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Okay, so, in my native language “righteous” and “orthodox” (as in Orthodox Church) sound very similar and I accidentally called Cang Qiong an orthodox sect…

Could have been worse, right? But then, I went “Jesus Christ, what the heck did I just say” and this has only amplified the situation (that was funny as hell).

#what a cultural offense I did by accident #can you count that as incorrect quotes? #svsss #xianxia #cang qiong mountain sect #mxtx novels

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Shang Qinghua is just a bit extra I guess

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in volume 3, shen qingqiu experiences an Emotion once, just the once, that falls outside of the three acceptable categories of: “depressive neutrality”, “blocking out the pain”, and “oh isn’t binghe adorable and sweet and my dear little sheep?”, and then immediately proceeds to cross it out of his monologue and refuse to finish the thought

in volume 3, shen qingqiu experiences physical, intimate (but non-sexual) affection in his real-life, non-dreaming body that isn’t accompanied by sharp teeth or stinging claws or any sensation of fear regarding the person giving him that affection and goes: I Feel Nothing, This Is Not Happening.

i know i’ve never really stepped off this soapbox of mine about shen qingqiu and his depersonalisation issues, how he doesn’t internalise any sensation or emotion that he feels as something that he feels, rather than just something that happens to the body that he’s in, but i think it’s such a fascinating aspect to his character because it’s so easily to overlook until you notice it for the first time—and then it’s absolutely everywhere.

every time something happens to him (the water prison, the skinner demon, getting ripped from the plant body, getting infected in jinlan city and later the holy mausoleum, shen jiu memory tour + punishment + cuddling trio, maigu ridge, dying several times, and i really could keep going but i’ll stop there) shen qingqiu defaults to one of two, maybe three responses:

ignore that it’s happening and focus on whatever the events external to his body are,

complain about the event so much that it completely overwrites any of his actual thoughts on the matter,

or, occasionally,

consider the way binghe should be behaving if shen qingqiu was instead one of pidw!binghe’s wives, what the logical progression of the scene should be if he was binghe’s wife and not his scum shizun (which he characterises himself as well into the third volume)

where does this come from? it could be a variety of things—a coping mechanism or deflective technique that he initially donned as a way to prepare himself for the gruesome fate that he had expected to endure ever since the beginning. or it could be something deeper, something that shen yuan possessed already.

i’m inclined to believe the latter considering how we even saw this in the first, what, 12 pages? when his first body was actively dying, when his soul was being shifted to another universe? was that painful? did he feel anything? he knew he was dying, but what did he think about it? how did he experience it? we have no idea. and we continue to have no idea throughout the next several times that this happens—he refuses to even acknowledge the experiences as something that include sensation and emotion, hardly thinking about them except in respect to the effects they have on luo binghe.

of course he has trouble accepting intimacy from luo binghe—when you look at it through the lens of shen qingqiu refusing to accept his body as something that belongs to him, something that he’s physically attached to with emotions and sensations that he is required to experience, of course the next logical conclusion is, “this man doesn’t know a single thing about himself or what he wants, and therefore neither do we as the audience.”

we can guess. we can make inferences. but we don’t actually, truly know what shen qingqiu thinks, because he intentionally keeps it even from himself. we can think that he’s scared of intimacy, that he doesn’t know how to approach it, that he wants it or doesn’t or doesn’t know either way or has a spectrum in which sometimes he does and sometimes he doesn’t. but we don’t know what shen qingqiu wants when he doesn’t have anything to fear.

(except, of course, to not be human stick-ified. he doesn’t get brownie points for that, that would be a concerning thing to want!)

what’s my conclusion here? i dunno. i’ve dragged on about this so often that i think this is the last bit that i haven’t covered—i guess what i really want to say is that it’s so interesting and so unusual to see a main character that is so completely, wilfully (and yet somehow a bit unknowingly) out of tune with their own body and emotions. it’s grounding in this fantastical insane world that we’ve been thrown into, and i think it requires that svsss be read with a heavily critical eye—the main character is misleading you, at all times, because he is also somewhat unintentionally misleading himself.

he’s not a bad person because of it. he’s not a bad character. he’s not even a bad narrator—what he replaces his honesty with is biting, blistering commentary on everything else that happens around him, and it’s amusing and insightful and wonderful as a reading experience! he’s so clever and so whip-smart, except when it comes to his own body. and that, i think, makes him so incredibly human, so incredibly frustrating, and so incredibly realistic.

