The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System fan fiction

Ryss · Aug 5, 2018

Gav said: ↑

Welcome to thread. Do you read our fics? Or if it is just attempting to contact @alexfilia, could you not pm her?
Click to expand...

I read the treads- why else would i watch the whole thing?...=_=;

Gav · Aug 5, 2018

*
In Another World, Things Went Differently
*
Liu Qingge did not like being a sheep.

For one, his control of Qi was shot. Wrecked. His grasp on how to use it to defend himself was utterly gone.

For another, he had no opposable thumbs or fingers and no way to take a human form to get them. That meant his fighting skills were also basically gone.

For a third, the Sect Master had placed him in Shen Qingqiu's care for the time being.

Shen. Qingqiu.

The man hated him.

Just looking at Shen Qingqiu's thoroughly offended look as the Sect Master had commended Qingge to Shen Qingqiu's care had made Liu Qingge burst out in complaints that... only came across as "Baaaaah!"

Liu Mingyan had complained about her brother being handed over to Shen Qingqiu.

Everyone knew they had driven each other crazy when they were disciples.

Everyone knew Shen Qingqiu had no end of disgusting tricks up his sleeve.

As far as Liu Qingge was concerned, the man was evil.

Naturally his sister was concerned but the Sect Master refused to be moved from his decision.

Liu Qingge was to be in Shen Qingqiu's care until the rest of the peak lords could find out what caused this... perverse anomaly... to happen.

Liu Qingge direly predicted that Shen Qingqiu would try to kill him before the day was out.

This too, came out in the form of "Baaaaaaah!"s.

"Yes, I know you don't like this either, junior brother Liu." Shen Qingqiu muttered in disgruntlement as he scooped up the complaining sheep to carry him off to Qing Jing Peak's bamboo house in a surprisingly gentle grip.

"Senior brother Yue has lost his mind. I always knew he would be useless, but I never knew he would be this ludicrous. Hmph!"

Liu Qingge just knew Shen Qingqiu would kill him the moment that they were out of everyone's sight. He flailed around and protested louder. SECT MASTER, I DON'T WANT TO DIE YET. SECT MASTER, HELP! SOMEONE DO SOMETHING!
"BAAAAAAH!"

"Yes, I also want to know what the hell he was thinking. Did his power go to his head? Did too many sweets rot his brain?" Shen Qingqiu grumbled.

Liu Qingge despaired.

Three days later, to Liu Qingge's deep confusion, he was still a sheep... And still alive.

More to the point, Shen Qingqiu was surprisingly solicitous of his welfare.

He hadn't been starved once. Neither had he been beaten or abused as he had expected.

True, he basically had to eat nothing but vegetables, rice and millet off a dish on the floor and there had been an incredibly embarrassing moment wherein Shen Qingqiu had to set up a specific place for Qingge to... relieve himself... but other than that, the man didn't seem to be bullying him.

Much.

It was mostly cutting remarks about his tendency to get his wool matted at this point.

The comments about how the sect master had lost his mind were a constant, though. And Shen Qingqiu consistently kept asking if anyone had found a way to change Qingge back yet, "before he piddles on my robes and ruins the rugs."

Excuse you, Qingqiu, this peak lord is too fastidious to do anything of that sort!

Go soak your head!

Liu Qingge had no idea why the hell Shen Qingqiu was so nice to him when he was a sheep but so incredibly vicious to him when he was a man.

***
Yue Qingyuan mentally congratulated himself for his fine decisions under pressure.

Little Jiu was taking very good care of junior brother Qingge, if the smoothness and sheen of the Bai Zhan Peak Lord's wool and the way the Bai Zhan peak lord kept following him around and butting Jiu's hand with his head was any indication.

Junior brother Qingge was a very vocal sheep. He was perpetually "Baaah!"-ing at little Jiu and little Jiu often responded right back with cutting comments about the state of Liu Qingge's wool. Often while still brushing it and telling him to 'hold still, these tangles are appalling'.

***
"Hmph! D-Don't think I l-like you or anything! I'm only following you around so you won't get into trouble." Liu Qingge grumbled, though as usual it came out as "Baaaaaaah!"

His sister, Liu Mingyan, was confused as to why Shen Qingqiu was so mean to her brother and picked fights constantly when he was human but was curriently spoiling him as a sheep.

It boggled the mind.

In truth, Liu Qingge had tried to argue with Qingqiu earlier. However, his attempts to protest and headbutt Qingqiu to make his point, fell flat under his knobbly and weak ovine legs. Thus he ended up sending himself straight into Qingqiu's lap for cuddles when he tried.

Qingqiu, of course, didn't understand what he was trying to say at all. Thus he consistently made guesses.

On one hand, Qingqiu constantly got the guesses wrong.

On the other hand, it did mean that Qingge was being accidentally spoiled.

***
"BAAAAAAAAAH!"

"What,Qingge? You want my bamboo shoots and green tea? Alright."

"That's not what I meant you, idiot!" Liu Qingge complained, but it came out again as a "BAAAAAAH!"

"You want the sweet red bean dumplings too?!

Fine.

But, Qingge, I swear... if you try to bite me later when I have to brush your teeth to make sure they don't rot and fall off, I will spank your greedy, woolly behind." Shen Qingqiu grumbled.

"You never get it right! But fine, I'll eat the dumplings." Qingge tried to reply. "Baaaaah!"

"I'll hold you to that agreement, Qingge."

Luo Binghe has never been so envious in his life.

Wasn't there supposed to be an undying grudge between the Bai Zhan peak lord and Qing Jing peak lord?

Where was this so-called eternal enmity now, while the Qing Jing peak lord was scritching behind the Bai Zhan peak lord's furry ears?!

Where was it when Shen Qingqiu was feeding martial uncle Liu Qingge various dainties by hand?!

What the hell?!

Why the hell was he lavishing those attentions on their rival peak's lord when he, Luo Binghe, was an actual disciple of this peak and had to sleep in the woodshed and barely got enough to eat?!

Isn't this being too biased?!

Or does Shen Qingqiu just like animals better than people?
***
Liu Qingge was starting to despair of those idiot students of his.

Maybe he really should have taken a bigger hand in their upbringing rather than spent his time on harassing Qingqiu.

Case in point, this retard was trying to coax him to come back to Bai Zhan peak using some carrots as bait.

Carrots.

As if he was really a sheep that would follow anyone home for treats.

Didn't these idiots remember that the Sect Master had told him to stay with Shen Qingqiu until he was no longer a sheep?

However, his attempt to tell them off fell flat with a "Baaaaah!"

And then one particular retard actually asked, "I-Is it that youve become unable to stay away from martial uncle Qingqiu with this body, peak lord?"

Faced with that ludicrous statement and expression of horror, Liu Qingge could only express his displeasure by headbutting these idiots in the groin.

"Stop saying such retarded things, you imbeciles!" and the rest of Qingge's lecture once more could only be heard as an angry series of "BAAAAAAAH!!!!"s.

Right. When he recovered, he was going to beat some sense into these people.

"It's obviously because your peak lord is getting doted on." grumbled Ming Fan bitterly. It wasn't that their peak lord gave them less attention, or less education than normal, but anyone would feel bitter when faced with the sight of a happy sheep being carried everywhere.

"S-shut up! Our peak lord is a righteous hero! There is no way he would be s-seduced by your evil vixen teacher!" one of the Bai Zhan students exploded.

Seduced?! Evil Vixen?! Ming Fan was appalled.

"What did you just call our peak lord?!" Ming Fan demanded, rolling up his sleeves.

Then there was scuffling until Qingge got loose and started headbutting everyone to break up the fight.

Later, standing victorious above a pile of beaten up disciples of both peaks, Liu Qingge's lecture could only be heard as a litany of "Baaah!!!"s.

xenotop · Aug 5, 2018

Gav said: ↑

CANAPE ASSORTMENT

ATDSVT
***
After an argument with a certain influential man, Shen Fu had to leave his home and taken to traveling with his wife, solving cases. He and his wife, daughter and son had been taking turns living in one or the other of his friends' homes while his family settled things with the enemy in question, using their military connections.

The problem had started when that man had set his eyes on a beautiful girl from a commoner family. That girl had already been betrothed to a man she liked very much, but the influential man had not been willing to take no for an answer. Shen Fu had ruled in favor of the girl's family and this had gained him that unscrupulous fellow's antipathy. Unfortunately, that unscrupulous fellow was rich enough to hire footpads, bandits, pickpockets and other ruffians. The first thing he did was use them to make trouble.

Thus, a few buildings and storehouses owned by the noble Shen family had been the subject of arson attempts, their servants had been harassed and Shen Gao had sent word to purge that distasteful man. For the meantime, rather than implicate his family, Shen Fu drew the enemy's fire by pretending an argument with his parents and siblings, taking his wife, son and daughter and moving out as living bait.

Of course, they weren't unprotected. As a former general, Shen Gao still had some forces and as a current military man, Shen Tai also sent some men back to help handle the issues back home. That meant that Shen Fu's small family had a fairly large number of hidden guards and could afford to send four shadow guards to tail Shen Fu from a distance, taking out the hired ruffians one after another. They had one guard for each of them, with a hidden additional pair of guards- a female martial artist and her man, hiding in plain sight as Fu's family servants.

From a previous outing with his provincial governor boss, Shen Fu had acquired a concubine by the name of Ouyang Xi'er from one of the pleasure boats, and he was very fond of her. Part of his fondness was that she reminded him of his wife, and so the two women in his life's introduction to each other was incredibly awkward for them while Shen Fu was blissfully oblivious of the inappropriate and awkward nature of this meeting.

To his wife, Chu Yun's surprise, the concubine had chosen to follow her husband and his family out, to help them as much as she could. This act of surprising camaraderie softened Chu Yun's resistance towards her. Perhaps she wasn't the concubine Chu Yun had originally wanted to marry into her family, but she was kind, gentle, helpful and practical and so Chu Yun welcomed her presence.

Shen Fu took his small family to visit each of his friends, staying over for a time in each friend's house. Eventually, they settled in a small cottage, with ten mu of land around it that Chu Yun filled with vegetables and a small fishpond that Chu Yun had stocked with fish. The house had quickly been divided into spans in the fashion of houseboats that Shen Fu had lived in, before, on his travels. It had bedrooms, kitchen, living room, each separated from the other by boards covered in paper and flower screens that his wife made.

Shen Fu made and sold miniature gardens, working with a man who sold bonsai trees for a living, holding poetry games with his visiting friends who brought their own cash to contribute to the household game funds.

On one's travels, it is impossible to avoid the world unless one chooses to live in the mountains as a recluse, a cultivator or a famed ascetic. The world is by its nature, ever changing. Abandoned towns are covered by jungle or forest, bustling villages become towns, towns become cities.

The towns Shen Fu traveled along, bustled with storytellers, chop-makers and painters selling this or that work of their hands in their small shops as well as puppeteers and groups of actors performing plays. One of the things that was impossible to miss was the fact that there were many, many new plays.

There were growing fads of different kinds of jewelry and unusual clothing fashions began to show themselves, popping up among the populace like mushrooms. The storytellers and street buskers, the poets and painters had a wealth of material to be used for entertaining the masses that Shen Fu had never heard of, before.

Some years back, a few, really ignorant people had assumed that the Qing Jing peak lord had been related to Shen Fu's family.
Of course, they were quite wrong. However, their ignorance had managed to cause disharmony and frustration among everyone involved.The Qing Jing peak lord was polite, but he wasn't one to suffer idiots trying to blackmail him using people he wasn't even related to. Or blackmailers, period. Last Shen Fu heard of a certain group of fools who had that idea, they had lost everything due to having their own dirty secrets exposed.

Now, again, it seemed that the Qing Jing peak lord was the reason for yet another craze.

ATDSVT
***
The Pavilion of Past Lives was generally a big thing. In modern society, it would be considered similar to a movie that was only shown once, to the lucky and the elite. Information about it tended to trickle down from the highest ranks and leak from the lower ranked servants who were assigned to serve on that day.

In this case, the Pavilion had quite a large number of people, the shown lives had been so brilliant that they had seared themselves into the consciousness of the viewers, and equally important, every non-cultivator there had suddenly become able to cultivate.

The Qing Jing peak lord had avoided contact with the court and the people who had viewed the past lives right after the viewing had been concluded.

It was said that he had a quiet talk with his Majesty, the Emperor, before he left the court but had very little inclination to answer anyone else's letters or requests for a meeting. In addition, it had been obvious to one and all that the Cang Qiong sect members had closed ranks around him to prevent anyone from speaking to him, as some of the men and women who had fallen in love or lust with the person they saw on the screen could vouch for.

The Sect Master had obviously been unwilling to let his lover enter or stay in the Court, though the messages from this or that personage that wished to speak to the peak lord still were sent onwards to Cang Qiong. However, despite the fact the root of the 'problem' had moved back to Cang Qiong's territory, the distance didn't change its effects.

ATDSVT
***
As a result of the fascination that the viewers had for those past lives, many of them had either written them into stories themselves or gossiped about them.

The servants who served at such events tended to be invaluable sources for the merchants who hadn't been able to make it there because they couldn't afford the bribes needed to view it.

The merchants who could get there to view it and the nobles who had shops of their own that could take advantage of what they had seen to start the new trends, had a leg up on the competition.

While each of the provinces had their own styles of clothing, jewelry and accessories, the sudden influx of new concepts for clothing, accessories and jewelry designs for out in public and to be worn in private for liaisons had proved to have a fine effect on the market, one that Shen Fu had only begun seeing now.

A great profusion of artists and writers, some of whom Shen Fu knew and counted as his friends, had started either writing stories or drawing art, based on the recent Pavilion of Past lives incident.

His friends, who had contacts with this or that household or among the servants who had been able to view the lives, were even now making a tidy fortune in writing stories about them, as a lot of people who had also been there or gained information from people who had been able to attend now were making profits.

There had been so many past lives and each had been so different from the other that each of the past lives shown had their own adherents. Writers and playwrights could write books and come up with plays set in each of the eras shown and make a fortune off of doing so.

In short, the market wasn't exactly flooded with books, but there were more than enough for new genres to make a tidy sum, and the plays with the actors' new costumes spawned interest in even more of it.

Street buskers and courtesans sang songs written or inspired by the words of those who had seen the event,

Poems were written by lovelorn lordlings about the beauty they had seen. Phrases like 'hair like liquid rubies' or 'locks like a thousand roses', 'eyes like sapphires' and 'changeable as the sea', 'strands of sunlight silk' or 'eyes like emeralds' 'amethyst orbs' and other similar or better sounding descriptions had made their way into the vernacular, and scenes from this or that lifetime were quite in vogue, painted by those skilled in the four arts, but their best efforts while incredibly lovely, could not quite reproduce the beauties they had seen.

It was still more than enough to get even more people interested, which meant the craze was self perpetuating by now.

ATDSVT
***
Those best off were those people who had the foresight to have brought a recording artifact. In fact, everyone who hadn't brought a recording artifact lamented that they hadn't brought one.

Those people among the former non-cultivators who had previously shelled out the gold taels to buy one of those could replay the entire set of lives or specific past lives to their heart's content and share them with others. They could even sell seats for small scale showings and events.

Naturally the cultivators were the best off, because they had recording artifacts on hand.

To them, the sight of the Scorpion That Moves The World was the greatest treasure, as those records could allow noncultivators or cultivators with bottlenecks to breakthrough and cultivate.

Naturally, what the orthodox sects could boast of, the demonic cultivators wanted.

And once one of them had managed to acquire one of the recordings by means fair or foul, they were hooked.

Click to expand...

xenotop · Aug 5, 2018

Gav said: ↑

LIME CAKES

ATDSVT-The B Side (1001)
***
The fact of the matter was, Luo Binghe had never even thought about bottoming for anyone before he had seen Shizun making love to Yue Qingyuan, and now he couldn't help himself, because he wanted to experience what Yue Qingyuan was experiencing.

Finding men attractive, that wasn't new to him or unusual. There were plenty of men who were bewitchingly beautiful, as lovely as women in their own way. Finding Shizun's very visibly masculine features and frame to be addictively attractive was all too easy.

Finding the idea of being taken to be arousing on the other hand, that was very unusual.

And yet, how could he not want what he had seen?

Shizun had kissed Yue Qingyuan over and over, caressing every curve of his flesh with such affection and reverence that even a complete stranger could tell that he was in love with the sect master.

Shizun's elegant jade hands caressed the sect master's snowy skin, he bent his head down to lick, kiss and nibble his way down the sect master's body, licking the sweat that left Yue Qingyuan's skin slick during lovemaking, leaving marks of love that turned Yue Qingyuan's skin pink flushed, the marks of his kisses suckling rosy red, like his two red fruits.

Shizun's touches, his kisses, were tender, he obviously savored every sound of arousal Yue Qingyuan made. The sect master had squirmed under his caresses, cheeks flushed, eyes warm. There had been no sign of discomfort when Yue Qingyuan had been entered, only his moans of pleasure as Shizun took exquisite care with the preparation of the sect master's body and the act of penetration itself

Once Shizun was fully inside his lover's body, he had brought him only pleasure, wrung cries and moans from the sect master's lips, their bodies moving together as certain as the tides followed the moon.

Shizun had been careful, loving, tender, gentle, adoring and reverent in the way he treated Yue Qingyuan before, during and after intercourse, cleaning his beloved and himself up and then wrapping himself around the sect master like a clinging vine, all but purring in bliss, snuggling up against him, his eyes filled with warmth and tenderness, helpless affection and reverence.

Shizun didn't need to speak endearments when every gesture, every caress spoke of love.

Luo Binghe wanted that. He... He wanted Shizun to make love to him, for real.

ATDSVT
***
Yue Qingyuan knew his closest friend adored and cherished him.

Whenever they went to bed, he could feel Qingqiu reaching for him, soul to soul, yearning to kiss, caress, snuggle.

He knew Qingqiu treasured every part of his body, thought every inch of him was adorable, right down to his toes, (and that Qingqiu had downright salacious thoughts about his chrysanthemum, his red fruits and his jade staff to the point that Qingqiu was fairly sure that if people knew how he looked like, naked, there would be a line of people willing to throw a fortune away to suck that.

Honestly, Qingqiu had too many thoughts about that. What the hell was 'even the curvature of his sex is elegant' and why the hell did Qingqiu keep comparing it to the curve of a treasured bow or an elegant sabre?! What is this, 'his chrysanthemum is more beautiful than the tree peony or the imperial gardens' prized chrysanthemum blooms'?!

Qingqiu, I know you love me, but do you have to think of my body in such a... manner? What the hell is this, 'delectable, luscious and succulent'?!)

The fact that he could tell Qingqiu thought about this even when he wasn't talking, and the fact that even those salacious thoughts were filled with genuine love and adoration always made Yue Qingyuan flush an ever deeper red.

Yue Qingyuan knew that Qingqiu found him completely desirable, even to the point that his friend felt that anyone and everyone else desired him as Qingqiu did.

He knew that while Qingqiu wasn't going to write poems for him, Qingqiu's mind and heart called him, 'beloved,' and ,'my bright moon' and, 'my dear heart' because he could feel him when they were entangled in all senses of the world.

He knew Qingqiu enjoyed taking care of him, even down to brushing his hair and sliding jade ornaments into it after sliding his robes on for him.

Knowing this, how could he not be willing to spend as much time as possible keeping Qingqiu close?

Click to expand...

Gav said: ↑

STEAMED CRAB

ATDSVT -1001 Nights
***
A kiss on the forehead meant love, Luo Binghe had once heard, so Shizun must love the him who was a child, because Shizun had kissed his forehead when he was in that form.

Shizun carried him around, protected him so vigilantly and doted upon him so much that it made Binghe's heart feel full and sweet every single time he was in that form.

Whenever Shizun sat down with Luo Binghe in his lap, to try to teach him to read or write, it felt as if a little cat was scratching at his heart.

Luo Binghe loved being in Shizun's arms when he was a child. He was cuddled and treasured, fed the best portions of every food source they came across.

Luo Binghe hadn't had a happy childhood, but this... these days with Shizun was like some sort of compensation for his worst days. It was like he was being given a chance to be loved in every single way he could hope for, and so he wanted more of it.

Today, they were once more by an underground river bank, eating giant crab, with mushrooms. The crab meat was white and sweet, succulent and delicious. The crab fat was yellow and orange, creamy and savory, rich and buttery. The mushrooms were excellent, many kinds, many variants, nutty, earthy, meaty and savory.

The giant crab was so big that they could easily scoop up entire handfuls of rich fat to stuff their faces with it, and Shizun fed him by hand. Their clothes were messy and their hands were yellow, in Luo Binghe's case, his tiny hands were dripping yellow fat until his elbows but neither of them noticed because they were too comfortable.

When he was a dog, last time, he had been handfed and cuddled too. He had been fed savory, rich, fatty meat from a roast, and Shizun had even considerately cracked open bones of the animal they had roasted so that he could chew on the delicious marrow.

Luo Binghe wanted days like this, hugs and kisses forever.

RED ENVELOPE

ATDSVT
***
There were a great many professions and trades, both small and large. Some people were gardeners who worked on large, noble estate gardens. Some were miniature garden builders, capable of making landscapes in pots and training bonsai trees. Some people earned a living in breeding and selling specific types of ornamental plants, others were merchants who sold these plants to wealthy nobles.

Some nobles, particularly princes of various ranks, could spend somewhere around forty thousand silver taels or more for the building or renovation of a garden.

In spite of this, gardening wasn't exactly a vocation that held respect. As a hobby it was respectable, but nobles or even wealthy merchants didn't respect their gardeners. Gardeners who worked for a living were considered hired help.

Miss YangYang's family had worked on a certain noble family's estate for generations. They knew all the best breeders and traders of plants. For example, Chang Lan-Po who specialized in orchids and Wang Tsai-Chang who specialized in bonsai both did good business, upright and honorable men.

When these gardeners and woodcarvers were evicted from the estate of that certain noble family, they had to relocate.

The young miss of that family had been so pleased with herself at tbe sight of their dismay. However, she had been less pleased when she first caught sight of Chen Wanyong...who had come with Miss Yangyang to take her family to their new homes in Cang Qiong's territory.

Long dark hair like shimmering silk, a cool, calm aura, a polished, refined bearing, chiseled features- veritably, he was a man of jade. Even when he was relaxed, he had a fatal sex appeal.

At first sight, the young miss' heart was in her throat. However, to her dismay, he was escorting Miss YangYang and he was only there with carts and homes on wheels (similar to the gypsy vardo) to pick up YangYang's family. He had no interest in anything she had to say. Every noble miss was the heroine of their own story in their own minds, so how could this young miss possibly be reconciled to being nothing in the eyes of this man?

To that family's shock, there was quite a nice set up waiting for them in the city(?) that they had relocated to.

A large estate with enough courtyards for everyone, a truly wide assortment of rare plants, every kind of plant they could think of and many they had never even imagined existed, and plenty of space available for them to make a garden that would truly be the envy of the family who they had once worked for. All they had to do was move in and arrange everything to their liking, so their words were full of praise for the sect who had arranged this matter.

While Wanyong hadn't bothered to pay attention to the noble miss, Miss YangYang could only laugh in her heart as she remembered the lovestruck look on the noble miss' face at the sight of Wanyong, a look which soon became bitterly envious when she realized that she had no way of luring Wanyong back, now that YangYang's family had gone.

Wanyong hadn't even bothered to remember that miss' name. That only made it funnier.

Click to expand...

Gav said: ↑

RED ENVELOPES

ATDSVT
***
Liu Qingge was not having a good day. Or week. Or month. And it was looking like he wouldn't be having a good year either.

Catching sight of what was firstly a vaguely familiar image, then realizing to your profound discomfort that it was your fellow peak lord's past lives being depicted in salacious paintings of various sizes, in extremely compromising positions, wearing titillating clothing tended to do that.

In short, he had a very bad surprise while walking through the merchants and artisans' streets of shops that caused blood to come out of his nose, and keep spurting out even though he quickly covered his face. And once he had seen it, he could no longer unsee it. He turned left, then turned right, as images on scrolls drew his eyes here and there and he was stunned to recognize several images of the beauties from Shen Qingqiu's past lives. True, the portraits weren't faithful but he could certainly guess who they were about. Of course, the vast majority of images were of fantastic scenery and cities, but the beauties of both genders were definitely mischief.

Over there, a wall scroll with a picture of silver haired, crimson eyed maiden, over here, a lushly buxom golden haired lady, to the left, a dusky copper skinned beauty, to the right, a pale, lithe dark haired male. In front, an image of four titanically handsome half naked heroes working at the forge, behind him, the platinum elegance of the vampire nobleman.

And here and there, images of Qingqiu's past lives, a crimson haired, curvaceous form, a dignified golden haired queen, a dark haired empress...and many others.

Liu Qingge's eyes watered in spite of himself. WHAT THE HELL WAS THIS?!

ATDSVT
***
The Sect Master was not a happy man. First, his Qingqiu had to trip up and sit on his fellow peak lord, Liu Qingge before the man could run amuck and wreck the entire painter's street. The damage would have considerable if Qingqiu hadn't stepped in. Then, he found out why Liu Qingge had tried to tear down some painters' shops, not merely from the incredibly agitated man himself, but also from Qingqiu's equally frantic disciples.

The painters had been selling sensual portraits, wall scrolls, screens and dividers depicting his Qingqiu's past lives as well as those of Qingqiu's past siblings and sworn siblings. Portraits that were not merely suggestive and sensual, but skirting far too close to being pornographic, carnal and wanton. In short, the type of merchandise that was purchased by lecherous young masters and mistresses and perverted people everywhere.

Qingqiu simply shrugged, pointing out that the items didn't really resemble him or the others. He also pointed out that this sort of thing had happened to him before in each lifetime and was merely a ...side effect... of being attractive.

In short, Qingqiu didn't care, quickly pointing out with surprising kindness for the nervous artists, that everyone had to make a living and the art wasn't too bad, nor was it actually pornographic, vulgar or raunchy. At best, he muttered, it was soft-core. Not too bad, it could be worse.

Yue Qingyuan on the other hand, really did care! While none of the images had his Qingqiu's current face, that was still Qingqiu's soul who had worn the bodies that were now being lusted after, okay?!

Click to expand...

Gav said: ↑

RED ENVELOPE

ATDSVT
***
The situation was rather surreal. Yue Qingyuan, Liu Qingge and Qingqiu's disciples were on edge but there was still margin for error and acting in haste was unacceptable.

Technically, those images depicted people who were after all, technically dead. Several lifetimes ago, dead.

It was considered perfectly acceptable to write or depict people who had passed, otherwise, how could there be histories? How could there be historians and annals? In fact, previously, the vast majority of depictions of beauties in various mediums from wall scrolls to dividers, even upon furniture, printed flyers and wall murals, were either those courtesans who were famous and still alive, or those notable beauties of all ranks and walks of life who were dead.

A certain Guifei of the Yang family, for example, several dynasties ago had been a favorite since, well, tragic love stories were always favorites to stir the heart. The past lives that Qingqiu had lived, as well as his siblings and sworn-siblings lives, had also been incredibly stirring.

The problem was that Qingqiu was alive, and they knew him and cared for him and knowing that his past lives were being profited off so crassly made them uncomfortable, okay?!

Except what grounds did they have to object? Those past lives were, as Qingqiu had stated, very long passed and long dead. They could claim no familial link to those past lives to defend their reputations, neither did they have legal grounds to pursue so many, many people. Apparently novels were being written and plays performed about Qingqiu's former incarnations, and they couldn't do anything about that either.

Its' closest analogy would be as if the Guifei of that Yang family had suddenly been reincarnated and then tried to complain about her love affair being exploited in song and story, or if a famed poet had returned from the dead and wanted to demand the sellers of his poems to cease and desist.

If one conceivably was reincarnated and raided their own tombs for their own grave goods, that was understandable. Even acceptable in the world of cultivators, after all, that was their own grave, their own belongings. If one was being defamed and cursed, one might be able to seek vengeance, because vengeance was normal.

But when one had a stirring and sad life story in the distant past, and people wrote touching novels about it, how exactly could they, the fellow sect members of the man in question, possibly file a suit or write a plaint to the law? How could they demand compensation? Did they even have the right to demand compensation? What was the proper thing to do?

Aoguang was unhappy, Enlai, Shang Bo and Liu Cheung were agitated, Heiying was perturbed, and the other peak lords who had seen the results were profoundly disturbed and uncomfortable.

Yang Dewei wanted to press his complaints upon them all to force them to pay up royalties and fees or face the magistracy. Wu Gui wanted to bury their houses. Zhou Hui and Sun Jin were both in favor of GLORIOUS EXPLOSIONS. Fei Qilin, Ma Kong and Zhu Liang were on the fence between 'righteous cultivators ought not dirty their hands with these things' and 'my master! They're insulting my master!', feeling uncomfortable with the sense of having a parent's personal love affairs being dragged into the public eye. Guo Minghua was already writing the complaints and legal drafts like there was no tomorrow.

Qingqiu was the only one NOT freaking out. If anything, he was counseling them to let the fad run its course and let people earn their money, as long as there was no direct violation or attack on him, he was willing to let them earn their daily wage. After all, he said with admirable equanimity. Things could be worse. The public could be writing three way raunchy fictions about his current identity and dragging his students or fellow peak lords in it- levels of worse.

(Oh wait. They were probably already doing that, in a thinly veiled manner. Not that he was going to inform Liu Qingge of it. He had a pact with Xian Shu peak's fujoshis, after all.)

Click to expand...

a dilemma.... id go with explody but G has a point.

Gav said: ↑

CROQUEMBOUCHE
(dedicated to @teufel)

ATDSVT- Guo Minghua
***
It was a scene that was fit for a painting. In a hall with brightly colored green carved buttresses, rafters and railings, with crimson pillars and elegant furnishings of finely lacquered wood, an important meeting was happening. A crippled man with elegant features and refined bearing sat in a wheelchair, clad in a noble azure robe. There was a table in front of him full of good things like, say, tea leaves given as tribute from the smallest countries, and even more chests in all sizes, full of presents were left by the side to be seen. To his left side stood a maiden in gowns wearing a veil over her face, to his right side but closer to the opposite end of the table, stood a group of elders of his clan, in front of him he could only watch the ridiculous farce being performed. A certain beautiful maiden in a brilliantly colored gown was giving modest, bashful, maidenly glances to a tall, young, handsome man with an extremely masculine and imposing bearing who was seated directly opposite the older man who was in the wheelchair.

The tea and pastries had gone cold in the time since the meeting had been set up and the servants had been dismissed for privacy.

The crippled man was, naturally, Gao Jinghe. The veiled woman by his side was that unfortunate daughter of his, Mei Lin. To his right stood the elders, and directly opposite to him was the Wang's son, Siye, who had come to break his engagement with Jinghe's daughter, and the girl he favored, Miss NiHuang.

The gifts on the table were to show sincerity and smooth the way to the girl's financial comfort and future good life as well as his freedom, but young 'prince' Siye thought of them as bribes to buy his freedom with. Naturally, he resented the fact he had to pay so much, even though it wasn't even his money.

If his father, the Wang, knew what he was thinking, that venerable fellow would have coughed blood and tried to bash him over the head with his silver topped cane.

Idiot! Who told you to make an embarrassment of our relationship with my benefactor- this kind of thinking.

Some men, when breaking engagements, liked to use their families' unwillingness towards the marriage as excuses, smoothly and gently explaining that while they themselves truly cared for the girl they were engaged to, they could no longer marry them because circumstances had changed. This was probably the most common equivalent to the, 'It's not you, It's me.' excuses for breakups or refusals for marriage used in the modern age. Some men were incredibly tactful or at least considerate towards the families and the girls themselves in that they actually meant their apologies or at least tried to make everyone believe that they meant them.

There were people who, like Ziming, honestly explained why they could no longer complete an engagement set from childhood. This had a fifty-fifty chance of success and a fifty-fifty chance of enraging the family members of the girl in question.

And then there were men who were cold and unfeeling about the whole thing, offending people and breaking hearts.

All of these approaches basically had one thing in common- the reaction of the parents and the families involved varied depending on their relationships with the girl in question. Some shitty families and parents blamed the girls for the break ups, for being inadequate. Some parents and families closed ranks around their girls, taking offense on their behalf. And some families, such as this one, were split between those who cared for the girl and those who thought that they could make a profit off of the breakup in question.

Young 'prince' Siye had never much liked his fiancee. He was polite to her, of course, because his father wanted him to be. He was tolerant to her in public, mild and gentle, cool and calm and refined like jade, but that was only on the surface. Honestly, he didn't like her because she was too timid, too... easily bullied. He liked girls who had pride towards everyone else but only were bashful and sweet towards him. He despised the fact that his father seemingly had his heart set on pleasing the girl's father and her grandfather.

(Again, if his father ever found out what his son was thinking, he would have bashed him over the head with a cane for this train of thought. You idiot! A sweet girl who is timid is more likely to bend over backwards to try to please your famiily's elders!- is what he would have said.)

As it was, Siye didn't like her appearance, which was too ugly and unbefitting of him, he didn't like her delicate health- she seemed to be weak to everything to the point her skin was constantly in bad shape- and he didn't like her personality, which seemed to him to be utterly pathetic and unworthy of being the future wife of the future Wang.

(Again, his father would have bashed him over the head for such presumptuous thinking. You idiot! You have several elder brothers, what makes you think I'm ever going to give you that position! You'll be lucky to be a Marquis if you fuck this up!)

Of course, Miss Nihuang was much more to his taste. She was a talented girl who had great skills in the four arts, who had a good physique, who was going to be a disciple for a minor sect in the area, much better than most of the girls in their social circles. She had pride in herself, was elegant and eye-catching. She was sought by suitors, but she was always bashful, shy and sweet towards him. She was very lovely and her long, dark hair set off her exquisitely beautiful skin, like mutton fat jade.

In all honesty, Miss Nihuang just acted that way towards him because she had pegged his strike zone very early and was doing everything exactly to get her hands on him- or to be precise on that position as his woman. She was one of those white lotus schemers, knew all the ins and outs of the household and she fancied the position as his wife and the future Wang Fei. Also that skin was kept in that excellent condition by the use of many skin creams. She was the kind of girl who valued her appearance and collected cosmetics of all sorts.

Again, she was very presumptuous- there was no real guarantee that the Wang would bother to make this son of his, his heir. He had plenty of children and currently actually favored another son of his, Fuyi, more than young Siye.

In truth, the Wang had only agreed to let Siye break the engagement because he was convinced Siye was a blockhead, like his maternal grandfather. That old man had been a doting parent to this Wang's beloved wife, but was a shitty husband to her mother. As such, if the precedents were any indication, would he want the daughter of his savior to be married to a blockhead? No, because he had other, better sons!

Alas, his plan to shift the engagement to one of his other boys was about to be derailed this day.

It took less than ten minutes for young 'prince' Siye to put his foot in his mouth and utterly enrage his father's benefactor.

Siye had started out by politely greeting Gao Jinghe, paying homage to his arrival. Given that Gao Jinghe had already caught sight of the elders who supported the other factions of his family... He, being much more intelligent than his prospective son-in-law, quickly figured out that the shit had hit the fan and people were plotting something. He had in turn politely greeted this would-be son-in-law of his and then accepted his first few attempts at small talk, carefully assessing the situation.

He didn't have to wait for long. After he had thanked the young man for his family's tokens of esteem, he quickly probed at the young man for his real reasons for arriving by gently reminding him that his daughter was here, and had been looking forward to spending time with him, after all, they were both childhood companions and engaged.

In all honesty, Gao Jinghe had only accepted this engagement because of his daughter's health issues, which probably meant that she would need a lifelong companion quite fast, and the Wang had confessed that he would rather have married her to one of his elder sons. Alas, those elder sons had been engaged off before, they were much older than Mei Lin and thus, Siye was the only one in an acceptable age-range at the time.

Having figured out quite quickly that the young man in question had gone behind people's backs and was now scheming something with the other family elders, Gao Jinghe was waiting patiently for the boy to slip up and make a mistake so he could figure out what he and the elders really wanted. While he hadn't become family head because his legs were crippled, there was nothing wrong with his brain.

Having expected that the elders had coached the young man to try to get him to hand over the keys to his father's secret coffers or some such piece of fart, Gao Jinghe was not amused to find out his assessment had been wrong, and that rather than being the pawn for his uncles to get this or that valuable resource, this idiot had instead gotten the elders to try to pressure him into breaking his daughter's engagement with him.

The idiot even tried to claim that he and his daughter had always only been childhood friends and he thought of her as a sibling, so his father had given permission for him to break the engagement.

Nice try, except the Wang wasn't dead yet, and if the Wang really wanted to cut the engagement off completely and sever ties with Gao Jinghe's daughter, he would have the guts to come here himself and the kindness and tact to smooth things over. They had campaigned together, after all. They knew each other very well, old friends through thick and thin, hail, sleet and snow. The Wang's absence indicated that something was off.

Gao Jinghe knew that the Wang had originally wanted another son to be his daughter's husband, not Siye. He knew that the Wang valued his services- the sheer amount of the gifts the boy had brought indicated that the Wang still did value them.

However, his daughter, Mei Lin, didn't know any of these things and had always been fond of the young idiot, and so she burst into tears.

That put Siye on Gao Jinghe's shit list.

Coincidentally, this was the moment that Guo Minghua and Miss Changying had come by to drop off the invitation to the next banquet held by the Guo family, and thus, after a little bit of verbal sparring between the servants and the people set by the elders to prevent a disruption to their scheme, this honorable pair were shown into the receiving hall and arrived with the frantically running servants who had intended to rush ahead and inform the family that they had IMPORTANT GUESTS from a MAJOR SECT and a MIDRANGE SECT... right in time to catch sight of the drama.

"Master! Master, you have important guests!" belatedly came the servant's cries, only to ruin the tableau. Everyone froze up. Except for the unfortunate Mei Lin who was crying her heart out after she had tried to plead with her fiance not to break the engagement and had been rejected.

"Sorry, am I interrupting something?" Guo Minghua asked, raising a single elegant eyebrow in inquiry. He knew very well what he had interrupted. Cultivator hearing was excellent. He had heard them all the way from the beginning of the event. He had also seen everything. Changying had a solemn expression and the bearing of an ominous thundercloud.

The people who had been enacting this drama did a double-take as they had quickly pegged Guo Minghua to be female until he opened his mouth and spoke in a melodious but very MALE voice. They did a second double-take when Miss Changying introduced herself and Minghua- since her voice was clearly female. The pair struck while the iron was hot, and explained they had arrived specifically to personally hand over the invitation to the Guo family banquet and tender their apologies as they had to decline the second invitation to the next banquet which the Gao family head had asked if they could attend.

Young 'prince' Siye was having many shocks to his worldview lately. First, the sight of Guo Minghua, whose gestures were perfectly graceful and was elegant, as a statue carved of pure jade come to life, and whose appearance could be taken one way as an exceptionally beautiful fairy maiden, and the other, as a peerlessly beautiful man.

'If this beauty is fond of men, I will keep him for myself.'- That was the kind of thing that kept floating in the minds of those who met Guo Minghua, and sadly for his self-esteem and his sexual identity, the unfortunate Siye, who prided himself on his skill with ladies, had just met a sexual identity crisis. The exact kind of lust-or-love-at-first-sight sexual identity crisis that caused every man, who prided themselves on being straight and having a way with the ladies, to feel a tremendous terror rise up from the bottom of their hearts.

Siye felt the urge to run to the nearest brothel to find many beauties to reaffirm his masculinity. Right now.

The equally unfortunate Miss NiHuang and the only recently distracted Miss Mei Lin on the other hand, were no less stunned by the sight of Miss Changying. At first glance, one could feel this was the most brilliant and magnificent man the world has ever seen. Until she spoke. Then the impression was ruined by her exquisite voice, fit for a chanteuse.

On the bright side, Miss Mei Lin had been so thoroughly distracted by their appearances and the contrast to their voices, that she was no longer weeping brokenheartedly. Miss Nihuang on the other hand, wanted to know why nature was so cruel and unfair? Those exquisitely carved features, that gorgeous body with wide shoulders and slim waist, those elegant movements like a panther, the image of a perfect husband matching the dreams of myriad young ladies... That person should have been a man, ah!

Truly one could only hate that heaven had no eyes!

Click to expand...

i read wrong and thought Siye was going for Gao Jinghe for a moment but yayyyyy face-slapping and an amazing entrance

Gav · Aug 5, 2018

yay! comments!
/loves comments!

xenotop · Aug 5, 2018

Gav said: ↑

RED ENVELOPES

ATDSVT-Wang An's Honeymoon
***
Ziming was an absolutely adorable wife. He was sweet, always eager for physical affection, and always oddly grateful for it.

Wang An's favorite thing to do was to dress his sweet and adorable consort in gauze clothing and jewelry before utterly ruining that gauze in the bed. Or over every single piece of furniture in their quarters.

There was something about the glint of jewels and precious metals on that pale skin or contrasted against the dark hair, the red of the gauze bridal clothes only enhancing the rosy tint of flushed skin, the inviting red fruits, the soft pink petals of an eagerly contracting chrysanthemum, the crystal-clear drops of sweat gliding over lean muscle that really, really turned Wang An on.

It was even better, because Ziming tended to blush cutely, and his eyes were always full of the kind of adoration that made Wang An want to cuddle him and stroke him over and over all night.

Wang An had always had a... very strong attachment to the idea of having a bride- in a way, it was completely his... fetish, one might say. He didn't remember having a mother or father, couldn't ever remember having a family other than Shifu, but nevertheless, there was something about that phrase, 'husband and wife' that made him feel avaricious towards it.

And now his sweet wife didn't mind wearing all the things which had erotically arousing connotations such as that phrase. He really, really liked calling Ziming his bride or his wife. Both of those words, like being able to use phrases like 'between husband and wife, these are meat on the chopping board' to smooth over arguments, brought an unusual amount of satisfaction.

Sweet, cute and adorable, thinking of Ziming in such ways because of the way he reacted when Wang An took him to bed or the way he doted on Wang An constantly, only whetted Wang An's appetite to spoil him.

It was a very different reaction to the way his previous three lovers had to his visits and his efforts to dote on them. Those three tended to be proud and sulky and often pouted and struggled and..
Also very cute. So cute he wanted to bully them until they were reduced to mewling.

But it was a different kind of cute and they didn't seem to like the references to conjugal bliss. If he said, 'between husband and wife' to them, Wu Guen and Ao Jiang would turn bright red, choke and sputter and decry being called the wife. Also very,very cute. Lian Yunying on the other hand was like a little rabbit, so easily scared that he wanted to scare him some more and then bully him in bed.

None of the three had been happy that he sent them bride gifts but they were even more unhappy that he had gotten a first wife! Such a contradictory trio, could not stand to be the brides, could not stand to watch him take a bride!

ATDSVT-Shang Bo's Family
***
It is never easy to recover from a traumatic event. Sometimes the recovery takes months, sometimes it takes years. Even when a person recovers from trauma, there will always be signs, changes in their personality or their behavior. For instance, Huang Enlai, having been sold to a brothel once, had never been able to truly get over it, developing an innate hatred towards perverts and parents who sold their children into such slavery. Even if they made the excuse that they could no longer feed their children, Enlai despised them.

Of Shang Bo's adopted family, his eldest sister, Shang Ling Mei had adjusted the quickest and fared the best. His brothers, Shang Li Jia, Shang Tao Hai and his youngest sister, Shang Bai Yu were far more reticent. In truth, it was not a lack of fortitude, nor was it a lack of adaptability- they had grown up on the streets, such things were necessary to survive. They had seen the red lights district through the eyes of street urchins and pickpockets, and had seen slavers occasionally pick up street urchins before to make them whores. As pickpockets, they had nominal protection from an older man who had taken a portion of their profits and used part of that to bribe the slavers and law enforcement to avoid them, but even that protection had ended. They had been sold out.

To be specific, they had been sold out because several members started turning to violence to make a living, breaking and entering houses, killing merchants and unfortunate travelers. The bribes couldn't make up for their misdeeds, thus, their hideouts were taken down and burned by the forces of law enforcement led by officials with a few members of the military. Everyone who survived was either sold off as a slave for mines or thrown into jail.

In the ensuing carnage, they had hidden in place after place. Eventually, no matter how hard they tried, they were still caught. Stragglers were, after all, preyed upon by slavers, brigands- there was no end to it. Lei Jun had fought like a demon to try to protect his younger friends. He managed to buy time before he was slain, but despite this, their sister, Li Hua, still was raped and murdered. Bai Chun was slain while trying to stop the rape. Li Jua, Tao Hai and Bai Yu were all thrown into the prison with Shang Bo.

When Li Jua was nearly assaulted by the jailor who made him sleazy promises of extra food and a better pile of rush bedding if he'd bend over and let himself be taken, Shang Bo pushed past his limits and went on a rampage.

After Shang Bo was taken away, the other remaining jailor sold them all to the brothel, to make a profit and to make sure that Shang Bo would have nothing to come back to.

If Shang Bo's Shifu hadn't been willing to shell out the money to redeem them, they would never have been able to free themselves. The brothel was an education- it trained some talented people in the four noble arts to make courtesans and turned street rats into prostitutes. If it hadn't been for the fact that Ling Mei had taught them writing before they had been separated, they would likely have been turned into prostitutes immediately afterwards.

Having seen the lives of the prostitutes in that brothel, it wasn't surprising that the two boys and their younger sister huddled in the home Shang Bo's Shifu had built and refused to leave it for literally months. Fortunately, they didn't lack for food, clothing or anything. The house was completely stocked with anything anyone could need and the garden could produce plenty of food- it had ducks, geese, rabbits, doves, plenty of fruit trees and vegetables planted, it was complete even down to the last few herbs.

Thus they could afford to stay in and hide.

Fortunately for their peace of mind, Shang Bo's Shifu allowed Shang Bo to visit them when he wasn't training, and later, eventually even brought Ling Mei back.

Under the protection of their elder brother and elder sister, the remaining three former pickpockets could relax, but that didn't mean they had recovered. It meant they could go out into the town because the town was safe. There were no slavers allowed in this town, and the citizens had the protection of the nearby immortal cultivator sect to the point that Shang Bo's Shifu was constantly upgrading its defenses and anyone who thought to wreck the place or kidnap people to sell them off would die. None of Shang Bo's disciple brothers were willing to tolerate slavery in their territory. In addition, any corrupt law enforcement people were beaten to near death and evicted with a record of their crimes, by vigilantes in midnight black.

Click to expand...

- gav im really liking the image of a partner surrounded by sparkly jewels and expensive clothing and flowers and everything more and more every time
- they're safe now

Gav said: ↑

RED ENVELOPE

ATDSVT-Shang Bo's Family
***
One of Shang Bo's problems was that his siblings, being both in possession of some prime real estate, as well had having their appearances refined by the medicine that his Shifu had given them, were now considered to be high quality goods. Their relationship to him lent them prestige, his obvious care for them made them perfect for leverage or influence on him, and the younger three (at least two of whom were still probably older than he was) of his siblings were all shut ins. That is, they had taken more time to acclimate themselves to their new home, and in fact, had hidden themselves for months which lent them an air of mystery.

The matter of Shang Bo's surviving siblings as well as Enlai's own surviving siblings having been brought back from brothels were in essence, secrets known only to those who were on scene at the time of the purchases and in the case of Enlai's siblings, any past customers.

That was remarkably sensitive information, and if anyone got hold of it, they would be looked down upon.

Naturally, while Enlai was blissfully oblivious to this problem, Shang Bo and his Shifu certainly weren't.

As a direct result, Shang Bo had enlisted some help from his other brother disciples to help him look after his family, while his Shifu had begun tracing all transactions involving the people in question, such as, say, tracking down former customers with drones.

It was said that two people could keep a secret if one of them was dead. In this case, Shang Bo could keep his family's origins a secret through silencing the people who had an inkling of what had happened by drugging people with potions that had amnesia as an effect. It wasn't as if such things were beyond them now that they had all the resources they could possibly need, and it was certainly more ethical than murder.

In truth, of Enlai's brother disciples, the only ones who knew where his siblings had been hidden were Heiying, Sun Jin and Shang Bo. Aoguang didn't care because Enlai didn't want to know. Wanyong and the others hadn't asked, for the same reason. To the others, the location of those people was irrelevant as long as Shifu was handling everything and Enlai didn't want to know where they were.

Shifu was handling the problem? Then it was solved- that kind of thinking.

Sun Jin, of course, knew where they were, because they were in the same town as his father and mother were, with the remnants of the Suli clan.

Daomei knew, for the same reason.

The Huang siblings were confused as to why they had been taken under the black wings of Zixie and Moxie, but no one was telling them anything unless Enlai indicated otherwise.

Of course, while no one was going to interfere with the Huang siblings' finding their own spouses, those same Huang siblings weren't in the limelight unlike the recognized siblings and family of the other disciples, and Moxie had the 'murder all the rapists' part pretty much covered for them, that left Shang Bo's siblings, who needed to fend off suitors who might be too pushy.

That was where Shang Bo's vigilante tendencies and overprotective instincts came in. Having a good understanding of his siblings' shut in tendencies and their need for safety, as well as their completely justifiable fear after having been rescued from the brothels, Shang Bo was now very, very picky about who was allowed to be near them.

Shang Ling Mei wasn't having a problem. She had simply bought herself some male beauties from the slave markets to enjoy herself with. As her status as his eldest sister was high enough to cover her, no one was going to comment about it or notice it (if they wanted to keep living). As long as she kept it low key, she could roll around in the sheets with her beauties.

Of course, she had plenty of suitors. Her siblings all did, now. The question was, how many of those suitors could make it past Shang Bo.

Click to expand...

Big Sister Ling Mei enjoying life, wow
NO SUITORS CAN MAKE IT PAST

Gav said: ↑

RED ENVELOPE

ATDSVT
***
It is a fact that the world that a certain transmigrated GM found himself living in had myriad small and large human kingdoms. The largest of the human kingdoms was the Empire, but it was not the entirety of the world, no matter how this dynasty's rulers thought of it, and emphasized what they felt was its role, as the biggest, strongest of all human kingdoms this far.

The Empire considered itself to be the center of the world, the Middle Kingdom, and it considered all the surrounding countries to be subordinates or to be barbarians. Their closest neighboring kingdom of high strength and wide territory had been the Nomads' Empire which it had eventually crushed. Right now, it was well known that it would take a long time, at least three or four mortal generations, to fully integrate that much land into the Empire's current infrastructure and administration. In the first mortal generation it was likely that the largest number of errors and ironing out of mistakes would be happening.

That in itself meant anywhere from three to seven generations before the Empire was secure enough to consume more land and or assimilate more new kingdoms. Right now, the current generation was only beginning to put down roots thus giving the Empire's smaller counterparts and adversaries time to prepare themselves into a position formidable enough to remain unassailed.

In addition, the Empire's subordinates, which it had sent out to take possession of the place, were also prone to backstabbing, embezzling and sabotage.

Thus, taking over the place would inevitably be delayed even further.

It was a historical fact that many of the smaller countries in history were once puppets for some sects of immortal cultivators or were even owned by the occasional single, remarkable cultivator who was a genius.

The Empire itself had once belonged to the Yellow Emperor, the ruler who had founded it who was also an immortal cultivator who had slain a demon god at the time and eventually 'ascended to a higher realm to become a god'.

