#Qing Jing Peak

[lurkinginnernarrator]

I need Shen Qingqiu, who left for a week-long mission to not return. I need the peak lords to look for him, scouring high and low.

Only, they find him. He's crouched behind bushes, journal in hand fastidiously observing Malevolent Mango-Leopard Birds. He looks crazed. It's the dirtiest they've ever seen him. He has rivers of notes and illustrations.

He shushes them all and tugs them behind the bushes.

"The mating rituals of Malevolent Mango-Leopard Birds haven't ever been documented before. It's believed they only mate once every thousand years."

"Shen-Shixiong was here... watching birds."

"Shen-Shixiong didn't send word because... He was too busy watching birds. Mate."

"...don't say it like that."

[junesfool]

Shen Qingqiu's ducklings

[wyyvoren]

you go to a righteous cultivation sect to learn to be good. you wonder what it was you did. why you deserve this. you must deserve this. otherwise why would it happen?

you need to be better. you need to be good

[ID: various pictures of Luo Binghe from Scum villain, one where he gets tea poured on his head, one where he is hunched over getting kicked, one of him curled up shivering surrounded by piles of wood, and the final picture of him struggling kneeled over a cultivation manual, blood dripping from his mouth. End ID]

[ineffectualdemon]

New Theory: Shen Jiu and Qing Jing are Like That because being deep into arts and academica makes you that way sometimes

It's the "I can't get the fucking trees right! I shall kill everyone!" impulse

It's the "I've been studying this obscure subject for weeks now and been surviving on spite and the xianxia equivalent of 3 different kinda of energy drinks mixed together with 7 shots of espresso and if you interrupt me I'm stabbing you" energy

Artists and academics mid project are the most dangerous of folk

(said by someone who has a headache but is still trying to work on my current project)

[daikonfarmer]

he probably taught them the naruto run.

[moonshine1298]

Thank you for your support on the SVSSS Gotcha 4 Gaza, @naixaie! It's the funnest prompt ever! QJP shenanigans!!! 🎍🎋✧˚ ༘ ⋆｡♡˚

[notoisstrange]

Shizun and Ning Shijie really like dressing up the little lotus 🪷🤍

[bloodyfries]

My personal favorite hc of mine is that sqq has a hard time falling asleep without lbh (he stresses about his husband's well-being/Binghe’s anxiety has rubbed off on him). This leads him to sometimes fall asleep in odd places.

Imagine Binghe finishes up what ever work he had to do earlier than expected and decides to surprise Shen Qingqiu. He shows up at Qing Jing Peak, exciting to see his husband.

He can't find him. Why? Sqq fell asleep against a tree while on a walk. Now, of course, like any reasonable person, Binghe freaks out.

So, eventually Sqq come back to an overturned peak and his husband looking like this:

[twelve-forfend]

Well, I did say this was a multi-fandom blog... Alright, let's do this.

The Qing Jing Peak Lord's Bamboo House

(and the symbolism therein, as recorded in the donghua)

I was snooping through the establishing shots of the Qing Jing Peak Lord's Bamboo House, and had to laugh as I always do at all the gay symbolism that managed to sneak its way inside. But then I looked a little closer, and was floored by just how much passive storytelling was packed into background assets. I talked about it at length over discord, and at the urging of others decided to make a shareable post on social media as well.

First, the shots which first piqued my interest in this topic years ago:

Shen Yuan transmigrates into the stallion-genre webnovel entitled 狂傲���魔途 (translated as Proud Immortal Demon Way). The author's and his own usernames are dick jokes.

Notice the chrysanthemum vase, the cock vase, and the stallion statuette.

The stallion and cock are obvious nods to these jokes on their own, but for the uninitiated, the chrysanthemum is a symbol of gay sex between men, as the asshole itself is often euphemistically referred to as a chrysanthemum. This should have been Shen Yuan's first clue that not all is as it seems here! These are the personal quarters of Shen Jiu — the original Shen Qingqiu!

But let's move to the main room you first walk into upon entering the bamboo house.

There it is: the writing on the wall.

As the Peak Lord of strategy and the scholarly arts, Shen Qingqiu would naturally have calligraphy and paintings hanging everywhere! So let's break it down.

On the top we have 道㳒自然 ("Dao Follows Nature"), which comes from a Dao teaching by Laozi (founder of Daoism) meaning that life, death, the entire universe, the heavens and earth and everything outside and inbetween, all follow a set of laws referred to as the nature of things. Although unrelated to the Buddhist couplet below, it's certainly relevant!

Originally hanging in right-to-left order, I've arranged them to read left to right here to make things easier to keep track of. The calligraphy reads 西方竹葉千年翠；南海蓮九品香 and is a couplet commonly found in Guanyin temples. My classical chinese is not as strong as I'd like, but this translates roughly to "The bamboo leaves in Paradise are green for a thousand years / The fragrance of lotus flowers in the South China Sea is as thick as 9 sticks of incense."

