Chapter Text
The cup in Shen Yuan's hand was a high-quality ceramic, so fine and thin that he could see the shadows of his fingers through the sides. The brothel had broken out a good tea set for this particular guest.
He placed the teacup back on the tray and turned, balancing pot and cups in one hand and fluttering an embroidered fan in the other. He bent low to set the tray before the distinguished cultivator lounging before the low, lacquered table.
"Old Tree, Green Bamboo," Shen Yuan said in his softest voice. He filled a cup. He fluttered his lashes in time with the little waves of his fan, wafting up the sweet almond oil he'd massaged into his skin and making the silk veil over his face sway. "Begging our honoured guest to enjoy."
Lianhua gave a surprisingly throaty laugh.
"Forgive our new sister, Jiu'er. She doesn't know that she needn't play such games with you yet."
The Peak Lord of Qing Jing Peak snorted as he took the cup of tea up, holding it so lightly that his fingers barely seemed to touch the hot porcelain. He lifted it to his nose and inhaled the scent of silky green tea.
For lack of any other response, Shen Yuan giggled. Giggling had gotten him extremely far tonight.
It worked now, too. 'Jiu'er,' Shen Qingqiu, only rolled his eyes and set down the teacup.
Two more women, Lanhua and Xiao Guihua (Shen Yuan had immediately learned the theme of the names at this brothel, but hadn't yet figured out anyone's actual names), entered, both carrying trays of snacks. Walnuts, grilled fish, little cakes. Shen Qingqiu took one of the cakes while Xiao Guihua began massaging his back, gently striking his shoulders with her fists.
"Jiu'er looks so stressed," Lianhua said, her lips curling into a pout.
"That's right! They're treating you well on that mountain, aren't they, Jiu'er?"
"If they're not, just tell us, Jiu'er; we'll go and beat them up for you!"
"Yeah!"
Shen Yuan kept half an ear on their conversation, gliding to the edge of the room while the other ladies flirted and draped themselves around Shen Qingqiu. He stoked the incense burner, nudged the flowering branch in a vase into a more pleasing position, and then crossed diaphenously over to the qin that rested in the corner of the room.
"Oh, meimei, will you play? Jiu'er is a skilled musician, you know. Jiu'er, this sister is so good on the qin; the Madame hired her on the spot after hearing her play."
Shen Yuan giggled again and settled his fingers on the strings of the qin. Shen Qingqiu looked uninterested at the prospect but didn't protest as he began to play. He began slowly, transitioning from simple scales into something soft and lilting. Perfect background music for the quiet conversation, the peaceful atmosphere of the night.
"No need for that," Shen Qingqiu was saying. "I hardly think the intervention of a bunch of whores will solve Cang Qiong's myriad problems."
How disrespectful! Shen Yuan thought. Insulting these ladies while you pay for their services!
But the woman only tittered. "Just try us, Jiu'er! Those Peak Lords won't know what hit them."
"Powerful men think they're all that, but just wait till you have them with their—"
"Shh, jiejie, Jiu'er doesn't want to hear that."
"It isn't a matter worth such trouble," Shen Qingqiu said. He tilted his head back and sighed as Xiao Guihua switched to massaging his neck. Shen Yuan's cheeks burned. Shameless! "I am merely forced to contend with the peaks' incompetencies. At the very least, I won't let Qing Jing Peak lose face."
Xiao Guihua draped herself over Shen Qingqiu's shoulders, her hands clasping over his chest.
"That sounds frustrating, gege."
Ugh! Shen Yuan couldn't listen to this.
After several months of observing Shen Qingqiu whenever he was off the mountain, Shen Yuan had come to one conclusion: the man was a stuck-up jerk. He constantly patronised brothels, and otherwise went around in his fancy carriage, wearing fancy clothes, snearing at commoners and acting all lofty despite being no better than any corrupt noble around.
As irritating as Shen Yuan found him, it did make it easier to follow his plan through to the end.
There was a clatter at the table. Lianhua tumbled onto the ground, limp, her teacup clattering to the floor and spilling the remnants of tea across the wood.
"Jie!" Xiao Guihua cried out. Shen Yuan stood, knee almost upsetting the qin, and all of them flocked around the fallen woman like butterflies to a stray piece of fruit.
Shen Qingqiu reached her first. He grabbed her wrist, his face cold as ice.
"Unconscious," he said, "One of you, get the—"
Before he could finish speaking, Xiao Guihua fell to the floor. Then the last woman, Lanhua. Shen Yuan caught her as she collapsed, afraid she would hit her head on the table. He lowered her carefully to the floor.
