#SJ: but I killed a man

[pr0cyon-lotor]

Hi, if you don't mind, I'd love to hear about the Scumcumplane AU. Like *how* fluffy would it be? Would there be murder? I think no one we care about if it's fluff, right? Is it more like a fix it for all or only a 'canon but fixing it for the ship'?

I always have so much fun to read your ideas. If this too pushy, don't feel like you need to answer or anything.

Have a nice day<3.

I won't lie the scumcumplane AU is in the same AU I made Shen Yuan a fifty year old man before he transmigrated. I didn't mention it because I forgor

He's a well known academic that specializes in classic literature and psychology studies, and is a xianxia nerd in his free time. I'm slightly basing this on a college professor I had (pretty chill guy, like a grandpa and also surprisingly a weeb).

When Shen Yuan transmigrated, he's in the body of a thirty something year old rogue cultivator. He meets Shang Qinghua during a supplies run, and they clock each other as transmigrators instantly. I'd imagine Shen Yuan was Shang Qinghua's professor at some point and probably was a whole sexuality crisis for him (something something silver fox Shen Yuan).

But yeah in this AU Shang Qinghua was working on helping Shen Jiu with varying success, at least the scum villain trusts him. So when Shang Qinghua comes around and introduces a rogue cultivator, he isn't immediately releasing the hounds.

It's a pretty fluffy AU and it has my favorite flavor of Shen Yuan (completely unfazed by everything because he's seen some things).

Him and Shen Jiu bond over literature, and Shen Yuan does clock a few of Shen Jiu's mental health issues and tries to help where he can. Shen Jiu just likes the have occasional pampering and people to complain to.

I just find the idea of Shen Jiu accidentally bagging two (mentally) 50-60 year olds a little amusing. Shen Yuan and Shang Qinghua are complaining about their backs hurting and how they need to take a nap. And then Shen Jiu just slots himself in-between like a cat during its afternoon nap.

If there was murder, I'd imagine the most reaction it'll get from Shen Yuan is "Oh no. We're probably going to have to work on that, aren't we?" He's a professional in his field, he learned how to be unbiased.

So I definitely see Shen Yuan being pretty unfazed by most things because of the things he's helped other people with in the past.

[scumvillainess]

the thing about og shen qingqiu that i love so much is that out of all the horrible things he’s done, the only thing that he’s done that you can’t defend at all is the child abuse, lol.

he killed a bunch of men and burned their estate down to the ground? well, he can’t be blamed because he was only following the kam agenda as a true man-hater should.

oh, he abused multiple children under his care? yikes, is nobody going to call cps on this man?

[quietly-sleeping]

I'll admit I'm a sucker for qijiu, (this could be my hyperfixation on sy talking), but I think those idiots deserve someone who's brand of chaos isn't murder. Or self sacrifice over deeply internalized guilt.

[zykamiliah-temporal]

“If, in the future, you see someone fall into a qi deviation, don’t panic, and don’t rush up rashly thinking you can save them. You must stay calm and call for help; don’t try to do it yourself. If you don’t, you’ll definitely be more of a hindrance than anything, and you’ll make a big mess, and you’ll abandon yourself to despair from there on. You’ll never be free of it for the rest of your life—even jumping into the Yellow River won’t wash you clean!”

the biggest irony of SJ's life is that, after swearing he'd kill LQG one day, after playing dirty to get back at him, after hating him for so long, he'd come to regret LQG's death to the point it'd eat him alive

and the fact that he won't even attempt to defend himself at the trial-- man.

[sunderwight]

Imagining a scenario where Shen Qingqiu clocks some of the lingering tension between the peak lords and Luo Binghe after they get married, and so looks up what all the rights & privileges of a peak lord's spouse are (because really only the ascetic peak has restrictions against marriage), and then just like. Heaps them onto Binghe.

Fine robes and ornaments in Qing Jing's style. A title. Appropriate authority over Shen Qingqiu's disciples and junior sect siblings. Technically Binghe is also entitled to use of his own residence, and there's a building on the peak that is at least nominally reserved for the peak lord's wife, but it hasn't been used in a long time and Binghe would cry if Shen Qingqiu even suggested living in separate buildings (and Shen Qingqiu would also not like it but shhh). So he doesn't get that, exactly, but Shen Qingqiu does have the building freshened up and aired out as a place where Binghe can house guests from the demon realms, or potentially his own personal disciples (should he desire to take any on one day).

