#Qiu Haitang

[astrologysaysno]

I have a random thought to pitch to you all the idea of Airplane SQH acting as SJ's lawyer in PIDW.

(Confession: I have not read SVSSS, so I have no real clue on how the trials happened, but just hear me out)

Shen Jiu stands on trial at Huan Hua Palace, charged with the grievous crime of the murder of Qiu Haitang's family, the death of Liu Qingge, and the mistreatment of Luo Binghe.

For the sake of propriety, SJ is assigned someone to defend him in the trial as his defence. The people clamour, Qiu Haitang and Liu Mingyan especially, arguing that he does not deserve someone to aid his defense, but Yue Qingyuan does not relent.

He assigns Shang Qinghua as the lead, a compromise to quell the rabble of protesters.

Shang Qinghua presents as clumsy, disorganised, and tongue tied. A barely qualified Peak Lord who looks as if an ant on his shoulder would give him enough of a scare to induce cardiac arrest. They believe Shen Jiu is guaranteed to be found guilty on all accounts when YQY picks him.

But Yue Qingyuan knows his shidi and knows just how capable he is. He has witnessed him weave through social dilemmas and negotiate with merchants, each time coming out on top with diplomats willing to do anything and traders selling even at a loss. He has made this sect richer and more influential than he has ever had in years.

So Yue Qingyuan is confident that Shang Qinghua can pull this off.

The day of the trial comes, and like the sound of the first horn at the front lines, it commences.

Shang Qinghua and the prosecutors spend hours on each and every charge, with Qinghua breaking down each argument and exposing the cracks to them.

He pulls out witnesses that Shen Jiu thought he would never see.

Former slaves of the Qiu family who attest to the horrific crimes of what Qiu Jianluo did, of the abuse Shen Jiu was put under, even forcing the sect leader himself to explain their history and air everything out.

He prods at Liu Mingyan's accusations, revealing the hearsay and conjecture of her story. His accusations of lecherous acts are dismantled as he brings the head of the Warm Red Pavillion and other workers to testify in favour of him.

With Luo Binghe, it is Shang Qinghua's most difficult test yet. How can one justify the hate that was perpetuated by Shen Jiu, the endless suffering caused by him to Luo Binghe?

He cannot, what he can do is create a sense of empathy towards Shen Jiu, building an argument of constant sequential trauma which had molded him to become this jaded, cynical individual caught in the cycle of abuse.

He appeals to the remains of Luo Binghe's humanity for mercy, and to the crowd of Luo Binghe's instability caused by Xin Mo. Weaving both together the case of Luo Binghe being too manic and unstable to properly pass judgement, that what Luo Binghe really wanted was justification for all the hurt brought down upon him.

Shen Jiu is still given punishment for his mistreatment of Luo Binghe, but the air feels as if it has shifted, changed into something he doesn't know what to do.

[fun-mxtx-polls]

(The various Jin half-siblings are not included, because then we would run out of slots, but you are welcome to vote other on their behalf)

[biinaberry]

With Shen Yuan's knowledge of PIDW and his new experience at the Qiu house it was always a question to me why I haven't seen other twin aus have SY kill QHT. I mean if he can kill the skinner, whats one more murder he pushes to the back burners. I could see him justifying to himself that it was necessary Does that mean their past in the Qiu's isn't brought to light? Yes. Is there no trial? No, there still is one

[part 1] [Doomed Poly au]

[sun-and-moon-mushroom]

AU where at some point between becoming a Peak Lord and Luo Binghe becoming a disciple, Shen Qingqiu is sent out on a mission that requires him to pretend he’s not a cultivator. Maybe there’s an organisation that’s kidnapping people and they need to find out why. Everything is going fine… until another group of cultivators shows up and interferes with his plan. He’s about to reveal himself to insult them, when… Qiu Haitang recognises him.

Now, while she initially thinks he’s Shen Jiu, she quickly realises she must be wrong. It’s been decades since she last saw him, and this young man who is clearly not a cultivator is much too young to be him. She asks him about his parents and he looks at her with confusion and says he’s never had any. It makes sense, she thinks to herself — certainly someone like that, who would abandon his fiancée, would also abandon his own son. She smiles at the poor boy and assures him that she’ll help him take revenge on his absent father.

Liu Qingge has been looking for Shen Qingqiu for days now, after he’d gone missing on a fairly simple mission. He’s even checked a few brothels! But the one time he gets a potential lead, it turns out that it’s just his poor bastard son, clearly abandoned by his own father. Qiu Haitang fills him in on the backstory — abandoned as a child, captured as a slave — when he meets Shen Qingqiu again, he doesn’t think he’ll be able to hold back from beating the man soundly.

