Chapter Text
“Shixiong!”
Qi Qingqi leapt forward, quickly winding her arm around Shen Qingqiu’s as she pulled him over to his usual seat at the table - right next to where Yue Qingyuan would sit - before seating herself in the seat next to him.
Distantly, the Qing Jing Peak lord thought he heard someone make a sound that sounded a lot like a hiss.
Before he could turn his head to look at who could have possibly made such a sound (and why), Qi Qingqi grasped his chin and turned his head this way and that, tsking as she inspected his face.
“How have you lost so much weight? There was nothing for you to lose in the first place! What has that young disciple of yours been doing if he wasn’t making sure you were eating properly?”
Stunned by the barrage of questions, Shen Qingqiu could wonder what she was talking about. Surely he was looking a little plumper than when he had left? Binghe had been so pushy about him eating his meals, Shen Qingqiu hadn’t been able to skip a single one even if he wanted to!
He waved his fan dismissively, gently dislodging her hands from his face.
“Thank you for the concern, but my disciple was quite adamant about making sure I took three meals a day while we were away. I’m sure shimei is mistaken! I’ve surely gained weight. His cooking is so delicious that I could hardly bring myself to ever turn down a meal.”
He heard a quiet snort from across the table and looked over to find Liu Qingge frowning at them as he chimed in, “Still too skinny.”
Next to the War God, Mu Qingfang also nodded, his gaze worried as he also slid into his seat.
“I do hope that Shen shixiong is taking good care of his body. After all, with Without A Cure coming and going with no discernable pattern, your mortal needs must be met to ensure you do not suffer any debilitating side effects.”
A couple of his other martial siblings nodded, all looking unnecessarily serious. Why were they treating such a small matter as if it was a serious peak-wide matter to discuss. They were here to have another tedious meeting about budget changes as well as considerations for the next disciple recruitment! Not to fuss about his health or apparent lack thereof.
His martial siblings were such busybodies. The only one not actively taking part in the fussing was Shang Qinghua who sat looking dumbfounded in his seat as his head whipped around to look at his fellow lords. Truly, the traitor had never looked dumber. How could such an imbecile survive under the radar for so long?
Anyways. Shen Qingqiu was a grown man and a cultivator fully capable of taking care of himself, thank you very much! Not to mention, Binghe would burst into tears at the slightest indication that his precious shizun wasn’t taking the best care of his own body. He’d be insulted at even the slightest insinuation that he wasn’t providing his shizun with filling and nutritious meals. Why lately, Shen Qingqiu had to put a stop to Binghe even trying to convince him that the disciple should be monitoring his bathing sessions!
Preposterous!
Wishing to move on, Shen Qingqiu thanked his ancestors as Yue Qingyuan strode into the meeting chambers, looking quite pleased with how well his martial siblings were getting along. Seeing them fretting over his A-Jiu compared to the icy disdain they would show each other before…. What a welcome change!
Clearing his throat as he took his seat at the table next to his dearest friend, Yue Qingyuan signaled for the meeting to adjourn. Shang Qinghua quickly got up from his seat and scurried around the table to deposit the meeting notes for the day. When he passed by, Shen Qingqiu directed his iciest glare at the traitor as well as a dismissive sniff and was met with a startled “eep!”
Take that, peak traitor! Feel the disdain in Shen Qingqiu’s most deadly gaze!
As the mousy man scurried away from him, Shen Qingqiu took a moment to scan through the undoubtedly dry and unimportant matters on the docket today. He would tackle the traitor issue later when the plot really started up.
However, looking down at the document, Shen Qingqiu furrowed his brows in confusion. What was this?
Below the usual list of “Distribution of Funds” and “Urgent Issues” and such items was a point that simply said “Shen Qingqiu.”
What?
Was it finally time for Shen Qingqiu to face all the rumors and scummy behaviors adopted in the past? But didn’t this happen only when the trial was initiated by Luo Binghe in the future? After the Abyss and after the protagonist integrated himself into Huan Hua?
Everyone had seemed so happy to grit their teeth and bear through the original goods’ bad behavior in the web novel before Shen Yuan’s transmigration!
Sure, he may have changed some things but he had cleaned up Shen Qingiu’s act! Not a single brothel visit was taken and not a single child was whipped or bullied on his peak since he’d taken over for the original goods!
He was even friends with Qi Qingqi and Liu Qingge for heaven’s sake. Such a task would have been impossible for the original Shen Qingqiu, the lecherous bastard.
Seeing the other Peak Lords sneak glances at him as if he couldn’t feel them. Shen Qingqiu only sat up straighter with his fan leisurely waving in front of his face as if he was unbothered by it all.
And with one last guilty-looking glance from Yue Qingyuan, the meeting proceeded - starting with the usual budgetary concerns. Tuning out the usual accusations of Bai Zhan smashing through their budget every month for training equipment and how they needed to at least attempt to keep repair costs down, Shen Qingqiu scrambled mentally thinking of how to address anything that came up.
By now, everyone familiar enough to him had accepted the fact that the memory loss from his most recent qi deviation had caused the personality change. So what had he done in recent times to necessitate this topic at the Peak Lord meeting?
