Chapter Text
Shen Yuan sat in his small room, watching the sky darken outside of his window. The sounds of the bustling street below floated up to his ears and he could tell it was more male voices than usual. Every woman was being hidden away by her family or masters right now. The nights were not safe for them anymore.
Shen Yuan was not a woman and thus was taking on the workload of his peers. He sighed and turned back to his tiny bronze mirror and finished applying his face paint.
His arrival on the main floor of the brothel house caused a stir. Men who had never glanced at him twice before now looked at him hungrily. He kept his face mostly hidden by his fan and gracefully approached the madam. She was standing at the back of the main room, talking in hushed tones with another girl who scampered off as Shen Yuan came closer.
“Another girl was killed last night,” the madam said in lieu of a greeting. “That makes two of Old Master Chen’s concubines that have died. Only Die-er is left.”
It was a well hidden secret that Die-er had been trained by the madam in the womanly arts, to increase her ability to please Old Master Chen. The two women were close and the madam was visibly distressed.
Shen Yuan nodded to convey his sympathy and the madam pulled herself together enough to inform him that one of his regulars was due to arrive soon. Shen Yuan swallowed a groan and turned to see the man entering the front door. Damn. He didn’t get even a moment to collect himself after that horrible news. He might not be at risk himself but several of the victims had worked with him at one point. He grieved their loss, though none of them had been friends of his.
His client brightened when he saw Shen Yuan and gestured towards him as he approached. Two other men were with him and they looked at Shen Yuan in a way that used to make his stomach turn. Now, it barely bothered him.
As a high ranking member of the brothel, Shen Yuan had some say in who he took to bed. Only those who could afford his rate and additional gifts were allowed to spend time in his company, and among those only the richest and most powerful were allowed to touch him.
Shen Yuan invited the three men into one of the communal rooms on the second floor. His personal chambers were too small for so many to properly sit in, especially if he was to play the guqin. It was his specialty and negated the need to make small talk. He could play for hours, the small calluses on his fingers the only flaw on his skin.
This was not the life he had imagined when he transmigrated.
He had expected to be some mob character, or some low level NPC that assisted the hero on his journey. Instead he was a prostitute that the book never bothered to name, working hard for his keep and never getting to see any of the interesting parts of the world.
He knew he was in Proud Immortal Demon Way. He recognized several magical plants and pest level monsters, and once the horrid Shen Qingqiu had visited the brothel. He never showed interest in men so Shen Yuan had escaped that particular nastiness but Shen Yuan was always keeping an eye out for him. One of these days he might start talking about a little Luo Binghe and that’s when Shen Yuan would really need to start paying attention to the world around him.
Luo Binghe, the protagonist of the story, was going to grow up to rule the world from lavish palaces, surrounded by his hundreds of wives. It was not a smooth process to reach that position though. Shen Yuan had spent many weeks figuring out his plan for when Luo Binghe begins to invade the human realm. Luo Binghe would start with Cang Qiong, the cultivation sect whose mountains Shen Yuan lived at the base of. It would not be smart to be here when Luo Binghe arrived.
Shen Yuan was planning on working as hard as he could, saving up as much money as possible, and escaping the village once Luo Binghe went to the Immortal Alliance Conference. It would require money and careful decisions to avoid getting caught up in the mess of the human and demon realms coming under Luo Binghe’s reign.
Shen Yuan needed to be ready, if he was to survive it.
*****
Shen Yuan was sitting at a table on the main floor of the brothel, working on a piece of calligraphy. Several of his peers crowded around him to watch and learn. He explained his actions as he moved his hand above the paper, brush held at the perfect angle for beautiful, clean strokes.
“It’s so lovely,” one of them sighed and Shen Yuan hid a small smile. He enjoyed this aspect of his job, the training of others. He never thought of himself as a teacher but he was rather good at it. He’d had to teach himself all these skills quickly when he first transmigrated, but all his hard studies had paid off.
It was the middle of the morning, too early for customers to be arriving, though the front door was propped open to allow in a breeze. The heat was brutal this summer, and Shen Yuan was enjoying the warm air before the sweltering heat of midday arrived.
The breeze slowed for a moment as a shadow crossed the threshold. Shen Yuan looked up between his characters and saw Shen Qingqiu and several disciples. He gently put down his brush as the ladies hurried over to Shen Qingqiu, cooing over his good looks and his cute little students.
Shen Yuan cleared the table of his calligraphy supplies so that the ladies could seat Shen Qingqiu in a chair and circle around him.
“I’m here on business today,” Shen Qingqiu said and they all knew what that meant. Even Shen Yuan, who usually tried to avoid Shen Qingqiu, stopped and listened. “What do you know about the murders?”
A grave atmosphere fell over the brothel.
“It began two months ago, with a young girl traveling to the city. I don’t know her name,” a lady in green said. There had been so much turn over lately with women fleeing the city that Shen Yuan didn’t know the names of all the ladies any more. “Then it was the silk merchant’s daughter, then us. Master Cultivator, five of us have died. Then whoever it was went after Old Master Chen’s concubines. Die-er is the only one left.”
Shen Qingqiu clearly noticed the familiar address but did not speak up.
“She and the madam are close,” the lady continued. “Madam is very worried for her safety.”
Then she leaned in closer and spoke in a hushed voice. “I’ve heard that when they examine the corpses, the skin just lifts away as though someone had skinned them, then redressed them in their own flesh.
Shen Yuan wants to gag.
Shen Qingqiu’s disciples don’t look much better off, their faces ranging from stark white to a rather worrying shade of green. Only one of them looked around the room with clear eyes and seemed to be able to absorb all that was being said without visibly reacting. He was a teenager, Shen Yuan guessed though he was bad at judging ages. He had long curly hair that desperately needed attention. It looked to have been cared for with finger combing and a knife to clean the ends. Despite the mess on his head, his face was cherubic, so cute that Shen Yuan wanted to pinch his cheeks.
Oh dear.
This must be the protagonist, Luo Binghe.
Shen Yuan watched him from the corner of his eye, noticing how he stood ever so slightly apart from the other disciples. Luo Binghe holds himself perfectly still even as the other disciples shift from foot to foot, uncomfortable to be in such an establishment. At one point, the tallest disciple turned and whispered something to the disciple closest to Luo Binghe, who stepped closer to Luo Binghe. Before Luo Binghe could escape, his foot was stomped down on. Luo Binghe didn’t make a sound, his expressive eyes looking down at the floor now, his head bowed.
Bullies.
Shen Qingqiu finished up with the women and departed with an aloof expression on his perfect face.
The disciples turned and hurried after their shizun, though the tallest one took this as an opportunity to slam his shoulder against Luo Binghe’s and knocking him back.
The bump pushed up Luo Binghe’s sleeve. revealing a dark bruise on his wrist.
