Title

by WelpImFucked

Don’t read

2. Dont

If anyone sees this, you're not supposed to. I just want to spend a few hours with a fic from AO3 being read to me by a robot voice on this site bc all the voice generators I find online are bullshit and are either not free, can't play while you're on other apps/sites, or they don't work with this amount of text. It's been pretty frustrating trying to find a usable one but my first one which was working fine suddenly had an update and was unable to play large amounts of text without stopping in the middle of it. The second one works fine but only when I'm on the site and not doing other things

This story will be taken down within a few hours of publication.

read above

It starts hazy, the remnants of a dream that seemed just a bit too sharp, clinging to Shen Yuan even after he's managed to drag himself through his morning routine of bare minimal self care. He had never been one to have elaborate or memorable dreams, but it also wasn't unusual for characters from his most recent webnovel obsessions to make cameos in his dreams, and so obviously a (creepy, menacing, super freaky) dream about Luo Binghe watching him, reaching out to him, coming after him - it was fine. Nothing weird about it.

Still, though, the unease that this dream had brought him - red eyes, piercing and intense, a wicked grin, sharp and gleeful - wasn't something he could shake off easily. The tension just seemed to build throughout the day, too, and by the time he refreshed the Proud Immortal Demon Way index page that evening, the lack of an update seemed chilling rather than irritating.

Of course having such an ominous dream of Luo Binghe had no correlation to this delay, obviously that hack of an author had simply slept in late or had spent too much time with his hand down his pants to get a chapter done, and yet -

Well, Shen Yuan had always been an avid reader, so of course it felt like every small thing was an indication he was about to be the protagonist of his own story. Just last week he had nearly convinced himself his encounter with spoiled yogurt would end with a fantastic transmigration plot rather than the trip to the ER and a scolding from his older brother. Ah, maybe that was it, then, his recent brush against death must be making him paranoid - who even would want to be part of a story that started out with such a creepy dream, and revolving around Airplane's shoddy writing, no less! Shen Yuan made a point to release the tension in his shoulders, huffing a laugh at his thoughts, and absolutely did not jump when there was a knock at the door.

"Fuck," he breathed, and swipped the small can of pepper spray from where it had been sitting untouched since his brother had given it to him as a house-warming gift months ago.

If it was Jiu-ge visiting again he never would have bothered to knock, having made a copy of the keys to Shen Yuan's apartment the same day he moved in. Logically, this meant the knock was from a delivery man, announcing the arrival of Shen Yuan's newest addition to the shameful pile of Luo Binghe merch growing in his room, or the old lady from down the hall bringing him fruit again. He put the pepper spray behind his back before opening the door - he absolutely would not risk offending his only friendly neighbor just because his nerves were jacked.

When he opened the door to Luo Binghe, looking smug and dangerous, Shen Yuan did the obvious: he slammed the door and started running through his memories of the day looking for any indication he might be suffering food poisoning again so soon.

"Are you insulting this Lord?" The question, although muffled, had Shen Yuan startling from his mental list of the possible hallucinogens he might have encountered. "Open up, and this Lord will be forgiving."

Okay, this is fine. This is obviously just a really intense cosplayer, and has nothing to do with the stupid dream or the missing update. Shen Yuan pasted on a smile that he hoped wasn't too frantic looking, and opened the door back up a crack to peer through.

"Uh, hi, um. Great cosplay? I think you might have the wrong place, though, I haven't heard of any meetups or anything near here." Luo Binghe - the cosplayer, Shen Yuan reminded himself, not an actual demon lord - had moved closer to the door, and was now looming over him.

"No, this Lord thinks he is exactly where he wants to be." The cosplayer dropped his voice low, leaning in even closer, " Shizun, I've found you. "

And then, well. Then the cosplayer was on the ground, clutching his eyes, and wow that was a much more extreme reaction than Shen Yuan thought pepper spray could produce! He almost felt bad for the man, except that he also still felt a bit terrified, so he very decisively closed the door and locked it. If the cosplayer was looking to make a friend, or find a meetup, he should have been way less creepy about it, and absolutely should not have tried to role play on the first meeting! And, not that Shen Yuan ever would role play, but he felt a bit miffed at being assigned the role of Shen Qingqiu. Did he look that much like an asshole on first impression? Well, he had slammed the door in the guy's face at first, but still! He was still recovering from the yogurt incident last week! He had an excuse!

The cosplayer had gone silent on the other side of the door, and when Shen Yuan peeked out from the window in the living room, he didn't see anyone in the hallway anymore. A bit unnerving perhaps, that he had left so quickly, but so long as he was bothering shut-ins in some other part of the complex it wasn't his problem anymore. He resolved to thank Jiu-ge for the pepper spray the next time he visited, and firmly put the incident out of mind.

--

There was no update to Proud Immortal Demon Way the next day either, but neither did Shen Yuan dream of its protagonist, so the lack of an update felt much less ominous than it had the previous day. He was almost feeling completely better about the whole thing, until he found the cosplayer in his living room that evening.

"Is this the weapon that was used to assault this Lord?" He was holding the can of pepper spray, turning it over in his hands as though trying to figure out how it worked. "It smells similar. Shizun should know that this Lord's blood rendered such a poison inert quite quickly, and this Lord is willing to forgive Shizun should he apologize."

Shen Yuan glanced over at his front door - it was still bolted shut. The cosplayer was looking at him now, gaze predatory, and he set down the can of pepper spray before beginning to approach.

"Shizun, this Lord did not come to fight. This Lord is only coming to take what he is due, Shizun need not worry, he will not be hurt if he cooperates." He came to a stop in front of Shen Yuan, towering over him. "If Shizun wishes, this Lord will even protect Shizun, so he has no need for the spray poison anymore."

" Protect me, ah?!" Shen Yuan was trembling, but past the fear and the overwhelming feeling that Jiu-ge had been right all this time about the poor security in his apartment complex, he was seething with rage. "You broke into my apartment to tell me you'll protect me? Oh, but only if I go along with your creepy roleplay bullshit, which is what? A play of me groveling for mercy?"

"Shizun, this Lord is trying to be forgiving-"

"Stop calling me 'Shizun,' damn it! Get out, or I'm calling the cops!" Shen Yuan winced at the crack in his voice on his last sentence, eyes darting around for something he could grab to defend himself with. The cosplayer narrowed his eyes, expression hardening into something much colder than the smug assurance he wore earlier.

"Fine. Shizun will do as he is obligated to without my mercy, then." And then, too quickly for Shen Yuan to react, the man jabbed at his neck and knocked him out flat.

--

Shen Yuan woke up in a room much too lavish for how uncomfortable the bed was. He had a pounding headache, and felt nauseous enough he was sure he had missed his evening medication. He felt exhausted, too - either he hadn't been out long, or being knocked out wasn't nearly as refreshing as conventional rest. A shame, he decided, since there was no way anyone would convince him to go back to sleep on this bed with minimal blankets and ceramic pillows.

He dragged himself up into a sitting position, relieved to find that the room appeared empty. Shen Yuan found his glasses on the bedside table and pushed them on roughly, irritated and trying to focus on that anger instead of his fear. Scanning the room, he caught his reflection in a polished bronze mirror hung above a vanity table and startled at his appearance: someone had dressed him in traditional robes, white and pale green. The robes were lightweight, silky, and certainly high quality, but Shen Yuan just felt disgruntled. That shirt had been limited edition! If something had happened to his precious Miku tee, there would be hell to pay.

Slipping out of bed, Shen Yuan found a tray of food on a low table, and sat down heavily before it. He was hungry, but distrusting of the meal, and the nausea was doing him no favors. So instead he just sat there staring blankly at the steam rising from the congee and the slip of paper attached to the tray, idly thinking to himself that it must be a talisman to keep the food warm.

It was getting hard to pretend this Luo Binghe was a cosplayer.

Okay, so he had been kidnapped by an OP demon lord. This really wasn't how he thought his own story would end up one day (he wasn't even the protagonist! What a rip off!), but he could work with it. Playing nice likely wouldn't get him anywhere, seeing as Luo Binghe had been calling him "Shizun" from the start, and Shen Yuan had already insulted and attacked him. Escape it was, then.

The door to the room was surprisingly both unlocked and unguarded, though Shen Yuan wouldn't be surprised if there was some sort of talisman or magic seal in place that alerted someone as soon as he left the room. He'd have to deal with that as he went, though - he had no intentions on sticking around to become a human stick! He picked his way carefully down the hallway, choosing a direction randomly. It was so dark here, soft light coming from glowing pearls in the walls rather than a more traditional light fixture. Shen Yuan had to clamp down on his excitement at seeing such a thing, trying very hard to focus on escaping and not the sudden reality of demons, cultivation, and magic. It was hard to fend for your life when all your greatest fantasies were right there in front of you!

Shen Yuan walked past several doors that seemed to lead to other rooms before he found an exit. Well, a way to someplace else at least, a true exit was unlikely to be so close. The door was heavy - though really, anything heavier than a game controller was difficult for Shen Yuan to move easily - and past it was what appeared to be a garden. It was beautiful, a large domed skylight far above him letting the hazy morning light filter down into the underground garden and illuminating willowy trees and beds of flowers, all likely exotic or magical in some way. In 'some way' indeed , Shen Yuan thought, I sure as hell hope they aren't all bullshit sex plot devices .

"Ah, it's good to see you awake!" Shen Yuan startled, turning to see a dainty woman smiling softly at him. She was sitting on a bench beside a small pond with a bag of what appeared to be small jerky strips in her hands. The pond must be a home to the decorative but deadly Turtle-Mouthed Koi, then, and he found himself craning his neck to try to catch a glimpse of them before he could help himself.

"Um. Hi, I was just looking… for some fresh air?" Probably best not to tell one of Luo Binghe's many wives of his plan for escape. "Is this garden, ah, that is, where are we?"

"Mm. Yes, I'm sure the esteemed Consort Shen had quite the need for some fresh air." She sighed, and wait, consort ? What the hell? Had he transmigrated after all?! "Please, come sit beside this humble First Wife Ning."

This was Ning Yingying, then, he supposed, though it still rang oddly in his mind that he had been referred to as a consort of all things. Perhaps it was simply too unusual for anyone to be in this part of Luo Binghe's palace unless they were one of his many conquests, and so Ning Yingying had made the assumption that Shen Yuan must be one, too. Reluctantly, he moved to take a tentative seat at the bench next to her, making sure he was sitting as far away from her as the bench would allow. He doubted he could continue his escape with Luo Binghe's very first wife watching him, but he absolutely would not add lechery to his list of crimes. He might have attacked the protagonist earlier, but he really had no intentions to covet his wives!

"Consort Shen, please understand. This part of the palace… we are at the heart of it. To make it here, it means you truly have gained A-Luo's favor." She sent him another smile, but it seemed strained. "Congratulations are in order."

Shen Yuan hesitated a moment before settling more firmly onto the bench, looking at Ning Yingying with a more evaluative gaze. He felt so - so off balance, here, in front of a pond of mythical flesh-eating fish, surrounded by fantastical plants and next to a woman of unrealistic dainty beauty. The last time he had been awake he had been dealing with some cosplayer creep trespassing in his apartment, and now he was, he was -

Well. He was getting his story, he supposed. Somewhere suitably magical, fueled by fear and confusion and the repressed excitement about the situation. Of course he wanted to escape, of course he wanted to survive and avoid the possible wrath of the massively overpowered lord of this estate, but even still, he wanted to sit here and marvel over the garden with Ning Yingying. He was face to face with one of his favorite wives from the book, one of the only ones that hadn't been a copy-paste of the same dry template, how could he not feel tempted to speak with her?

So he settled in, pushing his fear aside for the moment to focus on his confusion and to learn what he could about his situation instead, and allowed himself to really take a look at this wife of Luo Binghe's.

She really looked uncomfortable, he realized. Her hands were tense around the bag of jerky strips, and the smile she was wearing seemed almost like a grimace from the right angle. It seemed out of place on the face of naive and pleasant little Yingying, the first of the wives and always the most pleasant, the sweetheart of the novel. She seemed to be under the impression that Shen Yuan was the most recent of her husband's conquests; perhaps she had a harder time sharing her husband than the book divulged? Proud Immortal Demon Way had taken the harem trope and blown it up tenfold, but at no time did any of Luo Binghe's wives express discomfort at the concept of sharing their husband with so many other wives, or at least they never did longer than it would take for a reconciliatory papapa scene to take place.

"Ning - that is, First Wife Ning, I'm sorry, but you're mistaken. I don't know how I got here -" Xin Mo, he assumed, but that really didn't explain how or why the protagonist had settled on kidnapping him in the first place, "- but really, I'm not a consort. I'm a man, and I've barely spoken a single sentence to your husband, and they were hardly friendly. I'd just like to go home, if that's - if that's allowed? I guess?"

Ning Yingying's smile faltered, and then the tension seemed to seep from her until she just looked sad, almost. "Yes, that is usually how it goes with A-Luo, it seems. He really doesn't need much more than a greeting to decide if he will take someone into the household as a wife. Please try to understand, he really means no disrespect by it - he truly does care for us all, I know he does, he just… goes a bit faster than you were probably expecting."

Shen Yuan blinked, caught off guard by the blunt acknowledgement of the unrealistic way Luo Binghe had taken most of his wives. The Ning Yingying of Proud Immortal Demon Way, although beloved, had not been one of the few exceptions to the rule of low-IQ personalities Airplane seemed to abide by, and she never would have made such an observation about her husband and the ridiculous pace at which he had married each of his wives. And the way she was talking, this almost seemed like -

"So please, Consort Shen. Please do not try to run away."

- like something she had said many, many times before.

"If it is a family you are missing, we have ways to allow them to visit you, occasionally. If it is a lover, it is for the best of both of you that you give them up, I am afraid. If it's, well, if it's just uncertainty of starting a life with A-Luo, I must beg you to please give him a chance. He's really quite sweet once you get to know him, and he will ensure no outsider can hurt you, and -"

She cut herself off, drawing herself tense once more, bringing stiff fingers to clumsily pull a piece of jerky from the bag in her hands just as a shadow fell on the two of them.

"Yingying. You should have called this Lord if you knew Shizun had woken." The words weren't necessarily cold, but this… didn't seem like the right tone for a stallion protagonist to use when speaking with his first wife.

"This silly wife apologizes. She was simply helping Consort Shen acquaint himself to the gardens." Luo Binghe hummed, and Shen Yuan risked a glance at him. He was standing behind the bench, one hand resting on the back of it, and his eyes were fixed on Shen Yuan with the same offputting intensity he had experienced in his apartment earlier.

"Yingying should call Shizun as Shizun. She was also a disciple of Qing Jing with this Lord." Luo Binghe paused, eyes darting over to Ning Yingying before coming back to rest on Shen Yuan again. "Although this Lord understands Yingying has not quite come to terms with this Lord's explanation of the situation, and may have reserves for calling a stranger as Shizun."

Ah, well. That would explain some of Ning Yingying's tenseness, he supposed - if Luo Binghe had been going around telling everyone that Shen Yuan was Shen Qingqiu, or related to him in some way, or whatever other bullshit, of course Ning Yingying would be uncomfortable around him.

Ning Yingying shook her head, a small, jerky motion. She had not yet thrown the piece of jerky she had pulled from the bag. "No, of course this wife believes in A-Luo's story, it is just-" she swallowed visibly, "-it is just that this weak Yingying is not recovered from the shock of her Shi- of Shen Qingqiu's treachery and wickedness, and does not wish to spoil her opinion of Consort Shen by calling him as Shizun."

She did not look scared, as Shen Yuan had thought he had seen when Luo Binghe had first arrived. She looked - sad, almost, awkward and uncertain of how to interact with her husband. Perhaps anxious, nervous at having been caught talking about the concept of running away from Luo Binghe, but no fear. He felt more relief at that observation than he expected - in what world could Luo Binghe hurt Ning Yingying? Still though, this scene looked like a distant lord speaking to an unfavored concubine, not a husband to his first wife.

He had always felt like Proud Immortal Demon Way had lacked romance, despite the many conquests, but never had he considered that Luo Binghe may not actually hold much affection for his wives beyond their frequent papapa scenes.

"Very well, then." Luo Binghe broke into a grin, feral and hungry. "Yingying will call Shizun as Xiao-Shizun for now. To help her differentiate the two in her small mind, until she is accustomed to Shizun's presence here."

"Thanking A-Luo for his generosity." Abruptly, she stood up, and turned to Shen Yuan and Luo Binghe, bowing to each of them in turn, low and respectful. "A-Luo, Xiao-Shizun, this First Wife Ning will take her leave."

And then she hurried away in as polite a stride as she seemed to be able to muster, and Shen Yuan was left alone with the demon lord and the growing feeling that this Luo Binghe had somehow lived a life much more loveless than Proud Immortal Demon Way had ever let on.

"Shizun, allow this Lord to accompany us back to Shizun's room." Luo Binghe placed a large hand on Shen Yuan's shoulder, yanking him up from the bench. He stumbled, and Luo Binghe snorted before tightening his grip and forcing him to stabilize. "Shizun should be careful. This Lord can, as Ning Yingying so elegantly put it, only protect Shizun from outsiders."

