Anyone Is Free To Respond To This Post How They Like. Again, This Is An Opinion Not A Fact So Please

Anyone is free to respond to this post how they like. Again, this is an opinion not a fact so please don't get butthurt over a stranger opinion on how they view these characters.

.....

I couldn't care less or give much fucks about Luo Binghe's past and dilemma, considering the monstrous path he ultimately chose. It's repulsive how a male lead can wreak havoc in both realms, driven by an incessant obsession with their shizun. To witness him inflict widespread destruction due to rejection and then be rewarded for it is simply sickening. Shen Jiu's disdain for him is understandable, despite the abuse he endured the amount of death and destruction is uncalled for Binghe deserves death. Does Luo Binghe exhibit the response of a victim towards their abuser? He crosses so many ethical boundaries, yet some argue that Shen Jiu should have treated him well from the start, even if Shen Jiu was reprehensible he doesn't deserve the torture that is unthinkable.

He should have been treated better what makes Binghe so special is it cause he's a protagonist? Shen Qingqiu, as the shizun leading his peak, should have prioritized improving the attitude, judgment, and addressing bullying among all disciples. He was abused I'm not denying that but he never blackend then he was blackened even before he met Shizun lol.

Comparisons with characters like Wei Wuxian highlight a significant difference. Wei Wuxian remained a good person despite the cultivation world turning against him and Madam Yu abuse on him in his younger years. In contrast, Luo Binghe operates on a whole different level, willingly engaging in fucked up heinous acts in "Proud Immortal Demon Way." It's challenging for me, as a reader, to sympathize with someone who deliberately made destructive choices. Bingmei isn't much better, and Bing-ge's approach to grievances is extreme, seeking to repay a thousand-fold.

He wasn't coerced; Shen Qingqiu can't be held responsible for the way he turned out because, at some point, one has to take control of their own life. Luo Binghe's mindset operates within a black-and-white framework, and while his life may have tragic elements, the current state he finds himself in is essentially the outcome of his own actions. I don't particularly care much after that. Despite having wives, immense power, and genuine love from his partners, he remains fixated on one specific person. His past may have been harrowing, but his present is a self-made hell, marked by unfulfillment stemming from his obsession. And it hit me then, how many lives had he destroyed how many women had he forced and then put them in his harem as just a statistic. If Luo binghe wasn't the main focal point and male lead or was an ugly character we wouldn't give a rat's arse about him because it fucking ridiculous his shizun was under no obligation to love the man who killed the person he dearly held most and rendered him limbless and destroyed everything. No one sane would. If you were in the same situation, would you choose to be with this man? Except for Shen Yuan, who shares an equal obsession with his idol, it's doubtful that anyone would pursue such a relationship.

Luo Binghe's tragedy lies in his psychological imbalance, fixating on a particular person, and the responsibility for this fixation rests squarely on him. It's clear that he wouldn't bother if it were solely about the abuse; he could have just killed Shen Jiu and moved on, a typical move for a protagonist with a vendetta. Consider what he did to the Palace Master – subjected him to pickling, yet he tormented Shen Jiu for years without end how is that fair. Such actions aren't solely driven by hatred; there must be an underlying thread of resentment. After all, the boundary between love and hate is often thin. Binghe's emotional baggage is more complex. His relentless pursuit of Shen Jiu is rooted in the latter's complete lack of care or concern for him. Binghe's focus transcends mere revenge for abuse; it revolves around a deep-seated yearning for care and attention that was never reciprocated.

What truly irks me is the fact that some people become upset just because the male lead in the story is canonically depicted as having been abused/mistreated as a child. It's essential to detach oneself and recognize that not every narrative revolves around personal experiences. Yes, I'm talking to you reader. Having a villain be a child abuser is more personal than being a mass serial killer. Child abusers are depicted to always be plain 100 percent evil what I appreciate from this character is how real he is and how much the cycle of abuse repeats itself. Unfortunately...

Luo Binghe's fate was designed to involve adversity; after all, protagonists are meant to face challenges. Comparing the ethical standards of the 21st century child abuse to the ancient setting of svsss is irrelevant, considering the weak moral framework and how much evil is batted away in that context. Shen Jiu, while flawed, is unfairly singled out when others are wickeder than him. It's important to acknowledge that he could have been worse we know his story. He could butter them up, gain their trust, manipulate Binghe if he were to find out earlier in the story his demon heritage, hell he could have even weaponized how much abuse he stayed as a slave against the Sect Leader but he didn't. The Peaklords, demons, airplane bro, and Mobei Jun, the women all have their disgusting faults too, and it's essential to view the characters within the broader context of the story.

Nobody is entirely virtuous. What perplexes me the most is that Shen Jiu's transgression involves a single instance of child abuse—just one reported case. The strong opposition despite acknowledging his potentially kinder traits raises questions still horrific and how dare we want good things for him. Anytime someone wants to post or want to think positively it's like there is a fixed way everyone must cater to how they see him and I find that boring really. If someone has a certain way they see a character than go for it life to short to cater to a mob. It's a fucking novel on the internet at the end of the day. People shouldn't bully or hurt real people over a novel or for any medium for how they interpret a character because that when the issues start.

