Luo Binghe had been sleeping peacefully, gladly enjoying the calm they finally had back home after dealing with some problem in a town far away. Yet, this peacefulness was slightly shaken when he felt the body next to him sit up.
He wasn't awake yet, only hugging the waist a little tighter in his sleep. It was both to make sure the warm body wouldn't try to go away, but also to soothe away the tension he could still feel from it in his sleep.
He was starting to wake up when the body suddenly startled in his grip, tensing again just as suddenly. A quick and sleepy look around showed that nothing was here and he couldn't sens anything either. He didn't understand what had startled his husband like this. Couldn't be a nightmare, at least not on his watch.
"Shizun?" he sleepily called out, trying to get Shen Qingqiu attention. If something was bothering his Shizun he was ready to wake up fully and take care of it, despite not seeing anything wrong at the moment.
But the lack of response made him frown slightly as he was slowly waking up. The man was looking wide awake, yet it was as if he hadn't heard him calling out to him. He could then sense just how anxious the man was starting to be, some small sign of panic slowly rising in him. All this managed to make him fully awake rather quickly, making him feel worried. "Is something wrong Shizun" he then asked more clearly, leaving the warm waist of Shen Qinqiu to prob himself in an attempt to be higher and see better the other face.
The anxiety and panic emanating from the Peak Lord kept on rising, making him even more worried and anxious. Its only got worst when the man suddenly turned to him, his eyes looking panicked. He had been taken aback by this, as he could slowly see the normally so neutral face starting to show more emotion than he was used to.
He suddenly felt himself being pushed back into the bed. This would normally be something he would be excited about, the idea of his Shizun being this energetic towards him, yet right now he couldn't see it that way. The way Shen Qingqiu was looking at him while his shaky hands were cupping his face was going against anything that could have lead to that.
"Binghe!" he was suddenly called out, only managing to nod at it, the distress in his husband eyes making him unable to respond first. "This Shizun cherishes you a lot" he heard being said quickly, making him frown even more. He would normally have loved hearing him say such things, yet at the moment they were leaving a weird after taste, as if leading him to something bad.
His guts were telling him to do something, that all this wasn't going anywhere good. Yet, when he tried to speak and ask what was wrong, he felt a gentle thumb press on his lips, shushing him so he wouldn't interrupt the other one.
"This master is really proud of his husband and loves him with all his heart". His hand suddenly tighten around the man waist, as if afraid he would go somewhere else, as those words were rendering him more anxious than happy. He wanted to talk again, only for the thumb to silence him again, the man above him looking desperate to not be interrupted by him. Tears were slowly swelling at the corner of his eyes, feeling helpless in this situation he didn't understand.
"Listen to me, I don't have the time to explain, but know that this Shizun would never voluntarily run away from you". This was too much, making him tense and panic too, afraid that something like what had happens years ago would happen again. Why was Shizun suddenly talking of leaving? Why was he talking of leaving if he wasn't going to do so? What was it he couldn't explain?
Seeing his husband tear up like this only made him more distressed in this situation. Shen Qingqiu wasn't one to cry freely, and it only had been in rare times that he would have seen him cry.
When the soft lips came to his, all he could do was accept the kiss with vigour, as if the connection would keep him right here. He was holding onto him, scared to let him go as if a fraction of a second would be enough for him to vanish. The weak dam at the corner of his eyes had broke and he couldn't keep in the flow of tears rolling down his temple, some mixing slightly with the tears that were falling onto his cheeks from the person above him.
Then it was as if everything had gone still, the body atop of him falling on him unmoving, the hands still vaguely cupping his face. Luo Binghe quickly sat up, making sure not to sent his Shizun flying off the bed in doing so.
The feeling of reliving what had happened many years ago was too much for him, making him unable to react at first as if expecting for the Peak Lord to suddenly sit up. Yet, after a couple of minutes of it nothing happening, he realised he wouldn't do that.
He checked all he could, everything in the man's body seemed as fine as when they went to bed. Yet no trace of a soul in it, as if his Shizun had become a simple human shell. Again.