Oh, hell, that meant he had likely overheard most, if not all of their conversation. Shen Yuan's stomach turned, and with the lingering nausea from the stress and skipping his medication, he found himself bringing a hand up to his mouth and swallowing back bile. He was still hesitant to think too deeply about how natural it had seemed for Ning Yingying to assume the newest "consort" wanted to run away, but even so, there was only a single thought looping through his mind: If this Luo Binghe speaks to his beloved wives so coldly, if this Luo Binghe doesn't inspire feelings of warmth and loyalty in every new wife he brings home… how the fuck was Shen Yuan going to make it through this alive as a man, when Luo Binghe has never treated men as well as his wives?!

When they entered the room, Luo Binghe paused, gaze resting a moment on the still steaming tray of breakfast he had left behind, uneaten. Then, with a sound that resembled a growl far closer than he had ever heard come from a human, Luo Binghe pushed him roughly in the direction of the vanity table across the room.

"Shizun did not eat his breakfast. Was the meal not to his taste?" Shen Yuan opened his mouth to answer, but was unable to say anything in response, throat closed up in fear.

And fuck, even now with fear keeping him quiet, he could feel the familiar irritation rising in him too. Why did he always have to be so damn confrontational? The strongest being in the world, in both worlds Shen Yuan had experienced now, still had a hand clamped on his shoulder, claws digging harshly into his skin through the robes, and here he was feeling spiteful rather than purely scared. Sure, he had been kidnapped and pushed around and growled at but - but he could afford to rant about this later! He had to survive first, and that meant absolutely zero yelling at the protagonist. Last time he had tried that, he had ended up knocked out, and it wasn't an experience he was looking to repeat.

"No matter, Shizun. I will just make it better next time." Somehow, Luo Binghe had maneuvered them so that Shen Yuan was standing behind the demon lord, who had seated himself at the bench in front of the vanity table. "Shizun just has to worry about doing his job for now."

And then a beautiful pearl comb was shoved into his hands, and Luo Binghe was watching him through the mirror with that arrogant smirk back on his face. "You want me to… to comb your hair?" Luo Binghe's expression flickered, and Shen Yuan winced, quickly bringing his hands up to start combing through his hair.

It was… soft, he supposed. Certainly hair worthy of a stallion protagonist, wild and fluffy and yet somehow perfectly in place. There really wasn't much of a mess for him to comb through, but he did his best at quickly running the comb through anyway. The silence between them was stifling, only the soft sound of the comb running through hair breaking the quiet. They continued on like this for a minute or so, but after Shen Yuan had uselessly brought the comb through most of the wild mane of hair, Luo Binghe made that same growling noise and slammed his hand into the table before him.

"Shizun is doing it wrong ." By all means, then, comb your hair yourself, protagonist! This humble one is just a nerd shut in, does it look like he knows how to take care of long curly hair?! "Shizun has to- he has to do it better, has to do it like that other Shizun, or this Lord won't forgive him."

Other Shizun? Shen Yuan was certain Shen Qingqiu had never combed Luo Binghe's hair before - perhaps he meant how he had watched Shen Qingqiu comb Ming Fan's hair? Or Ning Yingying's? Still, that sort of behavior seemed quite OOC for the aloof peak lord of Qing Jing.

Shen Yuan swallowed, trying to force his voice steady and void of both fear and irritation. "Okay, um, sure. How do you want me to comb your hair, then? I can't do it 'right' unless you tell me, I'm not - I don't know how to comb hair like this." He took a steadying breath, this was okay, he was okay, he was managing to speak and ask questions without breaking down into hysterics or fits of anger. He could do this.

Or so he thought, until Luo Binghe once more brought his hand down harshly on the table with a bang, closely followed by the sharp noise of splintering wood.

"That's not right, Shizun is supposed to know how to do it right - Shizun must! If Shizun doesn't, this Lord…" He seemed to struggle with his words for a long moment, and slowly, Shen Yuan started to take a small step backwards away from him. "Shizun has to make it feel warm!"

Warm, ah? Warm, your mom! This wasn't a nice family scene, I'm not your mom or lover, protagonist!

Still, though, he tried to refocus on putting more care into what he was doing. Maybe all Luo Binghe wanted was for him to be more mindful? In anycase, there was no way Shen Yuan would be able to bring any sort of affection into this interaction that might make it feel "warm," so carefully attentive was going to be the best he could do.

Maybe there was something he was missing? A knot he hadn't found, or - ah, that must be it: on one side, a small sloppy braid. Honestly, the braid didn't look to be any more neat than Shen Yuan would be able to make it, himself, but he could at least remove the braid to save Luo Binghe the humiliation of walking around with a child's work in his hair. And so he reached for the braid, tugging at the end of it so it unraveled, and then -

Shen Yuan found himself slammed into the vanity table, Luo Binghe's hands around his neck, fingers pressing roughly into his skin.

"Don't you dare , you don't have the fucking right to remove that, you piece of trash -" The grip around his throat was growing steadily tighter as Luo Binghe spat in his face, sure to leave vicious bruises even if he managed to survive this. Shen Yuan gasped, hands scrabbling uselessly at Luo Binghe's on his throat, legs kicking weakly out at him. He could barely breathe, and already spots were flashing in his field of view, and beyond them everything was blurry from having his glasses knocked from his face in the sudden attack. "How dare you, how dare you , that was special , that was-"

Shen Yuan stilled as something wet hit his face. A teardrop , he thought hysterically, the OP demon lord protagonist is crying about a braid as he strangles me, what the fuck is happening?! Luo Binghe was still yelling above him, but the words were near unintelligible now, just a stream of anger and frustration and despair being released as noise.

"P-please, I can't… I can't breathe, please, Luo Binghe, I can't-" And suddenly the weight on his throat was gone, and Shen Yuan was left collapsed on the floor by the vanity table, his hands still by his throat, heaving for air. Luo Binghe had moved far enough away to be out of reach, though really, no one was ever really 'out of reach' of the protagonist, so it mattered little in the long run.

His throat was burning, his chest aching, and as he slowly started to blindly feel around for his glasses and felt his breaths start to come faster Shen Yuan felt the dull resignation of knowing he was about to have a fit. It was just too much; the confusion and disorientation at first waking up in this strange world, the awful realization that Ning Yingying was somehow unloved here, the rough treatment and the choking and the overwhelming terror for his life, the missed medication from last night -

Soon, he couldn't hear anything but the pounding of his own heart and the hacking wet coughs that wracked his body, pulling him down further until he was just barely holding himself up on his hands and knees. He was probably getting blood and bile on the floor, fuck, he hoped he wouldn't get in trouble for that, he hoped he survived long enough to worry about getting in trouble for that. This fit wouldn't kill him, it was far from the worst he'd had, but who knew if Luo Binghe would want to keep an infirm in his inner palace.

There was that rough hand on his shoulder again, shaking him, and he tried desperately to pull himself from his own head enough to listen to whatever was being said to him. Something important, surely, with how alarmed Luo Binghe sounded, but all he could make out was "Shizun, Shizun," that damned title…

Slowly, the coughing subsided, and he managed to push himself back into a sitting position, bringing a hand up to wipe his mouth harshly. Fuck, that was always so disgusting, he hated these fits, hated that he couldn't go one damn day missing his medicine like this and not suffer for it. If he was going to have his adventure story, couldn't he have been given a healthier body for it, even if he was only going to be killed off by Luo Binghe in the end?

Belatedly, he realized Luo Binghe was pushing his glasses into his hands, and he grasped at them weakly before shoving them onto his face with as much precision as he was capable of in the moment. "Shizun, what was wrong with Shizun, is it a poison? Is Shizun's life in danger?"

Luo Binghe wasn't crying anymore, but his eyes were rimmed red, and his eyebrows were drawn together tightly. He looked frustrated, and Shen Yuan really, really did not want to test if that frustration could turn into aggression so quickly again. He took a shuddering breath, his throat burning with the effort, trying to center himself so he could manage a response that might make Luo Binghe leave him be.

"It's… It's fine. I hadn't taken my medicine yet, when you showed up, and who knows how long it's been since then, and…" How do you even begin to convince a demon lord unfamiliar with modern medicine or health conditions that you weren't going to lay over dead on his nice floors? Why did he even want to bother trying? He didn't necessarily want to risk Luo Binghe putting him out of his misery, or try to cure him with bullshit xianxia methods, but he also felt a rush of vindication that he might be causing this jerk at least some sort of inconvenience.

At that thought, he felt a surge of his own frustration, and was suddenly much less concerned with the protagonist's feelings. "You choked me, you asshole, of course I got worked up. Probably would have had an attack even if I hadn't missed my medication, though maybe it wouldn't have been as bad-"

"Shizun is sick, then." Shen Yuan scowled, irritated that even when he had been asked to explain himself he was getting cut off, but Luo Binghe only looked pleased. "Shizun need not worry, this Lord has always been… very skilled in curing illness." The frustration that had been so clear on the protagonist's face was nearly wiped clean, replaced by that stupid, hatefully smug look, and Shen Yuan felt suddenly chilled as he watched Luo Binghe move to bite into the meat of his hand.

Dying by his shitty health system, dying by being strangled to death, even dying by being turned into a human stick and left to bleed out - none of those would be even nearly as painful as Luo Binghe's blood parasites could be.

"If you fucking try to feed me your cursed blood, I'll-"

What could he do? Tug on the remnants of his braid again? It wasn't like he could expect this sickly body of his to outrun or overpower Luo Binghe . It would have to be… a persuasive thing, then. Something he could threaten to do, or not do, anything at all that might convince Luo Binghe to back down.

...What the hell was he even thinking?! How could he ever have anything or do anything Luo Binghe couldn't get or do himself? He couldn't threaten anything of importance, not when he didn't even know what Luo Binghe wanted from him.

Still though, even if all Shen Yuan had to threaten was himself, it would have to do. He had to have some sort of importance to Luo Binghe, right? Or he never would have gone through the trouble of kidnapping him from another world - and it was about Shen Yuan specifically, for some reason, since Luo Binghe had come to him twice, or thrice if his fucked up dream had been anything real. So: threaten to take himself, or his services, or whatever away from Luo Binghe, and hope that the inevitable death that follows from his disrespect will be quicker and less painful than blood parasites.

Shen Yuan forced his voice level, eyes snapping up to meet Luo Binghe's. "If you try to feed me your blood, I won't forgive you, ever. And whatever it is that you want me to do for you here, I will never, ever do it."

Luo Binghe recoiled back, then straightened, snarling at him. "This Lord is offering to cure Shizun, and Shizun thinks he has the right to threaten this Lord in turn?" The irritation and anger Shen Yuan had felt starting to build earlier was rushing forward now, and in the aftermath of his fit, he felt near enough death anyway that he didn't even try to hinder it - he was sick, he was angry, and his refusal against drinking Luo Binghe's blood was probably disrespectful enough that even if he managed to escape that fate he'd likely be killed in some other way. What was the point of trying to play nice, then? What was the point, when Luo Binghe wouldn't spare him anyway? "This Lord will give Shizun one last chance, he will be cured near instantly, all he has to do is be good and-"

Shen Yuan straightened himself up best he could, took aim, and spat in that asshole's face. A glob of pink-tinged saliva dripped satisfyingly down his perfect protagonist's cheek. "I tried 'being good' for you, prick, and I got myself strangled for it. Fuck off."

Luo Binghe lurched forward, the air around him growing heavy and dark from his aggression, and Shen Yuan braced himself for another attack, for the inevitable end to his story as short as it had been - but it never came. Instead, Luo Binghe suddenly drew himself back, spared one last severe look his way, and left the room. The door slammed behind him, and after flinching at the noise, Shen Yuan closed his eyes, sagged down so he was lying on the floor, and began to cry.

Chapter 2

Summary:

Shen Yuan makes it through another tense encounter with Luo Binghe, meets a few more inhabitants of the palace and discusses escape plans, and finds himself facing the extent of what Luo Binghe's childhood did to him.

Luo Binghe can't decide if he wants help unpacking all that, or if he'd rather die than consider there might be something wrong with him.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Unsurprisingly, the aftermath of Shen Yuan's coughing fit paired with the emotional turmoil from being kidnapped into a magical world and nearly strangled to death had left him drained. It had taken him a long, long time to pull himself together and up off the floor, and not long after he had done so a pair of goblin-looking servants had come into his room to clean the mess and to leave him with a new tray of food to replace the untouched breakfast. On their way out, he caught fervent whispers between the two debating whether to eat the congee they were taking from him, and he managed to huff a laugh. So here were the canonical effects of Luo Binghe's legendary cooking being used almost exclusively for wooing potential wives - servants considering the risks of beheading or similarly gruesome punishment for theft, just for a chance to get a taste.

(He tried not to look too closely at what that meant for his own position. Protagonist, this humble fan is a man! A man you've been calling 'Shizun,' no less! If Shen Yuan ever found out there was supposed to be this sort of relationship between Luo Binghe and that scum villain, one that put Luo Binghe's abuser in line to have regular protagonist-made meals… well, Jiu-ge would be proud of the violent aftermath.)

Still, if the NPCs of this world were all aware of Luo Binghe's cooking skills, it was impossible for them to be unaware of the heavenly demon's other, more well known skills. Namely, the properties of his blood, and what it could do to someone who consumed even a single drop of it.

The Luo Binghe of Proud Immortal Demon Way was never shy about showing off his blood with new and creative ways of torture, so everyone who knew of it was careful to never put themselves in a position where they might be forced to consume any. What this meant for Shen Yuan, hopefully, was that the goblins who wanted so badly to eat his untouched breakfast were not afraid of Luo Binghe's blood being present in the congee. It was also true that Luo Binghe hadn't force fed him his blood after Shen Yuan had refused him, despite how furious such a rejection must have left him. All in all, the chances of the food being blood-free seemed optimistic.

So he forced himself to sit down at the new meal and eat whatever portions of it seemed like they would be easy on the stomach. It was, tragically, the most delicious meal he had ever tasted. More surprising, though, was that it was a very light meal and settled easier with him than most meals did when he was feeling so sick. Perhaps this was just Luo Binghe's preference for meals, and everything he made was this easy on the stomach, but he had a sneaking suspicion that it had been prepared with his sickness in mind.

It was certainly odd to think about, this possibility that a highly dangerous stallion protagonist was actively taking care of him, but Shen Yuan had already confirmed that Luo Binghe needed him alive and at least mildly cooperative. This was startlingly clear now that Shen Yuan was feeling more clear-headed, and had spent a significant amount of time agonizing over the things he had been able to get away with ( oh fuck, he had SPAT on the PROTAGONIST! ) without losing his life. It was still possible that he was being saved for a torturous sacrifice, or would be turned into a human stick and lowered into a pit of Seven-Fang Spider venom as soon as he had served his purpose, but for now it seemed likely that he had… some sort of immunity from the protagonist's usual non-tolerance for disrespect. What exactly Luo Binghe needed him for in the first place was a separate issue, and much more confusing.

It had to be something that only he could do, or else there wouldn't have been the need for an interdimensional trip. When Luo Binghe had first showed up in his apartment, he had kept talking about Shen Yuan doing what he was 'obligated' to do, which meant he felt like Shen Yuan owed him something in some way. Considering the constant address of 'Shizun,' perhaps Luo Binghe was convinced that he had some sort of connection to his scum teacher? If he was the reincarnated soul of Shen Qingqiu, it would certainly explain his awful luck in life, he supposed. And then there was the whole matter about combing the protagonist's hair, and the need for that to feel 'warm' or whatever nonsense, and the frustration when it didn't.

Was Luo Binghe trying to replace the trauma of Qing Jing Peak with new memories of a nicer, caring teacher? That was… actually quite sad, and would explain why Shen Yuan was being fed the usually wife-exclusive homemade meals. It was also an explanation that would have normally garnered pity from him had he not been the one chosen to be the nice new teacher, but as it was, it was just sort of uncomfortable. Of course, as a reader, he had always cheered for Luo Binghe and cursed out his adversaries. Reading was a spectator sport, though, and very little of that support for Luo Binghe carried over to this situation. Towards this Luo Binghe, the one that kidnapped him and strangled him, he felt absolutely no obligation to help with this personal journey towards moving on from his childhood trauma - he was significantly more invested in saving his own ass.

Overthinking this all now would do him no good, though. All that mattered was that he had survived a hostile encounter with the protagonist, and now he was exhausted from it all. There were no windows in his room, but if the meal the goblins had brought was supposed to be lunch, it was still only midday. Going back to sleep now would likely end in him waking up ungodly early tomorrow, but there was no realistic way he was going to keep awake for the rest of the day after everything that had happened so far. It wasn't like a bit of extra sleep would hurt when he was fighting to keep healthy without his normal medications, so it was arguably a good decision to sleep early, anyway. The bed was as stupidly uncomfortable as he remembered it being, but some digging around the room revealed softer pillows he could replace the ceramic ones with at least. After that, he waited for his lunch tray to be picked up by a servant, and asked to not be disturbed until tomorrow.