The character 西 for West is used to denote the destination of enlightenment/purity: the buddhist Paradise (think Journey to the West). The South China Sea is where Guanyin was born. Upon the Lotus flowers is where Guanyin is commonly depicted as sitting. The "9 sticks of incense" though literal can also refer to the 9 tiers/grades of reincarnation lotuses with the 9th tier being the lowest, meant for those who in life committed the most evil of crimes — the 4 parajikas — and who can only manage a sincere Amitabha recitation 10 times and no more than this.

To put this in context with Shen Jiu (the same jiu as in 9/九), the 4 parajikas committed by the 9th Tier Lotuses Reborn (officially entitled the Lowest of the Low) are:

Sexual Intercourse

Stealing

Murder

Claiming attainments of stages of pure mental concentration that have not been achieved (in other words, rushing or lying about your cultivation/enlightenment, or maybe even becoming a Peak Lord without having formed a golden core beforehand).

From what we know in the context of the novel, Shen Jiu is innocent of at least the first of this parajikas, but the overall view of Shen Jiu in the eyes of others in the story is that he is guilty of them all. This calligraphy can be seen as a condemnation or a reminder for the character Shen Jiu, who even as the Peak Lord Shen Qingqiu is widely thought of as a scum villain and the lowest of the low.

Phew! That's a lot to unpack.

But if you turn your gaze to the original screenshot, you'll see to the right that there's a vase painted with a blue bird. This vase appears in several rooms of the bamboo house, and seems to be the image of a qingniao (青鸟; lit: Qing bird, wherein 青 can mean blue/green/clear-but-brackish black).

These qing-coloured birds are messengers and foragers of the Goddess-Mother of Paradise (Xiwang-mu 西王母, the "west/paradise" character from before, lit West-King(unisex)-Mother). They're a highly intelligent species who are exceptional in song (a good representative for Qing Jing's scholarly arts and pursuit of qin!), and the older ones might learn to speak human tongue. As a subspecies of luanniao (鸾鸟 lit: luan bird), they're thought to be related to The Phoenix and indeed thought to be the lifetime/samsara just before being reborn as a Phoenix.

If given to a "master" they don't like, the qingniao may refuse to pass messages or sing until they're set free, but if they do get along with you then they're loyal to the end.

As a point of interest, the Qing generation of Peak Lords uses the character 清, which is 青 ("colour of nature; brackish black, blue, green; young) + the radical for "water," resulting in the meaning of clear (as in water or heart; see-through); distinct; quiet (as in still); just and honest; pure; to settle or clear up; to clean up, expunge, or purge.

And as a bit of trivia, Liu Qingge's sword Cheng Luan 乘鸾 means "to ride the luan, take flight on the back of a luan." (Relevant, because the qingniao is considered a subspecies of luanniao).

With the Lords of both Qing Jing and Bai Zhan referencing this bird, I really wonder about its significance! It's spawning plenty of theories and headcanons for me.

Heading back outside for a moment, you'll find that in the Quiet Pool (清静小池 qingjing xiaochi (yes, the same Qing Jing the peak is named for)), there are lotuses, and on land there are flower shrubs which are either wide-petaled chrysanthemums (gay bottom jokes ahoy), or a type of peony, the king of flowers demarcating wealth and prosperity. Either way, a blossom fitting of our Qing Jing Peak Lord Shen Qingqiu!

My one regret is that I cannot get a clear shot of the fan hanging on the wall to try and translate the calligraphy on it. If anyone can snag one, please tag me! I also couldn't translate the paintings with poems hanging in Shen Qingqiu's bedroom (it's just too small and blurry for my bad eyes to make out). If I make another post attempting these things, I'll append them to this initial post in an edit afterwards.

[afsosville]

Time to over-analyze things with limited canonical information just because. Here are some of the reasons why Qing Jing may have been a hindrance to Shen Jiu's emotional development and solidified his corruption arc>>

Qing Jing was like the perfect peak to let all his mental wounds fester if you think about it.

Shen Jiu acting like nobility or an educated young master (as most disciples of Qing Jing are) is purely a coping mechanism. It literally screams masking! While the exact circumstances of how he got chosen for Qing Jing is unknown, we can assume he didn't have a choice since most disciples typically just follow their new master to wherever they take them from the selection grounds (with the exception of Bai Zhan lol). He was most likely hoisted onto the Qing Jing peak lord, as no master would've wanted him because of his fucked up meridians and late age. They acquiesced to take him anyway coz of Yue Qingyuan's/the sect leader's insistance. And because it's Shen Jiu, he would naturally do whatever it took to get to the top, and if he started acting like the very sort of people he hates, then so be it.

