the scum villain’s self-saving system volume 1 – moxiang tongxiu

The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System Volume 1
by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu

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Series: The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System #1
Published December 14th 2021 by Seven Seas Entertainment
Age Range: Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Representation: M/M romance, Chinese cast

Rating:

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Synopsis:

Half-demon Luo Binghe rose from humble beginnings and a tortured past to become unrivaled in strength and beauty. With his harem of over three hundred wives, and dominion over both the human and demonic realms, he is truly the most powerful protagonist—in a trashy web novel series!

At least, that’s what Shen Yuan, online alias “Peerless Cucumber,” believes as he finishes reading the final chapter in Proud Immortal Demon Way. But when a combination of rage and a poor meal choice leads to his death, Shen Yuan finds himself reborn into the world of the web novel, in the body of Shen Qingqiu—the beautiful but cruel teacher to a young Luo Binghe. Although as Shen Qingqiu, he now has incredible power and abilities as a cultivator, he’s destined to be horrifically punished for crimes against the protagonist, so this new Shen Qingqiu has only one course of action: get into Luo Binghe’s good graces before the young man’s rise to power. That’s the only way he’ll escape the awful fate of a true scum villain!

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🎋🎋🎋

Before you venture further, just know that this post will contain all sorts of spoilers you don’t wanna know if you haven’t read the book and have intentions to do so. You’ll be spoiled from the start to the end.

Although The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System was Mo Xiang Tong Xiu’s first novel, it was the last donghua that I picked up. Unsurprisingly, I’m entranced in the worlds that the author created, this one included. Out of the three novels, I believe that SVSS is the most hilarious as compared to Heaven Official’s Blessing and Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation. It’s probably because of Shen Qingqiu as the main character and his interactions with the system. 😂😂

Since I’m least familiar with SVSS, I was just intrigued with what will happen for the rest of the series after watching the donghua. And even that ended before Shen Qingqiu pushed Luo Binghe down the abyss. In terms of length, SVSS is the shortest which means the pacing is pretty fast. Something is constantly happening, the development between BingQiu pretty much destroyed me. I love the two of them together–Binghe like a little puppy running after his shizun and Qingqiu be like “why is he doing this to me when in the original novel, he’s doing this to his harem?!” MY HEART.

『 activation code:
dumfuck author, dumbfuck novel 』

Human Shen Quan fell into the Proud Immortal Demon Way novel by Airplane Shooting Towards the Sky while he was choking on his food. What’s worst? He transmigrated into a book that he hates and is an avid critic about it. Instead of taking the role of the main character, Shen Quan took the identity of the villain, Peak Lord of Qing Jing Peak in Cang Qiong Mountain Sect, Shen Qingqiu. 🤭 What luck.

New Shen Qingqiu needs to earn B-points, subjected to system’s approval, if the points = 0, he’ll return to the real world where he’s dying of asphyxiation. Any Out of Character actions, points will be deducted.

Luo Binghe: male lead of Proud Immortal Demon Way. He was abandoned by his parents as a baby. Luo Binghe was bullied under the apprenticeship of the original Shen Qingqiu. Within him runs the blood of a human and a demon. The original shizun was jealous of Luo Binghe’s cultivation skill and then caused his fall into the Endless Abyss in the Immortal Alliance Conference when Luo Binghe was only 17 years old. Using his personal sword, Xin Mo, to release his body’s seal on his demonic blood, Luo Binghe cultivated demonic skills, went down the dark path, and gained a harem. He swore to take revenge against Shen Qingqiu.

Original Shen Qingqiu killed multiple people:

• Yue Qingyuan: Shen Qingqiu’s shixiong, sect leader of Cang Qiong Mountain, Lord of Qiong Ding Peak
• Liu Qingge: Lord of Bai Zhan Peak; Liu Mingyan’s older brother

@ forest, Qing Jing Peak

Luo Binghe is 14 years old and consistently bullied by Ming Fan, who is heavily influenced by Shen Qingqiu.

When Ning Yingying (Shen Qingqiu’s youngest female disciple) talked about Luo Binghe’s jade Guanyin necklace, I almost face-palmed. It’s Luo Binghe’s prize possession as it was given to him by his adoptive mother who had passed away. Shen Qingqiu risked the deduction of B-points to retrieve the necklace. BUT it’s not just because he’s nice, the system prompted that it will be useful to him in the future. 🤦🏻‍♀️ Also, Ning Yingying likes Luo Binghe, and original Shen Qingqiu is a perv. This Shen Qingqiu, though, is only trying to push Binghe to his harem girls.

@ Shang Hu City

Shen Qingqiu’s quest: Bring his disciples there for training.
Nine people were dead. Each victim’s skin was completely peeled off. They were all beautiful women. This “Skinner Demon” knocked out Shen Qingqiu out with a blast [my first thought: n00b?!]
He woke up to find himself half-naked and tied to a pillar. Opposite, tied together were Luo Binghe and Ning Yingying.

