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Chapter Text

The day was normal.

The sun rose, as it did every day. And the disciples of Cang Qiong woke with the sun, as they did every day, preparing for the adventures of the coming day. The wind whistled with the familiar tune that it sung every day without fail, and the trees chorused in response. Twelve peaks woke up that morning, twelve peak lords and more hall masters.

On this ordinary day, Liu Qingge woke up. As he did every morning. Yet, this certain morning, the pillows he awoke on seemed different. The sunlight hitting his morning face was not the sun of the camp he had begun his meditation in, nor the sun of the inns he frequents during the night hunt he was on. His eyes adjusted to the unfamiliar sun, and –like every morning- he got out of bed.

These were not his robes. Nor were his hands. His hair was longer, his hair was smoother, his hair wasn’t his. His skin felt like a thick, un-fitting coat, weighing him down unnecessarily. His steps weren’t his, they were steps that didn’t feel like the steps he had been taking since he was young.

this isn’t even my room. Is this a joke?

The Bai Zhan peak lord gazed around the room he awoke in, and it all felt like an odd joke. The sparce decoration wasn’t his, the paintings on the wall, the shelves, the scrolls, the paperwork, the quilts. He knew all of it. He recognised it all, yet he had never seen it with these eyes- eyes that weren’t quite his.

The eyes that he now bore caught onto a mirror on the far side of the hut.

What

The

Fuck!?

Shitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshit

Am I-

Liu Qingge (?) tentatively moved the body that he was wearing, and soon the predicament he was in truly sunk in. He was in Shen Qingqiu’s body. The horrid scum. He was the villain, the lecher, the creep.

And in his moment of panic, the moment in which his despair at this unfortunate situation reached its peak- he noticed something out of the corner of his (?) eye.

A letter. Reaching towards it, the hands he controlled opened it with no sign of the grace that the owner of this body exuded. Liu Qingge couldn’t help but chuckle, guess the older peak lord's gracefulness was not natural- what a lame poser, such a spoiled brat that he must act so high and mighty. Liu Qingge could have continued with insults like these- yet it felt weird insulting Shen Qingqiu in his own body, like how it feels breaking something in someone else's home.

The letter was neat yet obviously written in a rush. It read:

To whoever wakes up today

I have used a rare plant to swap bodies temporarily. 3 months. I just need some time, a rest. I have handled all the paperwork for the next few months, so do whatever you wish- just don’t tell the peak lords of Can Qiong.

I’ll treat your body well, don’t worry.

Shen Jiu.

Below this, was a few draft paragraphs that were crudely scribbled out. What an awful person Shen Qingqiu was, to waste perfectly good paper and resources. Truly a heartless abuser.

Liu Qingge was outraged. What a spoilt young master! Acting as if he could simply swap bodies with someone just for a damn vacation! Skiving away from peak lord duties and being entirely irresponsible and insolent!! And he says he’ll ‘treat your body well’. What hypocrisy! If he can’t even treat his own body well, he can’t stop himself from ruining his cultivation with frivolous sexual activities.

He was positively seething. Shen Qingqiu would clearly engage in disgusting actions in the war god’s body, ruining his reputation and cultivation. Was it not enough that he ruined his own god-awful cultivation, he had to ruin Liu Qingge’s?

The Bai Zhan war god had half the mind to go tell all his martial family, perhaps this was finally the stunt that would get Shen Qingqiu kicked out of the sect. Maybe they can finally cut out the bad root of the sect. One could only dream.

But Liu Qingge was not a quitter. If he was a quitter, he would simply get Shen Qingqiu kicked out- and that would leave him roaming the world. No. He didn’t want Shen Qingqiu to leave the sect, someone as terrible as him should be reformed.

Wouldn’t it be good for Cang Qiong if suddenly the peak lord that was dragging them all down reformed! It would truly be a miracle. And Liu Qingge had the opportunity to make that miracle possible.

He would reform Shen Qingqiu in these three months; when he returns, Liu Qingge would make sure that he continued being as righteous as the Bai Zhan peak lord made him. It was perfect. The plan just showed how horrendous the Qing Jing peak lord was, since someone as righteous as Liu Qingge would really have to work to fix him.

The green-eyed peak lord was terribly broken. Everyone could see, peak lords weren’t supposed to be as cruel as him.

That begun Liu Qingge’s very logical, well thought out plan. Reform Shen Qingqiu and then force him to stay reformed when he gets back. Perfectly foolproof! No way it could backfire in any possible way. Nuh-uh.

His confidence lasted a whole 4 minutes until he remembered that there was a peak lord meeting tomorrow. Now, Liu Qingge was righteous, but Shen Qingqiu was so awful that even a man as great as Liu Qingge could not change him that much in one day.

So, he decided to tackle the worst part of Shen Qingqiu: his lechery.

Thus, he began his adventure on Qing Jing- saving the entire sect by keeping everyone safe from the untrustworthy monster that was Shen Qingqiu. His adventure saving Cang Qiong would begin somewhere that Liu Qingge had only been thrice.

