Svsss Fic - Tumblr Posts
beep boop new chap, read if u want
Summary
Day in and day out, Luo Binghe has gotten used to his miserably monotonous routine of managing a congee and noodles stall in some mall's food court. It was supposed to be another dreadful Sunday, when all of a sudden, something, no, someone catches his eye.
“Hello and welcome to Luo Congee and Noodles! What would you like to order— A short girl with long, blue? Green? Teal? Turquoise? Turquoise. Luo Binghe sluggishly blinks twice. He cannot believe his eyes as he sees a short girl with long, turquoise twin tails reaching her shins on the other side of his counter.
Or: Food Stall Owner Luo Binghe x Famous Crossplayer Shen Yuan
Chapters: 3/?
Words: 17k
Ming Fan did not consider himself to be a main character.
Let's be honest here, he was second in his family and overshadowed by both his older and younger siblings. He wouldn't inherit the family business, he wouldn't go and become the next influential scholar in the Capital. People could barely recognize him. It was, in short, a miracle he even got into Cang Qiong, much less Qing Jing Peak.
Which was the second peak.
He's not complaining. Ming Fan loves it much better than home, and for once, he's first in something. As the most senior of them all, he basically was in charge. He can control things now.
Except, as time goes on, he can't.
His Shizun changes completely from a qi deviation that he should've been able to prevent earlier. How, he has no idea, but surely there could've been something.
His youngest shidi outshines everyone and eventually becomes the reason for his Shizun's death before having the audacity to marry him.
All of a sudden, he sees everyone around him less and less as more paperwork is shoved to him on top of all his classes. Eventually, he basically becomes an unofficial peak lord before ascending to become the peak lord.
All because Ning Yingying didn't want to.
Was it out of pity? Was it out of boredom? Was it out of fear of what the title peak lord truly meant?
Ming Fan has officially become the very top of Qing Jing Peak. And it's lonely.
Ming Fan knew himself to be many things, but out of all things, he still considers himself a side character in his own life. He looks around at the house he inherits and spots a congratulatory bouquet before laughing. He's basically the baby's breath of bouquets.
It takes a few years to get used to being called Peak Lord instead of just Da-Shixiong. It takes a few years before he starts accepting disciples, it takes a few years before he fully embraces the role, and it's a few years before he meets Gongyi Xiao again.
The man's beautiful as always, and for some reason, Ming Fan still looks up to him as the person he ought to be. Strange how Gongyi Xiao thinks the exact same thing to Ming Fan.
They end up becoming accidental pen pals after a diplomacy meeting. One after another after another, before an entire shelf is dedicated to just Gongyi Xiao's letters.
Ming Fan, somehow, is in love. And he is torn apart when he is constantly reminded of the Little Palace Mistress always following behind Gongyi Xiao.
In any case, it takes a few years before Ming Fan finally messes up and confesses. He waits for a rejection only for arms to encircle his being and comfort his soul. Gongyi Xiao looks at him and he looks back, seeing themselves in the other's eyes.
It takes a few years before Ming Fan realizes that although he may be the baby's breath of bouquets, he is still beautiful when you look closely. All it takes is the right person and the right time. He may be second in many things, but in Gongyi Xiao's heart?
There is no other competition.
screw it imma talk about svsss magical girl au im feeling brave today
The one I mentioned here
So in this universe, the modern world that SY and SQH are from holds a secret unknown to the latter, the existence of the fae folk.
They are spirits of nature that have gone by many names but are most known in Europe. Though a fact that many others do not know is that the fae, as of modern times, has reached all over the world, and have a presence everywhere, even in modern cities such as Shanghai.
Some have even developed a resistance to their greatest weakness, iron.
So when one of great power, the Dragonfly Archfey, spots a child of interest and beauty, they take the child, ignoring the iron charm on the crib, and form another from its magic to put in its place, a changeling.
When the mother comes to find the child the next morning, they look into eyes that are far too intelligent.
But luck was on the side of the changeling, as the mother knew much, having been given a blessing by a fae that cherished her, another changeling. So the mother called the changeling, asking for advice in exchange for a jar filled with their favorite candies. The friend handed the mother a thin hairclip and told them to clip it into the child's hair and hover the charm above the child's head, ever so moving it closer and closer.
