Fic: And There Was Only One Bed (3/4)
Feb. 27th, 2025 11:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
soc_puppetFandom: The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System
Chapter Summary: The Immortal Alliance Conference comes and goes. Shen Qingqiu finds out if he prepared enough for it, and goes home to an empty bed.
Mirrors: Chapter Three
Wordcount: ~3400
Ships: Pre-Bingqiu
Notes: Posting early here worked out really well for Chap 2, so I'm trying it again!
Acknowledgements: Thanks once again togwogobo for the beta work, as well as the podfic 💖
Fic: And There Was Only One Bed
Chapter Three
Shen Qingqiu spent the weeks leading up to the Immortal Alliance Conference making sure that Binghe was as prepared as possible, both for the conference itself, and for his upcoming time in the Endless Abyss.
First on the list was, naturally, the water purification technique. Studying the spell suggested to Shen Qingqiu that it was essentially a form of reverse osmosis that used applied qi as a filter. Luckily, nothing in the scroll suggested that only spiritual qi could be used; even better, it appeared that the technique could be used on anything that was mostly water (with the exception of living flesh, which probably would have made it too OP).
This meant that, not only would Binghe be able to use it on any water source he found in the Abyss, he would also be able to use it on plants and fungi. If he were particularly desperate, Binghe might even be able to use it on monster blood. Taking all of that into account, Shen Qingqiu thought that the technique might have been worth nine thousand B-points on its own.
As predicted, Luo Binghe mastered the technique with little effort. He also mastered the lightning redirection technique that Shen Qingqiu may or may not have stolen from Avatar: The Last Airbender; Shen Qingqiu wasn't about to overlook a potential advantage for Luo Binghe, and it wasn't like PIDW wasn't full of ripped off ideas already. Shen Qingqiu was even less inclined to care about plagiarism in this case, given that Binghe was destined to encounter a few Abyssal beasts that could spit lightning.
On top of all of that, he made sure that Binghe was as up-to-date as possible on not only the properties of various Abyssal plants and animals, but also on any wards, seals, talismans, and barriers that he might find useful in the Endless Abyss. Shen Qingqiu also spent more time drilling Binghe physically, trying to impart any last bits of martial wisdom he could. He was particularly worried about Binghe's sword forms; his other tutors and martial siblings had not one bad word to say for his skills with a blade, which was on par with PIDW canon, but in Shen Qingqiu's experience, Binghe always needed to have some small adjustment made in his stance. Once in a while he would even lose his balance and fall against Shen Qingqiu in their one-on-one training sessions, though he was at least coordinated enough to make sure that neither of them got cut.
Still, it worried Shen Qingqiu; a slight misstep in the Endless Abyss could be... well, not fatal, not for the protagonist, but certainly very costly! He was so worried that, during the last two weeks leading up to the conference, he focused solely on sword work in his training sessions with Binghe. Luckily, his student seemed to finally get the hang of it, or Shen Qingqiu would have been tempted to keep him out of the conference entirely, System-related consequences be damned!
Shen Qingqiu, of course, had not been idle in his own preparations. He'd started by approaching Mu Qingfang about equipping Cang Qiong Mountain disciples with additional medical supplies for the trip. He'd framed his initial thoughts as wanting to prevent Binghe being too injured in the conference to continue their odd treatment plan, then claimed to have realized how much like favoritism that looked, and suggested that all of the sect's attending disciples get the same support. (He ignored Mu Qingfang's side-eye when he talked about not wanting to unfairly favor Luo Binghe; the man couldn't possibly know that Shen Qingqiu planned to try and sneak his personal disciple any extra medical supplies he could scrounge up, in addition to whatever he would be given officially.)
Because that alone wouldn't be enough, Shen Qingqiu had also bullied the An Ding Peak Lord into equipping an additional two qiankun pouches with various survival supplies for Binghe. Shang Qinghua, who turned out to not only be a fellow transmigrator but the very goddamn hack author who was responsible for the farce of a novel they were living in, had proven quite tractable to his request. If everything went well, then when Luo Binghe entered the Abyss, he'd bring with him three cooking pots, two hundred meters of Crystal Night Cave Silkworm rope, several packets of high quality talisman paper with writing supplies to match, four blankets, and a tarp enchanted to withstand cuts, fire, and acid, all of which he would encounter on his journey. Shen Qingqiu was sure that none of it would last five years, but it should at least be enough to give Luo Binghe a good start in the Abyss.
Last, and most importantly, he and Shang Qinghua worked out how to get Binghe into the Endless Abyss. If they didn't manage that, then all of Shen Qingqiu's efforts, every point spent, would have been for nothing: Binghe wouldn't be in the Abyss, it was true, but Shen Qingqiu would be dead, and everything he had done to change his role from 'scum villain' to 'treasured mentor' would be worthless.
