Thankfully, his master suspected nothing, asking with concern when Li Changshou had come by this affliction and gripping his wrist to examine it. It helped too that Qi Yuan sat at only the ninth rank of Return to the Dao, a step from immortality; Li Changshou fooled him with ease, dissolving this 'little crisis' as well.
"Your six senses waver, your heart-qi runs confused," Qi Yuan warned. "Once we're back, go into quiet seclusion; don't step out. I'll tell Ling'e not to pester you. Settle and cultivate and you'll be right." Li Changshou nodded.
Up ahead, a tense Xuanya visibly relaxed at these words; that tiny shift landed square in the short Jiu Wu's eyes. 'Interesting,' he thought, his brows lifting.
Jiu Jiu too relaxed, hopped to Xuanya, and asked what had really happened. Li Changshou checked the soul-capturing bead in his storage tool—a few remnant souls remained. He let out a thread of spiritual sense, tucked the bead into a corner, and sealed it with talismans. None of his business; all is well.
Jiu Wu was far stronger than Jiu Jiu, yet even he dared not fly at full speed within the Northern Continent; this wary Daoist traveled in silence, eyes sweeping the surroundings—a vigilance Li Changshou admired. At last, safe, they left the Northern Jambu Continent. Beyond the miasma lands, Jiu Wu carried them a hundred li south to a barren mountain and summoned the disciples.
They'd waited nearly a shichen when Wang Qi's master arrived with Wang Qi and Liu Yan'er; Xuanya's master Ge Jingshan, Yuan Qing's master Lin Qi, and Liu Yan'er's master came two shichen later.
Ge Jingshan was a 'standard template' of a fairy: a lovely face, pure qi around her, hair in cloud-knots, immortal robes—otherworldly grace, never losing the mortal world's warmth.
"Xiaoya!" Seeing her disciple kneeling, all bandaged wounds, gown smeared with blood, Ge Jingshan's own twisted in grief. She rushed two strides and folded Xuanya into her arms.
"Master..." "Master's here! It was my foolish moment to agree to that scoundrel Yuan Qing's entreaty and send you here for the Yanhuo Mingxin Grass as 'training'—all of it's my fault!" Xuanya's eyes reddened, but she steadied her heart and murmured, "Your disciple is useless, making you worry."
Lin Qi, who had come along, already knew of Yuan Qing's death. He did not grow angry; seeing the pair kneeling, he asked low: "What, exactly, happened?" In the split searches they'd taken a Primordial Immortal in league with Yuan Qing and Yuwen Ling, and had wrung the gist from him.
Jiu Wu said, "Junior Brother Lin Qi, calm. Let Xuanya tell it whole. Xuanya—be as detailed as you can, conceal nothing!" Ge Jingshan added, "Xiaoya, just tell it; your master will see you through!"
Xuanya's gaze drifted to the outer edge, to Li Changshou, and the emotions about to surge settled of their own accord. She sighed, and began from the moment the five disciples had split up.
She spoke from afternoon to dusk, and from dusk till the sky filled with stars. 'This poison lady—why not begin from the dawn of creation?' Li Changshou groused inward, slipping to a farther spot to regulate his breath.
After Jiu Jiu was trapped, Yuan Qing had not struck Xuanya directly. First he summoned a gang of ruffians to stage his 'hero saves beauty.' But this 'beauty' proved stronger than the 'hero,' leaving him painfully awkward. He changed tactics, pressing them toward a dead end, then bared his heart. Yet cornered, Xuanya still refused, flat, his confession to 'share the same grave and reincarnate together'...
With his soft ploys failing, Yuan Qing flew into a rage, tore off his mask, and meant to control her with the love gu worm. But Xuanya escaped by a displacement treasure talisman and ran straight into Li Changshou, who saved her for the first time.
Her wounds healed, Xuanya meant to detour back to the Chaotic Miasma Treasure Forest. She walked days before realizing she'd gone astray—and her tracks were picked up by Yuan Qing's crew. There was nothing for it but a great battle. And this time, too, Li Changshou happened by in the nick of time; under his guidance she lured those men to a venomous beast's lair, let the beast poison them, and killed Yuan Qing with her own hand.
