Chapter Text
Footsteps echoed in the damp cave. Water dripped from the ceiling, making a rythmic pitter patter.
The cave was dark, a few small balls of light overed around the person, reflecting on the wet cavern walls.
A tall young-looking man wearing ample green robes looked around. He was quite good looking, with a fair complexion, hair as dark as ebony and sharp phoenix eyes. His cheekbones were sharp and his nose was high and thin. Every part of his angular face looked as though they had been carved by the gods.
The beauty's jaw was set and his thin eyebrows were furrowed. He was seething, his ears bright red and hot.
Shen Qingqiu was fed up with his martial siblings' constant mocking of his late cultivation.
Not for much longer, he smirked to himself.
It has been a few years since he had access to the Ling Xi caves. The last time he got access to them, he had an unfortunate qi deviation in that blood covered cave and Yue Qingyuan was now more hesitant to grant his shidi access. He had pressed enough and Yue Qingyuan had reluctantly agreed to let him cultivate for a few months in the caves.
Shen Qingqiu tried to not remember the feeling of his shixiong's large palms against his back, feeding him warm qi, calming the raging storm within his body. His belly couldn't help but grow warm, his heart tender.
He promptly squashed such feeling. He couldn't allow himself grow soft and pliant for the sect leader to finally mold him into something useful and then discard him a second time.
He learned his lesson this time and stayed away from the wretched cave. He could hear someone occupying it anyway, panting, footsteps and the sound of a blade slicing the air reaching his ears.
They must be doing sword form meditation.
Sword form meditation was a meditation technique made for the cultivator who couldn't stay still two seconds.
Instead of sitting in the lotus position, the cultivator would shift through battle stances, simulating a battle with an imaginary opponent. The steady coordinated movements coupled with a slow breathing technique would induce a trance-like state called 'the zone'. All that was left was for the cultivator to focus on their qi pathways and their bodies would move without so much as a thought.
Shen Qingqiu didn't like teaching his disciples this meditation technique because the body was already in motion if a qi deviation were to happen. In a regular qi deviation, the body would collapse on itself, often too weak to wreak havoc. However, since the body is already in battle mode, it is easier for a person qi deviating during sword form meditation to cause bloodshed around them, the imaginary opponent becoming hallucinations.
Shen Qingqiu clicked his tongue, choosing a cave right next to the cursed one.
This cave was free of bloodstains and gashes, only a stone slab in the middle could be seen, along with a bit of water running down the walls. While some caves had freshwater springs or ponds in them, most didn't. Shen Qingqiu had foreseen such a problem and brought quite a bit of water along with the grain pellets to sustain himself.
For many, such precautions where unneeded, for one of the qualification to request entry to the caves was complete mastery of inedia.
Shen Qingqiu flicked his fingers and balls of light of varying sizes sprang to life, spreading to the whole cave, leaving not a single shadow. The largest floating to the ceiling, the medium sized ones lined the wall, while the three smallest remained by the cultivator's side.
Shen Qingqiu took one last good look to the cave before approaching the stone slab, tying back his sleaves, revealing his pale hands and his silver vambrace sitting snug on his forearms, the sculpted pattern catching the light.
He opened his qiankun pouch, taking out several herbs, a bit of ink and dirt, as well as a pestle and mortar. He set out the objets in front of him neatly in a row.
He mixed Snow Lotus Roots of unending giggle, a Purple Thousand-Years-Past Daisy, Peony of Timeless Youth, Red Sun Ink from a newborn squid wolf and Soil of the Fairy Mountain of Endless Childhood.
When the mixture in the pestle had a texture just slightly thicker than ink, Shen Qingqiu took Xiu Ya and sliced in left palm open, pinching his lips to supress the hiss of pain making it's way through his throat as he poured blood into the bowl.
He flexed his finger, mending the wound closed. He mixed the blood in and once the concoction was finished, Shen Qingqiu dipped a paint brush in it, starting to draw a circle. He had memorised the spell in The Book, deftly writing the complex characters.
He had spent many years scouring the Qing Jing Peak library whenever he had a minute to himself, gathering as much knowledge as he could.
His time with Wu Yanzi had left his cultivation crippled. If he wanted to obtain more power, he had to do so by honing in on his intellect.
