Chapter Text
The first thing that Shen Yuan was aware of was that his throat hurt. Actually, now that he had the chance to think of it, his everything hurt. This wasn’t unusual to him, but it was unpleasant, so he let out a low groan and went to open his eyes and sit up.
Before he could do so, something poked him in the center of his chest. “This one certainly hopes you’re not planning on getting up.”
The voice was unfamiliar - terse, slightly old-fashioned in the way he spoke, but with the barest hint of amusement - but Shen Yuan was used to people saying similar things. ‘This must be the hospital,’ he thought, before finally opening his eyes. Needless to say, his surroundings looked fairly clinical. But, at the same time… well, he certainly hadn’t expected them to look like the set of a historical drama!
For a moment, Shen Yuan couldn’t help but feel confused, but, at this point, he’d seen enough oblivious transmigrated protagonists to know what not to do. So, he simply looked to his side to confirm what he was thinking.
‘Yep,’ he told himself upon seeing the man by his bedside. ‘Transmigration for sure.’
It was a man, to be sure, but an almost uncomfortably pretty one - something that would have confirmed his presence in a xianxia even without his long hair, guan, and robes. The man’s expression was serious, his dark green eyes guarded, but there was a twinge of a smile as he held a folding fan to Shen Yuan’s chest.
Having long since decided that he refused to be the sort of character who immediately started freaking out, Shen Yuan was able to keep his cool. “How long have I been out?” He asked simply.
The man let out a sigh, the tiniest furrow in his brow. “Too long. A-Yuan is lucky that Mu Qingfang had been visiting. I hope this teaches you not to rush your cultivation in the future.”
At the mention of a ‘Mu Qingfang’, Shen Yuan’s mind perked up in recognition. ‘Where have I heard that name before…?’ He wondered to himself. However, before he could think of it any longer, it was as if the world had paused, the man stuck in the midst of pulling back his arm wielding the fan. Suddenly, a loud, almost Google Translate-like voice started blaring in his head, an accompanying, slightly-transparent box of text appearing in front of him.
[Apologies to user! There was a bit of a mixup in our servers! 人(_ _*)]
Before Shen Yuan could wonder if this was actually hell, the oddly-artificial voice continued, the box containing subtitles like a video game.
[Welcome to the System. The System operates in line with the design concept “YOU CAN YOU UP, NO CAN NO BB.” We hope to provide you with the best possible experience. While we were unable to bind user with our first choice of bodies, we hope that ‘Shen Yuan: the Scum Villain Shen Qingqiu’s Son’ will be satisfactory. It is our sincere wish that during your time, you can fulfill your destiny, and, in accordance with your wish, transform a stupid work into a magnificent, high-quality, first-rate classic. We hope you enjoy!]
This, of course, both provided Shen Yuan with answers and questions.
First of all, it was true; he had, in fact, transmigrated. And not only that - the usage of names such as Mu Qingfang and Shen Qingqiu meant that he’d transmigrated into complete and utter trash!
See, before Shen Yuan had… well, before he died, he’d had a hobby of reading webnovels, mainly wuxia. And, for the past few weeks, he’d been reading one particularly egregious example of the genre: Proud Immortal Demon Way. There were a variety of flaws to be found in this work that he refused to call a novel, all of which Shen Yuan had been quick to point out in scathing reviews under his pseudonym, Peerless Cucumber. But the gist of it was that it was an endlessly shitty world to be transmigrated into, especially as someone related to Shen Qingqiu.
That, of course, led to another problem: in Proud Immortal Demon Way, Shen Qingqiu didn’t have a son!
[Correct!] The System chirped. [As a form of compensation for our error, user has been allowed the “Self-Insert” function! ヽ(・∀・)ﾉ]
‘Oh God,’ Shen Yuan thought to himself. Of all the novels he’d read over his short twenty-two years, why did he have to live out his self-insert dreams in garbage like Proud Immortal Demon Way?
However… well, at least it meant that he was familiar with his surroundings.
It was always good to look on the bright side of things, even when you know that your new father is a horrible villain who’ll be turned into a human stick. But Shen Yuan supposed that his new goal was to try and stop that - or, at the very least, ensure that he didn’t end up as collateral damage!
Still, he knew that he had to get on with things eventually. The transmigrator had just wondered how to escape from this strange, paused state of reality when the man - who he now knows is Shen Qingqiu - began to move again. He allowed himself a moment of surprise and curiosity, before quickly pasting on a look of shame as he nodded in a manner that he hoped would be suitable to the scum villain.
