Work Text:
“Shizun, are you going to die again?” Luo Binghe sobbed. Shen Qingqiu listened to his senses: everything below his belt hurt, he didn’t even try to close his legs. His spiritual channels were burnt through. His head hurt, his bitten lips hurt, his back, grazed against the stones, hurt. His eyes itched.
[Congratulations, user! You’ve achieved the set goal and become a VIP account owner! Would you like to use your privileges?] the System interfered timely. Shen Qingqiu hastily pressed the “Yes” button.
[Unfortunately, the user’s body is too damaged and cannot be restored.]
Was it Shen Qingqiu’s imagination, or did the robotic voice carry a hint of sarcasm? If he had the slightest bit of energy, he’d give the System a piece of his mind all right! Try being in his shoes, you bastard! You’re no help at all!
Shen Qingqiu had never thought he would die like this: literally fucked to death. A stupid end, worse than the previous one… and much more painful.
[User has changed the book genre, developed secondary characters, unlocked hidden plotlines, successfully evaded landmines,] the System listed monotonously. [User has earned the right to change the story as he sees fit.]
“What do you mean?” Shen Qingqiu asked warily. He was reasonably reluctant to accept such gifts from the System.
[User may change one event in any temporal point of the story. Warning! All subsequent changes will not depend on the user’s wishes! The user will be relocated to his own body in the same temporal point of the changed world!]
“You mean… I’m going to tell you my choice, then wake up in another world, not knowing what has happened in those years?”
[Correct.]
Well, still better than simply dying. Shen Qingqiu used his last bit of strength to smile and pat Binghe’s head.
“Don’t worry. Shizun’s here. Shizun will fix everything.”
“System? Can you make it so that Su Xiyan warns Tianlang-jun of the old master’s trap in time?”
That was the best decision. Luo Binghe would grow up happy, with loving parents. Tianlang-jun would have no reason to lash against the whole world or send sowers to human cities. Luo Binghe wouldn’t have to fall into the Endless Abyss. Shen Qingqiu wouldn’t have to betray his disciple time and again.
[User’s request is taken into consideration.]
Everything blurred, and Shen Qingqiu was relieved to lose his consciousness.
He woke up in the bamboo house and felt dizzy from deja-vu: Yue Qingyuan was sitting on the edge of his bed, holding Shen Qingqiu’s hand, Ming Fan was standing at the door waiting for orders… Liu Qingge, whom Shen Qingqiu noticed later, was sitting farther away and slowly drinking tea – terribly expensive tea from the best stock that Shen Qingqiu was saving for special occasions!
Shen Qingqiu managed to fight the sect leader off and to assure him everything was fine, Shen Qingqiu had merely gotten too tired and needed rest, no, he wouldn’t exhaust himself like that again, no need to prescribe him bedrest, he wasn’t in danger, and if the sect leader had doubts, he could leave Liu Qingge to tend to the ill. Finally Yue Qingyuan left, and Shen Qingqiu sighed in relief: he still couldn’t look the sect leader in the eyes after the recent revelations. Too awkward.
“Where’s Luo Binghe?” Shen Qingqiu asked Ming Fan grumpily after tasting the bland porridge brought for him. Ming Fan blinked in bafflement.
“Begging shizun’s pardon, this disciple must have misheard… Who?”
“Luo Binghe,” Shen Qingqiu repeated dejectedly. “Isn’t he here?”
“Answering shizun: this unworthy disciple has never heard of anyone with this name! Does shizun want someone to look for the person in question?..”
Shen Qingqiu looked at his plate, lost. Luo Binghe… wasn’t here? Right, he had no reason to study at Qingjing peak: his mother was a Huanhua palace adept, Luo Binghe had likely become one too and was wearing yellow robes. And yet… if Shen Qingqiu understood the System’s explanations correctly, only one event had changed. Shen Qingqiu himself had existed in this world ever since, even if he didn’t remember: neither Liu Qingge, nor Yue Qingyuan or Ming Fan were surprised by the sharp turn of his personality. Besides, Liu Qingge wouldn’t be sitting here alive and well if Shen Qingqiu had only replaced the original goods after the Maigu Ridge.
