#ch: yang ying

[doufudanshi]

ON GHOSTS AND DEMONS: Wei Wuxian's "demonic" cultivation?

There are a few big misconceptions I have repeatedly seen in English-speaking fandom about things that are fundamental to the story of MDZS. One of them is this—

Wei Wuxian is not a demonic cultivator.

To prove this, let's take a deep dive into the original Chinese text of MDZS.

(Adapted from my original gdoc posted on Twitter on May 27, 2022. All translations my own unless otherwise stated.)

Demon vs. ghost

Let's start from the very basics. In addition to orthodox cultivation using spiritual energy and a golden core, there are two other forms of cultivation that are mentioned in the novel:

魔道 (mó dào), or “demon cultivation/path.”

鬼道 (guǐ dào), or “ghost cultivation/path.”

To be clear, 魔 mo "demons" and 鬼 gui "ghosts" (and thus their respective cultivation/paths) are not interchangeable because of the in-universe worldbuilding within MDZS. Using the characters in the term 妖魔鬼怪 "monsters," MXTX created four distinct categories of beings, each of which has a strict definition in the novel. From chapter 4 (jjwxc ch 13):

妖者非人之活物所化; 魔者生人所化; 鬼者死者所化; 怪者非人之死物所化。 Yāo (妖) are transformed from non-human living beings; mó (魔) are transformed from living people; guǐ (鬼) are transformed from the deceased; guài (怪) are transformed from non-human dead beings.

And of course, WWX hoards all the ghost-type pokemon monsters at the Phoenix Mountain tournament, and he only exerts control over corpses, spirits, and the like (aka people who have already died). (As opposed to Xue Yang, who appears to have been actively trying to make 魔 "demons" out of living people with those "living corpses" of his, perhaps.) (And, ironically, in order to avoid showing necromancy / zombies on screen, CQL technically does show WWX practicing demon cultivation because everyone is "supposedly alive" even when they're corpses? Which is, funnily enough, far worse morally in the MDZS universe, lol.)

So, intuitively at least, we know that WWX must be practicing ghost cultivation—now let's look at some concrete examples from the book.

Running the numbers

1) 魔道 (mó dào) means “demon cultivation.” As such, it must use living humans.

魔道 appears one (1) time in the novel.

Yes, once. The only time it appears is in the term 魔道祖师 modao zushi, or the namesake of the novel, in chapter 2. This is a title the general public has given him through rumors:

魏无羡好歹也被人叫了这么多年无上邪尊啦、魔道祖师啦之类的称号，这种一看就知道不是什么好东西的阵法，他自然了如指掌。 Wei Wuxian wasn’t called titles like “The Evil Overlord,” “The Founder of Demon Cultivation,” and so on over the years by others for nothing—he knew these sorts of obviously shady formations like the back of his hand.

2) 鬼道 (guǐ dào) means “ghost cultivation.” As such, it must use dead humans. 

鬼道 appears 12 times in the novel.

Here is the first instance that 鬼道 appears, which I believe is the first time Wei Wuxian's method of cultivation is properly introduced. From chapter 3 (jjwxc ch 8):

蓝忘机 […] 对魏无羡修鬼道一事极不认可。 Lan Wangji […] had never approved of the fact that Wei Wuxian practiced ghost cultivation.

Here's another quote from chapter 15 (jjwxc ch 71) for funsies:

蓝忘机看着他，似乎一眼就看出他只是随口敷衍，吸了一口气，道：“魏婴。” Lan Wangji looked at him as if he saw through his half-hearted bluff. He took in a breath, then said, “Wei Ying.” 他执拗地道：“鬼道损身，损心性。” He stubbornly continued, “Ghost cultivation harms one’s body, and harms one’s nature.”

3) 邪魔歪道 (xiemowaidao) means heretical path/immoral methods/evil practices/underhanded means/etc—e.g., lying, cheating, stealing, bribery, and so on.

It appears ~24 times in the novel.

I mention this last term because it is often used to refer to Wei Wuxian's cultivation, but as a pejorative. Every instance of 邪魔歪道 is said by or to quote someone looking down upon Wei Wuxian’s cultivation (Jin Zixun, Jin Ling, etc.) and referring to it derogatorily, whereas every instance of 鬼道 guidao/ghost dao is said by someone discussing it neutrally and/or factually (Lan Jingyi, Lan Wangji, Wei Wuxian himself, random cultivators at discussion conferences, the narration, etc.). Here is a pertinent example with Jin Ling (derogatory) and Lan Jingyi (neutral) in chapter 9 (jjwxc ch 43):

金凌怒道：“是在谈论薛洋，我说的不对吗？薛洋干了什么？他是个禽兽不如的人渣，魏婴比他更让人恶心！什么叫‘不能一概而论’？这种邪魔歪道留在世上就是祸害，就是该统统都杀光，死光，灭绝！” “We are discussing Xue Yang,” Jin Ling said angrily. “Am I wrong? What did Xue Yang do? He’s scum that’s lower than a beast, and Wei Ying is even more disgusting than him! What do you mean ‘don’t make sweeping generalizations?’ As long as those practicing this kind of demoniac, heretical path are alive, they’ll continue to bring disaster. We should slaughter all of them, kill all of them, annihilate them once and for all!” 温宁动了动，魏无羡摆手示意他静止。只听蓝景仪也加入了，嚷道：“你发这么大火干什么？思追又没说魏无羡不该杀，他只是说修鬼道的也不一定全都是薛洋这种人，你有必要乱摔东西吗？那个我还没吃呢……” Wen Ning shuffled around. Wei Wuxian gestured at him to stay still, only to hear Lan Jingyi also cut in loudly, “Why are you getting so riled up? It’s not like Sizhui said Wei Wuxian shouldn’t have been killed. All he said was that people who practice ghost cultivation aren’t necessarily all like Xue Yang. Do you have to go around breaking things? I didn’t even get to eat any of that yet…”

Tl;dr—Wei Wuxian does not 修魔道 practice demon cultivation. When Wei Wuxian’s craft is discussed in a neutral and factual manner, it is referred to as 鬼道 ghost dao. 

