Lotus Seeds
is a Scumbag System fanfic written on Archive of Our Own.
Upon transmigrating into the body of a xianxia antagonist destined to die after being gruesomely tortured, Shen Yuan decides he won't give in to the demands of the System to meekly accept his fate. Instead, he runs away to the perfect prison, hoping to spend eternity there.
Unfortunately, some people just won't let him escape so easily.
Contains the following tropes
- Affably Evil: The Lotus Eaters genuinely love caring for their guests, constantly improving and adding to the variety of available entertainments to ensure the experience will never get boring.
- Didn't See That Coming: Luo Binghe fought pretty much everything you can imagine under the sun, cultivators, ghosts, demons and beasts... but gods (or godlike entities) he never suspected of potentially meddling with him.
- Don't Call Me "Sir": Shen Yuan shows distress when Luo Binghe calls him "Shizun" since it reminds him the ignominious demise endured by the scum villain.
- Driving Question: Luo Binghe is strongly implied to have relentlessly sought Shen Qingqiu in order to learn why his Shizun suddenly disappeared. Well, he gets his answer... and it's not pretty.
- Fluffy Tamer: Beast-taming is a rather difficult and dangerous skill. Luo Binghe first seemed to have a gift for it, only to fail in his later life, while Shen Yuan bluntly refuses to consider he might have the potential.
- Friend to All Living Things:
- Luo Binghe is mentioned to have had a menagerie until his tamed beasts went back to wildness. He genuinely was heartbroken to let them go.
- Shen Yuan made friends with Moon Flower Fishes by bringing them treats and openly gushes in front of Starry Demon Butterflies.
- Gilded Cage: The Lotus Eaters' den is nothing short of fantastic if you're looking for entertainment, immortality and the possibility to interact with any kind of people and beast imaginable. As long as you don't mind to be drugged out of your mind, that is...
- Immortality Field: It's impossible to die within the Lotus Eaters' realm. One of their guests is mentioned to be ill in the late stages, and the System is unable to "delete" Shen Yuan's "account" when he becomes a guest. Of course, when he leaves...
- Innocent Fanservice Guy: Being high as a kite on lotus seeds and genuinely confused about xianxia modesty standards, Shen Yuan unwittingly acts in a rather shameless manner in front of Luo Binghe.
- In Spite of a Nail: Luo Binghe still becomes the Demon Emperor in spite of Shen Qingqiu's uninvolvement in his life.
- Jerkass Gods: Meng Mo presents deities as meddling in mortal lives for kicks and giggles, giving a poor sucker what they ask in such a way it will absolutely backfire later. From his viewpoint, the System perfectly fulfills the criteria to be called one - and it's rather hard to argue.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: After finding his elusive Shizun in the Lotus Eaters' realm and learning the man is secretly terrified of being killed if he puts a foot outside, Luo Binghe forcefully abducts him to his palace with utter confidence that he can protect Shen Qingqiu from anything wanting to harm the immortal master. With the System not being a physical enemy, it only leads to Shen Qingqiu dying in Luo Binghe's arms.
- No Challenge Equals No Satisfaction: The idea that all of his conquests and successes were "fated" to happen infuriate Luo Binghe.
- Oh, Crap!: Shen Yuan when he realizes Luo Binghe just took him out the Lotus Eaters' Immortality Field.
- Please, Don't Leave Me: A heavily creepy instance when the Lotus Eaters attempt to prevent Luo Binghe fleeing their realm with Shen Qingqiu in tow.
- Rage Against the Heavens: Luo Binghe is blatantly unhappy with the System for murdering someone under his protection, the very person he wanted to find and keep besides him. And since he believes "Xi Tong" to be a god...
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Shen Yuan really wasn't aboard the whole "becoming a scum villain and digging his own grave through child abuse" train, so he immediately jumped on the first opportunity to retire himself from the plotline.
- Spared by the Adaptation:
- As Liu Qingge is pulled out of the Lingxi caves to try and find the missing Shen Qingqiu, he doesn't succomb to his qi deviation.
- More generally, the Cang Qiong Mountain Sect still stands as Luo Binghe wasn't abused to the point of razing it to the ground.
- Taking a Third Option: Following his transmigration, Shen Yuan was given the choice to become the scum villain and suffer his awful death, or to be killed on the spot. He ran away to the Lotus Eaters instead.
- Unkempt Beauty: Shen Yuan is unable to properly dress himself or comb his hair. Luo Binghe actually comments that Shizun "let himself go".
- Unwanted Rescue: Luo Binghe forcefully abducts Shen Qingqiu from the Lotus Eaters' realm in spite of the other man's desesperate pleas to be left there. He almost immediately regrets it when the act causes Shen Qingqiu's demise.
