#( interactions && yin yu )

[sillygoofyqueer]

I have the doc opened for it right now so it's getting written either way but a TGCF and SVSSS crossover AU that has been on my mind for three or four days exactly. Basically, I'm thinking Shang Qinghua (with a more relaxed system) gets just really fucking pissed off at how he's treated by all of the other peak lords (probably prior to learning that Shen Qingqiu is also a transmigrator) and basically plans and carries out his own fake death. He leaves the fake body in his office, and it's probably a violent death because Shang Qinghua is using his fake body as a stress ball for his frustration, before going to solely be Mobei-Jun's right hand man. He expects there to be some sort of reaction to a peak lord being supposedly killed within the sect, and waits for the news to come from spies and whispers from the human realm, morbidly curious as to how people will react. PLUS, he's the backbone of the sect! It would most definitely collapse without him. Nothing comes. He's like "oh...wow...guess they don't care. Guess my hard work was really worth nothing!"

He's pretty bummed out by this, but he goes on with his life as Mobei-Jun's guy. At some point, he realises that he somehow left a very important book he wrote about all of his knowledge of PIDW storylines at his old residence, and goes to grab it - after all, nobody takes over a peak lord's role until the next generation comes in, so his office will be empty. He tries to figure out where he left it, looking around, and then hears someone approaching, so he freaks out and hides nearby while frantically signalling to Mobei-Jun that he needs OUT through a talisman. Who bursts in the door but Shang Qinghua, arms filled with scrolls and an eerily familiar panicked expression on his face as he says something over his shoulder, before closing the door. The panicked expression disappears, scrolls are dropped carelessly onto the desk, and 'Shang Qinghua' drops down in front of it with an eyeroll as the disguise drops. When news of some sort of 'rift' appears near Ghost City, Hua Cheng isn't quite sure what to do. He sends a butterfly across so it can report back about what it sees, and then sends a couple more through when he learns that it's not dangerous. The butterflies bring back information, Yin Yu is in charge of documenting all of the information they bring back, and he realises that they...don't have much information on one of the 'sects' that seem to dominate the Jianghu of what appears to be a completely different world. Cang Qiong Sect is a weak spot in their research, and the butterflies can't make it through the defenses that the sect has in place to keep out intruders. What do they do about this? Hua Cheng calls on He Xuan's debt as usual, and tells him to go in and get more information on the sect, armed with the knowledge of what they know about this place already. He Xuan is like "ughghghhh fiiinnneee", and goes through! (He's not got a lot going on since blackwater arc, okay?)

He spends a bit of time learning what he can do in this place (he retains most of his Ghost King abilities, thank Gods), and then sneaks into the sect by disguising himself as an An Ding disciple because they appear to be the most unnoticed. Blah blah blah, he infiltrates the sect and decides that it isn't enough to be in the sect, he has to do what he did with the Heavens and pretend to be one of the ones in charge. It's painfully easy to do so - he picks the target of the forgotten yet most key worker of the sect, the one who's there for every secret meeting and knows everything about the sect, and starts learning his schedule. His other language. His secrets. He's both the creator and a victim of this world. Everything there is to Shang Qinghua, he learns it all. Soon, he just needs to remove Shang Qinghua from the equation - and Shang Qinghua DOES IT HIMSELF! He just!! Fakes his death! Such a stroke of luck is unheard of for He Xuan, but he's not going to complain about it.

He waits for Shang Qinghua to leave, cleans up the dead body, and then seamlessly takes Shang Qinghua's place as though he is not a completely different person, reporting back to Hua Cheng the whole time. It's rather easy - the workload could be classed as intense for a normal person, but he once pretended to be a heavenly official in the Palace of Ling Wen and took on all of those responsibilities for authenticity. This is a breeze compared to that, and this time he even has underlings to dole out work to when he doesn't want to do something! The most frustrating part of the whole experience is how everyone treats him as Shang Qinghua, as though he couldn't destroy this whole sect with just a single flick of his fingers (and that's without using his ghost king abilities). If he were a human, he too would have pretended to be dead so he could go work full time for the hot demon (he is hot, okay? Yin Yu agrees with him).

