#maybe sqq is trying to get them to get along

[waitineedaname]

i love remembering that binghe being a good cook was a detail from pidw, like that's not just bingmei being a housewife, that's something bingge does too. i think the next bingge vs. bingmei incident should involve them cooking together and experiencing the rage of Someone Else In The Kitchen

[sunderwight]

Thinking about how lucky it is that Shen Qingqiu (SY version) never gave Luo Binghe the wrong impression that he wanted a harem.

Like imagine they've having a conversation and Shen Qingqiu makes some offhanded comment about a harem is all well and good, but he thinks it should definitely be of a manageable size, hint hint, with individuals who get along harmoniously and support their primary spouse, hint hint, and marrying almost everyone you hook up with is just bad form because it's inevitably going to cause friction and it'd be nearly impossible to properly look after that many extra spouses, hint hint.

Luo Binghe picks up on the hints but draws the entirely incorrect conclusions. Combined with his previous inquiries into what kinds of women his shizun likes (SQQ, not wanting to ever be seen as LBH's potential romantic rival and eager to free himself of the original's lecherous reputation: I have no interest in any women whatsoever!) and some subtle inquiries about when a person should settle down (SQQ, with unexamined anxiety at the prospect of his dear disciple heading out into the world: not too soon! a man should establish himself well and figure out what he likes first, and take his time!), Luo Binghe concludes that his master has been biding his time and is building up to constructing a reasonably-sized harem of malewives.

Because apparently, Shizun believes that a man in a position of significant power should inevitably want such things. And disciple Binghe isn't thinking of "a position of significant power" as "effective god-emperor of the whole world", his current ideas of such things are more along the lines of "peak lord" really. Also why should Shen Qingqiu make so many comments about how Luo Binghe must surely be anxious to start taking lovers or daydreaming about having a billion wives unless he just thinks that's the standard for everyone? Because that's what he wants?

It was chaotic enough when just one of these guys was bracing himself for the inevitable harem-building, but if Binghe also expected he was going to have to supply Shen Qingqiu with a stable of other men, hoo boy. Binghe telling himself that he's fine with it. As long as he's first wife, Shizun can have others. Getting particularly vicious towards new guys Shen Qingqiu meets, like okay he's resigned himself to Liu Qingge, and probably maybe also Yue Qingyuan, and in those cases definitely having to fight them tooth and nail for primary spouse position (his plan is to become the undisputed master of the domestic sphere and thereby outrank them on that front, even if he can't beat their peak lord credentials), but anyone else is someone he can potentially chase off and Shizun will still have his reasonably-sized harem. If Gongyi Xiao wants into the harem he's going to have to earn it, and he's getting bottom of the pecking order!

Binghe, after they finally get together, trying to have frank discussions about the inevitable harem. Shen Qingqiu putting on a brave face because he, of course, thinks Binghe's talking about his own harem. Getting confused as to why Liu Qingge is suddenly factoring into the conversation. Then reaching entirely the wrong conclusion because oh right, Binghe is gay now and Liu Qingge is extremely pretty. Makes sense! Definitely not what Binghe means but it makes sense!

Actually this would be a hilarious way for bingliushen OT3 to happen. Just a complete comedy of errors where bingqiu are both trying to secure Liu Qingge for each other without ever concretely establishing that either of them wants him, even though they think they have.

[fairsweetlonging]

Okay but Mocking bird demon SY (has shapeshifting powers) pretending to be SQQ to help LBH. No system, SJ lives, just SY will not let his protagonist be miserable. He optionally also wife beams LQG who is extremely confused and horny as to why SQQ is playing hot and cold with him

i LOVE that idea oh my goodneeees!!! all the shen yuan bird aus are a GIFT that keeps on GIVING!!

as a bird he can easily live on mount cang qiong and get around unnoticed, because what peak lord or disciple is going to look twice at a small, grey silver bird? it allows him to stay close to luo binghe and help him in every way he can, from giving him food he carries in his little talons or beak, singing to him when he's down, keeping him company in the forest, to making silly mimic sounds to make him laugh.

i looked up a little about mockingbirds and apparently they're extremely territorial when raising hatchlings and their nest (attacking even cats, hawks and humans), which is perfect because luo binghe is (definitely!) a helpless hatchling in need of protecting, i mean, technically his wings haven't even properly grown in yet, he can't fly! so cue ming fang and other bullies getting relentlessly attacked when they try to come near binghe.

and then the shapeshifting: from what i've gathered, mockingbirds sing regularely at night, so i can imagine shen yuan waiting until nightfall and shen jiu goes to bed when he makes his move. he dons the master's form, goes to the woodshed, and takes binghe out to train in the forest with a real manual. of course, binghe is immediately enamoured with the man shen qingqiu becomes when night falls, maybe he even starts to think it's a "werewolf" thing where he changes when the moon comes up, because there isn't really any explanation to why the soft words, gentle touches and kind eyes turn into sneers, violence and glares as soon as the sun is up!

bc he does have the protagonist halo, and even in canon binghe knew something was up, i think he figures it out eventually when he starts alluding to certain events that never happened but that his "shizun" plays along with. also the bird has the exact same way of petting his head/ruffling his hair as his night-shizun does. one and one equals two, after all.

and liu qingge yeeeessss!! if in this au shen yuan saved him in the caves as well, he's probably getting such a headache from the complete 180s shen qingqiu keeps making!! one moment everything is great, shen qingqiu is tending to his wounds with such gentleness and a kind smile, and when liu qingge runs into him at night (when shen qingqiu always looks kind of... hurried, for some reason, almost a little nervous), they share a smile and a laugh and one time shen qingqiu even hugged him; but then when liu qingge tries to sit next to him at the meetings suddenly he's getting snarled at, called a dumb dirty beast and to sit elsewhere?? hello??? never mind getting invited into the bamboo house, or shen qingqiu accepting his (dead animal) gifts.

i also think it'd be so really funny if shen yuan ended up not caring about continuation errors or consistent character behavior, and just goes all out on the OCC by being kind to everyone in shen qingqiu's form; flirting with liu qingge, cuddling with yue qingyuan, spoiling luo binghe rotten, gifting mu qingfang all kinds of rare herbs that he can find easily in his demon bird form, and generally being a moon-saint that everyone comes to realize isn't actually shen qingqiu, but since he's doing good for the community and not harming anyone, they kind of just..... leave it. the peak lords have a meeting about it (sans shen jiu of course), and they decide the night-qingqiu can stay.

tho i do think yue qingyuan would ask shen yuan to don a different form.

also also, shen yuan getting up to all kinds of mischief by mimicking other peak lords' voices: calling to disciples with their shizun's voice, watching them get all confused because no one's there?? or making shang qinghua go around in circles because he keeps saying "this way, shang qinghua, hurry up!" in an angry liu qingge voice. and also making shen jiu open the door to no one when he mimics yue qingyuan's voice. there's a LOT he can do with it🤭

