#BABY BINGHE

[violetdisasterzone]

yet another svsss hill I'm dying on despite the apparent popular opinion — bingqiu would be great parents! give them a decade of peace and quiet to start healing from the trauma of.. everything and to get comfortable in the fact that their love and commitment to the other is reciprocated equally, and I can 100% see them wanting some little ones.

Shen Qingqiu overcame both his age AND gender to become Cang Qiong's resident milf in a matter of days after his transmigration. He's great with kids - as Shen Yuan he had a younger sister who he likely helped raise or was at least somewhat close with, he obviously loves teaching and doting on his disciples, he's immediately protective of random-abandoned-toddler!Binghe in the dream realm after escaping from the Water Prison, and obviously in the Return to Childhood extra he's (the only one) having a great time. you're telling me he WOULDN'T want a baby version of Binghe for real??

and as for Luo Binghe himself, the joke/argument I see most often is that he'd be jealous of the baby for taking his shizun's time and attention away from him. first of all, by the end of the novel, do you know how many times that man has died in his arms, pushed him away, or been separated from him in some other very traumatic ways, mostly while he was being influenced by an evil sword that amplified his worst intrusive thoughts? do you know how many people WOULD take Shen Qingqiu away, given the chance?! I think he deserves to be a bit paranoid!! but again, with a bit more distance and healing from his traumas, time, and reassurance that Shen Qingqiu really is staying, I fully believe he will mellow out in that regard. with that aside, Luo Binghe is a total mama's boy, he's a part-time emperor full-time housewife, and his greatest dream has always been to be a family with Shen Qingqiu. I don't think it's a stretch at all to imagine that someday in the future, he would want to grow that family with him too. and although we don't see him interacting with children in canon the way we do Shen Qingqiu, I cannot imagine him not loving his kids, a tangible result of their love, to pieces too.

[nanocados]

Top 10 worst babysitters (LQG almost threw binghe in the trash)

[bloopitynoot]

Reading SVSSS: Bonus- Chapter 28

For those who don't know, I am reading SVSSS for the first time and sharing my thoughts!

If you have not read it, there will be spoilers! Consider this a warning.

Also- if you want to follow along, I am aiming to post updates daily. You can find all the posts in the tag bloopitynoot reads SVSSS. You can also check out the intro post for context on my read.

This was such a solid few days I'm not going to lie; dnd, archery, more gaming- it was so lovely.

I am sore as fuck though; my shoulders- big oof. I did not know some of those muscles existed. I will 100000000% do it again though! Archery was so fun!

Okay to unwind, I am back on my chamomile tea today.

Let's get into this little bonus chapter!

I love that these two are living their absolute best life, but where the heck is Binghe?? p283

O.M.G. HE's A BABY! What curse is this?? Very cute though- look at that little faaaaace p283

A qi deviation did this, okay. Well, at least he didn't die? p283

Ew. The more I hear about PIDM the more I hate it LOL: of course, Airplane Shooting Towards the Sky hadn't written that arc for cute fluff, but rather because the de-aged Luo Binghe had been able to openly strut into all sort of locations an adult man couldn't enter. (Exactly what those locations were, one can imagine for oneself.)And such a little kid was way better at lowering young women's guards, so they could proceed to have intimate contact, and then, right when they least expect it- he'd win them over in a single blow! pp285-286. I hate everything about this.

I love that SQQ is just out here squishing his little cheeks. p287. 10/10 would be me.

yeah I can see how that would be awkward. SQQ getting an academy job and everyone thinking his de-aged lover is actually his son. oof. p289

oh no! and the village ladies trying to matchmake SQQ. LOL poor Binghe! p290

ahahaha! the reaction to them trying to get him to the blind date is to just knock them out and RUN AWAY. p292

I'm crying LOL this chapter is too much, The entire sect thinks this baby BInghe is the Bingqiu's love child. p294

I love how all the peak lords hate Binghe when he's an adult, but him being de-aged they're all like "baaaaaaaby" :3 p300

uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuugh! My heart! ofc mxtx writes this funny/goofy chapter with a heartwarming ending. These two over here talking about their vulnerabilities in their relationship and talking all cute. p302

Did it get a little weird at the end?