A tomorrow that came much, much earlier than he was ready for, unfortunately. It seemed that even with his concerns about waking up early, he hadn't woken before the rest of the palace, and was startled awake by a harsh knock at the door. Please, please let that be room service, and not Luo Binghe back again…

He must still have some good luck left, because opening the door revealed another goblin-like servant, this time with both breakfast and a missive: after eating, Shen Yuan was to follow the servant to a garden pavilion to meet Luo Binghe for tea. He took the tray of food - congee for breakfast again, though it seemed to be made a bit differently than the last time - and eyed the goblin skeptically.

"Can I refuse?" With the previous day's revelation that he was able to literally spit at Luo Binghe and get away with it, there was little motivation to force himself to have tea with his kidnapper.

"With due respect, Consort Shen," the goblin responded, looking like he absolutely hated showing this small, sick mortal man any respect at all, "it would be unwise to ignore Great Lord Luo."

Shen Yuan snorted, looking down at the tray of food in his hands. The congee was white to the point of brightness, and even though he had told himself he wouldn't worry about Luo Binghe's blood parasites in his food - he didn't force me to drink his blood earlier, the servants weren't worried, you ate the last meal and it didn't kill you didn't maim you didn't hurt you, it's okay, it has to be okay - it was still a relief to have some sort of reassurance.

Shen Yuan closed his eyes, forcing his shoulders to untense. He was fine. Whatever sort of immunity he had, it was still keeping him safe.

In that case, fuck no , he wouldn't be having tea with Luo Binghe!

Shen Yuan drew himself up to his full height, enjoying the feeling of towering over the goblin servant, and put on his best impression of a righteous young master. "Well, too bad. Tell him I'm sleeping, since that's what I was doing before you woke me up anyway." And then, with no small amount of satisfaction, he closed the door in the goblin's irritated face and went to eat his breakfast.

He was feeling better today, still fatigued but not so horribly nauseous like he had been the previous morning. In theory, an excess of rest and regular, decent meals would fight away the majority of the more serious consequences of skipping his medication, and just leave him delicate and sleepy. He had experienced it a few years ago, when he had boycotted all the medicine and doctor's visits in his version of a late teenage rebellion. He had managed to last a few weeks before he got sick enough Jiu-ge had force-fed him his medicine and drove him to the hospital, so he knew he had at least some time in Luo Binghe's world before his body would start breaking down on him. Hopefully, the stress of the situation wouldn't accelerate that process by too much; he still had to figure out how to escape Luo Binghe's palace, and that was much more likely to succeed if he was healthy enough to run. From there he could worry about finding a xianxia medicinal substitute, and then work towards finding something that might have a chance to take him across dimensions after that. A bullshit plot device from somewhere inside the Endless Abyss, most likely.

He would have to sit down and write up everything he remembered about Luo Binghe's underground palace, and do what he could to explore without drawing too much attention, so he could fill in any missing details. He could start by returning to the gardens he had been in yesterday to reexamine them - perhaps there was a way to climb up and reach the glass domed ceiling that was allowing sunlight through to the plants below.

For now, though, he sat at the low table and ate his breakfast, full of spite about how incredible it all tasted. He had to eat to stay healthy right now, and of course it was best if the food sat well with him so it stayed inside him, but still! Couldn't Luo Binghe have had the kitchens prepare him a servant's meal? He didn't want to enjoy any part of his kidnapping, thank you very much!

Halfway through his breakfast, there was another knock at the door. Assuming it was another servant, perhaps early in picking up his meal tray or with another message, he called for them to come inside.

Unfortunately, Shen Yuan had a history of terrible judgement when it came to guessing who was behind doors.

"This Lord has been informed Shizun is asleep, and unable to attend tea," said the visitor, who was absolutely not a goblin-like servant, damn it , "Though it seems that Shizun has since woken. Shizun was, of course, going to send for this Lord after finishing his morning meal?"

Scowling, Shen Yuan shoved a spoonful of regrettably tasty congee in his mouth, and deigned not to answer.

"Still, this Lord is pleased to see Shizun has been eating. This recipe is more tasteful to him than yesterday's?" Luo Binghe had brought a tea set with him, and as he spoke, he went through the motions of preparing the tea. Shen Yuan eyed him wearily, thinking to himself that perhaps having tea with the protagonist was a non-skippable event.

"I'm eating to make sure my sickness doesn't get worse, asshole." And because your food is as legendary as Airplane wrote, unfortunately . "Which wouldn't have been as much of an issue if I hadn't been kidnapped, taken away from my regular medicine, roughed up and strangled, thank you."

Luo Binghe's hands curled around the teapot tightly, his dumb, edgy looking claws clinking against the pottery. Shen Yuan shoved down the instinct to flinch away. "This Lord already offered Shizun an option to cure his sickness. If he does not want this Lord's mercy, his illness is his own problem."

"Oh, sorry, forgot about the part where you wanted to put literal fucking parasites in me." He set his spoon down onto the tray with a harsh clack, leaning back and crossing his arms as he glared at Luo Binghe. "Has it occurred to you that you could offer, y'know, a normal doctor's treatment ? If you want me healthy, that would certainly help." He had at least some awareness of what each medication he took did, if he described their effects to a healer here, it wasn't impossible they'd be able to offer the xianxia equivalent without much fuss.

"This Lord has no need for healers in his palace. If there is an issue, it will be solved by this Lord alone, and easily." Luo Binghe paused, smirking as he dragged his eyes down Shen Yuan's form - robes rumpled from sleep, hair untamed. "Of course, if Shizun is so against using this Lord's blood, dual cultivation with a heavenly demon-"

Shen Yuan picked the spoon back up and lobbed it at Luo Binghe's head. He dodged easily, and had the nerve to look amused. Protagonist, even if you want new memories of a teacher that likes you, this is not how to do it! Teacher-student relationships were exactly the kind of taboo thing Airplane Shooting to the Sky would have liked, but that didn't mean the protagonist had to inherit those tastes!

Actually, wait. If his theory was right about Luo Binghe wanting to make new memories with a kind, caring teacher… wasn't this tea scene sort of important?? No wonder he was preparing the tea himself, and insistent on Shen Yuan having some - this was supposed to echo a scene where he accepted being Luo Binghe's teacher.

Well, fuck that! He didn't even like bitter tea! No way in hell he'd 'accept' any part of this!

"I already declined having tea with you. Go away, come back never." Shen Yuan glared down at the congee, wishing it was something else. Something that would be eaten with chopsticks. Chopsticks would have meant he'd have a second piece of cutlery left to throw at Luo Binghe.

"Shizun need not be so hostile. This Lord has already prepared the tea." And so he had, it seemed, as he finished whatever ceremony was necessary and pushed one cup towards Shen Yuan. "Shizun will drink it."

"No, I don't think I will." Honestly, he hated the scene where Luo Binghe got tea dumped over him as much as the next guy - that was a cute little sheep, he didn't deserve that sort of cruelty! This Luo Binghe, though, was a blackened, evil, rude asshole, and it was honestly quite tempting to throw the tea at him.

"And why is Shizun refusing this Lord's kindness this time?"

"What kindness, ah? You're just trying to make me drink some bitter leaf water, even after I've told you to leave me alone several times, now." Luo Binghe seemed to pause at this, his brow knitting together. "Will you attack me again if I drink it 'wrong,' somehow? Best not to drink it at all, thank you."

"Shizun does not like tea?"

"No, and I don't like you, either." Luo Binghe tensed up, and he felt a rush of vindication. There was still fear, prickling under his skin and begging him to just shut up and not make the protagonist even more upset, but he forced it down. He refused Luo Binghe, spat at him and threatened him with whatever meager abilities he had, and he was still here, still alive and mostly unhurt. He could do this, too.

"Shizun was supposed to like the tea," Luo Binghe said, the slightest edge to his voice. Supposed to like the tea ; just like he was supposed to know how to comb hair properly, Shen Yuan supposed.

"Well, I don't. Leave now, thanks." Luo Binghe did not leave. He did seem to hesitate, though, studying Shen Yuan from across the table.

"Shizun… prefers something else to drink?" Oh, he didn't even want to think about how he was missing out on coffee while he was here in this world, please let him mourn peacefully! Something must have shown on his face, though, because Luo Binghe was relaxing once more into smug confidence. "This Lord will get it for Shizun. This Lord grants one wish to everyone who enters his household. Even if it is a precious treasure, this Lord can find it for Shizun."

"Who the hell said anything about entering your household? My wish is to leave your household, jackass, and for you to leave me alone." Not as a teacher, and certainly not as 'Consort Shen,' would he ever willingly be a part of this Luo Binghe's household!

Out of all the aggressive comments Shen Yuan had made so far, though, this seemed to be the most offensive to Luo Binghe. That, or Luo Binghe had finally realized that Shen Yuan wasn't going to give into him so easily, and had reached his breaking point on the matter.

Luo Binghe pushed the cup towards Shen Yuan once more, harsh enough tea sloshed over the edge of it and onto the table. "Drink it, Shizun, this Lord will not-"

"I said leave , you brute-"

" Insolent- " Luo Binghe was on his feet suddenly, looming over Shen Yuan, and his eyes were glinting red. "Over and over, Shizun dares to insult this Lord, and refuses to be obedient- "

Shen Yuan's breath caught in his throat, eyes wide as he watched Luo Binghe, and he felt the fear that he had been repressing surge up within him. He shot a hand up to his throat, hovering over the bruises Luo Binghe's last tantrum had left him with, and watched as Luo Binghe went deathly still as the movement caught his eye. For one long, tense moment, the only noise in the room was the sound of their breaths, both just slightly too quick to be calm. Then the tension snapped, Luo Binghe growling and reaching down to swipe the tea set off the table with a severity that the likely priceless set absolutely did not survive.

Shen Yuan flinched, but Luo Binghe didn't move towards him, only breathing harshly as he looked down at him.

"This Lord will not sit here and be insulted. Shizun will care for this Lord as he is meant to, as he was taken here for, and he will not leave." He turned and made to leave the room, pausing in the doorway to turn back and address Shen Yuan one last time. "This Lord has tried to make his amends for hurting Shizun yesterday. It is not this Lord's fault that Shizun refuses to acknowledge these efforts." And with that he left, the slam of the door shutting sounding harsh and final.

Shen Yuan blinked, letting out a shaky breath. Luo Binghe's last words... this tea was not meant to be the Qing Jing ceremony, but an apology for strangling Shen Yuan? That was…

Not clear at all! Luo Binghe, this devoted fan read all about the old washerwoman that raised you, he knows you were taught how to say sorry properly! And before you begin apologizing, maybe take a look at the larger laundry list of offenses - where's your apology for kidnapping this innocent bystander in the first place! Honestly, Shen Yuan had half a mind to chase after him to chew him out!

In the end, though, he just huffed about it as he changed into fresh robes he pulled from the wardrobe in the room, straightened himself up, and left to reexamine the garden he had been in yesterday. He almost wished to find Ning Yingying there again, despite how it would hinder his plans to scope the room out for escape hints. That she had been treated so coldly by Luo Binghe still sat sourly in the pit of his stomach, and he almost desperately wanted to see some sort of proof to the contrary. After all, Ning Yingying was the first and most beloved of Luo Binghe's many wives - if she was unloved, how badly did the hundreds of other wives have it?

If he had been reading her right when they had last met, Shen Yuan was far from the first person to attempt escape, and though it was difficult imagining any version of Luo Binghe actually harming any of his wives… Well, keeping them all like prisoners, cut off from the outside world, and apparently unloved by their husband was certainly its own form of abuse. He had never considered it before, how all those conquests had felt about being picked up, married, papapa-ed and then promptly forgotten about. It had been a constant critique he had presented, chapter after chapter, but it was always born of the irritation of a reader rather than pity for the wives themselves.

Now that he knew, though, it was difficult for him to brush it off. He had been angry at Airplane for leaving these wives to gather dust because he had cared about them, and wanted to see them grow to be more involved and three dimensional in the story. He now had a chance to explore their characters, in very literal three dimensions, and perhaps even a chance to help them out. After all, he was already planning his own escape; having the backup of hundreds of other wronged women, many of whom were powerful demonnesses or cultivators, would certainly help him out.

New plan, then: continue on to the gardens, but with the purpose of finding one of Luo Binghe's wives rather than to examine the garden specifically.

As luck would have it, he found someone almost immediately. She was just as unrealistically beautiful as Ning Yingying had been, but with a delicate shawl covering the bottom half of her face. Considering what Ning Yingying had said about this being the part of the palace where the most favored of Luo Binghe's wives resided, this must be Liu Mingyan, then. She was already watching him when he first set eyes on her, and she made no move to divert her attention, so he didn't hesitate long before approaching her.

"Uh, hi. I'm-" He hesitated, shifting his weight uneasily. He certainly wouldn't be introducing himself as "Consort Shen" to anybody, and "Shizun" was in some ways even worse. He would just have to hope his actual name had spread throughout the palace, not just these weird nicknames Luo Binghe had given him. "I'm Shen Yuan. Can I sit by you?"

Liu Mingyan had been reading a book before he had showed up, resting in the shaded grass beneath a tree with startlingly red bark. She regarded him silently for another moment before gesturing to the spot beside her, placing a ribbon in her book to mark her place and setting it aside.

"You are Xiao-Shizun, then? Yingying spoke of you, briefly." The thought that the wives at least were friendly to one another was more of a relief than Shen Yuan would have expected, but he would take it. Her relative informality, too, was a relief - he had barely spoken to anybody yet, and he was already sick of the formal language.

"Ah, there's no need for that. I'm not a teacher, really, I'm not even from around here." Liu Mingyan hummed, neutral, and he had a feeling there was really no getting out of this 'Xiao-Shizun' nonsense. "This, ah, this might sound a bit blunt, but I'm really not supposed to be here."

"Yingying was unable to convince you to give up escape, then?" He winced, and looked down at his hands, curled in his lap. "I'll have to reiterate her concerns, I'm afraid. It really is best if you can just settle down here. If nothing else, it is a comfortable life."

"That - I appreciate your concern. Thank you. But I… I'm really not supposed to be here. I'm not… from this world? I know that sounds a bit weird, but my home is nothing like this. There's no cultivation, or demons, and we have electricity, and…" He trailed off, lost and not even remotely sure of how he was supposed to be convincing this novel character that he wasn't from her world. Actually telling her that she was a novel character was likely a horrible choice, and would be a last resort.

"May I feel your pulse?" He looked up, meeting her eyes, and was a bit surprised at how calm she seemed to be. Perhaps she just thought he was crazy, and was going to check his pulse for some sort of illness, but at least she hadn't decided to just up and walk away.

He held his arm out in her direction, and let himself be moved around slightly as she guided his arm into a better position. Then she placed her fingers over his pulse, and he felt a jolt under her touch, like a mild electrical shock. It traveled up his arm rapidly, and he shivered, but resisted pulling away. After a moment, she released his wrist, and he held his hand to his chest as he frowned and rubbed over the spot she had touched. Had that been her spiritual energy?

"Xiao-Shizun truly has no spiritual veins." He looked back up at her, and found her to be looking at him like he was some sort of puzzle. "Luo Binghe told a handful of us about where he got you, but it is one thing to hear it, and another to feel the impact. Even the mortals here have spiritual veins, and yet you have none."

"A-ah, what exactly did you hear about my world?" He paused, and glanced around. It would be best if he avoided another instance of Luo Binghe sneaking up and overhearing. "I assume Luo Binghe used Xin Mo to get to me, but if there was anything else, anything at all I could use to get back home, I would really appreciate it." Liu Mingyan sighed, and though half her face was hidden, she looked a bit sad.

"I apologize, but that really isn't the sort of information he would tell us. Why are you so adamant about going home? It is clear you are somehow familiar with Luo Binghe, and his Xin Mo - why not give up in the face of his influence?"

"That's so fucked up." Liu Mingyan raised one flawless eyebrow at him, and he grimaced. "Sorry, sorry. But like, seriously - I know he's powerful, but why do you guys seem so resigned to being kept here with no choice of leaving? There are so many of you here, and you guys are all powerful, if you teamed up - well, I don't know. But do you really want to spend the rest of your life as a prisoner?"

"A prisoner? Do you think we are all here against our wills?" Shen Yuan hesitated for a moment, unsure if he had made the right choice in being so blunt, but she didn't seem to be angry at least, so he pushed forward.

"Whether you wanted to be here at first or not, if you are unable to leave at will, you are prisoners."

"We are married to him, not being kept in a dungeon, Xiao-Shizun." Shen Yuan squinted at her, gesturing around them at the literal underground palace they were in. Liu Mingyan laughed softly, obviously understanding his point but only amused at it. "It is a safety measure. Luo Binghe keeps us safe, keeping us in a secure palace like this assists him in that duty."

"You admit that you're being 'kept' here, then." She hummed again, and he sighed, suddenly exhausted. "Listen, I - I know you're married to him. I know he keeps you safe from possible harm. But I don't think you'd even be exposed to most of those dangers if you were living your own life, cultivating and night hunting and being generally independent."

It was true, too: if the chapter wasn't about rescuing a new wife into the harem, it was about an old conquest getting kidnapped for ransom or some other bullshit. Perhaps this whole protection thing made sense to some of Luo Binghe's wives, those with little or no cultivation training, but this was Liu Mingyan - younger sister of the famed Bai Zhan War God. Surely, even after her brother's death, she would have been following a path of strength? She had always been portrayed as one of Luo Binghe's stronger wives, but it was also true that like all the rest of them, she saw little action after being married to the protagonist. More than most of the wives, certainly, but still very little.

