#Yuan in Abyss AU

[greeniegaes]

Back at it agains with another svsss au im pulling out of my (slightly) sleep deprived brain

Basically yada yada everything happens as normal UP UNTIL the immortal alliance arc. SQQ gets this searing headache and the system just keeps popping up with errors, so while they are all fighting the spider hoard the system just kinda snaps and breaks. SQQ suddenly feels like he’s hit by a truck, his body starting to act like his sickly Shen Yuan body and his cultivation is tying itself into dead knots and every bone in his body feels like it’s locking up. There’s no system to blame for things as he and LBH confront MBJ and he just has to do his hardest to survive with just his spiritual sword.

And then the worse thing happens, Xiu Ya shatters.

SQQ panics at this, continuing to try his best fighting people off and eventually MBJ leaves *hooray* except not really because all the system errors are getting louder and louder in his head, and everything is blue and blaring and he might be bleeding and he can’t understand what LBH is saying even though he is right there, shaking his body and crying.

And then the abyss opens. He suddenly has the choice. He can send LBH, his white little sheep, down there to continue on with the PIDW plot, or he can… not do that.

So he pushes LBH.

Away from him. Away from the abyssal rift, only for him to be the one that falls though. He had prepared various lesson plans, life advice, what skills people to work on and so much more once he got without-a-cure, just incase he slipped up one day and couldn’t protect himself. So SQQ was satisfied as he knew his peak would be taken care of if LBH opened a specific drawer, everyone could still be taught by the hall masters and also have some future help prepared for each of them.

So SQQ let’s himself fall into the abyss, watching his student’s horrified expression as he plummets. He hears the system disconnect from LBH as he falls, all of the glowing blue error messages and pop ups instantly go away and he’s left in the dark as he sinks further and further into the abyss.

Surprisingly, he wakes up. He landed in the same field of flowers that are the reason LBH didn’t die in the original, they are filled with celestial qi in a place meant to be horrible and deadly. The one good thing about this place. He lays there for awhile and lets the plants essence fix up his meridians.

Then he has to experience the same horrifying things the protagonist did in person, fighting off each beast and trying his damn hardest to survive. It takes him a while, fighting and walking his way through what’s practically hell on earth, slaying beasts ten times his size, making sure not to fall into the trappings of demonic plants. He cuts his long hair, he thinks he will never see his peak again, so what do filial ties matter when you’re barely surviving. Sometimes the worse thing is his own mind, he feels a heavy layer of guilt to himself for so willing going along with the system. He sometimes forgets it’s not his fault too, that he was threatened to return to a dead body if he didn’t do as he was supposed to. But he’s happy sometimes too, he goes back to that field of flowers, laying in them and basking in his memories of a happier LBH, a LQG that isn’t dead, a Qing Jing peak full of song and happy healthy students.

He ascends from the abyss that day. He doesn’t know how or why but he wakes up in the same field of flowers, the sky above him no longer a damning black with red cracks seeping light in. it’s blue, soft, it hurts his eyes almost to look at it. It hurts so much but he can’t look away. He picks himself up, looking at all the grime and blood on himself and weeps in relief that he can go home. He hides his face and asks people where he is, somewhere in HHP territories, and begins to make his way back to his sect. Once he gets to his peak he sits down softly at the gate, it’s night time and there haven’t been many people about. He basks in the feeling of being home, leaning his head against the tall bamboo pole as he falls asleep.

He’s glad tomorrow is a new day, when he can see his family and just go back to his life.

(in the years he’s been gone all of CQS has been in some kind of mourning. LBH found all the letters from his shizun and they made all the disciples of QJP weep. Some of them took the advice given and left, some of them stayed and took care of a lordless peak. None of the hall masters or disciples were qualified to step up, and when the issue was raised even the peak lords agreed he shouldn’t be replaced. It was LQG who found him at the gate, going to visit the sword shrine in the bamboo house after an expedition, going to leave another fan to rot at the shrine’s foot. instead he heaved up his shixiong, hair not even reaching his shoulders, hands callused and dirty, and brought him back to the bamboo house, waking LBH in the process. Once morning light came everyone would know that their lost peak lord came home, but first they had to get the doctor to make sure he actually got through the night)

[starry-bi-sky]

on a completely separate note; shizun luo binghe with a disciple shen yuan who fell into the abyss??? *thinks about LBH canonically stealing SQQ's corpse for 5 years* he'd hallucinate i think. like, like visual and audial hallucinations.

