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Chapter Text

The land around Puqi Village smelled of disturbed earth, fresh grass, and life. A light breeze swept from the surrounding chestnut trees into the guests happily chatting around tables of food and drink. It was an eclectic group of partiers, some wore tattered clothes that hadn’t been washed in weeks, while others wore glaring white cultivation robes. Daoists and beggars alike ate at the same tables, all enjoying the same joyous celebration.

From the foot of a mountain to the south, a lone figure observed their revelry. The fine skin of his handsome face was pale like polished seashells. Yet, he bore the visage of one who had experienced death of the soul long before his body died. The light of the jovial surroundings somehow failed to reflect off his deep, golden eyes.

A waft of salty sea air blew past as the black robed figure slipped quietly into the interior of Puqi Shrine. Gifts were stacked practically to the ceiling beside the brightly painted crown prince statue. He Xuan silently added a small box to the hoard before turning his gaze back to the yard.

One particular beggar stood out among the rest. He dragged one of his legs when he walked, and one of his arms hung lamely at his side. Yet, his eyes veritably shone with happiness, and his laugh sounded at every joke.

He Xuan’s eyes locked onto this man whose life had been dragged from the heavens down to the lowest part of the earth, but who still shone as brightly as he remembered. Shi Qingxuan patted a fellow beggar on the back as he laughed heartily. The sight brought back memories of another feast; this one bathed in pretentious finery. At it, he had busily partaken of the offered food and drink alongside Shi Qingxuan. The other had laughed and patted him on the back the same way. “Mingxuan, Mingxuan,” he had called out during his endless chatter.

Slightly annoying, yet the memory brought a complicated expression to He Xuan’s face. His fingers absently stroked the narwhal horn flask tied to his hip as his face softened slightly.

All at once, one of the cultivators seemed to be putting up a fuss about something. Shi Qingxuan and the object of Hua Cheng’s obsession responded by heading toward the shrine, along with two finely-clothed heavenly officials.

He Xuan wasted no time in ducking behind the enormous stack of gifts. In his hurry, his hip smacked soundly against the wall hard enough to disturb the cork of the narwhal horn bottle. He Xuan paid it no mind as he listened to the goings on in the room.

The group of four had seemingly entered the kitchen, providing quite the shock for the two heavenly dandies.

As always, Xie Lian tried to smooth things over. “Didn’t I say you couldn’t do this?” he asked the chicken spirit that was producing shockingly enticing aromas.

He Xuan peeked out from behind the pile of gifts as the two argued. He was just in time to see the two heavenly dandies fling away their partially eaten bowls in disgust—an atrocity if ever there was one. The very sight of it made the skin on the back of his neck prickle in irritation.

Nonetheless, he was silently gratified to see that the formerly spoiled Shi Qingxuan reacted with utter calm. He even nibbled on the ends of his chopsticks as he listened to the others complain.

The corners of He Xuan’s lips twitched, almost as if he were tempted to smile.

The group drifted back outside, where they were met by the same cultivator who had been causing problems before. The cultivator seemed to be concerned about the evil qi on Xie Lian’s body.

This elicited an eyeroll from He Xuan. Really? Were ghosts not allowed intimacy with the ones they loved? Why should they, of all people, be barred from such things?

The two heavenly dandies had gone completely silent. Meanwhile, Xie Lian was in the process of having a stroke from embarrassment.

Amusingly, Shi Qingxuan seemed to be the only one who failed to grasp the implications of the cultivator’s words. The concern was clear on his face as he demanded whether Xie Lian really was ill.

At this moment, Hua Cheng sauntered over and was immediately bombarded with questions from Shi Qingxuan.

The sight of Hua Cheng caused something in He Xuan’s pocket to wriggle excitedly, and he smacked it in irritation.

His eyes darkening, He Xuan watched Shi Qingxuan eventually finish his questions and melt back into the crowd. On his way to rejoin his lower-city friends, Shi Qinxuan’s bad leg caught on a table leg, sending him headfirst into a freshly prepared bowl of rice. Plump white granules coated his body from his outstretched arm to his chest. Shi Quinxuan reacted by laughing the whole thing off as if it were nothing, but the sight turned He Xuan’s already cold expression to ice. He watched Shi Quinxuan brush off the rice with a hard expression, yet somewhere in his golden eyes was something that might have been pain.

