#lbh: killed people for the sword

[danmeichael]

shout out to shen qingqiu for being the most controversial mxtx lead despite also being the only one who isn't a serial killer.

[tossawary]

I'm enjoying this "Yue Qingyuan sent Shang Qinghua to go spy on Luo Binghe after Shen Qingqiu's death" AU, because I love it when background characters have their own goals and business, are fighting with each other, and are doing wild shit on purpose. Even if you're doing an AU (as per canon to our knowledge) where Shang Qinghua is not a double agent - and is just fleeing to the Demon Realm because he was found out as a traitor and/or decided that it was time to dip because the protagonist and Cang Qiong Mountain Sect are now in semi-open conflict - the question remains for exploration:

Why did Yue Qingyuan not go to Huan Hua Palace and try to kick Luo Binghe's ass to get Shen Qingqiu's body back?

It's suggested at several points that Tianlang-Jun at the height of his power was stronger than Luo Binghe, and Yue Qingyuan was part of the team that helped to seal Tianlang-Jun. Shen Yuan suggests that the original Luo Binghe had to bait Yue Qingyuan into a death trap of ten thousand arrows because Bing-ge (even with the Xin Mo Sword at this point) didn't want to face Yue Qingyuan head-on. (I think Bing-ge sent SQQ's legs to YQY or something.) Yue Qingyuan is willing to draw Xuan Su for SQQ and Liu Qingge is willing to help (although LQG might be mad that YQY let SQQ go to the Water Prison at all). YQY versus LBH is not a totally unbalanced fight.

It's possible that Yue Qingyuan didn't go fight because he kind of shut down due to grief. Shen Qingqiu has changed in recent years and died in a very sudden, very shocking, very confusing way. YQY also has a sect to look after and maybe he can't fully justify going out and escalating the conflict over a dead body (as opposed to a live hostage), and possibly get himself killed, when he's maybe hoping that Cang Qiong and Huan Hua can settle this without further death. The other peak lords all must have opinions on this and are probably pulling him in all sorts of directions. By Liu Qingge's account, Yue Qingyuan probably knows that Shen Qingqiu intentionally died for Luo Binghe and he knows that SQQ loved his disciple, so maybe he wants to respect SQQ's sacrifice and affection by not trying to kill Luo Binghe. When Luo Binghe invades Cang Qiong for SQQ's body (and Shen Yuan), Yue Qingyuan has to dangerously abort cultivation in the Ling Xi Caves to come face him, so it's possible that YQY had decided 5 years in that peaceful resolution was impossible and was gearing up to fight Luo Binghe, only to be a victim of bad timing (Liu Qingge's unexpected success in body retrieval).

It could be a combination of these reasonings! People do things for lots of different reasons and this is an emotionally charged situation which puts Yue Qingyuan in a complicated political position.

So, yeah, it could also be that Mu Qingfang came back from his kidnapping saying, "Luo Binghe was repairing Shen Qingqiu's body, trying to summon his soul, and was researching resurrection techniques when I was there," and Yue Qingyuan decided to just... sit back and see where that went. If Liu Qingge (who is probably NOT happy that YQY isn't throwing down already) succeeds in retrieving the body, fine, that's good enough, but if Luo Binghe succeeds in bringing Shen Qingqiu back...? Well, that's also good, isn't it? Yue Qingyuan can outsource the "go mad with grief and engage in crimes against the natural order" to someone else here.

I mean, I really don't think that Yue Qingyuan was actively PLANNING for Luo Binghe to resurrect Shen Qingqiu. That seems a little too wicked and scheming to be his main motivation here. But I do think he might have been... vaguely aware of this potential consequence of his inaction, this possible side effect of his paralyzing grief causing him to be hands-off about the situation and/or his cautious approach to peace negotiations, and I really don't think that he minds that Tianlang-Jun and Zhuzhi-Lang succeeded in bringing Shen Qingqiu back. (I do think he kind of wishes that the Shen Jiu who remembers him had come back instead, though.)

[coolshadowtwins]

SVSSS fanfic premise that I think about sometimes, without every gaining an actual plot to it-

SQQ(SY), post canon, gets sad that YQY doesn’t know that SJ is dead. He really really wants to tell him, even if it’s against the rules, and so asks the system if he can tell two people the truth. Only two! (Two because there is no way that he would be telling YQY his secrets and not LBH)

He is then told by the system that he could bring SJ’s soul back, if he wanted. Like… what? Why didn’t you tell him sooner? Like years sooner?!

System: ….you didn’t ask.

So he gets permission to tell LBH and YQY. He has a nice emotional moment with LBH, like you do, and then goes to tell the sect leader. I wrote part of that here, but that’s all I’m probably going to write lol

I don’t have much else to this, except the part that makes me laugh the most- to get SJ’s soul back, SQQ has to do a complicated ritual with the system or something IDK. It’s completely doable, but it’s incredibly difficult, and SQH has to be apart of it. The system never wanted SQH to be apart of it- this was always supposed to be a SQQ thing, but SQQ wanted his bro’s help here!

Because SQH is there, however. The ritual is to bring back the OG goods, and SQQ is now not the only one that fits that bill. When the lights die down, who’s standing there except both SJ and the OG!Shang Qinghua?!

(YQY wasn’t told that SQH was also a transmigrater, and is just standing there, really confused and really betrayed and really wanting to go run over to SJ)

But OGSQH doesn’t have a life in this world, technically, so he’s technically from PIDW. He’s from after his death, and is incredibly jumpy in a way that a feral rodent is. Which is different that a feral cat! Because that’s what SJ is being right now, having both his memories up until his death in SVSSS as well as his death in PIDW.

YQY is the only one that can get even a little close with getting stabbed, but it’s still not enough. LBH had to leave the room immediately. SQQ and SQH are yelling at the system while OGSQH is trying to get out of the locked room with any means necessary.

I don’t have anything further than this. What do they tell everyone else? Does Mobei Jun get two rodent peak lords for the price of one, after a nice arc of OGSQH calming down about the whole ‘your alternative self killed me after I might have sorta kinda betrayed him!’ Thing? Does YQY ever tell SJ about their past, or will SQQ blurt it out to just get it over with? (Oh, maybe SJ admits that he swallows YQY’s sword shards to kill himself and that’s what causes YQY to break down and tell him. Or maybe that just causes YQY to avoid him out of grief for days, and ultimately makes SJ feel like he’s been abandoned?)

Mall these questions and more will never be answered! Sorry lol

[analviel]

I see a lot of examination and discussion of how Shen Jiu had the setting/backstory of a protagonist, could've been a protagonist if not for a twist of fate, and in a way his shape is still a protagonist when SY literally piloted his body- but not. (I think we all get hung up a lot bcs he didn't become protag like he deserves but he also didn't become a full on villain, who's still a protag of his own story, but just a scum villain because of the misunderstanding, somewhere along the way something happened and held him back in that in-between place, unable to tip over completely one way or another.)

It's often brought up that he's undergone his own blackening into a scum villain and I think about that a lot, but you know, his settings never actually trailed off too far from the protagonist setting, with the 'from the lowest to the highest' template- idk if that makes sense, but anyways, I of course have read more than my fair share of fix-its, but often, if not always, it's a time travel scenario.

But WHAT IF:

But what if Shen Jiu, rather than swallowing the shards of Xuan Su, uses it to cut himself free of the immortal binding ropes or whatever is stopping his qi. Which is not LBH's parasite blood I don't think they have that ability but whatever. I mean, you'd ask how would he, without arms and legs, escape? A nifty thing we're all familiar with called author's will.

A time when LBH is away to deal with one thing or another, and SJ, after years of lifeless staring, and even more lifeless staring in the aftermath of YQY's death, moves. The thing about not attempting to escape for a long, long time, is that people lower their guards and grows complacent, and it's not as if there's anyone checking up on him to see if he's eating meals or whatever, LBH is more than happy to get suggestions from his wives for torture ideas but was very controlling of who gets to inflict it (Xuan Su was just left there and he did manage to swallow it). So Shen Jiu, with only Xuan Su's blade and it's inherent property as a spirit sword, not even an active one which means on one hand there's no active qi in it but the latent one from its materials, and on the other hand it's not bound to anyone and was more malleable, whatever. ANYWAYS. Skip.

Shen Jiu knowing of one thing or another, or several things that's a combination of common healing theory, rarer healing practices, less than righteous surgery techniques, equals bastardized body repair and ends with him frankensteining himself with some shaky qi threads. The needle is a piece of Xuan Su. He doesn't blink bcs his pain receptors are no more.

Scenario A.) I want SJ to play the 'mysterious wandering protag with a mysterious dark past and a mission for vengeance', only wanting to kill LBH before planning to retire from existance himself and he goes with his cool and angsty scarred body that he'd DIY'ed. The blood parasites are solved by something ruthlessly self-destructive only someone with SJ's coldness and lack of actual desire to continue breathing would do without even some initial testing. This would be done quick and dirty to keep LBH from teacking him. OR/AND

Scenario B.) I say or-slash-and because the scenario A could be cut off or maybe they could be combined. The handy dandy sun and moon dew!!! Plant it, grow it, kill himself, and recover his full potential all those years ago! Of course this would take quite a while, so he might need scenario A anyways. And conveniently enough, it puts him in the path of....... dun dun dun ZUZHI-LANG!!! And TLJ by proxy. Allies get! Maybe! Because TLJ wants to kill the sects, right? But his son did it here for him, so maybe he wouldn't bother anymore. Or maybe it's not enough bcs he hadn't killed all of everyone, so let daddy fix that right up. Or/and, LBH feels threatened and threatens in proper blackened protg manner and TLJ threatens back and flat out stomps him.