So at the peak of twilight, the mother did as the friend advised, despite the babe fussing a few. When the charm was three fingers above the child's head, their eyes flashed a toxic green and simply vanished, leaving behind only a small piece of what seemed to be jade. With a simple touch, the mother was whisked away into another world.
When the mother came to, she stood barefoot on the shore of a perfectly round lake. Lilypads and lotuses covered the surface of the lake and catstail surrounded it. In the middle of the lake stood a tall androgynous figure whose hair spilled over the lilypads and whose feet skimmed the surface of the lake. Next to them were two bassinets made of leaves and driftwood, where two identical children slept.
"One is the child you bore and one is the child I wove. Can you tell which is right?" Delicate fingers touched both of the roofs, taunting her. But she had already made her decision.
Scarred feet touched the water, and she walked to the fae with a determined look on her face. "I will be taking both of my children, " and with a simple touch, took both of her children into her arms.
"I never said you could do that." Delicate turned sharp as the Archfey's hand reached towards the mother, only to flinch at the iron arrow she pointed at them. Not a simple one, but one imbued with a blessing of a fae. One of ice and frost, which had been the thing allowing her to walk across the lake.
"I never asked." And with a flash, twin circles and sigils crawled up her arms, as she left the world, twins resting in her arms. She arrived in the realm of her friend, who greeted her.
"What name are you going to give the other?" She asked.
The mother told her friend.
-
ps if anyone has a name for reincarnated SJ that would be appreciated because I don't think the one that I chose initially would workkkkkk...
also idk how i wrote this
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 and 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'?!!"
----
Not shown:
» SY taming every monster in the abyss with his wifely allure.
» 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 would love 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.)
----
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...
Luo Binghe opens his mouth--
--and he wants to howl what is wrong with you, what the FUCK is the matter with you, why do you keep doing this, why do you keep surrendering without even a fight, why do you give up right from the start, don’t you care? don’t you want to keep the things you love? why are you giving them all to ME? what’s going to be left for you?--
--and he says, “Oh, it’s really not like that between us, Gongyi-shixiong. You don’t need to worry.”
I had to draw a scene from @primtheamazing 's AMAZING FIC "Tarnished Gold" I could have drawn some of the other amazing scenes, but Binghe spoke to me in this scene. Cause I would have reacted the exact same way, what the fuck is wrong with you gongyi-shiziong--
The Scum Villain's Twin is the Grandmaster of Beast Cultivation: Masterlist
Series
Part one
Part two
Part three
Part Four (coming soon)
Details
About (not) naming
The Beast Peak
(coming soon)
Chapters: 1/1Fandom: 人渣反派自救系统 - 墨香铜臭 | The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System - Mòxiāng TóngxiùRating: Not Rated Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Luò Bīnghé/Shěn Yuán | Shěn Qīngqiū, Shen Jiu | Original Shen Qingqiu/Original Yue Qingyuan Characters: Shen Yuan | Shen Qingqiu, Luo Binghe, Luo Binghe's Adoptive Mother, Shen Jiu | Original Shen Qingqiu, Original Yuè Qīngyuán, Yue Qingyuan, Original Mu Qingfang, Mu Qingfang, Original Ning Yingying, Ning Yingying, Original Ming Fan (Scum Villain), Liu Qingge, Liu Mingyan, Shang Qinghua Additional Tags: One-Sided Luo Binghe/Shen Yuan | Shen Qingqiu, Luo Binghe Has a Crush on Shen Yuan | Shen Qingqiu, Shěn Yuán | Shěn Qīngqiū Being an Idiot, Shěn Jiǔ | Original Shěn Qīngqiū/Yuè Qīngyuán Angst, White Lotus Luò Bīnghé, How Do I Tag, Fluff and Angst, No Sex, Good System (Scum Villain) Summary:
One beautiful and peaceful day, Luo Binghe is wondering threw the forest joyfully as he daydreams when suddenly he finds a funny looking leaf. He puls on the leaf and out came a forest fairy.
Yes Luo Binghe's forest fairies come from the earth like potatoes. Have mercy on your poor mother, now she has to figure it out how to feed three mouths. Kinda anyways. Is the 'forest fairy' gonna be smart and stick with the kind washerwoman or is he gonna be stupid and convince himself he is a big boy and do things on his own?
