#something sort of like a disciple

[domoz-writes]

Alright. It's officially May, so I am going to spice things up and REALLY challenge you, Domoz. *rubs hands together* Simon Says (pretty please) write 100 words of: something sort of like a disciple, Shang Bros, and (if you are so inclined) author of the biography of TLJ.

Omg yayyy I can't believe it... first non-naruto fic on this blog...!

Something sort of like a disciple

She shoves her academy work to the back of her tiny desk and sits down to start prying the top off of the scroll case. After much struggling and nearly breaking off one of her nails, the little red spiral comes off with a vacuum sealed pop. The contents, one scroll one attached note are carefully extracted and laid out on her desk, the paper still thick and white unlike the crumbling sealing tags she'd just finished dealing with. She starts with the note, just in case it says something like "warning, what's on this scroll will ruin your whole life."

Shang bros

Shang Hua doesn't actually see his mother die. The thing is, about his mother, is that she doesn't like it when he's around. Because, as some of his older half-siblings are more than happy to taunt him with: she was favored by the lord of the house before he was born, and afterwards, she wasn't. He can't avoid her. He relies on her, even as he gets older and more clever and starts understanding what it takes to get ahead in this walled off palace he's been born in to. And then -- if she didn't like him, well Shang Hua had never seen her as unhappy as she was the day she realized she was pregnant with his younger brother.

Author of the Biography of Tianlang Jun

Ever since that system prompt had popped up in the corner of his eye, Shang Qinghua has been making a list of pros and cons about going back to the modern world. Like, Pro: Modern amenities! Internet! Electricity! Indoor Plumbing! Con: No magic that lets you fly around on swords and live forever. Pro: No demon kings or mountain sects who want to hunt you down and remove your head from your shoulders. Con: Nothing waiting for him back there except maybe getting back to the grind and writing another sell-out novel to die and transmigrate into.

[domoz]

Oh no, I feel like I want to ask about TOO MANY of the wips. Senju orphan Sakura! Crane summon penpals HikaTobi! Iruka picking up the slack! TenTen, my darling! My best effort to narrowing it down is asking about whichever of those four you'd like to share more on! ♡

But I want to talk about Too many of my WIPs, so actually this works out great Crane's Return of a Favor:

Typically his summons are sticklers for proper etiquette, but he must have some leeway in presenting himself, if he's being awoken so rudely. He brushes his hair out of his face and slides open the door, the early morning chill waking him up a little further. At his feet waits the source of the noise -- a tiny white-naped crane sits perched on a scroll, too small to easily open the door herself. Tobirama glares down at the offender, who shows about as much remorse as Hashirama does when he gets caught sneaking out to gamble -- that is to say, none at all.

(We are mere moments from expositing on summon worldbuidng here)

The Academy Three

"Erm -- " Sakura shifts from foot to foot, casting a glance at Sasuke before continuing, "Mission ranks are categorized by difficulty. D ranks are the easiest and they go up to S, which is super secret. Either you take one from here and get approved to do it, or it gets assigned to you if your skills line up with the misison, and then uh -- when you're done you turn in a report on how it went and get paid for it." "Very good Sakura." He praises, which she preens under, as usual. "But that's not exactly what I meant -- I mean, can any of you tell me what the point of going on missions is?" "Eh…? Isn't it to make money?" Naruto asks.

(Similarly: Moments away from a lecture) Something Sort of Like a Disciple

Her fingers brush the edge of another bundle of tags but she just can't quite manage to get a good grip on it. With a huff she bends nearly in half into the just so she can hook her fingernails under the tie holding them together -- which, just her luck, ends up unraveling the tie entirely and sending loose explosive tags scattering out of her reach as the bundle falls from her hands. She cringes, almost expecting them to explode. When they don't, she releases a long breath. Then a quiet groan as she lets her head thump against the inside of the crate.

As for the canon rewrite, i gathered up the outline for it and I thought "You know what would be fun?, what if I did illustrations for big scenes from that AU instead of writing out the entire thing" and intended to add a sketch of Sakura, only to find out that my tablet pen has finally died for real..... But I will say this much about her: Her family dies in the Kyuubi attack. She's a literal baby at this point, there aren't many resources available to identify who her family was. She grows up in an orphanage (...And has known Lee from childhood, that crush of his doesn't come from nowhere) and there's no indication she might be in any way related to the Senju until around the chunin exams, when a certain bloodline limit reveals itself. In front of Orochimaru, no less, who is intrigued and even comments that she "isn't one of his." So she gets cool OP powers around the same time that the boys do + additional Tsunade connection + her and sasuke get to be fun reflections of what happened to the founding clans no matter thier apparent loyalty/disloyalty.

Ask Meme/WIP List

[allpiesforourown]

idk i'm a big fan of the "shen yuan is extremely competent, but not competitive enough to care" idea. every disciple shen yuan au i have involves the peak lord begging him to be the head disciple and hes like "uhhhh idk sounds like a lot of work and also i think ____-shidi would want to be head disciple way more than me...." and even after he refuses to become head disciple he still goes out of his way to help the juniors with their techniques and aids his shizun with sorting his documents because he's just a nice guy.

whenever someone from another peak needs something, its very exhausting for everyone to explain the situation

guy from another peak: i need to speak to the peak lord

students: shizun is off the mountain

him: where's the head disciple

students: we don't have one, you'll want to talk to Shen-shixiong

Him: whos that

students: he's just a guy we like a lot

him: so who does all the [head disciple duties] ???

students: shen shixiong.

him: if he does all the work and you all like him why not just make him head dis-

students: WE TRIED, OKAY!!?!

[sunderwight]

Okay, so the canonically confirmed Cang Qiong peaks are:

Qiong Ding (leader peak, CEO peak, politician/diplomacy peak, admin peak, etc)

Qing Jing (scholar & artists peak, knowledge peak, strategic advisor peak, etc)

Wan Jian (sword guy peak, blacksmith peak, armory peak, etc)

An Ding (logistics peak, servants peak, peak of the cang qiong labor party, delivery guys & messengers peak, supplies & catering peak, etc)

Xian Shu (gender segregation peak: girl flavor)

UNKNOWN

Bai Zhan (shounen anime peak)

Qian Cao (healer peak, pharmacy peak, first responders peak, etc)

Ku Xing (gender segregation peak: boy flavor, ascetic peak)

Zui Xian (alcohol peak)

UNKNOWN

UNKNOWN

So we only have three peaks that are entirely unnamed and unaccounted for. This has pretty good utility if you want to do a transmigration fic where Airplane and Shen Yuan are there as peak lords, but so are OG Shang Qinghua and Shen Qingqiu. You can just give them two of the three mystery peaks, and then there's only one peak remaining for an OC and kapow, you've got all twelve peak lords sorted.

But the question of course, is what should these peaks actually be? What should they specialize in?

Fandom has argued in favor of a Beast Peak, and I actually endorse this idea, although I think specializing in demonic beasts is more of a Bai Zhan and Qing Jing thing. But while we can suppose that between An Ding, Qian Cao, and (probably) Zui Xian the agricultural needs of the sect are being met (or met sufficiently for what they can also supplement through trade), there's no clear existing peak to outsource things like training spirit animals or keeping any livestock that the peak might require. And hey, if there is a Beast Peak, then them also having some expertise in demonic beasts would be interesting.

I think the Beast Peak would slot in most logically between Xian Shu and Bai Zhan.

For the lowest peaks, things get more interesting. While there are obvious roles such as talisman making, barriers, musical cultivation, etc, most of those things seem like they'd either be covered by one of the other peaks (i.e. Qing Jing and musical cultivation) or else would be strange things for the sect to acquire so late, literally after the peak that specializes entirely in brewing.

But, that actually can work out, if we assume that these peaks have taken as specialties things that were previously secondary or tertiary interests to other peaks. Perhaps even owing their origins to particularly capable disciples from the other, more highly ranked peaks who showed such prodigal skill or innovation in that area that they were allowed to establish new peaks focusing on it.

For my money, I'd go with a Barrier Peak, specializing in protective barriers, talismans, and spiritual cultivation that shot off from Qing Jing during some long-prior generation. This peak could also be responsible for guard duties in the sect, basically sending disciples to close off unsafe or prohibited areas, to manage things like access to the various branches of the Lingxi caves, sealing off dangerous items, and (probably) helping to maintain existing barriers, arrays, and other such systems throughout the sect.

I think this peak would be a decent fit for Airplane, as it would once again situate him pretty close to matters of daily sect operations, and put him in position to know a lot of the secrets and goings on beneath the surface of things. So a plausible explanation for his authorial knowledge and insights would simply be, Barrier Peak are the flies on the wall of a lot of high-level matters. If someone breaks into a restricted area, they know about it. If someone wants something hidden, sealed, or disguised, they know about it.

