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It was the middle of the night, a light summer breeze wafting in through the opened window and lightly ruffling the long, black strands of hair that spilled across distinct, light-green cultivation robes. Despite the late hour, Shen Qingqiu was wide awake, sitting at his writing desk and staring at the object lying before him with a complicated expression. The legendary Mirror of Truth – or so it was called by the villagers he had rescued. Shen Qingqiu didn’t bother renaming it, especially since he could list about ten other artifacts that had far more obnoxious titles.
The mirror itself was opaque, its frame inlaid with amethysts. It was quite pretty, yet most people would assume it to be utterly useless. Shen Qingqiu was not one of them. According to the village’s sage, a certain incantation would cause its surface to turn reflective and provide the user with nothing but the absolute truth. And there was one truth Shen Qingqiu had been dying to know. One truth that had been haunting him ever since that day he found Yue Qingyuan in those pristine Qiong Ding robes during his first Immortal Alliance Conference. Massaging his furrowed brow, the cultivator once more weighed his options.
Based on the incantation he had been provided with, the mirror was supposed to force a certain person to respond truthfully to all of his spoken words. However, there was a slight problem with this. The spell referred to the one “whose heart is filled with ardent love”. To be more precise, ardent love for Shen Qingqiu. Needless to say, this person did not exist. Which was the exact reason why Shen Qingqiu had been wasting these past hours staring into space, or, occasionally, the mirror, and wondering whether trying the incantation regardless may cause something absurd to happen. Like the summoning of an overly persistent succubus. Which, considering the cursed logic within this world, seemed to be the most probable conclusion.
However, there was a good chance that the spell in fact translated to something along the lines of “the one who cares most about me”, since incantations always seemed to have a tendency for dramatics. Which was another obnoxious fact within this world that everyone just had to accept at some point. Nevertheless, should this be the case, then this mirror may grant Shen Qingqiu’s greatest wish – even if in his case, the spell really just meant “the only person who does not completely despise me”. Well, as long as it worked.
Noticing that his candle was slowly starting to vanish into a puddle of wax – which would be a pain to get rid of if one did not have an overenthusiastic brat, with the most obscure areas of expertise, at their disposal -, Shen Qingqiu decided that it was worth a shot. In case a succubus appeared, he would just kindly tell them that he had no interest in the devil’s tango. And if they persisted, that would be a good enough reason to simply run them through with Xiu Ya. Such are the rules of consent.
Carefully, Shen Qingqiu picked up the mirror and held it to his face. Although the surface did not reflect a single thing, the inlaid amethysts glittered beautifully in the dwindling candlelight. It was horribly ominous. Breathing out a weary exhale, Shen Qingqiu closed his eyes and silently repeated the incantation he had memorized by now within his head. Once his eyelids fluttered back open, the sight of his own exhausted face greeted him, mirrored back like on the surface of a crystal-clear lake. The spell had worked.
The next morning, Shen Qingqiu could’ve cursed himself for staying up so late. It was not that he had been unaware of the upcoming Peak Lord meeting, in fact, it was the very reason he couldn’t postpone his decision, but for some reason, it had slipped his mind the longer he had pondered over the artifact. Nevertheless, this meeting would also be a good opportunity to ascertain himself of the efficacy of the spell. If it did not work as expected, this would spare him from needlessly confronting Yue Qingyuan over details he would otherwise rather forget.
As he hurried along the Rainbow Bridge, once more lost in thought, a sudden shadow cast upon him was all that prevented him from running headfirst into a broad and firm chest. Stopping in his tracks, Shen Qingqiu almost clicked his tongue in annoyance as he raised his chin to level an unimpressed stare at the unfairly beautiful face of his arch nemesis. “It seems Liu-shidi has not forgotten about today’s Peak Lord meeting?”, he commented mildly, smoothing out his outer robes to appear unruffled.
Liu Qingge scrutinized him for a moment in silence, looking as constipated as ever, before stating: “Your eyes are red-rimmed.” As if that explained anything. Shen Qingqiu could feel his own face twitch in bewilderment. “Have you gone to the brothel again?”, Liu Qingge accused next, which was enough to wipe out that fluttery feeling inside Shen Qingqiu’s chest. Of course, the brute wasn’t concerned about his health, what did he expect? Clenching his teeth as his dark eyes sharpened into knives, Shen Qingqiu decided to go for full-on confrontation. “What does it concern you? Is shidi jealous?”, he taunted, wanting nothing more than to jump at his martial brother’s throat.