In a flash of black robes, He Xuan flickered into the kitchen. Just as quickly, the endless bowls of soup and rice had been devoured, all of them poured into a void that food could never fill. Screams rang out as the chicken and boar spirits discovered the disappearance of their efforts. He Xuan barely heard them as he retired to an empty rice barrel to sleep off his ensuing coma. After grumpily wrapping his robes around his body, he drifted off to sleep.

***

No sooner had He Xuan’s eyelids closed than something moved in the pocket of his robes. From the pocketful of seawater emerged a small bonefish, shrunken down to the size of a man’s palm.

As the seniormost of He Xuan’s bonefish, Peanut Jr. had long since cultivated the ability to adjust his size for the sake of convenience. With a happy flick of his tail, he hopped out of the rice barrel and into the kitchen. The chicken and boar spirits had already resumed their work of cooking up another round of food. Peanut Jr. ignored them and flopped his way to the altar room of Puqi Shrine. He had recognized Daddy Hua Cheng’s voice earlier and couldn’t wait to show off his latest talents.

Unfortunately, by this time, Hua Cheng had already whisked Xie Lian away with his own ideas in mind. Peanut Jr. was left to amuse himself at the party in the yard. Ghost fish do not need to breathe, but the occasional dousing in a warm bowl of chicken-spirit soup was quite refreshing. The partygoers never even noticed the tiny bonefish hopping from bowl to shoulder to table around them.

Jr. was in the process of inventing a game using a cultivator’s head crown as a diving board when a commotion broke out at the doorway to the shrine.

The noisy cultivator from before was howling at a hooded figure leading an ox cart up the road to the shrine. The cultivator was pointing an accusing finger and yelling things like “essence of evil” and “my heaven’s eye”.

The cart driver stood completely still for several long minutes. Finally, he raised a long, bony hand to sweep away his oversized hood. The face that was revealed bore an unnaturally wide smile of vivid red on a white paper mâché background. This really got the cultivator worked up, and he was quickly joined by several of his friends.

The scene only devolved from there, and Peanut Jr. leaned forward to watch the whole show in amusement. The cultivators and the cart driver ghost hurled insults at each other and were about to come to blows when an official in a general’s uniform got in between them. Much to Jr.’s disappointment, the official managed to quiet everyone down and send them on their separate ways.

After playing around late into the night, Peanut Jr. returned to the kitchen and dove into a large pot of leftover soup. It was the perfect place to cultivate for the rest of the night—or longer, depending on how long Daddy He Xuan stayed in his food coma.

As he was happily splashing about in the fragrant broth, he heard the voices of several lingering partygoers.

“His highness and Hua Chengzhu must have already gone to sleep. The least we can do is help out with the cleanup.” The speaker was a beggar with a bad arm and lame leg. He heaved a large stack of bowls onto the counter and continued energetically. “This really meant the world to us lot. It is the most food any of us have seen in years.”

Wiping his hands on his raggedy clothes, the man sighed. “It really brings back memories of old times…” He subconsciously leaned against a barrel labeled “rice”, his eyes unfocused as if in reminiscence.

If Peanut Jr. had still had gills, they would have frozen with apprehension as he waited to see what would happen. However, the beggar remained oblivious to the barrel’s true contents as he straightened and finished helping with the cleanup.

Once everyone left and all was quiet, Peanut Jr. stilled his bony fins into a steady rhythm and focused on his own version of fishy cultivation…

The next thing he knew, his bony little body was surrounded by fabric. His mouth was filled, not with the rich aroma of chicken soup, but with the saltiness of seawater. It took several long moments for his groggy little fishy mind to run through some theories of what had happened. Had Master woken early and already re-stowed him in his pocket? Usually, after a meal like that, Daddy He Xuan would have been out for at least a week straight.

This whole thing was very strange. He Xuan was standing, extremely still, and seemed to be bent forward slightly. There was the muffled sound of voices in the distance, possibly from another room.

Next, he heard Xie Lian’s voice. Peanut Jr. liked that person. Not only was he a friend of Daddy Hua Cheng, but he was also nice. However, the words that came from him next made Peanut Jr.’s spinal bones stand on end.

