For The Art And Fanfic Needs

Yue Qingyuan loves animals, but animals don’t often love him. All Shen Jiu has to do is emerge from the bushes and rub against his leg. He’s guaranteed a spot at Yue Qingyuan’s side for the rest of the day. Yue Qingyuan coo’s over him, pets him, nearly cries when Shen Jiu follows after him. The petting was…. Acceptable.

The sect leader’s home is empty. All the furniture within clearly inherited from predecessors without addition. There are candles in every room but none are lit. No decoration lines the walls. Everything is spotless. You wouldn’t think anyone lived there.

Yue Qingyuan settles at his desk, the study the only room that looks to see use. Once the smile from letting Shen Jiu into his space fades, Yue Qingyuan wears a neutral expression at his desk. He sits for hours, until the sun rises on the next day, unmoving. No one visits him. A single night pearl at his side his only light source.

Yue Qingyuan seems startled by the presence of a cat in the morning.

“You must be hungry! Let me see if I have anything…”

His kitchen is as unused as his chairs. The pantry is empty. There is one stale box of tea sitting on the counter alongside a jug of water. Yue Qingyuan hums.

He leaves to his office for his duties. Shen Jiu follows.

People come to him at all hours of the day, requesting this and that, dropping off reports, trying to worm their way into his good graces. He responds with nothing more than mild, polite interest. Shen Jiu jumps into his lap the stare down the intruders. Yue Qingyuan shows him the first real smile of the day.

His large hands are warm… his thighs plush… his robes soft…..

Shen Jiu doesn’t know when he falls asleep, but when he rouses it’s to whispered voices.

“-not so loudly, you’ll wake him!”

There’s a sunrise in the windows.

This foolish man didn’t move at all?!

Shen Jiu yowls and bites Yue Qi’s hand. When he gets up, he grabs the hem of his robes in his mouth, leading this silly man back to his home. People give the sect leader looks as he’s lead by a cat. Good, he deserves it!

He bites Yue Qi’s legs until he climbs into bed. The bed doesn’t smell like him. It smells like dust.

For good measure, Shen Jiu curls up on Yue Qi’s chest (his very.. ample… chest). Let’s see him get up now!

Yue Qi doesn’t move as he sleeps. He doesn’t need to for Shen Jiu to see his distress. His sword rattles in its stand. Little gasps of air pass his lips. Over and over mutters “let me out”. He hisses. “…Xiao Jiu…”

Shen Jiu watches in horror as tears bead in his still closed eyes. Qi-he doesn’t cry! He’s never cried!

He bats at his face, meowing and hissing.

A drop of blood mixes with the salt water of tears.

A QI DEVIATION?

Shen Jiu shakes the little bell off his neck. At least as a human he can transfer qi, do something, anything!

Yue Qi’s eyes fly open at the rapid increase of weight on his chest. He gawks as Shen Jiu floods his body with qi. His body… his body…

The man Qiu Jianluo is meeting with is tall, in stately black and grey robes. There's a streak of white in his hair at the temple and there's something familiar about his face. He had kind eyes, which Shen Jiu finds suspicious.

He expects orders from Qiu Jianluo, but his master waves a hand dismissively as he counts a large amount of gold coins.

"This man is your master now." Qiu Jianluo says.

"What?" he asks in shock before thinking better of it. But his old master doesn't even glance at him and the new one smiles at him before gently taking his shoulder in an iron grip he has no hope of shaking off.

"Come along," he says.

He sounded familiar too...why was that?

He's a little shocked by how quickly they leave the manor, taking absolutely none of his things when they go. One minute they're at the top of the stairs and the next they're already outside...

"Are you a cultivator?" he asks quietly.

His new master stops, and leans down to look him in the eyes. "Yes. How old are you Xiao Jiu?"

He wants to tell the man not to call him that but he doesn't dare. "Thirteen sir."

The strange cultivator pats his head. "No sir from you Xiao Jiu, call me Shixiong."

He explains that he didn't buy Shen Jiu because he wanted a slave. He can tell Shen Jiu has excellent cultivation potential and he intends to take him as a disciple... For a few years.

"I have business I must see to in three years time that I cannot involve a disciple in. I plan to train you as best I can then see you admitted to the sect I was trained at, Cang Qiong Mountain Sect."

It sounds too good to be true, but Shen Jiu can hardly say no. Good intentions or not the man still owns him.

Until a few days later when 'Shixiong' hands him all the paperwork necessary to prove he's a free man and not a slave. This is just the first gift Shixiong gives him as they travel around the country. Shixiong buys him clothes and books and teaches him to read and write and how to stand so that people think you're rich. Shixiong grew up on the streets too, he tells Shen Jiu, he's just learned to act like he hasn't.

And he teaches Shen Jiu how to cultivate, how to use the power he can feel under his own skin.

"Xiao Jiu has great talent," Shixiong says. "He'll be a master cultivator soon."

It's not all sunshine and roses of course, Shixiong is ...strange. He never gives anyone the same name twice, and never gives Shen Jiu a name at all. They meet a man on the road about a year into their wandering and Shixiong kills him without a word. After that he shows Shen Jiu that the man was a demonic cultivator, and a known criminal... But watching him kill a man so effortlessly was a little scary.

(Shen Jiu absolutely does not have a crush on Shixiong what are you talking about?)

Shixiong isn't the violent type though. Shen Jiu never sees him draw his sword. He doesn't even kill the actual demons they run into one night at an inn. Shen Jiu doesn't think he did anyway, Shixiong had sent him up to bed early.

The three years fly by, though towards the end of them, Shen Jiu starts to get anxious. What if Qi-ge is looking for him? Eventually he tells Shixiong the whole situation and Shixiong promises that Qi-ge is on the mountain still and will be there when they arrive.

