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svsss-fanon-exposed · 2 months

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Exposing SVSSS Fanon: 25/∞

VIOLENCE AS COURTSHIP IS A PART OF DEMON CULTURE

Rating: CANON

A nearly universal trope, especially in Moshang fics, is the fact that courtship is performed through violence in demon culture, and that the misunderstandings between the pair are because of cultural differences. The fact that demons mistreat the targets of their affection is canon, however, it is important for fans to note that this sort of characterization and worldbuilding is rooted in racial and ethnic stereotypes.

This is one of the most-requested topics I've ever written on this blog, and I took a long time to think about how best to approach the subject in a way that both keeps to the intention of this blog (referencing canon & providing quotes) as well as raising awareness to the very real problematic aspects of what is a well-loved and often-used trope in fanon that I don't think most western fans are aware of.

First, the canon analysis:

“If you hold unique feelings for a certain person, how can you make them understand your intentions?” Luo Binghe asked. Obviously, no one dared to tear down Luo Binghe’s facade and expose him directly, but this question was really very…unsuited to the demonic approach. After a long moment, not a single person had answered. In fact, the answer was so simple that any normal human could have given it to you. If you liked someone, you should just tell them. Unfortunately, there was not a single “normal” person on the scene—and aside from Shang Qinghua, there also were no “humans” either. Mobei-Jun thought about it. With the paths his mind was given to take, there was no telling how he had interpreted “unique” feelings. “Beat them up three times a day?” (7 Seas, Ch. 26)

Most of the fandom remembers this passage, and some may think that this is where the interpretation of violence as courtship comes from-- however, that is not the case. This passage might actually not refer to courtship at all-- while that is one possible interpretation, Mobei-jun could also be interpreting "unique feelings" to mean something different than "romantic feelings," since Luo Binghe didn't specify romance directly.

The "violent demonic courtship" idea actually originates much earlier in the novel, just after the invasion of Qiong Ding Peak:

In truth, Shen Qingqiu didn’t intend to tease; he thought himself very straightforward. The one who’d tampered with Luo Binghe’s dream realm was Sha Hualing. Though she did have some harmful intentions, her underlying motive was obvious. Naturally, she was driven by a young girl’s secret yearning for love. Otherwise, she would have directed her aggressions toward others, not specifically Luo Binghe. Demons were compelled to viciously bully the person they liked. Only if the object of their affections failed to die would the demon accept them. If their target died, that meant they were useless and not worth nursing any lingering affections for. (7 Seas, Ch. 3)

This, in fact, has somewhat more serious connotations than the way I have often seen it interpreted in fanworks-- it is not merely beating up a potential partner, but pushing them to their limits, nearly driving them to death, and it is certainly implied that it is not uncommon for the object of a demon's affections to actually die.

Now that the canonical basis of the idea has been established, let us move on to the second, and arguably more important part of this post: the racism.

I would like to add a disclaimer here-- I am going to discuss this in hopes of raising more awareness in the fandom, but I am not North/West/Central Asian myself, so I will only mention things in brief and somewhat generally-- if anyone who belongs to the affected cultures would like to make corrections, or more detailed explanations, or any other additions to this post on this topic, I greatly welcome that, as I feel it is an important issue that should be addressed.

In Chinese fiction, particularly fantasy genres like xianxia/xuanhuan/xiuzhen, but also in historical and wuxia fiction, there is a pervasive, prevalent tendency for authors to use racial and ethnic stereotypes against Central, Northern, and Western Asian cultures such as Mongolian & Arab cultures in their worldbuilding regarding the North, while stereotypes against Southeast Asian cultures are used in worldbuilding regarding the South. These stereotypes are most typically applied to villains and villainous groups, and are so widespread as to be ubiquitous within the genre. MXTX has used these tropes before-- notably with the Banyue people in TGCF, with adaptations of both TGCF and MDZS including design stereotypes, such as CQL's portrayal of the Qinghe Nie (combining their tendency toward violence and 'unnatural' cultivation method, with design traits typically associated with Northern/Central Asian cultures).

It is worth noting, though, that most authors do not intentionally use these traits as racist stereotypes in their worldbuilding, especially when regarding a non-human species-- in the same way that western fantasy authors use goblin and orc characters and tropes without realizing or acknowledging their racist origins and connotiations, these stereotypes have simply become genre tropes without that direct connection to their origins. Nonetheless, it is still worth noting-- and worth trying not to fall into the trap of leaning into stereotypical traits in fanworks' character portrayals.

Stereotypes include but are not limited to barbaric and brutish cultural traits, association with animals/having animal features, dark or corrupt magical/spiritual practices, certain types of braided hairstyles & other fashion choices, and originating from the far north or south.

Some of the prejudice and stereotyping of Northern Asian cultures likely originates from the fact that in the past, China was invaded and subjugated by peoples from the north (under Mongolian rule during the Yuan dynasty, and under Manchurian rule during the Qing dynasty) as well as having many conflicts with these peoples throughout history. In fact, the Qing dynasty only ended in the early 1900s, so some of this oppression is still in recent memory-- nonetheless, people belonging to ethnic minorities in China are still affected by this negative stereotyping today, so regardless of the origin, racism is still racism and should be addressed, and China today is a majority Han Chinese nation-- even if Han Chinese are considered a minority and affected by systemic racism in other places in the world.

Additionally, many tropes specifically applied to the southern demons, but also used for demon culture as a whole, are tied to stereotypical portrayals of Southeast Asian culture, which is rooted in a long history of Imperial China's invasion and oppression.

All of those stereotypes listed above apply to SVSSS' demon culture. Even in Mobei-jun's name-- 漠北 meaning "northern desert," which is the real-world name for a region in the north of the Gobi desert in Mongolia.

Therefore, it is important to remember that though violence-as-courtship in demon culture is canonical within SVSSS' setting, it nonetheless originates from harmful racial and ethnic stereotypes. It would be a good idea for fans to keep this in mind when creating their fanworks, and to treat the topic with sensitivity-- but I will leave any direct suggestions on how to handle this to those who are actually part of the affected groups.

(thanks to @flidgetjerome for additional notes regarding SEAsian stereotyping and author intent!)

Also, to be absolutely clear: I am not saying that svsss’ demons are specifically coded as any real ethnic group— it’s only that in many ways the portrayal is similar to the common portrayal of various ethnic groups in cmedia. I don’t believe they are specifically meant to parallel a real life group, unlike for example TGCF’s Banyue— but it’s worth questioning why these traits, why these characters.

#svsss #fanon exposed #svsss demon culture #mobei jun #canon #I don't know if I did a good job addressing the sensitive topics here so please feel free to correct anything I got wrong #or if I've overstepped anywhere #i just want to use the platform i have to bring this to the western fandom's attention since i don't think it's widely known #i will very gladly reblog any additions from fans who wish to weigh in but definitely don't feel pressured to do so

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parlerenfleurs · 2 years

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The power dynamic between Bingqiu is so complex and unhinged.

On the one hand, Shen Qingqiu is the Shizun, and Luo Binghe the disciple. He still pretty much serves and defers to him as such. Shen Qingqiu is the master, the elder, the superior, in a way that can never change in a culture so steeped in respect for such hierarchies, and where reversal or equalization is simply not a thing. Shen Qingqiu himself still refers to himself as "this master" for most of the story (even post canon? I can't remember), and the one quality he appreciates in Luo Binghe (at least that he says aloud) is his obedience. In both their minds, he's very firmly the one who raised and trained Luo Binghe - though with very different connotations depending on who you ask.

On the other hand... well... Luo Binghe plays the obedient puppy-ish disciple, but he pretty much cute/pathetic-bullies his way into anything he wants, because Shen Qingqiu is weak to him and can't say no. So Luo Binghe plays submissive, cries a little, then gets to top Shen Qingqiu into next Sunday in the most unfillial way imaginable lol. Also, and I cannot stress this enough, he's the most powerful person in the world, he doesn't have to serve anyone in a humble cottage. He literally has an empire and is a ruler, but he plays housewife and meek disciple to this one spoiled guy who gave him the correct manual once and head-patted him with abandon.

Also let's not forget that, to Luo Binghe, Shen Jiu and Shen Yuan are pretty seamlessly the same person. This serial head-patter is also the guy who poured hot tea on him and would string him up to beat him and made him sleep in the woodshed like a particularly miserable Cinderella. To him, one day, his cruel master deemed him worthy of his love after he made him go through many trials, and then slam-dunked him into the abyss, and then self-destructed to save him and then turned out to be alive and avoiding him like the plague and then sulked because Luo Binghe did not properly ask his hand in marriage. Luo Binghe may be the most powerful man in the world and have Shen Qingqiu wrapped around his manipulative golden little finger, BUT the grip and ascendant Shen Qingqiu possesses over Luo Binghe's psyche is unparalleled.

BUT the other side of this equation is that Shen Qingqiu feels so guilty, and loves Luo Binghe so much, he can't bear to make him unhappy and folds like a wet paper towel any time there is the merest hint of tears - which is a conscious strategy on Luo Binghe's part! Shang Qinghua told him acting pathetic works, and it does, and so he milks it! Who knows how much of it is real? Not me. Not Shen Qingqiu either, who also does not care that he's being manipulated. He knows he's being manipulated! But it works anyway!

Because what are you going to do when a cute puppy makes sad eyes at you?? Not give him the bit of meat???

You're his master but he owns your heart so that's your fate, now. He's huge and could maul you but he loves you too much and prefers to act spoiled. He sits when you say sit, comes when you say come. You tell him no but he climbs into your lap anyway and you are helpless to stop him so you pet him. It's messy, full of pathos, possibly unhealthy. You're both living your best life.

That's Bingqiu.

#bingqiu #Shen Qingqiu #Luo Binghe #svsss

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the-tyler-as-in-skyler · 1 month

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posting more svsss fanart this time half finished doodles of a lil au that’s been cooking in my brain for a few weeks

fox shen yuan aus have my heart and soul anyways he gains more tails the higher his cultivation is :33

plot points for this below the cut (also apologies for the terrible image quality she’s been through a lot (my google drive))

- shen yuan is a fox demon, he gets popped into a very young fox demon similar to how airplane gets dropped into baby shang qinghua (airplane is sqh in this au but that’s not plot relevant yet)

- little fox shen yuan, still getting the hang of his powers and creating a human form, runs into shen jiu in the woods, realizes this “random” teenager looks a lot like he did in real life, and unconsciously shifts to look like him

- shen yuan and shen jiu become kind of friends (in that shen jiu feels like he needs to protect shen yuan because he thinks he’s naive and also thinks it’s funny when he’s a bitch and shen yuan also thinks that shen jiu is funny when he’s a bitch and that he should probably keep this kid from dying or screwing himself up with his clearly demonic cultivation too bad)

- shen yuan eventually figures out how to look fully human (prior to him and sj going to cang qiong mountain)

- sy and sj become disciples on qing jing together! how does shen yuan cultivate? well sj is the only one who knows he’s a demon but they manage to swipe a fox demon cultivation manual from qing jing peak’s library for him

- when the qing generation ascends shen yuan leaves cang qiong to go be a wandering cultivator and write a bestiary

(at this point you may be asking, where is zhuzhi-lang? he’s in the doodles, why hasn’t he shown up yet? fear not, he is coming)

- while traveling shen yuan decide that the mortal realm is too boring and there are far too many papapa plants there so he travels to the demon realm to record more beasts

