#mxtx x reader

[xiaoyedengdeng]

The Art of War Never Mentioned, This!?

Ch 7:

Ch 8: what do i get out of this sidequest(⁠눈⁠‸⁠눈⁠)

After around an hour or so of walking, the group of four, had finally reached the bottom of Cang Qiong Mountain, and had made their entry into the village below the mountain base on the west side. The village immediately had a tense and dreary atmosphere to it, in the most ominous way it could possess. Tang Yinlie couldn't help but think of the video game series she used to love called Silent Hill. Everything was so foggy and wet looking. And yet, people were still out and about, the shop keepers shouting their advertisements and discounts, couples arguing over petty affairs, a few of the villages remaining kids running around and narrowly weaving past delicate objects that they could have easily broken with their carelessness. "I guess everyone here is used to the atmosphere, it's just normal to them," she had thought to herself, still walking a few paces behind Shen Qingqiu taking it all in.

"Spooky," Tang Yinlie quietly utters under her breath.

" You can't seriously be scared right now, are you?" Shen Qingqiu asks her, tilting his head back a little to look at her better. "Wasn't she like really into horror media, I remember Airplane bro making that a personality trait of hers in the novel, and one of the many reasons why she could never stay with a guy until the original Shen Qingqiu came along, other men always tried to change her, in favor of what they thought a woman should be. She was also rarely scared of anything."

"No, just saying it's spooky, thats all. Not scared. "

"Alright, well how about since we're here already, you two, Jin Meilian, and li Haoran. You both go locate and talk to the surviving children's families first, see if there's any new information they can spare for us, we'll start looking for that other child in the woods, come find us in two Incense time." He said stopping in his tracks, to turn on his heel and face them.

"Yes, shizun." And with that, the two junior disciples took off, in search of more information.

"Alright Qingqiu, lets go find this ghost kid," Tang Yinlie had said, cracking her knuckles as soon as the two younger disciples became far enough out of earshot.

"They may not be a ghost. Don't jump to conclusions, Yinlie."

"Okay, well considering this place reeks of Silent Hill fog, I'm gonna say it's a ghost until proven otherwise."

"… let's get going then."

The two of them had searched through the outskirts of the village first, Tang Yinlie vanishing occasionally to search through various abandoned houses, much to Shen Qingqiu's displeasure, at losing sight of her so many times. After coming up with nothing, and no recent witnesses testimonies to give any information on where would be a better place to search for this so called child. Tang Yinlie start had begnn walking towards the woods, in pursuit of the cave, not even bothering to wait to see if Shen Qingqiu had still been following her.

"Why does she keep wandering off? I'm already practically babysitting two actual children, I don't need to babysit someone almost the same age as me! This is ridiculous," Shen Qingqiu thought while quickly speeding up his steps to keep sight of her.

"The juniors will be meeting us near the cave soon anyways, I wanna see if we can find that ghost kid near the cave!" Tang Yinlie calls out behind her.

——————————————————————

Jin Meilian and Li Haoran had been walking around the village, after coming up with absolutely no new information from the surviving victim's families, they had been using up the time they still had before they needed to be heading towards their shi-jie and shizun.

"A-ran, have you ever noticed shi-jie and shizun around together? In the past?"

"No, I've never even seen them in the same area together." The boy replied.

"I just find it odd…" she trailed off.

"They must go on night hunts together, or some other activity when we're not aware."

"But, I see shi-jie fairly regularly! And not once have I ever seen her spending time with shizun! It's just strange. All of the sudden they're bickering, and going off together and shi-jie even rolled her eyes at him! Something must have happened."

"Meilian, you think too deeply sometimes, I think they truly are old friends, why else would they be so comfortable together?"

"I'm just curious, that's all.." Jin Meilian mumbles as she walks a small step ahead, doing one last sweep of an alleyway making sure theres nothing odd before they make their way towards the woods.

—————————————————————

At the mouth of the cave, Shen Qingqiu's eyes had landed on Tang Yinlie, who was peering in both corners of the cave entrance, before deciding to instead walk the surrounding area, as she tried to spot anything unusual. Shen Qingqiu followed behind her, his eyes also joining in to see if he could spot anything she had missed. Many long moments had passed as they walked almost in circles and as they both looked high and low, Jin Meilian, and Li Haoran could be heard approaching the pair, when suddenly Shen Qingqiu saw something out of the corner of his eye. Almost immediately as he does so, he smacks Tang Yinlie on the shoulder with his fan to get her attention, not noticing that she's already watching the humanoid figure that was staring back at her through the trees.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT THING!?! WHY DOES IT LOOK LIKE THAT WHAT THE FUCK! IT'S SO GROSS! STOP LOOKING AT ME LIKE THAT!" She screams internally, not even reacting to the slap of a fan on her shoulder from behind.

Meanwhile Shen Qingqiu had been watching the creature in pure curiosity and interest, his eyes seemed to sparkle in morbid awe at the creature, mentally wishing he had a camera to document this encounter. At the same time the two junior disciples nearby writhed in disgust upon laying their sight on the absolute horror beyond comprehension that the thing was in the distance, that seemed to only have its sight set on Tang Yinlie.

The Creature was small, and incredibly thin, it had joints that appeared to be contorted in ways that weren't possible for any common animal or human, knees and elbows if you could even call them that, were bent outward instead of inwards, and they were so long! How was this thing so dark and yet glowing at the same time? It's blank, souless white eyes were completely dead set on Tang Yinlie, it was almost as if didn't even care or notice that the other three people were even there.

Tang Yinlie had stayed still for far too long for her liking, this definitely wasn't some ghost, and she definitely did not like the fact that it seemed to be memorizing her features. She slowly moved a hand onto the handle of her sword, keeping eye contact with the thing. Then, without warning the others, she took off running straight towards it, ready to slice it as many times as it took to be sure this thing couldn't track her down in the future. " I'm not stuck in the woods with it, it's stuck here with me, I'm scarier than it is, I'm scarier than it is," she began chantinh to herself almost as if it were some prayer.

"SHI-JIE WAIT!' said Jin Meilian.

"SHI-JIE WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" Said Li Haoran.

"YINLIE GET BACK HERE!" said Shen Qingqiu, who immediately took off after her, leading his disciples to follow.

The only thing that Tang Yinlie could hear at the moment was that of her own heart beating inside her ears, the world around her rapidly shifting into just her and the beast. The disgusting beast that still remained with it's eyes locked onto hers, unmoving, even as she charged directly towards it, sword drawn and ready to kill. "Gross…why hasn't it moved? Wouldn't a monster at least flinch a little at an approaching enemy?" Just as she had become close enough to strike, the creature ran.

With a nauseating snap snap snap, and the sound of grinding bones scraping against eachother, the beast's limbs began to twist and shift into positions here and there, positions that shouldn't be possible for any living or unliving creature! Even the worlds most skilled contortionist would feel the need to vomit from a single look at the scene currently unfolding in front of her. Tang Yinlie didn't stop, as mortified as she was, she pursued. The moonlight that had been reflecting off of the glint from her sword disappeared at an alarming rate, yet she had failed to notice this detail, eyes locked on the creature quickening her steps to keep pace with it, Tang Yinlie couldn't have possibly known that her fellow cultivators were desperately chasing after her into the dark and endless cave, the cave she had intended to avoid.

—————————————————————

"Shit, shit, shit this is not good! She always was the spontaneous type wasn't she, IF THIS HEROINE DIES IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT AIRPLANE SHOOTING TOWARDS THE SKY YOU HACK OF AN AUTHOR! SHE'S NOT USED TO FIGHTING MONSTERS! WHAT HAPPENED TO AVOIDING THE CAVE AT ALL COSTS!?! WHY WOULD SHE RUN IN THERE WITH NO WARNING!?! Yinlie please don't die in there." Shen Qingqiu curses internally as he runs through the brush after her, losing his fan in the process.

