☆ Chapter 51 Filling in the Gaps
The sound of flesh tearing apart.
There were also mute screams.
Shen Qingqiu pressed his temples, and the scene before him gradually became clearer.
A sea of blood.
The corpses piled up like mountains.
Luo Binghe stood motionless in this scene that resembled purgatory.
He was dressed in black, so black that it couldn't be stained red, but half of his face was stained with crimson blood as he mechanically and coldly raised and lowered his sword.
Shen Qingqiu stared blankly at the scene.
Originally, the sight of Luo Binghe would automatically conjure up an image of him rolling off the bed, clutching his body, sending chills down his spine, and making him want to run far away immediately. But now, even that thought of avoiding him had been overwhelmed by shock.
Luo Binghe was actually slaughtering his own dream creations. It was practically no different than me taking a steel knife and shoving it into his brain.
Only a madman would do something like this, unless they're mentally challenged and ignorant!
Although Shen Qingqiu often said that Luo Binghe was a masochist who liked to torture himself, he couldn't laugh anymore when the self-torture had reached this level.
Luo Binghe looked up at him, his eyes glazed over, seemingly out of his mind. But then his eyes suddenly cleared, and he immediately threw away the longsword in his hand, tossing it far away.
He hid his blood-stained hands behind his back and whispered, "Master."
Then, he suddenly remembered that there was blood on his face, and tried to wipe the blood off half of his face with his sleeve as a last resort. But the more he wiped, the dirtier it became, making him look like a child caught stealing something, and he became more and more uneasy.
Shen Qingqiu forced himself to calm down and asked, "...What are you doing?"
Luo Binghe whispered, "Master, I... I've lost you again. This disciple is useless; I couldn't even protect your body."
Shen Qingqiu's expression was complicated.
So his brutal killing of the dream creations just now was... a form of self-punishment?
No wonder Luo Binghe couldn't even sense whether he was a product of the illusion or an intruder from the outside world.
Shen Qingqiu truly hadn't expected Luo Binghe to have reached this point. He was practically insane in his current state.
Judging from Luo Binghe's skill level, this was probably not the first time he had done this. Shen Qingqiu felt more than just reluctant; he felt it was a sin.
Shen Qingqiu sighed, unconsciously softening his voice as he comforted her, "If it's lost, it's lost."
Luo Binghe stared at him blankly and said, "...But that's all I have now."
Did he really spend those five years carrying around a corpse, an empty shell?!
Luo Binghe's voice suddenly turned cold: "After Huayue City, I said that I would never lose my master again in this lifetime, but someone else still took him away."
The deep-seated hatred was as evident as the dark red in his pupils. The longsword he had tossed aside flew up as if summoned, piercing through the chests of the several "people" struggling for their lives on the ground. Amidst the screams of agony, Shen Qingqiu instinctively grabbed him, scolding, "Don't do this! Do you know that's self-harm in a dream?!"
Luo Binghe certainly knew that he was the one who created this barrier.
He stared intently at Shen Qingqiu, then placed his hand on the back of Shen's hand. After a long while, he said, "I know I'm dreaming. Only in dreams would you scold me like this, Master."
Upon hearing this, Shen Qingqiu suddenly realized something.
No. That's not right.
We can't treat Luo Binghe like this.
If you don't have those feelings for someone, you shouldn't give them hope. The greater the hope, the greater the disappointment, and the higher the chance of them continuing to be delusional or even insane. Even in a dream, you shouldn't drag things out like this.
A clean break is necessary; dragging things out will only create more trouble. Shen Qingqiu decisively withdrew her hand, straightened her expression, adopted a distant demeanor, and turned to leave.
Luo Binghe was stunned for a moment after being shaken off, but immediately caught up and said, "Master, I know I was wrong."
Shen Qingqiu said coldly, "If you know you're wrong, then don't follow me!"
Luo Binghe said urgently, "I regretted it a long time ago, but I just couldn't tell you. Are you still angry that I forced you to self-destruct your spirit body? I have already repaired all the spiritual veins in Master's body, and I have not lied to you! As long as I can enter the Holy Mausoleum... I will definitely have a way to wake you up again."
Shen Qingqiu didn't answer, thinking that he should hit him on the head a few times to wake him up, but Luo Binghe suddenly pounced on him, wrapped his arms around him from behind, and hugged him tightly, refusing to let go even when he was throwing a tantrum.
Shen Qingqiu stiffened from his embrace, feeling as if he had been rubbed by something furry. His hair stood on end. He gathered his strength in his hands, but still couldn't bring himself to actually hit him. He gritted his teeth and squeezed out a single word: "Get lost!"