That was right. He was under Shen Qingqiu’s tutelage right now and Shen Qingqiu encouraged the bullies to harass and harm Luo Binghe, frequently joining in himself. A deep hatred curled in Shen Yuan’s gut. What a scum villain.
As the ladies fought over the baubles Shen Qingqiu had brought as gifts, Shen Yuan went up to his room for his coin purse and slipped a plain robe over his bright clothes. He didn’t have time to change fully but it was crass to go outside in the clothes he worked in.
Shen Yuan slipped out the front door of the brothel without anyone noticing.
At this time of day the streets were full to bursting with peddlers and their merchandise. Shen Yuan hurried through them, looking for a specific stand.
Thankfully he found it on the second street he searched. It was a small cart, carried to and fro by the owner each day from the top of Qian Cao Peak to the town. There were no better healers in the region than Mu Qingfang and his disciples so surely the ointments prepared by them would be the strongest. Shen Yuan never bought such a thing for himself because it was too expensive but Luo Binghe deserved nothing short of the best.
It cost him almost a month’s savings to purchase a small medicine jar.
He stashed it and his nearly empty coin purse in the sleeve of his robes and began searching once again. Thankfully, cultivators always stood out from the normal folk in their fancier robes and jewels. Even the disciples wore nicer clothes than Shen Yuan could afford.
Shen Yuan found Shen Qingqiu first, talking with a few of his older disciples. The others were scattered through the streets, looking on their own for clues to bring back to their shizun.
Luo Binghe was the farthest from them all, being led about by a pretty girl that could only be Ning Yingying.
Hmm. How to give Luo Binghe the ointment without alerting Ning Yingying to his injuries. It would be no good to make the hero appear weak in front of his future first wife.
Shen Yuan stopped at the first food booth he saw. He purchased medium sized sugar sculptures with the last of his coin.
Shen Yuan approached the young cultivators cautiously, not wanting to startle them. The girl noticed him first.
“Oh! You’re the man from the brothel,” she said as he stepped in front of them. Her voice was cheerful and nonjudgmental. Shen Yuan liked her instantly. This was the type of person Luo Binghe should be surrounded with, not all those cruel people.
Shen Yuan bowed. “My name is Shen Yuan.”
“Why are you here, Shen Yuan?” Ning Yingying asked. Shen Yuan glanced at Luo Binghe and was caught by the youngster’s gaze. His eyes were pitch black and framed with the longest lashes.
“I wished to apologize for our lack of hospitality earlier. We did not offer you refreshments as we should have. Please accept these to make up for our error,” Shen Yuan said. He held out the two sugar sculptures, one in each hand.
Ning Yingying was delighted and took hers instantly. Luo Binghe was more reserved, staring at him with those dark eyes.
“You did not need to do that,” he said. “We are only disciples.”
“For now,” Shen Yuan agreed. Please take the damn sculpture he wanted to say but he waited for Luo Binghe to cautiously accept the gift, his brow furrowed slightly as though he was unused to small kindnesses. He probably was. As he accepted the bait, Shen Yuan moved to avoid a group of people moving by them. In the confusion of the crowd and the disciple’s delight at such a sudden treat, Shen Yuan used the slight of hand he’d learned early on after his transmigration and dropped the medicine jar into the pouch tied to Luo Binghe’s belt.
Usually he would be sneaking coins out to ensure he was paid for his services but the skill worked just fine for this too.
“Again, please forgive our earlier impoliteness,” Shen Yuan said before stepping back and trying to rejoin the crowd. A hand wraps around his wrist, surprisingly strong. Shen Yuan looked at it, then at Luo Binghe, ready to tell him off for grabbing him.
“It’s not safe out there,” Luo Binghe cautioned. He was still much shorter than Shen Yuan but he spoke with the gravity of an adult. “You shouldn’t be alone.”
“I‘ll be fine, I’m just heading straight back home,” Shen Yuan promised.
“We’ll accompany you back,” Luo Binghe said, stubbornly. Shen Yuan pursed his lips. He didn’t mean to interfere this much but he did want to spend time with the protagonist. He just didn’t want to ruin Luo Binghe’s reputation!
Shen Yuan turned to Ning Yingying for support but she was no longer at Luo Binghe’s elbow. Shen Yuan glanced around.
“Where did the young mistress go?”
Luo Binghe finally looked away from him and tensed when he realized he couldn’t see Ning Yingying either.
Fuck.
“You have to find her,” Shen Yuan said.
Luo Binghe looked conflicted but finally he turned back to Shen Yuan.
“Go straight back, don’t take any shortcuts,” Luo Binghe said. “I’ll find shizun.”
Then he dashed off through the crowd, leaving Shen Yuan alone.
Shen Yuan watched until he disappeared then turned to begin his journey home.
There was a woman standing right behind him. He startled when he saw her, taking a quick step back but she gripped his wrist tight. He was going to bruise if this kept happening.
It took Shen Yuan a long moment to recognize Die-er. She was not as perky as usual. Her long black hair was tied up perfectly, her clothes arranged artfully, and her jewelry was so heavy as to look like it was weighing her down but nothing could hide how sallow and gaunt she looked.
“Die-er?” Shen Yuan said. “What are you doing here?”
He didn’t see any of her attendants or guards with her. It was early in the day but Shen Yuan had thought that Old Master Chen would be too worried to allow her out alone like this.
She didn’t say anything, just looked up at him with those big sad eyes. Then her mouth widened in an approximation of a smile.
“I haven’t found a man with such gorgeous skin in so long.”
What. The. Fuck.
Shen Yuan tried to pull his hand back but she held with more force than a little concubine should be able to muster.
“Die-er—“ he started but she lifted her free hand and her palm was full of what looked like sand, or ground up spices. He tried to cover his nose and mouth but she was faster, so much faster than she should be. She blew the spices right into his face.
*****
Shen Yuan woke up shivering. He could feel the warmth of his clothes wrapped around his legs but his torso was bare except for a thick cord that wrapped around his waist and his wrists, tying the two together.
He was lying prone on a compacted dirt floor, trying to figure out what had happened besides the obvious. He had been kidnapped by Die-er, who was likely actually the Skinner, and was about to become her next victim. Why did he ever believe that he would have a fun experience transmigrating? His luck was horrible. He didn’t even remember this arc in the books but here he was, about to die after completing his job of encountering the protagonist one time. He was going to be a throwaway line, a character who didn’t even have a name and didn’t warrant a description.
Fuck. Fuck!
Shen Yuan cracked his eyes open and looked around what appeared to be the ground floor of an abandoned house. Rafters stretched across the ceiling above him, supporting a ceiling full of holes. Glancing to the side, he could see a figure moving about. Their back was to him, so he chanced opening his eyes fully.