[sillygoofyqueer]

hiiiiii so about crow!au and jiuyuan...🙏

i was thinking, after shen yuan has finally made it to the CQM, both for the protagonist and hopefully to cultivate a true human form, it's only logical to keep an eye on the scum villain, you know, to make sure that he isn't going to be filleted into a tender piece of crow meat!

but while shen yuan thinks he's being super inconspicuous, sitting on the roof, shen qingqiu has slowly started to look forward to seeing the crow when he comes back. it's always there, and overall a quiet and gentle creature that doesn't bother anyone, but does seem to like hanging around shen qingqiu's house. maybe in his head shen qingqiu starts to think of it as "his bird", and he starts leaving it bits of food (not obviously, but more like he "accidentally" forgot to bring the dish back inside). he starts getting protective over it too, like one time maybe yue qingyuan comes by and sees the bird, and tries to make it sit on his hand or smth, and shen qingqiu gets all huffy bc "it's just a bird it can't hear you, it won't come to you!"

shen yuan starts to notice that shen qingqiu's mood seems to improve around him (which, huh???), so he plays it up a little bit by flying down from the roof to the porch railing when shen qingqiu comes home, or cawing to him in greeting. shen qingqiu sometimes reaches out his hand to perch on, but though shen yuan never does, it doesn't make sqq angry (sqq knows how difficult trust is to earn), until maybe one day shen yuan surprises them both by perching on his arm, and oh well guess he's the scum villain's bird now??

YEEEEESSSSS JIUYUAN MY BELOVED!!!! Shen Jiu literally just takes Crowyuan with him everywhere after that, with the bird perching on his shoulder or on his arm, or in his lap - there have been many occasions where SY hasn't been able to get comfy so he hops into SJ's lap and uses the man's robes as a nest of sorts. This happens the most at peak lord meetings, because of course SJ takes SY to the peak lord meetings, it's his emotional support crow, and SY sometimes pops his head up from beneath the table and squawks (mainly at Shang Qinghua, who seems petrified of this bird). It gets better when he cultivates a true form because SJ is far too attached to him to let him go at this point, so he just has this beautiful crow guy following him around, clinging to his sleeves and hiding behind him like SY did in crow form before. Of course, he still tries to get comfy on SJ's lap and...listen, SJ lets it happen so it can't be that weird, right??!!? He doesn't like chairs!! They're uncomfortable against his back, and stools just don't cut it for him, so he often sprawls along SJ's legs and reads during a peak lord meeting - nobody quite knows what to say, and they definitely don't want to piss off SJ, so they just kinda let it happen. (Also, if they're enjoying the eye candy, then why would they try and stop it from happening?) Yue Qingyuan is half upset that he's being replaced by a BIRD, and also very pleased that SJ now has a close friend. Also SY just builds mini nests EVERYWHERE, like, all over the peaks, and god forbid you try and touch them because it will mean your death. He gets super mopey when he finds out that his nests have been touched because of course he knows, and when he's mopey EVERYONE knows about it. I like to think that SJ immediately throws all decorum out of the window at the implication of someone upsetting HIS bird...person...thing...WHATEVER!!!

[sun-and-moon-mushroom]

Ok so — Luo Binghe is happily living his life with his husband, all their problems have been sorted out, the human and demon realms are at peace… and then one morning he wakes back up at the base of Cang Qiong, a child again, on the day he was first accepted as a disciple by Shen Qingqiu. He doesn’t know how to get back to his original timeline, or even if it’s possible, but while he’s here… maybe he can make sure things between him and Shen Qingqiu go better this time around?

SQQ doesn’t like him initially, something he’s sort of forgotten over the years, preferring to think of happier times instead. He doesn’t get tea poured on him though, which is his first improvement, and he isn’t kicked out of the disciple dormitories either. Even his first cultivation manual is a copy that’s less damaged than he originally got!

(SJ still doesn’t like LBH much, but unlike the first time around, he doesn’t have a reason to specifically hate him. Instead, he just sees him as something of a sycophant, at least at first — cunning and ambitious, but loyal enough).

LBH manages to get the job of making food for SQQ again, which means he’s spending a lot more time around the bamboo house than he ever did before his shizun had that strange qi deviation, and it’s giving him the chance to see a side of SQQ he never saw before. He can still see the similarities between this one and his husband — they share a tendency for cutting critique, embarrassment over being seen enjoying something outside their role as Peak Lord, and a fondness for sweet snacks. They’re still very different though, and LBH slowly finds himself falling in love with this version of SQQ as well.

Being closer to SQQ also lets him see his interactions with the other peak lords — especially YQY and LQG, and their relationships are so different from what he’s become used to. He knows that SQQ apparently lost some memories during that qi deviation, since he apparently forgot whatever caused him to hate LBH in the first place, since he’s never been able to explain why to him — but he really must have lost a lot to forgive people that he so clearly doesn’t get along with. Sure, part of LBH is glad that LQG isn’t a romantic competitor any more, but that’s no excuse to be rude to his shizun!

Keeping this in mind, LBH decides to try and avoid that qi deviation that changed SQQ so much. The first time it happened, it was a blessing, but this time, it would erase this other version of SQQ that he’s only just getting to know. So he manages to convince SQQ to teach him how to treat qi deviations.

(SJ goes along with it, because it seems more convenient for him, even if he has to read up on some of the theory in order to teach it).

When Sha Hualing invades, LBH is ready — and when SQQ shows up with injuries he didn’t have the first time, LBH is willing to stand up and take on the first fight against the one-armed demon. Instead, SQQ fights the demon who covered his armour in Without-A-Cure, winning easily. Liu Qingge shows up, just as he did the first time, and that’s where things go wrong — when everyone is distracted by his appearance, the defeated demon charges at SQQ, almost getting him poisoned, if LBH hadn’t thrown himself between them.

(SJ was only just able to save LQG due to his better knowledge of qi deviation treatment, but he still ended up getting injuries in the process, and they hadn’t fully healed yet).

LBH wakes up a day later, in the side room of the bamboo house again, still dusty and filled with storage boxes. He’s met by a Qian Cao disciple who explains that, even though the poison ended up not being Without-A-Cure, he still needed time to fight it off, and qi infusions from a stronger cultivator — like his shizun. After they leave, SQQ comes in and asks if LBH knew he was part demon.

(SJ grew suspicious when LBH was so willing to sacrifice himself, and investigated, confirming the poison was actually Without-A-Cure, but he didn’t tell Qian Cao that. From the way he just fell ill from it, he knows that LBH must be only part-demon, although he doesn’t know how much, or if he knew if the poison would affect him or not).

LBH pretends he didn’t, drawing on his memories of the first time he learnt about his heritage, and it seems to convince SQQ. He tells him that he can stay in the sect, but only as long as he can hide his heritage — and if he decides to learn demonic cultivation, he should come to SQQ instead of seeking out any strange old masters who claim they’ll show him the route to power.

(SJ rationalises this as just a way to pay back the debt for LBH saving him from Without-A-Cure, and also a potential way to test out some of the theories about demonic cultivation. Over the next few days, he doesn’t get the chance to sleep, between the chaos resulting from the demon invasion, and the presence of LBH so close to where he sleeps. One day, just before LBH is meant to go back to the dorms, he finds himself collapsing onto his bed out of exhaustion. Rather than the nightmares he’s become used to, all his dreams are peaceful.)