Shen Qingqiu, in the meantime, is Suffering. He’s tried getting away, even leaving silently in the night, but the organisation he was after seems to have figured out his identity, and with his cultivation still sealed away to hide it, he has to rely on others to keep himself safe. Until they’ve been dealt with… he’ll have to keep pretending to be his own son.

[theladysunami]

So I read i burnt thick candles aloft to shine the beauties bright by anorangecarrot and it’s an absolute delight so far. I definitely recommend it!

It also has me thinking up some alternative AU ideas…

There are loads of stories where Shen Yuan and Shen Jiu are siblings, plus some where Shen Yuan is his own character but comes across Shen Jiu as a child, but how about one where Shen Yuan transmigrates as Qiu Haitang from the start?

Shen Yuan having the advantage of A) a past life’s worth of experience, B) being genre savvy, C) being terrified of Shen Jiu’s future murderous breakdown, and D) not being blinded by ‘her’ love of ‘her’ brother, would absolutely figure out what’s going on with his new brother being a shit to Shen Jiu.

The story could go so many different interesting routes from there!

Shen Yuan wouldn’t abide by the abuse for sure, but while he’d be more privileged as a young mistress then he would be as a fellow slave, he’d still be stuck as a teenage girl in the Xianxia equivalent of ancient China. His hands would still be rather tied.

I think my favorite idea is Shen Jiu quickly picking up on how off Qiu Haitang’s behavior has been recently (he’s the future peak lord of the strategy peak, so he’d absolutely notice), and somehow getting Shen Yuan to “admit” that his fever swapped out some of ‘her’ present life memories with those from his past life (Shen Yuan probably couldn’t sell the transmigration idea, but past life memories are true enough). They then become a “fuck you Qiu Jianluo” fake-fiancés but actual sworn-siblings tag team.

Shen Jiu helps teach Shen Yuan how to manipulate people and act as ‘herself,’ while Shen Yuan acts as a genuine supportive force in Shen Jiu’s young life, and uses ‘her’ relative privilege to get them both the tools necessary to at least start cultivating properly.

Naturally they both escape to Cang Qiong Mountain eventually (possibly with some amount of murder still).

Which peak ‘Qiu Haitang’ joins, and what gendered form Shen Yuan is living in by the time Shen Qingqiu takes over as peak lord, has plenty of possibilities.

For laughs, maybe they found Airplane’s ripoff version of the cursed springs of Jusenkyo from Ranma 1/2, or something similar, so Shen Yuan actually goes back and forth. (If anyone could manage the required number of fiancés for a Ranma 1/2 ripoff, it’s Shen Yuan!)

Naturally once Luo Binghe finds his way into the sect, he’ll end up smitten with Shen Yuan in whatever form. He’ll have to stew in envy over the fake-fiancé and/or ex-fiancé current sworn-sibling situation though. Even with an improved outlook and more support, Shen Jiu probably still doesn’t like him much.

(Binghe would most likely end up in the abyss reguardless, to Shen Yuan’s frustration, because suddenly being outed as a demon when the sects are currently under attack by demons, is never a good thing, despite his and Shen Qingqiu’s altered antagonism levels).

That’s all my thoughts on this for now, but I’d love to hear what ideas anyone else might have along these lines!

[analviel]

Are there any fics where Shen Jiu's love interest (Liu Qingge, Yue Qingyuan, Mu Qingfang, etc. Maybe multi-Ship Your pick) learns of SQQ having had/has a fiancee and spends the rest of the fic jealous especially because of how SQQ reacts whenever the mystery woman is brought up, from anger and then to a subdued, almost longing mood. Preferably crack but could also be angsty or anything.

[svsss-fanon-exposed]

Exposing SVSSS Fanon: 11/∞

QIU HAITANG HAS MORE THAN ONE OLDER BROTHER

Rating: FANON - CONFLICTING

On the SVSSS wiki, it states that Qiu Haitang has more older brothers than just Qiu Jianluo. This likely originated from a confusing bit in the CNoveluv fan translation:

The original Shen Qingqiu's family was well-off and he could at least be considered a small wealthy second generation offspring. He had two older brothers that would inherit the family business in the future and a younger sister that he loved. (CNoveluv, Ch. 2)

While this statement obviously is referring to Shen Yuan's family before transmigration, and is translated the following way in the official TL:

In his previous life, Shen Yuan had been well-off growing up, and he’d basically qualified as a modest example of a second-generation rich kid. His two older brothers had been set to inherit the family business, and he’d doted on his little sister. (7 Seas, Ch. 1)

it is still easy to see how the wording of this statement could be interpreted as referring to Shen Jiu.

