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Chapter Text

Sun Zhaoli was found unconscious, from qi deviation, supposedly, in his bamboo house.

When Yao Zhaoyi first heard, he couldn't believe his ears. His cold, perfectionist shidi? Qi deviation? It was something his thin face would never survive. He wondered what could have triggered his shidi's qi deviation, someone who's prided his cultivation and self control over all his other achievements.

Lai Zhaomin shared the same bafflement as his shixiong. The healer checked his shixiong's meridians for the fourth time, and still, found nothing awry. Wan Jian was called to test for possession, where Ma Zhaohong circled his shixiong's sick bed a few times with HongJing in his hands. No reaction.

Yin Hui came next. Ye Zhaoqi took a small vial of her shixiong's blood for testing, and was visibly disgruntled (a large feat, considering how she was blank faced most of the time) when she admitted to not being able to find anything related to poison or strange chemicals, which was Yin Hui's field of specialization.

When they suspected that Sun Zhaoli may have lost his soul, Ke Zhaoding was called to Qian Cao, where he tried a soul summoning ritual under his martial siblings' insistence. Despite knowing well that the ritual is doomed to fail, not just because Ku Xing peak doesn't exactly focus on and master such rituals, but also because losing a soul didn't look like how Sun Zhaoli currently was. And Sun Zhaoli looked as if he was just sleeping.

Wu Zhaoyun roasted up some ruby chestnuts and grounded them into fine paste, adding dashes of water as he stirred to make a light soup, sweet and fragrant. He helped Lai Zhaomin slowly coax their shixiong into swallowing.

The ruby chestnuts helped to strengthen Sun Zhaoli's meridians, and that's about it. Sun Zhaoli still showed no signs of waking up, with not even a twitch.

With the second week of Sun Zhaoli's coma approaching, most of the peak lords became angsty. Without their tactician, what would become of them now? They prayed for Sun Zhaoli's wellbeing, as well as hoping for him to wake up soon.

On the second day of the third week, Lai Zhaomin entered Sun Zhaoli's sick room to see that his shixiong had sat up, breathing heavily. His complexion pale.

“Sun shixiong?”

Lai Zhaomin yelled in panic when his shixiong basically leaped out of bed with so much force that it skidded with a screech. He tried to block his shixiong from leaving but was bulldozed, grabbing the doorframe to steady himself as he watched Sun Zhaoli flee from Qian Cao.

He activated the emergency talisman in his robes.

Du Zhaosong, who was in Qian Cao because of a fractured arm, watched with wide eyes as Sun Zhaoli sped past him like a madman.

With Lai shidi's emergency talisman activated, Du Zhaosong took it as initiative to tackle the frenzied scholar to the ground. The mute peak lord cannot ask any questions even if he wanted to, so he just focused on stopping Sun Zhaoli from wriggling away.

He was sincerely fucking terrified when Sun Zhaoli managed to somehow get up and drag along the dirt, with the Bai Zhan peak lord in tow.

Where did the whimsy scholar get such strength?! Du Zhaosong put his whole weight onto Sun Zhaoli, who turned his head and had the gall to look disgusted.

“Du. Zhao. Song. Get off me!”

Du Zhaosong angrily signed: « Everyone is worried about you. »

“I am absolutely fine!”

Du Zhaosong shook his head adamantly and Lai Zhaomin swept in, immediately transferring calming qi to his shixiong. That, in fact, did not calm their shixiong down.

“For fuck's sake!” Sun Zhaoli cursed, which made the two peak lords gasp. Sun Zhaoli took this chance to flip Du Zhaosong off of him. The Bai Zhan peak lord was wide eyed, all of a sudden very innocent looking. Sun Zhaoli continued, “I have business to attend to.”

Lai Zhaomin swore he didn't find a teleportation talisman on his shixiong, and nor did he put one anywhere near his shixiong. But when he saw the scholar take it out, it was too late to do anything.

The burst of qi around them left smoke, an empty Qian Cao hall, and a kicked puppy Du Zhaosong getting checked over by his shidi.

--

Sun Zhaoli had taken time to revaluate what he should do next, and this was what he decided.

Thankfully he had a qiankun pouch on him (Lai Zhaomin was kind enough to not strip him thoroughly while changing him into sickbed whites), so he had purchased some new robes and found an inn to rest a bit.

He was sure A-Jiu had made a offhanded comment when they came here once..

Sun Zhaoli was right. He watched as a young boy rushed out into the streets where another boy was about to get trampled on by a horse. He watched as a burst of qi pierced through the horse. His eyes immediately found the child who made such an incredible shot that saved two lives.

Those green eyes were unmistakeable.

Sun Zhaoli went downstairs and out of the inn as quick as he could. He didn't even have time to say anything, he stood in front of the three children as the angry carriage driver stomped up to him, looking like he's ready to come to fists.

The life of a horse will never compared to the lives of two children, Sun Zhaoli quirked his lip in disgust at the yelling man. He took out one gold tael from his qiankun pouch and threw it at the man's feet. The man looked dumbstruck at the gold tael, then to Sun Zhaoli, and he cowered, suddenly aware and afraid of who he was yelling at.

That's right. An immortal master that can buy out the entire town if he wanted to.

After the man scurried away with his tail between his legs, Sun Zhaoli addressed the children. The one who rushed to save his friend (the biggest one out of the three) had bad scrapes on his arms and knees, so Sun Zhaoli tried to wipe his wounds with a handkerchief.

Even before he could get close to the scrapes, small teeth sunk into his skin.

Sun Zhaoli stares incredulous at the sight of the little boy biting his hand. He didn't have any reaction when Sun Zhaoli checked over the other small boy. There was only one person A-Jiu was protective of, even if it killed him to admit it.

So this one is Yue Qi, Sun Zhaoli realized as Yue Qi calmed Shen Jiu down with pleas of "Xiao Jiu". Then who is this? Sun Zhaoli turned his eyes to the remaining unnamed boy, smaller than the other two.

“Thank.. thanking mister.. for help..” Yue Qi stuttered, voice small. He visibly swallowed when Shen Jiu stubbornly refused to thank Sun Zhaoli.

“You,” Sun Zhaoli started, “you killed that horse.”

Shen Jiu's head snapped towards him. Even if he tried to mask it under anger and defiance, Sun Zhaoli could see the flash of panic and fear in Shen Jiu's eyes. Distrustful as usual, Sun Zhaoli was also not excluded from these grumpy stares when Shen Jiu first joined Cang Qiong.

“Impressive.” Sun Zhaoli offered a hand. “May I see your wrist?”

The little boy eyed him suspiciously, yet still extended a trembling arm. Sun Zhaoli didn't even have to get any closer to feel his strong spiritual root. So this is what it's supposed to be, Sun Zhaoli mused, imagine all the things he can do with this untainted root.

“Come with me to Cang Qiong.” Sun Zhaoli smiled, even though he had been told that he probably shouldn't. (After that one time where Qin shimei went pale and almost fainted.)

“I won't—!” Shen Jiu was a bit tongue tied, “I won't go without Qi ge.”

“Then he can come too,” added Sun Zhaoli nonchalantly, “and you, as well.” He addressed the third boy.

Shen Jiu didn't seem pleased that the other boy was following Sun Zhaoli along with him and Qi ge, but he didn't say anything, just a little pout on his lips. Sun Zhaoli hailed a carriage and ushered the three children on. After (threatening) paying the driver to do his bidding, Sun Zhaoli took out a box of snacks from his qiankun pouch.

“We were in such a hurry, this master forgot to ask for your names.”

Yue Qi jolted like he was shocked. “This one is Yue Qi! Thanking immortal master for his help once again!” After a beat of silence, he gently nudged Shen Jiu. Shen Jiu gave poisonous glare in return and he cowered slightly.

“This one is Shen Jiu.” He finally said with a huff.

Sun Zhaoli stared at the last little rascal. The little boy sneakily peeked at Sun Zhaoli, squeaking when their eyes met. To encourage the boy to speak, Sun Zhaoli delicately picked out a cookie with sweet butterfly pea flower cream in the middle, holding it out for the boy to take.

Hesitantly taking the cookie from Sun Zhaoli, the boy nibbled on it before muttering, “This one's name is Shi Wu.”

“I see,” Sun Zhaoli couldn't help but put a hand on Shi Wu's head, since the boy was right next to him, “This master is Sun Zhaoli, master of Qing Jing. I formally accept you three into my peak. We shall test your spiritual roots officially later.”

Shen Jiu was still pouty, he's crossed his arms and didn't touch any of the sweets offered by Sun Zhaoli. Sun Zhaoli didn't miss the split second glances the boy shot at the box of sweets.

He bristled like an alert cat when Sun Zhaoli held up a cookie for him to take. This one was a cookie that had the texture of a cake, sweet and chewy, made with amethyst strawberries. The purple crystal glaze that covered the cookie was made with the same strawberries.

Sun Zhaoli knew A-Jiu's jealous and embarrassed expressions, and he wasn't surprised by the unguarded display of emotions. They were still children, after all, they deserved a little doting.

With that in mind, Sun Zhaoli gestured Yue Qi close and gave him the small bun filled with sweet custard cream. He fought the smile on his lips when the boy split it to share with Shen Jiu despite the other's protest.

Perhaps something's never change.

--

“Shidi..” Yao Zhaoyi held his tongue when Sun Zhaoli's face changed into one of displeasure.

The entire sect had almost descended into chaos after Lai Zhaomin had lit the emergency talisman a second time, this time because Sun Zhaoli had fled Cang Qiong, according to both the healer and Du Zhaosong. If Yao Zhaoyi hadn't calm them fast enough, he swore Du Zhaosong would have dashed out of the open window to search for Sun Zhaoli.

Hugging his thighs were three little ducklings, all covered in filth. The larger boy stared at Yao Zhaoyi curiously, while the other two looked more like they had a personal grudge against Yao Zhaoyi.

“We've been..” Yao Zhaoyi couldn't comprehend how hectic the past two weeks had been, “worried. For Sun shidi.”

“This shidi is fine,” Sun Zhaoli answered coldly.

If Yao Zhaoyi wasn't used to his shidi's antics, he definitely wouldn't be feeling defeated like this. Sun Zhaoli was often right about many situations and the man knew that all too well, his words were absolute and few people dared to question otherwise.

“Who are these?” Yao Zhaoyi switched the topic to the three little sprouts grabbing onto Sun Zhaoli's robes like baby possums. He smiled to look less threatening but the three shrunk closer to Sun Zhaoli.

“My new disciples.”

Yao Zhaoyi balked. He should've seen that coming. Well, the damage has been done, there's nothing he can say to dissuade Sun Zhaoli.

“Ah.. that's not a very formal way of accepting disciples, Sun shidi.”

Sun Zhaoli's lips quirked in discontent. The unspoken words hung in the air: “Mind your own business.” Instead, Sun Zhaoli turned his head away with a huff. “Come, A-Qi, A-Jiu, A-Wu. Don't listen to the mean old man.”

“Mean old man.” The smallest boy puffed out his cheeks, it was very visible due to the lack of chub in his cheeks.

Yao Zhaoyi could only smile at the sheer ridiculousness as Sun Zhaoli walked away with his little ducklings.

--

Chapter Text

Sun Zhaoli, turning 32 this year, was on his first expedition as a senior researcher. The caves their group were going to this time were newly discovered, but not to Sun Zhaoli.

Perhaps millions of years ago, Sun Zhaoli had been there before.

The mountains weren't the same but the geographic location matched, the entrance of the cave only reinforced his memory of being here before. Sun Zhaoli searched for a bit in guise of looking around, finally finding the small white stone he'd used as an indicator of the entrance.

Clutching the stone in his hand, he frowned at the uneasiness brewing in his gut.

“Zhaoli, let's go!”

“Yes yes, don't rush me.”

It was the same, except some of the interior had caved in and sealed some roads. It didn't deter their group however, since the main road they were taking was relatively unharmed. As more paths started to split, the group also split into pairs in order to explore more in a small timeframe.

Sun Zhaoli resumed on the main path with his partner, Chen Zhiching. This path lead to the heart of the cave, and expectedly, there's not signal here, so their phones were useless, not that it could do much to begin with. Sun Zhaoli put a hand on the Swiss army knife in his pocket for assurance.

He wasn't sure if a tiny blade can fend off the creature that protected these caves, if they didn't go extinct in the first place.

Finally, they reached a light filled area. The area itself was a natural crater that allowed sunlight to filter into the caves, so they switched off their flashlights. In front of them, in the middle of the area, there was a tall pillar that held a platform where the tribe that once resided in these caves did their rituals. The stairs were on the other side, so they had to walk around the pillar to get to it.

Sun Zhaoli was too busy staring upwards that he didn't notice Chen Zhiching had stopped dead in her tracks.

“Uhh Zhaoli, that's one creepy ass sword..”

At the beginning of the stairs, stood a peculiar sword. Well not stood, more like it was stabbed into the ground firmly. An ominous aura could be felt emitting from it. Goosebumps prickled Sun Zhaoli's skin when he realised what that was.

He forgot didn't know can't think of why it was here.

The Addiex sword. Made with the bones of the Addiexes —an extremely rare creature, even during Sun Zhaoli's peak lord times—, washed in the blood of thousands of lives, refined with the hottest embers known to the heavens and hardened by thousands of years in the Northern ends, sealed under ice. The sparse materials in the Qing Jing library held no knowledge of it, just simple texts theorising that the Addiex sword can cut through time and dimension, like.. like, Xin Mo.

Sun Zhaoli shuddered again. Chen Zhiching cautiously stepped closer to the sword. “Well, it looks pretty cool,” she bent down to get a more detailed look, “no way in hell I'm touching it though.”

“Yes, it's best that you don't do that.” Sun Zhaoli said.

Sun Zhaoli's hand trembled as he started to sketch that damned thing. He didn't like it one bit. In fact, he wanted to hurl. Every inch of his body screamed for him to get away. Screamed that something bad was going to happen. His lungs stuttered and his stomach churned uncomfortably.

He should have trusted his own senses.

--

Sun Zhaoli blinked awake from his slumber. The sun was about to set, the horizon was painted with warm, broad strokes of gold and orange. He turned his head to look at the three ducklings sprawled out on his bed, fast asleep. Sun Zhaoli reached out, handkerchief in hand, and wiped away the drool on Shi Wu's face.

How adorable, these children. Sun Zhaoli hoped he can make this right.

A knock on his door. He already knew who it was. To not wake these buns up, Sun Zhaoli opened the door and stepped outside, not letting Lai Zhaomin take even a peek into his abode.

“Shixiong,” Lai Zhaomin greeted

Sun Zhaoli nodded. With a flick of his sleeve, he led Lai Zhaomin down to the lake near his house. There was a little shed there for people (most Sun Zhaoli) to sit and rest, a good spot for solo meditation. Lai Zhaomin put his bag of medicine next to the box of sweets he's taken to give to his shixiong.

“Trying to bribe an easy time with sweets, shidi?” Sun Zhaoli eyed the pretty box with interest. Sun Zhaoli wasn't the fondest of sweets, but it does well to brighten his mood when there's somethinf sweet. “Tsk tsk.”

Lai Zhaomin smiled, “Wu shidi handed them to me earlier. Fresh ruby chestnut cakes, still warm.”

Sun Zhaoli took a piece and put it into his mouth. The cakes weren't glazed like usual, but it didn't make a huge difference. It was still delicious. Seeing that the cakes had successfully distracted his shixiong, Lai Zhaomin extended a hand and Sun Zhaoli put his wrist on his shidi's hand.

There was truly nothing wrong with Sun Zhaoli. He was up and about, being his usual self, his meridians were clear and strong, his body had no injuries and wasn't suffering from any poison whatsoever. So Lai Zhaomin still had to rack his brain to figure out what caused Sun Zhaoli to lose consciousness in the first place.

“What happened before you lost consciousness, shixiong?” Lai Zhaomin asked, “Do you remember anything?”

Sun Zhaoli's fingers stopped near his lips, a piece of cake between them. Sun Zhaoli lowered his eyes for a moment, seemingly thinking of what to say. His gaze flickered back to Lai Zhaomin. “I probably just worked too hard. I was in disarray when I woke up.”

Lai Zhaomin didn't believe him, clearly, but to avoid ruining the ambience, Lai Zhaomin decided to not question. In his experience, if Sun Zhaoli decides to lie, he probably won't tell the truth no matter how many times he's been asked, in addition to that, Lai Zhaomin would probably get on Sun Zhaoli's bad side.

“I see,” Lai Zhaomin conceded defeat.

They parted ways when the checkup was done. Lai Zhaomin didn't comment on Sun Zhaoli taking the box of leftover cakes with him. He did, however, smile knowingly.

Shen Jiu was awake when Sun Zhaoli returned. Sun Zhaoli chuckled when he saw Shen Jiu eyeing the box with interest. Of course he knew the contents of the box were sweets, what else would be inside a pretty box. He came when Sun Zhaoli waved him over.

He opened the box and let Shen Jiu take one piece. The child gave a tentative sniff, before shoving it into his mouth. Shen Jiu's face brightened up as he chewed.

Soon, Yue Qi and Shi Wu also got a piece of cake each. They ate eagerly, the tastiness of the cakes showing on their faces. When Sun Zhaoli brought dinner into the house, the three got extremely excited seeing the dishes.

“You three are too young to start cultivating.” Sun Zhaoli said as he watched them eat, gently stopping them whenever they ate too fast. “This master will teach you how to read and write first. Then we'll start slow from there..”

--

In a blink of an eye, it's been two months.

Sun Zhaoli made sure they were comfortable, that they knew Qing Jing was their home now. Being around these children was unlike being with his disciples. He didn't necessarily spoil them, but he was more soft towards the trio to an extent that he himself even noticed, and he can't fathom whether it was good or bad.

Yue Qi, being the oldest, had already developed a strong sense of responsibility. He followed Sun Zhaoli's lessons diligently, studying the books and manuals of the library. Shen Jiu was his little shadow, they did everything together. Attached to the hip these two were, and it was an adorable sight.

Shen Jiu took to Qing Jing like a fish to water. A quick learner, very smart, superb memory as well. Sun Zhaoli would definitely be snatching him up when he comes to age.

Shi Wu, on the other hand, Sun Zhaoli didn't know what to say. He wasn't being too harsh on the children —everything they were learning currently are basics, and basic meditation to prepare them for cultivating in the future.

Shi Wu.. in lack of better words, couldn't sit still.

His calligraphy was atrocious. He didn't like reading. It was hard for him to sit and listen to Sun Zhaoli teach or play the guqin for them. The only thing he liked was to be around Sun Zhaoli.

He was a sticky rice cake, coming to pester Sun Zhaoli whenever he didn't want to study or meditate. He would inch closer and closer to Sun Zhaoli when he wasn't looking, then "attack" him by climbing onto Sun Zhaoli's lap and refusing to get off.

(It doesn't take long for Shen Jiu to become jealous, and with him fighting to clamber into Sun Zhaoli's lap, the two started a petty rivalry.

Yue Qi thankfully understood he was too big to be fighting over Sun Zhaoli's lap, so usually he'd just coax Shen Jiu to sit with him instead. (Or Shi Wu, if Shen Jiu managed to win against him.))

He watched Shi Wu write Shi as the character ten instead of the character rock. He knew that their names were numbers, so he's not sure why it never really occurred to him that Shi Wu meant fifteen, and not surname Shi with given "name" Wu.

“Qi and Jiu's surnames are fake. They made it themselves .” Shi Wu pouted, “I wanted to make one myself but the others said I'm arrogant! They didn't say anything about Qi or Jiu.”

“You could've just done it, when did you care about what people say,“ Shen Jiu came to sit next to them.

The two seemed to have a silent conversation before Sun Zhaoli's eyes. Shen Jiu kept making subtle glances at Sun Zhaoli, like he was signalling Shi Wu to do something. Shi Wu kept staring at Shen Jiu, then to Sun Zhaoli, then back to Shen Jiu.

“Shizun give Shi Wu a surname?” Shi Wu finally asked.

Ah, these two were conspiring against him. Sun Zhaoli hid a snort of amusement.

“What surname do you have in mind, A-Wu?”

Shi Wu turned to him, then jumped into his lap, pressing his little face against Sun Zhaoli's chest. “Shizun's surname please.” Shi Wu hugged Sun Zhaoli tight like the little monkey he is, his face warm against Sun Zhaoli's robes.

Sun Zhaoli smiled and put a hand on Shi Wu's hair.

--

(“You're shizun's grandsun now.”

Sun Zhaoli looked away from his books to see his head disciple, Xu Yanhao, excitedly chittering with Sun Shiwu.

“Yanhao,” Sun Zhaoli rolled his eyes when his head disciple squeaked. “Go back to studying for the upcoming mission.”)

--

Chapter Text

“Qi ge, noooooo.” Sun Shiwu fake sobbed, grabbing onto Shen Jiu's sleeve.

The older boy only smiled as they reached the rainbow bridge. Yue Qi had been accepted into Qiong Ding peak, as expected, and was moving there from today onwards.

Sun Zhaoli was proud of him. The boy took his studies and cultivation very serious, and Sun Zhaoli didn't even have to formally recommend him to Yao Zhaoyi. The sect leader had simply dropped by and expressed his wishes to snatch Yue Qi away, saying that he's caught wind about Yue Qi pulling XuanSu from the hall of Masters that held the most powerful swords in the mortal realm.

In a few years, it'd be Shen Jiu and Sun Shiwu's turns. Sun Zhaoli wouldn't be concerned for them, they've worked hard since the start.

(Shen Jiu would definitely become his head disciple again. Months before Shen Jiu managed to pull Xiu Ya, Xu Yanhao had married her sweetheart from a smaller sect and resign from her position. After much consideration, Sun Zhaoli put Shen Jiu down as a candidate for head disciple.)

“Study well, A-Qi. This master knows you have potential. Don't let me down.”

Yue Qi saluted, “Of course, shizun.”

“And you two as well,” Sun Zhaoli addressed the two sticky cakes.

Their relationship had stayed strong throughout the years, perhaps becoming even stronger than Shen Jiu and Yue Qi's bond. The downside was that they also covered for each other's bad deeds, making it hard for Sun Zhaoli to catch them in their (relatively harmless) schemes. Sun Zhaoli was getting old ah, hopefully such teenage rebellion would pass soon.

“Yes, shizun.” ”M'kay.”

It was two days after when Sun Shiwu came to see Sun Zhaoli, cautious like a sneaky rat. He quickly slid next to Sun Zhaoli and stared hard untill Sun Zhaoli was forced to acknowledge him, asking him what he wanted

“Jiu ge is a yin cultivator, which is suited for Qing Jing,” Sun Shiwu said, “and then there's, well, me. I don't think I'm good for any peak in particular.”

“You like food.” Maybe you should try for Wu Xiang peak, was unsaid.

“Eating food and cooking food are different things, baba.”

Indeed, Sun Shiwu's cultivation was nothing impressive compared to Shen Jiu and Yue Qi's. That didn't mean he hasn't worked hard, it was just a quite unfortunate circumstance. Perhaps to make up for it, the heavens had blessed Sun Shiwu with an ungodly amount of luck.

Sun Zhaoli didn't notice at first, but at some point along the way, the boy's luck became so jarringly obvious that he couldn't turn a blind eye to even if he wanted to.

Like that one time, Sun Shiwu was searching for a book with Shen Jiu for their joint mission. There were about 20 copies of said book, shattered throughout the thousands of shelves in the library. Sun Zhaoli had watched the boy walk to the closest shelf, bend down, and pull out the exact book they needed.

Once or twice could be a coincidence, but when it kept happening, Sun Zhaoli couldn't believe such outrageous luck.

(In fact, Sun Zhaoli felt that Sun Shiwu was so lucky, it made the people around him unlucky.)

“You can always stay in Qing Jing if you're not sure which peak you want to join.”

“Shiwu would bring down the quality of Qing Jing.” Shen Jiu sniped from behind, entering Sun Zhaoli's office. In his hands was a fragrant tea set. He joined the master and disciple duo at the table.

“Jiu ge is mean.” Sun Shiwu feigned heartbreak. Shen Jiu smirked, pouring tea for them. “Ah well, being a hallmaster under peak lord Shen's lead would probably be nice too.” Sun Shiwu reached across the table for a cup of tea.

Sun Zhaoli agreed inwardly, sipping on his tea as Shen Jiu embarrassedly hissed at Sun Shiwu.

--

It wasn't everyday that Shen Jiu yelled. Especially when he's angry. Usually it was Sun Shiwu who yelled, being the rowdiest among the trio.

Shen Jiu thought it didn't affect him anymore. Being told that shizun's doting on him was the reason he was arrogant and pompous, that he had everything handed to him in a silver platter because he's stuck himself to shizun.

Sun Shiwu wouldn't hesitant to defend himself. He's had it slightly rougher, having the same surname as shizun and therefore in other's eyes, given a special treatment. It was all a rouse to belittle and discredit him, Shen Jiu had told him, but it didn't stop Sun Shiwu from fighting against those nasty rumours.

When it came to Shen Jiu, he only glared down with a frosty nosed stare. His silence meant threats, and the threats meant schemes. An expelled shixiong of theirs was nearly crippled after shouting obscenities at Sun Shiwu, daring to even hint that he may be a bastard from shizun's nonexistent affair. All because of a surname.

(No one dared to say it directly to Yue Qi's face. That man could crush a person with one hand.)

Shouting didn't mean he's lost the argument. Being angry didn't mean those nasty words hit a sore spot. Defending himself didn't mean he was a sensitive snowflake unable to "take a joke".

It has been an especially bad day for him. And he had no more patience left to deal with these monkeys courteously.

“Jiu ge,” Sun Shiwu stuttered, scared by the outburst, “Ignore them. Let's leave.”

“That's right, go cry to shizun. He dotes on you two after all.” The asshole mocked. “Especially you, Shi Wu. What kind of name is that? Are you shizun's fifteenth son? Must be why you're like this. Spoiled and crippled in your cultivation.”

That was what broke the dam. Sun Shiwu's fingernails dug into Shen Jiu's arm. He was going to wring his shixiong's neck. It was already unbearable that they look down on him, but to drag Sun Zhaoli into it as well..!

Except, Sun Zhaoli stepped out from behind the three clowns, silent like the plague. The temperature around them dropped significantly.

He raised his hand and smacked the ringleader across his face. The slap seemed to echo through the entire peak. The boy was flung to the ground by the force, and when he looked up at Sun Zhaoli, it was clearly that his jaw was dislocated. The red that bloomed on his cheek was instant, it spread out from his jaw to his cheek like an angry rash.

If Shen Jiu's frosty stare was chilling, then Sun Zhaoli's was rightdown paralysing. It was this kind of cold, calm anger that no one dared to provoke.

“Uncouth.” Sun Zhaoli's voice pierced the silence. “Disrespectful.”

No one dared to utter a word. The weight of Sun Zhaoli's gaze was heavier than the sky.

“Copy ethics and virtues twenty times,” that alone would take a few weeks, “Complete isolation. In the reflection hall.”

The hallmasters who had been discussing something with Sun Zhaoli before they came across this scene, bowed and ushered the three away quickly.

It was unseemly of Sun Shiwu, but he burst into tears as soon as they were alone. He was more upset that his shizun had overheard the bad things than what his shixiong had said about him. Shen Jiu rubbed circles on his back, every trace of anger had gone cold ever since Sun Zhaoli appeared. He shouldn't have given that asshat the entertainment of reacting, so that vile personal attack wouldn't have came out in the first place.

Sun Zhaoli frowned at his disciple's tears. He wasn't angry at them. The bullshit that's been spewed was simply so outrageous, Sun Zhaoli couldn't bear to not do anything.

“Shiwu's cultivation is far better than anything Ming Zun could've achieved. Anger is a thorn to the heart. Let it sit for too long and it would feel like a part of you.”