In fact, Wei Wuxian’s imitators are also referred to explicitly as 鬼道修士 ghost cultivators.

魏无羡早就听说过，这些年来江澄到处抓疑似夺舍重生的鬼道修士，把这些人通通押回莲花坞严刑拷打。 Wei Wuxian had heard a while back that over the past few years, Jiang Cheng had gone around snatching any ghost cultivator suspected of being possessed or reborn, detaining them in Lotus Pier to interrogate them using torture.

So why the confusion?

Of course, there is the matter of the novel's title, which I will get into in a second. But the real issue is a matter of translation.

The idea that WWX uses "demonic cultivation" is a misconception in English-speaking fandom due to issues with the translation of terminology. Of note, EXR actually did translate 鬼道 guidao as "ghostly path" most of the time, though there were at least 3 instances of "demonic" and 1 instance of "dark," especially regarding the first few.

However, this misconception was perpetuated (and arguably worsened) by 7S's official translation, which not only mistranslated additional terms as "demonic cultivation/path" (at least in book 1), but also consistently mistranslated every instance of 鬼道 as "demonic cultivation/path."

So why is this book called 魔道祖师, commonly translated as "Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation?"

One possibility is one posed in Chinese-language meta online, which often cites that WWX himself is a sort of 魔 demon. While this may be true—after all, he can hear the voices of the dead—it doesn't quite explain the fact that the title sets him up to be the 祖师 or "founder."

My take is that this novel is very much concerned with hearsay vs. truth. This is one of the many monikers WWX is given by the public, who collectively view him as evil. (Also of note is that the non-cultivator public is not aware of all the nuances that cultivators learn re: distinctions between the 妖魔鬼怪 monsters.) In the quote from earlier, note that the first title we're given is actually 无上邪尊 “The Evil Overlord,” then 魔道祖师 "The Founder of Demon Cultivation." Like, what can that be other than MXTX telling us, "please take both of these with a HUGE grain of salt, lol."

(And not only the title, but the very first line—"魏无羡死了。" / "Wei Wuxian is dead."—is a lie.)

I think the title is genius, honestly. It intentionally makes readers come into the novel with preconceived notions that Wei Wuxian practices 魔道 demon cultivation and evil techniques—just like the public in the novel. What better way to tell a story warning about the dangers of how easy it is to fall for misinformation and jump to incorrect conclusions?

(Though, in our case, perhaps it worked a little too well.)

[shookethdev]

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NAKU 🫵

[wangxianficfinder]

Fic Finder

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1. I have been unable to find a canon divergent AU where either after the golden core transfer or being dropped in the burial mounds WWX goes down the other side of the mountain and winds up being picked up by some master artists who were delivering their work and he apprentices under them rather than returning to the cultivation world. (I don't recall if he had amnesia or figured without a core he wasn't a cultivator so didn't want to return). Under a pseud his work becomes well known. He eventually meets up with LWJ, etc again but doesn't want to leave because his master was about to retire and he was going to take over. The only other thing I remember is I think Sunshot either didn't happen or was slower to begin? Any ideas what fic this is? @batinaburnouse​

FOUND! Away from Trouble by Ilona22 (M, 15k, wangxian, alternate universe, not JC friendly, happy ending)

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2. Hello. Can you help me find this fic, please. 🥺

WWX could jump between universes. And he found one where other him gone mad or something. WWX tried to save LWJ of that universe, but LWJ wouldn't leave, if his WWX die, he would die with him.

I'm not sure if it time loop or not, because somehow I think WWX had asked LWJ to leave about hundred times before. (These're dialogs I tried to write from my memory, it might not be entirely correct.)

LWJ: How many time have you asked me?

WWX: About hundred, and you never leave.

LWJ: You could be wrong. This time it might be different, I can save him.

WWX: I'm not, because I'm him. I know this because my Lan Zhan died and I survived. So please don't make me watch you die again.

That's all I can remember. Please can you help me find it. Thank you. 🥺🥺🥺😭

NOT FOUND! A Necessary Evil by @gravitywonagain (M, 870, Wangxian, Major Character Death, time travel, hurt/comfort but mostly hurt, I'm not going to lie this is all angst, not a happy ending)

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3. Trying to find a fic about weiying never raised by the jiang family but instead he was raised by gods and help defeat wen rouhan in order to became god himself. The sunshot campaign happens but no one knows who weiying is and disguise himself as a weak rogue cultivator so that he can defeat wen rouhan and destroy his life force which is a gem or something. This is the only thing that i can remember Its multiple chapter's and a oneshot. Please help me find this fic.

can the requestor confirm if it's a multi chap, or if it's a one shot ? maybe I'm not reading it properly but it seems to be saying it's both?