Later on, in the BCnovels translation, when Qiu Haitang is revealing Shen Jiu's backstory, it is translated the following way:

"My parents took [Shen Jiu] back home, taught him to recognize words and study, gave him the means for food and clothing until he was full and warm without any concerns. My brothers looked after him like he was part of the family." (BCNovels, Ch. 36)

while in the official TL, it is:

...[My parents] brought [Shen Jiu] home, taught him how to read, and paid for his food and clothing—kept him warm, fed, and free of worries. My brother also looked after him, and they were exceptionally close.  (7 Seas, Ch. 6)

(thanks to @furbygoblinxiv for fan tl details!)

There is some ambiguity in the original text, so the mistranslation is not entirely without reason. The phrase used there is:

我兄弟也带他极为亲厚

This is the sentence translated as "My brother also looked after him, and they were exceptionally close." 兄弟 usually refers to brothers (older and younger, plural), however, it can refer to a single brother (rarely), or to cousins and siblings together within a household, or to a friend or friends. There are certain context clues, however, which lead me to believe that there was only one older brother. For example, see the following sentence (which is in the same sentence in the CN text):

长到十五岁，父母去世，我哥哥当家作主

This section is translated: "When [Shen Jiu] was fifteen, my parents passed away, and my brother became head of the household." Notable here is that Qiu Jianluo is referred to as 哥哥 （gege). This is the general term for older brother-- however, if there were other older brothers in the family, Qiu Haitang would have most likely referred to him as 大哥 （da-ge, eldest brother) instead, to denote his position in the lineup. However, she never uses any kind of numbering in regards to him, which makes me think that there is only one 哥 in the family.

Also notable is that there are never any other brothers directly mentioned anywhere in the text. Qiu Haitang's mourning is all for Qiu Jianluo-- if she had older brothers who had survived, she would not have ended up on her own and destitute after the massacre. If she had other older brothers who had died, she would have almost certainly mentioned them when listing her grievances, instead of only mentioning Qiu Jianluo. She only says the following when making her accusation:

He lost his mind and killed my brother and many of our servants all at once, leaving bodies scattered all over the estate—then disappeared from the city with that cultivator the same night! (7 Seas, Ch. 6)

Therefore, since there is never a single mention of an older brother aside from Qiu Jianluo (or any brother at all), it doesn't seem that there were any others.

[anshares]

A wild Qiu Haitang has appeared!

What will you do:

> Run

> Bullshit your way out of this

[tossawary]

do you know if theres like, a scum villain wife list or something. Of all the wives mentioned in canon. I cannot find one and I need it for a thing I'm writing :(

Someone may have made a comprehensive blog post on absolutely everything to do with Luo Binghe's harem somewhere, but I haven't personally seen one. This is the wiki's list of his known wives:

https://scumvillain.fandom.com/wiki/Harem.

(I keep thinking to myself that it might be worth looking into a wiki contribution week or something so that SV fans can have these things for reference in full detail. The wiki in its current state is still very much under construction and also the particular company here "Fandom" suck generally. But I've never contributed to a wiki before, so I wouldn't know where to start.)

Part of the difficulty with naming all of Luo Binghe's wives in PIDW is that there are only rough estimates for how many he had exactly and it's unclear what statuses they actually had in the harem. And I believe that he also had love interests he never actually officially married in any way.

I'm going to list off wife / love-interest characters off the top of my head here in vague summary. I'm going to request that people add on or correct me here if I'm missing anyone or straight-up wrong about anything (relevant direct quotations are always welcome). I have digital editions of the novels now, so I may control+F for "wife", "wives", and "harem" after work, then copy-paste the relevant quotations into a big document, because I'm curious now and I want to see what results that I get from that. If someone has made and posted a comprehensive canonical list regarding the harem already, I'd appreciate the link.

Ning Yingying: wife and childhood sweetheart.

Liu Mingyan: wife.

Sha Hualing: wife.

Qin Wanrong and Qin Wanyue: I think that they were wives, twins, Luo Binghe's first threesome, and also were bullied by Sha Hualing a lot.