The warm red pavilion. How fun.

Chapter Text

Somewhere in a silent forest, a forest located many weeks away from Cang Qiong was someone who looked like Liu Qingge. This someone wasn’t Liu Qingge, for his mind was the mind of another.

This other man had recently found a flower capable of swapping two people's souls for 3 months; it would find two people who knew each other- but were never friendly and let them cosplay each other for some months.

The soul inhabiting Liu Qingge’s body had taken a massive risk when brewing the flower into a sweet tea. A risk that – upon seeing his reflection in a puddle on the forest floor- they begun to feel the tinges of regret. Yet he could not let himself regret, for regret breeds fear; fear would spoil the small break that the flower had bought Shen Qingqiu.

He was sure that Liu Qingge would not tell anyone, for even though Liu Qingge was a righteous man, he was also a fool. He would take one look at the situation he found himself in and decide to ‘do good’ and try save everyone. Stupid. Idiocracy like that made the Qing Jing peak lord wonder how he had gotten as far as he had. Though Shen Qingqiu knew.

For, to get far as a noble, all you needed was a strong backing and a bit of coins. To get far as a slave, you needed something more. Something deeper- more will and more resilience. Had Shen Qingqiu been born richer, he would have gotten farther quicker, yet he always had a feeling that he would have hit one snag and given up, like nobles do.

He watched as the puddle he was looking at distorted and shifted with the rain that begun dropping. As though the puddle knew that the bodies inhabitant was wrong, and it was trying to warn the skies and the clouds. Warn them of the scum that is in the body of a loved cultivator.

Yet, the initial worry that Shen Qingqiu had about being in Liu Qingge’s body soon dissipated as he realised something important. Liu Qingge wasn’t set to return to the sect for 2 months. That meant that he could live however he wanted for 2 months. And Liu Qingge had lots of coins and food and supplies on his person- for the night hunts that he will never get to do.

Shen Qingqiu had things that he had always wanted to do. Joining a sect was Qi-ge's dream. Seeing the 4 wonders of the mortal realm; and exploring parts of the demon realm as well.
He only had 2 months before he was expected back, enough time to visit the places he saw in travel stores and libraries. Stores that he would imagine entering when he was scrawny little slave child. How fun.

He got to work. Cang Qiong shifted to the back of him mind for the first time since he saw Qi-ge's face at the fateful immortal alliance all those years ago. His dumb, guilt-ridden face.

It was strange. Like the feeling when you take of ice-skates after you have had them on for hours. Odd. Not worrying about whatever was happening with the mountain full of people who would prefer a rodent to the peak lord.

Liu Qingge had plenty of resources in his camp, so Shen Qingqiu dutifully cleared up his camp and put anything he needed in a Qiankun pouch. Then he set off.
Flying with Cheng Luan was yet another oddity that the Qing Jing peak lord had not taken fully into account when he had originally drunk the soul-swapping tea. Liu Qingge’s body had beautiful meridians. Meridians that reflected his natural beauty.

Someone like Shen Qingqiu, who had his meridians forcefully ruined before they even got an opportunity to shine, would never have meridians that flowed like these. A warm, flowing river that softly curved and splashed against rocks- yet never lost any droplets of water. The crystal-clear water of his meridians was a stark contrast to the muddy waterfall that Shen Qingqiu was used to wrangling.

His meridians screamed at every use and attacked anyone who dared come close. Yet, these meridians were soft. Not weak, soft. Who knew that softness didn’t equal weakness. Street children would not, for softness is persecuted on the cold, fragile ground where they rested all those summers ago.

But wait, this is Shen Qingqiu we are talking about. Surely things wouldn’t go that well. For, as much as Shen Qingqiu looked like Liu Qingge- he wasn’t. And Cheng Luan knew. The sword lay limp in the imposters hand, refusing to behave for anyone who wasn’t is master.

So, Cheng Luan rested limply at Shen Qingqiu’s side, as he begun the hike to get to the nearest village. Though, he could not complain. The silence and calm in the forest was good.

A good that had never existed in Shen QIngqiu’s life. A silence that didn’t exist in Qing Jing, even though the peak was famous for its calmness. Ironic really.

The steps he took were light and unburdened by his past experiences- since the body he had forcefully inhabited didn’t feel the simple repulsion that Shen Qingqiu had long learned to live with.

It took a few hours to get to the village, and once there, Shen Qingqiu’s true adventure could finally begin.

The first thing he did when arriving at the village was to buy some pen and paper. For Liu Qingge, the famous war god, had travelled without any. Like the fool he was, he decided that it was weak to note anything down, he would simply charge through. It had always worked before. It would always work. Until it didn’t. But that hadn’t happened to the famed warrior.

