Work Text:
Shen Qingqiu wakes face down on a pile of parchment. He clearly remembers having gone to bed the previous night, however.
He lifts his head slowly, wary of the situation he finds himself in, but quickly realizes that he does, in fact, recognize the room he’s in.
This is the sect leader’s office on Qiong Ding peak. He was asleep sitting at Yue Qingyuan’s desk, in Yue Qingyuan’s office.
He looks down at himself with a sinking feeling. A feeling which is quickly made real when, instead of his usual Qing Jing green robes, he sees the black and white robes of Qiong Ding peak.
He stands in alarm.
A reflective surface, he needs a reflective surface! He looks around the office, to no avail. Until his eyes land on Xuan Su at his side.
Right, he just needs to see his face for a moment to confirm, the sword should serve well enough. He picks up the sheathed sword, admiring the exquisite detailing on the sheath. It is a strange thing; such a beautiful, powerful, renowned sword and yet Shen Qingqiu does not remember the sect leader ever drawing it.
Holding it in front of him, he grips the hilt gently, delicately drawing it from its sheath; a sword is to be respected, no matter whose it is.
He barely catches sight of a single gray eye before he collapses to his knees, feeling a pull deep within his core, as if his very life was being dragged out of him through his dantian. Reflexively, he sheathes the sword and the pull fades into a faint background awareness. It doesn’t stop, continuously siphoning his life away. A steady, deadly stream. Kneeling on the floor, he curls up around the sword, panting slightly.
‘What was that. What the fuck was that? Shit. Yue Qingyuan, you idiot, what did you do.’
He stays there for a few seconds, adjusting to the feel of his life force being siphoned off by Yue Qingyuan’s apparently parasitic sword. He needs to find Yue Qingyuan. Right away. This time, he will tear an explanation out of that man’s throat no matter what it takes. Such a bond between a cultivator and a spiritual sword is deeply unnatural. And dangerous.
Resolved, he pushes himself up and marches out of the office, glaring at anyone who dares get in his way. He ignores the startled looks of the Qiong Ding peak disciples around him.
Yue Qingyuan must be on Qing Jing, occupying his body, if whatever ridiculousness this is has any logic to it.
---
When he arrives on Qing Jing peak, he is immediately intercepted by one of his disciples. From the corner of his eyes, he can see another disciple scurry off somewhere.
“Greetings to Zhangmen-shibo! Is Zhangmen-Shibo here to see Shizun?” The disciple bows deeply, perfectly courteous.
He narrows his eyes in suspicion at the disciple in front of him. What are these little monsters up to right now?
“Yes.”
“Um. Shizun is currently leading lessons, would Zhangmen-shibo perhaps like to return when Shizun is free?”
He scowls down at the disciple. Yue Qingyuan is leading lessons? He can see the disciple sweating and shaking slightly, still bowing deeply.
“No. Lead me to your Shizun immediately.”
The disciple furtively looks around, seemingly trying to find a way to weasel out of this.
“Shizun really is busy right now Zhangmen-shibo, this disciple would be—”
“I’ll find him myself, out of the way.” He pushes past the stalling disciple, marching toward the training fields. How dare Yue Qingyuan lead training lessons in his place on his peak. Does he find some fault in Shen Qingqiu’s usual training methods? Is this his way of subtly commenting on them?
“Ah, Zhangmen-shibo—” He quickly leaves the disciple behind. Though, perhaps, if this is what they do every time Yue Qingyuan comes to the peak, there may be some merit to their methods. He might need to investigate this later.
The training fields quickly come into view. ‘Shen Qingqiu’ stands at one end of the field in an unusually practical outfit, long flowy sleeves tucked under a pair of leather bracer, arms crossed and staring down at the miserable piles of collapsed disciples with scorn.
“Up!” He barks impatiently. Groans echo across the field as disciples painfully drag themselves to their feet.
That… isn’t Yue Qingyuan.
That is much worse.
“You!” He stomps onto the field, rapidly approaching the other peak lord. “Who gave you permission to lead exercises here?”
“Shixiong?” As he approaches, Liu Qingge, wearing his body turns to him with a strangely constipated look on his face. “What are you doing? Why do you look like Zhangmen-shixiong?”
“You have my body, Brute, why do you think?” He sneers at Liu Qingge. There is no helping dense idiots who refuse to use what little brains were afforded to them. “What. Are. You. Doing.”
