Tests, Enemies, and Allies (pt 1)- Scumbag System

 Hello and welcome back to the Peerless Page-Turner blog! I hope everyone had a good weekend!

 Let's move into the subject for today -- tests, enemies, and allies. The novel I have chosen to explore this in is Scum Villain's Self-Saving System. As a fantasy novel it has very clear examples of tests, enemies, and allies.

I will focus mostly on the enemies that the protagonist faces.  

The person who has challenged my main character the most is Tianlang-Jun, an ancient king who was sealed under a mountain, and after 100 years returned with the goal of merging the demon and human realms. After the two main characters, Shen Qingqiu and Luo Binghe became trapped in the Holy Mausoleum, the home of Tianlang-Jun, Luo Binghe is knocked out and Shen Qingqiu must try to escape while protecting Luo Binghe from Tianlang-Jun, who wants to kill Binghe. 

While running from Tianlang-Jun, Shen Qingqiu had to carry the unconscious body of Luo Binghe, despite being heavily injured himself. The following two quotes show Shen Qingqiu's "toughness" during this scene:

"The more he walked the sharper the pain in his stomach grew, but he walked faster instead of slowing down. It was partly because he had an increased pain tolerance, but more importantly, he knew he absolutely could not collapse now." (Tong Xiu, Scum Villain's Self-Saving System, Ch 62)

"Shen Qingqiu couldn’t hear clearly through the buzzing in his ears and his sight was blurred, but he knew he had to drag Luo Binghe to the entrance and throw him through." (Ch. 62)

I believe these quotes showcase the courage and perseverance that Shen Qingqiu had when facing Tianlang-Jun. At the beginning of the novel Shen Qingqiu only cares for himself and his own life, but now, we can see that he's changed. In this scene Shen Qingqiu faces death, but instead of sacrificing Luo Binghe to save himself, he gives his own life to save Binghe. He is injured, in pain, and knows that he cannot beat Tianlang-Jun, but he is also determined to save Luo Binghe, even if it means he'll lose his own life. 

 In the end Luo Binghe manages to escape, but Shen Qingqiu is captured by Tianlang-Jun.  Shen Qingqiu's 'toughness', growth, courage and perseverance is apparent in this situation, which represents growth from what he was like at the beginning, where he was only focused on saving himself.