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Shen Yuan hurt. He thrashed in pain and confusion, caught and held by many hands. He tried to cry out but nothing came out but blood and bile. For a second he couldn’t breathe, and panic spiked.
Force thundered through him in a wave, tumbling him like a pebble in a tsunami.
He heaved and coughed, something thick and salty splattering violently out of his mouth.
“Shixiong!” “Zhangmen-shixiong!” he heard the crowd around him calling.
“Everyone move back!” an authoritative voice said. “Give him some room.”
Something wound through him like a calm breeze. Shen Yuan forced his eyes to focus, staring dumbly at the handsome man in a period piece getup in front of him. Even the silly little moustache somehow worked for him. The man had one hand on his wrist, and was starting to frown at him.
“Zhangmen-shixiong, how are you feeling?” the new man asked.
“He coughed up blood, how do you think he’s feeling?” someone from the peanut gallery commented.
“Thank you, Wei-shidi,” the man – doctor – in front of Shen Yuan said dryly, not even turning to look.
“Uh-” Shen Yuan managed, head still spinning. Something moved, coming into his field of view from behind, and he turned, started, only to come face to face with the prettiest man he’d ever seen.
“Yue-Zhangmen?” the doctor repeated.
Shen Yuan was busy trying frantically to reboot his brain. He at least had enough presence of mind not to say anythig like “gee what neat costumes” or “so where are the cameras?” because he was rapidly coming to the conclusion that he had, in fact, transmigrated.
Jackpot!
Actinic blue light strobed right into his eyes, along with a metallic screech echoing right in his ear, making him hiss and pull back. It stopped after a moment, thank fuck, but now the doctor was looking at him with even more concern. Trying to downplay his actions, he shook his head and ran his hand over his face.
“Apologies, ah, what happened?” he asked. There, a nice safe question, he hoped.
“Zhangmen-shixiong had a qi deviation,” the doctor explained, concern still writ large on his face. “A fairly severe one.”
Zhangmen- he was a sect leader?? Shit. That was way more responsibility than he wanted. Well, nothing he could do about that right now.
[Congratulations, congratulations, congratulations, system AUTomatically triggERED-D-D-D!] a stuttering automated voice blared in his ear. He only just managed not to startle badly.
‘Not now!’ he thought at the bright blue screen of what had to be his transmigration system. Nobody seemed frozen in time, so it apparently wasn’t one of those types of Systems, and he couldn’t afford to be even more spacey right now. He’d deal with the glitchy thing later.
Qi deviation, huh? That gave him a little leeway. “Apologies again, this one is still a little...muddled,” he said.
“Of course. If Zhangmen-shixiong would be willing to come to Qian Cao, this Mu could perform a better exam, and provide some teas to help.
Qian Cao? Mu?
“Thanking Mu-daifu,” Shen Yuan said, desperately trying to match those names with any known show, movie, book, or web-serial. They were familiar, but-
[The System was successfully activated! Bound role: Luo Binghe’s- Luo-Luo-Luo-Luo-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-]
A metallic screech rang in his ear again. Clenching his teeth, he bowed his head and squeezed his eyes shut again. Goddamn glitchy piece of crap! Let him figure this out by himself, he was doing a better job than this two-bit Google clone- wait. LUO BINGHE??
[ERROR-ERROR-ERROR-]
Yes he got it!
[Error 223t55body.move incorrect shutting down for maintenance-32-038211] the blue screen that only Shen Yuan could see garbled at him, then winked out of existence. Good fucking riddance!
“Yue-zhangmen, can you hear this Mu?” came the doctor’s voice again, much more concerned this time. Shen Yuan- no, Yue Qingyuan felt a cool presence moving through his body – qi moving through his meridians, probably.
Because he was in Proud Immortal Demon Way! And fairly early, too!
...Wait. How early was he? He popped his head up, scanning the room around him.
“Yue-zhangmen?” Mu Qingfang asked again.
“Yes, yes, apologies,” Yue Qingyuan muttered absently. Doing a quick headcount, he came up with eleven fancily-dressed cultivators. Eleven plus him was twelve. That meant it was before the scum villain, Shen Qingqiu, got arrested. Wait. Twelve. One of these had to be the War God. If Liu Mingyan’s brother was still alive, that meant this was before Shen Qingqiu killed him, which meant Luo Binghe hadn’t gotten thrown into the abyss yet. Luo Binghe might not even be here yet! But what if he was? What if the War God was slated to be murdered in the next week?
The Original Goods had just suffered a qi deviation. Yue Qingyuan could probably get away with a fair amount right now.
