#sower shen yuan

[optimisticmosquito]

Guys hear me out on this svsss au idea.

Sower Shen yuan. SY transmigrating into a young sower child and having to learn sower and demon culture. One large difference to his old life is that his diet now consists of rotten flesh. He has a lot of feelings about that. It's raw flesh! It's rotting! It's the worst every world has to offer!

Curse you system for placing him here! He must be the unluckiest transmigrator to ever exist! Or maybe not the unluckiest, he could have been transmigrating into some low iq villain and destined to be killed off by the protagonist. His new life is definitely preferable to that! Barely.

He might grumble but he's learning a lot of new things that were never mentioned in PIDW! After all cultivators don't know much about sowers, and higher demons don't care about what's going on in sower society as long as they follow orders.

They are natural scavengers, their food needing to be at least somewhat deteriorated for them to digest it properly. Every sower is born with the ability to rot flesh, it's kinda needed after all if you want to survive. But as they age sowers can cultivate their ability, creating faster ways to rot flesh, or methods that are more effective on different types of flesh. The most talented ones are even able to create diseases that can affect and rot still living flesh.

Of course the better one's technique is, the easier it is to get food. So most sowers would be hesitant to share their techniques outside direct family. This would create sower lineages with uniquely cultivated diseases.

It's all very interesting! SY would be vibrating with excitement if he didn't have to experience it firsthand.

This all without mentioning human meat as a delicacy among demons. SY refuses to participate, but even he can't decline when his caring grandma was able to procure some just for her beloved grandkids, as a rare treat.

The worst part is his body actually likes the taste, despite how revolting it looks. He has a lot if internal crises about it.

You could of course spin this into a bingyuan. Luo Binghe just out of the endless abyss meeting this nice sower and falling head over heels. Making a lowly sower his empress after he takes over the demon realm.

But I'm thinking of going another direction, either jiuyuan or liushen.

SY's forced to go into the human side of the borderlands because of food scarcity on the demon side. He's not stupid about it! He knows some cultivators patrol the area so he's gotten himself a bracelet of disguise to hide his demonic traits.

While there he comes across a head disciple from Cang Qiong Mountain Sect and ends up entangled in their mission. They help eachother out, shares laughs and near death moments, creating a bond that should surely last even after the mission ends.

If not for the fact SY is a demon. He desperately hides his identity, making sure his new friend doesn't touch his skin by accident as he has cultivated enough for his touch to be dangerous to normal humans. He isn't sure it would be dangerous to cultivator disciples, but he doesn't want to take any chances.

And then the worst happens, he is revealed as a sower and his new friend mistakenly assumes he was tricking them so he could kill and eat them later. Angry with themselves over being tricked, disgusted by any good feelings still harbored towards a man-eating demon. Only a moment of quick thinking on SYs part saves them from having to kill SY. SY returns home heartbroken and without any food for his family, abd stays listless and sad for a long time.

Years later he'll come across a peak lord, looking for a cure to a deadly sower disease spread on behalf of the old demon emperor.

If anyone feels inspired please write it! I'd really want to read a sower!SY au as well!

[coolshadowtwins]

Shen Yuan gets hit with a truth serum plot fic round up!

These are from the comments and reblogs of my previous post

Absolution by airplanelanding

https://archiveofourown.org/works/51587557#main

Summary: Luo Binghe stared back at him. There was something distant in his eyes, something Shen Qingqiu was too tired, too drained, to decipher. Then, Luo Binghe’s lips opened in a non-apology, a soft, murmured sentence—a quiet, “I need to know the truth.”

Shen Qingqiu frowned. He opened his mouth to question the damn-near imploring words, but he never got the chance.

He failed to notice something was in Luo Binghe’s hands until it was too late.

Or

Luo Binghe is determined to get answers this time, now that Shen Qingqiu can't run away. Even if he has to use a truth serum to do it.

aka A Water Prison Re-Write.

"open my lungs to let you in" by ghostybreads https://archiveofourown.org/works/37276570

Summary: Shen Qingqiu had a secret. So, naturally, it was only a matter of time before he was hit by a truth serum wife plot.

//

“How are you?”

“Horny. Kind of want Binghe to rail me, I guess. But it’s manageable.”

Liu Qingge’s hand on his forehead froze, and he was close enough that Shen Qingqiu could hear his breathing stop. He stared back expressionlessly, the mortification distantly crawling up the back of his neck. Honest One-Horned–

The frustrated scream that he usually vented in his head, came out straight from mouth.

“aaAAAAAHHHH GODDAMNIT AIRPLANE–”

no regret (i've been sorry all these years) by krmilia

https://archiveofourown.org/works/39006066

Summary: There is no actual way the System hated him so much, right? Right?

Recently a lot of shitty things happened to Shen Qingqiu. By that he meant sowers in Jinlan city, return of his wayward disciple – who, uhm, prepared him surprise by leaving the Abyss two years early – and now… Well, now he was poisoned with a truth serum.

(Or, Bingqiu finally talk.)

speak your mind (not that much!) by nyoomerr https://archiveofourown.org/works/38953875

Summary: Before the investigation in Jinlan City, Shen Qingqiu is hit by a curse that forces him to speak his mind. Unfortunately, this means that the first thing he does when he sees Luo Binghe for the first time in three years is to tell Luo Binghe that he's grown up to be really quite pretty.

Luo Binghe, not sure what's going on but absolutely enjoying the ride, abandons all his plans immediately. He has new priorities now, including but not limited to:

- get his Shizun to call him 'pretty' again

- steal his Shizun away from his (probably in existence) harem

- ???

funny how you just break down (waiting on some sign) https://archiveofourown.org/works/36742384/chapters/91657246

Summary: Luo Binghe’s hand is half-raised, and Shen Qingqiu is going to die and this is the hand that will—

“[Notice: In appreciation of your continued use of our services, System 2.0 is offering {Valued Customer} a complimentary Bonus Plotline! Do you accept?]”

aka, What if Luo Binghe could read Shen Qingqiu’s mind during the Jinlan City arc?

What is Seen by CavetteDracones

Summary: …is not [always] the real truth.

Truth-compelling artifacts in the hands of an enemy to one side, SYSTEM-mandated silence on the other, and Shen Qingqiu caught between the two. Is it too late to go back to the Water Prison?

BONAS:

Moshang

If It can be destroyed by Tossawary https://archiveofourown.org/works/53124079

I’ll probably add more as they are either found by me or suggested!

[allpiesforourown]

In the scum villain novels when does shen yuan go to brothels to get information? The only time I remember is in jin lan city but that's because he was following a sower, I don't remember any other times he did that

Back when he was hanging out with Zhuzhi-Lang!

Well I guess he didn't actually go in to find out about Binghe, he just asked because they brought him up. His main goal was to have a group of people work for him, but still shows he's not above hiring sex workers for unconventional means

[tossawary]

"Elder Sky Hammer, who'd been lying motionless on the ground, suddenly leapt up and hurled himself at Luo Binghe a second time.

Shen Qingqiu had already taken his hammer - did he intend to use his body to crush Luo Binghe?

But as Shen Qingqiu took in Elder Sky Hammer's open arms, and his pose that seemed like he was about to embrace Luo Binghe, his thoughts suddenly made several lightning-like turns, and his etire body broke out in a cold sweat.

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuck me! He's still wearing the poison-spiked armor!

In that instant, Shen Qingqiu completely forgot about Luo Binghe's plot armor. At the moment of truth, subconsciously, he once again move to protect his student."

Volume 1, Chapter 2, page 123.

Shen Qingqiu just had a pretty badass moment of disarming Elder Sky Hammer and then picking up this enormous hammer and throwing it back at the demons, it's all very cool, and then he just... completely forgets that Luo Binghe is both the protagonist (plot armor) and a heavenly demon (immune to their poisons, probably, even with the seal on his demon side). Later on, Shen Qingqiu suggests that being touched by a sower not only wouldn't hinder Luo Binghe, it might even be good for his health, because it's so good to be the protagonist.

