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Chapter Text

Huan definitely didn’t have the best life one could imagine. Not even a comfortable one.

A comfortably well-off family? Nope. She didn’t even know who her parents are. Financially independent and good at it? Ha, with what money? If she could survive on her own, she wouldn’t be working at a brothel— and since she was working in a brothel, one could imagine that her everyday life wasn’t very cozy, contrary to what spoilt and sheltered young masters thought.

Her life wasn’t one she’d wish upon anyone, except maybe the men that had shoved her into this kind of life in the first place. However, in the brothel, she had companions and friends who knew practically everything about her— she had both reliable older sisters and little sisters to guide and dote on. It was one of the few comforts she had, one of the things she had to focus on so she wouldn’t lose heart.

Eventually, a certain cultivator became one of those few comforts. Shen Qingqiu had looked intimidating and frankly a little mean, but it was quickly proved wrong when Huan witnessed and experienced firsthand how gentle he was with women. The women in the brothel weren’t exactly enthusiastic about serving the people that visit, but most of them were happy to spend time with Shen Qingqiu—because that’s exactly what it was. Just spending time together with him. Every now and then, Shen Qingqiu would stay overnight and simply sleep beside one or two of the women in a soft bed covered in a fluffy blanket, having shed a few layers of his robe for comfort.

The presence of Shen Qingqiu became a welcome addition to her life.

Said cultivator was also staring back at her in a lavish and oriented handheld mirror that looked expensive at first glance (definitely not something Shen Qingqiu had bought himself). A mirror she was holding herself. With her own hands.. which were more callused and slender than usual.

“Woah,” Huan let out, then promptly gasped at the soothing, deeper voice that just came out of her throat.

She kept her eyes on the mirror, making specific movements in front of it to make sure that it matched the reflection and it really was her moving. She did this again and again and may have looked ridiculous in the process, but this was really hard to believe, okay!?

And, yup, after a few minutes of looking strange, she could conclude that nothing was off, besides the fact that she currently looked exactly like Shen Qingqiu.

“Hmm,” Huan tilted her head, briefly marveling at the shiny, silky, long hair that fell as she did so. Cultivators sure were lucky. Too bad brothel workers or commoners probably shouldn’t try their hand in cultivating just to remain pretty and shiny like they did.

Huan cleared her—his?—throat. “Oh, A-Huan, you’re truly the prettiest flower of them all. Not even Li-jie could measure up to you..”

She internally giggled at her own humor, but she was temporarily distracted by how charming Shen Qingqiu actually looked in the reflection.

Donned with a relaxed and content face instead of an eternally cold one, along with a mild amiable tone of voice, Lord Shen could actually be a pretty cute guy! Good to know!

(Not that Huan didn’t already think he was cute.)

Her fun was interrupted by a few firm but polite knocks on the door. She gently placed the handheld mirror back on the desk’s surface, careful not to damage it, and walked towards the door.

She stopped.

Okay, Huan didn’t have the privilege to be educated or taught outside the irregular lessons Shen Qingqiu liked to hold in the brothel, but she knew how to analyze a situation.

Obviously, this predicament she was in.. it was probably a result of the freaky stuff cultivators often dealt with. It definitely wasn’t something that Shen Qingqiu would normally do, but perhaps he overlooked something in one of his short (short in immortal standards.. weeks without Shen Qingqiu was a long time!) missions and ended up in this mess. If she could guess, Shen Qingqiu was probably in her body right now. At least she hoped so. Otherwise, where else could he be? ...well. Best not to dwell on that thought.

So what could Huan do in this situation? Since she was wearing Shen Qingqiu’s face, inadvertently affecting him even if he wasn’t actually present, she had to be really think of what the next best actions would be..

With a new determination in her heart, Huan confidently walked towards the door and opened it. She was greeted by a decent-looking-enough disciple with straight hair. This boy kind of reminded him of Shen Qingqiu, actually. If he had held himself less confidently and was less elegant by a fair amount, that is. Must be one of his disciples.

Then, she must be in Qing Jing peak. She wasn’t very well-acquainted with how things worked in Cang Qiong, but she knew there were twelve peaks, with the sect master’s being the tallest. And of course, she knew that Shen Qingqiu resided in Qing Jing peak, so she already had her suspicions.

“Shizun.” He bowed as he greeted her, and sheesh, Huan couldn’t remember if she had ever been treated in such a way before. What situation would ever require someone to treat her with so much respect?

“Ahem,” she awkwardly said, her body lax in a way that she knew Shen Qingqiu would never hold himself, but if she tried to be as elegant or lofty as Shen Qingqiu, it really wouldn’t have worked out! She shouldn’t even dare to consider trying to masquerade around as Shen Qingqiu!

“Shizun..?” The young man stood straight again, looking at her with a slightly questioning gaze. Though, the curiosity was quickly slashed out and he went back to being respectful. “A–apologies, but Shizun had asked this Ming Fan– ah, this disciple, to remind him of the peak lord meeting–“

“Riiight. Well. Listen here, Ming Fan,” Huan said, ignoring the highly bewildered look on the frozen disciple, “could you take me to your sect master? I’ll explain.”

After a surprisingly quick trip to a different peak (and resolutely refusing Ming Fan’s suggestion to go via a flying sword), Huan was greeted by odd looks from a large group of seemingly powerful people. She wondered what she did wrong, since all she had done at this point was enter the room.

“Zhangmen-shibo,” Ming Fan nervously greeted, “Shiz– ah, Miss Huan is here.”

Yue Qingyuan—Huan knew his name, everyone knew the Xuan Su sword—stared. “Pardon?”

“This is.. Miss Huan,” the poor head disciple gestured to the figure beside him.

Huan gave a little wave with a polite smile, but apparently doing that was also a wrong choice, since one of the powerful cultivators looking at her grew flustered.

“What?” A male peak lord with a fair face said, bewildered.

“This is not Shizun,” Ming Fan hastily clarified, “this disciple isn’t sure, but Miss Huan said that.. she and my Shizun must have switched bodies somehow.”

“Oh?” A beautiful female peak lord leaned in, resting her arms on the table as she intently stared at Huan, who tried not to be too obvious with her nervous shifting. “Hello, Miss Huan.”

Instinctively, the non-immortal quickly moved to be as respectful as possible. She bowed. “Greetings!”

“Shizu– ah! Miss Huan!” Ming Fan hastily said, grabbing onto her forearm to stop her from bowing before abruptly retracting his hand as if it had burned him. His eyes snapped to the forearm he had just touched before it looked back at his own hand, almost terrified. “I’m sorry for disrespecting.. wait..”

Poor boy, he looked terribly conflicted. He was probably thinking he should stop his shizun from lowering himself like this, but he couldn’t possibly order his shizun around like this, but also, this isn’t even shizun at all!?

Huan couldn’t help lightly laugh at his misery (and she may have heard a choke and a few odd noises from the group of cultivators— someone probably choked on his tea or something) before waving it off. “You’re so cute. I’m not your Shizun. Really, I’m actually a commoner, so this is what I ought to be doing.”

The tall sect master looked tense. Odd. “You needn’t act like that.”

Huan furrowed her brows. “The only difference is that I’m in A-Jiu’s body.” She shook her head, and conceded, “But alright. I guess it’s probably weird looking at me right now.”

