Chapter Text
It takes barely a day for Luo Binghe to decide he needs to talk to Shang Qinghua alone and find out exactly how dangerous his son is, even if that means revealing himself. With Xin Mo in his hand, Luo Binghe is sure he could take Shang Qinghua down if needed. The problem is keeping the little weasel from revealing him to Shen Qingqiu.
Well, obviously he can’t reveal himself as Hei-er, so the best course of action is clear. Luo Binghe shows up in his dreams.
Waiting until his shizun is safely asleep, he sneaks out of the bamboo house and moves far enough into the forest to keep from being disturbed while still being able to keep watch on Shen Qingqiu and switches human. The sudden rush of Xin Mo’s rage hits just as hard as before, but Luo Binghe knows how to win this fight and beats it back. Not right now, not until he has Shang Qinghua’s son in his grasp. He sits down with his back against a thick stalk of bamboo, then lets his consciousness sink.
Having honed his skills on demons in the Abyss, there’s not much that can surprise Luo Binghe when it comes to dreamscapes. This one doesn’t change that. Around him is an office with hilariously tall stacks of papers and folders and scrolls, tipping threateningly around a desk where Shang Qinghua’s dream avatar sits and frantically scribbles away. The room is lit ambiently, too evenly for candles outside a dreamscape like this. It feels fitting for someone who spends his time looking after logistics.
The papers contain only gibberish since the contents mean nothing, it’s all just context for the dream. There’s a crisp bite to the air, like they’re somewhere even higher in elevation than the mountain and twice as cold. Formless shadows skitter across the edges of the boundless room. More ambiance rather than substance.
Shang Qinghua appears smaller and shabbier here than in the real world. A reflection of his self image? Several stands of his hair have fallen free of his top knot to curl along his cheek and down his back like little snakes. Exaggerated bags under his eyes and sunken cheeks point to a profound exhaustion. This kind of spiritual malaise is often deeply rooted, something dear Shishu should be attending to because it can affect cultivation.
Walking around the desk, Luo Binghe lowers himself down to sit without Shang Qinghua lifting his head.
“No more,” he says fervently, waving the hand not writing at an unrealistic pace. “This master is already overworked as it is and now they want more-”
“This one cares little for Shishu’s hardships,” Luo Binghe says. Jerking his head up, Shang Qinghua stares at him wide eyed.
“Oh, fuck me,” he says bafflingly, dropping his brush. “Why the- Did my dream just go into hard mode? What kind of shit is this?”
Hm. Vulgar when he doesn’t think anyone’s actually around, isn’t he?
“Begging Shishu’s pardon,” Luo Binghe says sweetly, “but I came here for information and you will provide it.”
Shang Qinghua blinks hard several times. “What.”
“This filial disciple wants to know about dangers to Shizun.”
Shang Qinghua stares at him, then squints. “What?”
“Tell me about your son, Shishu,” Luo Binghe says as he leans over the desk. “I’m waiting.”
“You- my what?!” Shang Qinghua shrieks as he scrambles back from the desk like the coward he is.
“Don’t be coy, Shishu. This one knows your son has intentions against my shizun.” Rising to his feet, Luo Binghe steps around the desk and slowly approaches Shang Qinghua. “I want to know who he is. Where he is. What his weaknesses are.”
“You-” And then Shang Qinghua freezes as all the blood in his face drains away. “Oh fuck, you’re real.”
Luo Binghe smiles. “Hello, Shishu. So nice to see you after all this time apart.”
It’s not clear if Shang Qinghua is still breathing. He looks at Luo Binghe as if staring down his own death, which might very well be true depending on his answers.
Striking him down to keep him away from Shen Qingqiu would be easy, Xin Mo whispers, and Luo Binghe gives himself a moment to savor the thought before pushing it aside. Shang Qinghua has his uses at the moment.
“Now, if Shishu wouldn’t mind not wasting any more of my time…” Luo Binghe comes to a stop above him, staring down his nose at the trembling peak lord before him. “Your son, Shishu. Where is he?”
“M-my son?” The answer comes out a little hysterical.
