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Chapter Text

[ERROR 4273 - PLEASE RESTART]

What?

[ERROR 6294 - PLEASE RESTART]

Shen Yuan tries to grasp onto consciousness, floating and hazy. He was just at his computer reading that stupid novel instead of studying…

[ERROR 8384.33 - Manual Restart FAILED]

He had gotten sick again and had tried to push through… he had to pass the LSAT...

[CONNECTION TO SOURCE FAILED - Automatic Restart ACTIVATED]

Now he remembered, his heart had given out. Meimei rushed into his room. There was an ambulance and then a hospital. There were so many hospitals in his life. He had tried to study anyway. He had tried to convince himself that he could live longer than the doctors said he could.

[Automatic Restart FAILED - REROUTING HOST]

In the end, he never could become a lawyer. He couldn’t even live past twenty-five. Shen Yuan had never made it out of that last hospital.

[REROUTE SUCCESS - Connection FAILED -
MISSION: FIND SOURCE Good Luck Host!]

Shen Yuan wakes with a start, bleary-eyed and drowsy with the worst headache he’s ever had in his life. He blinks slowly as he adjusts to the bright lights around him.

[Host has entered the role Linguang-Jun]
[MISSION: FIND SOURCE]

The words appear and then flicker to the edge of his view, glitching slightly.

The room he’s in has a faint blue tint. Frost climbs the edges of the walls, but Shen Yuan feels cozy, almost warm. The bed he lies on is plush but not overly so. The room clearly belongs to a noble, and that noble appears to be Shen Yuan.

A vanity desk close to the bed he lies on reveals that his body looks nothing like it once did in his past life.

He looks older, for one, faint but present smile lines and glare lines adorn his face. It’s clear to see that this body is well into and perhaps past middle age, but even still. He looks… regal, cold. Literally, as he can now see why the frost lining the room didn’t bother him.

When he stands from the bed, he stands much taller than Shen Yuan normally would. His hair is a bright white, and his skin has an inhuman pallor. On his forehead glows a blue demon sigil that Shen Yuan recognizes immediately.

Proud Immortal Demon Way! The shitty book that had given Shen Yuan a heart attack! In the final chapter, Luo Binghe had been ambushed by a group of his wives and stabbed with a knife! To death!

Even thinking about it now made him want to vomit. A powerful demon lord killed by his wives using a single empowered knife. It was enough to make his heart rate spike in his new demon form! What a hack author ending his novel in such a lazy way…

It doesn’t take too long to figure out what’s going on. This is some kind of afterlife, or maybe a second chance? Shen Yuan had watched enough Isekai anime to understand that this was a second chance. He had been transported into Proud Immortal Demon Way as the character…

Linguang-Jun? Never heard of him. He must be immortal, and an ancient one at that if the faint wrinkles in his skin are anything to go by, as if even the everlasting youth of immortality couldn’t keep the experience from being worn onto his skin.

Whatever. Shen Yuan seems to be some kind of demon royalty, which means it’s unlikely Luo Binghe has combined the two realms yet. So long as he grovels when the time comes and clings to those golden thighs, he should be able to live a new life of peace. He had already been through so much pain in his past life. Autoimmune diseases are no joke!

Yes, of course, Heavenly Demon Emperor! You can take my kingdom! Just leave me to live past twenty-five, and you can have all the ice you want!

Before Shen Yuan can ruminate further, he hears a knock at one of the grand double doors leading into his room.

Shit!

What was Linguang-Jun like? He has no memory of this character. Was he nice? Cruel?

He hesitates too long to respond, but it doesn't matter because soon a small demon with blue skin and two black horns that seem to large for his tiny body is wriggling his way through the two doors, apparently too weak or too timid to open them fully. Upon successfully squirming his way through the doors with a large tray of food precariously grasped between two trembling hands, the demon finally turns to face Linguang-Jun. He yelps, apparently not expecting to find the man staring at him.

“M-My Lord!” the demon shakes, “I’ve brought your meal.”

“Yes.” Shen Yuan bites out, not quite sure how Linguang-Jun would have addressed the imp. “You can put it on that table…”

“Liu Ge Qiu…” the little demon answers as if his name has been forgotten many times before. “My Lord, the Young Master wishes to meet with you.”

Young Master? That could be anyone. Not wanting to raise any suspicion, Shen Yuan acquiesces and waves Liu Ge Qiu away to retrieve whoever this Young Master is.

Typically, in the books he's read, the Young Master of a house would be the son of whoever was important on the estate. So whoever he sends in must be his son. He has a son! Their relationship must be fairly strained if his own son has to request to see him, though. Taking into consideration that Shen Yuan is now in the demon realm, he supposes that this type of distance between family members is pretty standard for demons. He’ll have to hold his newfound son at arm's length.

This resolve lasts all of three seconds when the ‘Young Master’ is escorted into his room.

He's so… cute!

The child couldn't have been any older than four, eyes large and dark, reflecting the icy room around him. He looked like a tiny Linguang-Jun. So tiny!

Without a thought, Shen Yuan smiled at him, causing the child to hesitate for a second before the child produced a small object from behind his back.

“Is this why you wanted to see me?” Shen Yuan asked, carefully taking the object which, upon further examination, was two clumsily handmade dolls. One was short and one was tall, both were made of twigs tied so that the ‘hands’ were holding. It was clearly meant to be Linguang and his son. Adorable!

The child looked hesitant as if he expected his work to be disregarded or perhaps tossed out all together. Although there wasn't much expression on the boy's face, Shen Yuan could see the faint mist of tears begin to form in his eyes as his son waited silently for Shen Yuan’s response.

Ah! How could he possibly stay distant like a demon father with a son like this? He made the dolls hold hands! Surely a small breach in demon culture from an irrelevant character like this Linguang-Jun couldn't make a difference.

Shen Yuan kneels to bring himself to his son's level, and without much warning he pulls the boy into a hug.

The boy tenses, almost confused, but he is just a small child after all. Before long, his son returns his hug.

After a moment, Shen Yuan pulls away and cups the boy's face. So tiny! So precious!

“Thank you very much, I love this.”

The boy gulps, he doesn't seem like he shows emotion on his face naturally, but he seems startled. The little bit of mist in his eyes accumulates, allowing one little tear to fall down his cheek.

Shen Yuan takes his thumb and swipes his cheek clean. “Why don’t you show me what you’ve been doing today? I would love to see how you made this.”

Explore his new castle and praise his little son, yes please!

Whatever reservations the boy had against Linguang-Jun before seem to be all but erased now; he is only four. If Shen Yuan is cannon fodder in the world of PIDW then he might as well bend the rules of demon culture a little and enjoy having a son. He never even made it to twenty-five in his past life, much less started a family when he spent most of his time in the hospital. This is a golden opportunity that fell into his lap. He's not going to waste it, even if it looks a little unusual for a normal demon routine. This is Shen Yuan’s life now!

Chapter Text

Shen Yuan is a widower now is seems. He isn’t sure whether he should mourn or not as it doesn’t seem like Linguang-jun was particularly fond of his late spouse. His records of his family tree seem to be mostly perfunctory, ending abruptly after the death of his wife. With demons it’s a little hard to tell where their sympathies lie. Maybe the discontinuation of the family archive is a result of grieving, or maybe he didn’t see any use to continue after he had his only son. Speaking of which, his son isn’t in here anywhere.

Shen Yuan had been hoping to find the boy's name as he couldn’t find a proper way to ask the boy's name.

How does someone go up to their own child and say hey, actually, can you tell me your name again? Father of the year award to this guy right here!

Anyway, he intended to find the name himself and had been slinking around the storage rooms of his own castle like a confused criminal before stumbling across a series of archives in the form of large scrolls.

He had a castle, by the way. Shen Yuan had gathered that Linguang-jun was some kind of demon nobility by the name and servants alone. However, Shen Yuan hadn’t expected the sheer size of the castle that was now his home. The entire place wasn’t only cold in appearance, there were some places entirely made of black ice. Shen Yuan wasn’t exactly sure where he was in the timeline of PIDW, but he was now certain he resided in the Northern Desert.

Perhaps he was some kind of baron in the command of Mobei-jun, the king of the Northern Desert in PIDW?

He tried to find answers within the castle itself and had ended up stumbling across Linguang-Jin’s family archives.

Somehow though, the archives told him nothing! His bother had apparently passed away five years ago and his own wife a few years earlier than that. Shen Yuan guessed that his son probably aged a little slower than regular humans.

Even still, he’s nowhere to be seen!

Shen Yuan takes the large scroll back to his bedroom to study more and see if he can discover anything else about the body he currently inhabits.

Not long after Shen Yuan had sat down, he hears a faint knock on his door. Without hesitation Shen Yuan giddily walks over to the door. There’s only one person who would knock so faintly.

“Hello, my boy!” Shen Yuan opens the door wide to allow the child to step through.

It took about a week of coaxing but he finally convinced the boy that he didn’t need to request to see Linguang-jun and could come and go as he pleased. Apparently this was an earth shattering revelation because the first time he successfully encouraged the boy to open his door without verbal permission, the child was shaking so hard he looked like he was about to vibrate through the floor!

Small child why are you so scared!? Shen Yuan means you no harm!

Right now the boy looks significantly less scared but still more wary than Shen Yuan would prefer. Honestly, you would think that Linguang-jun would punish him for anything. But that couldn’t be true, who would punish someone that adorable?

The boy sits next to Shen Yuan at his desk with a little coaxing.

“Look,” Shen Yuan points to the scroll, “this is our family.”

The child looks at the scroll, carefully parsing out the characters at the speed expected of a four year old. Eventually he looks dismayed and Shen Yuan wants to rub the frown of his face.

“I know you’re not here but it’s not a big deal really… look the archives stopped five years ago anyway.”

This does not seem to brighten the child’s mood, in fact, it seems to make him gloomier. Such a sad look for a child to have, it could almost bring him to tears. No more of these long faces!