“Shen-shidi,” he called. One of the prettier cultivators straightened up even more than he already had been, glaring phoenix eyes fixed on Yue Qingyuan.
“What?” Shen Qingqiu asked, acid and bile clear in his voice.
Yup, that was the scum villain, alright. Prettier than expected, but there was no mistaking that sneer. Even Yue Qingyuan, who doted on Shen Qingqiu and turned a blind eye to his philandering and child abuse didn’t rate a warm welcome.
“How is Luo Binghe doing?”
“What?” Shen Qingqiu asked, disgust and fury flashing in those eyes. His hand tightened on the fan he held. “What does the little beast have to do with this?”
“Nothing.” And everything. Yue Qingyuan smiled. “Let’s go visit Qing Jing peak, shall we?”
Shen Qingqiu’s eyes narrowed. “Zhangmen-shixiong wishes to invade this one’s peak without invitation once more? I see he is indeed back to full health.”
Shen Qingqiu! Don’t say it like that!
“This Mu is afraid he must insist on Yue-zhangmen accompanying him back to Qian Cao,” Mu Qingfain said repressively.
“Of course, of course,” Yue Qingyuan said amiably, flashing his placating smile, even though Mu Qingfang was ganging up on him! Unfairly! “This master merely wanted to attend to a small matter beforehand. Mu-shidi is welcome to come along, and this master will be happy to head to Qian Cao with him directly afterwards.”
“So, now Zhangmen-shixiong is inviting other people onto this master’s peak,” Shen Qingqiu snapped.
“A brisk walk will do us all good, and Mu-shidi will be there at all times to monitor this master,” Yue Qingyuan said with a smile, standing and getting ready to go. It was a testament to the original Yue Qingyuan’s presence that even the scum villain and the doctor fell in line with minimal grumbling.
Yue Qinguan kept his reaction of awe off his face as they left the building – there really was a wonderful view of Cang Qiong from the front steps of the meeting hall, all twelve peaks spread out like a painting in front of them, with the late afternoon sun drenching it in orange light and cultivators flitting here and there on their swords. Still, no lollygagging at a sight that was supposed to be old hat. He had to stay on task and try to avoid as much suspicion as possible.
“If Shen-shidi would lead the way,” Yue Qingyuan said, gesturing magnanimously ahead of them.
“No swordflight,” Mu Qingfang said repressively. On the one hand, Yue Qingyuan was extremely glad of that. Swordflight sounded awesome, but he’d never done it before, okay? He would have had to bullshit the whole thing, and he wasn’t sure he could do it without at least a little bit of practice. Falling on his face – or to his death – was not something he wanted to risk. On the other hand, Mu Qingfang was a wet-blanket and a spoilsport, boo! Yue Qingyuan had always liked the doctor character, don’t disappoint him now!
“Of course,” Yue Qingyuan said placidly, while Shen Qingqiu scoffed and started walking. It was...a longer walk than Yue Qingyuan had quite expected. It made sense, of course – they were walking across one mountain and then crossing a rainbow bridge across a great yawning gap from one mountain to another, before walking partway across another mountain. It was a good thing the Original Goods had been in good physical shape, Yue Qingyuan’s old body would have been huffing and puffing before they even got halfway. Score one for cultivation!
It was twilight by the time they got to the woodshed. Mu Qingfang’s eyebrows shot up when Shen Qingqiu brought them to a halt by its door.
“If the little beast isn’t here, then this master has no idea where the miscreant has gotten off to,” Shen Qingqiu sneered.
“Understood,” Yue Qingyuan said, opening the door. A blue screen flashed into being but vanished before Yue Qingyuan could make out anything written on it. Was the System rebooting, as promised? Shit, would it dock him points or something for removing Luo Binghe from Qing Jing peak? Better work fast.
On the floor, a small figure was huddled. Mu Qingfang brought out large glowing pebble- oh! A night pearl! It illuminated the young boy huddled under a thin blanket, staring up at them with fear and clutching the blanket to his chest.
Yue Qingyuan’s heart chilled as he looked at the innocent little lamb. Luo Binghe, still a white lotus, but already older than when he’d joined the sect. How much had Shen Qingqiu already abused him? Also, how could anyone look at that little face and put bruises on it?! Shen Qingqiu! You scum villain!
Glancing at Mu Qingfang, Yue Qingyuan recognized that frozen expression as a medical professional’s way of handling extreme situations. Shen Qingqiu just looked pissed off, because of course he did.