The beautiful woman from earlier whistled. “Weird, indeed. You don’t even know.”

“Qi-shimei,” a shorter man huffed.

“A-Jiu?” The fair faced man echoed with the bewildered look that had never seemed to falter ever since she got here. He was a bit too aggressive for her taste.

Wait. A pretty and aggressive man..

Ah!

“You must be Immortal Master Liu!” Huan snapped her fingers. Then promptly jumped at the noise she herself had created. That snap turned out a lot louder than she expected. Were cultivator bodies greater in every aspect or what?

“I don’t know any Huan.”

“Understandable. You don’t know me, but you’re really loud, so I know you,” she shrugged. The fact he was well known as the War God for his amazing prowess in battle and unreal strength also helped, though she thought that was a given already, so she didn’t feel the need to mention it.

Ming Fan twitched at Huan’s casual language, before gulping and relaxing himself. It made sense that this ‘Miss Huan’ would not be very familiar with the unspoken etiquette between cultivators and the very specific and cold way Shen Qingqiu acted around his martial uncles and aunts. As a commoner, there was no way she could ever see it for herself. Besides, his martial uncles and aunts had decided to just play along with her casual demeanor, so it wasn’t exactly a bad thing… and the sect leader himself reassured her…

In hindsight, it wasn’t a big deal. But as the head disciple and the disciple who most likely knew his shizun the best (Ning Yingying may be pampered and favored by shizun, but she never had to be familiar with his behavior to please him like Ming Fan diligently tried to be), he knew this would be a big deal to Shen Qingqiu. For his estranged—hostile at worst—martial siblings to bear witness of such expressiveness from his face...

Ming Fan quietly exhaled, deciding not to intervene. Judging from the way Miss Huan had referred to his Shen Qingqiu, she and Shizun were close, right? It would all turn out just fine.

Liu Qingge looked indignant, so Huan hastily continued, “I mean no disrespect, though. Sir. Sorry.”

She winced when Liu Qingge only gaped in reply. Cultivators of the Great Four Sects were weird. How was she doing everything wrong? Or was she the weird one?

“An apology comes out of Shen Qingqiu’s mouth!” A peak lord jested, snickering. She was tall and looked fit even under the many fancy layers of robes. Her hair, unlike her martial siblings, were haphazardly free from any ties yet it didn’t make her any less lofty. Her posture was relaxed and rather improper as well.

She was very beautiful, in a way that was different from Liu Qingge and the purple clad immortal lady. Perhaps closer to handsome. Strangely, Huan thought that the picture would be complete with a bottle of wine in her hand.

“Shen-shixiong to you,” another said. “Be respectful in front of a guest.”

“Oh, please,” she rolled her eyes.

“It wasn’t even Shen-shixiong himself saying it,” a meek-looking peak lord pointed out.

Yue Qingyuan, for the first time since she had entered the room, looked stern and even a little upset. He simply cleared his throat, and the rest of the peak lords quiet down and right themselves in their respective seats.

Huan glanced at him. Whew. That was kind of cool.

“Excuse me,” she fiddled with her hands. And took a moment to admire how clean Shen Qingqiu’s nails were before focusing on the more important matters. “I’d like to go to where A-Jiu, ahem, Shen Qingqiu is. Probably where I live.”

“I see,” Yue Qingyuan replied, standing from his seat. “This one can accompany you.”

“The sect leader of Cang Qiong accompanying me?” Huan raised her hands. “Whoa. No need, thanks.”

“Ah, but..”

“Don’t worry,” ‘Qi-shimei’ rested her chin on her palm, looking at Huan straight on with her beautiful sharp eyes that almost kind of intimidated her. She spoke in a dry tone, “The sect master of Cang Qiong is not always so generous. Otherwise, it would be a wonder how this sect still stands. It’s only because you hold Shen Qingqiu’s appearance.”

“I do wonder how this predicament between you two came to be,” another peak lord spoke up. He looked gentle and smart. He had been the one to scold the handsome woman. Huan guessed he was a doctor, maybe.

“Must have been careless during a mission,” Liu Qingge huffed, crossing his arms.

Okay, rude. Huan already knew he was straight forward and blunt from the way he so boldly broke into a busy brothel, but she couldn’t have guessed someone so righteous would partake in talking behind someone’s back. Did he even know this was what it was—gossiping? Perhaps it was only honesty. Either way, it kind of irked her to hear such words being spoken about her best friend.

Yet she kept it in and settled for clenching her fists, partially hidden by Shen Qingqiu’s long green robes.

These were still respected and revered cultivators after all. It was best not to do anything that might be foolish while bearing a body that wasn’t her own.

“Anyway,” she started, earning the attention of multiple peak lords, but not all of them—some had never even looked away from the paperwork they were currently doing, ever since she came in the room. “Since it’ll be troublesome for the sect master to escort me, can’t we have someone bring Shen Qingqiu here instead?”

“This one truly doesn’t mind..”

“Let us save some face, zhangmen-shixiong,” a male peak lord with wavy hair sighed, speaking with an exasperated tone, but respectfully. “I’ll have my head disciple find him. You said your name was Huan, correct? What’s your full name?”

Huan shifted. She never had parents to name her; she had only gotten the name ‘Huan’ from a kind seller who thought she was similar to someone she had known in the past. She was never adopted into any household either, only having the brothel for half of her life.

“Uhm..”

“Why do we need someone to fetch him? Can’t he go here himself?” Liu Qingge frowned.

“Immortal master, my body isn’t one of a cultivator’s..” Huan sheepishly said, somehow embarrassed to say it amongst so many admired cultivators. “As I said before, I’m only a commoner. No spiritual talent in me either. It may take Shen Qingqiu days to get here with my untrained body.. sorry.”

“Ah,” Ming Fan blurted out, perking up as he joined the conversation once again. He briefly bowed. “This disciple can take on the task to find his shizun!”

“Alright.”

The beautiful peak lord who was referred to as ‘Qi-shimei’ smiled gently as she said her next words passive aggressively, “No need to apologize, Huan, our Qingge is rather dull.”

“Qi Qingqi!”

“A-Jiu!” Huan eagerly greeted, immediately making her pace faster to reach Shen Qingqiu like she always did whenever he visited.

However, instead of his usual indifferent look, the peak lord froze at the sight of her, rather uncomfortable. Next to him, Ming Fan seemed to be trying to make one with the ground, not moving an inch.

Her excited steps staggered to a slow pace upon noticing. She tilted her head. “What’s wrong?”

“Huan,” Shen Qingqiu hissed angrily, maybe hurriedly, furrowing his—her—brows and glaring at her with her pretty brown doe eyes.

Huan was taken aback at the sight of Shen Qingqiu’s infamous ice cold glare on her face instead of his.

Shen Qingqiu, in Huan’s body, styled his hair similar to the way he usually did; the upper half of the hair was neatly tied. She did not have an expensive or legitimate hair crown like he did, so he decorated it with a simple and prim flower clip she forgot she even had. Unsurprisingly, he didn’t really achieve the immortal and lofty look he always had in his rightful body.

Her gaze moved downward, and she noted that her best friend managed to find one of her most modest robes. Although, from what she had seen, it probably still looked improper compared to the multiple thick, flowing layers of the members of the great sect. Her robes had a casual floral look too, instead of the plain professional uniforms of the disciples and lords.

