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Chapter Text

Part I

Yue Qingyuan stood in the formation staring emotionlessly at the resentful energy seeping out of the walking corpse they were fighting. It was more powerful than any walking corpse they fought before. Four peak lords, including his shizun and the Bai Zhan war god were present, along with six succeeding disciples.

After several failed attempts of killing it by smaller sects, the village was evacuated and they requested help from Cang Qiong mountain. Her resentful energy was great enough to be considered a major threat.

The corpse’s shrieking was deafening and the resentful energy completely poisoned the nearby village. This was probably the biggest mission that the sect took since the sealing of Tianlang-jun.

Exhaustion was starting to wear down everyone, and the disciples were getting more anxious after hours of fighting. except for Yue Qingyuan.

He felt nothing, he hasn’t felt anything since he went back to the Qiu household a year ago.

After he was finally released from the caves and got caught trying to sneak out of Qian Cao for the third time, his shizun dragged him in front of the other peak lords to discuss his behavior, he was worried that he made the wrong choice for a succeeding disciple. At the weight of being questioned by 12 peak lords he finally broke down and told them everything. He didn’t want to share anything in the fear of being kicked out for being a runaway slave or that Xiao Jiu might not be accepted into the sect. the reaction that he got was fortunately the opposite of what he imagined.

Peak lord Wu, the Bai Zhan war god proceeded to pick him up by the collar and told him to lead the way. The optimism, the pure momentary happiness, the hope that lasted for the whole ride from the sect to the Qiu household was crushed the moment he saw the charred remains of the house.

“can this one help you mister?”

Yue Qi and peak lord Wu turned to the voice of a young women.

“What happened here?” peak lord Wu talked before Yue Qi could.

The women looked nervous but answered nonetheless “a servant went mad a week ago… I don’t know what happened to him. He just starting killing people then set the house on fire...” there was panic in her eyes as she recalled the events.

“was there any survivors?” peak lord Wu asked, the remains of the house were covered with erratic qi. Whoever was this servant, it is clear that he had a major qi deviation.

“if daozhang is looking for the family members, I’m afraid only the young mistress survived.”

“what about the servants! Did any of the servants survive?” Yue Qi spoke in a hurry.

“some of us managed to escape. Who is daozhang looking for?”

“a boy! His name is Xiao Jiu; he is about 15 years old!”

The women flinched and took a step back.

Yue Qi took a step forward “please, I must find him!”

“Yue shizi.” Yue Qi looked at peak lord Wu, his face was adorned with a serious expression.

Peak lord Wu faced the young woman again “young lady it is very important that we find this boy. This one is a peak lord of Cang Qiong mountain sect. I may be able to help since this is clearly not a normal incident.”

The woman was quit for a few seconds

“after he set the house on fire, he perished in it.”

-------

Yue Qi sat quietly beside peak lord Wu in an inn, waiting for the young woman to inform the young mistress of their arrival. His eyes were blown wide open.

He was late. He was very late.

Xiao Jiu is dead.

The Qiu mistress entered the room with an old maid.

She was pale, disheveled and eyes red from grief. Quietly she sat down in front of them while her maid served them tea.

“Xing-er told me that daozhangs wanted to speak to me?” her voice was small and hoarse.

“we are hoping that the young lady would tell us what happened to her estate and the people in it.” Peak lord Wu spoke in the calmest voice he could muster.

The mistress had an empty look in her eyes “he killed my brother… and many more in the house…”

“I understood from your maid that the servant never showed signs of aggression before, is that correct?”

Her eyes began to fill with tears. “no… my brother bought him three years ago from slavers after he found them mistreating him, he showed him nothing but kindness he taught him how to read and write even freed him from his slave status and engaged us. He was very timid the whole time, he had us all fooled with his façade.”

At her words Yue Qi awoke from his stupor and shifted his eyes to look at her slowly “liar.” He said in a low voice.

The mistress turned to him in confusion “excuse me?”

“I said you are a liar.” His voice was lauder and more solid this time.

Qiu Haitang’s face distorted with rage “my family is dead! I saw him killing them, he was smiling! He was having fun! My house lays in ashes! What is there to lie about!!!?”

“kindness. What kindness did your brother show him? The last time I saw Xiao Jiu your brother broke both his legs!” he shouted

“how dare you!” she slammed her hands on the table and shouted back “no one ever laid a hand on him! And who are you!!! You show up after a tragedy hit my family and try to smear my brother’s image! A-Luo was a saint! What man would personally teach a slave! Shen Jiu was nothing but an ungrateful dog and karma caught on to him pretty fast!”