Sun Shiwu wailed and rushed to Sun Zhaoli for a hug. He was pressing tears and snot into Sun Zhaoli's robes but of course he didn't say anything about it. He gently cradled Sun Shiwu's head against his chest, doing the same with Shen Jiu when he came to join them.

It had been a while since it was just the three of them.

“It's okay to fight back. It's okay to cry. Grow from these tears. Let go of the anger when there's nothing left. Do not let it deter you from what you desire the most.”

--

Shen Jiu's popularity increased throughout the twelve peaks when he pulled XiuYa from the hall of Elites, securing him the position of head disciple. The news spread to all the peaks within a few days. Everyone was shocked that two disciples from Qing Jing managed to pull such powerful swords and almost immediately got an important position within the sect.

It certainly gave Sun Zhaoli something to be smug about, even moreso when he's personally picked up and taught the two buns.

While some still stubbornly clung onto the rumour that it was the doing of Sun Zhaoli's favouritism, most can't deny the display of pure talent and results of hard work. The weird rumours regarding Sun Zhaoli's three wards were getting questioned, like Shen Jiu's achievement had actively gave people working braincells.

It was a well-deserved boost for Shen Jiu's name. This was what it's supposed to be like, Sun Zhaoli thought bitterly.

Sun Zhaoli smiled as Sun Shiwu fought with Shen Jiu over the box of treats Wu Xiang had sent as a congratulatory gift. The younger retorted to calling Shen Jiu a bunch of childish names for giving him only one cookie.

This was what it should be like.

--

He watched as the half breed tore Shen Jiu limb by limb. He couldn't stop the cruelty and torture. His disciple was suffering and he could only watch, just as he was since the beginning. He didn't even know what was happening untill it came all at once and exploded in his face.

He failed Shen Jiu and Cang Qiong fell alongside his disciple.

He reached a hand into Shen Jiu's dreams, brushed against his past and feelings, and what he saw made him recoil. The fire, the violence, the misunderstandings, the repressed emotions. All bottled up inside Shen Jiu, the things that were not his fault, yet came to haunt him like they were.

When the eclipse was at its highest peak, the Sun cowered behind the Moon as the universe howled for retribution, shrouding the skies and the earth in dim crimson. The roosters crow and the sparrows fly low, in their wake left the grim of doom and helplessness, mixing with prayers for this bad omen to pass.

At the dead of the darkness, he slipped down from the heavens..

..and slit his dear disciple's throat.

Gods shouldn't meddle with mortal affairs.

--

Chapter Text

Sun Zhaoli had given his disciples protection talismans in case they run into Wu Yanzi. Out of everyone who's attending, the ones who might stand a chance against the demonic cultivator was Yue Qi, Shen Jiu, and a few senior disciples.

For this Immortal Alliance Conference, Sun Shiwu made a last minute appearance on the list because he managed to pull a sword from Wan Jian. In the stupidest way possible as well. From what Sun Shiwu had described, he basically tripped and grabbed onto the sword's hilt to prevent himself from falling. And the sword, well, just accepted him.

Unbelievable! Outrageous! Who would believe that! Except it was Sun Shiwu, Sun Zhaoli wholly believed that's probably what happened.

(Sun Shiwu complained that he didn't even have time to explore around and go to the hall of Elites to see if he can pull for a peak lord level sword. Sun Zhaoli didn't mention he was on the highest floor of the main sword tower, where the higher the floors, the strong the swords.)

Fang Zhaohui let out a sigh after drinking her tea. “Sun shixiong, this shimei saw your disciples distributing protection talismans. What's that about?”

“It's good to look out for others.” Sun Zhaoli replied curtly.

He kept a close eye on the screens, not exactly sure when or where Wu Yanzi would appear. Usually, he'd be bored out of his mind and his martial siblings knew this, Sun Zhaoli honestly would always rather be anywhere else than to sit still and watch little disciples fight monsters.

“Is there anyone shidi is rooting for?” Yao Zhaoyi smiled, seeing his shidi so focused on this year's conference.

“I bet on my children.”

Du Zhaosong extended a hand out just enough to be in Sun Zhaoli's line of view. «Your children.» Sun Zhaoli could hear the scoff in his words just by looking at his hand.

“Is Du shidi still angry that this shixiong didn't agree to let A-Wu go to Bai Zhan?” Sun Zhaoli teased, rolling his eyes.

«You protect him too much.»

It's not that he's protecting Sun Shiwu from Bai Zhan. Sun Zhaoli was sure the boy would be ecstatic if directly offered. But after years of raising the gremlin, he knew for a fact that letting Sun Shiwu run wild on a brutish peak like Bai Zhan probably wasn't safe for anybody.

Not wanting to converse with Du Zhaosong anymore, Sun Zhaoli simply closed his eyes and pretended to rest his eyes for a bit. A few snickers from other peak lords probably meant Du Zhaosong was pouting sulking.

He just hoped that the damage made by Wu Yanzi wouldn't be very big this time. Not that he could make it big anyways, he's probably working alone this time because Shen Jiu wasn't available for him to grab and take advantage of.

(Ugh, how wrong he was.)

--

On the fifth day, a loud explosion could be heard and seen all the way from outside the barrier. Everyone was alarmed, rushing to the balcony to see what's happening. Fire curled into the skies, the forest was on fire!! Frantic whispers broke out between worried sect leaders and some peak lords. The disciples were still inside!

Sun Zhaoli frowned. That shouldn't have been an explosion to begin with. His teacup shook from the force, spilling tea onto the table.

He located Shen Jiu and Yue Qi rushing towards the explosion source through the screens and felt worry brew in his chest.

--

Everything was in chaos.

Shen Jiu dodged the panicked disciples running in the opposite direction. He didn't have to raise his head to feel the demonic energy in the air. He found Yue Qi in the crowd and they exchanged nods, deciding to find out what's happening.

Shen Jiu knew for a certain that there were no creatures that could cause such a huge explosion within the area.

Just as they reached the section of burning trees, another explosion could be heard and felt, this time smaller but still extremely powerful. Shen Jiu would've been blown away if he didn't brace himself and grab onto Yue Qi. The demonic energy was getting thicker and thicker, every breath they took felt rotten and sour, burning their lungs from inside out.

They find a man and a boy, surrounded by some corpses, burnt and mutilated beyond recognisable.

The boy should be around Shen Jiu's age. He was obviously having a qi deviation. He held his head in his bloody hands, doubling over and writhing on the ground. And the man was..

Yue Qi grabbed XuanSu's hilt.

The demonic cultivator, Wu Yanzi.

Seeing the newcomers, Wu Yanzi sneered. He kicked the boy to the side, drawing his sword. These two nosy brats will die trying to play brave heroes.

Yue Qi didn't hesitate to let XuanSu's scabbard met Wu Yanzi's rabid blows. He was stronger than expected, his movements quick as well. The demonic energy dance around them, causing Yue to realize why Wu Yanzi felt stronger than him.

“Qi ge, his hand!”

Wu Yanzi rushed at Yue Qi, between his fingers were thread thin needles, invisible to untrained eyes. Caught off guard, Yue Qi brought XuanSu sideways, knocking away the incoming fist that was aiming for his face. With Yue Qi's body now unguarded, Wu Yanzi swung his other fist and dug into the tender area below his ribs.

Yue Qi's side instantly erupted with pain. He pushed Wu Yanzi away from him. The force of the blow combined with the sharp ache made Yue Qi crumple and lose his footing.

Yue Qi literally watched his own life flash before his eyes.

The burnt trees rustled to life as the winds picked up, flurries of charred leaves whistled as they rained down, surrounding the demonic cultivator like a hurricane, caging him inside. Fine cuts started appearing on Wu Yanzi's skin and clothes, followed by slow droplets of blood rising to the surface. The leaves went ablaze and disintegrated into ash when Wu Yanzi activated a qi barrier.

“You!” Wu Yanzi snarled, gathering an orb of demonic energy into his hand and releasing it at Shen Jiu's direction.

Shen Jiu raised his hands to summon a barrier, but before the barrier could manifest, Sun Zhaoli's protection talisman that was still inside Shen Jiu's sleeve burst into flames. An array appeared to block Wu Yanzi's projectile and redirect it back to the demonic cultivator himself. A brown, sooty patch appeared on Shen Jiu's sleeve.

Wu Yanzi yelled when his qi barrier was pierced by the reflected attack. He leapt out of the way before it could blow him into pieces.

Shen Jiu reached for the fireball talisman in his robes, hoping that it'll be enough to completely break down the barrier—

A questionably sizeable rock came flying into view out of nowhere. It soared through the air, like a bright comet that brings misfortune to anyone who sees it, before hitting Wu Yanzi in the head. Even Shen Jiu felt a slight pain at the side of his head just by hearing the smack alone. The demonic cultivator then fell to the ground with an embarrassingly loud thud.

Yue Qi and Shen Jiu could only gawk at what just happened.

Sun Shiwu came running out of the bushes behind them, just as wide eyed as Yue Qi and Shen Jiu. They shared the same bewildered look on their faces. Sun Shiwu leaned forward slightly to take a look at Wu Yanzi's (possibly dead) body, before quietly asking, “I didn't.. kill him, did I?”

Shen Jiu blinked out of his stupor, realising he was still clenching onto XiuYa's hilt. He found himself looking at the body as well, not sure what to feel or make of this situation.

“That's an absolutely humiliating way to die.”

“Death.. by rock,” Sun Shiwu slowly said, “like a caveman or something.”

The three sat in silence, needing some time to recover from the emotional shellshock whiplash moment they've just went through.

A small cough caught their attention. Sun Shiwu furrowed his eyebrows.

“Why is this guy in bondage?”

--

Unbelievable! Outrageous! Sun Zhaoli felt as though his jaw would never close again.

Wu Yanzi's barrier wasn't as flimsy as it seemed, it was probably about to regenerate in a few seconds after getting pierced. In those few precious seconds of opening, Sun Shiwu had managed to chuck the rock in an angle so perfect that it flew into the hole of the barrier and killed Wu Yanzi.

His face must've shown it all, because Lai Zhaomin casted a worried look towards him and Wu Zhaoyun poured him more tea.

“Here are some Beilin berry tarts, shixiong, it helps to calm the mind..”

--

A handful of disciples died from the explosion. The only recognisable things about these corpses were scraps of their uniforms.

Despite the sad news, many expressed their relief that Wu Yanzi had finally been killed. The dead could rest easy knowing they've been avenged.

Sun Zhaoli watched as the corpses were taken away, wondering where the boy that was beside Wu Yanzi went.

“This is the rock that killed Wu Yanzi?”

The old palace master nodded. “It was the fast thinking of peak lord Sun's disciples that prevented more casualties from happening today. As a gift, this old palace master hopes that Cang Qiong will keep the rock.”

Yao Zhaoyi looked at the old man like he sprouted three heads. Huan Hua was.. giving them the rock used to (unintentionally) kill Wu Yanzi? Did Wu Yanzi's death also result in the death of old palace master's braincells?

But not accepting a gift, not matter how stupid the gift itself was..

“This master accepts.” Sun Zhaoli snatched the rock away from the Huan Hua disciple's hands. It's been washed free of blood, but that's about it. “This master hopes that there will not be a next time.”

His words were directed at this disaster of an Immortal Alliance Conference, and also at the rock giving idea.

As the peak lords were on their way back to their rooms, Sun Zhaoli handed Ma Zhaohong the rock. Ma Zhaohong held the rock in his hands, unsure of what to do. It was perhaps as big as a squash, a little bigger than his hands put together.

Ma Zhaohong gave Sun Zhaoli questioning eyes.

“Use your qi, Ma shidi. Then tell me what that rock is.”

Ma Zhaohong hesitantly did as Sun Zhaoli said. Then, he shouted. “What?!”

“What?” Sun Zhaoli quirked an eyebrow, a smirk on his lips.

“What!!”

“What??” The other peak lords leaned to see what the rock was.

“This is pure dusky platinum! One of a kind! Ultra rare! This chunk alone is worth millions!” Ma Zhaohong looked at the dusky silver like he saw heaven. In fact, he was probably close to ascending. To think that he'll ever have a chance to hold a material as precious as dusky platinum in his hands. His shizun (and many other generations before him) must be cursing him in the heavens right now.

There were only four swords in the entirety of Wan Jian that was made of dusky platinum, XuanSu being one of them. Dusky platinum can channel qi from its surroundings, creating strong and powerful sword souls, making the sword itself extremely powerful even without a wielder, a Wan Jian blacksmith's dream!

And to think that Sun Zhaoli's disciple had chucked this at the demonic cultivator without a second thought..

Ma Zhaohong unconsciously hugged the lump of pure dusky platinum tight. Oh right, he should probably thank his Sun shixiong for technically giving him such a precious material.

--

With the conference coming to an abrupt end, Sun Zhaoli decided to visit his disciple's sickrooms before returning to his own room. Since Yue Qi, Shen Jiu and Sun Shiwu had been in the heart of the demonic qi source, they had to get checked and dispelled of any demonic qi lingering on them.

Sun Zhaoli also wanted to congratulate Sun Shiwu for getting into top 10, and Yue Qi and Shen Jiu for getting second place and third place respectively.

Sun Zhaoli turned the corner and found two Huan Hua disciples coming out of his disciples' room.

One of them was Su Xiyan, Huan Hua's head disciple, who is placed first in the conference. She was leagues ahead of everyone from the start, working smartly and relentlessly to get as much as beads as she could. So Sun Zhaoli could say it was a well deserved win for her.

“Greetings to peak lord Sun.” Su Xiyan saluted, her junior hastily following her action.

Sun Zhaoli nodded. “Congratulations to disciple Su for ranking first.”

“Peak lord Sun flatters me,“ Su Xiyan replied humbly, “Is peak lord Sun here to see Sun gongzi?”

Sun Zhaoli nodded again.

“Sun gongzi had given my shimei a forty year ginseng when she was affected by the abundance of demonic qi, which saved her life from qi poisoning. This one couldn't put my gratitude into words.”

A forty year ginseng. Why wasn't Sun Zhaoli surprised that Sun Shiwu found something like that? While it wasn't something particularly precious like the dusky platinum, it was still impressive. A forty year ginseng could clear aliments and strengthen cultivation, as well as enhance one's qi. He didn't just save the little girl's life, he probably boosted her place in her sect as well.

And also hearing that he gave it away without a second thought.. Sun Zhaoli could only sigh.

After bidding the two Huan Hua disciples goodbye, Sun Zhaoli knocked on the door and opened it. His eyes immediately landed on a bound youth on the floor.

What in the porno grade bondage heck is this?

The youth was wrapped red immortal binding cables, crisscrossed tight against his torso and thighs, and also hogtied with normal ropes. He looked at Sun Zhaoli with fierce, scared eyes. Demonic qi came off him in waves, like a stubborn stench clinging to clothes.

“Baba!” Sun Shiwu jumped out of his chair and stuck himself to Sun Zhaoli.

Of course, he was the least affected one, he went to the scene later than Yue Qi and Shen Jiu and therefore was in contact with less demonic qi. All he did was chuck a "rock" at Wu Yanzi.

Shen Jiu had his robes replaced, and his hand was wrapped with gauze, burnt by Wu Yanzi's projectile. Yue Qi had an ice pack pressed against his bruise, and some ointment rubbed on the little scratches on his face.

But they were all well, the tension lifted from Sun Zhaoli's mind and shoulders.

“Shizun,” they both greeted.

“You three did well. This master is proud.” Sun Zhaoli couldn't help but smile too seeing the three beam. This was their first conference, so the bar set by Sun Zhaoli wasn't high (even when he knew what Yue Qi and Shen Jiu was capable of), and they've preformed beyond that bar as expected.

“Now, care to tell this master who that is?”

--

Chapter Text

“Hey, aren't you Yan gongzi?”

Sun Shiwu squated like a gangster in front of the bound boy. He didn't know how to stabilise a demonic qi deviation, but he had searched the boy's body and found some suspicious pills, which he promptly threw into the boy's mouth without hesitation. The boy (thankfully) managed to regain consciousness (without dying).

Shen Jiu looked up from where he was rubbing ointment on the bruise below Yue Qi's ribs. Yan gongzi..?

“Your mother used to leave baozis out for me!” Sun Shiwu grinned like he was talking about a cherished memory. “At the mansion at Beipo street!”

The boy only glared up at Sun Shiwu, angry confusion on his face.

“You tried to chase me away one time but I beat you up and fled with the baozi!” Sun Shiwu pointed at himself smugly.

“You?!” The boy jolted against his restraints, as if he's suddenly recognised Sun Shiwu.

“He's a friend!” Sun Shiwu chirped to Shen Jiu and Yue Qi. “Although it's kinda weird that you're cultivating the demon way.”

The boy opened his mouth to retort, but then shut it with a distrustful gaze. Shen Jiu doesn't blame him. His qi deviation, paired with Wu Yanzi's schemes, had killed many people. If they haven't smuggled him out of the forest and away from prying eyes, Shen Jiu was sure the boy would be thrown into prison or on the way to being publicly executed by now.

Which meant his life depended on what the three of them (plus their shizun when he inevitably drops by) would do about him next.

Shen Jiu had helped to clean and heal him up when he was unconscious, and those scars on his body.. his skin was littered with old and fresh bruises, an area of his ribs were sunken in, he didn't look like he gets more than one meal a day. It was a saddening sight.

(He wondered if it would've been any of them if Sun Zhaoli hadn't picked them up.)

He would admit though, they did go a bit too heavy on the ropes. Yue Qi was worried that the immortal binding cables (where did he even get it in the first place?!) wouldn't hold a demonic cultivator, so Sun Shiwu had casually whipped out the ropes from his qiankun pouch.

Shen Jiu thought hard about Yan gongzi, but came up short. He didn't even remember the street Qi ge and him used to beg on.. more like, he still couldn't read a damn thing back then.

“We'll wait for shizun to decide what your fate is.” Shen Jiu said.

Yue Qi smiled, not knowing it worsened the boy's nerves, “Shizun is very kind.”

A knock came from their door. The four watched curiously as two Huan Hua disciples came in with a bow. They startled seeing someone tied up on the floor.

“What happ—”

“Is there anything we can help senior Su with?” Yue Qi hurriedly asked, his face carefully schooled into a saintly look. He absolutely did not want to answer questions on why there is a questionably bound person on the floor.

Su Xiyan cleared her throat. “This one came to thank Sun gongzi. Wan shimei.”

The girl ran up to Sun Shiwu. “Thanking senior Sun for the forty year ginseng! If.. if it wasn't for you, this Wan Min would be dead.” She fidgeted with her fingers nervously.

Shen Jiu turned to Sun Shiwu in shock. A forty year ginseng? Did they even grow here?? He needed to flip the library upside down when they get back. If it could be done, they should go on an expedition here to dig some up. It could help many disciples tremendously.

Even shockingly, Sun Shiwu grinned and waved his hand nonchalantly, like he didn't know the value a forty year ginseng holds.

“This one is glad that guniang is safe! I'm sure anyone would've done the same as me.”

No they won't! They probably would just give normal medicine like normal people!

Wan Min stared at Sun Shiwu's dashing smile and ran back to her shijie with a red face. Su Xiyan gave them a small smile, “Sun gongzi is too humble. We shall not disturb your rest any longer.”

They both bowed and left. The three had missed the gaze the bound boy had on Sun Shiwu.

Sun Zhaoli came in next. He noticeably did a double take when he saw the boy on the floor.

“Tell this master your name.” Sun Zhaoli bent down to take a closer look at the boy.

If it was Sun Zhaoli from before, he wouldn't hesitate to threaten. It would be easy to pick the boy apart with words, something Sun Zhaoli had done time and time again effortlessly. But he wasn't Sun Zhaoli from the past, he didn't want to do that.

Everyone deserves a second chance.

Sun Zhaoli grabbed the boy's arm and checked his spiritual roots. It wasn't as efficient as checking the wrist, but it did the trick. The boy's root was stunted from the demonic qi of the wonky cultivation he's been taught. It was intact though, and that was good enough. Everything else can start after he's healed up nicely and is dispelled of the demonic energy.

“Would you like to join this master's peak?”

“Resistance is futile, Yan gongzi.” chirped Sun Shiwu. “Think about your life, it's not too late to turn back as long as you're alive.”

“Indeed. Everyone recognised Wu Yanzi, but no one knows you. Those who did not fight Wu Yanzi in person, much like myself, would not know you've cultivated demonic ways before.”

The boy looked at Sun Zhaoli. Once he had everything— serving a family that treated his mother and him well, doted on by his mother, the chance to cultivate— and then, he lost everything. He followed that strange man because he had no choice left, and now it was a deja vu situation.

He knew what was waiting for him if he dared to decline. It was a do or die.

“Yan Xiazhe. This one..”

“So you are Yan gongzi!” Sun Shiwu exclaimed in the background.

“This one wants to live.”

--

Rumours say there's a prince on Qing Jing peak.

No one knows where he's from, he just showed up suddenly on the peak one day and the entire peak (especially the ladies) went crazy over him, in a few different ways. He became the gossip of the peak, which inevitably circulated to the other peaks, and now everyone wanted to know how he looked like (and where he came from).

Yan Xiazhe was going into his second week in Qing Jing. It was going so far so good for him. The gauzy outer robe of the disciple uniform was annoying, but other than that, he had no complaints.

No complaints regarding Qing Jing peak or peak lord Sun, except maybe for a certain ward of his.

Sun Shiwu had become a constant thorn in his side. He came to poke fun at Yan Xiazhe every chance he got, when he was trying to study, when he was trying to eat, when he was trying to run errands.. and whew, that boy sure can talk. While he never brought up his (their?) childhood again, Sun Shiwu could talk just about everything. He doesn't get the hints that Yan Xiazhe wanted to be left alone, and always goes away by himself after he's finished rambling on his own.

Yan Xiazhe looked at the stack of books peak lord Shen had tasked him to bring to the bamboo house, and found himself getting tripped over.

He landed with a painful scrape on the gravel trail, the books flying everywhere.

It was this group again, Yan Xiazhe glared up at them. He didn't know their names, but he remember their faces and their faces are unpleasant. They were threatened by Yan Xiazhe's sudden popularity and decided to target him.

“Such an ungraceful fall, shidi.” One of them snickered.

“Better hurry along or shizun will get angry.”

“Aren't these our assignments?” Another picked up the book lying at his feet. “They are indeed! You've just ruined our assignments, shidi.”

Yan Xiazhe furrowed his eyebrows. Seems like the name of the peak doesn't reflect the state of some of the disciples.

“What a scary face.” “You better copy this again for me!” “What are you going to do about this?”

“Maybe I should tell shizun that some hooligans are creating problems on the peak and bullying our newest shidi?”

Sun Shiwu pranced up to them, a menacing smile on his face. Shen Jiu was not far on his heels.

“You don't even have to try to hide it, Ming Zun. We all know you're just bullying Yan di because you know you're not as good looking as him.”

Sun Shiwu snatched the assignment from the bully's hand. “And this! The words are illegible, what difference does it make even when it's destroyed? I suggest Ling shidi to redo it. My left foot writes more legible words than this.”

“This shixiong warns Ming Zun and his little troupe to reflect on themselves and Qing Jing peak's rules and virtues.” Shen Jiu said icily, eyes glaring from above his fan. “If you know what's good for yourself.”

Knowing they are no match against the two most influential people in the peak besides from shizun, the group could only flee.

“Aiyah, Yan di.” Sun Shiwu bent down and started to gather the books. “Just run when you see them next time. Interacting with them is time-consuming and worths nothing.”

“I'm older than you.”

Sun Shiwu grinned cheekily, “You are my shidi.”

Sun Shiwu reached out for another book, and what dangled on his wrist made Yan Xiazhe freeze.

Shen Jiu startled when Yan Xiazhe grabbed Sun Shiwu's arm violently.

Sun Shiwu was wearing the beaded bracelet and bangles that he's haggled from a merchant during one of their missions. The two bangles were fool's gold, while the beads of the bracelet were made of jade, with three beads of peridot among them and a black tassel hanging from it.

(Yue Qi couldn't stop Sun Shiwu from offering one gold tael for this hand accessory. The fool's gold, jade and peridots wasn't worth one gold tael, even when the jade and peridots were proven to be real by a jeweler. The value dropped even further when they were told it wasn't even a completed set.

There was supposed to be a ring that is tied to the outermost bangle with a chain.)

“Where did you get this?” Yan Xiazhe's words came out harsh. He clenched his hand around Sun Shiwu's arm.

“What— Mhpf, let go!” Sun Shiwu tried to pull his arm back, but it was locked dead in Yan Xiazhe's vice grip. “It hurts, ah!”

Yan Xiazhe was forcefully pushed back by Shen Jiu, who immediately shielded Sun Shiwu from him. Sun Shiwu was visibly shaken from this, he unconsciously clung onto Shen Jiu for comfort.

“What has gotten into you, Yan gongzi? How dare you attack my didi.” Shen Jiu could barely conceal the anger in his voice.

Yan Xiazhe, who seemed to have snapped out of his sudden violent tendencies, took a deep breath and looked away.

“I want to know where you got those bracelets.”

Sun Shiwu cradled his hurt arm close. “It was from a merchant in Yunlan! I don't know anything about it!”

After a beat of silence, Sun Shiwu gathered up all the books within his reach and stood up, hurt and fear tingeing his face slightly pink. “We'll bring these to shizun. Yan shidi should go back and rest for a bit.” And ran away before anyone could stop him.

Shen Jiu shook his head at Yan Xiazhe. “This one isn't sure what happened to you just now, but please refrain from doing that again. Showing emotion is good, but to a point where it harms others.. that's not.”

He, then too, stood up and left with the books in his hand.

Yan Xiazhe only sat there on the gravel. He had hurt Sun Shiwu, he couldn't blame anyone but himself for that. Judging by the reaction, Sun Shiwu didn't know where those bracelets actually came from, or what they meant to Yan Xiazhe.

He closed a fist over the necklace under his clothes.

--

The order of Shiwu's bracelets are bangle - beaded bracelet - bangle. It's something like this ↓ but the beads are jade with three peridots beads.

Chapter Text

The eternal flames of purification tore his body apart. Even as his physical body broke down into nothing, he felt everything. He dragged on, even to some point he realised he was crawling on the ground, all his senses lost to time and the neverending scorch against the transparent form of soul.

Untill finally, he was out.

He looked at the sky, then at his hands. They were back, with the many callouses Sun Zhaoli had obtained from long hours of sword training and brush holding. This was him, was it? He felt light and hollow, uncertain of himself.

Someone stopped in front of him. A bowl was offered to him. “There's not much time left for you here, eat up.”

“You are.. WangShi Xian?”

The deity's lips parted in surprise, but he still wordlessly held the bowl for Sun Zhaoli to take. It was a bowl of warm soy milk, two hot crispy youtiaos had been put in it, the heavenly aroma invaded Sun Zhaoli's Bose and he swallowed hard.

It had been so long since he's seen the food that comforted him in tough times.

He ate the youtiaos on the ground. He barely had any energy to stand. With every bite, the tears kept coming and he didn't want to stop it.

It had been too long since he's actually felt alive.

Yet the grief and woe hasn't left him. The blaze of eternal flames could not melt away these sorrows, a daunting tension that refused to let him go. He didn't deserve such release, being a coward that chose an easy way out, away from everything that made him him.

WangShi Xian only stared at him sadly, a faraway look in his eyes.

After the surprisingly filling meal, Sun Zhaoli was told where to go. The gate of Judgment was what the deity had called it, the place where souls go in hopes of a chance to reincarnate. It wasn't an idea Sun Zhaoli was fond of, but if this was where the eternal flames has taken him, he could only press on.

The deity of the gate, Mosi, was a familiar face.

“Senior Lan?”