Sleeping closer to him, LBH can now slip into SQQs dreamscape to take a look. The SQQ he married had strange dreams, absurd really, that mix things he’s never heard of with reality (what is a ‘microwave’ and what is it doing in his kitchen???), but this one has nightmares. Even from just a few glimpses, he can tell why SQQ might have wanted to forget those memories, to pretend they didn’t exist, so he pushes them away and replaces them with happier memories instead. A few days of peaceful dreams later, SQQ tells him he can stay in the side room, because ‘it will make cooking easier’.

(SJ still isn’t really sure what to think of LBH although he’s slowly starting to care about him — very against his will)

The Immortal Alliance Conference is coming up, and LBH has a difficult decision to make. He doesn’t exactly want to go back to the Abyss but… if Tianlang-jun gets free again, won’t his plan to unite the realms be the same? If he can find his way into the Abyss and claim Xin Mo before LBH does… no, it’s better for him to take it, to hide it away somewhere. Xin Mo may be considered lost, but there are still stories about where it could be found, some of which he knows to be accurate.

(SJ isn’t sure why his new head disciple seems so worried about the Conference, he’s sure he’ll do fine — he’ll even bet on it, and get some money out of all that work training him that he put in. It’s just a simple competition — what could go wrong?)

[lizhly-writes]

staring at my sqh/yqy peak lord fiance ficlet. consider this! sqh is still consorting with demons while this happens because why not. mobei-jun still exists and is fully aware of the whole "haha i'm engaged to my shixiong and everything is so fucking weird" and sqh is muttering about this as he looks through some northern desert stuff.

it's just. come on, yue-shixiong. we're engaged, you don't have to keep chasing after your xiao jiu -- not that sqh minds!!! if you two get along, great, that's everything that great airplane god wanted! but like, it gets really awkward when you run away while you're on a date with lil ole shang qinghua, and then everyone starts feeling very sorry for sqh for having a fiance so obviously in love with another man, which, okay, sqh absolutely took advantage of to get paperwork done at first, but it's starting to get wayyyyy more awkward now --

mbj finds himself in the wonderful position of being able to give sqh dating advice. does mbj date? no. but does he know what dating looks like? hell yeah. it seems a shame that his best spy/advisor/friend(?) doesn't know the answer to this.

"hit him," mbj suggests.

"what," sqh says.

"three times a day."

and then we get into a discussion on demon courting and sqh going "haha that's nice but yqy isn't a demon" and mbj is like "i don't understand why you don't try it, how else are you going to get his attention".

"humans don't court by punching people???"

"you don't appear to be making any progress doing this the human way." and mbj says this super condescendingly, too. like hey, sqh, you're such a loser. you have no game. of course you have no bitches. how can you have bitches if you don't punch people in the face.

well, yeah?? fuck you too, my king! it's not like you've ever had a date, are you not launching a boulder while being precariously balanced on your glass peak (me: i'm paraphrasing bu-ding-talk, check them out)? sqh could totally make progress if he wants to! not that he wants to! who wants to make progress with yqy??

anyway, this gets buried until the next time yqy pays sqq too much attention and sqh had the most resigned fucking look on his face. like come on. this again?

lqg is there. sqh makes incredibly awkward small talk. like haha hey how's your engagement to sqq. good? bad? ahahaha yeah, actually, sqh didn't have to ask, obviously it's bad. look, our fiances are running away with each other. people keep telling sqh that he needs to keep yue-shixiong's attention somehow, but all the advice is weird. in fact this guy last week said that sqh should hit yqy three times a day, not that sqh is going to try that --

"hmm," says lqg. "that's not a bad idea."

sqh is abruptly reminded that he is talking to lqg, a man who probably would be more interested in people if they punched him in the face.

"is that what you're doing with sqq???" says sqh.

the answer is no, of course not, don't be dumb. but like, if sqq WASN'T a poisonous snake of a man and a decent human being, lqg would mayhaps have his interest piqued with a good fight. that's so much better than flowers and haircombs. who wants courting gifts when you can have a good punch in the face.

"hahaha thanks liu-shidi but maybe not i think yue-shixiong could probably kill me if i tried," says sqh and scurries away.

fast-forward a week or two, in which sqh is having a stressful time. maybe it's tax season. maybe it's a shitty night hunt that he has no business being on. either way, yqy is there with him and good god is yqy zoned out.

is yqy actually zoned out? eh, maybe not. perhaps he is actually fully paying attention, but also he takes a look at a stand for fans while sqh is talking to him and sqh is like "shit, is this sqq again?" exasperation turning into anger while sqh is just, super stressed, and he just needs yqy to pay attention to him just this once, and the thought occurs -- well, at least two separate people have told him that he just needs to hit yqy --

all this to say that sqh just fucking decks yqy

[levemetal]

I have a million and one svsss AU ideas that idk if I'll ever write cause I have 0 confidence in my untested writing skills. Any of these appeal to you?? Go ahead, use 'em. Know any fanfics like that? Please please PLEASE leave them in the comments. Ideas to add? Anything? Please go ahead I have no friends that are as deep in the svsss brainrot as me to subject this to ˚‧º·(˚ ˃̣̣̥᷄⌓˂̣̣̥᷅ )‧º·˚

Continued under the cut due to excessive rambling

These will be Ghost King/Calamity!SJ cause he has been living rentfree in my brain ever since one braincell at one AM shouted about it so you have been warned.

- Dual Ghost Kings YQY and SJ, Post canon of PIDW. That's it that's the idea. Their extras hurt my cold dead heart way too much and as much as bbygirl SJ is a piece of shit, Yue Qingyuan deserves happiness, and for that he needs his Xiao-Jiu. Basically YQY does not stay dead when Bingge turns him into a pincushion à la White No Face to Xie Lian except with arrows. What happens from here? Idk didn't get that far but I imagine he steals back his (probably dead) Xiao-Jiu, maybe does some other batshit insane shit like we all know that deep down he's capable of, and the duo fucking COMMUNICATES for once in their life and they live happily ever after. Bonus points for hilarious deaths for Bingge.

- If you're a filthy multishipper like me, want a BingJiu version of the above QiJiu? Easy, SJ decides to haunt Bingge's ass for eternity and vice versa when Bingge kicks the bucket and so they spent the rest of eternity trying to make each other miserable in increasingly ridiculous and creative ways. Maybe along the centuries they find a common enemy or sort their shit out and proceed to make their awful existence everyone else's problem. A match made in hell, truly <3

Are you seeing a theme yet. I like a general comedic air to svsss AUs, it just belongs to the svsss experience ya know? Anyway carrying on-

Shen twins, and SQH twins cause why not. If you want Binghe twins too, actually probably funnier with Binghe twins, where one is our beloved maiden Bingmei and the other OG!PIDW Bingge but forced back in time with memories of the PIDW timeline. Transmigrator SQH aka Airplane gets the peak lord + Mobei-Jun plotline while OG!SQH is just chilling as an An Ding Peak Hallmaster or something. Meanwhile, the Shen twins have a funny game of imposter going on. As far as everyone is concerned, there is only one Shen Qingqiu, Shen Yuan. Shen Yuan transmigrated in earlier into the novel, but ended up going to CQM with Yue Qi while SJ got stuck in the Qiu household as in canon. From here the details can change but the main idea is that

A) Shen Yuan knows how to do his peak lord job actually

B) SJ is a calamity ghost, having died either in his disciple years or alternatively never made it out of the Qiu household alive

C) Both SY and SJ have been playing switcheroo when SY needs to head out and do stuff or just wants SJ to do his paperwork for him.

