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Chapter Text

Shen Yuan Dies (She always was going to)

Shen Yuan didn’t intend to die.
She knew that everyone did eventually, but she really had been convinced that she would have many more years ahead of er. She thought she would live to a nice cushy 85 or 90. She would find some nice vaguely man shaped person to settle down with, she didn't know what he would be like, maybe kind? She would’ve liked someone kind, she thought. They would read bad books together, and she would smile and say… something, probably. She didn't know, thinking was hard. She tried to shake her head to clear out the fog that had nestled there, but despite having every intention of moving she couldn’t seem to manage it. Giving up on the concept she stayed where she was. The ground was soft for a road. As she laid there she opened her eyes, she didn't know when they had closed, staring at the sky she watched the sky move, red and blue flashing just along the corners of her slowly fading vision. She didn't intend to die, but it seemed she was going to anyway. If she had the energy to be sad she was sure she would be, she would mourn for her family, maybe cry at the unfairness of it all, or rage at the memory of the hand she had felt pushing between her shoulder blades, sealing her fate under the racing path of oncoming headlights. But instead, she just died.

Shen Yuan almost died.
She felt her heartbeat slowly come down from the rabbit pace it had shot up to the moment the stale bun she absentmindedly grabbed had lodged deep in her windpipe. She stared blankly at the large chunk of half- macerated bread and meat, before shaking out her trembling hands and pushing herself off the back of the chair she had flung herself on in her desperate attempt to force out the blockage, and turned off the most recent chapter she had been reading. Hate-commenting would wait, as she didn't think her adrenaline rushing body would allow her to type with any accuracy anyway.

Shen Yuan almost died.
She clutched her phone, staring blankly past the wreckage in front her. The metal of the parked car in front of her was warped and scratched from the massive oak that had ripped its roots free of its earthly bonds to come tumbling down, crushing everything beneath it, seconds before she clambered into the driver's seat. She stepped back, stumbling a little bit over the uneven pavement, before sitting on a metal street bench. She decided she would sit there for a little bit.
To kill some time she opened back up her web browser to its most familiar bookmark: Proud Immortal Demon Way, Shen Yuan’s literary white whale. It had been months since its last update, a sharp drop off from Airplane Shooting Towards The Sky’s previous weekly updates. But she still checked in every couple weeks or so, just to see if Airplane had broken his sudden hiatus. Nothing had indicated a break coming, the last chapter had been part of the usual slop, Luo Binghe had found a new helpless maiden, who’s name Shen Yuan had already long forgotten, who was dying from the poison of a White-Crested Glass Viper. It was incurable, but she needed help finding a magical amulet that would delay the effects of the poison until she could track down the ex-fiancé who had poisoned her so he could run off with her maid and all her dowry. Of course the far more interesting monster and revenge plot was way-sided so that Luo Binghe could reveal that there was a cure! How miraculous! It was his Dick! In a box! Shen Yuan was rolling her eyes even just remembering it. However what had been weird was at the very end of the chapter Luo Binghe, instead of doing his normal “marry me my love and become wife #321 I promise you are unique and special!” spiel, instead Airplane had written him being pulled into a portal spawned by his very own Xin Mo.
Shen Yuan had, of course, torn the repetitive wife acquisition plot line to shreds right until she almost choked to death on her own meat bun. But she had been intrigued by this portal and what it would lead to. However the next week had come, and passed with no new chapter. The forums buzzed a little with the lack of new content but everyone had decided that it was probably just Airplane catching the flu or some other equivalent. And then the next week came and passed. Some said illness, others said writer’s block, most just railed against Airplane for his cheap cliffhanger. However by week six, the forums had gone wild. Some believed Airplane had died, via a crazed stalker. Some had even tossed her internet handle into the list of suspects, before most decided that no, Peerless Cucumber would never betray their toxic Love-Hate situationship like that.
Shen yuan had taken offense to the concept that she would ever have a situationship with such a hack.
However, at this point it had to be said, Airplane Shooting Towards The Sky had either abandoned his 600 chapter, 2.1 million work behemoth, or he had gone on an extended hiatus. For the first few weeks fans rioted, and ranted, but most importantly they postulated. People wrote their own endings, and seemingly cared about those more so than whatever airplane had written.
Thousands of PIDW spinoffs spawned overnight. Shen Yuan had even written a few herself. It was intriguing, seeing everyone’s different ideas on where Luo Binghe had gone. One she had taken a shine to was the idea that, within the portal Luo Binghe had been able to overcome blockages in his cultivation, fully forming his golden core, and that with that new leap in power he had ascended to the heavens. Shen Yuan had enjoyed that particular idea because it felt like a good way to inject some variety into a story that had become so formulaic. Something like ascendance would add some variety, because of course Luo Binghe would attain godhood. He was Luo Binghe. But breaking off of her train of thought, she refreshed the page, and alas: Still nothing. She sighed, and now that her hands had finally settled, the adrenaline no longer lending a tense shaky feeling to the appendages, she called her brother for a ride.

Shen Yuan almost died.
This had become a trend in the past few months. She thought, as she stared at the crushed pile of wood and ivory keys, the exposed bone glinting on the ground. She didn't know if it was the world falling into disarray or if she had been cursed by some disgruntled witch she offended in his online adventures.
A Piano? And a falling one at that?
She couldn't even muster up the normal heady rush of post near death experience that she had become concerningly familiar with recently, due to the sheer disbelief that she had almost fallen to the most cliche, loony toons variety of death.
She waved off the concerned porter, and headed home. Her bookstore run could wait another day.
On her walk home Shen Yuan let her thoughts wander, perhaps a dangerous activity considering her current string of near-deaths, but seeing as her daily quota had been filled with the piano-crushing she figured she could get away with letting her new mindset of constant vigilance relax a bit. As usual her thoughts drifted towards Proud Immortal Demon Way. She enjoyed the fan-fiction and the head-cannons, but the fact that it was left unfinished irked her. After all, was she not owed an explanation? She had poured thousands of words into detailed critiques and analyses of the work, spent an embarrassing amount of money on specialized merch, and early release chapters. Hell he’d even bought the limited edition Liu Qingge excerpt that didn't even Fucking describe him. Instead it was an introspective chapter on Liu Mingyan's relationship with her cannon fodder older brother, which Sen Yuan would have loved if Airplane hadn't just had it be a conversation between Luo Binghe and her right before more papapa! Have some grace, Airplane! Let the woman mourn without turning into a vehicle for more ‘dual cultivation to regulate her emotions’. Embroiled in thought she noticed herself getting odd looks at the stoplight, embarrassed she stopped mumbling, it was a bad habit she had picked up during her unemployed days. Funny how when you live alone how much you begin to crave conversation, even if it's only with yourself. She gave a sheepish smile at the tall man she was standing next to, who gave her back a stunningly gorgeous smile in return. Averting her eyes, so she wouldn't get them burned out by the light bouncing off the man's teeth, she stepped forward to the edge of the curb, impatiently watching the cars zip by, multicolored blurs breaking up the scene of the park on the other side of the street. She tapped her foot impatiently, leaning slightly forward so she could get a look at the street lights, hoping to see the bright green light begin to shift towards amber, however as she did she felt a movement behind him. She only had a moment to feel a chill wash over her entire body as a hand from the crowd behind her planted itself firmly between her shoulder blades and pushed. Time seemed to dilate as the rough asphalt dug into her hands as she attempted to scrabble up and back to the safety of the sidewalk. But before she could, she felt the light of the head beams on her, starling her for a precious few seconds. As she watched her demise grow closer she only thought two things. How she wished she could bring herself to close her eyes, and
‘Guess I never will figure out how it ends.’

And so, Shen Yuan died. Lying on the street, staring up at a fading blue sky

Chapter Text

Shen Yuan felt hard ground beneath her, and opened her eyes. This alone was a surprise, as her last memory seemed to be pretty conclusive regarding her death. However as she looked around, a second surprise was foisted upon her, as the dark room she stood in was dwarfed by the large monitor glaring down at her from above.
“Welcome to A Proud Immortal experience, User 002-b”

Shen Yuan grabbed her head as the loud voice rang out, its grating metallic tone echoing back upon itself in the small room.

“ You have activated the secondary transmigration phase, selecting world verison: ‘Finish the Damn Novel you Dumb-fuck hack author ’ , the previously selected role has timed out and it therefore no longer viable. Transmigration was marked as canceled, requesting system admin…

A long beep ran out, as a small loading wheel took over the screen above her. After a long few minutes, during which Shen Yuan followed the number one rule of being confused and in a dangerous situation: Keeping. Her. Damn. Mouth. Shut.

“ …This System apologizes for the delay, and has been advised by its system admin that a new Role has been prepared for User!”

Shen Yuan’s head cleared up quickly as the machine's words finished processing in her newly unconcussed brain. And as they did the number one rule of dangerous situations was quickly forgotten in favor of outrage.

“Wait, Proud Immortal Demon Way? You can't send me there! It’s a death sentence!”

“Would User prefer to return to her old body?”

Shen Yuan’s mouth quickly sealed itself shut as he thought of the most recent status of her body. She paused for a moment, recollecting her thoughts, before responding.

“ No, no, no need for that. I am more than happy to try this new role. Would I be able to ask who it is?”

“This System appreciates your question, and values your time. User 002-b has been assigned an original role! It was created by…
A loud screech rang out through the room, deafening Shen Yuan as she grabbed her head once more, curling in on herself in a futile attempt to cringe away from the sound. It was hard to describe it, some combination of dial-up and a terrified scream, but no matter the description one thing was sure: it was horrid, and it was loud.
The scream cut off, and a silence hung heavy in the room, Shen Yuan too reluctant to break it.

“This System apologizes, it is unable to assist with User 002-b’s questions at this time. Please enjoy your Transmigration Experience”
Before Shen Yuan could respond, or attempt to comfort this strange machine, she once again was taken by the feeling of fading out, as her body hit the floor soundlessly, and Shen Yuan died once more.

Shen Yuan felt the loose dirt beneath her and opened her eyes, the routine quite familiar to her at this point. She dragged her aching body up off the ground, feeling the abuse of a body she no longer occupied, but whose ghost still haunted her new bones and muscles. As she fully stood up, she looked around at her new surroundings. She stood in a large empty plain that seemed to stretch for miles. A few small croppings of glistening black rocks decorated the landscape, with tall and spindly trees, whose blood red leaves sat sparsely on their skyward branches. Most notably, she seemed to be the sole creature that she could see for miles. However she knew this world, and Proud Immortal Demon Way was known for its creatures that would not hesitate to kill any living thing they encountered. She looked around again with a new intent. Shelter.

She noted a small gathering of rocks that created a small cave, not ideal but it would keep her back covered while she gathered her bearings. Moving quickly she checked the alcove for any variety of hidden beasts, based on the area, and the variety of food a biome like this would offer she was mostly worried about running into any Burrowing corpse crickets, or worse a Defiled Drake-Claw. After checking all the crannies she could, and confirming she had a solid wall at her back, and cover from any wind storms that could sweep in

(She remembered that plot point from chapter 273, when Binghe had rescued a maiden from a sandstorm that had been infested with Burrowing corpse crickets that had chewed their way under his skin before his blood parasites were able to burn them from his veins.)

She took inventory of this new body of hers. The glassy black rocks were smooth enough to act as a mirror for her, so she could see that this new body was remarkably similar to her old one. However there were some slight differences. The first she noticed were her eyes. Her previous eyes she had gotten from her mother, a light hazel, tinged with green along the edges of the iris. Not quite the same deep brown of her eldest brother, nor the sharp leaf green of her second brother. Now however her eyes shone a pale green, it was disconcerting to say the least. She had never realized how much one’s eyes define the face, until the eyes of a stranger peered back at her from the black stone mirror. Not having time to truly unpack that, she moved on to the other differences. Her hair was longer, having grown past the short choppy bob she had cut it to just a few weeks before she died. It was easily down to her waist now, and currently styled half-up in an elaborate silver guan. She was leaner, more toned, this body clearly more used to exercise and hunger than her own. Speaking of hunger she noticed it seemed to be absent, instead pulsing from her chest and infusing every ounce of her being was a warm honey-like feeling, it seemed to curl up in her stomach currently, helping stave off the long term consequences of being stuck in a barren desert. Ah, Inedia, I must be some variety of cultivator then, at least at the core formation stage. She thought with a level of giddyness and relief. After all, though the world still won't be kind to her, it’s much harder to get killed if you have magic sword powers. Excited, she checked her belt.

And checked her robes.

And checked her sleeves.

Then checked the cave.

She then checked where she woke up.

Fucking Nothing
She barely held in a scream of frustration, she died, woke up, died again, and then was tossed into the hellscape of Proud Immortal Demon Way post-protagonist fueled world merging and she doesn't even get a magic sword out of it? Not even a starter sword? She had half a mind to track down that godforsaken system herself and craft a sword out of its monitor screen and circuit boards! In a fit of fury she lashed out a kick at the black rock she had been using for her mirror.
Only to have to immediately throw herself to the side as the rock shattered, sending razor-sharp shards of glass flying by her. She felt a sharp sting as one sliced through the site of her temple only missing her eye by the grace of her new body’s reaction time.
Well, I guess that counts for something She thought wryly as she stared at the now demolished rock she had been using as her lean-to. Bending down she picked up one of the larger shards, easily about the size of her forearm, and used the sharp edge to cut off a swath of cloth from the bottom of her new, and incredibly heavy, robes. Wrapping the cloth around the very bottom, she hefted her new make-shift sword onto her shoulder and looked to the horizon. Far in the west she saw the outlines of a mountain range. She shrugged
“Well, best case scenario there is civilization, worst case scenario I’ll at least find a cave I can hole up in.” She spoke to the empty desert “Who knows, maybe I’ll find a sword on the way”.

And so Shen Yuan walked, and walked, and walked, and walked.

She walked as the sun beat on her back, burning the back of her neck a warm, stinging red. She walked as the ground slowly turned from the coarse grit of the plains to a fine ashy silt that kicked up around her, dying the hems of her robes a faded gray. She walked as the moon crept high in the sky, then low, then high again. She walked for more miles than she could count, never stopping for fear of what would find her when she did. Even as she moved she encountered dangers. On her second day of walking she accidentally angered a Giant Soldiers-AntLion when she stepped on its fledgling mound. Thankfully she heard the tell-tale clicks, like that of an old clock

(Chapter 312, Binghe encountered one when he was looking for the Amulet of Widow’s Tears. In the book he had been surprised so it had managed to get its pincers into his ankle, though he was immune to their paralytic venom being of heavenly demon descent it took him a while to heal from the sharp pincers severing his ankle as it surged up from the ground. However the wife of the week had distracted it while he was able to punch his hand through the weak spot just between where the ant head meets the furry flesh)

She remembered this creature, and as she drove her obsidian shiv though the gap in its chitinous armor just where the head met body she mourned. In the book they had been long-lived and relatively peaceful. Only prone to attacking during fledgling season, or when protecting their food. Looking around she saw no food. A chill ran down her spine, fledgling season it is then, which meant there would be more in the area. And so, Shen Yuan ran for a time.

Finally after days of walking, and fighting, then running, only to walk again, Shen Yuan arrived at the mountain. However as she got close her hope for civilization was quickly dashed when she saw the welcome gate at the base:

“Cang Qiong Mountain Sect”

She chuckled, then she laughed, and somewhere in between the laughing and the chuckling she cried.

“All of that, for what? To visit a mass grave?” she yelled to the sky, hoping maybe that damned malfunctioning system could hear her. But, no response came. She sat on the ashy ground, and then she layed on it. At least now it made sense why the ground was so ashy, everyone who’d read PIDW remembered that the sect was destroyed as part of Luo Binghe’s revenge.

(Chapter 101, after having Yue Qingyan destroyed by a hail of arrows he and his demon army marched on the mountain. They started by burning the bridges between the peaks, and after that he unleashed a different beast for each peak, setting a Black-Moon Rhinoceros Python on his old home peak Qing Jing. Once the beasts had terrorized the buildings and flushed everyone out, he then burned it to the ground. Cutting down any who attempted to flee the flames. )

She stared at the sky from the ashen ground. She was doing that a lot recently, staring at the sky, that was. And this time it offered no more consolation or advice than it had previously. Finally she groaned, and pushed herself up, a cloud of soot billowing up with her. After all at least Cang Qiong could offer her two things:

A Sword, and the LingXi caves.

After all, with all the disciples dead, it's not like anyone would miss any of the swords. And if anything the sword cave should be fully stocked as if she remembered correctly (which she did, she always did). The swords of dead disciples or peak lords were returned to the caves after the wielder died. And the LingXi caves would be the perfect location for her to train in safety and seclusion, to get her sword skills up to snuff before going back out into the hellscape to try and find any kind of civilization.

So Shen Yuan gave a small bow at the welcome sign, approached the base of the Heavenly Stairs, and began to climb.

Chapter Text

An ill-fated interlude

She awoke screaming and enraged, ripped from the cold comfort of her sleep within the hard rock walls that had witnessed her death. Loud footsteps echoed from the array planted within the mountain that her soul occupied. It had been so long since Liu Qingge had felt steps. The shock was so vast it pulled her from her rage for a breath. She began to wonder briefly in this respite
Why had it been so quiet?
Afterall all, the caves always echoed with the patter of footsteps, so loud that she could never sleep, never fade into the closest thing to death these damn walls would allow her. The Heaven Footsteps array was carved so deeply into the rock of the mountain that the peaks' bones resonated with it. She had not slept since the day of her final qi deviation, when her body's energies had unbalanced so much that they turned to fight against her. However something had changed, and the steps had stopped, and without even knowing it she had slept. Why was she trapped here, in this cursed limbo of soul. Cursed to either sleep and fade to oblivion, or stay awake, constantly driven mad by the sound and the stone and the rage oh the rage. Red filled her vision as the rage came over her once more. She knew why she was like this, Shen Qingqui, that prideful bastard. When their swords had met in her rocky grave, before she became so bound to it, she had felt his disdain, his resentment, and worst of all his pride. His damned pride that kept him from fetching help. The pride that refused to let him admit that he didn't know how to balance energies, that his own fractured and unbalanced soul had never let him learn. And so he had lurched forward, his too-hot palm on her lower back. Her mind grew even more crowded.

He doesn't know? He can’t. He is doing this out of desperation, not of possession. She thought.

But what if he does, he will tell. Or worse he won't and you will never know peace. Her mind whispered back. Heard only briefly before it was once again overwhelmed by rage. She watched almost as if from above as her body's limbs betrayed her will. Her hands lashed out, her sword long abandoned.

She watched as Shen Qingqiu dodged and weaved, yelling for her to “cease being a brute and calm down”, till finally one of her clawing hands scraped the side of his face, nails scouring five bloody gashes as they continued by. His mocking green eyes narrowed into furious slits, and she felt a cold pain pierce through her heart, leaching the heat from her entire body, as she fell to the ground. She saw his face as his eyes filled with a calculated detachment, and then he left. As she laid bleeding out onto the ground, feeling warm tracts of blood tracing through the dirt on her face, all she could think was At least it is quiet now and for a time it was. Till she awoke a spirit, and the steps began.

A Soul returned yet remade
Shen Yuan would like to have words with whoever invented steps. Specifically steps in multitudes. She had no idea how mountain climbing could be worse until she encountered a mountain where it is entirely stairs and all straight up. Her thighs burned and her feet cried out at the abuse. Her newly formed cultivator's core was the only thing keeping her moving upwards, step after damned step. If she had had any doubts about her plan to train in the LingXi caves, they were firmly washed away with the sweat running in rivulets down her back. After All this was up a seemingly well maintained climb, the Heavenly Steps array had kept the stairs whole, untouched by the passing of time. Though she supposed she didn't know exactly how long after Cang Qiongs destruction it was, but based on the decay of the scorched earth, even previously great oaks only barely mulch along the sides of the previously beautiful ascension, she assumed it had been a very, very long time. And so, she put her head down, once again cursed the wretched collection of copper wires and glass that was that dial-up monstrosity of a system, and continued to climb.

After a long (very long) day of walking Shen Yuan Finally summitted at Qiong Ding Peak. As she overlooked the remains of the greatest of all twelve peaks she only could think that Luo Binghe was very thorough. The odd pillar of stone remained here and there, previously great buildings and courtyards diminished to no more than crooked teeth sticking out a wretched and scorched maw. She shivered, feeling cold and angry eyes on her back, as if the ghosts of the burned and butchered disciples were rebuking her for stepping foot on this mockery of a final resting place. She bowed her head, muttering an ashamed apology to them as she hurried across the rainbow bridge, only briefly stopping to gawp at the beautifully terrifying sight of the refracted valley beneath her feet, before she had the thought to stop testing fate by putting too much faith in the hundreds of years old, un-maintained, array and continued her path across to Wan Jian Peak.

Wan Jian peak was a humbler size than Qiong Ding, only a few burned out frames of buildings, the stone forge containers too sturdy to be entirely destroyed in the flames. Instead the majority of the space was dedicated to the path up to the Sword Caves. The long winding path took her past the remains of the disciples dorms and training grounds to the beautiful crystal lined cave mouth. She walked towards the mouth of the cave, only stopping when her nose squished up against some invisible force. She was baffled for a moment. Pushing one foot forward a few times, before remembering that there had been another highly specific deeply powerful array here, because there weren't enough of those in Airplane’s deeply- mid masterpiece. It took her a few tries, but finally she was able to trace the sigil they had described in the book when Luo Binghe first pulled his sword

( Chapter 29, He had pulled Zheng Yang after hearing the most beautiful of bells emanating from its hilt, as he had grasped it he felt warm and comforted. It had brought him nearly to tears, he hadn't felt that kind of love since his mother died. He gripped the sword close to his chest as he left the caves. An unrestrained grin pulling at his cheeks, he looked up as he stepped into the sun once more, and felt the smile drop from his face as his eyes met those of his teacher. His green eyes narrowed as he took in Binghe’s Zheng Yang. The pure white blade and elegantly designed handle betrayed its worth, despite its deceptively humble size. His Shizun walked back with him and the rest of the disciples. As they returned to Qing Jing peak he walked with the rest of the group, hoping to catch up with Ning Yingying, with her he was usually safer from their teachers ire.

“Beast, stay” Rang out cold from behind him.

Binghe swallowed past the lump that had lodged itself in his throat, all comfort and joy remaining from the caves was now not even a lingering dream.

