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Everything hurts. That was the first thought that ran through Shen Yuan’s mind as he stirred. Maybe he’d ruptured something when he’d spat blood at the ending of PIDW? He’d choked right? How had someone found him?

The jumbled words screech through his head before abruptly cutting off. Shen Yuan flinches away from the noise, rolling over on the thin mattress. Everything is so loud! It’s too dark for everything to feel so loud, like standing in front of a speaker while a microphone is too close. The movement only exacerbates his injuries and Shen Yuan can’t help but cry out in pain.

The young man covers his head with his arms as his ears ring. He’s not expecting the wideness of the sleeves, nor the length of the hair that brushes over his face. He reaches out to touch carefully and realizes his hair comes down to his waist. He’s still trying to figure out the sleeves when a voice speaks, startling him again.

“You’ve been badly injured, and your broken bones haven’t mended yet. So it’s best you stay still.”

Injured? Broken bones? Was he in a car accident or something? Has he been in a coma for years?! Shen Yuan does his best to sit up and lets out a hiss as his head spins. He can feel hands on him and can’t help but flinch. The language is also more formal than he’s used to, even in hospitals.

“I’m sorry but would you mind turning on the lights?”

…

Blind. He was blind now, and not only that he wasn’t even himself anymore! The young man called him Shen Qiao, the main character of the wuxia novel Thousand Autumns, unfortunately it wasn’t a series Shen Yuan had read. It was next on his list after Proud Immortal Demon Way… which sounds like it was the novel he should have been sent to after he died. But something went wrong.

All he knew was that Shen Qiao was a daoist who ended up being tortured by some man who wished to corrupt him. There were various other content warnings that had been tossed around he knew about but other than hearing it was pretty politically heavy he didn’t know much about the plot. He’d just wanted a break from ‘Master’ Airplane’s shitty sex scenes, anything else he could handle. One could only read so many political betrayals solved by papapa before wanting something different.

Yu Shengyan, a demonic cultivator of the Huanyue sect, is who he’s speaking with currently. The man, he assumes, claims that he had been attacked by a rival demonic sect; only to be rescued by his beloved ‘shixiong’ that promised him revenge against the culprits. He isn’t sure if Hehuan sect is actually responsible for his injuries but it doesn’t sound like these people are at least. He’s just glad he knows enough to know that he’s not a disciple of Huanyue sect.

Demonic sects in novels like these aren’t actually demons, a saving grace considering everything in the stallion novel, but it also meant his almost encyclopedic knowledge of Airplane’s monsters is worth jack shit here. These people don’t prescribe to the daoist principles that righteous sects do but they aren’t necessarily bad or mustache twirling villains, they’re just more hedonistic and self-serving.

At least, that's what he thought until he met Yan Wushi. Yan Wushi purrs with arrogance and struts about like a peacock. He’s all too happy to allow Yu Shengyan to play his game and even tells Shen Qiao to call him shizun, which he’s forced to do or the jig is up and they kill him.

Thanks to his damaged body, as weird as that was to say, with Yu Shengyan’s help he learns how to control and monitor his core and qi. The swirling energy inside him is sluggish, his martial abilities cut off almost entirely due to his destroyed meridians. Thankfully it doesn’t affect his ability to sense qi in others and has helped him create an idea of the environment around him, unfortunately it did nothing to help with stairs or furniture. He only gets around with the help of a bamboo cane that one of the maids had found him. His old hair ribbon is used to make a grip for the staff so he knows which end to hold.

The demonic sect leader tells him all is not lost though, that he could potentially recover some if not most of his martial arts with time. Shen Yuan pitied Shen Qiao hearing that, to go from a renowned sect leader to having almost no martial ability at all must have been devastating, even for a daoist. Considering his suspicions about who Yan Wushi is though, he knows he is in the wrong place for sympathy.

Sure enough the older man (if he remembers the images of white streaked hair correctly) tells him that he and Yu Shengyan are going to get revenge for Shen Qiao by killing an informant of Hehuan sect. Yan Wushi’s goal is obviously to blacken the pure white lotus that was Shen Qiao, unfortunately for him he got Shen Yuan instead.

It isn’t hard to convince his ‘shixiong’ that he is too ill for the demonic cultivator to take along on his self proclaimed romantic and free-spirited excursions. The fever he’d gotten on the journey into town certainly hadn’t been faked and every second of it sucked. Thankfully the maids pity his abysmal state and take him out daily for walks, usually to pick up his medicine as his headaches are frequent. It also allows him to have tea with a lovely young lady and whisper a few sweet nothings in her ear while she coos over his sickly pallor. The maids can’t say anything, they are obviously trying to hide the fact that Shen Qiao isn’t a demonic cultivator. He almost hopes that they are reporting back to Yan Wushi that his corruption is coming along nicely.

He feels like the smug cat meme when Yu Shengyan and he break into an empty compound, causing the other man to turn on him and make him explain his plot. Of course Yan Wushi isn’t as easy to fool and he ends up booted out of the Huanyue house they’d been staying in. Thankfully Yu Shengyan is a nicer man than his teacher and he gives Shen Qiao some information about himself as well as directions to the nearest cities.

“Our Huanyue sect may be demonic in the eyes of the world, but at least we’re open and honest villains. We kill when we say we will, and we’re never afraid to speak our minds!” The young man sounds so indignant that Shen Yuan can’t resist patting him on the head at the door as he’s led out. It stops Yu Shengyan in his tracks and he can only imagine the look on the other’s face. When was the last time he’d received such a touch he wondered? He’s got almost a decade on this kid, he can’t help but see him a bit like a little brother.

“Thank you Yu-xiong, take care of yourself. And thank your shizun for me next time you see him. His intentions might have been less than honorable but the Huanyue sect has cared for this Shen for many months now and I’ll always be grateful. If I ever get the chance to repay the favor I will do everything in my power.” He cups his hands and with those last words, sets out on his way.

His vision has somewhat cleared, enough to perceive light and see shadows, but only for short periods of time before his eyes begin watering again. It’s easier to keep them closed than suffer the headache honestly. Speaking of headaches, Shen Qiao is ready to beat the brat he’s found in this temple with all the vindictive rage of Shen Qingqiu when it comes to Lou Binghe. Honestly he’d love to switch them, give him the tortured demon protagonist over this pretentious fuck any day.

In order to earn a couple coins so that he can eat and have a place to sleep that night Shen Qiao finds a spot to sit near the town center and begins telling stories. The kids come first of course, well off and urchins alike. He has just enough qi to use his qinggong and make the fight scenes come to life. He also apologizes in advance to George Lucas.

“...and as the daoist priest clings onto the edge of the cliff, one of his arms limp and dripping blood at his side. He calls out at the demonic cultivator’s retreating back, ‘He told me what you did! That you were the one who killed my father!’ And the demonic cultivator stops, giving out a scoff as he tosses the daoist’s broken sword to the side. ‘What a delicate little lie,’ he sneers before looking back over his shoulder with disdain, ‘and one I will not abide by. I did not kill your father, little cultivator, I AM your father.’ The daoist cries out ‘Nooooo’ but he can’t deny it, because he knows in his heart of hearts that it’s true. And in his despair the daoist loses his grip on the rocks and falls from the cliffside.”

The small crowd he has amassed all gasp loudly, the children crying out in shock and fear. Shen Qiao has a bright smile on his face as he kneels down to reassure the children, “If you want to know what happens next, come back tomorrow.” They giggle and tug on their parents' robes, asking for coppers to give the nice storyteller. Shen Qiao has earned himself a nice little handful of coins he’s able to tuck away in his robes. A nice break for tea and some food and he might even be able to perform a little Proud Immortal Demon Way for the adults, edited to actually be readable of course.

And then he feels a presence up against his back, “Sect Leader Shen sells his mouth so easily. If I had known you were interested in demonic cultivators as entertainment, I certainly wouldn’t have let Shengyan say you were his shidi. I’d have kept you all to myself.”

Shen Qiao spins around at the voice, ready to defend himself before recognizing Yan Wushi. He can feel the heat from the other man’s body he’s so close. Putting out a hand to keep some distance between himself and the older man he's not expecting to feel bare skin under his fingertips and quickly yanks the limb back in shock. Yan Wushi just laughs at him and wow, Shen Qingqiu wishes he could emulate a laugh like that.

“Tell me Sect Leader Shen, if I were to give you a tael of silver, where would you put that mouth for me, do you designate it?”

He can practically hear the brakes screeching in his head, wait is this… flirting? Does Yan Wushi is gay? That’d be like if Airplane Shooting Towards the Sky up and announced that Lou Binghe tossed aside his triple digit harem to go romance his shizun instead of killing him! It’s gotta be a joke, Yan Wushi is just trying to get a rise out of him.

Before Shen Qiao can think of a suitable reply the demonic sect leader reaches out and grips his wrist, checking his meridians before tutting disappointedly. “Your veins are weak, if you’re not sure what to do with your future…you could always come join my sect.”

Somehow Shen Qiao doesn’t think he means that in a martial sibling kind of way. He twists his arm out of Yan Wushi’s grip only to receive another strike he’s forced to block quickly. Standing there in the middle of the center of town the two of them trade a truly ridiculous number of blows in a matter of seconds. Whether his veins are weak or not he can at least keep Yan Wushi’s hands off of him, for now.

His confidence doesn’t last long as his qi drops, his damaged meridians weakening him terribly. Shen Qiao finds himself slammed into a wall, coughing up blood while Yan Wushi dusts himself off a few feet away. “A new Sect Leader was appointed the day after your fall. Your shidi Yu Ai.”

It was as if that name acted like some sort of passcode, unlocking all of the previous Shen Qiao’s memories and forcing them rapid fire through Shen Yuan’s skull. He staggers to the ground, fingers yanking at his hair as his head spins. An entire life that was not his now trying to fit inside him.

When he wakes up again the sun is setting. Gathering himself up with his head still faintly pounding, Shen Qiao hurries to grab some food before the stalls close and get back to his current ‘residence’. After dealing with Chen Gong and the intruders he settles down to meditate and try to sort out the jumbled mess of memories in his head. Hopefully he wouldn’t see Yan Wushi again for a while, the demonic cultivator was truly bad for his health.

…three days. He made it three days, and he was unconscious for most of them so it feels like just yesterday to him! That man really is nothing but trouble. His shizun seemed to hold a degree of respect for the demonic cultivator, speaking highly of his abilities in the memories that Shen Qiao now has. Qi Fengge seemed like a good man, Shen Qiao trusted his opinions so he tried to give Yan Wushi the benefit of the doubt.

Which is how he ended up reading a volume of the Zhuyang Strategy in front of a bunch of martial artists. And then being ditched after the man he just decided to give the benefit of the doubt to, ghosted him. After destroying a priceless document!

Bai-Rong is very lovely, like Sha Hualing but much less rough around the edges, her shixiong however is every alarm bell in the book and then some. Shen Qiao still isn’t sure how he managed to get he and Chen Gong away. Talk about the blind leading the stupid. He makes a gentle and soft argument for them splitting up in the morning for their safety, one the urchin is all too glad to accept if it means saving his own hide.

That morning, after Chen Gong makes his hurried escape while he thinks Shen Qiao is still asleep the daoist decides he needs to leave sooner than later. A blind man in a story like this is definitely about to have something horrible happen to him if he doesn’t scram now. He drops out the window with a quiet ‘yeet’, but instead of landing on his feet he finds himself landing in a pair of well-defined arms.

“One would think you’re avoiding someone by trying to leave this way. Did I not pay you handsomely for your services last time?” Seriously monsters, monsters and half-demon children would be far superior to this. And no he doesn’t have any of the money Yan Wushi gave him because it all had to go to medicine to help him after Yan Wushi decided to fight him last time!

The daoist shifts just enough to ‘accidentally’ whack Yan Wushi in the head with his cane before being dropped. He straightens out his clothing and composes himself to look as put together as a daoist sect leader, well former sect leader, should.

“Sect Leader Yan, why are you here? I know I passed along a message to Yu-xiong that I would assist if Huanyue needed my help but as far as I can tell Yan-zhongzhu seems to be in perfect health.”

He only barely gets a hand up in time to block Yan Wushi’s qi-driven blow. Shen Qiao is so caught up with the strangely familiar words that drift through his mind with each hit that he blocks, he doesn’t feel the way their qi reacts. Yan Wushi however can, daoist and demonic qi are supposed to be at complete odds, yet when he looks carefully he sees theirs almost mingle. Wisps swirling around each other and almost combining. It’s proof that the foundations of their cores are the same, Shen Qiao has now read two volumes of the strategy guide. It gives him other ideas too.

Shen Qiao is dizzy from the relentless blows and slumps down the walls, the buzzing in his ears preventing him from hearing whatever Yan Wushi is prattling on about now, gods that man really loves to hear himself talk. He can feel the nausea rising as the older man crouches in front of him, his voice lilting like he’s asking a question.

“Sect Leader Yan…”

“Didn’t you call me shizun before? Why such a quick change?” The other man pouts as he tips the daoist’s chin up just in time for Shen Qiao to vomit blood all down his hand and arm before passing out. Yan Wushi notes the vaguest hint of a smug smile on the daoist’s face. Oh this is going to be fun.

He wakes up in a carriage.

“How difficult life is! Why are you still alive? Isn’t it agonizing for you, that you can never manage to die?”

Can I get out of this conversation if I die? Shen Qiao thinks as he pushes himself to sit up, it seems that coughing up the blood earlier helped clear his lungs some as his breathing feels easier now. And surprisingly he’s not dead for throwing up on the man.