Die-er was still dressed in her robes, the soft greens and pinks pleasant on the eye despite the horror he now knew lurked beneath. She was working at a small table, going through what appeared to be Shen Yuan’s coin purse. But sitting on the edge of the table, sorted out from the rest, was the little container of ointment.
Shen Yuan looked to his other side then and noticed Luo Binghe and Ning Yingying, trussed up much like Shen Yuan was but with a red silk cord that he instantly recognized as Immortal Binding Cable. That was very much overkill for a little disciple but was an unintentionally smart decision on Dier-er’s part. Shen Yuan too would use Immortal Binding Cable if he had kidnapped the protagonist, which he would not do, because he didn’t have a fucking death wish! Also he wouldn’t do it because Luo Binghe was and forever would be his favorite character. In any conflict that could arise, Shen Yuan would always be on Luo Binghe’s side.
Luo Binghe propped up against the wall, his hands tied tightly together. He looked like a starving stray dog that had given up. His eyes were open but he seemed lost and exhausted. His robes were a mess, covered in dirty and what looked like dried blood, and rumpled in a way that exposed the bruises on his wrist. They continued further up his arm than Shen Yuan had realized and an unfamiliar sensation swelled in his chest, white hot and sharp.
Fury, Shen Yuan realized. He was furious.
Luo Binghe looked over at him and tried to gather his facial expression into something more hopeful and heroic. It didn’t work.
“Shizun will save us,” Luo Binghe said and it sounded far more like a lie than a promise. “He won’t let Ning Yingying die.”
That part, at least, was true. If someone knew to look for them, Shen Qingqiu would certainly try to save the young girl he was always creeping on in the original text. Shen Yuan and Luo Binghe, though, meant little to nothing to him and they would be lucky if his rescue of Ning Yingying included the two of them. It would be just like Shen Qingqiu to find a way to ditch his least favorite disciple while saving his favorite.
Until Shen Qingqiu arrived, and maybe after, Luo Binghe and Shen Yuan were on their own.
Ning Yingying was still unconscious in the corner, unresponsive to Luo Binghe’s attempts to whisper to her.
Shen Yuan bit his lower lip, thinking hard. There had to be something he could leverage to get them out of this, something that would keep them alive. He just had to be smart about it.
“Die-er thought she would have your full attention,” Die-er crooned and grabbed Shen Yuan’s chin, wrenching his head around to look at her. She’d gotten close very suddenly, moving with preternatural speed. “Such a pretty boy. You’re wasted in that brothel, you know. I would have expected someone to have snatched you up long before now. Maybe you’re not very good in bed though, to still be stuck working there as a whore.”
Shen Yuan held her gaze steadily, though his mind was racing. He tried to get his hands free subtly, but Die-er must know her knots because he wasn’t going to get out this short of breaking his hands. They were bound so tight his fingers were starting to tingle. He tried moving his toes and found his legs were unbound. Slowly, awkwardly, he began to maneuver his legs under himself. He couldn’t do anything prone, but at least he would have one good dodge possible before he was struck down.
He’d been in equally dangerous situations with clients before but he’d never needed to keep others alive as well.
Maybe he didn’t need to keep others alive. Shen Yuan glanced over at Luo Binghe and Ning Yingying. The protagonist’s halo would of course protect Luo Binghe but maybe it included Ning Yingying too until she fulfilled her role in the plo. The plot line had not diverged with Shen Yuan’s introduction to the world. Surely both Luo Binghe and Ning Yingying would make it out alive.
The only expendable people here were Die-er, who didn’t even make it into the final draft of the story, and Shen Yuan himself.
Shen Yuan did not like the plan that he was formulating, he did not like the way it was going to make Luo Binghe look at him but he didn’t want to die and this was his only way out. He was going to weaponize the Protagonist’s Halo.
Shen Yuan looked up at Die-er and gave his best honey-sweet smile.
“I’m surely not as good as Die-er, married to a man three times her age,” Shen Yuan said. “What a catch Old Master Chen is.”
Die-er laughed.
“That fossil didn’t even notice when Die-er died,” said Die-er. “He tried to bed me while I wore her skin and her corpse rotted beneath the floorboards.”
So this Die-er was not the real Die-er. This Die-er was some type of monster, more than just a killer. Interesting.
“You’re a collector,” Shen Yuan said. “I know your type.”
“You’ve never met someone like me,” Die-er laughed.
“I’ve met so many people like you,” Shen Yuan said. “People who hurt others, people who luxuriate in their pain. Sadists. I can tell you right now that you won’t get that kind of a response from me.”
“I think I can inspire a reaction,” Die-er said and leaned in close. “I think it’ll be fun, to see what that takes.”
“That’s nice but I’m rather old and stringy, aren’t you interested in someone younger?”
“Sacrificing others to save yourself? What a noble soul,” Die-er laughed.
“I only have your best interests at heart,” Shen Yuan said. He could see Ning Yingying and Luo Binghe shrink back out of the corner of his eye.
“Let me see,” Die-er said, stepping back. She grabbed Luo Binghe and dragged him over by his hair, dropping him next to Shen Yuan. “Between the two of you, who has the nicer skin? It’s been so long since I’ve been a man. Men usually have such terrible skin.”
Die-ear surveyed them, then went back to her workbench, picking up a long, wickedly curved knife.
“Now which one of you should I start with?” She twirled the knife lazily in her hand then rounded on Luo Binghe.
“I think the whore is right. It is more fun when I can smell the fear and you reek of it.”
Luo Binghe’s face went stark white. He was staring death in the eye for the first time in his fourteen years.
I’m sorry. Shen Yuan thought, I’m so sorry. Even with the impossibility of his death, he knew this would wound Luo Binghe just as much as the bruises on his arms.
His legs were awkwardly tucked up under him now, with enough leverage to hurl himself to the side if Die-er turned on him.
Die-er approached and with each step Shen Yuan begged the protagonist’s halo to kick in, for Shen Qingqiu arrive and kill her.
She got closer and closer, until she was within arms reach of Luo Binghe. Then she raised the knife above her head and still nothing happened.
Come on, come on.
Die-er stabbed the knife down.
Shen Yuan lunged to the side.
The knife cut Shen Yuan’s back and dragged across his ribs with searing pain.
Luo Binghe was the one who cried out.
Shen Yuan was kneeling between him and Die-er, bringing them eye to eye. Shen Yuan watched as emotions raced over Luo Binghe’s face: relief, shock, panic.
“It’s going to be okay,” Shen Yuan promised. For Luo Binghe, it would be. Maybe not for Shen Yuan though.
Die-er kicked him hard in the shoulder, sending him sprawling to the side and out of her way.
“Whore!” She screamed. “I’ll fucking kill you when I’m done.”
Shen Yuan did not find this very frightening, because he did not think he was going to survive the time it took her to finish.