“Yes, Shizun”)

The array dissolved in a glittering mist in a display that would have made Shen Yuan roll her eyes if she had seen it on screen in her old life. But then she stepped into the cave and all commentary died in her mouth as her jaw dropped open. Thousands of rainbow veined crystals lined the ceiling and walls, and with each floret of these beautiful gems there was a sword of unique make and model. She saw swords ranging from a small, roman gladius to a beautifully damascused flamberge, to a towering DaDao. Swords of every culture and time clustered together in deadly starbursts of blood and grace. She would have ripped Airplane to shreds in the comments about the anachoronism of it all, but she couldn't even sum up the anger when presented with such a beautiful sight. For hours she wandered the cave, brushing her hands over the handles of all the different blades, like some newly freed man brushing his hands over grass he had never gotten to truly feel before.

She listened, and looked, and touched, but despite the hours she carried on none of them sung to her the way the book had described it. And so far the closest she had gotten was the urge to twirl around a delicately carved and filigreed PoDao. She had been looking for hours and still nothing until finally she entered the last room. It was different from the others, with only a few swords as opposed to the thousands out in the main caves. And as she looked over them she heard it. It started low at first, a smooth ringing that grew louder and louder. Many more voices joined it in harmony as she walked further into the room, pulled as if some lure had been planted deeply in her very soul. And then she saw it. The long white blade had a slight green tinge to it, like that of the palest of jades, close to a mutton fat quality. It was decorated with a thin green ribbon and tassel with a simple bamboo decorated sheath. She grabbed it almost without thinking and felt something. It wasn't the comfort that Binghe had described, nor the euphoria she had expected. Instead it was something of a reunion. Like the feeling of seeing an old friend at the airport after decades of separation. An achingly familiar joy, tinged with the sadness of change. Something once known but now made anew. It faded quickly as she finished pulling the sword free from its resting place, but she felt a warm path traced down her cheek as she strapped her new sword to her hip. She tried to think of a name, but it evaded her. Nothing she had been considering up till this moment felt right. So instead just smiled down at it

“I’ll know your name soon, I promise”

And a warm hum ran through her bones, so she figured that would suffice for now.

“Well, Sword. It looks like you and I are off to the LingXi caves. Let’s go see if they truly are as depressing as they sounded in the book”

Shen Yuan Did Not Like The LingXi Caves.
Granted she liked them when she first walked in, they were more reserved than the sword caves, but teeming with spiritual energy that made her hair stand on end. She meandered through the sprawling cave system seeing which of the long abandoned meditation spots she would claim for anywhere from 2-12 business months. None of them seemed anything special, but in her search , for just a moment, she thought she heard a cry. She paused, waiting in the silence, before letting out a tentative

“Hello? Is someone there?”

She immediately began kicking herself. Oh just go and announce your presence like the pretty one in every horror movie, Great Idea Shen Yuan! You want to find more danger?
Entrenched in her own self-flagellatory monologue she hardly noticed her feet moving her towards the area where she thought she had heard the sound. They brought her to the largest of the caves she had seen since entering. She had a moment to admire it, with its rugged walls rising far above the other low ceilings in the cave system, easily 30-40 feet tall.
However, that moment soon passed as something screaming hurtled into her and a piercing pain exploded in her chest, and for a moment as her damned brain blanked out all she could think was:
Well I wanted to find the source of the sound, so: ‘Great Success’!

She flung herself backwards in an attempt to shake the entity that she still couldn't see. She was pretty sure she succeeded as the weight lifted for a moment. As it did she heard the cry again, only this time it was loud and it was angry. The voice echoed through the caves:

“You bastard! Come to mock me? To kill me again? Try it, I’ll rip those damnable eyes out of your head”

Shen Yuan had only a second of warning, as she felt a puff of air close to her face, to dive to the side as the invisible entity collided with the cave walls, the action knocking a shower of loose dirt and rocks onto it. The falling dirt outlined the form for a moment, showing it to be humanoid. The dust plumed with movement, betraying the beings lunge towards her, she whipped her sword up as it met something with a harsh Clang, Shen Yuan was pretty sure that flesh or spirit ectoplasm, or whatever it was shouldn't make that sound with metal. But she didn't have time to speculate as the being was moving again, ephemeral claws lashing out and latching into her shoulder and yanking. Shen Yuan howled as her shoulder burned in response. She rabbit-kicked blindly in front of her, foot connecting with something pushing it off of her as she scrambled away.

Her hand fluttered uselessly at her now wounded shoulder, but the spirit did not allow her space, she saw a small kick of dust where they had previously scuffled and braced herself as it once again rushed her. She swung with her new spirit sword, trying to feed it energy in the ways that she’d read in those first chapters of Luo Binghe’s training on Cang Qiong. A pathetic sword glare puttered from her swing, bouncing off of the entity, outlining it once again, though now in the dim white light from the weak sword glare. Out of options Shen Yuan did what any millennial raised on comics and shitty action novels would do, she bum-rushed it, wildly striking with her sword where she could. She got a few hits in, but for every one she managed, the spirit managed two more. It was untenable, she realized with horror. She was pretty sure the only reason she had not yet fallen to the spirit was that it was limited to its hands in this form. Out of options, and quickly running out of blood, she ignored the terror that was quickly settling in her gut and grasped blindly at the air near where her sword met resistance. Her hands closed around something cold, with a little give to it. She grasped it firmly and yanked before falling back on her most familiar tool.

“Who are you? I mean you no harm, please stop this and I can try to help! I’m a cultivator, I think…” She trailed off slightly at the end as something began to appear under her hand, corpse-pale flesh and the flash of a confused face, with sad phoenix eyes.

“You? Who are you? You’re not Shen Qingqui…”

Shen Yuan’s eyebrows furrowed

“ He’s dead, has been for a while..

She tugged the arm ever closer still, the face seeming to gain a little more form to it, she could see now a soft mouth turned down into a frown.

… Please. Let me help you” she said, gasping for air.

The spirit flicked

“What do-”

But before the spirit could finish, Shen Yuan’s vision blurred and then faded. She hardly felt the impact of her body hitting the rocky floor.

Shen Yuan came to with her body lying on the hard ground.
This is starting to become a habit she thought, hissing as pain lanced through her shoulder when she attempted to rise.
”You shouldn’t attempt to get up yet, you will worsen your injury” Shen Yuan jumped as the voice spoke right next to her ear. She then immediately regretted it as her whole body ached back at her.

“And whose fault is it that I’m injured” she snapped, pain making her tone sharp and cold.

Silence blanketed the cave for a few moments before the voice returned again

“The fault is mine, I was not in my right mind, but I still am the cause of your injury. Please accept my sincere apologies, and know that I am in your debt for your assistance”

Shen Yuan was gobsmacked, and now feeling a little guilty at her harsh response, she hasn’t expected such a sincere apology, especially not from what she had assumed was your normal, run of the mill resentful spirit. So she tried to give a reassuring smile with her response

“Ah, well, extraordinary circumstances and everything. Just please don’t do it again. I have a feeling you can wipe the floor with me. But if you don’t mind me asking, you seem pretty aware now, why haven’t you, you know, moved on from here?” She said, gesturing vaguely at their barren surroundings.

“I’ve tried, I can’t. My body would have been given the proper resting rites, if it was found, but my soul is tied to this place.” the voice came again, this time from her other side.
It was a nice voice, now that it wasn’t screaming in rage Shen Yuan noticed, and even when screaming it rage it probably would have sounded impressive if it wasn’t directed at her.

“Do you know if they found your body? That might be why your soul didn’t move on from here. You were killed right? Maybe the killer hid your body so it couldn’t get the proper rites.”

A pause came again, longer this time, as the spirit considered her suggestion.

”Shen Qingqiu was a prideful and dishonorable man yes, but even he would have informed the sect of my death, if only so he had time to make sure the story favored him” The voice said after its long pause.

Shen Yuan began to relate to this Windows 95-ass system, in that she too had a blue screen moment. She had come to think that she misheard, or there was some other poor sap killed by Shen Qingqui in the LingXi caves. But no this was Liu Qingge The War God himself! Shen Yuan held the urge to interrogate him on everything from the early book. What beasts did he fight? Had he seen a Purple-Finned Spider Squid? And if so what parts were spider and what parts were squid? How did the spider parts of the body survive the high pressure under deep water? Airplane had just called her a nerd when she asked about it in her perfectly normal, emotionally-regulated review of the chapter. But she had to keep it cool, after all Liu Qingge was named the war god for a reason, it wouldn’t do to make him suspicious by knowing too much about the circumstances of his death. So leading questions it was!

“Shen Qingqui? He’s infamous for his misdeeds! I’m sorry that you fell to him as well” She said, shaking her head for good measure.

The voice barked out a response
“Fell to him? Is that how he spun his tale? If I hadn’t been Qi diviating he would never have had a chance!”

Shen Yuan’s eyebrows furrowed Qi Deviation? That was never mentioned in the book and so she asked:

“Qi Deviation? Were you a cultivator? Perhaps your soul is tied till you can avenge your death”

Another long pause.

”yes I was a cultivator of Cang Qiong, I was approaching a breakthrough. I forced it and deviated. And why would I need to avenge my death? Shen Qingqui might have killed me, but I left him little choice. Even in my state he had no chance of subduing me.”
Before she could stop herself Shen Yuan blurted out

“But you’re Liu Qingge, Shen Qingqui murdered you!”

“you!

Shen Yuan flinched and Liu Qingge broke off, leaving his exclamation hanging. Shen Yuan longed to see his face, she hadnt realized how much one relys on expression until she was having a conversation with an invisible spirit that still very much could kill her. But then he continued, seemingly more calmly.

“You know me? How?”

Shen Yuan scrambled a bit mentally, before deciding fuck it, we’ll do it live and started riffing.

“I read about it. After all, your murder is one of the most infamous crimes of Shen Qingqui. He was exposed for it by his student Luo Binghe, along with the rest of his crimes.”

“My murder? Shen Qingqui did not murder me. He was a prideful man yes, who attempted to balance my deviation himself as opposed to admitting he couldn’t and getting help. So there is blame to lay at his feet, but he could never have killed me without my deviation and I left him little choice” the voice explained, seemingly offended at the very notion that Shen Qingqui could have defeated him.

Meanwhile Shen Yuan was so deeply confused. She remembered the scene vividly! Luo Binghe had come forward as a witness. He claimed he had seen the murder himself when he had gone to fetch Shen Qingqui to warn him of the demon invasion led by Sha Hualing. He had spared no detail of how his despot master had stabbed a meditating Liu Qingge from behind. Yue Qingyuan had attempted to deny it but the testimony was damning, and Liu Mingyan had demanded recompense.

Shen Yuan had read too much of PIDW to assume that Luo Binghe would never lie, that was the draw of him, that he was clever! But to lie about something of this severity, to his second (and best in Shen Yuan’s opinion) wife about the death of her brother seemed beyond his normal tricks. After all, kindness was to be repayed 10,000 times. That was his thing! Had not Liu Mingyan been kind to him? And wasn’t deceiving her about the death of her brother a cruelty unearned? After all it was at least 4 chapters of …

“You know about A-Minyan! How? How has my sister fared” Liu Qingge broke her from her thoughts. She stared blankly in front of her, mouth open and mid-mumble. shit guess dying didn’t fix the talking to herself problem

“Uh yeah a little. I read about it in a history book. She married the emperor so she’s pretty notable.”

“And?” The voice prompted.

“And what?”

“What happened after that? She was already a promising cultivator before I died. There’s no way she wouldnt have reached immortality, and taken a peak of her own. What has she done, who is this love of hers? Does she have children, still carrying on the cultivation tradition?” Liu Qingge asked, just shy of begging.

Shen Yuan stared through where she approximated where Liu Qingge would be. How do you tell someone they not only apparently missed hundreds of years, but that their sect was destroyed by a demon emperor, who their sister then married to get conned into helping a frame-job in her grief, to then become one wife out of hundreds. ‘Hey dude, yeah so you know that sister you loved dearly. She married a playboy who killed all your friends and family, who used her grief for you to frame someone for your murder. Sorry thats rough buddy’ So Shen Yuan omitted some.

“There’s not much that I know, I know she was the second wife to Luo Binghe who became emperor of the realms, and then after a 50 years or so he disappeared. I don’t know what happened to him or his wives, I’m sorry. I spent most of my time out in the deserts by the area so I’m rather unaware of the happenings in the world” She said, leaning back from the cold air that she was pretty sure was Liu Qingge. She patted herself on the back a bit for managing to not lie. After all, she didn’t know what happened to Luo Binghe after he disappeared in the portal (though she desperately wanted to). And lord knows Airplane didn’t have the braincells to rub together to figure out what happened to all the wives in Binghes harem. And so far 98% of her time in this world was in the desert. Something about that last part bothered her though, but she couldn’t put her finger on it.

”desert? What desert, it should be Shuang Hu City…”

There was a long, pregnant pause

” what happened to Cang Qiong”

Shen Yuan stayed silent, trying to look anywhere but where Liu Qingges voice was coming from. She didn’t have the words, her snark failed her, and despite knowing every gruesome detail
( chapter 112 opened with Luo Binghe martching on Bai Zhan. Behind him he led an army of demonic beasts, all starved to the point of near death, and bound by Luo Binghes blood parasites. The unnamed head disciple stood in front of his fellow students, the last desperate barricade with their peak lord dead. He first tried to challenge Luo Binghe to a combat for his sect siblings' lives. When Luo Binghe laughed, he tried to take responsibility for any wrongdoing against him by Bai Zhan. When Luo Binghe refused, he begged, kneeling on the ground for Binghe to at least spare those who were still children. For a moment, in Binghes silence, the young ones began to hope, then he raised his hand, and released the binding of the beasts. They fell upon the peak, ripping and tearing and eating. And after that came his troops, picking off any who had escaped, laughing as they ran them down like hunting dogs running a rabbit to ground. But he left the head disciple alive. Finally when every other disciple had been slain, he ordered their bodies to be brought to the training field at the center of the peak, and placed in an undignified mound, upon which he threw the bound head disciple. He then ordered the mound burned. And he watched as it did.)

”… what is your name?” Liu Qingge asked, breaking her reverie.

“Shen Yuan” she replied, briefly wondering if she should have chosen a pseudonym but all she could think of at the moment was her online handle and she didn’t think that “Peerless Cucumber” fit the current situation.

“Shen Yuan, what happened to my home, please” Liu Qingges voice broke slightly near the end, Shen Yuan’s heart broke a little with it.

“I’m sorry,” she choked out. “ It was destroyed by emperor Luo Binghe. They all were. Nothing remains of the great cultivation sects.” She stared intently at the ground, picking at a loose thread in her fraying robes.

A punched out “oh” echoed above her, but she refused to look up. It took some time but then Liu Qingge continued.

“You said the bastard who did this, Luo Binghe, that Mingyan married him? Why? Mingyan would never love a murderer like that.”

Shen Yuan had asked that very same question when the marriage had happened in chapter 69. It seemed a rather short sighted action of revenge for a character previously so level headed and Honorable.

“I don’t know, it was before the sect was razed. But after that I don’t know why she stayed,” Shen Yuan answered honestly.

“there must be a reason, mingyan would never abide a mass murderer. You said you don’t know her location, she must have gone to ground. Maybe starting her own sect. Under the nose of that butcher” the last word was spat out with so much vitriol She. yuan was surprised it wasn’t accompanied by a thunderous boom, or a jet of acid.

“Shen Yuan, I must ask a favor of you” Shen Yuan could almost imagine the dignified bow that came with that statement. Liu Qingge continued

”Help me escape this place, so I may find my sister. I have no rewards to offer, but I will owe you another great debt”

Shen Yuan blinked. She almost didn’t know how to respond, but when confronted with such earnestness and care, she was reminded of her own sibilings. She wondered how her brothers felt when they heard of her death, how her sister would never have another book club meeting with her, and how she didn’t say “I love you” before hanging up with her second brother on her way to the bookstore. Her eyes began to feel suspiciously wet and she answered the only way she could.

“I’ll try”

Chapter Text

“your form is off; your left shoulder is too high. It opens your chest to attack”

Shen Yuan shivered as Liu Qingge spoke right next to her ear, cold air caressing the shell of her ear accompanied by a hardly-there cold brush against her shoulder. She didn’t even know how, after all Liu Qingge was dead, and didn’t even breathe, and yet here they were. She dropped her left shoulder and waved at the air next to her ear.

“I’ve told you to stop that, it distracts me! ” she said, feeling an embarrassed flush crawl its way up her neck.

“sorry, I’m still used to being able to correct forms with my hands. It really would make this a lot easier” Liu Qingge said, though not very apologetically in Shen Yuan's opinion.

“Oh, about that! I have a new idea for the manifesting talisman that we should try, if you have the energy?” Shen Yuan asked, leaning into where she guessed Liu Qingge was.

Liu Qingge responded with a loquacious “Hn” which Shen Yuan interpreted as a spirited and grateful agreement and pulled out her most recent attempt to replicate Luo Binghe’s talisman.

The talisman was from chapter 512 when Luo Binghe had rescued the spirit of a beautiful maiden from an evil demonic cultivator, intent on consuming it to steal her beauty and vitality. Binghe had promptly dispatched the cultivator, ignoring her (very interesting!) backstory of being an orphan taken in by a cultivation sect that was destroyed by Binghe’s forces. She had been attempting to steal the beauty of the girl so that she herself could infiltrate the palace to assassinate the emperor. But that all was pushed to the side so that Binghe could figure out how to get a piece of ghost ass! Binghe had crafted a talisman to sever the connection of soon to be wife #309 to her place of death, freeing her spirit to roam, while also letting her manifest for small amounts of time. She was then immediately given the ultimate panacea of Luo Binghe’s cock, because gods forbid that airplane think of any other fucking plot contrivance than dick. Fucking Men . Though interestingly the dickening didn’t revive her and instead just helped her keep a corporeal form for longer, which Shen Yuan would have loved to read more about, what with how it affected the harem drama to have a legitimate ghost floating around, but she was quickly discarded for a snake demoness with triple D cups, a bondage kink and a snake cult that she managed.

Since they started working on untying Liu Qingge from the cave Shen Yuan thought it would be a good idea to focus first on attempting to help Liu Qingge to be corporal for even a little bit. First, it would save Shen Yuan from the multiple heart attacks per day caused by Liu Qingge sneaking up on her (dreadfully easy to do when one is a ghost ) that Liu Qingge never seemed repentant about. One time he just responded with “it will hone your combat skills” , to which Shen Yuan thought many foul things that she dismissed, opting for an eye roll, which she felt communicated the same thing. Most importantly, it would help Liu Qingge consolidate energy. Right now it seemed that his energy largely came from strong emotion, hence why Shen Yuan had been able to make contact when he was taken over by rage. Unless driven by a strong emotion, the energy tended to diffuse out of him, making incorporation mildly impossible.
However, despite knowing conceptually about the talisman, reality was that it was very hard to exactly replicate an image you had only read about. Multiple times over the last three months, Shen Yuan’s talisman had literally blown up in her face. Still, she had a good feeling about this one. She laid the talisman on the ground and set about tracing a containment circle. Once that was completed, she looked up and smiled directionlessly at the cave.

“Well, 8th time’s the charm, right?” She said, a wry grin tugging at the corner of her mouth.

A ghostly chuckle surrounded her, then she felt a frigid wind brush past her towards the containment circle.

“Ready? It might not feel pleasant but tell me if it starts to hurt or drain you too much,” She called out.

“I will. I'm ready,” Liu Qingge replied .

Always the chatterbox Shen Yuan thought before slamming her hands down on the circle, activating the talisman.
At first, nothing happened. Then, slowly, the dust on the cave floor began to pick up, until all at once, Liu Qingge was at the center of a hurricane of light. Spiritual energy from both her and Luo Qingge melded in a flurry of light, accompanied by flashes of the natural energy of the caves. It lasted for maybe only a few very impressive and impactful moments before coalescing into a form in the center, golden light solidified into hands white knuckling the dirt on the ground, that slowly grew into arms that were lean but muscled. Inch by inch Liu Qingge grew his body, and as Shen Yuan watched, she waited excitedly to see the face of The Bia Zhan War God! But she quickly realized needed to make an amendment to her previous image of the war god.

Liu Qingge was the most beautiful woman Shen Yuan had ever had seen

Lying on the ground, exhausted but there, her hair was straight and long, pulled into a harsh ponytail that highlighted her sharp, but not gaunt, cheek bones. Her jaw was strong and connected to a long, pale neck that Shen Yuan stared at, her mouth suddenly very dry. Then, with a raspy throat, still remembering how to work, Liu Qingge spoke with an awed tone.

“It worked!”

She looked at her hands as if they held the secrets to the world, before standing up on shaky legs. Shen Yuan darted forward, reaching out to support her as she re-learned how to stand. Wow her biceps are firm, and oddly nice. Not in a weird burly way. she thought for a moment, before shaking the thought away. Of course they are, she’s The War God of Cang Qiong. I just really thought she would be less…

“…pretty,” Shen Yuan mumbled.

She jerked, the sound of her own voice ringing through the silent cave startling her. And she looked at Liu Qingge, and Liu Qingge looked at her, and she looked at Liu Qingge, whose eyes grew slightly bigger, as Liu Qingge’s head whipped around, checking behind her. Shen Yuan felt her heart go through her feet. She imagined all the scenarios of Liu Qingge hating her, kicking her ass for the disrespect of ogling her the moment she was physical, or worse drawing back from their friendship. For no reason, it just slipped out, anyone would have said it looking at Liu Qingge. She is objectively pretty, in a normal platonic way. All girls have a moment where they realize their friend is objectively gorgeous and should be told such, the kind where if Shen Yuan was a man she would not hesitate to romance her. But that would be hard to explain at the moment and Liu Qingge might be embarrassed, so she improvised.

“The lights! It was as if you were in the prettiest tornado, I was awestruck!” She said, a large fake smile plastered to her face, teeth bared in a semblance of comfort.