FOUND? Ch.9 of MDZS File Notes by Nika_Raven_Celeste (T, 18k, WIP, Oneshot/Drabble collection) there are a lot of oneshots but theres one of wei ying being raised by wind master and dark water and the second part of that one (chapter 9) is about Wei Ying entering the sunshot campaing to destroy near devastation!Wen Ruohan

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4. Hello mods!! For the next fic finder can i ask for help finding this one fic. I've looked everywhere  and scoured my history but no luck. It was time travel. Modern wwx time travels to the past after opening a diary/journal belonging to the YLLZ. The journal was sent to his home anonymously and it said that only the blood of wei ying can open it and since modern wwx IS wy he was able to open it and was transported to the past yrs after the seige but before mxy. The dead was also brought back since the journal's purpose was to fix everything. Then all them sit in a circle and wwx proceeds to tell everyone everything that happened since he read the journal. There was also a scene where wwx got angry cos sizhui wasn't calling him dad since in the modern time lwj and wwx are married with a son (yuan). M!Wwx also is friends w/ xue yang. Then it ends with modern wwx returning leaving a sad lwj who catches a glimpse of the future he always wanted.  Then the epilogue (?) is original wwx is resurrected and attempts to go to LP. Thank you!

FOUND? could be the deleted "Loving Future, Distant Past" by yareyarejojosan. Someone uploaded the author's works to Google Drive. It's the one in the second row.

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5. Okay this is where they ask you to find fics right? Well I remember one about a man who had made a diary/portrait book on WWX and published it to the cultivation world when WWX died. 13-16 years later he comes back and everyone loves and/or feels bad for him. He hears about it then at the end I remember him seeing NSFW artwork under the kingship floor boards. I’ve been trying to find it for almost a week now. I can’t even remember if it was on Ao3 or not. But I think it was. If you could find it or tell me if it was deleted I would be eternally thankful!

FOUND? In Exchange by FlautistsandPeonies (M, 8k, wangxian, major character death (WWX), The Power of Yiling Laozu Sexy)

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6. Hey I’m looking for this fix where it’s wangxian but at the start wen chao is being his usual self and harrasing Wei ying and to get away from wen chao he goes up to the really hot guy looking at a painting at a party(modern fic sorry) and asks him to pretend to be his husband and they get wen chao to back off that way and say they need to leave to take care of their son and go home after seeing Jiang yanli and a few others and spend the night together @fanfic-discussions

FOUND! 🧡feel it so strong (we don’t even have to say goodbye) by curiositea for lazulink (E, 5k, WangXian, Modern AU, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Strangers to Lovers, Meet-Cute, Single parent WWX, Explicit Sex, Fluff, Happy ending)

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7. Hi mods! Thank you for all your hard work :)) I'd like to ask for help on looking for a fic where LWJ "dies" after being whipped and time travels to the Sunshot campaign. He meets WWX at camp but WWX acts different, talks to him sweetly, even sleeps in his tent and cuddles with him. LWJ think WWX is teasing but it turns out WWX is a time traveler too but from a more distant future where he was already married to LWJ. It's a short fic but still wholesome and cute. Thank you so much!! <3

FOUND? This sounds like More than a Dream of You by VoidRune (T, 8k, wangxian, canon divergence, time travel fix-it, sunshot campaign, hurt/comfort, pining)

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8. i think i read a fanfic like this once and it was hilarious

Wangxianficfinder help us out here plzzzzzz what is this fic? it was ao3 @xiaokuer-schmetterling

FOUND? Peacock (Kǒng què) by escapingaugust (G, 3k, XuanLi, disaster bisexual JZX, yunmeng trio, JZX keeps a diary, frankencanon, Fluff, Mid-Canon, Admittedly a tad bit of angst) Summary: Jin Zixuan is a disaster bisexual, and nothing will convince me otherwise. These are the diary entries he makes trying to sort out his thoughts about the Yunmeng trio.

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9. Hello!! I need your help, I lost a fic , I just remember that it was a fic where lan zhan created a imaginary friend when he was young and one day he met him in real life ( the imaginary friend being wei ying ofc!) Thank you 😭❤️ @moonie-majh​

FOUND? Catching Your Reflection Passing By by Suspicious_Popsicle (T, 9k, wangxian, magical realism, urban fantasy au, switching pov)

FOUND? a legacy of thorns by Deisderium (M, 31k, WIP, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Imaginary Friends, WWX is a Wēn, Cloud Recesses Study Arc, What if your imaginary friend is real, And your enemies raised him, Pregnancy, canon typical terrible childhoods, Horny LWJ)

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10. Hello! I was wondering if you could help me find a crossover fic between TGCF and MDZS, I remember only a scene in which Hua Cheng finds a bloodied figure of Lan Wangji with everyone in town dead around him. And Wangji was like 'look what they have done to my A-Ying'. I hope this is enough to find it!

