Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Shen Yuan had died, he knew that much, the problem is that he was pretty sure he was in Proud Immortal Demon Way, How you might ask, well because of the sixty different sex polen’s he had almost been affected by in the last hour.

This world was a sextrap, unless you were Luo Binghe’s wife you are as good as dead if you accidentally swallow or breathe one of those.

Because in this economy one can't even breathe without being in risk of death yes.

Luckily he seemed to have been reincarnated as a cultivator of sorts, so he decided to simply live his life, he just had to make sure to not mess with any of the harem members.

Aren't people in these situations usually gifted with a system? He guessed he didn’t lose anything by trying.

“System! I choose you!”

He didn't get to strike the pose when a mechanical voice answered him.

[The system is currently in hibernation mode, to activate touch power source, in the meantime host is welcome to use pre-programmed response option]

He almost fell flat on his ass, a complete scam! at least explain what the power source is! He glared at the floating text and decided to try the pre-programed bullshit.

“System show me the shop!”

[Hi, this is the pre-programed response, System would like to give a friendly reminder that shop is only available to be used with points, host currently has 5407 points, if the point value drops to zero host will return to his original body, would host like to proceed?]

Scam! It looked so shady! He glared at the thing and entered the shop anyways, maybe there was something good he could buy that wouldn’t cost him his life.

There were hundreds of useless things, way too many sex polen’s and even lubricants, as if he was going to need those! Any woman in this world would end up falling for Luo Binghe. He wasn't going to fight the Luo Binghe.

Shen Yuan was delusional but not to that point, he kept scrolling for a while until finding something interesting.

Chatbox (Can be used to contact with one(1) person from your past life that can help guide you, the selection is completely random) cost: 5000 points

He shouldn't buy it, he really shouldn't, but wouldn't contacting one person help his family accept his death? He wasn’t that close to his parents, but his siblings, he kinda missed his Meimei, and the terrible rant's he had to listen to from his Er-ge when he didn't take care of himself.

Fuck it. might as well buy it since I have the points anyways.

[Thanking host for his patronage, option Chatbox has been added to host's options, would host like to try it now?]

 No, of course I don't want it, I bought it to look at it. Fucking open it already.

[Option Chatbox loading, connecting to: Shen J̷̭̙͉͂̿͐̽͗̎ͭ́̋͡i̛̙͇͕̥͖̦̝̜̜̪̬ͩ̄̉_̨͍̞̲͗ͣͯ̾̆ů̩̫ Xin]

Okay what the fuck was that glitch in the middle of his brothers name? That was scary as fuck, he felt chills run down his spine.

Nope! Not gonna think about it! Just open the chatbox!

[conversation initiated, would host like to choose a nickname? Nickname will only apply for this specific chat.]

Yeah why not? It seemed fun but he would have to choose a better nickname than his usual dick joke, his Er-ge wouldn't let him live it down if he found out.

He had to make up something good, he sat on a tree next to him, calmly letting the wind brush his face.

Reincarnation sounded unreal, he was in his room ranting about PIDW some minutes ago and now he was inside the shity novel, that’s what people called karma?

He should had spent that time getting ready to start university instead of complaining to terrible authors.

“I would like to use the nickname bambooleaves.”

[Is host sure of his choice?]

Of course, I spent thinking something that would please my Er-ge at least fifteen minutes, if he doesnt like it he can go suck a dick or something.

[Host can now view the messages]

SerenitySummit: Hey brat what have you gotten involved in this time.

SerenitySummit: Answer me.

SerenitySummit: Are you ignoring me right now?

SerenitySummit: This system thing appeared in my face some minutes ago telling me you transmigrated into a world I lived in in my past life.

SerenitySummit: Yuan-di if you don't answer right now I’m not paying for your internet.

Wow, he had forgotten how much of a mother hen his brother was, he already lamented choosing this option.

But it might be better, his sister would cry if she found out he had died, especially from expired food.

bambooleaves: ahah sorryyyy i was choosing my nickname, so uh what do you mean past life and stuff?

SerenitySummit: You idiot, do you know how worried I was? You disappeared for months! not even a message and now you’re telling me you ended up in another world. Start explaining this right now if you want to keep your legs.

bambooleaves: Sorry

bambooleaves: Wait months? I just died! yk that terrible buns you told me to throw away

bambooleaves: ahah i kinda choked on that…

SerenitySummit: You died of fucking expired food

bambooleaves: well, yes… 

SerenitySummit: I'm never letting you be in charge of anything at all and if I find a way to get to you, trust me when I say you’re grounded. You are a disappointment, of all things you died eating expired food?

bambooleaves: Can we go back to your past life stuff please! 

SerenitySummit: I guess this is more important, we can discuss later, are you a cultivator right now?

bambooleaves: I think yes, I dont have a sword and i was buried in the ground but my body works perfectly 10/10 would recommend

SerenitySummit: Good, try cleaning yourself and find some shelter, talk to me once you are done.

His brother really was hardcore! No need to beat a dead man, literally.

He guessed he was habitating a dead person's body, but it didn't smell like rotten or anything so he wouldn't complain.

His brother was a cultivator in his past life, and he was told this now? The talks they could have had! He didn't remember a Shen Xin in PIDW so his brother must have died before it began or something.

Knowing his brother, he must had been a rogue cultivator, he couldn't see his brother staying in a sect all tied up, unless something stopped him, like a death threat or something, his brother would never stay in a sect.

The cool stuff’s his brother had hidden! Shen Yuan was disappointed, he needed more information! What finding shelter? He could practise indedia! He had checked!
But even in this situation the fear of disappointing the one that raised him was greater than his stubbornness so he decided to try his luck.

He walked down until he found a river, checking his face he could finally make out his features. He looked more refined than his normal self, his features hidden in a sharpness he didn't have because of his young age.

This made the situation quite scary.

How could there be someone that looks so much like me?

Ignoring his thoughts he shrugged it off as transmigration privileges and cleaned his face, shaving correctly the terrible bear he had.

Looking much better he smiled and made sure his clothes were in the correct places as best as he could, too many layers!

Once he realised no one would probably check twice to see if he had the layers in the correct order he walked away.

Midway to the town he had found he realised he forgot the most important thing.

Did he have any money?

…

He didn't, after all why would a dead person need money for? Well it seemed that for a lot.

Giving up he found a cave and sat on the floor as best as he could, it wasn't too uncomfortable, maybe because the body he had was buried on the ground the floor became quite comforting to him.

Calmly he got ready to open the chatbox option again, fearing the scolding he would get he prepared himself for the worst.

bambooleaves: Er-ge, done! im sleeping in a cave, pretty cool

SerenitySummit: Make sure is safe first, once you do eat something you can hunt, do not eat or approach suspicious looking plants

bambooleaves: Yes Er-ge! dont worry this system thing came with a book explaining plants and stuff, more important! were you a cultivator in your past life? why didnt you tell me?

SerenitySummit: Useful. Yes. I didn't want to talk about it.

bambooleaves: Oh okayyyy wont ask then, will you teach me cultivation then?

SerenitySummit: Sorry, I died of a Qi deviation, I didnt want it to bother you, I’m working on it.

SerenitySummit: Yes, of course I’ll teach you A-Yuan but make sure to not skip any steps.

bambooleaves: Dont worry! when have i done something stupid like that?

SerenitySummit: …

bambooleaves: Dont … me! okay i might have done some things of questionable intelligence but! Im still not that dumb

SerenitySummit: Take care of yourself A-Yuan, don’t trust everyone and make sure you are strong enough to defend yourself. Is there anything you want to do now that you have a healthy body?

bambooleaves: I want to explore the flora and fauna, yk maybe write a bestiary 

SerenitySummit: Do it correctly then, I’ll send you some trustworthy places where you can publish your books, look at them later.

bambooleaves: Thanx! Will do!!!!

His brother really was a softie on the inside, his mean act was so bad that unless you had negative IQ you wouldn’t be fooled.

Checking the manuals his brother had sent him he started to cultivate, even if his body had so much Qi he better be prepared just in case.

He must have been blessed with an amazing body because his golden core easily changed to Nascent Soul, more confused than ever he woke up feeling refreshed, what kind of lazy bastard was the original owner of this body that he only cultivated to golden core with this speed?

Not even Luo Binghe was this fast! It was crazily overpowered, if he kept going would he be able to reach the nature realm? 

How did the levels work again? He was sure nature realm was one of the last ones, Nascent Soul coming after the Golden Core was obvious, there was a whole chapter of PIDW dedicated to twin wifes trying to achieve it for absolutely no reason.

He tried remembering, Airplane had messed up the world terribly in that aspect but some things must remain similar at least.

The next one would be the 5th stage of cultivation Soul Formation then? Well he would be lying if he said he didn’t want to, until he knew how to use his current cultivation he would stay close to the cave, once he finished he would walk around and start cultivating to reach Soul Formation.

Smiling at the plan he fell asleep, his body giving up after having overused it last night to cultivate non-stop, he woke up three days later to fifty unread messages he ignored.

Being a cultivator sure is hard!

Chapter Text

Fighting cool monsters was fun, extremely so, he had sold some of the monster parts to the village close to the cave, once he got the money he wisely spent it in paper to write and scribble his bestiary, the problem was that even if the descriptions from Airplane shooting towards the sky were good he still wanted to do better.

So he began hunting monsters around the area to fill in the gaps. One would say that finding the most dangerous monsters was dangerous, so after his brother nagged him about buying a sword he finally got one and discovered something even better.

He could do tricks while flying in his sword.

He loved this world, then he reminded himself who created it and kept on hating it in silence.

It took him months travelling town to town to find where his Er-ge had recommended him to publish the book but once he got there he realised why it was worth it.

Customer service was amazing, he had never been treated with so much respect and he was a rich kid! They didn’t even look twice when he gave his terrible nickname to publish them, he felt back to his old self as Peerless Cucumber, his first bestiary finished he packed up his things and left, they told him to come collect the money wherever he wanted, which was pretty nice, now he could set on his adventures and maybe help Luo Binghe? He could become a strong supporter like Mobei Jun! 

On second thoughts that might be too dangerous, he didn't want to be accidentally murdered as collateral for some bastard who hated the powerful demon lord, he was fine being a simple beast enthusiast.

Shen Yuan calmly put his hair in a simple braid and began collecting the plant’s he had found, three-time-healing-rosemary, congratulations Airplane, your naming sense is as reliable as always, and some dragon-breath-lily.

Those were simple cures for minor diseases but if used correctly could become a powerful elixir, one of Luo Binghes wife’s, specifically wife #230, found out a miraculous way to save her youngest sister, who luckily was four so she did not join the harem, at least Airplane had some morals.

That was probably one of the only things that guy did correctly, he was a bit nicer that day in the comment’s section, only a bit though.

Landing in a town next to the border with the demon’s territory he calmly hid his sword, taking out a fan, he should probably find a job that didn't rely solely on hunting monsters, while he was pretty good at it, he had one shot a nine-legged-piton-spider!, sect’s existed in this world and his job might be stolen.

Maybe he could ask his brother for information and become some sort of walking immortal, it would be pretty fun, but he needed a job that wouldn’t get himself killed by the plot.

Usually there were renowned doctors that would direct the main character throwards another wife plot, he could become one of those extras that got a high pay.

He knew lots of cures, he was probably better than those doctors that only knew some cures, yes, of course he wouldn’t be at an expert’s level but if it came only to pills and plants he would be the most suited one.

If he, Peerless Cucumber, called himself second most knowledgeable person in flora and fauna, who would dare claim to be first?

He knew all the uses of every monster ever mentioned, of every plant once seen, he could finally make use of this useless knowledge.

Finally finding the monster he was looking for he jumped and stabbed it, killing it on the spot. He had read that these monsters were hard to kill but he wasn't having any problem at all!

Or he was extremely lucky and only found monsters that were already weakened or he had somehow become extremely strong, both options were nice, Shen Yuan wasn't going to complain.

Collecting the scales and the teeth he calmly went back to the town, he had become friends with a passing merchant that kept talking about weird things, but it was probably because the merchant was a demon in disguise from a tribe in the south, meaning he had a terrible accent that made one question if it wasn't a whole different language.

Still, the few months he had been in PIDW were easier than he thought, he was paid in pretty decent amounts and even if he had no news of where in the storyline he was everything looked peaceful, so he wouldn't ask.

“Master cultivator back from hunting again?” 

And there was the merchant, with his terrible disguise, everytime he came back with some kind of material he would end up selling a portion of it for a reasonable price, he would have to ask his brother for a good merchant guild later to sell his medicines.

“Good morning Lao Wang Dafeng, yes, I’ve come across some invasive species of monsters that have pretty useful qualities, now that I’ve finished I’ll take my leave”

Ignoring the obvious fake name Shen Yuan had gotten along pretty well with Wang Dafeng, so he regretted a bit having to part so soon, but he guessed that it came with being a transmigrator, one couldn't help but feel a bit alone.

“Then let this old man give you a parting gift”

The demon took out a veil, it was teal green, matching his robes but he couldn’t understand why would the old man gift him that of all things, it would make sense if he was one of the several wifes that wore a veil, but all of them, except Liu Mingyan, would take it off in front of the protagonist without a second thought.

Maybe it was a cultural thing? He couldn't be disrespectful after all.

“This one thanks Lao Wang Dafeng for his generosity”

The old demon laughed for a while and smiled at him.

“Is a veil so you can enter the night market, stop looking at it as if it had personally offended you kid”

That made more sense, but Shen Yuan had to admit that even if in PIDW a night market was discussed, it was mostly because of wife's buying presents for the protagonist, he guessed he could make good use of it.

He bowed down and smiled, once he bid farewell to all the acquaintances he made he set off to locate the night market, maybe he could make some more money from it?

Opening the system chatbox feature he smiled, he had found out he had an inventory too, all the items in it were locked and no explanation was left, but any monster item he stored in there was kept in perfect condition, meaning it was crazily overpowered.

That was why he had been running around hunting monsters for months, selling what he did not need and creating pills from recipes that Luo Binghes wifes had created, or that Luo Binghe had found in some sacred ruins, or any other cliche Airplane was reusing that time.

Sighing, he opened the chat.

bambooleaves: Er-ge do you know anything about the night market, or a merchant guild, i wanna sell some medicines and stuff

SerenitySummit: Madam Li Mingzhu, merchant in the night market, she is the best option you probably have, she also runs a information guild in War Red Pavilion, she has a bad temper so call her Jiejie if you find her, tell her your brother is nine, if she asks for more tell her I died of a Qi deviation.

bambooleaves: Was she your friend? She sounds scary, welp ill try it, also do people go by numbers? should i get one?

SerenitySummit: It has to do with my past life, don't bother with it, is not important. 

SerenitySummit: I wouldn't say we were friends.

bambooleaves: Keep your secrets then, also Er-ge, has the system told you anything?

SerenitySummit: That once you’re ready I’ll go to my old body in your world, didn’t specify when or how.

bambooleaves: Daam really a scam, good luck Er-ge! Ill go see if i can get my hard earned money

SerenitySummit: Don't die.

SerenitySummit: Again.

Locating the night market was easy and contrary to his name it operated 24/7, but thanks to where it was located, Yǒngyè City, it looked as if it was always dark, making the market be able to stay true to Its name.

The stalls were mostly red, the lights soft, it gave one the feeling of being drunk, he cursed Airplane a hundred times for wasting so much time with papapa and not showing them such a beautiful place.

Following the directions his brother had given him after realising he had only given a name were terrible, so he strolled around for some time buying materials he found for a good price, some winged-python poison, really good for healing his siblings, water-python, poison.

Some horrible looking trashy novels to criticise later and some beautiful fan’s, even with his veil the fan gave him a sense of security he didn’t understand.

Finally finding the place he knocked on the door, three knocks, four knocks, one knock, and the door really opened! His brother knew some kind of secret place and was friends with the big boss! Was his brother famous in some way?

Although his brother had always been the one helping to raise them once their parents decided they were old enough and left them be he knew his brother struggled with emotions, he had been going to therapy for years and he always said it had helped him immensely.

When he was younger Shen Yuan didn't understand and hated whoever that Qi-ge his brother called in his dreams was, once he got older he completely forgot about it.

And now he talked with his brother again, he couldn’t help but remember how sad his brother looked when they were kids. Maybe he should had paid more attention to his family instead of hiding himself and wait for his death.

Well, it wasn't like if he could do anything now, right? Regrets would lead him nowhere so Shen Yuan simply decided to try his best in this new life, especially if his Er-ge was also going to transmigrate at some point!

Entering the building he went down some stairs that looked like a pain in the ass to climb up, resigning himself to his fate he kept descending.

When he finally arrived to wherever he had to arrive, a woman was waiting for him in a sofa, smoking a pipa, which in Shen Yuan’s opinion was probably something terrible to your health if done in a closed space.

