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On the third day his blood mites fall silent.
He's been banned from Qian Cao Peak for the duration, banned from Qing Jing Peak and pretty much every other peak except An Ding, where he's been pacing, panicking - desperate for news, for something, anything. Resorting to monitoring Shizun's bodily health from a distance if that's all he can do.
If that's all he's allowed to do.
But on the third day his blood mites fall silent.
On the fourth comes the news that Peak Lord Shen is at long last returning to his home on Qing Jing, news brought by a stand-offish Liu Qingge. News and more.
"He's inviting me to - to come for tea?"
Liu Qingge scowls.
"He's been told that he doesn't need to have anything to do with you. That I'll chase you off the mountain if he asks."
"I'd like to see you try," and he bares his teeth right back at the Bai Zhan War God, but his heart's not quite in it.
"Ah, Liu-shidi - what Lord Luo means is that he'll come for tea," Shang-shishu placates, then jumps back as they both turn their scowls on him. Huh. The An Ding Peak Lord's jumpier than he's been ever since he and Mobei-jun got their act together.
He turns back to Liu Qingge and takes the written invitation, calligraphy graceful and ever so slightly wrong, from his hands.
"Tell him I'll come for tea."
Liu Qingge stands guard by the door of the bamboo house, but he makes no move to follow Luo Binghe inside. Well, he twitches, as if he really wants to, and has been firmly ordered not to.
Inside a stranger sits by the table.
Ming Fan is laying out tea and plates with tiny cakes, startling at the sight of his shidi and rushing to finish and escape their company.
The stranger frowns at where he went, then turns his gaze back at Luo Binghe. Rises and bows.
"This Peak Lord Shen Qingqiu greets Emperor Luo Binghe."
"This Lord greets Peak Lord Shen," he manages through a constricting throat and almost stumbles into his seat.
He watches as the Peak Lord pours their tea, watches this man that he knows better than any other person - this body he's mapped out the surface of with his hands and lips and tongue, has memorized every vein and organ inside out with his blood mites, has plumbed the most hidden depths of with his cock, and yet…
And yet before him sits a stranger, a regal, mostly-forgotten childhood nightmare, raising his cup of tea at him.
For a moment he almost expects the man to throw it in his face.
Again.
The moment passes and the man puts his cup down as gracefully as every other thing he does. Gracefully and ever so slightly wrong.
"I assume Emperor Luo has been informed about the situation."
"This Lord was told that Shi- that Peak Lord Shen was found to have been possessed these last several years. That a qi deviation while this one was yet a junior disciple of Qing Jing left Peak Lord Shen vulnerable to a particularly insidious spirit to possess, a spirit that was only revealed and exorcised during the first visit from one of the previous generation of Peak Lords since their ascension."
"I see."
Shen Qingqiu looks down, frowning, then pours them another cup of tea. It's almost like he's stalling.
"That is all true, as far as it goes. And yet it is somewhat more complicated. You see, the reason why the possession required a full heaven official to detect is that there was actually two spirits involved."
"Two spirits? I have never heard of such a thing."
"Neither has my fellow peak lords, I fear. It took some time to convince them that I had not merely suffered a delusion, and Wang-shishu was exactly as helpful as I remember him from my youth. But yes, two spirits. One was the actual possessor spirit, a particularly malicious and cunning specimen, and the spirit that Wang-shishu quite unceremoniously tore out of me."
"And the second spirit, Peak Lord Shen?"
"The second spirit was no possessing spirit at all. That was how clever the first spirit, the System as it styled itself, was. It was the System that pushed me out of control of my own body, but then it put another spirit - some poor bastard it had snatched away from its rightful place - on top of itself, leaving it in control of my body most of the time, only occasionally rising to coerce the second spirit into taking certain actions as it saw fit."
"And - Peak Lord Shen said that Heaven Official Wang exorcised the spirit called the System. Does that mean that he did not…"
Hope rises, a trap, a poison sweetened to make the sting worse.
"The spirit you call your Shizun was not exorcised, no."
Shen Qingqiu rises abruptly and stalks across the room to the window.
"Some forms of possession are described by the victims as a deep sleep, others like a nightmarish dream. For me it was neither. I was trapped, bound by the System's chains in a distant corner of my own mind. I could see and hear everything that happened, but I could not do anything to influence events. It was - quiet."
"When Peak Lord Shen says that he could see everything?"
Shen Qingqiu arches an eyebrow and Luo Binghe finds himself abruptly looking away.
