Capturing My Demon King Costar

Fan Wujiu falls unconscious again. Xie Bian tries to shake him awake, his pale face turning even paler.

The little girl pulls him back by the wide sleeves of his robe. "Please stop, my Master needs to rest. This happens sometimes, he wakes up but because he isn't fully healed yet he falls back asleep."

"Uh, can he die from these injuries?" Yao Shen asks, not entirely sure about the two Impermanences' roles in the Underworld hierarchy. 

Xie Bian shoots him a withering look. "Of course he can. We are no different than the ghost kings, in that regard. We're not dead, we're immortal."

Ah, that would explain Xie Bian's panic, but not why the traitor kings haven't killed the other five.

He asks Xie Bian as much, and gets another incredulous look in reply.

"The post of ghost king is assigned by Heavenly decree! How would they dare? I and Wujiu have also been assigned our roles by the Jade Emperor himself, which is why those dogs didn't kill him outright away and merely incapacitated him." His eyes darken. "Likely to prevent him from immediately undoing the seal they forced him to create."

Faced with Yao Shen's blank look, Xie Bian directs his rage at the little girl. "What will heal him?"

She shakes her head. "A-Sui doesn't know." 

"Do you at least know what injury he has?" he snaps, quickly losing his temper.

"A-Sui heard Master talk about the flower of troubled dreams. Uh, sometimes Master screams in his sleep, and A-Sui has to make a lot of noise until he wakes."

Her words must mean something to Xie Bian, because his eyes widen, and his red lips flatten into a tense line. "Those bastards."

He turns on his heel, his white robes rustling behind him like a solitary funeral procession, giving the room an even more dismal atmosphere.

"Come," he tells Yao Shen, his eyes heavily shuttered.

---

They go back to the Wuji pavilion. Xie Bian is silent through the whole journey. 

Back in the pavilion Xie Bian seems to cut a path of destruction through it, rummaging through various shelves and chests until finally emerging victorious with a bamboo strip scroll.

He unfolds the scroll on top of a low table, his eyes scanning the text until he finally finds what he's looking for.

"The flower of troubled dreams can destroy those who consume its poison from the inside out. Plaguing them with terrible visions when awake, and awful, life-like nightmares when asleep. Eventually, the flower's effects will lead to the complete destruction of a person's meridians -- a slow agonizing death." Xie Bian's face goes from pale to red with rage the further he reads. By the time he finishes his hands are shaking on the thin bamboo strips.

"He wasn't going to tell me anything, he was just going to let himself die..." The words, spoken under Xie Bian's breath are filled with an unspeakable guilt.

Yao Shen reads over his shoulder, trying to find a solution. "Maybe he didn't know about the flower's full effects? He seemed convinced that he would heal himself."

After skimming the text for a moment Yao Shen finally finds a flicker of hope. He taps a vertical line, drawing Xie Bian's attention to it.

"The effects of the flower of troubled dreams can be countered by the turquoise nightshade, which grows in the Howling Plains just outside of Youdu!" Yao Shen turns to Xie Bian with an expectant look after reading the passage, but instead of the hopeful smile he expects to find, Xie Bian is once again scowling at him.

"Does 'Howling Plains' strike you as a reassuring name? Do you think they're called such because the wind 'howls' musically through the tree copses?" 

"Well, no but-"

Xie Bian cuts him off with a flick of his sleeve as he gets up to his feet. Hands clasped behind his back, he paces the length of the study, a moon window overlooking the lush courtyard framing his white silhouette like a watercolor painting. 

"The wastes outside Youdu are dangerous. Not only for ghosts, who can have their souls dissipated and removed from the cycle of reincarnation but for people who are still alive like us." 

He speaks in the cadence of a teacher lecturing a particularly dim student, something that brings back unpleasant memories for Yao Shen.

