It is Jiumei torture hours™ again! (Can it even be considered a unique set of hours if it's almost always taking place?) This is also an older one from the vault that has once more grabbed me by the throat and will NOT let me go. It is rather dark™ in nature so 18+ (dubiousness of fuck or die plants found in universe+SJ's whole thing with autonomy and sex) also it’s kind of a pretty long one ngl.
Hit me with that Omega/Kunze SJ who's been suppressing/hiding his designation and passing as a Beta/Zhongyong, disciple era, possibly probably transmigration (System is used to help suppress the pollen maybe?), exploration of power dynamics/hierarchy in a rather horrifying way (the idea that the peak lords can just, make decisions for their disciples in times of medical situations/whenever they deem it necessary but also doing it whenever they want is truly horrifying and I can’t stop thinking about it being easily abused. Like a disciple going, "This one believes it best if this one were to part ways from Cang Qiong Mountain Sect here-" and their Peak Lord just going, "Mmmm, no. And as this disciple is acting out of sorts, this Shizun will disregard these words as something said during a Qi-deviation," while the disciple is in fact of sound mind, which bleeds into a whole OTHER idea I've got swirling around in my mind but not the focus rn), also Yue Qingyuan torture hours™ (he's not escaping the heart of the torture nexus this time) + maybe others being thrown into the nexus as well possibly??? ANYWHO!
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Here's some set-up/outline style lead up
Takes place post mission/night hunt. Shen Jiu/Qingqiu, a few fellow disciples and fellow Succeeding Disciples, which include a Wei Qingwei, a Shang Qinghua, a Liu Qingge, and a Qi Qingqi (because I love her, and have given her a girlfriend/wife in the form of a fellow Succeeding Disciple so by god will I be utilizing that.)
Only some of the disciples get hit with the pollen, LQG does not get hit, neither does SQH (he gets yoinked out of the line of fire by LQG), WQW possibly gets hit, and QQQ also possibly gets hit. In the chaos no one has a good view of each other, so everyone just assumes SJ managed to dodge in time like LQG and SQH had as he is not visibly covered in pollen and appears fine.
They have a certain amount of time before the pollen fully kicks in, so time is of the essence to ensure they all get back to the sect to properly undergo the Pollen Protocols™ as no one recognizes the species of carnivorous plant covered in striking red roses that had ambushed them on their way back (testing is required to ensure it's a strain that is Fuck OR Die, and not Fuck AND Die, nobody wants to make THAT mistake.)
They do manage to get back but just barely, in the chaos of disciples already in the throes of the pollen settling in being swarmed and herded by Qian Cao disciples, SJ + other Succeeding Disciples are given a quick glance over (no hands on, just visual assessment to see if they too are flushed or exhibiting "symptoms", aka arousal), WQW being slightly flushed and out of breath is immediately pulled aside and his husband/mate is called over with great haste (Mu Qingfang, they're both Qianyuan's), SQH and LQG are given a quick glare by MQF to ensure they're good and seeing his cousins are fine he lets them go, QQQ is also singled out and her chosen papapa helper on file is called in (Xu Qingli, future female talisman/artifact lord, QQQ is a Qianyuan while XQL is a Zhongyong). SJ manages to also get dismissed which he doesn't hesitate for even a moment to swiftly abscond.
A few days pass, perhaps even a week or two. SJ is under the assumption he is in the clear, or at the very least he might be possibly immune to this specific pollen (a dream that will not be true). He sees the disciples who have been afflicted now once more on the peaks in passing, spies WQW and QQQ laughing together (cousins), and again he relaxes because he believes all is well.
He couldn't be more wrong. A month passes and suddenly the disciples who had been declared cleared/unaffected begin to collapse, yet not all of them, only the spiritual cultivation path disciples appear to be enduring the pollen. His Shidimei whom he had pulled away when the plants had erupted from the ground start dropping like flies all around him. Hell even some disciples who HADN'T gone on the mission get caught in the crossfire and it's swiftly labelled an emergency.
But again SJ remains visibly unaffected, and once more evades any deep medical examinations as entire peaks are thrown into chaos so they can only spare a quick glance over. Secretly he's panicking because he can feel the foreign sensation of the pollen simmering in his stomach, setting his teeth on edge and his heart beating just a little too quickly, but he refuses to not take this chance and escapes to his room to await the all clear.
Which leads us to the big moment/reveal, the aftermath of the event must be discussed in a Sect Wide meeting with mandatory attendance for both Peak Lords and Succeeding Disciples!
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He finds himself grinding his teeth together as he forces his hands to grasp ahold of his robes. His skin aches, and even just the drag of the mostly soft robes against one another feels like he's rolling around in thorns.
