Chapter 6: 6 Stalks: Good luck, wish for a strong, prosperous life.


Yue Qingyuan gazed at his paperwork stacks unseeingly. Xiao Jiu had returned earlier than anticipated from the juniors' mission and had entered the Ling Xi caves directly, without even reporting to his Sect Leader as usual (if with acquiescence so bitter it burned his Qi-ge's heart like acid.)

There had been no opportunity to stall him for Mu Qingfang's return.

Perhaps he should send summons for him?

...But Yue Qingyuan had initially agreed for the Qian Cao Lord to leave on the excursion because of the tension in his martial brother as of late.

Recalling him early would surely undo any relaxation achieved...and he was due to return soon anyway...

( He hated when his martial siblings left, especially when they wandered unendingly. It made him feel like a failure. Like he couldn't keep his family from breaking apart all over again.)

And Liu Qingge... well, his cultivation was stable with no past Deviations and the Caves were so large and empty... surely they would not cross paths.

And it meant there was someone with Xiao Jiu in case he Deviates. Yue Qingyuan knew Liu Qingge could safely overpower Xiao Jiu and activate the alert for assistance.

.

.

.

Mu Qingfang and Xia Qingfeng were sat on horseback at the pack of a hill, watching the horses graze peacefully or run for the sheer joy of it across the stretching plains of grasses rippling with the breeze.

It was serene and nostalgic of his childhood, but Mu Qingfang's heart was troubled. He sighed. His fellow Peak Lord looked over, her dark peach blossom eyes shining with concern, "Alright, what's troubling Mu-shixiong? You've been reeling of discontent ever since we left the Tian Gong range. Immortal notwithstanding, speak to your martial sister before you get lines like Old Huan Hua."

He sent her a mildly reproachful look, "Cang Qiong and Huan Hua are allies, so we must not speak I'll of them," he grimaced slightly, "No matter our personal opinions of cultivators who do not deign to fight in their own wars, leaving their allies to take heavy casualty."

She nodded, scowling "My roaming disciple packs cross paths with one of theirs every so often and it always brews trouble, and then a headache sorting it out." She snorted in disgust, "On one occasion, a Huan Hua senior disciple claimed that a Cang Qiong Flying Bear Tiger had attacked him and demanded to have Xiao Biao culled in recompense! Shen-shixiong had to step in! Apparently, the self-important idiot had tried to hunt an Ice Mountain Blue Tiger, supposedly to propose courtship of the Little Palace Mistress with it's pelt. The nerve!"

Mu Qingfang blinked, "Shen-shixiong? But how did he learn of the situation? This news did not reach Cang Qiong, or I would have come to asses the injuries for origin myself! Though surely, the falsehood was obvious? The Blue Tigers cause frostbite in their wounds and Bear Tigers...rarely leave a victim identifiable with their strikes."

Xia Qingfeng nodded grimly, "Yes, but our are 'tamed' and it was winter up in the mountains, we were practicing, catching, diving and retrieval drills."

She coiled an escaped strand of auburn hair around her fingers thoughtfully, "All I know is that one moment tensions are rising as the some Huan Hua elders are demanding Xiao Biao's corpse and a Flying Bear Tiger cub in settlement while all but calling us liars and bloodthirsty savages, and the next, Shen Qingqiu is sweeping through the debate hall like a Red-Crowned Crane and presenting a list of statements from the mountain's villagers on inquiries about the Ice Mountain Blue Tiger by the disciple, several points of complaint on his conduct whilst there and a list of similar incidences of accusation against several of the minor Sects."

She shrugged.

"I just assumed our messenger bird made unexpectedly good time and he was sent by Zhangmen-shixiong."

Mu Qingfang shook his head slowly, "Yue-shixiong would never voluntarily send Shen-shixiong out of the Sect. Especially to a colder region or in winter."

Xia Qingfeng made a sound of understanding, "He always is worse in winter. Sadder, more defensive. I think it triggers a heart-demon."

