#Liu Run Ming

[kdram-chjh]

Cdrama: Love in Devil (2024)

Gifs of Ending of cdrama "Love in Devil"

EP01 | Zhao Lu was sent back to 300 years ago by master for saving the Valley | [Love in Devil 无染]

Watch this video on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=088EIHybZLo

[sunderwight]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Well.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"You won't get the chance."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

In the end, Shen Jiu himself illuminates the situation.

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

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

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

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

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

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

He can't believe it.

But, Binghe doesn't deny it.

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

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

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

Binghe tuts.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Instead he withdraws.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Happily ever after!

[tea-cat-arts]

Ranking mxtx couples by whether or not I think they'd be good parents

(I'm 90% sure I'm forgetting someone)

Yep, next question (S)-

Wangxian: tried and tested good dads. I wish them luck with the whole “trying to get wwx pregnant” thing 

They have some shit to work through, but after that I think they'd be fine (A)-

Ling Wen/ Bai Jin: if we're just going off the original publication, I would put them in a much lower tier, but since the revised edition added that thing about them raising orphans together and said orphans turning out alright before unfortunate circumstances, I'm putting them up here. I think they'll be alright once they work through the miscommunication

Xiao Xingchen/ Song Lan: They obviously have a lot of trauma they're working through, but I'd like to think they and A-Qing will be a loving family in the long run 

One of them would be a good parent, the other wouldn't be a bad parent (B)-

Jiang Yanli/ Jin Zixuan: there's no canon reason for me putting them this low. Jin Zixuan just gives off a mediocre parent vibe to me (and we all know Jiang Yanli is the best)

Yushipei: Yushi Huang has good mom energy, and Pei Ming has been shown to be a not terrible mentor. I'd want the misogyny fully beaten out of him with a mace before I'd think he should have kids of his own though 

Lang Qianqiu/ Little Guy: at the very least, they're making sure Guzi is fed, clothed, washed, vaccinated, and has access to education. Neither of them know what they're doing, but I think Little Guy is good at faking it. I wish them luck in their upcoming custody battle  

You know what, surprise me/ I'll hear you out (C)-

Bingqiu: My first instinct is “no, do not bring kids into this,” but then I remembered tharnShen Qingqiu has a surprisingly decent track record? Like, Ning Yingying and Ming Fan both turned out a lot more health than they did in the original novel, and though I wouldn't call him in a good place, Binghe is doing a lot better than Bingge. The wild card for me here is Luo Binghe because I have no idea how he'd be with kids

Quanyin: Yin Yu had a decent track record until he was pushed into snapping. I think rn, he needs a couple centuries of being a babygirl before he's ready to parent again. No idea how Quan Yizhen would do though 

Born to “dual income, no kids, rich uncles/aunts” (D)-

Fengqing: Feng Xin is canonically a bad dad. I know he's working on it, but it is what it is. Mu Qing has been shown to be decent with kids, but I think he’d have a melt down if he had to deal with the mess constantly. 

Hualian: I mean, Xie Lian has raised three kids at this point and one of them became a god, another became state preceptor and then sorta complicit in a genocide, and one became god AND committed genocide + he babysat a ghost king for months and didn't even realize that's what he was because it was a miracle if he remembered to feed him… so, a mixed bag. Hua Cheng may be schrodinger’s child hater, but I'm intrigued by the idea of him raising kids just because I want to know how his own childhood would influence his parenting abilities. They should probably just stick to babysitting for now though 

Mingling: Liu Mingyan is too busy writing gay porn to be dealing with kids, and I just can't imagine Sha Hualing as a mom

Please don't bring a kid into this mess (F)-

Beefleaf: Do I need to explain this one?

Mobeishang: Shang Qinghua should not be put in any position where he has to teach someone about consent (Binghe’s early attempts at flirting being a prime example of why that's a bad idea). I also think Mobei Jun is still working on the whole “why hitting people is not cool” thing. 

QiJiu: I think the original timeline is a prime example of how they're just not in a place to be raising kids 

Jun Wu/ Mei Nianqing: Xie Lian would like a refund on his adopted father figures. They had one kid and he only made it to age 20 because he was cursed to not die

[morethanwonderful]

Introducing: The Which MXTX Character Was/Would Be Most Insufferable Online Tournament Bracket

Beginning the evening of August 23rd, 2024 (USA time), I’ll be running a tournament via tumblr polls to determine once and for all which Mo Xiang Tong Xiu web novel character was or would be most insufferable if given access to the internet.

FAQ:

Why this poll theme?

I thought it would be fun to run another big MXTX tournament bracket, since the bugpoll last year was a blast, and this was the funniest theme I could manage to think of.

Why isn't Shen Yuan/Shen Qingqiu in the bracket?

Given what we know about our dear Peerless Cucumber, I fear an SQQ sweep would be a foregone conclusion if I included him. Therefore, after the bracket finds a winner, I'll hold a bonus round and pit the winner against Shen Yuan to determine the true most internet-insufferable character.

What is wrong with you?

Yeah.

My goal is to hold one round per day every day for a week, but I'm contending with a full-time work schedule, so things may get slightly more stretched out than that. I'll also be splitting the first round into Round 1 Part 1 (the left side of the bracket) and Round 1 Part 2 (the right side of the bracket) to avoid spamming people's dashes with 32 separate polls in one day.

If you’d like to either search for or blacklist posts related to this event, all of mine will be tagged with “MXTX insufferapoll.”

The full list of matches is under the readmore here. Happy voting!

Round 1 Part 1:

Wen Chao vs Jin Guangshan

Quan Yizhen vs Mobei-jun

Mu Qingfang vs Ban Yue

Pei Xiu vs Jin Zixun

Xie Lian vs Jiang Yanli

Gongyi Xiao vs Lang Qianqiu

He Xuan vs Xue Yang

Lan Xichen vs Xiao Xingchen

Feng Xin vs Tianlang-jun

Wei Wuxian vs Liu Mingyan

Shi Qingxuan vs Nie Huaisang

Pei Ming vs Shang Qinghua

Jian Lan vs Qi Rong

Lan Wangji vs Song Lan

Nie Mingjue vs Liu Qingge

Mei Nianqing vs Lan Qiren

Round 1 Part 2:

Ling Wen vs Jin Guangyao

Sha Hualing vs Mo Xuanyu

Lang Ying (Present) vs Lan Sizhui

Bai Wuxiang vs Shen (Jiu) Qingqiu

Jiang Cheng vs Ning Yingying

Jin Ling vs Ming Fan

Mu Qing vs Luo "Mianmian" Qingyang

Yu Ziyuan vs Yue Qingyuan

Xuan Ji vs Qiu Haitang

A-Qing vs Yin Yu

Wen Ning vs Zhuzhi-lang

Luo Binghe vs Wang Lingjiao

Wen Qing vs Yushi Huang

Hua Cheng vs Su She

Jin Zixuan vs Shi Wudu

Ouyang Zizhen vs Lan Jingyi

Round 2:

Wen Chao vs Quan Yizhen

Mu Qingfang vs Jin Zixun

Xie Lian vs Lang Qianqiu

Xue Yang vs Xiao Xingchen

Tianlang-jun vs Wei Wuxian

Nie Huaisang vs Shang Qinghua

Qi Rong vs Lan Wangji

Nie Mingjue vs Lan Qiren

Jin Guangyao vs Sha Hualing

Lang Ying (Present) vs Shen (Jiu) Qingqiu

Jiang Cheng vs Jin Ling

Mu Qing vs Yu Ziyuan

Xuan Ji vs a-Qing

Zhuzhi-lang vs Luo Binghe

Wen Qing vs Su She

Shi Wudu vs Lan Jingyi

Round 3:

Wen Chao vs Jin Zixun

Lang Qianqiu vs Xue Yang

Tianlang-jun vs Shang Qinghua

Qi Rong vs Lan Qiren

Sha Hualing vs Shen (Jiu) Qingqiu

Jin Ling vs Mu Qing

Xuan Ji vs Luo Binghe

Su She vs Lan Jingyi

Quarterfinal:

Wen Chao vs Xue Yang

Tianlang-jun vs Qi Rong

Shen (Jiu) Qingqiu vs Jin Ling

Luo Binghe vs Su She

Semifinal:

Wen Chao vs Qi Rong

Shen (Jiu) Qingqiu vs Luo Binghe

Final:

Qi Rong vs Luo Binghe

Bonus:

Qi Rong vs Shen (Yuan) Qingqiu

[nyoomerr]

I hope you have a nice week of vacation!!!