While some may view this as "woobiefying," I don't it's essential to recognize the complexity of Shen Jiu's character. Canonically, Shen Jiu can't perform outwardly benevolent deeds because the world setting he is in as the villain seems to discourage it. People aren't simply black and white, and Shen Jiu's nuances go beyond a single act. Can a person with a dark past and abused a disciple also contribute positively to the world as scum? Yes. Human beings are multifaceted, and Shen Jiu's character reflects this complexity. If writers wish to explore positive alternative character traits or divergent life trajectories, especially in a fandom like svsss where creativity is expected, they should feel free to do so. After all, fanfiction is a space for imaginative storytelling, even if it deviates significantly from the original content.

If readers are troubled or have dissatisfactions with the character development and writing for Shen Jiu, or any other character for that matter, consider revisiting the novel. That's the only version you can experience with the original author, after all! LOL.

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Love this AU!

AU where there's no system (or a decidedly less restrictive one) and Shen Yuan transmigrates into an OC rogue cultivator before the start of the novel, and decides he's gonna steal the protagonist before Luo Binghe even gets to Cang Qiong.

The logic is sound -- he'll keep Luo Binghe from experiencing neglect and abuse at Shen Qingqiu's hands, raise him away from the pressure of the sects and the likelihood that anyone else might find out about his heritage and try to harm him over it, keep him fully away from the Immortal Alliance Conference, and then Luo Binghe's course will change trajectory because he'll have no reason to want revenge against the world and no access to Xin Mo. Shen Yuan will be able to spare Luo Binghe some suffering and possibly survive in a world less subject to the harrowing whims of a half-mad tyrannical overlord. Win-win!

However, the tricky bit is that he's not sure exactly how far ahead of the novel he is, and also Airplane didn't specify where Luo Binghe grew up. This means that Luo Binghe could be any age younger than twelve and in any number of places along or near to the Luo river.

Shen Yuan decides he's going to approach this by pretending he is looking for the long-lost son of his sister, traveling through the likeliest areas, asking after abandoned children who might fit the protagonist's description. It's a long shot, he knows, and he's mostly relying on the existence of Narrative Destiny. But eventually he is directed by several people towards a particular city, which is not as close to the river as he'd have expected Luo Binghe to grow up, but then again he only knows that was where baby Binghe was found, not where the washerwoman who took him in ultimately lived.

It becomes clear to him, though, that he's been sent to the wrong target. But also why he's been sent astray is apparent in nearly the same breath, because among the slave children living in this area is a little boy who could be his much younger clone.

Seriously, this kid looks just like him! Or, well, close enough. He looks a lot like Shen Yuan's actual nieces and nephews from his past life. It's uncanny.

Also, because of his search, the slave kids get wind of what he's looking for (his long-lost nephew) pretty quick. The boy with the obvious resemblance to him greets Shen Yuan's own assessment with wary cynicism, but he's just a little boy. So it's not difficult to notice the way he's also practically vibrating with hopefulness, half-hiding behind a protective older kid and looking at Shen Yuan with big dark eyes like he expects to be rescued or destroyed with whatever he has to say next.

Shen Yuan has a big problem now. He just knows that if he says something like "actually no this boy is too old to be my nephew" or whatever other excuse, no one will believe him, and also this poor kid is going to be permanently scarred by it. He's going to think Shen Yuan is lying just so that he can reject him. On top of that, he's not in a good situation here. None of these children are even remotely well cared-for.

Shen Yuan's rogue cultivator self isn't rich on the level of being like a wealthy sect leader or anything, but he's made some money since transmigrating by doing random cultivator jobs and quests along the way here. He uses it all to purchase two little slave boys (Do Not Separate), then takes another job and uses that coin to acquire a somewhat rundown manor which used to belong to the local gentry. The Qiu family (rings some bells but that's not exactly an uncommon name) kept it up for a while in case a branch family sprung up in need of a residence, but they've been in decline and the place is downright decrepit, so they had been looking to sell it instead. It's too big for a wandering bachelor like SY to ever need on his own account, but that's sort of the idea. He makes more money taking on cultivator work, at first taking his boys along with him for lack of any alternative. Nerve-wrackingly dangerous! Eventually he hires workers to start restoring the manor, particularly setting up a yard to be a school area, and then starts taking on any freelance jobs he can get in order to steadily buy out the contracts on all the other kids. He gets it nice enough to house and care for as many orphans as he can acquire.

Not because he's a big old softie though!

His story of looking for his nephew is a bust now, since he's apparently "found" the kid. So he's got to change tactics! If he can't find baby Binghe and the washerwoman, the next best approach is to create an opportunity for them to come to him. So once he's got his new household established, he starts offering free lessons to all the local kids. Not just the ones he's taken in, but also any who come by and want to learn some things. It's a tempting setup for anyone who wants their child to get education but can't afford a tutor, and Luo Binghe's mother had been entirely the sort of person who would have packed up and left her situation if there had been an opportunity for it.

