#going to make up for lost time

[devildaisies]

Artfight is gonna go so fucking hard this year

[egophiliac]

still ruminating over Lost In the Book With Spooky Skeletons Part 1, so here's a selection of some of my favorite little bits! (...some more loosely paraphrased than others) (I just feel like Idia has no room to criticize in general, okay)

anyway, I'm sure we're just going to have a fun time celebrating Halloween and nothing bad is going to happen whatsoever! :)

[reborn-from-taxes]

The revised version made me think of an AU where they meet in Xianle when they're both teen, Xie Lian as a prince and Hua Cheng as a young noble who's an absolute menace. More of my insanity in the tags

[shushmal]

Steve watched Eddie's van turn the corner and shut the front door, closing himself away from the outside world so none of his neighbors could see him as he rested his forehead against the painted wood.

"I'm not going to cry," he told himself.

He said it even as his eyes began to burn and his face began to twist, teeth grinding and throat closing. He wiped quickly at his face, again and again, as he stumbled to the couch to sit, drying each tear as it rolled down his cheeks, clinging to his jaw.

"I'm not going to fucking cry," Steve choked, and then doubled over into himself, arms around his thighs, and he began to sob.

So what if he was twenty-two, living in his parent's house alone, working the same dead-end job with a sixteen year old manager. So what if all his friends and family were in college, spread out from New York to Chicago to Los Angeles. So what if his boyfriend was moving to Seattle for his band and they broke up, because Steve was never going to be his parents, resenting and being resented for keeping his partner from his dreams. So what if he was too scared to ask Eddie to stay, to ask Eddie if Steve could go with him. So what if everyone moved on and Steve couldn't?

Steve grew up lonely. He could get used to it again.

He didn't realize how hard he was crying until the front door burst back open and Eddie hurled himself at Steve's feet, long limbed and clumsy and babbling.

"Baby, oh fuck, I'm sorry," he said, already untangling Steve from himself, tying all his loose ends back up together with his until they were a knot of their own. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Stevie. I never should have— I wanted to—"

"I'm sorry," Steve sobbed back. He gasped and swallowed it all back down. Eddie had already gotten them raveled up again, it would take forever to pick it back apart. Steve knew it would hurt worse this time. "Fuck, Ed, you didn't have to— I'll be okay, I don't want to hold you back—"

"Come with me," Eddie burst.

And Steve couldn't help himself, and began to sob again.

"Please," Eddie begged over Steve's crying, his voice shaking and his face wet enough to match Steve's. "Please, sweetheart, honey, please just come with me?"

Steve took a shaky breath, embarrassed and now too full of hope and fear. "You sure?" he whispered. He pressed his face into Eddie's neck, breathing him in again for what might be the last time, again. "Eddie, don't—"

"I'm so sure," Eddie said. "I'm so fucking sure, Steve, please."

"Okay," Steve breathed. Eddie had always been the braver of the two of them, especially when it counted. Steve leaned back so he could look at him, red faced and watery eyes. He tried to give Eddie a smile, but he knew it was wobbly and weak. "Okay."

All of Steve's fears meant nothing as he watched the happiness break like dawn over Eddie's face.

[hychlorions]

a what-if i've been thinking about for forever... trucy knowing the truth before anyone could tell her

[hyacinthsdiamonds]

I'm sorry but the irony of Nico calling Max unprofessional is sending me so bad like sir there's an entire garage full of people, who were literally in the trenches trying to survive the Brocedes fallout while just doing their jobs, who might have a few things to say about your (& Lewis') level of professionalism at that time 😭✋️

[oposssumsaucee]

I don't know what fucks me up more, the fact that Constructs just have a Secret Ribcage Pocket for storage or the fact that it's so underutilized that MB forgets an entire FutureTech WiFi Extender in there for an absurd amount of time. You're telling me it's not jostling in there??? Is the construct equivalent of a Glove Compartment lined with velvet??? The company would never. Thunk thunk bitch your secret best friend ham radio is audible whenever you run but no one's brave enough to make smalltalk with you about it.

