svss

Absolutely insane abt cumplane, jiuyuan, bingyuan

[whos-the-seme]

very sleep deprived but what if: "I dunno, I'm just saying--" sqh wiggles his eyebrows at him.

"stop saying. immediately." to punctuate his words, sqq goes for his true and tried technique: throwing a fan at sqh's forehead with deadly accuracy. it strikes true before the other could dodge and the other lets out a hiss of pain, but stops talking with a small whine of "bro--" and a pout.

a few minutes later, when sqh is still sending him shiny wide eyes and exaggeratedly rubbing at his forehead, sqq sighs. without thinking, he leans over to smack a giant wet kiss on the slightly reddened spot, pushing a bit of spiritual energy into it. he dismisses down the intense urge he has to bite and make it worse. the mark disappears.

"there, I healed it. fucking happy?"

"very happy, thank you very much"

sqh looks at him from underneath his eyelashes, a teasing smirk growing on his face at getting sqq to capitulate, and sqq rolls his eyes, bc sqh honestly could've and should've done it himself, what does he look like, a fucking healer?? he already has to deal with without a cure and sure the amount of energy needed to heal a small knock on the head was so minuscule that it wouldn't affect him even on a bad day, but like???

he's been giving in more and more these days but its not his fault that the airplane was so convincing when he started to act fucking pathetic and just made sqq feel bad for him a little.

(and okay, he likes how vicious, apathetic, hyper competent a-hua can sometimes just be so cute and needy--)

someone cleared their throat.

sqq instantly freezes. he carefully does not notice from the corner of his eyes how sqh has also gone rigid.

in eerie and stiff unison, they both turned their heads to face the rest of the room. the very full room. the very full room of other peak lords. the very full room of other peak lords because they were currently at the monthly peak lord meeting.

the very full room of other peak lords that were staring at him and sqh because they just witnessed him plant a kiss on sqh's forehead.

the silence stretched.

damnit, airplane.

[ineffectualdemon]

AU where Cumplane doesn't transmigrate and PIDW doesn't update post electrocution of Airplane and Shen Yuan full on cyperstalks and commits a few crimes to figure out that Airplane is Xiang Fei and in the hospital recovering from severe electrocution

He then calls, arranged VIP treatment for Xiang Fei who wakes up being moved to a private room and all the luxuries and then the most beautiful man he has ever seen walks in and sneers at him causing Xiang Fei to immediately pop a boner.

Meanwhile Shen Yuan immediately starts writing a "CEO blackmails Innocent Highschool Student into Indecent Dealings - dubcon, coercion, loss of innocence" danmei in his head the moment he sees Xiang Fei's soft and easily bullied appearance and his babyface

(Never mind that Xiang Fei is 8 years older and the cynical, foul mouthed, porn merchant of PIDW. Somehow that doesn't ruin it.)

Shen Yuan roasts him and his writing and his stupidity at getting electrocuted, tells him to pay off his debt he will be moving in with Shen Yuan and writing for an audience of one and when Xiang Fei starts crying out of a mix of confusion, relief, fear, horniness, and an automatic response to new situations, Shen Yuan suddenly marches off and finds a private place to have a furious (in both senses) wank session

Cue Shen Yuan trying to live out his Evil CEO taking advantage of Innocent Xiang Fei fantasies without:

1. Actually doing anything that might be harmful or non consensual to Xiang Fei

2. Admitting he's gay or horny for Xiang Fei at all

Meanwhile Xiang Fei is increasingly writing porn scenarios that say "Take advantage of me! I am begging to be taken advantage of! Will suck dick for free but making me do it to 'pay off a debt' is a hot idea and I am here for it" without actually saying it for Shen Yuan to read and critique

Because neither of them will ask for sex like a normal person

When they finally have the kinky sex they have both been trying to orchestrate without actually orchestrating it they will both have individual breakdowns about taking advantage of the other one and manipulating them

Shen Yuan's entire family is totally aware of this bullshit. His parents are pretending they don't notice and his sister is egging them on and updating their older brothers on the situation

[scumvsss]

can we get shang qinghua begging crying sobbing for his cucumber-bro to PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE sing modern songs bc bro damn he craves modern music so much and sqh is tone deaf and his system won't play shit for him.

But Shen Yuan? Oh he's a full blown music cultivator alright. He can sing like the best of them and will definitely scratch that itch sqh has been feeling for DECADES. SQH will totally bribe SY with new shitty novels too.

Gimme SY singing scandalous modern songs for SQH. Love songs, Angsty af songs, all that jazz

idk i think it'd be neat if someone walks in on that

[sunderwight]

Scenario where SQQ's widower arc actually is in fact just that.

He and Binghe are technically married.

SQQ didn't realize because he assumed that weird wife plot they got dragged into was a fluke and that, of course, since he was Luo Binghe's shizun and Binghe was like sixteen, it wouldn't actually count as a marriage in any respect.

In PIDW the whole plot was revealed in a fashion Shen Yuan deemed typically hack-ish -- sixteen-year-old disciple Luo Binghe was sent on a mission, got embroiled in a Situation, got back out of it by marrying a young lady, etc etc. Except that this situation wasn't actually recounted during the early stages of the novel, i.e. Binghe's actual disciple days, but was retconned in as part of Airplane doing some teasers/promos for a VIP chapter about Luo Binghe's "first wife". Shen Yuan thought that Binghe was going to finally promote someone to the primary spouse position, but no, turned out it was literally the first woman whom he technically married.

At least Airplane remembered his whole setup for Qin Wanyue as Binghe's first time well enough that the plot was pretty chaste. Well, the first part was. The reunion plot about Binghe tracking down and once again rescuing his wayward wife wasn't, but Shen Yuan did appreciate that she seemed quite sweet at the outset, and that the ritual to bind them was more about mutual aid & respect. Binghe promising to come back for her when his circumstances had improved was also quite romantic, though it would have been sweeter if he hadn't waited like fifty in-universe years to remember the girl existed (according to Shen Yuan's futile attempts at a coherent timeline).

Anyway, Shen Qingqiu mostly forgot the prelude to that mission was a simple monster hunt, since it was a deeply forgettable one-line mentioned sort of premise anyway. In PIDW, Shen Jiu sent Luo Binghe on a mission that was clearly too high level for a single disciple, on yet another half-assed murder attempt against his innocent disciple. In SV, Shen Yuan of course doesn't plan on sending Luo Binghe to handle anything that he isn't qualified for, so he goes himself and brings Binghe, Ming Fan, Ning Yingying, plus a few more disciples along for the ride.

Which means that there are witnesses when the wife plot strikes and Shen Qingqiu and Luo Binghe end up performing the ritual marriage to resolve it.

Shen Qingqiu is mostly just hoping that this insult doesn't add to the reasons Luo Binghe hates him later on, and is extra thankful that the ritual was pretty chaste, and maybe we'll all laugh about this one day haha. To everyone else, however, it just seems that Shen Qingqiu has taken his disciple to wife. A little scandalous due to the master/disciple angle, but certainly not unheard of, just juicy enough to cause some titters (and some speculation on SQQ grooming Binghe for the role, though these aren't taken too seriously because the cultural atmosphere doesn't really object as strenuously to that entire concept as it ought to).

Binghe, for his part, is over the moon. He's a little bit disappointed that Shen Qingqiu doesn't seem to want to claim his husbandly rights as soon as they're out of danger, but based on SQQ's comments he gathers that his noble shizun is waiting for Binghe to be older and more 'ready' for that kind of thing, so the unease and the lack of more official acknowledgement is soothed because it's actually very solicitous and romantic of shizun to wait until they can be seen as equals before telling the rest of the world that they're married.