Mu Qingfang startled. 'Sadder'? And a heart-demon...he had always suspected that Shen Qingqiu had some, which were inhibiting his cultivation in addition to his late start, but if one was linked to the cold...

"...Yet he takes no discernible measures to address this. If Shen-shixiong dislikes the cold, why does he not wear a cloak? Do you perceive him to be sad often?"

He had never seen more than a single blanket in his house and the bed is such as Ku Xing favour.

"Always. It flares and wanes, but never really goes, just changes a bit, like around Liu Qingge, it's all harsh, bitter frustration, but Zhangmen-shixiong, makes it all seethe a completely mixed bag of anything, depending on the day, but strongly." she rubbed her temples, "...them together gives me such a migraine with all the emotive output."

That would be the Tiger Balm he smelled on her at the rare meetings with every Peak present. Though he used a bit himself for those meetings, thankfully rare though they were.

Movement in the corner of his eye turned his head, to see the shimmering light of the Star Crystal Horses cresting the next hill amid a swathe of translucent Wind-Soother Grass.

The wild herd moved to the Cang Qiong herd of messenger-type horses, with blood of the fastest breeds in their lines.

"Why is Mu-shixiong interested in Shen-shixiong? What did he do to stress my martial brother so?"

Mu Qingfang sighed and rubbed a hand over his eyes, "A private meeting, in which Shen Qingqiu forwent every duty of a host and blatantly distressed his Head disciple in front of me, while another knelt on the ground in waiting outside, like an owned slave, 'for collection'."

He looked onto her dark brown eyes tiredly, "I entertained the thought to duel him, Xia-shimei. And to think that I was worried!"

Her eyes were wide, she spoke softly, "A major Qi Deviation?"

"...Xia-shimei, when I entered the room I thought he was already dead."

She gasped. "...But he is recovered, yes?"

"I would not have left the Sect had he not been. Though, Liu-shidi was due back for his 'visit' soon, so I doubt Shen-shixiong will be resting his meridians as he should."

"You left your disciples to treat Bai Zhan after the White Tiger's visited?"

"It will gain them experience. Besides, I resupplied the most commonly required balms and salves and my Head disciple knows how to manage the stock."

He looked down at a tump of Wind-Soother Grass growing among the green and yellow.

Shen Qingqiu's newest addition to his Bamboo Hut since his last Deviation; Golden Thousand Dreams Flower scent pouches, commonly thought to ward off nightmares and soothe restless sleep.

Except it didn't; the flower send one to sleep, but do nothing against nightmares. Wind-Soother Grass is typically paired with it for its effects of calming qi flow, with the side effect of pleasant or otherwise dreamless sleep.

Was Shen-shixiong suffering nightmares?

"Does Healer Mu Qingfang think that this Deviation could have changed Shen-shixiong?"

He blinked back to awareness, still looking at the grass, "Shimei, he does not permit me to assess beyond his qi system, but from our interaction and my observations, he shows no damage, though in a personal capacity, I would say he may be worse than he was before. He has never liked nor trusted me and thinks himself my superior for our differing ancestors, but never has he outright insulted me so."

The Wind-Soother Grass shivered in a breeze.

His voice dropped to a murmur.

"However, I am his Healer and he is my charge and my martial brother, one sworn to my care. And though he doesn't want it, he still deserves to be helped."

Mu Qingfang dismounted his horse with ease born of familiarity and dug up one grass tuft by the roots, tucking it away into a qiankun pouch and taking blades from other Wind-Soothers to be dried for pouches.

There was temporary settlement of nomads not far to the East with Soft-Wool Cloud Sheep, if he was reading the tracks and remains correctly.

Mu Qingfang would take a detour and see about some trade.

Prejudiced, bitter and unpleasant a man as Shen Qingqiu is, Mu Qingfang will not have him sad, cold and suffering, with only nightmares to fill his sleep.

.

.