“Where are we?” He asks instead. He aches again but after growing up in a chronologically ill and in pain body it’s much easier to shrug aside than it otherwise should have been. He knows his limits.

“On our way to Xuandu Mountain, this venerable one will accompany you until I can decipher the Zhuyang Strategy that’s already inside you.”

“Do I get a choice in all of this?” So Yan Wushi did know where he was headed, it makes sense he knew how to find Shen Qiao then. Might not have been expecting to catch him from the window though.

“You can choose to enjoy the ride in the carriage while you’re still relatively unwounded. Or I can fight you again and drag your crippled body along behind it.”

Shen Qiao resists the urge to throw up on him again. Yan Wushi is about to deal with the pettiest daoist who’s ever lived.

Of course Yan Wushi doesn’t take him directly to the mountain, noooooo. The bitch has to drag him across all and sundry first. Fine. Shen Qiao spends every day he can off in the city, surrounded by people so Yan Wushi can’t just grab him and drag him into a dark alley to fight. He gives food to the children he sees with the coin he earns telling stories in the town square. One boy takes to him like a duck to water, promising to worship him like a god after Shen Qiao brings him some bread to share with his siblings. He wishes he could take the boy with him. He refuses to subject anyone else to Yan Wushi though and instead encourages him to find a sect to follow after realizing that the energy he was seeing around Shiwu was actually cultivation potential.

Despite never being able to feel Yan Wushi around while he’s telling stories, the demonic cultivator always has cutting nitpicks and critiques about the tales he tells whenever he returns to wherever they are staying in the evening. It almost, almost makes him feel bad about the things he’s said towards Airplane but the demonic cultivator isn’t exactly incorrect in his comments.

Thankfully, with Shen Qiao’s memories it’s easy to find the back path up the mountain and get the both of them to the original Shen Qiao’s home. He knows it’s too much to hope that Yan Wushi will just drop him off at his doorstep and leave but he has absolutely zero intention of doing anything but retiring back to the original good’s sect and healing as much as he can before maybe turning to teaching for the rest of his days. He wasn’t meant to be in this world and the least he can do is return the body of these people’s loved one to them.

He’s not buying into any of the demonic sect leader’s whispers of betrayal or any of that bullshit. No corruption for this white lotus thank you very much, it didn’t work without his memories and it wouldn’t work with them. From what he’s heard it sounds like Yu Ai has far better ideas than Shen Qiao anyway, things were better off this way.

Those thoughts are only confirmed when he runs into Shen Qiao’s shidi and hears the joy in his voice. This was where the original Shen Qiao belonged, with the people who loved him. They didn’t need to know that their friend, their old sect leader had died and was now an entirely different person. Any personality changes could be easily explained away by the fall off the cliff so he wasn’t too worried.

Yu Ai quickly drags him inside and goes to make them tea, fretting over him and generally acting the way he always had in the borrowed memories. Some of his comments felt a little probing, asking about Shen Qiao’s injuries, how he was managing being blind and things like that. Shen Yuan does his best to reassure Shen Qiao’s martial brother, brushing aside the weirdness as unfamiliarity. Or paranoia because of the temple stuff.

“Well you’re home now.” Yu Ai sighs as he pours their tea with a shakier hand than Shen Qiao expected from a martial artist, the cups and pot rattling unexpectedly. The older man carefully guides his hands to the cup even though Shen Qiao can sense it fine. “We’ll do everything we can to fix your eyesight, and of course you’re still the sect leader, I’ve mostly just been managing the paperwork while you were gone. I can’t believe the poison left you blind, the council has been…”

Shen Qiao’s hands freeze around the cup, shaking harshly. His body refusing to grip the delicate porcelain. He feels his heart sink as he starts to realize exactly what kind of novel he’s found himself in. Yan Wushi doesn’t need to blacken this lotus, the world around him has already poisoned the roots, literally. Going by the way Yu Ai has frozen, he has also realized his low level villain mistake. Shen Qiao pulls his hands back and quickly stands. Knowing Yan Wushi he’s not far away, the demonic cultivator was likely waiting around for this exact scenario to play out so he could gloat and then dump Shen Qiao off in some slum. Anywhere would be better than here right now.

“Excuse me, I’m not feeling well it seems.” He tries to excuse as he backs away from the table, trying to find his way back towards the door.

“Zhangjiao-shixiong you can’t leave.” Yu Ai gives chase to him, without making it look like a chase. It doesn’t help that it’s damn near impossible for him to see at night and he’s in a place that he is unfamiliar with. He’s also too panicky to recall Shen Qiao’s memories right now. Yu Ai keeps grabbing at his sleeves, trying to force Shen Qiao under his shoulder with fake words of care and assistance. He can’t stop coughing up blood again either, his entire body roiling against the touch.

It’s not even Shen Qiao’s struggle to get back to the path down the mountain that gets Yan Wushi to appear, but the use of a nickname.

“A-Qiao, A-Qiao” The older man purrs as he drags Shen Qiao into his arms, snatching him out of Yu Ai’s grip and launching them onto a nearby roof. He brushes the backs of his fingers down the daoist’s cheek and along his jaw before cutting a glare down to Yu Ai. The demonic sect leader could see the hunger in those eyes, the desire in the way he watched Shen Qiao helplessly stumble around.

The daoist almost seems to relax in his hold even as he jerks his chin away from the touch. Yan Wushi enjoys pushing the younger man’s buttons until he gets those disdainful looks he doesn’t seem to realize he’s making. It’s going to be so fun when he cracks.

All Shen Qiao knows is that lingering with Yan Wushi keeps him safe from Yu Ai, and pisses him off royally. So he leans into it, placing his hand on the sect leader's chest and calling for the older man to take him away from his old sect. Yan Wushi snorts at his acting but acquiesces and uses his qinggong to get them back down to the village. Where he promptly tries to fight Shen Qiao again. And then bespell him after knocking him damn near unconscious.

He really hates it here.

Weeks of this shit go by and Shen Qiao has had it up to here with Yan Wushi. From pretending that they are cut sleeves in every restaurant to the constant fights in an effort to learn Shen Qiao’s martial arts he’s exhausted. At least he was able to avenge Bian Yanmei for the loss of his friend, and remove a piece of true evil from the world. Now he’s being sent off to go to this banquet in Yan Wushi’s stead and here he is in the middle of another fight. Just one night off without Yan Wushi trying to forcibly feed him, was that too much to ask?

And he hasn’t been complacent about it either, he started out by breaking chopsticks but Yan Wushi would just take his instead. He’d stay silent during meals and run out to get street food after but then Yan Wushi started taking him to markets for food instead, claiming he was ungrateful to the sect leader's kindness. Like the man didn’t allow him to be almost kidnapped by Hehuan sect when they came calling! The hardest part was that he could just snap if he wanted. He could scream and slap Yan Wushi across the face or dump hot soup in his lap, but it wouldn’t earn him his freedom. So he did his best to remain the gentle, untouchable (but still petty) lotus because it seemed to piss Yan Wushi off the most.

Which is what led him to where he is now.

His cane broken but with a sword in hand once again. Qi and muscle memory fueling him into a cultivation breakthrough. He can feel the two strategy guides working within him, helping him understand his own martial ability in a way that he had been unable to unlock previously. It was beautiful, it was incredible, but it still wasn’t enough to completely heal his injuries. It was enough however to protect himself and the other people at the party, which is what mattered. He was stuck in this world now, forced to rely on those around him for input about the world around him, it made it hard to dismiss them as just npc’s in a novel.

It was nice to hear that his actions had changed some people’s opinion about his abilities at least. And he got an offer for a place to crash if he ever got fed up with Yan Wushi, score!

The kidnapping by Bai Rong isn’t awful either. The second attempted kidnapping was less pleasant.

At least the arms he passes out in after are familiar. Yan Wushi smells spicy and the exposed skin of his chest is warm, his hair feels damp where it caresses Shen Qiao’s cheeks. Had the sect leader rushed out from a bath to collect him, were his last thoughts as everything went black.

When Yan Wushi offers to give him a demonic core he can’t help but admire the man’s tenacity. He can barely make out a hint of the older man’s features as he’s grabbed by the chin and subjected to more vague threats of being tortured or worse. Shen Qiao can’t help but cock his head at said threats.

“Sect Leader Yan, for someone who seems so sure that this Shen will be raped and killed for an event that you orchestrated you certainly do a good job of scooping me up before anyone else can lay a finger on me.”

He feels the blow coming but does nothing more than lean out of the way. He’s tired of the fights, of Yan Wushi acting like he’s not responsible for the fact his core can’t repair itself. But his mouth has always been faster than his brain. “Is it Sect Leader Yan’s intention to be the one to rape and kill me then? Since he won’t let anyone else do it.”

The air goes absolutely still between them, the temperature dropping rapidly. The maid comes with Shen Qiao’s medicine before either of them can break the silence. Yan Wushi leaves while he sips at the bowl of broth, they don’t speak again for days.

“I went to the palace to meet the Emperor of Zhou today.” Yan Wushi says apropos of nothing while Shen Qiao sucks of a piece of tanghulu after drinking his medicine. Shen Qiao seems to hate bitterness even more than Shen Yuan did in life. Mood, my guy. “He asked me to tell you that he wants to meet with you.”

Shen Qiao squeaks and points at himself confused. It can’t be because of the party, which means it must be about the political state of Xuandu mountain. Fuck it sucks having to go through all of this without having read the books. He wasn’t really into court politics like this or even the day to day news when he was alive, doom scrolling only invites depression. Shen Qiao was never embroiled in sect dynamics either and he hates how it constantly leaves him on the wrong foot. There’s no other choice for it then.

“Will Yan-zhongzhu please educate this lowly one about the state of affairs he’s about to be put in the middle of then?”

“A-Qiao, you mean you haven’t been listening to this venerable one at all?” Shen Qiao isn’t certain how to interpret the tangle of emotions that he hears when Yan Wushi speaks. It’s moments like this he wants to rail against being almost entirely blind the most, he hates not being able to see people’s faces to process how they react. It’s not like he can reach out and touch the other man’s face to understand either, that’s some romance trope type shit. And he’s also not sure that Yan Wushi won’t bite his fingers off out of spite.

“It’s not exactly possible for this Shen to take notes right now.” He states with a shrug. It does actually come as a bit of a surprise to him when Yan Wushi keeps them in his quarters for the rest of the day, talking about the politics of this world that he belongs to now. He only asks for a favor well within Shen Qiao’s abilities in exchange, all in all it’s not a bad deal.

Getting Shen Qiao’s sword back was not what he’d been expecting before they set off that morning. Shanhe Tongbei, the last gift that had ever been gifted to Shen Qiao by his shizun. Without Shen Yuan’s permission a single tear streaks down his smiling face as he holds the blade close.

“Come, another smile.” Yan Wushi orders him gently. It overwhelmingly ruins the mood but this does still mean a lot to Shen Qiao. In compromise he reaches out to place a hand on Yan Wushi’s shoulder to squeeze, his trajectory must be a touch off though as his fingers skim the taller man’s cheek instead. Yan Wushi takes a step back as he tries to correct himself, so instead of hitting his shoulder the Daoist’s palm presses right over the demonic cultivator’s heart.

Awkwardly he pulls his hand back, cursing himself for being such a disaster. “This Shen sincerely thanks Sect Leader Yan for this.” He gives a small, respectful bow before tying the sword to his back.

There’s a weird silence hanging over them in the carriage on their way to the palace. He wishes sword flight existed in this world T.T .

“Sect Leader Yan?” He asks quietly, waiting for an acknowledging noise from the older man. “This Shen has decided that he’s been secluded from the world enough, after this… he’d like to travel. Learn more about the world.” Since he had no home on Xuandu and certainly couldn’t spend the rest of his life mooching off of Yan Wushi without disastrous consequences he decided it would be best for him to disappear. So few people in this world knew who the old leader of Xuandu Mountain was, it would be easy to find some village somewhere and just vanish. He could become Shen Yuan again, find some temple to work in and maintain maybe and just heal finally. He might even get his sight back if he could get away from all of this and fix his core.

“Of course this venerable won’t stop you if you wish to leave. But I do advise you to delay a little…” Leave it to Yan Wushi to tempt Shen Qiao into accompanying him a little longer by informing him of one of the most badass fights ever. And all he has to do is complete an escort quest, it wouldn’t be a bad idea trying to get his fresh start in such a prosperous location.

The visit with the emperor left him with complicated feelings towards the older man, for someone so intent to slander Shen Qiao’s personal life he certainly didn’t tolerate anyone else slandering Shen Qiao’s abilities. Even going so far as to tell the most powerful man in the country that Shen Qiao’s fight was unfair due to his poisoning. It was also thanks to the education he received from Yan Wushi the day prior that he was able to come up with a sufficiently neutral way to turn down forming a rift within his own sect.

Those complicated feelings…became even harder to describe after Yan Wushi claimed both the man he was escorting and Bai Rong had crushes on him. It was so hard to get a read on the demonic sect leader, demanding space and attention in equal measure. And then Yuwen Qing pokes his head into the carriage and Yan Wushi drags Shen Qiao into a kiss.

At first Shen Qiao freezes, he’s seen enough action movies to know that when someone gets yanked into an unexpected kiss it usually means that there’s danger around. His back is to the carriage entrance so presumably Yan Wushi can see or sense something he can’t so he plays along and allows the older man to drag him closer. He can hear something strange going on behind him but when he goes to break the kiss and look his jaw is roughly grabbed and his mouth invaded by Yan Wushi’s tongue. A few taps to his back leave him paralyzed in those arms and Shen Qiao starts to suspect that this wasn’t that kind of kiss.