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11. Heyo darling Mods! It’s been some time since i came around here. I hope you all are well, safe and happy! I am looking for a fic that is kinda like tessalate by mellowflicker. I remember very well that WWX was running from someone and move there. He was extremely scared when someone tried to break in. Later they find that it’s JC. I also remember than LXC and NMJ came to visit and WWX was a bit shaken at first. Thank you!!!! @sandriya-artemis​

FOUND! We Get To Have This by ImTaakofromTV (M, 35k, wangxian, modern, fluff, happy ending, past child abuse, past domestic violence, panic attacks, self-worth issues, past home invasion, trauma, learning to trust again, light misunderstanding)

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12. hey!! im looking for a fic where wwx and the juniors are on a night hunt and lsz and wwx are keeping their connection secret but jin ling gets jealous so wwx announces "he's my son" to everyone?? there's a part where wwx plays up the doting dad bit to get everyone to stop treating lsz weirdly bc of his father. thank u!! @kisskissgotohell​

FOUND? Not Yet (There As Needed) by sunrise_and_death (T, 13k, wangxian, WWX & LSZ, LSZ & JL, post-canon, family bonding, dramatic revelations)

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13. hello mods!! when you have the chance, I've been struggling to find a fic and would greatly appreciate help from you and your followers! it was set in a mostly canon world before wwx dies, & wwx is pregnant with lwj's child but wouldn't be able to keep it so he travels to gusu to leave it with lwj. he gives birth right outside cloud recesses in the middle of the night, wraps the baby in his only outer robe bc it's super cold, maybe snowing, & leaves the baby on the porch of the jingshi before fleeing. lwj wakes up, find the baby, realizes what happened, and starts a search to find wwx. i hope that's enough to help find it!!

FOUND! A Scent of Pine in Winter by mondengel (M, 5k, wangxian, ABO, angst, childbirth, mpreg)

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14.. hello! i hope you guys are doing well <3 for the next fic finder i am searching for this one fic but the only thing i remember about it is this one bit where wei ying was in the cloud recesses library and a book fell on him (?) or something so he cursed but lqr heard and punished him and then lan zhan saw wei ying with blood on his head? i think and LZ made sure wei ying was never punished for things like that again. yeah that's the only part i remember I'm hoping you could help me find it 😭 thank you so much!!

FOUND! Mourning Robes by Starlight1395 (T, 17k, wangxian, No Sunshot Campaign, Arranged Marriage AU, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Happy Ending, Depression, dissociating, Mild Blood, Fluff, juniors idolizing WWX like he deserves, slowburn between WWX and Cloud Recesses, Hinted smut, Jingyi has a CRUSH, Supportive JC, Mojo's Post)

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15. Hello, I need help in finding a fic from AO3. Wei Ying and Lan Zhan get a letter from Song Lang, asking them for help with a nighthunt. They go and find Song Lang and other villagers infected with a sleeping curse. At night they go in the forest and Lan Zhan dies, protecting Wei Ying. Wei Ying is grieving and tries to live on. It turns out, that Lan Zhan's death was a nightmare, induced by the monster. Thank you very much. @bluekittenfire

FOUND! more damage than a soul should see by Kika988 (M, 12k, WangXian, Heavy Angst, Whump, Post-Canon, Please see notes for specific warnings!)

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16. Hi for the next fic finder - can you please help me find a fic i read awhile back. Its wangxian post-canon with the incense burner. I think they can use the incense burner to see other realities or universes and cql wwx sees the novel lwj married to "someone else" which is really just wwx in mxy body. Eventually they are able to go into the other reality and he realizes thats it him all along.

FOUND? "body that" by surething that you can read on the Wayback Machine

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17. Hi!! Looking for a fic where wwx travels hundreds of years into the future and meets lwj and lxc’s reincarnations?

FOUND? 结局难更改 (the ending is hard to change) Series by PorcupineGirl (G, 50k, WangXian, Modern with Magic AU, Canon Divergence, Time travel, Reincarnated LWJ & LXC, YL WWX, Reincarnation, Secret Identity, Identity reveal)

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18. Hello! I am looking for a fic where the mountain goats pushes wwx too far that he commits (t.w.) sewerside? Then I remembered there were 2 ocs and that all the goats that hurted wwx were killed and that woman was wwx's mother (??). I also remember this being an characters watch the series au. Thank you and have a nice day!!

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19. I'm trying to find a fic in which, wangxian were about to have sex and they were trying something out with chenqing i think? But it turned out to be a 'bad' idea bc they were sentient and ended up being in charge of wwx and lwj during the scene

FOUND? Chenqing by Sectionladvivi (E, 8k, WangXian, Threesome, Canon Compliant, Sex Magic, Dubious Consent, Rape/Non-con Elements, Clone Sex, Selfcest, Anal Sex, Fingerfucking, Rimming, Oral Sex, double blowjob, Nipple Play, Nipple Torture, Non-Consensual Voyeurism, Cuckolding, Bottom LWJ, Switching, Light Bondage, Spit As Lube, Painful Sex, Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot, 69 Sex Position)

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20. I'm searching for a fic and I feel like I'm going crazy--went through 80 pages of AO3 history with no luck, but I know I read it. Almost sure I found it through the OG @wangxianficrecs around a year or more ago through one of the ff or itmf posts. I *think* it goes like this: very BAMF WWX, taking place post-Nightless City, has a better understanding/control of his powers because of his 2nd death, has godlike powers w/o negative side effects of resentful energy. Maybe in MXY’s body but not sure, just think there was a scene of wangxian in bed together in the CR and LWJ is worried about people knowing he’s WWX and how they’ll react. But it could just be that WWX didn’t die at all, or came back earlier than canon somehow. Some things I know still happened (LWJ still got whipped for defending WWX), but others are fuzzy (like maybe the Wen survive somehow?) I’ve read SO MUCH I wondered if I was conflating multiple fics like Imperfect Memory by Xantissa and help is on the way by Vamillepudding, but too many things that just aren’t right about either. In the one I’m thinking of, WWX remembers who he is, LWJ is quick to express his true feelings (having thought he lost WWX), and have them reciprocated. It was definitely M or E, there wasn’t really a sub/dom aspect, maybe some theoretical stuff about mastering death so it’s unable to take him, being immortal without needing a golden core.