As to the other practicalities of marriage, well, Binghe already lives in his shizun's house, engages in various domestic activities with him, helps him handle his affairs, celebrates holidays by his side, and so on and so forth. So all that really has to happen is that Binghe fills out all the sect paperwork to make it officially on the books that he's shizun's one and only spouse and that they have all the requisite entitlements to one another.

Of course, it's not like it all actually remains a secret. There are tons of witnesses, one of whom is Ning Yingying, and the paperwork has to get approved by a Qiong Ding disciple, who of course immediately takes the matter right to the sect leader, who in turn does a welfare check and then raises the matter (discreetly, with a lot of euphemisms and room for denials) at the next peak lord meeting. Shen Qingqiu unwittingly confirms that he's married his disciple, however, and then has to try and puzzle out why Liu Qingge is pitching a fit over this specific monster hunt gone awry. (Maybe Shidi wishes he had been the one to handle the situation with this master instead...?)

This does mean though that absolutely EVERYONE knows that Luo Binghe is going to use the Immortal Alliance Conference to prove himself and then be officially acknowledged as Shen Qingqiu's spouse/partner/etc and promoted out of the usual disciple ranks and into his position as Sect Leader's Wife. So when he apparently dies instead, there's no mystery at all as to the cause of Shen Qingqiu's grief and no letting him wriggle around being a widower in the aftermath. Only people outside Cang Qiong don't know about the situation, and the sect closes ranks to try and keep the matter private because god knows, the last thing Shen Qingqiu needs is more scrutiny in his mourning!

[theladysunami]

I adore all the AUs where Shen Yuan is a shixiong or about Binghe’s age but you know what the fandom is missing? Shidi Shen Yuan!

There are some stories where Shen Yuan is younger and Shen Jiu’s son, but I’m talking about a regular disciple Shen Yuan admitted to Qing Jing peak after Luo Binghe.

I just need tiny child Shen Yuan using the full force of his spite to feud with the strategist Peak Lord… only to actually win most of the time!

How could Shen Yuan possibly win against a paranoid sect strategist you might ask?

First, he could take full advantage of Shen Qingqiu’s complete disinterest in him, and his own disinterest in impressing Shen Qingqiu, to run rampant for quite a while before Shen Qingqiu catches on. He would seem to be just some stupid precocious child.

Second, I firmly believe Shen Yuan’s wifebeam, when directed at adults, could be an effective parentbeam. He could use all the little tidbits he has memorized about the other peak lords, the Qing Jing hall masters, the servants, and his fellow disciples, along with his genuine kindness and helpfulness (and a lack of Shen Qingqiu sabotage…at least to start with) to endear himself to a great many of them!

Third, he has the advantage of an adult’s brain in his child body, along with all sorts of knowledge nobody would reasonably suspect a child his age to have. Just because Shen Yuan has a giant blind spot regarding romantic intent and his importance to others, doesn’t mean he isn’t incredibly clever in many other ways, and fully capable of using the full force of that cleverness on Binghe’s behalf!

Fourth, Shen Qingqiu would have literally no clue what the kid was actually after. All that work just to make the life of Shen Qingqiu’s least favorite student a little bit better? Shen Qingqiu would never see it coming, and what is that if not the greatest weakness of all?

I just really want Shen Qingqiu, the man who starts feuds with children —including trying to murder one particular kid— to find out that his arch enemy is actually some other kid that he completely ignored. And the kid is winning via the secret tactics of “being nice” and “having no real ulterior motives (beyond the ‘being nice’ thing)”.

Also, Luo Binghe being protective of his little shidi who is somehow constantly getting himself in situations™. (It’s not Shen Yuan’s fault distraction is often his best ‘stop bullying Binghe’ technique).

[art-deco-shrimp]

Given that I recall the OG SQQ being extremely reluctant to accept new disciples even when Binghe was trying out, this prompt does lead to the fun and interesting question: How exactly does Shen Yuan get onto Qing Jing Peak?

I like to think that he uses his PIDW knowledge to sneak on somehow; bonus points if he manages to time it for when SQQ is undergoing a qi deviation or when he's in the Ling Xi Caves, and then just gaslighting the hell out of SQQ. "Shizun doesn't remember this disciple? But he accepted my application due to [some bullshit reason SY has plenty of time to come up with]! Shizun wouldn't go back on his word, would he?"

[theladysunami]

We do know that at least some peaks have both inner and outer disciples, so I was thinking Shen Yuan sneaks in via whatever “outer disciple” admission practices Qing Jing has.

He either gets one of the Qing Jing hall masters to accept him as their personal disciple, or he finds out about some ‘arts and literature’ related exam they hold for students who don’t intend to be as cultivation focused, and gets himself admitted that way.¹

Either way, since his admission to Qing Jing is unrelated to Shen Qingqiu, he is able to slip in under the radar.

Shen Yuan absolutely would find some means of knowing when Shen Qingqiu isn’t available though, just to be certain the guy doesn’t ‘reject his admission’ or immediately kick him out for bullshit reasons.

“Ah, you don’t want this particular kid on your peak any more? Too bad the probationary period is already over, so you can no longer kick him out without cause.”

1. The main ways I’ve seen outer disciples get admitted to sects or peaks in xianxia works are by:

a) being personal disciples of sect members who are not peak lords, sect leaders, or sect elders

b) by passing some impersonal “trial” or “exam” and being admitted without actually being anyone’s personal disciple (Bai Zhan’s whole “climb the mountain get admitted” thing is a version of this)

[sunderwight]

QJP is a scholarly peak, and probably usually takes individuals who are already versed in things like basic literary skills and have had some formal education. So given the standards of the setting, that would be a lot of kids from well-off backgrounds, who probably don't have to go dig holes to try and get attention.

So another option could be that Shen Yuan's still the younger son of a wealthy family, expressed an interest in cultivating, and his parents basically paid his way onto the peak or arranged for him to take an aptitude test, and he got a position as an outer disciple that way.

That would further contribute to him staying off of Shen Qingqiu's radar, I think. He's just another spare rich kid whose family probably doesn't want him interfering with the inheritance process. He's not The Heir, so he doesn't remind SQQ of Qiu Jianluo, and he's not a street kid or otherwise poor boy who made good, and he's not a dainty and sweet girl. He's a moderately well-off second or third son with middling potential who seems generally polite. So, someone perfectly positioned to have nothing to do with SQQ's trauma or ambitions. Practically invisible to him.

[art-deco-shrimp]

Another option for any "Shen Yuan manifests out of nothing" situation might be for an early Airplane reveal, then SY bullies SQH into forging his paperwork.

[theladysunami]

I was imagining him bullying Shang Qinghua into helping him later on, but it would absolutely work as an admission tactic too. 😂

They’d just need to make sure the forged admission method was innocuous enough that there weren’t any rumors spread about it.

Faking @sunderwight’s admission process would probably be the best bet, with Shang Qinghua dressing Shen Yuan up in decent clothes and forking over whatever “exam fee” is involved in place of the non-existent parents.

Speaking of Tactics, I imagine the ‘stages’ of shidi Shen Yuan’s Qing Jing takeover going something like this:

Stage 1: Integration

Shen Qingqiu has no idea who Shen Yuan is at this point and doesn’t care.