Liu Qingge looks away, a light blush on his cheeks.
“Teaching.” He mumbles.
“And why exactly,” Shen Qingqiu asks through clenched teeth, “are you teaching on my peak?”
“Just wanted to assist Shixiong.” Liu Qingge is still not looking his way and the blush is becoming more and more pronounced.
“Assist? In what way? Does Shidi think this one’s teaching methods are so lacking that he needs assistance from the likes of you?”
“No!” He blurts out, abruptly turning back to stare at him. “I just thought… Shixiong’s health—”
Shen Qingqiu is right in front of him in an instant, gripping his face with one of Yue Qingyuan’s ridiculously large hands.
“Shut. Up.” His heart pounds as he tightens his hold on his face. Liu Qingge stares back at him with a surprisingly mild look on his face and makes no move to stop him.
There’s a quiet shuffling sound behind him and, without letting go, he whips his head around to see some of his disciples have finally dragged themselves to standing and have warily approached them.
“What.” He glares at the assembled disciples. To his surprise, none of them cower. Some even seem to work up the courage to glare back. One scrapes up enough wits to speak.
“Begging pardon, Shibo, Shizun was simply teaching us, as is his duty. This disciple humbly requests that we be allowed to continue.” The disciple bows and, reluctantly, the rest follow suit.
Shen Qingqiu has no time to spare for disciples disobeying his orders presently.
“Scram! All of you! Training will resume tomorrow.” He glares at them and feels Liu Qingge give a slight nod. One by one, they leave, some more resistant than others. Several seem to look back at the two peak lords with worry in their eyes.
Once the disciples are out of earshot – though several seem to be watching the spectacle from afar still – he shifts his hold to the front of Liu Qingge’s robes.
“What do you know of my health, Liu Qingge.” He hisses into his face.
“…The Liu clan has practiced cultivation for generations, Shixiong.” He lifts his hands and flexes them slightly in between them. “This kind of extensive damage to the meridians does not come from qi deviations.” Liu Qingge stares straight at him, daring him to contradict him. “It comes from grave injury and prolonged periods of suffering.”
Shen Qingqiu’s hold tightens for a moment before he lets go entirely, pushing Liu Qingge away.
“And, so what. Have you decided to pity me then? Do you think yourself so much better—”
“No.” Liu Qingge shakes his head vigorously before dropping to his knees in front of him. “This one has realized he misjudged Shixiong in the past.” He folds himself down into a full kowtow. “This one humbly apologizes to Shixiong and hopes that Shixiong will let him make amends.”
“You—” He scowls down at his kneeling Shidi, anger, confusion and fear warring within his chest. He takes an involuntary step back before turning around and quickly walking away.
He is not fleeing, he tells himself, he simply has more important things to do.
He does not notice the disciples glaring at his back as he leaves, nor does he see how they rush to Liu Qingge’s prostrated form, hurriedly pulling him to his feet.
---
Fine. So, the brute is in his body. Yue Qingyuan must be in Liu Qingge’s body, then.
Shen Qingqiu hurries over to Bai Zhan peak, trying to forget about any previous incident and hoping to get this whole mess wrapped up so he can go quietly panic in the bamboo house. He heads straight for the Bai Zhan training fields. Hopefully, one of the little Bai Zhan brats will be able to give him some information on where exactly their peak lord went off to.
A trail of collapsed, groaning disciples leads to the training fields; a not uncommon sight on Bai Zhan, though usually not quite so spread out. None of them seem conscious enough to offer answers so, curious, but unconcerned, he continues on his way, vaguely pondering what sort of strange training the little beasts might have been doing to wind up in this state.
More disciples litter the training fields themselves. Some are helping each other to their feet, groaning in pain, while others huddle together, mumbling in low voices.
Shen Qingqiu blinks at the sight for a moment, before heading over to the seemingly more lucid disciples huddled together.
At his approach, they hurriedly stand at attention, saluting deeply.
“Greetings to Zhangmen-Shibo!”
Shen Qingqiu ignores them.
“Where is your Shizun? This master has some business to discuss with him.”
They look at each other out of the corner of their eyes. An older disciple speaks up.
“Um, Shibo, this disciple believes today may not be a good day to discuss with Shizun… Shizun was—”
“Shizun went insane when he woke up!” A younger disciple interjects excitedly, gesticulating wildly. “When he saw us, he just got all red and started beating everyone up!”
