𝐒𝐓𝐔𝐃𝐘 𝐅𝐈𝐑𝐒𝐓 !!
❤︎
THE TOWN WAS BUSTLING WITH PEOPLE AS MERCHANTS STANDING BEHIND THEIR STALLS LINED UP THE TOWN STREETS, CALLING OUT TO THE LOCAL PASSERBY'S TO BUY THE ITEMS THEY HAD ON SALE.
l/n y/n was walking in the middle of the street, his nose practically glued to the scroll in his hands as he made deduction after deduction, coming up with on-the-spot theories about the demon. it took them a full day to get to the town. although it was probably because they kept stopping along the way for some wild animal binghe found interesting.
its whereabouts, its plan, its current strength. stuff like that was on y/n's mind. meanwhile, binghe busied himself with something else, something of... equal importance. "how much for three apples, mister?" luo binghe politely asks as he points to the apples displayed on the stall.
they looked fresh and delicious, and his shixiong, who only ate a bowl of congee for breakfast after running on inedia for a week, could certainly use a couple of healthy snacks during their time there. who knows how long it'll take for them to hunt down the demon?
"three gold coins." the merchant says. "i'll take them!" binghe says with a smile.
here you go, lad." the man behind the stall smiles as he hands the apples over to binghe, all of them placed inside a small sack. "that your girl over there?" the merchant asks while binghe searches his bag for his wallet.
though he quickly abandons that action to look at the man. he gave him a strange look as he was a little confused as to who the man was referring to. he looked back, looking in the direction where the man gestured to with his lips.
to his surprise, the man was pointing to l/n y/n! his senior martial brother!
"w-what? no! that person is my da-shixiong! we descended qing jing peak together to hunt down a demon!" binghe wasn't embarrassed at all when the man referred to his shixiong as "his girl." he was more upset than anything. upset that the man was rude and assumed that his shixiong was a woman.
"how did you even come to the conclusion that my da-shixiong was a girl?" he adds, giving the man an infuriated look. the man quickly cowers in the shadows behind his stall, clearly afraid of the livid look on binghe's face. "i-i'm sorry, sir! i-i just thought-"
y/n noticed the tension almost immediately. he felt it from the way binghe's aura began to pour out of him. he pulled his nose out of the scroll and looks toward his junior. once he saw the fearful look on the merchant's face, and the onlookers who had gathered upon hearing the commotion, he quickly rushed over.
he tucked the scroll into his sleeves and hurried towards them. "binghe! binghe!" he called. he grabbed his junior by the arm and began tugging, trying to pull him away from the scene. "binghe, let's go." he urged. he looked at the crowd that had gathered, whispering amongst themselves.
"i'm sorry everyone! my junior here must've lost his temper- binghe! let the man be and let's go- i'm sorry, excuse us." it was a little hard to pull binghe away from the scene, but y/n managed to get them away.
they ran away from the scene before they hid in the shadows of an alley and y/n released his hold on binghe, exhaling a breath he didn't know he was holding. "what happened back there?" he immediately asked, placing his hands on his hips.
binghe looked away, choosing to stay stubborn and remain silent. "binghe." y/n said, his voice stern. "binghe, look at me." he calls again. "binghe!" y/n yelled.
"he called you a girl." binghe replies right away. but he doesn't look at y/n, he was afraid to look up and see disappointment. gods, he felt like a child who was being berated by their mother. except he was never like this with his own mother, no, this was the first time he felt afraid of seeing disappointment.
a few moments of silence passed. then, a snort. after that, a chuckle. then slowly, it turned into a laugh. binghe dared to glance at his senior, confused as to why he was laughing instead of seething with anger.
someone just referred to him as a woman. binghe conveniently leaves out the part where the merchant called him "his girl." no, that would be far too awkward, even for him.
but his senior was laughing. laughing instead of getting angry or annoyed.
"binghe, it's all right." y/n sighed, wiping his eyes as they felt watery. he leaned against the wall and snorted through his nose. he was grinning from ear to ear. "shixiong, he called you a girl!"
"personally, i'm more disappointed he didn't refer to me as a woman." y/n sighed, taking a seat on a wooden crate. "my question is, why did you get mad?" he asked, looking up and giving binghe a curious look. binghe's eyes flickered to him for a brief moment before he looked away again.
y/n shrugged his shoulders. "so what if that man called me a girl? i take it as a compliment." he says with a smile. "why?" binghe asked, still not looking at his senior. "how about you look at me, and i'll tell you?" y/n answers back.
"it's rude to not face the person you're talking to." he adds.
slowly, binghe looked at his senior. "see? not so hard now is it?" y/n smiled. but binghe quickly looked down again and y/n released another sigh. "this kid-" he quickly cleared his throat. "my mother always wanted a girl. my mom and my dad. they both wanted a daughter, even if it was just one. but after several failed attempts..." y/n chuckled.
