Latest Posts by iwannaread13 - Page 2

LMK The new past AU: Masterpost

Summary: After getting in the Pillar of Heaven, the cycle end and MK cannot go back home. With the help of Nuwa and the color stone, he was send to the next cycle so he could live a new life without the burden of being the harbinger of chaos. MK, now fully a mystic monkey, arrived in this new cycle at the time of Journey to the West, but he have no idea at what point of the book he is! Is it during the pilgrimage? or way before?? he don't know for now, but he will soon know.

Characters design:

Qi Xiaotian/MK: fancy - casual(first design) -casual (new design)

Porty MK

Macaque and Wukong : Fancy - casual

Meihua (oc) : reference

Comics:

the beginning: chapter 1 / chapter 2 / chapter 3-1, chapter 3-2 / chapter 4

art from asks:

my baby / MK giving you a heart / SIMBA / goodbye jacket

sad monkey / fur dye? / f*ck u / monkey attack / chirping

spider / no party / Red son / Mei / MK chilling with his clones / cooking

being called Dad / shadowpeach hug - kiss(with MK reaction)

artist clone /

All the ask I've answered and post can be found with "the new past au" tag!

My Forgotten Wukong AU masterpost can be found here!

The head operatives of the GIW create a secure message chat to discuss the future plans after having successfully capturing the menace Phantom… not realizing they added reporter of the Daily Planet Clark Kent to the group chat.

The Worst Branch in the Country

The GIW knows Amity Park is a huge fraud. The “most haunted city in the US”, really? They’ve been checking the place out for decades with nary a peep aside from that couple of crazy scientists that moved into town around twenty years prior.

Because of this, the town became a punishment duty. One of their agents causes trouble? They get put in time out and sent to work for a while in Amity Park. Let those idiots chase after pointless rumors while the actually competent agents work with the more important ghosts. The reports back from the town get barely more than a cursory glance before getting tossed in the shredder.

…Which really came back to bite them when ghosts did actually start to show up, and they didn’t realize until after the Amity Park branch had royally screwed up the situation.

Fuck, they really hope this doesn’t start a war.

Optional DPxDC addition: they call in the Justice League Dark for help with negotiation and taking down their rogue members

DP x DC: The Dead Man at the Diner

Danny has a hard time maintaining regular jobs. At this point he’s pretty much nocturnal after years of being attacked at night, and possibly just part of his ghostly nature. He’s odd, and a basic google search brings up various news articles about him getting into fist fights with the mayor of a small town. He barely passed high school and college was out of the question, so who in their right mind would hire him?

What’s a job that would work with his odd hours, doesn’t require a college education, and a possible criminal record and a tendency to be ready to throw down is NOT an issue?

Danny is a cook at a 24hour Diner in Gotham

The man just needs to be able to flip a burger and make breakfast food and doesn’t mind a gun in the face because he’s well used to it. So what if the robber was dumb enough to pull that shit next to the fryer. If he didn’t want something to end up extra crispy he should have stayed out of Danny’s kitchen

Just think of all the folks he would meet.

Sure, the vigilantes of the city would be obvious and you can’t tell me spoiler isn’t dragging folks there to eat. Maybe they notice some weird things about the cook, like he doesn’t breath, his eyes reflect light like an animal’s, or the time he accidentally cut off a finger and it was fine the next day, or maybe the time a robber shot him and he just... didn’t react

Something is weird about that guy

And of course the person I think would love a jersey style diner breakfast at all hours: Harley Quinn

Technically she’s not supposed to bring the hyenas in, health code and all that, but everyone else is to freaked out to tell her and Danny doesn’t care. Frankly he spends his break petting them and they like him because he smells like food.

Danny finds out that, due to his flexibility and weightlessness of being a half-ghost, he's actually pretty good at Ballet.

First it was a few classes because of a lost dare, but then those few turned into a usual thing for him.

In fact, he got so into it that even his rogues, when they realized it was almost time for his Ballet lessons, would pause the fight and make sure he went. The young half-ghost was, in their opinion, far too tense and stressed, and if they wanted to make sure he was in top form for fighting then he needed a hobby.

Regular Ballet lessons turned into competitions.

Competitions turned into him being scouted.

And while he never, ever expected this path for himself, at the age of twenty-four he became one of the best Danseurs in the country.

He's also a registered meta, but only because when he dances he gets so into it that some of his ghostly features leak over to his appearance.

Floating white hair, eyes shifting from blue to green in the lights, slightly pointed ears; costume designers adore him.

So it's no surprise that he has his fair share of stalkers.

This is where John Constantine comes in, because someone just tried to send a very nasty curse to Danny, and they need to find out who.

Song that inspired this idea here

There's an up-and-coming Tech Giant, called Fenton Works, and Batman is determined to prove that the company is a front for a villain.

Danny, after his parents turned from Ghost hunting to being the first official Ghost Anthropologists, decided to repurpose some of their weapons.

And, well, there was a contest being run by Wayne Enterprises; whoever can design a robot that will help the environment got prize money and a grant.

Danny, in all his mechanical engineering prowess, was bored. So he designed a thing. Repurposed the Fenton Guns into a cute robotic tortoise that would clean the beach.

It spiraled from there, and now Fenton Works is the leading name in green technology that's cleaning up the Earth bit by bit. Sea Dragon robots that clean oil and trash from the ocean; beach tortoises that clean the sand and beach and deposit their hoard of trash into designated receptacles that Danny uses as material to make more robots; Cryptid "stalker" robots with long legs that delicately patrol forests to perform "fuel management" and clear out the underbrush to help manage wildfires; moving gargoyle robots that sit on top of skyscrapers to help clean the air with huge sail-like wings, etc.

Basically, Danny pulls a Doctor Elisabet Sobeck, but with less world ending and more actually helping. (Not that the world ending was Elisabet's fault, of course, but different franchise)

And due to the number of times aliens try to attack and rogues send their own robots to attack people, naturally Danny installed self-defense protocols, along with one single golden rule written into the very OS of every single robot; Save Humans Whatever the Cost.

Problem is, Batman has never seen robots like this not be used for evil purposes, and he knows that their power source (a closely guarded Fenton Works secret) is some sort of liquid that glows green.

He really only knows of one liquid that glows green.

So he's determined to find everything he can about Fenton Works, because there's no way that Daniel Fenton isn't actually a villain in the making.

Danny's just thrilled for the chance to work with Wayne Enterprises.

I’ve been very busy with school, but no matter how busy I am, I will always have time for my bedtime stories (danmei novels). Lately, I’ve been reading this very good Palace Intrigue novel.

And hear this, I’m not that fond of palace intrigue. Not that I hate it… it’s just not a genre I’d first look at when I’m looking for something to read. Palace Intrigue tend to be either too complicated and serious with the mysteries and scheming, completely neglecting the romance aspect (the reason why I even read danmei and not no CP works), OR they are just not serious and complicated enough and everything seems like fun and games.