Yeah it really did with baby Binghe trying to seduce SQQ for half a second (wtf) but in MXTX fashion it really just towed the line of being weird without being weird. Gotta love and respect it LOL.

Overall good little interlude bonus chapter!

[horsegirlwarcrimes]

no q only more appreciation 🫣 i’m not used to drawing uhhh clothing nd didn’t wan mess it up while i was powered up by ur recent fic updates..and while it’s not lqg & sqh it’s my son and his son. do u see the hold you have on me you’re SICK !!! n e ways even if this isn’t exactly WINRN accurate i like to imagine regardless of time the gang is still having like dramatic who is the father tension and general chaos. also i made lbh an ugly baby because ugly babies are cute thank you for being wonderful 🙏🏽🙏🏽

i still haven’t learned tumblr if this is not how things should be sent that’s on me 🧍🏽‍♀️

omg this is so sweet AAHH im dying 😭😭😭 your linework is! so fluid and pretty!! and i love the expressions on both SQH and cutieugly baby binghe!!!! thats them omgggggg. your art is so so wonderful, and i am so touched that my writing inspired you

also dont worry about WINRN accuracy... this fits perfectly in the many AUs of my own fic that live in my brain 😂

[mthlg]

let’s go newly edited fic! first section of baby binghe thread is cleaned up and on ao3!

the gang adopts a river baby - mowochi

🌊peak lords raising lbh!

🌊6.1k/?

🌊background ships (moshang, qijiu)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/54101041/chapters/136974583

[sunderwight]

Luo Binghe would sadly show Shizun his papercut for sympathy with big wet eyes and a trembling bottom lip, but then a monster rips off his arm and he's waiting in the bushes for it to grow back before he shows his face to his husband again.

[confuzing]

Luo Binghe is waiting at the base of the mountain for the entry exam to start when he meets and befriends a rich noble boy who's also planning to enter.

His new friend A-Yuan insists that Binghe eat with him and stay with him at the inn and the boy's servants just kind of nod and go "of course young master."

And like, Luo Binghe might be biased, but A-Yuan is like... Really Pretty? He didn't know boys could be that pretty...

They even walk up the mountain together and settle in to dig their holes side by side.

Meanwhile Shen Qingqiu is pretending to pointedly ignore the other Peak Lords at the selection while instead eavesdropping so hard because apparently Liu Qingge's youngest brother is an applicant this year, but the brute isn't planning on picking him because "A-Yuan doesn't like fighting" he says, strangely fond. Shen Qingqiu was not aware Liu Qingge was capable of being fond of anything.

When Liu Qingge singles out Luo Binghe Shen Qingqiu jumps on it- and then the boy sitting nearly shoulder to shoulder with the urchin looks up and my, isn't the family resemblance remarkable? The boy even has a beauty mark, though his is on his chin.

"That one too," he tells Ming Fan. He can feel Liu Qingge's eyes boring into his back as he approaches the two boys. He still gets the urge to dump his tea on Luo Binghe, but before he can Liu Yuan hugs the other boy and tells him "my mama is dead too." And that mollifies him. The boys are sent away dry.

Liu Qingge is furious and suspicious of course- that was the whole point. And Shen Qingqiu decides he'll just let the boy sink or swim on his own. No doubt the brute will be butting in to make sure his precious baby brother isn't mistreated.

Liu Yuan swims of course- that boy loves learning- and drags Binghe along in his protective wake. And maybe after his thirty-something stop in to check on A-Yuan Liu Qingge and Shen Qingqiu start like, maybe respecting each other a little bit more. They definitely don't like each other. No. Never.

