Postcanon Bingqiu where Shen Qingqiu starts sneaking cuddles from Luo Binghe (probably to de-stress). LBH walks by and sqq catches him like! Stop! Snuggle time!
Pulling him out of court time, jumping him in secluded areas on his Peak and dragging him back to bed in the mornings!!!
Sqq, pulling him behind some trees: Binghe, follow.
Lbh: oh!!! Sexy times yes please
Sqq: *pinches and squishes his cheeks like he's his own personal stress ball*
Lbh, delighted: even better!!!
He's planing sneak attacks all around and Binghe is having the time of his life
Au where six and a half years after Shen Qingqiu pushed Luo Binghe into the abyss, a different powerful demon takes over the realm. In exchange for not attacking the sects he demands a treasure from each one. From Huan Hua he takes an ancient amulet, said to carry incredible power. From Zhao Hua Monastery he wishes for knowledge. And From Cang Qiong Mountain Sect, he wants Shen Qingqiu, brought to him to serve as his first husband.
And Shen Qingqiu agrees, after all what use would it be to remain on his mountain, when Binghe will never return to him again? When these mountains will never again hear his laughter echo through them or be lightened by his smile. Luo Binghe died in the abyss and it is his fault. If his body can be used for peace he'll offer it willingly.
His sect siblings watch him go, expecting to hear of his death in only a few months. Shen Qingqiu's heart has been weakened by deep grief for too long, they do not expect him to survive the dangers of the demon realm. To want to survive them. (They had tried to negotiate, to reason with and then beg for the Emperor to choose something different but he refused to reconsider. So away Shen Qingqiu goes.)
When he gets there his husband does not greet him. There is no ceremony, no big reception, no official wedding, nothing. He is simply led to his rooms, guided by the maids of the palace.
The hallways are decorated in extravagant statues, paintings, finely crafted lamps. Shen Qingqiu finds it sickening to look at. How would Luo Binghe have decorated these halls, had he not failed him, had he been able to rise to his full power, to have survived?
He doesn't leave his room, ignoring the soft knocks at his door, the food that is delivered to him by his servants. He stares out at his private garten and refuses to eat. There's nothing to it. No sense.
The garden is flourished with the prettiest of flowers and fauna. Perfect bamboo stalks sprout from the ground, beautifully framing the little pond in the middle. Waterlilies coat the surface. He stares long at the still surface of the quiet water.
The Emperor visits him on what he thinks might be the third day, dressed in dark iridescent robes that flow behind him, giving him an ethereal look. Shen Qingqiu looks at him for a few seconds before his eyes fall back to the pond. He doesn't know what is expected of him and decides to wait him out.
"Does my husband not have anything to say to this Lord?" The man asks after a moment.
"This master was not aware that this arrangement included providing his husband entertainment." He replies in a dry sarcastic tone and does not care about how it might get him into trouble. What use, what use. Luo Binghe is dead. There is no more.
Suddenly he hates the Lord in front him, just a little. For taking him away from home, from the only place Luo Binghe will know where to find him — should he ever return. For having to leave Zheng Yang behind, the last piece of Binghe's soul he could still watch over.
The Lord, his husband now, is silent for a moment before he quietly asks, "What makes my husband unhappy? Tell this Lord, so he may fix it."
Shen Qingqiu is suddenly exhausted. "There is nothing wrong. My chambers are fine, thank you. This husband wishes to be alone."
He doesn't know how much time passes but some while after that his husband softly closes the door on his way out. A bamboo leave slowly falls to the ground. Shen Qingqiu watches and watches. Luo Binghe is dead. Someday that will make sense.
His husband continues to visit him day after day. Each time he brings more beautiful, more elaborate and more expensive gifts. Shen Qingqiu thanks him and sets them down on nearby tables and shelves, not once looking back at them.
(Luo Binghe despairs, what is he doing wrong?! What is wrong with Shizun, why won't he move or smile?! What happened!!)
But over the months Shen Qingqiu opens up more and more, and one day he tells his husband about the disciple he once had, who had lived with him, cooked for him and washed his clothes, whom he loved and cherished, and then killed. Unexpectedly his husband bursts out into tears.
"What's wrong? My Husband, what is wrong?!" He gently takes his husband's face into his hands, swiping at the flood of tears.
"Shen Qingqiu," he sobs, "what would you do, to have him back?"
"Anything," Shen Qingqiu answers immediately, "there's nothing I would not sacrifice, to hold my Binghe once more."
