A few days passed rather uneventfully, and Shen Qingqiu found himself no closer to finding a way to kill Luo Binghe despite reading through the entirety of the book several times and scouring the library for more books on Heavenly Demons.

With that avenue closed to him, he now had to figure out a way to find more books on the subject, but for now, he would just have to use his own observations.

The easiest way to accomplish that, naturally, was to observe his students and see if they ever hurt themselves, and see what had caused that.

Unfortunately, all of the little beasts seemed to be incredibly resilient, and any bumps or bruises they got healed within moments.

So for now, he was utterly out of luck.

***

One afternoon, so early in the afternoon that he had only just finished eating his lunch, the former Peak Lord was lounging in his private sitting room when Luo Binghe came up to him.

"Shizun." The Emperor greeted with a slight but respectful bow

"Yes, your majesty?" Shen Qingqiu asked, biting his tongue as he addressed him properly

"This lord was wondering if you like to partake in an activity you used to do frequently?" Luo Binghe asked

Shen Qingqiu straightened in his seat, his eyebrow raising ever so slightly as he slowly fanned himself, "What activity would that be?"

"You used to enjoy gossiping with women in the village by our peak." Luo Binghe answered, leaving out the fact that said women were prostitutes in a brothel and that the gossiping had led to rumors of perversion, "If it would please you, or perhaps help with your memories, I could arrange for some of my harem to spend time with you."

The green-eyed man did not answer for several moments, seemingly deep in thought, before agreeing.

***

Roughly an hour later, Luo Binghe returned to tell Shen Qingqiu that he had prepared a gossiping space.

They went to an area of the palace where the former Peak Lord had never been, the Fragrant Pavilion, where the harem lived.

Walking into the Fragrant Pavilion, the black painted hallways gradually turned into a deep amourous red, leading into a massive room the size of a small village where there were dozens of cushions, chairs and tables and games for the members of the harem to come and lounge about and spend time together, as well as a dozen or so hallways along the walls that presumably led to the harem member's quarters.

But the massive room was nearly empty, with only five women sitting together at one of the large tables, while the rest of the massive room lay empty.

Three of the five women Shen Qingqiu already knew: Ning Yingying, Sha Hualing, and Hua Yuelian -the Palace Mistress.

The other two were new to Shen Qingiu: the first was an older woman, not an old woman by any means, but older looking than the others at the table, with a few wrinkles starting to appear as smile lines and crows' feet, but lucious black hair styled elegantly, clad in a low-cut pale grey robe that showed off her ample cleavage and striking maroon eyes; the second was a younger looking woman, but her brown eyes looked so much older, and she was clad simply in white robes that had silver embroidery along the hems of the sleeves and neckline with her black hair in a simple up-knot.

"It is an honor to meet the shizun of my husband." The second woman said, putting her hands together with her arms straight but bent at the elbows, bowing, "This one is Ming Yelan, a former student of Baoshen Sanren before I left the Celestial Mountain to become a wandering cultivator."

That greatly impressed Shen Qingqiu, as he had never heard of any of the disciples of the immortal master of the Celestial Mountain ever leaving, especially since it was well known that they were forbidden from ever returning if they left.

"This one does not have nearly as impressive as a background." The first woman said, "This one is Jin Xun'er, formerly a courtesan."

Shen Qingqiu sat at the sixth seat at the table, "It is nice to meet you both."

Luo Binghe smiled at the sight of his Shizun seemingly relaxing with the women, saying, "I will take my leave now. Please have fun."

***

Despite himself, Shen Qingqiu had greatly missed his gossiping and playing games with his brothel jiejies, and so he did end up having a great time.

Though he did remember how eagerly Hua Yuelian had spoken out against him at his trial, eager to cozy up to her husband by slandering someone she had only known tangentially, and that she was now trying to get into Shen Qingqiu's good graces as another way to cozy up to the beast, Shen Qingqiu did not really have a grudge against her as he had no relationship to her at all.

And, she did have so much good gossip not only on the other members of the harem but also on Luo Binghe himself.

"It sounds like his majesty used to be quite the adventurer." Shen Qingqiu said, fanning himself as he spoke to the Palace Mistress

"Oh yes, sometimes we could go months at a time without seeing him , and he would return with a dozen new wives." Hua Yuelian said, "It was only when he rescued you that he stopped."

"Truly, just because of my presence?" Shen Qingqiu mused

Ming Yelan laughed a bit, "I would guess it was because he did not wish to shame your teachings by being so openly a vagabond."

Ning Yingying nodded, "A-Luo has been working on governance so much more than usual because he wants to appear filial and responsible to Shizun."

Shen Qingqiu hid a smile behind his fan, "How many wives does my disciple have?"

"I believe the last count was two thousand, nine hundred and thirty-five." Sha Hualing stated, "But it is hard to keep track of everyone, and that number is such a mouthful that everyone just says three thousand."

"So many." Shen Qingqiu replied, "And he truly visits them all regularly?"

"It is supposed to be equal, but he visits favorites more than others, and some much, much less than others." Jin Xun'er said

Hua Yuelian nodded, "I heard that some of the wives have not been visited or called upon all year."

