Shen Qingqiu felt cold all over.

He'd withdrawn from the cultivation world ever since pushing Luo Binghe down the abyss, just crouching in Qing Jing Peak with a cold expression. He mourned for his disciple, but it had to be done, otherwise the system would've directly killed him off... right?

Perhaps, it would've been better if he died instead of pushing Luo Binghe.

He deserved to die for harbouring such thoughts. All he did was for survival, but it was despicable... at least, that was what he thought.

The door to his room was knocked.

Ming Fan asked, "Shizun? Are you there?"

Shen Qingqiu was hidden beneath his blanket. He pretended to be numb to the outside world, just mumbling the words, "Binghe" under his breath.

Outside the door beside Ming Fan was Ning Yingying. "Shizun, don't reminisce so much about A-Luo. It isn't your fault that he has gone missing."

Shen Qingqiu found his body tightening. But it was me who pushed him...

All of a sudden, his blanket was whipped off from his head. Shen Qingqiu's eyes widened as he was greeted with a familiar face. Luo Binghe wore a dark expression, akin to that of a demon. A gust of cold wind had pierced against Shen Qingqiu's skin, making him shiver all over.

"Shizun." The dark eyes of Luo Binghe were like an abyss, trying to suck him in.

Cold placated all over Shen Qingqiu. "Binghe..."

Out of nowhere, he was grabbed by the neck. Instantly, his thin figure was poised up in the air. Veins scrambled around his neck, as Shen Qingqiu found himself being squeezed. He could hardly breathe, and his eyelashes flickered from panic.

His calm heart had jumped up from unrest.

Luo Binghe continued squeezing the Peak Master's neck, feeling it on the verge of snapping in his palms. "Why must you be so cruel to me, Shizun?"

Shen Qingqiu couldn't respond. He was about to fully collapse.

The voices of Ming Fan and Ning Yingying from outside had vanished, as if they were an illusion the entire time.

Shen Qingqiu found his vision darkening.

He thought to himself that this was retribution. Humans are all so greedy, and they yearn for things that they do not have themselves. All of a sudden, Shen Qingqiu extended out a hand to grasp onto Luo Binghe's grip, which was still choking himself. Shen Qingqiu tugged, managing to pull his disciple's hand off his throat by a small margin.

It was like a ray of light had shone past the dark night.

Shen Qingqiu coughed. He could feel the air returning to his lungs. "You're not Binghe."

Luo Binghe's eyes of darkness remained unmoved. "Why so?"

"Binghe would rather fuck me to death than by strangling." Shen Qingqiu smiled mockingly. "Why don't you kneel down, cry, hug my thigh, and coax me? I might change my mind then."

The fake Luo Binghe was a bit surprised.

Before he could recover, Shen Qingqiu had already torn his grip off from his neck. The Peak Master collapsed onto his bamboo bed, coughing quite a few times. Not wanting to waste a single second, Shen Qingqiu had already grasped onto his sword, Xiuya.

The sword began to automatically shake, upon feeling its master's presence.

"Your methods are quite cruel." Shen Qingqiu smirked. He thrusted Xiuya at the fake Luo Binghe, who began to dodge. "However, I've experienced crueller." Shen Qingqiu didn't leave the impersonator any room for breath.

As someone who'd gone through several sessions of the Dream Demons' methods, Shen Qingqiu was merely fazed a bit from Nu Wang's melody.

Despair was reaching out towards him, but he'd faced it so many times. It had already grown numb.

Shen Qingqiu pierced his sword into the impersonator's rib cage, with blood instantly seeping through the black robes. "Get me out." He violently spat.

He pressed the sword deeper into the impersonator's flesh, trying to drive the latter crazy.

The impersonator smiled helplessly. Wearing Luo Binghe's handsome smile made Shen Qingqiu hesitate quite a bit. However, the illusion had already faded. Cracks began to reveal themselves, as if the surroundings of Qing Jing Peak was merely an enclosed space.

Then, the scenery shattered into glass pieces.

Shen Qingqiu had found himself stranded in a sea of darkness. It was black all over, with not a single speck of light.

All of a sudden, it was like the light had turned on.

Out in the distance was a spark of light. Shen Qingqiu ran towards that direction, uncaring for his own appearance. However, when he got there, he hesitated. There was the figure of the real Luo Binghe, slumped over caressing something in his embrace.

It was... Shen Qingqiu's corpse.

"Come back to me, Shizun..." Luo Binghe wept. "I'll treat you better from now on. You don't need to be afraid."