For a prompt request perhaps something with a more monstrous or demonic Binghe? Potentially dealing with self hatred/insecurity or dysphoria because of this but with a shen Yuan being VERY into monstrous features actually.

(only if that strikes your fancy though. Have a good one either way!)

combining these two prompts together to present you both with some cursed dragon!binghe and a sqq that has very little issues with what that means for him, lmao.

---

Admittedly, when a disciple had burst into the lecture hall to very frantically inform Shen Qingqiu that something was wrong with Luo Binghe, Shen Qingqiu hadn’t thought much of it.

On Cang Qiong, ‘something wrong with Luo Binghe’ could be anything from Luo Binghe outright attacking Liu Qingge to something as small as Luo Binghe having disturbed the dirt beneath his feet as he walked. Luo Binghe’s very presence here was something that even occasionally was reported to Shen Qingqiu as ‘something wrong,’ because Shen Qingqiu still hadn’t quite managed to strike down the rule barring Luo Binghe from entry to the sect.

So Shen Qingqiu had sighed, given the interrupting disciple his most withering ‘don’t you know better than to barge in like that!’ glare, and exited the classroom with very little urgency. 

It was only on the walk back to the bamboo house that some of Shen Qingqiu’s irritation began to be replaced with concern. 

Disciples and hall masters from Qing Jing and Qian Cao alike were running about like chickens that had lost their heads - most of them looking as if they’re just running around to be a part of the action and gossip rather than to actually be useful, but running around nonetheless. The Qian Cao disciples in particular seem to be very dedicated to scouring the ground for what appear to be crystalized… feathers? Scales? Whatever they are, they glint a deep red in the sun despite looking near black in the shade.

Alarmingly, many of them seem to be quite bloody.

Shen Qingqiu picks up the pace a bit. Then, when he gets near enough the bamboo house that he can hear the commotion of fighting and the wretched sound of a beast in pain, he abandons his pride and starts running.

“Liu-Shidi!” Shen Qingqiu calls as he approaches, watching with horror as Liu Qingge stabs Cheng Luan through a window to poke at something in the bamboo house. “What on earth is going on?!”

Liu Qingge looks up at the sound of his name, and then promptly gets thrown across the clearing that the bamboo house sits in when a thick tail whips out of the window to knock into him.

Shen Qingqiu looks at Liu Qingge - already standing back up, although looking significantly more irritated - and then back at the bamboo house. He does some quick mental math. 

“...Binghe?” He calls tentatively. 

The awful noises from inside the bamboo house stop. The creature’s tail freezes where it had been slowly slithering back in through the window that it had whacked Liu Qingge through. 

“Oh, Binghe,” Shen Qingqiu sighs, taking that as all the confirmation he needs. “What did you get yourself into this time?”

“Back off,” Liu Qingge grunts, sliding between Shen Qingqiu and the house. “If that’s really your disciple in there, he has even less sense than usual.”

“Nonsense,” Shen Qingqiu says. Hadn’t he clearly displayed a sense of shame just now, when Shen Qingqiu had caught him throwing Liu Qingge about? Actually, isn’t the fact that he attacked Liu Qingge in such a way proof in itself that it’s still his troublesome disciple in there?

“He sent three of your disciples to Qian Cao before I got here,” Liu Qingge says, and Shen Qingqiu winces.

Luo Binghe may not try very hard to maintain good relations with Shen Qingqiu’s fellow peak lords, but he does try to be civil with everyone on Qing Jing. 

Well. Everyone except Ming Fan, usually. Poor Ming Fan.

Still, Shen Qingqiu is quite convinced that the beast inside his house is Luo Binghe. He’d been away for the last week quelling a rebellion in the southern demon lands, fighting against a race of demons known for their particularly potent curses.

The mental math Shen Qingqiu had done adds up: it’s been nearly a full month since the last wife plot he’d had to fend off with his husband. Naturally, the beast inside his home must be a Luo Binghe that’s been cursed in some awful way that will require a truly heinous amount of freaky papapa!

Shen Qingqiu takes a determined step towards the bamboo house. 

Liu Qingge mirrors the step, remaining firmly in the away. 

“...Liu-Shidi, if you don’t mind,” Shen Qingqiu says, pointedly taking another step to try and get around him.

Liu Qingge mirrors the step once more. “He’s attacking indiscriminately,” he says, scowling. “That beast has hurt you enough as it is, no need to -”

Whatever Liu Qingge had been about to say, it’s cut off by the sound of Luo Binghe making another wretched noise, followed by something shattering inside the bamboo house, and then complete silence once more.

Shen Qingqiu sighs. Of all the casualties of this world’s nonsense, the sheer number of fine tea sets that he’s lost to plotlines deciding that something shattering would add some good drama is truly the worst!!

“Try to stay still for now, Binghe,” he calls over Liu Qingge’s shoulder. “This master will help you get untangled once I get in there.”

“Don’t let him out,” Liu Qingge says, blocking Shen Qingqiu’s way with Cheng Luan. 

Shen Qingqiu eyes him distrustfully. “Shidi was the one who locked him in my house?”

Liu Qingge sends a pointed glare around the clearing. The clearing which, in all fairness, is quite a bit messier than it usually is: whole swaths of bamboo have been trampled, and deep claw marks dig ugly rows in the ground everywhere Shen Qingqiu looks. The little garden that Luo Binghe has been tending recently is completely lost; Shen Qingqiu tuts as he thinks about how irritated Luo Binghe will be to have lost his favorite source of fresh vegetables. 

“He’s out of control,” Liu Qingge says. “Containing him in a small space was the most immediate method of getting your disciples out of danger.”

Shen Qingqiu sighs, bringing a hand up to rub at his temples.

“Just to be clear,” he says, “Liu -Shidi heard reports of a beast on a violent rampage on Qing Jing, showed up and saw a creature wreaking havoc, and decided that the best course of action was to corral the beast into my house?”

“...” Liu Qingge says.

“Thanking Liu-Shidi for his assistance,” Shen Qingqiu says with very little real gratitude. “Now shoo; go scare the Qian Cao disciples off my peak if you’re not done playing guard dog. They’re trying to collect Binghe’s blood again, I think.”

Liu Qingge’s expression twists. If Shen Qingqiu feels disturbed watching little baby medics trying to scrape Luo Binghe’s blood up off the ground to research, Liu Qingge undoubtedly detests the idea of their righteous sect collecting that “dirty” blood even more.

Eventually, Liu Qingge huffs, sheathing Cheng Luan and turning away from Shen Qingqiu in one movement.

“Fine,” he grunts. “But when he lashes out at you, too -”

“He won’t,” Shen Qingqiu interrupts, and finally manages to push past Liu Qingge and into the bamboo house.

Although, once he’s inside, he realizes very quickly that there’s very little room for him to go from there. 

Luo Binghe’s current form takes up most of the entire main room of the bamboo house, even with his body curled up tight in one spot to try and avoid knocking into the walls. Every breath Luo Binghe takes seems to move the whole space for how powerful it feels, and Shen Qingqiu can barely make out the crushed remains of the table beneath one massive paw.

A western dragon, Shen Qingqiu thinks, taking in the sight with no small amount of awe. 

