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Yue Qingyuan looked at Shen Yuan Qingqiu for a long moment. Shen Qingqiu looked back, tilting his head and raising a challenging eyebrow and hiding his mouth behind his paper fan. "Why does Zhangmen-shixiong look at this master like that? Did this master commit some sort of offence?"

Yue Qingyuan only kept looking at him for a long moment. Then, he cleared his throat. "Xiao-Ba…?"

Shen Qingqiu turned up his nose at the name, turning away from his sect leader. "Hmph! This master does not know where his Gege has run off to now. If Gege has done something again, this master will apologise in his stead."

Across the room right in the door where he was still standing, Yue Qingyuan also raised an eyebrow. "You are…?"

"Has Zhangmen-shixiong forgotten about this master again? How sad." Shen Qingqiu snapped his fan closed, showing the sect leader an impressive scowl. "This master is Shen Qingqiu, Peak Lord of Qing Jing Peak of our Cang Qiong Mountain Sect."

Yue Qingyuan's lip twitched, barely there but noticeable. Shen Qingqiu narrowed his eyes at the other man, but the older man only nodded solemnly. "I see. Of course," he agreed, as indulgent as ever, "Then, this Sect Leader should leave Shen-Shidi to lead his Qing Jing Peak. I will go inquire about your Gege elsewhere."

Humming in approval, Shen Qingqiu nodded. "Please see that you do."

Something was wrong with Shizun. Luo Binghe couldn't quite put his finger on what it was, but the man was acting… strange. Honestly, Luo Binghe wouldn't have cared much since Shizun didn't like him and had made sure to keep Luo Binghe out of all Peak matters, except for the fact that Shizun didn't like him and so things always turned out worse somehow for Luo Binghe if something had upset him.

The thing was, Shizun didn't look very upset. That was the strange thing, Luo Binghe thought. Shizun was always upset. His elegant face was always either twisted in a snarl or frozen in a mask of cold indifference. His Shizun wasn't cruel per se, but he was… indifferent to violence. Bitter and angry at the world.

Today, Shizun watched the sword training with curious eyes instead of his usual cold gaze. Luo Binghe couldn't see the rest of his face, hidden behind his fan as it was. But while the expression wasn't kind, it was softer than anything Luo Binghe had seen from the man in all his time here.

Luo Binghe didn't know why his Shizun was so different today, but he didn't think he disliked it. Though he also didn't trust this strange mood that had taken over their Shizun. So when the training session was over and Shizun snapped his fan closed to point it right at Luo Binghe, he didn't dare hope to be spared from his wrath. Heavens knew his fellow disciples were more likely to blame something on him to get him into more trouble than to help him. "You, stay. The rest of you can leave and practice your poetry."

Surprised not to have been called a little monster again, Luo Binghe probably couldn't have moved even if Shizun had told him to. So it was a good thing he was supposed to just stay still while Shizun scrutinised him and the other disciples left the training area. Shizun had never called Luo Binghe by anything other than an insult. Sure, the brisk "you" hadn't exactly been polite either, but when had Shen-Shizun ever been polite to anyone ever?

Shizun came to Luo Binghe. That was strange, too. Shizun liked the power he had over his disciples and how they obeyed his words. He never came to them, always calling them over to him instead. There wasn't really anything wrong with that, really, and while Luo Binghe didn't know why that was the case it was still something all of them knew. An unspoken rule of Qing Jing Peak.

But right now, Shizun's elegant form was gliding over to Luo Binghe, closed fan tapped against his pursed lips and green eyes narrowed in thought.

For a long moment, all Luo Binghe could do was shift uncomfortably as Shizun took him in. What was happening right now? Why wasn't Shizun cursing at him or else accuse him of some wrongdoing or the other? That's how this would have usually gone. It was what Luo Binghe knew how to react to.

The most terrifying thing about Shizun acting strange was that Lou Binghe had no idea how he would react to different things right now. Over his time on Qing Jing Peak, Luo Binghe had managed to figure out what reaction was more likely to coax his strict Shizun and which ones would only make the punishments worse. None of that seemed to apply right now, though, and that in turn made Luo Binghe feel as though he was standing in front of a demon he had never encountered before.

Finally, after what felt like the kind of long time only a master who'd cultivated to immortality could allow himself to waste, Shizun sighed. "…Luo Binghe."

This was the first time in a long time that Shizun had called his name. And probably the first time since meeting the man that it hadn't sounded derisive despite coming from those lips. Even more unsettled now, Luo Binghe cupped his fist in his palm and bowed. "Yes, Shizun."

Shizun hummed as though his reaction confirmed something the man had already known. Luo Binghe had no idea what that something could have possibly been. After all, Shizun must have known his name already. The man couldn't possibly despise Luo Binghe so much without even knowing who he was.

Though it was entirely possible, Luo Binghe supposed, that he'd been calling him "little beast" for such a long time that he'd forgotten what his actual name was.

"Luo Binghe, show me that last sword form again. This master wants to take a close look at your movements."

At Shizun's words, Luo Binghe couldn't help but wince. Shizun was often angry at Luo Binghe for not progressing as fast as he should have, and that form was Luo Binghe's worst one. He had been practicing it over and over again in his spare time, following the instruction manual he'd been given by the letter. Somehow, though, it just didn't want to work.

Still, he knew there was nothing he could do. So he only bowed deeper, forcing out an agreeable "Yes!" and turned to repeat what must have been a particularly bad showing of the form he was currently struggling through.

As always, his qi stalled mid-way through and he tripped, falling flat to the ground this time. He had been too distracted by Shizun's scrutinising eyes on him to regain his balance. Face flaming in shame, Lou Binghe stood again, turning around to Shizun with an apology already on his tongue.

Shizun, though, only clicked his tongue. "I knew something was off…" he muttered, almost to himself. Before Luo Binghe could figure out how to react to that, Shizun already straightened again. "Go and get your instruction manual. This master wants to confirm something for himself."

Oh no.

He'd really done it this time, hadn't he? Biting his lip, Luo Binghe hesitated. If he got his instruction manual and Shizun tore it apart or took it away, how was he supposed to keep cultivating? He was having issues following the classes with the manual already! How could he ever hope to measure up to his Shizun's already lofty standards if he was being punished by having to prove himself without relying on it?

Talking back would only make it worse, though. After all, he got lashed for what Shizun considered implied backtalk already. Even if Shizun didn't usually dirty his own hands for something that small, he still had Ming Fan administer the punishment for him.

So in the end, all Luo Binghe could do was to bow his head and agree. Quickly, hoping not to make Shizun even angrier than his poor display must have already made the man, he hurried to fetch the manual. Once he held it in his hand, he allowed himself only a single, short moment to mourn its loss. Gently, his fingers traced the edges where the paper back had become worn from how often Luo Binghe had poured over the same instructions again and again. Then, he hurried back.

To his great relief, Shizun neither sneared at him nor snatched the manual away when he offered it with a bow. Instead, the usually moody Peak Lord simply took it with gentle, graceful hands and flipped through the pages leisurely. The sound of the pages suddenly stoped and when Lou Binghe dared glance up he found his Shizun's eyes narrowed dangerously on a page somewhere about halfway through. It must've been the latest page Lou Binghe just couldn't comprehend for some reason. Shizun was probably looking at the proof of Luo Binghe's desperate attempts and measured them against his utter lack of advancement.