"my brothers and i were born and mom got sick." he finishes. "that's why when the merchant called me a girl, i didn't mind. maybe i was even happy. maybe if i looked and acted the part, i could make mom's dream come true, even if its just for a few minutes. her dream of having a daughter."
"you would humiliate yourself so they could be happy?"
"i wouldn't call it humiliating myself... i always liked dressing nice anyways, and i've always envied how women's clothing looked so much better than men's." y/n shrugs his shoulders, smiling casually. binghe doesn't say anymore. now he just felt stupid for causing a scene in the marketplace. he nearly gave himself away to anger, and that would've caused more harm than good.
y/n tells him, "no need to make such a hassle about it next time, all right?" and binghe slowly nodded his head. y/n groaned quietly, stretching his arms. "all right." he stands up from his seat, popping his knuckles.
"let's go. we have a demon to hunt."
come nightfall, the two qing jing peak disciples had already finished setting up a demon-trapping array. they went through three of the towns where the demon had attacked, quickly placing protection talismans on the door of every person's house, just as a precaution.
they met up at one of the towns once midnight came. "did you finish in your place?" y/n asked binghe, pulling out a clean apple from the inside of his sleeves "yes. every door has a talisman and i've set up the trap in the center of town." the junior replies, setting down the small bag he carried.
"good." y/n says with a small smile as he takes a bite out of the apple. "do we go through the towns again or do we just wait?" binghe asks. y/n placed his hand on his hip, feeling the handle of his sword, w/n. he rests his wrist on the blade as he looks out over the peaceful town from on top of a roof.
"hmm." he hummed in thought. "let's wait for a little longer." he says after a moment. he looks at binghe, silently asking him if it was all right. binghe nodded and gave him a smile. "okay."
"glad we agree on that." y/n says before taking a seat on the roof, binghe following in suit. it went quiet between them as they just sat there, overlooking the peaceful town. y/n took another bite out of the apple. the sound of him biting onto the apple and then chewing on it was the only sound that was heard between them.
but even as they remained silent, not talking to each other, they were fine. the silence was comfortable, peaceful even. yet at the same time, it made binghe anxious. his senior had already laid himself out on the roof, sprawled out like a starfish, as stared up at the clear night sky while he munched on his apple.
"the moon looks beautiful tonight. don't you agree?" y/n says out of the blue. "huh?" binghe, confused, looked from his shixiong, then he followed his gaze and looked up.
the moon shone elegantly above their heads, bathing them both in its pale light. the stars twinkled along the night sky, some shining brighter than the others. "hmmm... i spy with my little eye, a bird." binghe was confused again. "shixiong, why are you playing games right now? the demon could be out there."
"i know." y/n tells him, the smile on his lips never leaving. "but right now, it isn't. no harm in having a little fun while on the job, right?" he adds, looking over at binghe as he finished the last of his apple. he tossed the apple core away, watching as it landed on a patch of grass.
"come on. just one game?" y/n pleads, batting his eyelashes as he gave binghe a look with his e/c eyes. just as y/n isn't able to resist binghe's puppy eyes, binghe was the same. he won't admit it out loud, but he knows deep inside that his senior is one of his weaknesses.
he gave in, laying down beside his senior on the tiled roof. it was a little uncomfortable for his back, but it wasn't anything he wasn't used to. back when he first started out as a junior disciple of qing jing peak, he slept in the wooden shed outside of the boy's dormitories, away from his fellow disciples.
it was only thanks to y/n's insistence that binghe was able to know the comfort of a warm bed, with blankets and sheets and soft pillows wrapped in silk. shen qingqiu really loved to spoil his favorite disciple. during their shizun's absence, y/n took residence in his master's room, finding it easier to work from there.
and while y/n used his master's study as his bedroom, binghe used his senior's room. the one down the hall from their master's study. this of course, drew the ire of some of his fellow disciples, but y/n told them off after he caught them beating up binghe again.
"can you see it? the bird?" y/n asked, looking at binghe who lay beside him. binghe looked up at the night sky, trying to find the bird that his shixiong was talking about. "i don't." binghe replied after a while. "it probably flew away."
"it's not flying, at least, not literally." y/n chuckled. "i'll give you a hint. it's... in the sky." he says. "what?" binghe almost wanted to laugh at how stupidly vague the hint was. "yeah. it's in the sky." y/n insists, his voice laced in laughter.
"i don't- i don't get it." binghe admits, laughing a little. "i already told you; its in the sky." y/n smiles, emphasizing the word in.
