Work Text:
Shen Qingqiu ran.
His still stiff legs moved as fast as they could.
He did not understand.
The beast had tortured him to death in the water prison, then had returned his soul and created a body. But he seemed disappointed when the body he got was his childhood body.
When he was a street rat.
So he threw it through a portal.
And Shen Qingqiu ran.
He didn't want to get caught again.
Although his attempts might have been futile, it was still better to run than to stay in the same place to wait for death.
He arrived at a lake.
Shen Qingqiu looked at his reflection.
It was him when he was ten years old.
His matted hair and dirty robes confirmed it.
One of his eyes was green now.
The other was white.
He could not see out of that eye.
Shen Qingqiu was startled when he heard a branch snap behind him and the sound of footsteps approaching.
This body didn't have his cultivation, but it had the potential.
Shen Qingqiu grabbed a leaf in his hand and turned around.
There was a boy about nine years old with purple robes and his hair tied in a bun.
The boy was holding a pheasant in his hand.
Three puppies were following the boy.
The boy frowned as he looked at him.
The boy's puppies did not sense his hostility and approached Shen Qingqiu. They sniffed him and then started wagging their tails and rubbing on his legs.
The boy blinked twice and his frown relaxed considerably.
"They like you, who are you, why are you in this part of the forest? It's dangerous."
Shen Qingqiu looked around.
He hadn't noticed at what point he strayed so far from the alley where he was thrown.
Then he thought about how to respond to the boy.
He couldn't use the name Qingqiu. He didn't want to use it again. Then there was only one other name left to use.
"Shen Jiu. I have nowhere else to go."
This was true, as he couldn't even recognize the boy's clothing. He didn't know where he was, or if it was even the same world.
"Oh. I'm Jiang Cheng. Hmm, why don't you come with me then?"
"What...?"
Shen Jiu looked at him, searching for any sign of the boy's lying or teasing.
He didn't find it.
"Why would you bring someone unknown to your house?" he asked.
"Why not?" The boy tilted his head, as if his answer was the most obvious thing in the world, "Besides, I don't think you have a better option, do you?"
Shen Jiu clicked his tongue.
In the end, he ended up following the boy.
How was he to know that here he would find what he was always looking for?
In the Cang Qiong Mountain Sect, the alarm went off at Qing Jing Peak.
The Peak Lords came to the emergency call and found two Luo Binghe and one Mobei-Jun fighting fiercely.
They all went to Shen Qingqiu, who was standing a few meters away. Shang Qinghua was eating melon seeds beside him.
"What's going on?" asked Liu Qingge.
"He says he doesn't remember where he left it." Shen Qingqiu replied simply.
"What did he leave?"
Shen Qingqiu shrugged his shoulders. He didn't know either.
Bing-ge was quickly surrounded, he didn't seem to mind when he stopped to look at Shen Qingqiu and say.
"I lost Shizun."
"What...how did you lose him?" he asked, surprised behind his fan.
"I got his soul back, created a body. I left him in another world to survive from the beginning, from his infancy, then I would come back for him. But I don't remember where he is, Xin Mo also doesn't take me with him, does Shizun know how to get him back?"
While Shen Qingqiu was thinking of an answer, Mobei-Jun froze Bing-ge's arm long enough for Bing-mei to grab Xin Mo and open a portal, Liu Qingge kicked Bing-ge and he was sent back.
Shang Qinghua sighed at the protagonist's halo of a character with a little more emotional stability.
Then they had a meeting of Peak Lords, plus two demons, and began to determine what they would do with Xin Mo.
"Can we travel to other dimensions with it?" asked Wei Qingwei looking at the sword with interest.
"It is possible."
"We have to test it, for investigation," Qi Qingqi added.
"I guess it's okay." Even Liu Qingge seemed curious about traveling between dimensions.
Yue Qingyuan sighed softly; "Is it annoying for you guys to do it once?"
Shen Qingqiu thought for a moment; "It's not. But they should put on other clothes, we don't know where we will go. We can see if we are lucky and find that dimension's Shen Qingqiu, Luo Binghe could keep looking for him."
They met the next day at dawn.
Under Shen Qingqiu's instructions, Luo Binghe opened a portal.
The Peak Lords with no sense of self-preservation jumped into the unknown. Two Demons followed them.
