Chapter Text
Shen Qinqiu woke from the aftermath of his qi deviation with a splitting headache, a hatred of all light sources, and the desire to smack that worried look right off of Qi-ge Yue Qingyuan’s stupid face.
He only missed his target because Zhangmen-shixiong was ever so slightly out of reach. And also because at the last minute he spotted movement and cracked his fan down hard on the knuckles of Yue Qingyuan’s reaching hand instead. The sound rang out in the quiet of his bedroom, shockingly loud.
“Xiao Jiu…” Qi-ge Yue Qingyuan murmured, not even giving Shen Qingqiu face by withdrawing his hand in the aftermath. Instead, he gently adjusted Shen Qingqiu’s twisted collar and tucked the blanket up a little higher.
Idiot! Did he think that an immortal cultivator like Shen Qingqiu is going to die of cold? And if he was, would this corner of blanket make a difference? Shen Qingqiu huffed and left him to it. If Yue Qingyuan wanted to waste his time by pointlessly tucking Shen Qingqiu in, why bother stopping him?
(It did, irritatingly, make a difference to the slight chill that he feels from dressing in only his underclothes. He could also feel the warmth of Qi-ge’s hand through the thin, delicate cloth and it sent a momentary shiver through him.)
Shen Qingqiu glared at Yue Qingyuan.
“Well?” He demanded. “What has brought Zhangmen-shixiong here to invade my Qing Jing Peak and privacy?”
“Xiao Jiu collapsed with a high fever and had a minor qi deviation.” Yue Qingyuan said mournfully, as though this was an unexpected tragedy and not simply the latest incident in a long line of unfortunate incidents caused by Shen Qingqiu’s unstable cultivation. Hah! Perhaps that’s even what the traitor was going to angle at? That Shen Qingqiu had been getting worse rather than better? Maybe he would even feign grief and beg Shen Qingqiu to take it easy? And then, if he could maneuver Shen Qingqiu to relinquish even a cun of his power, he’d be quick to hand it over to the greedy, sneering hands of their martial siblings and Shen Qingqiu would never see it again. After all, couldn’t they do it better than him? Couldn’t they —as former noble young misses and masters who started cultivating at the perfect age and in perfect health— do everything better than him?
He’d be one step closer to being thrown right out the sect. To being forgotten behind a locked door, worthless and helpless and—
And Shen Qingqiu wasn’t going to stand for it.
As children he had always thought himself the better actor between the two of them. But the Yue Qingyuan he had met during that disastrous Immortal Alliance Conference easily put him to shame. He could blink wide, guilty eyes at Shen Qingqiu and whisper ‘I’m sorry’ over and over again— and then keep his mouth shut tighter than a noble's money purse when beggars were underfoot. And no amount of desperate, helpless scrabbling and begging could open it or draw forth even a single coin from pity. Shen Qingqiu would know!
Shen Qingqiu looked into those sad eyes once again and mourned hated him.
“Don’t call me that name.” He said, taking the time to enunciate each word clearly and slowly, his voice low and promising violence.
He’d be damned if he fell for Yue Qingyan’s false affection. Just like everything else the sect leader did and said, it was a front for how he really felt about Shen Qingqiu and how manipulative he really was. On the surface, there wasn’t anything impolite about it even if it was a bit personal to call Shen Qingqiu so dearly. Certainly their martial siblings hated the implied favoritism of it! But a name was only as meaningful as the actions that formed that relationship. When Yue Qingyuan called Shen Qingqiu ‘Xiao Jiu’, what he really meant was that no matter what titles Shen Qingqiu earned, he’d never be anything better than that little sniveling slave boy that the sect leader had cast aside. He had nothing to offer Yue Qingyuan then and he apparently had nothing to offer to him now. And Yue Qingyuan was going to remind Shen Qingqiu of it.
Constantly.
Truly, the sect leader had honed cruelty to a fine weapon, one sharper even than Shen Qingqiu’s tongue.
“Qingqiu-shidi,” Yue Qingyuan corrected, looking contrite. A masterful performance, given that Shen Qingqiu knew he’d be called the same name in short order.
Shen Qingqiu had only just drawn his fan in front of his face to hide his sneer when he heard a strange chime. Then, a voice unlike any other he’d ever heard spoke.
[System Error: S404
An error has occurred while trying to overwrite the role Shen Qingqiu with Transmigration Host File 002:
The Host File is corrupted.]
With reflexes honed from years of living on the streets and beside a murderous rogue cultivator, the voice had no sooner started speaking than Shen Qingqiu had sat bolt upright and summoned Xiu Ya to his hand. His eyes darted around the room, seeking out the source of that inhuman voice that named him as a target of some kind so callously. Whatever it was, it must be bold to invade his Qing Jing Peak where not one, but two Peak Lords (including the sect leader himself!) were in residence!
That meant it was either a fool or a genuine threat.
Acting only a second behind him, he could see Yue Qingyuan go on alert as well, rising from the bed and taking a cautious step back.
Undeterred by the threat of violence, the unseen voice continued:
[Repair action: file repair.
Result: Failed. Error code = 0xnc]
“Shidi?” Yue Qingyuan asked cautiously.
“Be quiet! See if you can hear where it’s coming from!” Shen Qingqiu scolded him. There was nothing visually amiss in the room, which led him to believe that their foe must be invisible. If they were to hunt it, they mustn’t make noise that might drown it out as it continued to rattle nonsense that might give away its location.