[necrotic-nephilim]

I think what I love the most about Reverse Robin AU TimJay is the absolute potential for hero worship with Jason toward Tim. In canon we often forget that Tim didn't really care for Jason as Robin, meanwhile as I never shut up about, Jason has been weirdly respecting and obsessed with Tim since finding out about Tim's existence. So if you flip their order, make Tim Red Hood and make Jason Red Robin, there's so much room for hero worship from Jason.

As Robin, Jason has always teetered that edge of being pro-murder or not. Whether you believe he killed Felipe or not, even in his Post-Crisis introduction as Robin, he almost kills Two Face. Those concepts of lethal justice have always been brewing inside him, just reigned in by Bruce. So if you have Robin!Jason witnessing Red Hood!Tim start killing people and quickly making noticeable change in the landscape of gangs in Gotham, Jason would take quick notice. I think Tim as Red Hood would still be lethal, but there'd be a different application than Jason's Red Hood. Heads in duffle bags isn't Tim's style, even if he kills. I think you'd see something much more akin to that time Tim almost killed Boomerang, where it's such an elaborately thought out set up, it realistically doesn't even look like Tim killed anyone. It'd take months for Bruce to connect this string of deaths as anything other than coincidental, let alone link them to Red Hood. And Jason is wickedly smart, even as Robin. Jason, putting those pieces together before Bruce does and witnessing the undeniable positive change for Gotham it's enacting? Robin!Jason would be incredibly drawn in by that, and then even more-so, a Red Robin!Jason who has to grapple with being replaced to make room for the next Robin would I think, in anger, turn to Red Hood. And Tim would push him away at first, his plans don't have room for a scorned teenager who's trying to get back at Bruce and Nightwing!Damian like this- but I think Jason would wear him down. Prove to Tim that Jason can think on his wavelength.

Slightly related, what interests me about Red Hood!Tim is how it'd implicate his closeness to Ra's. Jason is taken into the League by Talia in Lost Days and Ra's doesn't necessarily approve of Jason's presence, especially not of Talia dunking him in the Pit, but Ra's has always canonically been A Little Weird about Tim. I think in a world Tim dies as the second Robin, it would be Ra's who dunks Tim to preserve his mind that Ra's thinks shouldn't be wasted, and you have the potential for 'apprentice of Ra's' Tim wrapped up in it all, even without him experience the Red Robin arc. So when it's Jason as Red Robin, instead of him going to Ra's when he's scorned by the Batfamily, he goes to Tim. The person he once idolized, because I think Tim would've been Jason's Robin. Smart, competent, a strong legacy to live up to. And now he's back, and he's pro-killing, an edge that Jason has always teetered on and would feel even closer to when he's replaced by a young Dick. I think Tim wouldn't ever be able to get rid of Jason.

Then on Tim's side, I think his reaction to being replaced after his death would be a complicated one. Objectively, being the Robin who believes Batman needs a Robin, he'd respect the logic and know Bruce was always going to replace him eventually. But still, there's always going to be that instinctual emotional reaction of betrayal and replacement. I think he'd view Jason at first with anger and distance, but then, seeing Jason as this street kid with begrudging potential, I could see Red Hood!Tim testing Jason. Constantly throwing things at Jason, seeing how he reacts, if he lives up to being Robin. Tim has a need for analyzing people, understanding their strengths and weaknesses. And he seems the Robin mantle very uniquely, he'd need to have it proven to him that Jason can handle it.

So you would have this dynamic of Jason hero worshipping Tim, slowly believing in Tim's methodology. While Tim is at first dismissive of him, but then starts to test him, see what makes this kid tick. And I think the TimJay potential of Jason trying to prove himself to Tim could be Neat.

[panakoui]

post canon laishuro prelude :>

[lizardcake-was-taken]

them...............................

