#no wonder he Qi Deviates

[the-girl-with-too-many-ideas]

So i'm in the middle of playing the Silent Hill Remake, and it's the one and only Silent Hill game I've ever played. What I knew before was very minimal, so what I've gathered is that Silent Hill is a town that's basically aggressive therapy that takes the aggression extremely literal. Thinking about it that way, I had a thought.

What if the Ling Xi caves were more like Silent Hill. Psychological horrors and everything. It doesn't let you go until you've conquered your heart demons, and if you don't, then you Qi deviate and die.

I have not finished the game at this point, so if my interpretation is wrong, feel free to correct me.

[quietly-sleeping]

Thinking about shen yuan having green eyes in his past life and it slowly bleeding over the brown eyes of shen jiu the longer he is in the body

[waitineedaname]

im reading the shen jiu extras and realizing just how jarring the new sqq must have been

[whos-the-seme]

Shen Qingqiu was doomed.

He stood still, fluttering his fan nervously and trying to avoid catching his counterpart's, the real Shen Qingqiu, glaring eyes from across the room. Instead, he idly observed the other Cang Qiong Mountain Peak Lords, trying to spot the differences between the ones he knew and their alternates.

Liu Qingge had brought back a strange artifact from one of his hunts to the monthly Peak Lord meeting. It was a mirror, rimmed an ugly tarnished gold, topped with a decoration that was shaped into an unidentifiable creature with ruby red eyes.

[Important Artifact Detected: Red-Eyed Sphinx's Mirror! Quest starting...]

Shen Qingqiu had been trying to remember where it might have appeared in PIDW when the surface of the mirror suddenly began to glow a dull yellow. It quickly brightened until it obscured everyone's vision.

And then, there stood another set of peak lords across the room, facing them down.

System, what on earth is going on???

[Quest started: Lost Long Spirit in My Reflection! Other characters have been transported to this universe. Host must find a way to send them back without revealing his identity as a transmigrator.]

WTF? I didn't agree to this!

[Good luck!]

System??? Get back here!

While the two Yue Qingyuans and Xu Qinglis conversed together to try to understand what had happened, the other peak lords had begun to mingle with each other, curious about their counterparts.

Shen Qingqiu tried to suppress his panic, sticking close to Shang Qinghua. His Yue Qingyuan occasionally flicked his softened gaze towards the alternate Shen Qingqiu, likely noticing that the other still acted as he used to before his qi deviation. In fact, several of the peak lords he had gotten to know over the years were sending some looks at the other Shen Qingqiu.

With the original goods right there, how long would it be before something exposed him as a fraud?? What if he was confronted about why he acted so differently?

[Host must avoid having his identity exposed. Being revealed as a transmigrator will result in Host being immediately sent back to his old body.]

Yeah, yeah, same shit as always!

Looking to his side, Shang Qinghua seemed to be experiencing the same threats, desperately looking away from the more dead-eyed Shang Qinghua across the room who, luckily, was barely paying him any attention.

Fuck, what do we do?

---

Shen Qingqiu continued to glare at the Other Shen Qingqiu in the room. The other Shen Qingqiu was so obviously a fraud, he could tell within minutes of being here. While his alternate seemed somewhat familiar, he didn't act like him at all, his mannerisms were all off, and despite the attempt at keeping a poker face, Shen Qingqiu could tell that he was nervous. Probably at being caught out.

His alternate self had likely been replaced with a bodysnatcher or some sort of spirt, if they truly were supposed to be the same person. Was everyone else stupid, or had they had their brains sucked out by a Heart Mouthed Lobster-Squid?

Or maybe they simply like the bodysnatcher better and didn't bother to investigate.

Shen Qingqiu's face became stormier, turning his glare to the Other Yue Qingyuan, wondering if he had felt happier once his precious Xiao-Jiu had vanished. The other Yue Qingyuan's face grew even more pathetic. Tch. Typical.

