Mightier Than The Sword

Vultures are holy creatures. Tending the dead. Bowing low. Bared head. Whispers to cold flesh, “Your old name is not your king. I rename you ‘Everything.’”

[mysanaf]

Hi, I’m Mysana!

I have some fanfic and many bookmarks on AO3 here.

My recommendation powerpoint on one of my favorite books of all time (The Light of Ystrac’s Woods by Alexandra Rowland) here (please read it 🥺 it's so good)!

A different powerpoint (my first!) recommendation for A Taste of Gold and Iron here

My murder lesbians tag (so far, posts that make me think of said lesbians) refers to the main characters of the original work I’m writing.

I’m taking part in the reddit r/fantasy bingo - here’s my thoughts on my reads for last year's bingo.

I’m a big fan of hopepunk, see here and here.

I don’t tag consistently, and I post anything I like the look of, whether I’m in the fandom or not.

Some of my favorite books:

[beyondknowingbeyondthestars]

Yknow what! I'm gonna make a fic reccomendation post!! Because I love reading fics! And I want to share the ones I love best!

We've got:

- One Wife Free With Purchase

Shen Yuan transmigrates as a rouge cultivator and ends up in a brothel to sleep for the night when the inn lacks room. He requests their sole male cortison, a man by the name of Shen Jiu, and after a short but interesting conversation reguarding cultivation he decides to buy out Shen Jiu's contract and Shen Jiu insists they marry. Shen Yuan must now deal with the fact that he just bought a wife, and is very quickly falling for him but wants to keep his feelings under wraps to prevent Shen Jiu from being uncomfortable.

Very cute fic, very fond of this one, I've read it 3 times and the sequel One Wife Two Many which adds Yue Qi to their relationship

- What If We Could

Shen Yuan transmigrates. And transmigrates. And transmigrates. And transmigrates. And-

A timeloop of sorts, except we're viewing what I assume is the final one. Honestly this fic upsets me in a way that makes me rant about it, but also not in a bad way. I'm upset on behalf of Shen Yuan, who's horribly tormented by everyone on Qing Jing Peak and it doesn't even exclude Luo Binghe who hates him. He has no respite except for the system who at this point in the loops feels bad for him and has grown rather attatched to the traumatized Shen, read at your own risk because it's honestly kind of a lot to me but I can't not reccomend it anyway!

- Maybe... Fourth Times The Charm?

Shen Yuan is Shen Jiu, abandoned by Luo Binghe post canon and regaining his memories of his first life as the Shen Jiu he dies of a broken heart only to be sent back in time for a fourth life, his third as Shen Qingqiu. He tries things differently this time.

Unfinished, likely won't be finished due to how long it's been, but honestly the ending point it leaves on doesn't particularly upset me

- Disciple... Are You Flirting With Me?

Shen Yuan transmigrates as a disciple on Qing Jing Peak in an a/b/o PIDW and is given the task of seducing the scum villain! He does not want to, but he keeps finding himself thinking about him in ways he wouldn't have expected.

BAMF Shen Yuan in an overpowered body, honestly it slays. Ongoing.

- [ACTIVATION CODE: Cursed Novel, Cursed Comment] (x3)

A year after Shen Yuan's death his siblings go over his comments on PIDW! But oh no. They died!? Now all three of his siblings are in PIDW with him! His Da-ge is Mobei-Jun, his Er-ge is Liu Qingge, and his Meimei is Ning Yingying!

Unfinished, likely won't be finished, but an enjoyable read that's inspired a few of my own wip fics of a Da-ge Mobei-Jun because I honestly especially liked him in this especially his relationship with Shang Qinghua

- Snow Hugs

Shen Yuan transmigrates as Linguang-Jun at birth! Fights the system because he can't BE ooc since he was born as him. Becomes a great uncle and father figure to Mobei-Jun. I love this one, I also love that the author teased a potential sequel that could have system x shen yuan which would make sense upon reading it, they have chemistry.

