Chapter 27:
Deep Dream
AFTER LYING DOWN to sleep, Shen Qingqiu opened his eyes to find himself in a different place. This wasn’t his first time experiencing such a situation, so he wasn’t flustered; he knew that he must have again entered Luo Binghe’s dream realm. After drifting about for a while, he lightly landed on the ground.
With every brush of his foot, he propelled himself forward, as if traveling on the wind and stepping upon willows. Resplendent jade and gold glittered all around him, the decor magnificent and extravagant—plus, one of the corridors looked incredibly familiar. This was one hundred percent Huan Hua Palace.
He walked down that corridor, and at the end found Huan Hua Palace’s main palace and assembly hall. In the past, Luo Binghe himself would have been waiting for him within the dream realm for a while now, but this time, Shen Qingqiu didn’t see him. That was strange.
There was someone in the assembly hall. When Shen Qingqiu looked at that back, he found it familiar too. When he looked again from up close, he found it quite strange.
“Mu-shidi?” he said, stunned.
The “Mu Qingfang” solemnly standing in the hall was an illusion born from Luo Binghe’s memories, so naturally, he didn’t hear Shen Qingqiu. This junior of his had always possessed a mild temper, but as Mu Qingfang stood in the center of the assembly hall, his expression was devoid of any goodwill.
Shen Qingqiu recalled what the jianghu rumors had said: that not long after he’d played dead and escaped, Luo Binghe had kidnapped Mu Qingfang to Huan Hua Palace and demanded that he “heal” Shen Qingqiu. This scene must have occurred during that period.
A black shadow passed soundlessly by him, and Luo Binghe’s voice said, “Mu-xiansheng.”
This Luo Binghe’s eyes held no trace of Shen Qingqiu’s reflection, and he was entirely unaware of Shen Qingqiu’s presence. So, this also wasn’t Luo Binghe’s real self, but rather a memory.
Shen Qingqiu was a little puzzled. Had he drifted into a part of the dream realm that even the real Luo Binghe couldn’t control?
Neither the way in which Luo Binghe addressed him nor his attitude could be considered disrespectful, so Mu Qingfang replied, “Your distinguished self addressed me as Mu-xiansheng. Does that mean you recognize yourself as belonging to Cang Qiong Mountain? Or do you not?”
“Does it matter how I recognize myself?” Luo Binghe asked.
“If you don’t recognize yourself as such, then why do you still address Shen-shixiong as ‘Shizun’? And if you do recognize yourself as such, you should call me ‘Shishu.’ Moreover, why did you harm Cang Qiong Mountain’s disciples to forcibly bring me here?”
“I have asked Mu-xiansheng to come so that he may take a look at my shizun.”
Mu Qingfang smiled. “Shen-shixiong self-detonated before everyone’s eyes in Hua Yue City and perished, devoid of any spiritual energy. I’m afraid that at this point, even his corpse will have long since festered and decayed. This Mu already knows that there is no way to bring people back to life.”
As Shen Qingqiu listened to this exchange of questions and answers, he broke out in a cold sweat.
Mu Qingfang’s personality wasn’t like that of Qi Qingqi or Liu Qingge, who couldn’t tolerate the slightest offense and would explode at the smallest thing, but his replies in this moment weren’t very pleasant. Though Shen Qingqiu knew that everything would turn out all right, he couldn’t help tensing in fear for Mu Qingfang, afraid that he would infuriate Luo Binghe and bring some unnecessary suffering upon himself.
Luckily, Luo Binghe was unmoved. “I only ask that Mu-xiansheng take a look,” he said coldly.
As he was now under Luo Binghe’s control, Mu Qingfang could only allow a group of yellow-robed disciples to escort him to Huan Hua Pavilion.
The frigid air within Huan Hua Pavilion cut to the bone. As the two of them crossed over the threshold, one in the front and the other in the back, the great doors immediately shut behind them. Shen Qingqiu stole in right on their heels.