On that note, SY also starts hiring single mothers to help look after his new gaggle of children and do the work he doesn't know how to do in these times, like keeping house, laundry, cooking, actually raising kids, etc.

His "little school" is not universally popular. A few groups try and ruin him, because the poverty in the region provides a basis of business for them. The ringleaders of the human traffickers in the area don't want their trade to dry up, even if it means selling all of their merchandise for this round, so when they find out that their underlings let Shen Yuan buy off all the kids they try and intimidate him into returning them (it doesn't go well for them). The Qiu family also isn't thrilled after it becomes clear what he's doing, and get him investigated by the local authorities (read: use their bribed officials and local goons to try and interfere.)

When that doesn't work either the sects get involved, because the Qiu go crying to Huan Hua Palace that Shen Yuan is sketchy and is trying to establish his own sect. So Shen Yuan talks his way around the matter, and frankly the Qiu are small fish even if they're the biggest ones in the local pond, so HHP doesn't care to pursue things much further. (Read: SY could mop the floor with the disciples they sent to investigate him, and it's not worth it to piss off someone this mysterious and powerful just to bully some impoverished children.)

Shen Yuan is appalled by all this bullshit though. Trust the world of PIDW to make it so hard just for a guy to teach some poor kids how to read and do math!

It makes him dig in his heels about it, because he is at heart a stubborn bastard. The fires that once fueled a thousand angry screeds on zhongdian literature site is now aimed at the local magistrate. One of the women he's hired on has some dirt on the Qiu family, which leads SY to dig up some more until he eventually has enough to turn the tables on them. Local officials won't investigate because they've all been bought, but that in and of itself is of some interest to their superiors closer to the palace, and so SY arranges an investigation of his own that goes way further than he thought? Turns out there are some ugly skeletons in the Qiu closets, and the imperial investigator comes down on them hard.

Well, he can't say they didn't have it coming? Though he does feel bad for the children in the family, especially the oldest son, who gets hauled off to jail along with his father. At least the girl is sent to live with relatives. Maybe he should have done more to shield the minors in the situation...?

His kids tell him not to worry about it, though, that apparently young master Qiu was known to run people down in the streets and beat his servants and do other cartoonishly awful things. SY's not sure how much of it is true and how much of it is his little flock of fluffy sheep trying to ease his conscience, though they do all seem to take a lot of vindictive delight in the whole affair. Especially Nephew, who clings to his sleeves and loudly declares that the investigator should have publicly flogged the discredited nobles so that everyone could go watch, and then begs him for sweets as if that wasn't a creepy thing to hear come out of an eight-year-old's mouth. SY just sighs and tells him he can have something good when he finishes his calligraphy practice.

Of course, it's not exactly easy running what is basically an orphanage-slash-school (and maybe a budding sect...?), especially when pretty much all of the kids have been traumatized and faced stuff like rampant dehumanization, food insecurity, abuse, and neglect. Hiring single mothers soon becomes not only a plan to try and lure in Luo Binghe's mom, but an absolute godsend of an idea because SY has no clue WHAT he would do on his own about the discipline issues or emotional breakdowns or acting out that some of the kids get up to once it registers that they're in a safe enough place to unpack their baggage.

Apart from Nephew, SY's favorite kid is the one who came with him, the oldest of the flock of former slave children. He's the big brother of the group, the one who tries his best to look after the others and to not make any trouble himself. But even poor Little Yue is still just a kid who has been through too much, and he also eventually starts having some meltdowns and struggles with processing everything that has happened to him as a vulnerable child in an unkind world.

SY really didn't mean to start a trauma center for mistreated children!

Though, that's still not necessarily a bad thing for Luo Binghe to one day come across, provided he ever actually shows up...

Eventually, Shen Yuan does figure out that he must be ahead even of Luo Binghe's birth, though he still doesn't put together that he's interfered in the scum villain's backstory. Probably something even more amusingly obscure, like the creation year of some random artifact Luo Binghe used in some wife plot or other, tips him off and he mentally throws his hands up in the air. He's got to wait DECADES? Maybe he ought to try and find Luo Binghe's biological parents and just follow them around at this point!

Not that he can, now, though, because he has to make sure no negative IQ villains (who will probably just be cannon fodder for a subplot one day) decide to send goons to literally burn down his orphanage. Also if he's gone for too long his kids get upset. Probably because no one else is as weak to their puppy dog eyes and pleas for treats and toys as he is.

At least it gives him time to shore up his position, and train Nephew and Little Yue more extensively in cultivation. Despite his initial assurances to HHP that he was but a humble orphan wrangler who was only incidentally a cultivator, Shen Yuan does also teach the other kids some basic cultivation exercises. There are a few reasons for that.