.

Hundreds of li in another direction, Li Qingrong makes another mark on the map and frowns behind his embroidered weimao.

While he did not begrudge his senior disciples in taking the initiative to rework the land for better drainage for the town, thus preventing seasonal flash-floods, the delay frustrated him the way it rarely had before. If ever.

Though, he had not disclosed the reason for their abrupt return to Cang Qiong to them.

Lilac eyes drifted to the side, staring at nothing.

The energies...

Some days ago, Li Qingrong had felt a shift in the higher energies of the plane while in deep meditation. Something new had crossed over, something broken and dead.

It sent ripples of dissonance through his spirit ties with his martial family, his generational Peak Lord siblings, the only ones who had ever claimed him as kin, when his own blood discarded him.

And it was centred on his coldest brother, who guarded their backs with smoke and mirrors, cloaks and daggers, whose song was painful to listen to (mournful howls, rattling defensiveness, screeching aggression, even as his body was silent.)

It was centred on Shen Qingqiu.

.

.

.

Shen Qingqiu drifted.

Immersed in the grounding nature qi of the Ling Xi Caves, soothed and enveloped by inert power, Shen Qingqiu allowed his mind to still and sank into deep meditation.

With placid detachment, he stretched out his soul for the scattered ink of his other life's memories, a brush to be loaded, a channel, an invitation.

The ashy ink answered, slowly moving from the depths of his soul into his conscious mind, swirling together, coalescing into a thick strip of character, incomprehensibly minute.

He reached again and embraced the ink, absorbing it like a dry canvas.

He let information flow freely, understanding without feeling again every sensation, without seeing every expression. Like reminiscing a time long passed, experiencing only the shallow echoes of memory.

Liu Qingge died.

Luo Binghe was broken.

Shen Qingqiu was tortured.

Yu Qingyuan was killed.

His martial kin, disciples and Sect were burned.

Shen Qingqiu died by swallowing the broken tie to his Yu Qi's soul.

Shen Qingqiu had been dying by increments long before that.

So, in this place of detachment, he mourned.

Quietly, he grieved for Yue Qingyuan, for Cang Qiong, for Liu Qingge, for Luo Binghe. For the tragedy of it all. For the bitter ashes that are all that remain.

It is a sadness that sits heavily in his soul.

Acceptance found finally, at last, the cracked fragments of Shen Jiu relaxed and with a sigh like a final breath, dispersed like a drop of ink in an ocean. Finally, at rest, forever.

Shen Qingqiu came back to awareness on a raised stone platform surrounded by crystalline waters singing with spiritual qi, and violent bursts of familiar qi rippling the air, filling his nose with iron and his mouth with spice.

His blood turned to ice.

Liu Qingge .

Shen Qingqiu leapt up and sprinted out the cave, down a familiar set of twists and turns until he found him, once again.

Cheng Luan lay discarded on the floor, silvered spirit light wavering with the instability of its source, blade stained red.

Liu Qingge was already injured, scattered cuts spreading scarlet across his ridiculous white robe.

His blood was splashed across the walls.

His qi was heaving, writhing to Shen Qingqiu's spiritual sense, great plumes resisting the natural direction to rise from the Earth chakra root.

Liu Qingge was on the cusp of a breakthrough, but the impatient idiot had tried to force it. His meridians weren't ready, so the rising pulse to further his cultivation level was hindered, staggered. Uncontrollable and leading to his current situation:

Qi Deviation.

Shen Qingqiu knew this scene. He had tried to subdue Liu Qingge, to knock him out and restrain him so he could trigger the alarm talisman on the chamber entrance for aid.

But Liu Qingge was called the War God among Immortal Cultivators, Shen Qingqiu had drawn Xiu Ya to defend against the savage strikes of Cheng Luan and with the unstable qi roiling in the air, shaking his own delicate balance...

A moment of inattention to soothe a rising plume. To prevent two Deviating Peak Lords existing in the same cave.

