Chapter Text
For once, Sha Hualing wakes up first. Immediately the demoness flushes beet red, because Liu Mingyan’s tit is grazing her lips and realizes she fell asleep that way instead of going down on her beautiful love, and she’s ashamed. What’s more, Liu Mingyan apparently just lay there and let her fall asleep like a breastfeeding baby! She didn’t even move!
Lame. Sha Hualing has become so lame. What a shadow of herself remains if she can fall asleep in the middle of sex! Liu Mingyan stirs in a few moments, squinting her face and propping herself on an elbow with a quiet noise of complaint. Sha Hualing drools over the glowing white of her skin in the morning light, the shine of her silky locks that fall forwards over her shoulder, and the valley of her waistline.
And of course, she’s completely naked. As soon as silver meets brown, Liu Mingyan flushes too, and turns away to face the wall, but this only exposes the graceful lines of her back and butt as the sheets slide further down.
“Good morning,” Liu Mingyan says.
“Good morning….”
“It’s late,” she looked out the window, a question in her voice.
“Hum… It looks like it,” Sha Hualing agrees.
“Ah… let’s get dressed and meet with Qian Zhilan, quickly.”
Sha Hualing agrees and gets up, both women dressing and putting fixing their hair promptly. When they step downstairs, Qian Zhilan is waiting at one of the tables in the dining area. She glances at them apathetically and stands up to meet them.
“Good Morning, Liu Mingyan. Let us go somewhere we can talk,” Qian Zhilan pointedly ignores Sha Hualing, showing Liu Mingyan the way to a discreet room tucked away between halls. Sha Hualing follows in after them.
“Now,” Qian Zhilan says as she shuts the door. “I would imagine that to be the Sha Hualing you mentioned last night.” The tall woman looks right at Sha Hualing as she speaks, yet doesn’t quite speak to her. It irritates the demoness.
“Yes, this is her,” Liu Mingyan nods.
Qian Zhilan sizes her up, piercing blue eyes staring with disdain at Sha Hualing, who has decided she really doesn’t like this woman.
“Hmm,” She says with no further interest. “To recapitulate, Liu Mingyan, you have Luo Binghe’s blood in you, and Sha Hualing is offsetting that with her own. In turn, Sha Hualing carries Luo Binghe’s qi within her meridians, and as to not be discovered, she is simply suppressing her qi altogether, but she cannot do so for long using the same method, correct?”
“Correct,” Liu Mingyan says.
Qian Zhilan’s eyes narrow. “Go have something to eat, Liu Mingyan. Tell them I said it’s on the house.”
Liu Mingyan looks at the tall woman in confusion. “…I am sorry?”
“It turns out that I need to speak with Sha Hualing privately. I am sure you are hungry, so please go have something to eat,” she explains.
“….Very well.” She throws Sha Hualing a nervous glance and leaves.
“Well then, beast,” she says as soon as Liu Mingyan is out of earshot, “I’ll get straight to the point. Liu Mingyan asked me if there was a way to rid that slimy conqueror’s qi from your own, and in all my years of experience, I have never encountered such an issue. I have no solution off the top of my head, but on account of your friend’s reputation, I have agreed to look into it, though I do not feel optimistic about it.”
That…. no way? Sha Hualing is shocked. That’s not what she wanted to hear. Thinking about it now, it’s no wonder why Liu Mingyan was sort of indirect about things last night.
“Also, I know of your predicament,” Qian Zhilan adds, “A ‘qi-suppressing potion,’ is what you’ve decided to call it, hm?”
Sha Hualing’s eyes go wide but Qian Zhilan doesn’t give her a chance to retort.
“Fear not; I have no plans on spilling your secrets to Liu Mingyan. By now you must have been forced to admit that eventually this poison will kill you, yes?”
Qian Zhiling’s blue eyes pin her, so completely devoid of emotions that Sha Hualing wonders if she isn’t actually a Mobei descendant masquerading as a human.
“I…” Sha Hualing grits her teeth. She knows. It’s true—she knows that she would keep getting worse on this poison, and eventually… She wouldn’t be able to protect Liu Mingyan with her blood anymore. “Yes,” she simply says. “But there is a bigger problem, Qian Zhilan—”
“I do not permit demons to call me by name. You will address me as Priestess.”