- at this point tianlang-jun is still the emperor of the demon realm, and, through shenanigans probably, shen yuan manages to save zhuhai-lang from a rather dangerous plant that mimics normal demonic plants and gets introduced to the emperor

- it does not take long for shen yuan to realize that this is luo binghe’s father and decide, hey, maybe he can help this guy and hopefully get both of luo binghe’s parents to survive so he can have a kind of normal life without the trauma (he is still masquerading as a human at this point and there’s quite a bit of controversy about the demonic emperor taking advice from a human cultivator, linguang-jun later mocks mobei-jun for ‘following in the late emperor’s footsteps’ when he takes shang qinghua as his primary advisor)

- this plan does not work, shen yuan is exposed to the cultivation world as a demon and a traitor and gets his ass tossed into the endless abyss so he can’t warn zzl and tlj about the plot against them

- (shen jiu goes to see him before he gets sent in: “why’d you do it?” “i… i wanted to try and let them (su xiyan and tianlang-jun) be happy together…”)

- sy is stuck in the abyss making himself a little house and strong arming the various horrors down there into liking him

- cut to shen jiu, now shen qingqiu, extremely bitter about the fact that the only person he considered a friend betraying him the cultivation world, and seeing baby binghe who looks just like the guy his friend got tossed into the the abyss for and figures out that this must have been what shen yuan was trying to protect

- shen qingqiu is livid and takes it out on binghe

- yet another cut, we know what bingge’s childhood was like, and binghe’s gets dropped into the abyss (sqq thinks that it’s fitting he sends the beast to the same fate that trying to protect him doomed shen yuan to)

- binghe wanders the abyss, being miserable, for several years before he comes across… a house? the bamboo house from qing jing peak? is he hallucinating? but no, it’s not quite the same, it’s made with whatever freaky bamboo equivalent grows in the abyss and there’s a pen with a six-legged carnivorous horse around the side of it

- shen yuan built himself a version of the bamboo house because he really liked it and he helped build shen qingqiu’s bamboo house as a sort of present/congratulations for ascending to peak lord status and he wanted a comfortable place to relax where he’s less likely to be attacked by a beast

- binghe is very confused when he is enthusiastically greeted by a fox demon who looks like his scummy teacher but is rather quickly endeared and intrigued

- they bond, shen yuan helps binghe find xin mo and they get out of the abyss and into the demon realm together with shen yuan acting as an advisor for binghe similarly to how he did with tlj, with the condition that binghe helps him release tlj and zzl from their prison

- this is the main catalyst for them going to huan hua in this au (most people have forgotten what sy looks like or they were too young to remember his trial even happening, it wasn’t anything super public because publicity for the great sects is very important so they kept things very hush hush)

- shen yuan reunites with zhuzhi-lang and tianlang-jun! it takes them a while to figure out how to properly break them out but they do manage it!

- at some point in the demon realm shen yuan and shang qinghua run into each other and clock that the other person is a transmigrator pretty quickly (they both have a habit of muttering in chinglish during court and they hear each other and do the spider-man point meme)

- sqh and sy bond and binghe and mbj don’t exactly know if they should be jealous about it, they’re very close and seem to share some sort of strange dialect that only the two of them speak and spend a lot of time together?? (they’re arguing and maybe kissing a little bc… cumplane my loves)

- shen yuan eventually has the misfortune of running into liu qingge (who survives here because i love him and i think that sy would at least try to prevent his death because he found him endearing when they were disciples), while sy is delighted that his shidi is alive he’s less happy about having cheng luan pointed directly at his throat in a secluded alleyway when he was just trying to browse the market of a town he remembered being pleasant

- reuniting with lqg leads to reuniting with the rest of cang qiong (and getting yelled at for his incompetence by shen qingqiu before they make up)

- shen yuan has (just barely) convinced binghe that torture is not the answer to solving his trauma so shen qingqiu does not get water prisoned but they aren’t trusted alone in a room together for a good long time

- eventually this probably ends in shen yuan collecting a harem on accident (not that he’s very upset about it but still, he’s confused how he managed this)

- neither binghe nor shen qingqiu are particularly pleased about the harem thing but like… they love shen yuan and if it makes him happy they’ll put up with these other idiots (they totally don’t like some of the other harem members what are you talking about? there’s nothing going on there stop asking them about it)

#tyler does art #svsss fanart #svsss au #svsss #mxtx svsss #svsss fanfiction #kinda i got too into it lol #shen yuan #shen qingqiu #zhuzhi lang #zhushen #(they’re cute and they hold hands and sy convinces zzl that he’s pretty)#shen yuan’s harem #fox shen yuan

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untamedmetablogiguess · 1 year

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re:that last post:

Scum Villian AU in which Shang Qinghua decides instead of mobei-jun (or in addition to mobei-jun), the scary dangerous person he’s going to dedicate himself to is SQQ. After all, he reasons, nothing can possibly harm him until the protagonist, right? The fact that he gets away with all his scummy actions for years is a big part of the story! And with all his secret knowledge of what’s really driving him psychologically, SQH is pretty sure he can get himself into a position where he can be more-or-less protected by the villain halo that ensures that no one but the hero can really harm him. He figures as soon as the protagonist shows up on the scene, he’ll have to cut and run, but until then - Scum Villain’s #1 Sycophantic Sidekick Shang Qinghua, reporting for duty!

...at first SQQ kind of barely tolerates him, much like mobei-jun, but eventually he starts to - ugh - trust him. Eventually he even starts to ---UGH!!!-- like him! And SQH didn’t realize that having even one actual friend around might like, profoundly change the guy. By the time they start getting close to the Plot, SQH realizes that he may even have mellowed out too much - he’s just not the same person who would torment a little kid anymore. And even worse, SQH actually likes him, too, and the idea of ditching him to his horrible scum villain fate feels... really bad???

and maybe the System let him do this, he realizes, because IF he sticks to his “betrayal of the sect and defection to the demon realm” plan… that would make SQQ even WORSE, wouldn’t it? If he finally let himself trust someone again, finally let himself have a friend, and then that friend betrayed him - wouldn’t that just leave him primed to be even SCUMMIER? If that friend betrayed him for demons, wouldn’t that make him even more likely to Hate All Demons? The System has been allowing all this because all along he was planning to ditch out and break SQQ’s heart even worse- and now he… doesn’t want to do that???

and SQH has always felt kind of responsible for SQQ’s traumatic backstory, in a distant, author-god kind of way, but he reassured himself that, well, he didn’t KNOW it was going to become REAL, he didn’t KNOW he was setting this in motion - but if he goes through with this plan, he’ll be hurting him FOR REAL this time!

#shen jiu #shen qingqiu #shang qinghua #Svsss #scum villian self saving system

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writing-frenzy · 10 months

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Beautiful Disaster AU

So, here I am, on a serious Shang Qinghua/Airplane bro binge because sometimes you just crave a thing and can't let go, and I ended up getting inspired by these two posts :) Link and Link So here I go.

Edit: Forgor to set a link for part two, my bad.

Also, here is this poem that also inspired a thing and also gave the name for this AU~

`Beautiful Disaster~ By Nikita Gill If he tastes like the rainfall, Looks like a summer storm, Fights for you like a forest fire; he's a tornado of trouble. (And you need to hold on to him and never ever let him go.)

So yeah, I took a look at that, and thought it actually fit both Shen Jiu and SQH/Airplane well, if in different ways. (Shen Jiu the tornado and Airplane bro the forest fire, but oh, how SJ fights like lightening in a storm, ready to burn everything away, while SQH is tricky like the wind, saving most of his energy for when it really matters until you can't see anything past the wails and talismans.)

So yeah, watch me stumble into a scumplane with Ghost!Shen Jiu :3

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It starts ever so simply, Shen Jiu watching as that fake is so happily accepted, all the other Peak Lords seeming to rejoice at having them there, even the disciples pleased and ever so willing to bark for the man wearing his face, the little beast practically panting after him every step he takes.

It disgusts him, makes him grind his teeth, makes him want to scream, shout, curse like he hasn't since he was just a desperate slave, how many visit his former home, his sanctuary now a cage of bamboo and frustration, rage, and bitterness. Watches how Peak Lord after Peak Lord visits, each charmed, some slowly, some in less than a second, guests of all types and titles leaving yet obviously wanting to stay.

All except for one.

"Ha-hahaaa, hello Peak Lord Shen, I'm here to deliver the order forms for the new training instruments and inkstones." The An Ding Peak Lord, Shang Qinghua laughs weakly, even as the fake narrows eyes at him over his favored fan. Shen Jiu glares, wishing he could rip it to shreds, throw it away, burn it so that it is no longer being defiled by this body snatcher.

"You may leave them with my disciples, Ming Fan or Binghe can take care of it." is the dismissive response of this other, lesser fake goods, even as Shen Jiu wants to scream.

"These are my duties; these are the responsibilities of a Peak Lord, you cannot hand them off to mere children, much less the beast." The real Shen QingQiu wants to howl, but it only comes out as whispered words through clenched teeth, the ghost not able to open his mouth for the anger choking him.

"Ah, about that my fellow Peak Lord, these contents are not for the eyes of disciples, I'll need your seal of approval on them as well." Shang Qinghua seems to wince, sounding rather apologetic, but it is this refusal that gains Shen Jiu's attention, actually surprised to hear someone being reasonable since the switch happened.

(The first time he's seen anyone actually refuse his cuckoo of a replacement.)

And is just in time to see the cold, cutting calculation the supposedly 'apologetic' man hides with his bowed head, before it is gone just as fast as he raises it.

It is the start of his interest in Shang Qinghua, that man he considered a rat in life, only to show just how clever he is after Shen Jiu died.

Watches how the man sneakily tests the fake, teas for cleansing snuck in here and there, talismans deceptively hidden in paintings, vases of flowers that detect malevolent, demonic energies.

And even with none of it being triped, the Fake able to somehow breeze past all these tests, Shang Qinghua still watches, guarded and suspicious, without ever letting his cuckoo even suspect it.

It is... gratifying, even if it is from that rat, to know someone still does not trust in what they see, that they too judge the fake and decide to actually question it. It is more than what his own disciples have done.

(It is more than what his Qi-ge has given, still ever so tolerant, ravished as he is for any crumbs, he can fucking get like the dogs they were.)

Changes only happen after what is apparently a disastrous conference, with intriguing, if terrifying secrets coming to light.

"Airplane Shooting Towards the Sky!"

"Peerless Cumber?!"

Hearing their words, it brings in new consideration for his circumstances, makes his already yin filled core seem to freeze at just what he is hearing.

Some kind of fate that forces you into another's dead body, chains one to follow it with little hope for change, even forcing a literary god from the sounds of it to be reborn into a human, never actually expecting their words to come to life, just trying to live as it were like any other storyteller from the streets.

(Remembers how any damage he does is just as quickly erased, as if it has never happened, as if there isn't a resentful ghost clawing at the walls, ready to destroy any in its way at the first chance it gets.)

Shang Qinghua, or Airplane as it were, visits more after that, plotting and planning with his bodysnatcher, who while he still hates, would be willing to gut if possible (but... can understand, so painfully understand being forced and chained, even if he was lucky enough his Masters were very much mortal at least).

But while there are no longer any suspicions in those eyes (the calculations are of course still there), they are instead replaced by a... mournful quality?

"Rest in Peace, Shen-Shixiong." is said in the middle of the night one day, when his fake has long since slept, the words like a whisper in the wind. In his mind's eye, he can smell the incense of sandalwood and jasmine, with an offering of melon seeds beside it...

