#but getting together with sqq helped a lot with those

[tcfactory]

Random In Tune worldbuilding tidbid that won't come up for a while but I've been thinking about it today:

There are only two people on the sect who can safely dual cultivate with MQF when his core is not shielded/filtered: WQW, who spent the last twenty years developing an immunity (because they were so late with his treatment, the toxins couldn't be removed from his body so the only way to fix his leg was to render him completely immune and then repair the damage) and YQY, because YQY's spirit veins are so fucked up that the toxic qi just runs through him with minimal absorption that can be mitigated with a pill.

Xuan Su destroyed almost all of YQY's spiritual system when he picked it up too early. His spirit veins were obliterated except for a few vestiges around his core (which formed as a defensive measure against the onslaught of the sword's qi and holds not just his qi but basically the entirety of his life force as well) and the parts in his sword arm that were already developed enough to handle the deluge of power.

He was confined to the caves because without the saturation of spiritual energy his body would have just shut down because he had no spiritual veins to supply his body with qi. Breaking his bones and ligaments was part of the process of building him an artificial meridian system (that's why his spirit veins are "straight like someone drew them with a ruler" because that's exactly what happened), but it's not really effective.

They have abysmally low efficiency when it comes to qi absorption; he has to circulate most of his insanely huge pool of qi through them constantly to get a normal amount of energy to the rest of his body. If his spiritual veins are like irrigation channels in a field, then the artificial veins have concrete walls and the only water escaping them is what spills out the top and seeps through the cracks.

If he cuts out his core and the veins in his arm from direct circulation (a quirk he never really thought about, but MQF was clawing at the walls when he heard he can do that because wtf ) then he can run someone's qi through his body and back to them with basically no impact on him.

And if he wants to take on harmful qi anyway then he can just dilute it in his own energy because it would be a drop in the fucking ocean. The size of his qi reserves are more in line with someone late in nascent soul level, usually at the stage where people ascend to the heavens, he just can't utilize it.

(Except when he's a dumbass who wants to take the qi of his beloved SQQ into his core and gets hit with the 'suddenly a teenager again' stick for his troubles. This dumbass.)

[coolshadowtwins]

Post Canon, SQQ now has to deal with wife plots.

But, Op, that’s the plot of many fanfics already! Well, what if he had to deal with every wife plot ever. Bingge had 300-3000 wives, depending on the translation you were following.

Man’s I have to assume that while each wife got at least one (1) wife plot to her name, the fan favorites (NYY, LMY, SHL etc) got multiple over the years.

Now, most of these were probably incredibly standard. And most of them, while frightening to the multitude of civilian wives Bingge probably had, were not going to be much more than an annoyance to a cultivator like SQQ.

The problem is the frequency.

It probably would take a few years for the story to catch up to the plot. SQQ gets hit with a few scattered ones here and there for the first decade or so, but he doesn’t think much of it. Shit just a happens to him, you know?

But then, all of a sudden, he gets kidnapped during a night hunt. The villain is the man that had called for help with a demon. In PIDW, he was the evil uncle/father/cousin/male authority figure in this wife’s life, wanting revenge on Bingge and ultimately introducing a new wife. Here, he’s decided that he’ll hurt Binghe’s husband instead Binghe himself. SQQ defeats him in an hour.

He goes home and tries to forget about it. Only to be hit with some kind of sex pollen from a plant that MQF was trying to study, completely by accident. In PIDW, this had been used to get another chapter out of a particularly laced up wife, who the comments disliked because they felt her boring.

And ok, fine. SQQ still has Binghe- they fix this problem in a night.

Only to be kidnapped again the next day when he goes to town, this time by a random demon looking for a quick buck.

This goes on and on. It’s almost never anything difficult, but it’s a lot. These are too many plots to happen to one man! Sure, Bingge was involved in all those plots too, but he was almost always the one coming in and saving the day- not the one kidnapped or poisoned or stabbed. It’s not long before SQQ gets exhausted, and that everyone around him is constantly on edge, waiting for the next bad luck.

It all kinda climax’s as the bamboo house gets set on fire. In PIDW, fire is used twice like this- once, a portion of the palace gets set on fire, leading to a arc where the wives have to come together to rptect themselves until Bingge shows up. (This arc was very disliked because most of the wives didn’t act in character.) the other time was when a wife was trapped in the burning of her family home, franticly trying to get her belongings out and then being comforted from the loss by Bingge afterwards.

SQQ knows this. He knows all of this. He has figured out what every plot has been so far, and had managed to avoid a few by recognizing the signs, only for them to come back around when he least expected it. He had thought that he could always just ride out the wife plots- sure, Binghe had a lot of wives, but it couldn’t be that bad, right? Except he watched the bamboo house on fire, frozen, and realized that he couldn’t keep doing this.

The bamboo house was fine, in the end. There were disciples on duty, ready to help. Nearly nothing was lost. The fire spread out into the woods, a little, but other than a small area of destruction, it hadn’t caused all together that much damage. Except SQQ couldn’t figure out which of the two plots this was, and that was freaking him out.

This leads to him breaking down on Binghe that night, who has been out of his head with worry for ages about what was going on. SQQ tells him everything, about SY, the system, wife plots. Binghe asks if they can stop this. SQQ doesn’t know how- these plots were for Binghe’s wives, and here he only has a husband.

And Binghe certainly doesn’t want another spouse. He’s quite happy with his husband, thank you very much! But he then he gets to thinking.

Bingge couldn’t have loved every single wife, right? Binghe had a feeling he didn’t act love any of them, judging by how quickly his other self had tried to latch onto Shizun. So it’s not the act of love that causes these so called ‘wife plots’, it’s the act of marriage. And Binghe’s not so cruel as to inflict these plots on someone unexpecting (well, for Shizun he was. But he had another option.)

Binghe had to be the one to marry them- but not the one they loved. And he knew, both fortunately and unfortunately, that there were many men that would do anything for SQQ.

[nyoomerr]

For a prompt:

If you could take one scene from svsss to 'fix-it' what would it be?

my favorite place for fix-its is as a jin-lan city divergence, just like half the population of this fandom, LOL. i've done fix-its there a couple times now, and i want to try my hand at a "the trial happens" fix-it fic sometime in the future, but there's no way i'd be fitting that into a drabble length ahaha 💦

so in the meantime, here's a shorter thing, set when lbh is trying to cure sqq of the sower's rash!

---

In Shen Qingqiu’s defense, he’s had a very, very stressful day. 

Meeting Luo Binghe two years too early, getting accosted by a bunch of no-good Huan Hua upstarts, getting infected with the sower’s curse - there’s just been a lot, okay! By the time he’d made it here, cornered in a dingy alleyway with Luo Binghe looming over him, he’d already used up a large amount of his daily rationed tolerance for bullshit! His face had already started to crack!! He wanted a break!!!

He did not get a break. Instead he got Luo Binghe, suddenly larger than Shen Qingqiu himself, shoulders broad in a way that made his height look far more becoming on him than it had when he was 17 and on the edge of the abyss, a beanpole that had just recently grown tall enough to look Shen Qingqiu level in the eyes. 

Instead he got Luo Binghe, as observant as ever but with far less respect for his Shizun, catching Shen Qingqiu’s wrist and running his thumb over the rash caused by the sower’s curse. 

Instead he got Luo Binghe, his ears a bit too pointed for a human and his teeth more like fangs in his mouth, raising his own hand to those deadly teeth of his and tearing into his flesh, and -

Shen Qingqiu had a defense, remember!! Stressful day, no breaks!!

- and Shen Qingqiu can’t help himself, and raises his free hand up to Luo Binghe’s mouth, too, pressing the pad of one thumb up into one too-sharp canine. 

“They’re so much sharper than I thought…” Shen Qingqiu mumbles to himself, as if he’s making a simple field observation and not sticking his hand in his future murderer’s mouth. 

The hand Luo Binghe has wrapped around Shen Qingqiu’s other wrist tightens, and Shen Qingqiu freezes.

“Haha,” he says, and then very quickly tries to extract his hand from Luo Binghe’s mouth. 

But then - stressful day, no breaks, very good excuse!! - Shen Qingqiu doesn’t actually drop his hand all the way back to his side. Instead, he finds himself hovering useless fingers over the bleeding wound Luo Binghe had torn into the palm of his hand.

“...Shizun?” Luo Binghe asks, sounding a bit like a lost kid and not at all like a blackened emperor on the path to revenge.

Shen Qingqiu lets his fingers make contact, sliding gently through the hot mess of blood dripping from Luo Binghe’s palm. Luo Binghe shivers under his touch.

“...You shouldn’t let it bleed like this,” Shen Qingqiu says. Luo Binghe’s blood is precious, after all - watching fat crimson beads of it fall to the ground beneath them feels like a waste. 

Beneath Shen Qingqiu’s fingers, the wound knits itself back together. He supposes that makes sense - there’s blood all over Luo Binghe’s hand and wrist, and Shen Qingqiu’s fingers as well, now. There’s no need for him to keep the wound open; he can use any of the existing blood to force down Shen Qingqiu’s throat. 

…Fuck, Shen Qingqiu really forgot to be scared of that, just then!!

(In front of him, Luo Binghe is thinking very, very hard. He’s remembering every moment of his childhood when his Shizun had made an ill-advised move to get closer to some beast or another just to get a better look; he’s remembering the feeling of his Shiun’s fingers in his mouth, curious and testing.

Luo Binghe… perhaps has a better idea than his current plan. After all, if his Shizun won’t take him back willingly, then Luo Binghe will simply take his Shizun back, himself - and what better way to attract Shen Qingqiu than with a beast?)

Beneath Shen Qingqiu’s fingers, Luo Binghe shifts his hand, moving it to be palm-down. Shen Qinqgiu frowns, watching Luo Binghe’s blood drip onto the ground faster, now, but - 

But then Luo Binghe’s fingers do something - odd. They were human looking just now, Shen Qingqiu was sure of it, but now Luo Binghe’s nails are black and pointed and curled like claws, and his fingers are shaped oddly up to the first knuckle. It almost looks like…

Shen Qingqiu slides his fingers down from Luo Binghe’s palm to his fingers, taking a couple of them firmly in hand and pressing gently at the base of the claws there.

Fascinatingly, Luo Binghe’s claws extend out like a cat’s. 

“Oh,” Shen Qingqiu says, unconsciously tugging Luo Binghe’s hand up to his face for a closer look. He doesn’t remember the Luo Binghe of PIDW ever having this feature. “Where do they go, normally?”