I still need a good reason for the switching and duping, but wouldn't it be funny if the disciples just had to deal with their peak lord behaving WILDLY different at times. Most of the time it's good ol' Shen Yuan smiling at disciples, way too enthusiastic for monsters and plants and keeps forgetting his fans everywhere. Then one random week in the month after he has a resting bitch face, scowls, snarls and bitches at anyone and has 0 patience for teenage attempts at music.

Most shrug it off as just terrible migraine weeks, but some disciples are suspicious, most of all Bingge who is CONVINCED something is WrongTM. Like, he KNOWS SQQ and this SQQ is just so different, something must be different. He doesn't know how right he is yet everyone just thinks he's actually insane.

I know this is probably increasingly insane and dumb, but fast forward to the Abyss opening. SJ was probably there to keep an eye on his clumsy twin, but SY ends up asking the ghost to look over the Luos, as the system still demands that they go to the abyss. So SJ after much grumbling agrees (after all he probably just was unmasked as ghost calamity, and the twins as demons, with a huge amount of cultivators moving their way. It's really the smaller hassle to jump into the Abyss and deal with the horrors there. Besides, the scholar in SJ would be curious about the abyss (and SY too let's be honest) ), kicks both in and goes "Alright we're taking an impromptu field trip" and jumps in after leaving SY to deal with the political mess that comes after.

Anyway, the last AU can be changed in various ways, like make it a PIDW time travel fix it with only the OGs around, or just Shen twins, etc. Feel free to shout at me how dumb this all is.

[bloopitynoot]

Reading SVSSS: Chapter 9

For those who don't know, I am reading SVSSS for the first time and sharing my thoughts!

If you have not read it, there will be spoilers! Consider this a warning.

Also- if you want to follow along, I am aiming to post updates daily. You can find all the posts in the tag bloopitynoot reads SVSSS. You can also check out the intro post for context on my read.

I feel so weird sitting here in the morning reading this, this has been my night-time routine for 8 chapters!

In all honesty the fic I was reading this morning just wasn't it/my brain kept coming back to my boy Shen Qingqiu, so here I am 8am on a Sunday heading into the Borderlands.

My teas are for evening- so this morning, hazelnut coffee!

ah, okay, intro to this chapter. I have been wondering how the afterlife works in this series. I hope we find out more than "the border of human and demons realms" p167

JK lol this is a physical place and not an afterlife p168

oh gosh, this is quite a mess! (Re: the political upheaval within the Cang Qiong Mountain sect as well as vs others) I kind of want to know what the side quest Shang Qinghua went on in the demon realm. p169

Oh baby Luo Binghe keeping Shen Qingqiu's corpse :( p169

okay but he also took Mo Qingfang with him so maybe they were trying to figure out a way to bring Shen Qngqiu back? p170

I would have loved to be privy to the Tea that Lu Liu was about to spill about his theories of Luo Binghe and Shen Qingqiu ahaha but instead we got a knock on the door interrupting p171

who is this newcomer??? Wait who's the second one?? The anticipation!! pp172-173

wait. "what year is it?" New character or??? p174

I fucking cant. Yes it is Shen Qinqgiu. but also the dramatic flair is too much RE: "faking your death is overdone, I must therefore actually die :)" p174

omg SQQ had a backup body made from the mushrooms! This is so wild. This was definitely Shang Qinghua's side quest for sure. p175

omg I can't stop laughing. What is with MXTX killing the leads and then twinkifying their new bodies. p176

it's been FIVE YEARS?!?!?!?!? p177. Oh damn, bless that he has an abundance of spiritual energy now!

He really told them his name was peerless cucumber- oh my. p178. Can we talk about how they then immediately stated he was a bottom with the Peerless "chrysanthemum, crown, flower.."p178

The hypocrite lol "It is wrong for you to profit from their misfortune" after he literally stole all the clothes on his back and a fancy fan for fun (and cultivating, but let's be real mostly fun). p180

why does everything just come back to SQQ just fantasizing about Luo Binghe's dick? We went from SQQ ranting about demon naming conventions to what he would call Luo Binghe's actual dick LOL p181

HEAVENLY PILLAR-JUN - pls end me XD stooop. p182

Meanwhile we have these demons sweating because they think this man is incredibly powerful and very unstable as SQQ laughs maniacally then slaps himself. p182 I really don't think they are wrong TBH.

oh no! I need to now what Liu Mingyan has been doing in the badlands! p184

but also SQQ assuming that Liu Mingyan is Luo BInghe's wife.

OOOOOO Sha Hualing is back! p185 I like love her as a villain, but hate her as a character. She's in a weird place for me, but I appreciate her LOL

Who the heck is this youth? p186

Jesus christ. the fact that in this moment SQQ hates Sha Hualing's nails- not because there is a kid about to get slice and diced, but because in the novel she uses them to tear up Luo BInghe's back when they fuck. I cannot with this man *face palm* p187

okay we have a name for this young master- Yang Yixuan, and this little baby is Liu Qingge's disciple! p188

learning about how Luo Binghe's cultivation works with his need to basically dual cultivate to level himself out has me officially believing that the system basically allowed SQQ to build the ideal body for Luo Binghe. he definitely has the excess spiritual power LOL p190

This interaction with Sha Hualing and Liu Mingyan tho...I really love Liu Mingyan! Wait- oh no! Not her clawing her face!!! p194

okay she did not get her face clawed

Well, my theory about SQQ building the perfect bod has more merit with the nuns now out of the picture. p197

Holy shit. he actually is strong enough to break through immortal binding cables!! p199

NOW he notices the script change LOL p201 "Shen Qingqiu had certainly never planned to fill in the gap they left behind himself. He had that old feeling of having accidentally picked up the wrong script- it made him vaguely suspicious that the scam of a System was still around"

Dang! he broke the net too! p201

and we have a small appearance by Luo Binghe!!!

Yay! I am so excited i've missed the system, glad it's back. even though it seems kind of broken lol p203

Well "peerless xiangsheng" and "senior peerless" are certainly better than peerless cucumber LOL p205

oh my. Well I mean, he's not entirely wrong is he? Re: Lu Liu's epic tale of the tragic one-sided love between Luo Binghe and Shen Qingqiu. (and this is the Tea I wanted at the beginning of the chapter, I am so happy about it). pp206-207

oh my sweet summer child "Those details aren't the slightest bit reliable, okay? 'The Truth' your sister! Even if I had no girl to fondle for twenty years, no matter how wretched I became, I wouldn't get so desperate that I'd get gay with a guy! Let alone get gay with the male lead!" p212

This Chapter LOL

This was definitely a needed pick up after we had that wretched death. But now I am so curious! I need to know how this turns into their weird but epic love story. When do these two collide??? What happens next???? (do not answer any of these questions LOL no spoilers, but I am very excited to read on).