She looked back up at him and replied, “A-Jiu. What’s wrong?”

“Behave yourself!” Shen Qingqiu berated.

Huan pouted, making herself smaller. “But I don’t even know what I’m doing wrong.”

The Qing Jing peak lord grew red from the secondhand embarrassment– except, could it even be considered secondhand, when it was done with his body? Shameless!

Huan most likely didn’t realized what kind of picture she made currently, since as a woman surrounded by other brothel workers, this type of behavior was the norm and it was always received with normal reactions. Or, possibly, she knew and she was doing this just to tease Shen Qingqiu.

It was okay when she acted coquettish in her own body, but it was most definitely not when she was wearing his face!

The lord Shen of Qing Jing peak did not pout, flutter his eyelashes, fiddle with his fair hands, nor did he act like– like this! He was never dressed down like this in public either, not even in the comfort of the space he had made within the brothel! Huan did not even bother to attempt his usual hair style, letting his long hair loose..

And could she stop smiling with his face!?

Utterly shameless!

A peak lord loudly cleared his throat. Shen Qingqiu didn’t move to face his martial siblings.. or even look at Huan, out of sheer embarrassment and rage. Who knows what humiliation his closest friend had unknowingly subjected him to during the time he was stuck in the brothel.

“Well,” Shang Qinghua politely started, but Shen Qingqiu could see the tiniest bit of amusement he was getting from this situation. He continued, “Now that we have both parties in the same place, we should start finding the way to reverse this, right?”

No one replied, most of them only staring at Huan in Shen Qingqiu’s body.

The An Ding peak lord’s lip twitched. “Guys.”

The tactician finally broke under their very meaningful stares.

“Why are you all gathered here anyway?” The Qing Jing peak lord asked, his voice calm but obviously filled with vitriol. “Only Jun-shidi could possibly help with this problem. The others may attend to their own peaks and its problems.”

Translation: mind your own business!

“All of us are here because we were all in a meeting,” Yue Qingyuan said apologetically. Uselessly. “Apologies for the unnecessary commotion, Qingqiu-shidi. We will continue the meeting as normal and leave you and Jun-shidi to fix this..”

“You’re going to have a meeting without me, the tactician?” Shen Qingqiu narrowed his eyes. Slightly satisfied at the sect leader’s ashamed look, he huffed. “Very well.”

He gave Huan and his shidi a meaning look before sharply turning back around, the pair of hurried footsteps following shortly after. A few moments after, Shen Qingqiu could also hear Ming Fan’s late reaction, the young man scrambling to catch up.

He made sure to avoid any crowded places on the way, to avoid Huan causing any.. misunderstandings with her casual behavior.

Chapter Text

Jun-shidi, as A-Jiu had called him earlier, was the lord of the peak specialized in curses, traps, and the like. In the presence of Shen Qingqiu, the man seemed reserved and even felt somewhat meek, Huan observed. This was especially emphasized with Shen Qingqiu having no reservations in snapping at his shidi.

Well, it was only his right as his senior in ranking, Huan figured. She walked behind the pair of peak lords on their way, lingering behind them with her hands behind her back.

The imagery of Shen Qingqiu in her body and using her voice to snap and pick at an esteemed and skilled peak lord was kind of funny. Beside an immortal cultivator, there was a prostitute holding her chin up high with a prideful air surrounding her. Huan almost laughed dryly at the thought.

They reached Jun-shidi’s peak (Shen Qingqiu still hadn’t bothered to introduce him, Huan guessed that he had probably deemed it unimportant or unnecessary) and now they were here, waiting as the reserved shidi strode around, trying to find something helpful within the peak’s extensive library.

Shen Qingqiu’s arms were crossed as his eyes followed Jun-shidi’s pacing form. Huan observed the way he kept tapping his—er, her, technically—finger on his arm. Though, with the length of her polished nails, it was more accurate to say her nails were tapping the arm instead.

“Are you anxious?”

“Are you not?” Her friend’s gaze shifted to her instead. “You are in a body that isn’t yours.”

“Hm,” Huan hummed, thoughtful. “It’s not like your body is so bad.”

Shen Qingqiu huffed.

“Or do you dislike not having your cultivation?” She asked, the tone of her voice tilting to something Shen Qingqiu didn’t appreciate. Huan teased, “How does it feel, to be a lowly commoner with no power?”

“You know as well as I do that I’m not unfamiliar with being one,” he told her. He sounded exasperated, but his expression wasn’t so bothered.

The wide doors of the library creaked open. Huan curiously turned to the source of noise and coincidentally made direct eye contact with a somewhat familiar young girl in the process. The girl, a disciple of Shen Qingqiu’s shidi judging from the color scheme of her robes, violently flinched and respectfully looked down before bowing her head.

It made Huan even more aware of her predicament, and at the same time, she felt as if it was an overreaction. Surely, her A-Jiu was not so scary? As his close friend, she was very aware of Shen Qingqiu’s harsh and aloof demeanor, but..

Huan looked at Shen Qingqiu, who only raised an eyebrow at her.

“A-Ran,” Jun-shidi spoke. Huan was surprised to hear the firm and almost assertive tone his voice was currently taking. Perhaps he was only so meek towards Shen Qingqiu.. another curious matter. “Come help.”

“Shifu,” the disciple greeted, an almost shaky smile on her lips as she looked up at her master, looking straight past Huan.

The girl scurried past Huan, but not before giving her a quick bow out of respect, since she was under the impression that Huan was Shen Qingqiu. Huan let her gaze linger on the girl’s back, mumbling, “Where have I seen her before?”

“Weren’t you paying attention?” Shen Qingqiu looked at her, and the other turned sheepish. “On our way here, Jun-shidi saw his head disciple and requested her help for later. She was busy with other matters at the time.”

“Right,” she nodded. She then answered, “No, I had not been paying attention.”

“Ha.” He gave the slightest of smiles. “At least you’re honest.”

“You surveyed the organizing of the books last time, yes?” Jun-shidi asked her, his voice soft and encouraging. His head disciple nodded, a lot less anxious around her own master. “Do you know anything about mind swapping, body swapping, anything of the sort?”

“Ah,” A-Ran let out, “this disciple isn’t sure, but perhaps there’s something this way..”

She walked towards a direction, and her shizun followed.

Once the pair of teacher and student was out of earshot, Huan asked Shen Qingqiu, “Man, what did you do to these people?”

“What?”

“They’re all so intimidated by you,” she said. Staring at her (Shen Qingqiu’s) form and the high quality robes she was wearing, she continued, “Though, it is a little thrilling, I admit. I imagine most people like me don’t have the chance to experience something like this.”

Shen Qingqiu rolled his eyes. “What business would I have had, scaring disciples that aren’t even of Qing Jing peak? I didn’t do anything. It’s only because rumors about me spread far into the common world, which means there’s no doubt they’re well-known in the sect itself.”

“Rumors? About you being strict?”

“About me being lecherous scum,” Shen Qingqiu corrected, and Huan’s jaw dropped. “I am strict. And I admit that I am scum, although not lecherous. How have you not heard of this? You work in the Warm Red Pavilion.”