He had been off-peak for so long! Had some villagers reported him for inappropriate behavior due to some misguided grudge they held against him? No matter how much he went through his recent interactions, nothing came up!
Only those embarrassing moments where it seemed like this world was forcing wife plots onto him left and right without even realizing how ineffective such events were on an old, ailing cultivator like him.
System! He wasn’t some sprightly, young lady breastily boobing along!
And as he wracked his brain to think of why this plot point may be showing itself so early, the meeting wrapped up much quicker than usual, the other peak lords flying through the previous points as if they couldn’t wait to address the last item on the agenda.
Soon, the meeting lulled into a period of silence as everyone turned to look at the Qing Jing Peak Lord who seemed to be… distracted.
“Ahem..”
Yue Qingyuan cleared his throat to catch Shen Qingqiu’s attention, looking sheepish as a sharp gaze cut to him.
“Qingqiu Shidi..” His voice somehow even gentler than usual, Yue Qingyuan spoke as if coaxing a defensive animal. “During your last extended time away from the peaks to travel and train your disciple, there have been… some concerning stories that your peak siblings have been made aware of.”
Outwardly, Shen Qingqiu maintained an icy facade, daring them to continue. Inwardly, Shen Qingqiu was panicking. He still had no idea what exactly they would choose to address!
Was it the brothel visits? Then he could play it off with his memory loss!
Was it the abusive behavior? He’d already reconciled with Binghe and everyone knew that he was excessively doting to the boy he had previously singled out for abuse!
Or was it something else that he wasn’t aware of? Qiu Haitang had no reason to reach out to Cang Qiong Mountain accusing him of anything as she shouldn’t even know that Shen Qingqiu was the boy from her childhood who had single-handedly ruined her life!
Scum villain! Why did you have to be so scummy, killing people and burning an entire compound down even as a young boy!!
As Yue Qingyuan flustered his way around the issue at hand, too concerned with breaking the information in a way that wouldn’t upset his A-Jiu, Liu Qingge tsked and butted in.
Glaring at his frozen shixiong, the Bai Zhan Lord spat out, “You need to watch out.”
……
“Eh?”
‘Was Liu Qingge threatening him???’ Had they not become friendly as opposed to the original contentious relationship depicted in the original webnovel?
Mu Qingfan sighed in exasperation at his shixiong’s abrasive approach to the topic. Given the history the two peak lords shared, Mu Qingfan didn’t blame his Qingqiu shixiong for looking slightly taken aback (at least for his standards).
“What Liu Qingge means is that… due to Qingqiu shixiong’s rise in popularity throughout the nations, we are concerned that people may express their admiration in alarming ways,” Mu Qingfan gently interjected in order to smooth over Liu Qingge’s remark that sounded like a personal threat.
As all the other Peak Lords nodded at the statement, murmuring about their recent experiences hearing the fervor of the Shen Qingqiu craze that had been spreading as of late, the Xiu Ya sword could only blink in confusion.
Lowering his fan a tiny bit in his confusion, Shen Qingiu tilted his head in askance.
“... My popularity?”
What did that even mean??? Why would his popularity be on the rise? All he had done was accompany his handsome, perfect protagonist disciple in an effort to spread his good face and reputation before he was yeeted down into the Abyss to suffer!
He was a scum villain! What popularity?? Shen Qingqiu was a universally hated member of the Peak! No one could stand his stand-offish personality and his immorality! Even though Shen Yuan had affected a “changed due to qi deviation and memory loss” approach to his transmigration, the reputation built up over the course of decades wouldn’t have flipped so much… Would it??
Shen Yuan hadn’t even changed the plot that much! Aside from the lack of abuse and preventing Liu Qingge from meeting his untimely end! But those events were very much limited in their scope of who was affected so what was this about his popularity “throughout the nations?”
Pinching the bridge of his nose to try to prevent an oncoming headache from the absolute curveball this meeting had tossed him, Shen Qinggiu snapped his fan shut and held his hand up to quiet his peak siblings.
“Pardon this one, but… what stories and what popularity are you speaking of?”
Everyone blinked. Had he been.. Unaware?
“Surely, you’ve noticed the sharp increase of people flocking around the two of you when you visit villages?” Wei Qingwei asked, baffled.
“We were visiting rural villages and towns. People in such areas are naturally excited when cultivators come to pay a visit.” Shen Qingqiu waved his hand dismissively. Perhaps his sect siblings were… a little touched in their heads?
Qing Feng, the Ku Xing Peak Lord, looked bemused as he adjusted his understanding of his fellow Peak Lord.
“Have you not noticed that they tend to flock to you more than usual? Fawn over you where they previously were fascinated from afar?”
Shen Qingqiu furrowed his brows.
Sure, villagers were clamoring more than before when they visited, but that was because cultivators were rare in such areas! And probably because of his virtuous and good-looking disciple! There was no way people were excited to see him.
Explaining this to his peak siblings, he was sure there was just some sort of misunderstanding. And even if there was, did they think that he was incapable of defending himself and his own space? He was a peak lord too, for heavens’ sakes!