This is all going very smoothly, even with He Xuan casually reading all these different notes that Shang Qinghua made about the future of this world. He would usually be completely apathetic to this, but if the boy responsible for it all (Luo Binghe) takes over this world, who's to say he won't find the rift and make trouble for them? Better to avoid it completely than risk such an inconvenience in the long run, in his opinion. The Shen Qingqiu of this world appears to act differently to how Shang Qinghua wrote him to, implying that he too is not originally from this world (transmigration? Fascinating word), but it's also said that being thrown into the Abyss is a "canon event" or whatever. Best to stick around until then so he can just ensure the avoidance of whatever these guys are so worried about, even if it means just catching the kid after he's pushed and explaining the situation to him.

Then Shang Qinghua learns of what he's doing. He's staring down at this snivelling little pipsqueak, a man who is just as much of an actor as he is, and goes "so...do you get paid better by the demon?" He's not about starting beef with this guy if he's got no reason to, he's just here to get information and then save this entire world and then go back home to brood more. Reasonable schedule, if you ask him. He does, however, also not want to risk his cover, so he has tied Shang Qinghua up and is now sitting across from him at the table - he's in a good mood, he can extend a little courtesy before threatening the pathetic man's life. Shang Qinghua is bawling and begging for mercy, but he's seen this exact situation play out more times than he can count and just drinks his tea while he waits for the man to finish. Honestly, wearing Shang Qinghua's face should mean nothing to the man, considering that he faked his own death to get out of this place.

[muzsmocsing]

I have a headcanon that while Rain Master doesn't care about the intricacies of the Upper Court at all she is decently up to date on juicy gossip because of Shi Qingxuan. She comes over, gets tipsy off of house made liquor, and goes into Wendy Williams-esque monologues and Yushi laughs her ass off listening to it.

[yeyayeya]

Quan Yizhen and Lang Qianqiu should be besties

[proselles]

thing one and dumbass two

[cuckoo-among-beasts]

I'm re-reading the part about Yin Yu's past and it really makes me want to add him again. I love that character. I know people say that autistic people should relate to Quan Yizhen, but I relate much more to people-pleasing, peacekeeping, efficient, forgettable Yin Yu, who keeps his anger hidden deep within until exploding.

I know it's not Quan Yizhen's fault for being how he is, he should've been told off better though (in a way that made him understand), but that doesn't stop me from finding him utterly annoying.

[coreofgold]

@irresistiibles for Yin Yu

"If I were to say that yesterday was modern and technologically advanced, how would you react?" Hua Cheng found that some people actually believed this was always in the past, so the ghost king just had to see if Yin Yu is one of those people.

[irresistiibles]

@rainbowmuses / yin yu & will

the heat had left him stuck shopping, not feeling like he could continue in the dark long clothes with how hot it had been, though yin yu was struggling to find something smaller and more modern that actually felt like something he might want to wear. “is this really what people wear for the summer?” he asked, looking at options that seemed to all be cargo shorts or something far too short to be appropriate.

[lavendaers]

@irresistiibles quan yizhen for yin yu

"shixiong!" yizhen called out as soon as he spotted the other, the corners of his lips turning up into a bright smile as he rushed forward. he didn't notice the looked from anyone around him, nor did he care. "i have something to tell you. i know i forgot and everything, but now i remember. jun wu killed me."

[saltyspecs]

Ough I’m almost done with tgcf (I’m on the last quarter of book 7) and man now I really want to reread no paths are bound. Yes I did read npab before I finished the series thank you for asking.

Just what I need right before a new quarter starts up

[tragcdysewn]

closed starter for yin yu!! ( @irresistiibles )

he'd been very sure he'd killed yin yu, but here the man was, standing in front of him like everything was normal. and while he'd seen people resurrect before, it's never quite normal to see. "my apologies, did you say something?"

[singersalvageart]

some time after yizhen leaves, yin yu begins to have strange dreams

(chronological)

additional narration under the cut ~

they start slowly at first, just one or two here and there. as time goes by, he has more and more. he dreams about a lot of different things- people and places he doesn’t recognize, many of them bizarre & otherworldly. and one person in particular that shows up again and again, with thick fluffy curls…

yin yu initially thinks its just a weird response to his interactions with quan yizhen, but after too many of them it becomes hard to write off as a coincidence. he can’t help but become curious about yizhen and start to regret the way they parted. He feels something when he looks at yizhen that he doesn’t understand, a deep and inexplicable connection…

[mdzs-owns-my-ass-i-guess]

Most iconic Xie Lian moments according to me

Contains spoilers!!!

