Chapter Text
Luo Binghe pinned Shen Qingqiu down. Water splashed around them, lotus pads crumpling under the weight of their bodies, and Shen Qingqiu landed in the mud with a squelch.
How was this happening?!
In the plant body, Shen Qingqiu was supposed to be completely unrecognizable! Well, not completely, the face was far too similar to that of Shen Qingqiu for true anonymity. But even so, Shen Qingqiu was supposed to be dead, and this was supposed to be a new life free of old burdens and the wrath of Luo Binghe.
But apparently this mushroom body was a tasty treat of spiritual qi for demons, who knew?! So now here Shen Qingqiu was, pinned beneath Luo Binghe. Luo Binghe’s furious red eyes were boring into him as though lit from within by the flames of his fury.
Again!!!
Shen Qingqiu wanted to weep. Seriously. What the fuck.
And then Luo Binghe’s face scrunched up in a way that somehow looked both elegant and painful. Only the protagonist could manage such a feat.
“Are you all right?” Shen Qingqiu ventured hesitantly.
Luo Binghe didn’t reply, only gave a low moan, and then collapsed onto Shen Qingqiu. Given that they were half in-half out of a pond, Luo Binghe ended up face down in the brackish water. Bubbles appeared and stopped. Luo Binghe didn’t stir.
Had… had Luo Binghe just been taken out by a pond?
Shen Qingqiu dragged Luo Binghe out of the water and hauled him onto dry(er) land. Luo Binghe laid there at the edge of the pond, green moss framing a face artfully decorated with smears of mud. Dampness glittered on his eyelashes, and he laid perfectly still.
Was he still breathing?! Shen Qingqiu was about to panic, then glimpsed the rise and fall of the protagonist’s chest. Something inside Shen Qingqiu unknotted at the sight. Good. Luo Binghe was fine then! Shen Qingqiu needn’t have worried.
Although what had caused his mysterious collapse? Shen Qingqiu leaned in, pressing a hand against the pulse point on Luo Binghe’s neck. He sensed a chaotic roiling within Luo Binghe, demonic qi swamping his system, spinning out of control.
Well, that wasn’t good. Shen Qingqiu attempted to feed Luo Binghe a little qi. The twisting vortex of demonic power snatched it up and hurled it aside, dispersing it to nothing.
Luo Binghe was deep in the throes of a qi-deviation, and an ordinary qi transfer wasn’t going to cut it. By the genre conventions and the predictability of Airplane’s writing, Shen Qingqiu knew what had to happen next. Shen Qingqiu looked around frantically for a convenient maiden.
Ok, System, this is clearly a wife plot. Is there a wife location ping I can use? How many B-points?
[No wife available! Only user can save the day! Opening questline: It’s gotta be you! Reward: 500 Protagonist Satisfaction points!]
Not for the first time, Shen Qingqiu wanted to put a fist right through that obnoxious blue screen. That was beyond unhelpful. Why, System, why?!
Shen Qingqiu looked down at Luo Binghe, who was now stirring.
“Shizun?” Luo Binghe whimpered, opening his eyes and squinting up at Shen Qingqiu. “Shizun it hurts…”
Shen Qingqiu looked down at his absolutely toasted little bun and sighed. Right. This was going to be difficult, and humiliating, but what was the alternative? Leave Luo Binghe to die of a qi-deviation in this muddy pond? Shen Qingqiu couldn’t let it end like this!
“Not your Shizun,” Shen Qingqiu lied.
“No, you are, please, Shizun…” Luo Binghe persisted, sweat beading on his brow.
Shen Qingqiu couldn’t help leaning down to kiss that crimson huadian. “Call me Cucumber,” Shen Qingqiu offered, and then immediately wished he hadn’t. But to have Luo Binghe continue to call him “Shizun” while they were doing this! Shen Qingqiu shuddered at the thought of doing this with Luo Binghe knowing that he was Shen Qingqiu. Castration would be the least of his problems!
“You’re qi-deviating,” Shen Qingqiu told Luo Binghe urgently. “I need to help you by dual cultivating… with… you.”
Shen Qingqiu almost couldn’t get the words out. This was so stupid. This was too stupid! It was unbearable!!!