His husband cries and cries and Shen Qingqiu watches in confusion, as slowly his appearance starts to slip. Soft curls replace the shiny hair from before, his dark eyes lighten to a vibrant red and Shen Qingqiu stares as his husband turns into his former disciple.
"Shizun," Luo Binghe whines, alive and warm and there, here in his arms, "please don't hate me."
Binghe must absolutely love the winter, not because it’s his birthday season, but because he runs very warm, and Shen Yuan runs very cold, thus Shizun becomes unusually clingy. They end up rising late every morning because Shen Yuan refuses to let his personal heater leave him to the cold dark morning alone. When they’re out and about, Shizun lets Binghe hold his hands to keep them warm, or sometimes if he’s lucky, Shizun will slip his hands into Binghe’s robes. When Shizun gets full body chilly, he even lets Binghe bear hug him in public!
(Yes Shen Yuan could use his cultivation to keep warm, or simply wear one of the many heavy coats he’s been gifted. It just so happens that he also enjoys winter a great deal. Not that he’d admit it.)
i feel like it isn't stressed enough that shen jiu and yue qingyuan are fucking goats. they started out as slaves where the practice of slavery was in its peak of brutality considering that pidw/svsss (when luo binghe was born) are approximately set to have happened in the late moments of the shang dynasty transitioning into the earliest moments of the ching dynasty (though my history might be wrong so feel free to correct me on that<3), which means that shen jiu and yue qingyuan were born into the shang dynasty, which, historically, is noted to be one of the two dynasties which had the most extreme practices regarding labor and human life (slavery). the two literally had two years and a half (?) to go from the bottom of the hierarchy to being not just disciples but head disciples of one of the biggest and influential four sects....
not to mention that both are probably also cultivation geniuses. not only did yue qingyuan suffer being literally broken inside-out to fix his cultivation to reforge it the way you fix your weapon, but he somehow recovered and fully linked his soul with xuan su for only one year before he was sent to the battlefield to fight tianlang-jun, a literal heavenly demon, and defeated him with a sword that has his soul (a literal human's soul vs a deity from heaven that couldn't get away from past traumas, developed heart demons, and 'fell from grace', but is still considered to be 'out of this world'-powerful where, even if he got ambushed, still took a lot of lives...do you know how drastic that comparison is). then we have shen jiu, whos cultivation was literally beyond saving but he still somehow got an unadulterated sword like xiu ya, surpassed his peers (like qi-ge, like xiao-jiu) even though he entered severely late, and literally managed to put up a good fight against liu qingge, who is the definition of prodigy.
and the only reason all of their ambitions weren't done is because they just weren't the main character...
Shen Qingqiu hated demons. It was a core characteristic of his, the teachings of a righteous cultivator.
He’d never get attached to one.
So… Why is it that when faced with the child that’s been thrust upon him—a child he hadn’t even wanted—he seems to hesitate.
Shen Yuan wasn’t a monster. He wasn’t cruel. He was a child. A child that took after Shen Qingqiu appearance-wise but retained none of that spiteful personality. A child that always had a little attitude with the man who’d raised him.
A child who was now dead. Struck down by the blade of none other than Yue Qingyuan. A man who was usually merciful as he was aggravating. The man that had abandoned him.
Shen Qingqiu's heart lurched, his chest filled with a tightness he had never felt before. Why was it that when they were disciples Yue Qingyuan hadn't been willing to draw his blade to save him yet now, in the face of no true danger, he was willing to draw it to strike a child down.
A child who had done no harm.
...
Yue Qingyuan could only watch as Shen Qingqiu crumbled, grabbing the thing and pulling it close. He didn't say anything to Yue Qingyuan. He just pressed his face against the demon's chest as if searching for a heartbeat.
Shen Qingqiu was confused. Truly. What he held in his arms was a heart demon that'd been fed enough to take on a physical appearance. A heart demon nurtured by the blood and qi of Shen Qingqiu.
If there was another way--any other way to let Shen Qingqiu keep it in a way that wouldn't harm him, Yue Qingyuan would've taken that path without a second thought.
But there wasn't.
There was no way to remove the negative affects of the demon Shen Qingqiu called 'A-Yuan'. No way to prevent this 'A-Yuan' from leeching off of Shen Qingqiu's life force. No way to change 'A-Yuan' from what he was at his core, a parasite.
...