- Oroboros

Shen Yuan transmigrates as Zhuzhi-Lang and gets found out immediately by a still trapped Tianglang-Jun. He still goes about saving him, rescuing Baby Binghe, and accidentally seducing Liu Qingge

Ongoing

- The Rift That Keeps On Giving

Shen Qingqiu and Shang Qinghua accidentally reset the universe and their husbands go after them. Shen Yuan and Shang Qinghua know something is missing from their lives, but they can't remember what. They're researching a rift when they come across an unsuspecting food truck with two very attractive men working it, and heavenly food they keep coming back to.

Can their husbands make them fall in love again? Or will they remain so close and yet so far?

- Immortal Book Club

Shen Yuan transmigrates as Su Xiyan and immediately transes his gender to male by "accident" with the only cure being papapa with a heavenly demon! Good thing that'll never happen. He meets with a disguised noble and keeps in contact with him to rant about books. Tianglang-Jun, on the other hand, can already see him in red.

- Amidst A Golden Autumn

On the day Shen Jiu is to join the peak, Shang Qinghua awakens to find his system is GONE. Nowhere to be found. His first order of buisness is to guide Shen Jiu to a different peak, the beast peak, where he'll be treated much better than Qing Jing.

Not Yue Qingyuan friendly in this fic but it's a great one I legit think about this one all the time it's inspired several of the ideas still floating around in my brain.

- Dance In Dusk

Shen Yuan transmigrates as Wu Yanzi the demonic cultivator just before taking in Shen Jiu. As he has no idea what the man was like, OOC becomes forfit! Now he has a little scum villain following after him, oblivious to his own wife beam in action

- The Devistation Of Autumn

Shen Qingqiu refuses to push Luo Binghe into the abyss. The system, however, decides to punish him in a way he never could have expected or wanted. Now he's forced to live Shen Jiu's childhood, and Luo Binghe is forced to watch. They blacken together

Ongoing

- End Game

Shen Yuan transmigrates late. Very. Very late. Luo Binghe decides to take advantage of this amnesiac Shen Qingqiu and torment him like he'd been tormented in his youth by claiming he's his disciple

- Your Friendly Neighborhood Incubus

Shen Yuan transmigrates as an incubus in the abyss, but he has no idea that he's an incubus! Luo Binghe, on the other hand, is very aware he's an incubus and keeps waiting for him to turn around and do his incubus thing. He does not. Binghe is confused, but strangely attracted to this odd demon.

Contains very pretty art, one of my favorite Shen Yuan designs, and this one really pretty sky piece that was my discord header for like three months until I got Zhuzhi-Lang fever again

- Tip Of The Iceberg

Mobei-Jun does something he shouldn't and the system gets its hands on him because of it, sending him to a new strange world where he's a CEO tasked with keeping his company afloat within the year if he ever wants to return home. MoShang

- Another Time, Another Place

Liu Qingge dies at the hands of a different Luo Binghe trying to protect Shen Qingqiu and is transported into a dogblood drama that still has cultivation in it and is tasked with things that confuse him. An ex-girlfriend? Losing his apartment? All he wants to do is cultivate with Shen Yuan, who he finds immediately with the help of the system. Shen Yuan, now back in his original body, had no idea cultivation existed in his world, and Liu Qingge is determined to help him with it to extend his short lifespan.

Very good, honestly kinda beautiful I got very vivid imagry from this one while I was reading it and I don't get to have such a detailed imagining very often anymore

- Regardless Of The Hardships

Shen Yuan transmigrates as Mu Qingfang, who had searched him out after regaining his memories as a god and plucks the most fitting soul to take over for him so he can ascend to the heavens again. Shen Yuan suffers, because he overworks himself while acclimating and gets too attatched. Somewhere along the way, he and Shen Qingqiu get close and begin to fall in love.

- Supernanny Shen (Added after posting)

Shen Qingqiu dies and is given a second life by the system, placed back into his body before joining Cang Qiong Mountian Sect and given the role of a "User Guide". Given a choice of how far back, he chooses right before he was taken by the Qiu household. Unfortunately, the system put him JUST before.

