Mr. Thunder's Sleepy valley

SO sy wakes up in his funky System Void. But before he can really get explained anything he just sees a bunch of flashing red ERROR screens. Then he wakes up, again, and is inside of your typical xianxia appropriate bedroom. Like all by himself.

After a bit of poking around he's in this big manor. Very nice but completely empty of other people. A bit later he realizes that the whole area outside of the manor's walls is just this flat expanse of water as far as the eye can see. The sky is faintly pink and the sun has been in the same spot, like it's setting, for hours now. He's basically trapped inside this manor with no way to get out since the water looks really deep and he knows he can't swim that well.

He ends up finding a small library after a while of searching. They're all about instruments, Cultivation techniques, or qiang mastery. So, he's probably transmigrated, right? But he has no idea where he is. The last thing he read was Proud Immortal Demons Way and that had been a shitshow but he doesn't recognize any of this.

SY stays there a few days and gets familiar with his new body. The sun never goes down and the breeze never blows. He finds out he actually has a qiang as a spiritual weapon! And his body has some foundational cultivation techniques, though notes written in the margins of his books tell him not to "finish his core" until he's older. He's retained a lot of his body's skills and he's kind of OP with his weapon! He's also a master of the pipa and dizi and a really good singer, which is pretty cool! Less cool is that he seems to be a child.

Just when sy has ran out of books to read he hears a chime in his head. The SYSTEM has just come back online and slams him with info.

His SYSTEM is thankful he is still in the house! Apprently he got stuck in the body of the main character of some story called "Venegeful Son's Immortal Destiny"! SY has no idea what that is. The System explains that, for some reason, it was booted into offline mode and it only just got restarted. It also can't connect to the main cloud and something seems to be corrupting the story!

Since normal functions are offline, the best it can do is try to guide SY forward and keep him alive until the system can get fixed. Without spoiling TOO much for it, it briefly recounts that the protagonist was left in a secret realm by his father to keep him safe. His father in this world was a powerful rogue cultivator with a lot of hidden techniques, so a bunch of other jealous sects rose up against him to attack and take his precious secrets. His dad, whom he traveled with, hid him here with all his books and also his spiritual weapon.

What was SUPPOSED to happen was that the dad, bloody and dying, was supposed to burst back into the secret realm and start the son on the oath of revenge. This was a very vicious dog blood novel with lots of twists and turns! The system had been excited to FINALLY guide someone through it!

But since the dad never showed up sy is kinda trapped here. He and the system end up devising sort of a plan to get out; since he has a protagonist halo and all, the system figures they can use that to their advantage. It's still very slow going, though, and sy ends up talking to the system a lot! They kind of become friends!

This system, since it's not connected to the main cloud and kinda lost, is a lot more relaxed than the one in canon. SY ends up getting from the system that the story he's in wasn't a GOOD story, narrative wise, but it was still one of the system's favorites! The author put a lot of heart into it and really treasured the characters, which as a whole helped him through a really hard time in his life. The system explains that the job of things like itself is to help "fix" stories like this, which is part of why the system was so excited! A transmigrator like sy is just the vehicle for that!

They end up talking about books they both know (the system has never heard of PIDW though, sadly) and get along pretty well! They both prefer "bad" stories over good ones, though where SY prefers to rag on what went wrong, the System prefers to focus on what went right and how small changes could have made the stories shine.

As they bond, they enact the plan to escape. Except, they're not the only things that notice this. On the other side of the hidden realm, at the entrance, activity has alerted some rogue cultivators that something is up. While Sy and system have been trying to get out, they've been trying to get in.

It comes to a head when, suddenly, the front door crashes open and the hidden realms entrance is forced to connect to the actual world. Rogue cultivators flood inside, hoping to steal secrets before the great sects find out and wipe the place clean. Demonic cultivators follow, hoping for similar- but also the chance to catch a few unsuspecting rogues out and kill them.

SY, with all his father's important information stored away in storage rings, ends up narrowly getting out and escaping from the realm. It's the middle of the night in the "real" world and he's deep in a thick forest. SY runs, with some help from the system, until he thinks he's not being followed any longer. Panting, he ends up going to a small stream to wash the sweat off himself and cool down.

Across the stream, frozen stiff, is a boy that looks about his age, maybe a little older, with dark hair and sharp, calculating eyes. SY thinks he would be pretty if not for the scowl marring his features. The boy had been washing his hands off in the stream, which SY can tell seem sort of hurt like burns.

The System suddenly activates and tells SY to talk to him! The system can't tell exactly what, but the boy has some sort of Halo, so he's important! And maybe if they can figure out what happened they can get rid of the corruption so the system can connect again!

