Two months passed swiftly and Shen Qingqiu found himself no closer to finding a way to kill the beast.

Though, not that he would ever admit it, he had not exactly spent much time recently looking for any tomes that may have a way; he had been far too busy between teaching his students, spending time with Ning Yingying and Luo Yingmei, gossiping with his new 'friends' (or harem meimeis, he occassionaly thought of them, which always made him miss his brothel jiejies), and being harassed -read: badgered with attention- by the rest of the little beasts who seemed to think him letting them join one lesson now meant they could bother him all the time.

And that did not even include the beast himself, Luo Binghe, serving him his every meal and snacks and tea throughout the day like the former Peak Lord was not an expert in inedia; and recently he had started coming to see him even more seeking advice on running his empire -eating up hours at a time, how was he ever supposed to find time to research.

Of course, Shen Qingqiu was still acting as if everything was going exactly as planned, he would never ever admit that he was growing satisfied with the way his life was currently.

***

Guests from all over the empire arrived in the days that followed, all here to celebrate the Fifth Year Anniversary of the Merging of the Three Realms as well as the Tenth Year Annivarsary of Luo Binghe being Emperor of the Demon Realm.

The entire palace was lavishly decorated and there was plenty of space for all the guests to stay, but Shen Qingqiu began hearing rumors of a special guest possibly being in attendance and Shen Qingqiu wished to find out who.

***

By the time the celebration began, the Peak Lord was yet to hear anyone special be announced or flocked about, so his question remained unanswered and the rumor might just be a rumor.

The feast was undisputedly lavish, filled with tantalizing aromas of roasted and stewed meats of seemingly a thousand varieties, more side dishes than a stomach could possibly try, utterly decadent desserts and velvety wines and fragrant liquors from all over the realms.

(The wine Shen Qingqiu was currently drinking was by far the best he had ever sampled before: a deep red wine that tasted of tart cherries with faint notes of chocolate that he was told was made in the Celestial Realm.)

Naturally, the former Peak Lord found himself sat directly beside Luo Binghe at the celebration, since he was his official unofficial 'closest advisor' and Shizun.

Which meant he just sipped at his wine and watched as all the guests at some point came over almost like a parade to offer their sovereign congratulations and offer him various gifts that started to pile up in a mockery of a mountain behind them.

As he watched, Shen Qingqiu felt a little hand touch his shoulder and turned, seeing Luo Yingmei had snuck away from the nannies watching the children across the room where all the heirs were sat with the children of the guests.

"Hi, lao ye." Luo Yingmei giggled

"Did you sneak your way over here, Ying-er?" He asked her, amusement in his tone even though he already knew she had

She nodded her head, still all giggly, "I was sneaky! I wanted to sit with baba and lao ye."

Shen Qingqiu decided to allow her to for now, letting her climb onto his lap like she tended to do.

"What lao ye drinking?" The four year old asked

"Wine." He replied simply

"Can Ying-er try?" The little girl asked

The former Peak Lord pondered it: at Cang Qiong Mountain they had allowed the disciples very watered wine with dinner while the older disciples and adults had normal wine, and the youngest disciples were roughly eight years old and she was half their age.

So, Shen Qingqiu reached for his nearly full water cup that was beside his wine chalice and poured in a splash -little more than a few drops- of his wine into it and mixed it with a chopstick, letting her drink that.

Cheerful to be allowed, Luo Yingmei happily took the water glass and began to drink her 'wine'.

After her first big gulp, she immediately scrunched her face and stuck out her tongue, "Sour!"

"That is why wine is for adults." He replied, offering her a piece of meat off his plate to rid herself of the taste

Once freed from the sour taste, Luo Yingmei wiggled off his lap and went back over to the children's table, disappointed that the adults' food was not better like she had imagined.

With his favorite 'student' -his granddaughter, his heart said but his mind denied, just as he never mentally acknowledged Ning Yingying as his heart's daughter- back to her own seat, Shen Qingqiu turned his attention back to whoever the beast was talking to now, gathering information.