Without warning, Shen Yuan stands, scooping his son up and resting the boy on his hip.

“Let’s do something fun, hm?”

The boy says nothing, actually he hasn’t said anything at all so far, but he seems curious now which is better than sad. His big eyes search Shen Yuan for answers on what they’re doing.

As they walk to the castle kitchen Shen Yuan wonders if the child should be talking more at this stage in his life. He knows that demon children may have different standards than human children but surely he should be at least saying a few words? Maybe he has a speech delay? Shen Yuan isn’t sure how to rear a child much less help one with a speech delay. Shen Yuan will just talk to him and praise him as much as possible and maybe he’ll catch on.

After they reach the kitchen, Shen Yuan politely shoos the staff away, ignoring their looks of confusion. He sets the boy down and gets to work.

“Let’s make a treat to give to the staff, alright?”

The boy doesn’t seem to understand, tilting his head slightly. Adorable!

As is standard for Northern Desert garb, he’s dressed in dark blue with fur lining around his collar. The whole attire is too serious for a child in Shen Yuan’s opinion. However, the contrast of the morose outfit along with the child’s general gloomy air mixed the adorable big eyes and baby face of the small child makes his whole appearance rather endearing. Shen Yuan can’t help but reach down and pinch his sons cheeks.

“Help me mix the ingredients after I put them in a bowl” Shen Yuan picks up his son and plops him on the kitchen counter, handing him ingredient after ingredient to make sense of and mix in a bowl.

Actually, Shen Yuan is fairly certain Linguang-jun never made lunch for his staff. But there’s a first time for everything! And teaching his son how to make food is a proper life skill even if he will have servants to cook for him in the future.

What if he decides to leave the castle? He’ll need to cook food! It’s not out of character, it’s proper parenting!

The whole process of wonton making is slower when you're aided by a four year old, but Shen Yuan doesn’t mind. With every spill and wasted blue spider egg, his son grows more and more confident to handle the ingredients.

Although Shen Yuan didn’t have much opportunity to cook for himself in his past life, he had watched a lot of cooking shows and ASMR tutorials online. His son doesn’t need to know that as he’s teaching him, Shen Yuan is also mixing wonton filling for the first time.

His son picks up on the skill of washing vegetables fairly easily but the act of forming dough seems to be a big challenge.

While watching the boy stick his tongue out in concentration is endearing, his baby fingers don’t seem to know how to perform a folding motion which is a little concerning at his age.

Shen Yuan considers that Linguang-jun wasn’t too interested in developing his son's fine motor skills. The little figures he crafts are cute but probably weren’t encouraged by Linguang-jun and considering this is the demon realm the child has probably spent most of his physical training in fighting. That’s not the only important skill though! He'll have to introduce his son to drawing later. They will just have to work on more crafts together.

Don’t worry, Shen Yuan will help- ah!

He quickly dodges a bit of filling accidentally lobbed by his son and his clumsy mixing.

The boy stills, he seems almost afraid, bracing for something.

Shen Yuan laughs. A good hearty laugh that makes the boy relax slightly.

“It looks like we’re almost ready to cook these.“ Shen Yuan ruffles the hair on the boy's head and his son finally seems to relax fully.

After a spell of confusion while Shen Yuan learned to navigate the stove, they were able to finish the wontons. They don’t look half bad either when taking the chefs into consideration!

“The wontons are done!” Shen Yuan claps which his son readily imitates. “Now.”

Shen Yuan kneels to his sons eye level holding two wontons and hands one to the boy. “They are gifts for the staff but I think you and I should have the first bite.” He smiles brightly at his son.

The boy carefully holds the wonton and looks at Shen Yuan like he just handed him the world. This may be the happiest he’s seen the boy yet.

They both eat their wontons at the same time. Shen Yuan gives a contemplative nod of approval just like food judges on TV and his son follows along, copying the gesture.

They load up the wontons, Shen Yuan carrying a tray and his son carrying a plate. The two greet every staff they can find and hand them their own serving of wontons.

Although Shen Yuan knew it would be unusual for a demon noble to make food for his demon staff, he finds himself shocked at their reactions.

A few eye the gift with suspicion, taking gingerly bites to appease their Lord as if the wontons might be poisoned, which, fair. But their not!

The rest of the staff that take the gift at face value throw themselves down at Linguang-jun’s feet in gratitude. Their Lord? Taking time out of his day? To serve them food? Unbelievable! Impossible!

Shen Yuan hears there poorly concealed murmurs and isn’t quite sure how to feel about all the commotion. Oh well, a little OOC for the sake of teaching his son a life skill will always be worth it!

After the last tearful “thank you’s” are finished, Shen Yuan walks back to his own room with his son carried at his hip.

“What an eventful afternoon.” He looks at the boy with a smile. Even if the child himself did not show much emotion, Shen Yuan figures that it would still be better for him to smile at the child when he can. It seems to calm him down anyway.

Typically the child would return to his studies at this time of day, but Shen Yuan has one more idea.

“You remember this scroll?”

His son nods and Shen Yuan places him down where he was before at his desk. Shen Yuan has a great idea for how he can learn the child’s name!

”How about you write your name right under here, so when our family reads this scroll in the future, they will have a way of always remembering that you’re my son.”

The child looks at him, staring eyes growing wide. He starts to tear up and before Shen Yuan can react large droplets are rolling down the boys cheeks.

“Woah! Why the tears all the sudden? You don’t have to if you don’t want to!”

The boy just gives a small sniff before throwing his arms around Shen Yuan. Very confused, he wraps his arms around the child, rubbing his back. Why the sudden sentimentality?

After a minute or so. The child seems to have calmed enough. He turns to write his name on the scroll, his shaky hands forming out the characters:

Mobei

Oh. Oooooh. OOOOOH.

Chapter Text

His son is the demon king Mobei-jun. Which would make him the surviving uncle.

Shen Yuan didn’t remember much of Mobei-Jin’s back story. Mostly, PIDW was concerned with the many conquests of Luo Binghe. Unfortunately, Shen Yuan was aware that their original relationship was… tumultuous at best.

That ship has, frankly, sailed far far away. So far that Shen Yuan can’t quite work up the urge to try and round it back.

Mobei-jun was a side character! He was powerful and would become Luo Binghe’s right hand demon regardless of the ice kings own personal trajedies.

Linguang-jun hadn’t even shown up in the original work, only mentioned offhandedly in reference to Mobei-jun. Who cares if he changes up the cannon just slightly for a side character.

Not Shen Yuan!

That’s what he told himself anyway as he and Mobei, his now adopted son, sat side by side enjoying breakfast.

Originally Shen Yuan wanted to eat with the boy just once to ensure he was eating properly, however, when Mobei kept showing up day by day, who was Shen Yuan to refuse him? It was so rare that Mobei reached out for attention that Shen Yuan was determined to reward it ever time.

Shen Yuan had been in this new body for a little over a month now and was starting to enjoy this routine very much.

His desk once tidy and vacant now had little decorations around the edge. A few cool rocks Mobei had proudly bestowed him with, some figurines they had crafted together, and a concerningly expensive bracelet Shen Yuan wasn’t sure where Mobei had stolen from all had a special place on his desk.

Unfortunately, a month was all it took before Liu Ge Qiu, the little servant demon, was shakily placing a mound of scrolls on his desk. Although Shen Yuan had been making strides in endearing himself to his staff, a few demons were taking longer to relax than others. Even more unfortunately for Liu Ge Qiu, his job included inturupting Shen Yuan’s meal with his son, earning him a stiff look of irritation Shen Yuan couldn’t quite hide.

“These are this months taskings assigned by the Palace of the Heavenly Demon Emperor.” Liu Ge Qiu says, trembling and scuttling from the room.

“Ah- thank you.” Shen Yuan looks at the pile of scrolls. So he did have a job in this would after all…

Heavenly Demon Emperor huh? It was a little early in the story for Luo Binghe to have been born yet. Significantly too early if Mobei was just a child.

That meant this Heavenly Demon had to be Luo Binghe’s father. His parents hadn’t been discussed in the original media so Shen Yuan wasn’t entirely sure what to make of this development.

From what he could tell, this demon realm was significantly more structured than the demon realm of PIDW. He supposed the Heavenly Demon acted as a kind of ruler for the demon realm.

Perhaps Luo Binghe wasn’t abandoned then. If something happened to the emperor of the lands, it would make sense that it would leave the realm in disarray. After the Heavenly Demon fell, all of the previously coexisting races and cities would all of the sudden be without government.

A broadly different collection of demons, all with different cultures and values being thrown into anarchy simultaneously?

Perhaps Shen Yuan had some new stakes in the ruling of this current Heavenly Emperor.

That’s a problem for a future Linguang-jun.

The current Linguang-jun was staring at a collection of proposals from around the demon realm. They looked to be questions of legal matters from what Shen Yuan could gather.

After a confusing request made to a nervous Liu Ge Qiu, Shen Yuan was brought a collection of scrolls on the particulars of this unusually orderly demon realm which he consumed in earnest.

There were four classified regions in the demon realm, his being the Northern Desert of which he was now the king of. There were four ‘Kings’ of these regions each submitting directly to the emperor. From there on there’s Saints assigned their own provinces and Barons for each city within these provinces.

The whole system was quite feudal for Shen Yuan’s tastes but considering that before this Heavenly Demon came into power they were all warring factions, it was a massive improvement.

Although, the raging sceptic Peerless Cucumber couldn’t keep his mind from racing toward all the ways the demon realm could be optimized.

Linguang-jun’s region in particular controlled the implementation of burocracy, that is - the legal system. Ironically, despite all of his attempts while he was alive, this may be the closest Shen Yuan will ever get to being a lawyer.

Unfortunately, being the legal laurient of the demon realm means that he is handling every. single. case.

Sighing in resignation, Shen Yuan hands Mobei one of the papers to sound out his characters with (he’s learning to read right now, Shen Yuan is so proud!) and starts on the first case.

