Chapter Text
Shen Qingqiu would be the first to admit that, as trashy as the book was, the A/B/O setting in Proud Immortal Demon Way was actually pretty tame compared to what he’d seen in his sister’s BL novels.
For one, everyone in this world was taught to guard their respective designations with the same care and diligence they guarded their genitals, which was why Shen Qingqiu didn’t even know what designation his fellow cultivators were, most of the time, and honestly couldn’t care less. He could more or less sense a person’s designation from the way he or she acted, but personality varied even among people of the same designation and was never foolproof.
The second thing was that scents and pheromones were pretty much nonexistent in this setting. Shen Qingqiu had yet to see an alpha try to intimidate another alpha with their scent, or an omega swooning and entering heat after being hit head on by an alpha’s pheromones. Thank god for that, as this was another kink that Shen Qingqiu didn’t actually need to see.
Proud Immortal Demon Way was, in short, an A/B/O story only as an afterthought: alphas were strong and more prone to have dominating personalities, omegas were prized and protected for their beauty and their superior ability to bear gifted children. But apart from the child-bearing aspect, the A/B/O setting served no conceivable purpose in the story. There was no hierarchy among the three different designations, alphas were just people with bigger and meaner personalities, omegas went about their lives the same way everyone did, and betas still hit each other up and bear children like nobody’s business.
Why Airplane Shooting Towards the Sky, hack author that he was, didn’t capitalize on the setting to create endless kinky breeding or SM scenarios for the main protagonist was beyond him. He’d expected the guy to, given the guy’s sorely lacking morality, but when Airplane said Luo Binghe was an alpha of all alphas, all he meant in gist was Luo Binghe was an incredibly efficient sire. Which – well – wasn’t all that impressive. Considering.
It was a lame and useless setting, and Shen Qingqiu would have written a five-thousand-word review on the redundancy of the setting if he was able to.
Be that as if may, Shen Qingqiu was grateful for the setting glitch. The original good’s body had – surprisingly - been an omega, despite the man’s height and overbearing personality, and Shen Qingqiu did not want to deal with being looked at like a particularly pretty butterfly all the time.
He’d had enough on his plate with all the transmigration and shit and would cry if he had to deal with the additional risk of horny alphas trying to force themselves into his presence.
And then there was the issue of an omega’s biology to deal with. Shen Qingqiu was, if anything, a fast learner. Because he couldn’t avoid the heats, he soon learnt to tackle them the way teenage girls did with their menstruation: by bitching about it, locking his emo self up in his rooms until he was fully functional again, and chucking pills by the handful in the meantime.
Shen Qingqiu managed his designation in this way for more than half a decade, with moderate success. Looking back, he had grown unforgivably complacent with his status as an omega, and that was why the succubus cave happened.
Everything went to hell when Shen Qingqiu fainted without a trace of warning during a calligraphy lesson, ink spilling across the low table and staining his pristine robes an ashy black.
The Qing Jing disciples, who had never ever seen their shizun as anything other than proper and pristine, went into an instant uproar. The Peak Lord was rushed to Qian Cao. Mu Qingfang had been most unimpressed when Shen Qingqiu came to him unconscious, then violently ill and puking his guts out when he’d awoken.
“I didn’t do anything,” Shen Qingqiu said reflexively upon waking before the physician could open his mouth, and Mu Qingfang scowled.
“That’s what they all say. Do you take me for a fool, shixiong?” he scolded, “You’re three months pregnant.”
Shen Qingqiu gaped at him. Mu Qingfang watched his mental breakdown for a few moments before he tore another chunk out of his shixiong.
“Shixiong knows he is poisoned and his spiritual veins are brittle. Why did you think it would be a good idea not to come to this shidi, before your body shuts down on you?”
“I didn’t even know!” Shen Qingqiu said, hysterical.
Mu Qingfang looked at him.
“You didn’t know that you would become pregnant when omegas get pregnant almost every time they mate with an alpha during their heat. What do you take me for, shixiong?”
“Look,” said a mortified Shen Qingqiu, covering his flaming face with both hands, “We didn’t do it…all the way. I came to and we stopped before Liu-shidi could, you know, knot me, so I thought I wouldn’t get pregnant?”