Palace Intrigue needs to be at a very specific sweet spot for me to enjoy it. This is why although I’ve read many such novels under the genre, the ones I really like and can even remember the title of are just two—Si Tian Guan and I Rely on Beauty to Stabilize the Country (though I have not yet finished both because of certain reasons)

But now, I can finally add a third one to that list: 可是他长得美啊 (lit. But He Looks Beautiful Ah)

The romance and the intrigue aspects are perfectly balanced, and I guess it has a lot to do with how the romance itself is also full of intrigue—and not a political or a love-hate type of intrigue, but simply… on what it’s really like to love someone.

The novel realistically explores what it’s like to love someone whose morals and principles you may not always agree with.

I initially thought the novel was going to have a typical Yandere Top x Submissive Bottom kind of pairing… But it doesn’t. Instead, it challenges this Yandere Top archetype and shows how it won’t work at all in a real loving relationship, and it does this without being puritan over it.

The protagonist Jingzhe would stop the male lead Rong Jiu from doing extreme acts, but at the same time he tries to understand why the latter would do such a thing. He doesn’t try to “heal” Rong Jiu, but instead he coaxes him to a middle point that they agree on. They argue a lot over this, but that just shows how much they care for each other.

There were instances where Rong Jiu tried to force Jingzhe to the dark side, but Jingzhe never once gave in. Then, slowly, little by little, Rong Jiu learns to restrain himself and understand what Jingzhe values, while Jingzhe also understands Rong Jiu and makes him feel more secure in their relationship.

Instead of either getting converted to the other’s side, they learn to meet each other in the middle.

And I like that.

Can you recommend contemporary setting danmei with heart-touching romance? I mean any heart-touching danmei that take place in our regular every day world and not sci-fi/fantasy/xianxia/wuxia/ABO/historical ancient/rebirth/transmigration.

Sorry for being fussy, it's just so hard to find interesting danmei since i've been stuck in reading slump.

Hello!

To me, the kind of romance that really touches my heart are usually the ones that help the characters grow out of their insecurities or move on from their trauma, so there is some level of angst in the background. If you are looking for something else, let me know and I'll be happy to recommend something different!

My list:

有名 木更木更 – In Name Only

网恋翻车指南 酱子贝 – Guide on How to Fail at Online Dating

粉黛 七世有幸 – Concealed and Blended: Fendai

FOG【电竞】 漫漫何其多 – FOG

心眼 北南 – The Eye of the Mind

我只喜欢你的人设 稚楚 – I Only Like Your Made-up Persona

楚天以南 大风不是木偶 – Under Clear Skies

燎原 不问三九 – Wildfire

(I'm copying & pasting some text I wrote in other posts on this blog)

有名 木更木更 – In Name Only

[actors/celebrities, fake relationship, mature characters] – Two award-winning actors fake a relationship to quash a scandalous rumor, and gradually get to know the real person behind the other’s accomplished career and polished public persona. The tone of the story veers is mostly sweet and funny, with a splash of angst that they conquer together. It’s really comforting and relaxing to read about the love story of “mature men” in their early 30s who know how to communicate productively, take care of the people they like, and really accept and empathize with each other’s imperfections.

网恋翻车指南 酱子贝 – Guide on How to Fail at Online Dating

[online gaming, college-setting, cat-fishing, mistaken identities] – Jing Huan poses as a girl in an online game to catfish the famous player who tricked and hurt his cousin. Meanwhile, Xiang Huaizhi notices photos from the "girl" who keeps flirting with him in an online game can only be sent by one underclassmen at his school. There is plenty of comedy in Jing Huan’s effort to pose as a girl online, and also plenty of hurt when the truth and deception are laid to bare, but overall this is a sweet college romance with just dash (or maybe a spoonful?) of angst and plenty of humour. (PSA: No knowledge of gaming is needed (I don’t have any) to follow the story.)

粉黛 七世有幸 – Concealed and Blended: Fendai

[entertainment industry, actor x makeup artist] – I really like this novel because it presents acting and art as skills that the characters must practice and develop; the main characters are not geniuses who can take their careers for granted. The gong is a makeup artist, who considers himself straight but cross-dresses as a branding gimmick to advance his career. The shou is a retired E-sports player-turned-idol actor, who is secretly gay and has no real passion for performance. The novel starts off with funny interactions between “straight pretending to be queer” vs “gay pretending to be straight.” Eventually, they develop a deep bond after collaborating on a series of projects, and help each other discover their true career aspirations.

FOG【电竞】 漫漫何其多 – FOG

[E-sports, (sort-of?) reconciliation] – (it’s a fictional game so no prior gaming knowledge needed). Yu Sui brought Shi Luo into the industry, but within the year, he broke up the team, went to an elite club in Europe, and sold Shi Luo to a different club in China. What will Shi Luo do when Yu Sui comes back? As an E-Sports novel, FOG does a great job of portraying the camaraderie between teammates and the youthful passion of the players, while also touching on the cynical and exploitative side of the industry. There is an extremely sad and infuriating backstory that explains why the main couple had to be separated for two years (it’s not their fault), but their relationship is otherwise very sweet.

心眼 北南 – The Eye of the Mind

[unsure about translation status][reconciliation, (eventual) step brothers, hurt/comfort, slice-of-life ] -- Liang Cheng enters Qiao Yuanlin’s life three times, as a stranger who saves his life at 13, as the mysterious tenant renting his grandmother’s extra room when he was 16, and as his step-mother’s adopted son six years later. However, there is another hidden thread connecting their histories together. In many ways, this is a coming-of-age story for Qiao Yuanlin, who is born with a serious congenital heart defect that has permeated every aspect of his life, but he still manages to grow up with a very realistic blend of good nature, naivete, and bratty-ness. He has to cope with his heart condition and his parents' divorce in adolescence, and later develop his own identity and values as a young adult and professional. This novel also has the most satisfying illness-comfort-recovery arc I have ever read thanks to Qiao Yuanlin’s heart (and of course Liang Cheng is his doctor).

我只喜欢你的人设 稚楚 – I Only Like Your Made-up Persona

[Official licensed and fully published in English as "Rose and Renaissance")] [entertainment industry] -- Xia Xiqing is a professional artist who also draws fan art for Zhou Ziheng, the nation's most beloved young actor. The best part of this story is the clash of "personas": Zhou Ziheng (gong) is a serious and hardworking star actor and college student; while Xiqing (shou) is a rebellious art school grad who was a bit of a playboy in his past. After an accidental encounter, Zhou Ziheng immediately dislikes Xia Xiqing, but they unexpectedly become neighbours and also star on a reality show together. Then, they get to know the real person behind each other's superficial persona, develop a deep bond, and even help Xiqing heal from his childhood trauma.

More...

There two are very popular stories I read partially, and I hope to revisit and finish them someday. They have very compelling romantic arcs, but the main story lines are more heavy and less "fairytale":

楚天以南 大风不是木偶 – Under Clear Skies :: on a site visit to a rural village, young professor Tang Heng meets his ex-boyfriend from grad school, whose life has taken a turn completely unlike his own. It's a story that digs deep into inequalities, privileges, family dynamics, and abuses of power, and love that survives despite all that.

