Work Text:
The sun beat down on the Great Shaman as he tended his medicinal garden and pretended he could not hear nor see his husband and student attempting to sneak up on him. This tested his meager acting skills as Jing Beiyuan was dramatically tip-toeing while pausing every few steps to “shh” at Lu Ta, who was valiantly trying to control his giggles.
Eventually it got too ridiculous and Wu Xi called out over his shoulder, “Lu Ta, did you finish the sorting task I had given you before you let your father sweep you into his mischief?”
At this, Lu Ta pulled up short as if he was surprised his teacher had known they were there. He quickly gathered his wits and replied, “Yes, Teacher. All the herbs have been sorted and bundled like you showed me. Father did not even come find me until I was nearly done.”
“Yes, Little Toxin, I waited for him to finish and did not help him at all. Stop looking at me like that, Wu Xi. Okay fine, I may have held his ribbons for him and did the bundling on a couple of the last piles. I’d finished reading the last of the poetry shipment and he was working so diligently. I had to help him!”
Whatever response Wu Xi would have given was cut off by the arrival of Ashinlai, bringing news of a young looking visitor. “Da Wu, the man said something about needing the greatest healer around.”
“Well, he came to the right place!” Jing Beiyuan interjected. “I’m glad people have heard of the skills of our Great Shaman!”
“Enough, Beiyuan.” Wu Xi then turned to Ashinlai, “Tell the man I will be with him shortly.”
When Wu Xi paused at the entryway to his receiving room, he saw that the white-clothed man was alternating between peering at the biographical carvings and nibbling on the refreshments with gusto.
Without pausing either activity, the man called out, “Are you planning to come in, Da Wu or is it customary in Nanjiang to conduct business from the entryway?”
“I had heard whispers that the Changming immortal had descended his mountain, but I never expected to find him in Nanjiang. What brings you to my country, qianbei?”
The man turned as Wu Xi finished speaking and introduced himself. “I am Ye Baiyi and I have sworn to find a cure for one Zhou Zishu-“
“You know Zhou Zishu? Where is he? What has he done now?”
Ye Baiyi was surprised at this reaction. “You know Qin Huaizhang’s disciple? Why was I sent across the land if he has a personal relationship with you?”
Wu Xi barely seemed to notice Ye Baiyi’s confusion as he began contemplating what needed to be done before they could go to Zhou Zishu’s aid. Pausing, he called out “Beiyuan, stop eavesdropping and go brief Ping’An. We will need him to go on ahead and prepare the way.” After saying this, Wu Xi turned back to Ye Baiyi. “Ye-qianbei, please stay the night as I know the journey here was long. Also, feel free to send a message with Ping’An as his banks double as some of the fastest couriers in either of our countries.” Wu Xi then turned and swept out of the room, leaving a momentarily stunned Ye Baiyi in his wake.
Some hours later, Ping’An caught Wu Xi and Jing Beiyuan in their preparations, “Da Wu, my prince, I have gathered all the medicines and supplies as instructed, but why has Immortal Ye handed me two letters addressed to Zhou Zishu in a matter of hours?”
“Ah, Little Toxin, did you do that thing again where you thought thinking something really hard means you said it out loud?”
Wu Xi did not dignify that with a response but turned to Ping’An, “My apologies, Ping’An. I need you to travel to the town closest to Si Ji Shan Zhuang and pass Ye-qianbei’s letters along to Zhou Zishu. Additionally, I need you to let him know that Beiyuan and I will be coming. You can travel much faster than us, on account of all the supplies I will need to gather along the way, and your prince’s rest requirements.”
“It will be done, Da Wu!” Ping’An turned as if to go but then hesitated as if he had more to say.
“Yes, Ping’An? Is there something else?”
“I guess I was wondering what was to be done about the Little Shaman, my lords. It is supposed to be my week to teach him household accounting and I wonder when that will happen, seeing as you both are preparing for a journey…”
“Just say you want him to come with you, Ping’An. It’s like you’ve picked up nothing in our time in Nanjiang. Dithering and insinuating at what you want takes up too much time and energy. Little Toxin, it’s fine if Lu Ta goes with Ping’An, right? He’s a much better rider than I am and will easily keep up with Ping’An’s speed.”
“As you wish, Beiyuan.”
A dusty road, a caravan of wagons and horses, and a singular carriage bumping along.
“It’s a good thing the Great One was willing to keep an eye on Nanjiang for us, Wu Xi. Although, he didn’t seem pleased that you’ve grown the menagerie since his last visit. How does he expect you to teach Lu Ta about poisonous animals-“
“Venomous animals, Beiyuan.”