Shen Jiu breathes out a shaky sigh after finally donning the last piece. He had hoped that for once the heavens were merciful and his ever gloomy luck bright. Yet such a notion had been the hopes of a bumbling fool more fitting a naive child who still believed they were worth saving. After all these years of things never working in his favour, he really should have known better than to believe his oddly kind parasite had been able to break past his accursed fate.
It claimed it had done the impossible, protected him from the pollen. But as more time passed with signs of it being wrong, it became more nervous and withdrawn, constantly reassuring him all was well even as he could tell the thing was hiding something from him. Then this latest event occurred completely shattering the thin mask it had been projecting. It became so embarrassed and distressed at having not protected him with the perk he'd purchased with his points he'd painstakingly collected, it had sought it's "manual" before returning with a rushed out call that it was initiating an "emergency update."
Honestly at this point he should have known the thing hadn't been able to fix its own accursed luck and rid itself of its horrendous affliction. Now here he is neck deep in another of its accidentally created scandalous "scenarios" that simply occur because of its existence, while it hides away in an effort to prevent drawing his ire, leaving him to deal with the mess on his own.
Shaking his head to clear the needless thoughts, Shen Qingqiu releases a controlled breath as his shaking hands quickly finish collecting the pages needed for the meeting. However it had happened, the outcome remains the same. He, Shen Qingqiu, has become infected by the pollen that has been rather theatrically dubbed, "a lover's last lament."
His hands shuffle the papers as his mind goes over the information contained within one last time.
This pollen is a dangerous one, the nasty thing holding the capacity to remain dormant within a host for some time with the victim completely unaware. Festering and feasting upon qi until it becomes strong enough to overwhelm the host with little to no warning at all. So long as their spiritual cultivation is sufficiently high enough to sustain it for some time that is, the thing will remain completely undetectable by even the most skilled healers who specialize in such cases. For those who are physical cultivators it takes a slightly different approach. It need not have an incubation period, their qi thrums through their bodies more readily than a spiritual cultivators whose remain mostly bound to their veins, the path it takes reinforcing the flesh so it need not sink deeply in order to begin its feast.
For whatever reason, no matter the cultivation base, nor the path, there remains but one cure for the fast acting thing, sexual dual cultivation.
The patient's previously documented that had denied such treatment, or those who had not been found in time all having shared the exact same fate. Enduring a slow and painful death as the parasitic pollen began to disrupt basic organ functions until it finally drains the entire body. Upon death, roses the colour of the victims blood will sprout through the colourless flesh, sharp thorns winding around limbs and cutting through weakened skin easily.
Ever since the possibility of becoming infected had occurred, he'd long since made his choice. Whatever happens, he will choose death, no matter how gruesome and painful it may be, it will be far better than the alternative. He refuses to ever be pinned beneath another again, he’d rather die than to willingly be humiliated and used in such a way once more. Besides, before they'd disappeared System had promised to bring them to another life if he were to die with no punishments for failing the mission. The thing feeling horrible for it’s uncontrollable actions no doubt.
A steady knock at his door has his morbid thoughts falling away like petals on the breeze. It seems he is out of time and his Shizun is ready to leave.
He closes his eyes and takes one final breath before settling his expression into a careful blankness and opening the door to his private Succeeding Disciple abode.
Shen Qingqiu's eyes briefly meet his Shizun's, the Qianyuan taking a single moment to look him over before giving him a comforting smile and turning to walk off into the dark of night without a word. He falls into step with neither a stumble nor a moment of hesitation, his heart set in place as his decision remains etched in his mind like words on a funerary stone. His death is certain, he just needs to keep this hidden for a while longer, then he can slip off into the night to pass somewhere quietly...
He ignores the guilt strangling his heart as his Shizun begins quietly speaking to him, softly inquiring as to how he’s been these past few busy days as they make their way to Qiong Ding.
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The rest of the journey had passed in a blur. The beginning of the meeting enduring the same fate. Shen Jiu blinks his eyes and subtly glances around as his fists carefully clench and unclench out of sight.
His loss of time has increased. Which means the pollen is beginning to earnestly take root.
Luckily, it appears no one has noticed his mental absence, he must have been able to hand out the pages he had painstakingly written up for his Shizun with no issues even with his mind gone. As his eyes subtly dart around to get his bearings while his mind tries to catch up on what exactly he's missed, they meet the gaze of one already staring Yue Qingyuan.
Shen Jiu's heart jolts in his chest as the other's brow furrows in obvious concern. Just as quickly as they had landed on the Qiong Ding disciple, his eyes are darting away in an effort to hide just how disoriented he is from finding himself so suddenly in the meeting when his last memory is of walking on his peak.