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Thanks for all the suggestions~

[eyenaku]

Ji ji fu ji ji

a o e i i er ai ei ao ou an en ang eng ong i ia iao ie iu ian in iang ing iong u ua uo uai ui uan un uang ueng ü üe üan ün a o e er ai ao ou an en ang eng yi ya yao ye you yan yin yang ying yong wu wa wo wai wei wan wen wang weng yu yue yuan yun b ba bo bai bei bao ban ben bang beng bi biao bie bian bin bing bu p pa po pai pei pao pou pan pen pang peng pi piao pie pian pin ping pu m ma mo me mai mei mao mou man men mang meng mi miao mie miu mian min ming mu f fa fo fei fou fan fen fang feng fu d da de dai dei dao dou dan den dang deng dong di diao die diu dian ding du duo dui duan dun t ta te tai tei tao tou tan tang teng tong ti tiao tie tian ting tu tuo tui tuan tun n na ne nai nei nao nou nan nen nang neng nong ni niao nie niu nian nin niang ning nu nuo nuan nü nüe l la le lai lei lao lou lan lang leng long li lia liao lie liu lian lin liang ling lu luo luan lun lü lüe g ga ge gai gei gao gou gan gen gang geng gong gu gua guo guai gui guan gun guang k ka ke kai kei kao kou kan ken kang keng kong ku kua kuo kuai kui kuan kun kuang h ha he hai hei hao hou han hen hang heng hong hu hua huo huai hui huan hun huang z za ze zi zai zei zao zou zan zen zang zeng zong zu zuo zui zuan zun c ca ce ci cai cao cou can cen cang ceng cong cu cuo cui cuan cun s sa se si sai sao sou san sen sang seng song su suo sui suan sun zh zha zhe zhi zhai zhei zhao zhou zhan zhen zhang zheng zhong zhu zhua zhuo zhuai zhui zhuan zhun zhuang ch cha che chi chai chao chou chan chen chang cheng chong chu chua chuo chuai chui chuan chun chuang sh sha she shi shai shei shao shou shan shen shang sheng shu shua shuo shuai shui shuan shun shuang r re ri rao rou ran ren rang reng rong ru rua ruo rui ruan run j ji jia jiao jie jiu jian jin jiang jing jiong ju jue juan jun q qi qia qiao qie qiu qian qin qiang qing qiong qu que quan qun x xi xia xiao xie xiu xian xin xiang xing xiong xu xue xuan xun

[senpujin-deactivated20201234]

her  twin

sister

is

beautiful

ok?

[wangxianficrecs]

Follower Recs

Stories I haven’t read yet, but clearly need to put on my ever-expanding List.

~*~

Welcome back queen [Thank you, it’s so lovely to be back!] if ur still doing follower recs I gotta recommend I would wait for a thousand years by bleuett it’s soooooooo good

[This one was actually recced to me by two different people, the other of whom said, “ Maybe I'm crying a little so I feel like a should recommend ‘I would wait for a thousand years’ by bleuett on ao3.”]... it’s def. on my List!

I would wait for a thousand years

by bleuett (T, 10k, wangxian)

Summary:  During the worst of winter, a traveler comes to stay at Lan Wangji's inn. He wears a red ribbon in his hair.

“Do you see the rabbit?” Wei Ying asks and points at the moon. “That’s the moon rabbit, he helps make Chang’e more immortality elixir. He keeps Chang’e company.”

“I do not wish the rabbit for company,” Lan Wangji says tightly. “You are the one I want by my side.”

“And I’m here, Lan Zhan. If you go to the moon, I’ll follow you, I’ll always be here now.”

~*~

I just read a great fic by aisthuu "every love story is a ghost story", didn't see it in your recs so wanted to recommend it! LWJ is a guqin composer and teacher, buys a cheap guqin off eBay which ends up being attached to WWX's spirit from canon era. It's bittersweet, LWJ deals with Lan's homophobia (implicit in a Lan way) and his feelings towards the ghost. This is author's only ao3 fic and honestly I don't remember how I stumbled upon it, but I'm happy I did and hope you will enjoy it too!  [I’ve recently read this one, and loved it!]

every love story is a ghost story

by aisthuu (M, 59k, wangxian, my bookmark)

Summary:  The man is in Lan Zhan’s bed. Did they—he begins to wonder, eyes trailing to where the man’s body lies under the blanket. Had Lan Zhan—?

Then the sleep-fog clears and Lan Zhan realizes that the young man isn’t quite opaque around the edges.

“You’re a spirit.”

The spirit narrows its eyes. “I’m so much more than that.”

(Lan Zhan buys a guqin off eBay for a suspiciously low price, only to find that it’s haunted. And now there’s a ghost in his bed.)

~*~

Ok so I absolutely have to rec "see you yesterday" by glyphic. It's a wip, but it's currently at 101k so there's a whole lot there, and it's terrible and wonderful and beautiful all at once. The way the backstory of canon events is adapted to the modern-with-cultivation setting is brilliant, and then there's the amnesia, and then there's the time loop. This fic lives permanently rent-free in my brain.

see you yesterday

by glyphic (M, 101k, wangxian, WIP)

Summary:  

Wei Ying 21:09 hey lan zhan what’s the weirdest way youve died

Lan Zhan 21:11 Falling encyclopedias.