Bonus angst: this would probably mean that the Barrier Peak's head disciple assisted in sealing a young Yue Qi inside the Lingxi Caves with Xuan Su. If that's Airplane, well, that's twisting a knife a bit now isn't it?

Which just leaves peak no.12, which frankly could be any damn thing. After Booze Peak and Girl Peak, the field is wide open. Dance Battle Peak. Transit System Peak. Spiritually Infused Textiles Peak.

My personal favorite, though, is Sex Worker Peak. Not only because that is the most fanfic-y option, but also because it actually kind of makes sense.

The PIDWorld is just chock full of fuck-or-die tropes, which makes there are countless substances, ailments, curses, etc that can only be cured via sex. Not just for cultivators, but also for everyone else in the world. Like imagine you're an NPC magistrate or something just out there managing your district, having only the most tangential connection to the plot, and one day you're going for a walk and you trip and fall and manage to land right in a field full of sex pollen that cropped up like weeds overnight. Because that's just how this shit works, it doesn't wait for the protagonist to exist in order to activate, it's all got to be out there all the time in order to be there when the wife plot happens, and also for various experts to have accumulated all the mandatory exposition points about how it works.

But you're just some normal guy! You don't want to die of Horny, but the best way to clear this up is not just to have sex, but to have sex with a cultivator who is at least moderately good at using the exchange of spiritual energy to purge your body of the sex pollen poison.

Unless you're lucky enough to know someone, you're probably going to be in the market for professional help here, like even apart from all the other reasons people like to hire sex workers. This is a situation that probably happens fairly often and for which "hire someone to fix it and then move on with your life" is probably the ideal solution. As a bonus, a professional sex cultivation expert is probably also going to minimize your risks for unwanted side effect like STDs and pregnancy, too.

So, imagine we have Qian Cao peak struggling under the workload of all these requests for help with dual cultivation. The problem isn't prudery, but that this stuff is so commonplace it eats up time that could also be allocated to things like research and other medical emergencies. Plus, you have political leaders (kings, princes, emperors, etc) always demanding to be sent your "best" disciples to attend to them, when quite frankly their condition is something even an outer disciple could handle in less time than it would take them to travel out to their location, and these fuckers are not-infrequently liable to try and steal your people away into concubinage too.

One day then, much like with Qing Jing and the Barrier Peak, the Qian Cao peak lord of yore gets fucking fed up and is just like, this requires it's own department. Zhangmen-shijie we're starting a new peak. I'm not asking you I'm telling you. It's a medical peak entirely devoted to sex work. My best disciple at sex, who is in the running for Head Disciple status almost entirely because of this shit, is going to be the new Peak Lord. Any time some princess gets her vagina cursed and needs dick badly, the new peak are going to handle it, while I get to finally fucking finish my research into organ transplants.

And the sect leader of that era, knowing what was good for her, was like yes okay rubber stamp that we have twelve peaks now. Twelve's a good number we probably should have done this sooner anyway. What do you mean we don't have that much mountain? Eh, we'll haul some dirt in and make it happen.

Other Sex Worker Peak Thoughts:

Obviously, raising disciples from the age of ten upwards into this kind of work is controversial at best. Depending on tone, a fic author could either accept that grooming children for sex work was a historical practice and examine the fucked-up-ness of it all, or, we could go another direction and make a case that this is generally the peak which takes on older prospective disciples.

After all, dual cultivation is actually good at helping with setbacks and restoring a damaged cultivation base. You could argue for it being the ideal cultivation approach for latecomers. There could even be a precedent for adult disciples from the other peaks transferring to the Twelfth Peak/Sex Worker Peak if they show an aptitude for the work, and for disciples to temporarily join them as part of repairing or preventing damage from qi deviations.

This could also be a contributing factor to Shen Jiu being like, I have to not only be on Qing Jing Peak but also be the absolute boss of Qing Jing Peak with as few people able to gainsay me as possible, because he's terrified of being ordered to pimp himself out.

Not that he would be, though, because I imagine the sexpert cultivators are pretty well aware of how trauma works and who does or doesn't actually have the right temperament for their business, or what jobs within that business. It's their specialty, after all. If someone is going to have a panic attack and qi deviate over doing the job, that someone is not a good candidate for the job, or for these types of treatments overall.

Sometimes Twelfth Peak loses people on account of them falling in love with their clients or deciding to take some king up on his concubinage offers, but it happens less than one might think. After all, it's basically like working for the best brothel in existence. They have rigorous hygiene and healthcare standards, you get access to all the generalized medical care from Qian Cao, travel expenses are covered and you don't have to work out of your home if you don't want to, your food and housing is supplied by the sect, you're trained in cultivation and martial arts, with a shot at achieving immortality, and you don't even have to work every day because the jobs are contingent on what's being requested, not on you making rent money. In addition to physical cultivation, you can also make and sell tons of erotic art or "love tokens" and it will sell for a lot because of the social mystique of sexy cultivators. A pair of twelfth peak lord's panties probably goes for just as much as one of Shen Qingqiu's fancy calligraphy paintings. So unless you really want to live with some dude, switching over to depending on him for your upkeep doesn't seem all that appealing as a prospect.

Additional fun with this idea is that it would also potentially be an interesting peak lord role for either Airplane or Shen Yuan to end up in. Airplane would probably be like, well I guess this is karma for putting so much gratuitous smut in my stories, and then actually manage the hell out of the whole peak and enjoy himself by only taking on the jobs he actually cares to. Not a bad gig, especially compared to his previous grind. On the other hand, Shen Yuan's internal freak out and subsequent attempts to somehow be the Sex Peak Lord while not actually having any sex would be a potential comedy/suspense goldmine.

[beforetimes]

okay i love the aus about shen jiu finding a little shen yuan and bringing him to qing jing peak before slowly warming up to him so here is my take on it! (specifically their first meeting)

shen jiu has been on qing jing peak for about five years at this point. he's vying for the position of head disciple and all things considered, he is a pretty strong contender for the role. there's just one issue his teacher keeps coming back to; how shen jiu will pass down knowledge on qing jing peak.

it's not a stretch to say that shen jiu is a bit. rough around the edges. and sometimes when teaching the younger disciples his own skewed views of how fast or slow they should be progressing leads him to get snappish and cold. trial teaching periods with shen jiu are most of the junior disciples' worst nightmare and the current qing jing peak lord knows well enough that this is something that needs to be rectified.

shen jiu, who knows this is the only real roadblock to becoming a head disciple like he's been trying at for five years, is intensely irritated. and on the verge of losing it, as if he hasn't been on a hair-trigger temper ever since he turned against wu yanzi for yue qingyuan only to not even be granted a reason for him never returning. qi deviations are a begrudginly expected aspect of his life that weaken his warring body in ways that make shen jiu want to scream.

anyway. he goes out on a mission with liu qingge to a far-off town a few months after one of these qi deviations and in the process of chasing away whatever beast or ghost has been bothering this town, they have to walk through the marketplace. it's fairly packed, all things considered, but shen jiu can still tell when his coin bag is lifted off him and the thief snatches away barely a moment later. he's already in a pretty bad mood because of liu qingge being there but he doesn't necessarily want to make a scene and draw the attention of the entire street onto him, so he follows after the child. he keeps an eye on the back of his head to keep track of him while liu qingge whinges on the side about how they need to stay on task and why is shen jiu getting distracted and is he seriously going to a brothel?!

to which shen jiu looks up and realizes that either this child a ) went to this brothel because he felt shen jiu following him and wanted to throw a righteous cultivator off by going into a place he assumed shen jiu wouldn't enter or b ) he lives here and he was just returning 'home.' neither of these options particularly work in the child's favour, considering the fact that shen jiu would just walk in without a care in the world and objectively, a brothel isn't a great place to live.

either way, he clenches his jaw, ignores liu qingge, and walks in to grab the thief and turn him around.

just to come face to face with a child that looks like him.

they both blink. shen jiu thinks this must be some sort of practical joke. the boy looking at him doesn't seem to understand what shen jiu is looking at so intently: the kid has probably never seen his face before, if anything. but he knows that something is up because he starts fidgeting and starts acting a bit scared the longer shen jiu stares without saying anything before finally breaking and shoving the coin bag back into shen jiu's hands.

who takes it. but also doesn't stop staring.

liu qingge, at this point, has recovered enough face and pushed down enough shame to walk into the brothel to drag shen jiu out before he also comes face to face with this child and is suitably confused.