“If Shizun comes back to this disciple’s rooms with him, I’ll cut off a finger for you to dissect,” Luo Binghe says, as if that’s a completely normal and sane thing to suggest.

Shocked, Shen Qingqiu drops Luo Binghe’s hand and rears backwards, pressing into the dirty alleyway wall behind him. Luo Binghe stares down at him, expression twisted up.

“Is this disciple so despicable that Shizun doesn’t even want that?” Luo Binghe asks, voice bitter. “Which part is so undesirable to Shizun? Following me anywhere at all, or being made to inspect any part of this disciple so closely?”

“Obviously that isn’t what’s wrong, here!” Shen Qingqiu gasps, offended and terrified in equal measure. “What kind of - don’t cut off your fingers to use as bait!”

“Ah,” Luo Binghe says ruefully. “So I couldn’t fool you after all. Was that it, then? Shizun took offense to my attempts to lure him in? Or was it all of it, after all?”

Shen Qingqiu gapes at him, then finally remembers he has a fan and very quickly snaps it open to hide behind. What kind of person wouldn’t take offense to being lured into a trap, ah! If a rabbit knew it would be skinned and eaten once caught, it also wouldn’t like any sort of bait, no matter how tasty!

Aloud, Shen Qingqiu says nothing. Luo Binghe’s expression grows more pinched, his lips pulling up in a sneer, and -

- and ah, his teeth are even sharper, now! Shen Qingqiu hadn’t even noticed!! Had that happened when Luo Binghe had released whatever sort of glamor made his nails look human, too? Was it a physical modification, or only an illusion? Did it break if someone tried to touch it? But, no, Shen Qingqiu himself had touched Luo Binghe’s teeth, and they hadn’t seemed out of sorts, so -

“Do your teeth retract too?” Shen Qingqiu can’t help but ask. 

Luo Binghe lets out a frustrated sigh. “Shizun can experiment with this one all he wants, if he would just -!”

Shen Qingqiu peers out over the edge of his fan carefully. Luo Binghe has been acting seriously, seriously OOC for a blacked demon lord this whole time, and it leaves Shen Qingqiu feeling off balance. Should he try to talk his way out of this? Should he just go back to trying to run for it?

Luo Binghe narrows his eyes at Shen Qingqiu. “If Shizun tries to run again, I’ll release the whole glamor and stand in the middle of the town until you come get me.”

“Binghe!” Shen Qingqiu exclaims. “Don’t be foolish, you - this master hasn’t told anyone about -”

“I know,” Luo Binghe says. “So either Shizun would be able to see a demon that is willing to let him dissect it, or someone else would come along and do that very thing but with far less precision.”

Shen Qingqiu raises his fan higher, nervous. “Don’t talk about being attacked like that,” he scolds.

Luo Binghe hums, pressing in closer to Shen Qingqiu’s space. “Shizun’s right, of course - anyone but him would ruin this disciple if they tried to take me apart. They wouldn’t be delicate enough; they’d ruin all the best parts to study.”

“That’s not -”

“So Shizun should be the one to take charge,” Luo Binghe says. “If you won’t follow me back to my room, I’ll follow you back to yours.”

Shen Qingqiu hesitates. He doesn’t really want to dissect Luo Binghe, of course - he has enough trouble as it is repressing the feeling of Xiu Ya slicing into the flesh of Luo Binghe’s chest from years ago. But he - he does want to know how Luo Binghe’s teeth work.

Shen Qingqiu’s room… is in the same building where Liu Qingge is staying, too. Hadn’t Shen Qingqiu first wanted to hug that battle-obsessed idiot’s thigh to get a strong protector for the future? If Luo Binghe tried anything, couldn’t he just call for help from his own room?

…This is very, very stupid. Shen Qingqiu is glad he has his very excellent and reasonable excuses from earlier. 

“If Binghe wants,” Shen Qingqiu says aloud.

Luo Binghe grins at him wide enough that Shen Qingqiu can make out the odd way Luo Binghe’s teeth sit in his mouth, as if he has a second row of them. 

Fascinating, he thinks, and reaches up to once more stick his hand into the mouth of his most deadly disciple.

Luo Binghe opens wider, letting Shen Qingqiu look, and starts quietly herding them back to the building the Cang Qiong delegation is staying in. It’s… ah, it’s probably fine, if Shen Qingqiu could just look a bit more…

[kitakikikitkat]

So I’ve been listening to God Games from Epic the musical, I haven’t listened to all of Epic the musical songs.

Anyways every time I listen to it I think of an au where it’s tgcf x svsss crossover. Where Odysseus is Luo Binghe (maybe after Shen Qingqiu’s death he causes too much chaos and like the martial gods are like woah there sunny boy we gotta have a talk or something) and Athena is Shang Qinghua and he’s like trynna help out LBH (bros his son so he gotta help him out plus bros the protagonist). I’m not sure about that I just thought the role fit SQH or made more sense in my mind (he doesn’t necessarily have to be like the god of wisdom in this crossover just LBH’s advocate or something along those lines).

I’m not sure who Zeus would be though, in my mind the timeline this takes place in is after the ending of tgcf where Jun Wu isn’t the heavenly emperor anymore (I haven’t read all of tgcf yet so I might be wrong on a few details, I have gotten a lot of spoilers about tgcf so I know the gist of how the story goes so I mean no offense if I get any details wrong). Plus mind you that the martial gods who will be deciding whether LBH should be released will be those who are in the upper heavenly court, I’m not thinking if the Greek God would fit the character more like they’re going to be judges of some sort mind you. Like they’re considered “high up” enough to be like “oh your opinion as a judge like martial god is important we gotta see what you say” kinda thing (and the tgcf/svsss characters I put to the epic the musical characters only fit for this song).

Anyways I thought Apollo would be Shi Qingxuan (in this au crossover he’s still there let me be delusional and not remember the unfortunate beefleaf ending) or let’s just think that maybe SQX somehow became a god again (because I really want them to still be a god and madly in love with He Xuan and get their happy ending because I can’t accept the beefleaf ending).

Anyways and then I thought Hephaestus would be Pei Ming (I don’t know why I thought that would be him but then again maybe it would be someone else, I thought he might also fit Ares but there’s a reason why I don’t think he’d fit being Ares but I also thought he’d fit Zeus).

Then Aphrodite would be Mu Qing because of the whole mom thing that happened with him, I think he would misunderstand LBH and how dedicated he was to the washer woman and might think that LBH should have stayed by his mother’s side and all that jazz. Anyways I think the person that just has to be Ares in my mind is Feng Xin, mainly because I love Fengqing and I want FX and MQ to be together, and in the song there’s this lyric that goes “and tell your lover” etc etc so whoever I thought would fit Ares and Aphrodite had to be two people who I shipped.

The person who I can just think would fit Hera would be Hua Cheng, SQH would be like “oh and he really loves his first crush like would do anything for him” and HC would be like “oh shoot release him then” because it just so happen that SQH “forgot” some details (how SQQ and LBH met again) and HC just thinks to himself about himself and Xie Lian and is like “this kid fr is like me I gotta have him be released so he can continue serving/looking after his crush”.

Anyways the part of the lyrics where it’s “is she dead?” Instead of it being Ares (FX) who asks that because Athena (SQH) gets struck with lightning maybe during this time it just so happens that LBH had been here during the whole trial just in a cage (a see through invisible cage that seals him up or something), and he wakes up and wants to ask the martial gods if SQQ is actually dead and if there isn’t anything that he can do to bring him back. SQH is like “what should I do” because if the gods say “oh yeah he’s dead” then LBH could go on a rampage and end up messing up all the progress he made in convincing the martial gods.

Maybe before SQH went to advocate for LBH he sent a letter to SQQ (let’s just say SQQ didn’t take years to get back and SQQ and SQH had met up secretly) so he just sent a letter informing SQQ of all the things happening and SQQ is the one who’s praying/saying “let him go, please, let him go” and it shows this. Because maybe SQQ isn’t dumb and actually knows that he might have actual feelings for LBH (or maybe he’s still dumb and just telling himself that he is just worried over the system punishing him if LBH is punished by the heavenly court) and the only reason SQQ didn’t try and go with SQH is he still thinks LBH hates him and that he’ll kill him if he sees him or just doesn’t want to cause LBH any trouble or pain from seeing him. So the martial gods are like “Ight the truth is he’s still alive” and it shows this like the whole SQQ praying (SQQ is obviously Penelope) and etc like some sort of projection and that’s how god games song ends for this au.

I don’t know where I was going with this, I just wanted to get people’s opinions over this huge delusional hyper fixation plus write it down before I forget this thought process.

[svsss-fanon-exposed]

I find it interesting that the most controversial/widespread posts have been those relating to physical appearance/visual medium. Lbh's hair and body type and sqq's eyes. I wonder what's the underlying cause for this. Maybe because people get attached to designs they feel more protective of them? Just a thought.

Oh, I would say this is absolutely the case. Visual design choices are, after all, often symbolic reflections of parts of individuals' own selves in some way, or of other things that are important to them. Artists will also spend a lot of time and thought on creating their designs-- and in some ways, visual media and written media are also quite different. You don't need the visual contrast so much in a book, but you do need it more when it's pictures, because characters with good contrasts are pleasant to look at together.

I actually think the donghua designs create a sort of contrast too-- both by SQQ's lighter eyes to LBH's, but as well as with the broader silhouettes, where SQQ has flowing robes and hair and LBH's silhouette is tighter. Also in general, the black robes of adult LBH vs the teal & white. Western stylization just focuses more on body type+hair texture silhouette diversity, while eastern stylization is more about the clothing and hair-styling silhouette, in a broad generalization, so it's only natural that when people create their designs, especially for a media that is only written, like SVSSS before the donghua or official cover art came out, that they will draw influence from the background of their own culture in creating these designs, in addition to their own experiences.

It's difficult too in my position, because while I genuinely want to take a neutral look at trends and history and patterns and cultural influence as a scientific sort of examination, there are so many instances of attacks on character designs, which make both the artists and designers and the people who like those designs feel bad and just isn't productive, even if criticisms are genuine. Things should be talked over civily, without bashing, because a space where people are belittled and attacked is not a space where people can learn.

Anyway, everyone has reasons for their designs. Sometimes these may be rooted in stereotyping or westernization, but other times, they're based on personal reasons and don't actually have those roots. It's not my or anyone's place to declare, definitively, that someone is stereotyping (of course, there are some instances when things are very very obvious and that's a different story), I only try to explain what things i can so that people are then able to examine things for themselves. I do think it's everyone's own responsibility to look at their own biases and think about where their portrayal choices are sourced from, especially when engaging with a culture that isn't one's own. But I don't want people to get into a justification loop, because that's not going to help anyone-- just to honestly take a look at the why of things. Sometimes there's subconscious biases, sometimes it isn't about that. I don't know peoples' own experiences, so I'm not going to say what it is or isn't.

