#1 qi rong fan

The gossip mill on Cang Qiong ran just as fast as the winds whistled through the mountains. Tales flew from loose lips to open ears, winding like poison through veins, hopping from one person to the next.

It was especially bad on Qing Jing peak. There wasn’t much else or the disciples to do while plucking the strings of a guqin except let aimless words fly. The stories of peak lords traveled the quickest — scandals surrounding superiors are the juiciest after all.

It wasn’t strange to be wandering the bamboo groves and overhear these fanciful fairytales fly. Murmurings of cheating, heartbreak, and failed relationships.

Some stories had almost become folk legend with how often they were repeated. The most wretched tales: How the Qiong Ding Peak Lord yearned for the Qing Jing Peak Lord, but he was hated in return. The most heart pulling suggestions: A scholarly beauty hid behind his fan, his porcelain mask shattered by the strength of the Bai Zhan peak lord, only for the scholar to stab the brute with the sharp glass. Or the most scandalous blather: The unassuming mouse who ran An Ding Peak would sneak out late at night to reunite with his demon lover.

Luo Binghe heard these stories, but always let them slip out his mind. It was brainless hearsay, not anything based in truth.

“A-Luo, hey!” Ning Yingying shouted from across the grove.

“Yes, shijie?”

“Oh, my, god, come’ere!” She was bouncing up and down in anticipation. “You’ll never believe what I just heard!”

“Ooh, what?” Luo Binghe let himself smile. It must be good news for her to be so excited!

“Shizun was just spotted with Liu-shishu!”

Luo Binghe’s smile froze. “Oh.”

“Do you know how crazy this is? Those two speak even less then Shizun and Yue-shibo!”

'“No, no, I understand…”

“Li-shijie told me that they fight during every peak lord meeting,” Ning Yingying whispered.

“Why?” Luo Binghe’s voice was unwavering the face of these horrific facts. Shizun might hate another man!

Ning Yingying shrugged. “Apparently they used to be friends, but stopped out of the blue one day.”

Luo Binghe was left stewing until nightfall. Was Liu-shishu the whole reason Shizun was perpetually pissed off?

A few hours earlier

Shen Qingqiu had entered the Lingxi caves to stabilize his meridians. A couple months in seclusion, and he should be able to combat the long-lasting damage in his body. But now, he was close to another qi deviation!

“Stop, fighting!” He gritted out.

Liu Qingge stood panting and bloody in front of him, half clothed with fabric scraps littered across the floor. He was close to death, and was going to drag Shen Qingqiu down with him at this rate. Liu Qingge snarled, and launched himself and Shen Qingqiu again. He swung his sword wildly, not caring if he hit himself or his so-called opponent.

His eyes were clouded and bloodshot. Liu Qingge might be the War God, but Shen Qingqiu was forged from the brutal heat of lawless brawls. He sidestepped the feral peak lord’s attacks easily.

Liu Qingge had smashed the once-smooth rocks in his struggle, leaving them sharp. The cut into Shen Qingqiu’s legs as he ran from Liu Qingge.

Shen Qingqiu scooped up the small debris now littering the ground. Just like the leaves, these could be transformed into a weapon. For those at rock bottom, you might as well use the tools at your hand.

He flung out the sharp stones, letting them knock Liu Qingge to the ground. He stay there, laying in a puddle of his own sweat and blood, chest heaving as his eyes slowly cleared.

Shen Qingqiu backed into a corner, only stopping when he felt the wall at his back. He waited for Liu Qingge to do something — anything — to strike him, yell at him, flee.

“Why-,” Liu Qingge started, panting to catch his breath.

“Shut up and breathe. I can’t be called responsible for your death if I didn’t actually kill you.”

“Oh, I’m sure there’ll be plenty more opportunities in the future,” Liu Qingge huffed out. Shen Qingqiu didn’t reward him with a response, instead pressing Liu Qingge’s torn clothes against the cuts adorning his own leg.

“You’re lucky I didn’t kill you.” Liu Qingge said. He was smug, that brute.

It took a few hours to drag their bodies out of the caves, and no one was there to greet them on the outside.

“I can walk, you know.” Shen Qingiqu tried to shake Liu Qingge off.

“No.” Liu Qingge pulled him close to his side.

Shen Qingqiu couldn’t muster up the energy to pull away again.

The sun set, and the two of them parted ways. Shen Qingqiu fell into his bed, not even bothering to discard his ruined robes.

Perhaps he would make Luo Binghe wash them in the morning, and give the boy a good scolding when he did it wrong. The boy was getting too much muscle out of the manual labor Shen Qingqiu had forced him to do. He was learning how to do it quickly, and it was making Shen Qingqiu look foolish to beat him for a job well done.

Fragments of plans floated through Shen Qingqiu’s mind. They all crumbled into the abyss of sleep as his eyes drifted closed. But one question remained on his mind.