of course there is no silence from liu qingge. the first thing he asks is if the kid if shen jiu's son, to which he snaps no. then he's asked if its a bastard brother or something along those lines. and shen jiu wants to automatically reply no to that as well before very suddenly and startlingly realizing that for as much as he assumed his mother was dead, he never actually remembered her dying. or saw a grave. while very rapidly realizing that he kind of just constructed the idea of her being dead for the sake of coping with the fact that she got rid of him away willingly. which is. wow. okay. shen jiu can't tell if he's feeling white hot rage so overwhelming that its making him blank out or he's so painfully numb that every limb of his prickles like its falling asleep.

either way. he looks around at this brothel and at this child who has bruises on his wrists and arms and peeking out under his robes—robes which look far too much like the ones that the prostitutes around him are wearing and asks what happens to his mom. and learns that she died when he was born and the boy is fifteen years old. which is hilarious because anyone with a working set of eyes can tell he's barely hitting double digits, let alone passing himself off as a teenager.

and then shen jiu feels like laughing hysterically for a whole other reason, watching the kid flinch when a large lumbering man pushes past the three collected at the entrance to walk in. and many realizations are piling up in his head all at once and thinking about this is making him want to throw up. and he wants to walk away and forget this ever happened and pretend that if he flies all the way back to cang qiong mountain immediately then this child will fade to the back of his memory and nothing will matter except for becoming head disciple.

which is when he remembers the only thing that is roadblocking him.

and shen jiu looks down at this child who is shaking slightly but still managing to look him in the eyes. who is covered in bruises but still stole money off of him. who is living in a brothel but hasn't wilted and rotted away like a dying flower. who has an ember of potential in his stomach, the possibility of becoming a cultivator just nearly there.

what better way to prove that he can become a head disciple than teaching his brother (???) how to become a cultivator? someone he can make countless mistakes with who will be indebted to him because of shen jiu saving him from this place. someone he can show to the peak lord as proof that he can work with children, he can teach, he has that slight touch of softness needed for a peak lord who will hand down knowledge to generations after him.

it doesn't even necessarily need to be real softness. he can just practice with this child, who knows nothing better, who is tied to shen jiu and won't leave once he comes to cang qiong because (and shen jiu can't tell if this makes him want to throw up or straighten up, pleased with his cleverness) he knows what is waiting for him when if he ever decided to leave, and shen jiu has garnered enough of a reputation that no one will want to try to be near anyone wearing his face.

which is a very tangential way to say that shen jiu asks for the child's name ("all the women here call me yuan." it is very impersonal) before telling him that this is the only time he will ever get an offer like this and no one else will ever care to look at someone of his standing ever again so it is important to listen to everything he says carefully. he tells yuan that he will take him back to his sect to become a cultivator. but he can never come back here and speak of this or how they met once they leave. any connections to this place will be cut off. he will be under shen jiu's care but fend for himself once they get back. shen jiu leaves him with one of his fans and enough coin for a meal before telling him that they will return in a few days time, by which time yuan will have made his decision. the fan is promised as incentive to come back because shen jiu doesn't need to child's trust broken before they even get there. he does all this before leaving without another word.

liu qingge is spitting blood the whole way back to their inn on the other side of town, questioning what the hell got into shen jiu and what was he talking about and any number of other things before shen jiu starved him out by refusing to say a word.

when they come back a few days later, yuan takes barely a minute to grab a bag of everything he needs before he looks up, handing shen jiu's fan back to him.

let me know if you want a continuation of this or a fic hahaha i will add it to the list

[part two!]

[filialdisciple]

i adore all those aus where shen qingqiu ends up bringing a baby back into the sect and i want that for yue qingyuan.

maybe he ends up stumbling on one of airplane's weird flora and fauna that gives him a plant baby with features that match the victim's true love. in yqy's case, shen jiu, of course.

He hurries back to the sect, keeping close tabs on the baby and refusing to let anyone see the child other than mu qingfang just in case, his beautiful, tiny, she's so small in his arms, daughter ends up being recognized as xiao jiu's especially with her adorable pucker that reminds him of a younger xiao jiu's when he eats something particularly bitter and her brown-green eyes that yue qingyuan quietly hopes turns greener as she gets older.

quite obviously, no one else would recognize these features on such a cute baby and attribute it to the less cute (although yqy would beg to differ) qing jing peak lord.

rumors fly around about yqy's lovechild. the ones who saw him come back from the mission only recall seeing a child in his arms as he quickly flew back to his residence before locking himself in for nearly a week.

when shen qingqiu hears of the rumors, he scoffs. he punishes the disciples who dared utter those baseless accusations towards their sect leader.

it isn't until the next month's peak lord meeting that they're finally introduced to yue qingyuan's daughter.

she looks just like him, shen jiu thinks when he catches a close glimpse.

who was the mother? the next thought follows, filling him with a strong wave of vitriol and an odd sense of betrayal.

"maaaa..." the baby gurgles. she was propped on yue qingyuan's desk, his hands supporting her body weight. the baby giggles as it wiggles around before reaching out towards...shen jiu?

shen jiu clenches the fan in his hand as he uncomfortably watches the baby grunt in an effort to reach him, garbling babyspeak at yue qingyuan as she tried to pull away from his hold towards him instead.

"ma!" the baby yells out, eyes turning glossy in the same way yue qingyuan's often does. the baby stops her attempts at reaching him, and shen jiu almost thanks the heavens that the baby has stopped acting foolishly before she tilts her head up and ear-piercingly wails,

"MAMAAAAAA!"

Qi Qingqi grimances and tells him, "Just take the baby already, Shen Qingqiu!"

Shen Qingqiu didn't like being told what to do, but he disliked the annoying baby's crying more. He takes the baby away from Yue Qingyuan's hands ("Ah! Support her head, Shen-shixiong.") and holds her out in front of himself like an unruly cat.

The baby's cries thanfully die down, but she stretches out her hands as if she wanted to be held towards his chest. A glance towards the other peak lords, who were watching the both of them warily, made him realize that it would be less of a pain to simply do as the baby wanted and have it over with.

"You are as terrible as your father." Shen Qingqiu tells the baby.

He ignores the noises the other peak lords made at his declaration, his eyes caught in the way the baby tilts her head, her entire body almost following suit, at him and giggles.

"Don't laugh, you hellion." he tells off the child finally resting her weight on his chest. It's strangely soothing.

Shen Qingqiu settles back into his seat and raises an eyebrow at the staring peak lords. "Well? Are we going to finish this meeting or are all of you content with wasting an hour staring at this one like some sort of spectacle?"

The baby, finally quiet and comfortable on Shen Qingqiu, falls asleep midway through the meeting. It's a surprise when Shen Qingqiu also finds his eyes almost drooping at one point.

Shen Qingqiu doesn't want to read into his hesitation when Yue Qingyuan finally comes over to take the baby from him. He tucks his hands away into his robes, ignoring the odd emptiness he feels.

[xmoriartea]

Im going to Uno Reverse the usual Role Reversal SVSSS AUs and present Demon Emperor Shang Qinghua, King of the Northern Desert Shen Qingqiu, and Peak Lords Mobei Jun and Luo Binghe

Shen Jiu would be a goddamn terror of the north. His fan that whips blizzards into existence. An icy exterior that matches his lineage. A demon of ice who risked everything, even burning himself in the process to burn down his murderous cousin Qiu Jianluo and secure the throne.

Unfortunately for Shen Jiu, he never inherited the Qingqiu name - a little nerd by the name of Shen Yaun is the one who wakes up after the ascension with winter at his fingertips-

-and a human spy at his side who has been dealt nothing but abuse and threats since Shen Jiu saved his life and made it his. Luo Binghe is a fantastic An Ding Peak Lord, he knows how to get things DONE. And he's deeply obsessed with the murderous demon king who keeps him on a short leash. He instantly knows something is wrong after the ascension... but Shen Qingqiu is... not as cruel to him anymore. He's going to run with that all the way to the bank tbh.

Meanwhile Emperor Shang had to endure all the cruelties he bestowed on his protagonist since birth. And really. He wrote a self insert because life kind of sucked - he didn't need to go through it twice thank you!! But the System and the Protagonist Halo have been at odds since he "woke up" enough to process both his lives and he's decided - fuck it. System can't stop him if the Halo protects him. Shang Qinghua is going to wing it and thrive.

Of course... he still goes to Cang Qiong. How can he not? His future shizun might be a terror, but he's Airplane's terror! Everything Airplane had wanted but couldn't have, a perfect antagonist to his self insert. Well fuck that. He's living the story he wanted to write now and HE says he's going to live the student/teacher fantasies of his dreams, thank you very much! Now to just woo the frosty immortal of Qing Jing peak.

