#mo talks

the issue is that this particular plot point makes no sense, as it reduces the impact and intention of many of his actions in the original story. the extras already are considered non-canonical since it establishes that shen yuan was in a coma, what he experienced what something like a dream, he didn't truly die, there was no gay romance nor did he endure constant suffering of the bullshit porn-related plot contrivances of the stallion webnovel he had read. it's rid itself of all the things the original story was meant to deconstruct.

i was only saying that you have to read in between the lines to realize what i meant. this time i will use actual lines from the book.

i hope in whatever you decide to write to defend your point actually has quotes and lines from the book and clear reasoning using the quotes to explain your stance, just as i did.

starting with page 341 in volume 4. this is Chapter 31: 100 Random Questions on Luo-Shen's Affinity, and i'm using the Seven Seas translation. bear in mind that while i'm using the physical copies for the sake of page numbers, i am taking screenshots from a pdf for ease. alt text has also been added for accessibility.

given that he was presented with a chance to gush about his shizun, most of the answers that luo binghe gives in this particular chapter are truthful, even for all that we know that he can be deceitful for his own gain. after all, it's a questionnaire and all the questions are about his relationship with his shizun. why wouldn't he be truthful. the only question he avoids or answers dishonestly is about his and shen qingqiu's first time, since he was still traumatized from maigu ridge. instead he answers their time during the "bing-mei and bing-ge" extra.

this feels like enough proof but i'll go a bit further.

i mentioned that luo binghe didn't truly know much about his original shizun aside from the man's hatred for him but you also have to understand that shen jiu on a whole was not a particularly forthcoming person.

(above is from vol 4, chap 24: yue qingyuan and shen qingqiu, pages 99 - 100)

just in one example, shen jiu readily lied to yue qingyuan in regards to his reasons for visiting brothels. not to mention, with qiu haitang who knows where and not knowing the truth of his abuse, and qiu jianluo dead, he was the only one who truly knew his own reasons. he was not a communicative person and that caused many problems between him and his sect siblings.

(above is from vol 3, chap 19: shen jiu, page 208)

shen yuan did not know any part of shen jiu's backstory, as it hadn't made it into the final version of PIDW. given that PIDW is from luo binghe's perspective, it stands to reason that he also did not know of shen jiu's backstory. and he wouldn't care either, because that was the man who abused him in his formative years. all he knew is that shen jiu hated him but he didn't know why. he didn't know it was jealousy and projection from shen jiu's own abusive childhood. however, in the events of scum villain, binghe is given a reason for his shizun's actions early in.

(above, left, is vol 1, chap 2: mission, page 79)

(above, right, is vol 1, chap 2: mission, page 83 - 84)

starting with the shuang hu city mission, even with his shizun smiling at him, he was still shocked to be thrown under the bus. then, however, shen yuan hams it up with some bullshit thanks to his narrative knowledge and binghe is none the wiser. what sounds like utmost faith in and care for his student in actuality was just his knowledge of stallion novel tropes. this only goes further with the aftermath of the demon invasion.

(above is vol 1, chap 2: mission, page 118 - 119)

luo binghe, along with everyone else who heard his shizun call his name, assumed that he wanted the kid dead. in fact, the original shen qingqiu actually did want him dead. but hearing shen yuan's encouragement invoked similarities to shuang hu city, wherein luo binghe is thrown into difficult situations in order to be taught a valuable lesson by his shizun. it's not abuse, it's tough love. though when shen qingqiu jumps in front of binghe and ends up being poisoned with without-a-cure? that's basically what cinches it for binghe -- that the "abuse" prior (which was actual abuse from shen jiu) was nothing more than his shizun training him. and because binghe doesn't know much about his shizun, there wasn't much to negate his new understanding of the man.

please also remember that everything from shen yuan's death-transmigration and up to/including shuang hu city happened while he was still under OOC lock. regardless, to binghe, shen qingqiu's "ceiling beam trick" and his offering up his own disciple to fight dangerous demons were two similar acts in a larger goal -- to train luo binghe.