Shen Yuan focuses on building relationships with the other peak residents, and is careful to avoid interacting with Binghe so he won’t find himself in the same boat.

He still helps Binghe mind you, he just does so without acknowledging or speaking to him.

I’ve actually thought up a bunch of examples for shenanigans Shen Yuan might get up to at this stage:

The dull rusty axe that Binghe is forced to use for wood chopping? Shen Yuan breaks it, or cuts himself with it (or both!) and sobs dramatically about it in front of nicer shixiongjie until they promise it’s not his fault, and they’ll get rid of the axe. As a result, Binghe gets an actually usable axe for his wood chopping endeavors.

Shen Yuan’s gets his sheets or clothes (or a shixiong’s) torn or stained (easy to do as a small child), then ‘hides’ them in the woodshed. When the dorm master or his shixiongjie ask him where they are, at first he’ll only say “lost”, but with minimal pressing he ‘admits his crimes’ and says he didn’t want to get in trouble for ‘ruining them’, so he ‘threw them out.’ Everybody just assumes Shen Yuan’s parents or older siblings were really strict about that sort of thing, and he gets some light punishment. Meanwhile Binghe gets new clothes or bedding with flaws that are easily fixable or concealed (and nobody can claim Binghe stole them, as they all heard or know about Shen Yuan’s confession).

Shen Yuan builds a reputation for having eyes bigger than his stomach with respect to food, and after eating he always puts his partially full bowl outside “for the dogs to finish”. There aren’t actually any dogs on Qing Jing, but nobody wants to dampen little shidi’s spirits. Binghe is ‘close enough’ to a dog anyway, so his shixiong just snicker and move on, while Binghe gets fed!

Shen Yuan ‘somehow’ gets a hold of a cultivation manual from Bai Zhan or An Ding, and makes sure to be seen publicly puzzling over it. When asked, he repeats some of the rude things the other Qing Jing disciples said about the other peak in question, and says he thought the manual might help explain ‘why they are kept around when they are like that’. He eventually ‘gives up’ his quest for understanding, and the probably-stolen manual goes in his favorite disposal spot, the woodshed. New manual for Binghe to try, and the shixiongjie are too busy snickering about their little shidi’s antics to think much of it!

Stage 2: Teacher’s Pet Status Maximized!

Shen Qingqiu is generally aware that his Qing Jing peak siblings and older disciples have begun spoiling one of the younger disciples, but he finds it mildly annoying at most.

Shen Yuan feels confident enough to ‘notice’ his shixiong Binghe, and starts playing up that thing children do where they delight in bossing around older kids.

Binghe now ‘has to’ follow his little shidi around and ‘help’ him with chores, carry his things to lessons, demonstrate the same sword form repeatedly, explain their literature assignments, etc.

The shixiong find this funny enough to substitute for most bullying for a good long while, and Binghe gets the benefits of going to lessons and getting stealth tutored by Shen Yuan’s leading questions and demands.

Shen Yuan is also well situated to shut down Ning Yingying’s more annoying habits, as when Binghe is ‘too busy’ he turns his little brother beam on her, he always interrupts her when she’s about to get Binghe in trouble, and he even gets her involved in lightly pranking their bullying-inclined shixiong along with other mischief.

(The pranks are the super childish obvious-in-retrospect sort, and serve the dual purpose of re-affirming Shen Yuan’s ‘silly child’ image, and not-so-secretly delighting the shixiong who like having Ning Yingying’s attention on them, even if it’s for dumb reasons).

Shen Yuan also starts seriously widening his influence at this point, dragging Ning Yingying along on cross peak adventures (or more accurately, spilling information that makes her drag him along). An increasing number of non-Qing Jing peak lords and masters are growing fond of the kid.

This whole stage has Shen Yuan cringing internally for bossing around the protagonist, and spending so much time with his future wife, but it seems to be working so he soldiers on. Hopefully his status of ‘small child at the time’ will at least prevent his future death from being a prolonged affair. (He plans to run away from the sect while Binghe is in the abyss anyway.)

As for Binghe himself, he is actually starting to put the pieces together, and suspects his little shidi is a lot more clever then he lets on.

Stage 3: The Power of Tears

Shen Qingqiu attempts to escalate his bullying, as the beast is still alive and beginning to thrive. He suddenly finds himself with actual resistance though, as Shen Yuan’s little brother beam has been going strong, and Shen Yuan gets very upset when his shixiong is mistreated.

Shen Yuan makes sure not to entirely focus his upset on Binghe mind you. He cries about also being guilty of Binghe’s crime-of-the-week, or being the one who told Binghe to do the thing, and insists he doesn’t want to be punished next.

This leads to some complicated internal realizations on some people’s parts, as they can’t adequately explain why Binghe deserves such treatment when Shen Yuan doesn’t (especially since Binghe seems like such a nice boy while trailing after Shen Yuan). For the more blockheaded types, perhaps they just become annoyed at Shen Qingqiu for letting his tantrums upset the littlest disciple this way.

Once a pissed off Shen Qingqiu actually starts turning his ire on Shen Yuan too… well it only makes the resistance that much stronger. Shen Yuan is the peak favorite, and the power of his tears are strong! (Plus he unintentionally gets Ning Yingying in on the crying game too).

At this point Binghe has gone from suspicious to certain that Shen Yuan is an actual genius, and his behavior is designed to help him. He becomes incredibly protective of his shidi in turn.

Stage 4: The Cold War

Shen Qingqiu finally realizes the who the “real” monster let loose on his peak is, and starts engaging in a drawn out stealth war of spite with Shen Yuan.

Meanwhile, Shen Yuan is having the time of his life, orchestrating pranks and “accidents” for Shen Qingqiu and anyone he conscripts to act on his behalf, while perfectly playing the role of a scared, innocent disciple whenever the man tries to punish him too obviously.

Shen Yuan pretty much has all the other peak lords in his pocket at this point, not just the Qing Jing hall masters. He is basically free to visit almost any peak he wants whenever he wants, and regularly brings various shixiongjie with cross peak interests along with him.

The relative isolation of Qing Jing peak is effectively over, and all the disciples have enough outside influences in their lives now to at least resist Shen Qingqiu’s poisonous attitude. As per SVSSS canon, Shen Yuan has altered the culture of Qing Jing peak enough to make its disciples highly competent cultivators, instead of low level canon fodder. (Though they are still rather snobbish and elitist, just in a more ‘actually productive’ way.)

Binghe has also come to like a great many aspects of Cang Qiong Mountain sect, even if he’s still not terribly fond of Qing Jing specifically (and ‘strongly dislikes’ Shen Qingqiu in particular).

After the whole abyss affair, he sees his cruel master as a cancer infecting the sect, rather than a sign the sect itself needs eradicating.

Edited to Add:

Ah! For the Shang Qinghua forges his paperwork route, he should give Shen Yuan the details of some rich but lonely maternal uncle of Shang Qinghua's, or grumpy vendor he knows lost his favorite grandson, or some similarly situated gentleman, and tell Shen Yuan to write letters to the guy (to help keep up the ruse).

To Shang Qinghua's utter shock, not only does Shen Yuan write to the guy super regularly, the man in question also starts doting on the kid terribly, sending him loads of goodies via mail.

[sunderwight]

When disciple era Binghe transmigrates into Shen Yuan's apartment, Shen Yuan decides that clearly, Airplane needs to take responsibility for his "child" (who is not literally his child but eh close enough) but since he doesn't have Airplane's actual contact info, he makes a vague post in the PIDW forums that would at least seem to indicate that Shen Yuan doesn't expect Airplane to pay child support, in fact Shen Yuan will pay him if he doesn't just ignores this, but he needs him to get in contact ASAP about his neglected son.