He’s dragged between Yan Wushi’s thighs on his knees, his neck craned back as Yan Wushi plunders his mouth. His hands are braced against the older man’s chest, unable to push him away or make them look like anything that isn’t placidly draped around his lover. The glare that is leveled at the older man the entire time leaves Yan Wushi grinning, he loves those fiery un-daoist like moments when Shen Qiao looks ready to slap him and curse him out. He’d probably like it. (Sorry Shen Yuan you are cursed to have a sticky, demonic, attention seeking M by your side in every universe you transmigrate into.)

The feelings still haven’t uncomplicated themselves even when he stands before Yan Wushi after the sect leader’s fight, guarding him from those who were trying to kill him while he recovered. The stupid child who thought it’d bring him glory got cursed out and beaten black and blue by Shen Qiao who knew no one would ever believe him. The older man was icy cold to the touch, his qi so potent it began attacking Shen Qiao’s meridians if he tried to help. It was enough however for him to realize that Yan Wushi had attempted to pull a Binghe.

Twin cores, daoist and demonic, fighting each other inside him. His energy was completely out of balance, the demonic swallowing the spiritual energy which roiled inside him. It was pretty much what he pictured whenever Xin Mo would flare up and Binghe would almost go crazy from the over abundance of demonic energy. Thanks to Proud Immortal Demon Way he knew how to treat this, hopefully without the dual cultivation because he refused to believe Airplane’s stupid papapa plots were the actual answer to everything.

Yan Wushi’s lips were freezing cold against his, his icy defenses kicking in almost immediately as Shen Qiao pushed their lips open to feed him spiritual energy. Like last time it tried to reject him immediately but Shen Qiao pushed through the pain, he was more than used to it now, and pushed the energy straight to his core rather than trying to filter it through his meridians. The older man’s Daoist core flared as he began to feed it and he felt Yan Wushi tense up under him. Panicking, he pushed the other man down, leaning over him to keep their mouths together so as not to interrupt his attempt to save Yan Wushi from qi deviation.

After what felt like hours, the torch he’d brought went out at some point and made it impossible for Shen Qiao to see or count the time, with no response even as Yan Wushi’s energy settled he pulled away. Swaying with the almost complete depletion of his energy the daoist crumpled, only to be caught in a pair of arms. Slightly confused he presses a hand to a thin shoulder, the fabric feels sheer and flimsy with a perfume that has become familiar to him over time.

“Shen-lang, this one has been waiting outside for so long, and you didn’t invite her to join! You know you can ask me for dual cultivation tips!” Bai Rong chirps as Shen Qiao immediately shifts away from her until his back nudges Yan Wushi’s shoulder, the cold qi pouring into his spine and making him shiver. “Let me kill Yan Wushi Shen-lang, it’ll make both our lives easier. No one from Hehuan sect will look down on this sweet peony any longer and you will be free from being his plaything. I’ll even help you recover your martial arts and take your position as sect leader back!”

“No”

“This one hasn’t even finished yet, how could you refuse me already? Was Yan Wushi truly kind to you? It can’t be…that you’ve truly fallen for the demon lord, has it?”

Shen Qiao flustered and was so busy that he didn’t feel the arm around him until it was too late. He’s thrown into the wall behind him, barely able to catch his breath enough to cry out as something warm and wet slides down his back, Bai Rong flees in the face of the demonic sect leader’s rage. Yan Wushi’s eyes are completely blank as he chokes the life out of Shen Qiao mercilessly. He manages to loosen the demonic sect leader's grip with a palm strike and proceeds to let Yan Wushi make him regret ever trying to sympathize or understand this man with his cutting remarks and horrendous come ons. Yan Wushi is no Binghe, he needs to remember that.

Of course every time he resolves not to trust or believe this man ever again, Yan Wushi does something that sends him spiraling all over again. The demonic Sect leader realizes he’s injured and without a word of protest - or apology - proceeds to carry Shen Qiao down the cliff. He calls for a bath for the daoist and carefully peels the bloodied robes away to clean the wound. When he gets out of the bath he discovers that Yan Wushi has tossed his clothes and ordered him new ones, but they won’t be ready until tomorrow. He’s left to sleep in his pants which escaped destruction…and Yan Wushi’s outer robe. This is some wife plot bullying shit and Shen Qiao wants his money back.

He steals the robe as payback while he spends the next three days in seclusion, healing his injuries. He’s back to being able to distinguish light and shadow which is great in his opinion, but unfortunately so much of his qi went to healing that he was unable to try and advance his cultivation. He doesn’t think about what it looked like until the man they escorted catches sight of Shen Qiao in the older man’s robes and blushes before quickly making his excuses to leave. Shen Qiao also bails while Yan Wushi is off doing something, leaving the heavy robe behind and slipping on the multiple layers of silk that were left for him before finding another window to jump out of.

It takes another two months for Yan Wushi to find him again. Shen Qiao is beginning to wonder what drives this man to keep tormenting him. He kicks Shen Qiao out, lets him run, or beats the shit out of him until he’s unconscious all the while telling him that he’s not good enough. Yet still makes no secret of his stalking tendencies. What a weirdly sticky black lotus.

They continue walking together, Yan Wushi updating him on all the political going ons while they sit down to a nice lunch. Yan Wushi was in a surprisingly genial mood with this meeting, even allowing himself to share a jug of plum juice with Shen Qiao, something that floored the daoist as he’d long since clocked Yan Wushi’s undiagnosed OCD. He also suspects possible bipolar disorder considering his ability to switch moods on a dime.

“You’re not trying to find Yu Ai and his traveling group are you? Why not just take back power while they’re gone, stop them from meeting with the Khaganate entirely?”

In truth he hadn’t been considering it, but now that Yan Wushi points it out he thinks about who Yu Ai would bring with him, what protections he would put into place in case Shen Qiao tried exactly that.

“I’d like to find my shimei, I still have faith in her and I know Yu Ai would never consider her capable of going against him. For Yu Ai to have taken control of Xuandu so quickly after my fall he must have had inside support from some of the elders, going back to the mountain now would be the same as walking into a trap.”

He wishes he could see what Yan Wushi’s face was doing as he so softly and tenderly expressed his wishes for Shen Qiao’s success. The man really was a conundrum, almost more fascinating than any creature from the Endless Abyss. Quietly he wondered if by helping Yan Wushi in the cave he’d somehow helped the older man balance his qi and regulate his emotions some.

As they walk into town Shen Qiao finds himself with his arms full of a sick child who some couple were fighting over eating. Hearing his wheezing breaths as he dies right then and there finally breaks something in Shen Qiao. He’d died like this. Gasping for breath, without a person by his side to care for his passing. How many days had it taken, he wonders, for someone to find his body? Was it the cleaning lady, coming by for her weekly visit? Had it been his sister, dropping by for one of her surprise visits? His brothers who come to bring him medicine and keep him company on the weekends? Did his parents get worried when they called, as they do once or twice a week, and he didn’t answer?

He’d come into this world blind and injured, his every waking moment dedicated to survival. He’d never had time to process his grief. He’d lost everything, and even the body he was in now had suffered loss after loss. Winding tighter than a spring that shattered under the stress of a child’s last breath.

He doesn’t even fight to stop the tears that come pouring out as he mourns for himself and for the man whose body he now occupied, as well as this sick child who he holds too tightly, all of them dead so very young. Shen Yuan can practically feel Yan Wushi vibrating behind him with the desire to make another comment about his bleeding daoist heart. Thankfully the older man seems to realize that this is about so much more than the wrongful death of a child and keeps his mouth shut. He even digs a grave for the child without an ounce of protest, accepting Shen Qiao’s thanks with an awkward air.

Yan Wushi gets them a room at an inn that night, silencing all protests about him finding a monastery to stay at instead. “I have business for the next few days here. Daoist Master Shen is welcome to come and go as he pleases.” Fingers play with the ends of his hair and curiously, Shen Qiao allows it.

“Do you fear dying Sect Leader Yan?” He asks at one point before they go to sleep. They’re sharing the bed as per usual, he stopped complaining many months ago. It’s honestly been nice waking up and feeling the warmth of another body near, it reminds him of where and who he is.

“Thinking about killing me A-Qiao?” The older man chuckles. Sighing, Shen Qiao curls tighter into himself and mutters an absent ‘never mind’. Yan Wushi wouldn’t rest until he’d found the truth if Shen Qiao even hinted at being from another world.

The next morning Shen Qiao spends the day looking for Yu Ai and the rest of the group from his sect. While he doesn’t find them he does run into a couple of children trying to get some heavy groceries handled in the market and ends up following them back to their monastery to meet their abbott. The man is grumpy but lets Shen Qiao in when it becomes clear to him that his students have brought home more supplies than he gave them money for.

Chiya and Shiwu insist on making Shen Qiao stay for dinner which the daoist allows. He’s in such a good mood that he even smiles when Yan Wushi finds him here somehow and joins them.

“Is Yan-langjun Shen-langjun’s friend?” Shiwu asks as Shen Qiao eats a bite of clumpy noodles. Yan Wushi scoffs next to him and he can feel the breeze of some dismissive hand gesture.

“But Yan-langjun moved Shen-langjun’s chopsticks just so he could reach them, is that not the caring action of a friend?” Aiyah! Young Shiwu save this old man some face or you won’t survive the night!

“Then yes, I would say that Sect Leader Yan is my friend.” Shen Qiao cuts in, trying to diffuse the tension. Yan Wushi remains silent for the rest of the meal and drags Shen Qiao away when he tries to inquire about staying in a room at the monastery for the evening.

He is just settling in to meditate for the evening when he feels Yan Wushi’s quick fingers paralyze him and carry him off into the night. The older man’s hair feels like silk against his hands, he wishes he could run it through his fingers, just for a quick moment. They head into the nearby woods and Shen Qiao groans.

“Yan-zhongzhu not another fight tonight,” he sighs against Yan Wushi’s shoulder, “you do not have to beat the strategy guide out of me. By now you should know I would not deceive you if you simply asked me to write it down.”

“...you’re too trusting A-Qiao.” Are the only words he speaks as he carries them deeper into the trees.

Shen Qiao hardly takes the words to heart. Yan Wushi says these kinds of things all the time, beats him up and then tries to stuff dumplings in his mouth again the next day. He huffs a breath and rolls his eyes before settling in to hum ‘I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)’ just to be a pest since he can’t move his arms. He’s not sure how long they walk, he can barely see anything when a voice cuts through the night.

“I didn’t realize you were bringing me a songbird, Sect Leader Yan.”

Shen Qiao feels every hair on his body stand on end, he had a bad feeling about this. He’s deposited on the ground and left there while Yan Wushi trades his life and body to San Jingxing for a sword. He stays silent no matter how the two men prod at him verbally, trying to find a way out of this. Unfortunately at this point death is the end game, it’s just a matter of how much he suffers first. He wonders if he’ll actually be transferred into Proud Immortal Demon Way this time. Hopefully he can be a minor character and finally get to be at peace away from any and all cultivators, he is not cut out for this amount of drama and bullshit. He almost misses Airplane’s shitty papapa plots right about now.

He feels fingers tilt his chin up after he ignores Yan Wushi’s attempt to try and get him to join a demonic sect again. If this is to be his last moments in this world he will go out annoying the fuck out of this man.

“My venerable self doesn’t need friends. Only one kind of person is qualified to stand as my equal: an opponent. And you? You no longer qualify.”

What kind of grade school fucking insult is this? ‘I don’t need friends’ okay, whatever Batman. I hope you qi deviate again and some low level npc puts you out of your fucking misery and you die forgotten on the side of the road somewhere.

“Yan-zhongzhu is truly pitiful in the eyes of this Daoist. Going through all this because someone dared to insinuate you had a companion. What a sad life you lead.”

The fingers on his chin grip his jaw hard enough he feels the bone creak in protest, and a fist containing his sword drives into his stomach hard enough to make him cough up blood again.

“Pray for yourself A-Qiao.” Is hissed in his face before the demonic cultivator makes his exit. San Jingxing claps, having thoroughly enjoyed the show. He begins his own evil villain monologue that Shen Qiao tunes out as he starts to put together a plan.

As he gathers his qi to strike out at San Jingxing he feels something shifting inside him, like a black hole swallowing his gathering attack. A little internal investigation has him almost wishing Yan Wushi was still in reach, that fucking cock stain half breed hack martial artist had implanted the seeds of a demonic core in him. No wonder he wasn’t able to fucking heal with this thing attached to him.

His eyes snap open as he feels a hand grab for his sword and he comes face to face with the man he’d been sold to. The features were still fuzzy but he didn’t plan on seeing this face ever again so what did it matter? He snarls and spits in the other man’s face as internally he grabs the seeds of the demonic core and shoves them into the center of his Daoist core like a tube of Mentos into a bottle of Diet Coke.

He can see the fear taking over the rage in the other man’s eyes as he realizes what is happening. San Jingxing tries to flee but the overwhelming build of power inside Shen Qiao’s body has overcome the paralysis and the daoist lunges after him. He pierces the creep through the back and straddles their hips, if it’s the last fucking thing he does he will remove this rapist from the world with him.

It feels like his body is splitting at the seams and then everything goes black.

Everything hurts. Only this time the annoying Google translate voice doesn’t fizzle out and disappear, instead pounding into his skull with notifications.