So. Maybe!

To expand on the rest of the Jianghu, the other 4 Peak Lords we know are alive, SQH, QQQ, WQW, and MQF. Bcs we don't have definite details on the timeline of PIDW, we can conveniently fill in space, put a lot of cause and effect, the cultivator world is in an uproar by the reveal that LBH is a demon (it's not as if they were okay with that, duh, if they'd known he was a demon, SJ's actions would've been treated as the only logical thing to do) and YQY is dead, AND SQH is a traitor, so that's down two - or rather three with SQQ- influential people, two of which were heavily involved in how everything is run (SQQ, while not actually lazy in his cultivation, was indeed lazy and unmotivated in most tasks that involved coordinating with others).

I really don't think SJ would feel even a little bit betrayed by SQH. To be betrayed you have to trust first, and his whole thing was that he never trusted anyone from CQMS. For SJ, SQH didn't betray them so much as his loyalty just belonged to another. Still would kill the rat next time he sees him tho (spoiler alert, he doesn't, kill him that is, but he does see him eventually).

So, I'm of the belief that Airplane's drafts included the Peak Lords as big boss too, where TLJ is the big boss of the demonic realm, they're the ones for the cultivation world, and my headcanon is that they were purposely met with sudden deaths one way or another in PIDW, and none actually died in a straight up fight, which is on brand with LQG's deviation, SQQ's trial, and YQY's thousand arrows (that I say are one of those bullshit golden finger artifacts of PIDW, maybe something like 'heavenly damned arrows of a thousand rays' that always flies true to it's target and could seal rare level pokemon rip-offs beasts for every single one. No reason that they would be normal p arrows, really). SQH might have fought or just been completely taken off guard by his lord killing him out of the blue with no chance to wriggle out. But Like QQQ was backstabbed. WQW was poisoned. MQF sacrificed himself for a beloved disciple (and that's why WQW died because he set out to find his martial brother but didn't know he'd already died. Awww).

(connected to another headcanon, the other five unnamed Peak Lords died long ago in the first battle against TLJ when he was sealed)

These people were meant to be a team. Or at least a set.

So SJ goes on an epic quest of getting power to kill his Qi-ge's killer via sun and moon dew possibly while he gets his tactician brain creating up something to kill LBH (OP characters are not killed in straight up fights, as we've learned, they're tricked or betrayed) and accidentally finding and gathering his siblings who, at that point, happen to have become guardians of havens and refuge communities in pockets of the world that holds the remnants of cultivator and human realm, where the demonic forces have spread far and wide in every realm. It's initially written to later, eventually be conquered by LBH. For example there's a hidden cave passage that leads you to Mu Qingfang's hidey hole, a pocket dimension with much rural fantasy aesthetic, housing parients and normal mortals with farms and houses woven to giant trees. Wei Qingwei is found underground creating weapons and defenses day in and day out to source to QQQ and MQF. Qi Qingqi with her armies always on the move, squads spread out in the realms, resisting against the demonic forces, helping Mu Qingfang rescue stragglers, from her old fairycore ensemble shifting to dragoncore, rarely resting with her inedia in the hollow of a mountain.

(xianxia aesthetic, whimsical aesthetic, aesthetic aesthetic aesthetic!!!!!!!!).

They..... Well. It's an awkward reunion.

SJ was shocked to meet the first lord sibling he'd seen since his imprisonment, shown only by a slight widened eyes, but emotions quickly gone. His first words is, "Do you wnat to kill the beast?"

He didn't care about the answer, if they said yes, then alright, if they said no, then he'd just walk away.

They say yes. Every one.

So, the rest really depends on how you interpret his relationship with them before the trial.

A). Was it a case of it's exactly what it looked like and they oh so very righteously hated him and he hated them back, a bunch of misunderstandings and not-so misunderstandings building up?

B). Did they have mutual respect and mutual awareness that everyone in the room they hold their PL meetings in were assholes of different flavors? Did they expect Shen Jiu to save himself in the trials, was dissapointed when he didn't but since he didn't give any indication of wanting to be saved, shrugged their shoulders and left him to his life, as they have always poked and snided at each other but always kept away from actually interfering with their lives (no matter how evil they thought the others were, because they may be evil, but they were still siblings and that just meant they had evil martial siblings. Love morally dubious group of PL but still ride and die)?

C). Or maybe they actually had a good relationship consisting of a lot of sharp teasing and reckless verbal and physical lashing and tantrums that you can really only get away with to your siblings, but was twisted by outside perpective?

And, on the way, maybe he learns to form relationships properly, with people that he loved nothing like the all-consuming soul twisting and mutually hurtful and destructive way he dedicated everything to Yue Qingyuan (from his loyalty to his shrivelled love and every hurtful words).

Just. Friends. Family. Siblings.

Imagine SJ eventually wandering off, with a burnt down Peak that would never again beholden him to promises, broken and otherwise. Grieving, yes, but somehow at peace than he'd ever been in. A very long time?

Ming Fan, who'd perhaps been in Qi Qingqi's Fairy Haven (of course that's the name, we've got a theme people) that was the group that consisted of people that bayed for the Emperor's blood or just the more active cultivators (with GYX mayhaps), a loyal disciple reunited with his Shizun. Or mayne he'd been the one to have found SJ as a human stick and helped him get spare body parts.

I imagine in this world, once Luo Binghe is... out of the picture, one way or another, busy dying or busy having an appropriately dramatic amnesia arc for him to develop character development, NYY takes over as the Empress, with her court of demoness and humans, and Harems becomes synonymous to Council. LMY her right hand helping keep everyone in line, who are also partially managed by SHL, who weighted her options and pros and cons and found establishing her position as left hand pretty good for now. The rest can come later. Imagine NYY growing up, not in brute strength bcs that wasn't how she was taught, nor is it her strength, but perhaps in a way that SJ would idly wonder if perhaps he should've endorsed her to Qiong Ding. Not all harem members stay of course, and some had to die. Ning YingYing becomes the First Empress of the age of peace in the unified two realms and first order of business is secure her influence. Second is ban slaves. Third is to encourage a tentative cooperation between humans and demons.

(Additional note: LBH having a protagonist halo doesn't make him unkillable, the death just has to meet several requirements, like being suitably glorious and impactful, and also maybe tragic- ehem killed by his own father or shizun, and seeing his washerwoman mother at his last moments. The protagonist is just another tool to set up the story and evidently, genre change is not impossible.)

(I imagine a confrontation between SJ and LMY early on that goes along the lines of SJ saying, "Wouldn't you know better than most, the thirst for vengeance for a brother's death?)

What if SJ's fix-it comes after PIDW, you know. PIDW being his tragic backstory. A slave who climbed so high despite the past clinging heavy on his shoulders, and then falling down lower than he'd ever been and resolving his issues and then climbing back even higher with more stable footing.

Qiu Haitang, Yue Qingyuan, Liu Qingge, their Five Unnamed Martial Siblings, Luo Binghe- regrets, and triumphs, all part of his story to mull over whenever he reaches the top of random hills and sets out his tea set. It's a bittersweet plot I like thinking about.

[remi-harbinger]

Breaking news: Bingyuan is more toxic than u believe?? (not clickbait) (reaL)

ok so ive been thinking long and hard about their relationship and it doesnt make sense to me its so toxic and idk why theyd be the main pair of svsss that has so much potential for healthy loving ships (re: liuyuan)

Firstly: their relationship as a whole Binghe is notoriously sticky, and because we are sort of reading the novel through shen yuans eyes its an endearing trait. But if you think about it isnt it suffocating? It also shows an innate lack of trust in SY to do his own stuff and come back afterwards because of Binghe’s trust issues (ofc id have trust issues too if someone pushed me off a cliff but still). Binghe needs to work this out because the smothering is so toxic…

Next: love bombing and semi stockholm syndrome? this relationship is so funny to me because its like stockholm but weirder. SY literally lived in fear that LBH would murder him in the future and this causes him to cling to any affection LBH is giving because he’s taking it as reassurance to himself that he’ll live to see another day. Also im going to be honest the way SY treated LBH is sort of love bombing. He acts like a stern shizun at the start of the novel to not be OOC, then suddenly starts treating LBH as the sole star shining in the dark, then throws him off a cliff… It really gives a guy whiplash yk? Especially when you consider that aside from the washer woman, LBH has never been treated with love in his whole life up till this point. Hes been bullied so badly and even his own shizun hates him. He’s a literal child at this point in time, he’ll crave any love given and it is easy to see how this thirst for love could spiral into the more obsessive tendencies.

Now: Binghe and Bingmei I think that as Demons, you could sort of boil both OG!Binghe and Binghe (Bingmei)‘s treatment of SQQ into the base 7 deadly sins. Binghe would be Ira (Wrath/Hatred) and Bingmei would be Greed (Obsession). Their growing years as children under their respective shizuns has shaped their views and their feelings towards said shizuns have been carved deeply into their hearts. You can see how strong these emotions are in both Binghe’s elaborate and drawn out torture of OG!SQQ and Bingmei’s stickiness and overall yandere tendencies towards SY. Judging from the scale of LBH’s hatred towards OG!SQQ and drawing a parallel, current Bingmei’s obsession and greed for SY’s love is off the charts.

