Upon abruptly realizing the truth, Shen Qingqiu was half horrified and agitated, half aggrieved and indignant. He immediately raised his foot for a kick!
Luo Binghe did not evade or dodge. He received the kick straight-on, yet he did not retreat a single step. He even refused to let go and kept holding Shen Qingqiu, looking both angry and wronged as he asked: "I can't do it even in a dream?"
Hurry and wake up! Even though you're dreaming, I'm not something you made while dreaming, okay?!!!
I can't slap him awake, but I can't let him continue this muddled sleepwalking either!!!
This is what's truly called being stuck between the hammer and the anvil!!!
Shen Qingqiu had yet to think of anything to roar to calm down his mood when, caught off guard, his back slammed into the green bamboo and was pushed onto it. Luo Binghe bowed his head and pressed down again.
It wasn't Shen Qingqiu's first time being kissed, but this was his first time feeling the very real threat that the other party could go crazy and bite off his lips at any moment. In the interval of their chaotic breathing, Luo Binghe whispered: "Shizun, I was wrong..."
Shen Qingqiu finally managed to pull out a hand and press it against Luo Binghe's chest. He really didn't want to make the same posture as "a woman from a good family resisting a ruffian," but did Luo Binghe's appearance f***ing seem like someone who understood he was in the wrong?!
Shen Qingqiu was the one who was wrong, truly wrong, completely and utterly wrong. What "wind from an empty cave"1? Jianghu gossip was all based on scientific evidence. Every single gossiper must have been an angel who could see the essence of reality through appearances in their past life!
He didn't raise the male protagonist into an asexual, and it wasn't a problem of him being masochistic either. The truth was far more terrible than those options: he had raised the male protagonist into being gay aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!
No wonder he hadn't received a single wife and his harem was in such an awful state. Women were already incapable of attracting his interest and couldn't be linked to his coolness level!
What the f***!
Shen Qingqiu refused to submit, sparing no effort to struggle and stubbornly resist. Just as he was considering which fate would be more miserable between self-detonating himself again vs. kicking Luo Binghe's key area... Luo Binghe suddenly let him go. He looked up at the swirling vortex of clouds in the sky above them and his face unexpectedly turned gloomy.
In an instant, the scenes and figures before Shen Qingqiu's eyes collapsed and disappeared, shattering into thousands of pieces. At the same time, Shen Qingqiu leaped onto the roof of the Huan Hua Palace's main hall.
This was the true real world!
Shen Qingqiu took vigorous breaths for a while. After finally settling his mind with much difficulty, he was surprised to see flames lighting up the entire main hall area. The ringing of various alarm bells blended together. He poked his head out, his clothes continuously furling in the night wind. From top to bottom, countless lanterns converged toward this side—Huan Hua Palace's various departments of disciples were currently flooding here from all directions.
"To your stations! All departments listen to orders, to your stations!"
Someone cursed: "Broke in again? How many invasions has this been? Has there been one successful prevention?"
Shen Qingqiu was overjoyed. An invasion was the best situation for him to take advantage of the chaos to escape. Who cares about that "Heavenly Demon Blood" stuff? How could it compare to the importance of integrity? I'm leaving first, we can talk later, goodbye! He had not yet flown two steps when he heard someone shouting:
"He went towards Huan Hua Pavilion—lay formations to stop Liu Qingge!"
Shen Qingqiu's feet slipped, and he immediately turned around to come back.
Dammit. Liu Qingge just had to come at this time. There was no way Shen Qingqiu could throw him to the completely broken down Luo Binghe who was in the middle of throwing a fit, right?
The Huan Hua Pavilion was the place where previous dynasties of palace masters cultivated and resided, and wasn't far from his current location. Shen Qingqiu jumped off the roof in a couple steps and mixed into the large army rushing over. Before they even entered the Huan Hua Pavilion, forceful waves of chilly air greeted them face-on. From within came a shout of rage full of killing intent.
"Get lost!"
When the crowd heard the alarm bells, some unaware disciples had broken in the door. Dozens of people in the front row of the crowd were all sent flying out by a wave of extremely powerful energy. Shen Qingqiu, who was in the next group of people, managed to perfectly dodge this attack and pick a good position. Fishing in troubled waters,2 he fished his way inside. Just as he entered the door, goosebumps rose on his skin from the freezing chill.
