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Honestly, Binghe doesn't think he has seen Liu Mingyan happy since the day they married. Maybe not even then.
His wife never got over the loss of her beloved brother. She mourns with every action she takes, no matter how many years have passed since his death at the hands of Luo Binghe's Shizun. Her eyes are rimmed with cleverly hidden darkness, and Binghe is sure that if he were allowed to look under her veil, that her lips were permanently downturned.
Of course, this cannot be allowed to stand. Luo Binghe is a dutiful husband, proud and strong, and not a single person should be in a position to say that he does not take care of his wives' many wants.
And if Liu Mingyan isn't happy without her brother, then naturally, he'd bring her her brother. There is no body left to recover, no way for Binghe to revive this man without his corpse. So, obviously he should make it so he never died.
Impossible, you say? Maybe for anyone else, but not for Luo Binghe. 'Impossible' is nothing but a challenge for him.
Naturally he finds a way. It takes his some time, but eventually he find a hair clip in the shape of a butterfly, deceptively small and fragile for something that can change the entire course of history.
Briefly he considers using it for himself, perhaps so he never fell, but no. The Abyss made him strong, and he doesn't want to be that weak little kid anymore, not now, not ever. So he picks up the clip and ventures onto the burnt-down mountains of Cang Qiong Sect, making his way all the way down into the caves until he is met with a room absolutely covered in dried blood.
It looks like someone died here. Who else could it be other than Liu Qingge?
The clip activates, the butterfly flaps it wings, and --
he comes out of the caves to a world changed.
People are celebrating when he finally emerges from the caves' mouth. He is thrown by all this light, all this life on what should be a husk of a mountain, but... perhaps Liu Qingge had more of an impact than he could have guessed? He was supposed to remember his death -- he and Binghe alone, as the ones in the eye of the storm -- so maybe he killed Shen Qingqiu before the bastard could kill him?
"Young miss," he calls to a pretty young girl rushing around. She flushes and drops the scrolls she was holding. Luo Binghe catches them one-handedly, handing them back to her with a rogue-ish grin.
"Ah-- yes?" she squeakes.
Luo Binghe aims a smile at her, dripping sex appeal from his every pore. "I was wondering if you could tell me what is being celebrated?"
"It's their fiftieth wedding anniversary, so they are getting married again," the girl says eagerly. "And you know how they are, taking any and all excuse to reafirm their love." She does not explain who 'they' are.
"It's rather romantic," she adds, flushing red. Her eyes linger on Luo Binghe's chest. "Would you like to stay here, to celebrate?"
He shrugs. Why not stay? He always liked a party -- the drinks made secrets flow right into his ears, and there was always a lady on his lap, made daring by the liquid courage.
Luo Binghe should probably give his congratulations to the couple first before he returns to woo her, and he tells her so. She is kind enough to point him into the direction of the happy couple, and there, a slender figure stands in red, back turned to Binghe, surrounded by well-wishers. He makes his way to them, twisting through the heavy crowds. "This one heard congratulations are in or-"
He freezes.
Green eyes, scholarly elegant features, and flowing black hair coiled into a complicated hairstlye. Thin lips pulled into what seemed almost like a smile, if Luo Binghe didn't know that this person couldn't be happy if his life depended on it.
"Shizun..." he whispers.
The man frowns. "And you are? I know all of my students, and you resemble none of them," he says imperiously.
Luo Binghe barks out a half-mad laugh. "Oh, we are about to be very well acquainted," he purrs. Who cared if this Shizun didn't recognize him as a student? He still lived, and Binghe couldn't allow that. Couldn't allow this cruel man to live in this world, in any world at all -- who knew how cruelly he treated his students here! He was making the world a better place if he put this man down.
He reached out his hand to the man, other already gripping Xin Mo to make a portal --
an explosion of Qi rang through the mountain as a sword cleaved through the space where his heart had been only half a second before, cutting his shoulder down to the bone.
It's healed within seconds, but -- no-one has gotten that close to him in years.
When he looks up to see who is keeping him from his righteous conquest, he is met with the Sect Leader, dressed in the same red as his Shizun, sword held steady, face pulled into a furious expression.
"You," Yue Qingyuan says darkly.
"Me," Luo Binghe says. He opens his mouth to ask what he has done to offend this man so -- he shouldn't know about his, ah, actions towards his shidi (husband?), but he doesn't manage before another burst of Qi flew towards him, ripping his still-fragile shoulder further apart, again, and again, a constant barage faster than he can heal himself, and before he knew it his arm had been cut off entirely, dropping to the floor with a dull thud.
Luo Binghe makes a tactical retreat.
This world is strange, he decides. Change started long before it was meant to, all the way down to his parents.
Apparently Tianlang-jun went free long enough to find his dying wife and child and escape with them. He rules the demon world with his family -- one of which is this world's Su Binghe, who is so different from him that the world accepts them existing as seperate entities. Allegedly that pathetic imitation of his is a romantic, with not a single person in his harem. He got it from his father, the demons whisper.
