#He's very sweet but also I can understand Mu Qing having his issues at this point

[fluffypurpleglitterdemon]

"When Xie Lian first moved in, the amount of luggage he brought personally wasn't particularly large. He had only two carriages full of books and two hundred treasured swords."

Flashback is a GREAT reminder that, yep, Xie Lian was definitely a prince!

[neoblogcrying]

Day 2: Bliss (a)- Domestic

@liushenweek 

It wasn’t to say that Shen Qingqiu couldn’t teach his own disciples how to fight, but there was something special about having another Peak Lord instruct your disciples. Especially if the other Peak Lord was THE Bai Zhan Peak Lord.

He’d managed to sweet talk his Shidi into instructing his disciples for a day or two upon seeing how many of them truly admired him. (Yes, Ming Fan, he didn’t miss the way you looked at your Liu-Shishu.)

The theory here is that it’s important for all cultivators to be able to fight, even if they were a part of Qing Jing Peak, which prioritized knowledge over fighting.

In the end, what use is your knowledge if you are unable to use it to protect yourself or others?

Likewise, what’s the use of having strength if you’re an absolute imbecile? It’s easy to defeat a meat-headed idiot if they are without thought.

Yes, in other words, they both served as guest instructors for each other’s Peaks. While his disciples enjoyed having the Bai Zhan Peak Lord instructing them… the same couldn’t be said about the disciples on Bai Zhan Peak.

Having those unruly disciples sit down to read scroll was no easy feat, but they all listened after a beating from Liu Qingge.

It is for their own good, they needed to have some basic understanding of demon kind—that was the explanation that was given to them. Also, the student who retained the most information could challenge either Peak Lord to a match, that was the ‘prize’ for the most studious disciple.

Being the fight-crazed disciples that they were, Shen Qingqiu knew that none would challenge him, so he could rest easy and give that right to Liu Qingge. He wouldn’t mind having to take on one of the Bai Zhan Peak’s disciples anyways, so it was a win-win situation for everyone.

What fight-crazed maniac wouldn’t enjoy fighting another fight-crazed maniac? It didn’t need explaining to know that Shen Qingqiu’s visit to Bai Zhan Peak went as well as he thought it would. Wrought with some difficulties, but nothing that couldn’t be handled with a bit of ‘persuasion’.

Shen Qingqiu honestly felt a bit jealous over the fact that the disciples of his own peak took well to Liu Qingge’s guest instructing. However, what he had over Liu Qingge was the fact that the disciples on Qing Jing Peak were all good eggs (while ignoring Ming Fan’s abuse of the protagonist, that is!).

As it was imperative for him to be a treasure trove of information, Shen Qingqiu took advantage of this time to review the literature in the library. It would do no one any good if he forgot important information in a life or death situation.

Aside from his personal room, he liked this place the best. The room was kept clean, and this was reflected in the air—it was fresh.

It was reminiscent of the libraries back on Earth.

Sitting next to a window that cast a natural light onto the scroll, he had a scroll laid across his lap, eyes gliding over all the words carefully brushed onto the delicate paper. There wasn’t a table situated at the back of the room, so Shen Qingqiu leaned up against the wall with nothing but his lap to serve as his table.

This wasn’t good for his back, but he was sure that doing this for only a couple of hours for one day wouldn’t cause too much damage. Therefore: it’s fine.

Whoever wrote this scroll took immense care to write beautifully. Shen Qingqiu never stopped praising every gentle curve and stroke.

It would be a lie to say it didn’t take getting used to, but it was the standard he had to live up to, and he secretly practiced how to emulate the writing style. As the stand-in for the proud Shen Qingqiu, he had to have a beautiful and scholarly style!

As a man who loved to read, the library was a wonderful place to pass the time in. There was so much information stored away in the scrolls lined neatly on the shelves.

He could already hear people preaching at him about how his posture wasn’t ergonomically proper, but this is a world of a novel. Ergonomics don’t exist here! IF he had any issue with his back, he only had to seek out Mu Qingfang and get it fixed!

Backtracking to the previous topic, the scroll he had sitting on his lap was an interesting one, as most of them were.