“This one apologizes,” Shen Yuan murmured, eyes downcast in a way that he hoped made him look filial and contrite. “I will be sure not to do such things in the future.”
At his words, the fan came back, gently tapping at the top of his head in a mockery of a beating. “Be sure that you do not,” the infamously evil antagonist replied, the corners of his mouth twitching ever-so-slightly.
And that was just the thing, wasn’t it? Shen Qingqiu was being way too nice! Because Shen Yuan didn’t care that he was supposedly his son - surely the Xiu Ya sword would never show anything that could remotely qualify as softness, even to his kin. But, then, he supposed that that was a part of the power, the fantasy of being a self-insert, wasn’t it?
He gave a small smile and nodded, before realizing something, the world pausing again. ‘Hey, System,’ Shen Yuan asked mentally. ‘Is Luo Binghe here yet?’
Immediately, he was given an answer. [Affirmative! (＠＾◡＾)]
Well. Shit.
‘And… how old is Binghe right now?’ He continued cautiously. After all, even though his body seemed to be that of a young teen, as a self-insert, he had no way of referencing their ages.
[Protagonist Luo Binghe is currently twelve, while user is in the body of thirteen-year-old Shen Yuan. Luo Binghe has been Shen Qingqiu’s disciple for one month.] The eerily artificial voice replied, and he could already feel some of the tension that had formed in his body leaving at the answer.
One month. True, it had been a month of the adorable white lotus Binghe suffering, but this meant that there was still some time. Time to save himself.
Then, with the world seemingly unfreezing just as it had done before, he was back to the real world. Or, well, as real as a xianxia world like that of Proud Immortal Demon Way, a mockery of the genre, could be.
“Baba…” Shen Yuan began, intentionally using the nickname in an attempt to soften what he was sure to be a blow. “Where is Luo Binghe?”
And sure, he could’ve asked it more delicately, or just not asked altogether and sought out the half-demon on his own terms. But the younger Shen had a mission ahead of him, and a big part of the beginning of said mission was getting an idea on how he could possibly mend the relationship between disciple and teacher. At least, mend it to the point where becoming a human stick wasn’t on the table for his now-father. Needless to say, the way that Shen Qingqiu’s handsome face - really, he was almost too pretty to be a despicable antagonist - darkened at his words showed that this was not going to be an easy task. But, then, Shen Yuan had not expected it would be.
“Why is A-Yuan asking about that beast?” Shen Qingqiu asked coolly. “His location is not important. He is where all stray animals belong.”
The transmigrator guessed that he meant the woodshed; one of the Peak Lord’s first acts of cruelty had been forcing Luo Binghe to sleep in there rather than in the dormitories with the other disciples, thus forming an inherent rift between them. A rift that seemed to grow with every decision that Shen Qingqiu made, encouraging the other students to ostracize the sweet little lamb of a boy.
‘I will fix that,’ he thought, feeling both determined and exhausted.
Now, as a self-insert, Shen Yuan didn’t have canon to rely on when it came to how he acted, which was both a good thing and a bad thing. It was bad because he didn’t know how anyone will expect him to react, which might make him come across as kind of crazy. On the other hand, it also meant that, to a certain extent, he could just act however he wished without a stupid OOC warning. Thank God, because he hated those stupid things - they always turned out to be lazy plot devices!
So, giving his best slightly disappointed pout, mastered after years of being a spoiled didi, he sighed. “Really? You’re not going to move him to the dormitories with the others?”
“And why would I do such a thing?” Predictably, Shen Qingqiu didn’t seem cowed.
“I was so excited to have somebody closer to my age!” Shen Yuan protested. “I thought we could be friends - or he could at least help me not get in trouble, or something!”
Again, the great Xiu Ya sword didn’t seem moved. Instead, he wrinkled his nose as though he’d smelled something most foul. “That beast is unworthy of your company. Besides, you have Ning Yingying, do you not?”
The transmigrator let out a huff, trying to act like a spoiled young master. Which Shen Yuan supposed some might say he had experience in. “You’re too picky when it comes to disciples; Luo Binghe was the only one this year. And A-Ying is a girl! I want to be able to talk to some guy my own age, and not somebody who’ll suck up to me like Ming Fan always does.” Though he’d just been guessing based on his character in the book, but the look on Shen Qingqiu’s face confirmed that his assumption about the way his da-shixiong interacted with him wasn’t wrong.
“This is not a debate, A-Yuan,” the scum villain replied.