So what would happen if SY didnt reciprocate these feelings? If he did something that made Bingmei irrevocably angry? Emotions are wildly changing and never constant, and thus Bingmei’s affections is and will always be a damocles sword above SY’s head. SY may think he loves Bingmei, but he clearly doesn’t trust the constancy of the reciprocated feelings, and he definitely thinks about LBH getting blackened.

LBH and SY’s befuddling relationship dynamics: Now, they started off as master-disciple. This may seem not as important, but in Chinese there’s this saying “teacher for a day, father for a lifetime”. Do you understand what this means now that theyre in a relationship? Its a really weird power dynamic. Not to mention the whole “Demon lord/Person who swallowed said Demon Lord’s blood”. As I mentioned previously, because we are seeing SVSSS out of SY’s perspective, the importance of this is sort of glossed over with a “but its Binghe! Binghe’d never hurt me…”. LBH is able to control the blood to harm on scales unimaginable. He can kill, torture, cause you to be in excruciating pain, etc. LBH forcing his demon blood in SY is equivalent to LBH ripping out SY’s beating heart and holding it in his palm. He can literally crush the heart at any given moment and end SY’s life. Much motivation to convince yourself that you are in love with the one holding your life in his hands, right?

Wrapping this up because idt people will actually even read this: SY and LBH’s relationship may look like love up close, but its really toxic and they clearly lack the trust needed in a relationship. If there isn’t mutual respect and trust, can you even call their relationship love? I personally am of the opinion that it isnt love, especially considering the obsessive tendencies of LBH.

Ofc I have more to say and I hope you guys will discuss with me, but its late now so im keeping this quite short. If you’ve read the entire post marry me and pls still read SVSSS its a gem :)

[luobinghelovebot]

still stand by that the self detonation scene is THEEE scene of all time. sqq has without a cure acting up but still pulls out his sword to fight binghe even though he knows it won't do anything, because he still thinks it's their fate to be enemies, and lbh turning round and basically saying. if all this tragedy and anguish in my past is fate, then I will stomp it to death with my hooves. and sqq just CRYING and softening because like. that's his disciple !! that's binghe !! And part of the tragedy binghe is talking about IS because of him even if part of it was due to sqqs own hand being forced. and then xin mo recoils and sqq turns back into teacher mode and lbh is in agony and like. sqq just grabs hold of him and self detonates to overwhelm xin mo. sqqs sword shatters. and he claims it's to repay binghe for everything that's happened between them. and lbh catches him before he falls, in disbelief.

then ming fan and nyy are there, and they think he's killed sqq!!! and it's lqg of all people to specify like. he didn't kill him but detonated for him.... nyy being the one to point out sqq wouldn't want them going after binghe bc they'd be throwing their lives away... ming fan pointing out the parts of sqqs apparent grief and faith in him lbh didn't know about before (the spirit stones, the sword...) and binghe hearing nyy say none of sqqs kindness was fake. nyy asking binghe stop calling him shizun.... lbh panicking and explaining himself to a corpse and wiping the blood off sqqs face...

LITERALLY scenes of all time

[zykamiliah]

plucking leaves, flying flowers

hold on, is using the plucking leaves' technique as an offensive weapon something that original Shen Qingqiu already used, or was it something SY!Shen Qingqiu came up with!?

Cang Qiong Mountain Sect had a minor technique, “Plucking Leaves, Flying Flowers.” At a glance, it wasn’t very useful, just aesthetic and interesting. The novel had described how Luo Binghe used the technique to win the nth woman’s affections. As Shen Qingqiu had, since his arrival, been furiously reviewing various manuals, he had also recently seen a description of it.

He plucked a nearby leaf and channeled a touch of spiritual power into it. The first time, he channeled too much. The leaf couldn’t withstand his power and instantly split into several pieces. He succeeded the second time, held the leaf between his fingertips, and gently blew, letting go.

The leaf shot toward Ming Fan like an airborne knife(...)

No wonder they said that to an expert, even a flower or tree could be used to hurt people! But he hadn’t killed Ming Fan just now, right…? (Chapter 1: Scum)

that would explain why it took bingge by surprise when sqq attacked him with it in the extra! SY modified the technique!!!

(more quotes under the cut)

After a pause, [Ning Yingying] continued. “If you feel that the Shizun in the old days didn’t treat you well, then think back on the day you lost your jade pendant. Our shixiong inexplicably backed off all at once. You yourself knew there was something strange, right? No one else on Qing Jing Peak would turn leaves into weapons for the purpose of teaching a small lesson.” (Chapter 8: Death)

No one else, so this is something only SQQ has used, but does it mean that SJ never used that technique in the same way? I feel like SQQ would have mentioned it.

(shout out to nyy for noticing these at the time, though she's being a little bit unfair here because she didn't know had bad original sqq treated lbh)

he uses them again while he's in the mushroom body to trim SHL's nails (and really, he didn't think that technique would out him as SQQ? man has zero logical thinking when it comes to indirectly trying to make lbh's aledged love life easier)

She then raised her hand to examine it. Her five cinnabar-painted nails had been uniformly trimmed a noticeable length shorter.

It was only her nails, and it hadn’t hurt in the least, but Sha Hualing’s blood went instantly cold (...)

If someone lurking nearby could cut her nails with such ease, then they could just as effortlessly slice open her neck.

Shen Qingqiu was feeling much more relieved as he released a twig plucked clean of leaves. (Chapter 9: Borderlands)

after his sword it's his first go-to weapon when facing enemies such as tianlang-jun

WITH LIGHTNING SPEED, Shen Qingqiu grabbed a handful of leaves from a vine. He’d just charged into the cave with the rest when he heard a voice. (Chapter 21: Always Together)

i have to quote the part where he used them against bingge because it was soooo badass. there are so few moments when you can say sqq was honestly this badass, and this is one

At this moment, the only things above their heads were rustling twigs and leaves of bamboo, swaying and undulating in the wind. The original didn’t need to raise his head to tell that no threat awaited him above, and he smiled slightly. “Shizun, that sort of ploy is for dealing with little children. Trying to trick your disciple that way is a bit too condescending.”

You won’t look? All right, you brought this upon yourself! Shen Qingqiu formed a seal with his left hand and crisply snapped his fingers, his expression hardening.

The original was about to say something when a fluttering leaf streaked across his vision. The smile on his face froze. A fine trickle of blood slowly dripped down his cheek.

All around him, bamboo leaves fell more and more thickly, until the leisurely drifting foliage suddenly sped up, each one slicing toward where he stood in the center like the frigid, cutting wind from the east.

Plucking Leaves, Flying Flowers: Ultimate Version—Hundred Leaves, Thousand Flowers!

The original Luo Binghe flung out his palm, routing the dense assault of leafy razors, but for Shen Qingqiu, the entire forest was full of ammunition—thick with leaves that rained down like confetti, homing in on their target in hot pursuit. Though they appeared unassuming, with a single touch, they could carve flesh from bone. (Chapter 22: Bing-mei and Bing-ge’s Ultimate Showdown)

look at the "semi-otaku" saying the same of the technique in his mind, pfffff. "ultimate version" if he had screamed the name of the technique at bingge i wouldn't be surprised lol

aaaand i just checked the qijiu extra and it seems SJ never used that technique, so SY made it up :DDD

[web-novel-polls]

MXTX Side Character Bracket

Side A - Opens Thursday, November 9th

Jin Ling vs. Daoist nuns triplets 

Jiang Yanli vs. Xue Yang 

Yin Yu vs. Xiao Xingchen 

Qin Wanyue vs. Bai Jing 

A-Qing vs. Mu Qingfang 

Ling Wen vs. Pei Ming 

Shang Qinghua vs. Wen Qing 

Bichen vs. Fairy 

Side B - Opens Sunday, November 12th

Ning Yingying vs. Su Xiyan

Mobei-jun vs. Zhuzhi-lang

LBH’s Harem vs. Jiang Cheng

Su She vs. Tianlang-jun

Quan Yizhen vs. Song Lan

Lan Xichen vs. Sha Hualing

Wen Ning vs. Gongyi Xiao

Mianmian vs. Six Balls

Special Addition - Shen Jiu vs. Liu Qingge

Polls will open at noon CST and will remain open for 1 week.

Tag: #mxtx side characters round 1

Characters & propaganda underneath the cut

Jin Ling from MDZS

Submission 1: He may be a brat, but he has a good heart and a friendly dog. He thinks he's the main character of a much less intense story which keeps almost getting him killed 

Submission 2: Bestest boy in the whole world. He's got a dog! A helicopter uncle! His dad's sword! Yeah he can be a little brat but he's SIXTEEN okay (or thirteen, or whatever, MXTX HELP) and he's got an incredible capacity for forgiveness. He's so good! 

Daoist nuns triplets from SVSSS

Submission: Authors of "Song of BingQiu" and the true culprits behind the ass wine extra. Stop crediting Liu Mingyan with their hard work! 

Jiang Yanli from MDZS

“Madam Jin. A-Xian is my younger brother. A humiliation to him is not something trivial to me.” - Drama

Elder Sister Syndrome in its highest form who is just trying to protect her loved ones despite having no talent in cultivation. 

Wiki Link

Xue Yang from MDZS

Submission: It's not that he's evil. He lacks empathy and he goes into a disassociative state and commits atrocities. 

