3. Why Must My Friend Bring Worries With Him?
The following two weeks had then been as interesting as that first day of improvements. Luo Binghe would seemingly not avoid him or ignore his very existence until he needed his spiritual energy. He would greet him back, probably something he would have done with anyone else in the first place, but still progress. He was even able to hold a conversation with him about the work they were doing and thus without feeling like he should keep it as short as possible.
And with this new attitude towards him, which had not exactly been missed, some of the other alphas had started to bother him less. Probably to stay out of Luo Binghe anger if he was going to accept him more than as a spiritual energy distributor. A handful of them was still at it, but at least it was not every one of them.
He couldn't say if it was the same for outside of Huan Hua Palace, but at least here he had some peace without having to play harder than he is. It wasn't like many people came here in the first place and he doubted Liu Qingge would bother with him when he was busy fighting over something he still doesn't understand.
This is why he had been a little bit surprised when he first saw Mobei-jun coming to the Palace, joining Luo Binghe and Sha Hualing when no one else but them were in the main hall. He had been taken by surprise by how imposing the man presence was until it was overtaken by Luo Binghe. Or maybe was he the one to let it go in front of the Demon Lord?
This is only at that moment that he realised all the alphas in the palace were probably scared of Luo Binghe in a way and not dare to confront him like this. A wise choice in his opinion, he wouldn't dare to go too far either.
This is when he locked eyes with the omega at the northern demon side. They both had a moment to pause before he saw Shang Qinghua mouth "cucumber bro" as if surprised to see him here. This was just perfect, he had been thinking about how he could contact him, didn't exactly expect to find him by Mobei-jun side like this. He couldn't really go out of the Palace without permission, which meant being accompanied and asked for which reason, nor could he really go back to Cang Qiong Mountain like it was nothing.
And the Demon Realm was obviously just out of the question. At least not alone.
He had probably never been this happy to see his fellow transmigrator before, relieved to finally have the chance to talk with him. Not just about what happened for him to take five years to wake up, nor about his second gender suddenly changing like this, but just because at least he wouldn't need to keep up the facade.
"My King" he then heard the human say, catching all three demon's attention, clearly making him shrink a bit, "If you want, I can leave you to discuss important matters with Lord Luo, I am sure you do not want a mere servant to overhear everything".
Mobei-jun then frowned a bit more, as if not ready to let the omega leave his side, even less leave his sight. He seemed about to argue and shut down the idea, yet Luo Binghe spoke first "I am sure Huang Hua could keep an eye on him" he said, sending a knowing look in his direction as if he had caught onto how excited he was to see the other omega, "If it can reassure you, your servant will be safe with him, Huang Hua isn't one to let alphas walk all over his companions" he then commented with... was that an amused smirk? It was gone as soon as it got to his lips, hence making him a bit unsure if he had simply imagined it.
Mobei-jun looked him over, making him tense a bit. He could easily be forgiven for crossing other alphas here, he could probably easily fight them, but Mobei-jun was something else. The demon ended up grunting a bit, apparently, it meant it would be alright because Shang Qinghua quickly joined him, grabbing his arm to go to the door. "This servant is very grateful for my King to allow it," he said before dragging them out.
He only let go when they were far away enough that neither of the demons would hear them. "Peerless Chrysanthemum?" was the first thing his fellow transmigrator pointed out, looking like he wanted to laugh. "I hadn't thought about it when I was first asked and panicked afterwards" he hissed a bit, picking up walking while waving him to follow him around, "I couldn't say I was... you know who" he started, not daring to even utter the name, Shang Qinghua hummed in agreement. It would have been a disaster going around claiming to be Shen Qingqiu.
"I was not expecting to find you being an omega thought" admitted the man, leaving behind the question of his name. "Neither was I" scoffed Shen Qingqiu, "We either fucked up somewhere or I have bad luck", he said, still unsure how it happened, only knowing it was not the System fault... at least he hoped it wasn't its fault. "Hope you can understand me better now".