A familiar sinking feeling fills him.
“Shidi!” The older disciple tries to shush the younger one.
“It’s true though! He just started throwing everyone around before running off the peak! We haven’t seen him since!” The younger continues, almost jumping up and down in glee, eyes shining with admiration.
“…Did any of these disciples happen to see where Liu Qingge went?” Shen Qingqiu asks, resisting the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose.
“This one believes he headed over toward the Rainbow Bridge, Shibo.” The older disciple answers, having given up on reigning in his overenthusiastic Shidi.
Bai Zhan’s Rainbow Bridge connects to two peaks: Xian Shu and Qian Cao. Given ‘Liu Qingge’ reaction this morning, there really is only one possibility for where ‘he’ went.
Shen Qingqiu can feel the urge to scream mounting, but settles for closing his eyes and taking a deep centering breath.
“This master will go find your… Shizun, thanking these disciples for their assistance.”
“Thanking Zhangmen-shibo!” As one, they bow again.
Off to Xian Shu peak, unfortunately.
---
He finds ‘Liu Qingge’ at the edge of the barrier enclosing the innermost sanctum of Xian Shu peak, calling out to the disciples inside, trying to catch their attention.
An amusing sight, if exactly what he feared.
“Shidi is causing quite a ruckus, this morning. This master hopes everything is well?”
“Zhangmen-shixiong! Thank the gods you’re here! This one is Qi Qingqi, not Liu Qingge! This master found herself in Liu Qingge’s body this morning and the barrier does not recognize my spiritual signature in this body. This one has not seen Liu-shidi around either and can only presume that brute is still on my peak!”
Shen Qingqiu barely manages to suppress a scoff. The day Liu Qingge decides to while away his time on Xian Shu is the day he dies. Unfortunately, Qi Qingqi’s righteous fury does not seem to leave much place for reason at the moment.
“…get that man off my peak right this instant!” Qi Qingqi continues, not noticing his lapse in attention. Suddenly she looks straight into his eyes. “Shixiong has emergency permissions to access Xian Shu, if this master remembers correctly.”
Does Yue Qingyuan have such access? Quite possibly.
“This one believes so, yes.”
“Perfect. Would Shixiong be amenable to retrieving our wayward Shidi from Xian Shu? This one would like to have some words with him.” There is a strangely intense look in her eyes, a feverish gleam as she clenches her fist tight.
It is highly unlikely that Yue Qingyuan would have remained on Xian Shu peak if he had woken up in Qi Qingqi’s body. There is little point in remaining here.
“This master is quite busy at the moment—”
“Shixiong?” She takes a step closer, smiling gently at him, dark aura suffusing her. Her hand slips to Cheng Luan’s hilt. Shen Qingqiu reflexively places his own hand on Xuan Su’s hilt before remembering the events of the morning. He takes a small step back.
“Of course, the current issues take priority. This master will take a look.”
Actually, it may be worth verifying just who is in there.
…And he really does not want to face an incensed Qi Qingqi weaponless.
Dear gods, if Qi Qingqi ever finds out about this, she is going to be insufferable.
“Thanking Shixiong.” She bows lightly. “This one will be awaiting your return. Right. Here.”
“…Of course, Shimei.”
---
As he enters the innermost sanctum of Xian Shu, Qi Qingqi’s head disciple rushes out in a panic.
“Zhangmen-shibo! Zhangmen-shibo, please! Please follow this disciple, something is wrong with Shizun!”
Without waiting to see if he follows, she runs right back in.
Left with no other choice, Shen Qingqiu goes after her. He quickly finds her again in front of one of the pavilions.
“Shizun has locked herself in and refuses to come out! We—”
“Ah.” Shen Qingqiu has a good idea of who this could be now. There will be no luring him out nor any sweet-talking him out, of that, he is quite sure. “This master will take care of it. Back away.”
Short on patience, as soon as the disciple is out of the way, Shen Qingqiu launches a qi blast at the door, tearing it off its hinges. He then gingerly steps over the wreckage, ignoring the shocked outrage rising behind him, and goes in to find his ‘Shimei’.
“Shizun!” The disciple tries to run in after him, but he stops her in her tracks with a glare.
“This master will take care of it. Remain outside.”
“But—”
“No. Remain here.”
He does not wait to hear what she has to say and heads in.
He finds ‘Qi Qingqi’ hiding behind a changing screen, crouched, hands over her head and eyes shut tight, muttering to ‘herself’.