Meanwhile Mobei Jun is just... conflicted to say the least. He sort of expected this scrawny little disciple he picked up to realize he was not cut out for this and give up at some point. It was sort of like... a pet project. To see just how much this boy could take before he broke. And yet Shang Qinghua kept surprising him, all the way until he his cradle seal broke. In another life, Mobei Jun was destined to throw him into the Abyss, but in this one, he watched Shang Qinghua stand at the rift, look back at him, wink, and jump in. CONFLICTED IS THE ONLY WAY MOBEI JUN CAN DESCRIBE THIS.

Man has no idea what to do when his former disciple shows up as Emperor except put himself in horny jail because 'oh no.' To bad for him Shang Qinghua's going to rattle the bars until he gets his man.

[deikshen]

Baby Fever concept fic idea,

Liu Qingge finds a baby. Something like, he finds some demons that apparently kidnapped him and gets rid of them. The baby is clearly demonic in appearance like, small pointed ears and perhaps some scales, and, well, Liu Qingge chooses to keep him. Actually, more than wanting to keep him, it's like... He can't let him go. Then, Liu Qingge accidentally acquires a baby.

But that's not all. Obviously, Mu Qingfang is one of the first to see the baby; he checks on his health, gives some instructions, normal doctor work. What follows is that Mu Qingfang goes to a small village to buy herbs and trade some things and finds that the noble house has a baby. A pretty baby girl, apparently the daughter of a servant who died in childbirth, and who will be raised to be put to work as a slave as soon as she is of age.

... Mu Qingfang accidentally acquires a baby. The less said about what happened in that house, the better.

The babies are of similar ages. They join in playing, and Mu Qingfang comments that it is conducive for babies to grow up in environments with others of their peers. They can sit up, babble incoherently, bite cold cloths because of teething. They are pretty. Here and there, the other curious Peak Lords and some other disciples come to see the children. They are extremely adorable!!

... It starts to get worrisome when Shang Qinghua shows up, on the verge of a panic attack, with demonic twins in his arms. Mobei Jun rescued them from a corrupt sect that wanted to do something macabre with them and just brought them to him as if nothing happened!! "If Qinghua takes care of my Palace, Qinghua must take care of what's in it. These, belong to the palace now, and Qinghua must take care of them" damn it!

Mu Qingfang claims that they are healthy and strong demon babies. A little bigger than the others, they bite and fight each other brutally, but apparently, according to Mobei Jun, that implies that they are healthy and friendly babies.

A little more humorous and a little more worrying, Sha Hualing acquires a baby that Liu Mingyan does not allow her to take very far. Apparently, she found that baby wrapped in blankets, and decided to keep her because that little wild thing bit her. If she can defend herself even in her small incompetent body, Sha Hualing is going to make sure she learns to do better than that. Liu Mingyan begs please don't.

Shen Qingqiu tries to steer his husband away from all sorts of babies, totally convinced that it's some kind of weird wife plot that affects in chain. But it's affecting THE ENTIRE CANG QIONG SECT! He is not ready to have a son or daughter o whatever, he is not ready to be a parent, and he is not ready for accidentally acquire a baby!!! Thanks!!!

Luckily, for now, Luo Binghe has stayed away. There hasn't been an excuse for Luo Binghe to look at that baby Liu Qingge who started that whole circus, and apparently, that was all that was needed. According to Shang Qinghua, it could be a strange passive skill of the baby demon to allow it to grow in an environment without risk or danger. Something like attracting others. So as long as Luo Binghe does not see or directly interact with the baby, and as long as Shen Qingqiu too will stay away... everything will be fine.

(Shen Qingqiu ignores a single fight that Luo Binghe and Liu Qingge almost had. A fight that Luo Binghe interrupted before it started because of the big little eyes of the baby that he hadn't seen Liu Qingge was carrying in his arms. One glance was enough.)

Then one day, he arrives at Qing Jing after an afternoon of ranting with Shang Qinghua while the demon children are playing in the backyard with some disciples (or rather, the disciples are used as human teethers). And... there's too much silence. Lots of silence and lots of quiet.

"Binghe?" asks Shen Qingqiu loudly, entering the bamboo house. A quick "SHHHH" follows from his husband.

... Shen Qingqiu is considering leaving. Leaving or jumping off the edge of the peak. Anything would be better.

Above Luo Binghe is a clearly demonic baby girl sleeping. She is probably the oldest of all the babies so far, a little over a year old. Her skin is jade white, but there are two tiny horns on its forehead, a green demonic mark, and tiny iridescent scales on its skin and pointed ears.

She sleeps with her tiny mouth half-open; her face is round and sweet, and her little fists cling to Luo Binghe's robe as if letting go would make him run away from her.

...

Shen Qingqiu loves her immediately.

NO, HE'S NOT READY FOR PATERNITY AND NO CRAP LIKE THAT, BUT DAMN THIS WIFE PLOT IS TOO STRONG!

A couple more random babies later, Shen Qingqiu discovers that the baby Liu Qingge acquired is indeed a demonic species known to create packs from birth. Thus, despite from being weak and fragile, they survive into adulthood. They make others want to protect them, love them, care for them; they attract them to situations where other babies, children of their natural caregivers, can be in their vicinity to mingle and grow together.

Shen Qingqiu manages to make a powerful seal that seal that passive skill. By the time he has done so, even Yue Qingyuan already has two small children, a three-year-old and the tiny baby with just a few months old. Qi Qingqi has a crying child whom she spoils excessively. Mu Qingfang acquired another baby in the form of a two-year-old little girl who speaks with a lisp, even damn Tianlang-jun had acquired his own tiny little girl whom he dresses in gold and full of flowers!!!

(You can't ask Tianlang-jun to listen to the rumor that everyone in Cang Qiong is having babies and not want to see that.)

With the passive skill out, everyone relaxes as much as possible. Relocating the children in new homes and with new families... is something they won't do. Despite everything, they have become too attached. Besides, these children have spent a lot of time together, they would miss each other too much if they were separated.

("Didn't you say you didn't want a baby, Cucumber-bro?" Shang Qinghua asks, watching the adorable baby girl playing with Shen Qingqiu's fan, putting it in her mouth.

"If you keep annoying me, I'll make sure your husband knows about that plant that makes ass babies," Shen Qingqiu threatens.

"Bro no" Shang Qinghua begs. "If there is even an ounce of goodness left in your body, please don't."

And Shen Qingqiu smiles. The baby in his arms, cute and not understanding much, imitates his smile.)

[domoz-writes]

Go write: In the Corner of Another Room and~ Something Sort of Like a Disciple~

In the Corner of Another Room

The shinobi brushes the snow off of themselves before stepping inside, and folds their cloak with slow, exaggerated movements before stowing it away. Without the fur, they almost look… scrawny? It's clear that their clothes are a size too big and tied down to fit, which obscures most of their shape but reveals just how thin they are at their wrists and ankles. It's no wonder they were concerned about the cold. The woman takes a nervous step back and gestures for him to follow her, which they do without protest, and Izuna disappears back down his own hallway to observe from another vantage point.

Something Sort of Like a disciple

She considers it for a long moment, then snatches the scroll case up. "I'm taking a break!" She shouts as she tosses the back door open. Then she scurries up the staircase before Bekko-shishou can tell her that no, she isn't. Tenten's room used to be a storage closet. It's so small that if she lays down and stretches out her arms and legs the tips of her fingers and toes brush the walls. But she's the only one who sleeps here, and she's allowed to plaster the walls with posters from magazines, so it's about a hundred times better than the place she was before.

[domoz]

Go write 100 words of Heart of Flowers and Something Sort of Like a Disciple

🫡

Heart of Flowers

"Hello to you too." Madara says dryly. He's well used to the man's abrupt behavior by now. He switches on his sharingan with a blink, scanning through all of the changes that have been made since he saw the first draft. There are quite a few, enough that he can't just rely on memorization to understand their impact, which mean's he's going to have to sit with this for a while. He pauses, though when he comes up to a certain clause, letting out a low whistle. "This is cruel stuff, Senju."

Something Sort of Like a Disciple

Then a breeze blows and Tenten yelps and runs to go secure all the tags that were spilled onto the ground before they can blow away and destroy the village or something. Except, one of the things on the ground isn't an exploding tag. There's a worn black scroll case, red spiral embossed into the top. She can't exactly investigate, what with the loose exploding tags everywhere, but definitely once she's finished disposing of those… Put the tag in the barrier array. Activate the barrier. Activate the tag. Boom. Deactivate the barrier. Try not to lose focus and look at the mysterious scroll. Repeat.