Liu Qingge looked at her for a long moment, eyes looking through her, to something that Shen Yuan could not discern from her reactions, before nodding slowly. She stood up, feet planted evenly, about hips breadth apart with her hands resting lightly on her waist. Shen Yuan suddenly became very aware that Liu Qingge was entirely naked. Which was totally normal, they were both women after all! It’s not anything Shen Yuan had not seen before on her own body, though her own body didn't have such well-muscled legs, and broad shoulders leading down to a narrow but muscular waist. Shen Yuan stared desperately at the stalagmite protruding slightly to the left behind Liu Qingge’s newly visible calf. She felt Liu Qingge’s (beautiful but intense in a way that stripped Shen Yuan to the core) eyes boring into the side of her face.

“Yes, it was a … a rather impressive tornado.” She said stiltedly.

A silence filled the space between the two of them, broken by the sound of Shen Yuan’s breath. She was tempted to hold it for a moment, scared to break whatever spell it was that had fallen over the cave. But soon she realized that the spell might not break, and then it would bring with it something Shen Yuan didn’t know if she could face. She shook off the cloud of whatever it was and began to focus.

“Do you need to breathe? Can you feel the ground under your feet? How does your body feel, strong? Weak? What is the drain on your energy like? How long do you think you can sustain it?” She launched into her questions with an eagerness tinged with desperation. She then paused, took a breath, and looked at Liu Qingge’s wide blown eyes and slightly parted (soft, far too soft) mouth and remembered that this was a woman who just got a physical form back after hundreds of years of being pure energy, who might be slightly overwhelmed by it all.

“Sorry, I must be quite... A lot… for you at this moment. How are you?” She asked, lowering her volume that she hadn't even noticed ratcheting up in decibel.

“No, you’re never a lot. You’re just the right amount. And I am… adjusting” Liu Qingge said. A wondrous look crossed her face as she spoke. She then paused; her hand came up to her throat. Then brushed down her chest.

“Shen Yuan, I have an odd question, what do I look like?”

Shen Yuan took a moment, her brain still running in circles trying to find reasons to not look at Liu Qingge’s (very muscular) thighs, before she looked up and gave Liu Qingge a very clinical once-over.

“A little shaken but entirely opaque! It looks like the talisman worked,” she said excitedly.

Liu Qingge shook her head vehemently, her long, thick black hair swinging back and forth with the movement. Shen Yuan wondered if it felt as soft as it looked.

“No, I mean… Me. What do I look like? Please, I need you to be honest with me.” she said, her voice cracking with a strain that Shen Yuan couldn’t find reason for.

Shen Yuan looked at her once more, dragging her eyes from Liu Qingge’s athletic calves, skipping past the hip area straight to her muscular, but oddly not ripped in the way Shen Yuan had expected of the war god, abdomen, finally up the column of her pale throat to meet Liu Qingge’s expectant eyes. An unbidden flush came to her cheeks as she made eye contact. She knew she was acting a little odd, but give her a break! Afterall it was normal to be a little jealous of such a beautiful woman, and of course Liu Qingge would be beautiful. Even if it seems like maybe Shen Yuan is in an AU of some sort? Afterall the book may not have mentioned Liu Qingge much, but she was pretty sure she would have noticed another female Peak Lord besides Qi Qingqi, she had torn Airplane to shreds multiple times about how it didn’t make sense for him claim that PIDW was “actually super feminist guys? There's a whole peak full of women!” not factoring in that any woman introduced would without a doubt either 1)Die to further Binghe’s character development, 2) Die, off screen, due to Binghe’s beef with some man she was in the vicinity of (looking at you Qi Qingqi) or 3) Become the newest wife and disappear after her lone chapter was completed.

“Shen Yuan?” Liu Qingge reached forward, placing a cold but solid hand on her shoulder.

Shen Yuan jumped at the unexpected contact, warmth leaking out from the area despite Liu Qingge’s icy touch.

“Sorry, I got a little distracted. You look beautiful, almost unfairly so! Though we should probably get you some clothes for while you’re solid.” Shen Yuan said, walking a bit to the side and tilting her head. “You look like you’re about my size, but I don’t have any spare clothes.”

“Beautiful?”

Shen Yuan laughed a little

“Alright, now you’re just fishing. Yes, you are beautiful, and lithe, and truly a goddess among us mortal women." As she spoke, she sloughed off her outermost layer of robes, looked at the blood, dust, ash and viscera that had accumulated on it during her stay here, and pulled off her (slightly) cleaner second robe, leaving her down to just her two innermost layers. She draped the second robe around Liu Qingge, trying not to feel a pang of something, probably envy, at the feel of her well-muscled shoulders. Liu Qingge looked back at her, eyes wide and nostrils flaring. Shen Yuan then realized that she perhaps, just maybe, might have overstepped a bit. She stepped back quickly, her hands rising unbiddenly raising in a surrender position.

“Oh, I am so-”

“No, it’s not-”

They both stared at each other for a minute more, before Liu Qinnge let out a small huff of laughter.

“Sorry I am… shocked. I didn’t think I would ever be allowed this” She waved a hand down at her body.

“A physical form again? I understand its-”

“No.”

Liu Qingge cut her off before she could begin a new ramble about Liu Qingge’s form. “This body. A body that fits me.”

Her perfectly shaped eyebrows furrowed together in focus. Shen Yuan moved to speak, before deciding better of it, opting to remain silent. Can’t shove your foot in your mouth if your mouth is closed, after all. So instead, she just nodded encouragingly when Liu Qinnge looked at her with something unreadable in her eyes. They remained in silence for a moment of two, seemingly a trend for this event Shen Yuan noticed. But then Liu Qingge continued.

“Before this-

She waved at her body.

“Back when I was alive, my body… didn’t match. Everyone thought I was a man, and at first, I believed them. They said it was just being young or wanting to be like my younger sister out of jealousy. By the time I realized that they were wrong I was already on Bai Zhan.”

She sat down on the ground, Shen Yuan followed her, sitting on the destroyed remnants of the manifestation talisman. She nodded to Liu Qingge to continue.

“I couldn’t say anything there, the old peak lord held some-” she grimaced “old fashioned views on women. There was no way he would let me stay. So, I kept faking it. By the time I was made peak lord it felt like I was finally free to start making the changes. Year by year I changed the peak rules, I rewrote the charter to accept women, though I had to fight Qi Qingqi when she assumed I was poaching from the “women’s peak’ “ Liu Qingge spat out that last words like they left a foul taste in her mouth, before continuing.

“ I set up women’s dorms and hired women wandering cultivators to fill out the master’s ranks.” Liu Qingge stared only at her hands as she spoke. “I wanted to fix the peak first; make it a place I could fit as I am. Then I could finally tell them, and I could stop lying to everyone” She fell silent, lost to memories Shen Yuan could only guess at.

“And then?” Shen Yuan asked, after a few moments.

“I died,” Liu Qingge said bluntly.

“Oh” Shen Yuan said. It was small and pathetic and not nearly enough.

“But now, I have this” Liu Qingge said as she brought her newly solid hand up between them. “And I can be honest with you. So, thank you.” She smiled; it was a small thing. A gentle quirk on the left side of her mouth, and a softening of her sword-sharp eyes, and Shen Yuan thought it was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.

Chapter Text

Liu Qingge held her form for 3 hours. During which time Shen Yuan felt a laser focus, the likes of which had not been seen before, outstripping even the most hyper of fixations she’d had in her previous life. She monitored Liu Qingge’s Qi and its fluctuations every fifteen minutes and then had her do basic exercises or movements to see if it affected the decline of Qi levels in any way. She noted that basic things like walking, talking, or light touching didn’t affect her levels very much. (She felt like she almost exploded holding Liu Qingge’s hand for fifteen minutes straight. Which then Made her panic worse. What if she got the wrong idea? What if she thought that Shen Yuan was gay and trying to take advantage as opposed to reality which was just that it was natural to be nervous around pretty people! Especially when you’re holding their hand in a completely normal scientific way! But she felt like saying something would make it weird so she kept her mouth shut, desperately hoping her newly long hair would hide the blush that she could feel creeping up her neck.) but that larger things like fighting, or attempting to do anything related to cultivating drained her much quicker. However, the fact that she could cultivate at all was good news. And so Began their new routine of partner cultivation. Liu Qingge had suggested it after they found that Shen Yuan feeding her Qi extended her manifestation time by at least half an hour! (Shen Yuan had almost choked when she had suggested dual cultivation before clarifying that she meant cultivating together, not dual cultivation)

Which is where they found themselves now. Both seated across from each other on the floor, cross legged and loosely holding hands, cycling energy through each other like one closed loop. Liu Qingge’s Qi was cold, a little startling at first, like jumping into an icy river (something Shen Yuan unfortunately had to become rather familiar with after realizing the nearby mountain stream was both the closest form of clean water and snow fed) but once she got used to it was rather refreshing. When she’d mentioned it to Liu Qingge, asking if it had always been like that or if it was a result of her death, she’d shrugged and said it had “never come up” and that was that. After cycling Liu Qingge’s Qi through her veins to her core, melding it with her own (brand new and so exciting) core, she finished with moving her own energy, warm and lightly pulsing, through to Liu Qingge’s hands.

“Alright and that should do for today” she said, slowly cutting off the stream.

“Thank you. You’ve gotten better as well” Liu Qingge responded.

Shen Yuan ducked her head a bit abashedly. Their first time together she had been a bit of a wreck. She wasn’t able to keep a steady stream, and she kept losing focus every time Liu Qingge’s Qi touched her.

“Yeah, I was pretty bad at first. But in my defense, I’m rather new to cultivation in general. Let alone attempting to cultivate with another. But this time felt good, do you feel energized? Any extra strength or new ghost powers?” Shen Yuan responded, leaning eagerly in, looking at every inch of Liu Qingge’s hands (still cold, pale white, and held in hers, she noticed) as if she might be able to glean any new information from her short nails and calloused palms. She ignored the way her throat seemed to tighten at the reminder of her own incompetence in actually providing the help she promised. After all another 2 weeks after Liu Qingge first materialized and she still had only barely gotten another 30 minutes of-

“Stop that.” Liu Qingge’s voice was a little cold, a little sharp, and very authoritative.

Shen Yuan’s mouth snapped shut as if Liu Qingge had physically closed it. She didn’t think she had been rambling too much. Liu Qingge's face was set with what Shen Yuan assumed was frustration as the two of them just sat there, staring at each other. She let out a peeved huff before continuing.

“No, I mean…” she paused, searching for some variety of word Shen yuan assumed. “I wasn’t criticizing you. You have improved, it’s good, but you weren’t bad to begin with.” She then stood up abruptly, letting go of Shen Yuan’s hands (oh, she hadn’t realized she was still holding those)

“I must find Chen Luan.”
Shen Yuan blinked, mentally adjusting to the new topic. It made sense, she supposed, now that Liu Qingge is (occasionally) physical she would need her weapon, and per PIDW swords were returned to the caves. But Shen Yuan still wasn’t quite sure about the strength levels of Liu Qingge’s soul, if it would be able to withstand the act of separating it from the energy rich caves that had been sustaining her for centuries. Her having Chen Luan would probably help speed along that process, with it being bound to her soul, or it could damage it. After all Airplane had been rather hand-wavy with the bond between cultivators and their swords in this world. Sometimes it’s soul-rending if a sword is destroyed, sometimes! Other times the cultivator just experiences a mild Qi Deviation, and even other times the cultivator straight up doesn't get affected by it besides just being bummed about their sword and the cost of buying a new one! Because God -fucking-forbid that hack writer just pick a damned lane.

The crunching of dirt alerted her to Liu Qingge moving closer, as she looked up from her, now rather intense, mumbling she saw one Liu Qingge’s (beautiful, long, and powerful) pale hands reaching down to her. Shen Yuan felt a smile curve her lips that she was helpless to even begin stopping.

“You know, if you really wanted to hold hands you could have just told me” she said as she grasped the (calloused yet gentle) offered hand. She felt the hand jerk back as Liu Qingge's eyes widened and her mouth fell slack.

“I joke; I joke! Thank you for the hand, please don’t take it away yet!” Shen Yuan said quickly, but laughingly as she used Liu Qingge’s hand to lever herself up.

Liu Qingge stayed silent, with an oddly sullen air about her, for the first half of their walk out of the caves. Shen Yuan's halfhearted jokes falling on deaf ears. It wasn’t until the second half that she began to talk back.

“You can’t.”

Shen Yuan stopped what had at this point become a stream of consciousness flowing out of her mouth.

“I can’t what?” she asked.

“You were wondering how one tracks a red-footed split-beak. You can’t. Its feathers make it almost invisible as it flies. Instead, you have to lure it to you or get lucky and spot it on the ground.” Liu Qingge spoke with the matter-of-fact attitude of someone speaking from experience.

With this: Shen Yuan came to a revelation, and epiphany of sorts.

Liu Qingge knew about monsters, she would know about all the weird nerd shit about monsters.

“You’ve hunted them! What was it like? Are they really as deadly as they are beautiful?” She said, leaning in closer to catch every word off of Liu Qingge’s unfairly soft-looking lips.

“Yes. It was difficult, while on the ground they are incredibly aggressive, and their beak splits evenly, essentially acting like two heads. As for beauty, they are as beautiful as I presume a monster can be,”

“Monsters can be beautiful! Like the Filigree-Backed scorch wolf. Their pelts sell for obscene amounts because of it.”

“Hm. More trouble than they’re worth.”

“You’ve fought a Filigree backed Scorch Wolf! Please tell me you drew it or something afterwards!”

“Why would I draw a monster after the hunt?”

“Oh, Qingge, you’re killing me here!” Shen Yuan moaned dramatically.

Liu Qingge’s head whipped around, eyes wide with concern. Shen Yuan quickly moved to reassure her.

“Just kidding, it’s a figure of speech, I’m fine” Liu Qingge narrowed her eyes suspiciously at her.

“I swear!” Shen Yuan insisted.

And so, they continued on. While she walked with Liu Qingge, happily interrogating her about the alleged intricacy of the Filigree-Backed Scorch-Wolf like how would she rate the consistency of its pattern, or if the fur making the pattern was actually coated in a naturally forming gold. How was it able to eat precious metals? And how did she avoid the super-heated metal teeth? And many more nerd shit questions she wasn't able to debate with anyone back at home. Liu Qingge answered her questions (incredibly so, it’s supposed to distract any attackers, and create a mesmerizing heat wave effect when the metal heats. It's hard to approach from above so I had to attack from the ground. Yes. Don't know, but they can throw it back up at you while molten. She dodged. with short but detailed answers of someone who cared about the subject as well. As much as she enjoyed the conversation her mind kept returning to her earlier thoughts.

Liu Qingge lived in this world; she was a named character! It was obvious, yes. Shen Yuan transmigrated into Proud Immortal Demon Way ergo, the people she met were characters in Proud Immortal Demon Way. But while Shen Yuan knew that this was The Bai Zhan war god walking next to her, she hadn’t really connected the Liu Qingge who helped her off the ground, corrected her sword forms, and who’s eyes crinkled just a little bit at the corners when Shen Yuan made a particularly funny joke, to the Liu Qingge from Proud Immortal Demon Way. Yes, there was the obvious gender point of divergence, which always reminded her of how much of a fucking Hack writer Airplane was. Like he couldn't maybe drop a hint that Liu Qingge was a woman? A Peak Lord who’s a battle god in her own right, the one who newly blackened lotus Binghe was constantly compared to, who changed the infamously stubborn Bai Zhan peak from the inside out through sheer drive. Talk about Second Main lead syndrome!

Then again, most women in PIDW did end up either dying, becoming an evil witch, marrying Luo Binghe or, on rare occasions, all three. So it was probably for the best, after all Shen Yuan couldn't even think to imagine Liu Qingge as a member of Binghe’s harem. Don’t get her wrong, she loved Luo Binghe, he was her favorite character after all. But Liu Qingge wasn’t the type to just be one out of hundreds, she deserved much better than that.

However, before she could dwell long on the implication that some very important details could and had been left out of the Proud Immortal Demon Way that she knew, she felt the ground begin to rumble under her feet. She gripped her still unnamed and unsheathed sword at her waist and looked at Liu Qingge wide-eyed.

“Are there other monsters in the caves?”

Liu Qingge shook her head before pausing and replying.

“There should not be, but you say the sect has been gone for a while…” she began.

“…and if something moved in it wouldn’t have even bothered with you. But I smell like lunch.” Shen Yuan finished for her.

They exchanged a grimace before Shen yuan found her back pressed up against the other woman’s, Liu Qingge’s death chilled skin sending shivers up her spine even through her robes. The tremors stopped and for a moment all was quiet and Shen Yuan almost began to think it was a false alarm.

Then the rock beneath her feet exploded upwards in a shower of rubble.

Instinct took over her limbs as she kept backward, qi-reinforced muscles launching her further than she could have imagined in her old life. She alighted on a large bunch of stalagmites, crushing a few beneath her as she landed. She looked quickly to the side to see Liu Qingge also having landed safely to her right, distressingly unperturbed by the ground exploding, her eyes deadlocked forward with the look of a hunting dog gazing at its quarry. Shen Yuan followed her gaze to look upon the creature that had interrupted them.

It was large. At least fifteen feet from tip to tail. Its skin glistened with a thick layer of putrid yellow slime that sizzled where it dripped to the ground. Its large milky white eyes stared blankly ahead but its long snout whipped once around the cave before pointing directly at Shen Yuan. She flung herself to the side as the creature lunged forward, its mouth splitting open into three fleshy petals ribbed with teeth going all the way down its gullet. She lashed out with her sword, its white blade slicing through the side of its body. The creature whipped back around, and so they began to dance. The worm attempted to latch on to her while she evaded, darting in and out with her blade. Her feet burned where the acid that the creature left on the floor burned through the soles of her shoes. What was only seconds felt as though they waltzed four hours, and just when Shen Yuan thought she hit her stride, her foot encountered resistance when she stepped to move out of its strike, a stalagmite jutting into her leg, throwing her off balance. She felt herself fall as she stared in horror at the maw swiftly following her, regretting many things about her short time in PIDW but mainly wondering who would help Liu Qingge now?

Two cold hands gripped her, one beneath her knees and the other the small of her back. The creature lunged, its searching teeth nearly catching her leg, she heard something rip, and the burn of acid on her leg but then Shen Yuan blinked, and realized she was on the other side of the room, Liu Qingge holding her tightly to her chest.

“Shen Yuan” she said, her voice rumbling in Shen Yuan’s ear.

“Thats-a-me” Shen Yuan squeaked out before immediately wanting to go back to the worm.

“Good, you’re okay. Stay here.”

Shen Yuan was set gently on the ground, where she had a front row seat to watch Liu Qingge step forward to fight the acid secreting murder worm bare handed.

“Watch out, its skin is acidic! It will burn you!” She yelled, receiving only a grunt and a nod of acknowledgment.

In one smooth movement Liu Qingge ripped the sleeves of her borrowed robe off, wrapped them around her hands and lunged forward. She intercepted the massive worm as it once again lunged for Shen Yuan and as its mouth peeled open once more, she grabbed the two opposing sections and pulled. Her newly exposed biceps flexed as the worm struggled to escape her unrelenting grasp, its acid burning through the fabric protecting Liu Qingge’s hands. But before it could hurt her Liu Qingge wrenched one more time and, with a distressingly wet ripping sound, she rent the beast in two.
Shen Yuan stared at the two halves of the Tri-Fanged Cavern Crawler. She giggled a tad deliriously to herself you know, I’m not gay but damn that was hot. Because God damn that was kind of hot. Maybe this was why Airplane had to kill her off, a woman this incredible, why she could tempt even the straightest of Binghe’s wives! Not that she would want to, Shen Yuan didn’t think Liu Qingge was gay. And she liked to think she had a pretty good radar for those things!

“Shen Yuan?”

It’s just that Shen Yuan couldn’t help but think that even she, the straightest of women, couldn’t help but see it as incredibly hot while also mildly terrifying.

“Shen Yuan!”

She didn’t think it was possible to rip something apart like that. The grip strength on that woman has got to be insane. Did she get more powerful with death? Based on the way Liu Qingge talked when they practiced together it didn’t seem like that was the case. Which meant that Liu Qingge was even more impressive when she was alive!

A cold hand gripped her shoulder as her brain sprung back to the present with Liu Qingge’s face only millimeters away from her own.

“Hm, oh sorry Liu Qingge I was spacing hot... out. I was spacing out. What’s up?”

Liu Qingge looked at her, easy to read in her confusion.

“Spacing out? Are you okay? Were you injured?” Liu Qingge grabbed her leg, lifting it up to inspect the red marks crawling their way around the soles of her feet. She felt her face warm as Liu Qingge’s strong fingers gripped her calf. Give a woman some grace, not all of us can be effortless combat gods!

“No, no I’m fine Liu Qingge, I promise. My foot won't fall off any time soon” she smiled in what she assumed was a comforting manner, up until Liu Qingge’s eyes widened and she dropped Shen Yuan’s foot like it was a hot iron. Shen Yuan tried not to be too offended. She may not be a peerlessly handsome man, but she wasn’t filthy! Then she looked at herself and realized she might be wrong on that count. Small holes littered her robes from where the acid of the Crawler had dripped on to her during their fight, and most egregious was her leg. The teeth of the creature had ripped a huge hole in the fabric, spanning from her mid-calf to her mid-thigh. The exposure wasn’t bad, nothing more than a slightly bold evening dress or her favorite pair of house shorts, but she looked like a mess. Yes, she never looked put-together per se, but she could at least sell the “Wandering rogue cultivator” look. Now she looked more like a wandering vagrant. She understood Liu QIngge’s mild disgust now, she also wouldn’t want to handle her. She tried to stand up from the dusty floor, only to feel a strong hand on her shoulder preventing her.

“You were injured.” Liu Qingge said, looking at her disapprovingly.

Shen Yuan couldn’t help but smile and roll her eyes a little bit. She hadn’t taken Liu Qingge to be such a mother hen.

“I promise I’m fine to keep going, as long as we don’t pick a fight with another Crawler. Besides, we are running short on time to get you to the sword crypt. And I know that fight probably drained you, so I’d prefer to get moving.”

Liu Qingge frowned but nodded. So, they continued on. It was silent at first, until Shen Yuan couldn’t restrain herself.

“Okay but that was incredible with how you handled the Cavern Crawler, have you fought them before?” she asked.

“Not that sub-species. But I fought a pack of Tri-fang Carrion Creepers. Similar beast but no acid skin. Instead, they have a separate set of teeth inside their gullet that can spin independently of the rest of the body. Almost got my arm caught in one in that fight.”