"Xie Lian didn't know whether to laugh or cry"

Keeping every memento of his worst time ever as a reminder of why being kind and forgiving is worth it

When he runs off after he gives Hua Cheng CPR that one time pretending he's looking for his hat

When he keeps roasting Xiao Ying's looks even as she's dying

When he was a prince and he was told his future looked dark and he said that can't be cause he only wears white

Eating food off the ground

Building his own temple, we love a girl boss

When he pet E'Ming like a little puppy after being explicitly told not to ever touch it under any circumstances

Putting Banyue in a pickle jar

When Wuming said he would follow Xie Lian to the death and Xie Lian went "youre already dead"

Breaking rocks on his chest for money

Being trampled to death as general Hua, doormat core

The whole Fangxin Guoshi arc, whew 🥵

Carrying around a big ass bag of scraps everywhere

When he became jealous of Hua Cheng's special someone not realizing the very obvious fact that he was Hua Cheng's special someone actually

Slapping tf out of Qi Rong for making fun of Hua Cheng being blind in one eye

Pretending he had no idea who Nan Feng and Fu Yao were

When Mu Qing and Feng Xin were freaking about how creepy the Ten Thousands Gods Cave was whilst he found it incredibly romantic

Being a bit too into pretending to be Hua Cheng's puppet on Mount Tonglu

Feeding into E'Ming's praise kink

When he disguised himself as a pregnant lady to be possessed by the evil fetus spirit and it worked

When he disguised himself as a woman so badly he looked hideous and needed help to not look like that

When he spent the entirety of the Xuan Ji capturing business in his wedding dress disguise, including meeting Pei Xiu like that

It hurts, it hurts, it hurts-

When his response to the sex pollen was to kill himself

"I do not worship god, i am god!"

Every single sweet and tender interaction with Hua Cheng's butterflies that everyone else is terrified of

When everyone ignored him in the communication array because he was cringe

Getting drunk on a tombstone with little ghost fire Hua Cueng after his life fell apart

Controversial but i think his calamity era was also iconic and very sexy

When Heaven's Eye said his lips are exuding evil energy and he turned bright red

And then later when Heaven's Eye said the evil energy is inside him and he immediately changed the subject

Recognizing literally everyone despite their disguises but keeping quiet about it not to embarrass them.

Calling Yin Yu boring and forgettable looking to his face

Defending Hua Cheng, evil ghost king, in front of the whole entire Heavenly Emperor

When he was working in the rice field with Hua Cheng and he kept staring

Being poor

Having ridiculously bad luck

Ascending three times

Big daddy issues even with his dad still alive

When his life had just fallen apart and he didnt know how much a lantern could cost because he had been ridiculously rich all his life

Holding up a massive temple from falling apart???

Kissing Hua Cheng for spiritual energy in front of literally everyone more than once

When he could hear rats talking???

Adopting children

Not iconic Xie Lian behaviors

His abhorrent cooking

Trying to kill himself???

[afonyadraws]

Yin Yu Appreciation Week Day 7 - Happy Endings - Holiday | Belonging

Hope // Contentment

Ahh today is the last day of Yin Yu Appreciation Week!! I truly enjoyed participating. Thank you guys for all the good interactions and nice messages I got on my previous drawings for this week!

[thequeenoffish]

Thinking about Hua Cheng

I saw a post today on tiktok, someone saying they don't like people sanitising HC or making him out to be a good person when the fact he's sort of deranged is fun. Now I don't disagree, but this made me think about our beloved Fafa, and after this thinking I have a question.

Do we ever see HC interacting with living humans in a cruel manner? Is it ever stated he does so off screen? Examples where he is nice to mortals: -Hua Cheng interacting with the villagers politely and kindly.

-Hua Cheng summoning the butterfly when he meets Gu Zi

-Hua Cheng ripping his own eye to save humans

-He seems respectful towards SQW and the beggars (although idk if theres any direct interaction)

Examples where his behaviour is dubious: -Heavens Eye and cultivators that chase them. Hua Cheng is rude to them, implies he'd fight them if he wasn't in baby jail. However, given the fact some of them seem to have encountered him in person in the past, and yet are still alive, this seems to be treating the people trying to erase you from existence pretty nicely.