Could Ming Fan not know the name of Huanhua palace’s best disciple? No doubt, Binghe had claimed the first place at the Immortal Alliance Conference and gained some fame in this world as well. Something was wrong.
It was, of course, possible that in this world Binghe had a different name. Su Binghe, for example. Or Su Luo. Or perhaps Tianlang-jun had used some imagination to pick a name for his son. And young master Su had grown in a loving, albeit crazy family, with a living mother, father and cousin.
Still, how come Shen Qingqiu hadn’t found Luo Binghe in all these years? Hadn’t met him? Hadn’t invited him to visit? Hadn’t started writing to him? If there were Binghe’s letters in the bamboo house, Shen Qingqiu would recognise the handwriting, but he went through everything and didn’t find what he was looking for.
Thankfully, he didn’t have to wonder for long: another Immortal Alliance Conference was coming. But the longer Shen Qingqiu had been gathering information about the previous one, the more confused he got: there had been no demonic attacks, everything had gone smoothly, Gongyi Xiao had claimed the first place, and Liu Mingyan the second.
What about Luo Binghe?!
Shen Qingqiu pinpointed the issue soon enough: for the people of this world Tianlang-jun’s and Su Xiyan’s story was so widely known there was no point in talking about it, and asking questions would draw unnecessary attention. Shen Qingqiu could do nothing but collect accidental mentions and try to sneakily shift the topic to the subject he needed. Alas, people around him seemed to be driving him crazy on purpose: the moment someone mentioned Tianlang-jun, his “children”, Su Xiyan or Huanhua palace, Liu Qingge blushed and immediately disappeared, while others started giggling and saying some nonsense. Mass insanity. Shen Qingqiu no longer knew what to think and how to uncover the truth.
This time Shen Qingqiu didn’t send his peak’s disciples to Juedi Gorge, but he still went to the Conference. The town next to the Gorge was filled to the brim with cultivators. Shen Qingqiu was looking around, seeking the familiar curly head, so it took him some time to notice Liu Qingge had tensed and clutched the handle of his sword.
“Liu-shidi, is something wrong?”
Others laughed for some reason, even Mu Qingfang giggled, immediately masking it as a cough.
“No need to worry so much, shidi,” Yue Qingyuan seemed to barely hold back a smile. “We’ll stand up for you.”
Shen Qingqiu baffledly looked at his martial siblings. All of them seemed to be discussing an old joke Shen Qingqiu wasn’t privy to. Thankfully, no one had the time to notice his confusion: a loud cry “Immortal master Liu!” came from afar, Liu Qingge swore under his breath and jumped on the nearest rooftop. Qi Qingqi laughed out loud, while Shen Qingqiu, desperate to understand what was going on, rushed after Liu Qingge.
“This way!”
Liu Qingge, drawn by his call, turned his head, and Shen Qingqiu pulled him into a small clothing shop by the hand. After throwing a bag of money at the owner, Shen Qingqiu and Liu Qingge quickly grabbed two cloaks of rough cloth and two veiled hats. Of course, an attentive observer wouldn’t be fooled by the disguise, but it was now harder to notice the two of them from afar.
“Thanks,” Liu Qingge said, leaning on the wall of a deserted alley where Shen Qingqiu had dragged him.
“Thanks isn’t enough,” Shen Qingqiu straightened his back. “Answer my questions and don’t ask why I need to know.”
Liu Qingge immediately tensed, but nodded.
“Are you acquainted with Tianlang-jun and Su Xiyan?”
“Shen Qingqiu!” Liu Qingge hissed, blushing to the roots of his hair for some reason.
“Don’t Shen Qingqiu me! Answer the question, you promised!”
“Are you mocking me?”
“Perish the thought!” Shen Qingqiu replied sincerely. Liu Qingge glared at him again, but cooled down after making sure no one was trying to tease him.
“Yes, I am. As you well know!”
“How many kids do they have?”
“Two,” Liu Qingge said through clenched teeth. Shen Qingqiu opted to ignore his strange behavior.
“What age?”
“The elder one is twenty, the younger one is fourteen.”
Wait. What?
“What?” Shen Qingqiu repeated in confusion. “Shidi, are you certain?”
“You!..” Liu Qingge must have caught Shen Qingqiu’s scared gaze, immediately calmed down and nodded. “I’m certain. Two daughters, the elder one is twenty, the younger one is fourteen.”
