Chapter Text
Mobei-jun leads them through the palace at a brisk pace, his subjects scrambling to get out of his way. Shen Yuan honestly isn’t sure if that’s normal behavior or if they think their king is in a bad mood; it really could go either way.
Baihu stays close enough that, from the right angle, you could almost be forgiven for thinking Mobei-jun had grown a tail. It’s cute, but Shen Yuan is smart enough to see the strategic positioning for what it is. The kid has sandwiched himself very carefully between Mobei-jun and his new parents, so close to their most dangerous party member that anyone who took a swipe at him would effectively be challenging the king.
When Mobei-jun stops suddenly to open a door, Baihu nearly walks right into him and quickly adjusts course, darting away to hide behind Luo Binghe.
…Did Shen Yuan say it was cute when the little fox was velcroed to Mobei-jun? Luo Binghe is clearly the superior companion for maxing out your cuteness values. Look at him holding Binghe’s arm! Adorable!
“Shifu,” Baihu says, tugging on Luo Binghe’s sleeve. “It smells like somebody’s been gutting carcasses in there.”
Less adorable!
“Mn,” Mobei-jun says. “They have. What do you think happens in a ritual chamber.”
“Oh. That makes more sense,” Baihu says, visibly losing interest. “I thought maybe this was a trick to lead us to the royal butchers.”
“Qinghua would not approve,” Mobei-jun says, completely flat. “Cannibalism is much less ‘sexy’ in real life.”
Shen Yuan wheezes before he can get a hold of himself. Of all the English loanwords for Mobei-jun to pick up from Shang Qinghua…!
Luo Binghe must be developing a sixth sense for when his husband is on the verge of a mental break, because he herds Shen Yuan into the ritual chamber. Baihu doesn’t follow them, letting go of Luo Binghe’s arm.
“Ah, I’m going to go… get my stuff. I don’t really want to be around to hear or smell whatever weird sex thing you guys are about to do.”
Shen Yuan cringes almost violently. Baihu, please don’t phrase things in the most unpleasant way possible!!
“How will we find you when the ritual’s over?” Luo Binghe asks, not waylaid at all by the acute awkwardness of discussing dual cultivation with a middle schooler. Shen Yuan envies his composure. He barely gets through having to give the puberty talk to the younger juniors, and that’s not related to his body at all!
…They’re married now, so maybe he can just send the next junior that’s convinced their morning wood is a terminal illness to Binghe to deal with?
“I’ll come back tomorrow night,” Baihu says, before making a face. “Will you be done by tomorrow night?”
“Yes!” Shen Yuan blurts out. “Err… Probably?”
Baihu nods slowly, looking doubtful. “Alright. Bye, then.”
And there he goes, his qi vanishing before he’s even around a corner. Shen Yuan turns his attention to the ritual chamber Mobei-jun has given them to use.
There are no pelts on the walls in this room, and their absence reveals just how many protective talismans are carved into the stone. There’s blood in the grooves between the flagstones, in some of the seal script on the walls, and even splattered on the ceiling. There are no windows, so the room is lit with engraved talismans as well, rather than anything breakable like nightpearls or lanterns. It looks like a room you’d prepare for a werewolf transformation, or maybe the fucking Hulk.
He’s still not sure it’ll hold up to the fully realized protagonist, but Luo Binghe doesn’t want to trash the room, so they’re probably fine.
Luo Binghe takes in the room, then turns big, tragic puppy eyes at Shen Yuan. Warn a guy, Binghe!!
“Yuan-ge, we’re supposed to dual cultivate in here? You’ll freeze! There isn’t even a bed!”
In PIDW, Luo Binghe had fucked women in much worse conditions than the ritual chambers in the northern palace. It hadn’t occurred to Shen Yuan that his grown lotus of a husband might have an issue with it.
Shen Yuan bluescreens a little at the sudden need to plan sex logistics on the fly. “I have my night hunting bag, so we have plenty of blankets?”
That gives Luo Binghe pause. His eyes go suspiciously intense.
“You’d take me in your bedroll? The same one you used on our night hunts together?”
Why does he sound excited now?!
“You– I– Binghe, I can’t top for this.”
Luo Binghe pouts. Shen Yuan struggles to find a manlier word for it, but, no, that’s pouting. How did the stallion protagonist end up this into being fucked in the ass?!
Shen Yuan glances over at Mobei-jun, who is staring at the wall with an expression of bone-deep boredom. He leans closer to Luo Binghe and lowers his voice. If he’s pretending Mobei-jun doesn’t have demonic hearing, well, nobody’s going to call him on it!
“I’m not strong enough to hold you down. This sort of thing involves a lot of, ah, thrashing.”
Luo Binghe furrows his brow. “But then I might hurt you.”
Shen Yuan has considered that, but the heavenly pillar hasn’t killed him yet, so isn’t it better for him to not be able to sit down for a few days than for Luo Binghe to risk going through this without dual cultivating?
“I’ll be fine,” Shen Yuan assures his husband. Luo Binghe looks like he wants to argue, but Mobei-jun has apparently gotten tired of the wall.
“Enough. You are drawing this out,” the ice demon says. “I cannot return to Qinghua until my part in the ritual is complete. Decide who is being penetrated and be done with it.”
“Stay out of other people’s conversations!” Shen Yuan snaps. Mobei-jun just growls at him in response.
Shen Yuan sighs.
“Alright, fine. Come along, Binghe.”
Luo Binghe hesitates, then follows Shen Yuan into the ritual chamber.