BOC AU: Elder Younger Sister 8: Debts

“Hes grown so much since you’ve last seen him!” Xiao Ge, Elder of the Cloudy Sword Sect declared, projecting an image of his son onto the wall from his recording crystal. He would need to get his boy out of closed door cultivation; he would want to be contacted for this.

“NOOOOO! Little Brother! He's so old!” Qingyi wailed. “He’s too big to bounce on my knee! How dare he get so tall?!”

The table roared with laughter as Qingyi pounded her fist on the table. Shen Yu was doubled over. Shou and Yukong, who had come down from the mountain, were leaning against each other, while Ran, who had arrived an hour after Ge, was just as unrestrained with his amusement.

What a wonderful thing, to have them all together and happy. For too long, their only meetings had been sombre affairs, tinged with the knowledge of Qingyi’s predicament. Seeing Qingyi, that bright little spark, wrapped in bandages, unable to move, dying by inches… it had taken its toll on all of them. 

And now she was whole and hale again. Her smile was radiant, her face flushed with life instead of the place of death. Yet those three years within had still changed her. She looked more mature, her features the refined, heavenly beauty of her mother…. Which was why it was so funny to see that face so scrunched up with consternation.

And not just Qingyi had been healed. His brother, Shen Yu, was whole again as well. His cultivation shone like a star, the tarnished blade was once more a thing of tremendous beauty.

It was truly a most heavens-blessed reunion.

“I’m sure he’ll still come down if you ask!” Ran joked. “I’m sure he won't deny his senior’s request!”

“Maybe I will!” Qingyi declared, crossing her arms and pouting. “Once more for old times sake! I can still bounce my little brothers, you shall see! Jin!”

She called out to the last member of their party, and the one who Xiao Ge knew the least about… and yet he had been introduced by Shen Yu as his son. Adopted yes, but Ge’s sworn brother had made that declaration with a fierce pride that only true fathers possessed of their children.

It had been Jin’s ideas that had led to Qingyi’s salvation. For that alone, he had Xiao Ge’s respect; but he still knew little about the young man. He had contented himself with cooking some rather delicious food and serving drinks, letting them catch up with Qingyi. He had done it with good cheer, and seemed to take pride in the fact that they enjoyed the meal he had crafted.

The young man now turned to stare blankly at Qingyi. A silent battle of wills took place. Qingyi slapped her knee insistantly.

The young man heaved a great sigh, and ambled over to his sister much to their amusement. He obligingly sat on her knee, and she wrapped her arms around his stomach.

“Behold the technique of Shen Qingyi, the silencer of crying babies!”

The comical sight of a boy who was a full head taller and perhaps half again as wide sitting on her knee and getting bounced up and down with a resigned expression was too much. The table once more erupted into laughter.

“Yanno, that sounds like you kill them or something.” He said with a deadpan voice.

“Wha?! No! I mean that they are calmed! Are you not calmed by the gentleness of your Elder Sister?”

“Not really, your leg is kind of boney.” was once more delivered in a voice as dry as a desert.

Qingyi made an angry growling noise. “You dare?! My legs are womanly and soft!” 

Jin reached down and grabbed her thigh tightly.

“Womanly and soft? Look how hard with muscle these things are!” his hand shifted and he pinched some of her flesh. “Maybe you’ve got a bit of pudge to soften things—”

“Pudge!?” Qingyi shrieked. Jin had made a foolish mistake, launching an attack from unfavourable ground. Qingyi’s arms shifted, and he was grappled most thoroughly. Jin yelped and struggled, but it was for naught. He was defeated utterly, and the room resounded with the sounds of joy. Even stoic Yukong had her face in her hands, her shoulders heaving at the antics of the youth.

Shen Yu looked on with fatherly warmth, for the first time in far too long, utterly content.

And so too was Xiao Ge. The great quest had ended in victory, in defiance of all odds. What a wonderful day it was.

Qingyi eventually heeded the young man’s pleas for mercy, her cheeks adorably puffed out. Jin winced and rubbed with exaggerated care at his limbs, but both of them had an undercurrent of amusement. The harsh words, jabs, threats and strikes directed at one another were all received with good humor.

They got along well, both of them.

“We know our niece well; but we know little of you.” Ge said after Jin recovered. Ge reached over, and poured the young man a cup of alcohol. “Please, I would get to know my new nephew better.”

