Capturing My Demon King Costar

Yao Shen screenshots the conversation immediately, and sends it to Xin Hulei.

To Gao Wu he replies:

[Little Menace: sounds very interesting, didi. I'm sorry I couldn't be more help.]

Time passes without him getting an answer. For a moment he's worried Xin Hulei blocked him, but he can clearly see his message was delivered so maybe he's just ignoring him.

Each second that goes by without Xin Hulei getting back to him just makes Yao Shen feel more nervous.

What if Gao Wu is suspicious about Xin Hulei too?

Yao Shen remembers the System telling him about other 'Exorcists', early on, but Yao Shen put the whole thing completely out of his mind.

He assumed it was just something Si Wang told him to convince him the whole 'capture the demon king' thing was legit. 

Now he's not so sure, and worse still, he has no idea of what it means.

Was Si Wang taking inspiration from reality when he told him about the other exorcists? Or is he in a hurry because someone else is trying to get their hands on Xin Hulei, maybe other demons too?

Neither possibility is reassuring, and Xin Hulei still won't tell him anything.

Yao Shen feels powerless stuck inside his apartment. There's nothing he can do from home, so he might as well go back to Youdu and find the Impermanences. 

For a moment he considers drinking his memories, seeing for himself if the story Qing Yu told is real or not, but he doesn't feel ready yet. Moreover, what would be the point?

Xin Hulei won't trust what he has to say.

---

This time Yao Shen visits Youdu wearing a hoodie which covers most of his face, a long scarf wrapped around the bottom half of it. He knows he looks mildly ridiculous, but the good people of Youdu need only look to the side to see much worse.

He doesn't draw any undue attention as he walks through the street but that stops once he starts asking where to find the Black and White Impermanences.

"You don't find them, they find you," an elderly street-vendor tells him, as if Yao Shen is really stupid.

"You either find the Black or the White Impermanence, they're estranged these days," a waiter at a teahouse says, looking as if she's in the mood to gossip. "Everyone says they had a falling out years ago."

"Stupid boy, just go straight ahead, turn left on the teashop, then walk for two li, and turn right on the teahouse, then it's a straight path up the pagoda and on the left you'll find the Wuji pavilion."

Yao Shen couldn't remember those directions if his life depended on it, especially since a great deal of them seem to hinge on his ability to distinguish a teahouse from a teashop.

The situation is only further complicated when another man starts berating the first one, and accusing him of "misleading the youth."

"Young man, listen here, what you want to do is stay on your right, and turn RIGHT on the teashop--"

Yao Shen makes a silent exit while the two men scream at each other, deciding that he can probably find the Impermanences on his own.

He wonders aimlessly, and when he gets tired of wondering he asks the ghosts for directions, he gets some more conflicting explanations and gives up -- the cycle repeats.

He's resting under a scholar tree, when a shadow falls over him, obscuring the light from a line of paper lanterns hung from a building nearby.

"I heard you were looking for me," a melodic voice asks.

Yao Shen looks up into the pale face of a man dressed in all white. The man has the clear gaze of someone who doesn't let himself be bothered by mundane affairs. His deep-set eyes are fixed on Yao Shen. 

When Yao Shen startles at his sudden presence, the man's pink lips curve upwards in a charming smile. "My name is Xie Bian(1), you might know me as the White Impermanence."

Xie Bian wears a tall hat with the characters "Become Lucky Upon Encountering Me" written on it.

Looking up at the odd hat, Yao Shen sure hopes so.

"Can we talk somewhere else?" Yao Shen asks.

Just like with Meng Po, he would rather not have an entire street of ghosts as his witnesses. 

Xie Bian nods at him, that enigmatic smile not leaving his upturned lips. "Follow me."

---

Yao Shen follows Xie Bian through a side street and out of the bustle and through a wooded area.

Eventually the woods give way to a clearing, on which a charming pavilion sits. A few windchimes hanging from the eaves twinkle gently in the breeze.

Inside the Wuji Pavilion everything is either black or white, there is no visible trace of any other color. Xie Bian seems to move only around the areas of the pavilion that are mostly white. All of it is an open plan single room, broken up here and there by privacy screens.