“This one greets Jiejie”

The woman incorporated herself and smiled coquettishly, anyone could see she was beautiful, her advanced age only made her look more cunning, she could even end up being part of Luo Binghes harem!

“Such a good educated young man, tell me, what brings a cutie like you here?”

Shen Yuan felt the threat behind her kind words, she talked similar to his brother, if his brother wanted to pretend to be pitiful and sweet, he didn't usually do that though.

He smiled politely, he had to appeal to his brother’s friend, he couldn't panic and run away now.

“My brother, nine, directed me here, telling me this is the best place to sell medicine, he told me to inform you he has died of a Qi deviation”

That sounded suspicious as fuck, and he should had just lived as a simple rouge cultivator, but no! Shen Yuan had to absolutely fuck up asking his brother for help, making him end up in a shady looking guild.

Was it too late to run away?

“I knew that nine died, but it was from self detonation, as far as my spy net works the information shouldn't be incorrect”

Okay what the fuck, did his brother lie? Or was this a sick way of testing him? He trusted his brother, he just needed to sound confident about it.

He could bullshit his way out of this, fake it till you make it.

“I’m sure because I can talk to his ghost, he told me he died of a Qi deviation and my brother wouldn't lie”

The look she gave him reminded him of the look mothers would give their childs, it looked terribly sad, unknowingly he looked away, the devastation in her eyes couldn’t be faked.

After some moments of silence he coughed awkwardly.

“So, if you need to tell him anything I'll make sure to pass the message”

But Madam Li Mingzhu frowned and hit him with her pipa, then directed him to sit in one of the chairs.

“Just show me the medicine boy, if you are our nine’s brother you better live up to his expectations”

He couldn’t whine, this was a formal meeting, Shen Yuan couldn’t whine.

He came out of the meeting hating every moment of it but with a good deal, every month he would deliver medicines and receive seventy percent of the profit, which would vary depending on the auction’s final price.

Now that he had everything ready he could go and laze around for a while! He was retiring! No more work that didn’t involve observing, or hunting, monsters! His new life started now!

He jumped in excitement and when he got in his sword he couldn’t help but try some risky tricks, he was going to love this.

I should ask Er-ge later if he was willing to share what kind of services he had asked from Li Mingzhu in the past, maybe he could learn even more of this world.

Chapter Text

Shen Yuan had been around a year in this world and made quite a name for himself, a famous doctor, whose medicine could heal any wound.

His bestiaries also sold spectacularly well, making a name for himself in different sectors he had to reveal he was the same person, kinda hilarious when Li Mingzhu Jiejie asked him why hadn’t he said it before.

Honestly he hadn’t realised he had become that famous, he knew his bestiaries were probably the best, and he even added plants, or beast plants, even mutations but that didn’t mean people would believe him.

Some were unknown to most and others only inhabited the abyss, but it seemed that people cared more about the terribly accurate drawings than the actual information being veridic or not.

He had heard rumours about him coming to this town some months ago, and yes he kind of had to because an amazing flower that only bloomed in the first week of winter was in the nearest forest.

He had wanted to experiment with the white-scorpion-lily for a while, if used correctly it could create an elixir that helped speed up cultivation by twenty percent!

Of course it was not its usual use but who cared! 

Safe to say he wasn’t going to skip the opportunity just because some random dude decided to create rumours.

Putting on his veil he walked through the town's market, not as pretty as the night market but it had its charm, more mundane and most of the things being sold were  daily use items, completely opposite of the night market, a place where if it existed you could find it.

Shen Yuan looked around to realise that there seemed to be cultivators around, maybe a night hunt? Seemed likely, leading them a beautiful man with a high ponytail wearing bluish robes, he didn’t look like a cannon fodder at all! PIDW never mentioned a character that could rival Luo Binghe in looks, so this seemed like an anomaly or the guy was going to die soon to keep the balance.

Or he was a girl in disguise but that seemed less likely, looking at the muscles he had he might as well be Luo Binghe catching wife’s!

Shen Yuan was absolutely checking the man out, you couldn’t blame him, the man was the textbook definition of beautiful.

Pretending to be a simple traveller he strolled calmly to the forest, he had almost succeeded in going in unnoticed when the man from before stopped him.

Well fuck.

“You can’t go in”

Do you own the forest or what? I said I'm going so I am, rude bastard.

“Yes I can”

The rude bastard glared at him, who raised such a rude bastard really, he hadn’t done anything to anger him. Why was he so rude? Did he have a stick up to his ass or something?

“No”

You think you’re stubborn? Try me bitch I have three siblings.

“Yes”

The man looked more tired every time he spoke, What? Did your wife die or something? Why are you so mad?

“No”

“Yes”

The man took his hands to his face and groaned in frustration, he kind of reminded him of his brother, he used to do that when Shen Yuan decided he knew more than him and ignored his, probably useful, advice.

“Okay, listen, why can’t I enter?”

The man glared at him and rolled his eyes, honestly fair, he didn’t like him either, yes his face was nice but that was it!

The man seemed to force the words out of himself, as if he was trying hard not to snap.

“Dangerous monster, you look weak”

Okay, excuse me? He didn’t look weak at all, he had muscles, and he was holding a sword.

“I can handle myself perfectly fine”

The man looked at him with scepticism, which was completely uncalled for, he was already twenty god dammit! He was a grown man, he could make his own choices.

“I really can, and want it or not I'm going, I have something to find in that forest”

He turned his back to leave when a hand grabbed his shoulder, the man had a resigned expression, now that they were closer he was able to see the man’s tired expression, he looked as if he had been studying for gaokao. He felt a bit bad for bothering the poor man.

Did they have exams in this world? He had read of several scholars that were Binghe’s wives taking exams, but they ended up being overshadowed by the terrible papapa or Binghe showing off how much smarter he was.

“I’ll go with you”

What? Why?

Shen Yuan shrugged off his shoulders, this guy better be able to keep up with him or he would be left behind, he nodded and started running towards the forest.

Jumping from tree to tree, the man was able to keep up with him, he had a surprised expression which made Shen Yuan smile with satisfaction.

Seeing how he didn’t manage to leave him behind he speeded up, jumping from branch to branch, hopefully if he just increased his speed he would stop seeing the rude bastard.

But instead of that the man kept the exact same distance between them, he seemed to be in the late stages of the golden core formation, observed Shen Yuan, in the end losing the bastard was more pain than it was worth it so he gave up.

They reached Báiguǐ Yá in no time, as always with the reliable names Airplane described the cliff in no time, white ghost, of course it was fucking haunted.

Wife #991 fell into the ghost trap and started being haunted by memories, luckily as long as one didn’t inject the pollen they would relieve painful memories, luckily as long as one overcame them they didn’t need papapa to heal it, of course Airplane ignored that completely.

So much wasted potential really.

He covered his nose and mouth and held his breath, a branch broke behind him and the rude man approached, Shen Yuan’s eyes opened wide, he had forgotten people in this world had negative IQ! He hadn't warned about the pollen!

And as usual terrible wife plots happened the man fell to his knees, using his sword as support.

God fucking dammit! Airplane if I ever get my hand on you better start writing your testimony.

“What did you do to me”

You did this to yourself! Stupid negative IQ cannon fodder! Did all the intelligence points end up in Luo Bighe? Give him a break!

“You breathed white-spider-lily, as long as you can overcome your fears we should be alright, the flower I want is not far away, I’ll come back in no time, hang in there”

He felt bad for the man but his amazing elixir able to level up your cultivation was more important. If he didn’t pick it up in time it would die and he would have to wait a whole year!

Usually the white-scorpion-lily would be used to save someone that was at death's door, wife #990 being the example, the poor girl asked for help from her husband and he came back with a cure and six more wifes, but what made the flower actually interesting was that if one was to use it correctly, a level of precision that Shen Yuan didn't have, it could have both effects!

Reading about how to do something wasn't the same as being in an actual classroom, his brother was helping him with his own knowledge and the internet.

Because his brother could send him videos and Shen Yuan had never thanked a rickroll so much, as long as he asked his brother and pretended to be pitiful his brother would give in.

He ran towards the flower, did the typical difficult trials and came back in less than two incense sticks time hoping to see the man's illusion already broken, but instead there were two people in front of him, they were extremely blurry, unrecognisable.

The one wearing black was holding the green figure way too close to comfort, the looks he gave the poor man while he smiled gave him the creeps, the green figure didn't move in any of this exchange.

The man tried to fight the black dressed figure but every attempt seemed futile, as if he could do nothing to get the green figure back.

Shen Yuan couldn't help but feel bad, was the green figure the man's wife? Had he lost her to the youth's hands? 

He had to help the man, he still hadn't gave him his name!, if he were to stay in this state for too long he might lose his mind.

“Hey you rude guy! It's not real! Wake up will ya’!”

Unfortunately the usual cliche lines didn't work, and Shen Yuan had to actually think of a real plan.

He looked around until he found a safe pond, once his first step was completed he rushed back to where the man was still fighting with nonexistent enemies.

With as much delicacy as one could muster he picked him up from his collar and threw him in the pond, not feeling satisfied he also jumped down, hoping to receive the gratitude of the idiot for saving him from his stupidity.

Instead the man immediately attacked him, with all his defences down Shen Yuan could only fall flat on his ass in the water, dirtying his robes.

He thanked Jiejie for forcing him to buy more sets of clothes, if she hadn't he would had been fucked if he tried to go back to the town all drenched in dirty water.

He calmly opened the chat box feature just to complain.

bambooleaves: hey Er-ge, is it normal for stupid people to attack you after you saved their lives?

SerenitySummit: Unfortunately.

bambooleaves: why is low IQ so common? Like you are smart

SerenitySummit: If I knew I would have fixed it long ago, now go deal with it yourself.

“Hey there buddy, no need to surprise a man like that, you should start with thank you so much oh grand master Shen Yuan for saving my life, now you, try”

The man kept glaring at him, this time less violent and more remorseful, maybe he regretted not having punched harder.

“You poisoned me, why should I thank you?”

Bitch you poisonned yourself!?

But looking back at it it would actually look like he was the one doing it, Shan Yuan calmed down and gave his best smile.

“While it might look like that to you the poisoning is solely your fault, I expected a master cultivator to know their surroundings”

That should be enough, now that he had everything they could part ways and never see each other again.

“Liu Qingge”

“Sorry what?”

What did this guy even want? Wasn't that the peak lord that the scum villain killed? Why was he popping up in this conversation?

“You gave me your name, I’m giving you mine”

He stated as if it was obvious, was this man Liu Qingge? Did that mean he transmigrated before the PIDW timeline? Shen Yuan felt a bit remorseful about not being able to see Luo Binghe yet.

“Okay, Liu Xiansheng, it was a pleasure to meet you. I’ll be off now then”

Before he managed to run away with the flower Liu Qingge grabbed his hand, looking at him like a kicked puppy, this scene made him feel guilty for being so mean to the man, wasn’t he at the end doing his job? 

“Thank you”

Liu Qingge seemed to have forced the answer out of his mouth, as if not used to saying the word, yet Shen Yuan felt a bit happy, meeting a character that died in the early stages of the novel was really a chance in a million so he migth as well take it.

Now it made sense for the man to be so beautiful, he was Liu Mingyan’s brother, those genes really were blessed!

“No problem Liu Xiansheng, if you need a elixir you can come to me anytime, not to be rude but you look a bit beaten up”

The man did look awful, Shen Yuan had not paid any attention to it before but Liu Qingge seemed to have been defeated, something unheard of, only the protagonist would be capable of such a feat but who knows, maybe he won but got beaten up anyway.

His face was too pitiful so he tossed him one of his best elixirs, having connections with sects couldn’t be too bad, even if Luo Binghe were to destroy the sect he wouldn’t destroy his wife’s brother’s peak, right?

And now that he knew in what timeline he was maybe he could ask about Luo Bighe discretely? He might be able to help him even.

In the meantime Liu Qingge smelled the elixir, deemed it as harmless and drank it, feeling no effect yet he looked back at Shen Yuan.

“What does it do?”

You drank it without knowing? Shen Yuan was beginning to think this man really was all brawn no brain. 

He sighed, he felt nice so he would explain.

“This elixir helps balance one's Qi, lowering the possibilities of a Qi deviation while at the same time giving an opportunity of strengthening your own meridians. Is done with three aphrodisiacs that nullify each others effects, only leaving the good factors”

Feeling proud of himself over the short explanation Shen Yuan patted himself in the head, he didn’t talk too much this time and Liu Qingge was nodding interested, or maybe that's what he did in Peak Lord missions to look as if he was listening. But that was not his problem.

“Take care Liu Xiansheng!”

Without waiting for an answer Shen Yuan jumped in his sword and flew high enough to see the town, he still had more material to find before anything happened, he would come back to check in Liu Qingge later, didn’t he say there was a dangerous monster around? Maybe he could help if he had time.

He was pretty sure this was really close to Huan Hua palace though, why was Liu Qingge here taking care of their business?

Well, they were pretty useless in the novel too so he guessed that they might have cried for help at some point, not caring anymore returned to fly towards his next destination, or would have if not for the big explosion behind him.

That was where he had left Liu Qingge! Cursing his luck he stopped and flew back.

Just what type of monster could create this kind of explosion? Feeling his blood rush he unknowingly started smiling, maybe it even was an elephant-winged-mantis, those were explosive! But really, Airplane had to work on the names a bit more.

Chapter Text

Shen Yuan expected an ugly monster with lots of legs, not an extremely handsome demon. His plan was to help Liu Qingge, he might have provoked him to die early if he didn’t intervene!

But seeing the heavenly demon mark in the youths forehead he couldn't help but gasp in awe, he looked so much like Luo Bighe! If he didn’t know better he would have guessed it was him, of course as Liu Qingge was alive it couldn't be so the only explanation left was it was his father.

Airplane never wrote about him but he must have existed at some point, especially since this was a real world, this became obvious while talking to his brother who wouldn’t stop talking about how terribly organised the political system was.

Talking about systems.

bambooleaves: Er-ge, know anything about a heavenly demon on the loose?

SerenitySummit: Curly hair, red mark, annoying as fuck?

bambooleaves: Yes, yes, idk haven't talked to him yet

SerenitySummit: Tianlang-jun finally fucking scaped, he probably found out about how his wife was killed by the old lecherous man when she refused to sleep with him. So he locked her lover under a mountain.

bambooleaves: Wow you’re really spilling the tea here Er-ge, so, not an enemy? Should i help him?

SerenitySummit: Let him die

bambooleaves: Er-ge! If he was accused wrongly i could help! Losing his wife, so pitiful!

SerenitySummit: …

SerenitySummit: Huan Hua palace is the one behind everything, his sect leader leched over his head disciple, Su Xiyan, I helped her escape his hands once or twice, making him detest me. 

SerenitySummit: Tell him you are one of his wife’s friends, It isn’t the truth but he should buy it, direct him to the Luo river, his wife’s corpse, or what remains, should be there. Fourteen years should have passed since her death so I’m not sure.

bambooleaves: So the sects had a hand in this? No wonder the guy looks pissed, hes beating Liu Qingge

SerenitySummit: The brute is there?

bambooleaves: Yeah, dont know what he did to piss him off but damn that hurts

bambooleaves: You know Liu Qingge?

SerenitySummit: Ungrateful brute with no manners, you could say we are acquaintances. If he asks, tell him that Cang Qiong’s sect leader wasn't aware of this.

SerenitySummit: You could tell him he sent you to help, sect leader Yue isn't unreasonable so he’ll let you get away with it.

bambooleaves: Do you owe Cang Qiong something? You're not usually this nice just because

SerenitySummit: No, no I don't.

Shen Yuan wouldn’t pry what connection his brother had with the sect that Luo Binghe would destroy in the future, but he had to do something to stop Liu Qingge of being even more beat up, not even his elixirs would help him at this point, you needed to be able to swallow after all.

The demon, Tianlang-jun, seemed to get more annoyed by every minute that passed, Liu Qingge kept yelling at him even then, amazing Shen Yuan every time.

Keep it up Liu Xiansheng! With that perseverance you’ll achieve great things!

Still he had to jump in to stop this, the man had been framed after all! He would help, he just had to add lawyer to his resume.

“Tianlang-jun right? Uh, congrats on escaping prison?”

Both of them looked at him as if he had grown another head, totally unfair because he was just trying to stop this one sided beating, cut him some slack Liu Xiansheng!

The young man, who now that Shen Yuan thought of it must be older than both him and Liu Qingge, stared at him for a while, making him feel goosebumps. Too scary!

Sighing, he jumped down, taking his fan out and covering his face to hide his emotions.

“It seems you found out about Huan Hua’s treachery, this one can only congratulate you on this and ask for forgiveness for his inability to help”

Fancy words go! Well done Shen Yuan, you look like a true scholar, keep up the good work!

The demon in question stayed at him in disbelief, but before he could open his mouth Liu Qingge jumped in front of them.