He wondered briefly what being a poor, incompetent student would cost him this time. But after just a short moment, Luo Binghe decided that he really didn't want to think about it too much.

"Hm," Shizun finally declared after a long pause, "It's just as this master thought. Luo Binghe, you will burn this manual."

Luo Binghe, of course, had known it would come to this. Being forced to destroy his manual with his own hands put a cruel twist onto the whole thing which Luo Binghe hadn't expected, but Shizun always found a crueler twist to anything he did. Still, Luo Binghe couldn't help but try: "Shizun, this disciple knows he is ignorant. But this disciple cannot master the immortal techniques of our Qing Jing Peak without its help. Begging Shizun to please allow this disciple one more chance to make up for his ignorance so that he may keep his manual."

Had that been polite enough? Subservient enough? Luo Binghe could only hope so.

"No," Shizun only answered coldly. Luo Binghe couldn't help but flinch when he heard the fan snap closed. Surprisingly, the hit on his head with the battle fan never came. Instead, a hand gripped his shoulder with surprising gentleness. It was warm.

"Luo Binghe, whoever copied this manual made a lot of mistakes. It is not this disciples fault for not mastering these techniques but rather this master's fault for not noticing sooner. This master will personally put together a manual for his disciple to make sure it won't happen again."

Surprised as he was by those words, Luo Binghe forgot that Shizun didn't like it when Luo Binghe looked up at him. But even then, the man didn't punish Luo Binghe. Instead, his eyes crinkled in a soft smile, the kind that made even Luo Binghe blush slightly. He hadn't known his Shizun even knew how to smile kindly like that.

"Now go and burn this faulty manual. And then go to Qian Cao Peak and have Mu-Shidi check on your meridians. This master does not think they have been damaged by these faulty techniques, but we should make sure regardless."

Luo Binghe was too overwhelmed and too confused to even find words. Shizun, his Shizun, had found no fault in his slow cultivation? He had found someone else to blame for it? Not only that, he would even give him a new cultivation manual, one he'd personally compiled for Luo Binghe?

As Luo Binghe bowed, he barely even dared to breathe too loudly, not willing to give Shizun even one reason to rescind his offer to give him a new manual. This was an incredible opportunity, Luo Binghe knew, and he absolutely needed to make the best of it. In fact, he didn't even dare imagine what would happen to him if his cultivation wouldn't improve enough despite this kindness Shizun was showing him for once.

Shen Yuan Qinqiu sighed behind his fan. Just what had the original goods been doing? A faulty manual! That was so dangerous! How could something like that ever exist in a prestigious sect like this? What was that, huh?

But the original goods was not cruel. Mean, yes, and quite petty. And also definitely vindictive. But he wasn't cruel.

Shen Jiu had always been a kind man at his core, no matter how many barbed wires he hid that truth behind. He did not understand why kindness should ever be considered a virtue, but he also couldn't rid himself of it. Shen Jiu had been a sad, tragic child who had developed into a tragic, misunderstood man and finally become the misunderstood and mean peak lord everybody knew.

The original goods wished for the people around him to suffer, had never been able to accept that others should have an easier life than him. But when the time came to chose, he would always safe them, would always worry, and would always stay loyal to those he considered connected to himself.

What a paradox and silly man, that Shen Jiu.

Still, this meant that someone had done this without the original good's knowledge. And while this Shen Qingqiu didn't know how, exactly, a shame like that was possible, he knew there was only one person who could have possibly done such a thing.

"Ming Fan," Shen Qingqiu called out loudly.

Filial and ever-eager student that he was, the young man immediately came to his Shizun. Such a cute little sheep, but unfortunately also quite the devious wolf. He wasn't happy with himself, from what Shen Qingqiu had read, and that was probably also the reason why he would bully his own shidi.

Shen Qingqiu made sure to keep his expression neutral throughout all those thoughts, using his fan to hide half his face. Fans were, after all, the ultimate weapon when one wanted to pretend to be above such things as emotions. He had learned this from a very wise man indeed.

"Ming Fan," Shen Qingqiu started slowly, voice cold and smooth, "this master is at a loss. He has taught his disciple to the best of his abilities, and has placed much trust in him. And yet this master found the egg he had nurtured had turned into a malicious snake."

Breath caught in his throat and face pale, Ming Fan looked at Shen Qingqiu searchingly. "Shizun…?"

"This master has cultivated to immortality," Shen Qingqiu explained calmly, "He knows the techniques well and would never mistake them for fraudulent copies. And this master also takes disciples to pass down the cultivation techniques of our Qing Jing Peak to the future generation. So then why was it that one of his students dared to defile those techniques just to play a prank on his shidi?" He snapped his fan closed, twisting his mouth into the exact snarl his the original goods would wear at least thrice a day. "Or do you dare say it was not your prank? Ming Fan, don't you dare deny what you have done!"

Paling even more, Ming Fan dropped to his knees. "Shizun, this disciple was wrong! He didn't mean any harm-"

"Did not mean any harm?" Shen Qingqiu couldn't help the mocking laugh that escaped his lips. Behind his eyes were trapped pictures of a young boy qi-deviating, of fire and blood, and of many years of frustrated tears. Perhaps it was good the original goods hadn't known about this, after all. "Your shidi could have died! Did you stop to think about that? Giving someone a wrong manual, that's a serious matter! No matter whether you liked him or not, your crime cannot be overlooked by this master."

"I… This disciple didn't think. He was stupid and made a mistake. Please, Shizun-"

Again, Shen Qingqiu interrupted Ming Fan. He placed his fan below Ming Fan's chin to raise his head, the sharp edges of the battle fan hovering close to the throat of the young man now. With a cold, mocking smile, Shen Qingqiu whispered: "Ming Fan, my disciple, you will have to prove to this master that you are still worthy of your position as head disciple. Do not allow your jealousy to ever compromise your principles again, lest you will lose much more than you gain."

Shen Qingqiu didn't even need to try very hard to snarl.

If I hadn't noticed this now, if something had gone wrong, wouldn't Shen Qingqiu as the teacher be the one carrying the blame?

That thought alone made him furious enough to show the same, frightening expression the original goods would have shown in this position.

Still, he sighed after a moment and withdrew his fan again. This Ming Fan was the original good's favourite student, and while he wasn't divinely gifted he did have potential. So Shen Qingqiu figured he had to show some mercy, even if sympathy felt like an insult to both the original goods and to poor Luo Binghe. Though that might also just have been the anger talking right now.

"Your master does not care for Luo Binghe much," Shen Qingqiu easily admitted. That had been, after all, how he'd recognised the student earlier. It'd been obvious that that curly haired beast must have been the poor, kicked puppy of a student wincing as soon as his Shizun's attention had turned to him. And still, Shen Qingqiu continued cooly: "But you have gone much too far. To punish you, this master shall relief you of your duties as head disciple completely-"

"Shizun, no, please-"

"-until," he continued sharply, "you have managed to atone for your sin."

