BOC AU: Elder, but Junior Sister

Jin Isekais when Rou is still a kid, when he dies of the Demon's Black Hate.

He Meets Shen Yu... but something is different about him.

An alternate Universe where Shen Yu had two children.

random writing to keep myself sharp.

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

I took deep, calming breaths, and put one foot in front of the other. All around me was a droning buzz and the feeling of bees landing on me sending signals of “get out of here!” to my brain.

They weren’t stinging, and they wouldn’t sting, unless I became a ‘threat’ but the sound and feeling still got my hackles up even after four times of doing this.

Enough stings would kill me…again. And the only protection I had was bundled up rags shoved under my clothes to hopefully blunt the worst of it.

So I persevered, approaching the hive.

I clambered onto the rock beside the frame I had built to keep the hive box off the ground, and carefully reached for the lid. I pulled on it once, and felt a small surge of panic as it didn’t budge…. But I kept it up. With slow, even pressure, I felt it start to lift, a little bit of wax probably in the way.

The bees buzzed around me.

Slowly, painstakingly slowly, the lid rose into the air. I held my breath the entire time, finally being able to see into the box—

And I beheld gold.

Golden comb, filled with honey.

Slowly, a grin formed on my face, as I thought of the prices for honey and wax I had gotten from the merchants back down in the Crucible—turns out that nobody had thought of frame hives yet, and a bee hive had to be destroyed to get wax and honey from it. Thank the stars I had seen the hives that one storekeeper had with him.

I would be eating like a king tonight.

It had been a longshot, making this so close to the city in this little copse of woodland. It had been a bit of a climb to get here… which meant that nobody actually used it. A secret little garden up a steep slope.

Carefully, I reached into the hive, and grabbed the first frame, gently shooing the bees back into their home.

I moved as quickly as I dared, collecting honey from the scrap wood kludged together boxes, and putting them into my basket, replacing them with new frames I had made.

Finally, things were looking up for me.

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

It took an hour to get back into the city proper, carrying my precious cargo. I made a beeline back “home” as it were. A small shack in an alley behind a brothel.

Madam Red Oak had let me live there after I “overheard from a doctor” how to cure ‘the shaking sickness’ a couple of the courtseans had. Thank the heavens I had kind of recognised it from reading historical manga. Beriberi. Vitamin B1 deficiency, caused by a white rice heavy diet. All you had to do was eat brown rice, and you would be golden! Well, not golden, but you wouldn’t croak.

The shack was a bit draughty, but it was a solid roof over my head and infinitely better than the streets. 

Also stopped me from getting my shit pushed in when I stumbled into gang territory… again.

I let out a sigh as I entered the hovel.. And began the messy work of processing the honey, cutting it out of the frames. I didn't want anybody to steal my ideas and undercut me, while this was the basis of how I was going to get ahead.

You know, most isekais get shoved into a noble family or something, instantly get a cheat power, or just get teleported down in their original body.

I woke up in the body of a homeless kid who had just died in an alleyway from a disease.

And let me tell you, that fucking sucked. My heart still hurt whenever I remembered Poor Rou’s last moments of despair and sorrow. He had just been a kid.. And I had gotten shoved into the kid’s body to hijack it.

Made me feel like shit. I had.. Well, I had saved as much of the kid as I could, I think. I remember the feeling of reaching out for him,a nd pulling him back… but well, the jury is out on if I actually succeeded.

But I did have one thing—Rou’s wish to live a good life.

I wasn’t him. But I made a promise to those dying embers. I was going to live the best life.

Even if this was magical xianxia land and I was a poor illiterate orphan. That just meant I had a long way to climb! I would get there eventually!

Hopefully!

Now, normally I would have packed up and gotten the fuck out of the city… but I was a kid. Rou was tough for a kid, but this body of mine wouldn’t last if I actually tried to leave. There were literal monsters on the roads, and while I was a country boy at heart, even I wasn’t stupid enough to try my luck out there as I was.

And secondly?

I needed the city.

You don’t know how much you need to be able to read and write until you suddenly can’t. I had an 8 year old’s grasp of the language, and like twenty characters.The city was the best place to learn. The best place to sell things. It was the meat grinder that chewed people into pulp and spat them out.. And the best place to make enough money to not be a destitute orphan.

The honey was the first step. Sell the honey, get enough money that I could start to get a buffer… and so I didn’t need to skip meals to pay for my education.