“Get away from him Shen Xiansheng!”

Why? Your honour, my defendant is innocent! He was just grieving his lost wife! 

Shen Yuan didn’t get away at all, he stepped in again and looked at both of them in the eyes.

Tianlang-jun looked lost, it seemed that Binghe’s father was as much of a white lotus as his son, only darkening because of terrible people, he felt a tad of guilt for no reason.

“So Tianlang-jun, I investigated on my own and I have more or less the location of where Su Xiaojie remains should be, if you wish I could take you there”

He had the location thanks to PIDW being better at the start, not as much papapa and more plot, plus if this was Binghes father he could save Binghe from his fate of being thrown into the abyss.

A shame Shen Qingqiu wouldn’t get what was coming for him but he guessed everyone else would see how much of a horrible person that man was at some point.

He shrugged, it wasn't his business anymore anyways.

The protagonist's father finally spoke, his voice sounded much prettier than any song Shen Yuan had ever heard and he couldn't help but feel his blood rush to his face.

The protagonist had to get his looks from somewhere after all!

“This one would love to accompany Shen Qiánbèi to that place”

Protagonist’s father, that's a scary smile you are wearing there! He hoped Luo Binghe would have this type of one-person love instead of hundreds of wifes with negative IQ.

Liu Qingge stared at them dumbfounded, as if Shen Yuan had made the stupidest decision of his life.

“Then Tianlang-jun is welcome to follow me, is next to the Luo river, she died after ingesting a poison provided by the old palace master, who seeing you and Su Xiaojie together decided to take matters into his own hands”

He was merely guessing here, but knowing how the old palace master had gotten rid of people in PIDW this was his style, he probably gave him a poison that as long as she aborted she could live but she decided to have her son anyways.

It was stupid, if she had decided to live she could always try to save Tianlang-jun but instead she decided to let her name be remembered with hate, causing her lover's imprisonment.

But he had to thank her for bringing Luo Binghe to this world, after all the protagonist had always been his favourite.

Not to confuse him with a fan! He wasn’t, but Luo Binghe was genuinely a victim here.

After telling his brother a bit of the story he read his brother criticised certain points, he didn't say any names just in case but he narrated the major plot points, Luo Binghes first time being one of the most hated scenes for his brother.

When he started telling the story he didn’t expect a good review or anything, PIDW was trash, one couldn’t even count it as reading, but things Shen Yuan never thought about were seen by his brother.

Luo Binghe was raped, Shen Yuan had a hard time assimilateing that one.

He wanted to send Tianlang-jun to his son as fast as he could, but the man in question calmly followed him on his sword.

He seemed to be lost in thought, and Shen Yuan didn’t have much more to say so the trip was done in an uncomfortable silence.

When they finally arrived to what he could only guess was the most likely place to be where Su Xiyans last moments happened he jumped down, he had found out how to slow down in the air so it looked as if he was flying without a sword, he was working really hard in the scholar persona after all.

“It should be around here, but this one can't be too sure as he was not around when everything went down”

See? I didn't do anything and I’m trying to help all conveyed in one sentence, a real genius.

The man finally decided to talk, he probably hadn’t before, too deep in grief, he had beaten up Liu Qingge a final time when he thought Shen Yuan wasn’t looking after all.

Sorry Er-ge, I don't think Cang Qiong is going to come out completely unharmed, but at least it would survive in this PIDW ripoff, probably.

“What are Shen Qiánbèi's intentions by doing this?”

To stop you from beating up poor Liu Qingge, man is already gonna be killed by Shen Qingqiu, he doesn't need more suffering.

Also helping the protagonist of course! He might even become an uncle figure or something, he just had to figure out an excuse.

“Her fate saddened me, while I was not able to help in the past maybe in this way I can rest with a peaceful mind”

The man stared at the water as if it held the answers to everything, it might seem that way to someone that lost both his son and his wife in this icy river.

Seeing he didn’t wish to say more Shen Yuan kept talking to himself, he had to give a hint that Luo Binghe was still alive.

“I heard from my brother that she might have been pregnant at the time, as a Heavenly Demon you probably don't know but humans become extremely weak in this situation, that’s why she probably couldn’t go save you, but maybe she decided to ingest the poison wishing to save her son”

The man finally let out a choked sob that he seemed to have been holding since the start, nothing like his son who only grew up to know violence the father seemed to be an innocent sheep.

“I wasn’t unwanted”

Tianlang-jun kneeled down and picked up some flowers, slowly he made a small pit and made sure it looked good, once finished he left the flowers on top of it.

It was a human-like custom, it showed how much the man had loved her to be able to know this, Shen Yuan couldn’t help but feel his heart ache.

Once again he felt how real this world was, how little did he actually matter here.

How easily he could die.

Ignoring his own fears he kneeled down beside the demon and patted his back awkwardly, but somehow the action came easier than what he expected, maybe he had learned something from his Meimei after all.

“No, you were not, I’m sure she loved you a lot, I’m sorry they made you think otherwise”

Tianlang-jun finally looked at him in the eyes and gave a small smile, and Shen Yuan could only reciprocate.

“This one wishes to know his benefactors name if possible”

Benefactor! What a good title, he had really hit jackpot and he even managed to help an innocent bystander!

“This one is called Shen Yuan and is merely a rogue cultivator, but in the last year has managed to make quite a name for himself as a doctor and beast expert”

He had left his title as a doctor in Li Mingzhu Jiejie’s hands, so he only knew the title was probably something cryptic and impossible to pronounce, he hadn't really checked, he was a busy man and most people just used Peerless cucumber anyways.

“A doctor you say, are you able to bring back the dead?”

Yes and no, if the girl was half dead sleeping with a heavenly demon would be the solution but in a situation where no corpse was found, it was just impossible.

“I can’t bring your wife back without the corpse, this one apologises, and even if we had the corpse she must have been dead for more than fourteen years now”

The man eyed him sceptically, then smiled relieved.

 “Then as long as I have the corpse you could bring someone back”

No, it wasn't that simple, the spirit had to linger in earth and be extremely close to the body to even be able to try resurrection, no one was really resurrected in their own body in PIDW, yes there were possessions and some reincarnation mentions but nothing too hard.

Bringing back the dead was another level, even he wouldn’t be able to do it, and he was sure he knew most of PIDW.

The only place he could think of having any sort of clue on how to achieve this would be the Holy Mausoleum, would have been a perfect arc if it wasn't because of Airplane doing his usual trash writing and forgetting the plot.

“Is not as easy, too many factors have to be taken into account and most clues on how to try this should be hidden in the Holy Mausoleum, and even then, natural laws shouldn’t be altered without thinking before hand”

He didn’t want to do this, really but the guilt was eating him up, still he felt like an hypocrite for saying this when both him and his brother got a second chance.

“Then I shall thank Shen Qiánbèi for his help, but ask for forgiveness as even with his warnings this one will travel to the Holy Mausoleum anyways”

Well fuck it he wasnt letting this poor mourning maiden heart demon die, was he?

He knew how the holy mausoleum worked anyways so he wouldn’t be in danger.

“Then this one shall help, as he already knows the way through the Holy Mausoleum”

He knew he had just walked into a lion's den willingly but what else could he do? The poor man was looking at him as if he had done something unimaginable so he couldn't resist.

He ignored the way he kept feeling guilt everytime he looked at the sad expression on the demon's face.

“But Shen Qiánbèi is only human, how could he know about a sacred place in the demon realm?”

Good question, give me time to make up a good lie will ya’? He considered his options and after some time pondering he simply decided that he could say some criptip bullshit and look cool.

“Human or demon, isn't it the same at the end?”

But Tianlang-jun only looked more down than before, he couldn’t even get to fake a polite smile this time.

“Some time ago someone said the same thing to me, l wish he hadn’t been lying at the time”

Chapter Text

If Shen Yuan was in a book and he happened to have an internal monologe it would go a bit like this, fuck, fuck, fuck, Im so dead , fuck, fuck.

Because he just accepted going with the protagonist’s father to resurrect the protagonist's mother while the protagonist was being bullied in Cang Qiong, which wouldn’t be that bad because Binghe shouldn't be too old, Liu Qingge was still alive after all.

The problem? You might ask, well that Tianlang-jun was hot.

Hear him out, he was a straight man, having read something like PIDW was proof enough, but anyone would fold at how nice and kind he was, even when he acted suspicious he gave him the benefit of the doubt.

Calmly he flew on his sword, it seemed they were going somewhere in the Demonic Realm, Shen Yuan thought of talking to his brother now that he had time, the trip would be quite long after all.

System open chat box!

[System is unavailable right now, try again later]

What are you, Windows? What are you even doing?

[Error404]

Oh for fucks shake, he needed a beer.

Okay system, tell me what do you need to work, it's simple, does it have to do with the power source thing, what even is the power source?

[(32/100) Files completed of the current update, more time is needed to finish, until then host may touch the power source to speed up the process]

Okay, what is the power source? The river? Tell this poor old man something before disappearing.

[Error404]

Fuck you, I’ll find a way to choke you, believe me.

The only weird thing he had touched was the Luo river and the protagonist's father, both being terrible options for a power source so he resigned himself to not being able to access the videos his brother sent him for entertainment.

Even a Rickroll would be better than this.

Tianlang-jun though seemed to be zoning out, which if they weren't in a Xianxia setting might have been extremely dangerous but alas this was unluckily the case and he had to deal with a world with no traffic regulation.

One day when he felt bored enough he would try writing a book criticising all these nonsensical laws and making a good critic of the society.

The trip was long, long and boring. Tianlang-jun seemed to still be grieving so he didn’t talk much, still he was polite enough to check if he was still following him.

Still, he would have to remind the heavenly demon that humans usually needed to rest between these kinds of trips and that while he didn’t, because his body was quite a miracle, making him advance in cultivation extremely fast and have almost no need to eat, others would have fainted from dehydration.

He couldn’t blame the demon though, They were built different after all! Some cultural shocks are bound to happen.

Once he arrived at the palace and was able to stop staring in awe at how cool the construction looked, Tianlang-jun brought him to a spare room he seemed to have and let him rest, happily he left his things in the room and bid the demon farewell.

It seemed the Holy Mausoleum thing was going to be done tomorrow so he got a good rest in a beautiful palace, happily he jumped in bed and let sleep overtake him.

It took him some time to fall asleep, he wasn't sure Tianlang-jun was getting any either. And when he finally managed to, he found himself into a dreamscape, he was able to walk around calmly for a while, it was impressively crafted to the point he only realised it wasn't real because he couldn't walk down, he was stuck in this mountain peak, with hundreds of disciples, embarrassed he searched for the veil he had grown so used to wearing to find it gone, his height was still the same but when he looked at himself in the water he realised he looked younger.

He was also wearing green robes that reminded him of Qing Jing peak, the designs were definitely extremely similar.

He walked around for a bit until he found a bamboo hut a bit hidden away, inside he found his brother dressed in green robes wearing his usual frown.

What kind of dreamscape was able to make such a detailed image of his brother? They didn’t even look alike! Yes, his brother and him shared some features but being honest their face shape was extremely different if one were to ask Shen Yuan.

The only question he still had was how did whatever terrible sexplot he had fallen into this time know his brother.

This could be dangerous, revealing his past to an unknown force might become a threat, he had to find a way to not give away any information, just when he had finally decided to investigate other places a young man dressed in green robes entered the house, it was small Tianlang-jun, who upon entering immediately dropped the food he was bringing.

He couldn't help but smile, completely ignoring how his brother behind him started to get angry.

“Tianlang-jun! You’re here too, that’s good, let's find a way to get out of here its giving me the creeps”

The poor man seemed confused to have been trapped, he probably had never suffered such humiliation, to be caught by a minor demon!, but not everyone could be the protagonist.

He looked so cute when he was young, while he was definitely attractive when he was older seeing him so small made Shen Yuan wish to protect him.

But Tianlang-jun followed him obediently, he also kept staring at his face, was it because he didn’t have his veil on? His face wasn’t anything special anyways, maybe he expected a beauty?

Finally he talked, almost shyly, as if he was asking for a secret to be shared.

“Does Shen Qiánbèi know Shizun? The man in the bamboo hut”

That was your Shizun? Did his brother teach a Heavenly Demon? He couldn't ask him now, the system was still uploading and he was in a hurry.

It had to be his brother but he wasn't sure what to say, he didn’t know the full story, he inspected the demon's face and decided to simply say what he knew, he looked too pitiful to ignore.

“The man in the house looks exactly like my brother, but I have never seen him wear that kind of robes, still the frown is exactly the same”

He sighed, he wanted to know just who his brother was in his past life, a whole ass spy network and now teacher of a Heavenly Demon. What was next? Sect leader?

“Shizun's brother… This lowly one apologises for any unsightly behaviour”

What unsightly? You just found out your wife didn’t betray you, cut yourself some slack.

Yet the man seemed genuinely worried, as if he had committed a grave offence for no reason, which he didn’t.

“But you were always nice? I don't know what you’re asking for forgiveness here, is not like you killed my brother or anything”

He hoped to lighten the mood by doing this but Tianlang-jun’s face only got gloomier by every second, then silent tears began falling from his eyes, he hid his face before Shen Yuan could see more.

“I did, it was my fault, Shizun died by my hands, he died to stop me”

This was looking awfully sad, so much filial piety from the poor student, such a sad ending.

It made sense his brother hadn't told him, he hated talking about people that had hurt him and he didn’t want Shen Yuan to blame the man, so he would make sure Tianlang-jun knew this too.

“If my brother was really mad at you he would have told me, but instead he said he died of a Qi deviation, I don’t think you are one to blame here, and believe me, my brother holds almost no one close enough to his heart to die for them!”

That made the poor man look at him in disbelief, as if he was solving a puzzle, it might be because he confessed talking to a dead person. He might have to explain a lot now that he thought of it.

“Shen Qiánbèi can talk to his brother?”

Yeah, it was definitely because of that, congratulations Shen Yuan, you just set yourself up.

He had to stop looking at the handsome face in front of him and doing whatever the man wished, his sister would already had told him he was the gayest homophobic she knew.

One, he wasn't homophobic, two he wasn't gay!

“I can, but not right now, our connection has been temporarily severed, I don't know when I’ll be able to contact him again, I’m sorry, if I knew you were my brother’s student I would have told you before”

The man smiled at him and he had never seen such a bright smile before, he was sure it could be compared to the sun by how warm it made him feel, this couldn't be normal but this was the protagonist's father so it made sense.

It was definitely the gene’s.

“Shen Qiánbèi can’t be blamed for this one hiding his identity, yet this one want to know how Shizun is doing”

Fair enough, he had to tell as much as he could without revealing the whole transmigration stuff, why? Because he wasn't in a novel, they would for sure lock him up for being crazy!

“He's been feeding our cat, she's called Dian Dian, my sister is the one that named her, the cat’s actually hers but she likes Er-ge more, she despises Da-ge but tolerates me”

It felt good to talk about things he thought he had to forget, but he guessed things weren’t that easy after all, even if you were someone as cold as his Er-ge you wouldn’t be able to not miss at least one person, he was human after all.

He wondered if that’s how his Er-ge felt after he reincarnated, he used to be a child that hid from every adult in sight, hating every sort of physical contact.

Was he scared by the new world? Did he miss his friends? His family?

“Er-ge has always hated physical contact, even with those he trust usually a head pat is a lot for him, but he's always been caring towards people he loves, I bet he would do anything to make sure I didn’t suffer any discomfort, he’s sometimes too much, really”

He really was loved by his siblings, and he regretted not having been there as much for them, he would excuse himself by saying how he was sick, he couldn’t really move much after all, but deep down he knew that he could have done more.

He could have texted them more, he could have made sure everything was alright in their lives.

He regretted that immensely.

“You talk so nicely of him, he must have been an amazing brother”

He sounded sour for some reason, as if he had swallowed something that wouldn't go down his throat.

“He still is”

They seemed to have reached an agreement, it felt nice, not many people liked his brother at first, it took many years to hear he had made friends, yet he never looked too happy.

Maybe it became hard after so many goodbyes.

“He’s the one I’m trying to revive”

“Uh?”

Did he want to bring back his master, did he feel that guilty? He had to be honest, he didn’t know what actually happened but his brother wouldn’t lie to him about things he could find out.

“If you’re doing this because of guilt, you shouldn’t, this has already been resolved”

He couldn’t talk about the system but he could hint towards an unknown entity,

The look on the man's face was worth it, he looked so happy to know that there was actually a way to bring back his Shizun.

“This one thanks Shen Qiánbèi for all he’s done”

No need to thank this old man! A smile like yours is payment enough really.

“Don’t worry too much, remember he’s my brother, I’m also doing this for myself”

Tianlang-jun didn’t stop smiling even then, he looked close to bursting into tears again but Shen Yuan pretended not to see to save him some face.