Ask Meme/WIP List

[shanastoryteller]

Happy birthday Shana!!! I hope you have an awesome one!!! WWX and Jiang Yanli run away please?

a continuation of 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22

When Lan Xichen hears that the juniors' night hunt that his brother was supervising hasn't arrived back when expected, he's mostly unconcerned. There are very few things that Wangji is unable to handle on his own and he assumes there's some sort of benign, logical explanation for the delay.

When he hears that they've spent the past couple days at Lotus Pier, that peace is instantly broken.

Jiang Cheng is not inhospitable to his brother, exactly - he mostly leaves that to Li Shichuan - but their mutual hatred means they spend as little time as possible in the other's presence. While a night hunt headed by any other senior could have multiple explanations for why they might choose to stay at Lotus Pier, for Lan Wangji to do so must mean something dire. He has to hope that if his brother were grievously injured or ill, the Jiang would send notice to him, if only to get him out of their keeping, but perhaps they're preoccupied or -

It does him no good to speculate. He can get to Lotus Pier faster than correspondence can get there and back, so he'll just see for himself.

Seeing guards at Lotus Pier's entrance where there usually aren't any doesn't do anything to east his anxiety, especially when they refuse to let him enter.

"We cannot allow any foreign disciples entrance without Sect Leader Jiang or Sect Heir Li's permission," she says, less patiently than she'd said it ten minutes ago. "We apologize for the inconvenience, Sect Leader Lan."

"My brother's in there," he begins, frustrated.

"We are not at liberty to discuss the goings on of Lotus Pier with foreign disciples at this time," she interrupts.

He's really very close to losing his temper. He and Jiang Cheng get along well enough, but certainly not well enough for him to forgive him trespass without a very good reason, which unfortunately he doesn't think this qualifies. If only he could -

"Aw, don't be like that," says a familiar voice that he hasn't heard for thirteen years as a lean man that he would have sworn was dead bounds up to them, a large grin on his face as he throws his arm around the Jiang disciple's shoulders. "It's okay, Lan Xichen, I'll walk you in."

The disciple sighs deeply. "Senior Brother Wei may also grant permission for foreign disciples to enter Lotus Pier."

No wonder Wangji hadn't returned home.

[allpiesforourown]

was gonna post this on ao3 but it's only 1.3k words and pure sillyness so here it is instead: bingqiu, post canon, time travel, misunderstandings.

shen qingqiu time travels, but no one tells him

Upon waking up to see his husband, the first words out of Shen Qingqiu’s mouth were, “Ugh, again?” 

Because the one at his bedside was not the tall handsome demon lord he saw every morning. A cute little bun in white robes blinked back at him. “Shizun?” 

Seriously? How many times was this going to happen!? At least this time he didn't look young enough to be mistaken for his child, but still… if Shen Qingqiu had a soul stone for every time Luo Binghe qi deviated into a younger version of himself, he’d have two soul stones by now…

Instead of waking his husband to tell him about his condition, the man (boy?) had run off to prepare breakfast. Going by the steaming congee on the table, he only woke Shen Qingqiu up to get him to eat.

Shen Qingqiu sighed as he sat up and ran a hand over his face. “Do you know how old you are right now?” 

“This disciple is sixteen, shizun. Is something wrong?” 

Shen Qingqiu gave Luo Binghe a glare. Something wrong? The audacity! He grabbed the fan off his nightstand and smacked the boy’s head softly. “Hasn’t this master told Binghe to tell me right away when something is wrong?” Binghe opened his mouth with a stricken expression, but Shen qingqiu cut him off. “It’s fine, it’s fine. You're still too young to dual cultivate. We’ll have to wait things out.” 

Papapa would have solved this matter instantly if it was viable. But when Binghe first brought up the idea of role-playing as their younger selves, Shen Qingqiu made it clear he would not partake in anything with the man if he made his appearance younger than 18! Even that was too low, but he had to draw the line somewhere! 

Luo Binghe’s face flushed red. “D-d-dual cu-cultivate!?” 

Shen Qingqiu narrowed his eyes. “What did I just say? Don't get any ideas, you'll have to wait before we can do anything.” 

“We?” Binghe’s voice went high. “Shizun… dual cultivate… with me!?” 

“Not until you’re older,” he repeated firmly. 

At this age, Binghe really did look too innocent… even with such a perverted interior, he really looked like this simple talk was flustering him. “How-how much older?” 

Well, while recovering from de-aging qi deviations, Binghe did grow back rapidly. It wouldn’t take that long before Binghe was old enough for shen qingqiu to feel comfortable touching. “Hmm, at the rate you usually grow… maybe we can do it a week from now?” 

Luo Binghe passed out. 

*

“Mu-shidi, how can you say this isn’t a qi deviation?” Shen Qingqiu insisted. “Just look at him! What other explanation could there be?” 

His martial brother must have gone insane. He grasped Luo Binghe’s wrist once more, looking over the unconscious boy. “Shixiong, this one… still doesn’t understand what you mean.” He released the arm and adjusted his glasses. “Though he seems to have suffered some sort of shock, it is minor and there is zero harm to his meridians. He will wake up shortly.”

No harm to his meridians? Then what else could explain why his husband was suddenly a head shorter than him? Luo Binghe did have some shape-shifting skills… perhaps they went beyond just hiding his demonic huadian and eyes? Could he also change his appearance to such a degree he looked like a teenager again? 

“Then I suppose this master will take his husband back to the bamboo house and follow up once he wakes.” Shen Qingqiu stood, scooping Luo Binghe into his arms. “Thanking shidi for his time.” 

He was nearly at the door when he heard a strangled “WAIT!” call out behind him. Shen qingqiu glanced over his shoulder impatiently. He didn’t want to be holding Binghe like a bride when he came to… Binghe would insist on it constantly and further tarnish his status as a stallion protagonist! 

Mu Qingfang’s eyes were bugged out, ink dripping from his pen onto his hand. “What did you just say!?” 

Shen qingqiu raised a brow, shuffling binghe into a more comfortable hold closer to his chest. “This shixiong thanked shidi…” Shen qingqiu said slowly. 

Mu Qingfang’s tense shoulders lowered slightly. “Right… that’s all shixiong said.”

“Yes? Thank you for checking on this master’s husband.” 

Mu Qingfang threw up blood as Shen Qingqiu exited the infirmary. 

*

Shen Qingqiu had just finished tucking Binghe into their bed when the door to the bamboo house was kicked open. He readied his ‘disappointed teacher’ voice to reprimand Liu Qingge, but was stunned into silence when he found Yue Qingyuan sprinting into his bedroom instead. 

“Zhangmen shixiong,” Shen Qingqiu said with a raised brow. “May this shidi help you?” 

Yue Qingyuan’s voice was choked as he called, “Xiao-Jiu!” 

Shen Qingqiu's lip instinctively twisted down. “If shixiong has something to say to this Qingqiu, he may do so.” He said pettily. “Otherwise, I’m busy taking care of my husband.”

“Husband,” Yue Qingyuan repeated. He squirmed nervously under Shen Qingqiu’s gaze. “Mu-shidi informed me you said something similar, I… xia- um, Qingqiu-shidi, are you alright? You… you’re not married… right?” 

…Sect leader Yue. You were at the wedding! 

“Is this a joke?” Shen Qingqiu answered coolly. “Luo Binghe would not take kindly to this kind of statement.” 

Yue Qingyuan staggered backwards, falling onto a chair with an anguished expression. His eyes fell upon Shen Qingqiu’s bed, where Luo Binghe lay sleeping and his eyes widened. “How…? Shidi, this is- he’s your disciple!” 

“This master does not understand,” Shen Qingqiu said irritably. “Luo Binghe and I have been wed for over a year, so why now are you making such a fuss?” 

“A year…?” 

More footsteps invaded the bamboo house, until half his martial siblings had invited themselves in. Qi Qingqi, Liu Qingge, even great master Airplane had arrived! Yue Qingyuan looked to Mu Qingfang with dread. “Mu-shidi…” 

The tragedy clear on the sect leader’s face said it all. Mu Qingfang grimaced. “Something must be done. Shen-shidi is having delusions of marriage!” 

…okay, that was it. Shen Qingqiu had allowed his martial siblings to subtly disapprove of his relationship with Binghe for all this time, but this was too far. 

“Enough!” He cried. “Luo Binghe is my husband, and that will not change! Everyone will treat him with the respect that is deserved of Qing Jing’s shimu!” 