Jin looked surprised at the gesture, and at suddenly being the center of attention. He swallowed nervously, his eyes flicking around the room. He knew them. He knew of their deeds, as all who grew up in the shadow of the Cloudy Sword did.

He knew he was in the presence of titans; and yet he forged ahead anyways.

The story started slowly at first. Haltingly, as he dredged up painful memories. Memories of plague, of starvation and suffering.

And then, the stories of his rise. Of a boy with nothing, who looked at the sun, so far away, and began to climb toward it.

Xiao Ge realised immediately why Shen Yu had adopted him. He was Shen Yu. The same circumstances that surrounded his rise were also Jin’s.

A man who was forged in the crucible. One half of the Honoured Founders had been the enslaved scholars. The other half… had been the refuse from the bottom of society, who had joined forces with the scholars to overthrow the tyrant. Those people, the least of people, who had recognised the value of knowledge, and sworn themselves to the Scholar’s righteous task.

He saw his fellow Elders sitting up straighter, paying more attention to a mortal boy as he described his circumstances. As he described skipping meals in his pursuit of knowledge, instilled in him by his parents. Of the Mortal Archives, assisting him in his pursuits.

Of meeting Shen Yu when he was shovelling the refuse out of the streets.

He got more comfortable as he spoke, starting to crack jokes and go on amusing asides—including a particularly amusing moment where he had replaced Shen Yu’s wine with horse piss.

Shou fell of his chair with how hard he was laughing, Yukong only barely stopped herself from being dragged down by her husband. Ran poured the boy another drink, leaning in and savouring every word that came from Jin’s mouth, respect clear in his eyes. Even Qingyi looked impressed at how well executed his plan was—using the urine of a horse that was suffering from the sweet urine disease to disguise the smell in the sickeningly sweet gutrot Shen Yu had been drinking that day.

Shen Yu huffed and puffed, putting on an air of anger that fooled no one.

==========================

Qin Shou of the Cloudy Sword Sect finally managed to control his emotions again, after what felt like half an hour of laughing. It was the most he had laughed… well, ever, really, and the loss of control was such that his Qi was beginning to tremble within his meridians.

Which was hilarious in itself. A man at the fifth stage of the Sky Realm nearly suffering deviation because he was too happy.

And yet it almost would have been worth it, all for this moment. Shou listened idly to the tale being told. Jin spoke of his trials and his tribulations, his adventures in trading, starting a mortal clinic, his battles with a gang, when the wicked sought to suppress him.

The blow by blow account of a young cultivator was always a charming thing. Men who even the least disciple of the sect would crush like ants were to Jin an epic battle that taught him many valuable lessons.

He glanced to Shen Yu, who was still preening like a peacock at Jin’s tale. The other man caught his eye, and offered Shou a smile that was so genuine it was almost too sweet. One upon a time, Shou would have thought it ever so slightly mocking. Smugly superior.

One upon a time Shou hadn’t known his friend well enough. To think that this tragedy had brought them closer.

He still remembered when Shen Yu had come to him. Shen Yu had bowed so low to Shou his head had touched the floor.

“Please. You’re the only man who I can trust and rely on with this.” 

Shou had always had some issues… with the man. Shen Yu, always superior. Always faster, stronger, better, with allies that would heed his call. Shen Yu, with his pranks and japes that always cut.

The only reason the distaste of the man had not grown into hatred was that Shen Yu was so damnably hard to hate. For all his arrogance, he was a righteous man. A man of principle. The famous lecher had never once looked at Yukong with lust, after Shou began courting her, even though Shen Yu had once desired her.

For the most part, Shou tolerated Shen Yu. He was good in a fight, he was a man the Elders of the Sect had respected. He was mighty, but his personality had always left Shou fuming after staying around him for too long.

At least it had, until a hundred years into what at the time had seemed like a futile task. They had both been drinking after another failure… and Shen Yu, in trying to raise his own spirits, had re-arranged one of Shou’s medicine cabinets. A minor one, and really, it had been of no real consequence.

But Shou, drunk and angry, had exploded on the other man.

Every grudge, every little annoyance came back with a vengeance that night, and Shou had been ready to abandon Shen Yu. Leave him alone without his help, this one last disrespect too much.