(Annoyingly, the System had been awarding him points regularly since he started the Only One Bed package. Every morning now since the first one, he'd gotten fifty Satisfaction Points when he woke up. He was also awarded occasional bonuses of five or ten points seemingly at random throughout the following days. Altogether, he'd gotten back up over five thousand points by the time they left Cang Qiong Mountain for the Immortal Alliance Conference. Knowing that there was no way the System would have awarded him those points if he hadn't bought the package in the first place didn't help, and Shen Qingqiu had needed to fight off a System-inspired urge to spit blood more than a few times over the past weeks.)
Fortunately, working together with Airplane had yielded some solid ideas. They had nothing like a concrete plan, both of them well aware that the chances of one surviving the chaos of the demon invasion would be slim to none, but between the two of them, they'd come up with a number of elements they might be able to rely on when the moment came.
Pulling on all of his extensive monster lore knowledge, Shen Qingqiu had attached a small talisman to Binghe's robes that, when activated, would effectively Aggro the nearest Black Moon Rhinoceros Python. It was enchanted to last only two days, so even if they didn't use it, it shouldn't trouble Binghe in the Abyss. If he managed to activate it when Binghe was standing near the Abyssal opening, any Black Moon Rhinoceros Python in the area should be lured into tackling him into it.
Shang Qinghua, meanwhile, had managed to talk Mobei-Jun around to doing the pushing if necessary, citing that an awakened Heavenly Demon who was on his side would be able to handily take care of Linguang-Jun for him. Luo Binghe was destined to befriend Mobei-Jun anyway, so carefully orchestrating their first meeting early shouldn't prove too much of a problem.
Finally, Shen Qingqiu had worked out a couple of handy excuses for if Shang Qinghua had to push Binghe into the Abyss: Binghe almost certainly wouldn't be too mad at Shang Qinghua if he were only trying to keep Shen Qingqiu safe, after all! A freshly unsealed demon of any kind could be unpredictably dangerous, and an unsealed Heavenly Demon would be an even greater threat. Shang Qinghua would simply have to apologize profusely, and Luo Binghe would spare him. ...Probably.
All in all, Shen Qingqiu thought that they were as prepared as they could be for upcoming events. Still, he couldn't help worrying, even as he straightened Luo Binghe's uniform one last time before the trials. "Binghe will take care of himself?"
His disciple nodded firmly. "This disciple will do his utmost in the monster hunt, and will return victorious to make his shizun proud."
Shen Qingqiu harrumphed. "This master would be most proud if Binghe were to get through the conference with minimal injuries, but he would not be displeased if his disciple were to excel at the hunt itself. This master expects to win money from Binghe's efforts."
Stars in his eyes, Binghe bowed sharply. "Yes, Shizun! This Binghe will not disappoint you!"
Shen Qingqiu tutted and rapped Binghe's head with his fan. "Luo Binghe could never disappoint this master," he said. "Now go on, and don't let the other disciples take advantage of a youth whose star is on the rise!"
"Yes, Shizun!" Binghe chirped again, then strode off to join his fellow competitors.
Shang Qinghua came up to stand beside Shen Qingqiu as he watched Binghe go. "You ready for this, bro?"
Shen Qingqiu made a face behind his fan. "No, but it's not like there's anything else I can do about it. Now come on; I'm going to put five thousand spirit stones on Binghe taking first place in the tournament, and you're going to finance it."
Shang Qinghua looked wounded. "Bro, no! That's, like, my whole savings!" he cried, then switched to English. "I may need that to escape a certain someone's wrath someday!"
Shen Qingqiu glared. "Then it's a good thing we know who's going to win, isn't it?" he responded in the same language. "Besides, that's your own fault anyway."
"Bro, come on!" Shang Qinghua whined. Shen Qingqiu ignored it as he dragged his fellow transmigrator to the betting area.
---
Shen Qingqiu spent the next hours unbearably tense as he waited for the attack on Jue Di Gorge. He tried to distract himself by watching Luo Binghe climb through the ranks, but that didn't help much when he knew what was coming. It was almost a relief when the Nu Yuan Chan appeared in the river.
Things moved quickly after that, and within twenty-four hours, everything was over: The Immortal Alliance Conference, the demonic invasion, and Luo Binghe's fall into the Endless Abyss.
In the end, Mobei-Jun seemed to be the one most responsible for ensuring Luo Binghe's fall: He'd shown up shortly after the Abyss opened and challenged Binghe to a duel, claiming he sought a worthy opponent. Luo Binghe had given him exactly that, managing to weaponize the water purification technique he'd recently mastered to destabilize the demon lord's ice blades.