I did "What if Binghe did get poisoned by Without a Cure here?" in one of my fics and it was fun. I made Shang Qinghua deal with that problem, but it would be fun to give Shen Yuan a turn.

[randomwritingdrabbles]

Oneshot idea - Luo Binghe is feeling nostalgic and wears clothes reminiscent of his disciple time for the sower city reunion. Shen Yuan is very emotional that His Binghe is Still Alive and expresses this in an emotional mess fitting of someone who talked to a sword mound for 3 years.

[misto713]

i need 200k words of this exact premise / plotline. and also:

tianlang jun & zhuzhi lang? since binghe needed to fetch the sun moon mushroom seeds, wouldn't he have met his cousin? and help him because 'shizun would have wanted to help'? => a much happier family reunion. also, now zhuzhi isn't to blame for the sowers since he was still at the cave at that time. someone else did it ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

shen yuan eventually explains that binghe's mother wouldn't have betrayed either of them and instead died so binghe could be born. maybe tlj concentrates his power to somehow fetch her soul back through the holy mausoleum into a new mushroom body, since he technically has her blood in binghe and binghe agrees to help out of curiosity if nothing else. to meet his birth mother.

cang qiong is honestly so fed up with SJ at this point that they would rather welcome the 'impostor' than the 'original', no matter what yue qingyuan might say. so "for the sake of the sect's face", SJ is politely advised not to return to his position. they won't snitch on him or return him to huan hua, but won't welcome him back at cang qiong either.

qing jing disciples miss their 'evil' shizun, the 'impostor' and still follow the rules he set up while the 'real' peak lord is gone. even the sect leadership sees and has to agree that the peak is working better without SJ as peak lord. that even in his absence, the 'impostor' does a better job.

so when shen yuan makes a brief visit to the human realm (for snacks and trashy books to share with his new father-in-law), someone from CQMS spots him and begs him to come back :) . SY feels like crying (his children DO want him back!) and goes visit and update lesson plans sometimes, becoming a de facto peak lord who just spends most of his time elsewhere. really, not a problem, he still spends more of his time at the peak than liu-shidi...

during one of his stays and qing jing, the old palace monster suddenly and mysteriously disappears. hey, aren't binghe's sleeves a bit more red than usual? also, haven't seen such a self-satisfied smile on tianlang-jun's face like.. ever. well, the father-son duo seem to be getting along so everything is right in the world :) :) :)

also, the demon realm is now accidentaly more stable than ever. binghe rules the central and north parts (though he leaves most of it to mobei and his wife, shang-shishu), and tianlang-jun rules the south (really, most of the work is done by the reanimated su xian and zhuzhi-lang but who's counting?)

SV fic where Shen Yuan's status as a body-snatching entity is revealed before the Immortal Alliance Conference can happen.

Maybe the system suffers a glitch while some unforeseen side quest is active, and suddenly Shen Yuan's status is revealed and some of the other peak lords he's with seize the opportunity to exorcise his spirit and put Shen Jiu back in his place.

Shen Yuan has mixed feelings about this development, needless to say. On the one hand, it's kind of not actually that bad? He got caught out like a week away from the IAC and the necessary Abyss plotline, so at least like this, he's managed to give Luo Binghe a slightly better time on Qing Jing for the past few years and equip him more capably to survive the Abyss, but he also doesn't have to personally throw him down there. That's the silver lining.

On the other hand, everything else about this situation sucks! He got attached to his life as Shen Qingqiu, dammit! And now he's been revealed and branded as some kind of horrible demonic spirit thing, and he was rather painfully expelled (even though he wasn't even there willingly in the first place), and so he's been reduced to some a kind of sparkly ghost light hovering on the fringes of existence, highly susceptible to being harmed if any more righteous cultivators get it in their heads to disperse him!

Which is better than just being catapulted back into his rotting corpse in the other world, but not by as big of a margin as he'd like.

Basically, in terms of his ability to influence the world Shen Yuan has been downgraded back to "read only" status. He finds that he can manifest himself in places that he's already been, or around people he has a particular affinity towards, but they can't perceive him and he can't communicate or even do much more than some minor poltergeist type activity. Which he is cautious about anyway, because if he gets caught around Shen Jiu, Shen Jiu is going to disperse him with extra prejudice.

Unfortunately, nearly everything Shen Yuan cares about is in Shen Jiu's orbit.

So he can only watch, metaphorically gritting his teeth as the newly-restored Shen Qingqiu kicks Luo Binghe out of the bamboo house, burns all the bridges that Shen Yuan painstakingly rebuilt for him, refuses point blank to let Liu Qingge help with Without-a-Cure, resumes and even begins taking more frequent trips to the nearest brothels, and neglects his duties to turn into a paranoid wreck as if he half-expects Shen Yuan to steal his body back from him the next time he lets his guard down. Corporal punishment spikes back up on Qing Jing Peak.

Shen Yuan is surprised to hear the whispers of dissent, even so. A spirit possessing a righteous cultivator is a pretty damning incident, and there's no way that he could come out of it smelling like roses. And yet, even though his -- Shen Qingqiu's disciples know enough to be circumspect about saying anything of the sort, there are still murmurs and rumblings about how things used to run, not too long ago.

Ming Fan quiets any such talk as soon as he hears it. Ning Yingying scarcely seems to know how to respond to the situation, except to sometimes plaintively insist that she hadn't even noticed much change between Shen Qingqiu's at all. But Luo Binghe...

Well.

Whenever there are mutterings, it often seems as though Binghe is there. Nodding. Whispering. Carefully putting forth suggestions that others barely seem to recognize as suggestions. Shen Yuan only notices because he knows what Binghe's capable of when he decides to be manipulative, and even he finds himself wondering if it's not just a coincidence, something he's imagining, because Luo Binghe hasn't even blackened through his Abyss arc yet.

Even so, there he is, musing carefully on how strange it was that he's heard that Hong Jing hadn't identified any untoward presence in Shen Qingqiu before, how Shizun had never done anything bad to the peak despite all the claims that he'd supposedly been possessed by a malicious entity for years, and wasn't this new Shen Qingqiu acting much more suspicious? Much more malicious? Isn't is the new Shizun who jumps at shadows and talks to people who aren't there, and seems so uneasy in his own skin?

If one had to guess which version was an unstable monster possessing a human's body, and which was the righteous and noble peak lord... ah, well. It's just surprising, isn't it? Luo Binghe would of course never suggest that this new Shen Qingqiu was in actuality the being that had stolen someone else's place. He's surely never second guess the judgment of the peak lords, who claim to have let an interloper among them for YEARS in total ignorance. It's just something to think about.

Alas for Binghe, though a lot of the peak seems inclined to agree with him, he can't win over enough to inspire anything worse than discontent. The "new" Shen Qingqiu does behave a lot more like the one that most of the Qing Jing knew prior to his qi deviation, after all, and it's no mystery why Luo Binghe -- spurned former favorite, now back to being at the bottom of the pecking order -- would be unhappy with the change. Shen Yuan appreciates that this is at least doing a good job of setting up Luo Binghe's altered opinion on his shizun, and he's touched that he made a good enough impression for Binghe to be mad about the sudden regression, but he wishes he could tell Binghe that there's simply nothing to be done about it. That is the real Shen Qingqiu, and Binghe ought to concern himself more with the upcoming conference!

At least, despite being kicked out of the bamboo house, Luo Binghe managed to farm enough good opinion with some of the other disciples during his tenure as Favorite that he doesn't go back to sleeping in the woodshed. Without Shen Qingqiu expressly demanding it, no one would dare, just in case Luo Binghe might regain his status one day. There seems to be an awareness that "evil" Shizun would have made them run laps, but "good" Shizun would now probably whip them half to death in a fit of temper. No one wants to take chances.