Keeps thinking he's seeing SQQ in the corner of his eyes, or wandering between the trees, amongst a group of disciples. Thinks he hears him calling for him, but its just the wind or another disciple.

Gets Xiu Ya reforged but patently fucking refuses to make a sword mound. Because his disciple Is Not Dead :))) There was No Body. He's Not Dead. And If You keep Insisting That He Is, He's Gonna Skewer You :). He's holding onto Xiu Ya so he can return his most favored disciple's sword when he returns. It's on his hip right next to Zheng Yang where it's supposed to be.

Also this motherfucker?? does not sleep btw. He has the image of SQQ, wide eyed and hysterical and standing at the mouth of the abyss burned into his fucking eyelids. Can't use the dreamscape to escape it either because he keeps trying to save him and either he does and it's an incredibly cruel trick to wake up to, or he doesn't and he gets his heart broken in several different pieces again.

There is no convincing this man that Shen Qingqiu is dead. Absolutely nothing at all. He is buried so deep in denial that moles would be jealous of how deep he is. He keeps making tea for two in the bamboo house only to remember that it's just him. SQQ's fans are hiding everywhere, little reminders of his presence. He goes to wake up SQQ on the mornings he sleeps in-- only to find the room empty.

[crowlyne]

Action RPG AU where SY is the final boss in Endless Abyss, and Binghe has to defeat him to get Xin Mo (how he defeats him, you decide)

[shimaen]

Guardian spirit of the Qing Jing Peak

[elf-kid2]

AU where Shen Yuan transmigrated into a denizen of the Abyss, and attempts the "Cling to the Protagonist's Thighs" survival strategy, as soon as it becomes available.

(Surviving the Endless Abyss WITHOUT a Heavenly Demon ally is HARD!!!)

From Luo Binghe's perspective, he is scamming a somewhat-helpful Demon Dude who's been living under a rock, and thinks that Luo Binghe is the kind of Heavenly Demon Royalty who, when not stranded in the Abyss, spends his time leading armies or lounging around a Palace while beautiful women feed him grapes.

What Shen Yuan might do when he finds out that Luo Binge is ACTUALLY a half-human bastard of a deposed Heavenly Demon Emperor who was sealed under a mountain nearly 2 decades ago, and thus NOT in a position the Richly Reward him for his assistance?

Well, that's a question for if/when they both make it out of the Abyss alive!

[secriden]

ok OK HEAR ME OUT THO-- what if... because Liu Qingge was never meant to survive past the qi deviation in PIDM, he's the only non-transmigrator character who can see the influence of the system on the world?

i'm thinking it plays out something like this: lqg emerges from the Ling Xi caves to find he can see these... strings of what looks like energy flowing around. he can't really tell what it is, and at first he thinks its a new quirk of his latest breakthrough but when he rushes to help defend Qiong Ding Peak from the demon invasion, he realises that certain people have these auras of energy around that are especially pronounced. like he's mostly preoccupied with fighting off the demon invasion but distantly he notices that lbh has this golden glow (ie. protagonist golden halo) around him although its threaded through with dark red energy. curious. sqq also has this inexplicable dark energy around him that occasionally flashes bright blue when he seems to freeze and go absent minded. even stranger.

when mqf comes along, lqg asks about possession and mentions the strange energy but mqf assures him that they'd already tested it and that there's nothing wrong aside from the new poison in sqq's system. yqy also acts as if everything is normal even though everything is clearly NOT normal because sqq is acting very weird. but also all his weirdness happens around these pulses of blue and lqg starts wondering sqq's being forced into acting the way he is.

(yqy also has a dark aura about him although its different from sqq's. it's also very reactive towards sqq like they're tied together somehow and lqg finds it very disturbing.)

in this situation, i think sqq and lqg would have way more interactions because lqg's suspicious of sqq but also worried?? cuz he can tell that sqq is being manipulated/affected in some way. he starts hunting for monsters/beasts that help with fighting off possession or curing curses but none of them seem to have any effect. he notices the almost unnatural way sqq will act in contrary ways and how they're always attached to that same pulse of blue that only lqg can seem to see. he notices the weird way the aura's clash when sqq interacts with lbh or yqy and starts feeling protective because he can tell sqq is trying to cause as little harm as possible.

he starts wondering why no one else seems to care that something is clearly not alright with sqq. even if they can't see the aura and the energy bursts, surely its obvious just from what they know about sqq. he starts to become angry. then he becomes determined. because if no one else can see that some unknown entity is hurting sqq, then its just going to have to be lqg that saves him.