Wei Ying 21:12 omg no way that’s so rude turning books against you???

Lan Zhan 21:13 A betrayal I will never forget.

On Halloween night, an exiled demonic cultivator and a Lan disciple get stuck in a time-loop, find each other, and try to figure it all out.

~*~

If you are looking for recs for yourself I absolutely love (the complete!) story Just as the Snow Melts by draechali on AO3. It's a canon divergence where everyone lives, even WWX! ~ @airmidcelt

Just as the Snow Melts

by draechaeli (T, 67k, wangxian)

Summary:  Like a snowy mountain top in spring the residents of the Burial Mounds trickled down the mountain and joined the flow of society.

“I went to the Burial Mounds,” Lan WangJi said.

“Ah, yeah… I’m sorry Lan Zhan,” replied Wei WuXian, “I hadn’t thought anyone would come to visit. I am still not sure how it happened; I brought A-Yuan to Yiling to play by the river and then ended up somehow teaching a bunch of children swimming and writing along with him.”

~*~

Hello! It's come to my attention that you have not as yet read Grandmaster of Meme-onic Cultivation! Please do! It's the only thing that gave me joy during 2020 😆 like proper belly laughs and disney villain style cackling. It is a wip, and it is long but so so worth it!! The author has reworked the entire canon through these message crystals and still conveys complex characters despite the tricky format. It's just so good!! Highly highly recommend it! ❤ ~ @theladypeartree  [Oh!  I’ve been subscribed to this one, and know that @swaglexander-the-great is a reliable provider of Hilarity, so I’m excited for it to be finished!]

Grandmaster of Meme-onic Cultivation 

by Hades_the_Blingking (T, 49k, wangxian, WIP)

Summary:  The Untamed universe is exactly the same, except everybody has magical crystals that have a suspiciously familiar messaging system. The story is pretty much the same as the show, except everyone lives!! (so minor changes).

or in which Wei WuXian tries his darndest to date Lan Zhan, Jiang Cheng possibly has a aneurysm, Jin ZiXuan is still the most awkward human alive, and Xue Yang makes me write some VERY cursed things. Written in chatfic format! :3

~*~

Chomrafy on AO3 deserves love and encouragement; she’s written a body of compact, poetic, and eloquent shortfics each of which can stand alone, but that comprise an intricately cross-referential and mostly internally-consistent universe. They’re grouped as chapters in works according to theme; for example, “in cupped hands” focuses upon Jin Ling and his second-generation baggage; “Departure in Autumn” portrays the last years of WWX’s first life. Follow the tag “Chomrafy’s MDZS shortfics.” [I don’t see this tag?]

in cupped hands

by chomrafy (G, 2k, wangxian)

Summary:  Of secrets, of futures, of love. A Jin Ling-centric collection of 200-word fics.

Ch.1: Jin Ling repays a debt (JL, JC, & WWX). Ch.2: Jin Ling and a ghost in the mirror. (JL & JYL) Ch.3: A matter of friends (JL & the other kids) Ch.4: In this house we don't keep dogs (JC & WWX) Ch.5: In the end, he remains silent (JL & uncles) Ch.6: A first night hunt, of sorts (JL & the other kids) Ch.7: Jin Ling, forgiving, forgetting (JL & LXC & JGY) Ch.8: Jiang Cheng and Jin Ling argue (JL, JC, & WWX) Ch.9: Jin Ling and his father (JL & JC) Ch.10: Jin Ling speaks up (JL, JC, & WWX) Ch.11: Jin Ling and a piece of home (JL, JC, & WWX)

Departure in Autumn

by chomrafy (not rated, 6k)

Summary:  Four perspectives. A steady march to the end.

Ch.1: Because if anything happens to them, Wen Qing would never be able to heal with these hands again. Ch.2: As long as this is still home, Jiang Yanli will wait as long as she needs to. Ch.3: Five times Jiang Cheng reaches for Wei Wuxian, one time he turns away. Ch.4: Whether the road is broad or narrow, bright or dark, they would have to keep walking. Wei Wuxian digs Wen Qing's grave.

~*~

Hello, hope all is going well. I don't have an ask, by I do have a recommendation. I read this fic a while ago and found it again. I just wanted to recommend this for everyone. Let me know what you think please. Thank you. [Oh!  This one’s in my To Read list, but  I’d forgotten about it.  Mmmm, fox!wwx and dragon!lwj.]

Ten miles of Lotus Flowers

by Yukirin_Snow

M, 274k, wangxian

Summary:  He was a mischievous fox spirit, wreaking havoc where he went, about to depart on a journey that would span centuries.

He was a heavenly prince, a proud dragon destined to ascend the throne to become emperor.

Neither expected their paths to collide over the span of three lives.

~*~

I forgot if it was your blog 😥 that recommended “Bestseller” (when Wei Wuxian writes the Xianxia cut-sleeve equivalent of Fifty Shades of Grey, based entirely on his experiences with Lan Wangji, he doesn’t expect it to become the next big hit) (https://archiveofourown.org/works/21528316/chapters/51318766)

But OMG IT WAS HILARIOUS!!! I LOVED IT!! And if it wasn’t your blog, I’m so sorry for how weird this sounds 😭😭😭😭 I just loved this fic so much that I have to tell it to someone 😢 [It’s on my List, but I haven’t read it yet!]

