Chapter Text
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The next year passed blissfully uneventfully. Liu Qingge had kept his word and not shared his location with Cang Qiong, though he did insist on visiting regularly, using dead beasts and rare flowers as bribes for tolerating him for the duration of a cup of tea.
Otherwise, little Ning Yingying had her one-hundred-day naming ceremony and was the sweetest flower in the Sect, according to her mother. A statement Yang Yue had apparently taken as a challenge, as she was now enduring her husband's protective hovering with the dignity and satisfaction of an Empress.
In official Sect matters, most things had settled into place nicely. While the majority of ‘his’ people were too old to cultivate, simply living in high spiritual energy ambience subtly improved the health and physical capabilities of even mortals, so those that chose to leave the direct Sect confines easily found work in manual labour apprenticeships or as farmhands if they lacked talent in number or literacy for other positions.
While Sect matters had still been in a state of flux, knowledge had been freely shared between a sizable base of people from all different regions, experiences and skills. Education in numbers and reading, techniques and tricks in craft and creation. Chen Nayao’s sharp amber eyes had seen this and she’d approached him with a proposal in conjunction with Bai Sujia. Now, they ran a small school building with a few others, open several days a week for all those interested, Chen Nayao leading general education for literacy and numeracy as a former merchant’s daughter, while Bai Sujia taught first aid and foraging.
At the urging of Ning Linlin, she had approached him for tutoring to expand on her existing knowledge as an apothecary’s daughter. It had been quite enjoyable, once she grew comfortable enough to shed her mild-mannered smile and let a touch of mad fascination through as they discussed poisons. Apparently, her mother had been sold as a concubine when the apothecary fell on hard times, but had climbed high within the harem with intelligent experimentation and application. He had made sure she was supplied with enough dubious materials to serve as a guard as well as healer for the instructors and students on school days.
Every treasure flower and fungus within the territory had been documented, the most useful ones being propagated for trade and thereby replacing the dwindling position of Shen Xinying’s manuscript copies as the major source of income. Looking around the Sect now, in no way barren despite the frost decorating leafless trees, Shen Jiu felt a soft, engulfing sense of… peace. Every person at Zhenzi, from former street rats, slaves, adults down on their luck and even a few rogue cultivator looking for healing or just somewhere to settle; they all worked so incredibly hard to build, maintain and develop the Sect, consistently devoting the sheer effort and love that made their home safe and prosperous.
Unnoticed, a small smile curved his lips as he turned away from the window and finished answering the missive from the Lan Sect. There was interest in trade for spiritually rich wood from Zhenzi territory to make various instruments, so he would be receiving a representative to make an appraisal. Even if Zhenzi wood did not meet their needs, the visit was symbolic of the intention to form links between the two Sects.
The next missive was from Tian Yi.
As he read its contents, the smile slipped from his face.
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A second letter sent with the first to the Lan Sect conveyed the information he had received from Tian Yi and initiated a rapid exchange of letters, spirit wood assessment falling to the wayside. After a brief conferral, it was coordinated that the Lan and Zhenzi would accompany Tian Yi Abess to this… summit demanded by Huan Hua Palace.
The Lan had reached out to the other small Sects and Clans, while Shen Xinying combed through all the whispers his expansive web of contacts knew of, but no one knew of anything that might constitute the 'atrocity' committed against Huan Hua by the Demon Realm.
The conference was set for a month's time, leaving Shen Xinying a week to settle matters within his Sect and make the journey all the way to the Southern end of the continent, allowing for meetings and consultations with various cultivation powers along the way. Therefore, he was at his desk surrounded by paperwork when demonic qi flared at the waterfall, just a short distance beyond the Sect gates.
It did not seem aggressive, and indeed, after the initial flare, had settled at a far lower but still perceivable resonance, but Shen Xinying still approached with caution, his lovely Xiu Ya shining white with lethal promise.
He found the demon not on the bridge, but stood on the large flat river stones, drinking from the ice cold sheet of water with cupped hands. As Shen Xinying approached, the demon turned to face him and bowed. Shallow, but unmistakable.