With a look of disdain, he approaches, prodding at ‘her’ with his foot.
“Up, Shidi.”
Wei Qingxing, Zui Xian peak lord, flinches hard, immediately jumping to his feet.
“Shixiong! How did you get in here?”He asks in bewilderment, before deciding he does not care and continues, teary-eyed. “Never mind that! Shixiong! You’ve got to get me out of here! There are women everywhere! They won’t leave me alone! Why are they here? Why are they surrounding me like that.”
“Shidi. Surely, even you have noticed something wrong.” He asks, exasperated with his martial siblings’ lack of priorities.
“Why? What’s wrong?” Wei Qingxing replies, immediately looking around in a panic.
“What isn’t wrong.” Shen Qingqiu sighs, closing his eyes and praying to the gods to grant him patience. “Wei-shidi truly has no awareness to speak of, to not have noticed anything—”
A high-pitched scream interrupts him. It seems like Wei Qingxing has finally found his remaining brain cells.
“Shixiong. Shixiong…” He returns, flushed red and walking in an oddly stiff manner, keeping his eyes straight ahead, fearful of even glancing around anymore. Tears slowly slide down his cheeks. “Shixiong! Why— why am I a woman?”
“…Qi-shimei is waiting for you outside. Let’s go.” He is not dealing with a distraught Shidi, Qi Qingqi can take care of that.
“But. I. Why Qi-shijie…?” He trails off into uncontrolled sobbing.
Shen Qingqiu’s patience snaps with an almost audible sound and he grabs Wei Qingxing by the collar and starts dragging him out the door, paying no mind to keeping him away from any of the debris caused by his breaking the door open.
“This.” He gestures in a vaguely all-encompassing way. “Is none of my business. All of you had better figure yourselves out!” Shen Qingqiu drags the protesting Wei Qingxing past shocked disciples and toward the barrier. “Shidi and Shimei will discuss this among each other and not involve this master in anymore of your petty, useless problems! This master has more important things to take care of today.” Namely, finding out just what is wrong with Yue Qingyuan and where in the world that idiot has gone to in all this gods-damned chaos.
He throws Wei Qingxing at Qi Qingqi’s feet.
“Here you go, Shimei. Wei Qingxing, not that brute Liu Qingge. He was cowering in fear in one of your rooms. Handle this.”
Without another word and without waiting for an answer, he stomps off in search of the next damned peak lord.
---
Unfortunately, in spite of his quickly mounting aggravation, whoever is inhabiting the Zui Xian peak lord’s body is nowhere to be found.
Shen Qingqiu has searched the distillery, the kitchens, the long-term storage buildings, to no avail. None of the Zui Xian disciples have seen him today either which, given that spineless man’s usual habits of locking himself in one of his crafting chambers to ‘experiment’, is not unusual.
He is about to return to Qiong Ding peak and simply wait to ambush Yue Qingyuan whenever he emerges from whatever hole he’s crawled in, when he comes across Wei Qingwei, muttering darkly to himself and pacing around in circles, occasionally clutching at his head.
This… seems exactly like the sort of thing he’s been trying to avoid all day. Unfortunately, it also seems like exactly the sort of lead he might need in his search for their wayward sect leader.
Swearing furiously under his breath, he approaches ‘Wei Qingwei’.
“Who is Shidi, then.” He states more than asks, already regretting his decision to initiate this conversation.
“Shixiong!” ‘Wei Qingwei’ turns to him with a manic look in his eyes. “Have you seen me around somewhere? I need him, me, right away! It’s urgent! He needs to, um, he needs to sign some really important, time-sensitive documents right now! And, and unlock special access to… restricted archives, that we definitely have! Which we need to, um, to store some dangerous artifacts. Yeah!” He wrings his hands together, nervously looking around, as if ‘Shang Qinghua’ might appear at any moment.
“…”
Yes, he is definitely regretting his decision to engage.
“Shang-shidi, this one assumes?” He asks, deadpan.
“Yes! Yes, I just need to find Shang Qinghua, my body, as soon as possible. I’ve looked everywhere and I can’t find him anywhere! I’ve already gone to Wan Jian and it wasn’t him! It was the wrong Wei! Who came up with this garbage idea? Usually, if there’s a body swap—”
Shen Qingqiu quietly slips away from Shang Qinghua’s newest bout of incoherent ranting. No need to listen to any of this, Shang Qinghua rarely makes sense, in any case.