(not to mention that no one else knew or realized, except the author himself. he clearly hadn’t lost All his memories if he still was able to identify his students and martial siblings. the possession detecting blade didn’t light up and xiu ya still obeyed him. there was very little to doubt to them)

if binghe were to truly have known his shizun had been replaced, that just means that the nuance and tension from his and shen qingqiu's relationship just gets shelved away, as does the trauma binghe still holds from shen jiu's abuse. it means he separates moments like the tea ceremony from moments like the demon invasion and shuang hu city. that means he has no reason to have reacted the way he did upon hearing his shizun's wisdom in shuang hu city, hearing his encouraging words before his fight with elder sky hammer, or his immortal master fucking up his hard-earned cultivation for him.

to him, it meant that anything could result in his shizun turning cold toward him again. he had already been confused when he was pushed into the abyss and begged for clarification in jin lan city.

(above is from vol 2, chap 7: water prison, pages 98 - 99)

barring xin mo's influence, he's reacting to his shizun's hot and cold behavior, his words not lining up with his actions. why say that nothing is intolerable to the heavens, then cast him into the abyss for being a demon? why cast him into the abyss for being a demon, then mourn him, have his spiritual sword reforged, and make a sword mound? why run from him and treat him so coldly if he'd been mourning him? why self-destruct to save binghe from a qi deviation when he had just been running for his life from him, accusing him of the plague in jin lan city? all the back and forth results in a fawn response in binghe as shen yuan's actions to him are still held within the context of shen jiu's original abuse. he doesn't want to hurt or be hurt, and he wants to stay by his shizun's side but he doesn't know what will or won't make him snap so he obeys whatever he's told. he still actually doesn’t even know what caused the original change in behavior and readily believed shen yuan. i’ll remind you that the depths of shen jiu’s hatred for bingge didn’t sink in for him until he’d literally been pushed into hell — after 7 to 8 straight years of abuse.

(above is from vol 3, chapter 14: house arrest, pages 12 - 13)

luo binghe does call him out on it but otherwise leaves him alone. literally on the next page, shen yuan thinks to himself "why hasn't he come back? i know i told him to leave but this isn't anything at all like the BL my sister would read!" and his fawn response still continues for a good while.

(above is vol 3, chap 16: melting ice, page 103)

all these actions are predicated on shen yuan's actions and words within the context of shen jiu's original abuse and luo binghe only gets worse as the book goes on, since he falls further into xin mo's thrall and begins to merge the realms, if just to have his shizun to himself. again, entirely predicated on no one realizing that shen jiu died and was replaced. no one truly knew the man, not even yue qingyuan since their relationship had splintered following their reunion. the only person who caught on was shang qinghua, since he wrote the backstory in the first place.

(above is from vol 3, chap 21: always together, pages 288 - 289)

if he truly did realize they were two separate people, then why was he so okay with the idea of his shizun physically abusing him once again? after all, he hasn't done that since before his qi deviation but if he's beating him, that means he's near. you can't leave if you're attacking someone. shen jiu was the one who beat luo binghe in the first place, not shen yuan. hell, shen yuan even mentions several times throughout the novel that "hey! i didn't do that, that was all the original goods!" surely, even in a state of evil sword induced madness, binghe would be able to keep such a difference in mind, yes?

(above is from vol 3, chap 21: always together, pages 299 - 300)

though shen qingqiu does say that luo binghe's mental decline started at zhao hua monastery (which came after the two of them left the holy mausoleum and liu qingge got them out of tianlang-jun's camp), you still have to realize that it's all one big snowball effect that had more or less begun when he was pushed into the abyss by shen yuan. and as i've said earlier, this entire sequence of events -- luo binghe's love for his shizun, his confusion in regards to his conflicting words and actions -- is predicated on him not knowing his shizun is a completely different man.

he just learned that he was abandoned and unwanted by the woman who birthed him and he already had such a complex about being abandoned and unwanted, considering his beginning years on qing jing peak, as well as the deaths of his adoptive mother and shizun (though we all found out that shen qingqiu didn't really die. i mean he did but he faked his death by dying.) hearing that entire room of cultivators say he should've been aborted, learning his mother didn't want him, his shizun constantly leaving him and choosing others over him, it's all the same, and it's especially worse when it's someone he believed had truly wanted him and saw value in him. someone who treated him coldly before being proven by some mysterious standard that luo binghe was good enough to be wanted and desired and cared for.