Finally, the Immortal Alliance Conference rolls around. Shen Yuan can only watch and cheer Binghe on as best as he's able to, even knowing the probable outcome. And Binghe does so well! He fights bravely but also smartly. When Shen Qingqiu arrives, Binghe doesn't lose an ounce of his caution, though he does still nobly defend his master even though the good feelings between them have dried up. He correctly identifies Without-a-Cure's flare up and silently helps compensate for Shen Jiu's weakness, and sticks by him even though the Original Goods is hardly appreciative.

When the Abyss opens up, and Luo Binghe's demonic seal is broken, Shen Qingqiu seems almost relieved to have this information brought to light. He accuses Luo Binghe not only of orchestrating the invasion of demons at the conference, but of arranging fro Shen Jiu to be replaced too.

"Of course, for a demon like you, summoning some wicked force into this master's body would be easy!" he spits.

Luo Binghe looks bowled over by the accusation. But rather than defending himself, he latches onto it as if it might be some kind of lifeline.

"For a demon like this one... it would be possible?" he echoes.

Shen Jiu hurls more accusations. Of course it is. Luo Binghe is not just any demon, but the most powerful, dangerous, and destructive sort there is. Little is beyond the scope of a Heavenly Demon's power, or wretchedness. Luo Binghe must have uncovered his heritage and seen a convenient means of ridding himself of an inconvenient master. Wherever that horrid spirit is now, it's probably just waiting for the next chance to leap back in at Luo Binghe's call!

"Shizun's spirit... that spirit from before, it still exists?" Luo Binghe catches.

"As if you don't know. Beast. Even the sect leader could not destroy your minion completely," Shen Jiu sneers.

"And it would be within my abilities to put it back in your body. Instead of you."

"You won't get the chance."

Shen Jiu stabs Luo Binghe before throwing him into the Abyss. Binghe fights back, but he seems reluctant to injure his shizun, even now.

Shen Yuan supposes that such reluctance won't survive the Abyss. Still, it's emotional for him. That such a little kindness could cause Luo Binghe to hesitate, even at this point, it really speaks to the resilience of hope in Binghe's heart.

Shen Yuan's little ghost light almost follows him down. But the Abyss would be too dangerous for him, even as he is now. He'd be a little mote of spiritual energy, easily gobbled up by any number of creatures in that place, if he wasn't just swept up by the chaotic ambient energies themselves. So he can only stay behind and think some very colorful swear words in Shen Jiu's general direction, until the rift closes and leaves no trace of Luo Binghe behind, except for the shards of Zheng Yang.

The shards are left behind. Shen Yuan finds that he has a little bit of spiritual storage space. Just enough to maybe fit all of them, so he goes and painstakingly uses his limited powers to lift up each piece and drop it in. It takes him hours and hours, but luckily the clean-up of the whole disaster is something that will take months. No one seems inclined to go reclaim Luo Binghe's shattered blade or risk getting too close to the remnants of the rift, even closed. So, Shen Yuan manages.

The next few years prove difficult. Shen Yuan finds that it's hard to retain his presence in the world. His little spirit has dampened considerably, and few things seem to perk him back up. He has more troubles following anyone who isn't Shen Jiu now that Binghe is in the Abyss, and Shen Jiu is depressing as hell to spend time around. He's rotten with kids, sucks at teaching, he has no friends, his health is deteriorating, and Shen Yuan has no interest in seeing what he gets up to in the brothels.

But Binghe is definitely coming back, and Shen Yuan wants to see him again.

His patience is rewarded the first time he finds his consciousness drifting, only to snap back to awareness in a place that's not Qing Jing Peak. He instead finds that he's in an unfamiliar patch of wilderness along a river, watching as Luo Binghe fights a small pack of demonic beasts.

It's definitely not the Endless Abyss. Has it been five years already...? Shen Yuan hadn't thought so, but then again, he's not the best at keeping track of time in this state.

Luo Binghe defeats the beasts, but they land more hits and wound him worse than Shen Yuan would have anticipated. The wounds aren't healing as quick as they should either. Was Binghe poisoned? Or is this a remnant of Shen Yuan's own poor teaching, the clumsiness in sword practice he never totally managed to correct leading somehow to this?

He gets it when Qin Wanyue and several other Huan Hua cultivators show up, however, and Luo Binghe manages to play the righteous cultivator who just survived a harrowing battle role to the hilt. It takes him very little effort to get the Huan Hua disciples to take him back with them and help "patch him up", and soon enough Shen Yuan has front row seats to watch as Binghe ingratiates himself with the sect.

Mostly, Shen Yuan is just relieved to confirm that Binghe did indeed survive, and glad that he's out of the horrible Abyss and in a place where he can rest and eat decent meals and be fawned over by his well-deserved admirers. Though Luo Binghe seems colder even than Shen Yuan expected, especially in some places where a bit of charm would serve him better. He declines outright to address the Palace Master as "shizun", even though he accepts the offer to stay as a guest disciple at Huan Hua Palace, and he is abrupt and aloof towards both Qin Wanyue and the Little Palace Mistress, despite their obvious interest in him.

Binghe doesn't seem to sleep as soundly as he should either. At night he often brings out a dream stone, which Shen Yuan recognizes as an amplification tool from the novel, but it seems that whatever Binghe is trying to search for with it is beyond his reach. Sometimes Shen Yuan imagines he can hear his disciple's voice calling Shizun at night. But always, Binghe is asleep, and there's no one in Huan Hua Palace he has deigned to address like that anyway. It's a trick of his own imagination, missing the days when Luo Binghe could call out and he himself could answer.

Things go mostly according to the plot, with a few disruptions here and there. Luo Binghe seems to be lagging behind on the romantic subplots, but rushing ahead on the vendetta against his old teacher. The Trial of Shen Qingqiu takes place at Jinlan City, with demon instigators who work for Luo Binghe accusing the peak lord of colluding with demons and setting him up to seem like he was involved in the sower attack. Shen Yuan knows, from watching Binghe, that the sower thing was mostly taking advantage of an existing situation to frame Shen Qingqiu. Binghe himself didn't have anything to do with Jinlan's suffering, but is obviously not above using it to his advantage.

Combined with Qiu Haitang's testimony, Shen Qingqiu is arrested and locked up where Luo Binghe can torture and dismember him at will.

However, Binghe... doesn't do that?

Instead he swiftly relocates Shen Qingqiu to a prison in the demon realms, and seems to abandon his concerns with Huan Hua Palace and the righteous cultivation sects altogether. He just leaves them to fight it out amongst themselves, as if he's got no concern with who comes out on top, and in the meanwhile he keeps Shen Qingqiu locked up but surprisingly well-treated?

Despite Shen Qingqiu's obvious terror and vitriol towards him, Luo Binghe forces him to eat nutritious meals, and attends to his health problems, and makes no move to injure him at all. He has nothing good to say to Shen Jiu, but he doesn't hurt him. Yet there is something distinctly weird about the whole dynamic, not at all like someone who has decided to keep a prisoner under ethical conditions for moral reasons or something like that.

Shen Yuan's not sure what to make of it.

In the end, Shen Jiu himself illuminates the situation.

It happens after Shen Jiu has rejected food. Luo Binghe tuts and asks if Shen Jiu suspects it would be poisoned. Shen Jiu sneers at him.

"I know it isn't," he says. "You wouldn't poison this body. I know what you're after."

"Oh? Wise Master Shen figured out this much?" Binghe replies, dry as the fucking desert.

"You're keeping me in this condition because you want to put that thing back in my body!" Shen Jiu accuses.

It takes Shen Yuan a moment to realize that Shen Jiu is referring to him. That he thinks Luo Binghe is keeping him fit and healthy for Shen Yuan's sake.

