#considering cang qiong is the most powerful sect

[koipalm]

You're welcome! I accept tokens of gratitute in attendant!SY lore. 😉💋

i spent hours trying to think of what i had and hadnt said abt this au and then i typed a reply but its GONE. anyway!

i dont think ive talked about sy's plans for the future? by which i mean he has none. ok like. hes enamored with the idea of saving himself but he doesnt feel like he has a lot of viable options. he COULD go to sqh and ask him to set up a nice life somewhere far away from cang qiong mountain, but sqh is just as busy as sy. he COULD try to befriend lbh, but lbh lives in the disciples dormitories now and has very little overlap with sy's life. he COULD try to find a cultivation sect or trading company to employ him, but sqq would probably kill them and him if he did that. also, hes terrified of trying to change his position in the sect already, bc he feels its unstable as it is.

his BEST options for the future are probably

1) finding some kind of mystical plant panacea to help his cultivation

2) lqg taking him to bai zhan peak so he works for his peak doing the finances and paperwork

or 3) dying again and hoping the system feels bad about it and gives him a 3rd chance at life

[shizunitis]

Ghostfire Shen Yuan loyally following the lonely, undying, forgotten Luo Binghe from the original outline.

They never even met.

Shen Yuan had died long before Luo Binghe’s story was set to start. Abandoned by his System, he was left wandering the realms, searching for anything to latch onto, anything to stave off the darkness encroaching on his consciousness whenever he stopped. He keeps himself entertained with little jokes and references that will never reach anyone. At least back home, there were other people on the opposite side of his screen reacting, seeing. Paying attention.

He never would have thought he’d miss the times he was perceived by others. He’d give anything, though. Anything.

He stumbles upon the protagonist as he’s ascending the stairs of Cang Qiong Mountain Sect for the first time. Dressed in rags and heaving with the effort, Luo Binghe is exactly as Shen Yuan had pictured: a little bun, soft and kind and so very brave.

The excitement wears off soon enough. When the tea ceremony is held, Shen Yuan watches, hopelessly trying to stop the cup from hitting Binghe’s head. He lunges at Shen Jiu; let him be identified and exorcised, at least he would have done something with himself, however useless. It doesn’t work. Of course not—nothing can come between Luo Binghe and his fate.

Shen Yuan thinks about leaving. Many times. But every time he considers the possibility of going back to wandering the world, or just passing on… Well. There’s still a lot to see, isn’t there? It will get better. It will.

Only, it doesn’t. Not really.

There’s no harem; there’s no warm comfort offered to Luo Binghe by a sympathetic beauty, no wedding celebrations, no moments of gentle companionship, however brief, however superficial. There’s no camaraderie with the demons underlings, his generals, his allies; it’s all casual cruelty and dismissals, before it’s violence and subjugation.

There’s no joy. There’s no hope. There’s no ‘better’.

Something is wrong, that’s clear. Something is wrong, and Shen Yuan has no one to blame.

This is clearly not the Proud Immortal Demon Way he knows.

Centuries later, when Luo Binghe begs for the heavens to allow him to die, Shen Yuan hears. When Luo Binghe rages against the passage of time, alone in the wreckage of his palace, left behind by everyone he’d ever known, Shen Yuan accompanies him. When Luo Binghe lies down in the Holy Mausoleum and refuses to get up, Shen Yuan waits until he opens his eyes again and leaves the palace.

They end up in a hidden realm so filled with Yin Energy that Shen Yuan can channel it to manipulate his form into that of his former body. It’s not detectable by the living, but it’s there. He feels stronger, too. He can walk, float, fly, interact with what few other ghosts they encounter.

Still, Luo Binghe cannot see him.

Luo Binghe doesn’t talk much. Well, that makes sense, he was never in the habit of talking to himself, but still. It’s lonely.

They end up in a town where a diviner takes one look at Luo Binghe and offers him a free reading. Shen Yuan can’t enter her tent, so he waits outside.

She tells Luo Binghe of the little hanger-on he’s got. A powerful one, too, though he’s still getting used to his powers. He’s been here for a long time, she says. Since he was a child. He comes from far away—farther than even the most distant star.

Luo Binghe begins talking to him. Shen Yuan isn’t sure why, but he’s not complaining!

Luo Binghe also begins meditating again, trying to soothe the damage done by Xin Mo over the centuries. For every meal, he places a few fruits across from him on a plate he’d made himself, which he eats only after finishing his own dish. He makes space by his side whenever he walks on a narrow road. He stops at every landmark and tells stories about them, always starting the same way.

“Do you remember when…” becomes Shen Yuan’s favourite phrase.

One night, Luo Binghe sighs and looks across the table. Shen Yuan places himself so that he’s in Luo Binghe’s focus.

“What is it, Binghe?”

Luo Binghe doesn’t answer him, of course. Still, it feels like a conversation, when he says:

“I wish I knew your name.”

Shen Yuan frets. He’s been trying to manipulate the physical world, but he never got the hang of it. He’d tried drawing in sand, with water, just pushing things off shelves. And yet, nothing.

“I’m sorry, I wish—” he tries, but Luo Binghe is already talking again.

“I wonder if we ever crossed paths when you were alive.” He’s expressed this thought more than once. Shen Yuan never likes to think about how they’ve missed each other, how they’d been set up for failure from the start. “I wonder if we would have been friends.”

Shen Yuan scoffs. Of course not. Him and the protagonist? No way.

But—those cold star eyes, blindly searching for him, trying to land on him… They make him want to say, I would have liked that.

He reaches a hand out to touch Luo Binghe’s forhead. He’s taken to doing it whenever Luo Binghe broods, or makes a silly joke Shen Yuan wishes he didn’t find funny. It’s soothing.

He wishes Binghe could feel it.

When his finger touches the demon mark, it blazes. Luo Binghe gasps, that heavy gaze settling on Shen Yuan’s face.

Shen Yuan startles, and jumps away.

“No! Wait!”

Shen Yuan hesitates. Luo Binghe is looking around himself, eyes begging for even a wisp of Shen Yuan’s shadow.

He can’t deny Luo Binghe this.

He can’t deny himself this.

He reaches out again. This time, he cups Luo Binghe’s cheeks. When those eyes clear of panic and widen in awe, he whispers, softly, “Shen Yuan. My name is Shen Yuan.”

Luo Binghe looks like he’s been handed a treasure so precious he’s afraid to touch it. He hesitates, raising his hands in careful starts and stops, before taking Shen Yuan’s face in them, gently caressing the soft, cold skin of his face. His eyes dance with the haste he takes in memorising Shen Yuan’s features.

Then, he smiles. Helpless and weak and so, so precious. Shen Yuan has not seen hope so bright in Luo Binghe’s face since that fateful day on Cang Qiong Mountain.

“Hello, Shen Yuan.”

[inaconstantstateofchange]

okay so when reading the final chapter of svsss volume three, the interactions between yue qingyuan and tianlang-jun are so—

Shen Qingqiu wanted to say something when Tianlang-Jun raised his chin, squinting at Yue Qingyuan. “I remember you.” After thinking for a bit, he said with conviction, “Back then, the Huan Hua Palace’s old geezer wanted you to help him with the ambush, but you ignored him. So you’re the current sect leader of Cang Qiong Mountain? Not bad.” “Your distinguished self’s memory is also quite good.” Tianlang-Jun smiled and smiled, then gave a sigh. “If you were also trapped in a pitch-back darkness for over ten years, unable to glimpse the sky or sun, with nothing to pass the days but for reminiscing over past affairs, your memory would be quite good as well.”

tianlang-jun remembered him, and while yes, it's clear he has a pretty good memory and might also be using it as a way to throw his potential enemy off-balance, it is still a very interesting way to go about it. and the rejoinder yue qingyuan sends back at him, perfectly polite - even respectful! - totally unflappable—tell me you do not see the potential there!!

but never fear, if you are not yet convinced, i have more:

Tianlang-Jun continued to sit upon his stone, completely at ease. “I remember that you also waited until the last moment to draw your sword that day,” he said to Yue Qingyuan. “Doing the same now?” Yue Qingyuan didn’t answer.

tianlang-jun remembered a lot about yue qingyuan, even small details like his sword, and the actions he took (or didn't) upon the day of tianlang-jun's betrayal. to me, this reads as though, even then, he took note of yue qingyuan's power as something to look out for. he is also, despite all of the other people around, primarily engaging in conversation with yue qingyuan.

Tianlang-Jun pulled his hand back and smiled. “Honestly, in the beginning I had no malice, nor did I find fun in the idea of the world burning. I only occasionally crossed the border, coming here to sing songs or read books—it was quite nice. However, since I’ve already been in residence beneath Bai Lu Mountain for so many years, if I don’t follow through on something along the lines of your thoughts, I’d truly find my circumstances a bit too unjustified.” Yue Qingyuan flicked his finger. Xuan Su sprang three inches from its sheath, its spiritual energy seething. The bones of Tianlang-Jun’s body cracked and popped, almost like his joints had been dislocated. He made a sound of surprise. “As expected of a sect leader. Not bad. Your master was quite mediocre but had quite the eye for disciples and successors.”

okay first of all, the tension here is remarkable, and second of all, the compliment at the end—tianlang-jun, for the power level we know he possesses, is being practically effusive with his praise of yue qingyuan's strength something we know to be greatly prized by demons.

this segment follows the previous directly, but i had to give it it's own spotlight, for reasons that i hope will be readily apparent:

Then Tianlang-Jun reached out and grabbed Xuan Su’s blade directly, as if he couldn’t feel a thing. “But why not draw it all the way?” he said with a smile. “You can’t do anything to me with only this much.” Yue Qingyuan’s gaze hardened, and Xuan Su jumped another half-inch from its sheath.

tianlang-jun: oho, you'll need more than that much to handle me, big guy

(jokes aside, considering the rampant spiritual energy of xuan su, described as so powerful as to be oppressive in volume 2, and the susceptibility of demons to spiritual energy, tianlang-jun is truly doing the absolute Most™ right now.)

... moving decidedly away from jokes now, this is one of the most pivotal lines for them, in my opinion. it comes at the conclusion of wu chen's reveal of the betrayal-that-wasn't, and how su xiyan chose death over bringing harm to tianlang-jun, only for it to find him regardless:

“It wasn’t that she didn’t care about you, but that she was without alternative. Yet the world is pitiless, and so you passed each other by…” Tianlang-Jun’s lips seemed to tremble slightly. A long moment passed. Then he said, “Is that so?” Right after those three words, he asked again, ��Truly?” “This one swears upon his life that his words contain not a single falsehood,” said Master Wu Chen. Tianlang-Jun turned his head to look at Shen Qingqiu and Yue Qingyuan. As if seeking confirmation, he asked, “Truly?” He didn’t even care whether someone was in the know; he was just asking anyone he could. Unable to say anything, Yue Qingyuan silently lowered his head. It was unclear what he thought.

it is clear that the tragedy of su xiyan and tianlang-jun was one that yue qingyuan felt keenly, not only for his response here, clearly processing some significant emotion, but also for the way that he used the same words to describe his relationship with shen jiu just a short time later:

“I really…didn’t mean to not return,” said Yue Qingyuan. “Only, it really is true that the world is pitiless, and so the two of us passed each other by…”

pardon me while a cry a new freshwater body into existence.

there is truly so much more that can be said about what makes these two a great fit for each other, especially in a canon-adjacent/post-canon scenario, but i'll save that for another day. for now, i will let these excerpts speak for themselves.

[scribblestatic]

Amputee!SY incoming. Round Two, fight!

Prev: Part 6

---

For a moment, there was silence.

Then the next, an uproar.

Demons and cultivators alike loudly rebuked Cang Qiong Sect, the cultivators doing so out of outrage that the most prominent cultivation sect would do something so cruel, and the demons doing so because even most of them, for as dog-eat-dog as demon society often was, wouldn't go so far as to pollute their siblings with spiritual qi.

Of course, it was convenient to blame it all on them. Demons and cultivators outside of the sect had surely done worse, depending on the situation. But that wasn't what Luo Binghe cared to clarify.

What had once been understood as a failing purely on Shen Qingqiu's part was now understood to be the negligence of the sect he sought refuge in. The sect whose lead disciple, whose future sect leader, he had saved. He wasn't bad at cultivating, he was almost willfully sabotaged by those he should've been able to trust.

"Since this lord has been able to assist him, he has not suffered another deviation. His core has stabilized, and his power grows increasingly precise. How many can say they can precisely control a quill and write a letter using their qi alone?

"Since this lord has been able to find a balance with his own demonic and spiritual qi, so too has Shen Qingqiu. Ah...well, that is, if you wish to still be called that, Wife."

Shen Yuan was gazing toward the ground quietly. With his fan on his lap, they could see the blank mask he'd forced his expression into. There was no rage, no anger...not even resentment.

Just contemplation.

His eye closed and he huffed, his fan rising to cover the lower half of his face again.

"...This one prefers the name Yuan."

It pained him to hurt his beloved like this. He clearly was hurt, considering he didn't give even a little token protest to being called a 'wife' instead of a 'husband.'

To dig up old wounds and lay them bare once again was something he had hesitated to do. But this would be the final time he did so, and not for his own self-service, but to further legitimize Shen Yuan's position as his empress.

He would clear Shen Yuan's name with this, and Cang Qiong Sect would be witness to it.

"Of course, A-Yuan."

As much as he wanted to kiss him, he had that tense energy about him, the kind that said he'd prefer to be left alone. He must be thinking of so much... It would do well for him to simply get this done with as quickly as he could.

---

"So now, you reject the name given to you by your shifu?"

"Peak Lord He, this lord dares not assume that your wine also hinders the mind. Surely, if you were so thoroughly betrayed by your shifu, would you want to keep the name given to you by them?"

The man scowled. "Does anyone reject the name given to them by their parents? Hate it or not, betrayed or not, he was given the name Qingqiu as a courtesy to his position."

"Ah, but this lord has yet another point, one that helps shed light on this charge and another. Three, Shen Qingqiu's legal insanity, specifically his psychosis, were in part triggered by his courtesy name and even my own, leading to his targeted hatred toward me. In addition to this, this lord wishes to address the charge against Shen Yuan for the murder and eradication of House Qiu.

"My love, how do you plead?"

"Guilty."

"Cease this!" Qi Qingqi bellowed. "That charge is not for you to try to absolve! Do you intend to overwrite Qiu Haitang's justice for the sake of this farce of a crowning? To betray one of your wives to put another, a man, in the top position of your harem?"

"Peak Lord Qi, your misandry has nothing to do with how I run my harem. And, to clarify, no, I have no intent to overwrite Qiu Haitang's justice...instead, this lord intends to question whether the ruling was fairly just or needlessly cruel, as my own punishments toward him had been."

With the inward curl of two of his fingers, guards entered the area. Between them, they held the arms of a struggling Qiu Haitang. They didn't hold her particularly tightly, but her cultivation was apparently rather weak.

They carefully released her, and she pulled away, huffing and looking particularly wronged.

"What is the meaning of this, Husband? I already accepted that you came to love the one who killed my whole family more than me. I've even accepted that you want to give him such a high position, one he can lord over me for as long as your affections allow! Why do you continue to antagonize me?!"

"Tang-er, don't exaggerate. Shen Yuan killed all of the men of your clan, but he left the women untouched, did he not?"

"That's the same as killing my family! You agreed back then!"

Luo Binghe nodded morosely. "That I did. However, this lord must admit to his faults. I believe it is imperative that the hatred between you and Shen Yuan be alleviated."

"Hah! Never! How dare you ask me to do such a thing!! I have no say on who you allow in your bed, but you cannot...you will not control my emotions! I know the truth, and that truth is that I will, forever, hate Shen Qingqiu for what he did to my family!"

"Hmm, I see. But what about what your family did to him?"

Qiu Haitang froze, clearly affronted.

"What my family did to him? What did we do? Elevate his position? Feed him? Clothe him? We brought him into our family when he was a mere slave, and he repaid our kindness with slaughter. All because A-Luo didn't want him to abandon our engagement!"

"'A-Luo'?"

"Yes, A-Luo! My elder brother and head of our family, Qiu Jianluo! Why do you act as though you don't remember him?!"

"'A-Luo'...yes. I do remember us discussing him at length. You'd said he was a tad firm, but an otherwise loving brother."

Aggrieved, tears sprung to Qiu Haitang's eyes. "He was... He was! He, and Lao Tao, Lao Yang...our servants, our family, everyone... I loved them all dearly. And he stole them away from me! That slave abandoned the people who gave him an education, who taught him how to behave, and he brutalized them, all so he could raise his status to that of a lofty immortal, unfettered by our engagement!"

"Mmm, yes. This lord remembers. We also discussed how, by happenstance, a childhood nickname of mine sounded incredibly similar to it. Your brother's A-Luó, and my A-Luò. Why, they almost sound the same."

"They do! That's why...that's why Tang-er thought you were like him, but if you're going to... If you're going to humiliate me to such an extent, to allow the man who killed my gege to become your empress, then I need not stay! Release me from your harem and let me go!"

"As you wish."

Qiu Haitang finally went quiet.

"...Excuse me?"

"I said, 'As you wish.' This lord will divorce you right now, if you so desire."

Stricken silent by his assertion, she didn't say anything. And so, Luo Binghe decided to move things along.