...!

oh...

... Not once, not since he has been stuck in his home, has he heard his Shang-Shidi call the imposter Shixiong...

For that night, Shen Jiu stares at one of the pictures on the walls of his bamboo house, keen eyes seeing the subtle symbols for mourning on it, a subtle 9 easily hidden among the strokes if one was not a master like himself, the rage a quiet thing tonight as he thinks.

And then, one day, seemingly normal for all it is a quiet day at his peak, Shen Jiu finds that whatever was trapping him, caging him, chaining him to his bamboo house turned prison is gone.

He doesn't miss his chance, out the door before his mind can catch up, before he fully realizes he has been freed. It is only once he is off his mountain, out from that sect, away from everyone, that Shen Jiu realizes he has a choice.

He can feel it, he can feel his body even with the distance he is, knows exactly which direction to go if he wants to reclaim it. And he could, he could do so rather easily he can tell, whatever link between it and chained binding his imposter had gone...

...But why should he?

Why should he? Why should he go back to all those so willing to trade him for his knock off, why should he go back to people who will only be disappointed in the return of the 'old Shen-QingQiu' even if it is the true one.

Why should he debase himself to go crawling back to people in a body even more wrecked then his Qi-Deviation left it, all wanting something he is not and will never be?

(Go to see that panting, drooling Beast, to the desperate, stalking Brute, to that disappointing, clinging to scraps and fakes Brother Sect Leader?

To see those calculating, distrusting, mournful brown eyes? As weak as he is now? Not worthy to even be called Shixiong.)

Shen Jiu pauses, turning aways from where he can feel his body, where all those lies and expectations are, into a different direction, where death calls and the yin energy beacons any foolish or ambitious or both to answer.

He can feel it in his distant bones, trembling in his ghostly yin qi running through his spiritual body, his other choice.

The Gates of the City of Gu are about to open.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Author's note:

*Me looking at Airplane, his trust issues, his knowledge of just how fucked up his story could be, thinking of alllllll those wife plots and the trickery* No way this man didn't try a few ways to see if Shen QingQiu was possessed by something or another; not that he doubts the all knowing sword, but yeah, he doubts the fucking sword.

Also, if anyone were to find out that Airplane was technically the creator god, I headcanon people would assume he was a literary god who either gained too much power on accident or some other gods decided to fuck around for shits and giggles because they could.

Also, Shen Jiu would be smart enough to figure out about the system, even if he doesn't know exactly what it is, the concept he understands fucking terrifies him; no way would he go back into his body giving the choice, being so weak from without a cure and whatever the fuck the imposter did to it to where he can go back. He'll take his fucking chances.

(Besides... his Shidi like demons well enough, why not a Calamity?) :3

#scum villian self saving system #scum villain #Shen Jiu #Shang Qinghua #airplane shooting towards the sky #OG!Shen QingQiu #Scumplane #Jiuplane

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greenpanda-djg · 1 year

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Airplane/Binghe Mobei/Cucumber Parralell

Just ignore me OR add if you're like me and just love the parralells/ships and everything that is peoples headcannon that Airplane based LBH on himself and likes ice cold beautys like mobei and cucumber etc.

How is LGH and SQQ the same as Airplane/cucumber?

Okay, so your a writer you pour your heart and soul into writing something you genuinly liked and then when you show that to the world you get attacked by criticism. As an artist/writer not everyone will like your work so the scene where LBH in the tea ceremony is happy then gets dunked on. SQQ could represent the haters/his anti fans that no matter how much LBH TRIES its NEVER good enough for your harshest critic. And JUST LIKE antis and weirdos online who trash on peoples works that they poured their heart and soul into is usually projection! That the antis online are probably miserable [or like SY who read PIDW but completely missed the tones and made a ton of assumptions which lead to his downfall in the world]

I'm not sure if its a headcannon or fact that sqq vitriol was based on most of Cucumbers animosity towards PIDW.

And most have noticed how Shang Qinghua always wears a pleasent smile, acts pitiful on purpose, takes advantage of others and looks down on them pretty much too faced but is suprisingly strong has some similarities to LBH. And his dynamic with Mobei-Jun someone who hites Shang QInghua [Which to demons is a sign of affection JUST like how SQQ hits Binghe with his fan its endearment like a wife slapping her husbands shoulder]

How Mobei-Jun is the damsel in distress JUST like Sqq and both need rescuing by their pitiful husbands! and also how Mobei-Jun is always annoyed at SQH but then gets pissy when Shang Qinghua tries to leave same as Shen Qingqiu who is hot and cold then cries when LBH leaves him in the mausoleom-

Okay I'm saying that its the same ship in different FONTS.

Also one last thing is how funny how Shen Yuan is a typical online weirdo who cares more for a fictional character version and has more empathy for this cute white lotus whose had a troubling life.

Meanwhile theres SQH who ALSO had an awful upbringing how his shixiongs literally shoved SQH in front of a freaken DEMON who was the great Mobei-Jun and expected a small disciple to take him on may as well have sacrificed him! How he had his own system and tried to help SY when he could and yet it was never good enough the weird anti parasocial dynamic where SY would rather care for SQH fictional counterpart than the real thing thats right in front of him since most people online hold fictional characters with more priority than real people

ps. YES SQQ does care for SQH he let him lay low in the bamboo house and fed him Binghes food just like his relationship with Binghe and Mobei SQQ is hot and cold he will literally slap you and say he hates you one moment then wifebeams gives you food the next and tuck you into bed I'm just saying he can be BOTH or his journey through the story is that SQQ follows scripts. He's a pretender and thinks its a story the characters and people in this world and just that fiction. So it would make sense that he has this distance with even SQH and by finally treating the world as real by taking LBH emotions seriously and that his words do have an impact and can HURT him shows that he also applies this behaviour to everyone around him including SQH.

Anything else you guys want to add feel free.

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madame-vera · 2 years

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AFG LGBTQA Bingo Masterpost To Be

For now I'm noting down ideas for every prompt but once the card's complete I'll either edit it into a masterpost or reblog as a production reference for a masterpost.

Exclusion/Rejection

I'm absolutely going to pick a character from the Royal Tutor for this. Really amps up the social expectations part of things.

Bulge Kink

Kokoro

Trans Omega

Gareki is a FTM Omega. Part of why he's pissed at affection is the social standards behind it. YogixGareki (Karneval)

"I love you, I love him, you love me... Why can't we all love each other?"

I'm having trouble deciding on the media and characters for this but tamaki/haruhi/kyoya is trumping thus far.

Moyashimon is also a strong contender

Karaoke

The MCs take a break away from their cafe by having a karaoke date. Chatting At The Amber Teahouse.

Height Difference

Ed x someone (fma)

Himawari-san and forgethernamedammit (Miss Sunflower)

Moyashimon

Flags

could be red flags

could be flag flags

maybe nhs (mdzs) with pins and patches? he could design them?

Still In The Closet

Maybe Seiya from Tsurune? mayhaps?

Modern AU

blank space

Love Triangle

blank space

Crying Under The Rain

Chigusa has an emotional moment during a rainshower, overwhelmed by the easy prevalence of water and it's gentle fall. Rakan helps him through it. (Silver Diamond)

True Mates (a/b/o soulmates)

you could get some real drama using junjou romantica for this. tricky, but possible, and very dramatic.

Free Space

Celebrant AU - gay marriage becomes legalised and in order to avoid bankruptcy via wedding gifts the MC gets a cheap celebrancy license and offers free services to his friends as the present. I'll decide the MC and fandom later.

Sharing An Umbrella

Hikaru and Akira walking back from their personal go match. Hikaru gets nostalgic about Sai and Umbrellas.

"And They Were Roommates"

Shen Yuan and Shang Qinghua having a laugh over heir partners being temporary (unwilling roommates). Bingmei just wants t know what's so funny. (SVSSS)

Strap On

That sex toy designer character I like from that manga I like (gonna need to take a scroll through my faves) makes a secondary penis strap-on and torments his boyfriend with it.

Showing Love Without Words

Shen Yuan wants to give Binghe all the love he can but can't bring himself to say 'i love you'. So instead he does sneak acts of service. Filling the kitchen with his favourite ingredients, using his favourite incense, sneaking cultivation supplies into his qiankun pouch, keeping books to Binghes interests on the shelf, etc. (SVSSS)

Dysphoria

Wandering Son (more attention on this story please, it's so good)

Danny Phantom (the fan theorists have a point)

Carry In Arms

Monochrome factor,(we need more cute Akira), Shirogane can carry him. could include a funny omake since Shirogane is invisible, would be very odd for a random bystander.

Roommates AU

Soma and (was is Takumi? the older italian brother) from food wars

"Nothing will stop me from loving you."

Megumi x Mikoto from Princess Princess sounds like an awesome idea.

Bar Fight

Takahiro gets into a drunken drawl with a homophobic asshole. Akihiko bails him out, very happy that Takhiro is slowly coming to accept his relationship with Misaki, if only very drunkenly begrudgingly. (Junjou Romantica)

Royalty AU

Maybe a Harmony AU, if i can work out how

Non-Binary Coming Out

Aoi officially comes put as a bi NB (he/they) after reaching high school. They come out to their friends and family (their immediate family does not take it well, their aunts take a little convincing but get there, 2 MCs are chill and supportive). Aoi picks a more open high school to live freely, further away from his previous schoolmates for a new start. Aoi, after some indecision, uses flags to come out on their blog page while announcing a hiatus because they want to work on their technical skills, personal growth, school work, maid occupation and develop a new blog image for the new stage he's at.

The flag bit may or may not be used as the upper flag prompt in a chaptered fic. We'll see how it goes. This is for Kaichou wa Maid-sama.

Alpha With Two Omegas

I'll be using the three main characters from Daites Ryou Koubouki (Offense and Defense in Daites) for the story since they have an interesting canon polyamorous dynamic. I haven't decided who to make the Alpha just yet. Koscise would be fun with two temperamental omega, but Mathesa honestly just makes more sense given their political relationships. We'll see.

#bingo challenge #lgbtq+ bingo #fic list #ideas #masterpost to be #madame vera

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cursed-angelic-art · 2 years

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Scumplane thoughts:

By the time Sqh reaches his late 20s in PIDW, it's already hit him that he's been alive longer here than he was in our world. These people and places, as familiar as they are to him, the author, are not his and are just as unfamiliar and real and alive in their own right as the people and places from his original world. Sqh may be a weaselly coward, (but is he, actually? Or does he just believe himself to be) but can he really let this story turn out the way it was supposed to?

He starts sending spies to Qing Jing, keeping tabs on sqq's behavior, well before Binghe even arrives. His working plan is to take Binghe as his own disciple, as much as the thought of screwing up frightens him, but he would also like to prevent any chance of sqq crossing the protagonist. Also, really, someone should be keeping an eye on this bastard! What an unsuitable teacher!

Shen Qingqiu, ornery man that he is, of course notices the frequency of An Ding Peak disciples showing up and following him, and....watching him. It's unsettling. He begins detaining and deterring people before, against his better judgment and desires, deciding to pay An Ding's lord a visit himself.

Over tea the interrogation begins. Shang Qinghua, flustered, spills tea all over himself, makes many bullshit excuses, and attempts to diffuse the situation by asking him to help with his (extremely awful, he's actually never touched the instrument) guqin playing. Shen Qingqiu, eyebrows twitching, considers killing this annoying shidi (empty threats, he'd never hurt a fellow peak lord....). Finally he loses his patience:

"Out with it! Why have you been spying on me. Did the sect leader put you up to this?"

