"And this is the tomb where we hid from Tianlang-Jun and Zhuzhi-Lang."

"Are you sure about this, Shizun?" Bingge asked, his palms sweaty.

"Of course, we have to relive every single moment for it to be authentic! It was one of the most intense moments in my life, ya know!" His master replied. "That chase scared the shit out of me, and I have to carry you unconscious! Man, I still get goosebumps every time I go here."

"I see, but..." Bingge looked around for words to say. "There's no one really chasing us, and you could have just pointed this tomb and tell me everything. This position is just so..."

He gestured to their entertwined bodies in the coffin.

"Uncomfortable, don't you think?"

Shen Qingqiu suddenly remembered that this position did indeed put him on discomfort, especially the fact that Luo Binghe was pressing against him with his freaking SKY PILLAR!!!!

"Hehe, uncomfortable doesn't really put it to justice." Shen Qingqiu gave an ugly expression. "Holy shit, I forgot about the sky pillar and the 8 pack abs..."

"The what?" Bingge asked.

"Nothing, let's go out now--- Don't move!" Shen Qingqiu wrapped his arms around Bingge's back and pressed him closer when he heard a sound. "Listen, was it a Blind Corpse?"

"I can't be sure." Bingge's left cheek was smudged against his Shizun's right one. "Hold on, I'll check."

"Don't activate your demonic mark!" His Shizun suddenly kissed his forehead!

Bingge: "......."

Bingge: "Shizun, what are you doing?"

"They're sensitive to light, remember? We almost got caught because of that damn bright demonic mark!" Shen Qingqiu spoke with his lips still blocking his forehead.

"But Shizun..." Bingge looked terribly confused. "That's the point."

"Huh?"

"I'm luring them with my light so I can easily fight all of them. I'm not unconscious, so..."

"Oh..." Realization struck Shen Qingqiu. "Oh! Okay, y-you can go and fight 'em now. You have Zheng Yang with you, right?"

"Yes, though it's been a long time since I used it." The stallion protagonist gingerly got up from his master and searched the area. He killed all the creatures in the area with 50 mile range effortlessly in one go with Zheng Yang.

"I think that'll keep them off for a while, but we have to leave the Holy Mausoleum. It's still not safe here especially when I don't have Xin Mo with me, and I'm much weaker in this body." As Bingge put the sword back to the scabbard, he noticed Shen Qingqiu still haven't got out of the coffin. "Shizun?"

STUPID! SHEN YUAN, YOU'RE SO STUPID! The flustered master buried his face on his hands. He's not having a fever like last time, there's no need to hide and press together at all! Uggh, do I really just want to feel that 8 pack that much?!!!!! Stupid, I'm a disgrace as a Shizun, I'm like a perverted cut-sleeve UGGGGHHHHHH

"Shizun, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, I just like laying in coffins hahahahaha." Shen Qingqiu excused then berated himself again with stupid, stupid, stupid!

"Just let me stay here for a while, I- HUH???" Before he can make another excuse to save face, two strong hands scooped him up from the cold coffin. The hands covering his face slacken once he realized Bingge is carrying him bridal style, and with this the disciple took the chance to stick his forehead to his master's.

"W-W-What?!" Shen Qingqiu feel like his brain is going to explode.

"Your face is heating up, Shizun, it's all red. " Bingge said worriedly, his forehead still touching Shen Qing Qiu's and his face just 3 inches apart. "Do you have a fever?"

"Ah, no, no, no, no! I'm fine, bro! Let me down now!"

Bingge frowned. "Are you sure? I could pass you some energy if you're not feeling well."

"Hell no!" Shen Qingqiu jumped down from Bingge's arms frantically. "I'm fine! There's no need! Besides, you fought so many demons already! Look at you, you're clothes are dishevelled. Good job, you're really good at using your sword, huh?" He tapped Zheng Yang's hilt lightly with a sheepish smile.

"Ah!" Bingge suddenly shouted. "Shizun, that's my..."

"Huh?"

Shen Qingqiu looked down to realized the sword hilt he hit was in fact the SKY PILLAR! Not again!

He dramatically fainted back into the coffin.

Someone just kill me, please!

[Cool Points +3000 (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*.✧ Please make more physical connection in the future]

"Fuck you, you cut-sleeve system!"

******

"Maigu Ridge... It looked like nothing changed at all." Shen Qingqiu sighed when they reached the cavernous mountains.

To Bingge, everything changed from the Maigu Ridge he knew, it was much lower and rocks and debris are all over the place, but he didn't disagree with his Shizun. He waited until his master is prepared to tell the story.