"Both of you, have talismans ready!" Shen Qingqiu shouts over his shoulder at the two junior disciples frantically keeping pace behind him.

"Shizun, what is that thing?!" Jin Meilian shouts.

"It's some sort of water beast, this cave is it's nest and feeding ground, who knows what else is lurking inside." Shen Qingqiu responds, trying not to think too much on that last part.

The three cultivators slow their running as their sight rapidly darkens. The inside of the cave is like a damp and endless void of nothingess, the only sound that can be heard is the soft rippling of water somewhere unseen, and the occasional drip of dew from the ceiling, Shen Qingqiu silently hopes it's dew.

"SHI-J-" Jin Meilian begins to call out, before abruptly being silenced by a hand over her mouth.

"Silence isn't a good thing shi-mei!" Li Haoran whisper shouts at the girl, fearing what may have happened if she had foolishly called out to the elder disciple.

"Haoran, keep her with you, it's impossible to tell where the pools start and end, it's like the cave is altering the location of sound.." Shen Qingqiu firmly speaks, looking around in trepidation, blinking over and over again as if that would magically adjust his eyes to the vast darkness, and when he opens them again he'll be able to see Tang Yinlie in front of him, smiling and showing off that she successfully slayed the beast." I'm about to do the same stupid thing that I always yelled at girls in horror films for doing right before the slasher killed them!" Shen Qingqiu takes a deep breath, steeling his nerves.

"TAAAANG YINLIEEEE!!! ANSWER ME!!"

Jin Meilian, who still had a hand covering her mouth's eyes widened in shock. Li Haoran who's hand was still covering her mouth's jaw had dropped, he couldn't believe his shizun was doing something so wreckless like shouting loudly in a barely lit cave, with the very high likelihood that the three of them were now in the process of being completely and utterly surrounded by unknown monsters, and won't live to tell the tale!

"Shizun-?" A nervous Haoran manages to muster.

SPLASH

All three pairs of eyes lock onto the same direction, that didn't sound distorted like the others. Oh no.

"YINLIE!!!" Shen Qingqiu's voice almost cracks as he calls out anxiously. The two terrified disciples behind him barely had time for their legs to catch up with their brains, when their shizun, was already running out of what little sight they had in the darkness, towards the location of the splashing.

Authors note:I hope you enjoyed, you can thank or blame the spirit of cucumber bro who forced my hand. (This chapter never originally existed, i don't know whats happening, i don't know his next move bro, Shen Qingqiu is the author now, I'm just his scribe.)

[xiaoyedengdeng]

The Art of War Never Mentioned, This!?

Ch 7: Damn water ghosts

Ch 6:

The next day Tang Yinlie had planned to find Shen Qingqiu and chat some more with him, choosing to to just deal with the very different plot she was in as she comes and goes. She had left her living quarters after eating lunch, she wasn't used to being around so many cultivators that actively practiced inedia, some rarely stopping for meals unless they're in need of recovery. She found her way outside, walking a unexpected short distance to where Shen Qingqiu stayed, not without taking note of the very strange absence of a certain half demon. "I doubt that's a good thing…" she thought.

"Qingqiu?" Tang Yinlie calls out, not bothering to wait outside the door for the man to answer, instead letting herself right in. Inside she eventually found Shen Qingqiu going over some paperwork at his desk.

"You're actually doing it? I half expected you to pass that all onto someone else, no offense. I'm just surprised."

Shen Qingqiu puts down the task that he was currently working on to look at her properly, half- not at all surprised that she had just let herself in, not even a knock. " I'm just writing some possible strategies for a few upcoming missions, so the junior disciples aren't thrown in with the wolves. "

"Can I help you with it?"

"Really? If you truly want to, two brains are better than one, so, yes, you can help, though I've practically gone through all of it already. You can just review the finished stack over here." Shen Qingqiu tells her, thankful for her generous offer to help him with some of his more boring duties as a peak lord, especially one as stressful as managing all the peak disciples and sending them off on dangerous missions.

Tang Yinlie moved across the room to sit beside him, once settled she reached to pick up a few papers from the top of the stack that Shen Qingqiu had set aside on the desk. After doing so she proceeded to slowly read through the details of the missions and give Qingqiu a few possible critiques of his notes in the margins, which shen Qingqiu was very grateful for… after he got over the slight offense he took to it. Knowing she wasn't critiquing him, himself. But, rather offering more insight on his ideas.

"Who exactly were you planning to assign this one too?" Tang Yinlie says looking at one of the missions she held in her hands.

"Which one?" Shen Qingqiu asks, not looking up, due to the fact that he was in the middle of stacking together all the papers into proper order, to be given out later that day, or even the following days, varying on urgency and what disciples are available or able to take them on.

"The one that says that a bunch of kids in a large village keep going missing. And your notes say that theres been a few reports that some of the parents have come out and apologized for panicking, and reporting their kid missing too soon…some of the kids came back? Were they okay?" She asks, wanting more information.

"Oh, that one. Yes, apparently only three children have survived and returned so far, one, has since gone mute, so I couldn't push my research on that one, who knows what she saw. The other two, however, one returned on his own, he told his parents that he and a few friends in the village had regularly played around the area, and the day it happened they had decided to enter the cave to have more space for on of their games. When he heard his friends pained screams he got scared and took off running to find adults who could help. Something had tried to grab him on the way out, so the poor kid has a terrible scar on his arm for the rest of his life."

"And what about the third child? You only explained what happened to two of them."

"The third one, we need to research more into. I could find anything or anyone that knew more details. The reports only mention a child coming out of fhe cave. There's no information on who they are, or what family they belong to. When some of the locals had seen them leave the area, they had tried to follow them out of concern, and to offer them help. They came up with absolutely nothing, lost track of the kid completely almost in thin air. Could very possibly be a ghost, and not anything urgent to the case."

"Isn't that cave connected to some sort of water system? It's pretty deep. The one west of the base of the mountain right?"

"I believe it is, I haven't really explored outside of the mountain that much myself though." Shen Qingqiu, replied.

"Qingqiu, that could be really dangerous for a lower level disciple! Please tell me if you plan on sending some Juniors you'll be accompanying them at least."

"I was planning to, I'm not a monster. You should come along, it was just going to be me and two junior disciples, but then again, the more the merrier. And you know that I don't really enjoy all that fighting."

"I will join! But, I actually had something else that I wanted to discuss with you today, it's on a more serious note. When does this mission need to be started?"

"As soon as possible, I already told the juniors to be prepared for it yesterday. We can discuss whatever it is that's on your mind after we've completed it, as long as that's alright with you? Is it time sensitive?" He asked.

"No, it's not."

"If you'd like, I plan to head to a peak council meeting that will be taking place shortly after the estimated time we'll have completed this mission. You're more than welcome to come along, and we can discuss what you need as we walk."

"A council meeting? What about? Anything important?" She asked. "What was that big event that happened near the beginning of the novel, damn I can't remember, what if this is it, but just extremely delayed?"

"Just maintenance really, it's more of a catch up session for all the peak lords, there's nothing too dire coming up that we need to discuss, nobody would mind if you came inside, I'll just say you're there to help take notes of things or something, or you can stay outside if you rather do that."

"I like that plan, I'll tag along. I guess I'll just ahead and go grab my things then…"

"While you're heading that way, would you mind to pass these along to Ming Fan? He's most likely out there about, somewhere right now." Shen Qingqiu asks, offering her the now completed stack of papers thanks to their speedy teamwork.

"Yeah, no problem." Tang Yinlie, said as she took them standing from her seat beside him at the desk, to walk out of his living space, in search of Ming Fan and to retrieve her sword. "I wonder if Ming Fan's still a little kiss up bitch".

After successfully passing along the paperwork to a surprised and slightly jealous, Ming Fan, who had not been expecting this random shi-jie to be the middle man between him and Peak Lord Shen. Tang Yinlie had run back to her room to retriev her sword, walking towards where she had assumed Shen Qingqiu and whoever the two juniors he had dragged into the mission would be waiting for her.