“Lecherous?” Huan exclaimed. Incredible. She also had some of her own thoughts about Shen Qingqiu calling himself scum, but that was for another time. “How could that have possibly came to be? You? You would never. Aren’t you still a virgin?”

Shen Qingqiu scowled. “The last statement was not necessary.”

Huan’s posture was casual and relaxed as she sat on a chair provided by Shen Qingqiu. This time, she took her time to properly observe the interior of the bamboo house, her gaze falling over different beautiful ink paintings, skillfully embroidered robes or fans, and a collection of different classical instruments.

She whistled, impressed. With his skill in these arts, Shen Qingqiu would make one hell of a courtesan or entertainer of some sort. Not to mention, her A-Jiu had natural talent in strategic board games and in the art of sounding sophisticated (although in Shen Qingqiu’s case, he really didn’t need to pretend he was sophisticated and knowledgeable). Clients would be scrambling trying to reserve some time with him.

“Righten your posture,” the peak lord ordered, though his eyes were still focused on the tea he was pouring for her. She was no expert, but the quality of the teapot and the tea itself must have been amazing, judging from the clear and smooth flow of the beverage coming out of the spout.

Huan straightened her back and stopped resting her elbows on the table before Shen Qingqiu could comment on that as well. She grinned, “I’m sure not many people have the privilege to have tea poured by Master Shen, heh.”

Shen Qingqiu moved on to his own cup. He looked up to give her an annoyed look. “Be quiet.”

Huan picked up the cup and took a sip. As expected, it tasted exquisite.

She licked her lips. “Do you know you’d make a great courtesan?”

Once Shen Qingqiu had finished, he took a seat across Huan. He gave her a weird look before he spoke, “Did you listen to what my shidi said?”

Guess her comment wasn’t even worthy of a response. Huan huffed, but easily accepted her companion’s brushing off.

“A-Jiu, I’m not that careless,” Huan said, pursing her lips upon seeing Shen Qingqiu’s visible disbelief at her words. “The Immortal Master said the ‘switch’ will be gone in a few days, I know, I know.”

“Indeed,” Shen Qingqiu confirmed her words and nodded. “The short time period is fortunate. Apparently, the reason was because only one half of the pair was affected by the curse. If it were both of us there, it’d have lasted a lot longer.”

“Aren’t you thankful I’m not an immortal cultivator worthy to explore with you?” She teased. Shen Qingqiu looked as if he wanted to roll his eyes. “What happened, anyway? And why me?”

The peak lord’s expression soured. He spat, “A plant. A large one, but it didn’t stand out as large plants in the wilderness were not so uncommon. I switched with you specifically, because– ah.”

“Because?” Huan prompted.

It looked as if it pained him to speak his next words. “You are one of the closest people to me.”

“Seriously?” Huan’s currently pale green eyes blinked rapidly, trying not to make her shock too obvious or dramatic, as she knew it’d only fluster—then anger—Shen Qingqiu further. She gripped the sleeves of the floral robes Shen Qingqiu was wearing. “That’s adorable, but really? Doesn’t this mean we’re like, best friends? Doesn’t it? That’s how you think of me, right?”

Her best friend only scoffed at her. He looked away and snatched his sleeves out of her hands with little force.

“Aw, A-Jiu, don’t worry,” she cooed, reaching to pinch his cheeks, but the man backhanded her hand before she could. “You know the thought is mutual.”

“Anyway,” Shen Qingqiu abruptly said, the other man’s insistence emphasized in that single word. “Huan, I need you to stay in my peak and out of trouble.”

“What am I, a dog?” Huan laughed. Her laughter quickly died down, and she continued, “I don’t think I want to.”

“Huan.”

“A-Jiu,” she said back to him. Her hands gestured to their surrounding, making a dramatic show of praising his peak. “Qing Jing Peak is beautiful and relaxing. The quiet peak it is indeed, but surely you don’t plan to constrict me in one place when your sect is so big! All of the peak lords already know anyway, so where’s the harm?”

“And what of their disciples? Only Qing Jing disciples know.”

“I can keep as quiet as possible and ignore everyone when I’m in the presence of disciples,” Huan immediately answered. “That’s what you do, right? It won’t seem out of the ordinary.”

“It’s already out of the ordinary that I’m visiting someone else’s peak.”

“It could be an important matter; a peak lord meeting was just held, after all.”

Shen Qingqiu remained quiet, looking as if he was contemplating his next answer.

“A-Jiu, pretty please?” Huan fluttered her eyelashes. This practice was a breeze, with the type of lifestyle she held.

Except Shen Qingqiu looked utterly disgusted. Whew, his glare was so intense that Huan almost hesitated. He snapped, “Don’t ever do that again, not when you’re wearing a face that isn’t yours!”

Ah, right. She teased, “What, did it look that bad?”

“This isn’t helping your case.”

Huan pouted. “I’m not trying to be difficult or anything. Not this time. I really.. do want to see what your sect is like. You barely share anything to us about the life you have now–“

“I still would prefer not to–“

“–and you don’t have to! Though, I still think you ought to be more open with your feelings. Anyway, I just really want to look at the greenery and all that stuff around here,” Huan insisted. Her hands made various expressive gestures as she explained, “I’m always stuck at the same place, the same building, and you know I hate it. I promise I won’t do anything foolish in your body. I know how much your current cultivator status means to you.”

Shen Qingqiu paused.

“I don’t know, I just wanna enjoy it while I have a valid excuse not to be working.” She doubted people would oppose to her short ‘break’ when there were esteemed cultivators involved. “I like being around all of our jiejie and our meimei, of course.. I..”

She trailed off, tense, feeling awkward in admitting things like this. It wasn’t as if she was shy, introverted, or a closed person, that was more of A-Jiu’s thing (though he would have vehemently protested the adjective ‘shy’, for sure), but she wasn’t used to being open about her thoughts on her… life in general.

“Fine,” the cultivator grit out. “This master has lessons to teach disciples. Even if I refused, I know you’d still go out of your way to do something while I’m preoccupied. So, fine!”

Her face lit up and her smile was wide as she looked at the other. She stood up from her seat, the chair skidding back in the process. “Great!”

His eye twitched. “And stop smiling so much.”

Huan ignored him. “It’s a shame you’re still going to be conducting lessons. If you took over my job for a few days, my reputation would rocket.”

“Plummet, more like.” Shen Qingqiu drank from his cup of tea. “I’d sooner hit my client than ever bear to ‘entertain’ him.”

“You know that’s not all courtesans do!” Huan reminded him. “You’d do great performing music pieces for them. Playing Go. Having an enlightening conversation.”

“You think I’d be good at conversation?” Shen Qingqiu questioned, one of his straight brows rising as he did so. He then frowned. “Saying all of this is pointless. As if I would ever consider it.”

“I digress.” She shrugged. “But I know you’re great at conversation. You’re capable of being pleasant when you want to be.”

“And I never want to be,” the peak lord said, off-handed. He stood up as well, having finished his tea. “Go, and stop bothering me.”

Running into the weird and nice version of Shen Qingqiu wasn’t one of Liu Qingge’s expectations for today.

Huan, Liu Qingge corrected himself internally, looking at the unusual and frankly unnerving expression on his martial brother’s face. This wasn’t another version of Shen Qingqiu. It wasn’t him. It may be Shen Qingqiu’s body, but just the subtle mannerisms and tone of voice were enough to tell Liu Qingge that this was not him.