And then Shen Yu did something Shou had never expected. 

He apologised.

He had thought the pranks and the jabs had been all in good fun. That every time he annoyed Shou, it had been their private game—That Shou, his friend, had been enjoying it as much as he had. Shen Yu had looked genuinely upset that his actions had hurt Shou, and strained their friendship. 

It had certainly taken the righteous anger from Shou’s sails, and in the end, he had accepted that apology, for it was made in good faith.

And from that discussion, Shou learned that many of the little things he had attributed to Shen Yu were not his work at all—including the first incident Shou remembered. The very incident that had made Shou start to dislike Shen Yu in the first place.

It had been Ge, not Shen Yu who had first named the Seven Fragrance Jewel Herbs Lowly Spiritual Herbs. Shen Yu had not even known any better, simply repeating the name Ge had given them when he made that speech to the sect.

Shou realised he had been a petty, childish man. As petty and childish as he thought Shen Yu to be, when Shou had been holding a grudge for hundreds of years over what ultimately… didn’t really matter.

A grudge against a man who had only ever held him in the highest regards.

That night Qingyi’s ailment went from something he was doing for a friend of the sect… and to something he as doing to regain his personal honour.

His friend had needed his help, and Shou would answer.

Yukong, bless his wife’s soul, had joined him without hesitation. Their work had extended Qingyi’s life so that she could live to see her healing. What should have killed her in months, was extended to years. A hundred thousand herbs to preserve her, to keep her blood pumping, and to prevent her soul from untangling.

 The time dilation on the hidden realm was forced to the maximum, Yukong’s arrays pushing the emergency hidden realm far past what Shen Yu had originally designed it to take.

Three hundred years of work. Shou could say that it was all worth it.

Shen Yu and Qingyi were both hale and hearty—and they had picked up an interesting young man along the way.

Shou at first had thought it merely the mad ideas of a boy who didn’t know any better somehow inspiring Shen Yu…. but there was something about him. He was only scraping the surface of his clinic, but everything that he was saying was far, far too well reasoned for him to have simply gotten lucky. 

“It sounds like you’ve worked hard on it.” Shou said, taking control of the conversation. “Is there any way to see it in more depth? Perhaps I may offer some pointers.” It was the least Shou could do.

The young man perked up, and left the table, before returning with several thick folders.

“This is the main layout…” he began, pulling out a blueprint.

Shou found himself leaning forward, along with his wife.

Shou’s eyebrows climbed up his forehead. It was radically different from many mortal clinics he had seen, and some rooms looked closer to what a medical pavilion looked like. It wasn’t some small thing, it was an entire operation.

“The rooms have a formation in them? Ah, I can see the merit of paying one of the crystal carvers to add a heating formation.” She said out of politeness with her body language, more than actual interest. It was good to encourage the youth.

Jin blinked. “We do have a heating formation, but that's not what that is. Here.” The boy then pulled out a formation that Shou could say he had never seen before—just the whole thing, and offer it to Yukong.

His wife was most amused at the enthusiasm, and the guilelessness of the move. Who just offered a formation to somebody?

But his wife’s amused smile—the kind she Shou hadn’t seen since they had raised their own children and they had done something foolish but endearing—fell off her face. Her eyes sharpened with genuine interest.

“This is—hm.” From anyone else it would have been a shocked exclamation. Ge and Ran both were interested now, and Shen Yu just had a smug smile plastered on his face. Yukong leaned slightly so Shou could see what the fuss was about, tilting the page so he could observe the formation better.

It took Shou a second to fully parse the strange design, but when he did, he realised why his wife was so interested in it.

“Using a recording crystal as the medium so that mortals can see the intricacies of the human body.” She said. It was a very simple formation that Jin had made. It was aping what any Spiritual Doctor of even minor skill could do, seeing the human body in their own head. But that was for Spiritual Doctors. For Mortals? To be  able to have such a view was absolutely impossible.

Yukong lowered the paper, and stared at Jin. “This was your first formation?”

“Yes Elder—” he began, 

“Aunt.” came the quiet, but firm correction. Shou chucked. Yukong must have found this truly interesting.

“Aunt Yukong.” Jin rallied admirably. “I made it when I was fourteen.”

Yukong’s eyes slid to Shen Yu. “How much guidance did you give him?”