The list he wrote upon the purchase of the materials that a noble had deemed unnecessary read:

The fabric waves – waterfall in __province

The Tirdad of roots – mountain range in __province

Silence of Hu - large Lake in __province

Theatre of the madman – ruins in __province

And below the list of the wonders of the mortal realm, he had written a long list of flowers and plants from both the demon realm and the human realm that he wished to find. This list wasn’t based on anyone but himself. For the first time, he was doing what he wished, not what others who think themselves better than him wanted him to do.

When was the last time he had done something for himself? Was it the death of Qiu Jianluo? No, that was for Qiu Haitang... how strange.

When had he done something entirely for himself? Had you asked his martial siblings this question, surely, they would have a long list of when the selfish man had done things entirely for himself. Yet now, Shen Qingqiu had completely blanked.

Oh god, Liu Qingge’s stupidity had rubbed off on him. Fuck.

After that worrying thought crossed his mind, he decided to find a nice inn to rest for the night, and tomorrow he would set of for the fabric waves- a waterfall classed as the largest and most awe-inspiring waterfall in the realm. He had bought painting supplies and hoped to capture it in all its essence.

On his way towards the inn, he stopped by a street vendor and bought some street food. It was strange, to pay using money that both did and didn’t belong to him. Anyways, it’s not like he wasn’t going to pay Liu Qingge back. He wasn’t a monster.

Once arriving at the inn, he immediately felt tired. Usually, his body held out against sleep unless he was in the safety of his jiejies. Yet, this body seemed eager to rest- eager to enter the land of the dreamers. Another oddity. But no one would ever catch Shen Qingqiu complaining about being able to sleep well. An issue that has plagued all his adult life and has continued to plague him indirectly, with the brothel rumours and the lazy rumours.

As he lay there, the rough blanket feeling softer than any of the Qing Jing silks ever had, he dreamt of the places he would visit.

He dreamt of the cascading water- his apprehension cascading alongside the explosion of thousands of droplets journey ending upon the rocks. The ruins of civilizations that created the first books and research that he still used in his daily life. The single drop of water falling into the lake- leaving a small ripple in the water that would only be seen by one person's eyes. Mountains that made the Cang Qiong peaks look like anthills, with clouds swimming alongside the highest peaks.

And the sleep was exactly what he needed. He slept till the early morning- for Liu Qingge’s internal clock was set to an absurdly early time. A time drilled in by years of night hunts and early training. The scholarly peak lord didn’t feel the slightest bit of complaint. The memories of the dreams lay thick in the morning, and his steps were that of birds that could fly free. Unburdened by human struggles.

Who knew that getting sleep was helpful? This was new information for the scholar.

That morning, he got on the back of a travelling merchant bound for _____. A town near the waterfalls that blessed his fairest dreams- and went on his merry way.

The locals found it weird how the famed war god simply up and left their town without even trying to exterminate the monster infestation that had been plaguing them, yet they pay it no mind.

Cultivators were fickle. And no one could blame Shen Qingqiu if he didn’t know- since he often was left out of conversations on the mountain. That’s a silly thought, the second in command would never be left out of any conversation, he was the strategist. Cang Qiong was strange.

A travelling cultivator would enter their town soon and deal with the issue, and no one would be none the wiser about the war god’s negligence. Funny how everything works out when you’re a noble.

“Your stop is here sir”

Shen Qingqiu was snapped out of his mind groggily, barely listening as he got off the cart that had treated him well for a few days.

He didn’t reply to the man, only silently leaving a small bag of coins for the man to find. Enough money to feed a family of 4 for a few months- the type of money that a noble wouldn’t notice and that a street child would sell all their limbs for. The type of money that Shen Qingqiu would never spend usually, yet he currently wasn’t the stingy Qing Jing peak lord. He was the rich war god.

And the war god spent his money very loosely.

In a few hours, the traveller would find the money and cry; - for this money would pay for a carriage upgrade that he needed and a holiday for him and his young children. He would silently thank the righteous cultivator who helped him, Liu Qingge. For such a good man as Liu Qingge deserved to be thanked silently. And life would go on.

Life did go on, and soon, Shen Qingqiu found himself in the small village- a day’s hike from a waterfall that he dreamt off whilst shivering with Qi-ge. He dreamt of visiting it with a family, yet Shen Qingqiu was cursed. He would never have a family or get one. Something he had long since accepted.

So, as he lay in bed, dozing off to sleep (shocking considering in his own body, sleep always failed him), he smiled.

Unaware that somewhere across the world, a body that shared his name would be entering the one place that he can sleep comfortably.

Chapter Text

Somewhere across the world, Shen Qingqiu was walking towards the brothel he frequented. Yet, he wasn’t. Liu Qingge was heading towards the brothel instead- using Shen Qingqiu’s body and reputation as a shield to hide where he was heading. When people whispered about the lecherous peak lord going to engage in frivolous activities- his soul was on a bumpy carriage far away.

The rumours would always be just that. Rumours. That was the simple fact that no one truly understood, Shen Qingqiu included.

The trip to the brothel was a trip that Liu Qingge had done years beforehand. In his youth, when he could still go to his shizun for advice and when he had not nearly been murdered by his awful martial sibling.