Even now, the Yellow Emperor and his descendant, the Jade Emperor, were both considered to be the venerated deities of the Empire. The current Imperial family claimed descent from both of them but pathetically few of the Imperial family members had ever been lucky enough to cultivate to become like them. Most of the members of the Imperial family in the past dynasties failed and died in the attempt to unlock cultivation, preyed upon by charlatans or quacks who sold them dubious potions, the few who succeeded never attained similar levels of power, staying far weaker before they vanished from the mortal world, supposedly to have ascended.

This was why the moment that so many Imperial Family members had been able to unlock the ability to cultivate because of the Pavilion of Past Lives, they had immediately gone to get themselves some masters who were willing and capable to teach them to cultivate. A sudden glut of high ranking students meant a sudden large number of satisfied teachers.

This was also why so many immortal sects were full of proud cultivators who thought of their fellow human beings as ants or livestock or cultivation resources.

In the past, there had even been sects who took in refugees from this or that disaster and used them as human targets in exchange for protecting and settling them on new land.

Whether they considered themselves to be righteous cultivators or not, they still disregarded the inherent value of human lives. Some of the righteous cultivators even simply focused upon killing demons and demonic cultivators without caring about the collateral damage they caused in terms of human lives while slaying their targets. If mortals died, they couldn't care less.

If mortal martial arts experts of the Wulin or Jianghu were known to be walking weapons, then the Immortal cultivators were heavy artillery. If the normal loose cultivators and cultivating family lineages were grenades, then they were lasers. If the sects were lasers, then Cang Qiong stood supreme over them with the ability to cause massive area effect damage.

There were very good reasons that merchants and nobles all tried to get tied to Jianghu experts and to the cultivating lineages- it was like acquiring an armory. Thus, the stronger the cultivator, the better the investment.

Marrying the relative of a Cang Qiong inner sect disciple was like acquiring the ability to exercise a nuclear option. The common assumption was that anyone who could do it now had the qualifications to bully other people to their content, taking over smaller kingdoms would be easy.

This principle was exactly why the Emperor had decided to raise the known in-laws and kin of those sect members to ranks of the nobility. For one, it was acknowledging the fact that these people were sitting on the equivalent of enough explosives to blow a city sky high.

For another, raising one's status in society obliged them to be grateful to you. Grateful people were people who didn't revolt.

This was also why nobles of the higher ranks were once again trying to find unmarried members of the sect members' families in order to acquire them. It was like acquiring an armory-everyone wanted one in this uncertain world, full of dangers such as demons and political clusterfucks.

Each Cang Qiong inner sect member they had heard the name of could and did go out to purge demon infestations en masse. The outer sect disciples of Qing Jing had become capable of mass producing travel artifacts in the form of those ceramic cargo carrying steeds. As a result, the inner sect disciples had been considered to be equivalent to this era's massive weapon spawning armories, and the outer sect members were equivalent to small scale explosives and transportation factories.

This was also why Shang Bo and several other members of the sect had many, many suitors for themselves and their kin to now fend off.

Click to expand...

Gav said: ↑

RED ENVELOPES

ATDSVT
***
To understand Li Aoguang's situation, one has to know the facts of the social system and the paternal family he had been born into.

There were five ranks of prince in this Empire. The first two, the Qinwang and the Junwang could claim to be in the line of succession. Among the Qinwang, the son of the Emperor could be chosen to be the crown prince, and the others became imperial uncles when the crown prince ascended to become the Emperor. The Junwangs also had claims in the line of succession under all the Qinwangs. The third rank, Wang had no place in the line of succession and were considered to be somewhat similar to vassal kings who ruled over fiefs that were provinces.

There were conferred princedoms, Wang who earned their rank by serving the Empire meritoriously. There were the Wangs who were descended from the royal families of other countries who surrendered their lands and handed them over in exchange for that type of princely status. Both of these literally never had a chance at acquiring any claim to the throne of the Empire.

The Beile of the Third Rank and the Beizi of the fourth rank under them likewise had no place in the line of succession. The Emperor could and did demote Junwangs and Qinwangs to those ranks when he felt it appropriate and these ranks could be bestowed with or without fiefs.

All these could call themselves Wangye, but those without fiefs were reliant upon the Emperor for their allowances or salaries.

The eldest son of a Wang was automatically a Beile or Beizi. Each of these had their equivalents in ranks among the female offspring.

Wangs could confer ranks on their younger sons, which were all in the normal set of noble titles, based on their favor.

The shu sons were all expected to be useful to promote the heir and di sons.

Li Aoguang, being a shu son, should have by this expectation, supported his better off brothers in exchange for the bestowals from his father's family.

This support could include being married out for advantages.

Li Aoguang had violently gone against all expectations by changing his surname to Li and acknowledging only his maternal relations.

Given that the Imperial family from whose lineage he came had expected to be able to rely on him for concessions in exchange for their own political concessions to him, this 'throws all relations into the trash can' action was inexplicable to them.

In terms of filial piety to the paternal family, such a cutting action, giving the di wife and di son of his father no face at all and only ever showing up when his name could allow him to throw a spanner in the works, was normally unthinkable as it was considered utterly impious, and his willingness to support his much lower ranked maternal family was baffling.

As it was, he wasn't talking to his brothers or sisters and the only time he had exerted himself for a half-sibling had been in order to rescue her from a demonic cultivator.

In the Imperial family, his behavior of ignoring bribes and olive branches offered by his imperial relatives and ignoring or avoiding them the vast majority of the time was an anomaly. He was never seen considering his female cousins of various degrees of affinity on either side for possible marriage matches, neither did he bother to consider ladies or gentlemen from official noble houses or ranks. He didn't bother to attend banquets or seek to meet any of them.

The brothel visits were still understandable, as many of the royals also visited brothels in a whim, particularly the Beizi and Beili ranks that could afford to be idle rich and squander a portion of their allowances on assignations.

ATDSVT
***
It wasn't unusual for nobles of any rank to visit the brothels. Plenty of nobles had taken courtesans from brothels into their households as concubines.

There were princes in the past who had bought entire groups of women who were famed as singers. One of them had used his collection of female singers as hand warmers on cold days, having them block drafts for him by sitting or standing around him as living warmers, sliding his hands into their bosoms to keep them warm. Such women were provided with various amenities and luxuries but they and their offspring weren't looked well upon. As certain people could testify, the offspring of ladies from the brothels had the least amount of respect from anyone. Despite this, the ladies and male entertainers in the brothels still yearned to be bought out.

Having noted that Aoguang went to brothels, one of the things that was looked into by certain curious people who wanted leverage or who wanted to figure out what to bribe Aoguang with, was what his taste was in such encounters. It was, after all, perfectly normal for officials to bribe princes with women, men or boys.

Most officials or fellow princes did this by discreetly inviting their target for flattery and bribery over to their homes and throwing a banquet for them, then having the possible bribes, both male and female, entertain their guest, carefully questioning the target afterwards as to what he actually liked among the entertainment. If the guest liked any person from among the entertainers, then that person was gifted to them straight out.

Except Aoguang refused to accept any invites and so they had to resort to the much cruder method of going to the brothel he went to, and then bribing the brothel madames for info under the table.

The brothel owners were quite well aware of the kind of damage an angry cultivator could inflict, as such the only news that the curious could bribe for was that Aoguang enjoyed both male and female beauties and that he did occasionally have them entertain him with music and the arts as well as their bodies. He also did not visit anyone under the age of eighteen.

Aoguang had a fairly wide strike zone. Beautiful men with well built bodies, sharp, masculine features, captivating male beauties of jade who were so lovely one might as well compare them to maidens, lushly curved buxom women and lithe, slim fairies, all of this was within his interest- as long as they weren't schemers.

Click to expand...

Gav said: ↑

EASTER EGGS

ATDSVT
***
The Cang mountain range was large and full of diverse forms of life. It marked the borders of four countries, including the Empire.

Its rocky slopes were like the folds of cloth, its trees, plants and fungi like the ornate patterns of brocade. Water in the form of streams, brooks, even small rivers were like silver threads and silver trim.

Its verdant groves were full of birds and beasts, its bodies of water were full of fish. It was a truly beautiful place, with its environments varying from slope to summit. The summit's may as well have been ice hells, but its slopes were very livable .

It was, therefore a pity that these fine mountains, full of ore and resources, held so very many bandits and brigand groups.

Some of these brigands claimed to be from the Wulin or the Jianghu.

When they wanted food, they hunted beasts or fish. When they wanted cloth, fabric or other luxury items, perhaps furniture or such things, they went to harass the naive populace living close by.

A certain tall, strong and handsome bandit by the name of Liu Cang, was most certainly an orphan, having been found by an old bandit 'king' of the previous generation. From his sword brows and his finely carved features, the smoothness of his golden skin, the shape of his elegant, long fingered hands, one might guess his absent parents had been people of some consequence; his mother must have at least been beautiful. As it was, he had only that 'king' and those old bandits, the king's sworn brothers, to consider as his elders, before they too, ended up dying in this or that skirmish with their fellows or the authorities.

The old 'king' claimed to have been an expert from the Wulin, before his 'family' drove him out. After that, he had eventually acquired sworn brothers, moved to that mountain and put his efforts into making it a home for himself and those brothers.

Having grown up on these slopes, Liu Cang had eventually put together a bandit group among whose ranks were several refugees and the dispossessed with which he subdued and assimilated the other bandit groups in the mountain.

It was a case of the dispossessed feeding on the dispossessed, dog eat dog.

Having thus proved his mettle by beating all his competitors to a messy pulp, this man laid claim to the central peak of the mountain range and made life difficult for the people who had to go to that mountain to acquire medicinal herbs, rare fungi, pan gold and smoothed gemstones from the brooks or had to cross that mountain for trade.

In short, Liu Cang had been a nuisance who could be bribed for quite some time, as his father had, before him.

That old man had never been able to have a son or daughter of his own. He had taken in a few concubines from this or that family who lived near the mountain range, but he had never had children of his own. His sworn brothers were luckier, and so his adopted son, Liu Cang, had many sworn brothers of that generation.

Sadly, none of them were too bright. Loyal, but not bright and not given to introspection or considering the ramifications of their actions.

ATDSVT
***
To understand a man, one must understand their circumstances.

Several years ago, three provinces of a certain country on the other side of the Cang mountain range had suffered horribly. When it wasn't drought, it was fires. When it wasn't fire, it was floods. When it wasn't floods, it was pestilence. When it was neither of those, it was plague.

The people who lived there for generations could no longer persist in living there. They had no choice but to flee.

It is a fact that people who have been driven off their land can be forced to turn to violent pursuits in order to have a living or to survive while they seek shelter in more congenial ground. When people are denied their livelihoods, anarchy follows.

The old bandit king had once legitimately been a warrior of some high rank in that country's Wulin. Alas, his province was one of the problem regions, and he had snapped in the face of the disasters, slaying an embezzling official and then taking his stash to look after their people.

These people took what they had on hand and left their land.

Among those people, were Liu Cang's family, who were once a family of good means before the disasters struck.

They were not alone. Families sold their daughters to buy their own survival, eating anything edible before they were forced to leave or die.

Now, such occurances weren't really that unusual. Short of finding a cultivator with some skill in manipulating water, such events were sadly recurring in cycles. Even the Empire had its share of natural disasters, and it couldn't even rely on cultivators to do something about those because the only thing that cultivators genuinely believed was their purview was the purging of demonic beasts and evil cultivators.

Events like these were one of the reasons that the slave trade flourished, with people selling themselves or members of their families in order to survive.

Events like this were also why some of the cultivator sects who thought of humans as livestock or ants could afford humans as cannon fodder or target practice dummies or bedwarmers. In the last case, the mortals were relatively lucky- if they didn't upset their masters they would live longer and be given land to live on sooner.

In this case, rather than sell themselves or die, these people had moved to the mountain range on that country's border. In the end, they had become bandits and brigands.

Within the old bandit king's lifetime they had begun preying on the natives of the Empire for their goods.

If one was to describe them, it would be that they were 'leeches' taking the excess resources of the populace.

When provinces fell to such straits, millions of natives became refugees. These refugees tried to enter other countries in hope of starting new lives. Some people bribed their ways in, some sacrificed their daughters or sons, some sacrificed their own bodies in order to enter a safer country.

It was a fact that the strong preyed upon the weak and many people became bandits and preyed upon those who were in similar straits.

The old bandit king had preferred to feed on the resources of foreigners rather than his own folk. Whether this was a good or bad decision remained to be seen, but his own people were fed, so it was likely he simply didn't care.

Regardless, he had left his son with the position and Liu Cang was many things, but wise and introspective wasn't one of them. His father was not a leader of men by inclination, and acclaimed king only by his fellow wolves because he had put their people first.

In short, Liu Cang wasn't prepared to train his people to enjoy peaceful days. In the Jianghu, one took what one needed. in the Wulin, like the cultivation world, it was normal to kill to silence people, kill to steal treasures. In short, the bandit leaders weren't equipped with the knowledge that would allow them to be a self sufficient settlement, much less a nation.

In truth, he and his people had been preying on natives on both the Empire's side of the mountain range as well as the country on the opposite side of the mountain range.

It was only a matter of time before people dealt with them. The only question was who would get there first?

Click to expand...

Gav said: ↑

EASTER EGG

ATDSVT
***
It was normal for the parents in this world to be the ones deciding upon the engagements of their children.

Some people engaged their children to others' sons and daughters for power, for alliances between families. Others engaged their children to the children of their friends to continue their parents' friendships or to pay their debts, whether it was money or honor.

In the case of Gao Jinghe and Wang Zhengchen, the engagement was decided on in order to perpetuate their friendship. These two had gone on battlefields together, and despite the fact that Wang Zhengchen was older than his friend by ten years, the friendship was still going strong. They had dragged each other out of deathtraps, patched each others' scrapes, supported each other on their ways back to the camps on many battlefields.

As a direct result, when Wang Zhengchen found out his son was stupid enough to want to dump his best friend's daughter, in front of her family members, no less... He filed Siye under 'never going to get a good rank' and set the matter aside, looking for a viable engagement among his other sons. He ordered Siye to give her presents to make her life easier because he intended to spoil the girl. Because he felt it was what she deserved.

Wang Zhengchen understood the power plays between clan members. After all, he had dealt with such things when he was younger, having to fight for his birthright. While he couldn't just demand that the clan members treat his friend well in the absence of their strongest elder, taking his friend's daughter under his protection could give him leverage and a place of sanctuary to offer his friend.

Alas, Siye was a disappointment. That meant he needed better options.

The son who was closest in age to Siye, Fuyi, was thus the best candidate to take up the position. He was also his father's current favorite. Knowing how heavily his father placed importance on this engagement, Fuyi had no intention of going against his father's will, even though Miss Mei Lin's appearance set him ill at ease. She was a nice girl, despite her appearance and anyway, lust was what concubines were for.

To his very well hidden relief, by the time he got to the estate in order to convey their father's words to Siye, he had arrived to find that a very masculine cultivator with a surprisingly feminine voice was consoling Miss Mei Lin, murmuring gently to her, rubbing her back and gently wiping her face clean of the copious tears she was shedding. The other cultivator there, the one who was like a fairy but had a definitely male voice, had simply stated that if Miss Mei Lin's fiance didn't want her, they would take her.

As in, Cang Qiong's Qing Jing disciple, Guo Minghua and his lady, Miss Changying, had clearly agreed that they would both marry her. Which had made the elders turn purple.

While Siye hadn't bothered to research these things, Fuyi was much more careful about researching people he might come across in fortuitous or unfortunate encounters in order to be ready to avoid inconvenient arguments or any escalation.

For far too long a time, in order to protect his family's face, he had to clean up after his foolish older brother, this was just another incident in a long line of...dubious decisions he had to deal with.

As such, he quickly acted to smooth things over further, stating that Siye's words weren't according to their mutual father's wishes, that the presents had been intended to facilitate Miss Mei Lin's happiness and comfort, to allow her to have support and comfort throughout life even if she didn't marry Siye... And that even if Siye broke the engagement and married someone else, their mutual father would still consider Miss Mei Lin to be his daughter-in-law and treat her accordingly.

Siye and Miss Nihuang's faces turned unsightly. Didn't that just mean that Wang Zhengchen would never consider Nihuang as his daughter-in-law even if Siye did try to marry her in?!

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CACKLING

Gav · Aug 5, 2018

Ohohoho
Well. Wang An likes bridal roleplay.
Aoguang does like to play dress up with his partners too...

xenotop · Aug 5, 2018

Gav said: ↑

EASTER EGG

ATDSVT
***
After a very enlightening conversation with Wang Zhengchen, Mei Lin's two new fiances brought up the subject of a full body checkup for her and her father.

While Wang Zhengchen was breaking the news to his now heartbroken son, Siye, that he was being assigned only the rank of Count, specifically because of what he did to the Wang's BFF and his daughter, the physical examinations were proceeding.

Gao Jinghe was not happy at all, to find out that the real reason his daughter had so many persistent skin problems and assumed birthmarks weren't really allergies,or birthmarks.

She had been poisoned in the womb.

This same poison must have been what really killed her mother after their son was born, rather than childbed fever.

If the poison were allowed to run its course, it would destroy her body further. Already she was unable to cultivate, but it would eventually start affecting her internal organs and her veins too, causing her to waste away in a horribly slow, miserable death.

As it was, the very clear difference between the resources held by big sects and the resources held by wealthy, influential mortals was revealed to be a chasm as big as the Cang Mountain Range.

For mortals and even most sects, crippling was permanent. The breaking of bones was considered a terrible thing and bones broken had a chance of ruining cultivation thoroughly because they could never heal to the required strength to support a cultivator.

The kind of 'incapable of walking' crippling that Gao Jinghe had, was considered to be life ruining everywhere. Just as the poison that Mei Lin had suffered was also life ruining everywhere.

Everywhere except in Cang Qiong, that was.

Gao Jinghe was the first to be healed, as his wounds were the most traumatic. In addition, there was the delicious bonus of the purple, unsightly looks on the faces of the elders who had gone against him, lending even more savor to the affair.

Naturally, the next thing to be done was the healing of Mei Lin.

Of course, the two sons and the Wang had exited the room only to bear witness to the miracle.

The first thing that Gao Jinghe asked Guo Minghua for, as his father-in-law, to be done right after he would be done healing Mei Lin... was for him to heal his friend, Wang Zhengchen.

Naturally, Wang Zhengchen was touched. As expected of his friend, really generous.

Of course he had completely pragmatic reasons to ask Minghua for that favor.

A healed Wang Zhengchen would never have to give that brat, Siye, the time of day, much less any chance to scheme for a bigger inheritance.

As Mei Lin stared at her own reflection in the exquisite, rare silver and glass mirror that her fiance was holding in front of her, she could only marvel at the changes.

This.... She had never known that she could be beautiful, like an immortal. But that was exactly what she was seeing in front of her.

After learning why his father had arrived to basically crush all his hopes and dreams of being the next Wang, by taking him completely off the list of sons with any claim to that inheritance and removing him from the line of succession to any other properties, Siye was buried in bitterness and self recriminations.

His father truly valued that girl more than him, to the point he was rejected because of her? That was so unfair! He could only blame both Miss Nihuang for seducing him and Miss Mei Lin for being more loved by his father than he himself ever was.

Fuyi, as the loyal, nonquestioning and sensible son, had savored the sight of his older brother losing everything he had hoped for. With one less competitor, he could advance to the top three candidates to become the next Wang.

Of course this pair of sons and the recently arrived Wang who had lectured the elder boy, were stunned to come out and find Guo Minghua healing the father and daughter.

The fact that he has never been able to help Jinghe's injuries heal had always been a thorn in the side of Wang Zhengchen. Now that his friend was healed, he could only be both envious he hadn't been able to help his friend more and stunned to find out his friend's daughter was really a beauty under the skin problems she had earlier.

Siye had a simple plan. Because his fiancee adored him, she could help him get back his inheritance once he sweet talked her into it. Given she loved him, he had an immense amount of expectation that she would ensure the return of everything he had lost.

Except he was very wrong and she no longer wishes to speak with him.

Siye who had come to beg for Mei Lin' s forgiveness and lure her into taking him back as her fiance in order to regain his position, could only gape as the woman he had thought of as disgusting, became exquisitely beautiful and enticing right before his eyes.

It was fairly obvious that Miss Nihuang couldn't take the sudden change in their circumstances.

First, the prospective father-in-law declared he considers her less talented and less beautiful cousin to be his treasured daughter-in-law, making it clear that he doesn't even put her in his eyes. Then her cousin is picked up by a gorgeous pair of cultivators who are both from higher ranking sects than the one she is entering. Then if that wasn't bad enough, they fixed up her cousin's skin and her cousin is suddenly a female immortal?!

These circumstances, all she wants to do is rage quit!

Unfortunately for her and her Elders whose faces have now been dragged into the mud by these people, they are still required to come up with a conclusion to smooth over their perfidy in trying to steal an engagement.

Naturally, their expressions do not look healthy anymore, looking more like the recently dead as Jinghe, now fully recovered, actually thanks them for breaking the engagement so that his daughter got a better pair of spouses and got him healed of his crippling injuries to boot.

Now he can compete with their candidates for the place as the family head again, isn't that great?

The elders want to vomit blood right about now but all they can do is wobble away unsteadily, cursing him in their heart of hearts.

Click to expand...

HAAAAAAA HA HA HAAAAAAAAA

Gav said: ↑

EASTER EGG

ATDSVT
***
In general, there are three spheres of influence. The mortal, secular world ruled by the Emperor, the Jianghu, and the realm of immortals and demons.

These three overlap in certain ways. For example, mortal governments are ruled by Emperors or kings who claim divine right, possibly through descent from this or that ancient immortal cultivator hero who purged demons, gained great fame and the worship of multitudes, the higher ups of the secular military may also have their own qinggong techniques. The Jianghu had its share of people who delved into Qi techniques and could possibly branch over into becoming an immortal cultivator if they had fortuitous encounters. And immortal cultivators could come from any walks of life, as long as they had acquired a Qi cultivation technique from a fortuitous encounter that allowed them to break their own limits, most of them retired from mortal life to cultivate.

In the millions of people in a city, one could find plenty of people studying qinggong, or who were involved in the Jianghu, but immortal cultivators were the one percent. As such, the oldest immortal sects were known to be incredibly choosy and wealthy.

The sudden influx of a large number of people of high rank and high amount of resources in the cultivation world would naturally cause quite a stir.

Previously, many beginning cultivators were from either established families who had a fortuitous encounter and managed to compile a working cultivation technique, commoners who had acquired a cultivation technique through a lucky find, military members who had gained their skills from family or fortuitous encounters with local masters or the Jianghu, which may as well be considered to have its own black market in terms of Qi-based martial arts techniques.

Since Qi techniques and cultivation were best acquired really early, anyone who started later than say, fifteen, was automatically assumed to be shit out of luck. The only thing that could counterbalance the late age would be ludicrous amounts of very expensive resources and a master who really valued them.

As such, most of the time if a farmer found anything they couldn't read or signs of a cultivation ruin, they went to the nearest person said to have ties to the Jianghu or cultivators and sold their find or their land for large amounts of quick cash.

Those items in turn were sold off at higher prices to those who could make use of them. In the current economy full of treasure hunters, finds like this tended to start up economic booms.

In short, the Empire was having a great time, and a flourishing economy with brand new resources popping up here and there, a massive hunt (for easter eggs that they didn't know were easter eggs) was ongoing. The optimism was high, the treasure hunting cultivators were cheerfully raiding every single ruin they came across and the vendors of all walks of life were making a mint by selling everything from food to supplies.

In the other side of the Cang Mountain range, other countries... weren't really having a good time. This was because one of the other countries bordered by the mountain range in question was attacking a third. And the third was losing. Oh, it was making the larger country fight for every square inch of land, but it was still losing.

Click to expand...

there seems to be a lot of rich cultivators who've died for all these ruins to be just lying around ∠( ᐛ 」∠)＿

Gav said: ↑

EASTER EGGS

ATDSVT- Yang Dewei Arc
***
Wars are started by many things. Some are started by pride, some by honor, some by lust and some by greed. But in the end, what keeps a war going is the availability of supplies for the army.

In this case, the war that was going on between a certain pair of countries on the other side of the Cang Mountain Range had been started because the second largest of the four countries bordered by that mountain range had wanted to expand its land.

The smaller country, Lingyu Jie, had very fertile land. The larger country, Senlin Guo, had previously had a famine in one of its provinces. It was a nice excuse, right?

Yes, a very nice excuse. Certainly better than a previous 'emperor's blatant interest in the queen of the neighboring kingdom which was the reason for the expansion war of the kingdom several generations ago. (That emperor made her his consort, placing her over the rest of his other concubines the moment he took over their country.)

In truth, the Senlin Guo's ruling family, the Zhong clan, just really wanted to someday rival their much larger neighbor, the Empire, on the other side of the Cang Mountain range. All the small kingdom's ruling families liked to call themselves emperors, but they had no real qualifications. They each had a kingdom, and not an empire. As such, the Zhong family looked at the big picture, harboring ambitions of devouring all the countries on their side of those mountains, all the way to the sea.

Their assault on their neighboring country was a reaction to the Empire's successful conquest of the nomads' territory. Since the estimate of their officials was that the Empire would be quiet for at least three generations in order to digest the great amount of land it had devoured now, this was prime time to go around conquering their neighbors while the Empire concentrated on dividing up and assimilating that much land.

ATDSVT- Yang Dewei Arc
Senlin Guo's emperor, Zhong Feng, had assumed that the conquest of Lingyu Jie would be quickly completed. As such, he had set all seven of his sons to the task of expanding territory, giving each of them an army.

Each of his sons were extremely beautiful, as could be expected when they took after their imperial consort mothers. Of these seven princes, the most competitive and masterful were the fourth prince, Zhong Jing, and the seventh prince, Zhong XiCheng. The fourth prince had acquired his fifth brother, Zhong Tong as an ally. The eldest prince, Zhong Haotian, and the third prince, Tian Ye, were both mediocre. The second and sixth princes, Guangshun and Guanyuan, shared the same mother and were naturally allied. Other than the fifth prince, all the other princes harbored their own plans for the throne.

If the seven hadn't all been set out with armies to take over Lingyu Jie, perhaps the six factions led by six princes would have torn the country apart in vying for the crown.

As it was, Emperor Zhong Feng had stated unequivocally that whoever performed the most meritorious deed of conquest would take the position of crown prince. This statement upended the plans of the eldest prince, who had always assumed that position was his by right.

As a result, all seven princes were expanding the reach of their country, although not all of them chose to attack Lingyu Jie. After all, it wasn't the only Jie country that was available as a target.

In the past, the then-Prince Feng's small force had swallowed entire provinces from a Jie country that had been devastated by droughts and famines and other disasters to the point that its citizens actually fled from those lands to seek shelter in the mountain range. They eventually managed to make that land quite profitable, after crushing that Jie's capital city and getting rid of all the ruling Xie family members they could find.

While it was said that the last member of that family, princess Xie Yu had fled with the last commander, Long Zigui and the remnants of their imperial bodyguard to the mountains, no one had ever found them.... so the point was moot and the country had been administered by Zhong Feng ever since.

ATDSVT- Yang Dewei Arc
Lingyu Jie had held on to its independence with great tenacity.

Its King, Nangong Fa, had once been a warrior of great reknown, studying under a Jianghu sect leader. His sworn brother, Guan Yue, had adopted ten sons, and these ten sons formed the backbone of Lingyu Jie's defense as its ten great generals. King Nangong Fa had a daughter, Siqi, considered the fairest maiden in the country. He was naturally anxious for her safety and had repeatedly requested of his martial nephews to take her away with them if the country could no longer be defended.

Thus far, the people of Lingyu were still quite hopeful of eventual victory.

Of course the war was about to have an unpleasant interruption... for both sides. Several kinds of ferocious Beasts were migrating in search of food. Humans that weren't cultivators certainly counted as food.

While there were certainly many people skilled in Qinggong in both countries, the Jianghu of that area had plenty of sects and many members of the military on both sides were great warriors, the vast majority of the people were sitting ducks on a pond that was about to be invaded by piranhas.

Was it fortunate or unfortunate that some sects of immortal cultivators were interested in the Beast migration? Such a Beast migration meant plentiful Beasts to hunt for their useful parts, cores and essences. It also tended to bring to light any ruins in the massive Beast tide's path, since so many moving monsters tended to tear up the ground, giving any cultivators a two for one deal.

Yang Dewei was one of those immortal cultivators. To be precise, he had decided to hit multiple birds with one stone- first, he would go over to the Cang mountain range to go deal with the bandits who were now rumored to be going around kidnapping beautiful, unmarried young maidens, then he would go over to see what kinds of Beasts were migrating and what interesting things he could acquire from this migration.

If the items that he could find there were interesting enough, he might bring them home by hook or by crook, by trade or, if the item was a Beast or Beast body-part, then by force.

Click to expand...

Gav said: ↑

MANGO CAKES

ATDSVT
***
The Cui Marquis Estate had been descended from the Imperial family from its founder's wife, a princess born to a concubine. This princess originally had the entirety of the Princess' estate to pass on to her descendants by her prince-consort (fuma) as well as a hereditary title. Sadly, after three generations, her descendant of that time decided to get involved in politics and suffered a significant loss which came with a demotion.

Several more generations later, the princess' descendants had dwindled down to two. A man who regularly did his duties at court as both Marquis and minor minister, and his younger sister by the name of Cui Jiahui.

Miss Cui Jiahui was quite beautiful and elegant. She carried herself with the pride and grace of a daughter of an established noble house. She was intelligent, loyal, loving, good-natured and she had been quite head over heels for a handsome young general.

Her closest friend was Miss Feng Fangfei.

This Miss Feng came from a minister's house. Minister Feng Tian Xiao had risen to his position through the exams, having worked hard to establish his household in their city. He had also married Yu Yao, the beautiful, but fierce daughter of a general who had rescued him from imprisonment at the hands of some brigands. It could be said their love story was the genderswapped version of the hero rescuing the beauty.

Well, anyway, it certainly was a very fertile marriage, since it produced both sons and daughters. The eldest, Feng Yi had already married the Jiang Merchant family's Miss Jing.

The second son, Feng Ci had also quickly married the Yu family's Miss Shu. It was clearly a love at first sight thing, since he followed her around like a puppy for weeks before she gave up and took him to see her father, Yu Shang.

Of course that left the two sisters Fangfei and Yu Heng.

Yu Heng quickly caught the attention of a dashing military officer who doted on her day and night. Her sister, on the other hand, everyone in her family was fairly sure if Fangfei had been a man, she would have been dashing and ruthless and would have married Jiahui herself.

Except they were both straight women who wanted children, so that option was right out.

When Miss Jiahui was kidnapped by the Beizi, it was Miss Fangfei who had rallied the troops, and gone to her maternal family, even pestered her younger sister's recently engaged fiance, Brigadier Meng Cong and his brother, Captain Meng Kang to send troops out to look for her dear friend.

Unfortunately they couldn't find her.

Jiahui's brother was quite willing to pull all the strings to look for her, he went to everyone who he could possibly ask for help, even lowering himself to personally look for help in the Jianghu... But the handsome young general who had been engaged to her?

He didn't care. He didn't exert any efforts to find her. He simply went and married another woman and took a concubine, besides.

When Jiahui was finally found and rescued from the Beizi, Fangfei burst into tears at the sight of her.

Her dearest friend had been mutilated. She couldn't find it out from her friend, of course, because part of her friend's tongue was gone.

From the words of a blinded woman who was in similar straits, the whole thing had happened because Jiahui had refused to be the Beizi's concubine.

She was an honorable girl and infatuated with her fiance, how could she possibly want to allow the Beizi to have his way?

Annoyed, the Beizi had her kidnapped and then took what he wanted from her anyway.

He chained her down and then had his way with her. Her tongue hadn't been cut by him, she had bitten it off when she had tried to die, but the Beizi had taken the tongue out of her mouth rather than let her choke to death on it.

The rest of her many injuries, though, the crippled arms and legs, those were all the Beizi's work.

Jiahui fought to keep her purity so she was crippled and when he had tired of playing with her body he had her stored away with his other surviving victims.

Fangfei had refused to leave her friend's side after that... other than for the hearing.

When the time for the hearing came, Fangfei was first in line to curse the Beizi and demand justice.

When Huang Enlai came to heal all the injured victims, repair their broken bodies, even restoring their missing body parts, Fangfei had been elated.

She had stayed by her friend's side, day and night. Sometimes she was joined by Jiahui's brother, sometimes surrounded by her own family, but always she was there to help look after her.

Fangfei had to be the one answering her questions, and informing her that her fiance, whom she treasured, had abandoned her immediately after she was taken, and then had gotten married.

Fangfei, Jiahui's brother and Enlai were thus there to console Jiahui for her heartbreak.

That was how she was the first to realize that Jiahui was in love with Huang Enlai.

To be fair, Enlai was a good man. A kind man. A gentle man. A hero who had saved and carefully tended Jiahui until she recovered.

Unfortunately he was also a man in high demand because many of the other women he had saved and rescued also wanted to marry him. Which meant that if Jiahui was going to marry him, she would only be one of his wives.

When she realized that, Fangfei tried to talk her out of it, but it was obvious that Jiahui had already made up her mind.

Enlai was more loyal and faithful than her own fiance. She wanted to be with him.

She wanted Enlai.

Fangfei broke three vases, four teacups, a tea service... and flipped a table.

Then she went to drag Enlai down to her eye level and threaten him that if he ever hurt Jiahui, she would murder him herself.

After leaving the bemused Enlai, she went to go and break shit.

That is to say, to wreck the household of Jiahui's former fiance, with extreme prejudice.

After impeaching the handsome young general in question, dragging him back down to the level of a commoner and then getting her brothers in law to suppress him, Fangfei finally felt better but resolved to look after Jiahui until she could be sure Jiahui would be taken care of properly.

She wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry when she realized that Enlai genuinely was solicitously caring for Jiahui... But he was also solicitously looking after his other brides with the same care.

ATDSVT
***
Wen Ming Jia, one of Qing Jing's many outer sect disciples, was orphaned some years back. His dear parents died, his grandparents were long dead, his elder sister married out to a good-natured, conscientious and reliable minor official by the surname Zhang*. This left him with only his youngest brother, Wen Xiyan, who relies on him for support.

Wen Xiyan has a difficult time dealing with people. He is shy, too easily intimidated, unskilled socially and prone to hiding himself when entangled in a confrontation. He tends to cling to his elder brother and sister and hide behind them whenever he meets new people and he takes a long time to become comfortable with new people. He dislikes to leave his home and feels afraid and ill at ease when he is out by himself. In modern terms, Wen Xiyan is a hikkikomori.

Xiyan has become skilled with three things- music, mathematics and painting.

As his elder brother, Wen Ming Jia naturally has to ensure his younger brother is taken cared of, not just right now, but also for his future.

Part of this is that he really needs to ensure his brother can make a living on his own, in case he himself dies. The life of a cultivator is not really peaceful, and rising in cultivation also means undergoing tribulations of varying kinds, as well as fighting things that can kill normal humans. Since he cannot risk leaving his little brother without support, this means a job or livelihood.

In truth, it was a veritable meat pie from heaven when free education was offered to the families of the outer sect disciples, since Xiyan proved to be skilled in mathematics.

Thus his first act was to go to the sect and ask around, to check if they have any jobs requiring calculations but not requiring interaction with people. Then, having spoken to the honorable An Ding peak lord, Shang Qinghua, and having gotten a part time job for his brother as an accountant who works at home, Wen Ming Jia then turned his mind to the second possible job.

Since Xiyan was skilled at painting, perhaps it would be best if Wen Ming Jia markets his brother's paintings for him.

...He does this by talking to some of the ladies from Xian Shu Peak, to ask if he can get them to use their contacts to sell his brother's paintings along the same route as they sell their own artworks. He knows some of them engage in large scale embroidery projects for cash, or paint and write poems to be sold in anthologies in their spare time.

If he knew that what they were actually selling was danmei novels and the other projects were just to cover up their main cash flow source, he would probably have been much more concerned.

***
*coincidentally, this man's sister married a decent fellow by the name of Feng and he was quickly hired to work under his brother-in-law. They lived quite happily together.

Click to expand...

- murder
- at least she's happy with the decisions she's made
- wei xiyan being brought up the wrong way hahahaaha

Gav said: ↑

***
Years ago, Xue Jie, like most Jie, was only a small country. Bordered on all four sides by other countries, it could be said that its fall had been inevitable from the moment one of its neighbors had expansionist tendencies.

The Jiang family had been one of the 'good' families, with scholar officials in its lineage and a large number of shops as well as a thriving mercantile business. It has guards aplenty, both to protect the family estate as well as to protect their trading caravans and even their hired ships. The Jiang family had wealth enough to enjoy all the luxuries of life, its estate was beautiful and in the best taste.

Those on high have further to
fall. Thus It was predictable that when the city was falling under the enemy attack and there was chaos in the streets, the Jiang estate had been one of the rich plums targeted by thieves, ruffians, and invading soldiers alike.

The city had been a powderkeg. The elderly had been slaughtered, the sick had been killed off, many of the men who had been armed to defend the city had been slain. Infants had been slain or died by accident.

The slavers had a rich haul- the physically able men and women of the city, particularly the presentable ones, had their lives spared, but their lives were all they were allowed to keep.

Women, boys, both were violated by the eager soldiers of the invading army after they had captured the city. The survivors of this tragic fall would be sold off by the slavers as human merchandise- for whatever use the buyer could have for them.

***
Jiang Chengze had been the treasured youngest son of the Jiang family. His eldest brother, Chenfeng, was the pride of the family, handling the propagating of its financial resources, as well as its myriad guards. His second brother, Chenling, was a scholar official who had married a valiant woman from a general's family.

His parents had been proud of his brothers. Since those two prodigies had all the laurels, there had been nothing that Chengze had needed to undertake for the family. He, as the youngest, had been the idle, little treasured silkpants of the family since he had been small.

Ironically enough, it had been Chengze who had managed the greatest contribution to his family, when the city has been under attack.

Since his elder siblings were out of the city and could not get back in time to defend it, Chengze had managed to smuggle his parents and his sisters out of the estate with enough supplies to live on, when the city's gate had been broken down.

They hadn't seen him since.

The streets had been full of stampeding people all trying to go this way or that, to find a way out of the trap. The air had rung with screams, smoke had dyed the skies black, flames turned the city's waterways into streams of crimson, like blood. The blood that was being spilled aplenty, out on the streets.

Jiang Chengze had still, despite this disaster, managed to put together supply packs that could hold them to the next city's docks and his brother's ships, sending them off to safety.

His last words to his father and mother as he hustled them to the hidden emergency escape route leading out of the city was that he would be following after them with the next group of evacuating people. He had promised them he would catch up and meet them later in a safer location.

Who knew that they would not see him again after those words?

His mother was devastated. His father felt as if he had aged decades in a day. His brothers had done their best to find him but found nothing.

***
For as long as Jiang Chenfeng could remember, his little brother had relied on him.

Jiang Chenfeng had been born ten years before his youngest brother.

Just after Chengze was born, Chenfeng had been right beside their mother. It was into his arms that their mother had placed Chengze, it had been he who has carried Changze everywhere to see the limits of their small world.
Chenfeng had doted on all his siblings but had felt that Chengze had needed it more.

Now, little Chengze was missing and he was nowhere to be found.

To Chenfeng, this was unacceptable. However, he couldn't spare the manpower or the resources to try to look for him in this mess.

He and Chenling first had to take the rest of his family to a country that would not be in danger of being taken over, and the best choice he could think of was the Empire.

Chenling's wife and her family had been able to rally the troops that remained, but they were little more than a fragment of the resistance. The rest of the country had its own troubles. The other armies' and their generals had their own cities to defend and their small city wasn't anywhere near as important as the capital, so once the city had been lost, the commanding general on that border had quickly given it up to regroup somewhere else.

This was a decision that he regretted for many years. Even though he had managed to gain a foothold in the Empire and rebuild their Jiang family into a wealthy powerhouse, by the time he returned with his connections to search for his brother, the trail had long gone cold.

Little Chengze had vanished, as a bubble into thin air and there was nothing Chenfeng had been able to do, to find him or track down who had captured him.

***
Current Day...
***
The beaded curtains over Chengze's bed swayed violently.

Chengze moaned as he was being pounded into, quite vigorously, by his client. His gaze blurred and his insides tightened around the thick hardness inside that was sending continuing pulses of pleasure up his spine.

He was practically folded in half, impaled thoroughly, over and over again as the bed shook.

He came hard and violently again and again under those skilled hands, and his client panted as he spilled his seed deep inside of his body.

Chengze whimpered weakly as his client pulled away from him.

Chengze could only lay limp as if he was boneless, while the shimmering beaded curtains slowed to a stop.

His client surveyed his weakly trembling form with deep satisfaction, noting the flush on his cheeks, the dazed look in his eyes, the red marks on his flesh, the fingermarks on his thighs, the tight ring of muscle that had swollen pink, dripping slick white fluid, having been 'loved' countless times that night. A sultry, enticing sight.

Idly, his client slipped fingers inside of him to play, just a bit, the slickness of the sounds was deliciously obscene.

Chengze whimpered weakly as the client stroked and played with his rosy jade stem, possessively milking it of the last drops he could spill.

Then his client leaned down to kiss him. "As usual, you are a treasure."

Idly, the client slipped that slick hand into his own discarded robes, pulling out a single long golden token from an inner pocket, before he worked Chenggze's ring of muscle open again, until he could slip the long golden token of 'affection' inside of his body until just the tip of the thin, rounded gold bar could be seen, peeking from that place of desire.

"Just a tip." He kissed Chengze deeply. "I will be back."

Chengze could only lay helplessly in bed until his body had recovered.

***
It took Jiang Chengze quite some time to recover, during which his little maidservant had cleaned him up, wiping away the white fluid with a warm damp cloth which she continually washed clean in a porcelain basin full of scented water.

She helped him to remove the long, thin, rounded golden bar from his chrysanthemum as he gasped at the sensation as it slid out of him, and then helped him up to sit in a drawn bath full of warm water.

As she washed his long, silky dark hair in scented soaps and oils, he closed his eyes and could only remember the past.

On that day, he had sent his parents to safety through the tunnel that he used to visit new brothels outside the city. That tunnel lead to a ferry. The ferry took passengers to the next city.

This little maid was one of the people with him when his group had been trying to escape.

They had not made it to the tunnel's entrance within the city, and as such were captured and eventually chained with many other people from the good families.

Some foolish young mistresses, masters and young misses, even former wives or concubines of the good families had tried to use their identities to chastise or browbeat the invading soldiers who had captured them.

Before Chengze's very eyes, those women and men who had tried such a thing were struck and stripped, pushed down and taken, over and over again, their bodies used for the relief of the soldiers who had captured them.

Chengze had been too terrified to do more than shiver in terror and his eyes teared up preemptively in fear whenever the men had gazed in his direction, so he had remained untouched, incapable of escaping from the sound of the screams of the former nobles who had become 'meat toilets.'

After a degrading and cursory examination, he was classified as 'virgin, high class goods' and was marked down as for sale to a high class brothel that could afford such a luxury.

This little maid had also been one of the few people, fellow citizens from his home city, who had been sold on the same block as he had been.

They had to eat what rations they were given, as slaves. The good food that Chengze remembered eating had been replaced by drab rations, but he wasn't foolish enough to allow himself to sicken from starvation. Nothing good happened to anyone foolish enough to lower their own value on the block. If the slavers caught anyone lowering their own value, it was like a red flag to a bull- those slavers would try to get that value out of their bodies one way or the other.

He shared his rations when he could spare them- every single slave that survived was another slave who could keep their captors' eyes off him for much longer.

In the end, when he had been sold on the block to a high class brothel, that brothel had cleaned him up, ensured his body recovered from his ordeal in the slavers' caravan, dressed him up presentably... and then auctioned off his virginity to the highest bidder for much, much more than what they paid to acquire him.

After that, they had tested him to see what training they would have to give him to maximize their profits.

His skills with painting, poems and calligraphy were acceptable, his skill at weiqi was abysmal. His skills with musical instruments were up to par. Thus they assigned him to be an entertainer, a courtesan who earned his living primarily with the five arts rather than with his body.

Of course, in those days, that didn't exempt him from being taken by a client or a group of clients if the price was high enough, as he had discovered after he and a group of other entertainers, musicians, chanteuses and dancers of both genders were retained for the hosting of celebrations by people who could afford to pour money like wine.

First, they had entertained the guests with their music, their singing and their dancing. Then, the entertainers became the entertainment.

The male and female beauties who had danced, sung and served the guests the wine, coaxing them to feast, became the feast's desserts.

The guest of honor had slid his hands inside Chengze's clothes, fondled him and groped his pale flesh. Chengze had been pushed down and taken over and over again, first by the guest of honor, then after him by other guests. His skin was licked, his legs were pulled open, his most private parts fondled and he was made to serve them in every single way they desired him to do so. With his mouth, with his hands... everything. No part of his body remained untouched.

He wasn't the only one, of course.

Some of his fellow entertainers, both male and female had been taken over and over.

One male beauty writhed as he was being taken and ridden by a pair of the guests, his pale skin slick with sweat, his silken dark hair concealed nothing. A beautiful woman had to serve three eagerly thrusting men with her lush, pink mouth, her chrysanthemum and her dripping flower hole. And that was only what could be discerned at a glance.

Other beauties had their private parts fondled by guests, the womens' snowy bosoms hanging out of their now widely opened gowns, and the male entertainers' jade stems stroked to dusky hardness in full view while those guests had a drinking game. Some of the guests laughed and wagered on how many orgasms could be wrung from the entertainment, even as their playthings mewled and gasped and writhed.

The air was redolent of sex, perfume and heady incense. The moans, mewls, whimpers and gasps filled the room.

There had been a few more incidents of those events, but none after his client had staked a claim on him.

***
Jiang Chengze had met his client a year, maybe two or three? after his arrival at the brothel which had purchased him at the age of seventeen.

His client was stubborn and had very clear rules.

Sex for money, no one under the age of eighteen, the courtesan had to be scrupulously clean, the courtesan had to let him heal them before anything else. There would be no crying, no making a mess, no hanging themselves, no scheming and no acting pitiful.

Chengze didn't know why people didn't just comply with the rules. If the client wanted something, he would ask for it.

Compared to those feasts he was supposed to help entertain the guests wherein he had become the 'entertainment', his client's rules were clear, straightforward and concise. He made no hidden deals or bargains, he didn't have secret agendas unlike those men who had hired them to be playthings instead of singers and musicians.

And yet, despite those same clear rules, his client was consistently faced with desperate schemers who tried to portray themselves as white lotuses, pure, pitiful, noble, virtuous and chaste or at least innocent, in need of rescue.

Chengze was very clear about what life was like in the brothel, by now.

Everyone had their own sad story.

Some people had been sold to the brothel as children by families who could not feed them. Some, like Chengze himself, had been sold to the brothel by slavers after the fall of their families from a great height. These were fellow former nobles or people from formerly influential merchant or scholarly families who had lost everything because of invasions, or traitors or scheming competitors or because their own schemes offended the ruler of their land and they were stripped of everything and then sold off.

Still others were simply picked off the streets and sold by slavers to the brothel to make a quick string of copper cash.

Some others were sold to the brothel by members of their own families trying to get rid of them in order to claim an inheritance.

Everyone had their problems, everyone wanted to be bought out of the brothels.

This client had made it perfectly clear that he didn't want to be bothered by people with ulterior motives and yet Chengze's fellow courtesans still attempted the tried and tested 'cool, clean, pure, virtuous' act or the 'pitiful flower in need of shelter' act.

Neither of them worked. Neither did the, 'I have fallen for you, please have pity on me' act that so many courtesans played in hopes that their clients would buy them out to be concubines.

Chengze had obediently treated this as a financial transaction from beginning to end. His client wanted sex. To be precise, beforehand, he would describe to Chengze what he wanted done and tell him what remuneration he would be getting for it.

Since this client didn't demand any exhibitionism, he didn't demand to share Chengze's body with guests, he didn't demand any acts Chengze was uncomfortable with or inflict any pain, Jiang Chengze was quite willing to play along and do whatever he was asked.

***
It was a fact that every courtesan in the brothel wanted to have the ideal 'courtship' where their clients shelled out the copper cash, silver or golden taels to see them and get the courtesans to entertain them without any sex being involved until after those clients gave them money, clothes, nice things.

It was a fact that the courtesans in the brothels all hoped to hook big clients.

It was a fact that they hoped to be bought out.

It was also a fact that the biggest appeal they had to their clients was the veneer of education including poetry, painting, music, the elegance and grace of their movements..and their skill at listening.

The best courtesans could discuss court gossip, or listen sympathetically as their clients spoke of what bothered them, then soothe their clients with poetry or pretty words, flatter them, feed their egos.

As a result, those skills and tactics that could hook young masters or sons from this or that family, and even some officials into long 'relationships' that had to be paid for, and many a man had been ruined financially by the need to keep visiting a lover who was a courtesan. Those lovers dropped them like hot roasted hazelnuts when they no longer had the money to be useful.

But they didn't work on Chengze's client. He wanted everything up front, and had no interest in playing along or allowing anyone to compromise him emotionally.

As a result, many beauties who had hoped to hook him and be bought out by him were offended by his straightforward approach and he was offended by their attempts to take advantage of him.

It was a case of mutually harming each other.

***
Chengze's client had several fetishes.

For one, he always had a fondness for dressing Chengze up in robes made of silks, satins and brocades. Robes fit for the leisure hours of nobles of high rank or scholar officials, or even princes. Some of those robes had similar cuts to those of actual formal clothing. All of them were fashionable and resembled the clothes the influential scholars, officials and royal family wore, while still being unmistakably different from palace robes or uniforms.

Chengze had always been fond of beautiful jewels and fine clothes.

His client always let Chengze keep those robes and the jewelry besides. Chengze never rejected them.

Once he had dressed Chengze up, sliding ornaments and coronets into his hair with a proprietary air, he pushed Chengze down and utterly ruined his clothing.

Sometimes, he enjoyed bending Chengze over a table stocked with dishes and snacks, parting his elegant robes and milking Chengze over and over again into fine porcelain tea cups or sake cups until they were full of white fluid.

The table was bought by his client. The tea services and the wine cups and bottles had been bought by his client. Those also were given to Chengze.

His client also enjoyed sliding his hand into Chengze's robe, loosening his sash, and then toying with Chengze's jade stem, stroking it to hardness and bringing Chengze to orgasm.

Sometimes he liked pushing Chengze down on the floor, on the narrow beds, in an alcove bed or on a long table, taking Chengze's jade stem into his mouth, drinking his 'cream' straight from the source.

His client had given him the beds.

Other times he liked to make Chengze spill all over furniture or other objects, in particular, he enjoyed bending Chengze over his own writing tables and utterly ruining the poems on top.

His client had been the one to gift Chengze the writing tables, the inkstones, the brushes, and the other writing materials.

His client also made Chengze come all over the zither he was playing. The music was ruined. The zither wasn't ruined, but it was certainly stained.

The zithers in question and the jade flutes he slid into Chengze's body with the mouthpiece's end sticking out, all were gifted to Chengze.

He was sometimes interested in tying Chengze up so he could toy with his body for the better part of an entire day, wherein Chengze felt only pleasure.

