#side note: DO NOT BE LIKE BINGHE

[marzennya]

Notification: The peerless jade fairy of Cang Qiong's Mountain Sect is smiling! Looks like he's easily amused by his disciples' antics...!!! What a surprise!!! +300 Overwhelming Beauty Points!

Ok now for my silly little notes in fashion and other nonsense about this piece:

This is specifically Shen Yuan during the pre-abyss arc, mostly because I have a very, very different interpretation of him when he's already married to Binghe- Empress Shen is a whole other, much more decked out beast I will one day tackle.

His clothes are based on late Qin to early Han dynasty clothes for women, mostly because I can, and it seemed perfect for him; it's completely covered, and thus respectable and elegant! Nothing wrong to see here. It's also tight-er around the legs, which leaves things to the imagination...half of the mountain is definitely thinking about his long, slender, lily-white legs at any given time.

Is it technically crossdressing? Yeah, but it is a shitty Xia-Xia world, who's gonna stop me? Airplane? That guy would be on my side, actually.

The see-through outer robe is a flex, look at all that expensive fabric...just hanging off of him...a rich kid in one life a rich kid in all of them.

Binghe does his hair because he's terrible at it and can only do half-updo's or ponytails, he's too distracted by the mere thought of touching Shizun's hair to stop and think why Shen Qingqiu can't do it all of a sudden thankfully.

The hair, on a more serious note, is a bit more realistic to ancient-Chinese hair than an actual half-updo. Though it is more similar to late Han or Tang dynasties hairstyles than anything. Again, shitty Xia-Xia, don't play with me.

There's a little turtle in his fan because I think he'd be like awn that's so cute and either Liu Qingge or Yue QingYuan would be immediately like. I'll buy it!!! He acquires many-a-thing by simply looking cute and staring at it until one of them gets it for him I'm sure.

[coolshadowtwins]

SVSSS System Reveal Fic round up!

If you know one that hasn’t been recc’ed, then please put it in the comments/tags! I’ll add it to the post!

A Transmigrator and a Time Traveler Walk into the Bamboo House by VeryCharismaticDragon

Over a year after Shen Qingqiu's death, Luo Binghe consults his servant's servant, concurrently his disgraced martial uncle, for a way to bring the love of his life back. Shang Qinghua sends him in the direction of a certain time-traveling artifact, which supposedly brings one to the day they first met their soulmate.

Odd, though, that the artifact ends up missing the destination by just a few years…

A story in which post-Abyss Luo Binghe relives his disciple days, while juggling his secrets, traumas, and some unexpected revelations about the man he loves on top of that.

What is Seen by CaveteDracones

…is not [always] the real truth.

Truth-compelling artifacts in the hands of an enemy to one side, SYSTEM-mandated silence on the other, and Shen Qingqiu caught between the two. Is it too late to go back to the Water Prison? (NOTE: This one was recommended three times, and I have personally reread it multiple times. It’s one of my favorites and I really do want to read more fics in a similar vein lol)

open my lungs to let you in by ghostybreads

Shen Qingqiu had a secret. So, naturally, it was only a matter of time before he was hit by a truth serum wife plot.

//

“How are you?”

“Horny. Kind of want Binghe to rail me, I guess. But it’s manageable.”

Liu Qingge’s hand on his forehead froze, and he was close enough that Shen Qingqiu could hear his breathing stop. He stared back expressionlessly, the mortification distantly crawling up the back of his neck. Honest One-Horned–

The frustrated scream that he usually vented in his head, came out straight from mouth.

“aaAAAAAHHHH GODDAMNIT AIRPLANE–”

Futility in Practice by TGP

When Luo Binghe is fourteen years old, his shizun suffers a terrible qi deviation and fever that completely changes who he is.

and judgment is just like a cup that we share by Kieron_ODuibhir

The blob finished rotating into place in a way that wasn’t quite compatible with geometry as Shen Qingqiu understood it, and cleared a throat it didn’t seem to have.

“Greetings,” it said, somehow clearly addressing him in particular more than the room as a whole despite its total lack of features other than blueness and translucency. “I’m here on behalf of the Hyper-Celestial Peace and Order Enforcement Bureau. Crime scene secure, proceeding to interviews. Beginning with Subject One: You are Shen Qingqiu, formerly Shen Yuan, also known as Peerless Cucumber?”

First, do no harm by Terias

Shen Qingqiu has been acting especially erratic since awakening from his three day coma after a severe qi deviation.

Mu Qingfang investigates and discovers a great many things about his new shixiong. (NOTE: This one has Shen Yuan and Shen Jiu as the same soul, technically, but it still works I think!)

Show The Screenshots by A_Non_ymousWriter

When a rogue foreign System sends out a subtle virus, some outsiders are shown chat messages between a certain two transmigrators and their Systems.

AirplaneBro: nah dude shen jiu would never lay a hand on his female disciples like that, hes gay

Liu Qingge tripped on thin air while Mu Qingfang choked on his tea as Shang Qinghua (their god? creator??) casually shattered their view of their original Shen Qingiu. The fake Shen Qingqiu at least, was sharing their shock.

CucumberBro: EXCUSE ME WHAT??

CucumberBro: The fuck he is?!?! He literally GOES TO BROTHELS! LIU QINGGE FOUND HIM IN BED WITH A WOMAN THAT ONE TIME?

AirplaneBro: aight bro buckle the fuck up cuz imma take u on a joyride all about shen jiu >:)

—————-

Binghes#1Fan: I don't want to send Binghe into the Abyss...

System 2: User must comply, if User cannot do the task User will be punished and the account will be terminated.

Mobeis #1Fan: sorry bro unless ur okay w being ded af u gotta push binghe into the abyss

Ning Yingying's fists clenched. Okay, so trying to get Yuan-ge and A-Luo together would be harder than she thought.

[svsss-fanon-exposed]

Exposing SVSSS Fanon: 3/∞

CANG QIONG MOUNTAIN'S TWELVE PEAKS HAVE COLOR-CODED UNIFORMS

Rating: CANON

Fanworks will often depict the disciples of Cang Qiong Mountain's twelve peaks in matching, color-coded uniforms to each of their peak. This is not something that is often mentioned in the novel itself, but it is canonically accurate.

However, we do not know many of the peaks' signature colors. The fact that they do have specific uniforms in specific colors is canon, but many of the colors used in fanworks are, in fact, fanon.

In the text, only two peaks have canonically-designated uniform colors.

It is stated that there are set uniforms for all of Cang Qiong Mountain Sect's disciples:

Though the disciples on the peaks had to wear uniforms, there were also many acclaimed cultivators who weren’t subject to these restrictions...

and

Thankfully, on An Ding Peak, trivial matters like assigning rooms and uniforms to newly accepted disciples didn’t require the peak lord’s involvement.

and also a passage here:

 Several hundred disciples in uniformly colored robes and furious expressions surrounded the invaders

In the original, the phrase "uniformly colored robes (服色统一)" could be read as all of Cang Qiong Mountain's disciples wearing the same-color uniform, but it could also be read that they were all dressed in uniform, as 服色 denotes both color and style of clothes (notable that "color" in Chinese is a more abstract concept than in English).

This passage isn't clear on its own, but there are other places where it is confirmed that the colors worn by the disciples of various peaks are different, and can be used to tell which peak a disciple belongs to:

[Shen Qingqiu] held his breath, attention rapt, and watched a youth in black rush out... ...The color of his robes confirmed that he really was from Bai Zhan Peak...

Aside from this, Qing Jing Peak's uniforms are the only others that are given a description:

Enveloped in Qing Jing Peak’s many-layered teal uniform, [SQQ] was immaculate and slender, with a great deal of graceful beauty.

While this passage describes the Peak Lord's attire and might not necessarily extend to the disciples, another passage shortly after this says:

A group of teal-robed boys and girls ran down Qing Jing Peak in a trailing conga line, one after another.

This confirms a uniform color used by the peak's disciples.

These passages, however, are the only ones which definitively state a uniform color for any of the twelve peaks-- meaning that we only know that Qing Jing Peak's uniforms are teal (青色）and Bai Zhan Peak's uniforms are black (黑色). Anything other than this is fanon and headcanon.

One more side note-- Luo Binghe is described as wearing white:

A seventeen-year-old youth, slim and tall and graceful, dressed in white robes

But this description only begins after the timeskip at the beginning of Chapter 4 (7S TL). Luo Binghe is, as of now, still a disciple of the sect, and thus would be required to wear a uniform. However, one important change had occured during this time-- Luo Binghe, at the time of the Immortal Alliance Conference, is Qing Jing Peak's head disciple.

The only time another head disciple's appearance is described is regarding Shen Qingqiu:

Shang Qinghua suddenly heard the tinkling of sword tassel pendants, and a youth wearing Qing Jing Peak’s uniform slowly approached him... ... His black hair was neatly tied behind his head with a light-green ribbon...

The color of his uniform is not stated, other than it being Qing Jing Peak's, and the "light-green" color of the hair ribbon is 青色，which is the same color translated as "teal" when describing QJP's uniforms above.

Therefore, one interpretation could be that head disciples of Cang Qiong Mountain's twelve peaks wear white uniforms with accessories in their peaks' designated color.

This, of course, is not explicitly canon and should still be taken as headcanon (I would categorize it as supported or neutral fanon on this blog).

However, the idea that the twelve peaks have each their own uniform colors, and that QJP's is teal and BZP's is black, are canonical facts.

[ineffectualdemon]

Ok so having once lived in poverty, suffered painful abusive childhoods, and bearing a "will do anything to survive" mentality are things Shang Qinghua/Airplane, Shen Jiu, and Luo Binghe share thanks to their experiences growing up in the SVSSS/PIDW verse

(Note, we don't get a lot about Airplane/Shang Qinghua's childhood but he does state when he meets Shen Qingqiu that as Shang Qinghua his childhood was "destitute and miserable" so we know his second childhood was bad)

Now they handle it differently to an extent

Shen Jiu refuses to admit weakness and lashes out around him at anyone who he thinks got what he wanted naturally. He cares his anger and resentment for people who had more and more easily out in the open. He holds grudges and never bothers to explain his side because why would anyone believe him?