LEHHH I revised this so much and toned down the angst SOOO much I am kinda sad about it
Basically Shen Qingqiu's had a really bad heart demon (NAMED Shen Yuan) for like the past two years. It genuinely is a parasite that appeals to Shen Qingqiu through a mixture of emotional, mental, and hormonal manipulation.
Normally Shen Qingqiu wouldn't have gotten attached but it'd spent years unresolved, breaking down his defenses bit by bit until it could manifest physically and begin leeching off of his life force.
Yue Qingyuan and his curse of not explaining probably genuinely didn't see the need to explain why he was killing a heart demon.
MQF staged an intervention after SQQ was found Qi deviating once more. He noticed how strange the energy in SQQ's body was, how nearly all of it seemed to be depleted. After a bit of questioning it wasn't that hard to figure out what was wrong. Figuring someone had a major heart demon wasn't an issue of reading into what they would answer, but rather what they wouldn't.
Shen Qingqiu refused to entertain the idea of a heart demon, going silent whenever MQF poked around the topic.
ANYWAYS UHHH THE HEART DEMON ISN'T ACTUALLY SY, IT'S JUST NAMED SY
That way when actual SY comes and becomes a disciple SQQ can project on him and yayyy issues!! Like it's not the heart demon that he'd been forced to cherish, that he'd been manipulated into loving... But maybe he's projecting those lingering feelings of maternal-ness onto SY and idk
OUM I'LL WRITE SOMETHING FLUFFY FOR Y'ALL BECAUSE THIS IS A HOT MESS LMAO
Thinking about soft mama!jiu (to Ning Yingying) hours…. Ning Yingying really likes milk candies, Shen Jiu doesn’t, but he keeps a stash of them for her anyway. Ning Yingying knows to enter the bamboo house from the kitchen door so it’s less visible to the rest of the peak (but mostly so that Jiu-jiu always knows it’s her and doesn’t get scared). They have picnics sometimes, deep in the forest where they can talk freely. Jiu-jiu doesn’t like cooking for people but he makes an exception for Yingying. He always makes her favorites— for some reason Jiu-jiu is really good at making sweets (they were Qiu Haitang’s favorites). Jiu-jiu makes sure Yingying learns all the things noble young women are supposed to. He teaches her embroidery, flower arranging, how to sing and dance. Yingying wishes Jiu-jiu was nicer to the other disciples, but not nice like this. She likes to feel special.
Just a thought of Bingzu makes me really sad, how lonely must he have felt. How many years, decades did he endure just to find that one soul who will make him feel loved. And then he found Shen Yuan 😭
He must be happy now right? Even if that love belongs to another version of him? Right? 😭
SVSSS AU/fic prompt where Bingzu gets more protective over SQQ.
Just whenever SQQ rated or talked out loud system/Bingzu listening. Bingzu responding more and more and knowing should be separate but unable to help himself.
Him falling in love knowing that this isn't for him, it's for this version of him.
Abyss happening and Bingzu going into hibernation mode unable to do anything even though he's getting status on SQQ, seeing how bad he's getting and freaking out. He can see that this version of him is getting out if the abyss and he just wants these two to finally get together (he just wants SQQ be to happy and this version of him to get to be with SQQ)
Only when he comes back online in jin lan...things are so bad. SQQ is so scared and this version of him isn't making things better! Then SQQ is about to be sent to water prison and Bingzu looking at status and just finally snaps he can't let this happen SQQ is to weak and to scared and just NO.
Everyone there freaking out when they try to arrest SQQ and world shaking Bingzu exerting power and everyone very sure this is divine intervention.
Very quickly everyone backing away slowly. SQQ appears to have protection of a god or something that will not let them touch/hurt him.
Bingzu full system powers are now on keeping SQQ safe.
LBH desperately trying to get close but protagonist halo privileges revoked when he tries.
Bingzu:Loser the demon sword then we'll talk.
Everyone like oh fuck a god is in love with SQQ
LQG/YQY/LBH all like 'how would someone kill a god?'
The peak lords get into a situation where Shen Jiu!Shen Qingqiu is mortally wounded in the moment he gets separated from the rest of the group.
Yue Qingyuan only doesn’t break down immediately because he holds onto the hope that the wound looked worse than it is. He is visibly agitated and on the verge of a qi deviation, but he’s holding on by a string.
The others too are quite shaken. They may not like Shen Qingqiu but not actually to the point of wanting him dead. The sect leader who is usually their steady rock amidst crashing waves, who stays calm and clear minded even in dire situations and keeps the rest of them grounded now being a nervous wreck really doesn’t help.