Momentum. It was all about momentum. Pad yourself to mitigate any unforeseen injuries or breaks in your ability to work.

Get more money to buy materials to build more beehives. Good ones, instead of shitty wood cast offs.Make a business. Hire people. Have to work less. Transition to CEO and ideas guy.

And get a good grave marker for Rou’s parents. They had raised a good kid, young as he was.

…I had just started calling myself Jin, though. It made some separation between me and the person I had taken over… and there was nobody in this life that called me by my given name. I was just “Jin” or “Kid” to all who met me.

I finished my work, and packed up. I offered tribute to Madam Red Oak, my kind of landlord, and she was most pleased with my honeycomb treat.

The merchant was even more satisfied. The coins clinked in my pouch, and I let a grin spread across my face.

Operation Good Life is go!

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

Of course, that didn’t mean stuff instantly got better., I still had to do shitty jobs to keep things going; if I overharvested the honey It would kill the hive, and I was avoiding that, thank you. 

Didn’t mean it didn't suck having to be a street cleaner… but what was I gonna do?

So I gave it my all. My own determination. Some of Rou’s spark.

Forward, to a better life.

And then my musings were interrupted by a voice.

“Hey, brat. Where did you learn to shovel like that?” A rough, slurring voice asked.

I turned, and beheld a middle aged man. He would have been a handsome bastard, with his dark hair and sharp features… but there was something about him. About his eyes.

They were old and tired. Ancient and worn, with a profound, lingering sadness in their depths.

He was a weird guy. I answered his questions.. And thought that would be the end of it. 

Three days later… my life took a strange turn.

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

Shen Yu walked forward. His head was held high. His back was straight. He marched like he was confident. He marched like he was in control. He marched like every step he took didn’t consume all the self control he had to take it.

He marched forward to once more bear witness to his greatest failure.

Shen Yu’s steps were silent, each footfalling without disturbing the sepulchral silence that shrouded this hidden realm. 

It was fitting, for this place was nearly a tomb… if only not quite yet.

The once grand and warm halls were cold and dark. The realm had the colour bleeding out of it, turning to just black and white. The air tasted of nothing, and did not move, not even with his passing.

It was fraying at the edges, a reflection of the being that had made it… and the being it had been made for.

Shen Yu passed by a mirror, and beheld his face.

The chiseled jaw of a man still in his prime stared back. A few wrinkles, to be sure, but his hair was still dark. His beard immaculately groomed. His clothes, the best he had.

It was the facade of a building whose bones had been consumed by termites. Outwardly, he looked fine. Yet he was rotten to his core.

He felt ancient. He felt the strain of years upon his form, and he had nearly let his body reflect that, but he could not.

He would not inflict that knowledge on her.

The fraying edges of the realm solidified as he got deeper. Closer to the location that he had hastily constructed the realm around.

The center of a palace. The colours bled back in. the air warmed. And at last he stood before the gateway, doors warded so they would repel even the most determined Imperial Realm interloper.

They parted for Shen Yu with a sigh. He nearly hesitated. It tore at his soul, every time he entered this realm. But he had to do it. He had to see her again. 

He had promised. And worthless though his word had proven to be… it was all he had.

In the center of the room was a bed. Upon the bed was a girl. The most beautiful, precious girl in existence. His heart melted and wrenched at the same time when he saw her face.

Her face was deathly pale. Every inch of flesh below her neck was covered in sealwork, keeping her blood pumping, and keeping her very life contained, so it could not drain out from her shattered meridians.

The wound in the middle of her chest was raw and angry still. The last gift to her from her Elder Brother.

Bu had crippled her. Methodically. A devastating wound that would see her slowly slip away, in agony and terror. wound that had crippled her beyond any hope of repair.

She was tended to by spirits, for she could not move. They cleaned her, fed her, and tended to her every need.

Her eyelids fluttered open, and her eyes focused on Shen Yu.

“Father?” the girl asked, her voice a bare whisper, but it still held warmth. The wound in Shen Yu’s chest screamed at him. “It's good to see you again.”

For her it had been less than a month.

For Shen Yu it had been twelve years.

“Qingyi, my dearest daughter.” He said, warmth flowing into his voice. “How are you feeling?”

“Much the same, father. I think I’m doing better!” She lied, and badly.

They both knew that she was dying… and yet still she believed in him.

