Silly Thought: Shen Yuan transmigrating as Mobei-jun’s Mom.
The idea of Luo Binghe personally murdering Mobei-jun’s dad, just for the sake of marrying his mother— and in doing so becoming Mobei-jun’s stepdad— is super funny to me. Let Shen Yuan play up his MILF vibes to maximum effect!
Also, imagine Shen Yuan using his position as Mobei-jun’s beloved mother to harass the heck out of Airplane. As a demon mother and queen, it’s only natural for him to make his son’s prospective spouse undergo dramatic loyalty trials, right? Shen Yuan has so many ideas, most of which related to the various trials Airplane made Bing-ge go through in PIDW. (He’s unexpectedly accepting of the gay thing because, well, all the women are for Binghe, right?)
Peerless Cucumber, the MIL from hell. 🔥🥒🔥
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Since the Mobei-clan is made up of ice demons, I tend to imagine Mobei-jun got his shadow portal ability from his mother’s side. This would likely make Shen Yuan some form of shadow demon, with his own teleportation abilities.
He probably transmigrated in when the original goods was meant to die, while Mobei-jun was only a few years old. While he can’t prevent the whole Huan Hua kidnapping arc (the System insists) Shen Yuan ends up quite the helicopter mom afterwards. He shadows his son everywhere— often in a human male disguise— and only reveals ‘himself’ in his full ‘MILF demon queen’ glory after Mobei-jun has finished off all his enemies, to praise and dote on him.
Of course, being Shen Yuan, he also takes advantage of his teleportation abilities to sneak away and offer stealthy bits of assistance to Binghe as well. This definately leads the future demon lords to some nasty bouts of feuding even before the Abyss tossing incident. (Mobei-jun trying to make Binghe’s night hunts harder so he’ll stay away from his mother).
The motivation for Mobei-jun removing Luo Binghe’s seal during the Immortal Alliance Conference in this case is probably a bit more malicious… though when the man successfully survives both his peak lord master’s attempt to kill him and the abyss, Binghe earns Mobei-jun’s begrudging respect.
To Shen Yuan’s horror, Mobei-jun later replicates Shen Yuan’s worthiness trials for Airplane x100 before he’ll consider Binghe an acceptable stepfather. Shen Yuan has no idea how his idiot son got away with commanding the demon emperor to do all those insane tasks without getting them all killed!!!
Afterwards, he probably thinks Binghe is just marrying him as some form of power play, not realizing it was literally the entire point of the boys’ absurd escapades. The fact Luo Binghe isn’t taking any other wives, and didn’t just make him empress for political expedience, takes a lot longer to register.
Shen Qingqiu gets sick of seeing Shang Qinghua come to important intersect events with dressed like some random rouge cultivator so he gives Shang Qinghua a makeover.
This makeover is literally just getting him in high quality tailored robes, and brushing his hair but it turns out that was all he needed to look like a god among men.
The whole meeting everyone is looking at Shang Qinghua and he gets very anxious about it but in reality everyone is either like “who’s this guy and why does he look so dignified” or “what do you mean he could’ve looked like that this whole time?”
Shen Qingqiu is very proud to say he knew his shidi could look like this, after all the painting didn’t change, just the frame it was put in
Basically shen yuan transmigrated way early like centuries but he is in the endless abyss but luckily system decides whenever he completes a quest he would gain points that he can exchange for stuff
Since this is the endless abyss and might aswell just try to make things more livable for himself so he exchange it for some tools and books, and he starts to travel around met a few people who either fell in or are from the abyss and help them out and then started to create a lil community and etc etcl... and then years later, Shen Yuan had created a steampunk-like city and had unaware that he became an abyssal lord lol
Some stuff: the people in shen yuan's city knows english cuz during its early years when its just shen yuan and a few others they heard him say something in english and shen yuan taught them and then later they taught others who became a part of the cmmunity, threatened to extinction fauna and flora are under protection in the city and are no longer endangered and are reproducing(cuz shen yuan hated everytime when characters just takes the last of its kind not thinking about how stupid it was), the city is a mixed of humans and demons, there are legends of the city and sy in the demon and human realm, people wear traditional, a version of modern, or steampunk clothing in the city
This au has just been in the forefront of my mind so! I thought I'd maybe expand (and change) it a lil bit!
SJ (and maybe someone else like LQG and / or MQF) are on a lil mission!
A town/village has reported that its neighbour has basically gone radio silent. Which is a *big* problem! They send goods between eachother!! It provides a stable economy!! Without them, this town/village is going to STRUGGLE. And winter's rapidly approaching.