His steps echoed like a soft, yet unsteady heartbeat. Every step he took was familiar to his feet, familiar to his legs, yet not familiar to him. The way his heartbeat slowed as he got closer, the way Liu Qingge felt calmer than he had during all the time he had been in Shen Qingqiu’s body.

At first, he thought it was the stress of being in an unfamiliar body (which is a very fair assumption for someone in this unnatural situation), but soon he wondered if the weird plant the scholar had used had any side-effects. Since, he bet, that Shen Qingqiu didn’t even think about any plant side effects. What a lazy man, how he ever became a peak lord was shocking.

Then he arrived. As a noble man, Liu Qingge had never been properly inside a brothel (other than that one time in his youth, but even then, he had never booked or really went inside). The war god had truly expected more fanfare when he had entered, more dirty looks from the whores or even some looks of fear. Since, Shen Qingqiu had been frequenting this brothel since he was 18. Wait, 18? Liu Qingge wasn’t sure about that. How old was Shen Qingqiu? He had never thought to ask. He also was just realising that he didn’t know Shen Qingqiu’s birthday. A worrying thought, since if his birthday fell on the three months that his body was occupied by Liu Qingge, he may have to go to the Shen family home for celebrations.

Hold on. What about family affairs? Liu Qingge had a Liu family dinner in two and a half months. Did Shen Qingqiu even know? He probably didn’t. Heartless men like him don’t listen when they get told news about others- the Qing Jing peak lord is too self-centred to pay attention to any of their martial siblings. Luckily for Liu Qingge, Shen Qingqiu didn’t know his birthday, nor his age, nor his family. So, most of his frantic thoughts did not really matter and wouldn’t affect the famed warrior.

Entering the brothel was strange, even stranger yet when he was approached by the madame of the brothel and asked in a confused tone,

“Are you back from your 3-month trip so early?”

Oh. The connections were forming in Liu Qingge’s mind like little spider webs, slowly being weaved to show an intricate and confusing web.

“No matter then A-jiu, would you like your usual room?”

The war god remained silent. For once, he agreed with the sentiment that Shen Qingqiu strongly talked about. He was an idiot. His plan was to go to the brothel to get answers, but how does he go about that? Everything was moving too fast for the war god, did he go into the room? Would there be a woman there ready for him?

During this moment of panic, his weak plan falling apart before his eyes, he had overlooked the familiar greeting used by the madame. A greeting only used for close friends/family. He was snapped back to his senses when he noticed the man behind him coughing angrily. Liu Qingge bet that this man had a wife and kids at home. Truly awful.

So he went into the brothel, to avoid any trouble- he told himself. But the feeling of familiar unfamiliarity was really getting to him, and he still had the expression of the madame as he walked in with a polite nod. Was Shen Qingqiu so awful that he never even showed slight politeness to the workers he exploited? She looked like she wanted to say something, but the words got caught in her mouth and Liu Qingge walked on. Completely missing the incredulous look, she was giving his back.

As he wandered around the brothel, the Bai Zhan peak lord thanked all the gods for muscle memory (Shen Qingqiu used this room so much his body remembers. How perverted can you get?)

And then he just sat in the room. Being the virgin he was, he even felt awkward sitting in the bed, perhaps that was the bed that ruined Shen Qingqiu’s cultivation. But the room did look different to how he expected. For one, all the other rooms he had peered into seemed more ribbony and flowy than this one.

This rooms looked like one of the guest bedrooms that donned the corridors of his family manor. But less fancy. Poorer. But it still gave off that aura.

So, he sat there, cross-legged on the floor of a room that didn’t look like it belonged to a whorehouse, too nervous for the whores to come in the plan. Then the door creaked open- and stopped.

He could hear furious whispering on the other side of the door. And then two faces entered the room.

Two gorgeous women, both with perfectly styled hair and wearing skimpy clothes that covered so little that the imagination could easily fill in the blanks. Liu Qingge, being the noble man that he is, only blushed a teeny bit. (he went tomato red)

He then tried to get his composure to see if they were expecting anything from the person that they saw as ‘Shen Qingqiu’.

They shared a glance and then spoke to him coldly and quietly.

“You are not him, correct?”

Shen Qingqiu’s eyes widened slightly in shock, but the girls knew how Shen Qingqiu looked when he was shocked. That was not it.

Liu Qingge was often called strong-willed and stubborn. He folded. Almost instantly. Must have been the laziness of being in Shen Qingqiu’s body. Surely.

“A slight mishap with flowers, nothing serious... I’m just here too check-”

And he trailed off as the women gave him an incredulous look.

How should he phrase the truth? He knew about his martial sibling's sick hobby and decided to do some detective work? Would that slide? Eh, what did he have to lose? His dignity, he was in Shen Qingqiu’s body and that dignity left a long time ago.

They were looking at him expectantly, what would Shen Qingqiu do if he were here? Ah, yes of course.

