#transmigrator tries to change the story

[truly-morgan]

[Transmigrator!JC, no core transfer]

ChangXian | Mo Dao Zu Shi 27-03-2021

[#jiangcheng #chengxian - transmigrator]

A reader transmigrates into jc after they died in an accident. He's in a child version of him and doesn't remember the detail of mdzs, the system won't let him remember yet, but he does know that he's not the original jc. No one noticed because jc doesn't have another choice but to follow jc canon personality, as he cannot be ooc. He does win some ooc pass, but he decides to keep them for more strategic moments of the story. He wants to fix some parts that could have been /so easily/ avoided if everyone had decided that communication was a useful thing to do. 

So, everything goes rather well and follows canon until the dreaded moment of losing his golden core. This is something he knew would happen but still ended up being painful as hell, even seeing his parent dead was seriously upsetting (having gotten attached to them despite himself).  

Yet he his rather calm when wwx and WN saved him from the wens, because jc isn't og!jc, not being able to cultivate anymore (especially since he knew it would happen) is something he had already somewhat made peace with even before it happened. He already knew. 

wwx is really worried, because /how/ can his jc be /this calm/ at the idea of not having a core anymore?!? He still tries to reassure him with false promise, terrified by this calm shidi of his, even more when he has a smile showing he know wwx doesn't know what to do either and that he’s just spilling bullshit to reassure the both of them. 

Jc won't even let the it of transferring golden core bloom in wwx mind and politely thanks wq for hiding them and healing his other wounds. This also surprised wwx, because he would never have expected for his shidi to act like this with a wen after what happened, or maybe was it just because they helped? 

Then they started travelling around, obviously unable to go back to lp. wwx tries to find way to build back a golden core, even though it is impossible. After some time of finding nothing, while jc does know how he could, but still isn’t sure if he wants to try. 

He has to take back lp and rebuilt it, but he cannot do this very well without any way to cultivate it. Then one day when they are staying in a cave far from the town filled with wens, wwx calls out to him. “Do you think using... never mind, you won’t agree” he started, before mumbling the end of it. 

“Were you talking about your idea of using demonic cultivation?” he asks, a little smile on his face at how surprised wwx was. Maybe he had not expected for jc to both remember and even seem alright with using it. 

jc ends up convincing to go to the burial mounds, trying to “just guess” where they could start better. wwx isn’t so sure about it, but with how confident jc seems to be about this, he helps him fly there. 

They are here for months of wwx wrecking his brain to help jc, motivated by the idea that he would be able to cultivate again, in a way. He even creates the Stygian Tiger Seal, although he makes jc promise that he will use it only in desperate times, because he cannot tell how powerful this weapon is exactly. Jc agrees, but mostly because he knows what this can do and doesn’t want to use it carelessly. 

They suddenly make both their appearance, ready to help in the sunshot campaign, in which jc prove himself to be really powerful with his new way of cultivating, wwc close behind to protect him from criticism. They don’t tell anyone about his missing golden core, as this is not something he wants to be known and tries ignoring what people say about his new way of cultivating. 

“Let them talk” had once said jc as wwx was getting worked up about what one of the sect leaders had said about him, “Their words mean nothing, it won’t stop me from rebuilding Lotus Pier and pulling back up the sect”. 

Once the sunshot campaign is won, and his sister married (which jzx better take good care of her, otherwise he better expect one angry sect leader at the step of Koi Tower), he does just that, rebuilding the whole of lp with the help of wwx. 

After the campaign was over jc also slowed down on how much he was using demonic cultivation. One canon dead wwx was enough to know what could happen, he didn’t believe himself to be better. Yet it was still clearly taking a toll on him, wwx starting to regret letting him do this. 

He agreed on letting lwj play Song of Clarity for him, which was something the lan had been insisting on doing for a long time, clearly not approving of the new path he was taking. Lwj visits were frequent, jc looking from the side wwx getting friendlier with him, making him ach a bit despite being happy to see them finally getting closer. 

Yet after sometimes it is a bit hard for lwj to come often, as cr is also being rebuilt, lxc needing his brother’s help. It’s when they are visiting cr to give a hand and talk with the new sect leader that wwx suddenly asked if he can learn song of clarity. Even jc is surprised by the sudden request his shixiong makes, as this wasn’t something one should request, yet he doesn’t look anywhere near teasing, a serious look on his face. 

He wants to help jc and he will find a way to help him not deteriorate with the demonic cultivation he was doing. Lqr clearly wants to refuse directly, yet it’s lwj who asks why he wants to learn it. It takes some time for wwx to explain he wants to be able to play it for jc. They back and forth a lot, mainly because they don’t understand why jc /won’t give up/ using demonic cultivation. 

“It is the only way I can cultivate now, I do not have a golden core anymore” jc finally says as wwx and lqr were getting more heated by the second. This makes a heavy silence fall in the room, every lans looking shocked by the news, while wwx gives him a “is it alright to tell?” look. 

They check to make sure, though they doubt anyone would lie about such a serious matter, and realise that /it is/ the only way he can cultivate. They by no means agree with it, but they can’t find it to force him to not cultivate anymore, especially as a sect leader. They reluctantly agreed, mostly because lwj had decided to side with wwx at some point, on the condition that wwx had to follow cr rules for the time he was here studying song of Clarity.

Jc sometimes barely believed it when he was told that /wwx/ was actually following rules, mostly too occupied with learning and practising. The first times he plays Song of Clarity, lwj is always near, just to make sure he does it right, until it is sure his good the intention wouldn’t cause for jc condition to get worst.

Soon he was able to play it alone for jc, probably more often than needed, but they both enjoyed the alone time it would give them. Something in jc was really happy to have these moments, where wwx thoughts were only on him. Yet when he realised, he had such thoughts, he tried pushing them away. He couldn’t start feeling things for him if it was only to have his heart broken later on. 

The rescue of the wens finally came, something he had been wondering if it would still happen. At this point, he couldn’t tell what should stay canon and what would have been fully altered by him and his choices. He was surprised by the ooc moment he could have, only able to guess the system was allowing for a new type of character growth. After all, it had never /actually/ pushed for following the canon religiously. wwx was the one to be found by wq first, asked if he could help her to get back her family that had been taken captive by the Lanling Jin clan. As the discussion gets a bit more tense, wwx not really wanting to cause trouble by disrupting the llj clan. Jc suddenly appear, wondering what had kept wwx out for so long. 

Wq is quick to ask him, unsure if seeking the sect leader's help would do anything, yet to both their surprise jc accept without much debate. Jc had always had a little soft spot for wn when he was reading and hoped they still had time to save him, as he couldn’t remember exactly how long after the campaign the rescue had been. 

Jc and wwx then ague for a while, wq taking some rest in one of their room. “The other sect leaders are already wary of you because of your cultivation?! Why do you want to give them more reason to distrust you?” wwx ask, something twisting in jc’s guts because of how worried he sounded, as if this action alone was going to cause him to die or something. 

“wq and her brother saved us when they could have simply let the wen find us again” he points out at some point, wwx unable to argue that. “Plus not every wen are horrible monster, do you think the old and the children are the one who burned down lotus pier?” he asked, playing on his knowledge of who exactly was wq family. Not anyone who had done anything wrong, other maybe than her to keep them safe. 

“I will bring them back here and we will deal with the aftermath later”. 

It was extremely reckless of him to do such a thing. Sure, jyl was married to the llj sect, but it didn’t mean he could just take away people they had decided to detain. Just thinking back to how they were most likely being treated was enough to want and help. 

And they did, getting in without much care in the world, jc following wq as she looked around for wn, his guts twisting more and more as time passed and they couldn’t find him. Wwx was close by, glaring back at the cultivator trying to hide what they had done. 

They were digging their hole, yet jc had to stay calm, knowing that killing them would do no good, stealing away prisoners was already too much. He was going to argue back at the bullshit they were saying, clearly not seeing these people as human, when a wail made him freeze. Oh. They were too late. 

Jc was the first one to start running, follow closely behind by wwx, finding quite easily wq who was clutching her brother close to her, the scene making his heart cry. He clenched his fists, his breathing heavy. 

Of course, they would be late. 

He startles a bit when a hand grabbed his, wwx looking back at him worried. He tries to look calmer to reassure him, giving a small pat to his hand before joining wq, asking her if she could find the rest of her family, taking in his arms wn body. 

The rest of their little visit went a bit less smoothly, the guard clearly understanding now what he was trying to do, which was not merely looking around. He /did/ ends up fighting with them, but to be fair, they were the one who started it, and he didn’t kill anyone. 

Soon they were out with everyone and he was taking them back to lp, where he would have full control. He'd be curious to see who was ready to barge into his home to get them back. When they arrived, every disciple in lp was surprised by what their sect leader had just brought back, yet no one really dared to argue against it. If he was doing it there had to be a good reason, he wouldn’t be bringing in people from a clan that had burned down lp and killed many of their disciples if he didn’t have a reason. 

Some of the wens were also clearly on edge, unsure why they were being brought here. Yet, if wq had sought their help, then they could most likely relax. They were led to some of the guest rooms to be able to rest, asking one of the healers to go and check on everyone’s wounds to help wq, she had to be tired too. 

They took wn back to the study, both cultivators looking at him. “What do we do now?” wwx asked him, looking a bit worried at how tired his shidi was from all the travelling and the fight from earlier, not helping that he had to order everyone around to make sure things were going smoothly here too. 

“Tomorrow we will most likely receive news from sect leader jgs” he points out, the idea already tiring him, “but that’s for tomorrow, right now our mind should be put on finding how to settle the wen in and what to do with... wn” he says, hesitating about the last part. 

Could they manage to revive him the same way wwx had done it before? Would it work if it was here at lp and not the burial mounds? Wwx wanted to ask what he wanted to do with wn, but wq joined them before, making her presence known at the door. Jc let her in, making place so she can come and join them. 