“Yes, Shizun, please!” Luo Binghe tried to push himself up and only ended up collapsing pathetically again. “I want you, it hurts, please…”
Shen Qingqiu resisted the urge to correct Luo Binghe again. Luo Binghe was probably insensible at this point. Begging to dual-cultivate with Shen Qingqiu? What must he be hallucinating now to say those words? Best not to speculate.
Shen Qingqiu took a deep breath and let it out in a rush. According to the manuals he’d read (out of curiosity of medical knowledge! Nothing more!) Shen Qingqiu knew lubrication was an important part of this process when it involved two men. Shen Qingqiu also knew he didn’t have any.
But a whimper and longing look from Luo Binghe firmed his resolve. Luo Binghe needed him!
Shen Qingqiu untied Luo Binghe’s belt with shaking hands and prayed that the plant body’s healing factor could keep up.
Shen Qingqiu opened Luo Binghe’s robes, and stared at the heavenly pillar in all its glory. He closed them again. Too much! This was too much!
Luo Binghe stared up at him, breath shallow and ragged. “Shizun,” he murmured.
“Cucumber,” Shen Qingqiu corrected again, and undid his own belt.
The wet fabric clung to him and got in the way, and he ended up needing to shuck the entire thing. He removed the robes and tossed them aside. They landed on a twisted shrub that hung over the water, and fortunately stayed there hooked on one of the branches instead of sliding into the lake.
Shen Qingqiu reopened Luo Binghe’s robes. Had the heavenly pillar gotten bigger?!
System, I am NOT doing this without lube.
[Logging complaint… loading… loading… New item available in system store!]
Shen Qingqiu smashed the “purchase” button that popped up, barely glancing at the price. It would be worth it, whatever it took! He’d die if he tried to take the heavenly pillar without it!
Shen Qingqiu dipped his hands in the water to wash off some of the dirt, then unstoppered the bottle and poured some of the lube out onto his palm. He set the bottle down beside Luo Binghe’s head and rubbed his hands together, smearing wet globules between his fingers. Then he reached down and took the heavenly pillar in hand, rubbing it gently and funneling qi into it as he went.
It grew… even larger in response. Shen Qingqiu blanched.
But the qi he was giving Luo Binghe was having an effect. Luo Binghe opened his eyes again and reached up with trembling hand to caress Shen Qingqiu’s face.
“Oh, oh, Shizun,” Luo Binghe said softly, and pulled Shen Qingqiu down for a kiss. “I’ve missed you so much.”
Shen Qingqiu hadn’t been braced for any of that, and inelegantly collapsed onto Luo Binghe’s chest. It knocked the air out of him with a whumpf. Shen Qingqiu scrambled to lift himself off again, but Luo Binghe had wrapped his arms around Shen Qingqiu’s shoulders, pulling him in tight.
“Binghe, you need to let me help!” Shen Qingqiu scolded.
This time when Shen Qingqiu pushed off Luo Binghe’s chest, Luo Binghe loosened his arms. He still kept his hands folded around Shen Qingqiu’s neck, as though he feared letting go entirely would mean Shen Qingqiu would leave. But at least this gave Shen Qingqiu room to maneuver!
Shen Qingqiu looked at the heavenly pillar again, and added more lube to his hands. Then he thought about it, and dumped the rest of the bottle on Luo Binghe’s erect cock.
Right. Screw foreplay, Shen Qingqiu wasn’t some fainting maiden. This was for medical purposes! Shen Qingqiu lined himself up, feeling the blunt head press against him. Best to get this over with.
Luo Binghe made a noise of protest, and then suddenly the world flipped upside down. Shen Qingqiu felt his back hit the mossy ground, which was surprisingly soft. And also very damp, and cold. Shen Qingqiu arched his back, inadvertently pressing up against the warmth of Luo Binghe’s body.
Luo Binghe looked down at him through lidded eyes.
“Feeling better?” Shen Qingqiu tried hesitantly.
From the way Luo Binghe’s eyes were glowing, he suspected the answer was no. He tried again to feed Luo Binghe qi the normal way. It wasn’t taking. Shen Qingqiu grabbed Luo Binghe’s dick and channeled qi into it, and that trickle did make its way through. But Shen Qingqiu could tell it still wasn’t enough.
“Let me help,” Luo Binghe almost sounded like he was begging, except that no stallion protagonist would ever beg. He made other people beg, that was how it worked!