Of course, he makes sure to feel an appropriate amount of irritation towards Shang Qinghua about it too.

Still though, Luo Binghe as he is now is truly a sight to behold. A handsome and proud snout with giant curving fangs peeking out from his mouth sits below a pair of reptilian eyes that shine with the same pretty shade of red that Luo Binghe’s eyes normally do when he gets irritated. Large red horns sprout from the sides of his head and curve and twist in front of his forehead in an approximation of his demonic huadian. His whole body ripples in the light, covered in those beautiful crystalline scales - though Shen Qingqiu notes with some regret that he can quite clearly see the bloodied patches where some of those scales have been ripped out. 

He doesn’t seem to have wings, but Shen Qingqiu easily spots the long tail that had knocked into Liu Qingge - as Shen Qingqiu examines Luo Binghe, the tail starts to thump rhythmically against the ground, like a dog sheepishly wagging its tail. Ah, that’s really… really too cute!!

“Welcome back, Binghe,” Shen Qingqiu greets. The rhythmic thumping of Luo Binghe’s tail gets a bit quicker. “Can you speak like this?”

Luo Binghe’s tail stills, and Shen Qingqiu instantly feels some regret at the loss. Still, he supposes that answers that, then.

“That’s fine,” Shen Qingqiu says. “Just - ah, make some sort of noise if I do anything that hurts. I’m just going to examine you real quick, alright?”

Slowly, Shen Qingqiu approaches, ducking under Luo Binghe’s massive head to reach his flank. This close, he can get a better idea of what hurt Luo Binghe.

…He almost wishes he hadn’t looked. The bloodied areas missing scales look very much like they’d been inflicted with a giant mouth rather than a sword glare.

“Binghe,” Shen Qingqiu sighs. “One tail wag for ‘yes,’ two for ‘no’: did you rip some of these scales out yourself?”

Luo Binghe stubbornly keeps his tail perfectly still. Frustrated, Shen Qingqiu reaches out to rap his knuckles across an undamaged part of Luo Binghe’s flank in scolding. 

“Your healing abilities may be beyond anything a cultivator could imagine, but you can not heal a curse by trying to rip apart the cursed bits and hope they heal properly, you foolish disciple!”

Luo Binghe’s tail thumps twice against the ground defiantly. Shen Qingqiu can practically hear the retort: It worked the time with the Frost Bees, Shizun!

“The Frost Bees do not count,” Shen Qingqiu sniffs. “Nor does the time with the Crowned Pit Viper Clan: they used cursed objects, which spread the curse from the object to the wearer. Lopping off your arm worked because it stopped the spread from the bracelets, not because you were tearing off an affected piece and letting it heal back to an uncursed state.”

Luo Binghe already knows this, of course. Shen Qingqiu had scolded him quite enough at the times it had happened. Regardless of the fact that it worked, there are better ways to do these things!!

Shen Qingqiu sighs again, suddenly feeling very exhausted, and leans his weight on Luo Binghe’s flank. It’s very warm. Luo Binghe bends the long length of his neck to snuffle worriedly at Shen Qingqiu, and Shen Qingqiu pets at his giant snout reassuringly. 

Slowly, he starts to feed Luo Binghe some of his qi, directing it to the spots that were damaged. They’ve already healed, of course - despite Luo Binghe’s continued reckless abandon for his own wellbeing, he has stopped trying to keep his injuries around for Shen Qingqiu to dote on after realizing just how much it distressed Shen Qingqiu - but Shen Qingqiu offers his healing qi all the same.

It gives him something to focus on, to distract him from just how much he does not want to have this conversation.

“This master… it isn’t a bother to help resolve any curses that may be inflicted upon you.”

That is - if it’s to help out Luo Binghe, it isn’t a bother to cure things in the way traditional to Proud Immortal Demon Way. Er, that is - 

Well, of course Shen Qingqiu is referring to papapa!

Luo Binghe is still for a moment, and then noses at Shen Qingqiu insistently. Shen Qingqiu huffs.

“Well, if you don’t like not being able to be a part of this conversation, maybe you shouldn’t have done anything foolish to prompt it!” He scolds. “If you’d just come to get me normally, instead of tearing at your scales and scaring the disciples and somehow getting Liu-Shidi involved -!”

Luo Binghe noses at him some more. 

“Yes, yes, it’s fine, I sent him away. Honestly, though, I don’t know why you didn’t just come get me! We could have had this all sorted by now, no Liu-Shidi needed to begin with!”

Luo Binghe makes a pathetic noise, shoving his snout into Shen Qingqiu hard enough it knocks the breath out of him.

“Aiya, I get it, I get it, no mentioning other people when we’re about to -” Shen Qingqiu breaks off, clearing his throat awkwardly. 

Luo Binghe does not stop his ugly sounding whines. Finally, Shen Qingqiu is forced to realize that Luo Binghe’s concerns may be different than he’d been assuming.

“...Is there a reason you didn’t come get me, then? Outside of your pride?” 

Luo Binghe only stares at Shen Qingqiu unblinkingly. If Shen Qingqiu were to assign a human emotion to the reptilian face, he’d say it was one of disbelief. 

Slowly, Luo Binghe looks down at his massive paws, and the deadly claws on the ends of them. Shen Qingqiu notes with interest that the shape of them is more like a cat’s than a lizard’s, and he wonders idly if the claws extend and retract in the same way that a cat’s does. How much force would he have to use to push Luo Binghe’s claws into their extended state? Are his toes webbed like a cat’s, as well?

Then Shen Qingqiu blinks, remembering that he was trying to have a cross-species conversation here, not that this input from Luo Binghe makes any sense in the current conversation.

“The house is already a mess,” Shen Qingqiu dismisses. “The bed will surely not be any more damaged by your claws now than it already has been.”

Luo Binghe blinks slowly at Shen Qingqiu; one - two pairs of eyelids! Fascinating! Then he turns once more, this dipping his head to look down and back at -

Ah. Belatedly, Shen Qingqiu understands, and then feels a rush of embarrassment at the fact that he had to be directed to look at Luo Binghe’s transformed heavenly pillar - pillars? There’s two of them down there?!! - to get it at all. Right. Of course Luo Binghe would assume that dual cultivation may not be an option in this form. 

…For being the former protagonist of a stallion novel, Luo Binghe is really, painfully vanilla at times! 

Shen Qingqiu coughs, his face warming.

“That - that’s also not an issue. For me.”

There’s a twitch at the bottom half of Luo Binghe’s body. 

…There really are two of them down there, ah!!

Shen Qingqiu flushes darker.

“It’s really no problem,” he says again. “It’s this master’s job to help when you need it. And -”

Shen Qingqiu cuts off, clears his throat, then clears it again.

“Well,” he eventually says. “Binghe was gone a long time.”

Slowly, Luo Binghe’s tail starts to wag again. 

“...It was far longer than three days,” Shen Qingqiu says, speaking mostly to the ground. “So, mathematically, it makes sense if perhaps what is done tonight is done in ‘double’ than usual, to make up for double the time -”

Gingerly, Luo Binghe catches the back of Shen Qingqiu’s robes between his teeth, picks up up, and carries him back to the bedroom.