[egophiliac]

buckle up lads we're going BACK INTO THE BOOK

[bulletbilltime]

The idea that people will take the cringy lyrics or singing as a point against Lost Records is just... baffling to me. These are TEENAGERS. Making things they enjoy. Of course adults will look at those things and think they're not good. That's the point! They're doing things for themselves, and getting carried away with their passion for it. They make a shoddy music video and it's the coolest thing to them because it's something they made. They're loud and obnoxious and chaotic because that's what being a teenager is about. They don't have proper technique or whatever, they're just making music to scream all the confusing feelings and frustrations they hold inside them. The music being "bad" or "cringy" IS the point.

[cultivating-wildflowers]

ladies, I need to wander despondently across a foggy moor asap

[dawn-moths]

can’t stop rotating the idea of you being a lingerie model and nanami being the photographer who falls for you around in my brain…

the camera flashes bright, for a moment filling your entire world with an intense, sharp whiteness. but it’s there and then gone again within an instant, once more giving way to the dark wood and pastel backdrops of the photography studio you find yourself in.

“good, but try tilting your head a little more to the left on the next one,” the man behind the camera calmly instructs, adjusting the lens while you fluff your hair and adjust the sheer little babydoll dress that you’re wearing for today’s photoshoot.

of all the beautiful, whimsical, and romantic lingerie you’ve worn in your career, you think this one might be one of your favorites. the lace and silk detailing is so dainty, the garment’s quality so nice, the way the chiffon flows and drifts down the curves of your body both liquid and airy. it’s a pale, baby blue, the panties that match of the same make and color. it’s a beautiful set by one of the up-and-coming independent designers you’ve been dreaming of modeling for, soon to be available to the public, or at least the public’s high-end clientele, and you feel honored that you get to be the face of her newest collection.

the camera shutter clicks again in rapid succession after you readjust to his notes and he murmurs some more words of praise, snapping a few more photos with you in splendid motion before calling for a quick break so he can review some of the shots he'd captured so far.

you saunter off to rejoin your manager off to the side, change into the next look, retouch your hair and makeup, and take a few sips of water before the photographer calls you back to continue.

meanwhile, nanami looks over the first batch of photos, pulling them up onto his laptop so he can see every detail with better clarity, making mental notes of a stray fly-away or an odd shadow that he'll need to retouch in post, but, other than that, you look flawless. even for the cream of the crop top pros of the industry, you stood out.

zooming in a little more on the digital image, nanami flicked his gaze to the small green room off to the side where he could hear you, your manager, and the makeup artist you'd brought along gossiping and giggling about something before turning his full attention back to the version of you currently on his screen.

you really had it all, didn't you? gorgeous face, perfect hair, a beautiful body. and on top of it all you were incredibly photogenic. you were a natural, which made his job easy, all except for the fact that everything that made you so incredible also made you incredibly distracting to him...

he scrolled the photo of you down a little further, following the line of your pretty, diamond-adorned neck to the delicate curve of your collarbones and the plush skin of your breasts, the lingerie beneath the sheer babydoll clinging to your body like a glove. like it had been made custom just for you. he found himself enamored with every detail of you— every freckle, every scar, every little "imperfection" that he'd ultimately have no choice but to edit out before submitting it to the editorial team pulling him in more and more, unable to tear his umber gaze from your body as the image scrolled down to the soft curve of your belly, your thighs, entranced, wondering for a brief moment what your perfumed skin would feel like beneath his fingers, how the sweet, sticky center of you might taste.

he'd be gentle with you, work you up slow, savor every sound you made as he teased you, fantasizing about just how soaked those dainty little panties you were modeling for him would be before he'd even truly began with you. he'd have you shivering beneath him, shallow, panting breaths escaping from your glossy, slightly parted lips, your little whimpers and whines only spurring him on, getting him even harder than he already was. he'd ease you open, warmth and pleasure flooding through the both of you, languid and heady, and then—

"guys, stooooop!" you quietly scolded in a playful tone from the next room over, interrupting nanami's daydream as he heard yet more giggling from you and your team, your hushed conversation and banter floating further into the room as he strained a little to hear what was being said.

