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Mu Qingfang’s job was not easy, but it was heavily rewarding and he had trained ruthlessly to get where he was now, so he was perfectly content.
Key word; Was.
Because then Cang Qiong was attacked.
By demons.
And there was only one peak lord on the peak at the time.
And that peak lord was Shen Qingqiu.
And he decided that getting inflicted with without-a-cure was a good idea.
So now, Mu Qingfang has to give him a lecture, teach him how to make a specific tea that’s supposed to help him, then help him set up certain days that he’ll have to get his meridians cleansed by Liu Qingge.
So, life’s not the best right now, but, being a healer is his job, meaning he’ll do it even if he doesn’t understand his sect brother all that well.
The first time he had seen him was at the disciple selection, he had only briefly got a glimpse of him, but his first thought as soon as he saw him was that he looked scared and angry. The second thought he had was that it was none of his business.
But, then the rumors had started up, about how he was a lecherous man who couldn't even be around his own martial sisters, that he went to brothels every night.
So, Mu Qingfang had remained as passive as he could whenever they had the off chance of meeting, even if he didn’t like him he couldn't show disrespect to another disciple if he wished to do good in his shizun’s eyes.
But then he started seeing him a lot more as he and Liu QIngge started to fight almost every time they even saw each other.
And his opinion changed again.
Seeing him covered in bruises and blood while slightly shaking from the cold, Mu Qingfang finally realized what it was he was misunderstanding about his martial brother.
Mu Qingfang was looking at a man who clawed his way all the way up from the bottom of the food chain, and refused to be pushed back down.
So, if Mu Qingfang began to give him medicine with slightly more potent ingredients?
Well it could simply be passed off as helping him recover from a qi deviation.
One thing that had really helped change Mu Qingfang’s opinion of Shen Qingqiu was how he treated Yue Qingyuan.
Every time Yue Qingyuan and Shen Qingqiu had the off chance of conversing together, it seemed the Qiong Ding head disciple was being especially nice and careful, and maybe even scared.
And when Yue Qingyuan had tried to call Shen-shidi by a familiar nickname, Mu Qingfang knew he didn’t need to hear anything more to know that the sect leader and him had a past together, one that came crashing down because of something Yue Qingyuan did based on how Shen Qingqiu treated him.
So, Mu Qingfang refused to get in the middle of whatever argument they were in or even take a side in it when he was around them, even if for some reason the other head disciples seemed hellbent on making Shen Qingqiu seem like a piece of shit.
But if Mu Qingfang and Shen Qingqiu were seen walking around together, well it was simply him watching over Shen-shidi’s recovery.
Then, if more rumors popped up about the Qian Cao and Qing Jing head disciples being seen together?
They were simply on a mission that the disciples did not need to know about.
And that had continued, they would see each other every now and again, never meeting up on purpose but never seeing a reason not to acknowledge each other when they saw each other.
Then they had been promoted to peak lords and they saw each other more at peak lord meetings.
And they had been doing good, they would get along well enough on any missions they happened to go on together, and would even meet for tea once every couple of missions to simply talk about how their disciples and peaks were doing.
But, all good things must come to an end.
Shen Qingqiu had qi deviated, not that strange of a predicament since he didn’t have the best start to learning cultivation.
But then he woke up acting like a different person.
Anyone who even looked at him could tell, he had almost a youthful glow to him now rather than the strange dark cloud that used to follow him around.
He didn't sneer or complain as much as he used to, even when he did it seemed almost forced. He did not gossip or whisper under his breath like he used to do.
He didn't visit Mu Qingfang like he used to do.
It was like he had no recollection of his life at all.
He knew too much about certain creatures and plants, yet his attacks and defense seemed more like muscle memory rather than an actual thought out plan.
Shen Jiu did not fight unless he had a fool-proof plan.
Even if he wasn’t the most diligent when he was a disciple, he did not fully rely on muscle memory, he was too proud of what he had learned to let his heart control his body and instead of his brain controlling his body.
One thing that really spurred on Mu Qingfang's theory, had been Shen Qingqiu acknowledging Liu Qingge, and even treating the sect leader like he was a total stranger who he only respected because of his title and didn't completely hate, he even saw him give him a small smile at some point.
And Mu Qingfang only had one thought.
He wasn’t looking at Shen Jiu.
He was looking at someone wearing Shen Jiu’s skin.
And it terrified him, because almost everyone preferred this stranger.
There weren't even any traces of scars on his body that could have been from some kind of altering surgery to switch bodies.
(And hell, hadn't that been an experience, Shen Qingqiu of all people allowed him to do a full body exam.
Even if it wasn’t Shen Jiu, it was his body.
And that had made him all the more uncomfortable even touching his body in order to examine him.)
Hell, there wasn’t even a technique that could make someone look like a complete carbon copy of another person, unless they were a demon.
But it wasn’t a demon.
It was something otherworldly.
Mu Qingfang did not care where they came from though.
All he knew was that he wanted his martial brother back.
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