He also liked taking Chengze over and over again in many positions, vigorously thrusting into his tight body and savoring every shiver, shudder, every movement of his hips and every sound he could coax out of Chengze while making Chengze climax over and over again, all but wringing him dry.

In short, Chengze knew that every single time that his client was going to visit, he was going to come over and over again until his client was satisfied.

That and his client would leave some kind of gift. His entire room, including the silver mirror, now resembled the room of a prince or a scholar minister, because his client liked an exquisite stage for debauching Chengze.

***
Jiang Chengze would think that his client has more money than sense, if it weren't for the fact that his fellow courtesans of both genders are continually displaying their lack of sense.

When a client says he has rules, the rules have to be obeyed. Chengze had told them this when they asked him how he won his client's favor but apparently they either didn't believe him or they're foolishly imagining that his client is in love with him.

Chengze really wished they displayed more logic and less opera troupe level drama.

Alas, they have apparently been obsessing over the fact his client gives him gifts at each visit. It isn't like his client is the only one to give gifts to their courtesan, it is just that his client can afford more than theirs, or is more willing to spend, than theirs.

Nevertheless, his fellow courtesans clearly choose to believe that he has some kind of hold on his client's heart instead. One or two keep insisting that he has some kind of leverage over his client, another pair keep insisting he has a way to his client's heart and isn't sharing.

Chengze feels rather bitter about the fact that he is the butt of their discontent. It isn't his fault they haven't obeyed the client's rules when they had the chance.

Upset by his excellent luck, his fellow courtesans start trying to tear him down in hopes they would remove a rival.

Thefts didn't work. The items returned to their owner. Leaving trash in his path also didn't work and only made enemies among the wait staff who were the ones who had to take the trash away.

Finally, matters came to a head when a particularly foolish courtesan tried to poison Chengze.

That was right this morning, and his client had seemingly spoken to the madame about such matters.

***
So now, here Chengze was, taking a relaxing bath (in a tub that his client had given him) and feeling quite confused.

How had his client arrived so quickly after he was poisoned? What arrangements had his client made with the madam? What did he mean when he said he would be back? Back, when?

Traditionally, the brothels could allow their courtesans and prostitutes to buy themselves free or allowed others to buy them free.

However it was also traditional for the brothels to charge the prostitutes and courtesans for every single object that they wore or used that came from the brothel. Their food, cosmetics, clothing, jewelry, their rooms and the room's furnishings- all of these were considered the brothel's property and all of it had to be paid for. Furniture and rooms counted as rentals.

The only things they could count as theirs were the gifts from their clients.

However, every robe, every piece of jewelry, every piece of ceramic and every piece of furniture that his client had given him, his client had made clear could not be sold off. They were for Chengze's use, and for Chengze to have, but they were never to be sold. Not even to redeem his freedom.

To that end, Chengze had become the highest earner of this brothel, and had been reserved exclusively by his client so he couldn't be rented out to anyone else.. But at the same time he could only rely on the gold bar tips his client tended to give him, as future funds.

His client had been generous. The beautiful picture screens, the intricately patterned carpets and silk beddings, the immaculately clean room, his own personal chef and even his own little maidservant bought from a slave market- all of these and more, every carved and inlaid chest, every cabinet, every shelf, every scroll, even the ceramic items right down to the incense burners were from his client and all of them were high quality enough to be found in the best households of royal family members in the capital of his former homeland.

And Chengze could sell none of the material goods to buy his own freedom.

In addition, his value having risen so high, the price to redeem him had probably risen sky high to accompany it.

None of these things endeared Chengze to his fellow courtesans or the lower ranked prostitutes.

The courtesans had been offended when his client hadn't been intrigued by their skills in the four arts and when he hadn't felt pity for their circumstances. They had been offended that their overtures, their attempts to gain his attention had been ignored. They were offended that their hard won, polished skills which had hooked them other clients, didn't work on him.

Chengze's client didn't care about court gossip. He didn't want to speak of what bothered him. He didn't want their flattery. He didn't want or need his ego fed.

Chengze had succeeded where they had failed and they had no idea why.

More to the point, Chengze was being looked after very well. Was this not the long courtship that every courtesan aspired to? Those were definitely the kind of gifts they wish they were being given, and Chengze was receiving them.

Naturally, they were both bitter and envious and felt that he didn't deserve what they thought was pampering and affection.

Where they had to rent out their rooms, instruments, game boards and furniture, he only had to rent out the room because the furnishings were all from his client. Where they had to pay off their clothing and jewelry, Chengze's was all from his client. Where they had to make do with what the brothel could give them in terms of cleaners and servants, Chengze had his own staff, from his client.

Indeed, the other courtesans wanted to flip tables and break ceramics, except if they did, the cost of the tables, ceramics and ruined carpeting or decor would be added to their outstanding tabs.

Click to expand...

WAAAAAA poor kid, but good kid. i support him. i want to give him cash.

Gav said: ↑

ATDSVT
***
Chen Wanyong had eventually reconciled himself with having to squire Xian Shu peak girls around to every single event.

Despite the Xian Shu peak lord's grumbling, it had been agreed that they could do worse in terms of chaperone.

At least Wanyong respected them. Plus, he was a loyal ally, an inner sect disciple of one of their own peak lords and wealthy enough to support several wives to boot.

Wanyong had been forced to accept that no matter how much he wanted to correct people, plenty of women claimed to want him, many of the men wanted to be him and many parents really hated him as the ostensible reason that their daughters didn't want to marry the men they chose for them.

Wanyong had finally managed to make enough of an impression that most people didn't bother him for something he didn't do. However, 'most' did not mean 'all'.

***
While Aoguang had a tongue so poisonous that he could make people cough blood just by talking, and most of the time the buns and meatbuns didn't really bother to change their manners, it was a fact that Shifu has insisted on teaching them how to look after their prospective spouses.

While this was only intended to be used for their respective spouses, it was also a fact that the skills used in dealing with a spouse and making them comfortable were also useful with dealing with other people.

That... was the root of their problems.

A lot of problems, actually.

Apparently, the skills Shifu had insisted they learn made them the dream lovers of many, many people.

Thanks to the diligence and tenderness with which they treated their sisters, constantly witnessed by everyone around, both Zhou Hui and Zhao Fu had gotten the well deserved reputation of being ideal gentlemen. Their sisters' acquaintances were all head over heels for them and their gossip only furthered this.

The pair's noble bearings, their refined and elegant appearances, their beauty and cultivation, all these things combined to get them a reputation of being perfect marriage material, as clean as ice and as pure as jade.

While Zhou Hui had stated clearly that he would only marry someone he chose, Zhao Fu had other conditions. Specifically the spouse or concubine candidates would have to meet the requirements of all his sisters, their parents and his Shifu.

However the fact that they weren't looking to accept any offered marriages for the time being meant that they were swamped with offers and invitations which they barely even looked at.

Zhu Liang's propriety, his elegant mannerisms and his displayed listening skills, his fine clothing and jewels -because Shifu always insisted on getting them the best- in combination with his genuine love for poetry had gotten him a famed name in the poetry circles.

That would have been perfectly fine if it was just the scholars who had been interested in him, but there were myriad women who also liked poems.

Because poetry was one of the ways to be remembered in popular culture, it was used in both the civil service and courtships... and Zhu Liang had several centuries and countries' worth of poems to draw from.

It didn't take more than a few slip ups in quoting from the poetry books Shifu had given him before he was the reluctant focus of people's attention.

And then there was Ma Kong, whose tragic unrequited love for Miss Dong Mei had become fodder for people's writing countless romances.

He had unintentionally acquired the reputation of being the romantic hero who had his heart broken and needed it to be healed.

That was exactly the kind of thing that got him swamped by invitations to parties or occasions wherein people wanted to introduce him to their daughters or sisters- because those daughters and sisters wanted to steal his heart away and heal him. Because sooooo romantic.

It was exactly the kind of love story that had people swooning, with the added scandal that Miss Dong Mei was in love with Miss Changying.

Anyone who scoffed at Miss Dong Mei's equally unrequited love for a fellow woman was quickly shown Miss Changying.

After seeing Miss Changying, the now stunned and flushed women no longer questioned why Dong Mei was in love with a fellow female.

And thus, the sexual identity crisis spread even further.

***
One of the problems that Wanyong was dealing with was that his reputation as a ladykiller had risen to new and completely unacceptable heights.

Heights that made him very uncomfortable.

One reason for his discomfort was that people tended to compare themselves or others against him as a standard. Sometimes the comparison was positive, sometimes the comparison was negative.

Over the weeks since the Xian Shu fujoshi club had taken to dragging him around (elegantly!) on dates, his life had become hopelessly entangled and eventful.

He had to talk to far too many concerned parents and explain their girls were still virgins and nothing untoward had happened.

He had to punch out many men who insulted the girls with him and insisted they were loose or such similar stupid assumptions.

He had to fight men who were enraged that the girls they had set their eyes on didn't want them.

He had to deal with women who claimed they were with him who were complete strangers to him.

He had to deal with the men in their lives who believed those women.

This dealing tended to involve a lot more punching than he was happy with.

In short, Wanyong was having plenty of exercise and plenty of reasons to try out new fighting techniques. Except they were all reasons he didn't want.

***
It wasn't as if Wanyong didn't understand why he was being annoyed by these matters.

Every straight man dreamed, harbored wishes or had idle thoughts of having a harem of exquisite beauties. Every straight man who hadn't been raised by ascetics longed to have a flower on each arm.

Xian Shu peak had myriad exquisite beauties. It was a fact that all of the disciples of that peak were beautiful, each in their own way, and even the outer sect disciple ladies could turn many heads at a glance.

It was so well known that even the Cang Qiong girls who weren't in Xian Shu, girls from other peaks, were immediately assumed to be from Xian Shu because of their flower-like looks.

As a direct result of this pile up of misunderstandings, poor Wanyong had aggregated the hatred of every man who had ever had hopes of dating their sect's beauties.

Well, every man who hadn't already been dating them.

But given that a lot of those lucky men were also from their sect -and were likely dungeoneers- that still left Wanyong carrying the brunt of discontent of everyone not actually from their sect who aspired to the hearts of Xian Shu beauties.

This was further compounded by the completely unfounded claims of complete strangers that they had been dating him.

What the hell.

Seriously, What. The. Hell.

Click to expand...

just continue punching? anyway even if WY doesn't want to be polite he *is* a Qing Jing Peak Inner Disciple, if strangers start trying to take advantage of him by claiming relations I think he's totally legit in attacking them.

xenotop · Aug 5, 2018

Gav said: ↑

SPICY! JALAPENO POPPER

ATDSVT- The Many (Internal) Deaths of Liu Qingge
***
Liu Qingge remembered quite well that Qingqiu had once told him that one of his former associates had a swinging sex party mansion and another associate had a sex dungeon.

Qingqiu had further stated that he considered Aoguang's brothel-visiting behavior to be normal and healthy.

When Qingqiu's students had come to him to complain about Aoguang's brothel visits and had strenuously argued that they believed Qingqiu should help the people in the brothels, Qingqiu had stated dryly that in a past life, he had reached 900 years old and had a full guild to back him and they still didn't manage to stamp out brothels, because prostitution is the oldest profession.

His words had been quite illuminating.

"[Dojo yaburi] the entire goddamn planet, you may as well ask me to murder 90% of all the men and the women would then start buying male prostitutes." he had held forth and refused to be moved.

"People are perverts, little buns. Filthy perverts. I should know." he had said on that day, "Even in the West where you can legally punch people in the dick for abusing prostitutes, prostitution still exists."

Well, now Liu Qingge had seen that associate whom Qingqiu called his brother. And he had seen that man's sex mansion.

It was huge, and completely decadent, opulent and immoral. It put the mansions of previous Imperial princes and emperors with harems to shame. The people there engaged in various acts that were...were...capable of causing Liu Qingge to break into incoherent sputtering with embarrassment for them that they obviously didn't feel for themselves.. amidst the most beautiful and expensive palatial surroundings.

Qingge was appalled and at first, his response had been, "At least now we know who the bad influence on you was, Qingqiu." as he contemplated that man with disapproval.

And then to Qingge's violent shock, there was the nobleman, Marquis with the sex dungeon.

As he watched that man engage in perverse and licentious, truly depraved acts, using whips, candle wax and many other depraved toys on his myriad, perversely bound and sometimes gagged or blindfolded victims, Qingge wanted to kill him.

He mentally revised his estimation. That man was the worst influence ever.

All he could do was choke and sputter,"What the hell, Qingqiu?!"

"That's Marquis." Qingqiu explained.

Both Sect Master Yue and Qingge himself had turned red and felt horribly uncomfortable.

As the played memory progressed, Qingge could not recover his composure.
All he could do was snap, "Don't ever go near that man, Qingqiu! He is obviously a fiend, Qingqiu!"

If he had been a falcon, then he would have broody feathers puffing out in all directions
It did not help when Qingqiu merely said, gloomily,"I've met worse."

Qingge was even more horrified. He could only exclaim,"THAT FIEND IS RUNNING A CULT, QINGQIU!!!"

"I've met worse." Qingqiu repeated himself,"At least Marquis' cultists all came running to volunteer, okay, I have seen much worse!"

"...You are never allowed to leave Qing Jing peak again." Qingge puffed up even more like an enraged mama falcon, sitting on top of a nest full of eggs, hissing angrily.

Both he and the Sect Master were APPALLED. Then the pair found out that the cultists they thought were being abused in the dungeon actually came running to court Marquis. As in, they had all come there willingly, to be abused. Specifically because they found it arousing.

Liu Qingge began to lose his faith in humanity.

Then he found out about masochists and he just wanted to drink Meng Po's soup and bury the knowledge that yes, there are people who get off on being fucked like that.

Qingqiu repeated himself."This is why I say that people are filthy, filthy perverts. And why I also told the kids that even if I went around murdering all the perverted men in the world, the women would still be visiting whorehouses."

He shrugged,"Ten percent- a full tenth of the population gets off on what you just saw Marquis do."

"I am not one of them!" Qingge blurted out.

Despite Qingge's words, Qingqiu's expression did not change.

(That sounds like a suspiciously specific denial, Qingge.)

Qingqiu simply shrugged and said, "If you say so."

Click to expand...

HMMMMMMMMMMm (this is a good blob aint seen it til now and thats a darned shame)

Gav said: ↑

Bittersweet Chocolate Truffles

ATDSVT-1001 NIGHTS
***
A certain Luo Binghe (the one who was a resident of this non-cultivation world) was not having a good day.

Meeting his counterpart tended to do that.

The doppelganger was clad in elegant robes of midnight and crimson, and he had his version of his sword sheathed very obviously, instead of more reasonably hidden under a spell.

Luo Binghe glanced around at all the people around them who were gaping at the newly arrived 'weirdo' and reluctantly made excuses for him before hissing quietly to his doppelganger that if he made any trouble for him or Shizun, he would maim him to death.

Shizun looked at the pair with great confusion. "Are you two related?" he asked. This was a reasonable assumption, as they did look far too alike to be unrelated.

"En." Luo Binghe stated grumpily.

Then, reluctantly, he let that guy follow them home, keeping an anxious eye over his Shizun and holding his hand as they walked back.

This doppelganger of his wanted to know why he was calling Shizun, 'Shizun', and so Luo Binghe had no other choice but to take his counterpart aside and explain.

His Shizun, Shen Qingqiu, had loved him best even though he had always cherished all his students.

Luo Binghe had been doted on since he had entered Cang Qiong Mountain sect. His master had raised him with the greatest care. For a former street urchin, those had been the sweetest days of his life- his only opponent in battling over his master's love and attention had been a certain spoiled brat by the name of Ming Fan, who couldn't stand him as an upstart.

Alas, those heady days of joy and comfort as the treasured pearl in his master's palm had come to an end on a day when his master, visibly distraught and agitated, had pushed him into a certain ravine.

He should have recognized the signs that his master had been forced to betray him from the beginning of that day, but he had been unobservant.

By the time he fought his way out of the Demon Realm, he had been utterly enraged and blamed his master for betraying him...only to find out his master had already killed himself.

Had, in fact, committed suicide not long after he returned to the sect after the ravine, claiming Luo Binghe's death was all his fault.

By all accounts, no matter who among the sect members he had interrogated, the gist of events had been the same.

No one had been able to stop Shizun after he had decided to end his own life.

Shen Qingqiu had handed over his position as peak lord to Ming Fan.

He had been utterly inconsolable, incoherent, blaming himself for Luo Binghe's death, not even the frantic sect master had been able to help him despite their friendship and then...

They had found his Shen Qingqiu dead the next morning. They had only been able to bury him after that.

Luo Binghe had interrogated everyone he could find. Then he dug up the grave and tried to raise his master from the dead.

His master refused to return to him, so he could only attempt to seek him out in the realm of the dead.

He had caught sight of his master's soul, but his master had fled from him, weeping. The sect master had long retired, reclused himself, blaming himself for being unable to help his friend. Ming Fan, having found the wreck he had made of their master's grave, had flown into a rage and accused him of foul play.

They had fought. Luo Binghe had been buried in rage, grief and guilt. That world died in fire.

It had taken him ages to find his master's soul had reincarnated here. His master had drunk Meng Po's soup and no longer remembered him or their past together, but had accepted him into his home anyway.

If his counterpart even thought of harming his master after all they had been through... he would kill him.

In the end, after interrogating him, his dismayed counterpart left their new world, and this world's Luo Binghe sealed the world away so that no dimensional sword could ever open a path to it again. He really didn't want any interruptions!

Luo Binghe's only real regret in destroying that world was simple- his Shizun's life and his own were both ruined by some guy, some outside factor or force or group and Binghe never got the chance to personally torture the culprits to death. He had never found out who they were or what leverage did they have on his Shizun to force him to that point of attacking Binghe when he clearly couldn't even accept outliving his own disciple.

Naturally this was a cause of very great resentment, the only resentment he had, in this 'new' life.

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Gav said: ↑

ATDSVT
***
Yang Dewei was an opportunist. This was a fact. Whenever there was any opportunity to make money, much like Sun Jin, he quickly made the best of it. However, while Sun Jin had quickly seized upon opportunities such as selling medicines and luxuries such as dyes and spices, Yang Dewei had different ideas.

For one, he helped the fujoshi club sell their stock for a portion of the profits. For another example, he had quickly taken over the circle betting on rumors about the peak's personages, to reorganize it so that he might profit from it. For another example, not satisfied with that, he undertook research into the creation of all sorts of recreational drugs for sale and in addition to that, he then began spreading even more methods of gambling, such as card games.

Now, while mortals were perfectly fine with poker and blackjack, both flagships that were soon earning Dewei a steady profit, Yang Dewei had an ace up his sleeve.

Where Fei Qilin and the Beast Tamers' peak now had the red and white sealing bead belts, Yang Dewei had mastered the art of sealing Beasts and spells into cards.

Part of the benefits of traveling far from home were both seeding an area with drones that would warn of any Beasts or demons, and spreading his nice, profitable businesses.

Naturally, a chance to spread his businesses as far as the next two countries was quite a heavy plum. Yang Dewei could also hopefully set up spying networks for additional profits.

Blackmail, for instance. And the acquisition of useful individuals for another.

Click to expand...

Gav said: ↑

ATDSVT
***
This was not an era of warring states. It was, however, an era during which smaller countries sought to expand, to become a hegemon to rival the Empire.

Even before Shen Qingqiu had been born, the wars had been going on. Each time the Empire swallowed a large chunk of land, say, a small country, there had been a period of torpor, as if the Empire was a giant snake that needed to rest while digesting what it had devoured.

While the Empire digested its conquest, the other countries schemed against each other or tried to band together.

Neither Yue Qingyuan nor Shen Qingqiu remembered their families. Their years before each other were a blur, and thus their heritages, if they even had any, were mysteries.

War, it seemed, happened in spurts. Sometimes there were alliances between the small nations that could last for years, perhaps even decades, but nothing lasted forever.

Politics were just as chancy, like gambling, only with consequences that could wreck whole clans instead of just this or that small family.

Some clans could lay in glory for several generations then come crashing down, other families could have meteoric rises and then perhaps in the third generation, crumble and fall as if their foundations were made of sand.

In the period of time that Shen Qingqiu and Yue Qingyuan had been in Cang Qiong mountain sect, many families in the many, many small countries, even families of some prominence in the Empire itself rose and fell.

As a result, there were plenty of sad stories of the well educated people in brothels who had been purchased after the fall of this or that family.

There were, in fact, beautiful princesses and princes, ladies and young men from marquis or duke or count houses who were truly trapped in brothels, having been purchased from this or that fallen small country. While some beauties of more dubious backgrounds claimed to be such for the additional reputation boost that could attract better customers, there were actually some beauties who truly had such illustrious lineages.

Such little hothouse flowers were even more deeply unhappy with being playthings of the people who could afford them.

Having been raised in their little kingdoms like small koi fish in their own tiny ponds, or like frogs in small wells, the revelation of the world's vastness and its dark underbelly was especially painful to the pampered beauties who had once been able to be snobbish enough to pick and choose among their suitors, and in the cases of the men, had even been able to visit their countries' brothels to enjoy the services of its own fragrant flowers.

Truly, one might even call it instant karma if a former noble who owned sexual slaves had become a bed slave in turn.

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aww..

Gav said: ↑

ATDSVT
***
Luo Binghe remembered, in the earliest days of his being turned into a small, fluffy lapdog, Shizun had asked him with mingled confusion and despair, "Why are you so cuddly and nice when you're like this, but you were so cruel to me when you were a human?"

Being a dog at the time, he hadn't been able to answer him with anything other than little licks and kisses, rubbing his fluffy body against Shizun's own. But after that... after Shizun had asked him that, he had to try to be gentler. The look on Shizun's face... he had never understood why Luo Binghe had assaulted him in the first place. And not understanding was a double edged sword. If Luo Binghe told him of his past, all of it, all of what he had done to that Shen Qingqiu, Shizun would be even more traumatized, but without telling him why he had acted in that way, he had left Shizun in a limbo of fear and uncertainty that it would happen again.

He had to start over. Had to win Shizun over.

Luo Binghe also remembered the days when he, in his original form, had thought that surely Shizun had recovered. He had all but wrapped himself around Shizun, and felt Shizun simply stiffen like a block of wood, eyes misty and dazed with fear, his body shaking with nearly imperceptible tiny tremors.

Shizun's lips had been soft and sweet as nectar and addictive as poppies, but Shizun hadn't responded to him as he had hoped he would.

When Shizun had told him he had to take responsibility for his actions, Luo Binghe lit up as if he had been asked for marriage- because such words were often used to propose marriage- and he had at once offered to compensate Shizun with his body, intending to offer him pleasure. Shizun had been in such a state of pained grievance, drowned in flashbacks and fear, that he had responded,"That is the body you used to wreck me, those are the hands that tore me apart. How then, could I desire it?"

Fuck. His. Mistakes.

It had been even more evidence that Shizun was unready, unwilling and still too obviously injured. Luo Binghe had tried to give him space, tried to touch him as gently as possible to show him he would never use these hands to hurt him again.

It had variable success. Shizun had stopped trying to run from him, but as he had bitterly found, simply because Shizun didn't immediately flee from him didn't mean his body had recovered enough to welcome Binghe's touches.

He had once broached the subject of how Shizun's body had reacted to his own and received the most highly unwelcome biology lecture of his life.

Even though he had been able to force Shizun to ejaculate, been able to force his internal muscles to tighten around him reflexively, he hadn't actually given Shizun pleasure. That part of the body, the sensitive core inside, was connected directly to Shizun's nervous system. Even though what Shizun had felt was excruciating pain from being torn open, the stimulation of that part was capable of forcing his body to spill its fluids whether or not he desired it, whether or not his body felt pleasure from it.

It had been brutal, and violent and so had his succeeding acts for that first cruel year to the point that Shizun's body had learned to fear him and flinch from him.

The fact that Shizun could no longer be aroused by his touch due to being constantly reminded of that pain...it was caused by his violence. He had no one to blame for this but himself.

Luo BInghe had thought to carve his memory into Shizun's flesh, into his heart and mind, and he had succeeded in the worst possible way. So quickly, Shizun had learned to expect the worst from him.

Now that he wanted an actual relationship, wanted Shizun's heart and his love, he found he had dropped a mountain in to block his own path.

Once, out of ideas about how to get Shizun to forgive him, Luo Binghe had offered to let Shizun hurt him, since he had hurt Shizun so badly, surely he would want his vengeance. Surely it would soothe his pain, would please him or give him vindication. Shizun had only looked at him in blank confusion. "What good would it do? It would change nothing."

Shizun hadn't wanted to hurt him. Shizun had wanted to be free of him. Or rather, more precisely, to be free of the fear Luo Binghe had ground into his very bones.

***
On Shizun's end, no matter how hard he tried to hide it, he was always visibly frightened that Luo Binghe would hurt him again.

Shizun's body language was very clear. When he laid his hand on Shizun's shoulder or touched his hip, Shizun's innate response was to flinch, clearly fearing that he would tear those limbs of his off again. A touch to his chest or abdomen didn't come across as flirtatious- it came off as predatory, as an indication he would be torn open. If he tried to touch near Shizun's eyes or tried to enticingly brush against Shizun's lower body to insinuate or stimulate, Shizun froze up as if he was terrified that he might.. gouge out his eyes or... or castrate him.

Luo Binghe had taken to keeping all his touches light and gentle, keeping his voice soft and filled with pleading and coaxing to try to offset any possibility of intimidation. So many ways of intimacy were closed to him because of his bad decisions.

The arguments were painful to both of them.

Shizun had accused him of only wanting his body, had bitterly said Luo Binghe didn't care about the person inside it- he just wanted to fuck the body.

"You don't care about my wellbeing, my mental, physical or emotional health or safety. All you want is a fuck toy. If that's all, why can't you make a copy of this body and leave me out of the equation entirely?"

Luo Binghe had been appalled. It was completely untrue. He had found the body of Shen Qingqiu desirable, yes, but what he actually wanted was to be loved by Shizun. He wanted to be held close, cuddled and treasured, kissed and caressed. Shizun was so warm, so kind, so gentle. Luo Binghe wanted to take him home to keep him, cuddle him and have him forever in every single way.

"That's not true. I love you. I would treasure you, cherish you..." He had said, reaching out for Shizun to seek the comfort of his arms.

"Don't give me that bullshit." Shizun had said bitterly, avoiding his careful advance. "If you did love me, why did you hurt me, and for so long, too?"

Luo Binghe had felt like he had built a stone wall in his own path and was now bashing his head against it to try to break through. "I fell in love with you much later, after you were so kind to me when I was helpless. I didn't know what you were like when we first met, I misjudged you, I made assumptions, I thought... I'm sorry for how I hurt you. I know my wrongs. I want to start over. Let me make it up to you, please. I will be gentle, I will be careful. I promise."

"You were never gentle with me before." Shizun had said, looking at him with hooded, suspicious eyes, watching Luo Binghe flinch at each word. "You ripped my limbs off, you violated me over and over, you ripped me open in many ways. You literally crushed my heart in your hands.... You have hurt me so badly that whenever you touch me, my body instinctively reacts with the assumption that you want to tear pieces off of me again."

Luo Binghe could only look at him with an ugly expression barely short of bursting into tears, his hands feeling empty and his chest feeling as if it had been crushed under a boulder. It was all true. He felt like his entire world had gotten really dark and was crumbling to pieces.

"You have done your best to crush my will to live and have succeeded spectacularly." Shizun was obviously bitter, exhausted, upset, depressed and angry.

Luo Binghe could no longer stand it, he threw away his pride, clutched Shizun and wept bitterly, incoherently apologizing.

The sobbing broke the ice and Shizun's ability to resist him. Those arms froze, then were raised to wrap around him and gingerly console him and Luo Binghe could only bury his face in Shizun's neck, clinging to him fiercely and desperately.

"I'm still terrified of being maimed by you, just so we're clear." Shizun opened reluctantly.

Luo Binghe made incoherent promises that he would never do it again, never.

"I'm terrified you'll snap and hurt me and everyone I care for." Shizun had told him, still reluctantly comforting him in spite of that very visible fear.

Luo Binghe clung to him, promising he would never do it. "You...You don't hate me?"

"I'm terrified of you." Shizun told him frankly.

"I can be nice. I will be gentle." Binghe rubbed his wet cheek against Shizun's collarbone like a cat seeking out comfort.

"I won't have sex with you just to make you be nice to me, goddamnit." Shizun groused. "I don't think I'm even going to be capable of being attracted to you like that after what you did. My body hurts just thinking about it."

"But even if you're upset with me, even though I hurt you, you haven't tried to kill me or drive me away or poison me... And you're willing to hold me. I... We can try from this, Shizun." Luo Binghe said, holding him tightly. "I will be good to you, I promise."

"I'm in love with Yue Qingyuan." Shizun informed him honestly. "I will never give him up. I will never leave him. Where he goes, I will go."

"I know." Luo Binghe's lips twisted in a bitter moue. He wasn't giving up.

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bluhhhh but okay

Gav said: ↑

ATDSVT
***
Traveling from his home world to see other worlds in order to try to find Shizun and bring him back was a perpetual exercise in patience. It was a bitter thing. Luo Binghe had taken his harem in hand and then gone to settle all their affairs to make certain there wouldn't be any further upheavals. With Sha Hualing and the other traitors gone, purged after they had tried to take advantage of his 'weakness', that left the loyal members of his harem safely in charge.

Ning Yingying was a consolation, as usual. Liu Mingyan was as efficient as always and both of them were careful of him for his own sake.

Still, he hadn't brought up what he hoped to do, hadn't informed them of his plan. He had simply decided to go around the subject and bring back... things from this or that world that might get them interested.

Of course, he couldn't tell them that he hoped to bring Shizun home. He might need to bring Yue Qingyuan with them. A part of him wasn't even sure if it was home anymore.

His first stop had been the world that he had first visited. The Luo Binghe of that world was clearly in a blissful relationship with his Shizun, as dao companions. He had done the only thing he could do.

Faced with the unsheathed blades of his counterpart and his counterpart's Shizun, he kept his sword sheathed, raised both of his hands and asked for advice.

He couldn't help but ask how they had gotten together, how his counterpart had won his Shizun's heart. He already knew what parts of the story he had gleaned from watching Shen Qingqiu's dreams when he had been here the first time around, but now he wanted to know from his counterpart how he had been successful in earning that person's love.

His counterpart had taken him aside for an in-depth conversation. Apparently he had first earned his master's attention by cooking for him and continued to win favorability by looking after him.

Binghe's counterpart's advice was to worship Shizun, care for Shizun (because obviously Shizun needed and deserved to be pampered and doted on), cling to Shizun at all times, kneel to Shizun, hug his thigh, immediately admit all his mistakes and beg forgiveness when he is wrong, even if he doesn't know how he is wrong, admit he is wrong anyway and then act spoiled. Because Shizun had a soft spot and quickly softens and gives in to any of his requests whenever he acts spoiled. Shizun likes it and indulges him when he is sticky and often gives in and reaches out to him whenever he looks aggrieved, like a little wife. Showing his weak spots also made Shizun very protective of him, so he really has to be willing to let Shizun see them so that Shizun's heart can be touched.

This Binghe had clearly mapped out all his lover's weak spots and knew just how to manipulate him to get what he wanted. He was also very clear of his Shizun's bottom line- he must never hurt anyone from Cang Qiong Mountain sect and especially never hurt Yue Qingyuan. Hurting anyone from Cang Qiong... Even threatening Cang Qiong... that had nearly destroyed this world's Luo Binghe's relationship with his Shizun. It had to be avoided at all costs.

It was amazing how clear and concise the native Binghe's advice was. More to the point, it had quickly worked, and was as fitted to his Shizun as it was to his counterpart's. Luo Binghe had already noted that Shizun had a hard time retaining his anger or his will to fight in the face of Binghe's tears and acting pitiful, so this strategy was perfectly suited to win him over.

Click to expand...

Gav said: ↑

ATDSVT
***
Yue Qingyuan was of the opinion that Qingqiu's amnesia had regressed him to how he was like when they had been together as children, only better, because Qingqiu didn't remember the years of being enslaved clearly, which had resulted in him losing the perpetual 'poison under his skin', so as to speak, that he had been suffering in those years.

In many ways it was as if the worst betrayals and tragedies of those years past had never happened.

Qingqiu... when he had been Shen Jiu, he had always liked to sleep side by side with him, nestling for warmth. He always liked to hold him and cuddle even though he had tried to hide it. Even when their bed had been straw over rocky, hard ground and their clothing little more than rags, they had been like this.

Now, there was no hiding anything at all, and as Qingqiu, he seemed to have settled in as happily as Yue had always hoped he would.

When they ate in the past, no mattter how little the amount of food available or how bad the rations were, Jiu had always insisted that Yue eat the most, or eat the best parts.

That still hadn't changed.

Neither had Qingqiu's instinctive giving of anything that he felt Yue needed. Whether it was his outer clothing which he had scrounged up to shield him from the cold or standing up in Yue's defense and getting punished for it, he had never let Yue down.

When he felt Yue needed medicine, he had gone to steal it to give to him secretively.

When Yue was hungry he had handed him any food he had saved or stolen, and when Yue was ill, Jiu had looked after him until he himself fell ill or collapsed.

Now, Yue could do that for him. Now, he could look after Qingqiu to his heart's content.

Before the amnesia, Yue could check his pulse every day and send over the best food and resources they could get, but Qingqiu was always bitter and upset inside because of what the slavers and the Qiu had done to him... and Yue Qingyuan could do nothing about that.

Now, Qingqiu was much happier and more contented. For that alone, Yue could accept the loss of memories. The core of Qingqiu's personality hadn't changed, only the rough edges and sharp spines, the bad temper had been decreased.

In truth, the way Jiu had taken care of him in the past was part of the reason why he had set Qingqiu as peak lord in the first place. First, he could look after Qingqiu to his heart's content, second, he could try to make up for all his mistakes and third, the Jiu he remembered caring for him was exactly how he thought Qingqiu would be like around his students as a peak lord. It had seemed like a win-win situation at the time, and now it really was one.

A Qingqiu who openly sought his embrace and could hold him however he liked was adorable exactly how he should be. Sitting in his lap or leaning against him, holding hands, wrapping arms around his neck or waist, sometimes resting his chin on the top of Yue's head while embracing him despite the fact that Yue was seated in front of his desk and trying to do paperwork, sometimes laying his head in Yue's lap to nap... Since this much contact was clearly good for him, Yue would happily indulge him in this.

Also the cuddling was really warm and comforting.

Click to expand...

Gav said: ↑

ATDSVT
***
Crimson spider silk ribbons were woven into an intricate web binding a bewitchingly beautiful man, his richly detailed and embroidered crimson Shu brocade robes reduced to little more than an accent for his lithe body. His lithe swimmer's build caught the eye, well defined abs and mermaid lines drew the gaze down to his elegant jade stem. His waist was exquisitely slim, his skin enticingly pale like snow, his parted long legs and bound graceful arms slim and sexy. His long, dark hair flowed over his shoulders, the intricately carved mutton fat jade coronet, the single ornately carved and inlaid hairpin couldn't restrain the spilling locks that framed his devastatingly beautiful face.

Aoguang slid his hands over that expanse of snow white skin, fondling, pinching the pink fruits until they had turned red, stroking the beauty's body, his tightening abdomen, his back, kneading his waist, squeezing his perky bottom, stroking the sensitive inner thighs, and then between the beauty's legs.

The beauty's snowy orbs were smooth to the touch, his jade stem was long, elegantly shaped, its enticingly slick tip all but dripping and the gloss of it reminding him of the finest rose quartz sculptures of that .

Already the man's breathing was hitching up and his hips moved slightly in response to the impertinent touches.

Definitely this was one of Aoguang's better decisions. A castle toppling beauty, one who could put most women to shame, even among cultivators- that was what Aoguang had just acquired.

Hair like cool strands of gossamer silk, skin soft as the finest satin.

The beauty in Aoguang's arms moaned and writhed as he was caressed and fondled, moving eagerly against Aoguang as Aoguang prepared his new acquisition's body to be taken.

Fingers coated in seductively scented oil slid into the beauty's tight chrysanthemum. The pink 'petals' were being coaxed to open to reveal the warmer, darker hues of the core. The glimmer of oil on and in that ring of muscle caught the eye.

Slick sounds were a counterpoint to the beauty's melodious moans as his hips moved frantically and his sensitive insides were finally penetrated, pierced deeply by his new owner's eager length.

The bed shook under the rhythmic pounding, the curtains billowed like a sea, the deliciously obscene wet sounds of intense carnal exertions filled the air that was redolent with the scent of musk, sex and sweet incense.

The beauty's cries of pleasure and incoherent pleas only fueled the red waves' tossing from dusk till dawn. He was milked until he was fainting from exhaustion, only to wake to even more acute pleasure. This cycle continued throughout the night and even halfway through the day before he was allowed to finally rest.

Aoguang had acquired him only because the brothel who had bought him could no longer afford to keep him.

The infighting among customers eager for this beauty's flesh had become far too blatant. Even the other courtesans had been attracted to him. This fatal sex appeal had become far too dangerous to keep around.

His name was Ye .

In the beginning, this beauty had been bought at a sale where the entirety of his clan had been sold out, save for one man- his equally fair but far more circumspect and proper cousin, Ye Guimin. Ye Guimin who was the unattainable white moonlight of their homeland's 'emperor', Jintian. Ye Guimin whose refusal to accept his proposal had started the whole catastrophe. Ye Guimin, the whole reason they were in this mess to begin with- who had been kept by the 'emperor' who had desired to cut off the escape routes of the object of his affection by stripping him of his resources and support, even of his family.

Ye had been as beautiful as Guimin but far less elusive. When sleeping with men's beautiful wives, he escaped retaliation because even those men who could take umbrage at his actions desired him and bitterly envied their wives for being bedded by him. Sisters bitterly envied their brothers who were favored by him. He never deflowered a virgin, was always polite to all and sundry, spoke with a warm, friendly tone...and was always smiling invitingly, enticing everyone who gazed at him.

An easygoing man who flickered here or there like a butterfly occasionally favoring men and women alike, he had been lusted after by many, but never desired by the 'emperor', whose heart was full of Ye Guimin's pure as ice, clean as jade visage. Truly, yanderes really did prefer the kind of person they could put on a pedestal, the pure celestials, the ones 'just for them'- this quickly saved the 'loose' man from being added to the 'emperor's harem while his cousin had immediately been made the male 'empress' against his will.

This beauty had cost the brothel an astronomical sum but the brothel had made it back immediately by selling off his first time as one of their star attractions.

The men and women who had been outbid could only flip their tables in rage at losing.

Of course, the brothel continued this strategy, auctioning off his services, making a mint off of him- his presence drew crowds.

Alas, there was the VROF saying 'the problem with owning Helen of Troy is being invaded by the many, many Greeks', and this case was no exception.

The brothel could make a mint off owning him but it couldn't afford the rest of the consequences of having him over the long term when those consequences included brawls, infighting, murders, betrayals, scheming and property damage.

And that was just from the many, many customers who desired him.

That didn't include the actions of his fellow courtesans, many of whom also desired him.

Rather than risk their delicate balance falling apart, the brothel sold him to Aoguang, who had been visiting him regularly, for an even more obscene price.

Click to expand...

was this the White Moonlight Family? anyway

xenotop · Aug 5, 2018

Gav said: ↑

FORTUNE COOKIES

ATDSVT- 1001 Nights
***
In general, when traveling through dimensions, being slapped in the face with the fact that your counterparts thus far are happier than you... really isn't much fun.

Thus far, Luo Binghe had seen two more universes where he was the doted upon student of Shen Qingqiu. In one of them, Shen Qingqiu had been in a relationship with Yue Qingyuan and in the other Shen Qingqiu had been in a relationship with Liu Qingge... which wasn't doing any favors for Luo Binghe's now recurring anxiety issues, since Liu Qingge had been confirmed to be interested in his Shizun and his Shizun was already deeply in love with his Yue Qingyuan.

It was enough to make him very, very tense.

At least his counterparts were treasured, happy and clearly well adjusted. One of them was even in a relationship with both Liu Mingyan and Ning Yingying, which seemed to be going quite well, to the deep displeasure of that world's Ming Fan.

ATDSVT- 1001 Nights
***
Luo Binghe had seen a few worlds where his counterpart was female. She was invariably happier than he ever was, as doted upon as Ning Yingying had ever been. More so, actually. The moment she had expressed her love to her master, he had wholeheartedly accepted her.

Her Shen Qingqiu happily allocated her sect resources and looked after her solicitously and with clearly deep affection.

Luo Binghe was bitterly envious.

Her Shen Qingqiu was visibly ill at ease at the sight of him, though, as if there was something about him that was just... disturbing him? Frightening him? Or perhaps just rubbing him the wrong way.

When his female counterpart later asked her doting former teacher and current husband why he was so ill at ease around what was possibly her halfbrother, he reluctantly stated that something about him reminded him of some long dead enemies from years before he had joined Cang Qiong and so it made him ill at ease even though he logically shouldn't have any cause for that unease.

It made him uncomfortable. He knew it was completely unfair but he couldn't help it. Something about his bearing was just... wrong.

Those words were like alarm bells in Luo Binghe's head. Had this been the case in his world too?

Alas, this Shen Qinqiu was unwilling to elaborate further, looking visibly pained, only relaxing when Luo Binghe had left.

From his information gathering in these worlds, Luo Binghe found that in worlds where his counterparts were female, the threat to his happiness came from the Huan Hua palace sect head who would stop at nothing to acquire her...

At least until he was killed. Then his female counterparts could have their happy lives.

KARMA- In Another World, Things Go Badly
***
A certain Luo Binghe was now completely certain the universe was sentient and it hated him.

Or maybe Karma existed.

In his first life, he had died at the hands of one of his sons who led a coup d'etat against him. That son had undermined his rule, taken over his armies, and cut him down.

That unfilial son of his had done it because he blamed Binghe for abandoning his mother, for she had died while still waiting for him. That son had told him that loving Binghe had destroyed his mother, and being loved by Binghe wasn't any better.

Luo Binghe, his son had said, ruined everything he touched.

"My mother loved you and it killed her. You loved Shen Qingqiu and it killed him. Your love is worse than poison."

Luo Binghe hadn't believed him then, only cursing him for his unfilial behavior as his body was destroyed past repair. His son had laughed, saying,"You were never a father to me. Mo Bei Jun was more of a parent than you've ever been."

Luo Binghe had, in this world, been reborn completely ignorant of who he had been. As an infant, he had been picked up by a loving married couple, Shen Jiu and Qiu Haitang, and they had utterly doted on him.

He had grown up as a cherished, treasured child, carried, cuddled, petted and praised, loved like a pearl in the palms of his parents' hands.

He had loved them just as wholeheartedly, his gentle, affectionate mother, his strong and resolute, but secretly caring and overprotective father.

His childhood was a bright and shining light, his joy was a heady brew.

His father had started to train him in his letters early. Everything he had been taught had been strangely too easy for him and his father had been as proud as a peacock, crowing his son's praises all the way. His mother had been overjoyed and they had turned their efforts to preparing their precious son to enter his uncle Yue Qingyuan's prestigious sect when he came of age. He would outshine both his parents who were cultivators who had passed the prime age of cultivation before they could acquire the benefits.

But it was not to last.

In his tenth year in this new life, his mother was pregnant, his future was bright. He had been looking forward to being the elder sibling.

His home was invaded. The screams of the dying, the walls reduced to rubble, their stalwart guards, loyal manservants and maidservants were slaughtered.

His memories had returned to him as he saw his father die, heroically holding the attackers off. His mother had tried to protect him, only to die from an arrow that was meant for him.

He had only survived because both of them had tried to keep him safe. They had told him to flee to Cang Qiong.

The image of his father's death would forever be entangled with the memory of the wreckage that was Shen Qingqiu's corpse after he had lost control and slain him because Qingqiu rejected him.

In his first life he had wanted Shen Qingqiu's love and the love of a doting mother. In that past life, he had not dared to reincarnate or ressurrect his foster mother.... Because, in his heart, he knew she would have disapproved of what he had done after her passing.

Well, in this life, he had the doting of his mother, Qiu Haitang, the love and pride of his Shen Jiu and even the steadfast affection of his foster mother who had become his wetnurse in this life.

And he had lost all of that, in the same day, same moment that he regained his powers, his skills and his memories of his past life.

If it was a trade, it was one he had never been willing to make.

If it was a punishment, to give him everything he wanted and take it all away because of the lives he ruined in his past life, it was a horrifically fitting one.

Now, here he was, at Cang Qiong Mountain Sect, as Sect Master Yue Qingyuan's direct, succeeding disciple. Yue Qingyuan had arrived far too late to save his father, because some people who had been working secretly for Huan Hua Palace had run interference, but he had been able to save Luo Binghe.

Now, Luo Binghe knew why his family had been destroyed. It had taken him years to find out, but eventually the bones had been dug up.

His father had been targeted and slain by the Qiu family's men because he and his mother had eloped together, fleeing from the oppressive Qiu family. The Qiu family had been aided by cultivators from Huan Hua Palace.

It seemed his birth mother had been the treasured disciple of the sect leader, and she had eloped and married a demon against her master's will. That master had intended to marry her himself.

When he had caught sight of Luo Binghe, he had seen his mother in him and desired to pick him up to raise a wife.

Shen Jiu had been violently opposed.

The Huan Hua sect leader had gone to the Qiu family to use them as a borrowed knife to remove an obstacle from his path. The Qiu family now intended to wrest their prodigal daughter away from her husband to marry her off to gain advantages.

Qiu Haitang's death had never been intended- only Shen Jiu had been intended to die.

Now, all Luo Binghe had was Yue Qingyuan, who was as deeply affected as he was by Shen Jiu's murder.

It would take time, but he would avenge his precious people. All of them. But even if he did know why they had been marked for death, it didn't change the stone in his chest, crushing him with the certainty that this was karmic retribution for.... for his past life's actions.

For the death of the Shen Qingqiu and Yue Qingyuan in his previous world, for the murders he had committed in his path to unification of the three realms.

Click to expand...

xenotop · Aug 5, 2018

Gav said: ↑

PEKING DUCKS

In Other Worlds, Things Go Badly
***
The problem with realizing you still loved someone only after they were gone, their life ended by your own machinations was generally self evident. They were dead.

Of course in worlds where reincarnations and resurrections existed, that could sometimes be remedied.

However, even in such worlds, the best laid plans fell apart.

Here was a fact in several worlds- the worlds designated as Proud Immortal Demon Way.

Luo Binghe fell in love with his master, Shen Qingqiu, at first sight, even though he didn't know what the emotion he felt was.

Luo Binghe wanted Shen Qingqiu completely from the first time he saw him. Wanted his approval, his attention, his respect, his admiration, his affection.

That dream shattered when his Shen Qingqiu pushed him down the ravine.

After that, Luo Binghe had convinced himself that he hated his master, wanted to possess him, defeat him, grind him into the dust.

And yet that person... even when Luo Binghe had finally taken his revenge, even when he had all the women, all the power, all the wealth, influence, luxuries in the world, nothing could fill the empty space in his chest and he didn't even understand why.

Naturally his first response was to try to get that person back. If having Shen Qingqiu back by his side would fill the gaping hole in his chest, then he would find one way or another to get him back.

Of course from this point the pathways this or that world's Luo Binghe walked, varied.

Perhaps in this world, Luo Binghe attempted to raise the dead or in that world their Luo Binghe tried to cross over to another dimension to take a Qingqiu from another world, or in another, a Luo Binghe tried to go back in time to try again.

Many resurrections had their own problems. Sometimes the souls were incomplete. The vast majority of the time, the resurrections failed.

Those worlds' Luo Binghe who threatened their Shen Qingqiu with resurrection in case of their suicide found that the resurrection attempts failed miserably. If they were lucky enough to succeed at all, their attempts succeeded only once. That meant that if their attempt at resolving things with their Shen Qingqiu failed to the point that their Shen Qingqiu died again or simply refused to go on, their succeeding attempts at trying a second resurrection automatically failed completely.

Of course, attempts at what was conventionally understood to be time travel... really were misnomers. Such people who traveled were transmigrations and those events weren't really considered to be time travel because they didn't change their own pasts.

To change the past was essentially to unmake a decision. All decisions had consequences. Therefore if the past one came from had a significant decision which was unmade, then the past ceased to be, the world you came from ceased to be. Thus, no one could go past the events that formed their character.

Of course there were this or that failed attempt that had... interesting effects, sending the soul back in time with its memories to take the place of that same soul at an earlier point in the timeline.

The results of such attempts were simple. The world the attempt was made from, generally ceased to exist. A new timeline was formed, where the soul now could try to undo the action that led to its tragedy.

The Eastern System was not fond of the backlog of work that such events caused, and the sudden massive influx of suddenly disembodied souls from those worlds were not appreciated. So. Much. PAPERWORK. So. Much. Overwork. So. Many. Data Fragments!

As a result, the Eastern System had simply made a protocol to handle such situations.

Other transmigrations simply chose to take souls and put them into the body of the closest counterpart of that soul in another world. Many cases of transmigration with assassins taking over the bodies of this or that person with a waste constitution from 'good' families were simply this protocol functioning... not as intended.

In the case of a Luo Binghe who attempted time travel, his traveling soul was simply transmigrated into the empty body of his counterpart in a timeline which had just reached the target point of its divergence from the regretted state of events in the traveling soul's world of origin.

Of course, there were problems with such things.

Human resource problems.

Because of how they were treated, many Shen Jiu, reincarnated, resurrected or neither, simply chose to refuse to deal with their Binghe any further, soul detonating.

There weren't enough Jiu left to go around, for the new timelines. That was the reason they had premade copied memory programs, task takers, systems and other forms of outsourcing in the first place.

There were many counterparts of Shen Qingqiu. One for every timeline, in fact. The vast majority of the ones who still lived were transmigrators, who had replaced this or that recorded program based on a departed Shen Jiu. Transmigrators had some idea of the plot and thus could avoid bad ends more efficiently.

There were Shen Jiu still remaining, but the vast majority of the Shen Jiu in the timelines simply died and stayed dead after their Luo Binghe slew them in a fit of rage, provoked by their refusal to accept him, their refusal to bend and obey. That majority could not be revived.

In some worlds Shen Jiu could, and had been revived by their world's Luo Binghe, after that Luo Binghe had seen a happy counterpart of his who was with their (Transmigrated!)Shen Qingqiu.

Unbeknownst to their captors, this was their one and only chance, the last chance they would have, to bring that Qingqiu to their side.

In several worlds, their 'protagonist' Luo Binghe squandered this chance unknowingly, abusing their Jiu in a confinement play, threatening them or turning them into thralls with the demon blood in order to try to force them into obedience.

Except it was not and had never been in Jiu's nature to bend. If it had been, he would have bent long before, while in the captivity under the Qiu family's constant persecution.

Some of the Qingqiu simply hid their deterioration, plotting, pretending to give in to have a chance to overthrow their captors and avenge their sects. Those Luo Binghe soon were betrayed or attacked or possibly, both. Thus, to the Eastern System's relief, their wayward protagonists soon died and their halo could no longer interfere with the System's workings.

Many worlds had a Luo Binghe who fell from power due to the acts of his sons who held grudges for the sake of their mothers... Mothers who Binghe abandoned or ignored because the harem had become mere white noise or a diversion that lost its savor.

There were Shen Jiu who had never been killed but were kept in dungeons from the beginning.