“I am Xiao Jiu’s brother! The one that your brother bought at the same time he bought Xiao Jiu! Bought him after seeing the slavers mistreat him!? Don’t make me laugh! Your brother bought us because we were unlucky enough to catch his attention! Xiao Jiu angered him after he injured his horse to stop your sadistic brother from tumbling me with it!”

Qiu Haitang looked shocked “what are you talking about...”

“lady Qiu.” Qiu Haitang looked at peak lord Wu

“the remains of your house is covered with qi, it is very clear that Xiao Jiu suffered from a qi deviation. It is very hard to lead someone to that state specially a non-cultivating young man. I’m not accusing your late brother of anything yet, I’m only trying to uncover the truth because so far, one thing I know for sure is that the young man wasn’t in his full mind when did what he did.”

Qiu Haitang looked small and lost at his words “no one hurt him I swear… he was treated well.”

Peak lord Wu nodded and looked behind Qiu Haitang “what about you, ma’am?”

The old woman that accompanied Qiu Haitang flinched at being addressed suddenly. Peak lord Wu was a lean man with soft features but was able to be intimidating if he wanted.

“m-me?”

“yes, you. You have been growing more nervous since you entered. You know something that your mistress does not. What is it?”

Qiu Haitang turned to look at her maid “Li Sha?”

The woman looked a little panicked “I’m sorry young lady, I just didn’t want to speak ill of the dead, especially now that all parties involved are gone.”

The woman rubbed her hands together nervously.

“The young master was never kind to him, none of the servants who died were kind to him. The young master treated him as his own toy. Somethings that he did to him cannot be said, he was good at hiding it, he never hit anywhere that showed and the servants all knew but turned a blind eye to his abuse. The worst ones would drag him to the young master’s chambers to be the sole receiver of his ire.

this lowly one tried to help him escape more than once, but he refused. He said he was waiting for someone.”

“what caused him to snap?” peak lord Wu asked.

“he wanted to leave… but the young master wouldn’t let him. He was never really freed.

.

I’m sorry”

The word of the maid broke him. He left the room with a blank face, not caring for panicked mumbling of Qiu Haitang.

He walked to the remains of the house where Xiao Jiu qi deviated and went on murderous rampage, killing many of the house occupants, but even in his madness his still was conscious enough to spare those who were kind to him (mainly the women). From the looks of it, it didn’t take long for the qi deviation to kill him. He was long dead before the fire reached him.

Yue Qi knelt on the ground and started digging with his bare hands where the old maid told and took out the urn that held Xiao Jiu’s ashes. peak lord Wu purified the remains to prevent any of the dead of returning as vengeful spirits. After he finished he approached the still kneeling Yue Qi.

“Shizi, let’s return to the sect. there is nothing left here for you.” Slowly Yue Qi rose and followed peak lord Wu without uttering a word and hugging the urn to his chest.

-----

His shizun met them at the entrance of Qiong Ding peak. He took one look at Yue Qi and frowned.

“what happened?” he asked addressing peak lord Wu.

Peak lord Wu did not answer, instead he looked at Yue Qi “Yue shizi should go rest.” Then he turned to the sect leader. “Shixiong, we should speak later.”

Yue Qi ignored them and walked to the dormitories. Still holding the urn to his chest.

The following two months were filled with many of the peak lord and disciples trying to cheer him up. He was given the space to grief and did not have to join the disciples in their classes immediately. And despite the peak lords’ efforts, Word has spread about the whole situation, about how the Qiong Ding’s succeeding disciple had a sworn brother that he cherished, who lived miserably and died miserably.

There is nothing that can cheer him up, he couldn’t even avenge him. he lost the only thing that had meaning and all he has left is an ash urn and a sword to reminds him of his failure. The sadness will last forever.

--------

snapping back to the corpse that managed to push back both peak lord Wu and Liu Qingge, he swooped down from where he stood midair on his sheathed sword and engaged in fight with corpse.

She was tall, with ripped robes that indicated that she was some nobility. Her dark hair was loose and covered her face, partially obscuring the crazed look in her white eyes.

After a while of dodging and blocking and managing to land one hit one her that barely grazed her arm, he noticed something strange about her energy. It wasn’t coming from within her and more like it was just surrounding her body.

“shifu!” he shouted “there is something odd with it! The resentful energy is not seeping from it; it’s just lingering around it!”