燎原 不问三九 – Wildfire :: A tattoo artist begins a relationship with his blind younger brother's optometrist. The main draw of the relationship is that both characters older (mid-30s) so they are more mature, but that also comes with a different set of challenges.

For today's recommendations, I left out

angst-heavy romances that break your heart but somehow you (or the characters) still want it to work out

super-light stories that are sweet and fluffy or funny all the way through

stories that are completely untranslated

But if those types sound interesting to you, I'm happy to recommend some!

I hope you find something you can enjoy! 😊

This is my mini little pitch post for "Mistakenly Saving the Villain" because ever since I've read it, it won't leave my mind and there's woefully little fan content for it. I think it might actually be my favorite webnovel now.

It is completely translated with a total of 120 chapters (translation link here) (novelupdates for full list of tags) ***extremely important to pls look at the trigger warnings and tags before reading***

It's a xianxia danmei novel about a terminally ill medical student, Song Qingshi, who transmigrates into the immortal cultivator who is master of the Medicine King's Valley. His system issued mission is "to rescue the gentle, kind and tragic protagonist shou of the novel 'The Exceptional Furnace'". Naturally, he instantly fails this task by saving the "wrong" person.

Overall, the story is about healing, so enter the story with caution, since the first half of the novel is very painful and at times quite hard to read with how heavy the subject matter is. That being said, I really admire how the author made healing a long process that can't be fixed by love alone.

Also, both the mc and the ml are veryyyyy devoted to each other, and without spoiling too much... you might think while reading that there's no way that mc can match the ml's intensity but he can ;)

I think I would recommend this story to people who enjoyed tian guan ci fu, since the past is also extremely important in misvil and the story takes place on a similarly large scale (if not larger).

I feel like this story works best when you don't have any spoilers, because the twists in this story really elevate it from being just your run of the mill transmigration story to something more like an epic. I'm still surprised that the author had an explanation that wrapped up every single loose thread while also adding a whole new layer to the novel.

For an added incentive ;) read the novel so you understand why this is literally the main couple:

Danmei Recs (more plot / character driven)

Devil Venerable Also Wants to Know - Cyan Wings

NovelUpdates [link] My review [link]

Every Day the Protagonist Wants to Capture Me - Qing Duan

NovelUpdates [link] My review [link]

His Little Deer Wife is Very Fierce - Little Baldy

NovelUpdates [link]

How to Survive As a Villain - Yi Yi Yi Yi

NovelUpdates [link]

Silent Reading - Priest

NovelUpdates [link] My review [link]

The General’s Vampire Omega - Little Baldy

NovelUpdates [link]

The Last Dragon in the Cultivation World - Marshmallow Bunny

NovelUpdates [link]

The Virtuous Omega Disguised as the Vicious Colonel - Little Baldy

NovelUpdates [link] My review [link]

Where is Our Agreement to be Each Other’s Arch-Rivals? - Poplar Breeze

NovelUpdates [link]

Non-Human Sub-district Office - Drunk Long Song

NovelUpdates [link]

Peerless Immortal Surrounded by Demonic Disciples - Dao Xuan

NovelUpdates [link]

Record of the Missing Sect Master - A Lifetime Of Beautiful Clothes

NovelUpdates [link]

The Whole World Is My Crematorium - 比卡比

NovelUpdates [link]

They All Say I’ve Met a Ghost - Cyan Wings

NovelUpdates [link]

A Real Man Isn’t Afraid of a Little Demon - Little Baldy

NovelUpdates [link]

My Junior Still Hasn’t Killed Me - Zi Lu

NovelUpdates [link]

Something's Not Right - Cyan Wings

NovelUpdates [link]

Today Prime Minister Also Wants to Bang His Head on the Pillar - Bazaodashe

NovelUpdates [link]

It’s Not Easy Being a Master - Jin Xi Gu Nian

NovelUpdates [link]

The Omega Can’t Pretend to Be a Beta After Accidentally Witnessing the Major General’s Susceptible Period - Fei Tang

NovelUpdates [link]

Worship Me, I Can Make You Rich - 向远飞

NovelUpdates [link]

The General Loves to Collect Little Red Flowers - Kun Cheng Xiong Mao

NovelUpdates [link]

More Danmei Recs (lighter reading / more fluff)

A Guide to Raising Your Natural Enemy - Jue Jue

NovelUpdates [link]

Transmigrated As a Villain, I Rely on Sand Sculpture to Survive - Ma Hu Zi Jun

NovelUpdates [link]

Carrying a Hoe to Cultivate - Little Baldy

NovelUpdates [link] My Review [link]

The Disabled Tyrant’s Pet Palm Fish - Xue Shan Fei Hu

NovelUpdates [link] My review [link]

After Being Turned Into a Dog, I Conned My Way Into Freeloading at My Rival’s Place - Zi Jin

NovelUpdates [link]

Number One Lazy Merchant of the Beast World - Shuishan

NovelUpdates [link]

Transmigrated as the Villain’s Cat - Xishan Fish

NovelUpdates [link]

Do You Want to Touch My Fish Tail? - 系辭上

NovelUpdates [link]

Live Broadcasting Raising Dragons in the Interstellar - Yu Zhi Shui

NovelUpdates [link]

My Vampire Faints at Blood - Three Thousand Big Dreams To Narrate One's Life

NovelUpdates [link]

The Film Emperor’s Daily Live Cooking Broadcast - 砚楚

NovelUpdates [link]

((this post will be updated as I continue reading and if I write any reviews about specific series I'll link them here too))

Continuing to not write a Stranger Things fic from the POV of the FBI agents spying on the party (mainly continuing from this post):

The home office in Quantico thinks this surveillance mission is going great.

The local office in Indianapolis thinks this surveillance mission is going fine.

The agents with boots on the ground have Steve Harrington staring suspiciously at them from across the street while they pretend to be the cable company.

Shen Qingqiu was doomed.

He stood still, fluttering his fan nervously and trying to avoid catching his counterpart's, the real Shen Qingqiu, glaring eyes from across the room. Instead, he idly observed the other Cang Qiong Mountain Peak Lords, trying to spot the differences between the ones he knew and their alternates.

Liu Qingge had brought back a strange artifact from one of his hunts to the monthly Peak Lord meeting. It was a mirror, rimmed an ugly tarnished gold, topped with a decoration that was shaped into an unidentifiable creature with ruby red eyes.

[Important Artifact Detected: Red-Eyed Sphinx's Mirror! Quest starting...]

Shen Qingqiu had been trying to remember where it might have appeared in PIDW when the surface of the mirror suddenly began to glow a dull yellow. It quickly brightened until it obscured everyone's vision.

And then, there stood another set of peak lords across the room, facing them down.

System, what on earth is going on???

[Quest started: Lost Long Spirit in My Reflection! Other characters have been transported to this universe. Host must find a way to send them back without revealing his identity as a transmigrator.]

