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Shen Yuan was once a man who thought some things beneath him, or if not beneath him, then beyond him.

The man Shen Yuan used to be was dead now though, his life snuffed out by his own careless stupidity.

All that is left of that man are a handful of faded memories stuck in the mind of a slave desperate to live no matter the cost.

Xiao Ba, twin brother of Xiao Jiu, slave, and street rat. That was who Shen Yuan was now.

In two years, unbeknownst to him, Xiao Jiu would be sold to the Qiu household, tortured for years, and left listlessly waiting for his beloved Qi-ge that would never come back on time.

However, Xiao Ba would not be there to see it, as he was sold even earlier than his brother.

“Survive, no matter what you must survive,” Xiao Jiu hissed into Xiao Ba’s face, his thin and boney fingers digging into what little flesh Xiao Ba had on his face.

Dirty, uneven, and sharp nails punctured skin but Xiao Ba gripped back just as tightly, just as urgently.

“Survive,” Xiao Ba pleaded in return, begging his brother, the only one he could firmly call his own in this horrible world that strove to destroy them both.

The slavers came then, dragging Xiao Ba away and ignoring his anguished screams.

His eyes caught Qi-ge on his way out and he mouthed a plea to protect his brother. Qi-ge nodded solemnly.

Their hands were heavy on his flesh, hard as they callously beat him whenever they thought him to be too unruly.

“Stop damaging the goods, you know the buyer wants him to be able to work,” one of the slavers said, ordering the one that was currently kicking him.

Xiao Ba’s memories were hazy at that point, unaware of the world around him as he drifted in and out of consciousness.

When he finally reached his new owner’s house it was while he was shivering and feverous, the stress of the entire situation finally catching up with him as his body gave out.

He was sold and put to work immediately.

Life on the streets was horrible, especially when he compared it to the life he had originally lived as a well-off young master, but this was easily ten times worse.

It was more physically demanding, he was more likely to gain injury as the rest of the household took out their stress on him, and most of all, it was more mentally taxing as the only people in the world that he could relax with were taken from him.

His other half was ripped away from him and the steady rock that raised them was no longer there to steady him.

Xiao Ba spent his time having a generally bad time.

Perhaps he would have continued on this way, living miserably and wretchedly at the bottom of the food chain.

But for all that Xiao Ba was a young slave with no visible way to drag himself out of the pit of despair, Shen Yuan wasn’t.

Shen Yuan was a young master with a variety of talents he cultivated in his brief life as a homebody. Shen Yuan was privileged.

Shen Yuan wasn’t someone Xiao Ba could comfortably say he would have admired, but Shen Yuan was the person who would most likely be able to survive.

Because Shen Yuan had talents Xiao Ba didn't, and because Shen Yuan was obsessed with PIDW which Xiao Ba had now somehow found his way inside of.

The day he found out he almost laughed, the sheer relief that came with knowing he had a way out, a way to crawl out of this dark hole he had been born in was euphoric.

He could have tried to run away, tried hopelessly to join a cultivation sect.

But Xiao Ba was a realist, they’d all be burned to the ground in a few decades anyway. What was the point of struggling and risking his life if none of it meant shit all?

Xiao Ba instead made a different plan, one that was less likely to get him killed and already had some signs of being possible.

Xiao Ba was sold into the Gongyi household.

A fact that made him laugh as he remembered poor canon fodder, Gongyi Xiao.

The Gongyi family currently had one patriarch with three wives and nine children. Six sons and three daughters.

The eldest son was set to inherit but he was a fool who seemed incapable of rational thought.

The second son was smarter but he was too scheming, a fact his father and everyone else knew.

The third son was unambitious and had taken himself out of the fight for inheritance, instead simply asking for a small allowance to finance his lifestyle.

The fourth son was ambitious but his mother was constantly shooting him in the foot with her hair-brained schemes that only made his father more and more frustrated.

The fifth son was still a toddler and the sixth son was in diapers.

Xiao Ba had high hopes for the fourth son.