Binghe accompanies Shen Qingqiu to peak lord meetings in his capacity as husband, rather than disciple, which means Binghe also gets to sit at the table instead of standing behind Shen Qingqiu's seat.

But really just, Shen Qingqiu making a point of doing everything extremely officially to really drive home that he married Binghe, and he expects Binghe to be treated with respect and not suspicion or derision or any of the other bad habits that his fellow peak lords have displayed. Not just with Binghe, but also towards the original goods in the past (SJ might have been a piece of work, but the fact also remains that most of what his sect siblings thought of him was inaccurate). SQQ scraping up every bit of political acumen he can find from all the books he read and PIDW itself and his own history as the son of a wealthy family, and being like, "if I don't want Binghe to be bullied, I must make it clear that he has my favor!"

Meanwhile everyone already knows Luo Binghe is Shen Qingqiu's favorite, like man they know it so much already, more than they'd like to, but it's not like they can SAY anything because actually putting the right hair ornament onto Luo Binghe's head and making the disciples address him as Shimu is in fact more appropriate than all the other ways Shen Qingqiu displayed his favoritism so far. It's just driving several of the other peak lords slowly insane because it's backwards! The order of things is all messed up! Shen Qingqiu can't truly expect them to start respecting this disgraceful mess of a relationship now, can he?!

Of course he can. Also Yue Qingyuan is backing him up. (Yue Qingyuan actually finds this kind of amusing, because it's very on-brand for both versions of Shen Qingqiu to get embroiled in a controversial mess only to retroactively go "oh yeah, respectability politics are a thing" and then just try and brazenly bluff his way through it.)

Meanwhile Binghe is very much enjoying himself. Could he stop anyone in the sect from actually mistreating him in a heartbeat? Of course. He could kill any of them, they all know it, and Binghe is not unaware of how to leverage that kind of fear into compliance, if not respect. But then he'd have to go stalking around being tyrannical all the time, and he does that enough as the demon emperor.

It's far more enriching to let people be rude to him and then hang his head and "nobly endure" the mistreatment, just to watch Shen Qingqiu's eyes narrow and his fan snap shut before he lets out some cutting remark and then lavishes another sign of his favor onto Luo Binghe. Binghe's wildest teenage fantasies were made of this stuff! He's living the dream!

[tk-duveraun]

Idk I just really want SY overwhelmed with guilt for taking SJ's life and going through hell to bring him back ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

Maybe a no-system AU where SY has a full melt down on day one right all over YQY because *he didn't want this*. He didn't want to kill someone else just so he could have a second life.

MQF world be called in and suspect SJ just has a mental break or something, since that's far more likely than this soul usurpation, but YQY overrules him bc there's no way this is SJ no matter how addled

Bonus points if airplane DOES have a system and is sweating bullets throughout all of this.

Maybe LQG gets sent with SY to find whatever plot device while YQY keeps up appearances and LQG falls for this wet dog of a man who just bleeds self sacrifice.

Eventually they get back to the sect and SY is waiting while they prepare a ritual or whatever and goes "oh shit, wait, the protagonist???" And is like "hello, you're my child now. Liu-gege, help me raise my child"

SJ comes back, pissed, SY is a spiritual creature of some sort (Empty Blossom of Moonlit Purity? Withers instantly on contact with demonic qi). SJ is talked down from vengeance since SY did immediately try (and did manage) to save him.

SY just takes LBH with him to go live on BZ.

SJ and YQY have a knock down drag out fight about how dare YQY save his life this time. How stupid is he to bring back a critical weakness? SJ ends up injuring YQY pretty seriously (since he's not even trying to defend himself) and YQY confesses that SJ is with more than his own life and always has been.

(SJ now has no idea why Qige never saved him, still doesn't know about Xuansu, but there is some reconciliation)

(meanwhile poor Binghe is like "withers on contact? 🥺")

(if SY consumes the Sunlit Flower of Balance he loses that weakness, which he does, but then forgets to mention. So he goes traveling to observe demonic beasts and gives everyone stress ulcers)

[coolshadowtwins]

Shen Brothers where the system puts SY into the role of SJ’s brother (younger or twin, either), and changes the world accordingly. This happens around the time that SY would have come to the world normally (Binghe is 14~)

Ask YQY, and of course he would tell you about Xiao-Yuan, who had been there all their childhood.