When asked, the village/town head states that they haven't heard or seen anyone for 3 months. And here's the really interesting part:
Anyone they send to go check on them never comes back.
Cultivators included.
So they make the trek to the neighbouring village/town which is like max a week away (if this becomes mujiu or liujiu that gives time for development or smthn or a timeskip) and ......
Things seem to be...Fine?
People fill the streets, there are children running around, aunties gossiping, street sellers hollering. Even their journey through the forest nearby was smooth sailing. If, too silent.
But the vibe is just. Off.
It feels like there's eyes following them as they walk through.
SQQ (and co perhaps ) manage to find the town/village leader. A strange, harried-looking man. Rude too. Doesn't even try to introduce himself. Nor does he allow SQQ (and co perhaps) to do so.
He does, however, offer them lodging in his humble home, which SQQ suprisingly agrees to (we find out later it's because he saw bloodstains. Paired with the starting lack of servants and the mans strange insitence for them to stay? It seems this journey wouldn't be such a waste of time after all.)
Now I don't have much going on after this but the vibe is still very much off.
SQQ and LQG (I had him in mind for this idk) get seperated and SQQ rushes after a giggling, child-like shadow into an abandoned buolding that. Isn't so abandoned after all.
There's an extensive library and there's a child hunched over a shaded corner, flickering light emoting from a waning candle. From what can be seen, there's a brush held tight in his grip and a crushed inkstone to his right. SQQ approaches closer, despite sirens going off in the back of his head. He turns his attention to what the child was writing and. It's almost indiscernerable.
The characters are too thick, ink pooling at odd moments snd shaky thin at others. The child's grip is terribly wrong. But even then. He can make out " Cang Diong Sect" and "Qing Jing Peak".
The candle flares and SQQ's worst suspicions are correct. Long black hair lopsided, ruffled green and white robes, the slight bulge in the sleeve that most definitely harbours a bun swiped during lunch.
He stares at his former self:
Shen Jiu.
A shadow flickers in the corner of his eye.
Shen Jiu hissing drags his attention back. Just in time to see a deep inkspot spreading across the parchment, undoing hours of hard work. So it's no suprise when the writing utensils are swiped off the table with a resounding crash, ink splattering across the table and baggy disciple robes.
But by that time, SQQ had already turned away, laser-focused on the shadow slipping through a door.
It leads to an alleyway.
An alleyway with two children. Both in ragged, patched clothing. Feet bare and dirtied with grime. Both curled into eachother to conserve warmth.
SQQ freezes. Because this is--
The smaller child whispers urgently, shaking the bigger one in such a tight grip that there will no doubt be a bruise come morning.
"Qi-ge. Qi-ge, wake up." He hisses, fear he refuses to acknowledge coating his words.
SQQ can feel the cold seeping into his bones. The panic clawing in his chest. The stuttering pulse in the chest under his head.
"Qi-ge."
Longer pauses between laboured breaths. Qi-ge's skin is hot and clammy to the touch. The medicine isn't helping.
Qi-ge is going to die.
He strangles that thought and curls closer, clammy warmth reverting into chilly skin, as it had been doing for the past three days.
"Qi-ge." Dirt-crusted nails bite into flesh. If he holds on tight enough... He turns his head as close to the other boys head as he can," Qi-ge, I'm hungry."
Nothing.
Then, as he opens he opens his mouth to repeat himself, a hazy brown eye peeks under a fluttering eyelid.
He watches Qi-ge's mouth as it moves in a pattern he can't understand. Murmuring nonsense again most likely. Qi-ge had been doing that since yesterday. Shi-jie didn't say it was a bad sign, but she didn't have to-- her face had shuttered when she'd heard him yesterday herself. He didn't like Shi-jie much right now.
He tries to curl even closer so that it's difficult to discern where he starts and Qi-ge ends. He'll meld them together if he has to. Somehow.
Qi-ge can't leave.
Qi-ge can't die.
Rattling coughs break his spiral and he scrambles to hit Qi-ge on the back. Perhaps too hard but. Whatever keeps him awake, right?
"Stop trying to talk, you fucking idiot!!"
A weak chuckle. Both of Qi-ge's eyes are open, if even barely. So he focuses on that instead of all the blood dribbling from Qi-ge's mouth.
Despite the scolding, Qi-ge's lips are moving again, a small palm pressing shakily against his cheek.
"This one is sorry.."
What?
"Qi-ge has failed you, Xiao Jiu."
Ah.
SQQ throws a sword glare at the fleeing shadow, ignoring the familliar well-adorned corpse behind him. It's sucked dry.
The shadow falls.