Visibly relieved that he hadn't lost his position irrevocably, Ming Fan nodded. "How should this disciple atone for it?"

"That," Shen Qingqiu scoffed, "is something you will have to figure out for yourself. It is your shidi whom you have endangered, so it will be your shidi who absolves you of your crimes. Find a way to make it up to him and to gain his forgiveness. However, if you dare try to force his tongue this master will deem you completely beyond redemption and will no longer be your master at all."

Was it right to make such a decision instead of the original goods? Could this Shen Qingqiu even renounce one of the original good's students, let alone his favourite one? Maybe not. But he would do it regardless if that was what was to come. After all, he would never forgive himself for leaving a rotten egg in A-Jiu's the original good's nest for him to find later.

Ming Fan agreed immediately, even if not being told a clear-cut way forward was visibly distressing him. Shen Qingqiu hid his smile behind his fan. Cute. The original good's students were all such cute children. How did a master manage to stay indifferent and aloof when surrounded by such sweet children? Ah, but Shen Qingqiu was an immortal master of cultivation before he was a person, and even when he'd been a dirty street rat called Shen Jiu, the original goods had only ever curled his nose at other children.

So now Shen Qingqiu, unable to break character, only let out a deep sigh. "To have raised a child who'd so readily disgrace his own shizun, and just for petty jealousy… This master wonders where your shizun has gone wrong, truly. Was he a bad shizun to you? Did he not instruct you well?"

"Shizun was not," Ming Fan immediately denied, eyes earnest and expression pleading, "It is this disciple who was ill-tempered. Shizun has always treated this disciple well."

Satisfied to hear his the original goods hadn't failed at being a teacher yet, Shen Qingqiu nodded. Still, he couldn't help but cock his head to the side in question. "Then how come this disciple has become so unruly?"

"This disciple…" Ming Fan shuffled where he still bowed, visibly uncomfortable but not yet overly so, "Ah, this disciple has not thought about his shizun when he did that sort of thing. This disciple has become unruly all on his own, shizun."

"Hmph." Did that sound like the original goods? It should. "Very well, then. I suppose this master will just have to straighten out his unruly disciple, then."

"Yes, Shizun!"

Something was wrong with Shen Qingqiu.

It was painfully obvious, right from the very first moment when he stepped into the room for the peak lord meeting.

Shen Qingqiu wasn't a kind man, and he was not a good person either. But he was graceful, cultured and in his pride he was quite predictable to a certain extend. He would resort to common curtesy in his interactions, but he wouldn't bother with being nice or even just polite on more than a surface level. In fact, the tactician of their sect was somehow able to verbally eviscerate someone while not using a single cuss word or stooping low enough to forgo any manners. He was incredibly glib, after all.

This time, Shen Qingqiu entered the room and offered a polite bow. That in itself was strange enough, but he didn't even say anything. Instead, those jade green eyes only swept over everyone gathered. And something about those eyes was different, too. They were… softer? Warmer? It was difficult to pinpoint.

The point of the matter was, though, that Shen Qingqiu was behaving strangely. Not like himself at all. Shang Qinghua knew exactly what type of person Shen Qingqiu was. He had, after all, been responsible to a certain extend for that twisted personality of his and for all the misunderstandings gathering around the man like a dark cloud. So he felt fairly certain that this was not, in fact, Shen Qingqiu.

The big question was, who else could this be? A demon, perhaps?

But, no, his king hadn't mentioned anything of the sort and he was the only demon alive who knew how to get into the sect without raising the alarms or triggering the wards. That was a whole thing.

Besides, not-Shen Qingqiu was being too normal about this. This must've been someone who knew Shen Qingqiu very well. Well enough to purposely mimic some of his more obvious habits. Like wrapping his fan against the table in front of himself twice before placing it down. Or how he would run a hand down his hair after pushing it off his shoulders.

Worrying his lower lip between his teeth, Shang Qinghua leaned towards Qi-Shijie. "Does Shen-Shixiong seem… off to you, somehow?"

Qi Qingqi raised a delicate eyebrow, watching carefully how not-Shen Qingqiu scowled at Zhangmen-Shixiong's and slapped his hand away with a fan when it came too close to him. "No," she decided after a moment, "He seems as haughty as ever. Why do you ask, Shang-Shidi?"

Because he just winced at what's supposed to be his favourite blend of tea. And I don't think it's because he barely added any sugar to it.

But aloud he only hummed. "I just thought he looked less severe today. More approachable, maybe?"

Qi Qingqi scoffed at that idea, but she also tilted her head to the side in what Shang Qinghua read as amusement. "Perhaps Shen-Shidi is having a good day? Something pleasant might have happened."

Shang Qinghua doubted it. There was only one thing that Shen Qingqiu considered enough of a good thing to change his mood drastically, and that couldn't happen anymore. Not after his poor, abused son's escape from that manor as a child. But since he wasn't supposed to know about that, he only tilted his head at her. "Like what?"

Qi-Shijie also had to pause to think about it for a long moment. Blinking, she looked at Shang Qinghua. "Maybe Liu-Shidi fell down the stairs?"

Shang Qinghua was just about to defend his most prickly son and tell his snobbish daughter that the guy did not, in fact, hate Liu-Shixiong. But their martial brother chose that exact moment to enter the meeting hall, stopping to scowl at not-Shen Qingqiu.

With narrowed eyes, Liu Qingge watched the man for a moment. Then two. But when all he got for his efforts was a condescending smirk and a raised eyebrow, Liu-Shixiong scoffed and took his seat to the other side of their sect leader.

Their sect leader who, as Shang Qinghua noticed now, looked very relaxed and even a little amused whenever he looked towards not-Shen Qingqiu. Like he knew, and didn't mind.

No.

No way.

Gaping, Shang Qinghua couldn't help but point at the man he'd thought to be dead with a shaking finger. "You… You!"

But how?!

The other Shen, the one who was supposed to be haunting a burned down manor as a vengeful spirit who would have tried and failed to stop the protagonist from his revenge somewhere around chapter 520, caught Shang Qinghua's eyes. With a twitch of his lips, the man whose fate had been a tool Luo Binghe would use to torment his Shizun mentally in the later chapters, had the nerve to wink at him.

"Shang-Shidi," he said in a perfect imitation of the real Shen Qingqiu's annoyed drawl, "Is there something shidi has to say to this master?"

Shang Qinghua didn't know how to react to that. He couldn't tell the older Shen that he was supposed to be dead, and he had no explanation for how he even kew about his existence at all. So the An Ding Peak Lord could only swallow his tongue and shake his head.

"Then shidi might want to lower his finger. People could think you want to accuse me of something."

Shen… Qianbei? Shen-Gongzi? Shen-Ge? What was Shang Qinghua supposed to call this man?!

Da-Shen? Da-Shen seemed appropriate for now.

Da-Shen raised his fan to cover the lover half of his face. Notably, it was a fan with butterflies painted on them, not the one with bamboo Shen Qingqiu preferred. Above the fan, he raised an eyebrow at Shang Qinghua, who slowly lowered his hand again.