The relevant comments section explodes.

Airplane's own best guess is that his no.1 hater has lost his last marble but is willing to pay him if he goes along with it, and he's giving the idea serious consideration. It's been three weeks since the shower in his apartment worked properly and he's on his second night of skipping dinner in order to keep the lights on. At this point Cucumber-bro could present him a formal contract to become his live-in human pet who he yells at constantly and Airplane would be tempted, surely some kind of immaculate conception babytrap mpreg scenario is at least a step up from that.

[sunderwight]

Bingqiu roleswap where disciple Shen Yuan knows he's gay, and figures out that he has a big huge crush on his handsome Shizun, but also concludes nearly at once that he's not going to be drawing Luo Binghe's eye any time soon. Firstly, Luo Binghe is notoriously straight. Secondly, even if he weren't, he wouldn't go for his scrawny untalented nerd of a disciple! Shen Yuan's not bad looking, not before or after transmigrating, but he's neither a beautiful nor a hot manly man, and he assumes if Luo Binghe were into dudes he'd be into the same kinds of twunks that Shen Yuan likes. Guys on his own level, etc etc.

Plus Luo Binghe hated the original disciple Shen, and only started to warm up to the transmigrated version after Shen Yuan got injured in front of him trying to stop the other disciples on the peak from killing a small animal. For some reason, Luo Binghe brought Shen Yuan medicine. He got even nicer after Shen Yuan distracted the skinner demon by trying to convince it to take his skin instead of Luo Binghe's, and then again when Shen Yuan successfully fought off a demon invader -- though initially when Luo Binghe volunteered him for that job, he thought it was an assassination attempt. His heart was in his throat when Luo Binghe nearly took a poisoned blow for him, but luckily he reacted more quickly and got hit by the thorns instead. His heavenly demon blood took care of the poison, and he managed to convince everyone that he narrowly avoided getting cut at all.

Shen Yuan's careful not to read anything into it when Luo Binghe finds out about his, erm, uncomfortable dormitory situation and moves him into the side room, or when he completely messes up trying to make dinner and Luo Binghe takes over cooking and bans him from the kitchen (he swears he's not actually that bad at cooking, he just never had to use a kitchen without a microwave or an electric hot plate before...)

After all, it's not like Luo Binghe is cooking for him, he's just making food he likes and letting Shen Yuan eat it too! Because he's nice! He's way nicer than the book gave him credit for being, see, clearly Shen Yuan was correct in signing up for his defense squad, "top ten worst villains of all time" his ass that poll was nonsense...

Unfortunately, though, the plot's still gotta plot. Shen Yuan is heartbroken when the Immortal Alliance Conference rolls around and his shizun stabs him and throws him down into the Endless Abyss. Heartbroken, but not surprised. After all, it was always going to go this way, wasn't it?

But at least, now that it's done, he has some agency in how he reacts to it. He's changed the story enough that he doesn't need to go get revenge. Maybe Luo Binghe's still the villain of his story, maybe that was inevitable, but some heroes let the villains get away. Don't they? It's all part of that noble, breaking the cycle of abuse type stuff. He can be that kind of hero. He can let it go. As long as he avoids Luo Binghe altogether, it should be fine, right? It's not like he's obligated to turn people into human sticks. He asked the system, he's definitely not!

Technically he's not even required to conquer the demon realms. He just has to get out of the Abyss and the be sufficiently cool and/or tragic. Conquest is just one means of doing that, and not even Shen Yuan's preferred, since he doesn't exactly want to rule over anybody. Going around the demon realms beating up some jackasses and rescuing some damsels in distress and becoming sworn brothers with Shang Qinghua, one of the current demon kings, is suitable. He definitely doesn't want to marry any of the damsels he encounters (thank fuck the system lets him off the hook for that!)

But eventually he has to go back to the human world. Not only is it mandated by the system, but he also misses living there. The demonic realms are in many ways better than expected, plus a lot of the monsters are really cool, but he misses the weather and plants and the people he's more accustomed to being around.

He misses Qing Jing Peak, if he's being honest with himself. Shizun's cooking and the bamboo forest and the crisp mountain breezes, the comforts of home.

Not that he can actually go back there in specific. Of course not. If he did that, Luo Binghe would try to kill him, or else the system would try and make him kill Luo Binghe. Bad ideas all around. No, he can't go back to Qing Jing Peak, but he can go find someplace nicer than the demon realms at least. He just has to keep a low profile, which shouldn't be hard since the original goods did that even while actively scheming to kill his former master!

Except.

Everywhere he goes, suddenly Luo Binghe is also there?!

Good thing Shen Yuan thought to take a page out of the book of Luo Binghe's actual love interest, Liu Mingyan, and start wearing a veil. He just didn't want any randos who might have seen him at the Immortal Alliance Conference or on any of the other missions his shizun sent him on to recognize him. But one minute he's investigating a strange case in Jinlan City, and the next the streets are full of Huan Hua cultivators (Shen Yuan has no intention of joining them, that's the path the original took to getting revenge! He doesn't want revenge!), and then Luo Binghe and Sect Leader MBJ and Peak Lord SHL show up, and SY is ducking down alleys and hiding behind columns, just trying to stay out of the way until the lockdown on Jinlan lifts and he can leave.

Except...

Luo Binghe really isn't acting like himself?

He looks like he hasn't been eating or sleeping well. There are dark circles around his eyes, and something almost melancholy in his countenance. And he's dressed entirely in white, none of the usual Qing Jing greens and blues anywhere to be seen. Of even greater concern, he's being reckless. Shen Yuan can't stop himself from rushing out when he sees his former shizun get infected by a sower demon.

Luckily, it's been some years since the last time they saw one another. Shen Yuan's gained a few inches in height, so he's almost at eye-level with his old master now, and though he's still more slender than bulky he's picked up some totally new styles from training the demon realms. He doesn't move the same way he used to. With that, plus the veil, it's enough for him to quickly swallow back his words as he grabs Luo Binghe and quickly administers a cure for the sower infection.

Well, he has one of course. He wouldn't need it himself, heavenly demon blood and all, but his time running around playing hero in the demon realms meant he rescued a lot of humans from such fates. Which is hard to do if you don't have a cure to their afflictions, but between him and Shang Qinghua, sourcing such things was almost easy.

Luo Binghe looks at him like he's just seen a ghost. The other Cang Qiong sect members are alarmed by SY suddenly accosting one of their own and of course find him suspicious, so he runs away right after, and then he has to lose Sha Hualing's pursuit in the city.

But what else could he do? He manages to evade the system's attempts to railroad him into meeting Gongyi Xiao, avoids the rest of the Cang Qiong crowd, and drops some of the cure through the current Qian Cao peak lord's window to get the incident sorted out. Then he flees and puts a good amount of distance between himself, Jinlan City, and every righteous sect he can think of.

The only problem is that after this point, Luo Binghe is everywhere.

Any time Shen Yuan stays in one place for longer than a few days, Qing Jing disciples start turning up. Any time he takes a job hunting some cool-sounding monster or pursuing some interesting tome of knowledge, the better to satisfy the system, it seems like Luo Binghe has selected and gone after the exact same target! Which is especially annoying because back when SY was a disciple, Luo Binghe was always assigning him to do this stuff. Since when does his chronic homebody master have an interesting in six-tailed scorpion lemurs or ancient spiritual kilns?