Yue Qingyuan married Shen Qingqiu the same day the Qing generation took their position as Peak Lords. It does not look forced in the slighest, no matter how much Luo Binghe searched for evidence Shen Qingqiu tricked his shixiong into it. No, they are seen as the epitome of devotion. Love stories are written about them, and lewd songs are composed for use in brothels. Young boys and girls whisper that they hope that one day their spouse would love them just as much.
Apparently they like to get married again whenever they have an excuse. Some old people argue that they just like a party, but a girl swoons that they like making sure everyone knows they belong only to the other. A young man tells him it's because they enjoy the wedding night so much, a middle-aged woman says it's because then everyone has to send them a congratulatory gift, and a child informs him it's 'because then they can go on vacation again'. An old man solemly says that they enjoy the feeling of stealing an experience that neither thought they were ever going to get.
He doesn't know which is true, but one thing everyone agrees on is that they love each other. Luo Binghe doesn't believe them for one second.
Liu Qingge lives, but it seems almost like an afterthought rather than the purpose of this change. The Peak Lord of An Ding is a woman he doesn't recognize -- investigation reveals Shang Qinghua acts as an advisor of sorts to Mobei-jun, having been revealed by the Sect Leader as a traitor many years ago.
Luo Binghe digs deeper. The Qiu live under their matriarch, Qiu Haitang. Her brother died under semi-mysterious circumstances, and the only things people agree on is that going by his screaming, it had to have hurt. An old woman tells him that yes, a boy by the name of Shen Jiu had been a slave here. A scrappy little thing, she thought. He disappeared one day, she didn't know where. Maybe he'd been bought, maybe he ran. Good for him, she says. Qiu Jianluo had always been a little too interested in him.
He watches his Shizun even more after that --going so far as to one morning stiffle his Qi, layer illusions over his features, and enter Qing Jing Peak as a merchant interested in trading cloth.
This Shizun looks... he won't say he looked kind, or soft. Lighter, perhaps. Unburdened. More certain in his place. He lived with his husband, seeming for all intents and purposes like he loved the man. Like he actually could.
Luo Binghe looks at him and wants.
And really, who would dare to deny him when he wants them? Very few women ever say no to him, and even then they are quickly 'convinced'.
He acts when his Shizun is alone in his little bamboo house, reading some unimportant scolls with a cup of tea at his side. It's quaint, he supposes. Almost rustic. Not much to Binghe's tastes, no, those run far grander.
(Once upon a time he could have loved it, when he had still been small himself. He hasn't been small in any way in years.)
When his Shizun finally notices him, he immediately moves to stand, trying to put the table between them. It did not work, but Binghe still feels flattered his Shizun did not even try to ignore him.
"Hello, Shizun," Luo Binghe croons, moving to back the man into a corner.
"Luo Binghe," his Shizun says stiffly.
His name in his voice sounds positively delightful. Binghe wants to hear it more, wants to eat the words right out of his mouth. He steps a little closer. "Oh? You know me?"
"By word of mouth," Shizun says. "I have never had the... pleasure of meeting you myself."
The way he says it makes very clear that he would have been perfectly fine if that streak had never been broken.
"Only good things, I hope," Luo Binghe says.
His Shizun's smile is thin. "Opinions are devided."
"That's alright," Luo Binghe says as he crowds further into his Shizun's space. "You'll have lots of opportunities to get to know me for yourself soon."
"Stop," his Shizun says, eyes flinty and shoulders tensed. "Don't set a single step closer."
Luo Binghe paused. "Or else?"
His Shizun's sword is far out of reach, and by the look of it, they both knew it. No matter how hard his Shizun can reach for the knives in his sleeves, they would never be enough to do any real harm to Luo Binghe. It has been a long time since his Shizun had been able to lay a finger on him, and Binghe had only grown stronger since then. There was nothing he could do.
"Come on, Shizun," Luo Binghe coaxes. "There is loyalty in you now. Commendable, but stupid. Soon enough you'll see I am the one you should put your faith in."
Shizun looked taken aback at that, but only for a moment. Then he bared his teeth. "You're delusional."
Taking Binghe by surprise, he twisted out of the corner, under his arm, and ran. Before Binghe could react, he had already picked up his still-steaming cup and he threw it right in his face.
Luo Binghe could only blink at that, all his fury temporarily doused at this, before it roared up thrice as hot.
His Qi explodes outwards, violently lashing at his Shizun. "You would dare --" he grits out.
Shen Qingqiu only looks satisfied, the reason becoming clearer by the second as he can feel multiple powerful presences speeding closer, notified by his own violent outburst. One he can identify as Yue Qingyuan, the other tentatively as Liu Qingge, only recognised by its similarities to his wife's. Three others were entirely unknown.
On their own, he was sure he could take them all. Together, when they had some level of knowledge of his strengths, and he was fully unaware?
He slashes Xin Mo out, carving a portal into the air. "We aren't done yet, Shizun," he darkly promises.
Shen Qingqiu lifts his chin. "Bring it on."
His Shizun really hadn't changed as much as he thought, hah? Still an arrogant ass, proud and unwilling to bow even the slighest.
No worry. Luo Binghe is sure he could carve that out of his soul given enough time. After all, before this he hadn't believed his Shizun had a single loyal bone in his body. Change was possible.
Now, how to steal his Shizun away...