"what? in the sky?" binghe turned towards the sky again. he squinted his eyes, trying his hardest to find the bird. after a moment, y/n shook his head. he raised his arm, his index finger pointing at one of the stars.
realization hit binghe. "ohh! its in the stars!" he repeats, finally understanding what his shixiong meant. "dumbass." y/n laughed. "see that? those are the wings over there, then the beak..." y/n's fingers traced the outline of the bird he was talking about as his index finger went from one star to the other.
"then the talons." he said. "see? bird!" y/n grinned, almost childishly. binghe looks at him in disbelief before he shook his head. "all right, you got me." he shrugged his shoulders, laughing.
"wanna go another round?" y/n suggested, lips still curved into a smile. binghe's smile faltered. "no, we should look for the demon." he says, sitting up. "it's only been a few minutes." y/n tried to reason. he liked spending time with binghe. he felt a little less lonely when he was around.
"someone could've gotten hurt." binghe answered, giving his senior a serious look. "someone could be in trouble!" he added, trying to urge his senior to get up. "ugh, fine." y/n gave in. although he was a little irritated. "i thought you said we could take our time. but whatever."
he takes out a blank piece of yellow paper, a talisman, from the inside of binghe's bag, then he unsheathes his sword a little. he swiped his index finger on the blade, allowing a fine line to form on his skin as blood trickled out of the small opening.
"shixiong?" binghe asks, scooting closer to his senior so he could see what he was doing. "demons are attracted to blood. it's in their nature." y/n explains as he writes a few characters down on the talisman. "this will increase the potency of the blood written on the talisman. we can use this to lure the demon toward us."
binghe nods in understanding. really, was there anything his shixiong didn't know? he couldn't help but smile, knowing that his senior martial brother was someone who knew many things and had plenty of skills and talents ranging from playing the guqin, to slaying demons in the least conspicuous ways.
"come on, we're heading into the forest. hopefully, the demon sniffs out the bait." y/n handed binghe the talisman, he seemed confused as he looked at it. "umm?" he raised a brow. "put it on my back." his senior answered, turning around.
"what? you're asking me to put a target on your back?" binghe asked in complete disbelief. "are you joking?!"
"no. i'm dead serious. you said someone could've gotten hurt. well? put it on my back." y/n tells him. binghe looked down at the talisman, still contemplating on whether or not he should do as his shixiong says.
suddenly, one of the talismans inside of binghe's bag began to glow. with the bloody talisman on one hand, he used his free hand to fish the glowing talisman out of his bag.
"that glow..." the light it was emitting was red, meaning one of the talismans they hung on the houses had been meddled with by a demon or a demonic aura. y/n snatched the bloody talisman from binghe's hands, then he stuck it to his sleeves. the paper seemed to have fused with the cloth.
y/n hurriedly got to his feet, grabbing luo binghe's qiankun bag in the process. "shixiong!" binghe got to his feet as well, taking his bag from y/n's hands. "let's go!" y/n grabbed the glowing talisman and jumped off the roof, landing elegantly on his feet, before he dashed away.
binghe was quick to follow after him.
by the time they arrived in the town south of where they were earlier, it was already covered in a thick, demonic fog. the demon's presence was seemingly everywhere. it was a way to confuse exorcists. but then again, these were two of the top disciples in the entire cang qiong mountain sect.
y/n unsheathed w/n before abandoning the scabbard elsewhere. luo binghe's nameless sword was withdrawn from its sheath as well. "my, my, how fortunate for me to have two well-distinguished immortals come to pay me a visit, personally." the demon's voice echoed all around them.
y/n and binghe both shared a look, then they nodded at each other as if they'd read each other's minds and had agreed on a singular plan. y/n disappeared onto the right, while binghe on the left.
"come out and fight!" binghe's voice hollers out into the fog. "don't be a coward now and fight!"
the demon's haunting giggles followed after his statement. by the sound of the demon's voice, y/n assumed them to be male, presumably in his early twenties. "all right! i'll just chop off your heads and gift them to that man! maybe then, i'll be officially recognized as one of her loyal subjects!"
"keep talking..." y/n whispered as he quietly and carefully moved throughout the fog. his ears twitched as the demon's voice came again, "i'm going to kill you~" the demon says in a sing-song voice. it was hunting, looking for the two just as much as the two were looking for it.
suddenly, a loud crash was heard somewhere in the fog. y/n immediately readied his sword, looking around. the crash was nearby. infusing his eyes with spiritual energy, y/n tried to see better in the fog. but as soon as he opened his eyes, he saw something standing directly in front of him.
black smoke turned into the figure of a person, then, glowing red eyes appeared on top of him. "found you~!" y/n was quick to parry the demon's blow with his sword. the blast of spiritual energy was deflected back and the demonic smoke dodged, floating all around him.