He seethes..

Shang Qinghua has run out of excuses that won't get him injured or worse...."I just...think you're neat?" He tries.

Anyways, cue Shen Qingqiu arriving at the conclusion that An Ding's peak lord as an unfortunate and ill-concieved crush on him and has been spying on him for this reason. Cue Shang Qinghua attempting to leverage this miscommunication. Sqh can be just as sticky as Binghe when he wants to be. Besides, the closer he gets to Qing Jing's peak lord, the more he can do to prevent Binghe's blackening and revenge plot, right?

#scumplane #svsss #scumbag self saving system #shang qinghua #shen qingqiu #i cant write fic for the life of me #but heres the closest to it #hopefully not too ooc

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silverstarlightlion · 3 years

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SVSS is utterly fascinating as a story, and not just because of what it actually is. The whole thing is from Shen Qingqiu’s point of view - or Shen Yuan if you want to get technical. And I do, because Shen Yuan might settle into Qingqiu’s life so easily as to completely assimilate his name, but he does it in the same way that you or I would respond to the name of our character in a game of DnD. Yes, he lives his life as Qingqiu, he hacks into Shen Jiu’s memories, he embraces the consequences of his character and the potential futures he faces - but he still... thinks of it like a game.

It’s not explicit - it’s never explicit, because it’s not supposed to be. Shen Yuan is dead, and his world is gone. It may as well have been a dream on Shen Qingqiu’s part. Yes, a dream with incredibly specific and accurate information on the world and the people in it, information that he absolutely has no business knowing, but it’s basically the same thing as meta-gaming. He’s just meta-gaming a very elaborate tabletop game, and the System is his (admittedly bad) DM. And it shows. It shows in how he navigates the demon crypt temple thing I-forget-its-name, it shows in how he makes decisions based on the expected ripple effect due to characters he thinks he understands, on a plot that doesn’t even exist anymore - because it can’t, because he’s changed it - it shows in the way he speaks with other characters. Again, it’s never stated explicitly, but there are definite dialogue trees in how he interacts, and it’s not mirrored in any other character because he is not interacting with a game.

It’s not entirely his fault. He recognises what’s happened instantly, and the System signs on barely a moment later to explain to him, in no uncertain terms, that he is in control of a character account and must meet arbitrary rules, limits, goals, and deadlines or he will be expelled from the ‘game’. The System 100% treats the SVSS world like it is the DM, like the transmigrators are just players it has to try and bully into following the campaign it’s already planned out. And Shen Qingqiu buys it. He gets less mechanical, yes, after the various timeskips. The longer he lives in the world, the more real and familiar it feels, and the less fabricated his interactions become, but he never really... loses that aspect of it. There’s always an edge in the way he behaves. He spent so long maintaining Shen Qingqiu’s facade that whoever Shen Yuan really was underneath the propriety and the fans is... not gone, not at all, but it’s muddied. It’s impossible to tell where the character of Shen Qingqiu ends and Shen Yuan’s personhood begins.

And he’s the only character who behaves like this. Obviously, only Shang Qinghua even knows that the whole world was once a story - or at least, is one they know from a story, let’s not get into all the meta-discussion about that or the System here. And Qinghua was born into the world. He literally lived it out from infanthood, no matter however many years Qingqiu goes through in timeskips, he only arrived as a fully functioning adult in both instances. He stepped into someone else’s skin, and he learned how to walk in it so comfortably it feels almost like his own - but it isn’t. Qinghua knows, and he’s got the System prattling in his ear too, giving gods know what tasks and warnings and limits and threats, but he grew up in this world in a way Shen Yuan just didn’t. He relearned how to exist, how to function as a human being, he was immersed in the world’s culture and knowledge and growth in a way that Qingqiu wasn’t. And quite beyond that, Qinghua is the AUTHOR. He knows more about this world than anyone - he knows the things that slipped through the cracks, he understands what brought about so many little details that never would have made it into PIDW, historical quirks and moments and things that the people around him have never told anyone, and never will. He thinks of these people as his children, in a way, in the way a sculptor brings life into things that cannot move and yet speak to so many people all the same. I am an author and I know - I know that feeling. Shang Qinghua is a transmigrator, but he’s not the same as Qingqiu. He’s lived a whole lifetime in the SVSS world, and he’s lived in it before he ever transmigrated. The world is real to him, because he’s lived a dozen lifetimes there before he ever lived his own, because it was real even before he ended up there.

But Shen Qingqiu... just doesn’t have that. Yes, he feels deep and genuine feelings for these people, he lives his life there, he has no intention of leaving or trying to come back to his own - but he never loses that veneer of playing at this life. The end of SVSS is one part everything spiralling out of control, one part Qingqiu trying desperately to salvage something out of what could potentially be the end of these characters that he loves, and one part Qingqiu trying to win.

And he does love them. We love them. You can love things you can’t tangibly interact with, just like we do for every character we love, because that’s what fandom is. But Shen Yuan is still in there, the whole way through, and some part of him believes the System when it tells him - even without words - that the whole world is just a game.

And that’s fascinating, and tragic.

#StarlightLion #SVSS #the Scum Villain's Self-Saving System #Scumbag System #MXTX #Moxiang Tongxiu #Shen Qingqiu #Shang Qinghua #meta commentary I guess #he's just so fucking interesting #anyway this has been a Starlight Rambles #or possibly Starlight Rants #fuck it either way #I have no idea if it was intended by MXTX when she wrote it #but the System is absolutely a villain #you cannot change my mind

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questionable-decision · 3 years

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I know the premise of “Shang Qinghua has to coach Luo Binghe threw his Abyss storyline” may seem random, but my three main goals in writing the Laments of a Sellout Author, Deadbeat Dad and Questionable Love Interest were to explore/address:

1. The fact that people are capable of forming real relationships and bonds (and parasocial relationships) with objects (be they characters, robots or animals) and yet we are also capable of dehumanizing and objectifying real people (causing racism, sexism etc) from in-group out-group bias and the inherent belief that our experiences are more “real” that those around us. SQH both seems to really care about MBJ but also refers to him in ways emphasizing his status as a “character” (Shen Yuan also does this a bunch but svsss is him growing out of this).

2 Exploring more about the treatment of women in stallion/harem stories and how toxic masculinity effects them (rather than MXTX focusing on how it effects men, which she did well already)

3. Have Shang Qinghua actually have to address the issues in his own writing rather than having Shen Yuan fix it. Shen Yuan fixes the plot in svsss by interjecting kindness (and in some cases just common sense) but in a way, this almost absolves Shang Qinghua of all the issues he created. The point of a deconstruction is to critically expose the meanings, metaphysical constructs, and hierarchical oppositions (as between key terms in a philosophical or literary work) which are rendered unstable by their dependence on ultimately arbitrary signifiers. Ie to point out the flaws and issues of the work/genre. And yet Shang Qinghua CREATES these flaws and issues by writing PIDW but never takes responsibility for it.

I think that the SVSSS sets up a lot of the context and world building, as a deconstruction, to explore this in some depth while also allowing it to be humourous instead of super depressing. These themes are all things that mxtx touched on, but ultimately explored different sides of the issue, which, in my opinion made them really fun to dig into because the groundwork was already there. The fact is, the worldbuilding of SVSSS allows a LOT of the groundwork to say multiple things about the nature of stories, relationships and responsibility, and that’s generally what people like about the work!

Maybe that’s super niche but my fic was really fun to write! Even the parts that got a little sad, because the voice and world building of svsss don’t take themselves seriously even when dealing with serious topics and #1 is an issue that I really find fascination. So it’s kind of the perfect environment for meta commentary which I find really neat.

#Laments of a Sellout Author #svsss #Shang Qinghua #scum villain's self saving system #scumbag villain self saving system

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vodkassassin · 3 years

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Ok let me set the scene: SQQ had grown used to his multiple layers of clothes, and it was never a problem untill the day he and (your closen love interest) decided it was time for papapa, que the twenty minutes of SQQ instructing how to carefully take off his each and every layer. The steamy vibes slowly disapear. The curtains close.

I know you wanted this to be steamy, cousin, but I slapped platonic cucumberplane onto it instead and it turned into a big Mess of Feelings instead of romantic comedy 😅 my bad! @overlordmoth

—

The first time Shen Yuan is forced to attend a inter-sect banquet is memorable, if nothing else. It doesn’t even have anything to do with the event itself, but what happened afterwards.

The food was alright. He’s been spoiled, he thinks, by his adorable disciple’s god-tier cooking, because though the organization committee had gone all out and hired the fanciest of catering staff, the food itself was… he wouldn't go so far as to call it disappointing, per say, but it had been a bit bland when he’d tried it. He finished off his meager plate of appetizers and resolved not to touch any other dish thereafter. He’ll just eat a meal when he gets back to his peak.

Luckily, inter-sect conferences aren’t a constant occurrence. They only happened once every few years, as a way for the many sects of xianxialand to share information and gossip. Shen Yuan has had two years now, to get used to being Peak Lord Shen Qingqiu, and he’s grateful for the extra time he was given to learn his character before he was forced to debut into such a public setting, where Shen Jiu has long-since created himself a reputation.

Much like the reputation amongst his own sect, everyone in the cultivation world seems to know how Shen Jiu had been. Tonight is the first time since his fever (and Shen Yuan’s transmigration) that Peak Lord Shen steps into the limelight and shows exactly how drastically he has changed in character.

It doesn’t go as terribly as he expected it to, honestly.

When he’d first entered the hall, the amount of stares that had immediately zeroed in on him and began dissecting his every movement was… overwhelming, in a way. Shen Yuan is used to stares. He has to be, just to walk around his own peak. His disciples are nosy, gossipy young masters and maidens. For all that they seem to admire and respect him, there is never a single moment when Shen Qingqiu does not feel their eyes following him as he walks from one classroom hall to the next.

The banquet is much the same. Instead of his disciples, however, these are matured (in a manner of speaking) cultivators of sects not his own. Which means Shen Qingqiu has to be on the lookout and watch his own back.

Or he would have had to, had his fellow transmigrator not been in attendance as well.

He supposed he’s lucky, that all the peak lords were required to attend this ridiculous party.

He spends the first ten minutes or so proving to these cultivators that, though Shen Qingqiu has obviously changed, his tongue is still just as acerbic and barbed as it had been before, perhaps even more creatively so now that he’s changed. It puts strained, polite smiles onto the faces of men and women who had approached him in attempts to size him up and find a hand hold for themselves.

Joke’s on them.

As pleased as he is to discover them just as easily taken down a peg or two as his own sect members, Shen Qingqiu grows exhausted of this game rather quickly. Once he sends the last cultivator away with their tail between their legs, he snaps his fan closed with a flick of his wrist and turns on his heel before the next can even think to approach him.

It’s out of character, apparently, for Shen Qingqiu to throw the towel in when the first hour hasn’t even passed. Raised eyebrows and confused eyes follow him as he steps off to the side and sidles up to where the only other millennial in this world is leaning against the far wall of the hall, cradling a cup of tea in his hands and staring at the floor likely in the hope that no one will come speak to him.

As much as he whines that he never gets as much attention as the other peak lords, Shang Qinghua always prefers the sidelines. All the better to remain unnoticed, that he may more efficiently observe their guests without them realizing that the An Ding peak lord’s eyes see far more than any of them could ever think.