In the end, accountability is something that is definitely needed in sensitive areas like westernization or stereotyping. However, accountability is not dogpiling on someone. Instead, it's personally being open to consideration, to change, and to growth-- and we'll never have that in a hostile environment. People need to focus more on holding themselves accountable, and less on holding others accountable-- we all have unconscious biases. It's part of existing in any culture or environment, and it's a life-long process of examining them and growing in experience and knowledge. And I hope to contribute that knowledge wherever I can, and use what platform I have to foster that sort of gentler environment, where it's not about making people who genuinely didn't know things feel bad, but where it's okay to be wrong, and to learn and grow.

It's up to an individual to examine themselves when they hear new information. That doesn't mean everyone needs to change their designs to conform with Chinese beauty standards-- which have plenty of issues of their own, and shouldn't be taken as more "morally correct!" It's just so that as many people as possible can have as much information as possible, so they can make the best and most informed judgments and decisions they can about their own viewpoints and thought processes.

But yes, even saying all this, I can perfectly acknowledge that fan-designs of beloved characters hold a bit of their creator's heart. While creators can be imperfect, the experiences and emotions and care that these designs stem from is still genuine, and should be treated with gentleness and understanding.

No matter if someone's viewpoint is erroneous or just different from yours, it's important to remember that every person on the internet is a real, human person. Fandom culture can be so notoriously toxic-- and it's high time that people remember each other's humanity, and treat one another with compassion and understanding. That's the only way to create a better fandom space-- and ultimately, a better world.

[phoenixcatch7]

I'm just imagining LBH and Damien going out together on a shopping trip, only to be kidnapped by a random criminal gang, hoping to hold them ransom for a huge pile of money. Criminal calling up SQQ: we have your husband and your son. If you ever want to see them again, pay us X amount of money. SQQ: could you pass the phone to my husband and kid, please? The criminal thinking that he wants proof that they have them, does it. SQQ: please don’t kill them. LBH: 😈. Damien: 😈

Oh that would be so funny!

The ONLY reason those two would get kidnapped is if lbh recognised a 'wife plot' as shizun calls it and wanted to try being the wife for a change XD. Yes, he weighed it against the possibility of sqq finding out his blood son wasn't kept safe but he's already given the kids blood so there's nothing he can't regenerate short of decapitation and Damien is even more capable than canon due to cultivation training (though he's been forced to accept he'll never reach immortality), so he convinces Damien to play dead and get batman to come and rescue them. Unfortunately for him ransoms can be sent a lot quicker this day and age, and when sqq gets the call he just:

Bruce Wayne, world's most oblivious playboy bachelor and simultaneous kiddie caretaker, absently answering his phone in the meeting he should have it off during: Hello~ how can I help ^^?

Kidnapper: Mr Wayne, hello. We have your husband and your youngest son.... If you ever want them back I'm sure we can arrange something... Say... A deposit of twenty million to this account -

Bruce Wayne, over the sounds of shock and horror around the table: uhuh, uhuh, can you put me on to them please?

Kidnapper: uh... Sure, let's hear them beg.

Innocent civilian softboi Brucie, politely: sweet ones, how are you? Did they tie you up too tight? I hope not. Anyway, don't kill them, yes?

Kidnapper, taking the phone back: oh >:) we won't, if of course you carry out the transfer -

The Most Civilian And Harmless Man This Death Pit Of A City Has Somehow Produced: oh no not you ^^! My darlings! They agreed to no murder! Self defence is an exception, of course, but don't get any blood on their clothes!

Kidnapper: hey, wait -

Immortal Demon Empress Xiu Ya: *hangs up the phone before the sound of extreme violence reaches the ears of the trembling stock holders* Anyway ^u^ I do believe we need to discuss point 3 dot 4 8 on this list again, specifically the section describing the effect on battery life? If you could go over it just one more time please, I'm sure I'll understand where precisely you assume the money is going to come from :)?

[frayed-at-the-seams]

SVSSS AU

I have read AUs where Shen Yuan is a separate character from SQQ, Shen jiu. And I’ve read ones where Shen Jiu and Shen yuan are related or exist in the same AU.

What I want, if any kind soul would write this for me, is a AU where Shen Yuan and Shen jiu are the same person. Shen Yuan is like SQH and reborn into Proud immortal Demon Way as an infant without his memories. He lives as Shen jiu until the moment he first kills someone (Qiu estate probably. I imagine him getting his memories back as he torches the place). All the memories as his life as Shen Yuan comes back to him and the system activates. It lets him know that he is the scum villain twenty years before canon events start.

Jaded, savage and a untrusting Shen yuan (maybe he chose to revert back to Yuan in hopes that he will get the small amount of warmth he’d had in his previous life) is forced by the system to continue down the path of becoming a sect leader. He meets disciple Qinghua along the way and they both band together as transmigrators to continue the story line. (Maybe they change a few minor plot points along the way. Gathering evidence on the Huan huan palace to give to Tianlang-Jun, once SQH had spilled about his drafts of course). SQQ uses both memories from his two lives to grow and change. He still has trauma and rage from his early years as Shen Jiu, but after a lot of talking with YQY over the years he forgives him. He also grows close with SQH and they become proper friends. (Maybe he later assists him with hiding the wounded Mobei-Jun?) of course he still has trauma and misdirected hatred on those with power who abuse the weak. He snaps when vulnerable and his communication is still terrible but he is not as naïve as he was as Shen yuan. The childhood of abuse as Shen jiu made him sharp and more selfish. But he is healing.

By the time Binghe joins the sect, SQQ has a reputation. He is still sharp tongued and insulting of those who he considers a threat or beneath him. But he is not a trope villain. He cares for children and would never harm them. Even the rivalry Shen jiu had with LQG in the book is dulled to mutual respect for each other’s skills but distance, neither browning closer until SQQ saves him. His relationship with YQY is tense, since SQQ recalls their childhood, but brotherly. YQY doting on him as usual and SQQ putting up with it. He still visits brothels, enjoying the time to gossip and talk with the women. (I suspect he has his sexual awakening before canon events begin).

He never treats Binghe unkindly, treating him with the same Shen yuan care as he treats his other disciples. He shows more control over his favouritism, only helping LBH when signs of bullying were too obvious to ignore. Of course Binghe soaks up any affection like a sponge. Maybe SQQ has a nightmare about the Qiu estate and wakes up screaming. LBH, who might have been doing chores at night, hears and bursts into the room to protect his Shizun. The moment of concern over his vulnerability is what breaks the wall of SQQ’s heart and is how Binghe moves into the room next door. Cue gay crush on shizun growing in little white sheep Binghe’s heart as he begins to work out that his Shizun had maybe suffered to. He swears to look after him.

As such things happen according to canon. But SQQ doesn’t get poisoned. Instead of defending LBD against the demon, he merely pulls them both of The way just in time for LQG to swoop in. This SQQ would be more cunning and selfish than the original Shen yuan. He wouldn’t loose all rationality over LBH brewing harmed, trusting in the protagonist halo. Other than that, events would continue up to the endless abyss scene.

Instead of spouting hatred against demons to LBH, he maybe reveals that he knows about LBH Herat Ive and tells him to jump down to save both their skins. The other cultivators would kill the boy on sight if they knew he was a demon and SQQ’s reputation would be ruined. He might even be expelled from his peak for harbouring a demon. With this method of manipulation, LBH jumps down himself. When he comes back to court his Shizun with riches and prestige, SQQ pretends to be annoyed but is secretly glad that he now has someone who he can fully trust.

Less angst and more badass SQQ really. I just want scenes of SQQ who remembers Shen jiu’s life and Shen yuan’s, being able to navigate the story with the attributes of both personalities and using the skills of both life. No getting caught in plot device miscommunication over amnesia. He has healthier relationships with all the characters and is able to tell when people are hitting on him. Just more badass and socially intelligent SQQ.

[faelicy]

Miss Faelicy I would love to get your opinion on Bingqiu.

I see people posting things like how they are "problematic" and how they don't really love each other and SQQ only feels sympathy etc. Obviously there were struggles between them as there should be (considering all that happened) and just because sqq wasn't very open and super obvious about his feelings doesn't mean they are not there..this is how I interpreted it. I would love to know your opinion

Hello! This also covers part 2 of the previous ask.

First, massive spoilers for the end of the novel. Second, a disclaimer: I despise shipwars, which I think are behind most of those comments. I hate them because it's usually all in bad faith: everyone's already committed to their interpretation of the ships, and any discussion is just a guise for justifying their preferences.

So to any readers: I don't want anything here to be used as shipwar fuel. This post is about Bingqiu's canon arc and themes. Basically, I don't know or care if Bingqiu is a good ship, but I do think it's a well-written one.

I'll start by saying directly: for most of the novel, Bingqiu is neither healthy nor romantic. And that this is not bad writing, but on purpose.

A relationship that drives one party to mental breakdown isn't healthy. A relationship where that party says it's okay to hurt or kill them can't possibly be healthy. That happened because there was something deeply wrong with their relationship, something that can't be reduced to Xin Mo, miscommunication, or LBH throwing a tropey yandere fit.

And out of all three MXTX novels, only SV lacks a love confession from the MC to the ML. Again, I don't think it's an oversight, or just because SQQ's face is too thin. There are plenty of ways MXTX could have worked a subtle one in if she really wanted to.

In my opinion, Bingqiu's narrative can be split up into four arcs: Qing Jing Peak (ch 1-27), Jin Lan City (28-43), Post-revival (29-55), and Reconciliation (56-81). Other than the first arc, where their relationship is pretty straightforward, Bingqiu spend most of the rest in direct conflict.

I'll give an overview of the arcs here, but what I truly want to say about Bingqiu starts in arc 4, so if you're impatient you can scroll down. But the overview might help add context.

Jin Lan City arc is about LBH's anger at being brutally betrayed by the one person he thought he could trust. Here he tries to force answers out of SQQ, who he believes both hates him and is a hypocrite. He's driven by a desire to return to the past, but his rage and love makes his actions contradictory: on one hand he tries to win SQQ's approval constructively, by climbing to the top of Huan Hua Palace and performing good deeds, on the other hand his belief that SQQ doesn't care about him so it's all futile anyway (reinforced by SQQ's own actions) causes him to lash out destructively, going as far as to hurt and imprison SQQ.

