Bai Nian was there at the morning class the next day, and everyone was rooted to their spots.

“Continue,” he nodded at Ji Hualiu, and to her credit she didn’t seem affected by his presence at all as she read out the day’s lecture. It was on yaoguai mogui and the classifications of the creatures in this universe— Shen Jing attended the class, but of course he had Assistant 51C and the glossary.

Shen Jing had spent the rest of yesterday flipping through the books, first to get an overview of the ‘chapter length’ and general outline, and a second time to read more thoroughly. He had Assistant 51C help, too, whenever he got stumped by things that might be natural and common knowledge for residents of this world but alien to him— so there were no problems with that. For the most part, Shen Jing found himself wishing he had his favorite pen and a nice, clean notebook, but Assistant 51C said that they don’t have those specific brands in stock so they’d have to wait for the next monthly shopping.

Shen Jing, “...But I thought you just create those items out of nothing…?”

<Oh, you don’t mind knockoffs? Right, I can do that. Give me a sec.>

Shen Jing, “......”

It was a very surreal conversation.

Bai Nian left at the first break, seemingly knowing full well that his presence only made everyone tense.

"Everyone return in an incense's time," Ji Hualiu said. Her clear, bell-like voice rang in the misty morning air. "Da-shixiong will be giving a class on the journey he'd undertaken."

The kids all lit up. And Shen Jing did, too, because he would love to hear about it— even though Xuan Lang was canonically bad at telling stories— and yet. When he left the room to take a quick break, this happened:

"Shen Jing." Shen Jing whipped his head to face Bai Nian, who was sitting on a stone bench a bit to the distance with Xuan Lang. Bai Nian beckoned him over; Xuan Lang stood up to free the other half of the bench for him— Shen Jing shook his head and stood, swaying on the balls of his feet. "Anything you didn't understand?"

Shen Jing shook his head again. "I'm reading and rereading it slowly, Shizun, but I think I'm fine… but I haven't tried anything really yet… I've been cross-referencing what I read with other books…? Is… that fine?"

The contents of the book he'd read had been basic enough that there were still others that covered the same topics in the library, but Shen Jing really could sense that the author was… different. Not in a bad way! The author had skipped explaining several core concepts in favor of jumping right into it, and in other places he would explain with such simple and intuitive language Shen Jing wondered how someone could grasp the heart of a complicated subject with such… ease.

It was all the best parts of a great textbook, combined with the casual but informative anecdotes of the best lectures. 

“It’s actually a very nice book?” Shen Jing said, wondering if that came across as too boot-licking or not. “I’m going to reread…?”

Bai Nian looked stunned. “It is?” It was only for a brief second, though, before his expression returned to the unfazed stillness of a lone, bare tree. “Good.”

“Da-shixiong,” Ji Hualiu called. “Xiao-shidi, too.”

“I want to talk to Shen Jing,” Bai Nian said. Everyone stilled, staring at him. Xuan Lang and Ji Hualiu looked especially weirded out, but none could compare to Shen Jing’s internal horror.

Xuan Lang, though, like the… oh, he couldn’t say bad things about Xuan Lang, like the protagonist he was, just went to class. He shot them both a look before going inside, though, as did Ji Hualiu. And so it was just him and Shizun. Just Shen Jing and Sword Saint Bai Nian, and the trees and rolling mists around them.

“Erm…”

“......”

Shen Jing: Wu-jie, what’s happening?!

<Err, I’m checking… Based on my kinda honed intuition, though, I think you accidentally unlocked… new dimensions? Like listen. There’s no character like you in the main cast, so it’s normal that these facets of these characters never surfaced. Like for example, on the chance that the books aren’t actually just the world giving you an out, then it could be that Bai Nian had them and took care of them, but never had a disciple who would actually need or appreciate these books? Because I didn’t insert that bit either.>

“Is that even possible?”

<I’m not in world-generating department, I don’t know. They’re the ones doing the research and running the programs and stuff. I do have admin access and can edit stuff, but where they get all these information isn’t me. I didn’t stalk Three Legged Cat’s posts or anything. I can ask that department, but it might take a bit for them to find the information about Bai Nian’s mystery healer friend.>

“A bit?”

<Since it’s so vague and I don’t know the keywords, I reckon between several working days to about 2 months.>

“......” That’s an ETA for a lost package.

Chewing on his bottom lip, Shen Jing stared at the grass as he shifted on his feet; Bai Nian, on the other hand, was stiff as a statue as he stared at the building. Then, Bai Nian drew in a sharp breath. “The explanations weren’t confusing?”

Shen Jing, “?”

“They weren’t,” he said. “I just need some time to really… process it? But the language is clear, I think!”

Was Shen Jing imagining the fleeting, complicated expression in Bai Nian’s face? He wasn’t, was he? He actually prided himself, to a degree, on being pretty receptive to other people’s emotions— Shen Jing, for once, could tell if his mother was silent because she had an awful day or if she was thinking about something with just the way she carried herself around the house. And you know, she was introverted and closed off— at least that was what he himself felt, since his aunt always said that his mother used to be confident and bright, just as focused as she was. But well, she wasn’t anymore… And the Shen Wenzhu Shen Jing knew was someone who would drape a blanket over her lap as she watched late night TV whenever she had a hard day, while she would sit by the kitchen counter instead when she felt pensive, a cup of chamomile tea by her phone.

