When Shen Qingqiu opened his eyes, a foreboding feeling came to his stomach.

He was staring at a familiar ceiling, surrounded by familiar people. He was back in his room in Cang Qiong Peak. They said many things, probably calling to him as Shizun, asking if he's okay. But he's searching the room for only one person, he's heart beating wildly.

"Where is Luo Binghe?" He stood up from the bed, eyes frantic.

Everyone went silent, unsure what to say. The expression on their face was ranging from pity, nervousness and even sadness, especially on Ning Yingying. The pit on Shen Qinqiu's stomach deepened, as if he was being attacked by blood parasites again, but nobody made a move.

Liu Qingge was the first to deliver the news. "He's dead."

...

Shen Qingqiu nervously chuckled. "Don't be so mad at him, Liu-juju. What, the Can Qiong Peak won't let him in? Where is he right now, I have something to say...."

"Shizun!" Ning Yingying was sobbing. "Liu-shixiong is telling the truth. Ah-Luo is dead!"

Even Mingfan was misty-eyed. "He.... He killed himself right after he carried your body out of the icy lake. He wouldn't listen to anyone when they said they wanted to check. He just pulled out Xin Mo and.... Stabbed himself in the heart with it..."

Their joking, right? This must be a mean prank because of their resentment to Luo Binghe. He can't die. He's the protagonist! It's the most impossible thing that could happen in this world. He was scared of this thought when he activated the self-saving system, but he never thought even once that it would happen.

System, a-are you there? Even his inner voice was shaking. Tell me Luo Binghe's location right now.

[System experiencing major issues. Unable to respond as of the moment. Try again later.]

Major issue? What kind of major issue?!

[System experiencing major issues. Unable to respond as of the moment. Try again later.]

Goddammit, where is Luo Binghe?! He's not dead, right? RIGHT?!

[System experiencing major issues. Unable to respond as of the moment. Try again later.]

Shen Qingqiu slumped back to the bed, face so pale. What else would cause the system to experience a major issue? Just as he woke up, he fainted again.

...

...

On the other side of the Xin Mo sword, a scowling face was staring at his reflection.

Proud Immortal Demon Way's greatest stallion protagonist had just about had it. The wives are fighting amongst themselves again. Sha Hualing clawed a nun's shoulders. Huan Hua Palace's Young Mistress struck her with the whip. Almost a dozen was sent out because their pretty faces are now too unruly and destroyed to satisfy the great demon lord. Luo Binghe just watched everything with droopy eyes and a cold expression, never interfering or doing anything. He looked like the most exhausted man in the whole world despite his stamina and full spiritual power.

Now that the scum had turned into a stick, what's next? He even got tired of hitting the corpse again and again like a pinata and rearranging the fallen flesh and bones just to hit it again. It gotten to the point that it became just a decayed mess of pieced together cells, beyond recognition of the person it used to be.

Was Luo Binghe satisfied? In the beginning when he could still scream, yes, but there's no satisfaction in beating a silent pile of garbage.

Now that he have 3000 wives, and he can have any woman he could ever wanted and more, was he satisfied? What's next?

That's all he could ask himself. What's next?

Right now, he should be happy.

Right now, he should have rejoiced from the defeat of his enemies.

Right now, his esteem should be higher than ever for being the greatest man in the world.

But right now, he's just tired.

New adventures? Boring. New women? Boring. New enemies? Extremely boring. He tried imagining Shen Qingqiu in their faces as he take their lives, but none of them had even the slightest resemblance of grace and IQ that the scum villain had. Nothing could fill the large blackhole in his heart.

What's the point of it all, besides Shen Qingqiu? What's the point of getting stronger, besides annihilating the person he hated the most? What the point of it all, now that that person is gone?

But if he could turn back the time, and kill him over and over again, would he still be satisfied?

Shen Qingqiu. Everything is Shen Qingqiu's fault. Even his state now, a cold, bitter and unfeeling man, with absolutely no care for the past, present or future, was all because of Shen Qingqiu.

A couple more sex wouldn't fix the emptiness. A couple more victories, a couple more schemes, a couple more treasure.... Nothing, nothing, NOTHING! All Luo Binghe want is.....

What could he possibly want? He already have everything. To rest? To sleep? To forget? To perish?

If the whole world burned alongside him, would that be enough?

No, it still isn't.

Something that he wants that he doesn't know, doesn't even dare think about and doesn't name. Something on the other side of reality, far away and unattainable.

Xin Mo glowed red.

...

...

Shen Qingqiu hugged the corpse every night.

Everybody tried to stop him, to take the corpse away, but fuming anger would come to his eyes. He asked, reserved yet cold, for everyone to leave him alone.

He had secluded himself from the outside world ever since.