Shang Qinghua plays up his weakness to elicit at pity though he doesn't object to disgust as long as it ends up with him dismissed as a threat and he'll take abuse for a long time but he does have a breaking point as he has the same rage as Shen Jiu but it's boiling under the pressure for a long time. He also holds grudges and doesn't bother to speak on his own defense until he is pushed to the edge. He also lies like he was born for it

Luo Binghe is kind of a mix to the above approaches but refined. He's openly antogonistic when it serves him or Xin Mo get the better of him but he also plays up his "weaknesses" and his good boy persona when it serves him. And I don't just mean his crocodile tears for Shen Qingqiu. There is a reason he had Huan Hua under his thumb so fast. And he has a lot of rage in him too which is used by Xin Mo (though more thoroughly in PIDW). Again, he holds grudges, doesn't explain his own actions and thoughts and feelings or speak to his own defense when hate is turned on him and like Shang Qinghua is an adept liar.

They are all (if it's SVSSS Luo Binghe) also obsessed with a person who offers both protection and hurt

(side note: Shen Jiu: Mansplain, Shang Qinghua: Manipulate, Luo Binghe: Man-whore)

Anyway the above is to point out their differences and some of their similarities

But what else might they be similar in?

Speculation town-

Hidden stashes: I would not be surprised if all three of them kept stashes in case they had to run at all times. In the case of Luo Binghe and Shang Qinghua this includes after their happy endings

Trouble sleeping: We know this with Shen Jiu and how he handled it, Luo Binghe I think uses his dream abilities to feel safe and secure during sleep but it's not as restful as it could be, and Shang Qinghua overworks to avoid sleeping

...I know there are more possible but I'm tired and I still want to post this

But yeah

[tossawary]

I’ve been thinking about how the seal on Luo Binghe’s “demonic blood” works and I think I’ve come up with a fun, fairly thorough, text-supported interpretation! It’s always been interesting to me that Luo Binghe is apparently able to pass perfectly as human, despite the fact that it wouldn’t be unreasonable for an impressive cultivation sect like Cang Qiong Mountain to be covered in an outrageous number of defenses to detect demons and keep them out.

(TL;DR: Heavenly demons were originally humans in some fashion, Su Xiyan sealed Luo Binghe’s demonic core in an undetectable dimensional pocket and essentially made him completely human, and space-manipulation abilities like those belonging to the Black Moon Rhinoceros-Python, Mobei-Jun, or the Xin Mo sword were needed to break the dimensional pocket.)

The Hong Jing sword on Wan Jian Peak comes to mind, which apparently unsheathes itself of its own accord in the presence of possession and is, in the Airplane Extras, used to test Shen Yuan by the other peak lords after his transmigration. (Side note: Wei Qingwei says that Shen Yuan tried to draw the Hong Jing sword three times and it didn’t work?! SHEN YUAN! You are a transmigrator! You weren’t at all worried that it would out you?!) While the Hong Jing sword isn’t for detecting demons, when hunting the skinner demon in Shuang Hu City, the disciple use talismans to detect demonic energy, so there are probably other artifacts and methods to out demons.

Even when Meng Mo starts to teach Luo Binghe the demonic path (2) (relevant SVSSS passages below the cut at the end) and to use his demonic energy well enough to later fight against Mobei-Jun and disrupt his OP black ice sword attack (6), Luo Binghe still doesn’t get caught out. (Additional side note: Luo Binghe is Meng Mo’s host because Sha Hualing brought along the demonic device Meng Mo was meditating inside on her invasion. He’s technically partially possessed. Could Luo Binghe set off the Hong Jing sword?! Oh, no.)

Heavenly demons seem to be a type of demon in a league of their own. They’re repeatedly uniquely described as “heaven-fallen” (1) and Shen Qingqiu says that “under no circumstances can they be spoken of in the same breath as other demons”, although admittedly he is saying this when he is being forced to reject Luo Binghe and cast him into the Endless Abyss (8). They do seem to be particularly reviled by the cultivation world, although that can be explained away by their strength and the threat that they represent.

But even Meng Mo can’t seem to tell initially that Luo Binghe is a heavenly demon, just strong enough to be a good long-term host. Although he could just be talking out his ass trying to get Luo Binghe to accept him as a teacher, he suggests that “it is not impossible that a demon more illustrious than this elder sealed something within your body“ (2), which suggests that even when he’s inside Luo Binghe’s body, Meng Mo could initially believe Luo Binghe to be a full-human only corrupted by a demon rather than a half-demon, and also suggests that there are (presumably considered “wicked”) methods for humans to begin cultivating using demonic qi instead of spiritual qi. Shen Qingqiu notes at one point (during the Immortal Alliance Conference, I believe, I didn’t save this quote) that spiritual qi and demonic qi is remarkably similar besides the general feel and color difference (he’s dissing Airplane-Bro for being unimaginative again).

So, it’s kind of funny that no one on Cang Qiong clocks Luo Binghe as a half-demon, even Meng Mo may not be able to immediately tell that Luo Binghe is a half-demon despite being in Luo Binghe’s body, but Mobei-Jun immediately clocks Luo Binghe as a demon (5) pretty much just by looking at him. Though they are in the middle of an intense stand-off at this point, with demonic qi billowing through the air from Mobei-Jun and presumably a lot of murderous intent all around, and Luo Binghe has been training his demonic side with Meng Mo for a few years at this point.

In PIDW, the demonic beast to initially break Luo Binghe’s seals is a Black Moon Rhinoceros-Python (3) (moving forward to be referred to as “BMRP” because I’m not typing that more than I have to) and Luo Binghe apparently uses Xin Mo in the Endless Abyss to finish breaking those seals (1). In SVSSS, Shen Qingqiu is shocked when at the Conference, in the middle of their fight, Mobei-Jun decides that he’s done toying with Luo Binghe and intentionally breaks the seals completely in a single, offhand attack (7). Mobei-Jun is the one who shows up to substitute for the BMRP because he’s the one who apparently summons / opens the Endless Abyss at the Conference (4) and Luo Binghe needs to be cast down into the Endless Abyss for the main story to continue. Later on, in Volume 3, Luo Binghe gathers 200 BMRPs to break into the Holy Mausoleum, and Shen Qingqiu notes that “this was the rare demonic beast that, in the original work, summoned even the Endless Abyss with its call” (9). And the Xin Mo sword is used in Volume 3 to try and merge the Human and Demon Realms completely, summoning the Endless Abyss to the characters as part of that (did not get a quote for this one).

So, Mobei-Jun, the BMRP, and the Xin Mo sword share space-manipulation abilities to a degree. Mobei-Jun and the BMRP and are there to get Luo Binghe into the Endless Abyss, but what does it mean that they’re the ones to break Luo Binghe’s seals and Mobei-Jun of all people can see through these otherwise almost undetectable seals immediately? One interpretation that I enjoy thinking about is that Luo Binghe’s seals create a special dimensional pocket in which to store his demonic core.

And Luo Binghe passes as a human because the heavenly demons, being “heaven-fallen”, aren’t like other demons because they were originally something else “corrupted” into demons. Fun interpretations include born gods or cultivators who became immortal. You could come up with a backstory about how the sects loathe the heavenly demons because the original heavenly demon was an ascended immortal cultivator who fell from the heavens and intentionally (or accidentally) had their spiritual core corrupted into a demonic core (and someone like this could have been the original owner of the Xin Mo sword). I personally like to connect all demons’ origins to the Endless Abyss in some way, especially Mobei-Jun’s family, given Mobei-Jun’s apparently unique space-manipulation abilities in his already OP powerset.

(Side note: You can then develop this idea that the first heavenly demon was originally human and connect it to Tianlang-Jun’s fondness for the Human Realm. Or come up with a take that all heavenly demons are essentially born human and their particular cores turn them into demons over their childhood and adolescence, which gives Tianlang-Jun a reason to feel like an outsider among other demons, which gives him incredibly stupid ideas like trying to merge the Human and Demon Realms into one and “fix everything”.)

So, one take is that: with his demonic core locked away in an undetectable dimensional pocket, Luo Binghe is by all appearances an ordinary human even to himself. As he grows up, the seals start to weaken and the dimensional pocket starts to become unstable, and Luo Binghe through Meng Mo’s teachings learns how to pull demonic energy from this mostly inaccessible core as he needs to use it, but the demonic core itself remains on the other side of the dimension pocket and is largely undetectable. When the seals are broken, the demonic core is finally free to influence Luo Binghe’s blood and body.

(Side note: which gives you an excuse to write Luo Binghe developing more monstrous demonic features after his time in the Abyss, non-human features by which Shen Yuan can be outrageously turned on. And Peerless Cucumber and Airplane can have many merry debates on monsterfucking.)

In PIDW, during the Immortal Alliance Conference, the space-tearing howl of the Black Moon Rhinoceros-Python weakens the dimensional pocket enough that Luo Binghe’s seals break and reveal him to be a heavenly demon. Shen Jiu casts Luo Binghe down into the Endless Abyss. Luo Binghe has to use the Xin Mo sword (1) to remove the remnants of these broken seals. In SVSSS, Mobei-Jun’s apparently more powerful space-manipulation abilities rip the seals off and break the dimensional pocket completely and relatively cleanly, though the process is still painful for Luo Binghe.

In conclusion: Su Xiyan is a badass and a genius trying to give her child the only shot she can give him at surviving his childhood by hiding his famous and loathed heritage well enough that Luo Binghe is essentially completely human until the seals on his demonic core start to weaken.