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Luo Binghe: Shizun, what are you doing? Shen Qingqiu: drawing sketches for my bestiary Luo Binghe: …but that is me Shen Qingqiu: yes Shen Qingqiu: Binghe deserves a whole section dedicated to him

***

(some time later) Shen Qingqiu: what should I write as Binghe's weaknesses? Luo Binghe: Shizun Shen Qingqiu: and strengths? Luo Binghe: Shizun Shen Qingqiu: …

#monsterfucker shen qingqiu #shen qingqiu #luo binghe #bingqiu #system #svsss incorrect quotes

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Shen Qingqiu, dying: oops, I did it again

System, stripping his clothes: oops, I did it again

#yes that audio #I wish I could make edits #svsss #shen qingqiu #scum villains self saving system #shen yuan #svsss incorrect quotes #bingqiu

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SVSSS

Deserves so much more hype. Everything about it is so great and it just gets left behind and over shadowed by the TGCF and MDZS. I wish it had a live action, I wish it had a completed manhua. I wish it had everything the other two have. Are we even still sure we are getting season 2 still?

I love the other two so much but SVSSS is my favorite and I am tired of it being left behind.

#svsss #mxtx novels #mxtx svsss

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Shen Qingqiu: *lightly scolds Binghe*

Luo Binghe: I’ll do better!

Shen Qingqiu, barely audible: better do me

Luo Binghe: Shizun?!

Shen Qingqiu: Nothing!

#he did #svsss #shen qingqiu #bingqiu #luo binghe #svsss incorrect quotes

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All of MXTX's protags are unreliable narrators, but in different ways

Shen Qingqiu is unreliable because he is unable to understand that the characters around him are people and see how much his actions have changed the plot

Wei Wuxian is unreliable because he has self worth issues and thinks the people who love him actually hate him

Xie Lian is unreliable because he is a cheeky motherfucker who purposely keeps information from the reader

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Maybe Shen Yuan had stanned hypermasculine scary demon emperor, but he married a cute crybaby who loves headpats

#in both cases — he’s gay #shen yuan #shen qingqiu #luo binghe #bingqiu #svsss

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Shang Qinghua's first draft had Bingge be a complex MC who goes through his revenge and in the end he feels. Empty. He had him be a sort of He Xuan, forever alone and immortal, his purpose in life accomplished, but his life never ending, like waiting for a punchline that never comes. Although Shen Yuan would have had no complaints about the quality of this ending, he'd still have been furious that Luo Binghe, someone who's been through so much, who's worked so hard, who's put his blood, sweat and tears into accomplishing his goals, did not get the happy ending he deserved.

The two of them are soulmates, no matter what would have happened happened, they still would have gotten together, somehow, in the end.

#first time I see analogy between bingge and he xuan but it’s SO GOOD #this Bingge might have or not have a harem but he is even more lonely than pidw bingge we know #and having read all of that SY knows how much Bingge craves simple but real affection #and he is all in to give it #tho he thinks he’s being platonic about it (no he obviously isn’t) #Bingge cannot believe that somebody would actually love him and is torn between wanting to dive into that illusion of love #or not giving himself even more useless hope that will end up frustrating him (bc that’s what always happened in the past) #but SY is determined to make up for all love Bingge lacked #and now Bingge wants to open his rib cage and hide SY inside to fill all that void and keep him safe #all SY’s gay crisis goes out of the window the moment first tear falls from Bingge’s eyes #that’s binghesexuality for you #jesus I can’t stop thinking about it #I would actually love to read pidw how it was meant to be in the first draft and then cry for hours

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Well ???

#this post is such a Shen Yuan vibe #tho it’s more like he has a confront author #svsss #shen qingqiu #shen yuan

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Shen Qingqiu was the best representation of “delulu” before the term even existed.

I should mention that Luo Binghe was delulu as well. But he was a determined kind of delulu, so he made his delulu come true.

#be Luo Binghe kind of delulu #but pls don’t kill anybody #svsss #luo binghe #shen qingqiu #bingqiu

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why you like this, shen qingqiu? what's up with the 'denial is a river in egypt'

#denial is a river in egypt is now my new motto #svsss #bingqiu

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Luo Binghe: my husband is a Divine Gift

Shen Qingqiu: my husband is a Heavenly Tribulation

#they are in love your honour #svsss incorrect quotes #svsss #bingqiu #luo binghe #shen qingqiu

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Considering that all asians have straight hair, Binghe’s curly hair is definitely from demonic genes (and I mean, you all have seen hot daddy Tianlang-jun).

I think that would be funny for people in human realm to have rumors / tales to scare children about some “curly devil”.

#svsss #luo binghe #tianlang jun #tianlang-jun

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my very straight male friend, in the middle of reading svsss vol 3 i tricked him into reading, completely out of nowhere (part 4):

he's so mean damn akkdhxn

how could she betray me like that.. anyways honorable mentions:

@vivitur-moritur is this the bingqiu you wanted LMAO

#you have the best friend ever #that is the most wholesome relationship #svsss

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Sometimes I see videos about readers and their “book boyfriends” in booktok, and every time I think, that Shen Yuan beat them all

#svsss #shen yuan #shen qingqiu #bingqiu