When he found The Book a few months ago, it had taken very little time to make a decision. The Book of Rare and Forbidden spells required a lot of planning to use it's incantations.
It took a long time to draw out the magic circle, every line had to be exact, There was no room for mistake, otherwise the caster would be turned into mincemeat by the runes running unbridled.
A few months passed before Shen Qingqiu sat back on his heels and took a look at his work. The circle took up half of the cave, numerous smaller circles inside. He checked every nook and cranny of his work. Once he was satisfied, he walked to the middle of the spell.
Before pouring his energy into it, he extended an ear to his neighbour.
Activating the circle would make a lot of noise and large ripples of qi. He couldn't have anyone interrupting him in the middle of the incantation.
He heard panting breaths, yet they seemed pained and irregular.
This alarmed Shen Qingqiu, flesh breaking out in goosebumps.
As he stepped closer to the mouth of the cave, he could feel rampant qi. His good old quiet neighbour was qi deviating.
He hesitated as he reached the opening of the other cave. He should got get Mu Qingfang, he'd deal with it.
Shen Qingqiu bit his lips. He battled a bit with himself, whatever decision he made, he needed to hurry. From the waves of qi, he could feel the victim was at the end of their rope.
He breathed out, shaky, and stepped into the cave, sword drawn.
If he brought Mu Qingfang, he would undoubtedly ask about the giant forbidden circle he created.
He cautiously scanned the cave for the rampaging cultivator. The cave looked even worse now, fresh blood painting the floor. There was an especially large puddle of blood at the end of the room.
Blood dripped from the ceiling into the puddle.
Shen Qingqiu looked up, his breath halting.
There was a ghastly figure upside down on the ceiling, white robes dyed red -already starting to turn brown.
The figure felt ripples in his qi waves, a bit like echolocation, and turned to Shen Qingqiu.
The green clad cultivator braced himself, raising his sword, as the crazed cultivator roared and lunged at him. Their swords clashed, the impact making Shen Qingqiu's forearms throb and his wrist creak.
He recognised the sword before he even saw the blood-covered paper white face hidden by matted hair.
Shen Qingqiu felt dread pool in his gut, his headache worsening as the threat went from rampaging qi deviating cultivator to rampaging qi deviating war god.
His mind supplied him with Liu Qingge's voice laced in venom saying "You? kill me?".
He grit his teeth, his own spiritual energy starting to deviate.
Liu Qingge was raining blows down on him, steadily pushing him back, swinging Cheng Luan more like a club than the longsword it was. Shen Qingqiu was having a hard time, getting overwhelmed, his sides getting cuts and gashes from Cheng Luan's swings getting deflected from his vitals by Xiu Ya.
One of them was going to die here.
His first thought was to let Liu Qingge perish, but Yue Qingyuan's kicked puppy face flashed before his eyes.
He would be so disappointed-not angry nor sad, disappointed. Seeing that look upon the older man's face killed any remaining hope within him each time.
In that split second of distraction, metal pierced flesh.
Cheng luan punctured his left lung, a mere hair away from his heart, cutting into one of his artery. Shen Qingqiu spat blood on the floor, stumbling.
He was running out of time. He needed to act now.
He gathered strength and courage. No one would witness this anyway. Liu Qingge was barely concious, no way he would remember.
He held Xiu Ya tight, slightly trembling. At Cheng Luan's next blow, the blades clashed and Shen Qingqiu twisted his wrist, weakening Liu Qingge's hold on his sword. He freed a hand and striked the war god's wrists, Cheng Luan falling on the ground. Xiu Ya joined it as Shen Qingqiu let got of the hilt.
He then cast aside his pride as an aloof immortal and tackled Liu Qingge on the ground in a flurry on green, white and bloodied fabric.
The tussle became animalistic, wrestling on the ground, struggling one against the other. Shen Qingqiu gathered qi in his right palm and hit Liu Qingge square in the chest. The war god stopped struggling, going limp into the Qing Jing Peak Lord's arms.
He poured qi into Liu Qingge's burning body, uncaring for his own wounds, breathing becoming hard as his breath came in shorter. He didn't let go of his mortal enemy until his qi pathways returned to normal, a smooth torrent of fierce qi.