“Am I bothering you?” The person wearing Shen Qingqiu’s body asked him, being considerate and sounding kind. She wasn’t smiling yet, but she might as well be. Liu Qingge didn’t know if he could handle it, if she did.

“Why?” It came out more strained than he intended. ’Huan’ blinked. He clarified, “Why are you here?”

“Most of the other peak lords weren’t available,” she told him, “which I understand; you’re all very important people. Anyway, I was just feeling restless.”

“I’m also busy.”

“Doing what?”

“..I’ll go on a night hunt.”

Huan curiously looked up at the sky. The movement seemed softer and relaxed and nothing like Shen Qingqiu. But despite his bewilderment and his inner turmoil at this, Liu Qingge could recognize that she was making fun of his poor excuse, especially with the mirth in her eyes when her gaze dropped and the next words she spoke: “It doesn’t seem like night time to me. Far from it, actually.”

“Where is Shen Qingqiu?”

“On Qing Jing peak, teaching his disciples,” Huan answered, almost dutifully. “Can I have some of your time or not, Master Liu?”

Liu Qingge almost winced. It wasn’t as if Shen Qingqiu never mocked him with titles, but it never sounded genuine or hopeful. “Don’t do that.”

“Call you Master Liu?” ..she said it again.

“Yes,” he immediately said. “Don’t say that.”

“Noted,” Huan said. She looked at him expectantly. “So, about my earlier question..?”

“…we should be inside first,” Liu Qingge awkwardly said in lieu of an answer, looking away from the slight joy on Shen Qingqiu’s face. As he did, he spotted quite a few of his disciples looking on at the pair of peak lords curiously, some even whispering amongst themselves.

It just occurred to him that Huan and Liu Qingge’s conversation had been going on for a few minutes too long without either of them blowing up or showing any major sign of irritation. To his disciples’ point of view, seeing their shizun and said shizun’s loathed martial brother acting so amicably must have been bizarre.

(His enhanced hearing naturally made it so that he could be made aware of most of what the brats were talking about. They were young and they weren’t disciples of the peak of spy work, but Liu Qingge at least expected some subtlety.

… he almost sounded disturbingly like Shen Qingqiu there. Do they really spend so much time bickering?)

Huan still had that smile on her face as she nodded and agreed to Liu Qingge’s words. He ignored the want to avert his eyes again. “And don’t do that either.”

Huan borderline pouted. That may be even worse. “What now?”

Liu Qingge swiftly turned and walked to the direction of his private quarters. He answered, with his back turned to that unnerving smile, “That thing.”

Huan almost had to scramble to catch up with the Bai Zhan peak lord. The clumsy act was extremely odd to see being done by Shen Qingqiu’s body. Once her pace matched with Liu Qingge (was he walking with more urgency than needed or was it just her..), she questioned, “What?”

“With your mouth.”

Huan looked terribly confused for a moment — yet another odd sight — before it seemed to click in her mind. She teased, “What, does A-Jiu never smile at you?”

Liu Qingge set his lips into a firm line. For some reason, rather than irritation at being teased, the words evoked another feeling he couldn’t name. “Shen Qingqiu never smiles at all.”

The woman wearing Shen Qingqiu’s face blinked. She averted her gaze to look forward as she walked. From his peripheral vision, he could see that her perpetual happy smile finally fell. She awkwardly cleared her throat. “Oh.”

“Ye-shijie, is it really such a big deal,” the young Bai Zhan disciple whined, having switched to incessantly complaining once he had given up on resisting the strong grip Ye-shijie had on his arm as she dragged him to their destination. “Shizun doesn’t have to know. All is done, all is well.”

“I don’t know why you keep trying,” Ye-shijie instead said, her bright eyes looking back at the younger disciple in mild annoyance, her brows furrowed. “Everyone gets their due punishment here. You’re no exception.”

A-Meng groaned, though it was drowned out by her next words.

“Besides, we’re here already.”

He looked around him then froze. He hadn’t noticed they were already so close earlier!

Panicked, he renewed his efforts to get away. “Shijie–“

However, Ye-shijie’s grip was barely affected, and it didn’t look like it required much of her effort either. What a monster—both physically and figuratively!!!

“We don’t get to see shizun often, because of all of his missions..”

Just a few more steps, and his senior would reach the door and thus start his demise. He spoke frantically, “I’m–“

“This is a chance to learn from shizun–“

“Learn what? The feeling of being beat up? I’m already quite well-versed in that,“ just like every other Bai Zhan disciple—

Ye-shijie reached the door, and raised a closed fist to knock on it and make their presence known.

NO!

Hastily, and maybe a bit stupidly, A-Meng quickly maneuvered his body and grabbed her wrist with his free hand before her fist could land. His racing heart settled slightly at his success, and he could feel himself sighing in relief.

His moment of victory was cut short, however, when he looked up and saw the angered expression on his shijie’s face.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

He quickly retracted his hand from her wrist, smoothly transitioning to a sheepish and apologetic demeanor. “Uhm.”

“Are you still trying to stop it?” Ye-shijie looked irked, looking down on her junior with her hands on her hips. A-Meng was just glad she wasn’t about to knock on the door anymore. “It’s no use. We’re here already, and I’m sure all the noise you’ve made had already alerted shizun.”

A-Meng slapped a hand to his mouth, eyes wide. His gaze flew towards the slight opening in the door, and, sure enough..

Their shizun wasn’t aware of their presence yet…?

“What?” Ye-shijie turned — he briefly felt a spike in his heartbeat upon seeing her so close to the door — and she was also surprised to see that their shizun showed no signs of actually noticing them.

Through the small opening, she tried to look further for any explanation, for any reason why their incredibly alert and perceptive shizun was distracted—

And there it was. Beside their shizun was a familiar green clad figure who was frankly infamous to the Bai Zhan peak.

“Shen Qingqiu?” She muttered, mostly to herself, but it did earn a reaction from A-Meng, who shoved himself closer to Ye-shijie to see it for himself. So absorbed in investigating the sight, she didn’t show her irritation at the non-existent distance between them.

Seeing Shen Qingqiu in their peak was already strange enough, since that man wouldn’t step foot in their ‘barbarian, brute-filled’ peak if he could help it, but he and their shizun having a civil conversation was even stranger.

“This looks weird. Is it just me? This looks weird, doesn’t it?” A-Meng rapidly whispered, watching the sight with growing bewilderment.

“Shut up,” she quietly snapped at him, “shizun may be distracted, but that doesn’t mean he lost his enhanced senses.”

“Look at him,” he said, prompting the older to look back at their Bai Zhan peak lord, “he’s completely focused.”

He was right. It was different from their shizun’s unwavering focus towards targets and the wild beasts he captured, but it was still a lot of attention from their usually indifferent shizun.

Though, come to think of it, this part wasn’t exactly new, was it?

Liu Qingge and Shen Qingqiu were always arguing whenever they were in each other’s proximity, but just like now, it was always hard to redirect their attention from each other. It always led to unnecessarily long debates and taking up all the time in peak lord meetings or whatever event was happening.

Ye-shijie blinked. If one were to think about it that way, it seemed as if their shizun always had his eyes on Shen Qingqiu.

