Chapter Text
[Let me tell you a very special story. This tale might resemble, at first glance, the saga of Proud Immortal Demon Way. But with the change of heart of its central villain, it becomes something else entirely.]
Oh fuck, the System was back. Shen Qingqiu wanted to groan out loud, maybe bang his head on one of the posts of the palanquin. But then Ning Yingying or Ming Fan might stop the procession and peek in to check on him, and they were already fretting enough about everything that was happening.
[Luo Binghe grew up on Qing Jing Peak, one of twelve peaks in the Cang Qiong Mountain Sect. He was a disciple under the transmigrated Shen Qingqiu, and attended every lesson and performed every chore with dedication and joy.]
Luo Binghe had, hadn’t he. He’d been such a wonderful child. And Shen Qingqiu had destroyed that. Murdered him.
[Because when Luo Binghe said “Yes, Shizun,” what he really meant was “I love you.”]
Okay, that was dead wrong. Fucking broken System!!! Luo Binghe was an obedient white lotus performing filial piety! Don’t make it sound so… so…. tawdry!!!
[And though Shen Qingqiu was too blind to understand his own feelings, he truly loved Luo Binghe in return.]
Bull!!! Shit!!!! System are you broken? Did your CPU get fried like an egg?
If it had, the System absolutely deserved it.
[And so ensued a great romance, of a demon and a cultivator, uniting hearts and realms. Full of sword fights. Secrets. Revenge. Demons. Chases. Escapes. True Love. Miracles.]
What fucking nonsense. Bullshit. Bullshit!! What was the System even going on about now? Romance of a demon and a cultivator? Was that supposed to refer to him and his husband-to-be? Shen Qingqiu might be betrothed to a demon, but there was zero romance involved! Ptoo, ptoo!
“Shizun,” Ming Fan called out, interrupting Shen Qingqiu’s dark thoughts. “We’ve reached the Buttes of Insanity, do you want to see?”
Shen Qingqiu cringed at the name even as he drew back the curtain of his palanquin. He did want to see them; they were a fascinating geological formation, and one of the landmarks Shen Qingqiu had been hoping to see on his journey.
The Buttes of Insanity were called that mainly because Shang Qinghua’s sense of what was thematically appropriate had crawled into a hole and died several hundred chapters before Luo Binghe had traveled here.
But they were also called that because of the way they warped gravity around them.
“Look, Shizun, I think I can see the floating rocks,” Ning Yingying exclaimed. “They’re moving!”
Indeed, some of the smaller stones around the buttes were bobbing gently in the air.
Shen Qingqiu nodded. “With the reduced gravity affecting them, there is no friction force that keeps them in place. Instead they move with the air currents.”
It really was interesting to watch! An educational opportunity for all the disciples accompanying him! Like this, he could almost pretend he was on a sightseeing tour, rather than a wedding procession.
Ning Yingying was casting sidelong glances at him. “We can go back,” she blurted out. “You don’t have to marry him.”
Ming Fan reached out and pinched her arm.
“Ouch!” Ning Yingying yelped, and darted away from him. “I was just saying!”
“You’re being tactless,” Ming Fan hissed, raising his hand again.
“No, no, it’s fine,” Shen Qingqiu waved a fan at them, feeling suddenly tired. “I agreed to this.”
Did he want to get married to Luo Binghe’s long-lost cousin, the mysterious snake demon from Shang Qinghua’s outline? Absolutely not. But Tianlang-jun had sent an envoy with a very ominous missive, threatening to take vengeance on all the four great sects for imprisoning him. Plus some artifacts looted from the cooling remains of Huan Hua Palace Sect, which Tianlang-jun had very thoroughly razed. No survivors.
So despite the fact that Shen Qingqiu did not want to marry Zhuzhi-lang, he wanted Cang Qiong to share Huan Hua’s fate even less.
At least Tianlang-jun and Zhuzhi-lang had no idea what Shen Qingqiu had done to Luo Binghe. He didn’t know why they had singled him out, but any enmity they had wouldn’t be personal. So hopefully Tianlang-jun and Zhuzhi-lang wouldn’t have the motivation to torture Shen Qingqiu the way Luo Binghe would have.
“You deserve better, Shizun,” Ning Yingying insisted, dodging Ming Fan as he tried to shut her up. “You deserve to marry for love!”
Shen Qingqiu deserved no such thing. This was just karma, for what he’d done to Luo Binghe.
Seven years ago, the System had forced Shen Qingqiu to push Luo Binghe into the abyss during the Immortal Alliance Conference. At the time, Shen Qingqiu had thought Luo Binghe would emerge five years later, intent on taking revenge. He never had.