He was unlikely to become lord of their family even though he was arguably the most qualified in skill due to the order of his birth and his mother’s inability to support his claim.

He was also very attracted to Xiao Ba.

The first time Xiao Ba realized this he almost wanted to take a knife to stab the insolent little shit for his audacity.

Unfortunately, common sense kicked in and he restrained himself.

Still, that attraction became useful now that Xiao Ba had a plan and a way to implement it.

Seducing Gongyi Lingyun was easier than Xiao Ba had expected.

Just occasionally showing up in his vicinity while wearing clean clothes seemed to do the trick.

At only thirteen years old Xiao Ba lost his virginity to his sixteen-year-old owner.

Innocent, little Xiao Ba blushed easily, still untouched and so utterly new to the world his owner wished to drag him into.

He was the perfect little pet, bashful and endearing.

And then the next morning when his owner awoke, he smiled pleasantly, not a word of complaint leaving his lips.

It wasn't until he was alone back in the slave quarters, leaving his owner’s room limping and sticky, that he allowed the horror of the situation to hit him.

Bile crawled up his throat and even after he long emptied his stomach of what little resided there, he still kept gagging.

It had hurt more than anything else, it had hurt him in a way that the whip had failed to.

Xiao Ba cleaned himself thoroughly, his broken and bruised little body still dragging him along as he did his best to fix himself up, already aware that a single night was not enough.

And he was right.

Pillow talk was truly effective, especially when the person on the other end was a hot-blooded teenager who wanted more than life was willing to offer.

Xiao Ba became Gongyi Lingyun’s willing ear, his companion, and his little lover.

He was favored heavily.

New clothes, new jewelry, new rooms.

He was a concubine in all but name.

Using this status Xiao Ba drew in many of his fellow servants onto his side, promising them benefits beyond their current status if they followed him.

Using the information that Gongyi Lingyun gave and the gossip from his fellow household servants, Xiao Ba set his plot into motion.

Gongyi Lingyun was the son of the third wife, the newest to marry, and all the more arrogant for it.

She made a lot of enemies with her careless manner.

Still, it wasn't she who became Xiao Ba’s target, instead, it was the first wife, the biggest threat to Gongyi Lingyun’s future as head of the family.

She birthed the first and third son as well as two of the three daughters.

She had lined her cards up well but as much as Xiao Ba admired her, he could not afford to be merciful. She was a shrewd woman who had killed and blackmailed to get her way, Xiao Ba could not underestimate her.

He poisoned the third wife and planted evidence on the first wife.

His followers, loyal to the rewards Xiao Ba had to offer, gave all the false statements necessary to blacken the first wife completely.

She was given white silk and two days later she was dead.

Gongyi Lingyun cried over his mother’s death and Xiao Ba was the perfect understanding lover, drawing the man ever closer into his web, tangling him so completely that he would never be free from his strings.

After that, the first son was all but taken out of the running as his idiotic ways poisoned his father’s opinion of him completely without the first wife there to run interference.

The second son was disowned after later evidence showed that it was really he who was the mastermind behind the situation that led to the death of the third wife and the first wife’s accusation.

As this was completely in character for him no one batted an eye, only finding the man despicable for almost getting away with it and inheriting the family.

After the first and second sons were taken out of the running the third son should have been Xiao Ba’s next opponent but he was far more clever than Xiao Ba gave him credit for and with knowing eyes he willingly left the stage, only asking for a sizable allowance, his eyes catching Xiao Ba’s as he spoke.

After that, the next in line to inherit was all but confirmed to be Gongyi Lingyun.

His father started teaching him and as the months went by Gongyi Lingyun grew more and more arrogant.

Xiao Ba soothed him, his gentle care making the man more akin to a placated cat than the tiger he tried so hard to portray himself as.

There was just one slight problem, Gongyi Lingyun’s father refused to allow him to marry Xiao Ba, even as a low-level concubine.

Gongyi Lingyun was suitably apologetic but with Xiao Ba’s mask sealed firmly in place Xiao Ba only showed understanding, his words an absolution for Gongyi Lingyun’s failure.