"Shen Xinying, greetings. This one is Zhuzi-lang, speaking as a vassal of Tianlang-Jun."
The demon- male judging by the suffix, though his features were decidedly androgynous- was tall and pale, his dark hair collected in braids tipped with green crystal beads, each carved with a crescent moon. Despite his slender frame, serpentine amber eyes stared intently at Shen Xinying, wholly focused and showing just as little fear as aggression. Confident.
Rightly so, as Zhuzi-lang was the General and Second-in-Command of the Southern Territories. None of this answered what he was doing here. After all the effort Shen Xinying had made to preserve his ignorance a to the identity of his 'Uncle', if this was the same 'adorable nephew' of a demonic Bamboo Pit Viper.
"Greetings" he returned flatly, "What business would a Demon Lord of the South have with this Shen Xinying? Regardless of similarities to a 'wandering musician' he once met."
The demon general's head tilted to one side, beaded braid swaying, "They are the same being, Sect Leader Shen. Junshang assumes the disguise of Lang Tian to traverse the Human Realm"
One would assume a serpent soul would show a greater appreciation for subtlety and cunning.
"Indeed." He said, as dry as the demon hailed from.
The demon brightened, "As Shen Xinying is so accepting, he will surely do Junshang this favour!"
Not dignifying that with a response, Shen Xinying started walking into the forest, Zhuzi-lang thankfully obeying his reluctant gesture to follow without complaint. He led them away from the main path, steps quietly rustling across the carpet of flame-coloured leaves fallen in the autumn and bronze dead backed. Only when the thicker mists secreted them from curious eyes and listening ears did Shen Xinying turn back to him and asked, "And what might this favour be precisely? This one will agree to nothing without full understanding."
Promptly, the snake produced a missive. When a thorough scan revealed no cures or substance tampering, he opened it, glancing over the dark ink characters painted on thick paper embossed in gold along the borders.
The writing itself was brief and most definitely suspect, detailing a time and location to meet with the lure of 'something to tell' Tianlang-jun. The tone was demanding and brusque. Almost disdainful.
"Junshang requests Shen Xinying translate whatever Cultivator code this letter in, as it is very different from other letters from Lady Su with no explanation. Yet the relief of the seal is of the courtship token bead gifted to her."
There were very few codes spread throughout the Sects of Jianghu, but none of those symbols of phrases were concealed within the text here, nor were any of the few codes exclusive to Huan Hua Palace that Shen Xinying knew of.
Without a hidden message, it was with a cold creeping dread that Shen Xinying considered the implications of this missive having not been written by Su Xiyan's hand and yet sealed with her private, undoubtably treasured stamp.
Green eyes met amber and asked, "How long has passed since Tianlang-Jun and Cultivator Su last met?"
The answer was not ideal.
Shen Xinying had in fact been present for their last encounter, a walk in a craftsman village on the edge of Huan Hua territory in a before Lady Su entered secluded cultivation. It has been more than half a year, longer than her usual duration, without any word before this, delivered by her messenger bird.
Tianlang-jun has apparently grown very concerned since the arrival of this letter and has been meeting with other Territory Lords to interrogate them for potential bride-napping or other such schemes while Zhuzi-lang was sent to check for more information with Shen Xinying.
The dread settled into thick sickness curdling his gut.
"What do you know of the Old Palace Master?"
"It is widely known that he orders the imprisonment of demons and beasts that can be farmed for their valuable attributes and steals the cores of those who cannot be. Of the Cardinal Powers, the West Lord despises him most because of it, but the Southern Kingdom has also had issues with attempted invasions to steal our natural resources."
Interesting, but not relevant in this moment. It was good that the Southern ruler were aware of the threat the Palace Master posed though, after all there was a reason Shen Xinying had taken such great pains to steal and eavesdrop knowledge of Huan Hua codes specifically.