She struggled against her affliction. She fought with all the strength she had against her ailment, and endured the sealing of her body without a single word of complaint.

Because she trusted him. Even now, she was so sure that he would arrive with a cure one day soon.

It had been two years for Qingyi since she had been interred in this realm.

For Shen Yu it had been Two hundred years.

He had sought out every Spiritual Doctor of any renown. He had collected enough resources to beggar provinces. The greatest minds in the Empire had tried their luck at saving her life. Even Shou, his good friend, had not found a way to save her. Even with all his skills, even with all his herbs.

 “Shall I tell you of my adventures?” Shen Yu asked, injecting joviality into his voice. Qingyi perked up, and graced Shen Yu with a smile.

“Please, father! I want to hear all about the places you’ve been, so I can say how different they are when I finally see them for myself!” Qingyi replied with a cheeky smile.

Shen Yu laughed, and sat down with her. He stole another few moments of time from fate.

He would find that cure. No matter what. Before the time was up.

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

One hundred years later… and he was no closer to fulfilling that oath.

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

Shen Yu’s cultivation creaked like a rickety bridge. He sat upon the steps of a building in Crimson Crucible City, like he did in his youth. A wine bottle was at his lips, and he drained it dry.

There were six discarded bottles beside him. Spiritual Wine of the highest grade,m bottles crafted by the most skilled artisans in the world, each one a work of art.

Shen Yu finished his latest bottle, then absently threw it at the wall.

It shattered.

“Forgive me, old friend.” Shou had said, his eyes cast low.

Another hundred years of failure.

….he didn’t know how long he could keep doing this. 

Every time he felt he came close to triumph.. It was always snatched away at the last moment. 

And yet something scratched at him. Something told him he was missing something.

He just didn’t know what.

Shen Yu sighed bitterly. He wallowed in his despair. The Sword That was Shen Yu creaked and groaned.

It was very close to breaking completely.

“Hup, hup, hup, hup.” A voice muttered to themselves. It was young, and full of strain. Shen Yu frowned, wondering who dared to interrupt his introspection… and what he beheld made his eyes widen.

A young man, a street cleaner, worked. He was a small lad. He wore threadbare clothes. He had a wheelbarrow and a shovel as his tools, his boots stained with the refuse of the roads.

He drove the shovel deep, into a pile of filth, and with a roll of his hips, he flexed. The heap of trash, looking too large for a boy of his size and age to manage, was perfectly deposited in the barrow.

It was a technique Shen Yu knew well. For he himself had used it, once upon a time. But that was not what made him pause.

What made him pause were the boy’s eyes. They burned with determination. With hunger. With a primal will to survive.

Shen Yu watched for a moment more, and then he was speaking before he knew why.

“Hey, brat. Where did you learn to shovel like that?” he asked.

The boy turned a suspicious glare onto Shen Yu. Judging. Weighing. Then he answered.

“I figured it out myself.” Was the only reply.

Then he went right back to it, dismissing Shen Yu.

He worked without cease. Without complaint. But he did do something that again made Shen Yu pause.

“Tripe and… intestines soup. soft pills? No, meatballs.” He muttered to himself, reading a menu posted on the wall of an empty shop. Wracking his brain for the characters. Learning, even while he worked. He pondered a word he didn’t know. He focused on it. Then he reached into his pack, pulled out a small piece of paper, and swiftly wrote it down, clearly intending to look it up later.

“That character is delights.” Shen Yu supplied. “Palace of Delights.”

The boy paused, then nodded. “Thank you, sir.” 

And then he kept at it, shoveling, grunting with exertion.

“Why do you struggle so hard, boy?” Shen Yu finally asked the boy who had captured his attention so completely.

He was silent for a moment. Then, he spoke. “So I can live, and not just survive.”

The words struck deep. And for some reason, his intuition told him that this meeting was important.

He waited for the boy to leave.. And then once the boy was out of his sight, Shen Yu followed.

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

Watching Jin was like stepping eight hundred years into the past.

The determination. The careful husbanding of his resources. He paid a scholar to teach him to read and write. He practised diligently. He cut his food intake when he had to, skipping the occasional meal and he ignored the frivolities of other children, distaining sweets for more filling fare.

He complained not once about his lot in life… but it did affect him. He would stumble and sigh. His shoulders would slump with exhaustion. Once, after a particularly hard day, there were tears in his eyes.