Didn’t I say you couldn’t do this?” Xie Lain asked.

Chapter Text

Peanut Jr.’s mind was swimming, and it wasn’t just because of the chicken soup he had cultivated in all night. The day was playing out exactly as it had yesterday. There might not be many brain cells in a bonefish’s head, but he could tell this wasn’t right.

Daddy He Xuan lingered in the doorway of Puqi Shrine, eavesdropping on exactly the same conversation he had yesterday, spoken by exactly the same people. Most concerningly of all, Daddy Xuan seemed remarkably unbothered by the strangeness of the situation. He reacted in exactly the same way he had the day before, from each minute change in posture to the raging appetite he displayed after the eavesdropping was over.

The little bonefish forgot to even move his fins as Master jumped into the exact same empty rice barrel he had yesterday.

This isn’t right. This can’t be right. As much as he was aware of this fact, Peanut Jr. also knew that he had no idea what to do about it. There was nothing for it. He needed to wake Daddy Xuan and alert him to what was going on. Surely, he would know what to do.

With a quick flick of bone, Peanut Jr. was out of He Xuan’s pocket and flopping freely within the rice barrel. Next, he got to work getting Master’s attention. He patted his bony fins against his face, then did a somersault to thwack him with his tail. Nothing. Peanut Jr. tried prying Daddy Xuan’s eyelids open. He tried tickling his nose with the fine bones at the tip of his tail. Still nothing. 

Jr. was beginning to feel desperate. What could he do? The sleep Daddy Xuan had sunk into was akin to a season-long hibernation. In fact, since He Xuan had no respiration or heartbeat, it was more like flat-out death. What could a little bonefish possibly do to wake him up?

Hopelessness circled in his bony little fishy chest cavity as he hopped out of the rice barrel and went outside. He stared blankly into the night until, finally, he was struck with an idea.

A cloaked figure leading an ox cart was slowly making their way down the road to Puqi Shrine. Images of the argument from last night flashed through Peanut Jr.’s mind. It’s perfect!

He eagerly circled the yard as a plan solidified in his mind. The figure was still a good distance off, which gave him some time to find what he needed. His gaze landed on a pair of brooms next to a pile of spent firecrackers. Aha!

Heaven’s eye was only just noticing the cart driver now. In a flash, Peanut Jr. sprang into action. With the grace of a bonefish ballerina, he slammed his body into one end of a broom, catapulting it directly into Heaven’s Eye’s feet.

“Hey, you—” Heaven’s Eye called out just as the broom handle slapped against his feet. The impact made him lose his balance, flapping his arms wildly like a goose to avoid a full crash landing in the grass.

Just as Peanut Jr. had hoped, the distraction was enough to allow the cart ghost to enter Puqi Shrine with a fresh barrel of rice.

“You there! Stop where you are!” Heaven’s Eye quickly regained his balance, and his pride, enough to run after the cart ghost.

Peanut Jr. was right on the cultivator’s heels as he burst into Puqi Shrine’s kitchen. He wouldn’t have had it any other way. The look on Heaven’s Eye’s face was absolutely priceless as he took in the sight of the chicken and boar spirits preparing food like what he had just eaten.

“Y-you!” Heaven’s Eye choked out. He was so mad he could barely speak for a moment, then he burst into condemnation. “I knew it! I told that Xie Lian-gonzi the evil qi was inside him! What is he trying to do? Does he intend to poison us all?!”

The boar spirit’s tusks snapped to attention as he glared back at the cultivator. “What ya mean poison everyone? This here is quality meat. Not gonna find more choice cuts of meat within a thousand li of here!”

The chicken spirit poked his head out of the broth and was equally insulted. “Right! This ancestor has the finest broth you will ever find.” He tilted back his head to let out a loud crow as if in demonstration. 

Heaven’s Eye took a step back at this, his back slamming soundly into the rice barrel behind him.

Peanut Jr.’s eye sockets veritably glinted with light.

The lid of the barrel slowly lifted upward. A messy head of hair with a mysterious clump of seaweed slowly came into view.