He took out the missive from Tian Yi from the qiankun space in his sleeve and passed it over to Zhuzi-lang. "The Palace Master has recently sent out summons to all the Great Sects to coordinate retaliations against the Demonic South, for 'crimes committed' against a Huan Hua Palace cultivator. My information network could tell me no more about this situation specifically, but took pains for warn me of the sect's treatment towards rogue cultivators and small Clans." Zhuzi-lang had finished reading and was staring into his eyes with complete, predatory stillness. "I also learned of the Palace Master's proclivity towards… selecting a promising disciple from a generation and enshrouding them in personal attention and rampant favouritism. Always disciples without family or political backing, who always, without exception, disappear soon after achieving Immortality with their cultivation. Reasons given for their absences range from personal trips and sabbaticals, to seclusion or occasionally fatal night hunts, but they are never seen again."
Su Xiyan was a no-name orphan. It was one of the reasons he had admired her as a no-name disciple of Cang Qiong scrambling to reach the top and later as a wandering cultivator learning of her through the sincere respect and awe of the common people, who circulated stories of her may and varied feats with little to no provocation.
He also knew that though she had never once used it, she had held the Palace Master's favour since her early teens.
Judging by the way amber eyes glowed as pupils narrowed to blade-fine slits, needle-point fangs on full display as thin lips peeled back with a hiss, Zhuzi-lang knew this too.
The snake demon reared up suddenly, his entire attention narrowed onto Shen Xinying with searing intensity, stalking one fluid step closer, gaze unwavering. Hunting. "Shen Xinying will provide Lady Su aid or have his nest razed for harm done to Junshang's Intended." He promised, voice low and smooth. Calm, if not for the mad light of rage glowing with the qi in his golden irises.
Shen Xinying sneered back undaunted, "This Master holds no loyalty towards Huan Hua Palace, nor it's Master." His own eyes sharpened in return. "However, Zhenzi will not contribute martial might to the confrontation and will not be treated as a vassal subordinate power but as an equal ally. If Zhuzi-lang agrees, on behalf of His Majesty Tianlang-jun, then we shall begin formulating our strategy."
Zhuzi-lang stared for a long moment, eerily still, then inclined his head in agreement, forked tongue flickering on his next inhale. "The terms are set. I have your scent now, so know that should Shen Xinying betray Junshang, this one will hunt him beyond the edge of the Realms to exact retribution."
And so, with that settled, they began to plan.
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Tianlang-jun arrived at Zhenzi the following day, sharp onyx claws ripping open a rift between Northern Demon Realm to the edge of the Lingzhi Mist Mushroom's sphere of purification, dark robes slick and heavy with royal blue blood, having evidently arrived immediately from interrogating Mobei-jun. His expression unsmiling, far from the gleeful annoying demon whom Shen Xinying had conversed with.
Fortunately, he was still good humoured enough to follow the plan he and Zhuzi-lang had conceived.
He attended the meeting Shen Xinying had (with great difficulty) arranged with the Abess of Tian Yi and Sect Leader of the Lan, amicably explaining his first meeting with his beloved and how he was wooed over the course of their courtship, starry eyes gaining a cold light as he described their last meeting, with the presence of Shen Xinying and some brat in white and blue (Head Disciple Liu Qingge of Bai Zhan; Cang Qiong, Shen Xinying clarified), parting from Su Xiyan that evening with a promise to meet soon as she had something she wanted to tell him after her seclusion. Then silence, for far longer than the few months promised. Receiving a strangely worded letter with none of Su Xiyan's language or style, providing a stack of past letters for contrast. Apparently, Cultivator Su was something of a poet. Going to Shen Xinying for clarification, as the only other non-hostile cultivator Tianlang-jun knew and also one his beloved approved of.
At that point Shen Xinying stepped in and took over, briefly describing his first encounter with Su Xiyan at the Immortal Alliance Conference, then meeting her again escorting a barely disguised demon in public. He laid out the concerning reports from his network, including a few signed testimonials from rogue cultivators who had been or knew of fellows pressured and intimidated into joining Huan Hua Palace, of which every single person who joined lost contact and disappeared. Permanently.