"Wife."

Shen Yuan's eye flinched before his fan bapped softly against the hand closest to him.

"Who's your wife?"

The happy smile Binghe gave him, despite the coldness he was faced with, surprised many in the crowd, including members of the Cang Qiong Sect entourage. It was more like how one would look at a feisty kitten testing their bitty claws on their hand, all smiles as it scratched little raw strips into their flesh.

He was positively besotted.

Of course, only those close to Shen Yuan would know that his response was a sign that he was managing with the situation. He wouldn't reveal how thin his face could be if he truly felt too distressed. Shen Yuan was uncomfortable, but he could get through it.

Even so, that endeared look faded to concern.

"...This lord hates to ask this of you, but could you tell us how you saw Qiu Jianluo?"

Shen Yuan pressed his lips tightly together, his gaze falling to the nearby floor.

"You said nothing during your trial, and we only pursued judgement under Qiu Haitang's account. But since we've been married, you've talked to me. This lord doesn't want to put you in this position, but we need your account as well."

He didn't budge.

"...You will be heard this time."

Silence.

A breath in.

Then, Shen Yuan's eye snapped open.

"I would've rather remained a slave on the street than to ever have been sold to House Qiu."

---

Shen Yuan felt a tad weird.

A little like he wasn't alone in his body. Or, well, maybe he was, but it felt like there was someone behind him.

It wasn't a feeling that made him afraid. No, just a bit disjointed. Like he and the one behind him were pressing together, back to back.

The dreams he had about House Qiu, once more difficult to detail, sprung to his mind with ease like a core memory. And with it came all the feelings that attached to the memory, causing his chest to clench and teeth to ache.

As though piloted by the other one...or, perhaps given the energy necessary to pilot it himself, Shen Yuan allowed the words to fly from his mouth.

And with each word, a little bit of weight attached to them disintegrated.

---

Liu Mingyan had heard a Shen Yuan rant before. He'd done several about her works, always expressing what he liked but being just as expressive about what he hated, remembering to calm down and say his critique was purely because he knew she could write even better.

And it wasn't as though he was wrong. Her book reviews under her penname had indeed improved in sales. A gaggle of nuns she'd befriended, wives that amicably returned to their sect after separating from Luo Binghe, asked who her editor was and how much their rates would be to have the mystery editor review their works.

They'd been quite tempted to return to the harem when she revealed who'd helped her. But it made sense, didn't it? Shen Yuan, formerly Qingqiu, had been second-in-command only to the head of Cang Qiong Sect, the leading cultivation sect under the heavens. He was an renown expert in the four arts, literature included.

And he critiqued trashy yellow books as severely and wholeheartedly as tomes of great historical magnitude.

Yes, she's heard more than one Shen Yuan rant before.

This one had to be the most severe. The most raw. The most painful one she'd heard.

And it hurt to hear it, because she had no doubt that every word that left his mouth was true.

He spoke inelegantly. Elegance would've perhaps cheapened his account. There was no room for it. Inelegant as it was, it was narrative. Illustrative.

"Do I look like a martial arts dummy to you? A bled and slaughtered hog? Because he sure loved smacking his fists against my ribs like he was tenderizing meat for the nightly dinner I never got to eat."

"Taught me to write? Hah. He figured out I could write just before he was going to beat me to death for using qi to get his horse to stop running through the streets like a maniac. I didn't know how to write a whole lot, but all he had to do was throw books at me. I learned by my own damn self."

"Got tempted by a wandering cultivator? I was barely let outside! Freed from the slave contract? Where'd you hear that?! It's all dogshit. Either that perverted bastard came up with it, or Qiu Haitang put a bunch of mismatched information together and came up with it herself. Which, at that point, I can't really blame her. I'm not sure the ladies of that house would've told her what I dealt with. It's completely fair to want answers."

"A-Yuan, one moment," Luo Binghe interrupted. "Why did you call Qiu Jianluo perverted?"

At that question, his mouth shuttered briefly. This time, when he spoke again, his voice was stilted.

"...He... There was a reason he didn't hit my face. Everything else was fair game, but not my face. Qiu Haitang picked me up because of my face..."

He pursed his lips briefly, then continued.

"...Qiu Jianluo also liked my face."

"Lies!!"

Qiu Haitang screamed at the top of her lungs, moving forward as though she would stomp up the stairs to the throne and try to rip Shen Yuan from his seat. The guards quickly stopped her before her foot could touch the first step. Her squirming did little to move them.

"You're lying! You're lying! My gege was nothing like what you've said! You can only accuse him of these things because he's dead! You killed him! He never hit you! He never hurt you! He treated you with nothing but kindness, and you're the one who went insane and killed everyone!"

"Not everyone."

Although she was too far gone in her rage to notice it, Liu Mingyan heard the icy tone in Luo Binghe's voice, his dark eyes staring down at her with an increasing amount of derision.

"Only the men... Only the men."

Only the men.

"Oh gods," Liu Mingyan muttered.

"...You need not say more, A-Yuan, if it is too much."

"Ah, uhm... No, wait. I mean, he did threaten to... He just." He paused. "He threatened to...watch. To watch me. With other men in the house.

The words seemed increasingly hard to get out, his face turning red.

"He didn't rape... He didn't rape me. He threatened to. Threatened that others would. Had them..." Breathe. "Hold me down."

Only the men.

"...What happened the night you escaped?"

Quiet. Qiu Haitang kept screaming that he was lying.

"Were you prompted you to do what you did? If so, what happened?"

"It's a lie! Binghe!! Don't believe him!"

"A-Yuan. Please, tell me if you can."

"He's a liar! He's lecherous! You know what Ning Yingying said!!"

"...That's...right. That's right! Where is Ning Yingying! She accused him of grooming her!" Qi Qingqi called out. "Are you sure about his account now?"

"Wife."

"We took you in! We fed you! We clothed you! How dare you do this to us! How dare you do this to me!!"

"Can we really trust what he's saying? He's molested his own disciple!"

"You-!! If you hated us so much, why not kill me, too?! Why not kill everyone?! You pervert!! You lecher!! You mangey dog!! You beast!"

Luo Binghe's eyes snapped upwards, rage curling on his face.

But he didn't get a single word out before—

"Call me that again, and I'll be tempted to rip your throat out like I did your brother."

Shen Yuan stared coldly at Qiu Haitang, eye wide and a tad unfocused. A few moments passed, and the focus returned to it, as did the blood to his face. He began panting slightly, like he'd suddenly ran a great length or like he'd been holding his breath.

Recognition slowly came onto his face.

"He didn't rape me. Because I ripped his throat out before he could. And then I grabbed a sword with my qi when the guards came because they heard him gurgle. And I stabbed them. Then I stabbed Qiu Jianluo. Again and again and again.

"I stabbed him until I couldn't recognize his face anymore. And I started stabbing everyone who could've done the same thing he was going to do to me. Ones he'd threatened to watch. Ones who never helped. Guards. Servants. All of them."

Silence.

"How did you rip his throat out?"

Shen Yuan turned toward Binghe with a movement that seemed too smooth, like his head was on a swivel.

"...With my teeth."

"Did you remember doing this before now?"

"...I don't know."

"Wife?"

"Mm?"

Binghe frowned, moving to kneel on a knee beside Shen Yuan's throne, placing his hands on his face. Despite the open display of affection, he didn't move away.

"Do you know where you are right now?"

"Hmm? Oh. Yes."

He blinked, then glanced upward.

"...I think I'm dissociating."

"Deviating? ...Your qi is sluggish, but—"

"No, no. Dissociating. Detaching from reality, triggered by stress or trauma. A feeling of daydreaming or intensely focused while not naturally integrating consciousness, identity, memory, or perception. The Falling Sun Dewdrop produces a similar sensation to depersonalization if you...uhm. Maybe I shouldn't explain how to do that. I think I won't.

"Unlike a qi deviation, which essentially shuts down one's consciousness and causes their body to react erratically in response to their charging qi, dissociating is...mmm... Depends on if its depersonalization or derealization. Sorry, I'm feeling a little—"

"Shh, don't. Don't apologize, A-Yuan. You've done well."

"Mm."

"Thank you for telling me."

Shen Yuan leaned his cheek against one of Binghe's hands, his eye closing calmly.

"...Mm."

"We can stop now, if you want."

"...Nah."

"Why not?"

"The bandage is removed and the wound is festering. Let's cut it all the way off." Shen Yuan smiles and raises one of his arms a little. "You're good at removing limbs, Binghe."

Although Shen Yuan didn't see it, Binghe bowed his head, still holding his. A clawed thumb brushed his cheek softly.

"...This lord wishes he wasn't."

"Oh... It was supposed to be a joke. I'm sorry."

When Binghe couldn't manage to respond, Shen Yuan opened his eye and leaned further toward him.

"Hey... Hey, Binghe. It really was a joke. I was wrong to you, and I did a lot of terrible things, so I'm not mad. You were just a kid, Binghe. And I shoved you into the Endless Abyss because I felt like I finally had a good reason to hate you. Even though I know humans and demons aren't all that different. I thought, 'Men, and especially Luos, are all the same,' and treated you badly, falsely blaming it on you being half demon.

"But I used it all as an excuse. You didn't deserve any of what I did. You didn't deserve my jealousy over how strong you were at cultivating, or me assuming you'd grow up to be like Autumn Tangled Net and ensnare everyone or treat me like shit. And though you kinda did, it wasn't your fault. I was like your Qiu Jianluo, without the weird pervert shit. And you cut my limbs off. And I think that's fair."

The demon emperor, bewildered, let out a choked laugh, raising his head to look at him again, eyes misty.

"Was that meant to be reassuring, love?"

"Yeah."

"I'm afraid it didn't quite work."

"Awwh... Hey, do you think we could keep going in...uhm. Well, you asking me questions? Stuff is kinda starting to feel real again, so, uh, I'd like to answer whatever you want to ask before I combust out of embarrassment. You know, like a total mess. I'll never be able to be empress at this rate. No one would approve of me. My reputation is ruined. Why'd you marry me?"

"Because I love you."

"Embarrassing. Shameless. I love you, too. Say that again."

This time, when Luo Binghe laughed, it was genuine. He leaned forward and whispered into his ear, presumably saying those requested words again. He then kissed the huadian on Shen Yuan's forehead before he stood, shedding the calm softness he'd put on for his future empress.

"...Time and time again, Shen Yuan has had to face difficult and demeaning circumstances without letting out his fear and instability. Surely, none would ridicule him for finally, after years of persecution, cracking under that pressure."

When he turned to the crowd, it was as though he'd shed all illusions that he was anything but some wretched beast that crawled from the Endless Abyss. A rictus grimace seemed to unnaturally split his face, the whites of his eyes bright. His zuiyin glowed a fierce red.

A terrible murderous intent befell the others, leaving them unable to move in the face of a predator.

"Right?"

"Binghe."

And immediately, the moment ended, the man turning a kind smile to his wife.

"Alright, alright."

"...Fuck."

Liu Mingyan jolted slightly before turning toward Sha Hualing, who, at some point, moved closer to her. Her arms wrapped around one of hers, moving a little bit behind her.

"Reminded me of that freaky Binghe that almost killed me."

"Ah."

So that's where she recalled that killing intent.

----

Oh, by the way, I'm a huge fan of horror!Binghe. I want that half-demon boy to come back from the Endless Abyss irrevocably changed, and, of course, Shen Yuan looks at him and is just like, "Look at my sweet boy, who has done nothing wrong ever."

They're freak 4 freak, fr.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7: here Part 8 Part 9 Part 10

Part 11+: links on Part 10

AO3

[lacamorte]

~ if you're gonna be the death of me

(in for a long and suuuuper messy one today, folks, pls bear with me)

In the world of Proud Immortal Demon Way, the Protagonist is Luo Binghe, destined to battle and conquer and eternally emerge victorious against all he raised his blade against.

Shen Qingqiu is the Calamity, whose meridians are so tangled and damaged that he drains the life force of all he touches. He will bring the world to an end.

aka: PIDW is not a stallion novel, but rather a power-of-friendship story where the main antagonist is SQQ who, as one of the most powerful cultivators, has a qi deviation so terrible that he almost ends the world until LBH kills him.

So when SY transmigrates into SQQ, he thinks about the role he has to play as SQQ, the Calamity. The thought of hurting anyone in Cang Qiong makes him sick to his stomach. He almost enters a qi deviation at the thought, and has to enter seclusion in the LingXi Caves to stabilize himself. After preventing LQG's death, he decides to go to great lengths to not stress himself out. Thus, he concludes that in order to achieve a stress-free life, he has to leave Cang Qiong.

Brilliant idea! Except, when SY goes to Qiong Ding to speak to YQY about his retirement, YQY blatantly refuses him. SY tries again the next day, but he's refused every time. The Sect Leader, who used to seek out SQQ often, miraculously began avoiding him.

Well. SY has always been better at asking for forgiveness than permission.

He leaves the sect in the middle of the night, with all the documents for his resignation on his desk. He becomes a wandering cultivator, evading cqm's every attempt to bring him back.

Furious at his behavior, the System figures that if telling SY no won't stop him, perhaps showing him how hopeless the situation is will. And so during his time away, SY tries again and again to resist the plot. again and again, the System foils his every attempt. its favorite method is isolating SY — anyone the man wants to befriend always mysteriously ends up suffering or dying. SY had always loved PIDW for the beauty of its world — he'd never anticipated how witnessing it all alone after weeks of camaraderie and laughter for companh could be so harrowing.

he never finds out whether it was all because of his role as the Calamity, or the interference of the System. that damned thing stopped speaking to him ages ago.

LBH is a kid roaming the streets freshly bereaved when he meets SY, a gaunt looking man who gives him his food. eventually, LBH starts trailing SY, and SY tries to dissuade him, but he persists. whenever SY switches towns, LBH follows. he sometimes catches a man wearing white talking to SY, and every time the man leaves, looking more stony than when he arrived. LBH develops a habit of stealing some food for SY, and SY scolds him but LBH wont take no for an answer and they compromise by splitting the food between them. eventually LBH gets into serious trouble when he gets caught stealing and SY saves him. SY is remarkably quiet as he gently pats LBH's head as he cries.

eventually, SY stops trying to convince LBH to stop following him. instead of camping out in the forest, SY enters inns and makes LBH take the bed. this is how LBH learns that SY is actually loaded. but then if he's so rich, why does he never buy himself food? inedia can only sustain someone for so long. turns out, the only meals SY has are the ones LBH steals for him, and even those he tries to turn down. so at the inn, LBH insists on splitting everything in the meal SY gets him.

the white robed man visits again, and LBH is wary of him bc of how gruffly he speaks to SQQ. still, no matter how gruff he might be, SQQ is far more uncooperative. in all the time LBH has known him, he typically responds in one word only, often not replying to anything he doesn't consider particularly important, which is most things. the white robed man asks that question again — why? the same one he's been asking every visit. SQQ stares at him soullessly, before suddenly reaching out and patting the man's head.

"i'm sorry," he whispers. somehow, LBH thinks both he and the white robed man will never get the answer to that question.

as SQQ spaces out again, as he often does, the man drags LBH outside and LBH is of course wary and fights back. that is, until the man lets go of him and tosses him a particularly sturdy branch, a similar one held in his own hands.

"hit me," he says. LBH stares, incredulous. he throws the stick at the man, who deflects it and it whacks LBH square in the face. this ignites his anger and he spends the rest of the afternoon trying to land a hit on LQG.

then, when LBH finally collapses from exhaustion, the man gives him a waterskin.

"same place, same time, tomorrow." he says.

"fuck you," LBH swears hotly. he does turn up the next day. he leaves with more bruises than the day before, and a bag full of clothes to replace the ones the man rips on accident.

this becomes routine. one that LBH begrudgingly look forward to, bc these days, the only time SQQ looks anything other than disinterested and aloof is when he's treating his wounds. most of the time he just glowers and frowns, but when LBH is lucky, he can get a few angry mutters about "stupid liu qingge" and "careless brute".

so the next time LBH goes to the site, he has a name to cuss out. he leaves with more bruises, and SQQ has never had more to say.

LBH doesnt think much of it until he finds himself supporting SQQ on one of his missions, when he can stand on equal footing with the monsters his master battles on the regular. when SQQ looks at him, he looks annoyed.

"now i have to get you a sword," he grumbles. LBH feels bad until SQQ spends 5 hours going through each and every little tidbit and detail about his commission with the blacksmith, whos all but ecstatic to craft a blade for the mysterious cultivator who solves any problem in exchange for concealing his presence. at least, that's all SQQ asks for, but the residents eventually learned that its easier to dump the gold and fruits and furs onto the cultivator's little disciple with the sparkling eyes. they'd tried complying with SQQ's request to keep his whereabouts a secret at first, but after seeing how LQG trailed after SQQ like a particularly lost, particularly strong puppy, they couldn't help but make an exception for him.

idk what happens exactly, but i do know i want LBH to grow up and become a strong disciple under SQQ's tutelage. he wants to prove himself to his Shizun during the immortal alliance conference, and rife with resignation and a mourning LBH will never understand, SQQ agrees and they go. and when the demon invasion happens, the peak lords happen to be confronting SQQ, and he stays silent as they yell at him, demanding an explanation.

that is, until SQQ reaches out to touch one of the beasts leaping towards him—

—and it disintegrates into dust beneath his touch.