Shen Qingqiu must have taught Luo Binghe wrongly somehow. Weakened him. The Luo Binghe of Proud Immortal Demon Way had been able to escape the Abyss in five years. Shen Qingqiu’s Luo Binghe still had not returned.
At this point, Shen Qingqiu had to accept that Luo Binghe probably never would.
“Shizun is doing this to save all of us,” Ming Fan gave up on chasing Ning Yingying. “A fate worse than death, submitting himself to the demons for Cang Qiong Mountain’s sake.” Though he had tried to quiet Ning Yingying’s complaints, he himself looked ready to cry with outraged despair.
Ning Yingying started, “If A-Luo were here, he never would have–” And then she stopped.
If Luo Binghe were still here, things would have been completely different.
If Shen Qingqiu hadn’t cast Luo Binghe into the Abyss, perhaps Luo Binghe might have used his protagonist halo to bend reality in Shen Qingqiu’s favor. And then Shen Qingqiu wouldn’t be traveling to marry Zhuzhi-lang right now.
If Luo Binghe had returned from the Abyss, Qing Jing would be in ruins, and Shen Qingqiu would be living a fate worse than death. So an unwanted marriage would be the least of his problems.
“Luo Binghe isn’t here,” Shen Qingqiu said heavily. “So it doesn’t matter anymore.”
And that shut the two of them up. They slid back into position around the palanquin, and pretended to admire the geological formations they were approaching.
As they neared the Buttes of Insanity, Shen Qingqiu could feel himself growing lighter and lighter. Even the tiniest pebbles that appeared to be on the ground were, on closer inspection, floating. Ning Yingying nudged one with her foot, sending it soaring on an arc that curved upwards as it moved towards one of the Buttes standing tall.
And then suddenly it reversed direction and came soaring back down, aimed directly at Ning Yingying’s head. She dodged it easily, but a red ribbon lashed out, wrapping twice around her wrist and dragging her forward and up.
Ning Yingying twisted and yanked at the ribbon, but it held firm. “Shizun!” She cried out.
“We’re under attack!” Ming Fan announced, and around him disciples drew their swords.
Shen Qingqiu flung himself from the palanquin to dig in his bridal chest for Xiu Ya. Fuck diplomacy, next time he was keeping it with him!
High pealing laughter drifted from above, accompanied by the sound of ringing bells. Shen Qingqiu’s questing fingers found Xiu Ya, and he dragged it free of the useless frippery in the rest of his chest. He turned, sword in hand, to see a familiar face.
Sha Hualing came bounding down from the top of one of the buttes. “Hello,” she said with a smile. “It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”
Two other women stood by Sha Hualing’s side. Shen Qingqiu recognized them vaguely by their distinctive demonic features. They had been rather blah wives of Luo Binghe in Proud Immortal Demon Way. In the harem dramas they’d fought viciously against each other, and Sha Hualing. Why were they working together against Shen Qingqiu now, ah?!
The one on the left, whose entire body was translucent and shimmering, waved her arms. The air around them rippled and an illusion fell. Around them, silk scarves spanned the distance between buttes like a spider’s web, trapping them in ribbons of red.
Shen Qingqiu hissed and drew Xiu Ya, slashing out with a sword glare at the silk scarves. They rippled as though in a strong wind, but weren’t cut.
“Reinforced with spider-silk threads,” Sha Hualing gloated. “That won’t do you any good. You won’t be escaping my trap, so you might as well give up now.”
Fat chance! Give up to this idiot? Shen Qingqiu could still remember when she was a little girl in over her head, attacking Cang Qiong in bare feet armored only by her bravado. It seemed she hadn’t changed at all!
“Don’t try to fly,” Shen Qingqiu warned his disciples. “The gravity distortions will throw you off your sword as you move.”
That was what made this such an excellent battleground for a demon attack. Shen Qingqiu gritted his teeth and readied his sword.
The wife on the right raised a hand, and the shadows of the buttes around them lengthened and twisted. Dark tendrils traced the ground and dove into the shadows of the cultivators around Shen Qingqiu.
“It’s draining my qi!” Ming Fan cried out.
Ning Yingying freed her wrist long enough to grab a lantern talisman. Overpowering it with qi, she flung it into the air. It let out a burst of light bright enough to shred the shadowy tentacles, and Ming Fan used the opportunity to launch an attack at the shadow-user.
The shadow-user shrieked as Ming Fan’s sword opened a gash in her chest, turning her already revealing outfit into indecent exposure. Ming Fan didn’t lose focus as he pressed his advantage.
“Keep moving,” Ming Fan called out as he fought. “Don’t let them catch you!”
Ning Yingying, never one to be outdone, went after the illusionist and Sha Hualing simultaneously, with talismans in one hand and her sword in the other. Sha Hualing caught a blow on her spiked brass knuckles, then swung out with a punch at Ning Yingying’s face.