“Oh, right. Venomous animals. How does he expect you to teach about venomous animals and their antidotes without live examples?”
They continued on in this way, Jing Beiyuan chattering away with Wu Xi making comments or corrections as needed.
The only times Wu Xi asked his beloved husband to give him some peace and quiet were when he was either working in his workshop or he was preparing delicate ingredients so they could be safely transported. This has been their custom since early on in their marriage, when Jing Beiyuan learned why you don’t startle a shaman as he is preparing medicine. Jing Beiyuan’s eyebrows eventually did grow back, but Wu Xi’s workshop smelled faintly of burnt squash until a monsoon swept it away and they built a new one.
With that knowledge in mind, it was obviously an emergency when Nuahar interrupted Wu Xi’s work. “Da Wu, the scouts have reported Tian Chuang operatives within two-days-travel of Si Ji Shan Zhuang.”
“Tell the scouts to keep following the operatives, but not to engage. We will be there within three days at our current pace.”
One travel montage later, lasting two and a half days.
“Little Toxin, I can see you fussing over me and itching to take my pulse. Getting to Zishu’s side in time is well worth any ill-effects I suffer from the pace…” Jing Beiyuan trailed off as he looked towards the horizon. “Wu Xi, is that smoke coming from Si Ji Shan Zhuang?”
Wu Xi could do nothing more than nod in reply as he gestured one of the men to scout ahead; his shock rendering him silent.
That silence continued through being barely introduced to Zhou Zishu’s disciple and was only broken because the boy’s qi-deviating shishu would not pause his mindless run until Wu Xi mentioned that he knew Zhou Zishu.
Thankfully, by the time Wu Xi had subdued Wen Kexing, Ping’An had arrived from the nearby town with some of his employees and the directions to one of Jing Beiyuan’s country estates.
“My lords, Zhou-zhuangzhu came to see me yesterday concerned that something like this was going to happen, so I took the liberty of sending some people to start opening up my prince’s nearest estate.”
“That is excellent news, Ping’An,” Wu Xi nodded in agreement from the ground where he was monitoring Wen Kexing’s pulse, “But where is Lu Ta as you are telling us all of this?”
“My prince, the Little Shaman decided to go to your estate and start inventorying the medicines and herbs in the storerooms.”
“Good work, Ping’An. I assume you managed to ‘misplace’ the inventory that I know you have done at least once a year? Any way, enough chatter. We should go join him and make it so Da Wu doesn’t have to stoop in the dirt to care for Wen-gongzi.”
“Lu Ta, take Zhang Changling and start preparing the ingredients for Drunk like a Dream like I showed you. Do not mix them. Just prepare the ingredients.”
“Yes, Teacher.”
“Yes, Da Wu.”
“Come on, Chengling-ge. While we work, you can tell me about learning from Zhou-zhuangzhu. My father doesn’t talk about his time at court very often, but he does mention Zhou-zhuangzhu. Usually when he’s been sampling his new wines.”
Chengling was still a bit withdrawn from worrying about his shifu, but preparing the herbs occupied enough of his brain that he even laughed at some of Lu Ta’s stories about his father and offered some of his own about training under Zhou Zishu and Wen Kexing.
While the boys worked their way through the ingredients, Wu Xi busied himself with monitoring Wen Kexing’s condition. ‘Ah, Zhou Zishu. You really would manage to find the Ghost Valley Master in your escape from Jin-wang.’ Any further contemplation was halted by Wen Kexing beginning to stir. A few hand gestures had Lu Ta bringing Zhang Chengling to the bedside in an attempt to keep the valley master calm upon consciousness.
“Shishu? Can you hear me?”
“A-XU!”
Zhang Chengling attempted to force his shishu’s shoulders back to the bed. “Shishu! We are safe with shifu’s friends! They can help us get him back.”
“Wen-gongzi, stop trying to get up. You just barely survived a qi-deviation and I will not hesitate to sedate you for your own good. Thank you.” Wu Xi turned to Lu Ta, “Go find your father and tell him our guest is awake. He is either pestering Ping’An or the mechanical bird masters for more information about Zhou-zhuangzhu.”
After Lu Ta scampered off to do his teacher’s bidding, Zhang Chengling took it upon himself to update Wen Kexing about all that had happened during the three days he had been unconscious.
Around the time the retelling made it to the present day, Jing Beiyuan sailed into the room with a vibrating Lu Ta following behind. “Wu Xi, have you heard the reports that Tian Chuang has taken Zishu back to Jinzhou? …Oh. Wen-gongzi is awake, awake. My apologies for breaking the news to you in such a manner, Wen-gongzi.” The apology was combined with an elegant bow.