By coming up with this interpretation, do I think Airplane wrote all of this detail intentionally? No. (Do I think MXTX intended for this exact interpretation? Also no.) I think that Airplane Bro connected the Black Moon Rhinoceros-Python to opening the Endless Abyss so Luo Binghe could be thrown into the abyss, and didn’t think about why Luo Binghe’s seals broke here and not anywhere else at all. The plot demanded it! That’s why! Su Xiyan made the seals somehow because Luo Binghe needs to be dramatically revealed to be a demon! That’s why! No, Airplane-Bro did not really stop to further develop the backstory and skillset of Su Xiyan or get into the technical details of sealing here.

I think that, in an AU where this interpretation is canon, if Shen Yuan ever worked all of this detail out - about how the seals worked, why Luo Binghe could pass as completely human in a cultivation sect, and why the seals broke how they broke - and Shen Yuan confronted Airplane about this, Airplane-Bro would go, “Hey, that’s pretty cool! That makes pretty good sense! I didn’t think about any of that! I guess that’s how the System decided to make everything work based on the details that I did write. Nice.”

Doylist (Airplanist???) versus Watsonian (Systemian???) explanations!

Thanks for reading!

QUOTES:

There may be a few typos in here, but I’m not fussed about that.

(1) Shen Qingqiu summarizes how Luo Binghe was pushed into the Endless Abyss in PIDW and how he used Xin Mo to break the seals on his demonic blood.

After much difficulty, Luo Binghe managed to turn seventeen, at which point he finally participated in the event the cultivation world held once every four years: the Immortal Alliance Conference. However, at the conference, Luo Binghe fell victim to Shen Qingqiu’s scheming, and he tumbled into a crack in the boundary between the Human and Demon Realms - the Endless Abyss.

That’s right, only then did the story truly begin!

Not only did Luo Binghe survive, but within the Endless Abyss, he found his personal sword, the peerless mystical blade “Xin Mo.” He also learned the truth of his origins.

As it turned out, Luo Binghe had been born to the Demon Realm’s Saintly Ruler and a woman of the Human Realm: within his veins flowed the blood of the ancient, heaven-fallen demons as well as that of the human race. His birth father, Tianlang-Jun, had been sealed beneath a great mountain, trapped for all eternity. His birth mother had been a disciple from a righteous cultivation sect, but shortly following Tianlang-Jun’s sealing, she had been expelled on suspicion of having secret ties to demons. She had died from a postpartum hemorrhage after giving birth to Luo Binghe, but prior to her death, she had set her son adrift from the lonely ship she’d birthed him on. It was the only way she had been able to give Luo Binghe a chance to survive.

Luo Binghe used Xin Mo to release his body’s seal on his demonic blood. Then, within the dark abyss, he single-mindedly cultivated and enlighted himself to otherworldly techniques before heading back to Cang Qiong Mountain Sect. From there on out, Luo Binghe steadily headed down his dark path, never looking back.

- SVSSS, Volume 1, Chapter 1: Scum, Pages 11-12

(2)

If Meng Mo had a mouth, its corner would have been twitching. He opted to change the topic.

After murmuring for a moment, he said, “This elder senses that within your body, something is being suppressed. Even though I cannot tell exactly what it is, it must be something surpassingly remarkable.”

Luo Binghe was a little shocked. “What sort of thing is it that even you can’t tell?”

Meng Mo chuckled. “My race produces master cultivators in droves. It is not impossible that a demon more illustrious than this elder sealed something within your body.”

In any case, Meng Mo surely wasn’t so eager to throw away his several-hundred-year-old reputation that he’d waste time tricking an impoverished teenager who had nothing. Nevertheless, Luo Binghe stared in disbelief. “Does Senior mean that the thing in my body... is related to demons?”

“What? Are you displeased?” Meng Mo asked sneeringly. “Eager to sever any connections with the demon race?”

Luo Binghe’s state of shock didn’t last for too long. His thoughts whirled rapidly before he declared, “The Demon Realm does many evils of all kinds and has injured my master multiple times. Naturally, I cannot associate with them.”

Meng Mo became depressed. “Can you go three sentences without mentioning that master of yours, boy? Let this elder guess, the next thing you want to ask is ‘May I ask this senior if there is a method to remove this something from my body’?”

Luo Binghe smiled wryly. “Even if I ask, would this senior tell me?”

Meng Mo laughed boisterously. “It’s not that I don’t want to tell you, but that is truly beyond me. I can’t even see it clearly - how can I tell you how to remove it? If not for the fact that I couldn’t make sense of you, boy, I would have already killed you both. Why else would I care to drag this out for so long? You think I’ve that much time on my hands?”

Luo Binghe didn’t speak. He was thinking, You don’t even have a body anymore, you’re just a shade being a parasite on others’ dream realms. If Meng Mo didn’t have time, who did?

Meng Mo, unaware that Luo Binghe was internally ridiculing him, continued. “Removing it would be impossible for me, but suppressing it is not out of the question.”

“Senior... is willing to tell me how?” Luo Binghe asked tentatively.

“Not only can this elder teach you how to suppress it, he can teach you much more,” said Meng Mo leadingly.

This implication was extremely blatant, and Luo Binghe understood. His heart sank. “You want me to cultivate the demonic path?”

As his tone turned cold, Meng Mo’s temper flared. “What’s wrong with cultivating the demonic path? If you cultivate the demonic path, that thing in your body will bring great benefits to your cultivation. You could leap a thousand kilometers in a day! You could stand above the thousands. These are not empty words. With time, your power could overturn and sweep away the entirety of the three realms, and the heavens and earth within - and it would all be simple.”

At that last part, Luo Binghe’s heart jolted.

A thousand kilometers in a day, stand above the thousands. The entirety of the three realms, swept away before him. That was to say... He’d become strong, the strongest!

He quickly rejected this thought.

Shen Qingqiu hated the way of demons more than anything. If he couldn’t resist thi Meng Mo’s temptations to become a demonic cultivator, how could he face his master? Whether Shen Qingqiu would be thunderously angry or drown in dpress, either way, Luo Binghe definitely didn’t want to find out.

“No.” So, he resolutely refused.

Meng Mo sneered. “If you refuse to learn from me, you won’t be able to suppress the demonic energy in your body. It’s hidden deeply now, and you’re fine because it can’t be seen, but this elder senses that the seal in your body is weakening. One day in the future, when that power breaks through, how will that good shifu of yours treat you? He who abhors evil and makes ‘eliminating demons and upholding justice’ his mission?”

- SVSSS, Volume 1, Chapter 3: Favor Points, Pages 171-173

(3) Shen Qingqiu thinks about how the Black Moon Rhinoceros-Python exposed Luo Binghe’s demonic heritage at the Conference in PIDW.

The large demonic beast in question was one of the plotline’s key devices. In the original work, Luo Binghe’s demonic heritage was exposed because someone released a Black Moon Rhinoceros-Python at the Immortal Alliance Conference.

To protect the innocent, Luo Binghe engaged in a life-or-death struggle. The Black Moon Rhinoceros-Python’s destructive power and body were both enormous. Of course he couldn’t defeat it. What to do if he couldn’t win?

Activate SEED* mode.

*(Reference to an ability in the series Mobile Suit Gundam SEED that allows someone to enter an enhanced state.)

In so doing, Luo Binghe exposed himself to Shen Qingqiu. Only then did Shen Qingqiu have the excuse to strike him down: eliminating one’s companion for the sake of justice. And when he struck his student down, he enabled Luo Binghe to level up.

Thus far, Shen Qingqiu hadn’t sensed the demonic qi of the Black Moon Rhinoceros-Python, much less heard its signature moonward howl - described in enigmatic fashion as “like that of both a python and a rhinoceros.” Now Shang Qinghua said he hadn’t even seen it. Shen Qingqiu couldn’t help being on his guard. Without this key plot device, surely the System couldn’t ask him to suddenly strike Luo Binghe without any justification?

- SVSSS, Volume 1, Chapter 4: Conference, Page 235

(4) Mobei-Jun opens the Endless Abyss.

He hadn’t finished his mental roast when, without warning, the earth began to shake.

People staggered and fell all over the place, terrified and confused, their questioning voices merging into one.

Shen Qingqiu’s pupils contracted.

There was no mistaking the sensation of magnitude 7.5 earthquake.

The Endless Abyss had finally been opened.

The so-called Endless Abyss was on the boundary between the Human and Demon Realms. A liminal space, it was full of peril and the unknown. Twisting, tearing vortices through space, raging flames, and burning magma were everywhere to be found.

The disciples of the scene had fought the entire way there, and the bodies and hearts had long been completely exhausted. After that violent quake, most of them tumbled to the ground. Only Shen Qingqiu, Luo Binghe, and Shang Qinghua managed to stay standing.

Since the Endless Abyss had bee opened, that meant something demonic would definitely appear from the other side. The three held their breaths in anticipation, silently waiting and on full alert. 

The figure of a man slowly emerged from the shadows.

As soon as Shen Qingqiu saw that ice-cold face and aloof expression, he knew who it was. He shot a glance at SHang Qinghua, whose whole face had gone white. Shen Qingqiu wanted to laugh, but he was unable to.

Why would Luo Binghe’s future subordinate, his magnificent right hand - and best buddy for committing evil deeds, murder, and mayhem - show up right here and now?!

- SVSSS, Volume 1, Chapter 4: Conference, Pages 237-238

(5) Mobei-Jun notices Luo Binghe’s demonic blood during their face-off before their fight. Shen Qingqiu thinks that Mobei-Jun is replacing the Black Moon Rhinoceros-Python in the main storyline.

“Binghe, stand down,” [Shen Qingqiu] said.

Luo Binghe did not reply, and he did not leave. He calmly met eyes with Mobei-Jun, entirely unaffected by his imposing aura.

Mobei-Jun let out an “eh?” of curiosity, like he’d found something that aroused his interest a little.

“What disciple has to shield his master?” snapped Shen Qingqiu.

“You are a disciple of Cang Qiong Mountain?” asked Mobei-Jun.