"Right," he muttered, "Right… This is…?"

"Xiao- Hmpf!" Before Zhangmen-Shixiong was able to finish that, he doubled over in pain. Da-Shen hadn't even seemed to have moved at all. Zhangmen-Shixiong didn't pay whatever bodily harm he'd just sustained any mind, instead sitting back up again and continuing: "Shen-Shidi has let me know beforehand. Shidi needn't worry. But… How did you know?"

Shang Qinghua cleared his throat. "Ah… Haha. That's… Coincidence?"

Da-Shen narrowed his eyes for a split second but then just turned away with a huff. Shang Qinghua breathed a sigh a relief.

And that was that. They just had a stranger sitting there, pretending to be their martial brother, and nine of the twelve people gathered had no idea at all. But it was fine! Probably.

Urgh! What was happening to the plot? And where was the real Shen Qingqiu anyways?

Shen Qingqiu had been acting strangely for a few weeks before it happened.

Liu Qingge tried not to pay too much attention to it. Especially after he'd confronted Shen Qingqiu in front of the meeting hall the first time he noticed and had been chewed out so throughly that he had started to doubt his own mind.

Shows what being worried about that snobbish arse got him.

Shaking his head, Liu Qingge tried to empty his head again. This was a cultivation retreat. He was here to meditate. Not to think about infuriating Shen Qingqiu and his sudden change in demeanour. Because even if he was by far more tolerable now, astonishingly even almost pleasant to be around in some moments, that had nothing to do with Liu Qingge.

They were not friends. They barely managed to talk to each other without it dissolving in some form of fight. It'd gotten to the point where both of them tried to avoid the other, and the other peak lords tried to do the same.

Shen Qinggue was too arrogant and to sure of his own mind for Liu Qingge to hold an actual conversation with him. He always used dirty tricks, no sense of honour at all, and kept insulting Liu Qingge the entire time.

And Liu Qingge was… perhaps not entirely innocent as far as reasons for Shen Qingqiu's distaste for him went. At least if the many times his own Shizun had tried to "beat sense into this hot-headed disciple" were anything to go by. Thing was, Liu Qingge didn't mean to make life harder for Shen Qingqiu, at least most of the time. But he also had a habit of blurting out exactly what he thought and sometimes that resulted in waves that Liu Qingge hadn't meant to cause.

He still stood by the fact that it was shameless and disgraceful for a cultivator of their standing to spend their time in pleasure houses of all things.

Though the rumours might not have gotten so out of hand if he'd waited to meet Shen Qingqiu alone to confront him, looking back on it.

Nevertheless, the two of them just didn't mix. Liu Qingge had tried sometimes to make amends, but Shen Qingqiu's everything was so infuriating that he never managed to do it. He had noticed the same in Shen Qingqiu's behaviour towards Liu Qingge, too.

So Shen Qingqiu hated Liu Qingge. So what? They were capable of remaining civil throughout the most peak lord meetings and their joint missions might go astray most of the time, but they still managed to get things done.

It was fine. Really, it was. Why would Liu Qingge be bothered by the fact that Shen Qingqiu seemed to actually despise him while Liu Qingge only considered Shen Qingqiu an irritating rival? Either way, they didn't like each other. It was mutual.

So what if Shen Qingqiu had decided the one thing he had to outdo Liu Qingge in was how much he disliked the other? And who cared if that hadn't seemed so true anymore as of late? They still didn't get along. Shen Qingqiu still insulted Liu Qingge, and Liu Qingge still blurted out every time he thought Shen Qingqiu was doing something wrong.

Breathing in deeply, Liu Qingge circulated his qi carefully, synced it with the natural qi in the caves around him.

He was careful. Of course he was careful. Despite having done this many times before, a single mistake or a second of inattention was enough for a qi deviation to occur. Even when you were careful, you were not completely safe from one. Something could always go wrong.

Something did.

And Liu Qingge did not notice fast enough to calm his qi in time.

Shen Qingqiu had always been concerned with the progress of his cultivation. It had been hindered by a serious series of qi deviations in his youth, set off by his horrible living circumstances, and then his prospects had been further hindered by the fact that his first chance to cultivate had come long after when his peers would have long since begun.

Despite these horrible starting conditions, Shen Qingqiu had managed to not only earn the title of Peak Lord but also become the third strongest cultivator on Cang Qing Mountain.

So if Shen Qingqiu were to ask his brother, he had no reason whatsoever to be so overly worried about each block and every bottleneck he encountered. He was, after all, an immortal cultivator by now. And he'd proved well and beyond reason that his genius would not be tempered by mere circumstances.

Still, Shen Qingqiu had always and would probably always be overly concerned about these things. So when Shen Qingqiu decided to go cultivate in the caves, nobody was even slightly surprised about it. In fact, people would probably have been more surprised if he hadn't gone in there again soon.

What he hadn't expected, however, was to encounter a qi-deviating martial brother. Yet here they were.

Now, a stranger like Shen Ba, Shen Qingqiu's older brother, would've had no reason to save this man. Approaching someone during a qi deviation was reckless, and Shen Ba had never met this man. But the original Shen Qingqiu cared about his martial siblings dearly. Behind his sour facade and snide remarks, the original goods had always been incredibly concerned about all of them. Even Liu Qingge, the shidi he had a frankly horrible relationship with.

So this Shen Qingqiu sighed, squared his shoulders and approached the deviating man. "Shidi?" he called out sweetly, "Can you hear me?"

A sword seal aimed at his head was the only answer he got. Unless you counted the gutteral scream the other man let out as an answer. Which, circumstances considered, was at least partially true.

Nodding to himself, Shen Qingqiu formed his own sword seal. His sword clashed with that of Liu Qingge somewhere behind himself as Shen Qingqiu tried to approach the man in question. He was fast, but where the original goods had no experience in these situations whatsoever, this version of Shen Qingqiu had a lot.

It only took him a minute to grab a squirming Liu Qingge from behind. "I've never seen your meridians at their calmest," Shen Qingqiu felt obligated to warn, "So don't blame me if this cripples your cultivation later on."

With that, he extended a hand and pushed his own qi through Liu Qingge's meridians to calm them.

It took a long time for Liu Qingge to wake up again. Shen Qingqiu would have worried if he hadn't experienced first-hand how long the unconsciousness after a qi deviation could go on for. The man was breathing steadily and deeply, so he wasn't worried. He still remained by the man's side, however. In fact, he sat next to Liu Qingge for the entire time, doing light meditation instead of the deep meditation he'd planned to do.

When Liu Qingge finally woke up, he seemed so surprised by Shen Qingqiu's presence and the fact that he'd saved him that Shen Qingqiu couldn't help but tease him a little. Still, he made sure to tell him: "This master has had much time to think later. And I decided we should let the past remain in the past. I know we haven't gotten along too well in the past, but why don't we start over. Hm, shidi?"

Liu Qingge looked at Shen Qingqiu as though he'd grown a second head. Which, in a way, he had. "Shen Qingqiu. Something is definitely wrong with you. Why are you acting so differently?"