[happypeachsludgeflower]

Does anyone else just love chaotic svsss identity reveals? It’s like a dopamine wild party every time I get to watch Cang Qiong Peak realize Shen Yuan’s a baby.

[sun-and-moon-mushroom]

Swap AU where, rather than reading PIDW, SY instead read the tragic story of SJ, a slave boy who found a place in a cultivation sect… only to discover his demonic heritage and be pushed into the Endless Abyss by YQY, his best friend/brother who joined the sect with him, after the Immortal Alliance Conference is infiltrated by demonic cultivators. SJ proceeds to become a demon lord but continues to suffer — but SY was never too interested in that part of it.

No, his favourite part of the novel was a side character, Luo Binghe. A human child with cultivation potential, at one point SJ took him in because he was reminded of his younger self, but treated him cruelly for the same reason, only to realise his mistake when LBH tragically died trying to save him from a poison his demonic heritage made him immune to. SY is so infuriated by this ending to his favourite character that when he dies, he’s offered transmigration with the goal of saving LBH.

SY is transmigrated as a pretty standard wandering cultivator, and quickly puts his knowledge of the many beasts and plants in the world of the novel to use to live a much more comfortable life than most cultivators outside the sects. Eventually, he manages to find a young LBH, and takes him in as a disciple.

Then, one day he goes out on a night hunt he thinks is too dangerous for LBH. He tells him to stay put in the town they’re staying in, and promises to be back soon. While on the night hunt, he helps out some cultivators from Cang Qiong, and they offer to help him out in return. This is very fortunate for him, because during the fight he gets injured — and badly. The Cang Qiong disciples he saved bring him back with them for treatment, wanting to repay him. He’s in a coma for a year, and it takes another for him to be able to even leave his room again.

He heads back to the town where he left LBH as soon as he can, but he can’t find him anywhere. He asks around to find out where he might have gone — only to hear that he was apparently one of the many victims of the demonic cultivation group that had been operating in the area, kidnapping people and using them for experiments. LBH, as a fairly new but strong cultivator, was a perfect target. SY is devastated, but returns to Cang Qiong, where he’s offered a place — one of their Peak Lords is still looking for a successor and they think he might be the one. He accepts just so he can have something to focus on that isn’t how he failed LBH.

What he doesn’t know is that LBH never actually died when he was kidnapped — no, instead he ended up being sold to a noble family that liked the idea of having a ‘pet cultivator’. Eventually he breaks himself free, killing most of the household in the process, when he finally realises that SY probably died on that night hunt. Which makes it a nasty surprise for him when he runs into the newly-named Shen Qingqiu, Peak Lord of Qing Jing during an Immortal Alliance Conference being invaded by the demon lord SJ as part of his revenge against YQY…

[ihavesomejays]

scum vidyadhara's self-saving system legitimately these two are the most rendered characters i've ever drawn and idk how to feel about that. anyways i'll be dropping some doodle comics about this au sometime soon and if you do draw or write svsss renheng tag me i need to see it im so ill about the thought of shizun!dan heng

closeups under keep reading

[piosplayhouse]

Sorry but he was The Shen Yuan before Shen Yuan to me. The blueprint

[greeniegaes]

Second part to the au where SQQ sacrifices himself into the abyss

Character reactions:

Shang Qinghua: Freaking out!! He thought SQQ was dead and that his story would be utterly in shambles, only to suddenly hear through the grapevine he’s not! He goes and visits him in recovery and SQQ knows he’s a transmigrator and yells at him for the Mobei Jun incident, almost sending himself into a qi deviation before SQH is banned from SQQ’s house for the time being lmao

Liu Qingge: Is the one that found him unconscious at Qing Jing’s entrance. there was an over all feeling of relief and grief at the same time. On one hand the man who saved his life and countless others was alive. On the other hand his shixiong had went through countless horrors, had his honor stripped from him and looks like he barely survived. He wishes he could’ve gone after him, he wishes that he could’ve protected SQQ better, he wishes he got to that fight before without a cure infected him. He takes his time to bask in the man’s presence now though, just to admire how strong his shixiong is

Yue Qingyuan: This wet dog of a man never stopped looking for his Shidi…. Even through questionable channels. Hey! If you came across a heavenly demon that yea was supposed to be dead BUT ISNT wouldn’t you want to ask him for help to rescue someone that is so far out of your reach. (Sorry ZSL) Once he finally realized that he’s back home he’s flooded with so much relief he just conks out in the middle of work