She raised her hand back to stab Luo Binghe again. And then a ceiling beam broke and collapsed on her, crushing her under its weight.
For fucks sake. Why couldn’t that have happened twenty seconds earlier?
Shen Yuan’s vision was getting hazy but he could see Luo Binghe, bound but uninjured, on the other side of the ceiling beam. He was staring at Shen Yuan.
“You’re a good kid,” Shen Yuan rasped and blacked out for the second time that day.
*****
Die-er didn’t sound like any of the demons Shen Yuan remembered from the book. There was so much more to learn from not for the last time, Shen Yuan wished he could go explore the world. Just another few years and he’d be able to buy out his contract and explore the world. Hopefully. As long as he didn’t keep buying expensive ointments for a protagonist who probably didn’t need them.
He mused this over while he stared up at the walls of his small room at the brothel. His back ached horribly and he was forced to lay face down on the bed, with his head turned to the side for air. It was not comfortable, and his debt to the brothel was skyrocketing while he was unable to work.
All this trouble for a kid he should have never involved himself with anyway. Who did he think he was, going up to the protagonist and trying to interfere with the plot? It was just that the plot was so bad and Luo Binghe was so good.
Destruction followed the protagonist everywhere though. It would be safer to keep his distance now. Shen Yuan nodded to himself. On the off chance that he ever saw Luo Binghe again, he would stay away. He didn’t need more excitement in his life if it meant he was going to almost die.
The door slid open. Shen Yuan glanced over and wow that was Luo Binghe standing in the doorway, holding a steaming pot of soup.
“Hello,” Luo Binghe said shyly. He stepped inside and closed the door behind him. He settled down on the ground by Shen Yuan’s bed and Shen Yuan could smell the soup as he approached. His mouth watered. He’d always wanted to be able to taste the protagonist's famous cooking but never did he think he would get the opportunity.
Shen Yuan looked at Luo Binghe and found the protagonist was looking much better now, dressed in clean robes.
“I brought soup to help with your healing,” Luo Binghe said. He began to ladle the soup into a small bowl for Shen Yuan. Shen Yuan was in no condition to contort his body up right to consume soup but he didn’t turn down Luo Binghe’s kind gesture.
Under the scent of the soup, Shen Yuan could smell the bitter ointment that he’d given Luo Binghe. He must have spread it on his bruises. Shen Yuan can’t help the smile that spreads across his face. He’s so glad that Luo Binghe could experience a little bit of kindness in the horror that was his childhood.
Luo Binghe stared at him, eyes wide and shining. Then he wrenched his gaze away and held the soup out to him. The poor kid must be nervous, because he kept looking at the soup then at Shen Yuan, then forcing his gaze away again.
Shen Yuan reached out his near hand for the soup and lifted his head as much as he couple off the pillow to swallow a little bit of it.
Bliss. It tasted like pure bliss, perfectly hot and savory with a bite of ginger. Shen Yuan moaned slightly, the only honest sound that anyone had ever made him make in this room.
“Thank you, Luo Binghe,” he said.
Luo Binghe hastily bowed. Shen Yuan nearly spilled his soup in his urgency to get Luo Binghe to rise. A disciple of the Cang Qiong Mountain, bowing to a common whore? Only Luo Binghe would do such a thing.
“Thank you for saving my life, Master Shen,” Luo Binghe said as he raised his head. Ah. So someone had told Luo Binghe his name.
“I’m not a master,” Shen Yuan said with a small, hoarse laugh. He sipped on the soup again.
“You saved my life,” Luo Binghe said stubbornly.
Luo Binghe’s life had never truly been in danger. Still, Shen Yuan couldn’t help but be moved by those big, black eyes.
“And you saved mine. Without you, Shen Qingqiu never would have showed up and ordered for a doctor to attend to me,” Shen Yuan said.
Luo Binghe shook his head and stared down at his clasped hands.
“It’s not enough,” Luo Binghe said. “I will pay you back, somehow.”
“There is no debt owed,” Shen Yuan tried to explain but Luo Binghe looked up at him again and Shen Yuan found he had no words left to speak.
“I will pay you back,” Luo Binghe repeated and that was that.
Luo Binghe became a regular thereafter, sneaking down the mountain whenever he could find time to visit Shen Yuan. Worried about his reputation, Shen Yuan tried to discourage him at first but Luo Binghe was a remarkably slippery kid and would evade detection until he found Shen Yuan.
In the brothel, Luo Binghe was cared for in a way he had not experienced since his mother died. The ladies doted on him, the chef gave him access to the kitchen for cooking whenever he wished, even the madam pitched in to provide medicine for him on the occasion that he showed up visibly injured.
Shen Yuan’s income was greatly decreased due to all the time he spent with Luo Binghe instead of working but he kept stowing away what he could. On occasion, Luo Binghe would arrive at the brothel when Shen Yuan was already busy with a client. He would hide himself from view until Shen Yuan was finished. He seemed perfectly fine being around Shen Yuan despite knowing very well what his profession was. He seemed to have more respect for Shen Yuan than Shen Yuan frequently had for himself.
Truly the protagonist was made to be loved and Shen Yuan wasn’t so great a man as to be able to resist that pull, even though he knew his heart was going to break as Luo Binghe grew into himself and turned into a darkened demon lord.
*****
Luo Binghe’s visits became the highlight of Shen Yuan’s months. There were sometimes when he came down the mountain multiple days in a row, and other times when they would go weeks apart, depending on Luo Binghe’s responsibilities.
His studies were important to Shen Yuan, maybe more than to Luo Binghe himself, and he found himself frequently scolding Luo Binghe to pay more attention in class. Instead of staying on the mountain to study, Luo Binghe began bringing down his textbooks and going over them with Shen Yuan. Shen Yuan was fairly certain that he was not supposed to have access to such things but he was far too curious not to peer over Luo Binghe’s shoulder and read along.
Shen Yuan might be too old to become a cultivator but he found he was rather good at coaching Luo Binghe and got to watch him improve in leaps and bounds. They spent many late nights burning their candles down to nubbins. With Shen Yuan’s teachings and the care of the ladies and cook, Luo Binghe had finally hit a growth spurt and was almost taller than Shen Yuan now. He was a handsome kid, barely having an awkward phase as he progressed through his teen years. Shen Yuan was rather jealous. He had been horribly awkward and pimpled for years. He’d barely gotten to enjoy being an adult when he died. RIP.
It was just turning into spring when word spread that there had been a demon attack on the mountain.
Shen Yuan didn’t work that day, too nervous to put on his customary charming face and fake his way through his job. The madam was not happy. As twilight stretched into dark, he waited in his dark room, heart pounding in his chest. He knew, logically, that Luo Binghe would be physically fine but still he worried.
