Master, This Poor Disciple Died Again Today

Healer woke up with a jolt. He blinked and tried to sit up, only for a throbbing headache to assault him. Wincing, he lowered himself back down, staring at the silken canopy overhead.

I remember… the party. Talking. Rogue finally managed to get me to drink… or… did I just get drunk through the network? I… remember, Gui Yutong and Bai Jingwen… Bai Xue too… Peak Lord and Sectgoer, Ying Lin… she… she left early, I think? Uh…

What happened? I remember seeing faces. Smiling faces. Lights and fire, um… the ice spirits… Hui frowned, rubbing his face again. Uh…

He turned. His own face appeared beside him, breathing slowly in sleep, eyes shut and expression peaceful.

Hui jolted, then snorted under his breath. Oh. It’s just one of the clones. Peak Lord? Rogue, maybe?

Eh… eh, uh… that’s… a lot of skin… oh, phew. His underrobes are still on, they’re just a bit loose.

Someone shifted against him. Hui turned. Bai Xue leaned her head against his shoulder, white hair spilling over her pale skin. An exquisitely thin underrobe draped her body, barely dense enough to obscure the finer details while leaving almost nothing to the imagination. She opened her eyes, sun glittering off her long white lashes, and smiled at him. Whispering, she murmured, “Good morning.”

“Ah, uh, good morning,” Hui whispered back. Quickly, he scanned the bodies sprawled around him, all in various states of undress. Clones, Gui Yutong, Bai Jingwen… Bai Xue on his shoulder. A few of the cultivators he didn’t recognize at all, except from faint flashes of their faces in unfamiliar robes the previous night. Hui sighed quietly. Thank goodness. Whatever happened, Ying Lin wasn’t a part of it.

An image flashed through his head. Ying Lin laughed at him, carefully peeling Zhubi off from around his shoulders. “Master, go on. I’ll take care of little Zhubi, okay?”

Ah. At least I was still sane enough for that much. Thank goodness.

Still whispering, he leaned down toward Bai Xue. “Er… what happened?”

“You don’t remember?” she asked, yawning a little.

“Er… no.” I remember… some but… uh… but there’s a lot to remember!

Bai Xue smirked at him. She snuggled closer. “What do you think happened?”

Hui swallowed. “We… we all did some vigorous exercise that warmed up our bodies and uh, got tired and took a nap?”

“Well, that’s one way to summarize it,” Bai Xue chuckled.

Hui sat up. “Er, I should go, Elder Sister…”

“Why the rush? There’s still time for another round,” Bai Xue said, leaning against his lap now that his shoulder had been taken out of her reach.

“Another round of… vigorous exercise,” Hui corrected her, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.

“Whatever you want to call it,” she allowed with a shrug.

“Eh, you’re going already? It took so much effort to get you unwound,” the clone on the far side of him complained.

Ah. Rogue, then. Healer shook his head. “I, er… we shouldn’t stick around. What if the other Elder Sisters have lovers? Won’t they be angry?”

“Hmm… that’s a good point,” Rogue said thoughtfully, coming to his senses.

“Don’t be in such a rush to go,” Bai Xue said. She sat up slowly, the robe sliding down her shoulders to reveal more pale, silken skin. It caught just before it fell down entirely, barely sticking to her body.

“Oh… well, that’s a good point, too,” Rogue said, eyes locked on Bai Xue.

Hui rolled his eyes. Standing, he picked his way across the room, climbing over limbs and around bodies to reach the pile of mismatched multicolored robes at the room's edge. “At least disguise yourself again, first. We took off the snakeskin technique at some point.”

“Ah? Oh! Right. It got in the way,” Rogue muttered. He yanked his robes back up and followed Hui across the room, searching out his black robes.

“This is why alcohol is the devil,” Hui mumbled.

“It does have a way of making one take off their clothes,” Rogue agreed.