Yin Yu from TGF

Submission: The guy of all time. The most average god ever. Someone give him a break. His face is so average that Xie Lian thought it was fake 

Xiao Xingchen from MDZS

No propaganda submitted

Originally a disciple of Baoshan Sanren, Xiao Xingchen left his home knowing he wouldn’t ever be allowed to return in the sole hopes of saving and helping others. He meets and befriends Song Lan, who later loses his eyes and home to Xue Yang. Xiao Xingchen begs Baoshan Sanren to give Song Lan his eyes, choosing to wander the world blind. Due to sacrificing his eyes, he’s unable to recognize Xue Yang, who tricks him into killing innocent people and later, Song Lan, the person he wanted to save the most. 

Wiki Link

Qin Wanyue from SVSSS

Submission: Scum Villain's wettest and most pathetic loser! Of course, she's so pathetic that she's constantly overshadowed by more bombastically pathetic characters, but I think she deserves her chance at recognition. 

Bai Jing / Brocade Immortal from TGCF

Submission: no 1 ling wen simp (just like me fr)

Wiki Link

A-Qing from MDZS

Propaganda: She's so smart. She tricked so many people into thinking she was blind for so long. Also, she was really kind and considerate. Like she didn't have to save all of those people from Xue Yang. Oh and she's an excellent judge of character and super brave. Really hope she wins, she's such a fun little genius girl 

"You piece of shit! Dream on! You don't deserve to call Daozhang unclean. You're just a pool of spittle! Daozhang must be the unluckiest man in the world to have met you! You're the only one who’s dirty! It's only a disgusting pool of spittle like you!" — A-Qing’s last words to Xue Yang

Mu Qingfang from SVSSS

Submission: Ppl tend to completely forget he has a mad scientist side (see Jinlan arc) and if he gets into the tournament I'll have a reason to bring it up. 

Ling Wen from TGCF

Submission: Girlboss. Did nothing wrong

One of the Three Tumors - three Heavenly Officials that have some of the worst reputations after Xie Lian (“the laughing stock of the three realms”) - and was accused of, like, killing a dude or smth but was accepted back into Heaven on the sole basis that she’s the only administratively competent god

Pei Ming from TGCF

One of the Three Tumors - three Heavenly Officials that have some of the worst reputations after Xie Lian (“the laughing stock of the three realms”) - due to his EXTENSIVE manwhore ways. Like, when the ghost mother of a fetus spirit claims her child is/was the child of a Heavenly Official, EVERYONE thinks it’s him. What can he say, his reputation precedes him 

Shang Qinghua / Airplane from SVSSS

Submission: He's a sidekick and he's so sidelined that despite creating the universe he's treated as an afterthought - doubly a side character! But also? So relateable. He would absolutely have been on tumblr in his first life, he gets so excited about his blorbo who treats him terribly (until they finally get a happy ending in the extras - also! he has to wait for the extras to get his happy ending! very side-character of him). He holds the fascinating position of being mostly irrelevant to the story and yet without him the themes would totally fail. He deserves a win on something for once, okay? 

Wen Qing from MDZS

Submission 1: Doctor, mad scientist, war criminal, protective big sister... she has the range!!

Submission 2: Wen Qing my beloved!! She did surgery on a grape. Mad genius for real. Also a loving sister with a very sharp tongue and maybe no sense of how far is too far. Can't wait for them to find her alive in a Koi Tower basement!

Submission 3: Justice for my girl!!!! 

Submission 4: She's bitchy and pragmatic and cares deeply and did an unprecedented operation (experimental and nonconsensual!), what's not to love? Also she deserved better. 

Bichen from MDZS

Lan Wangji’s sword

Submission: this sword has been through a lot…

Wiki Link 

Fairy from MDZS

Jin Ling’s dog that was gifted to him by Jin Guangyao 

Submission: The cutest, smartest, and goodest doggo! She's the one who led WangXian to the Nie sword tomb to save Jin Ling! and led Jiang Cheng to Guanyin Temple to save Jin Ling! and led Lan cultivators to the temple to help Lan Wangji and Lan Xichen (and Jin Ling!)

Wiki Link

Ning Yingying from SVSSS

Submission: Her glow-up in the SVSSS timeline is real! Instead of becoming Luo Binghe's childhood sweetheart, she roasts him for referring to her too familiarly. Love this for her. 

Su Xiyan from SVSSS

Girlboss

Wiki Link

Mobei-jun from SVSSS

Submission: He's a demon tsundere who doesn't realize his human boyfriend is scared and easily squishable. Got demoted from king to cabinet minister during a hostile takeover but is pretty chill about it. Huge boobs. 

Zhuzhi-lang from SVSSS

Submission 1: Snake boy my beloved

Submission 2: I love him

Luo Binghe’s Harem from SVSSS

Submission: Binghe's harem the whole collection all of them together an amalgamation of all the wives 

Jiang Cheng from MDZS

Submission 1: Extremely traumatized yet also somehow the most normal and functional by the end. Huge bitch but I (and at least one of the other characters) think he deserves to be even worse after everything he's been through

Submission 2: Simultaneously badass and the most cringefail man. Extremely funny and stylish but still manages to be very uncool. Cries a lot. Also he's lost a lot of tumblr polls—let's give him another shot! We definitely love him more than his dad did!

Submission 3: He's got mommy issues AND daddy issues. He loves his sister and his shige so much. He's traumatised and incredibly competent. He rebuilt his whole sect! He's an asshole (affectionate). He's purple! He's got the coolest weapon ever conceived. I'm so worried about his blood pressure basically all the time. 

Su Minshan / Su She from MDZS

Submission 1: Idk I just kinda like him

Submission 2: Look at him having his own life and grudges and friendships and priorities completely unrelated to the main characters! He was so right to curse Jin Zixun 

Tianlang-jun from SVSSS

Submission: Incredible character who does it like him 

Quan Yizhen from TGCF

Submission: He's a good boi and thinking about him makes me cry a lil'.

Literally only ascended to Heaven to follow his shixiong, hated it, and then his shixiong was cast out for trying to kill him. Also, the “revered-martial-artist-who-beats-up-his-supporters/subordinates-and-is-still-loved” trope

Song Lan from MDZS

No propaganda submitted 

Died to the one person he desperately wanted to apologize to (Xiao Xingchen), and when Xiao Xingchen, unable to recognize him due to giving Song Lan his eyes, killed him, Song Lan chose not to use his sword, knowing Xiao Xingchen would recognize it 

Wiki Link

Lan Xichen from MDZS

Submission: Pay your respects to the captain of the WangXian ship! Those idiots would keep pining for another 13282627 years if it weren't for him! 

Sha Hualing from SVSSS

Submission: Her cringefail losergirl swag has captivated me 

Wen Ning from MDZS

Submission emitted for potential character hate

Chose kindness again and again - sheltering Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng from the other Wens, sacrificing himself with his sister to save Wei Wuxian and the Wen Remnants - only to inadvertently/paritally cause Wei Wuxian’s downfall & the seige on the Burial Mounds with his own hands by killing Jin Zixuan (not of his own will, btw). Another tragic character who sacrificed and put himself at risk to protect people who died anyway 

Gongyi Xiao from SVSSS

Submission: He is such a Good Person who didn't deserve his fate :( 

Mianmian / Luo Qingyang from MDZS

Girlboss instantly shut down the misogynists in her clan by leaving without hesitation. Iconic work. 

Wiki Link

Six Balls from SVSSS

Submission: When he was born he weighed as much as six balls. Current ball number unknown.

[foralternateuniverses]

au in which SY transmigrates into a stallion novel based/heavily inspired in fairy tales: The Charming Demon Prince.

LBH is The Prince Charming, and all his wives are fairy tale princesses, the first being the Cinderella!NYY who was adopted by YQY and who's stepfather is SQQ, and his step brother is SY.

LBH was raised by the old washer woman who died when he was young, then he started working for NYY's family, where he was mistreated by SQQ before he was fired after an accident in which SY was harmed, he has some adventures before his cousin finds him and brings him back so he can take his rightfull place as the heir to the Demon Empire, then he return for his first wife

But

After transmigrating, SY discovers the truth about quite some things about the villain SQQ, for example, SY doesn't understand why SQQ is so Loyal to YQY, who, even though he indulges and lets SQQ basically do whatever with little to no consequences, let's his staff and other people disrespect and mistreat SQQ and SY.

Yet, even though they're both clearly unhappy there, SQQ refuses to leave, so SY has to make other Plans.

In an event, SY officially meets LQG, who was an important role, the elder brother of LMY, the princess of the story 'The Royal Swans/The Wild Swans'.