SY is awkward, and the boy is like a sissy and angry cat, but SY eventually introduces himself and gets a name from the boy: Shen Jiu. SJ is there with his teacher though he seems a little dodgy talking about that. Using his body's OP luck and the system's help, SY finds some herbs nearby and gives them to SJ to help with his burns. The System manages to successfully "link" them together, too!

SJ convinces SY to leave before anyone "unsavory" might find him so he does. The System, when they're alone, explains that since they're "linked" that SY will be more likely to randomly find the boy and connect with him! And, since he has a Halo, he'll eventually be around other characters, too! They'll solve this mystery together!

With System as a guide, SY ends up meeting up and endearing himself to a group of traveling performers. Apparently something similar happened in the actual story but the system doesn't recognize any of these people as the same characters. Still, SY is charming with his protag halo and his skills with music get him pretty much adopted.

SY, free, now has some goals: find out what happened to his dad and help the system clear up the corruption! As a personal goal he'd also like to finish his cultivation, but he agreed with whoever wrote those notes in the manuals to wait till he's older to do certain things; he doesn't want to be stuck as a 12 year old forever.

SY ends up traving around with the performers. As promised, every few months he happens to run into SJ! It's always a fun surprise when it happens, too! Usually it's in a town when it happens. SY will be picking up some supplies or enjoying a festival before he has to perform and he'll happen to bump onto SJ. SJ is always hissy with him but SY can recognize the tsundere trope when he sees it! SJ is never around his teacher and SY eventually gets the feeling that maybe his teacher isn't nice to SJ. But SY is just a kid and can't do much, so he has SJ hang out with him or his new adopted family while he can! SY doesn't have very much but he'll share some treats or fun gossip he's picked up on his travels. Sometimes the System even helps him find neat things that SJ can look into! It's very slow and SJ seems to fight him every step of the way, but they do form something of a small friendship.

About three years after SY escaped from the realm, he is secretly a fine little cultivator. A big conference of some sort is coming up that the big sects are sponsoring. SY has been very careful to avoid any sects since he doesn't know which ones attacked his father... but his group is going to a nearby town to perform. All the cultivators makes the surrounding towns very busy so it's a good time to earn some cash! And they're lucky enough to get a performance spot!

As per usual, this is when SY hits a lucky shot and meets up with SJ. It's the day before everything and SY and SJ end up hanging out. SY thinks that SJ is competing and wishes him luck. He makes SJ promise to come back after it's over and SY says that he'll treat him to a nice dinner with his savings for doing a good job! SJ is more dodgy than usual. In the end, SJ never comes back like he promised and SY is forced to leave town a few days later. He wonders what happened to his friend.

It's not until about four months later that he sees SJ again, which is the longest he ever went without seeing him. SJ is in some new clothes that look nicer than his older ones. SY can't help himself and throws himself at SJ to give him a hug with a cry of "Jiu-ge!". He almost gets his block knocked off for this until SJ realizes WHO SY is. SY ends up squeezing him and admitting that he thought that SJ died when he didn't come back. SJ is sort of uncomfortable and eventually gets SY pried off himself and placated.

SY then notices a couple other people around their age who are giving SY weird looks. One is named Mu Feng and the other is Wei Li. SJ explains that he got "taken in" by a cultivation sect but he is as dodgy on answering questions as always. SY introduces himself to them and explains that SJ is his friend. It turns out the three of them are on this town because there were rumors of some strange happenings. SY has heard that! So he tells them all he knows and wishes SJ luck! SJ still owes joining him for a nice dinner and he WILL collect at some point!

The System pipes up when they're gone that the two people with SJ has some sort of plot significance! Weaker auras of it, but that meant the plan was working! Hooray!

Things go like this for a while, with SJ now occasionally meeting SY on missions with his sect. He ends up meeting quite a few people with lesser plot connection but none stronger than SJ's own Halo. People who know SJ are always kinda weirded out by SY being his friend which is really strange! Because SJ is kinda prickly but he's not a bad guy or anything! (Ha) SY even sort of makes friends with the Mu and Wei guys since he seems to see them the most.

I'll continue this later cause my phone is dying. But it's very funny to imagine SY somehow missing all the PIDW clues because he's so focused on other stuff. SY can be so obtuse and that's super fun to play with! I also think that, like, SY has NOT met specifically YQY, SQH, and LQG. But he has met like every other future Peak Lord and probably like 2 of the current ones (but not the Qing Jing one). Like no one other than SY realizes he is a cultivator, too, because he is doing his best to keep that shit on lockdown. So not even SJ knows even tho SY would 100% say that SJ is his best friend in this world lmao.

I think that since SY doesn't have to put on a poser act in this world he'd be slightly more of a sassy little gremlin. He'd also be sort of cocky since he knows he has a protag halo. SY would 100% put himself in situations thinking he can get out of them!