Qiu Yunru didn't know what to do.
He had never been so out of it before. That was probably because he'd never encountered a situation like this. In his past life, he'd never worried about this kind of thing too much; after all, he had though kind of thing happened to women much more often than men. Even if it happened to men, he didn't think it would happen to himself!
Now that he was here, he found that everything felt a bit hazy. And now that Li Chenyuan was here, his mind, already blurry with shock, felt utterly shattered!
What is that kid doing here? How did he get here?! Holy shit--he's seeing me like this, holy shit!
His first though was to suck it up and push Cui Ninghao away, then run with Li Chenyuan out of the room. He could explain later! Only, as soon as he had that thought, his face was splattered with something wet and hot.
Touching his cheek, he saw that it was blood. He fell back in shock.
Rolling on the floor in pain was Cui Ninghao, his robes stained with dark blood. That piece of shit was clutching his crotch and howling like a wounded wolf!
It was like a scene out of a horror film: Li Chenyuan loomed over Cui Ninghao, casting a long shadow. Qiu Yunru had never seen that expression on his face. It was so terrifying, so contemptuous, that it made him want to piss his pants! Holy shit!
Not to mention that what Li Chenyuan had clearly done was cut off that man's dick! Qiu Yunru averted his eyes, aghast. He absolutely would not look at that thing lying off to the side on the floor!
Wordlessly, Li Chenyuan raised his sword. Seeing this, Cui Ninghao shrieked, scrambling backwards.
"Wait!" He shrilled. His eyes were blown wide with terror. "Wait! What is it you want? Money? Money, I have money!"
Li Chenyuan sneered. "Good. I'll find it and shove it up your ass when you're dead!"
SHING!
Thump.
Well. There was Cui Ninghao's head, rolling on the floor. His eyes continued to dart around for a moment, his mouth moving silently, before he rolled and hit the wall, finally going still.
Seeing all this Qiu Yunru's mind wasn't working properly. So, all he could think to do was stumble to his feet...
And run!
As he tore through the halls of the Red Lotus Pavilion, his thoughts went something like this:
Holy shit holy shit. AAAAAH! What the fuck! What the fuck! Holy shit! Where am I going? What the fuck?!
He shoulder-checked a few demons, leaving them shouting and sprawling on the ground, but he barely noticed. He ran down the hall, he ran down the stairs, he ran through the lobby, until he was all the way out in the street! And even after that, he ran, and ran, and ran!
"Gege!" Li Chenyuan shouted after him, voice cracking.
I should stop, shouldn't I? How does this look? No, no, don't stop, don't stop!
Qiu Yunru was so dazed that he didn't see a small demon strolling across the street right in his path. Like a bowling ball, he barreled that demon over, causing the both of them to tumble and roll to the ground in a heap! In doing so, he hit his head somewhere in the dirt.
Really? Now I hit my head? Brain damage, too? What is this karma for? What did I do, huh?! Buddha, something's wrong with the karmic cycle!
Clutching his head, he could vaguely hear that little demon shrieking at him in anger. However, the shrieking didn't last for long. That demon was there one second, and the next, it was flying through the air like a pinwheel.
Li Chenyuan had run up and tossed that demon to the side like it was nothing but a sack of rice!
"Gege!" He cried.
Oh, shit...
Looking up, Qiu Yunru could see that that kid's eyes were full of tears. What else could he do but fall back on instinct in a state like this? He reached out with a shaky hand and took Li Chenyuan's hand in his own, rubbing the back of it unsteadily.
"Ah, don't cry," he croaked weakly. "It's okay...Why are you crying...?"
At that, Li Chenyuan's phoenix eyes widened. As if a button had been pressed, those tears began to flow like rivers, staining his pretty face and dripping down onto Qiu Yunru's hands.
"Gege..." He wept, falling to his knees and crushing Qiu Yunru in an embrace. "Gege, why did you run from me? Am I really so terrible?"
"I..." Qiu Yunru swallowed his words, feeling his head spinning. "I didn't know what to do, so I just ran...I ran..."
"So gege finds me terrible!" Li Chenyuan wept harder. "I'm nothing but evil! I knew it..."
"What? No, no, I didn't say that! Of course that's not true!" If he had had the energy, he would have wanted to shake this kid to his senses. If he had had energy and a tougher heart, he might have slapped him! Li-shidi, wasn't it me who was hurt and terrified? Why is it me who's comforting you?!
Even so, he kept patting Li Chenyuan's back weakly. The adrenaline that had been rushing through his veins had begun to lessen; at the same time, a wave of weakness came over his body. He had never experienced this kind of thing in Spring Blossoms, Autumn Fruits before--only in his past life. It seemed this experience had been so shocking that not even his Golden Core could save him from the effects!