The entire Huan Hua Pavilion seemed to have become an enormous ice cave. Just taking one step inside was like stepping into a frozen world of ice and snow. Cold air flowed into Shen Qingqiu's sleeves and robes, and the cold sweat on his forehead and the back of his hand rapidly froze into a layer of thin ice. You can imagine the sheer extent of the cold in the room.
Not only was the temperature extremely low, but the walls on all sides were also tightly sealed and the doors and windows were all airtight. The entire chamber was both cold and dark. If it weren't for the intruder (i.e. Liu Qingge, director of the Cang Qiong Mountain Demolition Office) forcibly smashing open a large gap, the entire place would resemble a coffin of ice.
On the seating table3 at the center of the pavilion, a curtain was half drawn back. A few black and white outer robes were messily piled up on the side of the table.
Luo Binghe himself was only wearing his inner clothes, looking like he had just gotten up from his bed. His black hair was scattered and loose, his clothes disorganized, his neckline crooked and open. His face was pale white but his lips carried a touch of bloody red. Cold light flashed in his eyes, the ghastly energy exerting immense pressure. The cutting edge of his sword was exposed and his posture was one of preparation for battle.
Seven steps away, precisely facing him, the bones of Liu Qingge's sword hand protruded explosively from his grip. His whole face was green and blue.
Liu Qingge stared at the calm and composed Luo Binghe sitting on the table. He enunciated every syllable: "You bastard."
On the Cheng Luan sword, spiritual energy and killing intent rose with scathing violence. Shen Qingqiu vigilantly glanced back and forth between the two sides. However, just taking one look in the direction that Liu Qingge's sword was pointing, in his mind he could hear the noise of the very last shred of his desperately resisting worldviews completely shattering.
Luo Binghe's right hand was placed on the Xin Mo sword that never left his side, and the snow-white blade had already left its sheath by half; on the other side, his left hand held a person.
Instead of saying it was a person, it would be better to say it was "a body": completely lifeless, head hanging down, limbs weak, but very soft. It was wearing a thin layer of inner clothes. The collar had slipped below the shoulders, revealing half of a back as white as paper.
Liu Qingge said: "What have you done?"
He truly would never be able to forget the scene just now. When the Cheng Luan sword had cut open a gap, the room was empty aside from the overlapping shadows among the curtains on the seating table. Liu Qingge knew that Luo Binghe must be inside, but he could never have imagined that it was not just him inside!
Luo Binghe raised his eyebrows and tugged the soft body in his left hand up further into his arms: "What do you say I have done?"
Shen Qingqiu was completely speechless. Two people—to be specific a living person and a dead person—who were not wearing covering clothes as they rolled down from a place similar to a bed and hugged into a ball——no matter how one looked at it, it didn't seem like anything positive!
Liu Qingge did not speak a word, and Cheng Luan stabbed out. Xin Mo sword was still not completely out of its sheath. Only using the scabbard, Luo Binghe blocked Cheng Luan's sharp edge. As the fierce sword energy approached, he leaned slightly sideways. He blocked the biting cold sword energy while protecting the body in his hand behind himself, anger showing on his face.
Liu Qingge also discovered that activating Cheng Luan in such a narrow room also carried the risk of sharp sword energy damaging that corpse. He immediately called his sword back into its sheath and began to fight Luo Binghe using spiritual energy.
During their rough and tumble duel, that body's clothes loosened and slid down to the waist, and Luo Binghe's palm directly attached to the fair flesh. Liu Qingge's eyes turned completely bloodshot: "Brute, no matter what, he is your Shizun!"
Luo Binghe calmly said: "If it were someone else, do you think I would do this?"
The encircling Huan Hua Palace disciples were utterly dumbstruck and slack-jawed. Luo Binghe did not pay any attention to them either, entirely focused on dealing with Liu Qingge. In the air around both men's bodies, spiritual energy roiled like boiling water, shooting in all directions. The expressions on their faces grew more horrible with each passing moment. No one dared to step inside the Huan Hua Pavilion for fear of adding to the chaos.4
Shen Qingqiu wasn't afraid of adding to the chaos. He was simply unable to look directly at this sight.
...too hardcore. Way too f***ing hardcore!
His brain was as full of holes5 as the surface of the moon, but he had never once imagined there would come a day where he became one of the main characters in this hardcore PLAY. The one held in Luo Binghe's arms...was indeed dead, right? Absolutely correct, because that was his corpse, alright?!