Shen Qingqiu straightened to his full height. His hand dropped to the glinting sword at his waist.
"Who are you?"
Shen Yuan finished settling Lanhua on her side before rising. Slowly, he untied his veil and let it fall to the floor, then drew out a handkerchief to scrub one stripe of rouge and powder away from his face, then another.
Once his face felt free from makeup, he faced Shen Qingqiu and heard the other man suck in an audible breath. A smile threatened to tug at his lips, and he allowed the barest glimpse of it. He knew what Shen Qingqiu was seeing now.
His own face staring back at him from a stranger.
He folded his hands, his pink sleeves spilling over each other as he raised them in a demure bow. "This humble Shen apologises to the Immortal Master for this inconvenience."
Shen Qingqiu lunged at Shen Yuan. Or, he would have, if he did not stumble over the hem of his own robes when he attempted to leap over the table. The teapot crashed to the floor, and he fell onto his side before rolling and regaining his feet. Although he was standing, his face had gone pale, and he was wavering.
"You drugged the tea. I didn't drink—"
"And the incense," Shen Yuan said.
Shen Qingqiu drew his sword from its sheath in a smooth movement and stabbed towards him. Shen Yuan did not carry a blade, so even clumsy, the Xiu Ya sword was no small hurdle to defeat. The gleaming silver blade missed Shen Yuan by a hair's breadth. Shen Yuan whipped his sleeves around, tangling the blade and attempting to wrench it from Shen Qingqiu's hands. The blade was too sharp, though, and only sliced through the layers of pink silk.
Shen Qingqiu's next swing was towards his face. Shen Yuan ducked and pulled a talisman from the folds of his ruqun. Shen Qingqiu's strike left him exposed, and Shen Yuan spun into the opening to slap the talisman against Shen Qingqiu's forehead.
Xiu Ya clattered to the floor, quickly followed by its master. Shen Qingqiu groaned and twitched. The bloody talisman flared with an ominous light as it settled against his sweaty skin.
"This talisman… this is demonic cultivation," Shen Qingqiu said through gritted teeth.
"This Shen is surprised the Immortal Master recognises such things," Shen Yuan said. "This talisman is powered by the strength of the one to whom it has been applied, so don't try to fight it too hard. You'll only exhaust yourself further."
"What's your game? To steal my body? Harvest my golden core?"
"No thanks," Shen Yuan said, wrinkling his nose. "I'm a demonic cultivator, not a monster."
He rolled Shen Qingqiu over and started taking off the man's pants. Shen Qingqiu let out a scream of rage.
"Oh, right," Shen Yuan said. He took the makeup-stained handkerchief and gagged Shen Qingqiu with it. His shouting became muffled, although he did try to bite Shen Yuan's fingers when he was a bit too slow tying it in place. Shen Yuan noted that the talisman didn't seem to be fully keeping him immobilised. Best to work quickly.
art by toast
Shen Yuan finished undressing Shen Qingqiu, carefully noting how his robes were tied before he set them aside. He stripped off his own daxiushan and ruqun, making sure to remove the rest of his supplies from their layers before he redressed Shen Qingqiu in the prostitute's clothing and himself in the peak lord's green robes.
He had to take a moment to marvel as he pulled on the final layer of green silk. He'd thought the dress the madame had put him in had been fancy! Shen Qingqiu's robes practically glided over his skin. And he had! Real! Qiankun sleeves! He had to shake off the urge to play with them, focusing on stowing his talisman supplies and emptying a small sack-bag. That done, he unwrapped a length of immortal binding cable from around his thigh and made short work of trussing Shen Qingqiu up with it. To top it all off, he pulled the bag over Shen Qingqiu's head, cinching it at the bottom, and nervously poked the unsheathed Xiu Ya with his foot.
The blade shivered and sang on the floor, reacting to its master's rage. Shen Yuan took the blanket off the bed to wrap his hand before picking up the blade. Even through the fabric, he felt the prickle of aggressive energy until he'd sheathed it. Gingerly, he tied it at his waist. One thing was certain—he might be able to steal Shen Qingqiu's clothes, but he wouldn't be wielding the Xiu Ya sword any time soon.
Shen Yuan smothered the incense, and in half a ke the women began to rouse. Shen Yuan checked on each of them until all three were back on their feet, if a bit unsteady. At the worst, they were likely to have headaches for the rest of the day. Shen Yuan was quite familiar with the effects of this particular drug—it was harmless as long as exposure didn't go on too long. He had been exposed so often that he no longer noticed the effects at all.
