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He was tired, but not as tired as he usually was when Luo Binghe gave him the sedatives. The drug he'd been given yesterday had worn off, and now, he was about as calm as he ever was at this point. The drug hadn't worked entirely, but it worked enough to let him look around once he'd gotten the crying out of his system.

It was annoying, being this conflicted. But he couldn't help that his little trip out of the room was such a combination of fear and relief. He still felt jittery, and he couldn't tell whether he felt better or worse. He did know that his chest was doing something, though. He didn't know if he'd be able to handle another trip outside again anytime soon, especially if Luo Binghe didn't drug him (as much as he hated that he did).

It was also annoying that the little beast's garden was so beautiful. Really, just the hint of sunlight had been enough to move him to tears, but the plethora of plants and everything was physically overwhelming. He wasn't used to seeing so much, especially so much that was new. It felt similar to his feelings upon joining Cang Qiong Mountain, but made worse by how long he had been imprisoned.

And so, he really hadn't been able to be out of the room for very long. Soon after arriving in the garden, he'd started to feel wrong, almost as if he could faint, and Luo Binghe apparently took notice and brought him back to the room.

The whole thing was rather strange. He really hadn't expected the demon to have told the truth about where he was taking him, but he had been telling the truth. So, the lie must be in his motivations. But what did Luo Binghe gain from taking him to the garden for a few minutes? He apparently wasn't pleased by his fear anymore, so what was it, then? His tears upon seeing the sunlight? Did he enjoy seeing Shen Qingqiu brought so low that the sun was an awe-inspiring novelty to him? But then again, Luo Binghe had already seen him cry many times by now. Was all the effort really worth it, when he could get the same reaction just keeping him in this room?

This game was making less and less sense to him, his understanding of the demon lord's motives becoming increasingly fuzzy.

He really was starting to think that the demon lord had actually gone insane and there wasn't any reason for how he was acting.

After all, he could not have been telling the truth. About any of that nonsense.

While he was thinking, the door opened with a little more force than usual, so Shen Qingqiu's first thought was that Luo Binghe was in a bad mood (and that, maybe, this would be the day he went back to violence).

But it wasn't Luo Binghe.

Nor Ning Yingying.

Nor even one of the beast's demon servants.

Instead, it was a richly-dressed (barely-dressed) demon woman that Shen Qingqiu vaguely recognized.

She was one of Luo Binghe's wives, wasn't she?

She pranced into the room and stared at him, tilting her head a little as she did.

"Oh! You're actually a man!" she stated. "I thought you were some maiden at first. … Hm, you do seem familiar, though…"

Had they met? Perhaps she'd come to visit Luo Binghe during one of his torture sessions or something. Or maybe she'd seen his trial…? He wasn't sure; after all, he wasn't always fully aware during that time before, though Luo Binghe really didn't allow him many (any) visitors, and he pretty much never let someone else take the pleasure of torturing him. As one of the demon's wives, though, it's possible that they glanced at each other at some point or other.

She flopped down to sit across from him at the table, and he sat up a little straighter. Though she didn't appear malicious, it was better to have one's guard up around any demon, especially one that seemed to be at least somewhat powerful. Really, with his cultivation sealed, he wouldn't be able to do anything if she did attack him, though…

But… maybe he wouldn't mind so much if she did.

"What, can't you talk?" the woman asked. "C'mon, say something!"

"What do I have to say to some demon?"

She just grinned at him.

"Oh, so it's like that is it?" she questioned, amusement and threat mixing in her undertone in a way so similar to her husband. "Well, I'll have you know that I'm not just some demon! I'm a demon saintess!"

A demon saintess?

.

.

Ah.

He did know her.

She was that annoying little brat who attacked his sect, all those years ago!

Sha Hualing.

"Compared to a demon emperor, a demon saintess is really not so impressive," he scoffed, just to see if it would rile her up or not.

She puffed out her cheeks and glared.

"Well, and what are you?! Just some little pet my husband picked up?" she returned.

Shen Qingqiu raised an eyebrow. Though she knew he was familiar, she didn't seem to actually recognize who he was. Well, their meeting had been such a long time ago.

"Hm, more-or-less," he agreed. "Did Luo Binghe send you here?"

"Why should he have to? I'm one of his favorite wives, and he always gives me what I want," she bragged.

That was a little interesting. So far, he hadn't really had random people just show up to his cell without Luo Binghe telling them he was here. Perhaps most people didn't care all that much about who the demon lord kept locked in what rooms. This girl seemed to enjoy seeking trouble, though, and so, here she was.

What would Luo Binghe think about this? Would he get mad at his wife for disobeying him, for playing with his toys without permission? Or would he get mad at Shen Qingqiu for not respecting her?

She leaned close to him, her smile a little too pretty to make him feel scared, not when it was so easy to compare it to her husband's.

"Maybe I'll ask him if I can have your head."