So SY decides to recruit him to their side to help them and also avoid him being turned into a swan, which would cause A lot of problems (like the decline of the Liu family)

At first, SQQ and LQG don't get along very well, but after LQG is convinced of becoming SY's swordart teacher he ends up interacting more and more with the father-son duo in and out of their house, which means that he Discovers a lot of things (like the way the house staff mistreat and disrespect them, except for their personal servant MF) and they start to get along better and better (and also falling in love)

But

SQQ is very much married to YQY, and it doesn't take long for rumors to arise (After already having rumors of SQQ forcing LQY to waste his sword-wielding talent by teaching his sickly and dumb son)

On the other hand, when LBH finally gets to the household as a servant, SY makes sure that they have a good relationship, which also keeps LBH from getting in Trouble with SQQ, which also means that LBH falls in love with SY, still, LBH has to leave and the plot must continue

Also revelant: SQQ's past: he is from unknown origins, was a servant of the Qius, married the young master QJL with whom he had a child and became a widow after A fire destroyed the house and killed almost everyone, before marrying YQY, (and the reason SQQ is so loyal to him is because YQY didn't keep secret the reason why he wasn't able to come for SJ)

This comes back to bite him in the ass when the Cinderella plot happens, but first by this time YQY is already out of the picture and it hasn't been long since he married LQG, who disappeared,

LQG, like destined, is turned into a swan and SQQ searches for him, after discovering what happened, he takes over LMY's duty and role, and begins silently knitting a Cloth made of nettle for LQG to weat and turn back into human,

All this is happening while the Cinderella ordeal is going on.

LBH goes to a 3-nights-long party made by HHP as a diplomat and Crown Prince, there, he keeps meeting the disguised SY (who inadvertently took over NYY's role)

But there seems to be another Cinderella at that party, a Cinderella who, on the third night, reveals herself to be QHT, the princess of the tale of 'The multicolored coat/The coat of many colors' and she wants to get 'justice'

She reveals SQQ's humble origins and accuses him of murdering her family, and SQQ can't defend himself, cuz he has to keep silent until he finishes the coat for LQG

LBH, LMY, NYY and other help SY investigate and do their best to defend SQQ and prove his innocence, they manage to gather evidence but SQQ has already been sent away to receive his death sentence.

SQQ keeps silently knitting

[madness-of-alice]

First Kill Ep. 1 Reaction

This is going to be a very . . . uninhibited list of reaction thoughts I had during the first episode.

The opening credits are cool. I like the art with the real life. Also the song is kinda catchy?

Is the Netflix summary promoting Romeo and Juliet? Like. That ends in tragedy. It's not romantic. At all. You're already spoiling the ending.

OMG. IT OPENS WITH A MAKEOUT SCENE. Oh wait…

"Juliette". I see what you did there.

Oh, typical angst teenager "no one understands me my life could be over if I'm vulnerable" monologue. Okay.

I'M SORRY. WERE THOSE GIRLS GETTING ENGAGED OR PROMISE RING'D? WHO EVEN DOES THAT IN HIGH SCHOOL???

How many pills did she pop? Of course she needs refills often. Good lord, girl. Don't you understand how a body builds tolerance to drugs? Girl, that was NOT all the drugs you dropped when you ran into her. They scattered.

Jeez, Calliope is so put together. No wonder Juliette is nervous.

"I don't want to kill. Killing is wrong. I don't want to hurt anyone." It occurs to me that I find that sort of thing in characters annoying. Denying their nature for 'morality'. 'Cause. Like. THAT always ends well.

I'M SORRY. DOES ELINOR KEEP THE IDS OF ALL OF HER KILLS? HOW BALLER IS THAT. Also, if she ever gets caught, all those cold cases will be solved. You think Juliette is going to get you all exposed? I think a drawer full of dead people's IDs will do that better.

Crying blood? OH SHIT. Yeah, that'll expose you.

Right, because that bold color is more her than the nude-ish color she had on earlier.

No, Ben. You're gonna get your heart broken. Noooooo. Buddy. … Listen, Ben is more of a wingman than Juliette is. Something happened with Noah. I can FEEL it, but he's putting aside his heartbreak because Juliette's girl is here.

Oh gurl. Sultry eyes and the reciprocated checking out of the body.

YES, REAL ALCOHOL REACTION OF "ew". DAMN STRAIGHT. Alcohol is nasty at high school frat boy's house.

OMG. SHIT GURL JUST GO FOR IT. OH GURL. DOMINATE THAT KISS. OH SHIT. SWITCH SWITCH. PUSH HER INTO THAT COUNTERTOP.

Wait, is this the cherry jar scene?

OH SHIT It's the Cherry Jar scene.

OH SHIT SHE BIT HER.

Oh good, they switched to Calliope's point of view halfway through. Such a different vibe. Very strong, eager to prove herself, but also very sterotypical teenage 'ugh' frustration. Grow up.

YAS MAMA. GET THOSE BOYS OUT CHA WAY.

Do the hunters also age slower or something? Those rituals and burning sage and sea salt? Cause them boys don't look much younger than Mama Talia.

What's so special about souls and wars and Oooohhhh…. do they not just hunt vampires?

No. The answer is no. They don't just hunt vampires.

At least the Dad looks older than the sons.

Cal's gonna fuck up, isn't she? Glasses Bro is gonna get hurt, isn't he?

Uh, aren't you gonna take anything else besides swords? What if you run into something else along the way?

LOUNGING GHOUL? Like wolf whistle Come Get Me.

OH SHIT. IS THE DAD GOING TO GET HURT? No? Whew.

Envelopes? So secretive? They're just gonna get tossed. Like, why? Why waste that paper. Just TEXT the cover assignment. Or is it because you, the family matriarch, wants to make it a "special thing", which is only alienating your daughter, lbh.

I like how they filmed that video call. Slick.

Oh I see what they're doing. Both need a first kill and they're gonna try not to make it each other. Yikes.

Do they? Do they underestimate you? OH SHIT. CALLIOPE KNEW THE WHOLE TIME.

OH SHIT. I CALLED IT. JULES DIDN'T GET ALL THE PILLS.

Oh, no. Calliope is gonna make it her.

Daywalker. Pffft.

Oh hey, that's actually kinda slick, watching around the corner with a camera.

Oh shit there's a stake.

OH SHIT SHE USED THE STAKE.

Final Thoughts: So, like. Based on what I've seen on Tumblr, a lot of people are invested in the Mama's interactions. Which, who can blame them. They're attractive. But these teenage girls. Are such teenage girls, and I don't know if I can take them seriously? I might have to go into this series just expecting cheese and awkward. And as someone who is easily second hand embarrassed, this will be very interesting and kind of difficult to watch.

[zenodotus-cx]

Just rb'd a post about the difference between mdzs and scum villain and there is a LOT to be said about the death/rebirth scenes in both novels.

When WWX dies, LWJ copes in a... mostly healthy way. He raises a kid, helps the common people, and plays sad music 24/7.

When SQQ dies, LBH decides, instead of moving on, or finding a constructive way to deal with his grief, he will simply not accept that SQQ is dead. He does this in perhaps the weirdest way possible, yes, but it's very much a childish inability to accept the death of the only person he could rely on to care about and protect him. Also, he's under the influence of fucked-up-demon-sword juju, which has a history of making your decision making... questionable.

However, I think the biggest difference between the way LWJ and LBH were able to cope with their grief is that LWJ had a support system. He had a responsibility to raise a-Yuan. He had a place to keep going, to help others, he even had a person to direct his anger at (however unhealthy that was, considering JC didn't actually. Y'know. Kill him.)

LBH had nothing. Everyone around him was either maniacally devoted to him, to scared to question his descisions, or someone he was actively in conflict with whose reasoning he was unlikely to hear out. He was alone, nobody was going to tell him "Lord Luo, you should deal with your grief in a healthy manner or at LEAST not keep the dead body of your teacher in your bed and cuddle it to sleep." So he kept trying to find a way to bring SQQ back to life, and bring back some of that normalcy, his favorite person from what were probably the best years of his life. Even if he had listened, had tried to deal with his grief, who the hell was he supposed to talk to? What was he supposed to do with his life?

Most of the reason he wanted to become powerful was to protect the people he loved, but he doesn't have anyone left. He wanted to prove to his Shizun that he was a good person, and that being a demon didn't mean that he was automatically evil. But SQQ saved him, he learned that he grieved him when he fell, that he was so, so, proud of him. He has nothing else to do, nowhere, emotionally, to go from here. This is a man who has lost a lot of people, but this is also a man who now has the power that maybe, maybe, he can do something about it this time.

[ivewonny]

SVSSS idea: SJ/SQQ & LBH/Bingge Happy End in Modern World (NOT A SHIPPY)

SVSSS idea in modern time AU

(It's not a shippy post!! Please don't comment about it! I just want my two fav charas: Shen Jiu/Shen Qingqiu and Luo Binghe/Luo Bingge get the happy end and therapies that they deserve!!)

Reborn Shen Jiu/Shen Qingqiu & a world hopper(?) Luo Binghe/Bingge.

Shen Jiu/Shen Qingqiu reborn in a modern time. It's either he get the worse parents but get adopted by a nice couple OR his biological parents are nice. Bottom line: SJ/SQQ get the parents that will always love and support him. They can be poor at first but got richer, or a rich couple from the start.

SJ/SQQ receives a lot of love & supports from his parents, and also gets a lot of therapies since his traumas troubles him again because his parents sign him to and SJ/SQQ agrees. He tells everything to his therapist (but not at first, but in the end they know about SJ/SQQ past life) (they also get slapped by a lot of NDA documents or something so they can't tell anyone about SJ/SQQ). SJ/SQQ's mental health becomes better than before, when he is older (again) he becomes a functional proper adult, his emotional capabilities increased, now he can empathize to other people (but not always).

Luo Binghe/Bingge is in distraught, he's sad, he's mad after comes back from SVSSS world. He just wants a nice shizun. Why the crybaby version of him can get it but not him??! He's very angry. He screams and destroys SJ/SQQ's cell. He can't get the explanation from torture SJ/SQQ anymore because he's dead. He regretted to kill SJ/SQQ because he just needs an explanation, a reason (just like SJ/SQQ with YQY/YQ).