When Shen Qingqiu leans his back against the wall beside him, Shang Qinghua gives a startled jolt. His tea sloshes in its cup, thankfully not spilling over, and he raises wide eyes to meet Shen Qingqiu’s look of ridicule.

“Ah….” For once, his friend seems lost for words, and Shen Qingqiu resists the urge to frown at him. “What’s up?”

“If I’m going to make it even a single hour in this party, much less the full ten it’s scheduled for, then I’m going to need someone to listen to me complain.” Shen Qingqiu begins succinctly. “As my bro, that’s your job.”

Strangely, Shang Qinghua seems to perk up at this. He swirls his tea around — and from the sharp scent that wafts upward to Shen Qingqiu’s nose, tea isn’t the only thing in that cup — and casts Shen Qingqiu a cheerful smile.

“A party isn’t a party until you’ve made fun of every single partygoer behind their back at least twice,” his fellow peak lord agrees.

Shen Qingqiu smirks at him.

He snaps open his fan to cover it when he hears a few murmurs of shock from the people who are still watching him like hawks for any sign of difference between him and Shen Jiu. It’s so fucking tiring.

Shang Qinghua huffs a quiet laugh and shoots him a look of sympathy.

“How many bodies do you think you can help me hide before someone notices that guests are beginning to disappear?” He asks nonchalantly, and his mouth curls into a more genuine smile behind the safety of his fan when Shang Qinghua’s shoulders start to shake with laughter.

“Don’t ask me that,” the slightly shorter man breathes out in mirth, eyes bright. “Between the two of us, we can absolutely make it happen. It’s best not to even tempt it.”

“As you say,” Shen Qingqiu sighs despondently, fluttering his fan before his face. It’s beginning to grow a little too warm even in the huge, cavernous banquet hall. That’s what happens when you shove an entire crowd of people into the same room together. It gets stuffy.

The banquet passes a little quicker than it would have otherwise, with Shang Qinghua by his side to exchange quite jokes and banter with. A particular, good-natured target for them both is Liu Qingge, who’s squirelled himself into a different corner of the hall with three jars of alcohol and whose grave glare is enough to chase off anyone who’d wish to speak with him. The poor man just isn’t built for socializing. At least it’s clear that there’s someone who’s having a worse time here than Shen Qingqiu is. It might be mean, but it makes him feel better nonetheless.

It’s nice to have someone who actually understands every meme and pop culture reference Shen Qingqiu slips into his mockery of the banquet guests. The only issue is having to smother his real, genuine laughter when Shang Qinghua comes back at him with something actually hilarious. It would surely rock the cultivation world to its very foundation if Peak Lord Shen Qingqiu burst into laughter in the middle of an inter-sect banquet for all to see.

Even with the allowances he’s slowly acquired for himself in the time since he disabled the OOC lock, his martial siblings would certainly send for Mu Qingfang to check him over.

Still, the comfortable atmosphere of mockery aside, several hours is still several hours, and by the time Shang Qinghua is down to the dregs of his seventh cup of tea (plus the obvious pick-me-up he adds to it), Shen Qingqiu is incredibly fucking done with this entire farce.

Opening his fan to conceal his face, he leans over slightly into his friend's space and quietly says, “You wanna blow this popsicle stand?”

The clear effort it takes Shang Qinghua not to wheeze is gratifying. “Are we even allowed to do that?”

“We’re peak lords,” Shen Qingqiu says, shrugging his shoulders lightly. “We can do whatever the fuck we want. And, speaking as a millennial — who’s going to stop us, really?”

Good thing they’d dissolved into speaking English three hours ago. If someone heard the cold, and graceful Lord Shen verbally curse then he’d probably be forced to undergo another test for possession with Wei Qingwei when they all got home. Annoying as hell, those things. They took hours and he wasn’t even allowed to read to pass the time!

“Point,” Shang Qinghua admits.

“Plus,” Shen Qingqiu raises his fan up a bit higher to hide his entire expression and makes a face. “I, uh…. need a favor, from you.”

Shang Qinghua blinks over the rim of his teacup at him. He stares at him for a long, wordless moment, and then his eyebrows shoot up.

“The peerless peak lord Shen,” he says lightly, mouth quirking, “needs help—?”

“Airplane.”

“—from little ol’ me?”

“Imma gut you,” Shen Yuan mutters, fan fluttering.

Shang Qinghua beams at him. He pushes up off the wall and steps over to the nearest table to set his now-empty cup on its surface.

“Yeah, okay,” the man says.

Appeased, yet miffed, Shen Qingqiu raises his chin up and snaps his fan closed sharply enough to make a noise. “Good.”

They leave. There’s a multitude of stares that follow in their wake, from both strangers and their own martial siblings across the hall, but neither of them pay them any mind, aside from the way Shang Qinghua’s shoulders raise defensively almost on instinct. A nervous habit that the man will probably never rid himself of.

Three minutes later, they’ve closed themselves away in Shen Qingqiu’s guest quarters of the venue — the conferences are to last for at least three days, minimum, so each sect has their own pavilion for the overnight stay — and Shen Qingqiu stands grumpily in the middle of the room while Shang Qinghua collapses against the bed and laughs himself silly.

“Y-You need me to—?” The man wheezes, one hand pressed over his mouth as tears prick the corners of his eyes, his other arm holding his side. “To—?”

“Yes, it’s very amusing,” Shen Qingqiu deadpans, eyebrow twitching. “And what a friend you are, to laugh in the face of my plight. What, do you expect me to ask anyone else? Who would you suggest? Yue Qingyuan? As if! Of course I need your help, idiot!”

“I’m sure Sect Leader would be very obliging if you were to ask,” Shang Qinghua giggles from where he’s curled up on top of the blankets. He waggles his eyebrows. “Very obliging.”

“You disgust me,” Shen Qingqiu sniffs. He tugs at the front of his robes, and casts his friend a helpless look. “Seriously, how am I suppose to get out of this — this death trap?!”

Because, for such a fancy and important occasion as an inter-sect conference opening banquet, the guests are of course expected to wear their most formal robes. And, in xianxialand, formal robes mean layers. Layer upon layer upon layer. And extra baubles on top of that, like multiple-section headpieces and jewelry and gauzy, sheer, bedazzled over robes.

Truly, the opulence and over-the-topness of the cultivation world never ceases to make Shen Qingqiu raise his brow.

“I get what you mean,” Shang Qinghua chortles. “Stop your bitching, bro, I know how to escape these things, no problem.”

He hops up from the bed and makes his way over, reaching for the outside clasps of the over robe without even asking first. Shen Qingqiu does mind, holding his arms out to give his friend better access. Honestly, there is never any dignity lost between the two of them, what with their modern sensibilities. Not that Shen Yuan ever had much dignity to begin with, being a lifetime recurring hospital patient in his last life. As Shen Qingqiu, peer immortal master that he is, however, he at least has to pretend he does.

With everyone other than Airplane, that is.

“Thanks,” he says, grumbling but grateful, as Shang Qinghua carefully but without ceremony shucks off his outer robe and the one underneath it.

The man steps closer after laying those out on the bed, and tugs at the ties of the belt that hold the next robe closed. After a series of finger gymnastics that Shen Qingqiu can’t really make head nor tails of, his friend reaches up and pulls the silk down from his shoulders and reaches a hand inside to pull at the smaller ties hidden within. Which is absolutely ridiculous. Shen Qingqiu had seriously felt like he was putting together a piece of IKEA furniture when he’d originally gotten dressed. Overly complicated, the instructions were all in Swedish, and it was nearly impossible to accomplish on one’s own. But, he‘d done it!

Dismantling it all, however, was another thing entirely, and he thanks whatever higher power there is, that Airplane is here to lend him that hand without any of the awkwardness that someone with ancient Chinese sensibilities would bring.

“Thank god these things are only like, twice a decade,” he groans, leaning back so his fellow transmigrator has easier access to free him of the next stifling layer. “If this body didn’t have that handy cultivation temperature regulation magic bullshit you came up with for that scene in chapter one-hundred twenty, I’d be sweating buckets right now. Next time I get an invitation to a banquet, I’m refusing, no matter how much Yue Qingyuan puppy-dog eyes at me”

Shang Qinghua directs an odd, slanting smile down at the belt he’s working free, nimble fingers pulling and tugging gently at the ties so they don’t accidentally tighten instead of loosen.

“Yeah,” he says, quiet. “... I’ve never been a fan of banquets either.”

Shen Qingqiu holds back a scoff. And then lets it free, because there’s nobody here but Shang Qinghua, who knows him and won’t ever begrudge him for showing actual emotion. “I can’t imagine anyone being wrapped up in thirty layers and expected to socialize with sharks for ten fucking hours and actually enjoying it.”

Shang Qinghua ducks his head down, smile disappearing. He tugs the ties free and reaches up to slip another layer off of Shen Qingqiu’s shoulders, but he keeps his eyes lowered. Shen Qingqiu pauses, frowning at him. Something’s off.

“...Airplane?”

“It’s not that,” Shang Qinghua shrugs helplessly, tugging at the ties of the next robe without much effort to pull them loose. There’s a slightly uncomfortable expression on his face that makes Shen Qingqiu frown deepen. “I actually don’t mind all the layers. My parents dressed me in hanfu all the time when I was a kid in my past life, so I was already used to it before I even transmigrated. The food at banquets is really good, too, and the socialization isn’t so bad once you look at it as just a political pissing contest. Banquets could be fun, really.”

“But they’re not,” Shen Qingqiu guesses, and reaches out to clasp his friends hands in his, pulling them away from his belt. They twitch in his hold, like Shang Qinghua wants to fidget, a nervous tick.

He’s only half dressed at this point, but right now he’s more concerned with the shuttering expression on Shang Qinghua’s face than anything else. “Not for you, at least. Why?”

Shang Qinghua glances nervously up at him from beneath his lashes, only to look back down again and grimace. “They’d be a lot of fun, if I wasn’t… me, I guess? Today is the first time I’ve actually enjoyed a banquet since I first started attending them as a head disciple.”

Shen Qingqiu presses his lips together as his friend lets out a mirthless, unamused laugh. He squeezes the hands he’s holding, and Shang Qinghua‘s shoulders droop.

“It was also the first time anyone’s actually stuck by me and actually talked to me, though, so,” the other finally glances up, an odd and fragile smile on his face as he chuckles weakly. His eyes are shining a bit damply, and Shen Qingqiu locks his teeth together when he sees it. “I guess it makes sense? Banquets are a lot more fun when you’re not, um… totally alone the entire time! Haha…. who knew, right…?”

Shen Qinghua shakes his head slowly. He ignores his state of undress and reaches out to draw his friend into his arms.

Sometimes, Shen Yuan wishes he’d transmigrated into Shen Jiu’s life earlier than he had. Sure, the cons far outweigh the pros, in such a situation, but at least his friend would have had someone in his corner for all the times that their martial family had snubbed him. Airplane may have brought the anxieties and insecurities of his past life along with him into this one, but Shen Yuan doesn’t doubt for a single second that in the decades that Airplane has been Shang Qinghua, they have been made much stronger (and oftentimes crippling) by the actions of the people who are suppose to stand by him and have his back.

It’s infuriating, when he lets himself think about it for too long, so usually he doesn’t. And then it smacks him right in the face, like now, and Shen Yuan feels nothing but bitter resentment toward those people who are supposedly his friend’s martial family.

Shang Qinghua makes a quietly surprised sound, but doesn’t protest. In fact, the other melts against him, hands coming up to grasp at the front of his robes, and he tucks his face into the junction between Shen Qingqiu’s shoulder and neck. He sucks in a slow, stuttering breath that makes him tremble, and Shen Qingqiu reaches up one hand to bury into the back of his friend’s hair, curling his fingers into the strands.