Shen Qingqiu stood there alongside of the two junior disciples, patiently awaiting to see the girl. When he finally saw Tang Yinlie's familiar silhouette approaching, he waved her over to join the small group. Smiling softly as she walked closer.

Tang Yinlie's mood soured when she got close enough to recognize one familiar face out of the two, "Change it."

"Change it!? Whats wrong with who I chose?" Shen Qingqiu asked, confused by her sudden demand.

"She can't swim." Tang Yinlie says, while pointing at a nervously smiling Jin Meilian.

"Well, ideally we won't need to enter the cave that deep. She's a strong cultivator, don't underestimate her abilities." Shen Qingqiu, rebutted.

"If something happens on this mission, and any of us end up in that cave like those kids it will be your fault. I don't underestimate anybody here I simply worry about someone I care about. It's a big dark cave, full of endless underwater paths that we don't even know about."

"Shi-mei.., it's too late to make any rearrangements for this mission, my decision is final. I will do my job as Shizun to keep everyone alive. Now let's get going before anyone else goes missing." Shen Qingqiu says, using honorifics to keep up with in world appearances, and not wanting to get into another petty argument with her again so soon. Turning away before he could see Tang Yinlie roll her eyes at him in annoyance.

"Meilian, try to stay away from inside of the cave if you can, just away from the pools really." Tang Yinlie says to her friend.

"I'll be careful, shi-jie. I'll stay with Haoran, I won't go off alone. Don't worry about this disciple."

"The two of you are friends? I wonder if theres a romance brewing here…"

"Yes we are! We've both known eachother a long time! We grew up together." Jin Meilian smiles.

"Good, he better help you if you run into any trouble today and we're not there to step in and help." Tang Yinlie says aiming her eyes directly at the boy as if mentally saying, " If you let Meilian drown in there, I'll hunt you down boy."

The poor male disciple shudders, mentally receiving the message, that sounds more like a thinky veiled threat.

"I can swim. I'm a strong swimmer." He desperately admits.

"Good." Tang Yinlie states, she was greatful for the boys presence, since she had a feeling that Shen Qingqiu might try to use her as some sort of bodyguard at some point, knowing how he can be at times, especially how he had used Liu Qingge as a constant uber on speed dial, to be fair that was also because he contracted without a cure, which isn't true to this world.

"Are you and Shizun familiar with eachother?" Meilian can't help but ask, as she'd never seen the two interact before, and here Tang Yinlie was, rolling her eyes behind his back.

"In a way, we've known eachother for awhile you could say."

Shen Qingqiu can't help but silently laugh to himself a few paces ahead of the three. Bringing Yinlie along, was definitely a good idea, her being there will speed the whole thing up.

"Shizun, how common are water creatures around here?" Tang Yinlie asked, knowing that Shen Qingqiu would know that she meant, in this universe, and not in the area.

"I've heard of a few reports, there seems to be several different kinds appearing here and there, so I'm not exactly sure what kind we'll be dealing with, spirit or demon, or something else entirely. Let's hope it's one and not multiple working together, i'd rather us not be outnumbered."

"Could be a snake."

"You think it's a giant snake?" He asks. "Does she know about this already from the novel I'm from?? Is this her way of subtly hinting to me?"

"It's possible, it's the perfect breeding grounds and environment for one to be, could also just be a ghost or something."

"She definitely doesn't know anything…." Qingqiu thinks before speaking. "The first task, is looking into that child that vanished from thin air, then we'll check around the outside of the cave, we'll only enter it if absolutely necessary."

"I wonder if he's getting any points from this mission? Come to think of it again where is Luo Binghe, wouldn't it be better if he were here instead?" Tang Yinlie wonders to herself as they walk down the mountain and towards the village, choosing not to fly on their swords because apparently neither junior disciple is confident doing that actively.

Ch 8:

[xiaoyedengdeng]

The Art of War Never Mentioned, This!?

Ch 6. Shen Yuan, the film critique.

Ch 5.

Shen Qingqiu pressed his closed fan against his forehead, in deep thought. Tang Yinlie, the random cultivator he had stumbled upon during his routine walk through the bamboo forest, near the edge of Qing Jing peak, has never read Proud Immortal Demon Way, and yet somehow knows everything, and apparently transmigrated from a novel of a completely different title, because she claims that PIDW doesn't even exist?

"This is insane... how is that even possible?"

"Look, Qingqiu. I would love to explain it to you, I really would. But, I'm actually afraid you could possibly go into qi diviation. Just process everything for now," Tang Yinlie tells the man, who just so happens to be a character whom she feels empathy for. And would never want to cause him any unnecessary emotional stress.

Shen Qingqiu sighed once more, he felt slightly touched? That she seemed actually concerned about potentially sending him into qi diviation, he looked her in the eyes before speaking again.

" I've been through my fair share of bullshit, believe me. Don't worry about me. I can handle whatever it is You've got to say... actually, I might go into qi diviation if you don't."

"Are you sure?" She asks him, in genuine concern.

"Yes. I'm sure. Just spit it out and tell me, I've heard worse," he demands, feeling rather snippy.

"Alright... So, basically without spoiling anything that may potentially screw you over, or me over...in Scum Villain. You transmigrate into the web novel Proud Immortal Demon Way, after dying because you choked on food. So just like the original Shen Qingqiu is a character in a novel to you, you, Shen Yuan, are also a character in a novel, to me."

He had listened to her intently as she explained the basics. This had not been the weirdest thing that had happened to him, but he has to admit that this is much weirder than the fact that he even transmigrated into a novel in the first place.

"...... Alright, that....makes sense. I guess. We're both in the same sinking ship then?" He responds, trying to make light of the situation, feeling rather embarrassed that she read about his anticlimactic death in his original body.

"It appears so," Tang Yinlie affirms after a short moment of silence.

"...... I have a question," she announces.

"Oh? What is it then?" Shen Qingqiu, asks, feeling a bit more at ease with the girl, with a new sense of familiarity.

"What the actual fuck, did you mean by my name sounding like its from a badly written romance novel!?"

"Oh...that.....um. Well I just assumed that I recognize your current body's character name, and I had thought that you knew who I was from a PIDW chat forum or had a connection to Airplane. But that doesn't explain the amount of spiritual energy I detected on you at first. You have a martial lineage don't you? Wouldn't this character be mentioned more than once?" Shen Qingqiu, nervously explains.

"That's the thing, I'm like ninety percent sure that I just got copy pasted from my world to here, there is no pre-existing character's body for me to inhabit. This is just me, my name, my upbringing, my face. I don't understand it quite yet." Tang Yinlie confesses.

"What!? Seriously? You still have a system though don't you?"

"I don't, honestly, I wish I did though."

"Then how do I recognize your name, it's so familiar.....," just as he said that, he remembered something about the PIDW franchise, Airplane had written more. And her exact name is mentioned countless times! She's a character in something he's read! "There's a other novel."

"Yeah?" Tang Yinlie, narrows her eyes at his confession.

"Well, I just now remembered that Airplane bro...the author of Proud Immortal Demon Way as you know, he wrote a sequel to it... about you."

Tang Yinlie, closed the gap of respectful distance they had been keeping across from eachother, with a desperate look in her eyes. She gripped his shoulders, almost digging her nails into his flesh as she did so.

"I need you to tell me if you've read that novel," she begs the man, horrified at the possibility that he's read it. Knowing just what types of scenes Airplane-Shooting-Towards-The-Sky pointlessly writes about.

Taken aback by her sudden desperate look in her eyes, on top of her bird of prey-like death grip on his shoulders, Shen Qingqiu, breathlessly laughs to himself, finding amusement in the situation.

"And what if I have? Why do you look so embarrassed?" He asks leaning closer to her face, raising an eyebrow as he does so.

"Auuuuugghhhhhhhaaaaaah," Tang Yinlie dramatically groans, simultaneously falling to her knees, and finally, falling over face first into the earth.