We agreed that after the character turns evil, they wouldn't go down the path of suffering! No more drawn-out drama!
Luo Binghe ignored him and said, "Is Master still angry about the matter of Jinlan City?"
Shen Qingqiu said, "That's right."
Luo Binghe refused to let go, muttering, "When I returned from the Abyss, I knew that you, Master, claimed to the outside world that I was killed by the demons. At first, I thought that you were being soft-hearted, after all, you still had some feelings for me and didn't want me to be disgraced. But after meeting you and seeing your attitude, I'm afraid that I was too optimistic. I'm afraid that you're just hiding it for me and that you've only hurt my reputation by teaching a demon."
He spoke pitifully, rushing out one sentence after another, as if afraid that Shen Qingqiu would rudely interrupt him and stop him from continuing. He said, "I really didn't arrange for the sower to be here. I was so angry that I let my master be locked in the water dungeon... I knew I was wrong a long time ago."
If it were the real Luo Binghe, he probably wouldn't be so talkative. It's likely only in the dreams he creates for himself that he dares to ramble on like this. Pushing him away at this moment would be like slapping a little girl who's finally managed to cling to a piece of driftwood and is crying her heart out—it's rather cruel.
Shen Qingqiu felt both reluctant and utterly bewildered.
What could be more absurd than spending so many years scheming to escape someone, only to find out that they didn't want to kill you at all, but rather to mess with you? Although whether it's killing or messing with you, the result is the same: Shen Qingqiu will run for his life.
One is someone you long to see but can't, someone you've been holding for five years while embracing a corpse. The other is someone you avoid like the plague, yet you still feel like you've seen too much of them.
His hands stiffened, he raised them and lowered them, clenched them and released them. Finally, he sighed and touched the head that was taller than himself.
Shen Qingqiu thought to himself, "Damn it, I really lost!"
This dark, harem-loving male protagonist, who's supposed to have a harem, might not even be a virgin anymore. He's already gotten himself into this mess; it seems unfair of him to add insult to injury. Shen Qingqiu ultimately lost to Luo Binghe's masterful portrayal of a pitiful character, and to his own sympathy.
Luo Binghe immediately grabbed his hand tightly.
At the point of contact, Shen Qingqiu felt that Luo Binghe's palm was slightly uneven. Upon closer inspection, he discovered that it was a sword wound.
Shen Qingqiu initially didn't understand how he got so many wounds, but then it suddenly dawned on him. During their rendezvous in Jinlan City, Luo Binghe had played cat and mouse with him the whole way, and when he finally caught him, he had stabbed him with his sword. At that moment, Luo Binghe had simply grabbed the blade of the Xiuya sword with his bare hand.
As for the wound on his chest near his heart, it should not be forgotten; it was inflicted by Shen Qingqiu when he forced him to leave during the Immortal Alliance Conference.
It seemed that every time Shen Qingqiu went to assassinate Luo Binghe, he never dodged; he always met the attack head-on, letting Shen Qingqiu stab and slash him. Because of this, Shen Qingqiu never intended to actually hit him twice, yet he did both times. After slashing him, he didn't treat the wounds but deliberately left them untreated.
In the past, Shen Qingqiu could have taken it for granted that Luo Binghe was holding a grudge and wanted to leave wounds to constantly relive his hatred for him. But now, Shen Qingqiu could no longer deceive himself about what this behavior really meant.
He'd finished reading such a long book, and raised the child, yet he'd never realized that Luo Binghe was actually a pure-hearted young man. The "deeply affectionate harem" persona vanished the moment he turned into a gay man. Now, this Luo Binghe, whom he'd raised to be completely warped, was more sensitive than a young girl, overthinking things, and, being a masochist, easily hurt.
Perhaps it wasn't that he never noticed, but rather that he never intended to. Ultimately, Shen Qingqiu still treated Luo Binghe as a character in a book, stereotypical and formulaic, adopting an attitude of observing from afar and occasionally teasing him. Most of the time, he kept his distance. Luo Binghe, who had the strongest presence in the original work, was, in his eyes, the one with the strongest NPC aura.
Faced with Luo Binghe like this, Shen Qingqiu, though finding it incredibly troublesome, was truly at a loss. A single man who had roamed the world for years, he finally had someone who seemed to have a slight interest in him, only to find out that ① he was a man ② he was his disciple ③ he was the male protagonist ④ and his way of expressing himself was somewhat perverted.