Sha Hualing’s face burned a little bit at this order. What is this woman’s problem? What’s stuck up her ass? It’s not like all demons are brainless, low-life savages! She huffed a deep breath out to try and expel some of her anger. Do it for Mingyan…Do it for Mingyan!
“Priestess,” she punctuated, and seeing that Qian Zhilan didn’t stop her, continued, “My health is not our primary concern. The biggest problem is Luo Binghe’s blood that lives inside Mingyan. We have to… It must be eradicated.”
Qian Zhilan’s eyes narrowed, looking Sha Hualing over as if she just went from a pile of shit to a pile of rotten hay. “Indeed…It seems that you do genuinely care for Liu Mingyan. If it’s a matter of removing demon blood from humans, I have done it many times. There is a fool-proof solution.”
Sha Hualing’s anger subsides at this. “Really? What is it?”
“If given enough demonic qi, the blood can be completely destroyed. In other words, the shattering of a demon’s golden core.”
“Shatter…” Sha Hualing knits her brows. “Won’t that kill me?”
“I have seen that to be the most frequent outcome with such an operation,” Qian Zhilan says indifferently.
“Then…”
“What? Is your life greater than that of Liu Mingyan’s?”
Sha Hualing’s eyes were on the floor, but at this, she looks up at Qian Zhilan and shakes her head vigorously. “No, no, of course not. I would gladly give my life for her.”
Qian Zhilan’s face pinches minutely tighter. “Demon… what exactly is Liu Mingyan to you?”
Sha Hualing boldly replies, “My world.”
The tall woman scoffs. “I see. Now that I think of it, crushing your spiritual core would solve both problems. Liu Mingyan would be free from Luo Binghe and you wouldn’t have any qi left at all, so you would be free as well.”
No qi at all… Sha Hualing shudders. It’s hard to imagine, and she’s never heard of a demon surviving such a thing. Even if she survived… maybe she wouldn’t have hallucinations or be coughing up blood in the night anymore, but, she would probably still be lethargic. A sickly creature, confined to the bed and house for the rest of her life, of delicate constitution… This would inevitably be the only life ahead of her, but if it meant she could be with Liu Mingyan, then…
She would be okay.
It’s thousands of times better than dying and letting Liu Mingyan die as well. She suddenly couldn’t hold back a bark of laughter. Pah! Either way, wasn’t she going to die? So be it, then. She’ll just have to hold Liu Mingyan as many times as she could before then.
“Okay,” she gathered her resolution. “I am willing to use this method to cure Mingyan… I only request that if I die… Mingyan… please don’t let her do anything rash.”
Qian Zhilan’s icy blues seemed to penetrate right through her. “Naturally, the Black Lotus will use every means possible to assure Liu Mingyan’s safety in the event that you don’t survive, but given her cultivation, I can’t promise success.”
Sha Hualing closes her eyes with clenched fists.
“There is a complication,” the aloof woman across from her states. “With you taking this poison, your qi is, of course, at uselessly low levels. Even if we were to shatter your core in this state, it wouldn’t do us any good at all.”
“Oh… Then what am I supposed to do? I can’t just stop taking it; Binghe would find us.”
“He would find you,” she corrected.
Sha Hualing narrows her eyes. “…What are you getting at?”
“Here is my proposition: you stop taking the poison, we lead you away from Liu Mingyan so that she won’t be discovered, shatter your golden core once your qi is at full vitality, harvest the energy, and bring it back to rid Liu Mingyan of the blood.”
Sha Hualing makes a reluctant noise of protest, “I don’t want to be away from her… is there any other way? Besides, if I’m not here, then what will happen if Binghe uses his blood against Mingyan?”
Qian Zhilan puts a finger on her chin and looks pensively at the window. “We have some regents to help her through that event, although it won’t be very effective, it will at least keep her intact. This is the only way.”
…She hates this. Leave Liu Mingyan? They may only have a few more days together for the rest of this life?
The cold woman clears her throat, “There is someone I need to consult with to map out a plan to keep you mobile while your qi recovers. I think you should get off the poison immediately—the longer it has to leave your body, the quicker your qi will rejuvenate. In the meantime, I can siphon your qi away each day so that Luo Binghe won’t be able to detect you.”
“Qian… Priestess, can we not do anything else?” Sha Hualing worries her lip.
“Tsk… I have spoken. I have laid out my reasons in front of you, yet you refuse to listen. Keep in mind that I am doing this as a favor to Ruan Jiao. Will you take my offer or not?”