In some worlds Shen Jiu and his many counterparts in similar circumstances simply waited until their bodies 'could no longer support them'. Such cases were simple- their much abused bodies broke down with the soul's refusal to stay within them as those souls sought to leave the land of the living because of what that world's Binghe had done. This involved visible, rapid deterioration of their health, vomiting blood with viscera and quick deaths.

In one instance, a certain world's Luo Binghe had the 'bright' idea to say "How dare you try to escape me?!" as if he had the right to complain.

His Shen Jiu was so utterly incensed that he cursed him out, to that Luo Binghe's shock- no one had ever called him out on his mistakes before.

"You locked me in a goddamn dungeon, mauled me, dismembered me, dosed me with blood that you regularly used to torture me, threatened everyone I care for on a regular basis and NOW you blame me for this?! For once in your goddamned life, take responsibility!"

Alas, those were this Shen Jiu's last words before collapsing, coughing out blood until he died in a welter of blood despite his Binghe's now frantic attempts to save him or resuscitate him. A further attempt to resurrect this Shen Jiu failed miserably.

Of those worlds where Shen Jiu was left in dungeons alive even before their Binghe met a Shen Yuan, in some of those worlds, Shen Jiu had already been mutilated, others had been dismembered. Others had simply been kept unharmed but locked away.

Those worlds' Luo Binghe who had simply revived their Shen Qingqiu after their agonizing suffering and gory death or those worlds' Luo Binghe who had not killed him but mutilated him and then imprisoned him with forceful behavior, threatening him, intending for their Shen Qingqiu to be forced into compliance... After their repairing the visible physical damage they had inflicted on their Qingqiu, they managed to attain a show of compliance on the surface but were to be disappointed in the end.

Many a world's Luo Binghe who had not taken better care of their captive in their forceful attempt to sway them only found that the Shen Qingqiu they had locked in their dungeons or incarcerated in any way, or turned into blood thralls died early and worse, could not be revived after the second death.

Their Shen Jiu died from a loss of will to live, their souls fled the bodies that could no longer hold them. Or they soul detonated themselves. Both of these could not be revived.

The surviving Jiu in those worlds where they had merely been locked up without being physically harmed were in much better condition, in that their bodies were intact and their Yue Qingyuan were alive.Their continued survival then depended upon their world's Luo Binghe's management of their health in all senses of the word. Push too far, act too forcefully and they would not bend. They would break.

This was a lesson that was learned the hard way.

In Other Worlds, Things Go Badly
***
One would think that in worlds with soulmates, people would be happier, right? One would think that in worlds where every man and woman had the name, a mark or words that would point out the people they were destined to be together with, people would find their fated ones faster and there would be less conflict, right?

Wrong.

In worlds where Tian Lang Jun's name, his mark or his words were written on Su Xiyan's wrist or down her arm and hers were on his own skin, their romance still was doomed to be ruined by the hands of her jealous master who was unwilling to let her marry anyone but himself.

Greedy parents still sold off their children in marriages to people they weren't soulbound to. Unscrupulous kings, emperors and other people of influence still took beauties from their destined partners by force. Even when the gods themselves had made their will clear to the point that human society now accepted that soulmates could marry soulmates of their own gender, there were still many problems.

In worlds where Luo Binghe could look forward to a soulmate, he desperately longed to have one. Someone who would love him forever, who was made just for him- that was what he wanted more than anything in the world.

The Luo Binghe whose soulbound mate was Shen Yuan was a lucky man. This was because Shen Yuan's first reaction upon finding Luo Binghe's name, mark or words written on his skin after he had learned of the soulmarks...was to immediately show it to his Luo Binghe, or set up situations wherein that Luo Binghe could catch sight of their mark. That immediately shifted the focus of the dog blood tension from happening between them to happening around them- that is to say external threats to their relationship or Cang Qiong.

Of course a Luo Binghe who was soulbound to a Shen Jiu was...stepping into a minefield.

One Luo Binghe only found out that Shen Qingqiu was his destined person when he had tortured him to death. There was no way he could deny what he had done when he felt the stabbing pain of a soulmate's death right at the very moment when life left Shen Qingqiu's body in his hands. He could only frantically search the man's body only to find the mark as it had begun to fade.

Another Luo Binghe had only learned it after he had tortured his Shen Qingqiu for literally months, slain his Yue Qingyuan and then compounded the error by informing Shen Qingqiu of it. He left Shen Qingqiu's hysterical laughter and sobs, only to be startled when the stabbing pain of a soulmate bond breaking hit him. He dashed back at his fastest speed but could only arrive to be greeted with Shen Qingqiu's corpse. After holding on to life so long despite Luo Binghe's cruelty, Shen Qingqiu had finally killed himself to follow his Yue. Luo Binghe could only destroy the ornament that hid his master's words, to find his own writing on his master's wrist.

Both of them immediately frantically tried to repair their master's bodies or rather, tried to raise them from the dead before the time could run out and their souls escaped.

After having found their masters were their destined lovers, after waiting so long to try to find the person who would be theirs forever, how could they let them leave?

Of course, speaking was easier than doing. There was nothing easy about bringing the dead back to life. One Luo Binghe could testify that it was even more difficult when the dead in question refused to respond to your ritual summons and you had to go to the afterlife to try to bring them back.

This Luo Binghe sought to take his hand, only to be thwarted. He could only threaten him and when that didn’t work, make him fervent promises. Did his master want Qing Jing rebuilt? Luo Binghe could do that for him. Did his master want the luxuries of the world, want a palace, want to be Luo Binghe's empress or his one and only spouse? Did his master want to rebuild Cang Qiong Sect? He would give them that, gladly.

His master was his destined one. They were supposed to be together. This student had learned his mistakes, surely they could be forgiven?

His Shen Qingqiu cursed Luo Binghe thoroughly, threw into his face each and every single painful torment Binghe had inflicted on him, listing them out as Luo Binghe's face went red, then white, then green, then grey.

Once he had reminded Luo Binghe that he had never crippled him, nor dismembered him, nor murdered anyone Luo Binghe cared for, that Luo Binghe had inflicted upon him punishments he did not deserve... Shen Qingqiu cursed his now intensely regretful and frantic bondmate to "ROLL OFF! SCRAM! GET LOST!" and slammed the gates of the netherworld shut in Luo Binghe's face.

By the time a certain transdimensional Luo Binghe had arrived at his world, this world's Luo Binghe was on yet another attempt to bring his master back from the dead, and had the gate slammed in his face, again.

This world's Luo Binghe found that he had died in his sleep. He was finally dead. Alas, Shen Qingqiu was even now trying to convince Yue Qingyuan to reincarnate immediately, just to get away from their world's Binghe.

Shen Qingqiu's howl of "I REFUSE TO STAY ANYWHERE NEAR THAT WHITE EYED WOLF!" startled (dead) ravens, sending them squawking off into the netherworld's sky.

Their Luo Binghe clutched his legs "Shizun, I'm sorry! Don't be like this!"

Their Shen Qingqiu tried to kick him off and failed miserably, snarling "You've only ever been sorry you couldn't make my life a living hell, now you chased me to the afterlife! What, carving off my body parts wasn't enough, you had to come back here for a second go?!"

Even their Liu Qingge's frantic attempts to try to pry the pathetically crying man off Qingqiu's legs failed miserably.

***
Needless to say, our transdimensional Luo Binghe was not impressed with the blatant stupidity of the actions of his counterpart in this world or the other worlds like it. He was envious that they actually had signs here pointing out who each person was meant to be with, and bitter that he didn't have any such thing. He was disgusted that even with the signs pointing out their destined person, these people still failed at life.

With worlds such as these in existence, he was now fairly sure that his own Shizun was his destined person. After all, did they not meet close to every single night? Even if his body was different in each dream, they were still so very clearly connected.

Click to expand...

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

xenotop · Aug 5, 2018

Gav said: ↑

MUSHROOMS IN OYSTER SAUCE

ATDSVT
***
There were very few people whom Luo Binghe wanted to murder as much as he did Endymion and Princess Serenity.

Everyone else he hated (and indeed, it could be said that this extended to everyone that he even disliked) were all very dead by now. He had killed them himself.

However, the Prince and Princess were exceptions to the rule since he had never had a chance to maim them.

After all, they had died untold millenia before Luo Binghe had even been born.

However, that didn't change the fact that he dearly wished that those two were alive in this world so that he could turn them into human swine and gouge out their eyes and tear out their tongues.

It was ironic, because the main reason that he wanted to inflict such tortures on them was on behalf of someone who he had once inflicted a similar torture upon in the past.

Luo Binghe wanted to torture Endymion to death because he had once had a claim on Shizun's hand in marriage, and in that past life, Endymion had simply thrown everything that Luo Binghe could have hoped to have, in the trash.

An empire that was loyal to him, subjects who were good, nobles who were loyal, obedient, virtuous. A kind mother, subordinates who were also excellent counsellors and worthy to be relied on.

In Shizun's past incarnation, Endymion had the perfect fiancee who had loved him enough to cover up and compensate for his shortcomings, a fiancee who loved him and protected him.

And Luo Binghe had watched and seen Endymion throw all of that away for a golden haired wisp of a princess.

His mother, dead. His protective subordinates, virtuous nobles and loyal citizens, imprisoned.

His loyal, virtuous and caring fiancee, exiled and imprisoned with the rest of his kingdom, left to die.

Luo Binghe's foster mother had died of illness before he could pamper her as she deserved. His biological parents hadn't truly wanted him. His subordinates of both races were schemers. His past teacher had hated him despite his best efforts. And the majority of his harem were at best good for fucking and venting on but that was about it.

Luo Binghe was bitter, envious and angry.

As for the princess Serenity, she was a seductive fox. Good enough for a concubine but not fit material for a wife. Not mature enough, not virtuous, not skilled at running a court or a country.

If that was all, she could be ignored, but she was the cause of the suffering of Shizun's past incarnation and that... for that she was tainted with Endymion's odium.

***
On the subject of Shizun's sworn brothers and siblings from other mothers, just looking at them made Luo Binghe want to flip tables or grow mushrooms, sometimes both at the same time.

Luo Binghe had seen Shizun offer them and their families sanctuary, and they had protected him in turn.

These were people who broke each other out of prison. These were people who used their wealth as collateral for each other's bail. These were people who automatically sought each other out to support one another's agendas in voting blocks. These were people who worked together to protect their countries or territories in alliances. There were even people who, despite being demonic cultivators, despite being on opposite sides from their 'bros', defected to aid their 'bros' instead of their superiors.

These were people who fought side by side until a glorious end worthy of song and story, people who shared what they had with each other through thick and thin.

Luo Binghe wanted to smash porcelain and break furniture.

It didn't help that those sworn brothers had only been related to each other as real brothers and sisters for one incarnation but they kept popping up to assist each other in all the others.

It was clear evidence that Shizun...Shizun didn't need Luo Binghe the way Binghe needed him.

Shizun had Yue Qingyuan. He also previously had Necron, Artemis, AllSeer, Trap, Cyrus, Cyan and so many others, who might at any point reincarnate to join him.

Luo Binghe wanted to be Shizun's. He wanted to be his and to be special to him.

He had sabotaged himself firmly and thus he was stuck at a horrible disadvantage.

***
Necron was in Luo Binghe's point of view, one of the three worst competitors for Shizun's attention. Necron, Cyrus, Syl and Auk were all people who had fought side by side with Shizun and clearly cared for each other.

Cyrus was clearly a younger brother, like Stormy and Kalel. He also had a lot of wives of a certain type of... yaomo? Or demon? as it was, from what the viewing pool showed Luo Binghe. The other two clearly considered Shizun to be more of an elder sibling as well, though Kalel's unintentional development of heat vision after he boggled at Shizun's bust had been infuriating.

Necron was married, as were Syl and Auk, but both Syl and Auk had once held a marriage pact with Shizun before they had agreed to break it amicably.

Luo Binghe was afraid that if any of them reincarnated without their spouses, they might consider reinstating the marriage pact. That meant he had to step up his game.

The problem was, finding Shizun was like looking for a... a black truffle in a mountain of mushrooms (oyster mushrooms, shiitake, button mushrooms and enoki mushrooms).

Click to expand...

Gav said: ↑

RED BRAISED PORK BELLY

ATDSVT
***
It was a fact that the world that Luo Binghe came from was primitive and the vast multitude could be said to be in poverty, to say the least.

Even after he had taken over the world, unified the human and demon worlds, that had not in fact, had a positive effect on the vast majority of the denizens of his home world.

People still starved, still scrounged for resources, still worked themselves to the bone for mouthfuls of food. In fact, only the higher echelons of the survivors had any positive change in their circumstances, climbing the ladder to take their predecessors' places. The rich were either dead or still rich, the poor were either dead or still poor. The middle classes took the greatest falls during the purges and literal upheaval of the landscape. Massive numbers of human and demons of low rank had died, fields lay fallow. The land was wracked with disease, winter came, famines came. More people lost from the upheaval than those who gained. Like any regime change, the people bore the brunt of its consequences and only the new elite gained.

The mortals suffered the worst of it, as they had no strength to protect themselves.

Vae Victis- suffering to the conquered.

That was not the case with the world that Luo Binghe now found himself in.

He had found himself in a world where even the poorest mortal family had a loom, their own farming tools, their own furniture, a drab but sturdy and solid house, their own fields, a small orchard of fruit trees, a vegetable garden, a cow, a breeding pair of chickens, a breeding pair of ducks, a breeding pair of rabbits, a dog and a cat.

There were hospices and infirmaries, schools and soup kitchens, even dormitories free to the public... all funded by the government, managed strictly and overseen by order of the current emperor.

The teachers and doctors were naturally paid. None of them were godly, but all of them had some level of skill in their line of work. In addition, the government apparently maintained parks and gardens that continually grew food and supported game animals that were available to the public.

Entire landscapes were dedicated for the cultivation of this or that resource.

The roads were paved, and lined with fruit bearing trees and bushes. Even the least of the buildings were sturdy.

Orphans were either quickly fostered out or, like vagrants and immigrants, they were soon supported by the government, put to their studies and taught crafts for their livelihoods.

Luo Binghe found himself wandering around in a completely dumbstruck daze.

The sanitation and water supply was excellent. Even the poorer inns actually had a standard of food and accomodation that wasn't squalor.

People worked, played, laughed and transacted deals as if this... this plenitude was perfectly normal.

Luo Binghe could not help but seek out the architect of such heavy restructuring.

In the Imperial Palace, he found his counterpart, a boy of tender years, and his foster mother. She was healthy, happy, well dressed like a matron of one of the 'good families'.

Luo Binghe couldn't take his eyes away from her cheeks, rounded and flush with health, her sparkling eyes filled with joy at his counterpart's proud display of his scholarly abilities. His counterpart moved with an innate grace that spoke of early deeply intensive martial arts training and bore himself with the refined air of a scholar.

"Your fathers," Luo Binghe heard his foster mother tell his counterpart tenderly,"..will be so proud."

Wait.

Fathers?!

His questions were soon answered by the entry of the Emperor and his male Consort.

This dynasty was ruled by His Most Serene Imperial Highness, Emperor Shen Jiu and his beloved spouse, Yue Qi.

Luo Binghe's counterpart was their adopted son and heir.

Luo Binghe couldn't tear his eyes away from the sight in front of him.

His counterpart was obviously happy, raised up as a treasure and doted on as he himself had not been. In this world his foster mother was alive, clearly happy, well cared for and in good health- with everything he had wanted to give her when she was still alive. Her clothing, her hairpins, everything about her spoke of great care and affluence.

Luo Binghe's emotions were in turmoil. He was bitterly envious of his counterpart's happiness, bitterly envious because this world's Shen Qingqiu clearly doted upon him.

He was ashamed, because his own world was not this good, because... because he had never been able to bring himself to resurrect his mother or even search out her reincarnation. He couldn't even face her for some reason he didn't look too carefully at. He couldn't look her in the eye, couldn't tell her what he had done after her passing. Even when he had felt justified in his actions the thought of telling her about them had made his stomach churn.

And he was happy to see his foster mother again, so happy that he drank in the sight of her obvious joy and ease as she spoke to this world's Shen Qingqiu, who treated her as if they were close to being equals, having discarded formality in favour of discussing the progress of Luo Binghe's counterpart in his studies.

Shen Qingqiu- no, Shen Jiu- was clearly an experienced ruler who was even now carefully grooming his Luo Binghe as the true heir to his domain. Whatever reason he may have had to take this world's Luo Binghe as his son, he was clearly putting his all onto it.

He was gravely explaining matters of state and care for the people with the skill of an expert... and even more startlingly, someone who truly loved his people and wanted the best for them.

This... this was not a ruler who wanted to bilk his subjects for luxuries. This wasn't a ruler who was moved by desires for beauties or greed.

This was a ruler who took his duties seriously, who wanted the people to be prosperous. He advocated keeping taxes low and stable and had a proper plan of action to deal with disasters.

And he expected Luo Binghe's counterpart to do just as well as he had, as his successor. He wanted this world's Luo Binghe to be well prepared to take the throne and with it the care and feeding of their people.

This world's Luo Binghe was the imperial heir.

The common people had praised their Emperor as the Sun, and his Consort Yue as the Moon.

The Celestial Pair, as the commoners called them, had ensured the comfort, health, safety and prosperity of humans and demons alike in this world from the very first moment after they had taken their thrones. This Shen Jiu had united the realms as Luo Binghe had, but had done a much better job running it afterwards.

Click to expand...

AWWWWWWWW

Gav said: ↑

Pork Chashu, Aji Tamago and Tonkotsu Ramen

ATDSVT-In Another World, Things Go Differently
***
Luo Binghe's counterparts were not the only people who sometimes found themselves 'back in time' or rather, in an alternate universe's point of divergence.

One Yue Qingyuan had found himself arriving before the sect was about to take on new disciples. Upon seeing a Luo Binghe among the applicants, he simply refused to accept the boy among their applicants but sent him onwards to the Huan Hua Palace Sect with supplies, an outer sect disciple and an escort with a letter stating that he believed Venerable Immortal Chen would find this boy's background very interesting. To be precise, it noted that the boy might as well be his grandson as he had doted upon the boy's mother as if she was a daughter.

Immortal Chen did indeed find the boy's resemblance to his former student very intriguing, to say the least.

Some years later, Huan Hua Palace was burnt to the ground by 'a renegade disciple' who vanished without a trace.

Another Yue Qingyuan on the other hand, found himself 'back in time' right after the sect had begun hosting the hole digging exam for the candidates.

Upon seeing a Luo Binghe among the candidates, this Yue Qingyuan would have cursed his luck, but fate proved kind.

The moment he heard Liu Qingge express an interest, He immediately stated that Luo Binghe was Liu Qingge's disciple very decisively.

Liu Qingge puffed up with pride that the sect master had immediately ruled in his favor. Being given what he wanted the moment he expressed an interest was definitely pleasing to him. Naturally he looked upon Luo Binghe with proprietary pride and then, like a crowing bantam, led the boy off to his peak.

Yue Qingyuan had better things to do with his time, like finding out who the moles in his sect were and neutralizing them before the demons came around in this universe. He simply seated himself again next to the disgruntled Shen Qingqiu with the hypervigilance of a mother hen with only one chick.

***
Originally, Liu Qingge had handed Luo Binghe a cultivation manual, and then foisted him off to learn the preliminary sword forms training from one of his senior disciples.

Luo Binghe was given clean clothes, supplies of all sorts for practicing and had to sleep in the barracks-like dorms of Bai Zhan with his fellow disciples.

When Liu Qingge caught sight of how quickly Luo Binghe picked up the preliminary sword forms of their peak, he deigned to give him a bit of tutoring to see how well he did.

When Luo Binghe picked those secondary sword forms up just as rapidly, Liu Qingge took him into his personal tutelage.

When Luo Binghe picked up the third level of training forms faster than his fellow disciples, Liu Qingge was sure he had acquired a prodigy!

He puffed up (like a Bantam!) and practically crowed about his new student's aptitude all over the place.

Three days after the other Bai Zhan Peak disciples figured out that Luo Binghe was capable of excellent cooking, Luo Binghe was promoted to being in charge of the kitchen.

As a disciple, he was well regarded in the sect.

Perhaps in another world, Shen Qingqiu would have been frustrated with him and sought to drive him away. In this world however, both Shen Qingqiu and Luo Binghe were present when Liu Qingge started displaying signs of Qi deviation during his cultivation and went berserk, so they were forced to work together to take him down without killing him. As a direct result of this, Liu Qingge lived, though he was bedridden for a week. This meant that the three of them had what Liu Qingge called 'acceptable relations' and what Yue Qingyuan considered to be a strong friendship.

However, all good things came to an end.

A traitor set up a catastrophe at the Immortal Alliance Conference where Luo Binghe had gained first place in the rankings, and Luo Binghe's identity as a half demon was revealed.

Liu Qingge could not kill his succeeding disciple and instead sent him away. He did this by telling Binghe that Cang Qiong could not support a half demon and worse, there was no place for him in a sect of righteous cultivators specifically because the rest of the righteous sects would turn their hands against anyone who took him in once his nature was discovered.

(As Su Xiyan could quite easily testify to, if she wasn't, you know, dead. And killed because of that same reasoning according to her master.)

Luo Binghe did not take this well.

He was forced down into the demon realms and after he had slaughtered his way out of there with his new sword, he then took it upon himself to continually challenge Liu Qingge to duels intending to strong arm his way back into the sect.

This led to many pointless duels wherein Luo Binghe constantly demanded to know when he could come back home.

This utter fiasco finally ended when Luo Binghe clung to Liu Qingge's legs while crying despite Liu Qingge's many previous flailing attempts to point out the many reasons that Luo Binghe could not stay.

Finally Liu Qingge gave up and gave Luo Binghe an ultimatum. Binghe could come home but he had to fake his death and hide from the other righteous sects to prevent any further problems between sects.

This did not go too well when Venerable Immortal Chen got involved and tried to blackmail Liu Qingge to get his hands on Luo Binghe as a Dao partner and a replacement for his former student, Su Xiyan.

Liu Qingge did what he does best.

He stabbed the perverted old fucker then he claimed to all and sundry that the pervert tried to put his hands where hands should not go.

Which is to say that the old man tried to put his hands on his student.

Sadly this only mislead everyone to think that old pervert tried to molest the beautiful peak lord of Bai Zhan peak.

Luo Binghe did not take that well, either.

Click to expand...

Y! Q! Y!
im loving that LBH x LQG there
poor LQG lolololol

Gav said: ↑

You guys asked for a Ruin pov.

Have fun!

*
"You came into existence to lay waste." is the first thing that Ruin comprehends in his existence.

They aren't words, specifically speaking- you need an actual set of vocal vords to pronounce those and both the people in this conversation (for a given value of 'conversation' and 'people') don't have those.

Inherent forces of anarchy, corruption, decay and the like never do. They communicate through the transmission of concepts, vibrating the air with their energies when they need to transmit these to lesser beings.

Words are a thing of the flesh.

But the concept is simple enough. Ruin is that which grinds civilizations down, the inevitable destruction of all things.

It is not so much a statement as it is a command. The being in front of Ruin is greater still than he, as can be expected of one's not-quite progenitor.
*
He feeds, and the void through which he travels as he feeds is empty and silent. He feeds and the planets he feeds on are full of screaming. Lives are lost like bubbles, floating away and vanishing in the flow of time. It matters not.

*
On each world, someone arises to try to stop him. Eventually someone does. He does not expect such resistance.

This world... is full of surprises.

Unpleasant surprises, he thinks, as one of the antlike existences shows itself to be much, more more than an ant.

*
It is not the nonexistence he had expected when he was struck down. Neither is it a prison.

Rather, it is like having a new world opened to him. Tastebuds are the greatest invention ever. Colors are wonderful and shiny. Smells are very distracting. And a digestive system is just... weird. Hearing his own heartbeat kept on confusing him for at least a year.
*
Words are a human thing, like love, like loss, like grief.

The first, Ruin learns, as intricately intertwined with the word, 'mother'. 'Mother' means 'that which embodies', and 'that which nurtures'.

He learns the second and third when the first is taken from him.

He does not take it well.

Click to expand...

Gav said: ↑

DRUNKEN CHICKEN

ATDSVT-In other worlds
***
The first time that Luo Binghe arrived in a world only to find out that his counterpart in this dimension was constantly carrying around the repaired corpse of that world's Shen Qingqiu, he was overcome with a mix of horror, disgust and nausea.

He was fairly sure that anyone in his situation would have been struck thus, to watch 'himself' carrying around what was little more than a corpse puppet, talking to it as if it was alive, trying to coax it to talk back.

The puppet had clearly once been dismembered, stitch marks and scarring was very visible. That world's Shen Qingqiu had clearly suffered the same torments that he had inflicted upon his own world's Shen Qingqiu, before he died and yet Luo Binghe's counterpart spoke to it as if he could still see his master alive and intact, as if that master was right there and still angry at him.

Luo Binghe wasn't able to stand looking at this... this degraded, deteriorated version of himself any further. Just thinking about it, seeing this, made him feel horribly ill.

That... it cut too close to home.

If..If he had never met Shizun or if he ever truly lost Shizun, if Shizun didn't return hale and whole in the next dream... that could have been him.

Their world didn't have the phrase, 'There but for the grace of the gods, go I,' but the situation was startlingly apt for it.

Luo Binghe was lucky and he knew it.

His unlucky counterpart on the other hand..

Without even noticing his actions, Luo Binghe had drawn his sword and attacked the poor fool. At this point, he wasn't sure who he was putting out of this misery, his counterpart or himself.

***
Luo Binghe's counterpart was clearly insane, unkempt and... abandoned by his harem as well as everyone else...

The city his counterpart had been in was clearly abandoned, the buildings showing signs of neglect layered over wear and tear, and his eyes fixed on a distant horizon.

However, if Luo Binghe had thought that it would be an easy thing to kill his counterpart, he was proven wrong. His counterpart was still armed with the same sword as he was. The counterpart's reflexes were terribly sharp. Madness only lent him strength.

Luo Binghe's counterpart gave as good as he got, thus Luo Binghe wasn't happy to find that putting the man out of his misery wouldn't be as easy as he had hoped for.

The fight had been brutal, as could be expected when two people of roughly equal strength went hand to hand in a no holds barred death match, with the exact same equipment and worse, knowing each other's fighting styles perfectly.
***
The deciding factor in the end, was the artifact that Shizun had given him.

His counterpart's attack should have killed him, but the gift Shizun had made had proven its worth in the nick of time.

However, it was the way it reacted that had stunned both Luo Binghe and his counterpart for a single, critical moment, as the sword of his counterpart was blocked by Shizun's... halberd?!

The apparition's polearm redirected the blade to the side, before lunging in to sweep his stunned counterpart off his feet.

The eyes of Luo Binghe's counterpart filled with tears, and he whispered, "Master, you came back!" as he reached out for that person, only to have those hands close on thin air.

He didn't even notice when Luo Binghe's blade entered his flesh, because he was too focused on the image that had blocked his blade with its own, a stunning anomaly when the rest of it was as insubstantial as a cloud.

"Master, why?" His counterpart asked in obvious despair. "Why did you choose him over me?"

The apparition of Shizun was clad in robes that weren't those used by Cang Qiong but for all that, he was startlingly recognizable.

To Luo Binghe's counterpart, it was as if he was faced with everything he had lost and everything he had wanted to gain.

Choking on his own blood, he blurted out,"Master, this disciple was wrong. I'm sorry. This disciple will be better. Please don't leave me alone."

"You will not," the apparition stated with the certainty of a mother bear defending its cubs. "touch this child; he is mine and I protect what is mine."

Shizun's long dark hair was flowing free, held back by a single filet of purest gold and jade to match his jade and white robes. And his eyes were gentle.

Luo Binghe's counterpart fell, reaching out to grasp the apparition, fingers passing through its sleeve, only to be caught by the apparition's hands.

The apparition seemed confused as it caught him, and the counterpart's fingers reached out to touch that well loved face.

"Why..." Luo Binghe's counterpart asked Luo Binghe bitterly, eyes sane for the first time that Binghe had seen them, "...are you so lucky that he loved you and not me?"

Luo Binghe's counterpart died unreconciled.

Luo Binghe could only stagger away and vomit out the nausea, the disgust, the horror...and the bile in his mouth.

***
The nausea didn't fade for what felt like an eternity.

Every time that Luo Binghe's mind returned to his counterpart and to those words, a chill ran up his spine and he found himself vomiting until his stomach seized painfully.

He was lucky.

He was lucky.

Those words kept playing in his mind, and he remembered that this artifact had been given to the child-him, not the adult-him.

Shizun didn't know who he really was, and if he found out...

Luo Binghe found himself vomiting again until all that was left was acid.

He had justified his actions over and over, but seeing the results of his own actions played out in other worlds by other versions of him only made it worse.

He'd had idle thoughts of imprisoning Shen Qingqiu and forcing his love before. He'd had idle thoughts of resurrecting his Shen Qingqiu before. So many of his idle thoughts he had seen play out and he now knew the outcomes of.

Shizun had self detonated over and over before Binghe had learned not to force him.

Now, he could not ignore the evidence of his own eyes, the all too obvious fact that even in worlds where Shizun didn't self detonate his own body, Shen Qingqiu still kept dying and refusing to return to his counterparts after what they had done. No matter how hard they tried, they could not bring their Shen Qingqiu back to them.

In the beginning he had simply shrugged it off, but time after time during his travels through so many worlds, he had found clue after clue that things... had never exactly been as he believed they were.

In each world he found where he was happy, he had seen himself and every time he saw himself, he had some sort of close relationship with Shen Qingqiu.

In the worlds where he didn't, the worlds where his counterpart had destroyed his Shen Qingqiu, his counterpart was unfulfilled and unhappy.

Were they destined to be intertwined constantly as friends, lovers, parent and son or brothers?

The Shen Qingqiu from his world who he had slain had too many secrets which he had taken to his grave. Luo Binghe had been a fool, not to read that man's memories when he still had the chance, but the references Luo Binghe had picked up recently from a few worlds, of enemies who he had inadvertently reminded a certain other world's Shen Qingqiu of, were frankly disturbing.

Had his master turned against him on sight because he reminded him of someone else? Someone who he hated?

Or had it simply been jealousy of his potential that had driven him to it? If so, then why were the vast majority of his master's counterparts so proud of his own counterparts instead of jealous of their potential?

It made no sense.

Click to expand...

sad.

Gav said: ↑

Hainanese Chicken

In Other Worlds Things Do Not Go Well
***
Introspection was not a thing that Luo Binghe often undertook and as a result, he wasn't good at it.

Oh, he was good at scheming and politics. He knew how to play the pig to eat the tiger. He knew how to backstab, how to ambush, how to put a pure and clean appearance on his actions. He knew how to self justify, he knew how to lie, cheat, steal and how to turn black into white with his words.

But he wasn't good at looking at his own actions critically. He wasn't good at caring how the results of the negative consequences of his actions reflected on other people.

He knew how to defy the heavens, gain strength, cultivate, take from his fellow cultivators by force, entrap others into bad bargains and all the techniques to build himself into a powerhouse.

He knew how to tear a sect down from the inside or crush it from outside. He knew how to entrap women into marriage and force men and women into suicides. He knew how to whitewash reputations and how to destroy them.

He didn't know how to undo the damage he had done to Shizun, or how to ease his pain. In addition, he had just learned that he didn't know how to raise his own children to love him and he didn't know how to make his wives truly happy.

And he didn't know how to achieve his own happiness either. The entire world under his feet, and he was still bitterly unsatisfied.

He had seen worlds where his harem had abandoned him. He had seen worlds where his sons and daughters schemed against each other. He had seen worlds where his own children tore him down from his throne because they hated him.To be precise, they hated him for not loving and caring for them or their mothers.

He had seen worlds where his counterpart carried around his master's corpse and tried to raise their master from the dead. Those still made him sick to the point that he had kept on killing them to put them out of misery- his or theirs, it was probably both.

None of those fights were easy. All of them were brutal. He always came away heavily injured.

He was fairly sure that other transdimensional travelers were around too, because if his sword could do it, so could theirs.

And he had seen other worlds that also made him nauseous, worlds where his counterpart had given in to the idle thought of substitution as a way of coping. Worlds where his counterpart had simply taken to substituting Shen Qingqiu with women and men who looked like him, who resembled Shen Qingqiu closely enough that they could pretend the substitutes were him... with various consequences. Most of which weren't good at all.

In those worlds where they had searched for substitutes but those counterparts of his had eventually managed to acquire their Shen Qingqiu's affections- worlds where Yue Qingyuan was always alive or raised from the dead as a bribe- those harems were disbanded by his counterparts because they had what made them happy.

The fact that they had been stupid enough to take lookalike substitutes though, became a stumbling block in their new relationships, which persisted while they fumbled around trying to smooth it over.

In worlds where his counterparts didn't raise their master from the dead or could not achieve their wishes of winning their masters' hearts, the substitutes stayed until those counterparts of Binghe's had to bitterly admit they were still unsatisfied.

Click to expand...

xenotop · Aug 5, 2018

Gav said: ↑

ROAST PIDGEON
(All the Les Yay!)

ATDSVT- Daily Life of a Mob Character
***
Han Qing He had found true love. It was ironic that despite all the efforts she had expended to earn her husband's attention, she had instead found it not in the husband she had expended so much effort on attracting... but in his main wife.

When she had married into his household, she had originally thought of bearing the firstborn son in order to hold on to a favorable position. She had been so proud and happy when her child had been a son, but her pride and joy had turned to ashes when she realized that her small and sickly child would likely never grow out of his chronic susceptibility to every single infection around.

Forget competing with the main wife, she couldn't even compete with her fellow concubines after the first time her son's vulnerability had revealed itself.

It was a given fact that when he had been born, her in laws had been disappointed in him and by extension, in her. This disappointment only turned to bitterness and resignation when it became obvious that this weakness of his was chronic.

He was colicky, a picky eater, cried until he wheezed and in general, the mamas of the household had quickly pegged him as not being likely to survive to adulthood.

Han Qing He had refused to write him off for dead or use him in a scheme to catch his father's attention. Instead, where other concubines might have used him in a pity play, she put her all into nursing him. It cost her.

Her beauty faded when she forgot to put effort into maintaining it and instead put effort into looking after her child.

Naturally, having birthed a son and turned her hands to taking care of him instead, her place was secured in the household. Now that she had given her husband a son he would never divorce her, even if her son died. However despite this fact she continued to tirelessly look after her little boy even as the cost of his medicines and his retained doctors escalated.

It was a fact that no one expected him to thrive. It was a fact that no one would be surprised if he died- that was why people began to become... neglectful. After all, most mamas could tell he was too weak to survive without diligent full time care. That set the stage perfectly for people to neglect her and her son both. Or even for the husband's other concubines to scheme to be rid of them both.

However despite the fact that Han Qing He had once sought to usurp her husband's affections, in her time of need, the first wife had proven to be the kind of person who sent coal in the snow. She sent medicines to Han Qing He, immaculate clothing for both mother and son, nourishing foods and even safe toys for him to play with.

The other concubines of course sent tokens, but two such tokens had already proved to be contaminated, and some of the items she had been sent had been poisoned. If the first wife hadn't been diligently looking after Han Qing He's son, the dangerous material might have made it past the servants and all the way to the boy's nursemaid.

For that alone, Han Qing He owed her debts she could never repay but the main wife treated her and her son both with sincerity and genuine compassion.

No one else would ever have done this in any of the other households she had heard of. Such virtue was only ever seen in books, not in real life as far as Han Qing He knew. In other households, what first wife bothered to give more help to an ailing child of a competitor for her husband's attentions than her husband had already set out?

And yet, the main wife was going above and beyond the call of her duties, even willingly sending in whatever Han Qing He's family had sent to her without allowing anything to be tampered with and allowing her brother and family to visit her with a screen between them even when it wasn't a festival.

Thanks to her gentle management and vigilant protection. Han Qing He's son hadn't died in his infancy and with her brother's help, his health was even improving. As a direct result, Han Qing He could only marvel at her good luck in meeting this person.

Caring, virtuous, generous, dutiful, loyal, just and righteous, Han Qing He could only lament that heaven had no eyes and such an outstanding person had not been her husband instead.

Her own husband whom she shared with that person only had eyes for that person- which was understandable because of that beloved person's beauty, grace and intelligence. If Han Qing He was married to her alone, she would also dote on that person!

But the situation was bitter on two fronts. The first was that she also loved that person while that person only loved their husband in that way... and the second was that Han Qing He's marriage to her husband was destined to remain on a distant and formal level.

At least her child would always be cared for. Indeed, the other concubines had no luck bearing children either, because their husband's attention was bound up in his main wife. It was probably karma at work because even if those evildoers had sought to unseat Han Qing He and eliminate her child, they were reaping their own punishments because they weren't even getting the chance to become pregnant!

Perhaps in the next life she could truly marry that person instead. That would be perfect.

Click to expand...

Gav said: ↑

POP ROCKS

ATDSVT- The Daily Life of Mob Characters
***
Zhu Ming Si really wants to know why the hell he is being followed around by female roaming cultivators.

Two of which he recognized from the same incident in which he was recorded naked and right out of the bath.

Apparently the other members of their group, being sane and rational individuals, had basically backed off and left well enough alone after the first lightning strike, when he had left the lot of them in a crater.

These two, on the other hand, didn't seem to have that much common sense.

The last time he met them, they had been planning on ambushing a pair of An Ding disciples. Right now, they were dressed very impractically, as if they were trying to make themselves look like fairies.

Zhu Ming Si knew fairies, alright. He had seen plenty of them in Xian Shu peak. Even the lower ranking outer sect disciples there had started attracting suitors from the many smaller sects and remote cultivation lineages.

Thanks to the interest in Cang Qiong Mountain sect because of the Pavilion of Past Lives, it looked like the exams would now be much more impressive even for the outer sect disciples of their entire sect. About the only part of the sect that still used the hole digging exam was An Ding.

Bai Zhan had switched to the 'demon beasts=points' exam with the caveat that the outer sect disciple hopefuls could keep what they killed even if they didn't manage to qualify to join the sect.

The most anticipated exam was still Qing Jing's. However, their peak lord still wasn't recruiting for inner sect disciples. Outer sect disciples on the other hand... might just have slots open.

So, the lady to his left was named Ruoxue, her companion was named Chuxue and both of them apparently had some sort of interest in him. Their third companion, the only one of the trio who he hadn't seen before, was apparently called Huixue. She, at least, was the only girl of the three who was NOT watching his every move with a frankly disturbing look in her eyes.

Zhu Ming Si was fairly sure that they were here to try to wheedle a place in the list of people who would be informed in case of an exam or an open slot, but he was proved wrong when one of the girls handed over a letter directed to 'Shixiong' Li Aoguang.

Apparently it was from one of his half sisters.

***
Zhu Ming Si was not amused.

Apparently Madame Feixue, who was 'Shixiong' Li's younger half sister, had asked for Zhu Ming Si to be assigned to look after her maternal cousins while they were traveling. The goal was a circuit of one of the ruins that cultivators often went to try to run through.

Shixiong Li had smiled a frankly disturbing smile before he agreed to assign Zhu Ming Si to the trio.

Zhu Ming Si was naturally displeased by being saddled with two maidens who were bubbly, giggly, when they weren't trying to pull off the pure and elegant impression.

The third at least, looked like she was going to take his words seriously, but her two cousins were quite frankly too busy blushing and oggling him to register his annoyance.

***
Li Aoguang was very, very amused. The note from Feixue had been quite short, sharp and to the point.

Since those two cousins of hers had shown up at her home, they had kept wheedling at her. If she didn't respect her maternal family so damn much for her dead mother's sake, she wouldn't have bothered to let them stay in her home but now that they had finally stopped beating around the bushes and stated what they really wanted- that was, an introduction to one of the outer sect disciples- she was all for giving them what they wanted so they could finally get out of her house.

It turns out that Feixue's maternal family had been descended from the 'trash' of a certain cultivating family, who had made good in civil administration instead.

This was probably the first time that particular 'feeling-big' clan had even bothered to look up their 'trash' relatives for anything. Much less try to look good in front of them.

Feixue was freeing herself of responsibility.

Aoguang on the other hand, had plans. He was going to record this and sell it to certain Xian Shu peak novelists who would record it for posterity ...and make a profit out of it, selling it to the rich romance reader market.

Win-Win!

Click to expand...

Gav said: ↑

***
Han Qing He found herself blushing again, as she brushed a hand as gentle as a butterfly's caress against the new hair ornaments in her hair.

Ah, her beloved person was so considerate.

Today, she called Qing He over to pick out fabrics from her own dowry stores and even gave her lovely hair ornaments that she had commissioned.

Han Qing He had actually forgotten about commissioning ornaments or new clothing for herself these past months because she was too tired to show off, but even though she had forgotten to maintain her looks, her precious person hadn't forgotten her at all.

Buyao, hair pins, combs and jewelry, fine bracelets and jade bangles, even lotus patterned brocade. Her beloved had even sent over a trained masseuse maid to make her comfortable.

She hadn't expected to be looked after anywhere near this well, but that person always remembered her more than their own husband did.

It was a real pity that those four women were so inconsiderate as to not appreciate the effort that her precious person had put into taking care of each of the concubines and tongfang according to their status.

That Feng woman, so proud that she had the highest ranking family of all the concubines, even had the gall to ungratefully insult the gift Qing He's beloved person had given her... Really acted like some lower class fishwife.

The two former servants who had been raised to being tongfang were just as bad, assuming her dear person's gifts were an insult.

Then there was that woman from the brothel who refused to play music for her beloved despite the fact that she was much lower in rank. That woman looked at her beloved's gifts as if they were worthless.

Han Qing He hated them all for that.

Why couldn't they be like Jiang-shi and Luo-shi? Both of them were tactful, decent and properly grateful to Qing He's beloved for her concern and efforts.

Luo-shi was particularly considerate of Qing He's beloved... as she should well be, since the main wife had thoughtfully sent Luo to visit her family with some medicines and a proper doctor when her uncle was ill.

Han Qing He wished the other four would be booted out of the harem already, it wasn't as if any of them could boast any contributions or any right to be flaunting their presence here.

But she was only a concubine anyway so she couldn't exactly insist or demand for the rotten wood to be carved out of the tree, no matter how they ruined the harmonious running of the rear court.

The reasons that Han Qing He was so happy were simple. One of her maids had overheard a conversation between the main wife and one of her dowry maids. Those dowry maids were very loyal and it wasn't surprising that one of them had broached the topic of Han Qing He and her son. The main wife had said that she liked and respected Han Qing He. The main wife felt that Qing He was an excellent mother and a virtuous woman.

Of course the maid then shifted the topic to the probability that Han Qing He's son might slip from being a burden to being a threat to her mistress' own children.

The main wife had decisively shut that down, reprimanding the maid gently for baseless slander. That boy, she stated firmly, would never be the kind of person to threaten her children and, the main wife emphasized, the boy wasn't a burden at all. Implying such a thing was an insult to Han Qing He, to her husband and to herself.

That was exactly why she was supporting him and his mother.

The maid didn't seem to understand, and the eavesdropper hadn't heard the rest of the conversation but the maid had become more deferential to Han Qing He afterwards so she was fairly sure that the main wife had spoken well of her. Knowing that the main wife had her back had Qing He floating on clouds.

In truth, the main wife had simply pointed out some very pertinent facts.

Firstly the boy was born sickly and required various cultivation medicines to get better. Assuming he finally recovered from his illness, if the main wife was any judge of people at all, it was very likely that his cultivator uncle would want to have him nearby and so he would likely recruit him to be a sect disciple.

Assuming he didn't get better, then his uncle would still take him to the sect because the sect will have more medicine to help him until someone comes up with a cure. That meant that either way, the boy was not a rival for her children's positions, not when those positions were in the secular world.

If he recovered, they would even have a cultivator protector, so no, there was no way that this particular investment of care and effort could go badly for her.

With such a detailed examination of the case, it easily moved the maid without the main wife even going near the possibility that the boy would die from an illness if he attempted to make a place for himself in the secular world without those cultivator medicines.

That was the mother-in-law's prediction. But despite the mother-in-law's logical beliefs based on what had happened to other children recorded as having in the same situation, the main wife wanted to take every chance to prevent such a fate for her husband's eldest son.

***
The name of Han Qing He's beloved was Qin Qing Ju.

Unfortunately, her Qin family was not of the main branch.

(That was the family which produced the Qin Cansheng who fervently courted Aoguang, Qin Yunsheng who was the hardworking bro-con eldest brother and Qin Musheng who doted on his Ran Yan).

No, her family was the filthy nouveau rich cadet branch of the Qin clan.

When one calls them filthy rich, the emphasis on 'filthy' was completely deserved. You see, that branch of the family was descended from Qin Huangwang, the bright fellow who came up with the idea of running a nightsoil collection service that also processed the waste of humans and animals into fertilizer which they in turn sold to farmers and landowners who had large estates with many farms.

Qin Huangwang's idea turned out to be ludicrously lucrative. He quickly made a fortune from it and then turned that fortune to securing the contracts for the collection of human and animal waste for the entire city and the farming district.

That was pretty much like winning the lottery for himself and his whole family.

Alas, even as his formerly poor cadet branch rose to become wealthy landowners themselves, their social capital did not rise. The first reason was that people who made their fortune in cleaning up other people's shit were also tarred with the same stink... which could have been overcome if it wasn't for the second reason, which was far more pertinent. It was that they had all the social graces of pigs, frolicking around in mud.

Perhaps that was an overgeneralization.

Think of them then as lottery winners, who having won the lottery and skyrocketed to having as much cash to flash as they wanted, now looked down upon the members of their former social circle.

The kind of people who went around throwing money at problems. If they saw something they liked, they had to have it, had to buy it, had to bring it home to crow about it.

The kind of people, who when on a sightseeing tour, would not thank their hosts for getting anything right, acting as if the best of services was just what they paid for. The kind of people who belittled the natives, compared the facilities and everything else constantly to other places they had been on their travels, who insulted everyone from the storekeepers down to the clerks and waitstaff.

Qin Qing Ju's mother was from an extremely well known, high pedigreed, scholarly and refined family... which was also, at the time, extremely financially embarrassed.

Let us just say that if Qing Ju's grandfather hadn't seen her mother as his best chance to bring some class into the family and improve their place in the rarified social circles he aspired to, Qing Ju's father wouldn't have been anywhere near lucky enough to have ever gotten his hands on someone like her.

Unfortunately, Qing Ju's father had shit taste in women.

Case in point. Qing Ju's father fell in love with a beautiful green tea bitch who had set her cap on having him when he was still married to Qing Ju's mother. That woman spared no effort in ensnaring and seducing him.

Since Qing Ju's father's taste in women tended to the flashy, gorgeous beauties who could also pull off soft and pitiful at the drop of the hat, and his wife was an intelligent, refined, cool scholarly beauty... Let's just say it was the logical course of events for anyone with eyes when Qing Ju's father immediately brought her pregnant stepmother in as the legal wife far too soon after Qing Ju's mother died of childbed fever.

It was an absolutely deplorable course of events, but it was logical.

Everyone who heard of the event also agreed that it was a shitty thing, but eh, what do you expect of the shit collector?

Qin Qing Ju's brother and sister both seemed fit to follow in their deplorable mother's footsteps.

The daughter had a thing for handsome, icy, refined and unattainable men, and so there were more than a few fiascos in her past.

For one, she propositioned a married man in public after falling for him at first sight in a festival wherein she had been one of the ladies showing off her artistic skills.

Unwilling to accept it when he ignored her, she found out where he lived and tried to gain his attention again with a cajoling, coquettish greeting, confessing her attraction to him.

In front of his wife.

The man, Li Yao, was incensed when his wife, Wu Shuilian, burst into tears.

He went to complain to the girl's parents, expecting them to reign the girl in.

Who knew that they were so crass as to simply offer him money to cover it up?

Even more frustrated by this, he went over their head to speak to their clan head who then censured the entire family and compensated the married couple for the harassment.

One would think that after that, the girl would have more sense, but no.

She set her sights on marrying into a Wang's estate instead. Her parents were very supportive, seeing this as an opportunity to climb a high branch.

Qing Ju attempted to warn her it wouldn't be what she thought it was, and tried to talk her out of it. She got censured by her father and stepmother instead.

Qing Ju was right, it was a STUPID idea.

The only position the Wang was willing to offer was that of a concubine since her family weren't the main house and they also weren't even officials. They wanted their girl to be the main wife? He wasn't interested.

Then when Qin Qing Ju was married to her husband because of her maternal family, which had risen from the ashes, that sister placed her eyes on Qing Ju's husband and wanted to usurp her place in his affections.

This earned their entire branch of the family the disgust of Qing Ju's in-laws.

Qing Ju's mother-in-law said it best.

"This kind of person wants to enter my household, does she think any kind of toy could serve my son?!"

Qing Ju's brother wasn't any better.

Other households had sons that went off to study in order to become officials.

This lecherous fellow went off to make a nuisance of himself, and used his years of study at an academy to collect this or that pretty girl, acquiring twelve concubines in short order, many of them just barely having reached marriagable age.

If that wasn't bad enough, this inveterate lecher was at the root of a certain scandal wherein he promised a certain girl from a formerly good family that had been forced into a brothel that he would redeem her from the brothel. In writing.

Then he fucked her and forgot all about her, out of sight out of mind.

Let's just say that there was a resulting brawl with the other man who was in love with that girl and who was willing to buy her out, who had actually saved up the money and came to pick her up.

The girl nearly committed suicide. If the other man hadn't been willing to still buy her and take her home and look after her, she really would have died.

As it was, the fiasco ended but it did not end well.

There was a reason that her in laws are fairly sure she inherits from the main branch of the Qin and her dear mama, who died far too young in childbed fever.

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Gav said: ↑

***
Finding out who the culprits for the death of the original Huan Ying was easy enough for a former demonic cultivator.

Killing the culprits when they were related to you and their deaths would be investigated was a bit more difficult.

Huanying didn't like the way the former host's so-called friends were sniffing around him again. He liked the way they had taken to sniffing around his cousins, young master Ling and little miss LingLing even less.

Like hell was he going to let them do to his impressionable, innocent youngest cousins what they had done to him.

Since murdering them, skinning them while still alive or poisoning them would be too blatant and too hard to pull off, he simply started by listing down all the amounts of money his shu cousins had ever owed him. Money that they never paid back. He then took these accounts to his grandfather and his parents.

The resulting explosive rage quickly had the old man and the main branch confronting their shu kinsmen to shake their offspring upside down would go down in infamy. Particularly when Huanying mentioned that he had been asked out to the gambling house by a few of those kinsmen who never paid him back what he was owed, right on the same day that he was attacked.

As a former demonic cultivator, Huanying was very, very good at setting traps. In this case, those traps were made easier by a vital skill he had mastered which the original didn't really practice that often.

Accounting.

Of course, the original had never bothered himself with following the money because he trusted his kinsmen, Huanying now needed an excuse for the unusual behavior of going to his parents and grandpa with the accounts of what these people owed him.

It was a very large amount indeed, it was enough to make a very nice nest egg for some sycophants and backstabbers.

Fortunately, he had the perfect excuse for his uncharacteristic behavior.

His heirloom was still in the hands of the so-called friends who had fleeced him for it at the gambling table, so he arbitrarily decided to take his many notes from the people who had gotten him into gambling and then went shamefacedly to his merchant-in-laws, asking if this was 'enough to buy his heirloom back'.