Finally the day arrives, Shixiong must leave soon. They go to the sect and camp at the base of the mountain. Shixiong hands him a letter to give the sect leader.

"You aren't coming up the mountain with me?" Shen Jiu asks.

Shixiong shook his head and told him to sit. There were many things he wished to tell Xiao Jiu before he left.

The story is long, and Shen Jiu's stomach drops not long into it. It's too familiar. Shixiong used to have a dear friend when he was on the streets, one who he had to leave behind when he went to cultivate.

He tells Shen Jiu about rushing his cultivation, about trying to claim more sword than he could handle, and the year he spent locked underground, knowing every moment he was there his friend must be losing hope he'd ever return.

He talked about finally getting out and racing back to where he and his friend had parted ways...only to find smoldering ruins and bodies he didn't recognize.

He talked about his Shizun, a cruel and vicious man coming to drag him away from the ruins eventually. He talks about wanting to die.

Shixiong tells him about finally finding his friend again by chance, and being too ashamed of himself to explain himself.

He explained how he never explained himself, instead letting the pain they both felt ferment inside them until eventually it took his friend from him all together. He's very vague about what exactly happened. But Shen Jiu thinks he appreciates that.

"And then I was given a chance," Shixiong says. "A god came to me and told me it could not change my present, but that I could if I wished change someone else's future. And I have I hope, changed yours for the better, Xiao Jiu. But it's time for me to leave."

"Wait so Qi-ge doesn't even get to go back to a better future?" Shen Jiu snaps. There's no question who the man staring at him wide eyed is of course. He's not stupid. "He had to go be all alone again??"

Shixiong - Qi-ge laughs, "I'm not all alone, I just don't have my Xiao Jiu."

"Same thing!"

"Well you can't come with me," Qi-ge said.

"Why not??"

Qi-ge gestures behind Shen Jiu. "What will he do without you?"

Shen Jiu turns around.

His Qi-ge looks awful. Pale and shaky and like he's going to throw up any second as he stumbles down the steps, he holding the same sword Shixiong has in his arms like an enormous baby.

Shen Jiu can't breathe.

"I could only change your fate Xiao Jiu," the older Qi-ge says behind him. "Not my own."

"When did he get out of the caves?" Shen Jiu asks.

"Less than a day ago."

Qi-ge attempts to get his sword in position to fly on and has to pause to dry heave. Shen Jiu took off toward him and caught him upside the head as he straightened up.

"What do you think you're doing running off in this condition?" he snaps. "Are you trying to kill yourself?"

Qi-ge gapes at him for nearly a minute before Shen Jiu feels like he has to explain himself. "... Qi-ge took too long so I came on my own."

And then his arms are full of a sobbing hysterical Qi-ge. He holds his dearest person tight and looks back towards the camp.

Getting interested in yuri and baihe for 2026, or just wanting to swim deeper in the genre? I'll work on some posts highlighting some recs across different genres. Each genre is loosely ordered by favorites. Several of these stories involve bisexuality and/or comphet, but the focus is on the lesbian relationship.

Some of these are still being serialized, which I'll highlight with a (*). Stories with an official English release are marked with a (#). Vertical strips are marked with (^).

Adult Drama:

How Do We Relationship (#): Miwa and Saeko are two college students who hook up because they're both single and available, but they still have a lot about themselves to sort out. Excellent depiction of lesbian dating life.

*Long-Awaited Feelings (^): Insecure about her career direction, Ji Youyan breaks off her secret relationship with fellow actress Jing Xiu. Years later, on the eve of Jing Xiu's wedding, Ji Youyan dies of alcohol poisoning. She wakes up three years before her death with memories of her previous life and the determination to fix her mistake. The real question is, will Jing Xiu ever forgive her?

There Is No Love Wishing On A Star: As children, Eri, Fuyuki, and Kyou were inseparable friends. The fractures appear when Kyou pursues his long-held crush on Eri while Fuyuki tries to put an end to her own. The connection Eri wants to maintain with Fuyuki, though, might be inseparable. Excellent story about aromanticism and demisexuality.

*My Dear Lass (^): Shi Xingyuan drifts across China, attempting to escape the life her rich father is attempting to force her into. She arrives in Peachtown, takes up a part time job at a bakery, and quickly makes friends in the town, particularly the free-spirited town leader, Mu Xiaoen. But Shi Xingyuan finds herself at a loss to understand and support the woman beneath Mu Xiaoen's easygoing facade.

*Pink Candy Kiss (#): Takara, a real estate agent, is assigned a client who happens to be her middle school crush, Emma. The two quickly resume the intensity of their friendship, but must navigate the topic of Emma's marriage.

Even Though We're Adults (#): Ayano, a teacher in a strained marriage, enters a bar one evening and has a one-night-stand with Akari. The story follows their social circles as Ayano navigates her divorce and Akari's guilt surrounding her role in it.

Doughnuts Under a Crescent Moon (#): Hinako is an office woman trying to be "normal" by centering her life on stereotypical feminine interests like fashion and makeup. A chance encounter with her coworker Satō on a late night walk opens her eyes to a different path. Sweet story about queerplatonic intimacy.

Days of Love at Seagull Villa (#): Mayumi impulsively relocates to a seaside town after she is suddenly dumped by her cheating fiancee. She takes up lodging in a failing family-run in, and quickly discovers a kindred spirit in its manager Rin, a gregarious former delinquent raising a child.

Ohana Holoholo: Maya, a translator, lives with her former girlfriend Michiru and son Yuuta. Maya and Michiru navigate the remaining feelings of their relationship while their actor friend and neighbor Nico takes an unusual interest in Yuuta's life.