“Ah, an old face. How rare.” Lan Yingcheng smiled, the way the corners of his eyes wrinkled was nostalgia on its own.

Sun Zhaoli looked around, taking in their surroundings. “So this is the limbo.”

He's been here before. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he remembered a aromatic tavern, a lush forest of wisteria and ash, the festivities as he had raised his head to gaze upon the golden moon.

“Your name is here, A-Li. I've heard of what you've been through. My condolences, may you be blessed in your next life.”

Sun Zhaoli took a step towards the gate. And there was the feeling again, the feeling of his physical body unravelling into nothingness, as the gate welcomed him and he never turned back again.

--

Sun Zhaoli was only aware of life when he turned 3 years old.

It was a suddenly discovery that he was a breathing, living being. He had curiously looked at his hand and felt some sort of unfamiliarity with the smooth soft skin of his palms. His hands should be rough, he had thought, yet he didn't understand why it should be rough.

His memory came back in pieces starting from when he was 6.

He had visions of a mute warrior who was by his side almost till the end. He had held those rough hands in his own and squeezed tight, saying that he'll never let go.

He dreamed of twelve peaks and eleven peak lords which he'd shared times with. They bickered and sometimes even fought, but they've been through thick and thin and he somewhat considered them all to be close.

He remembered a small sickly child that defeated all odds yet had been failed by the world, his throat slit by Sun Zhaoli's own hands. The blood on his hands and the flames that consumed his body whole.

He recalled everything by the time he was 16.

There was no Cang Qiong in any history. In this world that Sun Zhaoli had grown accustomed to, Cang Qiong resided in a fictional stallion novel, along with all the sects and memories of his.

Sun Zhaoli didn't even know about the novel at first. It wasn't untill he's heard his classmate ramble about it in university that he searched it up.. and was astounded by it. Every flora and fauna, down to the geography, even the names of each characters and places, were the same. The plot outrageously painted his former disciple in the worst light possible, a lecher and a murderer, and subjected him to the same fate as the one in his memories.

(He then stopped reading it when it was clear there was no more plot left, just empty filler sex scenes.)

Sun Zhaoli knew he had to check if Cang Qiong, at one point, did exist in this world.

After getting his degree, Sun Zhaoli joined a team of researchers. In 7 years time, they've went to countless places and explored many unknown areas in China. Most Sun Zhaoli didn't really recognise, but there was a few he did.

The Bailu forest. It wasn't as vast and majestic as Sun Zhaoli remembered, but as he tolerated being waist deep in the deep pond to get to the oasis in the middle, he felt like he's returned to his disciple times. Just a curious boy attending the Immortal Alliance Conference, waddling across the waters to pick some pretty flowers for his shidi.

How hard he had loved. And how equally hard he had lost.

How sad they've ended like that.

--

Sun Zhaoli crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes at young Liu Mingyu. This person was the catalyst for Shen Jiu's downfall. Both the rumours he made and also his own death. Sun Zhaoli should've slapped him before he ascended.

(Instead of thinking that Shen Jiu could take care of such things himself. The bullying caused by Sun Zhaoli's judgement and the icky rumours, as well as the isolation, casted out by his peers. Sun Zhaoli should've done something.)

It wasn't a surprise that Liu Mingyu looked eager to be up against Shen Jiu. The famous XiuYa sword who also had a hand in defeating the demonic cultivator Wu Yanzi? Liu Mingyu would probably fight him to death if he could.

Yue Qi had told Sun Zhaoli about the brat seeking him out for a spar as well. Liu Mingyu's cultivation was good yes, but there was no way he could win against Yue Qi. Plus the age gap (and build gap) between them would make it look like Yue Qi is bullying a child.

“Sun shixiong, if shixiong keeps staring at Du shidi's disciple like that, I'm afraid you'd scare him away.” Ma Zhaohong said, nursing a cup of alcohol.

“This shixiong is very friendly,” said Sun Zhaoli sarcastically.

Someone snorted, but was quickly shushed. While Sun Zhaoli wasn't that friendly, he was definitely more tolerable towards others. When he apologized for the first time in many years, Sun Zhaoli was sure that some of his martial siblings' eyes popped out of their heads.

(He remembered what his professor said, sometimes all you need to do is take a step back and compromise. The modern world really softened him ah.)

«Liu is very excited to fight Jiu.» Du Zhaosong signed. «Told him he can't win but he doesn't care.»

“Their levels aren't the same, if we have to be honest. A-Jiu's been cultivating since he can walk.” Well not really, but the sentiment is there.

«That brat too. Just not in sect.»

Shen Jiu swept into battle like the autumn winds, swift and calm. Each swing of XiuYa whistled, cleanly cutting through the silence of the crowd who was stunned by the splendid, artistic display of swordfighting. Liu Mingyu wasn't excluded, his shape eyes took in each and every one of Shen Jiu's moves as he blocked the attacks.

Then, he struck.

Liu Mingyu's sword arcs were simple but each blow carried tremendous weight. The clash between XiuYa and his sword creating sparks in the air and tremors in the heart. The arena seem to quake under their feet as they dance in a flurry of robes and swords.

The clashes sounded faster and faster, purple and green blur together in relentless attacks, aiming to strike each other down.

Shen Jiu wins. Liu Mingyu sat on the ground, confused and starstruck, a frown on his face.

“You cheat,” He accused. He must be talking about the instance when Shen Jiu kicked up a cloud of dirt around them. Sun Zhaoli had did that a few times too in his disciple times. The only difference was he didn't just kick the dirt in the air, he kicked dirt straight into their faces and disguised it as fancy footwork.

Shen Jiu smirked, “It's called being resourceful, shidi.” He held out XiuYa's hilt to Liu Mingyu, who took it and pulled himself up in a huff.

As the two started to silently bicker all the way back to the tents, Du Zhaosong scoffed, shaking his hand mockingly.

«His fighting style reminds me of someone we know. I wonder who.»

Yao Zhaoyi smiled at the obvious implication. Like master like disciple, especially one's that followed Sun Zhaoli since young and was just as secretly devious as he was.

Liu Mingyu had had it far better than some unfortunate ones who had to face Sun Zhaoli during his terror era, including the sect leader himself. He had simply been assaulted in the face by a ball of qi infused dirt that Sun Zhaoli had swore was unintentional and happened because of his footwork. Sun Zhaoli was forced to take care of Yao Zhaoyi (and his other victims) for a week and make sure they didn't go blind.

(Even though Sun Zhaoli's shifu had laughed like he had just witnessed the best comedy of three realms.)

Sun Zhaoli pushed Du Zhaosong's hand away from his sight with a scoff of his own. Although, a smirk was on his lips.

“Shut it, shidi.”

--

Sun Zhaoli noticed that Sun Shiwu had stopped wearing those bracelets he paid one gold tael for.

(Shen Jiu had been exasperated when he told Sun Zhaoli about the purchase. When Sun Zhaoli asked what merchant it was from, Shen Jiu said he seemed like a foreigner.

Sun Zhaoli immediately knew who it was.

Just days before that, Cang Qiong had received a letter from a foreign merchant.

He started the letter by introducing himself as Gengyi, a merchant from overseas. Several months ago, he had been cheated and left in a state of near bankruptcy. He had made a stop at Yunlan city after his youngest fell into a critical state, the family had to rest and find shelter.

He went on to thank Shiwu profusely, stating that Shiwu had exchanged one gold tael for jewelry from him. With that gold tael, he was able to move into a better village with his family, and also buy them the high grade medicine they needed to overcome the illness that plagued them. He now had a store that he can sell his goods in, which also acted as a cozy place for the family to stay in for many years.

The letter ended with Gengyi proposing to do business with Cang Qiong sect, and more specifically, An Ding peak. Zhong Zhaokai literally jumped at the opportunity, passionately pressuring convincing Yao Zhaoyi to accept.)

Sun Shiwu had told him about the situation with Yan Xiazhe. If Sun Zhaoli had to take a wild guess, Yan Xiazhe probably recognised the bracelets from somewhere. Sun Shiwu did say Yan Xiazhe used to work as a servant for nobles, perhaps the family used to have a set of jewelry that looked like that. Either way, Sun Shiwu seemed affected by that encounter.

“He grabbed me so tight, Baba,” Sun Shiwu whined. “I thought he was going to snap my wrist.”

Sun Zhaoli can't be certain about Yan Xiazhe's intentions, as he had never knew about this boy during his first life. In his days of running errands and training under Sun Zhaoli's watchful eye, he seemed like a levelheaded boy, usually opting to stay out of trouble.

“A-Wu, have you stopped liking those bracelets you gave one gold tael away for?”

“Baba! Why does everyone keep mentioning the gold tael when it comes to those bracelets?!” Sun Shiwu shouted in embarrassment, covering his face. Sun Zhaoli chuckled, waiting for Sun Shiwu to uncover his face.

Sun Shiwu peeked between his fingers. “Yan gongzi had been avoiding me,” he finally admitted. “I thought maybe it's because of the bracelets, so I stopped wearing them.”

“Did he say anything about those bracelets? Or ask for them back?”

“Well no,” Sun Shiwu sighed. “I wish it was that easy. He just runs everytime I get near him, and when he can't run, he just ignores me! I can't even ramble like I usually do. It's that awkward, Baba!”

Sun Shiwu let out another dramatic sigh before standing up. “I still have some things to do, Baba. Let's have dinner with Jiu ge together later.”

Sun Zhaoli hummed his affirmation with a smile and watched Sun Shiwu leave. He turned towards the open window not far beside him. “You can come out now. No point in hiding there, disciple Yan.”

The boy's head slowly peeked out from behind the windowsill. He was red-faced from getting caught eavesdropping.

“This master knows what the bracelets are. And what they mean. But now, this master wants you to tell me what they mean to you.” Sun Zhaoli said.

Yan Xiazhe looked around awkwardly, before climbing into Sun Zhaoli's office like a monkey. Sun Zhaoli could barely hold back a huff of laughter at the sight of that. Yan Xianzhe may look like a refined prince, but in reality, he was still just a kid (he said he was turning 20, but wasn't sure because it's been a while) and it was pretty adorable.

Sun Zhaoli poured him a cup of tea. Yan Xiazhe took the cup and wet his lips with the tea before spilling everything to Sun Zhaoli.

--

The Addiex sword went through his body. He stared in horror at the end of the red stained sword that came out of his chest, Chen Zhiching's scream echoed loud and clear despite the ringing of his ears.

He raised his Swiss army knife, with the little blade out, and turned, slicing the perpetrator's throat cleanly with one swipe.

They both fell to the ground.

Chen Zhiching ran towards him and held him in her arms, staining herself red with his blood as well. Her tears were cold against Sun Zhaoli's cheek, as she screamed for their group mates to gather and help. Her hands pressed firm around where the sword was poking of Sun Zhaoli, trying to stop as much blood from coming out as possible.

But Sun Zhaoli wasn't going to survive. Each breath was getting harder, blood was coming up his throat and he was sure his lung had been pierced. He stared at the other body of which he had just wrung the neck broken, and thought about how easy he'd let that guy off.

Sun Zhaoli was just upset that he couldn't find the giant silkworm monsters that used to guard this place.

With one last painful drag of breath from his lungs, Sun Zhaoli coughed out blood and closed his eyes.

--

Chapter Text

Shen Jiu stared at the beast carcass outside Sun Zhaoli's bamboo house. There are two preserving talismans stuck to the fur so there would be no decaying or foul smell, but the sight of a dead animal with wounds on its body raised goosebumps on Shen Jiu's arm. Without context, this was.. definitely a murder scene.

Yue Qi stared with him. He didn't tell Shen Jiu that he's seen Liu Mingyu run away from Qing Jing peak when he was on the way to visit Shen Jiu.

“The vermilion pelt of this specific beast is used to make a popular type of wedding cloak, Xiao Jiu.”

“I know. The meat is good for jerky, the intestines and liver can be made into stew, the bones can be made into weapons and jewelry—”

“Wedding jewelry,” Yue Qi added unnecessarily.

Shen Jiu shot him a glare. Are you implying something? His eyes seem to ask.

Yue Qi returned his best, innocent smile. “Products made from this beast are all traditionally used for weddings. This is why they're called Auspicious Beasts. Usually, the couple it is gifted to must have their wedding within two weeks of butchering the beast, as to not offend the Auspicious Beast's soul and disrespect it's sacrifice.”

Shen Jiu huffed, “I know that.”

To present the beast unbutchered like this meant asking for permission to court usually the person who receives the beast. Since Sun Zhaoli and Sun Shiwu were both out on their respective missions, there was no one else staying at the bamboo house other than Shen Jiu.

He's flattered, truly, but at least leave a name. If Yue Qi hasn't pointed out that it was an Auspicious Beast, Shen Jiu would've kept thinking it was some sort of prank.

Well, he can always keep an eye out.

“What are we going to do about this anyways? I don't like the thought of keeping the body in the kitchen for even a week.”

“As we are cultivators, we can simply just butcher and cook it. It is good for cultivation. We can always save the pelt and bones for a wedding.”

Shen Jiu narrowed his eyes on Yue Qi again and Yue Qi continued to smile like a saint. In the end, they called some kitchen helpers to help them with transporting the carcass to the kitchen for butchering.

The dish was their dinner, and Shen Jiu melted as soon as the meat entered his mouth. Usually he isn't very fond of sweet and sour meat, but the juicy tender meat of the beast had a unique flavour that complimented the delightful tingle of pickled plums and honey. Each chew was a burst of flavour that kept him going back for more. Yue Qi chuckled at his uncommon vigour in stuffing his face with sweet and sour meat.

After the wonderful meal, Shen Jiu assessed the leftovers. Sun Zhaoli and Sun Shiwu should return within this week, so he could save some for them. As he scooped the meat into two containers, Shen Jiu suddenly thought of Liu Mingyu.

The boy had been sneaking over to Qing Jing more recently as Du Zhaosong was out of the sect with Sun Zhaoli. He came to pester Shen Jiu for spars, and always pouted when Shen Jiu said he had things to do. He doesn't run back to Bai Zhan like Shen Jiu expects him to do, instead he would sit beside Shen Jiu to wait for him to finish. When things get too boring for Liu Mingyu, he'd try to read a book as well, but it always ends up with him just looking around or looking at what Shen Jiu was doing.

Surprisingly, it was good company. Liu Mingyu wasn't destructive or annoying, and didn't try to do anything to distract Shen Jiu from his tasks. In some instances when he take interest in what Shen Jiu is doing or what he's reading, he'd have that adorable scrunch of concentration on his face.

Shen Jiu found himself thinking of Liu Mingyu as adorable and shook his head. He told himself that Liu Mingyu reminded him of Sun Shiwu and that the brat was like another younger brother to him.

With that in mind, Shen Jiu took out another container and put a serving of sweet and sour meat inside.

-

“What's this?” Liu Mingyu opened the container and peered inside. The tangy smell immediately invaded his nose.

“Someone left a beast at the door of the bamboo house and left no name whatsoever. Qi ge said that it will be a waste to bury it so we had the chefs butcher and cook it. There was too much, so this is for you.”

Liu Mingyu glared down at the container. Someone left a beast in front of the bamboo house? When only Shen Jiu is there? Did he have a contender?! He squinted at the delicious smelling meat like an angry child.

Shen Jiu found him adorable. Although it was quite weird that he was glowering at the container of meat like it insulted him.

“Shidi has been great company to this shixiong so I hope you will accept it. It's nothing much, but take this as a sign that I appreciate you, Liu shidi.”

Now with a new contender, Liu Mingyu wouldn't back down! Ever since Shen Jiu sparred with him during the annual spars for the first time and knocked him flat on his ass, Liu Mingyu wanted to know his shixiong better. He didn't know why, but the thought of someone else grabbing Shen Jiu's attention made him jealous and pouty.

Liu Mingyu grabbed Shen Jiu's hand. “This shidi will do his best!”

Shen Jiu blinked at the sudden declaration. He had merely told Liu Mingyu he appreciated him, and his reply was a slight overreaction, if he had to say. But since Liu Mingyu was so serious, Shen Jiu can only nod and pat Liu Mingyu's hand.

“This shixiong knows you would, shidi.”

--

It still found a way to go wrong one way or another.

Sun Zhaoli held Du Zhaosong's feverish body close and the warrior curled into him, trembling. The wind blew Sun Zhaoli's hair into his eyes as he picked up speed on Rui Ya, determined to brave through the literal storm.

They've finished their mission, but Sun Zhaoli had miscalculated the risks. He thought that since they've taken a detour, Du Zhaosong would not get caught in the trap that would disadvantage them, and pairing an uninjured Du Zhaosong with Sun Zhaoli's knowledge of the creature's attack patterns, Sun Zhaoli had underestimated what the creature can do.

Du Zhaosong had aimed straight for the neck and lopped the head off. And simply because he didn't stab the creature's heart like how he did in the first life, the heart exploded upon death with Du Zhaosong still on top of the body.

“It's okay, shidi,” Sun Zhaoli whispered. Du Zhaosong made a hand movement but the trembling was so bad that Sun Zhaoli couldn't interpret it. He kept holding Du Zhaosong tight, even though he wouldn't have a free hand to block out the rain and wind and hair that's irritating his eyes. “Everything will be fine, Dudu.”

Sun Zhaoli barged into the nearest inn he came across. Any complaints and excuses were out the door when the innkeepers saw the sorry state they were in. He dropped a pouch of silvers on the counter but no one paid the money any mind. They were more worried about the battered duo.

“A room. And a bath.” Sun Zhaoli demanded. He could barely speak clearly, those simple words felt like they've tumbled out of his mouth unintentionally.

He sat Du Zhaosong on a chair and started to untie his layers.

The thick robe Sun Zhaoli bought for him had became a challenge rather than a insulating garment. The entire layer was soaked, and when Sun Zhaoli dropped it on the floor, it went down with a wet splat. Sun Zhaoli checked on Du Zhaosong's condition. His body was heating up, pink rashes were starting to appear on his arms and part of his face and neck, all the parts which were not shielded by clothing when the heart fluids sprayed everywhere.

(When things get better, Sun Zhaoli is going to laugh at Du Zhaosong for poking at his attire. His long, scholarly sleeves did a good job at protecting his face from the assault of heart juices.)

After sending away the young lady that brought in the tub, Sun Zhaoli shimmered some medicine powder into the water and stirred it with his hand.

Sun Zhaoli's hands were also infected by the same rashes since he had tore off Du Zhaosong's heart juice soaked outer robe after the explosion. The cooling effect was immediate, he rubbed his hands together for a few times to get rid of the itch that came with the rashes. Sun Zhaoli wasn't really sure if there were any more side effects, so he promised to keep an eye out for anything abnormal about Du Zhaosong's body as he hauled his shidi into the tub.

He gently cupped the water and washed Du Zhaosong's face first. Sun Zhaoli brushed the wet hair away from Du Zhaosong's face, then caressed his cheek with a feather light touch, taking note of how the redness was already fading.

He took Du Zhaosong's arm into his hands and started to ease the tension out of it with a slow, gentle massage. It was therapeutic for Sun Zhaoli to fall into the pattern of rubbing circles into Du Zhaosong's skin, which was surprisingly soft. He made sure to not miss any spots, taking care to ensure that his shidi's arm was completely lax before moving on to the other.

A sigh escape Du Zhaosong's lip. Dazed eyes sought Sun Zhaoli out.

“How are you feeling?” Sun Zhaoli asked, his voice came out soft and low as to not break the fragile, calming ambience that surrounded them.

Du Zhaosong shifted in the water, sitting better so he can lean back against the tub comfortably. He stared at Sun Zhaoli massaging his arm for a moment, before shifting closer to Sun Zhaoli, untill their shoulders are touching and Du Zhaosong laid his head on Sun Zhaoli's shoulder.

“Hurts.” Du Zhaosong's voice was just a little more than a breath. They both knew if Du Zhaosong was to speak any louder, his throat wouldn't be able to take it. “You?”

“Better than you, that's for sure.”

Du Zhaosong closed his eyes, feeling Sun Zhaoli's hands press on all his sore spots and unwind the knots there. Sun Zhaoli had always done this for Du Zhaosong when he's injured, which was a given since he's a warrior, or simply after a mission. He doesn't let Du Zhaosong return the favour though, because he kept complaining about Du Zhaosong's clueless prodding and pressing.

(Meanwhile, Sun Zhaoli stared at his shidi's long eyelashes. Du Zhaosong's eyelashes were thick and lustrous, it made reading his eyes very pleasant.)

“I think the heart juices may have been some mild allergens. The medicine Lai shidi gave works for it.” Sun Zhaoli rested his cheek on Du Zhaosong's head. “Still, tell me if you feel anything out of the ordinary. I fear that it's not as simple as it seems for now.”

Du Zhaosong found Sun Zhaoli's hand, which was massaging his wrist, and intertwined their fingers. Sun Zhaoli let him.

They stayed like that for a while longer, knowing no one could stop them. Breathing into each other's space. Appreciating each other's presence, in the bliss of intimate privacy.

-

«You should get out of those robes. You will catch a cold.»

Du Zhaosong traced his fingers along the patterns of Sun Zhaoli's waist sash. It was cold under his touch, wet, much like the rest of Sun Zhaoli's robes.

Sun Zhaoli took his shidi's hand and slid it under his outer robe, putting it directly over his heart.

“Help me, shidi?”

Sun Zhaoli revelled in the newfound joy of watching Du Zhaosong's face flush crimson, the colour extending to his ears and neck as well.

--

Yan Xiazhe inspected some trinkets while listening to Sun Shiwu talk with the merchant.

They were currently on an errand for An Ding peak lord Zhong Zhaokai, who jumped at them after Sun Shiwu mentioned he knew XiHwang dialect and spoke a few sentences in it.

From what Sun Shiwu had taught Yan Xiazhe on their way to the city, XiHwang people liked to swallow syllables and add drawling to the end of their sentences. The dialect was unnecessarily melodious as well, usually spoken in a soft and muted tone of voice, which made it even more complicated to learn and understand. Sun Shiwu had demonstrated how it's like to speak XiHwang dialect with a normal accent and it sounded so wonky, Yan Xiazhe never thought that would be possible.

He picked up a hairpin from the table. A delicate butterfly perched on the hairpin, specks of gold shined brilliantly inside the green gems that made the butterfly's wings. Small chains with exquisite crystal detailing dangled from where it perched like a sparkling trail left by the butterfly.

The merchant noticed him do that and turned towards Yan Xiazhe, speaking excitedly. Sun Shiwu leaned in to take a look at the hairpin as well, and smiled.

“Merchant Mai said that it is peridot,” he said, touching the butterfly's antenna delicately. “He said it goes well with my bracelets.”

After two weeks of being avoided by Sun Shiwu, Yan Xiazhe fell victim to the unfamiliar loneliness and his discomfort around anyone he wasn't familiar with— which was everyone beside Sun Zhaoli and his three wards.

He had sought Sun Shiwu out to apologize, only to get an apology of his own regarding the bracelets, which was unnecessary since Yan Xiazhe acknowledged that he's overreacted and assured Sun Shiwu that he did nothing wrong. So Sun Shiwu had happily went back to wearing the bracelets.

Yan Xiazhe raised the hairpin to Sun Shiwu's hair as the boy went back to conversing with Merchant Mai. It went well with his doe eyes and boyish charm that Yan Xiazhe had grown to like. Yes, like. He had a face that fit his personality, and it was very cute. After a brief contemplation, Yan Xiazhe dropped one gold piece into the merchant's money basket and kept the hairpin.

“I think this is the last of it.” Sun Shiwu stored Zhong Zhaokai's order of redwood and soft stones into his qiankun pouch.

They been in XiHwang city for a week now, going near and far to pay for and collect Zhong Zhaokai's stuff from different merchants who were inconveniently scattered throughout the city. Thankfully, their expenses have all been covered by Zhong Zhaokai, so he would say it wasn't an extreme hassle.

They walked around the market for a while more. More like, Sun Shiwu pulled Yan Xiazhe along from store to store to awe at the products sold. He picked out a few books for Sun Zhaoli, a pair of earrings and a box of sweets for Shen Jiu, as well as a sword tassel for Yue Qi. Yan Xiazhe startled when Sun Shiwu held a sword tassel up to his face.

“Hmm, this suits you.” Sun Shiwu prompted Yan Xiazhe to take the tassel, then paid for the two tassels. “You can tie that to your future sword.”

Sun Zhaoli wouldn't allow him to pick a sword untill his cultivation became better, so he was stuck with this nameless sword. Yan Xiazhe tied the tassel to it anyways.

“I heard from the locals that there is the XiHwang blessing tree somewhere around here. The tree's been there since the founding of XiHwang, that's why it's called the XiHwang blessing tree.”

Sun Shiwu turned to Yan Xiazhe.

“Should we go there, Yan di?”

-

The XiHwang blessing tree turned out to be an old tree that grows on the west most area of XiHwang. The large tree was growing right at the edge of a cliff. The cliff had been closed off with some fencing at some point, but it seems that it hasn't been maintained in a while, since most of it was already gone anyways.

Thick red ropes draped the tree's branches, from them hung some paper talismans that had blessings written on them. The pink leaves gave the tree an otherworldly appearance with the help of the setting sun, giving off a peace aura.

Yan Xiazhe gets why it's called a blessing tree.

“Woah, the tree is living in the edge.” Sun Shiwu giggled, peering over the ledge and into the oblivion below. “It's so pretty!”

Yan Xiazhe followed his actions and peered over the ledge as well. They were so high up the lower grounds couldn't be seen, covered by a thin veil of mist. Indeed it was beautiful, Yan Xiazhe felt like they were in a different realm.

They both titled their heads to look at the sunset. With the beautiful dusk came light winds that rustled the pink leaves and left the loose ones fluttering around them.

“Yan di, thanks for being here with me. I don't think there's anyone else I'd rather be with here.”

“Really?” Yan Xiazhe thought it wouldn't hurt to tease. “What about Jiu ge or Qi ge? Or even shizun?”

“Aiyah, don't ruin the moment.” Sun Shiwu swatted at him. He stuck out his tongue at Yan Xiazhe and turned to walk away.

Yan Xiazhe smiled. He won't admit that he felt happy hearing Sun Shiwu's words. He turned to follow Sun Shiwu and noticed the rock under his heel too late. As he turned, he lost his balance on the rock.. and stumbled backwards, over the ledge. Startled, he yelled for Sun Shiwu and Sun Shiwu whipped around, just as startled as him, witnessing Yan Xiazhe starting to fall to his doom.

Yan Xiazhe's eyes widened in horror as he watched Sun Shiwu dive after him. Instinctively, he reached out for Sun Shiwu. They grasped each other's arms tight.

Right before Sun Shiwu's lower body caught the roots of the old tree that was protruding from the cliff. The sudden stop combined with Yan Xiazhe's weight pulling him down popped his arm right out of the socket with a haunting, sickening crack. Yan Xiazhe felt Sun Shiwu's arm go lax in his grip, eyes wide with alarm and panic.

“Fuck!” Sun Shiwu shouted. “Don't fucking let go!”

After making sure he was stably snagged to the tree roots, Sun Shiwu reached out with his other hand and grabbed onto Yan Xiazhe's hand. Yan Xiazhe moved his legs to find some footing— something solid, anything— but there was nothing. He was suspended in midair, held on only by Sun Shiwu who had lost ability of one arm and was unlikely to be able to pull him up.

Sun Shiwu let out another yell, this time in frustration, before he dug his fingernails into Yan Xiazhe's arm. His skin tore under the blunt fingernails, drawing blood that flowed steadily up Yan Xiazhe's arm. It hurt like a bitch, yes, but all Yan Xiazhe could see was Sun Shiwu holding on for both of their lives, and his chest ached.

How much more people would get hurt because of him? Why must the people he love and cherish suffer while he can only watch?