One is just the principle of the thing. No, these kids don't all have the potential to become great immortals or anything, but they can still learn some of it and it's good for their health if they do. The only trouble is if they try and push too hard or attempt things beyond their range, and that's a risk with everyone who cultivates. Or even just exercises!

Another reason is that it helps stave off the jealousy that some of the kids have towards those with more cultivation potential. Teaching a lot of the basics all around makes it into just another topic at school. Some kids might not be as good at it as others, but those kids might also be better at math, or memorization, or board games, and while cultivation can open more doors to people as adults, for the children this is generally enough to satisfy their sense of fairness. Or at least reduce outbursts and fights.

Finally, the impression that any of SY's kids might be a cultivator also makes wicked people more reluctant to try and abduct or interfere with them. Cultivators are revered and nearly mythological figures in the public consciousness. It isn't difficult to see why, if even a rogue cultivator NPC like SY* can mop the floor with most random muggers (*Shen Yuan is not a normal rogue cultivator). Not many people want to risk bringing SY's ire down on them, but of those who might chance it if he wasn't around to immediately react, even fewer want to risk that the kids themselves could kick their asses.

Not knowing that only two of the orphans probably could in fact mop the floor with them helps keep all the rest safer, and is more believable when all of them can conduct themselves enough like disciples to fool anyone who doesn't know what to really look for.

Developments that surprise Shen Yuan but wouldn't surprise anyone else who is paying attention:

People start leaving unwanted babies and younger children on his doorstep. Not all the time, but more than once has he had to frantically find wet nurses and worry that he's changed things enough that some fishermen might just randomly drop the protagonist outside his gate, and he wouldn't even know because Binghe would be a literal infant??

Nephew (SJ) and Little Yue (Yue Qi -- only Shen Yuan calls him "Little", especially when he gets taller than SY by the time he's sixteen) are prodigies who get really good at cultivation, really fast, and between that and Shen Yuan's OP skills they completely warp Shen Yuan's ideas for what normal cultivation potential looks like. This would probably cause more problems if he wasn't teaching all the kids how to cultivate anyway, but means his students actually do kinda run the usual range of skills for a small sect.

SJ and YQ swiftly reach the point where they need more advanced equipment than just SY's teaching can provide, if they're going to keep building their skills. Gaining access to certain tools, aids, and materials (like spiritual swords) is a real hurdle though, and usually is for rogue cultivators (one of the major disadvantages of no sect affiliation.) Shen Yuan is hesitant to use stuff from the plot, since it's For Binghe, but he eventually caves and starts going after some things that he doesn't think the future protagonist will miss much. He also ends up buying stuff from HHP, since they're willing to sell things like spiritual tools and weapons if the price is right, whereas most other sects like Cang Qiong reserve them for members only.

They get an invitation to the Immortal Alliance Conference. Not the one where the Abyss opens up, obviously, the one where (originally) Shen Jiu reunited with Yue Qi and killed Wu Yanzi. Shen Yuan debates on going but the boys really want to, and things have calmed down enough that no one's trying to burn down the school whenever he leaves these days, so eventually he figures it'll be interesting to see some of the Cang Qiong characters and should be safe enough if he keeps his disciples close.

They don't run into young Yue Qingyuan or Shen Qingqiu on the trip, but Wu Yanzi does show up and get killed, and SY only hears about it and assumes they just missed all that action. (WYZ just got caught by some senior cultivators who recognized him and killed him to avenge some disciples he murdered.) Nephew and Little Yue do meet young Liu Qingge, Shang Qinghua, Mu Qingfang, and Su Xiyan though! Which gives Shen Yuan the opportunity to tell them all (mostly Su Xiyan) that if they're ever in trouble near his school, they can come to him for help. Hint hint.

This open invitation ends up being accepted broadly by a lot of traveling cultivators after the conference, who from then on treat Shen Yuan's school like a free motel whenever they're passing through. Plenty aren't even people SY met, but it seems his statement was taken as a general one to fellow righteous cultivators all around! Luckily, this has some advantages. Shen Yuan has no qualms running off anyone who tries to take unfair advantage of him or especially his kids or staff, and no shame in conscripting anyone who is decent enough to help teach his students, even if it's nothing to do with cultivating, and somehow word gets around and people start bringing school supplies, medicine, food, or other useful things along with them as gifts to help repay the hospitality. Young Liu Qingge comes by a lot on his way to and from various quests, or even seems to just turn up randomly sometimes (he comes to challenge YQ and SJ to fights), and SY's just like "I guess this is happening now" and teaches him to recognize the early signs of qi deviation and advises strongly against meditating in caves.

At one point a young Shang Qinghua turns up in one of the spare rooms, very obviously hiding an ice demon. Shen Yuan again is just like "I guess this is happening now" and shelters them until Mobei Jun has recovered, and sends a message to Cang Qiong that one of their An Ding caravans was attacked and their disciple is recovering under his roof but isn't well enough to travel yet. Much less stressful situation for Airplane (who is desperately trying to figure out what he did to manifest SJ's benevolent uncle from somewhere???)