He groans but finds that he can’t move, scattered fragments of two lives ricochet around in his skull. He also realizes he's not alone.

“Shen-langjun? Are you awake?” That voice…Shiwu? It is indeed Shiwu, who turns out to be the young boy he saved so long ago. The system chimes a couple of times as the boy speaks but no notifications pop up, maybe it’s some disabled feature?

The cranky abbott arrives and tells him what he already expected, his martial arts are completely gone. So was the poison weirdly enough, at least it wouldn’t bother him anymore. He no longer had a core for it to infect. With all that taken into consideration Shen Qiao sleeps for two days.

When he wakes he finally allows himself to think about Yan Wushi. He’d been a fool, thinking that the demonic cultivator had been fine just walking in and out of his life. That they could have gotten along even if they didn’t agree. And the worst part was, he still thinks Yan Wushi was the best option to have scraped him up from the bottom of the mountain. He lets a few tears loose until Shiwu returns and then he spends his time reassuring the young boy.

Unexpectedly, the Zhuyang strategy scrolls end up still being incredibly useful. His recitations and meditations not only help him through the agony they even allow him to reforge a new core at incredible speed. A brand new, flawless core. No poison, no damage, no demonic core feeding off of it! He almost wept again with joy.

Unfortunately this was still not the kind of novel where Shen Qiao gets to be happy for long. This daoist wants a refund system!

Still he honors the abbott’s last wish and lights a mental incense stick of thanks for Bai Rong as he and Shiwu make their way to Bixia Sect after burying the others. Shiwu is an amazing kid, as amazing as Shen Qiao knew he’d be. Even when they came upon a ravaged Bixia sect and Shen Qiao found himself with his first disciple, just in time to also find himself in a rematch with Kunye. He pushes every inch of the Zhuyang Strategies limits, and in doing so his own. When Kunye surrenders Shen Qiao accepts it, and hopes that finally the original goods can rest at peace.

“I have to tell you something! It’s to do with Yan Wushi! He scorned and humiliated you! But his death is near at hand! Don't you want to kill him yourself?”

And then a plan was told to him. A plan to kill Yan Wushi like a group of cowards. Once upon a time he would have seen such a move as an act of righteousness, a group of people from different walks of faith putting aside their differences for the greater good. But Yan Wushi had educated him too well. It wasn’t hard to put the puzzle pieces into place, the selfish greedy desires the five looked to gain by killing one man. More famine, more bloodshed, more suffering.

As much as his thoughts on the man have soured recently, Yan Wushi still had his uses. And Shen Yuan was just petty enough to go and confront the man to show him that he had failed. Shen Qiao remained, not only true to himself but better than ever.

Bai Rong finds him again as he heads towards the auction set up to lure the older man in, and likely towards more pain both physically and emotionally. Damn this protagonist halo, can he not stop suffering for five fucking minutes! Only after she’s harrased a few men who did try to start shit with her does she finally deliver some good news.

San Jingxing is dead. Shen Qiao hadn’t wanted to ask a child if there had been another corpse near him but knowing that he took that disgusting excuse of a human being down is really satisfying. Bai Rong tries to stop him of course, this beautiful young woman who reminds him a lot of his younger sister looks at him pleadingly while already knowing she can’t change his mind.

Shen Qiao takes her hands and squeezes them before placing a gentle kiss to her forehead, “Meimei deserves better than this old daoist. Climb as far as the stars take you and make Hehuan better than the likes of Huo Xijing and San Jingxing.” He leaves her behind before she can respond to the gentle rejection.

He’ll never get there in time on foot so he gets a horse.

He arrives at the abandoned temple the group attacked the demonic sect leader at right as Dou Yanshen strikes at Yan Wushi’s unguarded back. The demonic practitioner’s qi is flaring like a beacon as he continues to give and take blows from the group surrounding him. Broken and discarded weapons lay around them, sprays of blood making a macabre outline of their arena.

Pushing his qigong to the max, Shen Qiao tears through the group like tissue paper, disrupting multiple attacks and putting himself between Yan Wushi and the five.

“Shen! Qiao!” One of them barks, surprisingly it’s not Yu Ai. His shidi stands there silently, too injured already to continue the fight.

“The former Xuandu Sect Leader himself. Last I heard, weren't you supposed to be warming San Jingxing’s bed by now?” Guang Lingsan sneers as he keeps using his zither to fire attacks at both of them now.

Shen Qiao deflects them coldly, ignoring the pained wheezing of the man behind him. “San Jingxing is dead.”

Every member of the fight goes completely still, even the wind dies in the face of Shen Qiao’s words. The zither gives an awkward twang before falling silent as well, its player’s mouth hanging open slightly in shock. Yan Wushi breaks the silence himself, laughing heartily with his head thrown back.

“A-Qiao, A-Qiao. And yet you still stand here? Who is the pitiful one now?” Shen Qiao calmly turns around and stares at Yan Wushi while he laughs. The only thought that goes through his mind right before his fist connects with the demonic cultivator’s face is that he’s still going to look unfairly handsome even with a broken nose. The crack is plenty satisfying still, as is watching Yan Wushi stare at him in surprise while blood pours down his face. Punching was completely inelegant and crude, below peerless immortals and masters who could command qi to achieve far greater strikes.

Shen Yuan read over 700k of shitty porn just to critique it correctly (people only had a certain number of hands and spines and ribcages were not made of rubber Airplane!) and was thereby above nothing.

While everyone is still reeling from both the news and Shen Qiao’s actions, the daoist draws his sword and turns back to the group of five. Things descend very quickly into chaos after that. Dou Yanshen comes after him like he’s got a personal vendetta. Yu Ai has all but retreated from the fight, he’s injured, his sword broken, and his…Shen Qiao is fighting like he’d face down hell all over again for Yan Wushi. Guang Lingsan is the primary target of Shen Qiao’s strikes, using sword glares to keep him on the defensive instead of playing his zither. Four on two is still not a fair fight but it’s better odds. And then Dou Yanshen lunges at Yan Wushi’s back and strikes him hard in the head, the man crumpling where he stands. It also means Dou Yanshen takes the full force of Shen Qiao’s sword glare and immediately coughs up a large mouthful of blood.

There’s no time for any words between the rest of the conspirators as Shen Qiao immediately fires off his next series of sword glares, this time targeting the zither as an object not a weapon, and slicing through the strings easily. With three down and Shen Qiao’s rage turning towards them the other two members depart with a silent nod and the knowledge that they accomplished what they set out to do.

Shen Qiao is left there, with Yan Wushi’s body. Spitting out a mouthful of blood the daoist stumbles back over to the man’s side. He drops heavily to his knees and sheaths his sword.

“Get up you fucking bastard. I didn’t come all the way here for you to pussy out on me now.” He slaps the older man across the face hard, tears welling in his eyes as a sense of helplessness overcomes him. “Damn it Yan Wushi! You don’t get to fucking die like this after everything you’ve done!” He grabs the other man’s wrist to try and pass him qi, but instead finds himself grabbed in return.

For all intents and purposes Yan Wushi comes across entirely dead, but a dead man can’t hold onto people. Another check over reveals a deep head wound, and the tiniest flicker of true qi. Likely some kind of self-induced coma then to preserve his life. Well, until the man woke up he was going to be at Shen Qiao’s mercy for once. Gathering up the demonic cultivator onto his back he quickly makes his way out of town.

It was easy enough to find a house in some unnamed village to hide in, if he thought it wouldn’t be intercepted he’d try to get a message to Yan Wushi’s disciples and tell them that their master was in fact still alive.

“Shen…Shen-langjun, the person you’re carrying…is he really alive?” The young girl who’s helping get doors for him asks. Shen Qiao sets the older man down on the bed in what is to be their room and sighs. He tries to ask the system for help but the shitty thing went back into hibernation mode! Fuck it, he doesn’t need a stupid system here anyway, he slams the mute notifications button and focuses instead on Banna.

“He is. He’s been very injured and put himself into a state of deep deep sleep to heal. Like that his body is using less energy but it makes one look frightfully close to death.” The girl nods in understanding, her eyes wide in awe and admiration. Such wisdom in someone so young!

Over the next several days Shen Qiao would place Yan Wushi’s head in his lap and meditate, using his abilities to repair the internal damage and weave together the older man’s skull. In doing so he’d somehow managed to convince this young girl who found every excuse in the book to linger near him, that he was some kind of medical master. The system only gives him the spinning wheel of death now anytime he tries to check in.

Unfortunately there’s no such thing as modern feeding tubes here but he’s able to boil some reeds and create a makeshift one. He still has to take mouthfuls of soup and water himself before transferring them but it guarantees that the older man is getting food and nutrients. One day in the early afternoon Yan Wushi starts having a qi deviation.

“Fuck, fuck fuck!” The daoist panics. He jumps on top of Yan Wushi, using his limbs to pin the other’s down, unfortunately it only leaves him one way to transfer qi and he slams their mouths together, prying Yan Wushi’s jaw open until he can transfer qi to him. Unfortunately he’s still mid-transfer when Banna comes in, dropping the tea tray she brought with her.

“I didn’t realize you liked him, I guess that explains why you refused to accept my affections.” She stutters as she drops down to pick up the shattered cups. Shen Qiao has no issue rooting around in Yan Wushi’s sleeves to find his purse and pass her a few coins to pay for the broken crockery once the older man is stabilized.

Shen Qiao coughs lightly when she continues to look at him, heartbreak in her eyes. “The young miss has only just reached her 14th year in this life, and this old priest is already more than twice her age.”

Her jaw drops at the revelation that Shen Qiao is about 30, only a few years older than Shen Yuan himself. Her eyes continue to dart between him and Yan Wushi and Shen Qiao can practically see the equations floating in front of her face.

“Does this mean you’ll still look like this when I’m fifty?” She whispers quietly to herself in horror. Shen Qiao bites back a snort.

“Goodness no I’m not an immortal, I’ll probably look like him.” Speaking of him, Shen Qiao hadn’t gotten a chance to see him clearly while he was still struggling with the poisoning but now his eyesight is crystal clear once more. Yan Wushi is stupidly hot, like the cover of those businessman romance novels hot. The grey at his temples made him look dignified in a way that would make anyone even remotely interested in older men foam at the mouth. Which is probably the one saving grace for his character considering his shitty personality. And all good villains are hot, so it makes sense. The demonic cultivator’s nose had set and healed fine which he was only slightly bitter about. If Lou Binghe had been his favorite in his 20’s he could easily see how Yan Wushi would be his favorite as he rolled into his 30’s.

“And how old is he?” Banna asked with growing horror.

“Mmmmmmm fif-tyyyyyy?” Shen Qiao asked in a high-pitched questioning drag. He was always terrible at guessing people’s ages. After Banna ran away to go nurse her heartbreak, Shen Qiao made plans to head into town and pick up supplies and news. Maybe he could even get a letter to Yu Shengyan now that the conference was over.

Of course things couldn’t be that simple.

He runs into Cheng Gong, dramatically disowns Yu Ai, and finds out that of course Yan Wushi woke up while he was gone. Banna got a good scare from the sound of things too, he should have told her not to come in the room while he was gone.

Yan Wushi is in bad shape, not just physically because the man's a train wreck at this point, but this almost childish behavior leaves Shen Qiao deeply concerned. He tries to ask a few questions but doesn’t get far. Mostly because Yan Wushi has wrapped his arms around Shen Qiao’s waist and refuses to let go.

The next several days almost drive Shen Qiao to multiple qi deviations. The sweet, youthful Yan Wushi’s are happily held in his lap with head pats and forehead kisses. Bowls of soup shared together and soft ‘meiren-gege’s whispered in his ears while calloused hands trace over his face with the gentleness of a child. A-Yan and his almost impish teasing, making bratty demands that amused and infuriated Shen Qiao in turn. Actual Yan Wushi who he had to resist the urge to beat regularly. Thankfully that version tired himself out fast and would usually switch to a much younger personality after. And aside from a brief moment when he’d surprised Yan Wushi he never saw the violent personality again.

Honestly, he was almost relieved when the plot resumed shortly after his trip. This had been one of his least favorite wife-plot type tropes. Wife #379 had been dropped into some kind of memory pool that made her act like different versions of herself based on different growth stages. Binghe couldn’t just papapa his way out of this one because what if she became a child again during it?! Instead he had to resolve her different versions of herself, proving he liked her no matter what she was like until she pulled them all back together and became her current, adult self again. And then another chapter of sex, marriage, off to the harem to never be seen again. The pool had also been forgotten despite the fact that it could have been used so many times to solve some of Binghe’s problems, *coughcough that scum villain cough*. Shen Qiao was pretty sure there was no solving Yan Wushi’s problems however.

Cheng Gong tries to threaten and intimidate him into joining him to look for a rock, offering him a way to heal Yan Wushi that he still has to work for himself in exchange!. Shen Qiao smiles as he beats the other man bloody and forces him to release Banna’s grandfather who he’d taken hostage in order to force Shen Qiao’s hand. And this man actually believed that Shen Qiao wouldn’t harm him?!

“You may have moved your way up in the world, but don’t think for a second that you know me and what I’m capable of. I’ve survived the likes of far worse than you.” He hisses as he tosses the man out of the house onto his ass. “We’ll leave in the morning. The rest of you are sleeping in the courtyard. I don’t trust a single one of you to treat the villagers here with a modicum of respect.” Shen Qiao keeps watch over them all night.