Wouldn't that be going too far just for some old teacher who was nice?! Yes, he knows that he made an impact on Luo Binghe, but it wasn't hard! Shen Jiu set the bar at the earth's crust, clearing it hardly required the kind of effort or devotion that would inspire an entire elaborate scheme purely on Shen Yuan's behalf!

He can't believe it.

But, Binghe doesn't deny it.

In fact he smiles, his expression somehow conveying that Shen Jiu guessed perfectly correct, but also that there's no good it can do him. Binghe has never looked so much like a piece of PIDW fanart before, with some dark and potent rage simmering just beneath the veneer of his placid smile.

"Shizun should not be referred to so impolitely," Luo Binghe counters. "If anyone in this room is a thing, it is this usurper in front of me."

"Usurper?! In my own body? You're mad."

Binghe tuts.

Master Shen should understand that his claim is contested. After all, if one woman gives birth to a child but then casts it into a river to die, but another fishes the babe out and cradles it to her breast -- which woman deserves to be called that child's mother? Just because Shen Jiu was born into that body, doesn't mean he deserves it more than anyone else.

But even if he did, Luo Binghe wouldn't care. He would kill to get his Shizun back. This isn't really so different from that, is it? And there is no love lost between him and Shen Jiu to make him hesitate. If his Shizun disagrees, he may disciple Binghe as he sees fit once he returns.

Shen Jiu points out that Luo Binghe's machinations have ruined his reputation. Even if he gets that creature to possess his body again, there's no way that they could infiltrate Cang Qiong Sect a second time.

But Binghe waves off his concerns. He clearly has thought of this, and has plans for it, but is also not about to be stupid enough to monologue any more at Shen Jiu. Once he leaves, Shen Yuan lingers for a little while, and notices that Shen Jiu actually seems genuinely concerned about what might happen to the sect if Luo Binghe succeeds and gets Shen Yuan put back on Qing Jing Peak.

Of course, Shen Yuan knows he wouldn't actually do anything to harm Cang Qiong, but Shen Jiu doesn't. This is the first time Shen Yuan has seen him actually reveal shades of what might be called a noble impulse.

It's not much, but... sigh.

The thing is, Shen Yuan doesn't really want to steal anybody's body! No one consulted with him the first time it happened! And they sure aren't consulting with him now, either, although to be fair they can't. But he might just have enough ability as a little ghost light to stave off some of this whole process, and he's got to decide if he wants to try. Or if he'll let Binghe have his way, and succeed in pushing Shen Jiu back out and giving Shen Yuan his life again.

Because Binghe will definitely succeed if he really does try. That's how the world works.

And if he did... that might be the only way for Shen Yuan to get his life as Shen Qingqiu back. Which he does want, desperately! He misses it. He misses it both in the general sense of having a body at all, but also in the particular sense of all the things he managed to attain as Qing Jing Peak Lord. As Shen Qingqiu.

Shen Jiu, also, makes a very tempting sacrifice in all this. Shen Yuan frankly hates his guts. Maybe it could have been different, but the fact that Shen Yuan worked so hard to try and make that life better, only for Shen Jiu to just go right back to being an intractable asshole who, frankly, should never be in charge of children ever, rankles! He went right back to mistreating Luo Binghe as well, and threw him into the Abyss, and if Binghe's plan was to violently kill him again as revenge for that then Shen Yuan wouldn't fault him. He didn't fault him the first time. He wasn't going to fault him even when it seemed like he would be the one Binghe was destined to rip apart in justified vengeance.

This is different, though. Shen Yuan wants to fight for the life he longs to be living, especially now when the axe of the Abyss is no longer hanging over him.

But is he willing to actually become the thing everyone else decided he was in order to get it? A body-snatching, malicious spirit?

Shen Jiu is horribly unsuited to his life as Shen Qingqiu. But, it is still his life. Shen Yuan really just managed to borrow it for a while.

Deep down he knows that, even if he would like to ignore it.

So when Binghe finally sets up the ceremony, and Shen Yuan's soul is called back into Shen Qingqiu's body, he hesitates. Shen Jiu is poised like a snarling, wounded animal within the confines of his own body. Even the gentlest tap would knock him back out again. Shen Yuan gets the sense that the system is also there, just waiting and even eager for him to do it. Take back the body, resume whatever quests or directives are waiting for him there.

Shen Yuan, even as fragile as his own spirit is, could crush Shen Jiu's battered soul to dust.

Instead he withdraws.

Binghe tries the ritual again, and again, and each time Shen Yuan feels stronger. But it doesn't matter, because he doesn't want to be an evil body-stealing parasite! He wishes he could just tell Binghe to stop wasting valuable resources on this, especially when Binghe could be focusing on other, more important things! Like building up happy relationships or consolidating his rule of the demon realms or establishing an actual strong foothold in the human world, or something!

Somehow, Shen Jiu figures this out before Luo Binghe does. Of course, he conveys the information in the worst way possible, snidely wondering what Luo Binghe did to alienate "that creature" he's trying so hard to resurrect so badly that it will refuse even the open, glowing invitation he keeps writing for it!

Excuse you, you miserable old man, Shen Yuan isn't avoiding Binghe! He is facing a very difficult moral dilemma and handling it LIKE A CHAMP! Fuck you!

Unfortunately, even though Shen Jiu has decided that Luo Binghe and Shen Yuan were in cahoots about the first body snatch, Luo Binghe knows that they weren't. He also doesn't know that his old Shizun knew full well that he was a Heavenly Demon the whole time. So now he has a lot of doubts to wrestle with, especially give that, despite the consensus of the rest of the world, Luo Binghe is not convinced that Shen Yuan actually is some kind of demonic spirit.

Maybe he's a good spirit that has rejected Binghe for his wretched blood?

But Shizun always said that things like that didn't matter!

So... maybe it's not his blood. Maybe Binghe's actions are what has caused Shizun to forsake him. All the terrible things he did to survive the Abyss, and the machinations afterwards, framing Shen Qingqiu and imprisoning him, setting himself up as a demonic ruler... all of that.

Binghe entreats his Shizun to forgive him. Or even if he won't forgive him, to still come back. Binghe will... stay away, if that's what Shizun wants. Just so long as Shizun is alive, is somewhere in the world, safe and happy, then... then...

He can't quite get through lying to claim that it would be enough. But it would be better than the current situation, so he tries.

Shen Yuan, luckily, has been juiced up enough from all the failed summoning rituals that later that night, he finally recognizes the little whisper-calls as echoes of Luo Binghe's dreams. And he's strong enough to follow the invitations! He goes to visit Binghe in his dreams, and reassures him that he's not trying to reject him at all. He's very proud of Binghe, and wants him to be happy and successful. Binghe could rule the world and Shizun would just cheer him on!

It's just that Shen Yuan never willingly possessed Shen Qingqiu in the first place. He misses his life, but given the choice, he doesn't want to be that kind of entity.

So, new plan -- if Shen Yuan won't take a body off of an undeserving asshole, then Binghe will make him a new body! Luckily, Shen Yuan knows a way to grow one. They "borrow" some genetic materials from Shen Jiu to aid the process, and then Luo Binghe, surprisingly indifferent about the whole thing, cuts Shen Jiu loose at the border.

Shen Yuan is surprised. Binghe really doesn't care about that? Turns out no, not so much. Shen Jiu is awful, but he's nothing to Binghe in the long run. (Also it's a long shot but if nothing else does work Binghe might have to force Shen Yuan to take Shen Qingqiu's body back, though of course he's not about to say so, and anyway Shen Jiu is still going to have a hell of a time waiting for him back in the cultivation world. Luo Binghe wishes him luck and every pleasure of trying to clear his ruined name, living a life on the lamb with an insidious poison constantly eating away at him, or the full enjoyment of a second visit to the water prison, whichever ends up happening.)

With the help of Luo Binghe's blood parasites, the Sun and Moon Dew whatever mushroom body grows in record time. A summoning ritual isn't even required, Shen Yuan just scoots right in as soon as the body is ready and blinks his eyes open to see his anxious disciple's face peering back at him.

