System: This is not something you can change.
Do not let the comedy fool you; it hides all the knives that the story plans to plunge into your heart and gut soon enough.
All spoilers are unmarked.
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General
- Luo Binghe's story from start to end in the original canon is just basically a huge Trauma Conga Line. It's no wonder Shen Yuan was so incensed that Luo Binghe never got a happy ending.
- He was abandoned as a baby and then adopted by a washerwoman who later on dies of starvation soon after he was trying to get food for her.
- He enters Qing Jing Peak and is then abused by his sect brothers and teacher who he was only trying to please. Then said teacher pushes him into the Endless Abyss out of petty jealousy, leaving him to die.
- Once he comes back and exacts revenge on everyone who wronged him, and even then, it's hinted that he's still not truly satisfied. Despite his title as the Demon Lord, having a large harem of wives, and conquering whatever he pleases, he's still a traumatized boy who will never receive the kind of genuine love he craves for.
- The relationship between the original Shen Qingqiu and Yue Qingyuan, doomed to disaster in two different timelines.
- Once upon a time, Yue Qi and Xiao Jiu both were slave brats who could rely only on each other. When Xiao Jiu is sold to the Qiu family to be abused for the next several years, Yue Qi swears he will grow strong and come back to free the younger boy. His attempt to gain power too quickly backfires, leaving him unable to fulfill his promise and forcing Xiao Jiu to kill the Qius himself and join a demonic cultivator, contributing to his trauma. When they're finally reunited, Xiao Jiu believes Yue Qi merely forgot him in order to become a righteous, respectable cultivator and Yue Qingyuan is too ashamed of his weakness to even explain why he never came back, merely apologizing again and again. And when Luo Binghe ultimately decides to torture Shen Qingqiu and reduce him to a Fate Worse than Death, Yue Qingyuan's attempt to rescue him causes him to be killed — pushing Shen Qingqiu over the Despair Event Horizon.
- After Shen Yuan's transmigration, Yue Qingyuan is shown to be worried by Shen Qingqiu's drastic personality change but his martial siblings brutally reject his proposition to try and give the man his memories back as they like the altered personality more. He later comes to terms with the new situation as he bonds with Shen Qingqiu, but as Shen Qingqiu is painfully reminded, this is not him finally repairing his relationship with Xiao Jiu. The original goods is dead, and no matter how much he wishes for it, Yue Qingyuan will never be able to reconcile with him.
Main Story
Pre-Time Skip
- While the abuse Luo Binghe suffers in the altered canon is greatly lessened than his original counterpart, in the donghua he still flinches whenever Ming Fan raises a hand towards him and does the same whenever Shen Qingqiu approaches him, even averting his gaze.
- Ming Fan and the others bullying Luo Binghe and taking away his fake jade pendant, the only thing left he has of his adoptive mother. After Shen Qingqiu chases the bullies away behind the scene, Luo Binghe desperately searches for the pendant and Ning Ying Ying quietly apologizes for being the cause of his problems.
- Despite Shen Qingqiu attempting to act nicer to Luo Binghe, the boy is still wary of his master, and he was shocked when Shen Qingqiu suggests that the Skinner take Luo Binghe's skin instead. While it was to distract the demon, you can't blame Luo Binghe for thinking the kindness his shizun was showing him earlier was nothing but an act.
- Meng Mo's dreamscape for Luo Binghe, taunting him with memories of his sect brother's bullying him and showing him a dying image of his adoptive mother.
- During the tournament, demons that weren't normally allowed inside the barrier suddenly start pouring in and killing disciples left and right. The sect leaders watch on in horror through the mirror and the readers are treated to a scene of a girl losing her twin sister who she was unable to save. After the battle, while the Hua Huan palace lost the most disciples, Qi Jing Peak lost the least, but Shen Qingqiu knows that there were likely older sect disciples and even unnamed cultivation sects who were hit even harder than everyone else.
- In the donghua after Shen Qingqiu is forced to stab Luo Binghe and push him into the Abyss, his disciple's face looks nothing but hurt. He still attempts to approach his Shizun allowing Xiu Ya to impale his chest and Shen Qingqiu can't bring himself to fully stab his disciple. Yet even as Luo Binghe falls, he outstretches his hand towards his Shizun as the other watches with an equally distressed face. Made worse when a week later, Shen Qingqiu is reward his B-Points, but only because Luo Binghe was actually waiting at the bottom of the Endless Abyss for his Shizun, but it was only after a week did he finally give up.
