#sycsays

Eventually the two of them got separated, probably because of the huge gap in economic class. They both thought they’d never see each other again.

Fast forward to present day. Shen Yuan discovers this webnovel named Proud Immortal Demon Way and decides to read it because, well, why not? It starts out nice and tragic, with Luo Binghe losing his mother and heading to Cang Qiong Mountain and being taken as a disciple by— SHEN QINGQIU???

No, he thinks, surely it must be a coincidence. Surely Shen Qingqiu the Scum Villain and Shang Qinghua the Spy are happy accidents. He reads on. Shang Qinghua dies. He tells himself this surely means the author can’t be Xiang Fei, because he wasn’t suicidal (ha.) Then Shen Qingqiu gets imprisoned, and then he gets sticked, and Luo Binghe is still not happy.

edit: credit to velinxi for official svsss art!!!

There’s a huge age gap between him and his meimei and their ges, so the two of them have always been adults or adult enough to be adults in baby Shen Yuan’s eyes. They either got married before Shen Yuan was born or before he was a fully thinking thing, in which case Shen Yuan’s vague memories of the wedding have been brushed off as a really really extravagant birthday.

This means that anything weird between them was either normal enough or “adult stuff” (using a CHILD’s definition of the phrase). Jiu-ge and Qi-ge stumble out of a closet with their hair (well, Qi-ge’s hair, Jiu-ge is far too elegant) tousled? They must have been fighting like normal siblings. Jiu-ge’s extra mean to Qi-ge, and Qi-ge seems to like it? Even though one glare can make anybody else cry? That makes sense, they’re weird adults. Qi-ge and Jiu-ge have matching rings? Can Shen Yuan and Meimei have a pair, too? Their parents tell them those rings are for adults only and buy them ring pops.

Instead, he runs into a rogue cultivator on the way. The man seems righteous enough, doesn’t have the restrictions of sect ties, and—most importantly—Yue Qi spotted him scamming and pickpocketing a noble, because like knows like. Yue Qi follows him around for a while, long enough to get caught. With the man’s sword at his neck, he pleads his case.

The man introduces himself as Wu Yanzi.

He gives Yue Qi a chance. He lets Yue Qi cultivate under him, takes them on a route that leads to the city where the Qius live. On the night they arrive, he gives Yue Qi a sword. He claims he hadn’t been able to bond with it, because he already had a spiritual sword, but it would be perfect for Yue Qi.

The sword is cursed, and it bonds with Yue Qi’s soul. His cultivation is just strong enough that it doesn’t kill him, but it incapacitates him for days. When he wakes up, Wu Yanzi is gone, but that doesn’t matter because he’s right outside the Qiu Manor.

Yue Qi sneaks into the manor. It’s the dead of night, and he runs into no-one. He searches, and searches, and searches, without knowing what he’s searching for. He kicks down doors. He calls Xiao-Jiu’s name. Distantly, he hears screaming. He runs into a guard-servant-slave? in the hallway and, without thinking, runs them through with his sword.

Xiao-Jiu stares at him from the end of his blade.

Yue Qi thinks he’s dying. Qiu Manor burns. Wu Yanzi comes, cackling, and pulls him out of the smoke. He tells Yue Qi he had a plan, and Yue Qi messed it up, and Yue Qi killed his dear friend, and Yue Qi set the manor ablaze, and Yue Qi is stained with crime and has stained his gifted blade with him, and Yue Qi owes him.

Yue Qi becomes Wu Yanzi’s blade, and he kills, and he kills, and he kills. He is taught to grow stronger, and he kills stronger things. He is not alive. Wu Yanzi likes to remind him that he’s a monster and a thing. He is not living. He survives in this state for years and years until—he is told to slaughter everyone in a noble’s carriage, and he goes to do as he is told, and there are slaves in the carriage. When Wu Yanzi comes in to see what’s taking him so long, he cuts off his head and runs. He becomes a rogue cultivator. He is known as a demonic cultivator. He is known as Wu Yanzi’s accomplice, seen as even more dangerous, hunted everywhere he goes, but he is never caught.

Cue Shen Yuan trying to convince his scum teacher to let up on Binghe, pretty please. It doesn’t matter that Shen Qingqiu was the Original Goods’ role model and defying him is OOC! Shen Qingqiu is a horrible person, and the Original Goods had horrible judgement… right? Except, as he tries to make Shen Qingqiu be kinder to Binghe, he discovers that a lot of the things he was accused of simply aren’t true!

His goal slowly shifts to keeping his Shizun from suffering his horrid fate. Using his position as head disciple, in addition to his persistence, he’s able to minimize Luo Binghe’s suffering (Bing-mei’s hero… he’ll love him forever…). Everything seems fine—Shen Qingqiu is indifferent to Luo Binghe’s presence!—until the Abyss.

Shen Yuan knows, now, that Shen Qingqiu isn’t as bad as the novel made him out to be. That doesn’t erase the abuse, which had only become neglect with Shen Yuan’s meddling. Surely Binghe would still hold a grudge! And this Shixiong is surely not one of Binghe’s future wives, to be spared from punishment! (And, also, Shen Yuan had yet to fully forgive his Shizun, who still scoffed at the mention of Binghe’s name).