It was that very strategy that sealed Binghe's fate: In retaliation, Mobei-Jun had coated the ground around the Abyssal opening in ice, and when Binghe's seal broke, the water he'd pulled from the demon's many blades made him lose his footing and tumble through the dimensional rift. Mobei-Jun himself had left shortly after, only staying long enough to verify that his opponent was gone.
Shen Qingqiu was still a little dubious over the whole thing. Wasn't it against the dignity of the protagonist to lose by slipping on ice, of all things? But then, Binghe did have a history of losing his footing during sword practice; narratively speaking, Shen Qingqiu supposed it made sense for one of Binghe's very few flaws to be the impetus for his fall, both figuratively and literally. Still, even accounting for the fact that Binghe had needed to fall into the Abyss somehow, Shen Qingqiu couldn't help but feel a little guilty for not spending more time working on his footwork.
All that aside, though, what was with that mission title? "Endless Abyss and Sleepless Nights"? And the System had entered "hibernation mode" before answering any questions about it! Shen Qingqiu was left hoping that he'd packed Binghe enough blankets; five years without proper sleep would surely be too much for even the protagonist!
Reality quickly distracted Shen Qingqiu from any hypothetical ramifications of the quest name. Cleaning up after just the Immortal Alliance Conference would have been enough of a task on its own, but the demon invasion had made everything exponentially worse. He was at least gratified to learn that his suggestion of loading Cang Qiong Mountain disciples up with medical supplies had a positive knock-on effect: With so many people carrying triage equipment, the death toll had ended up significantly lower than it would have otherewise. Mu Qingfang had informed him of this personally, though he looked like he regretted bringing it up when the revelation netted him news of Binghe's fate.
Still, eventually everything that required the presence of a peak lord was finished, and the various sect representatives began to make their way home. Shen Qingqiu in particular was looking forward to returning to the Bamboo House. He and the other peak lords had been too busy to rest much, and Shen Qingqiu found sleep eluding him in the stress of everything. While the Bamboo House would certainly feel empty without Binghe's presence, at least the familiar surroundings should help Shen Qingqiu finally fall asleep.
Only... they didn't.
Shen Qingqiu had managed the bare minimum of preparation before falling into bed, convinced he would be asleep the second his eyes closed. Instead, he spent the whole night trying to find a comfortable sleeping position, almost drifting off several times before startling awake at nothing.
Very well; he clearly needed to follow a proper evening routine in order to fall asleep. The next night, he did everything right, even things he might normally skip without Binghe around to help. He took a long, hot bath, thoroughly washed and oiled his hair, changed into his most comfortable sleeping robes, and read some poetry to relax rather than one of the trashy adventure novels he'd hidden in his room.
He spent that night staring at the ceiling.
Unfortunately, he was needed to teach again that day, so Shen Qingqiu went back to the classrooms while trying his best to hide his lack of sleep. He was sure he seemed a bit off to some of his disciples and fellow instructors, but for the most part was fairly confident he'd pulled the act off.
That illusion was shattered when a nearly crying Ning Yingying and sternly worried Ming Fan dragged him to Qian Cao Peak late that afternoon. There, he was forced to confess to Mu Qingfang that he hadn't slept at all since the night before the conference.
More worried than Shen Qingqiu thought he ought to be, Mu Qingfang poked and prodded and generally ran a bunch of tests, but ultimately could find nothing of note. "Even so," the doctor said, "stress and lack of sleep can have a negative impact on one's health, even for cultivators, and that's before accounting for Without a Cure. It would be best if we can find a way to resolve this, especially since I still want to test how the poison might react to other sleeping partners."
Troubled as he was by the not-quite-threat of new platonic bed partners, Shen Qingqiu headed back to Qing Jing Peak with several different treatments Mu Qingfang had recommended. Shen Qingqiu found he was ready to try almost anything if it meant getting some actual sleep again.
(Now that he thought about it... Surely the "Sleepless Nights" in the quest title hadn't been referring to him, had it? Not that he wanted Binghe to be losing out on sleep, of course! It had just seemed logical that Binghe would be less likely to get restful sleep when trapped in the Endless Abyss, rather than Shen Qingqiu in his comfortable room in the Bamboo House.)
Over the next two days, Shen Qingqiu tried each treatment that Mu Qingfang had recommended in turn, with no success. He was at least glad to have been excused from teaching until his insomnia was dealt with, since the lack of sleep and poor meals had been affecting his mood, and reminding him all too much of when he'd been dealing with the OOC lock. He was also coming to realize what nonsense his claim of being able to meditate instead of sleeping had been, especially while he was also practicing inedia. (Had Qing Jing Peak's food always been this bad, or had Shen Qingqiu simply been spoiled by the protagonist's cooking? He remembered it being bland, but surely each bite hadn't tasted like ashes and dust before!)