But he rallied every time. He would slap his cheeks, and force himself to move again, all for a distant goal only he could see.

He lived in the red light district. The madams gave him jobs and places to sleep, for he was polite, never underfoot, and competent; The prostitutes and whores he treated like his Elder Sisters, while they doted upon him like he was their little brother.

It was a mirror. But while Shen Yu had his Master Chiang… Jin did not really have anyone to help and guide him. All he had was himself.

Shen Yu did not have time for a disciple. That he knew. Yet still his soul whispered to him… that he owed a debt. To do for the boy what His first Master had done for Shen Yu. His Spiritual Roots were clear. The boy had the potential to be a cultivator.

He mulled over the decision. The Honoured Founders of the Cloudy Sword Sect did say that returning to one’s foundations could provide clarity.

….Shen Yu made up his mind.

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

That day, when Jin went looking for a job… he found one.

“Do you know the character for sword?” Shen Yu asked him.

“One of them, yeah.” Jin replied. “But aren’t there twenty three of them?”

Shen Yu nodded.

“Indeed there are—but the first character is my favourite. Simple. Straight forward.” Shen Yu narrated, as he swept the character into the dust of the road. “And my other favourite character is this. Cultivation.”

Jin’s eyes snapped up to Shen Yu. He instantly understood, it seemed. Impressively perceptive.

Jin dutifully copied out the character, taking care to make it as perfect as possible.

“Do you have a favourite character?” Shen Yu asked.

Jin nodded, and with precision, wrote something utterly audacious.

Shifu.

He completed the character, and then clasped his hands in front of him in the gesture of respect, and bowed.

For the first time in nearly three hundred years, Shen Yu felt amusement start to well up in his soul.

“You shall worry about food, shelter, and instruction no longer.” Shen Yu declared.”It shall be provided. In return… you shall learn.”

Jin rose… and then gave him a cheeky smile “Thanks.. Old man.”

Shen Yu barked out a startled laugh at the disrespect… but couldn’t find it in himself to be too angry.

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

The courtesans were sad to see the boy go. The madam fixed him with a gimlet eye, her glare intense. She was trying to divine Shen Yu’s intentions, searching him for deception.

“He has great skill that needs to be nurtured.” Shen Yu informed them all… and let them feel a bit of his Qi. Eyes widened, and the madam huffed, her glare retreating.

“Always knew Little Doctor was made for better things.” One of the women muttered after a moment.

Shen Yu froze.

“Little Doctor?” he asked. “What meritorious deed did he perform that title?”

The courtesan chuckled. “He solved the shaking sickness.” She told him. Shen Yu knew the illness well; it took many in the city, Shou was fairly certain it was some deficiency in the food that one ate—“All we have to do is eat more brown rice. Said he overheard the cure from a doctor… but every doctor I’ve been with hasn’t known the cure, and acts amazed when I tell them.”

…a medical genius? Something akin to hope started to swell in Shen Yu’s heart.

Had fate smiled upon him?

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

Things were finally really looking up.

Shen Yu was a cultivator. The vagrant drunk was a super powered martial artist… and he had seen something in me.

So he started teaching me how to be a punch wizard. I was going to have super powers!

If I could handle meditating for hours on end.

…it was boring as shit. But this was the path to victory. The path to power. The path to a good life. Shit, I didn’t really even care about the heavens, but living for a thousand years just big chillin’?

Sign me up.

At least all the medical texts he got me were way more interesting. Never knew you needed such a grounding to become a cultivator, but it made sense, considering you could explode yourself if you weren’t careful.

And it seemed to be a special interest of his. He talked a lot about medicine, and asked me my thoughts. I admit, I cheated a lot, using memories of the other place. Sure, things didn’t translate one to one, but my answers seemed to satisfy him.

Shen Yu was a morose man. He rarely smiled, and the deep despair in his eyes was a near permanent fixture.

He felt like a man at the end of his life. A man who had given up, and was just waiting to die.

 I didn’t dare poke and prod deeply at that wound… but I did act out in other ways. He seemed to enjoy it when I was a little shit. So I acted it up a bit, pulling pranks. Once I even replaced his wine with horse piss.

Let me tell you, watching the dude spit out the wine was absolutely peak entertainment.

..and it was almost like having a family again.

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

Jin was a balm to his soul that he didn’t know he needed.

The cheeky brat was a delight, poking and prodding Shen Yu with the carefree innocence of a child. A boy, who had his entire life ahead of him.