Luo Binghe lifted the gauzy curtain over the sitting platform, tying it back. Mu Qingfang bent over for his examination. Shen Qingqiu also wanted to head over for a look, but unfortunately, Mu Qingfang practically sprang upright straight away, dropping the curtain and blocking Shen Qingqiu’s line of sight as his face twisted a little.
“What method did you use to preserve his body?” Mu Qingfang asked.
“Mu-xiansheng is the Qian Cao Peak Lord,” Luo Binghe said very lightly. “You know better than I how to preserve a fleshly body without destroying it.”
After a long pause, Mu Qingfang’s original attitude of indirect refusal to cooperate finally collapsed. “Forcefully channeling your spiritual energy into Shen-shixiong’s corpse every day does barely anything—you just barely prevent his body’s decay while consuming an enormous amount of spiritual power. Furthermore, the moment you stop for a single day, all of your prior efforts will go to waste. With all due respect, Shen-shixiong has already—”
“Qian Cao Peak’s medical skills are the best in the world,” Luo Binghe interrupted. “Moreover, Mu-xiansheng is a peak lord. You must know of some alternative.”
“There is none,” said Mu Qingfang.
Faced with this stubbornness, Luo Binghe’s already thin patience finally wore out completely. “If there isn’t a way, think of one!” he sneered. “Until Mu-xiansheng thinks of an alternative, he has no need to return to Cang Qiong Mountain!”
With a fierce wave of his sleeve, the great doors of Huan Hua Pavilion suddenly burst open, startling Mu Qingfang. Before he’d recovered, he’d been thrown out of the pavilion, and a group of yellow-robed disciples promptly surged forward to grab him, having been waiting all that while. Right after, the doors slammed shut.
A gust of cold wind blew through the pavilion. The candle fire within swayed, flickering between light and dark.
Suddenly, Luo Binghe called in his direction, “Shizun.”
Shen Qingqiu’s initial reaction was to startle.
He thought that the Luo Binghe in the memory had seen him. However, he soon realized that Luo Binghe was only calling to him for the sake of it. He held no expectations that someone would answer.
Only after standing in the entranceway for a while did Luo Binghe slowly walk toward Shen Qingqiu. He sat on the side of the platform and tied up the curtain anew, then stared at that body’s face in a daze.
This daze lasted for a long period of time. Shen Qingqiu stood there with nothing to do, to the point that it became unbearable. He shifted his weight back and forth, then, unable to take it any longer, also went to the platform. As Luo Binghe stared at his corpse’s face, Shen Qingqiu stared at Luo Binghe’s. They stared and stared, until Luo Binghe reached out and slowly unfastened the sash of that corpse’s robe.
The leg with which Shen Qingqiu was crouching suddenly buckled a little.
Words like, “the scene was too beautiful to behold,” really didn’t suit this moment, because the corpse upon the sitting platform…really didn’t look that great. From the neck down, it was wholly mottled and discolored: livor mortis.
Luo Binghe removed his own outer robe. Then, like he was handling a large doll, he pulled the corpse into an embrace so that they were pressed skin to skin. If a stranger saw this, they would definitely either be frightened out of their wits or they would find the whole thing overwhelmingly disgusting, and a selection of nasty words would come to mind. But in reality, Luo Binghe only held the corpse. He didn’t touch it in any improper sort of way.
Luo Binghe’s jaw pressed against the dark crown of Shen Qingqiu’s hair. One of his hands slid down the curve of his spine, gently caressing it. While he did so, he sent large amounts of spiritual energy into the body. The green-purple spots of liver mortis slowly faded, and the skin once again became a smooth snow-white.
This position and these movements both pulled gently at a string within Shen Qingqiu’s heart.
He remembered. He’d once performed these exact movements for Luo Binghe.
It had been a night not long after Luo Binghe moved into the Bamboo House.