“Liu-shidi,” was what Mu Qingfang got from this horrible conversation, “And this happened while Shen-shixiong was not conscious.”
“This is not what it sounds like, oh my god,” Shen Qingqiu sat Mu Qingfang down forcefully when the physician looked like he’d like a talk with Liu Qingge right now, “We were hit by a really potent aphrodisiac on a mission. I told Liu-shidi to forget about the whole incident and never tell anyone.”
“Shixiong, you must understand that male omega pregnancies are…risky at best. With the state of your body, it might be even more risky,” said Mu Qingfang slowly, “Do you want the child? It is a surprise, after all.”
By now, Shen Qingqiu looked absolutely stricken. He hadn’t even had time to accept he was pregnant, how was he supposed to have an answer to this question? He wasn’t a baby killer for starters!
“I – I’ll have to think about it.”
“Please do,” sighed Mu Qingfang, “Rest assured, Shen-shixiong, that this shidi will support you no matter what your decision is. I suspect, though, that you might need to talk to Liu-shidi sooner or later. Do you know where Liu-shidi is now?”
“I suppose he’s out there, killing stuff? I haven’t seen him at all since I told him not to, you know, worry about it since people get into this sort of accidents all the time.”
“……” Mu Qingfang’s expression looked pinched as he marvelled at Shen Qingqiu’s lack of sensitivity, “I imagine Liu-shidi would want to kill things in that case.”
Or maybe everything went to hell when Shen Qingqiu woke up to Liu Qingge’s body against his, the man’s teeth brushing against the gland at the nape of his neck.
Shen Qingqiu remembered nothing beyond all the naked succubi dancing around them, and the horrible sense of vertigo and heat spreading across his whole body the moment he was distracted by the display.
By the time he came to, he was already spread out in the rose petal pool at the mercy of his shidi, his hair unbound, his robes hitched up indecently to his waist.
And Liu Qingge, his trusty, righteous shidi, the person he would entrust his back to anytime, was pressed flush against him, sliding in and out of him with a dazed, blissed-out look on his face, scorching a burning trail in Shen Qingqiu’s body with every movement. And he’d - he’d responded by wrapping his arms around his shidi’s neck in turn, urging him on and kissing every inch he could find of the ethereal immortal like a starved man.
Liu Qingge hammered into him with a single thrust in that instance, deep and penetrating, and suddenly Shen Qingqiu was filled to the brim with unbridled lust.
What the fuck. How did it ever come to this? Last he checked, he was not gay! Nor was Liu Qingge, for that matter! Last he checked, though, he had not been omega either.
There was a sharp pressure on his neck as Liu Qingge angled himself to bite him. And it had ultimately been the threat of being mated, being bound without his consent, that had cleared Shen Qingqiu’s mind.
“No, stop!” he found himself shouting, his fear abruptly going into overdrive, “Let go - don’t bite me – I don’t want this! I don’t want to do this!”
Liu Qingge froze. And because Liu-shidi was ultimately a good man, and was only doing this under the influence of…whatever aphrodisiac the succubi had hit him with, he withdrew as though burnt, hurt and bewilderment flashing across his face. Shen Qingqiu took the moment to scramble out of the pool and shrug himself back into his soaked clothes, nearly in hysterics.
He stumbled his way onto Xiu Ya and flew himself to the nearest inn looking like a drowned rat.
The madame of the inn was a nice person. He must have looked truly awful, because the woman bombarded him with incessant questions about whether he needed help, whether she needed to call his sect for him, when he’d only asked for a room and a tub of warm water to be delivered. He waved off her concern absently.
It didn’t occur to him, as he scrubbed himself clean and fell into an exhausted sleep, that he’d left his very much drugged shidi in a cave full of succubi to fend for himself.
When he came to – again – it was to a disheveled and desperate Liu Qingge hovering over the bed, worried but knowing better than to touch. Shen Qingqiu was not surprised. The man had apparently tracked him down across towns with manic resolution for the entire night despite his fatigue.
“Shen Qingqiu, I – “
He blinked owlishly at his shidi as he sluggishly gathered his faculties. The man seemed to be okay, and just looked wretched beyond measure for the most part.