The demoness rattles with a helpless sigh. “….Okay. I take your offer.”
Qian Zhilan nods. “Very good. Then, let us go speak with Liu Mingyan. I have an intuition that she wouldn’t permit us to carry out this plan if she knew, so I will have to feed her some half-truths.”
Sha Hualing throws a terse look at her. “You had better make it something believable. I’m starting to think she’s not far away from knowing everything, even without all this suspicious nonsense we’re about to give her.”
Qian Zhilan lifts her head, and looks down at Sha Hualing—the most supercilious and infuriating look, and scowls, “Watch your tone with your benefactor, beast.”
A vein pops out on Sha Hualing’s forehead. If she had a fraction of the strength she normally does, she’d strangle this woman without reserve! Insufferable wretch! She tries to keep her breaths normal and grits out, “Priestess, let’s go talk to Mingyan.”
Qian Zhilan turns away without a word and whisks away, her long hair swaying behind her. Sha Hualing follows her out the room and down to Liu Mingyan’s table, which has long been cleared of her empty dishes.
She looks expectantly at the two, and also with relief to see that Sha Hualing wasn’t hurt after all. Sha Hualing scooches in next to her, Qian Zhilan taking her seat across from them.
“Liu Mingyan,” she addresses, “after some brainstorming, we have decided upon a method.” Liu Mingyan’s eyes brighten. “My dear friend will assist me in performing a ritual to rid Luo Binghe’s meddling in Sha Hualing’s qi, but for she needs to stop taking the qi-suppressant in order for it to work. I will help her suppress her qi each day without the help of this potion, but she will need to see me every day without fail.”
“Then,” Liu Mingyan’s eyebrows rise, “There is a way to fix it… Thank you… Thank you, Qian Zhilan,” she bows her head.
“Save your gratitude, please. Liu Mingyan, you may not be the Empress any more, but remember your place and don’t lower yourself before the likes of my stature.”
Liu Mingyan feels somewhat refreshed to hear such words. How long it’s been since she was a cultivator… how many years she wasted away as a wife! She raises her head and nods.
“Liu Mingyan… about Ruan Jiao… how do you know her?” Qian Zhilan asks hesitantly.
“She was my handmaiden at the palace for several years… She was a good friend to me,” she replies.
The blue-eyed woman laughs, and Sha Hualing feels like she’s seen it before. “Handmaiden to the Empress? That child… so defiant,” she sighs, and it’s not filled with characteristic frost, but something as close to fondness as either of them has seen from her yet. “I am glad to hear she was good to you. I hope she didn’t trouble you at all.”
“Not at all,” Liu Mingyan shakes her head. “…Qian Zhilan, if I may inquire… who exactly is Ruan Jiao? She… why was she discharged from the Black Lotus, and how did she end up at the palace?”
“How she ended up at the palace is beyond me,” she shrugs. “As for her dismissal….. I sent her away because she disobeyed orders.”
“Disobeyed orders?... What did she do?”
“She was killing demons when she should have been picking pockets and robbing the gentry. Ruan Jiao had never been one for authority, and I finally had enough of it, so I expelled her.”
…Is that so? Qian Zhilan speaks curtly, but Liu Mingyan can see it—opaque and well-hidden, but present, there is something behind those eyes of hers that is unmistakably pained. She knows there’s more to the story than that, but Qian Zhilan must not want to speak of it, so she doesn’t press.
“I see… It is all thanks to Ruan Jiao that Sha Hualing and I stand here today. Without her help, we could not have escaped.”
“Well then, I am glad the tricky brat came in handy for you… She… was she doing well at the palace?”
Liu Mingyan nods, “She was cheerful and of good health.”
“I do have to wonder what you did to make her so cooperative. Ruan Jiao won’t help others for the good of it. She’s quite selfish and recalcitrant… but never mind. She’s had plenty a scolding from me in vain; no use talking about it now.”
“Qian Zhilan… you speak as though,” Liu Mingyan collects her words. “Did you perhaps… raise her?”
Qian Zhilan’s face doesn’t depart from its cold mode. “It’s all in the past, Liu Mingyan.”
Liu Mingyan hums. Understood. There must be sensitive history. This person is obviously not her mother, however; they couldn’t look any more different.