LBH/Bingge gets a qi deviation, his power & Xin Mo becomes unstable. Xin Mo whispers a lot of things that makes LBH/Bingge angrier. They argue. At some point Xin Mo opens a portal into the world where's SJ/SQQ lives, which he is technically LBH/Bingge's nicer shizun. LBH/Bingge can't get back to his world because his qi is depleted and he can't gather it faster because there's no natural qi in the modern world, LBH/Bingge is also injured because that qi deviation is very bad.

SJ/SQQ recognizes him, he gets flashbacks from LBH/Bingge's tortures. He doesn't want to approach him, he wants to run away. But they are in public and LBH/Bingge is too eye catching with his appearance. SJ/SQQ autopilot drags LBH/Bingge to his place, away from public eyes.

LBH/Bingge snaps. He's angry. He find his shizun but he's offended that SJ/SQQ looks better. He hurts him and SJ/SQQ allows it, until LBH/Bingge realizes that SJ/SQQ's body is a mortal one, VERY very fragile.

Despite SJ/SQQ is better, but he can't forgive and meet LBH/Bingge. His hatred and regret grows and almost drowns him. He knows and regrets that what happened to LBH/Bingge is SJ/SQQ's fault, he feels what the boy did is his fault, but at the same he also angry at LBH/Bingge killed SJ/SQQ's precious people, Yue Qingyuan/Yue Qi (and probably some brothel ladies he knew & some of his loved disciples, almost all of them were girls). LBH/Bingge also becomes a slave of his own sword, creating a harem of wives, and in them there are some people that SJ/SQQ cares (and hates), like NYY & QHT.

They doesn't talk about what they should be talked. SJ/SQQ isn't ready and LBH/Bingge is still in shock. In the end SJ/SQQ takes care LBH/Bingge. When LBH/Bingge's condition is better, SJ/SQQ gives him a house far away from his home, some money, and a therapist. SJ/SQQ is aware they can't talk now without someone gets injured.

LBH/Bingge doesn't accept it at first. Shizun is kicking him out again. He's leaving him again. Why everyone abandon him? Why everyone hates him? Why no one loves him enough to stay? It's hard to accept SJ/SQQ's reasons despite it makes sense. The reason LBH/Bingge agrees is because the house keeper SJ/SQQ hired reminds him of his adopted mother.

When LBH/Bingge is living in the modern world, he latches on his house keeper's side. Despite not knowing anything about LBH/Bingge, she gives a lot of motherly loves to him. Even without legal documentation, they become a family.

SJ/SQQ doesn't really abandon LBH/Bingge. He still feels guilty, but he doesn't want to meet him either. So SJ/SQQ interacts with emails and voice mails, giving LBH/Bingge's instructions to live in the modern world. He becomes a nicer teacher to LBH/Bingge, but not the best or the perfect one. (He is like that college professor who only gives study materials in PDF and homeworks but almost never gives any real lesson)

Decades later, both of them become a better person than them in the past. There are several failed conversations, until in the end, DECADES LATER, they can have a heart-to-heart conversation, where's both of them get the proper explanation and closure. Then SJ/SQQ & LBH/Bingge live their own life SEPARATELY, SJ/SQQ with his parents and LBH/Bingge with his adopted mother, enjoying their own life and happiness in this fleeting world. They are not friends, they are not family, they are just acquaintance. Their relationship is awkward at the best. Their conversations are still awkward and tense and they still avoid each others.

(In the end LBH/Bingge outlives his mother, his friends that he made in that world, his ex-lovers, SJ/SQQ, and SJ/SQQ's parents, because despite he lives in modern world where everyone is mortal, LBH/Bingge is still a half-demon. He is either come back to his own world, stays but needs to change his identity every several decades, or... you know)

[agaxso]

post canon sqq and lbh going on a mission where people are disappearing only to find out it's a rogue demon killing people by throwing them off mountain road.

they both fight the demon and sqq's sword gets thrown off the cliff along with his owner. lbh sees his shizun reaching out to him, eyes wide, he freezes and for a second wonders if back then his shizun felt the same way he's feeling now, seeing him falling when he pushed him down to the abyss.

meanwhile sqq tries to warn his husband about the demon lurking closer, but then he sees the deep searing fear in his eyes and by the time he manages to make a sound it was too late.

[coolshadowtwins]

As a follow up to my last post, It Starts with Sorry from Hazbin Hotel, except it’s SQQ trying to stop people from killing ZHL

ZHL: 🎶 I don't deserve your amnesty! 🎶

LQG and LBH: 🎶 Can't we just kill him? Stab him and spill his blood? 🎶

SQQ: 🎶 Um, That's an option you could choose? 🎶

LQG and LBH, advancing with swords: 🎶 Works for us! 🎶

SQQ, franticly getting between them: 🎶 But who hasn't been in his shoes?! It starts with Sorry! 🎶

[eldritch-elrics]

svsss: journey through the mausoleum (plus, zhuzhi-lang is a himbo)

got to chapter 65 last night!

as usually i have a lot to say i guess jkdhgsds i think putting stuff under cuts makes people scroll past these posts more? but also i don’t really want to be too annoying with my Many Reactions so cuts are a good way to go

tldr: loved the mausoleum arc, big fan of tlj, communication is good, and i have a new favorite scene in the book

binghe is extra as FUCK for bringing in all those rhino pythons

so i maintain that tianlang-jun should have been foreshadowed more/is introduced too late in the story, but other than that i think he’s a really fun villain and i’m a fan

for one - he’s the only one who’s able to hurt binghe :0 harm the protagonist...

which creates some Very Good Tension

count number one of zhuzhi-lang being a himbo: trying to sacrifice himself for tlj while being threatened

“is zzl really a himbo” you ask. well, yes. is he dumb? very much so. is he nice? absolutely. is he hot? well, i have no idea. i forget if he’s described as attractive or not. but, i think he can be if he wants. does being a little bit evil negate his himbo-ness? idk! i’m sticking with my assessment

i think i have a bit of a soft spot for evil henchmen

zzl also protects sqq from the corpses <3 good for him

it’s always fun to me when the system is like “wooo yay you fixed the storyline! cut the filler!” because 1. love seeing sqq lay waste to pidw and 2. the implications?? once more i am wondering WHY is the system so interested in making pidw a better story. (and the fact that it’s still calling his adventures in this world a story.) are sqq’s adventures being written down and serialized in the real world? are we as readers supposed to believe that scum villain, as a text, is a direct result of sqq’s “editing” of pidw?

uh, back to the plot

binghe wasted spiritual energy trying to preserve the mushroom/plant body :( come on man...

i really like the whole stretch of plot when binghe’s unconscious. it’s just so tense!! really well-done in my opinion - this is the first time in a while we’ve got a sense that lbh is in danger, and sqq is also running low on energy and stuff, so they’re both in bad places and the stakes are high

PLUS the hurt-comfort of it all. sqq trying not to hurt lbh’s body :(

the whole part in the coffin!! excellent. and the convo with meng mo... sqq calling himself lbh’s shizun finally...

cuddles <3

dying at lbh’s fuckin. boner. and the system’s REACTION it’s so EXCITED i am just. holds my head in my hands. i can’t deal with this novel

the confrontation with qiu haitang and the old palace master was very cool and intense. though i have to say i’m not really a fan of either “angry unreasonable woman” or “bitter disabled person” as tropes/archtypes (especially how sqq was reacting to the palace master’s condition). and poor qiu haitang! i have no idea if there’s any way to set her mind at ease other than revealing the whole transmigration thing. i do hope she’ll turn up again and get a better ending?

so the plague city sqq callout party is once again not directly lbh’s fault! the old palace master is the one to blame!

SO ONE OF MY FAVORITE PARTS IN THE BIT I READ LAST NIGHT. is. sqq realizing that he could utilize lbh’s plot armor to his advantage. but then deciding that he doesn’t want to take that risk. doesn’t want to use lbh’s body as a prop!!!

character development :D

he’s really starting to see lbh as a person as opposed to a character! and being less selfish/survival-oriented...

man. sqq, almost beaten, lying on the ground holding binghe in his arms........ :(((

so is the implication that lbh injured/took revenge on the old palace master because the palace master was being creepy to him about his mom? it’s a bit vague but that’s my theory. weirdo old man...

speaking of people lbh killed. maybe it will be revealed that gongyi xiao is actually alive too :( i’m still salty about that

SO MUCH DEMON BLOOD. poor sqq

so i don’t think i got how sqq was able to free himself from zzl’s blood manipulation? was it because binghe woke up and subdued it?

binghe waking up was a lil deus-ex-machina-y lol i would have liked to see some sort of trigger for it (even a cheesy one). like i get why he’s ok and no longer hurt (protagonist powers!) but like, gimme a reason for the shift to happen at that precise moment...

but AAAAAA FINALLY THEY ARE TALKING

lbh realizes how much sqq went through to save him :( and he’s so happy he didn’t get abandoned!!!! aaaaaa my poor boy

i like crybaby lbh much more than i like cold/cruel lbh lol

i do agree with sqq’s assessment though - lbh keeps doing the thing where he cries and apologizes but doesn’t actually change. he’s slowly getting better about it but that’s some development i’d like to see

so tlj.... DOESN’T want lbh’s body? i stg his motivations change every 5 minutes. that’s one other thing i don’t really like about him. is the “trying to steal lbh’s body” thing just gonna go nowhere? f...