[danmeiconfession]

I gotta say the callous attitudes of the Peaklord to go behind SQQ back to discuss his qi deviation and theorizing maybe Possession took place and when that became clear it was not they just did not continue to look further because they like the pretty outer shell of nice SQQ because then it would make them ask what make their shixiong so prickly and what his issues were that maybe it ran deep because how else is he so different otherwise?

 No one thinks of: what if this SQQ wishes to remember? I read once in a fic, and I found it very just, a Lan Zhan amnesiac who says that even if it were painful experiences (33 lashes and 13 years of mourning) they were part of him, that they were dear to him even if painful.

I think that even if SJ hated to have lived what he lived, he did not want to forget he did not want to forget Qi-ge, his fiancée, the courtesans of the brothel, all the women who were nice to him,… or his life, who he is. And who he is with unpleasant experiences: rapes without doubt, abuse, a life without a parent, a feeling of abandonment, the fact that he never felt at home in Qing Jing, that he was not loved by his martial brothers and sisters, betrayal ... and also with things he did.

it's not something they have to decide. If SY were SJ it would be up to SY and SY alone to decide if "something must be done" and if He have to “stay that way.”

I also think that although the peak lords may be right to not appreciate SJ, they never tried to get along with him either. I always found LQG to be very contemptuous without knowing (like all peak lords)

Like it sucks cause they should have talked with him in person your memories what youve gone through as a person and when it comes to his trauma all the girls he put his head down for a nice nap, Qiu Hatiang, Yue Qingyuan "betrayal" all the shit that went down makes him who he is as Shen jiu. They don't talk to him and ask if he wants to look deeper into his memories like they disregard their martial brother who I get they dislike but it makes them scummier in my eyes because wtf they barley even tried ?

Like if it were any of the Peaklords take LQG for instance they would have tried their hardest to get his memories but because their SQQ is more presentable and make them feel more comfortble is disgusting cause they disregard his autonomy.

Who we are is made up of our memories and how our past experiences have led to the development of our beliefs, our coping mechanisms, our very personalities. Without his memories, is SJ even SJ anymore? They may prefer the blank slate, but it requires no self examination for them. They do not have to think deeper like you have about why SJ is who he is, what terrible past he has that makes the reader more forgiving and understanding of his faults. If they did think about that, they would have to do something, wouldn’t they?

Hell, If Yue Qingyuan and SJ were reversed are any of us going to be suprised at the lengths he'll try to go to get his Qi-ge' back as readers but YQ who cares for SJ but lack of a backbone in not trying to recover his memories and not trying is just... irksome. SJ being more all or nothing guy compared to YQ who basically just a water down version of MDSZ Lan Xichen who basically did nothing to his benefit really says something. He's not kind he's a diplomat a politician he's polite is what he is.

YQ character would be much more attractive to me if his indecisiveness just never existed lol. I hate mopy characters so damn much and with a postions as sect leader had he been more firm and not let his shidi do whatever 99% of the things that happened never would have occured. There's only so much you can blame on miscommunication when it actively hurted and harmed the other party. He saw what it did to his shidi and he just did nothing about it right up to his foolish sucide attempt to save his Xiao at the last minute when his legs got sent to him. Wonder wtf he was doing then filing paperwork lol?

.

[symphonyofsilence]

Fanfics ideas, cause you love MXTX works. MDZS characters will be besties with who (in your opinions) if they were in other universe, with characters from TGCF & SVSSS ? Please pick at least 3 characters from each series. Hope my questions are not confusing.....

Nie Huaisang would have been a big fan of Liu Mingiyan and Liu Mingyian would have appreciated NHS's collection of... educational books so she could write more exciting and diverse Smuts. Shang Qinghua would have found his way in and NHS & he would definitely get along very well. Shi Qingxuan & NHS would get along like a house on fire. (Though SQX would not get a word of what was said among NHS, LMY, & SQH he would enjoy the vibes & be happy to be there) And WWX naturally would belong to this group and bring JC with him. I don't know, maybe SQX, much like how happy he was to find a Ming-Xiong, and mess with General Nanyang would have been happy to meet Jiang Cheng, whether Jiang-Xiong felt the same or not? Or maybe not? Like... he apparently hadn't tried to make friends with Fengqing so maybe he wouldn't try to make friends with JC either (even if he did I think it wouldn't have been an especially deep relationship between them. It would be more like NHS's and JC's) WWX, SQX, and SQH would drag in LWJ, HX, & Mobei-Jun with them. Those three would absolutely say nothing and make no friends. Mobei-Jun (despite WWX and SQX's many attempts) and LWJ (despite SQX's many attempts) would stare in a dead inside way and He Xuan would eat. (Shen Qingqiu would have loved to join them but Liu Mingiyan would turn strangely quiet against NHS's questions when SQQ was around, so...)

I'd love to see Xue Yang, Qi Rong, and Sha Hualing interact! I believe They would get along very well. I'd love to see them take care of Guzi together, too! (Guzi would end up taking care of them.)

(Then Sha Hualing and Xuan Ji would inevitably cross paths and have a nice girl in-bathroom talk wherein Sha Hualing would try to knock some sense into Xuan Ji and tell her to know your worth, girl and it would result in Xuan Ji going you know what?! Maybe you're right maybe I SHOULD let go. To which Sha Hualing would answer WHAT?! NO WAY! KICK HIS A$$!!)

One lotus root pork soup from Jiang Yanli would work wonders for Shen Jiu (who needs an older sister). And I think JYL, since she apparently likes to surround herself with tsunderes would be fond of him, too. Shen Jiu might have crossed paths with fellow street rat A-Qing. The hissing cats would bond and form the deepest, and strongest frenemy relationship and stick together. Then Shen Jiu would inevitably end up meeting Xiao Xingchen. This group would fix him. Before breaking him even worse because of the whole...you know,... Yi City Arc. Then he'd be adopted by Yushi Huang or Baoshan Senren. Maybe Yushi Huang could promote A-Qing to godhood. their combination with Pei Su, Ban Yue, and Pei Ming could have been interesting.

Teenage Mu Qing-gege would also probably know A-Qing, Shen Jiu, and Yue Qinguuan. and occasionally give them food and keep an eye on them. This combo-minus YQY- might have also occasionally bitched about others with each other. (So the god adopting Shen Jiu and promoting A-Qing to godhood could be MQ, too)

Jiang Yanli would flourish if she could join Yushi Huang and have a peaceful positive maternal figure who cherished her talents and calm demeanor. JYL, Ban Yue, and Pei Xu would have helped each other. she would also enjoy interacting with SQX, and Xie Lian. and SQX would like her very much. She might have also had a soft spot for Mu Qing and looked out for him and what he didn't say.