The next morning they ride out with Yan Wushi sitting behind Shen Qiao on their horse. He’s got A-Yan this morning who begs to hear Shen Qiao say his name and asks for praise for his performance in front of Chen Gong’s men. He keeps his lips pressed to Shen Qiao’s neck, inhaling deeply and running his hands over Shen Qiao’s body, as they ride into the desert. Shen Qiao refuses to say a word the entire journey as protest.

Ruoqiang was somebody’s sleep paralysis demon and this transmigrator would like to file a complaint! Spiders with faces! Planet of the apes level monsters! Alexa play ‘Fuck this shit I’m out’!

There’d been more fighting and struggle within this stupid sunken city then there had been in the ambush, what the hell author! Crossing paths with Chen Gong’s men, dealing with Yan Wushi’s multiple personality disorder on top of his mercurial moods, this Shen is exhausted! When Chen Gong reveals that he is poisoned and Yan Wushi starts monologuing, Shen Qiao throws his hands up mentally with a groan.

Then Chen Gong grabs him and stabs him in the side with a chunk of the carnelian. He’s clearly hysterical at this point, so desperate to survive that he’s lost all logical thought. Shen Qiao hisses in pain as the poison courses through him, feels it speed up if he tries to circulate his qi and then resigns himself to having to endure their posturing bullshit as an additional form of torture. Maybe he can sneak away and find some of the fruit himself while those two continue their dick measuring contest.

Then alarm bells start flickering in his skull.

Figuring that this would get him to the cure faster Shen Qiao hits yes.

A wave of unexpected dizziness hits Chen Gong who stumbles into Shen Qiao as he tries to step away, a hand gripping his robes. Shen Qiao has made it through falling off a cliff, detonating his core, and god knows how many fights with his clothing intact. But for some reason when Chen Gong grabs him the fabric rips like cheap tissue paper leaving Shen Qiao’s chest exposed to the cold air. As if that wasn’t humiliating enough, he’s shoved forward straight into Yan Wushi’s ample bosom, his hands cupping the well-sculpted mounds and squeezing as he tries to brace himself. His eyes water from the force of his nose smashing into the older man's sternum.

A complicated look passes over Yan Wushi's face before he reaches into his sleeve and tosses a single piece of cistanche fruit into the air. Reaching behind Shen Qiao for a moment there's a sharp jerking motion and then Yan Wushi is yanking them into a tight crevice and activating the mechanism to get them away from Chen Gong and his group. Before Shen Qiao can move he's spun around and pushed up against the wall, chilly lips pressed to his.

Shen Qiao gasps as he's pressed to the rock behind him, Yan Wushi taking the opportunity to deepen the kiss. The eager hands stuttering over his body again tell him which personality this is. The kisses drop down to his neck, sharp and shuddery and almost certainly leaving marks.

“Yan zhongzhu, some self respect please.” He gasps out, trying to push the other off of him. A-Yan resists though, whining and pressing their bodies together tighter as he nips at Shen Qiao’s collarbone.

“Let me have this, just for a little longer. He has what he needs now, and he’ll certainly get rid of us. Let me give you the kindness he refuses to, you deserve better than him!” Another demanding kiss is pressed to the hollow of Shen Qiao’s throat before A-Yan tilts to look him in the eye. “Call my name, just once. Please?”

Shen Yuan has never read this novel. He’d heard there was romance and that there really wasn’t. Searching within Shen Qiao’s memories doesn’t turn up much to satisfy his questions, he’d never really been interested in physical intimacy as a daoist, believing he’d remain pure in body and mind his entire life. The swirling tempest of feelings he had towards the man in front of him was something he was not able to put into words yet.

Reaching out he cups the cheek of the man in front of him, who gives him a wobbling lip and wet eyes. Kissing him almost felt like cheating even if it was the same body in front of him. Yan Wushi hadn’t consented to A-Yan’s kisses and Shen Qiao sighs before pressing his lips to the other man’s forehead.

“Give him back A-Yan. Yan Wushi is Yan Wushi and cannot be anyone else, nor should he be. The consequences of his actions should not be yours to shoulder.”

“Take this first at least.” He offers up a couple of fruits to Shen Qiao, watching him tensely until Shen Qiao finishes them off and the poison starts to recede, clearing his meridians again. Anguish twists those features as A-Yan dips forward to rest his forehead against Shen Qiao’s shoulder. “Then, let us depart.”

They reactivate the pathway out but neither of them are keen on waiting for the group to try something else so they head back to the city first. When they settle into the inn room for the night Xie Ling makes an appearance, crawling into Shen Qiao’s lap and tucking his head under the daoist’s chin. He squeezes Shen Qiao tightly and whispers his nickname over and over until they settle in to meditate for the evening.

They travel back to Qi by renting a carriage to join a caravan that was trying to get home before winter became untravelable. Shen Qiao offers his services as a guard and every night he meditates in the carriage with Yan Wushi’s fingers tangled in his hair, trying to hold him close. They are exhausting themselves, fighting so hard to stay. Shen Qiao tries one more time to ask them to give Yan Wushi back, and ends up fighting the vicious non-verbal one until they both fall asleep.

The eyes roving over him in the morning can only belong to one personality. Despite knowing that this is what he asked for he can still miss the versions of this man who didn’t betray him or treat every conversation like a battleground. After more arguing and several attempts to start either verbal or physical fights that were quickly stopped and led to either snide comments or pouting instead they set off back to Wei Providence.

Shen Qiao really wants nothing more than to escape Yan Wushi. Problem after problem follows them as they travel and it’s clear that Yan Wushi is frustrated over his lack of response. He takes Shen Qiao’s sword to prepare their meals, clearly expecting the daoist to blow a gasket over the famed sword being used on birds and fish, only to get a nod and dismissal over the practicality as it’s all they have.

The Daoist dreams of Xie Ling and awakens to Yan Wushi’s mouth on his and mocking scorn. When Yan Wushi demands to know if Shen Qiao liked his other personalities better he doesn’t hesitate to answer yes. Yan Wushi bites back that they have been eliminated to never be seen again since his core is already healing and fights for a response when Shen Qiao shuts down to mourn instead. No amount of prodding and anger ever gets him more than a declaration that Yan Wushi walks his own Dao and to leave him to mourn a lost friend. They descend back into the city to finish their journey together quickly after that.

Which is why he’s not sure how he ended up tucked away carefully inside a Buddha statue, Yan Wushi’s hand stroking his cheek tenderly. The words he speaks rail against everything he’s come to know about the man. Who is this Yan Wushi before him? All but asking forgiveness for making him go to the Emperor to get another Zhuyang strategy guide scroll instead of reciting it for Shen Qiao himself. Telling him to order Bian Yanmei around like Yan Wushi’s first disciple would obey him?

Then the words that Yan Wushi had tossed offhandedly to some servants swirled in his mind. ’Treat him as you would treat me.’ No, it couldn’t be? Was Yan Wushi pulling a redemption arc self-sacrifice? That didn’t feel quite right though, there was something he was missing. Knowing moments like this were filled with words left unsaid he tried to listen to them.

Blah blah, Bai Rong has a crush on you. Blah, you’re a disappointment blah. I won’t resist being able to get more intimate bla….huh?! Then cold and by now more familiar than he realized lips claim his and Shen Qiao once again really wishes that Yan Wushi would stop paralyzing and kissing him.

“...Become a worthy opponent. Then perhaps this venerable one will deem you worthy of a second look.” Wow, he thinks, that is actually the worst confession ever… wait confession?!

Would a sacrifice for a beloved fit more than heroic self sacrifice? Does it count if you’re doing it for an enemy? Yan Wushi was still an absolute bitch to his core and he refused to renounce that even now. His words were textbook tsundere, leaving his disciples in Shen Qiao’s care knowing that they would be looked after. Slowly over time allowing the strength of Huanyue to become synonymous with Shen Qiao as much as Yan Wushi himself was. Only taking affection rather than giving it. This stupid man. You could have just asked this Shen if he’d be okay with being courted, was selling him to a creep because you didn’t know what to do with your feelings actually necessary? He’s not sure what expression he’s making but it’s clearly doing something for the older man.

“Don’t show this kind of expression to anyone. Otherwise even I won’t be able to hold back, much less anyone from Hehuan Sect.”

“Yan Wushi-!” The demonic cultivator taps his mute acupoint and strikes the statue hard enough to send it skittering against the wall, hiding Shen Qiao almost entirely. He’s not sure how long he’s been sitting there when the demonic cultivators come looking for him.

Shen Qiao struggles in his frozen body, pushing his meridians to try and overcome the technique used on him. Unfortunately Yan Wushi was right about him and he subconsciously trusted the man too much to remove his influence entirely.

Wasn’t he the protagonist here? Isn’t he supposed to be able to inexplicably power up whenever his life was in danger like this?! System! Hello!!!!

He slams the yes button without a second thought.

He doesn’t remember what happened to him after. All he knows is that when he opens his eyes there’s blood everywhere and Shanhe Tongbei is pointed at Bai Rong’s throat. There’s no bodies though, they must have survived and retreated or decided to go after Yan Wushi instead.He blinks before staggering, his sword falling from numb fingers. His energy is completely depleted from the fight and whatever the system took. Spots dance across his vision, as he is caught carefully in Bai Rong’s arms. The slender woman gently lets them both down to the floor, resting his head in her lap and brushing his hair out of his face.

“Shen-lang gave this peony such a scare. She truly thought you were going to kill her, though she must thank you for removing more obstacles from her way.” She brushes his bangs back from his sweaty forehead, her nails ghosting over his temples and ears as she tucks it behind his ear.

Shen Qiao chuckles and reaches up to cup her hand, giving it a brief squeeze, “Meimei does indeed seek to become the next leader of Hehuan does she not? It’s the least this Shen could do. Is Yan Wushi alright?”

“Always Yan Wushi with Shen-ge isn’t it? Is there truly no space for this Bai Rong in his heart?” She pouts but seems to have begun to resign herself to a sisterly role in Shen Qiao’s life rather than a romantic prospect. “The others chased him down towards the foot of the mountain. If my guess is correct, Yan Wushi most likely wants to use the city walls as cover to shake off Xiao Se and the others.”

A lie, meaning she hoped to either spare his life or buy her time to get away and deal with this mess before he came back around looking for her. Still, there was only so much he could do so with a sigh he heaves himself up and thanks Bai Rong for her help before making his way down the mountain and instead of heading into town, turns towards Chang’an. Where he learns the emperor is dead, and the new one is on a killing spree. He makes it to the Duke of Sui’s just in time to stand with them against Chen Gong and Hehuan sect.

“Addressing the three gentlemen who lost to me. Please forgive this humble Daoist for arriving late.” Everything is a disaster. And here he is with two children to protect. One a witness to the murder of the emperor and the other the most gifted child of the royal bloodline his family has seen yet. Both so small and both sentenced to death for slights neither of them fully understood yet. It felt good to call out Chen Gong’s hypocrisy in front of everyone though, it’s been a while since he got to be a petty bitch like that.

It also turns out that whatever breakthrough the system gave him in order to preserve the protagonist halo made him OP as fuck. A single sword glare shoving back three high rank martial artists and making an entire army sweat in fear! He manages to kill two of the three attacking him and escapes with the children safely. He can practically hear Yan Wushi purring insults in his ear the entire time.

He wouldn’t see the man, who lingers in his thoughts far too much, again for more than three months, and when he does he’s reminded about how much he enjoys his fantasies of strangling the older man. You give this daoist some kind of confession and then you don’t remember him, what kind of bullshit is this?!

And then of course Yan Wushi appears on the inn roof and paralyzes Shen Qiao before dragging him off to play voyeur. He parks them behind the reeds and holds Shen Qiao’s body close, murmuring filth in his ears. He’s seen porn before, read it too, assuming this is just another one of Yan Wushi’s attempts to get a rise out of him he simply tunes it out. Then Yan Wushi’s hands start moving, tracing the lines of his robes and dipping under his collar to stroke across his throat. The touch makes him shiver but before anything can happen the lovers inside begin talking about why Yan Wushi really brought him out here. They discuss the matter at length while Yan Wushi answers his leftover questions about their previous parting.

When Yan Wushi asks Shen Qiao if the Daoist had worried about him he decides to be honest and shrugs. Despite the demonic cultivators prodding he refuses to elaborate. Something feels different between them now, Yan Wushi’s words are still teasing and running circles around him but now it’s with less contempt.

And then Yan Wushi tells him a story. About a man who becomes weirdly obsessed with a rock, thinking it valuable despite everyone telling him it’s worthless. Despite himself Shen Qiao resists the urge to place his palms together and inhale sharply, without his permission the music from a film his sister was obsessed with filters through his brain, ’It’s a…temporary setback, it’s a momentary lapse!’ Nope, nope nope this Daoist is not comparing Yan Wushi to either Preminger or the scene where Barbie cracks open a completely normal rock to reveal a geode inside. And yes, resisting the urge to almost has him choking on blood.

He spits out some weird response that sound appropriately Daoist-y and aloof while internally he’s shaking Yan Wushi and demanding to know what the fuck is wrong with him.

The feeling increases when Yan Wushi tries to steal his disciple. And then invites himself along to Bixia Sect, Shen Qiao really misses being able to drink in moments like these. It’s not even that it’s forbidden by his cultivation exactly he just never orders it because he knows Yan Wushi will make comments about it and he doesn’t feel like dealing with that.

“Why are you going to Bixia Sect?” He asks for what feels like the thousandth time, still not understanding why Yan Wushi remains so determined to follow them.

