XXX

It took Luo Binghe a bit longer than he anticipated to deal with the problem, so he ended up being gone for a little over a week. And knowing his old master, the man had probably remained just as stubborn as ever. So, once he was done catching up with what had happened while he was gone, he went to visit Shen Qingqiu, bringing a tray of food with him.

Upon opening the door to the room, he found a demon servant kneeling on the floor beside the table, while Shen Qingqiu ignored her entirely. The food the demon servant had laid out remained untouched.

"You," he spoke to the servant. "Clear that away and leave. You're dismissed for now."

The demon stood, bowing to him.

"Yes, my lord!"

She quickly cleared the old food away and scurried out of the room. When Luo Binghe returned his attention to Shen Qingqiu, he found the man's gaze on him. There was a certain self-satisfied look in his eyes, and Luo Binghe knew the answer to his question before he even asked it.

"You didn't eat at all while I was gone, did you?" he sighed as he went to put the new tray on the table, slamming it down a little harder than necessary.

"Did you really think having one of your servants stare at me would do anything?" Shen Qingqiu responded. "What, did you think I'd feel bad for making them sit and stare at me all day? It's not like I told them to do that."

"I know you don't care about my servants," said Luo Binghe. "But I thought you might eat if I wasn't around. It seems not."

With that, Luo Binghe stormed over and grabbed the man, pulling him up by a too-thin wrist. Shen Qingqiu had already lost a good amount of weight, and for some reason, that enraged him. After he spent every day making sure this idiot ate, all it took was a week for him to look like this?!

He roughly dragged him over to the table and pushed him down, plopping down beside him.

"Eat."

Of course, he didn't.

Instead, he rubbed his wrist for a moment before raising his sharp gaze so it met Luo Binghe's.

"Make me."

"You know I fucking will," Luo Binghe growled. "So, are you going to eat, or will I have to force you?"

"I already answered you on that front."

Luo Binghe gritted his teeth.

"Fine, then."

Just as before, he took control of the parasites and made Shen Qingqiu open his mouth. He shoved a spoonful of congee, a dish he'd chosen because he knew the man likely hadn't eaten at all and he didn't want him to throw it back up, and made him swallow. He didn't release his hold even when the entire bowl was gone. Instead, he grabbed the former peak lord's shoulders with bruising strength and leaned over him.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?!" he spat, shaking him. "Do you really think I'm going to let you starve to death so fucking easily?! I decide when you die and how you will, and so help me, if you fucking off yourself before I let it happen, I will drag your worthless soul right back, do you understand?!"

Shen Qingqiu just glared at him.

He shook him again.

"I said, do you understand?"

The man's lips remained shut.

"Answer me!"

He dug his fingers into the man's shoulder, something he immediately realized he shouldn't have done because his claws had come out in his anger. The nails punctured his Shizun's skin, making him let out a muffled grunt of pain. He still didn't open his mouth.

And then Luo Binghe finally noticed that he'd started keeping his mouth shut with the parasites after he was done feeding him.

Shen Qingqiu, even if he might have remained silent anyway, hadn't been able to respond to him.

Realizing this, Luo Binghe let go of him and directed his parasites to allow him to speak. He still had the rest of the man's body under control, though.

"Answer me," Luo Binghe repeated again, his voice less hostile now.

Shen Qingqiu let out a shaky gasp, which clued the demon lord in to the likelihood that the man hadn't been able to breathe for a minute there, either. After taking a few breaths, Shen Qingqiu finally spoke up again:

"Y-You've already torn my armsss and legs off- do you really think ssshaking me is going to make me b-be obedient to you?"

Luo Binghe let out a growl of frustration.

"Do you want me to tear your limbs off again?" he asked. "Because it's really starting to seem like it."

He could see that blood was starting to seep through the man's clothes, staining the green robes red. Of course, he was still wearing the same robes he had been since before Luo Binghe left, as he had clearly resisted changes of clothes as well. Or maybe he'd neglected to tell the servants to try. Ah, well.

Luo Binghe stood. He would have to get some bandages and a new robe for him.

"Stay here."

"Like I have a choice," Shen Qingqiu scoffed.

Without responding, Luo Binghe left the room.

XXX

Shen Qingqiu waited, frozen, for the demon lord to return.