LBH's bitterness is portrayed very negatively, because all it does is instill despair into SQQ, until SQQ ends up believing that he's only been a blight on LBH's life, and that he must make up for it by killing himself. Whereupon LBH breaks down, regressing into a childlike state. Some might ask, why does LBH never bring up the Abyss again afterwards? It's because he gives up here. This entire arc is about getting LBH to let go of past wrongs and to stop seeking answers, whether the reader believes it's fair to him or not. Because SQQ's life is more important.

Post-revival arc then is about SQQ trying to come to terms with a blackened LBH who also loves him. Interestingly, despite SQQ's horror at realizing LBH was romantically interested in him all along, SQQ actually has a very subtle but telling secondary reaction. To explain, let's back up to the first arc.

Starting around ch 9, probably as a sign of his growing affection, SQQ begins addressing LBH as 这孩子, or "this child," in his internal monologue, instead of LBH's name. He does it once each in ch 9, 12, 17, 21, 25. However, once Jin Lan City arc starts, SQQ drops the address entirely. LBH and "child" are never brought up together except for one snarky comment on LBH's tantrum being disgracefully childish in ch 38.

At first glance this doesn't look noteworthy because LBH by this point is no longer a kid. But when LBH kisses him in ch 49, SQQ changes again: right away he returns to using "child" on LBH, and the "this child" address starts popping up at a much higher frequency. By the end of SV SQQ has referred to LBH as a child in some manner at least 35 times (yes I went and counted), with the vast majority after ch 49, and he continues to do so right into the last extra.

Why was SQQ unwilling to use this address of affection for over 20 chapters? Perhaps because he too thought LBH hated him, and couldn't bear to think about him so intimately knowing that. So SQQ immediately falling back into it the moment he learns LBH loves him is a sign of his relief. He's still dismayed at the romantic part, but though SQQ likes to deflect from his real emotions (this is the guy who focused on bad naming sense after being fatally poisoned, who cavalierly commented only after it was all over that he'd expected to die), the fact that LBH loves and doesn't hate him, means a lot.

Here SQQ's feelings towards LBH are at their most complicated. He still assumes the worst of him like in Jin Lan City, but now because of the above, also sees a lonely child whenever LBH is unhappy and lost. It's like he has two filters actively interfering with each other, "crazed criminal" and "pitiful child," and so he flip-flops between pushing LBH away and comforting him. But when LBH drags CQMS into it, and even seemingly takes advantage of SQQ's love for him, SQQ's negative image and frustration with him only grows, until he finally snaps and tells LBH to never come near him again.

At this point SQQ still believes that LBH is the same black-hearted, invincible, devil incarnate that og!LBH was portrayed to be. The Reconciliation arc starts by chipping away at this filter that's been plaguing SQQ for so long. First the revelation that TLJ/ZZL was behind the sowers, thus clearing LBH's name at Jin Lan City. Then we see how unloved he is by his own father; we see him injured and helpless and unconscious. Meng Mo yells at SQQ, reinforcing that image of a vulnerable, terrified child. So by ch 62 SQQ has thrown away the "crazed criminal" filter completely, and in that same chapter they cling to each other and finally make up. Because while it's true that the current LBH is misanthropic, antisocial, and mercurial, SQQ has also finally accepted that he's still the same LBH he'd raised and doted on, back on Qing Jing Peak.

Now I'm going to talk about what I see as the most important part of Bingqiu. Yes, despite the wall of text already.

A common sentiment of Bingqiu shippers about their issues seems to be, "SQQ is dumb and oblivious; he can't figure out what LBH needs even though he loves him because he sees LBH as a novel character," but I think the problem is far more complicated and insidious than that. If that was everything, why give SQQ the epiphany that he misunderstood LBH so early? Why have him think in ch 66 that "truthfully, he'd never really trusted Luo Binghe, and that's why he kept accidentally hurting him?" If he's already realized that he shouldn't treat LBH like og!LBH (he even meets og!LBH in ch 71 to rub it in further), why do we go another 13 chapters believing their relationship is good and well, even giving us a sweet, happy moment in ch 75, only to show LBH having the worst breakdown of the novel just 4 chapters later? Was it all just padding to demonstrate the danger of Xin Mo?

Or is there something else beneath the surface?

In ch 66, the same chapter where SQQ implies he doesn't want to accidentally hurt LBH anymore, he says something telling. When LQG is skeptical that LBH can be trusted, SQQ thinks, 家里孩子不懂事，大人不容易做, or "when your child doesn't know any better, as the adult you don't have it easy." The child here of course refers to LBH, and the adult is SQQ, who's complaining about smoothing over LBH's messes. But what is SQQ implying here?

Doesn't know any better? That's what you say about a toddler who can't think for themselves, not a grown man. LBH is 25 and SQQ thinks he doesn't know better. Doesn't know better about what? LBH's wants, his needs? His feelings? Or even what's good for him?

And then you realize that's exactly how SQQ's always treated him, like a helpless child who can't make his own choices.

It's SQQ who chooses to throw LBH down into the Abyss without trying to talk to him. It's SQQ who decides that keeping silent is the best choice. It's SQQ who believes self-destructing in front of LBH will help, who thinks that breaking off their relationship is for the better. And it's SQQ who scolds LBH into tolerating CQMS, even though they hate each other and CQMS is hostile towards him. Who forces him to leave first at Zhao Hua Temple despite LBH's pleas otherwise, who shoos him out the window when CQMS walks in on them.

Every single one of these decisions, SQQ made believing it was for the best (repair LBH's relationship with his family, help him avoid arrest, not wanting to make excuses, wanting LBH to be free of his hatred), and every single one of them only damaged LBH further. Because SQQ's never listened to him, even once. Never consulted him or considered his feelings.

(And LBH did try to bring up his feelings on one of the matters in ch 75. He insinuates to SQQ that he doesn't like LQG calling him "little beast" or "ingrate." And SQQ's response is to dismiss them entirely, saying that LQG's "not wrong.")

SQQ has always loved LBH, but he's never once respected LBH's agency or personhood. Because LBH doesn't know better and SQQ does, so SQQ must make all his decisions for him.

And this, amplified by Xin Mo, is what finally drives LBH mad in ch 79.

To LBH, the important part isn't whether SQQ loves him, which I think he knew after ch 43 (it's why he can be so daring and pushy with SQQ's boundaries). What's important is that the moment SQQ believes abandoning LBH is justified for whatever reason again, SQQ absolutely will.

Ch 80's two-way noncon (since LBH was basically unconscious and couldn't consent) tends to draw most of the attention, but I actually think that what happens afterwards is one of the most important scenes for Bingqiu. There SQQ tries to sacrifice himself a second time for LBH, drawing Xin Mo's demonic qi into his body. Yet the novel claims that SQQ's actions here are completely different than in ch 43. SQQ himself says that this time he's doing it for LBH, while last time he was doing it for himself. But can the reader see a functional difference?

There is one, in fact: it's SQQ's response to LBH's choice afterwards. LBH decides to follow SQQ in death, even though this would void the point of SQQ's sacrifice. But instead of insisting otherwise, SQQ just accepts it. Because he finally understands that whether LBH's life is worth living, whether LBH will be better off, is for LBH and only LBH to decide.

It's the first time he respects LBH's agency. And this is the only reason why he and LBH can finally begin building a healthy relationship on the mess they've had up to now.

So that's what I see as the true beauty behind Bingqiu. It's about communication and mistaken assumptions, yes, but it's also about the nature of love between parent and child. The romantic developments were left to the extras, I believe, because this was the main story MXTX wanted to tell with them. Their relationship as lovers only starts afterwards, hence why SV ends with, "the story between you and I, has only just begun." It was never meant to be a whirlwind romance where they fall in love cleanly. It might not to be to everyone's tastes, but an incredible amount of thought was put into the narrative, and that's what amazed me when I first finished this novel.

(This post went on way too long and I ended up cutting off a huge chunk of tangential stuff and how SQQ came to his realization in ch 79: he didn't do it alone. It took him seeing the LBH in TLJ and the himself in YQY for him to understand. In fact, YQY and og!SQQ's relationship has a similar parent-and-child dynamic. I've touched on it before on twitter; if there's interest I might try writing that up here too.)

[mahkaria]

SY transmigrates early (and destroys SQH’s sanity in the process)

After a truly dreadful childhood with YQY which he swears he’ll strangle Airplane shooting toward the sky for (I can’t believe how long it took me to understand it was a sexual innuendo), SY arrives to Cang Qiong Mountain. He goes to Qing Jing, gets a fanclub which he absolutely doesn’t know about (what’s new?) and starts cultivating which is the coolest thing ever. So what if he set a few things on fire? He has to test all those cool spells. 

------------  Truth be told, it takes SQH an awful lot of time to notice the scum villain isn’t acting as he should. Can you blame him? Cucumber-bro is a hurricane locked in 5’1” tall body. He will smile at you at first and then murder you if he sees you annoy one of his shimei. 

It’s only when he hears him comment on (criticize) someone’s writing that he realizes: “Wait I actually know this guy.”. He talks to him about it and promptly gets punched in the face which...fair. 

Yet, despite anything, SY doesn’t try to avoid him after this. Quite the contrary in fact. They stick together to the point that even YQY comes to see him one day and asks what his intentions are toward his “precious little brother”. SQH : “Bro, you turned a nice guy into a yandere-big-brother-type.” 

SY *sipping his tea* : Accidents happen. (One day, when true An Ding Peak member wants to show their superiority over him which is a very nice way to say bullying, SY jumps into a fight to save him. SQH definitely doesn’t get a small crush on him because of this.)

Then the fated first meeting with Liu Qingge who at the moment looks more like a newly-born kitten than the fearsome War God arrives. Has he already told how terrifying Cucumber Bro is? Yes ? Well, he’d like to say it again. He knew already that this guy was fierce. Some authors liked to complain about how this “Expert reader” would make even the thickest faced person cry tears of agony. They couldn’t even ban him : he theoretically didn’t insult them nor say anything untrue ! 

All this to say that having gone through the scum villain’s upbringing didn’t soften him. Not. At. All. 

He beats any overly prideful person to the ground and looks like a model while  doing it. Each Young Master who thinks he can run away from his responsibilities ends up suffering. At the end, SY’s growing fanclub ends up gaining a new reluctant member. Now, SY can be seen followed by a Bai Zhan disciple who asks to fight him all day long. 