Shen Qingqiu, looked at her incredulously. Chuckling to himself, as he crouched down onto the earth, next to her defeated body.

"What? You can't handle being a novel heroine in my world? This isn't some one way street."

"If I'm also a novel character......Am I at least well written?" Tang Yinlie, mutters into the ground, loud enough that he could still hear her.

Shen Qingqiu can't help the unconscious movement of his hand, to gently pat her head, in a almost mocking manner. He really couldn't help it, her little meltdown reminds him too much of a small child in distress.

"Of course you're well written. You're actually very interesting and entertaining. Although the plot was quite stupid, I quite enjoyed reading about you."

"Disgusting," she mutters assuming the worst.

"Hey, don't say that. You don't even know the plot! Don't be offended, I didn't mean it like that." He refutes, poking her cheek with the tip of his fan, to get her attention.

"You're the main love interest, isn't that far better than some random side character who only appears a handful of times?"

"I don't do romance." Tang Yinlie huffs still not moving from her position.

"Too focused on mastering the Art of War, to care about romantic pursuits, huh?" He teases her. Feeling extremely amused at the irony of her refusal of romance, despite being a leading character in a romance novel.

Tang Yinlie continued to lay there, unresponsive, face first on the ground, deep in thought.

" So Shen Yuan transmigated here and is now Shen Qingqiu, from his world into a novel. I also transmigrated.....as myself? Into a novel about him transmigrating into a novel, but I'm also a character in a novel that exists in his world that he's read about...OH GOD MY BRAIN HURTS!"

"I hate Inception..." She groans into the ground, narrowly avoiding a mouth full of dirt.

Shen Qingqiu's ears perk up at the mention of the word inception, that was one of his favorite movies. It existed in her world too?

"Hey, that's a really good movie!"

"Wouldn't know, never actually seen it," she mutters.

"You're insulting a movie you've never even seen!?" He asks.

"No, I'm insulting the situation that we're in"

"Wait, but you still know about it? It exists in your world too??" He asks with excitement.

"Mh hmmm, seems stupid though, never bothered to watch it."

"Stupid!? What the hell are you talking about? That movie is a masterpiece!" Shen Qingqiu argues.

"Of course you'd like it, it's a classic to men just like the Matrix." She turns her head, to squint at him.

"You say that, as if im some stereotypical guy, just for liking a good movie. One that you haven't even seen at that! And the matrix is a classic, I'll have you know," he states, confidently having no shame at all about his taste in films.

"You like James Bond too don't you?"

Shen Qingqiu, pauses. "How does she know that? Can she read minds too??"

He internally questions.

"...Yeah, I do. How did you know?"

"Hmmf... typical." Tang Yinlie huffs, with her face falling back to it's previous position.

"What's that supposed to mean? What? Do you hate Star Wars too!?" He furrows his brows, staring at her face half hidden in the grass. Glaring, as he notices her hand raising, to open and close in a mocking way as he speaks.

"No. I like Star Wars...even the prequels."

"Good, at least you have some taste when it comes to classics," Shen Qingqiu almost laughs, with a smug grin, happy that he wasn't being completely criticized.

"Don't make me regret being thankful that you're not the original Xiu Ya sword, Tang Yinlie, whines, already annoyed with his arguing about films, she needed floor time, her brain was broken.

"Oh, you don't mean that. You'd probably hate the original far more than me. I'm much better," he says, with his smirk widening.

"You are far better to deal with, yes. But that still doesn't erase the fact that you're arguing over which movie is or isn't shit, while I'm trying to become one with the worms here. Also the original Shen Jiu was misunderstood, he acted that way out of trauma, isn't an excuse, but he deserved a better fate than that."

"Is that what we're calling complaining and whining into the soil, like a whiney child now? You're being a bit dramatic..." Shen Qingqiu's smirk widens.

"Princess Bride and Zorro are much better than Inception and the Matrix ." Tang Yinlie huffs, as if making a point.

"You didn't seriously just say that two of the most cliche, and cheesy swordsman movies are better...Nope. No way. I'm sorry, those are like...cliche as fuck. Not to mention old as fuck." This girl can't be serious."

"No. I'm sorry. That you're blind! How can you say that when your movie's are old too!?" Tang Yinlie says, feeling defensive.

"You can at least, choose movies with more complexity than those!" He remarks, stubbornly. He was not backing down from this movie debate.

"Agree to disagree, but if you disrespect The Thirteenth warrior, I'm forgetting you ever even existed," She sits up, crossing her arms at him.

".. Damn it. I'll give you that, and Star Wars. But my point still stands."

Tang Yinlie acting purely on stubborn impulse, picked up a nearby stick, and aimed it at his head, which to her misfortune, he smoothly dodged.

"Why are you attacking me!? We came to a conclusion didn't we!?"

"We better have," she glares at him.

"You're incredibly stubborn you know," Shen Qingqiu says, while deciding to help her to stand, well more like force.

"Hmf... I'm aware."

"That's good. Self awareness is hard to come by," he chuckles, while tugging on her sleeve, in a not so subtle way to say let's walk and talk.

"Why did you refer to the original body as Shen Jiu and not his courtesy name? I apologize, just find it odd to hear from a fellow reader of his story." Shen Qingqiu can't resist asking.

"Well, as you know Shen Jiu is his given name before he became part of the Cang Qiong Mountain sect, us Scum Villian fans use it commonly to differentiate between you and the original, kind of just like we use Bingmei or Binghe, Binghe, being the former from PIDW, and Binghe, being the current, personally I feel like it's a tad demeaning to call him by his number though," Tang Yinlie, explains.

"I guess I can understand why you find it demeaning given his past. But it's not like he experienced any greif over it." Shen Qingqiu mutters.

"You haven't unlocked that information yet, I think?...The original, you remember was a slave and his given number instead of a proper name, was nine. He went through a lot of abuse and even worse trauma in those days. Which gave him mixed feelings, well negative mostly, about his courtesy, and your current name, Shen Qingqiu. Since the family he suffered under was the Qiu family. So I always feel guilty calling him Jiu, but there's no other fandom name that seems appropriate to refer to him as."

"What else do you remember?"

And with that, the late mid afternoon shifts into a cool evening, as they silently walk side by side.

Ch 7:

[xiaoyedengdeng]

I'm gonna write more for the art of war never mentioned this fic, just editing/adding/ revising what i have first because i wrote it all in a short span and didn't realize my inconsistent word count (and is nowhere near a minimum i told myself I'd do for each chapter)

Chpt 1 &2 has been updated on a03 though.

Will work on 3 soon

And will update existing chapters on here AFTER I'm done with all of them

[xiaoyedengdeng]

The Art of War Never Mentioned, This!?

Ch 4.

Chapter 5: Maidenless behavior

(UPDATED)

Oh thank god! That was really risky!" Tang Yinlie's guarded posture slowly deflated into a more relaxed state, as she placed her hands on her knees, sighing in relief at the revelation. "This makes things so, so much easier for me now! I can just throw those emergency plans away and just live normally as a cultivator on Qing Jing Peak! I don't have to heal the original Shen Jiu's past trauma as an unqualified therapist! And I don't have to carefully stick my nose into all of Luo Binghe's conflicts with the tiniest hope that it may change the outcome of the story!......but that doesn't make sense still, the plot is different than what i read."Tang Yinlie was, extremely confused.

Shen Qingqiu, continued to gawk at her, in complete disbelief, confused at why this girl is thanking the heavens out of nowhere instead of answering his question! Again! This is the second time that she's ignored him! The first time he can forgive, but twice in one afternoon?? That's just lacking good manners! He must be having some sort of spiritual fever dream, or something! No that can't be, his spiritual core is too sturdy to just qi diviate randomly! There's no possible way this random girl knows his online username, unless she's related to Airplane bro somehow, but how is he supposed to go about asking her that? Thats if she even knows the man. And if that's true why didn't Shang Qinghua tell him there was another transmigrator aside from the two of them? Absolutely flabbergasted, he crossed his arms over his chest once more, this time defensively.

