Chapter 37

Complete Corrected Translation:

"Senior, please wear this."

Shen Qingqiu lowered his gaze. A strip of black cloth crossed his vision, blinding him.

It was entirely unnecessary. Given the ever-shifting, profound mysteries of the Illusory Flower Palace's labyrinthine formations, even if Shen Qingqiu had walked through with a camera, recording every step, he still wouldn't have been able to memorize the route in and out.

The air in the water prison was damp, the ground slightly slick. With his eyes covered, he could only be led along by the disciples escorting him.

Shen Qingqiu said, "Gongyi Xiao."

Gongyi Xiao, who had been following closely behind, hurriedly responded, "Senior?"

"During the waiting period before the joint trial of the four sects," Shen Qingqiu asked, "am I permitted contact with the outside world?"

Gongyi Xiao replied, "Only those holding an Illusory Flower Palace passage token may move freely within the water prison."

That would make it troublesome if Shang Qinghua wanted to visit and discuss the matter of harvesting the Sun-Moon Dew Essence Mushroom. Shen Qingqiu thought for a moment, then asked, "What was done with the seed-scatterers?"

"After cremation, they were taken by the masters of Zhaohua Temple for rites of deliverance."

A voice beside them grumbled with dissatisfaction, "Senior Brother, why are you telling him all this? Once someone enters this water prison, do they really think they'll ever leave?"

Damn, that voice was so familiar. It was that pockmarked junior who seemed to have a personal grudge against him!

Gongyi Xiao rebuked him, "Show some respect!"

Shen Qingqiu chuckled. "No need to scold him."

As they spoke, they reached his temporary holding cell. The black cloth was removed from his eyes. His vision adjusted to the dim light, revealing they stood before the mouth of a massive stalactite cave.

The cave floor was a dark, ink-black lake. Irregularly spaced torches cast a sickly yellow light upon the walls, their reflections dancing wildly upon the water's rippling surface. At the lake's center rose a man-made platform of white stone. Its color was crystalline, nearly jade-like—it had to be a special material.

Gongyi Xiao produced a string of keys, felt along a section of rock, and performed some manipulation. From the depths of the lake came the grinding sound of gears turning. A stone pathway rose from the lakebed, connecting directly to the stone platform at the heart of the water.

"Senior," Gongyi Xiao said, gesturing. "Please."

The pockmarked disciple picked up an ordinary stone. "Watch this!"

He tossed the pebble into the lake. Instead of sinking, it floated on the surface. Moments later, a sizzling sound arose, as if the stone had been placed on a hot griddle. Bubbles swarmed over its surface, and it was rapidly corroded away until nothing remained.

The pockmarked youth said smugly, "Anyone thinking of escaping from here, or breaking someone out, is just deluding themselves!"

Shen Qingqiu was shocked by the viciousness of the liquid.

This water prison somewhat resembled the place where the Sun-Moon Dew Essence Mushroom grew. But if someone took a tumble into this lake, not even their bones would remain.

And this body of liquid was at least five times larger than the Dew Essence Lake!

Wasn't the Illusory Flower Palace a renowned righteous sect? Where did they get so much of this terrifying liquid?!

Shen Qingqiu walked along the stone pathway with extreme caution. Slipping here would be no joke. Once he reached the central platform, Gongyi Xiao turned the key again, and the narrow causeway sank back into the lake's depths.

Shen Qingqiu assumed a meditative posture on the platform, surveying his surroundings. He thought that if someone could fly in on a sword, this lake wouldn't be much of an obstacle.

No sooner had the thought crossed his mind than he saw Gongyi Xiao activate a mechanism beside the keyhole.

Suddenly, the sound of rushing water echoed from above. Shen Qingqiu looked up just in time to see thick, turbid currents of water cascading down from all sides overhead, forming an impenetrable watery curtain that enclosed him within the six-zhang-square stone platform.

…I was wrong! Forget people, not even a fly could get through this!

The Illusory Flower Palace's water prison truly lived up to its reputation! No wonder it was the publicly endorsed prison of choice for all the sects!

Shen Qingqiu knew trouble would come for him. He just hadn't expected it so soon.

He was awakened by a basin of cold water thrown in his face.

A violent shiver wracked him. His first thought was that it might be the corrosive liquid. Shaking his head and blinking hard, the uncomfortable sensation of ice water stinging his eyes confirmed it was just ordinary water. The Immortal-Binding Ropes coiled around him a hundred times over were incredibly fine, yet they firmly sealed his spiritual meridians. Even his blood flow felt constricted, drastically reducing his resistance to the cold. He couldn't help but shiver again.

The watery curtains on all four sides had ceased flowing. The elevated passage connecting the platform to the outside world had also risen.