Stuff happens stuff happens, Yue Qingyuan grows more agitated by the minute. He’s moments before a dangerous qi deviation when finally they find Shen Qingqiu again.
He’s very pale, more so than usual. Not the usual porcelain doll kind of pale but the lost-half-his-weight-in-blood kind of pale. But he is alive and standing. The wound did look worse than it was and he was able to dress it and stop the bleeding.
Yue Qingyuan… you can’t describe what he does any other way than „throwing himself“ at Shen Qingqiu. They almost topple over. Xiao-jiu is alive.
The rest of the group hold their breaths. They’re relieved Shen Qingqiu is alive but also. He’s currently almost being crushed by a continuous full force hug by the sect leader. The sect leader he hates.
Shen Qingqiu just takes it for a moment. He’s too shocked an befuddled to react. His arms are awkwardly splayed to the sides, he doesn’t know where to put them. Qi-ge is glad he’s still alive? He can feel the wild qi seeping off of Qi-Ge from the lingering qi deviation. He was worried about Xiao-Jiu? And to this extent? To the point the worry almost turned potentially deadly?
Carefully he places his hands on the sect leader’s back and begins to supply him with a steady stream of cool qi to calm his strained meridians. He hears the man’s breath hitch and his whole body flinch back, loosening the hug. The surprising touch seems to have brought him back to his senses. Xiao-Jiu presses his palms harder on the larger man’s back. Qi-Ge isn’t going anywhere. He won’t allow it. After a moment, hesitantly, the large arms all around him return to their proper place and he hears Qi-Ge take a deep, shaky breath. Xiao-Jiu nuzzles his nose into Qi-Ge‘s neck and he closes his eyes. Their forms fit together so perfectly. They can’t stay like this as long as Qi-Ge actually needs, the area is too dangerous, but he still only allows them to let go of each other once Qi-Ge‘s qi has calmed down enough for his liking. They still need to get out of this place. Even then, he takes Qi-Ge‘s hand and lets a gentle stream continue to trickle into his system. Better safe then sorry. Especially since they’ll most likely still have to fight. Hand in hand they continue walking. Neither of them says anything.
After a few moments the other peak lords finally start walking as well. They’re faces are a colorful mixture of fascination, amusement, morbid curiosity, shock, and absolute horror.
BING! Hello user! Due to an unforseen error user's new identity is unavailable!
"So I'm transmigrating into... No one?"
Thank you for your understanding!
"I didn't -"
Please hold while a suitable destination identity is found for you!
"What do you mean hold? Hold where??"
_-_-_
So that was how Shen Yuan wound up in Luo Binghe's dreams.
It wasn't so bad actually. Luo Binghe's dream realm was his Underground Palace, plenty of space for Shen Yuan to hang out and avoid Binghe as much as possible.
He never got thirsty or hungry ...he was a little bored though. He didn't dare poke around too much. He watched any memories that happened to play out but he was worried he'd be caught if he went looking for more. (Also he was already trespassing in Binghe's head, he didn't want to be any more rude!)
That's also why he avoided Binghe directly. A master of the dream world like him could reorder everything, every puppet and scene whenever he liked. Shen Yuan was fixed, unchangeable and surely Binghe would notice if he got a good look at him.
He had no idea how long he'd been here, wandering the paths of Binghe's mental palace. Hopefully the system that had dumped him here was quick about coming back.
_-_-_
Of course he couldn't hide forever.
He walked right into a party one day. A wedding maybe? It was raucous with people everywhere drinking and eating and laughing.
There wasn't a dining hall here before which meant ... there's Luo Binghe, across the room holding hands with a woman the both of them in red, her face still veiled. Definitely a wedding.
He tried to leave- but the door is gone from the wall behind him. It's suddenly very quiet, and when Shen Yuan turned around the party was gone. It was just him and Luo Binghe.
The Demon Emperor closed the distance between them in a heartbeat.
"So," he said casually. "Who, or what, are you?"
_-_-_
Shen Yuan told him everything. The System hadn't said he couldn't. And it wasn't like he had any desire to lie to Luo Binghe.
"So you're a spirit from another world who was supposed to be moved to this one." Binghe summarized. "But something went wrong and the thing that was moving you just dumped you in my head?"
"Exactly." Shen Yuan said. "Didn't even tell me where I was either! I'm very sorry if I disturbed you."
"You didn't... I just noticed you recently. You look like...someone I didn't expect to see."