When He Xuan slept, he slept hard. Having been awoken from this unnatural slumber, his face was the picture of death. The dark circles under his eyes were tinged with purple, and his usually golden irises had turned a vicious shade of red.

Unfortunately, Heaven’s Eye chose that exact moment to turn around, his face mere inches from He Xuan’s. The cultivator’s mouth flapped as if he were a carp on the planks of a fisherman’s boat. A slight gurgling sound came from his mouth. Immediately after, his eyes rolled back into his head, and he fell to the floor unconscious.

“Calm down, calm down! No fighting in Puqi Shrine while his highness is away!” A voice came from the next room.

He Xuan had just enough time to turn his back to the door and use an image-changing spell on himself before the door burst open.

In rushed that one beggar from before with the bad arm and leg. He didn’t even wait to catch his breath before launching into a series of questions, “What was all that shouting about? Let’s not lose our tempers. His highness couldn’t bear it if his new shrine were destroyed on the day of its dedication—” His voice cut off as his eyes landed on Heaven’s Eye’s crumpled body on the floor.

He Xuan slowly turned around. He had changed his appearance to that of a young master, with a handsome, if sullen, face. His eyes flicked to the cultivator on the floor before turning away dismissively. “Couldn’t handle the soup. Fool didn’t realize what he was in for.”

“…Oh.” The beggar leaned forward for a better look. “Is he going to be alright?”

He Xuan responded by casually tossing the body over his shoulder. “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of him.”

“Ah, good, good. Thank you, Gonzi.” The beggar looked at He Xuan’s face and flushed for some reason. “Say, Gonzi, I don’t know why, but even though I just met you, I already like you for some reason. Maybe you remind me of someone. Why don’t you come out and join us outside? Oh, come, come, come!” He grabbed He Xuan’s hand and tugged on it playfully.

A barely perceptible mist crept into the corners of He Xuan’s eyes. He gave a single nod, sending the satisfied beggar to go on ahead. As soon as the beggar was through the doorway, He Xuan tossed Heaven’s Eye into the empty rice barrel without so much as a backward glance.

Peanut Jr. happily flapped after Daddy He Xuan. The plan had worked! Now that Daddy Xuan was awake, he could figure out what was going on with the timeline.

However, Jr.’s plan soon ran into an unforeseen hurdle. For some reason, Daddy He Xuan was entirely focused on the beggar from earlier. He sat next to him in the yard and barely moved his gaze from him for a single second. If he didn’t know better, Jr. would have thought the beggar was the one responsible for the time loop…

Peanut Jr. watched glumly as the beggar, who he learned was named “Ol’ Feng,” practically jumped to his feet in excitement. “Oh, I know, I know! Let’s play a game! It is the perfect way for people to get to know each other. I heard about a new one recently, it is called ‘Spin the Flask’. Now that we have a group together, let’s give it a go.”

The other people at the table all seemed strangely unenthused, with the exception of a single female cultivator, who kept blushing and glancing at one of her sect mates. “That sounds like fun,” she squeaked out.

“That settles it, then! Let’s play. Who has a flask we can use?” Ol’ Feng verbally prodded the others at the table until someone produced a somewhat dented drinking flask. Nodding with approval, he asked, “Okay, now we just spin the flask on the table. Who wants to go first?”

The group was silent for several long moments before Ol’ Feng finally volunteered himself. “Alright then, I will go first so everyone can see how the game is played.” He leaned forward and gave the flask an elegant flick with his fingers.

The others at the table watched the flask with complicated expressions on their faces. As the flask gradually slowed, He Xuan leaned forward with an unreadable look on his face. It was as if he were praying and cursing, all at the same time.

The people at the table held their collective breath as the flask slowed to a stop. It was pointing directly at He Xuan. Everyone sucked in their breath and looked at Ol’ Feng expectantly.

Feng’s eyes traced the direction of the flask to He Xuan and burst into nervous laughter, scratching the back of his neck. “Oh, look at that! It seems I’ve gotten our new friend. Ha hahaha!”

Everyone continued to stare at Ol’ Feng, making him squirm. “What?”

“You don’t actually know how this game is played, do you?” someone finally asked.

“What makes you say that? Ha, hahaha!” Ol’ Feng continued to laugh nervously, confirming he had no idea what he was doing.

