Thread by @bingjiuwus

#bingjiu with stepmom SJ vibes here we go! More of a TLJ protag story though lmao.

Anyway, an AU where Tianlang-jun proves a little hardier than in canon and manages to escape the attack on Bailu Mountain.

As he flees, exhausted and weakened, he runs into Su Xiyan in her dying moments and the lovers are able to reconcile and be together for a brief moment once more. TLJ attempts to give SXY his blood to preserve her, but she's already too close to death for it to work.

All TLJ can do is vow vengeance on the jianghu and the Old Palace Master for SXY's sake, and he buries his wife and takes their infant son back to the Demon Realm to recover and plan his revenge.

Binghe grows up in TLJ's court as a well-raised but isolated child. Despite knowing SXY loved him, TLJ is both too bent on his vengeance and destroyed by her death that he rarely spends time with Binghe; that their son looks just like his mother just hurts him all the more.

Though Binghe can technically have anything he wants as a prince and the last scion of the heavenly demon line, what he wants the most is the one thing he can't have - an emotional connection with someone.

Though he sometimes spends a little time with his cousin Zhuzhi-lang, ZZL is too busy with TLJ to give him any real attention, and Binghe often spends his days playing with ZZL's snakes and his father's black guard army to pass the time.

TLJ decides to enact his revenge plan when he hears about the Cang Qiong generational handover, and that Yue Qingyuan, the young cultivator who nearly killed him outright at Bailu, is going to become the Sect Leader of CQ; why not give him a challenge now that he'll be in charge?

But not just Cang Qiong. TLJ wants to tear the OPM and Huan Hua Palace, but not merely destroy the lecherous old man physically, but annihilate his reputation outright.

Many cultivators died that day, and although he knows as well they'll never trust HIM as a demon, they won't be pleased if they find out the OPM used them as bait for a sick obsession with his own disciple.

Since whenever one of the Great Sects hands over its leadership to a new generation it's a huge deal, and everyone of note in the jianghu will be attending, including the OPM.

TLJ has been recovering and amassing his demonic armies for just this occasion, and the day of the handover itself, the front halls of Qiong Ding are slammed open and TLJ gatecrashes the ceremony with his most powerful subordinates, basically asking where the hell was his invite?

Of course everyone freaks the fuck out and attempts to attack him, but then TLJ freezes them in their tracks with heavenly demon BS (maybe he had a spy, SQH ahem, slip his blood into the drinks earlier or something like that) and tells them to sit down and listen to his story.

The cultivators present are forced to listen to TLJ recount of how he first met SXY and fell in love, then her strange letter and the attack on him and her consequent death. TLJ had never any desire to attack the jianghu or whatever the OPM told them.

Naturally people don't believe him, especially when the OPM objects and accuses TLJ of killing SXY in a jealous rage after he escaped from the attack. TLJ nearly blacks out and murders him then and there, but YQY, now the Sect Leader, rebukes the OPM.

To everyone's surprise, one of the abbots from Zhao Hua Temple steps forward and reveals he met SXY after she left HHP and confirms helping her escape from her former sect.

TLJ is both grateful a cultivator would be willing to back him up... and angry nonetheless, that all a supposedly righteous man would do was give SXY a moment's refuge and nothing more.

The abbot's testimony in TLJ's favour makes the other cultivators look at OPM strangely, but ultimately it's still hearsay, at which point TLJ finally brings out his son Binghe, who is now 9-10~, and bears a striking resemblance to SXY.

Many of the senior cultivators present confirm Binghe's likeness to his mother, and however uneasy they feel about demons, the tide slowly turns against the OPM as everyone realises how many of their friends and fellow cultivators died at Bailu because of him.

YQY asks TLJ what he wants from this confrontation, and TLJ admits he not only wants the OPM's death, and Huan Hua to do as he pleases with, but to let it be known throughout the world what he did... or he'll kill them all here instead.

No one will go with this, for letting people know the OPM hoodwinked the great sects will destroy the credibility of the jianghu and then some.

YQY tries to convince everyone to calm down, but the other sects would prefer to deal with the OPM in their own way and not accept TLJ's deal. An enraged OPM ultimately orders an attack on the demons and the hall dissolves into chaos.