Wn looked a bit better, as he had been cleaned up from the mud a little bit, just enough for him not to look impossible to deal with. He could see the tears welling up at the corner of her eyes, making him look back at wn. He had used him as a fierce corps by accident, mostly because only fighting with a sword and no core wouldn't do go against more than one cultivator. 

“I think we can do something for him," e said, hearing his name loudly whispered to his right. He decided to carefully explain is plan, acting as if it was an idea that had just bloomed in his mind and was not something he simply had known since forever that they could do that. 

Then he saw the helpfulness in her eyes, feeling like this was enough for him not to give up. They talk some more before he just told her to go and sleep, he would make sure everyone was alright. 

“jc! How do you plan on doing this?! By controlling him like a puppet" finally asked wwx when wq was gone, making him look back at him. “We will find a way, I just… know we can do it, we already managed to make so much with this, there is surely a way we can do it l". He couldn't tell /how/ they would do it, as the novel had never explicitly said it, but they had been experimenting and this would most likely end up working. 

Wwx got closer to him, reaching for his hand “I don't want you overworking yourself, with your cultivation path it-

could be…” he had said worried, not daring to say what could happen. 

Jc squeezed his hands reassuringly, offering a smile. “I won't overwork myself" he simply promised. 

A promise that was a bit hard to follow when first thing happening the next day was a couple a llj cultivators at the door of lp demanding that he surrender the wens. He stays firm on his position and refuse, saying he will be taking them in due to debt needing to be paid to wq. He doesn't explain more on that,  but it's clearly not pleasing. 

The following days are tiring and messy, jc having to take care of anything coming from the other sect leader, looking over the small house that is being constructed for the wens, which is close enough to the centre of lp to not exclude them. All this while also working with wwx to see what they can do about wn. 

It's not long before it is visibly all affecting him, wwx only growing more concerned about him because he wasn't trying to be more careful. At some point, jc is invited at kt with the other great clan leaders, to discuss the matter and see if they could settle everything with some talking. Jc knows it probably all to try and force him to give back the wens, but he won’t let jgs believe he can just make him do whatever he wants simply because he’s still rebuilding the ymj sect and because he’s young compared to all of them. 

Wwx insists on coming with him, although he said he would prefer for his right-hand man to stay and makes sure everything is alright. “But who will play the song of clarity for you? And what if they are luring you in for a fight? If you use your cultivation, they will only use it against you” 

Jc really wants to refuse, yet upon looking at his shixiong he cannot, the worry in his eyes too much. He has truly fallen too much for him and he doesn’t know what he’ll do about this. So, he accepts to let him come with him, asking some of his older disciples to make sure everything is going alright. Of course, he makes it really clear that the wens have to be treated correctly, just in case anyone was still unsure. 

The first meeting is tense, jc sitting with his back straight, head high, wwx just the same slightly behind him. Nothing in his stance shows he will give even /one/ wen to them. Yet they try, but word will clearly not reach him. “But didn’t the wen destroy lotus pier?” jgs, whispers and nods coming soon after. “So you believe the olds and the sick were the one who burned down lotus pier? As if I haven’t already found back /who/ actually did it and taken care of that?”. 

This statement sent a shiver down some of the leader's back, not sure what to think about the possibility of what jc might have done to these cultivators. “But can they be trusted?”. 

“Are you perhaps implying I cannot make a judgement for myself? I have my reason to take them in and do not need to disclose them” 

The meeting ends up on a rather tense note, everyone going back to their room to calm down a bit as things were clearly not going anywhere. This repeats itself many times, until jc finally suggests that he keeps them under close watch, not allowed to put a foot outside of lp and that they can even send someone to come of to verify that he’s not lying and that none of them are complotting against them. 

“This sounds fair to me” comments lxc who hadn’t said much since this all had started, making wwx and jc a bit surprised, although it was good to have someone else seemingly on their sides. Soon it’s turn for nmj to accept the suggestion, following the step of his sworn brother despite his hatred of the wens., leaving jgs nearly no room to actually refuse. They go back to lp with lwj and jzx so take a first look at how things are doing. A weight does lift from jc shoulders when everything seems to be doing good, everyone working well together. It clearly is still a bit awkward between the jiang and the wens, but it is better than it was at first. 

And this is how thing goes for the following months. Things settle down, the rebuilding of lp is coming to an end and the wens are fully settled in, some even helping around to do task with the disciple. The one to come the most is lwj, which jc doesn’t mind as he can push wwx a bit more towards him, so they can get closer. 

Their friendship does seem to grow, but something seems to simply block at that and jc wonders if the story had changed for that. Was wangxian not the main couple anymore? This couldn’t be possible, could it? 

He tries asking wwx about it, yet his shixiong only seems to get a bit tense at how insistent he had been in the last months to see them growing closer. “Why do you keep asking how things are doing between me and lwj?” he finally asked as he was putting away his guqin. 

“Well, you’re been around him a lot lately, I was simply wondering” 

“But you are the one always asking me to be with him!”. Jc doesn’t argue that, he might have often found reason to let wwx takes care of lwj because he had other things to do. Really lwj didn’t seem bothered by these decisions. “Do you hate being around lwj?” he asked, unsure if he might have read it wrong all this time. 

“Well, no... he’s a good friend and more fun to be with than I thought, but... why does it seem like you are pushing me away?” he ask, something jc couldn’t decipher in his voice. 

“I am not pushing you away” he tries, only to realise he might have been doing it despite himself. He wanted for wwx to be happy and his growing love would only get in the way eventually. “I just thought you might enjoy some time with someone else than me”. 

“But I am good with you! I don’t need you to push me on someone else when I like being with you”. 

Jc is a bit stunned by this, a little something in him swelling with hope he knew he shouldn’t have. Jc then took in a breath, a bit shakier than he wanted it to be, trying to argue that wwx wouldn’t be able to always be by his side one day. 

“Are you planning on throwing me away one day?” he heard ask as he reopened his eyes after rubbing the tiredness out of them, surprised to see wwx so close to him now. He looks so pained at the idea of being pushed away, either now or in the future. 

“of course not, it just... complicated,” he says, a hand suddenly grabbing his gently, something he found wwx had been doing a lot lately. “I can help you if it’s complicated” he hears, a reassuring smile on his shixiong lips, making jc want to be selfish a little bit and /actually/ confess right here and there, despite not being sure wwx would even reciprocate it. 

“I want it to still be only the two of us like this forever” he finally hears whispered, wwx getting dangerously closer to him, “isn’t it what you also want to do?”. 

He can feel wwx breath against his skin, his lips ô so close to his, he would barely need to move to close the gap. “Are you sure this is really what you want” manages to whisper jc, looking back into wwx eyes, feeling unsure if he was understanding it correctly. “As been for a long time” The closeness doesn’t really-

let him see the smile, but he can hear it and see it in his eyes. 

Then jc decide to say ‘fuck it’ and simply closed the gap, receiving a delighted humming as wwx quickly replied. It’s a bit awkward at first, since jc has never done this before, but he quickly finds how it all works and just enjoys the kisses they are sharing. 

“For how long as a-cheng felt like this?” he hears against his ear, his grip on wwx robe tightening a bit. “Sometimes” he answers, unsure exactly when he might have fallen in love with wwx, only to dismiss it as some kind of really close friendship he had with him. He knew he had started to notice around the sunshot campaign, when lwj had started to be a bit more around wwx. 

“I am happy to hear it, I have love a-cheng for some time now” he hears, taking him aback as he had never realised, yet feeling really happy about it. 

Oh well, jc wouldn’t mind if this new version of mdzs had him as the protagonist's new love interest, it could make for something more exciting. 

====

(I think I'll finish it here, it has gotten really long and word is telling me it has already it 4k. At this point I might as well just make a fanfiction of something like that. + I wasn’t sure how I would play the whole jgy plan now, might retouch it later on)

Original

[sunderwight]

Further speculation on Shen Yuan transmigrating in some kind of Beast:

Werewolf Shen Qingqiu.

And like, major emphasis on the wolf, in his case. Not wolfman. Every full moon Shen Qingqiu has to make arrangements for himself to turn into a gigantic silvery-white wolf that retains extremely little of his consciousness, and mostly just seems to want to do Wolf Things, though according to PIDW and all information he has on the matter, he ought to be turning into a violent and bloodthirsty predator.

However, it turns out that the wolf form does retain some awareness from the mind/soul of the human, meaning that the reason SJ's wolf was so incredibly unsafe to be around was because it was constantly trying to process SJ's trauma in wild animal terms. So, it was hostile towards the vast majority of humans and in a heightened state of anxiety, always anticipating violence (and reacting accordingly) whenever something unexpected happened. Matters were not helped by SJ's decision to try and lock himself up for every transformation, which of course freaked his wolf out even more (trapped) and resulted in self-harm as it desperately tried to escape. It was just that SJ interpreted the self-harm as a sign that the wolf was so extremely violent that it would cannibalize itself rather than go a single night without the taste of blood.

SY, who is a lot less traumatized, conversely has a much more calm and curious wolf. Like he's extremely cautious and nervous about the whole thing, because he's expecting it to be violent based on his information, and since he doesn't retain much awareness of his transformations he has little idea of what his wolf-self does. But he also isn't great at locking himself up like the original goods did, and he never really seems to wake up covered in blood or anything? Once or twice he thinks he might have hunted a rabbit, but they definitely were rabbits and not like his subconscious somehow going after children in the middle of a wilderness somewhere, because when he came to the wolf had brought the leftover bunny bits along back to the ruined temple he was supposed to be shutting himself up into.

The new Shen Qingqiu consequently gets a bit complacent about the whole thing. He can only blame himself. Maybe he should have anticipated Luo Binghe, with his boundless curiosity and interest in his shizun, would notice the oddities in his schedule and follow him out one night. Everyone's supposed to believe that he's just going to brothels and engaging in purely mundane debauchery, though, so why would Binghe doubt his story?