It felt like hours. Watching Sun Shiwu struggle to pull him up, untill finally, his hand brushed against the root. He gripped onto it immediately, swinging his other hand up to grab at the root, swiftly pulling himself up.

They both sat on the roots, catching their breath and calming their rapid heartbeat. Yan Xiazhe finally hissed at the pain of his arm, bleeding crescents prominent on his skin. Sun Shiwu quickly pulled out a handkerchief.

“Sorry about this,” he tried to wipe away the blood. “I was scared I'd lose my grip.”

Yan Xiazhe looked at Sun Shiwu's unmoving arm that laid useless on his side and gritted his teeth. Unable to control himself, he grabbed Sun Shiwu's good shoulder, proceeding to shake him.

“Why did you do that?!” Yan Xiazhe yelled at him. “You could've died with me! That's not worth it, Sun Shiwu! There's nothing more important than your life, get this into your head!”

Sun Shiwu, to Yan Xiazhe's absolute ire, just grinned cheekily. Completely. Uncaring. Of. Yan Xiazhe's. Anger!

“Don't worry ah, Yan di. I'm very lucky, I knew we would be fine!” Sun Shiwu gave him a thumb's up, but Yan Xiazhe was not having it.

“That's not the point! Luck won't save a person forever, what if we didn't survive? Sun Shiwu, believe me when I say I'd rather die myself that to pull you with me.” Yan Xiazhe clutched at Sun Shiwu's hand, holding it tight in his own. Tears were welling up in his eyes, he felt like a loser for putting someone he liked in danger, then yelling at him like he was the one in the wrong.

Sun Shiwu's expression turned sombre. “I know. But if I can potentially save someone, why not try?”

“Even at the cost of your own life?” Yan Xiazhe asked, sounding like he was physically pained.

“A life is a life, shidi. I wish to help people, just like how baba helped me. So untill my luck runs out, don't stop me, alright?”

Yan Xiazhe glared at Sun Shiwu. But, he knew that even if he tried to stop to Sun Shiwu; even if he didn't want Sun Shiwu to do this; and even if he wouldn't be able to sleep at night knowing this; Yan Xiazhe could only accept this fact painfully. Sun Shiwu was a stubborn person, it would take Yan Xiazhe a lifetime to convince him that it's not worth it.

“Then let me be by your side. I will always be here for you, to save you if you find yourself in an impossible situation.”

Sun Shiwu let out a single, amused huff. He squeezed Yan Xiazhe's hand in a reassuring way. He gazed at Yan Xiazhe like he was the sunset, like he was the stars in the sky, and Yan Xiazhe found himself lost in those fond eyes.

“Sounds good.”

Even as Sun Shiwu flew them both up and away from the cliff, Yan Xiazhe held his hand the entire time.

The XiHwang blessing tree was truly a blessing tree.

-

Sun Shiwu found a hairpin on his desk back at Qing Jing. He's seen it before, it was the butterfly hairpin from Merchant Mai's stall. There was a note attached to it too and Sun Shiwu smiled, instantly recognising the handwriting and the words.

“It goes well with the bracelets.”

--

Chapter Text

Du Zhaosong had always taught he needed to be dominant.

Because, that's the way it is. He's a man, and a warrior, and these two things were naturally dominant.

But he gazed into Sun Zhaoli's intense eyes and found himself looking away, feeling small and helpless. It felt as though Sun Zhaoli would be too much for him to take. He didn't exactly dislike this feeling, however..

“Don't be shy, shidi.” Sun Zhaoli's voice was low. It was Du Zhaosong's first time hearing his voice like this. It was.. it was, erotic. Du Zhaosong's entire body felt weird.

Sun Zhaoli guided his hands to his waist sash, coaxing him to take it off for him. Then to his outer robes, letting Du Zhaosong take the flaps and peel them away from Sun Zhaoli's body. At this point Du Zhaosong knew his face must be as red as tomatoes, he could feel the blood rush to his head.

Now that they were both in their last layer of robes, Sun Zhaoli gently took Du Zhaosong's elbow and lead him to the bed.

Did they get sex pollened? Du Zhaosong thought in alarm. He was dizzy from the escalation of their situation, but he felt fine though, just maybe.. slightly aroused. This was his first time, he wasn't actually sure what he's feeling.. Still, he unconsciously rubbed his thighs together, which didn't go unnoticed by Sun Zhaoli.

“Before we proceed, shidi..” Sun Zhaoli leaned in and planted a kiss on his cheek. “I want to know if you'll be alright with this. It's both our first times.”

«I don't know what to do.»

Sun Zhaoli cupped his cheek and cooed. “I'll pamper my poor shidi then. He's been working so hard all these years.”

Du Zhaosong fell prey to the sly hand sneaking up his thigh.

--

“Sun Zhaoli!”

It was a voice he hadn't heard in a long time. Sun Zhaoli tore his eyes away from the portal that contained the fires of purification before him.

A terrible, hacking cough filled the court. Du Zhaosong fell to his knees, coughing his lungs out, the single shout destroying his throat beyond repair. Lai Zhaomin rushed to his shidi's side, and so did a few other peak lords.

”Zhaosong.” The name fell from Sun Zhaoli's lips, just a mere whisper.

His eyes turned towards his shizun. Shizun looked older and more tired than he's ever been. Beside him was Madame Yun, his shimu, who returned his gaze with a worried, heartbroken expression on her motherly face.

They had raised Sun Zhaoli after his parents and siblings passed and he had no home to go back to, treating him like the son they never had. They were in the minority who were against Sun Zhaoli's trial, one of those who's believed in him untill the end.

And Sun Zhaoli turned out to be a disappointment. A failure.

“It's not too late.” Madame Yun mouthed, shaking her head sadly. Shizun grasped her hands. “A-Li, please.”

It was. Everything was too late. The endless "what if's" cannot bring back Shen Jiu, cannot bring back Cang Qiong, nor can it wash the blood off Sun Zhaoli's hands. That was the only thing he didn't regret: his blood stained hands. It was release— a freedom he should have given his disciple a long time ago, something he never noticed Shen Jiu desperately needed.

He would rather be engulfed by flames and spend thousands, if not millions, of year in repentance.

The tears finally escaped Madame Yun's eyes and Sun Zhaoli couldn't bear to watch. He was glad that she and shizun would still have each other in the days where Sun Zhaoli wouldn't be there with them.

Sun Zhaoli braced himself and entered the portal with heavy steps.

-

There was one thing Sun Zhaoli didn't know.

Moments after the portal of flames closed behind him, the heavens were taken by storm. The furious ruler of three realms barged into the court, shouting for Sun Zhaoli. When he finally realised that Sun Zhaoli had went where he cannot follow, he erupted into a rage fiercer than anything anyone's ever seen.

No one can stop him. The two people he wanted revenge on was already beyond his reach.

The heaven realm didn't survive. The mortal realm of immortals and cultivators withered away. The demon realm was annihilated.

In the end, it all became a myth to the future world.

--

Sun Zhaoli had a rat sitting a few seats away from him.

So far, there are six official head disciples and they were all invited to join the meeting today. This was a monthly thing, to make sure the head disciples are up to date with their information about the sect, and also for them to get to know each other better.

Sun Zhaoli had heard the news regarding the new An Ding head disciple. He had survived a demon attack, but had a demonic seal on him when he was retrieved. Shen Jiu had been tasked to find a way to undo the seal as soon as possible, and when he returned from his visit to An Ding, Shen Jiu was all huffy. He tried to get more information on the demon that attacked and killed an entire group of disciples, but Shang Zhen was apparently too shaken up to answer.

Biggest bull Sun Zhaoli had ever heard. He later gave Shen Jiu to spell to undo the seal, a modified one that would deal great damage to the demon who casted the seal.

(It was definitely that block of ice and muscle. Sun Zhaoli doesn't really care much about him.)

The rat was busy scribbling away on his paper, though Sun Zhaoli was too far away to see what he's writing. Yao Zhaoyi didn't even say that much stuff. Why does he look so busy?

Zhong Zhaokai nudged him. “Shixiong, stop staring at disciple Shang, you're scaring him.”

As if on cue, Shang Zhen stopped his brush and peeked at Sun Zhaoli, getting startled when their eyes met. He quickly went back to scribbling frantically.

Must be finding a way to save his neck. Sun Zhaoli was sure that Mobei Jun must have been furious to have received damage from a broken seal, and was out for Shang Zhen's blood. Sun Zhaoli did "accidentally" go heavy handed on the seal breaking spell, so it wouldn't be a surprise if that was the case.

But to Mobei Jun, Shang Zhen may be valuable asset to invade Cang Qiong. So he might live, for now, much to Sun Zhaoli's displeasure.

Lai Zhaomin, who everyone was waiting for, finally arrived with his head disciple in tow. His hat was crooked, so he had clearly been in a rush to get here.

“Apologies to everyone. The dawn remedy flowers this one have been cultivating suddenly went into full bloom. Begging for everyone's understanding.”

Yao Zhaoyi waved his hand. “We were just about to get started. Do take your seats.”

The meeting started with talks about the usual things. Sun Zhaoli slid his foot across the floor untill it hit Du Zhaosong's. Du Zhaosong glanced at him, then nudged their feet together. His shidi is so cute, Sun Zhaoli was crying tears of blood inwardly.

Granted, Yao Zhaoyi had briefed them about today's topics so the peak lords didn't really have to listen seriously, untill Fang Zhaohui suddenly stood up.

“Zhangmen shixiong, this shimei wants to take a rather large mission.”

This caught Sun Zhaoli's attention as well. When Fang Zhaohui says "rather large", it probably meant it was something extremely risky or dangerous. She really liked to generalise and brush past a lot of details.

Yao Zhaoyi nodded, “Let's hear it, shimei.”

Fang Zhaohui really liked to underestimate things, because she was suggesting to bring disciples to an unfamiliar, less explored area of Lenggu Mountains. Those mountains itself were risky to maneuver, it was home to many underground critters and creatures, where most were unknown to even cultivators.

As least she said it's a senior level mission. Sun Zhaoli would've cut her off then and there had she call it a beginner's mission.

“I would like the assistance of Qian Cao, Mo Shou and Qing Jing for this mission. I believe this mission would benefit our peaks tremendously.”

If she was talking about benefits, such a mission and what they might discover could arguably benefit the sect as a whole. But it does benefit Qian Cao, Mo Shou, Qing Jing and Xian Shu a lot more— the materials and information of new creatures. It could maintain and possibly raised Cang Qiong's title of top sect into an untouchable standard.

As egotistical as it may sound, Sun Zhaoli applauded Fang Zhaohui's bold proposition. It was true that they all have Cang Qiong in their hearts: it had became their homes too, at some point and to some extent.

With Sun Zhaoli actually having more knowledge on the area Fang Zhaohui wanted to explore from his first life— and also having to have died there once in his second— it shouldn't be a problem.

Well, that was one problem out of the way.

“Fang shimei, I think this is quite risky.” Yao Zhaoyi echoed Sun Zhaoli's thoughts. “The known parts of Lenggu Mountains were introduced by the Lenggu tribe who resides there. As we all know, they have magic that even us cultivators cannot fathom.”

“But yet, they are scared of something. Something lives in the mountains, shimei, and I don't think we're ready to face it for now.” Sun Zhaoli added.

Even though he's said that, he was sure once Fang Zhaohui knew that the "something" Sun Zhaoli referenced were just giant silkworm monsters, she would just scoff at him. The Lenggu tribe did sacrifices to the silkworm monsters there by slaughtering livestock. Sun Zhaoli heard that those overgrown silkworms liked goats in particular.

(They guarded something within their burrows. Sun Zhaoli was almost certain of it. The deeper you venture into their nests, the more restless and aggressive they become. Sun Zhaoli never found out what it was.)

Fang Zhaohui, as expected, pursed her lips. Sun Zhaoli's "for now" meant he wasn't directly rejecting her proposition, which was good considering he didn't throw approval around like he does with sass, but she was sure whatever the heck lived in the Lenggu Mountains couldn't be that threatening. The living Lenggu tribe was proof of it.

“I'm not giving up on this mission.”

“And I'm not expecting you to, Fang shimei. Pick out five of your best disciples and begin with advanced training. Bring them over to Qing Jing every month untill I deem them ready,” Sun Zhaoli said, “same with the other peaks who plan to send disciples in this mission. I wish to reduce the risk as much as possible.”

--

“Is shizun sure about this?” Shen Jiu peered at the list of names. He didn't object to any of them expect for Yan Xiazhe, and partially to Sun Shiwu's.

Yan Xiazhe had gotten a lot better within a short amount of time, Shen Jiu personally thought he would be ready for an official sword to call his own soon. But wasn't that too rushed? And Sun Shiwu's arm was still in a sling, it was better if he took it easy in the meantime.

Sun Zhaoli put down his brush. “Of course. You, disciple Wang and disciple Zhou would attend the combined advanced classes first. I will allow A-Wu and disciple Yan to join when they are ready. The classes will start next week.”

Sun Zhaoli didn't let Shen Jiu know he was planning to drag the delay of the mission on for perhaps a few years. He didn't have to tell Fang Zhaohui either, she trusted him, and as long as her disciples improve, a few more years wouldn't matter to any of them.

Shen Jiu nodded, then he remembered something.

“Shizun, an An Ding disciple came to me with a paper just now. It had our names written on it, and that's the only legible words. The rest seems like gibberish, but no matter how I look at it, it seems like a list.”

“Let's see it then.”

Shen Jiu took out a crumple piece of paper and smoothened it out on Sun Zhaoli's table.

Almost immediately, Sun Zhaoli recognised English. The contents of the paper went something like: "this is not PIDW." It goes on with theories on why Yue Qi was unsheathing as well as using Xuan Su like it wasn't tied to his soul, why Yue Qi and Shen Jiu were on good terms, who the heck was Sun Shiwu, and everything was circled with arrows that lead to Sun Zhaoli's name.

(And there was also memes. Sun Zhaoli stared at the ice cream and heard J*hn C*na.)

Whoever this was, they didn't seem very worried that someone here knew English. Which unfortunately for them, Sun Zhaoli had spent his high school and university breaks tutoring English for extra allowance.

There was even a postscript at the end that allowed Sun Zhaoli to know exactly who wrote this.

"I almost lost my life because of the unsealing spell Shen Qingqiu used on me apparently Mobei Jun got hurt from it. Aiyah no matter what scum villain is still a scum villain, maybe the plot won't change that much."

Who else would mention Shen Qingqiu and Mobei Jun? Sun Zhaoli held back a grimace. Who else? That fucking rat.

--

Ice spikes sprouted from the floor, surrounding Sun Zhaoli like they wanted vengeance from him.

Sun Zhaoli looked away from his blood stained hands to Mobei Jun.

They both knew what was going to happen next. No one in the palace will live with Shen Jiu dead, and Luo Binghe would make sure of that. His obsession with Shen Qingqiu was undeniable. Perhaps that was what Mobei Jun feared— if he had any to begin with— the Junshang's rage.

(Sun Zhaoli reached into Luo Binghe's mind just once before he was shut out forever. It was a desolate wasteland, a void with only two things inside— a bamboo house and a woodshed.)

“You have doomed us all,” Mobei Jun said.

“You all deserve it,” Sun Zhaoli replied.

That night, Mobei Jun perished along with Shang Qinghua.

--

Shang Zhen's life was on stake.

He had just returned to his room when he realised that the scribbles he did during the meeting was gone. He patted himself down and pulled out every pocket, but it just wasn't there anymore.

He agonised at the thought of someone possibly picking it up and giving it to the Qing Jing peak lord or one of his wards, whose names he had unfortunately written in Chinese. But he comforted himself with the fact that no one knows English, hopefully Sun Zhaoli (or anyone else) would just discard it if they ever receive it.

A few days later, Shang Zhen finally found out that his shidi had handed the paper to Shen Jiu.

At least it wasn't Sun Zhaoli! The peak lord probably wouldn't be convinced by his bullshit and tears. He was glaring at Shang Zhen the entire meeting, causing Shang Zhen to sweat bullets in front of all the peak lords and head disciples present.

He hoped Shen Jiu had thrown the paper away, but the heavens wasn't on his side.

In the middle of his dreaded errand run in Qing Jing, he was flagged down by Sun Shiwu.

Sun Shiwu didn't exist anywhere besides in his drafts when he was writing PIDW. He had been hesitantly discarded along with Shen Jiu's tragic past when PIDW started going haywire and Shang Zhen missed the opening to start a Shen Qingqiu redemption arc.

Even with just their few interactions, Shang Zhen felt guilty for not going through with what he planned for Shen Qingqiu, which had included Sun Shiwu as well. His personality was exactly how Shang Zhen imagined, a bright and optimistic person, despite his initial betrayal to Yue Qi and Shen Jiu.

(Original Shiwu was supposed to be the beacon who dragged Yue Qi and Shen Jiu to reconcile; who worked on saving Luo Binghe from Xin Mo's corruption together with Shen Qingqiu; who found his own redemption by helping with Shen Qingqiu's redemption.)

“Shang shidi, I was just about to go look for you!” Sun Shiwu was brighter than the Sun, Shang Zhen dared to say. “Thanks for your help by the way, we can get to making new instruments in no time.”

Truly a healing balm to the heart, Shang Zhen thought as he returned the thanks humbly. He felt appreciated as people rarely thank An Ding for their work.

Sun Shiwu smiled. “Anyways, shizun wants to meet you, said it's something urgent and important.”

Now that, was right down terrifying. What a tactic to send an angel faced boy to delivers such news, what a nightmare in disguise.

“Ah,” Shang Zhen sputtered, panic taking his heart into its clutches. “Any idea as to why Sun shibo wants to see me?”

“Unfortunately, no. But have you been up to anything lately? Shizun did seem a bit angry.”

Shit. Shen Jiu must've turned the paper in to Sun Zhaoli. The worst case scenario that could ever happen to Shang Zhen. If he had to take a wild guess, Sun Zhaoli would bite down on him and squeeze every last drop of information out of him. Not even Zhong Zhaokai can save him, ah!

After delivering the items and settling the bill, Shang Zhen paced back and forth before the trail that lead to Sun Zhaoli's bamboo house.

On one hand, he was petrified by the thought of being interrogated by Sun Zhaoli. On the other, Sun Zhaoli might seek him out. He couldn't decide which one was worst. On one hand, he was already in Qing Jing and Sun Zhaoli knew it. On the other, he could still turn back and forget what Sun Shiwu told him.

Tough decisions with tough choices all around, and Shang Zhen hated having to make decisions.

“What are you doing here?”

Shang Zhen jumped at Sun Zhaoli's voice. He cowered when Sun Zhaoli glowered at him. The peak lord walked past Shang Zhen and looked over his shoulder when Shang Zhen didn't follow him.

“Come,” commanded Sun Zhaoli icily.

Shang Zhen was reminded of his king.

Shang Zhen couldn't do anything but follow. Sun Zhaoli's bamboo house was simple but not small, it should probably be called the bamboo bungalow instead. Shang Zhen mirrored Sun Zhaoli's movements and removed his shoes before stepping inside the house.

It felt like Shang Zhen's modern Asian household here. Back in the dormitories, no one removed their shoes unless they were going to sleep.

While it wasn't an important or impressive discovery, Shang Zhen realised that Sun Zhaoli didn't wear socks. Doesn't his feet hurt? Shang Zhen should have taken that as a sign that Sun Zhaoli wasn't a normal person, but somehow, he didn't.

Untill Sun Zhaoli sat down and pulled out the paper Shang Zhen prayed he didn't have.

“So, tell me.”

Shang Zhen felt his face go cold. He didn't need a mirror to know that his face must've lost all colour. The English had rolled off Sun Zhaoli's tongue so smoothly, it made Shang Zhen feel inferior. There wasn't any hiccups in the accent either, Sun Zhaoli was fluent in English and Shang Zhen was screwed.

“What's your deal, rat?” Sun Zhaoli glared down at him, arms crossed.

--

Chapter Text

Shang Qinghua walked with his parents and stopped in front of an intricate tapestry. His father had donated it to the museum after acquiring it as part of grandpa's inheritance. He heard stories of it from grandpa himself, he was told that this had been passed down from many generations. Grandpa had said that his own grandfather had told him about this tapestry, who inherited it from his own grandparents.

For something that's survived WWI and WWII (and possibly even long than that), it was in surprisingly good condition.

The name was "Twelve Peaks of Equilibrium".

It depicts twelve mountains that's placed together, close enough to be seen as one but far enough to look individually different. The skies above the peaks were opened wide for the light of heavens to stream down upon them, while orange flames curl up from below, within them were five figures with brilliant marks on their foreheads.

Shang Qinghua stared at the tapestry and some plot for a xianxia novel unveiled itself in his head.

--

Shang Zhen stared at Sun Zhaoli, and Sun Zhaoli glares back.

In that brief moment of silence, millions of sentences ran through Shang Zhen's head and his jaw fell open, ready for the excuses— he wanted to say everything at once and ended up saying nothing at all. He ended up gawking at Sun Zhaoli.

Sun Zhaoli became visibly displeased at that.

Like, Sun Zhaoli's default face was already a resting bitch face. Shang Zhen can testify to that, he wrote that Shen Qingqiu had a similar personality to his shizun in PIDW— cold, haughty, unwelcoming to others— and Sun Zhaoli's appearance didn't disappoint. Now pair such a serious face with anger, and it was a new type of petrifying.

Shang Zhen yelped when Sun Zhaoli carelessly dropped his sword onto the table. Sun Zhaoli's RuiYa sword wasn't as famous as Shen Qingqiu's XiuYa, but that was because RuiYa wasn't his main weapon.

It was the implication behind his act that count. Putting a sword on the table was a death threat. Sun Zhaoli was not playing around with him.

“I know your tricks, Shang Qinghua. You can't whimper your way out of this like you did with A-Jiu.”

Just who was Sun Zhaoli actually? Shang Zhen had came up with a bunch of theories regarding Sun Zhaoli before, but he didn't know whether or not Sun Zhaoli was acting OOC. Shang Zhen had never even thought about the Qing generation's masters before during PIDW drafts.

“I— You— How are— What is—” Shang Zhen fumbled with his words lamely. He was shaken with panic and the shock of realisation.

Should he act fool? Shang Zhen stared at the system that was telling him to lie to Sun Zhaoli.

Would that even work ah, system?! Sun Zhaoli figured out it was him from a piece of paper. He knew Shang Qinghua. Who knows what else he had information on? That didn't seem like a very smart move at all?? With Shang Zhen's thoughts all over the place, he did the most natural thing he would do.

Shang Zhen burst into tears.

Sun Zhaoli wasn't sure what reaction he was expecting, but a fountain of waterworks wasn't it. That was kinda disgusting and also irritating, because in his visions memories, Shang Qinghua was never the crybaby type of rat. But with a little push, Sun Zhaoli was sure that he'll reveal his true colours.

He knew Shang Zhen was an opportunist, two-faced and calculating. He would soon realise this kind of act is futile when facing Sun Zhaoli.

Meanwhile, Shang Zhen was having a genuine meltdown. Not even thinking straight anymore, he flung himself at Sun Zhaoli's feet, which he was then pushed away by Sun Zhaoli's foot. If Sun Zhaoli used anymore force, it would've been a kick. It didn't matter though, Shang Zhen blindly grabbed the foot and cling onto it.

Indecent! Sun Zhaoli felt goosebumps prickle his leg. He had forgotten that he wasn't wearing any socks and raised his foot to stop Shang Zhen from rushing at him.

(He's sewn some plush padding to put into the soles of his shoes. It would definitely be good stuff if Sun Zhaoli ever decides to mass produce and sell them.)

“Perhaps this big brother wouldn't believe me, but this lowly one just trying to survive!” Shang Zhen sobbed against his calf, his tears smearing onto Sun Zhaoli's skin. “I'm sure you can relate too ah! I'm just following what the system told me to do, I didn't mean to lure my shixiong's to death!”

[Hey, I didn't do anything! The rare treasure flowers Zhong Zhaokai needed was on that route I suggested you to take, THAT was the scenario that would've made you head disciple! How would I know that an injured Mobei Jun would be there?!]

Shang Zhen sobbed as he remembered the situation the system lead him into blindly.

It was supposed to be an easy task, collect the treasure flowers and gtfo, but then some injured HuanHua disciples ran into them, tailed by an even more injured Mobei Jun. The previous head disciple of An Ding Wen Xuan, Shang Zhen's most admired shixiong, had hid Shang Zhen and their remaining shidi's in a cave with a disguise talisman before leaving to help the others.

They waited for hours, untill Shang Zhen finally handed one of his shidi's a dagger and went out of hiding. He found the frozen bodies and a dying Mobei Jun.

After tending to Mobei Jun and leaving him to heal, Shang Zhen lit a flare and rushed to get his shidi's. In the end, Wen Xuan never returned.

“At least my shidi's survived.” Shang Zhen whimpered.

Sun Zhaoli frowned at the mention of a system. He recalled that transmigration novels had these things as well, so Shang Zhen was a transmigrator? In the back of his mind, this raised the question of whether or not Sun Zhaoli was a transmigrator as well.

“Proud Immortal Demon Way.”

Shang Zhen's head snapped towards Sun Zhaoli, tears and snot still running down his face.

“PIDW. Surely, you know about that shameless novel?” Sun Zhaoli's blood boiled mentioning the stallion novel. The answer depended on what era Shang Zhen had transmigrated from, which Sun Zhaoli guessed wasn't far apart from his own timeline since he knew about the ice cream meme.

[DO NOT tell him you wrote it!!]

Shang Zhen sniffed, “I..”

Several big blue windows with the word [NO] appeared in Shang Zhen's vision.

“I wrote PIDW.”

Sun Zhaoli's eyes widened, then hardened into the most dreadful glare Shang Zhen's ever seen. Sun Zhaoli scowled at Shang Zhen incredulously, as if asking, "are you fucking serious?". Shang Zhen felt like he's just made the biggest mistake ever.

“What?”

--

Shang Zhen was finally allowed to leave after the most brutal tongue lashing he's ever endured in two lives. He had shed two more rounds of tears before Sun Zhaoli turned away from him to calm down. If he didn't do that, Shang Zhen was sure he would've had his ass whooped to next week by the immortal master.

“I need some time to process this.” Sun Zhaoli massaged his forehead. “Do not think you're off the hook. I'm not done with you yet, but right now, I am.”

[I told you to say no! What did you think would happen?]

Whatever, system. It's YOUR fault in the first place. Shang Qinghua may have been a shameless self-insert, it didn't mean he wanted to be the shameless self-insert! Now that Sun Zhaoli knew about him and PIDW, it was even more risky for him to work for Mobei Jun without Sun Zhaoli breathing down his neck.

Ah, Shang Zhen felt dizzy. He's been shedding too much tears lately. A week ago he was crying while pledging loyalty to Mobei Jun, and just today he had cried three times in front of Sun Zhaoli.

“Disciple Shang, why did you return late?” Zhong Zhaokai titled his head and was taken back by his new head disciple's swollen eyes. “What.. what happened to you?”

Shang Zhen rubbed his face with his sleeves. “Nothing happened ah, shizun..”

Zhong Zhaokai left his seat and grabbed Shang Zhen's arm. Shang Zhen wondered what his shizun wanted to do when Zhong Zhaokai raised his arm and wiped his still wet cheek with his sleeve. Shizun, that's disgusting ah! But it was a gentle gesture, like a parent to their child.

“This master heard Sun shixiong wanted to see you today. Tell me what he said to you, this master will go talk to him regarding it.”

And anger Sun Zhaoli further? Absolutely not! While Sun Zhaoli didn't have authority to raise a hand against Shang Zhen or kick him out of the sect, he still knew so much that Shang Zhen can't risk it! Doing so would also drag Zhong Zhaokai down, Shang Zhen couldn't possibly do that to his shizun.