This was no longer something "horrible once one carefully thought it over." Even without carefully thinking it over, this was a clearly horrible predicament!
Although he couldn't look directly, he still hadn't forgotten why he came back.
Shen Qingqiu flashed behind Liu Qingge's back. The latter raised his guard, thinking it was a sneak attacker. He sneered and prepared to use his spiritual power to shock this other party away. However, a hand was placed on his back and a gentle but firm stream of power began flowing into his spiritual circulation.
With Liu Qingge receiving this aid, Luo Binghe was now the one being slightly suppressed. Liu Qingge still did not dare to act carelessly and slightly tilted his head. Looking behind himself out of the corner of his eyes, he could only see a blurred face that seemed to be using something to cover its appearance. Liu Qingge whispered: "Who's there?"
Shen Qingqiu did not answer, while his hand used more force. The two peerlessly strong streams of spiritual power merged into one. Although Luo Binghe managed to bear it straight-on, this wave of aggressive spiritual power would inevitably follow his body and transmit into the corpse in his hands. He was capable of dispelling this energy, but the dead person in his arms could not. If he didn't let go, the body would most likely be badly shocked to the point of explosively bursting. Luo Binghe was not willing to damage the corpse, so he could only loosen his hand. The body was immediately bounced away by the boiling spiritual energy and flew out.
Even after Luo Binghe was forced to let go, his line of sight remained firmly stuck on that body, and his face showed unwillingness and helplessness. Seeing his expression, Shen Qingqiu abruptly could not bear it. Using this method to force him to let go felt a little bit like they were bullying him.
A few disciples with no appreciation for the gravity of this situation wanted to act, but Luo Binghe yelled: "Don't touch!" As he waved his sleeves in the distance, screams rose from that side. Shen Qingqiu removed the stream of spiritual power applied to Liu Qingge's back. With a flick of his soles, he leaped forward and carefully caught that body in his arms.
The sensation of holding your own corpse truly was a one-of-a-kind strange experience. Shen Qingqiu roughly glanced himself over. His former body still had a very rosy complexion and soft limbs, no different from a living person in a deep sleep except for the tightly closed eyes and lack of breath.
Upon death from self-detonation, one's spiritual power would dissipate. There would not be any remaining cultivation preventing the corpse from rotting. Five years after death, just freezing it in ice would not be able to preserve the body to this extent. There was no herbal scent on the body, so it should not have been treated with any chemical preservatives. It was unclear what method Luo Binghe had used.
Shen Qingqiu dodged a spiritual burst powerful enough to split mountains and crack stone. He looked up to see Luo Binghe's gaze completely fixed on him, his expression savage and ferocious. Only then did Shen Qingqiu discover that the corpse's clothes had slipped down from its upper body, bones and flesh exposed as he held it in his arms. Added to how he was touching and looking at it.... It was overall an extremely unhealthy and rather provocative sight.
He hurriedly pulled up the corpse's clothes and sent this hot potato towards Liu Qingge: "Catch!"
Luo Binghe wanted to seize it, but he was caught up in Shen Qingqiu's entanglement. Shen Qingqiu was originally worried that Luo Binghe would activate the Heavenly Demon blood parasite, but whether because he had been overwhelmed by killing intent or been struck silly by his anxiety, Luo Binghe actually did not think to use this trump card. Liu Qingge caught the body with one hand and called Cheng Luan with the other, easily beating back the siege of the Huan Hua Palace disciples. After being tossed back and forth by them, the corpse's clothes had completely split off its upper body. Liu Qingge had just touched it when he felt his palm sticking to smooth skin, both fine and cool. The area he touched seemed to have a slight electrical current crawling over it, and his entire body froze. No matter where he held it, everywhere seemed unsuitable, and he almost pushed it away from himself. In the end, he managed to resist this impulse. He took off his outer robe, the white clothes spreading wide like wings, and wrapped the body in his arms up. Cheng Luan flew back to him and steadily floated before his feet.
Luo Binghe's pupils had completely turned bright red. The entire Huan Hua Pavilion was akin to a sealed box with a bomb placed inside. When the bomb exploded, all the walls collapsed with a roaring crash.
Along with the flying sand and hurtling stones, aside from all the numerous people, there were two items that made a resounding metallic clang when they hit the ground. Shen Qingqiu focused his vision and saw these were actually two swords.
Zheng Yang, Xiu Ya.