Tears welled in the Demon Lord's eyes, with mania sketched all over his expression. His face contorted, as if scrunched up from pain. Luo Binghe thought to himself that he must've been possessed to treat his Shizun so horribly. His Shizun was someone who treated him the best.

Shizun was his saviour. He even self-destructed to protect him.

The red demonic mark on his forehead began to glow, as the pain intensified in his abdomen. Luo Binghe's world felt like it'd become monochromatic, as if completely blank.

All he could feel was the body in his arms, with the warmth slowly fading away.

"No!" He clutched harder at the corpse, as if trying to merge that last spark of warmth into himself. "Don't leave me... Shizun! I... I still haven't shown you what I learned. This isn't how it was supposed to go. You don't need to repay me anything, Shizun, if it means your life..."

Suddenly, there was another warmth on his shoulder.

"Enough, Binghe." Shen Qingqiu said. "If you want to show me what you've learned, you can show it to me later. We need to get out of here."

Luo Binghe froze. That was right. Things weren't so bad. His Shizun had come back to save him. He wasn't abandoned in that lonely and icy cold river anymore.

"Wipe your tears." Shen Qingqiu said that, but he'd already done so.

His sleeves wiped away the flurry of tears on Luo Binghe's face, but more had sprawled down. "Don't make this more difficult for me." Shen Qingqiu said in a low voice. He didn't dare to meet his disciple's glance, afraid that he wouldn't be able to hold onto his own tears.

"We're in an illusion from that pipa lady, right, Shizun?" Luo Binghe took the chance to nestle into his Shizun's arms, with his voice slightly muffled.

Shen Qingqiu could understand enough. "Yes. We need to find the others."

His eyes flashed. "So, Binghe... put down the corpse."

Luo Binghe's body stiffened. His hands slowly parted from the haggard corpse, but he couldn't help but entangle them in the corpse's hair once again. "Give me some time... Shizun..." He croaked, "I need to give you a proper burial..."

"Enough." Shen Qingqiu pulled his disciple up from the ground. He sternly spoke, "Why should you give a burial to a person who's not even dead?"

"But..." Luo Binghe was still worried.

"Okay okay..." Shen Qingqiu patted him on the back. "Look at you, giving so much affection to another body. Even though I know it's me, but how do you expect me to handle this?"

Luo Binghe froze. "...Shizun, you're jealous of your corpse?"

Shen Qingqiu said nothing. He snapped open his fan, covering his lower face. "Let's go. Get a move on."

Luo Binghe could only nod. He will make sure to fully understand his Shizun later, once they get out of this illusion!

The corpse vanished into thin air.

Then, the surroundings cracked into shards of glass. Luo Binghe held onto his Shizun's forearm, as the pair of Master and disciple examined how the endless darkness melted into a new scenery.

There was only a horizon, with the sky etched into nighttime. A fog coated over the stars, making them invisible to the naked eyes. The mountain and village was dark, stinking of the scent of death. A wild roar had pierced through the fog, sending a shudder down Shen Qingqiu's spine.

"What is this..." Luo Binghe frowned.

He stepped forwards, blocking his Shizun with his back, and protecting him.

There were fierce corpses everywhere. The sound of clashes, metallic sparks from the collision against swords, and cries had howled all around. This was the embodiment of a nightmare.

"That's..!" Shen Qingqiu's pupil dilated.

In the distance, he and his disciple saw a familiar figure. Wei Wuxian perched on top of a rooftop, playing his flute, Chengqing hysterically. The melody was screeching and ear-splitting, as if representing just how much the player's mind was in disarray.

Resentful energy poured out from the flutist's every pore.

The fierce corpses at the ground clawed at the righteous cultivators, with a sword in their hands and attacking without pause.

"Wei Wuxian!" Luo Binghe yelled.

That shout had no affect. Instead, a fierce corpse had taken notice of the Master and disciple, sprawling over at them. Luo Binghe unsheathed Zhengyang, slashing the fierce corpse down.

"We need to get him to clear his mind!" Shen Qingqiu understood.

They cooperated, one taking on the offense and the other on defense. Many fierce corpses were killed along the way, but the couple finally managed to land at the rooftop. Wei Wuxian glanced at them, his eyes full of hatred and resentment.

"Wei-xiong," Shen Qingqiu spoke. "Wake up."

Wei Wuxian didn't even bat his eye. "I'll wake up, after I end all of their lives."