--
Okay I'm a bit tired so I'll just say the rest normally! (If my brain permits it). SQQ, considerably drained, stumbles strides over to the fallen figure. Its a child who looks eerily like himself but with the brightest green eyes with teardrop-shaped pupils.
Basically, the whole village is dead. (Yes including the village leader. LQ or SQQ or someone at some point figure out his name and say it. SY, of course, overhears. 'Qi-ge's' corpse was actually that guy) .
Suprise! Baby Eldritch Horror! Shen Yuan was puppetting them in an effort to avoid getting into trouble.
Someone had gone into the forest and disturbed his slumber. Then they'd severely mistreated him. So, SY, fresh out of hibernation and consequently, hungry as hell, ate them (after gaining their "trust" and their names). Which didn't satiate him at all. The cravings were too strong. So he kept going. Until blood flowed like a river through the village/town/city streets.
Essentially his reasoning for some of them was: " They were bad. I was hungry". He does feel bad for the collateral damage though. Which is why he stayed!!
This way they're practically alive, no? He has their names and their bodies! What else would be needed? (Souls, SY. They need their Souls... which is his diet. Or well more accurately it's Energy, or Qi. Which Souls have. Even the most miniscule amount. (Call me airplane the way I'm going to bs through worldbuilding)
Considering he doesn't truly have one (it's a bit shattered right now) it doesn't seem like much of a big deal).
Anyhow, I'd like to emphasise the fact that SY is an eldritch horror. Not fae, despite the aspects I'll be drawing from them. SY is just bored and decided it might be fun to play by their rules for a while. Or. Whatevers left of it after he bends them so hard they snap. He is bound by no rules on the mortal plane. But he's a lil baby eldritch horror so. He's not totally invincible. Pride doth come before the fall.
After he explains the " They hurt me. So I hurt them" ideology. SQQ studies him. I'm not sure what he's thinking here but SY has played his card at this point
("Who are you Mr.Cultivator?" "..." "If you answer, I'll answer your questions too!" "... This one is Shen QingQiu of Qing Jing Peak." "..? >:C No, it's Xiao Jiu!! Don't lie!" "???!" "Xiao Jiu shouldn't raise his sword against this ancestor anymore!!" Cue SQQ's hand lowering against his will. Xiu Ya clatters to the ground)
so SQQ now has an incredibly large liability.
The child weilds too much power over him. The best way forward would be to keep him close and reach a deal (and gather enough information for mutually assured destruction).
So he does.
He offers SY a place with lots of food as long as he refrains from using that name. SY pouts," At all? :C Not even in private? :/ Xiao Jiu should make better deals for this poor ancestor :C" (yes SY is a little gremlin shit)
Anyhow, somehow someway, the deal is moved to name usage only in private and only 7 uses. (SQQs eyes twitch at that). And the child will come with him peacefully. (He's still a little shit).
I haven't decided whether SQQ should figure out SY's name (Shenyuan as in abyss) when he introduces SY as his son or brother. But i feel like it might be funnier if SY introduces himself as "Shen Shiliu" or 16 (i got this idea from a fic but I cannot recall its name for the life of me my brain is melting :/) just to piss SQQ off further. What a lil troll.
And then shenanigans ensue!
(Yes SY can do mindfuckery to try and learn ppls names. That's what he did to SQQ. More power is gained that way. Because their subconscious gives it. Remember that rule bending? Bro's playing a whole different game lol)
where lbh and mbj were actually engaged when mbj was a baby and lbh was still a fetus. this was a "scrapped" plot but it actually is there just in the background but the plot sorta continues as plan, mbj is kidnapped, lbh is pivked up by a washer woman. sy gets put in the body of sj's estranged brother (sy lived a pretty average life not knowing too much abt how close he was to the plot until he turns like 15 and sees sj as a slave. he doesn't realize sj is the sqq, he just sees injustice and intervenes. then his adopted parents points out they look very very similar. so yeah, they join cqm together, doesn't really care but he wants to make sure his brother is safe. there, he realizes that sj is sqq but he's attached. here he also meets sqh and they quickly become good friends). when sy meets lbh, the system appears and there are some points that still have to happen in order for the world to stay in tact.
so yeah, mbj and lbh were originally meant to be engaged. when lbh is pushed in to the abyss, lbh is there for him and they bond sorta as fiancees. they do still fall for get married to shen yuan and shang qinghua but after marriage they mention that they still have to get married. its a politic thing (mostly) so mbj and lbh do have to get married, do the courting and everything. during this courting, cumplane obviously jokes and meet more often. then, they all get fall in love ofc
ok so xie lian and hua cheng find this book (or whatever a book is in that universe) by an author named "airplane". wtf is an airplane anyways? so they start reading and its about a world a gajillion years in the future where there's paper that's made out of metal and it can change its image on will? and metal birds that carry people like swords except they're called airplanes and they're designed for the usage of many people at once??? why would the author name himself after that? chunks of metal with wheels that don't need horses???