A demon rancher in the southern realm had livestock stolen from his pasture during the last local festival. He has one witness statement which is his son which only states that the rancher’s son had heard an unusual noise last that night.

When he had investigated the noise, he saw a cloaked figure leaving with an eight legged spidergoat calf in hand. There were no other witnesses but the rancher speculates that the perpetrator was a neighbor who had apparently been making ‘suspicious comments’ as of late, no further elaboration.

“I can’t work with this!” Shen Yuan says to Mobei who is desperately trying to focus on the small letters. The boy looks up at him and shakes his head in agreement of whatever Shen Yuan just said.

“There’s not a case here, I would need to see them in court, there needs to be lawyers, evidence for crying out loud.”

Apparently instead of a proper court system, the offended party and defensive party would both submit whatever claims or evidence of importance they could translate into paper and submit it like the worlds most complicated scrap book to Linguang-jun.

Personal testimonies, witness statements, and records were all collected on one document for review. Although lawyers were available, most were expensive and there was no mandate to provide representation for the less financially fortunate.

They could go to court, but that would require waiting in the Northern Desert until their case was reviewed. Even if they could wait, they would be separated from their homes and their work, unable to care for their families or make any money.

Further more, if both parties were well off and willing to sacrifice these two things, it was unclear when their case would even be reviewed. Considering Linguang-jun was the final say on every case in the demon realm, it could be weeks or even months before they could be seen.

This means that when a court could actually take place, it was only the most well off parties within a case who could arrive. It was the ones who didn’t need money or the ability to care for their families, the ones who could spend potentially months waiting to state their case who could actually show up. If only one party shows up who has lawyers and carefully presented evidence, it almost grantees a win for whoever can stand to show up to court.

It was a system that perpetuated justice only for the wealthy!

Shen Yuan slams his head against the desk. What a crude system! This poor rancher with missing live stock will never get that spidergoat calf back. He was relying on Linguang-jun to provide judgment for him when there was no way for him to advocate for himself.

He will have to talk to the emperor!

When Shen Yuan raises his head, Mobei takes a break from glaring in confusion at his scroll to tenderly pat Shen Yuans forehead. Ah his sweet son, adopted yes, but that didn’t matter.

“We have to talk to the emperor about this.” Shen Yuan says resolutely to Mobei who nods, face serious. He had no idea what Shen Yuan was on a about.

Shen Yuan summons Liu Ge Qiu. “When can I request an audience with the emperor?”

The demon startles, honestly Shen Yuan needs an assistant with more spine, “t-the emperor, your Lordship?”

“Yes, I need to speak with him as soon as possible.” Shen Yuan puts on his best air of cold confidence. It’s not too hard with the stoic and aloof appearance of Linguang-jun. Besides, he is technically second ranking in the demon realm along with the three other regions kings. He knows that demons tend to be violent when approached with reprimand, but this Heavenly Demon Emperor seems to be reasonable!

He organized the demon realm from chaos, surely he would listen to a well written proposal by Shen Yuan.

“Y-your Lordship, the Emperor will make his yearly visit to the four regions at the end of this season, perhaps his Lordship could speak to the Emperor then?” Liu Ge Qiu shrinks as he states each word, as if nervous that this is too much of a command to his king.

“Perfect!” Shen Yuan says, standing to clap a hand on Liu Ge Qiu’s shoulder, causing the little demon to both jump and shrivel into himself at the same time, “I’ll have a well written proposal formed by then, the Emperor will have to listen!”

“That’s very well my Lord, preparations for his arrival start this next week.”

“Huh!?”

Chapter Text

The castle was in chaos.

Demons scurried left and right cleaning every sheet and polishing every piece of metal. Even the ice creeping up the palace was shaven down to look artistically intentional rather than untamed.

Shen Yuan had never seen the place shine like this before.

Apparently Mobei in his short life hadn’t either because he toddled around the castle, enthralled by every newly shiny object.

The staff had completely warmed up to the son and father duo. Amongst themselves concluded that adopting Mobei as his son had softened Linguang-jun.

Although kindness wasn’t a particularly valued trait among demons of the Northern Desert as a whole, it was certainly valued in a previously menacing and cruel Lord. They weren’t about to question this change.

As it was, they were perfectly indulgent of their little young master Mobei as he tugged on their robes and held out his hands for whatever shiny object caught his fancy.

The child wasn’t much better at expressing himself though his facial expressions but by this point Shen Yuan was an expert in reading his son’s emotions.

As they walked through the chaos to ensure everything was in order, Shen Yuan would gently scold Mobei when he impeded the efforts of the staff. His method of parenting was foreign to other demons who themselves would either refuse to converse as such with their young or beat them into submission.

However, Mobei seemed to behave just fine. He valued his father’s input and seemed to want praise more than most demon children. It’s almost like being kind to the child made the boy crave kindness rather than build the resentment that other demons relied on to motivate them. He was going to grow up to be an unusual demon…

Shen Yuan wasn’t aware of their chatter, he wouldn’t have minded it even if he heard it. Instead he was perfectly content to place his son on his shoulders to allow Mobei to touch the fine ice that hung from the ceiling.

Tomorrow morning was an important time for Shen Yuan!

He had spent the last week pouring over his proposal for the Emperor. He barely had time to bond with his son!

Shen Yuan had decided that today, instead of hunching over his desk like he had been, he would take Mobei out for a little excursion. Shen Yuan had barely gotten time to explore his region beyond the palace walls. There were so many monsters so close!

He would only show Mobei the safe ones, of course, but it was still going to be fun.

They were going to go to the nearest town nestled at the base of the castle grounds aptly named the Northern City. Originally this town had been the housing of castle soldiers and staffing, it grew exponentially in size after the new emperors reign.

Since individual armies no longer existed and every militia was now governed by the Emperor, most soldiers that weren’t doubling as castle guards were put out of work.

Fortunately the previous Linguang-jun had the foresight to keep the town surrounding his castle from becoming desolate. Instead of allowing the town to sink into poverty, he had brought in artisans and skilled workers from all over the Norther Desert.

Linguang-jun offered anyone willing to take an apprentice ship with one of these artisans a significant tax break. Thus over the years, the town became a bustling hot spot of craftsmen and merchants selling high quality goods.

A perfect place to take his son for some light spending!

Although the two don’t announce their arrival into town, it’s not too difficult to spot them. Despite Shen Yuans protests, Liu Ge Qiu insisted on a carriage to escort them into town along with a dozen armed guards.

Shen Yuan was happy that Liu Ge Qiu was growing more confident in giving his advice to Shen Yuan, but that little demon could be so stubborn!

So begrudgingly, Shen Yuan and little Mobei travel into town via carriage which alerts the whole shopping district of their presence.

The town is beautiful. Its color palette was mostly that of the castle’s: dark blues and silvers mixed with a hefty amount of white snow that fell daily on the town.

The people, however, were vibrant. Demons from all over the realm flock to the Northern City to trade their wares. Different races and cultures all with different appearances and styles of clothing mixed together in one chaotic rainbow.

All had different skin tones mostly in various shades of reds but others in bright greens or yellows, very different from the hues of blue than the northerners flaunted.

Some demons had horns and some were more animalistic. All were welcome in the market. So different from the PIDW Shen Yuan read about.

And it was the perfect place to let his son interact with his kingdom!

Shen Yuan carried the boy on his shoulders so he could observe the ongoing of a demon market. The crowd bowed their heads in trembling and most ran in fear from the entourage. However, it was difficult for them to stay afraid for long as Shen Yuan let Mobei wander freely around the vendors.

Given that every demon cleared them a large amount of room, Shen Yuan wasn’t worried about Mobei getting lost in a crowd. Instead Shen Yuan ignored their staring and goaded Mobei into interacting with the merchants.

Mobei had yet to speak anything yet, not to the staff or to Shen Yuan.

Shen Yuan wasn’t too worried as the Mobei-jun in PIDW wasn’t much of a conversationalist. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t eager to hear when Mobei decided to start speaking.

The child pointed at what he wanted to see from the stalls, big eyes wide with curiosity.

“You want to see that fan?” Shen Yuan asked, wiping his son’s face from a pastry he had earlier.

The merchant coos at Mobei, letting him see the fan he was pointing at. “That one’s very special, look.” The demon lady running the stall walks out from her booth to crouch by Mobei.

She points to the landscape painting on the fan. “That’s your home see? There’s the castle, and there’s our town.” Mobei nods and the lady smiles. “You can have this one if you like.” Mobei nods more vigorously this time.

Shen Yuan laughs and holds out an amount of coins worth far more than the fan is sold for and after some cajoling the woman gratefully accepts the payment.

For all Mobei’s searching, he hadn’t found anything he wanted to take home yet. Of course Shen Yuan will give it to him!

Mobei carries around the fan as carefully as a small child is capable of.

“That’s such a great find, Mobei had such good taste,” Shen Yuan says at the end of the day when they’re back in their carriage.

The gleefully pats Mobei’s head in praise. The child looks as satisfied as he ever has, staring down at his acquisition.

They make their way back to the castle. The sun sets lazily in the distance at it always does in the Northern Desert. Dusk and dawn are the only times that the kingdom looks anything but a hazy blue.

They haven’t had snow all day and so the sky is crisp and free of clouds, sinking the horizon into a red glow outside the carriage window.

When they get back inside the castle walls, Mobei seems a little more somber. Shen Yuan supposes it’s because he rarely ever gets to have days like this. Now the day is over, gone already. It’s a lot for a child.

After a little thought, Shen Yuan halts the carriage. He instructs the entourage to carry on and leads Mobei into the castle gardens.

‘Garden’ is perhaps an inappropriate term for the area around the palace actually. ‘Ice rock garden’ is more apt. The snow that lands around the palace rarely has an opportunity to melt so the gardens consist of pristine white blankets of snow contrasted by the jutting black spires of ice.