“See you when you wake up then”

Uh? Wait! Was this? Of course! Who else but a Heavenly Demon could control dreamscapes like this! He had completely forgotten! This was the protagonist’s father!

He groaned in frustration as he drifted off to a dreamless sleep.

But how had he entered the dream in the first place?

Chapter Text

Shen Yuan woke up to something exploding, which might be normal in the demon world, but looking at how much panic there was it didn’t seem likely.

The servants, which he had only slightly noticed yesterday, were now running around trying to put off the fire, then a portal opened in front of him and Tianlang-jun walked with someone in his arms.

That was his brother’s corpse!

And was that Liu Qingge coming out of the portal too?

In this situation he couldn’t even care to dress correctly, he runned to the to stop them from destroying his poor brother’s corpse, he was not sure why they were fighting for it but it must be important!

When he walked into the scene Liu Qingge almost tripped, he was sorry for distracting him but his brother was more important! In seconds he snatched his brother from Tianlang-jun’s arms and ran away.

Now they could fight at peace!

He didn’t get too far though, he didn’t know the palace’s layout, he didn’t even know how to return to his room!

So he was with the half naked dead body of his brother’s lookalike, he really needed to start thinking before acting, didn't he?

He was still not sure if this was really his brother but he might as well protect it just in case, Shen Yuan was a man of honour so he made sure the body was covered correctly before trying to find the exit again.

The corridors were dark but the explosions coming from the fight made it feel as if the light of the demon world paled in comparison. It was strange to find such a morbid scene beautiful but Shen Yuan didn’t have another way of describing it.

Maybe his body of dubious identity had something to do with it, sometimes he felt the body didn’t belong to a human.

Not that he cared much, it was pretty cool if one were to ask him, a bit weird but good weird nonetheless.

He opened a door without looking and seeing it had a bed he laid the body there, calmly sitting on the chair next to it, waiting for the explosions to stop, he didn’t have anything to read so he might as well write.

He had been working in some more in deep description of the abyss and how to survive it even if you were weak, maybe if he didn’t manage to save Binghe he would at least receive the book, his golden finger was amazing after all.

Soon he became numb to the sound, calmly scribbling on the little paper he still had at hand, most of it was still locked in his inventory after all.

He was doodling one of the monsters that hurt Luo Binghe more in the novel when the door was kicked open by Liu Qingge.

He couldn’t help but frown seeing the fate of the poor door, An Ding peak must hate the man to their core.

“Shen Yuan”

Taking so many liberties now Liu Xiansheng! When did we become so close? But he would forgive him, after all wasn't he grieving his lost wife?

Wait, Was Liu Qingge married in PIDW? Was this a plot point Airplane ignored?

Green robes, Liu Qingge’s wife wore green robes, his brother wore the same shade of green, the young man was wearing black robes and looked like Tianlang-jun.

Tianlang-jun said he killed his Shizun, who was his brother and Liu Qingge was trying to get said body.

What kind of romcom was this!?

“Hi Liu Xiansheng I have a quick question, did you fuck my brother?”

Liu Qingge stopped in his tracks, completely blushed and only then did Shen Yuan realise he had said that outloud.

It didn’t make sense, Liu Qingge was straight but all the information he had led to that possibility.

He stared at Liu Qingge who was looking at the body and then at him, as if he didn’t understand what was going on.

“Holy fuck, did you actually?”

Liu Qingge’s eyes opened wide in utter horror.

“No!”

Thank fuck, he almost felt as if the terrible stories his sister read were becoming reality for a second, but this was PIDW, of course Liu Qingge wasn’t gay.

Before he could ask more information about his brother Tianlang-jun came through where a door used to be.

“Shen Qiánbèi, get away from him”

This felt wrong to watch, in Shen Yuan’s opinion, even if Liu Qingge wasn’t married to his brother, deserved some kind of closure right?

They must at least be friends, if not one wouldn’t be fighting over a dead body.

He still didn’t get why they were fighting though, it felt as if he was intruding on some private moment of someones life, which didn’t make sense because, That. Was. His. Brother!

He must have been taking too long to make a choice because Liu Qingge grabbed his arm and as if to show he could as well Tianlang-jun grabbed it too.

[49/100 files completed! System recommends keeping in contact with the power source host!]

What? Was it really the protagonist’s father? It couldn't be Liu Qingge, right? Sighing he kept staring at them grabbing his arms, he felt as if they were playing tug of war, except he was the rope!

The two men kept glaring daggers into each other but none of them made a move, yet.

Shen Yuan tried to pretend he wasn't a bit scared, yes he was extremely strong, but this was the protagonist’s father, who was grieving, he would feel guilty if he were to accidentally hurt him.

And while Liu Qingge was strong, he really didn’t want to punch him either!

Maybe running away with the body again was a good idea? He really didn’t know what to do and he could feel his own heartbeat.

[100/100 Files completed! Congratulations! Congratulations! Congratulations! Important things must be said trice! Host can now view his progress in the main mission. Would host like to check?]

No, not really, contact me with my brother. And fast!

SerenitySummit: You are finally online. Explain. Now

bambooleaves: Did youu have Tianlang-jun as a disciple???Why didnt you tellme??

SerenitySummit: No. What is this about? Explain.

bambooleaves: What?

bambooleaves: Then why did he say you were his Shizun?????

SerenitySummit: I never had that demon as a disciple and we never met.

bambooleaves: idk whats going on and a fight might be about to start

SerenitySummit: What did you do?

bambooleaves: Nothing! They are gonna fight over YOUR body! Fuck gtg

SerenitySummit: Yuan-di! Get back here at this moment!

He said he was my brother’s disciple, and he seemed sincere, but why?

How?

Is he even Tianlang-jun? Shen Yuan didn’t know anymore, nothing had happened yet but he didn’t know how much this calm would last.

System, who is the power source?

[Host’s power source is Luo Binghe]

He froze, his brother was dressed in green, was the protagonist’s Shizun and was sournamed Shen.

There only was one character in the whole PIDW that matched that description.

Shen Qingqiu, he had to get away now.

Before any of them could start exchanging blows Shen Yuan, hesitantly , grabbed Shen Qingqiu’s corpse and flew away, he knew how to get out of the demon realm, it would just be a matter of how long.

He didn’t feel safe anymore, were those tears fake? How was Liu Qingge alive? There had to be another transmigrator, but who?

Or maybe, just maybe, this wasn’t the original PIDW and here his brother was Shen Qingqiu and things changed because of that, because why would his brother be the scum villain that lusted over a child?

His brother was the first to hate that kind of behaviour to the point of once beating up a teacher for sleeping with one of his students. Shen Yuan couldn't believe his brother who hated anyone touching him too much to be able to even get close enough to lust over someone.

The only other option would be that the original Shen Qingqiu wasn't a two dimensional character and that he was wrongfully accused. Shen Yuan wasn’t ready to think about that so he gave up and speeded up, he wanted to arrive somewhere safer for the night, he had to conserve the body as best as he could.

Why would Luo Binghe conserve his master's body so well was beyond him though.

System, is this my brother's body? Will he get back to this body?

[User Shen J̷̭̙͉͂̿͐̽͗̎ͭ́̋͡i̛̙͇͕̥͖̦̝̜̜̪̬ͩ̄̉_̨͍̞̲͗ͣͯ̾̆ů̩̫ Xin will be returning to his old body]

That’s not helpful at all, what would he even do now? He had even forgotten his veil in Luo Binghe’s room and he would be doomed if he even thought of returning to pick it up!

Finally finding a place to rest he lowered down, he had to be fast or Luo Binghe would catch up to him, after all he probably had his blood parasites in his, might be, brother’s body.

He was tired, he really didn’t ask to be thrown into the plot, feeding the corpse his spiritual energy he allowed himself to rest over a tree.

bambooleaves: Did you have a disciple named Luo Binghe?

SerenitySummit: Yes.

bambooleaves: Did you hurt him in some way?

SerenitySummit: Yes.

bambooleaves: Why?

SerenitySummit: I died before I managed to hurt him enough but, it doesn’t excuse my behaviour. I hated him, I wanted him dead. Now I feel too tired to even hate. I was immature and I let my emotions get the worst of me for the first time, I shouldn’t have but I did.

bambooleaves: I confused him with Tianlang-jun, it seems he's their son.

SerenitySummit: I didn't know, it wouldn't have changed anything though.

bambooleaves: Were you married?

SerenitySummit: No.

SerenitySummit: What’s with the sudden question?

bambooleaves: and you never ever lusted over your disciples, right?

SerenitySummit: No, why would I? They’re kids!

bambooleaves: So the rumours about you going to brothels, those were because of Jiejie’s spy net right?

SerenitySummit: Yes, what's going on A-Yuan?

bambooleaves: Nothing, is just, i might have stolen your dead body

SerenitySummit: Explain. Now.

He really didn’t get to explain much, he lacked information but he was able to get a basic background check, his brother was the scum villain, except he was nothing like the rumours.

He had been nervous, he wanted to ask for more information, but his brother also needed space and Shen Yuan wasn't an incorrigible asshole.

He might need a heads-up next time though, he couldn’t handle so much in one go yet.

So he was here now, with his brother’s corpse, trying to remember how to get to Cang Qiong.

He had managed to leave the demon world in less than a Shichen but he was starting to get a bit worried, Luo Binghe probably knew where they were and it was only a matter of time before he realised where he was taking his brother’s body.

He had also told Luo Binghe that he already had a plan to revive his brother.

He really had fucked up, hadn’t he?

Still on top of the sword Shen Yuan groaned in frustration, he shouldn’t have tried to be a good person in the first place!

Finally, with a bit of help from some nice people, he managed to arrive to Cang Qiong, he only had to go up those terrible stairs and … Well whatever came after he delivered his brother’s body.

He covered his brother’s face just in case, he wouldn't want to get in trouble even before he arrived to his destination, luckily he and his brother didn’t look too alike so it wouldn't be a problem.

Disciples from different peaks kept staring at him as if he was a walking miracle, they probably didn't get to see many cultivators sneaking in through the front door.

His brother had talked of Yue Qingyuan as someone who isn't unreasonable so maybe going to him was his best option.

Or he was doing something stupidly reckless. Who knew? In PIDW Yue Qingyuan was the one that died to save Shen Qingqiu so maybe he was someone he could trust.

He really didn't have a plan and he was beginning to feel a bit observed by the people around him.

He had climbed all the stairs to pretend he didn't know the way but he was beginning to think it only made things worse, he should had gone through some secret passage and ended it all quickly.

 Sect leader Yue appeared in front of him in no time, he had walked all the way to Qiong Ding peak and had stopped in front of what looked like his private chambers.

He could have gotten confused though because Yue Qingyuan appeared from another direction.

“This one greets sect leader Yue”

Yue Qingyuan’s eyes didn't leave him for a second, but his mind seemed to be focused elsewhere.

“Xiao-Jiu…”

He blinked, that wasn’t his brothers name, then it hit him, Jiu, nine, fuck.

“This one apologises to sect leader Yue but he isn't Shen Jiu”

As soon as he said that a system window pooped out.

[Due to host’s current memories being lost the system has given other options for its user to choose, if none of the options are satisfactory host can always suffer punishment]

His memories where what? And punishment? He couldn't help but frown, he was going insane, wasn't it enough to have managed to outrun the Luo Binghe? Now he also had to follow some rules he had somehow forgotten.

“This one apologises, How did Shen Shidi manage to return?”

I think we are still having a misunderstanding here! He meant it literally, he wasn't his brother! Why was he being confused for him, Luo Binghe definitely hadn’t!

He completely ignored the fact that he had a veil covering his face most of the time and that once he took it off Luo Binghe dropped his food in shock.

“Sect leader Yue, you are confusing me with my brother”

He could see the man's face twist in something he couldn’t understand, it could be regret but there was something more.

[System reminds that host has to choose between these three options

1. Genre change(Horror): Reveal that Shen Qingqiu died of a Qi deviation years ago
2. Genre change(Tragedy): Give Luo Binghe to Cang Qiong 
3. Genre change(?????): Reveal that you been substituting Shen Qingqiu since his Qi deviation

System hopes host makes a wise choice!]

What choice did he even have? The only one that might save them from a terrible ending was lying to Yue Qingyuan’s face!

If he revealed that his brother died of a Qi deviation it was horror, if he admitted to having been pretending to be his brother then what?

But the word the system used was reveal, not lie or tell, reveal.

Shen Yuan also seemed to lack memories for some reason.

And Liu Qingge was alive, which if his brother died would make sense but, why did it feel as if he was missing some information?

“Sect leader Yue, I’ve been pretending to be my brother since his Qi deviation”

The horror in the man's face made him feel as if he had made the wrong choice, but there was no going back.

“Then, where is the real Shen Qingqiu?”

He held up the corpse in his arms, which should have been obvious, but the tears falling from Yue Qingyuan’s face only left him stuck in his position.

He didn't know what history they shared, he only hoped that when he managed to get his brother back they could be together again, sect leader Yue cared for his brother and Shen Yuan could only thank him for that.

He was going to say something but a tired Liu Qingge broke a tree beside them, it seemed he didn’t have a door to break this time, and stared at him.

“You lied!”

Did he? Yes, it made sense to think that way, if he had been pretending to be Shen Qingqiu for years he would have known the man, but he hadn’t.

Fake it till you make it then?

“I really don't remember, I don't know how or why I’m back, I died, but I don't remember living as my brother, I just know I did”

Amnesia was the best excuse he could give right now, but he really didn’t know how to back it up so he waited for them to make their own theories.

“Pardon me for asking but if you lost your memories how is that you know that?”

And here was where he threw his brother under the bus. He was probably going to get punished for this later but that was a problem for future him.

“You see sect leader Yue, it seems I can talk to my brother’s spirit”

As the face’s of the two cultivators changed to surprised one's, Shen Yuan could only pray his lies weren’t too obvious.

Chapter Text

“Is he with you right now?”

Yue Qingyuan and Liu Qingge stared at the corpse Shen Yuan was carrying and asked the question as if the answer wasn't obvious.

So Shen Yuan just gave Yue Qingyuan the corpse while trying not to look suspicious.

That probably wasn’t the answer he wanted, as the sect leader’s face darkened immediately.

“Shen er-shidi, I meant to ask if Peak lord Shen Qingqiu’s soul was with you”

He picked the body again.

Shen Yuan forgot that this people believed in spirits, not that he was much better he had a fucking system, and it now forced him to do stuff.

“I can communicate with him now if you want, but he’s technically not here”

A bit of truth between lies was the best Shen Yuan had to offer right now. No one could blame him, what was he supposed to say? Yeah I'm following a random script given to me by an entity of dubious morality.

“That would be very appreciated”

Liu Qingge stared at both of the resigned, he sat on the floor and rested, he had been fighting for who knew how long so it was to be expected.

“What would sect leader Yue wish to ask?”

Yue Qingyuan seemed to be wondering the same thing, after all what do you ask a dead man? Who even knew the answer to that, not Shen Yuan at least.

He couldn't even read what the other was thinking with that fake polite smile on his face, hiding whatever was behind.

“If you were substituting him, why did he die for Luo Binghe?”

His brother did what? That didn't seem likely because his brother died before Luo Binghe was old enough.

Now Shen Yuan, use your brain, system worded things to make you realise something.

What it was he didn't know but first of all, he had lost some memories, his brother died when Luo Binghe was a child.

He still didn't get how those two things related to each other.

He felt like pulling his hair out.

“Sect leader Yue, it was me who did that it seems, for some reason though it was him who died instead of me, I just recently managed to return so he will soon too”

How much time that soon was he didn't know but this might help them in some way? He really needed something to relax, unknowingly he started playing with his fan.

He could feel the stares of both men, both in his familiar actions and in his face.

What was up with his face anyways? Yeah he wasn't a model but let him live!

“So it was you who saved me in the caves”

Well he didn't fucking know that, he had to ask his brother and he prayed he wasn't sent a Rickroll as a response again.

bambooleaves: hey Er-ge kick question, did you save Liu Qingge in the caves?

SerenitySummit: No.

SerenitySummit: Saved him from a sneak attack but it was in an open field.

bambooleaves: Thanks you're the best!

SerenitySummit: https://creations.mtdv.me/watch?v=BRFkXIyfot

bambooleaves: do you think you're funny?

SerenitySummit: Yes.

When did his brother get the time to do weird shit Shen Yuan didn't know, not his business though.

Yeah he had someone to answer right.

“He says he saved you from a sneak attack but not from the caves so I don't know”

He must admit he didn't expect Liu Qingge to become more confused than before, his face was a bit funny even.

But this probably meant that he had missed some sort of important information and now he had to pretend he knew what he was doing.

“So I have a question, why is Luo Binghe so weirdly obsessed with his shizun?”

He got most of the information but why did Luo Binghe not have a harem?

Like he understood, not hating him or his brother, perfectly acceptable as none of them would throw him in the abyss, but no harem?