Wei Wuxian and Hua Cheng would get into passive-aggressive rivalry in talent, sass, fashion, batshit theories and ideals, and sass. they would greatly enjoy their rivalry though. Maybe through Hua Cheng, WWX would meet He Xuan, too, and enjoy annoying him. He might form a very forced, very one-sided friendship with He Xuan, Which after a while of WWX imposing himself on him, HX might or might not come to miss in WWX's absence.

Ling Wen and Jin Guangyao would have a pleasant talk over tea about how incompetent everyone else is and how they have to do everything around here. Then slowly, they'd be joined by Yin Yu, Zhuzhi-lang, and Shang Qinghua. And then This talk would then turn into a union.

Wen Qing and Mu Qing would meet each other while healing others and they'd start to be mean judgemental bitches together. They have kind hearts. They save everyone's lives, but they also shoot death glares at everyone & bitch about everyone while doing it.

Wen Qing might have also befriended Ling Wen. She might have been recruited by Qi Qinqi.

Lan Xichen, Yue Qingyuan, Yushi Huang, and Xie Lian could drink tea together and have a pleasant conversation without an actual word that would lead to any personal knowledge about them being exchanged. Though any two combinations of this group could have a vague and not very revealing but definitely insightful conversation with each other.

I know Liu Qingge, Jiang Cheng, and Mu Qing are a popular combo of hissing cats. But these 3 could stay together in one room for centuries and do not utter a word to each other or make any other attempt at human connection. Xie Lian though, a certified bitch- specialist might want to befriend Jiang Cheng, Shen Jiu, and Liu Qingge.

Literally anyone could befriend Shen Qingqiu (Shen Yuan, obviously) . Especially the cloud recesses trio, especially Jiang Cheng. Jin Zixuan would have benefitted greatly from befriending SQQ. (Or maybe not. Who knows.)

Xie Lian and Xiao Xingchen would have a very pleasant short chat. A-qing and Xue Yang would also love the other Daozhang. This would result in A-Qing wanting to protect the Daozhang from mean strangers and Xue Yang wanting to torment Daozhang as a sign of his gratitude for his exemplary manners towards Xue Yang. Luckily XL wouldn't stick around this long.

The Juniors would look up to Liu Qingge and would love to be his disciples. (Especially JL who feels life LQG kinda has a similar attitude to his Jiujiu and reminds him of his jiujiu) they would get into- hopefully- friendly rivalries with Shen Qingqiu's disciples, especially Ning Yingying and Ming Fan. In time those two would join the Junior group as well.

Jin Ling would follow Feng Xin around because AN ARCHERY GOD! And since the juniors stick together, so would the three others. And since Fengqing are always together, the two southern gods would acquire a band of ducklings.

Qi Qingqi would immediately recruit Mianmian. Pei Ming would try to hit on Qi Qingqi and immediately realize his mistake. They'd eventually befriend each other and Qi Qingqi would gain a place among The Three Tumors. That would lead to Qi Qingqi meeting Ban Yue and recruiting her, too.

After Ling Wen recruited Jin Guangyao as a god to help her do paperwork, JGY would find a solid place for himself in The Three Tumors, too.

(Mostly SVSSS/TGCF interactions:

Tianlang-Jun, with his interest in polyamorous dramas, would follow 3Zun dramas intensely. Pei Ming would get curious about what he's observing like a soap opera and join him in watching that trashfire. they'd have a great time eating popcorn and doing commentaries together, and then Tianlang-Jun would pull an uno-reverse on Pei Ming by giving him advice on how to court Yushi Huang.

Jian Lan has big maternal instincts, and Luo Binghe is above all, a baby. So Jian Lan would become LBH's new ghost mama and Shen Qingqiu would get along splendidly with his new ghost mother-in-law.)

[chuckduckling]

Do you think that qijiu would figure out their feelings for each other once they talked everything out or at least close to death? Like you're more to me, closer to my heart. Just thinking the comparison between Sj in pidw where he sends off yqy and forgave him without knowing the truth and compares to yqy in svsss confess about his sword... I like to think once they talked, it doesn't immediately fix everything but it's a lot better. Hopefully feelings blossom. *Thinks about your posts about qijiu and what they think of the other*

I'm a sap for QiJiu fix-its so I'm biased, but I agree.

Shen Qingqiu forgives Yue Qingyuan even without knowing the truth, so if they talk after, I dunno, almost dying due to some plot device or whatever...if SQQ could find out that YQY never actually abandoned him, and almost died trying to save him...

I just feel like, even if SQQ was angry that YQY didn't tell him sooner, he would still go bonkers upon finding out that they're equally bonkers for each other. SQQ's whole perspective would shift if he learned that his loyalty and friendship were reciprocated all along. Not only was Qi-ge just as traumatized as him, but he was also just as co-dependent — to the point of deranged recklessness, no less.

And the truth only proves what SQQ thought back when he was Shen Jiu: Qi-ge gets himself into too much trouble without Xiao Jiu to look after him!

Like, if SQQ ends up with a worse opinion of anyone after hearing YQY's confession, I think it'll be YQY's shizun? In the final part of his extra, when YQY is harmed because of him, SQQ is utterly devastated. Imagine how he'd react, hearing that YQY tried to tell his shizun about SJ's predicament, but was ignored, after begging for someone to listen, suffering all alone...and all for him.

So, in my humble onion, if QiJiu are both caught in each other's inescapable orbit — but without that big ugly misunderstanding standing between them — the chances of them getting even closer increase by quite a bit. Even if SQQ's self-loathing gets in the way, he won't easily forget that YQY cares about him deeply and unconditionally.

And I mean, they still might have some messy fights about it. Maybe a few breakups here and there. Some breakup sex, followed by makeup sex, followed by breakup sex again...

Anyway, I believe that their feelings will eventually blossom! Besides, I can make it happen. I have so many fanfiction WIPs dedicated to making it happen...

[princess-of-purple-prose]

[ID: Tags that say, "#OW MY HEART #sqq asking sqh more and more about binghe as it gets closer to 5 years #and sqh having no answers #The system is offline and it only ever mentioned pushing binghe into the abyss #so he'd never know if binghe died in there #And as it reaches the sixth year his sect siblings #watch as he goes from a man in denial to a hollowed-out shell #One day Ming fan brings in some congee And the sight of it just brings him to tears #his shizun wont stop sobbing #because it finally hits shen yuan that he'll probably never see his disciple again #that by pushing him he's doomed him #that maybe he messed up along the way and the protagonist Halo was unable to protect him #his little sheep is dead And it's all his fault #he stops travelling. talking to people. eating. because whats the point of experiencing this beautiful world #if the thing he cares about most isnt part of it. #its his fault and if binghe isnt there to punish him then he'll punish himself #at some point Mu Qingfang brings him to Qian Cao because he's genuinely worried his shixiong may try to do something #even sqh is worried. bringing him yellow books to critique and ravw about but he doesnt touch them. after the 2nd year he wont respond at al #when binghe emerges its to rumors that Shen Qingqiu lost his soul #sorry brain go caught in angst." End ID]

au where binghe returns from the abyss three years *late* as opposed to early and sqq loses it and genuinely, openly grieves binghe like he’s dead

[rarepears]

For the whole Meng Mo manipulates Binghes memories, whether through demonic powers or not, it then leads to the question of NYY's point of view.