These two broken swords had once shared a common destiny and been shattered in countless pieces. It was unclear how they had been repaired, tied together, and placed in the Huan Hua Pavilion. Only with the pavilion's collapse did they once again see the sky and sun.
Seeing these two swords once again, Shen Qingqiu felt an unclear taste rising in his heart and looked at Luo Binghe. His clothes had originally been untidy in the first place, and now after this wave of bombardments, his well-defined clavicle and chest were all exposed. On his chest wall, a hideous sword scar approached his heart.
Luo Binghe's self-regeneration ability was extremely strong. Even if his limbs were cut off, he could seamlessly re-attach them, and even re-grow them without a problem. Unless he deliberately chose not to heal them, there were no wounds he couldn't completely recover without even leaving a scar.
Luo Binghe fiercely shouted: "Liu Qingge, for Shizun's sake I have spared your life time and time again. If you insist on seeking death, then don't blame me!"
His sudden outburst of spiritual power and murderousness quaked Shen Qingqiu to the point where he almost changed positions. He knew Luo Binghe's temper had flared up, so he hurriedly yelled at Liu Qingge: "Still not leaving?!"
It felt like ever since he came to this side, he was frequently making these selfless sacrifices to cover others' retreat! Liu Qingge glanced at him and indeed did not do a sloppy job—he left straight away, carrying that body under his arms as he leaped onto his sword to exit as quick as lightning.
Luo Binghe originally wanted to attack, but he unexpectedly felt his heart quake—the backlash of the Xin Mo sword came out of the blue and slowed him down by a hair. Just from this missing hair, he could only look on helplessly as Liu Qingge left with Shen Qingqiu's corpse under his arm.
In a daze, Luo Binghe stood in place as if the sky had fallen, even forgetting to counterattack. For an instant, blankness appeared on his face, like a child who had his most beloved thing in the world taken away from him. Shen Qingqiu had been planning to take advantage of his daze to fish in troubled waters and slip away. But when he saw this situation, for some unknown reason, his heel stuck to the ground and that flash of unbearableness grew more and more intense.
But even if he couldn't bear it, there was nothing he could do. If he continued to let Luo Binghe hold that corpse, it was unclear what horrifying sinful developments would happen!
The problem came with this untimely softening of his heart. He had not successfully snuck away when Luo Binghe suddenly turned his head, those two violent red eyes fixated directly on him.
The Xin Mo sword trembled in its sheath with joy and maliciousness. Luo Binghe's eyes very clearly told Shen Qingqiu that he would definitely become mincemeat in just a little bit. Seeing his furious and grieving gaze, Shen Qingqiu took two steps back. All of a sudden, as if his reason had been bewitched, he wanted to tell Luo Binghe the truth.
He wanted to tell him: "Don't be this sad, Shizun is not dead."
Just as he moved his lips, a black shadow flashed out from the crowd of Huan Hua Palace disciples.
The figure moved with remarkable swiftness, wrapping up Shen Qingqiu and leaving like a whirlwind. Even with Luo Binghe's superb eyesight and reaction speed, the explosive shot he made actually failed to hit.
He stood in the same place, staring coldly at the remaining ruins of the Huan Hua Pavilion, dilapidated and crawling with forces. The crowd of Huan Hua Palace disciples had been continuously unable to get involved, but they understood Luo Binghe was ill at ease tonight after these unexpected defeats and would inevitably erupt in a thunderstorm. The masses of disciples hurried to kneel down. At this time, Sha Hualing finally managed to make it over and quickly rushed to the front. The moment she arrived, she was sent flying backward by Luo Binghe and vomited three liters of blood.
She had long since known him to be capricious and temperamental, and she did not know what had angered him again. She could only say in a terrified tone of voice: "Lord, quell your anger. Lord, quell your anger!"
Luo Binghe spoke: "The person you brought back was truly not bad."
This "not bad" was even more terrifying than if she heard Luo Binghe order her execution on the spot. Sha Hualing's soul almost left her body as she hurried to say: "This subordinate has a matter to report! When the intrusion occurred, this subordinate had detected the invasion and acted to deal with it. But Liu Qingge was not the only intruder! This Bai Zhan Peak Lord had previously scouted inside the palace at night, but he was unable to break the maze formation. This time someone else first destroyed the maze formation, and that is why Liu Qingge was able to successfully break through."
Luo Binghe stared in the direction that Liu Qingge had disappeared on his sword. He slowly clenched his fists, his knuckles cracking.