Then, he presented a document listing the past 'favourites' of Huan Hua Palace, bright youths whose names were recognised fondly, until the larger trend of the disappearance of each and every one of their names became clear. The Abess of Tian Yi was among the oldest Cultivator active in Jianghu and though her face did not age, lines of grief lay about her eyes as she read and recalled… lips tightening to a forbidding, bloodless line as she settled upon the entry of Su Xiyan, a Clanless favourite, recently achieving the same cultivation level as her forbearers, with a letter not her own sent to lure her beloved. The only outside backing she had, and one that could not be easily reached and silenced by the influence of Huan Hua Palace.
Sect Leader Lan was smooth and stoic, expression encased in a layer of ice but though neither he nor the Abess particularly approved of the courtship between the Cardinal South and Huan Hua via it's Head Disciple, that potential alliance was by no means a priority amidst the sins of the Master brought to light and the new, insidious implications of instigating a War of the Realms.
However, currently, Su Xiyan's involvement was speculation. If they were to bring this matter before the summit of Great Sects, her situation must first be discovered in fact and confirmed. Tian Yi and the Lan had been invited to hall for discussion where Zhenzi had not, therefore it was given to Shen Xinying to act unseen and retrieve proof, while the other Sect Leader questioned the Palace Master directly.
Either Su Xiyan would be present at the meeting and a legitimate cause given for Huan Hua's summons, or they would know to question the proposed 'situation' deeper and await Shen Xinying's report.
After some discussion, the final plan of action was as follows: as a master of stealth Zhuzi-lang would infiltrate the Water Prison first and work his way up the levels of the Sect to Su Xiyan's quarters and places he knew she frequented, ending in Huan Hua' seclusion towers and space if he had not already discovered her. He would not cause permanent harm to any cultivator or mortal he encountered during this process (as the Abess had smoothly, pointedly requested). If she was found, Su Xiyan was to be retrieved and assessed by a Tian Yi healer, with Shen Xinying also present at a designated location (with Tianlang-jun inserting that his nephew would summon him to the location if things were true as he knew them).
The next step depended on her perspective of events.
If any misunderstanding had occurred, Shen Xinying was to report such after the initial summit meeting.
If not… he was to enter the meeting at the earliest opportunity and present his findings, accompanied by Cultivator Su if her condition allowed.
If no report was made, Tian Yi and the Lan would assume a conspiracy on Tianlang-jun's behalf and war would be had.
In the meantime, the Abess informed them that she would secure and audience with Zhao Hua and Cang Qiong to impart a summary of the investigation and corroborate the facts of Su Xiyan's last public appearance with Disciple Liu of Cang Qiong.
With that, the Sect Leaders took their leave, having much to contemplate, investigate and arrange in the short span of time until the Summit at Huan Hau Palace.
A few weeks later and a continent's worth of travel later, the plan was set into motion.
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Su Xiyan was found quickly, in the very first location Zhuzi-lang checked, the deepest cell of the infamous Water Prison.
And she was found to be very, very pregnant.
She had been stripped of her inner robes and bound with Immortal Binding Cable, bruised and rope burns ringing her wrists, ankles and throat, thumbs swollen from dislocations in attempt to escape her bindings and forceful relocations upon discovery.
Wrapped in Zhuzi-lang’s dark outer robe, she looked almost like a wraith, with sunken cheeks and shadows beneath eyes burning with wrath.
The Tian Yi nun assessed her for mind-altering substances and curses while treating her physical ailments and found nothing, though had clicked her tongue at the worryingly potent Resentment gathering around her. In response, Su Xiyan silently turned her head and stared into her eyes with the fury of a thousand suns, feral with the protection she had mustered for her beloved’s babe threatened by man who was her Shizun. The nun made no more comments for the duration of the treatment. When Shen Xinying produced medicines that had aided the recently childbearing members of his own Sect, brought along by his own suspicions, she merely blinked in surprise and applied them. Su Xiyan nodded her gratitude as they took effect, tension easing from her frame as the subtle glow of treasure flower vitality returned some colour to her cheeks.
As soon as her immediate condition improved, she was swept into the arms of Tianlang-jun, a heavy aura of demonic qi flaring around them like a protective mantle. They all ignored the shrill alarms set off nearby.
