Chapter Text
All things considered, selecting new disciples for Cang Qiong Sect was fairly uneventful. There was no hellfire, no blood-thirsty demons attacking, and the future Supreme Demon Lord Luo Binghe didn’t take him away to torture him. No, in fact, the heavenly demon looked weirdly… squishy, like this.
Shen Jiu let himself take a breath. Right, he was just a child at the moment. A child pathetically unprepared for the world and trials ahead. He shot a brief glance at the fox cub in Luo Binghe’s arms, slightly irritated. Xiao Yuan had, unknown to him until it was too late, thought it important to tag along and had taken to the child like a moth to a flame. Upon seeing the fox cub, Luo Binghe’s face lit up after a brief moment of confusion, and had scooped him up.
Shen Jiu felt oddly offended at how quickly Xiao Yuan had taken to Luo Binghe.
Of course, the beast had also taken to Ning Yingying (or maybe Ning Yingying had taken to the beast), which Shen Jiu clearly remembered. He had spent many a night since taking in Ning Yingying thinking–not worrying, of course not–about what to do when Luo Binghe came to the mountain and set his sights on the girl. He couldn’t forbid the two of them from interacting, not only would that just not work–he’d been working with teenagers for decades now, he knew how such things worked–but it would also raise suspicion and questions from the other Peak Lords, which he would rather not have to deal with. So, instead, he took to observing them, deciding to intervene if something happened.
He looked up from the scrolls he was grading, his eyes falling on the books Teng Qingrui had given him. Speaking of the Beastkeeping Peak Lord, the man had recently picked a new head disciple. It had taken some years, but for some reason Shen Jiu couldn’t figure out, the man had decided to introduce the aforementioned head disciple to him, and was supposedly coming today.
Hm…
He looked around the bamboo house and decided to tidy up before they arrived.
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Luo Binghe had been so sure that coming to Qing Jing would be the best thing to happen to him for a long time. And he wasn’t ungrateful! Truly! He just…
All he wanted was to finish his chores and go meditate. He loved his shijie, he did, and he was happy she wasn’t keeping her distance from him like his other martial siblings, but he was already starting to feel exhausted and really just needed to finish cutting this wood.
“Our shixiongs are really awful! Always making you do this and that. It looks to me like they’re bullying you on purpose,” Ning Yingying pouted, crossing her arms. “Humph, I’ll go back and tell Shizun. Once I do, they won’t dare bully you anymore!”
Luo Binghe appreciated the sentiment, but he found it hard to think that his Shizun would do anything. Shizun was distant at best and it was clear he didn’t like him. At times, Shizun bordered on cruel, though Binghe was thankful he seemed to have enough restraint not to be any more cruel to him than to any other disciple.
“Absolutely don’t,” he hurried. “I don’t want to trouble Shizun with these small matters. Our shixiongs don’t mean any harm, they just see that I’m young and want to give me more chances to train.” Because if that wasn’t their reasoning, and they were being cruel for cruelness sake, then that meant that there was no purpose to the harm he was dealt, courtesy of his shixiongs.
Of course, Ming Fan chose that very moment to step out into the clearing, leading a small group of more disciples. He strode up to Ning Yingying the moment he saw her, a delighted look on his face, and grabbed her hand. “Xiao-shimei! Xiao-shimei, I finally found you. How could you come to a place like this without saying anything? The back side of the mountain is so large–what if some dangerous beast or poisonous snake leapt out?” He seemed genuinely worried as he began to try and pull Ning Yingying away. “Come, shixiong has something fun to show you.”
It was at that moment that Ming Fan saw Luo Binghe. The older boy chose to ignore him as if he were dirt and turned back to Ning Yingying, but Luo Binghe nonetheless thought it was important to be polite.
“Shixiong,” he acknowledged.
“I’m not afraid of poisonous snakes or dangerous beasts.” Ning Yingying giggled before condemning Lou Binghe, “besides, isn’t A-Luo with me?”
There was a tense silence. Ning Yingying broke it by asking Ming Fan, “What fun thing does shixiong have? Hurry up and show me.”
Ming Fan broke into a smile, holding a greek jade ornament out to her. “Shimei,” he started, sounding proud of the pretty bauble, “my family just came to visit, and they brought me lots of high quality and interesting little trinkets. I thought this one was particularly pretty; I’ll give it to you!” The girl took it from him and examined in in the sunlight filtering through the leaves. “Well? Do you like it?” Ming Fan prompted, sounding eager.
Ning Yingying, having no what was high quality and what was not, tossed the jade ornament back. Ming Fan’s proud smile froze on his face.
“What? This color is so ugly. The one A-Luo has is prettier,” she said carelessly, wrinkling her nose.
Now, dear readers, Luo Binghe knew she wasn’t trying to be rude, or trying to turn Ming Fan and his cronies on him, but that is just what Ning Yingying ended up doing.
Luo Binghe took a step back, trembling with wide eyes as Ming Fan turned on him with gritted teeth.
“Does shidi also wear this kind of thing?” he spat. Luo Binghe hesitated, but Ning Yingying evidently took that as her que.
“Of course he does,” she said. “Every day, he wears it close around his neck. It’s his treasure. He refuses to even let me look at that.”