"A bit, but I didn't grow up raised like an omega" he pointed out, knowing Shang Qinghua had been thrown here in a time previous to his. "I apparently don't act enough like an omega" he admitted, a little smile on his lips, "You should see how annoyed the other alphas here get when I won't just submit to them".
He caught Shang Qinghua looking at him as if he had gone mad, clearly not understanding why he would do such a thing. Well, he wasn't one to hug thighs either. Maybe the protagonist one to survive the original Shen Qingqiu fate, but not any random NPC and cannon fodder present in the novel.
As they walked, he kept on nodding to greet some of the disciple meeting their path, even stopping once when he was stopped to answer a question. Shang Qinghua seemed rather amused after his first disbelieve of him being suicidal by playing tough with alphas. "Have you become the head omega here or something? They all seem to look up to you" he asked, sounding rather curious about how he had been doing since he woke up.
"I am not- Why would you think I am the head omega, this isn't some kind of pack," he said, looking confused, "I am sure they do only because they have been able to live more peacefully since I keeps getting in the way of alpha trying to bother them" he answered. It wasn't like any of them actually liked him for who he was, it was most likely just because he was saving their ass all the time. But it was still nice having some people around who were friendly to him, even asking help in cultivating and fighting, sometimes it felt like he was a Peak Lord again.
They ended up in one of the big gardens of the Palace, settling down so they could speak more freely about his condition. "Anyway, why did it take me so long to wake up?" he asked. Yet, by the look on Shang Qinghua face, the other man seemed just as confused as he was about it. They could figure it out later, it wasn't exactly as though it really mattered now, as long as this body wasn't going to fall apart or something everything should be alright.
"How are things with Luo Binghe?" finally asked Shang Qinghua after a small stretch of silence, looking back towards him.
Shen Qingqiu seemed to hesitate a bit, thinking about it. "Better than when I was first brought in? Nearly got killed the instant he laid eyes on me, I should probably thank Sha Hualing for reacting quickly enough and convince him I can be used for my spiritual energy" he explained. She had probably done it to save her own ass, but it still resulted in him not being obliterated for daring to look like himself in the first place.
"It was a bit hard at first since Binghe wouldn't want to see my face, or have me too much near him" he continued, "But he eventually changed his mind a bit after... a little talk in his dream" he ended up admitting, Shang Qinghua looking a bit confused at that. "Long story short I might have nudged him towards treating omegas with more respect again and now things are getting a little bit better".
This didn't seem to clear the confusion, yet Shang Qinghua didn't add more, only nodding having probably at least understood the important part. "I suppose this isn't too bad then, at least you are not being locked up in a room unable to go around," he said, the idea sending a slight shiver down Shen Qingqiu back, thinking back to the water prison. No way he wanted to go back there again; he would rather play the nice sect disciple than go back down there.
"How long do you plan to play this role?" Shang Qinghua ended up asking, sounding a bit curious. Shen Qingqiu shrugged a bit, looking at the scenery around them "I don't know" he admitted, "I supposed until Luo Binghe doesn't need my spiritual energy for whatever he's doing" he said, sounding a bit unsure. He wouldn't dare to ask what he was doing that require his spiritual energy, although like this he couldn't tell for how long exactly he would need him.
Now that he thought about it, would he go the rest of his life doing just that? Would he be stuck here forever? It couldn't be good for him to let demonic energy in his body for too long, at some point he was meant to not be able to take it anymore. What would happen then? Would Luo Binghe just throw him out?
The thought suddenly made him on edge, not wanting for such a thing to happen. Something in him couldn't stop wanting to stay by Luo Binghe side, even if it wasn't as his dear Shizun, he could at least try to become the Shang Qinghua to his Mobei-jun, but with a bit more spine.
As if sensing his short distress, he felt a hand hesitantly pat his back, Shang Qinghua offering a small and unsure smile. He tried calming himself down, looking in front of him again. "Anyway, whatever he's trying to do shouldn't be done soon, so I'll think about it later" he simply said, trying not to sound worried.