Ask LQG, and he will tell you how he absolutely hates SJ, the bastard, but he guesses his brother is ok. He doesn’t like him or anything but.

Ask QHT, and she will angrily tell you about the man who ruined her life, SJ, and how he just pulled his sweet brother into it. How SY was always quiet and withdrawn in the manor and so obviously wouldn’t have helped kill her family.

As NYY or MF, and any of them would tell you about their Shizun’s brother who only comes around sometimes but is really nice to them.

Ask SJ? He will tell you that he has no brother, he has never had a brother and who the hell is this stranger with his face?

The system changed everything, except for the tagged characters- ‘protagonist’ and ‘scum villain’ did not get involved with the world change, and have no idea who SY is. LBH is pretty ok with this. SJ absolutely is not.

SJ- You stay away!

YQY- Shen-Shidi, I don’t think Xiao-Yuan has done anything….?

SJ- Xiao-Yuan? Xiao-Yuan?! Who is he?! We did not grow up with him!!

This does lead into a horrifying idea where, as SY breaks SJ’s walls down and befriends him, SJ becomes less of a ‘scum villain’. And as he loses the title, then he gets more memories of ‘his brother’ back from childhood. Idk, that level of manipulation, especially where they can’t do anything about it, sounds horrific lol

(I did think of a funnier thing as I was writing this where the title of ‘wife’ was also excluded. It wouldn’t change much, because not many wives would have come into contact with SY but that does mean a couple of things.

1) NYY has no idea who all her martial siblings are talking about. Shizun’s nice brother? Since when??? At least A-Luo has also not met him.

2) LMY has no idea when her brother had gotten this crush, but are we sure this guy is even real? Don’t get her wrong, the idea of falling in love with your hated rival’s sibling sounds romantic, but she has never in her life heard LQG talk about this guy before. And apparently they were disciples together! Does her brother just not tell her things, or is he making things up? LQG, on his part, insists he had mentioned SY just last week. Also, he didn’t have a crush on his hated rival’s sibling, thank you very much!

Man’s QHT would only know about SJ. She sees him together and goes… ‘who’s he?’ And SJ is like ‘Thank you! I never want to see you again, but someone else finds this weird!’

And then someone, probably OPM, pulls out a slave contact and goes ‘hmmm… but it says here both Shen Jiu and Shen Yuan were sold to the Qius…?’

QHT:……. That sounds fake, but I’ll go with it for the sake of my accusations.

SJ-Damn it!)

[holy--milk]

okay, this may be either the most genius or the dumbest idea i've had so far but.

what if JGY and SJ swapped their men?

i mean, LXC with his pristine reputation could actually make for a pretty good defender for the victim of an intentional smear campaign as long as LXC himself is willing to defend the man. and i kinda feel that LXC wouldn't be all that appalled by SJ's crimes? he had sympathetic reasons for the qiu family massacre and running away with WYZ and he didn't - as far as we know - kill anyone after joining the sect. we'll have to assume, of course, that in this scenario he's willing to actually talk and explain himself instead of being the world's most uncooperative defendant.

(some of y'all may ask, "what about his abuse of LBH, the one crime he actually committed with no sympathetic reason behind it?". and i'll say, what about it? let's be real here, no one in that setting including LXC would send a respectable sect master to jail over accusations of child abuse alone.)

and as for JGY. well. what JGY needs is a man with a huge ass sword who'll hear out the accusations against him and will, without a hint of hesitation, say that he doesn't actually care and he's taking his shidi back to his sect right this instance, thank you.

and like YQY would do it even if he believed JGY to be a cold-hearted murderer, but given that JGY is much more open to the idea of defending himself, YQY wouldn't even have to silently suffer in doubt! thank you for clearly explaining your actions and motivation behind them, i'm so glad i know exactly what you did and didn't do, and why you had to kill the people you killed! i'm so happy you can actually talk and explain yourself to me. i would've defended you regardless, but it's nice not to feel like i'm betraying my own conscience by staying at your side.