He works hard for his cultivation with what he knows in secret before running away to make a life for himself as a rouge cultivator while he waits for this mysterious "user" to enter the world. BAMF Shen Jiu very fond of him in this fic tbh he gets into a little mischif and I love the visuals of his home so much

Ongoing

Can't believe I forgot about this one smh

[shen-yuans-closet]

abandon bingqiu embrace luo binghe x rice cooker. it has the consistency missing from all other relationships he’s ever had

[crow-caller]

as a child there's nothing cooler than a kid who gets subjected to evil experiments and gains special abilities. it's even cooler if these abilities also cause unfathomable suffering to use/against others. children love stories like this.

[demi-shoggoth]

The children yearn to be Mewtwo

[patema-introverted]

[3psboyd]

Spitballing with the fellas on discord and we've come up with a Star Trek character we want to see: A 200-year-old top Vulcan diplomat attending a function and laughing boisterously and slapping backs with everyone and then just relaxing into resting bitch face the moment nobody is watching him. He takes his job deadly seriously and studied parties extensively in the diplomatic academy. Every year he's brushing up on new developments in party theory. He knows every party nuance you could possibly think of, for the sake of intergalactic relations. Peace in the galaxy depends on it. It's weird but you gotta meet people where they're at, he thinks.

[fionn-o-nassus]

Sarek fucking hates this guy and it's 100% envy

[bemusedlybespectacled]

human diplomat: [laughs at joke]

vulcan diplomat (to himself): this is great. I’m going to get a good grade in Party, something that is both normal to want and possible to achieve,

[emery-matsushita-vt]

I Got A Degree In Party Rocking

[charlesoberonn]

The boulder pushing punishment is iconic. But I think more people should know the reason Sisyphus was punished to begin with, which was for cheating death, twice.

The first time he cheated death, Sisyphus had just angered Zeus by revealing the location of the Asopid Aegina whom Zeus abducted. Which is super valid, fuck Zeus.

Sisyphus knew that Zeus would send the god of death Thanatos after him, so he prepared a trap and trapped Thanatos in the chains meant for him.

After that, nothing on Earth was able to die so long as Thanatos was in chains. Which meant no animals could be sacrificed to the gods. This angered the gods, who made Sisyphus' life so miserable with pain and illness that he would beg for death. And so he released Thanatos.

But then came the second time Sisyphus cheated death. As he was dying, he asked his wife to dump his naked corpse in the middle of the public square. Denied a proper burial, his soul ended up on the far side of the river Styx, unable to cross.

He complained to Hades and Persephone about how his wife disrespected him, and begged them to let him return briefly to the world of the living to scold her and make her bury him properly. They agreed, and Sisyphus returned to life. He then embraced his wife, and refused to return to the Underworld.

It's only when he finally died of old age that he was sent to Tartarus and punished with the boulder.

I don't remember where I've seen it, but I like the interpretation that Sisyphus doesn't have to push the boulder. He can choose to stay in Tartarus and rest. But he was promised that if he managed to push the boulder to the top of the mountain, he'll ascend to Elysium.

And Sisyphus, in his stubbornness and cleverness, refuses to give up on a challenge.

One must indeed imagine Sisyphus happy, planning and scheming about how he'll cheat the gods next.

[wisedo]

Liushen in soulmate!AU

The comic on AO3

[beyondknowingbeyondthestars]

Au where Mu Qingfang is a transmigrator and was an egg ftm before the transmigration, so while he transes his migrate he also finds out he's transed his gender and well he is. Shocked to realize wow is this what being comfortable in your own body is? "Check out this sick mustache!" "Never thought I could be a doctor but I'm a fuckin genious here!"

Anyway that's it that's the au

[beyondknowingbeyondthestars]

While you were in a glass closet I was busy studying the blade

[need-him-pregnant-poll]

NEED👏THAT👏MAN👏PREGNANT *SEASON TWO* ROUND 4 POLL 26

TUMBLR! Who's getting pregnant?

