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The Bamboo & Willow on the Mountain

Summary:

After the mess at Qiu Manor, Shen Yuan had been enjoying cultivation as a wandering cultivator in a way he never could in his previous transmigration. But vacation’s over, and it’s time to head to Cang Qiong and do some pre-(LBH)-game-planning. What kind of “essential plotpoints” will he have to navigate this time?

Notes:

This is the sequel to “Bamboo guards the Fragrant Blossom”.
While you can probably get by just knowing that the Qiu Arc ended very differently, there will be references to it in this story that may feel like they lack a little context on their own. Maybe.

Chapter 1: The Immortal Alliance Conference

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

“Do you think he’ll come?”

“Hm… I don’t know. It’s not common for wandering cultivators to participate in the Conference.”

“But that’s because they’re usually not very strong. That guy… well, he’s as good as our shixiongs and shijies, right?”

“That’s true… but he doesn’t really like attention-grabbing things like this.”

“Pft! Even though he’s already got an epithet like the Wayward Sword, he’s still trying to ‘avoid attention’?”

“Well, we all know everyone only calls him that because they’re too polite to call him what they really want to call him. Wayward Sword? More like Chaos Sword!”

“Bleh! Don’t remind me… just watching him in swordflight makes me feel like I want to vomit...”

“Chaos Sword would still be better than what the other wandering cultivators call him. When I went on a mission the other day, I got to talk to this other wandering cultivator who was there for the same reason. We started chatting, and of COURSE he knew about that guy … apparently, among wandering cultivators, they secretly call him ‘the mad lad’.”

“ “ “ Pfffft” “ “

A young disciple dressed in Bai Zhan robes, quite a few years younger than the average age of the other Immortal Alliance Conference participants, paused for a moment as he passed a group of Zhao Hua Temple disciples who had burst into laughter.

“Liu-shidi, don’t fall behind,” his shixiong called, and the Bai Zhan disciple picked up the pace to catch up with the other disciples of Cang Qiong.

Looking around, he was probably the youngest disciple participating. The average age was 16 or 17. The oldest was in their mid-20s. He was 13.

He was attracting a lot of attention, and not all the gazes were mere curiosity or contempt.

… Hostility would be easier to deal with. It seems he’d have to watch his back when he entered the field.

Even if those who couldn’t see past appearances would be easy enough to deal with, he wasn’t someone who would be happy with wasting energy dealing with mediocre opponents.

After registering with the rest of his participating shixiongs and shijies, he left the Conference grounds as fast as possible.

He’d have to regroup with the other disciples at the inn at night, but right now, the less eyes on him the better.

He had spotted an isolated ledge on the cliff nearby, overlooking the Immortal Alliance Conference venue, and decided to hide out there as he pulled out his spirit sword and flew up towards … …

A figure flew past him, startling him badly, and he quickly turned, leaping onto the ledge and brandishing his sword, prepared for an attack.

The figure soared upwards, a cultivator on a sword, flying… practically vertically up against the cliff?! The speed the cultivator was going was so fast, he wasn’t surprised the man hadn’t noticed him.

When the cultivator crested the peak, he went into a spin, before flipping himself backwards, sword over head in a controlled aerial display of flips and turns.

The Bai Zhan disciple watched, amazed at the cultivator’s dexterity and qi control as he made maneuvers that honestly seemed like they’d be impossible without just falling from the sword.

Moreover, the man had a carefree grin on his face, as if this much was nothing, something he could do easily without even thinking about it.

Then, suddenly, it appeared that the cultivator caught sight of him.

The man’s eyes went wide and suddenly… he lost his immaculate qi control, sending himself and his sword into a disorderly spin.

---

Shen Yuan almost wiped out when he caught sight of the figure standing on the ledge midway up the cliff.

Luckily, he had more than enough practice controlling his sword and managed to recover from the near spin out, riding the air current until he stabilized before breaking away, speeding back.

The boy flinched as Shen Yuan came to a very abrupt stop by making a 180 degree turn right in front of him.

Two pairs of eyes stared at each other in silence for a second before Shen Yuan sat on his heels while still on his sword to get a better look.

OMFG. A tiny grumpy Liu-shidi is fucking adorable.

… Okay, maybe he’s not tiny, exactly, he’s a pre-teen looks like, but Shen Yuan had only ever seen the Bai Zhan Peak Lord at his prime, so he’s tinier than he remembered.

But is it really Liu-shidi? That thought didn’t even cross his mind.

Because, look. There is NO way that this kid ISN’T Liu Qingge. Pretty enough to be a little noble daughter, the beauty mark at his left eye, with an expression like he’s thinking about punting you through a wall … textbook Liu-shidi.