"...totally into you..."

"...joking?"

"hon, i've been... industry for seven... i know a... when i see one."

"no way... messing with me, aren't you?"

silence.

nanami had thought he'd done a pretty good job concealing any lingering stares or sultry expressions thus far. he'd "prepared" for your arrival accordingly that morning, hoping to avoid any more obvious giveaways for the few hours he'd have you posed before him wearing close to nothing. you'd think after being in this industry for a decade he'd be immune to the effects that impossibly beautiful women could have on him physically, but you were the exception, it seemed.

he'd photographed you a few years back, actually, at the very start of your career, and he hadn't been able to get you out of his head since. he doubted you remembered him, especially by now, when you were in front of a new photographer a few times each week. but, then again, he'd photographed hundreds of different models over his career, yet still you stood out clear as day among them, burned into his memory more permanently than any image of you in a photo could ever capture in totality.

he'd never openly flirt with you though. no, nanami was far too professional for that. he'd heard too many stories over the years of photographers who'd thought they had the right to get handsy with the models or mistaken their alluring subjects for being prostitutes once the session wrapped instead, offering them empty promises to boost their careers in exchange for a few favors. he'd always looked down on those shameless, seedy types, vowing to never become like any of them, no matter what fantasies he allowed himself to indulge in during or after the shoot concluded and he faced the hours of editing ahead.

although, perhaps if he found a way to ask you out for coffee sometime, figure out what you might have in common, maybe refer you to a few of his most trusted colleagues within the industry for something high-fashion or avant-garde— a detail he'd heard you discussing briefly with your manager when you'd first arrived— aiming to secure a place on a paris fashion week runway this year, it might be a good way to begin a more regular relationship, professional or otherwise.

if he didn't at least try, he'd surely lose you to another photographer with similar connections later down the line, wouldn't he?

"you know i can't..." he heard you say and, disappointed tone be damned, he felt something in him sink, despite not knowing the full context of the conversation. he began to feel guilty over eavesdropping, so he loudly cleared his throat and attempted to turn his focus back to the task at hand.

your manager stuck his head around the corner a few moments later, spiky white hair slightly tousled and his black sunglasses sliding down the narrow bridge of his nose, his sparkling blue eyes on full display. "she'll be out in a minute," he grinned, a sing-song lilt to his already mischievous tone of voice.

nanami gave him a nod and a flicker of a half-smirk before changing out the lens on his camera in preparation for the next set of photos. in the next few minutes he had while waiting, he allowed his mind to drift back to you. over the years, he's taken hundreds of beautiful photographs of drop-dead gorgeous women, yet somehow, when he tried to remember any of them in detail, all their features blurred into one indistinct, nondescript image that all at once looked like every one of them and none of them combined.

but then, amidst all that faded color and swirling chaos, there was you, coming into clear, sharp focus at the center as if you were the only subject he'd ever allowed his camera to capture. his favorite model. his perfect, pretty little muse.

"sorry for taking so long," you began as you reentered the room, now wearing a different lingerie set from the collection, this one a pale lavender and covering far less of you than the blue one did before.

nanami swallowed hard, cleared his throat again in an attempt to play off the fluster he felt creeping up into his cheeks. he assured you it was no problem at all, coming over to pull down a different backdrop that suited the color of the new lingerie better, and assisted the makeup artist in scattering some of the flower petals about the scene while you manager enthusiastically chatted away in the greenroom about another booking for you over the phone.

as you took your place before the camera, there was a moment where nanami was standing close to you, much closer than he probably ever had before, and there was a velvety electricity humming in the space between your bodies that caused both of you to make eye contact. for how long, you didn't know, but one thing you were able to place was that familiar rush of warmth flooding you from the inside out, something that wasn't quite self-consciousness, per se, but still made you extremely aware that he was looking at you.

and not just because you were a pretty girl in lingerie standing a foot away from him.

there was something in his gaze that shimmered with yearning, almost as if, if it were even possible, he didn't even care about the lingerie at all.

almost as if he were just seeing you.

you were used to being stared upon with lust. you'd learned how to navigate that and was lucky to have such a good manager who didn't put up with any inappropriate comments or behavior from some of the more unprofessional photographers you'd encountered in the past.

but this.

this was something different.

this was something whose intentions you couldn't quite read as plainly as before.