"That stupid System--" Shen Qingqiu nearly snapped his neck in looking at the bodysnatcher upon hearing his murmur. The fraud, upon noticing his sudden attention, clammed back up and looked away. But Shen Qingqiu knew what he heard.

Xi Tong.

He hadn't heard those words in years, not since--

He stepped forward, scanning the other once more. Upon a second, more thorough look, Shen Qingqiu realized that he grew more familiar. He wore his hair in the way that Shen Qingqiu wore it, but looser and less severe. His eyes were clearer and lighter, with hints of a smile, despite his nerves. He occasionally quickly glanced up and to his left, as if seeing something there, before bringing his attention back to the room at large.

No. It couldn't be. He was long dead, despite Shen Qingqiu's best efforts. Even if the fake had some similar things about him, that doesn't mean--

Shen Jiu had once had a brother, besides Qi-ge. Slightly smaller than him, despite the fact that Shen Jiu passed him along as much food as he could when on the streets. He smiled so much despite their circumstances, and was so kind despite Shen Jiu constantly telling him that he was making himself a target. But he looked so, so similar to Shen Jiu himself. They could have switched their clothes and looked exactly the same, if one didn't notice the difference in their demeanors.

His brother has also always been a little odd, talking to himself and arguing with an imaginary friend that only he could see named Xi Tong. One of the reasons that they survived as long as they did on the streets was due to the inexplicable knowledge that his brother seemed to have. Somehow, his brother knew about the various plants or small animals that they could hunt and sell for a pretty coin in the markets. Shen Jiu never asked, not looking a gift horse in the mouth.

But his brother was dead. He had died years ago, in the time during when they were in Qiu's manor. During a punishment for Shen Jiu's attempt to get them both to join Wu Yanzi; he had switched their clothes and taken Shen Jiu's place and died for it. That had been the final catalyst that made him set the manor ablaze and escape, mourning his brother's death as his fault for daring to be free. Cursing Qi-ge for not coming back for them.

Dazed and his vision dim, Shen Jiu took another step forward, and another. Hope, something he thought he had killed off long ago, slowly rose in his chest.

Had his brother survived in this world? Had he managed to escape alongside Shen Jiu? Or had Shen Jiu died in his place? Dimly, he can't help but think that the world would be far kinder if that were the case. If his brother had made it to Cang Qiong Mountain and became a peak lord all on his own and still managed to keep his smile. If he didn't have Shen Jiu dragging him down with him.

The other Shen Qingqiu, not having noticed his approach, laughed at something the other Shang Qinghua said ("Wonder if Shang Qinghua is a traitor here, too," Shen Jiu thought dimly). His laugh was the same. He rose his fan to hide his face, but Shen Jiu noticed how his nose crinkled, and his eyes nearly closed in delight, exactly like--

"A-Yuan?"

[masteri-0]

Suddenly wondering if anyone out there has written a fic or had ideas about an au where SY (either no system or just more lax) just decides to reveal his transmigration status from the get-go?

Like, sure, reading about transmigration was cool and all, but suddenly finding himself in this exact scenario? Where he'd have to deceive an entire mountain of people and assume the role of this presumably dead man? Not so fun after all. No thank you.

He doesn't even have to say anything far-fetched. Just smt along the lines of: yo uh, I'm not SQQ? I think I died and suddenly appeared here? SOS pls help, I'm not evil don't kill me. Just like, weird soul displacement things.

I mean, they're in a cultivation world filled with ridiculous wife plots and bizarre qi deviations that could regress a person to their child self, it's not that unbelievable. Possession is a real thing here! This one is just, not malicious. I wonder how the plot would turn out and what would be the reactions of the peak lords? How'd they go about trying to fix it? What do they do in the meantime? So curious.