Edit: More here

[deikshen]

I love getting Shen Qingqiu pregnant (and it's funny that just today I've done it twice already), so... Shen Yuan who transmigrates into Shen Qingqiu, and in the midst of his medical check-up with Mu Qingfang about that whole qi deviation thing, Mu Qingfang hints that perhaps the qi deviation was due to using too much of his qi to pause his pregnancy.

Shen Qingqiu it's like: pardon??? Pregnancy?????

Sure enough, the System confirms: Shen Qingqiu's body is pregnant! And Mu Qingfang, falling into all that of a certain amnesia after the qi deviation, explains to him that he has a pregnancy in a very early stage that he never wanted to interrupt, but "the responsibilities around him, responsibilities that only grew" were too much to have a baby at that time. And he's been putting off his baby's growth with qi... for a long time.

Shen Qingqiu asks him very, very quickly how the hell he can keep doing that. No. He's not having a baby. He's just getting a new body. He just died. What the fuck. Thanks, but no thanks.

Of course, later on, with Without-a-cure, it is very difficult to continue diverting his qi to keep the baby hidden and not growing inside him. At this point, Shen Qingqiu does not terminate the pregnancy just because... Because he does not feel capable. Plus, he feels a little guilty; the original goods could have terminated that pregnancy if he had wanted to. What gave him, an impostor in a stolen body, the right to end a life that the original Shen Qingqiu was so jealously protecting? He had already taken one life. He would not take a second.

So even he does need more qi about it, and if he needs Mu Qingfang's external qi to hide it during the larger outbreaks of Without-a-cure, Shen Qingqiu decides that maybe he'll give the baby a chance to be born when he has to throw Binghe into the Abyss. The house will be empty by then, won't it? And will be sad. And painful. And he'll need a distraction.

One month before the IAC, Shen Qingqiu lets go of the qi seal and allows the baby finally to continue growing. It is strange to feel it, and even stranger to feel it grow. Mu Qingfang congratulates him on his decision, explains what symptoms he will have to deal with in the coming weeks, what tea is best to avoid, what herbs he should drink. Shen Qingqiu is tense, distant and somewhat nervous, fearing something dangerous or close to a qi deviation since he was not actively sealing the baby now. His body still has to get used to the enormous hormonal chaos that will gradually subside; Shen Qingqiu is resigned and hateful, but he simply decides that it will not be something that will keep him awake at night.

The IAC passes. The morning after Shen Qingqiu throws Binghe into the abyss is painful and filled with tears and the first signs of morning sickness. Unfortunate timing, as many other Peak Lords and Sect Leaders see him nearly faint and run off to vomit.

What Shen Qingqiu doesn't expect (or, knowing the reputation of the original Shen Qingqiu, should expect) are the rumors.

Shen Qingqiu is jealously protecting his small belly bump, hiding it before it is necessary to say it, but it is inevitable that it will be discovered. It's surprisingly less well received than he expected. His refusal to speak about what happened to Luo Binghe, his refusal to give him up for dead, his enormous sadness, her refusal to tell the identity of the baby's other father... Shen Qingqiu is hearing the rumors from his own disciples before Shang Qinghua and his spy nets of An Ding disciples bring him the news that the rumors have already spread.

Apparently, everyone believes that Shen Qingqiu was having an affair with his spoiled disciple Luo Binghe ("He even bet so much on him and his victory in the IAC!"), and when a beast killed his beloved disciple, Shen Qingqiu fell into a heartbreaking sadness from which he could only be freed by the fruit of his love that was now growing in his womb.

Sensitive, loud, chaotic. Shang Qinghua mocks him. Shen Qingqiu hits him with his fan and insults him. Living with the author is an unpleasant nuisance when Shang Qinghua confirms that he never wrote about Shen Qingqiu being pregnant, although he didn't actually write about things that later happened either. The world filling in the plot holes, he says, and Shen Qingqiu hates it.

Pregnancy is a painless process. Shen Qingqiu suffers through it like anyone else, but he has his good moments. He gets excited about the baby. Mu Qingfang confirms to him that its a boy. He lulls him to sleep when he wakes him up in the middle of the night with kicks. Even before he is born, he is already causing trouble; Shen Qingqiu finds himself loving this little boy very much and wishing, after all this time, to finally meet him.