“Only the basics on formation construction. He did the rest himself.” Shen Yu answered, still damnably smug.

“Repeatable. Low to non-existent reagent costs. Profound impact. An admirable first formation.” She praised, her eyes locked onto Jin. “It is still crude, however. You will have to join me upon the mountain for tea. There are certain refinements that can be made—”

“Yukong! Are you trying to poach my son?!” Shen Yu demanded, looking terribly amused.

“Of course not.” She said, her eyes looking everywhere but Shen Yu. “I merely wish to know my nephew better. And he does need some guidance.” She returned her gaze to Jin,and there was some concern within her eyes. “One should not give their source formulas to others so easily. They can be stolen, used against you, and be used to more easily break your later formations.”

“I mean I’m going to be putting all this in the Archives.” Jin said, scratching at the back of his neck. “The whole reason why I made them was to share them. It's kind of useless for cultivators, but the mortals sure will appreciate it.”

Yukong was actually rendered speechless, her mouth opening slightly. “That is… extremely benevolent, nephew.” She finally managed.

“My brother is indeed righteous!” Qingyi praised, nodding with her arms crossed. 

“We shall strip out any distinguishing marks first and make it as basal as possible.” Yukong said firmly, before turning to Shou. “Husband. Offer guidance in his clinic.” She all but demanded him, her fingers tugging at his sleeve.

Ah, today was a very good one indeed, to have his wife acting with such charm.

“Of course.” Shou replied, turning his attention back to the pages. He was well and truly interested now.

===================================

Shou flipped through the pages, his eyes consuming everything that had been given to him. The drawings for the clinic, the routines they used to clean—his writing was a bit messy, and some of the drawings were truly terrible, but they got the point across. It was radically different from many mortal clinics he had seen, and some rooms looked closer to what a medical pavilion looked like. It wasn’t some small thing, it was an entire operation.

It was impressive. Even though it was so mortal it was—no, that was the whole point.

If he read the lad right, he was specifically making this as mortal as possible. He realised that this was not just some passion project. A man whose family was claimed by disease had declared war upon it, and these were the bases in which his soldiers would reside.

It was something that could be copied and replicated on purpose.

All of it was borne of hard work and careful study. Each and every piece was not aiming for perfection, but rather ‘good enough.’

And yet that made all the difference.

“I wasn’t aware mortals had this knowledge, but you said much of this was in the archives?” Shou asked, looking at the diagrams of germs in the corners of some of the pages. They had most amusing goggly eyes drawn on them, but contrasting the childishness he had accurately depicted even their strange little structures that were thought to be tiny organs! One in particular had “powerhouse of the cell!” written and pointing at it, the germ it was in looking particularly beefy. …had the mortals divined the purpose of some of these?

“Yes, Elder—Uncle Shou.” Shou.” he corrected himself.

“They know what germs are. Remarkable. Two separate entrances, one for illness, one for injury. Yes, I can see how in the absence of sterilization wards you would need to clean more. And you use alcohol. How strong?” He checked the ‘stills’ again, and then picked up the sample Jin had. He smelled it, he tasted its purity, and again was impressed. “This, without a pill furnace to refine it—a pill furnace would likely be superior in quality, but with the quantities you are producing, no, I do believe this is better.” Of course, there were truly titanic pill furnaces.. But the expense of those compared to copper? It was no contest. He leaned back, focusing on the young man before him. 

“Have you managed to grow any Spiritual Herbs yet?” he asked. Which was the true measure of a mortal doctor, to be able to cultivate the Lesser Herbs to improve their craft.

“A few, but the most valuable one we’ve managed is Clotroot.”

Shou smiled. Clotroot, also known as the Pauper’s Doctor, was barely a Spiritual Herb. Some even argued that it was merely a plant with some Qi in it, but they were wrong, of course. It had all the markers the Honoured Founders declared that Spiritual Herbs had, including a single meridian.

It was the lowest form of healing herb, for it didn’t even heal. Its dried, powdered form could be used to near instantly stop bleeding when pushed into a wound by forming a hardened clot and constricting blood vessels, but doing nothing to actually repair.

Still, it was useful. Especially to mortals… and it spoke well of his skills that he was able to cultivate it. It needed very specific soil acidity, which was fairly hard to come by in this area, the limestone turning the water alkaline.