"a demon will become the hero," he murmurs. "and a human, the villain."

in the end, the System really did manage to teach him a lesson.

i think ill make it so the endless abyss is sort of ecstatic to be so close to the Calamity — the excitement of which unlocks LBH's demon inheritance. in the og novel, SQQ sent down LBH. Here, SY takes his face in his hands, tenderly wipes the demon mark from his forehead and conceals it, and chooses to go down to the abyss. LBH cries out, cries his shizun's name —

but when SQQ turns around to look at him, LBH's breath is caught in his throat.

'that is not my Shizun,' his heart whispers traitorously. his Shizun had been stoic and quiet, yes, but his eyes always held something unyielding.

yet when SQQ looks at LBH, LBH sees something broken. LBH sees something turned to dust, something withered, something as fleeting as a dream.

LBH wonders how someone alive could look so dead. in the end, SQQ turns around, and falls into the abyss.

not understanding, and not wanting to risk telling people what happened, LBH tells everyone SQQ was dragged into the abyss... and likely dead. it's a lie he tells so many times he begins to believe it himself.

in the end, LQG has to drag LBH to bai zhan peak kicking and screaming. it's weeks before LBH can do anything besides scream, cry or hurt. he can't even eat without insisting on giving it to his Shizun, or making tea in case he comes back. in his grief, LBH becomes a model member of BZP, and while his sect siblings don't understand the gloom that clings to him, they see his resolve and respect it immensely.

to honor SQQ's memory, LBH goes around various towns helping the hungry and the needy. he plays SY's guqin — he can't play quite as well as SY, but that might be bc he can't stop himself from crying every few notes — and he spars with LQG. maybe they bond over their shared grief. maybs bingliushen, idk. maybe LBH believed SY dead until LQG gave him a look and said "he's alive." something about the cold certainty in his voice, as if it couldn't be anything but the truth, helps strengthen LBH.

LBH befriends LMY when she finds one of the poems MQF asked him to make for his 'therapy'. he befriends NYY when he helps her take care of the garden that SQQ apparently left behind when he left CQM. he even befriends YQY, who seems to find comfort in the presence of someone mourning as much as him. no one can deny LBH, not when his fumbling with formalities juxtaposes so beautifully with his perfect tea brewing, not when the food he makes particularly well match the tastes of the qing jing peak lord exactly, not when his less than ideal upbringing doesnt conceal how he is so clearly SQQ's.

no one can say no to the Protagonist.

there are rumors of HHP investigating abyss rifts. LBH and LQG are cautiously interested, at least, until HHP announces that they've caught a Heavenly Demon. LBH, aware of his heritage, feels like he has to go. YQY, LQG and co. bring him along.

"where do you have him trapped?" YQY inquires.

The HHPM laughs, waving dismissively. "well, in truth, the demon was suppressed by immortal binding cables and some of our best talismans. as long as you don't disturb it, it doesn't bite, so i thought it best to let it roam around. its hardly going anywhere in the state that it's in."

the words spark suspicion amidst the cang qiong delegation. still, nothing prepares them for the tall, lonely figure roaming the gardens, golden ropes binding his wrists like bracelets rather than suppressants.

SQQ won't even look at them.

[rarepears]

Nie Huaisang, Lan Xichen, Jin Guangyao, and Nie Mingjue all reincarnate together into PIDW, and become disciples around the same time as Luo Binghe.

The drama of this is of course enhanced by the facts that NMJ & JGY died "early," but NHS & LXC lived to the end of their natural lives as cultivators, and so some of their perspectives and opinions on events have naturally changed with age. (tfw the passage of time renders you unfamiliar to your once-loved ones)

Eventually they talk about their feelings and reconcile and such, and this ends up derailing the plot of PIDW severely as the rest of the PIDW characters confusedly observe quite possibly the weirdest disciples Cang Qiong's ever seen

NMJ on Bai Zhan, with no clue what's going on because he died first and NHS & LXC haven't told him anything

NHS on An Ding, thoroughly enjoying what's pretty much a vacation to him at this point and possibly running an interpeak illicit goods market (definitely not to distract himself from any of the emotions having NMJ & JGY alive and nearby would be causing him, Everything Is Fine) I haven't decided if he'd get involved with the whole og!SQH and MBJ situation tho

LXC on Qiong Ding, because I feel like he'd see himself in Yue Qingyuan and lowkey hate him for it and I think that could be interesting

JGY on Qing Jing, because he's the objectively the funniest/most interesting character to throw into the mess that is SJ and LBH. The way I imagine it, he's doing the most direct derailing of the plot, because he mostly accidentally gets right in the middle of the thing that is going on between those two

I feel like as I wrote this it became more serious than I originally intended so just know that I'm mentally picturing this like a fic that's interspersed with outsider POV of the 4 of them being completely deranged about eachother

(Also I'd feel bad taking away LXC's brother so LWJ and WWX + friends are busy doing hot girl shit being rogue cultivators. I think WWX should be a half demon so he gets to keep the cultivation and steal some of LBH's protagonist energy. If this was a fic then the rest of the Untamed gang would be perfect to use for side characters during off-peak missions)

*grabs popcorn and sits down to hear more*

Nie Huaisang is having too much fun waiting the two idiots called his shizun and shizun's poorly kept secret of a boyfriend go flailing around on these terribly unromantic dates BUT THE TWO WERE TRYING SO HARD that it was cute. He wonders if he should do something to help the poor idiots out... Should he?

Maybe he should...

(Watch Shang Qinghua and Mobei Jun suddenly have a number of sex pollen accidents over the next few months....)

Lan Xichen would be an old man and a good voice of reason for Yue Qingyuan. Although he's head disciple and a very good one at that (if only because his Big Brother instincts can't be held back and he MUST interfere to help prevent history repeating once more), Lan Xichen has made it very clear that he would never accept becoming sect leader.

Also don't forget Liu Mingyan in the background writing about a 4 person sex orgy. At least, that's her personal theory for why there's so much UNRESOLVED TENSION between these four sus male disciples. And also, because it's fun.

It's even funner when you consider that Nie Mingjue is out of the loop of Cang Qiong stuff even on Bai Zhan because he tags along on so many of Liu Qingge's missions that he's probably spending like 8 months of the year outside of the sect.

(Nie Huaisang gets "assigned" to missions that happen to take place near Nie Mingjue's hunts.)

Meng Yao is Meng Yao and he still craves the approval of Male Authority Figures That Could be his dad. Also Meng Yao still likes to climb up the social hierarchy and power. AKA Luo Binghe growing mushrooms in the corner at seeing ANOTHER QING JING disciple THE SAME AGE AS HIM being given SO MUCH ATTENTION AND APPROVAL by shizun.

Luo Binghe develops a complex over Meng Yao of course.

(Shen Jiu approves of Meng Yao because he understands these characters very well and know how to manipulate (cough kill or injury them physically or mentally) them easily. Plus Meng Yao is actually competent.)

[More in #Nie Huaisang Lan Xichen Meng Yao and Nie Mingjue reincarnate into PIDW and are Cang Qiong disciples at the same time as Luo Binghe is AU

[dancingaura925]

I have a fraction of a braincell, and it decided to hyperfixate on Ming Fan, which, fair enough. Hear me out:

Gongyi Xiao/Ming Fan

Now, this is a semipopular pairing for Ming Fan. Certainly not the MOST popular (considering Gongyi Xiao/Zhuzhi-Lang which I ADORE), but I feel like they would be good foils for each other.

After the whole bingqiu saving the world via papapa, it's now a period of purely reconstruction. Human and demon relations are turning out different, Huan Hua Palace is an absolute mess, and Gongyi Xiao doesn't entirely know where he fits in all of this. While it's undeniable of the Old Palace Master's crimes, he was still the authority figure, the one who GYX used to look up to. He used to be his father figure, his mentor, and the one who believed in him.

Until he didn't.

And although GYX is busy helping the Little Palace Mistress run Huan Hua, he's getting burnt out. He's questioning himself and his own judgement. It doesn't help that the two of them don't feel any attraction to each other and break off the relationship because goddamn, they're both shattered one way or another.

Huan Hua Palace needs a renewal. Not another dubious relationship.

Cang Qiong's got a different problem. Yes, two of their peak lords are dating demons. Yes, the QJP one is gone like half of the time. SOMEONE's gotta fill in that role. And that someone's Ming Fan. At the rate he's going, he's like 90% there. He just needs to wait for the next generation to ascend before having the full responsibilities and powers of a peak lord. So naturally, as a future peak lord and basically peak lord of the second highest peak, he's often sent for diplomacy, especially Huan Hua.

Insert meet cute. Or meet ugly. The problem is that they both see the other as a better version of themselves.

Ming Fan envies Gongyi Xiao because of his cultivation, his strength as not only a martial artist, but a leader determined to sift through the muck to truly make Huan Hua as golden as its treasury.

Gongyi Xiao looks up to Ming Fan, not only because the man's older and from Cang Qiong, the dude's basically a peak lord. He looks so put together, so reassured, so beautifully dangerous. Gongyi Xiao feels like a rock sinking in mud.

Regardless, the two of them meet, and maybe it's through joint missions, maybe it's through the endless diplomacy, maybe one of them is sent over to the other sect for an exchange for the time being, but whatever the case is, that picture perfect view of the other?

It's getting shattered. The window is getting shattered, and maybe, just maybe, the two of them like it that way.

Gongyi Xiao is not perfect. He is hard working, kind, tired, and so so real.

Ming Fan is not otherworldly. He is flawed, humorous, dedicated, and so so human.

The two of them fit in a way that they never knew before. And although they certainly aren't complete, they aren't alone.

The world may be a mess, but here in your arms, I feel loved.

[warheittiashi]

Role reversal, but the non-sexual kind. I think it's too shallow to only consider reversing positions. Or maybe I just don't want to write smut ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

It'll be Yue Qingyuan/Shen Jiu. The reversal is with who escapes the Qiu Manor. So, in this case, Shen Jiu is the one who leaves to become a cultivator while Yue Qingyuan stays back and waits.

This feels really ambitious, honestly, so I might just keep most of the events summarized. If I feel motivated later, I'll try to flesh it out more. I just think it would be interesting to see how things would change.

It'll start with their different perspectives, so Shen Jiu in Cang Qiong and Yue Qi at the Qiu Manor.

Shen Jiu finds himself rising in the ranks rather quickly. It was partly because of his natural abilities, but also because he was desperate to get stronger so he could save Yue Qi. The other Qing Jing disciples didn't really like him since when he arrived, he was dirty and obviously not a noble. He was hated further due to his natural abilities and talents.

His Shizun was impressed and showed him favor which made the others more resentful. Despite how his fellow disciples felt, they also could not argue that Shen Jiu was the best among them. Also, Shen Jiu's reputation was much more neutral to positive on the other peaks. Most felt pity for him since they saw the way he was ostracized for his past.

Shen Jiu also minded how he treated others since, as he learned from the streets, it was better to keep a good relationship in order to avoid issues. He would make himself look pitiful to garner support and sympathy.

Mostly, he was known for being studious and hard-working, a prodigy who reached the last stage of qi condensation within a year and was already at the early stage of core formation. At the rate he was going, he would be able to reach late stage by the time he turned 16.

Shen Jiu wasn't satisfied, though. He worked hard because his Shizun said he would only allow Shen Jiu to go after Yue Qi when he could pull a sword from Wan Jian Peak.

It was 2 years later that Shen Jiu pulled Xiu Ya. He didn't care for the prestige and awe of grabbing such a powerful sword. The first thing he did was leave the sect to find Yue Qi.

On Yue Qi's side, he suffered in the Qiu Manor, but not as bad as the others. He was older so he was in charge of heavy tasks such as collecting water or moving items. While the master enjoyed torturing the staff, he was able to keep a low profile. Mostly, he avoided the young mistress.

Every night, he thought about Shen Jiu. He was glad that Shen Jiu wasn't there, that he didn't have to suffer. Even more, he thought that Shen Jiu was such a beautiful child. No doubt, if he was here, the young master would definitely have his interest caught.

He had tried to be kind, but he learned early on that kindness was not something valued but rather a trait to be exploited. He had been betrayed many times already. It made him think of Shen Jiu who is always by his side. He thinks about all those times Shen Jiu would do things for him, and he misses him terribly.

One day, Yue Qi was going to collect water from the river when he heard a call of his name. He turned around and the metal made a low thumping noise as the bucket fell from his hand.

Shen Jiu looked like a dream, dressed in impressive-looking robes and beautiful and there.

Their reunion was filled with emotion. They had so much to say to each other, but more than that, they just wanted to be in each other's arms.

Shen Jiu asked about Yue Qi's treatment, and not wanting Shen Jiu to worry, he made sure to omit most of the information. Shen Jiu didn't believe him but chose to drop the issue. They decide to just leave, to run away. Shen Jiu claimed that Yue Qi was just one slave among many. They would plant a corpse for someone to find, and the slave Yue Qi would leave people's minds within a few days.

Shen Jiu brought Yue Qi to Cang Qiong and begged for his discipleship. Though Yue Qi was a bit older than the ideal age, there was potential in him. The sect leader himself took an interest.

Yue Qi was busy with studying and training, but he had Shen Jiu to help him. Many were jealous of him for monopolizing Shen Jiu's attention. After Yue Qi arrived, Shen Jiu seemed to bloom. While he was still harsh and sarcastic, he was more mellow and smiled more. Never mind that those smiles were mainly directed at Yue QI.

Yue Qi on the other hand was also feeling possessive. He was used to being the only one in Shen Jiu's eye, but suddenly Shen Jiu was popular and had friends (amicable acquaintances). While he is kind towards others, he does so guardedly and disingenuously.

Add: various relationships with other characters, development of rumors, a lot of manipulation, etc.

Yeah, okay, that's enough rambling. I want to add more, but I feel like I won't stop. I think it's fine to end it here for now. The fic will most likely end just with the reunion.

[justaghostingon]

I posted 279 times in 2022

That's 55 more posts than 2021!

169 posts created (61%)

110 posts reblogged (39%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@kitkat-the-muffin

@crookedblade

@jay9marie

@mosaicofdreamsanddragons

@snazzyscarf

I tagged 274 of my posts in 2022

Only 2% of my posts had no tags

#room of swords - 204 posts

#room of swords reactions - 176 posts

#gyrus - 33 posts

#kodya - 28 posts

#iro - 21 posts

#don - 21 posts

#reblog - 14 posts

#tori - 12 posts

#yumeji - 12 posts

#strawbarrow - 11 posts

Longest Tag: 135 characters

#of course a watsonian explination is that she hasn’t progressed enough at level 1 to begin to hone her craft and specialize her ability

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

So i get why y’all mad about the short hair in the Rings of power, but consider:

The short hair was a fashion choice unique to the second age. Where everyone jumped on the trend and then immediately (for elves so a couple centuries) jumped off again. It’s the embarrassing haircut every elf tries to forget they ever had, so much so that they tear down all statues and paintings where they have it.

The kind of thing that galadriel will absolutely hold over elrond’s head every time they come to visit, and show all his kids.

“Oh Arwen, he doesn’t want u to marry ur hot human boyfriend? Well sometimes he doesn’t make good decisions. Just Look at this painting i keep on me of him with short hair. Could you imagine a worse decision? I can’t”

Arwen (horrified): father?!!!

Elrond: it was a phase! Stop showing people that!

Galadriel: No ☺️

420 notes - Posted September 3, 2022

#4

The Inversion of the Ideal Type:

A mini meta on Komi-san Can’t Communicate

So i’ve been watching Komi-san lately, and I really love the main couple, but it took me a while to finally pinpoint why.

When the show begins, we start from Tadano’s perspective: he’s an average guy with a beautiful but silent classmate who’s secret he discovers. And at this point, I thought i knew what i was getting. The everyday man finding out some secret about a girl way out of their league causing the girl to need to keep them around is a very common wish fulfillment plot. Komi is clearly Tadano’s ideal girl, and the fact she has a weakness he can exploit is just the icing on the cake. I’ve seen it all before, and it always left a bad taste in my mouth.

But here’s the kicker: Tadano doesn’t exploit Komi’s secret. He doesn’t make her dependent on him, or act jealous of her new friends. He’s constantly looking out for her comfort and trying to help her reach out and make new friends. And in this, he becomes a wish fulfillment character himself. After all, a guy who genuinelu cares and tries to help you with your crippling anxiety? Someone who always understands when u try to communicate? People with social anxieties want that. Any girl who’s ever felt misunderstood wants that. Komi-san wants that. Tadano, with his gentle encouragement and seemingly endless patience, is as much Komi’s ideal man as she is his ideal woman.

And that’s what makes the show work. They both value each other, they both want each other, and every episode they find new little details about each other to make them fall even more in love. Its sweet and uncomplicated, and maybe its a bit idealistic, but its like having a yummy desert after a long day, it soothes you.

571 notes - Posted June 29, 2022

#3

The Great Demon Fiance ManHunt of Cang Qiong Sect

A scum villian’s self saving system au

It all started when Liu Qingge fell into another succubus pit.

Now the succubus in this pit had been gossiping just before he arrived. Well, more like debating in demon fashion, which is to say they had been in an all out brawl.