“I am!”, came the unexpected response, visibly shocking both men. “Huh?”, Shen Qingqiu voiced out dumbly, unable to hold in his astonishment. Liu Qingge fared no better, staring wide-eyed at his martial brother as if the latter had suddenly sprouted a demonic seal. Clenching his fists and furrowing his brow, the Bai Zhan Peak Lord added: “I am not interested in women!” To which Shen Qingqiu had to physically stop himself from dropping his fan in utter confusion. What was this conversation?
While Liu Qingge was slowly turning pale, Shen Qingqiu awkwardly cleared his throat, avoiding eye contact as he commented: “Although this clarification was most insightful, this shixiong does not quite understand as to why Liu-shidi felt the need to divulge this information to him now.” In response, Liu Qingge angrily glared at him, acting as if Shen Qingqiu was once again the root of all evil. “I didn’t want to tell you!”, he almost yelled, cheeks tinted red. A second away from kindly reminding his martial brother that, despite what he may believe, no one forced him to do so, something in Shen Qingqiu’s mind suddenly clicked. But there was no way.
Perhaps due to the fact, that he was incredibly caught off-guard by the absurdity of this entire scenario, Shen Qingqiu didn’t think twice before stating: “You love me.” It was far too accusatory, as if it was a crime to experience such feelings towards him, and the disbelief within his tone hung heavy in the air between them. Despite this, Liu Qingge merely replied: “I do.” It was frustrated, angry even, spat in the same violent manner one would hurl an insult. But there was no doubt that it was nothing but the unadulterated truth. Shen Qingqiu suddenly felt faint.
As reality seemed to catch up to Liu Qingge, who looked more and more like he was seconds away from throwing up, Shen Qingqiu took the opportunity to swiftly brush past him and take off for Qiong Ding Hall. While his sharp eyes were fixed resolutely upon their destination, feigning the usual indifference, the uncertainty and vulnerability swirling within them gave his true emotional state away. As if this wasn’t enough, his heart was pounding loudly inside his chest, filling his eardrums and making him feel as if his knees might give way any moment now. Shen Qingqiu couldn’t believe it. The person “whose heart is filled with ardent love” for him was Liu Qingge.
The following Peak Lord meeting progressed as usual, although Liu Qingge was noticeably avoiding eye contact. To assure that the mirror’s effect only extended to the insufferable brute, Shen Qingqiu had woven in a few unnecessary inquiries towards Yue Qingyuan, yet, due to the distinct delay when wording his answers, it quickly became apparent that the sect leader was not affected by the artifact. Perhaps Shen Qingqiu should’ve been more distressed by this, but the ugly truth was, that he hadn’t really expected the spell to work on Yue Qingyuan in the first place. After all, if he really cared about him, wouldn’t he have treated him vastly different? On another note, he was also glad that it wasn’t “ardent love” that filled the sect leader’s heart. After all-
“-Xiao Jiu?” An uncomfortable shiver ran down Shen Qingqiu’s spine. He absolutely despised that nickname. “Your mission report?” Fluttering his fan a bit faster, Shen Qingqiu was about to give a short and cohesive summary on how the village had recompensated him with an unknown artifact, when a few quiet murmurs reached his ears. “Look at that sloppiness, I can’t believe Zhangmen-shixiong allows him get away with this.” “That lecher probably spent his night at the brothel again, no wonder he is dozing off now.” Feeling his ears heat up, Shen Qingqiu levelled a glare across the meeting table. In a sudden surge of pettiness, and without sparing a glance at Yue Qingyuan, he remarked: “Do excuse this shidi’s absentmindedness, Zhangmen-shixiong, as he has just recently been made aware of the fact that his own shidi desires him romantically.”
In the blink of an eye, deadly silence descended upon the meeting room. Everyone’s eyes were wide in disbelief, most of the Peak Lords incapable of categorizing this unexpected piece of information. Meanwhile, Liu Qingge, who had spent all this time pretending Shen Qingqiu didn’t exist, flushed bright red and snapped his mouth open to defend himself. A grave mistake, as all that came out was: “I do!” Needless to say, chaos erupted within the meeting room. As multiple Peak Lords choked on their own spit, with others starting to gossip loudly, Shen Qingqiu’s peripheral vision provided him with the image of Yue Qingyuan turning a rather unhealthy shade of green.
Meanwhile, Liu Qingge had paled like a ghost, although Shen Qingqiu had to admit that the way he furrowed his brow in helpless frustration was kind of adorable. The poor man was probably still unaware of what exactly was happening to him. This suspicion was quickly confirmed, as the Bai Zhan Peak Lord proceeded to make his own situation even worse. “I do desire Shen Qingqiu!”, he yelled angrily, then paused for a moment as visible shock took over his features. Still, Liu Qingge didn’t seem to connect the dots. “When we fight, I want to slam him into the ground and kiss him senseless! But that's not all! I want to spend the rest of our lives together!”