His vision gradually cleared. Moving his gaze upward, he first saw a pair of delicate, embroidered slippers, then the hem of a pink skirt above them. A young girl, bedecked in jewels and pearls, her willow-leaf eyebrows furrowed and almond-shaped eyes wide with anger, stood glaring at him, a whip resting on her shoulder.

Shen Qingqiu rolled his eyes inwardly.

Luo Binghe was troublesome enough, but his wives were truly unbearable!

They appeared one after another like a revolving parade. Please, no more! He wasn't the original goods and had absolutely no interest in harassing beauties!

The girl pointed her whip at him. "Since you're awake, stop pretending to be dead! This Palace Mistress has questions for you!"

Given her generation, even with Shen Qingqiu currently a prisoner, it wasn't her place to conduct an interrogation.

Shen Qingqiu said, "This doesn't seem to be the Young Palace Mistress's duty."

The apple of the old Palace Master's eye, the head of Luo Binghe's harem in terms of willfulness, said, "Since you know who I am, you must also know why I've come?"

Her eyes reddened. Gnashing her teeth, she spat, "You treacherous, despicable scum who colludes with the demon realm and betrays your own sect! Now that you've fallen into this Palace Mistress's hands, I'll make you pay!"

Shen Qingqiu: "…I don't believe I've admitted to colluding with the demon realm."

The Young Palace Mistress stamped her foot. "You were so cruel and vicious to Brother Luo. Naturally, you're capable of colluding with demons too."

The power of genetics was indeed strong. This logic was definitely inherited from the old Palace Master!

Shen Qingqiu was speechless for a moment. "Did he say I was cruel and vicious to him?"

The Young Palace Mistress recited with deep feeling, "Brother Luo is far too good a person to ever say such things. The wounds he's suffered, he keeps hidden in his heart, not letting anyone touch them, not letting anyone see… But did you think just because he doesn't speak of them, I wouldn't notice?!"

…

This heartfelt delivery… Shen Qingqiu felt profoundly unwell!

Was this the goddamn finals of a poetry recital competition?!

He hardly knew whether to collapse in hysterical laughter or remain silently dumbfounded. Sorry! I know it's terribly rude to laugh at a girl pouring her heart out like this! But this is just too embarrassing! It's practically a shame-play!

Luo Binghe's harem might be vast, but it was truly a motley, chaotic crew. This was the consequence of biting off more than one could chew, prioritizing quantity over quality. It was also the consequence of Xiang Tian Da Feiji, a shut-in who'd barely touched a woman's hand, insisting on writing a harem novel. Serves him right, hahahaha!

The Young Palace Mistress suddenly looked suspicious. "What's that expression on your face?"

Shen Qingqiu hurriedly composed himself, checking that his face had remained appropriately stoic. Offending this girl would bring no good outcome.

Sure enough, the Young Palace Mistress flew into a rage. "Were you just laughing at me?!"

Originally, the Young Palace Mistress had been devoted to her childhood friend, Gongyi Xiao. But after Luo Binghe appeared, the full force of her affection surged toward the male lead. It couldn't be helped. In the battle between the childhood friend and the heaven-sent newcomer, the newcomer always won effortlessly. This trope of shifting affections was actually common in harem novels, because there would always be NTR enthusiasts in the world who derived peculiar pleasure from such plotlines, whether they were the ones stealing partners or having theirs stolen. Those who shifted their affections naturally felt flustered and guilty. Seeing someone else's strange expression, they immediately assumed they were being mocked. Burning with shame and anger, the Young Palace Mistress swung her arm, sending the whip lashing out!

The whip came with ferocious momentum, its whistle through the air piercingly sharp. Though the Immortal-Binding Ropes restricted the flow of his spiritual power, Shen Qingqiu's physical reflexes hadn't degraded. He rolled aside just as the whip struck the stone less than three chi from his feet.

Stone fragments and dust exploded from the impact. Shen Qingqiu knelt on one knee, steadying himself.

What the hell! Why is a young girl using a barbed iron whip?! The aesthetic is all wrong!!!

Even more wrong was the fact that in the original work, the Young Palace Mistress's fine-iron whip was specifically for beating love rivals!!! It was equipment for catfights over a man! It had only ever been used on beautiful women Luo Binghe glanced at twice. Why was it now being used on a man?! Can't you hear it weeping?!

Enough already! Can you please stop handing me this script?!