Sect leader Zhao turned to peak lord Li, the Qing Jing peak lord. “Li shidi! Find out what’s wrong with it!”

With that, they redirected their efforts towards figuring out what was wrong with the corpse. While peak lord Li observed from the above on his sword. Then he finally saw it. A talisman stuck to her chest and obscured by her robes, glowing faintly with red light.

“Yue shizi! The talisman on her chest!” Yue Qingyuan jumped forward and in a single slash, he cut the talisman in half. The corpse let out an agonizing shriek and her skin started breaking like an outer shell and light beamed from the cracks blinding the ten cultivators. Yue Qinqyuan closed his eyes, yet the light still passed through his eyelids. It lasted several seconds and was accompanied by what sounded like the ringing that gong leaves when it’s struck.
Finally, the light dissipated and the cultivators opened their eyes to the presence of a shining figure of a maiden.

She was dressed in red and gold and her black hair flowed down to her feet. And celestial ribbons adorned her shoulders.

Every one stared with awe at her and peak lord Li whispered “a goddess!”

Upon realizing who was in front of them, everyone fell to their knees.

The goddess walked gracefully to the kneeling Yue Qingyuan.

“lift your head young man” her voice was calm and airy, her lips did not move. It was as if she spoke directly into their heads. Yue Qingyuan looked up to her and she reached out and held his chin gently “I have been struck with this curse for so many years. Ironic how simple it was, yet I could not remove it and it seems that I have been abandoned by the gods and needed to be saved by a mortal.”

All who were present felt stupefied at her words. Who in the world would curse a goddess?

Who in the world could hurt a goddess?!

Her fingers softly brushed Yue Qingyuan’s cheek “I thank you, young cultivator, many attempted to end me, you are the only one who noticed something was wrong” she floated closer to him and smiled gently “know that your deeds will be rewarded.” And with she disappeared into a ball of light.

The ball rapidly ascended into the sky and turned the night into day with who bright it shined before a part of it broke in the sky a descended back to the ground in the middle of the forest, a couple of hundred meters away from them. The light kept shining in a soft beam from where it hit and high into the sky.

The cultivators all looked at the sky with fascination. Before they came back to their senses. They have met a goddess!

Sect leader Zhao walked to Yue Qingyuan and stood next to him “I guess that is your reward.”

Yue Qingyuan looked at the beam of light, still in a stupor.

“come on shixiong!” Qi Qingqi slapped his shoulder in a friendly manner and stood one the other side of him with the rest of his martial siblings “a reward from a goddess! That has to be something extraordinary!” she said with sparkling eyes.

“Yue shizi should hurry to receive his reward, as not to offend the goddess.” Peak lord Li spoke in a nonchalant manner to hide his extreme curiosity.

With further encouragement from his shidis, Yue Qingyuan smiled lightly before dropping the smile and walking towards the light.

In the middle of a clearing made by the beam stood a ball of light that was half his size. The nine other companions stood at the edge of the shadow surrounding the light.

Yue Qingyuan took a deep breath and stepped towards the ball, the closer he got the more it shined, when he was three meters away, the ball broke open and the light faded.

In its place stood a boy, no older than 13, dressed in simple white inner robes his hair was loose and framed his face, softening his sharp features. He looked and moved franticly around him trying to figure out where he was.

Everyone looked in shock, as a boy was the last thing they expected.

“the goddess gave him a boy?? he is cute but I didn’t think that the gods are into these kind of stuff! Ew.” Qi Qingqi whispered to Liu Qingge and Shang Qinghua, who were standing beside her. “Qingqi shut up!!” Liu Qingge whispered back at her.

The boy finally spotted him and Yue Qingyuan froze and his eyes widened. And held his breath. He extended his arm and stepped forward not believing what he is seeing. Before he could say anything, the boy narrowed his eyes and took a good look at him.

“Qi-Ge?”

Chapter Text

Part II

Yue Qingyuan eyes filled with tears and he prayed that he wasn’t in a cruel dream. His voice broke when he spoke.

“Xiao Jiu?”

Everyone behind him froze, they all know who Xiao Jiu is. Hell! The whole sect knew who he was, and everyone knew he was dead and his ashes where in an urn in Yue Qingyuan’s room.

The boy’s face lighted up “Qi-Ge!” He got up and run and hugged Yue Qingyuan. His head barely reached his chest. Yue Qingyuan staggered back at Xiao Jiu throwing himself at him and squeezing him hard. He stabled himself cupped the boy’s cheek and made him look up. He had a delighted smiled on his face. “you came back!”