Zhong Zhaokai worried when Shang Zhen's expression plummeted further. He knew how Sun Zhaoli was like, so he didn't blame Shang Zhen.

Back then when Zhong Zhaokai first took over as peak lord with the others, he had hated Sun Zhaoli. He's definitely gotten more tolerable since he picked up those three children, but sometimes they're reminded of the fact that Sun Zhaoli being harsh and straightforward hasn't changed.

“Disciple Shang,” Zhong Zhaokai wiped away the moisture on the other side of Shang Zhen's face, “This master knows this is all very sudden for you. The demon attack, the grieving for the dead, and these new responsibilities. I apologize for being so hasty.”

“No, no! This disciple is honoured to be chosen by shizun!”

Ah, Zhong Zhaokai understood such feelings. His shizun and the rest of the Qian generation has rushed their ascensions after the sect leader went missing, putting the Zhao generation into their positions after two years of preparation, which was definitely not enough.

Zhong Zhaokai had been grateful that his shizun put so much trust in him, but looking at it now, it wasn't necessarily the best decision.

“Remember this, Qinghua.”

He smoothed Shang Zhen's fringe.

“A lot of people likes to look down on An Ding because we are the statistics peak. We're not particularly outstanding, nor are we any help during disputes or fights. Some even say that we're glorified labour workers, and perhaps they may be right.”

Shizun, have some confidence in your peak ah! What would people think if they heard you say something like that?!

Zhong Zhaokai looked Shang Zhen straight in the eyes as he said, “But An Ding exists for a reason. We are the fourth most important peak, and we have power, our own rights, our authority. Never let anyone tell you otherwise, not even the sect leader.”

Zhong Zhaokai had once hated An Ding too, but then the peak became his home ever since he's achieved immortality. As seasons flowed like running rivers and years blurred into flurries of colours, he found a reason to continue to move forward and thrive with An Ding, with Cang Qiong as a whole.

It was what he had promised his shizun.

“Remember this for as long as you live, Shang Qinghua.”

--

Shizun ah! How disappointed would you be if you knew your head disciple was serving a demon!!

Shang Zhen felt his soul exiting his body when he saw Sun Zhaoli and Mobei Jun sitting at the table, glaring at each other. Apparently, this madman posing as the Qing Jing peak lord summoned Mobei Jun directly into Cang Qiong!! Sun Zhaoli, why are you so unpredictable?! What is your deal with derailing all of Shang Zhen's plans?!

Sun Zhaoli scoffed. “Come here, rat, I've just had a talk with our dear old friend.”

“Not your friend,” Mobei Jun growled, but didn't do anything else.

Sun Zhaoli rolled his eyes, clearly annoyed and irritated and whatever he usually is. “This hunk said he remembers. Do you remember, then?”

“..Remember what?”

“He doesn't because Junshang only killed me. I was the one who killed him.” Mobei Jun said, confusing Shang Zhen further. “He forced me to.”

“Yes your love story was tragic, we know, you two can catch up after we're done with this.” Sun Zhaoli rolled his eyes again. “First of all, I want you to tell me what the system is and what it tells you to do.”

[Fuck! I'm innocent, Li ge!]

Shut it! Shang Zhen hissed the blue text box. I know you meant good but the consequences are not good at all!

(“I know you don't know jackshit about this, so just shut it.” Sun Zhaoli whisper hissed at Mobei Jun.)

Shang Zhen coughed. “Basically it tells me what I have to do to advance the plot. It essentially wants me to make PIDW happen again.”

“Which I will not allow,” Sun Zhaoli said.

Wasn't Sun Zhaoli a transmigrator too? He should have his own system, right? Why can he act so unhinged while Shang Zhen was bound to system rules? The world is unfair, ah!

[Answering: it's possible that Sun Zhaoli doesn't have a system because he's not an official PIDW character! Which means—]

HE'S NOT RESTRICTED TO ANYTHING. How does it feel to live the life Shang Zhen wants, Sun Zhaoli?!

“Bro, you have to think about me! Just because you can do whatever you like, doesn't mean that I can!”

“So you can't do anything the system tells you not to do?”

“I mean, I could, but there's punishment.”

Sun Zhaoli narrowed his eyes, “And what if I make it so you can't do anything? You can't be punished if you couldn't do anything, right?”

[༼⁰o⁰；༽]

Shang Zhen blinked several times at that sentence. That sounded extremely threatening coming from Sun Zhaoli. That aside, what Sun Zhaoli just said actually sounded like some insane loophole.

“Or we could go annihilate HuanHua completely and stop Junshang's birth completely.” Mobei Jun suggested. He was ignored.

“Five years from now, Su Xiyan would go missing and that old asshole would round everyone for a goose chase for Tianlang Jun. That's not a shitton of time, but enough time for us to make a plan and carry it out.” Sun recounted. “As long as it doesn't affect anyone from Cang Qiong, then I'm down for it.”

“We could uhhh,” Shang Zhen grimaced, “Ask Tianlang Jun for help?”

Mobei Jun's glare made Shang Zhen shrink closer to Sun Zhaoli. Sun Zhaoli snorted.

“With this guy around, you'd have an easier time finding alien lifeforms than doing that.”

Also, when did Sun Zhaoli start to speak so casually? It made Sun Zhaoli sound a bit less threatening.

“Aren't there five heavenly demon rulers? We know you and Tianlang Jun, who's the rest?” Sun Zhaoli quirked an eyebrow at Mobei Jun.

“Not close with any of them. I especially dislike Tianlang Jun.”

That was new information to Shang Zhen. Wasn't this his novel, ah? He only planned Luo Binghe and Mobei Jun as the only two heavenly demons in PIDW. He's going to ask Sun Zhaoli about it later.

“I think we can try approaching Su Xiyan. But she probably won't hear us out ah..”

The two of them sat in silence, thinking about what else they can do, while Mobei Jun stared at them with boredom evident on his chiseled face.

[Maybe I can help!]

Are you going to get someone killed again?!

-

“I'm sorry.”

Shang Zhen looked at Mobei Jun. Sun Zhaoli had left to tend to his advanced class and Shang Zhen was checking Mobei Jun's healing injuries. Shang Zhen knew he shouldn't be helping someone who's killed his own shixiong's, but if Mobei Jun's help can prevent more people from getting killed in the future, then he can only suck it up.

“Pardon?”

“I never said I'm sorry. For the attack, the neglect, and.. and your death.”

..Mobei Jun had killed him before? Shang Zhen was sure that it was his third time seeing Mobei Jun ever since he's transmigrated.

“It's okay I guess? I mean, I don't really know anything..”

Shang Zhen squeaked when Mobei Jun suddenly held his hand. “Good.” Mobei Jun said. “Let me make me it right this time.”

Who is this? While Mobei Jun was the love interest for Shang Qinghua the shameless self-insert and it was implied, they never established a romantic relationship in PIDW because everything was focused on Luo Binghe. It was suspicious that he's being so sappy right now!

But why does he feel so warm inside, ah!

[You know why. (☞ ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)☞]

What are you implying, system?!

--

“There's dong, nan, xi, bei, with Tianlang Jun as the superior ruler of the demon realm.” Sun Zhaoli pointed out each territory on the map for Shang Zhen.

“Mobei Jun, Jingxi Jun, the Millennial Saintess, and Zhongdong Zun. They are the strongest of their heavenly demon clans, and could be considered Tianlang Jun's generals of some sort.” Sun Zhaoli continued. “Except Tianlang Jun doesn't exactly need their help, so they just exist by themselves.”

“And they identify by their own colours?”

“Yes. Blue, yellow, green and purple respectively. That's all we know about them so far. I still think we'll have a good shot at getting Tianlang Jun's help.” Sun Zhaoli sighed.

Tianlang Jun's never really caused any trouble for the human realm. In fact, the reason why there were so less demon encounters was probably because of his reign. Cang Qiong had been strung along with the old palace master's schemes as it would be a bash to their reputation to not join the siege to defeat a demon that allegedly brought harm to HuanHua sect.

If he truly loved Su Xiyan, if Su Xiyan had willingly carried his child, then surely he couldn't be as bad as HuanHua made him to be. Especially after knowing that old asshole's disgusting behaviour.

“Screw what that hunk of ice think, by the way.”

“Where and how do we even find him anyways?”

Sun Zhaoli glared hard at the map. He knew about the territories in the four cardinal directions, and now he finally realised that he knew nothing about Tianlang Jun's palace besides the fact it was located in the demon realm.

After a long silence, Sun Zhaoli admitted: “I'm tired.”

“Same, bro.”

“I'm doing all I can to avoid any bad ends. So I need to do this, Shang Qinghua. I don't think I can take anymore grief or regret.”

Shang Zhen couldn't help himself anymore. “Honestly what happened to you, Li ge? It doesn't seem like you know the events of this world from PIDW, cause you know, I didn't really focus this much on world and character building.”

“You did, even after the main plot ended,” Sun Zhaoli let out a noise of disgust, “But it's always been overshadowed by the sex scenes. At some point, I just wished you would stop putting out filler arcs and end the novel already.”

Shang Zhen laughed awkwardly. “I needed the money. Anyways, my question remains.”

“I'm the original Sun Zhaoli.”

“Hm?!”

“I have memories of two previous lives. I know what happens next and I want to change it.”

That was why Sun Zhaoli was doing all this. He had hoped that Mobei Jun would help them in arranging a meeting with Tianlang Jun, but with the information what Mobei Jun "especially" hated him, Sun Zhaoli was at a loss.

This explained why Sun Zhaoli was so pressed about Shang Zhen being the author of PIDW. Shang Zhen really thought it was his shitty writing that irked Sun Zhaoli. While that wasn't far from the truth, he was kinda glad that it was more because of how he overexaggerated Shen Qingqiu's actions and made him extremely scummy, and not because of his repetitive 18+ filler chapters.

(Sun Zhaoli's first tongue lashing for him had been regarding his portrayal of Shen Qingqiu. It was something he was particularly salty about.)

“I see..” Shang Zhen looked at the map.

“That's selfish of me, right?”

“Of course not!” Shang Zhen shouted. “I actually cringed having to torture Shen Qingqiu like that, and if I knew that someone I cared about deeply was going through that, I'd want to save them too! It's natural ah, Li ge.”

Strangely, that comforted Sun Zhaoli. This was no longer his first life or PIDW, Sun Zhaoli knew as soon as he ushered the three children into the horse carriage many years ago. That alone should've changed significant change to the future already.

Sun Zhaoli had to nip it the bud before it blooms into a full fledged problem.

“Let's work together then, Shang Zhen.”

--

Chapter Text

Yan Xiazhe ventured into the main sword tower of Wan Jian.

It's been two years since he's arrived in Qing Jing and begin therapy. He's gotten way stronger than he ever imagined he could, and for that he was grateful. He had also.. found love. But that wasn't the point for now.

Yan Xiazhe scanned the swords placed before him. They stood neatly against the walls, each of them having different colours and carvings on their scabbards. He wasn't really sure how to find a sword that suited him, but he tried his best to follow what Ma shishu had told him moment before.

“You can pick the ones you like and try your luck with them. In rare occasions, a sword would decide they want you, or if they deem you compatible with them, they'll call for you. Either way, don't force it, some swords might overestimate your strength.”

He looked at a sword with a white scabbard and green accents, then hesitantly touched the hilt. Of course, nothing happened. He felt like a fool, but tried to reassure himself that it must be everyone's first experience inside this tower.

He went to the each floor, reached the top, and came back down.

This was embarrassing. Yan Xiazhe didn't like the fact he would most probably have to exit this building empty handed. There were other sword rooms, but if he can't find even one sword that wants him, what luck could he have there?

“..you..”

Yan Xiazhe turned. He heard something, and there was no one here.

“..out..here..”

Hesitantly, he made his way into the side room. The swords here were evidently more well crafted, their auras permeated the room, creating a heavy atmosphere. Yan Xiazhe's feet felt heavier with each step he took, the swords aura's seemed to be pushing him along the hall that lead to the back of the building.

Yan Xiazhe walked out of the room and into what looks like a graveyard. Scabbards stood upright, protruding from the ground like headstones, each marking an area of titled soil.

“..A..Yan..”

He was getting closer. A particular aura stuck out from the rest like a sore thumb, pulling him in, a beacon he couldn't turn away from.

“Here.”

The soil of one of the patches jumped, startling Yan Xiazhe. Something was in there, something that wanted Yan Xiazhe. He knelt down in front of a crimson scabbard and stuck his hand into soft soil. It was unpleasantly damp, but Yan Xiazhe continued to dig around untill he hit something.

The blade sliced his hand.

--

“Oh, A-Yan..”

A disembodied voice cooed at him. An invisible hand ran itself through his hair. Yan Xiazhe jerked his body, but hands continue to linger everywhere on his skin no matter what he did. In his panic, he fell to the ground.

Dust went up in clouds around him. The smell of burning and smoke invaded his nose, causing him to choke. He raised his head and saw flames. The Qin mansion was ablaze.

Mother! Yan Xiazhe scrambled towards the fire, kicking a path open for himself to search for his mother. Everything was hot around him, and he tripped, right into something soft. He pushed himself up, but the sight of lilac fabric made his freeze.

He was staring straight at his mother's corpse. Yan Xiazhe screamed.

He kicked away from the corpse as quickly as he physically can, his fingers scrambled for purchase, digging into the dirt. Why was his mother dead? Why was he back here? The heat against his skin felt too real, the first underneath his hands felt too real.

“Poor, poor A-Yan..”

“Yanzhe?” A girl's voice called out to him. “Yanzhe, are you alright?”

He turned to find a girl with a disfigured face. Burns spread across the left side of her face, her eye socket there was empty, what remains in there was only charcoal and darkness.

“I'm so glad you're alive, Yanzhe.” Her smile was haunting. “We're here! Someone please help us!” She yelled into the void of flames, her voice shattered and echoed through the void of flames.

Yan Xiazhe scrambled onto his feet and fled into the flames and the nothingness.

“I know you, Yan Xiazhe.”

The voice started to ring in his ears. It sounded like mother, like the girl with the burnt face, like Sun Shiwu. Their voices fumbled together inside Yan Xiazhe's head, merging into a terrible taunt of "A-Yan, A-Yan".

“What do you want from me? Who are you?” Yan Xiazhe yelled, his words echoed back to him.

“You nourished me, A-Yan. Do you truly not remember me?”

A single stream of light fell upon him, stopping him dead in his tracks. He crashed to the ground and heaved, getting air into his burning lungs. He laid there, unable to conjure up strength to move. He was just exhausted all of a sudden.

“Your demonic qi never truly goes away, you know? It's part of you. Don't repress it anymore.”

Something solid caresses his head. It was real— felt real, no longer the phantom touches that made him shrink away. The voice, not a man's nor a woman's, finally became clear.

Yan Xiazhe opened his eyes.

“A-Yan.”

--

Shen Jiu rushed to Qian Cao after getting the news that Yan Xiazhe had collapsed in the sword tower.

That idiot! Shen Jiu had nagged him again and again about being careful before he dropped him off.

Shen Jiu knocked on the door before entering, and be immediately shuddered at the heavy atmosphere. Some weird energy lingered in the air, causing mild discomfort but not harm.

“How is he, Lai shishu?”

Lai Zhaomin placed a damp cloth on Yan Xiazhe's forehead, then went to open the window. He flapped his sleeves a few times to air out the room. He stared out the window for a moment, before sighing. “Shen shizhi, has your shidi practiced demonic cultivation before?”

Lai Zhaomin turned in time to see Shen Jiu narrow his eyes. That confirmed his suspicions.

“Don't worry.” Lai Zhaomin politely gestured for Shen Jiu to sit down. “As you must've noticed, this isn't pure demonic qi. The demon warding talismans would have gone crazy if it was. This kind of qi usually exists in cultivators who had cultivated the demon way but repented.”

“What does.. that have to do with my shidi's condition right now?”

Ma Zhaohong came to sit down next to them too. He set down a crimson scabbard in front of Shen Jiu. “I'll take it from here, Lai shidi.”

After Lai Zhaomin dismissed himself to go tend to others, Ma Zhaohong brushed his hair back and let out a deep sigh. “What do I tell Sun shixiong, hah..” He muttered, before straightening up and giving Shen Jiu an apologetic smile.

“Shen shizhi, back then during that disastrous Immortal Alliance Conference, Wu Yanzi was killed by a rock, yes?”

Shen Jiu could never forget that day. He nodded.

“That rock was actually a chunk of pure dusky platinum. If you're not familiar with dusky platinum, it's a kind of previous metal that can absorb qi fairly quickly from its surroundings or from a person. An example of a sword made by this metal is Yue shizhi's XuanSu.”

“..Ma shishu made a sword out of that chunk of dusky platinum?”

“Ah, shizhi is definitely Sun shixiong's ward.” Ma Zhaohong chuckled humourlessly. “Yes. I shouldn't have though, I didn't take into consideration that the dusky platinum may have absorbed some of Wu Yanzi's demonic qi.”

Shen Jiu looked at Ma Zhaohong in disbelief. Ma Zhaohong clicked his tongue.

“That's why I buried the sword made from this specific chunk of dusky platinum in the qi rich spot behind the sword tower. I hoped it would dispell the demonic qi by itself after absorbing pure qi.”

“But it didn't.”

“But it didn't.” Ma Zhaohong agreed. “And because your shidi had cultivated demonic ways before, the sword sought him out. See? He's not letting go of it.” Ma Zhaohong pointed at Yan Xiazhe's sleeping form with his chin, who was indeed still holding a sword in his bandaged hand.

Ma Zhaohong was dumb. He had noticed the traces of demonic qi when he was smelting the dusky platinum, but he kept going solely because the metal was hard to come across. Ma Zhaohong digs the sword out every month to inject some of his own qi into it too, hoping it can force out the demonic qi.

Sun Zhaoli would skin him alive if his disciple died because of a sword he's made.

Shen Jiu recalled the events of Wu Yanzi's death by rock. Back then when they were smuggling Yan Xiazhe out of the barrier, they had definitely left the chunk of metal there. Shen Jiu thought harder, they had left the dusky platinum.. where Yan Xiazhe had the qi deviation. When Sun Zhaoli came to visit them, it was already hours after the conference's abrupt end.

A few hours. It was more than enough time for the dusky platinum to absorb an abundance of Yan Xiazhe's demonic qi.

“Even I'm not sure what happened, but my guess is the sword had brought out his repressed demonic qi. It would be advised to call Zhaoding to get some insight, and probably an exorcism or something.” Ma Zhaohong said.

He was sure this sword had formed a sword soul already, given he's had it buried for about two years (because he didn't really want to touch the dusky platinum but it's been sitting there for so long and it's wasteful). It would be bad if it managed to form an improper binding with the disciple's soul. It would draw tremendous amounts of qi just by getting unsheathed.

“I'll suggest that to shizun later.”

Ma Zhaohong jumped up from his seat. “Alright! Shizhi should be able to watch over his shidi, yes? This master will—”

“Don't think you can fly off into the sunset, Ma Zhaohong.”

Ma Zhaohong spun around, petrified in the face of Sun Zhaoli. Damnit, Sun Zhaoli walked too quietly, there was no chance for Ma Zhaohong to escape!

“Ahahah, what do you mean, Sun shixiong?” Ma Zhaohong laughed loudly, before bolting into Lai Zhaomin's office comically.

Fortunately for him, Sun Zhaoli didn't follow. He moved to Yan Xiazhe's side and put a hand on top of the damp cloth. It was the dusky platinum, wasn't it? Unpolished dusky platinum shouldn't have great abilities to take in surrounding qi, but seems like this one has.

“What's your name?” He asked the sword.

They watched as the sword started to vibrate softly, emitting more of the strange qi. Indents begin to appear on the metal. YuanYun, destiny and fate, was engraved onto it.

The sword did indeed develop a strong soul all on its own, Shen Jiu looked in surprise. A sword soul begins to develop once it connects with its wielder, only then the sword can start to gain sentience and cultivate by cycling through its wielder's qi. For a sword to give itself a name was rare.

Shen Jiu felt proud of Yan Xiazhe. He understood why shizun had hopes for him. Seems that none of the wards shizun picked up were normal, Shen Jiu mused.

Sun Zhaoli fussed around with the blankets for a bit. Madame Yun had always taught him to sweat out a fever, basically burrito himself untill he was warm and comfortable then wake up wet from sweat the next day. He's done it to Yue Qi, Shen Jiu and Sun Shiwu everytime after feeding them medicine when they got sick.

(It was a habit he didn't have heart to shake off. When he moved into his own condominium and got sick for the first time, he had wrapped himself up and stayed there untill he felt better.)

Shen Jiu helpfully came over with some spare blankets in hand, which Sun Zhaoli spread over Yan Xiazhe and tucked him in.

“'This master wait for him to wake up.” Sun Zhaoli went back to the table and pulled out some messy assignments from his qiankun pouch. “If A-Jiu has something to do, you can leave first.”

Shen Jiu was about to deny having anything to do, but then he remembered that he had left Liu Mingyu alone in Qing Jing's training grounds!

“I'll excuse myself then, shizun!”

Sun Zhaoli smiled as Shen Jiu rushed out of the room. A sword that had Yan Xiazhe's own qi inside would compliment him well, perhaps he had Ma Zhaohong to thank for that. Sun Zhaoli had threw the dusky platinum at Ma Zhaohong instead of selling it for a fortune because he thought his shidi would make good use of it, and he didn't disappoint after all.

If Sun Zhaoli wanted to thank him now, it wasn't possible. Ma Zhaohong must've climbed out of Lai Zhaomin's office already.

--

Liu Mingyu squated near an ant hill, staring at the busy ants mindlessly. It wasn't that he had nothing to do, but Shen Jiu had told him to stay out after receiving some news from Qian Cao.

He wondered where his shizun was right now, probably somewhere harassing Shen Jiu's shizun, if not realising Liu Mingyu is absent for training. He was going to get some handfuls from Du Zhaosong when he gets back. Not that he understood what his shizun was scolding though, he moves his hands too fast for Liu Mingyu to catch up especially when he's angry.

Liu Mingyu was almost certain Du Zhaosong was courting Sun Zhaoli.

Du Zhaosong had dragged him along to fight some jewelled bisons and taught him how to painlessly harvest their gems after beating them into submission. He had gave Liu Mingyu some of the gems for his silence hard work, so Liu Mingyu polished and strung them into a bracelet to give to Shen Jiu.

The first thing Shen Jiu said? “Shizun's new necklace has these bison gems as well.”

When Liu Mingyu present the handcrafted tassel that had the crystalline feathers he had collect with Du Zhaosong? “Oh, shizun has a paperweight with the exact same feather inside.”

When Liu Mingyu gave him a box of powder made from the bones of a rare saberhorn narwhal he's killed with Du Zhaosong? “Shizun gave me some of this yesterday. He said he didn't need a lot of it as it's used to strengthen qi levels.”

His shizun was always one step in front of him. So, Liu Mingyu decided to take a solo mission and get a break from following his shizun around to hunt for courting gifts. By that, he meant hunting for a courting gift by himself.

Liu Mingyu had finished the actual mission in record time and spent the next week searching for unique gifts that Du Zhaosong probably haven't given Sun Zhaoli.

During his mission, he's came across a merchant who blocked his way to present an exquisite shawl to him. “Young master, this is Lenggu silk! Best of quality, the colour is natural as well!” She ran her hand across the red silk. “So it doesn't stain the skin.”

She turned it around to show off the velvet side. “The is from layering up silk cloths and cotton for the highest quality of comfort and warmth! The soft cotton trimmings and delicate embroidery will give a touch of style and fashion.”

Liu Mingyu reached out to touch the shawl, literally having the merchant thrust it into his hands. It didn't feel like normal silk, being extremely smooth under his hands with minimal texture. The layering was nice to touch as well, it didn't feel too chunky and was light too, despite how thick it looked.

“For a small fee, I can add extra embroidery. I'm very quick with my hands.” The merchant winked. “Since you're so pretty, young master, I'll even give you a discount!”

There were cute little animal embroidery of a baby deer and a rabbit at one corner of the shawl. There was so much charm to it, even when it was just white thread.

“Can you add some bamboo to this?”

The merchant was delighted. “Of course of course, come back in a sichen!”

Liu Mingyu took out his qiankun pouch that had the shawl inside. He had planned to give it to Shen Jiu after their spar, but obviously it didn't happen. His hands have been sweaty since he stepped foot in Qing Jing, and he planned to make his intention of courting clear to Shen Jiu so his mysterious contender can go suck it.

He didn't know what the other person was up to, but after this gift, they should know that they're inferior to him!

A pair of feet stopped next to him.

“Liu shidi, what are you doing?”

“Mh, nothing.” Liu Mingyu stood up to face Shen Jiu.

They made eye contact for a bit. Shen Jiu looked into Liu Mingyu's eyes and smiled. This shidi was so cute, he could've left by himself after Shen Jiu left for Qian Cao, but he actually stayed here waiting. Shen Jiu was thankful that he decided to come back instead of just going back to the bamboo house.

Liu Mingyu was stunned by the stunning smile. Stunned into love he was. He wanted to be worthy of being beside someone so strong and beautiful.

“The ants are getting restless. It's going to rain soon, Liu shidi. Let's return?” Shen Jiu held out his hand for Liu Mingyu to take.

Liu Mingyu flushed red and took Shen Jiu's hand, but he didn't move. Shen Jiu's eyes turned to look at him curiously. “Liu shidi?”

Tilting his head down to look at Shen Jiu, Liu Mingyu was suddenly aware of their height difference. Even though he knew Shen Jiu didn't need any sort of protection, his heart yelled for him to hold Shen Jiu close and never let anything hurt him. Just like how Bai Zhan is an inseparable part of Cang Qiong, he wanted to be exactly that to Shen Jiu.

“I..”

A big raindrop landed on Liu Mingyu's nose, followed by another on his face. They both blinked, then Shen Jiu looked up. Light rain sprinkled down upon them.

“It's beginning to rain, shidi! Let's run!”

“Wait!” Liu Mingyu took this chance to take the shawl out of his qiankun pouch. With his face turning extra red, he pulled Shen Jiu close and pulled the shawl over them both.

Shen Jiu gaped at him, his own face turning pink as well, in awe at Liu Mingyu's boldness.

Well shit, this was romance.

Du Zhaosong sat in the shed not far from the training ground and watched those two idiots run in the rain towards Sun Zhaoli's bamboo house with an incredulous gaze

--

Chapter Text

Sun Zhaoli looked out from the carriage. The leaves were edged red, the winds came with chills, and autumn was just around the corner.

For this largely delayed mission to Lenggu, carriages was impractical, but Sun Zhaoli had no say in it. Huo Zhaojin had basically shoved Zhong Zhaokai and him together in one enclosed space, knowing well that they're.. not the closest out of all twelve peaks.

(He was definitely sulking because he didn't want to sit with Sun Zhaoli.)

Sun Zhaoli touched the little teapot on their makeshift table, using his qi to speed up the brewing process. As the tea begin to cool, Sun Zhaoli shimmered some sugar into it.

“I remember shixiong isn't a fan of sweets.” Zhong Zhaokai talked for the first time in two sichen. He had been busy pursing his lips the entire time, looking like Sun Zhaoli had just bullied him (not in a good way) mercilessly.

“Shidi knows me well.” Sun Zhaoli poured a cup for Zhong Zhaokai. “It's for you.”

The tea emitted a faint sugary smell, like those sugar cane roasted chestnuts Shang Qinghua liked snacking on. Zhong Zhaokai should really tell Wu Zhaoyun to stop spoiling his head disciple, that was his responsibility.

“Wu shidi asked me to make it for you. It's a warming tea, he's worried you will get cold.”

“This shidi will talk to him about treating me like a child.” Zhong Zhaokai took the cup and brought it to his mouth for a sip. Sun Zhaoli hid a huff of amusement, pretending to not notice Zhong Zhaokai do a tiny, happy dance. From personal experience, it was nice to be pined for like this.