That was definitely a perfect excuse for suddenly adding up all those notes.

With the notes of many of the people who he had ever gambled with as a nice chunk of proof, Huanying managed to leverage this into a request to investigate the gamblers who he had been gambling with.

As a result, many debauchees and gamblers were currently having their lives turned into a special hell of their own making.

Why?

Because Huanying had gotten his family to send out their subordinates to call in all his notes without caring about how the face of the other peoples' families were affected.

In general, debauchees do not feel prepared to have armed men clad in formal uniforms knocking on their family's doors to call in their notes.

It is even worse when the armed men in question have accounts with blackmail material in them and they knock very early in the morning.

Especially at the houses where the debauchees were very drunk the previous night and have horrible hangovers.

The original host had been very punctual in paying his debts but much more trusting when it came to collecting on them.

Today, that chicken was coming home to roost. It was a very heavy chicken indeed. Heavy enough to break certain people's glass houses.

As a direct result, a lot of gamblers and debauchees were currently getting raked over coals by their own family heads due to the sheer public nature of the armed men's arrival and debt collection. The public had quite a lot of things to gossip about, right now.

While his victims were being skinned, marinated in salt and vinegar and roasted, metaphorically speaking...Huanying had undertaken an investigation into the matter of the man who actually had the host beaten to death over a woman.

To most men, the matters of that influential man who had gotten Cui Huan Ying beaten to death would have been hidden and opaque. No one would have gotten past his guards or entered his compound.

However Huanying was a former demonic cultivator. Even as reduced in circumstances as he was right now, it meant he had avenues of investigation that people of the secular world simply didn't have.

As a direct result, Huanying quickly discovered some very interesting things. Firstly that man was the kind of man who had the 'aura of a king' even if he wasn't actually a king, he had ties to the criminal underworld, and he had the ability to suppress most 'good' families. In short, to the vast majority of the people in the city, he was untouchable... which explained why the man had the original host beaten to death without compunction and without worrying about revenge.

Having the services of a sect of assassins tended to give people the impression that they could bully others with impunity, after all.

Well, Huanying wasn't an ordinary man, and he had no intention of letting the culprits get away with it. As it was, his so-called cousins and friends were suffering the torments of people newly cornered by the tax men who were intent on stripping them of their illicitly acquired fat and flesh, metaphorically speaking.

In short, they were being taken for every single excess piece of copper cash with dubious provenance. In addition, those of them who had jobs working for the main branch or running the clan's shops and businesses, were being shaken down extra hard and being put under surveillance. The shops and businesses account books were being investigated, the shops and business facilities themselves were being searched and stripped down.

That left this asshole as being next on his list.

Naturally the revenge in question would have to be taken in such a way that his family wouldn't suffer any fallout, so this was a much more complex and secretive endeavor.
***
Of course, that man had prepared for everything in the secular world, but he hadn't prepared for things in the cultivation world.

Given the fact that Huanying's master had specialized in attempts to resurrect the dead using corpse puppets and other similar monstrous methods, it was safe to say that Huanying's methods would completely blindside him.

Corpse puppets tended to do that. Even better, the corpse puppets for this technique didn't even need to be human. A bird would be just as good. A rat was ubiquitous.

The only difficult part had been hiding what he was doing from his new family and his beautiful savior, but no one really noticed it when he created some corpse puppets while he was out on a 'hunt' and simply sent out the undead creatures to scout before he entered the city.

In any case, the scouting and surveillance efforts went fairly well.

An unkillable rat or bird could go straight on through traps without being deterred by pain the way living creatures were.

After that, it was just time to put the details together like puzzle pieces.

***
The story that Huanying discovered was the kind of thing that tended to set tongues a-wagging.

It was a story full of dog blood. Seriously, why the hell had the original host been drawn in again?! He was a bystander!

The woman who the original Huanying had been speaking to, the reason he had been beaten to a pulp, was the prideful daughter of a 'good' family. She had been about to be married out to a man from another 'good' family, whom she had been attached to. Alas, this man was also the person who the girl's cousin, from a lower ranked family, had set her eyes on as the man she wanted to marry. The man in question was wealthy enough to be capable of spoiling whichever woman he married by the standards of his small town and was very much the dream lover of several women there. Jewelry? The limited selection there meant it was not a big deal. Gorgeous new clothes? Not a problem.

The girl's cousin was a white lotus, quite capable of turning white to black or black to white with her words, so her first course of action to undermine the man's relationship with his original fiancee was to act pitiful and set up self injury ploys in order to gain sympathy and interest.

When the girl had been hurt by her cousin's manipulations, she hadn't been able to lower herself to act pitiful and so the wedge had been driven between her and her prospective fiance.

After that, the cousin had progressed to drugging the girl and then set her up to have her 'infidelity' be discovered by the fiance in question.

The marriage was off, and the unfortunate girl had been cast aside and replaced by her white lotus cousin who had pleaded for the enraged family of the 'cuckolded' fiance to 'lessen the punishment' for the 'infidelity'.

Instead of letting her get killed by her enraged prospective in-laws, the white lotus talked them into sending her off in exile and then had her kidnapped by slavers and sold to a brothel not long after she left the family's estate.

This girl then had the good luck of attracting the attention of what would have been considered the male lead in a shitty romance novel.

That 'male lead' then was so charmed by her that he bought her out intending to take her home as his concubine.

That was exactly when the original Huan Ying had the bad luck to speak to her and compliment her on her beauty and her attire. He was at the wrong place, at the wrong time, speaking to the wrong person.

It was only making small talk, but thanks to machinations of certain relatives of his, the 'male lead' ended up suspecting Huan Ying of trying to seduce her and he reacted accordingly.

Well, Huanying was of the opinion that none of the people involved were innocent.

The 'male lead' was a vicious, touchy, paranoid bastard who lived by the motto of the strong devours the weak. The girl he fixated on was so proud that she had made life hell for people under her when she had still been in favor with her family, and had been so used to having her own way that she couldn't even unbend to explain herself. The white lotus was a backstabbing, manipulative bitch. And her sister wasn't any better.

In a hilarious example of Karma, the white lotus had found her attempts to marry the man she stole from her cousin were being undermined by her own white lotus sister.

In short, the only innocent involved was the original host and by extension, that host's family.

Well, that man could flaunt his wealth and throw his weight around but two could play at that game. Let's see how this guy deals with having his storehouses literally 'ratted out' to his competitors.

Since he's currently ruining his woman's former man and her family in order to please her and get revenge for her, let's see how his plans work when everyone involved, both the men and their families, have all their storehouses ratted out and their matters dragged into the open. By literal rats.

Undead rats, to be precise. Keys and papers aren't really heavy, after all. This should be well within their capabilities.

Heh. The situation should be quite nice and explosive. If Huanying was lucky, the other factions- families, alliances, merchant groups and the like- would get their fingers into the pie and this would escalate, unbalancing all the factions involved so much that his own new family could take over some nice chunks of real estate.

Three weeks later, no less than five merchant groups were in an all out scrum with a certain influential man.

The girl's family had gone under, losing the vast majority of their wealth. Her backstabbing cousins had ended up in a brothel when their branch crashed hard, causing their parents to sell them to pay their debts. The ex-fiance's family had to dump the girl's family and concentrate on saving their own asses. The 'male lead' had also suffered losses in both his owned sect and his personal holdings, and the girl herself?

She had found herself becoming the vent for her new husband's frustrations as his concubine. Favorite fucktoy might be a more appropriate term as the 'male lead' seemed to have his eyes on a marriage to a woman of an acceptably useful family whose dowry and alliances he could use to bolster his position and regain what he had lost in terms of assets.

Oh wait, no.

No, he apparently intended to marry the poor woman he had targeted and then kill her off to profit from her death before instating his favorite as his wife and 'beloved woman'.

The shu kinsmen had been stripped of all their excess wealth and lost their influence and their employment in the businesses they had been running for the clan, being relegated to lower level positions if they kept anything at all.

Huanying had his money back and in addition, all he had to do was be idle and spend his time studying medical procedures and medicine from Lin Xiao Ran.

***
Huanying had several things to consider.

First, were all those novels about righteous sect cultivators even close to reality? Were they based on real people or completely fiction? Did his Xiao Ran have someone in his heart already?
His courting attempts like bringing presents- anything the person he desires displays interest in- and following Xiao Ran every single day, learning medicine from him while basking in his presence... Are these efforts even working?!

Lin Xiao Ran just keeps looking bemused. Sometimes Xiao Ran's lips hook up into a smile when Huanying succeeds at replicating something that he was training him in, and sometimes they also hook up into a smile when he says something that Huanying guesses he might find funny.

Except he isn't even sure how he amused Xiao Ran.

This entire century, Huanying is just trying to catch up to.

His new cousins tell him he is charmingly old fashioned now when he slips up in his acting like what the body's memories tell him modern people should act like.

'You're idolizing gramdfather a bit much, huh? We should have expected it, you were always his favorite.'

His grandfather is just so puffed up with pride he may be fit to burst.

Meanwhile his family seems to keep trying to sell him off, make him look good so that Xiao Ran will marry him.

Huanying has been dumbstruck upon seeing one of his cousins take Xiao Ran off to discuss his assets more than once.

Seriously?

What is this, 'keep going, be sticky, sell meng!' that they keep telling him to do?!

Oh, and it looks like that male lead intends to kill his new wife as soon as it is possible to set her up to die in a manner that won't be suspicious to the public, huh.

Huanying is also debating whether he should or should not continue getting involved in this mess. On one hand, that poor woman this main lead has targeted is very unfortunate, plus he still owes that guy a death for the host's sake. On the other she isn't anyone he knows and in any case he has already interfered with that guy's operations.

That man must have the staying power of a cockroach. Huanying is honestly confused by his staying power in the face of his assassin sect suffering so many setbacks and his own storehouses being lost, as well as other competitors in terms of influence and commerce trying to maul his businesses, legal and otherwise, to death.

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freaking cute!!! murder!!!

Gav said: ↑

***
Luo Binghe is not enjoying his brief detour into introspection.

At this point, every time he thinks of his Shizun finding out what happened to his world's Shen Qingqiu, his guts cramp up with horror.

He hated that man and yet he still wanted that man's attention, his respect, his love all the way until the end. He had regretted killing him and burning the corpse, because that man had always been out of his reach in life and in death, even at the end, eyes fixed on a distant horizon.

Shen Qingqiu- that name, that person, has made him feel a complex mix of emotions ranging from longing, awe and gratitude to bitterness, hatred, contempt and rage.

Love and hate, both extremes, completely intertwined. Because of that, he lashed out at Shizun, because he was unreconciled that his world's Shen Qingqiu had gotten away from him despite taking such a big part of Binghe with him.

His feelings were like ash, chalky, bitter and unreconciled after he had met the first of his counterparts who was loved by his master.

That counterpart had been so lucky, he had wanted to take that Shen Qingqiu away with him, seduce that gentle master away from his counterpart.

It had failed, as had his attempt to use force.

Then he met his Shizun and had only seen the chance to possess what he desired, acting brutally and decisively because he hadn't had enough of that man.

He had only learned of what he wasted far too late.

Every time he thinks of Shizun self-detonating, again, his guts start cramping again. Nausea and guilt scourge him.

Whenever he tries to think of holding Yue Qingyuan as a hostage to force Shizun's cooperation, he is reminded of the way Shizun threw himself in the path of 10,000 arrows and got pulped, as well as the traumatized expression on Shizun's face when Binghe fed him his blood to try to turn him into a blood thrall to force Shizun to stay with him. Then his guts cramp up again.

When he remembers the many screams, the broken sobbing and the way Shizun just...lay like an empty, wrecked shell in his arms after he... had his way with him, his guts cramp up again.

It is only made even more painful by the sight of dimension after dimension wherein his counterpart is happy with his Shizun. World after world where things apparently went very differently despite them all being the same person, having the same parents, the same appearance.

In short he is having a very very bad time of it.

He isn't used to guilt. He isn't used to regrets that dye his guts green, that cannot be washed away.

He's found so many worlds where Shen Qingqiu was proud of his student rather than resentful so he can't assume it was jealousy that triggered the cruelty of his world's Shen Qingqiu.

He's found so many worlds where his counterpart was treated well and doted on, spoiled and pampered that he can't assume that it was innately in Shen Qingqiu's nature to abuse others.

If so, what is the difference? What is it about him and those of his counterparts who are like him that causes their Shen Qingqiu to hate them in particular?

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Gav said: ↑

***
Huang is a fairly common surname. However, in a village full of very curious people, having family after family showing up and settling in is still quite suspicious.

It is even more suspicious when those families seem to have some kind of wealthy and influential mysterious backer. A backer in the shadows who is both willing and capable of having all of a certain village's roads paved, having proper schools and medicine halls built and even rebuilding the village's very walls.

Thanks to this mysterious backer, the village that the Huang family had entered had been expanded not merely once nor twice, but multiple times.

The second family which had entered the village called themselves Sui. This name change had been intentional- the Suli name had to be hidden because everyone knew that the last members of the Suli clan had died, and their estate and lands had finally been purified.

Sui wasn't a very rare name and it was very close to Suli, it would be less jarring to adjust to... which was exactly why Suli Zhantian had chosen it for themselves.

The third family consisted of an elder and his adopted children, whom a certain young gentleman (Mo Heiying) was teaching as if they were his own students.

Of course, these matters had been kept a secret from the villagers who could only grow more and more curious. Like puppies who were eager to sniff around until they had found out every nook and cranny, or kittens eager to find a tasty morsel, the villagers could only crowd around, introduce themselves and try to ingratiate themselves with the newcomers.

Some matrons brought food as presents, a basket of eggs here, some fruit there, some meat from a recently slaughtered animal there... It didn't hurt that the youngsters of those families looked to be beauties or budding beauties.

The backer who had been providing for these three families had ensured that their family estates were fairly large and extremely sturdy.

He had taken equal care with the walls and expansions of the village, bringing really good materials and keeping the village's men consistently employed in construction with the village's sudden rise in prosperity and upgrades in infrastructure.

***
First the roads.

Then the sanitation- a public sewer and public toilets that were kept carefully away from contaminating drinking or washing water, as were the facilities to process the collected nightsoil - that is, human and animal waste- into fertilizer.

Then there were the shelters for livestock with their own waste disposal which was also kept far from food preparation or water sources in order to prevent contamination.

There were the public bathhouses, communal wells and fountains, buildings for housing guests, a rebuilt of the meeting hall and other such important public buildings, storehouses for grain and other supplies in case of disaster, workshops for artisans, a communal market, the schools and medicine halls, communal kitchens...

Whoever this backer was, he had a good grasp of city planning.

It hadn't taken the existing officials and people of relatively high status in the village long to figure out that the backer intended to expand their village into a walled city.

Of course, each person had their own opinion on the subject, though the fact that lots of people were paid for contruction and grain was definitely benefiting the villagers' coffers.

Most people were rather optimistic about their wealth and influence rising with the city's expansion. Some of those with entrenched interests were not so sanguine.

That was why several people had begun hanging around the Huang and Sui families in order to acquaint themselves with them and figure out their circumstances.

In practice, this basically meant that the Huangs and the Sui suddenly had a lot of people trying to befriend them and had many offers of marriages on the table.
***
The village's continual upgrades were very concerning to those living close to it.

All villages were close to market towns. This was intentional as groups of villages both supported market towns and were supported by the trade from market towns. Another contender for trade in a riding market town or worse, a trade city, was very bad for business of the original market town that the original villagers went to. Not only because of the loss of business from a thousand or more people that the village contained, but also because a new market town or trade city was a contender for the commerce and funds of other villages in its vicinity.

Already, when Cang Qiong's first village rose and became a strong trade town, all the market towns in its vicinity took a direct hit in their treasuries because all the rarities ended up in that trade city first. They ended up surviving as stations along a much larger trade route, their importance diminished just by the existence of that city which was backed by one of the big sects. Worse, that city had been so well designed that it drew people like moths to a flame and supported the population so comfortably that the men and women from further provinces were always so envious of the city's natives and eager to implement that place's many luxuries in their own home towns.

Of course, after the Pavilion of Past Lives incident, everyone could totally understand why the town was so perfectly built and run. To have a former emperor of such skill investing in it, it couldn't be anything else.

Now, was the Qing Jing peak lord responsible for the continual improvement of this particular small village? The facilities were certainly incredibly well designed as were the necessary infrastructure and sanitation services...

If so, why was he doing it?

While it was close to Cang Qiong, so were many other villages. Did the man have interests in other villages all around its territory as well?

***
The only reason that the Qing Jing peak lord had been so quickly suspected was the fact that he had ramped up the renovations and upgrades to the village.

However, inquiring minds soon found that the preliminary defenses had been set up right after the Huangs had moved to the village and the massive upgrades had been set up after the Sui and then further improved when the elder with his students had appeared in the village.

If so, what exactly was so important about the Huangs, Sui and that elder to make them worthy of such interest?

Inquiring minds, mostly profit oriented, really wanted to know.

This led to certain nobles, rich merchant families and people of the 'good' scholarly and military families in the region trying to get close to the people in question.

Which led to the current situation wherein many offers of engagement were on the table for the Sui family's teenagers.

Including for Sun Jin, once the people had found out the current clan head had a son of marriagable age.

As a result, Zixie and his wife had just been informed by Sun Jin that he wasn't looking for a wife because he had Daomei.

"If Father and Mother both want a baby so much," Sun Jin had stated bluntly to his dismayed mother and mildly discomforted father, "then this filial son must remind them that Father and Mother are both of age to still bring other children into the world to spoil.

Don't bring me into this situation, I won't be involved."

Daomei looked delighted, and his eyes were filled with doting and awe for his Sun Jin who had defended their relationship so strightforwardly.

Sun Jin's mother on the other hand, clearly had no idea how to deal with a son who was so vehement and so... adult and set in his ways and firm in his choices.

That... well, he did have a point, Zixie had to admit. They really were young enough for having as many kids as they wanted.

Of course, even if Sun Jin was off the menu, that still left the many teenagers of the Sui family still capable of marrying including the honorable elders of the clan who had been brought back to life in teenage bodies.

The other problem was that the elders were still in mourning for what they had lost since they had only been embodied for a relatively short period of time.

It was unquestionable that their former wives and the former husbands of the resurrected matrons of the Suli house had already been reincarnated. It had been over a decade and a half since they had died, after all. There was no way their loved ones were still in the realm of the dead and also there was no way to find their reincarnations. In addition, they might even have reincarnated as nonhumans.

That left these elders and matrons in the unique position of being teenagers again, of barely marriagable age and of being at the same time, grandparents and mothers who were in mourning for their lost husbands and wives, incapable of contemplating a new marriage so early.
***
The Sui young masters and misses may have been teenagers, but they dressed like elders and matrons.

Surprisingly, it both suited and didn't suit their skin pure as jade, their faces fair as spring flowers. Their tendency towards wearing clothing in muted, dull or dark colors with subtle motifs in styles that were over two decades old was unusual among the other people their age who loved to wear eye catching clothing in new fashions if they could afford it.

The Sui teenagers wore clothes that a well off noble elder or noble matron would likely wear, and that definitely came off as odd.

An air of maturity suited young men, the calm of maturity suited lovely ladies. Their noble and refined bearing was quite eyecatching. However their equally exquisite manners were strangely old fashioned.

They also seemed to be having a bit of discomfort fitting into the village life in that many of the things the other villagers their age had talked about seemed to be unfamiliar to them, so it was fairly clear that these young men and women had been from a more formal, more affluent environment.

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thats strangely attractive

Gav said: ↑

***
The members of the Huang family numbered two young ladies, two young men, two girls and one boy. All of these people were incredibly beautiful- of course that was only to be expected given their genetics. Their wayward parents had been beautiful and had sold them to the brothels because they inherited that beauty, after all.

Of course, beauty came with its own set of problems, as the Huangs knew perfectly well, given the elder siblings' previous unwilling stay in the brothels of the red light district and their previous experiences as playthings for hire.

Of course, as courtesans, they had the problem of clients who could recognize them even after they had been freed. If a previous customer showed up, at the wrong place, the wrong time and recognized them, it would be a disaster.

Suppressing the knowledge of what Enlai's siblings had been forced to be was not easy, nor cheap. Shang Bo could testify to these things even though his own adopted siblings had only been in training to be used in the brothels and hadn't actually been prostitutes.

Enlai wasn't even doing any of the work himself, as their peak lord had undertaken the care of his remaining siblings.

If anything, Yang Dewei was far more suited to helping Shang Bo and Shizun take care of the Shang and Huang siblings. For one, he already had some experience with the criminal underworld.

As it was, Yang Dewei had previously used his access to such a thing to make ludicrous amounts of wealth and look for people who had interesting cultivation physiologies, such as those who could be excellent cauldrons or cultivation geniuses.

There were many cultivation methods extremely suited for this or that body type. It was certain Dewei was not the only righteous cultivator looking through the people who were available for sale to acquire cultivation furnaces or future disciples.

Now, to that profitable idle pastime, had been added the job of tracking down the people who Enlai's siblings had been forced to service, in order to dose the former brothel patrons with amnesia potions, thus erasing the evidence that would ruin the Huang family's now comfortable lives.

Alas, even a wide flung net could miss a few fish.
It shouldn't be a surprise that some fish managed to slip the nets.

Jinling, Huiling, Enhua and Chaoxiang had been in the brothels and had customers for years since each of them had their virginity sold off.

They were lucky, one could have said, in that they weren't in the brothels that sold 'unripe fruit'. Such places did exist and children sold to those had a rough time of it. Suicide rates were far higher, there.

As it was, courtesans and prostitutes alike received guests almost every night of the year. Given that the four Huangs hadn't been educated before entering the brothels, and only acquired what education the brothels felt would reel in customers, it could not be said that they were sufficiently skilled to be those who acquired customers by selling their skills and not their bodies.

Three hundred nights a year, perhaps?

That meant they had fielded hundreds of customers, some of whom became repeating visitors.

Thus, it should have been expected that evidence of those years could not be completely wiped out.

***
Time passes, people come, people go. Some things change, others stay the same.

Lianying had been quite fond of a certain prostitute by the name of Jinling. He had, in particular, liked the way she writhed under his body, the way she moaned and mewled, the slick, wet heat, her lovely, misty, reddened eyes. He had visited her whenever he was trading in the vicinity of the market town her brothel was situated in, but on his arrival this time, she was not there.

The brothel madam had shrugged and stated that she had been bought out by a very rich fellow who had sent his servants with a large bag of taels for her. A sum that was much larger than what most prostitutes could ever hope to be purchased for.

Somewhat disappointed, he had attempted to inquire further but the brothel madam had no word on where she had been taken or who he could try to negotiate with.

If he had known that she would be bought, he would have saved up the money to buy her earlier.

He had come to follow the money, in search of luxuries to bring back to his home town, only to catch sight of a familiar face.

It was her, it had to be, but she was even more fair and more beautiful than when he saw her last. Before, clad in the slightly over the top, gaudy clothes that courtesans wore to attract customers, with her lips reddened and her brows drawn in, she had been a seductive dream.

In the broad light of day, she was a fairy.

Some women lost their beauty as they aged. Jinling's beauty had only grown with time. They had been separated for three years, and she had grown so fair.

Lianying swallowed hard, eyes glued to her face and form. The long dark hair had grown even longer, the lips were like roses, the beautiful eyes could hook a man's soul.

Her clothing was obviously that which was worn by rich young misses from good families. The lovely light gauzes, the glossy satins, intricate embroidery and brocades in such wide sleeved, girdled dresses suited her.

This was what she had been like under the makeup? Truly he had missed out.

But why was she so finely dressed? That was not what one expected of a man's concubine...

And out in broad daylight too, with a man who was equally fair of face... A man who resembled her...

Hm.

Had her family redeemed her?

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leeeet's go!!! murder! violence!!!

Gav said: ↑

***
In a previous life, a certain young master was born to an influential family. He was so fair of face that the sight of him bewitched an entire generation of women in his home town and the regions surrounding it, causing them to throw flowers at him. He was compared to Pan An and the other three historic male beauties.

He was so skilled in the noble arts and the art of war that he made his parents and teacher inveterately proud of him, however this paragon of perfection was a bitter pill to all the men in the region.

You see, since all the women were dazzled by him, the maidens all dreamed of being his one and only, or if not that, then to be his concubine, sharing a little of his rain and dew.

With all those women in love with him, the men of the region suffered being compared to him and rejected by the women they loved in favor of him, even if he hadn't ever paid any attention to the women in question.

This imbalance was so terrible that the first forever alone club of that province was formed from the many, many unfortunate men who had been rejected and thus bitterly cursed him,"Pray that you and all the women become brothers and sisters!"
***
One unfortunate man had an even worse grievance. As a junior disciple to the same master that was teaching the paragon, he was constantly undervalued and compared to that paragon by his teacher. Three times he had fallen in love and three times he had been rejected by the object of his affection in favor of the famous young master. In addition, that famous young master's family had a long and bitter feud with his, from the time of his ancestor... for admittedly the exact same reason that he was cursing the young master right now.

Because of this, his curses were even more vehement and bitter than most.

It is said that love and hate both bind people in karmic ties from one life to the next. Right now, this poor fellow found that his curses had backfired on him in a truly spectacular way.

Why?

Because he just awoken only to find himself reincarnated as the fiancee to the reincarnation of his hated foe.

Truly the heavens are blind and the gods must be crazy!

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wooow poor dude

Gav said: ↑

***
Shang Bo always worried for his adopted siblings.

Shang Ling Mei was fine, thank the heavens. She had easily settled into her role as eldest in the household, and was running the place quite efficiently.

She had taken in five beautiful men as her lovers, buying them directly from the slave markets. Shang Bo wasn't going to question her decisions, he was just going to beat to death anyone who did. After all, she was his sister and as far as he was concerned, her will was law.

It was younger sister Shang Bai Yu, and younger brothers Li Jia and Tao Hai, that were the problem. These younger siblings of his clearly weren't willing to leave their new home more often than they had to.

In fact, they were only willing to leave the estate when it was to visit the Liu family, or the Huangs or the Sui family, and they were only willing to go shopping if they had Qing Jing outer sect disciples and the families of those disciples with them..

In short, they had only professed themselves willing to go out of the safety of their walled enclave if they were to be with other people who they could consider kin by extension.

It wasn't that they didn't like new things or new luxuries that one could see in the markets. It was simply that they were afraid. The jail and the brothel had taught them fear, and Shang Bo didn't like it.

That was why he was willing to take them to visit the other families so often, including Enlai's unclaimed siblings.
***
Shang Li Jia still had nightmares about the day when the jailer had nearly raped him. Shang Tao Hai still had nightmares of running through endless streets with slavers on his heels. Shang Bai Yu still had nightmares of overhearing older prostitutes discussing when it would be her turn to lose her virginity to a customer, while hearing sobs and moans from other rooms.

In short, Shang Bo's immediate reaction to this was to go out in vigilante gear, masked and then beat up as many slavers as he could get his hands on.

His next act was to go out and beat up as many of the Huang siblings' customers as he could get his hands on, before dosing them with the amnesia drug. And his third was to get Enlai to also wear similar gear to go with him so they could beat to a pulp the abusive customers who hurt prostitutes because of their sick fetishes.

In short, there were a lot of former customers of those brothels who lost memories of certain prostitutes- though most of those didn't even notice the loss. Not many brothel-goers remember which prostitutes they visited, after all.

And there were also a lot of abusive, sadistic customers who found out what it was like to be on the other end of whatever implement they had used on defenseless men and women.

Particularly those bastards who took it into their heads to prey on children in the 'unripe fruit' brothels. Shang Bo and Enlai had a special hatred for those.
***
Here was a fact. Both Enlai and Shang Bo would dearly have wished to burn down the unripe fruit brothels. Those places were a stain. They should be purged.

Unfortunately setting fire to those places meant that the fire would spread to the entire red light district. In addition, whether one set fire to one brothel or an entire red light district, one would have to rescue all the men, women, boys and girls who had been taken into those districts.

Not only that, they would also need to set them up with new homes, train them in trades like arts and crafts for their livelihoods, and get them food, clothing and everything they needed in the meantime, while they acclimatized to normal life. In addition there was the prejudice held towards former prostitutes in that they mostly never made it to be main wives and male or female were most likely to be concubines.

As a result, Shizun had told them that if they wanted it cleared out, they could only take the structure down piece by piece.

Slavers first.
***
Of course Shizun tacitly agreed they should also immediately target the owners, recruiters and enforcers of unripe fruit brothels and those people of 'good' families, the wealthy and influential, who took young boys and girls from lower class families or without families at all into their households for sexual torture and sometimes death.

Because those people deserved to die.

Enlai had gained quite a reputation from the latter, actually.

(Yue Qingyuan, remembering how his friend had been targeted by the Qius, very likely for the exact same thing those children had been taken for, also avidly supported the latter campaign.

Because fuck those bastards.

Somewhere in the afterlife, the Qius were rolling in their graves.)
***
Shang Bo's other undertaking was simply to teach his siblings and anyone else among the Liu, Huang and Sui families some of the martial arts Shizun had taught him.

In particular the use of improvised weaponry, he felt, suited his siblings best. Having grown up on the streets, they really were resourceful when not disarmed by terror. The best were the brutal strikes that would inflict the largest amount of injury on the attacker.

Still, even with this training and the outer sect regimen to heal their dependents' bodies, they had a long way to go before they could reintegrate with normal society again.

That was where removing all the people who knew of their previous lives at the brothel came in. Or at least removing their memories.

Click to expand...

Gav said: ↑

***
It is a fact that no man exists in a vacuum. His relationships with the people around him impact his decisions and are in turn affected by his decisions.

Zhang Lianying's sudden interest in marrying a former prostitute whom he used to fuck therefore did the equivalent of setting off a molotov in a public building.

"You what."

There could probably be better reactions to his decisions than this, but his eldest brother, Zhang Xuan, was out of fucks to give about how discouraging his response could be to his impulsive younger brother's sudden crashdive into the desire for matrimony.

"I want to court her formally and marry her." Lianying said, with all the oblivious glee of a five year old child who has just seen the shiny red fruit hanging down from a branch riiiiight in front of him.

"Oh gods, why." Zhang Xuan managed faintly. This might just kill their poor, long suffering parents with heart attacks.

"Just let him marry the girl," his brother, Zhang Ye, said carelessly with a shrug. "It's not as if he's restricted to only one wife. A man is entitled to three wives and four concubines, right?"

Zhang Xuan suppressed the completely unfair urge to commit murder. No. Calm down, Xuan. This can yet be fixed.

"She must be a total tiger in bed," Zhang Hao suggested, smirking.

Zhang Xuan suppressed the urge to murder his second brother, too. Just because this idiot went to the Jianghu, got himself a job as a captain in a noble family's guard and then proceeded to snag a beautiful woman didn't give him any kind of right to get Lianying to make even more bad decisions. Bad enough this moron dragged the boy off to a brothel and got him into this in the first place!

Zhang Xuan was used to being incredibly frustrated with his siblings.

Brother Ye was not reliable, he basically married all three wives immediately -all of them were beauties, including a landowning widow, a brilliant entrepreneur who had been skirting the edge of being considered an old maid because of her love for her business, and a beautiful young lady who had great skill in the four arts- and then sashayed through life as an entertainer, constantly giving people apoplexy with well chosen and brutal poems.

He had been banned from public speaking already by three outraged elders and in one case, an appalled village headman.

Alas, he had a way with words that would have made poet immortals proud, so he still made a profit off of his works.

Brother Hao was a special kind of battle happy retard and came back from his stint in the Jianghu with a gorgeous and fiery bride who loves to use whips, by the name of Xia Ling Mei.

Their poor mother nearly had a coronary.

It was perfectly understandable why, of course. All of Ye's women were over twenty five years of age and one of them was a widow. And then there was that whip wielding terror in red satin who Hao had married.

And then there was Lianying's brilliant idea of marrying an ex prostitute.

Yes, that was really going to drive her up a wall.

At least that left himself and little Lang, their youngest, who would hopefully not screw up.

Zhang Xuan has no idea that he himself has given his fellow teachers apoplexy.

Zhang Xuan was completely oblivious to the fact his fellow male teachers- those of whom he hadn't helped with this or that important matter- all hated him.

It wasn't his skill with teaching. It wasn't his innate ability to master everything he put his mind to.

They had to admit he was an excellent teacher who cared for his disciples and students to the point that he willingly went above and beyond the call of duty in looking after their needs, be it training, supplies or medicines.

No, the reason for their disgruntlement with him was because the female teachers were all hot to trot over him in a tsuntsun fashion.

In short, despite those women's best efforts, Zhang Xuan still wasn't picking up their interest. It drove them to even greater heights of attempting to win his respect, and in turn, it drove the men to greater heights of blue balled, bitter frustration.

In short, he drove them batshit.

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poor dude
(i guess some brave hero is going to have to go up and marry him to save the male teachers )

Gav said: ↑

***
There are many factors in play when a matchmaker chooses a match. The social status of both families to be tied in marriage, the wealth of both parties and their families, any political influence, the respective candidates' horoscopes...

The process of setting two people together was labyrinthine, some matchmakers would claim that it was about as labyrinthine as feng shui.

Ouyang Yunjin, Ran Shiyi, Pan Zhiqi, Wei Jian Shi and Lin Wang Guan all owned land and came from families that had some claim to being scholarly. Not much compared to the families that regularly passed the exams, but certainly more than farmers.

Yunjin, Jian Shi and Wang Guan were landed Xiucai, Shiyi and Zhiqi were both yamen who traveled with their respective governors.

The ladies of the Zhao family, Zhao Fu's beloved elder sisters were, when you got down to it, the daughters of a relatively low ranked official, one who didn't have much money for their dowries after setting aside the inheritance of his two elder sons from the first wife.

Their father was also not in the line for much of an inheritance from his honorable elders, because both his elder brothers already had sons in the line of succession when it came to inheriting land or goods.

As such, marrying them off to young men with land and wealth enough to provide for them without needing much of a dowry had been the goal of their harried mother and narrow-eyed father.

In terms of wealth and social status, they had been an acceptable match.

Bai Lu, Yiyi and Yuyan's husbands had concubines before they arrived, but that was normal for men in their mid-twenties.

The concubines had matters explained to them very clearly, and they had no children by their husbands yet- thus the concubines could not hope to leverage any influence in those households.

That left the ladies' mothers-in-law as the dominating force in the household, as could be expected of honored elders.

Of course, that was only the bare bones of the situation. The most important factors were, of course, the relationship between husband and wife, as well as the relationship between the wife and the in-laws.

Perhaps in another world, where these ladies might be the doted on daughters of rich scholarly families with strong influence and support, they might have grown up as spoiled, self righteous brats who couldn't stand competition and hated to bend even to their in-laws.

In this world, however, Yiyi, Yuyan and Bai Lu were born as the daughters of a man who was still in love with his deceased first wife. They were born to the not-as-well regarded second wife.

It wasn't that there was something particularly wrong with Lin-shi's beauty, her grace or her sense of fashion. The problem was that she simply wasn't as competent as the departed Wang-shi and her husband prized intelligence and competence highly.

When Wang-shi was alive, Zhao Fu's father would say, the finances were run perfectly, the businesses brought in a high yield and she had a firm grasp on the running of all matters in the household. When she was alive, I never had to worry about anything.

The thing was, Zhao Xiu Yi had found in Wang-shi his perfect complement. They were two horses with the same yoke. In Wang-shi, he had found a partner who fit him and had all the same goals and the drive to help him succeed. Thus he gave Wang Shi free reign, praised her constantly for her ambition and they were the happily cuddly ambitious couple of the decade.

And then she died.

And he never got over it.

The concubines he took after her death were disappointing, his second wife was a schemer who could only see the rear court walls and she was equally disappointing.

Perhaps in another household, Lin-shi's award winning white lotus act could have won her the heart of her husband. In this one, he did his best not to complain but he really wasn't satisfied with her and she knew it.

He never abused their daughters, nor did he give them less than what they needed. He took care of all the necessities. He just... treated them as the scholars dictated a daughter of their rank should be treated, no more and no less.

As a direct result of this, these young ladies were far more practical about their prospects in a husband and in-laws than the daughters of influential scholarly families. Not for them the dreams of catching the eye of the highest ranking scholars in the imperial examinations, nor the dreams of catching the eye of a Wang or similarly ranked noble.

No, their father had made sure they knew better.

As a result, their inspection of their husbands to be were on the more practical level. Would there be enough funds for the running of the household and inheritances of their children?

Yes.

Were their husbands abusive?

Obviously no.

What were their in-laws like? For example, Yunjin's mother doted on her boy, and as a result, it was fairly clear to Bai Lu that to make Yunjin happy, would make her in-laws look to her favorably.

Would the concubines be a problem? All signs pointed to no.

Their husbands' attractive appearance was a nice bonus. Things could be worse, most women whose families needed money tended to sell their daughters to old lechers and widowers.

Zhao Fu's sisters breathed a collective sigh of relief that they hadn't been married off to rich, lecherous old men and got down to the important business of winning their husbands and in-laws' hearts.

In addition, there was quite a bonus. Their husbands seemed to be quite fascinated with them.

Well, it seemed that their inheritance of their maternal family's fine looks was probably a godsend.

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wow, sense

Gav said: ↑

***
Wei Jian Shi and Lin Wang Guan had both been named rather auspiciously... and ambitiously. Their names meant tenth adviser and prince's crown- if you looked at them from a certain angle.

Of course, despite the fact that their names were so hopeful, they had no real hopes of ever becoming advisors or high ranking nobles.

Both their particular Lin and Wei families certainly weren't known for good achievements in politics. The larger Lin Clan and Wei Clan main branches could boast of this favored consort of a certain past emperor, or that noble official who had served in a notable court, but their small branches were lucky if they could produce a ninth ranked scholar official.

No, the vast majority of their sons became Xiucai or Yamen who worked as clerks for officials.

As such, neither Jian Shi nor Wang Guan had ever gotten to a point where they could be scholar officials.

They had their land and they were able to avoid most taxes and they had been big fish, for their small ponds.

Marrying such beauties as YiYi and Yuyan could already be considered as a blessing, though their mothers had originally worried the girls might be too spoiled and flighty as beauties often were.

Finding out their wives had a solid core of practicality because of their father's clear and concise explanation of their circumstances, despite their mother's cherished dreams of marrying her beautiful girls off to Wangyes?

That was even better.

In short, it didn't take long before Jian Shi, Wang Guan and the less ambitiously named Yunjin became quite besotted with their wives.

Their mothers quietly praised the heavens, because they had lucked out. Their daughters-in-law were very filial, intelligent and showed a good grasp of management skills.

Then their youngest brother-in-law, Zhao Fu, made a big splash as one of the direct disciples of the Qing Jing peak lord and all of a sudden their future seemed to open wide before them.

The thing is, artifact makers were rare.

Most cultivators anyone ever saw were roaming cultivators who tended to kill demons and get paid for it, pick up loot, dig through ruins.

Positions as big sect's inner sect disciples were rare. Even then, most of those that anyone ever saw were sword cultivators- that is to say, people who hunted monsters and such other creatures to profit off of their body parts. Farming cultivators stuck close to their big sects and rarely left the vicinity of their superiors' protection. An artifact maker, an alchemist or a pill refiner was big news for a small sect or a mid range sect because they were force multipliers, ensuring that the sword cultivators of the sect became stronger at a truly terrifying rate- for any watchers who weren't in that sect.

Many cultivators even raided tombs in hopes of acquiring such artifacts.

So the day that Zhao Fu came over on a visit bearing artifacts as part of his sisters' really belated dowry was a comet in the blue sky, especially given that all the dowry listed on the agreements had already been paid.

Zhao Fu had pugnaciously stuck out his chin and stated that he hadn't been allowed by his father to contribute to the original dowry but by the gods, since Shifu said he could, he was going to do it anyway!
***
The first items that Zhao Fu gave his mother and his sisters were all domestic, and what he gave to one, he also gave to the others.

A loom that wove any fabric, a spinning wheel that could spin any materials, even metal or stone, into thread, a cabinet that continually refilled itself with preserved foods, an icebox that maintained itself at a chilly temperature without needing ice, a cabinet that could hold any food unchanging in stasis. A horn that continually poured out fruits. A cauldron that perpetually cooked abundant food, even if it was always the type of food cooked in liquid. A decanter that continually poured out whatever drink was asked from it. A broom that always cleaned the floor on its own. A grindstone that milled out corn, rice and wheat flour on demand, without needing the raw materials.

All of these were, unknown to the recipients, based on western artifacts, such as, say, a certain well known spinning wheel that could spin straw into gold or the western cornucupia.
***
To understand the value of these gifts, one has to consider the amount of work done in sweeping floors and courtyards, in spinning thread and weaving fabrics for the household to wear, and in providing food consistently and without fail.

Cold drinks and chilled desserts were a thing for the wealthy, commoners could only store ice from previous winters- if they were lucky.

Fabric was used to pay the household taxes of women, entire bolts of fabric claimed by the state each year.

Each household of some status and wealth had over sixty female servants and perhaps more than that in male servants, many of them were hired specifically to clean the grounds. The task of cleaning the estate being quite time consuming.

While this estate was nowhere near as big as a wealthy merchant family like those in the "Dream of the Red Chamber" which hired four chaperones, one nursemaid, two handmaids and four maids for cleaning after each son and daughter, it was still one which belonged to a scholarly family and did hire its share of cleaning servants.

In the world of mortals wherein people could starve from a single famine or bad harvest, a horn that continually poured out fruit, a grindstone that unfailingly ground out flour without need for grain, a cauldron that perpetually refilled itself with any food cooked in liquid and a decanter that never ever ran out of drinks? Those meant that not only the family but the entire household, all the way down to its least subordinates and their dependents would never fear starvation no matter what happened to the harvests.
***
In essence, by giving them these things, Zhao Fu had liberated them from a lot of expenses.

The money used for the purchasing of cloth or embroidery thread, for food that wasn't fried, baked or roasted, for servants who cooked and cleaned, for the purchase of grain and fruit could then be used to buy other things such as riding horses, or in one notable occasion, a riding sedan.

In addition to those artifacts that would have caused a commander of a garrison to be overjoyed, Zhao Fu also insisted on gifting his sisters and mother an assortment of hair ornaments and jewelry sets shaped out of pure gemstones, ceramic and glass dining sets, and finely 'carved' furniture of scented woods such as red sandalwood. Tables, dressing tables, long tables, all kinds of chairs and stools, narrow beds, carved alcove beds, daybeds, luohan couch beds, canopy beds and even a matrimonial bed each. This was all furniture that cost more than a low ranking scholarly family could hope to afford.
***
Zhao Fu had given them no gold but the artifacts he had given them would enable each household to save significantly on costs- the loom and spinning wheel would produce more than enough fabric to cover the ladies' household taxes, and the jewelry, ornaments and furniture were all in excess of what they, as low ranking scholarly families, could afford.

As a hedge against misfortune, portable liquidatable resources such as jewelry were considered to be top notch.

That was a sudden substantial rise in the annual income for each small estate. Income which could be invested in profitable businesses, just like how Zhao Fu's own father had invested the money which had originally been set aside for the food budget of the household into shops for the additional income of his two elder sons.

Naturally this was a matter of great interest in the small circles of people who his in-laws were directly related to by marriage, people who were all in similar social and financial straits.

Suddenly, seeking employment in these households became very desirable, particularly to those who were refugees that had entered a city because of one disaster or the other devastating their former lands.
***
Buying trained slaves from slave markets was expensive. Bedslaves, artisans, these could cost anywhere from two hundred taels upwards.

On the other hand, refugees fleeing from this or that disaster could be hired for food and lodging for their families. That in turn offered up another avenue of recruitment for household staff, or staff to work for this or that new business. An avenue that could now be exploited very handily.

Even though Zhao Fu hadn't given his brothers anything- something which his father had never censured him for, since Zhao Xiu Yi had always been very clear on the fact that what Zhao Fu earned belonged to Zhao Fu- those brothers of his still profited from the things he gave the rest of his family.

For instance, since the Zhao family home had all its furniture and ceramics upgraded thanks to Zhao Fu, the existing furniture and ceramics could then be given completely to one of his brothers, the shops bought with what would have been their food budget in the annual income went to his brothers, and staff hired from among the refugees definitely served in those shops to make his brothers a profit.

Of course, such things did come with a necessary increase in security for all the households involved.

Part of that security, naturally was full defensive wards all over these households, because Zhao Fu hated the idea that his mother and sisters might ever be in danger. The second part of that security were the two brass dragon tooth armored warriors assigned to each household. In all honestly the protective strategems devised for the rest of the people in those households were afterthoughts- since his sisters would be unhappy if their husbands and in-laws died, they should not be allowed to die.

That sort of thinking.

The thing was, it had taken time before Zhao Fu had resolved himself with the way things were.

His father didn't love his later born children that much, but despite his cool attitude, it could not be said that he didn't care for them.

His choices in his daughters' husbands was more than enough evidence of that. They were young, strong, not widowers and not lechers or debauchees. They were capable of supporting their wives and families and those families were relatively amenable to the newly wedded brides.

They weren't princes, but with Aoguang and Zhou Hui there, Zhao Fu could easily see that his mother's cherished dream of his sisters marrying men of high rank could have gone horribly wrong.

There was also the incredibly awkward discussion he had with his father over what to look for in a wife. It was all too clear that his father had found his perfect complement in Wang-shi and Zhao Fu's parents were never well suited.

To Zhao Xiu Yi, his second wife, Lin-shi's starry eyed dreams of her daughters marrying influential, wealthy nobles, were all unstable, castles built on sand.

It was best, he held, to marry someone who shared your goals and dreams and supports you.

Many of the statements Zhao Fu's father tried to impart to him were surprisingly similar to those given to him by Ma Kong and Shifu.

As a result, Zhao Fu couldn't hold a torch of hatred against his father, since it was fairly clear that in his chilly way, he really was doing the best he could for them.

Even sending Zhao Fu to Cang Qiong had been a relatively cold decision but it was undertaken in the hope of each son having room to grow and profit. Since both of his eldest sons were undertaking the exams or investigating joining the army, that left his third son to need a different path.

One that Zhao Fu had lucked out on.

Perhaps in another household with the boon of a sudden influx of money and the promise of having one member theoretically capable of earning as much as could ever be required or desired, those family members who were not so well off might instead lean on that single earner and leverage him or her as an asset, to squeeze as much out of him as possible.

Splurging on sedans and other luxuries, the finest and best of everything, perhaps gambling or other equally expensive pastimes might be undertaken by this or that noveau rich fellow. In fact, many households were really ruined like that.

Certainly now that her son was capable of pouring out as much wealth as she could think of, Lin-shi was now considering marrying him off to a princess, getting divorces for all her daughters and marrying them off to princes.

And the two brothers certainly could understand exactly how much of a benefit their younger brother could be for their pockets. Not that they would ask him for anything, though. Even if they had never mistreated him, they weren't close enough to him to ask him for anything without their pride rankling them, like a thorn in their sides.

Their father was very clear on not asking Zhao Fu for anything and had instead poured all their newly available funds into investments and businesses.

Land for mulberry groves to raise silkworms on, for farms, shops selling fabric and food, that sort of thing was what he put their household's money into. Those would be his elder sons' inheritances, not some overblown overly gaudy new house or whatever.

Lin-shi thought only of childish things like marrying her girls to someone above their class without considering whether or not it would be good for them. Zhao Xiu Yi wasn't so shortsighted.

***
It was only with the passage of time that one could see things as they really were.

Lin-shi was a doting mother, it could not be doubted, but she was also fond of the idea of marrying all her children above their father's station.

It hadn't even occurred to her what the actual conditions in the rear courts of nobles or the imperial family were really like. If anything, she had tried to impart her own white lotus skills to her daughters and assumed that those and simply marrying them above their stations would give them a happy life. In her mind, it would also by extension give her entire family power and influence.

In short, she was rather shortsighted.

Zhao Fu was appalled when he realized it. Perhaps had Aoguang and Zhou Hui not explained to him what such places were like, Zhao Fu might have supported his mother's desire to use his influence to break up his sisters' marriages and get them husbands of higher rank, but it was clearly obvious that their current husbands genuinely loved and respected them, and even their in-laws were fond of them.

In light of that, why would he want to ruin their happy marriages?

Then his mother tried to get him to consider a princess and he drew the line right there.

"Mother, no."

Lin-shi was startled, as if she had never even thought he would disagree.

"Why not? She's a princess, a member of the Imperial family! Just think how nice a palace you'll have-" Lin-shi coaxed him.

"Mother, if I wanted a palace, I could pick some nice mountain peak and build one myself." Zhao Fu tried to keep his calm and keep his voice gentle and well modulated. "I don't want to marry just because of that."

"But she has an entire city for a dowry and-" Lin-shi coaxed him, starting to show signs of her anxiety.

"Mother." Zhao Fu stated gently. "As the direct disciple of the Qing Jing peak lord, from one of the biggest sects, if I want anything I can damn well make it myself. I do not need to lower myself to marry for worldly wealth."

Lin-shi frowned.

"Then what about your sisters? Surely they deserve princes of their own?" Lin-shi's voice trembled.

"Mother, princes are princes and I live with Aoguang." Zhao Fu pointed out. "He's made it clear that the princes he does know aren't worthy of my sisters."

"But they'd be Wangfeis!" Lin-shi had now raised her voice, on the verge of tears.

"They'd be miserable, mother!" Zhao Fu snapped, on edge. "Miserable!"

He took a deep breath, calmed himself. "If their husbands need to be raised in rank, that's easy enough. If you want them to be showered in worldly wealth, I can do that too. If you want me to set them up with palaces, I can do that. But I am not going to wreck their marriages to marry them off to this or that prince just because he has a high rank!"
***
Of course that wasn't the end of it. Aoguang looked like he wasn't sure whether to feel sorry for Zhao Fu or laugh at his misery when the poor younger man had to tell his shifu all about his current problem.

That problem being that his mother wanted him and his sisters to marry royalty now, she was looking over proposals for his hand in marriage and those of his sisters, and if he didn't show his mother that he was better off than an emperor, and they were better off than queens of some small countries, she might never stop.

"And your father?" Shifu raised a brow in inquiry.

"Father hasn't asked me for anything." Zhao Fu said, frowning. "I always thought he would be the one making demands, but thus far, he's actually been supportive of my life choices.

He put all the rest of the money in the yearly budget into buying and setting up more businesses for my brothers but other than that, he hasn't changed from his usual."

"Hm." Shifu sighed as he thought things over. "What are your plans?"

"I may just have to build palaces for each of my sisters and my mother to shut my mother up." Zhao Fu sighed.

"How about your sisters?" Shifu asked, intently.

"Oh, they're happy exactly as they are." Zhao Fu sighed. "Blissful, even. Traveling suits Zi Jin and Qing He perfectly. And all of them adore their husbands and like their in-laws."

"It seems to me that your father has a better grasp of what your sisters need than your mother does." Shifu pointed out. "Giving them palaces might just make them bigger targets if they don't have enough defenses in place. You should think it over very carefully before you build or make anything."

Of course, that was exactly when Zhao Fu's in-laws and the relatives of the Qing Jing inner sect disciples started being given sudden promotions in rank and being assigned to various territories.

Some of which had been taken off several troublesome nobles who had previously accumulated more wealth and influence than the Emperor felt they should have.

