Liu Qingge hates going to disciple selections, and only goes when Shen Jiu does in order to rescue whoever it looks like Shen Qingqiu might pick to be his personal disciple. Since Bai Zhan historically gets its disciples from the children climbing the mountain, no other hall masters but Shen Yuan go to selections every time. Shen Yuan specifically seeks out the most impoverished looking kids, since street kids and farmers have the best instincts for survival and hunting. He doesn’t even test them for spiritual aptitude, being too soft hearted to get a kid’s hopes up and then tell them no. A lot of the children think Shen Yuan is scary at first, but his milf energy always shines through eventually when he kisses their scrapes and teaches them how to read. As a result, Shen Yuan has a small army of unusually competent personal disciples (most Bai Zhan masters go with the sink or swim school of teaching, rather than actually helping their kids when they struggle). Shen Yuan is also far more involved in the running of Bai Zhan peak, leading most of the sect to think of him as the peak lord in secret. After a few incidences of disciples referring to Shen Yuan as the peak lord, he scrambles to explain how he’s just an involved helper (trying to make Liu Qingge not look like a dead beat), and ends up referring to himself as the wife of Bai Zhan’s household. The title of Shimu sticks very well, much to Shen Yuan’s immediate chagrin, and Liu Qingge’s (once he gets back and learns about all of this) positive bewilderment.