WTF? I didn't agree to this!

[Good luck!]

System??? Get back here!

While the two Yue Qingyuans and Xu Qinglis conversed together to try to understand what had happened, the other peak lords had begun to mingle with each other, curious about their counterparts.

Shen Qingqiu tried to suppress his panic, sticking close to Shang Qinghua. His Yue Qingyuan occasionally flicked his softened gaze towards the alternate Shen Qingqiu, likely noticing that the other still acted as he used to before his qi deviation. In fact, several of the peak lords he had gotten to know over the years were sending some looks at the other Shen Qingqiu.

With the original goods right there, how long would it be before something exposed him as a fraud?? What if he was confronted about why he acted so differently?

[Host must avoid having his identity exposed. Being revealed as a transmigrator will result in Host being immediately sent back to his old body.]

Yeah, yeah, same shit as always!

Looking to his side, Shang Qinghua seemed to be experiencing the same threats, desperately looking away from the more dead-eyed Shang Qinghua across the room who, luckily, was barely paying him any attention.

Fuck, what do we do?

---

Shen Qingqiu continued to glare at the Other Shen Qingqiu in the room. The other Shen Qingqiu was so obviously a fraud, he could tell within minutes of being here. While his alternate seemed somewhat familiar, he didn't act like him at all, his mannerisms were all off, and despite the attempt at keeping a poker face, Shen Qingqiu could tell that he was nervous. Probably at being caught out.

His alternate self had likely been replaced with a bodysnatcher or some sort of spirt, if they truly were supposed to be the same person. Was everyone else stupid, or had they had their brains sucked out by a Heart Mouthed Lobster-Squid?

Or maybe they simply like the bodysnatcher better and didn't bother to investigate.

Shen Qingqiu's face became stormier, turning his glare to the Other Yue Qingyuan, wondering if he had felt happier once his precious Xiao-Jiu had vanished. The other Yue Qingyuan's face grew even more pathetic. Tch. Typical.

"That stupid System--" Shen Qingqiu nearly snapped his neck in looking at the bodysnatcher upon hearing his murmur. The fraud, upon noticing his sudden attention, clammed back up and looked away. But Shen Qingqiu knew what he heard.

Xi Tong.

He hadn't heard those words in years, not since--

He stepped forward, scanning the other once more. Upon a second, more thorough look, Shen Qingqiu realized that he grew more familiar. He wore his hair in the way that Shen Qingqiu wore it, but looser and less severe. His eyes were clearer and lighter, with hints of a smile, despite his nerves. He occasionally quickly glanced up and to his left, as if seeing something there, before bringing his attention back to the room at large.

No. It couldn't be. He was long dead, despite Shen Qingqiu's best efforts. Even if the fake had some similar things about him, that doesn't mean--

Shen Jiu had once had a brother, besides Qi-ge. Slightly smaller than him, despite the fact that Shen Jiu passed him along as much food as he could when on the streets. He smiled so much despite their circumstances, and was so kind despite Shen Jiu constantly telling him that he was making himself a target. But he looked so, so similar to Shen Jiu himself. They could have switched their clothes and looked exactly the same, if one didn't notice the difference in their demeanors.

His brother has also always been a little odd, talking to himself and arguing with an imaginary friend that only he could see named Xi Tong. One of the reasons that they survived as long as they did on the streets was due to the inexplicable knowledge that his brother seemed to have. Somehow, his brother knew about the various plants or small animals that they could hunt and sell for a pretty coin in the markets. Shen Jiu never asked, not looking a gift horse in the mouth.

But his brother was dead. He had died years ago, in the time during when they were in Qiu's manor. During a punishment for Shen Jiu's attempt to get them both to join Wu Yanzi; he had switched their clothes and taken Shen Jiu's place and died for it. That had been the final catalyst that made him set the manor ablaze and escape, mourning his brother's death as his fault for daring to be free. Cursing Qi-ge for not coming back for them.

Dazed and his vision dim, Shen Jiu took another step forward, and another. Hope, something he thought he had killed off long ago, slowly rose in his chest.

Had his brother survived in this world? Had he managed to escape alongside Shen Jiu? Or had Shen Jiu died in his place? Dimly, he can't help but think that the world would be far kinder if that were the case. If his brother had made it to Cang Qiong Mountain and became a peak lord all on his own and still managed to keep his smile. If he didn't have Shen Jiu dragging him down with him.

The other Shen Qingqiu, not having noticed his approach, laughed at something the other Shang Qinghua said ("Wonder if Shang Qinghua is a traitor here, too," Shen Jiu thought dimly). His laugh was the same. He rose his fan to hide his face, but Shen Jiu noticed how his nose crinkled, and his eyes nearly closed in delight, exactly like--

"A-Yuan?"

If you saw this at 6 am, no you didn't. Tumblr wouldn't do that to me, we're too close for that 🤣🤣🤣

Over 1200 words of panic! in the bamboo house, including the snippet I posted last Wednesday. It's a beefy boy because I'm far enough ahead that I feel like I have enough buffer to edit with a clear head, so splitting it up in the middle of a scene just feels petty. This part follows directly from chapter 1 of the AO3 version.

Also please tell me if I'm using any words wrong, I am very new here haha

AO3 🔗 just the updates 🔗 writeblogging this au 🔗 first 🔗 prev

How the fuck did Qi-ge figure out something was wrong this quickly?

And just why was he here? They'd been on-Peak for a shichen tops, and Shen Jiu didn't know exactly what Shen Yuan did when he had to deal with the sect leader (he very purposely buried himself into his metaphysical blankets whenever Yue Qingyuan came around), but even if he filed his reports promptly, it still took time for characters to be written and ink to dry.

Fucking -- if Yue Qi had ever had a weakness, it was children. Especially bratty little boys named Shen Jiu who chased other children with legitimate intent to kill, wearing ill fitting robes that had been dragged through the mud. (Just a bit! As little as possible, because Shen Qingqiu's disciples did not deserve to have their belongings ruined! But, even shrunk, the robes were sized for teenaged disciples, not toddlers.) The scene felt designed to ensnare Yue Qi's sympathy, and even more distressingly, his meddling.

"Two Xiao Jius...?" Yue Qingyuan was saying with quiet awe. Which! Was exactly what Shen Jiu was talking about!

"No!" Shen Jiu shouted from his hiding place behind Shen Yuan, impulse control of a four year old combined with the speech-compelling aspects of the curse, difference clear now that he had felt one without the other. "Two Shen Qingqius, only one Xiao Jiu!"

"Don't get it twisted!" Shen Yuan sounded just as angry in front of him, crossing his arms and stamping his foot. "There's a nice categorization system already in place; don't confuse everybody needlessly."

"Yeah!" Shen Jiu shouted. "Don't get it twisted!"

Very helpful addition, that.