"Apart from your Shizun's brief stint as the so-called "Peerless Cucumber", yes, I've witnessed the last few years. What's more, while I could not act in my prison, the way the System had entangled itself with the both of us meant that I had access to my involuntary guest's memories of his past life - and precious little else to do with my time."
"Shizun's memories. You've seen - no, no nevermind, that's not important. You are telling me - where is my Shizun?" and he hates how far from the Emperor of the Demon Realm he feels.
"As far as I have determined, in that self-same corner of my mind. When the System was torn away and its chains and shackles dissolved, my mind rose out and reclaimed control of myself. This body is mine by birthright. Without the System's interference, no other spirit could make a claim."
"So, he can see me? Right now? Can you let him…"
A fan slams onto the table and Luo Binghe leans back, startled.
"Let me make one thing very clear, Emperor Luo. I have no intention of allowing any spirit - whether your precious Shizun or any other - to ever steal this body away from me for a second time, nor to engage in some sort of - of time-share arrangement. Is that understood?"
He feels his teeth sharpen, his nails lenghtening into claws. This - this is the cruelty he recalls, to dangle such a treasure before him and then to rip it away, laughing.
"Here."
He catches the scroll thrown at him just before it bounces off his forehead.
"What is this?"
"Those are directions to the three locations that are most similar in spiritual energy to the Bai Lu Forest according to my research, and thus most likely to contain a colony of the Sun-Moon Dew Mushrooms. It is not the fastest method, but it is one we already know to work."
"Mushrooms?"
"I imagine we could also harvest a suitable sample from your Lord Father's body, but I fear the demonic taint might have unpredictable effects on the process. It would be preferable to cultivate from a pure sample."
He looks up from where he's been studying a scroll of his own to frown at Luo Binghe, then sighs and puts it down.
"Emperor Luo. As I said, I have no intentions of allowing any spirit to steal my body anew - but neither do I desire to keep a spirit trapped within the confines of my flesh. However, as I harbor no ill will towards the spirit you call your Shizun, I do not object to a more - humane eviction procedure."
"Try again?"
"Excuse me?"
"I remember you, Peak Lord Shen. A petty tyrant who made my days miserable, and not a one I've ever met had anything better to say of you. You'd never care about such a thing as a "humane eviction procedure". This," and he shakes the scroll in his hand, " is just some ploy to get the Heavenly Demon to leave peacefully while the lot of you fortify the mountain against me. Why should I fall for that?"
Shen Qingqiu sighs. It's a surprisingly weary sigh.
"It is no ploy, Emperor Luo, no plot nor scheme. It's - I had a lot of time to think in my captivity, a lot of time to think on certain things I learned from your Shizun's memories."
"His memories?"
"Your Shizun has - shall we call it a form of foresight? He knows - or thinks he knows, and I fear he was probably more right than wrong - how life would have unfolded for you and I if he had not been put here to upset things, and - well. Suffice is to say that while it was not his choice to come, and I refuse to be grateful for having had my own body stolen away from me, I - I believe I owe a debt to the spirit you call Shizun. So I shall assist in this matter, and once it's done, I shall consider my debt to him repaid in full. As well as my debt to you."
"Your debt to me?"
Shen Qingqiu looks back down at his scroll, reaching for a pen.
"Alright. Let's say I believe you. But I need one more thing before I agree. I need - this Lord is an accomplished Dream Demon. You tell me that my Shizun is alive inside your mind, but for my own peace of mind, I must - you must allow me to…"
"Proof of life," Shen Qingqiu mutters, putting the pen back down. "As he said."
"Proof of?"
"Nevermind. This Lord Shen - will allow it."
Luo Binghe stares. He thought this would the final step too far for Shen Qingqiu, the nail he'd yank away for the whole matter to unravel like an illusion, a petty, pretty lie…
"There will be conditions. Precautions. I'm not having a demon messing around inside my memories unmonitored. Also," and he points his fan accusingly at Luo Binghe, "there is to be absolutely no fornication inside my mind, is that perfectly clear?"
A bark of laughter burst from inside of him, the sheer absurdity of the statement finally, finally making him realize that this? This is real! That Shizun, that his husband, that his Shen…
"Peak Lord Shen?"
"Hmmm."
"You keep referring to the spirit as my Shizun, as the spirit I call my Shizun. But you claim to have had access to his mind, his memories. Surely - surely you must know…"
"His real name? Yes. And I'm not going to tell you."
The fury rises again, like yet another wave on the sea rolling towards a pier.
"Be honest with yourself, Emperor Luo. Is that really something you want to learn - from me?"