Happily ever after!

[myheartismadeofstars]

SVSSS ABO AU where A!LBH goes into rut because of some stupid sex plot device (my awful brain imagined it happening some point close to or even during if you want to be truly awful the Immortal Alliance Conference which...I guess can be pushed back to after LBH is 18 for comfort’s sake) and is alone and scared and begs his beloved Shizun to help him. O!SQQ gives in because poor Binghe! The poor boy has enough pain coming his way, he deserves something kinda good to happen!

After the Endless Abyss happens SQQ discovers he’s pregnant. But is also heavy in denial. 

He literally denies he’s pregnant until he feels them move. At that point he has to come to terms with the fact that he’s going to be a parent. 

This is pretty impressive considering he ends up delivering triplets (two girls and a boy, boy is the middle child, youngest girl is very small when she was born) (No names decided for the bbys yet though)

He raises those babies for about two and a half years (triplets are often premature) and he loves them while still trying to do the whole Peak Lord thing (literally imagine his kids calling him Shizun because his disciples all call him that and toddlers are parrots). No one knows for sure who their father is. He won’t say. (But there are some theories, some are even correct!) but he has help caring for them (LQG helps him a LOT)

Then LBH returns. And hears that in the three years he’s been gone, his Shizun has become a parent (!). He is, predictably, VERY jealous and upset by the whole thing. LBH wants to see his Shizun’s babies (note: he doesn’t know they are his because he misjudges how old they should be since they were born early. According to LBH’s timeline, SQQ would have been already pregnant when they slept together) because well...they are Shizun’s!

I have this very heartbreaking image of SQQ being torn on being afraid for his children (since he doesn’t know how LBH will react to being a father, especially when the other parent is the man who ‘tried to kill him’) but also wanting them to know each other because well...LBH is their father!

LBH would never hurt those children, even thinking they were fathered by someone else (he suspects LQG) because well...he was beaten and abused as a child and...they are Shizun’s babies! He actually kind of loves them from the first moment he sees them.

Maybe SQQ tells LBH that he can do whatever he likes to him, torture him, even kill him, just so long as he promises now he will take care of the triplets. Because they deserve to grow up with at least ONE of their parents!

And when Binghe puts two and two together and realizes HE’S those babies’ father!!??? Tears. Absolute waterfalls of them. 

[alliechick]

Shen Twins au part 7. Parts one, two, three, four, five, and six.

Qi-ge arrives quickly, to Shen Qingqiu’s summons.

“Where’s A-Yuan,” he asks.

Shen Qingqiu explains. He never told Yue Qingyuan about Luo Binghe’s identity. As far as the sect leader knows, Shen Yuan’s favorite student was just another casualty at the Immortal Alliance Conference.

Yue Qingyuan is not pleased to hear everything Shen Qingqiu kept from him, but that’s pushed aside for concern for Shen Yuan.

“What does Luo Binghe want with him?” he asks.

“The beast has always had an obsession with A-Yuan,” Shen Qingqiu explains. “Who knows what perverted reasons he has. Who knows what my idiot brother was thinking when he went with him.”

“Perhaps he means to protect you from Luo Binghe’s revenge,” Yue Qingyuan suggests.

If that idiot is sacrificing himself like that, Shen Qingqiu will never forgive him or himself. If anything happens to his didi...

Like in Scum Villain, Shen Qingqiu is framed for colluding with the sowers and accused of murder by Qiu Haitang. Unlike in Scum Villain, this is the work of Luo Binghe, not Zhuzhi-Lang. Binghe explained the setup to Shen Yuan and there’s nothing he could do to stop it.

Shen Yuan watches everything come down in shock. His brother willingly goes to the water dungeon. What is he thinking? Why is he walking right into Binghe’s trap?

Of course Shen Yuan immediately asks to see his brother.

“You don’t have to see him anymore. You have no obligation to him,” Luo Binghe says.

Shen Yuan pleads, Binghe relents.

The scene makes his heart plummet. His Jiu-ge in immortal binding cables, robes ripped with injuries from the Little Palace Mistress’s whip.

This is only the beginning of the torture, Shen Yuan realizes. Luo Binge has him in the water dungeons already. Binghe doesn’t yet have control of the sect, but once he does. His brother will soon be a human stick.

Shen Yuan has to get him out of here.

“A-Yuan, what are you doing?” Shen Qingqiu barks when he approaches.

“I’m gonna get you out,” Shen Yuan promises, taking off his outer robe and draping it over his brother.

“No! You need to get to Qi-ge and away from that beast!” Shen Qingqiu snaps.

“Still trying to control your brother, I see,” Luo Binghe says, stepping out of the shadows.

“You leave my brother out of this!” Shen Qingqiu snaps. “Your business is with me!”

“Oh Shen Yuan has everything to do with this.”

“Keep your perverted thoughts about my brother out of your head!”

Then several things finally snap into place for Shen Yuan.

This whole time, Luo Binghe has shown no interest, who is throwing herself at him. Or the Palace Mistress, or even Ning Ying Ying. He’s seemed content to spend all his time with Shen Yuan and treat him like a spoiled wife.

Oh.

Binghe wants him and thinks his revenge on Shen Qingqiu will help.  But this blacked Binghe can’t be reasoned with. He’s too focused on his revenge to listen to Shen Yuan’s defense of his brother.

“What can I do to get you to release my brother,” he says suddenly, interrupting their posturing.

Luo Binghe looks at him with a smile.

“You still care about him, after all he’s  done. Should have expected from my kind Laoshi.”

Shen Yuan’s heart is pounding.

“Fine. Marry me.”

He wants me to choose him over his brother, Shen Yuan realizes.

“I will,” he answers.

Shen Qingqiu snarls and jerks forward, even while constrained.

“Shen Yuan what the fuck are you doing?” he demands.

“Shen Yuan turns to him. “Paying you back for all the times you looked after me when we were younger.”

Luo Binghe leads his baby brother away, hand on his back, as Shen Qingqiu screams behind them.

This is his worst nightmare come true.

[furbygoblinxiv]

I just finished a reread and I'd argue that Shen Yuan started feeling (at least an inkling of) romantic love towards Binghe right around the time of the Holy Mausoleum. Once he learns that Zuzhi-lang was the one behind the sowers incident, he realizes that Binghe wasn't lying to him and Shen Yuan starts to feel he may have been a bit too harsh on him before by not believing him. There's also a sprinkling of "wow his family doesn't even care about him, how awful, but I acted even worse than they did...hmm he really needs someone there for him, huh" thrown around in there too.

It's after this point that, instead of hiding out with TLJ or running from all the demons, he fights tooth and nail to get him and Binghe out of there, he chooses to grab Binghe as him and Liu Qingge are escaping TLJ, ect ect.

After that point, there was a clear shift in how Shen Yuan thought of Binghe. The moment that made pretty clear, at least in my eyes lol, was when he was nabbed by Zuzhi-lang and TLJ again and mentioned being excited to lay down for bed and let dreams descend upon him. Which, contrasted against before the Holy Mausoleum, when he literally refused to sleep so that Binghe wouldn't access his dreams? Says a lot imo

I'd also argue that he's in romantic love by the time Binghe sneaks in to visit him right before TLJ starts to merge the realms. Before the Holy Mausoleum, Shen Yuan literally physically fought off Binghe for trying to touch him every single time, and made it vocally apparent that he didn't want him that way. But by the time of that secret visit, he lets Binghe play with his hair, literally lay on top of him, let's him kiss his face, asks why he didn't visit him in the dream realm, ect ect. Idk but the contrast between his actions/reactions to Binghe pre and post Mausoleum to me speaks of him finally allowing himself, at least subconsciously, to like Binghe back.

I'd agree it's definitely not until the very end of the story that he fully entertains the idea, but the foundation for him definitely began to get set when he was in the Holy Mausoleum and realized both that Binghe wasn't just lying to him, and that his family sucks lol.

