It's never good news when he's summoned to Qiu Jianluo's office this early in the day- it's rarely good to be summoned by him at all but in the morning is when Qiu Jianluo meets with outsiders... Qiu Jianluo only wants him at those types of meetings to humiliate him...
The man Qiu Jianluo is meeting with is tall, in stately black and grey robes. There's a streak of white in his hair at the temple and there's something familiar about his face. He had kind eyes, which Shen Jiu finds suspicious.
He expects orders from Qiu Jianluo, but his master waves a hand dismissively as he counts a large amount of gold coins.
"This man is your master now." Qiu Jianluo says.
"What?" he asks in shock before thinking better of it. But his old master doesn't even glance at him and the new one smiles at him before gently taking his shoulder in an iron grip he has no hope of shaking off.
He sounded familiar too...why was that?
He's a little shocked by how quickly they leave the manor, taking absolutely none of his things when they go. One minute they're at the top of the stairs and the next they're already outside...
"Are you a cultivator?" he asks quietly.
His new master stops, and leans down to look him in the eyes. "Yes. How old are you Xiao Jiu?"
He wants to tell the man not to call him that but he doesn't dare. "Thirteen sir."
The strange cultivator pats his head. "No sir from you Xiao Jiu, call me Shixiong."
He explains that he didn't buy Shen Jiu because he wanted a slave. He can tell Shen Jiu has excellent cultivation potential and he intends to take him as a disciple... For a few years.
"I have business I must see to in three years time that I cannot involve a disciple in. I plan to train you as best I can then see you admitted to the sect I was trained at, Cang Qiong Mountain Sect."
It sounds too good to be true, but Shen Jiu can hardly say no. Good intentions or not the man still owns him.
Until a few days later when 'Shixiong' hands him all the paperwork necessary to prove he's a free man and not a slave. This is just the first gift Shixiong gives him as they travel around the country. Shixiong buys him clothes and books and teaches him to read and write and how to stand so that people think you're rich. Shixiong grew up on the streets too, he tells Shen Jiu, he's just learned to act like he hasn't.
And he teaches Shen Jiu how to cultivate, how to use the power he can feel under his own skin.
"Xiao Jiu has great talent," Shixiong says. "He'll be a master cultivator soon."
It's not all sunshine and roses of course, Shixiong is ...strange. He never gives anyone the same name twice, and never gives Shen Jiu a name at all. They meet a man on the road about a year into their wandering and Shixiong kills him without a word. After that he shows Shen Jiu that the man was a demonic cultivator, and a known criminal... But watching him kill a man so effortlessly was a little scary.
(Shen Jiu absolutely does not have a crush on Shixiong what are you talking about?)
Shixiong isn't the violent type though. Shen Jiu never sees him draw his sword. He doesn't even kill the actual demons they run into one night at an inn. Shen Jiu doesn't think he did anyway, Shixiong had sent him up to bed early.
The three years fly by, though towards the end of them, Shen Jiu starts to get anxious. What if Qi-ge is looking for him? Eventually he tells Shixiong the whole situation and Shixiong promises that Qi-ge is on the mountain still and will be there when they arrive.
Finally the day arrives, Shixiong must leave soon. They go to the sect and camp at the base of the mountain. Shixiong hands him a letter to give the sect leader.
"You aren't coming up the mountain with me?" Shen Jiu asks.
Shixiong shook his head and told him to sit. There were many things he wished to tell Xiao Jiu before he left.
The story is long, and Shen Jiu's stomach drops not long into it. It's too familiar. Shixiong used to have a dear friend when he was on the streets, one who he had to leave behind when he went to cultivate.
He tells Shen Jiu about rushing his cultivation, about trying to claim more sword than he could handle, and the year he spent locked underground, knowing every moment he was there his friend must be losing hope he'd ever return.
He talked about finally getting out and racing back to where he and his friend had parted ways...only to find smoldering ruins and bodies he didn't recognize.
He talked about his Shizun, a cruel and vicious man coming to drag him away from the ruins eventually. He talks about wanting to die.
Shixiong tells him about finally finding his friend again by chance, and being too ashamed of himself to explain himself.
He explained how he never explained himself, instead letting the pain they both felt ferment inside them until eventually it took his friend from him all together. He's very vague about what exactly happened. But Shen Jiu thinks he appreciates that.
"And then I was given a chance," Shixiong says. "A god came to me and told me it could not change my present, but that I could if I wished change someone else's future. And I have I hope, changed yours for the better, Xiao Jiu. But it's time for me to leave."
"Wait so Qi-ge doesn't even get to go back to a better future?" Shen Jiu snaps. There's no question who the man staring at him wide eyed is of course. He's not stupid. "He had to go be all alone again??"
Shixiong - Qi-ge laughs, "I'm not all alone, I just don't have my Xiao Jiu."
"Well you can't come with me," Qi-ge said.
Qi-ge gestures behind Shen Jiu. "What will he do without you?"
His Qi-ge looks awful. Pale and shaky and like he's going to throw up any second as he stumbles down the steps, he holding the same sword Shixiong has in his arms like an enormous baby.
"I could only change your fate Xiao Jiu," the older Qi-ge says behind him. "Not my own."
"When did he get out of the caves?" Shen Jiu asks.
Qi-ge attempts to get his sword in position to fly on and has to pause to dry heave. Shen Jiu took off toward him and caught him upside the head as he straightened up.
"What do you think you're doing running off in this condition?" he snaps. "Are you trying to kill yourself?"
Qi-ge gapes at him for nearly a minute before Shen Jiu feels like he has to explain himself. "... Qi-ge took too long so I came on my own."
And then his arms are full of a sobbing hysterical Qi-ge. He holds his dearest person tight and looks back towards the camp.
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