Shen Qingqiu pulled away, spots dancing in his vision. He walked back to his own cave, unsteady, leaving a trail of blood from the waterfall on his chest. Halfway, he stumbled to his knees, weak. He couldn't get up. He couldn't give up, his last shinning hope in his cave. He crawled, teeth gritting, fighting against the fatigue threatening to overcome him.
He finally reached the circle, relief filling him. When he got to the middle, his head was swimming, falling in and out of consciousness. His qi stuttered in him body, unable to direct it. He had one solution. He self-detonated, pouring all his qi into the spell.
His mind faded to black as the circle lit up.
Liu Qingge woke up, groggy.
His whole body was aching, his head hurt as though a sweet-and-sour-elephant-rhinoceros stepped on it. He pushed himself up into a sitting position, looking around himself.
As soon as his eyes could focus and his sight cleared, Liu Qingge was overtook by an intense nausea. He doubled over, retching. Only a bit of bile passed his lips, stomach empty. His mind was assaulted by numerous vision, and the scene inside the cave made him believe it wasn't all hallucinations.
He quickly got up on shaky legs, tumbling towards the exit. The war god saw a glint of metal and felt a familiar pull, Cheng Luan.
He reached down to pick up his sword. It wasn't alone. He saw the other blade and nausea crashed down upon him again.
His head pounding as he rushed towards the exit, his vision tunneling, like a horse with blinders. Once he got out of the Ling xi caves, he felt as though he could breathe again, taking large gulps of air, catching his breath. The guards who where usually posted as the mouth of the cave were absent.
He needed to get help.
He had to get to the sect leader.
As he walked down the path that led to the main road of Qiong Ding, two disciples came running towards him. He saw them at the last moment, vision clouded. They were Qing Jing peak disciples. Liu Qingge could feel his hands burning, as if the blood on his hands turned into crawling insects, eating at him.
The panicked children saw the figure emerging from the cave, hoping it was a senior who could save them. He was wearing brown, someone from Wan Jian or Qian Cao, they thought. When they came to a halt, Ning Yingying and Luo Binghe were chocked to see a disoriented Liu Qingge. The scent of iron was overwhelming.
The demon chasing the two children was catching up to them. Ning Yingying was expecting the Bai Zhan brute to immediately slay the foe, but he kept looking at them, dazed, lips moving, yet no words could be heard.
The young girl saw that the demon was two arms' length away from them and desperately grabbed her shishu's arm, squeezing it tight.
It seemed to jolt back some sense into the elder, he raised Cheng Luan in front of him.
The demon hadn't thought that he would meet resistance and tried to stop, however, inertia carried him forward until he impaled himself unto the sharp blade.
Liu Qingge's face contorted, the sound of flesh being sliced seemed to sicken him.
Ning Yingying felt relieved that the immediate threat was gone, but a loud crash drew her attention to the rest of the peak.
Urgency filled her.
She shouted, "The sect is under attack!", dragging the older man by the arm.
Luo Binghe followed them as they got to the main square of Qiong Ding peak.
The plaza was packed, demons and cultivators clashing.
While the demons were outnumbered, most of the cultivators were first or second year disciples who didn't have spiritual swords.
Liu Qingge stopped being lethargic when he spotted his sister fighting against a powerful opponent, blood running down the side of her face.
He freed his arm from the grip of Qing Jing Peak's most precious disciple and rushed to join the fray. He summoned sword glares by the hundreds, which rained down on the demon horde.
The demon leader, a young lady wearing naught but a few pieces of red gauze, wasn't expecting such a fierce assault and tried to escape, leading her troops away.
However the sudden appearance of the Bai Zhan War God made the tides turn in Cang Qiong's favor, disciples becoming brave enough to close in on the demon, herding them until they were into an easy to strike group, all gathered together.
Cheng Luan's sword glares decimated the foes, the young demon leader escaping by the skin of her teeth, using the carcass of one of her subordinate to shield herself.
The disciples cheered in victory, surrounding the peak lord.
Liu Qingge's breathing was shallow, his head spinning. He saw Liu Mingyan's worried face, but he mostly saw the Qing Jing Peak disciples, who had gathered here to greet their shizun as he left secluded cultivation.