Missing her strike only fueled the Young Palace Mistress's fury. With a sharp cry, she drew the whip back for another strike. The platform was only so large, and Shen Qingqiu was bound. No matter how fast his reactions, he couldn't avoid the whip's wind entirely. The fabric of his robes tore in several places, though his skin remained unbroken. But after dodging repeatedly, he was soon backed to the platform's edge. Seeing no further retreat was possible, and bracing to take the blow head-on, Shen Qingqiu gritted his teeth, planted his feet, and closed his eyes, awaiting the searing pain!

Yet he waited, and waited… but no pain came. He snapped his eyes open and looked before him. His heart instantly sank.

Luo Binghe had caught the tip of the whip in his bare hand. His eyes seemed to burn with two dark, ghostly flames, chilling and terrifying.

Word by word, his voice froze to the core of one's being. "What are you doing?"

The Young Palace Mistress, startled by his sudden appearance, took a step back. But what frightened her more was the cold, severe expression on his face—one she had never seen before. An involuntary shiver ran through her.

Since their acquaintance, Luo Binghe had always been gentle and considerate, skilled at pleasing others. He had never looked at her with such murderous eyes. She retreated several more steps, stammering, "I… I… I asked Father for a passage token… to interrogate him…"

Luo Binghe said coldly, "The joint trial of the four sects is in one month."

The Young Palace Mistress suddenly felt wronged. She shouted loudly, "He harmed so many of my senior brothers and sisters! So many! And he treated you badly! What's wrong with me teaching him a lesson?!"

Luo Binghe wrenched the whip from her grip, its vicious barbs meaningless against his bare hand. With a subtle flex of his fingers, the fine steel weapon disintegrated into a shower of metallic dust.

"Leave," he said, his voice utterly devoid of warmth.

The Young Palace Mistress stared, dumbfounded, at the remains of her favorite weapon scattered on the ground. "Ah!" she gasped, disbelief warping her features.

Tears welled in her eyes as she pointed a trembling finger at Shen Qingqiu. "You… you would do this to me… for him?!"

Luo Binghe didn't even glance back. He swept the iron dust from his palm into the lake. The water hissed and sizzled violently as it consumed the fragments.

Her lips trembled as she watched.

A sudden, chilling realization struck her: in that moment, Luo Binghe hadn't just wanted to destroy the whip. He had wanted to crush her, inch by inch, and feed her to the corrosive depths. And he hadn't been joking.

"You… I was doing this for your own good!" she shrieked, the words bursting from her. Then, with a sob, she turned and fled, her tears marking her escape.

The script is wrong! Shen Qingqiu’s mind screamed internally. This is all fucking wrong!

His internal rant was cut short as Luo Binghe’s gaze shifted and settled squarely upon him.

A wave of visceral discomfort hit Shen Qingqiu—a clenching in his teeth, a twist in his gut. At this moment, he would have gladly taken a hundred lashes from the girl. The physical pain would be preferable to being trapped alone in a confined space with Luo Binghe. Anything would be better than this!

Silence stretched between them, thick and heavy.

Luo Binghe took a single step forward.

Shen Qingqiu immediately, and with what he hoped was dignified restraint, shifted back to maintain the distance.

A hand Luo Binghe had begun to extend hung frozen in the air for a moment before he withdrew it.

He let out a cold, humorless snort. "Shizun need not be so wary. If I wished to do anything to you, I wouldn't need to lay a finger on you."

Shen Qingqiu understood. He was referring to the Heavenly Demon's blood.

Even a single drop swallowed was like planting a timed explosive within one's body, fraught with infinite possibilities. If Luo Binghe willed it, a mere crook of his finger could make Shen Qingqiu's guts rupture, wracking him with agony.

In that sense, Luo Binghe's words were nothing but the truth.

Shen Qingqiu settled back into a meditative pose and raised his eyes to meet Luo Binghe's gaze.

One month.

He had to endure for one month.

Once that was over, the sky would be vast and the ocean wide for this bird to fly free. To hell with all these wretched troubles and wretched people!

After another stretch of silence, Shen Qingqiu spoke calmly. "If you wish to settle accounts with me, there's no need for haste. Wait until the joint interrogation by the four sects is concluded. Once my name is thoroughly ruined and there is no possibility of reversal, then you can collect your debt in full. Wouldn't that be more satisfying?"

He crafted this speech entirely based on his understanding of the original Luo Binghe's mindset. In theory, it should have been perfectly tailored to his tastes.

Unexpectedly, the light in Luo Binghe's eyes dimmed.

He spoke slowly, each word measured. "Why is Shizun so certain the interrogation will find you guilty?"

Shen Qingqiu stared. "...Shouldn't I be asking you that?"

Luo Binghe repeated, woodenly, "Asking me?"

A cold laugh escaped him. "Of course. It's always me."

Who else could it possibly be? Shen Qingqiu thought, rendered utterly speechless.