"You're right that I know about Luo Binghe, and I know about you, too. You're strong, you're incredible! You don't need his protection, I know you don't. At the very least, you don't need to be kept away underground."

"Xiao-Shizun, I appreciate your concern for us, and your confidence in my martial abilities. However, you must not forget, whether we need to be here or not in order to stay safe: Luo Binghe is our husband." A husband that, from all he had gathered, really does not care for you like a husband should! His irritation must have been apparent, because Liu Mingyan held up a hand, asking for his silence as she spoke. "Wherever you have come from, things do not work here like you are familiar with. Being married to him is all the reason we need to be 'kept' here, as you put it."

Shen Yuan frowned, suddenly thinking that many scenes he was familiar with from various webnovels were much more sinister than he had ever thought. A concubine being sent to a cold palace, harem drama centered around trying to keep the husband's favor - these were all really quite awful for the women, weren't they? Their lives hanging on the condition of keeping their husband happy? Luo Binghe's wives weren't in any danger, it seemed, but the obligation to stay put and do as their husband said just because he was their husband didn't sit right with him. Perhaps if Luo Binghe had loved them like Shen Yuan thought he had, if he cared for them and doted on them like all the readers assumed he had… Unfortunately, Shen Yuan had little hope for this. It would be one thing if Ning Yingying had just been some weird exception, but nothing Liu Mingyan had said had implied that Luo Binghe cared much for her either; she only spoke of giving in to a comfortable life, not a life of love.

There didn't seem to be any arguing with Liu Mingyan on this point, though, and he knew it would be useless of him to try to push this point further. He sighed, reaching down to pick at the grass by his side. Even if he did manage to escape on his own as he originally planned, leaving all these people behind would always bother him.

"Xiao-Shizun is kind to worry about us, but your heart does not have to bleed for us." He looked back up at her; her eyes were soft as she watched him. "Yingying works hard to help those uncertain of Luo Binghe settle into their new life as his wife, and for those of us in the inner palace, any attempt to return to our family home is truly a fool's errand. However, the majority of Luo Binghe's wives do not live here. For them, if they are truly so miserable here, they can often leave without notice."

That was… really, terribly depressing. Shen Yuan had a hard time keeping track of all these hundreds of characters that were introduced before being pushed aside, sure, but the thought that Luo Binghe himself might also forget about some of his own wives, or not even notice their absence… Well, it was better than everyone being trapped here, he supposed. He had a sneaking suspicion, though, that not many of them actually made the effort to escape their perceived obligations to Luo Binghe.

"That's… thank you, for telling me that." Likely, sharing the information that some of Luo Binghe's wives have escaped without his notice was risky, especially when she was sharing it with someone who was so obviously displeased with Luo Binghe. "I can't give up on escape. I'm really not meant to be in this world, and I need to go home where I have my medicine, and my brother, and the internet. But I won't push about your own situation anymore."

Liu Mingyan nodded, and then for a time they sat in silence beside each other as Shen Yuan thought about where he wanted to go from here. It was back to his original plan, mapping out the palace and escaping by himself, if Luo Binghe's wives truly would not join with him or help him in this. It was reassuring that most of them had their own ways of escape, but he resolved to find Airplane as soon as he was back home. Maybe he could get him to write a nicer ending for Luo Binghe's wives than being kept like dusty collectibles in an underground palace.

The silence of the garden was broken suddenly as a door leading to a separate wing of the palace opened, and moments later a child raced up to the two of them and leapt towards Liu Mingyan. She caught the boy easily, who settled into her lap and sent Shen Yuan a curious look before refocusing on Liu Mingyan.

"Mama! It's free time!" Shen Yuan stared blankly at the boy, perhaps four or five years old, as he began to babble about his morning to his - to his mother , how had he forgotten that some of Luo Binghe's most beloved wives gave him children?? It had been the next big plot point, after Airplane Shooting Towards the Sky seemed to finally get bored of standard harem drama and decided that children would help mix things up a bit.

"A-Yu, are you going to greet Mama's friend?" The boy, A-Yu, turned to look at Shen Yuan again, suddenly shy.

"Hello, gege. A-Yu is Liu Siyu." Liu Siyu looked up at him with large eyes, his fluffy hair a bit out of place from running around, and oh, fuck, this is why Jiu-ge melts when I call him 'gege'. Shen Yuan smiled, leaning forward to ruffle Liu Siyu's hair.

"Hello, A-Yu. This gege is called Shen Yuan, I'm glad to meet you!" A-Yu giggled, and Shen Yuan pulled away, still grinning. "I've just come to this palace, would A-Yu mind telling me about what he likes to do here?"

"Yes! Yuan-ge should play with us during free time!"

Free time turned out to be the break between morning lessons and lunch, and apparently most of the younger children chose to spend this free time with their mothers. Liu Mingyan had been waiting in the gardens for Liu Siyu to join her for this time, but she only watched at her son indulgently when he invited Shen Yuan to join them rather than protest the intrusion on their time together, so the three of them ended up spending the break together. He skipped stones with A-Yu at the pond he met Ning Yingying at yesterday, and watched nervously as he climbed up a tree just to jump down from the highest branch - quarter heavenly demon was still enough heavenly demon to be able to perform physical feats that inspired terror in the hearts of human onlookers, apparently.

When the demonic red sun of the merged realms drew high above the garden's skylight, Liu Siyu began whining, not wanting to leave them both for lunch and continued lessons. Truthfully, Shen Yuan was feeling a bit whiny about it himself; it made him feel warm and pleased spending time with A-Yu. It had been so stressful, worrying about Luo Binghe's wives and his own escape, that this moment of happiness was a welcome distraction.

Unfortunately, it seemed like the day was set to start going downhill from here, since it was now that Luo Binghe decided to make a reappearance. Shen Yuan noticed him coming, this time, heading from the direction opposite to the hallways that led to Shen Yuan's room, his eyes already laser focused on Shen Yuan. Liu Siyu quieted down as soon as he noticed his father, shifting himself to hide behind Shen Yuan as Luo Binghe got close.

"This Lord is pleased his gardens are so enjoyable to Shizun that he has come back to visit them again." Luo Binghe didn't seem to be carrying the same fury from this morning's outburst, but the line of his shoulders was tense.

There was a slight pressure on his robes, and Shen Yuan glanced down to see Liu Siyu clutching at the hem of Shen Yuan's sleeve, watching Luo Binghe from behind him. He didn't seem scared, but it was clear that his father was more or less a stranger to him, and he had lost his confidence in the face of that. Shen Yuan frowned, his displeasure towards Luo Binghe growing, and looked back up to meet the protagonist's gaze.

"Are you here to offer me proper medical treatment, or to send me home?" Luo Binghe scowled, but really, Shen Yuan was getting tired of being bothered by this protagonist all the time. "If not, go away."

"Shizun is bold, trying to send this Lord away from his own gardens." Shen Yuan snorted, but his attention was pulled back to Liu Siyu when he felt a tug at his robes. The poor boy looked significantly more anxious than before, and a quick glance at Liu Mingyan confirmed that she seemed a bit uncomfortable as well - likely, they were unused to people being so rude to Luo Binghe. Too bad, though, because Shen Yuan wasn't going to be polite until he was shown some respect in turn - real respect, not just flowery formal language.

"Yeah, whatever. Go enjoy your gardens somewhere I don't have to look at you, then." He reached down to ruffle A-Yu's hair, sending him a reassuring smile. Ah, if only he wasn't a sickly shut-in with noodles for arms, he could scoop Liu Siyu up into his arms and give him a hug! A-Yu leaned into his hand, meeting his eyes eagerly.

"Yuan-ge doesn't like Lord Luo?" This Yuan-ge likes him even less, knowing his kids don't even get to call him 'father'!

Lord Luo himself seemed to be in an increasingly foul mood, glowering at the hand Shen Yuan had tangled in Liu Siyu's hair. Ah, fuck, he probably thought Shen Yuan was corrupting his heir, of course Luo Binghe wouldn't want him to be petting his kid like he was a dog. A-Yu liked the head pats, though, so too bad! He scratched at A-Yu's scalp in a way he hoped was comforting for the poor boy, stuck as he was between Shen Yuan's aggression towards his father.

" Yuan-ge has certainly taken every opportunity to make his displeasure clear to this Lord," Luo Binghe bit out, and Shen Yuan sent an appalled look towards him. 'Shizun' was bad, 'Consort Shen' was horrible, but somehow 'Yuan-ge' was even worse when it came from Luo Binghe!

"I'm surprised you've noticed. Most people tend to avoid people who would delight in kicking them in the shin, so I thought maybe you just hadn't gotten the memo somehow." And honestly, now that he had said that aloud, the fantasy of giving Luo Binghe a solid kick was very appealing.

"Fine, then," Luo Binghe spat, "Shizun can eat with the children today instead of this Lord, since he seems to like them so much better."

"Ah? What, like I would have eaten with you if you didn't send me to eat with A-Yu? I would've rather skipped lunch completely." He bent down, eye level with Liu Siyu. "This is great, though, right A-Yu? Yuan-ge will come eat with you, and you can finish telling me all about your recent adventures."

Liu Siyu broke into a grin, still nervous but pleased that he wouldn't have to go to lunch without his new friend. Shen Yuan shot Liu Mingyan an apologetic smile, knowing he was about to leave her with a frustrated Luo Binghe, but she only nodded slightly at him. That was enough of an approval for him, and honestly he wanted nothing more to escape Luo Binghe's blazingly intense gaze, so with no other ceremony he let Liu Siyu guide him out of the garden.

Shen Yuan wasn't sure he was surprised or not that Luo Binghe only silently watched them leave, his hands curled into tight fists by his sides.

The room Liu Siyu led him to felt very much like a dining hall, albeit on a smaller scale. The other children had already gathered, and were beginning to find their seats as servants brought out plates of food. There were maybe fifteen children in total, none looking older than twelve or younger than four. That was more or less what Shen Yuan remembered from the most recent Proud Immortal Demon Way chapters, so no surprises here, at least. Many of them watched him curiously, but none seemed to be aggressive - relieving, since they all had heavenly demon blood and could certainly be quite hostile, especially to strangers. Liu Siyu's friendliness to him must have given them all some sort of sign that he belonged, though, and it didn't take long before several others sidled closer to where they were sitting to ask about A-Yu's Yuan-ge. And then, after servants hastily brought Shen Yuan's meal to him, the rest of the children suddenly became very interested in getting as close to Shen Yuan as possible, all clamoring to ask questions.

"Lord Luo made gege food! Is it gege's birthday?" The meal Shen Yuan had been given was very clearly different from the meals being dished out to the children. Not only was it a different menu (no fatty or heavy foods, as all his meals had been since Luo Binghe had discovered he was sick) but it just looked tastier overall, like comparing dining hall food with a meal from a luxury restaurant. Obviously, Luo Binghe had made Shen Yuan's meal, and not the kids'.

"No, I… Does your father only make you guys food when it's your birthday?" He mentally added another tally to the 'ways Luo Binghe has disappointed me' scoreboard. "He wanted me to eat lunch with him, maybe he had just already made mine and didn't want it to go to waste…" He very pointedly did not tell the children that Luo Binghe had made him all of the meals he had eaten since arriving in this world - no way was he going to let these kids think their father cared about some weird, irritable mortal more than them!

"Yuan-ge told Lord Luo 'no'!" Liu Siyu proudly stated, looking pleased as the other children let out shocked gasps. "Yuan-ge walked away from Lord Luo, and Lord Luo still made him lunch!"

"Gege must be powerful!"

"Gege must be incredible!"

"Gege must be the best! "

Small hands pulled at his robes, kids pressing in to babble at him on all sides, and Shen Yuan was quickly becoming a bit overwhelmed. One small, fluffy bun trying to get his attention was adorable! A dozen of them was… very noisy. He also felt a bit deceitful - he certainly wasn't powerful, or incredible, or anything else that could force a heavenly demon lord into subjugation. He was just kind of annoying, and quick to cause a fuss. Any of the children here, even the ones as young as Liu Siyu, could very easily beat Shen Yuan at just about anything.

"Ah, aha, I'm really not so impressive…" A-Yu shook his head furiously, looking ready to fight the point, but Shen Yuan really did not feel up to an argument with a child. "Let's just put the matter aside, though, we don't want our food to get cold before we can eat it, okay?"

There was another surge of movement, many kids not wanting to be sent away, the youngest children pushing up close against his robes. He pet their heads absentmindedly, and laughed softly when they pushed into the touches. Really, all these buns were so cute!

"Yuan-ge?" A-Yu had turned to his own plate, pushing the food around a bit and glancing around at the other plates set out around the table. Really, their meals didn't really look bad , but of course nothing could hold a candle to the protagonist's skill, and the kid's meals looked poor in comparison. "Will Yuan-ge share with A-Yu?"

"Oh, sure, I don't mind -" Suddenly, the small buns that had pushed closest to him were looking up at him with large wet eyes, and Shen Yuan had a feeling he had just made quite the mistake.

"Gege will share with us?"

"Gege is so kind!"

"Gege is the best, the best!"

Oh, jeez, this was really not what Shen Yuan had meant to do at all. Sharing a bit with one kid was fine, but sharing a bit with everyone here would leave nothing left for him! He eyed one of the plates meant for the kids. There was no way Shen Yuan would be able to stomach it, as delicate as he was without his usual medicines: even from a slight distance, he could smell the heavy spice the food had been cooked with. If he couldn't trade his food for some of the kid's, then sharing with them would be the same as giving his food away and leaving himself hungry, so he really couldn't…

He met A-Yu's eyes, bright and hopeful, and glanced at the rest of the children, looking up at him with excitement, hands tugging at him as they pleased.

Ah, damn. There was no way he would be able to say no to them, was there? Somewhere deep, deep inside of Shen Yuan, he felt a spark of pity for his Jiu-ge, who had been on the receiving end of many similar pleading techniques from Shen Yuan.

"Alright, then. Everyone gets a share. Bring me your plates, so I can dish it out, okay?"

After that, Shen Yuan was officially the favorite. It was mostly worth it, watching them all savor the small portions of protagonist-prepared food, he supposed. Many of the children, especially the older ones, tried to offer parts of their own meals in return, but Shen Yuan gently declined. Being hungry was better than throwing up, and anyway, he could probably find a snack to eat later. So he watched the kids eat, and listened to them babble about their lessons, and felt the same contentment wash over him he had felt in the gardens while playing with Liu Mingyan and A-Yu.

It was nice knowing Luo Binghe's children were living well.

Lunch ended with the children taking turns saying their farewells to Shen Yuan as they headed off to return to their lessons, and he ended up promising several of them that he would make an effort to eat with them again soon. Then, with a mind to find his planned snack before returning to his rooms, he bullied a servant into escorting him to the kitchens.

They were empty on his arrival, any remaining staff probably having cleared out after catching wind that 'Consort Shen' was on his way, but that suited him just fine. He thanked the servant that showed him the way before letting him leave, and began to systematically rifle through cabinets and pantries, looking for snacks that would be easy on the stomach. Eventually, he found a ceramic jar filled with small crackers, a bit bland and gritty-looking, but they would do fine.

"What is Shizun doing in the kitchens?" Shen Yuan startled, nearly dropping the handful of crackers he had pilfered before turning around to face Luo Binghe. Didn't this demon lord have things to do? Why was he always showing up to bother Shen Yuan?!

"Ah, I just. Y'know, got a bit hungry." He laughed nervously, shuffling the crackers into his sleeves. Unprompted theft was significantly less justifiable than being an asshole in response to similar asshole-ish behavior, and he really did not feel like being called out for it.

"Shizun got hungry a mere hour after lunch was served?" Luo Binghe didn't seem upset, merely curious. "Is this a part of Shizun's sickness?"

"No, I just-" He paused, shifting his weight uncomfortably. "I wasn't very full from lunch, that's all."

"Shizun's lunch should have been more than enough. If Shizun had an issue with it, he should tell this Lord now." Luo Binghe's pretty face was pulled down into scowl now, and Shen Yuan suddenly remembered how displeased he had been when he had left that first bowl of congee uneaten. Ah, of course someone who faced starvation and deprivation for many of his younger years would be upset about wasted food! Don't worry, protagonist, your food was still eaten, and eaten with delight!

"No, it was fine. The kids, your, um, your children - they were just really excited that you had cooked something."

"Shizun gave his meal to the children?"

"Yes? It just would have been sad, if I didn't share." Luo Binghe looked less upset now, but only slightly.

"They shouldn't be taught that they get to have things just because they want them. It's unrealistic. Did Shizun at least make them fight for it?"

" What? No, of course not, what the fuck, why the hell would I make them fight just to have a nice meal? I just made them share it, so everyone got to try a bit." There was a moment of silence as Luo Binghe watched him closely, expression unreadable, before Shen Yuan cleared his throat and plowed on. "And anyway, who cares about what's realistic? They're children, they should be a bit spoiled. They deserve to have as much fun and be as happy as they can, before they've grown up and have to worry about dumb adult things. Everyone deserves that."