At that, Yue Qingyuan’s emotionless mask broke and tears flowed down his face. Hi knees hit the ground and he hugged Xiao Jiu closer while repeating a cycle of ‘Xiao Jiu’ and ‘I’m so sorry’ through his hiccupping. Xiao Jiu was confused why he was crying but none the less patted him on the back and hugged tighter. “why are you crying idiot! I should be the one crying! Dumbass”

Yue Qingyuan pulled back and cupped his face again. “I’m so so sorry, I should’ve never left you there. I won’t fault you if you never forgive me.”

Xiao Jiu looked lost and panicked a little while trying to calm Yue Qi.

“calm down idiot!! I am fine can’t you see? Why are you making a big deal? I’m fine” Yue Qingyuan kept crying and shaking his head. Xiao Jiu didn’t know what to do but continued to hug him “Anyway, where are we? And why am I wearing only inner robes? And how did become so much taller than me? And who are these people?” Yue Qingyuan finally snapped out of his crying and quickly took off his outer robes and draped them over Xiao Jiu’s shoulders.

Yue Qingyuan looked at him, tears were still staining his cheeks and seemed unable to take his hands off of him. “Xiao Jiu was gone.” He said miserably much to the bewilderment of Xiao Jiu. “I thought I lost him forever. I did lose him! This in nothing short of a miracle. I promise I’ll keep you safe, I won’t let anyone like the Qius near you ever again!”

 Xiao Jiu furrowed his eyebrows “I was gone?” he asked innocently “I remember being…… in the woodshed, Qiu Jianluo threw me there after…” he stopped talking and shuddered.

Yue Qi clasped his shoulders a little too hard. “he won’t hurt you! He is gone. No one will ever hurt you again!” Yue Qi’s almost manic episode was interrupted.

“child, would you mind giving me your arm?” they both turned to see peak lord Yang, the Qian Cao peak lord kneeling next to them with Mu Qingfang standing behind her. Xiao Jiu moved closer to Yue Qingyuan, the two have not noticed that the others also now stood closer to them.

Yue Qingyuan put his arm around his waist possessively but still he coaxed him gently. “It’s alright Xiao Jiu, Yang shishu is a healer. She won’t hurt you.” Xiao Jiu blinked at her suspiciously and extended his arm but kept a wary eye at peak lord Yang. After taking his pulse, the healer smiled warmly at him. “thank you, child. Yue shizi, please take your brother back to the inn, he shouldn’t stay under dressed in the cold weather. And I’m sure today’s events were tiring to him.”

Yue Qingyuan didn’t need her to say anything else, he scooped up Xiao Jiu who made an adorable squeak into his arms, bowed to his shizun and took off flying to the inn.

-------

The moment Yue Qingyuan left the remaining cultivators broke out in a heated discussion.

“how is that even possible?” sect leader Zhao asked

“didn’t Yue shixiong’s brother die in a fire?”

“so gods can just resurrect the dead! Just like that!?”

“wasn’t he 15 when he died? He is so small!”

“shimei” peak lord Li spoke and they all stopped talking “you checked him. Is there anything unusual about him?”

“other than the fact that his supposed to be dead and that he just came out of a ball of light? No, he is perfectly normal and human, albeit malnourished.”

They stayed quiet for a second to further digest what just happened.

“he is quite adorable isn’t he? No wonder Yue Shixiong mourned him so much.” Qi Qingqi broke the silence.

They were all thinking of the same thing. How Yue Qingyuan turned into a ghost of himself for that boy.

“all of you, go back to the inn, we are going to need to come up with an excuse, on how a dead boy came back to life. The involvement of the goddess cannot be known to anyone! It would put a target on the boy’s back.” sect leader Zhao.

They all shuddered at the thought of the boy being harmed. They don’t doubt that Yue Qingyuan would go a murderous rage if anything happened to him.

“what are we going to do?” Liu Qingge said uncomfortably.

“umm… we could tell people that we found a magical plant that can grow bodies and summoned his soul back?” Shang Qinghua spoke nervously and everyone looked at him like he is the stupidest creature on earth.

He sweated and made himself smaller. “I mean… there are thousands of miraculous plants out there. No one can dispute that there may be one that can grow bodies?”

They now looked at him like he was a hopeless being. Yet surprisingly, peak lord Li spoke. “this is actually not a bad idea… and such a plant defiantly exist, this master is sure that he read about it before.”

Sect leader Zhao looked serious “shidi, find out about the plant. We need a solid lie.

