No mortals beyond this point

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最好的师尊

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I’m so normal for them…

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Endless Abyss

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Another dump of my weekly illustrations!

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MASSIVE THANK YOU TO PRIM (@primtheamazing) FOR DONATING TO FTH 2025!!!

I’m really happy to be able to work with you on this, so thank you very much!!

Once again big thank you to Prim!!

I absolutely love the prompt you gave me, I literally screamed when I first saw it!!! It was incredibly fun to work on this!!!

[meltedmush]

Majority Qijiu and two stray Binghes

[mooncheese3]

haunted

[gaywarcriminals]

Lately I’ve been wondering what it would take for Shen Jiu to actually make the decision to actively heal & better himself, and I’ve struggled to come up with anything. None of the standard things that prompt people to think “oh fuck, I have to change” would really work on him:

Hurting someone close to him? Nope, that would just reinforce his belief that he’s fundamentally evil— this was always destined to happen, and it’s the other person’s fault for not staying away, or his for not pushing them away hard enough. 

Seeing someone like him manage to heal? No, they clearly just haven’t suffered as much as him, thrown them back into the trauma gulags.

Just getting sick repeating the same awful patterns of behavior that are trapping him in misery forever? I don’t think PIDW would’ve happened if that was an issue for SJ—

I may just be lacking imagination though, so I’d love to hear other people’s input. 

[chuckduckling]

I always wonder if saving Liu Qingge from his qi deviation could've been the key to rattling him out of the self-destructive cycle he was stuck in. We only got to see what happened when he failed, which wasn't intentional on his part.

Also, because Yue Qi was able to coax Shen Jiu away from his fight with Shi Wu when they were kids, I think if their relationship was repaired, that dynamic could help manage his worst impulses. Imo, the reason why he didn't give in to Yue Qingyuan's coaxing in Chapter 1 (when he asked him to be less harsh on Luo Binghe) was because he no longer trusted Yue Qingyuan's feelings or intentions. But that wasn't always the case, since he's held himself back for Yue Qi's sake before.

[gaywarcriminals]

Really interesting point! I do think that failing to save LQG is when he officially gave up on all interpersonal relationships-- what's the point if the whole sect not-so-secretly thinks he's a murderer, regardless of the sect leader's official statement-- but imo taking Binghe as a disciple was probably the point of no return for his life long downwards spiral. Like, a guy who's at the point of trying to get a 12 y/o killed out of jealously and projected self hatred is not someone who's going to be willing to take a step back and work on himself.

STRONGLY AGREE ABOUT THE QIJIU PART-- Qijiu spent years of their lives filling in the gaps in each others personalities and growing around each other, and in many ways they temper each other's worst habits. SJ needs someone he trusts to gently tug him away from bad decisions and YQY needs someone to wack him with a newspaper for the same. That relationship requires trust and knowing the other person has your best interests at heart thought. And yes, I think that post-reunion, SJ saw all of YQY's attempts to coax, scold, or otherwise correct SJ's behavior as self serving. I believe that SJ thinks YQY's motivations are a combination of YQY's lofty morals, plus the fear of how SJ's behavior and reputation will reflect on YQY specfically (both in the disciple and peak lord eras), and on the sect in general. He can no longer believe that YQY coaxes him out of concern for SJ's own wellbeing.

[thatgirlonstage]

obsessed with characters being saved against their will. being knocked unconscious and carried away from a danger they won't stop trying to fight. being shoved through a portal somewhere far away and safe right before it closes. trying to self-sacrifice only to have the exact person they're trying to save swap their places at the last second. getting the only cure to the disease or curse bc the person administering it loves them too much to give it to anyone else, including themselves. being thrown to safety right as they had accepted dying. someone else they thought had gotten to safety running back to drag them out of danger. it's so fucking tasty

[apollos-boyfriend]

the thing about the story of cain and abel is that i can’t blame cain in the slightest because if nobody had died before and i was unaware there would be consequences to my actions i would’ve been smashing rocks over my brother’s head since day one. honestly the fact that either of them lasted as long as they did without clobbering the other is a miracle within itself

[meltedmush]

little shrimphe eating a yummy snack between all his little hands. Little shrimphe holding Shizun's finger and getting little pats on head. Oh shrimphe, he gives so much joy