[everytimewetouch-dot-mp3]

there is something so special to me about the moment when yqy moves from knowing that his xiao jiu is gone to knowing that his xiao jiu is gone.

like he’s known that sqq changed after his qi deviation, but it’s one thing to say ‘the person i love is unrecognizable to me now’ and another to say ‘the person i loved is unreachable now and will never be within my reach again.’

after all is said and done he goes to visit sqq in his bamboo house, and he smiles his kind brotherly smile, and he no longer wonders whether he will see his xiao jiu looking at him from that face this time. he knows he won’t. he knows better than to hope he’ll return just as suddenly as he left.

it hurts and it hurts and it hurts with every breath, but there’s nothing to be done. this time, xiao jiu has left his qi-ge behind, and he made no foolish promise that he’d return.

[allpiesforourown]

Role reversal au again + qi deviation baby binghe... feat slight comp het and oblivious pining binghe

Thinking about binghe being so enamored with shen yuan (he does not realize hes in love) that he regularly ignores booty calls to stay on the peak and "train" his head disciple (he doesn't train shit, he just fends off anyone else who might want to spend time with shen yuan)

His regular fuckbuddies are starting to get so pissed off by being ignored by him. The few women who are unfortunate enough to get a night with him get one round and then hours of gushing about his sweet head disciple who's making sooo much progress!

One time he said shen yuans name in bed but his lover was too dazed to hear him, so that's a secret he keeps locked up in his heart

(Somehow, despite never meeting these women, shen yuan has become their biggest enemy)

After being chewed out by the nth person for neglecting them over his stupid job as a teacher, Binghe starts getting worried. It's one thing if one person is jealous, but I'd everyone is telling him he's too obsessed with shen yuan, should he be concerned...?

He wakes up the next morning in an inn next to a woman and finds out he qi deviated into a younger version of himself. He has no choice but to buy some children's clothes and hurry back to the peak, request time in the cultivation caves, and get back to normal asap.

Unfortunately he runs into... you guessed it, shen yuan.

At first shen yuan looks at this little boy who is an exact copy of his shizun and remembers that one chapter where binghe turned into a little kid so women would dote on him. Then he goes "if this is shizun, why the hell would the stallion protagonist be on the peak instead of surrounded by women?" Obviously this must be one of Luo Binghe’s long lost children, here to find his father!

Shen yuan pats binghes head and says his shizun is off the peak at the moment, but little didi is welcome to stay until he returns!

Why doesn't shen yuan pat binghes head when he's in his adult form? What can binghe do to make shen yuan pat his head regularly?

Binghe doesn't know the trial he's in for. Shen yuan is making his life HELL.

"Didi, where will you sleep tonight? Come, let's share my bed."

"Didi, are you ready for your bath? I'll wash your back."

"Didi, come sit in my lap, I'll read this book for you."

Luo Binghe wakes up in bed a week later (cuddled by shen yuan, who is wearing nothing but one thin layer) and realized he's back in his adult form. He hurries out of bed, and shen yuan wakes up soon after

Shen Yuan: didi? Where did you go- oh, shizun! Welcome back!

Binghe: mhm. I met your 'didi' and dealt with him.

Shen yuan: Oh did you figure out his living arrangements? I didn't get to say goodbye....

Binghe: ..... one more thing

Shen yuan: ?

Binghe: you are no longer allowed to invite anyone into the bamboo house. You will bathe only using the peak lord's private bath, and no one else is allowed there.

Shen yuan: ?????

Binghe: dismissed.

Shen yuan doesn't know wtf happened. Binghe is staring at the sun, wondering what he needs to do to qi deviate again

[sunderwight]

Demon Shen Jiu is such a fun idea though.

Especially if he himself doesn't know. Like imagine, Yue Qi finds this abandoned baby and the baby is REALLY OBVIOUSLY not human. But this also enables Shen Jiu to survive being abandoned at such a young age -- a human baby would die without adequate nutrition or care, but demons are a little more resilient. Baby Demon SJ has a way more forgiving digestive system and can move under his own power from a much earlier age. By the time he's a year old he's hunting his own rodents and small birds, and has to be stopped from biting and mauling anyone he doesn't like. Which is most people. Qi-ge develops amazing reflexes.