The sound of something crashing to the ground pulled their attention back to the peak lord’s bed. It seemed Luo Binghe had woken up, gotten out of bed, and then immediately passed out again after taking two steps. 

“Binghe!” Shen Qingqiu cried. Seriously, what was going on? Did Airplane write a narcolepsy arc he never mentioned? 

As Shen qingqiu lifted Binghe back onto the bed, a younger voice joined them. “Shizun, why was everyone running into the bamboo house? Is everything okay?” 

At the threshold of his bedroom Ning Yingying had arrived, followed by the head disciple. 

Shen Qingqiu gawked at her small stature. What the-!? Did Ning Yingying also qi deviate? And Ming Fan, too? Why did all his disciples look about ten years younger- 

Oh.

Oh no.

Ha… hahaha… that was the trouble with immortals. Year after year, their faces looked exactly the same. 

System, Shen Qingqiu asked with dawning horror, what's going on? 

[Sounds like host has already figured it out! Limited event: Returning to the Peaceful Past is in progress!]

You bastard, you couldn't have said that earlier!? 

So Shen Qingqiu had temporarily returned to the past. He’d told his sixteen year old disciple they would dual cultivate and informed all his martial siblings he had married the boy at 15. For a thin faced man like Shen Qingqiu, something of this level… he couldn’t bear his fellow peak lord’s shocked and judging faces. 

“S-so…” Shen Qingqiu laughed nervously. “Um… that was all a joke, okay?” 

[sunderwight]

PIDW but it's a game.

You play as Luo Binghe, the lowliest disciple of Cang Qiong Mountain Sect's Qing Jing Peak. The first part of the game proceeds more or less like a semi-normal fantasy dating sim -- Luo Binghe is bullied and downtrodden, but can seek help and opportunities to build relationships with various female characters, like Ning Yingying and Liu Mingyan. The game's interface implies a truly staggering number of potential romance candidates to unlock, however, so it makes sense that the first part in your disciple years doesn't get you very far in any of the routes.

But then for the second part, things start to shift. You get an option that seems to amount to asking whether you want to make things better for Luo Binghe or not. When you click the obvious choice, that you do, your previously cold and ruthless shizun seems to go through an inexplicable change of heart. You get a weird kind of fanservice-y scene featuring him during the Skinner Demon Mission. Then he features extremely heavily in the Demon Invasion Mission, only to turn up as your companion in the Dream Demon Mission.

After that, it seems like you've gotten onto his route, somehow? Why does the scummy male teacher even have a route in a game like this, though? You try to check for player guides but you can't seem to find any. You try reloading older saves and making other selections, but no matter what you choose, you end up finishing the Dream Demon Mission by moving into Shen Qingqiu's house, and the routes for Liu Mingyan and Ning Yingying and the briefly-encountered Sha Hualing are all greyed out.

But maybe that just means they're inaccessible for advancement for now, or something. And a lot of games have plot points that are on rails, and you can see where Luo Binghe actually getting a place to live would be one of those things. The format of the game changes as well, going from a relatively loose sequence of scenes and interactions to a daily management style, where you have tasks to complete (make shizun breakfast, go to morning lessons, cultivate, do chores, etc) and only a set number of hours in which to complete them. You have affection points, but any time you try to spend them on anyone other than Shen Qingqiu you get an error message. There are dialogue options for flirting with other characters, but they're always greyed out and impossible to select.

Still, you can unlock scenes. A lot of them are just long slow shots of Shen Qingqiu doing things, like reading, or lecturing, or eating. You get missions, and sometimes you meet female characters who seem to unlock new possible romance paths, even though they're still constantly greyed out. Maybe this part of the game's just especially on rails? Waiting for the actual harem-building segment? You kind of like a lot of aspects of it anyway, though. Luo Binghe is an especially compelling character, not at all like the usual sort of non-entity placeholder main guys in games like this. He definitely has personality.

But then you get to the third part. The Abyss. Shen Qingqiu pushes Luo Binghe in, and suddenly you're wondering if you've somehow reached a bad end. You were saving up some of those affection points for later, maybe you should have spent them all on him? Was there something you did wrong to make this happen? You're not even sure why he's thrown poor Binghe away, he was cold and cryptic about it, and now you're wondering if all the time you spent distracted by other things was time you should have spent farming a better relationship with him. You can't help but wonder where you went astray, because Luo Binghe will not stop wondering about it, and wondering about it in ways that make you feel oddly like he is accusing you, the player, of making the wrong choices... but in a way that could still plausibly be aimed at himself, as a character. You feel bad. You kind of want to restart, but you also can't bring yourself to abandon Luo Binghe. You have to see this through, to help him make it to the other side.

Regardless, the Endless Abyss seems like it must be an inevitable plot development. A lot of the game shifts to account for it. There's even an option to essentially select this "thought" from Luo Binghe's internal diatribe, that this is inevitable, and it seems to turn off the litany of recriminations for a while, although sometimes it also results in Luo Binghe... glaring at the screen?

At you?

Anyway the daily management system goes out of the window, and instead there's an energy bar now. Encounters with monsters or the occasional demon woman will lower the energy bar, how much depends on what you choose and how the encounters proceed. Sometimes there are romantic/sexy responses for interacting with the demon women you meet, and they aren't greyed out, but if you try and select them the cursor will jump to another option. You think there might be something wrong with your mouse? Sometimes you get Luo Binghe glaring at the screen scenes afterwards. When Binghe's energy bar hits zero, you're offered two choices -- "sleep" or "think of shizun". Sometimes even if you pick "sleep" the cursor will still jump to "think of shizun", and you'll be treated to another one of those slow lingering scenes of Shen Qingqiu. Except they are becoming increasingly strange, obviously warped by the exhaustion and trauma of the situation, so that aspects are eerie or even disturbing. For example, sometimes Shen Qingqiu seems to be missing limbs, or eyes. Sometimes there's blood on his hands. Sometimes the food he's eating is rotted, or the bamboo house background looks like the Qing Jing Peak wood shed. That kind of thing. You don't mind the idea of harm coming to the man. He deserves it, really, for pushing Luo Binghe into the Abyss. But the few times you try and select options along those lines, the UI glitches again.

Also the "think of shizun" option only restores a quarter of the energy bar, whereas resting restores all of it. But if you try to go for too long without doing it, it will lock you into choosing it successively for a long time.

In addition to the energy bar, there's a calendar. It's not all that sophisticated or even consistent, and it's clearly meant to reflect the fact that Luo Binghe has troubles accurately judging the passage of time in the Abyss. However, the longer you spend in the Abyss, the more violent and unhinged things start to become, and the more the UI starts glitching to reveal disturbing messages, and the more often Luo Binghe "glaring" scenes happen. So you decide to do your best to get Binghe out of here as quickly as possible. This part of the game must be broken, but hopefully if you can make to the next segment, it will work properly again.

Eventually you get to the Xin Mo Mission, which is the last part of the Abyss section, and Luo Binghe escapes.

But the weirdness continues. Worsens, even. You still get missions to like, take over the demon realms and infiltrate Huan Hua Palace, all cool stuff, and you still meet girls who seem to unlock possibly romance paths. But most of the time everything is greyed out. There will be 5 dialogue options but maybe only 1 or 2 of them will be selectable. Parts of the menu are inaccessible. You don't have an energy bar anymore, you have a Xin Mo corruption bar, and it just keeps steadily rising. Sometimes you're presented the option of propositioning a character to "mitigate corruption", but if you try and click it the game glitches or the cursor freaks out and it fails. Sometimes the game crashes outright, and when you reload your last save, it starts with Luo Binghe glaring at you through the screen. You still get the "rest" and "think of shizun" options at times, but neither one helps the corruption bar.

Then. Jinlan City. You reunite with Shen Qingqiu. There seem to be a lot of options for acting vengefully towards him, but they're all greyed out, except for a few which let you chase him down or manhandle him a bit. The whole segment is frustrating, full of weird fanservice-y moments but also mired in how little Shen Qingqiu will say, how often he insists on evading or running away, and how Luo Binghe doesn't seem to have the right prompts to actually get him to explain himself. At times it seems like the "think of shizun" mechanic is bleeding over into the real interactions with the character, so that you can't tell what's really going on vs what are the manifestation of Luo Binghe's trauma or even hallucinations. The Xin Mo bar has maxed out. You have to catch Shen Qinqiu. Catch Shen Qingqiu. Catch Shen Qingqiu--

Then suddenly the bar is at 0, and you're watching Shen Qingqiu's lifeless body fall towards the ground, his energy expended in the effort to push back the corruption. Like, all of his energy.

You catch Shen Qingqiu. Or at least, you stop his corpse from hitting the dirt.