I found it hilarious when Shen Qingqiu goaded Die’er to kill Luo Binghe because the latter has the privilege of plot armor. A perfectly constructed ceiling beam broke and fell on Die’er. [lmao, can i have the invulnerable setting in real life?] With this Shen Qingqiu finally have all control of his account. NO NEED TO FEAR OF BEING OUT OF CHARACTER!!!

The banter between Shen Qingqiu and the System was hilarious: “no i’m just preventing NYY from losing faith in me. allowing LBH on my cart isn’t OOC which means it isn’t a violation” made the System speechless. 🤭 

@ Ling Xi Caves, Qiong Ding Peak

Back at Cang Qiong Mountain Sect, Shen Qingqiu entered secluded cultivation in preparation for the Immortal Alliance Conference. Before that, he handed an actual cultivation manual to Luo Binghe because the previous one was a fake (given by OG Shen Qingqiu).

In the caves, Shen Qingqiu found Liu Qingge, Bai Zhan Peak Lord, whose spiritual circulation was messed up. This is the second person that we know OG Shen Qingqiu killed. With this action of New Shen Qingqiu, the scenario “Liu Qingge’s Death” was changed.

『 system notification:
“liu qingge’s death” changed 』

Cang Qiong Mountain’s 12 Peaks (or rather 9…)

1. Qiong Ding Peak [穹顶峰; Domed Roof Peak]: rules the peaks
2. Qing Jing Peak [清静峰; Clear Calm Peak]: scholars and artists; teaches Four Arts (琴棋書畫: qin, stringed instrument; qi, strategy; shu, calligraphy; hua, painting)
3. Wan Jian Peak [萬劍峰; Ten Thousand Swords Peak]: swordsmen; where disciples obtain their sword
4. An Ding Peak [安定峰; Steady Peak]: logistics
5. Xian Shu Peak [仙姝峰; Immortal Ladies Peak]: only accepts female disciples
6. Bai Zhan Peak [百战峰; Hundred Battles Peak]: greatest martial ability
7. Qian Cao Peak [千草峰; Thousand Grass Peak]: medicine, healing arts
8. Ku Xing Peak [苦行峰; Ascetic Peak]: only male disciples; abstain from indulgence; self-disicpline
9. Zui Xian Peak [醉仙峰; Drunken Immortal Peak]: alcohol production

leaving seclusion and into demon invasion

Following the original plot of Proud Immortal Demon Way, Shen Qingqiu knew that demons will be invading Cang Qiong Mountain Sect, headed by Demon Saints Sha Hualing.

1 vs 1. 3 matches.

• Shen Qingqiu vs demon Elder “Single Arm”: the Qing Jing Peak Lord defeated the demon without using his hands
• Sha Hualing vs Liu Mingyan: the beauty of Xian Shu Peak lost. Both were in OG Luo Binghe’s harem
• Luo Binghe vs demon Elder “Sky Hammer” Tianchui: the disciple has to participate if not points will be deducted. Although Luo Binghe won, and caught his harem’s attention, Shen Qingqiu was pierced by the “Without a Cure” armor. He totally forgot that Luo Binghe has the male lead undefeatable shield.

Shen Qingqiu have to suppress the effect of “Without a Cure” but will experience stagnating spiritual qi. In the original tale, a shimei from another sect was the one to be hit by this rare poison, and became a part of Luo Binghe’s harem. This Shen Qingqiu is puzzled as to why this happened to him instead. [EVERYONE KNOWS WHY EXCEPT FOR YOU SHEN QINGQIU. 😂😂]

LBH no longer wants a harem. shizun is enough

Luo Binghe: if shizun likes, i’ll cook congee for you every day with variation.

Shen Qingqiu: *chokes**thinks to himself* Luo Binghe’s excellent cooking skills were his foremost lady-killing technique

If Luo Binghe fails to complete the “Endless Abyss” scenario, 10,000 satisfaction points will be deducted.

in a dream realm,

『 scenario:
the ‘dream demon’ meng mo’s barrier 』

Instead of Ning Yingying being pulled into this illusion, Luo Binghe brought Shen Qingqiu (most trusted person in the world). Within this scene, Meng Mo, an accomplished demon elder, became one of Luo Binghe’s teachers on his path of cultivating his demon energy.

Things that happened:

• Luo Binghe revisited the moment when his foster mother died.
• The line “become stronger to protect my important person” should be said to female lead not Shen Qingqiu [MXTX making me swoon and laugh at the same time.]
• After knowing that he has some demonic blood, Luo Binghe accepted The Portable Grandfather’s offer to pursue demonic cultivation, but wouldn’t call him “shifu” [BECAUSE HE ALREADY HAVE HIS SHIZUN 😍😍]

i missed you, shizun

Luo Binghe sat in the seat next to his and steadily poured a cup of tea, then pushed it toward Shen Qingqiu’s hand.