“Disciple of Cang Qiong Mountain’s Qing Jing Peak, Luo Binghe, thank this distinguished one for his guidance,” Luo Binghe replied coldly, his tone sarcastic.

Mobei-Jun sneered. “The immortal acts unlike an immortal, and the demon acts unlike a demon. Interesting.”

At this, Shen Qingqiu finally caught on to something. Could it be... that Mobei-Jun’s appearance was a substitute for the Black Moon Rhinoceros-Python’s role in advancing the main storyline?

- SVSSS, Volume 1, Chapter 4: Conference, Page 239

(6) Luo Binghe fights Mobei-Jun using demonic energy without breaking his seals to use it.

Luo Binghe didn’t care that his sword was broken. When he saw Shen Qingqiu injured by this palm strike, blood dripping from between gritted teeth, Luo Binghe’s gaze frosted over, his aura changing in an instant. Sensing this shocking hange, a cold flash of interest shot through Mobei-Jun’s pale blue eyes. He abruptly summoned a pure-black sword of ice out of thin air. That one blade became two, two became four, four became eight, instantly dividing into an array of hundreds of ice swords - which shot at the surrounded Shen Qingqiu from all directions.

No normal defense technique could possibly block these ice swords; they were crystallized from the purest demonic qi. Shen Qingqiu’s spiritual qi was nearly exhausted. If his power collided with Mobei-Jun’s, it would be like a single spark against a towering wave. The end result went without saying.

Just as the sword array was about to come down like sheets of rain, Shen Qingqiu snarled within his heart.

I’ve done my best, but he still thinks I’m low-level trash, so what can I do?!

How loathsome! If I have to die, couldn’t it at least be in a better-looking way? After being stabbed with hundreds of black swords, I’m going to be a sieve! Who could bear to look?!

However, even long moments after, the pain of being skewered by thousands of swords did not arrive.

Unless Mobei-Jun had suddenly lost his mind and revoked the sword array, there was only one explanation - only one person who could have blocked this attack that seethed with murderous intent.

Shen Qingqiu steadied himself and raised his head.

As expected.

In the air all around him, the forest of swords had shattered.

They’d splintered so completely that it was like they’d disappeared without a trace, leaving only a night sky full of black ice crystals. Reflecting the moonlight, they fell one by one.

The scene could have been described as beautiful.

However, Luo Binghe, standing in the middle of it, was the center of a blizzard that seemed to roar around him and within his gaze. He could only be described as terrifying.

Shen Qingqiu collapsed next to a large tree, swallowing mouthfuls of blood. He circulated energy to heal his wounds while watching this earthshaking showdown between two demon lords.

The seal on Luo Binghe’s blood had yet to be removed. Mobei-Jun was only testing him, but still this battle darkened the sky and earth, blotting out all light. Raging waves of demonic energy overflowed from both of them, enough to cloak the entire sky.

- SVSSS, Volume 1, Chapter 4: Conference, Pages 242-243

(7) Mobei-Jun breaks the seals on Luo Binghe’s demonic blood.

Meanwhile, Mobei-Jun had pretty much finished testing Luo Binghe, and he prepared to wrap things up, sending out one last blow. With a flick of his finger, he fired a stream of scarlet light at the center of Luo Binghe’s forehead.

Once that stream of light touched Luo Binghe’s brow, it seeped into his skin, turning into a fiery red mark. Luo Binghe was lost to his bloodlust. He didn’t know why, only that his head ached like it was about to explode, and he nearly collapsed on his knees. His entire body roiled with a desire to inflict savage cruelty. Unable to vent it, he threw out his hand, and as if shot out of a cannon, an eruption of demonic qi descended upon Mobei-Jun.

This last strike was extremely powerful.

Yet Mobei-Jun waved it away with one hand, a bit surprised. “Not bad.” Ignoring whether Luo Binghe was in a state to understand him, he continued. “The Human Realm isn’t where you belong. Why not return to your origins?”

Now Shen Qingqiu was finally one hundred percent sure. Mobei-Jun’s sudden appearance was indeed a substitute for the Black Moon Rhinoceros-Python. But compared to the original, Mobei-Jun had done a far more thorough job.

He... he... he... he’d actually directly removed the seal suppressing Luo Binghe’s demonic blood!

And after completing his task, he turned right around and left.

This NPC really was so straight to the point, not a moment spared - completely in line with his modus operandi in the original work. He’d show up whenever Luo Binghe needed him without rhyme or reason. His actions were just that forced, a total maverick, needing not a shred of logic!

- SVSSS, Volume 1, Chapter 4: Conference, Pages 244-245

(8) Shen Qingqiu rejects Luo Binghe at the Immortal Alliance Conference for being a heavenly demon specifically.

“You are no simple demon,” Shen Qingqiu said. “That mark on your forehead is a mark of skin - the mark of the demons who fell from the heavens. These demons have murdered countless humans, and moreover, their temperaments are impossible to contain. From ancient times, they’ve been the cause of calamity upon calamity. Under no circumstances can they be spoken of in the same breath as other demons. I cannot wait and hope my earlier words were true while you develop a taste for slaughter and lose all control.”

- SVSSS, Volume 1, Chapter 4: Conference, Page 248

(9) Luo Binghe breaks into the Holy Mausoleum using 200+ Black Moon Rhinoceros-Pythons.

Luo Binghe stood atop a pitch-black giant beast, sable robes fluttering amidst pale dust. Xin Mo was partly unsheathed behind him, cutting an imposing figure, and two eyes overflowing with crimson light gazed down, full of murderous intent.

At first glance, that great beast appeared to be some sort of rhinoceros with a single horn arcing from its forehead, curved like the crescent moon. But when it opened its mouth and let out a cry, a giant scarlet python uncurled from its blood red maw. The rhinoceros’s bellow mixed with the python’s hissing shriek and made for a particularly stunning impression.

In the flesh! A Black! Moon! Rhinoceros! Python!

Black + Moon + Rhinoceros + Python. So the Black Moon Rhinoceros-Python really was just a simple combination of these four elements. “Great Master” Airplane Shooting Towards the Sky’s naming sense was as dependable as always!

Zhuzhi-Lang dutifully moved to stand in front of Tianlang-Jun, in the process also getting in front of Shen Qingqiu. Furthermore, as soon as Shen Qingqiu saw Luo Binghe, he subconsciously scooted closer to Zhuzhi-Lang’s back. It wasn’t like he was desperate to avoid Luo Binghe, but he had a guilty conscience and didn’t have the face to look at him. He dared even less to consider what Luo Binghe might be feeling, having seen Shen Qingqiu breathe his last before his eyes a second time. He could only unconsciously avoid the issue by not allowing himself to look, pretending that if he couldn’t see, he wouldn’t be bothered.

Tianlang-Jun raised an eyebrow. This expression too bore a remarkable resemblance to something Luo Binghe might wear. “So he didn’t hesitate to capture two hundred Black Moon Rhinoceros-Pythons to break the barrier around the Holy Mausoleum. Peak Lord Shen, this son of mine truly goes to extraordinary lengths for you.”

Shen Qingqiu had no retort. This was the rare demonic beast that, in the original work, summoned even the Endless Abyss with its call. Luo Binghe had gone as far as to capture two hundred at once in order to break into the Holy Mausoleum.

- SVSSS, Volume 3, Chapter 15: Holy Mausoleum, Pages 47-48

[gurggggleburgle]

throwing my hat into the should bingqiu be parents ring to say No. Neither of these adults should be parents but for wildly different reasons until they've had like 10 years post cannon to work shit out.

This is because these idiots have so much shit to work out between them and if you threw a kid in there any point before the story ends and well after I can't see this going well.

Reason 1) Have you ever met someone in their early 20s who has been in an on and off again mess of a relationship that clearly needs couples therapy? I have. Don't

reason 2) Everyone keeps being all Luo Binghe would be absolutely jealous of whatever baby ends up in their acquisition and I would like to say FALSE. Binghe's hatred of any babies is tangential to age and adoption vs weird mpreg vs where in the timeline. For example if Shen Qingqui acquires a baby pre abyss at 17ish and said child is in an age range of 7-15ish he's gonna be jealous because that's an age range where this kid could potentially compete with him any younger and you're bordering toddler territory which is about in the same range as literal baby. Where this kid could get his room. If it's a baby tho he doesn't hate the baby. It poses no threat. It's a bonding experience.

If anything he's absolutely more worried about the kid being a secret love child with Liu Qingge or some other threat.

The same applies also minus that last caveat if he ends up teen pregnant. This version of child snatching is weirdly the one I think they'd be the best with even tho they absolutely should not be doing that.

Meanwhile if Shen Qingqiu acquires or has Luo Binghe's kid while their in the abyss then Qingqiu is gonna be a mess of a parent if it is full straight up baby. The man has the domestic skills of a boiled potato. He probably is leaving most of this baby's care to Ning YingYing and Ming Fan by virtue of having to actually do his own paperwork now and other tasks. Like he loves the kid but.... like let's be real liking children and being nice to them does not a good parent make. He's probably panicking and demanding help every five minutes driving them all insane. Meanwhile if Binghe finds out about this kid and it's not his specifically he's gonna lose his shit because it means Shizun's got himself another malewife and he bets it's that whore Liu Qingge. And if Cucumber man let's it slip then Lou Binghe is never letting that child leave his sight. He is acquiescing that kid. And if that child is not a baby he will go into panic mode because that's his REPLACEMENT. Shizun got a new fluffy child to dote on.

Again if Luo Binghe somehow ends up pregers when he falls into the abyss I will say he will become the most disturbingly devoted parent possible and both cherish and resent the child and be absolutely feral about it. If he finds one down there he probably takes care of them and is kind because like Luo Binghe is a fucking orphan. He knows what it means to suffer without parents. If he sees a small demon kid named 4 balls (the long lost brother of 6 balls) or something he's not gonna abandon them to die.