He slid his fingers along his own dripping dick, gathering slick lube on them, and then reached down and laid one finger across Shen Qingqiu’s tiny bud of a chrysanthemum. The contact sent electric sparks up his spine.
And look, Shen Qingqiu may have explored a little in his life as Shen Yuan. And perhaps explored a little more in his life as Shen Qingqiu. They lived in an aphrodisiac-filled world! Who knew when Shen Qingqiu might be called on to medically perform, as it were! It had never come up, though, not in either of those lives. Not until now.
Shen Qingqiu hadn’t had the chance to try anything at all in this plant body. It seemed to be extremely sensitive. Luo Binghe toyed with Shen Qingqiu’s opening, and then gently pressed in with one slick finger, and Shen Qingqiu felt himself part around it.
Shen Qingqiu couldn’t help himself. He spread his legs and moaned wantonly. And Luo Binghe didn’t stop. He slid in further with that single finger, reaching deep inside Shen Qingqiu. Shen Qingqiu canted his hips upwards, spreading his legs, letting Luo Binghe in. He wanted to be touched more. He wanted to be touched deeper. He wanted…
Luo Binghe leaned in and nipped at Shen Qingqiu’s neck, fangs grazing the thin skin over arteries and veins, full of threat and promise. Shen Qingqiu twisted his head to the side, letting Luo Binghe have even more access. Luo Binghe’s curls went everywhere, blocking out the sky, getting in Shen Qingqiu’s open, gasping mouth, and that didn’t matter, none of that mattered.
A second finger slipped in, stretching Shen Qingqiu in a way that stung slightly but mostly felt incredible.
“More, more…” Shen Qingqiu found himself chanting.
Had the System put an aphrodisiac in that damn lube?! Shen Qingqiu wished he’d read the fine print. What had that window said, again?!
The thoughts flew out of his head as Luo Binghe pushed his fingers in deeper, filling Shen Qingqiu and pressing against his inner walls. He could feel the rest of Luo Binghe’s hand pressing hard against the cleft of his ass. Everywhere Luo Binghe touched felt incredible.
Luo Binghe’s teeth bit into Shen Qingqiu’s neck, and the pain that resulted was nothing to the pleasure that crested with it.
“You feel so good, let me in, let me…” Luo Binghe was pleading, mouthing the words into Shen Qingqiu’s abused skin.
“Yes, yes, please,” was all Shen Qingqiu could manage in response.
All his thoughts had flown from his head and all he could think of was the feeling of Luo Binghe inside him, and how much more he wanted, and how much more there could be.
Luo Binghe withdrew his fingers and pulled back, and Shen Qingqiu felt cool air invade him. Spread out as he was, there was no hiding the way his hole shamelessly begged to be filled again.
But the cold air also shocked Shen Qingqiu to his senses. This was supposed to be medicinal! Luo Binghe was qi-deviating, otherwise Luo Binghe would never even consider doing any of this! Shen Qingqiu was a convenient warm body, the only one available, and he was doing this as a medical service to save the life of his most treasured disciple.
Shen Qingqiu focused his thoughts and sent qi downwards past his lower dantian, waiting to receive Luo Binghe. Luo Binghe brought out that monster cock of his and lined himself up, and Shen Qingqiu could feel the tip of it pressing in. Shen Qingqiu sent qi through his own flesh and into Luo Binghe’s. Could it be enough? Perhaps–
“May I?” Luo Binghe asked as he looked down at Shen Qingqiu.
He still looked dazed and slightly out of it from the qi-deviation, and Shen Qingqiu suspected what Luo Binghe was seeing was a different face altogether. It couldn’t be helped.
Luo Binghe was braced on one arm above Shen Qingqiu, his curls a curtain around them. The glowing red of his eyes was hypnotic and Shen Qingqiu almost lost control of his qi just at the distraction of Luo Binghe’s face twisted in an agony of desire.
“Yes, anything for Binghe,” Shen Qingqiu told him, bringing one hand up to tangle in the fine hairs on the back of Luo Binghe’s neck.
Luo Binghe shivered and braced his forehead against Shen Qingqiu’s collarbone. Then he began to push himself into Shen Qingqiu, slow and careful, like the little disciple he’d been learning a new sword form for the first time.
And ah, Shen Qingqiu was Luo Binghe’s teacher! He shouldn’t be taking advantage of his student like this! Worse still to be doing this with Luo Binghe out of his mind and unknowing!