Liu Qingge thinks this might be an easy fight since they’re all so distracted, until on smarter succubus stops the others

“Wait!” She says. “He’s from Cang Qiong. Maybe he knows something!”

Liu qingge isn’t particularly interested in hearing them out, but they overwhelm him, united as one and fueled with the vigor of one who is starving for gossip

They ask him: “which cang Qiong peak lord is getting married to the next mobei-jun?”

This completely throws liu qingge for a loop nad he venemently denies it

But the succubus insist, spinning a tale of star crossed lovers which as reached their ears: of a young mobei-jun who was rescued by a pittiful human from cang qiong sect, who promised to always be there for mobei-jun, even as he rose higher and higher in thr sect, never betraying him, until even the great mobei-jun could not help but fall in love

Liu qingge dismisses this, but the succubus insist its true, because the same Mobei-jun visited their madam (i forget her name) for a fortune told, and there was a human at his side, dressed in the robes of a cang qiong peak lord!

Their madam is famous for her love fortunes! Why visit her with someone if u weren’t planning to marry them?

(Mobei-jun was not there for a love fortune. He and Shang Qinghua were looking for some plot device to help thwart on of his uncle’s schemes, and needed directions)

So which one was it? Was it him?

Liu qingge is outraged by this suggestion, so much so that it gives him enough of a power boost to escape

At first he ignores it. But it keeps circling in his brain, like a nagging fly he can’t get out of his mind

Then the unthinkable happens: Shen Qingqiu starts being nice! He saves him! He wants to bury the hatchet! He starts being nice to his disciples!

It’s almost like he recieved some very, very good news.

Like a secret proposal.

But no! Shen Qingqiu liked woman! He was always sneaking down to the red pavilon! Right? Right?

Unless he was just using that as a cover to sneak out to see his demon lover????

Filled with worry, he tries to subtly interrogate Shen Qingqiu by asking him what he thinks of demons. Rather predictably, this fails horribly. With an oblivious shen yuan thinking this was a perfect opportunity to get liu qingge to soften to his future brother-in-law’s heritage and gives his whole “there are bad and good ones” speech

Liu qingge leaves heartbroken, certain his shixiong is in love with a demon

He goes to yue qingyuan and tells him that they might be losing a martial brother to an engagement, but refuses to say who

Leaving yue qinghuan witn thr impession its liu qingge who’s getting engaged

At around this time, the rumor of a cang qiong peak lord marrying a demon reaches the peak, because those succubus are still fighting over which one it is, and have taken to asking every cang qiong disciple they can find

Yue qingyaun panics, because his shidi has all but told him he’s getting engaged, liu qingge panics because shen qingqiu could get in serious trouble if this is found out, and shang qinghua panics because what if this inane rumor causes people to examine his own connections to demons?

Shen qingqiu is not panicking. Shen Qingqiu is having a lovely time playing house eith binghe and ignoring everything else

Meanwhile the other peak lords all start accusing each other, the disciples start using this to start fights with other peak disciples, and its all getting very out of hand

Yue qingyuan is forced to call a meeting, and tries to politely get liu qingge to confess

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689 notes - Posted July 16, 2022

#2

How to Woo the Girl You Dumped Without her Demon-possessed Brother Getting in your Way: A Guide by Jin Zinxuan

A crack au

It all begins when Jin Zinxuan notices that Jiang Yanli is actually really pretty.

This is unfortunately right in the middle of him yelling at her for trying to claim credit for the soup someone’s been making for him

Wei Wuxian shows up, demonic tendicals (we’re going anime version here) dripping from all around him as he defends his sister, it comes out that she has been making the soup, and now he’s smitten with a huge problem: the girl he likes both now prob hates him because he humiliated her, and also her brother is definitely a demon

Now a sensible person would first try to patch over the relationship with jiang yanli by apologizing, but jin Zixuan is a Jin! He’s never done a sensible thing in his life!

And also talking about feelings is really scary and as his friend Miammiam likes to point out, he is really bad at it

So naturally, he decides that the most important step to wooing Jiang yanli is to save her brother from demonic possession. That way she’ll be super impressed with him and he’ll be less terrifying and so greatful he’ll well come him into the family!

What could go wrong?!!

Jin Guangyao insists that it is not demonic possession, it is demonic cultivation. But jin zixuan has heard jin zixun rant about “that wei demon” enough times to know better

Figure of speech? What’s that?

So jin zixuan decides to exorcise wei wuxian, and to do that, he’ll need help from the smartest person he knows: jin Guangyao

Jin guangyao is less than thrilled at being sent on a rediculous job like this, to exorcise the clearly not possessed wei wuxian, until he realizes jin zixuan will do anything he suggests without question

ANYTHING

So Jin guangyao decides to have fun with this, setting jin zixuan on increasingly ridiculous tasks to “cure” wei wuxian of demonic possesstion

Like covering him in salt. Or throwing itchy flowers at him. Or running after him chanting this truely awful tune while hoping on one foot.

The result of course, is a very angry wei wuxian who chases zixuan away, and an increasingly desperate jin zixuan who thinks wei wuxian’s frustrations are proof that “the demons are trying to stop me!”

Now the sect heir acting strange is going to raise some eyebrows, and when outsiders look at jin zixuan throwing flowers and singing, they come to a very different conclusion.

Within a day, everyone in every sect is convinced jin zixuan is trying to court wei wuxian

“My son is a cutsleeve!” Moans jin guangshan. “How did this happen! I showed him all the fine ways to love a woman!”

“You’re lessons are the reason my son is a cutsleeve!” Madam jin retorts. “U scarred him for life!”

They proceed to spend the rest of the time arguing and somehow forget to actually talk to their son

Meanwhile in yumeng everyone is losing their collective shit. Jiang cheng is furious that jin zixuan thinks he can poach wei ying with a few pretty words and flowers. Jiang yanli is depressed because her crush is really hopeless now, and how could she measure up to wei wuxian?

Wei wuxian himself is disgusted, not that jun zixuan is a cutsleeve, but that he’d dare to court him! After what he did to shijie! He resolves to firmly rebuff every attempt jin zixuan makes

Which only serves to make jin zixuan more determined because “those demons are really stubborn!!”

But then… the rumor reaches gusu

And lan zhan hops on the first sword to the jin sect to challenge jin zixuan to a duel for wei wuxian’s honor

Lan Zhan tells himself he wouldn’t do this is wei wuxian actually loved the guy. But its not just some guy. This is jin zixuan, wei wuxian hates him! Even he knows that!

They fight, but jin zixuan for all his denseness, even he knows he doesn’t have a quirrel with lan Zhan, and eventually he gets lan zhan to calm down enough to ask why they are fighting

Lan zhan explains and jin zixuan is horrified he’d ever thing that, and quickly fills him in on what he’s really doing: saving wei wuxian from the demon that is possessing him

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692 notes - Posted September 13, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

The Yiling Laozu’s Lost Spells, A.K.A. The Weird Ones

A Collection by Mo Xuanyu

aka another crack au

Edit: Now with a part 2!

When the Yiling Laozu died his work was divided up by its use

The Lans took anything deemed undemonic, like Spirit Lures and Demonic Compasses

The Jins snuck out anything dangerous under the lie they’d destroy it

And the rest of it…it got scattered everywhere to every lowdown village and wanna be demonic cultivator.

At first, no one thought this would be a problem. It’s not like anything dangerous is out there, and not just anyone can culitvate

But they forgot two very important things: 1) no one needs to be a culivator to use demonic cultivation and 2) people will find a way to use anything

Soon the culivation world is overrun by really, really weird cases that their cultivators just can’t keep up with

And when I say weird, I do mean weird here’s a look at some of the cases:

Case 1) Giant rabbits the size of houses have been spotted in a mountain near a sheparding villiage eating all their feilds. They asked Hanguang-jun for help. Hanguang-jun went up but he did not come back down. It is suspected the giant bunnies ate him

Case 2) the dancing radishes. Every night on the full moon radishes come to life in a villiage and dance on their beds. Its not hurting anyone, but its really freaking them out

Case 3) dog begone spells. A whole villiage has lost all its dogs and no one knows why. Some of them were really expensive spirit puppies, including one jin guangyao was planning to purchase for his nephew

Case 4) the case of the running radishes. Radishes are leaving their beds a d running away as fast as thry can. Every time someone gets close they keep moving farther away

Case 5) flowers flying to lan clan ribbons and sticking. Every flower, even ones on stems. The lans are walking around covered in flowers and it is becoming a Problem.

Case 6) radishes that look like potatoes. Again? What is with this guy and radishes? This spell would have been harmless if it hadn’t been in a villiage with two rival families of radishes and potatoes. The potato family is accusing the radish family of sabatoge and the radish family is accusing the potato family of stealing their crop

Case 7) Lotus soup possession talisman. If u stick this talisman on someone, they will make lotus and pork rib soup. Always. Again and again. They can’t stop. Everything they make is soup. They’re crying.

Case 8) the peacock tail talisman. Every jin who comes into contact with this talisman will get a peacock tail. They can’t get rid of them. This is a problem.

Case 9) grass butterflies come to life. Again, not harmful, but very annoying. All children love it. All adult toy sellers do not. Their wares keep flying away. Please someone save their buisnesses

Case 10) hug jiang cheng. You must hug jiang cheng. You can’t help it. You can’t stop. If u don’t give him one hug a day you will die. Jiang cheng is furious. Fix this now.

Case 11) give Hanguang-jun compliments. Not hard, no one would notice if it wasn’t stuck to Su She. He hates it. He’s sueing for emotional damages. You better fix this quick!

And these are just the first ones! In times like this, people look to the Chief Cultivator. But the Chief cultivator is off flirting with women, so like all things, this falls to jin guangyao to solve.

So Jin guangyao decides he needs to get those documents back, and who better to send to handle the weird cases no one wants to touch than his weird half brother who’s so fasinated by demonic cultivation?

Thus Mo Xuanyu finds himself with his dream job: chasing down the yiling Laozu’s lost works! What more could he want?

The first case is easy. He goes up and finds Hanguang-jun asleep cuddled in a pile of giant rabbits. All he has to do is find out where the talisman is and remove them. The hard part is getting Hanguang-jun to stop looking like he just killed his wife. Mo xuanyu didn’t know Hanguang-jun had puppy eyes. Since when did he have puppy eyes? Eventually to make him feel better he helps him take all the rabbits to cloud recesses. And at another puppy dog eyed, gloomy look like he’s denied him his long lost lover, Mo Xuanyu gives him the talisman too. Jin Guangyao’s not happy, but really, what was Mo Xuanyu supposed to do? Not make that handsome man smile again?

The second case is a lot harder. Nothing Mo Xuanyu does gets the radishes to stop singing. No spells, not talismans, nothing. The only thing left is to dig them all up and throw them deep into the woods where no one will have to listen. Mo Xuanyu’s ears are still bleeding from their reedy songs

The third case is where Mo Xuanyu feels a bit of hope in Yiling laozu’s work really paying off. Lots of his bullies at the jin sect have dogs. If he can make them vanish, he’ll be safe! Unfortunately this spell makes all dogs leave, or none at all. And even when he finds a way to undo it, he can’t afford to copy it out because jin guangyao took one of the pups to give to jin ling, and if mo xuanyu makes the grumpy jin ling’s beloved new puppy go away, he’ll be kicked out of Koi Tower and feel bad besides

The radishes are back, but they run now. They aren’t even violent, u can’t use them for anything! They just run! It takes mo xuanyu months to catch one and track it back to its home. The radishes have built a radish villige in the forest. Radish farmers radish shop keepers and radish children. Mo xuanyu feels like he’s stepped into a children’s book. Then he hears the familiar reedy songs and it becomes a nightmare. The running radishes found the singing ones. They interbred. Now they have musical theatre radishes. Mo Xuanyu booked it out of there as fast as he can. Fuck the Yiling Laozu. Mo Xuanyu isn’t messing with that

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1,022 notes - Posted September 23, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[tossawary]

Would you be up to do the Moshang - Servant for a Different King 👀👀👀

I know this one is going to be at least 20-30k words, so I haven't really started writing it past outlines. This is one of the first fic ideas I threw out there, so summary for the new followers:

This is a world in which there is no System pressure to follow the plot. Shang Qinghua saved Mobei-Jun, but Mobei-Jun rejected him as a servant. Later, Shang Qinghua ended up ditching Cang Qiong Mountain Sect in order to save Su Xiyan (and Luo Binghe's life).

Tianlang-Jun never fell. Su Xiyan married him. The protagonist has two happy parents (ruling over the Demon Realm with an iron fist). Shang Qinghua ended up leaving Cang Qiong permanently and is now Tianlang-Jun's treasured servant and trusted advisor. Basically the third-most-powerful person in the Demon Realm! (After TLJ and SXY. Zhuzhi-Lang could be up there, but ZZL's main ambition in life seems to be to nap on sunny rocks.)

Mobei-Jun is forced to come to Tianlang-Jun's court for some reason and Shang Qinghua is not warned of this sudden visit for another reason, and Mobei-Jun finds out that the teenage boy he rejected as his servant grew up and is now Tianlang-Jun's servant.

Mobei-Jun falls in love with a Shang Qinghua who does not belong to him, kind of outranks him, and is utterly untouchable.

Also, I added in my notes at some point that this fic should become a Bodyguard AU partway through, because Mobei-Jun as Shang Qinghua's Tianlang-Jun-mandated bodyguard sounds delicious. (Tianlang-Jun is my bro. He will make all my self-indulgent plots happen because he is a man of great taste.)

Here are some very random snippets from my notes document:

1.

Shang Qinghua going about his daily life as the trusted advisor of the Demon Emperor, doing administration work for Tianlang-Jun, which the man is avoiding.

Shang Qinghua has to follow the man to the family wing to get his approval on something, and gets suckered into staying for lunch with Su Xiyan and little Binghe (and little Binghe’s nursemaid, Luo Jiahui). Tianlang-Jun can’t work because he’s ill, he claims.

“I’m lovesick,” Tianlang-Jun said, making moon eyes at his Empress.

Empress rolled her eyes, but gazed down at him fondly.

“You are incurable,” she agreed.

Tianlang-Jun and Su Xiyan are like this ALL THE TIME.

And...

2.

Tianlang-Jun talking to Mobei-Jun about Shang Qinghua:

Tianlang-Jun: “An invaluable asset, isn’t he? Ah, I considered that he ought to be married into the family, to keep his gifts with us, but my silly nephew wouldn’t even entertain the idea! I suppose that I could marry him myself… make him my second spouse… but, ah, even that doesn’t stop the most persistent demons, does it?”

Mobei-Jun, a child of wife-theft, gritting his teeth: “...No, Junshang.”

Mobei-Jun now has beef with Zhuzhi-Lang! Poor Zhuzhi doesn’t know what’s going on!

In every universe, Mobei-Jun should have beef with Zhuzhi-Lang over something to do with Shang Qinghua because I find it hilarious. Mobei-Jun has had enough of this guy!

[randomprose]

People don't get chosen for An Ding Peak. People just apply for An Ding Peak. Many of the people who apply to be a disciple in An Ding Peak just wants a new lease in life. They’re not too invested or heavily interested in cultivation but they know that being a part of a prestigious cultivation sect will get them somewhere ahead of life. At least somewhere ahead in life than where they’re currently at. 

SQH isn't too picky about taking in disciples, but that’s because he’s gotten into his head that no one really wants to be part of the “weakest” sect of Cang Qiong so really he shouldn’t be too finicky when someone says they want to be part of An Ding. He even accepts those way beyond the core formation stage. If they have the necessary skills needed for An Ding, SQH will not turn them away. And if they don't have the skills An Ding need, well, SQH will just somehow find something for them to do on his peak. If they're willing enough to put in the work, why waste a good source of man power?

SQH briefs them of what it means to be an An Ding Peak disciple. It's mostly menial task, it's monotonous, lots of heavy lifting and chores, procurement and maintenance for the other peaks, not at all glamorous. He says all the cons as if he's actually convincing them not to join.

When asked what are the pros of being an An Ding Peak disciple, SQH honestly says, “Well, not much other than a roof over your head, a hot meal whenever you're hungry, education fit for a cultivator, and some good company. My disciples are really nice and there's a mandatory resting and recreational period everyday. There is much work to do, but rest is also important.”

The applicants consider SQH’s words. They don’t really get why being an An Ding Peak disciple is such an unpalatable prospect for most. These are people who grew in poor families, who came from starving villages, people who had no hope for an education beyond basic reading and writing some not at all. Some of these people have lived a hard life, some of them have been forced to do things they wouldn’t have done had they been given the choice, had they been given a chance. SQH is offering them a choice and a chance at a decent life and all he asks of them is they be wiling to do the work required and even then they are still treated more humanely than they have ever been. They thinks it’s more than a fair trade.

"Are you sure you want to be here? Like, really want to be here? In An Ding?" SQH asks and the answer is always, “Yes.”

An Ding is the only peak that doesn't need to pick their disciples. An Ding gets its disciples by word of mouth or through recommendations. You want a nice, simple, moderately safe life? Go apply to An Ding. The peak lord there is a mousy, jumpy man but he's really nice and he takes care of his people.