Now the game art is crisp and clean again. All the weird UI artifacts and blocked-off menus are either gone altogether or else working properly. The sound, which had been very gradually deteriorating with low-pitched ringing and muffled portions, is normal. You can hear characters gasping and distantly shouting, and birds chirping somewhere, the ragged cadence of Luo Binghe's breaths, while the camera focuses on Shen Qingqiu's body.

Huh, you think. That's a sort of dramatic resolution to that plot arc, and it raised more questions about Shen Qingqiu than it answered, really. But at least it's over with now? Does this mean Luo Binghe can finally start to recover, or advance other plots?

Then everything blacks out. You get booted to the main menu, or something that looks like it, except the only option you can select now is the New Game+ one.

When you click it, it seems like you've started the whole game over again. Except that there is a Xin Mo corruption bar, greyed out, already waiting for in a corner of the screen. And instead of starting out with a view of Qing Jing Peak, you start out with the young Luo Binghe looking directly towards you. Like he's staring through the screen. It's the basic starting point character, except he already has his demon mark on his forehead, and his expression is way more cold and calculating than anything the junior protagonist would have worn.

"Don't get in my way," he warns.

Then the game proceeds like a visual novel with extremely limited choices. The old selections and the menu for various romance routes don't even appear, the menus have all changed again, this time oriented entirely around hiding Luo Binghe's demonic cultivation (while building it) and managing daily choices and Shen Qingqiu's relationship status. A romance game with only one romance route, and it's the treacherous crusty old teacher? Wtf? But otherwise it seems almost normal, except for the special faint-lettered red options that sometimes appear in weird places on the screen, suggesting things like preventing the Skinner demon from catching you unawares, or saving Shen Qingqiu from Without a Cure poisoning, or keeping out of the Endless Abyss.

Those options seem like they should create different outcomes, and you click them whenever they show up, but they consistently fail. As if there's some other force in the game pushing things back onto the rails no matter what you do...

Anyway, eventually you get through the main plot again, and Shen Qingqiu dies once more. This time the game keeps going from that point, however, with quests to try and find ways to resurrect him. You're starting to wonder why you're still playing -- after all, you signed up for a harem game, not this tragic gay love story? You're not even gay! It's just that Luo Binghe is such a compelling character. You decide it's time to take a break, though, so you get up, do some stretches, go to the bathroom, etc.

It feels like someone's watching you.

You've definitely been playing that game for too long. Sometimes you think you catch sight of Luo Binghe's face out of the corner of your eye, in the bathroom mirror or on the black surface of your phone's screen, just before you turn it on. But when you look twice or turn your phone off again, nothing's there. You call your little sister, to apologize for dropping off the face of the earth for a bit, and you joke about getting too invested in this weird game that might be broken? She hasn't heard of it, but she sounds a little worried as she suggests maybe coming over and taking you out to lunch, or something.

You decline -- she's got a lot on her plate, and she mentioned already having plans earlier -- but then you promise to get some fresh air anyway. But when you go to head out, somehow you find yourself turning away at the last minute. You try again, and yet it's like you just keep getting distracted before you can open the door. After a few tries you give up, swallowing down your growing unease. You take off your shoes and coat. When it comes to it, you really do want to find out what happens to Luo Binghe next.

The game is running.

You don't remember turning it back on...?

The screen is focused on the familiar image of Shen Qingqiu's preserved corpse. You can see Luo Binghe's hand in the frame as well, transferring qi in yet another familiar sequence, the one that seems to run at the end of every in-game day. There's some text.

Is it you? the red letters ask, scrawling and flickering, as if someone is attempting to write directly onto the screen. Are you the one behind all this? Thwarting me at every turn?

Yes/No options appear in the game's usual font and position. You try to click "no", even though you're unsure and feel like you must have missed a scene somehow. But the interface warps and when you hit "no" it changes to Stay Silent.

I can't figure out. Are you here to help me, or get in my way?

Help/Harm. You click "help" but again it changes to "stay silent" afterwards.

What do you want from me?

This time there's no option to select at first. Then, as if being shoved onto the screen by some alternative function, a text box opens up. Like the kind that some games have for implementing cheats or selecting character names. This particular game has never shown such a function before, Luo Binghe's name was locked in and you don't even know if it has cheats. The cursor blinks, and somehow it feels as if you have only one chance, and if you don't take it now, it will be gone forever.

You type in "help" and barely manage to hit enter before the interface blinks out. No list of prompts or possible options appear.

Shizun? the red text scrawls, shakily.

Then the whole game crashes.

You wait, but it doesn't start up again. You try to run it again, but you can't find it on your system, somehow. Really weird. Even if it had crashed, it shouldn't have gotten deleted? But you still can't find it. You start to feel genuinely alarmed. Not only can you not find the game on your system, but when you try and search for it absolutely nothing comes up. You try and go to the online shop page for it, but you can't remember where you actually got it from in the first place, now that you're thinking about it.

What bullshit is this?

What, was the game actually some kind of virus? It couldn't have been. Also who would make a virus like that? You get up and pace, trying to make sense of it.

It's gotta be some kind of mistake. Maybe you've just missed too much sleep, you're not thinking right. You'll take a break and when you come back you'll realize that you were just looking in all the wrong places, somehow.

You head over to the fridge to grab something to eat.

You can't remember the last time you went shopping, but the food in there is probably still fine. Right?

[everytimewetouch-dot-mp3]

shang qinghua does not feel good about the fact that his son was thrown into the abyss. he doesn’t feel good about all the disciples who died in the invasion, or about the fact that he basically traded all their lives to spare his own. he doesn’t feel good about the fact that he could’ve killed his king years ago and chose not to, even knowing what it would mean he’d have to do.

and listen, he knows he’s not a good person. who could be, having done what he has? there’s a reason he’s lord of an ding peak, and it’s not just because the system said he had to be. shang qinghua is smart and smooth. and sure, some might call him sleazy or slimy or manipulative, but he prefers to call himself effective. he might play at being pathetic, but even that is a calculated decision. whatever needs doing, he gets it done. he is not a good person, but he is an efficient logistician, a shrewd businessman, a cunning spy.

he has rarely been dragged down by dumb shit like guilt. no, he doesn’t feel good about what he did, but the other option was feeling dead, and that’s really not on the table. it’s just—there are rumors. the widow of qing jing peak, they’ve started calling shen qingqiu. and like, that’s embarrassing as shit, yeah. he’s sure if shen qingqiu knew they were calling him that, he’d throw a fit. but also it’s—they’re not really wrong? wasting away as he is, losing himself kneeling at that sword mound, calling for his disciple like he’s haunted by the ghost of his presence. he is the picture of a widow ruined by grief.

shang qinghua doesn’t feel good about that either, especially after he learned that shen qingqiu is a fellow transmigrator. he knew, in an abstract sort of way, that people would die in the invasion and those people would have loved ones, and those loved ones would grieve them. people die all the time, and they are allegedly grieved by their loved ones. shang qinghua has never grieved a loved one. has he ever even had loved ones who he would truly grieve? did anyone grieve him when he died alone in his apartment like an idiot? did anyone even look for him before his corpse started to smell?

anyway.

he knew he’d be causing a lot of grief, is the point, but it’s different when it’s a hometown bro who’s grieving. even if that hometown bro refuses to acknowledge his grief for what it is. shen qingqiu is grieving. when he loses days at a time at that sword mound; when he flits about the world and avoids his peak for months; when he comes home and haunts the bamboo forests, a ghost of himself. all of it is grief, which shang qinghua is starting to believe he has never felt for anyone but his own sorry self.

shang qinghua is not a good person, has never let himself be dragged down by dumb shit like guilt. maybe what he feels for his hometown bro is pity. maybe that’s why, when he hears that shen qingqiu is nearing cang qiong again after months away, he decides to bring some snacks and wine and his pipe to the bamboo house. the disciples say their shizun hasn’t been eating, and shen qingqiu has been looking rather thin at the peak lord meetings he bothers to attend. so maybe it’s pity that has shang qinghua breaking into the bamboo house and cooking something light and simple, setting it out on the table along with the snacks and the wine, and curling up to read while he waits.

and then, when shen qingqiu steps into his house and calls for luo binghe, it’s pity that moves shang qinghua to greet him fast, so shen qingqiu doesn’t embarrass himself imagining that it was his disciple who cooked for him. it’s pity that has him convincing shen qingqiu to eat, that has him politely looking away when shen qingqiu quietly cries as he tastes the simple stir fry. pity keeps him from responding when shen qingqiu excuses his reaction, saying ‘it tastes just like binghe’s, is all.’ no, binghe’s cooking taste’s like airplane shooting toward the sky’s. where does shen qingqiu think luo binghe got it from, indirect though that inherited skill might be? luo binghe is still airplane’s son.

shang qinghua does not feel guilty for the invasion at the immortal alliance conference, but he does not feel good about it either. he does not feel good about the grief he’s caused, or the way it’s hollowed his hometown bro out into a ghost of himself. so whenever shen qingqiu returns to the sect, shang qinghua does his best to make sure there’s a meal waiting for him, and an afternoon of drinking and smoking and distracting him from the grief he refuses to acknowledge. shang qinghua doesn’t hover. he doesn’t imagine that he and shen qingqiu are now friends—if anything, it seems like shen qingqiu is politely humoring his presence. shang qinghua does not feel any better about himself because of these rare afternoons. he imagines, though, that he would feel worse about himself if they were to stop.