On his fifth sleepless night back on Qing Jing Peak, Shen Qingqiu gave up. If nothing was working and he wouldn't be sleeping anyway, he might as well do something productive!
Looking around his room yielded memories of Binghe. The young man's things were still scattered about from before the conference. Shen Qingqiu had left the side room untouched once the repairs were done and the new bed moved in, but surely Binghe would prefer all of his things in the same place when he came back? And even if he never came back at all (Shen Qingqiu ignored the way his heart lurched at the thought), there was still no reason to keep his things in Shen Qingqiu's room, where they would only sadden—er, distract him.
Course of action decided on, Shen Qingqiu began organizing Binghe's things to move back to the spare room. Try though he might, he couldn't help getting emotional over the bits of ephemera he was packing away.
Here was the wide-toothed wooden comb Binghe preferred for his wavy hair; there were a few of his frequently lost hair ties. The water purification technique scroll that had been part of Shen Qingqiu's deal with the System sat next to a bestiary of Abyssal creatures, alongside a stack of notes on both.
When Shen Qingqiu found a discarded outer robe of Binghe's half-hidden by the bed, he needed a moment to sit down. His white lotus was really gone, dropped into the Endless Abyss and not set to emerge for five years! Hopefully he'd be less blackened than his PIDW counterpart, but there was still bound to be plenty of suffering in store for him. And even after he emerged, there was no telling when or if he'd ever make his way back to Cang Qiong Mountain, with no revenge plan to drive him here.
Shen Qingqiu... missed him.
Clutching the robe to his chest, Shen Qingqiu lay down on the bed, closed his eyes, and let the enormity of the situation finally wash over him.
---
Shen Qingqiu was awoken the next morning by birdsong outside his window. He sat up gingerly, massaging his aching temples before his eyes flew open in shock. He'd slept? A quick glance at his bedclothes told him that it had been an extremely fitful sleep, but sleep it seemed he had gotten regardless!
But how? Shen Qingqiu was sure he'd run the gamut of Mu Qingfang's remedies over the previous two days, with no luck; what had finally induced him to sleep? Had he simply and at long last been so tired that his body gave up the fight on its own?
Shen Qingqiu stared down at the familiar robe he still clutched, and another possibility occurred to him. 'Only One Bed.' 'Endless Abyss and Sleepless Nights.'
Had his stupid bargain with the System made it so he couldn't sleep unless something resembling Binghe was in the same bed as him?!
Shen Qingqiu almost spat blood. He knew he would have to do some experimenting to figure out if his hypothesis was correct, and the heavens alone knew where he'd find the face to explain it to Mu Qingfang if he were right, but in the mean time...
He looked down at the crumpled robe in his hands. Sleep was sleep, even when it was restless, and Mu Qingfang had been quite firm about even cultivators needing to sleep from time to time. (Damn Airplane and his shitty worldbuilding...) Maybe he could at least try to get a few more hours?
Later, he and Mu Qingfang would go through every variable they could think of to test the hypothesis; Mu Qingfang would eventually conclude that Shen Qingqiu was sensing trace amounts of Luo Binghe's qi left in his clothing, and would work with the sect's sealing specialists to keep said traces from fading or being replaced by Shen Qingqiu's own qi. Later still, Shang Qinghua would learn of his predicament and gift him with an anachronistic dakimakura, stuffed with Seven Wing Goose down, and Shen Qingqiu would hit him with his fan. Now, though, Shen Qingqiu simply fell back into his bed and attempted to catch up on some of the sleep he'd lost since his precious disciple had succumbed to the machinations of the plot.
His last lingering thoughts were of the whispers he'd heard comparing him to a grieving spouse, and how this new development would be no help with them at all.
--To Be Continued--
SQQ, sweating: I hope MQF doesn't suspect that I'm planning to take a bunch of extra medical supplies and give them to Binghe...
MQF, suspicious: Since when does SQQ care showing favoritism towards LBH?
Detail that didn't make it into the finished fic: SQQ and LBH have the conversation about the Thousand-Leaves Fresh-Snow Lotus as they do in canon; however, in this universe, SQQ is able to turn Binghe down by saying, "Even if it were a cure, this master would be loathe to remove it from where it can protect vulnerable disciples in this horrible invasion. If Binghe is insistent, we can see about returning for it after the gorge is cleared of these high level monsters, but this master will not slow our progress for an item that will likely have no effect, especially since we already have such effective treatment."
The System awarded him +50 Satisfaction Points for this (accidentally suggesting that he would prefer to keep cuddling for a while longer than get an immediate cure).