He couldn't feel his legs, collapsing to the ground in front of everyone. The cheering turned into shouts, calls for healers to come.
He kowtowed over and over again, smashing his forehead on the pavement, muttering.
Liu Qingge passed out, caked in blood, still kneeling in front of Shen Qingqiu's disciples.
Mu Qingfang was having a quiet day for once. His duty as a peak lord was to take care of paperwork and attend to the injured peak lords. He had finished delegating his tasks to the elders and his senior disciples and most of the peak lords he labeled as 'troublemakers' -Liu Qingge, Shen Qingqiu, Yue Qingyuan and Wei Qingwei, were away or in seclusion.
(Liu Qingge was a troublemaker for obvious reasons, hurting himself and others for the sake of 'trainning'.
Shen Qingqiu never went to the healer out of free will.
In order for the hostile peak lord to visit, he had to be carried in unconscious after a qi-deviation. Even then, if Mu Qingfang examined his body instead of just treating the current ailment, Shen Qingqiu would wake up, even if his stomach was ripped open.
It was troublesome because he could never find the underlying cause of his deteriorating health.
As sect leader, Yue Qingyuan's well being was the utmost priority of the sect. He was often subject to many poisoning attemps.
Wei Qingwei was the peak lord of Wan Jian peak. As such, he often got burns and dehydration from his smithy. Therefore, Mu Qingfang liked to have regular meetings with the blacksmith.)
He had even brewed himself a nice cup of tea, a blend from Qing Jing peak.
He had to admit, Shen Qingqiu had a talent for flavor. He could feel his shoulder relax as the warm liquid made its way down his throat. The blend's name 'relaxing blue chamomile' didn't lie.
He sighed satisfied, warm inside and out. He should take a soak in Cian Cao's hot springs later.
His door was kicked open, one of Qiong Ding's hall master burst into the room, carrying an unconscious figure on his back.
"The sect was attacked! Liu-Shixiong is injured!"
Mu Qingfang could see through the window other seniors touch down with injured disciples. The healer got up and led his patient towards his clinic, instructing his students to take care of the others as he made his way. Liu Qingge was promptly laid down in a clean bed, Mu Qingfang looked at his condition.
His skin was pale, smeared with blood that had leaked from his five aperture. His robes were covered in crusted, dry blood. He had a disciple shadowing him, asking her to remove the dirty clothes.
The young lady took scissors, removing the robes in a very clinical manner. After setting the ruined cloth aside Mu Qingfang could see multiple bruises upon his shixiong's upper body, especially around the ribs. He placed a clean hand on the torso and sent a thin flow of qi to inspect the bones.
They seemed intact, the bruise more likely caused by an object slamming into him, yet not so strong as to break bones. He guided his qi deeper to reach Liu Qingge's meridians.
Mu Qingfang gasped. The Qi pathways bored the marks left behind by qi deviations. And a violent one.
He pushed healing qi into his body, mending the scarred meridians. He was surprised to feel foreign energy holding them up, stopping the spiritual veins from fully collapsing.
"Did someone provide first aid to Liu-Shixiong?" the healer asked the hall master who had brought him. The hall master couldn't answer. Mu Qingfang was puzzled. He knew this energy, but he couldn't place it.
Likely from someone who rarely visited the peak.
After he finished healing his patient, he enquired about the situation.
After he got a brief explanation, he asked "Is Shen-Shixiong taking care of the rest." The hall master's eyes turned big as saucers.
"He is getting out of seclusion today, right?" Mu Qingfang saw the other's panicked expression.
"Right?!"
Yue Qingyuan was away from the sect on official business, discussing the upcoming Immortal Alliance Conference.
He saw a spiritual butterfly, a familiar from Qian Cao. Some of these butterflies could be used to find medicinal flowers, but this one seemed to be used for message transmission.
He excused himself, walking outside, stopping in a tastefully landscaped garden and extended a finger for the butterfly to land on.
It was a request for his immediate return, for the sect had been attacked.
He was distraught and told the rest of the delegation -Qi Qingqi, his head disciple and a few elders- to stay and smooth things over.