The strange course of direction her thoughts were going towards was interrupted when A-Meng nudged his shoulder against hers. “Look! His face!”

Confused, she squinted. Her first thought was that their shizun’s face was still as handsome as ever, followed by oh my god is he blushing?

She couldn’t believe her eyes. During the short time she was preoccupied with her thoughts, Shen Qingqiu had began talking and maintaining proper eye contact with Liu Qingge. For once, his eyes seemed relaxed and his mouth wasn’t twisted in a permanent scowl. In fact, it was quite the opposite. She could see the beginnings of a smile on his face. A smile! On Shen Qingqiu’s face!

Never mind Shen Qingqiu and Liu Qingge being civil, this was practically flirting, wasn’t it!?

(Alright, maybe that was an overreaction. If it were any other pair of people, most would just assume they were normal friends talking and move on—but this was Shen Qingqiu! Leaning closer to his speaking partner.. or having conversation with someone in the first place.. that wasn’t like him!

She had to admit, though, Shen Qingqiu did look rather attractive when he wasn’t being cold.)

She stared, her mouth agape. Her gaze slid to her right, meeting A-Meng’s similarly surprised eyes.

Chapter Text

At first, Huan couldn’t understand the reason behind the Bai Zhan peak lord’s odd behavior. After some time conversing about mundane impersonal things with Liu Qingge, it had become obvious that his awkward behavior wasn’t as simple as being unfamiliar with a stranger— well, it could also be because Liu Qingge wasn’t the most, ah, sociable person. To anyone else, this was the most plausible explanation, but!

Huan, though her age may not compare to an immortal master, had seen enough to know what the reason could be!

“Interesting,” Huan amiably said. For once, her show of interest wasn’t faked in an effort to appeal to a client. Truly, hearing about the bizarre and brutal way the Bai Zhan peak functioned was a blast. Where else could she find someone who could so easily mention defeating their own shizun?

Moving a distance just enough to be noticed by Liu Qingge, Huan leaned closer to the Bai Zhan peak lord and observed his resulting reaction: a slightly flustered look on his fair face, his body language tensing as he intensely stared at Huan’s face— or more accurately, Shen Qingqiu’s face.

She’d have to be a horrible brothel worker if she couldn’t recognize such signs from a man.

Huan grinned.

Attraction. Finally, something she was deeply familiar with. The War God might not be so impervious to the matters of romance after all.

Though, judging from the peak lords’ odd behavior and their unfamiliarity with Shen Qingqiu’s.. everything, none of them were very good friends with Huan’s best friend. In fact, judging from the passive aggressive words coming from Shen Qingqiu’s martial siblings, they may have even disliked him. Forget the chance of a sweet romance blooming!

Huan looked at Liu Qingge’s pretty face. But..

A fiery determination sparked in Huan’s eyes. Liu Qingge, unused to seeing such non-malicious passion in those cold sharp eyes, felt somewhat uneasy. Whether it was because of the strange sight or the possibility of Huan planning anything, he wasn’t sure.

I approve of this one, A-Jiu!

He may be a bit brash, and maybe Huan was a bit annoyed the last time he crashed into the pavilion rather explosively, but she could tell that Liu Qingge was genuinely a good person at his core. And he was easy on the eyes. Very easy.

Leave this to me! Huan thought.

Shen Qingqiu would always prefer solitude over any other alternative, but it wasn’t as if he constantly despised the thought of company. After all, he and Huan were friends. But despite his social circle only consisting of women, he had never shown any attraction. So maybe this wouldn’t end in a blooming romance between previously estranged martial siblings, but at the very least, Shen Qingqiu may gain another friend. In Huan’s opinion, Shen Qingqiu deserved another addition to his friend group (fan club).

Now, to put her plan into action. “Peak Lord Liu, why don’t you guess how I know A-Jiu?”

Liu Qingge seemed to react to the affectionate name again. “You are close.”

“That’s true,” Huan hummed, happy to get the opportunity to show off her newly confirmed friendship with Shen Qingqiu (close friends, he said, they were practically the best of buds). “You haven’t heard yet, since we only recently discovered this, but A-Jiu ran into a plant that would transfer his soul into a close friend’s body, and vice versa.”

Liu Qingge already got the idea that they were close, so his surprise to this information wasn’t much. But the confirmation was enlightening nonetheless. “Huh.”

“So you could say I’m his best friend!” Huan eagerly said, bright. She quickly composed herself. “But anyway. Don’t you wonder how we met?”

“No.”

Huan ignored his reply easily. “At the brothel! I work at the Warm Red Pavilion!”

Liu Qingge’s previously tentative and neutral face immediately twisted at that. Indignant at the mere mention of the brothel, he exclaimed, “What? Is that– you, someone close to Shen Qingqiu.. do you mean–“

Huan watched his blundering with mild amusement. She was already familiar with rich young masters’ awkwardness towards her type of lifestyle, so it didn’t bother her too much.

A slightly redder hue overtook Liu Qingge’s face. “So you..!”

“Have never laid or partook in such activities with Shen Qingqiu!” Huan finished. Making a show of her sincerity, she continued, “I swear on.. uh,” she didn’t really have any parents to swear on, let alone their graves– “what was it.. right! May Heaven strike me down if I’m lying!”

Dumbfounded, Liu Qingge simply said, “..what?”

“I recently discovered that he was rumored to be lecherous and insatiable,” Huan said, ignoring Liu Qingge’s shocked state. “As his best friend, I decided I should resolve this issue. I mean, what could be more trustworthy than the words of one of the same brothel workers he’s rumored to be insatiable towards?”

Liu Qingge looked conflicted. “Shen Qingqiu never said anything.”

“A-Jiu doesn’t really care about those rumors.” Huan sighed, shaking her head in disapproval. “When it comes to his reputation, it’s like it doesn’t matter at all. I’m not one to get involved, but when it affects a friend this badly, I feel the need to correct things.”

The peak lord continued to look so very conflicted, almost pained. The sword callused hand resting on the table was clenched tightly. “Then many of my actions towards him have been unjust.”

Knowing Shen Qingqiu, he probably didn’t put much effort, if any, in trying to resolve the misunderstanding. The blame couldn’t fall completely on Liu Qingge. But this seemed pointless to discuss now, with Shen Qingqiu somewhere else. Huan brushed off the apologetic tone. “I may be in his body, but I’m not the one you should say these things to.”

Liu Qingge stood abruptly, startling Huan when the table shook from the force.

Recovering from her daze, Huan followed suit and stood up as well, though in a much calmer manner. “Wait, wait, are you gonna confront him now?”

“Why should I waste time.”

Wow! He was really straight to the point!

Distantly, Huan noted that this trait would make him very compatible with her A-Jiu. With someone as determined and straightforward Liu Qingge, she was sure that any future quarrels would be resolved without beating around the bush, something her friend would appreciate. No quietly building resentment either, since both of them wouldn’t be afraid to express their dislike towards something.

Huan shook her head. They weren’t even on good terms yet, she needed to stop thinking too far ahead! She told Liu Qingge, “He’s busy. He said he would be teaching his students.”

Liu Qingge raised a brow. “Shen Qingqiu doesn’t bother with his disciples.”

Huan blinked. “Oh, really? But that’s what he said.”