In the morning, Ning Yingying would just leave his breakfast in front of his bedroom door. Shen Qingqiu would pick it up, arrange it in the rigid hands of the 1 month dead Luo Binghe, and sit back on his bed as if he had just woken up. Then, he would chuckle beneath his fan and say in a gleeful tone, almost the same as those flustered girls in high school movies when they speak to their sporty crush.

"Binghe, had you made breakfast for Shizun again? This master is really thankful for a sweet disciple like you." He patted his thinning hair with white ends, barely staying on the scalp.

The disciple didn't answer anything.

Shen Qingqiu took a spoonful of the congee. "My, my. Your cooking really have deteriorated ever since the Xin Mo thing, huh? No worries, it will get better next time. I guess that's what qi deviation does to you."

Still no answer.

"Would you like to have breakfast with Shizun? I will feed you if you say yes."

No answer.

"Even a nod will do."

There was no movement. Luo Binghe's eyes were as clear as two moons, empty and lifeless.

Shen Qingqiu sighed, forcing a smile on his face. He lightly patted his deceased disciple's head. "Binghe isn't talkative as usual. That's alright, Shizun will do the talking. How about I tell you the story I've been reading yesterday—"

There was a forceful knock on the door.

"Oh, there's a visitor." Shen Qinqiu whispered to Luo Binghe. The disciple didn't respond to his master. Shen Qingqiu still smiled, yelling to the person behind the door. "Sorry, I'm afraid Binghe won't like it if I had visitors. Just write your message on a letter and I'll reply sometime."

But before he can say the word "letter", Liu Qingge had opened the door. Beside him was the author of this world, Airplane Shooting Towards the Sky, currently known as Shang Qinghua.

"Shen Qingqiu, I—" Seeing the scene in front of him, Bai Zhan Peak's lord froze. He knitted his eyebrows, face changing colors. "What's going on right here?!"

"Ah, now Binghe is crying!" Shen Qinqiu hugged the kneeling corpse to his chest. "This disciple of mine really can't stand guests, especially you, Liu-juju. Please leave before he cries a waterfall on my clothes."

Liu Qingge was incredulous. "Crying?! How can a—" He was about to shout when Shang Qinghua gave him a look. Despite his rash self, Liu Qingge tried to use a gentler tone. "I've given you one month. Surely, that would be enough. Don't make things harder on yourself and to all of us."

"I don't know what you mean, but it really would be best if you leave." Shen Qingqiu really did have a genuine confused look on his face.

Shang Qinghua tried this time. "Were sorry, Shen Qingqiu, but... He's really gone. We tried everything, even making him a new shell using the Sun and Moon seed. But.... Even his soul was destroyed by Xin Mo. It is nowhere in this world, completely shattered to pieces."

"My Binghe's soul shattered? Nonsense!" Shen Qingqiu laughed. If nobody knew any better they would think he had undergone qi deviation. But he hadn't practiced spiritual energy for a long while, and this was the natural depression that underwent his mind. It seems that some of his senses came back, no longer putting an act when he said, "Airplane bro, you know that's impossible. You made Binghe into a golden fingered protagonist, have you not?"

"But things have changed, Shen! I don't have any control or knowledge of this place anymore! Anything could happen!"

Shen Qingqiu's eyes reddened. "So it's my fault, isn't it? Everything that deviated, the way things are now, it's my fault, isn't it? If I didn't change destiny, if I let myself be the villain, Luo Binghe should be alive! Luo Binghe should have been a great stallion with many wives and a glorious life, and I should have died, died a long time ago—"

Slap!

Five, red finger shaped marks stung Shen Qingqiu's peerless white cheek.

"I don't know what you're talking about, but they're not true!" Liu Qingge's slap was strong enough to make someone come to their senses, as much as cold water in the face. "Stop blaming yourself! I hate it! And what is this nonsense of Luo Binghe having many wives?! Even if you become the most despicable person in the world, that bastard would still grovel for you and tug at your sleeves! He died for his own foolishness! Even if you did die, he should have waited like he did before! Love, my ass! That demented asshole loved you so much he doesn't even want to live 5 seconds without you. "

Shen Qingqiu's expression suddenly went blank. "Then if I didn't make him fall in love with me at all, would he still be alive? Either way, from what you said, Liu Qingge, it seems it's still my fault."

There was a pause. Everyone went silent, though the cold corpse in the room didn't have to.

"Let him go." Was all Liu Qingge can say.

"I've let him go too many times, and now what happened?" Shen Qingqiu hugged his disciple closer. "No. I won't let go of him anymore."

"Shen Qingqiu...." Liu Qingge gritted his teeth. "Let. Go."

Shen Qingqiu nuzzled his cheeks together with the pale ones of Luo Binghe's dead body. "No."

"Just let him go, Cucumber bro. Please." Shang Qinghua pleaded.

The master did not let go of his disciple.

"Shen Qingqiu, if you don't hand him to me, I'll —" Before Liu Qingge can say or do anything, the corpse vanished in front of their eyes. Just like that, gone.