YQY manages to stop the madness by releasing Xuan SU and making everyone buckle to their knees, but the damage has been done.

TLJ has gravely wounded the OPM, but not before the man somehow managed to grab Binghe and use him as a hostage, threatening to self-detonate his core and kill the boy with him if they don't allow him to return to HHP.

Even TLJ is briefly frozen when he sees his son, terrified but silent, in the OPM's grip as the old cultivator begins to rant about SXY. YQY warns the OPM not to be rash, but he's clearly unstable and manic, and the situation looks increasingly fraught and impossible to handle.

And then a silver fan shoots through the air and slices the OPM's head clean off his neck. Before anyone can realise what happened, the newly ascended Qing Jing Peak Lord dashes in to grab the young heavenly demon prince from his captor (and hide his face from the bleeding).

Everyone is dumbfounded, including TLJ and YQY. It was clear the OPM was a twisted individual, but he was still a cultivator... and who should have killed him outright than one of their own? Yue QIngyuan's own shidi, Shen Qingqiu.

Huh.

Still holding Binghe close to his chest so the boy wouldn't see the now headless corpse in front of him, a testy SJ just says good riddance to the OPM once and for all... and tells TLJ to renegotiate exactly what he wants from the jianghu 🤣

Something something negotiations occur reluctantly, since despite YQY's presence the other cultivators know they would be annihilated by TLJ's army... and to make up for the offense done to the heavenly demon, the sects promise neutrality and peace towards the Demon Realm...

And Huan Hua, which is now leaderless, as a "gift" to TLJ as Binghe's future inheritance (not how it works, but TLJ doesn't care haha).

TLJ wants an assurance they just won't backstab him later, as the sects could declare HHP a heretic sect and isolate it from the jianghu.

He proposes a marital alliance to seal their agreement, and challenges the cultivators to offer someone up, demanding a person of high rank so they couldn't be easily abandoned by their sect if things went wrong.

When no one speaks up, TLJ decides to be an asshole and pick YQY (yes, really) because the kid seems honour-bound to accept even if it'll be a disaster as a result.

Everyone else realises what's about to happen too, since TLJ turns towards YQY and opens his mouth...

And in the next heartbeat SJ says, "Fine, I'll do it 😾" and agrees to get married to maintain peace between the jianghu and the Demon Realm.

And TLJ wants to refuse the brat because wtf he had a plan to be a huge bag of dicks and he's RUINING it... and then he sees Binghe staring up at SJ with starstruck eyes and goes "ok maybe I owe my son a little 🥲" and accepts SJ's proposal, much to YQY's heartbreak haha!

And so SJ, who's been a Peak Lord for all of five minutes before he outright murdered another sect leader in front of his peers...

gets another five minutes to say goodbye to YQY and the other PLs before he decides to go to the Demon Realm with TLJ right then and there to prove his trustworthiness.

(Yes, Binghe stays glued to him the entire time 😅)

*

Anyway, it's obvious to SJ TLJ basically adlibbed the whole marriage thing at the ascension ceremony since no one was prepared for his arrival back at the Demon Realm, nor do they know what to do with having a human cultivator suddenly around the place.

SJ doesn't expect the demon to treat him like a wife anyway, since despite how long it's been, he's clearly still devoted to SXY.

Maybe a small part of him expected (or wanted?) a wedding ceremony, but no, he and his "husband" don't even live in the same quarters, and they certainly never shared any wedding wine or spent the night together.

Which is probably better for his sanity than having to lie back and think about Cang Qiong every night.

Nevertheless, it's a lonely existence.

Although SJ still holds the title of Peak Lord out of respect, he'll never be able to go back to Cang Qiong and be one of them again. He'll never be able to have disciples and live in his Bamboo Cottage again (he had his things sent over, but it's not the same)...

But at least he has Binghe.

His "stepson", as it were, is apparently as lonely as SJ is in the Underground Palace, and latches onto him all day long.

Though the boy is half-human, he's been raised by demons all his life (not to mention a semi-deadbeat father) and his habits are, well, bizarre.