Monster lore!
Chapter Summary: The Immortal Alliance Conference comes and goes. Shen Qingqiu finds out if he prepared enough for it, and goes home to an empty bed.
Mirrors: Chapter Three
Wordcount: ~3400
Ships: Pre-Bingqiu
Notes: Posting early here worked out really well for Chap 2, so I'm trying it again!
Acknowledgements: Thanks once again to
gwogobo for the beta work, as well as the podfic 💖Fic: And There Was Only One Bed
Chapter Three
Shen Qingqiu spent the weeks leading up to the Immortal Alliance Conference making sure that Binghe was as prepared as possible, both for the conference itself, and for his upcoming time in the Endless Abyss.
First on the list was, naturally, the water purification technique. Studying the spell suggested to Shen Qingqiu that it was essentially a form of reverse osmosis that used applied qi as a filter. Luckily, nothing in the scroll suggested that only spiritual qi could be used; even better, it appeared that the technique could be used on anything that was mostly water (with the exception of living flesh, which probably would have made it too OP).
This meant that, not only would Binghe be able to use it on any water source he found in the Abyss, he would also be able to use it on plants and fungi. If he were particularly desperate, Binghe might even be able to use it on monster blood. Taking all of that into account, Shen Qingqiu thought that the technique might have been worth nine thousand B-points on its own.
As predicted, Luo Binghe mastered the technique with little effort. He also mastered the lightning redirection technique that Shen Qingqiu may or may not have stolen from Avatar: The Last Airbender; Shen Qingqiu wasn't about to overlook a potential advantage for Luo Binghe, and it wasn't like PIDW wasn't full of ripped off ideas already. Shen Qingqiu was even less inclined to care about plagiarism in this case, given that Binghe was destined to encounter a few Abyssal beasts that could spit lightning.
On top of all of that, he made sure that Binghe was as up-to-date as possible on not only the properties of various Abyssal plants and animals, but also on any wards, seals, talismans, and barriers that he might find useful in the Endless Abyss. Shen Qingqiu also spent more time drilling Binghe physically, trying to impart any last bits of martial wisdom he could. He was particularly worried about Binghe's sword forms; his other tutors and martial siblings had not one bad word to say for his skills with a blade, which was on par with PIDW canon, but in Shen Qingqiu's experience, Binghe always needed to have some small adjustment made in his stance. Once in a while he would even lose his balance and fall against Shen Qingqiu in their one-on-one training sessions, though he was at least coordinated enough to make sure that neither of them got cut.
Still, it worried Shen Qingqiu; a slight misstep in the Endless Abyss could be... well, not fatal, not for the protagonist, but certainly very costly! He was so worried that, during the last two weeks leading up to the conference, he focused solely on sword work in his training sessions with Binghe. Luckily, his student seemed to finally get the hang of it, or Shen Qingqiu would have been tempted to keep him out of the conference entirely, System-related consequences be damned!
Shen Qingqiu, of course, had not been idle in his own preparations. He'd started by approaching Mu Qingfang about equipping Cang Qiong Mountain disciples with additional medical supplies for the trip. He'd framed his initial thoughts as wanting to prevent Binghe being too injured in the conference to continue their odd treatment plan, then claimed to have realized how much like favoritism that looked, and suggested that all of the sect's attending disciples get the same support. (He ignored Mu Qingfang's side-eye when he talked about not wanting to unfairly favor Luo Binghe; the man couldn't possibly know that Shen Qingqiu planned to try and sneak his personal disciple any extra medical supplies he could scrounge up, in addition to whatever he would be given officially.)
Because that alone wouldn't be enough, Shen Qingqiu had also bullied the An Ding Peak Lord into equipping an additional two qiankun pouches with various survival supplies for Binghe. Shang Qinghua, who turned out to not only be a fellow transmigrator but the very goddamn hack author who was responsible for the farce of a novel they were living in, had proven quite tractable to his request. If everything went well, then when Luo Binghe entered the Abyss, he'd bring with him three cooking pots, two hundred meters of Crystal Night Cave Silkworm rope, several packets of high quality talisman paper with writing supplies to match, four blankets, and a tarp enchanted to withstand cuts, fire, and acid, all of which he would encounter on his journey. Shen Qingqiu was sure that none of it would last five years, but it should at least be enough to give Luo Binghe a good start in the Abyss.
Last, and most importantly, he and Shang Qinghua worked out how to get Binghe into the Endless Abyss. If they didn't manage that, then all of Shen Qingqiu's efforts, every point spent, would have been for nothing: Binghe wouldn't be in the Abyss, it was true, but Shen Qingqiu would be dead, and everything he had done to change his role from 'scum villain' to 'treasured mentor' would be worthless.