And yet it was painful. Jin was a vision. A vision of a past and future that never was. A son… untainted.

It hurt, badly. But… when they spoke.. It was worth it.

Jin was not a medical genius, to Shen Yu’s dismay. He was not a brilliant, transcendent talent.

But he was observant. He did make leaps of logic, approaching problems from an angle Shen Yu never considered, oftentimes disregarding Qi entirely.

And one day… one day he said something utterly profound.

“So the meridians keep breaking every time you fix them?” He asked, humming. “Can you just take them out completely and replace them with new ones?”

The idea was utterly mad. To completely remove one’s meridians?

“No. There is no way to replace the meridians once so destroyed. They would need to be a completely perfect match, to their soul and their spiritual roots.”

Jin pondered for a moment.

“But what if you could match it? A cultivator, growing a meridian system off of their meridians? Growing them to completely match the placement of everything, and if they’re related, maybe that would take care of the soul part?”

Again, madness spilled from his mouth. The ideas of a child who didn’;t know some things were impossible.

But as Shen Yu pondered it… brilliant, genius madness.

Qingyi had inherited Shen Yu’s Spiritual Roots. Her constitution was that of a sword.

To completely recreate a second meridian system inside one’s body was possible. Women did it, when they grew their children within them. That was the immaculate domain of Yin.

But Shen Yu was a sword as well. And Swords could be reforged. Steel could be alloyed.

And he remembered the exact layout of his daughter’s meridians. He knew her soul.

He spoke to Shou the next morning.

The man ranted and raved. He told Shen Yu he was insane.

But Shou did not say it was impossible.

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

Once upon a time, Shen Qingyi had lived in paradise.

Her earliest memories were that of forested mountains, stretching off into the distance, accompanied by the soft songs her mother had sang. Safe, and comforted in her bosom.

Her second earliest memory was her father holding her up, and proclaiming to her that everything she could see was hers.

She ignited her dantian at two years old. And while her mother and father coached her in meditation to control herself, the lessons had come easily.

There had been no strain. There had been no pressure. She simply commanded her body to act; and so it did. Perfection, in every moment.

And so… she could simply do as she pleased, when she pleased.

She ranged over her realm with abandon. The air was pure and sweet. The temperature mild. The living, breathing Qi of the world filled her lungs with every breath.

The forested mountains seemed to welcome her into their embrace, and gave their bounty of fruit to her whenever she desired to pluck a peach or plum from a tree. The crisp mountain springs quenched her thirst. The birds and the beasts held no fear of her, and they approached as if they were tame.

But more than that… there were the people. Those who lived in their little hamlets and villages. The people who inhabited her lands doted upon her like she was some goddess come to earth; They showered her with affection and sweets. Their doors were always open to her. They always showed her what they were doing, like making interesting pots or weaving beautiful designs.

The children ran about and eagerly wished to play with her, games of tag or games of chance; games which Qingyi always won, but provided just enough challenge to never be boring.

Qingyi enjoyed every moment. Often her mother found her sleeping on a mortal’s roof or window sill in the sun, a fond smile upon her face

Her father would look on with pride as she showed the other children the new throw she had been taught, and then let the others throw her around, so they learned properly. Hitting the dirt and rolling in it was messy, but fun.

They told her that her Lord Father had given them this land. That he was their Master and protector, and they were proud to serve him.. And by extension her.

They loved her and her father.

 Qingyi loved them back for their devotion.

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

In time, when she was eight, she learned that her paradise was the exception, rather than the rule. It was a land created by her Father and her Mother and the world beyond was not so kind nor sweet.

Her father sat her down and explained it to her. That she was a cultivator, and she had to grow strong.

She didn’t really know what he meant. But if he recommended it, then Qingyi would give it her all. If only for the little people that depended on them so.

Her mother and her father taught her together. They showed her the blade. They showed her the stances. The techniques that were so much more than the games she had been playing.

And so she mastered them. The sword in her hand became an extension of herself, and then it became herself. She spoke to the blade, and it answered her. She commanded her cultivation and it obeyed.

Yet even if it came easily, she remembered the mortals,m and how they said practise made perfect.

She enjoyed it. So she swung her sword the ten thousand times her Father had commanded her, and then swung it ten thousand more; When that was not enough she added another hundred thousand strokes for good measure, until she could perform the swing with utter perfection under any circumstance. Even if she was unconscious, her body would move, striking with all her speed and power. There would be no thought. No intention. Just action as pure and as beautiful as her home.