Out of boredom and a desire to use his hard-earned skills as a scholar and cultivator, SJ decides to train the brat - sorry, future Saintly Ruler - in the four arts and to fight as a cultivator does.

Binghe naturally soaks up the attention and responds well to being taught, though SJ suffers no fools gladly and sharply corrects the boy whenever he's being fussy and annoying bwahaha.

But much as he finds Binghe suffocating and intolerably clingy at times, SJ becomes reluctantly fond of him.

How can he not? The boy is the only other human(-ish) in the Underground Palace. As Binghe grows older and begins to explore the outside world, he even learns to cook human food because he's always been hyperaware of SJ practicing inedia so he never had to partake in demon fare.

As Binghe becomes a teenager, he even sneaks SJ out and takes him to visit the Mortal Realm once in a while. Though there's nothing strictly forbidding SJ from asking TLJ to visit the Mortal Realm on his own... he just never has.

Though the heavenly demon respects him as an advisor, they've never become romantic over the years, and they have neither a bond nor a child tying them together. If SJ left to visit the Mortal Realm one day, what's to say he wouldn't just suddenly disappear, and never come back.

Somehow though, visiting various human cities with Binghe feels both sneaky and fun because SJ knows he'll always return to the Underground Palace. It's funny, his stepson of all people teach him about human culture since he goes out of the palace much more than SJ does.

Despite TLJ being SJ's husband, it's Binghe who SJ's spent almost every waking moment of his day with since his marriage began. Honestly, he doesn't even know how you could define their relationship.

Binghe was far too old to see SJ as a parental figure alone when they first interacted, and he'd only called SJ "jimu" once before SJ corrected him. Everyone else at the palace called him "Master Shen".

Sometimes their relationship is like a shizun and disciple. But no, he'd have never allowed any disciple of his to be so sticky or spoiled, especially since Binghe will also be the Saintly Ruler of the Demon Realm one day, and possibly as powerful as his father.

And... then what? Despite being a full-blooded heavenly demon, even TLJ isn't truly immortal. His health is ailing, and though it might take a hundred or more years, one day the old demon will pass on, and then SJ will...

Return to Cang Qiong, having been left behind by his peers? Become a wandering cultivator like before? By then Binghe won't need him either.

He doesn't know. To end up living so long and still feel aimless, as if his whole life has meant nothing, well...

It's bittersweet.

And sometimes he looks at the boy next to him and wishes...

Forget it.

*

The day before Binghe's seventeenth birthday, TLJ informs SJ his son will be sent into the Infernal Abyss, and come out the other end one day or perish.

By then SJ's been long enough in the Demon Realm to know young demons being sent into the Abyss is a familiar coming-of-age ritual.

Not all demons venture into the Abyss, but those who want to be respected and given a title certainly do, and despite Binghe's lofty heritage none of his future subordinates will respect or obey him unless he proves himself to them first.

Still, he could die too. That happens to a lot of demons too, and their parents reluctantly conclude their offspring wasn't worth the fuss raising them after all.

What to do, what to do...

SJ knows Binghe will have his work cut out for him. Despite having trained him for many years, the boy is still half-human, and balancing his dual qi systems has been a nightmare.

It's not like SJ could accompany him either, not without proving Binghe's gauntlet pointless...

Nor would he able to survive the Abyss. If the Abyss is hell enough for demons, then he as a frail human would probably suffocate from the toxic fumes alone.

So.

SJ's never been good at expressing himself to begin with. So when Binghe comes to bid him good night that evening, SJ feigns giving him his birthday present early... and gives him Xiu Ya.

And then tells him to get the fuck out when he has questions, since Xiu Ya is obviously His Sword.

And when he wakes up in the morning, Binghe is already gone.

*

It's hard not to be lifeless in Binghe's absence.

Oh, SJ's never been truly idle in his time in the Demon Realm.

Though he and TLJ aren't close in... that way, SJ has often acted as an advisor and his liaison when dealing with cultivators.

He's had to ruffle many a feather to keep the peace between the two races, which often involved trying to find food sources for demons that didn't get up humans' hackles.

He likes to think he's even introduced a little culture into TLJ's court though in all likelihood he hasn't whatsoever (though at least TLJ likes the plays the servants reenact sometimes).