Bestseller

by pupeez4eva

M, 8k, wangxian

Summary:  He had written the book to prove a point. It was never supposed to be a big thing, and he certainly never intended for everyone — Jiang Cheng, Zewu-Jun, the Juniors, literally everyone— to be reading about his sex life.

Oh God, he definitely needed to make sure Lan Zhan didn’t find out about this.

(Or, when Wei Wuxian writes the Xianxia cut-sleeve equivalent of Fifty Shades of Grey, based entirely on his experiences with Lan Wangji, he doesn’t expect it to become the next big hit).

~*~

I’d like to rec On Your Marks, Get Set, Bake! by @blackwiresgrowonherhead

It’s one of my absolute favorites and I laughed out loud so many times when reading it

on your marks, get set, bake!

by BlackWiresOnHerHead

G, 41k, wei wuxian & juniors

Summary:  Jin Ling resumes thumping on the door to room 721, and the small collection of freshmen starts chanting “Senior Wei! Senior Wei! Senior Wei!” with increasing volume until finally Wei Wuxian opens the door.

“Yes?” he says with his widest, most innocent eyes.

“Senior Wei!” demands Lan Jingyi, shoving himself to the front of the group. “Why didn’t you tell us you’re a contestant on this year’s season of The Great Gusu Bake Off?!?”

--

Several months ago, college student Wei Wuxian secretly competed in the most popular reality show in the country. The show starts airing in the fall. The freshmen in his dorm collectively lose their minds.

~*~

If you're in the mood for v. short ridiculous fun fic, may I suggest My chain hits my chest/When I'm bangin' on the radio by x_los It's 2k modern cultivators AU, featuring WWX calling LWJ's sword Bitchin' [omg I’m laughing so hard] and I think it's more fun going in blind?

My chain hits my chest/When I'm bangin' on the radio

by x_los

T, 2k, wangxian

Summary:  Lan Wangji finds he doesn't even need to call for help for Wei Wuxian to come running.

[rosethornewrites]

Fic: a grain of millet drifting, ch. 3/3

Relationship: Niè Huáisāng & Wèi Yīng | Wèi Wúxiàn

Characters: Wei Ying | Wei Wuxian, Original Characters, Nie Huaisang

Additional Tags: Assassination Attempt(s), Introspection, Regret, Travel, Post-Canon, POV Third Person, POV Wei WuXian

Summary: Wei Wuxian reaches the Unclean Realm and talks to Nie Huaisang. 

Notes: See end

Chapters: 1 | 2 

AO3 link

———

Wei Wuxian wasn’t accustomed to having nothing to say, but as they entered the Unclean Realm he found himself searching for words. He’d always been able to fill silence, even with nonsense, but Nie Huaisang had perfected the facade of nonsense over the years, and he felt a little as though he was approaching a stranger. 

His old friend was fanning himself as he descended the battlement and approached them, the same fan he’d first carried during the Cloud Recesses lectures in that sweet summer before their world descended into hell. If he tried, he could almost pretend this was a visit from that august period—but only almost. 

“Aiya, Nie-xiong, I only caught your disciple when he took out the fifth assassin, he said,” Wei Wuxian finally settled on. “Someone seems to be spending quite a bit of money trying to kill me again—I’m almost flattered.”

Nie Huaisang’s eyes seemed to narrow slightly over his fan, but when he snapped it closed he was smiling, the narrowing actually crinkling. 

“Wei-xiong, it was so nice of you to send Jiang-zongzhu a letter. He came to ask about it personally, and I think he was happy you thought of him.”

Wei Wuxian kept his face in a careless smile, though that cut at him a bit—he hadn’t seen Jiang Cheng since the Guanyin Temple debacle, and doubted his once-brother wanted anything to do with him, particularly after having learned about his deception regarding the golden core. He’d only sent the letter on the off-chance that it would impact Yunmeng or Lanling, as it was the least he could do after destroying the Jiangs. 

“Jin Ling will have enough problems leading that awful sect without surprise assassins,” he said with a shrug, “so of course Jiang-zongzhu would be concerned.”

The look Nie Huaisang gave him was almost pitying, but he said nothing in response, only ordering a couple of disciples to take Little Apple to the stables. 

“She prefers apples, but likes other fruit just fine, it seems,” he told them, letting them take the reins and lead her away. 

He didn’t bother with the saddlebags, knowing they’d wind up in whatever room had been set aside for him. 

Nie Hengxiang wasn’t quite able to stifle a snort of laughter when the donkey deliberately stepped on Wei Wuxian when she moved past him. Nie Huaisang’s lips twitched before he managed to get his fan up. 

Wei Wuxian almost made a crack about how the women in his life treated him, but none of them were still in his life, and shijie had never…

“There’s good food and wine,” Nie Huaisang said, somehow closer than he had been before. “Really, Wei-xiong, you don’t look like you eat nearly enough!”

He knew he’d lost some time, Nie Hengxiang in the distance following Little Apple, having apparently excused himself at some point during his fugue. 

It shook him, but it was easier to follow his old friend without comment, focusing on the changes in the Unclean Realm since his last visit over a decade before. It looked bustling, and there were more gardens and color, artwork and tapestries brightening the stonework. 