[weirdenbyferret]

FINISHED THE CHIBI SERPENT DEN BOYS FANART FOR @naffeclipse <3

You totes cant see my favorites nope

Most of it is copy pasted from the wip post, but I also have some ✨️ design notes ✨️ for some of my designs of each of @naffeclipse's boys! And my version of yn/reader lol. There is also some new additions to the design notes lol

yn/reader: so there are some hats that have a little veil attached to them called mosquito hats (learned this after searching sun hats once) and I figured that'd probably be something we'd wear out in the jungle!

SJ eclipse/Vinicius: remember how when sj eclipse dies, one of his optics are very damaged? I decided to make that a part of my version of vinicius's design by giving him a scar on his left eye >:]

SJ moon/Meztli: attached to his hood is an appendage on the back of his head, similar to a tail, and at the end of it there is something like a rattlesnakes rattle!

CS Eclipse/Tlhoolcha: Hes got two hoods! One of them is bigger and almost always hanging, and he often uses it to cover his face, especially when its dark and when hes guiding us back to safety so you dont see what he looks like and what he is (I headcanon that we do know he is a naga, we just dont want to spoil it for him). He is also a big sweetie (at least compared to the others not including meztli and helio) and he calls us heart, so I decided to give him a heart on his chest <3

SID Eclipse Sun and Moon/Saulo Inacio and Luan: Saulo doesnt have many scars as I headcanon that he doesnt get into fights that often, but! What happened to his hood, why is a whole chink of it ripped off? Oh well, same reason why Inacio is missing a chunk of his, and why Luan once had two of what Meztli has but doesnt have either! They got into a (un)friendly little fight UwU. Also I have no regrets towards making inacio and luan goth. Yes it was accidental no there were no regrets

DE Eclipse/Jacare: so um (stares at the more detail I put into him) its uh totes clear that hes my least favorite, yeah? Yeah? Hey wait guys no where are you going I have actual design notes for him I swear- So I feel like he'd be very eager to show off certain things hes gained from his hunts, so I decided that man wears jewelry made of bones of his kills, most of them being from tougher, bigger, and/or more sentient creatures. And he wears one very sharp one of his tail with a ribbon wrapped around the base of it and his tail to keep it on lol. Also I suddenly decided that I like the way he looks with his face and under belly and such being white so uh yeah.

I made so many mistakes, like at least one with every one of them god damn it gahh 😭

Well they still turned out alright, they look cute hnngg

[pr0cyon-lotor]

Sometimes I'm tempted to write angst with NO happy ending. Especially with JiuYuan.

Do you guys understand how much unrequited (or unknowingly required) JiuYuan FUCKS?! DO YOU GET THAT UNHEALTHY AND TOXIC JIUYUAN FUCKS SO HARD ITS CRIMINAL?!!

An au where Shen Yuan unknowingly helps Shen Jiu escape the Qiu's and he becomes SJ's obsession afterwards. But Shen Yuan ends up never talking to Shen Jiu again and simply doesn't remember him. He means the world to Shen Jiu, but for Shen Yuan it was just a Monday.

An au where Shen Yuan grew up with Shen Jiu and Yue Qi, but constantly gets set aside because those two are more codependent on each other than him. Shen Yuan wants to have love too even if it's unhealthy. And when the two have a falling out, he tries to shoot his shot but Shen Jiu is too closed off and ignores him.

Another au where they grew up together but they both killed people so they think their tainted or evil and they don't want to ruin the other. So they end up distancing themselves from the other until they haven't spoken in years. And Shen Yuan doesn't become a cultivator and Shen Jiu becomes an immortal master. So at his deathbed Shen Yuan finally sends a letter detailing his feelings for Shen Jiu. And somewhere in the letter it's says something like "I'm being selfish right now. It's a selfish thing to write you this letter. I could've died with this secret, yet I share it with you. I hope my name means nothing to you at this point, and I'm simply just another child you had to deal with as a street rat. You're beautiful and always have been. I'm glad you're reaching your potential." And Shen Jiu is in a panic trying to find Shen Yuan because that was a selfish thing to do. Shen Yuan isn't selfish, he isn't selfish with Shen Jiu, yet he's been selfish by telling him this just now and dying on him without facing him. And when Shen Jiu finds him it's too late, and he only has a stone with his name to keep him company.