But he did, and so of course Luo Binghe ends up witnessing his shizun's terrible transformation into a wretched and hated beast. Stunned, the young disciple stands transfixed (no doubt in horror) in the moonlight. The wolf sees him, and though Shen Qingqiu doesn't retain much memory, he recollects the running, the leaping, the... uh... licking...?

Well. Turns out that even Shen Qingqiu's subconscious wolf mind recognizes Luo Binghe as pack, and thank goodness too, because at least he didn't attack him!

Although after that it becomes an extreme challenge to explain to Luo Binghe why he can't accompany Shen Qingqiu for his transformations every month. It's not safe, the wolf is unpredictable and Shen Qingqiu can't promise that he won't startle or suddenly change his tune and lash out, and even though Binghe's cultivation is progressing in leaps and bounds, the wolf also isn't limited to normal mortal strength. It would be able to track his scent and follow him relentlessly, chasing him down to catch and pin him beneath its massive paws, and... Binghe why is your face so red? Are you feeling alright? If it's too frightening, then let's not describe it any further, but the point is that it's dangerous.

Shen Qingqiu has to put his foot down. In the end, he has his suspicions that Binghe is still circumventing him, as he could swear he sometimes remembers running around the wilderness with company. (Binghe is absolutely sneaking out to go spend time with Wolf Shizun.) But there's nothing concrete enough to be certain. Meanwhile, Luo Binghe has at least agreed to keep it secret (for now -- probably not once the time comes for Shen Qingqiu to be put on trial) and fusses over his shizun, helping him keep track of the moon scheduling and always making sure he has a full belly before he goes into wilderness seclusion (Shen Qingqiu never says, but somehow Luo Binghe guesses anyway that he doesn't like waking up to find that the wolf had a snack during the night...)

Another hazard: lycanthropy in the PIDW setting is a curse. Like admittedly it's kind of a kickass one, but it still has tons of negative associations, most commonly befalling impoverished individuals or travelers who get bitten by wild wolf demons, and survive only to find that a piece of the wolf's spirit has gotten stuck to their own. Cultivators with lycanthropy are often associated with demons and disrepute, like Wu Yanzi, and there are countless tales of them turning on their own people or being revealed as violent, depraved criminals. It's only slightly more acceptable than being a demon outright.

In other words it's not a desirable circumstance.

And yet, for some reason, Luo Binghe is reprehensibly lapse in his protections against lycanthropy. Shen Qingqiu has told him all of the precautions he knows against it, and yet it's almost like Binghe keeps doing the exact opposite things! Listen, wolves are cool. Shen Qingqiu knows that. He's actually kind of fine with turning into one, since it seems to be less of a ravenous beast situation than he'd feared. But there are still social consequences to this kind of a thing! Luckily, it doesn't actually matter much because even with his uncharacteristic youthful irresponsibility, Binghe's heavenly demon blood protects him from ever being cursed. The only way he'd get lycanthropy would be if he deliberately let a werewolf bite him and then just refused to excise the curse, and even then, he could purge the tainted wolf spirit from him just by force of will whenever he wanted.

Seriously, though! It's only when Shen Qingqiu points out that Luo Binghe is going to make people suspicious with all his negligence towards basic precautions that Binghe finally smartens up about it.

(Luo Binghe, out in the woods during a full moon: Wolf Shizun please bite me? Bite Binghe? Then we can be together every full moon! Look here I'll stick my hand in your mouth... just, just chomp down... no don't lick... *sigh*...)

Anyway, the plot still goes mostly the same, except that when Shen Qingqiu put into the water prison it's the full moon. He expects this is part of Luo Binghe's plan against him -- Binghe probably couldn't reveal the lycanthropy without also admitting he'd known before and helped hide it, but this way, Shen Qingqiu can just get caught as a wolf by the palace guards. But Luo Binghe's just been so frazzled and distressed by everything that he genuinely forgot what phase the moon was on. Shen Qingqiu's expecting a lot of things when he wakes up after transforming in the Water Prison, but being back out of the Water Prison and snuggled up to the protagonist's chest wasn't on the list.

Turns out that after his confrontation with Luo Binghe and the Little Palace Mistress, Gongyi Xiao went to check on him and found him transformed. After Gongyi Xiao alerted the rest of the palace, the Palace Master determined that Shen Qingqiu being a werewolf was as good as a confirmation of guilt, and had the wolf dragged out to be killed. Luo Binghe intervened, Shen Qingqiu took off, and between one thing and another the whole night was spent with Huan Hua and Cang Qiong cultivators trying to catch him (for different reasons).

Of course it was Luo Binghe who eventually cornered the terrified wolf, at which point the wolf actually, finally did bite him. But when Binghe failed to react, it whimpered and went back to its usual behavior, and let Binghe lead it out of the city and off to its usual territory near Cang Qiong. The wolf then proceeded to act like an overjoyed puppy whose owner had finally come back from war, until Binghe broke down and sobbed himself to sleep. It must have curled up onto his chest afterwards.

Shen Qingqiu is deeply embarrassed, but... somehow Luo Binghe doesn't seem to be taking revenge on him?

He's going to need to treat that bite wound soon, though.

Binghe.

Binghe, you are going to treat that--

[mpreggificator]

I cannot get enough of Hamster!sqh so have my take on it.

So in a system-less au, Shang Qinghua heard about Cang Qiong and heel turned in the opposite direction to escape the shit that went down there.

Despite there being no system, the universe is still against him so Shang Qinghua lands a job at one of the wife plot manors, working for the one of the evil brother minor villains who was only notable because he experimented on people. Shang Qinghua tried to keep a low profile as he tried escaping his shitty boss. That doesn't work out and he was changed to transform into a hamster whenever he is very emotional (read: all of the time) before being thrown out.

By chance Shang Qinghua managed to run into Mobei-jun who saw his pathetic form and immediately adopted him as his secret pet. Shang Qinghua was convinced at first Mobei-jun was going to kill him but after a while and being treated very well, Shang Qinghua was calmed down enough to transform back into a human. Mobei-jun is confused and surprised that his cute pet hamster is a cute dude, but he keeps Shang Qinghua when he immediately swears his loyalty. Also Shang Qinghua does administrator work whenever he's not super stressed out.

And that's the story of how Shang Qinghua became the Demon King's pet hamster.

Bonus:

Hamster!sqh and Xin Mo!sy are in the same universe. So while Shen Yuan transmigrated as the most powerful weapon in the story and the protagonist's golden finger, Shang Qinghua is:

[incorrectly-quoting-mxtx]

So I have theory about Luo Binghe’s fake jade pendant.

(Major spoilers if you haven’t finished the book btw)

I was just reading a fic and author pointed out something about Luo Binghe’s pendant and how it’s a metaphor for Shen Yuan.

Looking back at the book, there are a lot of parallels between Shen Yuan and the necklace.

The pendant is a counterfeit jade carving of the god Guanyin.

Shen Yuan is a counterfeit of Shen Qingqiu, a powerful Peak Lord who dresses in jade colored robes.

Guanyin is noted to be associated with compassion, and Shen Yuan changes the entire fate of the world of Proud Immortal Demon Way by being compassionate.

Luo Bingmei ends his story with his one fake jade pendant while the extras specifically note that Luo Bingge has several real jade necklaces in his possession. Those necklaces are even called out to be fine grade and best money can buy.

Obviously the real jades are a metaphor for Bingge’s harem of peerlessly beautiful women while the fake jade, which has infinitely more value to him, represents Shen Yuan, aka Luo Bingmei’s one and only true love.

However I think there’s more to it than that.

If you track the pendant throughout the book, you’ll notice that Luo Binghe is only ever in possession of the pendant when Shen Yuan isn’t there. In fact, he actually loses the pendant shortly after Shen Yuan transmigrates into Shen Qingqiu. For the rest of the book, the pendant is in Shen Yuan’s possession, only returning to Luo Binghe at the climax.

But here’s the thing that’s strange about that scene: for whatever reason the System could not load the pendant when SQQ tried to summon it. At no other point in the book has the System have a problem loading things in.

So why is it when it does load in, it’s right as Shen Yuan dies for the third time?

My theory is that Shen Yuan is the pendant itself.

Now obviously Shen Yuan comes back and Binghe still has the pendant, but in the last couple scenes of the book, Shen Yuan is always right by Luo Binghe’s side.

Now I know that Shen Yuan was an actual person before dying and becoming Shen Qingqiu, so therefore he isn’t the necklace given human form. So how can Shen Yuan and the pendant be one and the same?

Well let’s go back to the aforementioned climax scene where the System cannot physically summon the pendant until Shen Yuan dies.

Seeing as how the System is essentially an AI and/or a computer program, this kind of issue reminds me of how a computer cannot open a file if another of the exact same file is already running.

I think, that when inserting Shen Yuan into PIDW, the System needed a way to tie his soul into its program and Shen Yuan’s fate to the protagonist. The System needed a physical entity to tie him down so it linked his code/soul to the fake jade pendant. That’s why Luo Binghe loses the pendant so soon after Shen Yuan transmigrates and why the System couldn’t load it in until Shen Yuan’s soul left his body because they’re part of the same file.

This is also evidenced by how when Shen Yuan dies the second time, out of all of his items, only the Jade pendant is kept in his inventory when he wakes up in the Sun and Dew Mushroom body.

Not to mention that Shen Yuan and the pendant have the same effect on Luo Binghe! The pendant has the ability to essientially shock Luo Binghe out of a qi deviation, but is only a one time use. But during Luo Binghe’s first qi deviation, Shen Yuan is able to do the exact same thing but doing so kills him. The pendant reduces Luo Binghe’s anger, and Shen Yuan is the only person in the world Luo Binghe will ever be soft and submittable to.

Tl’dr; The System tied Shen Yuan’s soul to the fake Guanyin pendant.

[amxrany]

!! CHAPTER 7 / DIASOMNIA ARC SPOILERS !!

