Liu Qingge had already “stepped aside” a good dozen paces. Shen Qingqiu carelessly took a look into the well, but this also seemed to yield no results.
Shang Qinghua flipped through the scroll, paper rustling. “That’s so strange, this clearly said…”
The unfortunate thing was, no matter how hard he rustled the paper, he couldn’t drown out the sound of Shen Qingqiu’s malicious question. “We’ve both tried. Isn’t it your turn?”
Sure enough, in this world, even the monsters bullied the weak and feared the strong. When the other two had looked, they hadn’t seen a damn thing, but when it was Shang Qinghua’s turn, he clearly saw his own reflection coquettishly wave its hand.
Without another word, Liu Qingge smacked his sword’s hilt. In a powerful arc, Cheng Luan flew from its sheath and rushed into the well.
After a moment of silence, the tranquil surface of the water began to churn and bubble. Shang Qinghua scrupulously took one step back, then another, retreating a safe distance away—only to hear a burst of ghastly wailing before a giant, wispy blob of spirits spewed out of the well and shot into the sky.
Liu Qingge smashed apart the clump of women’s heads that were chasing and biting at him. “Get back!”
Usually, once the fighting started, any An Ding Peak disciples not in charge of replenishing supplies were supposed to scram as far away as possible and hang back at a safe location. Unfortunately, Shang Qinghua had miscalculated and didn’t scram far enough. All his means of egress were blocked by the resentful spirits, which had taken the form of a white haze. Now that things had come to this, he could only bust out his special ability. His eyes rolled back in his head and he collapsed on the spot.
Playing dead was a time-tested technique!
In the chaos of battle, Liu Qingge and Shen Qingqiu accidentally pressed their backs together, and their faces simultaneously contorted with looks of revulsion. Shen Qingqiu had already shot out a spiritual blast, which brushed by Liu Qingge’s shoulder as it passed. Liu Qingge, angered, immediately retaliated with a blow.
Great. The entirety of their combat forces were now ignoring the enemy in order to fight amongst themselves.
“Are you blind?” Shen Qingqiu yelled. “What are you hitting?!”
Liu Qingge wasn’t any more polite. “Who hit first? Who went blind first?!”
Shang Qinghua lay on the ground, eyes still rolled back. He had clearly seen when, moments ago, a faint white shadow peeked out from behind Liu Qingge. Shen Qingqiu’s attack had passed Liu Qingge’s shoulder to disperse it.
As he watched, the blows his peers rained down on each other grew fiercer and fiercer, their eyes going red with bloodlust. Forgetting to play dead, he sat up and called weakly, “You guys, don’t fight. Liu-shidi, you misunderstood; in fact, Shen-shixiong was just—”
Shen Qingqiu flung out his hand, and several deep, deep cracks were smashed into the wall by Shang Qinghua’s head. Dust and pebbles streamed down.
“If you’re going to die, then die completely,” Shen Qingqiu said icily. “Don’t change your mind halfway.”
Without another word, Shang Qinghua collapsed and went back to contentedly playing dead.
At last, they sealed away the well creature and all the resentful spirits it had collected in a retrieval vessel, not missing a single one. Shang Qinghua led over the cart and horse. Without sparing them a single glance, Liu Qingge took off down a different road.
Shang Qinghua said hurriedly, “Liu-shidi, where are you going?”
Liu Qingge snorted. “I will not journey alongside a backstabbing colleague.”
Shen Qingqiu clapped his hands and smiled. “How wonderful. For my part, I don’t care to journey alongside someone who’s all brawn, no brains. Shang-shidi, let’s go.”
He grasped Shang Qinghua’s shoulder, and Shang Qinghua squeaked an agreement through teeth clenched in pain. Finally struggling free of Shen Qingqiu’s evil clutches, he caught up with Liu Qingge to caution him. “Liu-shidi, Shixiong has a word of advice to offer. Don’t cultivate by yourself all the time; it’s easy to fall into a qi deviation.”
Liu Qingge still hadn’t responded when on the other road, Shen Qingqiu used the base of his fan to rap on the rails of the cart. Shang Qinghua hurried back.
The whole way home, he watched Shen Qingqiu closely while driving the cart.
Shen Qingqiu was leaning on the side of the carriage reading a book, but under Shang Qinghua’s stare, his expression grew darker and darker. He narrowed his eyes. “What are you staring at me for?”
“Shen-shixiong, I…really wasn’t going to say anything,” Shang Qinghua said timidly. “But since you’ve asked me so sincerely, then… You’re holding your book upside down.”
In a split second, Shen Qingqiu’s face reddened. He abruptly rose and drew his sword.
“No, no, no, no, no, no—don’t do anything rash!”
Shen Qingqiu had the thinnest face! If you tore down his pretenses right in front of him, he would remember you for a lifetime. Shang Qinghua was already regretting the quip. But if a person like Shen Qingqiu—who had perfected the art of poserhood—was holding his book upside down, he really had to be incensed.
That sounded about right. He had gone to all that trouble to do a good thing, but the result hadn’t met his expectations. But if that was the problem, then he should just go and explain himself to Liu Qingge—just admit he was trying to help him out! But Shen Qingqiu wouldn’t do it.
If you won’t do it, just let me help you explain, thought Shang Qinghua. But Shen Qingqiu wouldn’t compromise his own pride. Maybe he was too embarrassed. People really shouldn’t twist themselves into knots—that’s just self-torture.
Shen Qingqiu stared at him with a vicious gaze, and cold sweat flowed down Shang Qinghua’s back.
After a while, Shen Qingqiu finally sat back down and sheathed his sword. With great effort, he composed himself, then said with a superficial smile, “Shang Qinghua, shut up. All right?”
Shang Qinghua’s heart itched ferociously. He raised a hand. “Can I say one more thing?”
Shen Qingqiu rubbed his temple with his right hand, then lifted his chin to indicate permission to speak.
Shang Qinghua looked at him with an earnest gaze, then spoke the most meaningful and heartfelt string of words he had spoken since an electric current had shocked him into Proud Immortal Demon Way:
“If, in the future, you see someone fall into a qi deviation, don’t panic, and don’t rush up rashly thinking you can save them. You must stay calm and call for help; don’t try to do it yourself. If you don’t, you’ll definitely be more of a hindrance than anything, and you’ll make a big mess, and you’ll abandon yourself to despair from there on. You’ll never be free of it for the rest of your life—even jumping into the Yellow River won’t wash you clean!”
Shen Qingqiu was mystified. “If someone else fell into qi deviation, what would that have to do with me? Why would I panic? Why would I want to help?”
Shang Qinghua’s face was the very definition of I knew you’d say that. “Either way, just make sure you remember.”