They appeared in an alley, went out, and saw a market, it was getting dusk in that place, so the lanterns began to illuminate the streets and stalls.
The place was noisy, and they could hear the sound of water and smell the faint scent of lotus flowers.
They were on a pier.
They walked around, enjoying the lively night market in the area. Some passersby wandered away and gave them passage when they saw their bearing, other more astute vendors were darting about promoting their wares.
They continued to watch the atmosphere curiously as their Sect Leader suddenly walked away.
"Zhangmen-shixiong?"
Yue Qingyuan suddenly started running, the rest looked at each other and followed him as well.
When they got far enough away, Yue Qingyuan jumped onto his secondary sword and started flying, he slowed down and told them when they caught up to him.
"Suppress your presences, use invisibility talismans."
"What's going on?" asked Liu Qingge.
"Can't you hear it?"
The Peak Lords and the two demons sent qi to their ears and far away, they caught the faint sound of a qin's strings.
"It's just someone playing," Shen Qingqiu said, uncomprehendingly.
Yue Qingyuan looked at them and smiled faintly.
"This is a song Qingqiu-shidi composed in his discipleship days. He hasn't played it in many years."
Yue Qingyuan used a talisman on him and his body became invisible. The others did the same.
They traversed over the walls of what appeared to be a cultivation sect.
They passed many pavilions and piers before they found the source of the sound. They descended a little to get a better look and could see a person sitting on the pier outside the door of the farthest pavilion from the site.
The full moon shining in the sky was light enough to illuminate those sharp features and those emotionless eyes, of which one was green and the other white. Strange.
Everyone saw Shen Qingqiu and then that person a couple of times. They had the same face.
The song lasted a few more strums, then that person put the qin away in a qiankun bag and spoke toward the door.
"Are you finished?"
The door opened a little, and a hand pale from lack of sun exposure pushed a tray with a couple of bowls on it. Then the door closed.
That person grimaced with his lips as he took the tray in his hands.
"You ate little again. I'll be back tomorrow. Make sure you're alive."
No one answered.
On their swords, at a considerable distance, they followed that person.
"Is he a servant?" Liu Qingge asked.
Everyone thought the same thing when they saw that person's actions, however; "His robes don't indicate that he is."
Exactly, the purple jianxiu robes and silver headdresses were of good quality and had lotus inscriptions, unlike the disciples they had glimpsed on their way.
Doubts were dispelled when a disciple approached that person and took the tray before saying; "Interim Leader. Sect Leader Jin is here, he came with cultivators Lan and heir Ouyang."
"So late?"
"He said they were on their way back from a night hunt and passed by on their way. They will stay tonight."
The person nodded and dismissed the disciple before moving on. A boy in robes with an embroidered peony approached.
"Qianbei. How is my JiuJiu, may I speak to him?"
"You should be more respectful, brat, you can't go talking like that to others. You're a Sect Leader."
The boy rolled his eyes.
"That's not what I asked!"
The person sighed and ruffled the boy's hair.
"He's alive."
"Can I pay a visit?" he asked.
"Tomorrow. You can bring him breakfast."
The boy left after a small exchange.
That person sighed and left.
Yue Qingyuan said; "We'll ask for an audience."
They walked along the pier planks for a while, the disciple leading them knocked only once on the wooden door and announced.
"Interim Leader. Some people have come for an audience."
Several seconds later, an affirmative response came. The disciple opened the door and let them through before stepping back and closing it.
The person was diligently working on the scrolls and had not even looked up.
"... Xiao Jiu?"
The brush slipped from his hand and the person looked up abruptly. His eyes fell on Yue Qingyuan, and Liu Qingge, and finally landed on Luo Binghe.
Then he laughed.
"Ah, beast, you've finally returned? You even brought these illusions with you, how did you make them? They look so real," he shook his head; "Why did you bring Yue Qingyuan and Liu Qingge? They are dead, I wouldn't fall into that trap."
"I'm not dead," Liu Qingge whispered.
That person's eyes scanned everyone and his eyebrow rose at the sight of Shen Qingqiu.
"Oh. You even brought another me. Although this one seems... soft. Gross."
"You're wrong," Luo Binghe spat, angry that they insulted his Shizun; "I'm not the same one you've met."
That person's brow furrowed.