Heyyyy I'm still alive and kicking, been doing a lot during the summer and I got some vacant time now so let's go (Kalim's Dream):

We're getting right into the action ya'll we are currently transmigrating into Kalim's dream and Vil is not having a good time (he's screaming his ass off). We land in front of a school and Vil is just distraught about dream hopping that Yuu, Grim and Idia are making fun of him for it 😭; but Vil wasn't letting it slide with Idia (he threatened to smash his screen/LCD).

Ok yeah going back we see a fountain with the sultan's (the sultan from Aladdin) statue in the middle. Then Grim get curious of said statue that he jumps??? into the fountain??? Then we get the KALIM APPEARANCE RAHHHH

He explains to the group that the sultan serves as the main figure of the school they're in: Qasr Sultanate Academy. Kalim also doesn't recognize any of them because he's a second year of the school, he also doesn't recognize NRC but once he heard that they were from Sage's Island; he assumes they're having a tour.

He also notices that the group is dying from the heat due to their uniforms, so he uses Oasis Maker to hydrate them. We learn that in this dream, Kalim manifested his magic at the age of 14 and created the academy to train his magic (OKAY DAMNNNN THAT'S JUST A WHOLE NEW LEVEL OF RICH). That's when Kalim summons his servants to give the guys a feast because apparently you can bring servants to the school even if then if they won't be considered as "students" and Sebek's like "NRC doesn't even permit outsiders" (talk about culture shock)

That's when they start talking about stories from their homeland, Kalim brings up the story of Aladdin and the Sultan; while Silver and Sebek bring up the story of Sleeping Beauty. Grim notices that while Kalim isn't that much different, it's strange that he isn't at NRC knowing how much he loves the school. That's when Ortho makes the connection between Kalim and Vil, what could be the possible tragedy that happened for Kalim not to be at NRC in his dream (well they're about to find out) then we get a JAMIL JUMPSCARE

(why is he smiling, it kinda scares me)

So what Kalim really wanted was to be friends with Jamil despite their differing statuses (aw :( ) and thus the group plays along by introducing themselves to this Fake!Jamil. Vil's impressed with Silver and Sebek's acting skills, I mean if you have encountered a war general, a buff twink and a Savanaclaw fanboy; you'd at least pick up on some acting along the way.

But of course, Silver and Sebek do know that there is something off about the Fake Jamil because he asked Kalim to get something for him and they're just calling the Fake out 💀. That's when Fake!Jamil reveals itself as the darkness and tries to drag Kalim down with him, but Kalim is starting to remember everything.

KALIM SMACKS US WITH THE QUESTION FROM BOOK 4 IMA JUMP OFF GOODBYE

That's when Fake!Jamil uses Snake Whisper on Kalim but Kalim wasn't buying it then the Fake!Jamil starts saying stuff along the lines of how they grew up as brothers and have never been shy with each other despite their positions. That's when Vil snaps Kalim out of the dream about how he still kept trying to befriend Jamil despite having him betrayed by him in the past. That eventually wakes Kalim up

That's when the scene changes to Book 4's overblot battle, when Fake! Jamil tries to help Kalim stand; he swats the fake's hand away. That's when Kalim replies to Vil that it's because he's Jamil's master, not his best friend. But Kalim tells the Fake that he wants to befirend the real Jamil, not him.

Thus the fight begins and once it's done, Kalim cries now let me show you his groovy

(if he's sad, we are all sad too)

The whole plan is then revealed to Kalim, who is now fully awake. Kalim is now added to the party because he's the only one who can awaken Jamil because they know each other. He also mentions that it's usually done the opposite way (Jamil doing the waking up), so it's nice to see the roles swapped.

I don't think my summaries captures the full essence of Kalim's dream so I really recommend that you watch english translations if they're out. But yeah will be translating Jamil's dream in a bit, took me awhile cuz I had a lot of things to do but yeah see ya'll soon~

Next: Jamil's Dream

[dangermousie]

Top Dozen cdramas - 2024

This can obviously change but nothing truly exciting looks to air for the rest of the year so that's unlikely. My Top Dozen for the year are likely be set in stone.

It's a very idiosyncratic list which has two mini dramas, three moderns (!!! for me that's insane) and a lot of vibes dramas.

12 Hard to Find - all vibes all the times. A tragic romance that feels like a Gothic fairytale, this is what minidramas could be.

11 Love In the Desert - out of all the dramas on this list, this is the one that screams most "a good time." It's a romance and visual feast and webnovel madness and sexy good time and it made me cry.

10 Fortune Writer - a mini that is so smart and meta and fun about narratives and fate and villainy and fighting the story itself. So clever.

9 Derailment - a puzzle and a love story, telling most anything about it would be a spoiler but this story about a rich girl from 2025 who seemingly wakes up in a parallel universe in 2023 in body of a poor doppelganger, and the young man who was in love with the original has everything including addressing what it must feel to people to have a transmigrator possess a loved one.

8 Tender Light - the ending was just - it's the reason it's not n1. But the rest of this drama about an abused wife and an idealistic young man refusing to bow to societal pressure was just exquisite. It addresses morality and loneliness and complicity and sacrifice. Just incredible. Poetry in motion.

7 Will Love In Spring - a modern romance cdrama? In my list? Is the world ending? But seriously, this is such a gorgeous, realistic yet intense exploration of love and loss and trauma. It made me utterly reevaluate Li Xian to boot.

6 Snowfall - this is such a fever dream of a mood piece of a vampire romance, with seriously BDSM and gay vibes, as well as utterly incredible canon age gap ride or die OTP with Ouyang Nana bothering to act for the first time in her life and Vengo Gao embodying a gentleman vampire to perfection. Li Muge remains one of my favorite directors for a reason.

5 Heroes - the story of three very different men all consigned to the dustheap of history by changing times (the best swordsman in the era of guns, a former imperial guard of a regime about to be overthrown, a constable obedient to obsolete code who studied for imperial exams which got abolished) as the Qing dynasty is about to fall, this has fights, humor, three (!) separate love stories, philosophy and utter and complete heartbreak. The performances, the ideas, the filming and the writing all combine to make a bleak masterpiece with a 99% death rate (I am not kidding, only tertiaries make it out.) If I were in charge, it would get all the awards.

4 The Legend of Shen Li - the one truly mainstream idol costume hit on the list. It's an adult, passionate xianxia that reunites Zhao Liying and Lin Gengxin as deities and battle powerhouses in a love story that is so full of yearning and passion and intensity I feel like peeking through my fingers. This is everything xianxia romance tries to be and almost never is. This just might be my favorite xianxia of all time, tbh.

3 Eternal Brotherhood - a dark horse whose existence I didn't even know about before it aired. Visually stunning despite its tiny budget, this narrative about three sworn brothers in a kingdom and world in crisis, is pitch perfect in its humor, its intensity, its tragedy and its themes (also THREE!!!! amazing love stories despite not being a romance-centric show.) The battles, the friendships, the traumas, the darkness at the heart of it all!

2 Fangs of Fortune - the sole drama that can rival JoL2 for me (only caveat is it's still airing), this is visually the most jaw dropping drama I've ever seen, but it's also high fantasy the way it should be - making me feel so immersed that stopping feels like coming up from a deep dive or waking up from a hypervivid dream. It has impeccable performances (many from actors who I don't normally even like), and its plot and relationships and themes - fate and sacrifice and choice and found family bonds and trauma and so many other things - make it feel as if it was made just for me.

1 Joy of Life 2 - THE drama of 2024 for me. It's somehow better than the incredible first installment. It's funny, it's heartbreaking, it has insane performances, a narrative that hits all my personally favorite themes (a person trying to remain human in an inhuman world, righteousness not being weak), a large cast of fascinating characters who feel like they live in front of me (there are no throwaway roles in this), my favorite ship of the year (though it's not even a ship-centric show) and above all, Zhang Ruoyun's live wire of a performance as Fan Xian, arguably my favorite cdrama character of all time. It should not work yet it does. Brilliantly.

[disgracefulthings]

Bingqiu Modern Day Gang AU where...

...Shen Yuan is transmigrated into a world where he is part of a Chinese gang, and as one of its most ruthless members, Shen Qingqiu. However, Shen Yuan does a bad job of playing the role he's in because he's too nice. When he goes to collect 'protection' money from businesses, he makes sure to ask if they are being protected well and if they are in need of anything. When he is sent to collect some loans, he extends due dates and helps the person with budgeting. When he needs to take care of a rival gang in their turf, he asks them to politely leave and most of the rival gang falls in love and agrees right away (the few who do not fall for his charm end up being dragged or knocked out by their own gang).

Eventually he meets the leader of the most dangerous gang, Luo Binghe. Luo Binghe was once part of Shen Yuan's current gang, but he was left to die after a shootout with another gang by Shen Qingqiu, his mentor. Shen Yuan is unaware of their shared past, and Luo Binghe has been confused by the rumors of a sweet Shen Qingqiu. Luo Binghe confronts his old mentor hoping to get some answers about his change (and probably also get some revenge while he's at it), when he is greeted by Shen Yuan handing a street kid some money to help his ailing mother, and when he turns towards Luo Binghe he gives him the sweetest smile. All plans of revenge fly out the window and Luo Binghe now wants to change careers from gang member to Shen Qingqiu's wife.

Soon enough Shen Yuan's gang ends up turning into a legitimate business because they noticed that Shen Yuan gets sad when they hurt people, and they can't have that! They're wary of Luo Binghe following him everywhere, but they allow it because he keeps Shen Yuan safe (until he makes his intentions clear to romance him, then it's war where everyone at once tries to become Shen Yuan's wife).