Shen Qingqiu knew his duty here and that was to save Luo Binghe’s life, and take no pleasure in it. He forced more of the plant body’s qi into Luo Binghe, channeling it through even as he felt his own body split open to welcome Luo Binghe inside.
There was a little pain as the head of Luo Binghe’s cock pushed through–not even a body as adaptable as this one could handle something like that with ease. But then they were past it, and it was no longer about if Shen Qingqiu could open wide enough. All he wanted was for that piece of Luo Binghe to go further, deeper, to fill Shen Qingqiu to the utmost.
…to maximize the surface area for channeling qi, of course.
Shen Qingqiu focused on doing just that as Luo Binghe slid inexorably into him, joining their bodies. Pressing areas that had never known touch, that he had never expected to feel like this. And then Shen Qingqiu felt the gentle touch of Luo Binghe’s balls against his ass, and knew that they were joined as thoroughly as they could be.
Shen Qingqiu channeled qi furiously, funneling demonic qi out and spiritual qi in, and felt Luo Binghe’s meridians begin to stabilize. And then Luo Binghe tilted his head downward to lave at Shen Qingqiu’s exposed nipple with his tongue. Shen Qingqiu arched into that hot, wet mouth, and Luo Binghe slid one broad hand under Shen Qingqiu’s lower back.
His fingers danced across Shen Qingqiu’s spine, the heat of them spreading through Shen Qingqiu like wildfire. Luo Binghe’s other hand grasped Shen Qingqiu’s weeping cock, thumbing the slit and smearing the precum there.
And Shen Qingqiu…
Well, at that point, Shen Qingqiu completely lost the plot.
Who could blame him? So many, many words had been written about Luo Binghe’s sexual prowess. Even more were dedicated to the pleasures he brought to others.
And apparently Shen Qingqiu was no exception!
Luo Binghe pulled back and thrust, and Shen Qingqiu was lost to pleasure. He tightened his grip on Luo Binghe’s hair and Luo Binghe took that as encouragement to nibble and suck at his chest. Cool, silken locks tangled and trapped Shen Qingqiu’s hands, and he couldn’t pull away. Didn’t try to pull away.
All he could think of was to open wider, get Luo Binghe in deeper. Shen Qingqiu brought his legs up, wrapping them around Luo Binghe’s hips as Luo Binghe pushed in and out. Shen Qingqiu didn’t care about the way his back pushed into sodden moss, he didn’t care about the cold lake water puddling around them, or the way Luo Binghe’s wet robes slapped and clung at his thighs. He didn’t care about the way the lube squelched as Luo Binghe pressed in again and again, or the hideously embarrassing moans that escaped his open mouth.
The whole world was Luo Binghe, inside him, moving and pressing and thrusting as Shen Qingqiu clenched around him helplessly, involuntarily, lost in pleasure.
Luo Binghe was stroking Shen Qingqiu’s dick as well, the movements rough and careless in his distraction. Shen Qingqiu writhed in Luo Binghe’s
grasp and his release struck like lightning. Ropes of cum shot out, spraying across his bare chest, and Shen Qingqiu could feel his inner walls spasm around Luo Binghe’s cock to wring their pleasure from it as well.
And then Luo Binghe’s cock was pulsing inside Shen Qingqiu like the pounding of a heartbeat. His desperate thrusting slowed, grew more shallow, and then fell still.
Luo Binghe let out a soft whine into Shen Qingqiu’s shoulder, and Shen Qingqiu patted Luo Binghe on the head tiredly, still feeling the skittering remnants of purest pleasure across every bit of his skin.
“Binghe did so well,” Shen Qingqiu panted through dry lips.
Shen Qingqiu withdrew his fingers from Luo Binghe’s hair and gently stroked it in apology. With one hand he untangled the knots in Luo Binghe’s hair, but his mind was more focused now on untangling the final knots in Luo Binghe’s meridians. Through the place where they were still joined, Shen Qingqiu could still channel qi, and now that he was no longer–distracted–it would be more effective.
They laid there together as Shen Qingqiu worked, Luo Binghe laying relaxed on Shen Qingqiu’s chest. The warm sun bathed the world in green and lit the lotus flowers, but Shen Qingqiu only had eyes for Luo Binghe’s dark head of curls and his absolutely sodden, ruined robes. Shifting as he moved and breathed and lived in this world that belonged only to him.