“Luo-shizhi, please stand up,” Yue Qingyuan said.
The glowing blue screen popped up again. [luo binghe must remain on qing jing peak] read the screen [luo binghe must remain on qing jing peak] it repeated, then vanished.
Or what, huh? Yue Qingyuan wanted to spit fire. He’d been so close! Luo Binghe’s bruised and terrified face chilled him to the core. Already so abused! Once the protagonist blackened, surely he would pay back all of that a hundred fold, and rightly so! Why, Yue Qingyuan himself had called for Shen Qingqiu’s castration, and cheered when Cang Qiong was razed to the ground. But that was before he had to live here!
“Shizhi,” Mu Qingfang breathed, then abandoned Yue Qingyuan without so much as a backward look. “May this shishu check Luo-shizhi’s meridians?” He asked, holding out a hand for Binghe’s wrist. The boy glanced at Shen Qingqiu, who only sneered at him, then at Yue Qingyuan, who gave him an encouraging nod. Holding his wrist out to Mu Qingfang, Binghe let himself be gently but efficiently checked over. That was good, Binghe needed some medical care, but would it be enough? Either he had to pull Binghe off Qing Jing in defiance of the System, or he had to make absolutely sure that Binghe would be treated well here.
“Luo-shizhi, where is your cultivation manual?” he asked.
Looking at Mu Qingfang for permission, Binghe quickly pulled away and produced his manual from under the rag he’d been using to cover it – he’d been using it as a pillow. Yue Qingyuan’s wanted to cry tears of blood. This little white sheep!
“If you wanted to expel him from the mountain, this master doesn’t see why Zhangmen-shixioing had to go through so much personal trouble for it,” Shen Qingqiu sneered, and Binghe froze, manual half-extended.
“Luo Binghe is not getting expelled from the mountain,” Yue Qinguan said, looking directly at Binghe and smiling gently, extruding trustworthy-older-brother vibes for all he was worth. “This master only needs to check something in his manual.”
“For what, the reason the little beast has failed to advance at all?” Shen Qingqiu asked, and Yue Qinguan, Binghe’s manual in hand, turned to face him.
There was anger and distaste there, but it didn’t seem like there was any guilt. The scum villain might just be very good at hiding things like guilt – that would fit. How to test it.
“Mu Qingfang, could this master borrow a night pearl?” Yue Qingyuan asked, and was given one of the several that the doctor had produced to better see as he inspected Binghe, which put the bruises on his arms, face, and even some on his chest on stark display. Binghe was thin, too – Yue Qingyuan could almost count his ribs under the makeshift bandages!
Swallowing back his anger at the display of abuse, Yue Qingyuan flipped the manual open to a random page, reading it and pretending that it made any sense to him. He let himself frown more and more as he continued reading, flipping to another page and frowning even more, before snapping the book shut and handing it to Shen Qingqiu.
“Shen-shidi expects his disciple to advance with this?”
Shen Qingqiu took the book with a frown. Opening it, he lifted his own night pearl and scanned a page or two. There wasn’t much reaction, but his eyes widened ever so slightly and his lips thinned as he slowed down, reading the book instead of just scanning it.
Yue Qingyuan had gambled, and it looked like it was paying off. He hid the cold flush of relief as Shen Qingqiu snapped the book shut, fury writ plain on the scum villain’s face. Yue Qingyuan had known that Binghe’s manual was defective. He’d assumed that Shen Qingqiu had done it deliberately, but even if he had, the risk that Yue Qingyuan would hand it to Mu Qingfang to check next meant that even he couldn’t pretend that the manual was fine.
A sharply indrawn breath had both of them turning back to Mu Qingfang. Binghe had been stripped to the waist and turned around, putting his back on display for everyone to see. Mu Qingfang held strips of dirty bandages in his hand. Healed and half-healed lash-marks littered Luo Binghe’s back, some of them still oozing.
Mu Qingfang looked up at Yue Qingyuan, ignoring Shen Qingqiu entirely, with an expression that shouted that if Yue Qingyuan didn’t do anything about this, Mu Qingfang sure as fuck would, and that he didn’t much care about the fallout.
Yue Qingyuan plucked Binghe’s manual from Shen Qingqiu’s hands and offered it to Mu Qingfang.
After only a few seconds of paging through it, Mu Qingfang stood, placing a hand on Binghe’s shoulder. He looked at Yue Qingyuan.
“Does Shen-shidi still claim Luo Binghe as his student?” Yue Qingyuan asked, aware of the System’s directive on one side and Mu Qingfang about to go absolutely ballistic on the other.