[Repair action: System Restore.
Result: Failed. Error code = 0x43y
The System is now running in safe mode.
This special diagnostic mode enables continuity of service while a solution is being found. While in safe mode, some services may not be available.]
Shen Qingqiu slid off the bed to stand at the ready by Yue Qingyuan, his heart racing. The voice seemed to come from all directions around them! It was impossible to pinpoint a source, no matter how he turned his head while it was speaking or how he scoured the room for any distortion or impression that something was there.
Still, the voice continued:
[Welcome, Host 002!
Role: Luo Binghe’s master, Cang Qiong Mountain Sect’s Peak Lord of Qing Jing Peak, “Shen Qingqiu”. Weapon: the sword Xiu Ya. Starting B-Points: 100
Mission: An error occurred fetching the data.
Please ensure that no score falls below zero or the system will automatically mete out punishment.]
“You dare.” Shen Qingqiu breathed, fury in his veins. Sweat from his fever still ran down his neck and made his robe damp and unpleasant, but that was nothing compared to the discomfort he felt as this— this entity rattled off a summary of him in relation to his least impressive disciple as though the relationship was as weighty as every other title he'd earned.
What did that little beast have to do with this? Was he responsible, somehow?
Shen Qingqiu had just finished punishing that brat for failing to improve his cultivation and now there was an entity naming Luo Binghe and threatening to punish Shen Qingqiu ?
There were no such things as coincidences in this life.
“Shidi?” Yue Qingyuan asked worriedly, then immediately violated the silent agreement he had to call Shen Qingqiu by his proper name when he added, “Xiao Jiu?”
There was a strange tone in his voice that had Shen Qingqiu glance his way instead of simply snapping at him to control himself. What he saw was shocking: instead of Yue Qingyuan looking for the source of the threat and taking the situation seriously, he was standing close by with eyes firmly on Shen Qingqiu and his hands raised non-threateningly.
What did Qi-ge think he was doing?! He was leaving himself wide open to whatever this entity was! Shen Qingqiu wouldn’t be able to cover him without knowing where it was!
“Where’s Xuan Su?” He demanded. “Are you expecting me to protect you? Have you forgotten how to use your own sword? Stop standing around and start looking for it!”
“Xiao Jiu, what’s wrong? What are you hearing?”
Shen Qingqiu looked at him as though he were mad. What was he hearing?? Did Yue Qingyuan hear this sort of thing all the time for him to be so relaxed now? Did he mistake the unnatural tones for birdsong? Had he hit his head and lost the last bit of good sense he possibly possessed? Had he gone deaf?
Or perhaps Yue Qingyuan wasn’t concerned because it was only Xiao Jiu who was being named and threatened by such an entity.
Shen Qingqiu’s lip curled.
Fine.
Shen Qingqiu opened his mouth with the intent to tell Yue Qingyuan to stand back and let the Qing Jing Peak Lord take care of this entity if the sect leader was so committed not to dirty himself by intervening!
But before any sound passed his lips, the unnatural voice turned into a shrieking alarm, worse than any cry of a creature that Shen Qingqiu had heard before. The sound mounted and mounted, overwhelming as it wailed in tones that no living throat could produce.
He tried to use his qi to dampen his sensitive cultivator’s hearing, but doing so had no effect. The unnatural sound was utterly deafening.
It was too much.
Weakened by his recent qi deviation, Shen Qingqiu faltered, dropping Xiu Ya as he fell to his knees and pressed his palms over his ears desperately to block out the noise. Part of him was screaming to stand up, to stay alert, to kill whatever was attacking him— but he couldn’t rise.
[Warning] That same voice echoed even as the shrill sound continued unabated. [Alerting others to the presence of the System is forbidden and qualifies as a violation. Attempting to do so will result in the loss of B-points and punishment.]
Even with his hands pressed over his ears, he could hear the voice as clearly as he had before.
Hands clutched at his shoulders, shaking him, as Yue Qingyuan’s terrified face came into view. But whatever he said was lost to Shen Qingqiu as the sound kept going. How was it even able to speak while making that sound? Did it have multiple mouths? If Shen Qingqiu could just think properly he might be able to identify an entity with such distinctive characteristics!
In some ways it was easier for him in this state of mind to list out what it couldn’t be.
It wasn’t any kind of beast. Nothing animalistic. Nothing heavenly, for certain. Nothing—
Even as Shen Qingqiu struggled to pull himself together, his eyes strayed to Qi-ge Yue Qingyuan, as they often did when he lacked the discipline to hold them steady. Before him, Yue Qingyuan was leaning closer, his lips moving frantically.
From the jumble of otherwise unreadable motions of his mouth, Shen Qingqiu managed to decipher the words Mu-shidi .
“No,” He gasped.
As he ran through everything the voice wasn't, he was left with startlingly few things that it could be. And what remained terrified him.
Yue Qingyuan couldn’t hear the sound or else he would be incapacitated on the floor with Shen Qingqiu.
He couldn’t hear the voice at all.
The voice sounded equally far away no matter how Shen Qingqiu moved or turned his head.
He could hear it perfectly well even with his hands over his ears like a child.
The voice was inside him.
Demon. Ghost. Madness—
“Bring Hongjing.” He snarled as the voice began to chant [Warning—] once more. “And that beast, Luo Binghe.”
With slick, hot blood starting to wet his hands, Shen Qingqiu pressed himself against Qi-ge's chest and let Qi-ge pull him close as his vision went dark.