"Really?" Shen Yuan looked down at himself. "This is just my normal body- well, my old one I guess."
"Mm," Binghe said. "Any idea why it's my head you've been stuck in?"
"Oh probably because Binghe's the protagonist."
"I'm what?"
_-_-_
Luo Binghe opened his eyes. He'd finally gotta a moment to rest after a few busy days and he was taking the opportunity to go to what was quickly becoming his favorite place.
The dream he'd constructed was still holding up perfectly. The cute little house was tucked away in a clearing in a bright cheerful forest. Nothing more dangerous than a housecat stalked those woods. He could see through the cottage window that the floor to ceiling bookshelves were mid-re-organizing. As he came in he saw that his guest had gotten distracted by a bestiary. He had known Shen Yuan would like that one.
Shen Yuan, the little ghost that had been haunting his own mind for a few months now, was sprawled out on the bed reading raptly... Though he looked up and smiled when Luo Binghe entered the cottage.
"Oh Binghe you're back!" he said. He sat up and closed the book. "It feels like it's been a long time, are you alright?"
Luo Binghe put on a sad face and went to sit beside Shen Yuan on the bed. He sighed and was rewarded by Shen Yuan immediately pulling him close so he could pat Binghe's head.
"Tell me about it?"
Luo Binghe spent the next hour complaining about minor inconveniences and slowly rearranging himself and Shen Yuan until the smaller man was held tight in his arms, Luo Binghe curled around him. Shen Yuan never protested the intimacy of these cuddling sessions and though he'd get red in the face he'd keep up his scathing criticisms of everyone who had ever even looked at Luo Binghe funny. Intercut of course with long periods where he waxed poetically about Luo Binghe's best qualities. Luo Binghe had a healthy ego, but sometimes those talks made even him blush.
He had quickly become quite fond of the spirit trapped in his dreams and had no desire to remove him. He had some other types of desires regarding Shen Yuan but he has plenty of time.
It wasn't like Shen Yuan was going anywhere.
Maybe he should press a little though, he thought as he watched Shen Yuan rant. What would his little ghost do if he kissed him right now?
Turn bright red certainly, but besides that?
Luo Binghe leaned in -
Bing! Hello user! Thank you for your patience-
"Oh you asshole!" Shen Yuan snapped. "It's been months!"
Please remember to fill out our satisfaction survey after transfer is completed. Beginning soul transfer in 5, 4-
"Wait right now?" Shen Yuan looked at him with wide eyes. "But I want to say goodbye to-"
The strange voice hadn't stopped counting though. And as it finished with another strange bing! Both it and Shen Yuan disappeared.
He was, for the first time in months. Alone in his head.
Luo Binghe's eyes snapped open in the waking world. Shen Yuan had said this would happen. He had said he would be moved into another body in this world.
(Draft posting) Beast Taming Peak lord Shen Yuan who is so frustrated with his martial siblings that he ONLY uses baby talk (derogatory) to communicate with them (when irritated) because they’re ALL so childish is so funny.
It slips out on accident (during disciple days) at first, like freshly transmigrated SY is overwhelmed by these rowdy teenagers around him and the fact that he is ALSO a rowdy teenager now. He digs through his memory for ANYTHING to help cope with this new source of stress and remembers the educational baby videos his parents used to put on for his sister when she was born and he kinda just runs with that.
For some, like Liu Qingge, it’s unclear whether they should be offended or otherwise. For others, like Yue Qingyuan, they don’t quite know how to shut it down and have unconsciously incorporated it in their lives. For people like Shen Qingqiu, who finds it humorous when it happens to others but refuses to respond to Shen Yuan talking to him like that unless it’s a dire situation, it’s both a gift and a curse.
It’s funnier in disciple days because Liu Qingge and Shen Qingqiu could be fighting like cats and dogs on missions or something and SY’ll be forced to separate them (he can handle two disciples younger than him, he wrangles beasts for crying out loud) and he’s so irked when he releases the two he’s like.
“Why are we fighting? Fighting bad—come on, say it with me. Fighting—Ah, don’t look away. Eyes up here. Fighting, is, bad. That’s right, Fighting is baaaaad. Do you know what bad means??”
And SQQ is glaring daggers at him and LQG is just red in the face—probably from embarrassed fury. The two quickly learn that SY will never stop treating them like that as long as they keep fighting. Of course this means that they start avoiding one another when SY is near and develop a sort of reluctant truce whenever he’s around.
He’s like a dog whisperer for his martial siblings