The nun soon left to return to her compatriots but Shen Xinying remained, observing as Southern Lord offered to whisk his partner away to the safety of the Palace, only to be immediately swatted by his stone-faced, irate intended and issued a demand not to be ridiculous and fetch her some robes. She had blood to spill and as she did so she would not give that scum the pleasure of being in her inner robes. While her demon lord snarled at the implications, she leaned close to his face with burning eyes, “Dress me for war, A-Tian.”
When she was ready and turned to him, he already had Xiu Ya hovering low to the ground, ready.
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Yue Qi carefully catalogued every expression that crossed the Old Master of Huan Hua's face as the Abess of Tian Yi Overlook spearheaded a disseminating attack on every ambiguous facet and absent detail of the story regaled to them of the assault of Head Disciple Su Xuyan by the Lord of the Cardinal South Tianlang-jun, keeping his lips gently curved because he was Yue Qingyuan here, stood behind his Sect Leader's shoulder.
"And where is Cultivator Su currently, to present her own account? This one feels her absence keenly in this matter." The Abess pressed and the Old Master blustered, gaze flickering down for a split second of reflexive reaction. The tightening at the corners of his mouth concealed as a mou of sadness, head shaking a if weighed by grief.
"Regretfully, my Xiyan has been overcome by the shock of the atrocity committed against her and has entered seclusion to settle her spirit and purify her body. The heart demons generated by the experience are such that merely speaking of what occurred to me, her trusted Shizun, was enough to send her into near-lethal Qi Deviation. She asked me to-"
The door burst open, rich mahogany crumpling sending shards of guild and lacquer scattering across the floor a rush of qi-enhanced wind blew the heavy doors into the walls.
Yue Qi felt his breath catch as the signature of that qi brushed over his senses. He felt his heart shudder in attempt to stop as he set his eyes upon that achingly familiar figure, stronger and brighter and more beautiful than he remembered.
His expression was hard, but less harsh than it had been when he'd been dressed in pale Spring green and white. Strangely open, without being hidden behind a beautifully painted fan. His long, silky brown hair was tied up in a bun, held by the barest flash of a silver pin, simple and understated, far from the elaborate crown and trailing ribbons he preferred as Head Disciple of Qing Jing.
Now, his robes were good quality but not the level of sumptuous silk they should be, a deep forest green similar but more emerald that Qian Cao and far darker than the clean and pale scholar colours at Cang Qiong. It was embroidered with bronze hazel leaves and nuts to match his inner layers, draping him in symbols of his self-created Sect.
He looked warm and confident, almost a completely different person than the Xiao-Jiu, Shen Qingqiu Yue Qi knew. His cultivation was certainly stronger than it ever had been.
Then he stepped back, revealing another figure, one that shocked the entire hall to silence.
"Asked you to what?" Head Disciple Su Xiyan demanded. "I asked you only to release me from my entrapment in the deepest cell of the Water Prison."
The tinkling of falling pieces of the ruined doors echoed through the hall. Cultivator Su entered the room, each footfall like a death knell. She did not appear to be someone emotionally and psychologically devastated by a horrific ordeal, though physically it seemed as if he had endured one. Instead, despite the hungry quality to her face, her expression held specific sort of starving reserved not for food but for vengeance, justice and blood.
She advanced through the meeting hall until she reached the centre, gaze not once straying from her 'aggrieved' master.
She was not dressed in the golden yellow of her Sect. Instead, she wore thick black robes embroidered with a snarling silver dragon, lined at the collar with void-like fur flecked wit light like trapped stars. Though Yue Qi was still distracted by the presence, the nearness of Xiao-Jiu, Yue Qingyuan recognised it only from legends recorded in the oldest of the Sect records. A beast that dwelt only in the deepest reaches of the Endless Abyss, so dark and terrible none of the rare few who escaped could describe more than the fleeting presence of light in its fur. It had no name, recorded in a shaky hand merely as the Abyssal Darkness. Worn by Cultivator Su on her cloak.