"What happened?" Lanhua asked, rubbing her forehead with two long fingers.
"Is that Mudan-jie?" Lianhua asked, looking at the weakly struggling Shen Qingqiu with furrowed brows and using the name the madame had given Shen Yuan.
"A fox spirit," Shen Yuan said, nudging the bound body wrapped in his own gauzy layers of pink and red with a foot. "She must have come to the brothel to find victims to drain of vital essence. Thankfully, I was able to resist long enough to capture her."
"Jiu-ge, are you alright?" Xiao Guihua asked, clinging to his hand. Lanhua glared at the bound body while Lianhua groggily clutched her head.
"This master is well," Shen Yuan said, doing his best to affect Shen Qingqiu's cool formality. Aaah, could this really be working? Don't be suspicious! Please! "The creature was no threat to a golden-core stage cultivator. However, I should return with her to Cang Qiong Mountain. While this could be a random attack, I must ensure it wasn't something more sinister."
The women all nodded, and, heart racing, Shen Yuan grabbed the bound Qing Jing Peak lord and slung him across his shoulders.
"Forgive this master for leaving early. Please, take this," he said, and dug out a sizable amount of silver from the pockets of his new robes. As expected of a Peak Lord, this guy was loaded. Shen Yuan was happy to spread the wealth around.
"Jiu'er, you know we have no need for payment from you," Lianhua said, frowning and trying to hand the silver back.
Shen Yuan was a little shocked. What a bad business strategy! Ladies, don't you know sex work is work? You shouldn't let men like this swindle you out of a payday just because of a pretty face!
… That sounded like he was complimenting his own face. They did look pretty much the same—that was what this whole plan hinged on, after all. But all of the ornaments and fancy robes and such made Shen Qingqiu look lofty and elegant, whereas Shen Yuan considered himself serviceable at best. He'd certainly never had prostitutes giving away their services to him free of charge. Not that he would want those services if they were on offer. He supported women in making a living in this world, but getting involved in all that himself sounded mortifying.
"This one must insist. I've brought trouble to the brothel tonight," he said with a light cough, banishing that train of thought.
"Jiu'er—"
"Keep it," he insisted, and headed for the window of the brothel room. Without another look back, he leapt out and onto the dark streets.
Shen Yuan spent his entire journey afraid that Shen Qingqiu would break free of both his poison and the binding cable, and probably then decapitate his wannabe kidnapper. As he walked, Shen Qingqiu did give the occasional kick or struggle that had Shen Yuan's heart jackrabbiting with anxiety. However, he remained trussed up and gave Shen Yuan no real trouble.
Only about a li out of town, Shen Yuan's destination hovered in an otherwise unassuming rockface. The cities near Cang Qiong, being in a mountainous region, had many caves and natural rock formations—some of them even possessed a fraction of the spiritual power that was rumoured of the Ling Xi Caves, although none of them were powerful enough that the long-ago founders of Cang Qiong Mountain had found it worthwhile to stake their claim on them.
This particular 'cave' had no such abilities. A thin crack in the rock, just wide enough for one or two persons to step through, led into an inky well of darkness. Shen Yuan, hiking Shen Qingqiu up on his shoulders, pushed a hand through the crack. It disappeared immediately into the dark. On the other side, he felt warm air and a slight breeze.
It had taken a fair amount of research to find this location, but it seemed his readings had been accurate. The opening to a secret realm, nestled between stone. Rumour had it that a forbidden island existed on the other side, guarded by an immense, ancient water-beast spirit that held within its body the ingredients for a miraculous healing potion. Anyone who ventured in to harvest such an ingredient could risk great danger for great reward—the beast itself was nearly impossible to kill, and the island was filled with many other hazards.
Most importantly, it opened only for a single day once every hundred years. When zi hour struck, it would close once more.
Shen Yuan loosened Shen Qingqiu's ropes just enough that he could probably struggle out of them and tucked a small pouch of basic provisions into the folds of his second-hand ruqun.
"Sorry about this."
With a heave, he tossed him through the opening.
Above him, the clouds parted to reveal a bright, full moon. Shen Yuan counted his heartbeats. Then, he stuck his hand through the cave opening.
This time, he found only cool, damp stone.
Smiling, Shen Yuan shook out his sleeves, straightened his posture, and set off for Cang Qiong Mountain.