Shen Jiu did his best not to hold it against himself -- running his mouth had been his most fatal flaw throughout most of his childhood, such as it was, no matter how many times he should have learned to hold his tongue -- but he couldn't help but be frustrated. They still hadn't come up with much of a plan for how to handle the other Peak Lords, and now he was hiding from Qi-ge while yelling at him, as if that made any sense.

Qi-ge went to one knee, staring directly into Shen Jiu's eyes as he said, "Xiao Jiu." His gaze refocused slightly to Shen Jiu's right, "And...? I'm sorry."

"Yue-da-ge doesn't--" Shen Yuan started, before making a retching sound. Shen Jiu quickly glanced to make sure it was an affectation. "A-Yuan never had a chance to say. The curse is effecting our word choices, by the way."

A large, warm hand cradled his left cheek; he could see the other hand move to mirror the move on Shen Yuan. "Xiao Jiu and A-Yuan have been suffering. Not to worry; you'll have access to any resources the sect can rally to resolve this." He turned to Ning Yingying, visible in the doorway behind him now that he was kneeling. "I assume Mu-shidi has already been called?"

Shen Jiu turn his head, making a face, only to find himself looking into the eyes of Shen Yuan, also making a face.

"A-Yuan had hoped to have more information to share before troubling Yue-da-ge and Mu-ge," Shen Yuan blatantly lied.

Huh. The System had called it a speech-compelling curse, not a truth-compelling curse. Useful, that.

"And clothes that fit," Shen Jiu added, nodding to Ning Yingying.

"And something more substantial to eat than whatever snacks we all had in our pockets," adds Luo Binghe's voice from farther outside. "Of which there should be enough to go around, if Zhangmen-shibo is inclined to stay while Shizun and Shizun make themselves presentable."

Shen Yuan cupped his hands around his mouth to call out, "Stick with the same names, Bing-ge! This situation is already confusing enough without all that!"

There was a pointed silence where everyone wondered whether the cheeky little brat would actually take that liberty, and Luo Binghe blushed furiously. "Ah, Yuan-shizun and Jiu-shizun...?"

Shen Jiu waved his arms to negate the notion, backing from Shen Yuan a step to accomodate the movement. "Xiao Jiu isn't anybody's shizun," he said quickly. "Yuan-ge has the golden core and the people skills; he's got all that covered."

Yue Qingyuan gave him a sharp look at that, but he had also made enough room for the disciples to enter, and Shen Jiu needed to be able to take more than a step without stepping on his borrowed robes in order to have this conversation.

"Yingying-jiejie, hand that here, please," he chirped quickly. "Yuan-ge and Xiao Jiu can help each other make sure everything lays right, don't worry about us!"

"Everything smells delicious, Bing-ge," Shen Yuan said warmly. To be fair, it really, really did. "Don't let Yue-da-ge bully you out of your own room, okay? This is Bing-ge's home too."

The no-so-little-anymore beast blushed luminescently at that, and, well. Shen Yuan had certainly done a good job changing their prewritten fate! Given the choice, Shen Jiu would rather be a calamitous beauty than the victim of poetic justice. Just. Just leave all those parts to Shen Yuan to be awake for.

Getting dressed in appropriate robes did not actually leave much room for private conversation, especially with the sect leader on high alert so close to the door, so Shen Jiu did not have much extra time to confer with Shen Yuan. "Do we have a plan, or...?

"Keep it as vague as possible?" Shen Yuan hissed as he tugged at the side of Shen Jiu's robes, laying them straighter. "None of the things we know are actually relevant, if you think about it."

"Speech-compelling curse," Shen Jiu ticked off, tugging his hair out from where it had gotten caught. Did they have time to tie it up? Shen Yuan had the now-oversized guan when they'd been split, but Shen Jiu's hair was loose and likely greasy as all hell, in a way it hadn't been since the Qiu estate. "Speech controlling curse, at least enough to misdirect." One of the more complicated ones then.

"And almost entirely separately, the transformation," said Shen Yuan, dragging him over to his (Shen Jiu's? Shen Yuan's? Shen Qingqiu's.) bronze mirror and digging into the boxes on the table until he found the simpler ribbons he used when he braided his hair for bed. Yeah, good enough. "It couldn't have been two spells though, it was so fast -- way faster than the demon had been up until then."

"Activating a preset array of some kind?" Shen Jiu asked. "Why there?"

"The only one who could tell us is now very, very dead," Shen Yuan noted with sad finality. What an innocent soul, to mourn a demon who had inflicted such a hardship on them.

"Remember to teach your disciples that they can't question the dead," Shen Jiu told Shen Yuan's reflection in the mirror. "They're teenagers, so it's a forgivable oversight, but it's always easier to interrogate even a liar than a corpse."

"Our disciples," Shen Yuan said with conviction.

"That is not the deal the System and I made," Shen Jiu told him with the same strength of conviction. "It's not fair, but you can't actually make me go back."

"Oh." Shen Yuan draped himself across Shen Jiu's shoulders. "You said that. I keep expecting to have to fight for my right to be here, but you really want me here?"

"Gege," Shen Jiu chided. "I really hated teaching. And being Peak Lord comes with way more responsibilities than privileges. Sorry, but you'll have to be stuck with the shit end of the stick." And Shen Jiu flounced out of there.

Sound on 🐾🤍

I love these pictures as Snape. First one give me unhinged vibe, which fits his persona so well. Second would be a stretch because many think Snape is ugly. All he needed was good food. I suppose the 3rd one is snape 💀

bro was last in a club 20 years ago and after this titanic karaoke he won't be back in a club in the next few years 🚶

I've never seen a minute of the show but Ever After High AU where Steve is a prince destined to be the Beast/Prince to Nancy's Belle.

Except Nancy breaks up with him after a year of dating, saying that their relationship is bullshit because if they're destined to be together then how do they know their feelings are real? How do they know that they actually care about each other and it's not just because that's what people are expecting from them?

Steve is hurt for a while, mostly because he doesn't really understand. He thought they were happy - he had been happy, at least.

In the aftermath he meets Robin, the next destined Narrator, and soon enough Steve couldn't imagine a life without her. He learns that there's more outside their destined paths, that it's good to have friends outside his fated Story.

And then he meets Eddie. At first he's sure that the boy is destined to be a villain, with his dark clothes and wild personality. It's Robin who tells him the truth; that Eddie is the next Snow White. As soon as she says it, Steve can see it - the dark curls, the pale, porcelain skin.

The three of them start spending time together, and even when Robin can't join, Steve and Eddie still meet up and hang out. It doesn't take long for Steve to fall for Eddie, to be absolutely gone for for the other boy. He finally understands what Nancy meant - because the way he felt for her absolutely pales in comparison to the love he feels for Eddie.

Steve confesses, just needing Eddie to know, his feelings so big that he can't keep them locked inside anymore. He's overjoyed when Eddie feels the same, even when Eddie tells him that he'd been nervous to fall for Steve because he'd been scared to get close to a prince, not having had the best experience with them in the past.