“As I said,” Qian Zhilan abruptly redirects, “Sha Hualing must see me every day. I will send for my friend to come to Feng Gang, and from there we will carry forward. Don’t let her take any more qi-suppressant.”
“Will it really be okay without it?” Liu Mingyan wavers.
“That much, I can absolutely promise you. Worry not,” she replies. Sha Hualing guiltily lowers her gaze. “I have a letter to write. I’m afraid that you may find yourself idle in Feng Gang for a while, as there is not much by way of attractions… Feel free to stay at the inn as long as you’d like.” Qian Zhilan bows to Liu Mingyan, purposefully doesn’t spare Sha Hualing a glance, and leaves.
Two weeks pass like a slug crossing the country. The two women stayed at the inn and played enough chess to be sick of it forever. Liu Mingyan went on plenty of walks, on which Sha Hualing could only occasionally accompany her. Her condition seems to have somewhat improved—far less hallucinations and erratic behavior.
Except… Liu Mingyan can’t swallow her suspicion that Sha Hualing is hiding something. Her lover is still weak from her daily qi siphoning, but her lips are also tighter than she’s ever known them to be, which is distinctly abnormal for Sha Hualing. She answers too many questions with nothing but a melancholy smile. They make love every single night, so why is it that Liu Mingyan has such a sense of impending loss? For all they do, they should feel closer than ever before, but it’s as if Sha Hualing is fading into the wind.
Sha Hualing has seen her noticing. She hears the serious questions that go unasked at the end of the day. Her spirit is sliced with the deprivation of answering them—especially at this moment.
“…Already?” Sha Hualing stares at Qian Zhilan in denial.
“My companion Wu Fang is waiting just outside Feng Gang with everything we need. We leave tonight,” Qian Zhilan’s expression gains a degree more of severity, “and it is imperative that you slip out unnoticed. Liu Mingyan will likely be able to stop us if she were to understand the situation.”
Sha Hualing nods. “I know… I’ll handle it.”
“Good. Come get me as soon as you are ready; I will be waiting.” With that, Sha Hualing is shown the door, and left in her thoughts.
Already. The time is come for her to let Liu Mingyan’s hand slip from hers. She had hoped she would have longer to prepare herself for this, but she understands that this can’t be delayed. Sha Hualing returns to their room and sits at the table, playing a game of chess with herself, because Liu Mingyan had left earlier to take a walk. A short time later, the cultivator is stepping through the door, her plain robes hanging stiffly from her wrists and figure.
They greet each other with a warm gaze and Liu Mingyan comes to sit next to her. The hot rays of the evening sunset filter through the open window onto the both of them, and Sha Hualing suppresses a yawn.
Sha Hualing scooches closer and rests against Liu Mingyan, who pats a welcoming hand down her head of wavy hair. The two of them have become accustomed to casual touches in their time at Feng Gang, but now the demoness has to still her aching heart. She may never get to feel this again—Liu Mingyan’s soft chest, her gentle hand, the undying loyalty beneath her silver gaze. After tonight…
A servant interrupts her spiraling sadness to deliver dinner, which she had requested to be pork bao for Mingyan. The latter is delighted, in that characteristic reserved nature of hers.
“I’ll have more tea brought up,” she says as they finish with their meal.
“Thank you,” Liu Mingyan says.
Sha Hualing takes a fresh tea tray from the servant minutes later, and slips a sleeping powder into Liu Mingyan’s cup before she enters the room.
“There you are,” she hands Liu Mingyan the cup of drugged tea with a forced smile. She scoots closer to Liu Mingyan and they gaze at the stars together—the new nightly routine.
“Mingyan,” she nudges.
“Hm?”
“I love you,” Sha Hualing says in a voice tinged with bittersweet.
“I love you too,” Liu Mingyan wraps an arm around her waist and brings her in closer to her side.
“Say… in the next life, what would you come back as?” Sha Hualing asks casually.
Liu Mingyan was used to strange questions as a frivolous routine of her lover’s, so she thinks nothing unusual of it. “One does not decide such things on their own terms,” she replies.
“Come on, that’s too like you… just humor me, Mingyan. If you could choose, then what?”
Liu Mingyan thinks for a minute. “I suppose I would be a crane. They live such free lives.”
“Ehh?” Sha Hualing whines, “Aren’t we supposed to be the same species so we can be lovers? I could never be a crane. It’s no good, pick something else.”