In the countless number of scrolls in this library, he was never bored with the information written inside. The plants that ‘Airplane Shooting Towards the Sky’ mentioned in passing, the demons he set up to be the next plot point… but to later discard the idea (creating another plot hole in the process), or even things like ancient legends about mystical creatures were written about in the scrolls.

It was like… he was reading a ‘behind the scenes’ thread for the novel!

You’d have to be crazy to not get excited over this! No matter how much he read, everything was so interesting and fun!

In fact, in this very scroll, it detailed the poisonous b-

BAM!

The window stood directly opposite of the door, so he only needed to look up from the scroll to see Liu Qingge standing there proudly in the doorway. “Liu-Shidi… haven’t I asked you to open doors normally?” He lightly scolded his shidi as he saw that remained of the pitiable door that was once a proud ornate door to the library.

How are you going to apologize to the one who painstakingly crafted that door?

The other man ignored his words, walking past the broken door, pieces snapping underneath his feet. “You weren’t in your room.”

That is to say… his own door was given the same treatment.

Shen Qingqiu could only sigh at the thought, not wanting to think about what became of his door. They’d just replaced his door that morning, but it was kicked down in half a days’ time.

With a heavy heart, Shen Qingqiu rolled up the scroll he was reading, but Liu Qingge stopped him by placing his hand over Shen Qingqiu’s.

“You can continue.” Liu Qingge sat next to Shen Qingqiu with his sword by his side. His sitting posture was so proper and straight, it was hard to imagine he was very comfortable.

Only because he knew everyone was busy with their lessons that he even dared to read while leaning against the wall like he was doing previously.

“Are you sure?” Wouldn’t sitting there as he read scrolls be boring? Ignoring that, wasn’t he supposed to be teaching the disciples still? He could still see daylight shining through the window, so it wasn’t late enough to finish instructing them.

Who would’ve thought that the Bai Zhan peak lord would ignore his duties?

As if Liu Qingge could read what was running through Shen Qingqiu’s mind, he sighed, shaking his head. He casually leaned his back against the wall. “They are self-studying. I don’t want to interrupt your fun, so continue.” Meaning, it looked like Shen Qingqiu was enjoying the scroll he was reading, and he didn’t want to force him to stop reading on his account.

It was rare to see Shen Qingqiu looking happy over something, and it was such a waste to make him stop.

It could be considered boring, but he personally didn’t mind sitting next to Shen Qingqiu in complete silence. Keeping each other company was more than worth his time.

How cute was it of Liu Qingge for conceding to a scroll for the sake of Shen Qingqiu’s happiness? With a gentle smile appearing on his face, Shen Qingqiu reached for Liu Qingge’s hand, interlacing their fingers together. “Hold the other end of the scroll, Shidi. Let’s read together.”

By doing this, he could continue reading the scroll while also spending some quality time with Liu Qingge.

“I only have an hour.” A very meager attempt to remind Shen Qingqiu that he couldn’t stay for too long since he had to go back to instructing the disciples.

“Then read quickly. Afterwards, this Shixhiong can give Shidi a massage as thanks for teaching Qing Jing Peak’s disciples.”

“Hmph.”

Sounds like they had a deal.

[scumvillain]

The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System

(back to masterpost)

Let’s start this journey of hilarity and tears!

Chapter 1

Let me start by saying as much as I love this novel now, it was difficult to get into having no experience reading Chinese webnovels aside from Mo Dao Zu Shi. Reincarnation plot line? Familiar enough. Transmigration? The popular take on it in webnovels is very different from the ones I’ve read in English-origin fanfic.

The summary of this novel in particular is a load of nothing unless you digest the translators’ notes or know the original language in the first place, in which case it’s actually quite hilarious in a hysterical sort of way (like a lot of the narrative).

After leaving, coming back, and finally persevering past the first chapter, I finally got hooked on this story and couldn’t stop laughing, thus here I am.

I will say this now and probably a few times later for good measure: Shen Qingqiu is my spirit animal, I channel him so hard sometimes it’s ridiculous. I didn’t expect to like him as a narrator, but his thoughts are genuinely hilarious to read and the casual tone really works well because of it. He’s also very earnest inside his own head, which is interesting and something to save for a later discussion.