“I heard that there’s a peerless beauty at Bixia Sect, who’s name is Yue Kunchi.”

Huh, didn’t expect that confirmation so easily. Okay then Yan Wushi is actually gay, or bi… Shen Qiao doesn’t actually think he cares that much. He seems inclined to flirt with whoever suits his ulterior motives. Although he finds the Sect Leader’s shixiong to be a rather plain man in his opinion, maybe it was the whole nerdy people tend to be kinky thing? Well, thoughts and prayers to Yue Kunchi when they arrive then.

Shen Qiao easily agrees to playing weiqi with Yan Wushi the night before they arrive at the sect. The two of them go till dawn in relative peace, Yan Wushi’s hand eventually drifting to his ankle after he stretches out sometime during their second game.

They arrive at Bixia Sect and Shen Qiao takes a moment to appreciate the flash of shock across Yan Wushi’s face upon learning Yue Kunchi is a man. It doesn’t really change his opinion on the older man’s sexuality, it's just amusing to see him be wrong. He wishes to preserve that surprised and slightly flushed face in his memory forever to bring out the next time Yan Wushi teases him so relentlessly.

He gets a chance to use his newfound knowledge sooner than he expects, after Yan Wushi extracts a favor from him and attempts to use it to feed soup to Shen Qiao publicly at their table. At first the Daoist attempts to politely decline but after the older man keeps insisting he lights a candle in his heart out of sympathy and speaks.

“Since Sect Leader Yan came all this way to see Bixia Sect’s peerless beauty, Yue Kunchi, wouldn’t he much rather share such an intimate moment with him?”

Yue Kunchi chokes on his rice while the rest of the table descends into silence. Even Yan Wushi’s jaw has dropped in shock at his audacity. Zhao Chiying keeps staring back and forth between her second in command and the two immortal masters who they are honoring at their table. Shen Qiao resigns himself to dying a second time and hopes he transmigrates somewhere better in his next life. Seriously, minor character in PIDW or even a random demon, at least then he’d survive the merging of the realms.

“W-while this oneee i-is flattered by-”

“You’ve been carrying a torch for your sect leader for actual decades while being too scared to confess. Do not think for a second you and I share anything in common.” Yan Wushi bites out, his words turning scathing in his embarrassment at Shen Qiao’s hand. Yue Kunchi and Zhao Chiying both turn bright red before glancing at each other. Carefully they reach out and take each other's hands with shy but joyful smiles. Shen Qiao drags Yan Wushi away by the ear to fight before he can say anything else to ruin the tender moment.

Six months go by as the world rearranges itself under its new emperor. Shen Qiao actually trains his two disciples for a time. Yan Wushi still regularly beats everyone up under the guise of training, and Bixia sect has a wedding. It’s a rather informal ceremony after the slaughter and destruction of the small sect, but brings some much needed joy to their shrunken little hodgepodge of people. Yan Wushi even tucks a flower into Shen Qiao’s hair and asks him to dance after everyone else has fallen asleep.

Shen Qiao isn’t sure what to do about Yan Wushi. Sometimes he thinks the man is attempting to court him, helping him with laundry and occasionally even cooking for him. Other’s he remains his usual tsundere self and seems more determined to torture Shen Qiao than win his affections. There are moments, oh there are moments, too tight quarters in the hallways and soft moments when they’ve just woken as Yan Wushi refuses to move to another room. Yan Wushi’s hair between his fingers as he combs hair oil through the strands, willow bark tea and a hand cradling his neck when he overstrains himself and ends up with a headache. Nights of weiqi with his ankle in Yan Wishi’s hand, a rough thumb rubbing circles over the delicate bone. It’s peaceful, it’s nice, it almost feels like a new life for them.

Reality comes crashing back in with the arrival of the invitation to the Sword Trial Conference. What was with these novels and their conferences? He was going to get a fucking complex at this point. Bixia sect decides to attend, they need new disciples if they plan to survive and Shen Qiao is admittedly a little curious how a sword conference works in this world. So they pack up and begin their journey, Yan Wushi joins them but says he has business to attend to and will not be accompanying them at the conference.

He’s almost grateful that Yan Wushi disappears before they make it to the conference, considering their chilly reception upon arriving. He’s not at all disappointed that the older man left after Shen Qiao took his hand to keep him from killing some disrespectful fucks who attempted to steal their seats. He also definitely doesn't miss the buffer the man provides when it seems like every other martial artist at the conference wants to meet with him the night before the event starts.

Shen Qiao hadn’t expected familiar face after familiar face to appear as soon as the conference started. First Gu Hengbo, Shen Qiao’s shimei who skipped over to his side and revealed that Yu Ai’s treachery was being found out by others in the mountain. She then proceeded to flounce into the ring and beat the shit out of another competitor leaving Shen Yuan with his mouth hanging open, Shen Qiao had truly trained monstrously talented disciples. Of course that’s when Hehuan sect decides to join the party, and the second familiar face plops down next to him declaring that Huanyue sect would stand with Shen Qiao as the Daoist Alliance Leader?!

“I trust you have been well shidi?” Yu Shengyan teases as he lazily fans himself, his teasing grin barely holding on through his genuine joy at causing such a scene on his master’s behalf.

Shen Qiao snorts and tugs the kid’s ear before patting his head, “This humble daoist is well Yu-gongzi. I see you haven’t changed at all over the years. Where is Sect Leader Yan?” Shen Qiao has no idea the ripples of whispers he is creating, greeting the demonic disciple as familiarly as one of his own. If Xuandu disciples were truly fleeing the mountain to escape Gokturk influence then the union of Huanyue and this new Xuandu Mountain sect must be true. What an absolute monster of a threat Hehuan and the Buddhists must be, to bring both sides of the Dao together in harmony. And what an auspicious union theirs must be, considering the comfort between the members of both sects.

The top ten rankings of the current jianghu cemented the reasoning behind the alliance. At number ten Duan Wenyang, number nine Yuan Xiuxiu who had just crashed the conference. A disciple of Hulugu and a member of a demonic sect that was currently serving as the Emperor’s enforcers. Number eight the Kosa Sage, Seven Guang Lingsan whose name sends ripples of discomfort through both Yu Shengyan and Shen Qiao. The daoist was astonished that Liuli Palace was aware of his victory over previously ranked number six Sang Jingxing considering it had been just the two of them in the middle of nowhere, much less that he could possibly take number five from that bastard Xueting with his recent power up. Everyone on the top six were all sect leaders or grandmasters in their own right, with Yan Wushi placing second himself. And only the ghost of a man dead for almost a decade outranking him.

There is certainly some displeasure over that fact. And what the fuck is with this Alliance Leader stuff again?! Shen Qiao isn’t even a sect leader anymore and yet here Shengyan is telling him that Yan Wushi sent him to kick off the alliance by bringing their sects together to stand against Hehuan! Yu Shengyan this Daoist intends to beat your shizun upside the head for his schemes someday he swears it!

Yuan Xiuxiu had clearly come here to make trouble and she proved it when her reinforcements arrived and she challenged Shen Qiao. Their fight takes them all the way to the base of the mountain when the Hehuan sect leader decides to unleash her true power by… propositioning him? And offering to set him up with Bai Rong? It takes him entirely too long to realize that she’s distracting him. By the time he’s able to climb the mountain again he’s too late. A chill runs down his spine as he watches Hulugu, someone whose own disciples claimed was dead, demolish the number four martial artist and then all eyes are on him.

Hulugu is a force unlike anything he’s ever seen before. Even throughout all of PIDW, Binghe’s power was tightly leashed within him; the deepest depths of the protagonist’s madness would struggle to look like more than a toddler throwing a tantrum in the face of this crushing force. This was a martial arts master, the number one martial arts master. Every strike Shen Qiao sends out, using all the energy his protagonist halo can muster, is reflected back at him seven times stronger. It’s no surprise that he loses.

What is a surprise is everyone who stands with him when Hulugu ignores the rules of the conference, pressing forward to seek revenge against the Daoist for the death of his disciple. Even Shengyan stands with him although the kid looks two seconds from quaking in his boots. And then a voice rings out throughout the conference and Shen Qiao feels his heart flutter.

“This is someone who belongs to my venerable self, and you think you can kill him as you please?”

Yan Wushi. Fucking. Kidnapped him! Straight from the fight! The man comes in and talks a fucking game like that! Only to scoop Shen Qiao up and run away! As indignant as he wants to be, he knows that Yan Wushi has absolutely saved him from a gruesome death. Injured and exhausted all he can do is curl further into the older man’s arms and allow himself to rest as Yan Wushi takes them miles and miles away from the Sword Conference.

He dreams. He dreams about strong arms holding him close, about lips shifting against his own. And heat and skin and he wakes up only to find himself resting on Yan Wushi’s thighs, the older man’s fingers trailing gently through his bangs.

“What kind of dream did you have? Your face is flushed like a peach blossom and your eyes are so dewy.” The older man teases, when Shen Qiao makes an attempt to sit up and scoot away Yan Wushi just wraps his arms around Shen Qiao’s waist and pulls the Daoist back to his side, “You’re so warm, it must have been a wet dream to make you squirm so. Did you dream of my venerable self?”

Had he? Yan Wushi was objectively gorgeous, he’d thought that from the moment he could finally see the man. But he wasn’t…he couldn’t be…It just wasn’t allowed. It didn’t matter what he thought when all he’d ever known about being different was that it made you dead. Yan Wushi didn’t have to care about who he was attracted to because there was only one person in the world stronger than him. He’d even survived a five on one ambush! And Shen Yuan was… Shen Qiao. He was Shen Qiao, a martial artist who’d gone head to head with the number one martial artist in the world, and lost but had still done well enough to garner his opponents respect.

Was he attracted to Yan Wushi? Could he even be? How would Yan Wushi be different as a lover?

As if able to sense that there was some kind of actual turmoil going on inside Shen Qiao, Yan Wushi reached out to touch his wrist and check his meridians.

“You’ve been asleep for an entire day and night.” Yan Wushi informs the younger man after ensuring that there was no issue with his qi. Shen Qiao sits up beside the older man while they talk about the conference and even laughs when Yan Wushi cheekily claims that he thought Shen Qiao’s thigh was a pillow he’d been looking for. Their sides remain pressed together as they talk through the night.

In the morning a letter comes for Yan Wushi and Shen Qiao’s plans are abandoned in favor of helping Yan Wushi talk about a fucking coup. The demonic sect leader rests his head in the Daoist’s lap while he talks, Shen Qiao’s book long since abandoned in favor of plucking grapes from the vines they sat amongst and snacking on them. Yan Wushi would occasionally steal them from him as well, directing jade like fingers to drop their prizes in his mouth instead. Shen Qiao tries to resist with a particularly good looking one, blocking Yan Wushi’s grip to pop the sweet fruit into his mouth and biting down. The juices barely hit his tongue before Yan Wushi tackles him to the grass and pries the grape from his mouth, stealing it back before chasing every last drop of sweetness from Shen Qiao’s tongue. He hadn’t even noticed that Yan Wushi had paralyzed him again until he tried to sit up and berate the man for his shamelessness, kissing him like that in broad daylight.

Yan Wushi confesses to him soon after, more directly than he had at the statue. It’s teasing but not even Binghe in all his conquests was ever this viscerally brutal. Telling Shen Qiao to carve the heart from his chest if the Daoist wants since it apparently belongs to him now. Which he then follows by stating that even if Shen Qiao tried to hide from him in Qi Fengge’s grave Yan Wushi would still dig him out, please sir work on your romantic declarations they are morbid and lacking!

Shen Qiao attempts to deflect, unable to meet Yan Wushi’s gaze until the man unseals his acupoints and finally brings them back around to talking about the Empire. White streaked locks fall around both of them as they talk about Puliuru Jian and Huanyue Sect and how the two can help each other.

Now that Yan Wushi seems to realize that he can get away with it, his touches become nearly constant. Shen Qiao only sighs but doesn’t really push the other man away, and now he doesn’t end up paralyzed every time. He couldn’t begrudge nor could he forget Yan Wushi’s previous actions but they seemed to be on the Demonic Sect leader’s mind too. The man seems to anticipate being smacked away every time he reaches out, his eyes giving the slightest widening of surprise every time his touch is allowed. If you asked him, Shen Qiao isn’t sure if he could give you a straight answer about why he lets Yan Wushi touch him more freely, Curiosity? Resignation? Whatever the reason, he now wakes up every morning on their journey to Chang’an held within a strong embrace, feeling warm breath on the back of his neck and a thigh between his legs.

By the time they arrive at Yan Wushi’s old residence their hands brush comfortably and Shen Qiao can feel himself blush as the older man leads him into the inner courtyard with a hand against his lower back. Familiar faces greet the pair and together their little group makes a plan to take back the throne of their country. Shen Qiao doesn’t think about the fact that Yan Wushi’s hand stayed on his waist the entire time.

Bian Yanmei is chosen to accompany him into the palace to get Puliuru Jian’s children out, removing the emperor’s hostages before finally staging the coup. The stage is set and then of course the dresses are brought out. He’s not surprised, novels like these seem to always have a cross dressing scene for the fan service. After so many years of wearing complicated layers and layers of robes it doesn’t feel that strange to him anymore. Even Bian Yanmei seems perfectly comfortable in his outfit, joking with Shen Qiao and fluttering his eyelashes as the maids finish their makeup. He let Yan Wushi paint his nails the night before, both of them sitting there by candlelight, their heads tipped together. The older man blows on his drying nails, the daoist’s hands held delicately up to that grinning mouth, and stares at him almost hungrily through dark lashes. Shen Qiao finds his resistance to those looks wearing more and more with Yan Wushi’s affectionate words and actions.