“It’s okay,” He Xuan intoned, his eyes locked onto Ol’ Feng. “I know how it’s played.” Taking Feng by the hand, he led him to Puqi Shrine’s altar room.

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

Peanut Jr. sat motionless in the pocketful of seawater, his mind ringing with the things he had seen in the last loop. He’d had an inkling that “beggar” held some special meaning to Daddy He Xuan. Never in a million loops would he have guessed that he was someone who meant that much to him, though. The memory of Xuan’s screams still raised chills along his spine.

It would have been utterly impossible to mistake the emotions behind that reaction. Still…  Peanut’s forehead crinkled as he circled the inside of He Xuan’s pocket. If this Shi Quinxuan meant that much to Daddy He Xuan, why did he linger so far away? He didn’t know much about human relationships, but surely Daddy Xuan would be happier if he kept this Shi Quinxuan close by, right?

Peanut Jr. knew he needed to do something about this. Daddy He Xuan had revealed such loneliness and pain from deep within his heart. Now that he knew about it, Peanut couldn’t bear to stand by and do nothing.

He needed to get them together somehow, but how? Who did he know with experience in these kinds of things? His thoughts were interrupted by the deep tones of a man’s voice. From outside He Xuan’s pocket, Daddy Hua Cheng was saying something to the crown prince.

Jr. tapped his fin. He had personally witnessed several key points in Daddy Hua Cheng’s relationship and heard about many more. Perhaps there was a thing or two he could learn about relationships from him?

Peanut Jr. barely waited for He Xuan to fall asleep in the rice barrel before setting out on a fact-finding mission. Transforming into his bipedal form, he padded along the footpath in the direction Hua Cheng and Xie Lian had gone. The two of them must have run off very quickly. There was no sign of them anywhere he looked. He was just about to give up and try again in the next loop when he heard a soft scraping from a nearby stand of chestnut trees.

Cocking his head in curiosity, he went to investigate. As he stepped through the hedge that lined the pathway, he found himself surrounded by an art gallery of wooden statues. Branches and wood chips littered the ground around dozens of large, standing trees that had all been carved into statues like the one inside Puqi Shrine. In the midst of the carvings hovered an intensely focused scimitar, who was still carefully studying his work.

Eming?

The scimitar’s large red eye turned to look at him with a blink. In an instant, it transformed into a small boy the same size as Peanut Jr. The boy’s red eyes crinkled into a smile as he recognized the bonefish. The two had often played together when Hua Cheng was at the black water lair.

Eming! Peanut Jr. hurried forward excitedly. If Eming had managed to cultivate a human form, then perhaps that meant he had escaped the time loop as well. Barely daring to breathe, Peanut started scribbling out words on a patch of bare ground: Hi, Eming! Do you know about the time loop too?

Eming gazed down at the words in the dirt before transforming back into a scimitar to write a response. After completing his scrawl, he changed back into a boy, and they both stared down at the ground.

Peanut Jr., “…”

Eming, “…”

The “writing” was utterly illegible.  

The two of them exchanged glances and sighed. There was no changing who a person’s parents were.

Peanut Jr. smoothed out the patch of dirt and tried again: Eming, where is Daddy Hua Cheng?

Eming’s eyes widened, and his face turned pink. He glanced in the direction of the woods. Perhaps there was a hidden cabin back there somewhere?

Peanut Jr. began to follow Eming’s gaze when he was abruptly stopped. The other boy blocked his way, waving his arms frantically.

Peanut Jr. furrowed his brows. What’s wrong? Why don’t you want me to go back there?

Eming covered his face with his hand, failing to conceal the red that had spread all the way to his ears. He took Peanut Jr. by the hand and led him in the opposite direction, shaking his head repeatedly.

Unsure what all the fuss was about, Jr. decided that having Eming to help him was better than nothing. The two of them plotted together long into the night. Peanut Jr. wrote in the dirt, while Eming mimed his responses to the best of his ability.

By the time the loop ended, Peanut Jr. felt like they had a solid plan.

***

Peanut Jr. hardly waited for He Xuan’s body to still in sleep before he burst out of the rice barrel. Quickly transforming into his boy form, he ran out of Puqi Shrine and into the crowd. The person he was looking for was right where he expected him to be. The heavenly official Mu Qing was pouting by himself in one corner of the yard.