It was only when the moon rose, a waning crescent, that he heard a familiar patter of feet outside his room. He lurched up right and managed to make himself presentable just as Luo Binghe burst through the door.
They stared at each other for a moment, then Luo Binghe lunged forward and wrapped his arms around Shen Yuan’s waist. He pressed his head against Shen Yuan’s chest and breathed deeply, if a little shakily. Shen Yuan wrapped one arm around him and used his free hand to pet his fluffy hair. He held on tight until they were both breathing easy, then he took Luo Binghe by the shoulders and pushed him back so he could take a look at him.
The boy was filthy and bruised.
“A bath,” Shen Yuan ordered and Luo Binghe looked down at his toes, dejected.
“I don’t want to leave,” he said stubbornly.
Shen Yuan didn’t want him to leave either.
“A bath here then,” he said and they worked together to haul a wooden tub into his room and carry up water from the well. Normally he could ask for assistance in this task but the madam was still angry at him and he didn’t dare.
It took them a while to fill the bath, and Luo Binghe told him all about the attack. Sha Hualing had been the leader, there to test the power of the Cang Qiong Mountain sect. Shen Qingqiu had been there but lacked the power to push back the entire force of demons so they’d resorted to one on one battles instead.
It was Shen Yuan’s first time hearing about other future wives of Luo Binghe’s, though he didn’t seem particularly interested in either Sha Hualing or the disciple who fought her, Liu Mingyan. Shen Yuan felt bad for these women, to be so ignored by their future husband.
Lou Binghe had been nominated for battle by his horrible shizun. Shen Yuan could only imagine that Shen Qingqiu had been trying to rid himself of Luo Binghe. Unfortunately for him, Luo Binghe defeated his opponent with ease. He had been struck with a poison in a sneak attack after the battle, but Yue Qingyuan had arrived and the demons had fled before they could get an answer about what type of poison it was.
Shen Qingqiu had looked Luo Binghe over afterwards and decided not to send him to Mu Qingfang. Which was how Luo Binghe ended up so dirty and hurt when he finally arrived in Shen Yuan’s rooms.
The bath helped, though Luo Binghe hissed from behind the privacy screen when he lowered himself into the water.
Shen Yuan sat on his bed and tried not to fret himself into an early grave. An unknown demonic poison? That could be anything. There were limited poisons that could hurt Luo Binghe but they were all of demon make. None would kill him but extreme pain was a possibility. Luo Binghe appeared unaffected but Shen Yuan still worried.
He could hear Luo Binghe opening all of Shen Yuan’s bathing and hair oils and sniffing each one. He seemed to settle on one he liked and began to work on his hair while he told Shen Yuan about how powerful Yue Qingyuan had been and how the demons had fled before him.
One day Luo Binghe would be that strong and Shen Yuan held a small flame of hope in his heart that he’d be able to see Luo Binghe at the height of his powers. That said, Shen Yuan wasn’t a pretty woman and the likelihood that he would survive an encounter with adult Luo Binghe was small. It would be best to avoid adult Luo Binghe at all costs.
For now though, he would enjoy hearing Luo Binghe talk about his day.
When Luo Binghe came back out of the bath he was wearing Shen Yuan’s clothes and Shen Yuan stifled a giggle. The clothes engulfed his smaller body and made him look like a child playing dress up. Luo Binghe smiled when he saw Shen Yuan laugh.
Luo Binghe stayed with him for the first time that night, curled up in a nest of Shen Yuan’s spare blankets. Shen Yuan woke up several times that night but Luo Binghe was there each time, sleeping peacefully with no sign of the poison impacting him. When there were no signs of the poison the next morning, Shen Yuan finally let himself relax. Whatever poison was used yesterday could not affect Heavenly Demons.
Shen Yuan wanted to keep them both in the safety of his little room forever but they both had obligations they could not avoid. Luo Binghe insisted on helping Shen Yuan get ready for the day, picking out his clothes and jewelry. Even as a teenager, the protagonist had good taste and knew what would go together. He lingered over Shen Yuan’s jewelry box and finally pulled out a jade pendant, a gift from a previous client.
“I used to have one similar to this,” he said. He blinked hard and Shen Yuan panicked to see his eyes shining with tears. “My mom gave it to me.”
Shen Yuan pet Luo Binghe’s soft hair.
“What happened to it?” He asked gently.
“It was thrown into the woods,” Luo Binghe said. Grief ladened his voice. Shen Yuan remembered this scene. The older disciples had bullied Luo Binghe viciously. “I looked for ages afterwards but I couldn’t find it.”
Shen Yuan sighed and pulled Luo Binghe into a fierce hug.
“I’m so sorry, Binghe,” he said. Luo Binghe buried his face in Shen Yuan’s chest.
Shen Yuan looked down at the pendant that had caused such a strong reaction and knew it to be a fake, just like the one Luo Binghe’s mother had given him. All its value was sentimental and nothing could be done to replace it.
He held Luo Binghe until the boy calmed down. He wiped Luo Binghe’s face with a cloth and saw him out the door to run back up the mountain for his morning duties. When he returned to his room, the little signs that Luo Binghe had been there were everywhere. His jewelry box was organized and put away, as were the blankets that had been used for Luo Binghe’s temporary bed. Luo Binghe had even made Shen Yuan’s bed.
Sighing, Shen Yuan closed the door to his room and went back downstairs to work.
Time slipped by too fast after that. Luo Binghe continued visiting whenever he had a chance and cooking Shen Yuan the best snacks and meals he had ever tasted. They would spend hours studying together and sometimes Luo Binghe would sneak texts down from the mountain about the beasts of the world. Those were Shen Yuan’s favorite things to study. He’d loved the monsters of the Proud Immortal Demon Way. These texts contained monsters that hadn’t been in the original text and Shen Yuan was eager to learn as much about them as he could.
It was ridiculous that all of Shen Yuan’s knowledge of this world came from a shitty stallion novel that functioned as an even worse textbook. Still, Shen Yuan’s memory of stories he hated was legendary. So when he encountered his next demon, he knew who it was almost immediately.
Shen Yuan went to sleep by counting all the different types of monsters he could remember but when he opened his eyes again it was not morning. He was standing already, so he knew he must be dreaming. That, and the endless expanse of gray landscape.
There was a familiar tap tap tap of running footsteps behind him and Shen Yuan braced himself just in time for Luo Binghe to crash into him and wrap his arms around Shen Yuan’s waist. Luo Binghe was getting far too big to be hugging him like this, though his cute disciple would always be little in his mind. Shen Yuan patted Luo Binghe’s hands, then pulled Luo Binghe around in front of him to look him over. He looked normal, no adjustments to his age or any other dream abnormalities visible.
“What’s happening?” Luo Binghe asked. “Where are we?”