Did he somehow manage to make the protagonist asexual?

Or was he waiting for his true love? That would be cute, not a big harem but someone who could stand next to him as an equal.

Shen Yuan proudly believed that to be a better end for the poor protagonist, a true happy ending!

“He… wants to bring you back, that beast”

Liu Xiansheng that was quite rude! Show some respect as an elder will you?

He ignored how sect leader Yue seemed to be agreeing with him.

“Isn't that basically what I’m doing? Also it's not like it's that bad? He's a really filial disciple”

He received pitying looks from both men, making him more confused and making him feel as if he had just said something extremely stupid.

He wasn't stupid though so it couldn't be, naive maybe? No, he had read PIDW.

Did it count as reading though?

“He's defiling his shizun's body”

Uh?

Uh??????

Liu Xiansheng do you realise how weird that sounds? It's almost as if he were talking about…

No, no, no this was his Meimei’s fault for having terrible taste in literature he wasn't going down that road.

“You make it sound as if he was uh doing something to the body”

The awkward silence that they had to share made him want to throw himself from a window, what even was this situation?

Was coming here a bad idea? Should he had stayed with the protagonist?

“He hasn't stomped that low yet”

That didn't help at all.

When he finally managed to gather enough courage to say something a short man in yellow robes came running towards them.

When he saw him he made a double take, he saw that! What are you looking at traitorous scum?

Shang Qinghua, who was very much alive, came running to them while still somehow managing to look scared shitless.

“Sect leader! Luo Binghe has infiltrated the barriers! He's on his way!”

Just what he needed! More trouble! What was up with transmigration really?

He didn't ask for this!!

He wanted a refund! System!

[ System is available 24/7. What does host need? ]

My fucking brother and maybe some alcohol, not the point, what do I even do now?

[ Host must follow the new genre ]

Why is your voice so robotic, no emotion! What is even the new genre.

[Host is so mean to this system ( ；∀；)]

What the actual fuck.

Why. Are. You. Doing. That. Stop.

[ To answer host! The new genre is ?? ]

That was it, Shen Yuan was going to commit murder.

He stared at the traitor and wondered if someone would blame him for his murder.

“Bro why are you staring at me like that…”

…

That was it, what was even going on?

Was this traitor also a transmigrator?

No he wouldn't deal with this, not today not now, he was exhausted he was resting.

He wanted his Er-ge.

[ To answer host’s first request! Shen Qingqiu’s character is being rewritten, original soul is being given permission to return! Congratulations! Congratulations! Congratulations! ＼(^o^)／]

Wait what?

[ Soul synchronisation has started (49/100) files have been downloaded ]

He hugged his brother's corpse closer to him, what did soul synchronisation mean? Was his brother going to become someone else?

[ To answer host, soul synchronisation doesn't affect memories, it only helps a soul travel and adapt to their new body (｡•̀ᴗ-)✧ ]

Why are you being so useful right now?

Yet he felt relieved, sect leader Yue had already started moving to help the disciples who seemed to be fighting Luo Binghe, Liu Qingge stared for some time at him before picking his sword and following his superior.

While Shang Qinghua stayed with him and simply laughed awkwardly to kill the silence.

[ All files have been downloaded! Character(? Shen Qingqiu is now back to the story! ( ꈍᴗꈍ) ]

He then felt the corpse in his arms move, causing Shang Qinghua to retreat in fright.

“Dude what have you done?”

He didn't even bother to answer, more worried about whether his brother was alright or not.

“Ugh Who the fuck is holding me so terribly?”

Of course those were his brother's first words when he came back to life.

He couldn't help but smile.

“Shut up Er-ge! Don't you see I’m doing my best?”

He saw how his brother rolled his eyes just to smile softly, slowly he got himself to stand up and patted his head.

He felt a bit like a puppy for some reason and simply hugged his brother in return.

“Bro, did you just hug the original goods? What is going on?”

Both him and his brother glared at Shang Qinghua at the same time, satisfied he smiled.

“I don't know who the fuck you are but it would be much appreciated if you shut up”

He said in perfect english as his brother had taught him, or you do it correctly or you don't do it at all.

The face in Shang Qinghua was priceless though, he stared at both of them as if trying to find an answer to something he couldn't understand.

“You're not cucumber?”

Honestly the man did sound a bit sad, he had to give him that, or he would have if it wasn't because that was his terrible moniker.

He felt like crying blood, his brother was in front of him! He couldn't say it was him, never! Ever!

“This one asks for forgiveness to Shen Er-Shidi, this one thought he was someone else”

Sorry friend from my non-amnesiac self, you're going to have to wait until my brother is out of sight!

He lit a candle for him and kept hugging his brother, yeah he was safe from the terribly weird people from this world there, maybe a nap would do him good.

Before he knew his eyes were closing.

“A-Yuan no sleeping in the middle of a battle”

He pouted as the spoiled child he was.

“Just five minutes”

“Hmm five minutes then”

Shang Qinghua quietly retired himself to the side, uncomfortable.

He calmly prayed that his friend was still somewhere.

He also hoped that Luo Binghe hadn't made too much of a mess, paperwork sucked.

Chapter Text

The sound of the battle finally forced Shen Yuan to let go of his brother, sighing he forced himself to stop the hug and looked to where the other transmigrator was.

Shang Qinghua in question looked a bit, how should he say it, he looked actually sad at the loss of a friend.

He felt bad but he couldn't be blamed! He had no memories, none!

“Er-ge, should we go help?”

He didn't want to fight the protagonist, it was stupid, but he was the protagonist's Shizun, and he had seen how interested Luo Binghe was in him.

He had to be blind to not understand what was going on.

Somehow the protagonist was gay! And he, for some reason, was part of the harem.

Why there was no harem yet he didn't know but he guessed that as his Shizun he must hold some kind of important place or something.

The problem, he was a hundred percent straight. Yes, he found Luo Binghe attractive but everyone did that.

His hair reminded one of the sand waves a dessert would make naturally, both calm and terribly dangerous as nature could be.

His eyes had glint that hid depths of pain yet still held that sweet glint of innocence.

And about his body, well he didn't need to comment on that! PIDW already did that enough, he wasn't going to let his brain keep thinking of weird stuff.

Still, being part of the harem didn't sound that bad, he could read all day and not worry about anything, most wives were free to do whatever they wished anyways.

He could live like that and once in a while Binghe would visit and…

They could hold hands and kiss.

He could almost hear his Meimei's voice.

‘Yuan-ge, You're, you are gay’

No he wasn't! It was because it was Binghe!

Anyone in his position would feel the same.

He groaned in frustration, he wasn't even sure if this was the truth, he was just connecting clues given by the system and by the people around him.

How did he even flip the protagonist anyways?

Finally he looked at his brother again who was evaluating the fight.

“They're going to lose”

I asked if we should help not the result of the fight!

He got up, if his brother wasn't helping he would, maybe he could check if he had a wife halo now or something.

“A-Yuan, call me Jiu-ge here, I can explain a younger brother but not an older one”

Yeah, that would be hard to explain right? He sighed and nodded, it was going to be so weird, not even Xin-ge which he was used to saying sometimes, Jiu-ge, the name didn't roll nicely in his tongue.

“Jiu as in nine?”

It felt as categorising a product like that, he didn't like the implications of that.

“I decided to change it, Jiu as in investigate, it suits me more”

He smiled, this time the name felt right, he didn't know why but he felt himself smiling.

“It's a pleasure to see you again Jiu-ge”

He saw his brother smiling back at him, his chest felt a bit lighter, a weight he didn't know was there had been lifted.

This time he approached the battlefield without looking back.

Luo Binghe was beating Liu Qingge and Yue Qingyuan’s sword was about to be unsealed, he almost wanted to be slower to see that happen.

Yet he was noticed by everyone as soon as he stepped in, he probably should had hidden his presence.

“Shen Qianbei finally graces us with his presence”

While he could feel the anger in his voice he was also a bit excited, this was the protagonist! He was talking to him and he was hot by doing so!

He felt his blood rush to his face, making him look more embarrassed than anything.

“This one would like to ask forgiveness for running away like that, some unexpected things happened”

Scholar persona was back! Pretend to be smart go!

Well, he was smart, but smarter, smart enough to make Airplane quit writing.

He hadn't gotten that far after all.

He saw Luo Binghe laugh sardonically, the look on his eyes made him think that Xin Mo was behind this.

Binghe I don't know why you're gay or anything but you definitely can bang more husbands to calm Xin Mo, right?

Why is it so uncontrollable then? Where is your harem?!

He should probably do something or say something to spare them this fight, what did he hate about the wives? Yeah communication!

Communication was key!

“This one is sorry for deceiving Luo Binghe, he genuinely thought disciple Luo was his father as this one has lost his memories”

Good, do your work protagonist! 

He saw how Binghe's face changed from mad to confused to hopeful.

“What does Shen Qianbei mean?”

He was going to caught out blood, how have you not connected the dots yet protagonist!? Who teached you so poorly?

This old man definitely didn't!

Wait fuck he technically did, or probably did.

“This one means that he has lost his memories from after the Qi deviation, also forgetting he was supposed to be working as Shen Qingqiu while his brother was away”

The explanation made sense, now he just had to explain why his brother was the dead one and not him.

Seeing that nobody was going to talk he resigned himself to keep spouting bullshit.

“For some reason me and my brother exchanged places back then and he had to suffer my fate”

That should be enough, he saw how Luo Binghe looked at him full of adoration and he had to fan himself before he started smiling.

He was a teacher! A cool one even if the protagonist was probably his age.

“Shen Er-Shidi, while I appreciate you coming to our aid, is better of you leave as you are still inflicted with without a cure”

Was he?

System! Why didn't you say anything!

[ Congratulations congratulations congratulations! Host has fixed a plot hole, as a reward his previous conditions are also transferred, not to fret! Host won't lose his current cultivation! (>0<；) ]

He was going to kill this bastard.

Once he calmed himself down he managed to ask. 

What are my previous conditions?

[ Host is inflicted with without a cure but due to his current cultivation it won't be much of a problem!✧\(>o<)ﾉ✧ ]

Excuse me? Was his cultivation that good that he could neutralice something only papapa with the protagonist could?

When had he become so OP?

What was his current cultivation anyway, he had stopped checking after a while.

[ Host is quite close to ascension! No need to worry as in PIDW ascension is impossible ლ(^o^ლ) ]

Motherfuc-

Deep breaths, deep breaths, he had to calm down.

A Google translate voice that used Kaomojis wasn't going to give him a life crisis.

He had enough with all the gay Binghe thing.

He hoped Liu Qingge was lying.

“This one has been able to neutralise the effects thanks to his cultivation, so no need to fret, I’m here to check on what I heard is my disciple”

He was so glad he had a fan, he finally knew why he was so attached to the thing, they were the most useful things in the world.

Thanks to them no one realised he was making up stuff at the same time he was answering!

It kind of reminded him of the exams he was able to attend, ah good memories of horrific times.

He ignored the dubious looks he was receiving and stood there blinking stupidly.

At least he managed to stop the fight?

He felt something land next to him, he didn't even need to look to know it was his brother.

“What the fuck is going on? I leave my post for some years and this is what I come back to?”

His brother had a point, and he also didn't know about the fact that he had been pretending to be him.

He opened the chatbox awkwardly.

bambooleaves: Jiu-ge I lost my memories but I kinda was pretending to be you for some years or smt 

SerenitySummit: Shen Yuan what the fuck.

bambooleaves: don't say you didn't know please?

That should be enough he guessed, now it all depended on how many times he had covered for his brother when he was younger.

It wasn't looking too promising so he prayed that being the second youngest helped.

“Xiao-Jiu I-”

His brother didn't even let him finish.

“Call me that again and I'll chop off your dick”

Sect leader Yue shut his mouth without a complaint.

Wow, he was a bit surprised by this, wasn't this the guy you wanted to help? Was he missing something?

“Now, everyone explain why the fuck my brother, who I remind you is a kid managed to fucking die”

Wow rude he wasn't a kid, yeah he was twenty,  most would say that was more than old enough.

You were legally an adult at eighteen anyway.

Yue Qingyuan looked at him, mouth agape.

“How old was Shen Er-Shidi when he took the peak?”

I have a reputation to maintain Jiu-ge! Don't answer! Or he hoped he had one, he wasn't that sure.

“Nineteen, but seeing how none of you realised this fact I’ll take it that he did a good job”

This felt like those conferences teachers had with parents, except it was the teacher the one getting the bad grade.

He was a bit flustered hearing his brother praise him, it was weird to get such sincere praise from him after all.

He tried to ignore the look Luo Binghe was giving him.

System, how do I get my memories back anyways?

[ System is working on it, host should be in contact with the power source as much as possible to speed up the process ƪ(‾.‾“)┐]

Go fuck yourself just admit you want me to papapa with the protagonist.

He was getting a headache from this bullshit, now he was sure of what the genre change was.

The two ?? was BL! He was now sure of it.

[ Host is right! System congratulates host in finishing the hidden side quest ‘I, me and my poorly treated blindness’. Would the host like to view the rewards? ]

What does the quest name even mean, I’m not even blind.

[ System just assumed by how often host didn't seem to see the clues ]

Excuse me? I have managed to guess everything in days!

He was fairly sure no one was able to realise so many things as fast as him!

[ This system is not talking about that kind of clue ┐(‘～`;)┌ ]

He gave up, fucking shitty system that should had stayed in hibernation.

[ System would like to remind host that he's being observed ]

Holy fuck was that Binghe getting closer to him?

Once the others saw this Liu Qingge brought his sword to his neck, stopping him from approaching.

“Let me see Shizun”

Liu Qingge didn't even flinch.

“No”

 He put himself in the middle before they started fighting, and destroying, again.

“Okay, I’m the one that was your Shizun, so uh, What do you need to tell me?”

He ignored how his brother kept glaring at Liu Qingge, who just looked like a lost puppy.

He didn't expect Luo Binghe to fall to his knees, even less to see him cry.

“Shizun this one was wrong, this one is sorry”

Well this was awkward, he didn't know what the fuck he was supposed to be forgiving.

Regretting his life choices he sat down next to the kneeling protagonist and patted his head.

“There, there don't cry, while I don't remember what you did you're forgiven okay?”

He ignored the complaint Liu Qingge made and pretended Yue Qingyuan didn't exist.

He had a disciple to comfort.

His brother looked at Luo Binghe with disgust, then he also looked at Shen Yuan with disgust.

SerenitySummit: Your taste in men sucks.

bambooleaves: IM NOT GAY

Chapter Text

Shen Yuan swore he wasn't gay, he really wasn't, he didn't know why everyone seemed to think otherwise.

Look, even his brother was betraying him now, how could he not feel wronged?

So he kept patting his disciple, the only one who, while maybe had a crush on him, hadn't wronged him yet by assuming he liked dicks.

Not that he had ever thought about it, but who ever thought about people's private parts on a daily basis anyway?

Maybe some people did, like Airplane, not that he would ever see or touch one but he could think.

He started feeling a bit bad about the situation they were in now, look everyone was looking at him, then looking at his brother who was very much alive, and then looking at him again.

But nobody fucking started a conversation.

So they were just there, in silence, doing absolutely nothing.

Why was it always him who had to talk? He wasn't good at it! He didn't even know what he was saying most of the time!

And he was the one with amnesia here!

He groaned in frustration, why had he decided to help the protagonist to begin with?

Yeah because he looked pretty when he cried, this is what happens when one is superficial.

“So uh, does this mean this weird war can be finished and all that?”

He prayed it was a yes, he didn't like war's.

Or fights in general, he had been a sickly child okay? He couldn't be walking around getting into dangerous situations.

Luckily his words must have somehow made it to everyone's thick heads and made them form a thought for the first time.

“What Shen Er-Shidi says makes sense, as long as Lord Luo stops his attacks Cang Qiong will have no reason to keep his animosity” 

Thanks sect leader Yue but I still don't like you because my brother doesn't like you.

You still did great though.

Props to you for talking, it seems everyone else forgot how to.

“This Lord sees no reason to keep fighting now that Shizun is here”

Great! Now no more things should happen in this cheap rip-off that is still somehow better than the original!

Smiling he looked at his brother, who just gagged in response, which meant he did good of course!

“That's good, then what comes next?”

Yeah, no one had thought that far, because thinking must be hard in Xianxia novels.

Liu Qingge did exactly that, not think and talk, which should be worse but at this point Shen Yuan wasn't complaining.

“Isn't it obvious? This is your home so you stay here”

Sweet words but me not remembering my fucking home might be a problem Liu Shidi.

System, technically from holding hands to papapa how close to Luo Binghe do I have to get to recover my memories?

[ Host asks such weird questions (⁠‘⁠◉⁠⌓⁠◉⁠’⁠) ]

But answer dammit! Don't just say that!

System!!! Come back!!!

System did not come back.