Mortals normally used taste to determine how acidic a soil was. Notoriously unreliable. Jin had another small improvement.

Vinegar and slaked lime. Jin had observed how one bubbled and fizzed when exposed to another… and so took a sample of soil, diluted it, and then poured in the vinegar and lime to separate soil containers.

If it fizzed with vinegar, it was alkaline. If it fizzed with lime, acidic.

“Then you just make your soil to match the fizzing.” was his conclusion.

Shou had used a pill furnace to refine the component parts out of the soil; it had taken the better part of a day to refine each individual component. He had just needed vinegar and slaked lime? Even just hearing it made perfect sense. Well, it would have produced a less precise result, of course, but again. Simple, easy to use. Mass produceable on a grand scale.

Acidity, soil drainage, even the temperature of the water. It was merely a lesser herb… but all signs pointed to one thing.

His talent was yet a seed, but Shou had no doubt if he kept upon his path that he would go far.

Truly, Shen Yu had to be the luckiest man in the world to find such diamonds.

Hmm. Well, I do have some lesser herbs that would be a fine addition to your current collection…” Shou began.

=================================

The conversation meandered from there. They told tales of the past three hundred years, and how things had changed. They listened to Qingyi’s joyous hopes… and assuaged some of them. After all, her dear friend, Elder Yingxuan still lived.

In the end, however, the children were still just initiates, and they had completed a long day of training.

They both retired for the evening, pushing and bumping against one another with big smiles.

And then, it was them alone. They too retired, tot he top of a nearby mountain top. Where the air was chillier, and there was some privacy. They sat together on cushions on the bare stone, looking out over the lights of the city.

“They get along well.” Ge said.

“Was your adoption so you could wed them?” Ran asked. It was a common practice for a man to be adopted into a family and marry their daughter, so the family name could continue. Yukong too looked interested.

Shen Yu considered their words.

“If they enjoy each other’s company that much, then it shall be so,” he said after a moment. “But it is not something I shall force upon them. Nor shall I ever force that upon them. That is a choice they shall make for themselves. If I can aid them in their courtship, I will. But it is not something they are likely thinking of. For too long they have been caged by circumstance; tender years stolen by the whims of fate. These shall be their missed years of freedom.”

His tone was soft and wistful, his eyes on the rooms where the children had departed to.

“They’ll certainly make things interesting.” Ge declared, and no one disagreed.

They lapsed into silence for a moment, just enjoying one another's company. But not all things could last. Shen Yu took a breath. He stood, and walked to the edge of the mountaintop, staring off over the abyss below.

“Three hundred years.” he mused. “Three hundred years.” He turned back to look at them. He lowered himself to a knee before him, his head bowed low, and his hands clasped in the gesture of respect. “My brothers and Sister. Honoured Elders of the Cloudy Sword Sect. For three hundred years you have aided this Shen Yu, barely resting. Your devotion to this unworthy man is something that there are no words to describe. This Shen Yu owes you all a debt that cannot be repaid. And yet I must attempt to repay it anyway.”

They were silent, all of them. Shen Yu’s voice was thick with emotion. None of them had done it to repay him. They had done it because he was their Brother. Yet it would be insulting to wave away this.

“When the world burned around me, when I was abandoned by the heavens, and forsaken by the world, it was the teachings of the Honoured founders which stood as pillars unbowed. I beg the Elders before me; This Shen Yu would take the Entrance Exams, and genuflect and the feet of the Honoured Founders. He would submit himself to the hall of judgement; he would do all in his power to raise up the legacy of the Cloudy Sword, to serve as they wish.”

Ge sucked in a breath. Shou closed his eyes. Ran looked stunned, and his wife simply watched on.

Shen Yu has just asked to rejoin the sect. Not just rejoin… but to rejoin as an Outer Sect Disciple. A man who would be put on details to grow herbs and clean floors; an Imperial Realm cultivator had just asked to serve in his humblest capacity.

Ge closed his eyes. “Brother. Humbling oneself is a great virtue. But denying one’s skills is a sin.” He looked at Shou, then Ran, then his wife. All of them nodded, ceding the decision to Ge.