What's weirder, though, are the rumors.

It seems like any time SY stops at some well-populated place and asks for the latest gossip, he has to hear about how the Qing Jing peak lord lost his beloved disciple during the Immortal Alliance Conference, and mourned like a widow, and now wanders the earth in search of solace for his grief. Seeking something, possibly even the ghost of his dear disciple.

What nonsense! Luo Binghe threw SY into the Abyss himself. He had to do it, it was the plot! And also his obligation as a righteous cultivator, confronted with a "dangerous" half-demon. Does it sting? Yes it stings! That's why SY wouldn't just forget it! Despite logically knowing it's pointless, is there some part of him that wishes his master would have chosen differently? That thinks he should have known that no matter what kind of power Shen Yuan had, he would never use it to hurt people recklessly, or harm innocents, or especially not harm... well. It's pointless, his blood condemned him, and if there is some part of Luo Binghe which regrets what happened, it's doubtless just that he unwittingly harbored a monster for so long.

Which is fine and Shen Yuan would leave it at that, if the guy would just let him!

But no. Instead he has to deal with Luo Binghe turning up and asking him questions, trying to get him to talk (SY has no hope of disguising his voice, if he says anything he's not even sure it won't crack as he comes perilously close to tears instead, so he just stays silent), and then asking for his name, asking if he's mute, asking about his background, his sect, his kin. Is his a righteous cultivator? Where did he get that sword? (NOT Xin Mo, thanks, he used that thing once and then tossed it back into the Abyss before the portal finished closing behind him -- he knows a poisoned chalice when he sees one, although knowing the plot twist about that sword from the novel sure helped.) Where did he learn those forms? Is he... does he have a safe place to go home to? Someone to tend his injuries? Make sure he eats his meals?

SY, of course, stays silent. But it's difficult. Not only because Luo Binghe asks, but because he still looks... bad. Sunken, sorrowful, desperate almost. Shen Yuan can't figure out if he knows or not. Maybe he's unsure, maybe he's looking for SY to give him a sign, so that he can figure him out and then flip a switch and try to finish the job he started.

That can't happen. If they fight, SY will win, and he doesn't want to hurt Luo Binghe.

But even if Luo Binghe's not a heavenly demon, he is a highly accomplished cultivator, and it seems he's got his own breaking points to reach. Eventually he corners SY and gets a hand on his veil, and for a moment SY is sure he's going to rip it off, see his face, and confront him all "I knew it was you, you twisted evil demon, you won't escape justice a second time" and he feels a deep, icy terror close around his lungs--

Luo Binghe lets go of the veil before he can lift it.

But then something even worse happens. Because Shen Yuan's handsome, peerless, noble master breaks down. He falls to his knees, begging forgiveness, sobbing, clutching at his head like he's being driven to madness.

It all spills out of him, then. How he pushed his own dearest disciple into the Abyss, which obviously SY already knew, but also how he was apparently qi-deviating the whole time, and his senses could not differentiate between one kind of demonic "threat" and another. How he realized what he'd done only after he regained his senses hours later, and rushed back to the place where the tear to the Abyss had opened, but could not find a way in after the one he lost. How he had betrayed and thrown away the only person who cared about him, and couldn't even explain that he hadn't intended to. How he would accept anything, any punishment, hatred, penance, or revenge, if only he could see his disciple's face once more.

SY is stunned.

Apparently, Luo Binghe hadn't rejected him for his demon blood?

Not only that, but beforehand, he seemed to have valued Shen Yuan a lot more than Shen Yuan would have credited.

Is it a trick? Is he lying? SY would have guessed so, would have assumed that Luo Binghe's plan was to lull him into complacency only to turn on him once he finally had confirmation. But somehow, he just... doesn't think this is an insincere display. His old master is too cool for this stuff! He has too much dignity to just throw it away on a scheme! There are other ways to get what he wants.

Even if it is a lie, Shen Yuan is tired of running. He's the hero. He won't actually lose, and if it comes to it, it's still in his hands to decide if he wants to spare Luo Binghe or not (he does, of course he does, even if this whole spiel is an act). Plus he's got a backup plant body in one of Shang Qinghua's greenhouses if all goes to shit.

He takes the veil off himself.

Luo Binghe, teary-eyed, stares at him as if his face is the most beautiful he's ever seen.

Shen Yuan nearly puts the veil back on. His cheeks heat up. Dear Shizun, aren't you an immortal master? A noble peak lord? Isn't it your calling to vanquish demons? Get up off the dirty ground right this minute! Where did your dignity go? Shen Yuan did not spend all those nights doing the laundry to watch his teacher dirty his knees for no good reason!

There's a quaver in Luo Binghe's voice as he points out that Shen Yuan was terrible at doing laundry. Luo Binghe had to redo it the day after, all the time.

Shen Yuan chides at him that he should have made one of the other disciples do it then.

Luo Binghe just laughs, and stays on the ground, until finally Shen Yuan has to physically pull him up. Muttering about how he's being ridiculous, what's he crying for, why's he been moping so much, doesn't he know that handsome face should never look so bereft? Then he realizes what he's saying and shuts his mouth, but Luo Binghe just looks happy for the first time in years. Since the Abyss. How is it possible that SY, who actually had to slog through that awful place, can still smile more than Luo Binghe, who didn't?

They're standing so close. Holding on to one another. Almost as if... as if the scene's tone is... well...

Oh what the hell!

Shen Yuan closes the last little bit of distance between them, and kisses Luo Binghe.

[sunderwight]

#obsessed with this#wonder where lqg would fit in#also is moshang still a thing#how would that work

Moshang's definitely also role-swapped, I think! SQH has been spying on demon activities and giving the info to MBJ, whose very rise to power he helped ensure, while MBJ wrestles has conflicted feeling about being very hot for a demon king.

Liu Qingge... pretty sure he's a righteous cultivator in this AU, maybe he's one of the characters SY was supposed to make an alliance with but ended up avoiding so as not to raise certain plot flags instead. Like an opposite of canon scenario, instead of getting over-involved with LQG to save his life he was dodging every single point where they could even be introduced. Liu Qingge stays alive and well away from the death aura surrounding all the cool guys who associate with the protagonist!

So basically LQG was supposed to be his will-they-won't-they subtextual love interest who dies tragically, thus making Liu Mingyan swear vengeance against him, but SY instead saved his life by avoiding him at all costs.

[deikshen]

Ok yes but The Devil Wears Prada is a very Scumcum or Jiuyuan plot or whatever you want to call it

I mean, the horrible, evil boss with a shitty reputation and behavior? The new worker who has nothing more interest than earning some money and experience? And how he loses himself the more he gets his boss's approval—

Don't judge me I'm bored and it works

[tsty-brry]

baby reveal!

(small continuation)

[allpiesforourown]

Anyway shizun binghe who likes to dramatically drape himself over shen yuan when he's reading over his disciples shoulder or complaining that he's tired. One day he comes back to the bamboo house and clings to shen yuan but he's a little too quiet and leaning on him too heavily to be acting playfully

So shen yuan decides, hey he's a cultivator. Lifting a 200lb+ man half a foot taller than him is easy with his core. While binghe is hugging him in exhaustion, shen yuan picks him up and carries him to bed like it's nothing.

He says "get some rest shizun" and binghe is frozen solid because now he's imagining himself wearing a wedding veil for his a-yuan

[teazart]

Ok did more doodles of @scumvsss AU! This is SY in his Divination peak lord uniform. Here's the Au if you want to take a look at it!