“Yes, Beiyuan. Wen-gongzi is awake and if he wants to see Zhou Zishu, he will stop trying to leave the bed until I am sure he will not be seized by another frenzy.”
Despite Wu Xi’s best efforts, Wen Kexing only consented to stay in bed long enough to ascertain he was not bleeding from anywhere important and then began sending a flurry of messages to all parts of the surrounding areas. Somewhere in the midst of setting many things in motion, Wen Kexing managed to find time to tell Zhang Chengling who exactly he was. Much crying was had by all, but soon after, Zhang Chengling leveled his chin and asked what exactly his shishu wanted from him.
“You are a good young man, Chengling. Putting aside your grief to help me in my quest for justice. I’m sending you to your Shen-shu and I’ll need you to pretend you are much smaller of a person than you are. No one must know that you are helping me, even your shifu when I rescue him.”
“You will rescue him, shishu?” Zhang Chengling asked with tears in his eyes.
“How could I, Philanthropist Wen, leave your shifu in the clutches of royalty? He might get accustomed to the wine and then how will I keep him happy? I will definitely rescue your shifu and surprise him with your new shixiongdi in the process.”
It was not long after that conversation that Zhang Chengling was sent off to meet up with Shen Shen and the recuperating Gao Xiaolian, while Wen Kexing drove Wu Xi to distraction with all of his cross-country escapades.
“Wen-gongzi, I know you are strong in martial arts, but you just recovered from a chronic memory problem that you exacerbated by nearly exhausting your internal energy.”
“Da Wu, I thank you for your concern, but I cannot rest until I have rescued a-Xu.”
Wu Xi leveled a steely stare at Wen Kexing. “Wen-gongzi. I spent my formative years in this land. I know how long it takes to travel from one point to the next and you have been gone for much longer than that every time you leave the estate. I did not survive the imperial court without allowing people their secrets, so I will not press you. But please remember that Beiyuan and I also care for Zhou Zishu.”
“I will try to remember that, Da Wu. I suppose I should warn you and Qi Ye that my maid servant and her…fiancé will be coming to the estate around the same time I am staging the rescue. Please treat her well in my absence.”
“Certainly, Wen-gongzi. Rest well before you embark on the rescue.”
It was a few hours after sunrise, and Wen Kexing had taken the new disciples of Si Ji Shan Zhuang to spring their sect leader from Jin-wang’s dungeons.
“Do you think they’ll succeed, Little Toxin? What if there are more guards than expected? It’s not like I have current knowledge of Tian Chuang’s guard rotations. Wu Xi? “Jing Beiyuan paused his pacing, “Are you listening to me?”
“Yes, Beiyuan. I am listening. I am also finishing this stabilization pill.”
“Stabilization pill? I’ve never heard you mention one of those before.”
“That would be because they are secret, passed down from shaman to shaman. And, I have never had need to make one before now. The poison Zhou Zishu used to fake your death should have had no ill-effects, so I had not had one ready when you reacted poorly to it.”
Jing Beiyuan rushed over to reassure his husband that he did not hold him responsible for the loss of his meager martial arts skills. “Little Toxin, I am free of that pit of vipers. My freedom and you are enough for me.”
“Teacher! Father! Ashinlai said that Wen-gongzi is on his way back with Zhou-zhuangzhu and the new disciples!”
Jing Beiyuan swept Lu Ta up into a laughing embrace, “So my son has decided to become a town crier in addition to being the future shaman of Nanjiang? Did you know that our son was so bored he needed a second career, Wu Xi?”
Wu Xi did nothing more than smile at his beloved family before going back to working on the stabilization pill.
A makeshift surgery, a freshly de-hooked Zhou Zishu, and a concerned Shaman.
“Zhou Zishu, we have been business partners since before I became the Great Shaman. Beiyuan often calls you his best friend. Why would you not call for help as soon as you realized you had something to live for?”
“Ah…careful with the shoulders! Because, Wu Xi,” Zhou Zishu gritted out, “up until a few weeks ago, I didn’t know I had something to live for. I’m no longer alone in the world. I have a disciple, my shidi is alive, and the legacy of Si Ji Shan Zhuang will live on. Before this, I was alone and everyone in my sect was dead. How could I have continued on without shaming their memory?”
Wu Xi’s hands never paused in their applications of salves, ointments, and a poultice or two. “Did you have to antagonize Duan Pengju so much that I now have nine meridian injuries to fix rather than seven?” Eventually, Wu Xi finished sewing, cleaning, and generally making it so Zhou Zishu resembled a human rather than a pin cushion. “There. I have done my best. If you want me to remove the nails without causing yourself further harm, you must remain calm and avoid excess stimulation. This means no ‘going to Wu Shan’ with your Wen-gongzi.” Leaving a spluttering Zhou Zishu to the care of one of his new disciples, Wu Xi exited the room so as to share the good news with the anxiously waiting loved ones.