Only to meet the gaze of one assessing lord of healing who must have been looking at what had Yue Qingyuan so visibly concerned.
Shit.
His eyes quickly dart away once more, he lifts his tea to his suddenly dry mouth and feels relief that it does not shake. Perhaps it can be waved off as Yue Qingyuan being his overbearing self and his Shishu Cheng Anshuo will simply leave it be-
His heart drops through his feet as the Lord of healings suddenly no nonsense voice cuts through the air. "Apologies Zhangmen-Shixiong for the interruption. This one has a concern he'd like to address, it won't take but a moment." The air shifts as lords and disciples all audibly adjust themselves, he can feel their eyes landing on him one by one as the Qian Cao lord wastes no time after receiving a simple hum in response.
"Thanking Zhangmen-Shixiong for his understanding. Shen-Shizhi seems rather flushed tonight, is this disciple feeling alright?"
He swallows his tea with no small amount of difficulty, the weight of the entire room pressing down on him making it feel hard to breathe. Yet somehow he manages to smoothly place his cup back upon the table and meticulously adjusts the papers laid before him.
"This disciple assures Cheng-Shishu that nothing ails this one, this disciple is merely tired from the recent affairs." There, polite but not overly so, proper sentence structure, short and to the point to not give anything away. No one should find any problems with his explanation, after all, everyone here knows that he has been kept busy helping fill in paperwork for his Shizun as the man was kept busy containing the pollen and ensuring it did not spread.
Mentally he begins cursing out System as his eyes chance a glance at the healer, his face is cold, blank in that way he gets when a particularly flighty patient is lying to him and hiding something. Despite the panic wishing to rise from holding the full weight of the Qianyuan's stare, Shen Jiu calmly lifts his cup once again to take a measured sip. When dealing with the peak of healing it is always a battle of wills, a battle he does not intend to lose tonight.
It seems the other is of the same mind as he immediately launches into an assessment that has his heart quivering and mind jolting in alarm. "Hm, and yet Shen-Shizhi always grows pale when suffering under the effects of exhaustion from overworking, not growing flushed. The rate of your chests movement has increased in frequency, indicating breaths more laboured than usual. Shen Qingqiu has also been slowly sipping at that cup of tea for the past Shichen, usually by now you will have merely sipped at it once so as not to offend anyone before leaving it in place as you do not prefer the bitter taste. Your mind so absent you did not even notice that this has been the fifth time it has been refilled, this Lord has been keeping count."
He feels utterly frozen in place as the healer stands slowly, and begins to calmly make his way towards where he sits behind his Shizun who has long since turned to pin him in place with his own stare.
"The increase in thirst, combined with the other symptoms exhibited before this Lord leaves us with two possibilities. Either this disciple is falling into a qi-deviation from the continual use of inedia combined with a week of no rest,"
Shen Jiu's pulse quickens as the Qianyuan lord stops beside him, calmly staring down at him as his hands adjust his sleeves before finally settling in place.
"Or the more probable cause, Shen-Shizhi has been afflicted with the Lovers Last Lament pollen. This Lord presumes that should this one take your pulse, this one will find it quickened and unsteady. Considering you were one of the disciples there during the initial exposure, your qi reserves will likewise be depleted as the pollen has had an exceptionally long incubation period."
The Qianyuan crouches down and holds out his hand for him to place his wrist within. His own hand not holding his cup clenches in his sleeve as his jaw subtly tenses up.
"We could do this the easy way, or the hard way. Shen-Shizhi is well aware of how many times this Lord has managed to keep him from fleeing during a qi-deviation. Shizhi is also aware of how quickly this one can smother a deviation if it is caught in time. If this disciple has nothing to hide and he simply is just exhausted, then placing your wrist in this Lord's hand to take your pulse will be easy."
He's tempted to throw his tea in the others face and use the chance to flee, but the subtle shifting sounding out in the room shows how futile that choice will be. Even if he did evade the healer and his Shizun, there still remains several other Lords and their disciples standing between him and the door. Had his qi not been so depleted just as the healer had guessed, perhaps he'd stand a chance in causing some ruckus before bolting as fast as he could.
Pointedly he slowly sips his tea, and turns away from the damned healer. The action causing the Qianyuan to release a pleased hum as he doesn't fight or deny his hand grasping ahold of his arm.
