Au where Xiang Fei transmigrates into a random background Cang Qiong cultivator but the moment heâs old enough to live on his own he decides to flee so he can leave the plot behind entirely.
He starts off selling rare herbs and handmade maps, along with talisman that he learned to make as a disciple. Then, once he has enough money to actually think about what he wants to do, he joins a group of traveling pingshu storytellers as their new writer, because writing about the world of PIDW gives him nostalgia and heâd missed talking about the fun parts of his story, like demons, cultivators, and mythology.
All this to say that one day Shen Qingqiu walks into the Warm Red Pavilion and starts listening to one of the prostitutes singing a song about a group of wandering storytellers. Something quite uncommon to hear.
Shen Qingqiu asks one of his jie jies about the self referential nature of song and she explains that there have been rumors of this strange group of traveling storytellers who will tell stories of the politics of both cultivator and demons of history, leading many to believe the poet of the group to be an immortal himself giving first hand accounts
Shen Qingqiu was obviously dubious but asks around anyway and when he learns theyâd be crossing paths during a mission, he decides to sneak in a bar to watch the show. The bar is very crowded but they all go silent when the gavel hits the table and the show starts
He expects to hear fantastical lies tying history and myth. instead, he hears the story of Tianlang Junâs fall. It was very much exaggerated, depicting the heavenly demon as far more cunning and prepared than he actually was. He would have chalked it up as just another story based loosely on truth but then
âShen Qingqiu, Liu Qingge, and Qi Qingqi were both knocked back by the Heavenly Demonâs blade, the peak lords were all knocked out or injured to severely to fight all looked to the Xang Qiong sect leader, expecting him to make the next move. Then, his head disciple, Yue Qingyuan, jumped down from a tree like an immortal descending from the sky, and stabbed his sword straight through the top of his head and down into the dirt bellow.â
That was far to specific and accurate. The story they regularly told included Yue Qingyuan defeating Tianlang Jun but the fight was so chaotic that very few were enough paying attention to see who specifically were trying to fight Tianlang Jun when heâd been slain. Liu Qingge didnât speak enough to tell the tale and Shen Qingqiu definitely didnât remember telling anyone.
Of course it was possible a few remembered and included it in their tales but it had already been almost five years since then. It was clear Shang Qinghua had to have been there.
That would mean he was formally a part of one of the major sects, and a warrior at that. And Shen Qingqiu was supposed to believe he just left a major sect to become a poor wandering cultivator with a group of random mortal story tellers?
After the show Xiang Fei spots Shen Qingqiu in the crowd and starts visibly sweating. He tried to make an excuse and escape but Shen Qingqiu sees his hurry and immediately follows him
Xiang Fei just stands outside the bar saying goodbye to and shaking the hands of leaving guests. He receives many compliments and gets extremely flustered about it. Turns out receiving praise online and receiving praise irl are very different experiences.
Shen Qingqiu stays patient and waits till no one else is exiting the bar to approach.
âI enjoyed the show. It was a little surprising to hear so much about myself however. Have we met?â
âNo- I mean- maybe? We were both disciples at the same time but I was on An Ding and there were a lot of us so we probably never met,â he rushes to explain
âSo you were there when Tianlang Jun was sealed?â Shen Qingqiu lays the trap
âYep! I didnât really contribute much though. Iâm not exactly a fighter,â Shang Qinghua springs it
Only a few older An Ding disciples and the A Ding Peak Lord were sent to fight. None of them were in Shang Qinghuaâs age range. Heâs lying. Heâs hiding something.
Shen Qingqiu suppresses his smirk
âThis was a nice chat, may we meet again on the road I will surely speak with you again,â
And thus began a game of Cat and Mouse. Shen Qingqiu follows Shang Qinghuaâs trail, gaining more and more reason for suspicion as he picks up more and more hidden truths from the stories. Shang Qinghua tries to stop dropping secrets, but he genuinely forgets what is and isnât common knowledge and does so anyway.
This somehow ends in Scumplane