At his words, Shang Qinghua’s jaw dropped in amazement making him look even dumber than usual. What? What did the peak traitor have to say to him?
Meanwhile, Shang Qinghua couldn’t believe his ears.
Everything had already been wrong wrong wrong after Shen Qingqiu’s qi deviation, but what was going on? Was his Scum Villain always such an oblivious idiot? What happened to the scathing, vicious street child who jealously guarded his status as a Peak Lord? Could a qi deviation-caused loss of memory really trigger such a drastic personality change?
Baffled, Shang Qinghua looked to the other peak lords to see if he was alone in his confusion, but the others just looked fondly amused as if they had expected this somehow. They seemed more entertained by the fact that Shen Qingqiu had missed such glaring signs around him instead of the fact that he was lowkey an airhead. The An Ding peak lord had known that the other lords had been spending more time on Qng Jing and re-establishing their relationships with Shen Qingqiu, but Shang Qinghua had actively avoided the scholarly peak unless absolutely necessary.
The scum villain always gave him the most frightening glares when they crossed paths! As such, he hadn’t even been aware that such a drastic change in personality had taken place. He’d only known the icy Xiu Ya sword.
Why did he get singled out and treated like trash, ah??
As Shang Qinghua sobbed over his emotionally abusive children, the meeting carried on as the Peak Lords regaled a progressively further astounded Shen Qingqiu with what they had been hearing from their own disciples as well as from the villagers from the base of the mountain.
Even the Red Pavilion ladies??? Has that always been a part of the canon material? Did the irredeemable, repugnant scum villain have a secret backstory that the trash author never even hinted at for whatever reason? What do you mean he only went down to the brothel to take a breather from his men-infested peak and teach the ladies important lessons in the arts?
Oblivious to the fact that two of the peak lords were currently going through life-altering realizations, the Qi Qingqi bemoaned the further loss of her shixiong’s attention and time. Before his qi deviation, the Xian Shu peak lady had detested her martial sibling, thinking him the lowest of the low; a lecherous man with a horrible personality. However, since his deviation and his sudden palatable change in character, Qi Qingqi had enjoyed the dry, sarcastic wit of the Qing Jing Peak lord. Once the truth had been revealed about the brothel visits, Qi Qingqi had vowed to truly treat her shixiong well! What she had considered an unforgivable sin turned out to be such a righteous undertaking that he had been shamed into keeping secret.
Even she realized that had he attempted to refute their accusations and words in the past, no one would have believed him. His words would have been reviled as attempts at excusing and hiding his visits to the brothel to sate his own lust. Even Yue Qingyuan had frowned in disapproval when his precious Qing Jing Peak lord wasn’t around.
Nevertheless!
Very rarely did she meet an individual who could keep up with her sharp tongue and oftentimes aggressive conversations. While others may demur, fluster, or fly into a rage, Shen Qingqiu kept a cool head and returned hidden barbs with his own prickly responses. The best moments were when they united in attacking the character of one individual or another - usually someone from Huan Hua.
And now she had to compete with other disciples as well as the common folk who dared to try to sneak onto the peaks in increasing attempts to sneak a peek at the beautiful peak lord in his place of comfort.
Unbeknownst to Shen Qingqiu, the disciples of his peak had been busy chasing off other peak’s disciples as well. Not knowing when or if the scholarly cultivator was back on his peak, the bamboo forest was buzzing with activity as hopeful fans camped out in an effort to catch a glimpse of that famed glossy black river or hair and the chilly, lofty aura that made him seem to unapproachable! To hear even a few notes of his guqin would be heaven indeed! An accomplishment to boast about back on their peaks to their jealous peers.
Now that he was actually back on the peaks, Liu Qingge scowled as he realized he would have to keep a tighter watch on his brutish disciples who tended to muscle their way into anything without forethought. Just like him.
…He’d have to ensure that he was around Qing Jing more often. Outside of the qi sessions to clear out the other’s meridians, of course. Who better to discipline errant Bai Zhan disciples than the peak lord himself?
Nodding to himself, Liu Qingge continued drilling holes into Shen Qingqiu’s face. Had he always looked so alluring? His eyes always sparkling with some sort of hidden mischief or cunning to those who were familiar with his expressions.
Liu Qingge, even when he hated Qingqiu with every fiber of his being, had always thought that his shixiong truly did resemble a statue carved from the smoothest marble. The type of statue lovingly and painstakingly carved to perfection by fawning worshippers for their most beloved deity.
But the perpetual scowl or hateful look cracked the unmarred surface of polished stone, shattering the illusion and transforming it into a twisting, writhing ball of thrones - something incapable of any softness or basic humanity. No matter how beautiful the statue may have been, mere dust and rubble was left from a shattered figure.
And Liu Qingge was loath to see Shen Qingqiu, recently reformed into something gentler than he had been before, shatter into something irreparable.
And seeing the faces of his martial siblings, Liu Qingge knew that he had reinforcements. Whatever had happened in the past - because by now he could recognize that maybe he had been mistaken in his assumptions about the Qing Jing peak lord - would not come to pass this time around.