Work Text:
"Murderer!"
"Damn scum!"
"How dare you!"
Everyone was screaming at him but how could they not? He was a murderer. He failed to save Liu Qingge, the Bai Zhan Peak Lord. He didn’t dare try and explain himself; it wasn’t like it made a big difference; he was dead anyway.
“Get out! Just get out!” It was Liu Mingyan who was screaming at him, the sister of his victim. It hurts more than the words of others. He killed the brother of this poor woman. Nothing could repay this.
He was a Peak Lord. He was supposed to, at least, be able to save his martial brother. But no. He was too weak like everyone claimed him to be, just not for the reason they believed, but again it didn’t matter, he was weak anyway the reason wouldn’t change anything. So, he turned and walked away from everyone, not even taking a glimpse of the body in the Qian Cao Peak Lord’s arms.
“You should have die! Not him!” The boy who was screaming was also crying, it was just one of this brute’s disciple, but he was right, so again he didn't say anything, just kept walking until he reached his bamboo house.
It was night now, but he couldn’t sleep. Not because he was still hurt of the battle with Liu Qingge or his own Qi deviation or even the Demon invasion. Physical pain never stopped him from falling asleep, but the words of this disciple kept repeating in his head:“You should have die! Not him!”
If he could go back in time, he would try to save him again but maybe he would take more risks and not put himself first. Or maybe he didn’t need to go back in time for that. He sat suddenly.
That’s right he didn’t need to. He was the Qing Jing Peak Lord, the scholar of the sect, he knew a lot of things even in the demonic area.
He stood up and put some plain robes just to not be perceived as improper if he was caught outside, and walked out in the direction of the library, more specifically in the restricted area where he was the only one to have access to.
There were a lot of books and scrolls about demonic cultivation in this section, probably even more than in any library in the Demon realm, even though some of them were written by hand, by the Peak Lord himself, from the forbidden knowledge he got from his old teacher.
Shen Qingqiu walked to a certain bookshelf, with only old books that he collected in some old villages near the border between the two realms. He could have burned them, but we never know what might happen right? It’s always good to have access to as much knowledge as possible, even if it’s dangerous. Today is one of those days that he truly never wanted to happen.
He opened his pouch and pushed a whole row of books with his arm before going to some hidden scrolls in an old chest protected by a talisman. He took three of them before putting the talisman back and closing the entire area of the library behind him. He had to act fast.
The funeral was supposed to be held in three hours. Mu Qingfang was just preparing the body for the rite when this same 'lifeless' body opened his eyes and sat like he just woke up from a rest.
“Oh god.”
Liu Qingge looked at him with some confusion, mostly because he was in funeral clothing like he was going to be buried.
“Why am I here?”
The doctor woke up from his confusion and took the Bai Zhan Peak Lord’s wrist with some urgency before checking his meridians and for some injuries. Nothing could be found, not even the damage from his supposed death and his fight with Shen Qingqiu.
Liu Qingge just continued frowning at Mu Qingfang for an answer. The last thing he could remember is losing control in the LingXi Cave and… attacking Shen Qingqiu? He didn’t like the man at all, but he tried to kill him during his Qi deviation. He still could see the face of the man twisting like he never saw, and looking like he was- scared? It’s true that he never won any battle against him but he’s still a Peak Lord against a deviant man in the middle of a Qi deviation. He shouldn’t have been scared, or was he scared for him? No way.
“Mu-shibo, are you finished?” The woman who just entered froze, like the Peak Lords behind her. “Brother!!” Liu Mingyan threw herself on her brother, crying and tainting Liu Qingge’s clothes, not like he cared about that.
The face of her crying sister made him remember an important memory, Shen QIngqiu cried in the cave. He widened his eyes; he never saw the man crying. His saviour cried, the one who tried to save him, the one who tried to kill him during the well mission when they were disciples. Something was wrong. Clearly wrong.