“Yes,” Shen Qingqiu bit out, showing his teeth.
“Then there will be some changes,” Yue Qingyuan said calmly, not smiling now. “Luo-shizhi will be given a cultivation manual better suited to him. He will be moved to the student dorms. Once a week for the next four months, and then once every two weeks from there on out, Luo Binghe will visit Qian Cao for a checkup.”
“This is my peak-” Shen Qingqiu snarled.
“It is. However, this Yue Qingyuan is the sect leader. That means that the health and well-being of everyone on it is this master’s responsibility.” He held Shen Qingqiu’s furious gaze, not flinching. Yue Qingyuan was trying to save Cang Qiong from getting destroyed and also incidentally his ungrateful martial sibling from getting human-sticked, shidi. After a long few seconds, it was Shen Qingqiu who broke their staring contest. Gentling his voice, Yue Qingyuan continued, “As long as Luo-shizhi receives the same opportunities and protections as any other student, that is the extent of this incident.”
“That-” Mu Qingfang started, obviously unhappy, then cut himself off, staring between the scum villain and his sect leader. His expression smoothed out, anger disappearing under a professional mask. “This Mu understands,” he said, keeping a gentle hand on Binghe’s shoulder. “However, Luo-shizhi will be coming back to Qian Cao to spend the night there for his injuries. He may return tomorrow morning.”
Shen Qingqiu was still visibly if subtly furious, but waved his closed fan in dismissal. “As Zhangmen-shibo has so graciously come to help this master’s disciple, how could he possibly refuse,” he sniped.
It was the best they were going to get. “Then, this master bids Shen-shidi goodnight,” Yue Qingyuan said, Mu Qingfang already gathering his night pearls and ushering Binghe out of the woodshed.
It was a long walk to Qian Cao, and Yue Qingyuan and Binghe both were starting to wilt a bit by the time they got there. Neither Mu Qingfang nor Binghe seemed to be in the mood for chatter, which he was grateful for.
Yue Qingyuan got left to sit alone in Mu Qingfang’s office-slash-workroom while the good doctor hustled Binghe off for a proper, better-lit checkup. It might have been a minute or an hour later when Mu Qingfang came back in, startling Yue Qinyuan out of his nap.
“Yue-Zhangmen, this Mu apologizes for making you wait,” Mu Qingfang said, pouring some tea for them.
“No matter, this master is glad that Mu-shidi was able to tend to Luo-shizhi’s injuries,” Yue Qingyuan said, hiding a yawn behind his hand before taking the offered tea. Mm, not bad.
“Mm. And Yue-Zhangmen is still set that Luo-shizhi should remain on Qing Jing?” Mu Qingfang asked.
Ugh. No but yes. “Where does Luo-shizhi wish to be?”
“Understood,” Mu Qingfang said after a short pause.
Yue Qingyuan wasn’t quite sure what Mu Qingfang thought he understood, but as long as he dropped the matter, that would be fine.
“Now, this Mu would like to conduct a few tests on Yue-zhangmen, in case of any lingering problems from the qi deviation,” Mu Qingfang said firmly.
Really? Now? Well he supposed he might as well get it over with. “As Mu-shidi wishes,” Yue Qingyuan said, offering his wrist.
That got a mild look of surprise. Fuck, was Yue Qingyuan usually a difficult patient? Not what he would have expected from the original goods, but fuck it.
“If Mu-shidi would be so good as to start, this master would like to get to bed sometime before dawn,” he added, hoping the gloss would be enough to defuse suspicion.
What followed was a test of Yue Qingyuan’s meridians, but also some physical exercises – for mobility, probably. What were qi deviations supposed to do to you, here? Sure, PIDW had covered some of Binghe’s while he was an older disciple, as well as during the Abyss arc and then at papapa-convenient times in the later plot, but Binghe was hardly a good baseline for how ordinary cultivators would be affected.
“Almost done,” Mu Qingfang said. “Only a few more questions. Could Yue-zhangmen recall which peak Liu-shidi heads?”
Ha, easy! “Bai Zhan, of course,” Yue Qingyuan said.
“Mn. And what is Ling You Peak’s primary export?”
Ling You? There was a beast peak? That had never been mentioned in PIDW! Shit, what would they export? “Hides and leather,” Yue Qingyaun guessed with all the confidence he could.
Mu Qingfang’s eyebrows jumped up a bit. “Manure,” he corrected. “The manure from spiritual animals, when properly treated, can ensure a bountiful harvest, and is much sought after.”