Apparently, the beast was currently speaking with the father of a former harem member who had been divorced, and said father was greatly offended that his daughter -a princess, apparently- had been cast aside.

"Your daughter received a lofty settlement, permission to remarry and a promise from the Emperor that he would pay her dowry befitting her station." Shen Qingqiu told the man, pulling his fan from his sleeve and opening it with a flick, "What else could you want?"

The man sputtered, clearly shocked to be spoken to like that -clearly unused to not getting his way like all the spoiled nobles Shen Qingqiu despised, "Who are you?"

Shen Qingqiu was about to answer with a sharp answer, but Luo Binghe beat him to it, "He is my chief advisor and you will honor him with respect or lose your tongue."

The former Peak Lord was very pleased with that answer so he did not add anything, just enjoying the shocked expression that good-for-nothing nobleman made.

When he did not leave, Shen Qingqiu laughed a bit, "Skitter off now, you are wasting the Emperor's time."

That made the man walk away.

***

The celebration continued and eventually performers came out to entertain the massive crowd, with some play that Shen Qingqiu was barely paying attention too.

Instead he was watching the crowd, looking for anyone suspicious or could be this so called 'special guest'.

Occasionally he would glance back to the play, especially when the troupe of actors would use effects like fire and water and winds.

One of the actors began to string his bow, pulling the arrow back and getting it into an apple between another actor's teeth without harming him.

The crowd gasped and cheered, but as the actor began to do another trick, he spun around and pointed his bow directly towards Shen Qingqiu.

The arrow flew directly towards Shen Qingqiu's face with qi assisted speed; Shen Qingqiu tried to get out of the way and Luo Binghe immediately moved to protect him, but the one who stopped the arrow was someone else completely.

A man clad in green and brown robes, with messy black hair, green scales along his face and snakes around his neck and wrists grabbed the arrow midflight.

Mobei-Jun used his own powers to freeze the attempted-assassin and the rest of his troupe in place.

Luo Binghe had Xin Mo unsheathed, holding the legendary blade while standing protectively in front of Shen Qingqiu, looking at this unknown savior, "Who are you?"

"This one is called Zhuzhi-lang, your majesty." The man said, his green zuiyin and scales glittering in the lantern-light, "My mother was Tianrui-ji and my uncle is Tianlang-jun, your father."

Both Shen Qingqiu and Luo Binghe noticed the use of 'is' in his sentence, meaning that this man's uncle was still alive.

Luo Binghe went closer, reseathing Xin Mo, clasping Zhuzhi-lang on the shoulder, "Then I welcome you, cousin. Let's speak privately shortly."

Zhuzhi-lang nodded, and Luo Binghe returned to Shen Qingqiu next, "Are you unharmed, Shizun?"

"I am fine." Shen Qingqiu replied, beginning to stand

But, as he stood, the former Peak Lord stumbled and nearly collapsed if not for the Emperor grabbing his arm.

"Shizun?" Luo Binghe repeated, greatly concerned

"I am fine." Shen Qingqiu repeated, starting to cough

Blood dripped down his chin from the force of the cough and he fully collapsed this time, Luo Binghe slowing his fall.

"Shizun!" The Emperor of the Three Realms exclaimed

Shen Qingqiu was unconscious before he hit the floor and foam began to spill from his mouth, his entire body beginning to twitch: he was poisoned.

Ning Yingying cried out from her seat among the rest of the harem, getting up and rushing over, "SHIZUN!"

Luo Binghe tilted Shen Qingqiu's head so he did not asphyxiate on the bloody foam, immediately using his blood mites to try and end the seizure and counteract the poison.

As soon as the blood mites had Shen Qingqiu stablized, not cured but no longer in immediate danger, Luo Binghe ordered his generals to not let anyone in or out of the palace until he found whoever poisoned his Shizun.

Both Mobei-Jun and Sha Hualing immediately relayed his command to the guards and within half an hour the entire palace was on lockdown.

Luo Binghe carried his shizun bridal style in his arms, carrying him back to his quarters while simultaneously using his bloodmites to try and flush the poison from his sytem fully.