I have many thoughts about SVSSS. Are they coherent? No, but here’s another one. I’m been thinking a lot about Shen Yuan’s feelings toward Binghe lately. Specifically, his progression of feelings towards falling in love with him romantically. In the context of SVSSS series siblings, MZDS and TGCF, and also outside of it. And, I just have to ask, when tf did it happen?

I’m going to speak briefly on some spoilers here so beware if you haven’t completed the series.

Obviously I don’t think there was a definable moment in MZDS and TGCF where it showed who fell in love at what exact point except for Hua Cheng, maybe. Especially because Xie Lian and Wei Wuxian could be unreliable narrators. But Shen Yuan, imo, was the worst of them. Which caused me grief on several occasions, bless. But this also affected how the audience could see the progression of Shen Yuan’s romantic feelings bc he wanted to stick his head so deep in the sand about it. Clearly, the audience could tell that by the time Binghe was thrown in the abyss that Shen Yuan loved him, yes. Even though Shen Yuan was in denial about how hard he was grieving him, MXTX clearly let the audience have context on how the lie detector determined that was a lie. However, we never get much context on when that love for Binghe turned romantic.

Reminder, this is my opinion based off of reading SVSSS once and given myself a month or two to digest it. I personally believe from the time they reunited after the abyss and then onwards, Shen Yuan never had the chance to formulate a romantic connection with Binghe with all the misunderstandings, denial, near death, and actual deadly experiences in the way. Okay, yes, feelings never wait for the right context or situations BUT let’s ignore that for now.

I could argue right here and now it wasn’t until after the end of the “story” that Shen Yuan allowed his romantic feelings for Binghe to flourish. That he could sort through his feelings and actually engage with Binghe in a romantic context (which is an Herculean task in itself). He never had the time or space for it before with everything that was going tf on.

[eak1mouse]

SCUM VILLAIN REC LIST

(because when you get a friend into a fandom you have a duty to provide recs. I guess.)

High Mountain, How I Long

This is my favorite! 5/5 stars. This diverges post sowers arc where Luo Binghe gains custody of a Shen Qingqiu whose cultivation has been bound. SQQ is doing his very best to demonstrate how absolutely miserable he is in an effort to avoid additional punishment. Luo Binghe has very different goals. Fraught and then sweet.

 Hallowed Ground

Rope bondage and birthdays go together so well. There's something really sweet about shen qingqiu trusting luo binghe enough that this becomes something sweet and loving and also hot as all get out.

We Never Dreamed These Walls

Shen qingqiu falls into the endless abyss too? And then proceeds to run away as fast as he can. Downside: not fast enough. If he's going to make it out, he has to make some hard choices about how much he trusts luo binghe.

Dual Cultivation or Date

Liu Qingge deserves some love. This is part 2 in a series that started with LQG stepping in for an injured Sqq in a fuck or die scenario with lbh. In this one lbh implies sqq gave him permission to fuck lqg whenever which leads to 1) extremely hot hatefucking, 2) Luo Binghe really getting to put some sadistic tendencies into play, and 3) eventual kind of sweet threesome! Excellent; love it; would, have, and will read again

by omission

WIP, postcanon shen qingqiu meets a prophet capable of telling truth from falsehood at cang qiong peak. Introductions become an issue. i really like watching shen yuan walk the tightrope of truth and what the system will let him say. And the loyalty and suspicion people show him.

You Reap What You Sow

Luo Binghe as a transmigrator, just doing his best to woo his fave character, shen yuan, younger brother of the infamous shen qingqiu. Very fun role reversal. 

the taste of blood, the claim of love

So this is og pidw luo binghe/shen qingqiu (pls read all content warnings!). It diverges from the point where luo binghe threatens to cut off shen qingqiu's legs to lure yue qingyuan into a trap that will kill him. Instead, shen qingqiu offers his loyalty in exchange for yue qingyuan's life. Great politics, power play, and developing relationship.

The Way to a Man's Heart is His Stomach

Modern AU where lbh runs a popular youtube cooking channel trading on his looks. He ends up rooming with shen yuan. Their relationship progresses through a 5+1 times shen yuan distracts luo binghe. Really fun, really sweet.

The Pen is Mightier

Postcanon moshang, mobei-jun is trying to serve shang qinghua as he deserves. Shang qinghua is mostly trying to survive his king's weird requests. Ends in really hot sex. Also lbh as a very insightful relationship advisor?

All Occasions Do Inform Against Me

Postcanon Shen Yuan deals with how long he's been Shen Qingqiu. Excellent Shen yuan reveal fic dealing with the internal guilt of lying to people he has come to care for.

Performance Appraisal

My fave Moshang fic which follows their relationship via Shang Qinghua's promotions. I think this does a great job exploring expectations, unintended consequences of rewards, and the way tangling love and work together can get messy. THEY ARE SO BAD AT TALKING. but also excellently resolved.

Joyed to be Forlorn

I will read approximately all huan hua water prison fic. And this one diverges when the huan hua palace master makes a move earlier. As a lbh pov, it is FASCINATING. Because! This arc is like peak sqq being afraid of luo binghe. Here on the lbh side it comes out as frustration about what will it take to stop sqq from thinking the worst! So really fun intercharacter stuff happening here.

If Not You

Mbj staring down a fuck or die poison is like i will dual cultivate with one (1) person in particular, otherwise i'll just go ahead and die. Meanwhile shang qinghua is losing his mind. This sets up some excellent loyalty and devotion exploration in airplane's messed up world. And then!!!! It flips and sqh has to make his own choices about the same poison. What a fun delicious fic.

When I Speak, Will You Listen?

AU where cultivation at high level gets its power from a cultivator's voice and voice stones can be stolen. Shen yuan loses his at a young age but is still taken into the cang qiong sect under shen qingqiu. Really great action-adventure.

know yourself

CULTIVATOR!MBJ AU. including a great and conniving shang qinghua. There is this one scene where a death is faked and I literally gasped out loud. 

Please give some love to all authors!

[lansizhuis]

Honestly I love every single bit of your content and all the fics that you write. Doesth thou know how would one remember the different characters in SV, cos thats the only series where i forget every single character apart from mains

maybe often check a character guide? whelp but honestly base from experience, you just get used to it haha but maybe this will help

Cang Qiong Mountain Sect

**so far, only 8/12 of its “Peaks” are named

Qing Jing Peak (scholars and intellectuals)Shen Qingqiu (Shen Yuan) - MC; Qing Jing Peak Lord; transmigrated from modern world to the novel he read and unintentionally becomes the object of affection that novel’s protagonist in short our dear shizun replaced the supposed harem lmao

Luo Binghe- ML; used to be a cute little bun before becoming your walking wet dream but is only nice and sweet to his precious “Shizun”

Ning Yingying - female disciple Ming Fan - disciple who used to lead the bullying on Luo Binghe

Qiong Ding PeakYue Qingyuan -  Qiong Ding Peak Lord; and is sort of the head of Cang Qiong Sect as a whole

Bai Zhan Peak (warriors)Liu Qingge - Bai Zhan Peak Lord; one of the best combatants Yang Yixuan - the kid they met in town during the sower issue which SQQ notes would do well in Bai Zhan peak and LQG takes him in as his disciple 

Xian Shu Peak (exclusively for females)Qi QIngqi - Xian Shu Peak Lord Liu Mingyan - disciple; sister of Liu Qingge; supposedly very beautiful and always has a veil on her face

Qian Cao Peak (healers/medicine)Mu Qingfang - Qian Cao Peak Lord

An Ding Peak (logistics work)Shang Qinghua - An Ding Peak Lord; author of the original novel aka Airplane towards the Sky

Huan Hua Palace Sect

**focuses on militaristic school of thought; good at divination; richest sect

Gonyi Xiao - used to be Huan Hua’s top discipleQin WanyueQin WanrongSu Xiyan - former disciple; mother of Luo Binghe

Zhao Hua Temple Sect

Yian Yi Overlook Sect

*****

Demon Realm

Tian Langjun - Luo Binghe’s father and leader of the Demon RealmMo Beijun - an ice demon lord; owner of the thighs SQH has been hugging lolZhu Zhilang - snake demon; LBH’s cousinSha Hualing - lead the attack on Cang Qiong Mountain Sect in the past; the one in-charge of kidnapping humans that LBH would use to manage his sword issuesElder Du Bi - fought Shen Qingqiu during the attack in the Cang Qiong Mountain Sect in the pastElder Tian Chui - fought Luo Binghe during the attack in the Cang Qiong Mountain Sect in the past; source of the poison on SQQ

main source: bcnovels

[tossawary]

I finished rereading SVSSS Volume 2 and was focusing more on the story this time, because I remember Volume 1 best, so I didn’t really stop to post about it. A random assortment of thoughts in no particular order:

Gongyi Xiao is the Bestest Boy. I remembered him being good, but reading it again was like, “Awwwww, buddy.” Poor guy. He deserved more!