"sitting or standing...?" you finally murmured, the intensity of his dark eyes threatening to swallow you whole if you held them for too long, to haunt you long after you left.

nanami seemed to snap out of it then as well, replying, "let's start with standing," before turning back to head to his camera after one more moment to savor the sight of you this close up.

once he was back behind the camera, you began to question if what you'd felt just then was merely your own imagination or if he'd felt it too. and, if he had, what did that even mean? what did you want it to mean?

once the shoot wrapped and you'd changed back into your street clothes, you and your manager thanked nanami and nanami thanked you in return, promising with a softer kind of grin to send over some samples of the photos by the end of the week.

he watched you go, watched from his window on the third floor of the building as you and your manager walked down the street, likely headed to another photoshoot or promotional venture as the two of you talked excitedly, clearly sharing the closeness of friends on top of maintaining a professional relationship to the public, and hoped he wouldn't have to wait too long until he could see you again.

nanami might not have gotten the chance to ask you out this time around, but he had your contact info, or at least your manager's contact info. he'd find a way to get you back to his studio and ask you on a date properly, preferably when you were wearing more clothes, just to make things less awkward for the both of you. but one thing was for certain.

the next time nanami had the chance to photograph you, he wouldn't miss his chance. he just hoped, until then, that your manager was as good at warding off unwanted advances as he'd heard he was. and, who knows, maybe inviting the guy out for a drink or two to discuss some more opportunities for his star model, as well as maybe her favorite cafes and restaurants in the area, would be a good way to win him over and in turn gain easier access to you.

though, for now, he could at least look forward to spending the next several hours studying every detail of your photographs during the editing process, thinking to himself how much he enjoyed his job as he did so.

[starry-bi-sky]

Okay so this is almost a direct copy-paste of my earlier reblog but only the Xin Yuan parts, because its long enough to be its own post and i want to share it! It deserves it's own post <3 typical starry stuff to write a 2k word long reblog, unfortunately.

I say almost because I went through to proof read and ended up adding more stuff.

I've been cooking on this idea for the last two days since I saw the Xin Mo!Shen Yuan post but??? I can't find anything on Xin Mo's backstory or how it came to be -- which means that's free fucking plot right there baby. That's a sandbox and im making LIFE SIZED CASTLES. I'm so excited.

The idea of Shen Yuan transmigrating centuries before the events of PIDW as Xin Mo -- but when he wakes up, he's not the sword. He wakes up in the body of a young boy named Xin Yuan. Now it makes sense for this boy to be a demon, but the drama, the intrigue, the spice of Xin Yuan being a human child.

SY wakes up as a boy below the age of ten, and the System tells him where he is, and SY is excited to meet his favorite protagonist -- only to gradually realize that he's like, a thousand years or so before the events of the novel. The rant he gives the system is legendary.

Bc what's the point of getting dropped into PIDW if he's never going to meet his favorite character??? This is a scam! BUT he settles into his new life, he's like, some orphan street rat or some other tragic airplane-esq backstory.

The system gives Shen Yuan his first mandatory quest: become a righteous cultivator. Which was like, kinda his plan/hopes anyways, except! There's like?? No official cultivator sects anywhere? The Cang Qiong Mountain Sect hasn't even been established yet, and there are pockets of cultivators running around, maybe some groups or schools popping up and then sinking back down, but nothing's really taken root!