- The System notifies Shen Qingqiu that he won't receive any more points for a while because the protagonist was not near and because Luo Binghe was "heartbroken".
- All of the disciples at the peak acts like they're walking on eggshells around their Shizun as many point out he seemed like he had lost his soul and evey now and then he'd unconsciously call out for Luo Binghe to look over a task. Ning Yingying is one of the few to reach out to Shen Qingqiu as she tearfully offers to make him food in Luo Binghe's place because she didn't want her Shizun to be sad anymore. As he's given the remains of Zheng Yang, he casually makes a grave at the back of his bamboo house for Luo Binghe."Other people, seeing him in a trance in front of the hollow monument, thought he missed and was thinking about his beloved disciple, the sad sigh and expression of his deep and true feelings for hid disciple as he created the grave himself. Only he knew, in the midst of a sad sigh, that the person buried inside the sword mound, that pleasantly warn and bright young boy, would never return again."
- Shen Qingqiu and the others going to a city plagued by a strange curse, with a young boy attempting to dissuade the men from entering in order to save them. His father had left the city in order to seek out aid from the cultivators and died in the process, leaving Yang Yixuan an orphan. Even he seems aware of his loss as he looks around once everyone is cured, but knows that his father is never coming back.
- Shen Qingqiu detonating his golden core to stop Luo Binghe from being corrupted by Xin Mo. This leads Luo Binghe to completely break down as he cradles Shen Qingqiu's lifeless body and continue to look after his body for years to come, hoping his Shizun could be resurrected. Ning Yingying and the other Qing Jing disciple's grief at losing their shizun is also highlighted, with Ning Yingying pleading for Luo Binghe to let their shizun's body go.
Post Time Skip
- Shen Qingqiu comes back to life and finds out that Luo Binghe has become a cold and distant demon lord. But he gets even more violent when Sha Hualing attempts to cheer her lord up by bringing him someone who looks just like his Shizun. Luo Binghe nearly chokes Sha Hualing to death as he growls that she never bring up that person again.
- Shen Qingqiu finds Luo Binghe laying next to the corpse of his original body when he sleeps. In his dreams, all Sheng Qingqiu sees is Luo Binghe reliving his time as a disciple when he could be around his shizun. The reason Luo Binghe realizes his shizun was alive was due to the other smiling at him, when for the past few years all Luo Binghe could imagine in his dreams were of his Shizun standing peacefully but never looking at him. The mixture of hurt, elation and desire that goes through Luo Binghe's face is noted upon deeply.
- After Shen Qingqiu gives himself up to Luo Binghe so he wouldn't harm the other cultivators, the others react in dismay. From Yue Qingyuan trying to beg Shen Qingqiu to return to their peak, Qi Qingqi being happy but confused at Shen Qingqiu's revival and Liu Qingge attempting to still fight Luo Binghe to protect Shen Qingqiu from him.
- The way Luo Binghe treats Shen Qingqiu after taking the other back with him to his palace. He wants to be close, but is still respectful to Shen Qingqiu's wishes that he not come near or touch him. Even though he can't be close to his shizun, Luo Binghe still cooks Shen Qingqiu some food, ordering the demon staff to not tell his shizun where the food came from, although Shen Qingqiu can easily tell it's Luo Binghe's food.
Extras
Zhuzhi-Lang Extras
- Zhuzhi-Lang's initial form is bullied and seen as a weakling to other demon's with the only way he can defend himself was by running or hiding. The reason he become so attached to his uncle Tianlang-Jun was because even when the other insulted his appearance, he was the only person to ever treat him with any form of kindness. Thus, he would give his life to look after him or die for him.
Face-Off
- The Face-Off extra can surprise the reader by having them feel sorry for the original Luo Binghe, who Shen Qingqiu had previously only encountered during the Punishment Protocol sequence where he tears off two of Shen Qingqiu's limbs. At this point, the reader knows that Luo Binghe's entire character had turned dark from Shen Jiu's abuse, causing him to become ruthless and sadistic. However, his battle with the alternate Luo Binghe hints at his inner turmoil over the fact that despite getting everything he thought he wanted, he's still resentful that he never got the genuine affection and approval of the shizun he once looked up to. For all his mocking of the other Luo Binghe not managing to have a single wife, it soon becomes obvious that he resents the monogamy and devotion that the other shares with Shen Qingqiu.Even though they were both 'Luo Binghe', why did he get to meet this kind of Shen Qingqiu, while he himself met the petty, shameless personification of jealousy. Why?!