Shen Yuan grows attached to the community as the story goes on, and by the end he is happy that he is able to keep the people he cares about safe and happy

(and maybe a minor Moshang subplot where Shang Qinghua handles the financials of Shen Yuan's gang, while spying on it and reporting to Mobei-Jun, Luo Binghe's second in command. Mobei-Jun falls in love and decides to protect the weakest gang member he has ever met, while Shang Qinghua is intimidated by but also horny for Mobei-Jun)

[alexanderwales]

My web serial, Worth the Candle, has been adapted into a webcomic. This was thanks to my agent, who I have a great fondness for, since without him I would have to spend time trying to make connections and call people and do a bunch of work that I don't know how to do and am not good at.

I was offered the chance to write the webcomic, but declined, mostly because writing Worth the Candle had taken four years and was pretty draining, and was a story that I feel like I'm done with, minus some editorial stuff, answering fan questions, and the odd bit of promotion. So my level of involvement is that I get the pages as they come in, make some comments on them, and generally just give feedback which they are free to ignore.

So let's talk about some of the adaptational changes! You can read the first three issues on Webtoon here, or the first eight issues if you're willing to pay, and the books start here, but I'll assume that you haven't read either, and there won't be substantial spoilers because I'm talking about stuff from the very beginning. Actually, I guess there will be some spoilers, but later on, and I'll mark them, mostly having to do with some foreshadowing that the webcomic does which I didn't do.

(I licensed the rights to make the webcomic to WebToon and took my money upfront, they didn't ask me to write this post, I have not actually asked the artist/writer why they made these changes, it's just me guessing and commenting, for fun. Edit: My agent has informed me that I'm mistaken, I do get a cut. So apologies for the misinformation, and hooray for me, I guess I signed the contract ages ago and just forgot the details.)

Character Design

Here's how Juniper Smith is described in the books, ch 2:

I won’t belabor my physical description. My friend Greg had once said that I looked like someone had chosen ‘default’ for every option in the character creator, which I’d tried to laugh at but cut kind of deep. I wasn’t handsome, I wasn’t ugly, none of my features were very prominent, my eyes were blue, my hair was brown, average build, average height … After Greg had made his comment at one of our D&D games, my nickname had been ‘default’ for a while, at least until I stopped pretending to find it funny, and even after that my friends would use similar lines to trash talk me, saying that I was “the most generic man alive”, “a white bread with skim milk motherfucker”, or “the human equivalent of vanilla ice cream”. Not that I was any less of an asshole to them.

This is how he looks in the comic:

I would more or less give this full marks.

In terms of other aspects of character design, Juniper is here given a black shirt with a red symbol on it rather than the stock white t-shirt he's wearing in the opening chapters of the first book, probably in the interests of adding in some visual variety. On the page, it's perfectly fine that every person in the first 50k words is wearing basically the same stock outfit. In a visual medium, I do think that you need that pop. I do think it's interesting that Juniper is wearing the same clothes in the classroom as he is on the plane, implying that when he transmigrated his clothes ... came with him? I don't know.

The other major character of the first section is Amaryllis, who is a major character in the entire work. Here's her description in the book:

Standing by a workbench, among various car parts, tools, and cans of unidentified fluids, was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen.

I’m not really sure what protocol is here, in terms of prose. I mean, I don’t want to sound like a creep, so maybe I should stay as generic as possible and tell you about her dark red hair pulled back in a braid, the glacial blue of her eyes, how starkly alert she looked as she peered over the parts in front of her, or her grease-smeared clothes. Save for her eyes, I wasn’t really focused on any of that. My mind was consumed by tracing her curves, the shape of her chest in her blood-stained t-shirt, the fullness of her lips and the delicate way she had them parted -- and yeah, it was pretty fucked up that the splatter of blood on her shirt wasn’t worth rating much of a mention. I was consumed with staring at her and thinking how gorgeous she was, until I noticed that she was having a powerful effect on me, at which point different parts of my mind were given over to marveling at the sensation of being so attracted to a girl, and others were still focused on her.

Imagine that someone spent a few years studying your likes and dislikes, running through video of your every private moment, somehow surreptitiously hooking up EKGs to measure your physiological responses without you knowing. Then imagine that they sat down with that data and the best photo manipulation artists in the world and made the absolute perfect picture to cause your heart rate to spike, a jolt to run up your spine, butterflies in your stomach, and a cold sweat on your palms. Then imagine that they did this again, over and over in slight variations, until they had a full 4K 60fps 3D movie to show you. That was what it was like watching her.

And here she is (as she's introduced) in the comic:

Aside from the change in clothes, which in the book are the same white t-shirt and blue jeans that everyone else is wearing, Amaryllis has a scar on her face, of unknown provenance. This was probably added for visual variety, but I do find scars to be very fetching, and in one of the early versions of Worth the Candle she did have one (patterned off a woman with an extremely attractive facial scar I had met, the kind of facial scar that looked like it was applied by a Hollywood makeup artist specifically to give a touch of the exotic and mysterious, except she was a just a Midwestern mom).

And of course Amaryllis was always going to be an adaptational challenge, because the books are told through Juniper's eyes, and she's The Most Beautiful Girl in the World to him, and conventionally attractive to everyone else. Juniper tries to be normal about this. But if you're in the visual medium, you have to show both how Juniper feels and how she actually looks, and attractiveness is just so incredibly personal. My wife and I get in these kinds of discussions a lot, where she'll think someone is good-looking and I'll say "him?" or vice versa.

I think the above panel in particular is a good middle ground, a glamour shot that snaps back to the reality of their first meeting:

(The void gun she's holding there is much different from the one described in the book, not something cobbled together from spare parts and void equipment, but this is another very minor change that I would assume is meant for communicating immediately that this is a lethal weapon, and there's probably not a place for explaining how and from what it was cobbled together, which is also under-explained in the book for reasons of pacing.)

Story

I've read the first nine episodes, and overall, it's hewing very closely. There are a few bits in particular that stand out to me in how they're handled.

Spoilers for later in the series follow, I guess.

These are the opening lines of the webcomic. This is much stronger foreshadowing than I used, and I like it. Part of Juniper's backstory is that he's been deeply depressed and self-destructive, and he's slow to open up about this with other characters or the reader. The "it" that he couldn't go through with is, then, suicide. In the books? This comes very very late. Juniper being depressed after Arthur's death is brought up after the first major arc, halfway through what's now Book 1, and gets more explicit as the books go on, eventually getting to Juniper talking about his attempted suicide with people and grappling with it like ... almost halfway through?

I don't know what the plans for the webcomic are, but my guess is that they're setting up for much, much later on in a way that I didn't. This was always a background element, something that informed Juniper's character, not so much the suicide attempt as the feeling that came after, this understanding that yes, he did want to live, a heady, energizing kind of "I guess I don't have the way out that I thought I did" sort of thing.

So I take it as a good sign that this is the opening line. It points toward them understanding where they're going.

One of the other major adaptational changes is that they signpost Arthur's death with a memorial on his desk:

When I was getting pages, this was one of the first moments where I was like "yes, this is a good change, visual storytelling to replace my walls of text, flows and offers indirect information". I am very happy with the adaptation thus far, and stuff like this is what I love about adaptation in general, the need to grapple with the strengths and weaknesses of the medium.

Content Rating

Worth the Candle gets grim and dark in places. It at least attempts to grapple with serious things. The webcomic is rated Young Adult, and I'm not sure how they're going to handle the later stuff, but I can talk about how they're handling the stuff now, and what I think it means overall.

First, there's a lot less swearing. Worth the Candle in its entirety uses the word "fuck" ~1200 times. Granted, this is over the course of 1.6 million words, so a fuck density of one every 1.3k words, and some of those are in the verb "soulfuck" rather used descriptively, as exclamations, etc. My personal feeling is that this doesn't matter basically at all. I don't think I notice when someone isn't swearing unless they're using corny substitutions or trying to get cute with it.

Second, the violence is toned down in that YA way, where they're still showing much of the same things, just not with the same level of visceral detail. When a Marvel comic has someone thrown into a wall, they're no blood or snapping of bones or mangling of bodies, at least if it's a comic at a certain rating (I have definitely read some edgy 90s comics that do go hard on the violence). I think, overall, that this isn't my preference, which might be obvious from the way that I try to write fight scenes and such. But I'm also sort of inured to this toning down of violence, since it's omnipresent.

Third, there's the sex stuff, and ... well, it hasn't come up in the webcomic yet. I think I laid out my reasoning for why I think sex scenes should be written/included in Why to Write a Sex Scene, but the brief version is that sometimes you're showing how characters relate to each other, what they think of each other, and the sex scene shouldn't always just be something that's skipped over and left to the reader's imagination, because things happen, there are moments of communication, it can and does develop a relationship in the moment rather than after the fact. Plus a little titillation is, in my opinion, usually good.

The great thing about writing webfic is that no one can stop you from just including three solid chapters of hardcore pornography in the middle of your story. I have never done that, but I could is the point, and I would only get complaints from people who have no power over me. That same freedom doesn't exist here, and ... yeah, it makes my heart sink a little bit.

Fourth, there's some of the more mature content stuff, the topics that might not be broached. I don't know how they're handling that, so I reserve judgment, but I think my opinion is probably going to be "well, you do what you have to do", and if my version of the story is superior because there are no brakes, then I can be smugly superior about that.

Conclusion

This is already a fairly long post, and there are a few other things that I could have remarked on, but I think this is all the most interesting stuff.

Alright, just one real quick: Arthur is adaptationally more attractive, though this is also how Juniper sees Arthur and I think by the standards of webcomics, this is actually sort of necessary. Most of the flashback cast is not described until much later on, and by then you kind of know and understand them from the things they've said, if you can keep track of them. Many of the flashbacks are nearly disembodied. But if you're showing Arthur early, then the first impression he's going to make is in his appearance, and that really anchors people.

So overall, I am happy with the adaptation. There are challenges ahead, and I'm thankful that I'm not the one who needs to tackle those challenges.

[distant-velleity]

TRANSMIGRATOR’S GUIDE TO: Yuhua Wei

A “good student,” a “good friend,” a nobody. From that, to the voluntold assistant of Divus Crewel, stuck in the world of Twisted Wonderland where magic and arrogance run rampant.