Listening, Li Changshou could not help a private sigh: 'Yuan Qing—so many chances, and he couldn't make good on a single one.' He felt sorry for Yuwen Ling and the other underlings.
When Xuanya finished, the gazes in the clearing turned to Li Changshou. Ge Jingshan brought Xuanya over, and the pair bowed him a formal Daoist salute, promising greater thanks back at the sect; Li Changshou, 'ill at ease,' demurred. Fearing a misspeak, Qi Yuan accepted the gratitude on his behalf.
None was more awkward than Lin Qi. "Alas," he sighed. "It was my failing as a master to take such a disciple without seeing him truly. I'll accept punishment when I return."
Jiu Wu said, "Yuan Qing plotted deep; his heart was crooked when he entered the gate, and you took him straight at the mountain-opening ceremony—this fault can't be laid at your feet." Lin Qi shook his head, saying nothing more. Though Yuan Qing had done evil, still he was Lin Qi's disciple; the Daoist grieved, and the others offered small comforts.
For killing a fellow senior-brother, though she carried reason and right, Xuanya must still face the sect's discipline. The punishment was light—a few years of closed-door reflection. Jiu Wu encouraged Li Changshou, promising the sect would reward him without stinginess.
They did not all return together. Qi Yuan took Li Changshou, and with Liu Yan'er and Wang Qi made the way back at leisure; everyone else raced at full speed—the punished to their punishment, the guilty to their confession. All the haste was Ge Jingshan's urging. Xuanya's master was no common figure: a disciple of the Sect Head, superb in cultivation, rich in treasures—and her Dao-companion, who honored her, was a Heavenly Immortal besides.
How could she let her disciple swallow this grievance in silence? Before setting out she'd sent her Dao-companion word to gather idle colleagues, so that on her return they'd race to the Southern Continent and root out the mortal power behind Yuan Qing.
The road home was calm and untroubled. Save that, whenever Li Changshou heard Liu Yan'er call 'Junior Brother Qi' in a voice full of tenderness, he couldn't help shivering all over... Er, cultural differences. Cultural differences.
...
By night, Xiaoqiong Peak was quiet. A white cloud halted mid-air and Li Changshou drifted down, while Qi Yuan rode on toward other peaks—he'd just received an invitation for a little wine.
Passing the great warding array he'd laid with his own hands, Li Changshou let out a satisfied breath. Safe at last.
"Senior Brother!" A joyful shout came from the side. He turned—a faint blue glow shimmered around his junior sister's cottage. The array screening it from probing had opened a gap from within, and the voice came through that gap... Then the ceaseless splash of water. Ling'e was calling happily: "Senior Brother, you're back! Are you hurt! What happened earlier! Why so late!"
Before the words ended, an elegant figure dashed out. Wrapped only in a thin quilt, her shapely body all the more bewitching for it, hair wet, skin like a tender bloom beaded with water—she cared for none of it and leapt with joy. She'd only just climbed into her wooden tub to bathe; perhaps water got in her eyes, for those apricot eyes suddenly misted, and she threw herself at him.
Li Changshou instinctively meant to dodge, but at those eyes brimming with wronged hurt he sighed inward, stood firm, and let her crash into his arms.
"Stinky senior brother, you scared me to death! You never came back!" Her shout turned to a sob; but just as she was about to cry, a big hand rubbed gently at her head. "Senior Brother..." She looked up, eyes bright, her small mouth pressing into a pout.
Li Changshou said suddenly: "Oh—the master, he..."
"Ah!" Ling'e understood, thinking the master had come home too. With a gasp she whirled and fled back into the cottage, bundled her quilt, and plunged into the big wooden tub, cowering underwater. It was fine for her senior brother to see her like that—how could any man other than her senior brother lay eyes on her!
Poking out her spiritual sense, a baffled Ling'e surfaced... Li Changshou's voice floated in: "The master's gone to a banquet on another peak. I'll rest, then come find you at the hour of dawn (yinshi) to ask about your expedition." He re-sealed the array and drifted away.
In the tub, Ling'e looked down at the thin quilt, and her face gradually turned crimson.
"Stinky senior brother..." She pouted, muttering, and slowly sank beneath the water, leaving a trail of bubbles on the surface.