“It must’ve been extra rough when the original goods was still around,” he comments quietly.

Shang Qinghua shudders, and then nods his head against his shoulder. “H-He was a real jerk, but usually he was too busy verbally flaying all the guests from the other sects alive, to pay me much mind. Thankfully.” The An Ding lord lets out a wet chuckle.

Shen Qingqiu allows another frown to cinch at his brow as he pets his hand through his friend’s hair. “And none of the others ever…?”

“Why would they? I’m just — I’m just… An Ding.”

Shen Qingqiu tightens the arm that he has wound around Shang Qinghua’s waist, and his scowl depends when he feels his friend shake.

The door opens then, because of course it does. Someone peaks their head in, and who else is it going to be but Yue Qingyuan, looking for his precious Xiao Jiu, who apparently isn’t one to leave a banquet early when there are still guests left to verbally knock down several pegs and cripple the self esteem of?

The sect leader opens his mouth, and closes it. Shen Qingqiu watches impassively the journey of emotions the man’s face undergoes as he takes in the scene of a half dressed Xiao Jiu holding a trembling Shang Qinghua in his arms. Yue Qingyuan’s face is pale and there’s two splotches of bright red on both his cheeks. He looks both mortified and horrified in equal measure.

Shen Qingqiu wraps his arms tightly around the other transmigrator, holding the still-trembling Shang Qinghua to his chest, and narrows his eyes at the sect leader viciously.

“Leave,” he snaps. His best friend doesn’t deserve having anyone spying on this moment of real vulnerability.

Yue Qingyuan beats a hasty retreat. The door closes softly behind him.

Shang Qinghua gives one last shudder, before going lax in his arms, letting Shen Qingqiu hold him up with his strength alone. The An Ding peak lord reaches out his arms to wrap them around Shen Qingqiu and return the hug, clutching tightly at him.

“I’m really glad you’re here,” the man says, voice slightly choked, and Shen Qingqiu swallows thickly. It’s clear that Shang Qinghua is talking about more than just tonight’s banquet.

“Me too,” he says, and finds that he actually means it.

#svsss prompts #scumbag villain self saving system #shang qinghua #shen qingqiu #shen yuan #vodka answers #vodkassassin fanfiction #overlordmoth

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irresistiibles · 2 years

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@nightwhispcrs asked: shang qinghua — 🍊 : does my muse desire romance? is it something they would actively seek out, or prefer to happen more ‘ naturally? ’ what is their love life like? do they have any exes or past flings, or crushes?

man what a question. so the simple answer to does he desire romance is yes, but then i hve to go and proceed to say that he would literally never seek a romance out, and has had zero love life, and also that that last statement is slightly false, he’s had a love life he’s just completely unaware of it. also that love life is with a fictional character that he himself wrote as his ideal man and then proceeded to miss literally every obvious sign he was probably being flirted with. he really does love the idea of romance. he writes story after story, and a chunk of it is bad porn, but he does have a good romance story in him, he just doesn’t write it cause it feels too genuine to put out there. qinghua’s got a few things going on that make him think romance is nice in theory, but it will probably never happen to him. for one thing he’s really afraid of getting hurt. for someone who talks all the time, opening up about things that actually make him feel bad or are important to him? that stays guarded. he’s a child of a messy divorce. his parents always avoided him after it because they started new families, and though a part of him knows he was a child and did not end his parent’s relationship, another, more mean voice in his head thinks that he was the problem, that he specifically ruins love, and of course once he was out of the picture his parents could find real romance. he was always a shut in in his first life, and that worked well for his career, but it also means he has little to no social experience to go off of. he seems to be described as the most common or plain looking peak lord, and is definitely aware of this. he doesn’t consider himself the type of person who’s good looking enough that someone would just want to shoot their shot with him, and he’s definitely not going to destroy his own self esteem by trying to come on to someone and inevitably get turned down. also as a result of his self esteem flirting would go right over his head. he just has a really hard time comprehending the idea of someone liking him at all, so he will find other reasons to explain behavior because qinghua just truly cannot imagine someone being into him, especially not long term. he’s the type to look at romance and go, “this is nice, this is so nice, i would love this, but clearly it is not made for me.”

he has a love life! canonically! and he just genuiney does not know that he does. yeah, demon courting is different than human courting, but he wrote how demons show interest in someone in his world! he heard his love interest say how to woo someone and didn’t put together the pieces that it was exactly the same as how he treated qinghua! i think it’s fully possible people have been into qinghua in his original life and he really just had no clue! i don’t think he had like a hole group of people wanting him, but the point stands! that he genuinely thinks not one person has ever had a crush on him and i’m just so sure that is not the case. he’s absolutely a virgin. he’s the type to keep himself busy and tell people he just doesn’t really have time for a relationship. one day he will get it together but it’s going to be a process, because he just has so many parts of his personality that make a genuine relationship with him difficult, that no matter how much he may like the idea of having love and romance in his life, it will just never be an easy thing for him.

#this is all over the place such a ramble i'm so sorry #i had a lot of thoughts about this #( memes && qinghua )#long post tw

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ibijau · 4 years

Note

For the ask meme: "I'm mad at god" where sqq is really talking about airplane

Luo Binghe’s husband is, to put it simply, an odd and fascinating man he half gave up on understanding. It is easier, he’s found, to simply accept whatever Shen Qingqiu does and say and not question it too much.

Besides, even when he gives in to curiosity, it is rarely indulged, not for the oddest things at least. Shen Qingqiu will make excuses, or pretend he never said anything, or in more extreme cases, lightly hit Luo Binghe with his fan to get him to stop asking pointless questions.

It doesn’t matter much, in the end. Luo Binghe knows the important things, such as his husband’s acceptance of his love, and the fact that he is loved back with an intensity that Shen Qingqiu doesn’t always bother hiding anymore.

Still, sometimes it really gets too odd.

Today, for example.

They are both relaxing in Shen Qingqiu’s… in their house on Qing Jing Peak. Shen Qingqiu is polishing his sword, while Luo Binghe gives some news from the demon world. His husband is always curious about that, especially if fearsome creatures or rare plants are concerned. It is not the case today, sadly. Instead it is all politics, especially since a great lord recently died and left no blood relative but a child he had with a human woman. Successions are never easy among demons, but this one is already looking to be particularly ugly. The child is young still, and the mother has come running to Luo Binghe to beg for his protection, which he has granted.

“The mother is a good woman,” Luo Binghe notes. “Many would have abandoned their half breed child and only sought to protect themselves.”

He thinks, of course, of Su Xiyan. Somedays, he tells himself she tried to save him, as Shen Qingqiu once argued. Other times, he is convinced that she really meant to destroy him before his birth and failed. Certainty will always escape him on this matter, as on many others.

“This Lord is generous to give asylum to those with enemies,” Shen Qingqiu praises him with a tender smile.

“Shizun thinks too highly of this one. It is only that this one was reminded of his own youth when he saw a miserable mother and child. This one’s life would have been different if his mother had been given help in her time of need.”

Shen Qingqiu, briefly, interrupts his work and stares ad Luo Binghe in that air he has sometimes, as if seeing him for the first time. He then tightens the grip on his sword and starts polishing it with renewed determination.

“What’s shizun doing?” Luo Binghe asks.

“This one is making preparations,” Shen Qingqiu retorts in a dry voice. “I’m mad at god and this time, he’ll feel my wrath.”

“Shizun cannot be serious. Sizhun cannot think of fighting gods.”

Shen Qingqiu shrugs, the way he does when he’s too high on emotion to play the part of cold master he hides behind, and lifts his sword to the level of his eye, checking the edge.

“God is a wimp and it’s time someone took him down for what he did to my husband,” Shen Qingqiu retorts, standing up. “If you need me, I’ll be in An Ding Peak.”

Luo Binghe blinks a few times, unsure what to make of that. He knows of his husband's friendship with Shang Qinghua, but he doesn’t understand it and quite frankly, that little whimpering fool is the last person he would have wanted at his side to go fight gods.

“Will shizun be back in time for dinner?” Luo Binghe inquires, since somehow that’s the sanest question he can think of asking.

Shen Qingqiu only takes a brief moment to consider this.

“Yes. It won’t take very long.”

He then leaves, while Luo Binghe can only stare at the door and try to make sense of what happened.

His husband is a very odd man, but Luo Binghe is hardly normal himself, so they fit well together.

The real problem, though, is that he must now think of a meal befitting a man who may or may not have gone off to kill a god. It’s only early afternoon, but Luo Binghe needs to get to work.

#bingqiu #luo binghe #shen qingqiu #scum villain self saving system #svsss #did I ever write bingqiu before?#I mean I wrote about them as a couple in That One Fic #but I think this is my first actually kinda romantic bingqiu lol #I am not very good at writing for svsss I fear but it's still fun to try #jau writes #braidedribbon

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mirai-eats · 5 years

Text

Rewind and Start Over:: Noon

Bingqiu, rated M, 5,120 words, part 2/5, Incomplete

Angst, Suicidal Thoughts, Suicide Attempt, re-transmigration, Angst with a Happy Ending, Rating May Change

Modern science is so good it kept a dead man alive.

Shen Yuan is dragged forward but his feet are stubbornly digging in the ground. Luo Binghe is running as fast as he can to catch up.

- Binghe's perspective of Shen Qingqiu dropping dead back to life.

read on AO3

He promised. He promised he wouldn’t leave Luo Binghe ever again. Shizun said he would stay with him forever!

It fell away with the shatter of a broken teacup and a sharp inhale, his last gasp of air, from Shizun’s chest as his eyes rolled back and he collapsed in a heap on the other side of the low table. Luo Binghe cried out his name and lurched forward, the tea set shaking from the sudden movement. He shakily pulled Shen Qingqiu up in his arms, completely limp and not a trace of life left in his body. It was as if he’d fallen from the tower all over again- an empty kite with a hole in its wing with no cultivation or soul to give it flight.

Shen Qingqiu remained beautiful even in death, his layers of robes fanned out like he was a fallen flower, his hair loose from the impact of his fall and slipped from his silver and jade crown, a lock tracing his temple and the pale ribbons trailing his inky black hair like a green river in volcanic meadows. Luo Binghe gently lifted him, his name spilling from his lips and tears falling from his eyes stained the pale face already losing its shades of life and gave away to a deathly grey. There was no pulse, the warmth dripped away with each drop of a crystalline tear. No flutter of his eyelashes, no gentle rise and fall to his chest.

Luo Binghe worked quickly to preserve Shizun’s body all the while his mind scrambled to find a solution. There has to be a reason behind him suddenly dropping dead, something must have pulled the soul away. He promised! Something beyond his control had reached in and snatched Shen Qingqiu’s soul out from his body- the real body this time! He wouldn’t break a promise! Last time it was his useless father that had to pull Shen Qingqiu back to his real body from the Dew Seed body. There was no powerful demon to pull him away so suddenly, he was one of the most powerful demon lords there was absolutely no one who would dare to mess with him!

After pouring his spiritual energy into Shen Qingqiu and arranging him comfortably on the bed, he dropped the silken drapes to hide him away and set off toward Cang Qiong Mountain.

---

Even after digging through the whole of the mountain and threatening every Peak Lord and every disciple, he came up with nothing. No one knew anything and was shocked to learn of his sudden passing. He didn’t believe a word.

