even finished eating through the fabric.
For a moment, he thought Shizun had left him to his own devices. That was before hands pressed against his shoulders, forcing his head underwater and moving to roughly shake through his hair.
Shizun let him up to breathe sooner than Binghe thought he would - since he half-expected him to try and drown him - but he still had to heave for air.
With a burst of qi, another array activated and the water in the tub grew clear once more, the worst of the viscera gone.
Shen Qingqiu didn't leave then, either. Apparently the concept of privacy only existed in regards to shizun. Clearly dissatisfied with “the worst" of the mess, shizun continued to wash Binghe's hair thoroughly and rather roughly. It took three refreshes of the water for him to be satisfied with the results.
“There," he said. Binghe flinched, expecting another near-drowning. “Even you should be able to handle the rest, now."
Binghe had been able to handle all of it, but “yes, shizun," was all he said in response.
He rushed through the rest of the bath, scrubbing till his skin was red; A bit counterproductive when his goal was to wash off an equally red substance.
He cleaned the water before draining the tub, drying himself off and finally looking at the clothes shizun had left for him
Which turned out to be Shen Qingqiu's own robes. Binghe stared at them, blinking as he tried to understand. He remembered shizun wearing those exact robes at some point in the past, but those were the only clothes there, clearly placed moments ago; Was he truly allowed-?
Binghe had to put them on regardless of his hesitation, unless he wanted to parade around naked. He couldn't help but smooth his hands over the fabric once done, marveling at the quality of shizun's robes.
When he exited the room, the half-expected scolding didn't come. Instead, Shizun had Xin Mo laid out on a weapon display, studying it with his fan pressed against his lips.
“Have you achieved complete control over it?" He asked, turning his head towards Binghe first, his eyes following a moment later.
Binghe bristled slightly. “Would I be here if I hadn't?"
Shizun hummed, returning his attention to the sword. “Possibly, if it thought it'd have better chances of ensnaring a suitable prey outside of the place it had been banished to.”
Snapping his fan open, it was as if he had forgotten about the sword entirely, walking away from it and towards Binghe.
“It feeds on yang energy; If you don't provide it with enough bloodshed or dual cultivation, it won't hesitate to abandon you in favour of a better suited host."
…That explained some of his new impulses better than his assumption of “that's just what happens after surviving the Endless Abyss”.
Shizun's eyes snapped to him. “You knew that before allowing the sword to feed on you, yes?
Bingge's lack of answer was telling enough.
With the air of “I'm not even disappointed because I expected nothing in the first place" Shizun walked towards his desk, tapping the surface with his fan. Binghe knew better than to ignore that command, moving to kneel in front of it. There was a fresh piece of paper spread open, alongside a brush and an inkstone… What was shizun planning to make him write? A report on the Abyss?
The answer was, apparently, poems. Ones which shizun very vocally insisted that Binghe should remember from his lessons, nevermind that his chores had left him unable to attend them more often than not.
Still, he wrote what he recalled. What little he had been able to practice in the past years.
Shizun was so certain that Binghe had kept up with his studies, even while in the abyss, and the worst part was that Binghe really tried.
He carved bones and horns into go pieces, playing against himself on a board drawn in the ground. He fashioned a brush out of bone and his own hair, and used blood as ink to carefully write out the small set of characters he knew over and over again. There were paintings of Cang Qiong Peaks made in the limited colour palette he could get out of the bodies of demonic beasts.
The only one of the four arts he failed to practice was the guzheng, and it wasn't for a lack of trying. His paltry bone-and-intestine reproductions had refused to make the right sounds.
He had even tried to keep up with his cultivation, though without his manual the best he could do was guess.
“Acceptable." Shizun announced from where he had been watching over Binghe's shoulder. Clearly, all that practice hadn't been for nothing. This was the best grade shizun had ever bestowed upon him.
“It's easier with a real brush and ink," he blurted out.
Shizun stiffened slightly, but did not follow up on that.