[ancientnapdragon]

Thinking of the "shen yuan transmigrates into airplane's OP middle school OC" au again. Because it's too hot for me to turn my PC on and write.

So here is how I think this would go. Also this is jiuyuan again because I'm just obsessed with him not sorry.

Ignore typos cause phone please

SO sy wakes up in his funky System Void. But before he can really get explained anything he just sees a bunch of flashing red ERROR screens. Then he wakes up, again, and is inside of your typical xianxia appropriate bedroom. Like all by himself.

After a bit of poking around he's in this big manor. Very nice but completely empty of other people. A bit later he realizes that the whole area outside of the manor's walls is just this flat expanse of water as far as the eye can see. The sky is faintly pink and the sun has been in the same spot, like it's setting, for hours now. He's basically trapped inside this manor with no way to get out since the water looks really deep and he knows he can't swim that well.

He ends up finding a small library after a while of searching. They're all about instruments, Cultivation techniques, or qiang mastery. So, he's probably transmigrated, right? But he has no idea where he is. The last thing he read was Proud Immortal Demons Way and that had been a shitshow but he doesn't recognize any of this.

SY stays there a few days and gets familiar with his new body. The sun never goes down and the breeze never blows. He finds out he actually has a qiang as a spiritual weapon! And his body has some foundational cultivation techniques, though notes written in the margins of his books tell him not to "finish his core" until he's older. He's retained a lot of his body's skills and he's kind of OP with his weapon! He's also a master of the pipa and dizi and a really good singer, which is pretty cool! Less cool is that he seems to be a child.

Just when sy has ran out of books to read he hears a chime in his head. The SYSTEM has just come back online and slams him with info.

His SYSTEM is thankful he is still in the house! Apprently he got stuck in the body of the main character of some story called "Venegeful Son's Immortal Destiny"! SY has no idea what that is. The System explains that, for some reason, it was booted into offline mode and it only just got restarted. It also can't connect to the main cloud and something seems to be corrupting the story!

Since normal functions are offline, the best it can do is try to guide SY forward and keep him alive until the system can get fixed. Without spoiling TOO much for it, it briefly recounts that the protagonist was left in a secret realm by his father to keep him safe. His father in this world was a powerful rogue cultivator with a lot of hidden techniques, so a bunch of other jealous sects rose up against him to attack and take his precious secrets. His dad, whom he traveled with, hid him here with all his books and also his spiritual weapon.

What was SUPPOSED to happen was that the dad, bloody and dying, was supposed to burst back into the secret realm and start the son on the oath of revenge. This was a very vicious dog blood novel with lots of twists and turns! The system had been excited to FINALLY guide someone through it!

But since the dad never showed up sy is kinda trapped here. He and the system end up devising sort of a plan to get out; since he has a protagonist halo and all, the system figures they can use that to their advantage. It's still very slow going, though, and sy ends up talking to the system a lot! They kind of become friends!

This system, since it's not connected to the main cloud and kinda lost, is a lot more relaxed than the one in canon. SY ends up getting from the system that the story he's in wasn't a GOOD story, narrative wise, but it was still one of the system's favorites! The author put a lot of heart into it and really treasured the characters, which as a whole helped him through a really hard time in his life. The system explains that the job of things like itself is to help "fix" stories like this, which is part of why the system was so excited! A transmigrator like sy is just the vehicle for that!

They end up talking about books they both know (the system has never heard of PIDW though, sadly) and get along pretty well! They both prefer "bad" stories over good ones, though where SY prefers to rag on what went wrong, the System prefers to focus on what went right and how small changes could have made the stories shine.

As they bond, they enact the plan to escape. Except, they're not the only things that notice this. On the other side of the hidden realm, at the entrance, activity has alerted some rogue cultivators that something is up. While Sy and system have been trying to get out, they've been trying to get in.

It comes to a head when, suddenly, the front door crashes open and the hidden realms entrance is forced to connect to the actual world. Rogue cultivators flood inside, hoping to steal secrets before the great sects find out and wipe the place clean. Demonic cultivators follow, hoping for similar- but also the chance to catch a few unsuspecting rogues out and kill them.

SY, with all his father's important information stored away in storage rings, ends up narrowly getting out and escaping from the realm. It's the middle of the night in the "real" world and he's deep in a thick forest. SY runs, with some help from the system, until he thinks he's not being followed any longer. Panting, he ends up going to a small stream to wash the sweat off himself and cool down.

Across the stream, frozen stiff, is a boy that looks about his age, maybe a little older, with dark hair and sharp, calculating eyes. SY thinks he would be pretty if not for the scowl marring his features. The boy had been washing his hands off in the stream, which SY can tell seem sort of hurt like burns.

The System suddenly activates and tells SY to talk to him! The system can't tell exactly what, but the boy has some sort of Halo, so he's important! And maybe if they can figure out what happened they can get rid of the corruption so the system can connect again!

SY is awkward, and the boy is like a sissy and angry cat, but SY eventually introduces himself and gets a name from the boy: Shen Jiu. SJ is there with his teacher though he seems a little dodgy talking about that. Using his body's OP luck and the system's help, SY finds some herbs nearby and gives them to SJ to help with his burns. The System manages to successfully "link" them together, too!

SJ convinces SY to leave before anyone "unsavory" might find him so he does. The System, when they're alone, explains that since they're "linked" that SY will be more likely to randomly find the boy and connect with him! And, since he has a Halo, he'll eventually be around other characters, too! They'll solve this mystery together!

With System as a guide, SY ends up meeting up and endearing himself to a group of traveling performers. Apparently something similar happened in the actual story but the system doesn't recognize any of these people as the same characters. Still, SY is charming with his protag halo and his skills with music get him pretty much adopted.

SY, free, now has some goals: find out what happened to his dad and help the system clear up the corruption! As a personal goal he'd also like to finish his cultivation, but he agreed with whoever wrote those notes in the manuals to wait till he's older to do certain things; he doesn't want to be stuck as a 12 year old forever.

SY ends up traving around with the performers. As promised, every few months he happens to run into SJ! It's always a fun surprise when it happens, too! Usually it's in a town when it happens. SY will be picking up some supplies or enjoying a festival before he has to perform and he'll happen to bump onto SJ. SJ is always hissy with him but SY can recognize the tsundere trope when he sees it! SJ is never around his teacher and SY eventually gets the feeling that maybe his teacher isn't nice to SJ. But SY is just a kid and can't do much, so he has SJ hang out with him or his new adopted family while he can! SY doesn't have very much but he'll share some treats or fun gossip he's picked up on his travels. Sometimes the System even helps him find neat things that SJ can look into! It's very slow and SJ seems to fight him every step of the way, but they do form something of a small friendship.

About three years after SY escaped from the realm, he is secretly a fine little cultivator. A big conference of some sort is coming up that the big sects are sponsoring. SY has been very careful to avoid any sects since he doesn't know which ones attacked his father... but his group is going to a nearby town to perform. All the cultivators makes the surrounding towns very busy so it's a good time to earn some cash! And they're lucky enough to get a performance spot!

As per usual, this is when SY hits a lucky shot and meets up with SJ. It's the day before everything and SY and SJ end up hanging out. SY thinks that SJ is competing and wishes him luck. He makes SJ promise to come back after it's over and SY says that he'll treat him to a nice dinner with his savings for doing a good job! SJ is more dodgy than usual. In the end, SJ never comes back like he promised and SY is forced to leave town a few days later. He wonders what happened to his friend.