At least, Shang Qinghua did provide some new information. Although, he is still left at an impasse.
Shen Qingqiu decides to take a moment to breathe and calm himself. Make a summary of everything he has found out today.
Liu Qingge has his body - a horrifying incident which he will ignore for as long as he can. Qi Qingqi has Liu Qingge’s, Wei Qingxing has Qi Qingqi’s, Wei Qingwei has Wei Qingxing’s, and Shang Qinghua has Wei Qingwei’s. Ignoring the three peak lords that are currently off the mountain, this leaves him with three unaccounted peak lords: Mu Qingfang, likely on his Qian Cao, Lan Qingming, likely on his Ku Xing, and Yue Qingyuan, whereabouts unknown.
Hopefully, whatever caused this only affected the peak lords present on the mountain. He has no interest in going off on a wild goose chase outside the peaks.
So. Mu Qingfang or Lan Qingming. In all likelihood, either could give him some additional information as to where Yue Qingyuan could be, if only by narrowing down his search further.
With a heavy sigh, Shen Qingqiu makes his way to Qian Cao peak. If nothing else, Mu Qingfang is likely to have started working on a solution.
Mu Qingfang is also one of the only peak lords that Shen Qingqiu still trusts to retain some amount of common sense.
---
Mu Qingfang is an utter disappointment.
“Shidi, why is there a demon behind you?”
“Hm? Oh, Mobei-jun is assisting me in researching this strange curse that’s overtaken the mountain. This one assumes Shixiong is aware of it?” Mu Qingfang, in Shang Qinghua’s body, answers. He does not look up from the scrolls he is digging through, nor does he pay any mind to the tall, expressionless demon looming over his shoulder.
The demon is pale, with translucent jade-like skin. A blue zuiyin shines on his forehead, pointing to some sort of noble demonic lineage. Robes that struggle to cover his chest are adorned with thick strips of fur.
He is most definitely not meant to be on Cang Qiong mountain, let alone at the center of one of their peaks.
“…Shidi, that does not explain just why there is a demon here.” Maybe Shen Qingqiu should have simply gone back to sleep this morning and given up the day for a lost cause.
“It didn’t?” Mu Qingfang finally looks up, flapping his hand dismissively when the demon growls at him to continue his research. “Well, Mobei-jun seems quite intent on having Shang Qinghua back in his original body. And I would assume we are all eager to be back in our respective bodies as well. He has agreed to assist me until we find a solution. There was a slight commotion when he first appeared, but we have come to an understanding.” He nods, as if that explanation makes any sense.
“And why, exactly, is this demon familiar with Shang Qinghua?” His voice comes out muffled, with his face buried in his hands, despairing at the lack of common sense that all of his martial siblings have exhibited today.
“Well, we didn’t quite get around to discussing that, I believe.” They both turn to stare at the demon, though Mu Qingfang seems rather uninterested in the answer.
“I am his King.” The demon states.
That is clearly all the demon has to say on this topic.
Enough is enough, Shen Qingqiu decides.
“Fine. Fine! If all of you idiots can’t be bothered with maintaining some sort of order on this mountain, then I won’t make it any of my business either! Invite all the demons you want! Serve any demons you want! I. Don’t. Care.”
“As you say, Shixiong.” Mu Qingfang answers dismissively, clearly having ignored his entire tirade. The demon, meanwhile, looks him straight in the eyes, and nods before going back to emulating a looming statue.
Shen Qingqiu makes a series of incomprehensible furious sounds, then throws in hands in the air, and marches out past a number of gaping disciples.
---
“Quiet. It is the hour of meditation.” Lan Qingming, wearing Mu Qingfang’s body, orders, not even opening his eyes.
“You—”
“Quiet.”
Speechless, Shen Qingqiu turns away from the peacefully meditating peak lord and stomps away. In a rather petty fit of pique, he childishly makes as much noise as he can as he departs.
---
Away from the clearing in which the Ku Xing peak lord meditates, Shen Qingqiu finally gives into his urge to scream, kicking at the trees around him.
“Sh— Shibo, please. Please do not disturb Shizun.”
Shen Qingqiu turns a scathing glare on the disciple that dared to interrupt his well-deserved tantrum.
“Yes, this one knows. It is, after all,” he sneers, raising his voice in an unflatteringly inaccurate depiction of the Ku Xing peak lord’s soft baritone. “It is the hour of meditation.”