This is the story of Yuhua Wei, another “Yuu” among many.

You’ve probably never heard of him, or maybe you have. Either way, this new and improved guide will give you a way to start getting to know him!

Below is more information about our self-saving scum protagonist~

PERSONALITY

Yuhua’s outward persona can change depending on who he is with: you could call him a people-pleaser. Around staff and certain upperclassmen, he is respectful and earnest. Around close friends, he is a bit more outspoken and brash, but also playful and encouraging. Around strangers, he is meek but affable when spoken to. So on and so forth. However, the degree to which he speaks his mind is varied—you could compare him to a nesting doll. Always removing or adding a layer that hides his true self, whatever that may be.

He also possesses a manipulative side, which is part of why he tries to appeal to people: so that if he needs to, he can use favorable opinions of him to make his life more convenient. Emphasizing his helplessness or weakness when he cannot do something himself; complaining so someone will take notice of a problem…

Of course, Yuhua would rather not stand out—it would be too much for his insecure, introverted self and too inconvenient. The practical part of him believes that being a polite, respectful side character is the role the universe has decided for him. However, he isn’t above what some would consider slightly immoral. After all, he always adapts to his audience, and in the villains’ world, one must do as the villains do.

ABILITIES

System: The strange aid that Yuhua was given upon transmigrating. It appears in the form of holographic floating screens that only he can see, and makes the world of Twisted Wonderland seem like a mix between a game and reality. The main story books and events are considered to be “missions” for him.

It allows him to check his status, relationships with others, their opinions of him, and possess a hammerspace inventory with more items than he could physically carry.

It also has a strange function regarding memories…

Potions: The System, plus tutelage under has allowed Yuhua to unlock the recipes to and make a vast array of potions, such as healing ones. He mainly uses these during battles.

TRIVIA

Much like how the teachers have their own uniforms, Yuhua also has his own magic-enforced “dorm uniform.” It seems to take inspiration from a Far East fairytale, where a young maiden was aided by her late mother in the form of a beautiful, golden carp. Yuhua wears a locket that is enchanted to switch him into his dorm uniform when he opens it.

He typically wears what looks like the standard school uniform, because 1) it goes under his labcoat in the classroom due to safety procedures, and 2) it makes him stand out less.

Floyd calls him “Koi.” Other students will frequently refer to him as “the TA” or “Crewel’s TA.” His more commonly-used nickname is “Yu.”

Inspirations: Cinderella, Ye Xian, Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint, Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System, etc.

———

taglist (ask to be added or removed): @thehollowwriter @theleechyskrunkly @elenauaurs @casp1an-sea @nahelenia

@boopshoops @skriblee-ksk @scint1llat3 @nemisisnemi @nyx-of-night

[kuruk]

ikm going to cry why don't people make gl manhwa we need to change this on a wide scale and quickly the bl comic market is flooded thoese people should jusr turn their lives around and start making yuri theuy should do yuri remakes of popular yaoi comics and also remakes of straight romance comics we we need butch ceos we need lesbians in our chaebol dramas we need lesbian killing stalking we need butch cold duke of thr north we need to put butchfemme couples at the center of everhy mediocre otome isekai we need more femmes working in the uke industry We need to stop making gamer yaoi with ukes who play as a girl online and replace it wirh beautiful female semes playing male characters like the otokoyaku of mmorpgs we need more regression stories where the mc tries to change her future to avoid being killed by the WOMAN who killed her before we need more femmes in the transmigration field w we need to see more women dying and transmigrating into rhe pet fish of a beautiful xianxia lesbian

[rozaceous]

ive read mdzs years ago and stalled on tgcf (mainly bc i got really busy and then forgot everything lmao), but never really tried scum villain. if you don't mind, can you share why you like it? personally, the summary didn't really draw me in and the animation looked unfortunately really .... low budget.

hi anon! you've activated my trap card, which is Talking About Things I Enjoy At Length! congratulations! congratulations! congratulations! important things must be said three times!

(i also stalled w tgcf btw, bc it's so long that i could never summon up sufficient interest. and i will say that the svsss donghua is less than inspiring. i thought it was fun but that's speaking as someone who watched it after already being in love w the source content, so ymmv. i wasn't a particular fan of the animation style either, but considering that scum villain is the black sheep of mxtx's works in terms of the official content that gets produced, i was glad for what i could get.)

reasons to love scum villain!

hilarious use of unreliable narrator. shen qingqiu is one of my top favorite characters ever. he's not stupid or even, despite common fan depiction, all that oblivious--he's just incredibly genre-savvy and hasn't realized that the genre has changed. also he's hysterical.

but then sometimes, too, you look more objectively at things he glosses over and have a 'wait a sec' moment bc it's actually deeply disturbing.

it has a really fun way of of playing with transmigration stories and tropes. this was, in a sense, my intro to chinese web novel conventions as a western reader, and you can learn a lot bc mxtx is busy poking fun at all of them.

phenomenally meta.

luo binghe is a fantastic character. ppl who don't like him--i'll meet you out back. ostensibly the protagonist of the novel sqq has found himself in, supposedly blessed with every talent and the world prepared to fall at his feet, but MAN is it hard being luo binghe.

ppl will make a big deal abt lbh being obsessed w sqq but fail to acknowledge that sqq is just as weird and obsessed abt lbh. epitome of that AITA response of:

liu qingge

mxtx does so much with her villains, always.

as much as some of the miscommunication between sqq and lbh is contrived, it's also literally the only way that things could play out and makes absolute sense.

this classic scene, given utterly without context:

After a pause, Shen Qingqiu changed his angle. "What's your name?" The first one replied. "Six Balls." "What does that mean?" "When I was born, my pa held me and said I was six balls heavy." Shen Qingqiu was speechless. Shot put balls or ping-pong balls?! This kind of name is absolutely meaningless.

i think, honestly, my favorite thing abt scum villain is that you can read it quickly and have a good time, but if you're taking your time and paying attention, there is so much more happening underneath the surface! it's such a clever book, i'm honestly stunned (and humbled) that mxtx produced this as her first novel and at such a young age.

[shysublimecoffee]

Look this is just an opinion not a fact don't get into such a tussle over a stanger opinion on a book of all things which are meant for entertainment. How I view this doesn't effect you nor do you take it as fact in fact youre free to disagree don't care.

It fucking says a lot about Shen Jiu as a character and the fandom as a whole in fanfics when the majority of them make him in fanfics having a better turn around in his life is always when a respected man is attached to hip usually( Liu Qingge) or acts as a voucher for people to even see him past his shell or his lies about the true reason he goes to the brothel goes out the window because otherwise he's a liar, a no-good and lecher and scum villain and because he's so emotional and volatile people do not respect him as a peakleader at all. He doesn't have a voice like it's telling me he's so female-coded cause ladies knows how dangerous people giving character assassination at your person could do tons of damage to your future prospects in future life and honestly I really like even though the ficwriters don't outright say it cause it subtle how majority every man and person in his life have taken away his autonomy and I find the most egregious example SY not actually giving a fuck about the person of the body he's inhabited and him not emoting at all when he saw the OG being abused and still validating LBG like if even the modern man from another era doesn't give a shit either someone who has to have sensible morals in society and even he doesn't care . This dynamic reflects a lot how society often undermines individuals who don't fit its norms, stripping them of their autonomy and dignity. SJ's struggle for respect and recognition in the story mirrors real-world issues of power and validation.

Everyone prefers SY. I'm not going to act as if I'm better though in real-life same I'd like him more too but his martial siblings barley tried. If they dislike him whatevs, but you guys are not at all suspicious about the 180 change in behavior how the kid he used to hurt and abuse is now being loved and pampered wtf??? Don't you guys owe him that much to investigate.

They could have tried to dig deeper aside from the one time they test him for possession but they didn't because they prefer the new and improved him". It actually so telling how the author chose someone of such a rich and idle pampered background to be transmigrated to the villain who's origin the very opposite of that and yet seemingly integrated himself better and incorporate better relationship with them then SJ.

The cultivation world, as well as the characters within it, reflect deep-seated classist attitudes. SJ's rough background and survival tactics make him an outsider, whereas SY, coming from a more privileged background, can navigate and be accepted more easily.

What does that actually say exactly that someone of a better background get along with the peaklords but not SJ because with our SJ he's a fighter and biter, he plays dirty to win in their eyes, he a lecher every inconceivable things is literally placed onto him just based on their perception of him. Is it that unconsciously they could tell SJ is not of of them or am I looking to deep haha??? The cultivation world is very classist is not news to anyone and that being the exploration in MXTX next book and how WWX background being how he literally met his end because of it says an actually lot how she took the things from this story and incorporate it into her next book.

The entire story had me retrospectively think hard how SJ voice is silent and yet to me at least he stills haunts the narrative because of it then when you get to the reveal about his backstory it makes you fucking think of him as an actual person and not just an object as a vehicle for the main character to just insert himself in because no matter the nature of a person it stills their body.

Like i've seen some fans even reflect this saying it not his fault that he transmigrated or he deserved it's technically his body and that he's a better person than SJ. At first, I agreed but then I took some time to process this. I don't care about SJ actions and his nature if it at the expense of his fucking body. SY can live for many many years but he's not SQQ unless he reincarnated like Airplane like it makes me want to me want to debates about transmigration. SY is his own person an adult with memories he has his own thoughts and feelings so when he transmigrated he took over the manual controls but that doesn't mean he's actually SQQ because he's not he's a pampered millennial.

In Otome Isekai (OI) stories, the original souls often face bad endings, while the transmigrators, who are modern characters inhabiting and thriving in these disliked bodies, desperately try to avoid such fates. They manage to charm the original male leads and are so focused on changing the story's trajectory that they can't accept its original path. This comparison to OI highlights how these characters' actions mirror Shen Yuan's (SY) predicament. The original person's identity and struggles are dismissed for the sake of the new character's journey, leading to the erasure of the original identity.