Before Shen Qingqiu could even try to come up with a lie or an excuse, the Bai Zhan War God fell unconscious again. Shen Qingqiu couldn't help but chuckle at the sight.

He wondered, what would the original goods say if he knew that Shen Qingqiu had been seen right through by not only Yue-Ge but by two other Peak Lords as well?

No one cares about me, was it? Nobody pays much attention anyways? What a joke!

There was something wrong with the Cang Qiong Mountain Sect. And that something had a name, too: Demons.

Encountering demons was never good. Encountering them in your home was especially bad. Encountering them in your home when your home was one of the Four Great Sects? Yes. Quite horrible.

Pressing his lips against each other, Shen Qingqiu considered his options. He could fight. He would fight. Obviously. There were children here, and even if that hadn't been the case the original goods still cared about this place deeply. He would fight for any place Shen Jiu cared for.

But he could not reveal his sword. He also could not seem weak. And he absolutely couldn't let this escalate.

"Go and get your Shizun," he finally whispered to the Bai Zhan disciple he stood behind, "Tell him of this situation. Scream into the caves if you must. Just get him here."

The disciple looked at Shen Qingqiu strangely for a moment, but only until he raised a threatening eyebrow. A scary reputation was a good thing sometimes.

With that child hurrying away to get a Peak Lord who actually knew what to do here, Shen Qingqiu finally stepped forward into the middle of things.

The place was in disarray. So much damage, so many injured children, and for what? So that this demoness could gain some fame? She was obviously a demonic cultivator, and since she was the one in charge despite her young age she must've been a noble to boot. An independent cultivator would have had to be careful here, but a Peak Lord of this sect was socially and strength-wise equal to her. If not above her, even.

So Shen Qingqiu, knowing very well how short the original good's temper was in these kinds of situations, didn't hesitate to infuse his qi into multiple leafs and shoot them towards her. She easily dodged. Impressive. Still, Shen Qingqiu only turned their trajectory around until the leaves had at least scratched her pretty face.

The girl screeched. Shen Yu- Qingqiu would've almost felt bad for her, if not for the fact that she'd very obviously and very strongly been enjoying the mayhem she'd brought as well as the injuries she'd caused. As it was, Shen Qingqiu remembered just why he could imitate the original goods so well: He was revelling in her pain, vindictively satisfied with this little act of revenge for the sect.

The little demoness turned around with a wild expression to see who dared attack her - and froze when she came face-to-face with the cold visage of Shen Qingqiu. He'd stepped forth in the few moment since starting his attack, raising a single unimpressed eyebrow. "I think," he stated, keeping his voice cold but his tone sharp as a blade, "a better question would be: Who dares attack Qiong Ding Peak in broad daylight, and is even audacious enough to do so in front of this lord?"

Whispers broke out around them. Shen Qingqiu payed more attention to them than to the girl who sputtered out an obvious lie about wanting to learn from each other. The whispers were still scared, and many were sceptical. But they generally seemed calmer now, reassured by the appearance of one of their leaders.

Good.

"So what is the young miss' verdict, then?" Shen Qingqiu pressed, smile sharp and mocking, eyes cold and unbelieving, "How does our Cang Qiong Mountain measure up to her standards?"

He made sure to pointedly look at the injured and downed demons in her entourage, completely ignoring the many demons still standing. As Shen Qingqiu had expected, the girl bristled. So she really was as young as she looked, then.

And yet she already dared to do something like this? For shame! Was it the arrogance of youth or the lack of education she seemed to have gotten? Or maybe she was just like that. Who could say?

How he wished A-Jiu was here right now. It would have been so fun to talk to him about her. They were good at talking shit about someone else like that. With whispers of course, and with insults barely vailed as admonishments for whatever the other had said. It was great. Plus, he just really missed his A-Jiu. But then again, that was nothing new.

And, oh, the girl had answered something. Shen Qingqiu hadn't really been listening. So, staying in character and also pretending that he hadn't just decided her words were less interesting than his own musings, Shen Qingqiu only let out a soft derisive scoff. That was always a safe bet when one wanted to imagine the original good's reaction to anything, after all.

"If this one may be so bold as to make a suggestion…" the demoness, Sha Hualing apparently, braved, "Why don't we hold a little friendly competition? To learn from each other."

Shen Qingqiu's other eyebrow shot up at those words as well. Snapping his fan closed, he revealed the sneer he'd been hiding. "What?"

"Unless Peak Lord Shen is afraid of loosing?" the demoness hedged.

Careful not to break the fan he had stolen from the original goods, Shen Qingqiu narrowed his eyes. "…This master is skilled in multitasking. He can judge and listen to you at the same time. Go on?"

The demoness turned bright red for a moment, then smiled as though she had planned for this from the beginning. The man in front of her, who had grown up next to the greatest schemer in the empire and considered himself as a master in bullshitting, knew that she had not.

She spun about having heard much about the sect and Shen Qingqiu in particular. She asked for three matches to be held, at the end of which they would determine a winner based on who had won more matches. Simple enough, and the demoness was speaking about fairness again.

Shen Qingqiu was very well aware that fairness would be a concept entirely removed from the entirety of this situation.

And yet, he still chose to humour the girl. Which is how he found himself in front of giant demon with a saber in his hand. He was tall, his entire body was purple and he seemed reticent.

Shen Yuan, the original goods' brother who considered himself a scholar and was often wrongly called a wandering cultivator, would have asked this demon about his seal, his bloodline and how he had lost his arm, the latter just in case it had been to an interesting beast or toxin.

Shen Jiu, the original goods himself, would have used what he'd deemed the most efficient strategy, which would have included deception and at least two other things the gathered disciples would have haughtily called "underhanded methods" or even "despicable".

Shen Qingqiu as he was now did neither of those. Instead, he took in the demon in front of him calmly and stated: "Elder Single Arm is at a disadvantage like this. He has only one arm. To make this a fair fight, this Shen Qingqiu will not use his arms."

For a moment, everything was silent. Then, the crowd was thrown into an uproar. The demoness, of course, agreed gleefully. She must have thought this would mean an easy win for her side, not an even more humiliating defeat.

And if there was one thing that the current Shen Qingqiu had in common with the original goods, then it was that he absolutely loved to humiliate opponents who needed their egos checked and their rudeness corrected. So he saw no reason why he would hold back.

Shen Jiu was sly. He was a strategist with a brilliant mind, once a diamond in the rough streets that had then been chipped away at by the harsh realities of his youth until it had gotten to shine amidst a forest of bamboo. He knew how to win from the moment he entered a fight, and he would always do whatever he had to. The fight for scraps had left scars on his worldview, and those scars meant Shen Jiu could not see the worth of honourable tactics, not if they weren't some form of manipulation. And even then it was just to play the system he was living in, not because he actually assigned something like that any real worth.

Shen Jiu was not weak, but he was also not strong. He was desperate for strength, yes, greedy for it, even. But what made him a truly terrifying opponent was his mind and his ruthless nature.

Shen Ba was not as sly as his brother, never had been. He had grown up under the same circumstances, but he still believed in the good of people. He did not hate the world, he chose to love it. Out of spite. He knew very well that everyone was manipulating the people around them - that was just normal human nature, after all. He did it, too. But that was not how he fought his battles, not unless they were metaphorical and his did wasn't there.