Yue Qingyuan returned on his own, touching down on Qiong Qing the very next day. It had been over thirty hours since the battle, yet the peak was a mess.
The rainbow bridges were still down, disciples milling about, cleaning up debris.
He spotted the An Ding peak lord, Shang Qinghua, giving out orders, supervising the clean up operation.
It seemed the other peak lords were there too-no green robes present-, finally noticing something was amiss when their disciples found the rainbow bridges cut off, making travel difficult for those who couldn't fly on a sword yet.
Shang Qinghua noticed the sect leader walking towards him and greeted him, about to report on the incident when a commotion could be heard from the side.
Mu Qingfang and a few other healers following a disheveled Liu Qingge in a hospital gown, stumbling his way towards Yue Qingyuan. He threw himself to the ground, begging for... something.
Yue Qingyuan smiled, polite and tried to ask him to get up, still looking around for the person he sought.
Liu Qingge didn't let him the opportunity to utter a full sentence before he exclaimed, "Please punish this criminal!"
The sect leader was surprised, unsure, and asked gently, "Liu-Shidi, what happened?"
"I've killed Shen Qingqiu!", the warrior wailed, tears streaming down his face, snot clogging his nose.
The Atmosphere plummeted, Yue Qingyuan's easy, polite expression slipped off his face, replaced with disbelief. An hopeful type of disbelief, as though some one had made a very crude joke.
He asked, voice shaking, "What did you say, shidi?"
At this point, the other peak lord had gotten closer, so taken aback they had though they had misheard.
A crowd was forming around the kneeling peak lord, having heard bits and pieces.
Liu Qingge swallowed, throat sore, and stammered, as though his soul and honor left his body, "A-at the Ling Xi caves... Shen Qingqiu, I, I"
He choked on a sob, unable to keep talking.
Yue Qingyuan had heard enough, rudely lifting him up by the arm, almost dislocating it. He dragged Liu Qingge towards the Ling Xi caves.
Mu Qingfang gasped and followed them, dissuading anyone else from coming along. The present peak lords were frozen in place, but they quickly shook themselves out of it when the whispers from the surrounding disciples became a cacophony.
They made the crowd disperse, saying empty reassuring words.
"It must be a misunderstanding! Liu Qingge is the pride and joy of Cang Qiong Mountain Sect! No way he would stoop so low as to commit murder!"
The crowd scattered to the twelve corners of the sect, the bridge having finally been fixed.
Gossip had spread quicker than any plague, reaching Liu Mingyan's ears. She had been worried about her brother, never having seen him so distraught.
When she heard the news, she was part of the group that didn't believe it and defended her brother's honor.
"All I'm saying is that Liu-Shishu could have done it accidentally. Shen Qingqiu and your brother were the only one in the caves. It's possible that your brother killed that scum out of self defence after a failed ambush!"
That was the first argument that her peers cooked up that made her resolve waver. Doubt seeping into her mind, she rushed to Qiong Ding peak.
She was told her brother, the sect leader and the Qian Cao peak lord went into the Ling Xi caves. When she got to the entrance, Liu Mingyan was stopped by two disciples.
She had to wait for them to exit, stewing in her worries.
Liu Qingge led them to the cave he had occupied. It stank of metal, blood caked inside. Yue Qingyuan felt his skin crawl, the old scars along his meridians burning and urged the Bai Zhan peak lord to get on with it.
Mu Qingfang tried to calm him. "Zhangmen-Shixiong, Liu-shixiong just suffered a qi deviation, please don't rush things."
Yue Qingyuan had no patience left for neither of his shidis when he saw Xiu Ya laying in a pool of dry blood.
He knelt and picked it up carefully. He felt sick as crystals of crusty blood still stuck to the blade and hilt when he brought it before his eyes.
From what he could see, Liu Qingge hadn't been injured and the blade of the sword was mostly blood free, missing the thin layer of blood that would coat a blade after slicing a living creature.
He didn't want to think about whose blood it was.
There was a trail of blood that would lead into a neighbouring cave, as though someone had crawled while bleeding to death.