(Annoyingly, the System had been awarding him points regularly since he started the Only One Bed package. Every morning now since the first one, he'd gotten fifty Satisfaction Points when he woke up. He was also awarded occasional bonuses of five or ten points seemingly at random throughout the following days. Altogether, he'd gotten back up over five thousand points by the time they left Cang Qiong Mountain for the Immortal Alliance Conference. Knowing that there was no way the System would have awarded him those points if he hadn't bought the package in the first place didn't help, and Shen Qingqiu had needed to fight off a System-inspired urge to spit blood more than a few times over the past weeks.)
Fortunately, working together with Airplane had yielded some solid ideas. They had nothing like a concrete plan, both of them well aware that the chances of one surviving the chaos of the demon invasion would be slim to none, but between the two of them, they'd come up with a number of elements they might be able to rely on when the moment came.
Pulling on all of his extensive monster lore knowledge, Shen Qingqiu had attached a small talisman to Binghe's robes that, when activated, would effectively Aggro the nearest Black Moon Rhinoceros Python. It was enchanted to last only two days, so even if they didn't use it, it shouldn't trouble Binghe in the Abyss. If he managed to activate it when Binghe was standing near the Abyssal opening, any Black Moon Rhinoceros Python in the area should be lured into tackling him into it.
Shang Qinghua, meanwhile, had managed to talk Mobei-Jun around to doing the pushing if necessary, citing that an awakened Heavenly Demon who was on his side would be able to handily take care of Linguang-Jun for him. Luo Binghe was destined to befriend Mobei-Jun anyway, so carefully orchestrating their first meeting early shouldn't prove too much of a problem.
Finally, Shen Qingqiu had worked out a couple of handy excuses for if Shang Qinghua had to push Binghe into the Abyss: Binghe almost certainly wouldn't be too mad at Shang Qinghua if he were only trying to keep Shen Qingqiu safe, after all! A freshly unsealed demon of any kind could be unpredictably dangerous, and an unsealed Heavenly Demon would be an even greater threat. Shang Qinghua would simply have to apologize profusely, and Luo Binghe would spare him. ...Probably.
All in all, Shen Qingqiu thought that they were as prepared as they could be for upcoming events. Still, he couldn't help worrying, even as he straightened Luo Binghe's uniform one last time before the trials. "Binghe will take care of himself?"
His disciple nodded firmly. "This disciple will do his utmost in the monster hunt, and will return victorious to make his shizun proud."
Shen Qingqiu harrumphed. "This master would be most proud if Binghe were to get through the conference with minimal injuries, but he would not be displeased if his disciple were to excel at the hunt itself. This master expects to win money from Binghe's efforts."
Stars in his eyes, Binghe bowed sharply. "Yes, Shizun! This Binghe will not disappoint you!"
Shen Qingqiu tutted and rapped Binghe's head with his fan. "Luo Binghe could never disappoint this master," he said. "Now go on, and don't let the other disciples take advantage of a youth whose star is on the rise!"
"Yes, Shizun!" Binghe chirped again, then strode off to join his fellow competitors.
Shang Qinghua came up to stand beside Shen Qingqiu as he watched Binghe go. "You ready for this, bro?"
Shen Qingqiu made a face behind his fan. "No, but it's not like there's anything else I can do about it. Now come on; I'm going to put five thousand spirit stones on Binghe taking first place in the tournament, and you're going to finance it."
Shang Qinghua looked wounded. "Bro, no! That's, like, my whole savings!" he cried, then switched to English. "I may need that to escape a certain someone's wrath someday!"
Shen Qingqiu glared. "Then it's a good thing we know who's going to win, isn't it?" he responded in the same language. "Besides, that's your own fault anyway."
"Bro, come on!" Shang Qinghua whined. Shen Qingqiu ignored it as he dragged his fellow transmigrator to the betting area.
---
Shen Qingqiu spent the next hours unbearably tense as he waited for the attack on Jue Di Gorge. He tried to distract himself by watching Luo Binghe climb through the ranks, but that didn't help much when he knew what was coming. It was almost a relief when the Nu Yuan Chan appeared in the river.
Things moved quickly after that, and within twenty-four hours, everything was over: The Immortal Alliance Conference, the demonic invasion, and Luo Binghe's fall into the Endless Abyss.
In the end, Mobei-Jun seemed to be the one most responsible for ensuring Luo Binghe's fall: He'd shown up shortly after the Abyss opened and challenged Binghe to a duel, claiming he sought a worthy opponent. Luo Binghe had given him exactly that, managing to weaponize the water purification technique he'd recently mastered to destabilize the demon lord's ice blades.