ALSO SQQ GETTING OUTRAGED ABOUT TLJ CALLING HIMSELF MORE HANDSOME THAN BINGHE

binghe dumbass moments <3 gave him the sword...

..........zhuzhi-lang vore.......

zzl, while healing sqq’s plant arm: don’t worry i don’t want to fuck you unlike LUO BINGHE.

sqq: OKAY??? THANKS

i really hope there exists shipfic of sqq and zzl. like i don’t ship them at all but they just get into so many Situations that i cannot help but think about it. like it would make a funny crack premise

you know what? sqq deserves his own harem. it could consist of lbh, lqg, sqh, zzl.....

SQQ CANNOT CATCH A BREAK. TLJ IS A FAN OF RESENTMENT OF CHUNSHAN

modern au tlj is the dad who is way way way too supportive and thinks sqq would just be a wonderful husband for his son~~

interested in tlj’s intention to unite the human and demon worlds. like on the surface it sounds like a good idea right? peace and harmony and reconciling differences and stuff. but tlj’s plan is certainly not well-thought-out, and i’m sure his intentions also skew towards a sort of “merge them so they’re both easier to rule over” thing - which i don’t think is confirmed or anything, it’s just my suspicion

both tlj and lbh have a sort of entitlement thing going on - “i’m powerful so i can do whatever i like / take for myself something i love (whether that be humans or sqq).” which is then backed up by the power the system allows them as final boss and protagonist respectfully

speaking of lbh taking whatever he wants: stop kissing sqq without asking him aaaaa!!!! we know you love him and it’s sweet but please bro

him going all that way to reunite with sqq though <3

and then zzl comes in and i just.

this scene is simply the best

the slapstick of it!!!! i wanna see it animated so bad holy shit

the scene was good when it was just “sqq hides lbh under the bedcovers and he’s having none of it” but then it just kept escalating...

sqq and zzl’s convo is so suggestive too...

zzl himbo moments again?

AND THEN TLJ WALKS IN

“no need to explain, i understand everything” OK BRO.

LIU QINGGE IS HERE <3

tlj fanboying over him a little lmao

tlj, upon realizing that lbh had been in the bed with zzl and sqq: oh, you guys were having a threesome?

i cannot deal with this. i’m gonna do some sketches from this scene it’s so funny

[touchmycoat]

LOL when you said Hero my brain said noooooooooooooo cuz they all died dammit but then you said jmbnh and I perked up considerably :P. That sounds really really cool!!!

YEAH YOU GOT IT LMFAO. i'm gonna try to actually execute this (I hope), so i'm gonna slap the rough first outline under a cut for those who don't want spoilers ;) ;) but you already know where i'm going with this lolololol

Act I: Did you know the Xiu Ya Sword and the Broken Sword were lovers?

The Warrior is brought before the Emperor. Upon presenting the broken Cheng Luan sword, he is allowed to approach within 20 paces. "Did you kill him?" "No. Your Venerable Majesty's decree may have been dead or alive, but all warriors on the jianghu know it's the Emperor's wish to kill the Cheng Luan Sword personally." "Very good. Bring him before me." "Your Venerable Majesty, the Cheng Luan Sword Liu Qingge has escaped his bounds and is on the run." "No matter, Your Majesty, he will come here." "Oh? Why is that?" "Because the only two men to have bested him are here, and his sword lies broken between us."

The Emperor laughs, joyous.

"Very good! But Cheng Luan is not all you brought."

Xiu Ya and the broken Xuan Su swords. The Warrior is allowed to approach within 10 paces.

"How did you do it?"

"Did Your Venerable Majesty know the Xiu Ya Sword and the Broken Sword are lovers?"

-Red-

We get the heavily saturated story of the Warrior going to the Qiong Ding School of Calligraphy. He begs a character: 心, heart. He does so to figure out the Broken Sword's strength, because swordsmanship is embodied in calligraphy. He also fights side-by-side with Xiu Ya Sword, fending off the Emperor's attempt to be rid of the assassins. He gains enough cred from Shen Qingqiu to beg an audience with both Shen Qingqiu and Yue Qingyuan.

There the Warrior tells them that Liu Qingge is dead, and that LQG had been confident that YQY, with whom he'd had a one night stand, will avenge him. It's the Warrior's honor to come challenge YQY now. In a fit of jealous rage, SQQ stabs and kills YQY, then goes to battle the Warrior himself. Distraught by emotions, SQQ falls, and the Warrior walks away the victor.

Back in the Palace, the Emperor listens. He says he did know, yes, that the Xiu Ya Sword and the Broken Sword are lovers, but doesn't the Warrior think he's underestimated somebody in this equation? "Whom?" "Me. I've met Yue Qingyuan once, three years ago when he and Shen Qingqiu tried to assassinate me. Even then I could see his complete devotion to SQQ. He would never sleep with anybody else, not if SQQ is still at his side. So everything you said is a lie, except for one thing." "What?" "I think the Cheng Luan sword did know one of you, but I think the one he knew was you."

Act II: I think the Cheng Luan Sword trusted you.

"I think you, Liu Qingge, Shen Qingqiu, and Yue Qingyuan all colluded in order to get you within ten steps of me."

-Blue-

Despite imperial witnesses, Liu Qingge successfully faked his own defeat at the Warrior's blade. The Warrior carried and bound LQG himself. Then the Warrior brings his proposal to SQQ and YQY—he has a killing move as long as he gets within ten steps of the Emperor, so he only needs one of their blood on his hands. SQQ wounds YQY to keep YQY at home and makes himself the sacrifice. YQY does not make it in time to save SQQ but gives the broken Xuan Su to the Warrior anyways, because Xiu Ya and Xuan Su, just like their masters, should always stay together.

"You also gave LQG a way out. All of this is to get within ten steps of me. And now you're here. Tell me, am I wrong?"

"...Only about one thing. Your Majesty has also underestimated somebody."

"Who?"

"The Broken Sword."

Act III: The Broken Sword says you must not be killed.

-White-

Nobody was ever in actual danger. The Warrior did not kill LQG. He also will not kill SQQ or YQY. They only need to fake it for the imperial witnesses.

Only, the Broken Sword says the Emperor must not be killed. Xiu Ya Sword is furious—"You know what he's done to me and my country, yet you let him go three years ago and you'd let him go now. Why?!" But YQY will not say. SQQ vows to help the Warrior and stabs YQY to keep him out of their way.

But as the Warrior heads to the Capital, YQY also gives him Xuan Su. "Do you know why my blade is broken?" "No." "Neither do I. I've never wondered, either, but three years ago, when my blade nicked the Emperor's neck, Xuan Su suddenly sent me a warning."

"A warning about what?"

"A warning that I'll find out. I'll find out what broke my blade if I kill the Emperor, and that's something I want to remain ignorant of no matter the cost. Can you understand that feeling?"

"...Yes, I can."

"Who would have thought, of all the people in the world, it's the Broken Sword who understands me best? You understand it too? Tell me the feeling," the Emperor demands. "What is the thing you don't know, but the thought of knowing it terrifies you?"

"I know I must kill the Emperor," the Warrior states. "I know that he is a tyrant, and he runs a bloody world. I know I must kill him to save us all. What I don't know is why my heart breaks at the thought."

"You know you sound just like a man I used to know," the Emperor sneers. "He too criticized my methods. He too despised me. He too hurt at the thought of hurting me. Do you know why Liu Qingge must die by my hands?"

LQG steps out of the shadows, wounded but ready to kill.

"Because the Cheng Luan Sword took that man from me," the Emperor snarls, pulling his blade.

LQG approaches.

"Pass me Cheng Luan," he tells the Warrior. The Warrior grabs Cheng Luan, but hesitates in the throw. "Shen—!"

The Emperor runs him through. LQG falls dead at their feet. There are less than ten steps between them and the Emperor can kill the Warrior in just as easy a stroke. The Emperor does not.

"Who," the Warrior asks slowly, eyes on the fallen LQG, "is the man you used to know?"

"I don't know."

"I think I do. I think by coming here, I've learned the reason for my heartache."

"I think I have too. I wish you hadn't come. Will you still kill me, Shizun?"

"I don't know."

"Yes you do. This is something you've always known."

"...Yes, Your Majesty, I will."

The Emperor takes a deep, shaky breath.

"You didn't let Liu Qingge kill me."

"That's because he couldn't have," the Warrior says sadly. "Only I know how to kill you."

"Well I won't let you!" the Emperor snarls, furious. "I'll cut off your arms so you can never wield a sword again and your legs so you can never run again! You've left me once, I won't let you do it again!"

"Binghe."

The Emperor's eyes go wide, then red. He turns on his heel and takes less than ten steps away. His sword is still in the Warrior's hand.

"This character," he says of the scroll hung behind his seat, the one on which YQY has written heart, "holds the secret to his sword. Is that what you said, Shizun?"

"Yes."

"So many people want to kill me, Shizun. I know why. This too is something I've always known," Luo Binghe says quietly. "What's curious is why there is a man who doesn't want me dead, when my own Shizun will suffer heartbreak itself to kill me. Have you figured it out?"

"Not quite."

"May this disciple examine it?"

"...Of course."

He examines the character for a very long time.