“Shizun, shishu,” Shen Jiu nudged the curtain open, “Huo shishu said we'll be reaching Lengyan city and making a stop there.”

“This master requested it.” Zhong Zhaokai nodded.

After Shen Jiu closed the curtain, Sun Zhaoli poured a cup of tea for himself as well. “Shidi is meeting with merchant Gengyi, yes?”

“Asking the obvious.”

Zhong Zhaokai felt a shudder go up his spine when he caught Sun Zhaoli smirking for a split second, wondering what's up with him, before going back to his sweet tea.

--

“Welcome, welcome!” Ang Gengyi shook Zhong Zhaokai's hands aggressively, absolutely delighted to see them. “It's an honour to meet with esteemed masters face to face! A pleasure!”

Zhong Zhaokai bowed. “The pleasure is all ours. We hope we're not intruding too much.”

“Not at all, masters.” Gengyi's wife smiled, “In fact, we are grateful to be able to help.”

Meanwhile, some of Qing Jing and An Ding's disciples were busy moving luggages into the rooms Ang Gengyi had generously offered them. The local inn in Lengyan was unfortunately packed, thus there weren't enough for all of them. Ang Gengyi's shop served as an inn as well, and he happily agreed to let them stay for a few days.

“It's you!” Ang Gengyi slapped Sun Shiwu's back a few times, laughing heartily. “Glad to see our benefactor well all these years! I see you've been maintaining those bracelets. I have some nice wares that I can seel to you for a discounted price.”

“I would too if I paid a gold tael for it,” came a quiet snicker from a disciple, who then turned away when she noticed Yan Xiazhe glaring at her as he passed by with a bag in his arms.

Yan Xiazhe was on his third run of carrying luggages, because some people were slacking off and not helping at all. At least this was the last of them, and it was Sun Shiwu's. Yan Xiazhe was surprised he even packed a bag in the first place. Sun Shiwu was that type of qiankun pouch hoarder that liked stuffing everything into them and bring them everywhere he goes.

Back in his room, after putting the bag on the table, the first thing he did was inspect the walls, and as expected, it was quite thin. He wasn't sure why he needed that information though, it just felt necessary. Yan Xiazhe took a look at the rest of the room. His eyes landed on the two single beds in the room.

Without much thought, Yan Xiazhe went to the bed on the left and pushed it against the other one. He felt oddly satisfied seeing the beds being side by side.

Now, for a finishing touch. Yan Xiazhe pulled out a cuddly bear from his qiankun pouch. He had bought it for Sun Shiwu's birthday, which was today, but haven't had the chance to give it to him yet. Yan Xiazhe laid it on Sun Shiwu's side of the bed and put a blanket over it to make it look like it was tucked in bed. Purely out of habit whenever he saw something cute, he pat the bear on its head two times.

“Stay here.” He told it, like the bear was a little child.

Yan Xiazhe checked himself in the mirror, tidying his hair before exiting the room. He barely took one step out of the door when he came face to face with one of his inner nightmares. One that plagued him throughout the years, that remained in the depths of his memories, in his bond with YuanYun.

Her remaining eye flickered up to his face. The light brown iris was prominent beside a void of scarring that spread across the left side of her face.

“Yanzhe?”

--

Yan Xiazhe was alerted by the sound of snapped branches. He reached for the candle beside his mattress and blew it out. He made his breathing as light as possible, eyes trained on his door.

A silhouette holding a glowing candle rushed past his window, followed by another one. Their footsteps scraped against the gravel ground outside the servants' sheds.

Yan Xiazhe watched silently, waiting for a moment before creeping off his mattress and inching the door open. When he couldn't see and hear anything, he daringly poked his head outside. The door of the storage shed that was connected to main house was ajar, and as he slowly walked closer to it, he could heard yelling. Being the curious little child he was, he peeked into the shed from the hole in the window.

“Phan Hwang! You've truly done it this time!” The madame of the house had lost her mind, her hair was unkempt and her eyes were furious, burning with hatred.

“Don't make a mountain out of an anthill, Rui Wenna! You don't know what you're talking about!”

The master of the house wasn't any better, in fact Yan Xiazhe might say he looked even more crazy than the madame, he looked ready to break down screaming.. which wasn't far from what he's already doing.

His words enraged madame Rui even further. Veins appeared on her forehead, and she screamed with the most piercing voice Yan Xiazhe's ever heard in his life.

“I gave everything to you, is this how you repay me?! I made you a marquis and I can take it back! You manwhore, you imbecile!”

Yan Xiazhe startled again when soft footsteps sounded behind him, covered by the ungodly screaming. Everyone was awake by now, he was sure about it.

“..Yanzhe?”

Yan Xiazhe put a finger to his lips urgently, telling Ang Yisa to stay silent. Sensing something was wrong, the girl quickly went to Yan Xiazhe's side without making a sound. They watch master Phan and madame Rui abuse each other verbally before madame Rui raised her hand and backhanded master Phan across the face.

In her rage, the lit candle flew from her grip and landed near some barrels. Sparks appeared immediately, rapidly following some sort of trail into one of the barrels.

Yan Xiazhe barely had any time to register what it was when Ang Yisa pulled him backwards and shielded him with her body.

The storage shed exploded and the brilliant sparks sent everything surrounded the shed into flames.

He wasn't sure how much time passed before he regained conscious. Yan Xiazhe could feel the ringing in his ears. He couldn't open his eyes. It burns and burns, he can only see white. Weakly, he flopped onto his stomach and crawled blindly on the gravel.

It wasn't long before the invading smell of smoke and gunpowder attacked his nose. He was forced to open his eyes and turn towards the source of it— the burning storage shed.

Belatedly, he found Ang Yisa lying on the ground not far behind him, unmoving.

He found himself moving to crawl in her direction, but screams reached his ears and he dazedly turned back to where the servants' sheds were. The fire was spreading and before Yan Xiazhe's eyes, the roof of the sheds nearest to the storage shed caved in.

Yan Xiazhe could no longer find the door to the shed he shared with his mother. It was buried by the sea of fire.

No.

Yan Xiazhe scrambled to his feet and stumbled back to the ground. The movement had his head spinning, heat was coming from all sides and he clutched his head, squeezing his eyes shut. The pain had him screaming. He felt helpless, lying on the gravel, unable to move.

Yan Xiazhe didn't feel time pass, but it did, because he felt a hand on his back and he forced himself awake once again.

Ang Yisa looked down at him. The left side of her face was destroyed by the fire, taking her eye with it. Yet she struggled to take Yan Xiazhe into her arms, tears slipping from her remaining eye.

“I'm sorry, Yanzhe..” Her voice was frail. “I'm so sorry..”

Yan Xiazhe looked back at the servants' sheds. Most of the sheds had already collapsed, swallowed by the fire.

Yan Xiazhe pushed her away and got onto his feet, running towards the sheds. He yelled for his mother. Even when it was futile, he hopes there would be some miracle.

Mother is dead. He had to find his mother.

--

“Thanks for meeting me here.”

Yan Xiazhe returned Ang Yisa's bow. The pier was quiet at night, the waters reflected the light from their lanterns, barely illuminating the water hyacinths on the surface.

“It's nothing.. It's been a long time.”

Ang Yisa smiled and nodded. “I'm glad to see you again, Yanzhe. You've grown so much! I guess there's no more Yisa jiejie, hm?”

Yan Xiazhe rubbed the back of his neck embarrassed. Back then, Ang Yisa came to the Phan mansion with her elder sister and brother, Yan Xiazhe liked her gentle personality a lot and stuck to her for the week up to that disaster. She's five years older than him, so he saw her as the elder sister he never had.

“Well, if jiejie wants I can still..”

Ang Yisa giggled. “Sure.” She gestured him to come sit down beside her, dangling her legs above the water. “Let's get to the point. I hope you will hear me out, regarding what happened at the Phan mansion.”

Yan Xiazhe looked at her serene face and agreed.

“We went to the Phan mansion to deliver some barrels, one of them being gunpowder. Large quantities of gunpowder creates explosion when it comes in contact with fire, which was what happened that night.”

The crackling accompanied by brilliant sparks. Yan Xiazhe shuddered.

“My sister..” Ang Yisa closed her eye, grief clear in her face. “I wish we took more care with those barrels. If we've put them further inside the shed, everything that's occurred that night would not have happened.”

Perhaps that was permission to blame. That barrel of gunpowder was what caused the entire explosion, that barrel that was coincidentally bought from merchant Ang, which was delivered by Ang Yisa's siblings.

But it wasn't their fault.

“It was no one's fault, Yisa.. jiejie. The past is already set in stone, the best we can do now is move forward.”

“My old man said that too.” Ang Yisa rubbed away the tears clinging to her eyelashes. “Still, I'm sorry. I wish it never happened, we didn't deserve any of this. No one deserves this.”

Yan Xiazhe could only nod. He'd think of his mother sometimes, try to remember her gentle voice and radiant smile, but would feel crushed when he realised it was slowly fading from his mind. It was a scary concept: to want to remember someone forever, just to end up losing them to the tides of time for a second time. A slow, inevitable process Yan Xiazhe was yet to be able to accept.

It was as if the universe was telling him, he had to let go whether he liked it or not.

Ang Yisa put a hand on his back gently. Looking at her, still living despite it all, he found the confidence he needed to take his next step.

“Today marks the day you, Yan Xiazhe, and I, Ang Yisa, leave our pasts in the waters of this lake.” Ang Yisa said softly, nudging a water hyacinth with her toes. “Let the waters take them away. To a place where no living being has gone before, where it can be reborn and bring goodness to the world.”

“Where.. there would be peace.” Yan Xiazhe whispered after her.

The entire time they were here, talking about their past, Ang Yisa's smile never faltered. It was the gentle curve of lips Yan Xiazhe had always known her for, his big sister. The scarring on her face hadn't destroyed her beauty. She was still the Yisa jiejie he remembered.

Yan Xiazhe shifted closer and hugged her. She responded by laying her head on his shoulder.

--

Yan Xiazhe was getting the silent treatment from Sun Shiwu.

It was an immediate notice. Because Sun Shiwu was one to make his intentions crystal clear, and it was just so jarringly obvious. He didn't talk to Yan Xiazhe a lot, opting to stick to Shen Jiu instead. Even Shen Jiu came to ask him what he's done.

He hasn't done anything? He just had a talk with Ang Yisa last night.

“Just you two alone?” Shen Jiu raised an eyebrow.

Yan Xiazhe was offended. “I'm not that type of person, Jiu ge. You know that.”

“Shiwu's hyperactivity extends to his thoughts, Yan di. Go talk to him.”

Yan Xiazhe was going to do just that, but he couldn't find Sun Shiwu anywhere. Strange, he returned with them from the market this afternoon. He rounded the corner and saw Sun Shiwu talking with Ang Yisa at a shaded sitting place not far away.

Sun Shiwu was pouting. It can be seen even from where Yan Xiazhe was peeking at them.

“Xiazhe is mine.” Sun Shiwu said, not unlike a petty maiden.

Ang Yisa, still smiling, nodded knowingly. “I am aware.”

“We're together, boyfriends. It's not a fantasy of my own.”

Ang Yisa covered her laugh with her sleeve. “I am aware. I wish you two happiness.”

Sun Shiwu looked at Ang Yisa with suspicion. Yan Xiazhe could see the cogwheels in his head turning. This adorable idiot, Yan Xiazhe was going to squeeze him to death once they get back to their room after this.

“Miss Ang.. doesn't like him?”

“We are childhood friends, I see him as my little brother. In fact,” Ang Yisa tucked her hair behind her ear, “I already have someone. Just like you two, we're together in that sense.”

Sun Shiwu's cheeks were pink. He felt a little guilty spying on them when they were talking at the pier last night, then fearing the worst seeing them hug. It took him slapping his own cheeks a few times to conclude that Yan Xiazhe wasn't like that, but he decided to talk to Ang Yisa just in case she had gotten the wrong idea.

“Yanzhe like you a lot.” Ang Yisa said slyly. “He was gushing about you after our talk last night. He said he has a surprise for you soon.”

Yan Xiazhe decided to jump in before Ang Yisa could spill more. Sun Shiwu's hand was grabbed. “Sorry for causing you trouble, jijie. I'm take him from here.”

“No worries, Yanzhe.”

“I'm still mad at you! Listen to me!” Despite his complaints, Sun Shiwu allowed himself to be dragged away by Yan Xiazhe, leaving a giggling Ang Yisa behind.

Yan Xiazhe pressed Sun Shiwu against the door. He was still pouting, cheeks pink and puffed out, not looking Yan Xiazhe directly in the eyes. Yan Xiazhe pinched one cheek, Sun Shiwu tilted his head away in response. He made a humph sound when Yan Xiazhe tried to kiss him, pushing Yan Xiazhe's face away.

“Shiwu.” Yan Xiazhe smiled at his antics. He pulled Sun Shiwu close and kneaded his waist, something Sun Shiwu really liked him doing. “My Wuwu.” Yan Xiazhe pecked his nose. “You're so cute.”

Indeed, Sun Shiwu was adorable. He's only fallen in love once and he's happy it was Sun Shiwu. He caressed those bracelets on Sun Shiwu's wrist. Hearing Ang Yisa mention those bracelets, he knew it was about time to tell Sun Shiwu about them, what they meant to Yan Xiazhe.

“Let's go on a date later. To the pier. I'll show you something so you will forgive me, okay?”

Sun Shiwu shivered at Yan Xiazhe's low voice. He always used this voice to get Sun Shiwu's attention and it works everytime. He crossed his arms childishly, “It's not like I was actually angry though..”

Yan Xiazhe chuckled and leaned in for a kiss.

--

(“Those bracelets were your mother's?” Ang Yisa gasped. “It was one of the things found in what remains of the Phan mansion. Since no one came up to reclaim it, my brother took it with him when we left. My old man put it on sale when we desperately needed money.”)

--

They walked along the path to the pier hand in hand. Their hands were both coarse from sword training, strangely pleasant to hold. Yan Xiazhe laced their fingers together.

“So what are we going to do?” Sun Shiwu asked, letting himself be lead down to the lakeside where an abundance of water hyacinths gathered, floating along with the waves of the lake.

Yan Xiazhe spread out a blanket on the ground. Sun Shiwu's eyebrows raised. Then, he took out some containers from his qiankun pouch, opening them to reveal snacks and sweets. Sun Shiwu immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

“It's a picnic.” Yan Xiazhe pulled Sun Shiwu to sit beside him and held a piece of cake to his mouth.

Sun Shiwu obediently opened his mouth for Yan Xiazhe to feed him. They sat there feeding each other, with Sun Shiwu lazing around in Yan Xiazhe's lap, occasionally accepting the snacks put near his mouth.

“Is this what Yan gongzi wanted to show me?” Sun Shiwu looked up at Yan Xiazhe. He didn't mind such a simple date, since they don't really have that much free time to go one dates usually.

Before Yan Xiazhe could reply, Sun Shiwu cuddled into his thigh. “Hmm, I'm not complaining though. Being listless together and eating snacks with my lover? Not sure if I want to anywhere else.” He reached up to touch Yan Xiazhe's face.

Yan Xiazhe leaned into the hand that cupped his cheek. Sun Shiwu's gaze towards him had changed a lot throughout the years, but one thing stay the same: it was a gaze of love. Love that was clear as day, generous and genuine; love that was raging waters, fierce and neverending; love that was vulnerable and tender, just them, away from the universe.

Yan Xiazhe was sure he returned the gaze like a mirror.

“These are my mother's wedding heirlooms.” Yan Xiazhe said, eyeing those bracelets fondly.

His mother had shown them to him in memory of his father, who unfortunately passed due to an accident. She told him stories about his father who worked nonstop to be able to afford them. It wasn't much, but it was honest work, and that was something his mother found attractive. Because it was never about how fancy or real the things he could afford her was, it was him as the person she fell for.

“Hm?”

“The jeweller told you that it's not a complete set.. because it isn't.” Yan Xiazhe pulled his chain necklace out of his clothes and took it off. The chain was attached to a peridot studded ring, the same one as the peridots on the beaded bracelet.

Carefully, Yan Xiazhe took the ring off the necklace and slid in onto Sun Shiwu's fourth finger.

”There.” Yan Xiazhe brought Sun Shiwu's fingertips to his lips. “Now it is complete.”

Sun Shiwu abruptly sat up. His eyes were wide and his face was red, and he was.. shaking. The man was too stunned to speak.

“Shit, I— Give me a minute, shit.”

Sun Shiwu turned away and let out an ungodly shriek. When did Yan Xiazhe become so smooth? So romantic? What was happening? Did he just propose? He whipped his head around to look at Yan Xiazhe, who was now kinda scared of how his lover was acting. Sun Shiwu held up his hand that had the ring and bracelets on to Yan Xiazhe's face.

“Oh my god?!” Sun Shiwu finally shouted after stuttering for a second. “Is that why— Is this— I don't— Oh my god.”

Unable to contain himself anymore, Sun Shiwu threw himself at Yan Xiazhe, who gladly caught him.

“Oh my god.” Sun Shiwu mumbled, feeling his eyes get teary. He shook Yan Xiazhe in his arms, repeating "I love you" a dozen times.

Yan Xiazhe cradled Sun Shiwu in his lap, tucking his head under his chin.

“I love you too.”

--

“No wedding ceremony untill we go back.” Sun Zhaoli shook his finger at them. “I don't care about anything else. Just don't get too bold.”

“Baba!” ”Shizun..“

--

Chapter Text

Huo Zhaojin had morphed his sword, Fenghuang Huo, to observe the surroundings and found about six entrances. With information by Ang Gengyi, they've managed to arrive at the Lenggu Mountains sooner than expected.

This was the third entrance they've came across and once Sun Zhaoli saw the shape of it, he decided that this was the entrance the Qing Jing group was going to take.

“There's still more entrances,” Fang Zhaohui pursed her lips. “Perhaps we can observe all of them first before among a decision.”

“I can assure you, shijie, most of them looks the same.” Huo Zhaojin sighed.

Although, this particular entrance Sun Zhaoli chose was bigger than the others. It also seemed deeper and darker, Huo Zhaojin wasn't sure if he should let the group enter by themselves. Zhong Zhaokai, seemingly reading Huo Zhaojin's mind, said: “It's dangerous to go alone, shixiong.”

Huo Zhaojin nodded, agreeing with Zhong Zhaokai.

“This shidi decided that my group would follow too.”

Huo Zhaojin whipped his head around to glare at Zhong Zhaokai. Why was the eldest two peak lords in the group trying to throw themselves head first into potential danger, hand in hand? At this rate, maybe Fang Zhaohui and him should follow them too. Sect members should die together as a sect, right?!

“Sun shixiong, I know your disciples are strong,” Fang Zhaohui said flatly, “but I'm afraid I can't say the same to Zhong shixiong's disciples. Think about our lives as your shidi and shimei.”

“Sun shixiong's disciples can protect us. They're strong, right?” Zhong Zhaokai rebutted her sarcastically.

Huo Zhaojin groaned. “We should all just enter from this entrance then.”

Sun Zhaoli picked up a white pebble and put it at the entrance, for just in case they get circled back to this entrance. He snapped his fingers, creating a floating fireball. Without any hesitation, he walked into the cave, leaving his disciples and Zhong Zhaokai's group to follow behind him.

Fang Zhaohui tugged Huo Zhaojin back and called out, “We'll be checking out the other entrances to cover more ground. Let's regroup inside the mountains.”

She knew Sun Zhaoli and Zhong Zhaokai had heard her, but didn't respond. Fang Zhaohui twacked Huo Zhaojin on the head.

“They'll be fine.”

“How can you be so sure?!” Huo Zhaojin was about to pull his hair out of his scalp. He ran after her when she ignored him and continued to walk along the path with her disciples. “Zhaohui!”

--

Shang Zhen held up.. a large pearl that felt leathery in his hands. Shen Jiu, who had leaned over to take a look, poked at it.

“Shen shixiong!” Shang Zhen held it away from Shen Jiu.

“That looks like an egg.”

“It is.” Zhong Zhaokai's voice created a slight echo. “One that's been laid not long ago, too.”

Shang Zhen quickly put the egg back. Zhong Zhaokai shook his head with a sigh, didn't he tell the disciples to not touch anything? Shen Jiu went on to guess which kind of egg it was based on the appearance and texture.

“Those are dead scarlet silkworm eggs.” Sun Zhaoli nudged one with his foot, finished with the disciples' roll call. “It's in the middle of calcifying to become food for the live eggs, which are light green in colour. The hatchlings will secret a fluid to break down and digest these when hungry.”

“This means we might be entering their nests.” Zhong Zhaokai frowned. “Scarlet silkworms.. interesting.”

Shang Zhen shuddered at what kind of silkworm hatchling could possibly be that big. Meanwhile, Sun Zhaoli and Zhong Zhaokai shared a look, mutually agreeing that something was wrong. These dead eggs were essential for the hatchlings' growths, so why were they here— with no live eggs in sight? They weren't deep inside the caves at all. Sun Zhaoli didn't remember the nests being so easy to find.

“..Everyone, stay alert. There may be trouble soon enough.”

--

Sometimes, Sun Zhaoli should slap his own mouth and touch wood.

He shoved Shang Zhen away to the side, raising his hand in attempt to block the giant ball of spit heading towards his direction.

Fucking silkworm. They didn't do anything to provoke it!

A explosion rang through the caves as Yan Xiazhe rushed in front of Sun Zhaoli to block it. The sources of demonic qi clashed with each other and created a huge shockwave. As the cave started to quake, Zhong Zhaokai tugged hard on Sun Zhaoli's sleeve to catch his attention, urgently telling Sun Zhaoli to follow.

Zhong Zhaokai boosted his disciples back up into the tunnel from where they've came out from, before going up himself. He extended an arm out to Sun Zhaoli.

Sun Zhaoli managed to get Lian Yi and Chang Meixian up before he had to leap away, narrowly avoiding a chunk of rubble that could've crushed him clean.

“Shixiong—”

“Leave now, Zhong shidi!” He wasn't sure if Zhong Zhaokai could hear him.

“Shang shixiong he's—” ”Qinghua—“

Sun Zhaoli whipped around to see Shang Zhen holding onto Sun Shiwu for dear life as Sun Shiwu held together a barrier spell that blocked the shockwaves coming from the clash between the silkworm monster, Yan Xiazhe, and also Shen Jiu. Although it did seem like Shang Zhen wasn't doing anything, Sun Zhaoli realized he was providing support to Sun Shiwu.

“I'll take care of your disciple! Go find Fang shimei!”

Sun Zhaoli looked at the green crowned silkworm monster. It was one of the higher levelled ones, those that usually reside deep in the nest and next to the eggs. It was on high alert too, which explained it's aggressive behaviour. The only logical explanation to its appearance in the outer layers of the nests was the dead eggs.

Someone had jostled their nests, and it wasn't Cang Qiong.

The silkworm monster whipped its tail at the group of disciples, forcing them to leap in different directions. That stinger connected to the silkworm's intestines that secretes a highly corrosive juices. They can use it a handful of times before the juices run out and they will go into a catatonic state to churn up some more.

The stinger was just a decoy, by the way, they attack by spraying their intestinal juices at their enemies. Sun Zhaoli activated the protection talismans he gave everyone just as the silkworm's intestinal juices ricocheted everywhere.

Fuck, that was disgusting. He has to turn away as the green liquid splattered against the barrier he's created.

Sun Zhaoli heard someone retch, turning to see Shang Zhen and Sun Shiwu emptying their stomachs onto the ground. He wouldn't blame them, it smelled like shit, literally. Shen Jiu and Yan Xiazhe both had their faces scrunched up in disgust.

Sun Zhaoli threw an explosive talisman into the air to deter the silkworm's attention as he grabbed Shang Zhen and Sun Shiwu— one with each arm— and leaped onto his sword, into the next tunnel available, looking back to make sure Shen Jiu and Yan Xiazhe was following as the monster's shriek echoed behind them.

Sun Zhaoli heard Shang Zhen let out some modern curses as he was jostled from where he was hanging from Sun Zhaoli's hip, which were very creative. Sun Zhaoli would have snorted if his body wasn't pumping adrenaline like he would die without it.

Finally, they find a safe place to land on. Shang Zhen immediately pushed away from him to throw up even more.

“Fuck, bro,” Shang Zhen wiped his mouth with his sleeve, “Fuck your sister.”

“What did you just—”

Sun Zhaoli waved his sleeve to stop Shen Jiu from strangling Shang Zhen. “He's disoriented. Give him some time.” Sun Zhaoli shooed Shen Jiu to join Yan Xiazhe in checking over Sun Shiwu, to which the boy did hesitantly.

“This master doesn't have a sister.” Sun Zhaoli gave Shang Zhen a herbal pill. “Get a grip. Zhaokai is probably freaking out over you now.”

“..are you hurt?..” ”..let me clean your hair..“ ”..eat this, A-Wu..“

Shang Zhen watched those three as they fussed over each other. Sun Shiwu cling to Yan Xiazhe as Yan Xiazhe washed the vomit out of his hair with a talisman, while he worked on bandaging up Shen Jiu's small injury. Shen Jiu fed the two the same herbal pills Sun Zhaoli had gave Shang Zhen.

Bonds are thicker than blood, ah. He wanted to be comforted too. He slowly turned to stare at Sun Zhaoli owlishly.

Sun Zhaoli gave him a side eye. “No.”

“What do we do now, shizun?” Shen Jiu asked after they've finished patching themselves up.

“Reunite with the others. This master had given a tracking talisman for Fang shimei to hold. Zhong shidi should be on his way to finding her now.”

Sun Zhaoli gave out new protection talismans to all the disciples before they left. Sun Zhaoli steered clear of any suspicious noises they hear. Thankfully, this tracking talisman he made was exactly like a GPS and he's tested it on Du Zhaosong before, so he knew it was accurately leading them to Fang Zhaohui. But then it somehow wasn't, because he looked at the trail that was leading them into a wall and felt this surge of irritation in his head.

Fang Zhaohui should be on the other side of this cave wall. The trail going straight into the wall implied there was some humanly possible way to get to the other side. He was about to brainstorm some ideas with the others when he heard it.

The sound of boots scraping against the ground, heavy and ominous. The change of aura came so quickly it knocked the air out of Sun Zhaoli's lungs, with it came the smell of smoke and hatred and death.

Sun Zhaoli pushed the disciples behind him with one sweep of his arm, glaring the unwanted guest.

“Found you~”

--

One second Fang Zhaohui was fighting one of these weirdass silkworms with stingers and green explosive diarrhea, then next second, the wall behind her burst everywhere into millions of chunks.

The strongest demonic qi she's ever felt seeped out from the cave, she covered her nose because it was the most nauseating thing she's ever smelt.

Immediately, the silkworms stopped attacking them. They shifted towards the hole and collectively shrieked.

Sun Zhaoli's disciples and Zhong Zhaokai's head disciple flew out of the hole and towards them. Sun Shiwu was held back by Yan Xiazhe as he shouted for Sun Zhaoli, seemingly to be frantically searching for him. Shang Zhen was pale faced as Zhong Zhaokai checked him over, he held Shang Zhen's face in his hands and he could feel the trembling.

“Junshang.. he's..” Shang Zhen's breath stuttered. “He's..”

Sun Zhaoli came flying out of the hole next. He crashed onto the ground and skidded a few feet away, visibly beaten up. RouYa came next, stabbing itself into the ground, inches away from where Sun Zhaoli lied in a heap.

Fang Zhaohui wanted to rush to her shixiong, but found herself glued to the void of the hole. She could feel the goosebumps threatening to break out on her skin.