@pinklomito Art work is what inspired this fic so go look at their stuff!
I asked this on discord and got no response so I'm just gonna try here even though I'll likely get no response here either lol
I'm planning on rewriting a fic I had began writing but never finished from like forever ago The fic has Shen Yuan's family in it but I don't actually have any names for his two older brothers, little sister and parents. In the original drafts they were all just Japanese names for some reason. Has anybody got any ideas on what to call them?
I drew my favourite scene from this ongoing fic
Couldn't decide which one showed Yue Qingyuan's emotions better so I gonna post both versions :D
Edit: @ you now cuz I didn't know you had Tumblr till now @callmeqingqiu
I've been considering writing a fan-fic based when Shen Jiu is a disciple.
The basic concept is that Shen Jiu learns he has a twin sister who has been working in the Warm Red Pavilion.
The fic will likely have Shen Jiu x Mu Qingfang content (I'll need a name for before Mu Qingfang got his name)
I'll probably give Shen Jiu's twin sister a personality like Pairin or Meimei from the apothecary diaries but I'll need a name for her lmao
I've drawn her and Shen Jiu together as adults
I've drawn them at where I imagine I'll end the story off at (Before Luo Binghe enters Qing Jing Peak)
And her name will be Shen Ba which she later changes to Shen Juhua (combination of daisy and flower)
I'll likely post some draft concepts soon for how I want the story to begin. If you have any suggestions don't hesitate to put them comments :D
I've been considering writing a fan-fic based when Shen Jiu is a disciple.
The basic concept is that Shen Jiu learns he has a twin sister who has been working in the Warm Red Pavilion.
The fic will likely have Shen Jiu x Mu Qingfang content (I'll need a name for before Mu Qingfang got his name)
I'll probably give Shen Jiu's twin sister a personality like Pairin or Meimei from the apothecary diaries but I'll need a name for her lmao
I've been reading this svsss fic called 'You Reap What You Sow' and I'm really loving it so far. Basically Luo Binghe is a transmigrator and there are the Shen Twins in this version of the story he transmigrated into. Shen Yuan as Shizun and Shen Qingqiu as Shifu, their relationship is gorgeous may I add. Shen Qingqiu the protagonist of the story he transmigrated into, Shen Yuan a side character and Luo Binghe as the villain. As you can guess Binghe falls head over heels for Shen Yuan (it's Binghe how could he not?) And so on so. Don't wanna spoil the whole fic that I know of so far lol
Anyways, I'm at the Abyss section of the fic and cannot bring myself to actually read said section (I find Abyss sections in fics a drag to read ok!!!)
Was wondering if anybody who's already read the fic knows when that section ends and if there's anything actually important in it I should know or if I should just suck it up and read the bloody Abyss arc lmao
Heres a link to the fic:
https://archiveofourown.org/works/19823611/chapters/49207592#workskin
Ghostfire Shen Yuan loyally following the lonely, undying, forgotten Luo Binghe from the original outline.
They never even met.
Shen Yuan had died long before Luo Binghe’s story was set to start. Abandoned by his System, he was left wandering the realms, searching for anything to latch onto, anything to stave off the darkness encroaching on his consciousness whenever he stopped. He keeps himself entertained with little jokes and references that will never reach anyone. At least back home, there were other people on the opposite side of his screen reacting, seeing. Paying attention.
He never would have thought he’d miss the times he was perceived by others. He’d give anything, though. Anything.
He stumbles upon the protagonist as he’s ascending the stairs of Cang Qiong Mountain Sect for the first time. Dressed in rags and heaving with the effort, Luo Binghe is exactly as Shen Yuan had pictured: a little bun, soft and kind and so very brave.
The excitement wears off soon enough. When the tea ceremony is held, Shen Yuan watches, hopelessly trying to stop the cup from hitting Binghe’s head. He lunges at Shen Jiu; let him be identified and exorcised, at least he would have done something with himself, however useless. It doesn’t work. Of course not—nothing can come between Luo Binghe and his fate.
Shen Yuan thinks about leaving. Many times. But every time he considers the possibility of going back to wandering the world, or just passing on… Well. There’s still a lot to see, isn’t there? It will get better. It will.
Only, it doesn’t. Not really.