"I'm sorry... This one is... a bit difficult." Shen Qingqiu fanned himself repeatedly while sitting on a boulder. "So many things happened, as they always do, but... yeah."

"Start from the beginning then." Bingge propped one hand again on his cheek. "Start on what happened when you got on Maigu Ridge."

So he did. On the Holy Mausoleum, he had already explained Tianlang-Jun's past and his mother, as well as the Old Palace Master. Bingge was furious, but he decided there was no point in resentment for a dead man already. He also explained Yue Qingyuan couldn't draw his sword and his past as Yue Qi. How he wanted to reconcile with Shen Jiu, but it was far too late because he was not the Shen Qingqiu he knew anymore.

"I..." Bingge processed how he feels about his father. "If it weren't for the Old Palace Master, maybe we could have been..."

"A family?" Shen Qingqiu asked.

"Yes, but I think we're in the same situation as you and Yue Qingyuan. He treats Shen Jiu as a family, but so many things have changed, so it's not right to consider each other a family anymore. And, you're not the 'Shen Qingqiu' he knew, and I'm also not the 'Luo Binghe' that he could consider a son. I barely knew him. I'd like to know more, but that's it. There's no point in dwelling in the past. As for Zhuzhi-Lang, I can somewhat understand him. We value good deeds too much, and avenge the bad too much. I respect him for being loyal till the end."

Shen Qingqiu nodded like a proud teacher. "Your way of thinking have grown. Those are good insights."

Bingge nodded lightly from his Shizun's words, somewhat pleased with himself but without ego.

"So..." Bingge turned to his master's direction expectantly. "What happens next? You're not finished yet, right?"

"Er..."

And then... he recalled the part where he had to save Luo Binghe by The Small Scenario Pusher Luxury Edition and the Scumbag Self Saving System...

Bingge: "Ummmm....."

Shen Qingqiu: "Ummm..."

Bingge: "So that's what happened...."

Shen Qingqiu: "Yeah... hehe."

A moment of awkward silence.

Bingge scratched his neck. "Was he your...?"

"I prefer not to answer."

"Then are you his...?"

"Probably."

"Wow. The system really made things convoluted." Bingge tried a small laugh. "Did I use the word 'wow' right?"

"Yep."

Another moment of awkward silence.

"I still wonder why he killed himself though. I mean, I'm not the type to easily give up so neither would he. Right after he was given his first time, no less." Bingge said.

"I couldn't believe it too. It's so... out of character." Shen Qingqiu scowled and his brows knit. "The system did this on purpose to transfer you, but for what reason?"

"I don't know. I'm sorry."

"No, no, no! It's not your fault!" Shen Qingqiu raised his hands. "I don't expect you to know, it's just a rhetorical question. I don't blame you, and you shouldn't blame yourself. We should blame this stupid system that continuesly playing with us."

"I don't think we should blame the system either. That's the same as thinking that fate is predetermined." Bingge sighed. "I thought learning that I was just a character from a book would blacken my heart more, that it would make me realize there's no point in everything. But if fate is really already written out for me, why do I still think of possibilities? If I'm just this one-sided character, why would I change my mentality about you, about Yue Qingyuan or Tianlang-Jun? I don't think I'm just a puppet being controlled."

"I feel. I truly feel, and that is enough for me to say I am who I am. So I don't think the system is fate or that stupid Shang Qinghua is an all-mighty, all-knowing god. I'm still my own, separate from all the Luo Binghe that there could be. And my choices, every step that I take changes this world. It's the same as you, Shizun. You can change everything." Bingge smiled. "So don't lose hope yet, don't worry about that silly System. You don't have to force yourself to act like you like me, I don't have to force myself either to please these 'readers'. Just do what you like, don't you see that we earn more points when we take things the natural way? Maybe that's what the system really wants, for us to write a good story whil still being ourselves. This 'fanservice' thing is too cheap anyway, you can find it anywhere."

"Huh." Shen Qingqiu was surprised by Bingge's sudden monologue. "You do have a point. So we should just act natural, huh?"

"Yeah." Bingge nodded. "We'll earn those points to bring back Bingmei eventually."

"Well, fanservice still goes a looooong way, what happened on the Holy Mausoleum is proof of that." He then suddenly smacked himself. "Fuck, why did I bring that up again! It's so embarrassing!"

"Hahaha!" Bingge's laugh was light and warm. It was like Bingmei's... but there's an air of maturity to it. Like a wise man who is amused by something even though he had already seen everything. "Well, that wasn't planned, isn't it? So I'm still right about doing things the natural way."

"Yeah..." Shen Qingqiu found himself fascinated by that laugh. He wants to hear it more often somehow. "Let's do it our own way then. No cliches or anything. Just how we truly feel like."