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In hindsight he could see the cracks. He’d been ignoring even thinking of them, or anything negative about LBH so long, he blinded himself.
Say a lie enough times, you begin to believe it’s true. Be in a moment of choice where you can choose the truth, at personal cost and sacrifice or the lie in return for safety and security if you pick the lie it becomes your truth to the point that you are no longer able to remember what is false and what is true.
The truth is, PIDW was a great escape in fiction. It was the sort of trash he loved to hate. To watch someone tear down unfavourable circumstances and anyone who offends them with prejudice and no lasting consequences is cathartic and was a balm in his empty life. Being able to lambast the author in the internet forums and tell Airplane what he thought of his trash, and him for his incompetence in tying a plot to the end made him feel useful and important. He was doing a service for free for his fellow readers and providing helpful criticism to a webnovel author.
It helped him ignore how empty his life was, with no one to really care if he shuffled off this mortal coil. No legacy to leave behind. He was good at ignoring problems. Excellent at denial. So was it any wonder that he would do the same once he transmigrated to PIDW?
The thing about Luo Binghe, and what he’s been desperately trying to ignore and resolutely NOT thinking about it is: such a person is fine in fiction but really, really terrifying in reality.
In PIDW Luo Binghe was abused by the scum villain SQQ and then further traumatised by 5 years in the Abyss when he came out, he had no respect for anyone. Women he slept with, even when they were unwilling, already married, betrothed, even openly uninterested in sex , or lesbians, he’d sleep with them and add them to his harem whether they wanted to be there or not. Men he killed. How vicious he was when he killed them varied, but very few escaped unhurt if they were: in his way, owned something he wanted, had a pretty wife etc.
Which leads to the merging of the demon and human realms. And Shen Yuan is certain, the eventual destruction of both.
The reality of Luo Binghe is terrifying. Here is a small child who, when he grows, will have the power to destroy everything if he is even slightly mentally unstable. And there’s no guarantee the human/demon mix didn’t leave him unstable mentally. Meng Mo and Xin Mo both made everything worse, but the doubt exists as to whether he was all that stable to begin with, or if pressure simply widened the cracks in his psyche. Shen Yuan doesn’t know. He never studied psychology.
Originally he focused on changing the fate of his character-he doesn’t want to die, or be tortured thanks!- by making himself kind to the protagonist, the kinder he is, the less likely he will wind up a human stick with his eye gouged out and his tongue cut off.
It was entirely self serving self-preservation. He focused on only the good! Only praising! In the hopes that when he hit the abyss arc that the system said was unchanging (10,000 points!!!?) he would kill his old Shizun quickly and the torture could be avoided.
The System prevented him from being honest with Binghe and what is love without trust?
He got clingier and clingier. Not wanting Shen Yuan out of his sight.
Shen Yuan’s martial siblings visited, less and less. Binghe making it obvious they were unwelcome and Shen Yuan not stopping him. Airplane was, paradoxically the one who lasted the longest. But eventually his King took him, and Shen Yuan was left alone with Binghe.
He became more obsessive. More attentive, if that was possible. It was suffocating yet, unnoticeable like the old fable about a frog and a pot of water, if you raise the temperature gradually it won’t notice it’s dying until it’s too late. Binghe simply filled the gap where his interactions with others would be.
He became exacting and critical. Step by step, little by little, day by day. Until one day it escalated to violence. Shen Yuan was shocked. So was Luo Binghe. But the fault was laid at Shen Yuan’s feet.
He would have left then. He should have left then. But he had no funds. No place to go. No one who would receive him without incurring the wrath of Luo Binghe. He wouldn’t be able to escape anyway because Binghe knew of the plant bodies and because he had his blood as a gps tracker inside him. He chose to wait and plan. Then Binghe came to him with wet eyes and I’m sorry I had to do that, I don’t want to hurt you placations and not-quite apologies and Shen Yuan forgave him.
It happened again, and again and again. Until LBH went too far, and even the blood parasites couldn’t bring Shen Yuan back.
Which leads him to now.
Shen Yuan is tired.
He doesn’t know what to do about the Luo Binghe problem.
He honestly wants nothing to do with any of it.
His martial siblings gave up on him.
Cang Qiong will probably burn.
He’ll prepare a plant body for himself this time, will not tell Shang Qinghua. Fake his death and become a beast researcher, rogue cultivator and wandering scholar. Let someone else try to solve the Luo Binghe problem. See if they have any better luck.
Thankfully the System hasn’t made it’s presence known this lifetime which means he should be safe enough to plan and put his plan in action.
-*-*-
Years later Shen Yuan has changed his name to Li Fēng for he blows wherever the wind takes him.
He lives a long life, and he heals. Builds up his self worth. And works at doing things he loves. He doesn’t get married in this life. But he does adopt a bunch of creatures. The kids were unexpected; orphans all. But they just never left and so he cared for them. And it was enough. It was hard at times, and there were many steps backwards taken, but in the end, he lived a happy life and healed at his pace with his creatures and his kids.