[fairsweetlonging]

Okay but Mocking bird demon SY (has shapeshifting powers) pretending to be SQQ to help LBH. No system, SJ lives, just SY will not let his protagonist be miserable. He optionally also wife beams LQG who is extremely confused and horny as to why SQQ is playing hot and cold with him

i LOVE that idea oh my goodneeees!!! all the shen yuan bird aus are a GIFT that keeps on GIVING!!

as a bird he can easily live on mount cang qiong and get around unnoticed, because what peak lord or disciple is going to look twice at a small, grey silver bird? it allows him to stay close to luo binghe and help him in every way he can, from giving him food he carries in his little talons or beak, singing to him when he's down, keeping him company in the forest, to making silly mimic sounds to make him laugh.

i looked up a little about mockingbirds and apparently they're extremely territorial when raising hatchlings and their nest (attacking even cats, hawks and humans), which is perfect because luo binghe is (definitely!) a helpless hatchling in need of protecting, i mean, technically his wings haven't even properly grown in yet, he can't fly! so cue ming fang and other bullies getting relentlessly attacked when they try to come near binghe.

and then the shapeshifting: from what i've gathered, mockingbirds sing regularely at night, so i can imagine shen yuan waiting until nightfall and shen jiu goes to bed when he makes his move. he dons the master's form, goes to the woodshed, and takes binghe out to train in the forest with a real manual. of course, binghe is immediately enamoured with the man shen qingqiu becomes when night falls, maybe he even starts to think it's a "werewolf" thing where he changes when the moon comes up, because there isn't really any explanation to why the soft words, gentle touches and kind eyes turn into sneers, violence and glares as soon as the sun is up!

bc he does have the protagonist halo, and even in canon binghe knew something was up, i think he figures it out eventually when he starts alluding to certain events that never happened but that his "shizun" plays along with. also the bird has the exact same way of petting his head/ruffling his hair as his night-shizun does. one and one equals two, after all.

and liu qingge yeeeessss!! if in this au shen yuan saved him in the caves as well, he's probably getting such a headache from the complete 180s shen qingqiu keeps making!! one moment everything is great, shen qingqiu is tending to his wounds with such gentleness and a kind smile, and when liu qingge runs into him at night (when shen qingqiu always looks kind of... hurried, for some reason, almost a little nervous), they share a smile and a laugh and one time shen qingqiu even hugged him; but then when liu qingge tries to sit next to him at the meetings suddenly he's getting snarled at, called a dumb dirty beast and to sit elsewhere?? hello??? never mind getting invited into the bamboo house, or shen qingqiu accepting his (dead animal) gifts.

i also think it'd be so really funny if shen yuan ended up not caring about continuation errors or consistent character behavior, and just goes all out on the OCC by being kind to everyone in shen qingqiu's form; flirting with liu qingge, cuddling with yue qingyuan, spoiling luo binghe rotten, gifting mu qingfang all kinds of rare herbs that he can find easily in his demon bird form, and generally being a moon-saint that everyone comes to realize isn't actually shen qingqiu, but since he's doing good for the community and not harming anyone, they kind of just..... leave it. the peak lords have a meeting about it (sans shen jiu of course), and they decide the night-qingqiu can stay.

tho i do think yue qingyuan would ask shen yuan to don a different form.

also also, shen yuan getting up to all kinds of mischief by mimicking other peak lords' voices: calling to disciples with their shizun's voice, watching them get all confused because no one's there?? or making shang qinghua go around in circles because he keeps saying "this way, shang qinghua, hurry up!" in an angry liu qingge voice. and also making shen jiu open the door to no one when he mimics yue qingyuan's voice. there's a LOT he can do with it🤭

[princessdave]

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot and seeing a lot of posts about how rare pair/crack ship friendly the SVSSS fandom is, and I really love it a lot, but half of the ships are Shen Yuan’s wifebeam working overtime (and I eat it up every time lol). I’d like to throw out some more that I’ve either seen a couple times and would like to see more of, or popped into my head like an intrusive thought and I’d like to see if there’s anything there.

Shen Jiu/Tianlang-Jun: I’ve seen this one the most, and it’s the one I feel works pretty well. SJ is definitely TLJ’s type, he likes them strong, pretty, and mean. And SJ needs his man to be a full time simp for him.

Luo Binghe/Yue Qingyuan: I’m not very hyped about this one, both of these guys are just so obsessed with their canon love interests it’s strange to think them with anyone else. But maybe it would be interesting to see two guys trying to attic wife each other, and YQY is the only other character I think would have the patience for LBH and be willing to provide the level of doting and reassurance that he requires. And you know that YQY has a soft spot for feral pretty boys that he can provide for.

Liu Qingge/Gongyi Xiao: Alright, I don’t really have an explanation for this one, but it feels like something

Mobei-Jun/Zhuzhi-Lang: ZZL is ready to be a supportive subordinate, but he’s also strong enough to be the one protecting MBJ. This one would be very bodyguardxprincess, and I think there’d be something to play with with the whole ice demon and cold blooded snake thing.

Shang Qinghua/Mu Qingfang: This one I’m just basing off of the energy of a small dog with anxiety being friends with a bigger, very calm dog. MQF can monitor SQH’s stress levels, and SQH can optimize Qian Cao’s inventory system. Productivity power couple.

Ning Yingying/Qi Qingqi: This one is based on nothing but my confidence that it could be cute. I think given the chance, NYY could be just as persistent as LBH and she’d be hilariously dorky trying to pursue an older woman. And QQQ can rage at SQQ for running a peak full of MILF hunting disciples, while SQQ gets offended at being called a MILF.

Ming Fan/Yang Yixuan: This is basically mini SQQ/LQG, but somewhere in between Liushen and Liujiu.

I stand by none of this, I have the integrity of a graham cracker in the rain. But I’d probably give any of these ships a shot out of curiosity.

[mrdogface]

i know god isnt real because if he was he would be a lady shiva movie starring kill bill era lucy liu fucking dudes up relentlessly

ming na wen could still do it but bitch time is running out

[coolshadowtwins]

Edit: in hindsight, I should have added Mu Qingfang and Qi Qingqi. Oh well lol

[grand-theft-carbohydrates]

sorry for being super late to the zhuge liang time-loop party but image we're several iterations in and our boy kongming is sitting in his little mountain hut waiting for liu bei to show up like he always does but this time sun zhou yu turns up instead

oh ho this is a hilarious concept! this is the enemies to enemies timeline we all need. i think it would make more sense for lu su and zhou yu to turn up, because of the simple reason that sun quan is a duke at this point and can't leave the palace for such an extended period of time vs liu bei the one-horse warlord.

ok, the timeline needs to be super fucked up at this stage in order to bring these two togather, because in the alpha timeline even though kongming was fairly well known as a genius hermit, he hasn't done anything so extraordinary at this stage that it warrents a personal visit from the two most powerful people in the southland.

i think we can do this by making him kinda new to the whole timeloop thing, and he accidentally/on purpose reveals some future events in order to get liu bei to find him faster, and it ends up backfiring.

picture this: kongming is sitting in his thatched hut, tears in his eyes, heart all a-flutter, waiting for his beloved leige lord to turn up, and the servant is like "master, there's three important men at the door" (idk who the third guy should be but it's a nice round number. maybe huang gai?) kongming: !!!! "ok, I will play some music to set the mood. i was rude last time by falling asleep and i want to make a good impression."

not even 3 bars in and a VERY familiar voice calls out "you're flat."

kongming is so fucking outraged that for a second he forgets to be surprised because that was ONE HALF-STEP DOWN, ASSHOLE!!!! YOU trying getting reincarnated and deincarnated several times over and then meet your soulmate (he called liu bei that irl, look it up) and see how steady your hands are, asshole!!! god, this is just like wei wuxian from my danmeis...

then it dawns on him that none of the peach garden trio have musical literacy. he runs outside, takes one look at the three men in his courtyard and is like "well, this timeline is a wash. aight im gonna go out back and bash my head in. on second thought, i should do it here and freak zhou yu out. suicidal existential despair is no excuse not to troll zhou yu."

but the afformentioned takes this opportunity to stroll into kongming's bedroom, and starts tuning his qin (not a euphamism) without permission. kong ming says passive-agressively, "i see you're quite adept at tightening another man's strings" (not a euphamism), zhou yu replies "a neglected instrument is like a neglected soul" (not a euphamism), "are you offering to duet?" says kongming through gritted teeth to which zhou yu replies "oh don't worry, i can see you're out of practise so i'll be gentle and take it slow," (not a--) and it's at this point lu su grabs huang gai by the elbow and goes "wow, what a nice bamboo grove! the two of us are going for a walk! a nice LONG walk FAR AWAY in the BAMBOO GROVE for THIRTY TO FORTY MINUTES! see you in THIRTY TO FORTY MINUTES!"

huang gai: i literally spent 30 years in the army you don't need all these euphamisms.

lu su: LALALALA I CAN'T HEAR YOU OVER THE SCENIC RUSTLING OF THE BAMBOO!