An au where Shen Yuan is crazy about Shen Jiu instead of Luo Binghe, and he gets transmigrated to PIDW while Shen Jiu is being tortured. Shen Yuan manages to get Shen Jiu out, but the man is unresponsive and refuses to eat. And like Shen Yuan is DESPERATELY trying to save him, but you can't save someone from the water if they're committed to drowning. So either Bingge finds them or Shen Yuan forces himself to free Shen Jiu from his pain.

PARASOCIAL STREAMER AU WHERE THEY'RE BOTH FANS OF EACH OTHER'S CONTENT. They're crazy about each other but they don't know it. They're borderline stalking each other. Then one of them says something about already liking someone special in an interview or something and it causes the other to spiral.

DO YOU GUYS KNOW HOW HARD I'M BITING WIRES ABOUT THIS?!

I WANT TO READ MORE TOXIC JIUYUAN BUT I DON'T HAVE THE HEART TO WRITE IT AAAAAAAARRGGGHHH

So yeah feel free to ask me anything about any au I talk about. I will cry incoherently while trying to explain it :D

[lovefrombegonia]

Just random rambling on Shen Jiu:

Shen Jiu is so great. Like he despises men but also finds the company of women embarrassing. He hates when someone has authority on him but also knowingly, intentionally makes bad, horrible, villainous decisions. His introduction was him about to smash a kid's brain out because the kid was "taking the best begging spot". He has so much ego, so much superiority complex but also dying with deep inferiority complex. What is...WTF is wrong with him?? Like, babygirl, sit down? Have a tanghulu? Drink some relaxing tea?? Stop abusing the child, and maybe get some therapy?? Stop projecting on your female disciple, you fucking weirdo?? Stop abusing your soulmate??? But no. HE KNOWS ALL OF THE WRONG HE IS DOING. He knows he is a bitch ass loser. And he will still pretend to be the master of the universe. He is like "I can tell myself I am doing wrong but YOU CAN'T DO THAT." Shen Jiu is a clown. A clown. Who won't leave my mind. He is just there, you know. Just there at the corner of my mind, glaring at me with his arrogant stare. A clown, an idiot, an insufferable gremlin. He is a ghoul with a pretty face but his prettiness is lost in the ugly scowl.

I saw this post on twt talking about SJ is NOT a misogynist. And I agree. He is not a misogynist, by definition. He doesn't hate women. He just doesn't think women are a threat to him, which gives him some sense of safety. But he also thinks women are weak. So, in that way, you could say he is one. But I don't think so, personally. He is a misandrist tho. He hates all men. He even hates himself LMAO

This is why his loyalty towards Yue Qingyuan is so confusing. Him saving Liu Qingge is confusing. He spared the women in the house when killing them all, yes, including qiu haitang, when he would have saved himself a lot of trouble, if he was able to do that. Like, what happened, babes? Did your long dead conscience wake up for a second? His long dead conscience also seems to wake up at the cost of his IQ because the dude will not even clear up any misunderstandings. I remember a great line in ATLA series said by Iroh. I am paraphrasing: pride is not an absence of shame/inferiority but source of it. This applies SO WELL to this infuriating man. This fucking joker sitting at the corner of my mind. He has so much ego. So much of "ooff they hate me anyways, why bother even clearing up" and "they are beneath me, why should I clear up". He really manifested his own fall from grace. He even realised he is manifesting all that but he won't clear it up. Why didn't he even clear up that Qiu House was abusing him when QHT blamed him? Was he too ashamed to tell others that he was so "weak", he was beaten by those men? I really find him annoying...

And he genuinely didn't think that yqy won't just give up his life for him...huh... Umm? He protected you when he genuinely thought you murdered your martial brother. How did that not click?? You thought he did that coz you thought that he thought this will stain his "honor" if this thing comes out in the open, but it was ALREADY OUT IN THE OPEN!!!

Actually, ykw I am stopping rn coz this clown is pissing me off. See, this is why, I don't like thinking too much about him coz he just sucks me in. Just SUCKS ME IN LIKE A BLACKHOLE. He is a blackhole. He is terrifying, fascinating, he cannot be defined in simple terms but also simply calling him a scum makes sense. If Shen Jiu could become a heavenly demon, he would manifest as the god of rot and vengeance. He rots everything he touches and vengeance defines his rise in and fall from power.