An idea sparked in the former Peak Lord's head when she said that, if he could convince the beast to downsize his harem, then there would be fewer witnesses to stop him when he eventually figured out how to kill him.

The expertly fake smile he had been wearing the whole conversation became real with that thought.

Just as he was thinking that, the group of gossipers heard a woman shouting, all eyes turned towards the hallway where they saw a violet-clad woman that Shen Qingqiu instantly recognized as Qiu Haitang.

"SHEN JIU!" Qiu Haitang shouted, looking directly at Shen Qingqiu, "CEASE WHATEVER EVIL ENCHANTMENT YOU HAVE DONE TO MY HUSBAND, YOU MONSTER!"

"Enchantment?" Shen Qingqiu said, acting like he had no idea who she was

"YOU MUST HAVE DONE SOMETHING TO HIM! TO MAKE HIM TREAT A MONSTER LIKE YOU WITH ANYTHING BESIDES TORTURE! YOU KILLED MY BROTHER!" Qiu Haitang said, attempting to attack him

Shen Qingqiu did not attempt to defend himself, knowing that whatever sentimentality the beast currently had for him would end up making this work in his favor.

Before Qiu Haitang could lay a single blow on him, Sha Hualing leaped across the table and tackled his would-be attacker.

Within moments, the Demon Saintess had Qiu Haitang pinned to the ground and tied up like a hog with her feet and wrists tied together behind her back.

The shouting and sounds of the scuffle must have alerted guards, as Luo Binghe arrived a few minutes later and looked furious at the sight of Qiu Haitang.

"Shizun, are you okay?!" Luo Binghe asked, rushing to Shen Qingqiu's side

"I am unharmed." The former Peak Lord replied, "Though I am confused about why I have been accused of murder."

"Lies and slander, Shizun, I will see that she is punished for this." The Emperor of the Three Realms assured

Knowing she was screwed, Qiu Haitang shouted, "I AM NOT LYING! YOU MURDERED MY BROTHER! AFTER HE SHOWED YOU NOTHING BUT KINDNESS AND YOU BETRAYED HIM!"

"'Kindness' is a strange way to describe being enslaved." Shen Qingqiu thought to himself

Or so he thought, until he saw Luo Binghe staring at him with eyes as wide as dinner plates, realizing he had said that aloud.

"You remembered something, Shizun?" Luo Binghe asked, his voice soft

Shen Qingqiu immediately played dumb, "I...I am not certain. I suddenly said that, but I am unsure why."

Luo Binghe accepted that answer for now and went to handle his aggressive wife.

***

Luo Binghe dragged Qiu Haitang by the hair down to the Water Prison, tossing her in one of the many cells within.

"Husband! Stop!" Qiu Haitang begged, "Shen Jiu is twisting your mind! Have you forgotten all he has done!?"

The Emperor had no patience for her begging, demanding, "You never mentioned he was your brother's slave."

"It was not important, gege never treated him like a slave." Qiu Haitang insisted, "He even engaged him to me! That is how well he was treated by us, and yet he killed my brother and burned down our home!"

But Luo Binghe was not listening at all to the excuses, as the context of everything had just been altered with the confirmation of slavery.

Before, he had just assumed that Shizun was of a lower class and had been elevated by his engagement to Qiu Haitang, and had bitten the hand that fed him by killing Qiu Jianluo.

Though if Shen Qingqiu had truly been Qiu Jianluo's slave -which Qiu Haitang had just confirmed- then it did not matter what nice clothes and niceties he got; a slave was a slave.

It was obvious to Luo Binghe that the engagement had been nothing but a way to put Shen Qingqiu into a debt impossible to repay, a way to stop him from ever escaping slavery; no wonder he had resorted to murder.

Though he knew that there was still something missing, he could sense it, and clearly, Qiu Haitang was too oblivious to know what it was.

Luo Binghe looked at her with hatred, "You are no longer my wife, I banish you from my harem for attacking my Shizun. You will stay here until I let you die."

"NO! NO! HUSBAND, NO! YOU ARE NOT THINKING CLEARLY!" Qiu Haitang begged, sobbing and screaming

Using Xin Mo, Luo Binghe sliced into the air and stepped through the rift made to return to where his Shizun was.

He found him still in the Fragrant Pavilion, Ning Yingying hugging Shizun in an attempt to comfort him.

"This lord deeply apologizes for what happened, Shizun." Luo Binghe said as he approached them, bowing deeper than he had in nearly a decade, "This one is deeply ashamed of his former wife's behavior."

"Former?" Shen Qingqiu asked

"I divorced her for such disgraceful actions, though she deserves worse." Luo Binghe replied, standing up straight

Shen Qingqiu waved his hand, as if the situation had not bothered him, "She was unsuccessful with the attempt."

Luo Binghe nodded, knowing that was the only reason he had not killed her instantly.

A/N: Some of y'all undoubtedly noticed the MDZS reference. But this is not a crossover, nor do I think that the MXTX worlds exist in the same world, I just headcanon that the Celestial Mountain connects the three worlds and that Baoshen Sanren had disciples from all three worlds, and when/if they leave, they return to their own world. I have literally no evidence or reason for this besides thinking it's fun.