Chapter Text
The first thing he noticed when he was sensate again was how uncomfortable the mattress was. It definitely wasn’t his comfortable memory foam bed, he’s been on medical cots cushier than this thing! But the silk sheets were nice against his skin, at least. Who would waste silk sheets on a pallet like this, though?
A strong, herbaceous fragrance was the next thing that made itself known to him, assuring him that he was not in a hospital. He couldn’t identify what, exactly, it was he was smelling but it sure as hell wasn’t the clean antiseptic scent he knew to expect.
Hearing low murmurs coming from some corner of the room, Shen Yuan braved consciousness and blearily opened his eyes with a quiet groan.
Shouts of “Xiao-Jiu!” and “Shizun!” responded immediately, and he shuttered his eyes again, barely taking note of the airy room he had woken up in as shuffling movement from that corner of the room approached. Was it too late to pretend he was still asleep? Another five minutes, please!
A hand landed on his shoulder, and gently shook him as a soft, masculine voice asked “Xiao-Jiu, are you here?” with such fragility, it made his eyebrow twitch.
Who was xiao-Jiu? Why would you ask him if that person was here, he certainly didn’t know! Buddy, you’re mistaking him for someone else, don’t be weird about it!
“Ah, wait, Shibo - this disciple’s Shimei said that this person identified himself with a different name. He really does look like Shizun but maybe we shouldn’t…” said the second voice, trailing off in a bashful tone. A young woman? Her voice was so sweet it was almost annoying, and it reminded him slightly of his younger sister. Was A-Su here? He opened his eyes again to check.
Blinking away the vestiges of sleep, he was confronted by the faces of two beautiful people he absolutely did not recognize.
The young woman really was very youthful in appearance, with a soft round face like a cherub and big bright eyes that gave her an innocent look. A straight fringe hid her forehead and flyaway hairs framed her face where they had escaped her looped braids tied with orange ribbons. She too, wore white and green hanfu embroidered with foliage like the girls he’d met earlier but the outer layer seemed more intricate in its make.
The man who must have been the one treating him so gently, on the other hand, seemed a little older than him and just as handsome as the girl was cute. He wasn’t an otherworldly beauty, but one could hardly describe him as homely. His strong, angular jaw and straight, proud nose were complimented by his smooth pale skin. Crowned by thick, soft looking brows were his soft eyes, a rich brown so deep, one could fall in. Long, straight black hair like silk was pulled away from his face, gathered into a topknot ensconced in a tall silver crown, with the rest of the length falling far past his shoulders. The xuanduan he wore was grey and white, much more regal than anything he’d ever seen before in real life. But he wasn’t intimidating in the least, not when his gentle manner assured him without words that he was safe. He seemed the reliable sort, like a kindly older brother. Something in his strangely hopeful gaze was familiar in a way that made him want to trust this man he had never met in his life.
A small cough from the girl broke him out of his reverie and he blinked between the two of them, who both seemed to be waiting for him to speak.
“Um…” he said intelligently, “Who is xiao Jiu? And where am I?”
“You… you’re in the disciples dormitory on Qing Jing Peak, xi - young master. I'm very sorry, you simply remind me of someone.” He responded haltingly, “A disciple brought you here after you collapsed. How are you feeling?”
Huh? The forms of address! What the hell was a “Peak Lord”? And “Clear Calm Peak” sounded like the name of some particularly foofoo spa and resort place. The natural aesthetics and simplistic decor of the room even lent themselves to the feel of some fancy resort. Secondary to the smell of herbs, which was probably coming from little cloth satchels hung over the canopy of his bed, was the smell of incense that was probably meant to have some calming effect.
Shen Yuan had to bite back the instant dismissive reply that didn’t come to mind so much as it skipped his mind and went straight to his mouth. “I’m fine, ge, don’t worry so much.” is what he might have said, if his situation was any less strange and he were any less tense. Plus, referring to him so familiarly might lead to more misunderstandings.
Adding to the strangeness was the fact that, against all odds, he really did feel fine! No general aches or pain anywhere, not even where he had bruised after falling down the well. The lethargy that usually accompanied him for the first several hours upon waking was nowhere to be found. Was this even his body? Was it possible he had transmigrated?
He was entirely prepared for the possibility of transmigration as an avid reader of many examples of Zhongdian literature, but something about his situation didn’t seem quite appropriate for such a scenario.