It is a quiet afternoon when Wu Xi hears a knock at the door of his workroom. “Wen-gongzi, I would have thought you would be spending as much time as you could with Zhou Zishu before you went on your mysterious journey.”
“I would be with a-Xu, Da Wu, but I had to make sure things were going well with his treatment plan.”
“Are you doubting my skills or the choice to keep myself, Beiyuan, and Zhou Zishu in the dark? Because I have made my opinion clear on not telling any of us what you are planning.”
“Da Wu, I can’t tell a single person more than necessary or else it all may fall apart. Spies are everywhere. Even amongst a household such as this.”
Wu Xi sighed but seemed to accept this reasoning. “I must warn you Wen-gongzi. I will not actively tell Zhou Zishu where you are going and what I can surmise of your plan, but I will not stop him if he learns through other means. I am not like Da Qing healers who intentionally lie to keep their patients calm. Now, if you will excuse me, I was working on something to help Zhou Zishu and it is a delicate operation.”
Would Wu Xi regret handing Zhou Zishu the freshly made stabilization pill? Not necessarily, but he did regret not having one when Jing Beiyuan suffered a fatigue attack as they traveled behind Zhou Zishu to the cliffs outside of Ghost Valley. Because Wen Kexing had not trusted them with his plans, and Wu Xi had to work through the night to keep Jing Beiyuan comfortable during his attack; there was no one to catch the elusive former-assassin as he woke in the inn after the opening events of the second heroes conference. Even Ping’An’s personally selected innkeeper was no match for the famed master of spy craft. But before the repercussions became apparent. A wedding.
‘This is a slaughter of innocents’ Wu Xi thought to himself as he fought to defend his family. The ‘righteous’ martial sects had just enough political acumen to know that killing a neighboring country’s head of state was ill-advised, but that still left hordes of mindless drug men.
“Little Toxin, can you believe that the emperor’s court thought you could turn them into something resembling these creatures?”
“Qi Ye…” Zhang Chengling said. “Is now the time to distract Da Wu?”
“He’ll be fine. Right, Wu Xi?”
Wu Xi was no longer paying attention to them as he stared across the battlefield to where the banners had been hung. “Beiyuan…is that Gu-guniang and Cao-gongzi?”
Jing Beiyuan had to act quickly to grab Zhang Chengling before he attempted to run through the chaos, screaming for his Xiang-jie and Cao-ge.
Eventually, the drug men in the surrounding areas were either dead or had moved on, so the small tangle of grieving heroes were able to go and grab the bodies of their friends.
Jing Beiyuan was standing watch over Wu Xi and Lu Ta as they worked to prepare the bodies for burial. He could not participate, but at least he could witness the process. This meant he was the only one available to help when Zhou Zishu stumbled into the courtyard, covered in blood and carrying an incredibly injured Wen Kexing. “Zishu, are you hurt?”
“I’m alright, Beiyuan. It’s lao-Wen that’s injured. He got justice for Gu Xiang and Cao Weining, but was gravely hurt in the fight. Where’s Wu Xi? I need him to treat lao-Wen!”
“Calm yourself, Zishu,” Jing Beiyuan began, “He’s tending to the bodies, to prepare them for burial. As soon as he can step away, we will get Wen-gongzi settled. I know you know enough about medicine to make sure that your shidi would not drop dead, so trust in that and it will be fine.”
The discovery of what the combination of unavoidable events led Zhou Zishu to do, rocks Wu Xi to his core. How is he supposed to fix someone who is on borrowed time? This question plagues his thoughts until long after the climax of the story.
Snow falls and the Scorpions and the remainder of Tian Chuang dies.
Many years later. A scene similar to the the opening. A Great Shaman tending his medicine garden, with his student bouncing around pestering him with questions.
“Teacher! You were telling me about the two immortals. You left them in an avalanche the last time.”
“Alright, young one.” The shaman said with a laugh. “I did leave them in an avalanche-“
“Are you telling stories, Lu Ta?” An aged Jing Beiyuan asked as he entered the gardens.
The grown Lu Ta, Great Shaman, looked down as if chastised. “Father, I trust that your and the Great One’s journey was productive.”
“Yes, Lu Ta. Your dad is just settling all the animals back in their habitats. Now, young one. You were asking about the Immortals of Si Ji Shan…”