#bonus points if LBG tries to emulate what he remembers of LBM after meeting him in that parallel world once

[holy--milk]

so here's a fun little PIDW AU idea.

after finally dying at the ripe old age of 200+, former demon emperor LBG wakes up in the body of his 12 year old self, on the day where he joined the cang qiong mountain sect in his previous life. he's understandably angry and bitter about having to face the misery of his youth all over again, but ultimately decides to take advantage of this unexpected second chance at life and be less of a downtrodden naive little lamb this time around.

the disciple selection goes just the way it did in his first life (LBG ends up going to the CQM sect again because, well, it's not like he can think of a better option at this point in his life), but when LBG meets SQQ in person for the "first" time and mentally prepares himself to be doused in tea once again, nothing happens. SQQ just drinks the tea he brewed and orders MF to show him around and get him settled before leaving.

and then the expected bullying never comes. his seniors (with the exception of NYY) may not be the friendliest bunch but they mostly leave him alone, and while the SQQ of this new life is still cold and distant, he isn't constantly looking for excuses to punish his most junior disciple. and whenever LBG acts out to purposefully test him, SQQ's punishments seem to be unexpectedly lenient.

which leads to LBG having a full-blown crisis. it took him so much time and mental effort in his first life to come to accept that it was the world around him that was inherently evil and cruel, and not him that was inherently unlikeable and unloveable, and now his new life turned all that upside down? apparently, it was indeed him that's been the problem this whole time, and all it took for other people to be just a bit nicer to him was changing his behaviour (even though he's not quite sure what exactly led to this monumental change).

unbeknownst to him, the SQQ of this new life also transmigrated into his younger fully intact body on the same day that LBG did. and he's working on salvaging his reputation in the cultivation world in order to be able to expose LBH's demonic heritage in the future.