“I am not here for any of... that unsavoury business,” he said with a grimace and noticed the woman’s faces changing into an unrecognisable look. He was truly awful at reading people.

“I am merely here to tell you all that as of now, Shen Qingqiu is banned from entering this establishment as part of a Cang Qiong programme.” he said with a childlike grin, clearly expecting praise.

And he waited. Usually, when Liu Qingge did a good deed, the people he helped would do many things: thank him, tell him how honourable and great he was, hug him, offer him food/anything really. His good deeds made people happy. At least, they would smile.

These women he had just saved did none. They glared at him as though he was a piece of dog shit that had ruined their good robes.

“What do you, a cultivator from Cang Qiong, I presume, who is somehow in A-Jiu's body care about how he spends his free time?”

The taller woman spoke like Shen Qingqiu did, with cold acidity and grit. This time, Liu Qingge did not miss the strange name that she called Shen Qingqiu.

“A-Jiu?”

She ignored him.

“So please, keep your idiotic opinions about others to yourself and march yourself back up to your little mountain and stay there. Plenty of fancy cultivators come down him for pleasure- and yet the only one any of you noble fucks care about is A-Jiu. Do you not realise how many halls master's and even older disciples of that damn mountain come down to legitimately fuck us, and the one person who doesn’t come down for that is called a pervert.”

And with that, Liu Qingge was promptly kicked out by a group of very angry whores and an even angrier madame.

Honestly, that short interaction had not given him the answers he had needed.

The walk back up the mountain was excruciating. He could hear disciples, hall master's and everyone who he passed on the way back up to the mountain talking loudly about him. And while the name they used to gossip was not his, this was the first time he felt the whispers attacking him directly. Words used as daggers against him as he just tried to get back to the bamboo hut.

The worst thing was that he hadn’t even done anything, he had just gone down to talk to the brothel ladies. The whispers didn’t care about that. The whispers only cared about the sight of him being kicked out of a brothel. The whispers only saw a shocked looking Shen Qingqiu getting thrown out of a brothel and trudging home in deep thought. That was all that they saw, so it was all that they said.

Seeing is believing. So, the whispers continued into the night.

Upon arriving at the bamboo hut, Liu Qingge got a chance to properly look around Shen Qingqiu’s house. Surprisingly, it was modestly decorated, the only adornment on the walls were gorgeous paintings that must have cost a fortune. Liu Qingge noticed something in the beautiful paintings... That damn scum dared to put his signature on someone else's paintings to try make it seem like he could paint. How despicable. How vile. What an awful man.

Then he tried to sleep. Sleep usually came easily for the war god. Emphasis on usually, since he had been sat in the dark of the bamboo hut until the morning sun rose to taunt him.

Last time he had pulled an all-nighter was a particularly bad night hunt a few years back. To think, that he couldn’t sleep as Shen Qingqiu.

Another god damned side effect of the stupid tea that Shen Qingqiu had drunk. Clearly. Since a spoiled young master would never have trouble sleeping.

Ugh. Liu Qingge felt like shit. And this afternoon was one of the monthly peak lord meetings. Now, for Liu Qingge, that was not a bad thing.

It was his chance.

He would be on his best behaviour and be generally great! He had a perfect relationship with all his martial family, so he was sure he could win them over in a meeting.

Hence, Liu Qingge begun getting ready- almost giddily.

Chapter Text

The walk to the peak lord meeting was almost euphoric, as Liu Qingge was practically skipping. He had dressed formally, but not as gaudy as Shen Qingqiu usually did. His steps had a softness that made him feel like her was walking on air.

Unfortunately, not even cultivators could walk on air without falling. Liu Qingge had forgotten that the higher you get, the more you must fall. It had been a long time since Liu Qingge fell; he simply rose until becoming the war god everyone knew him as. War gods don’t fall. (Somewhere along the way, he forgot that he could not fly).

Deciding to stay completely in Shen Qingqiu’s character, he tried to arrive a few minutes early- since the spoiled brat always wanted to show everyone that he was better than them. Emphasis on tried. The war god had always been waited on. He forgot that he wasn’t the war god anymore.

3 minutes late. Something that Liu Qingge knew would devastate the arrogant man he had become, but he didn’t care. He himself was usually at least 30 minutes late- so what was 3 minutes?

Apparently, a lot. Since, upon entering and sitting down, he hears a sharp, “Do you enjoy wasting our time? Honestly, how spoiled” from a fuming Qi Qinqi. Other quips like that pop up from the 8 peak lords present.

8. peak lords. Present.

That means that 2 haven’t even arrived yet! Why was he getting all the flames when the others have placed more wood than him.

In the next 15 minutes, Mu Qingfang and Lin Qingfei entered late, and they began the meeting. Huh? They didn’t get berated for being late. And wasn’t Shen QIngqiu usually berated for coming on time? So, being the blunt noble that he is, Liu Qingge spoke up about the actions of his martial siblings.

Nothing. Fucking. Changed.