Luo Binghe turned to her, paling and unconsciously clutching the jade Guanyin pendant beneath his clothes. Ming Fan turned red and stepped forward harshly, advancing on Luo Binghe.
“Luo-shidi, you sure are stuck-up, refusing to show Ning Yingying-shimei your pendant,” he snarled. “If this keeps up, when we face strong enemies in the future, will you refuse to even lend a hand?!”
Now, Luo Binghe thought that was a logical leap. He took a step back. Ning Yingying, not having expected this outcome, spoke up.
“It’s fine if he doesn’t want to. Shixiong, don’t bully him!” she said, anxiously stamping her feet.
Because the world seemed to hate him, the jade Guanyin chose that moment to fall from his neck into the hands of Ming Fan. He raised it up and began laughing.
“Why… why are you laughing?” Ning Yingying asked.
“I thought it had to be some rare treasure, for him to be protecting it so fiercely. Shimei, guess what it is?” Ming Fan tossed the jade pendant into Ning Yingying’s hands, gleeful and mocking. “It’s a counterfeit…”
“Counterfeit?” Ning Yingying asked. “What’s that?”
“Give it back,” Luo Binghe ground out, fists clenching.
“You want it back, I’ll give it back.” Who knows which street stall this cheap thing was purchased from?” Ming Fan sing-songed, picking the pendant back from Ning Yingying’s hands with disgust evident in his face. “I’m afraid giving it to shimei would dirty her hands.”
Luo Binghe could no longer control himself. He struck out, hitting Ming fan who dropped the jade ornament in surprise. Ming fan turned to the other disciples he’d brough, snarling. “What are you standing there for? He dared attack his shixiong–teach him what it means to respect seniority!”
The other disciples surrounded him, and Luo Binghe caught sight of Ming Fan crouching down, grabbing the jade pendant, and holding it up before throwing it far into the forest in fury. The other disciples descended on Luo Binghe, and he knew he couldn’t fight all of them off at once.
Then–
“That's enough.”
An unfamiliar, beautiful voice rung out in the clearing, and Luo Binghe watched, stunned, as an angel came out of the woods and the boys who were piling on top of Luo Binghe were thrown off with a chorus of yelps and a quick stream of sharp green leaves.
The person wasn’t wearing the robes of Qing Jing Peak, but instead wore elegant yet functional robes that were a ruddy, fox-colored orange with blue accents. Their long hair was up in a ponytail tied with a startlingly blue ribbon that reminded Luo Binghe of peacock feathers. Their face looked similar to Shizun’s, but younger and softer and even more beautiful, and he found himself wondering if maybe the two were related. Luo Binghe knew it was rude to stare, but he couldn’t help it. They held a fan that obscured the lower half of their face, but the person’s eyes simmered with collected anger as they glared at Ming Fan, and Luo Binghe was reminded with a shot of brief panic through his veins of how Shizun looked when he was angry.
“Is this how Qing Jing disciples act? Bullying each other like you’re even worse than disciples on Bai Zhan Peak?”
Ming Fan fumbled for a response, his face steadily growing red with embarrassment, before he turned away with a glare at Luo Binghe and stormed off, his cronies scrambling after him with light cuts all over. When Ming Fan was out of sight, the person’s eyes softened as they looked at him, and all fearful thoughts of an angry Shizun crumbled in Luo Binghe’s mind and were swept away by a tidal wave of awe that bordered on worship.
He was shaken out of his awestruck stupor when the person reached into their sleeves and pulled out–
…
???
?!?!?!
He…
Luo Binghe froze, his eyes wide and beginning to water as the person returned to him his jade guanyin that Ming Fan had thrown.
“This one saw this and thought it might be important. Is it yours?”
Luo Binghe looked up to where they were smiling softly, the jade guanyin held out to him. He took it from them, and they nodded to themselves with a small smile before quickly turning and walking away into the bamboo forest surrounding them and–seemingly–disappearing. Luo Binghe didn’t even have the chance to ask their name.
Dear readers, as you won’t be surprised to know, this was the moment his almost-crush on Ning Yingying was dashed into nothing, and our dear A-Yuan overtook the entirety of our protagonists grey-lotus heart. For as much as Shen Yuan believes that Bingmei is a white lotus, a little sheep, and all manner of other soft, sweet things–and he of course is to his A-Yuan–we know better. Our Bingmei is, after all, half demon, and demons tend to have an obsessive streak.
Not that Shen Yuan will find himself opposing, however. He is a demon too, now.
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He’d just met the protagonist!! In his human form!! He’d talked to the Luo Binghe!!!!
Shen Yuan hoped to whatever god or gods ruled over this world (was it Airplane? God, he hoped not) that he looked cool. First impressions were everything, after all! Binghe was so adorable like this! So young, so cute! Ahh… he was so adorable when he was still so small, before he’d blackened into a Supreme Demon Lord, feared throughout the entire world for his ruthlessness. 10/10, absolutely adorable!
“What is A-Yuan smiling about?” His Shizun asked with an inquisitive frown, looking down at him. “And where did he go?”
“Qing Jing is so beautiful,” Shen Yuan responded easily. “This disciple could not help but look around.” Teng Qingrui nodded, appeased at his explanation.
“Regardless, come. We were supposed to be here almost a shi ago, Qingqiu-shixiong is going to be frustrated.”