Su Xiyan seems like the only person they met at the Immortal Alliance Conference who doesn't turn up at their door in a state of emergency at some point.

A few years later, there is a big scandal involving her and the demon emperor. Su Xiyan disappears, Huan Hua Palace accuses Tianlang Jun of plotting against the righteous sects, and Shen Yuan is even invited to the meeting where they try and rally everyone to go kill Binghe's dad. Naturally, he declines to participate in the witch hunt, but the major sects agree to it. By luck (or narrative fortune) Shen Yuan comes across Zhuzhi Lang on his trip back home, and mentions the ambush and his distaste for it (not knowing who ZZL is). ZZL warns Tianlang Jun and the confrontation goes very differently, especially since there's no Yue Qingyuan wielding Xuan Su.

It doesn't go well for the sects involved. Huan Hua Palace gets decimated. The Old Palace Master gets killed. Shen Yuan is like uhhhh that's... whoops? Didn't Luo Binghe need that in the future?? Fuck.

But the sect isn't wiped out completely, they just take a massive beating. Some of their younger disciples end up leaving and turning up on Shen Yuan's doorstep, for some reason. The manor house is becoming too small to account for all of these foundlings! They have to expand. Though the expansions would be a stretch to term a "palace" they end up occupying a much larger chunk of territory, and even investing in farmland and some storehouses to help support the sect. That's still not really a sect, of course. Even if a lot of the business that would have normally gone to Huan Hua Palace starts coming to them instead. Once HHP is back on its feet the stream will probably dry out. Probably?

Zhuzhi Lang starts hanging around. He's actually looking for Su Xiyan or their baby, dead or alive and per Tianlang Jun's instructions, but he uses Shen Yuan's school as base camp for his kind of hopeless efforts to find any traces of them, while also looking for ways to try and repay Shen Yuan. All the kids are just like "oh great, another weird man has fallen in love with Shizun -- someone go run interference" about it.

Some years later, an older woman and her young son turn up. Shen Yuan's off on a quest at the time, so SJ receives them. As is standard procedure he gives the woman a job and places the boy in classes, after giving him the aptitude tests. The kid is cute and precocious, so SJ uses him to distract YQ while he himself sneaks out to go join LQG on a monster hunt (and claim the valuable parts of the beast's remains for himself), and neither SY nor ZZL notice anything until SY's going over the paperwork for stuff he missed while he was gone. Since he procrastinated, it takes him like a week to find out that Luo Binghe is finally under his roof. He's going over the admission form right when SJ arrives with The New Adorable Child to try and distract SY enough that SY will let him go on a solo hunt -- as far as being distracted goes, it is way more effective than even SJ anticipated.

Then he has to figure out how to let ZZL know, so that ZZL can let Tianlang Jun know, so that Luo Binghe will have more family than just his mom and more resources than just a shabby little not-sect! But even once he figures it out and sets up the dramatic reveal, TLJ is just like "great! so can he just stay with you? he's probably fine there" which... irritates SY.

SJ fully conscripts Luo Binghe as a minion in his many cons. He never lost his street kid conman tactics, although he now uses them less as a ruthless survival tool or weapon and more to just get things to go his own way. LBH has the face and disposition of a little angel, which SJ no longer can pull off as a full grown adult, so he fills a gap. LBH also knows full well what's going, especially since a lot of SJ's tactics involve throwing LBH at SY like a smoke bomb.

Luo Binghe inevitably still develops a big fat crush on SY, so this is fine by him. Especially when he gets older, he starts bringing SY tea and making him breakfast and running his errands until even SJ is like "wait a minute, this little brat's stealing my job!" and by then it's too late. Luo Binghe is SY's personal assistant, the disciple at conman puppydog eyes has surpassed the master! While SJ was busy being like "I'm going to trick this idiot into doing my chores" LBH was going "I'm going to trick this idiot into giving me his job".

SY takes too long to officially name his school so everyone calls it the Shen Sect, much to his embarrassment.

I don't think we're playing into the sheer comedic effect Huli Jing (fox spirit) Shen Yuan has. Because first, a Huli Jing's first form is female. A gorgeous girl and then after a while they can get a guy form.

But think about it. Him meeting Shen Jiu in different instances in different forms and SJ just straight up acting completely different is so funny to me. Because like Shen Yuan would act practically the same but SJ is such a hater about him when they met in his male form. SY is confused about it.

SJ meeting guy form SY: Who the fuck is this guy? Why is he smiling like that? Ew, why is he like that? Get him away.😒

SJ meeting girl form SY: Oh my a kind jiejie. She's so elegant. She's smiling at everyone, she must be a kind soul. Her mannerisms are a little different but she's nice. I like her company.

SY: ???? Do you like me or not????