*insert that scene from Flirting Scholar where zhou yu and kongming start fighting, they roll under a table, there is a brief skirmish, and they come out with their clothes swaped. they are playing doubles on a single qin the entire time.*

[starry-stan-blog]

SVSSS Characters Stubbing Their Toe:

Shang Qinghua: *in tears* motherFUCKER

Shen Qingqiu: FUCK

Mobei Jun: *breaks whatever he bumped into through sheer force*

Luo Binghe: *breaks whatever he bumped into* *runs crying to sqq*

Yue Qingyuan: *winces, rubs the spot while groaning like an old man*

Liu Qingge: *gets so upset he breaks whatever he bumped into on purpose*

Mu Qingfang: *sighs, patches himself up*

Wei Qingwei: *sits on the ground & contemplates for a while*

Qi Qingqi: *scowls* *rubs the sore spot*

Ning Yingying in front of other people: *bursts into tears*

Ning Yingying on her own: *to herself* look here buddy I’ve had period pains worse than this

Liu Mingyan: *effortlessly continues like it never happened*

Ming Fan: *ugly cries*

[the-monkey-ruler]

Monkey King: Hero Is Back (2015) 西游记之大圣归来

Director: Tian Xiaopeng Screenwriter: Tian Xiaopeng / Liu Hu / Mi Li / Jin Ran / Jin Cheng Starring: Zhang Lei / Lin Zijie / Wu Wenlun / Tong Zirong / Liu Jiurong / Wu Di / Liu Beichen / Zhao Qianjing / Zhou Shuai Genre: Drama / Animation / Fantasy Country/Region of Production: Mainland China Language: Mandarin Chinese / Cantonese Date: 2015-07-10 (Mainland China) Duration: 89 minutes Also known as: Return of the Monkey King / Monkey King /Journey to the West 3D / CUG: King of Heroes / 西遊記之大聖歸來 / 大圣归来 / 猴王 / 西游记3D IMDb: tt4644382 Type: Retelling

Summary:

The all-powerful Monkey King, Sun Wukong, is imprisoned by the Buddha within an ice cage deep within the mountains for rebelling against heaven.

500 years later, Mountain Trolls attack a group of travelers, all except for a baby boy named Liuer are killed, and Liuer is adopted by a monk after floating down a river in a basket. (The name Jiang Liuer means River Flow Child.) Several years later, the same trolls invade a small village and kidnap 49 young children. Liuer saves one of the baby girls and is chased by the trolls for doing so. He stumbles into the cave where the Monkey King was imprisoned, and unknowingly releases him from his curse. Sun Wukong defeats the trolls, although he is only able to use physical attacks, since a remnant of Buddha's seal prevents him from regaining his magical powers, causing him pain whenever he tries to harness his magic.

Wukong attempts to break the Buddha's seal to no avail. Liuer and the girl enthusiastically greet Wukong, not knowing he has lost his powers, and pester him with endless questions. (One example is when Liuer asks if the god Nezha is a boy or a girl. Wukong answers, a girl.) Annoyed, Wukong attempts to avoid the two, but is unable to evade them. A stone monster, created by the Buddha to keep Wukong imprisoned, attacks the three. Liuer manages to undo the spell on the monster, but falls off a cliff in the process. When he awakes, he finds out Wukong has saved him.

The three come upon Bajie, the Heavenly Immortal "Tian Peng Yuan Shuai" (Marshal of Heavenly Canopy) that Wukong defeated when he rebelled against Heaven 500 years ago, now reincarnated into a pig demon. Though Wukong is again hesitant, Bajie joins the group as well. They also run into a white dragon that attacks them and tries to eat Liuer but Sun Wukong scares it off. (This also happened in the original canon, although unlike in the original books, the dragon does not turn into a white horse.)

They stay overnight at an inn, but its owners turn out to be Trolls in disguise, who try to kidnap the baby. More trolls arrive and Wukong fights them off. The leader of the monsters, Hun Dun, appears, defeating Wukong and capturing the girl. After Wukong refuses to pursue them, Liuer goes ahead to save them on his own.

Hun Dun reveals his plan to sacrifice all the children they have kidnapped in order to gain magical powers. Liuer meets with his mentor, Fa Ming, to try to rescue them but nearly get captured. Wukong finds a doll of himself that Liuer had and realises how important of a figure he is. He and Bajie go to help Liuer. Saving Liuer and the 49 children, Wukong defeats the monsters. However, a solar eclipse occurs, and Hun Dun turns into a giant monstrous beast. Liuer is seemingly crushed by the rubble from Hun Dun's rampage. Upon seeing the boy's apparent death, Sun Wukong is devastated. Full of fury, he forcibly breaks Buddha's Seal, regaining his original supernatural powers, and easily defeats Hun Dun.

The final part of this movie connects to the themes in the original canon. Sun Wukong only regains his powers when he fights for someone else rather than himself, as Sun Wukong's powers are meant to protect the monk Xuanzang/TangSeng/Tang Sanzang against evil and lead the monk to enlightenment. Sun Wukong as a character is also meant to represent an enlightened mind, which is why Sun Wukong's staff emerges from his head. Jiang Liuer himself is the younger Xuanzang, since he only received the name Xuanzang after he was ordained.

In the end, Liuer is shown to have survived Hun Dun's rampage, and they return the abducted children to their families.

Source: https://movie.douban.com/subject/26277313/

Link: https://ww16.0123movie.net/movie/monkey-king-hero-is-back-6781.html

[pr0cyon-lotor]

Part 4: Drinks With Friends

(This has some of my writing. If you see punctuation/grammar mistakes, it's because I wrote this on Tumblr and couldn't be bothered to put it in a spell checker :P)

(MF and LMY are drinking buddies because... Idk they're neat)

(I feel like LMY would be significantly more shitposty if given the chance. So I gave her the chance)

LMY's Messages Era:

(Male + Female friendship where they're they both get a little silly even though everyone else perceives them as serious 🔛🔝)

Ming Fan was sitting on the floor next to Liu Mingyan's bed. He threw his phone behind him onto the bed after responding to the tweet. Just as he did Liu Mingyan returned with three bottles of soft colored liquors.

As much as he wanted to turn his head and scoff, he couldn't deny that getting at least a little tipsy and complaining didn't seem great right now. He had a lot to complain about and maybe a few drinks will make it easier for him to talk about it.

Liu Mingyan sat down in front of him on a pile of pillows and blankets they didn't bother picking up after they were at each other's throats. She handed him a bottle of a vibrant green liquid, it's swirled with eatable glitter. It was pretty, he wondered it would taste good.

"I will be completely honest, I didn't think you'd entertain me after the last time we drank together," Liu Mingyan admitted; her voice calm and smooth. It was sometimes hard to connect the unhinged messages to the poised girl in front of him, but he knew better now than to try to make sense of it.

He pressed the cold bottle against his aching cheek. He could only hope it wouldn't bruise. He always forgot that terrifying strength seemed to run in the Liu family. At least he could hold on against Liu Mingyan, he was positive he'd get taken down by Liu Qingge if he tried.

"I need to complain anyway. What even is this?" Ming Fan asked as he opened his bottle. The took a sniff, it reeked of hard liquor underneath the sweet tone. His scrunched his nose subconsciously.