I don't vibe much with Shen Yuan because he seems very indifferent. The world revolves around him and his bias, much like many other transmigration novels where the MCs are similar. I find it hard to connect with a MC whose actions, even bold, lack a genuine foundation with other characters because they continue to see them not as people but character roles they're supposed to fulfill. He does everything to save himself, not from the sincere intention. His reaction to the death of GXY was cold af.

I don't like transmigration stories for this reason. They're often treated more as reader-inserts for fix-it fanfiction. We rarely learn about the characters' past lives, so we end up thinking of them as the person they transmigrated into, rather than who they were before. All we know of before was he was cyber-bullying and harassing the author and a troll so an asshole, basically.

If you guys don't know about OtomeIsekai basically we have bunch of modern day Koreans jumping into european white women bodies and inhabiting their bodies and living vicariously through them basically wish-fufillment bullshit trash . 9/10 nobody notices because this is a person who is widely disliked and despised and because no-one cared for the OG soul it easier to just go under the radar hell even the MC don't give a shit to so we have another MC that become so beloved in the eyes of the ML and how she bewitched everyone into loving her.

Transmigration is literal horror. " His Present" a short story I read from novel-updates where it literally based on this very concept where his loved ones preferred the imposter ugh made me bawl.

It makes me think about transmigration. Does it truly matter if the person who took over lived much longer than the original soul does that make them "THEM" ? I actually do appreciate SJ backstory being added but like now with transmigration just popping off on internet novels where the concept is everywhere where the original soul is discarded and the new one is celebrated, kinda adds a layer of tragedy and ethical dilemma to the narrative. It questions the validity of the new identity and the consequences of such an erasure. I'm always biased for the OG souls maybe that why a lot of SJ fics make him the character who is most suppressed by his role as scum villain succeed in making him heard to be listened to and mattered.

Imma nap lol this rant was loooong!!!

[hayateart]

Moshang Arranged marriage AU but with a twist.

Shang Qinghua is forced to enter arranged marriage with Mobei Jun as a show of goodwill from the human cultivators in face of Luo Binghe raising to power and forcefully uniting the human and demon realms. The catch? Linguang-Jun is the one who ascended to the Northern Kingdom throne and is the current Mobei Jun.

Many years ago, when Qinghua was still an outer disciple, there was another transmigrator, a big fan of the original PIDW. Since there was no Luo Binghe yet, he figured he would take his place and make his name as the greatest human cultivator with hundreds of wives. Airplane noticed too late what was happening and by the time he did, the guy already managed to ruin the plot. Which wouldn't be so bad, Airplane did not much enjoy his fate in the original, but the guy made it so so much worse.

In order to avoid competition, the transmigrator threw Binghe into the Abyss as soon as the little protagonist set foot into the Cang Qiong mountain. Little Binghe managed to escape the Abyss after 10 years and mostly crazed took over the demon realm quickly in order to take revenge on the humans.

In that time, the other transmigrator, using his plot knowledge, rose to power and became the leader of human cultivation world. He knew he fucked up, so he quickly threw Shen Qingqiu to Binghe as the man who wronged him (little Binghe did not remember his offender's face) and basically gave up human realm to serve the new demon emperor and thus uniting the kingoms.

He offered Binghe multiple brides, some his own wives, all in hope of appeasing the crazed protagonist.

Where is Airplane in all that? Well, unlike in the original, Airplane never met his Mobei Jun and as such never became the spy for the demon realm. A change from the plot but he did not complain. At least he would not die after betraying his favourite character, so even if the world is fucked, that's better for him, right?

Well, no. The marriage happens. Shang Qinghua has no choice but to comply, or he will be forced to face the transmigrator and the crazed protagonist's wrath.

The marriage is not happy. On good days Linguang Jun simply ignores his husband. On bad days, he reminds him that he absolutely detests humans and the only reason he agreed to the marriage was Luo Binghe - the Emperor found the situation funny. Also, with one of the Peak Lords in the court, the Demon Emperor had more influence on Cang Qiong Sect.

In the meantime Shang Qinghua tries to find out what happened to the OG Mobei Jun and discovers that Shen Qingqiu who is locked in the Demon Emperor's dungeons, fortunately not turned into a human stick yet, also recently transmigrated.

So what happened to Mobei Jun? Well, the same transmigrator who tried to get rid of Binghe, tried to get rid of Mobei as well. He remembered from the PIDW that Mobei was once held by Huan Hua Palace as prisoner and he tried to kill him then and there. As his last defence, Mobei Jun encased himself in never melting ice tomb and is still in the Water Prison, waiting. He ages and dreams, and, surprise, since all he can do is dream, Meng Mo instead of Binghe latches onto Mobei. From his prison, Mobei Jun become a pretty powerful dream demon himself.

Mobei, in his dreams, wanders to the Northern Kingdom often and finds very unhappy Qinghua by the side of his uncle. Together with Qingqiu, they all plot to overthrow Linguang Jun and get Mobei to his rightful place as well, defeat the other transmigrator and expose him to Binghe, and maybe help Binghe as well since he does not seem happy. Qinghua still considers him his son, and since the story is now real and very much off the rails, he wants his son to have a proper happy ending as well.

[purplesoulcollection]

Unnatural Love

Part 6 Synopsis : Name has being transmigrated into the world of I'm Not That Kind Of Talent without ever reading the novel. She's not being reincarnated as a human but as a devil as well. Hi There! I want to let you know that this fanfiction story isn't solely my creation. I borrowed the concept from @quqiwo2. I haven't actually read the novel either, just some spoiler to the end.

I hope you'll excuse my spelling and grammar mistake, because English not my first language.

Finally after we were anxious to think about our future relationship. We also decided to keep our dating relationship as a secret from the Demon King .

But that's not the most important thing I want to say...

Because…

Finally, Deon himself revealed his secret. To ME!!!

He said that because for him we were already together, that's why he would also tell his secret life story.

I've actually wanted to know about him since a long time ago but wasn't sure how he would respond if I asked. So I'm afraid that if I want to ask directly,

The past is a taboo topic for soldiers. Because they have to sacrifice their humanity to fight. It would be unethical to ask casually. It’s also will drop the mood and interrupted that person.

He was the one who told me that his name was not Demon Arut, but Deon Hardt. And he also asked to just call him Deon when we were alone, I agreed with him.

He said that his original name, Deon, changed to Demon because he was being misunderstood by the devil's advertisements and was constantly being misunderstood his whole life.

And finally, Deon also told me about his life story, starting from when he was born albino, had a weak body since birth, was forced to fight in the war between kingdom, survived through struggle and luck and too often lost his memory.

When I heard everything Deon told me. I honestly feel very sad and sympathetic to him. But also wondering...

Is it accurate to say that his family is so unkind as to send him to war despite his physical condition being unsuitable?? Is there really having no misunderstanding at all?

Why am I asking the reality of the Deon’s story?

Because it’s really contradictive for me…

If his family really intended to kill Deon, why didn't they try to escape knowing that Deon could return home after 8 years of war? It is difficult to believe that Deon will not harbor any resentment towards those who sent him to war and they should be the one who know that.

Life is the second most valuable thing for nobles, after money of course. If they don't live, how will they enjoy their money? It’s logical to think that they would try to save their lavish life.

Just imagine, okay?

We become war soldiers for 8 years, and 8 years can survive in a war that can make people's minds go crazy. The psychological burden of a murderer must be enormous-- the possibility of the person becoming crazy and psychopathic is also possible occurrence.

Of course, the normal people would usually try to avoid Deon, who miraculously survived.

But his family, who tried to kill him, didn't run away and instead welcomed Deon home. As if they weren't aware of Deon's grudge for not being willing to become a soldier?

It's either that Deon's parents are stupid, greedy, trash, or a misunderstanding.

That's the biggest possibility of Deon's story which has a definite plot twist. Because Deon's story from start to finish is truly spectacular, suitable as a fantasy novel full of drama and tragedy. As an expert on fantasy novels, I am sure that there is a misunderstanding that has occurred.

Besides, his older brother, Cruel Hardt, also has oddities, Deon said that his brother hate and want to kill him, he also becomes a hero following his younger brother. Why did his brother never try to kill Deon who killed his parents with his own hands. Why?

Revenge is most delicious and satisfying when it is done with one's own hands. People who want revenge will never allow their targets to be killed by others. Because that is the revenge system that can satisfy a heart full of revenge.

So it is clear that there must be a big problem hidden without Deon's knowledge.

I believe this aligns with the perspective of seasoned readers. Those who enjoy cliché fantasy novels frequently trust their gut feelings. I can feel that in the future there will be will be a sacrifice that will occur if this situation continues and it will affect Deon too.

I actually don't know about psychological problems. But Deon's character is very unsuitable for someone who has becoming the hero of the war.

I'm not mocking him, but the trauma he has should be there for someone who didn’t want to do a war. He even told the story as if he didn't have any trauma at all. He talked about his 8 year war so casually, didn’t took any life at all but he took the lives of his family, and then he was sent to be one of the hero's journey companions and his hero died, but he became the Commander of the demon king's zero army now, but he said he was weak?

There's no way that could happen, war is never a joke. Only the strong can survive. It’s the same principle in this devil’s world

Even if he was lucky, Luck didn't work like that. That's why I say Deon's story is very suitable because it is a tragic fantasy. Especially the plot hole that occurs due to memory loss. I'm sure it must be because of his psychological problems, Deon's psychology seems so unstable that he can be like that.

I've only heard of it but is it possible that he has a split personality. According to an article I once read, people who have multiple personalities will not remember what the other personality did, As a mechanism to take care of itself. This symptom is match with his condition.

So I can't tell Deon all these facts I just thought about.

If all my hypotheses are really true, then tragedy will come to Deon. Because it's impossible to have a happy ending after all of Deon's stories have happened. Then what about me?

