#Also this puts into perspective a bit why Jing Yuan doesn't think of himself a good swordsman

[screeching-painter-witch]

he definitely has imposter syndrome, he doesn't word it as clearly but

the second he came to pidw's world he began to look at cultivation manuals. he read every text in the qing jing library. he practiced his swordfighting skills and cultivated in seclusion.

yes he says a lot of his skill and muscle memory is from shen jiu. but none of the factual knowledge from shen jiu remains. and shen yuan himself took steps to improve his cultivation. in the beginning of the novel there's a bit about how he does have some of shen jiu's muscle memory regarding martial arts skills and cultivation, but he also works hard to improve because in spite of that, he feels like if he doesn't, he will visibly be weaker than shen jiu. i think this is in the bit right before the skinner demon mission and then right after when he decides to go into seclusion.

he acts like he's just a clueless idiot and he doesn't understand why his disciples are so filial but when we look at their perspective and the facts of their reactions to him, his disciples intelligence and cooperation has improved, they all look so much happier and we know shen jiu was not a nice teacher.

plus unlike bai zhan, qing jing is the scholarly and strategic peak. and its disciples still manage it on their own during the many times shen yuan is gone. a fighting peak like bai zhan can do without a constantly present leader because they only need battle skills. but for a peak in charge of knowledge and academics the disciples must be very well-trained to manage it on their own.

all of this suggests that if we look at the objective truth of shen yuan's achievements as shen qingqiu and the state of qing jing peak, without the bias of shen yuan constantly calling himself lazy it's pretty evident that he does in fact constantly downplay his own achievements!

he even calls himself a poser again and again in the book. for years those achievements have not been shen jiu's but shen yuan's own!

plus if he really was this useless how would he have attended peak lord meetings for years discussing issues of the peak with the peak lords only being put off by how nice he is? if he were not incredibly intelligent himself it quickly would have shown.

shen jiu was incredibly intelligent there's a reason why he's the peak lord of the peak in charge of strategy and knowledge, yet shen yuan's intelligence was equal to shen jiu's. the only jarring difference was in his kindness and softer demeanor.

shen yuan isn't often mean to himself in a serious way because he doesn't like acknowledging his own pain. he has a habit of distancing himself from his own feelings, like when he says he was close with his family but doesn't bring them up again, or the many times in the book where he views the other people in this world as just fictional characters whenever he begins to feel emotional or too attached to them.

shen yuan is not the type to clearly state that he feels shitty about being an imposter, but all the little asides about him being lazy and a poser and only wanting to idle away to a ripe old age clearly show imposter syndrome! don't be fooled by the casual inner voice and prose!

ok actually it’s insane that being shoved into someone else’s body and role didn’t give shen yuan crazy imposter syndrome. i don’t even feel like i should be at the university im paying to attend, and you expect me to believe this guy can steal someone else’s life and be fine?! no way