[10thmusemoon]

I think a lot about yqy, who had no specific attachment to gender, feeling dysphoria the first time he realizes that the women in SJ’s bed at the WRP were delicate with elegant soft features. He spends a night turning a copper mirror every which way, struggling to apply cosmetics with shaking hands when something finally clicks and he thinks to himself “I could never look like that, I could never be what Xiao Jiu wants.”

Maybe the thought lingers long enough to drive yqy to action, to bring him down the mountain and into a brothel where the women look eager to eat up this soft spoken man and show him the ways of the world. Unfortunately that’s not what he wants, instead of seeking the delicate touch of a woman he wants to emulate it. It’s hardly unheard of, they manage all sorts of requests at brothels, and this one is simple enough.

The first time YQY sees himself properly done up, his breath catches in his throat. That is, of course, still his face beneath the white powder and red dots, those are his eyes behind the kohl liner, and yet it’s…softer. In a certain light he could almost be called delicate.

The older woman must recognize something in his expression, the hand at his shoulder gently squeezing and apologizing that they don’t have anything in his size, but if he were to return with enough notice, perhaps something could be arranged.

Yue Qingyuan returns.

Again and again and again.

Each time the spells sinks its hooks into him, a fantasy of a different life where he was a different person, one that Shen Qingqiu could bring himself to touch. Maybe even to love. The feelings that inspires cling to him like the last remnants of summer’s warmth, sparking a small joy that lasts throughout the following days until it flickers out, signaling his return.

It’s a noticeable change in Yue Qingyuan. Disciples and peak lords alike notice his improved mood, an errant An Ding disciple sees him browsing hair pins, the fine silk of women’s robes in a market place and a rumor spreads like wild fire.

The sect leader has lover!

It’s not the first time such a thing has been said, Shen Qingqiu tracks these rumors like a farmer tracks the seasons. Each and every time the claims come up unfounded, and yet…when the recent whispers from chatty hall masters reach his ears he listens. This time around, there’s a marked change in Yue Qingyuan.

An improved mood, yes, but not only that there’s…a distraction.

The sect leader’s visits to Qing Jing Peak grow further and further apart, and when he does dare to show his face it’s always followed by a visit cut short, a distant air to his demeanor. Bile turns in Shen Qingqiu’s stomach, a familiar ache in his chest pounds against his rib cage, begging to be freed. It’s the same jagged toothed creature that would bare its fangs when the likes of Shi Wu would dare call out for Qi-ge’s attention.

Shen Qingqiu did not cut Yue Qingyuan out of his heart just for someone to pick up what he discarded.

This bears investigation.

In the dark recesses of Shen Qingqiu’s mind, he’s conjured up an image of what Yue Qingyuan’s lover would be like. A soft spoken woman from a noble family or humble shopkeeper, a shy thing that inspires love from all the meet her, a paragon of purity and morality that stokes Yue Qingyuan’s bumbling courtship. He would go through the proper channels of course, through her family if she had one, or simply jump straight to providing for her if she did not. Shen Qingqiu can just imagine it, Yue Qingyuan’s sweet little lover hidden away in house that he visits under the cover of night, bringing to her the gifts Shen Qingqiu has been offered but had turned away.

It just riles him up!

That the righteous YQY would sneak around everyone’s backs to defile a hapless woman that doesn’t know better! That he could be hunched over her, rippling muscles over bearing as he whispers confessions of love under the moon light.

The idea of it makes Shen Qingqiu’s heart race and fists clench. It’s simply unacceptable!! That should be-

Yue Qingyuan shouldn’t!

He doesn’t keep his promises!

It is only for the sake of the woman that YQY has duped into being his doe she lover that Shen Qingqiu follows him.

Shen Qingqiu was convinced it would take several attempts to find Yue Qingyuan’s secret abode. Surely his wife would be protected by the strongest talismans and spells available to a sect leader. So when his tracking leads Shen Qingqiu to the red light district of another town, it’s as if the world was turned on its heels.

That righteous bastard!

Yue Qingyuan is no better than any other man!!

White eyes with fury, Shen Qingqiu bursts into the brothel, accusations of hypocrisy on the tip of his tongue. But Instead of finding YQY rutting against a woman like the swine he is he is…

He’s…

Shen Qingqiu doesn’t know what he’s looking at.

There’s women screaming and filtering out the door, his sword is brandished but SQQ’s hands have gone numb from the pressure.

Yue Qingyuan is-

He is-

…beautiful.

-

And that’s where I stop!! Happy 9/7 day YQY definitely uses his new found confidence to put the moves on SQQ, with a shakey voice he ask if he likes YQY better like this and SQQ is already stepping close to cup YQY’s face in his hands.

“Explain”

So he does and everything about how wrong SQQ was shakes him to his core because yqy would do this…found this part of himself… in order to be appealing to Shen Qingqiu…

Shen Qingqiu never tells YQY about the lover he had invented (and grown to loathe) in his jealousy, but as he’s giving him the first and most thorough fuck of his life, SQQ makes plans to buy his own secret cabin in the woods.

Just in case.

[ceramicrambles]

Every single time YQY leaves the mountain for important business, Shen Qingqiu is sent with him. SQQ of course finds it annoying/thinks YQY is purposefully doing so. He doesn’t realize that it’s everyone else that makes the decision pretty much.

YQY without SQQ is kind, attentive, but also dissociative. He experiences long periods where he retreats into xuan su. Mu Qingfang doesn’t know exactly why he becomes so aware when in the presence of SQQ, but he understands enough to know it’s best to have him around for important meetings.

Hence YQY has a ‘SQQ prescription’ all the other peak lords know about. Anything important must have the pair. All the peak lords know that Yue Qingyuan is absolutely useless without Shen Qingqiu, which is why he is always listed on outings to important dignitaries and such. And that way the sect leader can be sharp as possible when dealing with foreign affairs.

One day, Shen Jiu overhears a conversation to the effect of: we need to fill up YQY’s prescription soon, because he’s been spacing out a lot during the new disciple trainings. Thinking this strange and being hyper-paranoid, Shen Jiu decides to use one of his artifacts to disguise himself as a random disciple and spy on YQY.

What he finds is Yue Qingyuan, sorting through paper as if on autopilot. Face blank. His eyes scarily unfeeling. The only thing that seems to have any life in the room is Xuan Su, who is on the table and practically vibrating with energy. The disciples all try and rouse Shizun with food, training, etc, but nothing seems to work until YQY eventually gets up, says goodnight to his head disciple, and shuts himself in his leisure house to be alone for the night.

SQQ begins searching through his leisure house the next day, but doesn’t find anything. Then he tries to find out exactly what is wrong with YQY from MQF, who refuses to commit a xianxia HIPA violation. Frustrated, he starts interrogating Shang Qinghua, who gives vague hints and alludes to something being wrong, but is shockingly tight-lipped as to what is actually the matter.

The worst thing is probably the fact that YQY appears totally fine during his visits to SQQ! Which is driving him crazy! Don’t pretend like everything is fine if it’s not! And SQQ becomes so bitter about not being told what’s going on that he blows up at Qi-ge and tells him to stop visiting (which is typical), but it causes something to happen that this time he notices.

For a brief second, YQY’s gaze goes from lively, almost sparkling, to totally blank. As if a candle is blown out. As if the soul is pulled from his body, he goes cold. It only lasts a second, but Shen Jiu sees it this time. He notices the micro expression as YQY plasters on another smile. He sees it all and doesn’t know what to do. Because Qi-ge has to be sick but isn’t telling him anything. What is he supposed to do?

Eventually, he will find out what these dissociative episodes are, and about how Xuan Su has YQY’s soul. But for now, SJ will slowly begin being more lenient to YQY, because he can’t stand the thought of losing him. His possessiveness and terror outweigh his anger— for now.