“We’re in a dream,” Shen Yuan said. “Your dream.”
It would only make sense that it was Luo Binghe’s dream. Only a high level demon could bring another person into their own dream realm.
“My dream?” said Luo Binghe and the world around them warped and bulged, rearranging itself into a city. There was an alley next to him and Shen Yuan heard a familiar voice cry out. They turned to look and there was a much younger Luo Binghe, curled up on the ground as five older kids kicked him. Luo Binghe tensed. Shen Yuan put his hands on Luo Binghe’s shoulders.
“Try to control it, Luo Binghe,” he said. “A demon is at work here, pulling up strong memories from your subconsciousness. This is still your dream though, try to regain control of it.”
That wouldn’t work for anyone else but as the protagonist, Luo Binghe was an anomaly. If any one could free themselves from this by sheer willpower it would be Luo Binghe.
The world changed again, putting them in a small hut. A woman was curled on the mat in the corner and an even smaller Luo Binghe was crouched next to her, trying to keep her from sitting up.
The real Luo Binghe’s head turned to stare at the woman, intense emotion in his dark black eyes.
“Binghe,” Shen Yuan said. “Try to focus, I know it's hard. If you regain control of the dream you won’t have to see these things again, fight back.”
Luo Binghe’s gaze snapped back to Shen Yuan, a slight blush on his cheeks. Had he just referred to Luo Binghe as Binghe? Oops. Shen Yuan kept talking though, he would deal with his rudeness later if Luo Binghe was mad.
The world changed again, and this time they were in a familiar space, the Skinner Demon stepping forward with a knife. The real Luo Binghe refused to look away as dream Shen Yuan lunged forward and took the knife to his back to save dream Luo Binghe.
Something about this dream caused even more emotional turmoil for Luo Binghe and the world around them warped and warped, settling on other moments too briefly for Shen Yuan to make them out. It was making his head ache.
“Focus,” he said again and the world resolved itself into his little room at the brothel. The room was empty except for them, their dream versions were somewhere else.
Shen Yuan stepped forward and grabbed down one of the textbooks they had been studying together, a log of different known demons. He flipped to the page where the entry on dream demons should be but, damn it, they were in a dream and the pages were just a blur of lines instead of actual text.
“Do you remember us talking about Meng Mo?” Shen Yuan asked. Surely no one less than Meng Mo himself would be able to influence Luo Binghe’s dreams like this. A lesser dream demon would have been pushed out without Luo Binghe even noticing.
“Yes,” Luo Binghe said. “He--”
A glazed look overcame Luo Binghe, as if he was staring at something Shen Yuan couldn’t see. Luo Binghe’s lips moved but no sounds came out. It was really rather creepy.
Shen Yuan stepped back, giving Luo Binghe space to deal with what must be Meng Mo.
Drowsiness overcame him suddenly and Shen Yuan stumbled with the weight of it. His bed looked so inviting. He managed to make it there before he was dragged into a deeper dream, somewhere Luo Binghe couldn’t follow.
*****
When Shen Yuan awoke, he was alone in his rooms. It was dawn and Luo Binghe wouldn’t be able to visit until the evening at the earliest. He cleaned up himself and his rooms and went to work. The end of their time together was approaching and he needed to have enough money to flee the city before things went wrong.
The appearance of Meng Mo meant that Luo Binghe was finally being tutored in the demonic arts.
They fell into an easy routine, Luo Binghe visiting every eight days. He needed to focus on his training and Shen Yuan needed to focus on making money. His own stockpile was not nearly enough for what he needed and the end was coming so soon.
It seemed like barely any time at all passed after that before Luo Binghe told him excitedly about the Immortals Alliance Conference.
Shen Yuan saw Luo Binghe off that night, watching him disappear down the road from the back door of the brothel. Then he went up stairs and cried himself to sleep.
He took the time to reassess his plan the next day, checking and rechecking the money he had saved up. It was just enough to pay off his debt to the madam with a little left over for his travels. Shen Yuan had originally planned to wait a couple years, then leave, but he found he couldn’t stay in this city without Luo Binghe to bring him some semblance of happiness.
He saw Luo Binghe less as the Conference approached. The protagonist was focused on his training and getting prepared so he could represent Cang Qiong mountain well.
On the last day before the Cang Qiong representatives would leave for the conference, Luo Binghe came to visit.
His arrival surprised Shen Yuan, who was not quite ready for him yet. When Luo Binghe opened the door to his room Shen Yuan was applying a cheap ointment to the bruises on his forearms. He couldn’t afford something as nice as what he’d given Luo Binghe when they’d first met, but the madam had sold him a nice smelling ointment that Shen Yuan suspected was just a floral cream. The bruises on his arms were bad and would make working difficult until they healed. He had his sleeves pushed up to his elbows as he applied the “medicine”.
The creak of the door opening had him turning towards it in surprise. He dropped his sleeves down his arms as fast as he could but the fabric caught on the tacky ointment.
Luo Binghe’s smile dropped from his face. For the first time ever, Shen Yuan saw a bit of the demon lord he would become. He flinched back as Luo Binghe stepped forward. Luo Binghe froze.
They stood there, unmoving, staring at each other.
“Binghe!” Shen Yuan said, forcing his voice to sound cheerful. He yanked his sleeves down to his wrists. “I wasn’t expecting you so soon.”
“You’re injured,” Luo Binghe said. He reached out from Shen Yuan’s wrist and Shen Yuan didn’t flinch back this time, hoping not to see that expression on his white lotus’s face again. But that meant that Luo Binghe was free to delicately take his hand and raise his sleeve to expose the bruises.
They weren’t pretty but they were nothing compared to the worst that Shen Yuan had gotten during his time here. He always kept them carefully hidden from Luo Binghe, covering the scent of blood with incense and keeping his clothing perfectly in place.
Somehow, the way Luo Binghe was looking at his bruises made them hurt worse. Maybe he was being forced out of the safe corner of his mind where he hid from the pain, maybe because Luo Binghe looked like he was the one that was injured, not Shen Yuan.
Luo Binghe pulled a small jar of ointment from his sleeve and Shen Yuan recognized it as the jar he’d given Luo Binghe on the first day that they’d met.
The medicine inside smelled bitter and potent, better than what Shen Yuan had purchased. It must have been refilled with medicine from Cang Qiong’s stores.
Luo Binghe gently wiped the fake medicine from Shen Yuan’s arm with the spare but clean cloth Shen Yuan had been planning on wrapping his bruises with. Then he began to apply the real medicine. His touch was burning hot against Shen Yuan’s skin and even when Shen Yuan looked away, he could feel each fingertip as it smeared the ointment over his bruises.