Everything falls apart when Eddie is cursed by his own destined prince, a bully named Jason who is infuriated that he ended up matched with Eddie instead of Chrissy, the next Cinderella. Eddie falls into an eternal sleep, and no one is sure what to do. His prince is the one who cursed him, there's no way Jason would even attempt to wake him.

Steve knows he has to try, so he kisses Eddie, pouring every ounce of his love into it, and everyone is shocked when it works. It proves that Steve is Eddie's prince, not because the universe said so, but because Steve and Eddie forged their own destiny with love.

Unexpected siblings AU

Aka Jazz fenton is a certified therapist friend and a tad bit of a gremlin child, but both fenton kids gain a shit ton of siblings.

Everyone knows that Jack and Maddie fenton were deeply in love with two kids when they moved to Amity Park but what wasn't known was the fact that danny was not Jack's son or that jazz wasn't Maddie's daughter. So when shit went down with the GIW, the elder fentons sent their respective kids to their other biological parents for their safety.

Jack had always known his little girls bio mother was most likely someone unsavory and quite honestly pegged them as a possible spy. This made sense to him since Jazz had been left on his doorstep a good year after her mother disappeared from Jack's life, even if that meant he probably didn't know her actual name.

Meanwhile, Maddie always knew who her sons father was afterall she had been born of old money but chose to leave that life behind once she met Jack. Maddie had gotten a bit tipsy at a gala her parents threw alongside one Brucie Wayne, which ended up in a one night stand that gave her Danny.

So, while the two teenagers were on the run from the GIW, they stuck together with Jazz, promising she wouldn't leave her brother behind unless she knew he was going to be ok before going to find her birth mother. Both siblings grew out their hair, Jazz letting her natural brown hair grow in, in order to better hide from the guys in white while danny jist let his hair get shaggy while using some of his ghost energy to change his eye color to green just enough so that his eyes wouldn't glow. It didn't take long for them to run into something they didn't expect...

*The fenton siblings standing in front of the main entrance to Wayne manor.*

Danny: I know mom and dad wanted us to be safe, but are we sure this guy would even believe us?

Jazz: *Giving her brother a small hug.* If he doesn't, you can always come with me while I search for my biological mother.

Bruce & Talia: *Stepping out of the vehicle, they used to discuss damiens safety from the one's who led a coup against Ra's, freezing once they make it to the door because of the teenage doppelganger's standing in front of them.*

Danny: *Being the certified gremlin he was, turning around pretty fast when he heard them approaching and recognizing Bruce Wayne pretty easily.* Surprise, it's a boy! Can we come inside, please?

My imagine ( mirror ) :

Since he was little, Dark Choco often sleepwalked but no one knew because he often locked his bedroom door.

After Dark Cacao found out about Dark Choco talking to his reflection, Dark Cacao forced Dark Choco to sleep in his bedroom so he could keep an eye on his son from "that thing", Dark Choco tried to explain to his father that his reflection was harmless but his father wouldn't listen, helpless and tired it was already late at night he decided to follow his father's words to get some peace and continue explaining everything tomorrow, that didn't make things better.

Although Dark Cacao had planned to stay up all night to watch over his son, perhaps due to the hard work of dealing with the aftermath of Affogato + Cookies of Darkness and other problems of the kingdom, he had fallen asleep, but was suddenly awakened in the middle of the night by Dark Choco's noise.

When he woke up the first thing he witnessed was his son's strange behavior, Dark Choco instead of going to sleep was moving aimlessly around his room, while singing nonsense rhymes, when he tried to move to look at his son he found he couldn't ( he was having sleep paralysis ), he was immediately filled with panic and thought this was caused by the entity in the mirror ( he knew what sleep paralysis was, this wasn't the first time he had sleep paralysis but due to recent events he was overthinking ).

And as if that wasn't enough, another nail in the coffin in this situation, Dark Choco slowly approached the balcony in Dark Cacao's room, if his son's lifeless face and empty eyes weren't enough to scare him, then the fact that his precious child started to step onto the balcony's railing definitely terrified him to the bone, luckily at this moment he escaped the sleep paralysis and rushed in just in time to prevent his son from falling to his death.

Needless to say, things got worse after that, Dark Cacao and Dark Choco both fell on the ground after Dark Cacao forcefully pulled Dark Choco off the railing.

Dark Choco : What just happen ???

Dark Cacao : I SHOULD BE THE ONE ASKING THAT QUESTION, WHY DO YOU DO THOSE THINGS ???

Dark Choco : I do what ??? Father I've been sleeping all this time.

Dark Cacao : Your...don't remember anything ??? You told me you move and open your eyes and sing when you sleep ???

Dark Choco : I don't know about opening my eyes and singing but isn't it normal to move around in my sleep ? I mean i've been like that since i was a kid.

Dark Cacao :....

After that incident, he was not allowed to sleep alone anymore. There was always someone watching over him while he slept. That made Dark Choco lose his sense of privacy and was very stressed and uncomfortable.

Which also caused information and rumors to spread about Dark Choco's condition, the soldiers guarding Dark Choco were terrified of him sleepwalking, they said that when he sleepwalked he was like a walking corpse, the lifelessness in his expression, the way he sang and moved in his sleep terrified the soldiers not helping any as he even practiced swordplay in his sleep at one point, god bless the heart of the warrior guarding him back then.

People told each other that the entity in the mirror possessed his body at night while he slept, they pitied the prince even saying that all the sins the prince had committed before were caused by that entity even though Dark Choco and Dark Cacao told the truth that it was because of the cursed sword before.

Silly imagine ( mirror ) :

Red Velvet : uhhm Dark Choco I know you don't care much about appearance, but at least take care of it a little bit.

Dark Choco : What wrong with my appearance ?

Red Velvet : You hair is...

Licorice : Horrible

Dark Choco who cuts his own hair with a sword and doesn't look while doing it : Ohh that will be hard to fix.

Red Velvet + Licorice : Why ??

Dark Choco : My reflection and i have different hair lengths, while his is still past his waist mine is just shoulder length.

Red Velvet suprise Pikachu face meme.

Licorice scared kid holding cross meme.

In the end Red Velvet helps Dark Choco fix his hair and Licorice suffered from Eisoptrophobia ( fear of mirrors ) for a while.

Mmm burn out

Shen Jiu killing Liu Qingge in the Linxi caves was probably already a widely accepted conclusion at the time of his trial. But do you think Qiu Jianluo's death was further used to argue his guilt?

You have this runaway slave that already has a rap sheet for crimes against his betters. He murdered his master and his entire household, and he probably committed crimes against many others under the guidance of Wu Yanzi. It's not so far off to believe he murdered another noble son in a violent fit of jealousy.

The way his entire reputation was probably dragged through the mud, all his hard work shredded in seconds. Pulling him back down into exactly the being he already thought himself to be. Just a slave, and barely counting as human.

Perhaps it isn't so surprising that he didn't try to defend himself after all.

Shen Yuan is, of course, a sweetheart of a cat that is totally, entirely, wasted on that acerbic Peak Lord who named him.

That is, of course, until a demon attack on the sect includes the use of True Heart Vial Rose and shows exactly what Shen Yuan is thinking.

