Liu Qingge was still plagued by Shen Qingqiu, though not as much as before. His thoughts have started deviating, which was starting to confuse and frustrate him. He didn't want to think about how it would be if he looked at him like that!
This, combined with his normal agitation when thinking about anything, lead to some slightly larger than normal qi deviations. He still didn't think to much about it.
He knew that in a few weeks, he would have to return to see about appointing disciples to his peak, so he tried to stay relatively close to Cang Qiong Mountain, but sometimes he would accidentally wonder a little to far.
At least he got to kill more dangerous monsters and collect cool little trinkets from them.
He didn't know why he started collecting things that serve no purpose for him, or even when, but he felt like it might come in handy later.
He even started taking a liking to trying food from the local areas, and giving a personal review in his head. After he voted which was the best, he noted it in a little booklet he carried so he could remember it. He really only carried it to mark off his bucket list of monsters he wanted to fight, but now it was plagued by restaurants and places that carried other types of cool little trinkets, along with their locations.
The townsfolk kept staring at him, seeming to have trouble registering that the 'wondering' cultivator had taken to interacting with people. One of them had steeled themselves and asked jokingly if he was planning on attempting to court someone. The poor man nearly lost his soul that day.
After the few weeks were up, he started to return to the sect a little bit earlier. He didn't know why he wanted too, but he didn't linger on it for to long.
He made it there and decided to spare his disciples that day, hurrying towards his residence to muse over his findings. He found that he didn't want to return unless he had someone with him, and started taking that man's joke into consideration. The only problem was who he wanted.
He hadn't met anyone that had gathered his attention that he could think of. Everyone he thought of, his brain provided their interactions which had immediately shot down the chances of them being who he wanted. When his shixiong came up in his mind, it was also shut down, though it felt like it was reluctant to do so, based off of only one instance that hadn't even been directed at him.
And even then, just because his brain shot it down, didn't mean he was opposed to him, but he felt it was more of a friendly manner, likely from already putting up with him. He would want to be with someone he was familiar with, either in a good or bad way, then to be with someone new.
His brain immediately shot down Yue Qingyuan, mainly because of his personality. Liu Qingge couldn't stand it, having someone who would just go along with him instead of trying to advise him in what he should and shouldn't do. He knew he wasn't the most strategic, and that tended to rope him into missions more dangerous than what even he could handle.
He needed someone that would go along with him, but also advise him on what he could and couldn't do.
His brain was now going against itself, because it brought back Shen Qingqiu.
Shen Qingqiu would advise him on what he could and couldn't do, but he would also allow him to fight the monster on his own if he wanted, but could also join in without being a bother to his fighting style. He was also smart, someone who had taken a liking to studying monsters and plants.
When he heard about him mention a fact about a certain rare plant during a meeting, he had made a point of making a little joke about it, earning him a very painful verbal backlash.
The reason he even said anything was because the sect needed the plant, but no one knew anything about it. His shixiong had been a blessing to them all, but he wasn't polite about telling everyone how incompetent they were, and that they should be thankful he took interest in those types of subjects.
He found out about his interests in monsters when his shixiong had caught him complaining about not being able to find a type of beast he's been wanting to kill. He has the pelt he wanted, and it helped with his cultivation after eating it. His shixiong had heard him while passing by, and snidely mentioned its hunting grounds and usual areas of rest, acting like he was saying it himself, even if Shen Qingqiu had meant for him to hear it.
Liu Qingge had yet to thank him, never finding the chance.
He felt that his shixiong would be an okay choice, but some part of him just didn't feel like Shen Qingqiu would be okay with it, making him be rejected by his brain. He groaned and just prepared himself to go to sleep, needing the energy to deal with tomorrow and pick a new disciple, maybe.