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sillygoofyqueer · 2 months ago

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WOOO FUCKED UP XIANXIAN. I humbly ask for how the burial mounds change him (ur au is feeding me and giving me inspiration to draw it is a NEED for more info)

Heheeheheheeee oookay!!! Who am I to deny such a loving worshipper of my shrine? For starters, let's talk about the hair. The iconic, grimy hair. It's covered in really dried blood and dirt from you know, qi deviation supreme plus tearing apart a guy with his bare hands plus getting beat half to death PLUS being thrown into the Burial Mounds. This, is quite an issue, especially with the previous knots n shit always in his hair anyway. At first, Wei Ying is stubborn about keeping it, stubborn about being able to honour his parents while they are dead, but then there's the issue of practicality. Eventually he breaks and saws off the worst parts of his hair with Suibian, meaning that his hair...well, looks like it's been cut with a sword. He can put it up into a ponytail with his mother's ribbon, but there's always different bits slipping free because there's all different lengths.

Now the rest of it! You know how I mentioned that the Burial Mounds sent resentful energy curling through Wei Ying's system as like a mini heal before his golden core could start healing it all up himself? Well, that shows the most in his EYE. REMEMBER??? I said that he has a sort of cloudy eye from a training session with Wen Xu!! SO, his eye has resentful energy just swirling around in there (in the sclera to be specific), and he goes through bouts where he can see out of it really well and he's like holy SHIT this is great, and then sometimes he can't see out of it at ALL. It's either one hundred percent or zero percent. The Burial Mounds is really trying Its best, I promise.

Also also, I mentioned how the resentful energy seemed to 'stain' his fingers and basically leaves his joints impossible to move sometimes without an acupuncture session from Wen Qing to help the resentful energy 'flow'. Well, without these sessions, mixed with much more resentful energy being used each day, this 'stain' is basically not even a stain anymore, dark black and reaching up to mid bicep at least, slowly crawling up to his shoulders. His arms are in constant pain, they hurt to move and use, but Wei Ying can't just not use his arms, so he has to power through them. Some days, when he can find time to meditate a little, it helps, but it's just a temporary fix each time.

The resentful energy is also crawling through his veins to help with any breaks and bursts so there are like patches of his skin that are also a deep black, thin cracks in his skin where it has breached his skin. His legs and hips deal with this the most because they dealt with a lot of the blows and took most of the damage during the fall, so there are splashes of resentful energy and cracks of it where his bone broke skin. He's basically in constant pain and will be until he can get out of the Burial Mounds so his golden core has juice to heal his fucked up body. A different note but he's also just very skinny, very gaunt, just muscle (because he needs to learn how to fight through the never ending pain and Suibian gets restless without the wind on her blade).

The resentful energy constantly within his body is also...having stranger effects. He doesn't notice any of them of course, he doesn't have time to think about why he doesn't need to blink basically at all anymore, why his neck doesn't break with how he moves it, or why his bones just click and shift slightly instead of breaking if they bend inwards instead of outwards. The Burial Mounds doesn't want him to hurt anymore, so It's helping by making him....more flexible? (Changing his body. Twisting it.) His joints can all be just snapped backwards and it doesn't cause that much pain, just a vague soreness or like an itch that can't be stitched. Sometimes, when the resentful energy is at its strongest, he can go almost an hour without breathing before he randomly does one of those big breaths and doesn't notice it's the first one he's done in a while.

I almost forgot about the scars!! So many scars. Oh my god. His fingers are very crooked because they probably fractured both from the beatings and also while ripping a guy's chest open, which I can only assume takes a fair bit of force. It's easy to see where the new scars are with his new tone of skin - tanned corpse!! The new scars are a mixture of beating scars, raised skin where bone has broken flesh and then burn scars. "Why are there-" I'M OBVIOUSLY GOING TO TELL YOU. GOD. It's because the few times that Wei Ying is meditating and his natural qi can sort of 'take the wheel a little', it tries to burn out the resentful energy, but it's literally in Wei Ying's skin and body, so it just ends up burning at his skin n shit. I don't know where else to add this so I'm putting this here but this man is literally in ONE robe. He is in his inner robe with gashes rips and blood stains and mud on it. He is TITS out, the resentful energy pulsing through his brand mark (claw marks from where he tried to rip it out during his qi deviation by the way).