“Liu-shidi. You’re unhurt?”
Liu Qingge’s face did some complicated things. And then the Bai Zhan Peak Lord was kneeling before him, shoving his own sword into his hands.
“Kill me, Shen Qingqiu. You have that right. Nothing can absolve me of what I’ve done.”
Now that - that was ridiculous, because he didn’t blame or want to kill Liu Qingge in the least. They were both hit by some stupid plot device powder or something. Neither of them had wanted this to happen, and it was unfair to blame Liu Qingge for something that was probably equally as traumatic for him.
Was there a memory-erasing herb or something he could eat? He just wanted his bamboo hut back.
Shen Qingqiu pushed Cheng Luan away.
“Don’t be dramatic, Liu-shidi. Things like this happen to everyone sometimes, yes? It’s an accident. Let’s just go back.”
He hated the vulnerable look on his shidi’s face. It didn’t become him, and Shen Qingqiu really wasn’t in a mood to deal with this.
“Shen Qingqiu,” the Bai Zhan War God said, voice low, “We should have Mu-shixiong look you over.”
His patience snapped. Just why in the world did Liu Qingge think he wanted to subject himself to this kind of indignity before his martial sibling, even if the man was a physician? He was just sore and uncomfortable. It was not like he needed medical attention!
“There is no need. There is a hiccup in the mission, but aren’t we both fine?” his words sounded clipped and defensive to himself, but Shen Qingqiu couldn’t bring himself to care.
“In fact, this shixiong would ask his shidi to kindly not mention this to anyone else, in any circumstance, at all. I trust shidi understands.”
Yes, he was sort of mean, but Liu Qingge had no business looking so crushed.
“…you have my word,” Liu Qingge told him, before Shen Qingqiu politely asked him to get out of the room.
Things - as things were wont to do - went downhill from there.
Shen Qingqiu started avoiding Liu Qingge like a plague once they reached Cang Qiong, becoming awkward and uncomfortable in his presence. When Liu Qingge saw him in their monthly qi transfer, Shen Qingqiu was visibly distracted and troubled, though he seemed to hold no actual fear or resentment for his shidi.
Liu Qingge had strived for a long, long time to help Shen Qingqiu out of the funk he’d fallen into, after his disciple’s untimely death. Not only was he back to square one, but he’d inadvertently become the latest cause of his shixiong’s trauma. Liu Qingge had never been good with people. He had no idea how to pick up the pieces of his blunder, except respect his shixiong’s decision that they bury the entire incident in the dark, and never speak about it again.
Shen Qingqiu was a proud person with a thin face, an unmated omega. Liu Qingge would never think to sully his reputation and ruin his prospects by spreading this kind of rumours, anyway.
Even if…even if he wanted to take responsibility, to court the Qing Jing Peak Lord with all the propriety and affection the man deserved, it had been too late. The damage had been done. His shixiong would never let him. Shen Qingqiu might as well cut him down with Cheng Luan. It would have been a quicker mercy.
And so Liu Qingge threw himself on difficult, gruesome missions instead, hoping to drown his troubles with fighting. It did nothing to quell his sneaking sense of fear that he’d somehow done irreversible damage to his shixiong’s life and reputation.
He hated to be proved right, because Shen Qingqiu sent urgently for him a mere month later, saying there were things of import that he wished to discuss with him.
“Liu-shidi, you look absolutely horrible,” the Qing Jing Peak Lord said when Liu Qingge all but barged into his hut without a knock. Shen Qingqiu was perched on his daybed, flicking his fan pensively. His gaze at Liu Qingge, though, was concerned.
“Not my blood,” he told his shixiong dismissively. Shen Qingqiu looked strained, hand flying to his mouth, before he started dry heaving into a pot at the foot of the daybed.
“Shen Qingqiu?”
When had Shen Qingqiu become so frail? Had he somehow harmed the man’s already damaged spiritual pathways, when he’d…when he’d done that to him? He couldn’t bear the thought of inflicting even more pain on his shixiong.
The Qing Jing Peak Lord waved him off with a rueful little smile.
“…it’s the scent of blood, it makes me sick. Sit, Liu-shidi. We…we need to talk.”