Airplane Cucumber rolerswap AU in which Airplane has to literally father his protagonist son while being weirdly sought after Mobei Jun because he had accidentally saved the man during one of his uncle's schemes, and Luo Binghe ends up falling for An Ding's Peak Lord who helps lift up his daily tasks and built him a room of his own for a birthday he didnt even remember he had.

Please consider: SY transmigrates into LBH

SY transmigrates into PIDW as a small orphan child. The streets he live on aren't kind - they're filthy, there's no food, and the other little brats are more than willing to beat each other for scraps. It's brutal! More than any modern man can bear! Please system, take him back to his nice, air-conditioned apartment!

System: Error. User 002's request denied. 😄🎉🎉

SY sighs. He can already tell this is going to suck.

Starving, and with little else to do, he sets off for CQMS. As SY sees it, becoming a disciple or sect servant is currently the best chance he has for survival. At least if he gets accepted, he'll be given something to eat, and maybe even see the protagonist LBH! Of course, he'll have to run for it before the Abyss arc begins - no use staying around just to be killed off. But until then, a meal is a meal! He'll do whatever it takes!

…SY never wants to see another hole ever again! He'd had the good luck to arrive at the mountain gate during the middle of CQMS' disciple selections, but the glee he'd felt over that had soon been carved out of him. For hours, he'd been digging in the dirt, tunneling deeper and deeper with the skinniest fucking arms ever to grace mankind! And all for a dumpling, and a bedroll?! No thanks! SY quits!

...

...SY cannot get out of the hole he's made. Somehow, he'd dug much deeper than head height, and his malnourished arms haven't the strength to pull him back up. SY wants to cry. He might as well have dug out his own grave!

The sun's heat is sweltering now, and SY squints as he gazes up at the sky far, far above.

"...Shit."

SY is going to die. He hasn't even really lived yet, and he's going to die! Again!

He's about to lay down in acceptance of his fate, when a hand reaches into the hole to draw him out of it - like a knight in shining armour pulling him to freedom, or a mother cat dangling its kitten by the scruff of its neck.

In any case, SY looks up with watery eyes at the person who'd saved him. It's an older cultivator - one of the peak lords? Whoever the man is, he's surely the most divine of immortal masters. The most heavenly of gods! Thank you, kind shizun! Your grace in accepting this poor, weak millennial will not be forgotten!

----

…SQQ has no idea what's up with this kid, staring at him with starry eyes, but it's...acceptable. Much better than open scorn, at least. He can mould awe into loyalty. Scorn could only be met with discipline.

SQQ asks for the child's name.

"Shen Yuan! And Shizun…?"

SQQ blinks. An orphan named Shen? What a coincidence. "This master is known as SQQ."

He squints at the child. He can't have the little brat running around, drawing attention to his name and less than proper upbringing. That could invite scrutiny as to SQQ's origins, and SQQ is not revisiting the nightmare of his childhood for anyone.

"Whatever gutter you crawled out of, you will never mention it to anyone, understood?"

He glares at SY until the boy nods timidly, those freakishly bright eyes shining with tears. SQQ sneers at the display. Weak. Pathetic. Like a stupid little sheep.

"Come," he orders, starting to stride off without waiting for reply.

"Y-yes!"

SQQ leads his new disciple back to Qing Jing Peak, and has MF show the filthy little wretch the baths. Once he's clean, he can be put to use.

----

SY is horrified. He takes it back! He doesn't want any food, and he doesn't want to be seen with SQQ! He's grateful for the opportunity, but really, he has to go. If he stays on Qing Jing Peak, LBH will turn him into a popsicle alongside his asshole shizun!

But...is SQQ really all that bad? SY wants to slap himself for thinking it - this is the man that beat and maimed the protagonist, after all! It's just, Shizun seems fairly...normal? Not what he'd expected of a trash tier villain at all.

Sure, SQQ is prickly, and kind of an ass, and he gets really weird if anyone startles him, but he's not evil evil. In fact, excluding his at this point hypothetical treatment of LBH, he's practically lax regarding punishments. SQQ simply doesn't care that much, unless something affects his peak's image, or his preferred tea time. It's all immaterial to him - he has better things to do.

Seriously, the way the novel painted it, SY expected to be beaten bloody for even the slightest infraction. In reality, misbehaviour on QJP usually lands a disciple running laps, or doubling their amount of chores for the month.

...Truthfully, SY's starting to think his shizun's bark is worse than his bite, not that he'd ever say that to SQQ's face. Trust Airplane to mess up such broad strokes of characterisation in his shitty, third rate novel!

However, that's not to say SQQ is all kindness and roses. He's not. He's rude, and abrasive, and he has hit SY - after SY rushed up to a Heart Eyed Purring Snake and nearly got himself killed for his efforts. It wasn't fun exactly, but it was in hindsight - kind of - deserved. Still, it hurt and SY was mad about it for quite a while, until he realised LQG's disciples get beaten worse and with more frequency than anyone on QJP.