Why do the slavers tolerate a demon baby hanging around? Maybe it's really not all that uncommon. Demons come across the borderlands from time to time, and are as liable to abandon their kids or die or etc as anyone else. It's maybe an open secret among slavers that demon-blooded kids are a better investment, even, because they can survive for longer on less. The only downside is if they don't ever look human enough to pass as human, because that limits potential buyers, but that's only relevant when the slavers are trying to sell them. For the purposes of having a network of street kids stealing and grifting and spying and etc, it's fine. A lot of the slavers themselves started out as demon-blooded street kids with no other options.

But in SJ's case, he pretty quickly starts passing as human. Mostly because he's quite strong, and he's convinced that he's the same as his Qi-ge, so he makes himself the same. Makes his hands look the same and his teeth look the same and etc. It's largely subconscious, and once he starts doing it, it becomes automatic. SJ forgets that he's a demon in the way that most people don't retain their earliest childhood memories -- although he remembers that some of the slavers were demons.

Then of course there's the question of why didn't the Cang Qiong cultivators notice?

A few options. One is that whatever kind of demon SJ is, it's really good at mimicking humans. Another is that he's only part demon, and like Luo Binghe, fully capable of handling both kinds of cultivation. So once he starts learning spiritual cultivation, even from a heretic like Wu Yanzi, he doesn't seem different from any other recruit with a patchy education on the subject. Anything else odd about him could be easily attributed to his exposure to Wu Yanzi and his wicked practices.

Although full demon SJ is a fascinating idea. (Also, it could contribute to all those qi deviations -- he's trying to cultivate AND "fake" human cultivation at the same time, I doubt Qing Jing's techniques are totally compatible with everything going on there even without the psychological turmoil.) Like I'd imagine Airplane wrote that SJ was abandoned on the streets as a baby, and the system was like "hmm he probably wouldn't survive that?" and then in some nine billionth wife arc, Airplane also creates a variety of demon that can fully pass as human (for some identity conflict with a prospective wife), even to the point of fooling human cultivators and demon-detecting tools. So the system just ties these two disparate pieces of world-building together in order to patch a critical plothole (Airplane doesn't know anything about babies). Which has the side effect that Shang Qinghua doesn't even know that SJ became a demon!

And SJ himself doesn't know. The only person who knows is Yue Qi.

Obviously this wouldn't come up much in PIDW, but it could be pretty funny in the SVSSS timeline. YQY just sitting there through the whole Luo Binghe being a half-demon reveal, wondering if he should say something. Subsequently being the most absolutely chill about the whole demon reveal thing anyway. Like he's definitely not upset that Luo Binghe is a demon, or part demon, and the multiple people who try to make a point about it just run afoul of his impenetrable smile and get nowhere.

Then eventually Yue Qingyuan decides that he should probably tell Bingqiu that Shen Qingqiu is a demon. For like, safety purposes if nothing else. He's kept the secret so long also for safety purposes (even if someone put Shen Qingqiu under a truth compulsion he wouldn't be able to admit to being a demon, because he himself doesn't know!), and he's done tons of stuff to prevent anyone ever finding out (although Xiao Jiu is so talented that he didn't have to do much), but Luo Binghe is the demon emperor. That changes things. If Shen Qingqiu is going to be visiting the demon kingdoms regularly then there's a chance something could reveal the truth unexpectedly, and that would probably be worse.

So Yue Qingyuan sits down and has a very serious discussion with Shen Qingqiu and Luo Binghe about how Shen Qingqiu is actually a demon, was just the cutest little demon baby in fact, here he drew a picture from memory of what Xiao Jiu used to look like before he learned to look more human, and also how a lot of slave kids and slavers and people who fall through the cracks in society have demon ancestry, some more recent than others, and Shen Qingqiu always retained a certain discomfort around his own kind because of the adult slavers who sold him off, and etc etc.

[skipblebee]

It's another sunny day at Cang Qiong mountain sect. Shang Qinghua has just delivered a bunch of writing materials to Qing Jing as requested by Peak Lord Shen. On his way back one of the disciples stops him and he recognises her to be Ning Yingying, one of the peak lord's favoured disciples. "Shishu," she smiles at him "Shizun is playing songs for us on his guqin! Would you like to stay and listen?"