Liu Qingge went to his side like a man condemned. Shen Qingqiu took a breath, as though he’d been rehearsing this meeting for a while.
“Before we continue, I want to make it clear that I’m not trying to find a mate, nor do I intend to make Liu-shidi responsible for something that is not his fault. …But I guess Liu-shidi has a right to know.”
He shifted, uncomfortable, and slid a hand against his stomach.
“Shidi, I am with child. From that time in the succubus cave.”
Liu Qingge’s head swam, like he couldn’t process any of this. When he opened his mouth, his voice was strained.
“…why didn’t you –“
Shen Qingqiu must have taken it the wrong way, because his expression immediately froze over.
“As said, I am not suggesting that shidi take responsibility. This master can, and will, deal with the child.”
The ice in Shen Qingqiu’s voice made trepidation lance up Liu Qingge’s spine.
“Shen Qingqiu - don’t. I can take the child away. Don’t – don’t hurt the baby. Please.”
Shen Qingqiu looked confused, shapely brows arching in befuddlement, before he caught on to the implication in Liu Qingge’s words.
“What – honestly, Liu-shidi, why would you assume I intend to hurt a baby?” his shixiong looked both affronted and annoyed, “It might have been an accident, but I am not desperate enough to get rid of them. I am simply saying I will raise them. Liu-shidi need not worry. He can visit the child, if he so wishes. This shixiong also fully understands if Liu-shidi does not prefer to do so. The circumstances were…unfortunate, after all.”
Unfortunate. That was what their coupling meant, to Shen Qingqiu.
But Shen Qingqiu had told him how beautiful he was, in that teasing lilt he often used, that day in the cave. Had surged forward and kissed him, hands cupping his cheeks gently like he was something treasured, let Liu Qingge lay him out and worship him in the pool, chuckling gamely all the way. And Liu Qingge had thought…
His shixiong had not been willing. His want for him had been a product of the drug. What else could it be, other than unfortunate?
“Shen Qingqiu,” he began quietly. He didn’t know how to articulate the passion he’d had for Shen Qingqiu for a long time, the hopeful twinge in his heart when he knew that the man was laden with his child, “I can raise the child with you. I – I can be your mate. Let me.”
Shen Qingqiu actually sighed with overbearing patience, as though he found the proposal ridiculous beyond words.
“Please, shidi. I’m not a helpless maiden. You don’t have to take responsibility or anything. The child will be well cared for on Qing Jing. Unless you’d like them to be raised on Bai Zhan?”
His shixiong could be so unintentionally cruel, sometimes.
“Am I so detestable, Shen Qingqiu, that you will not even give me a chance?”
“Liu-shidi did tell me to consult Mu-shidi promptly. I was remiss not to have done so,” Shen Qingqiu explained, ruefully, “I simply do not intend to make Liu-shidi liable for my mistake.”
“I want to be your mate,” his obstinate shidi shot back, oddly desperate, “Our child should have both parents.”
“Shidi, I don’t want to force a marriage when – “
“Do we not get along? Let me court you, at least.”
Shen Qingqiu fumbled for his fan, spreading it over his face. His hand was shaking, and he was clearly nervous. Liu Qingge was an idiot not to have seen how the situation was scaring his fellow Peak Lord, even if the man seemed to have it all together.
“I really don’t know, shidi, what will happen in the future,” the Qing Jing Peak Lord admitted, “If circumstances arise where I cannot take care of the baby anymore, I would be grateful for Liu-shidi’s help.”
That sounded ominous, somehow, as though Shen Qingqiu had a premonition that something bad was going to happen in due course.
“I won’t let anything happen.” To either of you, he didn’t say, but Shen Qingqiu directed a small smile at him anyway, as though indulgent of his futile advances.
“Ah, Liu-shidi is so good. This shixiong is grateful,” breathed Shen Qingqiu, as if he hadn’t wronged him in the worst way possible.
“Give me this chance, shixiong. I will learn,” he insisted, and Shen Qingqiu could only shake his head in fond acquiescence.
“I do not wish to drag you into needless danger, Liu-shidi. Let me see what I can do.”
The Peak Lord of Qing Jing was an omega. An unmated omega, and pregnant.