“Where is Qingqiu?”
Everyone froze for a moment. Of course the Bai Zhan Peak Lord would want to take revenge. He got murdered after all, even though nobody knew why he suddenly came back to life.
“Liu-shidi, I know he did something bad but-“the sect Leader stopped in the middle of his sentence. He didn’t know what to say to defend his Xiao-jiu.
“Don’t worry brother, we will bring him to justice for what he did to you.”
Liu Qingge was just confused. What the heck did Shen Qingqiu did for the Sect Leader to search his words so much and her sister to be that mad against the man.
“What did he do?”
Everyone stared at each other but it’s Qi Qingqi who started talking first. “He tried to kill you! Don’t you remember anything?”
“He didn’t.” The answer was so fast and sure that it made everyone stopped for a second.
“Liu-shidi, you don’t need to defend him, he won’t be able to do anything to you from now on” The Wan Jian Peak Lord appeared from behind the Sect Leader, starring at Liu Qingge with pity.
“I’m stronger than him” Everybody stopped at that. He was right of course; everyone knows that every spar between the two Peak Lords would end the same every time, with Liu Qingge as the winner.
Nobody could give an answer to that but how could they explain what happened to him then? It obviously was Shen Qingqiu who did something strange to Liu Qingge again.
“We all know this scum use dirty trick all the time, you don’t have to feel bad for losing during a moment of weakness Liu-shidi”
The way Qi Qingqi mentioned Shen Qingqiu made the Sect Leader shudder, but he didn’t say anything.
Liu Qingge knew that Shen Qingqiu was a lecherous scum who used dirty tricks all the time, but he also knows that he didn’t try to kill him in the cave! He was there after all, not them, so why would they persist saying that he was a victim and him a murderer.
The Bai Zhan Peak Lord might not be the brightest, but he knew that they were too drowned in their own believes, it was useless to argue with them and there was a more important matter at hand: Where was Shen Qingqiu?
The Peak Lords were talking to each other against Shen Qingqiu but were all stopped when they saw Liu Qingge stand up and leave fast with the same burial clothing.
Of course, it made everyone freeze outside. The Bai Zhan Peak Lord who was dead for four days now, was very much alive and running towards Shen Qingqiu’s Peak. Some thought it was a ghost at first, but the way Liu Qingge was running while using Qi was definitely from someone alive and they feared that he was going to take revenge against the other Peak Lord, so they all walked far away from the future battle ground.
Liu Qingge stopped in front of the bamboo house; it was very quiet on the Peak but also from inside the house. He knocked several times, louder and louder, but there was no answer. He tried to be civil for once but as he thought barging through the door was faster, so he did.
The sight inside made him freeze in utter horror. Shen Qingqiu was collapsed on the ground in only plain white robes. He had black bag under his eyes like he didn’t sleep or took a break for days. He was really white, like he wasn’t JUST sleeping.
The house wasn’t better, it was utterly a mess. Books and scroll everywhere, on the table, on the bed, on the floor and even where Shen Qingqiu laid. From all the time he barged inside the bamboo house, he never saw it in that state. The Qing Jing Peak Lord would never allow anyone to see his own house like that, he had a ‘proper’ image that he wanted to keep even thought his reputation was clearly the worst one of the sect.
Liu Qingge woke up from his terror while trembling lightly and approached the Peak Lord slowly as to not startled him, maybe he was just sleeping after all, and he didn’t want him to wake up if that was the case. But it was a useless effort. Shen Qingqiu was colder than he should be, and his qi was leaking slowly but never regenerating, like a dying cultivator.
“No. No. NO!” Lu Qingge was panicking, there was no way he couldn’t save his own saviour. He had to pay him back for what he did, he had to. But the corpse in front of him was clearly unmoving.
When an urgency talisman came to his land of vision, he jumped to get it and used it, he needed Mu Qingfang here, and fast.