Still, Xiao Ba was nothing if not adaptable.

So he asked Gongyi Lingyun for a list of future concubines and using his now firmly loyal network of servants and slaves, he looked into the situations of each and every one of them.

He picked three of the names from the pile, saying that these three were the most impressive on paper.

He wasn't even lying.

All three of the ladies he picked were all well-educated young misses who would no doubt be able to hold on firmly to their seat of power if that is what they wished. They came from well-off families that held status and they were beautiful.

Two of them were also lesbians and the third was asexual.

Gongyi Lingyun brought the names to his father and his father agreed.

One after the other he married each of the three and after every single wedding night he came back to Xiao Ba’s rooms, his expression desolate as he complained about the truly horrid sex he had.

Still, all of it was pretty fucking meaningless if Xiao Ba couldn't acquire himself a life-saving rope for the future.

Already he was growing older and Xiao Ba refused to let himself live purely on favorability and meaningless promises of love.

Marriage would at least make sure that Gongyi Lingyun was required by law to take care of his needs.

Not only that but if he married Gongyi Lingyun his status as a slave would be removed.

So, with honeyed words, Xiao Ba continued to lure Gongyi Lingyun further into his web.

Finally, at sixteen it all came to head.

Gongyi Lingyun’s father died and with him Gongyi Lingyun’s inability to marry Xiao Ba.

They couldn't marry immediately as Gongyi Lingyun still had to mourn for an entire year before he was able to marry once more but Gongyi Lingyun had already bided his time for so long that he wasn’t unable to wait a little more.

Xiao Ba married his owner at seventeen.

And with this marriage he cast off the chains of a slave, dawning instead the chains of a wife.

And with his new status, he was given the opportunity of a new name.

“Shen Yuan,” Xiao Ba said, quietly, his voice barely above a whisper as he spoke his old name out loud for the first time in almost two decades.

“This lord was unaware you already had a name picked out,” Gongyi Lingyun blinked. He tilted his head and observed Xiao Ba more closely, like if he could look more he could unearth three new secrets.

“This lowly one was not always a slave my lord,” Xiao Ba, now once more Shen Yuan said with a smile.

He wasn't lying either, before they had been sold Xiao Ba and Xiao Jiu remembered the last name Shen if nothing else.

They knew nothing about their first names but their surnames were seared into their minds, the one thing they truly had for themselves.

The one thing they truly owned.

After Shen Yuan’s name change and marriage, he finally set to work getting all his fellow wives together.

At least in this harem, there were no needless jealous or ridiculous power grabs.

Wife one, Cao Fen, and wife two, Fu Chunhua, entered a relationship with each other that Shen Yuan helpfully hid from their lord husband, gaining their loyalty as he did so.

Wife three, Dong Meiqi, simply didn’t want to have her bed invaded and so she too entered Shen Yuan’s court.

Thus with the work of four wives working together, they kept everything tidy and put together.

Shen Yuan would have been more than satisfied with keeping this comfortable lifestyle.

Money and luxury at his fingertips, books to keep him happy with hobbies such as painting and music to occupy him.

Shen Yuan would have been more than happy.

But fate loved to screw him over.

At twenty-five, his husband started sleeping with a pretty little servant boy.

The boy was only fourteen.

He was young and not as easily willing to keep his future in mind while making decisions.

He was an innocent child that should never have been defiled.

The boy killed himself.

He threw himself into the pond and drowned.

Shen Yuan had never hated his husband more than he did the moment he found out.

So he changed plans.

He consulted his fellow wives and together they came up with a solution.

So far none of the wives had borne children and they knew their husband was soon to add to the harem if they didn’t rectify that.

A new wife that hadn’t been screened would only make things more complicated as they wouldn’t know her true motivations.

They rather liked the peaceful life they made for themselves.

So a new wife was out.

Shen Yuan proposed an alliance with the third son, the brother of Gongyi Lingyun.