"'Everyone deserves that'? What naive words, Shizun." Luo Binghe laughed, cold and joylessly, and began pacing towards Shen Yuan from where he had been hovering near the entrance to the kitchens. Shen Yuan swallowed, reflexively taking a step backwards and bumping into the counter behind him. Luo Binghe stopped his advance abruptly, watching him from halfway across the room with a cruel smile.

"Shizun knows so little about the world. Thinking children should be spoiled just because they are children, thinking people deserve happiness when they haven't earned it - how very typical of a little young master who grew up so well cared for. And now look at you: weak and sickly, because you-"

"Because I'm alive, despite my illness? You're right, if I wasn't 'spoiled' so well as a child, I wouldn't be sickly at all - I would probably be dead, instead." Shen Yuan met Luo Binghe's gaze evenly, one hand behind him gripping the edge of the counter to ground him. "I was spoiled. Am spoiled, still, by my Jiu-ge's love and my parent's money and my world's medicine. That doesn't make me weak ."

"How does Shizun stomach telling such lies to this Lord, hm? What about Shizun isn't weak, soft and delicate from having everything handed to him, and now he wants to disgrace this Lord's own children by spreading his weakness to them. Shizun has no right to interfere with this Lord's lessons for his children, no right to teach them they don't have to fight for every little thing they want."

"Shizun never had to fight for anything," Luo Binghe continued, his voice beginning to raise, tone harsh. "Never had to struggle or come to understand how cruel the world is, and yet he thinks he has the right to lecture this Lord about how best to raise his own children, and thinks he knows best about what people deserve."

"Who the hell do you think you are, telling me I 'never had to fight for anything,' just because I didn't fight for the same things that you did?" Shen Yuan was raising his own voice, now, and the crackers he had hidden earlier were flaking in the hand he didn't have braced on the counter. "Luo Binghe, you listen to me: you never had to fight to keep down your meals, because your demon blood kept you healthy, even when you were beaten and abused and neglected. You never had to fight to breathe past fluid that sat in your lungs for weeks, never had to-"

He cut himself off, breathing heavily. His throat was starting to burn, and he shut his eyes tightly against the wave of indignation that had rocked through him at Luo Binghe's words. He breathed deeply, counting the seconds until he began to feel centered again. As he began to calm down, he felt regret begin to pool in his stomach.

It was needlessly harsh to tell Shen Yuan he had never faced a single difficulty in life, it would be unnecessarily callous to say that about just about anyone, but… It was really, terribly cruel of Shen Yuan to try and point out ways Luo Binghe had it 'good' in life compared to Shen Yuan. ' Even when you were beaten and abused and neglected, ' what kind of argument was that?! The protagonist had never had to worry about throwing up everything he ate because for most of his life he didn't have any food to worry about . He was never stuck in a hospital for years of his life because he was never afforded that sort of care to begin with, hadn't even been able to get the slightest amount of medical attention for his adopted mother all those years ago when she died of an otherwise easily curable illness. He never had to worry about chronic pneumonia or being immunocompromised because his demon blood kept him from getting sick - demon blood that had him hated, and thrown away into a literal hell, and that even Shen Yuan had called horrible to his face.

He didn't like this Luo Binghe, but this was… Well, even if Luo Binghe was horrible to Shen Yuan, he wouldn't be able to stomach the thought that he had said such a thing to him without apologizing.

"…Sorry. That was… I know you had to suffer through a lot of shit in your life, and it probably feels fucking terrible to take a peak into a world like mine - a life like mine, really - and see so many things you couldn't have." Luo Binghe snorted, turning his head away, and Shen Yuan sighed. "The point is just that - everyone grows up different. We all have our own stuff we have to get through, to reach our own versions of 'strong' or whatever. And since everyone faces their own difficulties, it's important to help those around us, to spoil those around us, when we can. It makes the parts of life that no one can help you with more bearable, when someone's looking out for you in little ways."

Luo Binghe was still looking away from him. Shen Yuan sighed again, forcing himself to relax his grip on the counter and drop his hand to his side.

"Luo Binghe." His eyes darted to meet Shen Yuan's. "Would you push your kids into the Endless Abyss, without a weapon or any sort of provisions?"

"Is that the sort of beast Shizun believes this Lord to be?" Luo Binghe's voice was bitter.

"No. I think you're a jerk and perhaps mildly evil, but not a complete monster. This is to prove a point: the experiences you went through are not the only way to become strong. You know it, or else you'd have answered that question differently. Just because you faced an incredible amount of difficulties in life doesn't mean your kids should have to fight for every little small thing.

"Your childhood was… really, really bad, and I'm honestly a bit shocked you didn't take righteous revenge on Airplane before you kidnapped me." Honestly, kidnapping that hack of an author would've made infinitely more sense that kidnapping Shen Yuan. "But the good parts, when Ning Yingying or your mother was able to spoil you a little, how could you say that those things made you weak? And this sort of thing, being cared for and enjoying life where you can, it can be much more powerful than hate or misery - it keeps you healthy, keeps you from breaking down under stress and gives you something to think about when you're feeling down.

"Spoiling your children from time to time, it won't make them weak, or prevent them from growing up as strong as you did. It will make them happy ."

Finally, Luo Binghe turned back to face Shen Yuan, his eyes searching Shen Yuan's face. "Does Shizun - does Shizun believe such a thing about everyone?"

"Isn't that what I just said?"

"Even when they've grown up, even when they're powerful and even if Shizun hates them, Shizun believes this Lord's children would still deserve that sort of thing then?"

Shen Yuan blinked, startled. That was… Truly, a very non-subtle line of questioning, Luo Binghe! You couldn't have made it more obvious that you weren't talking about your children anymore if you had just outright asked about yourself!

"Even then, though I wouldn't be so inclined to be nice to someone I hated. But from other people, from those around them that do care for them, of course they should be allowed kindness. It isn't really about 'deserving' anything, it's just-" Abruptly, Shen Yuan cut himself off, looking at Luo Binghe carefully.

He thought about Luo Binghe's wives, trapped in a palace with a husband who didn't seem to love them. He thought about Ning Yingying and Liu Mingyan telling him that Luo Binghe was good to them, Ning Yingying's insistence that Luo Binghe cared for them all even though he had been so cold to her when Shen Yuan had watched them interact. Thought about Luo Binghe standing in front of him now, pretending like he wasn't asking Shen Yuan if he thought Luo Binghe deserved to be taken care of now and then, asking if that sort of happiness was allowed for him. Thought about his Jiu-ge back home, who used to be so cruel to Qi-ge because he thought he hadn't deserved Qi-ge's love and knew of no other way to keep him at a distance. Thought about all this, and felt a bit sick to the stomach from it all.

Luo Binghe had kidnapped Shen Yuan, and had hurt him, and wanted to feed him blood parasites that could torture and control him. Shen Yuan didn't deserve to be treated like a therapist by him, and had no obligation to offer him reassurance.

Luo Binghe was also Shen Yuan's favorite character, and Shen Yuan's heart bled for him, even now.

"It's a little about deserving it, I guess. I think, if this person was so strongly hated, there must be a reason for it. If the reason is dumb, like you - like your children having demonic blood, then of course they still deserve kindness. But if the hatred is a result of the person's actions, not their being, then it's a bit different. Shen Qingqiu, who abused you - of course he didn't deserve your kindness. No one should be expected to repay cruelty with warmth."

Luo Binghe's eyes flicked down to the ground, and Shen Yuan remembered him crying, pinning Shen Yuan with a hand around his throat and talking about warmth .

"Shen Qingqiu could never have redeemed himself," Luo Binghe mutters, words bitter and sharp.

"He never tried to." Luo Binghe looked back up at him, and Shen Yuan cleared his throat, uncomfortable under the weight of his gaze. "I don't know if he ever could have redeemed himself. But he never tried to, so no one will ever know. He might have, if he genuinely wanted to."

Do you want to?

Shen Yuan looked down at the ground, tracing the kitchen tiling with his eyes. Fuck, what an exhuasting conversation, all because he was weak to cute little buns who wanted a share of his lunch.

"If you… If you want to redeem yourself-"

"This Lord has nothing to redeem himself for." Shen Yuan shot his gaze back up to watch Luo Binghe, wary, not expecting the outburst. "This Lord's actions have always been righteous and deserved. This Lord has always been right."

"Were you right to kidnap me, lock me away and strangle me?"

"Shizun should not dare to argue with this Lord about this. Shizun was taken to do as he is obligated to, to give this Lord what he owes him. That is about deserving, Shizun. This Lord does not need to redeem himself." Luo Binghe scowled, hesitating a moment, and then, "Shizun is the one who refused to acknowledge this Lord's attempts to make amends for his attack on Shizun. I - this Lord does not need to redeem himself, this Lord hasn't done anything wrong!"

"I don't know what I expected. Of course you'd say that. Asshole." Luo Binghe growled, and Shen Yuan rolled his eyes. That's what he got for pitying a blackened Luo Binghe, he supposed. "Well, whatever. If Shen Qingqiu had wanted to redeem himself, he better not have expected those around him to do all the work for him. That's all I was going to say."

The aggression seemed to drain once more from Luo Binghe, who was looking mullish rather than hostile now. When he spoke, there was a low rumble to his voice, but it was a far cry from his outburst from before. "Shen Qingqiu could never have accomplished such a feat."

"Maybe. Like I said, he never tried."

"And now he is dead . As he deserved." Shen Yuan hummed, not saying anything more in response. Luo Binghe seemed to be deep in thought, and it was a long moment before he spoke again. "Shizun must certainly think himself clever, spoiling this Lord's children for no reason and using it as an excuse to lecture this Lord for his perceived faults."

"So you do remember that this started out because I gave your kids my lunch. Fantastic." He resisted the urge to roll his eyes again. "Right, well: yes, I gave my lunch away to your children. No, I didn't make them fight for it. And if I ever catch wind that you're trying to make a bunch of eight year olds shed blood for the right to have a good meal, a good meal made by their own father , I don't care how weak you think I am - I'll beat you up for it."

There was silence, stretching just long enough that Shen Yuan was beginning to think he had made a mistake threatening the protagonist, and then all of a sudden Luo Binghe… deflated, almost. The tension seeped out of his shoulders, and his eyes softened, the cold disappointment he had sheltered earlier replaced by a wry amusement. Shen Yuan relaxed as well, having reflexively squared his shoulders in the face of Luo Binghe's previous fury.

"Shizun really is too kind," Luo Binghe said eventually, but his voice was soft and lacked the usual bite behind it. "This Lord suspects that his children would certainly grow cosseted and content if Shizun had his way."

"Yea, well, whatever. It was just one plate of food, they didn't even get much really, since it had to be split between so many. Really, it wasn't worth this whole big deal…"

"Yet a 'big deal' Shizun has made of it." Shen Yuan shuffled his weight uneasily. "And now Shizun is hungry because this Lord's children did not share their own meals with him in return?"

"Ah, no, they really did try to share. They're much more polite than you." Luo Binghe looked a bit disgruntled at that, but really, it had been quite obvious that Luo Binghe was not the primary caretaker of those sweet buns! "I just couldn't really… The lighter meals you've made sit better with me, than what they had."

At some point, he should probably really thank Luo Binghe for ensuring he was fed meals that were both easy on the stomach and still delicious, but, well. It was Luo Binghe's fault in the first place that he even needed that sort of special care, so he didn't feel too bad about eating all his cooking without being polite about it.

"So Shizun offered his own meal to somebody else's children, just to make them a bit happy, even knowing that he would not be able to eat lunch because of this?"

"Ah, that makes it sound…" He wasn't trying to be so sacrificial, really! He was just weak to cute things! The way Luo Binghe was wording it, it was a bit uncomfortable…

"Mm. This Lord understands now." Luo Binghe approached him, and although his mouth was set straight, the edge had never returned to his voice. He reached over Shen Yuan's head into the cabinet he had been raiding for snacks, pulling down the jar the small crackers had come from and pushing it into Shen Yuan's hands. "Shizun is free to snack on these while he waits. This Lord will prepare him a new lunch."

"That! That's really not necessary!" Luo Binghe had already turned to fetch ingredients, though, and summarily dismissed Shen Yuan's protests.

"This Lord doesn't agree with Shizun about what this Lord's children should and shouldn't have when they haven't earned it. Regardless, this Lord has his own morals that guide him." Luo Binghe threw a complicated look over his shoulder at Shen Yuan, his lips pulled up at the corners but his eyes looking thoughtful and anything but happy. "This Lord's children were unable to repay Shizun for his generosity today. This Lord will ensure his children do not carry a debt."

Shen Yuan hummed, amused. "Oh? Isn't doing it for them going easy on them? Not making them work for it? Letting them get away with being taken care of by someone?"

Luo Binghe huffed a laugh, infinitely more genuine than his cold one from earlier, even if it sounded a bit sad at the edges. "Shizun truly doesn't let this Lord get away with anything."

"Hm! Someone has to keep you on your toes." He sniffed, feeling a bit smug that he had come out on top in an interaction with Luo Binghe for once, and settled in to idly munch on a few of the crackers as he watched the protagonist work his cooking magic.

When Luo Binghe had finished fixing a quick second lunch for him, he guided Shen Yuan to sit at a messy table in the center of the kitchen, pushing several piles of stacked cutlery out of the way to make room. Shen Yuan ate the meal greedily, trying to ignore the gaze resting heavily on him, and absolutely refusing to acknowledge how pleased Luo Binghe looked with himself once the whole meal was eaten. Look away, protagonist, this prisoner is still bitter about how tasty your food is, no need for you to see how quickly it all gets eaten!

After that, Luo Binghe escorted him back to his room, and although Shen Yuan stubbornly refused to make conversation with him, there didn't seem to be much need for it - Luo Binghe remained quiet, only watching him. He left with assurances that tonight's meal would be a bit less involved, to account for the late lunch, and before he knew it Shen Yuan was left alone in his room once more. It was a bit disorientating, dealing with Luo Binghe - his moods were so volatile, and Shen Yuan really couldn't keep up with what exactly he was doing that was causing the shifts in them. And the way Luo Binghe had spoken, hypothetically about his children and Shen Qingqiu… Well, it certainly wasn't something Shen Yuan wanted to unpack right then.

So, confused and nervous but at least no longer hungry, he called for a servant to request parchment and ink. He hadn't actually done much exploring today, but it was still best to write down as much as he could remember about the places he visited. Regardless of whether Luo Binghe was considering entering a redemption arc not, he was not going to make it easy to keep him here against his will. Hence, with all the thoroughness appropriate for Proud Immortal Demon Way's biggest anti-fan, Shen Yuan began sketching rough layouts of the garden and hallways.

If small doodles of A-Yu's face, bright with happiness and cheeks stuffed full of food made it onto the margins of his notes, well. No one had to know that.

Notes:

i am honestly blown away by the response to the first chapter - i was expecting, quite literally, less than a tenth of the response that i got. you all are so so kind and supportive! thank you all so much for taking the time to read and comment, it really means the absolute world to me :'D

i hope that this chapter lived up to your expectations!! bingge still has a long way to go, but at least he's considering beginning the journey~

next chapter will come in the normal two weeks from now, i just wanted to post this one early as a thank you for the support

Chapter 3

Summary:

Shen Yuan speaks with Ning Yingying, continues his escape plans, and teaches Luo Binghe 'please' and 'thank you'.

Luo Binghe tries to take Shen Yuan on a date, which goes about as well as you'd expect.

Notes:

sy has another panic attack this chapter :c

to skip, stop at "...and turned to run." and resume at "Shizun was scared."

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

The following day, Shen Yuan was once more woken by a knock on the door. He took a moment to glare up at the canopy of the bed, blurry without his glasses, before pulling himself up and out of bed to go through the motions of making himself look presentable. Really, if this was going to be how he was woken every day, he was going to have words with the staff in charge of delivering his breakfast.

Opening the door, however, revealed Ning Yingying rather than a servant. She was smiling pleasantly, and was carrying a tray with two servings of breakfast on it, both prepared to be easy on the stomach in the same way he recognized from previous meals.

"Xiao-Shizun must forgive Yingying for waking him. If he is amenable, though, perhaps we could have breakfast together?" Ah, sweet, kind Ning Yingying, you're much easier to forgive than those ugly little goblin servants!

"Ah, sure, here," he pulled the door open wider, gesturing for her to come inside. "Don't worry about waking me up, it's fine, I just tend to sleep late."

"A-Luo mentioned Xiao-Shizun was sickly." She settled at the low table, setting down the tray and arranging the meals as Shen Yuan approached to sit across from her. "Xiao-Shizun should not apologize for resting when his body needs it."

Ning Yingying looked at him a bit guiltily, and Shen Yuan tried to keep a grimace off his face. It was true that the rest was good for him, but he also didn't want everyone to treat him like he was so delicate that waking him was a crime.

"Ah, I'm really not so bad off, don't worry about it, seriously. In any case, it looks like you're having to put up with my lame diet, so you're suffering with me," he said, nodding at her breakfast. He wondered briefly if Luo Binghe had made them both the same meal so he wouldn't be tempted to give any of his food away to his visitor like he had with the kids yesterday, but dismissed the notion. More likely, Ning Yingying had heard he was sick, and didn't want to eat anything he couldn't have in front of him.