Mu Qingfang: ‘oh fuck oh fuck SO many heart demons what the FUCK oh god his meridians- are somehow better??? Why does he have demonic, human and celestial qi- what the fuck what happened- oh my goodness so much shit healed wrong’ <-internal thoughts, in reality is completely silent as he works to heal the unconscious man and make sure he doesn’t die in the first few days of being back home

Various disciples of QJ: all want to swarm the man and get/give affection but they don’t want to overwhelm him so they make up a schedule of who gets to keep him company while he recovers (LBH is always there and then one or two others come) A lot of them cried when someone passes out the various booklets, letters of invitation and advice to them, realizing that their shizun thought he was going to die at some point and prepared this in advance

And finally. The boy~!

Luo Binghe: He felt so much anguish as he watched his teacher fall. He couldn’t go after the man that had protected him and taught him. Most of his days on QJ were spent as a blur, trying to keep some semblance of normality as he kept the bamboo house spotless, made sure all the disciples were cared for and made the sword mound in his Shizun’s offer. At the steps of the sword mound so many foods, trinkets, fans, small weapons and jewelry rotted and rusted away. Once SQQ came back to the hut LBH weeped. He made the man tea and foods easy on the stomach, carefully attending him. He wanted to cry when he saw his Shizun’s hair, the man had given up ever returning. He became x10 sticker as a result and was insistent on staying by his side.

[starry-bi-sky]

mmmmmm read a disciple shen yuan/shizun luo binghe fanfic about two days ago where the first chapter was the Immortal Conference arc, and SQQ was the one who had to be pushed into the abyss (he was still the villain) except Luo Binghe was refusing and was like, lowkey losing his mind about SQQ being so close to the edge. SQQ ended up having to be the one to fall in himself because of the system's punishment system. The rest of the fic is leading up to that moment. But like, MMM i've been obsessively thinking about that first chapter for DAYS ever since.

now i've been in svsss for a grand total of *checks watch* a week. but god obsessed with that. I want to write/read a fic where disciple SQQ goes a little nuts down there. Like keep all of the things that make SQQ, SQQ, but just. Throw in a little bit more trauma in there. A little bit of a mental break. Let him go a little nuts as a treat. Just a tad unhinged. I wanna see him go, just a little, "god fuck it, i've tried so hard to change this shitty story's outcome and it feels like everything i've done has been for nothing. I'm going to die in this world no matter what I do, I've been doomed from the start, so might as well die the way I want to." and he just, breaks a little! Under all the stress.

He still retains the traits that makes shen yuan, shen yuan, like his overwhelming kindness. But he's just! yk. A little less patient. Paranoid. Jumpy. Colder. A little more aloof and closed off. A little more Shen Jiu. He's no asshole child abuser, but he was a Number One Hater in his past life and he's leaning into that old habit a little more now.

(On a totally coincidental not-at-all related note, there's not enough SJ-and-SY-are-the-same-people fics out there that i've found. This is totally unrelated...)

The Endless Abyss turns the mind into an over-sharpened blade, and SQQ is both fascinated and perhaps a little excited to explore a place that doesn't have a lot of info on it in the mortal realm, but still terrified out of his mind. And he's no Luo Binghe, he doesn't have the sheer brute strength and power to just bulldoze his way through, so he has to be a lot more sneaky and cunning if he wants to survive.

The fic itself role-swapped LBH and SQQ so that SQQ was the half-demon (which lowkey fucks) and LBH the human, but I'm equally-if-not-more obsessed with the idea that LBH remains the half-heavenly demon and SQQ the human. If only because I keep thinking about SQQ befriending some demons (particularly and specifically a group of succubi) and they grow very attached to this Human Cultivator so through magic plot stuff they create some kind of seal/illusion/talisman that makes SQQ appear as a demon because a human cultivator in the endless abyss may as well be the equivalent of putting a giant neon target on your back.

And iirc Shen Jiu was taught demonic cultivation by that one guy(?? i've only been here a week so im not caught up in ALL of the lore yet) so that could totally happen here.

(On the other end of the realms, poor Shizun Luo Binghe is just. losing his fucking mind over losing his most precious and beloved disciple. About .5 seconds from burning down the peaks himself. somebody sedate him.)

