Author Notes: Hello again, everyone! Enjoy this next chapter :)

- Chapter Start -

The wooden blinds at the windows were pulled all the way down, but bright afternoon sunlight still managed to slip through the sides. A single ray landed on the silver head of Wen KeXing. The resultant glow made him look like an ethereal being touched by celestial light.

Qin HuaiZhang's disciple certainly thought so, going by the sappy awestruck smile on his face.

Ye BaiYi rolled his eyes at such a ridiculous notion. Wen KeXing was nothing more than the ex-Chief of Ghost Valley; a brash, loud-mouthed, ill-mannered brat whose saving grace was his devotion to his soulmate. And his rather nice fish soup.

Seemingly oblivious to their gazes, one admiring and the other deadpan, Wen KeXing pulled out a book from inside his sleeve and placed it on the table.

"Old monster, do you know what this is?"

"Of course. I can read." Ye BaiYi's voice was dry. He made no move to pick the book up.

Qin HuaiZhang's disciple cleared his throat.

"We found this at the Armoury. It explains the meditation techniques and exercises on how to preserve one's skills after attaining LiuHe Kung Fu."

"And the prohibitions?" Ye BaiYi couldn't resist bringing that up again.

Wen KeXing frowned and opened his mouth, but subsided when his soulmate nudged his arm.

"Lao Wen didn't tell me what he had to sacrifice to heal me," Qin HuaiZhang's disciple continued. "When I saw his hair and realised what had happened-"

He broke off, shaking his head as if pushing away unpleasant memories.

"... I was determined to save him in turn."

"Using your refined Qi?"

"Partly. You see, when Lao Wen healed my damaged meridians, he also transferred the LiuHe technique to me."

Ye BaiYi blinked and turned to Wen KeXing who now looked, for want of a better word, smug.

"I didn't say anything about that," Ye BaiYi said, voice sharper than intended.

"I know. You only told me how to use the technique to heal A-Xu, but that meant the knowledge would die with me."

"So?"

"So?" Wen KeXing gave him a disbelieving look before tossing his head, silver locks catching the sunlight and his soulmate's rapt attention once more. "A-Xu is worth every sacrifice-" - he ignored the second nudge on his arm - "but it would be a waste to let the LiuHe knowledge disappear from this world."

"You have the book," Ye BaiYi pointed out. "Although it should be destroyed too. More trouble than it's worth."

"No. I'm keeping it," Wen KeXing said at once, picking up the book and stuffing it back up his sleeve with a childish pout.

"We'll take good care of it," Qin HuaiZhang's disciple promised.

Ye BaiYi looked from one to the other.

"So, which of you has the LiuHe Kung Fu now?"

"Both of us!" Wen KeXing announced with a triumphant grin.

Ye BaiYi stared at him before turning to Qin HuaiZhang's disciple who gave a small smile and shrug.

"You transferred it back?" He demanded.

"Not exactly. I... shared it."

"That's impossible!"

"No, it's not."

"Yes, it is!"

Qin HuaiZhang's disciple shook his head.

"Ye-qianbei, my late master once told me that intent is everything."

Ye BaiYi stared at him and felt the weight of his conviction, solid and unshakable. Memories crashed over him, tipping his world sideways and bringing him back to that fateful night. He remembered that woman's face, white with fear and ChangQing's face, even whiter with blood trickling from his eyes, nose and mouth. He remembered pressing shaking hands against ChangQing's chest as he desperately searched for and yanked the blasted technique from him and into his own body. He was panicking so hard he didn't even feel the pain, his brain empty of every single thought except for the words Save ChangQing, save ChangQing circling in an endless loop.

He had saved his beloved, but left him a shell of his former self, gone from powerful to mediocre overnight.

If he had known, if he had taken some of it into himself instead of all, would that have made a difference?

That thought was like a poisoned thorn, burning and burrowing deep inside him, refusing to be extracted or ignored.

"... qianbei? Ye-qianbei?"

Raising his head, Ye BaiYi had to blink a few times before the blurry faces before him came back into focus once more. He cleared his throat.

"So you both have the technique. What's that got to do with me?"

"We want to share our Qi with you," Qin HuaiZhang's disciple said. "The way we do with each other."