This isn’t good for SQH’s blood pressure. Like all passionate readers, SY loves experimenting with each aspect of the world he likes. A new cool spell ?  He has to learn it. A new creature with more teeth than should be possible? Let’s go see it. Stop screaming, bro, I’m sure it isn’t as dangerous as it seems. (They don’t talk about the first time he had manipulated a fan and destroyed a part of Qing Jing Peak. They don’t. Roofs are overrated anyway.) 

Liu (not yet) Qingge doesn’t help. To each of SY’s stupid ideas, he answers with an eager nod and by taking out his sword.  

SQH : aren’t you worried about the plot? Luo Binghe? Human-stick SQQ *who just discovered a new interesting beast or flower and wants to enjoy a healthy body* : We still have time. LQG *who doesn’t understand what SQH is saying* : Shixiong, there is Moon-shattering Lion there, let’s go fight it. 

It’s like wrestling with two hyperactives toddlers and SQH is so done with it. As if his king wasn’t enough, he has to deal with Shen “why should I care about my own life, let’s go see this giant monster over there” Yuan and Liu “I’m 13 but already have lost all my brain cells apart from those used to fight and watch Shixiong* Qingge. 

It’s exhausting. Unfortunately, he can’t seem to break away from them. The current peak lords seem to have the stupid misconception that SQH is a willing partner of those two’s insanity. It means that they all get paired in every.FREAKING. MISSION. 

By the time they are named head disciple, everyone knows of Cang Qiong’s earth shattering trio. It is a more literal name that SQH would like, Cucumber Bro really isn’t good at measuring out his strength. Liu Qingge doesn’t even try. 

The only person who understands is Mu Qingfan, the unlucky person who has to patch them up when they come back from their “adventures”. 

[touchmycoat]

qijiu Second Exorcists AU

...the Heavenly Demons have come to destroy the Exorcists. Transmigrator SY!SQQ gets kidnapped/lured deep into some hidden chamber at the base of the Spirit Caves, and he finds there old members of the Alliance like those monk guys as well as YQY’s bloody corpse. Noah!LBH tells SQQ that he’s going to show his old mentor just how messed up and hypocritical the Exorcist Alliance is. He would destroy the Sects with the very thing they created, the thing they fear most and hates them in return.

YQY revives because that’s his claim to fame as an exorcist—the strongest immortal sword. SQQ tries to get his attention but his eyes are completely fixed on the body underneath the glass, sealed in the ground beneath him.

“Xiao Jiu...?”

With his dream demon powers, LBH opens up YQY’s memories. SQQ tries to help and also gets sucked in. There they witness the truth of the Alliance’s past, and who exactly YQY and “Xiao Jiu” are.

YQY’s earliest memory is climbing out of a pool of freezing water. The scientists call him Number Seven. There was a Number Five and a Number Six, but they were both destroyed only days after Seven met them. You, the scientists explain to Seven, have been given these special bodies thanks to us. You can withstand an incredible amount of damage. You are meant to be compatible with a spiritual weapon called an Innocence. We have to keep trying to synchronize you with the Innocence.

Eight doesn’t last so long either.

LBH and SQQ watch as YQY, for some reason, survive each attempt at an Innocence harmonization. He gets utterly decimated every time, limbs and bones flying everywhere, but somehow, there’s always just enough strength in him to knit his body back together. He smiles. He’s polite and gets along with people. He’s in a constant cycle of pain and bandages, and he goes and sits by the icy pools all the time, staring out at the water looking blank.

One inevitable day, Nine comes crawling out of the water. He’s small and scowls a lot. Seven is over the moon to have company and takes Nine under his wing. Nine is always hissing and glaring at people. He rejects everyone but Seven. He’s grumpy but he hovers close.

The two of them keep getting sent into the room with the Innocence. They die, over and over. Nine screams and cries about it sometimes, why, why, why do they have to live like this. Isn’t there any other way. Why them. Who were they. Why couldn’t they escape.

Meanwhile, Seven is having dreams. He’s seeing things he’s never actually seen in this life before. I think, Seven tells Nine, it might be my past life. Of course, Nine realizes. Why else would we be the special ones? We must have been dead or dying, and the weapons they keep trying to inject into us belong to our past selves.

The dreams are vague, but gives Seven a surname—Yue. He knows he is called Yue Something, and that there’s another surname just hovering in his memory, Shen. For some reason, this Shen person feels really important to him, but he doesn’t quite know why.

When he tells Nine, Nine grows jealous and wistful. So your name can be Yue Qi? What about me then, I don’t have a name.

Well you can be Shen Jiu then.

I thought the Shen surname belongs to Qi-ge’s most important person.

Xiao Jiu is my most important person.

...For now.

But still, Yue Qi can tell Shen Jiu’s happy with the surname. They continue living this way, until SJ’s whispering to YQ in excitement about getting his own dreams too.

The dreams, however, as they become more lucid, are making YQ sadder and sadder. On one particularly feverish day, after a bad synchronization, YQ sees what happened in full—his most important person, screaming and reaching for him as he’s dragged out of a house by his legs. He’s broken and bloody and dying but he keeps trying to crawl back to where that door’s slammed shut.

Go back, was everything he knew. I have to go back.

A demon appears overhead, grinning. The last thing YQ saw was its teeth.

Meanwhile, a feverish YQ’s body is falling apart. SJ overhears the scientists talking about terminating Seven before another bad reaction like Eight happens, and SJ figures no fucking way. He steals YQ’s body away, but is found halfway out. He throws YQ’s body out a nearby exit and dives back in himself to distract the scientists.

YQ wakes up disoriented but with the newfound clarity of mind to call his Innocence to him. Its name, he learns, is Xuan Su. He’s outside of the facility and can escape, but he decides to go back for Xiao Jiu.He’s got the Innocence now, so surely that’s enough for the experiment. Surely he can petition for SJ to be spared, or maybe they can be partnered together. Surely everything’s fine now.

YQ returns to a bloodbath. He finds almost every single scientist at the facility slaughtered, the room burning, and Xiao Jiu standing in the middle of all of it, covered in blood with an Innocence blade in hand.

Qi-ge, you’ve come back. But I have to kill you now.

YQ hurries to draw his blade to meet SJ’s onslaught. SJ, it turns out, has also regained his memories. His perspective on the matter is a lot worse than YQ’s though. Qi-ge, do you know what I saw? I saw myself begging them to let me live. That I could still be saved. They just had to give me the cure, and I could live and go save—

Go save...?

...forget it. Qi-ge, we have to die. I have to kill you. I won’t let you become a tool for the Alliance.

...No. Xiao Jiu, I can’t die. Memories regained, YQ has something to live for. He has to find his most important person. Please, nobody else has to die—

I’ve already killed all the others. Nobody else has to go through what we went through. There will be no more of our kind—

Xiao Jiu! Please! You’re scaring me, YQ wants to say. You’re more terrifying than any demon in our memories.

SJ seems to see the unspoken words in his eyes anyways. SJ goes cold, summons his sword. YQ’s hand is shaking.

You know I’m stronger than you, he whispers. I don’t want to kill you.

You don’t want to kill me but you also won’t let me kill you, SJ laughs bitterly. Qi-ge always has to lie about something.

They fight. As the facility comes crumbling down around them, YQ deals the killing blow. He looks up and sees the sky for the first time as SJ falls. It looks even bigger and emptier than in his memories.

The dream-memory ends. LBH and SQQ are booted out, and YQY staggers to his feet. SJ, underneath the glass, is waking up.

“Doesn’t Sect Leader Yue have questions for the Research Team?” LBH asks. “About the Third Exorcist project, perhaps? Where the seeds for their hybridization came from?”

YQY calmly calls for Xuan Su, SQQ sees his hand tremble just once.

“Cang Qiong will defend the Alliance,” YQY says. “No matter what it takes.”

“Qi-ge’s already killed me once, after all,” SJ says, standing up. His voice is rough from disuse. There’s a faint shape of a smile on his lips, but his eyes are cold. “What’s a second?”

They begin fighting. SQQ rushes to interrupt.

“Zhangmen Shixiong! Stop this!”

“I can’t,” is YQY’s grim answer. “Xiao Jiu is much stronger than before, and I know better than anyone how determined he can be. He won’t stop until I’m dead.”

SJ agrees. The fight escalates rapidly. SQQ turns his attention to SJ.

“But I don’t understand, why do you want to kill him so badly? Didn’t you grow up  together? Aren’t you his friend?”

“I was his friend,” SJ hisses. Meanwhile, YQY is drawing more and more of his life force to kill the rapidly regenerating SJ. “I tried to save him from precisely this fate, and look at him now—a dog of the Alliance. You want to find your most important person? Newsflash Qi-ge, he’s gone. He’s been dead and gone and he’s only a method for the Alliance to control you.”

“You’re wrong,” YQY says, and SJ frowns, hearing something in his tone. But the fight is continuing, and before he can ask, SQQ tries intervening. Annoyed, SJ turns an attack on SQQ, and YQY turns around and saves SQQ just in time.

At YQY’s shout of Shen-shidi! SJ’s eyes go wide.

“...No. No!“ All his vitriol is all of a sudden turned on SQQ, his attacks getting more vicious. “You filthy liar, you’re not him!”

“Xiao Jiu, calm down!” YQY shouts. “I never said it’s him!”

“But I know what you’re like, Qi-ge,” SJ spits, sounding more like he’s in pain than any of the previous times Xuan Su has split him apart. His eyes have gone red. “Such a caretaker, such a martyr. You always want to be saving someone, so will anybody do? Your most important person is not so important anymore? Qi-ge ran me through with his sword a thousand times just for any harlot he picks up off the street and gives that last name to—”

“Xiao Jiu!”

YQY’s hair had gone white, more and more of his soul being sublimated through Xuan Su as he cuts SJ down. But SJ is similarly relentless, reforming and regrowing his limbs, all the while shouting about how this is all Qi-ge’s fault, it’s only because of Qi-ge that he’s like this, that Qi-ge has to kill him, and they should just both die here already for the good of everybody.

Meanwhile, SQQ’s eyes find LBH, who’s been standing calmly aside all this time because his purpose has been achieved. Teeth gritted, SQQ tells LBH that fine, he gets it already, the Alliance has been responsible for a horrible thing. But LBH wants to show everybody the truth? Then let’s get the full truth out there. Show us what SJ knows.

LBH understands immediately, eyes widening just a little.

“Shizun suspects...?”

He considers it for long enough that SQQ is antsy on his feet.

“Luo Binghe! I said I believe you! Take out Shen Jiu’s memories and...and I’ll leave here with you.”