Little Palace Mistress: wife and I also vaguely remember some commentary from Shen Yuan about her being the "leader" of the harem in some way.

Qiu Haitang: wife.

The Three Taoist Nuns: wives, they had something to do with taming the Xin Mo sword in PIDW, and are Liu Mingyan's RPF buddies in SVSSS.

Madam Meiyin: it's stated in the succubus extras that she and Luo Binghe had an affair. I don't think that she ever married him, though.

Aaaaand that's everyone I remember. The known, named canonical list isn't actually very long, which is generally why everyone ends up inventing original characters. There are also unnamed canonical love interests, like the one afflicted by the Without A Cure poison in PIDW, but I really do not remember them all.

[prinzgnomeovonchaos]

New fun Ning yingying time travel concept:

End of novel nyy gets displaced back in time near a particular mansion. The young master, a lord qiu, seeing a wealthy, sect adjacent looking cultivator who is also a very pretty young(looking) lady immediately offers her shelter. (Shen jiu saving time babey)

Nyy accepts, thinking it best to stay put and write her shizun to come investigate. At this point she just thinks she's been yoinked through space or something. Also she doesn't remember qiu haitangs name, she wasn't all that important to her in the present.

At this point shen jiu is just about to become their slave, so qiu haitang is pretty lonely and bored under her brothers thumb (not that she'd call it that, but she doesnt know better. Og!qht seemed pretty naive and isolated) and immediately latches on to this exciting new guest! ("You call your brother a-luo? I know an a-luo! He stilole my shizun! >:(")

Something in this household is very weird but nyy can't put her finger on it... Until qht presents her newest toy friend, little shen jiu. Who is reluctantly super intrigued by this cultivator lady!! That's what he wants to be!!

Now nyy might not have remembered qhts name, but she did remember what her shizun was slandered with, and something does not match up! And the master of the house is being super weird and sketchy! Not to mention her shizun should have popped out of the aether by now? (Her message did get to the sect, but it lead to more confusion than anything, so it's going to take some time for them to get off their ass)

Anyways, it's time for our girl to investigate! One thing leads to another and long story short, a team of cang qiong peak lords and disciples arrives to see a city in uproar! The young master has been publically disgraced! The young mistress has sworn off her family to become just like her new idol, miss nyy herself! Shen jiu is for the first time in his life actually safe and already wheedled the promise to go look for qi-ge out of nyy! And this is just the beginning, certain people in this time-line dont know it yet, but the reconning is coming and she is wearing orange ribbons :)

[morethanwonderful]

Which MXTX Character Would Be Most Insufferable Online?

Full Bracket

(Bonus match theme: Girl, he is not into you)

[acim-ed-ortsac]

the Devil doesn’t bargain

Reader and Proud Immortal Demon Way

You were naive.

Died by the hands of a speeding car, you reincarnated into the world SVSSS…or PIDW you’re assuming since you found yourself becoming a slave with Shen Jiu and Yue  Qi, with your slave number being Ba for eight. The slavers found you when you were a toddler, bringing you to where the other slave children were. There, you were raised alongside Shen Jiu and Yue Qi. You were quite happy because Shen Jiu was your favorite character, despite not being there in the three books. 

He was human with many layers and sides. You didn’t see an evil scumbag or a bitter slave that became a Peak Lord, but rather a child that was molded by society’s cruelty. Having taken psychology, you knew the Nature vs Nurture theory and evidence of it. And it’s clear that Shen Jiu is the product of Nurture rather than Nature.

You three were inseparable, becoming the dusk of Qi-ge’s light and A-jiu’s night. You had no hesitation to steal if it meant that your friends would be fed. A-Jiu would scold you while Qi-he would fuss over you, checking for wounds. It was then you swore you would change their fates from the original plot.

Even when you three were sent to the Qiu Household and Qi-ge ran away with the promise of returning, you stayed with A-Jiu to share his suffering. You became a friend and kindred spirit. 

Even when you burned the Qiu’s house, except for Qiu Haitang, the women and the children. You held A-jiu’s hand all this time, smiling at him. Shen Jiu asked, “Will you not leave me?”

And you only graced him with a smile while saying, “I’ll be with you, A-Jiu. Whether fire, water, or air. Through light and darkness, I’ll be with you. And if you die, I’ll burn the world that has wronged you.”

You watched his eyes tear up as determination roared in your chest, prepared to change his fate.

30 years later…

A-jiu’s dead.