"No, you're not going to avoid another question, I won't allow it, ....how in the hell do you know that?" He demanded, as he reached into his robes to pull out a second fan, aiming it pointed towards her in accusation.

"I also transmigrated here. I'm just so happy it's you, and I don't have to be in a stupid harem! I don't have to think so much! And worry about the original Shen Qingqiu! I'm really glad to see you!" Tang Yinlie almost squeels the last part in utter relief.

Shen Qingqiu stood there, as he blinked in confusion. "Wait, wait, wait.... you're saying you transmigrated into this body too???? Why into the body of some side character?"

As a tsunami of different emotions had passed through his body, Shen Qingqiu had found relief there was another modern person aside from you know who shooting towards the sky. He still felt some after effects of shock, and was also confused why she was some unknown NPC. Wouldn't transmigration make more sense if it was into a body with more plot presence? He himself and Airplane bro, transmigrated into characters with an unfortunate original fate after all. He released a soft groan, and pinched the bridge of his nose between his fingers.

"This...... isn't happening..." He mutters, wanting to believe it. But doubt is a persistent thing. ".....Prove it," Shen Qingqiu demands, crossing his arms once more.

"Prove that I transmigrated?" Tang YinLie was definitely not expecting this demand, she had assumed he'd accept the fact without proof.

"Yes. Prove to me that you transmigrated into this hack novel, just like i did."

"...Prove to you other than the fact that i somehow know your online username is Peerless Cucumber?? What else am I supposed to do?"

Shen Qingqiu thought for a moment. She did know his username, but that's not enough to fully convince him, this is just too weird that not only the author of the damn novel transmigrated alongside him, but now someone completely new has as arrived here as well!

"Fine, fine, let me think of some questions I can ask you...." after some thought, a smirk begins to make it's way into his face, now knowing the perfect questions to ask.

"You're really going to give me a quiz right now? Knowing who you are isn't enough??...ughhh fine, shoot," Tang Yinlie, groans, displeased with the man already.

Resting a slender finger into his chin, as if he were in contemplation of a serious matter, he narrowed his eyes at her. "Nobody that hasn't read Proud Immortal Demon Way, or even those that only read parts then go on lying about reading it, would know the answers to such simple questions like these, they'd only focus on the bigger events in the plot and probably confuse things because of fan theories being so rampid in online forums."

"Why was the protagonist given his name?"

"Because it reflects where the fisherman found him, it's kind of, like...in the name itself," Tang Yinlie replies, a tad irritated.

He huffed in annoyance, even though the question was a pretty basic one to start, he's still only half convinced. "Alright then.... what's his mothers name then? Since you're looking at me as if these questions are common sense," he smirks deeper this time, knowing that this has to be more difficult to remember, he's not even sure if he himself knows the answer to this one, it's been a few years since he had read it.

"His birth mom died in childbirth delivering him, and his adoptive mother died in the first chapter, she was sick or something, I don't even think we were given his adopted moms name, his birth mom is Su Xiyan who conceived him with Tianlang-jun, the former demon realm ruler. You seriously expect me to know the answer to both his moms names? Do you even know his adopted moms name?"

"....." Damnit, he was getting annoyed at her quick responses, as if she's waiting for him to finally shut up, which, evidently, she was. "Just one more question, then I'll be convinced."

"Oh my gawwwd,, two correct answers aren't good enough!?" Tang Yinlie groans, hands going up to the sides of her head to tug at her hair.

He raised an eyebrow at her sudden impatience, then Shen Qingqiu laughed under his breath. "I'm sorry, are my very reasonable questions tiring you? Or are they getting too hard for you now?" He asks in a rather cocky tone.

"Ask the damn question. PLEASE."

Rolling his eyes in amusement. Shen Qingqiu then leans down slightly to become eye level with her, pointing his fan once more, the tip of the fan hovering just centimeters from the edge of her nose. "There's no need to get snappy with me. Answer this one and I'll stop bothering you, okay? Now, tell me, what's the name of Luo Binghe's first wife?"

Tang Yinlie stares blanky in response. ".... I don't have that answer, pass."

Shen Qingqiu let out a soft chuckle, and stood up straighter than he had been previously, his tone grew cockier. Feeling extremely smug that she didn't have the answer to this one. "You don't know it do you?"

"Well, no. That's not my issue. The answer to that is either I don't fucking know, Luo Binghe has too many wives to remember what the first one's name is, or the answer just isn't applicable. Maybe I just forget the name, but why would i remember that? Luo BingHe doesn't have a wife," Tang Yinlie, narrows her own eyes back at him, feeling completely tired of this whole exchange.

Shen Qingqiu's smug satisfaction was short lived. Instead he was feeling confused once more by her answer. His smirk faltering, he couldn't stop the question that rested on the edge of his tongue from escaping his lips.

"You...what? What do you mean Luo Binghe doesn't have a wife? Of course he does! He ends up with a harem of hundreds, going into the thousands of beautiful women!"

"Hahaha...ohhh my sweet summer child," Tang Yinlie can't help the feeling of pure amusement at the irony of his question.

Shen Qingqiu felt suprised at her reaction, and found it rather odd and unfamiliar to his ears to hear a response...so modern, after having been in this ancient cultivation world for the past few years modern speech patterns now seem foreign to him. He crossed his arms in annoyance, feeling offended at being called a "sweet summer child", as if she knew something he didn't, be obviously new more about Proud Immortal Demon Way than she did! Ning Yingying was an important part of Luo Binghe's characters development! And she can't even remember the girls name?

"Excuse me? What the hell is that even supposed to mean? Of course Luo Binghe has a wife, he has several!"

Tang Yinlie smiled, as she continued to enjoy the irony of the situation at hand, she had tried her best not to laugh at the poor man any further but this really truly was an amusing situation.

"Oh, Qingqiu you sweet, ignorant little man," Tang Yinlie, huffs in amusement one last time.

"Luo Binghe doesn't have any wives in the novel that I read."

".........," Shen Qingqiu stared blanky at her.

"The protagonist of a stallion novel doesn't have a wife!? You have to be joking! Theres no way in hell, thet THE Luo Binghe owner of Xin Mo sword, doesn't have a harem, are you sure we were reading the same novel!? You have to be hallucinating or something," Shen Qingqiu barks at her in complete disbelief, as if she had just tried to convince him that trees can just get up whenever they please, and move about the earth, with a graceful movement full of confidence.

"You're right, no, we didn't read the same novel, I've never actually read Proud Immortal Demon Way, although if it were real, i would have gladly. It Seemed interesting enough to satisfy my curiosity at how passionate you were about it, and I would have liked to know more details about Luo Binghe's original life. It truly is such a shame I'll never be able to read it, I always loved reading about alternative universes of pre-existing novels" Tang Yinlie, said mournfully staring back at him.

The answer sent a new layer of shock through his system. She...never read Proud Immortal Demon Way?? Then how did she know anything about it!? How did she even recognize anything here when she first transmigrated then?

" You... haven't read it? Not even a snippet of it? Obviously you know who Luo Binghe is, you didn't even have friends who talked about it, who showed you fanart or something?" His face scrunches in confusion.

"The book doesn't exist, I don't know how else to explain it to you, sorry."

Shen Qingqiu's brain was about to overheat. What does that mean? Proud Immortal Demon Way doesn't exist? Of course it does! And he's living breathing proof of that fact!

"What the hell do you mean, it doesn't exist? Of course Proud Immortal Demon Way exists!! Are you even hearing yourself right now!?"

"Qingqiu, babe. You transmigrated into a popular stallion novel called Proud Immortal Demon Way . I, however did not. I transmigrated into a different novel,' Tang Yinlie states, matter of factly.

After more than half of his braincells seem to buffer all at the same time, due to the fact she had so casually called him babe, throwing him off beat, Shen Qingqiu scoffs.