“Ah,” Yue Qingyuan said. That was a little undignified for a major export, surely? Under pretty much any other circumstances, that would be interesting world building, but not when he was in the hot-seat in front of the sect doctor!
“Next question. Where did Yue-zhangmen and this Mu meet for the first time.”
Yue Qingyuan railed internally. If he ever got ahold of Great Master Airplane, he’d surely hang him upside down by his heels for his shoddy world building and the absence of even naming all twelve peaks! “This master...has to admit that he does not recall,” Yue Qingyuan admitted, every word dragged out of him against his will.
Mu Qingfang frowned. “To be quite honest, this Mu had expected these questions to be nothing more than a formality, but since there is obviously some memory missing, can Yue-zhangmen tell this Mu if he knows the reason why Xuan Su must never be drawn?
Yue Qingyuan blinked at Mu Qingfang. Xuan Su must never be drawn? Since when?! Oh shit, was he about to get lore? Backstory?? Was he about to find out why the Original Goods had never drawn his sword during all of PIDW??? Even when going to his death in the trap orchestrated by Luo Binghe, the Original Goods had never drawn Xuan Su; Yue Qingyuan had assumed that was just shoddy writing, and railed in the comments accordingly.
“This master...does not,” he admitted. “If Mu-shidi could please explain?”
“Xuan Su is linked to Yue-zhangmen’s life. Not his qi, his life. When Yue-zhangmen was still a disciple, he made a dangerous decision – to draw Xuan Su before the sect leader had granted him leave to, before he was ready for any spiritual sword, to say nothing of such a powerful, dangerous, and storied blade.”
Xuan Su had stories? “Why...would this master do that?” he asked, fishing for more information.
“This Mu does not know,” the doctor said, shaking his head. “He was only a disciple himself, at that time. All he knows is that Yue-zhangmen was shut in the Ling Xi caves for a full year, where the high qi concentration and both the sect leader and this one’s Shizun’s best efforts could be multiplied as much as possible. Even then, survival was never certain. That Yue-zhangmen not only survived, but was still of sound enough mind and body to resume his disciple duties was, frankly, a miracle.”
The Original Goods had that kind of epic backstory, and there had never been even a word about it in the million-plus words of Airplane’s novel! The hack!
Mu Qingfang sat straighter. “However, it was not without consequence. Xuan Su’s sheath was built by an extremely talented Peak Lord some generations ago, and is the only thing known to be able to contain it. While Xuan Su provides a great deal of power when drawn from its sheath, it consumes Yue-zhangmen’s life at a prodigious rate, for that is what it uses as fuel. Thus, Xuan Su should only be drawn in the most dire of circumstances, and if it remains unsheathed for more than a shichen, Yue-zhangmen will surely die. The damage, if it is drawn, is cumulative. Simply sheathing it before a shichen is up will not restore what was lost, and if unsheathed again, the time available will only be the remainder of that schichen that was interrupted,” Mu Qingfang said plainly, obviously trying to impress on Yue Qingyuan that his sword was a noose around his neck and it had a timer attached.
Whatever. That was fine, he’d just make like the Original Goods and never draw it then.
“Understood.” Yue Qingyuan bowed his head. “Thanking Mu-shidi for the explanation and the warning.”
Mu Qingfang sighed, shaking his head. “Yue-zhangmen never did take it as seriously as he should. This Mu supposes he should be glad it was only the memory that was affected.”
Ha! Fooled Mu Qingfang, at least.
“Then, there is only one last issue. Unless Yue-zhangmen’s memory returns, which is possible, but unlikely, he will need someone with more political savvy than this poor doctor to bring him up to date on Cang Qiong’s history and current actions. Shen Qingqiu would normally be the first choice, but given today’s events, this Mu wondered if he should request Qi-shimei to call on Yue-zhangmen tomorrow morning, instead?”
Qi Qingqi, peak lord of Xian Shu and Liu Mingyan’s shizun. Qi Qingqi hadn’t shown up much in PIDW, but given the choice between her and the scum villain, Yue Qingyuan would certainly prefer to start with her. “That would be much appreciated, Mu-shidi.”
“Very well. Would Yue-zhangmen like this Mu to accompany him back to his home?”
Yue Qingyuan almost refused flat-out. He wasn’t a five-year-old that needed his hand held because walking in the dark was scary! Except...he didn’t actually know where he lived, or in fact how to get back to Qiong Ding from here. Or how to use a night pearl, if he even had one. “Ah…”
“It would be this Mu’s pleasure to assist.”