BONUS because I'm going to make this the post of the day (I mistimed everything siiiigh) -> The Burial Mounds definitely has a 'physical' form that he takes for Wei Ying's benefit, and It tries to appear in a form that is known to Wei Ying. However, It only has Wei Ying as a reference....and we know that Wei Ying's Not Doing Great right now. Of course, It is made from the collective resentful energy of thousands of deaths upon these grounds, but it's more a feeling, a concept, rather than all of the spirits remembering absolutely everything about themselves. They do not remember what they once were, they don't remember what humans are, these are creatures fuelled only by hatred, or revenge, or loss, or sadness etc. That is what makes up the Burial Mounds.

Anyway, so, using Wei Ying (and generic things) as a frame of reference, what does the Burial Mounds look like? For one, It is like, scary tall, looming over Wei Ying - this is so It can take care of him! It has noticed that the younger creatures are often smaller than the older creatures, and Wei Ying is Its child, so It must be bigger than him! It just is...a lot bigger than him. It's also very skinny, because Wei Ying is skinny, and once again, young creatures are often smaller imitations of the older creatures, so It must be skinnier! This leads to an obviously terrifying effect of Its skin clinging to Its 'bones' because It doesn't doesn't know what muscles are and doesn't think It needs them like Wei Ying.

It also notices that Wei Ying has really long hair and is really determined to keep it long, so of course It has to have long hair as well!!! Thick, black hair that hangs around Its face, revealing a singular red eye, and down Its body, dragging at Its feet with every move it makes. Sometimes, when Wei Ying is stressed and his hands aren't too bad, he practices hairstyles on It. Its actual features are indiscernible. They flicker and change, different features of the spirits fuelling It appearing at any moment. It has a singular grey robe on, and It looks like It's just crawled out of a grave with it on. Its impossibly pale skin is littered with scars, shifting to symbolise different spirits' deaths as well.

#mad scientist wei wuxian au #my hand slipped I swear #I was supposed to answer this one and make a separate post today #but for some reason I was gripped by the throat and told to “shut the fuck up and think about this too much”#so here we are #not gonna lie I think I cooked hard with this one #mayhaps my longest post yet #and I'm STILL late for bed #jesus christ #grandmaster of demonic cultivation #mo dao zu shi #mxtx mdzs #mdzs au #mdzs #wei wuxian #wei ying #the burial mounds #four's asks

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withthewindinherfootsteps · 9 months ago

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For all the very self-sacrificial Wei Wuxian takes out there, I think they may actually fit Lan Wangji more?

…Before you disagree, there’s a big caveat to this – I don’t think these takes fit either of them well. But it’s interesting to compare their default responses to situations. Both want to help others – but whereas Wei Wuxian’s first instinct is to redirect (redirecting attacks to other targets, redirecting enemies’ attention to distract them, etc), Lan Wangji is much more direct in his protection*. And generally, that’s going to lead to putting yourself in harm’s way more often.

My favourite scene to demonstrate this is when Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji (alongside Jin Zixuan) are protecting Mianmian in the Xuanwu cave. Wei Wuxian does this by redirecting Wen Chao’s attention to him, provoking him and causing him to step out of Wen Zhuliu’s range of protection. Meanwhile, Lan Wangji stands in front of her, blocking her from danger directly… despite being at a disadvantage and already injured!

