Acceptance

In the dead of the night.

When Shen Qing Qiu opened his eyes again, it was still nighttime and Liu Qingge was still holding him but Shen Qing Qiu was scared. He was scared of the things that he had just seen.

One moment he had been force fed a medicine, which wasn't as bitter as he had thought it would be; the next moment, he was watching Liu Qingge's life play out in front of him.

At first, Shen Qing Qiu had no idea what was going on but that confusion didn't last long as he realised-with a small flicker of hope in his chest-that Liu Qingge was his soulmate. They were destined to be together, they were made for each other. However, the hope and the anticipation for a good future was soon crushed when Shen Qing Qiu stared in horror at a dying Liu Qingge. The Shen Qing Qiu in the future hadn't been able to save Liu Qingge instead, he might have aggravated the qi deviation by falling into one himself.

Shen Qing Qiu had seen how Liu Qingge would achieve great things in his life, how he would be the most powerful war-god of his time but that reality only existed in a world where Shen Qing Qiu did not influence Liu Qingge's life in the slightest.

Sure enough, Shen Qing Qiu isn't supposed to be happy. He brings disaster to everyone's lives, his disciples have to face discrimination for the sole reason that they recognise Shen Qing Qiu as their teacher, Qing Jing is always the last to be invited in all of the activities that happen in the sect, and to make matters even worse, his soulmate hates him.

'Perhaps that hate would've escalated even more after he saw what my influence brings in his life.' It was only a thought, just words, just a sentence and yet it managed to make Shen Qing Qiu's heart heavy with remorse, with a sense of loss that Shen Qing Qiu had never felt before.

So, there was Shen Qing Qiu, still lying in an unconscious Liu Qingge's arms. The wound in his abdomen had scabbed over but it hadn't healed completely, that's when Shen Qing Qiu realised that in a hurry, Liu Qingge had accidentally fed him the Qi-replenishing pill rather than the healing pill.

Looking at the unconscious Bai Zhan peak lord, Shen Qing Qiu couldn't help but pity him. This excellent man had been tied to a burden, one that would only drag him down. Shen Qing Qiu wondered if the gods have a bone to pick with Liu Qingge because why else would they give something like Shen Qing Qiu as a soulmate to the most perfect human in existence.

Absentmindedly, Shen Qing Qiu had scribbled an "I am sorry" on the ground. At first, he was surprised to see that but then, he let it be.

Shen Qing Qiu wanted to apologise to Liu Qingge, he didn't know what he did wrong but surely it must've been his fault that the best fighter of their generation wouldn't have a proper soulmate.

Everything that ever went wrong was Shen Qing Qiu's fault and that didn't change even with the fact that he did have a soulmate. He was a dark spot on the precious lives of the people he came in contact with. His influence has never reaped anything good, all his acts of kindness always back fired in one way or another.

He had tried to be kind to Qiu Haitang and that had landed him in the clutches of that disgusting man whose face still terrified Shen Qing Qiu. Hah! He sure is pathetic to be scared of a mere mortal even after so many years, does he even deserve to be called a peak lord?

He had tried to save Liu Qingge's life more than once and every time, he was blamed for a crime he never committed. He still didn't hate Liu Qingge because he knew that if someone else was in his place, Liu Qingge would still react the same way, the brute had a shredded peanut seed for a brain but he wasn't discriminatory.

He had been kind to his disciples and look where it had gotten them? Those innocent children were punished simply because they existed on a peak which wasn't supported by it's peers.