Shen Jiu simply keeps slowly sipping his tea as he ignores the man calmly finding his pulse and wasting no time in sending his qi into his veins. Continues to ignore him as the healer just as quickly releases his hold with an aggrieved huffing sigh. Only when his cup is empty does he calmly place it back down. The porcelain making a loud thud as he no longer bothers with hiding the shake that had long since settled into his limbs, and at last turns to meet the stern gaze of not just Cheng Anshuo, but also his Shizun, Shen Anwei.
"Shizhi has been enduring the final stages of the pollen for at least three days. Why has this disciple refused to seek out treatment?" The words feel like a death knell for how it sends murmurs of shock and alarm through the room. He says nothing in response, just stares at the quickly becoming agitated forms before him.
His silence appears to be the final straw as the healer actually snaps out, "do you have a death wish?! This is not something that you can just power through like another deviation you still insist on hiding! If you do not receive treatment you will die. Do you understand me?!"
Calmly blinking at the irate healer he simply nods at the words, his reaction freezes the man in place and he watches as everyone else falls still as well. He refuses to look at anyone else, simply keeps staring at the healer while pushing every last bit of acceptance, exhaustion, determination, and anything else that will show the healer just how serious he is. Realization settles over the others face, with it comes confusion and perhaps even grief though he ignores that one.
Clearing his tight throat, Shen Qingqiu, Shen Jiu, finally answers the healer's question. "This disciple did not seek out treatment because this disciple simply did not wish to. This one- no, I, Shen Qingqiu, refuse the proposed treatment, and instead choose death."
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Everyone’s yelling after that, while SJ just ignores it then SAW cuts through it all by going, “Okay, if this is what this masters disciple has chosen then who is this one to deny it.” (He’s a lying liar who lies!) SJ looking at him and relaxing completely in relief as his Shizun doubles down and all of the disciples are now excused to leave (they say the meeting is done) SAW escorts SJ back to his home and leaves him alone.
Then he has a meeting with the peak lords again, they’re like “damn, are you REALLY gonna let your disciple do this™?” And he shuts that down EXPEDITIOUSLY by explaining that they weren’t going to get anywhere with him, so instead they’ll simply wait until the pollen really sets in and he won’t be able to flee his treatment nor be coherent enough to remember/understand what exactly he is agreeing to which will be going back on his word and now agreeing to help. Now they just need to select the right candidate.
Something something Qing Generation are having a meeting of their own (different day) because like damn, one of their own is choosing to die and isn’t that a turn of events that it’s SQQ (which draws into question what he ACTUALLY does at the brothels because a person comfortable with that wouldn't deny the treatment). YQY is pulled away from the meeting by Yan Anming(Sect Leader), he doesn’t say anything just starts walking. Only when they’re out of earshot on the back paths of Qiong Ding heading to Qing Jing does YAM finally answer YQY’s question. He tells him that due to the nature of the pollen’s effects combined with what appears to be a very unique reaction, SJ’s words during the meeting have been called into question. He’s simply bringing him along to a separate meeting to explain his opinion of what he witnessed (he’s also a lying liar who lies.)
Something something they’re outside SJ’s room, SAW and CAS were waiting for them to show up, YQY and YAM walk up, Feng Anhu(Bai Zhan lord) emerges from the shadows blocking off the only way out, and here is where he realizes he was lied to. YAM comes clean and says that as the future leader of this sect + leader of the Qing Generation pack it falls to him to handle matters of this nature when his fellow lords will be unable to make the correct choices on their own. Considering his own trauma around autonomy + viewing himself as not a person™ he has no possible way to deny, especially what is very obviously an order from his master (whom also y’know, broke his body with CAS when he panicked and pulled Xuan Su out of desperation to make it back to SJ in time). The door is finally opened, (they had already checked on SJ and now the reason YAM had singled out YQY to do this is clear), SJ has been thrown into a violent heat. So the only one they could actually have handle this is his future head qianyuan. (If YQY proved… unable™ from his whole being shattered in every possible way and made anew, then they would have stepped in and… done it themselves™…)
So now we have two choices, option one being the lighter one where the pollen affects Kunze’s differently so all he needs to recover is to be held and cared for (which is discovered when YQY holds him). Or the darker one where YQY is drugged into a rut by the Peak Lords while he is staring in raw horror at SJ’s curled up form and trying to back away (he does try to fight them off but these lads are in fact stronger than him), where he is then forced to “help™” SJ (we’re talking hands on helping™ until the drugs fully hit btw).
Either way both are coming out of this even MORE traumatized™ and definitely fully codependent once again!
ANYWAY, long future fic finished. That's about all I've thought up on this for now(outside of maybe some whispers of scenes in my head), feel free to plop down your own thoughts™ or ideas™ on this absolutely horrifying situation™. I might go dive into some more darker ones or a lighter one now.