"A glitter wine, I think. Sha Hualing gave me a few bottles before she left," Liu Mingyan answered as she opened her bottle, which had a dark pink liquid inside.

"The alcohol smells strong," Ming Fan absentmindedly complained as he looked around. No shot glasses or anything to pour some out. He contemplated for a moment before sighing and deciding if he's going to tank his liver, it might as well be in college.

Not that he had a test tomorrow, and he finished his work for the other classes. Shizun was out for the week, and Shen-laoshi wasn't the type to drop a test without warning. He could probably call in sick if his hangover was as bad as last time.

He put the bottle to his lips and took a sip only to taste it. Not bad, it was a tart-sour flavor. Maybe lime or green apple or both. The alcohol was still strong, so he wasn't going to chug it any time soon. Maybe if he drunker.

"How is yours? Mine tastes like dragonfruit," Liu Mingyan said while pulling up her facemask.

"Lime and green apple, I think. I like it," Ming Fan conceded and took another drink, this time to actually coerce a buzz in the very least. He had Liu Mingyan to blame for his ever climbing alcohol tolerance.

"Hm, sounds good," she responded while swirling her bottle. "Do you have something to complain about? You always rant when you drink.'

Ming Fan nodded absentmindedly. It's been a few months since the first day, and he still had so much left in the semester. This year felt long. All because of one annoying brat. Maybe he shouldn't have taken a gap year, then he wouldn't have to deal with Luo Binghe.

"This damn kid. He thinks he's better than me or something," he muttered bitterly and took another drink. He wondered how much he could drink before he was incoherent.

"The same one that took your scholarship?" Liu Mingyan asked, and pulled down her facemask to follow his lead a drink out of her bottle. She subconsciously covered her mouth with her free hand as she drank.

"Yes, it's always him, I swear! What did I do to him? I don't understand why he has it out for me!" Ming Fan ranted.

"Well... If I remember correctly, you had a mean streak when we were in middle school. Maybe he was one of the kids you bullied," Liu Mingyan offered, while fidgeting with her bottle.

Ming Fan wilted a little. He felt so much shame when he's reminded of his middle school days. He didn't know why he constantly picked on kids younger than him. It was definitely an insecurity thing, but he still hated it.

"Maybe..." He murmured and shook his head. He took one big gulp, not wanting to think about it further.

"As I was saying, this guy keeps like following me around," Ming Fan continued before things got sappy.

"Does he?" Liu Mingyan said, entertaining his rant. She also wasn't the best with emotions, so she understood the change of topic.

"He always trails behind me and Ying-er. I could be talking to her about an assignment or something, and then I notice him lurking in the corner of my eye. I can't say anything because Ying-er gets mad at me when I say something!" Ming Fan's tone turned whiney as his inhibitions slowly started waning.

"And don't get me started on tests! He constantly scores around me or above me! And then he has the nerve to look at me when we're told what we made! Shen-laoshi loves to show our ranks in the class at the end of the month, and ugh!!!" He groaned and put his head in his hands.

"I don't get it. I don't know what I did to piss him off. He's so smug too. He once walked up to me and showed me what he had while I was talking to Ying-er. She complemented him, so I had to too, or else people would think I'm bitter," Ming Fan complained, looked at the floor through the gaps of his fingers.

"You are bitter though," Liu Mingyan supplied helpfully.

"Shut up!!" He yelled back, feeling his face grow warm. Yeah, he couldn't deny it, but shouldn't friends feed each other's delusions? He huffed and crossed his arms while looking away from her. He continued to drown himself in his lime flavored vice.

"There's no need to pout, A-Fan. Nothing wrong with being bitter," she said in a teasing tone. She picked up her bottle and paused halfway.

"Hey, A-Fan, do you think he likes Yingying? Maybe that's why he's constantly following you two and trying to one up you," Liu Mingyan suggested. That gave Ming Fan pause.

Would Luo Binghe like Ying-er? A protective part of him wanted to keep the beast far away from her, but...

Begrudgingly, he did have to accept that out of the other people in Cang Qiong University... Luo Binghe was unfortunately one of the better options. Especially with his GPA, and the fact he was polite with everyone...

Except Ming Fan, but since he was sensibly buzzed he could acknowledge he was really easy to hate. If not jealousy, then his abrasive attitude. If he wasn't actively attempting to be charming, his personality was rather lacking.

He can see why he wouldn't be liked, and if compared to Ying-er... He probably seemed like a demon.

Liu Mingyan noticed Ming Fan wilt a little. She swayed slightly as she offered her drink to him. Ming Fan looked at the dark pink liquor and sighed. They switched drinks without a word, a soft silence between them.

It lasted a while, Ming Fan idly looking at the floor. His nail mindlessly scratched at the label. It was a moment before he broke the silence.

"Mingyan... Am I... unpleasant?" He asked; his speech more slurred than before. Liu Mingyan stopped mid-drink; she swallowed and wiped her lips. "No, not particularly. Why?"

Ming Fan didn't respond. His bottom lip was touching the lips of the bottle; if he simply tipped the bottle back, he could drink enough to completely forget this night...

"Because I think I'm unpleasant," he murmured quietly and tipped the bottle back. Emotions were hard. He can deal with the repercussions of drinking so much later.

NYY's Messages Era:

(fun fact: MF's drunk texting messages are based off messages my friend sent me drunk asf)

<< | < | • | > | >>

[morethanwonderful]

Introducing: The Which MXTX Character do You Most Want to Study Like a Little Bug Tournament Bracket

Starting February 20, 2023 (American time), I'll be running a tournament via tumblr polls to determine once and for all which Mo Xiang Tong Xiu webnovel character the fanbase most wants to study like a little bug.

FAQ:

What do you mean by "most want to study like a little bug"?

Which character makes you want to pick them up, put them in a glass jar, examine them with a little magnifying glass, and poke them with a stick to see how they react? Which character is so so small and pathetic and also truly deeply bizarre? If you don't get what I'm talking about, this poll may not be for you.

Why on earth are you doing sixty-four characters?

A perfectly even bracket has to have 16, 32, or 64 starting contestants, and since there were 33 characters that I really wanted to include, I decided to Commit.

What is wrong with you?

Yeah.

If you'd like to either search for or blacklist posts related to this event, all of mine will be tagged with "MXTX bugpoll."

You can find the full list of matches under the readmore. Happy voting!

Since there's so many characters, I'll be splitting the first round into two days. Round 1 Part 1 (the left side of the bracket) will begin tomorrow (Monday), and Round 1 Part 2 (the right side) will be on Tuesday. We'll continue with one round per day from there.

Round 1 Part 1:

Yin Yu vs Gongyi Xiao

Luo Binghe (Bing-mei ver.) vs Quan Yizhen

Xuan Ji vs Mei Nianqing (Guoshi)

Luo Binghe (Bing-ge ver.) vs Pei Ming

Shen (Yuan) Qingqiu vs Shi Qingxuan

Jin Ling vs Lang Qianqiu

Ban Yue vs A-Qing

Liu Mingyan vs Lan Jingyi

Mobei-jun vs Lan Wangji

Zhuzhi-lang vs Su She

Bai Wuxiang vs Jiang Fengmian

Jin Zixuan vs Tianlang-jun

Qi Qingqi vs Lan Qiren

Su Xiyan vs Yu Ziyuan

Nie Mingjue vs Mu Qing

Jin Guangyao vs Pei Xiu

Round 1 Part 2:

Shen (Jiu) Qingqiu vs Mo Xuanyu

Ning Yingying vs Luo "Mianmian" Qingyang

Xiao Xingchen vs Xie Lian

Yue Qingyuan vs Lan Xichen

Ling Wen vs Shang Qinghua

Jian Lan vs Jiang Yanli

He Xuan vs Nie Huaisang

Wen Chao vs Jin Zixun

Wei Wuxian vs Xue Yang

Wen Qing vs Mu Qingfang

Sha Hualing vs Qi Rong

Song Lan vs Jiang Cheng

Liu Qingge vs Feng Xin

Hua Cheng vs Wen Ning

Ming Fan vs Lan Sizhui

Yushi Huang vs Shi Wudu

Round 2

Yin Yu vs Luo Binghe (Bing-mei ver.)