There’s no harem; there’s no warm comfort offered to Luo Binghe by a sympathetic beauty, no wedding celebrations, no moments of gentle companionship, however brief, however superficial. There’s no camaraderie with the demons underlings, his generals, his allies; it’s all casual cruelty and dismissals, before it’s violence and subjugation.
There’s no joy. There’s no hope. There’s no ‘better’.
Something is wrong, that’s clear. Something is wrong, and Shen Yuan has no one to blame.
This is clearly not the Proud Immortal Demon Way he knows.
Centuries later, when Luo Binghe begs for the heavens to allow him to die, Shen Yuan hears. When Luo Binghe rages against the passage of time, alone in the wreckage of his palace, left behind by everyone he’d ever known, Shen Yuan accompanies him. When Luo Binghe lies down in the Holy Mausoleum and refuses to get up, Shen Yuan waits until he opens his eyes again and leaves the palace.
They end up in a hidden realm so filled with Yin Energy that Shen Yuan can channel it to manipulate his form into that of his former body. It’s not detectable by the living, but it’s there. He feels stronger, too. He can walk, float, fly, interact with what few other ghosts they encounter.
Still, Luo Binghe cannot see him.
Luo Binghe doesn’t talk much. Well, that makes sense, he was never in the habit of talking to himself, but still. It’s lonely.
They end up in a town where a diviner takes one look at Luo Binghe and offers him a free reading. Shen Yuan can’t enter her tent, so he waits outside.
She tells Luo Binghe of the little hanger-on he’s got. A powerful one, too, though he’s still getting used to his powers. He’s been here for a long time, she says. Since he was a child. He comes from far away—farther than even the most distant star.
Luo Binghe begins talking to him. Shen Yuan isn’t sure why, but he’s not complaining!
Luo Binghe also begins meditating again, trying to soothe the damage done by Xin Mo over the centuries. For every meal, he places a few fruits across from him on a plate he’d made himself, which he eats only after finishing his own dish. He makes space by his side whenever he walks on a narrow road. He stops at every landmark and tells stories about them, always starting the same way.
“Do you remember when…” becomes Shen Yuan’s favourite phrase.
One night, Luo Binghe sighs and looks across the table. Shen Yuan places himself so that he’s in Luo Binghe’s focus.
“What is it, Binghe?”
Luo Binghe doesn’t answer him, of course. Still, it feels like a conversation, when he says:
“I wish I knew your name.”
Shen Yuan frets. He’s been trying to manipulate the physical world, but he never got the hang of it. He’d tried drawing in sand, with water, just pushing things off shelves. And yet, nothing.
“I’m sorry, I wish—” he tries, but Luo Binghe is already talking again.
“I wonder if we ever crossed paths when you were alive.” He’s expressed this thought more than once. Shen Yuan never likes to think about how they’ve missed each other, how they’d been set up for failure from the start. “I wonder if we would have been friends.”
Shen Yuan scoffs. Of course not. Him and the protagonist? No way.
But—those cold star eyes, blindly searching for him, trying to land on him… They make him want to say, I would have liked that.
He reaches a hand out to touch Luo Binghe’s forhead. He’s taken to doing it whenever Luo Binghe broods, or makes a silly joke Shen Yuan wishes he didn’t find funny. It’s soothing.
He wishes Binghe could feel it.
When his finger touches the demon mark, it blazes. Luo Binghe gasps, that heavy gaze settling on Shen Yuan’s face.
Shen Yuan startles, and jumps away.
“No! Wait!”
Shen Yuan hesitates. Luo Binghe is looking around himself, eyes begging for even a wisp of Shen Yuan’s shadow.
He can’t deny Luo Binghe this.
He can’t deny himself this.
He reaches out again. This time, he cups Luo Binghe’s cheeks. When those eyes clear of panic and widen in awe, he whispers, softly, “Shen Yuan. My name is Shen Yuan.”
Luo Binghe looks like he’s been handed a treasure so precious he’s afraid to touch it. He hesitates, raising his hands in careful starts and stops, before taking Shen Yuan’s face in them, gently caressing the soft, cold skin of his face. His eyes dance with the haste he takes in memorising Shen Yuan’s features.
Then, he smiles. Helpless and weak and so, so precious. Shen Yuan has not seen hope so bright in Luo Binghe’s face since that fateful day on Cang Qiong Mountain.
“Hello, Shen Yuan.”