It's not until about four months later that he sees SJ again, which is the longest he ever went without seeing him. SJ is in some new clothes that look nicer than his older ones. SY can't help himself and throws himself at SJ to give him a hug with a cry of "Jiu-ge!". He almost gets his block knocked off for this until SJ realizes WHO SY is. SY ends up squeezing him and admitting that he thought that SJ died when he didn't come back. SJ is sort of uncomfortable and eventually gets SY pried off himself and placated.

SY then notices a couple other people around their age who are giving SY weird looks. One is named Mu Feng and the other is Wei Li. SJ explains that he got "taken in" by a cultivation sect but he is as dodgy on answering questions as always. SY introduces himself to them and explains that SJ is his friend. It turns out the three of them are on this town because there were rumors of some strange happenings. SY has heard that! So he tells them all he knows and wishes SJ luck! SJ still owes joining him for a nice dinner and he WILL collect at some point!

The System pipes up when they're gone that the two people with SJ has some sort of plot significance! Weaker auras of it, but that meant the plan was working! Hooray!

Things go like this for a while, with SJ now occasionally meeting SY on missions with his sect. He ends up meeting quite a few people with lesser plot connection but none stronger than SJ's own Halo. People who know SJ are always kinda weirded out by SY being his friend which is really strange! Because SJ is kinda prickly but he's not a bad guy or anything! (Ha) SY even sort of makes friends with the Mu and Wei guys since he seems to see them the most.

I'll continue this later cause my phone is dying. But it's very funny to imagine SY somehow missing all the PIDW clues because he's so focused on other stuff. SY can be so obtuse and that's super fun to play with! I also think that, like, SY has NOT met specifically YQY, SQH, and LQG. But he has met like every other future Peak Lord and probably like 2 of the current ones (but not the Qing Jing one). Like no one other than SY realizes he is a cultivator, too, because he is doing his best to keep that shit on lockdown. So not even SJ knows even tho SY would 100% say that SJ is his best friend in this world lmao.

I think that since SY doesn't have to put on a poser act in this world he'd be slightly more of a sassy little gremlin. He'd also be sort of cocky since he knows he has a protag halo. SY would 100% put himself in situations thinking he can get out of them!

Anyway I'll write more on this later I'm going to get dinner now yahoo

[wyyvoren]

Binghe ends up in the abyss, just as he was meant to. Shen Qingqiu pushed him in, cruelly scorning him for his demon heritage. It’s just as it’s supposed to go. And yet, Shen Qingqiu builds that sword mound. And the days blur into months, and he’s there, waiting. Kneeling. He scoffs in his head about how he’s like some grieving widow, but out loud he has no strength to say a word. He just.. waits.

Even once he starts moving around, doing things again, acting like a proper person, inside there’s just the waiting. He manages to see three years go by, various quests and night hunts and artifacts found and wife plot thwarted. He helps handle a small outbreak of a disease. There’s a strange energy in the air. At some point a night hunt leads him to Huanhua, and he feels his heart tug. Soon, Binghe will tread these grounds, walk the very same halls he stands. But Shen Qingqiu will not be there to walk with him. He couldn’t be, after what he did.

The next two years pass even more slowly. The fog of his head has lessened, and he can act fairly well on his part again, putting on his usual unbothered, untouchable immortal facade. The bodies he grows with Airplane come along nicely. He busies himself preparing to leave Shen Qingqiu behind.

He only starts to seriously worry when the fifth year comes and goes, and there’s no sign of his blackened lotus. He knocks down Shang Qinghua’s door in a panic, but the buffoon only tells him to wait, that perhaps the protagonist is just.. late. As if his Binghe could ever be late! but still, he listens, and goes back to waiting.

He manages to hold out another seven months before he can wait no longer, visions of horrible things happening to his precious sheep plague his waking mind, and his untouchable facade falls away in his unwinding. People worry out loud for him, sensing his downward spiral, but he can care less.

He spends only a week preparing before he leaves the mountain, using all of his transmigrated knowledge to find an artifact that can transport him to the abyss.

When he arrives in the hell scape he threw his disciple in, he weeps. How could he have done this to his precious Binghe? He takes every attack and injury gained on his journey as a repentance, Binghe’s young face at the forefront of his mind always.

He, all things considered, doesn’t do too bad for himself in the abyss. It’s terrifying and beyond intriguing, every animal and plant made to survive flash freezing, actual acid rain, floods of water that look blood red, wind that carry sharp debris at hurricane speeds. Through it all, he journeys, looking for his disciple. He notes each recognizable scene from PIDW, retracing Binghe’s steps, or at least hoping he is.

It’s hard to tell time in the abyss, but it has to have been at least another year before he finally manages to find his disciples. His clothes are in rags at this point, he must look like a terrifying creature, dirty and wounded, pelts and caracas she’s working like armor for him in this strange pocket abyss. He’s gaunt from inedia, but he thrums with a strange energy, having consumed many of the wife plot plants to gain any sort of advantage.

Binghe is laying amidst a sea of technicolor thorns, his body laying in some fleshy plant mounts, creating an altar. How fitting, for Shen Qingqiu feels as if he is finding his god. His clothes are rough, and his hair flows around him, longer than he last saw it. Features he’s unfamiliar with have sprouted, pointed ears and sharp claws. An edge to his cheeks and a fullness to his jaw. Resting on his brow is the Zuiyin that damned him. It’s like a beacon as Shen Qingqiu slashes his way through the writhing vines, taking special care to avoid the thorns, as the shine like an oil slick and smell of some chemical he could never name.

It takes hours for him to reach the middle where Binghe lay, and up close he can see the plant he lays upon has almost fused with him, strange veiny tendrils meld into him supine form, pulsing as it suckles away at Binghe’s demonic Qi. The plant matter makes a strange pattern, and Shen Qingqiu almost gets lost in it, tracing his way around Binghe form with his eyes. He breaks away at the last moment, slashing at the creeping tendrils coming his way. He then stabs down onto the plant, and watches as Binghe’s body seizes.

He pulls the too dull blade he carries out, and panicked for a moment. They’re connected both ways. He couldn’t kill the plant without harming Binghe, and he’s already done that enough.

He proceeds to try an array of things, feeding Qi to Binghe, then the plant, then he tries a few actual arrays, then some artifacts hidden away in his pouch. Nothing seems to work.

In a moment of desperation, he calls out to the system, but it remains silent.

Eventually, he settles, sitting at Binghe’s side. He aches down to his bones, and every emotion he’s put off feeling seems to hit him at once. Many thoughts tumble through his head as he stares down at the almost lifeless form of his disciple, save for the strange pulsing. The only thought loud enough ti hear over the cacophony is “Oh, how he missed Binghe’s face.”

He cups it in his hand, and is shocked by how warm the flesh is. His hands tremble as he holds that face, thumb shyly brushing his cheeks. His whole body follows suit of his hand, and soon his bowed over his disciple, clinching onto his chest and letting tears fall down.

Why won’t his disciple wake up? Why has the plot gone so awry? His Binghe should be conquering women and territories, already on his way to becoming the demonic emperor.

Instead, he lays here, immobile as Shen Qingqiu feels without him.

A swelling of.. something over takes him, and he presses his lips onto Binghe’s brow, making a solemn swear in his heart to do everything he can to wake his disciple. As his lips brush the mark of sin, a pulse of electricity shoots through the touch, shocking Shen Qingqiu away. He touches his own lip, unsure of what to make of it, when he feels Binghe’s arm twitch. Then, a sound so quiet, the shaky inhale through binghe’s nose, his chest filling with air for the first time in years.