Jr. reached out to tug on Mu Qing’s sleeve, all the while pulling his own hood lower to cover his face. As much as he had cultivated recently, his face was still a bit… fishy, and he didn’t want it to cause a distraction. Even with a cloak covering his face, he could still feel Mu Qing’s stare boring into the back of his head.

Undaunted, Peanut Jr. pointed at Archie the cart ghost making his way up the road. He looked up in time to see the heavenly official roll his eyes before walking forward to meet their visitor.

Yay! It is working.

Peanut Jr. looked triumphantly over his shoulder into the crowd. He spotted another small boy approaching Heaven’s Eye with a pack of playing cards. Good. Eming was also in position. Everything was going according to plan; he just needed Shi Qingxuan to fall into their carefully laid trap.

By now, Mu Qing was leading Archie into the shrine. Not wanting to miss anything, Peanut Jr. hurried after them. Inside, Mu Qing stood in the kitchen rolling his eyes at the boar and chicken spirits as they argued over which ingredients should be unloaded first. Peanut Jr. couldn’t help but peek back through the doorway. Shi Qingxuan should be noticing the commotion any minute—

Before he could finish the thought, Heaven’s Eye burst through the doorway. “Don’t think you can fool me with your evil tricks!” he bellowed at a startled Archie and Mu Qing.

“Bok—what?!” The chicken spirit stared at Heaven’s Eye in bewilderment.

“Y-you!” Heaven’s Eye hesitated in shock before lunging forward, preparing a palm strike.

Archie was so startled that he stumbled backward, dropping the bag of rice he was holding in the process. As he fell, his back landed against the fireplace the boar was using to roast pork legs, sending sparks and firewood flying.

“Take this, you evil beast!” Heaven’s Eye’s strike landed squarely in the chicken spirit’s chest, knocking him clean out of his soup pot.

The chicken spirit rolled and clucked in shock as several glowing coals rolled out from under his pot and across the floor. One of them landed against the curtains, causing them to instantly burst into flames.

Mu Qing let out a stream of curses as he rushed to try to put out the fire, all the while trying to dodge Heaven’s Eye’s continued attacks. In the end, it proved to be more than one heavenly official could handle, and flames quickly spread to the rest of the building.

Peanut Jr. wandered outside in a daze and looked up just in time to see the thatched roof burst into an inferno. Bright orange flames leapt into the air like floating seaweed and were silhouetted against the mountain behind the shrine.

Peanut’s gaze slowly sharpened as he gazed at the sight before him. The more he looked at it, the more he got the feeling that something about it wasn’t right. There was something wrong with that mountain. He stared at it for a good thirty seconds.

The mountain… it was in the wrong place!

Chapter Text

Peanut Jr.’s mind flew back to the countless time loops he had lived through. One object that was ever present, but to which he never paid attention, was the looming shadow of the mountain he and He Xuan had crossed on their way to Puqi Village. Since he had always stayed within a relatively short distance of Puqi Shrine, the location of the mountain hadn’t caught his attention. Yet, as he looked at it now, he could say for certain that it was not where it had been when he and Daddy Xuan had first arrived.

What did this mean? Could it be connected with the time loop somehow? Peanut Jr. had vague knowledge of a mountain spirit that could change its location without humans or ghosts seeing it move. Something nagged at the corners of his mind, but he couldn’t quite put the pieces together.

He was still puzzling over everything when he met up with Eming in the woods for a postmortem of their failed plan.

Eming’s eyes were sullen as he paced back and forth at their meeting spot. Before Peanut Jr. had time to write a single character in the dirt, Eming had produced a small, wooden carving of a cultivator from his pocket. It was astonishingly well done, complete with a third eye carved into its forehead.

Eming silently placed the doll on the ground before transforming into a scimitar and cleaving the likeness cleanly in two. He switched back into his human form and looked into Jr.’s eyes pointedly.

No, no, you can’t kill him. Peanut Jr. scribbled out hastily. We still need Heaven’s Eye for the rest of our plan.

Eming sighed in frustration and folded his arms.