You can imagine how disastrous imitating his abusers is going to be (he's imitating noblemen in general, but he's definitely taking the Qiu's as a primary example). Shen Jiu clearly is trying to remove and forget everything about his past, and even accepts the rumours of him being a spoiled young master to cast away suspicion. He is coping hard. Not to mention, he was named QingQIU when he became Qing Jing's succeeding disciple. Listen I don't care if it was a bad coincidence or not but that doesn't endear me to Shen Jiu's shizun in the slightest (I'm only talking abt SJ's shizun in canon, not fics, the fics are great. But it's more than likely that SJ's shizun was negligent or abusive as well. Here's why I think that). Between all of this, there's no way he's processing any of that trauma when he's constantly forced to remember all of it. No wonder he slipped into the abuser role easily since he's literally out here actually being made to copy their behavior.

Qing Jing and even the rest of Cang Qiong were always hostile to Shen Jiu, even in his discipleship. These ppl went out of their way to run interventions on Shen Jiu when he's minding his own business. Yes I'm talking abt the whole brothel thing. There were doubtlessly so many disciples who went for the very reasons Shen Jiu was assumed of going for, so why is he the only one getting shit for it? Not only was going to brothels not even a crime worthy of conviction, it was even normalized to an extent. And it would've been so easy to figure out if he really was going for anything "lecherous" by just asking the women there. The fact that, that whole ordeal was never cleared up just shows they didn't actually care about the women or what he was supposedly doing to them. They only cared because it was Shen Jiu who was involved.

Shen Jiu being on any other peak would change things for sure even if it's marginally. Its probably just wistful thinking, but I know at least half of those peaks, even the fanon ones, would be better than Qing Jing at any rate. Again, Shen Jiu would claw his way up and try to succeed any way he can, so if he were put on another peak that would be a somewhat healthy environment for him, he would do well, regardless of the peak. Him doing well on Qing Jing doesn't mean anything other than showing off his awesome(horrible and problematic) coping skills. So really, I can't help but think Qing Jing wasn't a good fit for him, especially with Shen Jiu's specific brand of trauma.

I did a pole once asking if Shen Jiu would've done better on another peak, or if they were just curious to see him anywhere else, and I'm not surprised that the most voted for peak was Yin Hui, the fanon peak for espionage and assassins. Now I'm going to go another tangent why Yin Hui would be good for him later.

[scumvillainess]

five rules that shen qingqiu (sj) would definitely have for his kid if he ever became a parent

absolutely no sleepovers allowed (his pre-cqms backstory is enough of an explanation as to why he has this rule)

has to have the best grades out of everyone in cqms (if sqq became the peak lord of qj after only starting his education in his pre-teens, beating out other pl candidates who’ve been studying for longer than him, then his kid can at least beat out the other cqms disciples in grades)

location must be shared at all times (again, his pre-cqms backstory is enough of an explanation as to why he has this rule)

as long as his kid living under his roof, dating is strictly prohibited, the gender doesn’t matter (if he’s still hung up over that one person he had a disastrous homoerotic friendship with (yqy), then who is his child to be happy and in love in his house, huh?)

if they’re going to cause trouble at least do it in a way where they won’t get caught (honestly sqq would be more mad about his kid getting caught beating someone up unlike normal parents who would be pissed that their kid was beating someone up (he’s definitely the type of parent who’d be like “did you at least win?” whenever his kid comes home after getting into a fight and would be mad if his kid lost the fight))

[lurkinginnernarrator]

Cang Qiong's rumor mill has a new topic.

Peak Lord Shen hasn't been seen in two weeks. The last time he was seen was flying back from An Ding, where he purportedly commandeered some unknown objects from An Ding's storerooms after a hasty discussion with Peak Lord Shang. He entered the Bamboo house and hasn't emerged since.

The most popular theory is Peak Lord Shen is conducting some sort of toeing-the-line-of-taboo ritual.

Eventually, someone convinces Mu Qingfang to do a wellness check.

The Qing Jing disciples greet their Mu-shishu respectfully, the disciple escorting him to the Bamboo House inquiring as to the nature of his visit, seeing as 'Shizun wasn't expecting shishu today.'

"This master is merely here to visit your Shizun."

The disciple bows after announcing Mu Qingfang's arrival.

Mu Qingfang opens the door.

"Shen-shixiong?"

"Mu-shidi? To what do I owe the pleA—FUCK get BACK HERE YOU ARE NOT"—the sounds of struggle reach Mu Qingfang's ears and he leaps to action, striding in to take stock of the situatio...n.