LBH’s gaze sharpens.

“Do you promise?”

“I do.”

After one last considering stare, LBH waves a hand. He begins pulling the memory out of SJ, but SJ seizes it, hiding it away instead. LBH frowns, but says that as long as SJ has a hold on it, he can’t show YQY. Meanwhile, he’s fulfilled his promise. Shizun should go with him now.

“No.” LBH opens a portal and SQQ’s mouth falls open. “Binghe! You—”

“Don’t go with him, Shen-shidi,” YQY says in a rush, pushing himself further into overdrive. SJ watches him with a furious, complicated expression. “I’ll—I’ll hurry up. I’ll be done here soon, just don’t—”

“You’ll go back,” SJ utters, voice shaking as he spits, “for everybody but me. You’ll destroy me twice to save your stupid world. That’s why I’m going to kill you.”

“Stop this.” SQQ gets out of LBH’s hold and intervenes once more. He barely blocks an attack from SJ. “Look, I know who you are! Why don’t you just tell him you’re—”

“Shut up!” Another attack, knocking SQQ to the side. LBH tries to block him but SQQ pushes him aside again, lunging back in. “You don’t know anything! He has to—one of us has to die. He needs to die. I’ll make sure of it if it’s the last thing I do.”

A bit dead-eyed, YQY throws his all into a final attack.

“Zhangmen Shixiong! Wake up!”

Xuan Su runs SQQ through and everything freezes. YQY snaps out of it and his eyes go wide.

“Shen—”

“Take,” SQQ says through gritted teeth, “a goddamn look at Shen Jiu’s face, Shixiong, and think.”

Numbly, YQY looks over and sees SJ glaring as usual. But he also finally sees the red in SJ’s eyes, the tear tracks on his cheeks.

“What won’t he tell you about what he remembers, hm?” SQQ is honestly kind of pissed at this point, ‘cause that sword in the gut hurts, alright? He’s been hiding the extent of the wound as best he could from LBH, but now he can’t hold himself upright anymore, slumping over. Demonic energy suddenly explodes around them. Jesus christ is this what period pain feels like. “Who is he that wants you dead before you find out his identity?!”

It doesn’t take much more for YQY to put the pieces together. He’s staring at SJ. He can’t breathe.

“You’re—”

“Qi-ge watch—”

LBH attacks, Xin Mo vicious and bloodthirsty as it tries to cleave YQY in half for hurting SQQ. SJ takes the blow instead, his Innocence shattering beneath the sword and an arm and a leg being chopped away. YQY catches him. SQQ works up the last of his energy to shove them both into the portal LBH has already opened, sealing it behind them.

“Shen—!”

“Go,” he tells YQY right before the portal closes. Neither of them look to be in a good state, but SJ in particular is literally falling apart, the demonic energy it had taken to revive him battered away by his fight with YQY. “Talk, before...”

The door closes.

They hit water.

YQ drags them both out and sits exhausted against a wall. SJ’s in his arms, but has buried his face in YQ’s shoulder and refuses to look up.

SJ’s tense and helplessly shaking, his body useless at this point. He’s waiting for...something.

He gets a soft kiss to the crown of his head, gentle but full of feeling. His eyes go wide and his head snaps up.

“You—”

“I’m so glad,” YQ says, crying and shaky but painfully earnest in his smile, “I found you. My most important person. I’ve finally found you.”

And SJ can’t take it anymore either, tears toppling out. He opens his mouth but no words come out, so YQ continues to talk.

“I was right. From the very beginning I was right to give you that surname, wasn’t I? It’s always been you. Qi-ge was a fool for not realizing. You were right in front of me and I—”

“This is why I didn’t want to tell you,” SJ blurts out, brows furrowing tightly at YQ’s fresh tears. “I knew you’d blame yourself, I knew—”

“I left you dead,” YQ chokes out, “for years. All while I went around traveling and eating and having fun—”

“Yeah, stupid Qi-ge. You should’ve just let me kill you.”

The tone comes out more panicky than appropriately grumpy, but YQ understands. He laughs—in pain but he laughs, clutching SJ closer.

“What now?” SJ murmurs. “Your Shidi’s closed the portal, it doesn’t look like anybody will come to get you. Are you waiting around to die with me or what?”

YQ pulls back, still smiling, and nods. For some reason, that makes SJ cry some more, gnashing his teeth at YQ’s chest. YQ’s lips find his forehead.

Somehow, whenever I leave, I never manage to make it back to you. So this time, I just won’t leave at all.

[namelessexistence]

It’s been a while, those last days were not great to me, a loto f things happening in my personal life, but I’m back with the part 9 of 10 of my top 100 favorite characters

20 – Lucifer Morningstar (Lucifer)

The TV show. I haven’t read the comic, but I want to. I admit I wasn’t always happy with the direction the writers went with this character, specially when it comes to his relationship with Chloe, maybe I’ll write an essay about the show one day. I actually did this, but then the final season came, and I have to edit it taking this in consideration. Anyway, despite all my problems with the show, I coudn’t help but grow attached to this character.

19 – Tony Stark (MCU)

Does he have flaws? Yes. But he’s still the best written character of the franchise. The first Iron Man movie as well have a lot of flaws, but, character-wise, I love it.

18 – Raven (Teen Titans)

That cartoon was a vital part of my childhood, and I know it’s the same for a lot of people from my generation. Raven was my favorite since first season, but my love for her only grew as the show went on.

17 – Ciel Phantomhive (Kuroshitsuji)

If you never watched or read and are interested in checking the story (unlikely, I think the fandom is pretty much dead at this point), my advice is that you read the manga instead of watching the anime. I was young back then, when I first had contact with this story (trough the anime, unfortunally), and I swear I coudn understand why the fandom seemed so obssessed with Sebastian when Ciel was a far more interesting character

16 – Lucifenia Trinity (Evillious Chronicles)

Is it cheating putting three characters together? Well, I’m doing it anyway. I love them so much. I don’t really care about Elluka/Levia outside the Trinity. Of course, knowing her makes it more impactful to have her finding this weird family that was doomed from beginning. Swear An Oath On That Bridge is such a bittersweet song

15 – Zuko (Avatar The Last Airbender)

Praising Zuko’s character arc is already a cliche by now, but it’s not without a reason. I was really invested on this character as a preteen, and, to my endless frustration, though I managed to convince my friends to watch atla and they liked it, I was still the only one in the group who liked Zuko. There was even this girl who would always roleplay as Mai when we would play pretend, but she always found a way to not be in a relationship with Zuko.

14 – Mulan (1998)

This movie was very importante to me. And I know that, when it comes to portraying chinese culture is not exactly... great, but it still have a lot of strenghts. I really like how the song Honor to Us All shows us Mulan’s personality trough scenes like her intefering in that game and giving back that little’s girl doll.

13 – Laurent of Vere (Captive Prince)

I normally like the complicated bastards, I already know that. No one has to tell me.

12 – Luo Binghe (Scum Villain Self Saving System)

And I’m talking about both Bingge and Bingmei. Two sides of the same coin. I just can’t resist the allure of his fear of abandoment and attachment issues. How Bingmei was so convinced near the end that SQQ would never chose him, that no one would ever choose him. How Bingge is so unhappy and so quick to try to take what Bingmei have, because as much as he mocks and look down on Bingmei, he knows that Bingmei is happier than he. That Bingmei has something he never achieved. The main difference between the two versions of Binghe is not their morality (because, let’s be honest, Bingmei is not that moral), but the fact that Bingmei is satisfied, while Bingge keeps on conquering and taking because it’s never enough. Someone once wrote that SVSSS is not about cycles of abuse, and it’s true (how could SY break a cycle he was never part of?), but PIDW is, and Binghe never realized that, and, as consequence, SY and the Other readers never realized as well. I really should do a whole post about LBH, this is getting too long, so I’ll move on.

11 – Jake Peralta (Brooklyn Nine-Nine)

He had a great character growth, but he was never a bad person to begin with. He was immature, and self-centered at times, but never purposefully cruel. I think he’s well written as well. I mean, he was basically raised by movies like Die Hard and had it as his inspiration, and that’s easy to notice in his behaviour. He’s not exactly the most complex character in this list, but I simply like him

[eldritch-elrics]

svsss: binghe callout party + the system’s punishment

so much happened in these chapters oh my god. i can’t believe i’m on chap 74 of 81

tldr: sqq needs to stop procrastinating on his sexuality crisis, also yay for cqms protecting its own but oh no for binghe discovering the truth about his parents, also COOL system penalty. oh and fake internet drama my beloved

zzl my poor, poor boy. i hate that he killed gongyi xiao but :((( he’s trying so hard to be nice to sqq!!! sqq’s making it so hard for him!

it’s also really interesting how fixated on repaying debts/revenges he is. i know it’s demon culture being different from human culture but i am going hmm… neurodivergence momence….

tlj, completely unprompted, once again: huh, so sqq likes threesomes does he? very interesting…

sqq saying he trusts binghe <3

seems like sqq believes binghe will change. i also believe in him! though seeing what lbh’s been like, we’ll see how fast that change happens lol.

sqq also says later that most of the tension between him and lbh has been a misunderstanding, which… yeah that’s fair enough. but sqq is very much at fault for a lot of that misunderstanding! because he is (or used to be, at least) shit at communication! at least he’s been taking responsibility

always astounded by how much effort liu qingge goes through to rescue sqq, whether that’s just his body or his actual person. sqq is really just drowning in men who want to do things for him

sqh confessing everything and babbling at lqg <3 and oh my god he fought mobei-jun?

binghe: only two rooms thanks :3 i don’t have money for more :3

liu qingge: i’ll fucking kill you

i really do want to see the scene of lbh and lqg trying to share a room. i was hoping maybe they would do some enemies-to-friends bro bonding but it seems like it’s too early for that… grudges like that can’t be fixed in one night...

we’re almost at chapter 70 and sqq still thinks he’s straight.

funny that the system says it needs to save resources? that feels like a bad excuse. there’s never been a problem like that before… and doesn’t it make sense for the system to just have infinite resources? i’m very interested in this statement. maybe it’s just bluffing to make itself seem less powerful than it is / delay sqq’s gratification

the fact that it’s not giving him any new coolness points is probably a good thing, since he spends all of them a couple chapters later. maybe sqq will gain back all those he lost in a rush at the end of the month

SQQ IS SO EMOTIONAL ABOUT GETTING HIS FAN BACK I LOVE HIM

binghe serving him breakfast waaaa

as far as i recall, binghe’s the only one who’s been able to make the system give sqq prompts with multiple-choice answers. protagonist power! one more piece of evidence for the idea that lbh’s subconscious is what influences the system most

lqg kicking doors down is so normal that sqq doesn’t react

poor zzl for the dozenth time: gets used as a seat cushion :(

this entire next part is just Hurting Binghe Hours

this scene felt super mdzs. it’s like… stirring up a giant crowd against someone, with the intention of ruining their reputation? reminiscent of jinlan city too of course but that theme of reputation is so central to mdzs that it made me think. also the whole thing about lbh being a bastard/otherwise outside the cultivation world norm... hmm.....