Should he slap him awake, or let him continue his madness? Shen Qingqiu was in a real bind, but he dared not act rashly again.
For the first time in a long time, Shen Qingqiu experienced just how frustrating the feeling of "confusion" could be.
Upon waking, Shen Qingqiu opened her eyes to a snow-white gauze curtain above her.
Someone pushed the door open and entered, then quietly closed it, saying, "Awake?"
Shen Qingqiu turned his neck and looked at it sideways.
It's better to see a person under the lamplight than under the moonlight. The man was indeed handsome, with a smile on his lips and an exceptionally bright and charming appearance. His eyes, in particular, revealed a gentle and lively quality.
Those eyes are definitely the result of being nurtured in a secluded lake.
Shen Qingqiu sat up abruptly, the ice pack falling from his forehead. The man bent down, picked it up, put it back on the table, and replaced it with a new one.
Seeing this, Shen Qingqiu, who had been about to launch into a barrage of questions like "Who are you?" and "What do you intend to do?", was too embarrassed to say them. He coughed lightly and said with restraint, "Thank you for your help from the Illusion Flower Palace."
The young man stopped at the table and smiled, "There's a saying that goes, 'A drop of water in need should be repaid with a spring of water.' Besides, Master Shen's kindness to me goes far beyond a drop of water."
First, he really is that snake man from Bailulin.
Secondly, he knew that the person under this shell was Shen Qingqiu.
Shen Qingqiu tentatively asked, "...Tianlang-jun?"
The reason why the ancient Heavenly Demon lineage has the word "Heaven" in its name is because, according to legend, this bloodline fell from the Immortal Realm into demonic possession.
Only a bloodline purer than Luo Binghe's can suppress the Heavenly Demon Blood within Shen Qingqiu's body.
So, here's the problem. Among the Heavenly Demon bloodline, only two are given names in the original work that Shen Qingqiu knows: Luo Binghe and his father. He can only guess who they are.
However, things rarely happen more than three times. Shen Qingqiu's bizarre guess, which had been flawless until now, finally ran into trouble here.
The man shook his head and said, "Master Shen, it is far too much of an honor for you to recognize me as your sovereign."
Upon hearing the words "Your Majesty," Shen Qingqiu finally understood who this person was.
In the very beginning of the original novel, Tianlang Jun was already suppressed under a high mountain. As for the great battle several years ago, since it was not closely related to the male protagonist's overpowered abilities and harem path, Xiang Tian Dafei briefly mentioned it, only saying that "he was unable to withstand the combined attack of many great masters of the cultivation world and was suppressed under ×× Mountain, never to rise again, and his trusted generals were killed, injured, or scattered."
What exactly is XX Mountain? Shen Qingqiu had never really thought about this question before. But after being stimulated, he suddenly remembered what XX was.
Holy crap, Bailu Mountain!!!
Bailu Forest on Bailu Mountain! ! !
Shen Qingqiu looked the man up and down.
This is Luo Binghe's father's "trusted general"!
Now, you can no longer find any trace of the deformed snake man in him.
Shen Qingqiu swallowed hard and asked, "May I ask your esteemed name?"
The man politely replied, "I am Zhuzhilang, a disciple of Lord Tianlang."
As soon as he finished speaking, the system notification sounded: [Complete the plot and character roster, B-level +300. Fill in the plot holes project, B-level +100!]
Shen Qingqiu was suddenly overwhelmed with an irrepressible excitement.
"Filling in the gaps" definitely refers to those few unsolved, headless tragedies in the original work where the mastermind behind the murders was never clearly explained.
This is one of the reasons why Shen Yuan despises "The Arrogant Immortal Demon Path" the most. It's also the biggest reason why he felt so angry and resentful after reading the book!
Now, he's starting to introduce characters who haven't appeared directly before, and the system has also started filling in the plot holes. Could it be that the truth behind those colossal plot holes is about to be revealed?!
Author's Note: Thank you to Xi, Wuyunliaorao, A-Lingling, Huinantian, Fanshu, Yelian, Tingyuxiaoxiao, Guoxiaoyuan, orli, zzzsl, Roubaozi, Yingzi, Cangzi, Wutianshu, Xiaotianmi, Pingsheng, Tianwangaidihu, Zhijin, Woshiyikeshu, Jinghuai, Baomibai, Wangukurong, Bi'anjun, Meigu, Leslia, Liuliu, Duhuan, history, and GnyeGn's landmines.
My game wasn't going well today, I had to revise it a lot, sorry it's so late...
Not a love rival, but the second debater for the opposing side ^_^
Group number 162865339
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