“Shizun, I–” Luo Binghe looked up at Shen Qingqiu’s face, and then froze.
Shen Qingqiu stared back nervously. The worst of the qi-deviation had passed, but the period afterwards was often disorienting, as the patient struggled to reconcile the hallucinations and delusions with the evidence of a reality they could now grasp.
Luo Binghe had seemed very confused, calling Shen Qingqiu “Shizun” one moment and treating him as a wife the next. And now Luo Binghe would be looking at a person that seemed to be, in a word, neither.
Luo Binghe pulled back in shock, his spent cock slipping free from Shen Qingqiu’s sore and abused hole. Shen Qingqiu didn’t miss it at all, even as chilly air came to fill the space that Luo Binghe left. He shivered involuntarily, sitting up himself and craning his neck to look up at Luo Binghe as Luo Binghe rose to his feet.
All of Luo Binghe’s post-coital lassitude slid away, replaced by the coiled tension of a predator ready to leap. But he didn’t say anything. He didn’t do anything. His robes hung open, flagging dick on full display, hair tumbling down loose around his shoulders from Shen Qingqiu’s ministrations. And still all Luo Binghe did was stare.
Awkward.
Shen Qingqiu fought the urge to twiddle his thumbs.
“I know I’m not who you would have wanted, but you did need medical help,” Shen Qingqiu said weakly into the silence. “You were qi-deviating very badly.”
And with no potential wives around, Shen Qingqiu had to help! Even if his protagonist halo might save him, Shen Qingqiu just… didn’t want Luo Binghe to be hurt, or to suffer. Not if he could help it.
Luo Binghe’s eyes narrowed. “You’re very good,” he said, and the words sounded almost accusing.
Shen Qingqiu blushed at the implication. “It was my first time!” He protested, and then realized what he’d said and snapped his mouth shut so fast he almost bit his tongue.
Luo Binghe scowled down at Shen Qingqiu, and Shen Qingqiu suddenly felt very cold. It was probably the damp moss, and the brisk autumn air on his wet skin, the cooling cum even now leaking out onto his thighs, and oh yeah, he was naked, wasn’t he? Shen Qingqiu looked around and found his robes caught in a nearby bush. He rose to grab them.
“The face is different, but the way you move. The way you sound. All the little gestures…” Luo Binghe came to stand behind Shen Qingqiu as Shen Qingqiu tried to yank his poor robes free from the thorny branches that had caught them.
Luo Binghe leaned in, and Shen Qingqiu could feel the heat of his body even with the distance between them. He shivered in remembrance of what that body had felt like against him. What it had felt like inside him.
Shen Qingqiu yanked harder. One of the sleeves tore, a jagged rent through the abused fabric, but the robes did come free into his hands. He could repair the tear later, he just needed to get something on right now!
Shen Qingqiu drew away and turned his back on Luo Binghe. If Luo Binghe was going to watch, it would be far too embarrassing for Shen Qingqiu to be looking back as he got dressed! No need to make things any more intensely heated than they already were! Shen Qingqiu slipped on the pants, and then the single layer of robes on top.
“How did they do it,” Luo Binghe seemed to be marveling. “Even this. Who could know?”
“What are you talking about?” Shen Qingqiu asked irritably as he turned back around, as dressed as he could manage under the circumstances. Then he remembered who he was talking to. “Uh, Emperor Luo.”
“Who sent you?” Luo Binghe loomed threateningly over Shen Qingqiu.
This close together, the slight difference in height seemed a lot greater. A breeze picked up, sending Luo Binghe’s curls flying, and they were standing so close together that a few stray tendrils caressed Shen Qingqiu’s cheek.
“Nobody,” Shen Qingiqu replied, baffled. “Sha Hualing caught me, and then you chased me down.”
Was Luo Binghe having trouble remembering how they’d ended up here, like this? Memory loss was a common symptom of qi deviations. Shen Qingqiu reached for Luo Binghe’s wrist to try and inspect if there was damage he’d missed, but Luo Binghe flinched and took a step back.
“Sha Hualing–no, her fake was terrible. Fu Zhong? He would have used you during the uprising.” Luo Binghe began to circle Shen Qingqiu as he spoke.