Mei Nianqing (Guoshi) vs Luo Binghe (Bing-ge ver.)

Shen (Yuan) Qingqiu vs Jin Ling

Ban Yue vs Liu Mingyan

Lan Wangji vs Zhuzhi-lang

Bai Wuxiang vs Tianlang-jun

Lan Qiren vs Yu Ziyuan

Mu Qing vs Jin Guangyao

Shen Jiu vs Ning Yingying

Xie Lian vs Yue Qingyuan

Shang Qinghua vs Jiang Yanli

Nie Huaisang vs Jin Zixun

Wei Wuxian vs Wen Qing

Qi Rong vs Jiang Cheng

Liu Qingge vs Hua Cheng

Lan Sizhui vs Shi Wudu

Round 3

Luo Binghe (Bing-mei ver.) vs Luo Binghe (Bing-ge ver.)

Shen (Yuan) Qingqiu vs Liu Mingyan

Zhuzhi-lang vs Tianlang-jun

Yu Ziyuan vs Jin Guangyao

Shen (Jiu) Qingqiu vs Xie Lian

Shang Qinghua vs Nie Huaisang

Wei Wuxian vs Jiang Cheng

Hua Cheng vs Lan Sizhui

Quarterfinal

Luo Binghe (Bing-mei ver.) vs Shen (Yuan) Qingqiu

Tianlang-jun vs Jin Guangyao

Shen (Jiu) Qingqiu vs Nie Huaisang

Jiang Cheng vs Hua Cheng

Semifinal

Shen (Yuan) Qingqiu vs Tianlang-jun

Nie Huaisang vs Jiang Cheng

The Final Round

Shen (Yuan) Qingqiu vs Nie Huaisang

[sifu-kisu]

History of Tan Tui

Tan T'ui or Spring Leg 譚腿 / 潭腿 / 彈腿- This style could be one of the oldest styles that is still widely practiced today. In the past, it was required that all high schools have physical education and that Tan T'ui be part of its curriculum. Every student had to learn Tan T'ui before they could graduate in China. During the Sung Dynasty, Tan T'ui was regarded as a complete style. The techniques within the set were all practical and easily used. There are many versions on the origin of the style.

The first theory is recorded in the text, Liu Ho Style by an unknown author. It states that Liu Ho Style uses Tan T'ui as one of their basic foundation sets because it contains only a few moves and is easy to learn. There is a section on the origins of Tan T'ui. It states "There was a monk out preaching and traveling. On the road he saw two roosters fighting. The red rooster was larger than the white skinny rooster. After a while, the white rooster was losing and tried running away. The red rooster gave chase. The white rooster ran to the base of a hill which was a dead end and could not run any further. The red rooster caught up. Having no choice, the white rooster sprang up and struck the red rooster with both its talons. The red rooster fell down dead with its belly cut open. Seeing this, the monk thought, `If a man could practice so his legs were strong, it would be the same as a weak person overcoming the strong'. After a few years of study, he developed the ten (10) rows of Tan T'ui.

Second Theory: The Chinese Moslems or the Hui give credit to a Hui native of Xinjiang, Chamir (Cha Shang Yir) (1568 A.D - 1644 A.D.) as the creator of Tan T'ui Style. During the prime of his life on the coast of Fukein, Japanese pirates were raiding the coast. The government of the Ming Dynasty ordered their troops to the coast to battle against the Japanese pirates. Chamir joined the army and was assigned to go south. As the soldiers were marching down the coast under harsh conditions, Chamir was taken ill in a mountain village, Liaocheng, in Guanxian County, in Shangtung Province and was left behind to recuperate. The local peasants treated him until he was well. Chamir repaid their kindness by teaching the Twenty-eight (28) Rows of Tan T'ui (Spring Legs) which he devised and performed for many years. The boxing style consisted of 28 routines, which were put in alphabetical order, according to the Arabic language commonly used by the Hui. The monks at the nearby Shandong Long Tan Temple learned of the Tan Tui system from the locals and later incorporated it into their fighting routines that they practiced. Later the Twenty-eight (28) Rows were condensed into Ten (10) Rows of Tan T'ui (Spring Legs).

This is indeed an interesting information except the fact that there was no Hui Muslims (Chinese Muslims) in Xinjiang During Ming Dynasty, they came to Xinjiang after the Qing Dynasty invasion of Xinjiang in 19th century. The name "Xinjiang itself was introduced by Chinese invaders in 1884. Secondly, his Chinese name was Cha Shang Yir, which to me does not sound like a real Chinese name but rather a Chinese translation of his name. His Muslim name was Chamir but I don't see how the Chinese would get Cha Shang Yir from that... I think Cha Mu Er would seem more likely. So now I am wondering two things. First do the Hui take Muslim names or just use their Chinese name? Second if Chamir was his Muslim name and Cha Shang Yir was his Chinese name did he have a third name that was his birth name?

Besides, the article mentioned that he used Arabic scripture which was used by Uighurs at that time and still being used today. From this analysis, he might be a Uighur, or by a remote chance an Uzbek or Tatar. If the name "Chamir" is correctly translated into English, he cannot be a Hui moslem. Well then that pretty much proves that he could not be Hui and therefore he did not exist and the Muslim did not create Tan Tui as many current people believe is true.

Third Theory: Many people assumed the first character in Tan T'ui was the surname 譚 of the creator of the style. This would translate into Tan's Legs Style. As the story goes, Tan was very good fighter from Henan and had developed these set of techniques. his skill was deep and abundant, he defeated all challengers. His students who taught his method therefore used “Tan” in the name. He is credited as the individual who brought the style to the Shao lin Monastery. Others say he is credited as the first one who brought the style out from the Shao lin Monastery. The Shaolin version mentioned earlier uses a different “tan” altogether (彈), meaning “springy”, “snapping”, or “to shoot”, describing a quality of the kicking rather than a source of the system.

Fourth Theory: Shaolin's Tan Tui is given credit to Monk Xian Ji who while in residence at the temple in Ling Qing Tan Temple in Shandong Province during the Ming Dynasty. It is said that he traded Shaolin's famous Lohan Fist routine for their Tan Tui routine. Also, Xian Ji is said to have also added an additional 2 roads to the original 10 Road Tan Tui Routine.

Fifth Theory: Tang Dynasty. The city of Ling Qing is situated between the warring factions of the Song, Liao and Jin Courts. An infantry solider named Kun Lung Dai Shi took refuge in the Lung Tan Temple located within Ling Qing City. Becoming a Monk at this temple Kun Lung formulated the routine Tan Tui (Pond Legs) with 10 Roads. It is said that this set was created in order to counter the Liao & Jin's superior upper body grappling skills. Ling Qing City became a major trading center due to the Canals built during the Yuan Dynasty. For this reason, it is believed that Tan Tui was able to spread throughout China.

The Sixth and last theory states that the word, Tan(潭} is the abbreviation for a monastery in Shangtung Province called Lung T'an Ssu (山東龍潭寺). The founder of Tan T'ui has been attributed to a monk named Hsuan Kung. He was known to have travelled widely in the northern part of China. He was searching for simple movements in exercises to form an elementary base. After much time, he returned to Lung T'an Monastery and reflected on his observations. Hsuan Kung later developed ten (10) rows of techniques for both left and right sides and it contained approximately one hundred and fifty (150) movements.