Impossible!
“And… any sons?”
“No sons.”
“Are you certain?”
“You’ve already asked,” Liu Qingge ground his teeth. “Shen Qingqiu. Explain yourself.”
Shen Qingqiu had no time to reply: the alley suddenly got crowded. A young – and awfully cute! – maiden blocked the way to the street, another, younger one jumped down from the roof. Both girls looked alike, clearly related, and it wasn’t hard to guess who they were: even if the girls didn’t resemble Tianlang-jun, the demonic marks on their foreheads left no room for doubt.
“Immortal master Liu! Fight us!”
“Yes, show us your new moves!”
“It’s been so long!”
“How can you be so cold!”
“We missed you!”
Liu Qingge slid behind Shen Qingqiu’s back and clutched his shoulders, using him as a human shield. Shen Qingqiu raised his palms.
“Young ladies! Unfortunately, master Liu is busy talking to me… but if you’re kind enough to answer my questions, I’ll leave and won’t bother you!”
Liu Qingge painfully poked Shen Qingqiu’s back with his finger, but Shen Qingqiu suffered through the unexpected attack. Tianlang-jun’s daugher – the elder one – contemplated for a few moments, then nodded.
“Ask, master Shen.”
“How did your parents meet?”
The young demonesses exchanged glances.
“Father was having fun in a human city and ran into mother.”
“What happened next?”
“Master Shen, do you need us to describe it in detail?” the younger one blurted out. Shen Qingqiu coughed.
“I meant the general story… what happened after they fell for each other.”
“The old Huanhua palace master desired our mother, locked her in the Water prison and tried to slander our father. Mother escaped in time, exposed the palace master in front of the whole cultivation world, became the Huanhua palace master herself and took father in marriage.”
Shen Qingqiu didn’t ask about the peculiar choice of words: he didn’t want any distractions when he was so close to the answer.
“And the baby?”
“What baby?” the demonesses asked simultaneously. Shen Qingqiu felt dizzy.
“Your mother was heavy with a child when she got locked up. What happened to the child?”
“Ah, that baby,” the elder girl shrugged, uncaring. “Mom got rid of it.”
Shen Qingqiu felt like a firework went off in his head: all his thoughts disappeared without a trace, his ears started ringing, and Shen Qingqiu grabbed the elder demoness’ shoulder to avoid falling down. Liu Qingge immediately supported him by the elbow.
“Master Shen, how are you?..”
“Master Shen, are you all right?”
“Shen Qingqiu, do you need help?”
Three voices merged into one. Shen Qingqiu slowly shook his head.
“What do you mean by ‘got rid of it’?”
“How else would she have escaped from the prison?” the elder demoness replied, completely unscathed. “She needed to save father. And the child… got rid of one, but later she gave birth to us.”
“If I were your mother, I never would have aborted you,” Shen Qingqiu remembered his own words. He had said it so confidently… and he’d been gravely mistaken. Su Xiyan had placed the wellbeing of her lover above her child’s life. Su Xiyan had gotten rid of Luo Binghe.
Luo Binghe didn’t exist in this world.
Only the two carefree girls who didn’t give a damn about their unborn brother.
Leaving Liu Qingge at the young demonesses’ mercy, Shen Qingqiu walked away. He was swaying like a drunkard, constantly bumping into passersby, listening to swears and angry screams, then going forth.
Luo Binghe didn’t exist. Everything had been for naught – Maigu Ridge, the plant body, the Abyss, the dreams they’d shared, the Mausoleum… Shen Qingqiu erased it with one ill-timed wish.
Someone’s heavy hand hit Shen Qingqiu’s shoulder. Shen Qingqiu looked back without any particular interest, and his gaze landed on Mobei-jun.
“They’re looking for you,” Mobei-jun informed him drily. The next moment Shen Qingqiu found himself in an unfamiliar room.
“Bro, where’d you go?” Shang Qinghua ran up to him and looked into his face. “Everyone is searching! People are making bets whether you’ve eloped with uncle Liu!”
“Liu Qingge wasn’t nearby,” Mobei-jun said expressionlessly. Shang Qinghua absent-mindedly nodded.