No. Shen Ba, curtesy name Shen Yuan, fought with precision. He wasn't strong, either. Had less qi than his didi, even. But he had the sort of control over it that most immortal cultivators at even the later stages of the Nascent Soul cultivation stage would be jealous of. Where Shen Jiu was dangerous because he would always inevitably outwit you, Shen Ba was scary because his qi was so versatile and his attacks so carefully executed that it might not have been flawless but near impossible to defend against.

So when Elder Single Arm advanced, Shen Qingqiu barely moved to get out of the way, already feeling the exact trajectory the attack would take in the movement of his opponent's demonic qi. He leisurely opened his fan as he walked around the area cleared for their fight, slowly and gracefully as though he was taking a simple walk across his own peak, changing directions purposefully much like he was walking through the bamboo labyrinth there.

Elder Single Arm grew more and more agitated with every effortless avoidance Shen Qingqiu managed. He stumbled around like an oaf, trying to get a hit at Shen Qingqiu who just kept walking.

Demons like him were so easy to manipulate. Really, why would none of the actually smart demons fight him? It would've been so much more interesting. How sad…

After a while, once he had deemed the demon sufficiently agitated, Shen Qingqiu infused qi into his steps. Not all of them, just some. Strategically. He carefully wove a trap, like the Red Threaded Jade Spider living in the south: As invisible as it was unavoidable. His leisurely walk with its many twists and turns gave Shen Qingqiu the perfect opportunity to both taunt his opponent and weave his web covertly.

With the array set, Shen Qingqiu focused his qi into the leaves fallen to the ground instead. One second of intently looking at the leaves was enough to substitute for the physical contact his brother still needed to rely on. Each of the leaves gave a soft wave in recognition as it was added to his arsenal, and with each one his focus was harder to hold. So many points he had to concentrate on, so much qi to carefully regulate. But that was what he did, so he was confident that he could keep doing this.

"You will not win this fight by just avoiding me, coward!"

Perfect timing, Elder. I was just done.

Smirk hidden behind his fan, Shen Qingqiu halted in his steps as though surprised. Tilting his head back, he gave a withering glare. "Mind your tongue, demon. You are much too rude for a guest," he calmly stated.

"Which is more rude? My tongue or a cowardly human who will not even deign to participate in the fight he agreed on? Shameless!"

Now, that he couldn't just leave unaddressed. How dare this demon call the Qing Jing Peak Lord shameless?! Who was he to take the right to do that, huh?

Turning around on his heel, it was as though his mouth was moving on its own as he said the most devastating thing that came to mind: "Oh, my. Well, forgive this master for not participating. He hadn't realised Elder Single Arm had already begun the fight. This one was merely under the assumption that Elder Single Arm was still warming up. But this master was wrong? I see… Well, then, allow me."

With a single raise of his fan, still held open elegantly with one hand, the hundreds of leaves Shen Qingqiu had infused with his qi rose. As sharp as blades they shot towards the demon. Elder Single Arm did his best to fend them off with his sword, but they swarmed him like the Blue Fire Bees even Shen Yuan had only ever read about in his brother's books. No matter how many leaves he cut with one strike, more were still surrounding him and he could not avoid getting cut up.

Further to the side, Shen Qingqiu only smirked as he moved his fan up and down and side to side in deliberate, flowing patterns. Elder Single Arm, suddenly cornered from all sides by too many, too small foes, took large steps back.

One, two, almost there, four…

Perfect.

Smirk widening, Shen Qingqiu waved his fan towards one of the areas he'd surrounded with his qi-infused steps. Immediately, the soft wind of his fan multiplied into something fierce that tried to tear the demon apart. Gasps rung out from both sides as the strong wind materialised from seemingly nothing more than a single flick of Shen Qingqiu's wrist, unaware of his earlier work.

Predictable as he'd been this entire fight, Elder Single Arm stumbled back from the raging winds - right into Shen Qingqiu's next array. He would've used different elements, just to really show off, but unfortunately his other elements weren't quite as strong. Besides, he only had a conduit for making winds anyways. Thank the heavens for the original goods' habit of always carrying a fan.

So what followed was a series of raging winds forming pillars all throughout their battlefield with nothing more than a wave of Shen Qingqiu's delicate hands while tiny leaves were still chasing and cutting at the demon send stumbling through Shen Qingqiu's traps. He could feel the winds catching in his hair and ruffling his cloths, but he payed no heed to that.

Instead, Shen Qingqiu walked again. Slowly, deliberately, like a Great Silver Snakelion stalking its prey. The eyes of all the demons and the disciples followed him as he moved behind the distracted demon. Infusing qi into his foot again, making sure not to waste any as he was almost running out by now, Shen Qingqiu kicked Elder Single Arm into the back of his knee. The bone broke on impact, and the demon fell to the ground with a yell.

Gently, Shen Yuan Qingqiu stepped towards the fallen man and placed the heel of his boot at the throat of his opponent. He infused it, too, with qi. Enough to be visible this time. Terrified eyes stared up at him from next to his shoe, and Shen Qingqiu was glad this wasn't a real fight. He loathed the decision of when to go for the killing blow and when he could allow to show mercy.

Now, he could simply snap his fan shut against the palm of his hand, cutting off the qi from the ground, winds and leaves. The pillars of winds immediately vanished, leaving the area in a sudden silence while his leaves drifted to the floor around him. Beneath the sole of his shoe was a demon almost twice his size, staying carefully still.

"How fortunate," Shen Qingqiu finally broke the silence, "that we are merely learning today. Otherwise, this master fears Elder Single Arm would now be dead."

"I…" Elder Single Arm croaked out from under him, eyes averted in shame, "…lost."

"So you did," Shen Qingqiu agreed mildly, snapping his fan open again to hide his face. He left his foot where it was for a moment longer, then finally stepped away. "Well, then? Who next?"

It was a bluff. The techniques he'd used just now were flashy and showcased his immaculate control, but they were also consuming a lot of qi. Qi which the original goods may have had, but that this version of Shen Qingqiu surely did not.

It had been a calculated risk. The original goods could have fought and won three matches easily. But Shen Qingqiu knew his limits, and despite having broken through a new bottleneck before this, he did not have enough qi to do that. Besides, he was tired and hungry from an unknown time spend cultivating in the caves before he'd even been called to help here.

Shen Qingqiu was desperately hoping that nobody else would step forward after his little demonstration. If that plan had failed, then Shen Qingqiu didn't know what else to do. He had never stood a chance at defending the sect alone, after all.

Unfortunately, Sha Hualing stepped forward with a tight smile and a bow. "This one congratulates Peak Lord Shen on his victory. But this one fears if the same representative fights all the battles we will lose the chance to truly learn from each other."

Seriously?

It took a lot for Shen Qingqiu not to sigh. Behind the safety of his fan, however, he did curl his lip at her and stick out his tongue. What an annoying demoness!

But before he could even consider what to say to that, a young woman jumped forward, her uniform in the graceful purple hues of Xian Shu and her face hidden behind a veil.