"Obviously I know what novel I transmigrated into! But, how are you saying you didn't!? What novel world do you think that you're in right now, then!?"

"It's called The Scum Villian's Self-Saving System, and its a very good read, a much more dynamic plot than Proud Immortal Demon Way had," she huffs out.

Shen Qingqiu's eyes widened, and narrowed again at the bombshell she had just dropped on him. He sighed, and pinched his nose for gods know how many times now, as he tried to wrap his head around the fact that she had supposedly transmigrated from a complete different novel as him, and yet, somehow into the same universe.

"Wait...can you please repeat that for me? The Scum Villian's Self-Saving System?"

"That's correct, " Tang Yinlie states, as she affirms his question once more.

Ch 6.

[xiaoyedengdeng]

The Art of War Never Mentioned, This!?

Chapter 3: I'm not in some stupid harem novel....am i?

(UPDATED)

Authors note: girlypop is going through it, and so is the author

Ch.2

After around the second hour of lying motionless, starfished atop of the bed immediately upon waking up due to the unforgiving sun light seeping in through the window, staring blanky at the ceiling, Tang Yinlie slowly has come to accept the fact that she is, somehow, now in the scum villain novel, for real.

Deciding to force herself be a productive member of the sect, that she's unwillingly apart of now, and to figure out more about the people she's supposed to know, and about who exactly she is, she sets off to mingle outside. But, as she reaches for the door, suddenly Tang Yinlie realizes there's no system greeting her like how both transmigrators before her had installed when they transmigrated themselves.

" Ummm hellooo, system? Do I have one of you?"

No reply.

" System, tell me the rules and who the fuck I'm supposed to be!?!?"

"Why don't I have a system? Both transmigrators in the novel have one, why am I any different? Well, I obviously don't want to change the plot, so maybe whatever higher being is responsible for all of this ....trusts me. POOKIE I DON'T TRUST MYSELF, WHY WOULD YOU?!? I AM CLUMSY WHAT IF I BUTTERFLY EFFECT KILL MOBEI-JUN OD SOMETHING!??!"

After placing her forehead against the door in extreme frustration, she sets off to track down every single sect member that knows her, and engage in polite interrogation.

It's been around two weeks since Tang Yinlie first transmigrated into this novel, and over these two weeks, she has successfully tricked many people into writing down their names, so that she doesn't seem rude, by asking directly due to not knowing who the hell they are. Under the guise of "shi-di, shi-mei help shi-jie with calligraphy please, I'd like to compare our penmanship", she has slowly collected a very long list of names, that she can't possibly forget after reading them to herself for two weeks straight every morning and night.

In that time she's discovered, that her life here has been somewhat extremely similar to her original life outside of the novel, she even has the same name as this character.....if the character even existed in this world that is, it's starting to seem as if she was just cut and pasted out of her world and into this one. That would explain the lack of a system, but still leaves the bigger question. "Why am I here? I mean, I guess I'm glad I'm not actually dead, but still isn't there always a reason for these kinds of things".

"If I had that asshole system, I wouldn't have to be tricking people like this....I can't believe I'm envious of the struggles that come with a system in this story....at least i don't have ro worry bout OOC warnings and point deductions"

"Meilian!" Tang YinLie calls after the nice meimei that had brought her food that first day, now knowing that the girls name is Jin Meilian. Who was born into Qing Jing peak, instead of obtaining a "scholarship", how lucky for her.

"Shi-jie! Is everything alright? Do you need something?" Jin Meilian smiles brightly.

"No, no, not at all, I only wanted to gossip some. I'm feeling quite nosy today," Tang Yinlie laughs.

"What did you want to know, shi-jie?"

"Hmm ....well, I just wanted to know how Peak lord Shen is these days, if you know that is, you know my memory still has some missing parts. I don't recall seeing him at all since after I regained consciousness." She smoothly lied, wanting to know where exactly in the plotline she is in the novel . After all, she's spent weeks trying to get to know the kind younger disciples who seem to adore her, but she's been procrastinating this question for far too long.

"He's doing okay, the usual."

"He hasn't gone into seclusion yet has he..?"

"Shi-jie that was months ago!" Jin Meilian giggles.

" How is he doing okay, what do you mean by that? What about without a cure? The poison."

"Shi-jie, this disciple has no idea what you're speaking of. Nobody has been poisoned, especially peak lord Shen. Did you have nightmares while you were unconscious back then?" Jin Meilian responds with a sad look of concern on her kind face.

"Oh. My. God . THIS ISN'T WHAT I READ AT ALL. ....oh no.....what if im actually in Proud Immortal Demon Way instead?Where luo Binghe seems to just snatch up every woman in each sect like a MANWHORE. I DON'T WANT TO PART OF A HAREM AND BE A FORGOTTEN OUT OF WHAT? LIKE A THOUSAND, TWO THOUSAND? WIVES!?!!........I think i'm gonna crash out. Is this what it feels like to Qi diviate? Just put me out of my misery, please, ANYONE, I BEG OF YOU."

"Shi-jie, you look troubled." Jin Meilian, says interrupting Tang Yinlie's current mental spiral into slight insanity.

"Ehhh? A bit, actually. I think I just need to take a walk to clear my mind. Thank you for always talking with me about things like this, shi-mei," Tang Yinlie replies, before leisurely walking towards the bamboo forest near the edge of the peak.

"You're fine, Yinlie. You're not in some stallion harem novel...I hope." Tang Yinlie desperately tries to mentally reassure herself.

"But what if I am in one?!! That novel doesn't even exist! It's a novel within a novel! How the actual fuck am I supposed to know anything about the plot details?!? I always wished that the author had made some sort of extra or alternate reality novel about the original Proud Immortal Demon Way, but she OBVIOUSLY DIDN'T DO THAT. And now I'm fucked."

"Hmff...walk it off, walk it off. I can find out later.." she audibly mumbles, continuing through what should be a very peaceful forest, but unfortunately for her, she is unable to take in and appreciate the forest's serene beauty due to her aggravated mental state.

"So, Shen Qingqiu's seclusion already happened, the confrontation with Sha Hualing already happened months*ago.... damn it, I should have asked Jin Meilian how many months exactly, two months? Nine months???.... Shen Qingqiu didn't contract, without a cure, so this is the original Shen Jiu here and not Shen Yuan.... Which means that the whole cliff scene is probably going to happen really soon, and that just kicks off the the Luo Binghe, slut era and Shen Jiu's horrible fate.... I don't want to end up part of a demonic harem, and I also don't want to end up on the other end of the original Luo Binghe's wrath if I try to save Shen Jiu- OH MY GOD, NOOOOO. MY HUSBAND! LIU QINGGE IS DEAD-THE LOVE OF MY LIFE WAS ORIGINALLY JUST CANON FODDER FOR THE PLOT TO PROGRESS, CURSE YOU AIRPLANE SHOOTING TOWARDS THE SKY!!! I WILL NEVER FORGIVE YOU FOR THIS YOU BASTARD AUTHOR!!!"

Tang Yinlie stops walking to stare angrily into nothing in particular. "There's still a chance I could avoid Binghe's and Shen Jiu's fates from happening. If there's no system here to punish me for stopping that cliff scene from happening in the first place, even if it is a canon event for the Luo Binghe that I read about, that doesn't necessarily mean it is here, I at least can do my best and try, and then if it all works in my favor, Luo Binghe wouldn't end up so, well harem having stallion protagonist. Which means, I should go for the belly of the beast here, and target Shen jiu, and attempt to get him to ease up on Luo Binghe, so he doesn't end up stabbing him on the cliff, voila! No more pickle jar eternity for Shen Qingqiu!.....The only issue is now actually doing it, without coming off too suspicious and getting banished or worse. FUCKING HELL, I'M SO STRESSED I DON'T EVEN KNOW ALL THE DETAILS OF THIS SHITTY STALLION NOVEL! I DON'T WANT TO HAVE TO THINK I'M TOO ANXIOUS TO BE STRATEGIC! AIRPLANE BRO WHEN I CATCH YOU!" Tang Yinlie whines, and doing so, accidentally scares off some nearby animals who were silently watching her mental breakdown, from between the vast tall bamboo surrounding her, unbeknownst to her.