So here he was, hugging the protagonist, literally, not metaphorically as he might have preferred.

This was not riding the bus, this was fucking driving it.

“Luo Binghe, my legs are growing numb…”

He was starting to feel uncomfortable, he needed his personal space back but the protagonist was too sticky!

He got up but still held onto his sleeve, pouting.

“Shizun doesn't call this one Binghe anymore?”

Oh gods, was the fucking protagonist crying? Was this some kind of elaborate plan to make him lower his guard and sneak into his bed?

Well, that might be the case, and he hated that it was working.

“Forgive this old man Binghe, as he has lost his memories, while he might soon regain them in the meantime he'll try to work as usual”

He ignored his brother gagging in the background and the pretty girl, who he could bet was Qi Qingqi, who just stared at the scene in more disgust than his brother could ever muster.

If she was Qi Qingqi then he could only say two things, original protagonist, that's a MILF, are those your mummy issues showing?

He was kinda glad this Luo Binghe was still a bit of a white lotus, even if he lusted over his teacher.

Maybe lusting over your teacher was worse though but at least it didn't have anything to do with unresolved mummy issues.

“We have two Shen Qingqiu’s now? Didn't we have none until like I don't know, half a shichen?”

Yeah, I didn't know I was Shen Qingqiu's until half a shichen either but here we are.

Also, he didn't look like his brother, why was there still confusion?

“This one greets Qi-Shimei too”

Qi Qingqi, because it was her, only laughed at his misery.

Liu Qingge though he was confused, seemed to be using his brain for the first time.

“But isn't Shen Yuan younger than all of us? Why does he get to call us Shidi and Shimei?”

Well, that was a good question, he just acted on instinct, maybe staying close to the protagonist helped regain some of his old habits?

Before he could speak his brother did, and without skipping a beat he put on his best mean act.

Which in Shen Yuan's opinion sucked but he guessed it was quite convincing for people who lacked the brain capacity to do basic math.

“Qing Jing peak is higher in seniority than you all, with Qiong Ding being the exception, seeing that none of you realised that what's basically a toddler was in the second most important position of the sect for years I would assume he has the right to do so”

Thanks Jiu-ge, I won't ever open my mouth again, I’ll just quietly agree with what you say yes.

Qi Qingqi just stared at his brother, and then at him.

“Yeah that makes so much more fucking sense, of course Shen Qingqiu didn't somehow become nice”

Well and that hurt, while his brother looked unbothered Shen Yuan knew how much words could hurt, ironic because he was a online troll even if it was only for PIDW.

“Hey, Qi-Shimei, not to be rude or anything but how can someone become something they already are?”

Yes, he made sure his tone made everyone know he was being rude deliberately.

He was making her feel childish for her behaviour on purpose, and while it wasn't the best way to approach the problem Shen Yuan didn't give a flying fuck.

He wasn't going to ignore the people openly criticising his brother, he had enough time and he was bored enough to deal with them.

SerenitySummit: Stop that you're embarrassing.

bambooleaves: nah

SerenitySummit: Have I ever told you that you’re adopted?

SerenitySummit: Well this is why they gave you away.

bambooleaves: this is why you have no bitches

Maybe he should had let his brother suffer instead of helping.

Sometimes Shen Yuan regretted being so nice, luckily he could compensate by being a horrible person in Airplane’s comment section.

He hoped the other transmigrator shared his hate for Airplane's horrendous writing.

Not likely but a man could wish.

“So are we going to ignore that a literal child managed a peak for years?”

Everyone nodded at Liu Qingge’s statement and a unanimous consensus was reached, before any life crisis they would make sure no one died.

Everyone was now staring at his poor maiden hearted disciple, who just glared at them.

“My troops have already retired, my part of the deal has been fulfilled”

That was a reliable disciple, using his brain! Not like other people.

“Well done Binghe”

His disciple beamed in delight, everyone else looked disgusted.

Even Zhangmen-shixiong, who usually wore a polite smile, looked disgusted.

He felt extremely wronged, anyone could see Binghe had acted as a model student would, why was everyone looking at him as if he was hugging a dangerous animal?

“Jiu-ge, where are we going now? You never liked staying in a sect after all”

He ignored the weird face Yue Qingyuan made and stared at his brother, who finally seemed to be assimilating his current situation.

After some seconds he finally smiled, really softly, making the other peak lord's unable to look away.

“You like teaching, you can stay, in summer I can come and take your place, as a vacation, but if you don't want we can just travel, I no longer have something tying me to this place”

He didn't know what had forced his brother to stay, but he also didn't know if he wanted to stay, maybe for a while he could try being a teacher.

Then, once he grew tired, he could travel with his brother.

He ignored the look Luo Binghe was giving him.

“For now, I'd like to stay until I recover my memories, if that's okay with you Jiu-ge?”

Both brothers stared at each other, both mirroring their smiles.

“Of course A-Yuan, let me show you around”

Ignoring everything else both brothers walked towards their residence, with a half demon, who acted more like a puppy, tailing them.

Everyone else present just groaned in frustration.

Shang Qinghua, who had been observing on top of the mountain, just sighed.

“And that's more paperwork for me, they did say four was a unlucky number uh”

He just hoped Mobei-Jun wore a more revealing shirt next meeting, because that was what kept him alive at this point.

Tits, specifically his kings tits.

And he wasn't taking any criticism, except from cucumber.

He just hoped he was still under that dirt somewhere.

Hopefully alive.

He missed his friend.

Chapter Text

Luo Binghe wasn't allowed in his brother's, his? Their? House.

And Shen Yuan couldn't understand why, Luo Binghe was a model student after all!

But his brother wouldn't like his personal space invaded so he didn't complain, Luo Binghe, as the cute disciple he was, just nodded and obeyed.

He was quite happy knowing that before he lost his memories he had acted as a good teacher, he must have not pushed Binghe into the abyss and that was why he was still a white lotus.

Why he was gay was another question that would get an answer later, once he regained his memories.

His brother sat down and threw a weird looking talisman to the door.

“Silencing talisman, talking while using the system is annoying”

That made a lot of sense, texting wasn't as useful when you wanted to have a happy reunion with your brother.

Smiling he sat on his seat, completely relaxed.

“Nice”

He said because he didn't have anything else to say, some food would be great even if he didn't really need it but who cared?

His brother sighed and rolled his eyes, the full combo! 

But Shen Yuan couldn't understand what made him react like that.

“Sit properly, the culture is different here, you're acting indecent”

Well, what did you expect? Transmigration didn't come with a manual! 

The system didn't count, it fucking sucked.

[ This system feels wronged (⁠⇀⁠‸⁠↼⁠‶⁠) ]

Cry me a river.

He fixed his posture and mirrored his brother's one, it was uncomfortable, if he had to do this every day he would become an ashole.

A lot of things started to make sense, this was why so many people were so easy to irritate in PIDW, they were stuck in these stupid positions way too long.

He gave his honest thoughts to his brother.

“This sucks”

His brother, as helpful as usual, remained unbothered and even smiled at his suffering.

“Skill issue”

He was losing it, his brother, looking as a pristine immortal was using modern day slang, it was too ridiculous.

Was this how characters in vampire movies felt when their vampire boyfriend started using slang from ten centuries ago?

Why was he thinking in twilight terms now? Twilight was even worse than PIDW, at least Airplane didn't write pedophilia unless it was like bad.

He sometimes felt that all he had ever read was a fever dream.

“So, what do we do now?”

His brother stared at him in disbelief before answering, he did that when he expected him to correct himself and say he was joking.

He never did, he was asking because he didn't know.

He had lost his memories, he had lied his way out of every situation until now.

He even told people he could talk with his brothers ghost for fucks sake.

“A-Yuan, you accepted becoming a teacher, what we are doing is paperwork”

He regretted, as usual, his life choices.

Between bitter tears and pure will to stay awake they finished the next day's lessons.

Shen Yuan also learned something really important, teachers that had to prepare the full lessons for the whole day had it hard.

And he had just became that teacher.

He cursed the lack of caffeine in the shitty world that Airplane created and with his last drop of willpower he finished the last document.

Then he fell asleep in the table.

He woke up in bed next to his brother, luckily the bed wasn't small so both of them fit inside quite well.

Calmly he tried to tell the time, when this proved to be useless he gave up and asked the system.

Hey, what time is it?

[ Host doesn't need to worry, for host to understand it's six in the morning (⁠.⁠ ⁠❛⁠ ⁠ᴗ⁠ ⁠❛⁠.⁠) ]

He didn't thank the thing, it didn't deserve it.

Slowly he took some clothes, that were probably his brother's, as started to get ready.

Not much time after that Shen Jiu woke up, he was able to tell the time approximately with a glance and calmly started to get dressed.

Then he took over the kitchen, in no time a delicious fragrance started to emanate from the house.

They discussed the classes and how they should be managed over breakfast, Shen Yuan couldn't help but beam at his Er-ge’s cooking skills.

They might even be on par with the protagonist's!

Once he had everything ready he went out, the first thing he saw when opening the door was a protagonist waiting for him.

He closed the door by pure instinct.

After calming down he opened the door again.

The protagonist, the Luo Binghe, had slept outside waiting for him.

He looked extremely pitiful, like a kicked puppy.

He felt a headache incoming, why was this harem master acting like a pitiful lovestruck maiden?

He needed to remember as soon as possible because what the actual fuck was this situation.

“This lowly one was waiting for Shizun's orders”

You could wait in your bed! Why are you at my door?

This looks way too much like an abandoned wife in a drama waiting for her husband to remember her!

What had his life become? A romcom?

Probably.

Like, he was a dude that thought he had reincarnated as a random npc but now it turned out he was a mayor character, or the brother of the mayor character, and the protagonist was in love with him.

To say he was in deep shit was an understatement, how could he say no to the protagonist?

Who could say no to the protagonist?

He cried internally for some seconds before composing himself, then he put on his scholar mask again.

“Disciple Luo, there was no need to wait for this master in the door, the disciple dorms aren't that far away from here, next time go get some rest”

The dorms were in fact quite far away from the bamboo hut, the furthest point away possible actually.

His brother had probably done it on purpose as he didn't really like noise, it was a good way of turning a blind eye to the usual mischiefs a kid would attempt.

Luo Binghe in front of him just seemed dejected, as if the answer Shen Yuan had given him wasn't the one he expected, then he remembered, in PIDW Luo Binghe was bullied! He was kicked out of the dorms! 

How could he forget such a simple setting, of course Luo Binghe wouldn't be happy! 

“Did disciple Luo not sleep in the dorms?”

That seemed as if he was recovering his memories, after all he had to pretend a bit, right?

System, how much progress in the current mission?

[ As previously stated host should try getting closer to the power source (⁠ ⁠˘⁠ ⁠³⁠˘⁠) ]

Just show me the fucking progress or whatever.

Don't you systems usually give notifications?

[ That's only host's fault as he silenced the notifications (⁠눈⁠‸⁠눈⁠) ]

When the fuck did I do that?!?

“Shizun does not need to worry, it was this lowly ones fault for not considering Shizun's condition”

Binghe, aren't you supposed to be smarter than this?

He felt so bad for the protagonist that he unconsciously patted his head.

Luo Binghe finally smiled and Shen Yuan gave up trying to understand and simply walked to the classroom.

The lesson was surprisingly really well received, it seemed the disciples had missed him and even asked how their old shizun was.

He felt extreme pride when he realised his brother was missed as well, even if he had the role of the villain he still held his principles close.

He finally got some free time in the afternoon, his brother had gone to one of the meetings without him to discuss the peaks state after being without a peak master for some years, and Shen Yuan wasn't going to stop him.

So here he was, in the middle of the forest, next to a lake, and he had to figure out a way to talk with the other transmigrator.

The problem was how to do that without his brother figuring out.

This is why you're useless system, not even a way to communicate with other transmigrators.

He sighed in misery, even if he snuck into An Ding peak and left a note he didn't know where the guys room was.

He was fucking amnesiac.

[ Maybe if host had claimed his rewards from previous rewards for guessing the genre change he wouldn't be in this predicament now (⁠눈⁠‸⁠눈⁠) ]

The rewards! He had completely forgotten about them!

He cried bitter tears, he thought the reward would be something useless but the system just told him he could fix this problem!

System show me the rewards!

[ Host can now communicate with any other system user in this world, if any character where to gain one they could also be considered an user ]

What the fuck did that last part mean.

After some pondering he decided he didn't give a flying fuck and simply touched the only other contact that had been shown.

He then added himself as cucumber, he was going to choose a simple Shen Yuan but knowing they were friends he preferred to give him some sense of security.

cucumber: hey

cucumber: are you there?

MobeiJunstitits: BROTHER CUCUMBER?

MobeiJunstitits: OMAIGOD YOU'RE ALIVO

MobeiJunstitits: Bro there are two original gods now and I din't crete thay shit

cucumber: what the fuck is wrong with you and that username 

cucumber: and the spelling…

cucumber: I know, I'm the brother, start explaining 

MobeiJunstitits: what'h wrog with it?

MobeiJunstitits: yk hou fid you get thr original gods to act like you're brother??

cucumber: your*

cucumber: I'm not even gonna bother to correct the other mistakes what the actual fuck

cucumber: I'm surprised you didn't misspell your username 

cucumber: we aren't acting, he's my brother, reverse transmigration, he died in a Qi deviation. Now tell me what the fuck was I doing before.

MobeiJunstitits: Did ywiu lose yorur memories??!??!

cucumber: go back to school 

cucumber: yes I did, explain what did I do to make the fucking protagonist to fall in love with me

MobeiJunstitits: Oh fuck i was rigyh

MobeiJunstitits: well yio see, idk

MobeiJunstitits: yiu weren't an asjole

cucumber: you're hopeless 

cucumber: I'm so glad I didn't have to throw the poor kid into the abyss tho

cucumber: I hated how much he had to suffer as a kid

MobeiJunstitits: … bro

MobeiJunstitits: I kwew you liked my son

MobeiJunstitits: but I hate to break itto you, you did trhow him there, like forced but yeah

cucumber: 

cucumber: oh he's fucking acting, he's gonna fucking kill me

MobeiJunstitits: I mean idk probablynot like he foughtfor your corpse andtorevive you

MobeiJunstitits: bro? You there?

Shen Yuan stared at the trees, the forest didn't look as calming as before, he felt as if someone's eyes on him.

He shivered in fear, when had Luo Binghe's acting begun? 

Was it once he discovered he was Shen Qingqiu, or was it the first time he saw him?

The protagonist couldn't have stayed as a pure white lotus after the abyss. 

So was all the ‘I want to resurrect my teacher’ an act?

Liu Qingge seemed quite sure of his disciples obsession for him but what would a brute know?

In the end he couldn't distinguish between the lies and the truths.

He knew how good at manipulation Binghe was, he knew how much it took his victims to believe they had been fooled.

In the end he couldn't help but feel like them, of course he would fall for it, Luo Binghe seemed so sincere.

Maybe he was as stupid as all the characters he complained about.

Still, maybe, just maybe the fact that he didn't have a harem meant something, that he had changed something, that he was able to help somehow.

Or maybe he made it worse.

Shen Yuan laid down in the crash and sighed, the sky looked as beautiful as it had before the bad news.

The sun in the sky was covered by some small clouds, making the day not excessively hot, the sun rays were still able to reach him in the middle of the small forest though.

Even if he was being toyed with, what could he do? 

Maybe if he played along Binghe would forgive his brother, after all it was his fault, the one that had pushed him into the abyss was no one but himself.

He had never believed in any god but if there was one up there he hoped some help was due.

He was going to doze off when he realised something, the other transmigrator had said he hadn't written Shen Qingqiu having a brother!

That motherfucker was Airplane!

Oh that rat-like bastard.

Once the meeting finished he was going to catch him and make him talk.

The bastard had so much to explain.

How had they even become friends?

Shen Yuan must have lowered his standards a lot, because what the fuck non-amnesiac Shen Yuan.

Fucking Airplane? 

Really?

He was going to go back to the clases when he felt a shadow on top of him, he almost jumped in surprise.

There he was!

The one and only Luo Binghe! He was even carrying snacks with him!

What kind of manipulation was this? Did he realise he always wanted to try his food?

Was he that easy to read?

“Shizun, this one took liberties and made some snacks for shizun, would shizun want to try?”

How many fucking times can you fit shizun in a sentence?

If it wasn't because Airplane told me I would believe you do have a crush on me!

“This master thanks disciple Luo, the snacks look delicious”

Luo Binghe's face lit up in delight, he would look as a disciple weak to compliments, but Shen Yuan knew better.

This guy was a master at emotional manipulation!

Seeing how he hadn't taken one yet he reached out to try them, internally he could only pray they didn't have blood parasites inside.

Please, anything but blood parasites, that shit probably hurts.

Well he didn't know about the weird blood kink Airplane had added but those snacks were fucking amazing, he devoured them in no time.