"You don't know what Luo Binghe is doing?" Shang Qinghua suddenly asked, frowning in concern. Wait, he knew? Or at least he had an idea of what Luo Binghe was doing? Why was he suddenly looking concerned as if it was a bad thing that he didn't know? "What's wrong? What is he doing?" he asked with a slight frown too, trying not to worry. "Luo Binghe has yo-".
"Shang Qinghua" suddenly came a calm voice, making the omega jump mid-sentence, not finishing it. He quickly turned around, taking his hand away from where it had stayed on Shen Qingqiu back "My King!" he called back, standing up.
Shen Qingqiu turned around, only to see that Luo Binghe was also there. He then tried to force himself to calm down, not needing for the Demon Lord to ask what could have caused him to feel worried and distressed. Yet just by the look of it and how he seemed to have sniffed a bit more curiously, he must have picked up on it.
"I suppose we can continue our little conversation later on… Huang Hua" he said, carefully saying his name not to mistake which one he was using. He quickly joined the northern demon lord, grabbing slightly his arm as Mobei-jun created a rift for them to jump in.
Then there was a silence between them, Shen Qingqiu quickly getting up, ready to come up with an excuse to run away. "What were you talking about?" came a question before he could even find anything. He looked back up, a bit taken aback. What was he supposed to say?! Talking about whatever he was doing in secret to need his spiritual energy like that?
His silence must have been taken as a show of not seeing why he was asking since he soon talked again "You… look a bit troubled" he said as if not to say smell instead. Shen Qingqiu had to think quickly, unsure what he should say.
"Oh, Shang Qinghua was just asking how I was doing, you know… with being your vessel and all" he tried saying, not fully lying as Shang Qinghua did ask somewhat about how he was doing and was worried at some point in their conversation. It was close enough.
"Why worrying about that?" asked the Demon Lord with a frown, as if expecting for him to say he wanted to stop and leave. "W-well I did mention that it hurt when he asked how it felt, so he was just concerned that I might be pushing myself" he tried.
It wasn't false, he would have complained about it to Shang Qinghua if he had asked, but he couldn't say it like this. The two time they did the transfer it was hurting a lot, that much was true and he had never thought of bringing it up before. Or well, didn't dare to do so.
"It hurt" Luo Binghe simply repeated as if he wouldn't have noticed just by how he was clutching to him to stay upright. He was pretty sure that even his scent was filled with pain. It would have been as hard to miss as when anger was filling Luo Binghe's scent.
Shen Qingqiu wasn't sure what he could answer to this, simply nodding his head. The Demon Lord then seemed slightly pensive, leaving Shen Qingqiu to wonder if he should wait for another question or if he could leave.
"I think… some disciple might need my help in the library, so this… servant will take his leave," he said, tensing a bit when the man frowned at his choice of word. But want was he suppose to use? He wasn't really a disciple here, and he was nearly helping around like a servant. Quite a different lifestyle than what he had at Qing Jing Peak, but he didn't have a choice here. He took a step to the side, testing to see if he would be stopped, only to receive a simple nod, showing he could go.
He then quickly ran away from the scene, not ready to have the Demon Lord suspect him of anything. Not right now when their relationship was still not so good. Well, he supposed it wouldn't be the best thing for Luo Binghe to find out later on either, but he still didn't want to know how he was going to react.
Like he said he joined back some of the disciples that were reorganising the library, picking up his work where he had left it the day before. He threw a reassuring smile at them when they looked at him a bit worried, anxiety probably still clinging to him right now.
Why couldn't thing have been easier and let him avoid anything to do with Luo Binghe? Although, he guess he wouldn't be able to know what the man was doing exactly if he did.
Shang Qinghua words were still a bit on his mind, wondering what he had been about to say. Did it had anything to do with him? Did it had something to do with why Liu Qingge was coming to battle him all the time?
He wasn't sure what this was all about, but all he could do was wait for another time alone with Shang Qinghua, as he couldn't possibly ask Luo Binghe directly.