Chapter Text
Shen Qingqiu was glad to finally be alone in his room in Jinlan City. Seeing Binghe back so early? And an Omega at that?!
Everything Shen Qingqiu had planned out in his head went up in smoke. Being reincarnated in Proud Immortal Demon Way had been bad enough. At least Shen Qingqiu was a Beta!
As someone from a world without those designations, at the beginning it had been hard to understand all those scents and growls. How did a society even work with mostly Alpha and Omegas?
(Seemingly, since the world contained sex pollen at every end, most Alphas and Omegas did encounter them a few times over the years - tripping off their natural circle. Without it, the whole world would stand still in the spring, when every normal Alpha and Omega would enter their season!)
Betas were extremely rare, even said that they should be Alpha or Omegas, but something went wrong with their body and the presentation never happened.
Shen Qingqiu had seen for himself that the original owner's body had slightly more skin where a knot would be - so maybe that part was true?
He never asked Mu-shidi about it and the doctor never tried anything either; it seemed everyone simply accepted that part.
Binghe had, when he was younger, shyly asked about it. Shen Qingqiu hadn’t been able to answer - his body just never presented itself. But as the boy had heard that Shen Qingqiu was destined to be an Alpha in another life, he seemed glad about it.
Now, would that mean that Binghe’s revenge would be less brutal? Alpha on Alpha fights were something that happened regularly. But an Alpha beating up a Beta was not something that people liked to see. It was the only time Shen Qingqiu liked to milk everything out of it. Let the Alphas fight please!
But, how did Binghe become an Omega? He was destined to become a stallion protagonist, bitch even the Alpha women!
So, who did bitch Binghe? Or was it some contact with another flower? There were after all gender changing pollen available. Maybe Binghe had been infected but instead of searching for a wife to cure himself he had seen the opportunity to seek his revenge first? Maybe even trying to handle Huan Hua better as an Omega, since who would think that an Omega would try to bring ruin to the sect?
Had those people no eyes? Yes, male Omegas were naturally pretty tall, but Binghe was even tall for an male Omega! The change had to be recent.
While Shen Qingqiu thought about the situation, remembering the faint smell he had scented from Binghe, someone knocked on the door.
“Liu-shidi?” asked Shen Qingqiu, his thoughts elsewhere. “Is that you?”
His meridians were still a mess and his body pretty tense. Without-A-Cure wasn’t helping his situation. His legs felt like lead and his muscles were starting to painfully cramp.
The door opened and Binghe entered, making Shen Qingqiu’s brain blank out for a moment. As a Beta he still had a scent, but it was normally so faint that most people weren't able to scent him.
But the protagonist was of course able to follow the trail, wouldn’t he?
Instead of deeply hurtful words or scornful ones, Binghe frowned. “Is Shizun hurting? Is it Without-A-Cure again?”
Unable to do anything for a moment, Shen Qingqiu just nodded. “Yes, but….”
Before Shen Qingqiu would have been able to flee, Binghe walked forward, bringing in his Omega scent. Fresh jasmine and clean linen. It smelled like a nice nest.
It smelled like home.
Shen Qingqiu remembered all the evenings and nights he had been alone in the bamboo house since the abyss. How everything had tasted like ash in his mouth. The mushroom bodies were not ready yet, but maybe his death wouldn’t be so bad?
Shen Qingqiu wanted to feel fear, and part of him did, but another part was finally unclenching in him.
Shen Qingqiu just flinched for a moment as Binghe’s qi entered his system, unfamiliar as it was now. Binghe was holding him tighter at that, but his qi didn’t become brutal. It softly stroked along his meridians, cleaning away the poison. Slowly Shen Qingqiu could breathe deeply again without the fear or his muscles cramping. After a short while his legs felt lighter again and his tiredness and the small spots in his vision were gone too.
How someone can accommodate to such things if they happen all the time is truly fascinating. Or was it just that Shen Qingqiu was used to being ill?
Binghe pulled his hand back, nodding. “Shizun doesn’t smell of pain anymore.”
Shen Qingqiu blinked. “Binghe… scented that?”
It shouldn’t be possible. Even Liu-shidi was only able to tell when it was bad because of his body language.
Binghe smiled a bit, his eyes shining with unnamed emotions. “This disciple always paid close attention to Shizun. How his arm lagged sometimes before the meridian cleaning. How he favored sitting instead of standing on bad days. How he needed to turn his head fully to see this disciple.”
Binghe swallowed. “And Shizun’s scent may be weak, but it is there. The smell of bamboo gets burned the more Shizun is in pain. Or fear.”
Shen Qingqiu pulled his arms to himself, standing up now as his legs were normal again.
“What do you want, Binghe?” asked Shen Qingqiu. He was confused. Was Binghe only saying that he would smell despite his designation if the pain wasn’t enough? Was healing him from Without-A-Cure because he wanted Shen Qingqiu to be able to try to fight back?
It after all couldn’t feel nice if the person you're taking revenge on doesn’t fight back at least a little.
Binghe, now taller than Shen Qingqiu, looked down on the man. “What I always wanted. A mate,” said Binghe like it made any sense.