Nobles which weren't happy about losing this town or that chunk of land.

The Emperor was wise.

The Emperor had plenty of excuses to strip certain people of their holdings and pass it to the relatives of the cultivators he had an eye on bribing in order to make sure they supported his rule.

The Zhou family were fulminating bitterly because they weren't getting a slice of the pie.

The Ma, Guo, Zhu and Mo families were having a field day in terms of sudden assignments to positions of wealth and status, or higher ranks in the army.

Even Liu Cheung's Liu family and Fei Qilin's small Fei family had suddenly been the subjects of imperial favor.

And Zhao Fu's brothers-in-law, both Zhao Fu's brothers and his father had been among those to receive promotions.

Click to expand...

- its incredibly lucky for him and his siblings that his father is the one doing the deciding
- wow breaking marriages for rank, is she blind?
- maybe Zhao Fu should build a castle for his mom and just let her live alone there to get an idea of what it's like. good intentions, road to hell

Gav said: ↑

***
While some families educated their daughters thoroughly, other families preferred that their daughters should have the 'maidenly virtue of ignorance' so that they would not meddle with the matters of their menfolk and adhere submissively to their husbands' will.

Wang-shi had been the well-educated daughter of a strong official house, with plenty of clout behind it. As such, she was highly trained in the running of a household's accounts and of businesses.

Lin-shi had been the daughter of a declining house of officials, one which had lost favor and worse, lost their hold on position after position. She was in essence, raised in the boudoir.

Wang-shi had been trained to interact with her fellow noble daughters, to run public events, to impress fellow members of official families.

Lin-shi had been taught to display an appropriately submissive, pitiful and beautiful appearance. She was in essence, a white lotus schemer who could only see matters within the rear court, a flower vase who had been taught that bearing her husband children, keeping his affections were all that were needed for her to prosper, and marrying a man of a high rank was the best fortune in the world for girls like her.

Wang-shi had been taught how to look after her family's economic affairs, and how to interact with her superiors and equals in society as well as how to know what her social superiors meant when they implied this or that.

Lin-shi on the other hand, could only read romances, learn painting, poetry, calligraphy, weiqi and dream of how wonderful it would be to marry a high class man.

Perhaps another man might have been happy with Lin-shi's clingy personality. She was like a vine that relied upon the tree she was wrapped around. She was excellent at coaxing most men to do what she wanted with a play of affection and vulnerability.

However, her parents had married her off to Zhao Xiu Yi because they believed it was better than having her sent into concubinage.

Zhao Xiu Yi felt, that after marrying Wang-shi, who was the strong wind beneath his wings, marrying a clinging vine like Lin-shi was a serious comedown.

After losing a partner and helpmeet who had handled the finances perfectly on her own, and in addition made everything that she put her hands to prosperous, acquiring in her place a woman who could only coax him to spend money and insisted on putting her family's people in as shopkeeps for any business that she was given responsibility for, was a very bad letdown.

He may have been quiet about it, but Lin-shi could certainly feel that she was a perpetual disappointment for him.

She bent her will to getting pregnant. Maybe if she gave him a son, he would favor her more.

Except she had five girls in succession.

One couldn't say he mistreated the girls. If anything he was always a stickler for protocol who gave them exactly what they were due in terms of material goods. Clothing, the traditional pieces of jewelry, shoes, musical instruments, writing and painting materials...

Their father had allocated an allowance for Lin-shi and a budget for each of their children.

When they had been children, Lin-shi had cuddled them, and showered them in material goods, held them and comforted them when they wept. She had tried to get them whatever they wanted, and when their budget couldn't cover the luxuries she wanted for them, she dug into her own allowance to try to get them what she felt they deserved. She also advocated for them when they wanted something from their father which that budget couldn't cover.

Zhao Xiu Yi acquired tutors for them in the four arts and even got them tutors for the academics even if most of his contemporaries wouldn't have bothered with the latter as an additional expense.

He gave each of them a small shop as part of their dowry, to try their management skills out on. But he was clearly not happy with his wife.

Lin-shi then became convinced that if her next child was a son, he would surely love her.

The sixth child, Zhao Fu, was a boy and Lin-shi felt that her prayers were answered. She fully expected to enjoy her husband's doting now, but still it did not appear. Oh, he treated her well enough, but she wanted more.

And then he sent her only son off to a cultivator sect.

Lin-shi broke down in a screaming fit and broke everything that was breakable in her rooms.

When Zhao Fu made a reknowned name for himself as a demon-slaying cultivator, Lin-shi was overjoyed and bursting with pride. When the peak lord gave her son the finest mansion she had ever seen, along with land and shops, Lin-shi was over the moon.

All throughout her life, Lin-shi had dreamed of marrying a handsome prince, of having a sedan and a carriage of sandalwood, with the latter drawn by a matched team of prancing horses.

She had dreamed of having feasts every day, of having a pleasure boat of her own, of a wide garden as far as her eyes could see with a fake mountain, a lake and little islands and beautiful bridges, with a bamboo forest, lush peonies, wisterias, and all those other beautiful flowering plants everywhere.

She dreamed of wearing shu embroidery and yun brocade and all those lovely fabrics in wide sleeved gowns and girdled gowns every day.

She dreamed of jewelry and hair ornaments filling many chests, glass lamps and elegant lanterns at night.

She dreamed of sandalwood and zhitan, huanghuali and camphor, gold and shell inlay, shining lacquer in their furniture. She dreamed of wide rooms and a hundred servants waiting on her day and night.

To Lin-shi, that was what marrying into the royal family meant. That was her dream and she wanted to live vicariously through her children.

Lin-shi dreamed of people kowtowing to her as she passed, of the respect and awe in the eyes of everyone around her.

Except, none of her children wanted that dream.

Oh, her daughters would happily take the fine house, the gorgeous garden, the furniture, the sedan, the carriage, the jewelry and hair ornaments... but not at the cost of being a part of the imperial family.

That palace Lin-shi wanted to enter so much was a viper pit.

Who wanted countless servants? They were probably untrustworthy!

Who wanted the gaze of the populace? That light in their eyes is probably greed!

Indeed, the imperial household was too full of things they didn't want for them to ever be willing to trade their nice in-laws and doting husbands for having to start over in a political viper pit.

So that meant that Lin-shi kept pressing for what she thought was best and no one, not one of her children, supported her on it.

In fact, as far as her daughters were concerned, they only had to mention something to Zhao Fu for him to give it to them. If they wanted musical instruments or furniture inlaid with mother of pearl or any other shell, made of rare woods like huanghuali, zhitan, sandalwood, or decorated with gold leaf and shining lacquer, all they had to do was to tell Zhao Fu and he would give it to them.

If they wanted glorious gardens or beautiful vehicles, it was also easy to ask Zhao Fu.

Zhao Fu was already willing to renovate and improve all of their houses, and even their father's house, after all.

So, why should they break up their marriages when they could have all they wanted with just a word?

They didn't need to go and endanger themselves for luxuries, so why should they court death by setting their caps for royal attention?

Click to expand...

sad lady, she's still dreaming

Gav · Aug 5, 2018

@xenotop Lin-shi is one of those girls who has completely unrealistic dreams of what being a princess is like.

Think the cnovel equivalent of someone who believes that the royal family is perfect and glamorous, who grew up watching disney princess movies and reading the type of romance novels where a certain prince or sheikh falls in love with a girl and takes her with him to keep her in luxury etc etc.

As it is, her favorite plays all have lavish props, her favorite books all her overblown opulent descriptions of palaces and cultivators' homes etc.

Gav · Aug 5, 2018

/waits for comments!

Azurite · Aug 5, 2018

Gav said: ↑

***
Cansheng had no idea how long he spent, blissfully enjoying Aoguang's attention.

It was ironic.

He, Qin Cansheng, was from a noble family, one known for its high status, excellent reputation in scholarly circles and its links to the Imperial family through one of its daughters some generations back.

He was being held captive, kept bound, used as a sex slave, not even allowed to come unless he begged for it... and yet he was utterly, blissfully happy.

By rights he should have thrown temper tantrums, cursed and threatened Aoguang, held a grudge against him to his dying day for taking his dignity as a noble and trampling it underfoot and yet...

And yet Cansheng felt completely relaxed, even though he was powerless, helpless, completely at Aoguang's mercy and captive to his whims.

Cansheng didn't even know why he felt this way, where no one else he knew, did. He only knew he would give up almost anything to keep feeling it.

***
Cansheng's family on the other hand, were unreconciled to his sudden disappearance.

It surprised no one when the eldest brother of the family, Yunsheng, and his parents all came to beg that Aoguang please return their boy to them.

Of course it was Aoguang they went to. Who else had their foolish boy been pestering, day in and day out? Who else had as much reason to hold a grudge if it wasn't the disciples of Qing Jing?
***
If one must be honest, there were plenty of reasons to abandon Cansheng. Many other notable noble houses were aware that if any of them had a son as useless as Cansheng they would gladly cut him adrift to save their own skins and their own reputation the moment that he had begun acting in this unsightly manner.

In fact, there had been plenty of warnings over the years that Cansheng was going to get his family in trouble.

Teachers who cut ties, the most notable being a handsome, reknowned scholar of some fame who had outright told Cansheng's family that Cansheng was an abominable student.

A waste of resources and time. A brat who never tried to exert any effort, who never tried to learn what he was being taught. Cansheng would, the teacher had warned, likely amount to nothing. He would never hold office or earn honors. He would never act with proper virtue. Being a proper scholar official or even a responsible landlord was out of his ability.

Cansheng would likely pick fights until someone killed him, this teacher stated with brutal honesty. They would be lucky if he didn't get them all killed.

Naturally this was not to the taste of Cansheng's Qin family and so the teacher had shrugged and left them to their own devices.

However, time had proven the teacher right.

Many times over, Yunsheng, the eldest brother and their parents had to try to smooth over the messes Cansheng made. However, he hadn't learned not to make them. He hadn't even learned who it was wiser to not provoke.

Case in point, Cansheng had a habit of provoking people he liked. It was the most stupid method of courtship Musheng had ever seen in the entirety of his life.

And it nearly got Cansheng into situations where he could get himself killed multiple times over the years since his last teacher had cut ties with him.

This idiot simply didn't know who not to provoke. Either that or he was too eager for any kind of attention from certain people to care.

Musheng, for one, was very tired of Cansheng bringing down the family name. Musheng was tired of seeing the reputation of the rest of his family suffer because of what Cansheng did time and time again. His family's reputation, his reputation, his chances of marrying Miss Ran Yan and his family's coffers were suffering because they always had to smooth over the messes elder brother Cansheng kept making.

It was expensive. It was embarrassing.

And now, it was putting them in danger of losing their lives because Cansheng had actually enraged an outer sect disciple enough last time that only their quick response and abject pleading had gotten the people from Cang Qiong to spare Cansheng from being turned into roast long pork.

Then that useless older brother of his had decided to go over the line again and went missing.

Musheng knew that sects tended to brutally kill anyone that stupid.

They would be lucky if Aoguang was still kind enough and patient enough to stick to just humiliating his stupid elder brother in public.

***
While Cansheng's family had been preparing to grovel and throw their pride into the trash just to have their boy returned to them, Cansheng himself hadn't the slightest intention of picking a fight.

Well, not much of one. Just enough complaining to get Aoguang to hold him down with just enough force to leave bruises on his skin and then fuck him so hard that he would feel the pleasant ache deep inside his body for hours after being taken.

S-So g-good... He felt himself getting hard again and was wishing that Aoguang would come back, but he knew quite well that Aoguang had several beauties that he indulged himself in.

Cansheng knew he wasn't ever going to be Aoguang's one and only.

He wasn't going to be Aoguang's husband or male wife. He was Aoguang's prisoner, his sex toy. At best, he could hope to be Aoguang's concubine.

Being kept in a stone cavern with no visible way out and no sunrise, sunset or waxing and waning of daylight to mark the passing of time lamps that lit up when Aoguang came to play with him was doing a number on Cansheng's time sense.
Cansheng couldn't even keep track of the days, much less the hours.

Cansheng wasn't being starved. He was fed thrice a day and the food was... oddly enough, quite good.
Not what he had expected prison food to taste like at all.

The one time he had tried to throw a fit and break dishes because one of the silent moving statues was bringing food to him on a tray instead of Aoguang feeding him by hand, not only did Aoguang send a message on a tray to tell him that he wouldn't be visiting for some time, but also the next three meals were meager and unsightly.

The first meal looked like a small amount of fat white worms on a plate covered in some kind of brown sauce, with cold rice. The second was some kind of hard black bread and a bowl full of deep fried crickets. The third meal of that day was beetles cooked in what must have been soy sauce, vinegar and garlic.

Cansheng flipped the plate and broke the first, started crying by the second appearance of the statue without Aoguang and then ended up reluctantly eating both the second and the third by the evening meal, when his stomach forced him to give in.

On one hand, the crickets and beetles were crunchy and tasted oddly nutty, taking on the flavor of the sauces and spices they had been cooked or seasoned with.

Not as bad as Cansheng had expected.

But then he had another three meals without Aoguang there by his side and that was when he had to give up.

Aoguang had made it clear that if he was going to act out, Aoguang would simply... ignore him and go to his concubines, all of whom, he stated clearly, were more obedient than Cansheng himself.

His warning shot was clear. If Cansheng threw a fit and broke things, he would be the one suffering. Aoguang would cease to visit him. That meant he would be alone, surrounded by only the silently moving statues that were frankly creepy when Aoguang wasn't there.

Cansheng knew he couldn't continue to push the line.

***
Cansheng was held captive in a natural stone cavern with an almost supernaturally clean water closet (that offered the only privacy available in the entire cavern) and a small pair of carved bathing pools. The first bathing pool held water in gradiated temperatures ranging from body warmth to the perfect hot springs soak, and the second pool was cool.

Both pools were pure enough to drink from, and the filth was simply drained away constantly to keep that purity.

Cansheng was bathed before and after each time he was taken, washed clean 'inside and out'.

There was a small fake garden of lichen-greened boulders resembling mountains surrounded by 'seas' of raked, fine white sand.

There was a series of stone and bamboo screens keeping Cansheng from seeing the people who were watching him as he was taken for an audience.

Cansheng had some low tables for eating on or perhaps for use as a desk, some padded armrests and pillows.

There were soft cushions and the very solid centerpiece of a bed with its silk sheets that he was often tumbled in, with its carved posts and decorations that he was often chained or tied to.

That was it.

Cansheng had never been a good student. He had never loved learning or poetry for his own sake, and he hadn't an interest in becoming a fine musician, but right now he was finding out that without Aoguang's attention, without access to the outside world, without a single game, a storyteller or an entertainer to play music for him or pleasure him or distract him in any other way... boredom now became a very credible nemesis.

When Aoguang returned, Cansheng was so glad to see him that he clung to him like a baby panda.

***
Aoguang found Cansheng to be quite confusing.

When Aoguang humiliated Cansheng by spanking him in public, Cansheng's eyes glazed over and Aoguang could feel the evidence of Cansheng's arousal poking him.

Aoguang had Cansheng captured to punish him in an ironic manner for crossing the line.

Since Cansheng wanted his attentions, Aoguang had originally intended to use and abuse him just a bit to freak him out and scare him off.

However, Aoguang soon found he had bitten off more than he could chew, because he had to ask Shifu for advice.

Apparently, threatening Cansheng with confinement play and letting him know he was going to be kept in the dark to be a fucktoy, subject to all Aoguang's whims, only made Cansheng come harder and beg to be fucked to death.

Aoguang was both disturbed and perversely intrigued. All he could think was 'What. The. Hell. Shouldn't he be asking for mercy around now?!

Why is he begging me to fuck him to death?!'

Aoguang made Cansheng come so hard that he passed out, cleaned him up, coated Cansheng's insides with healing salves and went up to ask G for advice because..

'What. The.Hell. Seriously, What.'

Shifu was naturally not happy with Aoguang's bringing Cansheng into his basement.

Shifu was disappointed in Aoguang.

Shifu gave Aoguang an ear blistering lecture about the importance of consent and being kind to your lovers... Right up until Aoguang pointed out that Cansheng had been harassing their outer sect disciples and likely would continue doing so. In addition, Cansheng had done this specifically to force Aoguang to pay attention to him.

However the problem was, when Aoguang had pushed Cansheng down forcefully, and threatened him with a confinement play and life as a sex toy... Rather than being terrified or angry, Cansheng had only come violently and then collapsed in his arms, limp as a rag doll, nuzzling weakly at Aoguang in blissful response.

Anyone else would cry, fight and scream, cry for their parents, threaten him or maybe try to kill him.

Cansheng just mewled and tried to get Aoguang to fuck him harder.

Right. Something was very wrong with this man.

On one hand, he deserved to be punished. On the other hand, Shifu was appalled by the idea of torture so...

Aoguang had improvised.

He had whipped Cansheng on a frame, dripped hot wax upon him, slid ice cubes on his skin.

Aoguang had attempted to humiliate Cansheng by having painters preserve the sight of him being fucked by painting it upon wall screens so that there would be a visual record of him being defiled.

Aoguang had even referred to Cansheng in derogatory terms, and clearly stated Cansheng was only his fuck toy, treating him in all ways like a plaything or a pet, to try and crush Cansheng's pride.

None of it worked the way Aoguang had intended it to.

Hence, he had asked Shifu for advice.

And that eventually led them to this point, wherein Cansheng was begging Aoguang to keep him

Shifu was all for sending Cansheng back before his unlucky parents drowned in tears.

Aoguang had simply told Cansheng that he was bored of him, and he was thinking of sending Cansheng back home.

That upset Cansheng so badly that he all but clung to Aoguang's legs and begged to be kept after Aoguang had begun to untie him.

Click to expand...

Cansheng! Be more considerate to your family, ah! They must have grown lots of grey hair and drowning in tears worrying about you!

Gav said: ↑

*
In Another World, Things Went Differently
*
Liu Qingge did not like being a sheep.

For one, his control of Qi was shot. Wrecked. His grasp on how to use it to defend himself was utterly gone.

For another, he had no opposable thumbs or fingers and no way to take a human form to get them. That meant his fighting skills were also basically gone.

For a third, the Sect Master had placed him in Shen Qingqiu's care for the time being.

Shen. Qingqiu.

The man hated him.

Just looking at Shen Qingqiu's thoroughly offended look as the Sect Master had commended Qingge to Shen Qingqiu's care had made Liu Qingge burst out in complaints that... only came across as "Baaaaah!"

Liu Mingyan had complained about her brother being handed over to Shen Qingqiu.

Everyone knew they had driven each other crazy when they were disciples.

Everyone knew Shen Qingqiu had no end of disgusting tricks up his sleeve.

As far as Liu Qingge was concerned, the man was evil.

Naturally his sister was concerned but the Sect Master refused to be moved from his decision.

Liu Qingge was to be in Shen Qingqiu's care until the rest of the peak lords could find out what caused this... perverse anomaly... to happen.

Liu Qingge direly predicted that Shen Qingqiu would try to kill him before the day was out.

This too, came out in the form of "Baaaaaaah!"s.

"Yes, I know you don't like this either, junior brother Liu." Shen Qingqiu muttered in disgruntlement as he scooped up the complaining sheep to carry him off to Qing Jing Peak's bamboo house in a surprisingly gentle grip.

"Senior brother Yue has lost his mind. I always knew he would be useless, but I never knew he would be this ludicrous. Hmph!"

Liu Qingge just knew Shen Qingqiu would kill him the moment that they were out of everyone's sight. He flailed around and protested louder. SECT MASTER, I DON'T WANT TO DIE YET. SECT MASTER, HELP! SOMEONE DO SOMETHING!
"BAAAAAAH!"

"Yes, I also want to know what the hell he was thinking. Did his power go to his head? Did too many sweets rot his brain?" Shen Qingqiu grumbled.

Liu Qingge despaired.

Three days later, to Liu Qingge's deep confusion, he was still a sheep... And still alive.

More to the point, Shen Qingqiu was surprisingly solicitous of his welfare.

He hadn't been starved once. Neither had he been beaten or abused as he had expected.

True, he basically had to eat nothing but vegetables, rice and millet off a dish on the floor and there had been an incredibly embarrassing moment wherein Shen Qingqiu had to set up a specific place for Qingge to... relieve himself... but other than that, the man didn't seem to be bullying him.

Much.

It was mostly cutting remarks about his tendency to get his wool matted at this point.

The comments about how the sect master had lost his mind were a constant, though. And Shen Qingqiu consistently kept asking if anyone had found a way to change Qingge back yet, "before he piddles on my robes and ruins the rugs."

Excuse you, Qingqiu, this peak lord is too fastidious to do anything of that sort!

Go soak your head!

Liu Qingge had no idea why the hell Shen Qingqiu was so nice to him when he was a sheep but so incredibly vicious to him when he was a man.

***
Yue Qingyuan mentally congratulated himself for his fine decisions under pressure.

Little Jiu was taking very good care of junior brother Qingge, if the smoothness and sheen of the Bai Zhan Peak Lord's wool and the way the Bai Zhan peak lord kept following him around and butting Jiu's hand with his head was any indication.

Junior brother Qingge was a very vocal sheep. He was perpetually "Baaah!"-ing at little Jiu and little Jiu often responded right back with cutting comments about the state of Liu Qingge's wool. Often while still brushing it and telling him to 'hold still, these tangles are appalling'.

***
"Hmph! D-Don't think I l-like you or anything! I'm only following you around so you won't get into trouble." Liu Qingge grumbled, though as usual it came out as "Baaaaaaah!"

His sister, Liu Mingyan, was confused as to why Shen Qingqiu was so mean to her brother and picked fights constantly when he was human but was curriently spoiling him as a sheep.

It boggled the mind.

In truth, Liu Qingge had tried to argue with Qingqiu earlier. However, his attempts to protest and headbutt Qingqiu to make his point, fell flat under his knobbly and weak ovine legs. Thus he ended up sending himself straight into Qingqiu's lap for cuddles when he tried.

Qingqiu, of course, didn't understand what he was trying to say at all. Thus he consistently made guesses.

On one hand, Qingqiu constantly got the guesses wrong.

On the other hand, it did mean that Qingge was being accidentally spoiled.

***
"BAAAAAAAAAH!"

"What,Qingge? You want my bamboo shoots and green tea? Alright."

"That's not what I meant you, idiot!" Liu Qingge complained, but it came out again as a "BAAAAAAH!"

"You want the sweet red bean dumplings too?!

Fine.

But, Qingge, I swear... if you try to bite me later when I have to brush your teeth to make sure they don't rot and fall off, I will spank your greedy, woolly behind." Shen Qingqiu grumbled.

"You never get it right! But fine, I'll eat the dumplings." Qingge tried to reply. "Baaaaah!"

"I'll hold you to that agreement, Qingge."

Luo Binghe has never been so envious in his life.

Wasn't there supposed to be an undying grudge between the Bai Zhan peak lord and Qing Jing peak lord?

Where was this so-called eternal enmity now, while the Qing Jing peak lord was scritching behind the Bai Zhan peak lord's furry ears?!

Where was it when Shen Qingqiu was feeding martial uncle Liu Qingge various dainties by hand?!

What the hell?!

Why the hell was he lavishing those attentions on their rival peak's lord when he, Luo Binghe, was an actual disciple of this peak and had to sleep in the woodshed and barely got enough to eat?!

Isn't this being too biased?!

Or does Shen Qingqiu just like animals better than people?
***
Liu Qingge was starting to despair of those idiot students of his.

Maybe he really should have taken a bigger hand in their upbringing rather than spent his time on harassing Qingqiu.

Case in point, this retard was trying to coax him to come back to Bai Zhan peak using some carrots as bait.

Carrots.

As if he was really a sheep that would follow anyone home for treats.

Didn't these idiots remember that the Sect Master had told him to stay with Shen Qingqiu until he was no longer a sheep?

However, his attempt to tell them off fell flat with a "Baaaaah!"

And then one particular retard actually asked, "I-Is it that youve become unable to stay away from martial uncle Qingqiu with this body, peak lord?"

Faced with that ludicrous statement and expression of horror, Liu Qingge could only express his displeasure by headbutting these idiots in the groin.

"Stop saying such retarded things, you imbeciles!" and the rest of Qingge's lecture once more could only be heard as an angry series of "BAAAAAAAH!!!!"s.

Right. When he recovered, he was going to beat some sense into these people.

"It's obviously because your peak lord is getting doted on." grumbled Ming Fan bitterly. It wasn't that their peak lord gave them less attention, or less education than normal, but anyone would feel bitter when faced with the sight of a happy sheep being carried everywhere.

"S-shut up! Our peak lord is a righteous hero! There is no way he would be s-seduced by your evil vixen teacher!" one of the Bai Zhan students exploded.

Seduced?! Evil Vixen?! Ming Fan was appalled.

"What did you just call our peak lord?!" Ming Fan demanded, rolling up his sleeves.

Then there was scuffling until Qingge got loose and started headbutting everyone to break up the fight.

Later, standing victorious above a pile of beaten up disciples of both peaks, Liu Qingge's lecture could only be heard as a litany of "Baaah!!!"s.

Click to expand...

LQG as a sheep!!! Gimme! I wanna raise him! Cutie, fluffy sheep!! Wanna pamper and cuddle tsuntsun sheep!QingGe~
Shen QingQiu the Animal Lover!
All Qing Jing Peak disciples are drowning in vinegar, WAHAHAHA!!!

Gav · Aug 5, 2018

***
Becoming a tiny panda was a terrifying experience.

One moment, Binghe had been flinching under his master's cold glare, and the next he had been disoriented. He had found himself falling, and his cries of shock had become terrified, small squeaks.

If his master hadn't had excellent reflexes, Luo Binghe might have fallen to the ground and broken all his bones.

As it was, being suddenly helpless and small, reduced Luo Binghe to a quivering squeaping ball of white and black fur.

Of course, when Luo Binghe finally returned to his senses, he was being... patted gently, his back rubbed until the mewling in terror had tapered off to small hiccups.

His master, Shen Qingqiu, the peak lord who had always hated him and sent him off to sleep in the woodshed... had actually saved his life.

Luo Binghe could only stare up in shock at Shen Qingqiu's fine featured face and coolly surprised dark eyes.

Then those dark eyes were hooded and Luo Binghe flinched apprehensively, believing his goose was cooked.... But no.

All the Qing Jing peak lord did was to efficiently wrap some fabric around Luo Binghe's small furry body and take the small panda to be seen by the Sect Master to tell him 'it' had happened again.

Being a baby panda, Binghe found, was much more comfortable than being a human disciple working under Shen Qingqiu.

For one, Shen Qingqiu was much more indulgent towards a baby panda and a grumpy sheep than he was towards his own disciples and fellow peak lords.

***
A baby panda, Luo Binghe found, could be tolerated when it clung. Actually as a baby panda, Binghe was even absentmindedly patted by his master quite frequently, and he was carried around everywhere.

Baby pandas, Shen Qingqiu had admonished his students, could not be allowed out into the open until their fur had all properly grown.

That was exactly why little Binghe was being kept safe and sound wrapped in the peak lord's satin sling.

Shen Qingqiu soon developed the habit of absently whacking anyone who wanted to touch Luo Binghe.

"He's too small to be allowed out of this sling. His fur isn't all out yet." Shen Qingqiu grumbled as he carefully fed Luo Binghe some small apple slices.

"I said stop touching him, Yingying." Shen Qingqiu sighed wearily.

"But he's so cute, shizun!" Ning Yingying was utterly fascinated with how small, delicate and soft looking Luo Binghe's downy little body now was.

"He's a baby! They're vulnerable to diseases if not handled carefully." Shen Qingqiu grumbled.

"Be careful, Ming Fan! If you drop him, I will make your life hell!" Shen Qingqiu frowned at Ming Fan who had offered to carry Binghe to the new nest which had been prepared for him from the softest materials Qingqiu could get his hands on.

Within three days, Luo Binghe was happily clinging to his master, his previous grudges all but forgotten as Shen Qingqiu carefully brushed his fur.

Shizuuuuuun!

Of course Liu Qingge wasn't taking the loss of even one of his many brushing sessions laying down.

The annoyed Bai Zhan peak lord now insisted on demanding that Shen Qingqiu pay attention to him right now.

Liu Qingge wanted Qingqiu to brush his wool more, so he subconsciously got it even more tangled.

"Qingqiu! My wool has become tangled again! I demand you to untangle it!" Qingge impatiently nudged Qingqiu's hand with his head until Qingqiu capitulated and started untangling his hair again. "Baaaaah!"

"I-it's not like I'm purposely tangling it so you can brush it more! Feel honored that you can brush my wool coat!" Qingge grumbled, as he looked away and subconsciously leaned into the flurry of brushing. "Baaaaah!"

Of course, with Luo Binghe as a baby panda in serious need of care, Liu Qingge's daily brushing sessions were cut down to half because Qingqiu kept focusing on feeding the panda small slices of fruit, bathing it in a small basin and brushing its fur.

"Qingqiu! Stop cuddling that stupid panda and brush my wool! Look! It's all tangled now! Hurry and come brush it!" Qingge complained. "Baaaaah!"

xenotop · Aug 5, 2018

Gav said: ↑

***
Some people dealt with the deluge of imperial favors- wealth, influence, fame- with grace and great equanimity.

For instance, Fei Chang, Fei Qilin's father, parlayed the Imperial favor into opening a string of restaurants and soup kitchens which used some of Fei Qilin's culinary artifacts and then hired refugees to run both. His next goal had been to build and run hostels to house the refugees, thus ensuring that those people were fed, housed and given livelihoods that took them off the street.

For this kindness extended to them in their moment of dire need, the refugee community thought highly of him but he never actually used his influence for anything else.

Liu Cheung's elder brother and father ran a self defense training ground for everyone in town who wanted to learn how to defend themselves, free of charge.

His eldest brother and in-laws had accepted the decree raising both their families' social status and rank on behalf of both their families and had started setting up a proper garrison of armed forces.

A scholarly family they could not be but Liu Cheung's father could certainly pull off military.

The Guo, Ma and Zhu clan members certainly accepted the imperial favor with every evidence of pride and joy in their respective scions but were fortunately intelligent enough to avoid being entangled in politics. They stayed relatively low key and didn't assert their new influence.

The Mo clan had been restored to their 'proper' position as a generals' estate and were over the moon.

However, not all clans' members were as well acquainted with history as the people in Guo, Zhu or Ma.

Zhao Fu's uncles, cousins and aunts had suddenly been awakened to the potential of their young scion.

For Zhao Fu or his brothers, it was not really a happy awakening.
***
The thing was, the Zhao couldn't exactly claim to be a notable clan.

They hadn't been descended from any emperors. They had no imperial consorts, empresses or preceptors among their ranks. They had no brilliant visionaries or philosophers. They couldn't even claim to have stellar military heroes among their number.

They were mediocre and the best that could be said for them was that they were sometimes mistaken for being descended from a previous country's ruling family after it had been assimilated by the Empire.

In short, they had no glory to their name... until today.

Naturally, having suddenly gained a measure of fame thanks to Zhao Fu, more than a few members were going to act like nouveau riche who had just struck gold in them thar hills.

Zhao Xuanyuan and Haoxuan were not among these people.

Despite the fact that they were Zhao Fu's brothers, and theoretically among those closest to him, they attempted to avoid the limelight as much as possible.

This was remarkably difficult when their friends and extended family members kept suggesting that they make use of Zhao Fu's influence for their own matters.

The thing was, before Zhao Fu had made it big in Cang Qiong as an artifact maker and monster slayer, both Haoxuan and Huanyuan had their lives on track, just the way they wanted it. They were just members of the Zhao clan, like any other clan member. They were going to ace their exams and get land, maybe become scholarly or military officials, get married and have kids.

Then Zhao Fu made it big and suddenly they got dragged into the limelight with him.

They were not happy about it.

Suddenly, everyone was saying, "You must be so proud of him!" And all they could do was respond with a fake smile and pray for the conversation to end.

Mostly because the next thing people normally brought up was either their desire to be introduced to Zhao Fu or why weren't they also cultivators?

If they wanted a position in the military or as scholar officials, people were suggesting they throw Zhao Fu's weight around to get it.

If they showed interest in a girl, they could never be certain if her family was saying yes because they were good prospects or if it was because they were related to Zhao Fu who could give anyone related to him everything they wanted because he was the inner disciple of a biiiiig sect.

It was infuriating. It was the classic dilemma, does this person love me for me or love me for my connections to a walking gold coffer that dispenses taels like candy?

They could get their own girls, thanks!

Everyone expected them to show off their connections to get anything down and THEY WERE STRONG INDEPENDENT MEN WHO DON'T NEED ANY CULTIVATOR'S SUPPORT TO ACHIEVE THEIR GOALS, OKAY?!

Unfortunately the most common response to these words was a befuddled, "But it's right THERE."

Their own response was to double down on their plans even harder and demand, "SO?!"

Of course, their stepmother was straining at the leash to boast about the fact that Zhao Fu was her son.

Bad enough that Zhao Fu was practically pulling out all the stops to rebuild, enhance and improve their home, bad enough that Zhao Fu was already giving her anything that he could think of, which women liked, in hopes of making her happy. She still wasn't satisfied with what they already had or what her son was giving her.

Now she wanted to marry Zhao Fu off to a princess and break her daughters' marriages to marry them off to princes whether or not they wanted it.

That woman was an inveterate social climber. Her greed for rising in social status, rank and influence was blatant. It was an embarrassment.

It was also embarrassing that they also had to admit that in different circumstances, they could use the kind of money that Zhao Fu's shifu and the emperor were willing to settle on him.

Click to expand...

good brothers with still-present moral compass and a conscience. nice

Gav said: ↑

***
It was a fact known throughout history that royal privilege and royal favors tended to go to people's heads.

Some people could be so intoxicated by the favor of various members of the Imperial family and particularly the Emperor himself, that they began to do unsightly things with impunity.

Some favored consorts' families in the past dynasties rode their horses through city streets despite the fact those places prohibited the use of riding beasts simply because they felt like it. Other families who could claim imperial favor would sell sinecures and positions for money and goods to enrich themselves.

Monks and daoist masters would often leverage imperial favor into new monasteries and schools.

Some past dynasties emperors simply loaded their favored consorts' families with estates and positions in the military or the ranks of scholar officials such as ministers, counselors or advisors, even preceptors without care for whether or not those people could manage them.

Some princesses appropriated the land of impoverished commoners to build themselves pleasure parks. Some princes and officials embezzled from public coffers. Several members of the previous imperial dynasties felt free to abuse their subordinates as they saw fit, which was why the luxurious estates that were inherited by their descendants had torture rooms in the first place.

Vineyards, fields, orchards- all these, there were instances in past dynasties wherein if an influential noble with imperial favor desired it, they had taken it.

Some imperial nephews of previous rulers even felt it their right to murder people in broad daylight to claim their riches and settle grudges. And some nephews of imperial consorts felt it was their right to seduce or rape innocent maidens right and left.

A previous emperor even built an entire palace and surrounding city around hot springs. That marvel with its white jade statues, steps and pools, was in use as a jewel of the Imperial house, even to this day.

As for the previous inhabitants who lived near those hot springs before that emperor seized the area for himself, no records were left of what became of them.

In short, it was reasonable for the people of the highest ranks of the aristocracy to believe they could claim whatever they laid their eyes on.

Including people.

Click to expand...

Gav said: ↑

***
The Shang family estate of Shang Bo, and the Liu family estate of Liu Cheung were both veritable fortresses.

This was perfectly understandable given the sheer amount of mental trauma that members of those two families had suffered.

Shang Bo's siblings still had nightmares. Liu Cheung's brothers and father had embraced militant self defense.

Naturally those two strongholds were equipped with enough defenses to kill good sized demon beasts or wreck an army.

Enlai's intensely protective interest had also led him to upgrading both the defenses and interiors of his in-laws' homes. After all, their daughters were still recovering from the mental trauma inflicted upon them by the beizi.

Of course this came with very fashionable furniture and all the other 'trimmings' one could expect from a doting husband to be. This staunch and considerate method of looking after the wants and needs of his fiancees spoke well of Enlai's attachment to their daughters, or sisters, and so his in-laws were delighted.

In truth, if their daughters had been able to consider intercourse without a shiver of reflexive fear from what they had suffered before, those in laws would be in laws for real by now. As it was, Enlai was still willing to wait. And all of his ladies had gotten to like each other.

Since the Qing Jing peak lord seemed to have no problems with it, it was no longer unusual for his inner sect disciples to give domestic artifacts to the families who were under their aegis. This was most commonly their own blood relatives or their relatives by marriage.

Aoguang of course was the glaring exception. None of his harem or family members had yet been graced with any artifacts and it was clear they likely would not be.

***
Shang Ling Mei's method of dealing with anyone who claimed to be related to Shang Bo was simple.

She told them they weren't and forced them to leave if they wouldn't leave on their own.

Some fools had been pushy more than once, insisting on seeing the rest of the Shang family and Shang Bo in particular. Others even approached Shang Tai Hao, Li Jia and Bai yu, at least until Ling Mei put herself in between her adopted siblings and the aggressive interlopers.

That was why each of the Shang siblings now had a brass dragon tooth warrior golem and an iron warbeast wondrous figurine assigned to them. Ling Mei, being the head of the family and in charge of the businesses they owned when Shang Bo was not around, had two of each in comparison to her siblings' guards.

In fact dragon tooth guards had become ubiquitous when the family members of the Qing Jing peak disciples were traveling.

Zhao Fu's sisters and mother had one each. Zhou Hui's sister and cousin had one each. Liu Cheung had his group of twenty guarding his family and by extension the town, though his in-laws had one each. Fei Qilin had set his family members and suitors up with one each and with a trained Beast in a sealed bead to boot.

Yang Dewei seemingly had no one to protect other than himself, but Enlai and Wang An both assigned one dragon tooth guard each to their precious people.

Despite the fact that Aoguang had a harem, he preferred to keep an eye on them with ushabtis and keep them at home rather than give them the more blatantly obvious dragon tooth guards, however if they were to go out of town he reluctantly assigned them protectors.

A full troop of twenty guarded the Guo family, another troop of twenty guarded the Ma family and a third troop of twenty guarded the Zhu family. As for the Mo family, Mo Heiying hadn't commented on how many of his clan he kept under guard.

As for Chen Wanyong, he hadn't bothered to interfere further with his own blood family, much less send them additional guard golems or reinforce their defenses, because as he explained it to anyone who asked... "They cut ties to me first and said I was no longer part of the family."

As far as he was concerned, the fact that they had cut him loose meant he owed them nothing further. Because he owed them nothing further, he hadn't bothered to involve himself in their matters.

The only people who he had bothered to send dragon tooth guards and artifacts to, were his aunt Chen Ah Rong, and her two daughters Yu Rong and Dai Rong. The dragon tooth guards he sent them also matched the bound elemental spirit beasts and set of wondrous figurine steeds he had sent them beforehand.

Naturally, everyone who had been interested in gaining his attention also picked up on his intent just by keeping an eye on who he favored with gifts.

It obviously wasn't the Chen clan or even the Ran clan.

Click to expand...

Gav said: ↑

***
One of the things Qing Jing peak's inner sect disciples weren't stingy with, was medicine.

Even Aoguang, who had utterly refused to share artifacts with both sides of his family and his harem, had been willing to give his maternal family and his harem members medicines which not only repaired (or in the case of his elder maternal relatives, rejuvenated) their bodies to their peak condition, but also further upgraded those bodies and even unlocked cultivation.

Naturally the members of his paternal family, the Imperial Family, were incredibly bitter and frustrated by this.

***
Zhou Xinyi had been right, when she assumed that the fortification of the towns under Cang Qiong's jurisdiction had been motivated by a desire to hide the results of the medicines their Qing Jing peak had produced.

The problem is, medicine that rejuvenates or improves the human body so visibly, to the point that watching its effects on an elder was like watching time roll backwards, wasn't something that could be hidden for long.

It was also something that royalty craved very badly. Emperors from other countries or previous dynasties had chased immortality, cultivation and youth, accepting anything from daoist scriptures to alchemists' concoctions in search for eternal life and restored youth.

Pills or elixirs that could provide such things were naturally so valuable that past emperors would throw mountains of wealth or of human lives away in order to acquire it for themselves.

With the sudden interest of Cang Qiong in bringing together all its dependents or its people's relatives in certain incredibly well planned, well built, well supplied and well fortified towns being noted, it wasn't surprising that each faction of influential people, among the jianghu sects, the imperial family, the neighboring royal families and even every group or tycoon rich enough to drown people in gold, began sending in their own agents undercover.

The incredibly dramatic beautification medicine that the wife of Su Kewang had been given as a gift from the Qing Jing peak lord was more than enough reason to throw wealth and resources at the puzzle.

Discovering that medicines the Qing Jing peak had concocted had given youth and strength back to the elderly relatives of their people was even more groundbreaking.

The peaches of immortality was one of the few medicines that all mortals in all the territories that the Empire knew of, coveted. There had been rumors of this or that de-aging artifact or medicine, but the medicine Qing Jing had produced was so visible that no one in their right mind wouldn't want to acquire it.

It had been made amply and viciously clear that attacking Cang Qiong straightforwardly was a bad idea.

The Cang Qiong Mountain sect's original method of defense kept those who were unwelcome traveling up and down the many, many steps that led up the mountains without allowing them to escape until a sect member could lead the unfortunate person to the sect or take them back down to the foot of the mountain.

Those had not been considered good enough by the Qing Jing peak lord who had set up a massive network of traps, offensive arrays and formations and teleport formations, even converting the forested area directly around the sect's mountains into a zone where Beasts and other... creatures comprised yet another line of defense.

That had been undertaken as a response to the escalating attempts of envious outsiders to break into the sect for various reasons.

One of the reasons most widely known was the beauty of the people of Cang Qiong sect's Qing Jing peak and Xian Shu peak. A good many foolish flower thieves and roaming cultivators who relied on using fellow cultivators as furnaces fell prey to those traps.

Another reason was the obvious rise in cultivation of Cang Qiong Sect's people as well as the rise in the number of artifacts and cultivation resources that the sect's members were seen using.

Greed is one of the strongest motivators for anyone, whether they were humans or demons, righteous or roaming or demonic cultivators or secular mortals who yearned for beauty, luxury, power and eternal youth.

Of course, there was also a third reason.

Bravado.

Some people wanted to climb mountains just because they could do it. Some people wanted to fight monsters because they could do it. Some people wanted to fight the finest warriors, because they could do it. Some criminals wanted to rape, steal, torture, kidnap or commit whatever atrocity they felt could send their adrenaline running through their veins.

People can be very, very stupid.

All in all, with the examples of those people, it became clear that the use of force was doomed- short of having a demon army working for you, probably.

There are several points of pressure that could be used on the people of the sect.

One of these was family by blood or family that had raised them. This was the reason that there were opportunists from the various Shang, Wang and Yang families who were currently trying to claim that they were truly blood related to Shang Bo, Yang Dewei and Wang An.

Shang Ling Mei had done a fine job as Shang Bo's elder sister, keeping the rest of their small family safe and well cared for.

It was a fact that if Li Hua, Bai Chun and Lei Jun's corpses had been in any kind of retrievable or salvageable condition, then Shang Bo would have gladly had them resurrected to join his family once more. However, his friends had died before the peak lord had truly taken any measures, and thus Shang Bo had to be satisfied with having a monument to them recording them as his family, adopting them posthumously.

However, Shang Bo had no real interest in finding out who his biological parents were. He had no memory of them. For all he knew, he might have been abandoned in a ditch as an infant and he really didn't care. He had better things to do with his time, like look after the family he had chosen.

That was why Shang Ling Mei had simply sent away anyone who had tried to claim him and had stood in between any such claimants and their other siblings. Most of the time, this approach worked but it also got her many enemies, right up until Shang Bo arrived to terrorize the would-be manipulators in her place.

Wang An had simply taken to telling the would-be visitors, who had tried to approach him in order to claim relations, that he literally had no family, thus he clearly had no connection to them.

Yang Dewei simply laughed in their faces.

Anyone who tried to act the elder with them had been told bluntly to their faces that they weren't related.

Of course while some people came to try to claim Shang Bo, Wang An and Yang Dewei while lying through their teeth, others actually were deluded enough to believe they really were related.
***
Despite filial piety and the teachings of Confucius, it wasn't unusual to find families where sons or daughters eloped with people their parents did not approve of. It was also sadly not unheard of, to have expectant mothers separated from their families by attacks of assassins, wild animal packs or bandit raids. Babies being stolen or swapped with children of other families by deranged people or fiendish enemies were also possibilities. The women leaving infants they could not feed out to die or be picked up by other people, on gate doorsteps or in forests were also far too common.

These things were among the reasons that Yang Dewei could not be bothered to care about any fools trying to claim a relationship with him.

So, such things happened. Why should they matter to him? These people, whoever they were, what significance should they have to him?

When he needed them, they were not there. Now that he had displayed his might, they wanted him?

They could go roll.

Click to expand...

Gav said: ↑

***
If Enlai had been here, Yang Dewei reflected, he would have quite enjoyed his stay.

Mostly he would have enjoyed the chance to crush some rapists' pelvises.

The thing was, there were a lot of bandits in these mountains. It was very likely that many of them were just refugees from the other country who had fled here after the famines, droughts and attacks from neighboring countries had ravaged their land, ruining their chances to continue in their livelihood of farming.

Without a stable livelihood of their own they became a plague on others who they preyed on for the supplies they needed.

But not all of them would be here as refugees.

While it was true that there were plenty of bandits who had switched to a life of banditry because of injustice and corrupt officials driving them from home, there were also some sick fucks who just became bandits because it meant they got off on bullying people who couldn't fight back.

The bandits may or may not have ties to the Jianghu.

If they did, then anyone who had ties to the Jianghu wouldn't go to the legitimate authorities for anything those men did.

Of course, that had nothing to do with why Yang Dewei was here.

Yang Dewei was here to sink his claws into the gambling prospects, to rescue any of the surviving womenfolk the bandits had taken, to investigate the situation of the refugees... and in Shizun's words, to kick ass and take names.

And there was plenty of ass to kick.

Ah, the joys of travel.

The scenery was great.

Beautiful, verdant green everywhere, the refreshing scent of pine and bamboo. Elegant trees, branches spread out reaching for the sky or dripping leaves and flowers like brocade curtains. The rippling water of springs, brooks, waterfalls and streams. Interestingly shaped rocks and boulders.

The sky, an exquisite azure wreathed in fluffy white clouds.

And plenty of loud people around him, all very nervous, as could be expected when a caravan of traders was passing through bandit infested territory. People who rode mules, asses and horses. Mules, asses and horses that also drew their carts, but contaminated the serene air of their travels with the stench of manure and the sounds they made.

Some of these people were here for the refugees. Here to pick them up and help them across for pay, probably?

It was a fact that if he ran into anyone trying to force the refugees into slavery, Yang Dewei would have killed them.
***
The hills are alive... and full of bandits~!

Or rather, they're currently full of men who decided to attack the caravan and got beaten to a pulp for it.

At least their pelvises are intact, which is something they don't seem to appreciate, if the groaning is any indication.

On the bright side, each of these fellows counts as a nice amount of additional copper or silver coins, because there is currently a bounty on bandits.

Yang Dewei is pretty sure that he's tagged the escaping bandits so he can hunt down where they live and investigate to see if they kidnapped or murdered anyone.

Thus far, there are eight families of farmers who are asking for any news about their lost daughters and sons.

Yang Dewei had the descriptions written down, and he's pretty sure that in a fit of cosmic irony, one of the men he's just captured actually is the lost son of one of those families that came asking if there was anyone willing to help them find their lost offspring.

Given that bandits are like cults only less religion and more ruthlessly molding cannon fodder meatshields for the bandit lord, it is likely that this guy might have been indoctrinated and recruited by the group, bringing him back to his family might endanger the family themselves. It depends if the fellow was forced into it and there are hostages held against him or if he joined on his own for what benefits the bandit boss he followed into this mess offered him.

All Yang Dewei knows is, his disguise is very efficient. Tarnhelm is a wonderful way to hide himself from any lookouts or scouts. He can wear this fake face going one way through these mountain roads and different fake faces taking other paths until he can suss out every single bandit group on these mountainsides.

After that, he can conduct a preliminary investigation using his real appearance as bait.

**
There are approximately dubiously armed men on this goddamn mountain range, carrying everything from farming tools to actual swords, quivers full of arrows, polearms and bows in various states of repair.

They could be anything from settlers trying to hide from the legitimate authorities and their enemies on the other side of the mountains, to actual bandit gangs, and he needs to figure out which is which first.

Yang Dewei would like to say fuck his life, but at least drones are being extremely useful right now in helping him scout out the gangs' headquarters.

Given that each bandit gang can number anywhere from twenty men to over a hundred, possibly closer to two hundred, this is going to be a bit of a hassle, even with the drones.

Now Yang Dewei knows exactly how Sun Jin felt like when he was searching for the slavers and murderers behind his family's various deaths and the fall of their house.
***
Of course, the best way that Yang Dewei can think of, to figure out if someone is a bandit or not is to simply use his drones and scrying crystal to seek out, specifically, injured and imprisoned women and children as anyone who would injure or imprison children and women was probably a sick sadistic freak.

To his great disgust, he quickly picked up on multiple dens that matched those prerequisites. That meant his first goal was to move these civilians out of the way and then target the dens to rescue the significantly injured innocents first.

He would attack the dens in order of whichever ones had the men who had left the captive women and children and men with the most injuries and work his way down to those dens who held innocents with the least injuries or simply held them captive but unharmed.

Working one's way through each of the confirmed bandit dens he had sussed out as soon as he could drop this caravan off on the other side of the mountains was going to be... interesting.

***
Seven bandit dens later, Yang Dewei was bemused as he found that, yes, there really were men who were foolish enough to assume he was a female, even without his wearing Tarnhelm to deceive them.

It was probably even more misleading, specifically because Yang Dewei was obviously not alone. He had been wrecking the other confirmed bandit camps to rescue women and children, after all.

Yang Dewei had used explosions to cause distraction after distraction, sending the bandits on one wild goose chase after another. He had been leisurely tracking the bandits, assassinating them one after another from a distance with the use of copper cash and pebbles. Fortunately for his clothes, he was sufficiently far from his targets to avoid blood spatter.

That meant that he was surrounded by women, girls, teenagers and children who he had been tending to, during a lull in the fighting, right after he had torn the sixth camp down and released the bandits' former hostages from their disgusting makeshift prison.

Being held as hostages for any reason was traumatic. Being held as a hostage because the man who had taken them from their family and friends by force wants to rape them and keep raping them over a long period of time was infinitely worse.

There were reasons that men, women and children tended to be wrecks after such events and suicides happened far too often.

People who had been held down and forced generally sought either vengeance or death, sometimes both, after they had been destroyed by such events.

Some people committed suicide right after the act because they could not bear what had happened to them. Others held on but lashed out at those around them. Still others went reclusive and others were all but catatonic.

Yang Dewei knew all of this because of Enlai and his endless crusade of exploding pelvises. Which left an equally near endless crusade of learning about therapy and how to help other people rebuild their lives so they wouldn't become violent offenders or out tsundere Liu Qingge.

Taking care of a rape victim was nowhere near easy. It took time. The problem was, several idiots out there thought that kidnapping people, locking them up and assaulting them, would force those people to give up and belong to them.

Which was basically bullshit. And had a high body count. Because people did not deal well with violence being inflicted on them.