“You were never removed from the rolls; your membership to the Cloudy Sword only put on hiatus. If you feel you must retake the exam, I will allow it. But it would be a disservice to yourself and the sect to claim you as an Outer Sect Disciple… no, really, it would be letting you off easy, would it not?”

Ran chuckled. “Trying to get out of doing paperwork?” he teased. Shen Yu kept his head lowered, but Shou could feel the small smile that formed on Shen Yu’s lips.

“I admit it would be rather fun to have him clean my room.” Yukong said, her face completely straight. Shou’s own lips twitched.

Yet the moment of levity was brief, as Ge spoke again.

“Shen Yu. I would have you as an Elder of this Cloudy Sword Sect. That is the position where you can aid us the most. Your service shall be knowledge; knowledge for our disciples. For our sect. Do my fellow Elders agree with this?” Ge asked.

“We do.” Shou, Ran, and Yukong all said.

“Then Rise, Elder of the Cloudy Sword Sect. Your service to the Ideals of the Honoured founders begins anew.”

Finally, Shen Yu lifted his head. He looked upon all of them. “You have given me three hundred years—and I shall repay that benevolence. I shall raise for the Cloudy Sword Sect thirty thousand disciples; I shall impart within them all the skill of Shen Yu’s sword. I shall impart within them the wisdom of the Founders. I will hold to them, as they have held to me, even when I declared that their commands no longer suited me. Let this be the beginning of my repayment." Shen Yu declared, reaching into his robes, and then placing a scroll down before them. Shou's breath hitched as he read the title.

Immortal Foundation Arts.

Shen Yu's masterpiece. One of the greatest foundational arts Shou had ever had the pleasure to witness. Now, a gift to the Cloudy Sword Sect, and all their disciples.

“It is an honour to be your Junior Brother once more.” Shen Yu said, his voice earnest.

Ge nodded, standing to embrace Shen Yu as his brother.

“We are not so cold as to demand your immediate service.” Ge said quietly. “Spend time with your daughter and son, while we prepare things in the sect. We know that Shen Yu is a man of his word.”

“Thank you, Brother. There are also two others who I must repay.”

“I know of whom you speak.” Ge said. “Go, and do your duty to them.”

Shen Yu bowed to them once more,m and descended the mountain.

==============================

Xiao Ge returned to the Cloudy Sword Sect with the rest of his fellows, his spirits high.

Shen Yu wished to rejoin the sect.

Today truly had been a fine day. His spirits were high, and with the knowledge his friend would be returning soon, he was feeling a bit nostalgic. Instead of returning to his quarters, he instead went to the Outer Sect. He hadn’t actually been in the lower parts of the sect for hundreds of years, out and about as he had been.

But now, he could go and revisit all the places he and Shen Yu had used to train together.

And yet as he walked through the sect, the smile on his face started to fade. He frowned. Things looked… not as he remembered them.

It was dirty. There was disrepair. There were unrepaired cracks in the flagstones.

…just what had the Senior Disciples been doing? 

That was his first thought, before he paused and shook his head. There might have been some slips. They had all been very distracted. It was probably nothing.

But he couldn’t quite shake the feeling. He would have to call an assembly with the Senior Disciples. Perhaps tomorrow. He went back to his office because of the ill feeling, and went to check the records room. The sealed box held the reports delivered to him in a small hidden realm. Idly, he pressed his hand to it, and was pleased.

There weren’t a lot of reports for him to sort through. Quite a bit less than he thought!

His smile back on his face, Ge extracted the most recent report, just to get a feel for things.

Ge’s eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets. He grabbed another one.

And another one. And then he started just pulling reports out and—

===================================================

Lu Ri stared at Elder Ge, his hands clasped behind his back.

He kept his face as still and firm as possible. He had been called in by Elder Ge, as he was the Senior Disciple on duty that night. Surprised, he had of course gone… and then found himself asked a lot of very…. Delicate questions, while intent had rolled off the man.

“They stopped giving reports because we stopped answering?” Elder Ge asked, his voice strained.

“Yes, Elder Ge.” Lu Ri said, keeping his breath firm and even.

“Tomorrow. General assembly. All Senior Disciples.” his Elder ground out, his shoulders slumping. “It appears we all have much work to do.”

=================

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Jin flexing some of his Before farming knowledge. He was rather surprsied that was all the Clotroot needed.

Also... The CSS realises that something might be amiss.