Some of them were so deep they’d almost been lacerations but thankfully there had been no blood to clean up. The bruises were a deep purple in color, almost black. Luo Binghe’s touch was feather light as he wrapped his arm and pulled his sleeve down. Then Luo Binghe pulled up Shen Yuan’s other sleeve and repeated the whole process. Shen Yuan tried to keep his breathing steady. There was something unbearably intimate about this, and Luo Binghe’s face was so close to his own, brows furrowed slightly and his eyes carefully only looking at Shen Yuan’s bruised skin.
Shen Yuan turned his head away and cleared his throat.
“Isn’t Binghe supposed to be leaving soon? He should save this medicine for the conference,” Shen Yuan said, though it was far too late to bring up this objection. Luo Binghe just made a low humming sound and finished up with Shen Yuan’s arm. Shen Yuan felt much more like himself when Luo Binghe adjusted both of his sleeves to hide the bruises.
“This medicine was always meant for Shen Yuan’s use,” Luo Binghe said, which was ridiculous. Luo Binghe would have had to be refreshing the ointment every month for years, waiting for the moment Shen Yuan might need it.
“Binghe needs to return home and finish preparing,” Shen Yuan said, not letting himself think about the implications of the medicine.
“I’m already finished preparing,” Luo Binghe said. “I’m here to say goodbye to you before I leave.”
“You’re leaving,” Shen Yuan said softly. He wanted to keep Luo Binghe here forever, his white lotus and his friend. But the plot was going to move forward and this was a cruel world that Airplane had written, especially for Luo Binghe.
“I’m not leaving,” Luo Binghe said and that’s what Shen Yuan was afraid of.
“Binghe, there is no reason for you to stay,” Shen Yuan said. “This conference is an important chance for you to improve yourself and represent your sect. You cannot miss it.”
The laws of this world would not allow it. Shen Yuan was too minor of a character to prevent such a major plot moment.
“I’m staying,” Luo Binghe insisted and Shen Yuan knew that look on his face. It was going to be very difficult to convince Luo Binghe to go.
He didn’t want them to part like this.
The door to Shen Yuan’s room opened again and this time it was Shen Qingqiu in the doorway. Of course the master would know where to find his disciple, especially since Shen Qingqiu frequented the brothel himself.
“Luo Binghe,” Shen Qingqiu said, his face pinched as he glanced at Shen Yuan. “You’re delaying our departure.”
“I’m not going,” said Luo Binghe and Shen Qingqiu rolled his eyes. He grabbed Luo Binghe by the collar and dragged him from the room, easily overpowering Luo Binghe’s attempts to plant his feet. “I’m staying!”
“Goodbye, Binghe,” Shen Yuan said but his words were lost in the tussling between Luo Binghe and Shen Qingqiu. It was clear who was going to prevail and soon enough Shen Qingqiu used some sort of skill that Shen Yuan would never have to make Luo Binghe go limp. Then Shen Qingqiu unceremoniously dragged Luo Binghe down the hallway and out of Shen Yuan’s sight.
Luo Binghe wasn’t going to return. Not until he was much older and filled with hatred and fury, his heart blackened by the betrayal of his master.
*****
Shen Yuan left the brothel that same night. He paid off his debt to the madam with most of his savings so that she wouldn’t send people after him. He packed up his meager belongings and found his way to the road out of town.
It was surprisingly easy to walk away. Even with all his memories of Luo Binghe here, he spent most of his time in anxious survival mode. Leaving felt good. He puts one foot in front of the other and goes off to explore the world of Proud Immortal Demon Way.
This was always his dream, even when he was in his original body and chose to stay inside all the time. He’d thought then that maybe he would go outside if outside was as good as Proud Immortal Demon Way made it seem. The human realm alone was full of strange plants and beasts but the demon realm was what really fascinated him.
He spends a large chunk of his remaining money on a crude map that was more a log of myths than a cartography tool. The rest he spent on supplies and rations.
Shen Yuan looked at his map and found where all the symbols said to stay away because of demonic activity in the area. The symbols made a fairly neat line denoting the border of the Demon Realm.
The next few weeks were spent in various states of poverty and joy as he traveled by foot towards the demon realm. He knew it was dangerous but it had the coolest monsters and he had to see it, no matter the risk.
He wasn’t some cultivator who could traverse long distances by sword or a demon to teleport between locations. He walked slowly, careful of his feet. At first they blistered and bled but eventually they became accustomed to such long distances.
When his food finally ran out, he stopped in at the closest inn. It was a roadside inn, no town in sight, but he traded some herbs and plants he had recognized and collected along the way for a night under a roof and more rations.
That quickly became a pattern for him. He could harvest what he could identify on his travels, asking locals about those that he couldn’t. Shen Yuan couldn’t afford paper and ink but he had a very good memory for the things he was interested in so he rarely forgot a plant once he’d been introduced to it. With each leg of travel he learned more and harvested more, bringing in more money when he reconnected with civilization.
He traveled from Cang Qiong Mountain to the Eastern Deserts, where he walked under arches of stone and collected Sunbreak Peppers. He made a (very bad) stew with them and found that the heat of the desert no longer affected him, as long as he continued to consume it every few hours. Eating raw peppers was also effective but not quite as potent as when they were boiled under the rays of the sun.
Shen Yuan traveled through the desert and made a fair bit of money selling his remaining Sunbreak Peppers to a town on the far side. He stayed in that town for a while, getting used to the different culture and terrain. It was noticeably wilder here, small monsters and the occasional demon living within the town itself. He encountered a bird that would sing songs for scraps of bread, a little frog with the skin of a cactus, and a scraggly cat with six legs. The cat took an instant liking to him.
Shen Yuan crouched down as the cat approached him the first time, and petted it as it got closer. The cat purred easily and had a bad case of elevator butt when Shen Yuan petted its hips. The cat’s hind legs lifted clear off the ground in an attempt to get deeper pets, leaving the cat balancing easily on its first four legs.
The cat became a constant in Shen Yuan’s life and he called her Mimi.
Petting Mimi made Shen Yuan miss Luo Binghe. To be truthful, he always missed Luo Binghe but petting the cat’s rough hair reminded him of petting Luo Binghe’s soft curls. But his little Binghe was deep in the abyss, betrayed by Shen Qingqiu and suffering for it.
Shen Yuan tried not to dwell on it and when he set out on the road again, this time traveling towards a series of mountains, Mimi followed behind him.
He spent six months getting to and living in the mountains. There he found dozens of new plants and creatures. At the peak of a mountain he found a murder of massive crows, easily twice his height. They speak to him, just as fascinated to see him as he is to see them. They interrogate him about what he has in his pack and he has to lay out all of his possessions on the off chance that one of them would be shiny enough to interest the crows. They take a piece of costume jewelry he’d been given in exchange for a pack of herbs. The crows know it has no value to humans, but they like it regardless.