Two assassination attempts on his Shizun's life in one night utterly infuriated him, and he would not rest until he found the culprits -he already knew the actor-assassin was just a hired killed and not the mastermind.

It took several hours of utter focus and careful management of his blood mites, but Luo Binghe succeeded in curing Shen Qingqiu.

When it was done, a voice spoke in the Emperor's head, a voice he knew well as Meng Mo's, "His guard is down, you should be able to look in his head now."

Luo Binghe froze when he heard the Dream Demon say that, looking down at his Shizun's sleeping form.

He wanted nothing more than to look into Shizun's memories now, see if they even still existed after his amnesia, but he also needed to figure out who had tried to kill his Shizun.

"Keep him in deep sleep until I return." Luo Binghe mentally told the older demon

The Emperor grabbed his Shizun's porcelain hand and pressed a kiss to his knuckles, "This lord will be back soon Shizun."

With that, he left the room and had guards at every entrance of Shen Qingqiu's quarters.

***

His first stop was the Water Prison, where Mobei-Jun had brought the troupe of actors to be interrogated.

The First General was already there, freezing the actor's limbs so that they would become more and more crippled the longer they did not answer.

Luo Binghe did not have any patience currently, solving this plot was keeping him from his Shizun, so he pulled Xin Mo from its sheath and placed it against the actor who had tried to shoot his Shizun's neck, "Who hired you?"

Perhaps it was the look of pure fury on the Emperor's face, or perhaps it was the feeling of his anger being radiated off the legendary parasitic blade, but the previously tight-lipped actor turned hitman panickedly replied, "I don't know! He never gave his name!"

"Did you see his face?" Luo Binghe asked, starting to dig the blade against the crook of the actor's neck

"I did! I did!"

"Was he here tonight?"

"Yes!"

Putting his blade away, the Emperor of the Three Realms grabbed the actor by his hair and yanked him towards the exit of the prison, not caring about the resulting snap of ice that came, separating the actor's feet -still frozen to the floor- from his legs.

All of the guests were still kept corralled by the guards in the massive dining room, and Luo Binghe dropped the actor -who was whimpering pathetically in pain and bleeding heavily from his leg stumps- to the group, "Who was it?"

The bleeding, whimpering man looked out into the crowd, pointing at one man that Binghe recognized from earlier -the one who was mad about his daughter being divorced.

The accused man immediately tried to deny it, but the guards had already seized him.

Luo Binghe then stabbed the would-be assassin of an actor in the head with Xin Mo.

With the first assassination attempt solved, he then had to figure out how his shizun was poisoned.

He went back over to where he and Shen Qingqiu had been seated, picking up the wine chalice and sniffing it, instantly, he knew the poison was in it; he had been served the same wine and his own had not been as bitter smelling.

But, the servant that had poured their wine had done their chalices one after the other and his glass had not been poisoned -he would have known so instantly- which meant the poison had not been in the wine directly, but in the chalice.

So he had the guards collect all the servants who had set out the diningware for the feast.

When they were brought before im, he immediately demanded then to tell him who set the head of the table where he and his chief advisor had been seated.

At first all of the servants stayed silent, but when he threatened to start killing them one-by-one until he had an answer, they quickly started turning on each other.

Within moments he had his answer, it was one of the newer maids.

The maid dropped to her knees and sobbed pathetically at him, "Your majesty, please, I did not know it was poison, I swear! She told me it would just cause indigestion!"

Luo Binghe grabbed her by the wrist and could tell by her heartbeat that she was being truthful, but that did not matter to him because she had willingly sought to harm his shizun even if she had not known how serious it was.

"Who is 'she'?" He demanded to know

The maid continued sobbing, but managed to say, "Noble Consort Liu Mingyan, your majesty."

In the crowd, among the rest of the children, Lou Qingge looked at his mother with pure shock, "You tried to kill Shizun, mama?"

Liu Mingyan said nothing in her own defense, because it was true and she knew being caught would be a death sentence.

Guards quickly arrested both her and her maid accomplice to the Water Prison.

With the mysteries solved, Luo Binghe quickly made his way back towards his Shizun's quarters.