For one, he seriously had no idea where he was or who these people in front of him were. He also came to realize that he was still fully clothed in his trousers and sweater vest combo that he had left home in that morning, and that his phone was still in his pockets. The “kidnapped to a weird fancy spa and resort” theory was frankly a stronger contender for this situation he found himself in. Oscillating glances down at himself and at the two people still staring attentively at him, Shen Yuan realized they were still waiting on a reply, yet again.
“I… I’m feeling quite well, actually. Ah, thank you for your hospitality, Mister…?” he ended with an inquisitive note, fishing for a name from this awfully patient gentleman.
For whatever reason, he hesitated briefly and something flashed in his eyes before he cleared his throat and spoke. Weird. “I am the Sect Leader Yue QingYuan, young master. Please forgive my outburst earlier, I… may have misspoken. Your arrival here was rather tumultuous, you must understand, so we had to make do for the provision for your stay. In that vein, I must trouble you to indulge us with your name so that we know the identity of the young master receiving our care.” he said. His beseeching look was starting to get pretty intense, and he found himself looking away to avoid eye contact with this strange man.
“Ah… my name is Shen Yuan, Yue sir. It’s no trouble, really, I only hope I’m not imposing too much.” he said, looking back to Yue QingYuan’s face in time to see his expression do something complicated. Shen Yuan continued, “But as much as I really appreciate all this, I’m still confused. Where is this place? I don’t… think I really remember how I got here, but I hadn’t thought there was anywhere like this near Suzhou.”
Yue QingYuan took a moment to mull over what he said, concern taking over his gentle features and knitting his brows together. In a softer tone, he started, “Shen.... Yuan, was it? There’s no need for you to refer to me so formally, if you would prefer otherwise. I must apologize, but I’ve never heard of any town or village called Suzhou - is that where you hail from? The disciples who found you claimed that you were in the well of the bamboo grove on Qing Jing Peak, not far from here. The gap in your memory might be a result of a qi deviation? Although our healer was quite assured that you had not suffered one, given your state.”
Why was it that every answer this man gave him only led to Shen Yuan getting more confused? How was it possible he was somewhere so far away from the major city that this guy didn’t know about it? Wasn’t a qi deviation some kind of psychosis? Shen Yuan didn’t even put much stock into that branch of pseudoscience - what if he was in some sort of off-grid, low tech commune?
He had worried that he really had gotten some kind of concussion that messed with his head after he fell down the well, because the shit he saw, along with the other cosplayers and the flying sword trip surely had to have been a dream. But the congruity of all weird details was getting too strange.
The young woman had been rolling back and forth anxiously on her heels, and after a few seconds where Shen Yuan struggled to reply, decided to speak up. “Sect Leader Shibo, Mu Shibo seemed really confident that Senior Shen Qi- ah, Yuan couldn’t be a cultivator. Is it even possible to have a qi deviation if you don’t have any meridians developed? Even though his dantian is strong, that shouldn’t be possible, right? He's really Shizun's image, but… that's too impossible.”
The gears that had been whirling in a mad scramble to make sense of anything in Shen Yuan’s head came to a screeching halt. He choked on something that might have been a laugh, and wheezed out “Cultivator?” before he could stop himself. He was at his wit’s end and whatever composure he had was crumbling - this was getting entirely nonsensical, at this point.
The woman whipped around to look at him with wide eyes and ask, “Are you alright? Was I wrong? This disciple apologizes if she insulted you, that wasn’t her intent!”
She transitioned between wildly waving her hands and deeply bowing at lightning speed. Shen Yuan coughed again in embarrassment as he internally freaked out.
Huh? You can’t be serious right? Are you fucking with me, sister? I don’t LARP, and if this is staged, then you guys should have given me a script and a wardrobe change! I don’t even know this story! I'm not your xiao-Jiu, or your Shizun, whoever that is!
“Uhm. Not really - it’s just, you’re joking, right? There’s no way I could be a cultivator, cultivation is fictional.” he said instead. But the last word stuck in his throat as the gears in his head began to whir again.
“Eh? Senior Shen, what are you talking about? Of course cultivation is real!” the young woman retorted immediately. She twisted to look at Yue QingYuan, who was doing an impression of the surprised Pikachu face. “Shibo, do common people not know about cultivation? Is that possible?”