The baby is born. If Shen Qingqiu was curious about the identity of the second father, nothing on the baby's face tells it; it is a sweet and cute baby identical to Shen Qingqiu, except for some undeniably big and beautiful eyes.

He also has his own character: he cries a lot, he only calms down in Shen Qingqiu's arms, he hates strangers coming close, he cries when someone else carries him, and enjoys when Shen Qingqiu sings to him. He is quickly loved and spoiled by the entire sect and his disciples.

Shen Qingqiu allows himself to forget that he will only have four years to live for this baby. Luo Binghe will return seeking revenge, and Shen Qingqiu does not plan to escape; as long as he allows the baby to live, and as long as Cang Qiong don't burn, he can hand himself over to Luo Binghe's revenge.

(Of course he has prepared sun-moon dew mushrooms. He's not an idiot. He also has enough legal scrolls that in case he dies, his baby will stay with Shang Qinghua and the anonymous brother Shang; Shang Qinghua will run away with his little one and they will meet in a village far away, where the "anonymous brother" lived. Shen Qingqiu would raise his son as an anonymous herbalist and they would live as simple NPCs without bothering anyone.)

Shen Qingqiu has his beloved little baby and a plan. It is a surprise to him when, one night, there is a knock on his door. His baby is just over a year and a half old, he stammers a few words, he learned the dangerous art of walking and running; so little time, so much domestic comfort, of course Shen Qingqiu does not expect disciples returning from the Endless Abyss directly to his doorstep.

Yet there he is. Luo Binghe. Luo Binghe who looks at him with an unfathomable expression, dirty in blood, with torn robes. He is unbearably handsome, tall and with a heavy black sword on his back.

Shen Qingqiu is frozen, only thinking about running away with his baby, when Luo Binghe just falls to his knees in front of him.

("Shizun, the rumors are strong, even in the Abyss. When did this horrible disciple disgrace his Shizun like this? Will Shizun be able to forgive this one for his mistakes? If the Abyss was the punishment Shizun intended for this disciple's behaviour, then this one understands. Please forgive this horrible beast for his audacity.")

Shen Qingqiu had already made peace with the rumors. He actually tried to ignore them most of the time. So, for Luo Binghe of all people to believe them ("As if there was any way to forget... that!!! It takes two to make a baby, and you and I didn't do it...!!!"), and even more so, to feel guilty about them… As if something in Luo Binghe's head made him believe that if he were to get infected by the sex pollen of some flower, he could really dishonor his Shizun like that! For that you first need to want it with this Shizun, silly boy!

Shen Qingqiu knows that he has no chance to lie to him, less in something like that. As soon as Luo Binghe finds out that his son has no Heavenly Demon blood in his veins, it will be risky and dangerous. He wants to tell him the truth. He has to tell him the truth.

... However, who can blame a man for having a little hope that everything will eventually work out? Perhaps he should show the baby first, his little offspring, to making him understand that its a harmless baby and does not deserve to suffer. But who could blame him for wanting Luo Binghe to not notice the truth and just accept it and stay as if he had never left?

... Probably the same people who might blame Shen Qingqiu when he presented his sleeping son to Luo Binghe (after letting him bathe and eat something decent), and just a caress on his baby's pale forehead with the careful claw of Luo Binghe caused a red zuiyin to appear.

What the fuck, WHAT THE FUCK?! Airplane, WHO THE FUCK DID SHEN QINGQIU HAVE AN AFFAIR WITH??! WHAT OTHER HEAVENLY DEMONS ARE THERE?! HOW FUCKING LONG HAS THAT BABY BEEN HIDING?!

...

(Somewhere beneath the mountain, Tianlang-jun sneezes. Ah. Strong-willed human cultivators of pretty faces and bad temper. They were always his weakness. One would think that someone like Tianlang-jun would learn after being abandoned by a wandering cultivator apprenticed to a demonic cultivator with a very bad reputation, but, it was not the art of love also having a broken heart?)