Meanwhile if it's like new item obtained: small child! about water prison and after or one is found out to be mpreg.... I mean Luo Binghe would triple on his imprison Shen Qingqiu for the sake of the baby if it's him. For himself I think he would either tragically walk away and say the baby is all he gets as a piece of Shizun's love or it's like more desperately clinging and waiting for SQQ to cave. Any adopted child at this point is a threat. Our boy's brain is too far gone for that. Child's must be acquired before this point or risk softlocking your game. Also side note depending on where in the timeline Yuan gets pregnanté you can make an incredibly angsty but also comedic argument about abortion as that is certainly one way to take care of it.

Post cannon children can be acquired and this will not make Luo Binghe jealous. Man will see any kid as an extension of his and Shizun's love immediately post cannon. He's not jealous of the baby. If anything they're vetting the baby's playmates. He insists on breast milk long past it being required. You have to get a daypass to even look at this child. The baby has nappies worth more than your house. Man would be a disturbingly protective parent. He would be the one to spoil the kid rotten.

Our trust fund protagonist would have to be the moral compass on this and that is funny and terrifying

Reason number 3) they would be those hoa and pta parents. their kid would be the asshole child in the school who everyone knows they can't bully.

[joys-of-everyday]

MXTX's women

Let's do ✨discourse™✨

Addendum: I checked out twitter (x now?) for the first time in ages and... um... maybe this isn't a good time for discourse. But hey, I love mxtx so I'm just going to do a Shen Yuan and pretend absolutely everything is fine.

I feel like a lot of the discourse around MXTX and sexism don't hit the mark? Things like 'there are few female characters', 'the female characters die', 'the female characters don't hold positions of power' are not indications as to whether a piece of work standing on its own is sexist. For example, you could write an entire novel about a sexless robot (which miserably fails the Bechdel test because there is only one character) and that says nothing about whether the work itself is sexist. This is an caricature of an example and of course, overall trends give a very different picture to individual works, so its not to take such works off the hook either. Similarly, including sexist troupes isn't inherently sexist, but equally arguing something is a 'critique' isn't a shield against criticism. Critique can be done badly, critique can become outdated, critique itself can be critiqued.

But equally the counterargument to this can't entirely be 'but look at x, y, and z - aren't they great female characters?'. Look, I love mxtx's women. I can write essays (plural) about mxtx's women. Many people already have. Then again, Eowyn from lotr is arguably a pretty deep character, but I would have problems if lotr was the best example of female representation we could come up with. The point being, the existence (or lack thereof) of strong female characters isn't (entirely) the point, even though it's often made out to be. Don't get me wrong, good female representation without strong female characters is... erm... hard. But if it was the crux of the argument, the discourse could be killed in three tumblr posts.

The bigger question(s) (possibly) is: What is its intent? How is that intent received?

SVSSS, MDZS, and TGCF are all extremely different pieces of work. SVSSS in particular stands out, because at its heart, it is satire. While debates around what kind of comedy is and isn't good exist independently of SVSSS, needless to say, judging satire in the same way you would say a murder mystery or a romantic fantasy is not advisable. Sha Hualing is a sexy demon lady whose clothes rip off in the middle of a battle. Why? Because that's saying something about a particular trope of a particular genre.

(Side note: I have opinions on how we shove different BLs together when they really shouldn't be under the same umbrella and how this muddies the discourse unnecessarily. I'm talking about Killing Stalking btw)

For SVSSS, if you get it, you get it (it's impossible to read without understanding this). While some loose threads exist about how female characters could have been more developed... man, do you know how much development my boy Mu Qingfang got? You're not sexist if you punch everyone (only half ironic here). (In terms of character development I also think this might be a fandom thing as well as a SVSSS thing.) But I think more relevantly, SVSSS tells you something about the way MXTX writes critique.

If you didn't notice, SVSSS is critique on two levels. First is the blatant critique of the harem genre, and the second is more subtle critique on BL, on fandoms, on webnovels, on literature. But while we get Shen Qingqiu's commentary guiding us through the first bit, this drops during the second bit. It takes Shen Qingqiu so long to realise that what he's living through is a crazy mishmash of BL tropes that the only narration you get on this is Pure Confusion. To realise Luo Binghe and Shen Qingqiu's early interactions is commentary on the 'dark and obsessive love' trope, you need to immediately realise that Shen Qingqiu telling you Luo Binghe is trying to kill him is just... Wrong. So (possibly, ofc I've no idea what's going on in the author's head) the intent is critique. But intent is meaningless without it being conveyed to the reader. So how are we meant to 'realise' what is going on?

Firstly, MXTX tells you. Shen Qingqiu goes: 'damn Luo Binghe isn't acting like in those weird danmei novels' and you're meant to go 'oh weird danmei novels I know about those'. Second is her very obvious use of tropes (even flagged!). 'Clothes rip/disappear in the middle of a serious situation, isn't this weird? Where have we seen that before?'. And thirdly, by introducing a sense of absurdity. Luo Binghe and Shen Qingqiu's relationship is presented in such an unconventional way (the master-disciple pair which generated a famous porno!) that it forces you to engage with it critically.

Okay, so what does that have to do with sexism? Take MDZS. We have a set of very tropey characters - 'the older sister', 'the scary mother', 'the strong independent woman', 'the damsel in distress'. We have explorations and subversions that go beyond tropes: Jiang Yanli's character shaped by her experiences in an abuse household, Yu Ziyuan's pride and loyalty, Wen Qing's well... everything, and Mianmian needs no explanation. We have flags to tell us we are meant to care about these issues: most obviously Mianmian experiencing gendered harassment for speaking up. All the women die! Yeah, isn't that a problem. Because it's the women sacrificing themselves, women silently taking on burdens, women chained by the circumstances of the world around them and still making choices about what is important to them (and it's often not themselves). The women aren't in positions of power/aren't shown to be as competent as the men! They're literally put down when they speak up, and don't the wives have a great time with their husbands. MDZS is critique of society. MDZS's women too are a critique of the society they (we) live in.

But not all critique is good critique! The first way that critique can fail is if it just isn't registered as critique by the reader. And this isn't always on the reader. If the author isn't clear enough on this, then they have failed to execute the intent of their work. And to this extent, I've heard enough people say that MDZS is maybe sexist as a first reaction (myself included) to think that yeah, maybe this wasn't well done. The flags are scarce. The subversions of tropes are subtle enough to be missed in it's entirety. Then again, MDZS often ends up as people's gateway piece into danmei, when it is probably better understood with more context - for me, coming back to MDZS after a big BL reading spree was exceptionally enlightening. As to whether it could have been better done in the bounds of the genre, without detracting from the banging story it was... I honestly don't know.

One way to go about it is, well... TGCF. Here everything is laid out to you to an almost bizarre degree. 'Look, isn't this a Hard Question' the narrative stops to tell you at multiple points, from Bai Wuxiang and Xie Lian's back and forths, to 'I don't know if what I did was right' speeches on a regular basis (maybe not regular but it was enough to notice). The troupes are still there but their twists are far more obvious. Xuan Ji is the 'deranged woman' who is (we are told multiple times) surprisingly normal and competent when she isn't around Pei Ming. Yushi Huang and Banyue are just obviously strong, competent, and in positions of power. Shi Qingxuan shines in all of her wonder, kindness, and unfortune. The flags are more glaring as well: Just Pei Ming's Existence, Ling Wen's whole backstory, Jian Lan's tragedy... And it probably worked? Since people seem to complain significantly less about any supposed sexism of TGCF.

Do I like it? I like elements of it. Ling Wen is honestly great.

But I love the subtlety with which MDZS weaves its themes and tbh I think some of the magic was lost there. (I love TGCF to bits for different reasons but yeah)

Does MXTX's writing of women merit discussion? Of course, everything merits discussion. Particularly MXTX's works which rely so heavily on genre tropes to craft themes. Is MXTX's work sexist? Idk, I would say no, but these things are Hard Questions.

But my feeling? My true feeling? At the very least, it is So. Much. Better. than a huge amount of work that tries to be feminist and pitifully fails.

My current pet peeve is the 'strong independent woman'. Depicting a sexist society then including a 'strong independent women' with no true appreciation of the realistic struggles she would face, as if the only barriers that we face within these societies is to stop being a loser... is worse in my books than not including any women at all. Or 'strong independent women' who turn out to be utterly pathetic and in constant need of saving. Or 'strong independent women' who have no other personality than being the 'strong independent woman'. The intent here is to come across as feminist and progressive without critically engaging in anything. It's paper thin.

Ultimately, the core theme of MDZS and TGCF isn't about women's experiences (whereas SVSSS is, I would argue, right into the nooks and crannies). Do these works explore such themes to the extent it explore privilege, conflict, and oppression? Not really. But you can't do everything - the role of an author is inherently about choosing what to prioritise. And given what it does do, I think it does some pretty neat things.

[hxnguxng-jxn]

Hello! May i ask for a Jealous/protective Bingqiu x male reader scenario? Someone is flirting with their husband relentlessly despite knowing he's married to them and is making the reader very uncomfortable. How would they react? Thank youu.

Writer's Note(s): Oh BingQiu, my guilty favorite of the MXTX main couples! (/▽＼*)｡o○♡ I absolutely would love to do this for you Anon!

Info on Reader: Reader is intended AMAB, and uses he/him. I'm ambiguous if Reader is a fighter/strategist/et cetera of the Sects. Reader has been with them nearly the whole SVSSS story but I left the romance timing ambiguous.

Timeline: Post-canon. Pure and simple this time! I also made the flirter a lady, with plot... and with a soft ending!

Fujoshis and Fem Readers DNI || Please enjoy!

Shen Qingqiu could feel the ravaging eyes of the crowd on his back as he passed by the many foreign stalls and he knew he was picking up more with his two husbands coming in behind him. The town was a part of many of the Western fronts that he vaguely knew about because of PIDW's map back in it's story-based heydays, but this town eluded him today.