After much discussion, the rest eventually agreed.

The third son, Gongyi Haoyu was a clever man who saw more than he acknowledged and had no aspirations that Shen Yuan could discern.

Still, Shen Yuan would rather deal with a wild card than the man he called husband.

Using one of his most trusted servants he started passing correspondence to Gongyi Haoyu.

Gongyi Haoyu just as Shen Yuan predicted was unmotivated and unwilling to involve himself but Shen Yuan was nothing if not determined.

He assured him that he wouldn’t have to even lift a finger, he could simply continue his lifestyle of luxury, this time with even more wealth at his fingertips.

All he had to do was play along.

Eventually, Gongyi Haoyu agreed.

Shen Yuan’s owner died when he was twenty-six.

Died of a natural disease, no foul play.

Or well, that’s what any physician who checked would think.

PIDW was filled with such interesting and versatile plants after all.

The Lordship went to Gongyi Haoyu as the eldest and most eligible heir.

He waited a year before throwing a mass wedding, marrying all four of them at the same time.

After that, their lives became even more delightful.

For the first time, the four wives had power and freedom in their hands.

Cao Fen was good with business, her mind was practically made for such things as she brought the many Gongyi family shops to unexplored heights.

Fu Chunhua had an uncanny knack for figuring people out, for making them tell her things they really shouldn't have. She was the person in charge of charming their alliance partners.

Dong Meiqi was good at taking care of household finances, her eyes sharp as she caught more than one naughty servant stealing from the warehouse.

And Shen Yuan handled their territory, with firm hands he made sure all the citizens that lived on their land would never be mistreated.

They were a good team.

With this new power, Shen Yuan looked for his brother and Qi-ge, desperate for any news.

All he got was a long burnt-down manor and rumors from many years ago.

He cried for the first time in years at the confirmation of the death of his brothers.

Still, despite the certainty of their death, he put out a hefty reward for any news on them.

This eventually led to a crying woman wandering into his home and demanding to know everything Shen Yuan knew about Xiao Jiu.

She took one look at his face before crying out 'murderer' and then trying to kill him.

Shen Yuan had her executed for the crime.

But not before figuring a few things out.

One, her name was Qiu Haitang.

Two, she was the former owner and fiancé of Xaoi Jiu.

Three, she was one of the only survivors of the Qiu arson.

And four, she was the wife of Luo Binghe who accused Shen Qingqiu of murder.

Shen Yuan’s brother was Shen Qingqiu.

Xiao Ba’s twin, his Xiao Jiu, was the scum villain destined to die horribly.

No, no Shen Yuan refused to allow such a thing to happen.

He refused to let his brother die.

He had Qiu Haitang killed and buried with her any trace of his brother’s misdeed.

After that Shen Yuan would have immediately set off to Cang Qiong to find his two brothers but a new development was discovered.

“If you wished to marry an actual wife you could have told us, husband,” Shen Yuan said dryly, looking down at the little red bundle dropped into his arms.

“You would have killed them if they got in the way of your freedom. I figured things were less likely to result in bloodshed if I just had a few flings every once in a while,” Gongyi Haoyu deadpanned.

“Sensible,” Fu Chunhua remarked playfully. She bent over to get a better look at the babe.

“His name is Gongyi Xiao and his birth mother was a servant I had a brief romp with, I’ve already had a cultivator come by to confirm the blood relation. His mother, unfortunately, died in childbirth, I was wondering if any of you would like to be his new mother,”

“No thank you,” Dong Meiqi said immediately, her hands coming up to make an X sign on her chest.

“Yeah, I don't really want children,” Fu Chunhua shrugged.

“I have… things to do?” Cao Fen smiled nervously.

Shen Yuan rolled his eyes.

“I’ll take him in,” Shen Yuan sighed.

Gongyi Haoyu gave him a charming smile that was one hundred percent fake before leaving.

No doubt to a brothel of some sort.

“How many illegitimate children are we gonna end up having to raise, do you think?” Fu Chunhua asked, her painted finger tapping against her lower lip.

