Once Wu Yanzi is dead they strip him of anything useful, and hide the corpse. As they work Shen Yuan explains where he was before.
He was in another strange world, living a different life and when he died in an accident he skipped the normal cycle of reincarnation and was sent here. To this shitty life.
"You must have been an asshole," Shen Jiu said.
"Pfff, way less of one than you are!" Shen Yuan replied. He leaned on Shen Jiu as they talked.
"But I read a book in that life, that was set in this world." Shen Yuan told him.
"Is that why the weird thing-"
"Whatever it is. Is that why it called me a villain?" And said he'd die alone.
"Yes. But I can fix it I think. So it's ok... we have time. Like four years? The main character hasn't even been born yet."
"Do you know why Qi-ge left us?" Shen Jiu asked.
Shen Yuan took his hand and squeezed his fingers. "No, that wasn't in there...we should go find out."
Wu Yanzi's spiritual sword is shit but that's probably why it lets them use it in the first place.
They stayed low to the ground, afraid of the sword failing if they go too high, it's wobbly under the weight of both of them already- and they don't weigh much.
Shen Yuan isn't sure how he wound up steering but Shen Jiu's arms are wound tight around his middle as they make for Cang Qiong. They've only been on the sword for a few hours but Shen Yuan takes back all his criticisms about cultivators on horseback- he'd fucking love to be on a horse right now.
It's so weird... The memories of his past and current life sit side by side in his mind, like they happened together. It makes for some pretty extreme emotional whiplash.
Shen Jiu rests his head on his shoulder and Shen Yuan feels like a monster. He said so many awful things about Shen Qingqiu in that other life, but now having lived his childhood along side him... Well he can still blame him a little for being so mean, but he understands a lot more why he was like that.
He'll fix it. He'll make sure Gege is nice to Luo Binghe and everything will be alright.
When they reach the village at the foot of the mountain they dismount the sword- and Gege immediately noticed his watery eyes.
"What happened? Do your injuries hurt? Was the sword ride too tiring? Are-"
"I'm fine," Shen Yuan interrupted. Shen Jiu will just keep going if he doesn't, blaming everyone under the sun for this when Shen Yuan is just being a crybaby. "Just, if I tell you we have to do something because of the book please listen to me alright? Please."
"Fine." Shen Jiu agreed and took his hand as the two of them make their way through the quiet town. It's still dark, the eastern sky only just beginning to lighten as they start up the seemingly endless stairs.
"What if they don't let us up?" Shen Yuan asked.
"Then we'll camp out on the stairs until someone talks to us." Shen Jiu said. "They can't ignore us forever."
But they've only been climbing for ten minutes before there's a commotion up above them on the stairs.
"Get back here before you kill yourself you stupid boy!" a male voice snapped.
The both of them winced at his tone, it reminded them of Qiu Jianluo.
"Oh let him go," another feminine voice said. "He'll collapse from exhaustion eventually. Or actually die, you were expecting him to anyway it won't be that much of a loss."
Above them two cultivators in fine robes appeared, a man in grey and a woman on green and stumbling down the stairs in front of them, dragging a massive sword was-
Qi-ge looks like he's been hit by a bus. And Shen Yuan is nervous for a second when he looks at them with wild eyes. Will what the weird computer thing did actually work? Will everyone remember him always being here?
Qi-ge burst into tears. He dropped the sword he was carrying and nearly collapsed into their arms.
"Xiao Jiu, Xiao Yuan..." he croaked his voice so hoarse it was almost unintelligible. He had an arm locked in a vise grip around their waists, like they would disappear on him in an instant.
Gege is already picking at him. "Where were you? We had to come on our own you were so slow. What happened? Why are you such a mess? Quit crying!"
Qi-ge sobbed harder. Shen Yuan pet his head, trying to sooth him a little.
The man picked up the sword Qi-ge had dropped, grumbling as he did about Qi-ge not listening to anything the healers said.
The woman was just watching them all with a smirk on her lips and a dangerous spark in her eye.
She grabbed Shen Yuan's hand without asking, and he had to actively stop himself from flinching away. He didn't want Qi-ge to think he was pulling away from him.
She examine his meridians, face completely blank as she did, before going over and grabbing Shen Jiu's wrist to check his.
Gege did try to pull away- but couldn't. His tirade to Qi-ge stopped and he turned to glare at the woman trapping his wrist.
Shen Yuan took this opportunity to ask Qi-ge some questions, easy yes or no ones.
"You couldn't come could you?" Shake shake shake.
"Did you get sick?" It would explain how shaky he was on his feet now. There was a long pause before Qi-ge nodded once.
"He's lucky he's not dead." The man snapped. "Yue Qi let go of that trash, you need to go back to the infirmiry."
Qi-ge's grip on them tightened.
"Kindly do not refer to my disciples as trash, Sect Leader."
"Who's your disciples?" Gege snapped.
"You two are," the woman-another Peak Lord?- said. "Unless you want to go back down the mountain and wait eight more months for selection."
"Fine," Gege snapped. "Both of us?"
Her eyes tracked from Gege to Shen Yuan. "For now."
Well that was fucking ominous.
The Sect Leader scoffed. "They're all yours shimei. Now come on boy, back to Qian Cao."
"All three of them should likely spend the evening at the healers." The woman said.
Qi-ge looked up then, examining them- and noting the bruising on Shen Yuan's face.
He turned around and started hauling the both of them up the stairs.
"Put us down you idiot!" Shen Jiu snapped. "We're walking better than you are!"
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