If he asks someone how to become a cultivator, there's no straight answer. No "oh you can go to X to do that". He's pissed! How can he become a cultivator if there aren't any schools around to teach him? Deus ex machina, that's how.

Out of sheer luck, SY manages to help save a rogue cultivator, and promptly gets adopted by said rogue cultivator, who gives SY the name 'Xin Yuan'. He is ecstatic. And you know what? It's actually pretty fun!

He's getting to travel the world of PIDW in its early stages, and gets to see the building blocks for the eventual main story. He's discovering all this local flora and fauna that are foreign to his old world and unmentioned in the book, and he's learning cultivation! Granted, its unsafe, newly(ish) discovered cultivation, but it counts!

Wistfully, he thinks about perhaps he'll do something grand and get his name carved into legend. Something that would eventually help the protagonist later down the line in his quest for revenge.

The system remains silent to his thoughts.

But Xin Yuan doesn't take much stock in that daydream anyways. It's nothing more than fantasy to him; wish-fulfillment. He does discover however, that he is positively brimming with spiritual energy. Overwhelmingly so.

It's both a blessing and a curse, as it puts a strain on his meridians if he's not careful, and leaves him prone to qi deviations for the exact same reasons. He already has a heart demon or two from a few traumatic experiences in the past.

(bc hey! angst a day keeps the writer sadism at bay, and all that)

I'll say he's about... eight when he gets picked up by the rogue cultivator, who I'm calling Lin Kai bc he deserves a name. They travel around PIDW up until Xin Yuan is twelve, where he goes through a traumatic experience that results in a heart demon.

It's after that that Lin Kai decides to put a stop to his wandering, and find a place to settle down to raise Xin Yuan in. Coincidentally! They settle down in a nice mountain region that's thriving with spiritual energy. The mountains at the time were called something different, but they will be eventually known as the Cang Qiong Mountain Sect

Coincidentally, the mountain Lin Kai and Xin Yuan end up on is Qing Jing Peak. XY does not realize that the mountain he's on is Qing Jing. The System does not tell him. But he likes it there, more than he was expecting. And as much as he's traveled around, he really does enjoy being in one place.

He has a tendency to go down the mountain and help the village setting up down there, and when he's a teenager he starts venturing out more and more.

Xin Yuan forgets sometimes that he's in a novel, especially after settling down on Qing Jing peak. The system becomes remarkably quiet since there's no quests for him to do and not a ton of opportunities to get B-Points. He cultivates with Lin Kai, helps tend to the garden they're growing, goes down to the village to play with the other kids.

There's one boy he's best friends with, a boy whose not all that good with words, named Liu Zhihao. He's got potential for cultivation though, so Xin Yuan drags him up the mountain when he can so that Liu Zhihao can sit in on lessons with Lin Kai. He drags him all over the forest at the foot of the mountain to go look at bugs and animals.

(One time, when they're fourteen and Liu Zhihao has been learning cultivation for a few years now, Xin Yuan drags him out of bed late one night to go look at the stars. Xin Yuan tells Liu Zhihao about ascension -- something that still feels like a far off dream to many in this time -- that night, while they're sitting on the wet grass.)

("We should ascend together." Xin Yuan tells Liu Zhihao, jade eyes gleaming. Never let it be said that Xin Yuan doesn't love deeply, no matter what kind of love it is. He was always so lonely as Shen Yuan, Liu Zhihao is his best friend. "We'll become immortals, and then we won't ascend until the other is able to.")

(Liu Zhihao stares at him silently, his face unreadable. Then, quietly, he asks; "Promise?")

("Promise.")

When he starts adventuring outwards, further away from the mountain and the village, Liu Zhihao sticks to him like rice. Not that Xin Yuan's complaining, that's his best friend after all, and Liu Zhihao has become a formidable cultivator. He deserves to show off his skills.

He starts making something of a name for himself by the time he's, like, 18 -- although that name is in its baby steps, along with Liu Zhihao. They're slowly growing renown.