Shen Yuan was in awe, she was obsessed, she could never get tired of hearing this woman’s distressingly un-exaggerated retellings.

“Amazing! Do you think it’s so they can digest food that has a higher level of protection than the varieties that would live in other places?”
And so, they continued to the sword caves in considerably less silence than before. Shen Yuan found talking monsters with Liu Qingge to be absolutely delightful, and finally learned what parts were squid and what parts were spider in the Purple finned Spider-Squid, and learned that though Airplane didn’t mention it, their venom worked in a horrific way. The poisoned creatures would be almost dissolved from the inside out, their cells bursting from the inside out to where even the blood is curdled. Deeply painful sounding but also made for a much easier snack for the many mouthed tentacles of the squid. She enjoyed it up until they reached the threshold of the cave. Her and Liu Qingge both came to a stop a hair's breadth from the mouth. She looked over to Liu Qingge, who was staring intently on the beam of sunlight but a few inches from her foremost foot.

“Do you… feel like you can leave?” she asked tentatively. They hadn’t tried something this big yet, so they had no idea on how strict Lui Qingge’s tie to the caves was, and if she had spooled enough energy to be able to leave without having been truly untethered.

“I don’t know.” Liu Qingge replied, and as if that was enough, stepped forward, out toward the sun.
Shen Yuan watched with both trepidation and hilarity as Liu Qingge walked directly into an invisible wall. She swore she heard a “thunk” as her effortlessly beautiful face squished up against it before she rebounded back. Despite the fact that Shen Yuan and Liu Qingge both knew that her not being able to leave the caves was a possibility, neither had expected this result. And Shen Yuan would like to make it known that she tried very hard to not laugh, very, very hard. But after about two seconds of Liu Qingge’s befuddled but accusatory stare she couldn’t help but break out into laughter. It was not a cute laugh, nor was it refined or polite. She was bent in half, wheezing out gut laughter that eventually faded into a breathless pantomime only after she’d run out of air. When she finally gathered herself enough to wipe the tears out of her eyes, stand up straight and get a good breath in, she looked over to Liu Qingge, an unapologetic apology on her lips, she stopped as she met Liu Qingge’s eyes. Liu Qingge was staring at her with something flickering over her face too fast for Shen Yuan to read. Worried she might have offended her newfound friend she scrambled to explain.

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have laughed so hard. It was just so unexpected! And you looked so offended and there’s this cat joke from my home about this cat named miette and you looked just like it, not saying that you look like a cat, but like the Vibes of miette you know? Well no I guess you don’t know. But it makes sense in context I swear. But I wasn’t laughing at you, just the situation, you know?” She said, trailing off at the end as Liu Qingge held up a hand to stop her.

“No need to apologize” her lip quirked up a tad on the left side, “it was rather unexpected. Besides, I enjoyed seeing you laugh so unrestrained.”

Shen Yuan… didn’t know what to do with that. So, she just smiled back a little abashedly.

“Well, I still probably should have made sure you were okay first. How are you feeling? Any backlash?”

“None. Just a solid wall right here.”

Liu Qingge placed her hand flat against what should have been an open cave entrance and pushed with all of her strength. Shen Yuan watched her (rather impressive) muscles strain at the effort. But still nothing, her hand moved not even another centimeter. Shen Yuan moved to place her hand next to Liu Qingge’s only to have it meet no resistance.

“Well, you could say… that it might seem...that we have hit a wall in this endeavor.” She said, staring resolutely ahead, ignoring the look of pure exasperation and mild rage that she was sure Liu Qingge shot her way. She heard a mildly offended huff that confirmed her suspicion, made even more pointed by the fact that Liu Qingge had to make herself breathe to make it.

“It seems I cannot join you; I will have to owe you another debt and ask you to retrieve Chen Luan for me.” Liu Qingge said, a bit mulishly if Shen Yuan were to be asked.

“Ah Qing-jiejiie, it's a favor between friends, you really don’t have to worry about any debts,” Shen Yuan shot back, before freezing as her own words caught up to her. She looked over to Liu Qingge to see if she had registered the familiar form of address. Liu Qingge definitely had; her face was set with her eyebrows furrowed in what had to be annoyance.

“Hmph” She grunted out, before she jerkily turned around walking stiltedly back towards the heart of the caves.

She made it about 50 feet before she paused, executed just about the crispest about face Shen Yuan had ever seen, and stomped back over to stand beside Shen Yuan.

She stared at Shen Yuan.

Shen Yuan stared at Liu Qingge.

Liu Qingge stared back at Shen Yuan

Shen Yuan internally giggled a nervous what the fuck before tentatively beginning.

“I’m sorry Liu-”

“No, its fine”

Another round of staring began. Shen Yuan swore they didn’t have this many loaded silences before Liu Qingge materialized! But before she could delve into that particular loaded thought, she remembered another pressing issue.

“Oh, okay then? But first things first, how will I find the sword crypt? I presume they didn’t post directions?” She said, her attempt at humor falling flat and dry on the ground between them.

Liu Qingge shot her a confused look.

“The way you did last time I presume?”

Shen opted to stare at Liu Qingge in open confusion as opposed to answering.

“When you received Xiu Ya?” She said, as if saying something very simply to a very stupid child.

Which to be fair was exactly what she felt like. She lifted the pure white blade to her face, and sure enough there it was, elegantly written in small calligraphy on the flat of the blade, just where the hilt meets the blade. Xiu Ya, Elegant and refined. She could almost laugh at how obvious it was, she had noticed how different the room was from the rest of the caves, with a somber and reverent design as opposed to the dazzling spectacle of the main caverns. She hadn’t counted but she would bet good money that if she had, she would have found eleven swords there, one from each of the peak lords with the exception of Yuan Su. She even remembered the part of chapter 113 where Binghe had wondered about the disappearance of the peak lords' swords when he came back to collect them as trophies after he had completely razed the mountain. Airplane had carefully described the crunch of the bones of former disciples, heat-brittle from the demonic fire Binghe had rained down from his brigade of Abyssal Rock Rocs. He had noted all the swords gone, as if absorbed back into the mountain itself. So, it would make logical sense that the sword caves had called the swords back to their resting places when those who’d previously carried that burden perished themselves when WenJian peak had fallen. She stared in horror at her blade, this was the blade of the scum villain himself, so much so was it a part of him that he had become known as The Xiu Ya blade. How could she have resonated so strongly with such a blade? Are they not supposed to match one’s soul? What could her soul have in common with the soul of Shen Qingqiu? She wrenched her eyes away from it to instead meet Liu Qingge’s eyes, the anger from before now entirely replaced by concern. Shen Yuan was taken over by the all-encompassing urge to make sure that Liu Qingge knew that she wasn’t like that man.

“I swear, I didn’t know! I just grabbed the one that sang the loudest, it must have been a mistake, this can’t be the right sword” she ignored the pang that echoed in her from the part of Xiu Ya she felt in her gut. “I can’t be anything like Shen Qingqiu!” She insisted frantically, only barely noticing when her hands white knuckle gripped into the front of Liu Qingge’s robe. She noticed when Liu Qingge’s eyes flitted down to them, growing stormy. She dropped them like she’d been burned.

She stumbled back beyond the cave’s threshold, feeling the warmth of the sun scorching into the back of her head, burning like judgement on her back. Liu Qingge didn’t believe her, probably already seeing the revenant of Shen Qingqiu in her eyes. She could imagine all the things Liu Qingge must be thinking of her now. All the things she’d typed paragraphs and paragraphs of before she’d died.

Perverted, manipulative, and fickle. The kind of person who would lend you a favor then wring you dry for “payment”. Bitch-ass lecherous fraud who deserved every god-damned thing Luo Binghe did to him.

Liu Qingge moved as if to step forward, cursing as she once again ran into the boundary of the caves, Shen Yuan felt herself step back in response, moving jerkily like a puppet with tangled strings. Somehow Liu Qingge’s face grew even stormier, and Shen Yuan didn’t know how to fix it. She opened her mouth, and nothing came out at first, so she tried again, and again. Opening and closing her mouth like some sort of demented fish, till finally her voice broke through the walls of fear that bricked up her throat.

“I promise, please you have to believe me. I wouldn’t have pulled it from the caves if I’d known it was Xiu Ya. You can trust me, I wouldn’t ever try to hurt you, not that I ever could, but I’m not like him. The sword must be wrong, or maybe it just reacted to my name being similar.” She paused, waiting for Liu Qingge to say anything, when she didn’t Shen Yuan tried to joke.

“I don’t even wear that much green!”

She tried to laugh, her lips curled up in a crude imitation of a jester's grin, as she forced short breathy laughs out into the air. Liu Qingge did not laugh back, instead her face set into determination as she pushed even harder at the barrier of the cave wall. She knew Liu Qingge couldn’t pass, as much as it looked like a gaping mouth. In a lighter time, Shen Yuan would have laughed at how she looked like the most dedicated mime, instead Shen Yuan’s hands came up unbiddenly, a pathetic defensive barrier between her and a determined war god.

“Please, Qingge- I mean… Sorry. Liu Qingge please, I’ll leave you alone once we’ve broken your tie. I’ll go as far as you want me to, you’ll never have to see me again.”

She didn’t know when her sight became so blurred, she felt wet tracts burning their way down her cheeks at the thought of returning to the desolate wasteland that was the Cang Qiong region now, let alone without Liu Qingge. She still remembered those first few days of endless, and lonely walking. Constantly on-guard, talking to herself just to hear a voice that wasn’t the wind. She stared down at the sword strapped to her waist, its bare, pale blade stark like bone on the backdrop of the black ash of the peak that surrounded. Maybe if she threw it away, she would be welcomed back to their little cave, she would prove that she wasn’t anything like Liu Qingge’s killer. The man who set the peak on its path to ruin by Luo Binghe’s hands.

Chilled hands grabbed her shoulders.

“A-Yuan.”

Shen Yuan’s head whipped up, and there in front of her, wispy, and slightly transparent in the bright noon sun, stood Liu Qingge.

“You- how?”

Liu Qingge’s mouth curved into a small, gentle smile.

“A-Yuan needed someone to hold her together. How could I not?”

Shen Yuan’s vision blurred even more, as the tears ran faster and faster, her breath hitching into little sobs. She buried her face into Liu Qingge’s shoulder as little sobs became big sobs, which soon took over her whole body. She has no idea how long she cried on Liu Qingge, long enough that she soaked through her much-abused robe where she had buried her head. The whole time Liu Qingge’s steady hands stroked her hair and held her close. But eventually when her shoulders no longer shook, and she could speak coherently she looked up to look into Qingge’s far too understanding eyes and Liu Qingge looked back. She felt the draw to move closer, to lean in closer to her strong hold, and then to lean in more. She felt the draw to fold herself up to fit into Liu Qingge’s chest, maybe then she would be close enough to satisfy the yearning leaking out from the small little box she’s kept locked in her chest since she was young. She leaned in a little, chasing the imaginary warmth of Liu Qingge’s body, and Liu Qingge’s eyes grew wide, her lips slightly parting in a mimicry of drawing breath. She reached forward to the side of Shen Yuan’s face, Shen Yuan closed her eyes, moving to lean into it. But instead of the firm, cold press of Liu Qingge’s palm, instead all she felt was a cool puff of air. She looked up, alarmed, and saw that the little wisps coming off of Liu Qingge had become big wisps, and her form started to waver at the edges like a heat mirage.

“Liu Qingge…”

“Qingge,” Liu Qingge interrupted.

Shen Yuan would have a crisis about this later, she just knew it.

“Qingge,” she amended with a smile. “But seriously, we need to get you back into the cave! You’re dissolving.”
Liu Qingge frowned and looked down at her hands as if they had failed her greatly. She stood up with a huffed ” Tch” followed by her looking over at Shen Yuan.

“Come,” she said, before turning on a heel and striding to the shaded mouth of the cave.
Shen Yuan followed behind her in a trance, still a little shell-shocked from the events of their little sojourn. Once they crossed the threshold, Liu Qingge stopped smoking, and her outline solidified.

Shen Yuan slowed her pace once she was back within the shade of the caves, her feet sounding far too loud as she walked over the loose rock and dirt, the crunch of the rough mineral sand bounced off the walls as if to warn their inhabitant of Shen Yuan's presence. Once she drew level with Liu Qingge, the war-god firmly grabbed her arms and guided her down to the ground where she then settled in beside her. Shen Yuan felt tired, the adrenaline of her earlier panic gone, leaving behind a leaden feeling in her veins and a bleary cast to her vision. She felt her head fall to the side, settling on Liu Qingge’s shoulder. They stayed like that for a moment, as Shen Yuan spooled herself back together, untangling and straightening all the messy feelings roiling in her gut; trying to knit together this ugly legacy of Shen Qingqiu that she now carried to Xiu Ya’s beautiful song of change and reconciliation, of loss and growth. She looked up at Liu Qingge, who was already gazing down at her.

“You have to know I would never try to hurt you” She said, half insisting, half asking.

“I know” Liu Qingge responded.

“And I’m not like Shen Qingqiu.”

Liu Qingge paused before responding, picking her words very carefully.

“Why do you care so much about him? Did he not die centuries ago?”

And then it was Shen Yuan’s turn to be careful with her words, because after all how would anyone of this time know as much as she did about the trial of Shen Qingqiu, when it was probably centuries ago in this world. Shen Yuan’s mind, however, could not spin together one of her half-truth/half-lie stories, instead she could only think of the concern in Liu Qingge’s eyes or the course dirt beneath her, so she just opened her mouth and let it go from there.

“I read about it, after he killed you, he started falling in favor and eventually there was an investigation headed by Luo Binghe-”

“The one who married Mingyan?”

“-yes. He was half heavenly demon. He testified about how Shen Qingqiu beat him as a student and pushed him into the Endless Abyss. He witnessed Shen Qingqiu kill you in cold blood and he even testified that Shen Qingqiu was… inappropriate… with his students. He had witnesses who swore that Shen Qingqiu killed their family. It was damning. To think that my soul would have anything in common with his is, startling, to say the least.”

Liu Qingge nodded, clearly deep in thought. Once she had taken a few moments she started slowly.

“I did not like Shen Qingqiu. He was dishonorable in combat, duplicitous, selfish and vicious. I made no secret of my disdain for his underhanded methods, Truly he was a snake of Qing Jing-”

Shen Yuan moved to interrupt, to defend herself or to try and explain herself more, but Liu Qingge put a hand on her shoulder, and quelled her with a kind, but firm look before continuing.

“I did not like him, but I do know he was not one to prey on students. Yue Qingyuan let him get away with far too much, but the peak lords would not have let him stand if we thought he was the kind to touch a child. Also, as I told you before Shen Qingqiu did not murder me, in his own hubristic way he was attempting to save me from my qi deviation. It seems like this Luo Binghe had his own motive,”

“No! It was clear that Shen Qingqiu was scum! Luo Binghe was getting revenge for how Shen Qingqiu beat him as a disciple. He deserved his retribution!” Shen Yuan insisted, some small fan part of her left over from her old life raising its ugly head.

“Retribution that destroyed Qing Jing!”

Shen Yuan felt any protest die in her throat. In the book it had felt righteous. The final act of pure revenge that solidified Luo Binghe as the dangerous demon lord who could never be looked down upon ever again, as he burned the last reminder of a time he had been less than. But now, her feet coated in the ash of the disciples who had died, she couldn’t bring herself to argue that their demise had been earned. She looked down at the ground, staring at the specks of gray and wondered if they had had a name at some point.

After a while the gravel crunched again as Liu Qingge shifted.

“This Luo Binghe, can you be sure he was to be trusted?”

Shen Yuan wanted to say yes, after all Luo Binghe was the best! He was the reason she slogged through chapter upon chapter of shitty porn and all the gratuitous descriptions of Heaving bosoms bouncing wildly while (insert wife # here) felt her glistening pocket be stretched open by Binghe’s meaty manshaft” but here, with Liu Qingge’s pained face in front of her she can’t bring herself to defend him, to say that it was out of character for him to lie and manipulate to burn the person he wanted burned. Afterall chapter 396 saw Luo Binghe framing a local official to look licentious and corrupt after said official refused to allow Binghe to use his town’s relic to heal Luo Binghe’s most recent wife.

“I don’t know. I thought I did, but now I’m not sure,” Shen Yuan said.

“I can believe Shen Qingqiu beat him. He always was far too ready with the discipline whip. Even so, how could he justify destroying the whole peak?” Liu Qingge asked, leaning in, her face only a few centimeters away from Shen Yuan’s.

“Luo Binghe always repays any wrong 10,000 times over,” Shen Yuan replied, the words already tasting like named ash in her mouth.

“Then he would leave the whole world razed.”

“I’m sorry.”

Shen Yuan had no other words left to say.

“You are not the one who needs to seek my forgiveness” Lui Qingge spoke with a strong note of finality that brooked no further argument. She then placed a firm hand on Shen Yuan's head, leading her to rest on Liu Qingge’s chest. They stayed like that for a while, before Liu Qingge spoke again.

“Shen Qingqiu was not a good man, but he was intelligent, graceful and though he fought with cheap tricks he was a talented combatant. Xiu Ya was drawn to that, and probably recognized some of that beauty and intelligence in you.”

“Did you just call me pretty?” Shen Yuan mumbled into Liu Qingge’s chest.

Liu Qingge stiffened and stayed quiet. Shen Yuan looked up, a small grin playing its way onto her mouth.

“I’m sorry, I tease. Thank you Qingge”

“Always, A-Yuan”

They stayed even longer, Shen Yuan enjoying the cool, firm surface of Liu Qingge’s chest against her cheek, till eventually Shen Yuan’s legs fell asleep and her breaths came steady again. Liu Qingge stood up and moved once again to the mouth of the cave.

Her arms were crossed over her chest, as she stared at the boundary with murder in her eyes. Shen Yuan let out a sniffly chuckle before walking up next to her, breaking her death glare with a light hip check

“Based on your stare, I feel like it's necessary to point out that you most likely can’t stab the air there.”

“I could try,” Liu Qingge muttered, kicking a rock past the threshold into the sun. A staunch frown set on her face.

Shen Yuan couldn’t help but laugh a little at the bullied look on Liu Qingge’s face, before placing a hand on her now firm shoulder.

“Hey, we knew this might happen. The fact that you got outside at all is really impressive! And with Chen Luan it seems like we will be able to make some pretty good headway on getting you out and about. We are about due for a clothes trip.” She said, grimacing down at the ripped and stained outer robe she wore. “You know my clothes were never all that nice to begin with, but I guess rough camping in a cave for 3 months and then fighting a slime monster probably didn’t help all that much.”

Liu Qingge looked down at her borrowed robe, holes riddling the hem, coated in dirt and viscera, and missing its sleeves to boot. She frowned, looking a bit abashed.

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have torn it.”

“No, no! That wasn’t what I meant at all” Shen Yuan said, lurching forward to do… something… to comfort Liu Qingge! She lurched forward so she could comfort Liu Qingge, her hands fluttered on the torn edges of the sleeves before she solidly placed her hands on Liu Qingge’s biceps, giving her a little comfort squeeze. (And Wow Those were some biceps indeed) “ After all, your body now is just essentially a shell of Qi around your spirit. It insulates your soul a bit, but if your body gets damaged too much it can hurt your progress cultivating or it could even hurt your soul.”
She gave Liu Qingge a lopsided and horribly earnest smile, one she could only hope didn’t reveal too much.

“And I would sacrifice a lot of robes to avoid that”.

Liu Qingge grumbled a bit, then looked at Shen Yuan, nodded, and grumbled her way back to the cave entrance, looking similar to a caged tiger in how she paced in front of the entrance.

“Well, I should get going before it gets dark.”

Liu Qingge looked at Shen Yuan, giving her a quick up-down glance.

“Are you…okay to go?” She asked hesitantly, clearly trying to dance around the fact that Shen Yuan had just broken down sobbing only minutes ago. Truly a valiant attempt considering she still had a considerable damp spot on her shoulder where Shen Yuan had buried her head.

“I’m fine! After all, if Chen Luan is in the same place where I found… Xiu Ya…” she spoke the name carefully, as if being too rash with it would invoke its previous owner, “than it’s an easy walk there”

Somehow Liu Qingge’s expression turned even more doubtful.

“Your feet.”

“Not for sale currently, but we will see when rent is due.”

Shen Yuan deserved death; she thought as Liu Qingge’s eyebrows pinched together in confusion. Because under no uncertain terms would she explain feet kinks or the modern-day Foot Pic economy to this elegant ancient Chinese sword wizard. It would be like explaining cock and ball torture to Legolas. Theoretically possible, but at what cost?

“… Sorry, it’s a joke from my hometown. Very niche, you probably wouldn’t get it,” she tittered awkwardly.

“I meant, do your feet feel okay? They were burned, yes?”

Shen Yuan looked down at her feet, and then remembered that no, she should not be feeling rocks and dirt under her feet, and yes, her soles were burned away from the worm acid.

“Oh that! They should be fine, the shoes took the brunt of the damage, and I had pretty thick calluses there so I’m good to walk! Besides, I want to build on this breakthrough and I think that you were right, and that Chen Luan would help.” She said, funneling every ounce of the chipper “nice girl” energy that her mother had drilled into her as a child.

Liu Qingge didn’t look entirely convinced, but she didn’t stop Shen Yuan when she moved past her towards Wan Jian Peak, her eyes just followed her, filled with feelings and words that Shen Yuan couldn’t (wouldn’t) interpret. She felt the back of her head prickle with the weight of Qingge’s stare, but she ignored it, after all she didn’t know how to respond to any of the questions she knew Liu Qingge had; how she became the new chosen wielder of Xiu Ya, her response to Shen Qingqiu, or the name of the awful feeling that built in the back of her throat every time she looked into those concerned eyes. So instead, she did what she’d done since she first died and woken up in this world.

She walked.

Chapter Text

Liu Qingge was familiar with solitude. When she lived she was often by herself for months on hunts, and when she returned to Bai Zhan she was still alone in a sense of the world, unwilling to get too close to her fellow peak lords, in case they saw through to who she was, or worse, didnt. So she lived as the “brute of Bai Zhan”, and when she died she truly began to know loneliness. So much so, she almost felt herself unravel, lost in a sea of residual rage and the maddening hum of silence. One would think that after all of that she would have no issue passing the time away as Shen Yuan moved further and further from their cave. Instead the moment her voice no longer echoed in the cave, and her breath no longer kept the silence at bay, her thoughts began to turn on their own tail, and to quote Shen Yuan; She “stewed.”