She spoke into the silence. "I did not ask you to imprison me in the cold and dark behind sheets of acid, bound and collared with Immortal Binding Cable without food nor water nor warmth. I did not ask you to subject me to the intentions of your immoral carnal lust. I did not ASK for what I now see to be years of inappropriate interest. And I most certainly did not ASK to be told that instead of brokering an alliance of peace between Realms, my beloved was to be persecuted and assassinated for my Master's depraved jealousy and avarice, to be offered abortifacient in exchange for food and freedom and basal comforts, to be threatened with it when I did not accept the offer to bear his child instead!"
Oh dear.
This was a very different narrative than the one the Old Master presented.
Yue Qingyuan flicked his gaze across the cultivators gathered in this room. Whatever way this went, the political fallout was going to be terrible.
"As the healers of Tian Yi Overlook can attest, there is a great deal of Resentment within me, but if there are any heart demons, they are solely the product of being betrayed and unknowingly coveted by one who acted as a grandfather to young disciples, a trusted mentor within the Sect and respected authority across the whole of Jianghu. I, Su Xiyan, am sound of mind and spirit and am come here to present my testimony of the atrocities committed against me by Sect Leader Chen of Huan Hua Palace."
The summit changed purpose rapidly after that. Su Xiyan testified that she had been given the mission to observe a suspicious individual within Huan Hua territory who was quickly revealed to be the Southern Demon Lord Tianlang-jun, but upon developing romantic inclinations she was given leave to pursue the relationship as a beginning of peace between Realms (the Old Master had to be silenced and bound at this declaration, emitting frenzied roils of qi and roaring denials at 'his Xiyan'). She summarised their courtship and her intention of a short seclusion to adjust her internal qi flow to preserve her growing child, to exit and share the development with her partner when she was stabilised and the pregnancy viable. Only to be betrayed and captured by her own Master, eventually freed by the Demon General Zhuzi-lang and healed by a Tian Yi Overlook cultivator and Shen Xinying.
The name Xiao-Jiu had taken up sweet on his ears and acid to his heart.
A courtesy name not of the Qing generation, not tied to Yue Qi as family, if only in the martial sense.
A name Yue Qingyuan recognised as a rising scholar and accredited wandering cultivator, whose recently established Sect had gained significant attention for its production of compendiums and more recently treasure flowers.
A name that hinted how magnificently Xiao-Jiu had bloomed, how far he had risen, all without his Qi-ge beside him.
He had known his Xiao-Jiu was alive and well by Liu Qingge's word, but that was a nebulous knowledge, it would never be real until Yue Qi saw with his own eyes it was so, just like he had never truly, fully accepted Xiao-Jiu being dead and was proven justified when he met those sharp green eyes again, sword dripping with the blood of a dead man and never more alive than in that moment. He had tried to prise the information he need out of his shidi, of course, but the rising War God was maddeningly steadfast in decisions made about his own righteousness and honour and would not be persuaded.
And unfortunately, he was a good enough hunter to know when he was being followed. Better than Yue Qi could conceal himself (he admitted to himself it had been a stupid attempt, but he needed to try, if only the once).
Tian Yi Overlook and the Lan Sect each presented the results of investigation into other sins of the Old Master, corroborating what Xiao-Jiu had discovered and it was unanimously decided that the Old Master would have his cultivation sealed and be placed under watched incarceration while a full investigation was made to decide a final verdict on the Master and whomever else was involved in his misdeeds.
Su Xiyan strode out of the meeting hall as soon as it was decided, flanked by the shining emerald of Xiao-Jiu, but Yue Qingyuan was required to remain until the sealing was complete before the Head Disciples present across Sects were dismissed and the Sect Leaders reconvened to discuss the first response to be made.
Tracking that achingly familiar strain of qi, Yue Qi rounded a corner to find Xiao-Jiu stood at the end of the corridor conversing with the Lord of the Cardinal South, Tianlang-jun, stood beside Cultivator Su and his snake demon General Zhuzi-lang.