When they got to the other cave, following the trail, they found a pile of silk robes fully soaked in blood. Everything was there, Xiu Ya's hilt, his money pouch, the many daggers hidden inside the cloth and Shen Qingqiu's fan, light colored wood handle and a landscape painting adorned the silk. One of the rare gifts from Yue Qingyuan that Shen Qingqiu actually acepted.
Yue Qingyuan was getting dangerously close to a frozen Liu Qingge, who was muttering to himself, looking at the pile of belongings, his eyes red and bulging.
Mu Qingfang couldn't even warn the warrior, the taller man seizing the war god by the collar and shaking him, perhaps hoping something would rattle in that empty head of his.
"Where is Qingqiu." Yue Qingyuan's fury was cold, yet with an underlying promise of violent retribution.
Liu Qingge was struggling to look at the sect leader, slightly choked by his collar.
The Xuan Su sword pointed at the pile of clothing, "Does peak lord Liu truly expect this master to believe Qingqiu-Shidi walked out of here naked?"
Mu Qingfang tried to grab The sect leader's clothes, hoping to calm him down. Yue Qingyuan moved out of the healer's range, dodging the reaching hand. He threw Liu Qingge to his other shidi.
"You have a month to get me Shen Qingqiu."
Mu Qingfang caught the human thrown his way, briefly making sure he was okay, before addressing his furious leader. "Zhangmen-shixiong, there is very little chance that Shen-shixiong is still alive. That amount blood loss is very much lethal to a cultivator."
"As long as there isn't a body, Qingqiu is alive." Yue Qingyuan snapped, gathering Shen Qingqiu's bloody belongings.
He left towards the exit.
Before he left the line of sight from the two dumbfounded figures, he turned and said," If Qingqiu isn't found, Liu Qingge will pay with his life."
Qi Qingqi had originally been overjoyed.
She had been annoyed to have been left behind to deal with the stinky old men from the others great sects, yet once she got back, the rumors were on everybody's lips.
Shen Qingqiu had died, everyone had heard the news. She didn't understand why her shidi felt so much so guilt. The scum had wanted to kill him for years, it was only right he got what was coming for him.
Qi Qingqi also felt Xian Shu was now much safer, she smugly thought. (although Shen Qingqiu had never touched any of her disciples)
He had also been an obstacle to Qi Qingqi's conquest of Cang Qiong Mountain Sect.
Yue Qingyuan had never spared her a second glance because he was busy bending over backwards to cater to that disgusting lecher's whims.
Now that that bastard was gone, she could take her time and seduce the sect leader.
She was now heading towards Qiong Ding peak. She had a problem she could seductively discuss with the sect leader.
An Ding had only delivered half of their usual monthly budget. When she had berated the disciple in charge, they had only said the delivery was complete and there was no more money coming until next month.
Once she reached the sky mansion, the sect leader's private quarters, she went to his private office, not following the head disciple to a conference room, knocked and slipped inside. She smiled, coy, to the figure hunched over the overflowing desk.
He raised his head, not expecting the interruption.
His poor head disciple knocked and tried to urge the woman out of the room, while profusely apologising to his Shizun. Yue Qingyuan waved him away.
The young man left, worried.
His Shizun had been... different, lately.
Qi Qingqi took the dismissal of the disciple as consent and walked to the desk seductively, graceful like a gazelle. She swept a corner of desk clean, sending paper, scroll and important ledgers on the ground, before sitting there, crossing her legs. She wasn't wearing pants under her peak lord uniform, glint of skin peeking trough the fabric.
The Xian Shu fairy was confident in her skills, smiling at the sect leader knowingly.
Yue Qingyuan got up, ignoring the woman, and picked up the fallen documents. The smile froze on her lips, ice thrown upon her, chilling her spine. Qi Qingqi didn't let that affect her much, she was a woman on a mission after all. All the humiliation she had suffered would be void once she became the first lady of the sect.
As a last resort, she was willing to stoop down to baby trapping, this world wasn't lacking in aphrodisiacs and other Fuck-or-Die poisons after all.
She said, hanging on to her dignity, "Zhangmen-shixong, it seems those incompetent nerds from An ding wish to bully little old me." She said cutesy. "They withheld Xian Shu's money, this poor A-Qi is so distraught, She doesn't know who to turn to."