It’s strange, watching a corpse reanimate right before you. All Shen Qingqiu can feel is hope and fear.

Finally, Binghe’s eyelashes shudder, and crack open. His once endlessly black eyes now shine red to match his demon mark. The pupils dilate and shift to land on Shen Qingqiu, whose face is puffy and swollen from his tears. The eyes widen and his mouth parts, a rasping sound creeping from his throat.

Shen Qingqiu immediately shushes him, pulling a water skin from his pouch and pushing it to his chapped lips, watching as the liquid falls down his throat. Stray droplets spill from the sides of his mouth, and he swipes them away with his thumb after pulling the water away.

Binghe pauses for a long moment before opening his mouth once again.

“Shizun?” he croaks, and Shen Qingqiu, who thought he’d never hear that voice call him that again, can only manage to smile and nod, a hum of affirmation leave his throat.

“Shizun?” He repeats, then repeats again. It goes on for a moment, nothing but Luo Binghe calling out to his shizun, and Shen Qingqiu answering with a hum.

~~~~

Okay that’s all i had in me for this! I was cleaning out my drafts and figured i could just post it lol.

I remember i was going to write Binghe having to tear himself from the weird plant and the whole field of thorns would thrash, upset at losing its nutrient source. but yeah! sleeping beauty au !

[scumvsss]

Disciple Shen Yuan (during disciple Shen Jiu era) who accidentally became the Divination Peak's head disciple bc he worked so hard and used all his meta knowledge, just so he could make a video-based divination system that shows the future. The Peak Lords were all appropriately impressed and this seals Shen Yuan as the next Divination Peak Peak Lord. A lot of pre-canon problems get solved. It becomes a world-changing invention.

Shen Yuan made it just to watch the endings of all his favorite animes.

Just. The hilarity of Peak Lord Shen Yuan becoming this mysterious genius Seer, sought after by the entire cultivational world. And then he just locks himself inside, pretending to be "prophesizing" or something. He's a full blown NEET at this point. He completely misses Shen Jiu's entry to the sect bc he was too busy "dvining" the next episode of Frieren Beyond the Journey's End. The next time he comes out, its with some vague words of valuing time spent with your peers.

The Qing Generation Peak Lords immediately listens to him and are now doing constant meet ups as the equivalent of team bulding exercises. The Shen Qingqiu rumors get solved. Shen Jiu is appropriately wary of this seemingly all knowing Peak Lord whom everyone listens to. And yet he also considers. Someone who can see the future? Someone who can SPEAK of the future they see and CHANGE it? Oh? Someone who can see all possible threats? What do you mean he can also divine your past? Past as in blackmail material?

Shen Jiu, in a fit of genius proving his right to be called the sect strategist, decides he'll have to test tf outta Shen Yuan to see if he can trust him (and sj is also low key terrified and hateful bc here is someone who can ruin everything he's ever done and he will NOT just let it be tyvm) and so Shen Jiu just. Does some minor (extensive) background search. And tries ro get Shen Yuan to snap. Yeah, that's right. Just annoy the scary all-seeing dude.

Shen Yuan eventually gets super annoyed, his inner internet troll has been desperately struggling to get free for YEARS, and now here's a convenient target who totally deserves it. Shen-Shixiong you total prick, why do you keep digging up everything about Shen Yuan!

So. In a fit of similar genius spiked with way too much pettiness, Shen Yuan goes "You little prick, lets see how you like it when YOUR privacy gets invaded!" and promptly plays a random scene from Shen Jiu's future ala projector style while they were in a Peak Lord meeting.

Shen Yuan made sure its nothing distressing or embarassing, he's petty not cruel! Except he did this by just doing a routine surface level scan of the emotions involved, and it was on "happy." Shen Yuan, a fuerdai who never really knew about Shen Jiu's past, just assumed it'd be a basic scene of maybe having a good meal or talking to a friend or something. He did NOT realize how fucking rare "Happy" is for Shen Jiu.

The scene that plays is a marriage.

Two figures decked in regal red marriage robes are in a bow in front of each other. The unmistakeable Grand Hall of Cang Qiong swathed in tastefully luxurious decorations surrounds them. There are also a lot of other damning details.

Qing Jing Peak's logo is embroidered onto the billowing ribbons. Paired with Divination Peak's own logo.

The two figures stand.

Its Shen Jiu and Shen Yuan.

When future-Shen Jiu actually smiled at future-Shen Yuan (who looks disgustingly in love wtf) and started leaning in for a kiss, present-Shen Yuan violently slams the divining tool off.

The loud slam is followed with a damning silent moment. That, unfortunately, lasted only for an actual moment.

Someone clears their throat.

Its Qi Qingqi.

She has a shit eating grin on her face. Besides her, Wei Qingwei's expression is slowly starting to match. Around, the other peak lords are either too invested, or carefully avoiding looking at him and Shen Jiu.

Shen Yuan very, very carefully does not look Shen Jiu's way.

"So..." Qi Qingqi begins. "Interesting divination there, Shen-Da-Shixiong, Shen-Er-Shixiong." Her words practically drip with insinuation.

Oh God. Oh Fuck. Fuck no.

Side Notes:

Shen Yuan's eyes glow a beight system blue whenever he "divines the future"

Shen Yuan wears a fortune teller outfit, meaning he's typically covered head to toe, complete with a veil.

Shen Yuan CAN actually see the future and show it to other people, either ala projector style 2d view of his choosing. or a complete 3d (like a pensieve in hp)

[thiscatdraws]

I think Binghe should keep growing forever. Like a lobster

[red-garden]

Classic Binggeyuan where Bingge comes to the modern world and lives with Shen Yuan, but during his Bingmei-ification he starts making money by becoming a famous beauty/fashion influencer. He keeps shilling for shitty skincare brands like “this destroyed all my closed comedones!” But he doesn’t actually use any of it because the protagonist halo gives him magically flawless skin. Everyone is sure he’s using a filter.

Additionally speculation starts about the mentally ill shit he keeps dropping about his relationship with his partner. True crime creators fixate on him. His comments are full of “Bing-mei’s partner, please run if you see this”.

Eventually Binghe does a ‘my partner does my makeup!’ video where only Shen Yuan’s arms are in view and Binghe puts a filter over his voice (doesn’t want anyone else to listen to Yuan-ge’s gentle voice). Except Shen Yuan is an anemic baddie and his arms are covered in bruises, and everyone freaks out.

[shen-jius-zoloft-prescription]

When Bingge finally gets Shen Yuan to return to his world with him, because empress, etc, etc, the sudden disappearance of both of them is met with actual panic.

Everyone is positive that one or more bodies are about to be found. True Crime podcasters are racing to figure out Shen Yuan's identity so they can harass question his family.

[chaosgirl99]

I need a The One Within the Villainess AU but for Shen Yuan and Shen Jiu.

I’m not entirely sure how the plot would go down, but I just really really want Shen Yuan to learn to love Shen Jiu, and for Shen Jiu to still be in there watching Shen Yuan live his life. Like Shen Yuan gets transmigrated into Shen Jiu’s body and at first Shen Jiu would hate it, and him, but he gets all these nice new memories of a loving family and emotions and eventually learns to appreciate Shen Yuan.

And then something happens that sends Shen Yuan spiraling and suddenly Shen Jiu’s back in charge of the body and pissed at the world for doing this to him.