Yue Qingyuan looked at him with a fucking placid look of guilt. But he didn’t fix it. Are they not seeing the fucking problem? In his rage, a quiet thought came and went like a small wave slowly traversing a beach... is this how Shen Qingqiu sees me?

Of course, like a wave, it went quicker than it had come.

So, naturally, the war god was slightly pissed. Cmon, he had acted as he always does in every meeting! What was his martial sibling's problem? Damn, Shen Qingqiu was truly such a disgusting, awful person to get this reaction by doing virtually nothing.

So, Liu Qingge changed tactics. While they were talking amongst themselves, he decided to use his brilliant charisma to socialise with his martial siblings.

“So, has anyone read a good book recently?”

Silence.

Why were his martial siblings looking at him like that, reading is Shen QIngqiu’s thing, right? This is perfectly in character.

Wei Qingwei is the first to recover, he spat,

“Does Shen Qingqiu assume that these ones don’t read? Typical”

The words, ‘Shen Qingqiu,’ was enunciated like one would say a curse or trash. No shixiong here.

“We can’t go one meeting without you being a snobbish prick”

“How dare you try to undermine our education, as if someone like you even studied hard?”

How the fuck did it end up like this. Liu Qingge decided to act in true Shen Qingqiu manner, so he stared at their sect leader until Yue Qingyuan begun the meeting.

Liu Qingge didn’t miss the “Of course, Yue Qingyuan always Favors him” that came from the Xian Shu peak lord.

She glared at her, and she dared to look offended. Since when have his martial siblings been so... annoying?

These were the same people that he had sworn his loyalty to and that had sworn their loyalty to him, this wasn’t how family was supposed to act. They didn’t act like this to him.

Well, maybe if Shen Qingqiu wasa bit nicer, they wouldn’t treat him like that.

Yes, that was it. Obviously, since his martial siblings were good people, he was a good person. And Shen Qingqiu wasn’t.

At the mention of Yue Qingyuan, Liu Qingge did perk up a bit. Would he finally see the favouritism that their sect leader had for the second in command? He saw nothing. He saw Yue Qingyuan look away with the expression that can only be described as that of a sad dog.

“Continuing, I'd like to bring attention to...”

Swiftly, the meeting continued, and Liu Qingge was left slightly dejected, mourning his foolproof plan. A plan that only failed due to the Qing Jing peak lord's awfulness that had blinded his martial siblings.

Although he did do everything right. Why couldn’t his siblings see that? He did everything that they did in that meeting. The arguments weren’t initiated by him. Were the usual arguments initiated by the original Shen Qingqiu?

Were they?

They had to be. He wouldn’t get in so many spats with his shidis if they weren’t.

And the peak lords were good.

They were.

Righteous!

Great!

Good!

Good.

Good...

Good?

He hoped they were good. Liu Qingge, a man who usually never prayed, prayed for Shen Qingqiu to be the awful person they always hoped he wasn’t.

Since it’s okay to kick a misbehaving dog, they deserve it.

(He ignored the nagging feeling that he shouldn’t kick any dog.)

“Shen-shixiong. Shen-shixiong!”

A name as foreign to him as the ocean was being called out. And he briefly registered it as the name of the person he had been cosplaying for these days.

Oh. They were talking to him.

“Yes, what does Shang-Shixiong want?”

Liu Qingge had been so deep in thought that he had missed most of the meeting and missed the use of Shen Qingqiu’s name. And he had made another fatal error.

See, usually Shang Qinghua was Liu Qingge's shixiong. Emphasis on usually. Currently, he is Shen Qingqiu. And Shang Qinghua is Shen Qingqiu’s shidi. Something that Liu Qingge did forget at that precise moment.

Something that he regretted immensely as he saw the incredulous looks that every one of his martial siblings shared. Fuck. The war god that could conquer all was feeling himself turning red and prayed that he was in some wacky dream.

Although he was in Shen Qingqiu’s body, fate seemed to hate him. Just as it hated Shen Qingqiu.

Shang Qinghua had long since stopped his long rant, and Liu Qingge had zoned out and looked as though he didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

He chose laughter.

Soon, most- if not all the peak lords in attendance were laughing. It was sweet.

Then Liu Qingge begun to laugh.

Silence descended on the meeting room like an autumn storm that destroys a small towns corn deposit.

That was when rage picked up a paintbrush and decorated Liu Qingge’s face. This was not an uncommon expression on Shen Qingqiu’s face, but Liu Qingge was still shocked at his martial siblings.

This was not family.

This was not family.

Why was this not family.

Was this ever a family.

Was this him.

Was he in this not family.

Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him. Was it him.

And no matter how many times the question formed in his mind, the answer wouldn’t change.

That was the fourth meeting that Shen Qingqiu had stormed out of. What an ungrateful bastard storming out of an important peak lord meeting.

How dare he.

It was his own fault he ruined the joke.

It was always his fault.

It would always be his fault.

Always.

Liu Qingge did not even try to sleep that night.

