GUYS GUYS GUYS GUYS LISTEN LISTEN ANOTHER MUYUAN/MUSHEN/HEALINGCUM AU HAS JUST BEEN BORN.
(INSPIRED BY @xiuyawn's ART HERE)
So YET ANOTHER DEMONYUAN AU RIGHT RIGHT BUT SHH LISTEN THIS TIME IT’S DIFFERENR.
So like Demon SY x MQF who are penpals. (Disciple au)
So it all starts with a book about plants. There were many things a physician needs to be kept up to date on. Normally, Mu Qingfang keeps his own recordings of medical situations and experiments that he’d conducted on his own. He was only a disciple though, most of the hands on activities he was allowed to perform were ones he’d done before. Treating mild cases of poisonings, sewing wounds shut (namely on animal corpses), learning how to bandage in different ways.
So it was no surprise when Mu Qingfang got bored. When he’d gone to his Shizun himself requesting harder material, his Shizun had simply told Mu Qingfang that he was free to experiment himself, but that the pacing of lessons would remain the same. So experiment he would do.
Beneath the kind, patient facade, Mu Qingfang was quite interested in bodies, and what their limitations were. Now, he wasn’t crazy. Mu Qingfang wasn’t interested in experimenting on others without consent and there weren’t many that would entrust their bodies to some random teenager, cultivator disciple or not. Rather than finding someone else to experiment on, Mu Qingfang figured that he could just use his own body.
So he did. It started off with plants, Mu Qingfang would read up on certain plants before he would test them on himself. Most of these experiments used plants that grew around on the mountain, easy to gather and easy to replenish. It wasn't until Mu Qingfang had used and experimented with every plant available to him did he begin to seek for plants outside of the peak.
The first few herbs he'd requested were secured rather quickly, he supposed that was one of the few perks of being his peaks prized head disciple. It wasn't until his request for a flower known as "Drooping Haze" did Mu Qingfang finally receive some pushback. When he brought the plant up to his Shizun he was met with an air of helplessness and a simple "I'll keep an eye out for some."
For starters, the flower was native to the demon realm, and not many cultivators ventured deep enough into the demon realm to secure some to safely sell. The vendors that did sell it, usually didn't have a lot of stock and often sold them for high prices. The demonic vendors that sold it couldn't be trusted to not have tampered with it, so there wasn't really any easy way of securing it.
Getting herbs from the demon realm wasn't the easiest of tasks, but Mu Qingfang wasn't a quitter. When his Shizun couldn't guarantee him any supply Mu Qingfang didn't sit idly. He instead did some digging on the author of the book on demonic flora that he'd read, sending a letter to the merchant that'd brought the book to start off. The response he got was the merchant saying that they'd try to get in contact with the author but there was no promises.
The letter went through the hands of many, being passed along from person to person for quite a long while before it finally reached the intended recipient. By the time Mu Qingfang got a reply it'd been months, and the request had since fallen to the back of his mind as he continued with his experiments.
The reply he gets is along the lines of:
"Hi, are you still looking for Drooping Haze? I can send you some if needed! I'd like to ask for a bundle of (insert insanely common herb in the human realm) in return! Please direct your response here at xxxxxx location to save us both the trouble of going through a whole lot of people like before!"
ANYWAYS so MQF ofc sends some back and they go back and forth. It starts off as simple requests for certain herbs that both of them have access too, until it eventually evolves into talking about the effects the herbs have on the body. It's then that Mu Qingfang is given a name, Shen Yuan. MQF's suspicions that he's conversing with a demon are quickly confirmed, and soon he's asking questions of anatomy along with his usual letters. SY is more than happy to answer as long as his own questions about human anatomy are answered in return.
Note, SY thinks MQF thinks of him as a human with just,,, really good knowledge on demons.
This goes on for years, and like by the time MQF's a peak lord they're really good friends. Nobody questions Mu Qingfang's constant supply of demonic herbs known for being difficult to secure, he's a doctor, why would it be suspicious for him to have his own sources? MQF hasn't met SY, and he doesn't think he ever will until the return address changes one day--somewhere in the human realm now.
ANYWAYS so this sparks a little cat and mouse game where SY's trying his hardest to avoid meeting MQF because he doesn't want to lose his friend over the fact that he didn't confess to being a demon and MQF wants to bring SY back to the sect so they can finally freak out (not like that, not yet) and study each other in person.
AND SO THAT'S LIKE ALL OF MY THOUGHTS RIGHT NOW, THAT'S WHAT THE LITTLE "CAUGHT YOU" THING MAKES ME THINK OF TO BE HONEST. ANYWAYS WHEN MQF CATCHES SY SY'S SO GUILTY HE'S LIKE "SINCE I'VE LIED TO YOU ALL ALONG I SUPPOSE IT'S ONLY FAIR TO HELP YOU SETTLE YOUR CURIOSITY..." AND MQF WHO KNEW ALL ALONG JUST SMILING FAINTLY LIKE "I SEE"
LIKE AUUUGH WHY DON'T WE UTILIZE MQF WHO LETS MISUNDERSTANDINGS GROW IF THEY'RE HARMLESS AND BENEFICIAL?
LIKE WOO SY'S CONSENTED TO EXPERIMENTATION AND MQF DIDN'T HAVE TO SAY A WORD!!
This might be ooc I'm gonna revisit MQF's scenes and maybe do a character study :3
