“No.” Sentenced the Qing Jing Peak Lord, Sheng Zhigan. “Despite the experience you have had at such an age, it does not compare, beat, the seasoning of wisdom. They will polish your bones with their teeth, and your marrow will be their wine.” Shen Jiu’s petition was cast into the waste pile that accompanied the great desk of the scholarly Peak Lord.
Watching his painstaking calligraphy, his perfect syntax, and the artistry of his words as they fluttered down to join the brown-nosing of unimportant nobodies— It stifled. It was a strange recognition, realization. To be preemptively shielded from danger, it was, irking. An ill-fitting garment, an almost paternal hovering.
It was an insult to every scar the Qing Jing uniform he wore covered.
The old instinct to bite and run, sink his teeth into the offending hand, that had so carelessly tossed aside his civility, beckoned his base instincts to the fore.
However, the mantle of Head Disciple wore on his shoulders like the overlarge yoke he had toiled under when ordered to fetch water.
“Shizun—“ He began, slowly, civilly. His face wore respect, an expression of manufactured porcelain. Shen Qingqiu hoped his Shizun would treat it as gently as he did the expensive vases he hoarded. He could not, however, silence the undertone of ‘you are being unreasonable, and it is by my merit alone I am not pointing it out.’
“I am the most equipped to take on this mission. I have the experience, the knowledge, and, with honor to Shizun, the skill, necessary. None of my martial siblings work to fit this assignment as well as I do right now. Is not expediency more than crucial here? Certainly a more senior disciple could sit within the annals of the library for half a year and emerge able to talk business with me, but I am capable now. Begging Shizun to reconsider, for the sake of Qing Jing’s acclaim among our ascenscionary martial peaks.”
“You have received your answer already, Head Disciple. I believe your shishu intends to throw his Liu Qingge at it.” Sheng Zhigan’s eyes had already returned to his never-ending paperwork. Incredulity washed over Shen Jiu. Did he not also bear the generational ‘Qing’? Was he not the senior in every way?
“Shizun surely doesn’t imply that I allow my inexperienced shidi to bear such a difficult task, when as his shixiong, I am all the more suited to the toil of it?”
“It is my right to imply nothing at all, Qingqiu.” Was the steady reply.
“Shizun cannot be serious.”
“Can I not? Alright, Qingqiu, let us say I was merely joking. Your request has been granted.”
Shen Qingqiu was quick to bow, the victory cheap, for the unfairness of having to fight for it in the first place. “Thanking Shizun, this disciple will prepare to leave with sunrise.”
“Qingqiu misunderstands. This master has granted Qingqiu the right to fulfill his duty as Shixiong to Liu Qingge. He will of course, spend the next week instructing said martial brother, before setting out upon the assignment together.”
“This master has full faith in Qingqiu to lead his shidi, and deal with these demonic cultivators swiftly. Without the cost of two of Cang Qiong’s heirs. Dismissed.”