Shen Yuan was almost about to try and whine again, when it hit him. The perfect way to get to the Peak Lord. If he couldn’t get his way by complaining, he would use Shen Qingqiu’s fear of being judged! “How do you think the other peaks will react to finding out the Qing Jing has a disciple confined to the woodshed, huh?” He asked pointedly.
Though it didn’t earn him a slap like it would have earned anyone else one, the villain’s eyes still narrowed in a way that set Shen Yuan’s whole body on edge. “The beast deserves his place,” he said, but the younger could tell that his words had gotten to him. “But let us not speak of such matters further. A-Yuan needs rest if he is to recover, after all - and arguing is hardly restful, so Mu Qingfang says.”
‘Ha! I really managed to pick at the scum villain himself, and I wasn’t even hit!’ The transmigrator mentally gloated.
And, though he was perfectly well-behaved as Shen Qingqiu scolded him about resting, Shen Yuan couldn’t help but feel a bit smug. Because sure, he was behind on some of the new lore, such as how the man has a son in the first place - the System had just sent a ‘(•ᴗ<˶)✧₊ ⊹’ when he’d tried to ask it - he felt relatively confident. Maybe this whole thing would be easier than he’d thought.
It would serve as a nice distraction, at the very least. Because Shen Yuan very much did not want to think about what he’d left behind.
He felt a pang of guilt for that, but, well… he was sure it would heal in time.
After all, it wasn’t like he was surprised that he’d ended up dying young.
Once he was alone, Shen Yuan knew what he needed to do: ask for lore!
Sure, he’d read and (regretfully) retained a lot of Proud Immortal Demon Way, but that wasn’t enough. After all, as a self-insert, he hadn’t been a part of the original story at all. So he had quite a bit to catch up on!
‘Okay, so, am I allowed to ask questions?’ Shen Yuan asked mentally.
[User is always allowed to ask questions!] The System replied cheerfully - or, well, as cheerful as such a robotic voice could sound.
‘When I asked for more information on how Shen Qingqiu of all characters had a son, you just sent me a winking kaomoji and nothing else,’ he pointed out, already feeling a little sick of this.
[User is allowed to ask questions. However, that does not always mean that user will receive answers.] The System said rather unhelpfully.
Well, that just sounded like bullshit. Then again, Shen Yuan figured that it made sense that things were like this - it really was just his poor luck striking again! Because of course he remained unlucky even as a wuxia self-insert who was (apparently) the son of a master cultivator and Peak Lord!
‘So,’ he started thoughtfully. ‘Can I get a character description?’
[Shen Yuan is the son of Shen Qingqiu; young but eager to learn and bring pride to his Peak!]
That was… incredibly generic. Maybe he really was an Airplane character. Still, he supposed he could work with it. ‘And you said that there isn’t an OOC thing, right?’ Shen Yuan needed to make sure of this before he started planning things out; he’d read about what kind of stupid shit those functions could force helpless transmigrators to do!
[Correct! So long as all of the major story beats in the disciple plotline are followed, user may act as he pleases within reason - for example, user must not tell any character of his circumstances, of the ‘real’ world, or of their own circumstances. This includes outright spoiling of the story.]
Again, he figured that made sense. Though, when the topic of story beats came up, Shen Yuan couldn’t help but feel his heart sink. ‘And… I’m assuming that the Abyss is one such plot, right?’ He asked, even though he was certain that it was. ‘So the white lotus will have to be blackened after all, no matter what I do…’
[Event: The Endless Abyss and Event: The Immortal Alliance Conference are many years in the future!] The System chirped. [User may ask more questions when the time comes.]
Shen Yuan sighed, dismissing the System as he leaned back in bed. Sure, he had plenty of time to prepare, but he’d be lying if he said he didn’t feel a pang of guilt. He could change some things, but… it seemed as though others were too set in stone to be fixed. He guessed that he just had to focus on salvaging what was left.
‘Sorry, Binghe,’ he thought. ‘I guess I can’t save you from everything.’
But Shen Yuan was a stubborn bastard; this was something that everyone who knew him knew well. And so, he found himself feeling determined to give the protagonist the best ending he could get.
Because now, when he wasn’t just reading the story, but helping the characters through it, he knew that he couldn’t just lay back and do nothing. Even if he couldn’t shield the half-demon from everything, he still could do what he could. Because fuck Proud Immortal Demon Way, fuck Airplane Shooting through the Sky - Shen Yuan was going to work to make sure this story, and Luo Binghe, finally got the ending that they deserved!
Thankfully, he only had to stay the night at Qian Cao Peak. Shen Yuan may technically have years to enact his plans, but it was for the best that he at least try to stop them early. Besides, he’d always been fidgety and impatient in hospitals, and it was even worse now that he didn’t have siblings to bribe to bring him his laptop - or any laptops to be brought.