Which happens to be rampant and increasingly creative expletives as he hisses, batting fiercely at the downed demon.

"Fuck your mother!" the cat yeowls, scratching at the demon's eyes. "You dogshit, peh! Curse your family! Your ancestors and descendants should feel shame having you in their bloodline!"

He quickly changes gears as he runs over to Shen Qingqiu, rubbing against his legs. "Jiu-ge, Jiu-ge~ That thing is filthy! Hurry and salt this wretched corpse lest it spreads some sort of miasma!"

Shen Qingqiu is, of course, more than a little pleased to do exactly that.

Shen Yuan, it seems, is utterly unaware of the fact his thoughts are understood. It doesn't help that he doesn't actually understand much of human speech (yet), so even if he's understood, he can't do the same for them. And that means he's very honest about whatever he thinks at all times.

"Is this supposed to be a gift? It's crude. It's bloody. It's exactly the kind of thing that dogfight Bai Zhan Peak would consider a prized possession. Its liver should be impeccable for qi restoration, and its bones, once in a fine powder, can help heal meridians. It's a good gift. Jiu-ge should take it." It's that commentary over the large corpse sitting outside the bamboo house that A) helps Shen Qingqiu realize it's not a threat and B) realize who it came from.

Also, apparently the cat has some sort of instinctual knowledge of beasts like itself. How curious.

"Going out of their way to misunderstand. Hmmh. Don't mind them, Jiu-ge. They aren't worth the effort. A waste of space and breath, they are."

The Peak Lord can't help a little laugh as he agrees, watching the cultivators accosting him turned red in the face at being dismissed by a cat.

"Aiyah, what am I going to do with you..." He purrs softly as he helps Shen Qingqiu calm from another, increasingly infrequent qi deviation. "You can't keep getting hurt like this. If you can't stop, I guess this Yuan will have to watch over you for as long as I live."

If Shen Qingqiu starts looking into how to help a cat become a spiritual beast after that, well, that's no one else's business.

"Jiu-ge cultivated demonically first. Of course cultivating the spiritual way only will cause an imbalance! Qi is qi, none is good or evil on principle, just like people and demons. Jiu-ge should keep using demonic cultivation to balance his energies! Fuck Wu Yanzi, there's tons of demonic cultivators better than even those from 'righteous' sects!"

If Shen Qingqiu begins improving in leaps and bounds, well, that's also his own business.

By the time Luo Binghe arrives, Shen Qingqiu is much more settled in himself and doesn't bother spiting Liu Qingge by taking a promising, fluffy-looking child on the day to pick new disciples. Though, Shen Yuan starts trailing over to Bai Zhan to go stare at the child, and in turn, Shen Qingqiu and Liu Qingge end up spending more time around each other...gross.

"Aaa Jiu-ge, don't be so shy. You clearly brought that Thousand Silver Teardrop Tea to help Qingge-ge through his bottleneck. Why act like this, ah? You're so hopeless. I suppose this cat will have to keep you company forever. Haaah."

Well, there are times he mildly wished A'Yuan would shut up. But his thoughts do end up getting the other peak lords to relax more around him.

Liu Qingge, having heard the cat's thoughts time after time, starts talking to Shen Qingqiu and treating him better. Repulsive. Do it more.

--

Anyway, I just thought this would be cute.

like father like daughter

Obsessed with the idea of Mobei Jun going through most of his life thinking that he's the only one smart enough to pick up on Shang Qinghua's worth and try to court him, only to walk into a room one day (prior to his ascension) and see Luo Binghe's husband beating up his man in what is clearly a non-serious and recreational fashion.

Just how long has this been going on for? Is this why Qinghua has never formally accepted any of his proposals? How is he supposed to retaliate when Junshang will kill him on the spot for any perceived attack on his husband? The one guy he probably can't challenge to a duel, and he's clearly trying to seduce Mobei's man out from under him!

But what can he do? More violence? Sluttier outfits? Longer attempts at meaningful eye-contact? He was already pulling out all the stops, what does this stupid scholar have that he doesn't, huh?

Fics Where Steve's Parents Are Interesting

I know the Stranger Things fandom has collectively decided that Steve's parents are The Worst, but I also like reading stories where they aren't or where they are, but that perspective is complicated. Here are some recs (finished and unfinished fics and please check the tags yourself):

Aftermath by help_me_no

Interesting depiction of Steve's parents, especially him mom, as an absent parent who still loves Steve and has an impact on his life.

and they were SPOUSES (oh my god they were spouses) by narceus

Chapter 4 is from the perspective of Steve's mother. Steve's parents go to dinner with him and Robin after finding out they've been married for several years. This is one of my favorite depictions of Steve's parents which doesn't make them less absent but shows their behavior from their perspective and is absolutely wonderful

I was born when they took my name by WingedQuill

Steve is Seven and his parents are scientists who stole him from the lab and protected him all these years. They're good parents who love him and who worry about his safety.

count to thirty. breathe twice. repeat. by WingedQuill

Steve's parents are still absent, but with a twist. SPOILERS. They are both queer and have partners outside Hawkins. Steve doesn't know this, because they wanted him to have a normal life and not be affected by homophobia in Hawkins.

Jackrabbit Underneath by Grey_Lark

Steve is Seven and his parents are still not great people, but they are present through his early life (which is depicted in the story) and influence what goes on later. The impact of their family dynamic on Steve is really shown. His mother suffers from strange headaches.

you carved the space for my sadness to be seen for once (hold on to me) by ohstars

Steve's mom is a central character in this fic. When Steve becomes a teen parent, she steps up and divorces his father. Steve and his mom have to navigate their estrangement as well as the mother-son relationship between them and the father-daughter relationship between Steve and his daughter

Car Hangs by maiamaryse

Steve's parents are still not great parents in this, but they appear as characters who feel real and fully-fleshed, especially Steve's father.

Verses Out of Rhythm by thankyouplease

I don't usually read or post Harringrove fics, so here's your warning that Steve and Billy have a past, toxic relationship in this one (no Billy redemption). Endgame is Steddie. Steve's parents are a distant presence until the end of the fic, but they are still nuanced characters and decent people, even if they aren't great parents.

With Shen Yuan's name Yuan being a homophone for 原 yuán as in "original" (example given: the word 原创 yuánchuàng aka "original (creative) work"), and Shen Jiu's name meaning the number nine... It's bringing to mind some interesting questions about the supposed number of Shens separating the two

Sword Spirit AU - Xiu Ya (pt.1)

Hello hello! This is going to be a very very casual AU with the first half being dedicated to Xiu Ya(jiuyuan) and the other Xin Mo(bingyuan), so sit tight, relax, and maybe put on some Soul Eater in the background, because this is basically it.

This post is going to be VERY LONG, so sorry in advance ^^;;

It's finally time for Shen Jiu to go to Wan Jian Peak and get his spiritual sword, one of the final steps for his Shizun to finally, oficially, name him Head Disciple, even if the rest of Qing Jing will most likely fight Shizun in her decision.