Breathing shakily, he leaned his head against Li Chenyuan's shoulder. "Li-shidi."
Hiccupping, Li Chenyuan looked down with wide, shining eyes. "...Gege?"
"This shixiong...isn't feeling so well," Qiu Yunru confessed.
With that, he passed out in Li Chenyuan's lap, leaving the poor boy gaping down at him in horror.
____
Li Chenyuan had been sitting at Qiu Yunru's bedside for half an hour now, refusing to leave the room or look away from his shixiong for even a second. No one in the Red Lotus Pavilion dared ask him to leave, despite not knowing who he was, and the fact that he was a human with strong demonic energy. One look from him, and all the attendants Madame Red had sent scattered!
There was one thing in that pavilion that could manage to tear his focus away, however. It just so happened that that "thing" ran into the room right then.
Another young man burst into the room. His appearance was disheveled, as if he had sprinted in a panic. His robes were nondescript, belonging to no sect, but it was clear by his traces of spiritual energy that he was both a human and a cultivator. As soon as he entered, this guy threw aside the demon mask on his face and rushed to the bedside, only giving Li Chenyuan a curious, quick nod.
"Qiu-wanbei?" That guy whispered, grabbing for Qiu Yunru's pale hand under the covers.
"Hey!" Li Chenyuan stood up and shoved him from across the bed. An unbearably hot feeling writhed in his chest. Who the hell was this?! No, no, he didn't care! "Don't touch him! Do you even know him? Who are you?!"
The man stumbled backwards. His cultivation was high; even with that violent push, he still managed to stay on his feet. His eyes looked Li Chenyuan up and down, an expression of recognition on his face.
"Ah," He said awkwardly. "You must be Li Chenyuan."
"How do you know my name?" Li Chenyuan snapped. He was already sizing this guy up from head to toe, and he was not happy with what he saw: a handsome, tanned face with bright, charming eyes, shiny hair, and the build of a true martial artist.
This guy was a straight-up heartthrob, and Li Chenyuan hated the sight of him at once!
"It was Qiu-wanbei who told me," the handsome man said cautiously. "I've...heard much about you. He speaks of you often."
"Who are you to call Qiu-ge your junior? How do you know him?!"
"Please don't assume anything--truly. Our goal was the same, so we've just been travelling together awhile through the Demon Realm."
"Travelling together?" Li Chenyuan's mind was already harried and frayed from months and months of panicked searching. Now, here was a guy was who not only good-looking, but had also been hanging out by Qiu-ge's side for months? He saw a wall of red, and it was as if all the blood in his veins began to boil.
Qiu-gege had been travelling with someone all this time? Another man, at that? Who the hell was this stuck-up piece-of-shit, asshole, prick-headed guy, thinking he deserved to be by Qiu-ge's side, huh? Huh?!
He drew his sword pointing the gleaming tip at this guy's throat. In the past months, his martial skills had improved exponentially, as had his demonic cultivation. Not only could he suppress the insanity that had used to come with his demonic abilities, but he was also faster than anyone else he had met with a sword.
And yet, somehow, this guy's martial skills matched his own!
Instead of having his sword pointed towards the man's throat, it had been deflected lightly to the side. Sparks flew momentarily, and Li Chenyuan was filled with a sensation of failure.
If he wasn't better than this guy in looks, skills, or spending time with Qiu-ge, then...what did he have left to provide?!
"You...that's enough."
Li Chenyuan froze. It was Qiu Yunru who had spoken just now. He had been awoken by the clanging of metal and was blinking his eyes open tiredly with an exasperated expression.
Li Chenyuan was torn for a moment. He wanted nothing more than to throw this guy out the window...but how could he do that when his gege was awake? He sucked up his fury and sheathed his sword, rushing to Qiu Yunru's bedside.
"Gege!"
Even as Li Chenyuan grabbed his hand and fell to his knees, Qiu Yunru could already see tears forming in this kid's eyes. He sighed, allowing Li Chenyuan to squeeze his hand and check his forehead frantically.
"Are you so sad to see me that you keep crying every time I'm awake?" Qiu Yunru mumbled hoarsely, joking to himself.
Li Chenyuan paled in horror. He squeezed Qiu Yunru's hand tighter, crushing it in a desperate vise. "How could gege think such a thing? What have I done to make gege think this?!"
Qiu Yunru coughed awkwardly, face reddening. "Ah...it was a joke. Just a joke. Anyways...how did you get here? Didn't you open a portal? How could you have done that, unless...?"
"I reached Nascent Soul," Li Chenyuan said quickly. The way he said it, rushing over the words and leaning over Qiu Yunru to check his complexion, was as though it was some small thing he'd done--like going to the store to buy an apple, or putting on his shoes.
"You WHAT?!"