There was something that had the silkworms go into a frenzy, something that trashed her shixiong within an inch of his life, something that she feared Cang Qiong couldn't defeat even if all the peaks came together. Some thing that could pose a threat to all three realms, some thing that can and would destroy the world as a whole.

The silkworms aimed their stingers at the direction of the hole, ready to protect what's left of their nests.

A man stepped out of the hole. Calm, like waters before a tsunami, hiding waves and waves of destruction behind him. A red heavenly demon mark glowed bright on his forehead.

Fang Zhaohui felt her blood run cold.

--

Chapter Text

Mobei Jun felt his eye twitch. He ignored it, but then it doesn't go away and he turned around, staring at the emblem his uncle had left there on his desk hours prior to his departure to QianXi Sheng's place.

He noticed the green edges of the emblem were slowly turning red.

--

Change of plans: they were going to completely abandon mission. Now.

As the silkworms fought the demon, Fang Zhaohui scooped up Sun Zhaoli and signalled everyone to run. She's always up for challenges but this was not a challenge, she can recognise a real threat when she sees one.

But whatever that thing was, he wanted Sun Zhaoli.

In a blink, she was thrown against the wall and Sun Zhaoli was violently ripped from her arms. The man held Sun Zhaoli by the throat, dangling him several feet from the ground. Fang Zhaohui could see her shixiong kick out in struggle, but her body was paralyzed with shock. It felt like her spine was broken in many different places.

(And for a hot second, she thought it was actually broken. That she would never move again for the rest of her life.)

After a few seconds, he threw Sun Zhaoli to the ground again, not wanting to end his life just yet.

Fang Zhaohui watched as a silkworm raised its stinger and brought it down on the man, only for him to disappear and she jolted towards Sun Zhaoli, who was about to get fucking pierced through by it. As she landed on top of her shixiong, she thought of Xian Shu and what would become of them without her.

The stinger doesn't come. A yellow sheen had overtook the stinger and prevented it from fully coming down onto Fang Zhaohui. She scrambled away from the unexpected brush against death as much as she could manage, bringing Sun Zhaoli with her.

“You dare cause trouble in my mountains?” A melodious voice came from above.

There she was. Her white hair was a brilliant contrast against her dusky skin, like silk, completed with a beautiful head ornament of gold. Emerald lines branched out on her forehead, creating the illusion of an elegant flower that framed her face and eyes. A golden line ran down the middle of her lips and under her chin, the indication of a high saintess, the heavenly demon of the South.

Qianxi Sheng. The Millennial Saintess.

Her eyes shimmered a brilliant green, glowing along with her heavenly demon mark. “Leave.”

The unsheathing of two world breaking swords, both forged from souls of despair and fires of hell, destined to clash against one another. The ivory sword was long and thin, barbed, like it was made from bones. Some moving eyes grew along the blade, tones of brown and blue and red in their irises. They focus on their sole target— the man with..

“I'd run if I were you.” A small voice whispered into Fang Zhaohui's head.

She didn't have time to even think about who said that. Huo Zhaojin had already hauled her onto his back while Fenghuang Huo had Sun Zhaoli, and they were running but she didn't know what was happening. They were going up, Fang Zhaohui could feel it, but why were they going up? She pulled her head away from Huo Zhaojin's shoulder and immediately, light shrouded her vision.

The sound of swordfighting was audible from below, getting louder and louder, mingling with the sound of destruction and large waves of demonic qi.

It would be unwise of them to use their swords to fly out of this mess. Not only were the two heavenly demons hovering in the air fighting each other, the demonic silkworms were aiming upwards at the man as well, and it wouldn't end well for any of them to get caught in the crossfire.

Before this, Huo Zhaojin had noticed how the silkworms were circled around the elevated platform that led upwards to an open ceiling, almost as if protecting it. He had no time to guess anymore, if this meant they had a higher chance to fly out safely, then he will take it no matter how risky it was.

The red heavenly demon seemed to have a personal vendetta against Cang Qiong that Huo Zhaojin suddenly realised. He aimed a fireball directly at them as soon as he caught sight of them.

Shit! “Get on your swords now!” The disciples got onto their swords and scattered as the staircase started to rumble, having a good chunk of the base destroyed.

Huo Zhaojin called for Fenghuang Huo, only to remember it was carrying Sun Zhaoli. Fuckshit! It meant Fenghuang Huo cannot morph back into a sword, and all three of them — Sun Zhaoli, Fang Zhaohui and Huo Zhaojin — was going to die, right here and now!

“Zhong shixiong!” Huo Zhaojin yelled as he pulled Fang Zhaohui off his back and threw her at Zhong Zhaokai as hard as he could, as soon as Zhong Zhaokai's attention was caught.

Before his eyes, another fireball was coming straight at them. Huo Zhaojin grabbed Fenghuang Huo's wolf body and pushed it forward with Sun Zhaoli's body on top of it, making him the sole target the fireball was going to hit. Fenghuang Huo howled as it dropped Sun Zhaoli from its back and leaped towards Huo Zhaojin.

Cang Qiong could function without one generation of Mo Shou, Huo Zhaojin thought as he squeezed his eyes shut, but it can't without the other peaks. His death won't be in vain.

Fenghuang Huo pushed Huo Zhaojin backwards right before the fireball hit. The explosion happened right in front of his tear filled eyes, Huo Zhaojin instinctually wrapped his arms around Fenghuang Huo as they started to freefall.

Huo Zhaojin landed on something hard. That was a shorter fall than expected, and it strangely felt less painful than expected too, and they weren't..

Immediately, Huo Zhaojin got up and found a strange yellow barrier beneath him. The barrier that had just saved him and Fenghuang Huo. Tilting his head, he can see a silhouette with a glowing hand raised towards them, standing quite far away. His eyes and forehead glowed an unnaturally bright yellow.

“Huo shidi come on!” Zhong Zhaokai yelled at him, snapping him out of his wonder.

Huo Zhaojin morphed Fenghuang Huo back into a sword and retrieved Sun Zhaoli, who was finally stirring back to consciousness.

“Put me down,” Sun Zhaoli whispered.

“..Huh?”

“Put me down!” Sun Zhaoli twisted in Huo Zhaojin's hold. As much as he didn't want to, he couldn't risk dropping Sun Zhaoli, so as all the chaos was happening down there, Huo Zhaojin landed on the surprisingly untoppled platform. He panicked as he watched Sun Zhaoli crawl to the ledge of the platform.

“Luo Binghe!”

Huo Zhaojin immediately pulled Sun Zhaoli back and away from the ledge, but his shixiong kept shouting, attracting unwanted attention to himself.

“You're nothing but a blind, brash dumbfuck!”

It was as if those were the magic words to summon the heavenly demon. Luo Binghe, as Sun Zhaoli called him, shot into the air and landed heavily in front of them, his fight with Qianxi Sheng forgotten.

Shixiong, insulting the person that almost killed you twice is not wise. Not wise!! Huo Zhaojin felt himself hyperventilate and his grip on Sun Zhaoli's arm falter. Huo Zhaojin just wanted to leave, he wanted to go home safely, he wanted to see all his disciples and all the animals on his peak again.

Huo Zhaojin tried again, to pull Sun Zhaoli along to the freedom that was so close above their heads, but Sun Zhaoli didn't move.

“Sun Zhaoli.” Luo Binghe raised his demonic sword. “You die by my hands today!” Before the sword reached Sun Zhaoli, it was blocked by Shen Jiu.

This was way too many close calls than Huo Zhaojin was comfortable with, he was actually getting quite tired of it?! Why did they even come here in the first place, there's so many unexplored lands that were much safer than this hellhole of mountains!! After this, if they survive, Huo Zhaojin was going to go subdue a three headed chimera and bring it back to Mo Shou because at that point, he could survive anything!!

“We've done nothing to you!” XiuYa clashed with the demonic sword again. “I've never seen you before my entire life!”

“But you owe me! You owe me everything you've done to me!” Luo Binghe pushed Shen Jiu back, going straight for the kill.

“We're not done here!” Qianxi Sheng cockblocked Luo Binghe, rushing straight at him with her ivory sword of bones and eyes. The four swords that floated behind her weaved their ways through the air and attacked Luo Binghe, who somehow managed to fend off five swords at once.

“Go!” Huo Zhaojin told the others to leave as soon as they possibly could. Zhong Zhaokai handed Fang Zhaohui over to her head disciple and most of the disciples evacuated from the mountains through the opening above them. Zhong Zhaokai chose to land beside Huo Zhaojin.

“You two want to die this much?!” Huo Zhaojin finally lost his temper, all his fear and worry unveiling into frustration. The frustration eventually became tears in his eyes, dribbling down his cheeks and chin.

Zhong Zhaokai didn't say a word, instead he knelt down to give Sun Zhaoli a healing spell. He listened to Huo Zhaojin sob a few times before reaching out to wipe his cheek. “Calm down. Sun shixiong knows what he's doing. Come, shidi.” The two eldest peak lords exchanged a nod.

Zhong Zhaokai coaxed Huo Zhaojin to let go of Sun Zhaoli, hauling him onto his sword. They needed to call reinforcements and get Fang Zhaohui medical attention quick.

In his haste, Zhong Zhaokai didn't notice Shang Zhen had not left with them.

--

Qianxi Sheng was.. losing. She wasn't sure how, but she was slowly getting overwhelmed by Luo Binghe, even with the help of those cultivators.

The Addiex sword was getting warm in her hands, something that was happening for the first time. She knew she can overpower Xin Mo, for she was the one who subdued it before they managed to seal it in the Endless Abyss. So why? Why was she unable to do that right now?

Something was extremely wrong.

Luo Binghe kicked Yan Xiazhe away from him. He caught Sun Shiwu's sword and yanked it away, sending him flying a few feet away. He swept away XiuYa's attacks like nothing and caught Shen Jiu's throat in his hand. He could feel XiuYa stab into his rib but he didn't care, all he knew was that he could snap little shizun's neck like a twig.

A kick to his stomach made him stumble back, as Shen Jiu was snatched from his grasp and held away from him by Sun Zhaoli.

An attack was followed up by Qianxi Sheng, who had one sword left, the Addiex sword. Luo Binghe knew he couldn't destroy that sword like the floating ones, but he can destroy it's wielder. He grabbed Qianxi Sheng's wrist as she brought the Addiex sword down and twisted it in one abrupt move, hearing a satisfying crack from Qianxi Sheng's broken forearm. The Addiex sword clattered to the ground uselessly.

Qianxi Sheng lost all feeling of her legs. A stuttered gasp caused blood to spill from her lips, a small chunk of her tongue was gone and it was bleeding and it wasn't healing. She slowly tilted her head to look Luo Binghe in the eyes. It was the eyes of a merciless madman.

He yanked on her broken arm to throw her aside.

Luo Binghe stepped closer to the Qing Jing duo. Finally, finally. they were within his reach, and how hard he would clench down and never let them escape. Sun Zhaoli, disheveled and stripped of the elegant peak lord image he upheld, bared his teeth at Luo Binghe.

He put his body in front of Shen Jiu, hiding him. Shielding him, from Luo Binghe. With every step Luo Binghe advanced, Sun Zhaoli made two kicks backwards, dragging along the ground like some pitiful animal.

Luo Binghe would pick Sun Zhaoli apart piece by piece. He'll slit his throat a hundred times and break his beck a thousand more; he'll peel his nails from skin and rip his flesh from bones; he'll remove his teeth one by one and grind his bones to dust.

And then— then, Luo Binghe would finally have his hands on Shen Qingqiu again.

And then no one will grant him underserved release again. Shen Qingqiu owed Luo Binghe. Shen Qingqiu must pay it back in full.

At least, that was what Luo Binghe planned to do.

Something pierced through his chest. It was barbed and cold. He closed a fist around the blade, trying to force it out, but it has hooked onto his flesh and doesn't move an inch. He turned his head back.

Shang Qinghua's eyes were blue. “This is for my king,” he said coldly.

In rage, Luo Binghe smacked Shang Qinghua aside. He could feel the Addiex sword already starting to drain his life force. He jostled the sword that was still piercing his body, feeling it shred his flesh as he managed to push just a tiny bit out from the back. He could feel his body starting to change.

Luo Binghe began to shrink.

Sun Zhaoli watched this scene unfold. He had been pierced in that exact same spot by the Addiex sword. Look where that brought him.. oh. Oh, no.

Sun Zhaoli rushed towards Luo Binghe and grabbed ahold of the Addiex sword's hilt. Planting a foot onto Luo Binghe's back, he used him as leverage to get the sword out of Luo Binghe's body. He could feel each segment of barb catch onto Luo Binghe's flesh as he pulled, more and more blood spurting out from the wound.

The sword swung out of Sun Zhaoli's grip as soon as it's free from Luo Binghe, spinning as it fell back into the ground below.

“Get away from me!!”

Luo Binghe unleashed a wave of demonic qi, pushing everyone back, away from him. Curling into himself, he released a hysterical scream that made his voice break. A scream of raw, unfiltered rage. A pure scream at how unfair the world is, at how everything seemed to be against him, at how his fingers had grazed success only for it to be ripped away from him.

Blood continued to rush from his lips like a waterfall as he did so, creating a bloody pool in his lap.

Sun Zhaoli looked at Luo Binghe and saw a child. The Addiex sword, made from the bones of creatures that controlled time and dimension, had turned Luo Binghe back into a literal child.

Or perhaps Luo Binghe never truly grew up. Just a child nutured by the violence and misunderstandings around him.

The scream trailed off, followed by a sob. “I don't understand.” Luo Binghe's eyes were filled with tears. Tears he had sworn never to shed again, tears he had kept under lock and key, tears he never knew he could have ever since he was pushed into the Endless Abyss. “I don't understand what I did wrong— where went wrong with me.”

“Then let me show you.” Sun Zhaoli extended a hand towards little Luo Binghe. “The truth, and nothing but the truth.”

Lou Binghe's small hand gripped Sun Zhaoli's wrist, stopping him from coming closer, and through the tears, he growled. It was a weak and pitiful and vulnerable sound. A cornered child, only able to bare his milk teeth.

“I don't trust you.”

Sun Zhaoli pulled Luo Binghe's hand towards him before clamping his jaw down on the wrist. He bit untill he tasted blood and sucked the iron tang in his mouth, feeling his Adam's apple bob from how hard he swallowed. Luo Binghe watched him do that. They both understood what that meant.

Luo Binghe's eyes glowed red as he dug his fingernails into Sun Zhaoli's wrist, and pulled them both into a dreamscape.

--

Chapter Text

“Show me.” Luo Binghe's eyes were red rimmed. “Show me what you said you'll show me.”

Sun Zhaoli looked out at the barren void of smoke. So this was what a dreamscape looked like, it was a first for him. He locked eyes with little Luo Binghe, who held his arm in a death grip. So much anger and sadness, much like Shen Qingqiu's.

“Come,” Sun Zhaoli chided gently.

He recalled what he saw in Shen Qingqiu's past, and immediately, images started to form from smoke in front of them.

The events happened in an orderly fashion as Sun Zhaoli remembered: saving Yue Qi from the horse carriage, taken as a salve by the Qiu house, the abuse that happened behind closed doors and thick walls, the qi deviation and fire, the Immortal Alliance Conference with Wu Yanzi, reuniting with Yue Qingyuan, and finally acceptance into Qing Jing.

Sun Zhaoli splashed tea onto Shen Qingqiu.

“Why did you do that?” Luo Binghe asked.

“Filthy. Didn't fit Qing Jing,” was Sun Zhaoli's reply.

Sun Zhaoli turned a blind eye to the bullying. He allowed Shen Qingqiu to go to brothels.

“I wanted him to fight for himself. To prove he can live without my protection.” Sun Zhaoli took a breath. “Do you want to see what he does in the brothel?”

At Luo Binghe's nod, the scene shifted to what happens within the walls of the brothel. Shen Qingqiu slept among the prostitues, tangled within pale limbs and fragrant incense, safe and comfortable. He sleeps like he's dead to the world, because he would never find better sleep anywhere else.

“He's terrified of men. Anyone would be if they had to live through what he had.” Sun Zhaoli whispered.

Luo Binghe asked about Liu Qingge. Sun Zhaoli told him about their rivalry, and said, “It'll all be clear soon.”

They watched Shen Qingqiu's self isolation and self-destruction like a film. Fighting with fellow peak lords, never clearing up misunderstandings, never opening up about his past out of fear. It only got worst after the Zhao generation ascended: without Sun Zhaoli's presence, he had to fight even harder for his rights.

That day he picked Luo Binghe for his peak. Sun Zhaoli waved his hand and the smoke showed Shen Qingqiu in his bamboo house. He put tea leaves into the pot he was preparing for Luo Binghe to brew, then after some consideration, he took out a pouch of medicine and added a scoop of herbs into the pot as well.

“A mix of silverseal, millennial roots and hundred night flowers. This particular mix promotes quick healing and better metabolism.”

Luo Binghe brewed the tea for Shen Qingqiu. Shen Qingqiu drank it and held the cup in his hand for a moment, before throwing it onto Luo Binghe. With Sun Zhaoli's help, Luo Binghe saw how Shen Qingqiu used his qi to lower the temperature of the tea.

“..He couldn't just give it to me normally?”

“That would make you want to cling to him, won't it? Exactly what he doesn't want.”

Shen Qingqiu spent a few all nighters creating a manual for Luo Binghe. Luo Binghe dragged Sun Zhaoli over to look at what Shen Qingqiu was writing. It was physical cultivation manual, a way of cultivation that suited Luo Binghe. A way of cultivation Qing Jing cannot teach.

“I never got this!” Luo Binghe yelled. “Why would he put so much effort into it if he's not going to give it to me?!”

“Didn't he? Or did something happen?”

The next scene showed Ming Fan holding the manual Shen Qingqiu had written, reading through it with a frown. Luo Binghe's eyes darkened upon seeing Ming Fan. The boy was murmuring to himself, “This is not the same cultivation manual?” He pulled out a copy of his own manual to compare them. “The cover looks the same, did shizun make a mistake..?”

“Ming shixiong!”

Ming Fan startled, carelessly putting both the manuals on top of the firewood next to him before hurrying to his shimei's side. Luo Binghe watched as the manual Shen Qingqiu had written for him wobbled before sliding off to the back, wedging itself between the firewood where no one can see.

Luo Binghe watched it all unblinkingly.

“Ming gongzi ah, I found this manual on the firewood.” A kitchen staff came over to give the spiritual cultivation manual to Ming Fan after he came back from whatever his shimei had called him for. “Be more careful! Peak lord Shen would be mad if his newest disciple doesn't get his manual.”

“Right, sorry and thank you!”

This had been something Sun Zhaoli found after some prodding. He never found out what happened to the real manual, but his best guess was it got used as firewood. Such an unfortunate thing to happen, and while it wasn't as worse as what Luo Binghe originally thought Ming Fan did, it doesn't change it was still Ming Fan's fault.

“Doesn't change the fact he's a bully.” Luo Binghe clenched his fists.

“Yes, but at least you know the manual was an unfortunate accident now.”

The scene changed. Three boys beat teen Luo Binghe into the ground. Ming Fan grabbed his jade guanyin and threw it into the forest of bamboo. “Get up and fight like a man!” He spat out. Sun Zhaoli raised his hand at Ming Fan's direction and projected his thoughts out loud.

“What do I tell shizun if you're preforming poorly like this? That Luo Binghe haven't improved after all this time he's been on Qing Jing? Shizun said you're a physical cultivator, act like it!”

“Fuck,” Ming Fan's mouth said instead, “Waste of time. Lao Wang, Jianyu, let's go.”

Not long after teen Luo Binghe and Ning Yingying left as well, Shen Qingqiu came into view. He had been taking a stroll when he heard some commotion, so he came to check. He stepped on a jade guanyin. Shen Qingqiu picked it up and returned to his bamboo house with it when he saw there was no one near. He didn't know it was Luo Binghe's, and kept the jade guanyin in a lacquered box.

It never left the box ever again.

The scene shifted again. Liu Qingge had a Qi deviation. Liu Qingge attacked Shen Qingqiu. Liu Qingge died.

“Would anyone have believed him?” Sun Zhaoli said mournfully. “Instead of making it seem like he's just looking for excuses, he chose to not say anything.”

“I choose Luo Binghe.” Shen Qingqiu's eyes were steady when he said that. He turned to teen Luo Binghe. “Go on, why are you dallying for?”

Teen Luo Binghe's duel with TianChui. The duel he shouldn't have survived. The exact moment he realized Shen Qingqiu was trying to get rid of him. But with what's happened so far, was it really? Or was it just Luo Binghe's intrusive thoughts, his unnecessary thinking again?

“I'm not completely sure, but most of TianChui's techniques were physically based. Look around us, out of the Qing Jing, Xian Shu, and Qiong Ding disciples present, how many actually cultivates physically?”

Luo Binghe actually looked around. Qing Jing was out of the question; Xian Shu focused more on supporting than actual combat; Qiong Ding disciples were all-rounders, but before getting a sword, they're limited to spiritual cultivation. At this very moment, Shen Qingqiu had made a decision and deemed teen Luo Binghe the most suitable to fight TianChui, as Shen Qingqiu believed he was a physical cultivator.

Shen Qingqiu wasn't throwing Luo Binghe to die— In fact, he had given Cang Qiong the highest chance to win against Sha Hualing. He had been doing his job as the sect's tactician.

Luo Binghe swallowed hard. The more he knew, the more it was harder to digest. The things he did started to make his skin crawl. Sun Zhaoli's shout of him being a blind and brash dumbfuck was undeniably true.

“I think this will be hard for you,” Sun Zhaoli said as the smoke lost its shape, returning them to a void of nothingness. “It will go against everything you are right now.”

The smoke vibrated to life once again, creating a path surrounded by trees. Luo Binghe could smell the ash and the demonic qi, and he could see that ledge and the two figures standing there—

Luo Binghe tried to bolt in the other direction. He yanked on Sun Zhaoli's arm, silently begging him to let go, but Sun Zhaoli's grip on him was tight. Even when it had been a long time, the feelings he wore on his sleeve was still too fresh on Luo Binghe's mind. He liked to think he was over this particular event. but in reality? He had just been pushing it to the back of his mind, unwilling to address anything.

“If you let go of my arm, you'll never see the truth,” Sun Zhaoli calmly said. “Do you want to continue living a lie? Believe that you've been abandoned by the world?”

He didn't want to, none of that. He knew there was some logic behind Shen Qingqiu's actions. Demons can survive in the Endless Abyss. Live and thrive, even. And Luo Binghe was half of them and therefore he can survive.

But that moment. Then and there, Luo Binghe had experienced true heartbreak. He had let go of the hope that Shen Qingqiu somehow still cared for him, just like how Shen Qingqiu let go of him, pushed him without batting an eye. Heartbreak could be considered a light way to put it. It has felt as though his heart just stopped pumping, and he could feel it just.. disappear from his senses. It became nothing but a thing that kept him from death.

That was why they're here, wasn't it?

“I'm a coward. I'm a coward, Sun Zhaoli..” Luo Binghe buried his face into Sun Zhaoli's robes. “I don't know what to do— I won't know what to do after this. I survived to spite Shen Qingqiu, I wanted to prove him wrong.. but now I see, there was nothing to take revenge on..”

Luo Binghe's fingers dug into Sun Zhaoli's thigh. “I'll kill myself. I'll go and find out where I was birthed and I'm going to kill myself. I shouldn't exist in the first place..”

“Shh,” Sun Zhaoli knelt down and took Luo Binghe's little hands in his. He brushed away the tear track on Luo Binghe's chubby check. “I was a coward too, but here I am, aren't I? Those things you've done, it will never happen here. I'll make sure of it.”

Luo Binghe searched Sun Zhaoli's face for lies. Perhaps his mind penetrating skills were faltering, because he couldn't find any cracks in Sun Zhaoli's words and mind.

“..A pinky promise?” Luo Binghe asked softly. They locked eyes.

Sun Zhaoli saw Shen Jiu in those shimmering ruby pools. Two sides of the same coin. Both only needed another chance to be able to flourish fully, to reach their full glory. Sun Zhaoli had already polished one side of the coin, it was time for him to work on the other side as well.

“Of course. Promise,” Sun Zhaoli agreed just as softly. They linked fingers.

--

Shen Qingqiu fell to his knees after pushing Luo Binghe into the Endless Abyss.

He finally allowed himself to drop the act of fierce eyes and furrowed brows, staring emptily at the chasm that connected the mortal realm to this hellhole at his feet. Clenching his trembling hands — with these hands he's pushed his disciple to the only way to survive — he took out the dagger from his boot and dropped down into the depths of the Abyss.

Survive. Thrive. Live. Don't you dare come back. Unless you want to die.

Something brushed against his back, light as a feather. He turned around to find no one. But the winds picked up and the burnt trees rustled, bringing a whisper that never reached his ears.

--

That dagger. The one that accompanied Luo Binghe through most of his time in the Endless Abyss. He knew since the start it was too well crafted to be something randomly found in the Abyss.

He slipped his hand out of Sun Zhaoli's and stepped close to dreamscape Shen Qingqiu.

As the dreamscape started to disintegrate, Luo Binghe hovered his hand over Shen Qingqiu's shoulder, quite afraid to touch him even when this Shen Qingqiu was just an image. This dark future wouldn't exist anymore, but he felt the need to say it. To say it so he can bear to look at Shen Jiu — not Shen Qingqiu — in the eyed and not feel this tremendous guilt anymore.

“This doesn't fully excuse what you did, but it makes a lot more sense now. For all it's worth, I'm sorry.”

With all the courage he had, Luo Binghe took another step and hugged Shen Qingqiu. More and more of the dreamscape disappears but Luo Binghe didn't mind. He wished to watch to the every end, knowing Shen Qingqiu didn't loathe him, and that was enough for Luo Binghe already.

“Thank you, shizun,” He whispered as the dream came to an end.

--

Chapter Text

“Zhaoli, come here.”

Sun Zhaoli fiddled with his sleeve as he went to sit beside Madame Yun. The anxiety of becoming peak lord was finally creeping up to him as the remaining days passed, he found himself dwelling in intrusive thoughts. The Qian generation was ascending in two days, everyone had been busy with celebrations and preparations, especially the upcoming Zhao generation.

Madame Yun smiled, “Our little dawn, don't be nervous. You'll be a great peak lord.”

“What's a hundred year to us immortals? Nothing.” Rong Qianwang shooked his head. “Li'er would be back with us before you know it.”

“I just.. don't know if I'm the right person for this.”

They both looked at Sun Zhaoli, then at each other, some disbelief in their features, before Madame Yun chuckled. “See? I told you our Li'er takes after you. The same irrational thoughts go through your heads.”

Rong Qianwang rolled his eyes at Madame Yun's teasing pokes, but his slight smile gave away his affection for her.

“Li'er, we don't blindly pick our successors. Do you think you became peak lord just because we consider you our child?”

Sun Zhaoli fidgeted. “No.”

“Then, no matter if it's for yourself, for the sect, or for the entire Jianghu, you have to believe in your abilities. Always remember that choosing a future peak lord is not something done in a wimp.”

“Yes, shizun.”

Such fondness in their eyes, Sun Zhaoli felt like a child under their gaze. Sun Zhaoli had never been close to his biological family, and he was thankful that void was filled by his shizun and shimu. He won't know where he would be now without them.

Madame Yun nudged Rong Qianwang. “Hey, let's tell him about that.”

Rong Qianwang shot her a side eye. “That?”

“Li'er's not a babble mouth, he won't spill anything even when threatened!”

“That's still quite risky.”

“No one would know if we don't tell,” Madame Yun smiled mischievously, “We should tell someone from the Zhao generation just in case, what if he decides to show himself to them? What then?”

“I'm sure someone would recognise him,” Rong Qianwang replied in exasperation.

“Just in case, Wang ah.” Madame Yun gave Rong Qianwang no more room to reason as she waved for Sun Zhaoli to come closer.