Shen Qingqiu and Luo Binghe are such a mess in this volume. It’s like two people trying to play chess against each other but they’re somehow using two different boards for it. No one wants to be playing this game! But everyone keeps insisting on it while crying and boards are getting flipped! (I guess in this metaphor, Zhuzhi-Lang is eating the pieces when no one is looking.)

The sower demons are genuinely creepy.

I want to call Luo Binghe’s invasion of Cang Qiong a clown show, but that would be an insult to clowns. Moshang have such limited appearances in the main story, but they are ridiculous.

Sha Hualing having a Bad Guy Lair is really funny. I forgot about that.

Over the course of this volume, Shen Yuan suggests that Liu Qingge is asexual and then suggests that Luo Binghe is asexual (before figuring out that Luo Binghe is into him). But he’s definitely an ordinary straight guy, for sure!

Every time Sha Hualing loses her top (which is... at least three times... I think?), Shen Yuan mentally censors her breasts. I didn’t forget this because I see people mention it periodically, but I forgot just how funny it is.

Shen Yuan scheming to get Liu Qingge to take on Yang Yixuan as a disciple was really cute, actually. He’s such a softie. He just wants to be nice!

When he’s talking about Liu Qingge’s lack of disciples at the very beginning of the volume, Shen Yuan describes how Bai Zhan works, and the phrasing kind of suggests that Bai Zhan changes peak lords every time that a Bai Zhan disciple bests their shizun. It does not work like this, but it would be kind of funny if the other peaks are strictly following some cycle to choose the next generation of peak lords and Bai Zhan is just switching peak lords whenever.

I don’t forget this trait because it’s one of my favorite things about him, but I’m always struck rereading by how quiet and thoughtful Luo Binghe can be. He gets extremely attached to Shen Qingqiu in Volume 1 and he’s dealing with severe mental and emotional instability throughout Volume 2, but Luo Binghe is often reserved or somber or even cold when not dealing with Shen Qingqiu.

Binghe really just took over Huan Hua Palace and says that the Old Palace Master has gone “traveling”. Yeah, he’s doing some wandering cultivation. It’s like a vacation. Don’t worry about it. :) The Little Palace Mistress is clearly becoming impatient with this excuse and I’m betting that the number of people at Huan Hua Palace who 100% believe the excuse is very, very low.

Shen Yuan returning in the plant body only to have to listen to how he’s become gossip fodder is funny. But Liu Mingyan going, “Ah, that’s how it is,” and then proceeding to write the Resentment of Chunshan is even funnier. Shen Yuan is in the middle of being kidnapped by Zhuzhi-Lang and suddenly has to listen to a song about him and Binghe fucking all the time. Zhuzhi-Lang desperately trying not to lose his shit laughing in the background is my favorite part of this scene. Shen Yuan’s horror at least works well as a distraction!

Also, I love that Shen Yuan went, “You have money? I want women,” and Zhuzhi-Lang just went with it. It’s so obviously an escape plan to the readers. Zhuzhi-Lang probably also suspects that something is up. He’s not an idiot. But maybe a part of him is accustomed to absurd demands from Tianlang-Jun and kind of views “Hey, let’s go check out what music the brothels are playing now!” as a normal desire for people to express?

It’s tempting to write fics in which Shen Yuan just gives the false jade pendant back immediately. Do I think it would automatically fix everything? Nope! But it sure would be fun to watch the characters spin.

[asha-mage]

Actually no it turns out I have more to say about this:

But Xue Yang and Luo Binghe are characters that are meant to intentionally challenge the reader’s preconceptions and notions. They are meant to be uncomfortable, sometimes distressing to read about, because their explorations of the visceral humanity behind ugly, often monstrous actions. And that discomfort creates an urge- an urge that many give into- to simplify and flatten those characters to better suit our preconceptions then challenge our preconceptions in response to them. It’s easier, less fraught, for Luo Binghe and Xue Yang to simply be monstrous villains then it is to deal with the reality MXTX is attempting to portray: that their messy sometimes broken human beings shaped by their trauma’s and environments. It’s especially galling because arguably the whole POINT of SVSSS is that their is no such thing as a ‘simple scum villain’ that you can blame for everything that goes wrong, and to think otherwise is a comforting fiction at base, and an excuse to dehumanize others at worst.

What set off this post was me reading a fic where that posited (non ironically) that Luo Binghe will eventually kill Shen Yuan out of jealous obsession and/or an inability to control him, which aside from ignoring the ending of the book and Luo Binghe’s character development, fundamentally misreads what Binghe wants out of their relationship in the first place: affection and validation. Post Abyss, Luo Binghe already has all of the control in their relationship and is VERY aware of it, but he is also aware that it dosen’t actually change anything, since he can not force Shen Qingqiu to love him or give him validation and affection: trying would be meaningless.

Post Abyss, Luo Binghe could, at any time kidnap Shen Qinggiu and drag him back to the Demon Realm to be his concubine, but he dosen’t. Instead he hatches a plan to win back Shen Qingqiu’s respect by taking over Huan Hua Palace and essentially jump up and down going ‘see! see! I’m a respectable righteous cultivator, you don’t need to hate me or be afraid of me anymore, I’ve overcome that nasty demon blood you hated so much and it’s okay if your mad at me still but I can fix it see? I’m not a monster see?’. The only times we ever see him exert force on Shen Qingqiu are when he is trying to actively help him (healing him of the sower infection with his blood parasites) or is when he is unaware it’s Shen Qingqiu at all (the Mushroom body, pre-reveal). Even when Luo Binghe takes Shen Qingqiu prisoner at the end of the Mushroom body arc, he expresses frustration and disgust with himself, and it’s only as a last resort to separate Shen Qingqiu from those he views as the source of all their problems: Cang Mountain. And notably it dose not work because Cang Mountain is not the source of what’s wrong between them. The only way for Luo Binghe to get what he wants (the time pre-Abyss in the bamboo hut where he was truly happy) is for Shen Qingqiu both of them to overcome their inner demons (Shen Qingqiu’s his repression, Luo Binghe his jealously) and work from a place of genuine trust. And like even then the ending leaves you with the idea that everything isn’t magically fixed by fucking it out on the mountain and destroying Xin Mo (though both HELP), and the book dosen’t imply it is: just that this it the start of their real relationship. Hell, SEVERAL of the SVSSS Extras are about how their having intimacy issues and need to work through them like adults.

Anyways, I have more thoughts on Binghe and Xue Yang parallels but this to say: reducing Binghe to a yandere stalker monster is both a disservice to his character and also super boring in comparison to the messy things you could explore about their relationship, send tumble take 2.

People like to intentionally misread Binghe's character in the same way they like to misread Xue Yang's send tumble.