It wasn't that his memory was fading or that he was jumbling up cities and towns, but he was preoccupied with the map they were using. Levitating it while comparing terrains was front and center, and he left Luo Binghe as head of the supply gathering.

His other husband was looking for something from a blacksmith, but it seems that the tradesman was harder to find then usual.

He was looking at the map and figured out which mountain they'd have to bypass to get to their destination when he felt a stirring wave of demonic energy behind him. Putting the map away and turning to where Luo Binghe was pushing his way through the crowd to the lip of the alley, he rushes after his husband.

"Binghe! Luo Binghe!" He scolds out as he catches up and matches pace with him. "What's gotten into you? Thieves?"

Luo Binghe is very attentive and hears him over the crowd, but simply continues to push forward towards the street opening, and then Shen Qingqiu hears the small commotion that's happening as they break from the people.

You've found the blacksmith as you said you'd do, but you're also trying to multitask getting a woman off your arm as she leans on your side. From the way she falls on your left, anyone would think you're a couple in courting, and her voice carries to Shen Qingqiu's ears like a bell.

Something about the type of metal you were buying to be smelted and what form the sword was taking, and something about your mission into the mountains.

Shen Qingqiu grabs Luo Binghe's clenched fist and gives him an order. "Let me handle her and you take him back into town, get us an inn." It was gentle for now, but the look on your face was making him feel urgent.

"Shizun..." Luo Binghe sounds almost scolded, but he still looks to hold firm.

Shen Qingqiu holds his large hands and places his own pouch of money there, before gripping it with purpose. "Please Binghe, we have a mission. Stories travel."

It was with reluctant annoyance (thrown at the unwanted fourth party) that Luo Binghe stays where he is as Shen Qingqiu glides over to you and the lady, taking place on your right. Shen Qingqiu was never one without some form of elegance, thanks to playing the part, and opens his fan to wave at your sweating face.

It was the waving fan that gained both sets of attention but Shen only focused on your face as you turned to him. Your handsome face had been contorted in disbelief, but now you just fixed him with a relaxed version of surprise.

Shen spoke first. "Ma'am, I do apologize for the interruption, but I'm this man's husband. I don't want to cause a scene..." He trailed off as he looked at you for assistance.

With a nodding of your head and pulling your arm free, you do back up his statement. "I'm very sorry. This is indeed my husband..." The basic politeness you gave her was purely for the public and you quickly backed up to leave the blacksmith.

She seemed to be mature in all forms of the word, and her hairpieces and shawl were refined with elegance. If Shen didn't know any better, he'd think her apart of a political party or a lofty family. She gave you a respectable bow as she apologized in turn to Shen, the affronted husband.

"I apologize for my behavior. Do enjoy your passage through our town, warriors." She answers, and begins to walk off through the afternoon crowd. Shen could hear some sounds of bells softly clicking as she goes.

Shen questions you about your sword you had commissioned and when it would be finished (tomorrow afternoon), and then asks you about the woman in question. To you, she had said she saw your face and simply wanted to patron a warrior for the cities safety during the Autumn season with all the demons running around.

Shen Qingqiu wished he could chalk it up to simply your face (you and Binghe and your gorgeous faces), but he sent you off to Binghe with a kiss as he rationalized this would be it. They'll be leaving tomorrow after your short sword is manufactured and that was that, he thinks.

As he does the last rounds and energy readings of the road ahead, he feels fatigued... what he'd give to be in bed, sleeping with his husbands and sandwiched between them.

Well, you see Shen Qingqiu...

At the largest inn in town not an hour later, you and Binghe are not exactly sleeping in the room

Binghe had gotten for the three of you. Binghe had been upset at not just the woman making a move on his own husband, but also being unable to do anything but help you flee as best you can.

That and this place doesn't allow outsiders in their kitchen, as it was a tourist spot and anything back there was expensive. Binghe would have made you dinner and locked you both away until Shizun came back, but he had to settle for ordering and waiting in the dining area with you as you both calmed down from the event earlier.

Binghe was not as easily calmed as you, especially not when you smell of foreign jasmine, sweet yet musky, from a cushion away. He can see her again and again in his head every breath he takes that doesn't smell of just you: bosom against your arm in the bizarre, red nails scratching up your arm teasingly, and features not unpleasant trying to woo you. He begrudgingly gave her that, she was pretty...

With his huffing and ignoring his zhajiangmian to stir in his foul mood, you decided to feed the grumpy pup his dinner to take his mind off of this. Giving him a kiss and teasing him to eat the wheat noodles from your chopsticks, you slowly lifted him from his mood as he basically falls in your lap.

Luo Binghe was having a good time for the short while you fed him, peppering kisses to his lips also like your sweetening the deal, before he can smell it again. Jasmine; thick, sweet, musky, and sensual. His mood soured before he even noticed where the offending scent came from.

Behind his husband (his and his Shizun's husband, damnit) was the woman again, saddled up behind you with a miffed look on her face. If you sat back fully on your cushion, you'd sadly be pressed against her chest and in reach of her arms. Luo Binghe, on an impulse he does not regret, pulls you onto his cushion and onto his lap away from her.

"Young warrior, I did not expect to see you here at my inn. I would say it's good to see you, but I'm rather confused." She asks in a measured tone. "Where is your husband in green?"

"Ma'am, hello again, I'm..." You try to greet her, but Binghe grips you closer to him.

Answering in measures to still be civil, Luo Binghe huffs. "Shizun will be here in time. His venerable husband is who you're speaking to. Nothing is amiss."

You freeze and your blood runs cold with adrenaline as you playback what Luo Binghe insinuates with his words. Calling Shen Qingqiu shizun and husband in the same sentence has gotten you three into arguments enough that Luo Binghe has slowly learned to pick one and stick with it. Of course, Shen and yourself prefer if he picked husband but sometimes shizun just falls from his lips. Luo Binghe also seemed to be proud today and called himself your venerable husband, showing you off as his.

Except he was vague about it! It sounded... It sounded... !

"Your... shizun? Your master, and his husband?" She looks you up and down, before something darker passes her face. Something clicked in her head and a flush passed her face. "Ah. I see."

"Luo Binghe! Enough!" You yell at the prideful demon prince as your gut instinct for something evil and dirty rears its head. Your skin feels slimy; she must think you cheap, a user, or worse! Luo Binghe settles in his seat, protective, but silent.

"Ma'am, I should introduce my second husband, Luo Binghe, before we say anything else to each other. I am married to both of the men you have seen me with." As respectful as you can be to even the scummiest lords and ladies, you feel also rung dry of pleasantries.

For a brief moment, you think she's trying to process the fact you introduced yourself as a second husband and not a consort, but she's obviously more inclined to believe you since all of your company is... well, the attractive Luo Binghe. "Luo Binghe, you say? The demon lord who they say terrorizes the 12 major sects nearby?"

Luo Binghe lets out a gruff groan of something dissatisfied, obviously not happy to be referred to by what the peaks spew. But sadly, he'll have to take it for tonight, as you do all the explaining.

For the state of your husbands...

By the time Shen Qingqiu had made his way up to the room you'd all share, he could tell something had happened by the way you both were laying. You were sprawled out on the bed, inner robes all your wearing and your hair loose, as Luo Binghe was resting his red face in your lap. Luo Binghe was similarly in proper nightly attire, but his red face was from the swamp of tears on your pants.

Shen kicks off his shoes to join you quickly before running his hand in Luo Binghe's dark curls, and hushes the weeping demon. "Dearests, what has happened?"

Luo Binghe basically ate up the affection as you answered for the guilty party. "We ran into that lady again as the inn owner, and she assumed myself a consort. Luo Binghe almost ran us into trouble afterwards, but we should have no problems anymore."

When Shen Qingqiu released a breath he didn't even know he had held, his face contorted in many displeased ways as his train of thoughts broke. Finally, he just settled on stating: "When we leave this town, remember to tell me to mark it as unfavorable for now. Rumors spread fast here."

"I will. And I do agree. I don't exactly feel comfortable here anymore as well." You promise, still stroking Luo Binghe's hair yourself.

As he starts to undress for the night, Shen Qingqiu asks one more question that bugs him. "Wait a moment. Where in that story did Luo Binghe find reason to cry?"

As he finishes his ask, your lips curl into a smug smile as Luo Binghe whines in your pants. "After we left the inn keeper and left our food for cleanup, I was upset that Binghe had caused a bit of a scene. I said if any of us was the consort, it would be our dear Binghe."

Luo Binghe whined out pitifully but with pride, "I'm a husband!" And after Shen Qingqiu lets out a laugh at how pitiful it sounds against your thigh, "Shizun, not you too!"

"Hush Binghe, it's past midnight..." Shen Qingqiu hushes his husbands both as he sits on the bed and gives you both a kiss on your cheeks. "You're a good husband. You both are. Get some rest. I found a path through the mountains that should conceal us up our travels."

And rest, you did.

[mxtxfanatic]

Also you know what? Let’s get into it: at what point is someone culpable for the harm/abuse they cause under coerced circumstances, and does this even matter in the face of harm? I’m definitely on the side of Shen Qingqiu not being responsible for the abuse Luo Binghe experiences in svsss because the only action he actively took was throwing him into the abyss, and that was due to being threatened by the system. However, what I find radical about svsss is: 1) that Shen Qingqiu over-identifies with the abuse that lbh suffered under Shen Jiu’s hands—that he had nothing to do with—and considers it amongst his personal sins against lbh along with the abyss, and 2) in this, svsss doesn’t really seem to ask “should shen yuan be held responsible for shen jiu’s sins?” but instead, seems to veer us towards “does it matter who did it? What do amends look like? How does one atone for something like this?” (And really, sqq fails until the end to answer this question because he doesn’t realize until the end that atonement isn’t about what he thinks he deserves, but what lbh as the wronged party wants out of the relationship. And all lbh wanted was to return to being loved.)

