Chapter 1 - Mission: Protect the North
Shen Yuan was woken unceremoniously by an unpleasant dinging sound and a glowing screen materialised in front of him.
[New Mission: Protect the North]
[Accept: Yes No]
What the hell?
"NO!" he groaned. He was done with missions from the system. Hadn't he already changed the plot and fixed this stupid novel?
Luckily Binghe had already woken up and was most likely preparing breakfast so Shen Yuan could groan aloud and curse the system to his heart's content without needing to keep up his immortal facade.
[User should be aware that rejecting this mission will lead to a loss of 10000 B points and a significant decrease in the protagonist's power.]
"What?! Why couldn't you have said that before?"
That was a lot of B points and though he already had many from falling into so many wife plots over the seven years that he and Binghe had been married, he was loathe to accept the loss, especially since the system claimed it would make Binghe lose power.
Wait. But how did that make sense? The protagonist still has the halo right?
[User is correct. However the Northern Kingdom is his biggest ally. Losing the support of the North will significantly weaken his political power and will lead to unrest.]
Anxiety laced through him at that. Why would they lose the support of the North? He'd thought that everything was fine. Mobei-Jun was something of a friend to Binghe now and even Shang Qinghua was more tolerable these days. In fact, they'd had brunch just two days ago and everything seemed well. Shang Qinghua was still marvelling over the fact that he got to taste 'his son's' cooking now. Binghe had mellowed out slightly, just slightly, over the years of their marriage and now deigned to cook for their closest, well, friends. Mobei-Jun, Shang Qinghua, and surprisingly, Liu Qingge, were all treated to the protagonist's heavenly cooking on a semi-regular basis.
[Does User accept? Yes No]
The system's prompt flashed again and Shen Yuan resentfully tapped Yes to accept this new trouble into his life.
[Wonderful (* ̄▽ ̄)b ]
"Mind giving me some details?" he glared at the screen.
[Of course valued customer!]
[User Shang Qinghua has received a mission from this system. User Shen Qingqiu's job is to help protect the North from anyone who wishes to seize power or cause trouble until User Shang Qinghua's mission is complete.]
"Huh? What about Mobei-Jun?"
[User Shang Qinghua's mission requires two people. Character Mobei-Jun has been added as a quest partner.]
"We can have partners?" Shen Yuan said incredulously, feeling betrayed somehow.
[Answering User, only in special circumstances.]
"Well this is a special circumstance! I demand to have Binghe added as my quest partner. I can't protect the North on my own! If Shang Qinghua can have a quest partner this time then so can I!"
[This system deems this request reasonable. Character Luo Binghe, the Protagonist, has been added as User Shen Qingqiu's quest partner.]
[Wishing User good luck! User can do it! (*¯︶¯*) ]
Shen Yuan wanted to tell the system where to put its luck.
[One more thing. User must also ensure that Character Mobei-Jun's and User Shang Qinghua's bodies remain safe.]
Their bodies? Shen Yuan jolted. "What do you mean by bodies?"
System!
But the system was silent.
Shen Yuan was starting to feel a sense of dread. What kind of mission did the system give Shang Qinghua and Mobei-Jun that not only could they not protect the North while on it but that their bodies itselves needed to be protected?
After breakfast he'd have to get Binghe to take him to Mobei-Jun's palace right away. For the moment he didn't think Shang Qinghua was in danger but it wouldn't do to delay too much.
How could he explain to Binghe why he wanted them to oversee the North though? Especially since he didn't know how long the mission would take? He couldn't talk about the system. What if Binghe saw them and thought something was wrong and wanted to solve it instead? It would just be wasting time because until Shang Qinghua was done with his mission they would be stuck in whatever state they were in. Maybe he could say that Shang Qinghua had asked him for a favour and he agreed but had forgotten until now? Until he assessed the situation in the North however he wouldn't say anything yet. He'd just ask Binghe to visit.
xoxoxooxoxox
It was a good thing he hadn't said anything specific to Binghe other than that he wanted to visit Shang Qinghua but discreetly, because upon portalling in front of Mobei-Jun's and Shang Qinghua's room they were met with a panicking servant who had breakfast on a tray clearly for the couple inside, but who couldn't get into the room no matter how hard he tried.
"Junshang!" the white fox demon bowed.
"Leave the tray with us," said Binghe imperiously, "We have business with Mobei-Jun and would not like to be disturbed. If word of this visit gets out it will be on your head."
"Of course Junshang. This lowly one hears and obeys," said the fox demon who scurried away as fast as he could.
Binghe tried the doors but they were shut tight. He could force it open of course but this was his friend's bedroom and there didn't seem to be the need for it in any case. They probably just wanted some privacy.
"Shizun they seem to be busy, we could come back later," said Binghe.
But Shen Yuan shook his head.
"I have the amulet Shang Qinghua gifted us. We can portal in."
"Not questioning Shizun but I don't think it gave us access to their bedroom," Binghe chuckled.
Normally, it wouldn't.
"It can in an emergency." If they had Xin Mo they wouldn't even need it to be but Xin Mo was no more.
Binghe's face turned serious, "And is this an emergency?"
The system confirmed it could count as one but Binghe wouldn't know about that.
"Only one way to find out," said Shen Yuan.
xoxoxoxoxox
They managed to portal into the room and were met with the underwhelming sight of Airplane and Mobei-Jun sleeping soundly in each other's embrace.
Binghe sighed. "I thought something was actually wrong," he said, pouting slightly.
"Binghe, did you forget the amulet let us in?"
He did indeed forget but upon taking in his shizun's words he went over to the bed to check if they were alive.
"Shang-shishu and Mobei-Jun seem to be fine shizun. They're just asleep," he said puzzled.
Of course the trouble came when he found that he could not wake them up.
[User Mission: Protect the North, start!] chimed the system.
"Binghe, I think I know what is happening."
"Shizun does?" he said, his eyes sparkling. Of course his shizun did! He was the smartest.
"Mn. Shang Qinghua had asked a favour of this master. This master accepted and promised to help but forgot. It seems that this master was too late."
His eyes held a bit of guilt for lying to Binghe, but he couldn't exactly tell him about the system! Binghe meanwhile thought that his shizun was feeling guilty for forgetting his promise to Shang Qinghua.
"Binghe, will you help this master secure the North in the meantime? There is no telling when they will wake and any amount of trouble can happen in the meantime. You know Linguang-Jun is still out there."
"Of course shizun! This disciple will help shizun make up for breaking his promise. But why are they like this?"
Oh now he felt even more guilty because he was going to straight up use Binghe's trust in him.
"This shizun had sworn not to say anything. Whenever they wake I shall ask them to tell you. Please don't ask me to break my word."
"Binghe will not ask if it will cause shizun distress."
His white lotus was too good for this world! Who else would take someone at their word like this? Especially when Shen Yuan was aware that his reasoning was nonsensical.
"Thank you," he said solemnly, hiding his face behind his fan.
They later announced to the Northern Court that Mobei-Jun and Shang Qinghua had gone into seclusion together to increase their cultivation and asked Luo Binghe to oversee the North while they were gone. It was Luo Binghe's idea to let the court speculate that their King was dual cultivating his way to power. It would prevent others from trying to disturb them and thus nobody would know that the King of the North was actually indisposed.