Liu Mingyan can’t help but chuckle. “Someone has apparently forgotten that we are in fact different species, yet are we not lovers?”
“But that’s different,” Sha Hualing protests, “A demon and human are similar in some ways.”
“Then you can come back as a flamingo. They are similar enough to cranes.”
“A flamingo?” Sha Hualing’s raises an eyebrow and quirks her lips doubtfully. “Our babies would look weird.”
“Babies?” Liu Mingyan looks at her in surprise. “Are you planning on reincarnating male?”
“No.”
“Then there should be no problem.”
“A crane…” Sha Hualing smiles. “It suits you. Elegant, dignified, independent… But it’s really more likely that you’d ascend rather than reincarnate.”
Liu Mingyan rolls her eyes and lays her head against Sha Hualing’s.
“I would probably come back as a frog, Mingyan. No, a worm.”
“A worm? Why would you want to be a worm?”
“I wouldn’t, but that’s probably the only option for scum like me,” Sha Hualing laughs. “I would crawl around in the dirt, and every day I would come up to the surface to gaze at the sky, where my goddess Mingyan lives. I would pray to her that someday I might be so blessed as to be crushed under her beautiful foot.”
Liu Mingyan breaks into a chain of sweet giggles—those beautiful little sounds that never fail to enrapture Sha Hualing anew. “Worms have no eyes,” she says.
“Tsk…don’t ruin it like that. Fine! I wouldn’t need eyes. I would just know by your aura whether you were there or not. How about it, Mingyan?”
“Mm,” she hums, but after a moment of contemplation: “I would not be able to grant your prayer.”
Sha Hualing looks searchingly at Liu Mingyan. “Why not?”
“Because… I would love you even if you were a worm. I could never step on you.”
Sha Hualing’s eyes are met by Liu Mingyan’s limpid pools, shining like moonlight off the dusk sea. “A worm and a goddess could be, if fate tied them together.”
Sha Hualing is surprised to hear such a romantic thing from Liu Mingyan, who tends to be realistic and pragmatic, but she is filled with assurance of their love. She kisses Liu Mingyan’s full and elegant lips chastely—a tender, lingering gesture that ends with their foreheads touching, and a smile on both women’s lips.
“Perhaps,” she whispers, “we could be tied together in the next life… whether as birds, or a worm and a divinity.” She takes Liu Mingyan into her arms, feeling her body get heavier against her own. “Fate really cannot be argued with, can it?” Sha Hualing’s vision gradually blurs as she waits to hear Liu Mingyan’s reply.
But no answer comes. A hot tear slides over her waterline and down her cheek as she listens to the sleeping woman’s peaceful breathing. Sha Hualing picks Liu Mingyan up with all of her emaciated strength, and lays her down on the bed. The cultivator’s lashes are still against her cheeks, her silky hair falling over her crude travel robes. Such robes don’t suit her, Sha Hualing thinks. She deserves the finest lightweight silk, colored in all the elegant pastels that she likes so much. She deserves to stand out over the world, veil, sword, victory, and all. That’s why Sha Hualing has to do this for her.
“Thank you for loving me, Mingyan. Let’s meet again someday,” Sha Hualing chokes on the last few words as her hand caresses her lover’s fair cheek, finally slipping away and turning around.
She knocks on Qian Zhilan’s door downstairs, which is quickly opened.
“Quickly, this way,” she whispers, with an indifference not at all matching her words. Sha Hualing follows her out the back door and mimics her quiet and swift steps. It makes sense that Qian Zhilan wants to ensure a discreet escape. They need Liu Mingyan to have no leads when she wakes up.
Almost 5 li later, a plain, horse-drawn carriage is waiting for them. Qian Zhilan leads Sha Hualing up to the door before she raps softly on the wood.
“Wu Fang, we are here.”
The curtain is pulled back to reveal a woman dressed in a black vest and pants. Her skin is dark enough to make her look like a farmer, but her face is intelligent and her features are sharp, giving off a peculiar feeling.
“Priestess,” she salutes and beckons both of them in.
“Let us not waste any time,” Qian Zhilan says to her, the latter nodding and hopping out to drive the horses. The moment the wheels begin to roll, Sha Hualing feels a sense of finality.
“Who was that?” Sha Hualing asks Qian Zhilan, who sits across from her.
“My most trusted subordinate, Wu Fang. We’ve been working together in the Black Lotus for as long as I remember.”