Intimidating for someone who can’t handle cold, but now that he’s Linguang-jun the ice demon he can appreciate it for what it is.

“Did you have fun today?” Shen Yuan asks. Although Mobei won’t speak in response, the child still appreciates being spoken to like he will.

His son nods, still a little grouchy.

“Hm…” Shen Yuan thinks.

“How about this?”

He picks up a handful of snow and forms it into a ball, then without hesitation bends over the roll the ball on the ground.

Mobei stares in alarm at his adoptive father, regally tall in state with finely made robes of blue and silver throwing himself readily into the snow.

Shen Yuan rolls the ball around until it starts to get larger, eventually reaching the height of his knees. “Now you make one!” He instructs.

Mobei can’t help but be moved, his father so typically aloof is willing to ruin his robes to play in the snow with him? The child readily copies Shen Yuan actions as his father makes another large snow ball.

Soon they have a few snowy spheres which Shen Yuan plop on top of each other and tells Mobei to grab the best pieces of ice he can find.

Shen Yuan picks Mobei up to place the ice on the top of the figures in the shape of a face. He secures Mobei on his hip so they can both admire their masterpieces.

“Looks it’s us.” Shen Yuan smiles down at Mobei. Sure enough, two lopsided figures of snow stand in the garden like little golems prepared to protect the palace. Mobei is very impressed. He gives father a swift head nod of approval.

As they head inside for the night, a few demons who normally tend the gardens slink out, unsure of what to think of the new additions.

Shen Yuan decides to tuck Mobei into bed for the night, something he rarely gets to do now that he’s taken on the work load of the previous Linguang-jun.

As Mobei snuggles into bed under his fur covers, Shen Yuan kisses his son good night. Before he can leave, Mobei tugs at his robes. “Yes?” Shen Yuan asks. Mobei probably wants another story.

The boy tentatively takes his fan out of his robes and holds it out to his father. “I love that fan, it suits Mobei very well.” Shen Yuan assures.

Mobei shakes his head. “For Baba.” He says quietly.

Shen Yuan resists the urge to tear up but fails slightly. His son’s first words! He’s so proud! Gingerly he takes the fan and presses it to his heart.

“For me?” He asks shakily. Mobei nods.

“Thank you very much. I love you.”

“I love you too.” Mobei says, voice soft with sleep.

Shen Yuan beams and leaves the room after a few minutes as quietly as he can, not wanting to wake his sleeping son.

This world was so different than his own, he was now so different than he was. He was Linguang-jun, demon king and ruler of the northern region. He was a father. This world was his own now, not role he was playing for a book.

His son was going to be happy and his kingdom would be prosperous. Shen Yuan wasn’t going to let the demon realm fall into chaos like in PIDW. He would make sure of it.

His meeting with the emperor tomorrow was going to be very important.

Chapter Text

Tianlang-jun hadn’t been in power long. Well - long was a bit of a relative thing when you’re immortal. He had only been in reign for a few decades.

The demon realm was in turmoil before he rose to power.

Centuries ago creatures of the realm lived in tentative harmony. All all creatures had different cultures and ideologies but many were bonded by the unifying skill of cultivation. Some, however, were unable to harness this power at all.

One of these creatures was the humans. But humans are intelligent, persistent. They developed a new kind of cultivation that suited their race alone.

Their method was efficient and powerful. Humans quickly became one of the most influential races throughout the realm.

Now that the humans had finally learned how to cultivate for themselves, they had decided their methods were more ‘pure’. They deemed the traditional way of cultivation ‘demonic cultivation’ and outlawed it, calling anyone who used it a ‘demon’.

Eventually the humans got it into their heads that all these demons needed to be banished from their lands despite lifetimes of living side by side.

The demons were forced out from their ancestral homes, by violence if necessary. They were made to live in what’s now known as the ‘demon realm’. The human cultivators constructed a large barrier, effectively shutting out the demons for good.

Immediately, the demon realm was in disarray, war broke out among the different races as they all fought for new land to call their own. Previously established kingdoms could no longer be relied on for their government and so most of the demon realm was ruled by rising crime lords.

Eventually a class of demons rose to power, the strongest race of demons called the ‘Heavenly Demon’s in irony as they were known to be as powerful as ascended human cultivators. These demons ruled through force, demanding power through violence.

Eventually the human cultivators caught wind of this rising demon race who could contest the world of cultivators. They infiltrated the demon realm and sought to cut down the threat at its source. Throught the combined forces of the cultivation world, they managed to hunt down and to kill all but two, Tianlang-jun and his nephew.

This was the state of the world when Tianlang-jun was born, the last of the Heavenly demons. He was taught violence from birth but he had read the stories of the ancient world. He craved the order that the demons used to have before they were separated.

Now the demons of the demon realm would only enter to kill the humans that banished them, further solidifying the humans hatred of demons.

Tianlang-jun could never quite manage such hatred. He would sneak into the human realm with his nephew to steal their literature, unable to resist the allure of knowledge on politics and government. And erotica… look he was allowed to have his interests.

Tianlang-jun ruled the demon realm with fresh motivation, unwilling to follow in his ancestors footsteps. He had slaughtered all major crime lords and established a precarious government.

He had made great progress!

Tianlang-jun hums happily in his carriage, sitting across from his nephew Zhuzhi-Lang.

Order in the demon realm hadn’t come easily, but in a few arduous decades Tianlang-jun had finally been seeing the fruits of his efforts!

Murder was at an all time low, the region was united under one government, and they had finally established a legal system to provide justice throughout the realm. Now demons can stop killing each other over mistreatment…

Currently they are headed to the northern region. Linguang-jun had taken his assignment of judicator with relative grace. After Tianlang-jun had beaten him half to death he had submitted to his superior and accepted his role as king ruling under the emperor.

Zhuzhi-Lang seemed on edge, the snake demon was cold blooded and disliked their yearly visit to the Northern Desert.

Tianlang-jun was eager to visit one of his regional kings. After Linguang-jun failed an attempt to assassinate him last year and usurp his throne, Tianlang-jun hadn’t heard much from the demon. The assassination attempt itself was expected and fairly par for the course, he didn’t take it personally.

Linguang-jun had killed his own brother to be king after all.

From his most recent intel, he knew Linguang-jun had taken in his nephew to live with him. The child probably won’t live to see the year through. He is the rightful heir and will certainly be killed by Linguang-jun before he's old enough to realize he should be on the throne.

Tianlang-jun clicks his tongue in distaste. He would never think of killing his nephew!

Zhuzhi-Lang raises an eyebrow in questioning at his uncle's vibrant internal monologging.

“I would never kill you!” Tianlang-jun explains. Zhuzhi-Lang wishes he never asked.

Before long the two arrive at the northern kingdom, biting cold wind welcoming them as the carriage door opens inside the palace walls.

Immediately the duo is welcomed by a plethora of servants and ushered inside the palace walls.

Tianlang-jun can tell that the demons are on edge as they always are when he visits. The ones that don’t fear him, try to kill him for his position of power. The only demon that ever treats him normally is his nephew.

All of this is fairly standard for Tianlang-jun and he gives the flurry of demon servants his best smile as they guide him and his nephew to the conference hall to see Linguang-jun.

The man looks as cold as ever, literally and figuratively.

The man is quite handsome, almost as tall as Tianlang-jun. His somewhat older appearance gives away his age as a more ancient immortal but it doesn’t take away from his elegant appeal.

At least if Linguang-jun tries to kill him again or bore him to death, Tianlang-jun can appreciate the view.

Linguang-jun welcomes the duo to take a seat. So no battle to the death then, just some old fashioned disguised threats and some begrudging recount of his attempts to follow Tianlang-jun’s demands.

“Your majesty, your humble servant has a proposition-“ Linguang-jun starts before a sudden pause. The man looks below the table where Tianlang-jun can’t see. Dropped a weapon maybe?

“Yes of course.” Linguang-jun says before picking up a small child behind the table and plopping him into the seat next to him.

“Mobei wishes to join us.” Linguang-jun explains.

“Your nephew?” Tianlang-jun asks, confused. Was he trying to involve the child in a fight between them? A probable death to secure his position on the throne?

“Son, actually. I’ve decided to unofficially adopt him. He wanted to watch our proceedings today.” Linguang-jun gives the boy a pat on the head and a little smile. That’s almost… cute?

“Your majesty, this humble servant has a proposal.” Linguang-jun begins again.

Tianlang-jun nods him along, somewhat distracted by their new addition who seems to want to watch Linguang-jun as he talks rather than focus on the meeting.

From there Linguang-jun proposes a new form of legal system to be implemented throughout the demon realm. He states that one higher level of court was inefficient and resulted in many demons cases going unheard and untried.

Linguang-jun recommend a court at every region and province. Individual cases would be tried at the lowest level and ascend as necessary based on rulings. Each demon would be assigned a lawyer if they were unwilling or unable to pay for one. And most importantly, Linguang-jun would see cases that brought into question the implementation of demon law.

Speaking of demon law- A large bundle of scrolls slams on the table between them, startling Tianlang-jun and Zhuzhi-lang.

“Your humble servant observed that there was no written demon law and has decided to write up his own. With his Majesty's approval of course.”

Linguang-jun looks at Tianlang-jun expectantly, as if waiting for approval. Mobei also gives Linguang-jun this same look although Tianlang-jun isn't sure what for.

“You… wrote down demon law?” Tianlang-jun asks, “Why write it down?”

“Details in the law are important.” Linguang-jun says with a little hand gesture for emphasis, a stark contrast to his typical aloof air, “You can’t just say, don’t assault someone.”

“Why not?”

Linguang-jun sighs and seems to shift himself into an almost scholarly stature. “To start, what constitutes assault?”

“Hurting another demon, obviously.” Tianlang-jun might take offence to being almost talked down to as such if he wasn’t enjoying Linguang-jun’s new passion for his assigned role in the demon emperor's government.