"Shen-Shibo," she greeted him with a deep bow, "Allow this one to take on the burden of the next fight. This disciple cannot sit idly by when our great sect is disrespected like this."

Shen Qingqiu hid his wince behind his fan, but now that it had come to this, all he could do was give a solemn nod and resign himself that this was happening now.

How unfortunate.

Something was very seriously wrong with Shen-Shixiong.

This was, in and of itself, not surprising. He had somehow managed to thwart a demon invasion while Zhangmen-Shixiong and some of the other Peak Lords had been occupied with the Immortal Conference and Mu Qingfang had been too far away to notice anything in time. And then, at the end of it, Shen-Shixiong had thrown himself in front of an attack and gotten poisoned with Without A Cure, too!

But surprisingly, that was not at all what gave Mu Qingfang pause when he checked his shixiong's unconscious form. No, it was his meridians. They weren't supposed to be like this!

Shen-Shixiong had gone through many qi deviations in his youth and started his cultivation quite late. It had left his meridians in a painful, tangled mess that made Mu Qingfang always wince when he so much as thought about it. But this? The meridians he was looking at right now were carefully constructed, beautifully crafted and marred by only one or two qi deviations. They were beautiful and strong, and everything Shen-Shixiong's meridians could have been but never got to be.

Which meant this was not, in fact, Shen-Shixiong. And which also begged the question, who was this?

To his utter surprise, the figure below him groaned and woke up just as Mu Qingfang was tempted to try a talisman to reveal this person's true face. Clutching his head, the stranger blinked his eyes open.

They were jade coloured, too, but now that Mu Qingfang knew to look closely he noticed that they weren't quite the same shade. While the actual Shen-Shixiong had eyes in the colour of fine, imperial jade jewellery, this person's eyes were slightly darker and a little more blue-ish. Not enough to notice if one wasn't this close or paying attention this much, but the difference was there.

"What…?" The person looked around himself for a moment, seemingly unfamiliar with the room that was supposedly his for quite some time. Mu Qingfang could see the exact moment he recognised it. "Ah. Did I pass out?"

"Mm" Mu Qingfang, who was a healer by heart and by trade, knew better than to stop treating a person just because they were lying about who they were. He would have questions for this strange cultivator later, that was sure, but for now he kept circulating his qi through this man's meridians.

Those almost-right eyes watched Mu Qingfang for a long moment, flickering between the healer's face and his hand on the man's wrist. Then, almost hesitantly, he called out: "Mu-Shidi…?"

Tilting his head, Mu Qingfang smiled at the stranger. "Yes?"

There was recognition in the stranger's face now. For a moment, he seemed as though he was about to push up, but seemed to think better of it after a second. Even so, Mu Qingfang noticed how the man carefully rearranged his posture into something more like Shen-Shixiong. "Did this master… pass out?"

His voice was the same as Shen-Shixiong's. Even the way his lips curled around the last syllable of "master", that undefinable accent, was the same. So this stranger must have known Shen-Shixiong, then. The slightly-off eye colour was not the careless mistake of an imitator, then. Was this…

Did Shen-Shixiong have a brother?

"You did," Mu Qingfang confirmed for now, offering a kind smile. He was the Peak Lord of Qian Cao, after all. His bedside manner was good, his shifu had made sure of that before she'd ever even so much as thought of ascending. "How are you feeling now? Any aches?"

"Mm" The man who might be Shen-Shixiong's brother tilted his head with a sigh. "My head hurts, and I don't feel my golden core either. Am I…?"

"If you are asking this shidi whether you must die," Mu Qingfang was happy to say, "then the answer is no. I am unable to cure the poison, but we can keep the effects at bay with medicine and keep your qi from stagnating again by circulating someone else's qi like this."

The man with the too dark eyes took this in for a moment, then tilted his head again. "I see…"

"What you did was very brave," Mu Qingfang said, because it was true. Then, because sometimes he liked to be a little mischievous, he added: "I'm quite scared your brother will be angry with both of it for this, however."

The man looked stunned for a long moment. Then, very slowly, his mouth began to quirk into a playful smirk. "Does this mean that didi of mine actually got himself medical care when he needed it?" he asked, voice sounding mostly teasing but also a little happy, "My, my. That wasn't written in A-Jiu's letters at all…"

Mu Qingfang couldn't help the self-satisfied smile pulling at his own lips. "Not even Shen-Shixiong can stop me from caring for my martial family, I'm afraid."

The man's posture changed even more, shattering the rest of the illusion as he pulled up his free hand to hide his giggles. "So Mu-Shidi forced him, yes? Good. Let's see whether that'll cure his stubbornness!"

Sighing sadly, Mu Qingfang shook his head. "There is no cure for that either, unfortunately."

For a moment, he took the time to marvel at the happy expression on a face exactly like Shen-Shixiong's. But in the end, Mu Quingfang gentled his voice again because had to ask: "Do you know about the…?"

"Yes." The man now pushed up after all, leisurely using one hand to do so. Though his movements were graceful too, they were completely different from Shen-Shixiong. Where Shen-Shixiong moved with fluent, sophisticated grace, his brother moved in a showy, almost tantalising wave. "That's where A-Jiu is right now, you know? He's getting a little something for me, to help with this."

Of course Mu Qingfang knew exactly what kind of little something Shen-Shixiong's brother - and what was his name anyways? - must be referring to. Considering how dangerous the place it grew was, Mu Qingfang was in no way surprised that the patient in front of him had not been able to get it himself. He was, however, thoroughly impressed that Shen-Shixiong had decided to get it without support.

"Then he knows?"

To this question, Shen-Shixiong's brother broke out in actual laughter. It was such a strange feeling, to hear Shen-Shixiong's voice make such a happy sound. "No! No way. If he knew, would A-Jiu ever allow me to stay behind without confining me to a bed? Without someone to monitor my condition?"

This surprised Mu Qingfang even more. "And yet he went to that place? Alone?"

The brother's eyes gentled at that. "Of course," he replied as though it should have been obvious, "I asked him to and he is my brother."

Maybe, Mu Qingfang thought to himself as he kept circulating qi through his patient, the thing that had been wrong had been his own conceptions about Shen-Shixiong.

Or maybe his brother was the exception even for Shen-Shixiong.

"Something is wrong with this report, surely?"

Before Shang Qinghua even had the chance to justify himself, the doors to the meeting hall were all but thrown open. In front of the stunned eyes of all twelve gathered peak lords, a dark cloud in the form of Shen Qingqiu entered - and in a state unlike any of them had seen on him before. There was no other word for it: He looked rough.

His hair, though put half-up in the same, intricate style as always, looked unkept in some parts and had been singed at others. His face had mud and caked blood on it, and though there had obviously been attempts at cleaning it they had not been very successful. Apparently because there had just been too much of it. And his clothes, visibly lighter and more suited to travel than what he usually wore, were dirtied at the hem, too. One of his sleeves had even been ripped off halfway down his forearm, and his outer robe had tears on different places.

Yes still, the man held himself with an air of elegance and a cold expression that seemed to judge you for even daring to exist.