Wen Chao was enraged, shouting, “How dare you! Kill them!” A few of the Wen Sect’s disciples unsheathed their swords, rushing toward Lan WangJi and Jin ZiXuan (...) the two boys were at a loss in terms of both weaponry and sheer numbers. Even more, after the past days of being constantly on the move, they were in quite a bad state, not to mention that Lan WangJi had been injured. They definitely wouldn’t be able to last long. Chapter 52, EXR translation

This is a scenario with high stakes (Mianmian’s life), but also with multiple solutions, meaning that their choices aren’t muddied by there only being one option. Yet we still see Lan Wangji directly defend – despite the fact that, if Wei Wuxian hadn’t intervened, he almost certainly would have died! And that’s true of another moment in the Xuanwu cave I never hear anyone talk about:

Before Wei WuXian could think of what to do next, his body tilted as somebody shoved him to the side. Lan WangJi had pushed him out of the way. With this opportunity, the jaws of the beast had closed, biting down on his leg. Wei WuXian’s right leg hurt from simply watching the scene. Lan WangJi’s face was still expressionless. He had only frowned slightly. Afterward, he was immediately dragged away! (...) Lan WangJi didn’t expect that [Wei Wuxian] could catch up even under such circumstances. He was utterly shocked. Chapter 53, EXR translation

Admittedly, this is a scenario with more limited options, which is why I mentioned Mianmian first. But his reaction stays consistent – directly blocking somebody from a threat with his own body. And again, he didn’t think Wei Wuxian could do anything to rescue him! He does not expect to survive, and we just… don’t talk about this???

(And note that when Wei Wuxian rescues him, he actually puts himself in less danger! Again, this is mainly due to the limited solutions – you can’t rescue someone who’s already bitten down on by blocking the mouth from biting down on them – but he’s still in a position where he does have the option to get out of the situation if he chooses (he’s not between the teeth! His hands are opening the teeth from the outside, his feet are on its shell, he can jump into the water at any time and does after Lan Wangji is safe. There is danger of the Xuanwu choosing to attack him, but his position on its own doesn’t put him in mortal peril, which is not the case for Lan Wangji here). So though it doesn’t give us that much insight into how he prefers to deal with situations, the dynamic is still interesting to consider with regard to how fanon!WWX is often treated.)

Now, maybe these examples are unfair. Maybe Lan Wangji here was very tired (he was), stressed (he was) and not thinking straight, and so he just didn’t think of other options that he would’ve chosen in normal circumstances. If that’s the case, it still supports my point – no matter his eventual course of action, his first thought/instinct is still to obstruct directly – but this isn’t just a pattern limited to this arc, and to such high-stakes situations. For example, look at his reaction when the Wens order the Lans to burn the Cloud Recesses (and though I’d be very surprised if Lan Wangji wasn’t stressed here too, he’s at least less tired).

Wei WuXian, “Is Lan Zhan’s leg related to this?” The disciple, “Of course. The first place that Wen Xu ordered them to burn down was the Library Pavilion. He declared that he’ll teach anyone who wasn’t willing to do it a lesson. Lan WangJi refused. He was attacked by Wen Xu’s people and they broke one of his legs.” - Chapter 52, EXR translation

I say this is low-stakes because actions won’t actually have that much of an impact – though there is danger, the Cloud Recesses are going to be burned down no matter what, so it’s not something you’re risking by not acting to prevent it. Yet Lan Wangji still chooses to directly oppose, to directly protect the pavilion as much as he can (even if that’s very little, and even if I do think the main factor here was actually his refusal to go against his principles and burn down the Cloud Recesses, not him trying to protect them. But that still leads to the same course of action: to act very directly). And again, that results in direct bodily harm to him**!

But even in situations where he’s not stressed or under any pressure, we still see that direct protection is his default. Just look at the way he acts towards Wei Wuxian in the present day. One of his very first actions towards him (and pretty much the very first after finding out his identity!) is to block Jiang Cheng from hurting ‘Mo Xuanyu’ with Zidian – to quote EXR, “[Wei Wuxian] hadn’t been hit by the whip yet only because Lan WangJi acted as a barricade in front of him.” – and after that we often see him protecting Wei Wuxian from dogs, we see him let Wei Wuxian stand behind him when Jiang Cheng is angry at the Golden Core reveal (Chapter 102), we even see him protecting Wei Wuxian from things they both know he can face (Su She):

On the other hand, Lan WangJi gripped Bichen in one hand as he grabbed Wei WuXian’s waist with his other, pushing Wei WuXian behind him for better protection. In reality, Wei WuXian had no need for his protection, but he still leaned against his body with both comfort and compliance. Chapter 104, EXR