[danmei-confessions]

You know what's kinda messed up? That majority of the crimes Shen Jiu was accused of were either self-defense or just outright lies. The only ones that were true were him being an apprentice to a demonic cultivator and his abuse of LBH. The first could just be explain away as heresy because the accuser was the fiance who litterly owned him (and was pretty much unconscious majority of the event, so for all she knew WYZ could have been the one who killed her family to kidnap SJ for his potential), and the other is something that no one would care or really take seriously at all considering the time period.

The only reason his claims of abuse were treated as severely as they were was because of all the accusations that were piled on and because it was SJ. If it wasn't for these two factors, LBH claims would have been dismissed, and he would have been seen as an unfilial disciple who couldn't handle the life of a hardworking cultivator. (Considering how well he was being treated by the OPM and Huan Hua, the riches sect may I add, it would paint him as someone who simply wanted a life of luxury rather than hard work. He would have been victim blamed and shamed so hard it would be considered gaslighting).

The point I'm trying to make is that if Luo Binghe accused someone else who wasn't Shen Jiu, his very valid claims of abuse would have been brushed off and dismissed. And that's fucked up man.

.

[acearohippo]

I love fandoms, especially witnessing what fans take away from source material and how fans interpret it based on their experiences. Not to mention the stark difference of interaction between new fans, casual fans, experienced fans, and long-term fans.

I say this because the SVSSS fandom has continuously fascinated me in insisting in discussions that there are parallels between Shen Jiu and Luo Binghe (tell don't show), but in their fanworks, I just see parallels between Luo Binghe and Yue Qingyuan (show don't tell).

And it's not even (fully) a case where they're blending character personalities because they want what the other dynamic has, it's just how the characters are based on canon in two different timelines.

All of this to say, perhaps original draft PIDW (NOT original!PIDW nor pre!SY PIDW which are completely different) was supposed to revolve around the dynamic between SJ and YQY vs SJ and LBH. Perhaps YQY was to be the last hour mastermind, the true foil to LBH.

And fandom is just circling this idea without realising it because, once again, the unreliable narrator that is SY has already convinced this fandom that any version of SJ has to be a/the villain, regardless if it's through his own actions or baseless rumours.

Warning, run-on sentence ahead.

I don't know, mans, but it's gotta mean something that LBH and YQY have such similar life beats of being orphaned and having a tough life but remaining kind/compassionate because they had someone to live for until they didn't which left them empty until they found (or refound in YQY's case) one (1) man to obsess over in an uncomfortably intrusive way with no regards for his feelings and rejections, eventually reaching a position as the most powerful being in existence with a huge caveat that their sword is 83% of that power and is slowly killing them which did nothing to soften said man of their obsession's into showing them kindness leading to the ultimate confrontation between the two in which only one could survive and keep their obsession, not that it mattered because neither of them got to experience his feelings reciprocated, except in another timeline where the same things are happening until their obsession suddenly stops rejecting their (still intrusive) advances even if he is acting a bit silly, but hey take advantage while you can and take advantage they did because now they have that reciprocated feeling (except one still "won" as he gets to keep him for himself) and be thankful that all it took was, in their perspective, a near death fever that drastically changed his personality and most likely left him crippled in some other way, preventing their obsession from not NOT needing them anymore, all-in-all fulfilling their desire to be relied upon again, hooray! 😋😁✌🏽

In all seriousness, at the end of the day people are going to draw connections between characters that fit whatever narrative they understood from the story. SVSSS fandom just seems to be trying to convince others of one narrative while believing on a deeper level of another narrative. It's amusing and makes following the fandom fun.

[aphelion-neon]

I love svsss, it’s a great book. I love Sj, he’s a complex character with a great story. I hate how ppl treat Sj. Everyone talks about how poor Sj deserved better, he shouldn’t have been murdered. Lbh is in the wrong for killing him.

Sj 100% deserved his ending. He was a terrible person. Yes, his backstory is really tragic, but that doesn’t excuse his abuse and neglect of his peak and duties.