[vodkassassin]

You've been bullying SQH too much, he needs a break! Maybe some cuddles? A vacation? An emotional support animal? All of the above?

Two of the above, as a treat. Other options to be considered at a later date, perhaps... ;3 @dancibayo

Warnings for injury and near drowning >.>

—

There is a reason that, way in the beginning of all this peak lord business — before then, in fact, when they were all still just head disciples, brand new to the job and still figuring things out— there is a reason that Shang Qinghua signed the paperwork making Mu Qingfang his mission partner. And only Mu Qingfang.

It wasn’t because Mu Qingfang was the only one out of all of his martial family that Shang Qinghua liked, or could actually deal with… though it was kind of for that reason, but not entirely! The main reason, here, is that Shang Qinghua was not at the time entirely sure how to work with his martial siblings, and when he had tried, it… didn’t really work out.

There are a lot of examples in which missions with a martial sibling other than Mu Qingfang have not worked out, but the paragon amongst them all was that first mission with his fellow head disciple, Liu Qingge. Whenever Shang Qinghua thinks about why Mu Qingfang is his preferred mission partner, that one clusterfuck with Liu-shidi always comes to the forefront of his mind no matter how he wishes he could just forget about it.

A lot of the reason that mission had been such a total failure, in hindsight, really doesn’t have anything to do with Shang Qinghua at all, and a lot to do with the fact that Liu Qingge had, at the time, held such a low opinion of Shang Qinghua that it made working with the man an absolute trial.

In Liu Qingge’s defense, he’s much better nowadays. Like, a lot better. He barely glares at him anymore, even! Well, Liu-shidi glares at everyone, that’s sort of his default expression, but the glare is much less scary when pointed in Shang Qinghua’s direction than it had been even just a year ago! Progress!

Shang Qinghua ducks under the heavy swipe of one colossal, furry paw, complete with wickedly sharp claws that peak out just above the oversized toe-beans, and resists the urge to wail. He yanks out his sword and hops onto it like it’s a snowboard, and directs it into the air with a monumental push of his qi. The claws miss the edge of his robes by mere inches, and Shang Qinghua starts to daydream, a little bit, about what kind of headstone he wants for his memorial.

There’s another big reason, which he’s being reminded of right now, why Shang Qinghua would actually rather be partnered on a mission with anyone other than Liu Qingge.

The man loves monster fighting.

Now, listen. Listen! Shang Qinghua, he is a big fan of the monsters of this world. Mainly because he created most of them himself. They are just as much his beautiful (and sometimes incredibly less-so) babies as the characters he’d spent hours crafting with his words. Seeing them in full-form, brought to very real life in this world that is fashioned after his story is so fucking cool, but also! Actually mainly! Very, very fucking terrifying. Because those things, most of them, can, will, and have certainly tried, many a time in the past, to kill him.

And Liu Qingge’s absolute, favorite pastime is hunting these creatures down and facing off against them, for fun.

So like, sue Shang Qinghua if he can’t really see the appeal.

He’d rather be stuck in his office surrounded by stacks of unfinished paperwork with a deadline, than be dragged out by his martial brother to face another monster. At least then, he would be safe, and not have to deal with nearly being shredded by giant titan tiger claws, thanks!

Unfortunately for Shang Qinghua, ever since Liu Qingge had decided, for some reason that he still couldn’t figure out, that they are friends, he’s been coming to An Ding to regularly kidnap Shang Qinghua and force him out on what the man probably thinks is fun, bonding time between martial brothers or something.

It’s not. It’s not fun. It’s certainly bonding time, perhaps, if only because of the many times Liu Qingge has been forced to come over and save Shang Qinghua’s skin. Then again, Shang Qinghua has also been forced to save Liu Qingge’s skin, through vastly different means than Liu Qingge has saved his, so maybe it is some type of bonding? Experiencing life-threatening situations together is a sure-fire way to form close ties with someone. Like, that’s a legitimate trope. Shang Qinghua has used that one in his own stories many a time before.

So, Liu Qingge might be onto something here. But Shang Qinghua wishes he’d choose some other way to level up their apparent friendship than monster hunting. Can’t they just stay home and have tea? Play some go? Not potentially die?!

“Qinghua!” Liu Qingge calls. He sounds a little exasperated. He’s exasperated, huh? Shang Qinghua is exasperated with this entire trip! “Pay attention!”

Shang Qinghua ducks again, aiming his sword down sharply as his shidi’s sword shrieks by overhead in the spot he’d just been, to parry the monster’s attack with a serious OP swing of the same blade.

It’s really unfair, sometimes, watching how easily powerful his martial family can be. And then there’s Shang Qinghua, who… isn't, really? Just, nowhere near as powerful as the likes of Liu Qingge, or Yue Qingyuan.

Then again, maybe that’s trying to compare 5G internet to dial up? They’re simply in entirely different leagues.

Shang Qinghua’s eyes water as he rockets toward the ground, to where there huddles a cluster of disciples that stare with wide-eyes and awed faces as Liu-shidi does his thing. Their expressions are practically meme-worthy. God, he misses the internet so, so much. He might cry.

Wait, no, he can’t cry right now, the Bai Zhan disciples are right there, and they will make fun of him for it. Absolutely no respect with these kids. Liu-shidi, please teach your peak disciples some manners!

“Shang-shibo,” one of them complains, sword unsheathed entirely and obviously rearing for some action. “Does Shizun — does he want —?”

Shang Qinghua holds up a hand. The disciple falls silent, and the entire group of them watch him like over-eager hawks waiting for their prey to make a mistake. He takes a moment to catch his breath.

“No,” he eventually says, sending a brief glance over his shoulder to where the Bai Zhan peak lord is going head to head with a flying tiger the size of a dragon. “Shizhi, does your Shizun look like he wants help? Does your Shizun ever want help?”

One of the other disciples, a girl this time, bearing biceps that might be bigger than melons, grumbles. “He doesn’t. But why can’t we fight, too? It’s not fair, Shibo!”

“What wouldn’t be fair, is having both your arms ripped off before you can even graduate Jiedan.” Shang Qinghua refutes, and begins to herd the lot of them back toward the tree line so that they are at least out of sight. “This beast is a third-rank Flying Thunder Deity, it is so far out of your league in terms of strength that I’m currently questioning whether we should have brought you all with us on this mission in the first place.”

The disciples look disgruntled.

“But, Shibo—!”

“Nope!” Shang Qinghua holds up a finger and gives them all a stern look. Liu Qingge may not give a fuck whether his disciples remain unscathed or not — honestly, the man likely assumed them to all have fled like smart disciples of their level would, but he obviously greatly underestimated their enthusiasm for a good fight. Which is just incredibly fucking ironic of him. Anyway, no disciple of Cang Qiong sect is going to be in harm's way, if Shang Qinghua has any say about it. “I don’t want to hear it. All of you stay here, if I see a single limb out of these trees, I’ll assign the lot of you as aids to my paper-pushers for three months.”

At their adequately horrified looks, Shang Qinghua decides that his job here is as done as it can be, and so he turns around to peer back out at the currently thunderous (as the name of the beast might suggest) battle currently being waged. If any of the disciples decide to actually take their chances — both at potentially becoming paste on the ground and being stuck helping his disciples with copying out fresh requisition forms, then that’s not exactly his problem, is it? Shang Qinghua tried his best!

He rises up on his sword to where his shidi is fighting the Flying Thunder Deity several hundred feet up in the sky.

Aerial combat has never been Shang Qinghua’s strong suit, and quite honestly it’s neither the strong suit of any other cultivator, strong in battle as Liu-shidi or not. There’s just something about attempting to juggle needing to balance on your soul sword to stay in the air and also needing that same weapon to fight with, that is just altogether difficult.

It’s fifteen minutes of ducking and weaving and praying that he can move just fast as to be an irritating enough pest to the Deity that it turns it’s attention onto Shang Qinghua and consequently gives Liu Qingge the opening he needs, when Shang Qinghua’s hopes come true a little too well.

The thunderous (ha-ha) expression that graces Liu Qingge’s face when the Flying Thunder Deity snaps it’s huge, hulk of heard forward and encloses him in its massive jaws would have been gratifying in literally any other circumstance. Shidi! You do care! Or are you pissed at Shang Qinghua, for being so slow and requiring rescuing yet again? He’s sorry, Liu-shidi, he really is! Next time he would move faster! Or better yet, not come at all! Just as he’d originally begged you, shidi!

Shang Qinghua wishes that people would listen to him more. It would make his life so much less stressful than it is.

“Qinghua!” Liu Qingge shouts, with a tone to it that makes Shang Qinghua’s heart stutter oddly. Or maybe that’s because he’s, you know, currently trapped in the mouth of a vicious monster that probably won’t hesitate to swallow him whole? But, could it be, that Liu-shidi really does care?

Such ponderous thoughts will have to be shelved for now, to be ruminated upon later when he’s safe. For now, Shang Qinghua curls up into a ball, shaking like a leaf, his elbow bouncing off a curving incisor that’s nearly the length of his entire body, and he can’t help but let out a terrified cry.

This is it, isn’t it? Nearly a century of surviving against all odds, making it through perilous situation with no hope after perilous situation, avoiding death flag after death flag, to be eaten by this hungry, flying tiger the size of a small mountain.

Truly, he’s so blessed to be going out with such a bang.

System! Shang Qinghua wails miserably inside his head, a series of loud whimpers bursting from his mouth without his permission. Be useful for once and lend me a scenario pusher!

The cheerful ding that rings throughout his mind is incredibly ignorant of the current circumstances. [Request acknowledged! Please contact customer support to undergo an eligibility survey.]

There is no such thing as customer support, Shang Qinghua knows. He’s neither a customer, nor is he sure that the System actually has any higher power that it answers to. It clearly loves fucking with him, though, and he clenches his jaw and screams through his teeth in frustration as the sharp point of one of those too-close teeth digs viciously into his side.

I don’t have time for that! Fuck! System, please! I don’t want to die! Be nice to me for once in your miserable existence! I deserve it, dammit!

There’s a brief pause, and during it Shang Qinghua thinks he can hear his shidi yelling amongst the sounds of battle.

[... Host’s complaint has been posted and reviewed.] Oh, wow. That’s a first! [Due to Hosts exemplary services rendered, compensation has been rewarded. Would host like to exchange for a scenario pusher?]

Just save me already! Shang Qinghua demands, curling into an even tighter ball. The tooth digs into his flesh painfully, and he bites back a sob.

[Compensation loading…]

The tiger is growling, now. Shang Qinghua can feel the coalescing vibrations of the sound as it emanates from behind him, from deep within the beats chest, rippling sound waves that travel up it’s throat and make him tremble from the force of them alone. His skull is split by a resounding headache, and his vision doubles. It’s like being trapped inside a subwoofer box, and it hurts.

Shang Qinghua is struck rather suddenly by a massive fit of vertigo, as the tiger seems to shake its head in response to whatever attack Liu Qingge is throwing at it. Being inside its mouth, the motion sends the An Ding peak lord sprawling, and he nearly impales himself on one of it’s incisors. Thankfully, being covered in its saliva, though disgusting, seems to be a silver lining of some sort, because he’s by now slippery enough with it that the tooth only deals him a glancing blow. Despite not being as fatal as it could have been otherwise, it still hurts enough, sharply enough, that Shang Qinghua can’t hold back the cry of pain and surprise that escapes him.

The deep vibrations of the growl come to an abrupt halt. Shang Qinghua only has time to hear Liu Qingge make a distant sound of confusion and anger, before he’s unceremoniously spat out into the open air.

It’s a relief! Truly, it is, to be freed of the tight, damp space that was a beast’s hungry maw at long last. However, there’s still a problem! A big one!

Shang Qinghua doesn’t have his sword, and they’re all still hanging out several hundred feet up in the air! By the laws of physics, he has only a brief millisecond to feel any sort of relief before he goes plummeting to his death. He brings up his arms to shield his face from the turbulent air, robes flapping in its vicious currents.

“Qinghua!”

He peeks open eyes that he doesn’t recall closing to find his amazing, beautiful, talented shidi diving down beside him, sword under his feet and hand held outstretched toward him. Shang Qinghua doesn’t have enough air in his life to breath out a sigh of relief as he reaches out for him, ready to cry, because within the very next second he’s ripped away from the help by a big, furry blur that knocks him out of the sky entirely.

He continues to fall for a few long, terrifying seconds, and then he’s fighting to breathe not because the air is moving past him too fast to catch, but because he’s been submerged in water.

He panics, kicking his legs uselessly against the heavy weight of the tide that wraps around him and shoves him roughly to and fro. He’s not entirely certain which way is up and which way is down. His lungs are tight and painful with their pleas for air, and Shang Qinghua can see spots begin to dance before his vision.

Something grabs onto the very back of his robes, then, and he’s dragged out of the water and lands heavily on a patch of what he’s able to eventually identify as grass, once his mind has enough ragged gasps of sweet, sweet oxygen to get itself into working order again.

He rolls himself over and onto his knees, fisting his hands in the grass as he spits out mouthful after mouthful of water. His eyes sting with tears, but thankfully he’s so soaked he doesn’t think they will be all that apparent to anyone who thinks to look at him now. He brings up a hand, to press the back of his fist into his mouth and smother the sob that wants to burst free. He doesn’t really succeed.

There’s an odd sound from nearby, almost like an engine of some sort, which is incredibly confusing because Shang Qinghua hasn’t heard anything of the like since his last life, where the world was much more industrially advanced. There’s a brief moment of confusion, where his mind races in trying to correlate the sound with something that makes more sense, before something big and warm presses against his side and nuzzles heavily into his neck.

Shang Qinghua blinks, dumbly, vision still swimming in such a way that it makes his aching, pounding head revolt in nausea, but after a moment he’s able to turn his head to the side and get a mouthful of fur instead of a visual.

He splutters, reeling back, which of course gives the Flying Thunder Deity, which is no longer flying nor deity-sized, to press forward even more. It knocks the befuddled Shang Qinghua into the grass and clambers over him, purring loudly and aggressively all the while as it nuzzles him and butts it’s head into his again and again.

“Um,” someone says, and Shang Qinghua blearily looks up from the now normal-sized tiger to find a group of disciples staring down at him, looking just as confused as he feels. “Shang-shibo?”

He blinks, head canting toward the side as the Flying Thunder Deity shoves at it with it’s leathery nose. It’s purring so loudly he can feel it in his jaw. “Yes?”

“Would you, uh…” The disciple speaking gestures at him and the tiger. “Would you like help?”

“Hm,” Shang Qinghua considers the offer, laid flat out on the ground as he is while being aggressively cuddled by a suddenly, oddly, terrifyingly over-affectionate tiger that had literally, just a few moments ago, tried to eat him. “.... Hmm.”

“Mwrrrr,” the tiger echoes, long whiskers tickling Shang Qinghua’s face.

“...Shang-shibo?”

“Qinghua!” Ah, look who finally decides to join them!

Liu Qingge barrels to a landing in the grass right beside him and barely has time to yank his sword up from under himself when the newly enamoured tiger jumps to its feet, bristling and hissing like a house cat facing an annoying, yapping dog that’s intruded into their home.

Liu Qingge is very visibly confused at the newest course of events, but there’s still a level of rage that thrums underneath it, and he readies his sword against the Thunder Deity, muscles twitching in anticipation that far exceeds his usual excitement for a fight. For some reason, that Shang Qinghua is currently too dazed to even guess at, it has become personal.

The tiger’s tail flicks, it’s sharp teeth bared as a growl erupts from its throat, and Shang Qinghua apparently had lost all common sense during his fall into the lake, because he props himself up on one elbow and reaches out his hand to curls it into the damp, wet fur around the tiger’s neck.

Immediately, the beast stops growling. It even turns its back to Liu Qingge! In order to plop down into Shang Qinghua’s lap and nuzzle it’s face into his neck, purring once again at full blast. The Bai Zhan disciples that are gathered a few hundred feet away make a series of quietly alarmed sounds. What the fuck! Liu Qingge looks just as confused.

“Qinghua?”

“I don’t know, shidi,” Shang Qinghua says, shrugging. It sends a ripple of pain that spikes in his lower abdomen and winds up his side, and he winces. “Ow.”

“You’re injured,” now Liu Qingge is frowning at him, but he doesn’t move to come any closer. His hand is whit knuckling the hilt of his sword, and he glances between Shang Qinghua and the tiger in open puzzlement.

“Yeah, kinda got impaled on its teeth,” Shang Qinghua replies, and makes a face. “When they were, uh, you know, bigger. Before...”

“It shrunk.” Liu Qingge states, scowling.

As if on cue, there’s a bright flash of light that momentarily blinds him, and the weight in Shang Qinghua’s lap shifts. Once his vision clears, he glances down to find a small, fuzzy little tiger cub gazing up at him with big, round, glistening eyes.

Shang Qinghua stares at it. The cub purrs, much softer than it had in its adolescent form, and gently butts it’s head against his chest, mewling quietly.

Shang Qinghua tears up. He can’t help it. He struggles to sit up, gathering the cub into his arms as he goes, and holds it against his chest. It’s fuzzy little ears perk up, tickling against his collar bone, and Shang Qinghua swallows.

Liu Qingge stares, as well, about as absolutely befuddled as the rest of them. After a moment, though, his face clears of its confusion, as if he’s decided to simply discard it, and he gives a shrug, hefting his sword arm up a bit and taking a step forward.

