#ZZL understands LBH's impulse and thinks he shares his father's taste in spouses

[chaoticgoodlawyerwrites]

Excerpt of the next chapter! Update coming this week!

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One moment, Luo Binghe was taking in the beauty of their surroundings, looking for any sign of the first blood-family he would remember meeting. The next, he was surrounded by an impenetrable qi barrier and his Shizun was holding a green snake right behind it’s opened maw, Xiu Ya floating unsheathed beside him and at the ready. Shen Yuan’s eyes were glowing, power and fury in every line of his body.

“I expect,” he hissed at the snake, so very beautiful that Luo Binghe felt like he had ascended. “There is. An explanation for this.”

The snake wiggled and Shen Yuan tossed it away. It hit the wall of the enclosure hard but did not show any visible injury. Not that Luo Binghe could see it well as Shen Yuan took up space between them like he would act as a physical barrier in addition to the spiritual one he raised around him.

“Oh!” Shang Qinghua exclaimed. “I know what happened! Shen-shixiong, wait, don’t kill him! It’s just a misunderstanding!”

“Well?” Then, suddenly, Shen Yuan sighed and said, “Oh, don’t look at me like that, Zhuzhi-Lang. What did you expect me to do when you attacked my disciple with no warning? And, just so we’re clear, I want you and your uncle alive and well; but I don’t need you to be so in order for Luo Binghe to succeed. The only reason you are not already dead is that you seemed reasonable during our last meeting and this action would not qualify as such. Now, nod if what my colleague says is correct. Shang-shidi?”

“Shen-shixiong is so scary!”

“Airplane.”

“Right. Um, so Zhuzhi-Lang didn’t believe you and adult Luo Binghe about the time travel thing, right? Well, it’s one thing for a younger person to show up looking like Luo Binghe and another for them to be the same person. Zhuzhi-Lang is quite venomous, but other Heavenly Demons would be unaffected by the bite. So it was just a test to see if he really was the same person at the start, to see if he could trust us to follow through.”

A beat passed and Shen Yuan relaxed minutely. “Does Binghe being immune require his demon blood to be awake and active? Would the venom have broken his seal early in order to activate it? No, no biting unless you can both convince me that it would not hurt him and with his permission. Am I understood?”

Another beat. Then Shen Yuan straightened from his defensive stance in front of him and dropped the qi barrier around him. Xiu Ya remained unsheathed and floating, but Luo Binghe didn’t mind that. In fact, he didn’t mind much of anything at all, still reeling from his A-Yuan’s protectiveness and the effect it was having on him.

“Shizun?”

“Yes?”

“Please marry me.”

Shen Yuan’s eyes were wide and astonished as he whipped his head around to stare at him. Shang Qinghua seemed to be choking somewhere nearby. It would have been the perfect moment for Zhuzhi-Lang to strike if he was going to, but nothing happened as Shen Yuan gaped at him, still irresistible even in his unguarded imperfection.

Luo Binghe held his gaze if only to prove he was serious and dropped to both knees. “I know we cannot wed yet, not for years, but I cannot help but ask now, not after that display.”

“You did not just say that to me. I can’t, what dis-no, I can’t do this today. I am at my limit. Ask me when you’re older. Get up.”

It wasn’t a no. Luo Binghe got up.