That, and Linguang-jun was currently patting the top of Mobei’s head. So he really was interested in being a father, hm? An interesting tactic. Perhaps he thinks that he can convince Mobei to allow him the throne. Although, he seems so sincere.

“Hurting another demon is common in demon culture, no?” Linguang-jun continues, oblivious to Tianlang-jun’s analysis. “What about a courting spar? Or a friendly brawl?”

“Well.. thats- in a courting spar, they're not trying to really hurt each other. In a brawl between friends its the same.”

“Exactly.” Linguang-jun says. “Intention. That's the defining factor in a normal demon fight and outright assault. But how do you gauge what's in the mind of a demon, what if a courting spar goes wrong and someone gets hurt?

That's what these written laws are for. They're going to help demons define the boundaries between legal minutia in cases.”

“Hm…” Tianlang-jun hums in thought. “Alright.”

“A-alright?” Linguang-jun seems startled by Tianlang-jun’s acceptance. However, the demon emperor had known his system of government was undeveloped for some time. Perhaps he could use an ally that also cares for the demon realm.

“Alright.” Tianlang-jun repeats, “We’ll try it. I’ll have these copied and distributed within the month. After I review the contents of course.”

“I. Alright. Yeah.” Linguang-jun seems excited, clearly pleased that his proposal had gone over so well.” He looks down to Mobei and makes a small celebratory gesture which Mobei imitates.

Tianlang-jun looks at the pair. Its so… domestic? Linguang-jun’s cooperation with the child could be a farce but it seems so- sincere. He feels his heart tug a little at the sight. Tianlang-jun meets eyes with Zhuzhi-lang who seems content to watch Linguang-jun in his small celebration.

“Naturally, since this is quite a large adjustment, my nephew and I will be back weekly after its implimentation to assess the changes over time.”

“Huh!?”

As Tianlang-jun and Zhuzhi-lang arrive back to their carriage, ready to travel to the other regions, Tianlang-jun can't help but feel a little excited about this change. A new demon of high ranking who sees his vision for an organized demon realm. It was rather exciting.

“What do you think, nephew?”

Zhuzhi-lang stares at the ground, giving the question significant thought. “This could be a promising turn.” He says carefully.

“If this all goes well, we could have a great ally. And he’s a sexy single dad!”

Tianlang-jun has to slap his nephew on his back as he chokes for air.

Chapter Text

He’s so hot… Shen Yuan disparages when he receives a letter announcing the emperor's return in a few days. For the life of him he couldn’t puzzle out why the emperor was interested in visiting him weekly after the new cases started. Wasn’t it over-kill? The emperor was distracting enough when he visited one time.

Because of the chaos it caused in the case! Not because Shen Yuan was flustered or anything! He was a very straight man! It's just a little difficult to look at someone like that and not be distracted!

Shen Yuan’s new system of law had just been put into action and already he had his first case.

Luckily Tianlang-jun had listened when Shen Yuan said he could only take on certain types of cases.

Rather than be bogged down by every violation of demon law, Shen Yuan would now only address questions of demon law implementation. Basically, he wouldn’t have to look at a case about a theft unless there was a question about whether an action constituted theft to begin with, or perhaps the implementation of a new law on theft entirely.

This could be a great time for Mobei to see how the new demon court would be run! It would be the boy’s job when he's older after all.

Shen Yuan sifts through the closet in Mobei's room while the boy waits on the floor, playing with a new little horse he was gifted.

The child had quite a few clothes newly commissioned by Shen Yuan. He couldn’t stand what Linguang-jun had dressed him in before. He looked like a smaller version of Mobei-jun, the Northern Desert king! Stylish for an adult but not age appropriate. Mobei would constantly trip over his cloak while he played or get overheated in his many layers.

They were too drab anyway. All dark navy’s with only a hint of silver.

So Shen Yuan had the palace tailor make him some new clothing fit for a child. He stuck with the theme of dark blue, white, and silver but focused more heavily on the lighter colors. Now Mobei reliably dressed in a simple set of robes and pants that wouldn’t be out of place at a cultivation sect.

Mobei didn’t seem to care about the change in style either way, but now he could run around the castle easier and he looked like a noble child rather than a shrink-rayed adult.

Shen Yuan picked a darker robe from Mobei’s closet and decided that the boy could wear his cloak Linguang-jun had him in before. That should be good.

Mobei had to look like a little king for his first sit-in on a case!

He picks Mobei up after he’s done changing and plops him onto the bed. Shen Yuan kneels down beside him.

“Are you ready for your first day at court?”

Mobei nods.

“Alright because this day at court is very important, remember why?”

Mobei mumbles something, it’s a mix of a few different words but nothing intelligible. Slowly over the last month his son has been saying more and more phrases.

Shen Yuan is so proud!

He nodded like he understood Mobei. Shen Yuan figures it’s better to encourage him even if the boy can’t figure out how to get the words out sometimes.

“This is your first ever court appearance.” Shen Yuan holds the boy's hands. “Your people are going to see you for the first time!”

Mobei grimaces slightly.

“They are going to love you.” Shen Yuan assures him, looking Mobei in the eyes. “You are such an amazing boy and my favorite son.”

This time Mobei gives him a slight smile.

“All you have to do is sit and look like the king you’re going to be and you’ll do just fine. Make sure to try and focus on the trial.”

“I will, Baba.”

“Alright.” Shen Yuan stands and helps Mobei off the bed, but not before giving him a forehead kiss.

“Todays a big day!”

For the last week Shen Yuan had found himself at a hurdle. There were currently no properly trained lawyers in the demon realm. There were lawyers, admittedly, but as there had been no previously established demon law, they were mostly running off personal judgment. These ‘lawyers’ were not trained professionals and instead were more… advisors.

Pushing up legal cases to Linguang-jun was new in itself, only being established a few years prior, so even the most well intentioned of demon ‘lawyers’ was at best untrained and at worst corrupt.

From what Shen Yuan had gathered, these lawyers were appointed by popular vote at a town level and essentially served to give their best judgment on a case before either settling the matter at the lowest level or pushing it to Linguang-jun.

Shen Yuan didn’t want to leave someone unemployed by new policy so he decided that these appointments should be respected, but the lawyers would be properly trained on demon law.

Although the introduction of written law would make corruption within the legal system more difficult, these demon lawyers were still able to give favoritism at will. Therefore, Shen Yuan ensured the establishment of a jury and judge within the new court system.

As for himself, Shen Yuan decided to hold a popular vote of his own within the nearby town. Two people that were elected to have the best judgment that would now sit by his side at court. Eventually, these people would be trained by practice and could be put in charge of training others within the demon realm.

But Shen Yuan was getting ahead of himself.

Today, he would meet the two demons appointed to be his fellow judges and conduct his first trial! So exciting!

Mobei didn’t look particularly excited either way. He did seem to enjoy wearing his fancy cloak around again, running so that wind caught the underside and let the cloak billow behind him.

Shen Yuan smiled at his son. It had taken quite a while for Mobei to start playing like other children. He seemed so reserved and even now he rarely shows emotion. Although, Shen Yuan suspects that may just be how he is.

Maybe Shen Yuan should find another child to play with him…

Shen Yuan and Mobei make their way to the throne room early to greet his new team. For the sake of ease, Shen Yuan will be hosting trials in his castle court room. It seems appropriate and will hopefully encourage the attendees to behave themselves.

Speaking of those attending, Shen Yuan had decided to open the trial up to visitors so that the demons in the Northern Desert could see how the new court system would take place. Way more demons than he expected had already filled into the court room at the back, those who were able to sit by their anatomy had been provided chairs and the rest either stood or lied down at their leisure.

All of a sudden Shen Yuan gets hit with nerves. He looks anxiously around the room.

Maybe he shouldn’t have made it an open court. What if he makes a fool of himself? He never became a lawyer in his past life, he’s in over his head!

Mobei sits at his hip, idly watching the crowd.

Shen Yuan sighs. Even if he was a nervous wreck, he had to keep it together for Mobei. The boy would be watching him as an example for how to conduct himself on the throne.

Before Shen Yuan could work his insides into an even bigger knot, he forced himself to sit at the front of the throne room.

“Junshang,” Shen Yuan hears a flirtatious voice from his right, “I’m so pleased to meet you.”

One of his new judge trainee’s is a fox spirit. She’s pretty, in an objective way. Shen Yuan is obviously too much of a professional to ogle one of his new co-workers but the rest of the court seems to disagree.

Her hair is a stark black, well maintained. Actually all of her is well maintained. She seems to be someone who values her appearance. Or recognizes that her appearance has value.

Shen Yuan nods his head in acknowledgement of her and for a moment she seems irritated that he isn’t leaning into her space like she is to his.

“This Xiao Wei told the men at my work to vote for me.” She says, as if the words are a joke, “I didn’t think they would actually do it.”

“And what do you do for work that would make you qualified to be a judge?” Shen Yuan asks, interested. He had hoped that the people would vote for someone of merit.

Xiao Wei chuckles and looks at Shen Yuan through full lashes. “I give men like you a night of fun, of course. I’m a philanthropist really.”

She leans her arm against the edge of Shen Yuan’s throne. “Interested?”

The grimace Shen Yuan gives her seems to make her rethink her offer because the next moment she’s sitting properly in her chair looking thoroughly chargrined.

Shen Yuan deflates a little inside. He hopes he hasn’t given off the impression that someone would need to offer- ahem- that to be accepted into his court.

Off by the wall on a comfy chair Shen Yuan had moved into the throne room, little Mobei sits in silence out of the way. Shen Yuan can tell that he’s bored.

It won’t be boring when the trial starts!

To Shen Yuan’s left, a frog headed demon sits dourly by his side.

“Hello.” Shen Yuan greets the man, startling him from his stupor. Was he asleep? “Whats your name?”

The frog exhales stiffly in response. Shen Yuan can’t quite tell if that’s a positive or a negative reaction but at least he can make out a “Minghe Wa.” Mumbled under the frog man’s breath.