-The mortals who come to the gamblers den. Now unfortunately, given MXTX cuts the only bet we see short, we really don't have much context here. However he seems to be giving the human enough rope to hang themselves with, morally dubious but not outright cruel or terrible. I genuinely can't think of any examples where Hua Cheng treats living humans badly. We see him snapping at ghosts, but never actual cruelty. We joke about Yin Yu needing a raise, but again from what we see on screen Hua Cheng is actually a pretty good boss The only time I can think of where Hua Cheng violent or cruel towards someone who is significantly weaker than himself is in the Sinners Pit. He is incredibly violent in his slaughters all the ghosts soldiers, he is then cruel when threatening to mutilate their corpses. However given that these ghosts had been feasting on human travellers to alleviate their own suffering, this does not feel to crazy of a thing to do.

Can anyone think of any examples where Hua Cheng is cruel to living humans, or beings significantly weaker than himself? (No, Qi Rong doesn't count for the purposes of this question lmao)

[marshymeds]

About your idea "AU in which He Xuan believes Shi Qingxuan is dead, does not handle it well, and Paradise Manor has a mysterious new employee. Hua Cheng is losing his mind" Can you tell us more about it?

Absolutely. I’m simplifying a lot here, but essentially, this takes place several years post canon. Shi Qingxuan finds himself in a situation where he has to fend off a yao from some street kids, and he gets injured. Mortal or not, he has his convictions, and he would do his best to protect some innocent disadvantaged children. An injury was worth it, though it might’ve been a little more serious than he would have liked.

Somehow this ends up with everyone believing he died, and he’s not complaining! Sure, his friends are mourning, but it was going to happen at some point anyway right? At least this way Black Water, who he’s recently discovered is almost definitely stalking him, will get off his tail! He can live out the rest of his somewhat miserable but respectable life in peace and no threat of a bloodthirsty ghost king hanging over his head.

Only, he probably needs to hide out a bit, and he definitely needs to deal with this injury. He Xuan was notoriously hermetic, he definitely wouldn’t be in Ghost City—that was Hua Cheng’s territory! He’d just show up at Puqi Shrine, ask for help and beg Xie Lian to swear to secrecy and a good disguise, and he’d be off. Xie Lian nearly has a heart attack, but really he shouldn’t be too surprised at this point. He really doesn’t think this is such a great idea, but the former Wind Master seems very sure of it and he can’t bring himself to deny his friend in such a state. He agrees to take him to Ghost City and find him somewhere to stay.

Hua Cheng sees through it immediately of course. The only reason he doesn’t tell He Xuan right away is because Xie Lian asked him to respect Shi Qingxuan’s wishes, though he didn’t feel too great about it either. The next best thing was to give him a ‘job’ in Paradise Manor, and hope things would resolve in time. Yin Yu gets saddled with a new assistant he doesn’t want. Because, of course, He Xuan is in Ghost City. He’d been growing weaker, snd Hua Cheng and Yin Yu had gone through quite a bit of work to convince him not to just run off and close himself up on his island.

Shi Qingxuan revises his plan a bit in the hopes that he could—in pretending to be someone else—learn more about He Xuan. That was something that haunted him about their final interactions. He’d called for the wrong person, and he’d never gotten a chance to even learn who his best friend really was. Maybe now he had a chance to. He’d just help Yin Yu take care of him and slowly try to earn his trust again.

Only, He Xuan wasn’t just weak. He was dispersing. His final reason for remaining in this world had died, and there was nothing holding him there anymore but regrets he had no hope of mending anymore.

Tldr; Shi Qingxuan becomes a glorified hospice nurse to a ghost king who is far too happy to leave this world while desperately trying to find some way to keep him there. Lots of ghost trio content, lots of angst and lots of sickfic cliche moments ft both sides of beefleaf (dont forget that injury sqx had).

[coreofgold]

♫ + 38 (hua cheng and yin yu)

I'll Call You Mine by Girl in Red || @irresistiibles

"We're driving so fast!" Hua Cheng exclaimed as he had their hand out the window. "Want to find anyone and run them over?" Why are they like this? Vehicular manslaughter was on the agenda.