Luo Binghe next to him looked delighted.

Yeah they absolutely have blood parasites on them but it was worth it.

“Does disciple Luo wish to ask me anything?”

Luo Binghe in front of him fidgeted with his fingers, his face looked more honest than before.

Shen Yuan felt that if this was an act he might as well leave Luo Binghe to manipulate him.

And after seeing what he had thought he felt extremely gay so he reminded himself that he was a hundred percent straight.

Yeah Jiu-ge I'm the straight one in the family, there always has to be one believe me.

“If this one may, what does Shizun think of demons? Specifically heavenly demons?”

What kind of question was that? He thought they were cool and hot.

Like, was that even a question? If he was a heavenly demon things would be much easier, cool regeneration powers, cool mark in the forehead.

He probably couldn't answer that.

“What even is there to think? A heavenly demon is a heavenly demon, what they are does not define every heavenly demon? That's like asking me what I think of humans”

Seeing Luo Binghe so shocked and lost in thought he added a bit of his personal thoughts.

“If you're asking about their powers, we'll they are definitely the strongest type of demon, also the most ancient, it would be extremely hard for a cultivator to win against one, of course that depends on the cultivator and the heavenly demon”

Did no one teach this kid the basis?

He sighed, was he such a horrible teacher?

In the end he could do nothing more than pat Luo Binghe's head, his hair was extremely soft.

He then checked his own hair, which had become messy from laying down in the grass.

Sighing he started brushing it with his hands, trying to get it into shape.

“Shizun, may this one help?”

Luo Binghe was uncharastically red, maybe he was trying not to laugh at his failed attempts?

In the end, considering how he probably wouldn't be able to correct his hairstyle on his own anyway he nodded.

“If discipline Luo wishes to he may, he should not feel obligated to though”

A soft smile, nothing like the big bright ones he had received before showed in Binghe's face, his smile, almost shy, seemed to hold sweet secrets.

In no time he felt Luo Binghe's delicate hands brushing his hair, getting it into shape in no time, as if used to it.

If he had stayed longer he might have dozed off again, when he thought he was finished he saw his own reflection and Binghe's into the water of the lake.

Luo Binghe was kissing a strand of his hair!

Did Luo Binghe know he saw that?

No, the moment felt way too private for that.

He had to pretend he didn't see anything, he was never ever going to talk about what he saw.

Not long after both Luo Binghe and him walked back to the classroom, when he arrived home his brother wasn't there yet.

 Without second thoughts he jumped in bed and tried sleeping.

Taking what seemed to same hair strand in his hands he screamed internally.

Was he stupid for wishing it wasn't an act?

Maybe he really was that stupid.

Gods he wanted to die.

Did he like Luo Binghe?

He stayed away that night until his brother arrived, even then he could only stare at the ceiling.

He was so fucked.

Chapter Text

Shen Yuan woke up feeling like shit.

And one could say ‘Hey Shen Yuan! Why don't just run away with your brother? Aren't you technically a powerhouse now?’.

To what Shen Yuan, former critic, not reader, of PIDW would answer ‘BECAUSE THATS THE FUCKING PROTAGONIST JACKASS’.

Look, he might not be the smartest around, no wait scratch that with PIDW’s average IQ he absolutely was.

Was running away because he had a crush a good idea? Probably not, he had eaten Luo Binghe’s food so he probably had blood parasites inside him already.

And those little motherfuckers were trackers because Airplane believed he wasn't OP enough.

Airplane could eat his ass.

That sounded horrible and Shen Yuan couldn't think of a way to rephrase it so he gave up and finally decided to get out of bed.

He felt he needed to go outside and cleanse his mind after being in contact for too long in Airplane's story.

He calmly touched one of the many plants in the bamboo hut before dressing up in the horrible clothes with many more layers than the usual ones he used.

His brother was already preparing breakfast and oh boy was it good, he made fucking pancakes in ancient china!

And they looked perfectly round and fluffy.

Where those fucking Japanese pancakes?

Didn't those need the egg white to be whisked until it tripled its size?

How can you do that with just your arm strength? 

And why was his brother making Japanese pancakes anyways, it reminded him of when everyone in the family except him was forced to learn about other cultures' foods.

This was so their company would look good and to strengthen ties with others, Shen Yuan, who was hospitalised as usual, was able to avoid this to his siblings dismay.

“Stop thinking so much, your brain might run out”

Shen Jiu sat there, in an apron that who knew where it had come from, trying to hide his laughter.

Brother, you're just saying you think I'm stupid with fancier words…

He sighed and gave up, the pancakes were more important, you don't fight the person who is making your food.

“Good morning to you too”

Shen Jiu stared at his brother unfazed at this development and simply took out a paper from his sleeves.

And look Shen Yuan liked to read but that thing was long and the writing just looked like taxes.

He didn't like taxes.

“Um so uh I presume the meeting went well?”

Rolling his eyes Shen Jiu smiled proudly, then he pointed at what for Shen Yuan was a random place in the paper.

Probably some kind of important agreement or something.

“I made sure that if I die you inherit, and if we both die Ning Yingying does”

Wow, he really didn't want to think of the possibilities of that happening at all honesty but glad to see you so proud.

“That's great?”

Shen Jiu didn't let him add anything else before he continued to explain his achievements.

“That includes the peak, she's now next in line, you have been accepted as an official peak lord”

He wanted to congratulate his brother because he was sure politics were weird around this time and age but he really didn't know what exactly he should be congratulating.

Luckily his brother didn't even let him talk before he kept bragging.

“I also managed to punch Liu Qingge thrice before he landed a hit on me, the brute tried to ask for forgiveness, at first I thought he was possessed by Yue Qingyuan”

Liu Qingge did what?

What was even going on, wasn't this a fancy meeting? How did it become a wrestling competition?

Or a street fight.

Was he missing some kind of information?

Well his memories, yes, but anything else?

System?

[ Host is right, this behaviour in meetings is reserved to user Shen Jiu and character Liu Qingge ]

Should he be worried?

Probably, but if his brother decided to fight with a battle obsessed maniac in his free time it was none of his business!

So as any normal person would do he completely forgot about the matter and congratulated his brother sincerely.

“All this and you still can't ask for your order at a restaurant”

As deserved, a pillow was thrown at his face before he could react.

Having already finished his food he ran away with no regrets.

“Have a nice day you too Jiu-ge!”

Shen Jiu stared at the dirty dishes in the table and sighed, the fucking brat had ran away without helping!

Shen Yuan, already quite far away from his house, started happily bouncing and humming some old pop song he had heard some years ago.

Before arriving at the classroom he felt something tug his clothes.

Feeling chills he slowly turned around, trying his best to keep a poker face.

Why the fuck was Luo Binghe behind him and for how long!?

Had he heard him humming CPR?

No wait, it didn't matter Luo Binghe didn't know english.

He had felt his soul escape his body for a second.

“Disciple Luo, this one hadn't realised you were here, is something the matter?”

The protagonist remained quiet and his face got extremely red for a moment.

Then his face got extremely dark before going back to normal.

Was his singing so bad the protagonist was planning on giving up his plan and just killing him on the spot?

He knew he wasn't the best at singing but come on! He wasn't so bad as to make people want to drown him just by hearing him, right?

Maybe that's what sirens actually did? Made sailors hate hearing them so much they'd rather drown?

Maybe Shen Yuan should rethink his childhood dream of being a siren.

Luo Binghe talking took him back to reality, yes he wasn't a siren, he was a poor weeb that was going to die at his fictionals crush’s hands.

“This one is sorry shizun, shizun’s singing was so enchanting that this one didn't wish to interrupt”

Who taught you to talk like that? This teacher surely didn't!

You should be using these abilities in your harem girls Binghe not your old teacher!

Except there wasn't a harem.

Except maybe Shen Yuan didn't want there to be one.

He ignored the pang on his chest and kept walking to the classroom.

“Disciple Luo shouldn't exaggerate this old man's abilities”

Behind him Luo Binghe seemed mesmerised by something on his face.

He soon realised it was his smile, after all he had been pretending to be his brother, right?

But why was Luo Binghe so surprised by a simple smile?

“But isn't Shizun only a year or two older?”

He felt that his previous assumptions were wrong in no time.

He almost coughed blood.

No need to be so brutally honest Binghe!

How do you expect one to pretend to be a good teacher if you save them no face?

Not knowing how to answer he just pretended he hadn't heard him.

Behind him Luo Binghe fucking chuckled.

Why did he like the guy again?

Life really sucked when you weren't a famous doctor selling random medicines or monster parts.

Meaning that Shen Yuan had to contact Madam Li Mingzhu at some point to make sure she knew he was still alive.

And that his brother was also alive which was going to be quite hard to explain.

He didn't even have free days so he had to ask his brother for help and after explaining the situation he got a free day and a packed lunch.

Not for him though, it was for Madam Li Mingzhu who his brother wanted to compensate for ‘babysitting’.

Shen Yuan was not allowed to complain if he wanted to have dinner tonight.

He began walking knowing full well he had to travel extremely fast if he wanted to arrive in time for dinner.

The usual time for this would be around two to three days, his brother gave him one.

So he jumped on his sword and cried inside as the air hit his face.

[ Host is exceeding the recommended speed limit, is advised to slow down ]

There is a fucking speed limit in this world?

Airplane what the actual fuck.

In a way it made sense, but at the same time it absolutely did fucking not.

He sighed and gave up, if he didn't keep up he wouldn't be eating dinner tonight.

He was going to open a link his brother had sent him to be able to listen to music when he heard something behind him.

He felt a foreboding sensation.

For some reason he knew, that was fucking Luo Binghe behind him, wasn't it?

What was he even supposed to do with the kids stalking habits?

He tried to look unfaced as he asked out loud.

“Disciple Luo, please come out”

The place remained silent for a while to the point that Shen Yuan believed he must have been way too worried causing him to hallucinate.

“...”

Just in case he waited a bit more, nothing was moving and he was losing time.

But Shen Yuan was way too nervous to care about arriving in time with a potential stalker around.

Just when he was about to give up, a Luo Binghe with a gloomy look appeared.

He looked close to breaking into tears.

Am I not the victim in this situation? Why does it look as if you were the one being bullied?!

The protagonist's handsome face looked extremely close to a breakdown.

Completely forgetting his previous doubts, Shen Yuan immediately began worrying about the protagonist's state of mind.

Was he raised too soft and the abyss broke him?

“Is disciple Luo okay?”

He expected this to calm Binghe down but instead he actually began crying!

And somehow he managed to look beautiful while crying?

Before Shen Yuan could even grasp what this was about Luo Binghe was already apologising.

“This one is sorry shizun, this one knew that he shouldn't follow shizun and yet this one can't help but feel scared”

Scared of what? Not being able to murder me? You have the blood parasites!

“This one doesn't want to lose his shizun again, this one doesn't want to lose someone again”

And that hurt, it made Shen Yuan unable to separate himself from the characters in the book, he couldn't see them as just characters and he didn't know what to do.

He had a visit to make, he knew jiejie would be mad if no news reached her soon.

And even then he stayed there, next to Binghe, comforting him.

He realised one thing, he didn't care if this was fake, he loved Binghe and maybe he should simply trust him.

And it wasn't easy, especially on top of a sword in the middle of somewhere, but they would make it work.

Maybe he could thank Airplane for something after all.

cucumber: you finally did one thing right.

MobeiJunstitits: thnks

MobeiJunstitits: waiy wath are we takking wbout

cucumber: forget I said anything it was a moment of weakness, you do nothing right.

MobeiJunstitits: im gonna need more cntext thwn that

MobeiJunstitits: bro?????

MobeiJunstitits: youthere????

MobeiJunstitits: alwo if you hav3 tiem can yu like come saev m3?? ima bit ina situwtion

“Shizun what are you thinking about?”

That I owe my meimei so much money.

“Nothing important Binghe, now I have someone waiting for me, I'll see you when I get back to the sect, okay?”

Binghe didn't seem pleased and Shen Yuan was sure he would follow in secret but that was a problem for future Shen Yuan.

He stared at Binghe's lips before departing, it made him feel a bit like a pervert, his face slowly began turning red.

He felt like a blushing maiden trying to say goodbye to their sweetheart, trying not to think he got up on his toes and kissed Luo Binghe's forehead.

Then immediately ran away on his sword, what the fuck was wrong with him?!

Behind him Luo Binghe touched his forehead where the demon mark resided, then he kissed his fingers.

His lips curled up into a smile.

He was going to go back to the sect when he saw his shizun falling from his sword.

Shen Yuan who was losing consciousness could only curse.

Stupid system! Stupid author! Stupid novel!

[ Host has successfully come in contact with the powersource for enough time to retrieve his lost memories! Congratulations! Congratulations! Congratulations! Important things must be said three times! (*ᴗ͈ˬᴗ͈) ]

[ System is downloading the files host will be put on hibernation mode( ˶°ㅁ°)!! ]

Motherfuker! Wait until I wont die from fall damage at least!!!!!

And then he lost consciousness.

Chapter Text

Shen Jiu was not having it today, he didn't like having to return to be a teacher and especially he didn't like how fucking Yue Qingyuan seemed to be stalking him.

Now, Shen Jiu was a reasonable person, he understood that his former gege would be confused about him having a family.

But that was none of his business!

Sighing he kept correcting postures of young disciples, they were looking at him in awe and it was freaking him out.

He wasn't exactly a good teacher back then but he was sure he wasn't a bad one, the only exception being the beast.

Well, Luo Binghe, who his brother was infatuated with.

Did the bad taste run on the family?

In retrospective it probably did, only their meimei had good taste.

And it was because she didn't like men.

Shen Jiu didn't necessarily hate all men, his siblings were nice to hang around and he made some friends in their previous life.

But that was in a different lifestyle, here people had more prejudice against women.

And men were usually more brute, or simply lacked basic thinking skills.

Meaning Shen Jiu did have bad taste, even if between the options Yue Qingyuan wasn't the worst person to have a childhood crush on.

Of course that was a secret he was taking to the grave, no one needed to know young Shen Jiu was such a childish person.

He glanced back at the students, slowly he made sure to check attendance, after a while he realised there was a problem.

Luo Binghe wasn't there.

Luo fucking Binghe wasn't there.

He breathed in and out as he had learned, relaxing before speaking.

Then he calmly called Ming Fan.

“Is something the matter shizun?”

When had this kid grown so tall? He still kept his childish look but he definitely looked more mature.

The passage of time weighted quite a bit on his shoulders, this was a child he had raised, as many others here.

It was awkward, he had never thought twice about their situation before.

“Good to see you have listened to your lessons disciple Ming, now, where has disciple Luo ran to?”

He could see Ming Fan hesitate, the kid usually so eager to blame Luo Binghe of anything didn't want to anymore for some reason.

It didn't seem as if he liked the guy but for some reason some respect was held.

“For what does Shizun need to find disciple Luo?”

Why was this kid talking back now? He even spat out the word disciple as if Luo Binghe didn't deserve it.

Yet he was covering up for him.

He stayed there blankly staring at Ming Fan without answering.

In the end, seeing that he wasn't going to receive a response, Ming Fan gave up.

“This disciple doesn't know about disciple Luo’s wearabouts, but this one could guess he went behind shizun”

…

He sighed, did he really get a stalker as a brother in law?

Did he have to make sure his brother was alright or did they plan this?

He finished the class without further ado and began walking back to his bamboo hut.

He called the system with a simple hand movement.

[ How may this system be of use host? ]

Dying, he thought inwardly.

“What's my brother's current location?”

The system stayed in the loading screen for a while before answering.

[ This system is unable to locate user Shen Yuan, try again later ]

Oh for fucks sake!

Why would you be unable to locate him anyways? Did he move into a different dimension or what?

[ System 002 is currently going through an update, which makes it unavailable, would host like to play Wheel of Fortune in the meantime? ]

Absolutely not!

Using my points in a stupid luck game is not my style!

[ The wheel of fortune is equipped with the best presents for its users, this system highly recommends it for hosts growth ]

Scam! Why does this shitty device have scam ads?!

Did his brother also have this update?

[ User Shen Yuan will get this feature after this update ]

…

Are you reading my mind? What happened to the terms and conditions?

He was sure he hadn't signed this!

[ This system apologises, would host like to have the kamoji package? ]

Absolutely not!?

What was even this situation?

The thing he wanted the least was the system answering with cute faces.

It was going to make him want to pull his eyes out.

“Just tell me how long will the update take”

He sighed, he wanted to retire, he was too old for this.

He almost decided to seek Yue Qingyuan out of boredom.

But he was behind the bushes so he was way too easy to locate.

He redirected his attention to the system.

[ The system does not know and is unable to calculate ]

Is there something you know?

Giving up he kept walking, arriving to his house quite fast, the stupid sect leader wasn't around anymore so he decided to simply rest for a while.

