Work Text:
Li Weihao was born the son of a rich family. He was trained in combat, and discovered a love for swords.
His father was proud. "Our son is so brilliant! You should have seen him during practice today. It's like the sword was part of him!"
For some reason that always made Li Weihao's skin crawl.
"I'm so proud of our baby boy! He'll carry on our legacy and pay bring pride to us," his mother said tearfully to all of their guests.
His older brother was the best though. "What do you want to do?" He asked him.
"I want to be a cultivator," Li Weihao replied honestly. And I don't want to be a boy. But he didn't want to be a girl either. He wasn't sure what he wanted.
"I don't know what I want to do," Li Xiang said. "But I do know I'm a girl. I want to be called Li Xu."
Li Weihao blinked at his brother- no, sister, and smiled. "Okay Jiejie."
Li Xu smiled happily. "Maybe we could become cultivators together!"
"Then let's become cultivators," Li Weihao said with a smile.
Their parents took the news surprisingly well, including the news of Li Xu being a girl. They accepted her with happy tears. However their grandparents absolutely refused.
"You need to stay here and carry on the family name!" They scolded when hearing the two wished to be cultivators.
They said nothing about Li Xu, but purposefully and scornfully called her Li Xiang, and treated her like their grandson.
The two ran away to Cang Qiong, promising their parents they'd stay in touch.
Li Xu originally made it into An Ding, but refused to bathe with anyone. Her Shizun figured out why quickly, and she was sent to Qian Cao. When she returned to An Ding, she'd started developing breasts, and had more feminine features. She ended up transferring to Xian Shu Peak.
Li Weihao made it into Qiong Ding Peak, but didn't really like it there. He felt uncomfortable all the time. Eventually he started visiting other peaks a lot more. Wan Jian and An Ding were the most interesting to him, and he put in a formal request to transfer. Both peaks were willing to accept him, and Li Weihao chose An Ding.
One day a group of street kids showed up, and Li Weihao developed a crush on one of the girls.
She was a street kid, fought dirty, was fierce. She was close with a pack of other street kids, a great leader, had sharp eyes. She was also head disciple and extremely protective of Shang Qinghua, their Shizun.
She was amazing.
Li Weihao always helped her fight when needed, kept her sword in good condition. He desperately wanted to ask her out.
But Li Weihao still felt weird about his gender. So he asked Shang Qinghua about it.
"I just... I don't feel like I have a gender sometimes," he confessed. "But then I feel wrong for feeling like that."
"Hm. You know some demons don't have genders?" Shang Qinghua replied.
"They don't?" Li Weihao asked.
"Nope," Shang Qinghua said. "It's just how they were born. Maybe you were born like that too."
"But... I'm not one of those demons," Li Weihao said.
"Neither is your sister. But she was born your brother. Sometimes mistakes happen when you're born. It's why people can be born with disabilities. You were just born the wrong gender, as was she," Shang Qinghua said.
"But... Then what-?" Li Weihao broke off, unsure how to ask his question.
"Tell me... If I were to say, discussing about only you, 'oh they're great with a sword' or 'sorry, that's theirs' does it feel... Right? Correct?" Shang Qinghua asked.
"Y-yes actually," Li Weihao said, surprised.
Shang Qinghua smiled. "There's your problem them. Stop acting like you're a boy, and more like one of those demons. Don't- don't actually act like one of them though."
Li Weihao laughed loudly, smiling. "Thanks for helping me Shizun."
"No problem," Shang Qinghua said.
Li Weihao left, running straight into Ma Lia, the girl they had a crush on. "Ah! I'm sorry!"
"It's fine," she said dismissively, before entering Shang Qinghua's office. Li Weihao stood in front of the door for a minute, hands clutched to their chest in an attempt to slow their beating heart, cheeks flushed.
Then they left.
The incident happened about 2 months later.
A rich couple showed up on An Ding, demanding to speak with Ma Lia, 5 bodyguards with them.
"I'm going to have to ask you leave," their Shizun insisted as disciples paused what they were doing and watched. Li Weihao fingered their sword. It wasn't a spiritual one, they weren't yet 15, a few months too young, and it was instead a normal one their parents sent them.
"Absolutely not!" The woman snapped. "Not until we speak with her!"
"You can come back if you schedule a meeting through the peak lord," Shang Qinghua said firmly. "But my disciples are busy, I can't just-"
The man slapped Shang Qinghua so hard he collapsed on the ground. Li Weihao was pissed. All the disciples who saw were. They knew their Shizun was strong enough to fight back, but he wouldn't because they were an ordinary couple. They knew he could have remained standing normally, but he was so overworked he was always on the verge of collapsing.
They knew he could have avoided it but he didn't. Because for some reason he felt he deserved it and let people hit him, and push him around. They all knew he was being abused by that ice demon but pretended not to notice. They wouldn't put their Shizun at risk by exposing him.
"What the hell!" Ma Lia pushed through the crowd, rushing to Shang Qinghua's side, Li Weihao at her heels. "Why would you do that?!"
"Lai Yu!" The woman tried to hug Ma Lia. "Oh darling, won't you come home with your parents?"
"I am home," Ma Lia said coldly. "And I am with my parents."
"We're your parents," the man said. "Your biological parents, please, we want to know you, I mean, you're a head disciple!"
"Leave," Ma Lia snapped.
"Lai Yu, darling-" the man said.
"My name is Ma Lia! This man is my father, and my family is here, now leave!"
Two of the bodyguards grabbed Ma Lia. She bit at them, twisting, squirming, kicking dust at them. They could barely hold on to her, and Li Weihao knew she'd escape on her own.
But a little help is never a bad thing.
They cut off the arms of the bodyguards and turned on the couple claiming to be Ma Lia's parents. "I suggest you leave before things get bloodier than they already are," Li Weihao said icily.
The other bodyguards attacked, but Ma Lia drew her sword. In one swift motion, she cut off the hand of the man who slapped Shang Qinghua.
"Stop," Shang Qinghua pleaded. "You'll make things worse."
"They made things worse when they decided to hurt you," Ma Lia stated.
Disciples began throwing rocks at the couple, who left in a hurry.
"Are you okay?" Li Weihao asked.
"I'm fine," Ma Lia said. "Shizun is the one who's hurt."
Li Weihao stared at her, unimpressed.
She sighed. "I really am fine," she insisted.
"I'm just worried about you," Li Weihao muttered. "I like you."
Ma Lia smiled, and hugged them. "I like you too," she said, before giving him a peck on the lips.
Li Weihao smiled, and the two headed to Ma Lia's room to make out properly without interruptions. Their priority would always be keeping Shizun safe, but for now the two of them would enjoy some time to themselves.