It would be no surprise, ever since SJ stepped foot there, rumors have been spreading about him, usually about how he only got in so late due to Yue Qi's influence, or how he paid his way in as a young master (as if the rest of the disciples hadn't done exactly that) and thinks he's better than everyone, or how he never fights fair and uses underhanded methods during spars. All rumors don't hold a drop of truth in them of course, but SJ has better things to do than trying to clean his image to a bunch of spoiled brats.

It's not like any of them would believe him, anyways.

In all honesty, he'd rather not be Head Disciple at all, but this is the best way at getting to a secure enough spot that he won't have to worry as much about his safety, even if he will be forced to look after a bunch of children he couldn't care less about. Anyways, SJ's only hope now for something to go marginally right his way is for him to get a good sword.

He gets to the sword wall and, as luck would have it, he feels a pull, calling him to a beautiful sword: elegant, refined and everything SJ desperately hopes he can be.

SJ carefully pulls the sword out of the wall and immediatelly he can feel a connection forming, his slugish qi rushing into the blade and in exchange, a flash of bright, almost refreshing qi runs through him. For a moment his muscles relax as he feels the sword gently humming in his hand.

He walks away from the wall, a few of the other disciples that also had come to retrieve their spiritual sword already holding their own blades, but the only person that SJ cares to show his own sword stands a bit further away. His ever aloof Shizun and... Yue Qi, who was not invited, but decided to come anyways. Great.

YQ wastes no time in praising his sword and how it's a perfect fit for 'Xiao-Jiu' (which only earns him a nasty side-eye), but SJ controls his urge to bite the other boy and focuses on his Shizun. She merely send the sword a glance, unimpressed, and instead says "Disciple Shen has now a spiritual blade of his own. He will get to know his blade, which will aid him with his... cultivation problems, but also raise his cultivation to new heights."

SJ grinds his teeth, not wanting to be reminded about his shitty cultivation, but thankfully, Shizun doesn't dwell on the topic. "When Disciple Shen fully becomes one with his sword, the blade will reward him and show it's true self. It is only then that Disciple Shen will become a truly honorable cultivator."

True... Self? With a subtle glance, SJ confirms even YQ looks a bit surprised, apparently also never haven heard about a swords 'true self', but Shizun doesn't ellaborate any further on it, instead moving on as if she hadn't said anything special, and turning to head back to Qing Jing, uncaring if any other disciples weren't done getting their swords yet.

She unsheathes her own spiritual sword, intending on letting her disciples walk all the way back, but before setting off, she turns towards SJ. "Disciple Shen, the name of your sword."

SJ huffs but brings his sword closer, and reads the engraving on the base of the blade. "...Xiu Ya."

Just as SJ finishes reading the name out loud, the sword starts violently vibrating, catching SJ and his Shizun off guard, and it flings itself off of SJ's hands, flying a short distance before it stabbed the ground.

SJ's hands are left hanging in the air where he once held the sword, frozen stiff in his shock. It certainly doesn't help that is Shizun, who is never phased and now looks visibly shocked, mutters to herself: "I... didn't know a sword could do that."

.........Great.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

A week after the whole... situation on Wan Jian, SJ is now convinced his spiritual sword hates him.

It just... doesn't do anything he wants it to do! If his Shizun orders him to spar with another disciple with it, Xiu Ya could randomly just fling itself out of his hand, or physically pull him in another direction when he is speaking with another disciple, and no matter how Shizun instructs him to send his qi to the blade, to 'connect' with it, Xiu Ya refuses to cooperate, one day even straight up denying his qi.

Unbeknownst to SJ, his sword is no longer a regular spiritual blade, and actually a host for a recently deceased Shen Yuan, who woke up from his sleep to his new owner pulling him out of the wall and promptly panicked when he heard his name be declared Xiu Ya, which could only mean his new owner was none other than the scum villain himself, SQQ.

It was then and there that SY decided it would be now his life's mission to stop any evil wrongdoings a teenage SQQ must get up to. (It translated to him flinging himself out of SJ's hand any time he felt himself getting too close to another disciple's skin, or vibrating angrily when SJ started to insult someone.)

SJ takes Xiu Ya to his Shizun, and even to Wan Jian's Peak Lord, to check if there's something wrong with his sword, or if he had done soemthing wrong, but both reassure him that the sword is fine, and it must be testing him, urging him to 'clear his heart' to better connect with it.

SJ, feeling like his chance at being Head Disciple is slipping through his fingers the longer he can't get a hold of his own sword, it's supposed to obey him, tends more often than not to... argue with it. It, of course, only creates more rumours about him and his 'cursed sword', but he doesn't have time for this, and he won't let a piece of metal ruin his chances at rising up the ranks.

Everything starts to change one fateful day where everything just seems to go wrong all at once for SJ: His Shizun goes away in a three-day long mission, which leaves him the responsability to look after the peak, and none of the other disciples are willing to make it easy for him, constantly getting in his way, purposefully waisting his time and straight up insulting him to his face.

Yue Qi even tries to grace SJ with his presence, but it takes him no longer than 5 minutes before he manages to say the wrong thing, and it takes even less for it to snowball into SJ expelling him from the peak unless the whole Sect is set on fire. It gets so bad even SY, usually happy to mostly daydream where he sits sheathed at SJ's waist, takes note of it, and gets a bit concerned for the boy.

SY already notices SJ's spiritual veins where all sorts of messed up, but it only becomes relevant when he notices his qi heading straight towards a qi deviation, and no matter how SY tries to vibrate and wiggle, it only seems to upset SJ even further and by the end of the day, as SY suspected, SJ hides away at the bamboo house and falls to the floor, gasping through a qi deviation.

He'd usually just tough his qi deviations out, or pass them at the Warm Red Pavillion, but now he isn't even afforded the mercy of being to suffer alone, as some disciple might come looking for his 'help', and he'd be damned if someone snitched on him to Shizun for not doing his duty as (unnoficial) Head Disciple.

SY, as much as he doesn't really like SJ, for once understands SJ's constant state of frustration when the moment the Peak Lord leaves, his peers treat him like this, and no matter how shitty SJ is- or, rather, may become in the future, SY can't stand being idle as he watches the boy shaking on the floor, gasping in pain.

It's a bit awkward but SY manages to make himself float over towards SJ's trembling body, trying his best to project his own energy outward and reach towards SJ. It's there for only a second, but SY manages to feel a similar connection to when SJ first picked him up, and SY can feel, in a weird flash, the mix of emotions swirling in SJ's soul: his anger, his frustration, but most importantly his deeply rooted sadness, and fear.

It's not really an explanation for why SJ acts the way he does, but SY can understand when a child lashes out in fear when that's all they know. He reaches into SJ's qi, carefully patting it down and soothing it until SJ finally stops trembling and slumps onto the ground, knocked out.

Maybe... Maybe Shen Yuan was in the wrong, and Shen Jiu deserves a second chance.

5 more for patrons!