Qi Qingqi didn't know what kind of women the sect leader favored, but her attempts to be a sultry seductress were all failures, so she now tried a more childish, innocent approach.
Yue Qingyuan didn't even deign to look at the woman, disgust clear on his face at the pathetic attempt.
"An Ding didn't mess with Xian Shu's budget. This master decided to take a look at the sect's finances and removed the budget spent on unjustified expenses."
Qi Qingqi had never considered that this could be anything other than a mistake or Shang Qinghua being stingy. She stammered for a bit before defending herself. "All that money was being used, our budget can't be cut in half like that! All of our expenses ARE justified, as written in the monthly finance report!"
Yue Qingyuan seemed just about done with this conversation. "Cosmetics, clothes and jewelry aren't justified to bill to the sect. Such products need to be bought with personal wealth." He gestured the door to the incredulous peak lord. "Good day"
Qi Qingqi's Jaw was on the floor. Never had she been told off for this before, even thought she knew she wasn't supposed to do that, she still used the sect leader's leniency to the max.
She often bragged she got more money than Qing Jing peak, event though it was mostly abusing the sect's ressources. She couldn't even use the excuse that she was buying uniforms for her disciples, since she was buying clothes for herself from a seamstress who only created luxury clothes, very much unlike the more affordable place where the disciple uniforms were mass produced.
"It was never an issue before!" She said, outraged.
"Before, I was too busy with Qingqiu-Shidi to care for the corruption in the sect. Now that he is away, this master will thoroughly cleanse the sect before he comes back."
That seemed to shut Qi Qingqi's mouth, along with her brain and she stiffly got up and left, goose bumps erupting all over her body.
Shen Qingqiu was dead, no way he was coming back!
It was just a phase, right?
The sect leader would soon forget it and would go back to normal, right!?
She was wrong, Yue Qingyuan only got worse.
Any and all frivolities were immediately cut off. Mistakes were publicly announced -and for the first time in the history of the sect, a peak lord was punished according to the sect's law.
Wei Qingwei was the ringleader of the sect's gambling den.
Yue Qingyuan didn't hesitate and had the man punished in front of all the sect.
The sentence was up to code, 150 strikes of the discipline rod. The one holding the rod was a senior disciple from Qiong Ding. The boy was horrified and shaking, grip unsteady. Whenever Yue Qingyuan deemed a blow too light, he had the disciple start all over again.
The punishment started early in the morning and it was well over noon when it finished. Wei Qingwei and the disciple were both rushed to Qian Cao, the former for his bloody back, the latter for a qi deviation.
Qi Qingqi who would have once been overjoyed to spend time alone with the sect leader now avoided him like the plague, afraid to be the next one to be the subject of his ire.
Speaking of ire, Liu Qingge had tried to get the sect leader to tell him where to find Shen Qingqiu's family to apologise and find some way to repent to his relatives.
Yue Qingyuan had laughed coldly, shook his head and refused to say more.
Without more information, Liu Qingge had decided to kneel by the entrance of the Ling Xi caves every day, leaving Mu Qingfang and Liu Mingyan to investigate the corpse's whereabouts. Some disciples from Qing Jing peak would gather everyday and hurl insults towards their shishu.
Disciples from other peaks had also joined in on the 'fun', disrespecting the one they had venerated as the Bai Zhan War God. His name was now smeared in disgrace the same way Shen Qingqiu's had been.
Many cursed out Liu Qingge worse than they had Shen Qingqiu.
With the Qing Jing peak lord, the slander had been more playful and easygoing. He was a bastard, but his wrongdoing didn't affect them. They would gossip and mock him, but it didn't remain in their spirit, written off as scum being scum.
Celebrity gossip, far from them.
However, Liu Qingge had done something that turned the polite sect leader into a ruthless tyrant. Their everyday life had turned into a stressful nightmare since the Wan Jian peak lord had been brutally beaten in front of every disciple, attendance mandatory.
Qi Qingqi should have known that Yue Qingyuan's mental stability was only kept by the few whacks of Shen Qingqiu's fan he got once in a while.
Whatever circle of hell he was rotting in, Qi Qingqi would bet money he was laughing at their misfortune.