You stared emotionlessly at the corpse of Shen Jiu, now Shen Qingqiu, who’s now a bound corpse in the middle of the Huanhua palace room where his trial was. Cultivators, especially the ones from the great four sects were either celebrating his death and those angered that he got out too quickly before he could be replayed tenfold.

You walked towards the corpse, ignoring any voice that spoke your way, they were irrelevant. You took A-Jiu in your arms, his cold body against your warm and alive one as you embraced him. You nosed into the crook of his neck as anger began to bubble like a pot of water on a stove. Shaking, you hold him tightly as you grit your teeth.

“What are they doing!?”

“A friend?”

“As if that scum has any friends!”

The last line broke any restraint as you screamed into the ceiling with unbridled anger, letting out the demon that resided in you unleashed.

BENDY!

The ink demon was delighted to be out.

A shrilling screech followed by a guttural roar resounded throughout the room before black inky tentacles shot out of you and latched themselves onto everyone within the sect building. No one could escape, even as they resisted and struggled, it was fruitless as the tentacles latched onto their heads, rendering them still and vulnerable.

As you fed them the memories of Shen Jiu, letting them watch the nightmare you and he went through, you began singing. Call you mad in grief and sorrow, it’s the last piece of sanity you could entertain before actually going mad with anger, grief, and sorrow.

Before you destroyed Jianghu.

The lyrics left your lips before you even noticed, broken with incoming sobs.

 “ The moon will sing a song for me,

I loved you like the sun

Bore the shadows that you made

With no light of my own

I shine with only the light you gave me…

I shine with only the light you gave me…”

The voices from the puddles join in with your singing, comforting your loss. Tears fell like a waterfall from your eyes, only to be wiped by a grotesque and deformed hand. The hand itself was barely covered by a glove, which only protected the palm and not the three fingers it had. A deep and guttural voice spoke beside you, near your ear. “Angry, little human?”

You looked back at Bendy, whose human teeth were stretched into an inhumanely wide smile, his horns curved back, and his body disfigured and disproportionate. He looms over you, towers even, but you feel no fear.

“So much,” you replied as the tentacles slowly retreated back onto Bendy, you came out of your back. One by one, the cultivators in the room regain awareness of their surroundings, pale with horror and realization. You glanced at Luo Binghe, who at one point had sympathized with him and loved him, who looked at you with new realization, paleness, and something unreadable.

You moved on to the Cang Qiong sect, where the peak lords are white as a sheet as they realize what they had done to your misunderstood friend.

Qiu Haitang, whom you glared with disgust, trembled. “No…it can’t be..my brother—“

“Was a lecherous, greedy, scum bastard,” you spat out the words like acid. “Qiu Janlou,”’ you said the name like it was a bitter delicacy. “That’s what he was. And you were too blind to see it, stupid princess.”

“I thought you were lying!” She cried, so into her head at the revelation and revealed that she didn’t notice you walking towards her. It wasn’t only till you gripped her head with your fingers, squishing her cheeks painfully while digging your nails. “Do you also wanna know?” You said loudly for all of them to hear. “Your brother lusted after you! That man was not only a lecher but also an incestuous mutt! A pathetic human being so low to even live!”

Before the girl could say anything, you slapped her, nails scratching her cheek. “You spoiled,” another slap “coddled, “and another “weak mistress!” A final slap sent her to the ground, her pretty face marred with scars from your nails.

You flicked the blood of your nails, sneering in disgust. Her sobs didn’t deserve any sympathy from you.

You then looked at the Old Palace master, a smile so vile with anger that he would've melted on the spot. “And all you pathetic cultivators talk about scum, you  aren’t aware that a certain scum hides amongst you!”

They all turn to the Old Palace Master, who tries and fails to put up a kind facade. “What evidence do you have—“

“Oh, we’re really going that route?” You smiled with teeth, Bendy as the Ink Demon laughed behind you. “How about we ask Tianlang-Jun that!”

At your words, demonic qi filled the room as the said demon lord entered with casual swag, Zhuzhi-lang by his side. They gasped at his appearance, disbelief, and anger as they tried to make sense of this.

Tianlang-Jun, for his part, smiles casually yet his eyes hold malicious anger. “My, it has been quite a while since I’ve seen some familiar faces,” his eyes immediately went to the Old Palace Master. “Especially you.”

“How!?” The old man cried, speaking the question everyone had in mind.