[disgracefulthings]

Luo Binghe, trying to get his Shizun to accept him by any means possible: Shizun, I'm pregnant, and the child is yours

Shen Qingqiu: What?! That's not possible!! Unless... Maybe wife plot #64 mixed with wife plot #387 then maybe the end result could be a male pregnancy without the other parent present...

Luo Binghe, bullshitting: Yep, that's exactly how it happened. Shizun must take responsibility

Shen Qingqiu: Really? No human stick required? You'll forgive me if we raise our child together?

Luo Binghe: There's nowhere this disciple would rather be than by his Shizun's side

Shen Qingqiu: ...then I will help take care of our baby! Does this count as an OC?

Luo Binghe, internally: Now how will I pretend to give birth?

[nibbelraz]

Luo Bingbing hanging out with NYY and SY (Au with double pregnant qijiu) and SJ is just staring daggers at Binghe fan clutched and hand on the hilt of his sword (HE IS READY TO KILL FOR HIS CHILDREN! even if the enemy is a 14 year old boy)

also side note: do you think SJ would be aware of Binghes crush on SY and treat binghe more cruelly or push him away/ignore him more?

double side note: do you think SY sneaks Binghe into his room so he doesn't have to sleep on the hard wood floor of the woodshed.

Luo Binghe is best friends with both Ning Yingying and Shen Yuan, All three of them hang out all the time. Shen Jiu hates it so much. Yue Qingyuan has to frequently hold his Xiao Jiu back from doing anything to rash, he tells him they're just kids playing, friends! Their kids need to make friends!

That calms him down enough to begrudgingly let them be.

Until.

He sees the way Luo Binghe acts around his son and ah he's about to break his promise to Yue Qingyuan and most definitely have beef with a 14 year old.

Also yes! He definitely sneaks into the wood shed, He sneaks in blankets and food for him. He also tells off his dad off for treating Binghe so badly and gives him the silent treatment, which is pissing Shen Jiu off and making him incredibly sad.

But what is he supposed to do when that BEAST is after his baby?!

[rhiangalaxy]

Congrats GYX on the gay awakening <3 (Immortal alliance conference pt.1) (Next)

[ID: A Scum Villain Comic. Panel one first depicts Chibi!Plant Yuan sitting on a bench resting his head on his hands with a disgruntled look. A caption says "Waiting for Binghe to register as SQQ banned SY from participating due to 'past incidents'" His demonic butterfly floats in front of him. A voice from off-camera says "Shen-Gongzi?" a zoomed in Chibi!PY perks up in surprise and his butterfly hides. A non-chibi Gongyi Xiao is shown with has hands cupped in a martial salute and bright expression saying, "You're Peak Lord Shen's son right? This one is Gongyi Xiao from Huan Hua." A chibi PY in a box in the corner continues to look up in surprise with his hands slightly lifted from his face with thought bubbles saying 'Woah..so bright.. Kinda reminds me of Binghe.'

Panel two depicts a non-Chibi! PY looking up with a gentle smile with his hands in his lap, replying "Yes, this one is Shen Yuan! Are you here to participate in the Conference?" The rest of this panel is depicted in chibi form. GYX sits next to SY and responds, "This one is! Is Shen-Gongzi not?" to which SY closes his eyes with a disgruntled/tired look and places his head back in his hands, stating "My A-Die banned me. Said this one attracts too much demonic attention..." to which GYX points and says "Oh? Is that why you have that demonic butterfly?" Leading SY to have a panicked look, his thought bubble saying "Shit" whilst he verbally says "Please don't tell my A-Die I brought her."

