' don't worry, liu shishu. i've already gotten rid of that /pest/ for you-- you needn't concern yourself with it any longer. '
Did he expect a word of thanks? A grateful smile and a cup of his hands, lowering his back into a respectful bow? You’ve done Cang Qiong Mountain Sect a great favour, we are in your debt?
Don’t take him for a fool.
He remembers a young Luo Binghe, hair clumsily tied up with a broken ribbon, strands of hair curling down his eyes. Still, he never once stopped digging, fingers muddied and clothes ripped open at the knees, and where his hair obscured his face, Liu Qingge had seen the resolve in his gaze. Coming across people like him was rare, an innate talent waiting to be guided into something no one had seen before. Liu Qingge had seen his potential with a look alone, and though he didn’t take him into Bai Zhan Peak, he vowed to keep an eye on him, if only to see the kind of person he’d become with his power. He had been looking forward to it.
Under Shen Qingqiu’s tutelage–the one with the soft eyes and laughter that felt like peace–, he should have become as honourable as he was outstanding. He shouldn’t have turned his back to their sect, stab his teacher in the back, terrorized the cultivation world with a swing of his demonic sword.
But he had cared about Shen Qingqiu, that much Liu Qingge was sure of. His crimes, his carefully woven plans – Liu Qingge could understand them, maybe, if they had been done for Shen Qingqiu’s sake. It’s why he wanted to make Luo Binghe pay for all of them himself, to clash swords with him until he submitted to Cang Qiong Mountain Sect’s–his–retribution. He hadn’t wanted anyone else to get to him first until he made him kneel and repent.
It wasn’t the case with this one.
A bloodied blade that reeks of gore and a grin that stretched with gut-wrenching satisfaction, a mockery of concern seeps through teeth ready to devour him whole. Liu Qingge has no other feelings for him than hate, and a sinking sensation of dread that makes the tip of his fingers grow cold. A moment of weakness tugs at him, and for a moment, all he can see is the determined face of a young, earnest boy with endless potential, cheeks browned with dirt from hours of digging.
‘ Beast, ’ snarled together with a silent where is he, what do you mean, Liu Qingge’s grip on his sword is the only thing keeping him still. ‘ What have you done? ’