With neither parent attempting to hide it, news about the father of Shen Qingqiu’s child spread. A Peak Lord meeting was called to deal with the scandal, and Liu Qingge found himself faced with Yue Qingyuan’s stoic silence and the other Peak Lords’ general exasperation.
“Aphrodisiacs, Liu-shidi, honestly?” scoffed Qi Qingqi, lazily amused. She seemed mostly unsurprised about Liu Qingge knocking up Shen Qingqiu. She must have sensed something, somehow. “One would have thought the War God of Bai Zhan would be above such petty traps.”
That brought a considering frown to Liu Qingge’s face.
“The drug is exceptionally potent. More potent than anything succubi usually have in store. It would have killed a mortal upon contact.”
“Liu-shidi suspects something,” said Qi Qingqi smilingly, “Very well, I will go investigate. Yue-shixiong, your approval, please.”
“Approved,” said Yue Qingyuan, before he turned sad, sad eyes at Shen Qingqiu, like a heartbroken parent who’d discovered their kid had been taking weeds.
“Qingqiu-shidi. Is there anything you need?”
He looked as though he half hoped Shen Qingqiu would ask for Liu Qingge’s head in defence of his honour. Shen Qingqiu only smiled, uneasy in the face of his martial siblings’ scrutiny.
“Liu-shidi and I have discussed. We will be raising the child together. Liu-shidi will lend me all the assistance I need.”
“Assistance? Liu-shidi.” Yue Qingyuan’s gaze was hard steel, and Liu Qingge stood at the prompt, giving a short bow to his martial siblings.
“I wish to court Shen Qingqiu and become his mate,” he said, with absolutely none of Shen Qingqiu’s discretion and tact, “I ask that my brothers and sisters bear witness to this.”
Someone whistled. The Lord of Zui Xian reached over to clap Liu Qingge on his back. Amidst the fond chuckles, Liu Qingge only sat there, completely earnest.
“See that you do, Liu-shidi.” Yue Qingyuan gave a little huff, mildly threatening, before turning to Shen Qingqiu indulgently.
“Qingqiu-shidi. You heard Liu-shidi. This shixiong knows you do not need an alpha’s protection, but won’t you give him a chance, at least?”
There was nothing he could say to his martial siblings’ idle amusement and approval. Shen Qingqiu hid behind his fan, blushing to the tip of his ears.
In retrospect, being a male omega – even in a redundant setting - sucked bad, because even with Mu Qingfang at his side, the pregnancy was difficult and taxing at best.
Because Shen Qingqiu needed a lot more care these days, and because Yue Qingyuan had looked at him with his special brand of benevolence until he agreed, Shen Qingqiu allowed Liu Qingge to move onto Qing Jing Peak and settle temporarily in Binghe’s side room.
Now, Liu Qingge pretty much waited on him hand and foot every day. Each morning, Shen Qingqiu would wake to his shidi finishing up his sword practice outside his hut. The man would come before him, and invite him to breakfast even though he never bothered with breakfast himself before. Liu Qingge brought him all his medicines and meals with clockwork accuracy, and looked at him with that stern, unmoving gaze of his until Shen Qingqiu finished everything. Within the first month, he had learned to bribe Shen Qingqiu’s compliance with tanghulu or sweet soups.
Once every few days, Liu Qingge would gift him softer, more delicate courting gifts: exquisite fans, calligraphy scrolls penned by the best of masters, ancient records of legendary beasts bartered from other sects. The Liu family clearly had a hand in the choice of the gifts, and Shen Qingqiu could almost feel the silent plea from the Liu family for him to consider their bull-headed son, even if Liu-shidi never said anything on that front.
All in all, being courted by Liu Qingge was…not a bad experience at all.
The guy was unfairly earnest and adorable, and Shen Qingqiu was charmed even when he knew Liu Qingge was acting purely out of duty. It must be his biology speaking, but he felt safer, more comfortable in his skin with Liu Qingge around, more assured that his child was in good hands.
Still, this domesticity was doomed to be short-lived. According to the original timeline, Binghe would come back in three years’ time, and seek revenge against his scum of a master. He could not in good conscience let the child, or Liu Qingge, or Cang Qiong in general, be caught in the crossfire.