So SJ stays busy. But now there's no sweet and clingy brat tugging him around to see some fun exotic thing after his work day is over, and his own cooking is paltry so he returns to inedia, and things are just... dull.

And so, time passes.

Eventually TLJ convinces SJ to spend some time in the Mortal Realm again because he's just that depressed, alas.

SJ ends up visiting Huan Hua, since it now technically belongs to the "demons", and sees how it's transformed since he was a disciple.

Though humans and demons are truly different species at the end of the day and they might never be able to really see eye to eye, trying to build a place where they can at least cooperate and work together doesn't seem so bad.

SJ sees ZZL with a human cultivator, Gongyi Xiao, and marvels at how the shy snake demon can now even talk comfortably to other people and express himself.

Even ZZL has found someone now, huh. And he...

He hasn't heard from Binghe since he disappeared into the Abyss years ago.

SJ's asked TLJ a thousand times over, but the man never gave him any news. Every journey into the Abyss is different, but even so, Binghe should have left years ago, shouldn't he?

That is, if he hadn't...

Hadn't...

SJ had once killed a man in front of a boy without blinking, and now merely thinking about the fact that the boy had probably died somewhere in the Abyss, miserable and alone, was enough to bring him to tears.

It wasn't enough he hadn't escaped the Qiu Manor unscathed. He hadn't been able to become a true Peak Lord despite working himself blood, sweat and tears for the title.

And now despite the fact he'd been in a loveless marriage for over a decade now, the person he truly cared about and loved was dead.

Hah. Funny that.

Everything that happened to SJ was funny.

*

For lack of nothing better to do, SJ returned to SXY's grave by the Luo River.

TLJ had buried her here over two decades ago, and later chose to keep her here rather than dig up her corpse and bring her to the Holy Mausoleum like his forefathers.

She, being human, probably appreciated the sentiment of being buried in a place where people could give her incense and offerings wihtout having to dodge poisoned spikes and spiders every other corner.

Still. She had been loved. At least in her last moments, she knew she'd been loved.

Someone had loved her.

SJ hoped that Binghe had known too, just before he died, that he'd been loved, and how much.

"Ah, daozhang, you dropped this."

SJ had brought some flowers to rest at SXY's grave and they'd fallen to his feet when his limbs grew weak.

"Oh." SJ wiped his eyes and blinked as the bouquet of white chrysanthemums overwhelmed his vision. "Thank you, gongzi. I - "

And then he looked up, and gazed into a pair of familiar black eyes - eyes that looked just like his father's, and a face that looked just like his mother's.

"It's been a while, hasn't it?" said Binghe with a slight smile.

Five years. He'd been gone for five years and counting...

"I'd say," SJ croaked, and then he felt himself become undone.

*

"Shizun," Binghe said urgently when SJ came to again, in a small bed in a room somewhere.

(Binghe had begun calling him that after SJ refused to be called jimu, and Master Shen felt too distant. Despite the nonsense - he was the boy's stepmother, not his teacher - it had felt right. It had been the title he'd wanted once, the one he'd never gotten to wear as his own.)

SJ closed his eyes again and rolled over to his side. "Go away," he muttered.

"I won't," Binghe said, eyes staring into his back. "Not until I know you're alright."

Oh, he was perfectly fine. "Tell me," SJ said distantly. "How long have you been out of the Abyss and thriving in the Mortal Realm?"

There was a stifling pause. Then an awkward, "Two years."

Ah. "And here I thought you'd died," SJ said. "Since the boy I'd raised like my own would surely be too well-mannered to do anything but come to me immediately when he'd survived his gauntlet. Clearly I was a moron to think you could give a shit about me."

"I did!" Binghe said. "I never meant to... please look at me," he added in a soft voice.

SJ closed his eyes and refused.

"Shizun must know I've had... unfilial feelings about him for a long time," Binghe said in halting words. "Feelings my father knew about, and understood, if not took seriously.

If I'd told you then what I felt about you, you would have laughed at me too, or called me a wretched beast. I... I _wanted_ to go to into the Abyss, not only so other demons would respect me, but because by then you might be able to see me as a man."

SJ snorted. "And then what? You changed your mind and decided to fuck off instead?"