It was that very strategy that sealed Binghe's fate: In retaliation, Mobei-Jun had coated the ground around the Abyssal opening in ice, and when Binghe's seal broke, the water he'd pulled from the demon's many blades made him lose his footing and tumble through the dimensional rift. Mobei-Jun himself had left shortly after, only staying long enough to verify that his opponent was gone.
Shen Qingqiu was still a little dubious over the whole thing. Wasn't it against the dignity of the protagonist to lose by slipping on ice, of all things? But then, Binghe did have a history of losing his footing during sword practice; narratively speaking, Shen Qingqiu supposed it made sense for one of Binghe's very few flaws to be the impetus for his fall, both figuratively and literally. Still, even accounting for the fact that Binghe had needed to fall into the Abyss somehow, Shen Qingqiu couldn't help but feel a little guilty for not spending more time working on his footwork.
All that aside, though, what was with that mission title? "Endless Abyss and Sleepless Nights"? And the System had entered "hibernation mode" before answering any questions about it! Shen Qingqiu was left hoping that he'd packed Binghe enough blankets; five years without proper sleep would surely be too much for even the protagonist!
Reality quickly distracted Shen Qingqiu from any hypothetical ramifications of the quest name. Cleaning up after just the Immortal Alliance Conference would have been enough of a task on its own, but the demon invasion had made everything exponentially worse. He was at least gratified to learn that his suggestion of loading Cang Qiong Mountain disciples up with medical supplies had a positive knock-on effect: With so many people carrying triage equipment, the death toll had ended up significantly lower than it would have otherewise. Mu Qingfang had informed him of this personally, though he looked like he regretted bringing it up when the revelation netted him news of Binghe's fate.
Still, eventually everything that required the presence of a peak lord was finished, and the various sect representatives began to make their way home. Shen Qingqiu in particular was looking forward to returning to the Bamboo House. He and the other peak lords had been too busy to rest much, and Shen Qingqiu found sleep eluding him in the stress of everything. While the Bamboo House would certainly feel empty without Binghe's presence, at least the familiar surroundings should help Shen Qingqiu finally fall asleep.
Only... they didn't.
Shen Qingqiu had managed the bare minimum of preparation before falling into bed, convinced he would be asleep the second his eyes closed. Instead, he spent the whole night trying to find a comfortable sleeping position, almost drifting off several times before startling awake at nothing.
Very well; he clearly needed to follow a proper evening routine in order to fall asleep. The next night, he did everything right, even things he might normally skip without Binghe around to help. He took a long, hot bath, thoroughly washed and oiled his hair, changed into his most comfortable sleeping robes, and read some poetry to relax rather than one of the trashy adventure novels he'd hidden in his room.
He spent that night staring at the ceiling.
Unfortunately, he was needed to teach again that day, so Shen Qingqiu went back to the classrooms while trying his best to hide his lack of sleep. He was sure he seemed a bit off to some of his disciples and fellow instructors, but for the most part was fairly confident he'd pulled the act off.
That illusion was shattered when a nearly crying Ning Yingying and sternly worried Ming Fan dragged him to Qian Cao Peak late that afternoon. There, he was forced to confess to Mu Qingfang that he hadn't slept at all since the night before the conference.
More worried than Shen Qingqiu thought he ought to be, Mu Qingfang poked and prodded and generally ran a bunch of tests, but ultimately could find nothing of note. "Even so," the doctor said, "stress and lack of sleep can have a negative impact on one's health, even for cultivators, and that's before accounting for Without a Cure. It would be best if we can find a way to resolve this, especially since I still want to test how the poison might react to other sleeping partners."
Troubled as he was by the not-quite-threat of new platonic bed partners, Shen Qingqiu headed back to Qing Jing Peak with several different treatments Mu Qingfang had recommended. Shen Qingqiu found he was ready to try almost anything if it meant getting some actual sleep again.
(Now that he thought about it... Surely the "Sleepless Nights" in the quest title hadn't been referring to him, had it? Not that he wanted Binghe to be losing out on sleep, of course! It had just seemed logical that Binghe would be less likely to get restful sleep when trapped in the Endless Abyss, rather than Shen Qingqiu in his comfortable room in the Bamboo House.)
Over the next two days, Shen Qingqiu tried each treatment that Mu Qingfang had recommended in turn, with no success. He was at least glad to have been excused from teaching until his insomnia was dealt with, since the lack of sleep and poor meals had been affecting his mood, and reminding him all too much of when he'd been dealing with the OOC lock. He was also coming to realize what nonsense his claim of being able to meditate instead of sleeping had been, especially while he was also practicing inedia. (Had Qing Jing Peak's food always been this bad, or had Shen Qingqiu simply been spoiled by the protagonist's cooking? He remembered it being bland, but surely each bite hadn't tasted like ashes and dust before!)