“A dozen at least, the man can't keep it in his pants,” Dong Meiqi snorted.

“At least he doesn't call on us to warm his bed,” Cao Fen said.

“That's because he’s afraid we’ll kill him for the offense, he’s well aware that no one would be able to pin it on us either,” Dong Meiqi said shortly.

“We like him because he’s clever enough not to get in our way yet unambitious enough that he wouldn't want to in the first place, he has his uses even if he makes the occasional blunder such as this. Besides, having children outside of the harem is better for us anyway, we need an heir to support the family and us in our old age, something we are either unwilling or unable to give him. Better an illegitimate child we raised with our own two hands than the fifth or sixth brother. They’ve started frothing at the mouth for a piece of this big meat pile the Gongyi family has become in the last couple of years under our rule and we can not let our work fall into their unworthy hands,” Shen Yuan said, his finger carefully stroking his new baby’s nose.

At twenty-nine Shen Yuan became a parent.

Years passed by and Shen Yuan tried sending letters to Qing Jing, asking if someone by the name of Shen Jiu resided there.

His letters went unanswered but Shen Yuan never gave up hope.

He was unable to physically go himself as the care of a child resided on his shoulders but still, he dreamed of one day seeing his brother again.

Besides the despair of never being able to grasp his brother’s sleeve, his life was truly good and well.

Gongyi Xiao was a sensible and sweet child, with large rosy cheeks, long eyelashes framing innocent eyes, and adorable little hands that reached out for Shen Yuan at even the slightest inconvenience, oh so certain that Shen Yuan would solve whatever problem ailed him.

“Baba, baba look!” Shen Yuan’s baby said with a large grin, one of his front teeth missing from when he accidentally fell over while playing out in the courtyard.

It made Shen Yuan’s heart melt from the sheer cuteness.

Shen Yuan came over and was immediately given a flower.

Gongyi Xiao shoved the flower forward and a few petals fell from the rough handling.

Shen Yuan cooed at his baby’s lovable look of confusion when he saw a rather barren flower in place of what used to be a more elegant bloom.

Finally, when Gongyi Xiao turned eight Shen Yuan felt confident enough to leave the young boy with his aunties for a trip over to where his brother was.

The journey took a few weeks but he spent those weeks stabilizing himself.

Finally, when he reached the stairs of Cang Qiong he paused, unsure of how to proceed.

He asked around, wondering how to get a meeting with the peak lord before he saw a couple of disciples wandering around the town.

He ended up having to bribe a disciple to get a letter to Qing Jing.

He waited two days before his efforts bore fruit.

“Xiao Ba,” his brother, gasped out, awed and hopeful and desperate. He extended his hands as though to grab Shen Yuan but his hands fell short when he pulled back at the last moment. Shen Yuan paid that no mind, clasping at his brother’s fingers with a death grip.

“Xiao Jiu,” Shen Yuan whispered back, eyes wet with tears hanging on his eyelashes. He blinked away the mist, not wanting his brother’s image to be contorted now that he could finally gaze upon him.

They stayed silent for a moment, too busy taking the other person in.

Shen Yuan had been seated in his room, drinking tea by the window as he waited for his brother when the door had slammed open as a frantic Shen Qingqiu burst in.

“We survived,” Shen Yuan said softly, his left hand coming up to cup his brother’s cheek. They still looked all but identical, but where Shen Yuan had the marks of aging, his brother did not. No one would mistake them as anything but relatives but no one would think they shared a womb for nine months either.

Shen Qingqiu all but collapsed at the gentle touch, his arms winding up around Shen Yuan’s shoulders as he tightly held Shen Yuan so hard against him that Shen Yuan wouldn’t be surprised if there were indents of his chin on his brother’s skin.

They cried together, uncaring of whatever status they climbed and struggled and crawled towards as they once more became the little slave children who only had each other.

They spent most of the morning like that, simply holding each other.

Then, after a while, Shen Yuan spoke.