It’s not time to give up yet. I have an idea… Peanut Jr. conveyed his thoughts to Eming, all the while wondering about the mysteriously transient mountain in the back of his mind.

After completing the planning session, Peanut Jr. returned to Puqi Shrine to cultivate in the burnt remnants of chicken spirit soup that were still stuck to the insides of the pot. This time, his mind was so busy pondering over the discoveries of the day that he never did drift off to sleep.

***

Peanut Jr. found himself surrounded again by fabric. A slight vibration entered his ears, like the scraping of porcelain against wood.

What was that sound?

Poking his head out of He Xuan’s pocket, Jr. peered down at the origin of the noise. Dangling from Daddy Xuan’s waist was a polished narwhal-horn flask, the cap of which had come loose and was dangling to the side.

Peanut Jr. stared. He had known about the narwhal-horn flask since before the first loop. The cap had come open when He Xuan had bumped against the wall as he hurried to hide in Puqi Shrine…

All at once, the implications of this landed on Peanut like a ton of bricks. Narwhals were creatures famed for their legendary abilities. To eat the flesh of one was said to confer eternal life on the eater. Potions made from their blood and fat could cure any illness, stopping time in one’s body and restoring them to a state of perpetual youth.

A potion with the power to alter time… A mountain spirit with the ability to manipulate space. Peanut Jr.’s head ached. He needed to transform into his human form so he could process all of this information more fully. For now, he just knew that, for some reason, the loop had begun at the same time the cork was removed from the narwhal potion’s lid. Maybe putting that cork back on the bottle was the key to closing the loop. Could it be that simple?

Peanut Jr. was finally jolted from his thoughts as the rice barrel lid wobbled shut over He Xuan’s head. No time to lose! If he was going to figure out how to get Daddy He Xuan and Shi Qingxuan together, he needed to get to work now.

Diving out of He Xuan’s pocket, Jr. eyed the still-open flask at his master’s side. Well, not like there’s anything to lose. Lifting the cork with a fin, he carefully stuffed it back into the flask. He paused for a beat. Nothing felt any different. The only way to tell whether it had worked would be to go through the rest of the day and see if things repeated.

Hopping out of the barrel, he changed into his human form. His part in the current plan was very similar to the last loop. With the composure of a seasoned actor, he drew Mu Qing and Archie into Puqi Shrine.

“Perfect, bring in more pork legs next.” The boar spirit wiped sweat from his forehead.

“No—Bok! Bring more salt—” The chicken spirit was interrupted as a heavenly official in a general’s uniform burst through the doorway.

“Mu Qing, what the f***? What the hell is this supposed to mean?” Feng Xin held up an effigy of himself in one hand. The lace-trimmed bridal robes clothing the figure were almost as red as his face.

Shi Qingxuan hurried through the doorway behind him. “Oh, come now. Surely there must be some explanation for this. Besides, being a woman isn’t all that bad anyway…”

Mu Qing sneered back at Feng Xin. When his eyes landed on the figure, he couldn’t help but let out a snorting laugh.

Feng Xin immediately let loose a palm strike.

The strike missed its target, and the rice barrel behind Mu Qing exploded into splinters. A dark-robed figure fell from the debris and landed in a puddle on the floor.

He Xuan looked up in a daze, his eyes meeting Shi Qingxuan’s.

“It—it’s you,” Shi Qingxuan stuttered as he instinctively took a step backward.

Another human burst through the doorway and slammed into Shi Qingxuan. “I’ve caught you now! Don’t think you can fool this eye, you evil swine!” Heaven’s Eye panted for breath as he leveled a finger at Archie.

“Swine? Who ya callin’ swine?” The boar spirit snorted in disdain.

Heaven’s Eye stared in shock at the boar spirit before quickly readying a palm strike.

Unfortunately, he was no faster than in any of the other loops. The boar spirit caught on to what he was about to do and snorted with rage. With hooves clanking sharply on the floorboards, he charged towards Heaven’s Eye.

The scene seemed to play out in slow motion as the cultivator’s eyes widened millimeter by millimeter. With the grace of a gust of wind, he leapt swiftly out of the way, revealing the lame Shi Qingxuan who had been standing behind him.