Cause if she was there, she should know that LBH isn't telling the truth about the abuse, and presumably, MM wouldn't have manipulates her memories.

So NYY knows that LBH is either lying or just wrong. So why wouldn't she say anything. There's the possibilities of she just believes LBH despite never seeing it or the she's scared that he'll turn on her if she contradicts him.

I however, like the idea that while twisting the memories about SQQ (SJ) and the other disciples, the memories also made NYY seem stupider than she was. But she was a disciple of Qing Jin Peak. The peak of scholars and tacticians. While she was somewhat spoiled, she's still smart enough to earn her place there. So she sees the situation. She knows her shizun is going to lose. She bids her time, plays along. She tries to rescue her shizun (could be an AU where she does pull some NHS level manipulation and gets him back his limbs and freedom).

She does her best to kill LBH when he gets out of hand, but heavenly demons are notoriously hard to poison, and she stands no chance in a fight. It takes years, but eventually she creates a concoction that manages to kill him. She takes out the other main wives too. The ones who helped torture her father figure, who stood by as LBH slaughtered her marital siblings.

Basically, give me a NYY who acts like NHS, hiding her intelligence as she plots the perfect revenge for her family.

I really like the fandom theory that Shen Qingqiu told Ning Yingying to do whatever she needed to survive, even if it meant claiming that he was a pervert. Shen Qingqiu could see the writing on the wall the moment he saw Luo Binghe with the Golden Palace delegation, having clearly done more than just survive the Endless Abyss.

Shen Qingqiu's conversation with her is what gives Ning Yingying the push to decide that she's going to attach herself to Luo Binghe and try to tug on his heartstrings to lessen Shen Qingqiu's punishment. (And maybe she does succeed because Shen Qingqiu doesn't get executed. But being imprisoned and tortured for years isn't actually any better. In fact, it's worse - Luo Binghe misinterprets Ning Yingying's words the wrong way thanks to the pushing and manipulation of his other wives... namely Liu Mingyan.)

But I also think Ning Yingying is a sheltered girl who wants to think the best of everyone. And she's probably learnt that although someone might believe in something incorrect, it still doesn't change that the person believes in it. She's seen it firsthand with how Cang Qiong treats her Shizun, believing in the rumor without seeing whatever the rumor claimed firsthand.

So she thinks Luo Binghe is incorrect, but it still doesn't discount the fact that he believes he was mistreated. He exhibits all the signs of psychological signs of mistreatment/abuse (and Ning Yingying would know the signs firsthand from dealing with Shen Qingqiu), which makes Ning Yingying a bit too softhearted with trying to deal with him in the beginning. And then Luo Binghe's strength leapfrogs too quickly (and his harem growing too rapidly) that dealing with him becomes out of her reach.

Wait, you know what would be really cool? Ning Yingying as a spy, feeding information on Binghe's plans to Qing Jing Peak. (Not to Cang Qiong, never to Cang Qiong who gave up her shizun like he was nothing to them.)

Ning Yingying could had very well been the silly, olibious girl that Luo Binghe remembers. But Binghe was away in the Endless Abyss for years - years that she spent training, learning, and maturing. She's a different person. Qing Jing disciples are different too.

It's not outside the realm that the whole peak are now educated spymasters and intelligence officers because Shen Qingqiu was worried about the future and decided to pass off his streetskills (framed in the form of being spies, undercover agents, and other "cool" roles often seen in adventure novels that Shen Qingqiu pretends that he doesn't know are popular among teenagers) to his students.

And when Shen Qingqiu is imprisoned unjustly so, the students quickly organize. They start spreading out, slowly leaving Cang Qiong in pairs (who shunned and sabotaged them since Liu Qingge's mysterious death), and placing themselves in important strategic positions. Ning Yingying's place in Luo Binghe's harem is one of them. Ming Fan, one of the few still remaining on Cang Qiong, is the replacement for Shen Qingqiu in doing the peak's duties. Some enter the imperial government, others return home to their politically powerful families or rich merchant businesses. Some become "wandering cultivators" to build good reputation and gather information while wandering from brothel to brothel.

Rather than a blatantly BAMF Ning Yingying, I want her and her peakmates to be slowly and subtly undermining Luo Binghe's operation (like CIA agents) while also basically becoming the shadow rulers of the world, all for the sole purpose of rescuing their shizun.

[icancdramahanfu]

Anime Expo pics!

I ‘successfully’ made it to Anime Expo.  I had no travel issues going to LA and even had a day to visit the Getty (note, the building is super cool - the art is meh).  Much delicious food was had and I bravely cosplayed on Day 2/Saturday of the con.  All in all, the cosplay held up very well and was comfortable despite having to wait outside and stand in the famous lines of AX.  Thankfully, most of them were in the shade but I did stand a bit in the sun and it was not roasting.  Hoping to get some easy pics on the set in the Entertainment Hall, I still had to wait 30 minutes for a chance to pose - after 9pm!  This con is bonkers crowded man.  I would have preferred to have gone to Anime Central but my moving schedule prevented it.  I’m thinking ACen or Katsucon next year already.

This is me trying to look thoughtful.  I had the wrong color and size of fan since I’d packed the white one in my moving boxes by accident - along with the hairpin.  I used a post it note taped around a pencil as my hairpin hack and just used the green fan to have a fan.

Here is a nice full shot of the outfit.  I am very picky about shoes and walking around a con so I just wore plain black boots which were what I wanted.

The different layers were quite comfortable and I’m glad I used the cotton for the white/red layers.  Here, I’m still miffed about the wrong color fan so I’m trying to look serious or something with it closed.

Of course, I still had to pose with it open - maybe if I’m really dedicated I’ll try to photoshop it.  Gotta look all sly and mysterious . . .

When I checked my mailbox today I found this - oh the irony!  You were supposed to be delivered before I left!

It isn’t an exact match but I’ll have to cosplay this at least one more time with better accessories!  It turned out that I put on the cosplay before 8am, and wore it until almost 10pm!  Thus, I died after all of the nerdy things I partook in all day.  Turns out I put in ~16,565 steps that day.  The wig also held up decently with my friend’s constant assistance when I had to put my bag on and off. 

I really like messenger bags for crowds but, it was hard to put over the long haired wig.  Going to the bathroom wasn’t difficult but tedious - I did not wear pants underneath for two reasons: 1.) it was hot outside 2.) shorts are much easier to work with than a regular pair of pants under all those layers.