He tried to play Chengqing again, but was interrupted by Luo Binghe. "Wei Wuxian!" The Demon Lord was for once, sorting out his words properly. "You need to get yourself together!"

Wei Wuxian sneered, "You guys don't know a thing."

Luo Binghe retorted, "Exactly! Shizun and I... we both don't know what happened to you in the past. Perhaps you've lost something important to you... or perhaps you're just upset... but we know that this isn't the true you!"

Shen Qingqiu sheathed the Xiuya sword, clearly not intending to fight. "The present you is fun and outgoing. We're confident that that is the true you."

Luo Binghe looked over at his Shizun, then turned back to Wei Wuxian. He sheathed his sword as well. "You better sober up Wei Wuxian, before I get my hands on you! In the future, Shizun, HanGuang-Jun, Xie-xiong, Hua Chengzhu, you, and I will keep drinking like the past."

The sound of fierce corpses roared in the back.

"We'll drink and compete again. I'm certain that I'll hold my liquor better. So... at least give us a chance." Luo Binghe appeared quite solemn.

Shen Qingqiu stepped forwards. "Wei-xiong, didn't you want Hua Chengzhu to sculpt a sculpture of HanGuang-Jun and you? Didn't you want to share a room with HanGuang-Jun and annoy the hell out of us? Didn't you want us to take care of Jin Ling, to take on commissions together... become females together... and more?"

Wei Wuxian's eyes flickered. He bit his bottom lip.

He tucked Chengqing under his belt, with his facial expressions blurred.

Sometimes, the world was cruel. For no reasons, the people were full of injustice. They would point fingers at you, speak malicious words about you as if you weren't there, and even kick you down. They would take away the things you have, then stomp it all into dust.

Jiang Yanli died due to his incompetence. Jiang Cheng became the Clan Leader due to the wipeout of Yunmeng Jiang.

But... there are wonderful things in the world as well.

There was Lan Zhan, who couldn't resist himself and tie Wei Wuxian's wrists with his forehead ribbon. There was Jin Ling, who needed someone to guide him forwards. There was Wen Ning, who decided to live on and save the last person of the Wen Clan. There was Jiang Cheng, who became a great leader to lead on his people.

And... Wei Wuxian gritted his teeth.

He will fight onwards for all the things he loved. Whether if it was Emperor's Smile, or Lan Zhan's smile, neither was important. He will continue onwards... to continue fighting.

All of a sudden, the surroundings cracked into glass shards.

Shen Qingqiu and Luo Binghe were astonished. They glanced at Wei Wuxian, who was fighting to compose himself.

"Wei-xiong..." Shen Qingqiu had no idea how to make his friend feel better.

Wei Wuxian straightened his back. "Let's go find Lan Zhan."

The pair of Master and disciple could only helplessly agree.

"Oh, Shen-xiong." Wei Wuxian piped up. "I had no idea you had a thing for cross dressing."

Suddenly, Shen Qingqiu stiffened. He remembered the words he said earlier, "Didn't you want us to take care of Jin Ling, to take on commissions together... become females together... and more?"

A mirage of red had coated his cheeks. Shen Qingqiu blushed and gritted his teeth, "Wei-xiong, you knew that that wasn't what I meant..."

On the side, Luo Binghe pondered if his Shizun truly had a thing for cross dressing.

Slowly, they found the scenario changing, with the village fading away... into a cave. There were two familiar figures. Lan Zhan sat criss-crossed, lending the man in front of him spiritual energy. The fake Wei Wuxian was on the verge of death, with his hair bathed in sweat, sticking to his temples.

"Should I be seeing this?" Shen Qingqiu turned away from the scene. Once it came to Wei Wuxian, he was afraid that anything might be an indecent memory.

"Why are you looking away?" On the other hand, Wei Wuxian was puzzled.

Meanwhile, Luo Binghe stood between the two, "..." What kind of commotion was this?

All of a sudden, Lan Zhan moved. He stood up from the fake dying Wei Wuxian, unsheathing Bichen, pointing the blade at the three cultivators.

"Who are you?"

Xie Lian: San Lang and I weren't included in the chapter.

Hua Cheng: Gege, does that make you sad?

Xie Lian: shakes head I just wished that I knew how the others were doing

Hua Cheng: Don't mind them, Gege. Pay attention to me instead ❤️💕

Xie Lian: Pay attention to what? Your calligraphy? Come on, let's go review again

Hua Cheng: ◉◡◉ [abort the mission. ABORT THE MISSION]