[frodo-of-the-nine-fingers]

it is genuinely so funny to me that yue qingyuan has like the most main (or at minimum prominent secondary) character thing going on for him, like childhood sweetheart hates you over a massive misunderstanding, said childhood sweetheart is possibly the worst person on the planet (or is heeee!!!?!?!!) but you can't stop loving him and giving him anything he wants partially out of guilt partially because maybe one day he'll love you again. oh, no, he got eaten and replaced and you never noticed! also, and this isn't really important, but every time you use your sword it kills you more than a little because you tried to save him one time and he doesn't even know about it because why would you tell him that would be so embarrassing and what would be the point even. and then! he's just a side character

[10thmusemoon]

Do you ever think about how Yue Qi was just a kid, just a little guy doing his best

[10thmusemoon]

au where they both escaped the slavers and made it into CQMS together ;o;

[hot-n-fun-girlfailure-deactivat]

I don't understand why you guys always makes yue qingyuan the villain in your fics that man is only a total simp who has trauma bonded with shen jiu and don't make me rant about how he is turned into a angel that can do no wrong yes he is traumatized and yes he is an asshole who abuses children both can be true at the same time shen jiu is just as obsessed with yue qingyuan as the other is with him and will not be able to leave him he wants that man to be around him always

[csevet]

you say to me here is a woman. she's insane and irreparably broken and probably a danger to herself and others. and i say yay yippee woohoo! and things of this nature

[celestial-fang]

Often you will see authors say ‘I do not condone the contents of this fictional story’ at the start. well that is just nonsense, I think torturing beautiful men against their will and cannibalism is pretty based and fully condone it

[tossawary]

The Qijiu position as the top two peak lords is fascinating to me, because if Shen Jiu really, REALLY didn't want to be around Yue Qingyuan, he could just leave! Shen Yuan spends about 3 years wandering after the Immortal Alliance Conference, so Shen Jiu wouldn't even have to leave permanently, if he needed to get away.

But Shen Jiu pursued the wealth and power and stability of Cang Qiong, and he's not giving it up! On the way to Shuang Hu City for the Skinner Demon, Shen Yuan comments on the carriage being packed full of luxuries like a fancy chessboard that won't be used and multiple tea sets, so I think it's fair to say that Shen Jiu liked being rich and being seen to be rich. Shen Jiu spent his childhood wandering the streets and his teenage years trailing after Wu Yanzi, he doesn't want to be back out there, even if he's now a powerful cultivator with the means to support and protect himself. He won't walk away from it.

The sect comes with rules and protocols and traditions. Yue Qingyuan has authority over the entire sect, but he can't press Shen Qingqiu and Qing Jing Peak too hard (it does not matter that Yue Qingyuan wouldn't do this, because Qiu Jianluo would have) without the other peak lords sitting up and taking offense at the sect leader interfering with one of these 12 subsects banded together. The entire cultivation world might take notice if Yue Qingyuan behaved badly. This kind of mutually assured destruction is not without tension, but it gives Shen Jiu a measure of control, which he is not going to give up to leave himself vulnerable and Yue Qingyuan as a powerful sect leader (enjoying the power and privilege that he thinks Yue Qingyuan happily abandoned him for).

I wonder if Shen Jiu ever told Yue Qingyuan to "prove himself" to him by abandoning Cang Qiong. "If you didn't leave me so you could chase power for yourself, then prove it, give it up," kind of thing. "I'll keep Cang Qiong for myself and YOU go away," kind of dare, because Shen Jiu is bitter and wants to hurt Yue Qi back or just wants to be left alone or whatever. (If Yue Qingyuan gets to enjoy this, then Shen Jiu isn't going to be the one to give it up and walk!)

Unfortunately for Qijiu's communication and potential reconciliation, I don't think Yue Qingyuan would do this, because I don't think he's willing to give up the power and control of being a peak lord either. Yue Qi also had an extremely shitty childhood and presumably hates being vulnerable. He's not about to abuse his position over Shen Jiu, but his position is how he protects Shen Jiu, so he's going to dig his feet in and refuse this demand, even if it makes Shen Jiu angry, because he's also worried about their survival. Better to have Shen Jiu angry and alive than defenseless.

So, they're stuck in this awful, tense state of affairs, because they both know what it's like not to have anything and they're not willing to give it up! Yue Qingyuan won't talk and Shen Jiu won't listen, so there's just this! It's agonizing.