How much are we culpable for in knowingly participating in actions that harm others, even if it is to save ourselves? How much are we culpable for the sins of the people we inherit our power/prestige from? And does that culpability (or lack thereof) even matter in the face of the victim(s)? Wrongs still have to be righted; amends have to be made either way.

(Note: this isn’t a conversation of what can or cannot be forgiven. Only a victim can choose whether or not to forgive, forget, and/or move on with or without a relationship with their former abuser. Only a victim can decide what atonement looks like to them.)

[svsss-fanon-exposed]

Exposing SVSSS Fanon: 22/∞

LUO BINGHE AND SHEN QINGQIU WERE MEANT TO END UP TOGETHER IN THE ORIGINAL DRAFT OF PIDW

Rating: FANON - CONFLICTING

There is a somewhat common interpretation in fandom that in Airplane's original outline for PIDW, Luo Binghe and Shen Qingqiu were meant to be together in the end. While this could be an entertaining concept, and there is a potential argument to support it, I believe that this interpretation conflicts with canon due to the fact that a contradictory intention for the original draft was directly stated.

The original idea most likely comes from the following quote:

Shang Qinghua raised his arms high. “Cucumber-bro,” he said, impassioned, “if the System hadn’t selected you, a loyal and die-hard reader, I’m afraid the plot would never have been distorted to this extent, right back to the outline I discarded..." (7 Seas, Ch. 21)

While it is certainly one possible interpretation to read this as "the plot of SVSSS is what Airplane would have written," and on first glance it does appear to be this way, I think that this has much more to do with the type of characters and the filling of plot holes, as earlier in the conversation, he says this:

"...Compared to writing the kind of stallion guy who’s everywhere on Zhongdian, it’s better to portray a male lead like the current Bing-ge, whose life is full of mishaps, whose personality is a bit more complex and full of contradictions and conflicts—that kind of weirdo. That’s more in line with my writing philosophy.” (7 Seas, Ch. 21)

Shen Qingqiu is the one who first remarks on sexuality, and Airplane defends gay protagonists, but the "original outline" seems to be more likely referencing this quote.

There is also the interesting fact of this thought:

Why did that make it sound like the System and this world were the creation of Shang Qinghua’s regrets, as an author who’d had to scrap his outline in favor of popular opinion? (7 Seas, Ch. 21)

Though this is just a side thought from Shen Qingqiu, it is an interesting thing to note nonetheless, especially if one also considers the system's original requirements:

【 One, change the nonsensical plot and raise the average IQ of the villains and supporting characters. Two, avoid landmines that break suspension of disbelief. Three, ensure the main character’s satisfaction points. Four, discover and finish hidden plot events. 】 (7 Seas, Ch. 1)

If we follow the thread of "the system as a creation of Shang Qinghua's regrets," we can pair that with the list of requirements above. Of course, that implies that there is anything specifically to read from that earlier comment of Shen Qingqiu's, which may or may not be the case.

Considering the requirements, though, the only one that specifically relates to BingQiu getting together would be "ensure the main character's satisfaction points," but it does not specify romance between those two characters as the only way to do so.

While the first passage is the one mainly used to argue for this theory, one could also use the matter of Shen Qingqiu's red thread linking to Luo Binghe to support it-- that is, if one ascribes the cut thread to either Shen Yuan's former life, or to some other party, and the current thread belonging to the identity of Shen Qingqiu (not specifically Shen Yuan, therefore meaning that it was still present with Shen Jiu). This is a fairly weak argument, but one I will still address for clarity's sake. The text specifically says the following regarding the red threads:

“Sir, about the red thread from your past—my skill is insufficient, so I can’t…see it clearly. At first glance, it seemed like you were alone, but if I look carefully, I can catch a faint glimpse of another thread.” She concluded regretfully, “This thread has been cut… Such a pity.” Shen Jiu had once had a fiancée, but Shen Yuan was a single dog! Their two threads were tangled together, so it was no surprise that the madam couldn’t see it all clearly. (7 Seas, Ch. 23)

Shen Yuan assumes the cut thread belongs to Shen Jiu-- and this makes sense, since it is only a faint glimpse. The remnant of Shen Jiu's red thread remaining attached to Shen Qingqiu's body falls in line with the way that Shen Jiu's memories also remained to some degree-- even though it is Shen Yuan's soul which now occupies the body, there are still traces of its former inhabitant. As to who Shen Jiu's cut thread belongs to, that is a topic for another post-- nonetheless, it is safe to believe that neither of these threads of the past point to Luo Binghe. Notably, there is not one single red thread that stretches from the past to the future. The options in the past are either "alone" or "severed thread," regardless of whose is whose.

Of course, despite these arguments having strengths and weaknesses, nothing thus far has proven one way or another whether Shen Qingqiu and Luo Binghe were intended to be together-- for that, we must go to Shang Qinghua's own thoughts and the following passage:

【 Basic completion of Proud Immortal Demon Way’s original outline achieved (slight deviation in romance plotline); objective complete. Retrieving function to return to original world; download complete. Activate Return Home sequence? 】 Basic completion of the original outline? That he agreed with. All the holes that needed to be filled had been filled. But this “slight deviation of romance plot” wasn’t quite right. Bing-ge was now fully gay; how could you say that was a “slight deviation”? Ah, fine, fine, in fact, in his original outline, Bing-ge hadn’t even had a romance plotline; he had been doomed to fade away, alone and unaging forever. If you insisted on adding a romance plotline, all right, that was whatever, so putting aside all the System’s rambling…this meant he could return to his original world?! (7 Seas, Ch. 26)

This passage makes it perfectly clear that the BingQiu romance was not part of the original outline, both in the system's note of "slight deviation in romance plotline," as well as in Shang Qinghua's own words-- that the original Bing-ge wasn't intended to have a romance at all.

If it were not for this section, I would rate the theory as unsupported or perhaps as neutral, but because there is direct clarification in the above passage, it can only be said that Luo Binghe and Shen Qingqiu were not canonically meant to end up together in the original draft of PIDW, and that this assertion is fanon which contradicts canon.

[ineffectualdemon]

The thing about being Aro and BPD and having a fixation on the concept of best friends as a young age meant I was wildly confused about what romance actually was

Because I do have the "You are the centre of my world and I would die for you! Kill for you! You are my everything!" But without any romantic feelings attached and it can be really hard to tell the difference

My fellow Scum Villian fans will recognise this: take Luo Binghe's obsession with Shen Qingqiu but make platonic

The line is thinly drawn right!?

But I guess I was like "yes if I could keep you in a cage and carry you around always that sounds great but that doesn't mean I want to hold hands or gaze lovingly at each other"

(side note: I feel these things I don't act on them because that would make my husband sad and also I'm aware it's unhinged)

I want attention and love and care and stuff but not all that other mushy stuff which I assumed everyone else was just enduring because they had to

Sex is welcome and fine but honestly? In a hit it and quit it scenario I would fuck someone I genuinely hated as long as I didn't have to talk to them afterwards. Sex was never special or tied to the mushy feelings everyone talked about nor my obsession feelings

Someone I was obsessed with AND wanted to fuck was the gold tier I was looking for and what I thought everyone meant when they say you should marry your best friend

Luckily I found it with a guy who is as apathetic/uncomfortable about romance

I manage my BPD largely because when I am weird and intense and unhinged my husband does not match my energy and is just like "cool. What do you want for dinner"

But on the outside weird and intense looks like romance

Idk it's just a thing I wanted to ramble about

[lbhslefttiddie]

PLEASE tell me about your scent headcanons for MOTT

I'm not gonna include all the details, bc some are for characters who have not even properly appeared and some are spoilers and some are simply still up for tweaking!! that being said...

(excerpts from the Flavour Profile Document below--obviously, this also contains spoilers for Mouse On The Thorn up to ch 15, and some hints at things in the future, specifically regarding sy's scent)

for each character, first i decided elements, then scents, then any additional details or nuances to the scent (ie yqy: water and earth -> wet dirt -> petrichor). there also variances which reach outside their set element(s) for certain situations (ie yqy's ozone scent) and notes for outside influences (such as suppressants). i made up like a whole fucking chart in my brain for why who was what element(s), but that's a lengthy, separate topic lmao

Shen Qingqiu:

Element: wood

Base scent: grass and osmanthus

Notes: smells like rotting vegetation when deeply distressed (ie sad/hurt/scared), smells dry/burnt when extremely angry. leans more to the grassy side than the flowery; the grass, specifically, is almost like bamboo, which sqq himself muses could be mere coincidence, or him being shaped, somewhat, by his environment

the fake scent he uses emulates the scent of a very irritated beta--the scent itself is even fainter than the pheromones its meant to emulate, and the only POV who might even be able to pick it out is lbh, but the scent is almost like bitter almonds (cyanide lol)

Shen Yuan:

Element: wood

Base scent: grass and osmanthus

Notes: like sqq, scent turns to rot in distress. More on the flowery side; particularly, when he is extremely content or aroused (or in heat), he smells like osmanthus wine

(worth noting here: sy was born on the day of the Mid-Autumn Festival)

Is scent hereditary? Are spiritual elements hereditary? I have no idea! Sqq and sy could smell similar bc they are related, or bc they come from the same background, or bc of wacky coincidence. It's more compelling this way, so we'll figure that out later

while still using suppressants he smells almost identical to an unpresented pup, if with a slightly staler quality to it

Yue Qingyuan:

Element: water, earth

Base scent: rain and earth

Notes: yqy is, even for alphas, particularly noseblind, such that he has no idea what he himself smells like, but sqq notes that he often smells specifically like the first rain after a time of dryness (petrichor). When sad, he smells just kinda wet and pathetic, like a long heavy downpour (geosmin). When angry or in serious combat, he smells like right before a storm (ozone). Smell leans more earthy during rut

Mu Qingfang:

Element: wood, earth

Base scent: roots, clay

Notes: Beta scents are fainter and tend to carry less nuance in emotive ability, which works in mqf's favour for the most part. That being said, mqf's scent takes on somewhat muddy quality with upset

Zhao Jie:

Element: earth, metal

Base scent: scalpel

Notes: most metals don't actually have a smell, particularly not the kinds used for scalpels, but zj's scent has a particularly cool and sharp quality to it that calls the idea of them to mind nonetheless

Luo Binghe:

Element: fire, wood

Base scent: smoke, sunshine, lotus

Notes: more smoke when angry/upset, more sunny when happy. Takes on a slighty spicy tinge when Interested

the smoke part itself is a lot less noticeable before his demonic seal is unlocked

Do demons have elemental roots...??? Regardless, i will be designing their scents as though they do

Ning Yingying:

Element: water, metal

Base scent: mineral water

Notes: when high-energy, the scent smells cooler, like a refreshing mountain stream, and when lower-energy the scent is warmer, like hot springs, and is a little bit saltier, too

She hasn't actually presented yet, so obv you cant actually smell any of these things on her yet, but that's the general plan

[toomanyplotbunnies-sendhelp]

Hello and welcome to (the true) Day 14 of "Let's Explore My Plot Bunnies"

Today, my brain decided to be very... resourceful, for the lack of a less polite word, and remake the Cat!Shen Jiu fic from *checks notes* Day 4. Only now, instead of Shen Jiu being the one transformed into a cat, it's Liu Qingge.

The current title for this is "Paw Prints in Your Heart," and I do intend to make it a LiuJiu fic.

The premise is quite simple:

Liu Qingge was injured in his latest mission. He falls unconscious at the base of Cang Qiong Mountain, and, unbeknownst to him, his body turns into that of a cat. Shen Qingqiu is the one that finds the injured tuxedo cat and takes him (he did check; it is a boy) back to Qing Jing Peak for treatment.

When Liu Qingge wakes up, not only does he find himself to be a cat, but also he finds himself in the care of the (surprisingly gentle) person he hates, Shen Qingqiu.

Now, imagine: Cat!Liu Qingge has to stay around the Qing Jing Peak because his paw has a bad injury and ends up being in the same room as Shen Qingqiu and Yue Qingyuan have their (admitedly one-sided) argument of the day. And after Yue Qingyuan leaves, Shen Qingqiu, feeling the anger rising, decides to vent to the only creature here that will listen to him and not interrupt - cat!Liu Qingge. So, Shen Qingqiu speaks (read: vents) about his past, about Yue Qingyuan, about all the other Peak Lords, about everything that he can really vent about.

Needless to say, Liu Qingge has a ton of things to think about now with all these revelations.

Then there is the monthly Peak Lord Meeting... at which Liu Qingge is missing. Most of the other Peak Lords don't really find a problem with this as it is well known that Liu Qingge loves to hunt monsters so "he is most likely doing just that" is what they argue. Shen Qingqiu, on the other hand, finds it weird since, as much as that brute annoys him, Liu Qingge doesn't miss the Peak Lords Meeting without announcing beforehand.

And so, Shen Qingqiu starts a one man (and one cat) search party for that idiot brutish shidi of his. Their first destination? The Red Warm Pavillion. If there is anyone who knows where esteemed cultivators can be found based on rumors, it is the Madame of the Pavillion - who is also the most trustworthy source of information Shen Qingqiu can find.

Some details to note:

I feel OG!Shen Qingqiu would prefer cats to dogs, mostly because as an orphan on the streets dogs would fight with you for food (looks at Wei Wuxian), while cats - especially in cold/rainy days - would snuggle with you. Not because they like you, but because they like the body heat you can provide for them.

Cat!Liu Qingge definitely gives Shen Qingqiu a lot of snuggles after he vents to him. Both as an apology and as comfort.

Shen Qingqiu tried to talk with the other Peak Lords about how strange it is for Liu Qingge - of all people - to dissappear without a trace or a letter. The other Peak Lords, unfortunately, ignored him. This is why he takes it in his own hands to find Liu Qingge.

Liu Qingge feels a lot of guilt after he learns more about Shen Qingqiu and about the reasons behind most of his actions. He vows to treat him better once he is back to his human self.

This could either take place before Luo Binghe is on Qing Jing Peak or after - like the first 2 weeks after he was admitted. Either way, the kiddo is chugging vinegar - first because his Shizun likes the cat better than him; second, because by the time Luo Binghe arrives at the sect, Shen Qingqiu has a boyfriend.

So what do you think? Good? Bad? Brain has been on crack for far too long? Let me know!

Honestly, this idea just came to me today - probably 2 hours before I post this, actually. The better way to explain the plot would be "Shen Qingqiu vents to his newly acquired cat about his entire life, without knowing that said cat is actually his shidi, Liu Qingge, whom he doesn't like". There is something special about the whole "venting to an animal that is actually a human cursed/transformed into an animal" trope I see in fics. It's soo damn cute and agsty at the same time. I love it so much.

But enough rambling from me. I hope you have a great day/night and that you take care of yourselves!

See you tomorrow,

-TooManyPlotBunnies-Send Help

[tossawary]

I finished rereading SVSSS’s main story and I’m going to get to the extras again next. I forgot how funny this story is. I forgot just how sad this story can be as well (Tianlang-Jun and Su Xiyan, Tianlang-Jun and Zhuzhi-Lang, Yue Qingyuan and the Original Shen Qingqiu, Luo Binghe’s abandonment issues).

Update on the Daemon AU, “Sit With Your Soul”. (Summary: Still planning on continuing it with more and plottier arcs, but I want to do a reread and edit of the first arc beforehand now.) 

I think that I am going to have to do an edit of the first arc of my new Daemon AU, “Sit With Your Soul”. Not a complete overhaul of plot or anything, not changing anything to do with the structure or what happens in scenes, but I feel like I’ve gotten a much better handle on Shen Yuan’s narrative voice now, and so I want to tighten up my narrative style (the wording of certain things, mostly) to bring it more in line with SVSSS. I also want to tighten up a few world and character details, even if it’s an AU and I’m overall pleased with how I’m managed to keep a decent foundation in canon in most of my fanfiction even when I’m intentionally jumping off it.

I’m also going to have to go back and name some of the OCs and the daemons if I’m going to commit to writing a longer and plottier story. When I started writing the Daemon AU, I didn’t know how far I was going to go with it; it was mostly about Shen Yuan and Shen Jiu’s relationship. As I got really into it, by the time I posted, I was like, “Oh, I’m definitely writing more of this.” When I was mocking Airplane Bro in the story for not bothering to name daemons... I was kind of calling myself out for avoiding naming so many OCs. I wasn’t sure whether or not it was going to be worth establishing so many OCs...

(This is exactly what happened with “pride is not the word I’m looking for” and the An Ding disciples... They didn’t get names because 1) it felt right for Shang Qinghua, but 2) I didn’t know if they were going to matter that much...)

The edit shouldn’t take too long. I was going to need to reread the first arc anyway to write the Shen Jiu POV reflection on the first arc that I’ve been planning, so it slots neatly into my to-do list of writing projects. (Now that I’ve reread most of SVSSS, I feel like I’ll be able to write a proper commentary for “love to the ones I’ve never met” and better reflect on PINTWILF.) 

I’ll keep a copy of the original version of “Sit With Your Soul” around somewhere. And I’ll alert people to when I’m actually going to post the edited version, so they can download the original if they like, to compare and contrast. I’ll also try to keep a “patch notes log” for people to review afterwards.

Oh, side note: I recently edited all my stories on AO3 to adjust the spacing between paragraphs (thank you, Find & Replace functions). There are a few spacing issues here and there still, which I’m tackling as I notice them. So if you’re like, “Hm, this looks different,” then that’s probably why.

[phoenixtakaramono]

Hello! I hope you are doing well. Sorry for the bother. I understand you have other fics and irl stuff you're busy with but I just wanted to ask how much of TUT ch6 you have written. I think I remember you had some sort of progress percentage for your fics but I can't seem to find it. I'm not trying to rush you either, I was just curious! Again sorry for bothering and also I really like your work! Have a great day!

Hullo! No worries! I’m happy to answer any Asks from my lovely readers. 🥰 The progress bars only show up on my tumblr bio but only on the desktop; the feature is pretty much nonexistent on mobile though, boo~. 🥲

On the bright side, The Untold Tale ch6 has been 100% plotted out! I think I even posted a sneak peek of it either here or on my twitter, and shared what to expect. ;)

I’d just need to transcribe my notes into legible story paragraphs as per usual—and that’s how a chapter is usually made (for me). Checking its WIP progress bar, ch6 was 10% written before I had to put it on pause to finish all four chapters of Truce first before I can safely—and with a good, clean conscious—migrate back. I definitely don’t want my current modern American (& some British) writing style from Truce (“The Boys fashioned”) to affect TUT’s C-novel-esque atmosphere and writing style, much less accidentally influence the characters.

I don’t want to get my wires crossed and accidentally make PIDW Luo Binghe (Bing gē) and Shen Yuan sound like Homelander and Billy Butcher while I’m still in this mindset, y’know?

Truce is presently 50% done. Once ch3 and ch4 are published, there will be a brief intermission period where I have to take some time to immerse myself back into the SVSSS world to, erm—for lack of a better term—“brainwash” myself and erase any memory of the previous work (and that modern American writing style) so I can return back into that sort of stylistic purple prose mindset TUT has. It’s a process I do for all my WIPs where I have to reimmerse myself to forget a previous work and reread everything I’d written before and review my notes.

I hope that makes sense, Anon! It’s fair to say once Truce is finished and you start seeing an influx of SVSSS and C-novels/ C-dramas content on my tumblr and/or twitter, it’s safe to say I am in the process of writing TUT.

Have a nice day as well! Sending flying kisses and headpats over to you. 😘