On his fifth sleepless night back on Qing Jing Peak, Shen Qingqiu gave up. If nothing was working and he wouldn't be sleeping anyway, he might as well do something productive!
Looking around his room yielded memories of Binghe. The young man's things were still scattered about from before the conference. Shen Qingqiu had left the side room untouched once the repairs were done and the new bed moved in, but surely Binghe would prefer all of his things in the same place when he came back? And even if he never came back at all (Shen Qingqiu ignored the way his heart lurched at the thought), there was still no reason to keep his things in Shen Qingqiu's room, where they would only sadden—er, distract him.
Course of action decided on, Shen Qingqiu began organizing Binghe's things to move back to the spare room. Try though he might, he couldn't help getting emotional over the bits of ephemera he was packing away.
Here was the wide-toothed wooden comb Binghe preferred for his wavy hair; there were a few of his frequently lost hair ties. The water purification technique scroll that had been part of Shen Qingqiu's deal with the System sat next to a bestiary of Abyssal creatures, alongside a stack of notes on both.
When Shen Qingqiu found a discarded outer robe of Binghe's half-hidden by the bed, he needed a moment to sit down. His white lotus was really gone, dropped into the Endless Abyss and not set to emerge for five years! Hopefully he'd be less blackened than his PIDW counterpart, but there was still bound to be plenty of suffering in store for him. And even after he emerged, there was no telling when or if he'd ever make his way back to Cang Qiong Mountain, with no revenge plan to drive him here.
Shen Qingqiu... missed him.
Clutching the robe to his chest, Shen Qingqiu lay down on the bed, closed his eyes, and let the enormity of the situation finally wash over him.
---
Shen Qingqiu was awoken the next morning by birdsong outside his window. He sat up gingerly, massaging his aching temples before his eyes flew open in shock. He'd slept? A quick glance at his bedclothes told him that it had been an extremely fitful sleep, but sleep it seemed he had gotten regardless!
But how? Shen Qingqiu was sure he'd run the gamut of Mu Qingfang's remedies over the previous two days, with no luck; what had finally induced him to sleep? Had he simply and at long last been so tired that his body gave up the fight on its own?
Shen Qingqiu stared down at the familiar robe he still clutched, and another possibility occurred to him. 'Only One Bed.' 'Endless Abyss and Sleepless Nights.'
Had his stupid bargain with the System made it so he couldn't sleep unless something resembling Binghe was in the same bed as him?!
Shen Qingqiu almost spat blood. He knew he would have to do some experimenting to figure out if his hypothesis was correct, and the heavens alone knew where he'd find the face to explain it to Mu Qingfang if he were right, but in the mean time...
He looked down at the crumpled robe in his hands. Sleep was sleep, even when it was restless, and Mu Qingfang had been quite firm about even cultivators needing to sleep from time to time. (Damn Airplane and his shitty worldbuilding...) Maybe he could at least try to get a few more hours?
Later, he and Mu Qingfang would go through every variable they could think of to test the hypothesis; Mu Qingfang would eventually conclude that Shen Qingqiu was sensing trace amounts of Luo Binghe's qi left in his clothing, and would work with the sect's sealing specialists to keep said traces from fading or being replaced by Shen Qingqiu's own qi. Later still, Shang Qinghua would learn of his predicament and gift him with an anachronistic dakimakura, stuffed with Seven Wing Goose down, and Shen Qingqiu would hit him with his fan. Now, though, Shen Qingqiu simply fell back into his bed and attempted to catch up on some of the sleep he'd lost since his precious disciple had succumbed to the machinations of the plot.
His last lingering thoughts were of the whispers he'd heard comparing him to a grieving spouse, and how this new development would be no help with them at all.
--To Be Continued--
SQQ, sweating: I hope MQF doesn't suspect that I'm planning to take a bunch of extra medical supplies and give them to Binghe...
MQF, suspicious: Since when does SQQ care showing favoritism towards LBH?
Detail that didn't make it into the finished fic: SQQ and LBH have the conversation about the Thousand-Leaves Fresh-Snow Lotus as they do in canon; however, in this universe, SQQ is able to turn Binghe down by saying, "Even if it were a cure, this master would be loathe to remove it from where it can protect vulnerable disciples in this horrible invasion. If Binghe is insistent, we can see about returning for it after the gorge is cleared of these high level monsters, but this master will not slow our progress for an item that will likely have no effect, especially since we already have such effective treatment."
The System awarded him +50 Satisfaction Points for this (accidentally suggesting that he would prefer to keep cuddling for a while longer than get an immediate cure).
Monster lore!