Perhaps XY uses his knowledge of PIDW and cultivation in general to help make advancements in the cultivation field. Although the system prevents him from sharing too much, it doesn't mean he can't practice it himself. Perhaps he's one of the first cultivators to develop a golden core. One of the first known immortal cultivators. One of the first to have a spirit sword.

(Although I don't know the logistics of any of this since my knowledge on xanxia/cultivation stuff in general is all still pretty new and google wasn't all that helpful lol.)

Either way, its my excuse to eventually make Xin Yuan come across as ethereal to other people. Peerless beauty SY for the win. Hs wifebeam is too strong, Xin Yuan has a line of suitors following after him and he's completely unaware of it. The rest of history is not.

Demon realm stuff has been stirring up since Xin Yuan was a kid, but at the time it was rare and in the beginning stages. Its been steadily ramping up and the system is sending him on more and more treacherous quests -- some of them mandatory, some optional. SY doesn't often take the optional ones unless it comes with a sufficient B-point reward.

for all intents and purposes though, he's a wandering rogue cultivator with Liu Zhihao, going from place to place to either help a town or village, or to discover more creatures or artifacts (although there aren't that many). Just all around living his life. He participates in a few major quest lines that are sure to get him mentioned in legend, even if it's a background character way.

(Unbeknownst to him, rather than being a side character in these legends, he's named directly. You can't become one of the first immortal cultivators and NOT get name dropped for clout.)

He has a spirit sword named Shā Mó, (杀 shā - to kill/weaken/counteract/reduce) (魔 mó - evil spirit, demon, possession). He routinely goes back to QJP to see Lin Kai, or to rest when traveling has worn down on him and he wants nothing more than to sleep somewhere he knows he'll be safe in. It becomes more frequent as Xin Yuan becomes more famous. Liu Zhihao often comes with him.

it all comes to a head though when the rifts between the demonic realm and the human realm become too great, and the balance between both realms becomes unstable. A demonic emperor's influence, wanting to merge the two realms so he could conquer both to satiate his own greed.

Typical evil king stuff. This comes to a climatic head in a great battle between every cultivator available and the demon emperor's army. Xin Yuan was one of the many who helped lead the charge.

In the end, it was Xin Yuan who ends up defeating the demonic emperor, but the rift that the emperor used to cross between worlds is destabilizing as well. Except instead of trying to close, it's getting bigger and bigger, threatening to swallow the heavens and earth and demonic realm whole.

You know how Yue Qingyuan's soul is bonded to his sword due to a qi deviation? Let's take it a step further >:)

Xin Yuan uses himself and Shā Mó to close the rift. However, it takes all of his spiritual energy to do so, as well as him filtering the demonic qi into his body to redirect it back to the demon realm.

In the end, Xin Yuan and his beloved sword Shā Mó fuse. Xin Yuan's soul becomes trapped in the sword. His physical body is unable to handle the immense amount of power it takes to close the rift, and is destroyed. He is immortalized in legend by his grieving cultivators.

(Liu Zhihao ends up ascending alone. He ascends with the hope that one day he'll see Xin Yuan again, even if it's in the face of someone else. Lin Kai does not ascend, too weighed down by the grief of losing his son.)

Xin Yuan, now Xin Mo, falls into a stasis. He's very confused and disorientated when he regains 'consciousness'. The system has been silent for most of his life, only popping up to give him mandatory quests, hints, points, or to answer any questions.

But once he wakes up, it cheerfully pops up again, congratulating him on completing the origin story of Xin Mo. SY freaks the fuck out. he'd shake the system screen if he could, but he doesn't have arms. or legs. or eyes for that matter.

He can sense his surroundings, but its all like imprints to him. He can sense the energies, but he can't see anything. It's all very disorientating and horrifying after years of being human. Like a sensory deprivation chamber.