“tianlang-jun is not my father. i don’t need a father.”

fucks me up…

lqg and yqy: *knocks ten angry cultivators away from sqq* oops my hand slipped

lbh ran away… bingqiu separated once more :(

ohhhhh my god the system penalty. i had totally forgot about the whole “sending him back to his original world” thing but i’m so glad it got brought up again. all the peak lords must be worried sick haha... hopefully he’ll wake up in his bed in qing jing peak or something later and it’ll all be ok

meeting og!lbh… god i got chills. that part was so good

i can’t help but notice he lost his right arm and left leg….. just like edward elric……

that’s such a good system punishment tbh like.. it’s not sending him back to HIS original world, but it’s sort of like sending him to sqq’s original world, for just a few minutes…

yay meng mo saved him!

not surprised at how bad shen jiu’s situation was. i will have to read more about it later!!

i’m so close to the end holy shit. i expect we’ll get some more bingqiu development soon but it’s so funny that sqq hasn’t even realized he’s not straight, let alone that he likes lbh! i guess this novel is really their getting-together story more than anything (we’ve got the extras for established relationship stuff) but i feel like there’s still so much left to resolve!

speaking of extras… there’s an extra chapter plopped right in the middle here? thanks mxtx lol

ok my take is: reading fake internet drama is so FUCKING funny

i do not know anything about chinese webnovel internet culture but this scene still rings so true to me… people on web forums just be like that huh

airplane is so excited about all the arguing sjkdhsjd

the fact that peerless cucumber is labeled an expert.

peerless cucumber up in here with his fantastic takes like “the monsters are so much more interesting than the endless wives” and “the only good bit is binghe’s arc”

the person who comments “cucumber bro wrote so many words just to hate on it, must be true love”

the person who comments “hey guys wanna read my bingqiu slash”

the handful of comments that are like “the romance between binghe and the women is terrible but the relationships he has with the male characters are emotional and moving” just go to solidify my “airplane is gay and knows jack shit about women” theory

again, araki jojo vibes

what a way to die, airplane

and he was thinking of sqq too! just like sqq was thinking about him when he died :) it’s fate!

[serotocin38]

MXTX Superlatives #16: Best Groups

Winner: One Brain Cell Trio (TGCF)

Runner-Up: The Juniors (MDZS)

Honorable Mentions: Team Resentment (SVSSS), Idiot School Buds (MDZS), Cucumber-Plane (SVSSS)

[SPOILERS FOR TGCF]

They are three guys, but they share one brain cell when they’re together. Individually, they have many! But for some reason, when it’s the three of them, a single brain cell must be passed between them like they’re the Grey Ladies or something. Yup, Xie Lian, Mu Qing, and Feng Xin. 

It’s a real miracle they managed so many years together, and honestly suffered a lot. But some of their actions are honestly so questionable (but like, in a good way). But they have a very special place in my heart because of their deep bond. 

I mean, in the Cave of Ten Thousand Gods, MQ and FX are captured in the butterfly silk. XL tries rescuing them and falls in with them. And they just sit there, blaming each other until Hua Cheng reluctantly comes to their rescue. Then, MQ and FX grab XL and run. Because they totally know exactly how to get out of the cave systems! 

At the time, the two of them already know HC knows how to get out, but they still decide to blindly make a run for it in a place HC knows like the back of his hand. On top of that, XL is no help at all as he is dragged along, confused and a little bit amused by their antics. Either way, their efforts did not get them anywhere in the end, and HC still “kidnapped” XL in the end, but I applaud their efforts. 

Next, the juniors - Jin Ling, Lan Sizhui, Lan Jingyi - are just adorable and so precious. They keep each other balanced, and it’s just amazing.

What do I mean? LSZ and LJY are JL’s first real friends. They help him loosen up around others, and allow him to act his age, considering the only other people JL are close to are his uncles. Then, JL and LJY help put a bit of a rebellious streak in LSZ. Those two aren’t rule followers, so they make sure LSZ doesn’t get too uptight and wound up in rules. Finally, LSZ and JL keep LJY in line, pulling him back if he’s crossing any major lines. 

So are they best friends? Definitely, without a doubt. Are they something more? I can’t say, but there is no breaking their friendship for sure. 

And I obviously have way too many groups that I love, so here’s the breakdown of the honorable mentions. 

Team Resentment: Liu Mingyan and the three nuns wrote the Resentment of Chunshan. First ever Bingqiu fanfic, gotta give them props for that. Also, I love that they are these four peerless beauties that are surrounded with mystery, and their hobby is writing gay porn.

Idiot School Buds: Nie Huaisang, Jiang Cheng, Wei Wuxian got into so much trouble in the year they were supposed to be studying at the Cloud Recesses, you can’t help but love them. Like the juniors, they keep each other in check (almost), but they all individually had too much trauma to deal with that their friendship could not last. Alas. 

Cucumber-Plane: And finally, we can’t forget the transmigrator bros. While they technically aren’t a group, I just had to mention them. They constantly hover somewhere between enemies and friends (but they’re friends, really good ones at that). Shen Qingqiu is 1000% done with Shang Qinghua and his shitty novel, but he likes his memes probably. On the other hand, Shang Qinghua is so glad for someone from his world to suffer experience his novel with him, especially when it is his biggest fan (SQQ would not rant passionately on every chapter if he did not care deeply about PIDW).

[a-mustard-flower]

Hi! I'm sorry to bother you with this but I don't know where else to ask. I haven't read SVSSS yet so I'm a little confused about some things so I was hoping you could tell me some spoilers pls? I wanted to know basically if the version of LBH that SQQ marries also has the harem of 600 women and other wives? Or is that the OG!LBH? Sorry I'm a little confused. Also, could you pls tell me how Bingqiu got together/how they resolved things post-Endless Abyss? Thank you so mucj in advance!

Hi Anon! I’m humbled you have come to me with your questions! So, you are considering reading SVSSS? Good, good. It’s an extremely good novel. Even those who personally don’t like it consider it’s a good one. A bit of a warning though, if you are worried about the romance, and your words make me think you are, proceed with caution. I can assure you that never for a second will you doubt the two main characters love each other and it’s not a spoiler to say they end up together, but according to personal tastes some readers think it needs more of an expansion on the romance front. That depends on personal preferences of course. To me it was an extremely satisfying ending, but others would rather there would have been more said about the main characters as a couple. But! Don’t let this deter you from reading it! It will be worth your while!

Now, about your questions, since there will be spoilers I’ll answer under a cut, okay?

(spoilers ahead)

First an explanation:

Shen Yuan, the MC, lives in a modern setting in China. He reads a stallion novel (meaning it’s full of sex and low on feelings) on the internet which is about a man named Luo Binghe and his quest to becoming the overlord of his world. He acquires 600 hundreds wives on the way, as any self-respecting stallion novel main character would. One of Luo Binghe’s enemies is Shen Qingqiu, his former teacher who abused him. In our (SVSSS) fandom, the Luo Binghe and Shen Qingqiu of this stallion web novel are referred to as Original!Luo Binghe and Original!ShenQinqiu and they are not the main characters of what we are reading. You could say they characters of a parallel universe.

At the beginning of SVSSS Shen yuan dies and transmigrates into the novel he read occupying the character (and body) of Shen Qingqiu. Shen Yuan fully assimilates Shen Qingqiu’s role but he doesn’t want to become Luo Binghe’s enemy so he resolves to treat the, at the moment, young teenager LBH different thus changing the events of the original novel. This Luo Binghe falls for his teacher and never, at all, considers another romantic interest. In fact, he becomes rather obsessed with Shen Qingqiu to the point where the novel touches on some controversial topics. Keep this in mind

Because Shen Qinqiu (his former name, Shen Yuan, is never mentioned again) has to follow the most important key points of the original novel he has to ‘betray’ Luo Binghe by throwing him from a cliff into a place of horror and agony called “the abyss” accusing him from being irredeemable because of his nature as a Heavenly Demon. Because Luo Binghe actually considers this a betrayal and Shen Qingqiu a hypocrite, he is angry upon his return but has not become evil, as Shen Qingqiu feared he would. SQQ doesn’t realize this however and is very afraid of what LBH will do to him.

The rest of the novel is full of misunderstandings between the two of them because SQQ acts according to his knowledge of the original novel and the accurate but incomplete information the System (the entity which helped Shen Yuan transmigrate) gives him. Some misunderstandings get cleared up along the way and lots of interesting secrets are uncovered but SQQ and LBH don’t get together until the very end when SQQ finally stops acting according to what he thinks he knows and sees LBH for who he really is.

I may or may not have cried when it happened.

There are extras (additional chapters) where we can see more of them as a couple and some expand on the thoughts and feelings of the characters of the original novels.

As I said before, I loved this novel because it’s a roller coaster of emotions. Although there are misunderstanding and many readers have declared they wanted to go inside the novel and slap the characters, it also moves at a breakneck speed so one is not left frustrated for long. I’ll be here if you have more questions. Please read it! It’s a good one!

[reallygrosssvsssthoughts]

what if shen yuan was already aware about being gay/bi when he transmigrated and as a result got with liu qingge when binghe was still 15-16. as a result liu qingge also started giving more attention and maybe some personal fite training to young!binghe, and now with not one but TWO people treating him well, binghe can't help falling in love with both of them. cue a lot of secretly watching them and manipulating their dreams and watching them there, and eventually seducing himself into their bed

SQQ would have been in heaven if he was aware of his sexuality when he transmigrated, surrounded by all these amazing hot men. I’d love for him to see the signs he had in LQG and hep him come to terms with his feelings about it. They actually have a sleepover talk about what they like in guys, and since LQG cannot lie for the life of him, and SQQ is a teeny tiny bit less oblivious, it comes out that they have feeling for each other. And with that, they are suddenly around each other all the time.