In the morning, their group of four set off to the palace, loaded up with ‘gifts’ for the Empress and her brothers. It’s him, Bian Yanmei, and two other maids who know the palace well and are both on the tall side to help the two men blend in better. They get through the doors and Shen Qiao can feel the tension ratchet as they are shut inside the palace, now the only way through is forward.

The infiltration of the palace goes to shit almost immediately. Shen Qiao gets hit on by the Emperor, who shouldn’t have been there. When Bian Yanmei makes his move to capture the emperor he’s stopped by Xueting, who shouldn’t have been there. And then Xueting’s attack is blocked by Yan Wushi, who really shouldn’t have been there.

Shen Qiao manages to take the emperor hostage and stops most of the fights, but Yan Wushi and Xueting have a personal score to settle and he’s not about to get in the way of that. And then the Empress tells him one of her brother’s was kidnapped in the mad scramble of everything happening. Yan Wushi is still fighting when the ransom note comes in and the daoist is sent to negotiate.

You know, Shen Qiao really should have seen this coming. Unless he killed these fucks they just seemed to keep crawling back like cockroaches trying to take advantage of him. Cheng Gong prattled on about luck and wanting not just the strategy scroll in Shen Qiao’s robes but the scroll from his mountain too.

“I have no reason to doubt your honesty with a child’s life on the line.” The former street rat grins, holding his sword tight under the now prince’s chin. Shen Qiao sighs and hands over the scroll in his robes, but makes Chen Gong release the boy before providing the other. It obviously pisses the young man off but Shen Qiao was never the pushover that he expected, which was something he still couldn’t seem to get through his head. That low-level villain IQ strikes again! Once Puliuru Ying is safe in the custody of Bian Yanmei, who had already handled Chen Gong’s guard, Shen Qiao begins to recite the strategy guide from his own mountain. Removing every third sentence.

He didn’t care as he knew Chen Gong wasn’t leaving this building alive, which the young man only grew more aware of the more incoherent Shen Qiao’s words became. When he finally grew fed up and attacked, Shen Qiao easily redirected Chen Gong’s sword and made the man who once had betrayed him fall on his own blade as his final comeuppance.

Yan Wushi found him and Bian Yanmei playing weiqi and chatting like old friends when he finally made it back to the estate. The demonic sect leader, still in his maid disguise, sits next to him and watches them play. He makes little comments here and there until Shen Qiao and Yanmei chase him off to get cleaned up and changed. Shen Qiao checks over his injuries after and allows Yan Wushi to check him over in return.

The next few months bring a welcome feeling of peace to the empire. With a new emperor on the throne the people’s lives become easier, the corrupt are tossed out and new ideas pour in. And it is not the only new thing. Yan Wushi seems to have finally decided to properly court him, going on outings with Shen Qiao and offering him little trinkets and gifts. He is clearly resisting going for expensive presents in hopes of proving to Shen Qiao his sincerity, instead offering him a little stuffed tiger and sweets. Shen Qiao has shyly presented him with a wooden hair stick, carved into the shape of a firebird in return.

It was not something Shen Qiao had ever expected, to be courted by a man. But in this world he was powerful, in this world there were very few people who could stop him from doing as he pleased. And even the nation’s emperor considered him a friend. So he allows Yan Wushi to kiss his fingers and place hands on his waist, to test his own interest in the way their lips press together softly without sealed acupoints in the way.

Yan Wushi continues to push his boundaries, although now it’s mostly left to sparring. The older man having gained enough tact to allow Shen Qiao to figure out and chase his own desires when they end up with their fingers tangled in each other’s hair after every round. They roll around in the grass, acting much more like teenagers than famed martial artists, making out and curling close to watch the sun set before racing back to the manor.

It keeps reality from becoming too much of a sledgehammer when it comes back into their lives.

“Si-shidi?”

Yuan Ying, Qi Fengge’s fourth disciple, had shown up at Yan Wushi’s residence that evening and told him about the disrest in the mountain. After the two grandmasters dismissed Yuan Ying into Yu Shengyan’s care to recover from his journey they sat down at the weiqi table and talked, as had become their habit these days.

“You wish to return to Xuandu Mountain?” Yan Wushi asks, setting down the first tile.

“Yes, I want to go back and take a look.” He finally believes himself strong enough to take back his sect, to rip out the Gokturk roots and restore his mountain’s freedom. Yan Wushi tells him to take Bian Yanmei along, and then reveals that he unfortunately hasn’t been taking the proper time to recover from his own injuries. Shen Qiao knows that that is inadvertently partially his fault, the two of them up until late hours managing business, or discussing less serious topics over cups of tea and games. He pulls a bottle of pills that he’d made in preparation for his fight for the mountain and offers them to the older man instead.

Yan Wushi tugs him into his lap and tucks the Daoist under his chin, just holding him for a bit. Shen Qiao only squirms away once those hands get a little too bold in trying to sneak under his robes. Like they won’t end up in the same places when he wakes up in the morning, Yan Wushi claiming he has no idea how it happened. As they prepare to leave he asks Yuan Ying to stay behind and manage the construction of the new Xuandu Temple for him, which makes the young man wilt unexpectedly. Yuan Ying has apparently been getting harassed by Yu Shengyan, turns out the apple doesn’t fall from the tree with demonic cultivators. He lights a candle for his innocent Shidi in his heart and wishes him the best as he sets out the next day with Bian Yanmei in tow.

It takes them almost two weeks to arrive, and they barely settle down at the inn in Xuandu town when they learn that Yu Ai may no longer be the Sect Leader? And Yan Wushi has issued a challenge to Hulugu?!

He questions Bian Yanmei about it and his heart about rips in two. Yan Wushi sent the challenge to buy him time? To get his sect back. To weaken the Gokturk forces so that he can reclaim his mantle. AND he spared Xueting during their fight to get the last strategy guide scroll for Shen Qiao?! The man never makes his declarations small does he? Self-sacrificing fucking bastard. Shen Qiao is going to punch him in the mouth when he sees him again, with his own mouth.

As they ascend the mountain a few disciples recognize him, a couple he carefully suggests should stay down in the town a little longer. One disrespectful little shit he grabs and gets to escort him and Yanmei up to the sect. All of the elders are in a meeting to discuss the future of the sect, meaning there’s no one to stop them from walking straight up to the door. When he heard Elder Liu Yue argue in favor of inviting him back to his old position he couldn’t resist. He probably doesn’t look as cool as Aragorn busting into Helms Deep but damn if he doesn’t feel it.

“I’m deeply grateful for Elder Liu’s favor.” He inclines his head gently, like he didn’t just stroll right in at the triumphant eleventh hour. Man, Yan Wushi was never here when he did cool shit and still thought him to be so innocent and delicate.

At least Bian Yanmei is here, handling the scrutiny of the sect leaders with all the grace of a man who has spent the past several years in politics. The council all lose their minds, some welcoming him back immediately while others express their distaste for the company he keeps these days. He gleefully calls Tan Yuanchun for his comments in particular, trying to twist the narrative to declare Shen Qiao unfit to lead the sect because of his ‘consorting’ with demonic practitioners, when a couple of disciples burst into the room and announce that the Gokturks are attacking. And that Hehuan is… helping?

Duan Wenyang was fighting against Yuan Xiuxiu while Bai Rong flew by to kick Xiao Se in the face, tossing Shen Qiao a wink as she did. In the middle of their secluded, mountainous sect. Like someone was trying to order a waffle while the kitchen staff was having a fist fight!

“Shen-ge!” She shouts before running over to jump into the Daoist’s arms. Shen Qiao allows it only for a moment because he knows she only did it to scandalize Xuandu further. “This peony is so glad we made it in time! Some of San Jingxing’s people decided to come help invade and this sweet Bai Rong simply couldn’t let this be goodbye. Not when Master Shen could yet still be swayed my way.” They both knew that was a lie.

“And we are grateful you did, do you know what happened to Yu Ai?”

Before she can open her mouth to respond a wheeze sounds from behind them, “This lowly one is here, Sect Leader Shen.” Turning, the members of Xuandu Sect see a battered and bloody Yu Ai hobbling towards them. He reveals how he followed an obviously fake letter from someone pretending to be Shen Qiao and got ambushed by three people who tossed him off the mountain. Shen Qiao bites his lip so he doesn’t shout ‘karma’ in the guy's face, he well and truly feels no pity for this scum getting what he deserved.

There isn’t time for much more talking as the fight comes back around to them. Bai Rong has gone back to fighting to buy them more time but the gokturks aren’t known to be a patient bunch. Weapons are drawn or found and four different sects jump into the fight.

Bai Rong was fighting off Xiao Se with Bian Yanmei’s help, Yuan Xiuxiu had defeated Duan Wenyang but had taken some injuries she was now recovering from. A few Xuandu disciples moving to offer her anything she desires with sparkling eyes. Shen Qiao throws himself against every single one of the fighters who targeted the disciples with a single minded focus, dishonor like that deserves to be repaid ten times over. He was so honed in on taking out the cannon fodder that he doesn’t feel the attack coming from behind until it’s almost too late.

A sharp thud behind him and the hot dampness of a copper splatter against his back tell him what has happened. He quickly scans the battlefield to take stock of who he sees. Bai Rong is unconscious on the ground, a large gash across her back sluggishly healing thanks to the efforts of Elder Liu. Yuan Xiuxiu is basking in the attention of whatever disciples aren’t currently cleaning up. Bian Yanmei has beaten Xiao Se and subdued him. So who…?

He turns around right as Yu Ai collapses at his feet. Unable to maintain his apathy in the face of such selflessness he rushes to kneel at Yu Ai’s side. An awl that appears to have been disguised as a hair stick is sunk deeply into his chest. Based on his wet breathing it pierced a lung, and probably a major blood vessel.

“Er-shixiong…A-Qiao…” Yu Ai raises a bloody, trembling hand to his cheek. “I… should -ve… just told yo-” He cuts himself off with a wet hack, blood beginning to drip from the corner of his mouth.

“I’m here Yu-shidi, there will be time to tell me later.” The hesitation he lets out with the ‘shidi’ (look remembering these old world formalities while a man dies in your arms isn’t easy okay) causes Yu Ai’s eyes to dim, like he’s finally let something inside him die.

“Just now, the person who… attacked you… was Tan Yuanchun.”

Bian Yanmei hears the name and takes off running after Shen Qiao’s older martial brother, leaving him to witness Yu Ai’s final breath and begin to deliver orders to the sect. All of whom now welcome him back as their leader without a second thought. Not a soul questions his decision to banish Tan Yuanchun to guard their master’s grave, a fate worse than death to the man but a fitting punishment none the less. The rest of Xuandu’s students around the mountain are recalled for recovery and repairs to the sect.

It isn’t until after the fight is over that he thinks about how easy the whole thing was, especially compared to other fights in the past. He’s not used to accessing the system after going so long without it but the green screen with the google translate voice still responds to his call.

“Do you have some kind of stat block or skill tree I can see why that fight felt so anticlimactic?” Had his op statistics really pushed him so far?

Damn, so he wasn’t supposed to have killed San Jingxing when he was sold. It was supposed to lead to a rivalry that dogged Shen Qiao up until this moment. No wonder it felt so easy. The current active quest however still left him sweating buckets. He really needed to track down Yan Wushi and ask what the fuck he was thinking. It takes a few days to get everything settled in Xuandu, implement some of his new orders and bury their dead. Hehuan vanishes into the night once they’ve healed up enough and Shen Qiao is grateful to not have to navigate that landmine with the elders. The Gokturks are expelled and for the first time ever, Xuandu mountain opens their gates and declares themselves a part of the secular world. The Daoist is practically vibrating by the time they leave the mountain to get to Yan Wushi’s pavilion.

He finds the man lounging about and playing with a deer. Like an actual fawn who is trying to steal sips of his drink, and he’s actually chuckling fondly at it. Yan Wushi smiles at Shen Qiao when he approaches and gives the deer a firm tap on the nose to stop it from drinking the wine.

“A-Qiao, this is A-Qiao.” The older man chuckles, clearly thinking himself rather clever. Shen Qiao rolls his eyes but sits down at the foot of the chaise and allows the deer to sniff his fingers before giving the young creature a fond pet.

“I heard that you challenged Hulugu to a duel?” He blurts out, disturbing the beautiful scene around them.

“I did. Are you worried about me A-Qiao?” The deer kept responding to what it thought was its name and it really was too adorable, he couldn’t allow himself to be distracted though.

“Bian Yanmei told me your core was still heavily injured. Will you be ready for this fight? Can you postpone it?” How will you-” Yan Wushi wraps his arms around Shen Qiao’s waist and drags the younger man over to curl up on his chest, their legs slotting together so easily. His face burns at the casual intimacy where anyone could walk by and see them but Yan Wushi is so warm. A daoist of his level shouldn’t even feel the cold but since the poisoning sometimes his nerve endings will go numb and he’ll feel jittery and off. The heavy arm around his waist keeps him from squirming away too, so he resigns himself to resting on that pillowy chest.

“Check for yourself if you wish.” He offers up his wrist for Shen Qiao’s perusal. After checking his meridians once more they speak in soft voices while fawn A-Qiao takes a nap beside them. Yan Wushi at one point even asks if Shen Qiao still bears a grudge against him. And sighs, nuzzling into him when Shen Qiao finally says no.