The boar spirit tried to stop, but it was all in vain as his body barreled forward.

Peanut Jr.’s eyes squeezed shut as the sound of sharp tusks sinking into flesh filled the room.

“I-I didn’t mean to…” The boar spirit quavered with shock as he withdrew his tusks.

Crumpled on the ground lay a black-robed figure.

“Ming—Mingxuan!” Shi Qingxuan rushed forward to cradle the bleeding He Xuan in his lap. In the last moment, he had shielded Shi Qingxuan with his own body. The great Calamity had been run clean through.

“Hang in there, Mingxuan!” The god-turned-mortal pulled down He Xuan’s robes to reveal his pierced chest. He pressed both hands against the wound as if to stop the bleeding, his panic-addled mind not registering that there was no blood.

Peanut Jr.’s forehead wrinkled. Daddy He Xuan was a ghost king who had died centuries ago. Not only did he not have blood to bleed, but a little wound like this would do nothing to slow him down. Why, then, was he slouching on the floor and turning his face pale as if he were on the verge of crumpling into dust?

A sob escaped Shi Qingxuan’s lips as he struggled to tear off a portion of his own robes to plug the wound. However, this was no easy task for him, with his bad arm and already poor strength. He could only tug at the fabric ineffectually.

He Xuan reached up to place his hand over Shi Qingxuan’s. He tsked as he ran his fingers upward over the bones that had healed improperly. “I brought you something for this, you know.” With a wince, he reached his other hand to touch the narwhal-horn flask. “This is a potion made from the body of a narwhal. It is said to have the ability to cure any illness—”

“It can cure any illness?” Shi Qingxuan cut him off hurriedly. “In that case, let’s use it on you right now.” He snatched up the flask and fiddled with the cork.

Peanut Jr.’s heart leapt into his chest. Ah! No, stop!

Before Jr. could react, He Xuan reached a hand up to stop Shi Qingxuan. “No.”

“W-what do you mean, no?” Shi Qingxuan’s voice trembled.

“I brought it here for you. I was intending to give it to you later, but…”

Shi Qingxuan stared at him in shock. “Y-you…” He closed his moistening eyes and shook his head. “H-how can you do this? My brother and I… You’ve been hurt so much because of me!”

He Xuan’s gaze bore up into him. “Mn.” A savage smile spread across his face, tinged with hunger. “And only you can make it better.”

“I can make it better?” Shi Qingxuan looked puzzled. “W-what do you mean—”

He Xuan grabbed his face with both hands and pressed their lips together. He kissed him passionately, deeply, like a starving man tasting food for the first time in his life.

“Ah, ng!” Shi Qingxuan let out a squeak of surprise moments before his body was covered by He Xuan’s. The great Calamity’s firm chest was miraculously healed as it pressed against the man beneath him.

“Ming—He Xuan,” Shi Qingxuan let out the muffled words as he reciprocated the kiss.

Peanut Jr. felt his face growing hot. Something told him that whatever was about to happen next was not for the eyes of children. He quietly backed out of Puqi Shrine and left to find Eming.

Nice carving work, he wrote in a patch of dirt.

Eming nodded as he accepted the compliment. Carving effigies was his specialty, after all.

The two of them played together all through the night and watched the sun come up the next morning. Right as Xie Lian emerged to tidy the shrine, a mountain spirit arrived to present a gift in honor of the new Puqi Shrine.

Peanut Jr. finally went to look for Daddy He Xuan. He found him and Shi Qingxuan half-submerged in the oversized pot of chicken-spirit soup. Shi Qingxuan was terribly disheveled and bore numerous small bite marks on his skin. His steps were shaky as He Xuan helped him down and onto the floor. The first full step he took almost landed him squarely on the ground.

Seeing this, He Xuan’s brow furrowed, and his hand reached for the narwhal-horn flask by his side.

The flask was suddenly yanked away by a pair of small hands.

He Xuan looked down into the boy’s face. “Peanut Jr.?!”

The bonefish-boy clutched the flask securely behind his back.

After recovering from his shock, He Xuan reached for the flask. “Give that to me.”

Peanut Jr. shook his head fervently. Dipping his finger into the chicken soup, he wrote a single word on the floor: home.