“I see.” Sha Hualing pays her quick respects to Wu Fang for being strapped to such a callous woman for ages.
No conversation is made for a long time. The air in the carriage is so morose Sha Hualing can hardly lift her head from her lap. “How long will it take?” She finally asks.
“Unfortunately that is indeterminable.” Qian Zhilan flips a page of her book.
“Could you give me a rough estimate?” Sha Hualing shoots her an irritated look.
The other woman sighs and looks up from her book. “For a demon of your caliber, it would probably be anywhere from several days to a few weeks for your core to heal completely, but it truly fluctuates with the individual.”
“Does it need to be fully healed?” Sha Hualing asks hopefully.
“At least fairly close to it,” Qian Zhilan replies.
Very well, then. Sha Hualing will just have to wait.
The Emperor’s Palace is opulent and filled with every luxury imaginable. The marble halls are spacious. Statues, urns, artifacts, and priceless ornaments decorate every wall and corner. With the countless chambers, courts, and of course, consorts, it should be a given that the Palace is a place filled with mirth and frivolous indulgence.
However, for many weeks, the Palace has been eerily quiet, and trepidation fills every space. It clings to every resident like an obsessed ghost, neither leaving them morning nor night. The consorts walk on egg shells each day in fear of upsetting Luo Binghe, who has been in such an awful temper that everyone fears for their lives.
Within the most lavish and spacious personal chamber in the entire palace—the Emperor’s quarters, lies the man himself, still holding desperately every night to the cold form of his former shizun. So far every servant that attempts to come in and attend to him in the past three days has either been violently turned away or killed.
Luo Binghe’s eyes are empty as he pours qi into Shen Qingqiu, whose body retains none of it. For weeks the Half-Demon emperor has been faithfully preserving Shen Qingqiu’s body and giving his human qi to him, holding onto an illusion of a morning when he would wake up to something other than a cold bed and a still body in his arms.
Just a little more. One more day. Raise the frequency. Try a different time. Consult the herbalists. He told himself, but nothing worked.
Nothing will work.
Luo Binghe suddenly cut his stream of qi, rolled Shen Qingqiu on his back, and observed him. His skin was like snow, not a sign of decay or color in sight, save for the brown moles that have started to look black against his ever paling skin. His hair had been brushed and oiled, in hopes that such a gesture would please him when he woke up. He was so thin that Luo Binghe’s torso was nearly twice the girth of his. All the preparations had been made for Shen Qingqiu to come back in a respectable state—except of course, for the tongue and limbs that had long been severed.
But it was all for naught, Luo Binghe finally realizes. Shen Qingqiu is gone.
“Ha…Haha…Hahaha! HAHAHAHA!” Luo Binghe throws his head back and laughs uncontrollably. “Shizun! You sneaky bastard!” He grabs Shen Qingqiu’s hollow cheeks in one hand and clenches, as if forcing him to look him in the eyes. “Look at me, Shen Qingqiu. Look at my palace! Look at my wives, my reputation, my body! I have everything! I conquered all there could possibly be to conquer. I took revenge on you for ruining me and tainting the world with your filth,” he spits. “I won,” Luo Binghe clenches the jaw in his hand tighter and grits his teeth in rage. Shen Qingqiu is motionless, but eventually starts to tremble from the motion that Luo Binghe realizes is his own quivering.
“I won… I WON!” he screams, his body heaving with frantic breaths. “I wasn’t finished with you, Shizun. How dare you leave?!”
Luo Binghe sits back on the bed, an uncanny calm seizing him. Crimson orbs stare into the wall for a long minute, before the Emperor stands up from the bed and summons Xin Mo. The blade is ripped from a fire rimmed black seam in the air, which quickly disappears as the hilt meets its master’s palm.
He holds the sword out, turns it upside down, and grips the hilt with both hands. With every ounce of his strength, he shoves the blade through his middle. His breath hitches and he watches the blood spurt out, flowing down and darkening his black robes. Xin Mo greedily devours his qi, the whole blade thrumming with the influx of unimaginable power. As sturdy as Luo Binghe is, it takes an agonizing length of time for his strength to abandon him.
He finally plops down to the floor, lying on his side and craning his neck up to the bed. He can no longer see the body atop it from this angle. Tears escape his eyes as his vision closes in. He takes in his dying breath.
“Shizun…..you....won.”