"i'm going to kill you now!!" from behind!
y/n whipped around, swinging his sword. "AAAHH!!" a hand fell off the smoke. it was black, with thick, sharp nails protruding from the tips of its fingers. "you cut off my hand!!"
"and i'm going to do so much worse—binghe!!"
"shixiong!" the two nodded at each other. they began circling each other, running quickly as their bodies were enhanced by spiritual energy. the fog began to follow their movements as they gathered into a circle.
not even a moment later, it looked as if a small hurricane formed in the middle of town, with all the demonic miasma getting sucked into the vortex the two disciples created. they set off the trap. "all right!!" y/n yelled, skidding to a halt. binghe looked across him and he stopped as well. they both looked up as they stood at the center of the tornado; the eye of the storm.
"NO!! NO!!! NO-!!" the demon was struggling endlessly as it dug its claws into the ground, trying not to get swept away by the deadly tornado. y/n held out a hand. with the small tornado, a lot of things got swept up in the town, like small items like sacks and a few small crates.
but as y/n had his hand held out, his fingers caught hold of something. it was the scabbard of his sword. he grabbed it with one hand before sheathing his blade, waiting patiently for the demon to let go and get sucked into the tornado.
"just give in. we're not here to fight unless you do something stupid." y/n says. binghe refused to sheathe his blade, he wanted to be ready in case the demon did anything. the tornado was beginning to get weaker as it started to dissipate.
once that happened, the demon, in a final attempt to kill at least one of the cultivators, allowed himself to fly off thanks to the tornado. but the demon used some kind of rope.
even with one hand, the demon managed to lasso it to something sturdy. it pulled itself down, then attempted to charge towards y/n, who still hasn't pulled out his sword.
instead, he raised his hand, the pads of his fingers glowing. in y/n's eyes, he could see translucent strings fly out of his fingertips before attaching themselves to the demon's body, rather, they pierced straight through the demon's skin. "RAAGGHH!!"
he pulled back his fist and the demon was quickly brought closer to him. as soon as the demon was within arm's reach, y/n grabbed it by the neck and slammed the demon to the ground, nearly smashing its head on the pavement.
the demon struggled as y/n pinned him down with one hand. he just kept the demon down, but he wasn't choking him. he had a different idea of how to kill the demon.
"you killed three innocent, human beings. and you did that within the borders of cang qiong sect. you really didn't think that we'd come out to kill you?" y/n seethed, looking down at the demon with unchanging e/c eyes. his face was expressionless, but it was clear that he wanted to kill the demon in the most painful way.
luo binghe approached them once the tornado had finally disappeared on its own. "shixiong." he called. y/n didn't look up at him, but he replied with a short, "hmm?"
the demon finally stopped struggling as it just laid there, its chopped-up right hand bleeding tremendously. then, it snorted. slowly, the demon began laughing, the volume growing louder and more malicious.
irritated at the sound of the demon's laugh, y/n slammed its head on the ground once more. "shut up!" he roared. he brought the demon up, nearing his face to the demon's to allow it to see the murderous look in his eyes.
"i'm going to kill you now."
y/n's hands went to the handle of his sword. "qing jing peak... is without a master and its head disciple- haha... hahahahah..." y/n backed away, the expression on his face changing from a look of irritation to a look of horror.
"HAHAHAHA-!!!" the look of anger was quick to return to his face though. y/n smashed the demon's head on the floor with a grunt. then he did it again, and again, and again. he smashed the demon's head on the floor so aggressively, that he didn't stop until the demon's head was completely destroyed.
nothing but whatever was part of its brain and blood was left of its head once y/n was finished. he stood up and wiped his chin with his bloody right hand. "shixiong..."
binghe was horrified at what he just witnessed. he'd gone with his shixiong on multiple demon hunts in the past three years, and it was always an educational experience for him. he always came back all smiley because he learned so many new things from his shixiong.
but this time was different. qing jing peak had finally drew the interest of the demon race.
y/n was pissed to no end. he fell for the demon's trap and now he left qing jing peak completely defenseless. he put his fingers on his lips and whistled long and loud, calling for his and binghe's horses to come. "da-shixiong!" binghe called.
his senior turned his head to look at him. "what?" he asked, clearly on edge. "they'll be fine. ming fan and the others... they can hold off the demon clan until we arrive." he tries to say, trying to sound hopeful.
y/n paused, lowering his hands. he looks at binghe and stared at him for a few moments before he walked towards him, nearing their faces together.
"don't tell me something you don't believe in."
( 𝖾𝖽𝗂𝗍𝖾𝖽 | ✓ )
( words: 3000+ )