The most efficient method Yang Dewei had ever seen for getting people to fall in love with the captor in a confinement strategy was basically Wang An and Aoguang's method of 'okay, lock them up but inflict no violence, seduce them with luxury and drown them in pleasure', which had no body count and basically left their bedmates really confused and lustful.

Mostly because orgasms, delicious food, sybaritically soft silks and beautiful furnishings, were a very good incentive not to fight.

These idiot bandits had basically thrown their victims into prisons and then violated them like the lowest kind of brothel sex slaves, the ones with criminal records.

Because the captured ladies were either gently bred or came from farming and crafting families that cared enough for them to look after them as well as they could manage on their budgets, the ladies had not taken well to confinement, chains and abuse.

Many teenagers, maidens and women of various ages had been taken all over the mountain because of the refugees' taking to banditry and in some cases accepting bandits from neighboring regions who were far less careful with their victims. There were children used as leverage or assaulted by paedophiles among the bandits- those paedophiles had died terribly. As an example, let us just say that one angry mother had stabbed a paedophile over thirty times after she had been released.

From the people Dewei had rescued, he learned that at each survivor knew at least two people that had been taken from their caravan who had died from abuse or suicide.

***
It could be said that the best way to gauge someone's moral fiber was to see how they reacted to the sight of an injured person in need of help.

While the bandits had fallen partway down the slope of moral integrity over time, it takes a special kind of total asshole to immediately attack visibly injured women and children, particularly when what looks like another woman is treating their injuries.

Fortunately, the most recent group of bandits who had arrived onscene weren't that kind of total asshole.

In truth they were a group sent for investigating the situation and reinforcing the closest bandit den.

They had been sent running after seven fully armed bandit dens bristling with powerful, vicious and ruthless men had been wrecked and set on fire by some unseen force.

If it had been just one bandit den that had gone up in flames one might suspect the authorities, and surround the army's detached force to crush them as they had done once or twice when staking their claim on this mountain.

However, an actual army would have been discovered much earlier.

Armies were noisy. Large groups of armed guards sent by nobles were also noisy. Qinggong users from assassins' guilds or the Jianghu hired by a noble family to bring back a daughter, sister or niece might not be as noisy but none of them would target multiple outposts full of bandits and leave the dens ruined, scorched wrecks as if lightning had struck the dens and turned them into funeral pyres.

That was profoundly unnatural.

The bandits were only mortals and thus could only deal with their mortal fellows. Against the normal army they had good chances. Against the residents of the Jianghu they still had a chance.

But this looked to be the work of an unnatural, monstrous beast out of legend and they couldn't handle that.

Naturally they were relieved to find that the disturbances they had found thus far were only unarmed women.

Given that the original reason the former refugee men had gone around attacking caravans and merchants was specifically to obtain goods and women... Given that they had gone after women because there weren't enough women among the refugees to give each man their dream of having three wives and four concubines...

A large group of injured, helpless damsels in distress in need of rescue was too tempting to ignore.

The lady in white who must have been a doctor because of her obviously excellent medical skills was treating the other women as well as the teenagers and children. She was a prize for two reasons. The first was her devastating beauty. The second was her excellent medical skills.

One must remember these refugees were all farmers, commoners of various ranks and people of those families who weren't considered to be peers by the 'good' families. In short, they were severaly lacking in medical experts and even laymen who could tend to the suffering members of the community.

Because medicine cost money.

In short, having found a lady doctor, they had hit the jackpot.

Even if the boss didn't marry her, with all the pregnant women they would likely have at some point to become a functioning community, and their elderly relatives rescued from their ruined provinces in need of care, she was priceless and invaluable for the future of their community.

So anyone who married her if the boss turned her down was going to make his fortune.

Naturally they were going to do their best to impress her.

Yang Dewei had a pretty good idea that they had pegged him for a girl by the sudden laughable attempt at gentlemanly behavior they were trying to display.

It was still a lucky break... for them. Because if they had decided to pick a fight, he would have picked their bones.

As it was, he had an excellent way into their main stronghold because they clearly wanted to take him off to see their boss.

All he had to do was make sure the ladies, children and teenagers with him were unharmed by their suddenly courteous captors.
***
It is a fact that people are swayed by beauties. Throughout history, men and women alike have fallen for fair faces, elegant demeanors, gorgeous bodies.

This is why men and women in positions of power throughout history had beautiful people as lovers and concubines.

Cities and countries fell because of beauties. Spies stole information and escaped punishment by seducing and manipulating their vulnerable targets. Generals betrayed their rulers because of their desire for gorgeous dancers, ladies or courtesans. Sons, brothers, fathers and allies fought over beautiful people of either gender. Emperors and kings made truly disastrous decisions that endangered their countries, themselves or both at the same time, just to please their consorts, spouses or lovers.

Liu Cang, bandit king of the Cang mountain range, was no exception to this rule.

The moment he caught sight of Yang Dewei, he was hooked, his breath caught and he could not help but approach what he thought was the most beautiful woman he had ever met.

***
The stronghold had been imposing, for the work of mortal hands. No gold, no jade, no mural caught the eye. Every part of the architecture was stone and wood, full timbers used as smooth polished beams and pillars. The natural grain of the wooden furniture was unadorned. Not a single piece of gold leaf, not a stroke of paint or lacquer was used to decorate the place.

The only concessions to decoration were pillows, ceramics on display, ornate carvings such as statues of people, places and animals, root sculptures and elegant reliefs of wood, the animal furs of bears, wolves, tigers and other large mundane predators used as rugs or throws over this or that piece of furniture.

This bandit king, Liu Cang, was what many women might call tremendously handsome and completely masculine. His frame was wide-shouldered, well muscled, lithe as a jaguar and tall, with slim hips, long legs and elegant long fingered hands. His grey robes showed off his grace of movement- fitting for a man of the Wulin who had molded several small bandit gangs and a large number of refugees into a force strong enough to keep most mundane armies at a distance.

And right now? He was clasping Yang Dewei's hands in his own, staring at his prospective bride with his heart in his eyes, completely besotted to the point he couldn't tear his gaze away from Yang Dewei's bemused eyes.

"Reward!" Liu Cang managed to say, a hand gesturing to someone else, who quickly handed over gold to the 'lucky' men who had found the ladies, teens and children in question.

Those lucky men were all too pleased with themselves. In fact, they were so pleased that some of them began to regale their fellow bandits with their tale of having found these clearly injured beauties and brought them home. (Like heroes!)

It was a fact that the women and teens had clustered around the crying children to protect them, but none of them need have bothered. Not a single one of their captors had so much as harmed them, in fact, some had even (in the interest of showing off) solicitously looked after the injured people who,unbeknownst to them, had been their former fellows' victims.

Naturally this was confusing to the ladies, teens and children who had expected these bandits to be as monstrous as their fellows and had begun nerving themselves to fight to the last breath.

Right now, the women and teens were torn between simply trying to murder all these bandits or well, maybe not murdering them.

They hadn't figured out what to do yet, but they were naturally still very angry.

However, Yang Dewei had told them he had a plan, and he had saved them from the other bandits, so they were willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.

More to the point, they weren't blind. These victims had seen that there were even more small strongholds that they could only assume were bandit dens, on their way out. There were far more of these bandits than any of them had originally believed and without Dewei, they stood no chance of escape at all.
***
Zhao Jin Zhan was the elder of two daughters of a minor official by the name of Zhao Chang Chun. She had been taken by bandits from the wreckage of the caravan that should have brought her to visit her brother in another city where he had gone in order to further his education at their well known Academy. She was both glad that her younger sister, Zhao Jin Yu was not with her when she was captured and saddened that her father, mother, brother and younger sister must be so worried about her by now. Had they given up?

Miss Mu Jin had been the younger sister of Mu Tong, the steward of a certain Wang of high standing. She was his only living relative, the apple of his eye, and he probably had not taken the news of her kidnapping well, particularly not after he had taken such care to prepare her dowry for a future marriage.

Lady Pu'er had been the beloved wife of a tea merchant who had treasured her for her skills in accounting, her ability to suss out the next trend and her fine tea-brewing skills. Her husband had been one of the casualties of the caravan, he had died defending her and their son, Han Xuan. Unfortunately, the bandits who had attacked the caravan had more than a few perverts in their number, and her son had been forced to suffer the unthinkable.

Lady Pu'er was in fact the very same woman who had stabbed that filthy, life ruining fiend thirty times before he bled out, as retribution for the horror he had inflicted on her child.

Right now, these three ladies and a few others had been entrusted with the task of discovering all the details of the stronghold so that Yang Dewei could bring it and the surrounding, smaller bandit dens down and bury them.

For instance. There were over a hundred tables groaning under the weight of dish after dish of food, and each table was the center of a group of very happy bandits. .

The thing was, the stronghold wasn't just full of bandits.

There were elderly men and women being treated with genuine respect by the bandits in question. There were children running around. Some of those closer to the age of majority were helping the kitchen staff serve the food.

This place didn't look like the other bandit dens the three ladies remembered being imprisoned in.

For one, the part of the other dens that they had bern incarcerated in had been literally barely more than prisons, with chains. Those dens also had a treasure room and had whatever furniture the bandits could get their hands on, from whatever caravans, merchants and travelers passed their way and fell into their clutches.

This bandit den was far more settled. It looked to be inhabited by entire families.

Which begged the questions, exactly how many bandits were there in this stronghold, how many civilians lived and worked here, and why were those elders being treated with respect?
***
There had been thousands of men among the refugees. Entire families had joined the exodus- rather than stay in their dying province and die with it, they had chosen to climb the mountain to get meat, bamboo shoots, mushrooms and fruit instead.

Of course, building homes on mountains when the people are used to living on flat land is a drastic change of lifestyle.

For one, while the mountains were full of herbs, ores, animals, birds and edible plants, they still needed grain, cloth, and all the products of intensive, civilized agriculture.

Hunting for meat and fishing in streams and small rivers was quite productive, but even the best hunters had to trade for many things.

Small gardens were all very good but could not replace having large fields and it would take time and significant effort, perhaps years of work to terrace the mountain side for fields to grow grain and vegetables. Raising animals was easier, but it didn't cover all the angles.

That was one reason why the refugees had turned to banditry in the first place. Easy and quick access to goods.

The second reason of course was that there were plenty of unmarried men who had made the climb but not a matching number of marriageable young women. Either the ladies of a relatively close range were already married- young aunts, mothers, widows- or they were too young, in the case of daughters and younger sisters.

In addition when men think of the kind of husband that their female family members should marry, they tend to get ambitious for the prerequisites the husband-to-be must have at hand (like a REAL house and not a damn cave!) because marriage was a way to tie families together.

So, taking daughters from the surrounding areas and women from merchant caravans were much easier for some bandits than building a fine residence to attract a wife from one's fellows.
***
People tend to be less closemouthed and more at ease in their own homes and in a position of power.

These bandits and the people living with them were no exception.

It was rather suspicious that so large a group of injured women, children and teenagers were found on their mountain's grounds to be brought back by some of their men.

The bandit's strategist, Liu Cuo had still wanted to interrogate the ladies, children and teenagers, but there was no real effective way of pressuring them while they were surrounded by the bandits' families, including Liu Cuo's own mother.

Still, at least they hadn't seen any blades or weapons on the women, children and teenagers they had brought into the fortress during the cursory check.

Naturally, Liu Cuo had left it to their elderly to gently question them as to their circumstances. This approach got him the profoundly disturbing answer of, "We were fleeing from a group pf paedophiles." amidst a shower of tears from all the recent arrivals.

Of course, Mu Jin and the others had quickly managed to get their own share of information in exchange, and it was a significant one.

These elders were the bandits' parents or in some cases, grandparents. The children wandering around were the bandits' children. And the women here who were clearly unharmed and in good health, were the bandits' wives.

This was a settlement that was made of former refugees who turned to banditry after they had been forced to flee from their suffering province after a revolt against the corrupt officials administrating the areas who had embezzled the funds which had been intended for use in case of disasters.

Well, the elders were naturally distressed by this as their grandchildren were here, on this mountain. The bandits' wives and those bandits who were fathers were also equally distressed.

It is a fact, no one with a family wants paedophiles anywhere near their neighborhood.
***
Some say there is a heirarchy even in prisons.

Prisons are a microcosm, a fermenting, seething boil of violence.

Paedophiles were at the bottom of this heirarchy, and even their fellow inmates considered assaulting them and killing them off as a service to society, a service to the victim's families, and, if they had children, this was also a safeguard for their own families.

Well, this was not a prison, but it was a settlement of criminals and none of these bandits who had families were happy to learn there were paedophiles who might target their children in what was essentially their own back yard.

Liu Cuo's enraged mother was giving him an earful. It was not a pleasant earful and he was going to have an ulcer at this rate.

Even as the banquet had been prepared, their own womenfolk were tending to the children and teenagers.

Earlier, Liu Cang's bride had insisted on continuing to tend to the people who had arrived with her under the watchful eyes of her soon to be husband and the elders were happy to find a medical expert who could tend to their own complaints.

Now, the festive mood was dimmed because there was going to be a grim purge of paedophiles on this mountain.

It had taken a bit of time, but Liu Cuo had eventually calmed their people down. Yes, there would be a purge. Yes, the mountain would be made safe for everyone's families.

Yes, these poor people would be looked after.

Some of the unmarried bandits even offered to marry the ladies in front of them. After all, the original reason for the kidnapping of women had been because they wanted to turn their makeshift settlement into a real 'country'.

That meant marriage, children, homemaking and everything that went with it.
***
The crisis having been averted and the retribution pushed to another day, everyone could now return to celebrating their 'king's' long awaited marriage.

Some bandits chatted about how hard it had been to find their master a wife.

Granted, it had benefited several of them because the women who their master had refused had been married to them, but it had still taken a long time as Liu Cang was apparently horribly picky.

In fact, Yang Dewei had been the only one who Liu Cang had even showed any interest in and when Liu Cang had fallen, he fell hard... As was evidenced by the way he could not take his eyes off his spectacularly beautiful bride.

Well, no one could blame him. 'If a man could look at that beauty without falling in love, he wasn't a man!' was the general consensus of the peanut gallery.

The happy bridegroom left the banquet room to go to his new bride as if there were wings on his feet.
***
Yang Dewei was very amused. His 'husband' was positively cute.

First, the man had confessed that he had fallen in love with Yang Dewei at first sight. Then he said, while blushing, that he was very happy to marry his bride and he promised to be a good husband. He would look after her, he would protect her, and he would go purge this mountains of paedophiles to keep their future family safe.

How cute. How adorable.

The man had leaned in to touch his cheek with a gentle hand and Yang Dewei decided to play along a bit.

That love confession was too cute, he was certainly going to make the best of his new 'husband'.

He tugged Liu Cang down into a kiss, and once the man was ensnared by the slick glide of their lips and tongues, he rolled them onto the bed so that he could continue to distract the dazed bandit king with hungry, ravishing kisses while capturing the distracted man's hands and tying them to the headboard with his own hair ribbon.

That done, he pulled away and smirked as he pulled Liu Cang's robe open to caress him.
***
Liu Cang had started to tug at his bonds when he was distracted once again by his 'bride's' elegant hands stroking all the way down his body, stripping him and pulling off his underwear.

Firm, gentle hands fondled his soft skin, stroked his pectorals and his well formed abs, kneaded his waist, as his bride bent down to lick and nibble at his graceful neck and collarbones.

That thoroughly distracted him from his struggles but he could only gape as his 'bride' murmured next to his ear, in a melodious but most certainly male voice.

"I hadn't expected to be married so early but since you've offered, I'll gladly accept."

Wait. What.

"I'm going to enjoy consummating our marriage."

That was a man's very amused voice and... oooh those hands were stroking him, sending pulses of pleasure up his spine.

But it was a man!

But it felt good.

But it was still a man!

Those moments of stunned indecision and complete confusion cost Liu Cang dearly as his bride caught his lips in more thirsty kisses, stealing his breath away while those hands were stroking his flesh to daze him with pleasure.
***
It hadn't taken Yang Dewei long to find every single exquisitely sensitive spot on Liu Cang's body.

The bandit 'king' could only writhe as he was being caressed and fondled with increasing fervency, helpless in the palm of Dewei's hand, as Yang Dewei began to lick, suck and nibble his way down the bandit king's beautiful and quite sensitive body.
***
Liu Cang could only gasp, dazed, and then begin to moan as his dusky pink fruits were suckled and nibbled into redness, and his legs were pulled apart in his distraction.

His knees went weak as certain sensitive parts of his body were firmly massaged.

He could barely think.

Yes, being at this man's mercy was frightening, but at the same time, his body felt so... good.

But it was a man!

It was the feel of his half-hard member being taken into that man's hand to be 'played with' and stroked into full hardness that shocked him out of his pleasurable daze.

"H-Hey, don't t-touch that..." Liu Cang managed only to catch the hungry gaze in his 'bride's' eyes. His stomach fluttered with fear and arousal.

Liu Cang registered that he was completely naked except for his robe that had been pulled completely open to decoratively frame his body.

Then with a seductive smile, his 'bride' moved down to take the head of Liu Cang's cock into his hot, wet mouth, to suckle and lick at it, and particularly at its slit.

The wet heat of his 'bride's' mouth on him undid Liu Cang completely. He moaned, and his hips moved involuntarily. His 'bride' pressed his jerking hips down, stroking his length, and fondling his balls before firmly massaging an incredibly pleasurable place behind his balls that made his vision go white as his hips madly jerked over and over again, trying to enter that hot, wet, hungry mouth that had driven the coherency right out of his head.

White heat, pulses of continual pleasure set his body afire with need.

By the time the inexperienced Liu Cang noticed the fingers that were gently stroking his chrysanthemum were slick with some kind of oil, his knees were weak, his hips were trembling, his body was exquisitely sensitive and he could barely catch his breath, moaning helplessly.

The feel of those fingers touching a place that no one else ever had explored, managed to shake him out of his daze.

"W-Who are you?!" Liu Cang asked, trying to shift away from the questing fingers.

His 'bride' smirked. "Didn't we just get married? Shouldn't you be clear on our relationship by now?"

But you're a man! Liu Cang wanted to roar in protest.

Then his 'bride's' greedy mouth was back on his cock, that long, silken hair sliding against his oversensitized skin and Liu Cang was thoroughly distracted again with the hot wetness. Right until those fingers finally coaxed their way into his body, slick oil easing their way.

It wasn't a forceful, painful entrance. It was slick, like fish darting in and out of a reef's tight crevices, gently stroking, gently coaxing that secretive part of his body open. Those fingers rubbed against his sensitive inner walls and Liu Cang's chrysanthemum instinctively tightened on them. Undeterred, they quickly found a place that sent what felt like pleasurable lightning up his spine.

Oh.

Liu Cang's brain gave up at that point.

One finger became two, two fingers became three, like little fish determined to coax him all the way open, grinding and gliding against his sensitive inner walls.

Liu Cang could only moan lavisciously and his hips continued jerking helplessly.

Then, the fingers were mercifully pulled out, only to be replaced with a larger, very solid length that pushed into Liu Cang's tight entrance, as his 'bride' had clearly finished preparing him and was now going to enter his body to claim him. The pink bud had been coaxed open a bit, but the length entering it slowly was stretching it further, rubbing against the sensitive inner walls very firmly to the point that Liu Cang's tight passage instinctively clamped down and was even more stimulated by the firm, solid shaft that was penetrating him completely.

Then the head ground against a part of Liu Cang that made him see white and he moaned.

His 'bride' took that as incentive to start thrusting, letting go of Liu Cang's cock and simply aiming directly at that part that set Liu Cang's body afire with pleasure.

The grinding made Liu Cang shudder from head to toe, wringing moans and incoherent pleas out of him.

He didn't even know what he was begging for. He couldn't think straight.
***
Yes, Yang Dewei's new 'husband's' body was certainly virginal and untried... at least until Yang Dewei had claimed it.

Untried, innocent and eager in its reactions, that tight, hot, slick chrysanthemum gobbled him up greedily and Yang Dewei enjoyed every minute of it.

He was going to fuck his new 'husband' until the man couldn't move the next morning. Dewei was going to do him until he laid limp and helpless so that the remaining targets could be slain.

This was going to be the most enjoyable part of the plan. And part of that enjoyment was taking advantage of the bandit king's helplessness to play with his defenseless body.

Yang Dewei was going to fuck that sweet ass so thoroughly and firmly that the 'king' was going to spill his seed without being touched. And after that, he would toy with him until his body was covered in lovemarks and their mingled fluids.

In the meantime, the people he had rescued continued to try to coax information out of their hosts.

Information like the bandits' numbers.
***
There is a phrase, 'fucked senseless'. It certainly described what Liu Cang felt.

He was drowned in pleasure, so much of it that he was completely helpless as his 'bride' did whatever he wanted.

He was fucked in position after position until his limbs were like wet noodles, his hips felt weak, his entire body was limp.

His insides felt tender and ached pleasurably from the fervent, thorough pounding he had received all night. He may as well have been as soft as sweet rice candy.

He was buried in the afterglow so deeply that he lost track of time, and then he was exhausted so thoroughly that he passed out and couldn't wake up.

When he had finally woken up, it was to find his 'wife' fully dressed, clearly newly bathed and currently carrying a basin of hot water in one hand and a tray of food- nourishing soup- in the other.

He returned to his senses only to find that he was still, in fact, bound. And naked but for those binding ribbons.

What.

He tugged at the ribbons that kept him bound, and discovered to his mounting fear that his ankles had been bound too.

Glancing at his 'wife' sent reminiscent pleasure and fear pounding through his veins. His 'wife' was fully dressed now, but he remembered the sight and feel of that body, silken soft skin over strong muscle, pinning him down to go for what he had felt were endless rounds.

The bed seemed to have been changed, and thick towels had been placed under him. His robes had been utterly ruined, having received much of their mingled fluids, they lay with the equally tainted bedding.

Now, his 'wife' had placed the food on a nearby table, and was approaching him with the hot water basin and a wet towel in hand.

Liu Cang's throat was parched. He coughed as he was gently washed and wiped clean, firstly with the hot and wet towel, then, with a wet towel that held a refreshing scent. Even his hair was washed clean with a surprising amount of gentleness that set his insides fluttering with confusion.

Then he was helped to sit up and given a glass of surprisingly chilled tea to drink.

Wait. Chilled tea? They didn't have any snow to chill it with...

"Good morning." His 'bride' smiled.

His bride was a man.

Liu Cang shivered.

His bride had mounted him and ridden him thoroughly. His body ached pleasurably in reminiscence.

Liu Cang's cheeks turned red. "You're a man!" He blurted out, scandalized.

"You've had plenty of proof of that last night, yes." His 'bride' smirked.

"Why are you here?! What do you want from me?!" Liu Cang blazed up, now on firmer footing as he tugged at his bindings.

"What I want from you, I have already taken." Yang Dewei replied, mildly.

While his new 'husband had been out of commission, he had drugged every last person in the stronghold down to the scouts, using sleeping potions and sleeping gas to keep them under while he trussed them up like turkeys.

Of course, Liu Cang had no idea of that so all he could do was draw... the wrong conclusion.

"You wanted me?!" The bandit king's eyes were filled with shock and disbelief.

Yang Dewei decided not to ruin this beautiful misunderstanding.

What he actually meant was that everyone in the entire stronghold had been captured and tied up by his group, and that he himself had gone out on a massive murderspree with those of the women and teens who wanted vengeance on bandits who... weren't these idiots who had taken them in and treated them relatively well.

Of course, not all the bandits were refugees like these people. Several of the older bandit bands were actually led by the bandits already in the area before the 'king's' father ever got here and those bands had merely been beaten into subservience to Liu Cang and his father.

Liu Cang and those like him may not have been willing to have children abused but then it must be said that Liu Cang had nominal control over those men.

He didn't know what they did or when they did it. He didn't dictate what rules they lived by. They were simply forced to obey him when he was there in front of them, giving them orders.

Such men were in the business of robbing others because it was easy, preying on their fellow men to take what they want. Such men weren't in this to build families, they were in it to get their hands on gold, luxuries and living toys that they could use or break.

It was those kinds of men that Yang Dewei and his companions had hunted while the denizens of the stronghold were asleep.

In short, he and the others had killed assholes all night and all day and come back with the rescued people from the nearby ruined dens for baths and clean clothes.

Naturally there was a hue and cry when the bandits and their families awoke to find themselves trussed up after the sleeping drugs finally wore off.
***
Liu Cang was full of questions. Since his 'bride' was being gentle with him and had admitted that he already wanted him, Liu Cang dared to believe that he wasn't going to be slain.

"Why am I tied up?" Liu Cang asked, tugging at the ribbon again.

"If you weren't tied up, wouldn't you have attacked me pointlessly?" His 'bride'-no,'wife' now since they had consummated the marriage- pointed out gently, brushing Cang's long hair to a fine gloss. "This way you have plenty of time to calm down."

"I'm already calm." Liu Cang said, stiffly, tugging at his ties. "You can untie me now."

"Not quite yet." His 'wife' smiled. It was such a gentle expression, it made him indescribably beautiful. Despite his misgivings, Liu Cang could only stare at him, hooked like a fish once more.

"Let me feed you breakfast and put some clean clothes on you first." His 'wife' leaned in close to kiss his cheek.

Liu Cang flushed deeply as his heart felt like it was being scratched at by a little cat. That smile lit a warmth in his belly at the sight of it, a warmth that made him feel even more comfortable and sweet. But no. No, he needed to know his 'wife's name first.

"You still haven't told me your name." Liu Cang stated stiffly.

His 'wife' smiled. "My name is Yang Dewei. As for the rest of the matter, it would be best explained to you and the rest of the denizens of this stronghold at the same time, so you shall have to wait."

At least until the dragon teeth brass warriors could pick up every single person who lived in the citadel and put them all in the great hall for an explanation.
***
In truth, Yang Dewei was already considering how best to break the news to these people that he had originally come here to stop the kidnappings of womenfolk from the surrounding areas. He hadn't actually been hired for such a thing, he had simply come to do the job as it suited his agenda and furthered his other purposes to do so.

Hm. Best to emphasize some things and gloss over others. After all, he wasn't paid, he was doing this on a whim, and that was never going to sound good, he thought, as he attentively fed Liu Cang the truly excellent eight treasures chicken soup that he had taken the time to prepare as a hedge against his temper flaring up.

He would prefer that Liu Cang kept calm and obeyed him so he wouldn't have to use his superior strength to force him. He didn't want to hurt him but he had already decided to take this man home with him to the sect.

*
The food was excellent and served to quiet Liu Cang's rumbling stomach, his flaring temper, his anxiety and his worry all at once.

Immediately, Liu Cang felt more favorably disposed towards his new 'wife'. Of course, he wasn't going to make a big deal of it, he didn't want the other man to see how badly it had affected him. "...Just be sure to give me an explanation then." he allowed, generously, as his 'wife' pulled this morning's robes out of his clothes chest.
***
Liu Cuo's life was a roller coaster of suffering.

First, he and everyone else found out there were paedophiles on this mountain. Next, he had the relief of finally having his elder foster 'brother' married off, only to wake up the next morning, trussed up, to be picked up by what was clearly a massive warrior made out of solid brass or bronze.

He wasn't alone. Even as he was being carried, he could also see other massive metal warriors carrying in his fellow bandits, their parents, aunts, uncles, children, nieces and nephews, brothers and sisters.

On the bright side, no one seemed to be injured. On the bad side, all of them were clearly bound, just like him.

The only people who weren't bound were the ladies, teens and children who had arrived at their stronghold with their master's new wife.

Liu Cuo had a bad feeling about this. It deepened as he saw his master, hands tied, being gently maneuvered to sit next to him by his new wife.

The same new wife who now seated herself at such a place that she could cast her gaze over all of them.

The ominous feeling intensified.

Then his brother's wife opened her mouth and a melodious but very male voice came out.

Liu Cuo was one of the multitude of people that were now gaping in shock at this.

"All of you may be wondering why you are tied up," his elder brother's MALE wife was now speaking. That sentence quickly caught everyone's attention.

"My name is Yang Dewei, and I am a cultivator from Cang Qiong Mountain sect." The beauty now spoke, clearly and concisely. "And I came here to investigate the kidnapping and violent deaths of nineteen children, thirty eight women and fifty one men."

Wait. What.

Liu Cuo had turned ashen pale.

"Signs on the corpses indicated that both the women and children were raped, violated multiple times and violently abused, some of the men also received the same treatment, some corpses were mutilated past recognition." His elder brother's male wife continued counting off the gruesome details. "I am not speaking of death by combat. I am not speaking of deaths from quick stab wounds in robberies gone wrong.

I am speaking of the kind of sick, twisted acts of deranged men who are unapologetic torturers, paedophiles and rapists."

Liu Cang had gone ashen pale.

"I also came to rescue any civilians who were still being held captive by those very same torturers." His wife finished mildly. "There seem to be no victims in your stronghold, but the torturers in question claimed to be under your banner."

He gave Liu Cang an eloquent gaze, letting him read between the lines.

That particularly unpleasant bombshell caused a furor of cursing, since no one had been gagged.

"While your compassion towards the women, children and teenagers I liberated from those torturers was pleasant, if unexpected, I have to complete the investigation," Yang Dewei continued mildly, "and regrettably right now, because of those men who claimed to be working for you, all of the Cang mountain range bandits have been tarred with the same brush... which is why everyone here is tied up, right down to the last child."
***
Liu Cuo, being the strategist, was the first to recover.

"So you mean you deliberately allowed yourself to be captured in order to gain access to the stronghold?" he asked, as their king reeled, his formerly healthy complexion now greyish and pallid.

"I was busy healing the rescued victims when your men came across us," Yang Dewei corrected him mildly. "My original intention was to search in the outlying bandit dens first, to see how many more hostages and survivors I could find. However, the people I interrogated claimed to be working for your king, so..."

So he was always going to come here.

"Why did you-" Liu Cang now seemed to believe the worst about their liasion if the expression of heartbreak on his face was any indication.

Yang Dewei raised an eyebrow. "I already told you why I went to your bed earlier. But to be precise," he elaborated, "your speech was very... stirring. I found you attractive at first sight, but it was your stated commitment to purging the paedophiles in the area that really made me want you."

Liu Cang looked dumbstruck, then relieved. Yang Dewei didn't ask why, because people came up with strange ideas all the time.

"Then why am I still tied up?" Liu Cang demanded, finding his footing in the conversation once more.

"Do you really want me to answer that?" Yang Dewei asked him, amused.

Liu Cang turned red.

"Then why are our elderly, women and children also tied up?" Liu Cuo asked, frowning.

"If I left your elderly or your women untied, they would cut the ropes that bind you." Yang Dewei explained patiently. "If I left the children untied, they might run off and get themselves injured or untie you or most likely even both."

It was unpleasant if painfully realistic reasoning. Liu Cuo wished he didn't have to understand it.

Click to expand...

-!justice!! exploding pelvises!!!!
- slyy YDW
- LC is cute
-

Gav said: ↑

ATDSVT-Yue Qingyuan
***
Yue Qingyuan was fairly sure that short of the drastic, deeply condemned step of raising the dead, he would never find out what had happened to Qingqiu when he was in the hands of the Qiu family.

He was well aware that it must have been horrible and traumatic. There was ample proof in the marks on Qingqiu's skin, that monstrous enslavement seal, that the Qiu were far worse than they had ever seemed to be on the surface.

No run-of-the-mill abusive noble family could use enslavement seals and the talisman peak had confirmed that was most certainly what it was. They had also confirmed that it probably had negatively affected Qingqiu's cultivation, which was a fact that had kept Liu Qingge silent for a good while and put a profoundly sickened look on his face.

It was probably petty of him, but Yue Qingyuan was glad to see the nauseated greenish cast of his complexion.

Qingge and their fellow brother disciples had derided his friend so often and in the past he hadn't been able to silence them or prevent their petty cruelties no matter how hard he tried.

Well. Now they knew that Qingqiu's shortcomings weren't something they had the right to mock.

However that still left both he and Qingqiu adrift, without the anchor of their past. Because Qingqiu had forgotten their past, he knew nothing of Yue Qingyuan's mistakes, his shortcomings or both of his great failures.

Because Qingqiu had lost his past, Yue Qingyuan had a chance to see under his shell.

When they had met and gotten to know each other in those slavers' clutches, forced to beg for their living, under the constant threat of being sold, Shen Jiu had quickly developed some sort of armor. A hard facade that helped him deal with the day to day sufferings.

As far as Yue could remember, Jiu had always been protective of the person whom he cared about (who had always been Yue). Jiu had always been adaptable. Resilient.

The Qingqiu who had lost his memories had been frightened, oddly fragile. He had followed Yue Qingyuan everywhere as he had been trying to make sense of.. well, everything.

If Yue Qingyuan had to guess, he would have said that Jiu had lost his sense of self.

That time, at least, Yue Qingyuan hadn't failed him. That time and after, he had finally been able to take care of Qingqiu as he had hoped to be able to do.

However, taking care of him hadn't been enough. The Qius had obviously done their best to ruin him. Further, there was still that unknown person whose curse tormented Qingqiu over and over at night.

The first time the curse had struck, Qingqiu had cursed him for... letting him suffer it?...but had quickly apologized for it.

Once again, Yue Qingyuan had failed to protect him. No matter how hard he tried, even going to the demon realm in order to try to get some kind of information, or any hope of freeing Qingqiu from his suffering, he couldn't help. The talisman peak couldn't help. Formations, arrays, artifacts... nothing worked.

All he could do was hold Qingqiu close at nights, tend to the injuries the curse inflicted upon him and accompany him through the days.

Without his memories, without that shell that Shen Jiu had built up to shield himself from disappointment and pain, Yue Qingyuan had seen him adapt to being a peak lord, had seen him throw himself into learning how to fit into his place here.

He had seen that protectiveness, that affection, that kindness that had been given to him and him alone in the past, being opened up to Qingqiu's students, that generosity and watchfulness extended over all Qing Jing peak's disciples.

Without his memories to hurt him, to cripple him with self-doubt, Qingqiu had recovered and adapted wonderfully.

Of course, that didn't stop Qingqiu from surprising him.

When Qingqiu had found out about their past, it hadn't been because of his memory returned to him.

It had been because he had found out through the grapevine. To be precise, one day, Qingqiu just walked right into Yue's office and the first thing he said was, "So I heard from the Xian Shu peak girls that we were star crossed lovers and your deepest regret was leaving me behind."

The tea Yue Qingyuan was drinking came right out of his nose, and he could only choke and splutter, his eyes watering.

Click to expand...

Gav said: ↑

***
Yang Dewei was very displeased.

As for why he was displeased, it was fairly obvious- his new 'husband' was absolutely refusing to accept his very rational plan of leaving this damn mountain before his settlement of undereducated little idiots ran into a bigger fish, say, an army sent by one of the neighboring countries' governments with orders to wipe out the bandits who had infested the mountain.

It wasn't as if it would be a long time before such a thing happened, either, given the sheer number of complaints that were probably flooding in on all their borders.

If they had been more moderate, policed all the other bandit gangs their previous king and current king had squashed and forced under their banner, their reputation wouldn't have been so appalling.

If they had simply placed a toll on each passing caravan in exchange for, say, escorting them through the mountains or just letting them pass, that wouldn't have been a problem either.

But no, they had to go the quick and easy route of self sabotaging their own reputation by attacking caravans for profit, wives and goods. They had to fail at policing the native bandit gangs who had been subjugated by their leaders.

As it was now, they were wanted for wrecking trade by attacking caravans (which they did do), blamed for multiple instances of rape and torture (which the vast majority of them hadn't done, since their real goals had been bride theft and badly needed supplies so they could entrench themselves further) and considered a public menace to life, limb and livelihood of the countries on all four sides of the mountain range.

Yang Dewei had explained this to them and additionally pointed out that he was still going to keep purging the paedophiles, murderers and rapists in the area, and if they didn't leave on their own volition, they would also be considered fair game.
But no. No, his man wanted to stay here in the hole he had dug for himself.

He wanted to fortify it, build a proper city-stronghold.

And not just him, everyone else was recalcitrant about moving. None of them wanted to leave the place they had built for themselves even with the enmity of their neighbors turned against them because of their ill thought out actions.

No, they were willing to get rid of the unscrupulous fellows who had wrecked the reputation of all the bandits in their mountain range, but they persisted in believing themselves to be good men who had been forced into this because of circumstance, for the sake of their families.

Such self justification didn't really hold up to the light of day when Yang Dewei had pointed out that they themselves wouldn't want to be preyed on in the same manner they had preyed on the people around them.

However, it was a cycle. Despite their awakened consciences, and their understanding that their unwilling comrades had ruined their chances of being considered a legitimate town-state, they still refused to leave.

When they were reminded of their wrongs, they expressed regret and sheepishly offered that the errors would not be repeated. But when they were asked how they planned to make a life for themselves now, without banditry, they didn't know.

When it was suggested they separate themselves fron the people who had ruined so many lives, by leaving the mountain so that they could rebuild somewhere else, they refused to leave.

They could have simply packed up and left the worst offenders to be purged visibly, so that those offenders would be the only ones known to be bandits on that mountain range, but no, they weren't willing to lose what they had built.

They kept offering to hand over the offenders to the authorities but they refused to consider the fact they themselves were offenders because they had taken what they needed to live on, as a settlement.
Yang Dewei was really seeing the proof of his Shifu's words, 'the intelligence of a mob was the intelligence of its most stupid member, divided by the number of mobsters' and 'human stupidity is infinite'.

Even tied up as they were, they were still not getting the point.

No, they were assuming that they would be untied and since he had 'married' their king, he as well as the ladies and teenagers who had been rescued, would all be on their side.

In fact, they were offering suggestions that not only should he untie them, he should also help them entrench themselves further into this mountain, since he was from a righteous sect after all and everyone knew that cultivators from the biggest sects could fund, back and protect entire small kingdoms.

If anything, once they had processed the fact that he hailed from Cang Qiong mountain sect, they lit up like (very stupid!) children given cake.

By now everyone knew that the Cang Qiong mountain sect was the greatest righteous sect and its cultivators were formidable (other than those from An Ding peak) so didn't that mean that a great meat pie had fallen from the sky and into their laps?

With him there, surely they could prosper and flourish as a people! He could improve their settlement, and he could intercede with the surrounding governments for them and...

They really were stupid children.

Yang Dewei covered his face with his hand. Of course he wouldn't do those things so blatantly because they would tarnish the reputation of his sect!

That was exactly why he had tried to talk them all into leaving, because he needed to kill all the other bandits to take their place as scapegoats! He couldn't do that if they refused to leave!

***
Shifu once told Dewei that the vast majority of people were like sheep. Take what they produce, but let them live, and they will eventually get it back. Then this cycle repeats itself again.

This is known by all governments and it is the reason why taxation exists. It is also why banditry exists, and extortion, and road tolls.

A sane and rational man therefore, would take only as much as the sheep could spare and leave them their lives.

Unfortunately many rulers throughout history, many warlords, bandits and even the more rapacious examples of their fellow man, weren't sane enough to follow the cycle.

And some people, the rapists, the murderers, the torturers, the sadistic freaks, couldn't do that.

No. Society said that such people were wolves, but Shifu had seen wolves, okay, wolves were better than that. Wolves didn't take to the point that the entire population of was pushed to drastic measures to ensure the survival of the species or the community.

It would be better, Shifu said, to view those people as rabid. You didn't let the rabid near your people, just as you didn't let rabid predators near your livestock.
***
"I can't... No, rather, I won't do that." Yang Dewei had stated firmly, while he was the focus of all those hopeful and expectant gazes.

One could have heard a pin drop. Then there was an explosion of noise as everyone burst out talking.

Yang Dewei sighed and rubbed his temple as the tidal wave of sound hit.

He let the confused and angry people shout on for a good while, before raising a hand to have a dragon tooth warrior slam his shield against his sword, a brassy, clashing sound that echoed worse than a cymbal, causing the arguing people to halt their arguments.

Then there was a stunned pause as the dragon tooth warriors raised their halberds and slammed the butts of their weapons against the stone of the floor, moving into an aggressive stance.

Then people shrank back like turtles.

"Enough." Dewei folded his arms in the ensuing silence. "I will not help you entrench yourselves into this mountain.

Doing so will only smear the reputation of Cang Qiong and I will not allow you to befoul the face my sect shows to the world.

Your choosing to stay here will make it clear to everyone in the countries around you that you are the Cang mountain range bandits. It is a fact that the bogeyman of the surrounding regions which the other dens have built your reputation into, cannot continue to live- not when their mere existence will give the surrounding governments an excuse to crush everyone alive in this mountain range."

Yang Dewei sighed,"If your people had policed the actions of the other bandits, purged the rabid fools who felt they could torment their neighbors with impunity, this would not have happened.

If you had simply set up a toll for the merchants to pay rather than blatantly attacking caravans, this would not have happened. If you hadn't gone around kidnapping women, this would also not have happened.

But the deed is done and there are a great number of corpses, possibly thousands in the area over the years of your residing here, that will also be pinned on you by extension because you make excellent scapegoats for them.

Whether or not you did them will not be investigated, governments don't work that way. They died within your range, you can plausibly be blamed for them, they will blame you and cover their own asses.

You will be considered the reason for all those deaths the other bandit gangs have gotten up to over the past decade and more, since they go around doing those atrocities while saying. They. Work. For. You."
That silenced them.

"But what can we do?!" One plucky fellow demanded.

"Leave the original bandits of the area to suffer for the crimes they themselves committed." Yang Dewei stated bluntly. "Pack up and move on as your fellow refugees did. Don't stay here while you can conceivably be tied to the deaths- let the aggressive bandits be purged in your place. Wait until the area has been confirmed to be empty before making any further plans and for the love of your continued existence. Keep. Your. Heads. Down. And. Act. Low. Key."

"But if we leave, we will lose our home." one elder quavered plaintively.

"If you stay everyone will consider you to be rabid wolves to be put down." Dewei stated bluntly. "A purge needs to be done, the culprits need to be excised, the kingdoms around you will not settle for less."

"Excised?" Liu Cang frowned slightly in confusion.

"They're a pustule on the community. As long as they exist, you can't ever show your faces." Yang Dewei explained pithily.
***
The news that yes, there was a sudden spirit and demon beast migration or as it was colloquially known, a Beast Tide coming down through Lingyu Jie and Senlin Jie's border (two countries that neighbored their mountains!) made these people even more unwilling to contemplate leaving their home.

They had seen the wreckage of those other dens and in fact, the original assumption had been that they had been destroyed by Beasts, but since it was clear the Beasts hadn't arrived in their vicinity yet, they had become even more mule-headed about leaving.

The fact that the Beasts might actually head into the mountains after rampaging through the two countries' shared border territories in search of two legged snacks had been scoffed at.

They had a fortified area here, it was agreed, and it was clearly solid and safe enough to withstand an attack, while the other bandit dens would likely fall and be crushed if the Beasts got this far, which, the consensus was, they probably wouldn't.

And even if the monsters got this far, they had a cultivator on site, right?

Yang Dewei covered his face with his hands again. Ugh.

Beast Tides could take entire lesser sects to quell, and Jianghu mortal sects of assassins and heroes alike would both be involved. In short it was going to be the equivalent of a small war on its own, claiming scores of lives right and left, ruining villages as the Beasts fed on mortals within their feeding range.

There was a reason the last immortal alliance had ten thousand practitioners, after all. That had been a simulated Beast Tide. Yang Dewei was not willing to go at it alone with thousands of mortal souls for baggage, the vast majority of them being women, teenagers and children.
In addition, several things had come to light. Yang Dewei had looked for armed men during the original census of targets on the mountain range. He hadn't looked up unarmed men.

The mountain currently hosted more people than he had expected specifically because this wasn't the first large group of refugees to flee into this area.

A generation ago, another small Jie country had fallen and its last remaining royal family member, her bodyguard and a massive number of refugees from their own wrecked and ruined country had fled here after their neighboring country, Senlin Guo, had attacked them in the middle of the famine to devour their small Jie whole.

That meant there were even more noncombatants on this mountain which was why the bandit king's elders had been so confident of eventually making it a country, with so many prospective workers to help them build, the future must be bright, right?

The princess' descendant had married one of their bandit lords after all, and they were one of the strongest voices of proponents of staying behind, in these mountains.

Fuck.
***
And now Dewei was seeing the reasons why Shifu had been so very, very intent on getting him and the other street rats properly educated, with mathematics, tactics and strategy.

It was because if they had stayed uneducated, they might also have made the horribly erroneous mistake the refugees had.

To a group of uneducated former farmers, ten thousand armed men was plenty. It was an awe inspiring number. It was an army. It was capable of wonders.

Never mind that most of them had rusty, used weaponry. Never mind that the vast majority of them weren't really trained in qinggong.

It hadn't occurred to them the real reason no one had torn them a new one thus far was that no one actually wanted to have to climb up here to beat them to a pulp for it.

Yang Dewei could already tell, from the way the discussion was going, that this was the exact same reason they didn't really clean up after themselves when they moved into this territory. This was also the reason they hadn't bothered to investigate about the people in the gangs they had beaten up and pressed into service as part of the bandit gangs under their king. They clearly thought they had beaten those men and so they could serve as part of their nascent army.

They did not consider that the men they had taken under their banner might be monsters in human flesh with a taste for suffering and a mentality of 'the strong devour the weak'.

And now all their miscalculations and assumptions had bitten them in the ass. Again.
***
Currently, both Lingyu Jie and Senlin Guo were between a rock and a hard place.

In truth, while Lingyu Jie was smaller and far more vulnerable, Senlin Guo had also stretched itself thin, expending valuable men to gain territory.

This strategy had partly worked- none of the princes had killed each other or managed to set up schemes to sieze the throne, no assassinations or political skullduggery was going on and all six princes who were competing for the throne had managed to take at least small province each, with two of the neighboring small countries feeling the pinch. Lingyu Jie was the hardest hit. However it also left irate neighbors.

And then, the Beast Tide hit everyone involved from behind, while their armies were defending or expanding their borders.

There was a saying,"The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind."

In this case, the cicada was Lingyu Jie, the mantis was Senlin Guo and the oriole was the Beast Tide.

There also was a far ruder western saying that a certain Qing Jing peak lord had once shared to his scandalized students and the irate Liu Qingge by complete and lamentable accident.

(Said accident had ensured that Yue Qingyuan had looked scandalized for the entire day and the Qing Jing peak lord frantically begged him for forgiveness because he was banished from the bedroom.)

"Prepare your anus, they're going in dry."

Right now, that was exactly how the people of Lingyu Jie were feeling while they were being doubly penetrated by Senlin Guo's invasion and the Beast Tide, at the same time.

Of course the populace of Senlin Guo wasn't happy with the sudden invasion of Beasts either, which meant that the weaker princes' territory grab had been stopped in their tracks, as their forces were redirected to protect the populace from Beasts instead.
***
As for the test to choose a successor, in the end, the two most successful princes were Zhong Jing and Zhong Xicheng, as they had managed to claim the largest amount of territory. Now that the others had been removed from the line of succession, relegated to be idle princes, the race between the pair to get the largest amount of land and win the throne became neck and neck.

Of course, the eldest son, Haotian, had long thought of the throne as his by right and didn't accept his father's judgement.

In short, he attempted to poison both of the front runners for the position he believed was his.

It didn't go as he had hoped. If anything, his agents were quickly caught and tortured until they spilled the information with their guts.

Haotian's actions were quickly punished by his father, who had his unfortunate, resentful son condemned to have his holdings and position stripped from him and then relegated him (and by extension, all his descendants) to be a commoner.

Stricken and enraged, the poor fool's last temper tantrum and accusations were only rewarded with a severe birching that left him laying in his bed and would conceivably keep him there for three months more.

He was lucky he hadn't been stripped of his money and possessions, too. As it was, he now had to live in a lower abode, as his estates had been taken from him as part of his punishment. His Imperial Consort mother fell from favor with him, when she begged his father, Zhong Feng, to spare him. Her Chen family fell with her. Previously, they had been proud and powerful. They had flaunted her connection with them, as she had been favored, but now, all of them became low key, all but hiding themselves in fear of further reprisals.

The other politically unsuccessful princes, awakened to their precarious position by his fall, meekly turned their full efforts to using their armed forces to protect the citizens from the Beast Tide, and didn't attempt to bring up the succession issue further.
***
Nangong Fa and Guan Yue were brother disciples under the same master.

Nangong Fa became the king of Lingyu Jie, married Lady Qisi, the most beautiful woman in their small country and had a daughter.

Guan Yue succeeded their master as the leader of their small sect and adopted ten sons of dubious lineage. Some were street rats. Some were orphans of defunct noble families. It was even rumored that one of them was even the son of a whore.

However, their reputations as fierce warriors were more than enough to quiet detractors. Especially in times like this, when warriors were needed because of the Beast Tide and the invasion of Senlin Guo.

Thus, Nangong Fa could easily act on his longstanding wish to tie his family and his sworn brother's family together in marriage.

With his sworn brother's sons serving in their army as their ten generals, it was easy to silence the dissenting voices in their court. Particularly when Nangong Fa pointedly stated anyone who had a problem with it could pick up their weapons and fight on the border.

Nangong Fa had long been in conflict with his court because he refused to take their counsel about the matter of his lack of sons.

This lack of sons meant that despite Queen Qisi's fine bloodline, elegant bearing, famous beauty and impressive dowry, she was considered a failure as a wife.

She did not take it well.

The thorn in her side was the well known fact that Nangong Fa once had a beloved concubine by the name of Yun Niang. This lady had given her husband a son but both mother and child had died in childbirth despite all the efforts of the court physicians and midwives. Nangong Fa had spared no expense to try to save their lives.

That was years before Nangong Fa even met Qisi, but it still rankled.
Fortunately for Queen Qisi's peace of mind, her sanity and general mental health, her husband was completely loyal to her and deeply in love, to the point that he never took a concubine after their marriage.

Eventually the Queen got over the disappointment of not being able to give him a son. The court officials, however, didn't get over it and kept bringing up suggestions for their king to take a concubine.

Thus, the Queen and the court officials didn't get along. It didn't help that Queen Qisi had suspicions that their prime minister and grand preceptor both had plans of foisting their daughters off on her husband.

Princess Siqi was the apple of her parents' eyes, an intelligent, headstrong girl with all her mother's beauty and love for adornments such as jewels, beautiful gowns. She also inherited her father's love for fine horses and hunting, often riding out to hunt pheasants with a group of young nobles.

Her engagement to Guan Yue's eldest son scandalized the court officials.
***
The engagement of Guan Wen Guang to Princess Siqi was a matter for celebration for their men in the army, one needed in these hard times.

The first phase of the war, the people of Lingyu Jie could hope to win. They had been fighting against men. Fighting men was a matter of pitting qinggong users against qinggong users, armies against armies. The better tactician won.

For the first phase of the war, their generals were doing a fine job of countering their enemy's tactics. They were holding their own.

Then the Beast Tide arrived and suddenly it wasn't just a matter of outflanking the enemy army, it was also a matter of evacuating civilians so that the Beasts couldn't devour them.

Armies of men didn't breath fire, didn't rise up from lakes and rivers and ponds to drown men. There were many ways to kill men.

Some of these monsters could only be downed by qi attacks, or talismans or specific substances often used by priests or other masters of esoteric arts. Some of them moved too fast for mortal men to fight back, some had virulent poisons, others could crush mortal skulls and bones easily.