“Yes, honey, thank you very much. Can you create some ice for me?”
Shen Qingqiu gaped at them, forgetting his own troubles. Shang Qinghua had never allowed himself to address Mobei-jun so casually! And definitely had never ordered Mobei-jun around!
However, Mobei-jun wordlessly took a cup from the table, waved his hand over it and gave it to Shang Qinghua, who took a clean cloth out of his sleeve, wrapped it around the ice chips and passed it to Shen Qingqiu.
“Here, press it to your forehead. You look like you’ve seen a ghost. What happened?”
Shen Qingqiu powerlessly plopped on a sitting cushion and told Shang Qinghua everything, forgetting Mobei-jun’s silent presence. Shang Qinghua listened to him silently, only sometimes mumbling something and making notes on a sheet of paper already covered with writing.
“Funny story, huh?” Shang Qinghua drawled after Shen Qingqiu went silent. “Bro, you won’t like what I’m going to say.”
“Tell me something I don’t know,” Shen Qingqiu snapped. Shang Qinghua shook his head.
“I think the System lied to you.”
“No shit,” Shen Qingqiu deadpanned. “How can it be. I can’t believe it.”
“Look, bro,” Shang Qinghua absent-mindedly bit the handle of his writing brush, “you think that you’d survived Maigu Ridge only a few months ago, then came back to your senses in the new world, right? So who had been in the original’s body before?”
Shen Qingqiu tried not to think of it.
“Me?.. I mean, the original goods would have killed Liu Qingge in the Lingxi Caves instead of saving his life.”
Shang Qinghua hummed weirdly.
“Fine, whatever… what do you mean by “you”? You from another world? You from another timeline? I mean, you’d been sitting there, reading my book, then died and woke up in this world… when exactly?”
“When Shen Qingqiu had a qi deviation,” Shen Qingqiu replied warily. “Ten years ago.”
“Shen Qingqiu had no qi deviations ten years ago. He – or rather, you – didn’t really suffer from those.”
“What do you mean?” Shen Qingqiu said, growing cold. Shang Qinghua straightened his back, as if giving a lecture.
“Look, when I arrived at Cangqiong, Shen Qingqiu had already been the first disciple of Qingjing. He had a good relationship with Yue Qingyuan, was friends with Liu Qingge, they – you – were always joint at the hip. No quarrels with anyone. Avoiding brothels like a plague. Treating boys and girls at your peak equally.”
“You mean,” Shen Qingqiu said slowly, as if trying to find his way in complete darkness, “the me-from-another-world ended up in pre-canon? Is that what you’re trying to say?”
“Bro,” Shang Qinghua looked at him with clear pity, “there was no you-from-another-world. I think that digital bastard took you from Maigu Ridge and shoved you into the original goods’ body at the moment of the deviation between the two worlds. You’d been living your life… then something happened, and you forgot it all.”
“Not because I wanted to,” Shen Qingqiu ground his teeth. “Right?”
“What did you expect from the System? Help? An honest wish fulfillment? Besides… I never told you, but mine died approximately at the time of Tianlang-jun’s escape. And had given me an error message before shutting down, something about the second user and lack of available memory. I’ve been wondering what it meant…”
Shen Qingqiu couldn’t help but glance at Mobei-jun standing still in the corner. Should they discuss those transmigration-related matters in front of him? Shang Qinghua caught his glance and waved his hand.
“Don’t worry, he won’t tattle.”
Mobei-jun nodded majestically, and Shen Qingqiu stopped thinking about him. He already had too many life-shattering revelations to process for one day.
“You think the System had allowed me to live all these years, then wiped my memory? Why?”
“Perhaps its hard drive was full,” Shang Qinghua shrugged, “I wouldn’t expect anything good from this spawn of a shitty programmer with two left hands. But I suspect it’s possible to retrieve your memory: I wrote a few plot arcs with memory loss, there must be some unique flower… ah, no point in telling you, you know the lore better than me.”
“What if there isn’t? What if it doesn’t work?”
“Bro, don’t panic ahead of time. If it doesn’t, we’ll worry about that. But we’ll definitely find a way, don’t even doubt. Ask your Liu Qingge, he’ll bring you a whole bouquet, or a herd of rhino-pythons, if you need him to.”