Shen Qingqiu was now even more confused than before. “Mate? I am a Beta?” And why would Binghe tell him that? If this world's Binghe decided that he liked to be an Omega more, then he for sure was able to form a Harem of Alphas!
Binghe's smile after that made Shen Qingqiu’s hair stand up. “This one can change that.”
The half-demon brought his sword forward, making Shen Qingqiu take a step back, before the Omega cut his own hand. The scent of iron filled the small room, every instinct in Shen Qingqiu pressing him to look after the source. Binghe, hurt!
But before Shen Qingqiu could act the bloody hand was forced onto his mouth. Instinctually he closed his lips, tried to rip away, but it was a losing game.
Binghe was now packing him with the other hand and holding him close, his hands developing claws and forcing him to stay still if he didn’t want those to rip open his face!
The liquid on his lips then started to move. Shen Qingqiu felt his instinct act, trashing about, making the claws rip into his face before Binghe forced him against the wall, shouting “Hold still!”
Shen Qingqiu ignored that. The blood moved between his lips and along his teeth, making him gag and open his mouth. The blood flowed in, spreading along his throat and into his body.
Shen Qingqiu could feel how they spread, how they moved around in his body and it was terrible. He felt ill to the bone and as the hand vanished from his mouth he tried coughing the blood out, but it was too late.
The buzzing started, moving along and focusing on his belly. Heat and cramps started there, making Shen Qingqiu buckle and fall to his knees. He groaned and was holding himself, twitching at the pain.
“Mhh, not there….” said Binghe quietly, but Shen Qingqiu still caught it. What was Binghe searching for?
And then the blood mites moved, along his spine up to his brain.
Shen Qingqiu felt a scream build up in his throat. No, no! He felt his muscles switch and he wanted to break his head on the wall, knowing that the mites were roaming around there. Would they be like rabies? Would he start talking nonsense and bite others and die terribly?
Pressure increased behind his eyelids, sparks dancing in his vision. It hurt worse than every instance of his migraines. Shen Qingqiu tried to scream but it sounded weak and weird in his ears.
Then something did give away in his brain and something flooded from there. His whole body twitched and heat and hunger and anger flooded his system.
And he was so nauseous he gagged. He leaned forward and vomited the tea he had an hour ago up. He was breathing hard, the harsh scent of stomach acid in his nose.
A hand was now appearing before him, holding a handkerchief.
And it smelled so deeply of Omega. Pheromones Shen Qingqiu had been only able to scent the barest hints that flooded his senses. It was like puzzle pieces were put together after years of them being incomplete.
But before he could take the handkerchief he felt another rush from his head to his body, making his heart stumble in his beat.
“Shizun…?” asked Binghe but Shen Qingqiu was unable to answer. He wheezed as he tried to breathe again as his heart began to race hard, the picture before his eyes getting hazy. He still felt a slight movement of the blood mites in his body, and that was the last conscious thought he had at that moment.
Alpha-hormones swamped the peak lord's system, making his muscles and heart work overtime. His body changed into a fight stance, lips curled back, snarling into Binghe’s direction. Conscious thought went out of the window, the peak lord's eyes changed into small slits. The man was now more beast than man.
“Go away!” hissed Shen Qingqiu with his new found Alpha voice. His voice was a deep timbre, rolling deep out of his throat. Binghe felt himself pushed back from that, his Omega reacting to an aggressive and hurt Alpha. “Shizun…?”
“Leave me alone!” rumbled Shen Qingqiu, as his instinct kicked from fight to fright. His body felt pulsing with instinct, his muscle twitching to run.
And so he did
He sprung up and against the wall of the room, using the space and impact to leave the room through the window. The paper and wood broke with his impact, but Shen Qingqiu didn’t feel any pain. He ran away, his whole body singing to run run run from the danger, even as it was only an Omega.
But the Omega was Binghe.
Outside Shen Qingqiu simply ran in a direction across the roofs, feeling more than hearing getting followed. Since it was already dark outside, the steps he took were tricky, but somehow he was able to see everything clearly.
“Shizun!” screamed Binghe behind him, getting closer. Shen Qingqiu grind his teeth, his sharp canines unused in his mouth. He stopped at one of the higher buildings, turning around.
“What do you want?” hissed Shen Qingqiu, a bit of clarity again in his thoughts with the fresh air around him. His heart was still beating fast, blood like hot iron running through his veins.
“Shizun!” said Binghe, and why did he look guilty? His eyes were big and teary eyed, and he slowly stepped closer, like he feared Shen Qingqiu vanishing into thin air.
“Please, don’t run away. We can get Shizun help.”
“Help?” asked Shen Qingqiu. Normally he would recognize his behavior as abnormal, but now? He felt his emotions running high, everything was too much. The thought alone that another person, even an Omega, would be near him, was making him hiss.
“Shizun, please!” begged Luo Binghe, taking another step. Shen Qingqiu felt himself hissing, his sight becoming red. “You dare…!”
But there was another qi signature behind him. Shen Qingqiu turned around, faced with Liu Qingge. The male Omega landed next to him, his eyes wide. “What is….?”
Luo Binghe used the moment to get behind Shen Qingqiu, and then everything turned black.