“Ah… honestly, I can’t answer with complete certainty. Our reach may not be unlimited but I had thought the emperor’s people were still aware of the practices within our sects.” He answered hesitantly.
Right. Well. That was that.
“At the risk of sounding insane, would you mind telling me who the emperor is?” Shen Yuan asked, without really wanting to hear the answer.
“Unless something happened recently that I haven’t been made aware of, it’s Emperor Ai. Isn’t it?” The Sect Leader replied. Shen Yuan had to assume that last question was rhetorical because he had no way of knowing.
It didn’t even matter that the man wasn’t even certain about who the current emperor was, this confirmed that the situation was already completely out of his hands. His wispy soul left his body in a breath, he was totally in shock.
So it definitely wasn’t a spa and resort, or a commune. He hadn’t transmigrated and they probably weren’t LARPers - though the genre wasn’t that far off. If it wasn’t a xianxian story he was stuck in then he was probably in. A time travel type scenario? Huh. That made enough sense, he supposed. Daoism sure had a lot more going for it back in the day.
The young woman tentatively shook his lifeless corpse by the shoulder.
“Senior Yuan? Oh no, did you not know that either? I understand that sort of stuff is pretty important to non-cultivators, even though it changes pretty frequently. Oh! Are you not from around here? Is that why -”
Before she could continue, the other man intervened. “Shizhi, please stop shaking our guest. Your Mu Shibo did mention it would be best not to disturb him for today at least, after all. Though,” he cut off, turning to look at Shen Yuan, “if you are from foreign territories, please do not fear us, we cultivators bear no ill will to any common people. We only want to help you - if that means you… would want to return home, we would do our level best to aid you in that endeavour.”
He did not sound particularly enthusiastic about that last bit, but otherwise Yue QingYuan was so earnest, it was embarrassing. Shen Yuan came back to himself and weakly waved him off.
“Ah, it’s alright, I just realized something, is all.” If there was one thing Shen Yuan had learned from all the books and shows in the time travel genre, it was that the time traveler shouldn’t reveal any details about the future, lest the consequences be so far reaching that they undo their own birth or something. No way was he about to make such a classic mistake. “Thanks for everything, but I should probably get going…” As soon as I figure out how, that is...
“Ehh? But you just got here! And Mu Shibo said you wouldn’t be in any shape to travel for a while yet!” YingYing whined, pulling on his sleeve.
“That is true, you needn’t worry about imposing on us, we’re happy to take care of you for as long as you need, A-Yuan.” said Yue QingYuan, a little too fast.
Huh? It’s great that you don’t mind, but it’s not like I’m staying here for long! And what was with that familiar tone, sir? But… to be fair, Shen Yuan did feel a little sore at the prospect of trying to return via haunted well. Maybe staying a few hours (In this weird version of the past! With cultivators!) wouldn’t be so bad.
“Well, if it’s no bother, I suppose it wouldn't hurt," Shen Yuan began, trying to come up with a roundabout way to ask for sick sword trick demonstrations.
"Of course! Please feel at home here, we of Cang Qiong Mountain are at your disposal."
The young woman eagerly jumped in at this, clapping her hands together as she turned around to smile at the man who had just spoken before addressing Shen Yuan again. "Yay! Oh, you'll love Qing Jing Peak, I'll show you around!" Then she swiveled her head towards Yue QingYuan again. "Shibo, it's fine if he stays here, right?"
Sect Leader Yue QingYuan's face softened at that, his bright eyes curving into crescents with his smile.
"That seems like a fine idea, Shizhi. That seems appropriate for now, but be sure to let him rest as he settles in here." he said warmly.
Shen Yuan proceeded to swing his legs off the bed, eager to demonstrate that he was well enough to explore a cultivation sect. "Ah, I've probably rested enough, don't you think? A bit of walking around might be good for me."
“That’s true, Shibo, walking around the peak might be good for him! Please entrust his care to this disciple!” said the girl as she took another exaggerated bow.
She turned around to face Shen Yuan with sparkling eyes, positively bubbling with enthusiasm. “I haven’t introduced myself yet! This humble one’s name is Ning YingYing, senior disciple of Qing Jing Peak! I’m sure you’ll fit right in!”