With dramatic flair, you looked at Luo Binghe. “Luo Binghe, I would like to introduce to you Tianlang-Jun, your father. Who loved your mother, Su Xiyan, with all of his heart. Unfortunately, her Shizun was obsessed with her and out of jealousy, lied to the whole cultivation world to get rid of Tianlang-Jun. Who poisoned Su Xiyan to kill the baby who is now known as Luo Binghe.”

Meeting the said young man’s eyes, you then stated. “And the reason why you became an orphan.”

You ignored the hitched breath as you looked at the cultivators gathered, “Pathetic cultivators, young and old, I have come to announce the destruction of Jianghu!”

Expectedly, this outraged everyone excluding the two demons and you. Yue Qi looked at you pleadingly, trying to negotiate or settle this peacefully, but you snapped your head at him with fierce eyes. “Don’t talk to me so familiarly, Zhangmen-shixiong.” You said mockingly, outraging his shidis and disciples in his sect. “He was your brother, your friend! And yet you sided with the majority when it came to rumors and accusations! Didn’t I tell you to stay by his side, to give the benefit of the doubt to these rumors!? Are my visits a waste of time if this is the result!?” You groused, fingers elongating and scales fluttering on your cheek. “What a poor brother you have been to A-Jiu, you pathetic excuse of a brother!”

With a snap of your fingers, shards of glass hurriedly gathered into the air to form a single shard. The reflection then changed to the entirety of the Central Plains, whose faces were horrified and angry. You laughed, “People of the human realm, do you judge these cultivators as unworthy protectors of you all!?”

“Yes!” The people in the shard answer.

“What’s going on…” a cultivator asked, losing sense of reality.

“They know?!”

“The common people were watching the whole time!?”

“Stop them!” The Little Palace mistress shrieked, outraged that not only her father was slandered but soon their reputation would be destroyed.

“Silence!” You growled at her. “You have your answer from the people,”

Deciding enough was enough, you looked up at the sky with arms raised at your sides. “You celebrate his death, I’ll only celebrate…”

“When your ashes fall.”

From there, like a broken dam, demons poured into the building with glee.

Years later…

The story of the ruler of the Human realm spread for millennia. The story of how they overthrew the Emperor and his courts, how they exposed the truth of the cultivator world and brought it down to rebuild it back up. The story of how the Ruler of the Human realm soon merged and traded with the Demon Realm’s Emperor, Tianlang-Jun, who had been wronged by the cultivators.

In return for freeing him, Tianlang-Jun handed his only blood son to them as payment for their loss of a friend.

Some may pity the half-blood, but others would say that he got what he deserved for being blinded by hate and anger.

There were stories of the Qing Jing peak lord, Shen Qingqiu, who was abused at youth, and climbed to the top to have security, only to be gifted with accusations and a trial by the cultivators he adored. 

There were songs about the tragedy of the two friends, the death of Shen Jiu, and the loss of the Ruler.

Demons and humans soon assimilated into each other, and racism between them soon became little as they understood one another. Cultivators soon became not demon eradications but rather equal to demons when it comes to fighting. The ruler of the Human realm does not tolerate racism, nor do they tolerate slavery, leading to the abolishment of slavery and giving the homeless a place of food and shelter while giving children a chance to learn and adults a chance to earn.

Yet, despite the good they have achieved, the ruler of the human realm soon died afterward, leaving their head disciple as heir.

The son of Tianlang-Jun, Luo Binghe, soon returned to the Demon Realm and it was whispered that he had changed while under the human ruler. There are whispers from servants that he has mellowed down and soon became hard-working yet stoic, not taking any wives or husbands nor concubines.

There were whispers of the servants from his chambers that said that when he would think he was alone, he would clutch a fan and a stuffed toy in his hands, pulling them close to his chest.

No one knew of the Ink Demon that lurks in the Human Palace, following, and tailing the Ruler. No one knows of its inky abyss that had sent rats of pathetic beings down to become one of the monstrous creations or a Lost Soul. No one knows that once the Ruler has passed, it soon lingers in the shadows of their Head disciple who took on the mantle to rule.

———-

All was dark before voices invaded your ears, stirring you to the waking world. When you woke up to clear green eyes, you weren’t surprised to find yourself back in the past with Shen Jiu. And by the looks of it, the wretched Qiu shack they put the two of you in.

You snarled internally when you looked at A-Jiu’s broken legs, “No…”

You refused to repeat the past.

Manhandling Shen Jiu on your back, you broke down the wooden wall of the shack with your body before running with Shen Jiu.

You won’t let Shen Jiu die.