Across the room, Sectgoer sat up. He locked eyes with the other two clones and immediately scurried away rather than face them, vanishing out of sight into Bai Xue’s palace.

“What’s that all about?” Hui muttered.

“Maybe he’s growing a shame heart-demon too, on top of that courage of his,” Rogue suggested.

“Hmm… who was he sleeping next to?” Hui asked, craning his neck.

Rogue turned as well. “That’s Bai Jingwen and Gui Yutong… oh. Oh.”

Hui clicked his tongue. “I’d scurry away, too. That courage heart-demon of his is going to get us all killed. Messing around with that troublesome lotus beast…”

“At this rate, we’re going to steal two of Bai Jingwen’s wives,” Rogue commented.

Hui paused. He looked at Rogue. “Don’t jinx us. Do you know how much trouble that would cause for us?”

“I dunno, I think it’d be pretty funny,” Rogue said, shrugging. He picked up a set of black robes, inspected it, then shrugged and put it on. A moment later, he pressed his hand to his forehead and activated the snakeskin technique, subtly altering his features.

Snorting, Hui grabbed his robes and slid them over his underrobes, adjusting his underrobes under the blue robes. When they were all situated, he did the same, putting on his usual face. “You aren’t the one who it’s going to come back on. Of course you’d find it funny.”

“Elder Brothers, good morning,” Peak Lord greeted them, coming around the corner. His robes were perfectly in order, as spic and span as ever.

Hui froze. He turned and looked over his shoulder at the pile of bare bodies. Huh? He wasn’t…

“You weren’t… you know, vigorously exercising with us?” Rogue asked, confused.

Peak Lord blushed. “It’s just… I uh, I got up earlier.”

Rogue and Healer exchanged a glance.

“Someone’s used to nightly orgies,” Rogue muttered.

“Ah, Peak Lord doesn’t understand the emotions of us single dogs anymore, huh?” Healer muttered back.

Peak Lord waved his hands. “No, no! I just woke up at dawn. It’s—it’s a habit of mine, waking up early, you, you should know! I didn’t drink, I didn’t connect to the treework too much, it’s—”

“Rootnet.”

“Branchwork.”

Peak Lord threw up his hands. “Come on, please. It’s just that I woke up earlier!”

Healer and Rogue shook their heads.

“Doesn’t understand us single dogs.”

“A sated man can’t comprehend the thirst of a man in the desert.”

A pale arm draped around Healer and Rogue’s shoulders. “The two of you don’t have to be thirsty in the desert,” Bai Xue murmured, glancing from one to the other.

Rogue laughed. He wiggled free. “We’re only teasing Peak Lord. We’re all the same person, in the end. It’s very possible for us to share memories and experiences.”

“Oh?” Bai Xue said, raising her eyebrows. Her eyes glittered with possibilities.

Healer sighed. “Bai Xue…”

She hummed. Bending, she picked up her robes and slid them on. Making no effort to put them on properly, she wore them low, her bare shoulders showing in the early dawn light. She walked ahead, pausing to turn over her shoulder and send them a mysterious smile. “Come, follow me. At least let me do your hair up afterward. I’m very good at hair.”

Healer nodded, remembering her quick solution for Zhubi’s hair. “Well, that’s true.”

Rogue glanced back at the slowly-waking pile of people and snorted. “Better than sticking around here for the awkward morning wakeup conversations.”

Across the room, Gui Yutong started awake. She glanced around. Her eyes landed on Bai Jingwen, and she snuggled closer. As her eyes lazily tracked the room, she made eye contact with Healer. For a second, a strange guilty expression flashed through her eyes, and then she looked away, turning her head away from him.

Healer blinked, confused. Huh? But if anyone was with her, it was Sectgoer, and we were all wearing our actual face last night… yes, a danger, but first off, no one here knew Xiao Hui, and second off, everyone was drunk. Still, my point remains… she shouldn’t be looking guiltily at me!

