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With his only eye left, Shen Qingqiu stared at the entrance of the cave. He didn’t know how long it had been, but he knew that it must have been days since Luo Binghe went to the cave. However, Luo Binghe didn’t come alone today. It wasn’t unusual since Luo Binghe ordered some demons to torture Shen Qingqiu while he was sitting on a chair, watching them tortured Shen Qingqiu, sometimes even with a cup of hot tea in hand. What was unusual was that Luo Binghe was dragging somebody else, a limp body to be exact.
Stepping over the dried blood on the ground, Luo Binghe casually threw a body in front of Shen Qingqiu. "Shixiong Yue really stuck to the deal. He must be so desperate to save you if he agreed to go alone. I would really want to thank Shizun for writing the letter. It was too simple and a little hasty, but it was touching," Luo Binghe said as he rested his right palm on his left hand’s fist. Luo Binghe smirked as he followed the gesture by an overly dramatic bow.
"What did you do to him?" Shen Qingqiu asked coldly. His glare was fixated at the demon in front of him as he refused to look at the body in front of him.
"Shizun really thought I did anything to him? I am not a cold-blooded evil like you," Luo Binghe said, feigning hurt. His lips then curled up into a cruel smile as Luo Binghe continued, "Shixiong Yue was the one who stormed to my place, didn't even stop when hundreds of arrows were shot toward him. If I didn't order them to stop, he would be dead by now."
Luo Binghe kicked Yue Qing Yuan's body to flip it. Yue Qing Yuan's face was caked with his own blood. Blood started to pool onto the cave floor, soaking Yue Qing Yuan’s clothes. Yue Shen Qing Qiu’s breath caught in his throat. He wanted to look away, needed to tear his eyes away, but he could not. At least he could hold himself back from checking on the body in front of him.
“Why?” Shen Qingqiu asked, gritted his teeth.
“The crime of complicity,” Luo Binghe said casually. “He seems to care about you a lot, always act so benevolent toward you. Maybe that’s why he did nothing even though he must have known how you treat me.” Luo Binghe’s tone became bitter at the end of it and he looked at Yue Qingyuan with disgust.
Yue Qingyuan did try to talk to Shen Qingqiu about it, but both of them knew that the words only fell to deaf ears. The feeling of anger crept back inside his mind, although it was a different kind of anger. As if Luo Binghe could read what was inside his mind, he kicked Yue Qingyuan’s body again. Only then Shen Qingqiu could hear Yue Qing Yuan’s groan of pain. Instead of relief, Shen Qingqiu felt dread. Why would Luo Binghe let Yue Qingyuan alive?
“Shizun, what’s with the scary face?” Luo Binghe laughed. He went to Shen Qingqiu’s back and pulled his dishevelled hair. “You’re going to spend a long time here so shouldn’t you feel happy that I got you a company?”
Shen Qingqiu’s answered him by spitting on Luo Binghe. Luo Binghe’s chest heaved and he punched Shen Qingqiu’s face until he fell to the ground. Luo Binghe stomped on Shen Qingqiu’s body repeatedly before walking over toward Yue Qingyuan. Luo Binghe smiled darkly at Shen Qingqiu, both of them knew what Luo Binghe would do next.
Luo Binghe tore off Yue Qingyuan’s legs with great ease, as if he was plucking the legs of an insect. It was unclear whose scream was more deafening, Yue Qingyuan’s or Shen Qingqiu’s. Blood gushed out of Yue Qingyuan’s legs like a waterfall dyed red. Shen Qingqiu’s face was splattered with the warm crimson liquid.
“Do you think I don’t know that Shixiong Yue tried to help you escape the other day? It is actually very surprising to see that Shizun chose to stay in this cave instead,” Luo Binghe said as he tossed the legs to the other side of the cave. “Ah well, now I can make sure that you two won’t escape.”
As soon as Luo Binghe exited the cave, Shen Qingqiu tried to drag his own body toward Yue Qingyuan with both of his hands as quickly as possible.
“Xiao Jiu…“ Yue Qingyuan whimpered.
“You still-“ Shen Qingqiu said, his voice became higher from anger. However, before Shen Qingqiu could protest further, Yue Qingyuan had closed his eyes.
Yue Qingyuan woke up with a jolt, every sense urging him to claw his way to standing and unsheathe his sword. However, his scabbard was not even on his waist anymore. He also finally registered the pain from his legs, or the lack thereof, and flinched from the pain.