Or was it croaked?

Regardless of the frog mans sour face, he was voted into this role by popular vote. He must have some kind of talent.

Shen Yuan can’t quite get a read on Minghe Wa and Xiao Wei seems content slouching in her chair and making sly grins to the crowd.

He sighs once more. For Mobei. For his son. For a better world. Shen Yuan chants these like a mantra.

The trial was about to begin.

Chapter Text

Shen Yuan wondered if his Meimei ever submitted his name for one of those honorary degrees.

Please Harvard Law School! Say that he got his law degree after all, it was his dying wish…

Maybe then he could be considered at least a fraction qualified for the job he’s about to undertake.

The accused is named MoMo, a sheep headed demon with hooves for hands and two large horns curling atop his head.

The plaintiffs were three demons of smaller stature. Shen Yuan could tell that they came from some level of wealth. From Shen Yuan's memory, he knew they were brothers. Two artisans and one merchant. The merchant was the one front and center based on his somewhat ostentatious garb typical of the vendors around the Northern Desert.

As Shen Yuan had ordered, he demons were provided with lawyers. Although, there had not been appropriate time to train the demon lawyers of the future. Shen Yuan was working on that.

For now, the lawyers provided little more than evidence and context for the case.

From what Shen Yuan could tell, the case was a matter of simple theft. Why this theft was submitted to Shen Yuan, that’s what interested him.

The defendant, MoMo, had been caught mid theft in a market square. He was chased into an alleyway and beaten severely. The plaintiff, his assailants, had taken him to trial to use the new court system to obtain further vindication for their stolen goods.

The lower provincial levels of court had not come to a mistrial. They all came to the came consensus - MoMo was guilty. However, the defense had insisted the case be brought higher.

Shen Yuan had previously tossed theft cases as most were of no interest to him, but this one caught his eye. Perhaps a clarification in his law already needed to be made.

“J-Junshang,” the defense explained, “young MoMo here was caught stealing, yes.”

The sheep demon grimaces. He must have heard this many times as they made their way through higher and higher court.

“The evidence is irrefutable, and there are many witnesses.” The young lawyer cowers under the scrutiny of his audience. Not only Shen Yuan and his judges but half the town in the court room.

“Interesting tactic.” Xiao Wei at his right smirks.

Minghe Wa simply looks ahead in contemplation.

Shen Yuan hadn’t had time to review the case with them before hand. He hopes they are able to adjust easily.

“If he’s so guilty why brother us with this. String him up already.” Xiao Wei goads the trembling lawyer on. She lounges rather unprofessionally in her chair.

”Do you wish to appeal to our goodwill?” Minghe Wa asks, not judgmentally but as a genuine question.

“Ah- no, your… grace?” The lawyer replies. “Not that I don’t think you have goodwill! Haha…”

More silence from the court.

“It’s just that, while MoMo is guilty of stealing perhaps..” the man trembles, knowing the outrage that’s to come, “he didn’t deserve to be beaten?”

The court room crowd infront of Shen Yuan squawks in outrage.

“He stole! It’s only fair!”
“Crimes must be met with violence, it’s only natural!”
“Was he supposed to just let the goat steal from him?”

The plaintiff looks smug. They have been through this matter at every level of court. It’s the same reaction every time.

“Hm.” Shen Yuan hums in thought. Although the sound is low, the court falls silent.

Shen Yuan looks toward the three demons who bow their heads at the cool gaze of Linguang-jun.

“What was your reason for beating him?”

The merchant raises his head, confident despite being at the forefront of Linguang-jun’s attention.

“Junshang, this humble one’s wares were stolen by that rodent. He ran and my brothers and I chased him. He was beaten to ensure he never stole from us again.”

“Did he attempt to harm you?”

“Yes, Junshang. He tried to hit us with his hooves and ram us with his horns!”

“But you were able to subdue him with your brothers.”

“Yes, Junshang.” The man smiles proudly.

The crowed seems pleased with these answers as well.

Minghe Wa seems satisfied with this answer. Xiao Wei, however, glances sidelong at Shen Yuan.

“Your aiming at something aren’t you?” She mutters so that only Shen Yuan and Minghe Wa can hear, “you know reading a man is one of my many skills.”

Minghe Wa rolls his eyes and Shen Yuan continues.

“When did you subdue him?”

“Pardon, Junshang?”

“At what point in this altercation did you subdue MoMo.”

“Immediately, Junshang!” The merchant replies quickly, his reputation on the line, “the rodent got barely a hit in before he was… ah… subdued.”

Xiao Wei seems to pick up on something in Shen Yuans face. She snickers quietly.

“So you chased him down, he attempted to defend himself from three demons, before being rendered unable to fight. And you continued to beat him after this.”

“Yes, Junshang.” The demon replies, becoming worried at the tone of Linguang-jun. He’s obviously in the right so why is his majesty questioning him so…

“Are you aware of the new law of self defense and how it differs from assault.”

“Y-yes, Junshang.” The merchant grows more nervous as he tires to piece together Linguang-Jin’s motives. Perhaps, he wanted to charge MoMo with assault as well? “MoMo attacked us first so we defended ourselves.”

“MoMo attacked you after being chased by three agitated demons.”

“Aha- well… perhaps MoMo and this merchant could both be considers to have only defended ourselves.”

Shen Yuan is about to speak when he looks over to Xiao Wei and sees her grinning to herself.

“Xiao Wei, have you noticed the same predicament as myself?”

“Mm, yes, Junshang.” She says in a slow mockery of the merchant, “after Xiao Mo was pinned down so harshly, you” she points a delicate finger at the merchant, “kept swinging.”

“Aptly observed, Xiao Wei.” Shen Yuan praises. Xiao Wei looks surprised for some reason.

He might actually have some competent assistance after all! Look little Mobei! Shen Yuan glances into the corner where his son is sitting only to find him fast asleep.

Ah… he can be debriefed later.

“W-Why yes!” The merchant says,” he swung first so we beat him, it’s only self defense! On both parts!” He adds in attempt to appease Linguang-jun.

”MoMo acted in self defense. You three committed assault.”

The merchant looks startled, face becoming white as a sheet. “But he swung first, Junshang!”

“Yes, however, there were three of you. The totality of the circumstances must be considered.”

“MoMo may have committed assault if he had been equally matched. But there were three of you. And he was bested so easily.” Minghe Wa says in more of contemplation to himself than a statement to the court. ”and you went beyond self defense to beat the demon half to death. That certainly changes things.”

The merchants fear turns to outrage. “Wha-Well I-“ he stutters as his face grows red, looking to his assigned lawyer who shrugs helplessly.

Shen Yuan looks to his left and right. His judges seem to be on the same page.

“MoMo, you will indeed be charged with theft. You three will be charged with assault.”

The demons wail and the court room crowd seems too startled to process the ruling.

Shen Yuan looks to his left and right. Maybe he can work with this.

Chapter Text

Tianlang-jun and his nephew arrived earlier than usual for one of his many visits.

Over the last month, much to Shen Yuan’s distaste, the demon had decided to make his visitations both random and frequent.

Currently the emperor was sitting on his desk. Not ‘at’, on Shen Yuan’s desk as he tried to read through potential cases.

“You know, being a single dad is a lot harder than it’s made out to be, I’m so glad Zhuzhi and Mobei get to play with another kid their age. Take’s a village, ya’ know?”

Shen Yuan gives him an unimpressed look.

For the last six months Tianlang-jun would regularly stop by to give Zhuzhi-lang and Mobei a play date which was basically just babysitting. Shen Yuan was pretty sure Zhuzhi-lang was at least teen aged.

For a reason Shen Yuan couldn’t fathom, however, Tianlang-jun was content to hang by Shen Yuan instead of using the free time to do whatever emperors do.

Also, what is this ‘single dad’ nonsense!

Currently, the two boys stay with them in Shen Yuan’s office. One corner of the room had been dedicated to Mobei’s crafts. It’s training him to work hard!

Zhuzhi-lang looked mildly entertained, slouching with a hang supporting his head as he watched little Mobei ham-fist a paintbrush onto an unsuspecting scroll.

They were working on calligraphy right now.

“Hm.” Shen Yuan hummed in thought, “I guess it does make life a little easier.”

“That’s the spirit!” Tianlang-jun flicked the scroll Shen Yuan was working on.

Shen Yuan swatted his hand away before returning his eyes to the case at hand.

“This one’s promising.” He mumbled mostly to himself.

Tianlang-jun groaned in apparent boredom. “Let’s go to the library.”

Shen Yuan narrowed a glare at the demon emperor. But, ah, he was weak.

Tianlang-jun jumped off Shen Yuan’s desk in excitement when he heard the demon sigh in resignation.

“You’re doing great Zhuzhi-lang.” Shen Yuan ruffled the teens hair as he passed the duo still engaged in ‘calligraphy’. The snake demon flustered.

The library was a surprisingly small room, the original Linguang-jun wasn’t much of a reader. There was a decent amount of political literature but nothing riveting.

Shen Yuan had made an effort to cozy-up the place for his own use. The room itself was the standard dark greys of the castle, but Shen Yuan had decorated it with plush carpets of warm colors and miscellaneous knickknacks that were sold around town.

Through Shen Yuan’s efforts, the room was now piled high with books from all across the demon realm.

The two demon lords sat opposed to each other in the library, a low table in between them.

On the table sits a mound of books in… questionable taste.

“So,” Tianlang-jun starts, “what are your thoughts?”

Shen Yuan huffs, “My thoughts? I cannot believe you had me read this garbage!”

“It’s great right!”

Away from the eyes of Mobei who he tried to stay calm in front of, Shen Yuan was willing to let out his anger on the poor demon emperor.

After their first month of visitations, Tianlang-jun had found himself bored of legal nonsense but unwilling to stop his meetings with such a compelling creature as Linguang-jun.