"I see it now!" the Emperor exclaims. "As the Broken Sword understands me, I understand him. In my tyranny, I am strong. I am the only person strong enough to keep this country together. As long as I am alive, his world will keep going. His sword, his brush, his heart—it's all one in the same. It's all right here. Destroy one, you destroy the others."

"When you die, he will die too."

"No, Shizun." Luo Binghe's voice is so, so sad. "When I die, his heart will die too. It's the same for this disciple too. Killing me may bring Shizun heartbreak, but it will destroy my heart completely. Shizun, please. Please don't kill me."

"Turn around, Binghe."

When Luo Binghe turns, Shen Yuan has set LQG's corpse on its back and placed Cheng Luan in LQG's hands. His smile for LBH is sad.

"If you hadn't killed Liu Qingge, I really might have spared you," Shen Yuan says, wielding LBH's sword. "But now that he's gone...Binghe, this Master is sorry to have failed you. But I promise, it'll all be fine. The pain will go away quickly."

"Shizun..."

The sword is at LBH's chest. He thinks that even though it's his sword, he doesn't recognize it at all.

Shen Yuan wipes a tear from LBH's face.

"Binghe," he says, lifting the blade, "silly child. I wouldn't have stabbed you from the back."

He sinks the blade into Luo Binghe's heart. Everything shatters.

//

"Senior Disciple Shen!"

"It's self-destruct!"

"He's killed him! Luo Binghe's killed Senior Disciple Shen!"

Shen Qingqiu's head snaps up to where, in the sky, Shen Yuan's limp body had started to fall. He moves on instinct to go catch Shen Yuan, but he coughs up a violent fit of blood instead, falling back into Yue Qingyuan's arms.

"Xiao Jiu!" There's blood on Yue Qingyuan's lips as well and his face is ashen, but he's clearly been awake for longer than SQQ. "Don't—"

"Save him!" SQQ tries to yell. All of a sudden, a shadow speeds over their heads, catching Shen Yuan's limp body before it could hit the ground.

It's Liu Qingge. He's both furious and panicked. He has the dying Shen Yuan in one arm while in his other arm, he held another body.

"Up," Shen Yuan whispers, fading quickly, "Binghe. Quick, he's waking."

"Take care of yourself first!" Liu Qingge snaps. "I brought the body like you said—"

"Shixiong, please. I promised not to hurt him."

Teeth gritted, LQG launches them all the way up to the center of a miasmic black, where LBH hovers, surrounded by demonic energy. There's an immense blanket of demonic energy lifting from the earth, and people are screaming and running about.

"What's going on?! Where did all this demonic energy come from?!"

"Is he cursing us?!"

"No, no it's going away! Look! Senior Disciple Shen must have done something!"

"Has he saved us?"

LBH's eyes snap open and the first thing he does is attack. LQG just barely blocks the blow with both his arms occupied. There are tears on LBH's face and he's putting out an insane amount of demonic energy. He's screaming as he launches himself at Shen Yuan.

Shen Yuan grabs LBH back with the last of his strength, gives LBH a firm but loving shake.

"Binghe!" he demands. "Watch."

LBH freezes and does as he's told. He watches as the last bit of life drains from Shen Yuan's body. He watches as LQG releases Shen Yuan's corpse into his arms. He watches as something goes white at his side, and it's LQG activating an array on the other body.

LBH watches as the pieces of SY's soul find a home again in the second body, which suddenly pulses bright with spiritual power. The body opens its eyes and takes a huge, gasping breath.

"Shen Yuan?" LQG demands to know.

"Shizun...?"

The person in the body lets out a little sigh of relief. He grabs LQG with one hand and LBH with the other.

"See, Binghe?" he chuckles weakly. "I told you it'll all be fine."

He faints.

//

The full story comes at the end. Shen Jiu still gets taken in and abused by Qiu Jianluo, Yue Qi still binds his life to his sword at Cang Qiong. Only, SJ's first strike against QJL mostly misses, and as QJL approaches SJ in fury, another little houseboy—the one who dusts and sweeps and mops but none of the hard work because he was born with a sickly body—holds out his broom and trips QJL. He means for SJ to get away, but SJ kills QJL instead. SJ still sets the house on fire, but he has no idea if the other houseboy got away.

After reuniting with YQY and entering Cang Qiong as a disciple, SJ is working in the field one day when he stumbles on a Master Shang's Medical Emporium. There's an incredible amount of rare flora and fauna in there, all great for cultivators. Intrigued, SQQ investigates and finds the source of all these goods to be a young man named SY—whom he recognizes. He swears SY to secrecy about his past and takes SY to Qing Jing, first to prevent SY from exposing him, but then they grow close. SY is very clever and knows how to make himself useful to SQQ. His level-headedness earns him a spot by seventeen at SQQ's side as senior disciple.

Flash forward to LBH's arrival on Qing Jing. SQQ is still cold and spiteful and petty, but with SY there, LBH is cared for. SY's older than LBH by what, five years? Takes baby!bing under his wing and mitigates the sour relationship between LBH and SQQ. As a joke (but not really), LBH calls SY "Shizun" in private, and SY gets a real kick out of it.

The thing is, SY is still totally a transmigrator. But just like Shang Qinghua, he transmigrated into a baby's body and basically had a whole other life in this world. Seventeen, eighteen years is a very long time to remember a novel you read a lifetime ago. While SQH's life changed, SQH's only a minor character—plus that's the author! Maybe he gets special privileges, while nobody else is allowed to influence the plot in a major way. Scared of potential repercussions, SY trains LBH and gives LBH as many resources on Qing Jing as he can, but does not tell LBH about the upcoming Abyss.

So SQQ still ends up kicking LBH into the Abyss. SY is filled with incredible regret. The relationship between him and SQQ go kind of awry too, but it's still mostly okay because SY knows LBH is not actually dead.

Just to level the playing field though, SY also doesn't tell SQQ that LBH is going to come back for revenge.

All this while, SY and LQG get to meet and become really good friends. Out of friendship comes love—they both crush on each other in a way that's super obvious to everybody else. SY isn't actually a very strong cultivator, but he is a voracious scholar (cough nerd cough) and hunts/forages a lot of wild stuff. LQG accompanies him every time.

Thanks to SY's training, LBH comes back from the Abyss a lot earlier than SY and SQH expected. LBH seeks out SY, but bad timing has him overhearing SY talk about how LBH dying at the Abyss was for the best—LBH assumes it's bc of his demon bloodline, but SY is really just placating other characters. On top of that, LBH finds SY and LQG all couply and lovey-dovey. LBH runs off.

Because why??? Why does everyone he cares about leave him, why does the entire world want him dead??? Even Shen-shixiong, somebody who cared for him, betrays him in the end. SQQ also gets word of LBH's return at around the same time and comes to hunt him down. In classic SQQ fashion, he only makes shit worse for Binghe, and LBH starts using Xin Mo like crazy.

When they get the word, YQY, SY, and LQG go running. SY learns about LBH being taken over by Xin Mo and asks LQG for a favor—go to my hidden lil mushroom grove and grab my spare body for me please? See, SY's physical ailments had him researching ways to clone himself and put himself in a better body. It's untested, but probably successful!! SY sends LQG to go get the body while himself and YQY and SQQ confront LBH.

During the battle, SQQ gets himself seriously wounded to protect Qi-ge. In a fit of fury, YQY unsheathes half of Xuan Su. LBH goes crazier as a response, and SY throws himself on the sword to save LBH from being eaten up by Xin Mo's power.

Believing he's killed the love of his life, LBH blue-screens. Unconsciously, he activates one of the most powerful skills the Dream Demon's taught him—Waking Dream. He plunges the entire mountain into a dream world of his own making. The world freezes, and everybody gets trapped inside LBH's world. They have no memory of this being a dream, but the few of the most powerful cultivators—LQG, SQQ, and YQY—plus the heart of the dream, SY, all manage to retain one critical piece of information.

As long as the owner of the dream dies, they can all be freed.

So in the dream, LBH becomes the Emperor, wielding all his forces to retain his power over his dream country. LQG, SQQ, YQY, and SY become assassins, all scheming to kill him.

YQY came the closest. He only has half of Xuan Su because Xuan Su is fundamentally bound to his life—half of the sword stayed outside in the real world with his body. Inside the dream, YQY and SQQ got to be lovers for years, and SQQ did not hate him. Upon sensing the boundaries of the dream, YQY could not bring himself to kill LBH and shatter the beautiful mirage.

If you die inside the dream, you die in real life—with one exception. If it's the owner of the dream who kills you, you get to go free.

That's what happened with LQG. LQG was still en route with the body, and SY didn't know if he'd make it. So SY was honest in the dream—had LQG remained in the dream with them, SY might really have allowed his baby bing to keep the dream going. He didn't want to hurt LBH with his own death. However, with LQG out of the dream, he knows LQG will probably make it on time with the body to save him. So he kills LBH and gets them all out.

The last scene is qijiu. SQQ is bed-bound. Nobody else has retained memories of the dream, only faint impressions. Only he and YQY know what happened.

SQQ demands to know why YQY refused to kill LBH. YQY explains, and the truth about Xuan Su also comes out. Happy ending happy ending.

SY of course survives. He gets a cool new body and apologizes sincerely for letting LBH get pushed into the Abyss. The plot has obviously changed in a major way already, and whatever happens from now on will just happen, it's fine. And LBH and LQG, his two favorite people in the world, will just have to get along. They'll all be best buds together hahahahahaha.