Shang Qinghua weighs his options and figures he might as well rest his legs, he's got a lot to do once he's back at An Ding Peak and hey!! He might as well get a treat for his delivery!! It was literally a last minute thing that wasn't even FILED for properly but whatever, he thinks, it's not everyday someone would get an invitation to listen to Shen Qingqiu playing his guqin! And from one of his favourite disciples? Oh he's in luck, this is like getting front row tickets to your favourite band!!

So Shang Qinghua makes his way towards a garden close to the disciples' music room, where a bunch of eager students listen to their shizun's wonderful playing. He really is as talented as they say,, nimble fingers gently plucking at each string. You can feel the love and emotion he has for each song pour into how he plays it.

Shang Qinghua leans against a tree as Ning Yingying makes her way to sit next to Luo Binghe, right in front of the crowd, and he can't help but smile at the sight of them. Shen Qingqiu plays a melody that the other peak lord had heard once or twice. Some song about falling in love in spring.

His head sways to the relaxing tune, and he closes his eyes. The cool breeze causes the tree branches to sway, the sound only adding to the charm of the evening.

The song eventually reaches a crescendo. Shang Qinghua, Peak Lord of An Ding, for a moment forgets about his harsh sect sibling and internally praises his skills! For someone as mean and snarky as him, he can play as gentle as the spring breeze itself!

It is when the crescendo of the song is reached that Shang Qinghua's life changes forever. It was just a small detail, and none of the students noticed of course, because none of them were from the 21st century.

But just as the song reached an emotional height, there it was, absolutely unmistakable, a riff he would recognise anywhere, even if years into his new life.

The unmistakable riff of Buddy Holly by Weezer.

His eyes fly open and he nearly stumbles off the tree he was leaning against and onto the ground below.

WEEZER???? Buddy HOLLY???? He was almost certain he made it up, his mind was certainly playing tricks on him!! An auditory hallucinations of sorts maybe!

He looked up at the other peak lord's face, as tranquil as a gentle stream itself! He had blended it into the song so well that it almost sounded like it was a part of the original!!

"P-Pardon me!" He whispers to no one in particular "I should be getting back to my peak now! It's getting pretty late! Thanking the esteemed peak lord for helping me listen to his lovely playing! If he even is a peak lord,,,"

"Shizun!" He hears the disciples pour out their praise once he's done with the song "Shizun's embellishments to the song made it even better than it usually sounds!" The echoes of flattery follow his ears until he's finally out of sight.

He scurries out of there, no one really noticing his absence, and damn near trips and rolls down the entire length of the mountain with all the adrenaline coursing through him. 'Oh my gosh another transmigrator??' his inner monolgue screams 'are we sure I didn't make that up??? System oh my lord ARE YOU THERE??? SYSTEM ??? AREN'T YOU SUPPOSED TO TELL ME IF THERE'S ANOTHER TRANSMIGRATOR HERE?? I THOUGHT I HAD AUTHOR'S PRIVILEGE????? Oh my, maybe that's why people say he's been acting different lately,,, I really have to see for myself sometime. I haven't really interacted with him since the qi deviation..."

Needless to say, the other disciples at Qing Jing weren't phased by the An Ding peak lord mumbling to himself as he scurried down the path, it was a usual occurence anyway. Shang Qinghua on the other hand had a lot to think of once he returned to his peak,,,, this would certainly be,, very interesting,,,,

[fairsweetlonging]

thinking about crowyuan saving liu qingge from his qi deviation and disappearing before he can fully wake up so he won't be recognized (him being a demon and all), but it causes liu qingge to accidentally mistake him for shen qingqiu.

there is a massive fight during the next peak lord meeting, with liu qingge accusing shen qingqiu of saving his life and not taking responsibility for it as if it's a war crime, while shen qingqiu keeps denying he had anything to do with it and if he had saved liu qingge, he'd be rubbing it in his face every chance he got.