A scurrying mouse caught his attention and he chased after it.

---

“I don’t know anything!” Shang Qinghua squeaked in fright, the wall behind him blown in from the sudden force of Luo Binghe’s fist. He was trapped by Luo Binghe’s leering form, shivering under his glare. “I’m just as shocked as you are!”

“But you had a different look on your face when I told everyone,” Luo Binghe sneered. “You looked confused. Did you do something?”

“Nothing, nothing!” Shang Qinghua shrank deeper into his collar. “How-how about this. Leave me alone, but! I have an idea of how to get him back.”

“Talk,” Luo Binghe spat, eyes on fire.

“I have a hypothesis that his soul might… might have been sucked off somewhere far away,” Shang Qinghua stuttered. “You can easily go traipsing through the human and demon realms with your demon and human blood, but-but this might be beyond our reach. Don’t ask how! It’s an untested theory!”

“Who did this?” He drove his fist deeper into the wall by Shang Qinghua’s head. He whimpered pathetically.

“I don’t know!” He cried out. “But give me time, I’ll think of something to help Cu- Shen Shixiong out!”

Luo Binghe stepped back, a couple of crumpled rocks fell to the ground from the wall. “I’m going to continue physically searching. I’ll be back, for now, you must think of something before I return.”

With a flourish of his black robes he left. Shang Qinghua’s legs gave out and he slumped to the floor with a mutter of “scary, too scary!” under his breath.

---

Nothing. He searched every crevice of the mortal and demon realm, shouted to the heaven’s to give him back. There wasn’t a whisper of his soul anywhere. He dug through holes in the mountains, swam down to the deepest parts of the lakes, turned over every rock and leaf in the world and there was no Shizun.

He returned to Shen Qingqiu in his demon palace, resting in their grand bed and shielded away from prying eyes. He was stripped to his under robes, bathed in soft jasmine flowers, and his hair was brushed daily by Luo Binghe. It was always silky and knot-free. The long locks were braided loosely and he would lay him on his back and pull the silken blankets up to keep the chill off. His body was well preserved by Luo Binghe’s own spiritual energy as he did during the five year period of his death and for the first time in years, he went searching for humans with high spiritual power to help balance out his clashing demonic and spiritual energies. Every night, no matter how far away he searched, he always came back to lay next to Shen Qingqiu, curled up next to him under the blankets and cried real, hot tears onto his lukewarm chest, kiss each finger, bury his face into the junction of his neck and inhale the subtly sweet scent of jasmine flowers, tea leaves, and something that’s so distinctly Shizun.

Every morning he’d rise before the sun, press a kiss on Shen Qingqie’s forehead as he always didoes to his demon mark, fills him with more spiritual energy, and disappear to find him.

---

He reappeared to harass Shang Qinghua over half a year later.

“You need to reforge Xin Mo,” Shang Qinghua said. “But you’ll need to do more. As you might have found, Shen Qingqiu is nowhere on either world and the heavens have not sent a sign yet that he is with them. No soul has responded to inquiry, not unless he was split apart beyond anything recognizable, he must have been pulled far away.” His eyes shifted. He wasn’t telling Luo Binghe something. “But we can’t be certain. Try your alternate Bingge’s world and see if he’s been sucked in first.”

“That’s exactly what I’m planning. What will it take to reforge?”

To mine the steel of an immortal mountain, forge it in the fires of a mountain of blood, and slaughter a hundred thousand demons to stain the blade black with its malice. For at least one moon cycle it needs to be embedded in a corpse, preferably a full thirteen moon cycles but they were pressed for time.

“It won’t be as powerful, but it should be enough” Shang Qinghua finished.

Luo Binghe set off to start. How long it would take, he didn’t know. Shang Qinghua said it would take at least three years. He will do it in one.

—-

The cloying darkness of the mine was nothing compared to the anguish in his heart, the burning flames of the bloody mountain were nothing but an added flame to his determination. His hands were bloody and raw, his skin dry and filthy- almost like he was back in the Endless Abyss again.

Every night, he returned to bathe and curl up by his Shen Qingqiu, filled him with spiritual energy, then rose in the morning to take a human or two brimming with fresh spiritual energy and balance out his demonic energy. He wouldn’t have cared if the demonic energy laid waste to his body, but the flash of Shen Qingqiu behind his closed lids- laying stripped and raw and bloody from his uncontrolled hands would always send a shudder of fear deep in his heart. No matter the torment, how easy it would be to let go, he refused to fall for Shizun’s sake.

—-

The new sword was forged in record time (Xin Mo 2 is what he called it) and after a brief reprieve to rest at Shen Qingqiu’s side, kissed his naked cheek, wrapped his arms around his slim waist, and buried his head into his slender neck. He left at the break of dawn drained of spiritual energy and brimming with demonic energy.

First, he tracked down Luo Bingge’s world and traipsed through his cursed realm. It was colder here with Shen Qingqiu’s blood staining the soil. He crashed through the doors of Luo Bingge’s demon palace and found him in the arms of three wives.

“Get out,” he pointed his sword toward the three unfamiliar women. They quickly gathered their clothes and fled from the ominous blade, his ominous gaze.

“I thought you destroyed your sword,” Luo Bingge snarled. He lounged back on the large bed, uncaring of his nudity. He was exactly like Luo Binghe, minus his the scar on his chest and hand, the faithless look in his cold eyes, a cutting edge to his words.

“I did, but I needed it again.” He pointed the blade to Luo Bingge. “Where’s Shizun?”

Luo Bingge arched his brow. “He’s not with you? I only have the remains of mine, do you wish to see him?”

The bloody, lifeless hunk of flesh Luo Bingge kept preserved in his dungeons could not be Shen Qingqiu, the blood soaking the walls and floors and ceiling were not his Shen Qingqiu’s. He felt a whiplash of cold strike through his heart at the thought of and Shen Qingqiu suffering a fate like that, limbless, half-blind, wholly mad, completely shattered even in death. Sometimes, the corpse swinging listlessly from the chain would haunt the deepest recesses of his dreams.

“No. I need mine.”

Luo Bingge spread his arms in welcome. “Feel free to search my realm, turn over every stone and leaf, to find him. But know you are wasting your time.”

With a flourish of his robes, Luo Binghe turned on his heel and marched out of the bedchamber and proceeded to search.

This time it went faster with the help of his demon sword, stopping to flood his system with this realm’s cultivator’s spiritual energy then returned every night to put every drop into Shen Qingqiu.

When he dug through the last mountain, he laid on his back and stared up at the bleak, grey clouds and let his tears drip down to his hairline.

---

He broke through Cang Qiong Mountain’s barriers with ease and kicked down Shen Qinghua’s private chamber’s doors down. A startled screech met his ears followed by a rough thump on the bamboo floors. Luo Binghe went around the private screen to find Shang Qinghua half out the bed, his robes pulled open, and Mo Beijun sitting up next to him, blinking the last remnants of sleep from his eyes. He gave Luo Binghe a short bow of his head and pulled Shang Qinghua up off the floor.

“Can’t you knock? Politely wait outside until I let you in?” Shang Qinghua hissed, pulling his thin robes tightly over his chest. Mo Beijun’s hands were still resting firmly on his waist.

“Good morning to you, too,” Luo Binghe greeted. “Xin Mo 2 is done.”

“Xin Mo 2…” Shang Qinghua muttered, a look of disbelief crossing his features. “Okay, okay let me get dressed and we can discuss what to do next.”

Not long later, Luo Binghe sat with Mo Beijun at Shang Qinghua’s low tea table where he served them fresh tea and snacks. Xin Mo 2 laid across the table, it’s blade an obsidian black, a pale, green jade was mounted in the hilt.

“Interesting touch,” Shang Qinghua noted.

Luo Binghe nodded. “For Shizun.”

“We should test to see if we can reach him in the first place. Have you tried opening a portal yet?” Shang Qinghua asked.

“How do you think I got here?”

“Ah, makes sense. Okay, and you’ve checked Luo Bingge’s realm?”

Luo Binghe nodded darkly. “Get on with it, what else can I do?”

“Since it might be such a far reach, you might not be able to reach him. Here, I thought we could use this to help. Mo Beijun brought this back from the demon realm we might at least be able to use this to catch a glimpse of where he may be at before you go jumping into any portals.” Shang Qinghua stood and bustled to the back of his house, emerging a moment later with a large, smooth obsidian disk. It was about the size of the tabletop, the surface polished to a glossy reflection where even after he cleared off the table and placed it in the middle, his fingerprints dissolved on the surface before their eyes. It didn’t radiate malicious energy as most things from the demon realm would, but a sort of calming threat as if it can strike if striked first.

“Luo Binghe, can you slash the surface with, uh, Xin Mo 2?” He asked him.

Luo Binghe nodded and stood. In one fluid movement, he drew his sword, cut the starless surface, and sheathed it.

The slash in the middle where it was precisely cut seemed to suck in light, the polish surface that had their faces reflected around a moment ago swallowed by the expanding black hole until they were looking down a dark hole carved through the wooden table. They leaned forward, breaths held to catch a glimpse, a sound, of anything.

After a moment of nothing, Shang Qinghua piped up. “You focused on Shen Qingqiu specifically, right?”

“What else would I be thinking of?” It’s not like he could have anything on his mind but Shen Qingqiu.

“I have another hypothesis,” Shang Qinghua stood. “Try again, but let me hold the sword, too.”

Luo Binghe grasper the hilt and pulled it away from Shang Qinghua’s outstretched hand. “No.”

“Do you have any ideas?” Shang Qinghua snapped, a moment of boldness. There was a tilt to his tone, an unfamiliar accent Luo Binghe here crop up when Shang Qinghua thought he was out of earshot with Shen Qingqiu. “I don’t like this either but… ah, I really hope I’m wrong, please Binghe let me try just once?”

He kind of didn’t want Shang Qinghua’s hands anywhere near him or his sword, but he pushed that away and hesitantly held out Xin Mo 2. For Shizun, he told himself. Shang Qinghua’s clammy hand wrapped around his and together they raised the sword and slashed the obsidian mirror.

Like the first time, a black void spread across the surface, but then there were blinding lines of green accompanied by a high pitched, repetitive noise. Shang Qinghua next to him choked on a gasp, a barely heard “oh fuck.” muttered under his breath.

“How did you do that?” Luo Binghe asked. “Why were you able to open a portal to him, and yet I, his own husband, wasn’t?”

Shang Qinghua didn’t answer right away, his eyes glazed over, a similar look She Qingqiu would have sometimes. Mo Beijun watched Luo Binghe and Shang Qinghua with sharp eyes, not caring for the mirror at all. It took a moment before Shang Qinghua responded, blinking himself back down to the present.

“How do I start- uh, I guess with the most obvious, no use tiptoeing around it anymore,” Shang Qingqiu straightened up, his eyes focused on the trailing green lines. “Shen Qinqiu and I transmigrated into this world together. I was hoping my assumptions were incorrect because as being the creator of this world I could come up with a way to get him back, but by the looks of it he was pulled back to where we came from. I have no jurisdiction over there.”

No one spoke, the repetitive noise from the mirror echoed in the chamber.

Surprisingly, Mo Beijun broke the silence first. “Are you a god?”

“Oh my god no, no? Uh, well, yes maybe?” Shang Qinghua was flustered. “I’m a writer back in our realm. This is a story I wrote to pay the bills. I… I died due to unforeseeable circumstances and transmigrated into this world a long time ago at the beginnings of Shang Qinghua’s life. Cucumber bro was a devoted reader who also passed away, a heart thing or whatever. Remember back, what was it, I think twelve, thirteen years ago? When Shen Qingqiu suffered from qi deviation and was changed, losing his memories and his nasty personality?”