None of this leads to any harm of either of them, but it still holds true to the pattern of Lan Wangji protecting by physically putting himself between what he’s defending, and harm’s way. This response of his is extremely consistent! And it’s not just towards Wei Wuxian either – there’s a tiny moment in the Lotus Seed Pod extra which you could argue fits this pattern, where Lan Wangji chooses to physically hold the heavy roof of an abandoned shed to block the rain from reaching an injured man and a few other people, rather than trying something like using wood from the shed (including the four pieces of unattached wood propping the shed up) to build a temporary shelter for them until help arrives. The circumstances and therefore actions are slightly different, but the process leading to them is still the same – Lan Wangji still acts in the most direct way he can to protect the people from the rain, which does involve exerting himself even in a situation where there would probably be other ways to solve it (even if his Lan arm strength means he can hold the roof up without a problem). It’s not a deliberate choice to do whatever puts him in harm’s way the most, but directly using himself to protect people, whatever form that takes, is his main and default course of action.

The final thing I want to mention is that even Lan Wangji’s ‘big reveal’ moment – him being the one to take Wei Wuxian away from Nightless City, fighting 33 elders to protect him – calls back to this trait as well (MDZS is so well put together)! Once more, Lan Wangji is directly protecting, risking and suffering serious bodily harm as a result. Recovering took a few years!

…And yet. I never see anybody thinking Lan Wangji is self-sacrificial. I’d argue they’re right – but why? Why, when he puts himself in harm’s way more than Wei Wuxian does?

Maybe it’s because of something like this: ‘but he does this because he loves Wei Wuxian and doesn’t want to see him hurt, and protecting others is just part of his morals! It doesn’t point to any issue within him, he does have a stable sense of self and self-worth – at least there isn’t anything pointing to the opposite’.

Which, again, I’d argue is right.

But… does that really not apply to Wei Wuxian, too?

---

*And there are moments where they don’t act like this, especially for Wei Wuxian, but that’s generally in situations where there aren’t any other options which still lead to them accomplishing their goals. Protecting the Wens by… redirecting the Jianghu’s hatred towards other people? How would he do that? How would that help anything??

**It’s quite interesting to think of how Wei Wuxian would act in these situations, actually – both being forced to burn down the Cloud Recesses (or Lotus Pier, in this case), and in preventing (in this case) Lan Wangji from being eaten by a Xuanwu rushing towards him. The first, I’m not actually sure what exactly he would do (especially as nothing he can do will stop the burning) – I’m not sure he’d just go along with it, but I don’t see him just refusing to despite that not doing anything, either (especially since if he’s unharmed, he’ll be more able to protect his shidi and shimei if they’re in danger, since he’s a much more skilled cultivator/fighter than they are), at least not in the same way. Hearing people’s thoughts on that would be really interesting, actually!

As for the second – if there’s really no time to change anything about the head or its direction, he would probably do the same (with the only other option being letting Lan Wangji die). But if there was the smallest room to change something, I could definitely see him activating another fire talisman (to distract the Xuanwu and redirect its attention to the pillar of flame instead of Lan Wangji, even if just for a moment). And even if self sacrifice really needed to be an option, with no way out beside it, I think Wei Wuxian’s would take the form of redirecting the Xuanwu’s head towards him rather than directly blocking it from reaching Lan Wangji. When he does put himself in danger in canon, this is usually how he does it (see: him redirecting the corpses towards himself during the Second Siege, while Lan Wangji is protecting him and blocking them from reaching him… another nice example of their situational response!).

I do plan on writing a separate meta about Wei Wuxian’s tendency to redirect, though, so some of these points may be reiterated there.

#surprise! the lan wangji post was about wei wuxian all along!#this aspect of him is really interesting though and comparing situational responses IS so interesting #it really makes you see just how well written the characters are – their patterns under pressure ARE consistent and so many important-#-moments in the plot tie into those very aspects too #*holds mdzs up* i just think it's neat #lan wangji #wei wuxian #mdzs meta #my meta #mdzs #mo dao zu shi #魔道祖师 #grandmaster of demonic cultivation #gdc

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