Shang Qinghua startles, scooting back a bit even though it pulls at his injury. “Shidi?!”

“It will be easier to kill, like this.” Liu Qingge says, nonchalant.

Shang Qinghua clutched the tiny, purring little tiger to his chest, aghast. “Shidi, no! It’s a baby!”

“It’s not,” Liu Qingge frowns at him. He points at the cub, who continues in its mission to aggressively cuddle the An Ding lord. “It’s a fully grown adult Flying Thunder Deity. It can just change its size.”

Shang Qinghua pauses. He pulls the still-purring cub away from his chest and holds it up to his eye-level.

“You tried to eat me,” he accuses.

The tiger cub blinks once, slowly, and lets out a tiny mewl in response.

“....” Shang Qinghua wraps his arms around the tiny thing and cuddles it to his chest. “I forgive you!”

“Shang Qinghua,” Liu Qingge exclaims, exasperated. Which! Not fair! Shang Qinghua wouldn’t even be here if it weren’t for him! So really, this is all Liu-shidi’s fault to begin with!

He tells him as such, and Liu Qingge scowls grumpily one response.

Shang Qinghua stands to his feet. And immediately tilts to the side. Liu Qingge steps forward, sword sheathed, to catch him around the waist, and the tiger gives a startled meow as it’s suddenly squished between the two of them.

Both men stare down at it. It blinks up at them for a moment, before turning to nuzzle it’s face into the dampened collar of Shang Qinghua’s robes, closing its eyes as if it's decided to take a nap then and there.

“You can’t tell me you’re going to kill it,” Shang Qinghua says. His words are beginning to slur together. “It’s too cute, Qingge!”

Liu Qingge tenses slightly at his given name, as he always seems to do when Shang Qinghua uses it. If he didn’t want him saying it, he shouldn’t have given him permission in the first place! After a moment, the man relaxes, and something about his face is… not as fierce, somehow.

Shang Qinghua doesn’t know what that means.

“You’re soaked,” Liu Qingge says. “... And injured.”

“Impaled,” Shang Qinghua reminds him, blinking his eyes slowly. They feel a little heavy. Maybe the tiger had the right idea of a nap. “Almost drowned.”

Liu Qingge frowns at the reminder. He stoops down after a moment and scoops up Shang Qinghua’s legs. Normally, he would protest being bridal carried like some maiden, but right now he’s way too tired. He rests his head against Liu Qingge’s shoulder, the tiger purring sleepily on his stomach, and closes his eyes.

There’s a quiet cough. “Shizun.” One of the disciples speaks. They sound embarrassed, for some reason?

“We’re heading back to the sect.” Liu Qingge announces.

“The, ah… the tiger?”

There’s a long moment of thoughtful silence. Then, “It’s your Shibo’s.”

“Ah…. okay….”

Shang Qinghua turns his face into his shidi’s collar and falls into a doze.

[writing-frenzy]

Care to Make a Wager? (SVSSS Fic)

Summery: No System AU: In which Airplane finds he has a new lease in life, but of course it would have a cost. Of course, being the creator of this world gives him quiet the price cut. Not to mention the untended bonus content.

Still, he did not expect the direction his life would go.

(Warning: mentions of death, violence, and most stuff you could find in SVSSS Canon. You should be good, but here is a just in case.)

---

When one Airplane Shooting Towards the Sky was reborn, he really wanted to curse his lot in life. Sure, he had been born into a rather well off Merchant Family, but when the Lord of the Family has two Official Wives and a crap ton of Mistresses on the side, things were bound to get crazy.

Luckily one Shang Huan had one hell of a Mother; in another life, Airplane might have described her as a ‘killer queen or a ‘boss ass bitch’, but as his mother, he just thought of her as the most amazing woman on the planet. As it was, She alongside a whole bunch of tutors taught him everything he needed to know about the world and then some. 

(Sewing was a bitch to get right.)

But with those lessons, it didn’t take long for Shang Huan to realize he was in his own fucking novel; it had not been a happy realization, making him break out into a truly childish tantrum, filled with screaming and tears that only calmed after he was given some delicious melon seeds.

(Luckily it had been attributed to wanting a snack after a morning full of lessons, otherwise he probably would have gotten the switch for it...)

But with all this knowledge of his place in life now with him, Shang Huan needed to start planning; good thing that was one of his specialties.

Noting down every bit of information he could, Shang Huan mapped out as much items and cheats he could afford to take from the Protagonist, as well as places he could and couldn’t go, hazel eyes narrowed as he messily scratched out his plots with his trusty quill and journal. The many lessons he Mother made him go through only helped to sharpen him, as well as learn the world’s common sense.

He was having a good go at it, building himself up as much as he could before something completely from left stage truly changed his course.

“There is a legend of Dreaming Glory, said to be a treasure to ensure great health and excellent rest. Though be cautious, for it is guarded carefully by the spirit of a Felled Divine Beast, angry and resentful of the betrayal it had faced.” was a tale a wandering storyteller spun, a group of children ooooing and awwwwing at the right places, even as Airplane felt his jaw drop at the information, focusing more on those words then the candy his mother allowed him to buy at one of the festival stalls.

See, while the Legend of the Dreaming Glory was definitely right at home with this world, it actually hadn’t been anywhere in Proud Immortal Demon Way; it had been in one of his earlier short stories, where Airplane had been practicing with the Xianxia/Xuanhuan genres (and didn’t need to rely on it, dreaming more of the theater then writing). (Until a mugging gone wrong and dreams cut short-) 

This... opened a few more roads then expected, especially if all his fantasy stories came into play, as there had been a lot of experimentation with plots and ideas until he hit his cash cow with PIDW. After all, taking something from the protagonist was always going to be a risk of somehow getting his attention, no matter how much the man wouldn’t actually need it.

(After all, showing off had always been a part of Luo Binghe’s character; showing that he was no longer the penniless street kid, no longer the weak disciple, no longer the one who was always pushed around, but now the one who can take.)  

It also meant more research; thankfully, his Mother was one to always encourage more in the way of learning, thankfully humoring all the ‘trips’ he wished to take.... In hindsight, he probably should have questioned why she was always willing to take him and go, but at the time was just thankful that he could indeed confirm places he would need to visit later and squirrel away items that were within his reach. (An actual legit Cultivation Manuel, even if it was only directed for growing crops and alchemy, was still his most proudest find, only needing a riddle to get and easily hidden in his pouch with his other learning books. Being an Author only got him so far, as every little detail was needed to ensure one stayed on a steady path, though did provide it’s own little boosts here and there.)

------=------

One day, when Shang Huan had been 13, sneakily already past the first part of Cultivation Qi Refining and entering into the first stage of Foundation Building, found his Mother to be ill, no Doctors seeming to be able to cure her (or willing too as he saw a servant of the Second Wife slip a few gold; he got his revenge in the end), Shang Huan took a deep breath and buckled down, doing all that his Mother said to do with the time she had left, learning as much as he could before it would no longer be open to him. 

(Like he could stay here in this den of vipers, without his Mother’s protection and love; there was nothing else for him here after all.)

In that time as his Mother stubbornly clung on, he listened as she mourned his chance to enter into the prestigious Cultivation Sect of Cang Qiong like the First Wife’s Third Son, Shang Shaoqing. She apologized greatly that she could not fight for him to get that chance, like so many of the other Mistresses did for their own children.

‘Huh,’ Airplane couldn’t help but think, ‘looks like I just dodged a arrow.’ though it was good to finally know just what the timeline was for the story; Shang Shaoqing was to be a certain traitorous Peak Lord after all.

As it was, his Mother showed her determination and spirit greatly, lasting till he was 16 before she finally past away, a smile on her face as she did, her son long gone with his inheritance and her blessing of broken ties, carrying her name meaning of Shang instead of his Father’s.

(If the night before, Shang Huan had decided to tell her of his other life, told her how this was a story he had happened to read, showing her a few of the treasure he had gathered, how he cried when Shang Wenyan had only smiled with a few too many teeth, her voice fierce as she praised her son with all her heart, hugging him close with what remained of her strength as she told him her last words.

“Live life however you want my child, live and dream and hope, do not be afraid to destroy any your way, and know I will love you always my greatest pride and joy.”

Well... no one needed to know about that.)

But with this new freedom came it’s cons as much as it’s pros. As he was stuck at a bottleneck in Foundation Building at Middle Stage, there was still a number of things outside his reach until at least Core Formation First Stage...

------=------

It was during his wandering, selling talismans he could make at his level, along with tales he made up that he finally got his big break.

He first heard tales of a powerful Resentful Spirit that was residing in a broken land near the Borders, no one from Demons to Humans wanting the land as it was deemed useless for all the resentful energy there, and no one bothering to pay a sect for what they considered a waste of money and time.

Shang Huan saw this, and wonder if it was what he recognized... Taking in more details and scoping out for any information, Airplane couldn’t help but wonder how lucky it was; this was indeed a spirit from one of his very first stories in fact. He knew exactly what to do.

Instead of fighting the Resentful Spirit, Shang Huan brought it pure cave water and incense, smelling of ash and jasmine. 

This certainly got the Spirit’s attention.

“What do you want Rogue?”

“I want for many things to be honest.” the brunet Cultivator smiled, not showing any teeth so as to make it look falsely gentle, “But for now, I admit I do desire your land.”

That got a huff for his efforts, the spirit a mass of negativity and ire, but actually still listening.

“You have provided the right offering, so I will give you a chance; bring me wine of the Soothing Jade Flower, the Broken Sword of Chun, and a branch of Deathly Yew... You get me these three things, and the land will be yours.” And with that shopping list given, the spirit was gone, even as the energy seemed thicker then before, the incense and water gone.  

And with an absolutely evil grin, Airplane was off; he had already remembered the Wine and branch, had even gotten them first as he had plans for them, but he had not remembered the broken blade.

Fortunately, it wasn’t too hard to find; he had written that the blade had been struck with a heavy stone in a battle between Demons and Cultivators on the borders of the land, where it would lay forever. And lo and behold, there was only one ancient battlefield it could be abandoned in, as this was PIDW.

There weren’t many left over from the borders after all, most of them being purified already. And as he thought, the Bloody Sword Grave was still around, a testament to just how much the resentful energy had soaked into the ground, demons and cultivators alike avoiding the place like the plague, even as bloody rusted swords stayed stabbed into the ground, their thirst and hatred still felt even to this day.

Couldn’t be compared to Xin Mo of course, but for being swords on the surface they sure were impressive. Ignoring all these deadly, intact blades stabbed into the ground, Shang Huan covered his face with a scarf drenched in purified Qi infused water, even as the talisman he sewed on for defense and purity glowed the more he traveled through.

He finally stopped at a blood splattered rock, digging carefully around it as he did, before he managed to pull out four broken pieces of what had once been a beautiful blade, but was now nothing but shambles and rags.

Having what he needed, Airplane made his way back to the spirit and their lands.

------=------

(This deadly spirit of a truly terrible Cultivator, who had been feared and revered for being a monster on the battlefield... cried as they saw the items laid out before them.

“Ah, no my Han-Er, my beloved figher... why you stupid, loveable fool...” The Spirit sobbed, easily using his energy to clean and reformed the blade, manipulating the energies of the other two items to aid it, ensuring the sword would still be pure, hugging it close even as it seemed to damage them.

“... He tried, to come back to you; his fellow soldiers betrayed him... He loved you so much... still does.” Shang spoke, watching as the spirit that laid resting in the blade finally came out with this truth, purifying the other as they did, along with most of the land around them.

The brunet had to look away from their reunion, their emotions a bit too much for him... This had been one of his first tragedies he had written, a solider and their beloved separated because of jealousy and hate, doomed to wait for each other forever, the solution to be so easy to have, if someone had given them a bit of kindness, to discover the truth of their separation, though never given the chance in the end... He never mention just what the Beloved’s gender was, made it ambiguous, but had in his mind of minds always thought of them as a man...

Maybe he shouldn’t have put too much of himself into his work, but a habit is so hard to break.

“... We truly thank you; as promised, the land is now yours to do with as you see fit; all you need to do is put your name on the deed and your blood into the ward stone. All the treasures inside are now rightfully in your ownership, so mote it be.” was announced, making Shang Huan turn to see two beautiful and handsome men smiling at him, before they bowed seeing they had his attention.

Airplane could only bow back, biting on the words of how he owed to them to do this at least.

And with that, they were gone, to enter finally into the cycle of reincarnation, together at last...)

------=------

Having his own place was wonderful; a lot of work, but wonderful all the same.

The wards around his land ensured no one with malice could actually enter it, along with protections against thieves and robbers like most noble Sects had. Shang Huan even went as far as to make sure he owned the plot of land in the official records, having everything stamped and recognized, even as he made sure no one actually looked too closely at what land it actually was.

He even made sure to pay his yearly taxes to the Emperor on time, making sure everything was nicely recorded and logged. (And seeing as he didn’t live in any town or such, he didn’t have to bother paying anything to any Lords for protection! How nice was that?)

But having a base of operations, one with land rich in Qi and perfect for Cultivating on, it not only gave Airplane security, but many other advantages as well.

He now had a place to securely put all the treasures he had gathered, which was a lot considering it was a variety of weapons, valuables, and even priceless seeds to plant. He could be completely self-sufficient as he cultivated, the spirits on the land easily convinced to do chores in exchange for sweets and treats (And being able to live in such a energy rich place). Not to mention how his Cultivation not only went up, but combined with other manuals that were treasures of the home, Shang was set on his way to being a powerful Cultivator in his own right.

And if he was feeling a bit cooped up, he could always go on journeys around his world, exploring and treasure hunting for odds and ends as he saw fit.

Soon enough, Shang Huan had managed to reach 34 years old, entering the Peak of Nascent Soul stage in his cultivation when, in a bit of boredom and interest, he bought out a debt ridden gambling house on the border of his territory, that rested in a ghost-like town on the border of the Human World and the Demon Realm.

It was, quiet frankly, just something to do to pass the time. It wasn’t too hard to fix the place up, and warding it had been a fun challenge of his skills, but he honestly hadn’t expected anything much of it, just putting a few of his lessor needed or easily replenished treasure up to be won. And making it to where anything bet could only be what one had to bet, alongside making sure others would have to honor it had been a fun spell to create, as he really didn’t want to be bothered by liars and braggarts and then having to chase them down. He even just made up some Golems and bargained with a few willing natural spirits to help run the place.

This was just suppose to be a fun little venture; he never expected it to blow up like it did.

------=------

It started slow; a trickle, with a whisper, a simple rumor.

There is a place where priceless treasure could be won; if you’re willing to bet for it that is. But be careful to not bite off more then you can chew, for it might be more then a bit of blood and coins you lose.

Some poor sods have even lost their very souls to the place, even now working where screams and laughter flow so freely to the terrible click the dice, the gentle flap of the cards.

It is a place no Mortal is safe, where no Demon has promise, where a Cultivator is honor bound to accept what is due; after all, no one has to enter the place, no one needs to keep coming back, no one has to bet their all, not all all. 

But oh, how they come; even those who dare not darken the doorway of that gambling hall come, filling what was once an empty town into one practically bustling with life. Funny, how it came about because of such a deadly place.

And oh, do not even bother messing with the Gilded Plane Gambling Hall’s Owner, a man who at first seems so weak and stumbling, so gentle and busy with their hard work, who at first couldn’t hurt a fly even as he smiles so prettily.

He’ll smile that same smile even as you sell your very soul at his tables, those gorgeous hazel eyes amused even as the crowds pant at his feet, screams all around from both terror and ecstasy.

(Shang Huan can’t help but sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose as he is once more offered someone’s entire being; if he’s said it once, he’s said it again, betting is at the tables, not at his feet.

Just another day it seems; hopefully there will be no explosions in the kitchen again.)  

-----------------------=-----------------------

0.0 huh, I did not expect this when I started writing; I just wanted to have Airplane have some fun in the world he created, maybe opening up a few businesses to make money on the side. I did not mean to make him into an oblivious Hua Cheng of the PIDW verse (Yes, in this verse, he will be as terrifying and pretty, I will not take criticism for it.)

Also, I was greatly inspired by Nighthaunting, though instead of ballet I have SQH as a theatre kid whose dreams got cut short due to bad luck and assholes. I love how they have built their world, and how they say that writing was probably a side thing for Airplane, which just makes so much sense. Also, I am all for Airplane being scary and fully taking advantage of his author knowledge, so haha! Hope you all enjoyed this story~

[rarepears]

AU idea: Circonstances lead Cang Qiong Mountain Sect to make trade negociations with an arabian kingdom, the young King of this kingdom was told by a fortune teller that his soulmate was a cultivator from China and that if he make said cultivator his main spouse, his kingdom will know prosperity.

So the king added a condition to the trade deal which is an arranged marriage between him and one of the Peak lords, the latters, Yue Qingyuan excluded, decided to make Shen Jiu/Shen Qingqiu the one to marry the king to "punish him for his shameless and scummy attitude" and to get rid of him but ironically this marriage was the best thing happening to Shen Jiu 'cause the arabian king is over the moon for him, is a kind lover with him and treat him like he is the most precious gem in the world.