You won’t let him be wronged.

You will make sure he’s raised with love.

With knowledge.

You’ll make sure he’s living happily.

Away from Cang Qiong.

Away from other cultivators.

Away from Luo Binghe.

With your knowledge of the future and the teachings that you had learned before your death, you’re sure of things.

A year ago…

The sound of screams was music to your ears, watching in glee as everything was thrown into chaos. Bendy having his fun with tearing apart any foolish cultivator that tried to go up against you. You watched as those who had wronged your friend were thrown to the ground before being branded as property for the demons to claim.

That was your end of the deal, offering any cultivator in the designated place that catches the eyes of the demons helping you.

You clapped with manic joy as you watched the Little Palace Mistress wail at the hot brand being burned on her skin by a large demon, who looked at her with leering eyes. Was this wrong? Morally, yes. But then again, it was an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. Hammurabi's code historically. You did say to A-Jiu that you will burn the world that wronged him to the ground, and you’re about to do that.

You in your madness of rage, glee, and vindictiveness, spun in the middle of the chaos. “Kings have honor,” your right hand flung to the side open-handed in the air “Soldiers have bravery,” your other hand reached to the other side, making you go in a wide arm stance with two of your hands up in the air as if praising the gods up above. You then brought your hands together before clasping at your chest, “And poets have heart.” You smiled even when you felt a threat going behind your back. “But all I have…” Even when they raised a sword upon you before bringing it down…

Swish! Clang!

Luo Binghe looked absolutely dashing in his demonic heritage when you stopped Xin Mo with a scythe you procured from your sleeve. You kept your smile even then, eyes wide with fury, ink dripping down your face as if you were melting.

"̵̧̛̻̦̲̮̱̻̰̱̰̰͊̊Ḭ̶̧̺̜̮͙̗̙͓̿́͊̓̏̑͐̔̍͒̉͂̈́Ṡ̶̞̣̹͓̻̣̝͚̾̎ ̵̨̨͚̤̗̓͗̐̌̉R̵̢̡̩̦̘̗̪͇̬̺̓͆̓́̀͜͠Ą̷̮͎͎͒Ğ̸̫͎̗̠͓̖͇Ę̵̧̺̹̣̫͚̹͔̞͋̂̈́̐̍̈́͐̋̚!̵̡̧̼̠͓̥͓̬̗͕̜̙̄̈́͋̈͑̒̉͆"̷̟͎͉́̒̚ ———————

Throughout the years, you’ve managed to avoid Cang Qiong and the other sects, even people that hurt you and Shen Jiu such as Wu Yanzi. (Although you killed him when you had the chance.) You taught A-Jiu everything you knew about being a cultivator, such as opening your spiritual sense and forming a golden core, and even stole some manuals that’ll help you.

You both lived out your days in a cave, which you redecorated to both of your liking. A-Jiu learned to sew robes for the two of you, the quality immaculate, as expected as the soon-to-be - now the former peak lord.

You taught him how to read and write, which garnered his suspicions. You told him the truth, how you knew the future, and how you retained your memories. At first, A-Jiu was in disbelief but soon believed you since you had knowledge that was above a slave.

You two lived happily…

Until people from the past came looking for Shen Jiu.

Ao3

[aracness]

Shen Jiu stood up suddenly, panting, and wiped the sweat from his forehead nervously. His head felt heavy and everything was spinning. There was also a feeling of warmth covering his whole body. He scanned the room around him with his eyes. He couldn't remember how he had gotten there, and yet everything seemed strangely familiar.

The opaque wooden walls , the bunk bed, with its thin old blankets , the sparse furniture and the thin sheets covering his body, as well as the piles of wood around the room; it all reminded him of something, although he wasn't sure what (...).

It wasn't until he saw the door to that room that he realized where he was, and then he froze, frightened, and let his palms and fingernails cling tightly to the threadbare sheets beneath him.

He stared anxiously at that door that for years had witnessed his pain, and that he had once thought he would never see again, so distant and yet so real.

His eyesight was blurred by tears he could not remember shedding, and a strange warmth throbbed in his chest. Despite that, he could remember the wooden door perfectly.

It was something deeply rooted in his memory, from when he was a child asking for impossible promises to the one who waited for him behind the door.

A sudden dizziness dazed his mind.

He inhaled deeply while observing the details of that gate; the hard carvings in the wood, the numerous locks, which ensured that he did not escape from the room, the 2 cun* thickness of the door, specially made to withstand blows and soundproof against any commotion...