"why dont they use cultivation" you ask, because there is none! so weird, right? anyways, they keep reading and there's so much stuff they call technology that's basically just magic. it's about an overpressured author who eats food that only needs water to be edible and sends his writing over an invisible spiderweb that covers the entire world. tbh, the author did a really bad job explaining all the "tech". overall a really stupid idea for a novel. xie lian honestly sorta likes it, but it's just wierd. the most odd part? these things keep coming out regularly. they're ridiculously long, and unlike other works from the same author, there's no sex scenes.
xie lian kinda likes it, and reads it every now and then cuddled up with hua cheng. hua cheng loves being next to xie lian, who giggles occasionally while reading, but hates the novel. somehow, shi qingxuan finds it, and shows it to ming yi, (shush leave me with my beefleaf) ming yi claims he doesn't like it but reads shi qingxuan's copy of that day's update every night. knows literally every detail, understands teh worldbuilding the best of anyone. feng xin and mu qing don't bother to read it, but they know a little about it.
one day, the next update is about someone who does something called a comment on his work. apparently, they do it a lot. and the character’s name is cucumber. who would name a character cucumber!? this author is weird. anyways the cucumber does a comment about a bunch of mean stuff critiquing the work and stuff. there are more than 3 pages of just mean commentings. the next page is about his metal paper. apparentlu, the metal paper can’t touch water, or else it poisons the water??? this makes no sense. not even ming yi can explain how it works. and then the main character touches the poison water? what a dumb character, remarks hua cheng.
main character wakes up in a cultivation world. apparentlhy main character was writing a story about this world? how dumb. hualien and beefleaf are crossing a road while reading this when a reckless cart driver is about to crash into them. hua cheng, obviously, obliterated the cart and its driver. problem solved!
later that evening, when the four fall asleep, they don’t awaken (in those bodies, anyways). fengqing finds them, starts yelling their heads off, eventually brings their comatose bodies to ling wen, who shrugs and puts them in a drawer.
meanwhile, hualien and beefleaf are reeling. they didn't get transferred into different bodies, but they are at a hospital. someone who looks vaguely like ling wen tells them that they were found half-dead under the seats of a funeral of some guy named shen jiu. weird. the nurse tries to charge them but, upon finding the only currency they have is merits, groans and lets them leave. hua cheng rolls dice. nothing happens.
xie lian asks where hua cheng’s butterflies are. hua cheng shrugs, but seems visibly on-edge. none of them are able to do cultivation when they try. people are looking at them weird. who the hell does cosplay in the middle of the street? some guy compliments xie lian and hua cheng on their tgcf cosplay. none of the four understand any of those words. someone asks to take a picture of them. take a picture? she pulls out a chunk of metal, holds it in front of their faces, presses next to them. oh, is it a mirror? but she clicks a white circle at the right of the rectangilar mirror, and it flashes bright white. hua cheng begins threatening her for daring to harm xie lian’s eyes, but xie lian apologetically gets him to back off.
the woman apologises and asks if they’re new to the area. shi qingxuan says yes, and she offers the four a place to stay. ming yi holds up his shovel, arguing that he could just dig a hole in the ground and sleep there. he has to be reminded that cultivation doesn’t work here.
back in the danmei world, airplane is no longer making money from his latest series, “an author without cultivation”! there were a few people buying it, but not anymore. they also tended to overpay wildly. airplane somehow pieces it together; (idk) ohhh they transferred to the human world. he convinces the system to let him and cucumber return to their world, but lbh protests. “where are you going shizun shizun dont leave me let me come with you shizun shizun come onnnnn shizunnnnnn” eventually they let him come too. mobei jun is ok with it as long as shang qinghua returns eventually. they transfer back to the human world, where cucumber finds himself in a coffin, at his own funeral. everyone is shocked when shen yuan sits up in his original body. people scream and shout and everyone is very happy, but cucumber barely remembers any of them. it’s been, like, twenty years. he can hardly remember his parents’ names. he smiles, laughs a little, rpetrends to know everyone, and then lbh arrives. through the window. pulls out an enormous sword. people then start screaming, because omg shen yuan’s enormous murder boyfriend is here. his parents scold him a little “why didn't you tell us you got a murder boyfriend” before getting yeeted into a wall. mmkay that’s happening now. luo bignhe and shen qingqiu spend their first day in the modern world in jail.