"We want to share the LiuHe Kung Fu with you too," Wen KeXing added. "A-Xu has proven it can be done."

Why were they speaking so softly now?

Ye BaiYi shifted on his cushion and coughed, trying to dispel the annoying ache in his throat. A ray of sunlight hit his face, showing up the wrinkles on his brow and the crinkles around his eyes.

"This world belongs to young people like you now," he said and smiled. Or tried to. "I've already lived for too long as it is."

He blinked in surprise when they both reached for him, grasping his wrists firmly.

"Not long enough," Qin HuaiZhang's disciple insisted, but his smile was gentle.

"Not by a long shot," Wen KeXing agreed and his smile was impudent.

Ye BaiYi looked from one to the other, his mind once again empty of words. He wanted to refuse, he should refuse, but...

"Ye-qianbei, we also have an ulterior motive," Qin HuaiZhang's disciple said. He took back his hand and bowed his head. "After we move back to Four Seasons Manor, I'll need help running the sect and training and guiding twenty disciples. I can't do it alone."

Ah. They needed him. Well, this was familiar ground.

"You have him now," Ye BaiYi said, jerking his chin at Wen KeXing. "Make use of him."

"Hey, I'm sitting here!"

"Lao Wen wants to focus on the legacy his parents left him. Healing," Qin HuaiZhang's disciple said with a soft smile.

"A-Xu, I'm right here! But you're right, I can't be cooking and studying healing and training our children all at the same time." Wen KeXing put on a very pitiful, very fake look.

Ye BaiYi raised an eyebrow at him.

"You'll cook?"

Of course! My A-Xu and our little idiot are hopeless in the kitchen."

"I can cook if I want to," Qin HuaiZhang's disciple muttered, looking quite put out.

"What about liquor?" Ye BaiYi asked pointblank.

"The Four Seasons Manor has a cellarful."

"A-Xu, you never told-"

"Room?" Ye BaiYi interrupted him.

"Take your pick."

"A-Xu and I will take the main room of course," Wen KeXing hastily added and ignored the third, harder nudge to his arm.

Ye BaiYi took in the hopeful looks on their faces and felt that unaccustomed tightness in his throat spread to his chest.

"Fine," he said and had to cough again to clear his throat. "Don't regret it."

- o -

After pushing the small table out of the way, they sat cross legged on the floor, in a rough circle with knees touching and palms pressed against each other's. The two brats' hands felt warm against his own.

With his right palm pressed against Wen KeXing's smooth left one and his left palm against Qin HuaiZhang's more calloused right one, Ye BaiYi felt more like their peer than their senior. He didn't need the LiuHe Kung Fu to know that their power and strength now surpassed his own. No doubt he could still hold his own against most of the Jianghu, but against these two... he wasn't sure.

It was almost laughable when he thought back to how easily he had defeated them that night.

They had every right to hoard their precious Qi after all the hardships they had endured, after all the wrongs they had suffered. In fact, he couldn't think of a single person who would share such a rare, sought after technique with anyone, much less one they had just obtained.

Certainly, Rong Xuan wouldn't have. ChangQing might not have either.

Ye BaiYi looked from one brat to the other, sitting very still with their eyes closed. He felt their enormous Qi rising inside them, twin surges of pure energy. The air around them began to warm and crackle, lifting long hair and fluttering robe sleeves. The fine hairs on the back of his neck and arms stood up while the points that were in contact with them - his palms and the outer parts of his knees - grew hot.

When their eyes snapped open at the same time, Ye BaiYi's heart skipped a beat. Their eyes were glowing. Their palms shifted against his, fingers slipping in between his own and curling down to grip his hands tightly.

That was all the warning he got before their refined Qi poured into him from both sides. He inhaled sharply. It was almost like the time he had taken the LiuHe Kung Fu into himself, but it felt twice as powerful. Pure energy spilled inside his body and found his core, filling it up before streaming through his depleted spiritual pathways.

Contrary to the first time he took it in, it didn't hurt at all. He felt energised and rejuvenated.

He felt... reborn.

- Chapter End -

A/N: Thank you for reading! Please leave a comment if you enjoyed it :)