“Are you an idiot? I told you to never appear before me again and yet here you are.”
Yue Qingyuan looked toward Shen Qingqiu. His hair was dishevelled, a fractious mess of tangles. His face was caked with dried blood and dirt, his lips were busted. There were great purple welts all over his face that looked grotesque against his ghostly skin. Dirt and blood stained his tattered robe. Shen Qingqiu looked even worse compared to the last time he saw him at the same cave. Yue Qingyuan felt a pang in his heart when he saw his Xiao Jiu like this, so far from his usual elegant and immaculate self. However, he also felt a great relief that the other was still alive.
“Yue Qingyuan, can’t you use your mouth anymore?” Shen Qingqiu asked, sounded annoyed.
“You ask for help, so of course I have to help you,” Yue Qingyuan said.
Both of them knew that Yue Qingyuan was aware that the whole thing was a trap. It was so obvious, but when he opened the chest that contained Shen Qingqiu’s legs and read the letter that begged for his help, Yue Qingyuan didn’t even care that it was a trap.
“Are you still trying to fulfil that stupid promise?”
Yue Qingyuan was a selfish man. He wanted to save Shen Qingqiu because he wished that it was enough for them to rekindle with each other. He wanted to save Shen Qingqiu because he, indeed, wanted to fulfil his promise to come back and save him. He wanted to be allowed to call him Xiao Jiu again. ‘It isn’t stupid,’ Yue Qingyuan thought. “I just want to help my shidi. Consider it as my job as a peak leader.”
Shen Qingqiu scoffed. This was another thing that they both knew, that nobody would try to save Shen Qingqiu even if his captor wasn’t as strong as Luo Binghe. Yue Qingyuan knew that the other peak masters thought it was karma that was long overdue.
Yue Qingyuan soon found out that sleeping wasn’t a good idea. This was also something that Shen Qingqiu had told him, or more like, hissing at him to wake him up. However, Shen Qingqiu himself had fallen asleep and Luo Binghe went inside the cave. Yue Qingyuan was also asleep but he was woken up by Shen Qingqiu’s scream. Luo Binghe had thrown acid to Shen Qingqiu’s face to wake him up. Luo Binghe purposefully targeted the right side of his face because he wanted Shen Qingqiu to still be able to see. Where was the fun of torturing somebody if they couldn’t see it. Luo Binghe then looked at Yue Qingyuan, his maniacal smile curled into a knowing smile as they locked eyes with each other. The red eyes, that seemed like they were glowing in the dark cave, made Yue Qingyuan shivered because even he could see that Luo Binghe really enjoyed the whole thing. Luo Bing He then left just like that, happily saying, “Good morning!” to both of them as he walked away.
Yue Qingyuan had pulled himself toward Shen Qingqiu who was holding his face.
“Xiao-“
Shen Qingqiu slapped away his hand and spat at him, “See?! This is why I told you to go away from here!”
“I couldn’t leave you behind. Not again,” Yue Qingyuan said.
Shen Qingqiu’s chest heaved. “The Xiao Jiu you knew is dead!”
Those words were enough to shut Yue Qingyuan’s up. He swallowed back all those words that he wanted to say. His heart filled with guilt and he wondered if he just fulfilled his promise back then, if he could just escape from the spirit cave, maybe both of them wouldn’t be here. Sure, Yue Qingyuan knew that Shen Qingqiu wasn’t a saint even when he was young, but there wasn’t so much hatred in his heart. Yue Qingyuan had always blamed himself for Shen Qing Qiu’s low morality.
Although sleeping wasn’t a good idea, they were bound to fall asleep again. It was mainly Shen Qingqiu, who Yue Qingyuan noticed had tried so hard to not fall asleep from both his pain and fatigue. It was almost like the day Luo Binghe disfigured the right side of Shen Qing Qiu’s face, but he was awakened by groans and murmurs instead.
“Qi Ge… Qi Ge… Help…”
It seemed that Shen Qingqiu was having a nightmare. He felt a pang in his heart when he noticed that tears were rolling down his cheeks as he thrashed around.