Shen-shixiong is flat on his stomach; outstretched hands tightly grasping a precocious ball of fluff. His eyes gleam in victory, the scene casting it in a more crazed light. There is a heaviness to Shen Qingqiu's eyes that cultivation cannot banish and miscellaneous stains on his person. And, looking around, the Bamboo House is a disaster. Books, brushes, scrolls, inkwells and fans are scattered around, many haphazardly dropped on the floor. There is. Also. Hay?

Mu Qingfang freezes in the doorway. Ball of fluff and Shen Qingqiu also freeze.

"Is... Shixiong alright?"

This seems to snap Shen Qingqiu into action. He scrambles up firmly but with care, cradling the fluffball. Shen Qingqiu gets himself in order as best he can with both his hands occupied and clears his throat.

"Ah...Yes. this master is fine. To what do I owe the pleasure?..."

The fluffball twitches, wriggling until Shen Qingqiu loses his grip on it. It hops to the floor. A juvenile Whitecrested Snowrabbit of Agility stares up at Mu Qingfang.

"This. Shidi could come back at a more opportune time?"

The bunny starts chewing on a scroll.

"I believe that would be best."

Mu Qingfang backs out of the doorway.

He does send tea to help with Shen-Shixiong's fatigue and a subspecies of carrot that Whitecrested Snowrabbits are supposed to favour though.

I wonder what the next topic of Cang Qiong's rumor mill will be?

[bambooswordwielder]

Imagine how SVSSS looks to anyone who's not Shen Yuan or even Luo Binghe.

Imagine being another Qing Jing disciple, crying while trying to write in perfect calligraphy about a poem about some lake and moon and you glance at your seat mate and it's some random kid analysing every inch of your Shizun's backside instead of analysing the poem assigned to him. You, as a good Shixiong/Shijie, of course slap him on the shoulder and try to scold him for his disrespect, but when that kid turns to face you, you swear he gives you the most dirty, 'you-are-just-an-ant-to-me-just-die' glare that somehow makes you feel like the temperature in the room dropped to -18288383838 degrees before he turns right back to 'admiring the view'.

You then later find out that your Shizun used to whip him nearly every other day and used to force him to sleep in the wood hut. You start writing an essay about the effects of Stockholm Syndrome.

Imagine being an An Ding senior disciple, tired from all the budgets and paperwork that's been assigned to you before now being sent to Qing Jing peak to had over a form that your Shen-Shibo has to fill out. When you knock on the door, you hear a loud crash and you swear you hear a voice yell out in some unknown language you've never heard of before the door slams open and the most ethereal, noble, and breathtaking man stands before you. With a paper stuck to his forehead and ink stains all over his face.

He fills out the form while cursing out your Shizun and you try to mention the piece of paper but he doesn't hear you before he's off back into his hut. As you leave, you swear you can hear him yelling once again in some unknown language at something about 'Mission' and 'Points'. You don't think you want to know about them if the tone and insults your Shen-Shibo uses when talking about them sounds far too similar to how he was before his Qi Deviation. You certainly hope he stays the same and doesn't revert back because Inter-Peak relations have been so peaceful.

Imagine being one of the healers at Qian Cao, constantly moving as you rush to heal everyone and their mothers of diseases and injuries you swear should've killed them. One day demons invade Cang Qiong and it seems floods of disciples enter your peak injured and battered. You're busy bandaging up a wounded Xian Shu disciple before suddenly Liu Qingge himself slams in with Shen Qingqiu of all people in his arms and suddenly now everyone's attention is on the peaklord who apparantly got infected with without-a-cure!? HOW!? HE TOOK IT SO HIS DISCIPLE WOULDN'T GET HURT!? SHEN QINGQIU!?

After a whole a lot of stress of moving the peaklord to a room, your Shizun, Mu Qingfang and the Sect Leader himself soon arrive and you're able to return to healing the other disciples. A few years passed and life at Qian Cao has regained some level of normalcy until some-fucking-how Shen Qingqiu bloody dies and his former disciple, Luo Binghe — the same kid who was crying outside his door the day his Shizun got poisoned — has stolen his body and now won't let anyone take it back to be buried. You hear a loud thud outside the building and in comes Liu Qingge, bleeding from every single part of his body with his arm seemingly snapped at some point. Your Shizun rushes to him and before you realise it, Liu Qingge has been bandaged up and has once again disappeared once again. You hope to never see that sight again.

Liu Qingge would return every single night with more wounds than you've ever seen, more scars than should reasonably fit on a person's body, and a thicker stench of blood and death than any person living should have. You feel like vomiting. You wish he would stop. Your Liu-Shishu doesn't.

[litchar-o]

TikTok is CRUEL

[chococococya]

Qing Jing Disciples

Character designs for Qing Jing disciples from Tiffindale’s fic link Do check out her story!

[recca3007]

how i imagined some of the peaks in svsss