Did I do something…? To Gui Yutong, though? I would have specifically avoided her! And I only remember Bai Xue last night…

Healer shook his head. Maybe she’s just embarrassed that we, er, were in the same… pile together. It’s awkward waking up to see acquaintances at the vigorous dual cultivation exercise event, right? Yes, yes. It must be the awkwardness of this scenario.

Bai Xue led them to a small room in the palace. A long mirror stood against the wall, and a low bench sat before the mirror. An array of cosmetics and brushes sat beneath the mirror, men’s and women’s brushes and hairpins mixed together. Bai Xue set them down on the bench next to one another and smiled, putting a hand at each of their chins.

“Putting you next to one another like this… you still have the same frame, the same bones. You look like brothers,” Bai Xue said.

Healer and Rogue exchanged a look. “Should we change that?” Rogue asked.

“Can we?” Healer returned.

“There’s nothing wrong with it. It isn’t an uncommon frame, so don’t worry.” Bai Xue wandered to the mirror. She picked through her hairpins, setting aside a few with red gems for Rogue, and a handful with blue and white for Healer. Taking one of her brushes, she started on Healer’s hair.

Healer shifted uncomfortably. “Er, Elder Sister, those hairpins are too nice for a small cultivator like me. Do you have any that are—”

“Shh, let me work,” Bai Xue whispered.

Rogue snickered. He shook his head at Healer. “Bai Xue has her hands on our hair at last. She isn’t going to compromise.”

“That one understands,” Bai Xue said, pointing at Rogue with the butt of her brush.

Healer sighed. He shook his head and settled in. Actually, it does feel nice.

I’ve never had someone brush my hair before. In my first life, it was way too short. I never even wanted someone to brush it. In this world… well, we’re cultivators. Even if we did nothing, our hair would look great. It’s no effort to keep it long, or keep it at all. If I had to wash this much hair in the style of my first world… well, suffice to say, I wouldn’t have long hair.

Bai Xue took her time, slowly brushing his hair from tips to roots. In the distance, the other cultivators flew off, vanishing into the distance. Hui sighed quietly as he watched them go. A lost opportunity. Ah… well, not entirely. He memorized the faces of the other cultivators as they flew off, a devious smile on his face. I can always use this experience for blackmail!

Bai Xue moved on to brushing Rogue’s hair. Healer wandered around the room, playing with the ornaments and examining the mirror. The ice spirits came by, offering refreshing tonics and tidbits of spirit food. A few incense sticks’ worth of time passed by, and Bai Xue came up to Healer, firmly took him by the shoulders, and seated him again.

“What?” Healer asked.

She picked up the pins. “I’m not done yet. Stay still.”

Rogue chuckled, laughing at Healer’s shocked face. “We’re her dolls right now. Calm down and give in to it.”

Healer laughed. “Ah, alright. Is this some kind of weird payback?”

“Not really. I enjoyed last night quite a bit. This is just me taking advantage of a rare opportunity,” Bai Xue hummed, twisting Healer’s hair up and pinning it in place. “Such a waste, wearing that ponytail every day.”

Looking at Healer, Rogue giggled. “You look great.”

Healer shook his finger at Rogue. “Don’t laugh too hard. You’re up next.”

Thunder rumbled suddenly out of the blue sky. Healer startled, squinting up at the sky. What on earth…?

A flash of lightning blasted down right beside them, landing just outside the palace door. Stormy-faced, Gui Delun charged at Healer. At the sight of Bai Xue pinning his hair up, his face only grew darker. Without a word, he grabbed Healer by the collar and flew back into the sky.

Bai Xue blinked, a hairpin in one hand and a brush in the other. “Huh?”

Rogue whistled, watching Healer vanish. He saluted. “You were one of the best of us, Healer.”

Dragged helplessly after Gui Delun, Healer blinked. Senior, why? Snatching me out of Bai Xue’s grasp… Ah, I thought I wanted to cry with Bai Xue taking forever with my hair, but now I really want to cry…