Therefore he had found himself aimlessly exploring the castle and stumbling across an interesting collection of books that Shen Yuan had begun collecting. Such amazing taste! How had Tianlang-jun never found these before!

“These books are awful,” Shen Yuan insisted when Tianlang-jun had first confronted him about these hidden treasures, “I just read them out of hatred!”

Now they found themselves in the library regularly to discuss whichever book Tianlang-jun had found himself moving on to.

“I thought Xiao-Luo was going to poison her rival concubine, but she ended up taking her own life when Lord Chen decided to demote her. How tragic!” Tianlang-jun mock pouted with glee.

“Bah, such trash. We were told over and over how strong-willed Xiao-Luo was but any time the narrative called for it, she was spineless.”

Shen Yuan pretends to spit on the book cover which Tianlang-jun graciously pretends to wipe off before holding the book close.

“I think it’s romantic, she couldn’t live without him. Wouldn’t you want to experience that, Xiao-Guang.”

Shen Yuan scoffs at the nickname but doesn’t back down.

“I think she should have used her supposed strong will to win him back!”

Tianlang-jun ponders this. “I suppose you're right. Someone who’s willing to fight for your love is better than someone who’s willing to die if they aren’t given it.”

Shen Yuan pauses at such a serious tone from the flippant emperor.

“Xiao-Guang, do you ever think about remarrying?”

The question catches him off guard. “Remarried? Where’s this coming from.”

“You have little Mobei, but, ah, maybe you would also want someone else in your life.”

Shen Yuan thinks about it. He hadn’t been married before. Of course, the original goods had, but she had passed before Shen Yuan transmigrated.

He supposed he wouldn’t be opposed to marriage. Perhaps with uh.. a woman, obviously. But beyond that he couldn’t quite conjure an image of someone he would want in both his and Mobei's life.

“I’m not sure… I’m not really interested in anyone at the moment.”

Tianlang-jun looks defeated at this. “Ah, I see.”

“Have you thought about marrying?” Shen Yuan ventures to ask.

“Oh lots.”

Shen Yuan knew of Luo Binghe’s father but not much of his mother. Nothing at all really except the fact that she had to be human. Maybe they should start there. The protagonist needs to be born after all!

“Maybe you should try to talk to people in the human realm.”

“Why?”

“Uh, well, you know, fun. And you might like their culture. They’re a little less violent than demons. Some might even share your views on romance.”

Tianlang-jun considers this. “Perhaps I will. It’s been a while since I’ve been to the human realm, much less tried to talk with the locals.”

Shen Yuan nods his head in satisfaction. The emperor needs to roam!

They continue their book discussions, Tianlang-jun occasionally throwing out how beneficial it would be for Shen Yuan to remarry a demon for some reason.

Chapter Text

“Look at this case.” Xiao Wei shoves a scroll into Shen Yuan’s face. “Interesting, huh?”

“Hm.” Shen Yuan takes the paper, an interesting case indeed.

Although it had been eleven years since the implementation of his system of law, new issues were popping up all the time.

Wonderful! That means it's working properly.

After over a decade, demons were finally properly educated by the emerging universities around the demon realm.

At first it was tentative, no demon was interested in the benefits of higher education. Most hadn’t received a lower education at all. However, after the promise of higher paying jobs to anyone with a formal degree, many demons flocked to these schools.

While the institutions weren’t infallible, there were no standardized tests or grade school to show proof of test scores or GPA so universities accepted anyone regardless of talent, Shen Yuan honestly liked the system more than the human one.

Test scores and GPA were a good gauge for success in higher education, however, they only measured the ease at which a person could obtain a degree. They didn’t measure tenacity or heart. Many demons who would have otherwise had no chance to attend a formal university were able to find themselves with a degree with a good amount of effort regardless of inherent skill.

New universities meant new and well trained lawyers available to work in court houses all around the demon realm.

This led to more cases for Shen Yuan as demons discovered new flaws within the implementation of his law.

It made Shen Yuan almost giddy. So many passionate demons!

The rate of homicides and aggravated assaults had gone down tremendously as well. Although demon culture had to be taken into account, courting spars and formal duels were still legal.

At first, Shen Yuan had tried to ban them altogether much to the irritation of Xiao Wei and Minghe Wa. They were justified in their irritation, however, the practices were so ingrained into the lifestyle of demon kind that it only criminalized well meaning citizens.

Eventually, Shen Yuan had decided to allow sparing and duels within certain parameters like formal consent from both parties and schedulable areas for fighting.

When these spars were legalized once more, it meant that they could be properly regulated. Although fighting increased, deaths and major injuries associated with them reduced significantly.

Even after eleven years as the king of the Northern Desert, Shen Yuan had to remind himself to take demon culture into account.

Just like now.

“They used their peremptory challenge to exclude all of the feathered fire-demons.” Xiao Wei says in outrage, “so transparent!”

Shen Yuan looked down at the scroll once more.

Minghe Wa, Xiao Wei, and Shen Yuan sat in the ice palace’s office. At some point in the last few years he had moved in a larger round table for the three to properly review cases they may want to take on.

Minghe Wa stares solemnly at the pile in front of him, methodically reviewing every paper while Xiao Wei crowds Shen Yuan’s space.

“The circumstances are unusual, but not criminal. Peremptory challenges can be used for any reason with no explanation. Perhaps this should be a case for us.” The frog demon says with careful words, Xiao Wei beams at him.

Each trial allowed the prosecution and defence five ‘peremptory challenges’ per jury. Each Jury started with twenty demons and would be whittled down to ten after these challenges. Both lawyers could exclude anyone from the jury for any reason they liked without having to say why.

These could be for any reason. After the jury is first interviewed for the job, they lawyers may find that a jury memory is unfit for judging. Perhaps they are too close in relation to the accused. Maybe they have a personal vendetta against whatever crime was committed. Or maybe they just smelt bad.

The lawyers could use their peremptory challenge to eliminate that individual from the jury that they felt would give the other side an unfair advantage.

“Only the feathered fire-demons when the accused was a feathered fire-demon?” Xiao Wei wiggles her eyebrows at Shen Yuan. Minghe Wa huffs in agreement.

“Alright, we’ll review this case.” Shen Yuan acquieses and Xiao Wei gives a whoop and Minghe Wa shoots her a stern glare.

A foot away from their table, a portal opens up.

Xiao Wei startles and launches herself halfway across the room like a car, ears laid back on her head and fur standing on end. “Noo…” She groans.

From the portal, a lanky figure emerges.

“Mobei!” Shen Yuan says, eagerly rising to greet his son.

Just last year his little boy had discovered how to use his spacial ability, now he could teleport anywhere he wanted. And that's terrifying! His son could get into so much danger! He's just a child!

Well, okay, his child who was now fifteen and growing into his teenage years. But he's still Shen Yuan’s baby!

The last decade had treated his son well, he was almost as tall as Shen Yuan and growing fast.

He hadn’t even had a single pimple! Shen Yuan mourned his past life self who had dealt with raging hormones all while fighting an autoimmune disorder. R.I.P. he did his best.

Shen Yuan brought his son into a hug with little protest from the boy. Unlike most teenagers, he seemed to have no qualms about letting his dad dote on him in front of other people. In fact, it almost seemed like a point of pride. Active parental figures weren’t super common in demon culture he supposed…

“Are you all right? No injuries? Not poisoned?” Shen Yuan held the boy back so he could examine him.

Mobei gave a gruff “No.”

“Good, good! That means were ready for our little trip!”

Xiao Wei groans dramatically behind him, Shen Yuan doesn’t need to turn around to know shes playing dead.

“Go grab your stuff Bei-er.”

“Yes, Ba.” Mobei opens a portal to his own room. Ah his son, growing lazy with power.

Xiao Wei continues to mope on the floor, Minghe Wa pokes her to try and rouse the woman as if she were really dying.

“You both brought your things I assume.” Shen Yuan turns to the two with a menacing smile only a man in the body of Linguang-jun could achieve.

“Do we haaave to?”

“Yup!”

Shen Yuan had been planning this trip for weeks now. He had been brainstorming for ways to help him and his staff bond. A good relationship with your co-workers is very important!

Eventually, Shen Yuan came up with a brilliant plan. He remembered when his MeiMei had interned with a marketing company, they had been focused on making their company feel like a ‘family’. Whatever that meant.

She had been strong armed into drinking with her co-workers late into the night, doing week long seminars across the country, and-

Camping trips!

It was perfect! Shen Yuan mentally patted himself on the back. He would never take his precious baby drinking, and he wasn’t even sure the demon realm had seminars. But they definitely had lots and lots of open air and forests!

Mobei finds his way back into the office, a pack slung over one shoulder. He looked so regal Shen Yuan preened inside. Just like his dad! Well, uh, uncle. But it still counts!

Mobei’s long cloak he insisted on wearing at all times gave him a mysterious air when matched with his royal attire.

Of course, the effect was lost slightly when given Mobei’s lanky teenage frame. He’ll get there eventually! And eventually was a long way away!

One day the boy would most likely reject Shen Yuan’s affections when he realized that he was the rightful ruler of the Northern Desert. Not that he didn’t know already, he must have not considered acting on it yet…

Shen Yuan had to make up for it now as he squeezed Mobei’s cute and pale little cheeks.

The boy grimaced a little at the cheek abuse but he seemed to want to absorb all of the attention he could.

Xiao Wei finally made her way to standing. “I gave all of my stuff to your little servant to carry for me.” She says, exasperated. So unlike the flirtatious air she liked to flaunt around anyone who wasn’t in present company. Shen Yuan supposed it might mean that she didn’t like the group, but he hoped it just meant she was comfortable.

Minghe Wa grunts in agreement. So they both gave their things to Liu Ge Qiu.

As if on queue the small demon stumbles into the room, carrying two large packs on his back larger than the demon himself.

“R-ready, Junshang.” Liu Ge Qiu said, strained with effort.