She rubbed the damp patch on her robe, knowing it was wet but unable to feel the water. It was an interesting thing to learn, that the body doesn’t register water, rather it recognizes the temperature change and her half-spectral form, being unable to feel any difference, had much more trouble sensing when things were wet. Shen Yuan had been fascinated when they first found it out, she went about procuring all manner of wet or damp things, to see if Liu Qingge could recognize the difference. Oh how Liu Qingge had had to bite her tongue that day, to keep from her telling the one thing she could always feel was the blazing warmth of her skin. She didn’t know if it was the warmth of life, or the golden core blazing inside of Shen Yuan’s chest, but she could always feel the heat curling off of Shen Yuan’s hands. Her own itched even now with the residual sparks of it, of that addictive warmth. She could not tell her how she longed to hold her, to crack open her own chest so as to pull Shen Yuan closer, she would lose all the friendship she had gained. And she couldn’t bear to see the trusting and warm look in Shen Yuan’s eyes turn to disgust or even worse fear, for Shen Yuan to think that she was no better than some licentious man. So instead, she bit her tongue and let Shen Yuan keep bringing bowls of hot and cold water for her to dip her hand into.

That had been only a few days after Liu Qingge first experienced the manifestation. To explain how it felt would be to put the sky in a thimble. The words Liu Qingge had were not sufficient tools, but she could say that it had been alien to everything she had felt before. She had felt her perception be pulled in, going from feeling the harsh rock of the mountain in place of skin and the thin veins of gold in place of blood to instead only feeling the feeling of air on her “skin”. But the most overwhelming thing was the burning warmth of Shen Yuan's hand in hers as they passed Qi back and forth. It was simultaneously relief and madness.

Now, even though it still feels strange and takes adjustment, it is something Liu Qingge is familiar with. But today, today was different. She looked down at her hands, no longer shedding wisps of smoke and qi like they were only minutes ago in the sunshine. She hadn’t thought she would be able to pass the boundary of the cave, the empty air feeling as solid as the rough rock of the cave walls, but when she saw Shen Yuan alone, breaking down over the ghost of Shen Qingqiu she felt the all-encompassing knowledge that she needed to be there. Passing through the boundary had been like forcing her entire existence through the eye of a needle, compressed on all sides, and for a moment she feared she would be stuck, trapped like an overly confident fly in amber, but nothing could contain the force of the war god of Bai Zhan, and damn it that was who Shen Yuan needed, so she pushed forward, her body shrunk and stretched and pulled and pressed all at once for a second but then, she was free. Well, mostly free. She could still feel the tether holding her to the cave, constantly pulling, reminding her that she was still but a very sturdy ghost. But that could be remembered later, instead she focused on holding Shen Yuan, slowly feeling her shuddering breaths even out, until eventually she was able to relax in Liu Qingge’s arms. Oh, how they could have stayed there for decades without Liu Qingge minding.

It had felt unreal, the soft body against her chest, the flush rising in the other woman’s cheeks when Liu Qingge dared to call her so familiarly, and the way Shen Yuan, her A-Yuan, smiled so freely with her. It was everything Liu Qingge dreamed of but thought was out of reach when she was alive. Truly how strange this world was that she would get almost everything she wanted, but only after her death. Maybe it was a punishment in some way, for how despite all this she still wanted. She wanted to see her sister, to meet her as she was now, she wanted to go on hunts again to feel the rush of flight and battle once more. She wanted to leave this mountainous grave, and she wanted Shen Yuan to come with her. If nothing else than to be her companion, to fly beside her, to see her blinding smile when Liu Qingge spoke of rare monsters, to come with her to see those monsters, and maybe in time to be allowed to love her and be loved in return. She knew it was selfish, and perhaps some would call her ungrateful, but she had always been a woman of wants and she could hope that maybe, based on the way Shen Yuan’s eyes lingered on Liu Qingge when she moved, that maybe Shen Yuan had some wants of her own.

But even if Shen Yuan did return her feelings in some way, could Liu Qingge even allow herself to say anything? After all, this body of hers, though perfect and everything she had wanted, was but a shell. A lovingly crafted shell, yes, created by Shen Yuan and powered by Liu Qingges spiritual power, but still just a shell. It was obvious enough when she left the cave; she had felt the draw of the stones, greedily unraveling her body and pulling her back like a clinging lover in the night. Even as she pulled more power from the mountain array, and even with Chen Luan she would still be as she was, dead.

The irony had not escaped her that she, a righteous cultivator, once tasked with destroying lingering souls and vengeful ghosts, had fallen to become one herself. She half wondered if, when presented with the mockery of life she and Shen Yuan had concocted, she would take it upon herself to strike Liu Qingge down herself. Even if she did not, what would Lou Qingge do? Would she stay lingering between worlds, watching Mingyan and Shen Yuan grow beyond her, till even the embers of rage she kept tucked away in her core died out? Or would she slowly lose herself to that rage, warping and spiraling until she could not recognize friend from foe, become the brute that her late sect siblings had always accused her of being?

Qingge shook her head, her shadow mirroring her in a mockery of agreement. No, to fall to such selfishness would be deplorable, all she had wanted when she first requested Shen Yuans assistance was to confirm her sister was safe before submitting herself to the realm beyond, it was only once she grew comfortable and allowed her eyes to follow the crinkle of Shen Yuans green eyes when she smiled, or the long line of her neck when she threw her head back to laugh, then she began to selfishly crave more, to reach for the life she could see for herself in this new time. But it was not to be. Soon Shen Yuan ( A-yuan her mind whispered treacherously) would be free of her promise, and they would part ways. It would be better if she did not learn of Liu Qingges intended fate, that she would piteously dissolve like no more than seafoam. Instead, Shen Yuan would be able to hold her head high, for having done the impossible, however momentarily.
But their parting would not be for a little time, so for now, she would do what she had done for centuries.

She would wait.
——————————————-

Shen Yuan was familiar with being alone. After all, she lived a fairly lonely lifestyle in her previous life. She’d spent most of her days in front of a computer, either taking online classes, reading or playing the occasional game (She was loath to admit she had purchased the PIDW first person combat game and sunk an ungodly amount of hours into it, however, the poor graphic and cheesy dialogue options for the wife romancing aspect made it a real cluster fuck that couldn’t get any real traction). But now, experiencing the real life walking simulator that was the trek across the abandoned rainbow bridge to WanJian peak, she couldn’t help but feel lonely without the presence of Liu Qingge. She guessed that it made sense, after all they had been together nonstop for almost three and a half months, and Shen Yuan had never had a roommate but she assumed that they probably would feel the same way when they were suddenly bereft of their partner. Well, partner was probably the wrong word, but the point remained!

Shen Yuan kicked a pebble as she walked, and watched it skitter out in front of her, before falling to the side. She really should have practiced sword flying more, she probably would already be there by now if she had, but instead here she was feeling every rock and pebble under her newly callousless feet. But she supposed the extra time to unpack all the new information she’d gotten was more of a boon than she was giving it credit for. After all, she still didn’t know how to feel about any of the Xiu Ya stuff, even with the new information about Shen Qingqiu, because that begat even another issue: Luo Binghe had lied. Which of course fucking Airplane wouldn’t even hint at, because noooo that would do things like establish character, or bring up the fairly obvious criticism that Luo Binghe killed his first wife’s teacher, and burned down the home of his second wife. Like what the fuck dude! If Shen Qingqiu hadn’t been perving on Ning Yingying it would make sense that she might have some feelings regarding his fate. Also to lie to Liu Mingyan regarding how her sibling died is pretty fucking scummy! That’s your wife Binghe! (the best wife in Shen Yuan’s humble opinion, though she will say that though she hasn’t yet met her Shen Yuan is starting to think that Liu Qingge might be prettier)

Which of course brought Shen Yuan to the crux of these complicated feelings, Liu Qingge. Shen Yuan was so grateful she met Liu Qingge, the thought of attempting to traverse this huge empty wasteland by herself was frightening in more ways than one, and what better travel buddy than the most famous combatant in this world outside of Luo Binghe. She was legendary in the book as second only to the sect leader when it came to combat, and talking with the woman it was easy to see why. She was not only built like a truck that fucks, with arms that absolutely could crush her like a bug, but she was smart, in a quiet observational way. She had a sharp eye for detail and, as much as Shen Yuan jokingly berated her for not getting more information on the monsters of this world, Liu Qingge had a depth of knowledge that Shen Yuan wanted to plumb for the rest of her life.

But, (why was there always a but, she had to wonder) once Liu Qingge was free from her binding to the cave their relationship would be over. Liu Qingge wouldn’t need to stick around to debate the relationship between monster mating habits and their connection to the proximity of the demonic realm, she would be off reconnecting with her sister who she hadnt seen in over a century! She knew this, but there was still a tiny, selfish part that wanted to ask her to stay, or to beg her to take Shen Yuan with her. She knew that if she did Liu Qingge would agree. She knew that Liu Qingge ( honerable, blunt and kind, far too kind for this idiotic book, Liu Qingge) would re-write her heart and life to make room so that Shen Yuan could take her silly, little, lonely life and set up shop, so it was best if Shen Yuan began to make some distance. Today had been too close, she had felt the urge to grasp Liu Qingge’s hand and ask if there was space in her life for one more, if she could find it in her heart to bring her along to all the places she would go.

Shen Yuan kicked another stray pebble down the rainbow road, halfway to laughing to herself. It had been a long time since she’d had such a long lasting girl-crush. For the most part they’d tend to pass quickly, fading away once the girl laughed at the phrase, or even worse when they didnt. The worst was when they just looked at her as if she’d said something disgusting or profane, and she would find herself stumbling over her words as she tried to explain that no no it’s like a joke they use online, to say that like you’re admirable, or just like really cool! You know, like the kind of girl that kinda makes you nervous. She’d learned to keep it to herself and keep a slight distance while she worked through it, and she’d gotten to be pretty good at it before she died. Maybe dying reset the skill? Like it was some kind of resistance you could build up over time, and by dying Shen Yuan had lost that resistance? But she was digressing, probably to distract the sad, lonely part of her that didn’t want to pull away, that wanted to bind her life to Liu Qingge’s as they travelled the world to find all the beautiful, dangerous and fascinating things it had to offer.

But, she thought looking at her sword calloused hands, those calluses were here before her. She had attempted to avoid thinking about it, and granted that had been pretty easy at first, despite a few notable differences this body was a dead ringer for how she looked in her last life. But the longer she was here the more small things she noticed were different. The calluses were one thing, the more vibrant green eyes another, there was the small scar on the back of her hand, and an odd freckle on the inside of her elbow. All small, but powerful reminders that she was an outsider, that her whole friendship with Liu Qingge was built on the lie of Shen Yuan being a wandering cultivator and not a cuckoo in the homey little nest they had built together. How could she tell Liu Qingge that she first learned about her when she was words on a page, that Shen Yuan had paid that shitty writer extra for an “exclusive” chapter about her sister, just so she could scrounge up tidbits of information about the War God? She’d seem like some voyeuristic creep! But staying quiet about it just furthered the lies till eventually she would be buried under an avalanche of her own falsehoods.

“Oh Hatsune Miku, we’re really in it now,” she said, her voice echoing in the space between the peaks.

She shuddered a bit at the emptiness of the sound, before walking a bit faster. She did not want to be here when the Sun went down. She had a nice cosy nest of scavenged robes, pillows and pallets (it had been hard to find ones that survived the fires brought by Lou Binghe) waiting for her back in their cave.

Once she picked up the pace, and stopped being so damn maudlin, she made it to the sword cave entrance in pretty good time, she made short work of the entrance sigil and soon found herself in the somber room of the peak lords’ sword crypt. Now that she knew what it was she was a little morbidly excited to see the swords of the last generation of the Cang Qiong peak lords. She walked around them, trying to discern which one was Chen Luan. Because Liu Qingge had died so early in the book her sword had never gotten a description, and Airplane didn’t even describe all of the peaks let alone their lord’s swords, so Shen Yuan was trying to make a combination of guessing based on personality and a process of elimination.

She knew that the large JiuhuanDao was the sword of Wei Qingwei, the NanDao was Shang Qinghua’s, and she didn’t know who was the owner of the delicately wrapped Shuang Jian but it didn’t seem like the shorter blade would fit for Liu Qingge’s fighting style. She walkled around until she came to a slender Han Jian sword. It seemed simple at first, it had a slim blade, with a simple grey wrapping and while there was a spot for a tassel, none was attached. It bore no name on the blade, but something about its direct yet elegant look told her that this was the legendary Chen Luan. Which then brought her to the next question, if she would be able to remove it from its resting place. Airplane had never clarified how the swords of this universe bonded with their owners. It was implied with the sword caves that you could only pull the sword who called to you, but Liu Qingge’s inbetween state meant that her spirit should still be connected to Chen Luan, and Liu Qingge wanted Shen Yuan to be able to pick up the sword, so she should be fine right?

She reached and grabbed the sword by the hilt. Despite its long rest in the caves the handle was slightly warm, almost pulsing with a heart beat that quickly synced up to Shen Yuan’s own. It felt lighter than she had expected, but still had good weight to it, and with the glinting edge that looked as if it could cut the night itself she just knew it was a weapon of ruthless efficiency in Liu Qingge’s hands.

“Alright Chen Luan, let’s get you back to Qingge, where you belong,” she said, her voice echoing through the caverns.

She turned to leave, and as she did one spot caught her eye. It was a simple empty plinth, carved out of a flawless white marble. She felt her feet pull her to it but somehow she knew, even without reading the elegant calligraphy on the death plate atop the stone, who it was for.

Yue Qingyuan

She stared at the flat and barren surface of the sword memorial and felt something well up in her throat. She stepped closer, her eyebrows drawing in on themselves as unbidden tears welled up in the corner of her eyes. She didn’t know why she was reacting like this. She touched her cheek, feeling the stream of salt and water just to make sure it was real. Yes, Yue Qingyuan was a cool character. She was bummed that he’d died off screen where they never even got to see the power of Xuan Su, but this was something different. She touched the bone white marble surface, her hands shaking as she did, before turning away and leaving behind the odd feeling of grief that had suffocated the room. Xiu Ya sent little minor chords of remorse pinging through her mind through their bond, but all it did was quicken her step as she left the sword caves, a trail of crypt dust in her wake.

The walk back to the other set of caves was far less eventful. Shen Yuan even tried to fly some over the safer parts of the trek. She found it exhilarating, the gentle tension of Xiu Ya beneath her feet and the stiff breeze whipping against her face as she cut through the air. ( and no one need know that the grass stains on her knees are from a failed loop-de-loop that lead to her remembering the brief highschool physics class about circular momentum as she became intimately acquainted with Newton’s first law of motion and there was a new line of destroyed grass and snapped branches she could call her own) and so she found herself back at the mouth of the caves just before sunset. She smiled as she walked past the entrance to see Liu Qingge immediately spring up from where she had been sitting.

“Did you wait here for me the entire time? I figured you would wait back in our room?” Shen Yuan asked, a familiar smile already playing its way onto her lips.

“…wanted to make sure you made it back safe,” Liu Qingge mumbled and looked everywhere except for Shen Yuan.

She huffed out a small laugh, before moving forward to brush off the cave dirt still sticking to Liu Qingge’s robes.

“Well it was a little harder without my normal protector there, but I managed to make it,” she smiled and moved her hand up to fix some of the hair that had fallen loose from the other woman’s ponytail, only to be stopped when Liu Qingge grabbed her lightly by the wrist instead. She turned Shen Yuan’s hand over, and frowned at the road burn that Shen Yuan’s core hadn’t quite gotten around to healing yet. Liu Qingge looked at her with the most concerned and disappointed eyes. She did’nt even need to say a word before Shen Yuan was tripping over herself with explanations.

“I’m fine, I swear! I just got a little bored on the walk and did some flying, and I got a little over-ambitious and yeeted myself mid-loop. But it’s just scrapes!” She babbled.

Liu Qingge said nothing, instead she grunted an affirmation that yes, she had heard Shen Yuans excuses and did not give a single fuck before grabbing her by the wrist, carefully avoiding Shen Yuan’s scraped up palms, and bringing her back to their cavern.(Shen Yuan might be extrapolating a bit on that one but she would swear on the rat pope that’s what Liu Qingge was thinking.) She sat Shen Yuan down on her little nest and began cleaning off her hands with water from the leftover bowls Shen Yuan had been using to test Liu Qingge’s temperature sensitivity. As the gravel, dirt and ash was washed away it revealed the long angry red gouges on her palms, sluggishly bleeding now that the temporary bandage of grime had been removed. Shen Yuan grimaced, realizing Liu Qingge might have been right to be upset.

“Sorry, I didn’t realize it was so bad,” she said, doing her best to sound as contrite as possible.

Liu Qingge said nothing for a moment instead offering a dry Hmh sound as she began bandaging it with ripped cloth bandages. Once she was finished, without even looking up from her handiwork, she responded.

“Shen Yuan should not endanger herself needlessly.”

Shen Yuan internally winced, Liu Qingge must be upset if she’s bringing out the formal speech. So Shen Yuan shifted tactics, she scooted over to Liu Qingges side, and sat thigh to thigh with her. She leaned in, lightly bumping her shoulder against Liu Qingges, and when the other woman finally looked over at her, Shen Yuan’s hand still held in hers.

“So says miss ‘I’ll take on the worm by myself’ over here,” she said, a teasing grin already playing its way on to her face.

Liu Qingge pursed her lips, Shen Yuan had a feeling that if she had blood she would be rocking a rather fetching embarrassed flush. But before she could go down the rabbit hole of how unfairly adorable a Liu Qingge blushing would be, she pressed ahead.

“How about I look after you, and you look after me instead. It sounds way more fun.”

She was expecting a wide array of responses, most of them some combination of exhasperation and fondness that Liu Qingge seemed to frequently have when it came to Shen Yuan’s shenanigans. But what she wasn’t expecting was for Liu Qingge’s face to go cold as her eyebrows furrowed and her eyes went dark and stormy like thunder bumpers moving in on a clear day.

“Shen Yuan should still be careful when I am not there.”

And that was all Liu Qingge said before growing quiet once more as her eyes moved away from Shen Yuan locking on to the cave behind her, who could already feel the chill creeping in as she lost the warmth of Qingge’s gaze to that damned cave wall. Shen Yuan tried not to take it personally, after all Liu Qingge did tend to get peevish when Shen Yuan injured herself, there had been onetime Shen Yuan had to slice her hand open to make an array and Liu Qingge had been on her faster than it took for the blood to well up, she’d been whirlwind angry looks, concerned tuts and gruff first-aid care. But even her own justifications fell flat, after all that time had been different in that once Liu Qingge had finished her first aid she had sat down and listened to Shen Yuan talk about her talisman theory for god (gods in this world, Shen Yuan presumed) knows how long, her eyes locked with Shen Yuans as if the words coming out of her mouth were precious diamonds rather than a unorganized blather.

Shen Yuan straightened up, no longer leaning on Liu Qingge, and shifted a bit till their legs no longer touched, she ignored the voice in her head whispering It’s already begun, the distance will creep in and she’ll leave and instead decided to brute-force her way through Liu Qingge’s funk.

“Oh! We let ourselves get distracted. Here!” She said loudly as she pushed Chen Luan into Liu Qingge’s chest.

Liu Qingge’s eye’s snapped back to her (Shen Yuan refused to acknowledge the hum of satisfaction that rose in the back of her throat at that) before dropping down to the sword hilt pressed firmly into her hands. She smiled gently as she took it from Shen Yuan,it was a small thing, a light quirk of the mouth revealing a dimple on her left cheek, but Shen Yuan nearly melted at the relief it brought.

“I didn’t think I would ever hold it again” Liu Qingge marveled, she stepped back taking a few experimental swings at an invisible opponent.

“Yeah, I was a little worried I wouldn’t be able to pull it from the wall, but I guess since your soul is still here Chen Luan went easy on me!” Shen Yuan laughed a bit, stepping back to give Liu Qingge the full Sword Swinging Space she seemed like she needed.

Liu Qingge paused in her impromptu sword dance.

“It was in the wall? And you pulled it out?” She asked

“Yes? Is that unusual?” Shen Yuan responded, already wondering if she should have just kept her damn mouth shut.

“... I’m surprised Chen Luan let you.” Liu Qingge said, looking at her sword with a look of betrayal. Shen Yuan added that look to her list of things she wasn’t going to let hurt her feelings.

“Well, maybe it liked my delightful personality,” Shen Yuan said, trying to keep the small vein of hurt out of her voice, and not voicing the quiet I thought you did too, you did until now. that rang through her mind when Liu Qingge’s mouth pulled into a frown as she stared at her sword. She heard Xiu Ya sing a mournful hum through her soul and tried not to hum back.
Liu Qingge looked back up to her, an unreadable look falling over her features.

“I’m sorry, I’ve offended you.” She said contritely.

“No, no it’s fine. I’m just a little tired from the day,” Shen Yuan responded. “I should get some rest, and then maybe tomorrow we can work on testing out how your bond with Chen Luan works now.”

She didn’t wait for an answer before walking to her little blanket nest and closing her eyes and pretending to sleep. She listened as Liu Qingge puttered around the cave and walked through sword forms. Shen Yuan knew when Liu Qingge couldn’t support her form anymore when the clatter of Chen Luan hitting the floor rang against the hard stone walls. It was about an hour longer than she had yesterday, at this rate it wouldn’t be long before Liu Qingge could travel outside the cave. It wouldn’t be long before Shen Yuan fulfilled her promise.

It wouldn’t be long before Qingge no longer needed her.

The concept circled her thoughts and dreams as she fell into a fitful sleep. And if her dreams were haunted by spectres of bamboo, white swords and torn limbs, nobody had to know.