That room, so familiar to him, was none other than the woodshed where he used to stay when he was a child, under the Qiu's roof.

He moistened his lips, puzzled, for he had no idea how he had gotten there, being that he had burned that house with his own hands.

So, he tried to grab one of the blankets from the bed, and.... He was petrified to see his own arm, intact, but more importantly, to recognize that it was the arm of a child.

"This has to be a dream" he thought, and groped his face. She was surprised to feel smooth, clean skin, and as she pinched her lips, she felt them as her own.

Shen jiu felt her shoulders flank as he recognized that sense of vulnerability that had accompanied him all his childhood.

That fear that prompted him to hide behind some woman's skirts, to run away from some bad man....

Nausea climbed from his belly and settled in his throat.

Strangely, he tried to remember some detail that could be useful, anything that could explain his presence in that house. He meditated for a while until he remembered Meng Mo, that demon in cahoots with Luo Bingghe who sometimes used to sneak into his mind to cause him nightmares. Shen jiu knew that it was quite possible that it was all Meng Mo's doing, so he tried to concentrate his Qi. Surprisingly, he could not. That was most strange, for if it was his nightmare, then he must have been able to control it. He gnashed his teeth in hatred and cursed Luo Binghe. His time in the Qiu household was a time he hated deeply but knew he could never forget. He had no regrets for the death of any Qiu and yet his actions weighed on him like a chain that kept him from moving forward.

Shen Jiu called Karma to that bitter feeling that always twisted in his stomach, like an undercooked soup. It was his punishment for taking everything away from sweet Haitang.

Even with all the negative feelings that came with that time, Shen Jiu still felt possessive about his past. He was unwilling to share it with anyone else, partly because of the shame and inferiority complex that arose in himself towards the person who discovered his past. So, if you were to ask him directly, no, Shen Jiu would not talk about it with anyone, much less Luo Bingghe.

That beast had overstepped its bounds by intruding into his mind like that.

He sighed heavily and decided to play along with whoever had put him in that situation. The safest thing to do was to pretend that he hadn't noticed the illusion, act calmly until he found out what they were after, and then try to confront or expel the intruder in his mind. After all, it was his dream. He had the power to control it.

He rose from the bunk and his stomach flipped as he felt the rough ground beneath his untouched legs (Or maybe not so much?).

He quickly became aware of the pain in his calves as he stood up and the burning in his ankles that told him he had probably been shackled until recently.

He recognized that feeling, it was normal for him to be chained by Qiu Jianluo when he was still alive.

The pain in his head was only expanding and a wave of shivers ran through his body.

He slipped quietly into a pile of wood, where he remembered he used to keep his robes, those that the Qiu had "mercifully" granted him, because they could not bear to see his ragged figure.

He groped for the garments and then carefully dressed himself, preparing to go out even as his legs were heavy and his whole body throbbed painfully. She gasped as she felt a wave of heat spreading from her stomach.

He knew that pain; he was entering a Qi bypass. He only hoped he could get out of the woodshed in time.

He staggered to the door, his heart pounding with grief. Then, he took one step, then another, (One more and he would reach the door), and....

He collapsed to the floor. The wood creaked loudly and Shen jiu's body lay limp on the floor, burning with fever and sweat.

His head was spinning and things were distorting around him, forming a swirl of colors and sensations that seduced him into a deep sleep.

Shen Jiu struggled to stay awake despite the growing exhaustion settling into his increasingly weakened body.

The last thing that crossed Shen jiu's mind were the words "Don't let him come." before finally losing consciousness.

He really wished he would never see Qiu Jianluo again.

Even if it was just a dream

(A nightmare)

~-~-~-~

- 1 Cun*: 3.3 CM.

Thank you very much!

[joys-of-everyday]

Read right to left. Translation of this thing I did.

If it gives Black Butler vibes, the reference is chapter 131-133 btw XD

[worldsokayestmagicalgirl]

Day 11 : Crossover

SIX(hundred Wives)

Ok so I think I’m done being ambitious for the rest of this month 🫠 This was the first idea I had in the whole prompt list & I said it was gonna get less detailed the farther back I went…but that was a lie.

Finding any info for some of these wives were difficult & I 100% yoinked the Tian Triplets names & appearance from Mayvn’s fic Another Time, Another Place.

Prompt List by Jamiedraws__ on Instagram

[stardust-falling]

Qijiu Week 2023

Day 5: Pirates & Mermaids ——— Qi-ge will come save you!