Though he tried his best not to show it, he was exhausted. His self-imposed starvation, despite whatever he told himself about being used to it, had still taken its toll. He'd lost weight, he felt terrible, and he'd been assaulted by an on-and-off feeling of dizziness. His head was also pounding because, although he'd drunk some water while the demon lord was away, it wasn't as much as he was supposed to, and he hadn't had any at all that day until Luo Binghe poured some water in his mouth between bites of congee. When Luo Binghe had first returned, Shen Qingqiu had honestly felt like he was about to faint, and if the man hadn't dragged him to the table himself, he's not quite sure he would have managed it without passing out.

How stupid. He'd gone longer than this without food before (though, he pointedly ignored the fact that, when he had, he'd felt even worse than he currently did).

At this point, he was starting to wonder whether it was worth it to continue with his attempts to not eat. It always ended with him being forced to do it anyway, so it's not like he was accomplishing anything. He wasn't really going to be able to starve himself- it would take too long, even if Luo Binghe had to go away again. There was still the matter of his pride, but even that was starting to crumble once more. After all, what pride did he even have left? Luo Binghe had already broken him once, and he was entirely at his mercy for him to do it again. And really, other than himself, who was the pride for? His peak was destroyed, Yue Qingyuan was dead (and don't think about that, he wasn't allowed to think about that), and even if anybody found out he was alive, there was no one left who wanted anything more than to see him suffer.

The only use his pride had was riling the demon up, and though he felt like doing so was a small victory, Shen Qingqiu couldn't help but feel anxious about doing it as well. After all, he knew that ripping his limbs off was no mere threat.

Giving in felt like losing all over again, felt like being thrown to ground and forced to bow down to a young master all over again. He didn't want that- never wanted to be at another person's mercy ever again.

But he already was, wasn't he?

It was at that moment that Luo Binghe returned, a basket in one hand with cloth draped over his arm. The demon lord dropped the objects onto the bed and marched over to him. Yet again, he was forced upright and had his clothes removed. Then he was pushed onto the bed, and Luo Binghe went to sit behind him.

Both of them were silent until the younger man began dabbing at the wounds he'd created with something that slightly stung.

"You know, you're actually kind of stupid, I think."

"Huh?!" Shen Qingqiu exclaimed, unable to do anything else.

"You're stupid," Luo Binghe insisted. "Everyone always thought you were some smart, scholarly little lord, but you're actually incredibly dumb."

He continued to clean the blood that was dripping down Shen Qingqiu's back.

"You were always cruel to me when I was a child, and even if it makes you a shit person, at least you could say that abusing a defenseless child isn't the stupidest thing you could do. After all, you had so much power that you could do whatever you wanted to me, and it wouldn't matter. You knew there wouldn't be any consequences. And if you're going to abuse someone, it might as well be someone who can't fight back."

He pressed particularly hard on one of the wounds.

"And yet, you continue to antagonize me even after our roles have reversed," he continued. "Even when you became the defenseless one, and I had all the power, you still acted superior. You still do. Even now, you spit and curse and literally bite the hand that feeds you, no matter how much you know I could destroy you in an instant- or how I could drag that instant on to an eternity."

The demon took out some bandages.

"You'd think someone in your position would be begging for mercy, or even know how to hold their tongue. But you don't," Luo Binghe kept talking. "Which kind of makes you really, really dumb. Or it means you have a death wish, but for you, I do think it's both."

Shen Qingqiu wished he could slap his former disciple for this disrespect. Or just because he hated him.

"Anything to say besides insulting my intelligence?"

"Hmmm…," Luo Binghe paused, as if he was really thinking the question over. "You know, there really is no point in making things more difficult for yourself. You want to scream and curse? Fine. It amuses me. If you do anything I don't like, I can just stop you."

"I'm aware."

"Clearly, you're convinced that I'm just going to end up torturing you to death again, and if you want to believe that, be my guest," Luo Binghe told him. "But you know what? Why does it matter?"

"… How does it not, you damn beassst?"

The demon finished wrapping the bandages around his shoulders.

"Well, whether I do or don't, I'm not doing it now, am I?" asked the man. "For now, don't you think you're doing relatively well? You have a new body, a new life, and food and a warm bed, and you're not being tortured. Even though you can't leave this room and I force you to do basic tasks like eating and bathing, few people would say this is really such a terrible prison compared to your last."