So, starting with the summary, I FINALLY understand what this “grass mud horses” thing is holy crap did that take a long time for me to get. But once you know it, it’s a surprisingly effective phrase for his feelings upon transmigrating lol.

I love emojis like these: _(:□)∠)_

I can never be creative and make them myself but they’re cute.

Anyways, onto the actual chapter.

You have to admit, this background is full of so much angst and terrible unfairness that you might end up side eyeing the author who just could not give this MC a break. It’s so much misfortune that it feels like the entire universe has conspired against him lol.

As the story says, “It was yet another heart-aching history full of blood and tears.”

I found it interesting that this main character who is really the love interest in this actual novel, is actually someone who “fought over every trifle, seeking revenge for the smallest grievance, and had thousands of knives set to kill in his heart while his mouth smiled and agreed.”

This kind of protagonist in an actual story is kind of annoying for me to read about, but as the deuteragonist...? Okay, it can be interesting to see how our MC Shen Yuan mucks this up with his presence.

I was skeptical about transmigration stories at first, but I grew fond of them after reading a few. Just don’t take the handwavy stuff in the beginning seriously and you’re good to go.

Original Shen Qingqiu was indeed a scumbag, did you have nothing better to do than torment one of your disciples? That’s very unbecoming of an adult, let alone one that’s cultivated to his level...

However, did you expect the novel to be so great when the author’s pen name is....a dirty euphemism. xD

I love the self-awareness of this novel, it’s probably one of its highlights. All of these points are things we’ve probably wondered before while reading one story or another, but suspension of disbelief keeps our mouths shut.

Inconsistent setting?

Not being clear on their own magic system, even confusing terms they themselves defined?

Everyone falling to their knees and being stupid in front of the protag, but smart according to the narrative? aka the characters who exist to make the protag look good.

Rare items/magic/something appearing when convenient?

Script-like villains who could be exchanged with any other villain from other series?

I love Shen Yuan’s exasperation with all of it.

“Shen Yuan felt that he was angry enough to come back from the dead.” 

ohohoho

“Shen Yuan had made a firm resolution early on. If one day, he were to wake up[...]he absolutely wouldn’t happily giggle...”

“He was solely engrossed in acting as though he’d just woken up...”

This genre-savvy, trying very hard to collect his thoughts sort of MC is surprisingly fun to read, you know? Not too over-the-top all-knowing expert nor freaking out and completely giving himself away novice. xD

“...having experienced the baptism of reading every kind of do-over or transmigration YY novel all year round.”

hahaha

At first, I didn’t notice anything off about the names when they introduced Yue Qingyuan. Then we got Liu Qingge and it slowly went downhill from there. I thought it was a coincidence? But obviously there is a trend (Mu Qingfang, Qi Qingqi...). Is this ‘qing’ acting as a sort of generational name since they’re all of the same generation in the sect? 

I don’t usually have an issue remembering everyone’s names (except for the ones in Legendary Master’s Wife, which is so freaking long), but the Peak Lords of Cang Qiong Sect slowly gave me stitches as more were revealed haha.

“Where did he still have the qualifications to lament other people’s tragic deaths? The one who died the most tragically was him all right!”

His hysterical, earnest narration is the best.

But also, consider how quickly he latched onto this role lol even claiming this as his future death (which is yikes, ‘human stick’ is a nice, concise term I guess...simple and sweet, huh?). However, we won’t see him truly embrace this role until later...

【Warning. Your plan just now was very dangerous. It is a violation of behavior, please do not attempt. Otherwise, the system will automatically give punishment. 】

I didn’t really think of the system much the first time around since I read so fast through it, but this thing really is lowkey hilarious and helpful. Hey, it could have just let him mess up and explain only after points were docked.

【...You need to complete the beginning stage mission for it to be unfrozen...】

god, this gives me flashbacks to all those damn video games where the tutorial lasts for 30 min. of gameplay or more (Pokemon Sun & Moon, I’m looking at you >>) and you can’t do anything outside of bounds or the stupid game stops you.

Ah, our second main character is about to be introduced!

(quotes from WorshipperA)

Next: Chapter 2 onward →