It also as if he couldn't feel anything from Shen Qingqiu at all in this world. He would probably always had been able to feel if the man was at least somewhere, but this time it wasn't like that. It as if a greater power had taken away everything from his Shizun but his body.
It felt as though there was nothing for him to do about it this time, yet he couldn't give up despite not knowing what to do. He carefully put a warmer robe on his husband body, not wanting for his body to get too cold either. As quickly as he could, he rod a sword to Cang Qiong Mountain, knowing he could find at least some people who could maybe help him out. He hated needing to rely on others in that situation, but for the sake of Shizun, he would do it.
The first person he happened to find was Liu Qingge who was back from a hunt. The Peak Lord had looked a little surprised to be called out by him, only for a frown to form on his face when he saw him carry the Qing Jing Peak Lord in his arm. Clearly not the first person Luo Binghe would have liked to ask help from, but he would still do.
He tried explaining what had happened, skipping most of the emotional parts and keeping in just the important ones. Liu Qingge then looked as troubled as him, trying to find what they could do as they were both quickly heading for Qian Cao Peak in hope that Mu Qingfang would maybe have an idea of what was happening.
Yet, even after Mu Qingfang had examined and listened to what Luo Binghe had described, he too couldn't see what was wrong. It was really as if Shen Qingqiu soul had been ripped out of his body and completely destroyed, only causing Luo Binghe to look more distress about the situation.
They tried to make him accept the situation, Mu Qingfang more gently than Liu Qingge, but the Demon Lord wouldn't hear anything. "I know Shizun soul hasn't been destroyed!" he snapped, holding in the tears he was feeling creeping up in his eyes.
"How can you be so sure about that?" asked Liu Qingge quickly after, somewhere also hoping for that to be true, despite all the evidence going against it.
"I... I just know it" he frowned, convinced that such a thing would never happen. Mu Qingfang couldn't help but look at him with some pity, not knowing how to convince the man, all he could do was entertaining this idea. "Then What are you going to do? If his soul was still in this realm we could try a soul recall array, but..." he didn't finish his suggestion, as they all knew what he didn't want to say. It couldn't be done if his soul wasn't here.
Luo Binghe was silent for a moment, as if thinking about something, before resolution took over his feature. "I will find back where Shizun has been taken to".
Neither of the Peak Lord knew how he would do it, but if the Demon Lord was so confident about his plan then all they could hope was for it to work and not be desperate and delusional words.
Luo Binghe had remembered how they once had encountered another version of himself which apparently had been straight from another version of their universe. Maybe someone had taken his Shizun to throw him into one of these universes? If that was the case, then he would go and get him back, even if it was going to take him years. He had painstakingly taken care of his body for five years the first time, he could search for him for longer, driven by the last word he was told.
"Know that this Shizun would never voluntarily run away from you". His loving word and this last statement were what was driving him to work so hard, knowing his Shizun was already waiting for him. Something in these words was telling him the man somehow knew he wouldn't die, yet couldn't stop the situation. He would latch onto that hope and not give up.
Yet, there was one large problem with his plan: they had made sure to destroy Xin Mo after that encounter. He knew where the remains of it were, but he wasn't exactly sure how he could fix it, nor how long it would take.
Before starting to wonder about this he decided to take his Shizun's body back to Qing Jing Peak, going straight for the bamboo house that was still standing. They weren't living there anymore other than when they came to the Cang Qiong Mountain for visit or duties. He quickly cleaned everything up, not wanting to leave his husband in a dusty house, also gently taking care of his master hair and robe, laying him on the bed. It would most likely not be the last time he would come and do such a thing, but he still wanted to make sure his body would be alright.
Despite being confident in his skill to protect his Shizun, he wanted to put his full attention on his plan and he knew that he still could trust the Cang Qiong Mountain Peak Lords to protect Shen Qinqiu body and keep it from decaying.
Only once he was sure everything was alright did he finally exited the Mountain, ready to start working on his plan right now.