Between saving their civilians and fighting the other army, the Lingyu Jie infantry, cavalry and archers were hard pressed.

Of course, the invaders also had the exact same problems. They too were attacked by Beasts who considered them to be food sources, they also had to get their own civilians out of the way.

Beasts could charge into an army skirmish, devour people right and left. Flying beasts could dive down from the sky to scoop up people for their meals, like eagles stooping to catch rabbits. Some Beasts even attacked like ambush predators in the dark of night, or dropping down from the trees to devour their targeted human prey.

Qinggong users were stronger, faster, had more durable bodies than other men. Cultivators were stronger, faster and more durable than qinggong users.
***
The Qinggong users of both countries, ranging from the evil sects including assassins and the righteous sects of martial artists, flower thieves, wandering heroes and heroines alike, had been embroiled into the conflict.

Some were there for pay, as the governments of both countries opened their coffers to hire these qinggong experts to fight for them. Some had taken up arms to protect their assets or territory. Others had stood forth to protect the people around them.

Either way, even with the qinggong users fighting the Beasts, the number of casualties was still, sadly massive.

As such, the news that both righteous sects and roaming immortal cultivators would be arriving to slay Beasts was deeply appreciated by the governments on both sides of the war.

All the generals were quite relieved by the idea that the monsters would be dealt with so they, the soldiers, could get back to bashing and slashing each other to death.

In truth, those cultivators were only really coming because of the sheer amount of cultivation resources that a Beast Tide represented.

And it wasn't just the righteous sects that were coming. The evil sects and demonic cultivators were also coming.

The Beast Tide was a free for all.
***
It was a fact that Zhong Xicheng had more than a passing knowledge of the generals who were his adversaries during the war.

He had, like his fellow princes, sent over agents, saboteurs and assassins. However, he had never actually had the good fortune to get close enough to any of them to attempt to turn them to his side. If he had a chance to meet any, most certainly he would have tried to manipulate them, befriend them, inch his way into their upper echelons under his mother's name.

As it was, the Beast attacks had ruined one of the ways he was best suited for conquest. His infiltration skills were high, his methods were very effective and the results of his manipulations of both men and women had earned him the reputation of being a heartbreaker.

Most certainly he could have gone out on his own when it was just a hostile army. But going out alone in the middle of a Tide when he wasn't a cultivator? That was suicide. It took a full armed force to bring down the more blatantly obvious Beasts, and don't even mention traversing the forests at night when an ambush predator beast could take your head off or drill a hole in your skull to chew on your brains.

The nights had become a nightmare for defense, and he had to turn his attention towards ensuring his own men weren't devoured in the night attacks that many smaller Beasts had made once they were close to what they sensed was a source of food.
***
A massive monster charges downhill and into a formation of armed men, flinging everyone around like rag dolls before it crushes a screaming man's head in its claws. It continues on its gluttonous, macabre feast, tearing people limb from limb right and left, before devouring them while they are still alive and screaming.

Then one man who managed to get away from the beast looks up.... and sees even more monsters of that creature's species are right behind it.

Men, women and children who try to cross a river to get to the other side, or who wade into those rivers to bathe, naked and unarmed, scream in terror as they are dragged underwater and drained to husks by a squirming mass of tentacles as fine as hair.

Despite the best efforts of a massed group of archers, a flying monstrosity swoops down under a hail of arrows, to scoop up a screaming man with its claws, using the unfortunate victim as a shield while it makes a second pass to take a second. And a third. Just so it can eat its fill.

People had started huddling in groups in the fortified towns as the smaller villages with weaker walls were the subject of multiple Beast raids until the entire villages were empty husks.

These were exactly the kind of things one expected to see in horror films and these gruesome scenes were what the populace of both countries along the border were suffering through.

Of course, Senlin Guo had more men to stave off the horrors. Lingyu Jie's people on the other hand, were forced to retreat ever backwards, towards the more heavily inhabited and well defended walled cities. Some refugees from the areas infested by Beasts went even further.

Despite Yang Dewei's disgruntlement, this meant that even more people were starting to consider the mountains a sanctuary. This made the people he was trying to convince to leave become even more recalcitrant to pack up and go.
***
Now what made this argument even more ludicrous was that Yang Dewei had already pointed out that he wanted to take them down the Empire's side of the mountain as a group of refugee caravans.

However, they kept insisting they were safer up here now that he was here, which was the most shortsighted reasoning he had ever heard of. He knew most people who weren't cultivators tended to spin tall tales about them as overblown hype, but this was ridiculous.

Firstly, this was a goddamn mountain range. Yes, Cang Qiong was a mountain range with twelve peaks. Yes, it was a fortified cultivator fortress. However, Cang Qiong had an entire sect of literally thousands of cultivators of various levels, and this place? It only had him. And while Yang Dewei was no slouch, he couldn't guarrantee thousands of peoples's lives in the face of a Beast Tide if he was all alone. That was the whole point of moving them down the mountains on the Empire's side!

He wasn't Shifu, goddamnit, turning mountains into mountain fortresses in the space of a... a month... wasn't within his current skill level!

Secondly, if everyone congregated on this goddamn mountain range because of the Beast Tide, without turning this mountain range into a warded fortress, it would only turn the mountain range into a massive eat-all-you-can buffet for the Beasts!

Thirdly, as a goddamn righteous sect cultivator, he himself was supposed to be in that Beast Tide, bringing home really nice resources for Cang Qiong and Shifu!
Of course, pointing this out immediately apparently did no good for him as the people only became more anxious.

Well, it could be expected as they had woken this morning all tied up, but still!

Still!

Ah, fuck it all, he was going to have to untie his husband to make sure he could keep these idiots from starving, put all the dragon teeth warriors out on watch to keep them all in this fortress to keep them out of his hair.

Then he needed to murderhobo his way through the remaining targeted bandit dens. After that, he still had to bring all the rescued people to this place to keep them safe FOR TODAY while he sets the scenes of the destroyed bandit dens with blood and gore and horrible carnage to make it obvious to all neighboring governments that he has 'purged' the bandits responsible for all the caravan wrecking, the kidnapping and murders.

That will be much easier to do than explaining things to these idiots for the nth time.

And, well, at least he knows that he can do that today!
***
Purging the remaining bandit dens was the easy part.

Shepherding people, lots of people that he had rescued was hard. First he had to heal them.Then he had to take them back to the fortress in batches.

At this rate that fortress was going to be full up and then he was going to have to use the Mage's Magnificent Mansion artifact Shifu had taught him to make, which was basically capable of expanding into second fortress to store all these idiots in

Yes, he knew it was a fortress. Yes he knew how to make more. That wasn't the point.

The point was, it was a portable castle for a reason. It wasn't intended to be kept out in permanent activation and that is what it would take to house all the people who wanted to keep living on this mountain range. A series of such castle artifacts in permanent activation, preferably in a truly massive array covering entire mountains of this mountain range.

Did these people have any idea how much energy that was going to take?! Of course not!
***
Yang Dewei had a headache. He was unfortunately right.

These idiots finding out that he had a portable castle because he needed somewhere to store the rescued civilians had not been good.

He had a feeling this would happen. Now they really were refusing to go down the other side of the mountain.

His 'husband' had been badly shocked by his return with many, many more survivors and immediately had taken to following him around, trying to check him for injuries because when he had arrived he looked like he had passed through an abbatoir. He had washed up and then gone to heal the survivors further and then had gotten them settled in. Alas, that meant interaction with the rest of the refugees-turned-bandits and there were a few squabbles which Yang Dewei had pressed his 'husband'to help him break up, and pacify both parties involved.

It could only be expected, they had been held by bandits, even if the bandits who had actually been the ones responsible for their suffering were all dead and used as scarecrows.

Liu Cang reached out to clasp his hands, cheeks red, glancing at him then glancing away.

So cute.

***
Liu Cang shuddered as pleasure pulsed through him over and over again. He was all but folded in half, his legs wrapped around his new 'wife's' waist as he was being pounded into.

His sensitive insides were being vigorously stirred and stimulated by his 'wife's' hard member. All Liu Cang could do was shamefully moan and mewl under him as the force of the thrusts sent his body into feeling as if it was shaking apart from ecstasy. The canopy's fabric billowed and the bed frame shook. Liu Cang couldn't concentrate on anything but the incredibly seductive beauty who was driving him over the edge and into climax.

His gaze whited out and he clutched at his 'wife' for dear life.

As Liu Cang lay in his 'wife's' arms, still dazed from the afterglow, he relished the feeling of being tenderly fondled and caressed.

That.. His mind couldn't help but play back the series of events that had Dewei enticed to tumble him in this bed again.

He had clasped Dewei's hands and Dewei had tilted his head slightly as he looked at him, before smiling a sly and charming smile, as erotic as a fox maiden.

Liu Cang's heart fluttered in response, and he lost track of the words being spoken, only noticing that Dewei had gently maneuvered him around and was tugging him back to his bedroom.

Kiss after slick, hot, wet and tantalizing kiss. Those elegant, gentle hands stroking all over his body, sliding under his garment, tugging open his belt, removing his sash, then stroking his chest and abdomen with great delight.

He had been kissed until he was panting for breath, dizzy from lack of oxygen, then he had been gently tumbled into his- no, their- bed.
The complete focus his 'wife' had on his every movement and sound set his cheeks afire.

Liu Cang felt even more naked and exposed, but... it wasn't... bad... or anything. There was not the slightest hint of disapproval, ridicule, contempt or superiority gleaming in those bright eyes. Just.. his wife clearly found him to be beautiful.

His 'wife' only murmured compliments to him while stroking his flesh tenderly, setting his nerves alight. It felt as if every part of his body that Dewei was stroking was so much more sensitive than before.

He could only feel helplessly embarrassed and exposed, but pleased at the same time.

What, his skin was soft as silk, what flexible waist, what perky buttocks?!

Wife! Stop ...talking... about your husband's body like this! Liu Cang managed to think in exasperated pleasure before his 'wife' kissed him into a pleasant daze again.
Then his 'wife' was soon busy leaving a necklace of hickeys all over his neck and collarbones, even across his shoulders, the slim fingers kneading his waist before gliding down.

And before Liu Cang knew it, his 'wife' had gently tugged his legs open and into place, positioning him in such a way that Liu Cang was fully exposed to his 'wife's' sight. He could only watch as his 'wife' retrieved oil and slicked his fingers and a... very formidable... very proudly erect shaft that had apparently fit very snugly inside his body before.

Just looking at it sent a frisson of fear down Liu Cang's spine.

"That isn't going to fit..." Liu Cang froze up.

"It fit perfectly well before." Yang Dewei pointed out gently, and then his elegant fingers were gently stroking Liu Cang's currently tightly clenched chrysanthemum bud.

Dewei leaned over to distract Liu Cang with caresses and kisses again.

He was as nervous as a virgin.
(It was so cute.)
***
By Liu Cang's reckoning, the less said about the preparation, the better.

His cheeks were aflame constantly and he had been so nervous that it had taken what felt like ages for the admittedly gentle stroking and his 'wife's' soothing murmurs to coax him open enough to be entered, but once Dewei had entered him... then the feel of being stretched, filled completely, the sensation of every part of his insides wrapped around his 'wife's' hardness and being constantly stimulated...

Liu Cang had been drowning in pleasure with his 'wife's' vigorous rocking movements, each thrust hitting the most sensitive part inside of his body.

The exquisite pleasure had driven his fears and his sense of shame right out of his mind, he had only been able to cling to Dewei and move even more eagerly and shamelessly against him.

He didn't want to think of how... how completely he had given himself over to those touches, those caresses, what felt like the complete stimulation of every pleasurable nerve in his body, including parts he didn't even know could be made to feel so good.

He felt like he had been brought to the ninth heaven, with the resulting explosive pleasure.

And his 'wife' had brought him to spill himself over and over again.

Of course, now that he had begun to recover from the afterglow, he could only turn even redder as he remembered how he had begged Dewei not to stop, begged to be taken over and over, the sounds he had made...

He ducked his chin down and flushed crimson, unable to meet his 'wife's' eyes.
***
His 'wife' was exquisitely considerate. Once again, he brought over some nourishing soup and chilled sweetened tea, feeding Liu Cang with such care that Liu Cang's heart felt like it was overflowing with warm honey.

He had been upset when his 'wife' had left the bed, but the sight of him returning with the steaming bowl, cups and a chilled bottle was enough to settle him down and soothe a part of him that was helplessly anxious.

Little by little, Liu Cang relaxed, until he could eat as if their cuddly arrangement in bed was completely normal.
***
If he were to be asked, Liu Cang would have admitted that he had a certain vision of what his married life was supposed to be like.

He would marry the most stunning beauty and he would love her. He would protect her from every danger, and she would be the honored and respected lady of his stronghold. She would be the queen of his kingdom. He would provide her with any luxury she could ever think of. He would give her everything she could ever want. They would have many beautiful children.

Of course she would have to obey his commands and as the husband, his word would be law. He would pamper her so thoroughly and she would obey him completely.

Of course that vision didn't really cover what might happen if he married a man.

Except he didn't know he had married a man until after the wedding feast.

Which meant they really were married, consummation and all.

When he had thought of being married, Liu Cang had imagined that all of his brothers would like and respect his wife, for his sake if nothing else. They would never be coarse around her and they would protect her like he himself did. They would all live happily and safely in his stronghold, here in the mountains.

Except when he did get married, the marriage was nothing like that.
Firstly, his wife was a man. This was something he could not get over. While in terms of grace, elegance, movement and beauty his wife outshone everyone else.. Well, there clearly would be no babies coming from him.

Second, his wife was an immortal cultivator. Liu Cang was not. His wife would inevitably outlive him. Liu Cang would have to be lying if he claimed this didn't discomfit him. The idea of being outlived by his wife had been fine when he had imagined dying young majestically, in a blaze of glory like a Wulin hero should.

Except instead, he now suddenly, out of nowhere, had the persistent and sobering mental image of his wife still being young and beautiful while he himself was an old grandpa.

QAQ

Any man who said they didn't feel disquieted by that would be lying! His wife would be young and beautiful for centuries and... and clearly Dewei liked his looks. What if Dewei later decided someone else was more attractive...?! He could leave Liu Cang later when he was in his forties. He might divorce him. Then where would Liu Cang be, with no wife and no children? QAQ

Liu Cang felt as if he was entering a crisis about his looks which was especially depressing when he had never cared about them before. His anxiety was hidden under his stiff exterior but Dewei was perceptive enough about the way that Cang had refused to let go of his hand and the stiff set way that he held his shoulders that Dewei refused to let Liu Cang out of bed, cuddling him and murmuring reassurances to him to get him to calm down.

Except Dewei clearly believed this panic attack was basically because he worried for his brothers. Which... okay, it was a reasonable assumption given their current situation.

It also added an even heavier load on Liu Cang's shoulders because his wife didn't like his brothers or his people.

Shit!
***
Liu Cang had always thought he would protect his wife and be admired as a hero by his wife. This would have been natural, as he had always believed he would be the stronger one of the pair.

As an immortal cultivator from a big sect, Liu Cang's 'wife' was an existence whose attention and support was coveted by those around him.

In this world, the strong could do whatever they wanted to the weak. The commoners without power bowed to the wealthy merchants and influential nobles who could afford to have armed forces. Those wealthy and powerful merchants and nobles would in turn flatter and bribe qinggong users and roaming immortal cultivators in hope of getting their support. Qinggong users also wanted to try to gain immortal cultivator support and maybe try to cultivate themselves. Kings and emperors of small countries could only flatter and try to bribe immortal cultivator sects in hope of a better life for their children as sect members.

This was of course, only a rough overview of the situation.

In society, the heirarchy then went with the nonpowered commoners under the nonpowered nobles, who in turn were seeking the support of qinggong users or seeking to become qinggong users. The lineages of qinggong users were those that roaming qinggong users sought to marry into and the qinggong users wanted to enter qinggong sects. In turn, those sects and lineages respected and often sought support from roaming cultivators. Most of the roaming cultivators could only be cannon fodder to people of cultivator lineages. Even cultivator lineages had noble cultivator lineages they looked up to. Both cultivators from such lineages and the weak majority of the roaming cultivators looked up to sect cultivators. And everyone on that list looked up to the big sect cultivators.

While there were roaming cultivators and cultivator lineages who had advanced to the strength necessary to cow entire small sects, and there were those cultivators who could challenge even big sect members, they were anomalies.

Yang Dewei was from Cang Qiong Mountain sect, which was known to have complete control of twelve peaks ruled by their sect master.

It was said that a peak lord from one of the big sects could easily acquire anything on this world that they wanted.

Women and men to be bedded and used as cauldrons, gold, jade, cultivation resources, treasured weapons, the finest silks... Any kind of good thing had been offered as bribes to immortal cultivators before.

Immortal cultivators on Dewei's level could probably have anything he wanted. Anyone he wanted. If he wanted to have a massive harem, kings would gladly send their daughters or their sons for the honor.

And he wanted Liu Cang.
While this was a wonderful boon for their people, it all depended on how long Dewei wanted Liu Cang.

And since Dewei could have anyone, Liu Cang was at his mercy. If, tomorrow, Dewei tired of him, Liu Cang knew that marriage or not, he had no leverage. He himself was not a cultivator. They were not dao companions.

It came as no surprise that as soon as it occurred to him that he was not the one with leverage in this relationship, Liu Cang started to worry.

Of course, his 'wife's attempts to calm him down only brought to light a third problem.

Liu Cang had very quickly picked up on the fact that despite his brothers' clear belief that this marriage had solved all their problems, that was very far from true.

His 'wife' did not like his brothers or he wasn't getting along with them at all.

No, perhaps it was more accurate to say that his 'wife' had no liking for the brothers' assumptions nor those of their families. His 'wife' intended to leave this stronghold. Of course that left the open questions, did Dewei want to take Liu Cang with him? Was Dewei willing to take all the brothers' and their entire contingent including families and refugees with him?

His brothers all thought that Dewei would claim this mountain range as their shared fief and Dewei would handle the problems that they were having with their neighbors. However, Dewei had stated clearly that he was against that idea completely and he felt it was an insult to his sect.

If what Liu Cang understood of immortal sects was anything like what be had seen in mortal sects, then Dewei would put the sect's needs before his or his brothers' own needs.

Click to expand...

and reality hits. how's he gonna solve this?

Gav said: ↑

***
Immortal Chen was not a happy man.

It had not originally been his intention to pick up a little girl to raise as a wife when he had accepted Su Xiyan into his tutelage, but it had been, loathe as he was to say it, love at first sight.

At ten years old, Su Xiyan was a wonder, a brilliant shining star of potential. Some children went through phases of being awkward or gawky, but beautiful, dear Su Xiyan seemed to glide from year to year untarnished by blot or stain.

Watching Su Xiyan grow up was like watching the rarest of all flowers blossom. Watching her grow more and more graceful and powerful, skilled and beautiful was endlessly fascinating, and despite himself he could not tell when he had fallen into the pit of loving her.

At twelve, she had already begun to show the grace her adult self would have. At thirteen, she was as pure and perfect as a fairy. At fourteen, Immortal Chen had begun to turn away every single proposal for her hand in marriage that came his way.

By fifteen, Immortal Chen had begun matchmaking every single suitor who applied for her hand with someone else.

Gongyi Su who had expressed interest in Su Xiyan for example, was quickly married off to a Miss Xunmi from a cultivating clan who had maternal ties to one of the other elders.

While their marriage was happy, it didn't exactly bode well for other suitors for Xiyan's hand in marriage.

Unwilling to let her have a relationship with anyone else, Immortal Chen's once pure motives had fallen into a tar pit. His lofty bearing now hid squalid scheming. If the man pushed themselves forward for his girl, he would set that man up with other women. If that didn't work, he would come up with ways to send those men far away. If he didn't do either of those, he would happily ruin their reputation. If ruining their reputation wasn't good enough, he would ruin their cultivation.

He had been worried when Mo Heiying had been suggested as a possible spouse for his girl, but Heiying's own peak lord cut off that problem at the root, refusing to even consider it because he had (clearly!) noticed that Immortal Chen was best suited for Su Xiyan.

To look at Su Xiyan was to love her as deeply as Immortal Chen could love anyone or anything in this world. He loved her more than power, loved her more than cultivation, loved her more than his family or his reputation or the prospect of immortality.

It could have been said that Immortal Chen had been driven mad with tenderness for his ward.

And no one ever noticed. Or if there were people in his sect who noticed, they didn't really care.

Click to expand...

yikes!!

xenotop · Aug 5, 2018

Gav said: ↑

(flashback-Huang Enlai's siblings)
***
Huang Jinling had felt eyes on her for the past two weeks. Worse, she knew exactly whose eyes they were. A wealthy trader who she remembered as a previous customer had found her. He had enjoyed her body several times and now, he knew where she lived.

It was maddening, frightening, and she didn't want to leave the house anymore in fear of him accosting her in public and propositioning her for her services.

She had taken to hiding, terrified of what conclusions the villagers might draw from the man's actions or behavior but the scene she dreaded never came to fruition.

The man who she feared would expose her, didn't do anything of the sort.

However that only drew things out and left her on a thin edge of nervousness and fear, squirming in the pit of her stomach.

Things took a sudden turn for the bizarre when he utterly stunned her by respectfully visiting their estate and asked to meet with the head of the household.

He wanted to marry her.

Jinling felt that the world had flipped on end.

Jinling couldn't help but sneak glances at him over and over again as he and his brothers sat at what was unmistakeably a meeting in order to discuss a marriage.

Her. Marriage.

To pile even more strangeness onto this day, his family was treating these negotiations and her own family with surprising respect. She would have expected a mention of her past to have been brought up, but the matter was being treated with surprising delicacy.

The words, 'whore', 'prostitute' and 'brothel' hadn't come up even once.

The approach being taken was as if they were from equally respectable households.

Of course, the matter couldn't be avoided completely, given how they had originally met each other. It was to be expected that it would come into the picture unpleasantly somehow.

Probably, Jinling thought glumly, the part wherein he wanted her for a concubine instead of as a legitimate wife.

Jinling was quite shocked when the negotiation moved forward with the intention of taking her in as a legitimate wife.

Especially since the last time they had spoken on the subject, he had expressed the completely theoretical desire to buy her free as a concubine. Emphasis on theoretical. Perhaps he had been hedging his bets even then. But now, here he was, pressing his suit as a husband.

She had been following the family with her gaze since they had arrived at their estate's gate.

Two of his brothers were clearly cavalier about the whole thing. The eldest seemed ill at ease.

The parents on the other hand, had been looking over their estate's garden with an appreciative eye since they had been politely received with hot tea, sweet rice cakes and steamed dumplings. They had been perfectly polite all throughout the meeting.

She had been apprehensively waiting for them to bring up the topic since the moment they had broached the marriage discussion.

In that moment, she came to the stunning conclusion that the parents didn't know what she had been in the past. Every gesture, every word, every glance, she hadn't seen the slightest sign of contempt. Interest, acquisitiveness and avarice, yes, but nothing to indicate they had been informed.

He hadn't told his parents about her past. She felt disoriented and oddly light, like a drifting feather or unmoored boat.

Her eldest brother naturally had been observing her own reactions. Naturally, during a break in the negotiations, he went to speak with her alone.

"He didn't tell his parents anything." Jinling was still stunned by this.

Enhua nodded, his worry lessening slightly. "Do you want to marry him?" He asked quietly and warily.

"....I don't know." Jinling admitted, her indecision and a complex mix of emotions, apprehension and appreciation, confusion and hope all written on her face.

Click to expand...

wow he sounds honest enough for this.

xenotop · Aug 5, 2018

Gav said: ↑

The Heroine's Tale
aka
How I Met Your Mother XianXia Style

(from the pov of the mother in question)
***

Many cultivators liked to eat lightly seasoned, delicate foods. Some cultivators who could afford it, gave up on normal mortal food altogether, preferring to subsist on pills that would further their cultivation or delicate dishes made only of cultivation boosting ingredients.

Su Xiyan was not one of those cultivators.

She may have been the chosen succeeding disciple of the current Huan Hua palace head, the highest ranking of all the disciples there, but she still preferred a rich, well-seasoned meal over lightly seasoned anything.

That was actually one reason that she took so many missions, traveling the length and breadth of the human realm.

Oh, she did her share of monster killing, but her real reason for her very active lifestyle was fairly simple.

While her master pampered her in everything else, he was one of those cultivators who Su Xiyan secretly thought had shit taste in food.

The further away from Huan Hua Palace she was, the more delicious food she could try.

Her new friend and the man she was very much attracted to, Tian Lang Jun, had a similar viewpoint to her own.

This made Su Xiyan extremely happy and confident. Naturally, having found this out, there was only one thing to do.

Take him on a tour of every single excellent restaurant in their wonderful human world, no matter how small and hole-in-the-wall it was!

***
Each of the provinces of the Empire, and each of the countries of the known human world had their own native cuisines.

Su Xiyan's joy in life was to try them all.

It was claimed that there were eight great culinary traditions in the Empire, but to say that was to discount the rest of the culinary traditions of all the other provinces and tribes.

Su Xiyan had no intention of discounting anything.

She was perfectly happy tugging Tian Lang Jun into small, hole-in-the-wall restaurants for delicious, addicting xiao long bao and dimsum, or take him through a bazaar of small stalls in a market to try out the candy, grilled meat with vegetables on skewers, and fried food from stalls here and there.

She would have tugged her master in the past, but he had never been interested and eventually, she stopped trying to take him anywhere altogether.

Seriously. Shit taste in food.

Tian Lang Jun knew how to appreciate food. He was infinitely better company.

Right now, however, there was only one minor, confusing detail.

Tian Lang Jun had taken his nephew with him.

Su Xiyan didn't really know his nephew very well. To be perfectly, brutally frank, she would have preferred to be with Tian Lang Jun alone. Still, at least the younger man was a decent fellow, looking to his uncle for approval for anything, properly respectful... and he never butted in while they were talking, which put him miles ahead of some of her brother disciples or some of the disciples from other sects she had seen.

Su Xiyan was a generous soul, so she simply ordered extra of everything she and Tian Lang Jun were ordering so that his nephew could get a taste, too.
***
Click to expand...

pffft hahahahahahaha shit taste in food. but it is a very good reason to make a distance from someone for it.

Gav said: ↑

Fortune Cookies

In Another World, Things Go Differently
***
The air was filled with choking smoke, the sounds of screams tore through the air.

Qiu Haitang's small sect was burning.

When Qiu Haitang had originally confronted Shen Qingqiu in public over his killing all the men in her family, she had thought that it would result in his imprisonment and death.

How was she to know that it would result in the extermination of her entire sect, instead?

Of course, this was because she had made several incredibly bad miscalculations. The first had been identifying herself as Qingqiu's former fiance. The second had been revealing that the only reason she had survived was that he had spared her life.

Let us go back to the day that this poor fool had inadverdently started the rockslide of bad decisions that was now crushing everything she had built, shall we?
*
Luo Bingxin had always wanted her shizun's attention. However, even though he was kind to her, and obviously was very considerate with her, he was also very considerate and caring with Ning Yingying. Sometimes, his gaze on Ning Yingying was distant. It was as if he wasn't seeing her, but seeing someone else in her place.

Well, today, Luo Bingxin had met the woman who Ning Yingying reminded her Shizun of, and she was not impressed. In fact, not only was she not impressed, she was also absolutely livid.

This woman who bore a resemblance to her elder martial sister had no gratitude whatsoever. Her shizun had spared her life out of some misguided fondness that Luo Bingxin felt this Qiu Haitang didn't deserve and instead of being grateful about it, the bitch came back to try to have her shizun killed or imprisoned?

Luo Bingxin had wanted Shizun to love her best since she had arrived at Cang Qiong and her Shizun had gently taken her aside to give her additional training.

This day, Qiu Haitang, all unknowing, had declared herself to be the person Shen Jiu loved, and also all unknowing, declared that she wanted to destroy him to avenge her family.

While Yue Qingyuan had impulsively gone for his sword with intent to defend his friend in case the other righteous sects wanted to go after Qingqiu, while angrily throwing out the part where the Qiu men had tormented his friend and thrown him in imprisonment, Luo Bingxin had turned surreptitiously to Mo Bei Jun and pronounced, "New plan. We destroy that bitch first."

She had her own plans of dealing with Huan Hua, of course. The old pervert sect head had done a doubletake at the sight of her in the previous immortal alliance conference, and right now, he was chomping at the bit, hot to trot for her body.

Bingxin knew she could easily twist him around her finger, kill him and then take over Huan Hua Palace Sect.

(It would make a great courting gift for Shizun to love her!)

However, that could wait. Luo Bingxin had just spotted her new nemesis, her love rival, the ungrateful bitch who didn't appreciate her master's attention.

Aaand that was when the death of Qiu Haitang's small sect was set in stone.

***
Now, let us return to the current scene of utter carnage, as Qiu Haitang's sect burns to the ground, shall we?

This time, Qiu Haitang had found herself trapped under the collapsed rubble and boulders after her small stronghold had been ruined by what seemed to be rocks flung towards them, out of a clear night sky. She had no idea why this was happening, and began screaming for help, coughing as the smoke began to choke her. Worse, the fires around her had gotten immensely larger and were approaching her rapidly and she had broken limbs. There was no way she was getting out without help.

Listening to her screams and coughs from a nice vantage point, Luo Bingxin smiled to herself. One obstacle down, one left to go.

In Another World, Things Go Differently
***
It hadn't taken Luo Binghe long to note the difference between the way that Qing Jing's peak lord treated women (and in particular, Ning Yingying) and men, like, say, Luo Binghe.

He was downright vicious, rude, paranoid and insulting in the most high brow, viper tongued, word twisting way when it came to men who...well, weren't Yue Qingyuan.

And that leniency could be explained by the fact that it was blatantly obvious that the sect master all but doted on him in a careful, distant way. Almost as if the Qing Jing peak lord was a feral cat with very sharp claws who would lay about himself and claw anyone who tried to come too close, but would inevitably regret it later if its owner, i.e. the sect master, were mauled by its paws.

Although as to how the sect master had become this 'cat's owner, no one knew. They only knew he had showed up once with the 'grumpy cat' in tow, and the grumpy cat had sniffed at everything in disgruntlement and decided he didn't like anything or anyone.

It had been difficult enough for the Qing Jing peak lord to stop looking at him and Liu Qingge as automatic threats.

When it came to girls however, the Qing Jing peak lord could be much gentler and more careful with his words and actions.

It had been an idle thought, really. If he had been a girl, would Shen Qingqiu have loved him? Would Shen Qingqiu give him attention and all but dote on him like he did towards elder martial sister Ning Yingying?

Of course, one thing led to another and Shen Qingqiu got the surprise of his life when he saw his wayward student in a girl's gowns, his face made up, looking like an elegant maiden right out of a tale- if only he hadn't been so tall.

The resulting juxtaposition of male student and female clothing and cosmetics, brows painted, lips rouged... short circuited Shen Qingqiu's brain.

An off balance Shen Qingqiu was, surprisingly in this instance, a much less aggressive Shen Qingqiu. He was also an even more easily unbalanced target. Since the iron was hot, Luo Binghe struck hard, by confessing his feelings towards his master.

Shen Qingqiu was so unbalanced he couldn't even come up with a cutting comeback.

It went like a snowball rolling downhill in the middle of a glacier after that and Shen Qingqiu never truly got his footing back again, after Luo Binghe stated with an eloquent look, that if his master liked him like this, he would gladly be like this as often as master wanted.

At least Luo Binghe got what he wanted, though. His master's full (and very puzzled but deeply intrigued!) attention

Click to expand...

cool!!!!

Gav said: ↑

***
The time right after Qingqiu had lost his memory was a nightmare for Yue Qingyuan.

His obvious fear and confusion, his complete lack of recognition when faced with everyone, even his fellow peak lords, had been immensely saddening and disconcerting.

Actually the fact that Qingqiu hadn't recognized Yue himself had been the clearest indicator that something had gone horribly wrong.

They had spent years together, relied on each other completely, and even after they were separated, Qingqiu had been willing to kill his own master to protect Yue.

To have all of that wiped away in an instant... That had only made Yue completely certain at the time, that his friend had been attacked.

But who could have attacked him in Cang Qiong itself, in his own peak?

As it was, Yue Qingyuan had been completely unwilling to part from his friend's side.

Particularly because he could see very clearly that Qingqiu was utterly terrified. The thousand yard stare, the confusion, the flinching... all of those had to be dealt with.

In the past, Yue Qingyuan hadn't been able to be there for his friend. When the amnesia had stripped his friend's memories away and left him drifting, anchorless, Yue had been completely determined not to part from his side in this hour of need.

The amnesia had not faded with time and Yue Qingyuan had put his work aside to stay by his friend's side and reacquaint him with, well, everything.

He had to show his friend around Cang Qiong again, he had to reintroduce him to everyone again, peak lords first... and Yue Qingyuan had quickly noted the many gazes full of enmity that were directed at his friend.

Well, that wouldn't do.

He knew that Qingqiu hadn't made friends during his time here, that Qingqiu needed his space, but in this vulnerable time, he certainly wasn't willing to let people with grudges near his helpless friend.

That meant that he took care of everything, dragging junior brother Mu Qingfang into the fray to help him deal with and discover any health problems or any clues for what could have caused this.

The Medicine Peak lord had discovered both blunt force trauma to the head and a qi deviation. That didn't bode well for Qingqiu. (or Yue's blood pressure)

It was certainly possible that he had been qi deviating and fallen, hitting his head. It was also possible, to Yue's way of thinking, that someone had attacked him while he was trying to cultivate and thus caused a qi deviation.

Either way, Yue Qingyuan had thrown caution to the winds and dedicated himself to looking after his friend until he could look after himself. his previous failures, his letting Jiu down when Jiu needed him most, he had resolved would not happen this time. This time he would be there for Jiu when Jiu needed him. This time he would not fail.

Regardless, Qingqiu's behavior was concerning enough to his fellow peak lords that, once he could get around on his own, he was expected to try to pull out a certain special sword that would attack any possessing spirits, any demons or demonic cultivators wearing other people's skins or bodies.

Qingqiu tried to pull it out three times over the next years and failed each time.

That had been a great relief to Yue. It meant that this was indeed his beloved friend.

But if this was what his friend was like when all the worst memories were stripped away... In fact, with his own past as a reference, given Jiu's past protectiveness towards Yue himself and his behavior towards his subordinates, Yue could only come to the conclusion that his previous vicious actions had been because trauma had clearly clouded his friend's mind and turned him against everyone other than Yue Qingyuan himself.

And Yue Qingyuan clearly remembered while Jiu had been... sharp and cutting to so many people after he had entered Cang Qiong and after he had become a peak lord, Jiu hadn't been anywhere near that vicious as a child when they had been together, relying on each other.

So he had only one real culprit for the terrible mess his friend had made of his life, and coincidentally it was the same accursed family who had left their name carved into his friend's chest.

Those fucking Qius.

If they hadn't died, Yue would have murdered them all himself.

Click to expand...

DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

Gav said: ↑

SHOYU RAMEN

***
In Another World, Things Went Differently
***
The first person who had ever loved Shen Jiu in any way was Yue Qi.

The second person who had ever told him they loved him, was Qiu Haitang.

Both of those people, Shen Jiu had loved.

The first had left him behind and promised to come back for him, but had returned far too late.

The second, he had been forced to leave behind, after her brothers and family had ruined his life beyond bearing until he had lashed out at them, killed first one, then the other, and then murdered every male in the household in a silent rampage followed up by arson.

The third person who had told him outright, that he was in love with him, was his young student, Luo Binghe.

It stunned Shen Jiu speechless.

The boy loved him?!

It also painted the boy's past actions in a completely different light. He had thought that the boy was trying to undermine him or get into his good graces to betray him. But if the boy truly loved him, then the tea he made everyday, his attention to detail in every task that was put into his hands, his hard work in cleaning his room and the rest of the bamboo house... well..

That was something different entirely.

On one hand, Shen Jiu was paranoid, afraid of being undermined, betrayed and replaced. He had felt as if pieces of him had been carved out during his time with the Qius and he still hadn't recovered from that. He had felt lost and empty, hollow and inadequate and he had hated the fact there were people like that Qingge who hadn't suffered as he had. People who had everything come quickly and easy. He had also been bitter that Binghe himself had such speed in cultivation while his own growth had been so slow in comparison. He felt vulnerable, weak and that only made him angry, which fueled his cruelty against those he thought were better off.

But on the other hand, Luo Binghe was the first person to ever say those words to him after he had been forced to separate with Qiu Haitang.

He... was the only one.

Even though Ning Yingying looked up to him, and she reminded him of Haitang.

(she could have been their daughter)

She didn't care about him to the extent he cared for her.

Ming Fan was a bootlicker and not a threat.

What Binghe had just said had unbalanced Shen Jiu completely and left him reeling.

They also caused his sense of shame to have a rude awakening.

Shen Jiu was many things, but he wasn't capable of intentionally mistreating and being cruel to someone who... loved him.

He stared at the crying boy, shocked speechless and frozen for a long while and only when it looked like the boy was about to flee, did he manage to regain control of his limbs and his voice.

In the back of his mind, the boy's declaration of love kept playing over and over and he found he couldn't scold him. He had no idea what to say.

He could only tell the upset boy to stop and catch his arm before he could run off.

But once the boy had stopped trying to squirm out of his grip, Shen Jiu found himself speechless again.

His sense of shame was working on overtime, playing back every cruel word he had spoken, every splashed drop of tea, every thrown piece of crockery and every time he shortchanged the boy in cultivation.

It didn't paint a good picture.

He didn't know how to fix it. His pride wouldn't let him say he had wronged the boy even if he knew it and felt even worse about it.

He carefully gathered the boy into his arms and patted his back awkwardly, trying to regain his bearings.

If..

If the boy meant it...

He would have to treat him differently from now on. He couldn't let things go on as they had been.

The first thing he would do would be to give the boy the right cultivation manual and... and remember to praise him for doing things right.

For that matter, he might as well have the boy stay closer to him, the heavens knew Ming Fan didn't like him and had seen his own previous dislike of him, trying to bully Binghe to please him.

He would have to make it stop as soon as possible.

As for anything other than that, Shen Jiu didn't even know how he felt towards the boy now that he couldn't categorize him as a possible enemy or threat.

Objectively, he was obedient and diligent and...

"I did not value you as you deserved to be valued." That was clear enough, wasn't it?

"I will try to treat you better as you deserve, from now on."

It was the only promise that he could make, as offbalance as he was, right now.
***

Click to expand...

Gav said: ↑

CINNAMON BUN

***
For literally years, Qingqiu had refused to acknowledge their past.

Yue Qingyuan had called him 'little' Jiu as a term of affection and tried to enkindle their friendship several times over the first few years of Qingqiu's stay in the sect, but each time Yue had tried that in the past, Jiu had refused to return his overtures by calling him 'Qi-ge' as he used to, and also steadfastly insisted on being addressed by his status as a peak lord or junior brother.

It had been hurtful, to say the least.

That was why Yue had figuratively bent over backwards, trying to give Jiu everything he wanted, in hopes that someday, Jiu would forgive him.

Yue knew Jiu still cared for him. If he didn't care for Yue, would he have killed his own teacher to keep Yue safe?

The answer was 'of course not.'

So Yue knew Jiu still cared for him. He knew it by the way Jiu had continued to fuss over him and scold him when he felt he did something wrong or had gotten himself into trouble. Jiu still continued to try to support Yue and protect him with his own life, using his own body as a shield if he felt it necessary, as he used to.

It was... just his cold surface and seeming lack of care for everyone else from their sect that was the problem.

Then Jiu had lost his memory and everything had changed.

Yue Qingyuan was happy to see the caring person he loved and remembered so well, finally coming out for everyone to see.

His doting on Yue had changed, becoming far more open, more obvious now that he had no reason to hide it.

Well, no reason other than Junior Apprentice Brother Liu Qingge's displeasure at the blatant cuddling.

That was actually starting to bother Yue Qingyuan. He didn't want to have to say so, but he was starting to understand Qingqiu's animosity towards the man.

However, even if Yue was happy that Qingqiu had finally settled in and found a place for himself in the sect as Yue had hoped, it didn't mean that Yue didn't miss the intimacy they had together as children.

Yue Qingyuan had been insistent that Qingqiu rest from his extensive labors of renovating their peaks, upgrading their facilities, installing mechanisms that would change the layout of the grounds, and installing death traps, death rays, beast habitat traps and other defenses.

Qingqiu had smiled slyly at Yue and told him to make him, as an open challenge.

Yue Qingyuan had accepted the thrown gauntlet and ravished Qingqiu with kisses, which he eagerly returned.

Yue had scooped Qingqiu up to carry him to their bedroom, and lay him down on their bed.

If his beloved friend didn't want to rest, Yue would gladly tire him out, make him come over and over until he couldn't even sit up without help the next day, just to make him rest.

He slipped his hand into Qingqiu's robes, quickly tugging the lapels open, untying his belt, sliding his clothes off, while Qingqiu was eagerly leaving kisses down the line of his neck, his own hands undoing Yue's own belt and tugging his robes open.

Then Yue reacquainted himself with his friend's body, sliding his hands over silken soft, jade-like skin touched with rose that deepened as Qingqiu flushed with pleasure under his caresses.

Yue marked that skin with deeper red as he licked, sucked and nibbled his leisurely way down his friend's body, enjoyed the feel of those welcoming arms wrapped around him, those loving hands stroking him back.

Qingqiu had eagerly parted his legs for Yue to position himself between them, meeting him kiss for kiss and stroke for stroke.

Hickeys and fingerprint marks adorned Qingqiu's body like fine jewelry, like a collar along his graceful neck, over his elegant collarbones. Yue had licked, suckled and nibbled at his friend's pink fruits until they had deepened in hue, while Qingqiu held him close, murmuring encouragement in a voice roughened and unknowingly sultry with desire.

Yue had slipped a hand down to stroke his beloved friend's jade staff which was already hardening from his earlier attentions, dripping precum obediently.

Qingqiu's moans were intoxicating.

Yue moved downwards to pin Qingqiu's hips down and take a taste of his weeping cock.

Mmm...Delicious. Yue hummed around his twitching sex.

Qingqiu spasmed and cried out, nearly coming from his licks, from the feel of Yue's mouth on him and Yue used his distraction to surreptitiously retrieve the lubricant and start preparing Qingqiu's chrysanthemum while tenderly suckling at his member as gently and shallowly as possible.

Soon, Qingqiu's hips were moving as much as Yue's firm grip on them was letting him, shallowly thrusting into Yue's welcoming mouth and Qingqiu was whimpering filthy, delicious pleas for Yue to milk him, milk him dry, while his balls were filling with exquisite liquid heat from Yue's coaxing.

Qingqiu's inner muscles were working around Yue's slick fingers. He was drowning in pleasure and they both knew it. Jiu wanted it. He wanted Yue to fuck him.

Yue had been subjected to Qingqiu's ministrations like this quite often.

Yue was turning the tables on Qingqiu right now, slick sounds as he slipped his fingers inside to toy with Qingqiu's eagerly sucking crysanthemum, stretching him open, sliding those fingers in and out, rubbing his insides until the tight little pink bud bloomed open for him, opening and closing hungrily.

Then Yue sucked hard, forcing Qingqiu to come violently into his mouth, down his throat.

While Qingqiu was still reeling from the orgasm, Yue carefully positioned his friend's body so that those lovely long legs were over his shoulders, and then he thrust into his tight, slick, heat.

Then he put his full effort into sensuously, steadily fucking his now hypersensitive, blissed out friend senseless, intending to leave him limp and boneless in bed for the next two days.

Yue was balls deep inside Qingqiu after having made him come over and over again when his friend finally called him Qi-ge.

And poor Yue, caught by surprise by Qingqiu's crooning that in his ear, followed by a purring plea for him to move harder, faster, ended up losing control completely, fucking Qingqiu hard and fast and frantically before coming deep inside him hard.

The orgasm was so violent that Yue whited out and went completely limp from overstimulation right after.

EBI TEMPURA UDON

***
Shen Jiu was not a happy man.

He had been forced to relive his unpleasant past in his dreams twice, and both times had coincided with the arrival of one of his Binghe's counterparts.

While he couldn't strike back at them when they wore his lover's face because it made him profoundly uncomfortable to consider killing them, he was very annoyed at the turmoil they left in their wake.

It didn't help that he had just found out that some of his lover's counterparts were insane enough to start 'collecting' his own counterparts as if they were porcelain vases or some other kind of trinket for the decor of rooms.

It also didn't help that his Binghe had found him fast asleep, being held by his counterpart like a teddy bear, after Binghe had returned home from what he described as a complete nightmare of a world where he, Shen Jiu, had been killed.

Not just killed.

Mercilessly captured, dismembered, his tongue removed and left to die while in captivity.

That was probably why there had nearly been a Binghe catfight in his bedroom before he had woken up and then grumpily started whacking them both, shouting at them to stop this ridiculous, pointless scuffling.

The man who had proven to be his lover's counterpart had put up his sword first and apologized, saying he had been too injured to think clearly and had been on his way home.

His Binghe, on the other hand, had been dripping tears like a branch of pear blossoms in rain until he had embraced him, and explained that he had panicked when he saw the other man injured and mistaken him for his Binghe.

His Binghe was not mollified until Jiu had tugged him into another room for a nice, private kiss and some cuddling to sooth his ruffled feathers. Even then, his eyes were damp with tears that Jiu had to kiss away.

This foolish student of his. So cute. So vulnerable.

Of course, things only got worse.

After his lover found out from the unwelcome arrival that the unwelcome arrival in question had come here after killing a... a necrophiliac counterpart of theirs who had slain and collected Jiu's own counterparts, his Binghe was now seriously traumatized enough to clutch him close and refuse to let go of him or let him out of his sight until this... dimension... was sealed away from those crazy people.

Whether they were his Binghe's counterparts or not, his Binghe didn't care.

All his Binghe cared about was that Shen Jiu was in danger and thus, he wanted to bring Yue Qingyuan into this mess to help him seal this world away.

Then, another unpleasant surprise fell in from the sky.

Another Binghe arrived.

There had nearly been another fight, only narrowly prevented by the newest arrival's quick apologies when faced with two others of his kind.

The new Binghe looked uncared for. His eyes were red rimmed, his hair loose and messy, clothes shabby and worn. At a glance, Shen Jiu had quickly seen they used to be robes of exquisitely fine quality fit for an emperor or a sect leader, but they had been left uncared for so long that they were now shabby.

Despite his own misgivings, he had found a place for his lover's counterparts to stay in the bamboo house.

Once is coincidence, twice is by design, and he rounded on the miserable looking newest arrival and demanded to know what the hell he had done to mess with his dreams.

The newest arrival tried to smooth it over, distract him or derail him.

Shen Jiu was not amused.

In the end, when both of his lover's counterparts had left after helping set the seal in place to keep everyone else out of his home dimension, Shen Jiu had been glad to see them both go.

They had looked at him with tangled emotions but Shen Jiu could recognize grief and regret well enough.

Perhaps his own counterparts were dead where they came from.

He didn't want to know.

As long as he never had another unpleasant day like today, and never had to face one of his lover's crazed counterparts, the wake up call was worth it.
***

***
A certain Luo Binghe was not a happy man.

Actually, he hadn't been a happy man since he had killed his Shen Jiu.

This Luo Binghe had wanted to meet his soulmate since he was a child and had found out that there was someone out there in the world who was just for him. Someone who had been born just for him.

The stories were full of soulmates who met each other and lived blissfully together. They were also full of soulmates who were kept apart and died miserable because they were apart.

Luo Binghe had always thought that when he met his soulmate, they would live blissfully together. He had held on to that hope, even as he entered Cang Qiong.

All throughout his bitter years he had believed that his someone was out there, waiting for him.

When he was younger, he had been beaten thoroughly at every turn, by the world, by fate, tormented by everyone who held a bit of advantage over him. His biological parents had never been there for him. His foster mother had died too early.

He had come to the conclusion that the only way to never suffer like this again was to be strong. The only way to get what he wanted, was to be strong.

If people wouldn't willingly give him shelter, safety, comfort, kindness and compassion, then he would take it.

He had wanted to be strong, so that no one could take his fated person from him, when he found them. So he could take them for himself and keep them safe.

He had promised himself when he had that person who was just for him, he would give them everything they could possibly want, and in return, they would love him best in all the world and they would never ever leave him.

He had wanted wealth, power and glory so he would never have to know want again, would never have to suffer again. His soulmate would never want to leave his side because he would be able to give them all the treasures of the world.

He hadn't known that Shen Jiu, who he had learned to hate because of his petty cruelties, was his soulmate until that man had died by his hands, and the pain of their bond breaking had carved a hole in his heart as the light left Jiu's eyes.

Why, he had wondered, had his fated love disliked him at first sight? Why had he lashed out at him when they were meant to be?

Well, now he had seen a world where their fate had gone right, and all it had taken on his counterpart's side had been a straightforward confession.

This Shen Jiu, he learned after reading his memories, had also been beaten by the world at every turn.

If their situations were as similar as their behavior, then his fated person had also been tormented by everyone who had an inch of advantage over him.

He had also been betrayed.

His soulmate had been enslaved, forced to bring money back to the slavers who owned him. His soulmate's only friend had been Yue Qingyuan, and Yue had been separated from him by the betrayal of a slave that Yue had helped.

His soulmate had been sold to an abusive noble family and while Yue Qingyuan had promised to come back for him, Yue hadn't returned in time.

That noble family had ruined his fated person's life and had wrecked his soulmate until his soulmate had been incapable of trusting anyone other than Yue Qingyuan and the daughter of the house, Qiu Haitang, who had wanted him for herself but hadn't protected him well.

When his soulmate had finally snapped under pressure, in defense of his sanity, and lashed out at the Qius, exterminating all the males in that family, Luo Binghe could only conclude that Jiu was firmly in the right.

But by the time Yue Qingyuan found Jiu and brought him back to Cang Qiong, Jiu had been damaged inside.

This Shen Jiu himself had stated it felt as if his soul had been damaged. He had been paranoid and afraid of everyone. Everyone except Yue had been a threat.

With this in mind, Luo Binghe finally understood why his own soulmate had lashed out at him. His Shen Jiu had... been terrified. He hadn't known that Binghe would have protected his fated person. He had only seen him as a threat and reacted like any cornered, desperate man would have done.

Shen Jiu, who had by then been renamed Shen Qingqiu, had tried to drive Binghe away, tried to get rid of Binghe in order to defend himself.

Everything had gone horribly wrong for Luo Binghe where everything had gone right for his counterpart. His counterpart had confessed his love and that had been enough to get his soulmate to..to accept him.

It was clearly the Qiu family's fault that Binghe's own soulmate hadn't been able to accept him.

If those bastards hadn't wrecked Binghe's soulmate then his soulmate would have accepted him.

And it was his own fault also, for acting hastily, for holding a grudge, for... for the way things had ended.

He should have tried to make matters clear between them.

All he could to was try to put things right.

There were ways to raise the dead. There had to be.

He would try to bring his Jiu back. He would try to fix everything.

And if that meant that he had to bring Yue Qingyuan as well, to keep his fated person stable and sane, he would have to do it.

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The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System fan fiction

Ryss ... a small emanon...

Gav [Fairy of the Garden of Evil]

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The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System fan fiction

Ryss ... a small emanon...

Gav [Fairy of the Garden of Evil]

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