Chapter Text

The next morning, the fearsome war god decided to blow off steam. Something that he often did whenever anything happened in his regular body.

He was mad. Mad at Shen Qingqiu for being such a bad person that their martial siblings hated him. Mad at himself for... Why was he mad at himself? He was a righteous cultivator. He has done nothing wrong. Nothing at all. It’s Shen Qingqiu. It was? It had to be.

(Liu Qingge had not noticed that he was surrounded by fallen trees. Fallen trees that he had knocked over. Those trees would never grow again. He had killed them. It was his fault. His. Fault. He had destroyed the trees before they could grow. He had destroyed what could have been before it had grown. It wasn’t about trees, was it?

(It wasn’t)

In his rage, he failed to notice the Qing Jing disciples who had gathered around, watching their usually stoic shizun smash the bamboo that they often saw him tending to into the ground.

But you know what Liu Qingge noticed? He noticed the voices. He noticed the words that were being whispered around him. The rumours that had begun as soft voices in the wind had become a swirling hurricane of misinformation and assumptions.

Liu Qingge di not even have the heart to stop them. Because he was a good person. And if he tried he would end up beating Shen Qingqiu’s disciples. Good people don’t beat children.

He was trying to show that Shen Qingqiu was reformed. A reformed person would not beat children- even if it was in character for the terrible peak lord that Liu Qingge had become. (Strangely, Liu Qingge had forgot that his main teaching technique was beating his disciples. It was different when he did it. It had to be. It was.) (It was not).

Rumours would often fill the silence of Cang Qiong, this was not a new thing. Liu Qingge had heard plenty of rumours about himself in the huge bundle of bored children and misinformed gossips. He had heard rumours about his staggeringly good monster kill ratio. It was slightly incorrect.

He never corrected them.

He had heard rumours about how a royal princess had fallen head over heels for him after seeing his gorgeous face. It was untrue.

He never corrected them.

He had heard rumours about how he had single handedly defeated a dragon-creature terrorising a distant province. It wasn’t just him, lot’s of cultivators helped and he couldn’t have done it without them. So, to be frank, it was wrong.

He never corrected them.

Why would he? All the rumours painted him in a bright light; he was the infallible perfect war god who was undefeated and perfect. He was so perfect. Plus, the rumours were just good fun, he would be a good sport about them.

He had never been on the recieving end of rumours and you could tell. He had never heard his disciples talking about how he was losing it. He had never heard his students mentioning how much they hate having him a shizun and how they wish they were in any other peak.

Well, until now.

He heard them all. He heard every, ‘Why couldn’t we be in An Ding? Or even Bai Zhan?’ and all the, ‘What a disgusting man, do we really have to have him as a shizun?’.

It was all he could hear. The more he tried to block out their voices, the more they intruded on his mind and protruded into his every thought. Liu Qingge was food whilst the disciples hungrily ate his confidence, leaving him angry and annoyed.

It was annoying, no one would deny that.

They wouldn’t dare. Liu Qingge would beat them. (That wouldn’t quell the flames of the rumours)

So, he decided to do some actual good. How would he stop the rumours that he was a lecherous bastard? He would simply not act lecherous. Honestly, Liu Qingge was shocked that Shen Qingqiu had not even considered this approach. Was he really fit to be a peak lord? (Was Liu Qingge?)

That afternoon, Qing Jing has sword lessons on the patio.

It was a truly gorgeous patio, each decorative rock and plant was placed with a duty and with certainty. Nothing was left too chance. The floor was paver with intricate details that had slowly been wore down with the shuffle of disciples feet, the wear created a design that felt personal to the pavilion. The trees swayed with a practiced ease that was badly emulated by the struggling disciples.

Their swords jutted out at angles that would make any cultivator cry. But it was clear they were trying. Honestly, was Shen Qingqiu even teaching them (Liu Qingge didn’t know that this was these disciples third lesson ever, they were the newest batch. He would have known if he had bothered to check the roster. He didn’t.). How dare Shen Qingqiu slack in his teaching. Liu Qingge’s pent up rage from hearing the loud moth disciples was at an all time high.

Luckily, this lesson was one that Liu Qingge knew intimately. The first sword movement that every disciple knows (ironically he didn’t connect the dots that they were new disciples).

The formation was taught whether they were physical cultivators or spiritual, it was a Cang Qiong specialty.

So he began teaching. Although his methods usually included lots of beatings, he was pretty decent at teaching formations. It was the one thing that he could proudly say that Bai Zhan disciples had mastered.

The war god taught as he had been taught and as the next Bai Zhan peak lord would teach. Effectively.

‘How disgusting, Shen Qingqiu was obviously being a creep during that class. Did you see how he went. Eww!! What a pervert. Lecher! Scum! Villain! Pervert!’

The next formation lesson Liu Qingge changed up his teaching technique for the first time since he was a disciple learning how to teach others. Where he would usually move the childrens arms and legs into the right places physically, he started only moving the male disciples this way. (Apparently with the females, they felt unsafe. None of his female disciples he taught this way felt unsafe)

Only when he was Shen Qingqiu.