Soon he would have to prepare himself some food, after all cooking took a while, if he wanted to have a good lunch he better make it himself.

He was chopping the vegetables when his door was opened wide.

“LIU QINGGE FOR THE LAST TIME DO NOT KICK MY DO-”

The one who had entered wasn't Liu Qingge, but Luo Binghe with his brother in his arms.

Luo Binghe looked close to a mental breakdown but Shen Jiu couldn't care less.

“What the fuck happened!?”

He snatched his brother from the guy's arms and checked his pulse.

Nothing looked wrong, it was as if he were peacefully sleeping.

“After talking to shizun he went to finish his errand, then I saw him falling”

Luo Binghe explained, or tried to, because Shen Jiu wasn't listening to him.

Shen Jiu was panickingly asking the system for help.

Don't take him away please.

A soft ding sounded in the room.

[ Host doesn't need to worry, user Shen Yuan is just receiving his system update, once it's finished his memories will return ]

…

You could had said that before I almost cried in front of my brother's weird pet!

You saw me struggling and thought it was funny?

Was it hilarious for you?

[ … ]

Uh?

[ Host should rest for now, updates usually take from one to four days ]

Shen Jiu could only laugh in anger.

This motherfucker.

“Disciple Luo, you can take your leave now”

Behind him Luo Binghe stared at him but didn't move.

Only after some time did he open his mouth.

“No”

Shen Yuan was not having a fun time, as usual, something was definitely wrong but what was it?

Around him green letters appeared and symbols he couldn't understand.

Numbers he didn't know what they were for and places he had never seen appeared as if they were being shown on a screen.

A wiser man wouldn't had touched anything in fear, but Shen Yuan was not exactly wise so the first thing he did was touch something.

Instantly hundreds of error messages appeared, similar to pop up ads.

Unbeknownst to him, behind him hundreds of scenes from his life were playing.

His joy, his sorrow, his sadness.

Everything was being played until the point of his death.

Then Shen Yuan passed out.

Both of his hands trembled inside the illusion the system had made for him.

He didn't want to go back yet, he didn't know how to face Binghe.

And even less did he want to discuss what they were.

He thought of asking Airplane for help but the man was hopeless.

What problem had he ran into this time anyway?

He couldn't ask now anyways so he made a mental note to ask later, maybe he would help after complaining about his terrible gardening skills.

The shitty fertilisers he had put on his mushroom body were the problem of this situation to begin with!

At least his B-points where skyrocketing, he could buy the whole shop if he wanted.

After walking around he ended up in a casino looking establishment with a terribly written Wheel of Fortune on the top.

Why did it look so sketchy?

Since when did the system have such a obvious scam?

If someone where to ask Shen Yuan to describe the place he could only come up with something like, mix ciberpunk and old xianxia setting, with some numbers and symbols still floating around.

He would like to admit he wasn't the best with directions but he could almost hear poker face playing in the background, everytime he tried to leave he was unable to.

Why did this shitty sistem have this anyways? Was its creator a crazy gambler?

He picked one of the machines at random and spun the wheel, he waited patiently, even a bit excited.

It was oil for papapa uses…

Of course…

Why?

System is this you telling me to just fuck the protagonist?

That guy had a harem!

There is no way I'll be able to take that!

He was going to stop but there really wasn't anything else to do here so he could simply try some to kill the time.

In his next three attempts he got from herbs with medical uses to herbs with aphrodisiac uses.

But it definitely was some improvement!

In his tenth attempt he got a watch…

In his twentieth attempt he got a pill that could make you jump three cultivation levels…

In his Fiftieth attempt he began thinking he might have a gambling addiction…

In his Sixtieth attempt he kicked the machine not knowing what else to do…

In his Ninety-eighth attempt he stared at the machine and prayed it was a lie.

[ Congratulations on winning an extra system for your protagonist! User Shen Yuan can put it to use once the update is finished! ]

Absolutely fucking not.

He wanted a refund! How was this winning!?

This was like getting a curse and then finding out you also transmitted it to your whole family!!!!

He didn't want to claim his prize at all!

Why the fuck was this even in the options!?

Shen Yuan cried bitter tears in silence.

At least they could get him out of the casino, as a treat?

Please, he was so bored.

But the system didn't appear again, and Shen Yuan could only go back to becoming a gambling addict again.

Chapter Text

 “No”

Luo Binghe sounded as calm as he could while the love of his life was, possibly, dying.

You can take your leave? What a joke.

As long as shizun was in danger he wouldn't leave.

He didn't care if shizun never remembered him, as long as they could be together nothing else mattered.

But shizun's brother was important for shizun so he wouldn't directly fight him.

Shen Jiu glared at the kids insolence, how did his brother raise such unruly disciples?

“What do you mean no? This one didn't know he was asking a question”

Luo Binghe gulped, but he couldn't back down anymore.

He had to demonstrate how much he cared about shizun, if he left now wouldn't that prove he was unworthy?

Shen Jiu on the other hand was losing it.

He was reminding himself what his therapist had told him, lashing out on people didn't help them understand.

He had to explain why he was asking them to do things.

He breathed in and out, looked at Luo Binghe's pitiful eyes and grabbed him by the collar.

Then he threw him out.

What explaining? This kid wouldn't move even if he begged! So kicking him out was the obvious answer!

Unfortunately the brat was as stubborn as Shen Jiu had been as a kid and found his way back into his brother's room.

They both stared at each other in silence.

He was wondering if kicking him out again would change the result, maybe he could tie him up this time.

"..."

The next shichen was spent in silence, both parties had begrudgingly accepted the others presence, that didn't mean they had stopped glaring at each other though.

When Shen Jiu thought he was finally going to lose it and start a conversation with the brat out of boredom the system appeared with his usual horrendous ding.

This might had been the only time Shen Jiu was glad the system had something to say.

Then he saw Luo Binghe staring at him with wide eyes.

No, it would be more correct to say he was staring at the system.

It sounded stupid but Shen Jiu was sure, Luo Binghe could see the system.

Why? Well he wasn't going to ask, not his problem, for him it didn't change anything.

[ User Shen Yuan has successfully completed the update and will wake up soon! Host can now complete his main mission! ]

He ignored the message and checked up on his brother again just in case, he hadn't even checked what his main mission was when arriving back, so why would he start now?

It was not like he needed points.

[ This system begs host to complete the main quest as soon as possible! ]

Not interested, tell me about my brother's condition.

[ Main mission “of flowers, swords and regret” must be completed for host to keep his current body! System begs host to see reason! ]

And you tell me that now!?

And what was with the shitty name? What kind of mission had such exaggerated names?

What did he even have to do?

[ Host has to talk to character Yue Qingyuan and figure out his regrets! Once host figures out character Yue Qingyuan’s biggest regret the mission will be considered completed! ]

Motherfucker 

Why did it have to be him?

System is there any other alternative?

An easier mission maybe?

[ Activating “Did you make this up right now?” ]

[ Successfully activated! ]

[ Host can try the simpler mission “slow and steady” depending on the result the main mission doesn't need to be completed]

He sighed and ignored Luo Binghe, who was staring at him with a calculating gaze.

He asked in doubt what this mission involved to the system.

[ Host needs to talk to Liu Qingge! ]

And that's it?

It couldn't be that simple…

[ Host is right! The missions result depends on Liu Qingge's view of host after the mission is completed! ]

He was absolutely going to die, wasn't he?

He hated everything.

Except his brother, but if he didn't wake up soon maybe he would be added to the list too.

Then a ding sounded next to him, in front of Luo Binghe a system appeared.

[ Congratulations user 004 for managing to get a system thanks to user 002’s efforts! ]

Luo Binghe stared at him and then at the screen and asked out loud.

“Is this a curse?”

Shen Jiu sighed, he took pity on the man, after all a system wasn't easy to explain to someone who wasn't a transmigrator.

“Similar, is more like a parasite”

[ Host bounds me ]

Don't care, didn't ask.

Luo Binghe took his time to answer, it seemed he was trying to get rid of it but unsurprisingly failed miserably.

“I suppose Shifu doesn't know how to get rid of it?”

When did this kid suddenly learn manners? Or was he just pretending to get answers?

Well, not his problem as long as he could criticise the system.

“Don't waste your efforts, think of it as an entity that can control all your actions, while also being extremely annoying”

The scared face on the brat was at least real, sadly he had to be realistic, getting a system wasn't a good thing.

And now there was another one.

A soft sound was heard in the room coming from the bed.

Both of them forgot what they were going to say and immediately went to Shen Yuan's side.

Then Shen Yuan screamed.

It was a painful guttural scream.

Luo Binghe begun to use his blood parasites without a second thought to heal but was unable to find any injuries.

Distressed, he looked at Shen Jiu, hopping he would be different.

But Shen Jiu could guess what was happening, Shen Yuan was getting his memories back, he could do nothing more than make sure he didn't Qi deviate.

It took around a Ke to stabilise him and through the whole process Luo Binghe could only stare, feeling useless.

If instead of learning how to kill he had learned how to heal then maybe he would be the one helping shizun out.

“It's done, he’ll wake up soon”

Said Shen Jiu finally after what for Luo Binghe felt like too much.

He couldn't help but wonder what even triggered this, sensing his distress Shen Jiu finally decided to take pity on him.

“His memories will be back when he wakes up”

And Luo Binghe could only stare in silence, fearing what would come next.

Both of them stayed next to the resting Shen Yuan until he started to wake up.

Luo Binghe then made some fast breakfast and left at the door just in time to see Shen Yuan open his eyes.

He left the bamboo hut without looking back.

Shen Yuan woke up to his brother fussing over him as a mother hen.

While at this point he was used to it, that didn't make it less awkward.

Outside a beautiful breakfast awaited him and the moment he tried it he realised who had made it.

He couldn't help but stare at his brother, who hadn't even attempted to try the food, and ask.

“Was Binghe here?”

His brother rolled his eyes at this but answered anyway.

“He left as soon as you woke up, he was here the whole time”

Something in Shen Yuan's chest tightened, now with his memories back he wasn't able to tell what Luo Binghe felt for him.

He wasn't so sure it was love anymore, yet seeing how much he seemed to care…

Shen Yuan couldn't deny it anymore, he might love Luo Binghe just a tiny bit.

He took his hands to his face and tried to slow down his heartbeat.

His face was flushed red and his body temperature only went up.

He looked at his brother in panic.

“Jiu-ge, what do you do when you like someone?”

Shen Jiu dropped his tea cup, then he picked it very slowly and remained silent for a while.

“You confront them”

You didn't hide things from them, you didn't put excuses, you would explain and never remain silent.

Luckily Shen Yuan was smart and was able to decipher what his brother actually meant.

Without delaying it any longer he got up and started looking for traces of his lost disciple.

Luo Binghe was sitting in one of the lakes, his feet submerged in the water but he didn't seem to be enjoying the relaxing atmosphere.

When he saw Shen Yuan descend he kept his head low, as an inmate in a death row.

He was waiting for his sentence.

He was waiting for Shen Yuan to kick him out, a green screen in front of him showcased the original work.

Shen Yuan understood, maybe for the first time, that Luo Binghe wasn't angry at him but with himself.

So he made the first move.

“Binghe”

He received no answer so he sat next to him.

“...”

His face showed a hint of surprise but he didn't even try to move.

Gone was the clingy disciple from long ago, Shen Yuan mourned in silence.

That was his fault, Binghe could had remained untainted if he had chosen death.

If he hadn't been so selfish.

“Binghe, look at me”

He sighed, he didn't want to be the one talking, he wasn't especially good at it.

He was a sick kid, someone who didn't have the opportunity to socialise much, and one that died way too soon.

He had less friends than days left and his family knew.

“Binghe, what you read, is not true, you are living here so the truth is what you experienced yourself”

Finally Luo Binghe stopped pretending to not hear and stared at him, his eyes filled with raw pain.

“Then why does it say that this was my original fate?”

He closed his fist until they drew blood, but before Shen Yuan could try to heal them the heavenly demon blood had fixed it.

Leaving no traces of his previous pain, as if it had never happened.

“If it really was your fate then why are you here?”

Luo Binghe's eyes became cloudy, big wet tears began to form in them.

Shen Yuan smiled, it had took him a lot of consideration to reach this conclusion but he was right.

The Luo Binghe he knew, and the Luo Binghe from the story were completely different.

It didn't matter if at some point they were the same, this was who he knew, and he had to stop confusing them.

“Shizun is too good to this beast”

It wasn't that easy for Binghe it seemed, so he got closer to him and rested his head on Luo Binghe's shoulder.

He couldn't help but shiver at the proximity.

“Binghe is not a beast, but even if he was this Shen Yuan likes beasts a lot”

The tears he had been holding back begun to roll down his cheeks without control.

Shen Yuan made his best attempt to wipe them to no avail.

“So old and still a crybaby”

His words seemed harsh but his tone was so soft Luo Binghe could only tighten the grip on his robes and hide his face.

Shen Yuan brought him into an embrace and Luo Binghe couldn't be happier.

“Shizun this one is greedy, if Shizun keeps being so nice this one might take too many liberties”

Shen Yuan took a deep breath, and with a confidence he didn't have he answered.

“Then Binge can take them”

Luo Binghe blinked like a puppy, completely confused.

“Uh?”

Shen Yuan tried again, cringing at his own words.

“Then Binghe can take as many liberties as he wants”

Luo Binghe took a moment to process everything before throwing himself at shizun's lips and biting, hard.

Shen Yuan not knowing what to do and not wanting to go back on his words let him do it.

Luo Binghe licked his lips and pressed them, completely inexperienced, not that Shen Yuan was any better.

In the end both of them ended up rolling in the mud and having to go back to change clothes.

His brother stared at his reddened lips and sighed.

Then went to his room only to come back with a cultivation manual and throw it at them.

“Hey! Was that fucking necessary?!”

But Shen Jiu ignored them and began to go down the mountain.

He was probably going to sleep at Warm Red Pavillion today...

[ SerenitySummit: Read the fucking manual.

SerenitySummit: Bitch. ]

It was a cultivation manual…

A dual cultivation manual between men…

“...”

Both him and Luo Binghe stared at the manual in awkward silence before laughing.

That night they didn't try anything they had read about though, they embraced each other and cuddled for a while.

Shen Yuan told him about his original world, how he got here and how he had to fight the system once in a while.

How he got to be back and how confused he was without his memories.

Luo Binghe talked about his time in the abyss, about his time without him.

Both of them stayed awake talking for hours.

Feeling sleepy Shen Yuan yawned.

“Shizun should sleep if he's tired”

He nodded but he was already dozing off.

“Hmm Binghe too”

While Shen Yuan couldn't see, Luo Binghe hadn't stopped smiling.

Once he believed his shizun was asleep he kissed his forehead and blushed.

“Good night shizun, love you”

Shen Yuan without opening his eyes replied absent mindedly.

“Hmm love you too”

Chapter Text

 Shichen→ 2h~

Incienso stick 5-10mins

14 primx→17 inmortal conference→20 abyss(salida) →23 ??

19 (sY) → salida abyss 25→ dies→ 25 still but forgor 

—-----

Sy comes back→ mushroom body→ no memories/amnesia→only 2 years being dead → SJ contacts him(system way and tells him to eat, chat box) → Thanx to SJ lives as a cultivator→thinks he's before or after LBH does shit → doesn't think his brother is SQQ, he believes he's a random cultivator or smt→ hates Yue Qi, loves sect leader Yue (as a poor guy thats nice and stuff)(bro hits him when he finds out)→Travels as a doctor/cultivator for a while→becomes quite famous for saving people near death or actual illnesses(help from SJ and chatbox internet etc) → LBH want him to revive SQQ → searches for him and finds him after a lot of time (1year aprox) → meet and talk, SY keeps talking about his brother(who he talks by correspondence) → His brother made him wear a veil but he smt’s forgets, he tries cause he's now famous and stuff → LBH is shocked cause of SY’s face and he goes back and for trying to understand and they become friends!!!!! → Lqg appears, takes a look at SY and kidnaps him LBH is flabbergasted → Hes taken to the peak confused SY denying being SQQ cause he fears death, pretends he doesn't know who that is tho → SQH CUMPLANE YESSSS→ LBH tries to steal him lol, bro is done and yells IDK WHO THE FUCK YALL ARE CONFUSING ME WITH BUT LEAVE ME ALONE OR OR OR… ILL CALL JIU GE AND HE'S THE MEANEST PERSON IK and stuff (hes stressed) → Ygy shocked gasp, everyone else is confused, SY wants to cry, LBH thinks he got the wrong shizun → they finally take him to the doctor after SQH kinda suggest it and he's amnesied, he refuses to believe it and tells them that when his brother comes he's murdering them (softly) → System actually gives up and returns SJ his old body so he arrives sending glares at everyone and without without-a-cure → SHIT EXPLODES

extra:

SJ died when the qi deviation so he doesn't care about LBH

everything else is like canon

peace.