He leveled her with an impassive stare.

"Go ahead," he agreed. "Though, you might want to do it before you ask him. Apparently, I'm not allowed to die until he allows it, and according to him, that won't be for a while, yet."

She blinked at him.

"You'd better do it soon, though, since he usually comes here at some point," Shen Qingqiu continued.

"You think I'll be convinced by your bravado?" Sha Hualing sneered. "I could kill you in seconds."

Even still, she leaned back.

"Seriously, go ahead," Shen Qingqiu insisted. "I'd love it for your little husband to come and find me dead. Maybe I'll actually stay dead this time."

He was probably saying too much, but he found it a little hard to care.

"Shizun, stop trying to get my wife to help you commit suicide."

A deep voice came from behind him, and he rolled his eyes before turning to look toward the door, where, of course, Demon Lord Luo Binghe was standing. Well, it was too late, then.

Luo Binghe gave him a slight glare before turning it onto his wife.

"Why are you in here, Hualing? I didn't give you permission to enter this room," he questioned.

"You didn't specifically tell me not to," she replied innocently.

"I think it was implied when I said no one can enter this room without my permission," Luo Binghe sighed as he came over to set the food down.

He sat on an empty side of the table, effectively putting himself between Shen Qingqiu and his wife.

"Oh, I didn't realize," she lied. "But what do you mean by Shizun? You killed your teacher already."

Luo Binghe sighed.

"Obviously, I brought him back."

Her eyes widened before gaining an amused glint.

"Oooooooh, still not satisfied with him?" she asked. "So that's why you spend so much time in here. Can I watch the next time you play with him?"

Luo Binghe shook his head.

"I'm not torturing him anymore," he told her.

"You're not?" she spoke, surprised. "Well, why did you bring him back, then?"

"Because your husband is insane," Shen Qingqiu cut in.

"Like you're one to talk," the demon huffed before answering his wife. "We'll discuss it later, Hualing. Now, can you leave?"

"Why?" the woman pouted. "Can't I play with him a little?"

"Hualing."

"Oh, fine," she acquiesced, standing up. "But I want all the juicy details later!"

And with that, she left.

XXX

Luo Binghe, unfortunately, was once again annoyed with one of his wives.

Why couldn't Sha Hualing ever listen to him? She was always causing some kind of mischief, and while this wasn't quite as malicious as forcing another wife to have a miscarriage, he did wonder if Shen Qingqiu could have managed to provoke her into an attack if they'd been left alone together a while longer.

Now, he was going to have to talk to her and try to keep her from telling anyone else, which was probably not going to work. Undoubtedly, word of his Shizun's revival would spread! And that was going to be an entire headache he really didn't want to deal with at the moment.

He really should have assumed his curious and mischievous wife would do something like this eventually.

"So, did Shizun enjoy his conversation with my wife?" he ended up asking for no real reason.

"She's a demon."

"Yes, she is."

"So, doesn't that answer your question?"

Luo Binghe just rolled his eyes and smiled.

"You remember her, don't you?"

"I remember her pathetic retreat after she attacked my sect."

"Our sect at the time, Shizun."

Shen Qingqiu shot him a fierce glare.

"You don't get to call it 'our sect' when you burnt it to the ground and killed everyone."

"Alright, alright," Luo Binghe spoke placatingly. "Calm down and eat some soup, Shizun."

"No."

"… So, we're back to the hunger strike then?"

"I don't want to eat while I'm thinking about burning flesh."

Well, fair enough.

"Very well," Luo Binghe accepted.

He shifted a little, leaning on one hand.

"Let's talk about something else for a while first, then."

XXX

As rare as it actually was, she hated it when she didn't get what she wanted, and she didn't understand why her husband wouldn't let her 'play' with Shen Qingqiu- and she especially didn't understand why her husband wasn't torturing his scum of a teacher anymore himself. It wasn't like she had any particular grudge against the man, apart from her devotion to Luo Binghe (okay, and maybe also her defeat back when she was a teenager, but she wasn't quite so angry about that as she could be, since Luo Binghe had also participated in that tournament, and that's how they met). But she loved watching people writhe and squirm in agony, and she knew her husband did as well. And who would be more deserving of such treatment than the man who once beat him? It was karma, if anything.

And not only had she not been allowed to play, she wasn't even allowed to watch whatever it was they were doing! Surely, something must be going on, for her husband to spend so much time in the room! And if it wasn't torture, then obviously Shen Qingqiu must be her husband's newest whore! She must admit, that was probably a kind of torture in itself, even if it was a different one.

That, though, made a spark of jealousy curl within her stomach, and combined with the sting of not getting what she wanted, well. She might just decide to make a little more mischief, cause some problems for a man who deserved it.

And she happened to know two women who would jump at a chance to inflict some revenge on a man they believed to be dead.

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Ta-da! Hualing is here, as some of y'all guessed ;3

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