Shen Yuan stood up leisurely, ignoring the questioning gazes of the peak lords. He didn't say anything, content to let his younger twin sort through his own thoughts and figure out what to say. Shen Jiu had always been bad at greetings, after all. Especially when they hadn't seen each other in a long while.

Today turned out no different. Instead of warm words or even just an impersonal greeting, A-Jiu grit his teeth and hissed out: "You didn't tell me there would be Blue Clad Ghost Bats there," he accused.

Shen Yuan, to whom farewells and hellos were difficult as well, only smiled. "Didn't I? Hm… Must have slipped my mind. But you made it back in one piece anyways. Well done!"

For a moment, A-Jiu looked at him as though he was contemplating murder. In the end he only clicked his tongue, though. "What do you think you're doing right now anyways?"

The grin that slipped onto Shen Yuan's face was completely involuntary and entirely mischievous. "Oh, this?" he asked casually, gesturing to the clothes he'd borrowed, "I was getting to know your colleagues, that's all. Lovely people, though you were right: Most of them are a bit…"

A-Jiu only narrowed his eyes. "You know that is not what I asked."

Shen Yuan couldn't help but laugh at that. "Oh? It's not? What could you possibly have meant then, hm?"

A-Jiu didn't bother answering. Instead, he only pinched his nose. "Please, for the sake of the heavens, stop pretending to be me to meet the people in my life."

"Aw," Shen Yuan complained dramatically. He reached up to take off the hair ornaments he'd also borrowed, tying his hair up into a high ponytail with the butterfly hair crown instead. With a little qi he removed the make-up he'd applied to hide the thin scar running down his jaw and the mole underneath his eyebrow. Looking a lot more like himself again, Shen Yuan took a few steps to stand next to his unimpressed brother, facing the peak lords. "But how will I know how my poor little didi is treated while I'm not around if I don't do this? People always act so differently when they know there someone's family is visiting…"

"It's disgraceful," A-Jiu hissed, taking the fan Shen Yuan had borrowed and thrusting the blue one Shen Yuan had left in the bamboo house the kast time he'd visited at him instead. "And manipulative."

Shen Yuan couldn't help but roll his eyes at that. "Everyone manipulates the people around them or tries to take advantage of them. That's just normal human interaction. It doesn't mean they're being malevolent. Really, A-Jiu, I wonder why you just don't want to understand that?"

A-Jiu scoffed. Instead of his retort, someone's weak voice sounded from the table: "Uhm…" Both Shen siblings turned to Shang Qinghua, who visibly shrank back at the attention. "Shen-Shixiong? Aren't you going to… introduce us?"

A-Jiu raised an eyebrow. "It seems as though you've already met him, though. No?"

Shen Yuan snorted a laugh while Shang Qinghua deflated even more. "I meant, officially?"

Sighing as though it was a chore, A-Jiu gestured to Shen Yuan. Shen Yuan offered a bow and a wink to the gathered peak lords. "Very well. This here is my twin brother, Shen Yuan. He asked this one for a favour, and said he would stay on this one's peak until this master returned. Zhangmen-Shixiong was informed that my brother would take care of Qing Jing Peak for the time being."

Shen Yuan nodded as rose from his bow, smiling at the stunned faces. "I promised nobody would even notice he was gone."

A-Jiu, who had probably noticed what Shen Yuan had done there at exactly this moment, turned to Shen Yuan with the gaze of a man who just wanted to go to sleep. "You make me fratricidal."

Shen Yuan chuckled, reaching up to pat his brother's hair affectionately, the way he'd done when they'd been small children living on the street. Before Shen Yuan had been sold first, and long before Qi-ge had found him and payed off his debts.

The only reason A-Jiu even still considered Qi-ge his friend, Shen Yuan knew, was because the man had at least found and freed Shen Yuan. And while that hadn't been enough to make him forgive Qi-ge for not coming back for A-Jiu himself, it seemed to have been good enough for at least a little redemption.

Though Shen Yuan was still wondering just why Qi-ge had never come back for A-Jiu. Shen Yuan only knew that he had seemed very… unhappy when Shen Yuan had tried to ask about his brother. And that he'd looked absolutely heart-broken when he came to the pavilion Shen Yuan still refused to move out of to tell him A-Jiu had entered his sect.

A-Jiu did not lean into the head-pat like he used to. Notably, he did not push Shen Yuan's hand away either. What a cute little brother, so prickly and loving.

"Yes, yes, I've missed you too, didi," Shen Yuan all but purred, placing an affectionate kiss on the crown of his brother's head, "Well, then. Allow me to get changed into my own clothes, and then we can catch up. Yes?"

A-Jiu, who happened to read Shen Yuan like an open book most of the time, looked at him with the suspicion of a man used to Shen Yuan's behaviour and the distrust of a brother whose sibling had somehow not teased him when the perfect moment for it arrived. Which was to say, A-Jiu looked at Shen Yuan like he knew something was amiss and that he would regret not pushing.

Yes he only tilted his head, carefully as though it would spring a trap, and gave an agreeing: "Mm."

Relieved that he could draw out the bad news a little longer, Shen Yuan turned to do as he'd said. But then he remembered that it was always better to break shocking news in front of an audience where A-Jiu could not escalate completely without loosing face and in a situation where he could easily get away. So he turned with a smile that made A-Jiu take half a step back in caution and asked: "Ah! By the way, did you get it…?"

Relaxing, A-Jiu nodded and pulled a pristine, rose-like flower with lilac petals in a shape similar to a lily. It glowed a faint blue and glittered with gold, which was good since those were the indicators that it was still usable. Breathing a sigh of relief, Shen Yuan took the flower. "Thank you, A-Jiu. This means a lot."

A-Jiu nodded, then pursed his lips. "Will you tell me why you needed this flower now?" he demanded.

Having already known that this question would come, Shen Yuan turned and walked closer to the door. Best to get a little more distance between them. "Oh this? It happens to be the antidote to a poison I contracted. Nasty stuff, kills you slowly and painfully over about ten years."

Behind him, A-Jiu made a sound like he was being choked. "…What?!"

Shen Yuan nodded without turning back. "Yes. So far it's only a bit of joint pain, headaches and stomach pain, but give or take two years and I probably wouldn't have been able to walk without a cane anymore."

"Yuan-Ge."

Except for quickening his pace a little, Shen Yuan ignored his brother's warning tone. "It's fine, it's fine. There shouldn't be any lasting effects after drinking the antidote." He took a deep breath, because he knew what he needed to do now if he didn't want an overprotective and anxious brother chasing him around in protective anger. Tensing to run, Shen Yuan threw over his shoulder: "Oh! By the way, don't worry, I'll live. But I also happened to contract Without A Cure while you were away."

With those words, Shen Yuan fled towards the bamboo house. Behind him, he could hear his brother's fan snapping in half, followed by Qi-Ge's frantic attempts to calm A-Jiu.

Fortunately, Shen Yuan had always been the faster twin. So by the time A-Jiu had managed to get over his shock and began pursuit, Shen Yuan was already gone from sight.

The long journey back to his house should be enough for A-Jiu to calm down a little.

Hopefully.