Yue Qingyuan/Yue Qi (The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System)

Maes Hughes (Fullmetal Alchemist)

Voting ended on2h

PROPAGANDA:

[Yue Qingyuan]

"The Sect Leader should get pregnant because the Sect Leader should be the picture of fertility and virility both, boost the usage of male child-bearing pills, and because the whole Sect would go crazy trying to find out who's the baby daddy. I think Yue Qingyuan could benefit from having to raise a child of his own instead of managing disciples, because Yue Qingyuan no longer has a family of his own and deserves one, and this way, perhaps he'd be forced to care about another person again. His strong and qi-rich body would also have an easy pregnancy and have a strong and happy child."

[Maes]

"The ultimate family man, the #1 wifeguy, wouldn't it be a joy for him to take some of the burden off his wife when the time comes to grow his family? (And shhh, everything is fine! Canon won't happen if we close our eyes and write fix-it fic instead)."

[horsegirlwarcrimes]

If YQY wins ill write him pregnant some more tumblr

[lavender-and-rue]

if YQY wins I'll write him pregnant more too

[horsegirlwarcrimes]

PLEASE TUMBLR PLEASE 🙏🙏🙏 HE NEEDS THIS

[artsarasp]

I'll Draw him pregnant if he winsss

[molabuddy]

drew this post as a comic because its so fucking funny to me

[nattousan]

ok so, I approached my local library with a proposal to donate a mural as a way to A: build portfolio/gain practical experience and B: give back to a beloved public institution. The director was very enthusiastic about it and i've been working on it since the beginning of March. Come with me as I endeavor to paint what is in all honesty an excessive amount of birds

I wanted the birds to look like they were actually in the space so first thing after doing the draft was to do a lighting study

after that I covered the walls in letters in lieu of a projector/vr headset bc i have neither of those :) Then i take a picture of the section of wall and superimpose the lineart over top of it so I can pencil in the lines

et voila

and that was a whole week on it's own so next comes the paintin' >:)

[nattousan]

and now, the birds

Birds 1 and 2/14: Red Winged Blackbird, Male and female, Agelaius phoeniceus

[nattousan]

Bird 3/14, American Robin, Turdus migratorius

[nattousan]

hoo boy, ok *out of breath*

GIVE IT UP FOR BIRD NUMBUH 5, THE CANADIAN GOOSE, Branta canadensis!!!!

this guy took me about 4 days to completely finish, all of those freakingk coverts were a bear to render

[nattousan]

speaking of obnoxious coverts:

bird 5/14, Bluejay, Cyanocitta cristata

the friggin stripes almost got me chat, i may not make it

[nattousan]

Madam....

[nattousan]

birds 6 and 7: American Goldfinch, Spinus tristis, male and female

pleasantly simple to paint! next is the flickerrrrr

[nattousan]

*melts into goo*

BIRD NUMBER 8, (yellow shafted) NORTHERN FLICKERRRRR, Colaptes auratus

genuinely made me start questioning my sanity around day 3, it's half the size the of the goose, WHY did it take me 4 days to finish??

nothing but pain and suffering, i'm sure hope the next bird will be much easier and with FAR less barring :)

[nattousan]

in other news, I am losing my mind hairline

[nattousan]

SHE'S DONE!!

Bird number 9: Red-tailed hawk, Buteo jamaicensis

my chains are broken i am FREE. although i did have a great deal of fun with this, the barring on the wings itself took me like four days and i am READY to move on

this was a week and a half of continuous work so please excuse me for getting a little emotional in the bg 🙏

[noswordinourlake]

I'm about to write a Mu Qingfang-centric fic, and though I know there's A LOT of very popular fanon about our very favorite malpractice shidi, I could not actually remember what SVSSS did actually tell us about the Jianghu's #1 Hottest Doctor (citation needed). So I did a deep dive. Since this is the niche fandom knowledge website I figured someone else would also appreciate the fruits of my research, so Mu Qingfang In The Text below the cut!