Sha Hualing’s movements left her exposed, and Shen Qingqiu sent out a sword glare that cut through her claws and shoulder. Blood sprayed across stone.
Shen Qingqiu raised Xiu Ya, ready to assist Ning Yingying, when a chill swept over him and raised the hairs on the back of his neck. He turned.
[Shen Qingqiu fought valiantly, confident that good would triumph over evil. But there was another coming that he did not expect.]
Oh, fuck you! Shen Qingqiu thought at the System as the temperature around them plummeted.
Frost began to form on the dusty red earth, and a black portal spawned just behind Shen Qingqiu. Because of course Shen Qingqiu wasn’t fucked enough already!
And wasn’t this a fantastic reunion! First Sha Hualing, now Mobei-jun? Fuck!
Two people stepped out from the portal. One was Mobei-jun, horribly familiar. Icy blue eyes stared down at Shen Qingqiu, spears of ice forming in the air prepared to launch at the disciples currently fighting for their lives.
The other was shrouded in darkness. Power and demonic energy rolled off him in waves. His entire body was obscured by a black-veiled weimao, but as a breeze sent it fluttering Shen Qingqiu caught sight of one crimson, slitted eye.
“Greetings, Peak Lord Shen,” the dark one said, and Shen Qingqiu shivered at the leashed fury in his tone. “This lord is Weijiujiang-jun. We are here to congratulate you on your… upcoming nuptials.”
Weijiujiang-jun swiped at Shen Qingqiu with a clawed hand, moving with a sinuous and inhuman grace. Shen Qingqiu blocked with Xiu Ya and felt as much as heard the sword scream.
Weijiujiang-jun tightened his grip and in an instant Shen Qingqiu was reliving that horrible moment at the Immortal Alliance Conference so long ago, when Mobei-jun had grasped Luo Binghe’s blade and shattered Zheng Yang with a single blow. As Xiu Ya strained beneath this stranger’s claws, Shen Qingqiu was abruptly aware that Weijiujiang-jun was as far beyond him in strength, as Mobei-jun had been beyond Luo Binghe that day.
But instead of crushing Xiu Ya, Weijiujiang-jun wrenched it from Shen Qingqiu’s grip and cast it aside. It spun in the air above the fighting masses, coming to a stop floating in the distance. Shen Qingqiu could summon it back with a single seal.
He could. And then Weijiujiang-jun would destroy it.
Shen Qingqiu pulled a talisman from his sleeve instead, and sent it flying at Weijiujiang-jun. The demon batted it aside as easily as if it were mere paper. It feebly sparked with the fireball it was supposed to ignite.
Outclassed, Shen Qingqiu was totally outclassed!
Shen Qingqiu mourned the days when Sha Hualing and Mobei-jun had only cannon fodder to help them. Clearly they had gotten an upgrade in the intervening years. Where were all these OP baddies coming from?
All Shen Qingqiu could hear was the screams of his students and the clash of blades.
His students had all survived the Immortal Alliance Conference. How many would die today?
There was a loud crack like the fracturing of a glacier, and the temperature dropped even further. Shen Qingqiu could see his breath fogging the air before him.
“Surrender now,” Mobei-jun called out. “You have no chance of defeating us.”
Shen Qingqiu risked a glance and saw that Mobei-jun had trapped Ming Fan in a cocoon of ice, and held an icy spear at the ready. Poised to throw it at Ming Fan’s heart.
Ming Fan’s eyes were wide and terrified.
“You–” Ning Yingying spat, and tried to stab Mobei-jun in the back with her sword.
But Sha Hualing caught her wrist in silk and yanked her back.
“Stop!” Shen Qingqiu shouted. He raised his hands and fell to his knees before Weijiujiang-jun. “Don’t hurt my students. Take me, and let them go.”
“We’ll do as we please,” Weijiujiang-jun said, bitter mirth lining the words. “With so many hostages, Mobei-jun could kill that one now, and we’d still have more to ensure your good behavior. Sha Hualing could carve that pretty disciple up and let her bleed out, and then you’d still have to beg me to spare the rest.”
Shen Qingqiu shivered as Weijiujiang-jun looped Immortal Binding Cable around his wrists.
But it was true. Shen Qingqiu, for all his power… was helpless. As far as protecting his disciples went, this was the best he could do.
“Lucky for you, I’m feeling merciful,” Weijiujiang-jun leaned forward to hiss in his ear. “Do you think you deserve it?”
Weijiujiang-jun seized Shen Qingqiu’s bound wrists and dragged him to his feet. “The disciples may stay. They can inform Emperor Tianlang-jun of their failure personally,” Weijiujiang-jun announced. “But Peak Lord Shen is coming with us.”