Chapter Text

Shen Yuan stared at the open mouth of the cave once more. It yawned in front of her, the source of both her goals and her dread,as it had every day of the past two weeks since Liu Qingge reunited with Chen Luan. Liu Qingge had been right, in that reuniting with Chen Luan had exponentially improved her growth. She had gone from being able to maintain her form for about 5-6 hours after almost a month of work, to, as of today, being able to stay solid for a full two days. It was impressive to say the least, and it clearly encouraged Liu Qingge and Shen Yuan did her best to be equally excited for her. However when Shen Yuan had woken up this morning and saw Liu Qingge still solid, running though her sword forms once again, she felt her heart seize up and shatter all at once. After all, two days had been their agreed upon length of time where they would strike out and finally try to leave, to once again test the boundaries of Liu Qingge’s tie to the caves. So when Liu Qingge noticed she had woken up and turned to her with a look of determination, what could Shen Yuan do but swallow her fear, tuck her clinging hands behind her back, and smile back. And so here they found themselves once again.

“How did it feel last time?” Shen Yuan asked tentatively, her voice echoing between the two of them and the cave walls.

Things had been stilted between them since they last were here. As if there was some yawning void that had cracked open between them, and Shen Yuan didn’t know why it had formed, or how to fix it. She stared at the side of Liu Qingges face, (and briefly admired the cut marble statue that was Liu Qingges profile) and wished that she would respond with some wry comment like she used to, or talk monsters with her on the way here or just fucking Look at her! But instead Liu Qingge’s eyes stayed locked on the cave entrance.

“It felt… cramped… until it didn't,” she said.

Shen Yuan waited a moment, to see if she would elucidate even a little. When she didn’t Shen Yuan pressed ahead.

“Did it hurt? Does it drain you at all? Are you sure you’ll be okay now? We can always wait a little longer just to be safe!” Shen Yuan knew she was babbling, and not doing a very good of hiding the tinge of desperation that colored her voice.

Liu Qingge looked away from the cave wall, and turned her gaze upon Shen Yuan. She had missed those eyes so many times these past two weeks, as Liu Qingge seemed to have developed an allergy to eye-contact since their last attempt to leave the cave. But now, pinned like a butterfly to a board under those phoenix eyes Shen Yuan wished the other woman would look anywhere else as opposed to staring at her as if she could see the roiling insecure mess of feelings that had settled in Shen Yuan’s gut. Liu Qingge opened her mouth as if to say something, before she thought better of it and turned back to stare at the entrance.

“Yes. No. No and no.” She said and then, just like before, she stepped to the outside.

It was entrancing to watch from the outside. Shen Yuan watched as every muscle in Liu Qingge’s body tensed and strained as she moved as if walking through jello. Liu Qingges current body couldn’t sweat, but Shen Yuan wondered if she could,would the sweat also roll in slow motion? Would it slow its path as it crawled along the powerful muscles straining in Liu Qingge’s neck and back, lingering like a lovers kiss. Or would it continue as gravity dictated, never knowing the feast for the eyes it has missed. TRANS Shen Yuan watched and was able to see the difference when Liu Qingge was finally free from the mountain’s grasp once more. She watched from the cool shade of the cave as Liu Qingge’s eyes closed and her face tilted to the sun, searching for warmth she knew Liu Qingge couldn’t feel. They stayed like that for a moment, Shen Yuan not wanting to insert herself into Liu Qingge’s moment of victory, and Liu Qingge lost to whatever feeling had gripped her. But soon the moment passed, as Shen Yuan and Qingge both breathed in together, their eyes locked in unison, and without a word spoken, left the mountain.

It was a quiet but horrifically captivating walk, what should have been a continued drudgery of step after step along the abandoned road was instead a minefield where every stride could be one too many away from the mountain. Shen Yuan's eyes tracked her companion with a dogged intensity watching the shift of the dirt beneath Liu Qingge’s relentless steps. With every crunch of the gravel she saw Liu Qingge fading away like before. But now they had no cavern to run back to, she only had to trust that her fading memory of the time limitations of wife #-whatever-the-fuck that were already sketchy considering Shen Yuan did not have the capability of dicking Liu Qingge into full materialization with her heavenly demon pillar. Which she would if she could! In a normal way that was, like giving CPR. It’s lifesaving care, nothing romantic about it! How would the logistics work as far as how a heavenly demon woman would go about healing in the trademarked Binghe fashion? Did the protagonist panacea also work if the heavenly demon was on the receiving end or would she permanently alter herself, like some demonic zebrafish, to cure her partner? Would it be permanent, would she have to lean into it? If Shen Yuan was in that protagonist’s shoes she would, after all it would only be right to save her friend. She was halfway through thinking out the logistics when she noticed the ever-present crunch of Liu Qingge’s steps had stopped. She whipped her head up, her eyes refocusing on the world in front of her, only to be met by Liu Qingge’s very intense gaze. Liu Qingge’s eyes scanned her over with a razor sharp focus, before she nodded and quickly veered off the road.

“Wh- Where are you going?” Shen Yuan half yelled at Liu Qingge’s back.

“Come,” Her erstwhile companion tossed over her shoulder, before continuing to walk.

“What, you think I’ll come because you said so?” Shen Yuan mumbled under her breath, cheeks reddening at the outrage of it all. She got an immense surge of petty joy at the way Liu Qingge almost immediately tripped over an unseen branch.

They walked some ways into dry bush lining the road until they reached one of the larger copses of trees. Liu Qingge stopped, nodded to herself, and turned to Shen Yuan.

“You're tired, sit.” She said, gesturing to a small spot under the trees that had managed to grow a little green patch of grass in the shade.

“We don’t have time for me to be tired! We don’t know how long you have outside the mountain, and I don’t know what happens if you fade away out here!” Shen Yuan protested. Her complaints fell on deaf ears as she felt Liu Qingge’s cold hand firmly grasp her wrist and tug her to sit down. Shen Yuan let herself be led, crumpling down to sprawl on the fluffy little patch of grass. She allowed herself a small moment of payback, and sprawled her legs across Liu Qingge’s lap as she sat.

“Okay, fine you win! But only for an hour or two,” She said with far more confidence than perhaps was warranted as her legs already were beginning to throb their complaints of overuse.
Liu Qingge stiffened at first, her hands hovering above Shen Yuan's legs like she was afraid of being burned. However, after a few moments she relaxed, one of her hands lightly on Shen Yuan's shins and the other behind her, propping her up.

“We will rest for however long you need,” she said with a finality that brooked no argument.

Shen Yuan let her head fall back, enjoying the feeling of the light breeze whispering against her skin and swaying her hair. After a few minutes of enjoying the peace of the moment, Shen Yuan found herself missing the light and easy conversation they’d had before all of the everything those two weeks ago in the caves. She’d hoped that it would resolve itself but if she had to spend another 8 hours walking in silence she was going to lose her mind.

“Are you nervous?” She blurted out before she could think better of it.

Liu Qingge looked over at her, confusion written all over her face, wrinkling that normally flawless forehead as her eyebrows drew in.

“Of walking?”

Shen Yuan opened her mouth, about to clarify ‘no, I was regarding the ceaseless horror that every step or every minute away from the mountain might be one too many and that by making this trip we could accidently unravel your soul and it would all be my fault’ but then she saw it. The tiny lift of Liu Qingge’s lip, where it curled up, dimpling her left cheek.

Shen Yuan felt the rising urge to bite her right on that little dimple. It would both put an end to this OOC teasing and turn that little dimple a cute shade of pink. Liu Qingge might kill her in revenge but it would be worth it. She looked away, out to the road and threw her hands up in exasperation.

“Yes Liu Qingge, are you, the War Goddess of Cang Qiong, foremost combatant of your time, and peak lord of the battle peak, afraid of walking? You know what I meant”

She refused to look back at her companion, only hearing the slight puff of a laugh from beside her, but after a moment she felt Liu Qingge’s eyes boring into the side of her face.

“… no I’m not nervous, I trust your work.”

Shen Yuan felt her stomach roil with Liu Qingge’s words.

“But if I'm wrong, what then?” She whispered, eyes locked on the pale sliver of road in the distance.

“Then you will find me again. And if you don’t, then I will find you,” Liu Qingge said, she spoke exactly how she acted, with a sense of finality. It was more of a statement of fact than it was a promise. After all a promise implies some chance of failure that the promise maker must fight against; this was Liu Qingge simply stating facts: that they would find each other like it was one the rules of this world.

Shen Yuan turned her head back to look at her and was stuck by just the directness of it all. She wanted to butt in, to offer her many “But what if’s", except she had a feeling that no matter how extreme her hypotheticals, Qingge's answer would remain the same. It spawned a tight, burning feeling behind her lungs, like someone had unzipped her from the back, and replaced her heart with one of her brother’s delicate tea-pots, but one that had been filled to the brim with bees, a bee-pot one could say. So instead, she swallowed her many dark possibilities, and leaned back, her hands settled beneath her, propping her up as she unfolded her legs to stretch across Liu Qingge’s lap. She tilted her head back, closed her eyes against the glare of the sun and enjoyed the warm glow of the sun on her face before replying

“Just like that, huh?” she said up into the sky.

“...Just like that,” Liu Qingge echoed.

And for a moment that was that. They sat in companionable silence as the warm air blanketed them, finally absent of the strange tension that had buzzed between them as of late. However, soon the silence soured in Shen Yuan’s mouth as doubt once more crept in. She could almost feel the cold wisps of Liu Qingge fading away from beneath her, disappearing from her life and leaving all the incomplete quests, the unknown adventures, and all the unspoken feelings left to be held by her. It would not be unreasonable, she could still feel the phantom pangs from the sudden loss of her world. She wondered if it would be the same with Liu Qingge. Would she wake up in the morning, her name on her lips, her heart still aching from the raw twitching nerve that had once connected them? The thought of it frightened her, but even worse it made her spiteful.

“You astound me, you know that?” Shen Yuan said before she could think better of it.

For a moment there was only silence from beside her, so before the moment could multiply she continued.

“You say all these things so confidently and you act like you’ve never considered that you might be wrong, I… I just don’t get it?” Shen Yuan refused to open her eyes, what had begun as a peaceful enjoyment of the sun on her face soon became her last desperate shield from the laser hot glare of Liu Qingge’s gaze that had locked on to her. But Liu Qingge said nothing, the only acknowledgement of her words was the tensing of the other woman's thighs beneath her torso. And with the silence between them expanding, it was like the thoughts spiraling in her head had finally hatched and were no longer content to remain in the chrysalis of her mind.

“We don’t know what will happen to you if you power down this far away from your tether. You could be right, and we just meet back at the mountain, but if you’re wrong, then what? Best case scenario, we lose every last bit of progress we’ve made so far, worst case you just fucking die! For good this time!” Shen Yuan lurched up as she talked, her eyes finally peeling themselves open to lock gazes with Liu Qingge who, infuriatingly, just stared back, as her previously peaceful expression crumpled back in on itself as the tension creeped back into her brow.

Shen Yuan could have stopped talking as much as she could have dodged that damn car, or who ever gave her that Fucking shove .

“And what happens then, if you die? Neither of us are the protagonist in this world, at best we are an extra where the fucking degrenerate sleezebags complain about the lack of a wife plot. If I’m wrong, all that happens is your sister doesn’t even know what she should mourn, and I’m left alone in this fucking murderfest of a wasteland all because my goddamned blorbo cant handle his fucking Mommy Issues!”
> Before her rants had faded from the air she knew she had fucked up. Liu Qingge’s face had closed off and she had the tense look about her eyes that said she’d been hurt. Shen Yuan ripped her gaze away as she felt her chest heaving as every ugly thing she’d kept trapped tried to crawl its way out of her throat. She clenched her teeth instead, hissing the unspoken screams quietly into the fraught air.
Nothing but silence came from behind her. She clenched her hands, feeling her nails cut little cresents into her palms. She forced them flat just before she drew blood, dusted off her outer robes and spoke without looking back.

“We should keep walking, I don’t know how being away from the mountain has affected your time limit.” words clumsy and bitter, sticking her tongue like a dry pill.

And then Shen Yuan started walking. It took a few moments before she heard Liu Qingge’s steps follow behind her.

________________________________________
It took another eight hours of walking, but eventually they began to see the shape of a town on the horizon. In that time Shen Yuan had heard Liu Qingge speak from behind her only three or four times, and had looked over to her companion even less. But now as they drew closer to civilization she finally tore her eyes away from the skyline and looked over to Liu Qingge.

“We should figure out what our story is before we go in there. Wandering cultivators are pretty rare now-a-days, and I dont know if we want that kind of attention.”

Her words were wooden and flat and she looked everywhere except the woman's eyes. Eventually she settled on the small beauty mark gracing Liu Qingge’s left cheek.

“Yes, we should. But first, look at me,” Liu Qingge agreed, oddly soft for how furious she must be with Shen Yuan.

“I am…” Shen Yuan tried.

“My eyes.”

Slowly Shen Yuan dragged her eyes up to Liu Qingge’s, every inch feeling like a knife twisting in her gut as she imagined what she would see there. But when she locked her gaze with Qingge’s, what she saw was even worse.

Concern.

Plainly on Liu Qingge’s face was filled with worry. Yes, it was mixed with hurt, anger, and a little confusion, but it was mostly concern, and for Shen Yuan of all people! It was concern that sought an answer and Shen Yuan felt she needed to do her best to at least try and submit to the mortifying ordeal of being known.

“I’m so sorry, I was mean and I hurt you. I was so angry and you just seemed so confident and I… I dont know why I just… I went too far,” Shen Yuan stumbled, a million more apologies perched on her lips and all falling over themselves to get out first.

Liu Qingge nodded, taking a moment to think as Shen Yuan watched her gaze become slightly unfocused as she thought.

“My being confident in your skills made you angry?” She asked, confusion pitching her voice up, and Shen Yuan had to admit that when put that way it did sound rather ridiculous.

“Yes!” Shen Yuan exclaimed, then winced as Liu Qingge’s brows shot up into her hairline. “Don’t give me that look, I’m not an arrays expert, half of the process of me putting your body array together was just guess-work!”

Liu Qingge nodded again, and grabbed her hands. Shen Yuan briefly was distracted because wow were her hands strong and much smoother than she would have expected. Just a few calluses right along the edge of the palm and across the knuckles. Eventually she ripped her focus back to Liu Qingge as she began speaking.

“We’ve tested it. And your skills are impressive,” Shen Yuan moved to disagree, but before she could get out a word Liu Qingge cut her off.

“I was a Peak Lord, Shen Yuan.”

Shen Yuan was able to hear the implied ‘So I would know’, and slowly closed her mouth.

“A-Yuan.”

Liu Qingge startled, Shen Yuan startled and they both stared at each other for a moment with Shen Yuan's words flapping between them. Shen Yuan felt her face warming in response.

“After all, we are… still close are we not?” She continued, face burning. How desperate could she be, like some child asking to be friends. But the idea of walking the statement back felt bitter in her throat.

Liu Qingge stiffened, as her face went through a spasm of different emotions before settling on something…embarassed?

“Yes, A-Yuan.” Liu Qingge said back, and if she were anyone else Shen Yuan would have accused her of mumbling.

Shen Yuan squeezed the hand in hers once more before dropping it, though she had to work to keep a straight face when instead of releasing her hand Liu Qingge instead just kept them linked, hanging loosely by her side. She would have to talk about that later at some point with her, people would make assumptions about two women holding hands, but now in this fragile moment of reconciliation she couldnt bring herself to say anything. Instead she gently squeezed back and enjoyed the comfort of the gentle pressure of Qingge’s hand.

“...cover story?” Liu Qingge’s voice echo’d in her ears.

Shen Yuan lifted her head up from where she’d been staring at their conjoined hands.

“Hmm? What was that Liu Qingge?” She asked, absentmindedly.

“Qingge,” The other woman responded. She looked at Shen Yuan’s shocked face before frowning and looking away. “If you are still A-Yuan to me, shouldn’t I remain Qingge to you?”

Shen Yuan couldn’t help but smile at how adorable her friend was. It seemed they were both a little out of their depth when it came to this friendship. It made sense after all in Airplanes shitty porn universe women obviously weren’t allowed to have close female friends! That could interfere in the dicking! But Shen Yuan was digressing, she pulled her focus back to the matter at hand.

“But noneless, good point Qingge. We should figure out our cover story. Do you think sisters looking for a missing family member is good?”

Shen Yuan had a feeling that if Liu-, that if Qingge had any blood running in her body she would have blanched based on the split second look of pure horror on her face.

“Well geez, no need to look so horrified, we can come up with a different one. But I’ll have you know I was an excellent sister!” She sputtered, blood rushing to her cheeks.

“…you were an excellent sister?” Qingge echoed back at her.

“Yes I was, thank you very much! But okay if we aren’t going to be sisters what should it be? You’re far too young looking to be my mom-.”

“This one will Not be your mother!” Liu Qingge interrupted.

Shen Yuan reeled back, putting her hands up in a mock surrender.

“Alright, alright no need to shout, I didn’t like it either. Do you have any ideas then?”

Silence crept in again as Liu Qingge gathered her thoughts while Shen Yuan watched her chew slightly on the inside of her lip while she considered her options. It was cute, she didn’t fully bite it the way Shen Yuan knew that she herself tended to do (her sister used to tease her, saying she’d get so amped up reading that she’d bite it off one of these days.) instead she pulled at the inside, just lightly indenting her lower lip. You wouldn’t notice if you didn’t pay close attention, but here in these moments of quiet Shen Yuan had nothing to do except sink into the habit of cataloguing her traveling companions' features.

“Fiancées? We could be seeking my sister for the bows as she’s my only surviving family,” Qingge spoke, not at Shen Yuan but at the ground between them.

Shen Yuan felt her face freeze, as surprise once again brought a warmth to her face, though this time she could feel it creeping down her throat and chest. She’d like to hope it wasn’t too obvious but based on the way Qingge’s eyes trailed down to where her neck met her chest it was more wishful thinking than anything. She opened her mouth ready to ask at least one or two follow-up questions but instead all that came out was a rushed and garbled

“Alright!”

Shen Yuan could confidently say that she was just about as surprised as Qingge looked by what came out of her mouth but she was in it now so no going back. So she continued,

“Well, no time like the present let’s go while we still have daylight!” She said as she grabbed Qingge’s hand and pulled her along as they entered the boundary of the town.

__________

The centre of the town was surprisingly bustling for both the area and how empty the road had been coming up. A combination of humans and demons milled about, shopping and talking. Shen Yuan tried not to stare as a small twelve-eyed rabbit stood upright to shake its clawed fist at an exasperated vendor selling hair accessories. It was such a bafflingly normal exchange that she was almost surprised when she felt the hand in hers tense up. She looked over to see Liu Qingge’s face harden as she made as if to move toward the scene. Shen Yuan quickly moved her other hand to grab Liu Qingge's other arm.

“Woah! Hey! Slow down there -wow you are built like a truck- it's okay! Sorry I forgot to mention, the two realms got merged when Luo Binghe was emperor. Most towns are like this now! It‘s fine, it just seems like the customer is a bit of a dick,” she said, quickly and hushedly. She cut herself off and smiled strainedly as an older couple walked past muttering something about “passionate youngsters”. She waited until they were out of earshot before continuing.

“You missed a lot, but it’s okay” She laughed when the other woman shot her a look equal parts offended and disbelieving. “I promise, you canbelieve it’s not butter. But here, if it makes you feel any better, that is a three-coat caterpillar bunny. They’re strictly herbivores and he’s probably pretty young considering he hasn’t built any of his cocoon. So definitely not a threat.” She smiled and leaned into Qingge’s chest as she let her hand relax its tight grip from Qingge’s bicep and float down around the other woman's hip, this way she would know for sure if Qingge was going to try to do anything and would be in a good place to stop her. Plus it was a little bit nice, she tucked just perfectly inbetween her friends shoulders.

“Herbavores are often the most dangerous when travelling. They fight like they have nothing to lose.”

Shen Yuan laughed, as her head relaxed, coming to lightly rest on the space between Liu Qingge’s head and neck, it was nice until she felt the body beneath her stiffen and she realized the position they were in. She rocketed up straight, nearly clipping Qingge’s nose as she did. She laughed again, patting Qingge’s shoulder repeatedly. Qingge remained as stiff as a board while resolutely grabbing Shen Yuan’s hand.

“We should go ask around and find an inn for the night before we start looking in earnest,”

And so they continued through the town and, after Shen Yuan spent some of her meager coin to buy a thin white hair ribbon and got some directions to the local inn. (Though she did feel a little cheated as the inn was practically right behind them)

With a single room booked (much to Liu Qingge’s chagrin and Shen Yuan’s insistence. But she held firm that it made no sense to spend the money for two rooms after all they were both women and strapped for cash! It wasn’t like they didn’t already share the same cave to sleep) they agreed to split up. Liu Qingge would canvas the north half of town and Shen Yuan the south and they would meet back up in the evening. As they stood outside the inn Shen Yuan began shoving talismans into Qingge’s hands.

“This one is an alert, it will shoot a flare up immediately if you tear it. This one is a communication talisman, if you write on the back it will transmit to mine. And this one is an echo talisman-“

“I place a spot of blood at the center and can speak up to twenty five words into it that it will send to you , like an echo in your ear.” Qingge interrupted, a smile playing its way onto her face.

“Oh, sorry, I guess you were listening. But yes, and please, if you feel off, or in any way weaker, let me know, I’ll meet you at the inn and then we will hit the road back.”

Shen Yuan knew she was fretting as her hands couldn’t help but flutter all over Liu Qingge, patting and straightening her borrowed threadbare robes. Shen Yuan had tried her best to wash out the cave dirt, but there was only so much one could do, and they were already having to split Shen Yuan's robes between the two of them. Thankfully, the system had started her off with a ridiculous amount of layers so they weren’t indecent, but at some point Shen Yuan really needed to figure out some income to clothe themselves in something not falling apart at the seams.

A hand brushed the hair out of her face, she jumped out of her musings.

“I’ll be okay, and I’ll be careful. I promise. ” Qingge said gently. She paused, as some consternation worked its way over her expression, before continuing,

“And tonight, when we return. Perhaps we can speak. There is something I must discuss with you.”

Shen Yuan nodded, despite how fucking ominous that sounded, before giving a (fake) chuckle.

“As long as you aren’t friend-breaking up with me, sure.”

They stood there for a time, neither wanting to leave first before Shen Yuan threw caution to the wind. She lunged forward wrapping her arms around Qingges middle, squeezing as if she could hold together her friend's form with only the power of her grasp.

She whispered a quick “be safe,” into her chest before straightening up and turning heel.

“Bye, see you soon! Call if you need me! And take note if you see any job boards! Love ya!” She yelled over her shoulder as she left.