He gets into an apology loop with YQY and SQQ during his first introduction, in his case about his inability to cure Without a Cure (vol 1, p 151)

He's present at the IAC but doesn't actually make an appearance until Yue Qingyuan asks him to check SQQ out after the conference attack/Endless Abyss. (vol 1, p 267) Even then he doesn't get to say anything. One hit wonder

"As it turned out, Yue Qingyuan had briefed Mu Qingfang about the situation in detail": MQF gets passed the baton from YQY directly to be the quest-giving NPC in the start of the Jinlan City arc and data-dumps several times (vol 2, p 14)

SQQ as our untrustworthy narrator does not report MQF responding any particular way to skeletons appearing in the river, just that skeletonizing diseases are "unheard of". He does note that MQF speaks gently to Yang Yixuan, #1 fighty baby. 😔

"He noted that Mu Qingfang was absorbed in investigating the festered parts of Wu Chen’s leg, like he couldn’t smell a hint of the stench." (vol 2, p 23). Noseblind king

Refers to himself as "this humble one" (vs SQQ's "this master/teacher") when saying he needs more research subjects patients before he can determine the cause of the plague (vol 2, p 23)

I'm going to put Fun With Medical Ethics here in full because SQQ attributes it to Liu Qingge in totality but. Come on, man:

Liu Qingge was responsible for the hard labor, and after they’d separated, he’d gone to capture experimental subjects for Mu Qingfang. With the people in the city so on edge, no one was willing to cooperate. However, at this point they didn’t have the luxury to be concerned with consent, so they had resorted to martial power to solve the problem.

On top of that, Liu Qingge had never been the sort of patient person who preferred reason over force. His approach was highly consistent with Bai Zhan Peak’s customs: he simply went out and grabbed whoever he saw. In one pass, he had collected more than ten burly macho men, then tied them up by the forge, which had by now become Mu Qingfang’s research lab and experimental station. This group of big, strong men were shouting, cursing, crying, and wailing so terribly that no women could have overcome their performance. (vol 2, p 44)

MQF has no response to the news that Luo Binghe isn't dead, according to SQQ, because he "rarely cared about things other than medicine." (vol 2, p 46)

"Shen Qingqiu thought of that brightly shining set of silver surgical tools Mu Qingfang always carried with him, which included all kinds of knives and needles. When spread out, they seemed to belong to the scene of a forensic autopsy. There were also hundreds upon thousands of bottles and jars in his infinite storage, with all sorts of labels. The words and descriptions on those labels were just like the flavor and effects of the contents within: stuff that made people go green upon hearing, let alone smelling, that made their courage flee with a glance." This is a Normal Man (vol 2, p 46)

It's impossible to say if the iconic "did you take your meds" and "speaking to a child" tone on (vol 2, p 48) are typical MQF or just the SQQ effect but I'm including them for completeness

YQY doesn't bat an eye at the news that MQF's patients were screaming loud enough to keep SQQ awake all night? yeah this was definitely LQG's fault:

Shen Qingqiu gave him a hollow smile. “It’s only because Mu-shidi’s patients were wailing and howling all night. I couldn’t sleep much.” Mu Qingfang had finished distributing the medicine.

On returning, he also looked at Shen Qingqiu with surprise. “Shixiong, even with all the noise we made, it shouldn’t have left you in such a dreadful state after a single night. Have you taken the medication I left in your room?”

MQF once again gets to be the background info provider in-scene (vol 2, p 309) about YQY's seclusion during SQQ's dirt nap

"“If it’s a poison from the Human Realm, Mu-shidi would be able to identify it at a glance,” said Qi Qingqi." (vol 2, p 314)

Pulls out one of the sassiest lines in the book, tell us how you really feel doc (though as the Peak Lord with the dubious honor of being first to be kidnapped by LBH I guess he'd know):

Qi Qingqi put the teacup down heavily and gave him a meaningful glance. “Indeed. How could that be? If that bastard Luo Binghe still has the gall to come to Cang Qiong Mountain, he’ll see how we send him packing!”