Oddly, Binghe found himself missing his makeshift tools. He had left them behind so they wouldn't get destroyed in a fight, but then he found Xin Mo and never got around to picking them back up-
“Come," shizun whacked the fan on Binghe's head to get him to move. “And straighten up, it's unbecoming to slouch. You look like a wild beast."
Well…
“I'm half-demon, shizun."
“Half a heavenly demon," Shen Qingqiu corrected, as if that mattered. “And half a Qing Jing disciple. Neither of which permits you to walk around with your shoulders hunched.”
Binghe frowned at that non-reaction. He waited until shizun looked back at him, mouth opening to complain about his lack of movement, and let go of his human pretense.
Shen Qingqiu didn't even blink. His eyes flitted to each new feature - his zuiyin, his pointy ears, his glowing eyes, his claws - and instead of scorning the view, he just… nodded.
"That's it?" Binghe couldn't stop himself from asking. “You’ve had so much to say at the Immortal Alliance conference, and now-"
“Back then, you were a youth who had just had his heritage exposed. I couldn't care less whether you're a half-demon or a half-dog - as long as you act like a proper disciple - but then world wouldn't share that stance. You had to learn not to trust anyone, to keep your cards close and your belly protected. Clearly, you learned well. Now, go play the guzheng."
Binghe stared incredulously, and very much did not go play the guzheng.
“I had only just returned from the endless abyss," he said, instead of questioning any of the insane things he just learned. He doubted that shizun had managed to forget, but it could bear a reminder. “I- This disciple isn't sure that's the most pressing priority right now…”
“Assessing the state of your skills when it comes to the four arts is absolutely vital!" Shizun protested. “Now that you finally look like a proper disciple and act like one, you must also possess the necessary skills!”
Binghe was spared from attempting to formulate a response by his stomach chiming in with a growl.
Shen Qingqiu sighed dramatically, standing up to bring closer a tray with a bowl of plain rice congee and a bowl of some fruit, which Bingge couldn't help but stare at warily.
Grabbing one of the fruits, Shen Qingqiu split the skin with his thumbs and ate it in one bite. Binghe flinched, a half-aborted reflex to stop him from doing that.
“It's just fruit," shizun scoffed. “Not poison."
“...It looks like one of the demonic beasts I saw in the Abyss."
Shzun glanced at the bowl thoughtfully. “Flaying Acid Ticks?" He guessed, though Binghe couldn't confirm nor deny the name. It's not like the beasts he fought gave him their names or dropped a relevant page of the bestiary once defeated. “They hunt by appearing edible and attack their prey from inside their stomachs, don't they?”
“...yeah."
Shizun paused before huffing in amusement. “I suppose you did always require a more hands-on approach."
Binghe wasn't sure whether frequent beatings counted as such.
Ignoring the fruits for now, he reached for the bowl of rice. He planned on eating it slowly, in a dignified manner, but the moment the first mouthful touched upon his tongue… He blinked, and the bowl was empty.
He stared at it, tilting the bowl slightly in confusion. It was so full just moments before... He had been looking forwards to savoring his first properly edible food in years...
Shizun hummed thoughtfully. “Perhaps there are a few more steps left before a beast becomes proper," he allowed. “I'll call for more food. When did you last sleep?"
Binghe… couldn't remember if he had slept at all while in the Abyss. And he hadn't quite calmed down enough to sleep since getting out of it…
“There's a bed in the sideroom. Sleep; We'll continue when you've rested."
He stared at shizun, incredulous. Had there not been several better chances to attack him, he would have assumed that had been the goal. But if shizun didn't drown him, or poison him, or skewer him with his own sword…
Jerking his head in a nod, Binghe got to his feet, offered a brief bow, and headed towards the sideroom. Whatever happened next, he was strong enough to protect himself, even while he slept.
And, who knew: Perhaps he'd wake up to find out this was all a projection of a delirious mind. He might as well enjoy it while it lasted.