He stood from the bed and pulled Shen Qingqiu up with him.

"So, what's the point in worrying about what I will do to you?" he started to dress him in the new robes. "You're powerless to stop me, but it's not happening right now. And really, this is the best things are going to be for you, so why waste it being difficult and making things harder for yourself? What's the point in starving yourself just because of what might happen in the future? You're not hurting me- you're only hurting yourself."

He pulled one of his arms through the sleeves.

"Really, what do you think your end goal is here? I won't let you die, and you're not going to escape, and even if you did, do you honestly think you'd be able to live out some peaceful life out there? You won't," he continued to talk. "You can't die, you can't run, you can't hide, you can't stop anything from happening."

He finished putting the robes on and leaned close, holding his shoulders again but with much less force.

"So stop making your life harder. It's stupid."

He really wished he could move. Shoving Luo Binghe away from him was very tempting. So was slapping him, or even trying to bite him again, as much as he hadn't really thought about it the first time.

"… I really hope you're better at persuasion when it comes to politics, little beast."

Really, did he believe saying 'Your life is hopeless anyway, so just give up already' is going to be what gets him to turn into some pathetic little child? All that did was make Shen Qingqiu want to listen to him even less. Maybe that was the point. Luo Binghe had always found amusement in his struggles.

The demon lord sighed.

"So you're still going to be difficult, then."

"Did you expect anything different?"

Luo Binghe released the blood parasites then, making Shen Qingqiu stumble.

"No," he replied. "But it does further prove my point about how stupid you are."

At first, Shen Qingqiu had thought to ignore him, just sit down and pretend the demon wasn't there. Instead, however, he found words rising to his lips.

"You know, as stupid as you think it is to keep fighting you, I think you're forgetting something."

"What's that?"

"I have nothing to gain but also nothing to lose," Shen Qingqiu explained. "You've already put me through enough pain that trying to exceed it is pointless. After a certain point, pain is so excruciating that it doesn't get more painful. All you can do is replicate it now that it's over, but I've already been through that. You've also destroyed or killed anything I gave even the smallest care about, so the only thing you can threaten me with is myself."

He looked up at the beast towering over him, choosing not to glare and instead just keeping his expression blank.

"And I think you're vastly over-estimating how much I value that anymore."

XXX

After that whole interaction, Luo Binghe just left. He was pretty sure that most of Shen Qingqiu's words had been some form of bravado- after all, he could tell that his Shizun really was still afraid of him. He could see it in his eyes, in the ways he'd tense or flinch; honestly, even his breath gave him away. So the man's attempts to make Luo Binghe think that he had no power over him was simply laughable. He knew Shen Qingqiu didn't want to be tortured again. That alone was leverage.

But, perhaps he did have a point about not having anything to gain by cooperating. He hadn't realized it before, but essentially, by fighting back, Shen Qingqiu had been testing the boundaries of the current situation, so he must have formed an idea of what Luo Binghe would do and what would elicit that reaction. He knew that Luo Binghe wouldn't starve him for choosing to not eat. He knew that spitting insults would likely just result in amusement, or at worst, a minor injury. He even knew that a physical attack, laughable as they were, was unlikely to result in some major consequence. And as the man said, anyone else he could use as a threat had already been exhausted (killed).

And normally, Luo Binghe's response would be to prove that there were consequences, severe ones, but that did defeat the point of all this a bit. If he wanted to make Shen Qingqiu care for him eventually, he couldn't start torturing him again. Really, even the current way things were was probably not a very effective method for winning him over. But it's not like he could so easily turn off his remaining hostility, and even if he could, no doubt Shen Qingqiu would just find it suspicious.

Perhaps he needed to give him something to lose? But what could that be? He doubted the man would lose his pride if he offered him some kind of pointless trinkets, and he clearly wasn't motivated by the presence or lack of food. Even opportunities to be clean and presentable were just another source of arguing, not some prize he could dangle over him.

Maybe he was bored enough to use that to get him to cooperate more? He must be bored sitting in there alone all day, with nothing to do. Maybe he could offer him something to occupy his time if he ate his food.

Would it work?

Maybe. Maybe not.

XXX