Anyway, the point is SY sort of enjoys mooching off CQMS, but he really doesn't want to be here when LBH appears and SQQ inevitably devolves into a raging lunatic. Sorry, Shizun! Your disciple is grateful for your care, but he's also a coward! Best of luck in the afterlife!

But, then SY thinks…perhaps if he befriends LBH, everything will be well? If he sucks up to the little demon emperor well enough, then surely the big demon emperor will spare him when he razes his home to the ground? Plus...SY still thinks it would be cool to meet the protagonist, if only once...

He decides to stay. Just for a little while longer.

----

SQQ finds the new child tolerable.

"Trash," he murmurs, flipping the page of the terrible novel Xiao Hua slipped him the last time he'd visited the Warm Red Pavilion girls. Really, what kind of emperor would disguise himself to seduce a woman? There were already 400 wives waiting for him at home!

"Shizun?"

The voice comes from beside his ear, far closer than he'd prefer to allow. SQQ turns to glare at the obnoxious little brat it came from, but his ire slides over SY like water off a duck's back.

"What are you reading?" the boy asks.

SQQ places the book facedown on the table.

"Did I ask you to speak?"

SY blinks up at him with those stupid, pretty eyes of his. SQQ bites back the urge to scoff.

"Don't look so airheaded," he snaps. "And mind your business. Do you even know what happens to boys who can't keep to thems-?"

He cuts off with a snarl. He shouldn't mention it. Why should he care what happens to pretty, naive children who speak out of turn? SY isn't like NYY. He'll soon grow into less of an obvious target. And he isn't an urchin to be stolen away anymore, either. No, SY has clothes and food and a roof over his head - all for free. He's practically spoiled.

SQQ hates spoiled little brats.

He flicks open his fan to hide his expression - whatever his face had done has that stupid boy looking alarmed.

"Sorry, Shizun," the boy replies. "I'll go get lunch then?"

SQQ huffs. "See that you do."

And the dumb little sheep scurries off to do just that. SQQ's fan slams back down upon his reading desk.

"Idiot creature."

SY is too submissive for his own good. It'll get him hurt one day. See if SQQ helps him then!

----

Later, when SY returns to clean away SQQ's dishes, he happens to discover the book the man was reading left out in the main room. Curious, he scans the room for signs of his shizun's presence, then carefully flips open the first page. He begins to read.

...

"What the hell? What is this knock-off trash?! Emperor Luo Bingge?!! Is there an Airplane in this world, too?!!"

SY is so disgusted, he doesn't notice sly eyes watching him from around the silk screen.

It serves that little brat right for being curious.

----

SY waits years for LBH to show up, but for some reason, he never does. Which is weird, because his system keeps tallying up protagonist satisfaction points! Largely, when SY interacts with Shizun, for some reason...

SY sighs. At least that means he's alive out there somewhere. Hopefully, very, very far away from CQMS. SY may be a big fan of LBH, but he doesn't really want his home destroyed - especially since Shizun only just had a new kitchen installed. Most of the work maintaining it has fallen to SY, due to his excellent (system approved) cooking.

Honestly, SY finds it much more relaxing than he'd expected. When he first transmigrated, he'd thought it was some sort of messed up joke to grant him culinary prowess without also granting him food to eat. Definitely not the kind of skill you'd attribute to some skinny little street rat (or anyone who'd previously poisoned themselves to death).

But now, he's grown into the art. It's fun. Chopping things relieves stress. Boiling things relieves stress.

...

If anyone messes with his spice organisation ONE MORE GODDAMN TIME, he's going to practise his knife skills on them.

...

...SY may or may not be getting anxious. He's started stress baking batch after batch of choc chip cookies everyday. No one can eat that many cookies! SY isn't even certain this universe is meant to have cookies.

"Binghe," he sighs, pulling out today's forth batch from the poor, overworked oven. "Please come soon. This old man's nerves can't take it."

----

SQQ, passing by the kitchen: TF is Binghe? Why is SY waiting for them? SY is my stupid disciple. I own him! 😡

SY later finds a snapped fan left outside the kitchen door. How it came to be there is a mystery, but as he recognises it as Shizun's he supposes he should have it fixed...

For a while after returning it, SQQ refuses to use any other.

"They're ugly," he says, gesturing with his prized fan. "Put them away."

SY quirks a brow. Are they really all that bad? He can't tell.

"Of course, Shizun."

----

SY does his best to productively fill the time while waiting for LBH's arrival. So far, he's dutifully cultivated a core, sneaked into the Lingxi Caves alongside Shizun to prevent him from murdering his shidi (only to find no murder going on, but a violent qi deviation on LQG's part - seriously Airplane?!!), and even fought one of SHL's dumb underlings when she thought to attack his sect.

And yet, still no Binghe!

At this point, SY is resigned to reach the Immortal Alliance Conference before the protagonist shows up - something he's not looking forward to at all. He doesn't want to compete in the stupid hunt. He's a no name NPC. He'll be lucky to survive!

...

And yet, the conference soon arrives.

"Don't die," his shizun kindly instructs, rapping him on the head with his fan. "I won't have you making QJP look bad."