Obviously, Luo Binghe isn’t making his intentions clear enough to elicit worse. The scene around them morphs and flows until it resembles a jail cell, complete with shackles to hold Shang Qinghua in place. That gets a more entertaining level of fear into Shang Qinghua’s face.
“This is a dreamscape,” Luo Binghe says as he kneels down in front of Shang Qinghua, reaching out to seize his face in one hand. “That means I can tear you apart over and over until you give me the information I want.”
There’s a squeak, but it isn’t what Luo Binghe’s looking for so he viciously shakes Shang Qinghua a bit before letting go and resting his hand upon the man’s shoulder instead. “Should I start here?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Shang Qinghua wails with tears in his eyes. “What do you mean ‘son’? I don’t have any children! I’ve never even been with a woman before!”
…What? How much of that panicked spiel is Luo Binghe supposed to believe? The man is in his forties, isn’t he? Surely, this is just a ploy to lower Luo Binghe’s defenses. Well, it won’t work!
“While it’s admirable that Shishu would want to protect his son-” Luo Binghe begins, allowing for that much grace, but he’s cut off with another wail.
“I’m telling you, I don’t have any children! This master- this master practices cultivation purity!!”
It’s not unusual for high level cultivators to do so, considering the risks to their cultivation were they to indulge too much, but a peak like An Ding has little reason to worry.
“He needn’t always have done so,” Luo Binghe points out.
“Well! I did!!”
Hm. This isn’t coming across like a lie. Luo Binghe considers his options as Shang Qinghua cringes before him.
“You’ve never lain with a woman?” he asks. Shang Qinghua shakes his head. “He could be an adopted son.”
The shaking is more vigorous. “No children! None at all, this servant swears on his life!!”
“Then who is this enemy of my Shizun who will be coming for him in two years?”
That just gets him a blink. Shang Qinghua stares at him, expression slowly growing more incredulous by the second, before he explodes out with “What?!”
“I tire of this fruitless back and forth, Shishu,” Luo Binghe says as he looms over Shang Qinghua’s increasingly shrunken form. “Tell me the name of my shizun’s enemy so that I may tear the still beating heart from his chest.”
The tears run over the edge of Shang Qinghua’s eyes. “I swear, this servant swears, he doesn’t know what my lord is talking about!”
Luo Binghe lifts his hand and snaps. A section of the dreamscape forms itself into a familiar table with two familiar figures sitting across from one another with a box of confectionaries between them.
“Two more years before he metes out my punishment,” Shen Qingqiu says dully. “And then there’s no more Shen Qingqiu.”
“Holy shit,” Shang Qinghua whispers.
“Maybe Shishu would like to-”
And then from outside the dream, a sudden cry of “BINGHE!” snaps Luo Binghe back into the real world. He blinks, disoriented, before scrambling to his feet to run back to the bamboo house. His dog form is faster and he shifts midstep, racing through bamboo thicker than his own body. The door is still open and Luo Binghe zips inside, claws skittering across the floor as he skids around the corner to Shen Qingqiu’s room. Has Shang Qinghua’s son come for Shizun!? Luo Binghe’s time has come!
There’s no enemy to find or fight. There’s only Shen Qingqiu with his face buried in his hands as his shoulders shake. One breath catches and then the next, and Luo Binghe doesn’t even think before climbing up onto the bed.
It’s easy to wriggle his way into Shen Qingqiu’s lap and push between his arms, forcing his way into an embrace that quickly falls around him. Shen Qingqiu presses his face to Luo Binghe’s fur and just holds on as he shakes.
“Good boy,” he murmurs, voice cracking. “Good boy, good boy…”
It’s been several nights since he woke this way. Is it because Luo Binghe wasn’t here to be cuddled? Guilt wracks him in the worst ways for straying away from Shen Qingqiu’s side. It had to be done if Luo Binghe is going to keep his shizun safe, but still… Maybe there’s a way to dream delve in this form. He’ll work hard to find it so he never has to leave!!
Shen Qingqiu has only just stopped shaking when someone lands outside the house and comes racing in the door, a heavy pack slung over one shoulder and some kind of detection talisman in his hand.
“Cucumber-bro!” he says, panting like he’d run the whole way instead of flown. “We have to go!”