"Xiao Jiu" Yue Qingyuan advanced; "It's good that you are well."
"Wow. The Yue Qingyuan you created can lie as well as the real one," he clicked his tongue a couple of times; "Wouldn't you be happy if I died, Yue Qi?"
"I'm not lying. I don't want you to die, Xiao Jiu."
"But you left me in that place. You didn't come back," he spat.
Everyone felt nostalgic seeing that guilty expression on Zhangmen-shixiong's face.
'So this is the rumored five-sentence exchange,' Shen Qingqiu thought.
Xuan Su left its owner's waist as Yue Qingyuan bowed and handed it to his Xiao Jiu.
"...I couldn't do it. I was reckless and came back too late, sorry."
Yue Qingyuan decided, he didn't mind his martial brothers and the two demons seeing his pathetic state, but he couldn't let his Xiao Jiu go again.
Shen Jiu looked at the sword in front of him and Yue Qingyuan's bowed figure, the image of a shattered sword and the illusion of a person pierced by poisoned arrows simultaneously arose in his mind.
"I rushed to take Xuan Su and failed. I was sealed in Lingxi Caves for a year to remake my damaged cultivation. When I returned there were only ashes. I'm sorry."
Yue Qingyuan's hands trembled as he held the sword, his brittle voice echoed in the silent room. His gaze remained on the floor.
The sound of the cloth was indicative of Shen Jiu standing up. He looked at the figure one more time, before stepping out the door and running.
No one could say anything as they saw Yue Qingyuan silently weeping as he hugged his sword and repeated 'Xiao Jiu'.
They always thought Shen Jiu was an ungrateful ingrate who despised Yue Qingyuan's affection, but now they didn't know what to think, not after seeing Shen Jiu's expression crack and show guilt, anger, and sadness.
Mu Qingfang advanced to the exit.
"I'll go check his condition, his qi was getting out of control when he came out."
Ten Peak Lords walked out the door, including Yue Qingyuan.
"You seriously configured them to love gossip."
Shen Qingqiu said to Shang Qinghua when there were only four of them left in the room.
Shang Qinghua ignored him in favor of following his martial brothers.
Again they found him at the door of that distant pavilion.
They waited in the distance as they saw Shen Jiu leaning against the door with his face buried in his knees and arms.
"I resented him for so many years," he said weakly, "I thought he had betrayed me, that he had chosen fame over, me, his family, and it turned out... I was the wrong one."
Shen Jiu sighed and took out the guqin that the person on the other side of the wood had given him many years ago.
His fingers began to strum the strings in a melancholy song.
The audience saw Shen Jiu take a deep breath before parting his lips, but a soft chant came from within before he began.
Despite the surprise in Shen Jiu's expression, his hands didn't stop playing, he turned his head to look at the wooden door, then closed his eyes and concentrated on listening to that voice raspy from disuse. The person inside continued to sing in the middle of the night.
Then silence reigned as the song ended.
"But you forgave him," said the voice muffled by the wood, "even though you thought he had broken his promise. You waited for him. You never really hated him."
Shen Jiu laughed; "Yes, I did. That doesn't take away from the fact that he died, though."
The door opened, and Shen Jiu, who had been leaning against it, fell backward, straight into the embrace of the person inside the room.
That person was wearing an inner robe and his hair was loose, he buried his face in Shen Jiu's abundant hair after releasing his ponytail.
"How did you talk to him after you learned the truth?"
"I didn't. I ran over here as soon as I found out."
"That was stupid."
Shen Jiu smiled. He settled into the other person's embrace, sighing as he once again had that sense of security and peace he so longed for. Only this person could make him feel this way.
Neither of them said anything else.
The unwanted audience left after Shen Jiu fell asleep and the other person dragged him with him into the room.
They could not see the other person's face.
When they asked the people on the pier about Shen Jiu's identity, they almost lost their elegance and shouted, because the answer they got was as follows:
"Shen Jiu? Address Jiang-furen with more respect!"
Furen! Shen Jiu was married to the Sect Leader!
But who is the Sect Leader?
"Jiang-zongzhu is currently in seclusion, Jiang-furen visits him every day."
Ah, so that person was Shen Jiu's husband.
How strange!
Shan Qinghua blew his nose into a handkerchief, his villain son finally got the love he longed for!