Luo Binghe’s heart pounded in his chest, trying to absorb this new knowledge as calmly as he could. This person, this not-Shizun who is Shizun but there hasn’t been a Shizun in many years is the one he’s so thankful for.

Shang Qinghua continued. “This realm’s Shen Qingqiu passed away and as Cucumber bro died cursing my novel, his soul was plopped into his body and told to fix the story if he thinks it’s so terrible.” He turned to Luo Binghe, his accent tilting once again to something he used privately with Shen Qingqiu. “The Luo Bingge you met who tried to take Cucumber bro, that’s the original Luo Binghe I wrote. All because Cucumber bro swore to hug your thigh and treat you better, the whole course of the story changed from my daring stallion novel to this BL. Isn’t that crazy? So many people are alive now all because Cucumber bro took the reigns of this story and changed it for the better.

“Aaah, I originally wanted to write a BL, but it’s not what my readers wanted!” He flopped back down to the ground with a sigh, the harsh green light emanating from the obsidian mirror throwing shadows across his face. “I needed money, I hope you understand but seeing the original scum villain making the protagonist fall in love with him, even I didn’t see that coming!”

“Protagonist?” Luo Binghe finally spoke up. “Scum villain?”

“Yes, you.” He pointed up to Luo Binghe’s looming figure. “You’re the ultimate protagonist! And now Cucumber bro went and made you gay on accident. I’m not terribly mad, but there’s still so much fanservice we’re missing out on!”

“Why did you write such a shitty protagonist the first time around?” The thought of Luo Bingge being his original counterpart made him sick to his stomach.

Shang Qinghua gasped, clutching his chest. “I’ll have you know that despite hating the work as a whole your husband adored the protagonist!”

At that moment the high pitched sound stopped and the green light faded, putting their conversation to a halt. They all leaned forward with their heads crowded around the obsidian mirror as the green lights fizzled away and replaced by a dark room.

Luo Binghe held his breath afraid it might shatter the surface. The room was barely lit, shrouded dark except for lines of pale light striping the edge of the bed and floor. Everything looked weird, too square and smooth. There was a person on the bed, curled up improperly with an arm thrown up, a pale hand knocked against the headboard and a tuft of dark hair were the only things visible.

“Your world is ugly,” Luo Binghe noted, examining what he could see of the smooth walls with glossy portraits hanging from them, the simple furniture all had items he couldn’t figure out what was for. Clothes, at least he assumed so, were spilling out of a basket in the corner and draped across a chair, piled at the foot of the bed, even on the bed. This is most certainly his Shizun’s room, and that must be Shizun asleep.

“Our world is practical, now hush let’s see if he’s gonna wake up,” Shang Qinghua said. As if roused by them, the figure in the bed shifted, rolled over and stretched. He reached over and grappled something on the side table, a smooth, black item that was rectangular and sleek like the obsidian mirror and brought it under the blankets with him.

“A scrying mirror?” He asked.

“Not quite,” said Shang Qinghua

They watched as the figure shifted again and pulled himself up. This man was not Shen Qingqiu, his face too slender and his cheeks too low, the brows and nose broader and his lower lip was fuller to an almost natural pout, but Luo Binghe suddenly recognized those features as to that of the Dew Seed body Shen Qingqiu hid himself in, the features on that one only a 40% match to his body but the other 60% was unmistakably this.

The difference was the short hair. It made Luo Binghe want to weep, especially how it stuck up flat on one side and was a tangled mess on the other. The not Shizun, yawned widely, uncaring for his posture as he slouched down and rubbed his eyes and face hard to wake himself up more. The clothes he wore were unusual, the sleeves short, only reaching to his elbows, and there was no tie to indicate how he got in it.

Not Shizun rolled himself out of the bed, shuffling papers and books that were tucked in the folds of the blankets into a pile and stood with a stretch. Luo Binghe choked and pushed Mo Beijun, turning to Shang Qinghua to do the same but he already had his eyes closed and turned away with a shout of “I’m not looking!” Not Shizun didn’t have anything on his legs! His legs were completely bare, save for the little piece of garment hanging from his hips that barely passed the tops of his thighs. Luo Binghe wanted to cover his eyes for Shizun’s privacy, but also he couldn’t help take in the figure

Shen Qingqiu was slender like a steel-blade, but this Not Shizun (he will never call him Cucumber bro) was paper-thin as if the slightest breeze would send him tumbling. The ends of his hair barely traced his nape and his skin was pale to the point it was almost sickly. Not Shizun leaned over the side table again and put a weird contraption on his face, blinking blurrily into the clear glass and stumbled out the room, most likely to freshen up.

“I think,” Shang Qinghua started. “We were able to locate him only because I have a link to this world too.” He didn’t meet anyone’s eyes through his whole explanation, his gaze firmly fixed on the shapes of the furniture, a melancholic notes to his words. “You should be able to just jump right in and get him back but how will you do that?”

“What do you mean?”

“He has two bodies and one soul,” Shang Qinghua pointed out. “He can’t easily leave his current body without dying again, and Shen Qingqiu is only preserved due to you dutifully replenishing him with spiritual energy. How will you get him back? And consider this.” Shang Qinghua straightened up, an unusually sharp look in his eye. “Will he want to? This is how he lived, everything he knew, until a little over ten years ago he suddenly died and was thrown into a whole other culture and told to survive. He lost his friends and family, everything he worked at and was blessedly given another chance of life but not his life. Now he’s back somehow and he’s clearly making strives to live life to his fullest. Look.”

He pointed to the mirror and Not Shizun was back pulling on clothes that covered his legs and arms, but they were so form-fitting they left nothing to the imagination! His socks barely covered his feet and he watched him roll up the leg of his pants a little, revealing tantalizing ankles. The papers and books he had piled up at the foot of his bed were put into a strange bag and with a strange sound, he sealed it shut, tucking the obsidian rectangle into a pocket at his side. His hair was smoothed down (except when he turned, there was a stubborn cowlick on the back of his head), his face flushed with wakefulness, and he left the room.

“I’ll… we can figure it out once I see him.” There was a moment of silence, the sounds of Not Shizun moving around in another room. “I need to see him at least and if he doesn’t…” he couldn’t bring himself to finish the sentence.

There was a loud clacking sound from Not Shizun’s end followed by the deafening sound of a door shutting, muted clicks concluded his exit.

“I’m heading over.” With a solid location finally set, trying to hold back his hands from quivering, he raised Xin Mo 2 and slashed open another portal, one that will link to the little, messy bedroom viewed in the obsidian mirror. The image in the mirror dissolved without Xin Mo 2’s energy directed into it.

“Wait!” Shang Qinghua stopped him. “Promise me you won’t leave the room until Cucumber bro comes back! Don’t go running after him you might cause a scene just- just wait there in the bedroom until he returns.”

Luo Binghe harumphed and stuck his foot through the portal. “No promises,” he said and lept through.

---

The room was cool, cluttered with unfamiliar items yet done familiarly, like when Luo Binghe first moved into the bamboo house and found out despite his immortal exterior, his Shizun was a mess.

At first, he politely sat by the bed on his knees facing the door, ready to greet his Not Shizun the moment he came home. He watched the light grow brighter through the weird window covers, strips of white that only allowed light in like prison bars. The golden lines moved across the bed, a hum came from outside the window, people moving around above him, below, to the sides.

Curiosity finally got the better of him and he stood to explore the room. Everything was blocky, made of strangely smooth, cool material that wasn’t wood sometimes but lighter, sometimes hollow. The weird white bars on the windows could wiggle. He peeked outside and was met with a textured wall, down below was a grey ground framed with sparse grass between the narrow alley. He turned to further explore the room.

Everything was strange. Books bound in hard casings lined the towering bookshelf, stacked on the floor and dresser. God statues and portraits hung on the walls in vibrant, glossy colors. Clear cups with gunks of something stuck to its sides made Luo Binghe’s nose twitch.

The room was strangely stuffy, outside sounds muted by the hard walls and floors. There was an uncomfortable itch to his neck. Guilt ate at him for snooping around his Shizun’s room and he quickly shuffled back to his spot and knelt on the weirdly soft ground, back straight as a blade and eyes trained on the door with a guard dog concentration.

---

The sun trailed across the room, a peak of a muted blue sky from the pains of glass was the only sense of time he could gather. He could wait, he waited for three years, he waited for five more, and after finally- finally - receiving his Shizun’s affections, he had to wait another year. Determination was the only thing leaving him from straying too far into an aimless wander, but it was still an aimless path he carved himself. Now here the aimlessness was coming to an end and all he had to do was be patient, very patient.

Luo Binghe was a generally neat person and his Shizun was not, but here it felt like he had given up on even trying to keep anything somewhat orderly. It’s fine, it’s one of Shen Qingqiu’s cute traits that only he has the pleasure of knowing about, but a mess like this with the undertone of something rotting in the air mixed with dust and dirty clothes, he couldn’t take it. After sitting diligently on his knees for a few incense sticks time he sprung to his feet and started a mad dash to clean. He easily found the source of the rotting smells (a bowl of something with green fuzz starting to stick to the bottom, a cup with a handle with black stains on the bottom and rim, and a few crushed metal cylinders that read it was energy drink on the sides) and didn’t hesitate to throw them in the can by the door with more trash in it. He gathered all the clothes on the bed and set to sorting out the clean from the dirty based on smell (and if he stuck his nose into a soft coat to take a really good sniff of this new smell he could associate his shizun with, who would know but him?), and gathered the remaining books and stray papers back onto the bookshelf.

It was in the middle of neatly cramming the clean clothes in the wardrobe did he here the distinctive click from the doors opening. He froze, wanting to run out and greet the Not Shizun and yet unsure if the rule applied to him staying in the bedroom only or the entire house. Not wanting to cross any lines and realizing he wasn’t done, he quickly went back to trying to put away the rest of the clothes, dumping the dirty remnants into the wicker basket already packed full. He rolled to the ground and started picking up anything he could, accidentally bumping into the bookcase and one of his god statues came tumbling down. With a suppressed curse on his lips, he brushed her off and gently placed her back up, along with the snapped off arm and did a quick prayer for forgiveness.

He bodily slid back to the ground to his knees by the bed facing the door, trying to adjust his robes to make him look less disheveled. Quiet footsteps were approaching the door slowly, his Shizun was back! He’s almost here! He gripped his clammy hands to his pants in anticipation almost vibrating on the spot.

A sudden clatter and painful, hollow-sounding thunk echoed outside the door instead. Panicked, Luo Binghe lurched to his feet and in two long strides opened the door to find-

The Not-Shizun from the obsidian mirror, sitting upon the ground, one hand holding some weird contraption and the other held up on the narrow wall. The weird lenses he wore had slid down the bridge of his nose to reveal his wide, frightened eyes and his hair was tousled much more than when he’d originally left. With a shaking hand, he pushed it back up to his eyes and the fright turned to shock.

“Binghe?!”

#scum villain self saving system #scum villain #svsss #bingqiu #luo binghe #shen qingqiu #shen yuan #mxtx #fic #shen yeet #m writing the last chapter now but progress was slowed due to uh finals but im gonna have it all done in 2-3 weeks #uwu #forgot to post it here oop #the rating is uh pribably gonna b E thats why its taking me so long to finish oop

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