So, to combat this issue, he would teach the females verbally and the males as he always does.

‘Did you see Shen Qingqiu, what blatant sexism. How terrible, he is holding back the females. What a scum! Does he not think us girls can do it as good as the boys. Yuck! Sexist! Scum! Villain!’

Fuck. Well that didn’t work. Liu Qingge really had to work on this, damn. But he had time. He had other lessons.

‘Does he want us to fail! Today Shen Qingqiu only verbally explained the formations to everyone. Is he such a vengative, jealous bitch that he can’t have us succeed. What a bad person. Bad teacher! Scum! Villain!’

‘Shen Qingqiu had a hallmaster teach today, what a lazy bastard. Is he so spoiled that he can’t do anything himself. He was raised so badly! What a terrible teacher and rich brat. Spoiled! Bastard! Scum! Villain!’

‘Shen Qingqiu... What a bitch! Scum!’

‘Did you see what he did... How dare... Scum! Terrible...’

‘I wish we had a different shizun! Literally any other peak lord would be better’

‘What an...’

‘Ugh’

‘How dare...’

‘He didn’t even turn up today! What a lazy teacher...’

Liu Qingge was rarely this mad. He was mad often, but not usually to this extent.

He had tried every form of teaching the ungrateful little brats of Qing Jing: from visual, to verbal, from hallmasters, to professionals, from big classes to small classes. But there was always one major issue. He was Shen Qingqiu. The face that he would wake up in everyday (on the days he could sleep, of course) did not belong to him.

It was wrong.

Hatred was all that he felt for his temporary disciples. All hatred. He hated them. But he couldn’t, he shouldn’t. Good, righteous cultivators shouldn’t hate children. They really shouldn’t. Otherwise he would be as bad as Shen Qingqiu...

He couldn’t have that. (if he wasn’t a righteous person, then he was wrong. He wouldn’t dare be wrong.)

So he continued with the formation lessons that plagued his every moments.

The Qing Jing disciples would constantly remind the Bai Zhan peak lord about how much he hates children and teaching. It reminded him why he left his own peak unattended for such long periods. Yet he couldn’t leave this time, for if he left he would not be able to rehabilitate his prickly shixiong.

He needed to stay, needed to continue being a good person, otherwise he will have not changed anything by the time the true owner of this body returns. Though today was a day in which he wished he had ditched Cang Qiong and gone on a stupidly long mission.

A musical lesson. Taught by the man that had quit his lessons in a rage when he was 7, sending his teacher out crying.

How could that possibly go wrong? It couldn’t. Could it? (it could).

Hence, the lesson began.

“Welcome disciples, set up your instruments as usual and begin warming up”, he declared confidently. That was how lessons begun. Right? Liu Qingge was pretty confident in this.

Until an older disciple spoke up, her words careful and calculated in a way that mirrored the real Shen Qingqiu in a way that no one wanted to acknowledge. “Shizun, we usually begin with you playing the piece that we have to copy during our lesson.”.

This was met with a chorus of agreement from the surrounding disciples.

Had Shen Qingqiu been there, Liu Qingge thought that he may have said something like, ‘You dare disrespect this master.’ or shunned her and punished her for disobedience.

So the peak lord decided to show the disciples how righteous he was.

“Disciple, I am testing a new scholarly method for teaching that may benefit you all. Do not doubt this master.” Hah! That silenced the little brat. Liu Qingge smiled inwardly, not daring show emotion on the scum’s face.

It was strange though. The disciples didn’t look thankful, or even confused. If anything, the young girl that had spoken up looked... hurt? Liu Qingge was sure that he had not dne anything wrong. He had been kind. He was kind.

At least, right now he was kind of confused. So he did what any well respected peak lord would do when he was confused. He ignored it and continued with his plan.

The lesson went of without a hitch. It went well? He literally just asked them to do some self practice and meditated a bit. He had yet to check Shen Qingqius meridians, since it felt intrusive. A good rightous person would not intrude in someone elses meridians.

As he was leaving the lesson, he was stopped by the disciple that had spoken up during the lesson. She had no more statements to give (thank god), only a question that left Liu Qingge stumped.

What was her name?

Damn, He didn’t even know the names of his disciples- was he supposed to know the ones of other peaks disciples. Plus, he was sure that Shen Qingqiu didn’t know anyones names either.

He had to not know them. His disciples treated him like shit, hwy would he know their names.

(What he failed to realise was that Shen Qingqiu never called his disciples ‘Disciples’, he had weird principles in which he would always call every student by their name. Everyone knew that.)

(Not Liu Qingge).

From that point, the disciples that Liu Qingge had been trying to win over became more distant than they were when he had started his rehabilitation journey in Shen Qingqiu’s body.

He was practically working backwards.

It was not great.

That night, those said disciples could hear a very loud “FUCK” from the bamboo hut.

No one investigated.

Why should they?