“What’s a Bai Zhan disciple doing up here?” he asked, doing his best to restrain himself from going ‘Liu-shidi~!’ and pinching those cheeks. Because let’s face it, the kid could probably still snap his wrists easily even at this age. Also, logically speaking, he technically shouldn’t know who this kid is.

“… What about you?” the boy asked right back, quietly, not sheathing his sword.

Uwaaah- Cheng Luan? Already? Shen Qingqiu’s Qing Jing brats were just getting out of foundational training at his age!

“There’s too many people over there, and this cliff had some great updrafts, so I thought I’d kill time until the Great Sects had all registered. … Well, I haven’t actually decided if I want to participate in the Conference, though,” Shen Yuan said casually.

If it weren’t for the System, he … well, maybe he’d want to check out the Immortal Alliance Conference regardless. It only came by every four years, and he’d be 20 for the next one, a little on the old side for participating.

Anyway, he doesn’t really care about winning, so it doesn’t matter if he feels like he’s not ready to compete against the disciples of the four Great Sects. He’s just here to see how it is~ after all, his last experience of the Immortal Alliance Conference was in the past-future, and it wasn’t exactly a pleasant experience.

The worst. It was the worst experience, ever.

Gods… and Liu-shidi’s … he’s got to be at the age Shen Qingiqu, well Shen Yuan as Shen Qingqiu, had first met Binghe. He might be even younger.

“… You going to be okay during the Conference tomorrow?” Shen Yuan asked.

“Of course.” Blunt as ever.

“… You’re pretty young, though. There are bound to be people who underestimate you because of that, so won’t it be a pain?”

At that, the boy blinked slowly in (mild) surprise, lowering his sword. After a moment, he gave a terse nod.

“Hm...” Shen Yuan sat back, then, slowly, his sword rolled over and he hung, upside down, as he surveyed the field the competition would be held in.

“It looks like that place by the river and over there, by those formations, would be good places to hold a choke point,” he said, pointing as he spoke, “but maybe higher ground would be good for dealing with a bunch of weaklings trying to ambush you. Ah, that place over there looks like it would be a good habitat for monsters, and over there… judging from how much commotion there’s going to be, I bet there and there will be places stealth-based monsters will lie in wait...”

“… How are you doing that?”

“Hm?” Shen Yuan craned his neck, looking over his shoulder, his low-tied ponytail hanging straight down, making him look somewhat comical as he was upside down. “Doing what?”

The boy looked at him like he was an idiot. “That,” he said, gesturing towards Shen Yuan. “Staying … on? Your sword.”

“Oooh,” Shen Yuan laughed as his bottom suddenly dropped from the sword, reaching out his hand and grabbing hold of the hilt to flip himself back up to sit, cross-legged, on top of it. The sword didn’t budge a single bit during his entire stunt, as if it was frozen in space.

“It’s a little trick. You use qi to stick your feet to the sword while flying, right? It’s something a little similar to that,” Shen Yuan explained, but honestly, it was easy to say, but difficult to do. Controlling his sword like it was part of his own body, literally, wasn’t easy … he fell so many times until he somehow reached enlightenment and learned sword intent.

… By the way, when he told Abbot Wu Wang from Zhao Hua that he fumbled his way into learning sword intent just because he wanted to pull stupid stunts while flying on his sword, the good Abbot nearly pulled his hair out, even while Sect Master Wu Chen slapped his thigh and laughed heartily.

“… Could I learn it?” Liu-shidi fingered the hilt of Cheng Luan, his gaze softening a bit from wariness into curiosity.

“If you can’t learn it, I wonder who could,” Shen Yuan muttered before clearing his throat and saying, “Yeah. I bet a guy like you could figure it out without much trouble.”

‘Did Liu Qingge know sword intent?’ was about as useful of a question as, ‘Is ice cold?’

It would only be a matter of time until this little Liu-shidi learned it, too.

… Ah, but he couldn’t just keep calling him ‘Liu-shidi’. Actually, he isn’t even calling him Liu-shidi, right now, he’s still stuck at the ‘Hey you’ stage.

“So, what’s you’re name?” Shen Yuan asked, resting his cheek on his hand as he watched his tiny shidi, well technically not his shidi, watching him right back with caution.

“… Shouldn’t you give your name first?” the boy asked.

“Oh, that’s true. I’m Shen Yuan, a wandering cultivator,” Shen Yuan said.

The boy in Bai Zhan robes scowled before he finally said, “Liu Yingjie. Cang Qiong.”

Notes:

A short chapter, since it’s a bit of a prologue, but I hope it gives enough of a taste for where we’re going.

I know the popular fanon for LQG’s given name is that it contains the ‘ming’ from LMY’s name, but ming (drizzly, misty) feels a bit too soft for LQG to me.
Anyway, I headcanon that LQG fully embraces his courtesy name with pride after becoming a Peak Lord, so it’s fine, it’s only for this part of the series...