Chapter Text
His jaw hurt like hell, and he felt a distinct swelling on his left leg. The damn bastard fought as a mad beast- he already knew. That's why he mostly evaded his hits by keeping a wise distance between them usually, but he lost to his anger this time.
If his teacher would have seen him letting himself be tricked by such a simple-minded taunt, Shen QinQiu didn't doubt he wouldn't be a disciple of Cang Qiong Mountain anymore. Not to mention head disciple of Qing Jing Peak…
He somehow abstained from cursing out loud. Clean, elevated, neat… clean, elevated, neat. A sight.
“Scram” He didn't even bother to look over at his back, continuing to apply cold ointment on his arm.Why did Liu Qingge kept unnecessarily pestering him?
“They appeared. I'll go alone if you're afraid. “The words were spoken quickly in a distasteful tone, the figure going away right afterwards. No response expected. Classical lack of manners from the Bai Zhan Peak.
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Shen Qingqiu smoothly allowed a wave of spiritual energy to be absorbed by his fan, and immediately sent it flying at a pretty big distance from them. It almost looked like a light-blue colored lantern.
The next moment his hand was pressing Cheng Luan back to it's sheath, not minding Liu Qingge's resistance. He couldn't even hide his annoyance.
“Stupid Bai Zhan Peak people. Don't you even know such a low level creature as this? “ It was a burial ground, and for some reason all the occupants seemed to have turned into that type of low level creatures. The corpses weren't exactly powerful or anything, but even ants could harm if they had the numbers! And they were practically surrounded by an undetermined number of them, with no means to get aid.
“What of it? I can kill them! “ Liu Qingge even had the audacity to sound irked. Did he really wished for death so bad? Shen Qingqiu was willing to let him, he was actually ready to step aside and allow the fool to kill himself in an act of arrogance and stupidity.
“We're surrounded and they're attracted by the light”, he hissed instead while firmly holding Liu Qingge's wrist. He seemed to be somehow unsure that the other would be able to get it so he quickly added further clarification with a snarky tone. “Your sword is like a big white WE'RE HERE signal. “
Not far away the corpses we're groaning in an inhuman manner, several broken noises coming from the direction Shen Qingqiu sent his fan. It was a gift from Shizun, the simple model representing a bamboo forest… he honestly liked it.
“Then what? “ The harshness in the other's voice started him, even if only a little. He quickly recovered and pulled away indicating to be followed.
Shen Qingqiu whispered the details to Liu Qingge using cultivation to carry his voice. He knew his technique wasn't perfect, but he endured for the need of the moment. Shen Qingqiu putted it simply, they needed to direct the corpses away from the east so they won't be attracted by the human establishments. For that he suggested to form an array to attract the creatures on the opposite side of the burial grounds, they had no chance to finish exterminating all of them on their own so once they settled the spell formation they should request further assistance from the Sect.
Surprisingly Liu Qingge does not protests, even if he could feel his dissatisfaction. At least he won't make his job harder, since such an array is a complex thing and he's sure the blockhead didn't study anything that isn't closely related to sword practice.
Earlier in the day when they took some time to secure the area he observed a barren place in the forest. The plain space should be good enough for his needs.
They advanced quickly, moves synchronised in a perfect peace. Shen Qingqiu sincerely hated how competent the other seemed to be. Just considering his stance and the confidence in moves, it was clear he held no fear regarding their situation. So he pushed himself to ignore his own agitation. He refused to be less than a barbarian.
And it worked for a while. They got to the place without too much trouble and it didn't matter it was full of moving corpses since Liu Qingge assumed to himself the task of distracting them. He didn't actually even said a thing. Just took out Cheng Luan and moved towards the forest, attracting the stupid creatures and slicing through them easily.
So he concentrated on his task. Putting together an array in those conditions was far from ideal. Shen Qingqiu scoffed his usual disdain, but worked efficiently with no doubt.
When he realised he didn't paid attention to his surroundings while working was when he just activated the spell formation and planed to retreat quickly since the spell was supposed to gather in the same place all of the walking corpses...But he was surrounded by a few lowly monsters already at that time. He cursed. Maybe just in his mind, maybe out loud, but certainly a hundred swear words would be needed to appease him at the moment.
The one at fault was probably the moonlight reflecting in his hair ornament he concluded with distaste at his own stupidity.
His shaking hands kept a strong hold on Xiu Ya’s hilt and he tried to push forward. The current lack in spiritual energy that he experienced didn't help as well, but he'll be dead and buried long before he'll ever call for Liu Qingge's assistance.
Shen Qingqiu suffered enough humiliation by that brat hands as it was, he didn't plan to add any. He refused to lose face after he successfully mended a high difficulty array that clearly proved his capability .
Even so his heart skipped a beat with horror when a particularly quick corpse managed to get a hold of his outer robe and rip it apart when he pushed it away. A flash of a far away memory reached his mind in that instant and he felt his body heavier then ever. He could almost fell again those disgusting dirty hands travelling on his body.
Instinct took over rationality and he somehow distantly acknowledged the way he let his sword feel to the ground with a loud sharp sound. The slimy distorted faces moved forward towards him but all he could do was slowly back away while holding his head. The image of an arogant repulsive simile took a hold of his mind.
Why was that he could be trapped by others after so much time? It wasn't fair. I really wasn't fair. He refused to be Shen Jiu again.