“Probably lied to you,” he said. Then, before Huan could actually start to feel offense at the suggestion, he hesitated, “..or not.”

“Hm?”

Liu Qingge contemplated. He continued, the hesitation on his face fading, “Shen Qingqiu.. in his current state, without his original body, he must be itching for something to do.”

“Oh,” Huan let out. That made a lot of sense. Even within the walls of the pavilion, he couldn’t stay still. Until he was lulled into sleep, he would always be doing something, like playing an instrument, doing paperwork, or entertaining a girl’s curiosity. She was almost disappointed that she didn’t come to that conclusion herself– but this also showed that Liu Qingge was starting to change! Judging from the swift answer, it must have been natural for him to assume the worst, but now he was trying.

But.. trying or not, Huan still wasn’t sure about Liu Qingge interrupting Shen Qingqiu’s lessons. “Are you sure you should go to him now? Won’t he get angry?”

The peak lord pursed his lips. “Misunderstandings shouldn’t be left alone.”

“Do you know what exactly you’re going to say?” Huan nervously asked.

“That–“

Multiple knocks on the door interrupted their conversation. Shortly after, the door creaked opened. The visitor had not waited for a confirmation to be let in, so it was either a rather imprudent disciple or it was no disciple of Liu Qingge’s at all.

“Brother,” a beautiful young woman greeted, giving the shallowest of bows. Upon rising from her bow, she then noticed the other party in the room. Where her veil didn’t cover, shock was shown on her face. Her brows raised. “Shen-shibo?”

“O–oh, greetings.”Belatedly, the newcomer reeled in her shock and bowed in a much more professional manner. Huan just awkwardly stood there. “Apologies.”

“Mingyan,” Liu Qingge greeted back.

Liu Mingyan rose from her bow. “This disciple didn’t know Shen-shibo was here.”

Ignoring Liu Mingyan’s pointed looks (“Ge, why didn’t you warn me!?”), an idea seemed to have popped up in the Bai Zhan peak lord’s head. He perked up. “Mingyan.”

“Yes?”

Huan looked between the pair of siblings, curious. Did the presence of his sister inspire anything? She couldn’t have guessed.

“Help me. I need to prepare saying something to Shen Qingqiu.”

Understanding donned Huan’s face. She didn’t expect the immortal master to ask for help, but it made sense. Considering what she had seen so far, it wasn’t a surprise that Liu Qingge would need a little guidance. Let’s just hope his younger sister didn’t inherit the same social skills Liu Qingge had!

“To..?” Liu Mingyan’s gaze shifted to Huan. She looked back at her brother, bewildered. “To Shen-shibo?”

Oh. Right. She was in Shen Qingqiu’s body, so to an unknowing Liu Mingyan, this scene might have looked awkward. Huan coughed. “..this one shall leave.”

She turned to leave, but it only confused Liu Mingyan further. The young disciple turned to her older brother, a question in her eyes, and Huan fled from the scene. That’s your problem, Peak Lord Liu!

“There he is!” A-Meng whispered furiously. His fellow disciples, both of them dirtied or bruised in some way, paused in their activities and followed their shidi’s line of sight. “He’s finally done talking with shizun!”

“Talking?” A girl scoffed. “I’m sure they weren’t doing much talking. I bet they were arguing the whole time.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” the eldest of the group told her, shoving her side. He seemed to be a lot more disciplined than the rest of the unruly brats, which frankly wasn’t a high bar to pass, but he was still curious enough to join his juniors in staring at the Qing Jing peak lord. “Why would they bother going to shizun’s house just to argue? Don’t accuse shizun of childish behavior.”

“But it makes more sense than whatever Meng-shidi was saying!” The girl argued, glaring at the back of A-Meng’s head. Sensing the familiar burning glare on him, he returned the glare over his shoulder with no hesitation. “Shizun and Shen Qingqiu having a pleasant conversation? Slander, I say!”

“Ye-shijie saw it too, you know!” A-Meng reminded her, not kindly. Shameless, he used the girl’s closeness with Ye Shuxiang against her, “Are you going to say shijie lied to you? That she’s gossiping about shizun?”

“That’s.. well, A-Xiang wouldn’t…” the girl stammered. She couldn’t control her face flushing from embarrassment and she averted her eyes, but in doing so, her gaze fell back on to the infamous Qing Jing peak lord. Watching his calm gait, she squinted. After finally taking a good look at Shen Qingqiu, she noticed something strange.

The faint blush on her face faded, making way for a look of surprise. “What?”

“What, what?” Her shidi, nosy as ever, immediately forgot his anger and turned to look at whatever she had seen.

Shen Qingqiu had already walked a fair amount of distance, but he wasn’t off the peak yet.

A-Meng asked, “Why is he only walking? Can’t he fly?”

She rolled her eyes. Obviously, that wasn’t what she was shocked about! “No, more importantly, why does he look so happy?”

The eldest stared at the peak lord’s demeanor; unsurprisingly, he wasn’t smiling, but he didn’t seem upset either. In fact, he seemed the tiniest bit pleased. That was already a huge shock, considering the fact he just finished talking to their shizun of all people. It should have been the complete opposite— he should be angry, leaving the peak in an uncharacteristic hurry.

He hesitated to speak, “It seems Ye-shijie and Meng-shidi were telling the truth.”

“Of course!”

“But–“ the girl looked at Shen Qingqiu, bewildered. “Didn’t A-Meng say shizun was blushing and all?”

Even the boy himself was surprised at the reminder. “Right. And before you say anything, that part is really true! I swear!”

“No way,” she said, but her expression showed that she didn’t find it unbelievable. After recent developments (read: Shen Qingqiu not being angry), A-Meng’s claims didn’t sound so ridiculous now. “Does that mean shizun and Shen Qingqiu..”

A silence befell on the three disciples. Their shock temporarily prevented them from saying anything more. Who wouldn’t be surprised? The last time they checked, which wasn’t very long ago, their shizun and Shen Qingqiu were at each other’s throats— both figuratively and quite literally! With this newfound information, they were conflicted on what to say or feel.

“Well,” the eldest started, “it seems we should start being welcoming to Shen-shibo.”

When he heard his door creak open, Shen Qingqiu’s attention shifted away from one of his disciple’s adequate calligraphy work. It was quite easy to distract him from his task, if he were to be honest. It wasn’t exactly fun to look at.

A disturbingly familiar face—how could it not be familiar when it was his own face—greeted him when the figure welcomed themselves into his hut. Bright green eyes took notice of the new robes he was wearing.

“Oh, I’m surprised your clothes weren’t too loose,” Huan said, pleasantly surprised. A little too pleasant. Not because she was wearing his face, but because Huan really did seem too pleased with herself. Shen Qingqiu’s eyes narrowed in suspicion. “Well, I guess we aren’t that different in size. A-Jiu is just taller.”

“Hm.” Shen Qingqiu’s narrowed gaze continued to bore into her. “And how did your little excursion go.”

Huan skillfully ignored his suspicion. “Great, but I’m not finished yet!”

“What went so great?” Shen Qingqiu asked, gently placing the paper back onto the stack of inked papers. “Why are you so happy?”

The woman laughed. “Can’t I just be happy?”

“What did you do?”