The closing of the rift and the cycling demonic qi tainted both Sha Mo and Xin Yuan irreparably, and it did some kind of damage that resulted in SY needing to feed in order to use the spiritual powers. Kinda like how Xuan Su uses YQY's life force for it's spiritual energy, but instead of feeding on his own lifeforce, Xin Mo feeds on others.

The rest is history. Xin Mo is originally tied to the story of Xin Yuan -- believed to be all that remained of the man after he sacrificed himself to keep the realms separate. It's believed that the force of the realms closing permanently infused Sha Mo with demonic energy, turning it into Xin Mo.

But, like many stories do when faced against the tide of time, things get lost; chipped off; changed. Xin Mo is steadily separated from Xin Yuan, especially once it becomes clear how parasitic the sword really is, until they are all but separate entities themselves and the origin of Xin Mo's creation all but forgotten.

The years blur together when Xin Mo is not being wielded, and at first Xin Yuan was agonized by the fact that he stole the lives of all his wielders. He knows it's only a novel, but his decades spent in this life have softened him, and he's grown attached to the world around him.

But time erodes the mind like water erodes stone, and he becomes numb to it, then eventually anticipating of it. He forces himself to remember what he knows of PIDW's plot, and kinda fixates back on his old obsession on Luo Binghe. But while PIDW stays in his mind, his memories as Xin Yuan fall to the wayside.

Not forgotten, per se, but... tucked away. The system prevents him from forgetting fully.

Xin Mo isn't fully a demonic sword either i think, but instead harbors an ugly cocktail of both spiritual and demonic qi. Special circumstances and all that. Everyone just assumes he's a fully demonic sword because that's usually at the forefront, his spiritual qi weakened from the initial fusion and from years of not being fed spiritual qi. It's part of the reason his wielders always end up destroyed by him, other than the whole, yk, 'overwhelming qi' thing.

Nobody would recognize Xin Mo's human form as Xin Yuan other than some truly ancient demons. Of which Meng Mo might. But even that's iffy because there's a lack of surviving paintings of Xin Yuan, but also because of XM's demonic appearance and supposed lack of connection to XY.

Xin Mo has never spoken to his wielders before, not in the same way he does Luo Binghe. He tells Luo Binghe this, and he also tells Luo Binghe down the line that he is both spiritual and demonic -- something he also never told his wielders because there was no point to it.

okay okay i've got to end it here because its already gotten ridiculously long -- of which im both apologetic and unapologetic for -- but i DO think the Shang Qinghua and Shen Yuan meeting (and reveal) would be fucking hilarious. Especially if SY has learned how to pop between sword form and human form by then -- although i guess it doesnt matter either way because SQH's reaction is still the same.

And that reaction is internally screaming and going "hey what the FUCK?? WHY DOES XIN MO HAVE A HUMAN FORM??? WHAT IS THIS??? SYSTEM??? EXPLAIN???"

meanwhile from his place on the sword hilt xin mo is squinting at Shang Qinghua in bewilderment and going "aren't you supposed to be dead" but doesn't pay too much mind to it because its not like its going to change anything.

...up until he catches shang qinghua going "WTF" silently from his little corner while all eyes are off him. One moment SQH is standing beside his king, and the next he's been tackled to the ground by one wild-eyed, human-shaped Xin Mo.

everyone, including SQH, thinks Xin Mo is going to kill him. It is a surprise to everyone when he does not, and instead dissolves into deranged, uncontrollable laughter after spitting out some phrase in some ancient tongue and watching SQH's eyes grow wide in recognition.

[tategaminu]

Rayllum Arc 3 will be so delicious. I don't really mind whatever job (or no job) they may have because it's clear to me they will be together. Besides the Aaravos mission these two main priority will be having a life together. Think about it‚ two years separated and they both almost died in multiple occasions with Callum very close to getting killed by her in the finale? They "only" having seven years left?? Yeeeah they will grow more obsessed and attached to each other. Butter and toast couple. If they were insane in Arc 2 I can't imagine what seven years of relationship will do to them.