"I'm sorry!!!" She mournfully calls out, towards the bamboo forest, feeling bad for scaring the creatures with her outburst.

"Maybe I can be Shen Jiu's therapist or something so he can actually confront his childhood trauma, so Luo Binghe doesn't have to suffer as much as he's supposed to. Luo Binghe is a sweet kid anyways, if he has an older sister figure to stick up for him against the other disciples and Shen Jiu's wrath, maybe, just maybe that would help him feel more seen, and cared for, and he could lead a normal life as a normal cultivator. And if he still wants to find out about his demon heritage and merge the demon world with the cultivation and human world he could do it in a more diplomatic and peaceful way, that's a start, at the very least, if I happen to be nearby when something unpleasant happens to him, I'll step in no matter the consequences."

Tang Yinlie proceeds to stubbornly resume, her salty, stressful, frustration feuled walk through the forest, that was supposed to bring her clarity and peace of mind, but the universe had other plans in store for her. "Maybe theres a lake that I can throw myself into, or I can just disappear into the woods and never come back, Jin Meilian would still come visit me....she could leave food at the edge of the forest, like leaving an offering for some Eldritch Spirit or something, do mermaids exist here? Can I get cursed to be one or something?....Maybe I can just defect from the mountain sect and become a wandering cultivator, can't be part of a harem if the stallion protagonist can't find you...I sound insane."

"I'm gonnaaaa, go see if there's any frogs in this world I can catch to relax....maybe take one as a pet....hereee froggy froggies!" Tang Yinlie says to nobody, exept for herself, and begins to wander with more purpose than before, mimicking frog calls along the way, occasionally squatting down to look inside of and under every nook and cranny her eyes can see, that seems vaguely frog-ish. If any of the disciples or peak lords saw her, they would think she's actually lost her mind. Which is only partly truth.

"Luo Binghe or Shen Qingqiu, better not be out here, if they see me like this none of my plans will work, I'll just be labeled a weirdo frog harrassing cultivator. No! Frog time, no more stress, frog, frog, frogs, we're going to have a cute little pet even if it's the last thing we do here."

Just then she hears a familiar sounding croak coming from a nearby branch, and her eyes fall upon a cute green tree frog, with it's tiny limbs stretched out, around a bamboo sheath.

"Hiii friend!"

The tiny frog shifts, it's little body contorting it's joints to turn and look at her, the slight barely audible suction sound releasing due to it's change in position, doesn't go unoticed by her. The frog, looks up at her with big black eyes, ribbits, and hops away in the opposite direction.

"Hey! Wait a minute! Where are you going!? I want to be friends!"

The tree frog continues to hop through the forest away from Tang Yinlie, at a surprisingly fast pace. Gentle light trickles down through the leaves, casting faint shadows that make it difficult to keep an eye on the tiny green creature. The sounds of the forest ring quieter in her mind as Tang Yinlie puts all her thought towards catching that damn frog.

"WHY ARE YOU SO FAST!?? GET BACK HERE!" Tang Yinlie calls out after the creature, in an active albeit feral, pursuit.

Ch. 4

[xiaoyedengdeng]

The Art of War Never Mentioned, This!?

Warnings: eventual smut(maybe). Major character death. Slowburn. Enemies to lovers if you squint. Poly(throuple). OC x Shen Qingqiu x Shang Qinghua. Mentions of suicide, twilight hate, brief mention of sex. (More tags on my a03 im too lazy to type out)

I update on a03 first. click here

(it started out as a cumplane x Binghe fic don't ask me how an original character spawned😭) also posting on my a03♥⁠╣⁠[⁠-⁠_⁠-⁠]⁠╠⁠♥

(UPDATED)

Chapter 1. "That....hurt"

"Don't ask her for advice, she's heartless."

No matter how hard she tries to clear her mind,Tang Yinlie hears the cruel words of her peers echoing in her mind. It shouldn't bother her, normally she could care less what people think or say about her, but it does, especially after dumping that guy she gave a chance a few days ago. He had demanded that she give up everything that she had devoted her life to, accusing her of being unfaithful simply for training every day.

Even though he damn well knew she was born into a long and strong line of devoted martial artists, her first damn steps were on a sparring mat for gods sake! He knew what he was getting into!

" 'm not heartless," Tang Yinlie mutters to no one as she opens the door to her bedroom, ready to grab clean clothes, wash the sweat and grime of the days training session off her sore and bruised body.

Huffing in frustration as she cleans up herself and changes into comfortable lounge wear, she sits down and glances over at the novels one of her closest friends gifted her.

"... might as well..I like the authors other novel anyways." She thinks shifting from her bed to grab the first volume of The Scum Villian's Self-Saving System. Smiling as she does so, the memory of her telling said friend about a cultivation novel she had discovered called "The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation" resulted in her receiving the entire series of the authors other works. She unceremoniously flops back onto her bed, moving her hands to open to the first page.

Before she can process it, days have passed since Tang Yinlie had begun reading that addictive book. Almost reading in any spare moment she can find, it's becoming a real problem. Eat, train, spar, read, bathe, sleep, repeat. This escape from the reality of the mental torment of her peers has succeeded a bit too well, seeing that she's nearing the end of the series. Tang Yinlie has the great idea of calling her friend early in the afternoon to rave about the novel.

"I'm so thankful you put me onto this, I just can't help but still feel bad for Luo Binghe....I know , I know he has a happy ending with his Shizun. But, still he went through so much unnecessary shit to get there, he deserved better. He's happy with Shen Qingqiu and that's all that matters, but I can't help thinking in another life he wouldn't have had to suffer that much, he could've been happy as a cultivator on the pure and righteous path, nature versus nurture as they say. But then that wouldn't make for a good plot." Tang Yinlie laughs.

"I'm so glad you like it! It's the lesser loved child of MXTX's novels, but it's my favorite and I'm really glad I get to talk to you about it finally!" Her friend Meilun, squeels with excitement, on the other end of the line.

"You know I am a bit disappointed though"

"Oh? Why's that?"

"It's just, I don't know these novels have so much potential to take a deeper dive into the the horror elements in the plots, theres so much world building left untouched, and scenes with potential to be so unsettling, but I'm biased because I'm a horror fan, but a girl can dream!"

"I mean if you think about it more it is pretty scary since it's left up to interpretation a bit, like demonic cultivation and such."

"Fuck interpretation, I want details!"

"Yinlie, not everyone can stomach that stuff like you can... anyways whos you're favooorite?" Meilun asks in a sing song voice.

"Uhhhh I have.... opinions, okay hear me out. I like everyone. I wish zhuzhi-lang had more screen time and we had more backstory on his general days. I like Shen Yuan a lot because he makes some valid points, he was pointing out some of the same critiques I was thinking at the beginning, he really grew on me. I want more info on Xiang Fei, I NEED more Mobei-Jun- also THAT'S NOT EVEN HIS NAME, THAT'S JUST A TITLE, WHEN DO WE LEARN HIS NAME!?! DID HIS PARENTS JUST HATE HIM!?!....Liu Qingge.... marriage, now. Make it happen. I love that beautiful idiot."

" I LITERALLY KNEW YOU WOULD! You have a typeeeeee. Also of course Shen Yuan grew on you. You hate on Twilight just as much as he hates on Proud Immortal Demon Way!"

" Exept I'm NOT secretly in love with Jacob Black, Twilight had objectively good writing, the author is well spoken. But, the plot completely sucks! It's weird, it's lazy. Endless plot holes soooo many inconsistencies. The whole baby imprinting this was a nightmare as well, wasn't there also some sort of vampire venom plot!?! What was that!? Is Edward a mosquito??? A wasp?? Also Edward had to like warm up his sperm to have that kid because he's DEAD, that baby isn't technically living in the same way humans are so WHY did she grow so fast?? Like scientifically, if she's dead shouldn't she age slower if she's going to at all? Her cells are literally not living, how did they even know that baby wouldn't stay one day old for eternity....I think I'd kill myself if I transmigrated there...."