“Xiao Jiu, it’s okay. I’m here,” Yue Qingyuan softly said, gently wiped the tears away. He wanted to hold him, to try to soothe him but he knew that Shen Qingqiu wouldn’t appreciate it when he was awake. So Yue Qingyuan just stroked Shen Qingqiu’s hair, whispering apologies upon apologies. It was only later that Yue Qingyuan realized that he was crying himself.
Yue Qingyuan had been acting weird. Shen Qingqiu had noticed that the other had become paler although every time Shen Qingqiu looked at him, the other would flash him a small smile. The smile wasn’t what irritated him, it was the fact that Yue Qingyuan looked like he was burdened by guilt. Maybe he should have told him that he had forgiven the other man when he tried to rescue him the first time. Who was he kidding, there was no correct choice. At first he thought that he could keep Yue Qingyuan away if he cut ties with him, but obviously it didn’t work.
When Yue Qingyuan had coughed up blood, Shen Qingqiu finally realized that something was wrong. Although they were imprisoned together in this cave, aside from his legs, Yue Qingyuan wasn’t tortured by Luo Binghe. Sure, he was kicked once or twice when he still tried to stop Luo Bing He from hurting Shen Qingqiu even though everyone knew it was pointless.
When confronted, Yue Qingyuan said nothing and instead fussed over Shen Qingqiu. He still tried to use his own qi to heal Shen Qingqiu, or at least alleviated his pain. Shen Qingqiu vehemently refused at first, but Yue Qingyuan had looked so vulnerable (even more vulnerable than the previous time) that Shen Qingqiu finally let him.
It was Luo Binghe who told him the truth after another torture session, breaking his right arm before tearing it from his body. Yue Qingyuan had screamed at Luo Binghe to stop before he coughed violently, blood spurting to the ground.
“As expected of Shixiong Yue. You managed to hold off the effect of the poison until now,” Luo Bing He said.
Luo Binghe lied to him. Luo Binghe had always been a swine and a liar, so now, he must have also said this to try to break him more. It all made sense though, not to mention that Yue Qingyuan refused to look at Shen Qingqiu, turning his face away in shame. The gesture itself was already an answer to his question. Yue Qingyuan had known that he was poisoned and Shen Qingqiu was quite sure that the poison came from the arrows that shot Yue Qingyuan. Shen Qingqiu clenched his remaining fist until the knuckles became white and he roared.
“It’s a selfish request, but can you listen to me? I knew you said that my apology was no use and I understand that. Actually, I also think it is of no use now. You don’t even need to forgive me,” Yue Qingyuan said, coughing in between. He tried so hard to say it all out loud, making it as if he used his last breaths to speak.
“Shut up!” Shen Qingqiu said. He had been trying to use his qi to cleanse the poison from Yue Qingyuan’s body, but he was too weak and he knew that the bastard Luo Binghe would have used a potent poison.
“Please, I just… I just don’t want you to think that I abandon you,” Yue Qingyuan said, his hands gripped Shen Qingqiu’s. “That time… I injured myself because I was trying to be strong as quickly as possible. My teacher confined me in a cave so I could properly recover, or that what was he said. Obviously, I wasn’t strong enough because I couldn’t get to you. I’m so sorry, Xiao Jiu. I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have left you at the first place.”
“The past is in the past! There’s no point of talking about the past now.”
“Xiao Jiu…”
Shen Qingqiu was going to tell him that Yue Qingyuan should just forget about that name, but he closed his mouth. The Chang Qiong Mountain Sect’s leader was now in front of him, dying and looking so desperate to atone his non-existent sin. The same feeling of pity that he felt when Yue Qingyuan first tried to rescue him came back, rising inside him. “Like I said, just forget about it now,” he said before hesitantly added. “Qi Ge.”
When Shen Qingqiu cried there was a rawness to it, like the pain was still an open wound. He sobbed into Yue Qingyuan’s unmoving chest, hands clutching at the tattered robe. The sobs were stifled at first as he attempted to hide his grief, then overcome by the wave of his emotions he would break down entirely, all his defences washed away in those salty tears. When he at last turned his face to Luo Binghe, who went back to the cave at such perfect timing, he was a picture of grief, loss, devastation.
Shen Qingqiu lowered his head once more and when he raised it again, his eyes glowed in the darkness like fire. Word by word, Shen Qingqiu spat, “Luo Binghe, do you know that you are a bastard?”
Luo Binghe’s only reply was a cruel and cold smile.