“First you must be capable of sending him packing,” Mu Qingfang said from the seat beside her, hands tucked into his sleeves. (vol 3, p 261)

"Mu Qingfang’s face was also full of reproach. “Liu-shixiong, you really shouldn’t act like that toward a patient. It’s not good at all.”" (vol 3, p 338). Qian Cao junior to Bai Zhan peak is CANON

"Once Shen Qingqiu finished wiping his chest, he followed Mu Qingfang’s teachings and took Luo Binghe’s wrist to examine his pulse." (vol 4, p 27). Does MQF take the time to teach every peak lord xianxia first aid or is this a SQQ-only intervention? I'm guessing the latter

MQF during the Secret Peak Lord Meeting to Discuss Shen Qingqiu: Qi Deviations are so weird, we can just say that's what happened (vol 4, p 201)

"This junior of his had always possessed a mild temper, but as Mu Qingfang stood in the center of the assembly hall, his expression was devoid of any goodwill." (vol 4, p 269). Later on in this passage SQQ also notes that MQF isn't usually short-tempered like LQG and QQQ but that he's being "unpleasant" today. I WONDER WHY?

MQF lectures Binghe about terms of address and then SMILES when he asks him to look at SQQ's corpse: "This Mu already knows that there is no way to bring people back to life." (vol 4, p 270). Beyond having nerves of steel to talk back to LBH at this point, DO YOU KNOW THAT BECAUSE YOU'VE TRIED, MU-SHIDI???

Other folks may have other readings here but it seems to me that MQF is irritated with the ineffectiveness of LBH's corpse-preservation method more than anything:

“What method did you use to preserve his body?” Mu Qingfang asked.

“Mu-xiansheng is the Qian Cao Peak Lord,” Luo Binghe said very lightly. “You know better than I how to preserve a fleshly body without destroying it.”

After a long pause, Mu Qingfang’s original attitude of indirect refusal to cooperate finally collapsed. “Forcefully channeling your spiritual energy into Shen-shixiong’s corpse every day does barely anything—you just barely prevent his body’s decay while consuming an enormous amount of spiritual power. Furthermore, the moment you stop for a single day, all of your prior efforts will go to waste. With all due respect, Shen-shixiong has already—” (vol 4, p 272)

The timeline between MQF's initial kidnapping and rescue by LQG is vague; it's implied to be a while, but also SQQ is definitely not paying attention to anyone but Binghe in this extra so he could have been kicking rocks for years and we would have no idea. Sorry doc

AND THAT'S IT FOR OUR GUY. This actually got longer than I expected ಥ⁠‿⁠ಥ

[gurggggleburgle]

Yall dont understand, if LBH post abyss saw a beautiful girl in a face veil and was convinced LMY was snuggling up to Shizun he'd throw up blood.

If he realized that was not LMY but LQG who's gone stepford malewife while he was out he'd go into cardiac arrest.

[rustyblender]

aaaaaaaaaa THESE ARE SOOOO OLD but Ive been rereading my favs ever and 'TARNISHED GOLD ' by prim_the_amazing is my all the time favourite svsss fic !!!!!!!! prim is my favourite author on ao3 their work is SO OUUUGUUGUUGUYYuuyuy its just so good and I will def be drawing more tarnished gold fanart in the future !!!!!!!!

[k1tk4ttt]

when you just finished one of the most beautiful fics ever written and you see that the author has a masterlist full of other fics

[historia-is-a-cool-name]

Oh fuck, I'm at class and I'm trying not to laugh out loud

[red-garden]

Circumstances that I believe could make Shen Jiu choose to keep a pregnancy:

- he wants to babytrap someone

- someone else is trying to interrupt the pregnancy

- Shen Jiu sees the sire as an inherently good person and he wants to keep a bit of that goodness either to intentionally corrupt it or to make himself feel less evil

- plot device bullshit where the pregnancy will benefit him in someway (stopping qi deviations, healing his meridians, lets him wield an artifact, etc)

- people are saying he would be a bad parent/he can’t be a parent, and he wants to prove them wrong out of spite