She made it just a few paces away before realizing what she said. She stumbled as she whipped her head around to see Liu Qingge standing ramrod straight, a shocked expression frozen on her face and working on an excellent thousand yard stare.

Shen Yuan tried to fix it

“Ah-fuck, as a friend! I mean, you know, like besties! Gotta kiss the homies goodnight vibes! Alright bye!” She yelled, as she continued to walk backwards until with her final bye she turned heel and sped off to the vendor tents.

———
It took her a few minutes to cool down her face to less than critical overload and once she did, she found a small curb and pulled out the small sack of coins the system had given her to start with. She hadn’t truly taken stock of them when she first arrived, still tangled in the fog of loss and pain. As she counted out the smattering of bronze and silver taels, from what she could remember of the deeply fucked PIDW economy it was loosely based off of the Qin dynasty with a standard bronze coin enforced by the emperor but weight marked taels could also be used as currency. She didn’t see any marked coins but she counted about sixty silver taels and one golden tael. She’d had a few bronze ones but they were mostly used up on renting the room for the evening and the ribbon she bought. Not a ton of cash to buy information with but she could at least get some rice so she could eat something other than what she could forage from the mountain.

She walked for a while, asking around to different vendors if they’d seen a cultivator who looked like Liu Qingge, wore a veil and carried a damascus sword. The closest she got was an old woman who’d thought she’d seen someone matching that description a few weeks ago, travelling north but couldn't offer any information on where in the north. She didn’t know why she had been so sure that she would find a lead on Liu Mingyan here, it had been centuries since she was a disciple of Cang Qiong but something in Shen Yuan’s gut said she would find something of importance here, instead all she’d found so far was dinner.

She sat down with a sigh on a low wall next to the market and set about devouring her meal but as she did a nearby clatter caughter her attention. It was a small shrine. She crouched down to get a closer look. The wood was obviously very old, and the paint had almost entirely chipped away, while the small bronze offering plate was coated in a thick layer of dust and grime. As she dusted it off and looked closer she saw something very familiar.

Luo Binghe’s zuiyin.

It was faint and warped by age, but it was something Shen Yuan could never forget. It was odd, seeing it here. It was the first mark of Luo Binghe’s reign that she had seen in this world. It made her feel a little vindicated, her theory was right! He did ascend to godhood. Though based on the wear and tear of the shrine and its obvious neglect, it had been a while since he had recieved any worship.

Figuring it couldn’t hurt, she placed the last violet bloodberry from her selection on to the offering plate and she kneeled to offer a small prayer. However, try as she might to pray, when she closed her eyes, all she could see was the burned skeleton of the disciples dorms of WanJian and the broken look on Qingge’s as they walked through the wreckage to reach the road. She stood slowly, and brushed the dirt off of her knees. She would leave the offering, as it was bad form to take back a gift, but no prayers would be offered today. Once she had straightened up a voice rang out from behind her.

“No prayers for the lost god, hm?”

She whirled around, her hand dipping to her hip to find Xiu Ya’s handle, half expecting to see Luo Binghe himself. Instead she saw a crouched old man chuckling as he leaned into his walking stick.
“No, not today. Just lost in thought,” she responded with a small chuckle.

“Ahhh, thought is an easy place to get lost. Need to get you a wayfinder, it doesn’t fix everything, but it does make traversing your own mind less harrowing.”

He moved without invite to sit on the low wall, and he patted the spot next to him with the expectant attitude of one who is not told “No” often.

So Shen Yuan sat.

“Are you selling any of these wayfinders per chance? I was saving my coin for some rice and a set of robes, but I could be convinced otherwise.” She joked as she kicked her heels against the wall.

“Its not a talisman, child. And if my memory serves me right, you already have one,” he said.

Shen Yuan looked at him expectantly, one eyebrow creeping its way up to her hairline. He only laughed at her disbelief.

“Aren’t you one of the two paramours from earlier? Does she not act as a North Star when your thoughts become too crowded?” He asked

“Ah! Qing-jiejie. If anything she’s the source of half the worries, and actually She’s my…” not a moment too soon Shen Yuan cut herself off from saying they’re just friends, she’d nearly forgotten their cover story! Thankfully the man interpreted her silence in some good way as he continued.

“Hah! But that’s how love is! Your person becomes both your concern and your refuge. Before my wife passed over the river she was by far the largest source of my worries. The woman was about as careful as a blood addled shrieking cat-racoon, I was working hard just to keep her from cutting off a finger every other sichen.”

Shen Yuan couldn’t help but laugh at the man’s dramatics as she leaned in conspiratorially.

“You know, Qing-Jiejie is a little like that as well. But she’d never admit it. She just marches into danger like she’s invincible! And the worst thing is most of the time she’s right!“

“But you worry about the one time she’s not.” The old man continued her thought with an air of bemusement. “It is reassuring to see that young lovers haven’t changed. In fact I’ll wager that if I spoke with her she’d probably have something similar to say about you.”

Shen Yuan opened her mouth to respond, but found herself lost for words. All she could find was a tightness in her chest that grew tighter when she thought about her friend. She thought of Liu Qingge’s quiet concern as they journeyed here, and how she held her when Shen Yuan found the truth of Xiu Ya, and the gentle rumble of her laugh and how good it felt when she heard it when she was pressed against Liu Qingge’s chest. And as she did, Shen Yuan realized something tragically beautiful and horrifying:

“I love her.” She whispered.

“I should hope so! Marriage ain’t cheap you know,” the old man said blithely.

“No, no, you dont understand this is bad. This is very bad!” Shen Yuan leaned forward toward the old man, her lifeline in this moment.

“Why would it be bad to love your wife, girl? Help this old man understand, would you?”

Shen Yuan paused, remembering that yes they were masquerading as enfianced and no, she should not blow up that cover story to a random man she met at a shady Luo Binghe Shrine. So she spoke carefully.

“Our marriage isn’t one of love, it's…one of circumstance. We are dear friends, yes, but there is no romance. I’m…alone in this now.”

She felt the words rip at her throat as she spoke. Her eyes felt prickly and her gut roiled.

“It would only upset our agreement, and push her away. I have no wish to sacrifice our friendship.”

“Are you sure that she has no feelings in return? Perhaps she feels the same way,” he posited.

At some point his hand had drifted to Shen Yuan's shoulder, patting her consolingly. She shook it off and sat up straight. It was a ridiculous thought really, but how could this man know that in this world women were meant for wife plots, death, or insignificance. Shen Yuan didn’t know which Liu Qingge would eventually fall into, but she knew for sure a smart knockout like Qingge would not fall into insignificance like Shen Yuan planned for herself. Not to mention that Liu Qingge was definitely straight. How would she even know about homosexuality in this world? Airplane only wrote on a spectrum of “Straight” to “Super Luo Binghe Straight”.

“No, right now I just need to focus on helping her find her sister. After that I’ll figure something out,” she said, resolutely.

The old man stared at her for a while, before deciding to let it pass.

“Wait, you’re looking for someone? Why didn’t you say so? I’m the nosiest vendor in the whole town!” he proclaimed proudly, though Shen Yuan was quite sure if it was something to be proud of.

“We’ve been trying to find her, Qingge has no other family to bow to or serve tea, but we haven't heard from her in years. She’s about yea tall-” Shen Yuan gestured to an area by her head about five and a half cùn from the ground “-and wears a purple veil. She also looks incredibly similar to my fiancee," Shen Yuan rattled off the information Liu Qingge had shared with her on the road.

It seemed almost too good to be true that this man would know anything but he nodded and stroked his chin as Shen Yuan pretended to not notice that upon closer inspection his beard was definitely fake.

“Ah yes, I have seen a woman matching that description. Is she a cultivator?” He asked

Shen Yuan took back anything she had ever said doubting this man in her internal monologue.

“Yes, Yes! She is! Is she still here? If not, do you know where she's going?” It took great effort to not jump for joy in the moment, but Shen Yuan contained herself.

“Hmm, no she’s not here anymore, she went north. Said she was headed towards Mai Gu City. She did say that she would be settling down there for a little while. She stocked up on human foods since they can get a little scarce in that area.” He said confidently.

“Amazing, thank you! Thank you so much! Qingge is going to be so happy.” Shen Yuan, wisely keeping the ‘This almost makes up for you shattering my beautiful veil of denial’ to herself.

“Well, I figure since this old man caused you so much heartache with his rambling, it is good I could help you in your quest. Guess you didn’t need to make those prayers after all.” He said jovially, but casting a dirty look at the shrine.

Shen Yuan wasn’t poking that topic with a ten foot pole, so instead she laughed, bid him goodbye and ran to the inn to tell Liu Qingge.

__________________

By the time she got back to the inn it was starting to get dark, and it was well past the meeting time. But she figured with the news she had gotten it could probably be excused. She swallowed the trepidation of seeing Liu Qingge again, so soon after her own revelation and pushed open the door to their room.

Empty.

She whirled around, looking down the hallway, as if she had somehow missed Qingge as she was walking up and when that yielded nothing she checked the room, and when that produced no Qingge she waited. And when waiting turned to stewing turned to pacing she pulled out one of her talismans. She started with the communication talisman first, she figured it would be the least invasive if Liu Qingge was just caught up with something. And then she moved on to the echo talisman, and then in a last ditch effort she leaned out the window and with shaking hands tore the alert talisman. A blazing flare shot up into the sky, a bright white streak that would be impossible to miss. She leaned out the window and waited. She kept her eyes peeled to the skyline, scanning for the barest of sparks for 5 minutes, then 10. Then finally when the candles burned low, and the moon grew high in the sky she had to admit that no flare was coming.

where was she

She ran out of the room down to the lobby where the innkeeper waited tables for tired drunkards nursing dinged up tin cups of wine.

“I’m so sorry to bother, but did you see my fiancée come back?” When the woman said nothing she continued “She was with me when we purchased the room. She’s crazy tall, stunningly beautiful with a beauty mark under her left eye, and built like she could break me in half. She’s impossible to miss!”

The woman looked at her sadly

“I know who you’re talking about, and no. She hasn’t come back here,” she said, pity lacing her every word.

“Stop it! She wouldn’t just leave me, and I know that’s what you’re thinking,” Shen Yuan snapped back.

The woman just shrugged.

“Well, she hasn’t come by this way. But hey, you’re not the first girl to be given the runaround by a pretty face. Let me get you a wine.”

Shen Yuan shook her head.

“No, no, no I’m so sorry I need to go,” she mumbled her apologies before turning and running out the door.

She ignored the yelled “No Refunds!!” that echoed behind her. The room fee didn’t matter, the town didn’t matter, none of it mattered.

She needed to get back to Cang Qiong. So Shen Yuan unsheathed Xiu Ya, ignoring the gasps from all around her. And then,

She Flew.

Chapter Text

Liu Qingge did not know these streets.

It was a disquieting feeling. Once she would have been able to claim an almost complete knowledge of the land surrounding Cang Qiong, down to the small smattering of lakes only about two li from the peak, but hidden from view by a false wall of overhanging greenery and a distracting fog produced by the Millennium Dream Bear that had settled in the picturesque grove for its centuries long hibernation. She had charted their path out of the Cang Qiong peak system to pass by the opening, her need for the most efficient path beat out by the prospect of seeing Shen Yuan’s face light up when presented with such a rare beast. She’d hoped, perhaps childishly, that by presenting Shen Yuan with the scene she could ease some of the tension that had settled on the other woman’s shoulders.

However, when she led them down the path, all she found was a barren and battle scarred pit, lacking any signs of the previous life that had inhabited the grove, if it could even be called that anymore. She had known she would be presented with changes, both good and bad. But she had not expected the breathless sorrow that struck her. She walked past it with a slow measured gait, her face set in stone not indicating what had been lost. She allowed herself a moment to pause, to look back and take in the scene before continuing. Shen Yuan remarked something as they walked by but her words faded into the ringing echoing in her ears (it sounded suspiciously like screams). Liu Qingge felt the urge to say something, to cry and rage about the unfairness of the world. That she should get all she wanted only after having lost all those she could share it with. She looked over at Shen Yuan, and for a moment was tempted to share it all, her doubts, her pain, her rage and her longing, but then she remembered the tension and silence of the past two weeks and thought better of it. So instead, Liu Qingge kept their pace, swallowing the words to add to the unwieldy barrier slowly growing in her throat.
The same pace she kept now, as she meandered the curving streets. The gentle thuds echoing up her legs from her feet hitting the street had pulled her into a contemplative state. It gave her time to think. Something she was currently in desperate need of, as she turned over the scene from her last conversation with Shen Yuan.

‘ I love you! ’

It had been called so casually, the way a lover might call out to their partner as they left for the day. Her heart had soared with a shocked elation that had locked her mouth shut. She’d not even had the time to untangle her tongue before Shen Yuan had begun frantically walking it back talking of friendship and ‘kissing the homies goodnight’ Liu Qingge had no clue what ‘homies’ was supposed to refer to and added it to the list of Shen Yuan's strange words and turns of phrase, yet another mark of their strange dance of stumbled words, lost meanings, and intimate actions.

Liu Qingge could admit to herself that she never been skilled with words, at many times she wished that she was, in the way Mingyan had been, or was (the doubt burned in the back of her throat) after all she could see that something had been wrong between the two of them, she just lacked the ways to address it. And all the wrongness had instead been growing since Shen Yuan had brought back Chen Luan. She marveled at it now, just as she had been shocked by it then. To think after all these years sealed away, unravelling in deafening silence, Chen Luan would still be connected to her spirit. Connected strongly enough that peaks away it could sense the thummings of love she held for Shen Yuan. She thanked the gods that Shen Yuan had not seemed to put together the implication of Liu Qingge’s quickly evolving and deepening feelings but it could have been a joyful time. She remembered the elation in Shen Yuan's face when Liu Qingge grasped Chen Luan for the first time once more, she also remembered how quickly it fell after. She couldn’t help the bitter taste that coated her tongue when Shen Yuan’s stricken face was recalled to the front of her mind. She had looked so heart broken when Liu Qingge had implied their ways would part, so much so Qingge had been so close to taking it back right then and there, to stepping forward out of her own cowardice, taking Shen Yuan’s hand and declaring all that had grown within her during their time together.

But she couldn’t find the words without lying. How could she pledge forever when her existence still occupied a liminal space within the mortal realm, neither immortal cultivator nor ephemeral spirit? There was no way she could guarantee to always protect Shen Yuan, no matter how her deathly cold core cried out for it.

She kicked a pebble as she walked down the curving town paths. There were less people out here to question, but it would be good to have a full lay of the town that she could relay to Shen Yuan tonight at the inn. Besides the few she had spoken with were as clueless as a beached topazscaled phalla-fish when she questioned them. One could maybe accuse her of avoidance, and if her sister could see her now she would probably agree. Mingyan had always been able to read her so well, even when they were children. She was also much better when it came to declaring intentions for other women. She used to tease Qingge, that she would have to find a woman fluent in ‘longing gazes and furtive glances’ to even begin the courtship process. She had even offered Qingge some of her favorite…books… to study and at the time she had been horrified at the audacity of her sibling. Now she wished she had taken Mingyan up on the offer as the self-imposed deadline of their conversation tonight at the inn drew closer. Every quashed thought and hope she had swallowed and swallowed till they became a rock lodged in her gut, weighing her down like an eternal cairn stone, she would confess tonight, and she would simply have to hope that Shen Yuan could see them favorably.

It was almost funny, how the looming conversation filled her already icy veins with the chill of fear. That she, Liu Qingge, the undead War God of Cang Qiong, the Battle Prodigy of the three realms, would be cowering over a simple exchange of words, after all had she not just received confirmation that she was loved as a friend? (Maybe? She presumed that’s what homies were) But all the battles, the beasts and monsters couldn’t hold a candle to the terror that she would bare her soul once more and Shen Yuan would find her disgusting, or even worse, predatory. As if she had played the part of the cuckoo, coming to Shen Yuan with friendship only for it to hatch into something wholly unwanted and detrimental. But to continue with the falsehood would only compound the fears over time, so she instead would have to hope that Shen Yuan listened and, if she did not return the same romantic feelings, was willing to remain companions during Liu Qingge's search.

She nodded to herself as she walked further, content now that she had decided on a path. It would be a potentially difficult path but there seemed to be no other kind Liu Qingge cast her gaze over the tangled streets of the town as she walked through. She could see where the town had grown and shifted in different phases, where brick paths morphed to cobblestone and where cobblestone gave way to pressed dirt. Signs of a quick expansion that never fully settled in. Clearly it was an old town if it had marked this land long enough to grow and molt so many times, however Liu Qingge had no memory of it or many other things in this strange new world.

And strange this world was indeed. She had had to adjust to seeing demons roaming freely amongst humans, and they used some new variety of currency that Liu Qingge didn’t recognize. She had yet to use the silver taels Shen Yuan had pushed into her hands as they parted. She huffed a laugh to herself as she walked. What Shen Yuan thought the ghost with no need to eat or drink would buy should be the real mystery. With how far she had walked from the center of town there were only a few shops peppered the houses along the roads, but then ,almost as if to vindicate Shen Yuan’s concerns, a small cart caught her eye.

It was watched by a small demon woman, her wiry gray hair fell over pointed ears that folded back into a long and tall bat-like shape, and her second set of hands worked tirelessly on some yarn craft while her primary set flipped distractedly at the pages of a yellow book. She didn’t even look up from the book as Liu Qingge approached.

“I’m watching the booth for a friend, so don’t bother asking me any detailed questions. I don't know the material, I don’t know the origin, and I don’t know if it's cursed or not,” she drawled with a tired voice, her forked tongue flicking out as she spoke.

Liu Qingge gave her a curt nod in return, and moved straight to what had caught her attention. It was, at first glance, a rather simple item, a silk fan with bamboo sticks, but what had truly grabbed her attention was the painting. Emblazoned across the silk was an anatomically correct red footed split-beak sparrow. The long mirrored flight feathers were even emulated by some metallic paint that glistened in the dying light of the sun.

“Did the owner paint this?” she asked.

The old woman looked up, looked down at the item and then back up at her before replying “I don't know” in the flattest voice possible.

Liu Qingge nodded, the woman had indicated earlier that that would be her response, she should have taken her more literally it seemed.

“Will the owner be back soon?” she asked, as Liu Qingge had to assume that that specific variety of information would fall outside of the “I don't know” umbrella.

The woman looked up, a grin working its way up her face, revealing long curved teeth.

“I don't know,” she lingered on the words, her smile widening at every syllable.

Liu Qingge leveled her stare at the woman as silence fell down on her joke like a leaded blanket.

“Well damn, aren’t you a stoney one, ain’t you. Shame it’s wasted on a pretty face like yours. He’ll be back in about an hour or so, I’m watching the cart for him while he fucks around at the market.” she said, as if surrendering.

Liu Qingge nodded, an hour was far too long to wait just to sate her curiosity. The birds were fairly hard to kill, harder to catch, and even harder still to observe for a long period of time, long as the time to paint it’s likeness. She picked up the fan, eyeing the painting this way, and that, trying to see if she could spot any kind of fallacy in its depiction, but she found none. Shen Yuan had been so excited to hear that Liu Qingge had seen one, their walk in through the caves that day had been peppered with all kind of question regarding the bird’s looks, habits and abilities. Her eye’s had lit up with a gleam that Liu Qingge hadn’t seen in them before that moment.

“I’ll take it,” she said.

The woman blinked, shocked.

“Huh, normally I at least have to work a bit to make a sale, figures the one easy one and it ain’t even my money,” after that she named a number and Liu Qingge handed her the silver tael. Her eyebrows shot up.

“Ayy, big spender over here. With old money nonetheless! One moment, I’ve got to make change.” She rummaged around in a money bag before dumping a large pile of those new bronze coins into her hands.

“Oh! And I lied earlier, yeah the owner did paint the fan. He wrote the yellow books too,” the woman said, completely unabashedly.

Liu Qingge did not know how to address that, so she didn’t. Instead she focused on the more interesting part of her statement.

“Is he a cultivator?” she asked.

“Nah, I don’t think so? He doesn’t seem to age though, he just wears a shitty fake beard and says he’s old now,” The woman said, as if that were not the most perturbing response in a world filled with immortal creatures.

Liu Qingge nodded as she stored her change in the pocket of Shen Yuan’s outer robe.

“Thank you,” she said, and she left to continue her path to the edge of town.

As she walked she slid her fingers across the smooth wood of the fan, perhaps this would ease the transition for tonight’s conversation, and even if not Shen Yuan will surely appreciate a realistic visual for the creature.

However, not but a few steps from the stall, Liu Qingge felt a sharp tug in her chest. Like a rope going taut. It lasted only a hair of a second and then…

A fan clattered to the dirt path, and no hand came to pick it up.

Chapter Text

Shen Yuan felt the sting of her unbound hair whipping through the wind and across her face bringing stinging tears to her eyes. Somewhere in the back of her loud, loud mind a small voice drawled that she should have tied it back before she tore off. She ignored it and leaned farther into the wind as she pushed Xiu Ya to go faster, and faster. Her core burned with the drain and her legs shook with the strain as she desperately circled her qi through her limbs, binding her feet to the surface of the sword despite the quavers and dips of the blade from Shen Yuan’s inexperienced rushed flight. Her lungs were tight and her breaths came out choppy and lurching. She didn’t feel tired or winded, but she assumed she must be if her body was having this much trouble getting air. Xiu Ya wobbled again beneath her feet as her inhales came in heaving sob-like contractions that combined with that damned wind pushing her eyes to flow over with tears that refused to stop flowing. She should stop, Qingge would tell her to be careful.

But she was so close to Cang Qiong.

So instead she leaned forward, eking every ounce of speed from Xiu Ya as she came up on the first of the peaks. Her flight only got more difficult as she entered the mountain range, she was close to the ground, too close, but this way she could see any footsteps in the ash, or if Qingge had collapsed before she reached the caves. If she pulled up higher she might fly by her and never notice until it was too late. So instead she dodged and weaved between skeletal structures and burned out plinths (that she was sure were once grand trees) and tore through the sparse bamboo groves that had grown over the wreckage. Her arms stung from the branches and leaves that attempted to slow her path but she refused to let them delay her from finding Qingge.