Blinking in the dark, Shen Qingqiu straightens up to give Shang Qinghua an incredulous look. “What?”
“We have to go now,” Shang Qinghua repeats. “He’s out. He’s in the human realm again, we can’t stay here bro!”
Shen Qingqiu flinches and draws his fingers free of Luo Binghe’s fur. “But it’s- There’s still two years-”
“I know! It’s changed, but the System woke up and he’s eavesdropped on us somehow.”
The what? System? Luo Binghe volleys his gaze between the two, trying to make sense of the panic. Wait, had something tipped Shang Qinghua off after Luo Binghe left his dream, something about the mysterious ‘son’ that isn’t actually his son?
“Pack a bag, we have to leave before-” Pausing, Shang Qinghua gives Shen Qingqiu a closer look. “You okay, bro?”
“Fine,” Shen Qingqiu says, predictably refusing to show his vulnerability. Only Luo Binghe gets to see that!! Swinging off the sheets, Shen Qingqiu gets up and grabs for his robes. “Get out, I’ll be done in a minute.”
“Just hurry. I don’t know how close he is right now. You remember how crazy wide his range can be.”
Shang Qinghua goes into the other room, leaving Luo Binghe to watch the way Shen Qingqiu’s expression falls to nothing. He looks around the room and at his robes, helpless in a way. With a quiet whine, Luo Binghe bumps up against his leg to snap him out of it. Shen Qingqiu shakes his head, then gets himself dressed before stuffing a qiankun bag full of random things, not even bothering to fold any of the robes first. Luo Binghe winces internally at the wrinkles that will inevitably be set into the rich silks. The handful of hair crowns and other headpieces get the same lack of care, along with a handful of books. When he’s satisfied, Shen Qingqiu leaves his room only to go straight for his desk to pick up a brush.
“We don’t have time for-” Shang Qinghua starts, but Shen Qingqiu shoots him a glare.
“I’m not leaving them without something.”
Whatever he writes is quick and short, all the while Shang Qinghua keeps looking at his talisman with growing nervousness. Then Shen Qingqiu strides out the door while smoothly drawing Xiu Ya.
Panic hits Luo Binghe immediately and he starts whining up a storm as he scampers after Shen Qingqiu.
“Hei-er,” Shen Qingqiu scolds with a sigh. “Go to Yingying. She’ll look after you now.”
She will not! Because Luo Binghe is never leaving Shizun’s side ever again!! Ning Yingying is dead to him, only Shizun!!!
“Shit, he’s going to wake up the disciples,” Shang Qinghua hisses as Luo Binghe’s distress grows louder, bordering on barking.
“He’s a dog, how am I supposed to- This just-” Shen Qingqiu stares hard down at Luo Binghe before stooping down to scoop him up. “Fine! Let’s go!”
“You’re bringing him?!”
“What am I supposed to do, leave him to call death on us both? What if he finds out a dog likes me and adds Hei-er to his revenge?!”
He can try to come for them! Luo Binghe will bite, bite, bite!
Shen Qingqiu ignores Shang Qinghua’s flabbergasted mutters and mounts his sword. Luo Binghe huddles in close to his chest as they lift into the sky with Shang Qinghua coming up swiftly behind them. They’re high above the mountain before Shang Qinghua starts off in what seems like a random direction. Maybe he has a safehouse somewhere? He seems like the kind of rat that would need one.
Cuddled against Shen Qingqiu’s chest, Luo Binghe stares down at the world that seems so very much farther down in this body. He can’t help the way his legs twitch with the need to jump down for solid ground, despite knowing it would mean his death. Barely, by the skin of his teeth, does he manage to keep from truly wiggling his way out of Shen Qingqiu’s arms.
It helps that he’s in Shizun’s arms! Cradled against Shizun, brought along to save him from harm because he’s precious to Shizun! Oh, if their enemy tracks them down, he’s going to save them all and show Shizun just how good a boy he can be!