"Oh, this Yingying certainly wouldn't call getting to eat A-Luo's food suffering! A-Luo has been cooking all of Xiao-Shizun's meals separately since he arrived, this Yingying is certain that he has worked hard to make them just as wonderful even if they must be easy on the stomach." Shen Yuan hummed neutrally, watching as she suddenly met his eyes with startling intensity. "It's A-Luo's food that brought me to Xiao-Shizun this morning to begin with, actually. This… I heard from my daughters that you shared your food with all the children yesterday at lunch. Thank you."

The sudden drop in formality left him a bit flustered, and he found himself averting his eyes and laughing nervously. Really, such a big deal out of this, he was just bad at saying no!

"Ah, it was nothing, I - Well, you're welcome, I guess. They were all really cute." He wondered which of them had been Ning Yingying's. "Really, though, I feel like everyone has made this a much bigger deal than I meant it to be…"

Luo Binghe's reaction yesterday had been alarming, but if anyone would make such a big deal about Shen Yuan sharing his food with the children, it made sense it would be the protagonist. Luo Binghe had always been a person of extremes - a perceived slight or a set of disagreeing beliefs was never something he could just brush off or regard neutrally. Ning Yingying, however, was a much more mild person, and it was surprising that she would be so intensely grateful for her children getting a few bites of a particularly tasty meal.

For her to look at him with such sincere gratefulness, to take the time to visit him and speak with him about it - there had to be something more to it than just being thankful Shen Yuan had shared his meal with her daughters.

"I'm glad to hear that you're not in agreement with Luo Binghe, about it all. We had a bit of a spat about it, yesterday, aha…" He trailed off, watching Ning Yingying's face. Her smile dimmed slightly, and she began idly tapping her fingers on the low table as she seemed to work through how she wanted to respond. Eventually, she stopped, lying her palm flat on the table with a short sigh.

"A-Luo… has strong opinions about how the children should be raised. He has built such a comfortable life here, it is easy for those under his care - especially young children - to feel at ease. They all still attend their lessons and progress through them nicely, but…" She trailed off, staring down at her food. "A-Luo thinks they need stronger motivations. Things like good meals, or new toys, or trips outside the palace - he uses them as rewards for the children who perform the best."

"I think," Ning Yingying continued, averting her eyes, "I think that A-Luo is scared for them, that any of them might have to suffer like he had to, and that they might not make it through. He wants them to be strong, so they can survive without his help."

"That's…" Incredibly depressing, honestly. It largely lined up with the comments Luo Binghe had made in the kitchen yesterday, too, when he kept spitting out the word 'weak,' as if it were a curse.

But the rest of that conversation, the part of the conversation Shen Yuan very desperately did not want to think about, hadn't been about strength at all - it had been about happiness, and about who deserved it. Being afraid for your children, wanting to motivate them to grow up strong and avoid the pitfalls you yourself had fallen into growing up - that was understandable, and something Shen Yuan could very easily support. There was a limit to what this motivation should be derived from though, and Shen Yuan was very displeased with where Luo Binghe had drawn his.

He had to wonder, mind dwelling on the look Luo Binghe had worn as he had asked about who deserved happiness, if Luo Binghe had chosen to make his 'motivation' for the children such an unkind one for reasons completely unrelated to wanting them to grow up strong. Was it self-projection? A belief that no one should have anything better than himself? A twisted, lingering self-hatred that had contorted itself into the belief that anyone with heavenly demon blood was, somehow, not worth-

Shen Yuan abruptly cut his train of thought off, releasing a shuddering breath. There was no point in working himself up over speculation. It was probably safer, for himself, if he assumed that things were as simple as they could be: Luo Binghe wanted his children to be strong. Luo Binghe wanted his children to be strong, to avoid weakness, and somehow decided that being a shitty father was the best way to do that.

"No offense, but your husband could seriously benefit from a parenting book. Or like, just not being in charge of children, in general. Have you guys ever tried to convince him he was being too harsh?"

Ning Yingying hummed, gaze distant. "At first, of course we did. A-Luo can be quite stubborn, though, once he's convinced himself of something. After a time we just did what we could to put it out of our minds; there are certainly cultivation sects that have such strict lifestyles for disciples, even if our children are younger than those that would be accepted to such a sect life."

"So you guys just… gave up? I know you guys aren't restricted from seeing them, why don't you just bring them gifts and feasts of good food and whatever else to make up for Luo Binghe's refusal to provide them himself?"

Liu Siyu and the others, they hadn't seemed unhappy; the whole time Shen Yuan had been around them they had been bubbling with joy and excitement. It was also clear that Liu Mingyan doted on her son from what Shen Yuan watched of their interactions - he had honestly assumed Luo Binghe's wives had been secretly spoiling their children this whole time, and only in the face of Ning Yingying's startling gratefulness did that assumption begin to be eaten away by doubt.

"I… understand that Xiao-Shizun is disappointed in us. He probably thinks quite little of the way we've allowed A-Luo to make such choices for us."

"Oh, no, that's not, that's-"

"Begging Xiao-Shizun to allow me to finish, please. I don't think I could work up the courage to say this again." Ning Yingying had her eyes squeezed shut, looking pained, and Shen Yuan swallowed thickly. This was…

Shen Yuan nodded, voice soft when he spoke. "Sorry. Please, continue."

"Thank you." She took a deep breath, meeting his eyes once more. "Despite all my own reassurances to you of how well A-Luo treats us, and - and how he does care for us, no matter how it looks…" Her voice dropped down to a whisper, sad and ashamed. "Despite these things, we've been so scared. I've been so scared, to watch A-Luo close himself off from us all and grow so cold and unhappy-"

She took a shuddering breath, and Shen Yuan felt so, so lost. He wanted to comfort her, but… what could he possibly say? He reached out to tentatively cover her hand with his. She startled, but didn't pull away, and after a long moment she flipped her hand to return the grasp, looking down at their joined hands with a small smile.

"I truly believe A-Luo cares for us, still, no matter how he acts towards us. But - despite this, we've been afraid, and haven't dared to do anything that might offend him." She glanced up at him, smiling weakly. "Yesterday, when my daughters spoke of you, and Liu Mingyan's boy relayed your continued defiance, and how easily you got away with it all - Xiao-Shizun is right to be disappointed in us. I was not the only one who felt shame hearing how easily you did for our children what we never dared to, just because our husband's indifference towards us scared us."

Ning Yingying regarded him for a moment, and then slowly let out a breath, squeezing Shen Yuan's hand. "Xiao-Shizun has a big heart. I truly wish he could be happy here, for I would so love to have him as a brother." Shen Yuan's breath caught, and Ning Yingying smiled at him, eyes still looking a bit wet with unshed tears. "Your actions yesterday were startling to us, but in a truly, wonderfully good way. You've reminded us how easy it is to just act , though I'm sure it seemed quite insignificant to you at the time."

Shen Yuan blinked, caught off guard by how explicitly Ning Yingying seemed to be endorsing the idea of acting against Luo Binghe's wishes. Just yesterday, Liu Mingyan had been so resolute in the way she drew the line between his world and hers, and what exactly the wife of a lord should expect of their life. He had assumed that to do as Shen Yuan had and so blatantly disregard Luo Binghe's rules for the children would fall into the broad category of 'they mustn't simply because it is their duty as his wives not to.'

But, well. Even if it was expected of them, even if they grew up knowing it would be, even if their husband was the emperor of the combined realms… It must be miserable, to grow up a cultivator and then live as a kept person, following the rules of a distant husband. Even more so, when such restrictions were in regards to your children.

Shen Yuan was jolted out of his thoughts as Ning Yingying released his hand, drawing her arms back to herself. Slowly, she brought herself into a bow from where she was sitting. "This one thanks Xiao-Shizun for all he has given this household, in the few days he has been here, even if he does not realize it." She raised her head, her smile once more pleased and affectionate. "We will do better, now that we have been reminded that we do not have to sit idly by. Our loyalty is to A-Luo, but our responsibility is to our children."

Ah, there was the distinction - even in dog blood stories full of beauties loyal to their lords, nearly every concubine would risk their life to put their child ahead. Liu Mingyan, yesterday, had not been saying that they put Luo Binghe above all others; she had only put him above their lives outside the palace. This still wasn't something Shen Yuan was comfortable with, not when Luo Binghe did not seem to reciprocate the sentiment, but it was… better, at least.

Shen Yuan broke out into a grin, small but genuine. "Well, I'm glad to have helped, I suppose."

"Xiao-Shizun has, truly." She smiled back at him. "I wanted to offer you a gift, as thanks."

"A gift?"

"Anything you'd like, provided it's within my abilities to give it to you." She hesitated, her smile slipping slightly. "I… I do not think I can get a doctor for you. I am sorry."

Well, that was disappointing, but not surprising. If Luo Binghe had informed her of his sickness, it was also likely she had heard about his refusal to accept Luo Binghe's blood. Bringing a doctor to help him now would look like she was helping him in his rebellion against Luo Binghe's hold on him. On that same train of thought, providing him with any sort of weaponry was probably also out of the equation. Ning Yingying might have decided it was worth it to go against Luo Binghe's demands when it came to her own children, but it was highly unlikely that whatever favor Shen Yuan had managed to curry so quickly with her was that strong.

His thoughts drifted back to Liu Mingyan yesterday, and the book she had been reading when he found her.

"Is there a library I could access?" If he was lucky, he could find maps of the surrounding area, or survival guides - anything to help him once he was out of the palace. If not, at least he would have some reading material. Being without his phone, webnovels, and all of the other distractions of the internet had left him terribly bored in the evenings.

"Of course. I would have to let A-Luo know I was letting you in, though." Ah, damn, so his maps and survival guides idea was probably a let down. Oh well. Something to read for fun would still be nice.

"I understand. I'd just like to have something to read in the evenings, after dinner." He smiled at her, and her uncertainty melted away into pleasantness once more.

"I'm glad to be of assistance to Xiao-Shizun, then."

They ate their meals making pleasant small talk after that, with Shen Yuan asking after Ning Yingying's daughters, and answering in turn about his brother back home. It was comfortable, the same way lunch with the children yesterday had been, and he was thrilled that Ning Yingying offered to take him to the library directly after breakfast. She had laughed at his enthusiasm, but dutifully showed him the way when they finished.

The library turned out to be in a wing of the palace across the way from the gardens, and Shen Yuan was barely able to hold in his gasp of amazement when he set foot in them. They were massive, shelves crammed with books from floor to ceiling, with landings at different levels and an assortment of low desks to set up at. There were several other wives in the library when they arrived - the three nuns, it looked like - but after glancing at Shen Yuan briefly they turned back to their books and seemed uninterested in interacting with either him or Ning Yingying.

"Is there something specific Xiao-Shizun would like to read?"

"Bestiaries, if they're available." He could look for maps and the like after Ning Yingying had left. His other genre interests - fantasies and adventures and shoddily-written romances - were also something he would prefer to look for on his own.

"A-Luo has quite a collection, I think. They should be on the second floor, on one of the first shelves you'll come across." She reached out to take his hand, squeezing it for a moment before releasing it. "I am glad to have spent this time getting to know Xiao-Shizun a bit. Please, come find me if you'd ever like to continue our conversations."

He said her farewells to her, feeling deeply grateful that she was so easy to speak with, and made his way to the second level of the library to find the bestiaries. They were easy to find, and in such quantities that they nearly spilled from the shelves: scrolls detailing the specifics of individual creatures, larger tombs that pieced together information about the beasts from an entire region, even many accounts of the more interesting flora to be found. Shen Yuan found himself pulling down more than he could carry, delighted by all the inked images and extra details that Airplane had never bothered to write into the story.

Pleased with his haul, he set down the armful of bestiaries on a nearby desk, smiled to himself, and set off to find his other goals.

Maps and anything else he might have found useful were, as expected, not so easily located. However, he had found several partial maps inside some of the larger bestiaries, to detail where specific species could be found, so it wasn't a total loss. Survival guides could be pieced together in a similar way, if he noted down any species that was marked edible. Satisfied with this plan, he began looking for books of a less scholarly pursuit.

This turned out to be significantly more difficult than expected. A library this large, shouldn't there be a limitless selection of trashy fiction stories? He huffed and shoved another book back onto its shelf, irritated that he had perused a good portion of the library and found almost nothing but instructional accounts of phenomenon and cultivation manuals. Really, he knew that Luo Binghe had spent several hundred chapters chasing down the cultivation techniques of all the surviving sects in the merged realms, but still! This was just excessive!

"Is Shizun having difficulty locating a specific volume?"

"Fuck!" Shen Yuan nearly knocked over the shelf he was standing at in his surprise, steadying himself before turning on Luo Binghe with a glare. "Don't you have better things to do than sneaking up behind me every time I leave my room?"

"This Lord only wishes to ensure Shizun settles into his new home easily. He should be grateful for this Lord's attention." Shen Yuan scowled at him, turning to stalk over to the next shelf. He was going to find a fiction story, damn it, even if he had a demon lord hovering over his shoulder while he did so!

"I'll be grateful when I don't have your attention, actually."

"Shizun will have to remain disappointed, then." Shen Yuan snorted, pulling down a scroll at random and skimming the first few paragraphs before replacing it. "This Lord personally collected nearly the entire contents of this library. If Shizun just allows him to assist, he will have what he is looking for."

"Yeah, I know you did. You've got an abysmal reading taste."

"Shizun is mistaken. This library is full of cultivation secrets worth more than anything he has ever touched in his life." Aiya, if you even knew the price tag on some of my Miku figurines…

"You don't even use any of these, so really, they're not worth that much. And I can't imagine reading through them is very entertaining, so my point about poor literary taste remains."

"It is not about using or not using, it is about having or not having. This Lord keeping these tombs means the cultivation sects they came from do not have them." Shen Yuan moved on to the next shelf.

"Congrats, you're a ruthless dictator with no respect for your people. You afraid they'd get too powerful and take you down if they had access to their own techniques?" Having read the chapters where Luo Binghe had collected these from their keepers, of course Shen Yuan knew it was more about revenge against cultivators as a whole rather than fear they might kill him, but still. Irritating Luo Binghe was the best part about interacting with him.

"This Lord has never been afraid," Luo Binghe growled, and at this Shen Yuan bothered to turn to raise an eyebrow at him.

"You seemed pretty scared of the Needle-Feathered Blood Geese, when you first encountered them." Luo Binghe startled, going still, and Shen Yuan took that chance to brush past him to move to a different section of the library, ignoring the footsteps chasing after him.

"This Lord forgets how much of his life was recorded for Shizun to read, in his world. No matter." Luo Binghe threw out an arm over Shen Yuan's shoulder, leaning in to trap him against the shelf he had come to a stop at. "This Lord did not lie, though. The pitiful beast who met those ugly geese is not the lord who stands here today. This Lord has never been afraid."

Shen Yuan watched his face for a long moment, hands still holding an unopened scroll.

"How sad you are, then, to never have experienced bravery, either." The smirk fell from Luo Binghe's face. "And how unfortunate that you think so little of the boy you used to be. I quite liked him."

And then he ducked out of the demonic kabedon and opened the scroll, discovered it to be the family tree of a legendary mountain spirit, and replaced it with a sigh.

"What - what does Shizun mean?" He glanced back up at Luo Binghe, who was staring at him with slightly furrowed brows.

"You can't really face something with bravery if it's not something you even consider a threat. That's just reckless confidence."

"No, I - this Lord wishes to enquire what could possibly have appealed to Shizun, about how weak and powerless and…" He trailed off, looking frustrated. Shen Yuan became acutely aware of the presence of the three nuns, who had yet to leave the library and were keeping dead silent across the room.

"It wasn't really about how powerful you were - I just liked how earnest you were, in everything you did." Luo Binghe was watching him with large eyes, and for a moment he was reminded of the children yesterday, looking up at him with pleading gazes. He felt uncomfortable, shuffling his weight a bit. "You were much nicer, then, too. It would never have occurred to you to kidnap someone who had never wronged you, or keep hundreds of wives that you don't even care much for, or to refuse to cook for your own children had you had any at the time."

Luo Binghe inhaled sharply, looking furious for a moment before the expression dropped off his face completely. Hushed whispers came from the corner of the room where the nuns were still sitting, but Luo Binghe paid them no mind.

"Earnestness does not beget strength, nor does it encourage loyalty." Once again, it seemed like everything was tethered to 'weakness,' and to Luo Binghe's fearful distaste for anything that could be perceived as such a lack of strength.

"That's just untrue - it was just a different kind of strength, and the loyalty of different kinds of people. Better people, if you ask me - that was the version of you that won over Ning Yingying, and Liu Mingyan, and me, and hundreds of other people who read your story like I did." Truly, that young, sweet Luo Binghe had been so endearing, lacking the cockiness that seemed standard of every other stallion protagonist. With his blackening, that had changed, but at the start it had been refreshing and appealing to many readers.

"Is Shizun implying Yingying and Mingyan are not loyal to this Lord now?" Luo Binghe's voice was a low rumble, but Shen Yuan just rolled his eyes.

"Don't be ridiculous, that's not what I said. If anything, I think they're much too loyal to you. I just don't think you could guarantee winning them over now, if you met them for the first time as this version of you."