shang qinghua pays for their bail. apparently, they all arrived back to the modern world a day after sqq’s death, and a day before sqh’s. time travel? they don’t even know at this point. they manage to track down the other four by following a police report on a man in a red tunic and butterfly jewelry threatening a poor tgcf fan, witnesses report. (the woman wasnt even the one who ratted them out, it was the ugy who complimented them on their cosplays haha.) sqq and sqh share a look. that sounds like hua cheng, from tian guan ci fu! isn’t that a really popular danmei? lbh is just sitting next to them like a lost puppy, following them around, reminding shizun that he can tear anyone who dares question his authority to pieces. anyways they find the four. their conversation kinda goes like this.
sqq: hey are you xie lian?
hua cheng: who are you (the four are very concerned as they have never seen metal birds that make loud noises before)
lbh: how dare you threaten my husband
sqq and xie lian: binghe/san lang, calm down
sqq and xie lian make uncomfortable eye contact. woah. that guy also has an overprotective but lovable husband. neat. homosexuality.
xie lian: yeah im xie lian, this is san lang, ming yi, and shi qingxuan
sqh: *looks at the other, nods* mmkay and are you familiar with the undiscovered gem of a series called “an author without cultivation”?
hua cheng and ming yi roll their eyes, the other two nod
sqx: yeah, what about it?
sqh: yeah, i’m the author! *waits for applause that never comes*
ming yi: so you know why we’re here?
sqq: well did you read it and hate it or somehting?
*lbh is still glaring at hua cheng. hua cheng is still glaring at lbh*
hua cheng: it was very easy to hate
sqh: *sqq laughs* shut up cucumber
ming yi: *snaps to attention* that was the name of one of your characters! peerless cucumber.
sqq: *laughing, elbows sqh* guess someone doesn’t hate it so much after all
*ming yi smacks him on the head with a shovel. lbh smacks ming yi on the head with his fist. they both pass out.*
sqx, catching ming yi: sorry about him, he can be a bit… (doesn’t finish)
sqh: yeah, no problem. my husband’s the same.
hua cheng: what?
sqh: *completely ignores him and moves on* okay so here’s what’s happening; i come from this world. i teleported to your world to do things accidentally after i died. then i stayed in your world and got a husband and started writing again and stuff.
xie lian: what things? and also you havent told us what you mena by we’re all gay. also why are giant metal birds your namesake?
sqh, swallowing: this is gonna take a while
they explain to the tgcf crew and stuff, and they end up grabbing an apartment. turns out, none of them know how to transfer htemselves back. also, they all appear to be human now. they appear the same, they’re all just human. sqh gets them a flat, and they all sleep on the floor.
I crave an AU where Shen Yuan gets transmigrated as some random npc and just… goes around the world you know? Traveling, sigh seeing his fav places from the novel, studying the beasts from that world, like dude just living his life and becoming a cultivator either by studying by himself (with the knowledge he has from novels from his world) or idk by the System giving him little missions about “building his character”
And just for a comedy side: he ends up helping a lot of people in his travels who become super grateful for this but… well maybe people misheard the first time and felt awkward about asking again so they just call him master Shen
This end up as a whole misunderstanding where rumors about SY and Shen Jiu kinda mix up
“Master Shen? Ohh yeah I heard he saved the daughters of that merchant”
“Master Shen?? The cultivator who is always visiting brothels? Shameless”
This ends up getting SJ a better reputation, SY unintentional good deeds (that have witness and proof) far surpasses the feeble rumors about SJ
SY and SJ end up meeting…. When SY is imprisoned for the death of the Qiu
He and SJ do look like eachother and Qiu Haitang hasn’t seen SJ in years, she heard about a Shen and concluded it must be him
Ohhh just to add to the mess: YQY was away from the Mountain when he heard about “Shen Qingqiu” imprisonment so he just rushed to Hua Hua Palace to free him… SJ goes after him, meets SY gets put in prison in his place bc Qiu Haitang was like “no wait actually that one fits more the Shen I knew” (which sucks to her testimony bc thats just saying “ops I made a mistake once maybe I’m doing again?”)but at this point SY was INVESTED in this bc fuck these people locking him up in a cave, they wanted a trial then he (with YQY support) is gonna make damn sure this goes right (for SJ, not QHT or the Palace Master bc lets be honest: one person’s word against a cultivator that has plenty of achievements and (recently) plenty of good deeds to his name… yeah not gonna work)
Things work out in the end, YQY and SJ go back to Cang Diong… and take SY with them. New younger brother acquired!!