The Endless Abyss sucks and SQQ is having a really terrible time and can feel himself going lowkey mad, but also holy shit look at all this WORLD-BUILDING. look at all this flora and fauna, and oh if he had the equipment for it he'd be writing all of this down. ALL OF IT. He was kinda-sorta-already planning on never leaving the Abyss as some sort of fucked up self-exile and self-preservation thing, but now he might? actually just?? never leave if he can help it, like he lowkey likes it down here.

anyways the next time anyone ever sees SQQ again he's got hair so long its almost touching the ground and he's either in rags and half-feral or he's been completely dolled up by his adoptive succubi sisters and still about three seconds from biting anyone who tries to touch him. (he's also lowkey trying to book it back down to the abyss even if he has desperately missed all of his friends and shizun)

[cyandenial]

Scam Billion Self Saving System. 

Crime AU where Shen Yuan has to collect $$$ to save himself or DIE! 

[mpreggificator]

Svsss au where Shen Yuan transmigrated as Xin Mo. Yes, that Xin Mo. Obviously Shen Yuan is pissed at this development and tried to kick up a storm but can't because sword so he is stuck waiting for Luo Binghe to show up.

After dealing with the occasional demon and mindless boredom of being just a sword, Binghe shows up. Shen Yuan is just ready to throw himself at him so they can finally get out of the abyss and the rest of the plot to happen. Binghe is surprised to learn the super powerful sword that can rip through time and space is a chill dude that wants Shen Qingqiu's castration a little too much.

Eventually through the power of the system, Soul Eater logic, or straight up complaining to God himself (sqh), Shen Yuan gets the ability to transform into a humanoid form and Luo Binghe officially needs him carnally. Shen Yuan is so happy to have hands again that he totally missed how Binghe was looking at him.

Rest the au goes on with Shen Yuan pushing Binghe to get the plot going, trying to get him to get his empire, revenge, and wives as Binghe is trying to figure out swordception.

[makedonsgriva]

SVSSS AU where Shen Yuan is not able to harden his heart and push his white lotus Binghe in the abyss resulting in his death.

Devastated by the loss of his beloved Shizun, Binghe takes off with his body and is constantly on the run. He is young and he is not that strong spiritually but he is trying his best to keep Shizun’s body intact and get his soul back into the body.

He stumbles into the demon realm and essentially, his entire character training arc takes place but this time with SQQ by his side (even if it’s just his body) this happens all the while he is fending off Liu Qingge and other masters from his (former) Sect who want to take away Qingqiu’s body from him.

And then Binghe does succeed! He does get Shizun’s body back to life!!

But the soul is not Shen Yuan’s but Shen Jiu’s.

Shen Jiu’s soul had been dormant this whole time but he had been passively watching the actions Shen Yuan had done using his body and he is simultaneously pissed at him but grateful too (for mending his relationships with other leaders)

He also somewhat feels grateful to Luo Binghe for giving him back his body so he tells Binghe the whole truth: that he is NOT the Shizun Binghe had learnt to love and the man he wanted back is truly gone but fear not! He will help Binghe to bring him back because he does not want to stay indebted to him or Shen Yuan. (He still hates Binghe. He’d rather die than stay in his debt)

So!!! Shen Jiu and Binghe set off in search for the Sun Moon Dew Mushroom. They end up successfully bringing back Shen Yuan in this new mushroom body

And now for some reason, Shen Jiu is fiercely protective about Shen Yuan but that’s a story for another day :)

[l33n1s]

Disciple Shen Yuan AU but he joins QJ Peak right after Lou Binghe gets pushed into the Abyss. He does NOT know where in the plot he is until it's too late. He's already joined and he can't Just Leave. So he sits himself down and is like "ok new plan, learn as much as possible in the next 5 years and dip before Lou Binghe destroys the sect, got it? Got it."

So he cultivates as hard as he can, turns out he's like a cultivation prodigy. Super cool. He does cultivation things. He gets his spiritual sword. He gets ready to leave and the system won't let him.

The system gives him a mission called "Save Cang Qiong ‼️‼️". So he's freaking out, he thinks he's gonna have to fight Lou Binghe. He's planning his funeral (internally). He's hyping himself up to at least try his best.

Anyway Binghe shows up, gets wife-beamed with the strength of a nuclear missile. Doesn't destroy the sect.

Shen Yuan is very confused when the system pops up with a "Congratulations! Congratulations! Congratulations! Important things must be said three times! Congratulations on completing mission 'Save Cang Qiong ‼️‼️'!".

Liu Mingyan writes some bs probably entitled something like "Stuck Between My Shizun and My Demon Shixiong 🥺🥺"