it escalates and escalates until liu qingge, red with embarrassment and anger, points at shen qingqiu and says "you were cradling me in your arms!" and shen qingqiu explodes.

mu qingfang tries to calm them down by saying that perhaps liu qingge hallucinated, which is not uncommon for a qi deviation, but that sets off some of the other peak lords who now start teasing him for "dreaming of shen qingqiu coming to rescue him", and of course that only makes it worse.

liu qingge refuses to let it go and starts bringing shen qingqiu his victories to try and pay off his debt, because he is an honorable man and he will not let shen qingqiu get away with this!!

meanwhile shen yuan is watching it from a distance wondering whether he made it better or worse by stepping in.

[pretend-i-don-t-exist]

i am so tired and burnt out rn so mqf here we go

he's a doctor he can (probably) relate to stem student burnout he can handle it

anyway mqf being exhausted after dealing with a) bai zhan peak disciples who have somehow managed to get all of them injured severely but not the crippling kind, just the ones that need either mqf's expertise or a senior healer, b) beast taming peak disciples who thought it was a good idea to pet a beast that it widely known to eat people who come too close, c) liu qingge, d) shen qingqiu, e) yue qingyan, and he does not get paid enough for this

idk sometimes people think the most bizarre things when they're very tired and so, mqf, after realizing that doctor-patient confidentiality does not equate to passively dealing with recurring patients, decides that Change Is Necessary

the next time lqg drops off disciples after "training", mqf heals them and yells at lqg with all the anger and exhaustion of a med school student. which is, yeah, you don't want to know

sqq overheard it and is very pleased. bonus points, bai zhan avoids harassing qing jing ever since mqf passive aggressively tells them that if they hurt disciples from another peak unprovoked, he's going to ban them from receiving medical treatment (it's an empty threat. but it works)

the next time sqq gets a qi deviation, mqf sits him down and tells him that if he doesn't get his shit together he will have to call an Intervention. of course, this does not go very well with sqq, so mqf calls an Intervention. sqh is suspiciously on board with this. he has all the materials needed. mqf wonders, then decides that sqh must be planning a long time before mqf lost his shit

a truth pollen or serum or whatever later, yqy and sqq are decidedly Not Pleased with them but mqf has one less problem (sqq's qi deviations) and that is Worth It. also he better be a vip guest in qijiu's wedding because he has gone through so much shit because of them

anyway he and sqh are bonding over everything and mqf has realized that sqh is, maybe, being courted by an ice demon king. mqf debates the ethics of sqh's maybe traitor-y ways then decides that sqh is too good of a gossip buddy to lose. mqf makes him realize that he's being courted. sqh faints. mqf tells him that he knows it's a pretend faint— he's witnessed and healed thousands of patients who fainted. who is sqh trying to fool here?

mqf also demands a vip invitation to moshang's wedding. anyway, his patients are the lowest in number since he became a peak lord, his sect leader is happy and willing to give qian cao more funds, he has a best friend in the form of a demon king's spouse (he can get demonic plants and beast parts for medicinal treatments!), and he is now Less Stressed. everything is fine. absolutely everything is fine.

sy transmigrates into a qian cao disciple npc and mqf sighs once he realizes he has Another Problem.

[rarepears]

Since this blog is clearly on a "what kind of weird system can we give Shen Jiu" kick, let me introduce you to this other Chinese webnovel system genre - I call it genre but you can also call it a fad because it was everywhere at one point - where a person would get a system that would assign them missions to spend XXX amount of money in XXX time.

Gifting the money and donating money obviously don't count as completing the mission. And it the money has to be spent for personal use, not on behalf a company or other people.

If Shen Jiu gotten that system upon joining Cang Qiong... well his reputation for being a rich scion would be signed, sealed and delivered. And he would be constantly lambasted for always spending money and shopping instead of focusing on his cultivation - and it's no wonder he has so many qi deviations tsk tsk.