It was the first time she ever felt strain. Ever felt tired, ever felt pain… and she enjoyed it. It was a challenge. Because even though paradise was good, this too was another part of the world, so she would learn to love it as well.

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

It was in the middle of her training that she first met her Elder Brother. Bu was a man grown, and he looked a lot like her father.

“You’re training hard.” her Honoured Elder Brother said with a smile on his face. “I saw you perform a thousand sword strokes, it must be hard to Master.”

“She mastered it on the first stroke.” her father replied with pride. “But our princess likes to make certain she has it.”

Her Elder Brother’s smile wobbled at that. It became just a bit dimmer. Just a bit fake.

He asked her what she liked, so he could get her a gift. 

She said swords, and balls so she could play rough and tumble games with the village children.

The next time her brother came back, his gift were sweets and dolls. The sweets were tasty things she had never tried, and the dolls were pretty; she hugged him and thanked him because she liked the gifts very much.

Her brother laughed and accepted her thanks.. And then asked how her martial arts were progressing. He asked her if she wanted to exchange pointers.

For the first time in her life Qingyi truly lost. Her spars were normally gentle things. Her father and mother dismantled her with gentle touches, and they discussed what she had done wrong.

This hurt. It hurt, getting smacked around by her Elder Brother’s training sword, but it exposed fatal flaws in her own abilities.

She had a split lip. She had a bloody nose, when her father found them. He frowned, nut the frown lessened when Qingyi earnestly thanked Bu for his lessons.

He told her they could spar any time, at first. He would spar with her, then buy her sweets. He always seemed in a good mood after spending time with her, and Qingyi was very happy.

Her brother had taught her so well she started landing hits on him! How great a teacher he was! Even if his face went all funny afterward. His smile twitched and he didn’t seem quite so happy anymore.

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

She made her debut into the Grand Tournament in the capital. She won it, defeating everybody before her in two moves, and like her father’s stories, she offered them her hand up! She made quite a few friends, and Yingxuan of the Sovereign Sword Sect even said Qingyi was going to be her rival!  It was amazing! Uncle Ge was there, along with Uncle Shou and Auntie Yukong, and they all cheered for her.

She also met a lady called Auntie Minyan. Auntie Minyan was so amazing and elegant and beautiful—she was even prettier than Qingyi’s mom, which Qingyi thought was impossible!

She was all cold at first, but after Qingyi told her that, Auntie Minyan seemed to really like it!

Qingyi got to pour her tea and listen to her stories, and mix her ink for her and watch her do some calligraphy.

Auntie Minyan took her on a tour of a flying ship, and showed her how amazing Soaring Heaven’s Isle Sect was and was kind enough to offer her a place so she could be even more like Auntie Minyan!

She even let Qingyi sit with her at meal times! She of course took her up on the offer, abandoning her normal seat beside Mother.

Mother pouted a lot for some reason, and Father thought it was very funny.

She won six more tournaments. She made lots of friends. She had her fourteenth birthday.

But brother, for some reason, didn’t want to spar with her anymore. He always looked sour. And then he said he had business to attend to.

It was sad to see him go, but she waved him goodbye, and teased him to keep up with his training, or she would surpass him!

Not that she ever would, of course. Her Elder Brother was so cool, and he was obviously holding back against her.

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

And so Qingyi returned to paradise.

She slept on the mountain tops. She showed the village children all of the neat souvenirs she had got, and gave the villagers all the different wine bottles from all over the Empire to share with each other.

She picked peaches off the trees, and tasted their sweet juice. She honed her sword, and learned to forge them herself.

She advanced to the Earth Realm.

Her mother told her that she would soon be a big sister, for she had a son growing within her. 

Qingyi was ecstatic. A big Sister? She would be able to show her little brother the way, like Bu had done for her?

Well, maybe a bit gentler than big brother. He did hit pretty hard some times…

Her Father went off to a hidden realm, and wouldn't be back for a while.

Qingyi rested in her paradise. She prepared for the coming of her little brother.

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

And then it all came crashing down.

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

Once, Shen Qingyi had lived in paradise.

It had been a beautiful, pure place.

Now.. now she lived in what could best be described as hell.