“Adele, Adele!”

Surprised, I turned to Deon. He looked at me with a worried look. "Adele, was my story that surprising to you?"

It seemed like he was worried about my situation. Maybe he thought I was in shock after my fragility earlier, even though I was just thinking about the possibility that Deon's story was a fantasy story from earth or not?

I exhaled tiredly. Of course, my thoughts above are just a hypothesis. It seems that I really have talent as a novel writer if my imagination continues like this.

"Even if your story is so surprising to me, this is your story. Of course, the one who feels the saddest is Deon, right?" I tried to empathize with him, even if I've never experienced the same thing as Deon.

Deon just looked down and made a shadow with his hair. This makes him feel very far from me. I, who couldn't stand seeing that, slowly touched his hand first before finally holding it.

Only then did he look back at me. I smiled sadly.

"I'm sorry I made you remember your past. But I'm glad you were honest with me about your past. Would you like me to hug you in return?" I opened my arms, inviting him to hug. At first she was hesitant, but then she came into my arms.

When he hugged me, suddenly a panel screen appeared in front of me.

The screen shocked me and shocked Deon too until his body turned stiff. I immediately stroked Deon's back. Trying to calm myself and Deon too.

"Sorry, Deon, I thought there was an insect passing by."

"Bugs won't come in here!"

"That's why I said I saw wrong."

After that, Deon was silent and I continued to stare at the damn screen that suddenly appeared in front of me.

Is this a clue to the reason why I am in this world.

Does that mean I came to this world without notice and had to suffer in this world because of Deon?

To change Deon's tragic fate from beginning to end…

.

.

.

Do I have any other choice but to accept it?

I had come into this world without warning, suffered, met Deon, interacted with him without thinking of him as a tragic character and we dated too now.

Maybe this screen is waiting for the right moment so that I can't resist it. Honestly, if I got this quest before. Maybe I will reject it outright.

But because I already know Deon, know him, like him, he finally was honest with me about himself. Do I have the heart to let Deon meet his tragic end? My conscience really couldn't bear to refuse this quest.

With a heavy heart but also with an anxious heart, I pressed the yes button.

And I can see a list of skills that I can get if I do the quest. This is like farming games where I have to deposit items first before I can get the prize.

Wait a minute, Why do I have to do Quests all full of romantic scenes. 

Teasing Deon, holding hands, hugs, cheek kisses, and so on until there is something most erotic that makes you

My face heated up instantly.

But in the most erotic part, namely doing it with Deon, the prize was clearly visible.

‘Clear the karma of Deon hart’

My eyes and mouth opened wide. I reflexively tightened my hug which made Deon squirm. I realized that I immediately let go of our hug.

"What's wrong with you all this time, it's like you've been seeing a ghost?" Deon's face became dirty. Maybe he's sulking because I keep bothering him.

I can only smile nervously. Technically, it is true that the screen that appears suddenly is like the jump scare.

"N- it's nothing! This is just because I'm hugging you for the first time. So I'm nervous." I avoided Deon's gaze. I don't even know if Deon can accept this reason.

Of course I'm not a fool who would say screen to Deon. He must not know that he had a tragic ending and only I can change his life.

If he found out, he would most likely kill all the demons and himself right now.

Of course that's something that can't happen now.

“Me too, this is my first time in a long time. "

“Then shall we hug again, I promise this time I will be quiet. “

Well, we hugged again, and in the end we both fell asleep.

To Be Continued

How is my innovations? Are you like it?

[patheticpeoplesupreme]

I have an au in my head and I have to write it down but like it’s super inconsistent sometimes

What if some great heavenly deity take Shang Qinghua’s soul as punishment for messing with the story _and_ losing all his points. Clearly Shang Qinghua’s not afraid of dying anymore so the system takes on a different punishment

They would’ve taken Cucumber bro’s soul too but Shang Qinghua used his writer skills and convinced them not to and he tries to defy the heavenly being

Being all like

“THIS WORLD IS MY CREATION!” He screamed from his cell, feeling all of the sensation in his body burning into a blaze, golden liquid falling from his fingers

But the heavenly being just scoffed uncaringly, “you have interfered with the natural rules of the world.”

“I—I didn’t choose to be born here, I didn’t choose to take this role!”

“You’ve de—((what’s that one word I swear it started with “de”

defected maybe??

Defected against the system?

Defended

De….. de something

Betrayed the system?

idk I’ll figure it out))

“I’m just a human.” He pleaded desperately.

“divinity flows through your veins, you can’t lie to me, rat.”

—

Just thought it was funny to think about SQH getting fucked over by the system/gods

I like to think airplane was one of the lesser deities

Airplane was a normal human on Earth, an author in his original world, but when he died, all that was left was his passion for his novel, all the love for it that was left unheard, unseen, from all the outlines, the drafts, all the pain, all the happiness and desire, it formed into a lesser deity

The soul didn’t have a consciousness at first, but the divinity attached itself to the soul when it settled through many deities. Eventually, the soul took baby sqh as his vessel and airplane began to remember his past life.

Bingge (?) I think, would be in a similar timeline, except Airplane never managed to gain a consciousness so he turned into a tree, mourning the world’s bad ending.

(I don’t actually know how transmigration works)

And about Cucumber bro,,, he’s the same, his hatred, as an opposite of Airplane’s passion, allowed his desire and memories to form into a soul with divinity, only, it’s a different type of divinity from Airplane. Because Airplane creates

And Cucumber bro changes

Maybe->

If their divine souls were to ever be revealed, airplane and cucumber remind me of the three sisters in Greek myth but slightly different

Clotho (Airplane) spun the “thread” of human fate, Lachesis dispensed it, (system) and Atropos cut the thread (Cucumber bro)( but instead of death, bro creates changes) thus determining the individual's moment of death)

Or Airplane could just be a god

**I put regrets down because Airplane died full of regrets, from the loneliness of having a broken family, from not being able to follow his true stories and stuff

**God of Forgiveness because Airplane wants to give everyone a chance to be happy, something that couldn’t happen to Shen Jiu or Yqy

As a god of forgiveness, he would’ve asked them what ailed them and helped them heal naturally (of course they didn’t deserve to be forgiven, they wouldn’t be forgiven and airplane wouldn’t give them a second glance)

Feel free to leave anymore possibilities in the comments or anon asks haha

[andastartosteerherby]

SVSSS Fic Rec

I'm updating it everyday, because time crunch.

(Mostly Bingqiu/Bingyuan, Unless Tagged)

*Different Endless Abyss

Guess I'll Die - Shen Qingqiu goes to the Endless Abyss.

Speak No Evil - SQQ gives up his voice to stop Endless Abyss. It happens anyway.

*Amnesia

Night of Yearning - Luo Binghe forgets Shen Qingqiu.

*Jinlan City Goes Differently/Different Reunion/Different Rebirth

High Mountains, How I long

Dew Over - Shen Qingqiu is reborn in the mushroom body and tries to live as Peerless Cucumber.

Honesty is Such a Lonely Word - Shen Qinqiu faces the trial, and Old Palace Master uses a truth-finding artefact.

*Time Loop/Time Travel

Just Like A Monkey (I've Been Dancing My Whole Life) - Instead of being reborn after self-destructing, Shen Qingqiu keeps coming back on the Stairs of the Brothel in Jinlan City.

Master of Dual Cultivation Series - Shen Yuan reboots his time in PIDW. He is traumatised and less happy-go-lucky. This one is multi, with Liu Qingge and Yue Qingyuan getting more focus uptill now (in the first two stories) but Luo Binghe is important too.

*Shen Jiu and Shen Yuan

Deluxe System 2.0: Co-op Mode!

Found Brother Shen brothers.

A-Yuan Has at Least Three Friends - Shen Qingqiu turns into a kid with both Shen Yuan and Shen Jiu's memory. They are the same person.

Replacement Head Disciple Shen Yuan - Set after the Abyss, before Binghe's return. Shen Brothers.

*Epic (These fics are longer and plot-heavy, and won a special place in my heart)

You Reap What You Sow - Luo Binghe is the transmigrator. I thought it would be so-so, but turned out to be one of the best ones I've ever read. Also has Shen brothers.

Xiangyang - When you are born as the daughter of your murderer, what do you do? A question for the ages. No active pairing, original LBH and his harem is present.

Uprooted - Shen Yuan transmigrates as a minor villain in PIDW. Except he's not.

To Stem the Coming Tide - Shen Qingqiu learns about Shang Qinghua a bit earlier, and they plot to avoid their fate. No Endless Abyss.

*IWYWMH & Its AUs

I Wish You Were My Husband - The epickest of epics. It produced a number of spin-offs of it's own. Maybe I should put them under separate sub-headings when I have time. Bingqiu main pair, but has past yuejiu and hints of one-sided liushen.

A Wish to Change Fate - A great fanfic to IWYWMH. Shen Yuan is actually Shen Jiu's reincarnation. This fic touched my heart in all the right ways, gave me things I didn't even know I craved. Someday I should write about it in details. Hings of Bingjiu/Bingyuan (since both are the same).

No Wish for the Wicked - Shen Yuan wasn't around to take the place of Shen Jiu. Sad.

*Bingge

to love another (and to learn yourself) - Bingge tries to get his own Shizun and brings a Shen Yuan. Even without his cultivation power, Shen Yuan is not a pushover. Binggeyuan.

How to Train Your Shen Qingqiu - Another piece I ignored for a long time, but turned out to be very good. I need to reread it.

*WIP

I usually avoid wips, but here are some of the best ones I read:

I Was Transmigrated as a Sword (Gen up till now)

Lotus Seeds - Shen Yuan runs away to save himself from the horrible fate of the Scum Villain - to the realm of the Lotus Eaters.

Scum Villain's Book of Prophecy - Shen jiu reads PIDW and learns the future. Original Luo Binghe/Original Shen Qingqiu. Almost finished, epic length.