“The disaster wasn’t difficult to handle. I also missed Shizun terribly, so I rushed back without stopping to rest.”

These words sounded rather slick and insincere, but since LBH was the male lead, he had the ability to make the slickest of smooth-talking matchlessly warm and genuine.

On Shen Qingqiu, this attack was… super effective!

@ Jue Di Gorge, Immortal Alliance Conference

On the way there, Luo Binghe saw Shen Qingqiu staring at Liu Mingyan and got jealous.

“Beautiful beyond comprehension?” he muttered. She wasn’t even showing her entire face. No matter how beautiful she was, could she be better-looking than him?

4 great cultivation sects:

• Cang Qiong Mountain
• Zhao Hua Monastery
• Tian Yi Temple
• Huan Hua Palace

The Immortal Alliance Conference will last for 7 days. Each kill will receive a prayer bead. Spiritual qi within the prayer beads will differ based on the creature’s difficulty level. Shen Qingqiu, knowing the ending of the original novel, bet 5,000 spirit stones on Luo Binghe. Leading a group of weaker cultivators, Luo Binghe is ranked low.

The group included:

• Qin Wanyue: another sect’s disciple; first maiden to sleep with OG Luo Binghe.
• Qin Wanrong: Wayue’s sister; part of OG Luo Binghe’s harem. in this version, she was swallowed and spat out by Nu Yuan Chan, a high level demon.

The sect leaders rushed into the barriers to save the disciples. They retreated to the place where” Thousand-Leaves Fresh-Snow Lotus” was growing. It could cure demonic poison which Luo Binghe wanted to get for Shen Qingqiu.

Surprise! Shang Qinghua, the Peak Lord of An Ding Peak, is a spy planted by the demons and was the one who orchestrated this whole mess. In the original work, Luo Binghe’s demonic heritage was exposed because someone released a Black Moon Rhinoceros-Python at the Conference, and OG Shen Qingqiu used this opportunity to kill Luo Binghe. Unfortunately, a higher level demon appears in this version. The Endless Abyss opened and Mobei-Jun emerged earlier than expected. He is Luo Binghe’s future subordinate, and directly removed the seal suppressing Luo Binghe’s demonic blood.

『 system notification:
“the endless abyss and endless hatred, a sky filled with crystal frost and tears of blood” has officially begun 』

OG Luo Binghe was only kicked down by Shen Qingqiu, but there’s a stab of Xiu Ya now. With great distress, Shen Qingqiu pushed Luo Binghe down the Endless Abyss.

『 system notification:
you have successfully completed the key quest, “the legend begins: luo binghe’s fall and rebirth” 』

However, due to extraordinary circumstances, a new point value has been activated: LBH’s heartbreak points. Due to excessively high heartbreak level, protagonist satisfaction points have been reset to zero.

PLOT TWIST! Shang Qinghua is the author “Airplane Shooting Towards the Sky” and transmigrated into the story as the Peak Lord of An Ding Peak. He’s pretty bummed about the fact that he’s not the System.

Then Shen Qingqiu unleashed a final strike, which extinguished the last trace of light within Luo Binghe’s eyes.
He knew he would never forget Luo Binghe’s expression from the moment of his fall.

Only Shen Qingqiu knew that the one he was a mourning was in truth within that sword mount, buried underneath and never to return: that youth as warm as the sun.

Shen Qingqiu brought Shang Qinghua to find the Moon-Sun Dew Mushroom at Bai Lu Forest in Han Hua Palace. They met Gongyi Xiao who guided them. Shen Qingqiu managed to find the mushroom but didn’t notice that there was a tiny Mushroom sprout underneath the snake-man he just defeated.

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Phew, I’m done with my review/recap/rant of The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System Volume 1 by Moxiang Tongxiu. This is the last first book that I picked up amongst the trio, but it’s one of the easiest novel to read. I loved the dynamic between Luo Binghe and Shen Qingqiu. Luo Binghe was supposed to be this scary, demonic character that I kept hearing about, but at age 14, he’s like a little puppy always trying to make its owner happy. Whenever he gets taken aback at new Shen Qingqiu’s behavior, his satisfaction points increased. After the Endless Abyss scene, though, I believe things will change.

I still can’t believe that Shen Qingqiu isn’t noticing Luo Binghe’s feelings for him. Maybe it’s only obvious to outsiders. As of this review, I’m more than half-way through SVSS Volume 2, and I have so much feels! The review for that will probably be shorter considering that it’s only 300 pages.

Anyway, that’s it for today! Hope you enjoyed this.