Shen Qingqiu calmed down a bit. Liu-shidi was truly reliable. Besides, the idea that Shen Qingqiu hadn’t stolen someone’s established life, but had simply lost his memory, brought him no shortage of relief.
Shang Qinghua must have noticed his mood.
“That’s right, don’t succumb to spleen, snap out of it. Hey, what was he like? My protagonist? You’ve never told me such details about parallel worlds.”
“He was… obedient, talented, very handsome. Also a whiny lovesick masochist and a chuunibyou,” Shen Qingqiu replied honestly. Shang Qinghua quietly giggled.
“My, what a description! The plot must’ve steered rather far from the original. Oh well, it’s for the best.”
“For the best?” Shen Qingqiu couldn’t believe his ears. “I destroyed Binghe! Erased him from this world!”
“But his parents are alive,” Shang Qinghua started ticking off his fingers. “The relationship between demons and humans is better, it’s been years since the last open conflict. No one attacked Cangqiong, nor the Immortal Alliance Conference. The demonic sword is in a safe place, no one can get to it. No sowers in Jinlan, no kangaroo courts, no threats to anyone’s life… everything is quiet, peaceful and happy.”
“Even you and… your king,” Shen Qingqiu needled him. “Too quiet, I’d say.”
“Bro, I saved his life,” Shang Qinghua puffed proudly. “Everything has been well since our first meeting!”
“Not in my world.”
“I can imagine what went wrong in your world… but in ours Huanhua palace wouldn’t attack a defenseless demon child, so no reason to be distrustful of humans. And… don’t be mad, but judging by your description, Luo Binghe was nothing but trouble. Constant disasters, people dying left and right, you always needed to run somewhere, save someone, fight something off. Don’t tell me you enjoyed that! In this world the worst conflict I can remember lately happened two years ago, when Tianlang-jun’s daughter fought her sister because they both were head over hills for Liu Qingge and didn’t want to share him.”
“How did it end?” Shen Qingqiu asked tiredly. He had no more energy for surprise.
“They let him make the choice. Take whichever one of them he likes more, or both. He’s been running from them ever since.”
Shen Qingqiu silently hid his face in his palms. Shang Qinghua patted his shoulder.
“Do you disagree? Do you think that world was better? Want to go back?”
Shen Qingqiu quietly shook his head. This world had escaped many pains and tragedies – all at the cost of one life. Shen Qingqiu couldn’t even honestly say that the cost had been too high.
He’d just lied to Luo Binghe again – for the last time.
“I told him I’d fix everything…”
“So you did,” Shang Qinghua replied reasonably. “You think he wouldn’t want that? His parents, sisters, fellow disciples alive? You think he cared more for the chance to bend you?”
“He did,” Shen Qingqiu replied without pausing to think, then bit his tongue, realising what he’d just said. Shang Qinghua coughed.
“Then why do you care for him at all? Be happy you got off easy!”
Shang Qinghua had long left, and Shen Qingqiu was still sitting in his room, staring into space.
“Got off easy.”
Come to think of it, Shang Qinghua was right. This world – the world Shen Qingqiu had chosen – was much kinder, nicer and happier.
If Shen Qingqiu had a chance to bring everything back, to exchange the lives of Su Xiyan, Tianlang-jun, Zhuzhi-lang, Gongyi Xiao, everyone who’d died at the Immortal Alliance Conference, every victim of sowers in Jinlan, everyone who hadn’t survived Maigu Ridge that day – would he do something like that?
Back then, in the past, dumbfounded by the numerous revelations, Shen Qingqiu had placed Luo Binghe’s life above the whole world. Now, after having had time to think, he no longer believed this choice to be the right one. No one was worth it – not even the undefeatable protagonist.
Shen Qingqiu shook his head. Enough thinking about the past. For starters, he needed to find Liu Qingge and to save him from the infatuated demonesses – Shen Qingqiu knew from experience what a headache that could be, – then to ask him to look for a cure from memory loss. If Airplane was to be trusted, Shen Qingqiu had already spent many happy years in this world – and he intended to reclaim what he’d lost to the System.
And then, maybe – maybe! – thank the “digital bastard” for fulfilling Shen Qingqiu’s wish.