Bai Nian, to him, was awkward in his coldness, and possibly cold because of his awkwardness. His reaction to the banquet was definitely one of discomfort, but the way he ran off seemed to indicate he didn’t know how he actually felt about it emotionally…? Of course, these were conjectures. But Shen Jing didn’t recall him being this awkward with Xuan Lang, or any of his other disciples… What did Shen Jing present to Bai Nian that he was so uncomfortable? What was it about what he said that triggered emotions within him?

<Interesting that you said that, actually. I think you’re pretty good. Not sure about that him running off from that banquet was because he had unprocessed emotions about it, but he sure didn’t get along with that spotlight.>

“It’s just… a conjecture.”

<He’s got pretty good eye, too. He’s been staring at you talking to me all this time and I think he’s on his way to deducing a thing or two.”

Shen Jing felt his heart stop as he glanced at Bai Nian— sure enough, the man was looking at him, eyes sharp with focus and intent. Their grey felt like steel now, and Shen Jing could feel it pressing against his throat. His earring glinted like a droplet of blood. Shen Jing could feel sweat run down his neck.

Bai Nian reached out.

And patted Shen Jing’s head. “Go back to class.”

Shen Jing, “?”

“In two days, we will be going to town.” And with that as his parting words, Bai Nian left. His youngest disciple only blinked, rooted on the spot, confused.

Oh right! He forgot that the introductory plot was supposed to start!

___

Shen Jing didn’t feel right going back to class in the middle of Xuan Lang talking, so he sat outside, picking up a twig to trace lines on the dirt. Fang Xiaoxiao and He Jiangshan had their own morning routines so there was little to no chance he would find them walking around here, and he shouldn’t seek them out either— they ought to be training right now. Shen Jing could still hear Xuan Lang’s voice just fine anyway. It was just that… this reminded Shen Jing a lot of that one time he was late to class and couldn’t bring himself to enter and nope, not going there, he wasn’t here to work himself up into another anxiety attack.

<Yeah, anyway, this isn’t exactly class. He’s literally just doing a Q&A. And you’ve read the passage.>

“And I was talking with Shizun, yeah,” Shen Jing said, nodding. “Da-shixiong won’t have any… misunderstandings… about why I’m not in class…”

From here, Shen Jing could hear Xuan Lang answer a question about mushen— the forest gods of this world. Ah, that reminded him of the white deer… but the next mini-arc had nothing to do with Xuan Shi and Shen Jing didn’t think that there would be activities so soon, so he turned his attention to the upcoming plot. “Can you refresh me on what happens next, Wu-jie? Now that I’m kind of… living it, somehow it’s harder to remember.”

<Oh. It’s a serial murderer. A yao, pretty sure it’s… yup, a black cat. I think what that entire plot point was supposed to reinforce was the dynamics of the main cast, so it wasn’t that… it doesn’t make that much sense in the long run, but whatever. Anyway, in short, a black cat who was cultivating all this time was saved by a group of nice kids in the poorer part of town. One of the kids got bullied and ended up dying, which yanno… horrid. But now the cat’s back and he’s out for blood. I think that entire shit happened like, 10 years ago? Wait, no, this says 14 years ago. The people he’s murdering were the ones that led to the death of that kid.>

Shen Jing lit up, stopping mid-poke. “I remember. They pretty quickly settled on a yao being responsible, then He Jiangshan noticed something off about the way some tiles were broken and traced the path to a tree… thinking about it, that bit had always been somewhat like circumstantial evidence…”

<It was leading to the poorer district, though, with signs that later point to one of the poor kids who knew the dead kid. Fang Xiaoxiao was the one who could actually keep up with the cat at night. Ji Hualiu gathered information from all over the place. Xuan Lang was the one who had guessed where the bodies were disposed of.>

It wasn’t a perfect mystery, but it did its job.

“Why didn’t you come in?” a voice asked from above. Shen Jing jumped in his seat— and fell back down onto someone’s foot, so he scrambled forward and away and almost face-planted into the dirt, but now he wished he did actually plant his face into the dirt. Pushing himself back up, Shen Jing climbed to his feet and looked up at the source of the voice and found Xuan Lang, usually cold but gentle expression this shade of incredulous.

“D-da-da-shixiong,” Shen Jing said, brushing dirt of his clothes and palms, “I, I, I—”

“Calm down,” Xuan Lang said, eyebrows furrowed. “Breathe deeply.”

His voice was firm— Shen Jing did as he was told. After several deep inhales and exhales, Shen Jing’s reply wasn’t as stuttery anymore. “I was… didn’t want to interrupt mid-session so I sat out. But I was listening! I promise…”

Heck. Shen Jing could see the other kids getting curious. Some of the younger ones were trying to peer out from the windows, though the older disciples stopped them and herded back to their seats; it seemed like they were wrapping up on today’s classes, with everyone now getting ready for breakfast. Xuan Lang seemed to notice his gaze and nodded at Shen Jing to walk ahead. Legs shaky, Shen Jing stumbled rather than walked his first few steps.

There were no comments from him, but Shen Jing could still feel the judgement, or maybe more the worry—?

Regardless of what it was, he could feel it drape over his shoulders like a dead weight, dragging his head down to stare at his feet as he walked onwards, step by hesitant step.