SY sighs. "...Yes, Shizun."

As if he'd do it on purpose! SQQ, you have the face of an angel, but you're so cruel! 😭

----

Halfway through the main competition, SY is really starting to sweat. Where on earth is LBH? He has to be somewhere, because the system keeps. Yelling. At. Him. to make sure the protagonist ends up inside the Endless Abyss. As if SY wants anything to do with that! LBH would crawl back out and kill him!

System: Quest 'The Endless Abyss and Endless Hatred, a Sky Filled with Crystal Frost and Tears of Blood' must be completed or User account will be terminated. 😄😄

SY scoffs.

"Better that, than waiting for LBH to exact his revenge!"

He resolves to ignore the system until the end of the conference - he's not a chauffeur! LBH can find his way into the Abyss himself if it's so necessary!

...

Then, predictably, everything goes to hell. The ground is rumbling, ripping apart beneath SY's feet. To his left, a pile of corpses is swallowed by the ominous fissure splitting through the earth.

Across the field, SY can see SQQ calling to him.

"Shen Yuan! Come here this instant!"

His shizun's eyes are wide with something SY hasn't ever seen on his face before - fear? Constipation? But why-?

Suddenly, the earth below SY's feet crumbles. Caught unawares, his legs buckle beneath him.

For a moment, SY is scrambling over air, his feet sliding over loose dirt and bits of rubble in a frantic effort to steady himself.

Then...

...He falls.

As the wind is knocked out of him by the monstrously solid ground of the Endless Abyss, the system's voice chimes inside his head.

[Congratulations! Congratulations! Congratulations! User 002 has completed 'The Endless Abyss and Endless Hatred, a Sky Filled with Crystal Frost and Tears of Blood'. LUO BINGHE enters THE ENDLESS ABYSS! 🎉🎉🎉]

And SY suddenly has the most horrifying realisation of both his lives. 

"WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN 'LUO BINGHE'?!!"

----

» SY taming every monster in said Abyss with his wifely allure.

Not shown:

» SY being convinced Meng Mo is a vivid hallucination right up until the Abyss.

» The system having to threaten SY with death to get him to claim his empire. He doesn't want it! Ruling is too much effort! Where's a Shizun when you need him? 😭 SQQ loves ordering people around! He'd be great at this stuff!

» SQQ and YQY patching up their relationship while SY is in the abyss. SQQ needs to vent his grief anger on someone, and it might as well be Qi-ge. YQY is so happy he could cry.

» Upon returning to the human realm, SY finds every single harem member tedious (seriously, he spent years in fear of looking at them wrong!), and creates a council to deal with them instead. If he wanted to be whipped, he'd ask his shizun for it, thank you very much! If he wanted to be verbally humiliated, he would also go to Shizun! If he wanted sex, well...SQQ apparently knows a lot about that, right?

(SQQ does not know a lot about that, thank you very much.)

Meanwhile:

QQQ: Your disciple's been turning down all his marriage prospects.

SQQ: 🙄 ...And? How does this affect me?

QQQ: He keeps telling them their wiles are nothing compared to the great immortal SQQ, and he'd rather have you instead. 

SQQ: 😳 Impertinent child! I'll teach him to spout nonsense! 😡

SQQ storms into SY's palace and demands to speak with him.

SY: Shizun! 😄 How are you-?

SQQ: How dare you sully this master's reputation!

SY: Ah... I can't help being a demon, though?

SQQ: Who cares about demons?! Half the jianghu thinks we're intimate!

SY: !!!

SQQ: Therefore, I'm staying here to dissuade such nonsense! And to ensure you don't run this supposed 'empire' into the ground. Have chambers prepared for me. Appropriate ones!

SY: Ahaha... 😅 Yes, Shizun.

SQQ: 😠

It takes another three years of 'co ruling' (really, it's SQQ with all the power. SY has no head for politics) the empire before either SY or SQQ come to terms with any possible…feelings they might have regarding one another. Do they act on them? Absolutely not. Neither of them would be caught dead experiencing emotions in the presence of others!

----

(SQH has to orchestrate a wife plot into existence to save everyone's sanity.)

» Eventually, word spreads that the emperor and his heavenly demon consort take in any women in need and help solve their issues without asking anything in return (except to please leave SY alone!). Naturally, they're quite popular amongst the female population of the empire.

» SJ has the WRP girls relocated to the palace. Not to keep an eye on his husband! SY is so simpleminded, he would never think to betray him. However, there's only so many times you can walk in on strange women pawing up your trembling little sheep of a husband before it. is. enough.

» The WRP girls adore SY. He's so fun to dress up and bully!

» LMY becomes a prolific (and rich!) author. 😏

SQQ: is a walking red flag.🚩🚩🚩

SY: That's kind of hot, actually. He's just misunderstood.

SQH: Bro, he abuses children!

SY: Is it really abuse if you like it tho?

SQH: 😳 ...Bro...