“Wonderful! Let's get going!” Shen Yuan had given the little demon quite a few raises over his years of service. While most of the staff in the castle rotated out over the years, his personal assistant had remained loyally employed and Shen Yuan was determined to reward that.

Shen Yuan had been scouting locations for the past few days. He found a nice area relatively free of monsters in the southern region, and his little Mobei could transport them through a portal. Easy!

“You’ll be fine.” He says behind him as Mobei leads them through a portal. Minghe Wa carries Xiao Wei under his arm as she refuses to walk, hanging like a defeated sack of potatoes. Liu Ge Qiu follows dutifully behind them all.

The area Shen Yuan chose is one under the protection of the southern region’s leader Jiuchong-jun. Previously, Tianlang-jun had ruled the southern region directly, but after his ascension to demon emperor he had reassigned the role to one of the noble demon saints.

Jiuchong-jun had reluctantly accepted his role within the empire with more grace than Liuguang-jun. After being defeated in combat of course.

One of his major jobs beyond resource management for the demon realm was a focus on land preservation. A relatively easy job compared to the other regions. The southern region in turn had quite a few forests marked as ‘wildlife’ preserves. Which in demon terms meant that they didn’t want to deal with the irritating fauna. All the better for a camping trip!

Unlike the northern region, the southern region, also known as the South Wilds, was lush and populated with plants and wildlife.

The South Wilds was typically hazy with humidity and overgrown with dark green plants. A millennia ago, the area was used by cultivators for peaceful meditation. Now it housed one of Shen Yuan’s favorite part of the demon realm, monsters!

The group stood in the middle of a forest after leaving Mobei’s portal. There was a small meadow with a lake at its center, a perfect area to set up camp.

“Were here!” Shen Yuan said.

“Theres no way…” Xiao Wei grumbled as Minghe Wa let her plop onto the ground.

“You three set up camp, Mobei and I will block off the perimeter of the meadow with a few protective barriers.”

Mobei lit up at this, promptly throwing his bag down for Liu Ge Qiu to handle.

Shen Yuan and Mobei left the three to their own devices as they set off.

“Now,” Shen Yuan lectured Mobei, “how have your lessons on barriers been coming along?”

Mobei quickly produces a multitude of talismans out of his pockets. “I did what you asked.”

“Ah! Such a good son.” Shen Yuan patted his head and Mobei leaned into the affection. He has been having lessons with Mobei on how to protect himself in the wild. If he's going to be traveling around via portal all the time, he needs to be safe!

“Ba…” he starts before trailing off. Shen Yuan waited patiently for him to find the words. Communication continued to be difficult for the boy but he had come such a long way! Shen Yuan hoped that whoever he found in the future would be patient enough to let him speak for himself.

“I was wondering.. If I could start learning how to rule like you do?”

“Oh.” Shen Yuan hadn’t been expecting this. They continued to lay out and activate the talismans as they walked.

“Well, you are the heir to the Northern Desert,” Shen Yuan begins carefully, “It is your birthright and I never had any intention to take that from you.”

Mobei looks taken aback. “It-” He huffs in frustration, not able to get the words out as fast as he wants. “I don’t… I don’t want to take it from you.”

“Oh, well thats fine.” Shen Yuan rubs the teenager on the back. “I’m perfectly capable of ruling until you're ready.” Shen Yuan hadn’t quite expected this. Shouldn’t he want all the power of the Northern Desert for himself?

Mobei hums, “I want to help you. With, ruling and everything.”

Shen Yuan beams at the boy, “That could be aranged. Keep up with our lessons and maybe I can have you sit in as a judge soon.”

Mobei looks satisfied at this, although, admittedly a little nervous.

“I would love your help, and your ideas would be appreciated.” Shen Yuan places a hand on his sons shoulder, looking him in his eyes. Mobei was almost taller than him. It would be such a shame when he grows up.

He had raised the boy since he was four, just a little tyke all the way to a demon king! It made Shen Yuan want to cry! Actually, it kind of did make him cry.

Shen Yuan can’t help but let a small tear fall from his face.

Mobei looks over to him, concerned. Crying was very rare among demons, especially for a demon like his Ba.

“I’m sorry,” Shen Yuan said, a little shaken, “I’m just so proud of you.”

Mobei’s face looks complicated for a second before he crushed Shen Yuan in a hug.

A hug! Mobei never hugged Shen Yuan back! He was so serious and cold!

Obviously, Shen Yuan returned the hug. He only had a few more years until his little boy was all grown up…

They finally made their way back to the others at camp.

Liu Ge Qiu had dutifully set up a small fire for the less icily inclined demons and there were five small but tidy tents arranged in a row.

“Thank you, Liu Ge Qiu.” Shen Yuan praised the little demon.

“Of course, Junshang.”

Xiao Wei found herself sitting primly on a blanket she had lain in the grass.

Minghe Wa.. where was he?

“Minghe Wa?” Shen Yuan called only to hear a loud burbling coming from the lake. The frog demon had settled himself in the nearby mud. Despite the fact that he was completely submerged in the sludge, he seemed very much at peace. Xiao Wei giggled at the demon.

“Alright, everyone, gather around.” Shen Yuan was the best boss.

Shen Yuan moves so that Minghe Wa can stay in his mud pit, he was a frog demon after all. Maybe he needed it.

“First activity-”

“Were doing activities?” Xiao Wei groaned.

“Yup!” Another groan. “First we're going to be doing a little question game. Everyone says two true facts about themselves and one false fact. Then we have to guess what the lie is.”

Xiao Wei raises an eyebrow seemingly placated by the fact that the activity was just talking.

“I’ll go first.” Shen Yuan offers, “I have one son, I have an encyclopedia of every monster in the demon realm that I made myself, and I dislike jasmine tea.”

“Mobei is technically your nephew so…” Mobei shoots Xiao Wei a glare which shuts her up.

“Your encyclopedia isn’t finished.” Minghe Wa says from his mud pile. “I was reading it earlier.”

Shen Yuan claps in delight, “You read it! What do you think?”

“It’s very thorough…”

“Since you got the answer right, you can go next.”

The frog demon sighs before thinking for a bit, blinking a fly out of one of his massive frog eyes. Although the man was easily irritated by new events, he seemed to be enjoying the forest atmosphere.

“I like sweets… I wasn’t always a frog demon… and I have a brother.”

“Hm.” Shen Yuan considers. Minghe Wa never opened up much about his life. Shen Yuan honestly wasn’t sure about which was the lie.

Suddenly, Mobei said, “You're a frog spirit.”

Shen Yuan glanced a the frog for confirmation and he merely nodded. A frog spirit, huh, so he used to be a frog and cultivated himself a humanoid form. He could almost live in the human realm if he managed to cultivate himself into a fully human form.

Just a little too weak to live among humans and be free from demon chaos… no wonder Minghe Wa was so solemn.

“And I definitely saw you secretly downing some of my candies a few days ago.” Xiao Wei pipes in cheerfully. Minghe Wa blushes, or what could be considered a blush on his frog head.

“So no brother then.” Shen Yuan concludes.

“Just like Junshang.” Xiao Wei adds, slyly.

Shen Yuan stares at the ground, his good mood slightly dampened.

Linguang-jun had killed his brother before Shen Yuan had transmigrated. This wasn’t common knowledge, only known to the demon emperor himself.

Honestly, Shen Yuan wasn’t too eager to tell Mobei. ‘Hey, by the way, I killed your real dad! Don't be pissed!’

Mobei didn’t look down himself. Only shooting Xiao Wei another icy glare.

“Sorry, I thought it might be funny… I usually joke about my Ma’s death.”

“It’s no big deal.” Shen Yuan says in attempt to shake off his nerves. “Let's move on.”

Almost in a slight to Xiao Wei, Shen Yuan has the group perform trust falls. Liu Ge Qiu seemed to enjoy watching this from afar as he munched on some nuts he had packed.

At least Minghe Wa seemed to enjoy himself on the trust fall exercise, apparently finding it extremely humorous to watch the other smaller humanlike demons try to catch his larger self.

After a few assorted trust exercises, the group seems fully exhausted. Good! Thats what bonding does to a group.

Xiao Wei hangs of Minghe Wa’s arm. “Catch a fish for me, please.”

“No.”

“But Wawa… it would be so easy for you.”

“Catch it yourself.”

The fox demon fakes tears until the frog demon caves and enters the lake for some fishing.

Shen Yuan smiles to himself as he and Mobei dig into the prepared food for the evening. “They can act like they hate it all they want, but it works.”

Mobei nods in agreement, although Shen Yuan isn’t sure he's listening.

Shen Yuan decides to not do any evening activities, instead letting the group relax and idly chat away until sunset.

“Junshang,” Xiao Wei says absently as she laid by the fire Liu Ge Qiu kept alight, “do you think we're good judges, hm?”

“I do.” Shen Yuan says honestly, and his answer seems to surprise her.

“Oh…”

“Why?”

She takes a minute to respond. “My old job was so different. I honestly thought you would get annoyed with me and kick me out.”

“Your good at your job,” Shen Yuan insists, “both of you. Regardless of your experience, you both show a lot of passion for the work. Thats all I need.”

Xiao Wei seems to have considered this for a while.

“I used to work in trade.” Minghe Wa chimes in. “My competitors paid off their customers to vote me in as a judge assuming that I would be unable to continue working and they could steal my customers.”

“Really?” Shen Yuan was surprised. He knew Minghe Wa was a merchant before, but he hadn’t been aware that he was voted in through malice. Truely, this frog needs to talk more!

“Mhm.” Minghe Wa nods, content back in his mud pile, “It didn’t work though. Now I’m a leading merchant and hold a high official position in the Northern Desert. The fools.”

Shen Yuan can’t help but laugh at this to the delight of Minghe Wa. “I’m glad you were able to accept your role as a judge.”

“I as well.”

Its not long before the demons decide to sleep for the night. As Shen Yuan lays in his tent, he listens to the monsters lurking around the protective talismans.

What a life he's had the opportunity to live…