Chapter Text
Shen Yuan woke with a start, blinking up at an unfamiliar ceiling.
I'm... alive?
His heartbeat quickened.
He turned his head—and froze.
A man sat beside his bed. He looked so much like his Qi-ge that, for a moment, Shen Yuan wondered if he was still dreaming.
"Shen-shidi is finally awake. How are—"
"...Qi-ge?"
The man's words died in his throat.
"Y-Yes?"
Shen Yuan stared at him uncertainly.
"You... are Qi-ge?"
'Since when did Qi-ge wear such fine robes?'
'And... why am I dressed like this too?'
The man nodded slowly, his eyes never leaving Shen Yuan's face.
"Yes. This one... is Qi-ge."
Without another word, Shen Yuan threw off the blankets and hurried from the bed, searching the room frantically.
"Xiao Jiu!" the older man called after him. "You've only just awakened. Don't move so sud—"
Shen Yuan stopped dead.
"...Xiao Jiu?"
The room fell silent.
"Sh-Shen-shidi...?"
Ignoring him, Shen Yuan found a polished bronze mirror.
The face staring back at him was not his own.
It was older.
Sharper.
Far too familiar.
With trembling fingers, he touched his cheek.
'This... isn't my body.'
Behind him, the man spoke again, hesitant.
"Xiao Jiu...?"
Shen Yuan spun around and grabbed both of his shoulders.
"What happened to Jiu-ge?!"
Confusion spread across the other's face.
"What do you mean? You are Xiao Jiu."
"I'm not!" Shen Yuan cried, panic rising in his voice. "I'm supposed to be dead! Why am I in his body?!"
The warmth vanished from the man's expression.
In one swift motion, he shoved Shen Yuan back and unsheathed his sword.
"Who are you?"
Shen Yuan's breath caught.
The gleaming blade reflected in his widened eyes.
Xuan Su...
'Qi-ge... had become a cultivator.'
'And if Qi-ge was calling Jiu-ge his shidi...'
'Then Jiu-ge had become a cultivator too.'
Unable to help himself, Shen Yuan stepped forward, reaching toward the beautiful sword.
The blade immediately withdrew from his touch.
"It's me!" Shen Yuan blurted. "Xiao Shi!"
"...Xiao Shi?"
Shen Yuan nodded desperately, his face pale with horror.
"Why am I in Jiu-ge's body?" His voice shook. "I'm the one who's supposed to be dead. Jiu-ge was supposed to live!"
The sword slipped back into its sheath.
Yue Qingyuan's eyes widened as realization and disbelief battled across his face.
"...Xiao Shi."
He closed the distance in two hurried steps and caught Shen Yuan before his trembling legs could give way.
"Calm down," he said softly, though his own hands shook. "Tell Qi-ge everything."
"I... I took the sword instead of him!" Shen Yuan gasped, his breathing becoming uneven. "I thought... I thought if I died in his place, Jiu-ge would survive."
His fingers clenched tightly around Yue Qingyuan's robes.
"He did survive... didn't he? I'm in his body now..." His eyes widened in horror as the realization finally settled in. "No..."
His voice broke.
"No, that's impossible..."
"If I'm here..."
"Then Jiu-ge..."
"He died."
Shen Yuan let out a choked cry.
"Jiu-ge died...!"
The words tore from his throat as sobs wracked his body.
"Jiu-ge died!"
Before he could collapse completely, Yue Qingyuan pulled him into a tight embrace and sat on the bed.
"It's alright," Yue Qingyuan whispered hoarsely, one hand gently cradling the back of Shen Yuan's head. "You're here... Qi-ge has you."
Shen Yuan buried his face against his chest, crying without restraint.
"I'm sorry... I'm sorry..."
Yue Qingyuan closed his eyes.
His own vision blurred.
Xiao Shi...
The child he had mourned for years had somehow returned.
But in exchange...
Xiao Jiu was gone.
His shidi.