“Qingqiu, there’s no use using an urgency talisman just because the dog you hit bite you back” Qi Qingqi arrived first with the Sect Leader. Of course, the first would want to see him suffer and the later to ‘help him’.
“Liu-shidi! Are you alright?” The doctor of the sect wasn’t that much behind them too.
They all gathered in front of the bamboo house and entered one by one to see Liu Qingge sitting on the floor with Shen Qingqiu gathered on his lap against his chest with his head on one of the Peak Lord’s shoulder. Liu Qingge had a hand on Shen Qingqiu’s back to keep him against him and another on the back of his head to support it, but he was clearly trembling even if slightly.
“Liu-shidi?” Mu Qingfang tried to close the distance to approach both of them but when the Sect Leader started approaching as well right behind the doctor, he yelled for the first time.
“It’s all your faults!” Of course he knew he didn’t help his reputation or anything but it was clearly a mistake from their parts here.
“I’m stronger than him! There’s no way he could have killed me!” He hated them for believing than it was possible for a scholar to kill him and even more because they pushed their martial brother away on this stupid assumption.
Mu Qingfang extended his arm to touch his shixiong’s wrist, but he froze when he sensed basically nothing. The Qing Jing Peak Lord, Shen Qingqiu is dead.
Liu Qingge slapped his hand away and threw a crumpled piece of paper at him that hit his head before he could react, still shocked of what is going on but also of his failure. He failed to save his shixiong.
“Shen-shixiong?” the An Ding Peak Lord entered the bamboo house and made his way in front of the others to see the corpse of his martial brother and the mess of demonic documents all around him, but he froze when he saw a certain book that really wasn’t supposed to be there.
“Oh god- “He took the book on the tea table, and he became whiter the more he looked at it.
“What is it?” The Bai Zhan Peak Lord asked him, he was the only one who didn’t disrespect Shen Qingqiu after all, even if he didn’t know why.
“I- I really- like really hope I’m wrong.” He raised his head to meet the eyes of Liu Qingge that seemed to get scared as well, and he was right to do so.
“Did Shen-shixiong left something?”
“Yes.” He pointed at the piece of paper that he threw at the doctor earlier and Shang Qinghua took it to read it as fast as he could.
“-Fan as the next Peak Lord. I will never be able to come back.” He was feeling so bad and guilty that he read the end out loud. It was only instructions for the future of his Peak and the Sect in general. He didn’t even say goodbye nor left some words for people that may be dear to him, what a pathetic and lonely man.
“What’s happening?” the Peak Lord of Zui Xian Peak arrived behind everyone that didn’t even bother to turn around, what was in front of them was more important.
“Shen-shixiong… He’s dead and he-“Shang Qinghua’s voice wavered.
“No!” The Sect Leader threw himself in front of Liu Qingge, still holding Shen Qingqiu, and started crying “We must bring him back! Can’t we use the same thing he did to bring Liu-shidi back?!”
The An Ding Peak Lord opened his mouth but he closed it again and lowered his head. “It’s impossible… Shen-shixiong- He destroyed his own soul. He won’t even be able to reincarnate.”
It was the last stroke for the Bai Zhan Peak Lord, his saviour died alone with the entire world against him, feeling unloved, hated even, feeling so unworthy that he decided that his entire soul, all his future lives, was worth throwing away just to save one life in this world.
It was a really unfair trade, that’s why it was a forbidden ritual, a demonic one at that.
The Cang Qiong sect was mourning again and the funeral that was supposed to happen this day only got pushed for another week and for someone else. Liu Qingge was cold to everyone, even colder than Shen Qingqiu used to be, but nobody even dared to go against him. He had the right to be mad after all. His martial siblings, his entire sect that he was so loyal to pushed one of his martials brother to death.
But little did they know that the Bai Zhan Peak Lord will never change to how he was again, even decades later, he will stay as cold as ice and respect only one person: The little mouse of the sect. Who even came out as a traitor.