[alliechick]

Part 5 of Shen Twins Au, where Shen Yuan doesn’t remember his life before being transmigrated until he’s a teenager. Parts one, two, three, and four.

Shen Yuan doesn’t make it to Binghe before the abyss closes. He finds his brother, alone, and knows.

“You threw him in!” Shen Yuan accuses.

“You knew he was a demon this whole time!” Shen Jiu accuses back.

“He was a child! He hasn’t done anything!”

“He will do something and you know about it!”

Shen Yuan’s mouth shuts with a snap and he doesn’t say a word to his brother, even as they return to the sect.

Yue Qingyuan is confused and concerned, but neither brother will tell him what’s wrong.

“A-Yuan’s being a naive fool.”

“Gege is an asshole.”

Shen Yuan is heartbroken. He’s surprised by how much of that heartbreak is for Luo Binghe himself. He misses his eager student.

But most of his mourning is for the future of his brother. He doesn’t know what to do. He hasn’t been able to stop any of the events of PIDW. He considers trying to convince his brother they need to leave the sect, to run far away where no one can find him. That would only make him more concerned and convinced he was right to throw Binghe into the abyss.

Three years pass. Shen Yuan has no plan. The brothers haven’t reconciled.

And then Binghe returns, two years ahead of schedule.

Shen Yuan and Shen Qingqiu are investigating the sower incident together when they run across Binghe with the Huan Hua sect.

Shen Yuan instantly moves in front of his brother and gestures for him to run, to leave, or something. Shen Qingqiu isn’t going anywhere and certainly isn’t leaving his brother alone with that beast.

“Shizun, Shen-loashi,” Binghe says, while the brothers have their silent fight amongst themselves.

“You still dare call me Shizun,” Shen Qingqiu bites, even as Shen Yuan holds out a hand to stop him.

“Binghe, I didn’t think we’d see you again,” Shen Yuan interrupts, before more venom can be spit between the two.

“Loashi, I came back,” Binghe says fondly. “For you.”

[tossawary]

Svsss - princess bride fusion

Pretty please!

Unfortunately, I cannot talk at length about this one without giving away what makes it so delicious to me, but some details... I think this will be another 10k-ish one shot like the Narnia Fusion AU and the Good Omens Fusion AU, when I have a free-ish weekend again.

This is actually another Canon AU! I take the canon universe of Scum Villain and I forcibly inject the plot of The Princess Bride!

Instead of the Jinlan City / Sowers arc, Shen QIngqiu (Shen Yuan) is sent on some mission and ends up being kidnapped by Sha Hualing, Mobei-Jun, and Shang Qinghua. Shang Qinghua was forced to facilitate the kidnapping and Shen Yuan is piiiiiiissed about it. It looks like Shen Yuan is going to be taken to the Demon Realm to face an "unknown" demon lord, but the kidnapping party is now also being pursued by a mysterious man in black.

With Cang Qiong Mountain Sect behind the man in black, of course, which kind of puts Yue Qingyuan and Liu Qingge in the Prince Humperdink role for a little bit. I keep imagining Liu Qingge doing those ridiculous feats of tracking Prince Humperdink performs and/or possibly licking the ground while Yue Qingyuan watches (eye twitching, a little bit) and it makes me giggle.

[devotedly-a-bug]

Answers from me, someone less than 50 pages into vol 3

1. I'd want to be known for something cool, but realistically I'd be known for being basically nocturnal/having the absolute worst sleeping habits

2. I don't even know any theories yet haha

3. SQH and SQQ arguing about who's the bigger slut

4. Saw a few episodes of it, the animation style grew on me but I didnt have time to keep up with it at the time so I just stopped

5. SQH and Mobei-jun are growing on me from spoilers alone which yea size difference ships and the cold grumpy guy being soft for one person are pretty common for me

6. Shang Qinghua. I have no words for how much I adore him, the second he showed up I was instantly like that one

7. Both the Liu siblings and Yue Qingyuan like c'mon they're interesting. And Gongyi Xiao! I was so sad when he died, hes such a sweet boy I loved him

8. Havent read any yet, have to finish the actual novel first

9. I really cant think of any beasts except for the dark moon rhino thingy (listen I dont remember most of the really long names I just kinda face palm at them because christ why is everything named so straightforward but in such a long winded way)

10. My brain does not want to grasp the concept of the difference between Shen Yuan and Shen Jiu likely because I dont know shit about shit about Shen Jiu other than he deserved getting carved into a human stick

11. God no! It's amusing for the story but I understand why SQQ hates it

12. Not have volume 2 drag so much outside of the last like 20 pages other than that I'm having too much fun with it

13. Bestie I could not tell you, maybe the throuple of SQQ, LBH, and LQG??? I've seen that one around and its ok

14. I don't have one yet haha

15. Uhhh, also dont technically have one yet, but there were a few really pretty ones I've seen

16. I dont think so, I dont think a drama would really do it justice

17. Coffin scene, most of the holy mausoleum arc tbh, maybe the details of the whole sun dew mushroom bodies thing (feels like it might be a little too fucking around with the dead), just so much about lbh preserving sqq's body (too fucking around with the dead and homoerotic to get past censorship in its whole) a lot of stuff with the sowers??? Past that idk

18. Fucking any of them besides the young palace mistress I cannot stand her

19. SQQ and SQH, and Tianlang-Jun and Zhuzhi-Lang

20. I don't like baby-faced Shang Qinghua

21. No, I like it a lot but idk tgcf had such a deep impact on me and mdzs just has me in a chokehold yet but who knows svsss might sneak up into one of those rankings yet

22. Might cosplay SQH if my friend cosplays SQQ yknow buddy up and all that

23. Early gen z, has a touch of millenial culture in him but definitely gen z, probably born around 1998, 1997 at earliest

24. I dont really like any of them tbh can I do a couple coin tosses?

25. About knee-deep in the rabbit hole, the red flags havent been too much of a deterrent

26. Well, I just met him and he is the most cool and collected character ever and I am utterly fascinated by him

27. They're both fucked but svsss has more depth than original flavor lbh probably had

28. Not deep enough in the rabbit hole for that yet

29. Reverse transmigration where lbh ends up in shen yuan's world, reminds me of the episodes of inuyasha where inuyasha would go to present day with kagome

30. Oh that's a tough one. I relate a lot to sqq's whole everything so maybe him?

🍃SVSSS ASK GAME🍃

1. If you were to be one of Binghe's wives- what would you want to be known for by the PIDW fandom?

2. Do you have any SVSSS theories that you think should be noticed more?

3. Favorite moment in the series?

4. Have you seen the donghua? What do you think of it?

5. Who do you ship? Is this your usual favorite ship dynamic?

6. Favorite character?

7. Do you believe there is a character that deserved more 'screen time'?

8. Favorite SVSSS fanfic?

9. What beast in the PIDW universe would you want to witness in person?

10. How do you feel about Shen Jiu?

11. Would you ever want to have a System like Shen Qingqiu's?

12. If you could change one thing about SVSSS, what would it be?

13. Favorite side ship?

14. Favorite quote?

15. Favorite fanart for SVSSS? Show us the amazing artist~! Feel free to plug~!

16. Do you wish for there to be a drama?

17. Any theories on what will be added or taken out of the donghua?

18. Do you have a favorite wife?

19. Favorite Brotp?

20. What is your unpopular opinion about SVSSS?

21. Is SVSSS your favorite of MXTX's writings?

22. Would you or have you cosplayed as any of the characters of SVSSS?

23. Is Shen Yuan a millennial or a gen z person in your opinion?

24. If you had to be a disciple, which sect would you wish to join?

25. Despite the red flags, how buried are you in this rabbit hole?

26. Thoughts on Tianlang Jun?

27. Original Binghe or SVSSS Binghe?

28. Any prompts you want to give for SVSSS?

29. Favorite SVSSS AU?

30. Who's personality do you think more closely represents yours in the SVSSS universe?