With his own face heating up rapidly at these confessions, Shen Qingqiu attempted to interrupt this misguided rant, however, words failed him, and so he could only shut his mouth and hide behind his fan as Liu Qingge barraged on. “I love Shen Qingqiu, even if he frustrates me more than anyone else! I want to hold his hand! Last night, I dreamt- “. Like a heaven-sent blessing, Mu Qingfang, who was sitting next to Liu Qingge, quickly slapped a hand over the Bai Zhan Peak Lord’s mouth, effectively saving everyone from having to listen to more explicit details. “Excuse this shidi, Liu-shixiong, but there is reason to believe you were affected by a truth spell. It is advisable to keep silent until we figure out a solution.”
In response to this, Shen Qingqiu awkwardly cleared his throat. He was still using his fan to shield his embarrassed expression from view, with only his hair poking out at the top, however, this did not hide him from everyone’s sight. Most notably, Yue Qingyuan’s eyes were boring into him like knives, yet he didn’t want to risk a look sideways to ascertain the sect leader’s emotional state. “As this master was about to explain- “
A few days later, Liu Qingge was successfully freed from the truth spell that had affected him. Shang Qinghua, Mu Qingfang and Shen Qingqiu had worked out a solution to remedy the artifact’s influence, while he himself, thankfully, only had to keep away from his most beloved shixiong to avoid spilling more incriminating secrets. Not that they were that bad themselves – or so Mingyan had comforted him -, but Liu Qingge would rather not let all of Cang Qiong Mountain Sect know just how obsessed he was with his supposed arch nemesis. In some way, it was freeing. After all, he had kept his feelings to himself ever since he had first sparred with that mysterious yet infuriating beauty, who had joined their sect at Zhangmen-shixiong’s recommendation.
Nevertheless, this did not alleviate the sheer humiliation that had plagued him from that day onward. Despite agreeing at the Peak Lord meeting that no disciples would be informed, this did not stop Qi Qingqi from wiggling her eyebrows at him on every occasion nor Wei Qingwei’s judgemental stares. However, the worst of all was the fact that Zhangmen-shixiong continued to regard him with this specific type of unreadable expression, which Liu Qingge wasn’t sure whether to interpretate as a threat or psychological distress.
Deciding to blow off some steam at the training grounds, which roughly translated to beating up every poor soul he managed to find there, Liu Qingge discarded the letter that had informed him of the remedy’s success and headed out of his house. Unexpectedly, he almost collided with a distinct cloud of green. “Shen Qing- “, he began, visibly startled, before remembering that he probably should not be as intimate with his address from now on. “Shen-shixiong”, he awkwardly corrected himself, while taking a closer look at the beautiful cultivator before him, “What are you doing at Bai Zhan Peak?”
Despite the noticeable frown on his face, Shen Qingqiu looked as mesmerizing as always. However, the manner in which he avoided eye contact was concerning. “Are you- “. But before Liu Qingge could finish his unsure health inquiry, he was quickly distracted by an abrupt arm movement that had him flinching backwards. However, his survival instincts were completely misguided this time, as Shen Qingqiu’s free hand was simply hovering in front of his chest, palm faced up as if expecting something. The Qing Jing Peak Lord's visage fell even further. “What? Liu-shidi thought this master would stab him?”, he commented, before continuing in a barely distinguishable murmur, “I thought you wanted to hold my hand, idiot.”
Blinking twice in disbelief, and wondering if he had heard wrong, Liu Qingge slowly moved to intertwine their fingers. Despite expecting Shen Qingqiu to snatch his hand away and curse him out viciously, nothing happened. In fact, the other cultivator just stood there, frozen, his eyes fixed onto the exciting shrubbery beside them. The fingers holding his fan were slightly trembling, with the item lowered enough to allow a peak at those tempting, pouty lips. Feeling positively delirious, Liu Qingge affirmed his grip on Shen Qingqiu’s hand, memorizing the bony structure and soft skin, although there was a hint of what felt like a myriad of tiny scars covering the cultivator’s palm.
Still, in that moment, Liu Qingge could’ve sworn he had arrived at heaven. Their hands fit together perfectly, and the realization that his feelings may not be so unrequited after all - it was enough to make his heart clench with violent emotion. The entire world seemed to bloom into a more vivid colour, and Liu Qingge wanted nothing more than to hold Shen Qingqiu close and never let him go. To show that he was the one who loved him more than anyone else ever could. He hoped he would be allowed to do so.