"The 'Howling Plains' are particularly dangerous because of how deceptively innocuous they look, and for harboring a slew of rare plant species that are valuable for refining pills and medicine." He pauses, frowning towards the middle distance. "For years cultivators would try to sneak past the Underworld's barriers to get at them, only to end up destroyed on the Howling Plains. Their laments just one more dissonant chord to the plains' mournful cry."

Xie Bian goes on in some more metaphor laden description, but Yao Shen manages to understand the gist of it.

The shredded souls of those unfortunate enough to go to the Howling Plains remain trapped there, forever howling about all they have lost, in a perpetual cycle of grief and resentment that only makes the journey there more dangerous.

"I can go with you," Yao Shen says. 

It's not like he has a choice, either way. He needs both Xie Bian and Fan Wujiu to remove Xin Hulei's seal, and Fan Wujiu is clearly in no position to help anyone. 

"That would be generous offer if it was any help."

Yao Shen lets out an aggrieved sigh. "You're a very annoying person."

Xie Bian turns around to face him with a glare. "And you're a naive fool. The ghost kings did this on purpose, whatever their end goals are, this was done deliberately."

If Xie Bian wants to give up without a fight that's his prerogative, but Yao Shen doesn't have that luxury. 

"There's really no other way to remove the seal on Xin Hulei?" Yao Shen pleads, if there's even a single alternative he's willing to consider it.

Xie Bian grunts in annoyance and takes a seat at his low table, his white robes fluttering behind him. "Wujiu and I both placed that seal, so we must remove it together."

Biting his lower lip in frustration, Yao Shen tries to wrack his mind for a feasible alternative when he suddenly remembers something.

"What about Tan Liansi?"

"Who?" Xie Bian asks, his delicate eyebrows furrowing in annoyance. "Do you expect me to remember a person by their name alone?"

"She's a demon too, she was with Xin Hulei. She also has a seal keeping her out of Youdu!"

"Oh, her." Xie Bian flicks his fan open and shrugs. "She's a lower demon, not as powerful as Xin Hulei who is a demon king. One of us was enough to seal her, so I did it."

"So that means you can remove her seal."

"I can, but how will that get you closer to removing Xin Hulei's? Isn't that why you're bothering me?"

"Because I'm sure she'll help us get the turquoise nightshade if it helps Xin Hulei in any way."

A thoughtful look draws over Xie Bian's fine features. "A former ghost king, a demon, and the White Impermanence walk into the 'Howling Plains'...," he shakes his head with a sigh, "sounds like the beginning of a bad joke."

---

Yao Shen returns to his apartment in a hurry after a brief meeting with Si Wang. Si Wang presses him to find Xin Hulei's spirit stone. Yao Shen presses Si Wang to tell him how to remove Xin Hulei's seal.

Since they are at an impasse, Yao Shen just takes his leave promising to return soon.

He checks his phone as soon as he's back. Xin Hulei finally texted him, but the short message is enough to make Yao Shen's stomach swoop painfully.

[Xin Hulei: don't concern yourself with my affairs]

Pushing through the hotness sting in his eyes, Yao Shen texts Tan Liansi.

[Little Menace: I need your help]

[Tan Liansi: fuck you, Hulei told me who you are]

[Little Menace: listen, we don't have time for recriminations. I've talked with the White Impermanence, he agreed to get your seal off, but we need something else to take off Xin Hulei's.]

[Tan Liansi: What makes you think I'm going to trust you?]

[Little Menace: come over and let the White Impermanence take the seal off you]

[Tan Liansi: that's exactly what you'd say if you were going to ambush me!]

[Little Menace: bring weapons for all I care! what can I do against you?]

[Tan Liansi: you ghost kings are all very fucking resourceful when you want to]

Yao Shen doesn't know what else he can say to convince her he's being honest. If Tan Liansi won't come on her own, there's nothing he can do to make her, and if she's not even willing to meet him, how is he going to talk her into going into the Howling Plains?

[Little Menace: Don't you want revenge for what they did? If you won't come I'll just do it on my own]

Moments later, he gets another message.