“Ah, no. Well, yes, it is, but,” the disciple stutters out, staring at his feet. “Actually, Shizun hasn’t woken up yet. He rarely sleeps in so late and this one worries that he is, perhaps, feeling under the weather and wanted to let him rest as much as possible…” His voice trails off, getting softer and softer.
Shen Qingqiu is about to tell him that, clearly, his Shizun is doing perfectly fine given his utter lack of attention to anything outside his meditation, before the statement fully register with him.
“…Sleeps in so late, you said?” He echoes disbelievingly.
“Um, yes. Shibo.” The disciple raises his head slightly to give him an uncomfortable look. “This one is in charge of bringing his breakfast in the morning and Shizun never came out to retrieve it.”
“The heavens clearly have too much time on their hands,” he groans into his hands,” to be so pointlessly annoying.”
With a loud noise of frustration, he runs to the Ku Xing peak lord’s house, isolated from the rest of the peak, and barges in without a second thought.
Breakfast has, indeed, been left to cool on the low table in the reception area.
Shen Qingqiu marches in, uncaring of any disturbances he might be causing, entering the house’s private chambers.
He stops in his tracks in the doorway and simply stares.
There, on the bed, curled up on his side in a very familiar position, rests the Ku Xing peak lord’s body, sleeping deeply, chest rising and falling in a steady rhythm.
Thinking back to that morning and how he had awoken at Yue Qingyuan’s desk, it's clear that the sect leader is lacking sleep. Despite the annoyances of the day and his earlier need for answers, Shen Qingqiu finds himself suddenly unwilling to disturb his rest.
He settles in quietly at Yue Qingyuan's bedside.
After so much excitement, he could use some peace and quiet too.
---
Yue Qingyuan wakes, strangely comfortable and well-rested despite having likely fallen asleep at his desk once again.
He blinks blearily at the sun, high in the sky, filtering in through a nearby window. Definitely not his office then.
And definitely way past the time he should have been awake.
He groans, throwing an arm over his eyes. He wants nothing more than to continue sleeping, but there is much work to be done.
“Zhangmen-shixiong is finally awake, I see.” Someone says from next to him, a familiar unfamiliar voice.
He starts getting up in a panic, but quickly stop when he spots the person next to him. Someone who looks like, well, like himself.
“Yes.” He blurts out in confusion. “This one is awake. Who—”
“Yue Qingyuan has much to answer for.” The other interrupts him and says, forebodingly. “But before that, this one imagines Yue Qingyuan has questions of his own. Here.” Without explanation, he hands over a small hand mirror.
Yue Qingyuan gingerly takes it in hand, wary of strange tricks or curses, but it seems to be nothing more than a rather average-looking mirror.
Except, the reflection does not show his face, but rather that of Lan Qingming.
“What? This is—”
“While Zhangmen-shixiong slept so peacefully, there were… strange occurrences. Mu Qingfang is looking into it. However, it seems none of us occupies the correct body at present.” He answers, not leaving him any time to process.
“Ah. Am I speaking to Lan-shidi, then?” Yue Qingyuan nods in acknowledgment toward his Shidi.
A slow, viciously beautiful smile unfurls on the other’s face and Yue Qingyuan feels a strange sense of danger growing.
“Think again, Shixiong.” That particular emphasis that indicates insult more than respect tells him exactly who this is.
“Shen-shidi… This one apologizes for the error.” Yue Qingyuan quickly corrects. And yet there is still a strange sense of danger growing at the back of his mind.
“Hmm.” Shen Qingqiu leans in close to his face. “Shidi had quite an interesting awakening this morning. He was quite confused about waking up in Shixiong’s office.”
“This one apologizes—” Shen Qingqiu does not let him finish, speaking right over him.
“Wanting to confirm that this one’s guess was correct, this one searched for some sort of reflective surface, such as the mirror this one handed Zhangmen-shixiong when he woke up.”
“I see, however, this one does not believe—” He stops short. There is nothing reflective in his office. Except for…
“Yes, this one can see that Zhangmen-shixiong has identified the issue.” Shen Qingqiu leans back and grabs Xuan Su from where it is leaning against the side of the bed. He shoves it into Yue Qingyuan’s chest. “Shixiong will not believe what happened when this one attempted to draw Xuan Su.
“What, exactly, is wrong with Xuan Su, Shixiong.”