Sj wasn’t some innocent bystander in Lbh’s abuse. He actively participated and promoted it. He has the choice to not pick Lbh, but he did. He saw a 13 yr old boy and was a jealous 40+ yr old man. No one forced Sj to pick Lbh. That was his choice to take him.

After willingly taking Lbh on as a disciple, he abused him to no end. He motivated everyone to target Lbh. Yes, other peaks also had abuse/neglect going on, but that doesn’t make what Sj did okay, or any better.

He attempted to murder a child on multiple occasions. Lbh has done absolutely nothing to Sj, yet he tried to kill Lbh multiple times. He even gave Lbh the faulty cultivation novel so he would have a qi deviation. He make Lbh fight a demon who was 10x his strength. Everything he did was to abuse Lbh, a child he willingly let onto his peak. To top it off, he pushed Lbh into literal hell(I give hims some slack bc that was the whole demon Lbh reveal).

This neglect didn’t even stop at Lbh, he neglected the rest of his peak. He was a terrible master for his peak. He also treated the people around him like shit. Everyone didn’t hate him for no reason. He was a cold and cruel man to his fellow peak lords. Their dislike didn’t come from thin air.

Then, after everything, when Lbh is enacting his revenge, he admits to not regretting a single Thing he did. Sj even said if he could do it again, or would do worse to Lbh.

Not once is Sj remorseful for what he did to a child who’s only mistake was having potential. Sj did not deserve any better than what he got. A sad backstory is no excuse for his terrible actions.

Yes, Yqy not coming back for Sj was terrible. Yes the abuse Sj went through as a slave was horrible. That does not change the horrendous person he turned into. There was no external force that made Sj pick Lbh, nothing making him abuse Lbh. All of his actions were his own, of his own free will.

TLDR: Sj nah have a tragic backstory, but he still deserved his ending.

[optimisticmosquito]

Imagine a liujiu AU where LQG returns from the dead to save SJ from the water prison:

SJ has been placed in the water prison to be tortured by LBH. The whole trial had been a disaster, but that wasn't particularly surprising. A deep part within him still stung from how none of his martial siblings had even been there to try and defend him.

No one is coming for him, that was simply a fact. LBH had removed his legs a few day earlier and had him write that cursed blood letter, but the joke is on him. YQY wont come back for him. Not after he told him not to return. He had set the man free, there was no reason for him to associate with trash like SJ any longer.

He hears steps come closer, most likely LBH coming back to gloat at him, and maybe to torture him some more. Perhaps he was going to remove SJs arms next.

Looking up he becomes momentarily stunned. He must be hallucinating, maybe the pain and loneliness of his acid filled cave has finally driven him to insanity.

In front of him is a man that should be long dead, the Bai Zhan war god, Liu Qingge. The man he was unable to save in those caves so many years ago.

But is it really him? SJ doesnt think he's ever seen LQG wear that expression towards him. Or, maybe once, during his last moments.

It's a pained and devastated expression. It is compassionate, something that would have made SJ bristle when the brute was still alive. It was many, many words left unsaid.

"Am I dead?" SJ asks with a hoarse throat.

"No." LQG answers bluntly.

Death hasn't changed the man, it is maddeningly amusing in a way. SJ lets out an huff "Then why are you here?".

"I'm here to take you back home" LQG answers with all the seriousness of his old living self.

Against his will, SJ feels his lip wobble, "I have no home, I brought this on myself." .

"Maybe you did." LQG says, "but you did not kill me. I won't let them use my death to falsely imprison you."

Ah, of course. SJ manages a wry smile "So you are here to defend your honor then?".

"No," comes the immediate answer. LQG bends down and hesitates a moment before he places his hand on the side of SJs head. His thumb hovering uncertainly above the skin under his removed eye, before softly brushing the dried blood from cheek.

He swallowed thickly, voice filled with emotions SJ couldn't even pretend he understood. "You tried to save me, more than once. You were never a lazy young master, despite everything I accused you of. And you never went down to the brothels to.. to do that.".

How could he know all that?

LQG took a deep breath, closing his eyes to gather himself. "It seems like I've always misunderstood you shixiong, let me make it up to you now."

SJ must truly have gone insane, question is, what part of his demented mind wanted LQG of all people to see the truth of him?