Shen Qingqiu remained perfectly still under Luo Binghe’s inspection. Please don’t figure me out, please don’t figure me out.
If Luo Binghe realized that Shen Qingqiu had come back to the dead and then immediately fucked him, Shen Qingqiu was dead meat! He’d hoped that dying to save Luo Binghe would have balanced the scales of debt between them, at least a little. But if Luo Binghe knew that Shen Qingqiu wasn’t dead, the scales would tip the other way; and then to have bent the protagonist, even once? He’d be a castrated human stick in the dungeon by sundown!
Then Luo Binghe’s eyes widened in realization. “Shang Qinghua,” he breathed.
Shen Qingqiu flinched.
At this Luo Binghe grew smug. “That’s it, isn’t it. He organized this. He set you up, trained you.” Luo Binghe gestured to encompass the whole of Shen Qingqiu. “Only Shang Qinghua would know Shizun well enough to manage something like this.”
Shit. Shen Qingqiu still wasn’t sure what Luo Binghe was talking about, but it did sound like Shang Qinghua was about to be in very big trouble. Apparently there had been a trend of sending Shen Qingqiu-doppelgangers to upset Luo Binghe, although who knew how such a thing could have begun. And Shen Qingqiu had reacted to Shang Qinghua’s name, giving their connection away. How could he spin this?
“I wasn’t supposed to meet you,” Shen Qingqiu insisted. “I was supposed to stay away. I was trying to stay away, when you caught me!”
“So you were being kept in reserve, until you were needed.” Luo Binghe finally began tying his robes shut. The heavenly pillar was blessedly hidden from view once more. “And then you were caught. So you seduced me.”
Shen Qingqiu wished he’d had a fan. He hid his face behind his shredded sleeve, instead. “You were in need of medical help! I helped you!” He insisted hotly.
Somehow this seemed to enrage Luo Binghe the most. “It’s not even that you look like Shizun!” Luo Binghe snarled. “If you did, that would be one thing. But everything you do! How did he do it?!”
Oh shit, Luo Binghe was having a crisis over having had sex with a Shen Qingqiu look-alike. Bad enough to have had sex with a man, rather than the wife of the day that could be wedded and collected into the harem. But to have sex with someone who looked and sounded like Shen Qingiu, well, he could definitely see the problem there. A problem that would in fact be significantly worse if Luo Binghe ever found out it really was Shen Qingqiu he’d had sex with.
Shen Qingqiu tried to look like a complete stranger to Luo Binghe, but got stuck on what exactly that would entail. He settled for trying to reassure Luo Binghe instead. One round of sex with a man didn’t mean that Luo Binghe was suddenly gay for Shen Qingqiu!
“It was a medical emergency,” Shen Qingqiu insisted soothingly. “It doesn’t have to mean anything.” Then he added hopefully. “And you’ve been healed! So we can part ways now.”
Luo Binghe looked away. “It doesn’t have to mean anything,” he repeated. At his sides, his hands clenched into fists. “Part ways… yes. That might be for the best.”
Then Luo Binghe looked back at Shen Qingqiu, and his eyes were wide and innocent as when he had been Shen Qingqiu’s sheep of a disciple. They glistened with unshed tears.
“It hurts just to look at you. To listen to you. It makes me want to pretend. What a beautiful lie you are. Even knowing what I do, I want to believe it so badly. I could almost convince myself it’s true.” Luo Binghe took one step back, then another, and another. He drew Xin Mo and stepped onto the blade, rising into the air. The sun disappeared behind him, turning Luo Binghe into a blackened silhouette against the sky. “Tell Shang Qinghua his plans are spoiled. He’d better keep hiding under Mobei-jun’s cloak. If he puts one foot outside it, I’ll gut him like the rat he is.”
And then Luo Binghe was rocketing upwards, disappearing into the blue skies above. Shen Qingqiu remained grounded, confused and relieved that he had at least escaped for now.
Hopefully Shang Qinghua would cling safely to Mobei-jun for a little longer! Shen Qingqiu had doubts about Shang Qinghua’s secret-keeping skills in the face of a furious demon emperor, and Shen Qingqiu needed to get a head start on his escape plan. If Luo Binghe found out… Well, hopefully he wouldn’t find out!
But first things first. Shen Qingqiu needed to tackle the solvable problem.
Where had that rental sword fallen, again?