But hey, Shen Jiu can buy all the world's most expensive cultivation tools and rare plants now without batting an eye. He just has to outbid that An Ding head disciple (that has the entire Cang Qiong budget at his disposal) at the auction.

The two become such big enemies that Shen Jiu doesn't even have the idea of buying all those rare demonic ingredients and material from Shang Qinghua later down the road when his missions become even more difficult to fulfill.

[misto713]

imagine shen yuan transmigrated as the lord of the culinary peak. (when he can't even cook and died of food poisoning lol.)

luckily for him, the disciple selection is just around the corner, and before sqq (original goods) can claim little luo binghe for himself, shen yuan calmly ignores the bickering bai zhan war god and the scum villain and claims him first. and now sqq can't bully the sect leader to have another peak lord hand over a child they chose - that would be uncouth!

and so: may the cooking isekai begin!

sy admits he 'lost his memories', and while he rushes to educate himself on spiritual cooking techniques, binghe becomes his 'right hand man' who 'helps out' (meaning, he's the one that actually cooks while sy provides commentary and cultivation cooking manuals). little bunny binghe doesn't mind, in fact it feels great to be trusted and needed by his shizun!

binghe quickly becomes the darling baby of the peak and soon, the sect. and, in true cooking isekai fashion, every problem can be and is solved with food! binghe's heavenly (demonic) food!

binghe prepares excellent 'paradise silver-moon-lotus cakes' that mu qingfang judges would be a miraculous boost to ones cultivation - so he sends some into the lingxi caves, just in time to save liu qingge from a deadly qi deviation. cake's so good it snaps liu qingge right out of the deviation.

binghe's cooking smells so good that the invading demons pause in their invasion and destruction of the rainbow bridges to go raid the culinary peak instead. sy, in a moment of total badassery, send all the kitchen knives flying, handily defeating the demons (don't forget he's a golden core cultivator too!) binghe watches him with starry eyed wonder when sy manages to save him from 'elder poison armor'. sha hualing is left to face the war god basically alone and is lucky to escape with her life.

binghe's cooking is so good that just its memory is enough to seduce meng mo into staying and teaching binghe demonic cultivation.

and so on and so forth. years later, when binghe wins the world's cooking competition, the camera pans first to sy's proud smile as he claps until his hands hurt, and then to binghe, eyes secretly shining red with a glowing 'mark of sin' on his forehead. turns out it was bingge all along and he just wanted a 'round 2' of his revenge against sqq but then got stolen away by his sweet and adorable sy!shizun so he decided to abandon his vengeance and become a spiritual cook instead.

...

...

look i just seriously need some cooking isekais, ok?? why can't i find any cooking isekais?? this fandom is perfect for one! if there can be coffeeshop AUs, why not a proper cooking isekai?? T_T

[coolshadowtwins]

Do you think SQH heard that SQQ had a massive qi deviation, bad enough to effect his personality, and wondered ‘WTF did I do???’

Or when he heard that SQQ saved LQG in the caves, do you think he thought, ‘WTF did I do??? Did my advice years ago matter???’

Or when he heard that SQQ had gotten poisoned, saving LBH of all people, and just think ‘WTF DID I DO????’

(Joking aside, what did he do? The difference between PIDW and SVSSS before SY showed up was him, so he had to, somehow, cause a qi divination that was bad enough to kill SJ that absolutely didn’t happen in PIDW. What did SQH do??)

[i-will-cry-you-a-river]

He didn't notice it first.

He should have known that even though they were not the protagonist, they were still peak lords. He should have expected it, honestly, but the constant battles against the System and the forced in-character lock made him careless.

He thought that he hid it well; he didn't even get punished for being OOC that much!

Yet, he should have known.

System helped, as well as his knowledge of the so-called scum villain's character, but considering his nicer behavior towards Luo Binghe, the unexpected life-saving of Liu Qingge, and his ability to function without spewing vitriol towards everybody in his vicinity, it shouldn't have been surprising that he had been under suspicion ever since his qi deviation.