She could not move any part of her body, covered in seals and restrictors as she was. The last line of defense holding her body together.

Each moment was agony. The advance of her death thwarted only by the needles and medicine in her system.

Her food was liquid mash funneled down her throat by the attendant spirits. Her entertainment were stories of places she would probably never be able to see.

She drifted in and out of consciousness. Sometimes, she would be back in paradise… but it never lasted.

She would always be there to dream of the end. She would see Bu, tearing open her mother’s stomach. The first scream of what was going to be their little brother also his last.

She would feel her brother grabbing her. She would feel his hands crushing her bones and ripping open her chest and cold look in his eyes as he told her just how much he hated and resented her.

How her Elder Brother told her how he wanted for her to die slowly, and in agony. How he told her he wanted her to watch him surpass their father.

The blood and the screams of her paradise followed his words. And then he took her with him. With him, as he butchered. With him as he consumed.

And then with him to watch his death.

Father had won in the end.

And then she was sealed in here.

Cold. Dark. Unmoving as the tomb.

Her father returned to her. Time after time. He pretended everything was fine. That he was close. 

He lied to her.

He wasted away. His body and cultivation were killing him nearly as much as hers was killing her.

But she believed him anyway. She had to. She had to think that it was worth it. That her father’s sacrifices were worth it.

Because otherwise she might break.

So it was a surprise, when one day, Father came early.

The realm suddenly shuddered. There was a surge of Qi. Vital. Powerful. Strong.

Her father swept into her chambers, and he was smiling. His eyes burning with life and light. His upright stance was not an act anymore.

“Father?” She asked, unsure if it was real or a dream.

“I’m here, Qingyi.” He said, his grin bright. “I have made a breakthrough. I am on the correct path.”

For the first time in a long time, it wasn’t a lie.

Hope bubbled in her chest.

“Was it Uncle Shou?” She asked.

“...no. It was…” he paused, looking for words, then resolved himself. ““I found someone. His name is Jin. He helped me realise something. He was an orphan, so I took him in.”

She could tell he was worried about how she would take it. To give affection to another child, when his daughter was like this?

And yet, all Qingyi could feel was gratitude. Whoever Jin was… she had brought Father’s smile back.

“Could you tell me about him?” she asked.

Her father gave her a smile, and began. A story about a little orphan boy he found on the street, so full of drive.

 He smiled when he talked about him. His eyes were pure and focused, not dull with strain.

And Qingyi could only feel affection for the boy who had helped her father so.

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

Father’s visits went from once every week or month to every day—maybe once every few hours on some days, and thats what truly convinced Qingyi he had finally found something that would help her. His Qi saturated her body, mapping out her injuries and her meridians. And as he did, he would talk about Jin. How he spiked Father’s wine, or made a nuisance of himself, and made Father string him up by his ankles.

And how father knew Jin did it to cheer him up.

He spoke of how quickly he was growing. Like a weed! He was going to be tall, taller than father. He had a ravenous appetite, and Shen Yu spoke of the two of them dueling over the last dumpling.

He told her how smart he was—how he had invented an entirely new kind of beehive, and had been selling honey and sweets on the side, so he could buy Shen Yu wine from every brewery in the city as a gift.

The design was apparently so good Jin would have made it on his own as a mortal, even without Shen Yu’s help.

It was the best time she had had in years.. Even as her injuries started to progress faster.

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

It took Shen Yu eight years. Eight years, to grow a new meridian system and dantian for his daughter. With Shou and Yukong’s aid, he did it.

Shou was stunned. Baffled. And then contemplative.

It weakened him tremendously. It needed all of his concentration to carefully and meticulously craft the meridians that would be implanted within his daughter. He did not sleep a single wink for eight years.

The only distraction he allowed was the teaching of Jin. the brilliant boy who diligently followed Shen Yu’s lessons. Who had given him this mad idea in the first place.

…if this worked, Shen Yu would adopt him. He was everything Shen Yu had wished for in a son; Fire, drive, ambition. But tempered with a quiet kindness and righteousness.

He would be Shen Yu’s legacy. He would reach the heavens. This Shen Yu swore.

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

When The Qi flared again, Qingyi was already awake and lucid.

She felt her father marching in, and he was not alone. She recognised Uncle Shou and Aunt Yukong as well, their Qi burning alongside her father’s.

Her father swept into her chambers, and he was smiling.