Finding back Xin Mo wasn't hard, he remembered rather well where they had sealed it off. Piecing it back together was an absolutely different game. There wasn't much information about it that he could gather in his try to salvage the destruction. It couldn't be as easy as he would do with any other swords.
This task was taking him a lot of time and energy, yet he would still need to look into some problems in the Demon realm, as he apparently couldn't just leave his duty fully, at least not yet. Even that was something he needed to make sure wouldn't just be taken away from him, planing on leaving Mobei-jun and Sha Hualing to take over for the time he was gone. Obviously, he had made it really clear that if they tried something against him thing would go more than badly for them once he was back. Though he doubted such a thing would happen.
So it's only after months and months of going back between working on Xin Mo, taking care of matters in the Demon realm and visiting the bamboo house to make sure Shen Qingqiu body was still in good condition, did he succeeded in perfectly piecing Xin Mo back together. This caused him to need some time to recuperate, as he hadn't taken anytime to take a breath. The thoughts of his husband being away from him was going to drove him mad, so once he was all ready, he couldn't wait any longer. He made sure one last time that the two demons would be able to take care of matters in the Demon realm and paid a last visit to the bamboo house, then he went off.
Saying that setting foot in the first dimension and meeting the first Shen Qingqiu was a disaster and horrible would be an understatement. He had stumbled onto a cold man, sneering at him sarcastically as if even the thought of being on good term with him had wronged him. How could the man be this cold and uncaring? How could he be so different from his Shizun?
He had jumped to the next rather quickly after this first meeting, needing some times to clear his mind of this first encounter. He had hoped that the next Shizun would be the good one, yet he was met with a similar welcome, which meant none. He did that for what felt like forever, switching world when he learned his Shizun wasn't there. Every time he would try to follow where Xin Mo seemed to lead him, yet all the Shen Qingqiu he was meeting weren't his.
He even stumbled sometimes on himself, or rather other versions of himself. He couldn't believe how all of them were, how they could hate their Shizun like this and have such a large harem. They were all reminding him of the first other Luo Binghe they first encountered on Qing Jing Peak.
The first time he learned of the horrifying things he did- No. What horrifying thing these Luo Binghe had done to their Shizun, he had felt sick to his stomach, unable to believe it.
His travelling was mainly composed of fighting other Luo Binghes, even some Shizuns, sometimes needing breaks as to not get overwhelmed by Xin Mo. It was taking a serious toll on his mental, yet he never lost hope, just knowing his Shizun was somewhere out there.
Then, at the end of his last portal, he was met with a rather strange decor. Many things in the room seemed unfamiliar, as were the sound coming from outside. Things he had never seen or heard before. And it wasn't including the extremely tall tower he had seen when taking a look outside, or the weird carriages moving without horses.
Taking a look around, he didn't understand why Xin Mo took him somewhere that didn't seem to belong to his Shizun.
The room was rather messy, clothes on the ground, bed undone, paper and book messily organised on the desk next to a weird box with a glass front. Many cups were sitting next to the said weird box. There was still dust on the dressers, alongside the colourful statues of god and goddess, at least he assumed, some more books also placed on them. There wasn't the familiar smell of the man, nor the one from incense, but rather from food that seemed to have been forgotten somewhere.
Yet, despite all the mess, his guts were telling it was it. This foreign place had his Shizun. He could nearly see it when he was taking a closer look at how things were actually organised, despite still being messy.
Folding fans were neatly placed on a shelf, organised by sizes and colours in a familiar way, as were the books sitting on that same shelf. These same folding fans had similar painting and pattern to the one Shen Qingqiu seemed to enjoy, although not as well made as the ones he has back home. The way the papers on the desk were placed, in a semi-organised way. Many things in this room had the strange and messy way Shen Qingqiu had of organising thing.
Yes, despite his first impression, he was still able to have hopes about it. He decided to clean the place a little, the old habit slowly falling right into place even in this very different space, only making him more hopeful to be right.
This had to be it.