Good job Shang shizi.”

Shang Qinghua stared at him with a dumbfounded look on his face and bowed deeply. “y-yes thank you Zhangmen shibo!”

-----

Xiao Jiu was comfortable. After showering and big meal, he slipped from his bed and into Yue Qingyuan’s who gleefully hugged and fell asleep.

He cannot believe that he left that hell. He is not really sure how. All he knows that this is the healthiest he ever felt in years and that he is with Qi-Ge now.

Qi-Ge said that he was gone and that him being here now was a miracle. He doesn’t understand what that means and his head hurts whenever he tries to think about it, or about how much Qi-Ge grew in their one year apart.

He sank himself deeper into Yue Qi’s arms and decided not to think about it and just embrace this bliss.

Yue Qi did not sleep that night and spend it staring at Xiao Jiu’s sleeping face. He was scared that if he closed his eyes that Xiao Jiu would disappear.

--------

Xiao Jiu sat nervously outside the room where the peak lords and Qi-Ge were meeting. He was wrinkling the fabric of his new robs with his hands. It took a lot of talking to convince Qi-Ge to leave him outside with Qi Qingqi and the other disciples so he could meet with the peak lords privately.

The other disciples kept glancing at him with curious eyes while Qi Qingqi chatted with him. She was nice and had soft hands that kept on patting his hair and he didn’t mind. Jiejies were always nicer to him than men. She was clearly trying to calm him down from his nervousness at being away from Qi-Ge and he appreciated it.

“is there anything in particular that Xiao Jiu likes to do?” Qi Qingqi spoke gently

“I like playing the Guqin. All though, I’m not very good it.”

“does Xiao Jiu wish to be a musician? He should speak to Li shibo. He is the peak lord of the arts peak and teaches the Guqin personally.”

“arts peak?”

“yes! There are 12 peaks in Cang Qiong mountain and each specialize with something.”

Xiao Jiu frowned “which peak is Qi-Ge on?”

“Yue Shixiong is the succeeding disciple of Qiong Ding peak, it means not only will he be the peak lord someday but also the leader of the entire sect and mountain range!”

Xiao Jiu looked at her with awe “Qi-Ge really is amazing…”

“he sure is.”

“Yue Shixiong is the strongest fighter in the sect. no one can defeat him and he doesn’t even need to pull out his sword.” Liu Qingge added with pride for his Shixiong.

Xiao Jiu looked down and smiled at the achievements of his Qi-Ge.

Their conversation ended abruptly when the doors opened and Yue Qi and the peak lords walked out.

Xiao Jiu jumped to his feet and ran to Yue Qi, who smiled at him and placed his hand on his head.

“Xiao Jiu, the peak lords agreed to accept you into the sect as a Qing Jing peak disciple!”

The happiness that Xiao Jiu felt disappeared and he panicked.

“Qing Jing peak!? But I want to be with you!” he pleaded with big round eyes.

“we will! I promise I’m not going anywhere! Qing Jing and Qiong Ding are neighboring peaks! They are very close to each other and I’ll visit every day.”

 “but-but why can’t I got to Qiong Ding! Don’t you want me to be with you?!” at his sad tone Yue Qi melted immediately and peak lord Li had to step forward before Yue Qi grants him anything he wants.

“child…, Qiong Ding peak practice Mixed cultivation which is not suited for you. You are a spiritual leaning. You will bloom on Qing Jing. Not to mention, you have great aptitude and if you worked hard enough, you would have a shot at becoming a peak lord and answering to no one other that Yue shizi. Wouldn’t you want that?”

Xiao Jiu bit his lips and looked lost “but.. but..”

Peak lord Li’s face softened and he kneeled to face him “I understand your fears. You have been through a lot. But right now you are being presented with the opportunity to gain power to protect not just yourself but your brother as well.”

“Qi-Ge doesn’t seem to need protecting.” Xiao Jiu said stubbornly

Peak lord Li chuckled while Yue Qi blushed. “Not physically, but to be a part of Qing Jing is to learn strategy and thus to guide the future sect leader.”

He went quiet and looked at Qi-Ge who smiled at him, clearly he wanted Xiao Jiu with him on the same peak and the peak lords talked some sense into him.

Finally, he answered softly “ok”

Peak lord Li smiled “very well! If you are to be a disciple, you are to call me shizun.”

“yes … shizun” said Xiao Jiu shyly

“and you will need a last name, Does A-Jiu has any name in mind?”

“yes.

Shen.”