"No!" said Binghe. "I remembered your lessons, Shizun. _All of them._ I remember how hard it was for you to train me when my dual natures were out of alignment. I thought... I knew it wouldn't be enough to be respected among demons alone, if I wanted your respect as well.

That was why I came to Huan Hua after the Abyss. I wanted to prove myself to the human cultivators and earn their respect too. Then, only then, I thought I might finally be able to..."

His voice drifted off suddenly.

"Do what?" SJ said coldly.

Binghe didn't speak, and so SJ finally sat up in bed and turned to glare at the abashed young man. "Do _what_, Binghe?" he repeated.

"I wanted..." Binghe said, scarlet. "I wanted to propose to you, Shizun."

SJ stared at him, flabbergasted.

"You... you what now."

"Shizun is well-respected wherever he goes," Binghe said. "Father and cousin both take your advice whenever you give it, and whenever cultivators come around they're always grateful to see you.

I knew that if I'd be able to match you I'd have to not only be strong, but intelligent and hard-working and a leader of men. Not to mention earning the bride price you'd deserve - Father said I had to get it all myself - "

"I don't mean _that_," SJ interrupted. "I mean, what the hell are you talking about. I'm married to your father, you ungrateful brat!"

It was Binghe's turn to boggle. "No, you're not."

SJ was going to smack him in the face. "Yes, I am. I married your father a decade ago to seal the peace alliance between the Mortal and Demon Realms. No matter how I - you feel about that, we can't break said alliance out of sheer hubris and - and feelings!"

"... Shizun," Binghe said slowly. "I think you're confused."

"Oh I am, aren't I," SJ said, feeling malicious.

"The alliance did propose a marriage between the two realms, yes," Binghe said. "But you and Father never got married. You never had a ceremony, never drank the wedding wine or made vows to each other. You've never even spent the night together."

_As if you would even know about that!_ SJ thought furiously, before grudgingly admitting to himself that yes, despite all this time he was still a virgin.

"I mean," Binghe asked, "did you not think it strange Father never called you his wife, or furen, or that everyone called you Master Shen?"

"... I thought he was just sentimental over your mother still," SJ said, a dullness coming over him at the realisation. "You mean..."

"Mm." Binghe pinked. "From the day you came home with us to the Underground Palace... well, since you saved me, actually, Father's always thought you and I would get married one day.

He was even betting on it! He just knew I'd have to grow up and mature before you'd even consider me. That was why it took me so long to see you, Shizun. I wanted to make absolutely sure - "

"Binghe," SJ said in a soft voice.

"Yes, Shizun?"

"We're going home to the Underground Palace," SJ said. "And then I am killing your father and making you Junshang outright."

"I don't think - " Binghe started, but then he saw the look on SJ's face and said hastily, "Yes, Shizun. I'll get the funeral arrangements."

"No need." SJ shuddered. "We can just bury him next to his real wife. I think he'd like that, wouldn't he?"

"Yes, Shizun," Binghe said meekly, and helped him get ready for regicide.

*

"A'Jiu, Bing'er! Good to see you again! A'Jiu, you look - wait, wait, I can explain - "

It wasn't a sight most of the servants at the Underground Palace got to see, their most majestic and powerful Saintly Ruler being chased around by Master Shen while the crown prince just watched with a helpless, indulgent expression and didn't help his father at all.

Well, they all thought as they went back to their duties, at least heavenly demons were notoriously hardy.

So even if Master Shen took an arm off their Junshang... maybe even a leg... they'd grow back eventually.

Right?

END

(Ended up a bit of a silly one, haha. Not that much bingjiu actually, but I enjoyed writing it nonetheless! Hope you enjoyed reading it as well... and yes, despite Binghe's hopes of a proposal, SJ will force him through a long courtship first before they get anywhere.

And trust me, it took every cell in my body to keep this a b9 only thing and not involve tianjiu as well. I almost never write romances where multiple characters go for the same person because I always feel devastated for the person who lost out...

but nevertheless, there's an AU of this where TLJ definitely falls for baby Milfjiu, I promise!! Binghe will just have to deal (or learn how to share) in that AU haha 🤣)