I was also excited the the first person I spotted that day was Ah Xu!  I’m so short ;_;

As far as I could tell, we were the only WOH cosplayers - unless someone else was hiding in the massive crowds (totally possible).  I saw tons of Hualian and the MXTX cosplayers were huge.  TGCF first, MDZS second, SVSSS third.  I was happy to find a Liu Mingyan on Friday in the artists alley and we were excited to be SVSSS fans.  I also found one Ranwan couple with great details - the matching red stone necklaces, and whips in red and gold. . . .  but that was it.  Maybe after the 2ha novel comes out in the fall, cons will have more 2ha cosplayers in the future.  I know my next one is SQQ, but other series should have cosplayers as well.  SPL would be great with Gu Mang and his single eyeglass or Yuwu.

[mikkeneko]

So the engine of the idea, and this is the part I remember seeing at least once in a fic, is Luo Binghe ending up getting captured and stuck in a dungeon under Cang Qiong while Shen Qingqiu dithers around and has highly conflicted feelings about it. I don't specifically remember how he ended up there or how it resolved, though obviously it didn't last for long.

The plot that I'm imagining would go sort of like this:

Shen Qingqiu doesn't quite manage to self-destruct completely at Hua Yue City (possibly he does, but the System, aka me! kicks him back.) He wakes up at Cang Qiong to find a worried YQY hovering over him. YGY fills him in on what happened after his blowout, which involved Luo Binghe flipping his shit and revealing his demon heritage, and Yue Qingyuan and Liu Qingge managing to overpower him together. Luo Binghe is now stuck under a mountain somewhere in Cang Qiong, much like his dad. Meanwhile most of the charges against Shen Qingqiu have been dropped -- the disciple abuse charge isn't going to stick if the accuser turned out to be a demon, and Luo Binghe claimed responsibility for the sower attack. (The Qiu family massacre is still up in the air, but Huan Hua Palace has lost 2/3rds of its charges and also physical possession of Shen Qingqiu, so Cang Qiong ain't giving him back.)

Shen Qingqiu is completely floored by this turn of events. The protagonist... lost? Lost?? That shouldn't have happened! Literally, fundamentally could not have happened! Except... Yue Qingyuan was always the one cultivator too strong for Luo Binghe to face head-on. And Liu Qingge was always an unknown factor. The two of them working together, maybe... just maybe... it happened.

Shen Qingqiu finds himself at a bit of a loss. He got what he wanted -- protection from Luo Binghe, but -- not like this! He wanted to be safe, but he never wanted Binghe to be locked up, to be trapped, to suffer!

Shen Qingqiu decides he has to do something to help Binghe. He has to go visit him.

In disguise, of course! He's not about to deliver himself up for vengeance on a platter!

So he decides to disguise himself and sneak in... as one of the love interests.

I'm thinking he picks Liu Mingyan to be his wifesona, mostly because iirc Liu Mingyan was his favorite wife/the wife he thought was most deserving of Luo Binghe. (It's @cerusee's suggestion that he should go In Disguise As Liu Mingyan Also In Disguise For Plausible Deniability Reasons, but I'll have to see whether I can make that work.) Either way, he sneaks in with a cloak, a veil and a few disguise talismans, and poses as a young cultivator woman who has always admired Luo Binghe from afar, pined for him, and is now willing to go against the will of Cang Qiong for him.

Some back-and-forth goes on here with SQQ repeatedly visiting Luo Binghe in disguise, bringing food and water and comforts, and they talk. Shen Qingqiu LARPing his wifesona gets perilously close to real honesty about his feelings here, though of course he is not going to achieve the self-realization moment just yet.

By the way, just in case there is any doubt, Luo Binghe is not fooled for an instant. But he plays along, because playing along is the whole reason he's here; these bindings are really only meant to contain full demons and he could break out of them at any time. But the near-brush with (Shizun's) death at Hua Yue City spooked him, and he's been doing some self-reflection of his own. He's decided that trying to chase or overpower SQQ clearly isn't going to work, so the only way to get Shizun back in his life is to pretend to be harmless and pathetic. And look! It's working! Even if Shizun feels the need to pretend he isn't himself, for whatever dumb fucking reason.

I'm thinking this eventually ends when Tianlang-jun attacks Cang Qiong (probably as revenge for YQY's part in the initial sealing of him,) and while everyone is running around like chickens with their heads cut off SQQ rushes to the dungeons to let Luo Binghe out. While he's trying to figure out how to undo the bindings he distractedly explains the problem and Luo Binghe agrees to help, stands up, shrugs, and the chains snap like ribbons.

Shen Qingqiu: ...are you telling me that you could have got out of those cuffs at any time?? Luo Binghe: No, Shizun! Only when it was funny.

Pondering a new Bingqiu fic idea 🤔

[shinebrightlikeanarwhal]

Harem Shen Jiu idea!!

Shen Jiu being taken in by a madam of a prominent house. Raised as a daughter and treated like a pretty trophy by the sons and husband of the house. Of course she knows SJ is a boy but for his safety they team up to make everyone think he’s a beautiful girl.

YQY never stopped searching for Xiao Jiu. From peak to peak he’d follow his Shizun everywhere to search and caught sight of pale skin and pretty green eyes. A veil around the lower half of the face and neck. Those sharp calculatrice eyes were his Xiao Jiu!! What did these kids mean by young mistresses Fei??

LQG was curious. The only person strong enough to fight him was hellbent on the hunt for some boy. Was it a boy? Whomever Xiao Jiu was, they were a nuisance to LQG. Or so he thought until he found himself on his butt with a fan to his throat. A very angry little miss scowling at him. Maybe YQY was right about Xiao Jiu being one of a kind…

MBJ stumbled onto the young mistress by accident. He was still young and his uncle had thrown him to the humans as a way of trying to kill him. Instead he finds himself in the arms of a worried youngster. Being checked for temperature and he feels warm??? A human made such a strong impact that this mobei strives to get stronger and spirit them away.

LBH is absolutely feral when he gets to the sect and SJ isn’t there. How dare his shizun avoid consequences of another life entirely?? Oh?? But who’s this pretty cultivator that graces the peaks once every blue moon? His shizun?? Such beauty and grace!? He knew SQQ was beautiful, ethereal really, but to see him actually sociable and showing off his beauty. It was astounding! Mind boggling!! LBH becomes obsessed with this shizun. A shizun that never learned from CQMS. He will unite the lands and make SJ his one and only ethereal empress!!

SQH just wants to simp in peace! This is his second reincarnation but somehow he’s stuck with LBG from his money grabbing plot and is mortified when MBJ demands he keep a close eye on the cultivating worlds rare beauty!! His king wants to marry his princess!? Ah… but they would make pretty babies… maybe SQH should hint at that next time MBJ receives a report.

Gyx is the worlds luckiest disciple. SJ took interest in him and offers to claim him as his own disciple, like mother like son. He develops a close bond with his new shizun. Trailing after the cold beauty and doing everything to the best of his ability. (LBH is seething) tea time with SJ is nice and calm when GYX is around. No crusty men vying for his affections. The local strays and kids also tag along to enjoy tea and snacks!

Or;

SJ getting a harem simply because they learn his personality and not assume things. LBG fighting for his life to get close to SJ. MBJ happily bridesnatches to be at least one of the first three husbands!