They fly through the night and only stop for more than a few minutes once dawn has rolled in. Shen Qingqiu sets Luo Binghe on the ground and starts rubbing his arms, likely sore from carrying him all night, and Luo Binghe quickly takes the opportunity to go empty his aching bladder behind a tree. There are plenty of beast scents around, weak territory markers from those that have passed by that he gleefully covers with his own. Shang Qinghua’s brought them to a run down hunting lodge that is not good enough for his master (just one more show of why Shang Qinghua is a bad suitor!), but will have to do for a stopoff now.
They set down their bags and then Shen Qingqiu looks suddenly distressed. “I didn’t bring any dog food.”
Shizun! Shizun! Shizun! This dog is happy to starve as long as Shizun is safe and keeps him around!!!
“What- Well, shit.” Shang Qinghua looks down at Luo Binghe and then back up to Shen Qingqiu. “You didn’t bring food at all, did you?”
“Inedia still works fine.”
Shang Qinghua makes a disrespectful face like the disrespectful (terrible suitor) he is. “You should have just left him there. He’s going to slow us down.”
Luo Binghe really cannot be held accountable for the barking this elicits, but at least it gets him back in Shizun’s arms again with his tail thumping happily against him.
“Bipolar,” Shang Qinghua says.
“Don’t psychoanalyze him. That’s some kind of -ist I can’t remember right now, but it’s shitty.”
With a snort, Shang Qinghua digs into his pack and pulls out a bag of something before tossing it towards Shen Qingqiu. It nearly hits the ground, but Shen Qingqiu manages to shift Luo Binghe over to one arm and free up the other to grab it from the air just in time.
“What the hell-”
“Jerky. It should be safe for a dog and we’ve still got a while to go.”
Shen Qingqiu sets about feeding Luo Binghe a few strips from the bag, which he gratefully (in a begrudging way) gobbles down because he had been getting really hungry now that they’re stationary. The spice mix tastes weird with his dog tongue, but it’s unfortunately still a lot better than the bland fare he’s been given on Qing Jing. Bastard, stop providing for Shizun like this! You’re not supposed to be better at it than his disciples that aren’t Luo Binghe!!
Once Luo Binghe has had his fill and gotten to run around sniffing at things for a while, Shen Qingqiu calls him back over and they take to the air again. Another day passes as the three of them fly over the countryside. It gets more boring than frightening to the dog brain, enough that he’s able to nap along the way. He comes out of sleep to Shen Qingqiu setting him down again on a dusty bed.
“How long do you think it’ll take for him to find us?” Shen Qingqiu asks as he straightens, looking back to Shang Qinghua. They’re in a one room house, simple and poor in a way that makes Luo Binghe’s belly squirm in remembrance.
“Depends on how he bugged us before,” Shang Qinghua says. He glances out a window, surveying what smells like a bamboo grove. “He’s gotta know we’re gone now.”
Shen Qingqiu nods and sits at the edge of the bed. He obligingly pets Luo Binghe when he presses his tiny body against Shen Qingqiu’s arm, deep in thought.
“If I’m not there, he won’t take it out on the sect, will he?”
Blinking, Shang Qinghua pins an incredulous stare his way. “Worry less about them and more about us.”
“There’s no reason for him to raze Cang Qiong to the ground,” Shen Qingqiu continues as if he hadn’t spoken. “I stopped the abuse. He had friends!”
Wait, what? Luo Binghe peers up as Shen Qingqiu taps on his chin. “Without that motivation and not having to go through them to get to me, surely he’ll let them go.”
“Bro, we both know how my son gets,” Shang Qinghua says, looking very uncomfortable. They share a look Luo Binghe can’t fully read. Stop relating to Shizun so much, you pathetic suitor!! “But maybe? I mean, with how the whole Abyss thing happened…”
Luo Binghe freezes. Abyss?
“I had to stay in character and the System was breathing down my neck with that stupid countdown! I panicked!”
Why are they mentioning the Abyss and something Shizun did?
His insides squirm and go cold.
The one they’re talking about…
“I mean, it might have centered his revenge more on you,” Shang Qinghua says. His voice seems distant. “More personal betrayal.”
“Binghe deserves to tear this master apart,” Shen Qingqiu murmurs so softly, it’s almost inaudible, “and I mean to give him that chance once the bodies are done. We just have to run until then.”
The one they’re talking about… is him.
The little dog brain, predictably, goes berserk.