"Uh, where's the Black Impermanence?" Yao Shen asks, taking a seat in front of a low table as Xie Bian pours him tea.

"We had a...disagreement," Xie Bian says, taking a careful sip from the bone-white cup.

"About what?"

His curiosity earns him a scowl from under the thick fan of Xie Bian's lashes. "I don't see how that's any of young master's business."

Well, it might be a little, if it prevents him from finding a way to get the seal off Xin Hulei.

"I just think people should work through their differences whenever possible," Yao Shen says, smiling through his gritted teeth.

"Even when those differences include a grave betrayal?" Xie Bian asks, one sharp eyebrow raised in mock inquiry.

This is all hitting a little too close to home, but Yao Shen forces himself to smile through the pain. "Yes, maybe especially then."

Xie Bian is clearly not expecting that answer. His keen gaze grows sharper. "Young master looks familiar, now that I think about it."

"I must have one of those faces."

Xie Bian takes another sip of his tea in silence. 

"I haven't asked what brings young master here," he says, after some time.

"It's related to a seal the ghost kings might have asked the two Impermanences to place on someone." There's no way for Yao Shen to ask for what he needs without saying what it is. If the worst happens he can always try to use Persuasion on Xie Bian and hope for the best.

However, he doesn't expect the loud thud with which Xie Bian brings down his teacup on the low table.

"What a coincidence, it was very similar matter that brought about my disagreement with Fan Wujiu." His smile deceptively kind, Xie Bian turns to Yao Shen. "Just exactly who is young master? Let's not waste each other's time."

---

Xie Bian is a confusing character but Yao Shen thinks he can detect genuine resentment towards the ghost kings in his guarded eyes. 

After a moment of deliberation, he blurts out. "My name is Yao Shen, and I used to be the Tenth King."

He expects his words to provoke a big reaction, but instead Xie Bian just looks him up and down intently, and then nods to himself. "So you are. That explains it."

"Explains what?"

"The recent upheavals that have led to mine, and Fan Wujiu's estrangement."

That's confusing. Recent? 

"The seal I'm talking about must have been activated centuries ago," Yao Shen says.

Xie Bian gives him unreadable look. "What makes you think we're talking about the same thing?"

"But-"

Xie Bian raises one hand to silence Yao Shen. "You're talking about the seal on the demon king Xin Hulei, I remember. You were kicking and screaming about it back then too."

He was? "I was?"

Xie Bian ignores him. "I'm talking about the violent seizure of power that saw four kings usurp the remaining five."

The missing kings....The same ones Si Wang was acting all cagey about when Yao Shen asked when he would be meeting them.

"Are they dead?" Yao Shen asks, his voice as low as whisper.

"No, but they are sealed away," Xie Bian says. "Something I told Wujiu that I didn't want to be get involved in, but that he went and did behind my back anyway."

Youdu really is a snake's pit. It takes all of Yao Shen's mental fortitude not to slam his head against the tabletop and just be done with it.

"Why don't you go and release them, if you're against it."

Xie Bian opens a delicate paper fan with a flick and starts fanning himself. His composure is slipping away and he's looking at Yao Shen as if he blames him for it. "As the two Impermanences it's up to me and Wujiu to ferry the three hun souls of the deceased into the Underworld so they can enter the cycle of reincarnation. We are the ones who open the doors of Youdu to the dead, and we can also close them."

Yao Shen nods, drinking his tea diligently, afraid of annoying Xie Bian with more obtuse questions when he's on the verge of fully explaining himself.

"We do everything as a pair, two halves of the same whole. When he sealed the five ghost kings, he did it without me, which means he's the only one who can unseal them." His heavy gaze lands on Yao Shen. "Likewise, it took the two of us to create the seal for the demon king, and it will take the two of us to remove it."

---

(1) Xie Bian has no relation to Xie Huan, their names don't have a single character in common, pinyin is just like that! In fact, Bi-an is a two character first name, Huan is a single character name. Xie Bian and Fan Wujiu are mythological figures, so I made no changes to their names.