Finally she crested over the last ledge separating her from the Ling Xi caves. She stumbled off her sword, only barely remembering to grab the floating hilt as she ran past the threshold and down the well worn paths marked by the many footsteps of Shen Yuan and Qingge from before they left the cave. Why did they have to leave? If they hadn’t Qingge would be safe, and Shen yuan wouldn’t have all these feelings roiling in her chest and clawing at her throat from behind the lump that had settled there in Qingge's absence..

Shen Yuan skidded around the corner to their cave, a desperately crazy smile pulling at her lips, her mouth already calling out for her love.

“Qingge-jie!”

It echoed through the cave. The empty walls mocking her with her own voice calling back to her.

“Qingge-jiejie!” She called out.

Still only her own voice responded.

“Liu Qingge, this isn’t funny! Where are you?” Shen Yuan laughed out into the empty.

She didn’t know why she was laughing but she couldn’t stop, the chuckles tumbled past her lips in short jackal bursts only interrupted by her heaving breaths.

“Oh your Qi, it’s probably gone right, you just need some of mine! Here, here sorry for making you wait!” She babbled at the walls, her smile only growing as she felt the corners of her wind-dried lips crack with the stretch. She folded herself into a lotus pose and reached deep into her exhausted core. She felt it thrum weakly as she pushed her energy outwards, pouring out of her pores into the ground beneath and the air around her. Her hair stood on end as the smell of ozone filled the cavern.

“Is that better?” She yelled out.

Only to once again be met with silence.

Shen Yuan stumbled back upright. All she could think was that perhaps Qingge hadn’t made it back to the cave, perhaps something happened in town and she just couldn’t reach Shen Yuan. That had to be it? So she dragged her protesting body back to the mouth of the cave and once again mounted Xiu Ya. The sword trilled a discordant little tune in her head, singing a song of worry and fear that only added to the current unending round of anxieties running through her mind.

What if Qingge had been revealed to be a ghost, would the townspeople try to dispel her? What if she was hurt or even worse dying right now while Shen Yuan wasted time here fiddling about because she was tired or some kind of bullshit. She shoved away Xiu Ya’s concern and took flight once more.

The wind was worse now, she thought. It felt the same but with the way her cheeks were wet with the reflexive tears from the wind it had to be worse and she felt more stream freely down her cheeks only to be whisked away into the air. She ignored them. She could clean up and laugh it off when she found Qingge, till then she would have to keep going.

The moon was high in the sky when she reached the town again. She didn’t bother dismounting, instead she ignored the points and shouts of the villagers still browsing the night market and weaved her way through the buildings, her eyes peeled for any sign of her friend.

There was nothing at the market.

Nothing at the town square

Nothing by the inn.

As she drew closer to the boundary of the town, with still no hide nor hair of Qingge, her hands began to shake. Shen Yuan didn’t know if it was the dawning horror or the exhaustion, and as the moon crept past its zenith, Shen Yuan felt the hope start to slip between her fingers.

What if she never saw Liu Qingge again, what if she was too late?

Without her input her hand whipped across her own cheek, the throbbing in both grounded her for a moment. It granted her a moment of clarity, that if she gave up now there would be no ‘if’ in that equation.

So she continued to look. For hours she circled the skies, eyes trained on the labyrinth of streets. Till finally she saw it.

A small pile of cloth on the street glinted with a metallic glimmer in the weak early morning light.

Shen Yuan plummeted to the ground, pouring off of Xiu Ya onto the street next to the cloth, startling the sleeping vendor enough to stir their sleep, but not enough to wake them up. She felt a surge of horror and relief as she recognized her own borrowed outer robe, still containing the small acid burns along the hem with the shorn sleeves from where Qingge had ripped them short. She fell to her knees next to them, clutching it to her chest as if she could hold Qingge through them. As she did so, a metallic clatter caught her attention. There, unceremoniously dumped on the ground, was Chen Luan and a simple bamboo and silk fan. She picked up Chen Luan with trembling hands and almost cried as she did.

It still sang. Its song was quiet, but it was there, with the soothing thrum of a bass clarinet but the pure resonance of a konghou. Shen Yuan felt more tears come flooding to her eyes, and this time she couldn’t blame the wind. But this, this was hope. She didn’t know how, and she couldn’t explain it, but something in Chen Luan’s song told her Liu Qingge was still there, however faint she may be. But it told Shen Yuan one thing:

She needed to hurry.

She got up quickly, swaying on her feet as she stood up right. She gathered the fan and the robes together and strapped Chen Luan to her back. She then marched forward and shook the vendor awake. The woman startled as she shot up,

“Damn it A-hua what took you so long?” she said, looking around as if she could materialize this ‘A-Hua to blame.

She then narrowed her eyes at Shen Yuan.

“Who are you, and what business do you have waking an old woman up in the middle of the night?” She grumbled with annoyance.

Shen Yuan folded herself into a quick, perfunctory bow, before continuing.

“Apologies for this one's rudeness, but to be honest I do not have time for niceties. Where is the Bai Lu forest?”

The woman sleep-slurred out an answer before tumbling back into her sleep, but Shen Yuan had gotten all she needed.

She once again mounted Xiu Ya

“I’ll rest soon, I promise. The moment I have Qingge back, I’ll rest.” she whispered, half to the sword, half to herself, before she once again took flight, leaving the small town behind her.

——————

The war god felt the rock of her skin stretch and waver with the echoes within her body. For a moment she felt her form explode with light and heat. It was…unpleasant… she could not flinch from it and she didn’t know if she had ever been able to, but something instinctively told her she should and it rankled her. Why should she run from the warmth? Her rough walls and worn-smooth floors were strong. She is Cang Qiong, how could she fear?

Something small and soft and weak in her disagreed though. It was an old part of her. The part that ruled before she was Cang Qiong, and then once more when she left.

How had she left? The weakness prodded.

It wasn’t important, for why would she ever do so? Here she was connected, she was home. She felt every heart beat of every beast. She felt the small steps of the bugs that crawled across the ash. From here she could find the life that haunted the corpse of her family.

But what of Mingyan? The small part wondered.

The stone was unmoved. Here they would hold fast, they could protect what remained with the power and ferocity of the earth itself

———————
The flight to Bai Lu forest was long, long enough that at some point Shen Yuan stopped counting the hours and instead kept time by the tremors running up and down her legs. She thought blithely that perhaps she had been too hard on the concept of cultivators riding carriages and horses around. At the time she had written a paragraph bemoaning financial waste of all of these cultivators, capable of flight, keeping full fleets of carriages. However now, sometime in her second day of flight, she could understand the need for some alternative method of transport. Sword flight was exhausting in its own unique way, requiring constant spiritual power to both keep the sword in the air as well as to bind one’s feet to the sword. She had attempted to save energy by loosening the binding on her feet and had learned her lesson via a very unpleasant high dive into a very cold lake. Though considering this was airplanes shitty trauma-fire world she should count her lucky stars it wasn’t filled with shelled-piranha snakes, or black-grass sawmouths or something equally atrocious. Her gaze grew fuzzy as she contemplated the biome and what creatures it could have supported. It was too cold to have borne any oasis-lurking boneclaws but also too small for any Ice-eyed lakewyrms. What had lived in the Bai Lu forest? She should be close to the mushroom pool, but she wasn’t quite sure. The book had been very vague about this area, it only really was mentioned a few times, first to mention the Huan Hua Maze array and second when Luo Binghe collected one of the Sun and Dew mushrooms to grow a body for his new wife of the week. It had made an impact on Shen Yuan because it been such a let down to have such a cool, and frankly fucking metal, concept used exactly once! And only because the plant fuckers weren’t satisfied by the 33 “woman trapped in an aphrodisiac tentacle/vine plant and they need to get fucked by Binghe, not a plant!” Plots. It didn’t even make sense with the set up, wife number 231 had been adamant that after they found her father’s killer she wanted to pass in combat, having finally cleared her path to a warrior's afterlife. Instead, after she got her wish, a “distraught” Binghe had transferred her soul to the back-up mushroom body, the villain of the week, and it was just fine! Where was her rage? Her sorrow of having been taken from her family once more? But the plant fuckers were satisfied and that’s all that mattered to the fucking sell-out.

Thwack!

The ground was soft, Shen Yuan thought as she stared up at the sky that she swore had been perpendicular to her only a few minutes prior. She moved a hand up to mechanically rub at the bruised area of her forehead only to bring it away wet with crimson fluid.

huh she thought clearly, as she locked eyes on the cause of this grievous attack on her person. A large oak tree grew in front of her, a small gleam of red on one of its many high branches.

“...the fuck?” she asked, into the air to whatever god was currently cruelly laughing at her plight.

And what a plight it was. How fucking stupid of her, to have some idiotic coming to terms, indie movie-ass gay awakening while the very center of the awakening was fading away to nothingness on the street.

She ducked her head, sniffling as her nose began to run and her eyes began to sting. She tried to hold it in, to clench her lips tight around the flood so as to not spill all her unwanted and unsightly feelings to her audience of disapproving trees. But her grasp slipped as her lip began to quiver as her chin buckled and her breaths began to hitch. She felt herself on the verge of bursting, like a damn after an onslaught, but then a slithering feeling over her foot had her wresting back control in a heartbeat as she schooled her features into a cool mien. She looked up slowly to see what was frankly the cutest fucking snake (with slightly disconcerting human eyes) she had ever seen. It didn’t seem to have any intent to harm so Shen Yuan began gently.

“Hello there, sorry to intrude but this one seems to have gotten lost. Do you know where the Bai Lu lake is?”

That was the wrong thing to say as the snake rose up and began to make a not-quite growling , not-quite hissing noise. (She didn’t know they could do that?)

Shen Yuan leaned back slowly and gentled her voice even more

“Whoaaa there. I have no intent to intrude for long. I’m just trying to save my friend. I wish to take one Sun and Dew mushroom and no more.”

The being, because this snake definitely understood what she was saying, looked at her deeply for a few moments during which Shen Yuan fought every instinct in her body screaming at her to run, or fight or try to continue convincing it, something whispered in the back of her thoughts it would only work against her.

Finally after it’s contemplating the creature nodded, before gesturing with its head and moving further into the forest. Shen Yuan rose to her feet and followed.

They walked for what felt like miles, as the sun sank lower in the sky and stretched the shadows of the trees across the ground. But just before Shen Yuan resigned herself to the idea that maybe following a strange, too smart snake into the middle of the woods was a bad idea, they came up on a placid pond.

The water glowed with a gentle pale light, and there, in the middle of the pond on a small island, were gentle white buds cropping up through the dew-wet grass. She slowed her steps as they approached and turned to look at her temporary companion.

“I can not thank you enough for your assistance today. This humble traveler's name is Shen Yuan, and I owe you a great favor.” She moved to cross the pool but stopped as she felt a cool scaled weight wrap around her ankle. She looked back at the creature who looked at her pointedly before looking at the mushroom and back to her and lightly hissing. It took her a moment before she caught on to the pantomime.

“Yes, yes, I know, only one.”

The creature attempted a smile, and it only vaguely looked like it wanted to eat her.

Nodding at her little friend, Shen Yuan walked into the lake, the frigid water seeping into her boots and fully saturating her robes, she carefully picked the most grown looking mushroom. After returning she looked at the adorable little mushroom guard.

“If you plan to use these for yourself I should warn you, they may not always play well with demonic energy. You might have to change how you grow them. I don’t know more than that, but I figured you should know,” she said regretfully.

The creature nodded in return before slithering off to continue its guard. She wondered what the creature used them for. She really wished she could have given more information, but Airplane hadn’t really mentioned how they work. She knew they worked because of the spiritual energy they soaked up and in Airplane’s world those two power sources didn’t really play well together, unless of course, you were the protagonist.

Pocketing the mushroom she began her journey back to Cang Qiong, but first she had a few more stops. Hearing her train of thought, Xiu Ya sang a warbling melody of concern, but it was unable to sway her with Chen Luan's song slowly fading each minute she away from the caves. She would rest soon, but first she needed to get some fertilizer.

—————-
Time seemed to dilate as she journeyed, she didn’t know if it was the ineda, the lack of sleep or the monotony of a week of travel, but her stops along the way home barely registered in her mind. Instead she listened to Chen Luan, ears straining for any possible decrescendo in its melody or any sound of a snap in its long and powerful blade. But its song remained stable, and soon the peaks once again crested over the horizon and grew larger still as she approached. She sailed over the plateau of ashes and rot, a bubbling combination of excitement and fear and anticipation churned in her heart. She was fairly certain the combination of herbs and artifacts she’d gathered would be sufficient to ripen the Sun and Dew body in a few days, but it was new territory that even the protagonist hadn’t tried. She saw the mouth of the cave and nearly fainted with relief with how close she was to this all being over. She could go back to exploring with Qingge and arguing over who would be best to mend their shared set of robes.

But as she alighted in front of the entrance only one thing came to mind,

“Oh, you’ve got to be fucking kidding me!”

For in front of the cave mouth, the last goddammed threshold before she could bring back the woman she just realized she loved, stood an anxious looking man plunking at his sleeves. He looked up at the sound of her voice as his eyes widened at the sight of her.

“Wow, I thought the old man was kidding when he said there was a cultivator on Cang Qiong! This one’s name is Shang , er.. Tyler?” he trailed off before nodding violently.

“Yes, Shang Tyler,” he said finally.

Shen Yuan graciously did not comment on the obviously fake name.

“Cool, neat, nice to meet you. I don't know what you want but I’m kind of busy here and need you to move please.” Shen Yuan rattled off with all the curt, rich bitch energy she could muster. And she must have mustered quite a bit when the hamster of a man paled and mumbled something under his breath that Shen Yuan was sure was unkind, but nothing she hadn't seen in an internet comment section before. When he made no effort to move Shen Yuan decided that she had had enough of this and went to shove past him.

“Wait, wait, listen I need to talk to you please. I think we might share the same hometown!” He cried, flinging his body in front of Shen Yuan’s path.

“Look, noble what-ever-the-fuck you are, I don't know who you are or where you are from but I can guarantee you we did not grow up in the same town, and I am trying to help my friend. So please for the love of god move ” she said, near yelling on her last words as she moved the man aside.

He squeaked, because of course he fucking did, as he tumbled to the ground. Shen Yuan stormed past him, finally reaching the threshold of the cave, her bleary and blood-shot eyes adjusting to the dark as she moved to the cavern…

“Proud Immortal Demon Way!”

Shen Yuan stopped dead in her tracks. She felt the urge to pretend she hadn’t heard it, and for a moment she considered it. But the constant background fear that her plan might not work, that it might make things worse, that it might push Qingge’s spirit beyond her grasp, reared its ugly head. She whipped around,

“You have five minutes, make it quick.” She spat, frustration sharpening her words even further.

“Oh! Neat! Great, shoot, I mean, okay, yes. I’ve been here for like centuries alone and it’s nice to have someone who just, like, knows right? Anyway, I was in town and someone said there was a cultivator on Cang Qiong and I was like, that’s not right. My son like, hardcore razed the place, and I don’t remember writing a Cang Qiong revival. So I -“

“You don’t remember what?” Shen Yuan cut him off. Or to be more specific cut Airplane shooting towards the sky off.

“…writing a Cang Qiong revival?” He said slowly, perhaps just now realizing his mistake.

Shen Yuan considered many things she wanted to say to this walking bane to her literary conscience.

‘Why did you abandon every theme you ever began for the sake of mediocre sex?’

‘Would it kill you to give a woman personality as well as triple F cups?’

‘Do you know how many back problems come along with triple F cups?’

‘Do you know how fucking big those are?’

‘Would it kill you to give any resolution that isn’t sex based?’

‘Why did you make Liu Qingge suffer so much? Why did she have to die in those caves? Didn’t she deserve the happiness she worked so damn hard for?’

But the empty LingXi caves yawned open behind her, and she did not want to allow the mass grave they stood on to claim one more soul before its time.

“We will come back to this, Airplane, and that is a threat.” She stared at him, trying to send every character of rage she had ever typed in her gaze, and based on his even paler face she suspected she succeeded.

“Moving on, I have a bushel of Red Planes spiritual grass, the blood of a black-furred Moon Goat, the saliva of a One hundred legged-swamp gator, and purple loam from the ruins of the river vampire-selkies, couldn’t even stick to Chinese folk lore could you? you fucking hack! I plan to macerate the grass before combining it with the saliva and ashes of the fur to use that as a matrix for the sun and dew mushroom and planting it within the loam. Based on the inconsistent lore this world is fucking teetering on, that should grow a sufficient body for a high level cultivator of Liu Qingge’s level in the quickest fashion. Correct?” Shen Yuan said, slightly out of breath by the end.

“Cucumber?”

“Peerless cucumber, thank you. Answer the fucking question.”

Airplane blinked, then he blinked again. He repeated this process a few times before he finally responded.

“Liu Qingge? What does he have to do with this?”

Shen Yuan twitched at the address but before she could say anything he continued

“God it’s been a long time since I thought this hard about my notes. That should work, but the sun and dew mushrooms might become unstable in such a short gestation period. That’s why what’s-his-name had to wait so long before attempting to attack my son,” He said slowly.

“Stop calling him that, it’s weird” Shen Yuan began,

“I probably won't,” he responded.

“Don’t interrupt me. What about wife number 231? Binghe grew her body and placed her soul in a period of a day!” Shen Yuan asked, panic beginning to tug at her mind. She was not going to let this man tell her it was all in vain, that she was on day seven of no sleep and constant flight and living on the berries she could find on the way for nothing.

“Wife number.. oh shit! That one? Damn didn’t know you bought that extra, you didn’t comment on it so I figured it slipped past you. That was because of the dual cultivation! It tied her essence to the body and helped stabilize the Sun and dew mushroom’s spiritual energy. So who are you trying to bring back?” He asked, leaning in, his eyes alight with curiosity.

“Liu Qingge, her soul was trapped in the caves after the Qi deviation. I found her when I first got here.” She bit out. She hated to share anything about their time together, but any detail might be important.

“Wow! He’s been hanging around all this time? I’m surprised he didn’t kill you when you found him, I wrote that Qi deviation to be pretty nasty business!” He said amazedly.

“Would you stop calling her that! You of all people should know it’s wrong!” Shen Yuan snapped.

She expected him to look ashamed, or perhaps double down with the offended sensibilities of a bigot. But instead he just looked at her guilelessly confused.

“… Liu Qingge is a woman. Did you forget your own lore? Also would it have killed you to mention that? Or the fact that Shen Qingqiu killed her by accident? Those are important world building things!” She said, her voice raising by the end.

“What? No H..” he stopped at Shen Yuan’s look

“Look if she is, that’s cool! I mean it would make sense with the whole re-forming Bai Zhan thing, but I swear I didn’t write that! It wasn’t even in my drafts!” He said defensively.

“What about the cave scene! Shen Qingqiu was trying to help her? That’s important information!” Shen Yuan retorted. She had more important things to do, and she knew it. But some residual internet troll energies had possessed her at this point and she wanted to squeeze this man like a fucking stress ball.

“The Shen Qingqiu thing got cut because, like, who wants the scum villain to be sympathetic? You sure didn’t, you were the loudest person calling for castration and all that limb-ripping goodness.” He snarked back

“That was when I thought he was a fucking pedo! But apparently that was another lie, so way to drop the ball on that one,” she yelled in return.

They sat in silence for a few moments before Airplane spoke up hesitantly.

“I mean, unreliable narrators are all the rage right now?…” he waited a moment and sighed at her silence

“ Look, I needed to make rent. And tragic backstories and misplaced good intentions don’t get the wallets open,” he said.

Shen Yuan decided to be the bigger woman, and was about to let it go, before she realized something,

“Wait, you said you didn’t know about Liu Qingge? You’re the author, how could you not know?”

“I don’t know! That’s the whole point! I never wrote anything regarding gender identity, god knows the comments already tore into me for having Binghe and Mobei-Jun sharing a hug. I had to do a whole ‘no homo’ arc about it!”

Shen yuan hated it but she had to laugh

“Yeah, I remember that one, it was awful. Wife 358 right? With the frostbite titties?”

“Oh gods, don’t remind me about the frostbite titties,” he groaned.

“But if you didn’t write it, then does that mean that you didn’t form the world?” She pressed

“Well I mean, all the stuff in my drafts made it in, same with some stuff I dreamt up but didn’t write,” He said

“But maybe that’s it! Maybe it’s a chicken egg scenario! Maybe you were just seeing this world, getting peeks through some cross dimensional window,” she leaned in, her hands beginning to gesture wildly with excitement

“That… weirdly would make sense. It would explain the system, and why it feels like it has it out for me? But that would excuse me from the porn right!” Airplane responded with equal excitement.

Shen Yuan rolled her eyes, of course the porn would be the first thing to come up.

“Unless it’s a combination of both, where you got like editing abilities on the Google doc that was already written, in which case no excuses.”

“Oh come on!” Airplane cried,

“No. But we are getting off topic, how do I balance the energy of the Sun and dew mushrooms to Liu Qingge’s soul without Binghe’s heavenly pillar?” Shen Yuan went right back to business. It was selfish of her to be here chatting and enjoying meeting at least one other person who knew what coffee was when she should be focusing on saving Liu Qingge.

“It doesn’t have to be my son's pillar, any dual cultivation will do!” the other transmigrator interrupted her thoughts.

That was not the answer she was hoping for.

“Would just cycling energies together work?” She asked, still holding on to a thread of hope.

Airplane grimaced

“No, sadly it’s got to be sexual, the energies at climax and all that stuff. But hey, if she takes after her sister Liu Qingge should have no problem getting ass when her shroom body is fully baked,” he said, attempting to cheer Shen Yuan up in the weirdest way.

“Alright, well we will repress that bridge when we get there. Thank you, I guess, for the help,” she said, stiltedly.

“We… can meet later?” she continued, looking pointedly at the cave behind her, and good god the man lit up like a lightbulb

“Yeah! I can meet you here later? My travel buddy should be in town for some time so I’m here for a bit. Also pro-tip, you might want to clean up a bit if you're going to be doing the dual cultivation thing, you look like shit,” he threw the last part over his shoulder, as he turned and headed back to town.

Motherfucker.

She took a steadying breath. So she might have to talk the straightest and coolest woman in the world to sleeping with her, but it would save Liu Qingge. Even if it might ruin their friendship. She stood up straight, pulled her shoulders back and strode into the cave.

She had grass to chew, fur to burn, soil to turn and mushrooms to grow.