LBH is passive aggressive to LQG, believing that he’s not good enough for his Shizun, but even he finds it hard to find flaws with how happy he makes SQQ. And SQQ is thrilled to have his two favorite boys get along (or just not hostile tbh), that he encourages all of them to spend time together. Until one day LQG practices sparring with LBH, and he’s blown away by his potential. Now he’s actually seeking out LBH himself, and after reassurance from his Shizun about having another teach him, LBH ends up being thrilled with what he’s learning and the challenges he’s overcoming. Both of their favorite things to do are to spar and show off in front of SQQ, loving the compliments SQQ gives them and how he helps them clean up after.

Somehow, LBH’s ‘death’ is worse now tho, because two people are mourning him so badly that they can’t even help each other, and SQQ feels so guilty and unworthy because of his secrets that it hurts to just look at SQG. But for all the hurt that happens, there’s that much more joy when LBH comes back. And LBH can’t help but take advantage of that joy, making all sorts of excuses to be around them, do things together, touch them as much as he can get away with for as long as he can get away with. He lets them catch him bathing and in various states of undress, and ‘accidentally’ keeps walking in on liushen kissing or even more. And he uses these new memories to his advantage, bringing them up again and again in their dreams until it’s on their mind constantly.

But the thing is, LQG is a part of this relationship, and he’s not one to flit around the elephant in the room. So he just goes right up to LBH and tells him that if he wanted to be in a relationship, he should have just asked. SQQ and LBH are horribly embarrassed, but after everyone talks feeling out and reassurances each other that everyone likes everyone else, it happens.

And LQG, after being so pent up and frustrated from all those dreams for so long, cuts to the chase and grabs LBH into a kiss. Both of them don’t even stop when they reach out blindly for SQQ, too hungry and quickly becoming addicted to each others’ mouths. They all sloppily lick and bite at each other, and whoever is left out doesn't stop, kissing down the other’s necks and roughly throwing clothes aside to get at their chests too. Taking turns until they are all ruffled and breathless.

And later, LBH lazes between his two exhausted, wrecked lovers, as smug as the cat that caught the canary.

(Whew, you really got me going, anon! this was the thing that wouldn’t end lol, but it feels good to get it done, thank you!)

[grandmasterofwangxiancultivation]

SV ch.50

oKAY BREATH IN BREATH OUT WELCOME HOME (i was blissfully ignorant of this update cause i wasn’t home), ME, SV CH 50 IS OUT

EDIT: sqq trying to kick lbh away and lbh getting “hell no shizun” and diving in again only to back up a bit and call him “shizun” thank you mxtx, my life is complete. NEXT ON OUR SCREEN: HOW SQQ’LL REALISE HE IS IN FACT GAY FOR LBH

He didn’t raise the male protagonist into an asexual, and it wasn’t a problem of him being masochistic either. The truth was far more terrible than those options: he had raised the male protagonist into being gay aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!

AND WHAT A WONDERFUL TEACHER 

EDIT 2: SOMEONE BROKE IN. I’M GONNA GO AND SAY IT IS BEAUTIFUL BROTHER LQG

EDIT 3: i KnEw It-

EDIT 4: OKAY SHIZUN GOT INTO PROTECTIVE MODE (over lqg? yes, but fight me and say it’s not over lbh, too), HE CAN THROW A FIT AT ME AND SAY THA’TS NOT TRUE BUT

Dammit. Liu Qingge just had to come at this time. There was no way Shen Qingqiu could throw him to the completely broken down Luo Binghe who was in the middle of throwing a fit, right?

NOT TRUE? AOJDIOPAJSDIOW WHO ARE YOU TRYING TO FOOL SQQ-

EDIT 5: 

Luo Binghe himself was only wearing his inner clothes, looking like he had just gotten up from his bed. His black hair was scattered and loose, his clothes disorganized, his neckline crooked and open. His face was pale white but his lips carried a touch of bloody red. Cold light flashed in his eyes, the ghastly energy exerting immense pressure. The cutting edge of his sword was exposed and his posture was one of preparation for battle.

omg i think he is beautiful

EDIT 6: wAIT WAIT

Instead of saying it was a person, it would be better to say it was “a body”: completely lifeless, head hanging down, limbs weak, but very soft. It was wearing a thin layer of inner clothes. The collar had slipped below the shoulders, revealing half of a back as white as paper.

IS THAT SQQ’S BODY MAYBE? IS IT? LQG SEEMS SO ANGRY, AND WHO ELSE WOULD LBH WANT TO SLEEP (sleep sleep, not sex, omg, i’m not into necrophilia) WITH

EDIT 7: OKAY IT HAS TO BE SHIZUN’S BODY

Shen Qingqiu was completely speechless. Two people—to be specific a living person and a dead person—who were not wearing covering clothes as they rolled down from a place similar to a bed and hugged into a ball——no matter how one looked at it, it didn’t seem like anything positive!

that’s... incredibly suspicious, but honestly i don’t think lbh would be into that, he probably just misses sqq a lot? IT’S OKAY BABY DON’T WORRY HE IS  R I G H T  T H E R E if only sqq would tAlK- 

EDIT 8:

During their rough and tumble duel, that body’s clothes loosened and slid down to the waist, and Luo Binghe’s palm directly attached to the fair flesh. Liu Qingge’s eyes turned completely bloodshot: “Brute, no matter what, he is your Shizun!”

Luo Binghe calmly said: “If it were someone else, do you think I would do this?”

OH MY GOD-

EDIT 9:

His brain was as full of holes as the surface of the moon, but he had never once imagined there would come a day where he became one of the main characters in this hardcore PLAY. The one held in Luo Binghe’s arms……was indeed dead, right? Absolutely correct, because that was his corpse, alright?!

okay, like, but think about it. you find someone sleeping with your corpse and you are right there and just- aside from the fact that you are literally looking at your corpse omg, i bet that’s be strange af. 

I love how shizun freaks out in his head while outside he is stoic and emotionless

EDIT 10: SHIZUN SENDING SPIRITUAL ENERGY TO LQG, Y E S

mxtx are you trying to make me ship these two

EDIT 11:

Even after Luo Binghe was forced to let go, his line of sight remained firmly stuck on that body, and his face showed unwillingness and helplessness. Seeing his expression, Shen Qingqiu abruptly could not bear it. Using this method to force him to let go felt a little bit like they were bullying him.

nO mY bAbY-

OKAY BUT???? THIS IS SO SAD???? CAN YOU STOP HURTING LBH PLS, HASN’T HE BEEN THROUGH ENOUGH???? 

SHIZUN CAN YOU FREAKING TELL HIM YOU ARE ALIVE THANKS A  L O T

EDIT 12: OKAY OKAY OKAY THIS IS SO STRANGE AND INDEED PROVOCATIVE BUT NOT HOW LBH SAYS IT IS 

sqq caught the corpse, he is literally holding himself in his arms, and omg this is so strange what the hell i’m loving every second of this. but sqq’s dead body is half naked and lbh is like yOu ArE tOuChInG mY sHiZuN, which- which is A BIG NOPE, since this scene is described as 

Added to how he was touching and looking at it…. It was overall an extremely unhealthy and rather provocative sight.

so i just imagine two sqq in lbh’s eyes, one dead and one alive, and think why can’t lbh suddenly understand everything and jump sqq and be happy, why are you throwing this angst at us-

He hurriedly pulled up the corpse’s clothes and sent this hot potato towards Liu Qingge: “Catch!”

in the meantime, these two children are playing volleyball with a dead body. you know, like zombie-haikyuu

EDIT 13: why did lqg feel some kind of electrical current touching sqq’s dead body, but shizun didn’t? or did i miss it?

EDIT 14:

Zheng Yang, Xiu Ya.

These two broken swords had once shared a common destiny and been shattered in countless pieces. It was unclear how they had been repaired, tied together, and placed in the Huan Hua Pavilion.

okay who asked you all to hit me like with angst-

EDIT 15:

Seeing these two swords once again, Shen Qingqiu felt an unclear taste rising in his heart and looked at Luo Binghe. His clothes had originally been untidy in the first place, and now after this wave of bombardments, his well-defined clavicle and chest were all exposed. On his chest wall, a hideous sword scar approached his heart.

Luo Binghe’s self-regeneration ability was extremely strong. Even if his limbs were cut off, he could seamlessly re-attach them, and even re-grow them without a problem. Unless he deliberately chose not to heal them, there were no wounds he couldn’t completely recover without even leaving a scar.

NO. OKAY STOP THIS ANGST RIGHT NOW. 

wait, no, maybe shizun will realise how strong lbh’s feelings are, it may work, bUT MY HEART-

(LBH YELLING THAT HE SPARED LQG’S LIFE FOR SHIZUN’S SAKE IS SO HEART WRENCHING I CAN’T DO THIS IF SQQ DOESN’T COME CLEAN WITH THE FACT THAT HE IS ALIVE PLS SHIZUN GIVE. HIM. HOPE. BACK.)

EDIT 16:

Luo Binghe originally wanted to attack, but he unexpectedly felt his heart quake—the backlash of the Xin Mo sword came out of the blue and slowed him down by a hair. Just from this missing hair, he could only look on helplessly as Liu Qingge left with Shen Qingqiu’s corpse under his arm.

*sobs* now shizun will help him by sending him his spiritual energy and fill the void caused by sqq’s dead corpse disappearing before his eyes.

right?

RIGHT?

EDIT 17:

Shen Qingqiu had been planning to take advantage of his daze to fish in troubled waters and slip away. But when he saw this situation, for some unknown reason, his heel stuck to the ground and that flash of unbearableness grew more and more intense.

OMG PLS SHIZUN.

those are your feelings telling you what the right thing to do is, LISTEN TO THEM AND Go To YoUr LbH-

EDIT 18:

The problem came with this untimely softening of his heart. He had not successfully snuck away when Luo Binghe suddenly turned his head, those two violent red eyes fixated directly on him.

sHiT sHiT *nervous energy*

*sweats heavily*

EDIT 19:

He wanted to tell him: “Don’t be this sad, Shizun is not dead.”

D O  I T  FREAKING Do It PlS sHiZuN-

I DON’T HAVE THE STRENGHT TO GO ON, I’M SO FRIGGING SCARED

EDIT 20:

The figure moved with remarkable swiftness, wrapping up Shen Qingqiu and leaving like a whirlwind.

whaT-

what happened? someone came with lqg and helped him, but who? are they the same person that just helped shizun? thank you for the help, stranger, but YOU DIDN’T REALLY HAVE TO, SHIZUN WAS GONNA CONFESS.

(no, okay, ty for saving him bUT-

also, i feel so bad for hualing, babe-)

HOW CAN THE CHAPTER END LIKE THAT