Now, he didn’t want to look as though he’d been searching for Luo Binghe. He didn’t want to seem as though he was seeking him out just to punish him. So, this had to appear at least a little natural.
Though the System had a disappointing lack of maps - really, what did it have other than unhelpful kaomojis - Airplane had luckily gone into quite a lot of details about his protagonist’s suffering. Due to the frequency of Binghe being assigned this bullshit that was disguised as a char, those details included the clearing where disciples were to go to chop firewood. While it took a few tries, Shen Yuan eventually managed to find it.
Sure enough, there was a small, curly-haired boy with his back to him, doing his best to chop at the wood with a dull axe.
‘Oh, gods, he’s real,' Shen Yuan couldn’t help but think, before mentally scolding himself. Of course Binghe was real! This was his story! Still, it was one thing to know that he’d transmigrated into Proud Immortal Demon Way, and another thing to be nearly face to face with the protagonist! He’d be intimidated, if he didn’t know that, at only twelve, Luo Binghe was a sweet, obedient disciple eager to do right by his peak.
And that was what Shen Yuan was counting on.
So, with a subtle breath to steady himself, he spoke. “Shidi? What are you doing out here?”
When Luo Binghe turned around, he felt himself internally squeal just the way his meimei did when she saw a baby animal. Those big, dark eyes widened, and the white lotus gave a slightly-clumsy bow which made him want to just scoop him into a hug. “Shen-shixiong!” He nearly yelped, clearly recognizing his shizun’s kin. “Ah - da-shixiong told this one to go and chop wood. Is this not the right place to do so? This one apologizes for his ignorance!”
“No, shidi did nothing wrong,” Shen Yuan quickly assured. “This one was just wondering why you were doing so. Usually, it is a chore for the older disciples.”
This was true; it was a task meant to humiliate Luo Binghe, to tire him out and keep him out of the way, but it had just caused him to build up strength. The protagonist had thought of it as training up until a certain point.
Luo Binghe frowned a little, as if he’d been the one to do something wrong. “Oh… this one swears it is the truth!”
However, Shen Yuan merely waved a dismissive hand to brush him off. “No, this one believes shidi. Still, it was probably just Ming Fan trying to push his own chores on somebody who didn’t know any better. Shidi is dismissed; this one will speak to shizun about it later and make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
It was the best plan he could come up with on short notice, but he thought it should work fine. Sure, Ming Fan was the head disciple, technically outranking him, but he was also a suck-up - having his teacher’s son tell him to do something would make him do it. Likewise, Shen Qingqiu probably wouldn’t want to argue over such matters with his own son, as proved by their earlier short discussion. It wasn’t enough, not nearly, but it was a start.
Luo Binghe blinked owlishly at him, a look of surprise on his face. “...I’m dismissed?” He repeated, his voice cracking a little, and Shen Yuan winced internally.
‘Fuck, not like that!’
“Shidi may do as he pleases if he doesn’t have any other chores or lessons,” he clarified, and he added a small smile just in case his words weren’t reassuring enough on their own. It was easy to smile at Luo Binghe, he noted.
Though the protagonist looked a little relieved, there was still a furrow of confusion on his face. “Really? Shen-shixiong means it?”
He couldn’t help but be endeared, and his smile widened a little. “Of course! As shizun’s son, Ming Fan will have to listen to me. Shidi is still new to the sect, but that doesn’t mean you should be pushed around like that. Now, go and rest, or find a friend to hang around, or something of the sort!”
For a moment, Luo Binghe just stared at him as though even this bare minimum was the ultimate kindness. Then, the younger boy was bowing again, more eager than nervous this time. “This lowly one thanks Shen-shixiong!” He still pauses for a heartbeat, as if wanting to say something more, before carefully setting the axe down and scurrying off.
‘There!’ Shen Yuan thought to himself proudly. ‘Now he can go rest, or bond with Ning Yingying. Either way, at least he won’t be forced to do this every day anymore!’
Though it was still only the first step, this success was enough to make the transmigrator hopeful. Maybe this wouldn’t be as hard as he’d thought? Maybe as long as there was someone higher up on the peak, even just by nepotism, standing up for Luo Binghe, things would be better.
As Shen Yuan headed off to go snoop around in the library - he always had been desperate for more interesting lore tidbits even after Airplane's story had truly gone off the rails - he was unaware of the thoughtful, wary figure of Shen Qingqiu watching him from afar.