The final panel has chibi!GYX raising his hands up to placate SY with an amused nervous expression saying "Don't worry! This one won't. It seems very friendly, with you especially." To which non-chibi!SY, now having his butterfly balanced on one of his hands, the other raised up as if to gently pet it, looks down fondly and says "Yes she is... She's been with me a long time." A very flustered Chibi!GYX replies softly "oh". End ID]

[anappingghost]

¡navidad! >:3 🎄🎁

[wafywaify]

what if binghe went for a totally different plan after escaping the abyss. like instead of showing his shizun how strong and righteous he can be/is... he instead shows up at his doorstep absolutely sopping wet, tears streaming down his face, mud all over his robes, and with one of the biggest pouts ever. in his mind he's like "shizun will have to take me in!!! he did so once before!! I just need to look more miserable!!!"

And well yeah, he does. Obviously.

[meltedmush]

GIVE OCTOBING A FLOWER FROM ME

...

PLEASE

and maybe shizun? shizun giving octobing a flower? idk he just deserves a flower :]

[greeniegaes]

Thinking about Omega SQQ again sigh

Okay. So warning this is a male lactation AU so if you don’t like that don’t read, nothing explicit happens tho, just a guy and his pups

I imagine when he first goes into his body everything feels like he’s in haywire, constantly on edge and ready for a fight. Once he’s gotten the hang of things he uses his cultivation to try and simmer down his hormones.

Only to realize it was his cultivation preventing hormones that was making him feel like shit all the time.

So eventually he sighs and stops doing that. The first few days are bad, cramps and sickness and a general feeling of wanting to claw everyone’s eyes out. He gets through that though.

Then his breasts start to come in.

He knew PIDW has its weirder parts of omegaverse so he knew that this would happen. At first he starts binding his chest but that hurts SO SO SO much that he collapses on like the third day (he was also doing it improperly because it’s him, yk) and gets stuffed into Qian Cao

MQF: I was not aware shixiong was an omega

SQQ: I’ve only recently decided to stop holding myself back

MQF: it is recommended that you form a small pack of your disciples to help with your instincts and… that *waving at SQQs chest.*

SQQ: *screams internally.* Okay :)

At this point after like a week of just draining himself and going insane he finally gives up. LBH has already started living in the bamboo hut so he’s kinda the best option so he sits the boy down.

SQQ: Binghe, I hope you know this isn’t going to change anything but

LBH, thinking: oh my god no please don’t kick me out

SQQ: since this master has allowed his omega side back out he’s been struggling with his urges about thinking of his disciples like pups. If it’s not an offense to your character can I take some of it out on you

LBH, internally: YES YES YES PLEASE OH GOD YES I NEED IT

LBH, externally: If that would please shizun then sure :]

So they start a twice daily thing of in the morning and night LBH goes into SQQs room and his nest and gets feed. Apparently milk is hella good for the skin and shit because after a few weeks he starts to look flawless somehow.

And SQQ really wants to see his other kids- DISCIPLES flourish like that. He extends the offer to a close few and some look like they going to cry at the honor of their teacher wanting to take care of them.

LBH is still the main drinker and always wants to huff when he has to share, but he does it none the less. His Shizun gets really cute during feeding sessions, purring and chirping at them, fixing their hair and playing with it, scratching their scalp, the whole nine yards.

So LBH repays it by feeding SQQ more, which also makes him have more milk in turn. He huffs and complains at his body’s need to produce so much, his chest wayyy too heavy in the middle of the day to be comfortable, leaking and wasting everything.

He ignored that though, even if LBH and his other pups- disciples offer to help him.

Eventually after the Abyss his body is still making big amounts of milk because that’s what it was used to. Most of the time he just gets it out himself and pours it into the grass, often now also starting his other feedings.

Everything starts to get to him and he’s decided that staying on the mountain is no good. So he sneaks out, by himself, in search of something to heal his heart.

All the peak lords and disciples are going crazy, nobody can find him and nobody knows where he could’ve gone. Eventually while LQG is talking to a random villager out in a border town of their territory he sees SQQ again, arms filled with two pudgy babies and looking ever so pleased.

SQQ: Oh! Hi Shidi

SQQ internally: OH FUCK I FORGOT ABOUT THE SECT

LQG: where have you been???