He couldn't hear what was said, but whatever cutting remark Xiao-Jiu made had the Southern Lord throw his head back with bellowing laughter and Cultivator Su smirk with satisfaction through her obvious exhaustion.
Once they left, Xiao-Jiu turned around and met his eyes, just as cold and composed as Shen Qingqiu always was.
"Xiao-Jiu" he breathed and saw a ripple of emotion pass across his finely crafted features but instead of ridding him of the mask, his face settled into neutral displeasure.
"Cultivator Yue." Shen Xinying returned. Impersonal. Almost apathetic. "I ask that Cultivator Yue discard such an informal address, as by my own decision and request, I am no longer affiliated with Cang Qiong Mountain Sect. Nor with yourself."
Hurt and confusion swirled in his heart, the stress of worry and not knowing all this time spinning in his head and unsettling his qi, "But why?! Everything was fine, then at that meeting you weren't responding, then you just left and then we were told that you'd left the Sect. And what you said-"
"It always come down to me, doesn't it." His voice, quiet and detached but also so tired sounding, pulled Yue Qi out of the first spirals of Qi Deviation.
"What- What do you mean?"
Shen Xinying just shook his head, looking unhappy and slightly exhausted but not hurt. As if he was remembering the ache of a healed wound, of faded grief, not the throbbing searing hurt tearing up Yue Qi's heart. Then he heard the words Xiao-Jiu was saying and his blood froze.
"I waited for such a long time. For you to come back. For you to tell my why you didn't come back. For my cultivation to improve and be acknowledged for my skills and achievements. For the bonds of the supposed martial family of our generation to grow and develop. For any sort of interaction with people I was going to have to spend my life with that wasn't edged with dislike or anger or disgust, or even just plain disrespect. I kept waiting for the Sect to feel safe."
Achingly familiar green eyes held his like they were the only two people in the world, but they weren't the same as the ones he had gazed into so many times before. The depths to them were still and settled, not swirling with storms, not alive with hurt and hate and passion like they always had been.
"It never did and what I realised was that it was never going to. If I stayed, I would have been slowly warped and stifled until I was a shell of the person I could have been, fuelled by hate and fear and spite, because the only thing that kept Shen Qingqiu living was you and you did not deserve it. So I left, because when a better path comes around, waiting on love is worthless."
His heart throbbed and an invisible hand squeezed around his throat, but he managed to choke out a question, though he wasn't sure he wanted an answer. "Are you happy?"
Those strange eyes drifting off to the left, unfocused with a remembered memory. They returned to him, resolute. "Yes." He took a breath, a smile gracing his lips the likes of which Yue Qi had never ever seen before on this face, small and easy and free. "Yes, I am happy. For the first time in my life, I wake up looking forward to the colours of the dawn and lay awake at night to watch the stars, not stave off nightmares."
His throat closed, heart seizing and tearing itself apart in his chest, but it was no more than he deserved. It was his own fault this had happened. He was too late to save him from the Qiu and it was too late to tell him the truth about why he had failed.
He nodded and turned to leave. Maybe one day they'd be able to talk again, something like they used to. He knew where Shen Xinying was now, he could send a letter-
"Yue Qi" his voice called, and he was helpless to resist, turning back to that terrible, beautiful smile and the distant pain and pity in those crystal green eyes of a stranger. And in that moment, he knew there would be no more chances for Xiao-Jiu and Qi-ge. "I don't want to talk to you again. Live well, because life really is worth it."
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Shen Xinying returned to his Sect, standing before the living hazel moongate, draped in mist with the rustling of leaves and babbling of water in the distance. Warm golden light spilled from the hearths and candles of building and forges built where once there had been no one, crafted and constructed with love and dedication of people who once had nowhere to go.
Home.
A cry of surprise came from beyond the gate, sounds of welcome building as figures clothed in warm wood brown and summer-leaf green swarmed to greet him, parting only as the dark green robes of his sisters approached, bright eyes crinkling at the sight of him.
With a smile on his face and a light in his heart, the cool kiss of mist upon his cheek and the scent of living forest filling his lungs, he stepped forward to greet his future.