"You say that, but you've read every book...."

"If I'm gonna be a hater, I'm going to hate properly and fully understand why it's a shitty novel, plus I enjoy making fun of it, it's good if you can find humor in it's bad-ness." Yinlie, states matter of factly.

A few days have passed since that phone call. Meilun manages to lure Yinlie away from training to go spend some time together over tea, at a local cafe. A cat themed cafe, of course Meilun chose a cat cafe. Luckily both girls adore cats, so yinlie sped over as fast as humanly possible.

"Meilun! They're all so cute! You're never getting me out of here, I hope you're prepared." Tang Yinlie says, whilst gushing over an adorable little grey cat, purring away in her lap. Without a care in the world or even a flinch that the sweet kitty took out it's short burst of violence on her fingers from excitement.

"Why do all the mean ones always flock to you..., I tried to pet that one and he hissed at me, now he's cuddling you all smug... he's mocking me."

"Oh, he's not mean, he's just a babyyyy, yes sweet grumpy man." Yinlie baby talks the cat, her words almost dissolving into incomprehensible gibberish, before looking up at Meilun, deadpan face.

"I would die for this cat."

Meilun shakes her head at Yinlie's serious tone. "Did you finish scum villian?"

"I did" Tang yinlie says still petting the cat.

"And?"

"I really liked it, I read the extras too, you did not tell me about the wine scene! That was interesting, I really didn't expect Qingqiu to bottom, should have been Bnghe.... the others were cute, I have some judgemental thoughts plot wise, but they were still pretty cute"

"Okay, but the wine scene isn't as bad as "Incense Burner" was."

"Meilun, I rather get fucked with the hilt of a sword than a sexy wine enema."

"To each their own, I guess."

"It's just, messy. I'm sorry call me a clean freak or whatever, that just does not sound like a fun time for me."

"Anyways, i'm thinking of cosplaying as Cumplane or BingQiu at that con next month, I was hoping you'd be my other half?"

"Ohmygod, yes! Obviously. Who you want me to be?"

"I already have Shen Qingqiu and I actually have a Luo Binghe thats too long on me, it should fit you, you have more of a Binghe face than Shang Qinghua anyways, but if you wanna cosplay as Airplane I'm not stopping you."

"..... Skipping over the fact that I have no clue what you mean by "Binghe face", yeah lets do BingQiu, it'll be cute!"

"It's not a bad thing! You're really cute and you have a similar face to what he looks like in the illustration, but like feminine. It's a compliment jiejie!"

"I do not look like Binghe. But whatever you say, It is a compliment I guess I wasn't taking it in a bad light, don't worry about it so much." Tang Yinlie laughs, feeling a bit flustered, waving off her friends worry.

"Good, good. It's a date then?"

"Of course it is," Tang Yinlie smiles brightly from across the table, "but, is your girlfriend okay with us doing a couples cosplay? I know she's long distance, but I don't want her feeling jealous or anything and ending up hating me y'know."

"Oh, she's the one that told me to ask you to be my Binghe when I was bitching about it, she's good."

"Okay, good"

"I'm ordering us another drink and some pastries, I wanna hear about the martial world ✨drama✨." Meilun says with her fingers wiggling in the air like falling stars.

Tang Yinlie stares at her from across the table with the forlorned look of someone that's seen too many things, and heard things she most definitely shouldn't have.

"SPILL!" Meilun says pointing a demanding finger at her.

"So,... fuck man. Okay, so that girl that I hated? The one that acted like she was better than everyone, and knows more when she's barely got any years under her belt compared to me? I had it with her. She went on this big speal about how "nobody wants to fight me, everyone gets scared when I step into the ring bullshit". So when it was my turn to spar, she stepped in wanting to fight me and I didn't hold back. She needed someone to put her in her place. I hadn't even touched her yet! And she stepped out of the boundaries screaming about "Yinlies cheating! Yinlie cheats, she can't move that fast!" And hid behind our Shifu screaming. All I did was advance for an attack" Yinlie, pauses to laugh at the memory, "anyways Shifu threw her back in and told her "she's aggressive, that's what you're SUPPOSED to do when you're fighting someone, nobody's cheating so stop screaming". We went a few rounds because she couldn't accept defeat the first two times...aaaand she hasn't been back in," Tang Yinlie looks at her phone to check the date, "Three months."

"Wow, good for you! I hated that bitch"

"Yeah but..... another thing, so you know how I have a few Shifu's at different locations but they all kinda work together. Anyways I haven't actually spoken about this to anyone but for a year-ish? I've been getting the vibe that one of the girls a bit younger than me.... She's twenty now. But I've been having suspicions of a student teacher relationship involving her and one of the Shifu's..."

"WHAT!??"

"YEAH, so I've kept my mouth shut because y'know she was nine-teen he's like twenty years her senior, both consenting adults, as long as it hasn't been going on longer, weird but not my business. But, while training I've overheard some things I convinced myself I heard incorrectly and just focused on my sword or something instead, as one does....well MY shifu, like my main guy, last week pulled me into his office because he's a very transparent person and he thinks as one of the most promising students I deserve to know, so I don't hear misinformation or rumors. And he confirms it. He tells me that girl was questioned by like, I guess you could call him the head of our Martial sect. And she told the truth, she said, she pursued the guy after she turned nine-teen, and yes they're now together, but they keep it very professional. But even so that still looks bad for everyone because she's his former-still student even if it's okay, legally and everything. So he's no longer a Shifu, she's still allowed to remain a student but it's just been weird. And now theres some new guy thats a pain in my ass, and he looks like he came from boxing or something, so I've been given the task of basically breaking him in and making sure he's not gonna hurt himself or anyone else sparring. And he's got that haughty attitude of like artsy martial combat doesn't actually work, it's all fake, MMA is superior so I'm not looking forward to that."

"That's.....wow. That's some hot Tea. Also why do people just tell you things? Seems like you know everyone's secrets.."

"I don't know bro, I have like a trustworthy face or something, it's a curse. But yay me. Tang Yinlie. The ✨sacrifice✨." She says rolling her eyes, as the cat finally leaps off her lap, leaving her feeling lonely and rejected.

"Anyways I have to go train, and be the sacrificial lamb for that guy I was talking about, send over that Binghe cosplay so i can alter it a bit, see you later, love you lots. Byeeeee." Tang Yinlie says as she stands, Dusts off her pants, throwsdown enough money to cover the shared bill, places a playful kiss on Meiluns forehead, and disappears out the cafe doors, in that order.

Tang Yinlie, was raised by a grandmaster of martial arts, who was taught by her own grandmaster. Others may call her heartless, which is only half true. Yes, being raised by women that care more for strength, confidence, and skill above tedious things like emotions makes one lack a bit of empathy. However, she was still human. Even when Tang Yinlie was a child, she could be beaten, and bleeding and yet, never cry. A lesson instilled on her from her mother,

"never cry, or they'll take advantage of you, if you cry run some laps or find someone to spar instead".

She may have a hard time with emotions, but she still has warmth in her heart, for her family, her few close friends, and especially, animals. To Tang Yinlie anyone that harms animals aside from ethical hunting is worse than the most disgusting dirt that one could walk on.

So why now does she feel the need to cry? Maybe it's from that surprisingly strong hit she took to the head. That would explain why everything is getting hard to see, and the sudden weight of her eyelids.

"I'm sorry, I can't be your Binghe, Meilun-"

Next Chapter →

[rotinronin]

So like hypothetically speaking, would anyone have any like fic ideas I can write? I wanna write but I cannot for the life of me come up with my own ideas also no smut I don't know how to write that :((