Capturing My Demon King Costar

"Can you be persuaded to set aside your differences, just for this one thing?" Yao Shen asks, not at all hopeful that he'll get a positive answer.

Xie Bian fans himself harder. "Are you under the illusion that I'll be the one to approach him first?" 

Yao Shen decides it's in his best interests not to answer.

Turns out he doesn't need to, because Xie Bian takes the opportunity to go on a rant about how Fan Wujiu betrayed their solemn duty as Impermanences, and took sides on a petty squabble between gods, putting others before their lifelong bond and...

Yao Shen interrupts him. "Just what is the nature of your relationship?"

Xie Bian glares at him over the arch of his fan. "I fail to see how that matters, seeing that at present we don't have even a passing acquaintance."

He slams his fan closed and smacks it down on the table with such force that Yao Shen worries he's going to crush it under his palm.

"How long has it been since you've seen the Black Impermanence?" Yao Shen asks, tentatively.

He has a bad feeling about this.

"Ever since the five kings were sealed away. I tried to talk with him but he turned me away."

Oh, that's very bad. "Uhmm...did you see him, like with your eyes?"

"How could I? When he wouldn't let me?" Just talking about it seems to upset him, but Yao Shen is coming to a much worse realization.

"I think we should go to him now," Yao Shen says, getting up to his feet. 

Xie Bian opens his fan again with an annoyed snort. "I think me and Fan Wujiu have nothing to say to each other."

"I think someone was counting on you being too proud to check whether Fan Wujiu was really acting of his own volition," Yao Shen says, losing his patience with Xie Bian's scorned wife act.

"What are you trying to say?" he asks, giving Yao Shen a suspicious look.

Yao Shen makes his way out of the pavilion, trusting that he's said enough to ensure Xie Bian will follow him.

---

Xie Bian does follow after him, and agrees to lead him to Fan Wujiu's private residence, but he complains all the way there about how Yao Shen is imagining things.

"He's the one who left the Wuji pavilion first!" Xie Bian says. "He left without as much as a by your leave. I've been going on assignments to bring down the souls of the deceased on my own! There's a reason why there's two of us."

The more Xie Bian complains the more convinced Yao Shen becomes that something must have happened to Fan Wujiu.

Why would he just start ignoring his role, and Xie Bian for so long? Why not explain his actions?

Xie Bian in all white and his towering hat attracts a lot of attention, but like Meng Po, most ghosts give him a wide berth, making it easier for Yao Shen and him to navigate the busy streets.

Youdu is a whirlwind of colour with all the paper lanterns swinging in the breeze, and the crackling fires of the street vendor's stalls. If electricity has made it do the Underworld the city planning committee must have decided it ruined the traditional character. 

At least at street level, because the glass and steel monstrosities balanced on top of the leaning towers look to be equipped with all manner of modern convenience.

Yao Shen is surprised when Xie Bian walks into one of those towers. Entering through an unassuming wooden door, almost falling out of its rickety frame. He goes through two flight of stairs and knocks on a closed door.

"Fan Wujiu! Open this door."

From inside comes the sound of shuffling feet, and then a little girl opens the door just sliver. She looks up at Xie Bian in obvious fright, only one of her wide eyes visible through the gap in the door. "M-Master is resting right now."

"When would be a good time to come back?" Yao Shen asks, smiling at the little girl.

Her eye widens even more. "Uh...never."

Xie Bian sputters indignantly and pushes the door open, almost sending the little girl tumbling to the floor.

Yao Shen manages to grab hold of the back of her robes at the last moment, only belatedly realizing that as a ghost he doesn't even know if she feels pain.

"Thank you, sir." Her panicked eyes follow Xie Bian as he makes his way through the house, calling Fan Wujiu's name.

From the outside it would have been impossible to imagine that the second floor of such a dilapidated place would be such an airy house. The apartment is a collection of large rooms organized around an inner courtyard, linked through a deck.

Xie Bian is currently opening every door and looking inside every room, throwing everything in disarray.

Yao Shen follows after him, the little girl hot on his heels.

Finally, Fan Wujiu comes to a stop in a bedroom where someone lays in a bed, surrounded by a dome of blue energy. 

"Fan Wujiu!" Xie Bian says, falling to his knees beside the bed.

He stretches one hand towards the barrier, but at the last minute his pale finger falls back to his side.

"What happened to him?" he asks the little servant girl, his tone wavering.

"Uh, Master, Master he has been like that for a long time, he pays A-Sui to watch over him while he heals."

"Heals? From what?" The tone of panic in Xie Bian's voice is obvious. He taps his wooden fan anxiously against the side of the bed, a hairsbreadth away from the barrier.

"A-Sui doesn't know very well, but she thinks master suffered some kind of internal injury during a fight."

Perhaps he fought against five angry ghost kings in order to subdue them enough to seal them?

Or maybe he fought against the four issuing him the order?

"When will he be fully healed?" Xie Bian asks, looking down at Fan Wujiu's handsome face.

While he seems to be asleep, his features aren't relaxed, a knot of discomfort furrows his angled brows, and a muscle at his jaw pulls from time to time. He must be at least as tall as Xie Bian, and perhaps broader.

As expected, he's wearing all black, and resting on the floor by his bed is a tall hat, which reads, 'Peace to the World'.

"What have you gotten yourself into, you irredeemable fool?" Xie Bian asks.

He loses the battle with his restless fingers and finally reaches across the barrier towards Fan Wujiu.

The barrier falls away as soon as his fingers make it through, and Fan Wujiu's phoenix eyes fly open immediately. He sits up with a gasp.

"Bian, it's you," he wheezes, clutching Xie Bian's hand in his and pulling it towards his chest. "I'm sorry, I'm really sorry."

Xie Bian looks into Fan Wujiu's face in utter shock. "Why didn't you say anything...what happened to you?"

Fan Wujiu flinches, he looks as if every breath costs him -- and as far as Yao Shen knows, it might.

"I begged them not to involve you," Fan Wujiu says, and manages to smile through the pain he's feeling. "I know how much you hate going against your principles."

"Did they do this to you?" Xie Bian's voice is cold, a threat hidden in every word. "I'm going to kill them."

"Stop, that's why I didn't want you involved. What can the two of us and our paltry skills do against four of them?" His voice sounds like air being blown through a broken bamboo flute, his grip on Xie Bian's fingers tightens. "Five kings didn't stand a chance, we would end up dead."

"Because you're doing so much better!" Xie Bian says, his throat clogging with emotion.

"I've been meditating to heal myself all this time." He smiles sadly. "I know how proud you are. I knew it would buy me some time."

Snarling, Xie Bian gets up to his feet. "I'm going there right now, how dare they do this to us?"

Fan Wujiu's grip on his hand keeps him where he is. "Don't. That's why I didn't want you to know." He lets out a cough, a few drops of blood spattering on the back of his hand. "I was hoping to be fully healed before I went to see you. I'd just grovel at your feet and beg for forgiveness for going behind your back."

"What makes you think you won't have to?"

Fan Wujiu lets out a creaking laugh, his eyes filled with fondness. "I just wanted us to go on with our lives. Leave the kings to their infighting. We just ferry souls."

"I don't know if it helps, but actually, I used to be the Tenth King." Yao Shen feels a little awkward for interrupting, but he did come here for a reason. "I actually would like to take down the four traitor kings. They sort of are responsible for my first death...I think."

Xie Bian turns to look at him as if he's seeing him for the firs time. With a swift movement he pulls down the scarf partially obscuring Yao Shen's face. "It really is you."

From the bed, Fan Wujiu let's out another wheezing gasp, and then his eyes flutter shut.