"Shizun seems quite convinced that this Lord has somehow become lesser, in his quest to become great."

"You're certainly great, certainly powerful." Shen Yuan sighed, watching wearily as Luo Binghe seemed to stand taller at his words. "I just don't think you're very likeable anymore."

Luo Binghe fell quiet at this, and after watching him for another long moment, Shen Yuan shook his head and returned to his task. He managed to make it through another few shelves in silence, Luo Binghe following him quietly but not saying anything. After he had discarded a book on how to create a pill to strengthen one's qi twice fold, the demon lord finally spoke up again, voice much softer than it had been before.

"This Lord is unsure if he possesses any manuals that would help Shizun cultivate with no spiritual veins. He would advise Shizun to choose a manual after first allowing this Lord to fix this problem." He wasn't looking at Shen Yuan anymore, eyes on the shelves and the scrolls that had been picked up and quickly abandoned.

"What?" Shen Yuan turned to look properly at Luo Binghe again, suspicious. "Don't try to do anything weird to me, I'm not trying to cultivate."

"Shizun seems intent on finding a cultivation technique he thinks will suit him."

"No? I'm just - I'm looking for a book to read." Luo Binghe met his eyes again, confused, and Shen Yuan had the very concerning thought that Luo Binghe might actually think cultivation manuals were something people sought out to read for fun. "A fiction book to read. A story."

"Shizun likes - history recounts?" History recounts, what the fuck? Did he look like he was 70 years old?

"I am positive I said the word 'fiction,' history is literally the exact opposite of that. Don't you have anything fun to read?"

"Ruling the merged realms is not a leisurely job, Shizun. This Lord does not have the time for 'fun' reading." You sure seem to have a lot of leisure time to me, protagonist!

"You're not a fun person, understood, whatever. What about for your wives? Surely you have fiction books for them to read." He shot a glance at where the nuns were - they very quickly looked down at their own books, pretending to not have been watching.

He had, of course, checked the section the nuns were in earlier - it turned out they had been reading religious texts. When he looked back at Luo Binghe, though, it seemed like something had clicked with him.

"Shizun is interested in the sort of thing Mingyan reads, then." Shen Yuan hadn't caught the subject of whatever it was Liu Mingyan had been reading in the garden yesterday, but sure, that sounded fine. He nodded, and Luo Binghe's eyes squinted into amused crescents. "This Lord did not expect that of Shizun. Unfortunately, that sort of reading material isn't kept publicly in libraries like these."

Not kept publicly…? Shen Yuan wondered if this was another 'motivational' thing for the children - no story books where they could find them. How sad.

"Where can I find some, then?"

"This Lord does not believe Mingyan would appreciate knowing he is aware of her collection, so it is unlikely Shizun will be able to borrow from her. Shizun will have to find his own, outside of the palace." Ah, Liu Mingyan really did have it rough, if she felt like reading fiction books would ruin her image!

"Are you going to let me out of the palace to go get some, then…?" That seemed way, way too easy.

"Shizun is surely not so foolish as to think this Lord would allow him out of the palace without supervision." Ahhh… yeah, that was about what he was expecting. "And this Lord does not have the time to go on such trips. Shizun will simply have to be patient, until Mingyan's dealer visits again. He visited some time ago, so it should not be long before he is back - perhaps a few weeks."

A few weeks, not too long?! Protagonist, this sickly mortal doesn't have a few weeks! If he was still sitting around in Luo Binghe's palace by the time this book seller came around, it would be because he had failed in his escape and was going to succumb to his illness. Shen Yuan scowled, feeling very much like he wanted to kick something. Whatever, whatever! At least he has the bestiaries! He turned on his heel and began making his way back over to the table he had dumped them on, recollecting them as he got ready to leave.

Luo Binghe followed him over, idly picking up a scroll Shen Yuan had picked out with vivid drawings of a Manlike Blood Cobra.

"Shizun likes deadly creatures?"

"Mm. So many of them are so cool, it was frustrating not being able to read more about them."

"Shizun read plenty about this Lord, and he is quite sure he is much deadlier than anything living in the surrounding area." Shen Yuan rolled his eyes, snatching the parchment from Luo Binghe's hands to balance with the rest of his selection in his arms and turning to leave the library. No point in staying any longer if he wasn't going to be able to find a good adventure story.

"Oh, very deadly," he assured, "you even manage to be a killjoy."

"This Lord is unsure of the meaning of 'killjoy,' but has no doubt he would manage such a feat." Shen Yuan shot an incredulous look at him before bursting out laughing, nearly dropping the heavy tomb he had tucked under one arm.

"You're so -" he pushed out between giggles, "so-" he gave up, shaking his head and waiting for his laughter to subside. Luo Binghe had gone still beside him, eyes softening at the edges as he watched him.

"This Lord is so…?"

" Dense . You're so dense, it's ridiculous." Luo Binghe blinked, tensing up and looking significantly less pleased than he had a moment ago. Shen Yuan sighed, still feeling a bit playful as he made sure all his readings were balanced well in his arms before continuing onwards. This blackened sheep, still so affected when he thought he was being bullied. And although Shen Yuan felt quite justified in most of his aggression, he could admit that this particular case was probably a bit unfair. "That one was mean of me, I suppose, it's not a term that would have existed in your world. Sorry for laughing at you."

"This Lord does not need Shizun's pity." Ah, he even sounded like he was sulking!

"Killjoy isn't a thing you can do, it's an adjective. Means you take the fun out of something." He glanced at Luo Binghe; he seemed even more displeased at this explanation. "Like someone who is so busy ruling the world he doesn't have time for fun, or someone who thinks fighting is a hobby, or someone who thinks fiction books don't belong in a library."

"This Lord is not fond of Shizun's modern vocabulary."

Shen Yuan snorted out another short laugh, but said nothing else in response, continuing to walk back to his room in silence as Luo Binghe followed. Eventually, when they reached his room, he paused to glance back at him; he didn't really feel like having Luo Binghe in his room again, wishing to enjoy his bestiaries alone. Luo Binghe had come to a stop next to him, but seemed lost in his own thoughts. Shen Yuan cleared his throat, watching as Luo Binghe's eyes snapped to his.

"I'm going to read these in my room." Luo Binghe blinked owlishly at him. "Alone. I'm telling you to leave, now."

"Will Shizun take lunch with this Lord later?" Luo Binghe seemed a bit irritated but not contrary, so at least for now, it looked like Shen Yuan would be able to retreat into his room without company.

"No, and I don't plan to tomorrow either, so don't bother asking." This protagonist, ah, his persistence made him a fantastic book character, but an incredibly irritating person to deal with!

"Shizun has to accompany this Lord at some point," Luo Binghe shot back, sounding unreasonably put out. "Does Shizun truly prefer the company of this Lord's children to that of the emperor of the combined realms?"

"Your kids aren't unrepentant kidnappers and assholes, so yeah." He shifted some of the books in one hand to be tucked under his arm, freeing a hand up to open the door to his room without dropping any of his new reading material.

"Shizun certainly thinks many vile things about this Lord," Luo Binghe grumbled, and Shen Yuan rolled his eyes, shifting the books back into his hand and slipping into his rooms.

"Well, you certainly haven't done anything to endear yourself to me, Lord Luo ." And then he kicked the door shut behind him, settled at the low table in the room with the spoils of his library trip sprawling around him, and began reading.

--

It was a full two days later before Shen Yuan saw Luo Binghe again. In that time, he had managed to put together a fairly complete map of the land surrounding the underground palace from smaller area maps found in the bestiaries he had borrowed, and had made several rounds of the nearest hallways to get a feeling for when and where servants and the other wives were out and about. He had yet to find anything that could indicate a way out, though; a barrier separated this inner part of the palace from the rest of it, and Shen Yuan had a hunch that even if he had been a cultivator he wouldn't have been able to break through it. Still, the map he had put together was a physical indication that he was making some progress on an escape plan, so he was in a decent mood when Luo Binghe showed up at his door midmorning.

He was wearing robes that lacked many of the decorative details that Shen Yuan had seen him dressed in before, and there was a noticeable quiet in his movements, missing the tinkling of jewelry. The robes were, of course, still fancier than anything he had seen the other inhabitants of the palace wear, but they seemed to be made more for function than for ceremony. This, combined with the second sword strapped next to Xin Mo, had Shen Yuan's good mood begin to dissipate into wariness. He stood firmly in the doorway, allowing Luo Binghe to speak with him but not to come inside.

"Come," Luo Binghe said, and then began to turn and walk off, as if Shen Yuan would follow automatically. Shen Yuan promptly slammed the door shut.

A moment later, when there was a knock at the door, he crossed his arms and addressed Luo Binghe through the closed door, feeling a bit spiteful.

"If you have something to say to me, say it nicely, or not at all." He likely didn't sound nearly as cool as he wanted to, having to raise his voice to be heard through the door, but oh well. Better than opening the door up and letting Luo Binghe barge inside.

There was a pause before the response came, muffled through the door, "This Lord is taking Shizun out, today."

Anything else, and Shen Yuan would have given up on the conversation and decided to just ignore Luo Binghe. 'Out' implied that he had a chance to leave the inner palace or even the underground completely, however, and was not a chance he'd pass on just because there was some demon with the manners of a four year old doing the inviting. Taking a steadying breath to ease his irritation, he opened the door slightly to peer up at Luo Binghe.

"Let me ask you a question. What is the procedure for someone inviting you to like - I don't know, what sort of events do you go to?"

"Fights," Luo Binghe responded, looking a bit puzzled. "Meetings and celebrations that turn into fights."

"That is so, so depressing. Get a non-violent hobby." He paused to readjust his weight, leaning on the door frame more fully. "What would someone have to do to invite you to a meeting or celebration, then?"

"Declare intent a moon before, prepare tribute for consideration, and pray for this Lord's generosity."

"Great. So I'll go with you in a month, after I've received lavish gifts, maybe."

Luo Binghe growled, surging forward to lean over him. "Shizun dares to presume himself worthy of such respect from this Lord?"

"Luo Binghe, does your world have the saying, 'treat others as you wish to be treated'?" He crossed his arms, pushing down the instinct to step back away from Luo Binghe's looming form. "It's used to teach children in my world to be polite to their peers. And since it seems like you have the manners of a particularly unruly child, I think you could use the advice."

"This Lord has no need to lower himself for others' sake. He has proved himself worthy of utmost respect, and his strength speaks for itself."

"Then you have no need to have me go with you today, either." He paused, working through his next words. He wanted to go out, wanted the chance to leave this damned palace, but he refused to go with Luo Binghe without getting his way on this matter. "I'm going to give you a choice, Luo Binghe. You have three options."

"Enlighten this Lord, then."

"One: you can continue to behave like you think you're the only one worthy of respect in the world, and have me shut the door in your face again. Two: you can treat me the way you want to be treated, with the respect you believe a demon lord deserves, and I'll treat you with the same. I'll even call you 'Great Lord Luo'. Or, three: you treat me the way I want to be treated, saying 'please' and 'thank you' and other such basic niceties, and I'll do the same." He looked up from his fingers where he had been ticking off the points to meet Luo Binghe's eyes. "I would recommend the last option. It's the only way you're getting me to go anywhere with you, without the month wait and the tribute and whatever else."

"This Lord is starting to think Shizun is making things purposefully difficult." Shen Yuan laughed shortly, startled by the dry humor.

"Starting, ah? I must not have been trying hard enough, before, if you've only just now noticed!"

"Mm. Shizun's efforts will have to be more properly appreciated by this Lord next time." Luo Binghe's mouth was curved into a barely-there smile, not quite a happy expression, but a warmer one than his usual smirk. In the back of his mind, Shen Yuan had the startling thought that he really hadn't seen the protagonist look happy the whole time he had been here. "How would Shizun expect to be invited out, then?"

Satisfied, Shen Yuan straightened up to answer. "Something like, 'if you're interested, would you like to come with me, today?'" He paused, and then added gleefully, "That would be a normal invitation. But since you've been a bit of an ass this morning, I want to hear the word 'please' in there somewhere."

There was a beat of silence, Luo Binghe watching Shen Yuan. Trying to figure out if this was really worth his time and effort, probably. Shen Yuan shuffled his feet a bit, uncomfortable with the waiting, and was about to call it quits and retreat back into his room when Luo Binghe suddenly moved to unbuckle the second sword from his hip.

Holding the sheathed sword out to Shen Yuan, he finally spoke, careful to keep eye contact. "This Lord would be pleased if Shizun would join him today, should he be interested."

Shen Yuan blinked, then snorted, amused. He reached up to swipe the sword from Luo Binghe's outstretched hand, faltering slightly under its weight.

"Better than nothing, I suppose. Next time, though, 'please' has to be its own word, none of that cleverness of turning it into something else! 'This Lord would be pleased ,' ah, who taught you wordplay like this?" He let his arm fall to his side, the tip of the sheathed sword resting on the floor. He could hardly lift this thing, he couldn't imagine buckling it around his waist to walk around with. "What am I supposed to do with this, though? I can barely hold it upright."

Luo Binghe hummed, eyeing the sword thoughtfully. Honestly, Shen Yuan was delighted that he had been given a weapon - he had thought obtaining one would be one of the more difficult preparations for escape. This sword, however, would really only slow him down, and it was unlikely he'd be able to use it effectively to defend himself. If it came down to it, he'd probably be better off with a kitchen knife.

"Shizun may keep it in his rooms, for now. This Lord will find a more appropriate weapon for him before we leave." He turned to leave once more, then, before hesitating and looking back at Shen Yuan. "Shizun will come, this time?"

Shen Yuan nodded, moving back into his room slightly to lean the sword against a wall before following Luo Binghe. A chance to get out of the palace, a chance to acquire a weapon, and a chance to force the protagonist to be polite - he still wasn't pleased to be spending time with Luo Binghe, not when Luo Binghe was the very reason why weapons and escape were necessary in the first place, but this excursion was likely to be his favorite of Luo Binghe's attempts to speak with him.

As it turned out, going 'out' really did mean out of the palace completely. After leading Shen Yuan through the barrier that enclosed the inner palace, Luo Binghe had him wait outside of what appeared to be an extensive armory. He returned with both a shortsword and a dagger, both of which he held out to Shen Yuan for him to pick up and test the weight of. Depressingly, he was really only comfortable wielding the dagger. He held it up to his face, admiring its blade with a frown.

"I don't know what you expect me to do with this, but you do remember that I've got the strength of a sick mortal and absolutely none of your fighting and survival skills, right?" It would be horribly ironic if Shen Yuan got killed the second he managed to set foot outside the palace because the protagonist thought giving him a sharp toothpick would be enough to defend himself from the various deadly creatures living nearby.

"Shizun need not worry, this Lord is more than enough to protect him." Shen Yuan rolled his eyes. "Shizun's weapon is only for his own peace of mind, so that he can better enjoy the show."

The show? Was Luo Binghe expecting him to come watch some sort of gladiator-style match? That… really did not sound very fun. Action and gore was much more palatable through a book than in real life; once he had witnessed someone fall and break their leg bad enough that the bone was visible and he nearly threw up at the sight. "I'm not sure this is… can't we just go to a bookshop, if you have the time to chaperone me? For the books I wanted…"

"This Lord will not change his plans. Shizun will enjoy himself." And that was that, Luo Binghe once more turning to continue his march out of the palace.

Well, at least he'd be outside.

Unfortunately, Shen Yuan wasn't given much of a chance to learn about the path out of the underground palace. Luo Binghe had led him to a carriage waiting in a courtyard, and the windows had been firmly shut once the skeletal horses hitched to it had started pulling the carriage forward. In the novel, Luo Binghe had always left the palace by flying out on Xin Mo, so his knowledge as a reader didn't really fill in the gaps. A shame, but he hadn't spent enough time exploring the inner palace with the intention of escape to feel like there was only this singular way out, so he refused to be discouraged yet. Instead, he fought off boredom while waiting to arrive at whatever battlefield Luo Binghe was bringing him to, eventually being lulled into a nap.

When the carriage eventually came to a stop, the sudden change in movement started Shen Yuan awake, and Luo Binghe opened the door to let him out onto a grass plain in front of a looming forest. This was… not anything he recognized as a battlefield, and it didn't look like there was a retinue of demons to watch or partake in any sort of fight, so he allowed himself to cautiously hope he wouldn't have to actually watch any fighting today.

"Shizun has read about the spruce forest to the west of this Lord's palace?" He had, actually; wives 167-174 were found here, rescued from a pack of Yellow-Winged Imps. The forest was full of various creatures like that, each more dangerous than the next, and Luo Binghe had used it as a monster-spawning point to grind up his levels when he had first found it.

It was absolutely not somewhere to bring a sick shut-in from the 21st century.

"Do you want me to die ?!" Fuck, had he gotten too carefree with how he had treated the protagonist? Had he taken for granted his apparent immunity to Luo Binghe's deadly treatment of those who disrespected him, and finally crossed a line somewhere?

"This Lord is more than competent. Shizun will be kept safe." That still wasn't any sort of indication of what they were supposed to be doing here! Protagonist, all you've done in this forest is kill monsters and rescue people, why would you take someone into it if you weren't intending to sacrifice them to some fanged creature?!