Yue Qingyuan is still sect leader, so it's not like the other (lower ranked) peak lords can officially override him. That said... they can pressure him to by making it very very clear that the sect is an arm and leg away from waging war on Qing Jing peak until Shen Qingqiu is removed.

Yue Qingyuan's arm and leg just aren't powerful enough to stop this all. Not even his suggestion to Shen Jiu that they get married (and therefore remove Shen Jiu from the list of eligible bachelors) is seriously considered by Shen Qingqiu.

Shen Qingqiu is bitter. But he can see how the winds are turning and his sect marital siblings' manipulations to make the Arabian Prince increasingly fixated on the "beautiful peerless Qing Jing peak lord" is not boding well to any plan that involves him running away and becoming an anonymous rogue cultivator.

(Meanwhile Luo Binghe is watching all this drama with shocked eyes. He's been at this sect for not even two whole months and sure, all his interactions with his shizun haven't been positive, but he's new! He knows he's stupid and has a lot to learn before shizun can look at him fondly! But!!! He never thought that the cultivation world hid such cruelty that reminded him too much of the harem fights that his mother tried (but failed) to protect him from seeing when visiting his mother's employee's manor.

Luo Binghe resolves that when he grows up, he will rescue his shizun from the cruel prince that he was forced to wed and also have revenge on the sect. He shall be his shizun's white knight in shining amour!)

[More in #Shen Jiu is forced into an arranged marriage to an Arabian Prince AU]

[delicioussshame]

Fourth part of the demon AU. Still explicit, still fucked-up.

Luo Binghe realises he’s being uncourt, but he finally crushed Huan Hua Palace after weeks of laying siege. He deserves a reward. Shen Qingqiu might even agree, considering his sect’s greatest rival just suffered a debilitating loss.

He played with the idea of presenting the sect leader’s head to his beloved, but ended up deciding against it. Humans were skirmish; he might not recognise the honor Luo Binghe was bestowing upon him, never mind enjoying it.  

He contents himself with visiting in the middle of the night, something he doesn’t usually indulge in. It is quite rude of him to show up in Shen Qingqiu’s home and wake him up the way he plans to. All he can do to apologise is make sure he will enjoy the interruption.  

Shen Qingqiu in repose is enchanting. Disturbing his peace should be criminal.

Luo Binghe will happily bear that sin.  

He pulls the sheets covering Shen Qingqiu’s sleeping body, teasing himself with the slow reveal of the thin, rumpled robes Shen Qingqiu wears to bed. He relishes in gently opening Shen Qingqiu’s clothes so as to not wake him just yet, taking in the sight of his white, perfect exposed skin, completely free of Luo Binghe’s marks due to his long absence.  

This can’t stand.  

Unceremoniously dropping his own clothes aside, Luo Binghe lowers himself to Shen Qingqiu’s level, acquainting himself once with the taste of him.  

He thrills at the way Shen Qingqiu reacts to him even in sleep, leaning into his touch and letting out tiny little moans that light Luo Binghe on fire. His legs easily part to give him more access, which Luo Binghe will take advantage of with pleasure. He settles between Shen Qingqiu’s open thighs and pushes slick fingers into his tight entrance, using his blood to keep Shen Qingqiu asleep for now. Luo Binghe wants him to wake up delirious from ecstasy, not struggling to acclimatise after so long without being filled.  

Still, he hopes Shen Qingqiu will appreciate his restraint. There’s pretty much nothing stopping Luo Binghe from taking him right now. It’s not like Luo Binghe isn’t more than ready, so hard it takes all he has to control himself. Shen Qingqiu would never find out if he did. He would heal any damage before waking him up.

But no. Shen Qingqiu isn’t one of the disposable women he takes to bed only to feed Xin Mo. He deserves better from him. Luo Binghe won’t spill his blood.  

Anyway, Shen Qingqiu is now hard under him, hips lifting slightly from his bed to find something to rub against.  

He won’t need it, not with Luo Binghe dead set on satisfying him.  

_________________

Shen Qingqiu wakes up with a shout, uncomprehending of what is happening. Every time he tries to understand his current state, he’s shaken again by a wave of pleasure from within that turns his brains to mush anew. He blinks, trying to at least see what’s happening in the darkness of his room.  

He’s once again pushed into the mattress, and only when his hands fist into the sheets does he realises he’s been fucked.

Only one person would dare sneak into his bed and use him that way.  

His arm lifts up and finds Luo Binghe’s messy hair, tangling into it and accidentally pulling him down when he trusts into him again. Luo Binghe follows and swallows his scream, for which a distant part of his brain is almost grateful. What if one of his students came to check on him? Would Luo Binghe kill him for his insolence? He shivers.  

Luo Binghe rubs a hand down his side, as if to soothe him. He also starts fucking him even harder, something Shen Qingqiu wasn’t sure was possible. All he can do is hold on, tears streaming down his face and mouth aflame from biting everything back.  

Luo Binghe is talking to him by his ear. He’s probably mocking him again, parroting words of love even as he demonstrates how little he cares for Shen Qingqiu’s approval and takes what he really wants from him. Shen Qingqiu isn’t listening. He can’t hear anything over the blood rushing to his head and his own pants as his body gets more and more overwhelmed by Luo Binghe’s assault.  

Luo Binghe holds him close after Shen Qingqiu finally comes on his cock and nothing else, still hard inside him but unmoving for a few moments. It won’t last, of course. Luo Binghe has been absent for weeks. Shen Qingqiu suspects he won’t stop until the first rays of the sun enter his bamboo house. It’s nothing he hasn’t subjected Shen Qingqiu to before. Luo Binghe made sure he could take it.  

As if his presence wasn’t enough of a reminder of his might, Luo Binghe asks Shen Qingqiu if Huan Hua Palace has any treasure he would like for himself, as apparently those last weeks have been spent destroying the second most powerful sect. He asks like one would ask for food preferences, like slaughtering Shen Qingqiu's fellow cultivators is nothing to him.  

Shen Qingqiu hears himself ask about Huan Hua’s library. He can’t do anything for the disciples, it’s too late, but if he could at least preserve their knowledge from demons, this arrangement wouldn’t be all bad.  

Luo Binghe smiles and says he’ll see what he can do.

Shen Qingqiu knows that look. He’s being placated. He will never get anything of true worth from Luo Binghe.

What he will obviously be getting more of is Luo Binghe himself, if the way his hips have started to pump into him again can be believed.  

Shen Qingqiu shuts up and let him. He can’t let Cang Qiong follow on Huan Hua’s path.  

[tossawary]

Chapter 26 “ What You Want” of “pride is not the word I’m looking for” quotes and commentary. Not a full list of favorite quotes or full commentary.

Oh, this got so long, though. I was like, “An opportunity to wax poetic about Moshang dynamics and characterization? An opportunity to talk about why my interpretations of Mobei-Jun and Shang Qinghua are Like That? SIGN ME UP.” 

-

【Beginning next mission stage.】

【Death of the Author - Part 2: The Secret Basement of Shang Qinghua.】  

【Mission objective: place the Weeper’s Eye on the pedestal.】

Shang Qinghua slowly sits up on his sofa. He stares at the pop-up window for however long it takes his brain to roll over completely.

“I don’t have a fucking basement?” he says finally.

- 

AN: I have been waiting to use “I don’t have a fucking basement?” for months. Also, it’s been years for him, so Shang Qinghua is a little oblivious, BUT I would like to point readers all the way back to some paragraphs from Chapter 2. 

Excerpt from Chapter 2: “A Horseshoe Nail”:  

Shang Qinghua considers the point loss. What are his excuses character motivations here? Why is his unmerciful System not completely skewering him for this?

He is the servant of a demon lord, Mobei-Jun, the future Northern King, so he has a greater investment than most cultivators in the future of the Demon Realm, so it’s not unreasonable for him to seek out any bastards of Tianlang-Jun without handing the demon baby over to a righteous sect. He’s also a Peak Lord of Cang Qiong Mountain Sect, so it’s not unreasonable for him to be interested in any rumors of the whereabouts of Su Xiyan or what happened to her, for political leverage or whatever. The character of Shang Qinghua originally was and still is a spy - on top of being a shameless coward willing to cling to anyone’s thighs and then stab them in the back, in order to stay alive or advance himself.

There are plenty of magical artifacts in this world that might give a power-grubbing weakling like Shang Qinghua an insight into the future. As Peak Lord of An Ding, Shang Qinghua is, in fact, in a pretty good place to get his greedy hands on one of these magical artifacts. Isn’t that what a good spy and overall ambitious snake would do?

 Especially a spy serving a demon lord extremely likely to get fed up with him and kill him at some point? While also serving a righteous cultivation sect extremely likely to execute him for eventually betraying them? Of course Shang Qinghua would obviously want to know how to save his own ass from these ticking time-bombs! And how better to save his own ass than shamelessly clinging to the golden thighs of the protagonist, who will one day conquer every other demon lord and all righteous sects?

Following Luo Binghe means being on the endgame winning team!

Shang Qinghua looks over the pop-up window’s numbers over again, in regards to the loss of points. True, how exactly he tracked down Su Xiyan’s half-demon baby when the Huan Hua Palace Master failed is a bit of a plot-hole, but the rest can be easily explained away with a bit of creativity!

Oh, the rest of the cultivation world didn’t know Su Xiyan was pregnant? Well, Shang Qinghua is a slimy, sneaky spy, who would of course guess that a female cultivator might suddenly disappear like that for months-on-end due to a secret pregnancy! And given that Su Xiyan’s reputation had been linked to a passionately self-destructive Tianlang-Jun… Okay, he can feel the anti-fan rage at that mildly sexist line of thinking, but it stands! It stands!

Now, Shang Qinghua just has to… actually decide… whether or not he wants to take the point loss, in order to save the life of his protagonist son’s adoptive mother, Luo Jiahui. 

Shang Qinghua, my darling fool of an Author God, your System is listening to the things you say and think. 

I have been WORKING here to foreshadow where I’m going with this story. I’m pretty sure that every single endgame plot point has shown up and is now in play in PINTWILF. Shang Qinghua, due to situational awareness, is dealing with too much in-world shit to narrow things down easily, but it’s all there! It will hopefully not seem as though I’m pulling things out of nowhere in the next and final part (Part 4) of this fic. 

-

“This makes me look crazy, bro,” Shang Qinghua  complains to the System. “It really does. I already have to be careful about talking to the secret, world-controlling system that lives in my head and this? This is not making me look any more stable! Where did this come from? Where the fuck did I even get it?! ”

Oh, things are coming together in Shang Qinghua’s head and he doesn’t know if he really likes the picture. On one hand, it’s always nice to actually have someone or something to blame for things beyond the fucking System. On the other hand, he really doesn’t know how the fuck he’s supposed to sleep at night with a full-length, polished silver mirror with an ornate golden frame under his house. 

- 

AN: Shang Qinghua, have you noticed that you’ve stopped losing points for continuity errors and plot holes? Shang Qinghua, you know that the people in your life have noticed that you know too much. They’ve just decided not to question you about it because you always look like you’re going to faint when they do, then you laugh and change the subject. 

But now Shen Qingqiu is on to you and he’s not so easy to shake. 

(Plus Shen Yuan! They’re terriers, SQH!) 

- 

He turns away from the mirror, only for a second System window to pop up in front of him. Only… the design of this one is different. Familiar, though! It takes Shang Qinghua a second to place it as Peerless Cucumber- as Shen Yuan’s Transmigration System.

 【 Users cannot be injured, killed, or trapped inside the looking-glass! The user will not be able to touch or be touched by anything inside the looking-glass! The user will be returned from the looking-glass within thirty minutes, unharmed! A substantial point reward is attached to this bonus mission. 】

“Right,” Shang Qinghua says.

This second pop-up window then shifts colors and is ruthlessly closed before his eyes. Ah, wow, Shang Qinghua kind of feels like he just saw someone get murdered here.

“...How many points?” he asks finally, reluctantly curious.

- 

AN: Having the Systems fight is so much fun. My setup here in PINTWILF has it so that there’s a main Worldbuilding System that does its best to maintain the world, then each transmigrator has their own personal Transmigration System managing their case. 

This is so the Worldbuilding System can maintain the world without the presence of transmigrators, and so the personal Systems can potentially follow their transmigrators into another world. All the Systems interact with each other in order to try to manage things and there are... issues.  

Look, the thing about simulated (or managed) realities for me is... someone coded the thing (or did some equivalent of coding the thing), and whether or not this thing in question is the world or just the System, if there are multiple entities trying to manage things, there’s going to be fuck-ups. You can’t have two cooks in the kitchen without points where the two cooks get in each other’s way at least a little bit. If there are multiple Systems, then you’re going to have friction, and that friction can be funny. 

Inspired by me trying to run two heavy art programs on my computer at once and being like, “Oh, boy, please don’t burst into flames while duking it out in there. Oh, man, you two were NOT made to operate together, huh?” 

- 

He knows he’s right when he walks away from some kind of important-looking procession, stepping into the next room at the same time as someone else, who looks directly at him and doesn’t look away. Shang Qinghua freezes in the doorway and doesn’t let himself stare so much as he can’t stop himself.

 “Oh, no,” Shang Qinghua thinks.

There’s a man standing in front of him, tall and broad-shouldered, with an ageless youth, but a sharp gaze and no youthful roundness to his features. His curly black hair has been cursorily held back from his face by a golden ornament, but is otherwise loose, and he wears his ornate red and black robes well and correctly, but like a man with a hundred more.

The man flicks a strong hand at the doors behind Shang Qinghua, which slam shut with a bang, like he’s done this a thousand times before.

He smiles unkindly. “Shang-Shishu,” he says, like he’s tasting the title, considering tearing it apart with his teeth. “So it's true. How curious.”

There’s no way for Shang Qinghua to count how many times he’s seen this face before, but he’s never seen it like this. The man looks like an emperor. He looks like a god. The red mark of the Heavenly Demons burns like a crown in the middle of his forehead.

Shang Qinghua takes an unwilling step back.

“What are you afraid of?” the original Luo Binghe says, still smiling. “We’re only talking.”

- 

AN: I tried to make this meeting mirror Shang Qinghua and Luo Binghe’s first scene in Part 3 of the fic, in which we finally meet the Luo Binghe (Shang Qinghua’s nephew) who is going to interact with the PIDW plot. 

Excerpt from Chapter 18: “The Inevitable Plot”: 

The restaurant is closed when Shang Qinghua lets himself in. The tables in the dining room are still packed up, lit by dim light through shuttered windows, and the only sign of another person are the chopping sounds coming from the brightness of the kitchen. Shang Qinghua stops in the doorway and lets himself stare.

There’s a young teenage boy standing at the counter, thirteen going on fourteen, still not yet near his adult height (taller than Shang Qinghua, a fact he's still not prepared to face), still carrying a youthful roundness to his features. Shang Qinghua has seen him like this a hundred times before: curly black hair tied back, a kerchief covering his head to keep it out of his eyes, a slightly yellowed matching apron neatly tied just the way his mother taught him, and intent on the work in front of him. His hands are quick, the knife sharp and sure, and the movements of food preparation work slide right into each other like he’s done this a thousand times before.

When did the boy get so big? It didn’t happen all at once; it snuck up on them, hiding dastardly in plain sight! Shang Qinghua remembers when his nephew barely came up to his waist. Fuck, Shang Qinghua remembers when his nephew couldn’t walk. What is this? Who allowed time to pass like this?

Luo Binghe scrapes the chopped vegetables off the board and into the basket beside him, before putting down the knife and turning around. He smiles.

There’s no way for Shang Qinghua to count how many times he’s seen that before.

“Uncle,” the protagonist says fondly. “You’re here.”

- 

“Let’s talk,” Luo Binghe calls out, cajoling now. “Stop running and speak to me and perhaps old hurts can be forgiven. All that condonation and betrayal is so far in the past now. This lord can be merciful, Shang Qinghua. Just speak: how many things have you been hiding...?”

- 

AN: This is PIDW Luo Binghe, by the way. 

Once I realized I was going to have a room full of fortune-telling devices, I was like... “Ooh! Bing-Ge scene! I should have a Bing-Ge scene!” Because, like, that’s the curse of SVSSS transmigrator protagonists who trip into caring about Luo Binghe, baby! 

- 

Shang Qinghua takes some deep breaths to calm his poor, weak heart, and nearly falls to the floor anyway! But he catches himself!

And then a large, cold hand wraps around his arm to steady him. It’s the cold that keeps him from lashing out and probably breaking his own hand. Instead, he looks up, heart still pounding in his ears, into the frowning face of Mobei-Jun.

“Oh, you have the worst timing,” Shang Qinghua breathes.

Mobei-Jun’s expression twitches and he lets go.

“No!” Shang Qinghua chases the hand with his own, catching it before the man can get too far. “My king, I’m so glad to see you! Thank you for finally coming! I have so much to say,” he says quickly. “I-”

Before he realizes that he’s essentially holding Mobei-Jun’s hand for no reason now - ah, now that’s something he never would have dared to do like twenty years ago - and carefully drops it. He takes a deep breath, trying to calm the panic still racing through his veins. And then promptly realizes that Mobei-Jun is here. The demon lord is here in this secret basement.

- 

AN: Moshang in this fic is... hmmm... a little weird sometimes, because a lot of it has been happening in the background. A lot of it has been unspoken until Shang Qinghua’s breakdown and until now. 