A sword seal. A reflexive parry. A madman throwing himself forward.

And piercing his heart on Shen Qingqiu's Xiu Ya.

He had never used sword seals since.

It was the start of the end.

Maybe he smelled him, maybe he heard his rapid heartbeats, maybe he felt the tremor in his qi.

Any, all or none, Liu Qingge turned sharply, revealing burnished orange-red eyes light with Earth qi. Demonic qi.

Ha. Wu Yanzi would have approved.

Shen Qingqiu carefully lowered his eyes and curled his shoulder, drew his qi presence in tightly. Submissive. Deferential. Like he was back at the Qiu Estate.

Liu Qingge watched fixedly. His chest was heaving and sweat beaded on his brow. They were running out of time.

With infinite care, Shen Qingqiu eased one foot forward to-

Liu Qingge snarled and launched himself at him.

Shen Qingqiu dodged to the side and Liu Qingge cast a hand out, flaring rusted steel qi.

He lunged and Shen Qingqiu prepared to side step, but there was a light in the corner of his eye, a flare of sword qi -Cheng Luan! - his fingers formed a seal, Xiu Ya sang in answer and-

NO!

Shen Qingqiu forced his hand open and met Liu Qingge head on; as hooked fingers in a hand like a tiger's paw reached for his neck, his palm struck hard muscle and a hot burst of fire qi entered Liu Qingge's heart meridian.

Just as those stout fingers closed, Liu Qingge's eyes rolled back and his body went slack, collapsing into Shen Qingqiu.

From this close he could feel the other's heart beating steadily. That was good. It was a very delicate and extremely risky operation, requiring careful balancing of qi expression and elemental affiliation.

Truly it was more luck than anything that it worked; Shen Qingqiu's yin fire to Liu Qingge's yang metal generated an Inter-regulating cycle and the low qi density gathered for the sword seal prevented a destructive Overacting cycle.

Rough calluses brushed against the skin of his neck, curling around his collar slightly, while loose strands of dark, silky hair tickled the other side.

Yes, it's good that the Bai Zhan Brute will live, but this is too close .

He wrapped an arm around the idiot's waist and used it to roll his fellow Peak Lord out of his unwilling embrace and into the cave wall.

He crumpled into a roughly kneeling posture with his face pressed up against the unyielding rock.

It was possible there was some damage from the collision.

Hm. Good.

Shen Qingqiu sank to his knees behind his shidi with all the grace and poise of his station, for nothing more than his own satisfaction.

He pressed his hands to the back of the slender figure in front of him and paused a moment to feel the heat of him, the shift of lithe muscles with every breath, before gently channelling qi into his inflamed spirit veins, correcting direction, soothing meridians and balancing the essence of his shidi with his own.

Yes, he was glad his martial brother yet lived.

...However, yet again, it was proved that an act of kindness from Shen Qingqiu would only ever hurt him.

Though this time more literally than most.

He looked down at the deep gash in his shoulder, blood slick on the white cotton of his travel robe.

At least Xiu Ya remained unsullied.

Ah... he glanced over at Cheng Luan where it has clattered to the ground. Shen Qingqiu paused the qi transmission for a moment and rose, walking over to the mighty broadsword and picked it up, feeling the weight of it in his hand before wiping the blood off the blade with a bottom panel of his robe.

When he had cleaned the spirit sword and returned Liu Qingge's meridians to their natural state, he tugged the feared and awed War God to lay on his side, supporting his head with his good arm and removed all physical trace of his presence, returning to his own cultivation chamber.

Might as well raise his own cultivation as he has been so graciously permitted a stay in these caves.


Notes:

• Promoting /inter-regulating: ke cycle: fire melts/reshapes metal
• Overacting: excessive ke cycle: fire vapourizes metal

• Xiao Biao: 'Little Stripe' the Flying Bear Tiger

~So, Question: OG!SQH or Airplane!SQH? I'm torn between them.