memory post

[demonvinegar]

OBLIGATORY SPOILERS WARNING FOR ALL OF SCUM VILLAIN SELF SAVING SYSTEM

Important Notes:

• passages are directly copied from the official translation and only edited slightly to remove POVs outside of Luo Binghe's (to the best of my ability)
• information from outside POVs that is otherwise important to the scene will be [closed in brackets]
• certain names will be removed and/or replaced for Reasons
  • [Gehou] = Luo Binghe
  • [Kongxu] = Shen Qingqiu (both versions)
  • [---- -------] = Shen Yuan in his mushroom body that looks vaguely like Shen Qingqiu

Comments

corpse hot potato

[demonvinegar]

--volume 2, page 244--


It was as if the entirety of Huan Hua Pavilion had become an enormous ice cave. A single step inside was like entering a land of frost and snow.

Not only was the temperature abnormally low, the doors were all sealed shut, the windows airtight. It was both freezing and dark. If it hadn't been for the intruder (that is, Cang Qiong Mountain's Director of Demolitions, Liu Qingge) forcibly blowing open a huge hole in the walls, the place would have been like a coffin made of ice.

The top of the sitting platform at the center of the pavilion was half-shrouded by curtains, and several black and white outer robes were messily piled beside it.

[Gehou] was only wearing an inner robe, and he looked like he'd just gotten up from bed. His black hair was disheveled and his clothes were in disarray, the neckline gaping and crooked. His face was abnormally pale, yet his lips had color, while his eyes flashed with a cold light, the aura sinister and menacing. It seemed he was prepared to fight, his claws and fangs bared.

Liu Qingge faced him from seven steps away, the bones protruding on his sword-holding hand, his entire face ashen.

He stared at [Gehou], who calmly sat next to the platform and enunciated each word: "You bastard."

A violent surge of spiritual light and killing intent burst from Cheng Luan.

[Gehou's] right hand was on Xin Mo, which never left his side, the snow-white blade already almost halfway out of its sheath, yet his left arm was, in fact, holding a person.

It was more correct to say a body. It was completely lifeless, its head lolling and limbs slack, yet also completely pliable. It too wore a set of flimsy inner robes, the neckline having slipped past its shoulder, exposing half of a paper-white back.

"What have you done?" said Liu Qingge

[Gehou] raised his eyebrows, tugging the limp body in his left arm further into his embrace. "You tell me: What have I done?"

Without a single word from Liu Qingge, Cheng Luan shot forward. Xin Mo had yet to be drawn all the way, so using only the sheath, [Gehou] blocked Cheng Luan's point. The energy from Cheng Luan's sword glares was overwhelming. Shifting sideways slightly, [Gehou] blocked the bitingly cold energy attacks, keeping the body in his arms safe behind him as his expression grew angry.

Liu Qingge instantly returned his sword to its sheath and began pitting his spiritual energy against [Gehou's]

As they tumbled around, locked in combat, the loose clothes on that body slipped completely down to its waist, and [Gehou's] palm pressed flush against that fair skin.

"Beast! No matter what, he's still your shizun!" Liu Qingge said with bloodshot eyes.

"You think I'd do this with an outsider?" [Gehou] said calmly.

The Huan Hua Palace disciples who'd formed several circles around them were all dumbstruck. [Gehou] paid them no attention, his entire focus on dealing with Liu Qingge. Spiritual energy roiled like boiling water in the air around them, shooting in all directions. As they clashed, their expressions worsened, each more frightening than the last. No one dared to step inside Huan Hua Pavilion for fear of being caught in the crossfire.

[---- -------] flashed behind Liu Qingge. The latter went on guard, believing this to be an ambush, and let out a dark laugh, preparing to send his assailant flying with spiritual qi. However, instead, a hand pressed against Liu Qingge's back, and a stream of steady, gentle, yet powerful spiritual energy flooded into his meridians.

Once Liu Qingge received this aid, he could somewhat push back against [Gehou]. The two peerlessly powerful streams of spiritual energy merged into one.

Though [Gehou] could block it perfectly, this blast of offensive spiritual energy would travel down his body and into the corpse in his arms. He could dissipate the energy, but the dead could not; if he didn't let go, the shock would probably cause the body's facial apertures to rupture. [Gehou] was unwilling to harm the corpse, so he could only release it. The body was shortly tossed away by the boiling spiritual field, flying outward.

Even after letting go, [Gehou's] gaze remained firmly fixed on that body, his expression both helpless and reluctant.

Several disciples lacked sense and moved to take action.

"Don't touch him!" [Gehou] yelled. Even from a distance, a wave of his sleeve filled that direction with screams.

[---- -------] withdrew the spiritual energy he'd been applying to Liu Qingge's back. With a tap of his foot, he launched himself forward, catching the body within his arms.

[His old body's complexion was actually still decidedly rosy, its four limbs pliant. Other than the tightly closed eyes and lack of breath, it was no different from a living person in a deep sleep.

After self-detonation, one's spiritual energy was entirely dispersed; no cultivation remained within to prevent the corpse's decay. On top of that, more than five years had passed since his death, so just preserving the body with ice wouldn't have yielded this level of success. The body didn't smell of herbs, so it probably hadn't been treated with chemicals either. It was unclear what method [Gehou] had used.]

[---- -------] dodged a spiritual blast strong enough to split stone and looked up. [Gehou] was currently staring dead at him, his expression ferocious.

[---- -------] hurried pulled up the corpse's clothes, then sent this hot potato toward Liu Qingge. "Catch!"

[Gehou] wanted to seize it, but he was intercepted by [---- -------].

Liu Qingge caught the body with one arm and called forth Cheng Luan with his free hand, easily beating back the circle of attacking Huan Hua disciples.

Due to being tossed back and forth between them, the corpse's top had finally ripped completely. Liu Qingge's entire body froze. Finding no appropriate place to hold the body, he almost sent it back once more.

Luckily, he managed to resist this impulse in the end and took off his outer robe, the white cloth spreading like wings, and bundled up the body in his arms. Cheng Luan flew back and steadily hovered before his feet.

[Gehou's] eyes had turned fully scarlet. The entire Huan Hua Pavilion was like a tightly sealed box, and inside the box a bomb had been placed. When the bomb exploded, the walls collapsed with a loud rumble.

Falling alongside the flying sand and hurtling stones -- aside from people, people, and more people -- were two objects that hit the ground with a metallic clang. They were actually two swords:

Zheng Yang, and Xiu Ya.

These two swords had originally shared the same fate and broken into numerous sections of blade shards. It was unclear how they had been repaired, but they had been tied together and placed in Huan Hua Pavilion. Only with the pavilion's collapse did they once again see the sun and sky.

"Liu Qingge." [Gehou] shouted, "for Shizun's sake, I've let you live over and over again. But since you want to die so badly, you can't blame me!"

The force of his subsequent eruption of spiritual energy and murderous intent almost made [---- -------'s] internal organs shift inside him. He knew [Gehou] was furious, and he hurried to yell at Liu Qingge. "Still haven't left?!"

Liu Qingge gave him a glance, then was as decisive as expected -- he left without delay, tucking the body beneath his arm and jumping onto his sword, then flying off at lightning speed.