“Like I said, I explored,” Huan answered, smiling. “I got to see a lot of new things with my own eyes. Truly, I didn’t know you guys flew on your swords that often. I see why, though. If I knew how to fly, it probably would’ve taken me much less time to get back here…”

“It’s convenient,” Shen Qingqiu said. Finally, he asked, “Where did you go, Huan?”

“Bai Zhan peak.”

His eyes widened. “Huan!”

Huan hurried to defend herself, “You said I could do what I wanted!”

“I do not recall saying that,” Shen Qingqiu hissed. Huan pouted, and seeing his own face do something so childish did not help her case. “Why there, of all places? Besides Xian Shu, going there would be the most suspicious. This master would never willingly step foot in that barbarian peak!”

“But Peak Lord Liu was the only one available,” Huan told him.

“All peak lords always have work to do.” Shen Qingqiu pointedly looked at the stack of papers on his table. “It’s just that Liu Qingge doesn’t bother to do them. I’m sure he just passes on his paperwork to some of his stupid disciples as punishment.”

“Well, it’s too late.” Huan crossed her arms. To her credit, she wasn’t wrong. There was no point in repeating or prolonging his scolding when it had already been done. Shen Qingqiu’s ruthless shizun would’ve disagreed– but it was a good thing he was no longer in the mortal world. “Besides, I don’t think anyone said anything. A lot of the children were busy roughhousing with their swords, which, honestly, doesn’t seem to be very safe.”

“That’s their way of training,” Shen Qingqiu informed dryly. “Well, fret not, they do more disciplined training every now and then.”

She was somewhat disappointed she couldn’t see the disciplined training he was talking about. Would her inexperienced eyes be able to tell the difference? Perhaps she would find out one day.

Shen Qingqiu’s sharp glare flitted towards Huan once more. “You are sure that nothing bothersome happened?”

“Yep,” Huan assured.

“You didn’t hear anything, not even with my enhanced hearing?”

Well. Huan hadn’t thought to take advantage of that particular part of his cultivator body. She wouldn’t mention that, of course. If she heard something suspicious, surely she would have noticed. “I didn’t hear anything.”

At that, Shen Qingqiu had a considering look. “What a surprise. The Bai Zhan disciples may have a one-track mind like their shizun, but they’re awfully fond of gossip when it comes to this master.”

Really? Huan had assumed the constant fleeting glances and conversations between the disciples were common behavior… that was another thing she would neglect to mention to Shen Qingqiu. What could be the harm? All she did was visit Liu Qingge. She made sure not to be careless with her expressions either, so her behavior couldn’t have been too out of character for the Qing Jing peak lord.

(Unbeknownst to Huan, the Shen Qingqiu that she was familiar with was a lot more relaxed than what the Cang Qiong members were used to. For what reason would Shen Qingqiu act strict and ruthless within the walls of a brothel?)

Huan swallowed. “Interesting.”

A young disciple clad in Qing Jing’s colors cheered, a light Zui Xian specialty in her deceptively delicate hand. “Finally, a chance to hang out.”

“Shuxiang kept getting assigned missions,” a beautiful Xian Shu disciple sighed. “Our recent conversations have only been short and fleeting. You’re always in such a hurry.”

The Qing Jing disciple, Song Jia, sent the Xian Shu disciple a knowing look. With a good-natured laugh, she said, “It’s also difficult since our shizuns aren’t in very good terms.”

“Si-shijie, believe me, I prefer to be out on a mission than to stay on Bai Zhan,” Ye Shuxiang said, a weary look on her face. “I just came back recently, yet I’ve already ran into a shidi fooling around.”

“Liu-shishu recently came back from a mission, no?” Si-shijie asked, which Ye Shuxiang confirmed with a nod. She snickered, “I’m sure Liu-shishu must have been brutal, then. How unlucky for him, to have both Shuxiang and his shizun on the peak the same time he misbehaved.”

Ye Shuxiang hesitated. “Well.”

“Hm?”

“His punishment has been postponed for now,” Ye Shuxiang said, to the surprise of her friends. “My shizun was.. preoccupied. He seemed to be enjoying himself, so I didn’t want to sully his mood.”

“Enjoying himself? Occupied with what?”

The Bai Zhan disciple shrugged, an unsure look on her face. “With.. Shen-shibo.”

The Qing Jing disciple of the group choked, immediately pulling her beverage away from her mouth, batting her chest in an effort to compose herself.

“Song-shijie!”

Shen Qingqiu’s brow twitched. It had barely been a few hours before he supervised their last lesson. What on earth could have happened in that short period of time?

His gaze swept over his disciples, who tensed even further, as if they were guilty of something they hadn’t admitted yet. Really, how much more eventful was this day going to be? Switching bodies with Huan was already tiring enough!

The sudden silence from their shizun served to make the disciples even more nervous. Shen Qingqiu observed as most of them kept averting their eyes. Surprisingly, the only one that seemed to be composed was the little beast, who finally bothered to attend the lessons. However, he was sure that it wasn’t because Luo Binghe was more restrained than his seniors. He must have been left in the dark about whatever just happened.

Letting out a short frustrated sigh, Shen Qingqiu slammed his fan down onto one of the disciple’s desks, effectively pulling all their eyes towards him (and earning a shriek from the one unfortunate disciple). Even in Huan’s body, his disciples were still intimidated. Good. It seems he had successfully ingrained obedience into his brats.

“What is the problem? Is there something you ought to say to this master?”

None of them spoke up, but at least they weren’t trying to look everywhere but his direction anymore.

Shen Qingqiu made eye contact with one certain disciple. “Ning Yingying.”

Ning Yingying startled. “Shizun–“

“Shizun,” another disciple interrupted. It was Song Jia, Shen Qingqiu recognized. One of the few female Qing Jing disciples that managed to befriend Xian Shu’s members. “This disciple.. ah, a new rumor about shizun has recently started spreading.”

“I see.”

Despite this newfound information, Shen Qingqiu only felt calm. With Huan running around in his body, that was to be expected. However, he was of the belief that nothing could make his reputation any worse than it already was. Unless Huan murdered someone in plain sight, which was out of the question. Huan had also promised not to act foolish, and he was sure that she was skilled enough to imitate Shen Qingqiu’s usual behavior. (Their image of the ‘usual’ Shen Qingqiu was different.)

Was that all? He resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “Don’t let something so insignificant distract you from your studies.”

Song Jia immediately nodded, prompting some of the other disciples to show their agreement through nodding or a quiet ‘yes, shizun’.

(“Ge, you need to be more careful about this!” Liu Mingyan told him, oddly passionate, an unusual twinkle in her gorgeous eyes. “If you’re going to have a meaningful, emotional talk with Shen-shibo, you have to–“

“Who said it was going to be emotional?” Liu Qingge said, a little disconcerted to see his younger sister so unusually eager. Of course, her sister wasn’t always calm and composed, but of all things, he didn’t think something like this would excite her. What was she even excited about?

“A conversation that will clear up all the misunderstandings between you two, and eventually, a.. a–“ Liu Mingyan cleared her throat, “a friendship will finally bloom. Friendship.”

“Mingyan?” Liu Qingge questioned.

“Anyway, ge, you need to tell me how it goes after,” Liu Mingyan demanded him, with an air befitting of the youngest daughter of a noble family, which was exactly what she was.

Liu Qingge stared. “Sure.”)