For the costume jewelry, they tell him about plants that Shen Yuan has never heard of, from far off places he could never get to on his own. The Thousand Year Blue Lotus is the one he was most interested in. This one he does know about, because it came up in the book. It was the only cure for poisons that affect heavenly demons. Shen Yuan tried to convince them to take him to it, but they point away from the mountains and tell him the plant is across a volcanic plain so hot that it would boil the blood of a human flying over it, no matter how high they flew. Even cultivators struggle to cross such a place and Shen Yuan is no cultivator.
Descending from the mountain, Mimi in tow, Shen Yuan encountered a forest. He saw plants that snapped and lunged at him like beasts, though he knew a little silver dust would stop them. He couldn't afford silver dust so he stayed well clear of them, taking a roundabout way through the forest. On the way, he came across a place where the trees are so big that a team of ten men would be hard pressed to wrap their arms all the way around it. Adorning the trees were equally massive butterflies in shades of purple and blue. Shen Yuan didn’t bother them and they didn’t bother him, but he wished he knew how to draw so that he could preserve the beautiful sight.
At the edge of the forest he finds the ocean. There is a small town there, a fishing village with docks that reach out into the tempestuous waters.
He was not sure how long it's been since he last saw Luo Binghe. Years, certainly. But word of his little white lotus reached his ears again in this town. Word of the new Demon Lord spread quickly, even out in the wilds.
Shen Yuan hid his emotions well, and nodded along as the townspeople speculated on Luo Binghe’s reign. When he could, he excused himself and went down to the longest dock he could find. There, he sat down and cried for what he had already lost and what he would never have again.
A storm comes in as he sobbed, whisking his noises away into the howling winds. In the far distance, he can just barely make out something rising up from the waters, a long, thick tentacle that reached high over a fishing vessel and crashed down, obliterating the boat.
Shen Yuan’s tears dried up a little as the rain began to pour down. He barely noticed it though, too focused on his first sighting of a major demonic beast: a kraken.
He watched until he couldn’t feel his face and then a little bit more until the wind threatened to knock him off the dock. Hands grabbed him as he swayed and pulled him back to land. Shen Yuan stumbled along, emotions too mixed up with grief and joy to really pay attention to what’s happening to him.
There was an inn at the start of the dock and he’s pushed inside and set down by the fire to warm up. Shen Yuan blinked in surprise as a hot cup of tea was placed in his hands. He looked up to see a humanoid demon sitting down next to him.
“You’re crazy, human,” the demon said. “Don’t you know that krakens are bad luck?”
“It was beautiful,” Shen Yuan said, still a little dazed.
“Crazy,” the demon nods. Then he takes a long look at Shen Yuan. “Beautiful though.”
Shen Yuan tensed just a little.
“What’s a beauty like you doing all the way out here?” Asked the demon.
“Traveling,” Shen Yuan said. “I’m on my way to see my father. He’s expecting me soon.”
“What town? We can give you a ride there.”
Shen Yuan bites his lip. He doesn’t have a map of the area, doesn’t know the name of any town that would be within a three months walk from here.
The demon smiles. “Or are you all on your own, with no one to notice your absence?”
Shen Yuan stands up abruptly, the old scar on his back complaining at the sudden movement after being in the cold for so long. He steps back and bumps into another demon, who leers down at him when he looks up.
“You don’t want to do this,” Shen Yuan tried.
“I really think we do,” the demon said and he shoved a sack over Shen Yuan’s head.
Shen Yuan screamed but if anyone heard him, no one came to his aid. He was carried out of the building and thrown in the back of what must be a cart. He could hear the wheels creak as they rolled out of town and back into dense forest.
Fuck.
*****
They don’t seem interested in him. This comes as a surprise to Shen Yuan, after what they’d said by the fire.
They’re crude to him, saying the most explicit things to try and make him scared but they don’t touch him other than to punch him after his numerous escape attempts. They, like the madam and his bad clients, avoid touching his face and hands, but his torso is bruised purple.
The demons seem to be taking him somewhere. They won’t say where but with each day they seem increasingly anxious and more careful of hitting him where someone might see. On the seventh day of whatever this is, he hears a familiar meow in the darkness and looks up to see Mimi’s eyes glinting from under a bush. He cries that night, silently, his heart full of love for a little creature that was too weak to save him but followed him into danger regardless. He doesn’t say anything or even look in her direction after he realizes who it is, worried that the demons will notice her.
On the eighth day, they drag him to a river and force him to bathe and change clothes. They have a set of nicer clothes for him, women’s clothes that fit a little to snug in the shoulders and short on his legs but still are better than the rags he had been wearing when they found him.
Shen Yuan stroked the soft fabric and yearned just a little for the comforts of his time before his travels.
After he’s clean and wearing the new clothes, they put the hood back on him like they did on the first few days of his capture. Shen Yuan ground his teeth with worry as he listened for any change in their surroundings.
He noticed the light first, to his surprise. The dark forest they’d been in ended abruptly, and full sunlight cascaded down onto him for the first time in ages.
Then he heard the voices. There were a lot of people nearby, and the cart was moving closer to them. It was a city, he realized as they entered it and traveled for ages without it ever falling quiet. There were vendors selling all sorts of things and children running around and adults bartering for goods. Surely he could make an escape here but he would need to get the hood off of his head first. He inched his hands upward but the demons noticed and bound them together behind his back. The twist hurt his scar and bruised ribs.
When he tried to wiggle free of the new bonds, he fell off the cart. The impact hurt, but not nearly as much as the kick to his chest that followed. Shen Yuan was dragged up into the cart. The pain was so bad his ears wouldn’t work, all he could hear was his thundering heartbeat as he struggled to breath around the sharp sting of his ribs.
He was not sure how much time passed before he was dragged off the cart and set on his feet. He spent about ten seconds swaying before he fell to his knees. Whatever these bastards wanted, he was not going to make it easy for them.
Cursing, the two demons lifted him up between them so it appeared as though he was walking despite the way his feet dragged behind him.
There’s still the sound of people, he realized. Wherever they were going involved a great deal of people, since the sound only grew louder the farther they went. He clenched his hands into firsts, jerking his arms to try and get free.
The grip on him tightened to the point of pain but then he was pulled into somewhere bright and still. He could hear people breathing, hear the rustle of fabrics, and the clink of porcelain. There were people all around him, though they were quiet.
“We of the Southern Horned Demons present a gift to the Demon Lord,” one of his captors said. Oh fuck. Oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck.
Shen Yuan tried to struggle again, tried to escape, but they pushed him to his knees and pulled the hood off of his face.
Shen Yuan blinked at the sudden brightness and looked up to see the extremely attractive person. He was even more gorgeous than Shen Yuan had pictured when he was reading Proud Immortal Demon Way.
“Hello, Binghe,” Shen Yuan said.