SQQ: sorry sorry babies are hard work I didn’t want to travel alone with them

LQG, wanting to have an aneurysm but can’t: let me just help you home

On one hand the entire sect is so relieved that SQQ didn’t die of heartbreak over losing his favorite pup or get kidnapped. On the other hand SQQ??? Where’d you’d acquire those babies?? They aren’t yours, it’s only been 6 months!!

Anyways after SQQ is safely back in the sect he doesn’t see a point in leaving. I mean! Look! Look at his pups! So cute and round! One of them has little dimples!

The other peak lords carefully go to see what was going on, YQY opening the door to the bamboo house after being told to come in and all of them are just smacked with happy omega pheromones, SQQ gently cradling them both in his arms as he rocks in a chair.

At that point all of the peak lords decide that yk, maybe it doesn’t matter how the children were acquired. They were well feed and cared for and obviously SQQ was happy again.

(He got the children from a working in the WRP, she had wanted babies and all her sisters were supportive but then she realized she didn’t like being a parent but you also can’t morally just… dispose of a child. SQQ visited there once in his depression stoop and stayed for a few days after falling in love with the kiddos. Then he just went on an adventure with his babies and got distracted by the cool world building.)

[cumplanecrash]

Just over 500 words of the deaged!SQQ concept that stole my soul yesterday while i was trying to work. Not quite feeling the vocal tic(s) here but I didn't wanna write baby talk. I'm thinking Binghe is about 16 15here, and Shizun has been made about 4.

✨ ETA: fic continues in my Shizun Babies AU tag ✨

Honestly, Shen Qingqiu had been thinking immediately before everything went to shit, My disciples know what they're doing; they don't need me.

And then the demon in question flung a spell with a frankly alarming amount of qi powering it at Luo Binghe, and of course Shen Qingqiu was the closest person to be able to help deflect, sticky thing that his Binghe was, and really, he'd intended to throw up a shield as soon as he got into position, but the spell was moving so much more quickly than anything else the demon had done so far, and, and, and --

Shen Qingqiu hit the ground. He felt Luo Binghe immediately leap over his position and sling two sword glares in the same movement, not a Qing Jing form but damn impressive. At least two more disciples took position surrounding where Shen Qingqiu was incapacitated -- covered in a blanket, maybe? He thought Ming Fan was the one breaking formation to get in close, based on the wordless yell and rapid footsteps, as all his disciples on this trip redoubled their efforts to take the creature down, hurling vincentives that Shen Qingqiu is sure he's never heard anyone utter since he died, cough cough. Shen Qingqiu knew his disciples would need guidance, the demon was apparently far more powerful than they'd given it credit for, but first he needed to see what the damage was, and if he would be in the way.

His head popped out of its covering triumphantly, just in time to see the demon be bisected vertically by a sword glare from the group next to him -- Binghe or Yingying, based on the warm tone -- and from behind by Ming Fan's sword.

Ah, well. He had just been thinking what good hands he was in.

"A-Yuan thinks this might be a very good lesson in not letting your guard down around an enemy, even if you think you have their measure," a childish lisp announced from his approximate location. Huh. He'd been trying to say 'this master' but that is not what came out of his mouth. "Also, A-Yuan thinks that spell was a very nasty trick, and is afraid to look down."

From the general direction of down, an open palm smacked him in the rough vicinity of his face.

Shen Qingqiu -- Shen Yuan, he must suppose-- looked down.

The face he saw bore a striking resemblance to the one he had seen in the mirror every day since he'd died, and, he suspected, an even more striking resemblance to the one he currently wore.

"Noisy," complained the Original Goods, because honestly, who the hell else could it be? The child -- if Shen Yuan had to guess, perhaps they were four or five years old, presuming he was just as deaged as the boy in his arms -- was naked except for the Peak Lord appropriate robes they were both loosely draped in, and was burrowing further into Shen Yuan's chest. "Xiao Jiu is trying to sleep."

Next