Perhaps Liu-shidi would offer the child shelter on Bai Zhan. The child was his, too, and he doubted Liu-shidi would wish to let them go, even after Shen Qingqiu’s death. He hoped the child’s presence would not affect Liu Qingge’s prospects with the omegas – though he very much doubted it would. Liu-shidi was very dashing, after all.
Still – and he was a coward for doing this – Shen Qingqiu didn’t turn Liu Qingge away when the man asked for permission to kiss his fingertips, or peck at his cheek. He couldn’t help the pleased flush that came to his cheek every time Liu Qingge held out a particularly pretty fan, or a tanghulu dripping with sugar to him.
When he was seven months pregnant and feeling like a bloated slab of meat, Liu Qingge had asked whether he could touch Shen Qingqiu’s bulging stomach. Shen Qingqiu had taken his hand, and guided him to the spot where the baby was kicking against his stomach.
As he felt the small, budding heartbeat reverberate against his palm, Liu Qingge abruptly grasped Shen Qingqiu’s hands and held them before his heart.
“Shen Qingqiu, be my mate,” he pleaded, devout, “Whatever your fears are, let me lay them to rest.”
No, never, thought Shen Qingqiu, and tilted his chin up to meet Liu Qingge’s lips in a soft kiss.
Even with Mu Qingfang’s constant care, Shen Qingqiu found himself plagued with severe qi fluctuations as the child’s due date became close.
“It’s because you are unmated and poisoned,” clucked Mu Qingfang disapprovingly, scandalised by his lack of knowledge regarding things like this, “Shixiong, did you think zhangmen-shixiong was only thinking about your reputation when he urged you to consider Liu-shidi?”
Shen Qingqiu had no answer to that. Still, he’d rather tolerate qi imbalanced induced headache than ask Liu Qingge to mark him purely to save him the discomfort.
“I will have to bother Mu-shidi,” he deflected instead, and Mu Qingfang gave him a plainly irritated look, but did not press the issue.
As he bid his usual goodnight to a blushing Liu Qingge, Shen Qingqiu did a mental chronology. Luo Binghe was going to come back in three years’ time. By the time disaster struck, his child would have been around three years old. He could hide his baby somewhere, and if the soul transplant was successful, maybe he would have the chance to come back to his child once the dust had settled and Binghe was satisfied with his revenge.
As for Qingge…
He had come to terms with the fact that they would never come to anything. He would have to turn the Bai Zhan Peak Lord down, eventually, and then die by Binghe’s hands. He couldn’t possibly have Liu Qingge shoulder the death of a mate. It was not fair to the man, who had only been unfailingly sweet and dutiful during this entire time.
His spiritual veins hurt. It was the qi fluctuation acting up again. He sat up, intending to cross the room and ask Liu Qingge for help, when a familiar mechanical voice bleeped to life.
“ Main energy source found. UV002 is now connected. Welcome back.”
He hadn’t heard from the System in two years. What in the world…
“ Protagonist Luo Binghe has successfully obtained Xin Mo, the Sword of Destruction and Chaos! Main Quest: ‘Things Remain the Same, But People Have Changed’ now open!”
What? Why was Binghe so early? He should be arriving a few years later! Shen Qingqiu was…was carrying a new life, his baby was still here, he hadn’t had time to hide them away yet…
And Qingge. Qingge. This was not Qingge’s fight. He couldn’t do this, now. Could Binghe not give him some more time?
His spiritual energy was going haywire. He struggled to breathe, struggled to put a clamp on the increasing chaos in his veins, but the damage was already done: a white-hot, all-encompassing spasm seized his entire body, and he screamed in agony, falling off his bed in a bundle of flailing limbs.
He was qi deviating.
His stomach hurt, as though a Molotov cocktail had exploded inside of him. Shen Qingqiu could only curl around his middle protectively, sobbing from the searing sensation.
No, not my baby. Anything but my baby.
He felt thundering footsteps around him, loud and urgent, and as Shen Qingqiu drifted off into unconsciousness, he wondered if that was what the original goods had felt, right before he died.
It was not a comforting thought.