“Li'er, you know we're ascending early because your zhangmen shibo went missing, right?” She grinned when Sun Zhaoli nodded. “Well, let me tell you..” Madame Yun took both Sun Zhaoli and Rong Qianwang's shoulders, tugging them close so she can drop her voice to a whisper.

--

It felt as though he's been hit by five different bricks in three different parts of his head.

“Is he awake? Is Baba awake?” “He's waking up, quiet down A-Wu.” “Shizun..?” “It's been a few days, give shizun some time.”

The chittering reached Sun Zhaoli's ears easily. He opened his eyes slightly, just to shut them immediately, because damn was it bright. Why was there an open window right next to him? He grumbled. Tiredly, he raised one hand above his eyes to block out the light, blinking blearily untill he can open his eyes fully.

“Peak lord Sun?”

“Yes,” He croaked. “Is there something wrong?”

The healer chuckled, “Of course not. You're healthy and your injuries had been tended to,” She turned to her side to nag at someone, “I've left medicine for peak lord Sun. Be mindful of the schedule.”

Sun Zhaoli groggily sat up. The pain in his head was subsiding already, so that's good. He turned to his right, only to realise the healer had left and his five disciples were standing there, staring at him.

The gremlin rushed up and pounced onto him, tumbling into his lap with some whimpers and tears. Sun Zhaoli let him, petting his hair. The entire thing was so Sun Shiwu like, Sun Zhaoli couldn't find any heart to remind Sun Shiwu of his peak lord image.

Sun Zhaoli waved the other four disciples over, “What are you lot doing? Come.”

A wave of "shizun" filled the room. The girls immediately rushed over to Sun Zhaoli's side to hold his hand, asking if he's okay again and again despite the healer's words. Shen Jiu physically shoved Sun Shiwu aside to hug him too. Yan Xiazhe awkwardly put his arms around Sun Zhaoli before pulling back, opting to smile in relief.

The only one left standing at the entrance was.. Luo Binghe. For some reason, he was still tiny, a little child. Sun Zhaoli guessed that the effects of the Addiex sword hasn't worn off yet.

Luo Binghe stared at the scene before him. He felt like an intruder, like he shouldn't belong in this heartwarming moment, so he was frozen. He didn't know what he's supposed to do, supposed to feel. He was thankful Cang Qiong hasn't kicked him away as soon as they were out of the Lenggu Mountains, and the ones who do know his real identity had kept their mouths sealed, but with Sun Zhaoli awake now, he feared it was going to change soon enough.

Sun Zhaoli gently shook Chang Meixian's hand off his arm, waving to Luo Binghe. Instantly, all the disciples' eyes were on the small heavenly demon.

Luo Binghe didn't mean to shrink away. Really, he didn't, but he does because it was unexpected. Sun Zhaoli's eyes held a gentleness to them. Luo Binghe had forgiven, and he was forgiven too. The dam inside him finally collapsed when Sun Zhaoli, carefully and softly, said: “You, too.”

The disciples gave way for Luo Binghe to cry into Sun Zhaoli's shoulder. Mercifully, never commenting even as he wailed like a baby.

So this is what a fulfilling warmth felt like.

--

Sun Zhaoli had to stop Du Zhaosong from lunging directly at Qianxi Sheng. It would be rude to attack an ally, and also because it was inappropriate, as Qianxi Sheng was still a woman, even though a demon.

A combined glare from Sun Zhaoli and Shen Jiu stopped Liu Mingyu from doing the same. Seriously, brutes.

Unsurprisingly, the reinforcements arrived were Bai Zhan. Even more unsurprisingly, it was just Du Zhaosong and Liu Mingyu. Du Zhaosong had probably trashed half of his peak without Sun Zhaoli around, and the only one well enough to keep up with him was Liu Mingyu. So that's that.

“More tea, Sun shibo?” Wen Xuan smiled sweetly, filling up Sun Zhaoli's cup without waiting for a reply.

According to Shen Jiu, Zhong Zhaokai had went crazy seeing Wen Xuan still alive, then absolutely lost his mind after knowing Wen Xuan was Qianxi Sheng's spouse, shared with Linguang Jun. Thankfully, that's about as bad as it got. In the end, Zhong Zhaokai just sighed and accepted everything with grace. Because "as long as Xuan is fine, this master will be too", Zhong Zhaokai's exact words, as told by Shang Zhen. Surely, Zhong Zhaokai must've also thought about what a great business opportunity this was, like the true business man he is.

(An Ding would do anything to get what they want, much like Yin Hui.)

Qianxi Sheng was less likely to target the mortal realm with Wen Xuan by her side. Linguang Jun and Mobei Jun too, Sun Zhaoli narrowed his eyes at Shang Zhen, who was sitting way too close to Mobei Jun.

Sun Zhaoli thanked Wen Xuan quietly. Both for the tea, and for his choice of spouse(s). While a little skeptical about Linguang Jun, Sun Zhaoli had read somewhere that Qianxi Sheng is compassionate — at least, for a heavenly demon — and the most peaceful out of all the heavenly demon clans. Wen Xuan himself wasn't weak either, so with both him and Qianxi Sheng keeping Linguang Jun in check..

“We don't want to fight,” Qianxi Sheng started, “I'm sure we wouldn't be here peacefully if we wanted to fight.”

“I know,” Sun Zhaoli nodded.

“I'm sure you can keep him in check, right? He's not even supposed to be here anyways,” Qianxi Sheng pointed Luo Binghe. She continued after Sun Zhaoli nodded again, “This had been an unpleasant situation for us all. I'd say, let bygones be bygones.”

(Translation: it's your fault in the first place, but I'll let it slide.)

“I agree.”

“Say so if there's any objections.” Qianxi Sheng looked at each and every one of them in the room. Of course, there were none. However, Luo Binghe raised his little hand, “I have a question.” Qianxi Sheng raised an eyebrow, prompting him to speak.

“Did your stupid sword malfunction? Why am I still a child?”

The two immediately broke into a bicker. It was playful banter — quite aggressive, but playful in a way only demons can. If Luo Binghe and Qianxi Sheng were actually arguing, they would probably be stabbing each other already. Their bickering ended with Qianxi Sheng turning away to hug Wen Xuan and Luo Binghe climbing onto Shen Jiu's lap with a huff. Liu Mingyu leaned over and flicked Luo Binghe's forehead, causing Luo Binghe to snap his teeth at Liu Mingyu's hand.

The disciples' side erupted into chaos as they tried to stop the two from fighting each other.

«Children.» Du Zhaosong shook his hand. Sun Zhaoli secretly snorted. Look how cute they are, bonding already.

--

Midnight. The demon servant hastily bowed to Sun Zhaoli before scurrying away. He was left alone in the deeper parts of Qianxi Sheng's domain. Candlelight can be seen flickering from the room before him, the wax paper of the door obscuring everything inside.

Interestingly, Sun Zhaoli found the candlelight of the room more brighter than the light of the candle he's holding. It wasn't the warm, orange glow of normal fire.

It was an abnormal, almost electrical yellow.

Sun Zhaoli tapped on the wooden frame of door with his fingertips and it swung open immediately. Accompanying the opening of the door was a strong blast of air, scorching yet chilly at the same time. Surrounded by the yellow blaze was a masked demon, splayed out so artfully Sun Zhaoli had to do a double take, because it seriously took him by surprise.

Please cover your chest, sir. Or at least pull your robe over your shoulders?? Do you wear nothing other than an outer robe??

Lines of yellow ran up the heavenly demon's shoulders and neck, up his jawline and ended at his forehead, where a golden star bloomed. Even behind the mask, with Sun Zhaoli unable to see his eyes, he could still feel the piercing gaze. Whatever this was, Sun Zhaoli.. wasn't interested.

“Hello there,” the demon purred, “I've been expecting you, peak lord Sun.”

Sun Zhaoli casted a quick glance to his left, calculating how many steps it would take for him to run back down the corridor he came from.

The demon chuckled, “Maybe seven steps. maybe ten, who knows?

“..Jingxi Jun, what a surprise.”

Smirking, Jingxi Jun finally straightened his robes and covered his chest up. He placed a hand on his mask, but doesn't remove it just yet. “I just want to make sure — does peak lord Sun know who I am?”

Of course, Madame Yun had told Sun Zhaoli everything. In his first life, he's never met Jingxi Jun before, so he never got to put the information given by Madame Yun to the test. Sun Zhaoli honestly thought Madame Yun had said all those things to tease him for one last time or something.. But, her words were true. Turned out, they were all true.

“I knew Yunyun would tell you. She always have to tell another person other than Qianwang.”

“If you can read this one's mind, then why ask?”

“One can never be too sure about who another tells their secret to.” Jingxi Jun finally slid his mask off.

Sun Zhaoli recognised his face well. Although, his eyes had went from a yellowish brown — like light caught in solid amber — to a full gold. It reminded Sun Zhaoli of a moon before an eclipse. He looked so familiar yet so different, Sun Zhaoli wondered if Madame Yun never told him about this, would he still recognise Jingxi Jun as..

Sze Qianxun placed his mask down gently, smiling mischievously. “I think this counts as a reunion, Sun shizhi.”

“I can't say I'm surprised, Zhangmen shibo.”

--

Chapter Text

The endless abyss was said to have opened near a village. Most of the peak lords agreed to come along, while the remaining few were either unavailable or would be little to no use being there. They put their head disciples in charge and set off.

As soon as they step foot within the forests, it was as if they've put a target on their own backs. They decided against moving separately as the attacks were increasing, the peak lords who went alone were told to regroup immediately. Fights got harder and harder; violet mist shrouded them, getting thicker and thicker; the smell settled unease into their stomachs.

And there it was. The gates of hell. And then it was, where everything went wrong.

Rong Qianwang yelled for his shixiong to step away from the edge but he didn't listen, as if possessed. Sze Qianxun tore his eyes away from the abyss and frowned. “I guess this is it, huh?”

“Zhangmen shixiong, this is not the time to play pranks on us! Get away from the endless abyss!” Yi Qianwen had her celestial ribbon in hand, the fabric wrinkling in her tight grip. Sze Qianxun looked at her, all the calmness of the realm seemed to have reflected on his face.

“Thank you for accompanying me here, all my shidi and shimei.”

The five peak lords watched as a brilliant yellow mark appeared on Sze Qianxun's forehead. His eyes, normally a light brown, was now the same yellow. They glowed through the mist that rapidly thickens, circling around the peak lords as the abyss crackles to life, eager to welcome a heavenly demon.

“Cang Qiong mountain sect has the gratitude of the Jingxi clan.”

Sze Qianxun smiled. The sharpness of his teeth was prominent, glinting. Gu Qianzhi had always known it wasn't normal whenever he went through his shixiong's checkups at Qian Cao, but he overlooked it because there was just no way..

Yet there they are. The five peak lords held on each other as Sze Qianxun leaped backwards into the endless abyss in a flurry of black robes, chasing after him was the suffocating mist threatening to blow them away. The endless abyss shone red before it started to close.

Rong Qianwang, along his martial siblings, took to the skies as the forests surrounding the abyss started to cave in, watching as the ground returned to what it should have been before.

Six left, and five returned.

--

Why was Sun Zhaoli here? He should be in bed, cuddling with Du Zhaosong. Not sitting here drinking wine with the former sect leader revealed to a heavenly demon, cringing from the awkwardness surrounding them. 

“I see you've gotten together with Du shizhi. Why do you scholars like warriors so much? Is there a charm to them?”

Sun Zhaoli raised a brow at Sze Qianxun, but he only waved his hand in dismissal.

“Since you're now Qing Jing peak lord, and I am no longer the sect leader, this shibo shall let you in on the juicy gossip I never had a chance to share with Rong Qianwang and Yunyun.” Sze Qianxun cackled. “Qianwang is going to be so mad, but what can he do? Come down from heaven and beat me?”

(Somewhere in heaven, Rong Qianwang sneezed.)

Sun Zhaoli nodded, politely taking the cup of wine offered. While Sun Zhaoli himself wasn't the biggest gossip monger, he had heard from Madame Yun that Sze Qianxun talked a lot and they would have afternoon tea once a week to "catch up".

The first few stories were nothing much. It was about some noble who got scammed by Sze Qianxun's underlings and somehow got exposed for cheating on his two wives and one husband with a middle aged man. Sze Qianxun talked about how he's been secretly observing Cang Qiong all this time and praised the Zhao generation for their good work, seeing as the sect hasn't collapsed yet.

For whatever reason, the topic suddenly shifted to HuanHua.

“I don't think anyone from yours or my generation knows, but I heard this from my demon old man..” Sze Qianxun leaned in, so Sun Zhaoli did too.

“The old palace master's name is Luo Guiyang.”

Sun Zhaoli gawked at him. Sze Qianxun cackled at his expression. A lot of thoughts went through his head and Sze Qianxun seemed to have picked up on every one of them.

“Right, right? There's nothing expensive about him. Just a pruney, phony man.” Sze Qianxun wrinkled his nose distastefully. “How do I know this? Well, Luo Guiyang tried to stab my old man a long time ago, and he can hold grudges for a lifetime.” He leaned his head back and took another sip from his cup. “I wonder what you think about that prune. I'm sure you've had your fair share of sect meetings, right?”

What he didn't know was that Sun Zhaoli was actually in shock. It couldn't just be a coincidence, right? There was only one Luo used as a surname, and Sze Qianxun's pronunciation sounded correct. Sun Zhaoli tried to gather his thoughts which were scattered everywhere.

“Ah, Luo Binghe. That pain in the ass.” He smiled when Sun Zhaoli raised an eyebrow. “We tried to keep him sealed, but your jump back to this past had messed up the Addiex sword's powers. So he escaped. That's why he's back here too.”

Sun Zhaoli frowned, “So you knew about that, too.”

Sze Qianzun nodded, his smile took an exasperated edge. “The realm was about to shatter under Luo Binghe's rage. And the remaining three of us protected what we could. We managed to seal him at his weakest, and we just barely survived. We rebuilt what we could, erased what we couldn't. So the past would remain the past.”

“And you've experienced that world, haven't you?” Sze Qianzun looked at him, all the wonder in his eyes. “A less dangerous place. Where everything is ‘normal’, and silly things like celestials, cultivators and demons only exists in storybooks and novels.”

“Yes,” Sun Zhaoli whispered, “It wasn't perfect, but I actually quite liked it.”

“Me too.” Sze Qianzun said, just as softly.

He then shook his head with a sigh, “Anyways, back to HuanHua. I would be very disappointed if we suddenly are on good terms with HuanHua. I would personally go and beat Zhaoyi up.”

“I'm not especially fond of them,” said Sun Zhaoli. While inside, he was seething. Wasn't the old palace master the one who encouraged Luo Binghe to get revenge?! "Not fond of them" was an understatement, yet Sun Zhaoli had always suppressed these negative feelings because he had a reputation to uphold.

But in front of someone who understands these feelings..

“I don't care about anything but Cang Qiong, if I'm being completely honest. While I'm not that petty to try and intentionally ruin a sect's reputation by spreading rumours, shizun had taught me to take advantage of any chance provided. Tell me all about Luo Guiyang, Sze shibo.”

Sze Qianxun smirked, “I swear, this HuanHua hate is hereditary.”

“I've noticed.”

“My shifu told me to hate HuanHua as well. At first, I actually did question why. I don't even hate them because Luo Guiyang is a pervert or something, it's actually because they really think they're better than us,” Sze Qianxun shook his head, scoffing. “Cang Qiong mountain sect, you know! In their dreams.”

Again, call Cang Qiong egotistic, but it was true. Do you see HuanHua specialising in beastiary, culinary, or artisans?

Sze Qianxun poured himself his tenth cup of wine. Sun Zhaoli had already stopped at his second— the palm wine was too strong for his tastes, even when it was fragrant and smooth to drink.

“Anyways, two years back, there was this scandal in HuanHua that old man got a daughter. Not even sure how, he should be senile for many decades already.”

The little palace mistress. Sun Zhaoli didn't know she was conceived around this period of time. So she was older than Luo Binghe? The way she acted though..

“That's not even the worst part. Apparently, he kicked the woman who birthed his daughter to the curb because she was of low status, and kept only the daughter.”

Sun Zhaoli audibly gasped at this. His opinion of the old palace master was low to begin with, the knowledge of such heartless and ruthless action just made him completely change views on that old fart. He can't imagine abandoning a woman who risked her life to carry and give birth to his child.

“They said he sent her away to a village near the Luo river— which is actually close by HuanHua, surprisingly. He's not scared that she'll take revenge on him?” Sze Qianxun clicked his tongue.

“How would she?” Sun Zhaoli pursed his lips. “No one would believe her.”

Sze Qianxun nodded sympathetically, them leered at Sun Zhaoli and grinned.

“Unless,” He scooted closer to Sun Zhaoli to poke his shoulder. “Unless..?”

Sun Zhaoli finally saw the devil his shizun used to describe the former sect leader as.

Sect leaders sure are great actors, it was quite unexpected. An example was Yao Zhaoyi, who put up the act of a regal sect leader while actually being the biggest idiot anyone's ever met within the safety of Cang Qiong's walls. Yao Zhaoyi was incredibly booksmart and that was about it.

He told Sze Qianxun just that. The former sect leader laughed.

“That's why Qiong Ding has all of the other peaks, don't we? Someone has to make up for what we lack.”

Sun Zhaoli snorted, agreeing once again.

--

“Madame Yun is from Bai Zhan?”

“Not just that, she was one of the candidates of head disciple too, but she didn't want the position of peak lord. She just really, really wanted Qianwang.”

“They could get married as peak lords too,” Sun Zhaoli pointed out.

“As a peak lord's spouse, she has almost the same authority and privileges as a peak lord, so it wasn't a lost for her.”

“The power of love, huh.”

“Power couple of the generation,” Sze Qianxun agreed.

--

Luo Binghe went quiet when Sun Zhaoli told him what he's learnt from Sze Qianxun. He silently confirmed his washermaid mother's surname to be Lee, and the people she worked for called her Qiying. She lived in a village near the Luo river, near HuanHua. That was where she had picked up little Binghe who was floating down the icy Luo river.

“What if she didn't name you Luo because it was the river she picked you up in? What if she was still longing for her daughter who was taken away from her— her daughter who she only got to name, Luo Mengmeng?”

Luo Binghe, who had finally recovered from the age regression caused by the Addiex sword, hugged himself.

Sun Zhaoli didn't blame him. If everything you thought you knew was destroyed and rebuilt into something morbidly different, Sun Zhaoli would feel the same. Luo Binghe's fragile walls had been broken down as soon as he realised the truth of everything that's happened. Sun Zhaoli wished to make sure Luo Binghe would never have to rebuild those walls ever again.

Sun Zhaoli gently guided Luo Binghe's head to his shoulder. It was an awkward angle since Luo Binghe was now much taller than Sun Zhaoli, but they both didn't mind.

“That doesn't mean she never loved you, however. I'm sure you've filled the void in her heart— being the child she never got to raise and giving her a chance to experience motherhood. She loved you tremendously.”

A small sniff reached his ears. Luo Binghe's bulky arms clumsily wrapped around Sun Zhaoli and clung onto him tight.

“I know,” Luo Binghe whispered. A teardrop fell on Sun Zhaoli's shoulder. “I know she did.”

They would find a way to bring justice to Lee Qiying.

--

Chapter Text

“You should hide your mark,” Sun Zhaoli said before they landed on at the outskirts of the village near Luo river.

He had snatched this mission from Ye Zhaoqi's hands. She was dead set on taking the mission untill Sun Zhaoli mentioned HuanHua and she had let go of it like she touched shit or something. Sun Zhaoli knew the mission he traded with Ye Zhaoqi would benefit her peak more than some water ghoul problem.

Yes, the mission was regarding a sudden change in the waters of a village's river. Demon spottings had became more frequent according to those who lived nearby. The villagers suspected it was caused by water ghouls and asked for help.

For a village so close to HuanHua, it sure has a lot of problems that could have been solved a long time ago if HuanHua wasn't an asshat sect.

“I never knew our village had water ghoul problem,” Luo Binghe said.

“Have you ever noticed how despite having a river closer to the village, the villagers still go to the Luo river to wash clothes or take water?”

“To be fair, I didn't even notice there's another river here.”

Sun Zhaoli shook his head disapprovingly.

“Zhaoqi did not care if it was a ghoul or not, she simply just threw shimmered a newly made poison into the water and left it that way.”

Of course, Ye Zhaoqi had been discrete. She called for some backup to seal up the contaminated waters not long after, talking about how HuanHua's unethical practices has caused both the initial problems and the poisoning problem. Unfortunately, her poison was so potent that villagers were advised to not use the waters anymore.

Wrinkles appeared between Luo Binghe's eyebrows. “Why?”

“Yin Hui hates HuanHua. I always say that Yin Hui is more of a cult than a peak.”

“She did that.. because the river flows near HuanHua?” Sun Zhaoli was understanding of the disbelief on Luo Binghe's face.

“You must know, however, HuanHua once stole a developing formula from the Yin Hui peak lord of the Dang generation. They made a colossal commotion, the largest the entirety of Jianghu had ever seen, and pinned all the blame on Yin Hui. It's taken them hundreds of years to clear their name, even with testimonies and support from others.”

People could have resentment for anything. You cannot forgive if there was no apology in the first place.

“She just wanted this mission because it's the easiest out of the bunch. I could potentially drop a cleansing talisman into the river and return to the sect to enjoy a long week of rest, who wouldn't want that?”

“And you're going to do just that?” Luo Binghe asked with a smile.

Du Zhaosong wouldn't be returning from his mission for a while. Yan Xiazhe was busy learning demonic arts for his demonic sword from Sze Qianxun. Shen Jiu and Sun Shiwu should be busy gaining some experience in handling peak matters with Sun Zhaoli gone.

Besides, Sun Zhaoli wasn't here only for the mission. He wouldn't bring along Luo Binghe if he was.

“Let's find Lady Lee after this.”

“Our house is just right over there,” Luo Binghe pointed at the rooftops just visible from where they were, “so you can imagine how hard it was for mama to haul laundry all the way to the Luo river.”

“When we're done with this, she wouldn't have to anymore.”

--

It was not a water ghoul.

Sun Zhaoli stared at the little green snake, and the little green snake stared back at him from where it was being held hostage in Luo Binghe's hands.

This little green snake has been using the river as a way of transport without being detected. This specific specie of snakes secreted a layer of mucus on their scales to keep them suspended in water, which caused the waters to change, and the scent drew lower demons to the river. Which the villagers mistook as water ghoul activities.

Luo Binghe shook the snake aggressively.

“You're Zhuzhi, aren't you? I didn't know you were a water snake!”

Sun Zhaoli shook his head. “Stop that. That's not Zhuzhi Lang, he's not this small.” Sun Zhaoli reached a hand out, waiting for Luo Binghe to pass him the snake.

Sensing it's been let go, the snake nudged Sun Zhaoli's fingers for a bit before slithering forward onto his arm.

The snake came close to Sun Zhaoli's face, flicking its tongue and moving slowly like it was trying to see if it recognized him.

He set the little snake on the grass and fed it a piece of meat from the meat bun they were going to have for lunch. It gobbled the meat up almost instantly, then looked at the duo expectantly. The soft bun bonked the snake directly on the head when Luo Binghe tossed the meat bun at it.

It looked offended. Luo Binghe pretended not to notice.

“Please refrain from using this river again. It's caused quite a few problems.”

The snake hissed and flicked its tongue a few times again, but still slithered away carrying the bun.

After sending the snake on its way, Luo Binghe seemed to have recalled something and turned to Sun Zhaoli, who was estimating how many cleansing talismans he needed to restore the water.

“Do you think Tianlang Jun knows about me?”

Sun Zhaoli glanced at him. If his memory served him correctly, Tianlang Jun had never been unsealed after the siege. His eyes averted back to the waters.

“.. Probably not. It's most likely he spent the rest of his life thinking he was betrayed.”

Tianlang Jun was never unsealed. Luo Binghe shouldn't know about him. Sun Zhaoli's head snapped towards Luo Binghe.

Luo Binghe scratched his neck with a chuckle, as if his look of skepticism was expected. “XinMo sent me a long way before I managed to get here.”

“..Must have been tough for you.”

“Hm,” Luo Binghe shrugged, “I'm used to it. Have you met him before?”

“Well, I am part of the reason he got sealed away in the first place. I sure hope he didn't regress like us, because that will make everything a lot harder.”

“If he did, I think he would have annihilated you a long time ago.”

It was Sun Zhaoli's turn to shrug, “True.”

--

“We shall be staying here for two days to observe the change in the waters.”

Luo Binghe said Lee Qiying wouldn't hesitate to accept them into her house, and he was right. What Sun Didn't expect was how she looked, as she supposedly died of a strange illness plaguing her for years.

She is a healthy woman in her late thirties, with no visible signs of ill health. They had just watched her haul two full baskets of laundry with no problems at all.

How could someone like her deteriorate so much in the few years leading up to her death?

Lee Qiying hurriedly wiped her wet hands. “This lowly one is honoured. Please, come in!”

Her house was nothing grand, just a cozy hut with everything a person would need to survive. She went into the kitchen and brought out a bowl of fruit, ushering both her guests to the table. “Please have this while I prepare some food, this was quite sudden.”

They don't touch the fruits, but Sun Zhaoli immediately noticed something else on the table.

“Lady Lee, what is this?”

Lee Qiying looked alarmed at Sun Zhaoli pointing out the small basket, “That's a care package, from.. a relative, yes.”

Sun Zhaoli eyed the golden fabric lining the inside of the basket. There was only one sect who used such gaudy fabrics.. HuanHua was definitely using these "care packages" to bribe Lee Qiying and keep her from saying anything bad about them.

Sun Zhaoli glanced at Luo Binghe, who subtly nodded. As Sun Zhaoli distracted Lee Qiying by offering to help her in the kitchen, Luo Binghe opened up the flap of the basket to peek at the contents inside.

He felt some comfort seeing some familiar from his childhood: these care packages his mother received biweekly, containing food and sometimes fabrics that could be made into clothes or simple bags. It wasn't much, but it had been a lot when he was still a child. He leaned in closer to inspect the basket, before he froze, eye widening.

There was a strange scent coming from the basket. The scent was familiar— it was a fragrance that filled their home everyday. Something that smelled sweet, but not too overwhelming, and he recalled how taking a deep whiff of it would send little chills down the back of his throat.

Luo Binghe had not realized it before.

A thousand thoughts ran through Luo Binghe's head, all at once. All the puzzle pieces clicked and clicked before his eyes, snapping into their rightful places. And everything made sense.

No wonder when one of his wives tried to poison him in the past, Luo Binghe had spared her, as he was strangely reminded of the woman who took him in. 

It was the fragrance of elkflowers, which their pollen carried the incurable lungrot disease.

He reached into the basket and pushed all the contents to one side, not hesitating to tear into the lining. An elkflower laid there, releasing hundreds and thousands of golden pollen, undetectable due to the equally golden fabric surrounding it. The feeling of the pollen invading his nose sent shudders through his body.

A small dose of elkflower pollen can't kill anyone, but what if someone had been inhaling such pollen for years?

Dripping water can pierce a stone, especially if the stone does not go anywhere and is oblivious to its situation.

Lee Qiying had died of lungrot, slowly and unknowingly poisoned by the fine pollen of elkflowers hidden in plain sight. All the medicine she had bought with what little money she made from selling handmade clothes and bags had been useless. Lungrot was not discovered untill several decades after her death. Even after then, there was no found cure.

Luo Binghe closed his fingers around the source of death. He thought of destroying it, but given the circumstances now.. there just might be a chance to develop a cure.

(Lee Qiying shouldn't have to die this time, Luo Binghe will make sure of that.)

That old fart will pay for everything he's done.

--