He caught his brother up to all the despicable, horrible, terrible things he had had to do in order to survive, remarking upon his many actions with indifference.

With every word, he said his brother tightened his hold further until Shen Yuan was gasping for breath.

Shen Qingqiu loosened his hold only enough for Shen Yuan to breathe.

Then it was his turn.

They spent hours talking.

And then they spent hours sleeping together.

Like when they had been children who snuggled together for warmth.

Shen Yuan could confidently say that his life as a slave was awful, but Xiao Jiu had made any hardship he encountered worth it.

He made this life in this shitty novel worth it.

And so Shen Yuan would never allow anyone to harm him.

Not Qiu Haitang, not Huan Hua Palace, not Cang Qiong Mountain, and not Luo Binghe.

They spent a month together before Shen Yuan reluctantly went back, giving his brother an invitation to visit whenever he wished.

Home was just as he remembered it, his friends just as kind and his child just as sweet, but a part of him was missing and would forever continue to stay missing until he was once more reunited with his brother.

Shen Yuan told Gongyi Xiao all about his uncle, a man who must be protected and cared for.

And then, at eleven years old, Shen Yuan sent Gongyi Xiao to Cang Qiong Mountain along with a letter and orders to listen to his uncle's words before all else.

Gongyi Xiao was a filial child and so he accepted everything Shen Yuan told him with a nod, looking determined.

Shen Yuan hid a smile behind his fan, a fan his brother had bought him.

Gongyi Haoyu was less than pleased about his heir running off to become a cultivator but he was even less so when he realized it was to Cang Qiong and not Huan Hua.

“My brother is a peak lord of Cang Qiong, he will be better-taken care of there,” was all Shen Yuan said as reassurance before turning away entirely from the conversation.

In retaliation, Gongyi Haoyu brought four illegitimate children back to back for Shen Yuan to raise.

Jokes on Gongyi Haoyu though because Shen Yuan likes kids so this was no hardship.

After Gongyi Xiao was sent away Shen Yuan then focused on finding Luo Binghe.

He had already put out some considerable effort to find the boy but now he could focus more completely on the task.

Gongyi Xiao was only a few years younger than Luo Binghe but Luo Binghe’s mother died at least one year before he made it to Cang Qiong, so if he could just intercept the boy in that time period then Shen Yuan could manipulate the future.

The years went by and both Gongyi Xiao and Shen Qingqiu sent letters.

Shen Qingqiu’s were about Gongyi Xiao’s progress and then eventually about Gongyi Xiao becoming Head Disciple while Gongyi Xiao’s were about him doing his duties as nephew and student as best as he could.

It warmed Shen Yuan’s heart to know two of the people he cared most about were taking care of each other.

To celebrate Gongyi Xiao’s new status Shen Yuan went out to buy him a gift coincidentally, while there, he saw the most adorable child he had ever laid eyes on sitting on a street corner.

Getting the child to talk to him was easier than he expected, clearly, he hadn’t been on the streets long.

When the child said his name was Luo Binghe, Shen Yuan knew he hit the jackpot.

Shen Yuan took the child in and convinced the boy to take his hand.

The boy apologized for dirtying Shen Yuan but Shen Yuan only soothed the boy gently.

After taking the boy home he spent the next few days carefully taking care of him, almost treating him like he would his own son.

Eventually, after a few months had passed and Luo Binghe gained even footing, he asked why Shen Yuan took him in.

Shen Yuan lied and told him that he reminded him of his son.

They looked similar enough for the lie to hold and that was all that mattered.

A few days went by after this answer before Luo Binghe hesitantly called Shen Yuan baba with a shy but nervous smile.

Shen Yuan rewarded the boy with a wide grin and countless quick kisses all across his face.

After Luo Binghe was thoroughly planted in Shen Yuan’s camp Shen Yuan sent him to Cang Qiong with a letter and order to listen to his uncle’s words above all else.

He also sent a letter to Shen Qingqiu explaining the situation and asking him to only take Luo Binghe in if no one else would accept him.