"Do whatever you want" he answers with apathy. None of this was real anyways, he'll probably wake up in a moment to an empty cell. The memory of LQG will have left him as easily as everyone else have.

Closing his eyes, he thinks he hears a soft "I'm so sorry" before exhaustion claims him. He should get some rest before that beast shows himself again.

Next that follows is LQG taking SJ out of water prison. LBH tries to stop them but YQY gets in his way him. LBH knows he can't beat him in direct combat, that's why he wanted to lure him into the trap in the first place. Seething with rage, he has to let them leave with his shizun.

At CQM, LQG meets up with the rest of their martial siblings, who are understandably shocked to see him. After extensive testing for possession, even taking out Hong Jing, they finally believe he has returned to the living. He talks with the other peak lords, telling them how SJ never tried to kill him in the lingxi caves.

Rather, it was LQG who almost killled him in a fit of deviation induced madness. LQG tells them how he had momentarily regained his sanity and saw how badly he had hurt SJ, who was begging him to come back to himself. And who didn't look far away from a deviation of his own.

He had known at that moment he'd end up killing the man if he slipped back under. So he did the only thing he could, he stopped himself from doing something unforgivable.

After all, the mountain losing only one peak lord was better than losing two. And even with their complicated history, LQG did not want to hurt SJ.

LQG then explains how he had spent many years as a ghost. Watching how SJ was accused of his murder, and how his little sister had suffered by the loss. Seeing how his death had deepened the cracks between the peak lords.

He saw the trial where SJ was accused of many things, including his death. He saw the demon torture SJ and take his legs.

At that moment of utter helplessness, he had been approached by an entity calling itself the System. It asked him if he had any regrets he wanted to mend, and what he was willing to do to return back to life. He accepted the deal and woke up shortly thereafter.

That was how he arrived at QDP at the same moment YQY went outside, eyes wild with desparation and fear.

YQY told him about SQQ and about the box and the blood letter LBH had sent him. Together they were able to form a plan to get him back.

LMY had been so shocked upon seeing him again, and upon hearing all that she had thought of her shibo was wrong, that she didn't refuse him when he asked her to take him to SQQ.

All the while YQY, instead of rushing in head first, asked for an official meeting between himself and LBH to distract the other man. Something he had barely managed without drawing his sword and killing the demon.

LQG and YQY manages to convince the other peak lords to agree to protect SJ. LQG then helps SJ recover, helps him get prostheses and to train up his strenght again.

He also helps SJ bridge the chasm between himself and the other peak lords. And makes sure they become a (somewhat) united front against the new demon emperor.

He constantly tells SJ he will not allow LBH to get his hands on him again. And slowly the former rivalry grows into something else as they learn to know and trust each other.

LBH on the other hand becomes increasingly desperate in his attempts to get SJ back into his claws. But with SQQ, YQY and LQG all protecting the sect, not even LBH can do anything against them.

[naffeclipse]

Heya Naff, since the eclipse happened earlier is it perhaps possible to ask for maybe some little unshared tidbits or facts about SJ!Eclipse or one of your preference?

Oh ho, sure! (I'm a little late ;-;) I haven't talked about SJ!Eclipse in a hot minute!

Eclipse's favorite flavor of cigars (not that he's ever tasted them) has notes of cedar, leather, and red and black pepper in them.

The first time Eclipse killed a man, a human, he could only think of his brothers and that this was the price he had to pay to ensure they survived. Blood. Always blood. Now it's on his hands.

It was different when he killed an animatronic. He couldn't brush it off as easily, but it was in the heat of the moment, a gunfight that required fast reflexes and quick trigger fingers. It was only afterward he thought about the oil, black but not like blood, dripping off the bullet-riddled chassis of the fellow he ended. Again, he had to do it. It was the only way to make sure his brothers would be okay, that they'd not rot in the mud forever.

His favorite songs playing live in clubs or lounges always have a double bass.

Eclipse has many loyal gangsters following him, including Cafaro. She was one of the first to promise to follow him when he decided to take down his boss and claim the gang for himself.

One of the memories he cherishes though bitterly regards is when he, Sun, and Moon, moved into their first apartment—a roof over their head and their own agency to decide what to do. It was freedom. They were so happy with so little, and for a few moments, Eclipse was satisfied, but of course, that didn't keep.