“My daughter. It is time. I am so sorry you had to wait so long. Please, forgive your useless father.” He said to her, his eyes burning with life and light.

The beautiful sword that was her father, so tarnished, had lost its rust.

Qingyi felt tears form in her eyes.

“I am uncertain that this will succeed, as I said.” Uncle Shou huffed. He looked older. More crotchety. But he was still her Uncle Shou.

“Hello, Father. Hello, Uncle Shou, Auntie.”  She whispered. Shou paused. He turned to look at Qingyi, and his face flashed with pain.

“Hello, child.” he said gently. Auntie approached, and gently brushed Qingyi’s hair out of her face. Her hand was warm. It felt nice.

“I never doubted. Not for a moment.” Qingyi felt she had to say.

Uncle’s face softened further. “The odds are still not the greatest. Perhaps they are sixty percent, at my best guess, Shen Yu.”

“So guaranteed with your ministrations.” her father said without hesitation. Uncle’s face went all wobbly, smug pride at her father’s praise warring with irritation that his concerns were dismissed.

Instead, he told her about what they were going to do. Father never really had elaborated, only that he was working on it.

It sounded mad. Ripping out her meridians, and replacing them?

“You will need to be awake.” Shou said, turning to address her. “You will need to aid us in integrating the new meridians.. And if this fails, you will die.”

His words made some of her father’s composure crack.

But Qingyi just nodded. Pain was an old friend by this point. What was a bit more?”

“When do we start?” She asked. There was no hesitation. No wavering. Her father had sacrificed so much for this, and now… now was the moment of truth.

The binders were removed. The seals weakened.

And Qingyi watched, as they cut her open. She felt every knife stroke. Every moment of pain, as they ripped out her meridians… and then opened up her father to do the same.

A forge was shoved into her body into her chest. She burned. The flames ravaged her, body and soul.

But Qingyi was the finest sword crafted by her mother and her father. Heat just meant she was being properly forged.

Three days. It took three days.

By the end of it, Uncle Shou and Aunt Yukong collapsed onto the ground panting…

And for the first time in three and three hundred years, Shen Qingyi stood on her own two feet.

The pain was gone. Her soul wasn’t slipping away.

She could run and jump and eat and she had so much to catch up on.

But one thing was the most important.

“When do I get to meet my little brother?” she demanded.

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

I was in the middle of practising the martial form the Old Man had given to me when the sky darkened.

For a moment, I thought a cloud had covered the sun, and turned to look—but that was no cloud. There was a giant flying sword blocking the view, radiating power and majesty. Beside it, two other swords floated, the people standing upon them similarly radiating power.

Something leapt off the main sword.

I realised a moment later, it was a woman—probably about the same age I was.

I paused, because there was no aggression at all in her body or expression.She hit the ground, and sprang toward me. I reflexively raised a guard, but she broke through in an instant, jumping up and basically tackling me.

She was too light to make me stagger. Her legs locked around my waist, and her hands reached up to clasp my face, her steel grey eyes boring into my own.

And then the biggest, most radiant smile I’ve ever seen on a person spread across her face.

“Hello, little brother!” she cheered, her hands going from my face to my neck ,and she started squeezing me in a hug.

“Uh…hi?” I asked, a bit confused. I patted her back absently, and turned my eyes to where another person was descending. A person I almost didn’t recognise.

The drunk, kind of kooky cultivator I knew as “Old Man” was gone. He didn’t wear his rags, and his wild beard was tamed. In his palace was a man absolutely brimming with power, in the finest silk clothes.

He too had a smile on his face.

“Uh.. whats going on, old man?” I asked as the other two people on top of the flying swords descended to flank him.

“We have much to discuss…but we shall start at the beginning.” He raised his hands, and made the gesture of respect.

“This one is Shen Yu. Many name this one the Unconquered Blade. Cultivator in the Imperial Realm.” He announced, his presence filling the courtyard. I froze, the words not making sense for a moment. “The one in your arms in This one’s Daughter, Shen Qingyi… who your ideas assisted in saving the life of.”

Huh. so that's why he was asking me about all that medical stuff.

“Well. Glad I could help?” I managed.

The man nodded regally.

“You did help. You brought to a close a quest that has consumed three hundred years of my life, and saved the life of my daughter. There is only one way I can think to repay you for your assistance. Will you do the honour of taking up the name of Shen, and becoming my son?”

…. And thats about when my life got really strange.

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