Shang Qinghua isn’t actually as scared of Mobei-Jun in this fic as he is in SVSSS, and I hope that comes across. When he had his breakdown, part of it was fear, but a large part of it was also actually anger. Shang Qinghua was afraid of how the System had changed his life, but he was also angry about this loss of control. Yes, he was terrified of Mobei-Jun because he didn’t know if it was still his Mobei-Jun, which brought lots of old memories and old anger to the surface, in which Shang Qinghua was kind of like, “How dare you think you get to freely touch me after the things you did and never apologized for?” 

BUT the status quo in this world, before the World Update, is one in which Mobei-Jun touches Shang Qinghua’s hip without SQH flinching. It’s one in which SQH and MBJ drink and relax together. It’s one in which SQH isn’t afraid to reach out and grab MBJ’s hand, because he misses MBJ. 

They’re so close, they just need to actually talk it out. 

- 

Shang Qinghua glances at the ladder and the open hole in the floor. “Ah, my king, did you… climb down here looking for me?”

“Yes,” Mobei-Jun answers, looking around with sharp eyes. He doesn’t seem to be very impressed with what he’s seeing. “...What is this place?”

“My, ah, my basement,” Shang Qinghua answers, leaving out the part where he didn’t even know he had one until about an hour ago. The System is determined to make him look like a bit of a madman, huh? “It’s just… just some artifacts and tools. I don’t… I don’t really come down here a lot…”

Mobei-Jun finishes studying the room, then stares at him again, his gaze more piercing than ever.

“The future concerns you this much?” he says.

Shang Qinghua is totally prepared to deny everything, but the phrasing of that cuts off every story he might try to tell. He glances around the room, full of these broken, desperate, stolen things. It’s… reflecting.

“...Yes,” he admits, hoarsely. Then coughs. “I… my king, we should… talk.”

“Yes,” Mobei-Jun agrees.

“But, ah, not here? I don’t… like it here.”

“Yes.”

-

AN: Mobei-Jun is one of the people who has noticed that Shang Qinghua knows more than he should. And now, thanks to this secret basement, Mobei-Jun has an explanation for why Shang Qinghua knows more than he should! 

If you don’t know about the System element, then this basement is actually pretty in-character for the new Shang Qinghua of PINTWILF. 

He is so scared of the future. He’s invested in the story now. 

- 

Shang Qinghua isn’t surprised at all when the special item speaks again as soon as it’s back in his hand.

Why would it shut up now, after all?

 “He has no name but the position he has been promised to, which he may not live to see,” the Weeper’s Eye says, which pulls Shang Qinghua’s gaze back to the demon lord waiting for him. “His father uses him as a tool. His mother is long departed. His uncle wants him dead. He has long known that these broken promises cannot be undone… but he knows new promises may yet be made.”

Mobei-Jun is frowning at the crystal eye in Shang Qinghua’s hand, looking between it and Shang Qinghua’s own eyes.

He’s not dressed-up the same way he was the last time Shang Qinghua saw him - no especially fancy robes or ornaments or jewelry. He looks like himself this time.  

 “If these ones are not kept, there will be nothing for the nameless man who will be king.”

Shang Qinghua doesn’t move.

- 

AN: I mentioned exploring Mobei-Jun not having a name in the commentary on the previous chapter. I guess that’s my take on PIDW Mobei-Jun... that the man doesn’t really have anything outside of his position. He’s a king, in service to a tyrant, and he’s never going to let anyone in. He’s just... cold... the whole way through. PIDW Mobei-Jun has an icy throne and nothing else. 

PINTWILF (and SVSSS) Mobei-Jun has the Airplane version of Shang Qinghua. When Airplane saved MBJ’s life, the System wasn’t making him do it, he made that choice for himself. The System was willing to let MBJ die (and, in my headcanon, be replaced by some ice demon cousin or LGJ). So, MBJ turns around and chooses Shang Qinghua for himself. 

Shang Qinghua was like, “No! This character can’t be replaced! You can’t just dress someone else up as Mobei-Jun! You can’t just let the character die! It has to be this man in that role! No one else!” 

When Mobei-Jun is coming to talk to Shang Qinghua in this fic, in this moment, he is making this choice for himself, the nameless man who has been promised a position he might not live to see. That’s what the Weeper’s Eye is getting at. If Shang Qinghua doesn’t want to hear the promises Mobei-Jun is will to make him, there might as well not be anything in Mobei-Jun’s future to make him an individual, more than a cold figure acting out a part. 

- 

“...Shang Qinghua,” Mobei-Jun says finally. “I will not hurt you.”

Shang Qinghua’s gaze snaps from the crystal eye in his hand, back to the demon lord standing by the exit to this secret basement.

“We will speak,” Mobei-Jun says solemnly, slowly, like someone repeating the lines of a script. “I wish to be understood by you. I have not known how. Yet I must try now… in my own words… and you must listen.”

Shang Qinghua swallows.

The anger - the frustration - breaking through at the end there sounds more like the man he knows. He’s pretty sure that’s meant to be a request, but it sounds like an order.

-

AN: After their last conversation, Mobei-Jun had a lot of soul-searching to do, and one of the conclusions he came to is that he can’t take anything for granted. He has to made explicitly clear, using words, which is apparently what matters with humans and with this human in particular, everything he feels. He can’t take the risk of continuing to hurt Shang Qinghua by letting the man think that he doesn’t regret hurting him or may hurt him again someday. 

-

He puts the Weeper’s Eye down.

He’s really sick of this thing. He doesn't want to carry it around all the time.

It only tells him things he knows, anyway.

- 

AN: We’ll get into the Weeper’s Eye in future chapters, but it’s... it’s not really a mind-reading device. It kind of is. It is a little bit. But part of the reason it’s so informative here is that Shang Qinghua is holding it and Shang Qinghua actually knows a lot about his characters and the people in his life. 

Even the original characters, like Fanli, he knows well. She’s his family. He’s privy to Fanli’s problems through Jiahui and Liu Qingge if nothing else. 

With Shen Yuan, he doesn’t know the kid well yet, but his fellow transmigrator isn’t that difficult to read and he’s been where Shen Yuan is. 

Shang Qinghua putting the Weeper’s Eye down here is a show of trust of sorts. It’s a way of telling himself to get out of his own head, away from character roles and exaggerated panic, and put himself in the moment with someone he knows and... well... trusts and wants to trust even more. 

- 

Shang Qinghua follows Mobei-Jun out of the basement, removing the spiritual seal from the wall, which makes the creepy basement entrance disappear, then replacing the flower that covered it. He hesitantly follows the demon lord back to the main room of his Leisure House. He has no idea how to stand, suddenly, or where to stand.

Mobei-Jun looks very determined.

“So, ah, should we… sit?”

“No,” Mobei-Jun replies, then abruptly says, “Shang Qinghua, you do not have to fear me. I do not wish to cause you any pain. Now or in the future.”

Shang Qinghua stares, wide-eyed.

That’s not… something he ever expected to hear explicitly.

Good! It's good, though! Very good.

It's great, really.

“...Thank you,” he says, stunned. “I don’t want to cause you pain either?”

“You have shown as much. Many times.”

This is probably not the time for an “Yes, I did tell you so” in any form!

Instead, trying to remember all the speeches he prepared while waiting, Shang Qinghua says, “You have too! In your own way! I just… my king, last time you visited was a… it was a very bad day for me. I apologize for my behavior! I was speaking from a place of-”

“Fear,” Mobei-Jun interrupts darkly. “Well-deserved.”

“Ah, well…”

“You believed that I would hurt you, in your state,” Mobei-Jun says.

“I was… it was very a bad and confused state, my king.”

“...You do not trust me.”

Shang Qinghua’s voice dries up on him. He wouldn’t put it that way, exactly! That sounds pretty terrible when said in such a blunt way. They’ve moved past that, haven’t they? It’s more that he trusts different people with different things! He trusts Luo Jiahui to be Luo Jiahui, and Liu Qingge to be Liu Qingge, and Mobei-Jun… to be Mobei-Jun.

- 

AN: Shang Qinghua and Mobei-Jun got really far without explicitly talking about things, but at some point that stopped cutting it. 

- 

“I have hurt you before,” Mobei-Jun says, looking at him directly. “From a place of fear… of anger… of… misunderstanding. I am… sorry for this. I will not do so again. I was wrong to treat you in such a way.”

Shang Qinghua takes in a deep breath… and out again.

Fuck, it feels like his eyes are burning.

“You have my respect,” Mobei-Jun says quietly, urgently, not letting up on getting all of these words out into the open. “You have my regard. You have my trust. Yet I have not shown this in a way that you have understood, so you could not share this. I have demanded your loyalty without being deserving of it.”

“My king,” Shang Qinghua protests, taking a step forward. “I was- I should have said-”

“You did. Many times. In many ways. I did not understand.”

“I wasn’t very clear either-”

“It was my responsibility to be clear. I must be clear now.”

“You’re being very clear now,” Shang Qinghua agrees quickly. If things get any clearer here, if any more of the things they’ve left unspoken get said, his heart won’t be able to take it. “Thank you, my king. It means- thank you."

Mobei-Jun nods. He looks relieved.

-

AN: I wanted to write a version of Moshang that felt... a little more mature? Shang Qinghua has developed a lot in this fic. He has grown as a person. And Mobei-Jun has seen this growth over the years. 

Mobei-Jun has also been able to see into this Shang Qinghua in a way that wasn’t available in SVSSS canon. I think that SVSSS Shang Qinghua was locked the fuck down. I think he was almost completely inaccessible and offered very, very few openings for connection. 

But in this universe, Mobei-Jun actually knows a lot more about Shang Qinghua. He knows what motivates Shang Qinghua. He knows that Shang Qinghua is a doting uncle and a doting older brother. He knows that Shang Qinghua has come to care for his sect. He knows that Shang Qinghua is intelligent and resourceful and funny. They drink together and talk politics! Mobei-Jun knows that Shang Qinghua is loyal and tired and trustworthy. 

So... there was an opening here that didn’t exist in SVSSS canon. 

And Mobei-Jun took it. 

- 

Shang Qinghua knows that cultural differences are a hell of a thing here, but everything being understandable in hindsight didn't make it not fucking hurt. It still hurts, even finally having the apology he never thought he'd get.

"...We’ve been pretty bad at understanding each other, huh?”

“It has often seemed as though we were not meant to meet,” the demon lord says softly.

Shang Qinghua, who can't imagine getting through his transmigration experience without meeting this man, thinks over all the unknowing irony in that statement.

"...Maybe."

“The differences are… significant.”

Shang Qinghua laughs, almost disbelieving. “That’s a word for it!”

"But not impassable."

"Ah… I… hope not."

- 

AN: I’ll probably make a separate post for this, but I love Moshang transmigrator reveals. Bingqiu transmigrator reveals are mostly about the Abyss, which is great, because that needs clearing up. MOSHANG transmigrator reveals are like, “My weak human husband is a god???” 

Also love it when MBJ is like, “Yes, this makes sense.” 

- 

“I have never known what you have wanted from me,” Mobei-Jun says next, like a confession. “Your life, you have said, time and time again. Though I am only alive by your grace. You demand none of what you deserve of me.”

“...I don’t think ‘deserve’ is a good word for this,” Shang Qinghua says, which probably isn’t the right thing to say, but he’s really too stunned to come up with anything better. He really didn’t prepare for the right conversation here. “Aha, sorry, my king. It’s just… I don’t think I like to think about it in terms of ‘owing’ anymore. Between us. At least… not like some sort of strict balance? I do something nice for you, you owe me. You do something bad to me, I get to hurt you. Not… not like that.”

Mobei-Jun thinks about it.

“Sorry, I don’t really know what I’m saying-”

“You are deserving of better than what I have given you,” Mobei-Jun insists, determinedly. “I do not understand you. I have never understood you.”

Shang Qinghua feels the same way.

“But I would like to,” Mobei-Jun says next. “I would if you would allow it.”

- 

AN: Mobei-Jun is only alive because Shang Qinghua saved him and he knows it! And Shang Qinghua has never made the demands he should have made, having that kind of leverage over Mobei-Jun! 

I’ve always wondered if this is deeply romantic by demon standards. Like, not inherently romantic. But I would bet that Mobei-Jun really likes the idea of a relationship where no one is keeping score... no one is granting favors to use like a leash of obligation... no one owes the other things they don’t want to give. I would bet that Mobei-Jun really, really likes the idea of a relationship where affection is freely given because the people in it want to give it. 

He does feel as though he owes Shang Qinghua, but I think Mobei-Jun likes the idea that his favor is his to give just because he wants to give it. 

-

Mobei-Jun lifts a hand, slowly, and holds it out.

Shang Qinghua thinks about it.

He thinks about it again.

He reaches back and puts his hand in Mobei-Jun’s own, which is as cool to the touch as always, and moves over his skin carefully. His hold is so light that Shang Qinghua could break it without any issue at all.

They stay there, like that, looking at each other.

Looking at their hands, holding without hurting, after everything. It's such a small gesture.

It feels kind of like a miracle.

-

AN: I am... a huge fucking sucker for Mobei-Jun holding Shang Qinghua waaaaay too lightly because he won’t risk hurting Shang Qinghua again. Like, this man is going to take it from the top. No more assumptions. 

- 

“What do you want, Shang Qinghua?” Mobei-Jun says, voice turning up at the end, in the closest thing that the man might ever come to helplessness. “What do you want from this?”

“I…” Shang Qinghua wipes at his burning eyes with his free hand. This is kind of pitiful. “Fuck.”

Mobei-Jun lifts his free hand and uses his own sleeve to wipe at Shang Qinghua’s tears, like his robes aren’t important to him at all. “Ask,” the man says, in the tone of a promise. “You do not have to fear the future. Anything I have to give is yours.”

Shang Qinghua gives up on trying to speak and just moves forward to bury his face in Mobei-Jun’s chest. Fuck it. The demon lord who was supposed to kill his character lets him do it. Mobei-Jun holds on to him, arms heavy but still so careful, the man’s chest moving in a sigh that sounds like relief.

This really was too many unspoken things to finally say aloud all at once.

- 

AN: So, yeah! That’s what I’m been building up to with the Jiahui/Qingge marriage and the Qijiu fights and makeup, getting Shang Qinghua to think about what he wants from his relationship with Mobei-Jun. Luo Jiahui and Shen Qingqiu have basically been throwing the question at him repeatedly: “What do you want from this life, Shang Qinghua?” 

Because it can’t all be plot! You’ve taken your family for yourself, but you can have more than that! You’ve made so many choices already... you can take this last step and make this choice too. Let Mobei-Jun in. 

A lot of Moshang plots end up being “Shang Qinghua’s inability to communicate versus Mobei-Jun’s inability to communicate”. Which is great! That’s Moshang! And some external issue (a rival demon lord, Linguang-Jun, etc.) will end up being the secondary plot which acts as a scenario pusher for the primary plot of the Moshang relationship. Again, great stuff! 

But since the romance isn’t the focus of this fic, I decided it would be fun to have a more “Shang Qinghua and Mobei-Jun versus the problem” take. (Which also shows up in lots of Moshang fics! Definitely not exclusive to this fic at all!) I’m looking forward to having Shang Qinghua and Mobei-Jun actually try and tackle problems together, as a couple, inside the main “Family of Choice” plot. 

Which isn’t to say that Moshang have totally worked out their relationship here. They have only just gotten together. Mobei-Jun still has issues. Shang Qinghua still has many issues. They’ve got a lot to work out together. They’ve never been in a relationship like this before and there’s a lot of people out there who would object to their relationship! Their relationship is going to continue to grow as the fic continues. They’re going to have a few bumps in the road. 

But I really like the idea of Mobei-Jun being Shang Qinghua’s rock in this fic. This man has been so stressed. He needs a hug from his ice demon boyfriend who can soothe headaches with a hand. 

-

When Shang Qinghua feels like he has himself more under control, he draws back just far enough to say, “My king, will you kiss me?”

Mobei-Jun’s expression is already soft, at least by his standards. His gaze turns hooded before he leans down as Shang Qinghua leans up. Shang Qinghua takes the man’s face between his hands to kiss him. It feels nice, if uncertain, with the hunger of something a long time coming at the end of it. There's years worth of wanting in this.

It has been so fucking long since Shang Qinghua kissed anyone.

He breaks the kiss and has to stifle laughter, clinging to the front of Mobei-Jun’s robes, which the man never closes properly, so now Shang Qinghua is never going to be able to not thinking about touching it. It’s a very nice chest to touch. He knew it would be.

Mobei-Jun’s brow furrows slightly, his hands staying on Shang Qinghua’s hips.

“What?”

Ah, sorry! Sorry, my king! It’s just- this is such a ridiculous detail to get stuck on, but your lips are kind of cold? I’ve, ah, I’ve always kind of wondered,” Shang Qinghua confesses quietly, without really meaning to actually say it. Holy shit, he’s going to blame saying something like this after that on the fact that he’s had a very long and very weird day. “Sorry. I'm really tired. It's fine. It's good.”

Mobei-Jun snorts and kisses him again, as if to say, “Deal with it.”

- 

AN: Cute! Mobei-Jun likes it when Shang Qinghua laughs. I stand by this.