Although scholars have argued that the last theory is probably the correct origin for Tan T'ui Style, there exist two (2) problems in their argument and can only be solved by indirect proof. First, there was no monastery found or recorded in the Shantung Province and secondly the Lung T'an Monastery is located in the Honan Province. It is common knowledge that the geography does change over a period of time. Almost one thousand years has passed since the origin of Tan T'ui and unfortunately much of the physical and man-made surrounding in Shantung Province have changed and or no longer in existence. Because of this, there is little or no physical evidence to show that there once stood a Lung T'an Monastery. Also, with the rise and fall of different dynasties, the burning of books was a common ritual. Any recorded history of a Lung T'an Monastery in Shantung Province could have been destroyed. The most logical theory on the origin of Tan T'ui is that the Shao lin Monastery in Honan Province is located near a lake called Lung and on the other side of the lake is a monastery called Lung T'an. Tan T'ui could have originated in this monastery and very easily have crossed the lake to the Shao lin Monastery.

In recent history, Chin Woo Association was the first Public Gymnasium founded (in 1910) for the purpose of making Martial Arts training available to anyone (who could pay). The recognized founder was Huo Yun Jia, an exponent of the Mizong System. Part of this system was a version of the 10 Road Tan Tui that Huo Yun Jia demonstrated often. Due to his sudden death not many of his students had the opportunity to learn this version. Chao Lien Ho was hired to head up the organization and as part of his task he formulated a specific curriculum. While an exponent of Mizong he also had studied various Shaolin based systems as well. The first form required to be studied by beginner students is a 12 Road Tan Tui. While it is not sure where this version comes from, it has become the most popular version taught throughout the Chinese Martial Arts due to the fame of the Chin Woo. It is thought Chao Lien Ho took the 10 Road Mizong Tan Tui and evolved it into the current12 Road Chin Woo Version.

To add to the confusion, the school of Honan Shaolin states their oral history says Tan Tui came from a student named Ji Xiang Tan (济相潭) and he brought Tan Tui to Shaolin during the Ming Dynasty. Their Tan Tui set was named Xiang Ji Tan Tui 相济潭腿.

Two-person Tan Tui was created by Chao Lien Ho in the Jing Mo Association and became part of their curriculum in 1915. Rare chart of 12 row is shown here:

Summary

In general, there are styles that practice different versions of Tan Tui. Historically, 10 row is believed to be the first set (originated in the Longtan Temple in Shandong Province and was created by Master Kun Lun.). This Tan Tui is called Linging Tan Tui. Generally, BSL teaches 10 rows, Mi Jong teaches 10 rows, Northern styles such as Eagle Claw who are connected to Jing Mo teach 12 rows. Huo Yuen Chia brought his 10-row version from Mi Jong and added with the help of other Northern masters such as BSL, Eagle Claw, Cha, Mi Jong, etc.) two rows to the 10-row version. Seven Star Praying Mantis teaches 14 rows (credit to Master Lo Kwan Yu), A Wu Tang School in Taiwan teaches a 16 row, and Ch'a style teaches a 28 row. There are also a Shaolin Tan Tui developed by Ji Xiang Tan (济相潭) in the Ming Dynasty who brought Tan Tui to Shaolin. By combining Kun Lun's version with Lohan and added two more rows, the 12-row set was named Xiang Ji Tan Tui 相济潭腿. And there is another version known as Jiaomen Tan Tui as practiced by the Hui people. Jiao means Hui Sect This one is a 10-row set. Last Tongbei Tan Tui has their own version which is a combination of different sections of their techniques from Tongbei. It consists of 12 rows.

Source of Information:

1. Oral Transmission from Sifu Wong Jackman

2. Charts of Tan Tui from Sifu Wong Jackman

3. Chinese Martial Arts and the Hui, Kung Fu Magazine Form by Gene Ching 1990 to 2005.

4. Mkma.net (web site)

5. Moslem Kung fu: The Fist of the Bodyguards by Ted Mancuso 1999, Inside Kung fu Magazine

6. Northern Shaolin Twelve Row Tan Tui by Chao Lin Ho Ching Wu, Shanghai 1920

7. Tam Tui, Northern Shaolin Snapping Leg by Alexander I. Co, Inside Kung Fu December 1984-1989.

8. Tan Tui by Chang, Wu Lum #7 1983 (Chinese)Tan Ti the 17 Form Method by Robert Le, Ancient Sets of Kung Fu, Volume 1, #2, #3, #4, #5,

9. Ten Fundamental Chinwoo Routines, Tantui and Gongliquan by Lam Wing-Ki and Ying Fun-fong, IBSN 962-85291-5-3 2000.

10. Tom Toy: Springing Legs, Their History and Relation to Shaolin, by Shaolin Instiute.com, November, 2003.

Chinese Books

1. 10 Row Tan Tui by Wong,1983

2. 12 Rows Tan Tui Methods by Wong, Taiwan, 1966, Reprint

3. 12 Row Tan Tui by Wong, Uk, reprint

4. Northern Fist China Best, by Yang, HK, 1970

5. Northern Fist, by Chu, HK, 1969, reprint

6. South, North Fist Best Chinese Fist Arts by Li, HK, Reprint

[joys-of-everyday]

MXTX and Class

I thought about how to do this for a while and got stuck. So instead of writing anything, I'm just going to list potentially interesting topics and think about it later.

Shen Jiu and Ling Wen: the distant dreams of meritocracy. The pitfalls of supposed meritocracy. The importance of education and why those who rise to the top tend to shed their origins.

Luo Binghe: poverty and trauma. The lasting impacts of Luo Binghe's childhood on his mental health and the Problems that caused. Bonus: What that says about Shang Qinghua.

On 'Prominent Households' in Chinese history. What were they exactly? Reflecting on the Lius, Qius, Mings, Wens, Jins, Jiangs, Lans, Nies, etc. of MXTX's worlds.

Jin Guangyao: of courtesans, murder, and the nuances of class. Comparisons with Wu Zetian, courtesans in the Tang dynasty, and the nuances around people who exist outside the usual class buckets.

Wei Wuxian, and Mu Qing: the different flavours of gentry adjacent. So what was WWX's position actually ? Retainers 家臣, servants 家仆, and their position in society. Bonus: Feng Xin, Wen Zhuliu and how they fit into this.

Qiu Jianluo, the Little Palace Mistress, and Wen Chao: subtle notes of the spoilt rich brat. What makes the 'insufferable rich' so insufferable. (And what changed with Qi Rong.)

The Old Palace Master, Wen Ruohan, and Jin Guangshan: big daddy. Of power, exploitation, and manipulation. Comparisons to the above point.

Gongyi Xiao, Lan Wangji, and Lan Sizhui: look the rich can be good too. On benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and sincerity. Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism, and the ideal of a 'gentleman'.

Yu Ziyuan, Wang Lingjiao, and Xuan Ji: intersections of class and gender. Positions and powers of women in Chinese history.

Xue Yang: morality, class, and salvation in unlikely places. ‘The good person can reach the Pure Land, so of course the evil person can as well’ said some Buddhist dude. What even is Xue Yang's character arc actually.

Xie Lian: morality, class, and virtues of saving one person. How worldviews change with hardship. On 'big virtues 大德', 'small virtues 少德' and the self-importance of the elite.

Jun Wu and Xie Lian: so are the common people unworthy? The hundred people in the temple, the importance of the random people on the street, and why class buckets can be unhelpful.

Mu Qing, Hua Cheng, and the tale of the Street Performer. Why the poor fight each other and the middle class turn on the poor. (maybe someone upstairs is fanning the flames)

Lang Ying: vive la revolution Comparisons with the Hongwu Emperor. Social unrest, revolutions, and why things go back to how they were before (but not completely). (edit: oops. fixed a mistake)

Ghost city vs Heavenly Court: on virtue signaling The disorder of the Ghost city vs the corruption of the Heavenly Court. Ghost city as a 'safe space' for those running from authority and Hua Cheng's thing about going after 'tyrants'.