The person whose body he was holding.
The brother he had finally found again.
Gone.
Joy and grief collided so violently in Yue Qingyuan's chest that he could no longer tell which hurt more.
He tightened his embrace around Shen Yuan, silently grieving the brother he had lost while desperately holding onto the one fate had returned.
"Qi-ge!" Shen Yuan suddenly exclaimed, grabbing Yue Qingyuan's sleeve. "Give me every scroll you have about spiritual plants! I need them—I need to grow a body!"
He tried to push himself to his feet, but Yue Qingyuan gently caught his shoulders and eased him back onto the bed.
"Calm down, Xiao Shi," Yue Qingyuan said softly. "It can wait. Rest first."
"But..." Shen Yuan's voice cracked. "What about Jiu-ge?"
"We'll figure it out."
The certainty in Yue Qingyuan's tone did little to ease the worry etched across Shen Yuan's face.
Yue Qingyuan reached up and gently combed his fingers through Shen Yuan's hair, patting his head the way he had when Xiao Shi was still a child.
"You've only just awakened," he murmured. "You won't be able to think clearly if you exhaust yourself."
Shen Yuan wanted to argue.
He wanted to search every library in the cultivation world, overturn every ancient text, and find a way to return this body to its rightful owner.
But the exhaustion from crying, the lingering weakness in his borrowed body, and the familiar comfort of Qi-ge's gentle touch slowly wore down his resolve.
His eyelids grew heavier.
"...We have to bring Jiu-ge back," he mumbled drowsily.
"We will."
It was a promise Yue Qingyuan desperately hoped he could keep.
Within moments, Shen Yuan drifted back to sleep, his breathing evening out.
Yue Qingyuan continued to stroke his hair in silence.
Only after he was certain Xiao Shi was asleep did the smile vanish from his face.
He had to know the truth.
Was Shen Yuan truly another soul inhabiting Xiao Jiu's body?
Or...
Had Xiao Jiu somehow become Xiao Shi?
Until he found that answer, Yue Qingyuan could neither rejoice over Xiao Shi's return nor properly mourn the possible loss of his shidi.
Once Shen Yuan had fallen into a deep sleep, Yue Qingyuan quietly rose from the bedside.
With a flick of his wrist, talismans flew from his sleeve.
One settled on the door.
Another on the window.
The rest took their places in each corner of the room, forming layers of privacy and soundproofing arrays. No one outside would hear what transpired within.
Only then did Yue Qingyuan return to the bed.
He looked at the sleeping figure before him for a long while.
"...Forgive me, Xiao Jiu."
He raised two fingers and lightly touched Shen Yuan's forehead, guiding a thread of gentle spiritual energy into his sea of consciousness.
The soul responded immediately.
It was not Shen Jiu's.
The spiritual aura was completely different—bright, warm, and achingly familiar.
Memories flashed past him.
A frightened child hiding behind Shen Jiu.
A smiling boy calling him Qi-ge.
The child who had thrown himself in front of Shen Jiu without a moment's hesitation.
Xiao Shi.
There was no trace of deception.
No possession.
No foreign cultivator attempting to seize another's body.
The soul resting within Shen Jiu's body belonged, unmistakably, to Xiao Shi.
Yue Qingyuan withdrew his spiritual sense, his hand trembling.
"...It really is you."
His voice was barely more than a whisper.
The joy of finding Xiao Shi alive again lasted only an instant before grief swallowed it whole.
If Xiao Shi's soul occupied this body...
Then Shen Jiu's soul was nowhere to be found.
His shidi was truly gone.
Yue Qingyuan lowered his head, tears finally slipping free despite all his efforts to hold them back.
"I finally found you again..."
His voice broke.
"...But why did heaven have to take Xiao Jiu in exchange?"
The room remained silent, save for the quiet breathing of the sleeping Xiao Shi and the muffled sound of Yue Qingyuan mourning the brother he had just lost.