He didn't find it odd that he was asked to check out magical items that could banish possession, or help with memory loss; it was expected that he was the best person to identify unknown objects.

Nor was he suspicious when everybody started to look at him differently. Like they were all waiting for something. He assumed, it was just because they were so used to him getting angry at the slightest provocation that it was still strange for them that he could communicate his problems like a well-adjusted human being. It had been years, since his qi deviation, but it wasn't that strange.

But then, the suspicious quests came. Quests that should have been given to anybody else, but so bored of being confined to his peak because of Without Cure, he took them happily. Only...

Those were traps. Traps from his own martial siblings. He thought they would be happy that his scumminess was gone; that they would like a Shen Qingqiu who they could bond with. He thought the tea time with Mu Qingfang was because the both of them were interested in the flora. He assumed Liu Qingge made sure to drink his medicine because they were friends. He hoped the gifts from Qi-ge Yue Qingyuan were apology gifts. He thought he was getting friends, people he regularly kept in contact, people he could count on.

But no.

No. They didn't want the nice Shen Qingqiu, the one unburdened by his past. The one who had knew about all the abuse, fear and pain, but had lived two decades surrounded by love and care, who learned how to care for people in turn. The one who had two wonderful brothers and an amazing sister, who taught him that he could count on people, that he would be loved. They didn't want that Shen Qingqiu.

They wanted the Scum Villain. They wanted vicious, angry, traumatized Shen Jiu, the one who hated everything and everyone. In the end, his siblings as Shen Yuan were wrong. Maybe the shut-in, web novel obsessed sickly Shen Yuan could be loved - but the Shen Jiu who fought tooth and nail to be where he was, couldn't. His martial siblings didn't want a friend, somebody to care for; they wanted a scapegoat.

Well then.

They would get it.

[10thmusemoon]

Since you are one of the leading experts on YQY, I wanted to ask your opinion on the 5 year gap, when SQQ was supposed that.

I was wondering why YQY at one point, after so many failures from LQG, didn't just go by himself to retrieve the body.

Like, the novels don't say anything about his mental state in that period, the same way we don't know how he was after thinking SJ gone the first time. What do you think?

Like, rationally of course he couldn't go and retrieve the body, for diplomatic reasons and shit, but would he really care, if his beloved xiao jiu was on the line? And, I mean, he already subdued a heavenly demon once, if he and LQG were to join forces, they could def steal the body back.

I tried to search a bit, but atm I haven't found a fix about that precise moment in time either. What's your thoughts?

I remember the book mentions something about him being in seclusion or training and then having to abruptly leave that when the realms start splitting. When we see him again I think LQG is feeding him spiritual energy to maintain the sect’s barrier? I vaguely remember It’s implied he’s like tired or drained or something and he’s sitting?

I haven’t finished my reread but I always assumed he qi deviated again (though not to the same extent) or went into seclusion due to his grief. This was, after all, the second time he thought SQQ had died. But this time it was ‘real’ something they all saw and not just the rumors of some surviving servants outside a burned down house.

Maybe a part of him hoped LBH would succeed in bringing him back, he had a front seat view to what heavenly demon blood was capable of, maybe a small part of him hoped LBH would succeed. Or maybe he was strengthening himself to the point where he could draw Xuan su long enough to retrieve SQQ’s body. LQG wasn’t weak, his continued failure was a barometer of YQY’s own strength and where he needed to be to win and live long enough to return to the sect.

YQY’s whole thing is that acting impulsively ruined his life, he second guessed and forces himself to move slowly and with a level head. When he’s near death he mentions something along the lines of maybe he should have acted impulsively, so it was a thought he had at one point. Whatever he wanted to do had to be weighed against the responsibilities he already had and the reality of the situation.

After all, what would happen if he failed? SQQ’s body would remain with LBH and his would never rest. I don’t think that was a risk he was willing to take. Dying? That’s fine! SJ losing his place in the cycle of reincarnation? Not so much.