LINKDING

Summary: Just months before the Immortal Alliance Conference, Luo Binghe discovers the cure to Without-a-Cure. With his own heritage still sealed and mostly unknown to him, there seems to be only one solution: Shen Qingqiu must receive the cure from the last known Heavenly Demon, Tianlang-Jun, even if it means that Luo Binghe has to grit his teeth and set his precious Shizun up with another man. Shen Qingqiu does not want to receive the cure from Tianlang-Jun. He doesn't particularly want to receive anything from Tianlang-Jun. Shen Qingqiu somehow ends up fake-dating Tianlang-Jun anyway, if only to swindle the System into delaying the Endless Abyss plot for as long as he can. ➜ svsss canon divergence au fic ➜ luo binghe, not yet aware he's a heavenly demon specifically, discovers the cure for Without-A-Cure....and is determined to get shen qingqiu the cure. from tianlang-jun. ➜ and goddamn this whole fic is SO much fun?! I adored ittttttt ➜ sqq awkwardly fake-dating a doesn't-trust-cultivators tlj while lbh resentfully but determinedly wingmans......along with the far less conflicted wingmanning of all the other peak lords ➜ teen binghe is so CUTE and sqq is the most sqq and I love them forever ➜ and wow I am genuinely so compelled by this understanding of tlj's character. he's a major character in this novel-length fic but I would happily read so much more about him! ➜ all the character dynamics in this fic are just. SO GOOD. ➜ 67k words in length

<blockquote>Hua Cheng never particularly cared for the palace intrigues of Yong’an, not until its distinguished State Preceptor came to visit with an unexpected, delicate proposal. Or, an illustrious cultivator comes to Hua Cheng for an audience in the Gambler’s Den.</blockquote> ➤ alternate third meeting

<blockquote>In a universe with a different System, Shang Qinghua is offered a help option. One Shen Yuan is recruited to provide it. This leads to fake dating, real falling in love, and far too much planning to try to complete the System's mission: fix the plot. / Shang Qinghua wasn't supposed to be there. If he'd had a choice in the matter, he wouldn't have been there. On a good day, Shen Qingqiu was a particularly prickly feral cat prepared to unleash his claws on the unwary like a rain of knives. On a bad day, he was the rain of knives. It could only be worse when he was cornered in his own home. Sure, in this particular case, he was unconscious, but Shang Qinghua knew better than to let his guard down. Unfortunately, Shang Qinghua's System was insistent that he be present. If he'd known that saving all his B points to purchase the help option would require willingly putting himself in the same room as Shen Qingqiu and Yue Qingyuan, he'd—well, okay, he probably still would've chosen that option, because all of his attempts to fill his overarching quest to "fix the plot" had so far met with failure, but he would've been a lot less enthusiastic and optimistic.</blockquote> ➤ Ending is a little abrupt bit it's a fun read!