A month later Luo Binghe proudly sent a letter saying he had been accepted into Bai Zhan Peak.

Which was a horrible reminder of the next tragedy that would become the next nail in Shen Qingqiu’s coffin.

So to counteract this, Shen Yuan sent off for Cang Qiong.

Once there he asked his brother for a visit with all three of his family members all together.

Having his brother and two children all together in one room with him made Shen Yuan decide that everything was worth it, that dying and being reborn was worth it.

Shen Yuan grilled his two children on how they were doing and then grilled Shen Qingqiu on his health.

It was only after two hours that Shen Yuan was pleased with their answers.

They spent the day in merriment before Shen Yuan asked his brother to stay behind, sending the children off before them.

“I know a trusted fortune teller and she told me you would soon have a grave encounter with a comrade. This encounter would not kill you immediately but would be fuel for the fire that would light your pier,” Shen Yuan said seriously.

Then, he reached into his bag and removed a life-saving flower he had spent ages trying to find.

This was an item that should have belonged to Luo Binghe of the future but now would stay in the hands of his most hated enemy.

“Keep this with you and use it when you need it most,” Shen Yuan pleaded.

He didn’t know the situation of how Liu Qingge died, all he knew was that both entered the spirit caves and only one exited.

There was speculation but Shen Yuan knew his brother and if Shen Qingqiu wanted to kill the war god then he wouldn’t have been so obvious about it.

The words were more important than the flower but he gave the flower just in case.

If only for him to heal himself after the deed was done.

Shen Qingqiu gave him a serious look before nodding his head.

When no news of the war god dying reached his ears Shen Yuan completely relaxed, knowing that once more he had extended his brother’s life.

There were still rumors of him going to brothels but one could hardly be sentenced to imprisonment for perverted behavior.

There was also the crime of abusing his disciples but even in the novel Shen Qingqiu hadn’t abused anyone but Luo Binghe, something that was impossible to do now because Luo Binghe wasn’t even his disciple anymore.

Everything that could pose a threat had been quietly taken out of the equation.

Now the only thing left was Shen Qingqiu throwing Luo Binghe into the abyss.

Or perhaps more accurately, the demons invading the Immortal Alliance Conference caused Luo Binghe to break his seal.

He couldn’t stop the conference from happening, that wasn’t something under his power.

He could however stop the demons from invading.

When Luo Binghe was seventeen he went to the Immortal Alliance Conference. He and his brother competed for first place with him eventually winning. He had a fun and educational time with little to no hiccups except for Huan Hua disciples constantly weighing him down.

He would never know the blood Shen Yuan had shed to keep it this way.

He would never know the deals Shen Yuan made with demons to keep them from attacking.

He would never know just how much Shen Yuan stopped him from being blackened beyond recognition.

And no one else would either.

Shen Yuan entered a trade agreement with the Northern Desert Demon Tribe, they lived in a land sparse of necessities and Shen Yuan traded them what they needed for cheaper than the South had.

He had gained this opportunity by ambushing Shang Qinghua and demanding a meeting with his king.

It was while he was demanding this meeting that he realized the other man was a transmigrator too.

All in all Shen Yuan had gotten rid of every issue that might have plagued his beloved family, silently guarding them against any harm that might befall them.

Luo Binghe awakened his demonic blood safely and privately while away on a year-long journey to find himself.

He hid himself well and eventually became the Head Disciple of Bai Zhan.

The four children he had ended up having to raise all did their own thing with eventually one of them becoming head of the family after Gongyi Lingyun died.

His fellow wives continued living freely and happily.

Shen Qingqiu never became a human stick or died while swallowing sword shards.

Shen Yuan eventually met up with Qi-ge again and dragged the truth out of him.

Shen Qingqiu and Yue Qingyuan mended their relationship slightly and were trying their best to work things out.

Everything was well.

And now Shen Yuan was dying.

At age 87 Shen Yuan lived a long and fulfilling life.

He had no regrets.

He had done everything he had set out to do and while he closed his eyes to this world forever, his family surrounded him.