"I don't care how competent you are, I'm not setting one foot into that cursed forest, no thank you." He turned to climb right back into the carriage, but was stopped by a hand on his shoulder, tugging him away from it.

"Shizun has already agreed to accompany this Lord," Luo Binghe growled out, "He will not go back on his word."

"Get your hands off me, asshole! I said I don't want to go in there! I'm about as durable as a house of cards, I wouldn't survive long enough for you to even think about rescuing me!" He tugged himself from Luo Binghe's grasp, but wasn't expecting the grip to be as loose as it was, and ended up nearly falling over from the momentum. He rebalanced, brushed himself off, and glared up at Luo Binghe. "You've been almost bearable recently, don't ruin it by pushing me into a forest that may as well have been meant for killing me!"

Luo Binghe growled again, but didn't argue or reach for him, and eventually fell silent. Shen Yuan's breathing, heavy from being worked up, seemed terribly loud in the quiet between them. He was just starting to edge back towards the carriage door when Luo Binghe finally spoke up, his words coming out as a low grumble.

"Shizun will enjoy the forest. This Lord is sure of it."

"I said no , why can't you-"

"Shizun will enjoy himself!" Shen Yuan snapped his mouth shut, taking half a step back and watching Luo Binghe carefully. He looked frustrated, like the words he wanted to say were stuck in the back of his throat and he couldn't bear to pull them out. Eventually, he spoke up again, his voice back to that low grumble. "If Shizun feels that this Lord's protection is inadequate…"

Another pause, and then Shen Yuan was watching with wide eyes as Luo Binghe reached for Xin Mo, unsheathing it before swiftly cutting his own palm with its blade. It began to glow, almost too brightly to look at, and when the light had faded the sword had shrunk itself down to be roughly the size of the dagger at Shen Yuan's side. Luo Binghe flipped Xin Mo around in his hand, holding the hilt out to Shen Yuan.

"Shizun may use this." Shen Yuan stared dumbly at the sword, slowly reaching out to take it. What the hell was this?! Protagonist, you can't just give away your golden finger like this!

"I could probably escape with this, right now," Shen Yuan said softly, looking up from the blade to meet Luo Binghe's eyes. He looked immensely displeased at the mention of escape. "This is… a lot. To just hand to someone. What the fuck."

"Shizun should watch his words. Xin Mo is still this Lord's sword; even now it has only transformed as such because this Lord wished it." Ah, yeah. In retrospect, there was no way the protagonist would lose control of Xin Mo just because it was in someone else's hands. "This Lord is powerful. This Lord is strong. This Lord is more than capable of protecting Shizun. But… if Shizun still has his doubts, he may borrow this Lord's Xin Mo to feel more at ease."

"That's… are you sure?" He looked back down at Xin Mo. Oddly, it seemed quiet in his hands. He wondered if Luo Binghe was suppressing its negative effects, even without directly wielding it.

"Shizun will enjoy this trip." Luo Binghe looked determined enough he could have been defending his palace, not trying to give away his sword to some mortal, and in the face of that resolve, Shen Yuan felt his earlier anger and fear melt away into resignation.

He didn't want to go into that forest, didn't want to put himself in a place of such concentrated danger, not even if the protagonist himself swore to protect him. Luo Binghe hadn't really demonstrated any sort of inclination to really keep Shen Yuan safe and healthy that he could really put his faith in, not beyond Luo Binghe's efforts to cook him meals that would be easy on the stomach, so what did that sort of promise even mean to him? But Shen Yuan was standing out in the middle of nowhere, faced with a protagonist known for his stubborn resolve, holding a legendary sword that had gone through some bizarre character customization to fit his needs, and… there really didn't seem to be a way to get out of this one, like a non-skippable event that everyone hated. An escort mission, except he was the package.

Fuck, he hated this.

Awkwardly, he removed the dagger he had been given back at the palace from its sheath to put Xin Mo in its place. After a moment of hesitation, he handed the unnamed dagger over to Luo Binghe.

"Here, then." Luo Binghe glanced at the dagger, then back up at Shen Yuan's face, confused. "I know you're half heavenly demon, and can fight with your bare hands and stuff, but - just in case. I'm not going to take your sword from you and leave you with nothing else."

Luo Binghe's shoulders relaxed, the tension from his earlier displeasure easing out of him, and he reached out to gingerly take the dagger from Shen Yuan. "...Shizun's generosity is well appreciated by this Lord."

Luo Binghe paused, fiddling with the dagger a bit before shooting an expectant look at Shen Yuan. He blinked, a bit uncertain at what he was supposed to do. Luo Binghe hadn't moved to enter the forest yet, and there was no way he would get Shen Yuan to lead the way even with Xin Mo, so… Ah. Their conversation this morning, where Shen Yuan had chewed Luo Binghe out for being rude, looped over in his head. Luo Binghe had just made an effort to thank Shen Yuan for handing over his dagger. He let out a small pleased sound at the realization, and smiled slightly at Luo Binghe.

"You're welcome. Thank you for giving me Xin Mo." He got an answering smile in response, Luo Binghe looking like the cat that got the cream. It was… a bit overwhelming seeing such a pleased expression on his face, honestly.

"It is this Lord's pleasure to assist Shizun." Luo Binghe tucked the dagger into his belt. "Shizun will follow this Lord into the forest, now?"

Shen Yuan glanced at the forest, then down to Xin Mo at his waist, sighing. "Yeah, sure whatever. But if I die in there, it better be tragic enough to still be relevant five chapters from now."

Luo Binghe blinked, visibly processing the reference to Proud Immortal Demon Way, and then he huffed out a soft laugh.

"Shizun won't have to worry about such a thing. This Lord's children would cause enough of a fuss for it to take up an entire book. They'd open the Holy Mausoleum for Shizun, surely." Ah, who gave the protagonist a sense of humor! Unfair, unfair, Shen Yuan was still trying to be angry, here!

Luo Binghe led him into the forest with little ceremony, walking with purpose straight ahead as if following a path instead of stomping through overgrown weeds. The forest itself was vibrant with life and color, an ecosystem bursting at the seams with life that would be considered legendary in Shen Yuan's modern day. Creatures moved in his peripheral vision, but none got close; even the plant species that he recognized as having (relative) awareness seemed to lean away from the two of them as they moved through the forest. Belatedly, he remembered that Luo Binghe had the ability to emit large quantities of demonic qi, a silent threat that none would dare challenge. If he focused, he could feel a slight tension in the air around him, like the feeling that comes before a particularly terrifying storm. It didn't seem scary or powerful to him, and he wondered if that was because he was physically incapable of really picking up on it, or if Luo Binghe was being careful to protect him from it.

Either way, the shield effect was both a relief and a slight disappointment. If he was going to have to traipse through a forest full of things that could kill him, he at least wanted to be able to see the harmless things up close, damn it! He abruptly came to a stop in front of a Bird-Voiced Tulip patch that Luo Binghe had brushed past, squatting down awkwardly in his robes to examine one of the flowers. This particular flower was medicinal, rather than an aphrodisiac; those experiencing mild concussions could experience pain relief and partial healing upon listening to the flowers' song, which was produced when the flower closed suddenly and expelled all the air from between its petals.

Shen Yuan tentatively reached out to poke at it, hoping to get it to close up and sing, but was disappointed by its stillness. He had just reached out to poke at another flower when a shadow fell over him and the patch of flowers.

"Shizun should not stop yet. This Lord's destination is further ahead." At Luo Binghe's first words, the tulips in front of Shen Yuan all at once closed up, petals furling together as the air whistled out. He gasped at the sight, delighted.

"Ah, look! They closed! It didn't sound how I imagined, I thought -"

"Shizun. We are moving on."

"But, look-"

"Shizun will enjoy this Lord's end goal. We are leaving." Luo Binghe moved on once more, and Shen Yuan reluctantly pulled himself up.

"I was enjoying this , though," he grumbled, and kicked at a rock as he walked past it. The rock stood up to reveal hundreds of little legs and quickly scurried away.

He stopped to poke and prod at several other plants he recognized as harmless after that, but each time he was quickly herded along. By the time Luo Binghe finally came to a stop, Shen Yuan's trepidation had largely been replaced by irritation, only made worse by the tiredness and weakness that came from walking through the forest for so long. It was warm out, too, and his robes at this point were unpleasantly damp and sticky from sweat.

Luo Binghe, frustratingly, looked just as perfect and unruffled as ever. Asshole.

"Shizun, watch this Lord." And then, suddenly, the static in the air was gone, Luo Binghe having dropped the protective field of demonic qi surrounding them, and the nervous, jittery fear Shen Yuan had lost as they walked came back in a rush.

Slowly, movement came from in front of them. Bushes rustling, the air growing still, the creaking of trees as they strained under the pressure of - something. Something with grotesquely stretched limbs, gangly and covered with dark scales that glittered in the demonic red sunlight filtering through the canopy. It was large, too large to take in all at once; Shen Yuan's eyes darted from a clawed, distorted hand the size of a small car up to a set of large, large eyes, catlike and glowing.

Distantly, he registered this as a Manlike Blood Cobra, the very same creature Luo Binghe had seen Shen Yuan pick out a scroll about from the library the other day.

What the fuck what the fuck what the fuck , he thought, and then, this is so much more terrifying than that lame-ass name implies, what the fuck.

Luo Binghe rushed forward at the creature, dirt flying up from where he had been standing as the ground broke beneath his sudden movement. Shen Yuan watched in slow-motion horror as he collided with it head on, slamming into the space between its eyes before deftly blocking an attack from the beast's tail, which had swung up to try and bat at Luo Binghe. With shaking hands, Shen Yuan fumbled to pull Xin Mo from its sheath. It felt much, much less protective now than it had before he was face to face with a monster that had originally taken Luo Binghe half an entire arc to defeat. He had been less powerful at the time, his wins coming more from instinct than from skill, but it still wasn't a monster that Luo Binghe could kill instantly, especially without Xin Mo.

A chunk of flesh, torn from the massive torso of the creature, flew into a tree trunk and fell to the ground in a pile of blood and gore.

A sickening crack rang through the forest as Luo Binghe was slammed into the ground nearby before he stood up, wiping blood from his nose, and shot himself back at his opponent.

Shen Yuan stumbled backwards, sweaty hands barely keeping their grip on Xin Mo, and turned to run.

He was gasping, chest heaving with each burning breath, and he nearly tripped and fell from his own clumsiness several times. The robes he was wearing were still unfamiliar, especially for rushed movements like this, and only further restricted him. The damp heat from before was now cold sweat, and he could barely see past the terrified tears in his eyes. He tried to reach up and rub at his eyes behind his glasses, but the movement unbalanced him, and he finally collapsed to the forest floor with a shout. He didn't have the breath to cry properly, couldn't feel past the prickling nerves to feel the nausea he knew he'd be facing soon, and all he could do was curl himself up with his face buried in one hand, the other gripping Xin Mo close to his chest.

There was a grating cry from the direction he had come from; the Manlike Blood Cobra had met its end. He couldn't even feel the relief past his fear, and his shaking only got worse from the horrible noise. His body was running on pure adrenaline and instinct, no rational understanding of what was happening would make a difference.

"Shizun did not watch." Shen Yuan flinched at the voice, too close too fast, he hadn't even heard Luo Binghe approach him. It was likely he wouldn't have heard anything approach him. "Shizun ran away, he did not watch like he was supposed to."

He let out a whimper, blinking past a fresh rush of tears. He was going to die, now, he was going to die and it did not matter that the Manlike Blood Cobra was dead because Luo Binghe was going to kill him, and if not him, something else. This forest was terrible, cruel and dangerous and he should never have entered it .

"...Shizun?" The fury that had dripped from Luo Binghe's voice before was gone now, replaced with confusion. There was a tentative touch on his back, and Shen Yuan found himself choking on a sob. He couldn't have raised his head to look at Luo Binghe if he tried. "Shizun, what is… did Shizun get hurt? This Lord would not have allowed such a thing to happen, what happened to Shizun?"

"You- you asshole ," he managed to choke out, the hand around Xin Mo's hilt curling so tight it hurt. "I told you, I told you , I didn't want to go in, I didn't - I didn't want to go into this damned forest, I didn't -"

"Shizun has to answer this Lord, Shizun, tell this Lord what happened." The bastard had the nerve to sound concerned, his words quick and nervous.

"You led me right towards a - a fucking monster , what the hell else could have happened?!" The sobs were beginning to subside, replaced with ragged, gasping breaths and hiccups. He raised a hand to rub at his eyes again, but only managed to smear dirt on his face. He howled, cursing and rubbing futilely at his face.

"Shizun likes deadly creatures, this Lord was -"

"I like to read ! I like to read books, and watch cartoons, and play stupid gacha games!" He gave up on his face, moving his hand to fist in his hair. "I hate this stupid world, I hate how fucking fragile I am, I hate -"

And ah, there was the nausea. He lurched up, barely managing to get himself off the ground before he began heaving. No blood, he hadn't had a proper fit, he was just overwhelmed with the fear and panic and anger that it couldn't sit right inside him. The frantic running, he supposed, probably did nothing to help.

Luo Binghe was silent while he worked himself through it, having settled on his knees beside him. When Shen Yuan finally sat up, Xin Mo abandoned on the ground next to his puddle of sickness, Luo Binghe silently handed him a handkerchief.

"Shizun was scared."

"No fucking shit, Sherlock." He rubbed at his mouth with the handkerchief aggressively, wishing desperately for a mint. His breaths were still coming heavily, just this side of too fast, and though he had finished throwing up, nausea was still curled tight in his stomach.

"This Lord is competent, this Lord can keep Shizun safe. This Lord gave Shizun Xin Mo." He paused, and Shen Yuan could feel his eyes burning into him. He refused to turn to meet his gaze. "Why was Shizun afraid?"

"It's not - You can't just expect me to -" He broke off, frustrated, and took a moment to work through his thoughts. "If you put a hamster in a - in a clear protective ball. The hamster is perfectly safe, nothing can get in the ball, but it can see through it perfectly. And then you throw the hamster into a fucking lion's den , the hamster is going to be so scared it dies of shock on the spot."

"Shizun is - is dying of shock?" Luo Binghe sounded significantly more alarmed now.

" No , you idiot, it was an example, it just - why the hell wouldn't I be scared?" He looked down at Xin Mo. "I can't even use a dagger, what the hell was I thinking I could do with this stupid thing, I just -"

His words were lost to his frustration, and he brought a hand down to the ground next to his knees, digging his fingers into the dirt as he tried desperately to ground himself.

"This Lord - this Lord still doesn't understand. Shizun agreed to follow this Lord into the forest. This isn't this Lord's fault, Shizun wanted to see it, this Lord didn't - throw Shizun in here like a rodent, this Lord didn't do anything wrong, this-"

"Can you just shut the fuck up about your self-blame issues for five minutes?! I'm not your fucking therapist, I just want to sit here and cry and scream and try to get over feeling like I'm going to die , you self-absorbed asshole!" He threw the handkerchief at Luo Binghe, movements jerky, and watched it flutter pathetically to the ground between them.

"This Lord cannot fix the problem if Shizun does not explain it to him," Luo Binghe bit back, voice raising in response to Shen Yuan's insults.

"I don't want you to try and 'fix' anything, because you'll just make it worse! I just want to leave , just want to be out of this forest where I know the encyclopedia of deadly things that live here and they're all so hungry and aggressive and-"

He broke off again, feeling helpless in the way he had gotten himself worked up again, and for a long moment, they sat on the forest floor with nothing but Shen Yuan's hiccuping cries between them. Then with slow movements, as if approaching a spooked animal, Luo Binghe reached over to pick Xin Mo off the ground. On contact, it began glowing again, returning to its original state.

"This Lord is going to touch Shizun, now. It will be brief." And then, swiftly, he cut a portal into the air in front of them with Xin Mo, delicately pulling Shen Yuan through it.

The portal led to Shen Yuan's room in the underground palace, directly in front of the bed. Gently, Luo Binghe nudged him into laying on the bed, remaining wordless. Shen Yuan swatted at Luo Binghe with all the strength he could muster, but all he could manage were pitifully weak hits, and he eventually gave up and let himself be moved around. A servant was called to bring warm water and a cloth, which Luo Binghe set on the bedside table. An additional set of soft blankets was brought as well, which were draped over Shen Yuan carefully. Shen Yuan had resolutely kept his eyes shut through this process, trying to will his body into stillness. There was a terrifying moment where he thought Luo Binghe was going to just keep sitting there watching Shen Yuan shake silently without any privacy, but then abruptly he turned and left the room.

Relieved, Shen Yuan melted bonelessly onto the bed. He collected himself slowly, cataloguing the feelings of each of his body parts to bring himself more firmly back into his mind. By the time he had gathered the strength to sit and wash his face, the water was no longer warm, but that barely mattered. He cleaned himself of dirt and the remnants of bile, then used the remaining water to rinse his mouth briefly before removing his glasses and falling back onto the bed. The new blanket was nice, he thought, and then he was asleep.

--

The next day, Shen Yuan found a note and a potted plant outside of his door. The plant was a Bird-Voiced Tulip, its petals already furled up as if it had just been scared into hiding. The note, sticking out from under the pot, read:

This Lord made a mistake. He is sorry.