“Thank you, for repaying my enmity with kindness, thus saving me. I’ve already lost count of how many times you saved me, so shouldn’t I say a word of thanks?” And with that Yan Wushi rolls them over on the day bed, pinning Shen Qiao below him and leaves his thanks in the form of bruised lips and a hickey covered neck.

It isn’t until the Demonic Sect Leader makes him promise to take care of his ‘orphans’ that Shen Qiao realizes what he’s doing. This is Yan Wushi executing his will, making sure his disciples will have a home with Shen Qiao if he doesn’t make it. It’s surprisingly gentle of him, very selfless and it terrifies him to the bone.

Now that he knows that he’s changed major story points he’s terrified of what else he might have changed. Was he supposed to be the one to fight Hulugu? Should he have been mastering the strategy guide scrolls instead? What if he’s doomed this man to death because he doesn’t have Shen Qiao’s protagonist halo?

He asks the older man to let Shen Qiao take his place and fight instead, he knows he can't die as the protagonist so that would be the safest option. Of course the man he’s talking to is the stubbornest creature in the three realms who has fantasies about at least going out in his prime if he dies to this man. As if Shen Qiao would ever allow something like that to ever just happen.

Still he makes his promise and allows Yan Wushi to press him into the day bed until he gets too cheeky and Shen Qiao has to slap him away again. He sees Yu Shengyan hiding behind a tree with a tea tray looking scandalized, little A-Qiao chewing on his sleeve begging for treats.

Two days before the fight saw Yan Wushi and Shen Qiao back on the daybed in Huanyue’s villa, the older man launching walnut shells either at him and the deer or just around and Shen Qiao using leaves to make the shells explode or even launch back at the demonic sect leader. It was funny to him, that here they were as two of the top martial artists in the world, using their abilities to play silly games.

He was worried about Yan Wushi, no one seemed to think he’d win the fight and everyone around was fretting and trying to come up with advice and contingency plans fearing if worse came to worst. Yan Wushi losing didn’t just mean he lost, it meant the entire Central Plains lost. Despite the fact that there was no love lost for this man amongst most members of the jianghu, everyone was cheering for him right now. Shen Qiao honestly had no idea if Yan Wushi could win, but he certainly would like it if the older man did.

An old memory sparks in the back of his mind and he relays it to Yan Wushi, one of the few times his old master had ever spoken of his famous duel. The demonic cultivator just waves his words off and says that Shen Qiao is too worried and says he’s going to take him out to ‘play’.

Apparently he means that quite literally as they go to a gambling house. It takes a few tries but soon Shen Qiao realizes he can use his qi to hear how the dice will land. He gets swept up in the excitement of figuring out such a skill that he doesn’t realize he’s getting them in trouble until they are ejected from the gambling hall. Yan Wushi almost falls over he laughs so hard. Before Shen Qiao can puff up and stomp indignantly away the older man wraps an arm around his waist and starts walking them to a restaurant.

Shen Qiao allows Yan Wushi to ply him with drinks and delicious food, filling up his cup a time or two more than he probably saw. He just knows that he’d see it was full and keep drinking. It doesn’t take a lot to get him drunk and he easily allows himself to collapse into Yan Wushi’s embrace when he feels himself start to sniffle. He can feel the man under him stiffen and it almost makes him want to laugh, you’ve seen this daoist cry several times before and yet this time is the one that discomforts you?

“A-Qiao you are sad for me. You’re afraid that this battle with Hulugu is one I won’t return from, right?” He cards his fingers through Shen Qiao’s hair as the drunk beauty cries.

“It’s strange. If I were the one fighting Hulugu instead, I’d only feel that this day was inevitable. And with a heart overflowing with heroic spirit, I’d stop thinking about anything else. But, since it’s you who’s doing this, all that’s left inside me is worry.” He clings to the older man who after a few minutes, sighs and picks him up, carrying him from the restaurant before using qinggong to race across the rooftops back to the villa.

The last thing he remembers is wrapping his arms around A-Qiao’s fuzzy neck and promising to find a better name for the fawn, then blackness.

He wakes up in an unfamiliar bed feeling incredible. There’s a black brocade robe draped over him that he knows well and a pillow with the same spicy scent held tight in his arms. He scrubs his face with water before going to find a maid.

Fucking. Yan. Wushi. He’d slept for an entire day and night, no doubt aided by a bastard pressing his acupoints, and Yan Wushi had already left for the fight!

Shen Qiao springs to the top of Yinghui Peak, barely stopping himself from interrupting the fight to give Yan Wushi a swift kick in the ass himself.

The daoist watches, heart in his throat, with all the others as Hulugu rains down torrents of qi at Yan Wushi, the demonic cultivator appearing almost unaffected as the blows just keep coming relentlessly. He even closes his eyes and manages to stay on the offensive! Hulugu flies sky high and Yan Wushi remains completely still, only jumping to meet the blow at the last second and still managing to keep his feet under him easily.

Shen Qiao lets out a shocked gasp when on Yan Wushi’s next move all he does is extend a single finger. The blow when it lands, is akin to an explosion. Hulugu goes flying, only managing to not fall off the cliff himself by grabbing a now bare and ragged root of something long dead as he begins to almost compulsively cough up blood. Yan Wushi’s hand dangles limply in front of him, his wrist probably shattered.

Shen Qiao watches as Yan Wushi wins, but is barely a half step from death himself. Trying to think of something, Shen Qiao pulls up the system.

“Do you have another scenario pusher, an upgrade, anything to get me to him?”

Shen Qiao slams the yes button, barely paying attention as the green screen fizzles out of existence. He could feel something glowing in his veins and before he could really understand what he was doing he took a running leap off the edge of the cliff. Using his qinggong, he drew Shanhei Tongbei and infused it with qi. Stepping on the blade as the arc of his jump began to descend he forced the sword to glide from the halfway point between the peaks, to Banbu Peak. (Everyone who was on Yinghui Peak would rave about that moment for years to come, how Shen Qiao made a sword fly in order to reach Yan Wushi in time.)

Shen Qiao manages to catch Yan Wushi just before he hits the ground, his knees digging into the rocks but he feels nothing but panic as he digs for the medicine he prepared. Yan Wushi’s pulse is still under his fingertips, not a wisp of Yang energy left. If hadn’t felt this once before he’d be a distraught, panicking mess right now. Or at least a worse one than he currently is. He manages to get Yan Wushi to swallow a few of the pills but nothing happens.

“Please wake up, don’t leave me.” He sniffs, tears mixing with the blood smeared across Yan Wushi’s cheek from his fingers. “Please Yan Wushi. I’m not ready to lose this yet, I’ll do anything if you wake up. Even if you tell me it’s just a hoax, please.” Shen Qiao wipes the blood from Yan Wushi’s mouth, pressing kisses to his forehead, nose and lips. He clutches the man to his chest, inhaling the scent he’d woken up surrounded by and wanted to again and again.

“Just now, you said you’d do anything?” Yan Wushi looks up at him, giving a pained smirk. He groans in pain when Shen Qiao slams their lips together but kisses back all the same.

Shen Qiao and Yu Shengyan work tirelessly for three days, bringing Yan Wushi medicine and passing him qi until he finally stirs.

“Leave,” is the first word out of his shizun’s mouth and the poor boy wilts at the harsh tone. Shen Qiao smacks him on the arm and berates him for his attitude before taking the bowl of medicine and telling the boy to finally get some rest, thanking him for everything. Yan Wushi’s eyes never leave the daoist for a moment and Yu Shengyan quickly backs away to go the fuck to sleep.

As soon as he’s gone they’re kissing, Shen Qiao holding himself carefully over Yan Wushi to keep from aggravating his injuries, Yan Wushi doesn’t stop tugging until he’s in the bed too and leaned up against the demonic cultivator’s side. Only then does Yan Wushi drink his medicine and they settle in to nap together.

Unfortunately, once Yan Wushi was awake, the world would wait no longer. Yuan Ying couldn’t be left alone to the building of the new monastery and Xuandu still needed a lot of things hammered out. So after a week of taking care of Yan Wushi and talking to him about his plans he finally packs his things and prepares to set out.

“I’ll be traveling between Xuandu and Cheng’an for the next while. I’ll send you letters so if you come to the estate and I’m not there you know when I left and when to expect me back. Take your time to heal up and I’ll see you when you’re well again.”

“Will my A-Qiao promise to miss me while he’s gone?” Yan Wushi purrs while running his fingers along Shen Qiao’s jaw. The Daoist captures his hand and presses a kiss to his knuckles, before rubbing his cheek against the calloused digits. He knows that this is more than a fling. He has a warmth in his heart he cannot deny for the older man, one he didn’t realize he had until he thought that the other was gone.

Shen Qiao has never been in love before, in either life, but he suspects he may be in love with the demonic cultivator. Gods help him. But dating isn’t really a thing in this world, and does he want to be married to Yan Wushi? The man has courted him, and bullied him, but Shen Qiao had still reciprocated and offered him gifts in return. Could he see himself marrying this man? This trip will hopefully give him some time and space to think about it, thinking was hard with Yan Wushi around. The older man had taken to barely dressing around him, robes slipping down his shoulders as he reclined back in his bed like a spoiled cat whining for Shen Qiao to play games or bring him snacks.

“I’ll see you in Chang’an.” He promises and Yan Wushi pulls him in for a lingering kiss, and grabs his ass which leads to him getting a sharp smack before Shen Qiao heads out face red and fuming.

Shen Qiao writes Yan Wushi letters every few days, sending them off as he goes to the market to pick up food and other supplies. Shen Qiao may or may not be using the older man’s bedroom while he stays here…along with wrapping himself in one of Yan Wushi’s spare robes to sleep.

After letting Yuan Ying go home in favor of Gu Hengbo taking over construction efforts Shen Qiao finds himself being hired for an escort mission. He’d recently told Yan Wushi that he was interested in visiting Chen now that he had his sight back and decided it was a good time to go. The caravan that hires him was heading that direction and they invite him along in exchange for his protection which he’s happy to provide. Especially as there’s a young girl and her mother traveling with them.

Of course the caravan gets attacked. Bandits, and while they were no issue for someone of Shen Qiao’s skill the young girl still manages to get an arrow in her shoulder. She’s been batting her eyelashes at Shen Qiao since he joined them and now took an arrow for him as a sign of her affection.

“Daoist Master, am I going to die?” She asks with teary eyes as he applies medicine to the wound.

“You won’t.” He tells her fondly, she reminds him of his sister whenever she got injured. Giving him those same big, teary eyes and wobbling lips. Then she propositions him. He’s quick to back away after, he almost wanted to say that he was already seeing someone but he wasn’t sure if he actually was.

He ends up asking one of the guards with their group about courting and traditions. The guard chuckles and assumes he’s unaware simply because he’s a daoist. After hearing what the man says Shen Qiao can only blush as he realizes exactly how long Yan Wushi has been courting him. He also has a bit of a revelation about the day they spent gambling and eating before Yan Wushi’s fight, the older man had taken him on a date! A real date!

And well, they’d slept in Yan Wushi’s bed many times which went a lot farther than any gift at stating how willing he was to marry the older man. It may have technically been a violation of courtship rules but leave it to Yan Wushi to break the rules in all things.

Besides, hadn't this entire trip been to answer the questions swirling around inside his brain after all? Did he love Yan Wushi? Did he want to marry Yan Wushi? Ducking his head as he thought over the way he felt when he saw the older man lying there on Banbu peak completely still, he knew he had his answer.

When he arrives in Chen he’s quickly stopped and asked to come to the palace, apparently the ruler of the realm is on a Daoism kick to try and achieve immortality and has asked any and all impressive looking Daoists to report to the palace and share their knowledge. Shen Qiao agrees to go just for the entertainment of writing to Yan Wushi about the ridiculousness after.

Turns out he won’t have to write afterall. Sitting, dressed as a Daosit priest off to the side is Yan Wushi! He grins and shoots Shen Qiao a wink when he sees the younger man who immediately glides over to sit at the table next to him.

“Think of the devil and he shall appear.” Shen Qiao chuckles, which only makes Yan Wushi light up further.

“You think about me A-Qiao? I hope it’s at night.”

“Shameless!” The Daoist snaps and smacks the other man on the arm. After a moment his scowl fades and he gives Yan Wushi a warm, gentle look. “It’s good to see you.”

The Emperor of Chen arrives before they can continue their conversation and Yan Wushi and he can’t help but dance a verbal duet around the man. It’s thinly veiled flirting if he’s being honest but no one would know that but them. And then The Empress Dowager appears and their game is up.

The two of them are practically vibrating by the time they leave the palace, running through the alley’s to the nearest inn. Shen Qiao slaps down a handful of coins and Yan Wushi snatches up the key before they flee to their room. As soon as the door is closed Shen Qiao is pushing Yan Wushi against it and kissing him hard enough for their teeth to clack.

“Did you miss me A-Qiao?” Yan Wushi chuckles as he tilts Shen Qiao’s chin until their kisses can deepen. His free hand pulls Shen Qiao in close until his thigh is between the Daoist’s legs. Shen Qiao lets out a moan in response.

The noise makes Yan Wushi groan in response and kiss him rougher until they’re both panting for breath.

“I love you.” He gasps out, and he means it. Yan Wushi has done so much for him and he’s been an idiot for so long trying to deny it. He loves this man, he really does.

At the soft words Yan Wushi scoops him up in his arms and carries him to the bed. And honestly after everything he’s experienced since waking up in Huanyue sect, this will probably be the most enjoyable.