Anything to avoid thinking of his many mistakes and the people who had paid the price for them. 

Nie Huaisang kept up a running commentary about different pieces of art and their artists, about the tapestry industry he had worked to get started in Qinghe, trading for specially dyed silk thread from various places. 

The food was good and the wine was better. They were deep in their cups, still talking of frivolous matters, when Nie Huaisang sighed. 

“Wei-xiong, what on earth are you doing, wandering around?”

The question seemed to come from nowhere, and signaled a shift to more serious conversation that Wei Wuxian wasn’t certain he was ready for. So he pasted on a grin. 

“What’s so wrong with wandering, Nie-xiong? My parents were rogue cultivators, so why shouldn’t I be one as well?”

The look Nie Huaisang gave him was unimpressed at best, and certainly implied he didn’t buy Wei Wuxian’s smile. 

“You didn’t stay in Gusu. I thought you’d stay with Lan-er-gongzi.”

“He’s Chief Cultivator. Associating with the Yiling Patriarch would only make his job harder. He’s already got enough of a mess to clean up—he doesn’t need my messes on top of it.”

And, anyway, if he’d stayed he thought Lan Qiren would actually qi deviate, and he didn’t need that on his conscience. 

“And, anyway, where else would I go?” he asked, tiring of the game where they talked in circles. 

“Yunmeng. Here.”

Wei Wuxian took a big pull of wine, mostly in response to the first suggestion, which he’d rather not address. 

“I threatened you, so I figured you’d prefer I stay away.”

“It’s not like I didn’t deserve the warning, Wei-xiong,” Nie Huaisang said with a sigh. “I put far too many people in danger, and got others killed.”

He sounded almost sad. 

“Mo Xuanyu?” he couldn’t keep himself from asking. 

He was grateful for the second chance at life, such as it was, but the cost grated at him. 

“Mo Xuanyu had seen dage’s head in the treasure room, but… He didn’t want to live, even if I brought him to the Unclean Realm.”

Nie Huaisang twirled the wine jug in his hand, his expression morose. 

“I’d gotten to know him when he was in Lanling. I visited often enough to harass Jin Guangyao, after all. He was a gentle soul, and loved the arts. But his mother’s suicide broke what was left of him when that viper was finished with him.”

Wei Wuxian didn’t know what to say, but he could tell his old friend knows the true cost of that spell—that Mo Xuanyu was gone from all realms, his soul destroyed. Nie Huaisang, he could see, was well aware of that. 

“There was nothing I could do for him except offer the chance of vengeance.”

In the end, that was essentially all Nie Huaisang had gotten out of the whole ordeal—vengeance, justice, whatever they wanted to call it. He wondered if he would have preferred to bring his brother back instead of Wei Wuxian, but knew better than to ask. It would have been impossible, with Nie Mingjue’s soul trapped asunder in the scattered parts of his body. 

Wei Wuxian suspected his own soul had been shattered at his death, but it hadn’t been tied to his body. That, after all, had been destroyed, leaving the pieces of his soul to scatter to the earth. But the spell could fuse the pieces back together in the sacrificed body, so long as they hadn’t faded to nothing. 

Truly, he had to be grateful to Mo Xuanyu.

“No, I regret Qin Su’s death,” Nie Huaisang said. “Though her reputation would have been in tatters had she lived.”

There was no knowing if she had taken her own life with that understanding, or if she had been another victim of Jin Guangyao, controlled somehow by her husband and helpless but to watch herself plunge a knife into her own breast. Either way, whether a suicide or murder, it had arguably been caused by the letter Bicao had written at Nie Huaisang’s behest. 

“And I regret putting the juniors in danger,” he added. “Though I really didn’t mean Jin Ling to be at the temple. I didn’t plan for that.”

But he had endangered them by luring them to Yi City, and Xue Yang would have killed them without remorse, and enjoyed it. 

“I wish you hadn’t involved them, too,” Wei Wuxian said. “It was dumb luck they survived until Lan Zhan and I got there.”

“They have skills,” Nie Huaisang protested weakly. “Not like the two of you at their age, but sufficient to survive, at least.”

He had a point there, at least about the Lan juniors and maybe Jin Ling and Ouyang Zizhen, who seemed to have his head on straight. The rest had at least known to follow orders from a senior. 

“I don’t regret bringing you back, though,” Nie Huaisang said after the silence stretched a bit. “I missed you, Wei-xiong. You never treated me like I was useless, even when I was, and we had fun. I didn’t have any friends once you were gone.”

Wei Wuxian’s first inclination was to protest that Jiang Cheng was his friend… but he knew full well that shijie’s death had broken his once-brother. That had probably put a damper on any friendships he’d had. 

And Nie Huaisang had been alone after his brother’s murder, after the discovery that it had been a murder.

“I’m sorry you were alone,” he said, though it’s not his fault—he was dead at the time. 

Nie Huaisang offers a smile that looks exhausted, probably the first true one Wei Wuxian has seen from him. 

“You know, he taught me the song—the one he used to poison dage—so I could play it on a piccolo.”

A chill raced through Wei Wuxian as he realized what that meant, just how deeply Chifeng-zun’s death had impacted him—like how he’d been made into an instrument of his shijie’s demise. 

“He made you complicit,” he whispered. 

Nie Huaisang’s smile turned bitter. 

“If he’d just killed dage, he’d just be dead. But between the killing, the desecration, and that… I had to destroy him, Wei-xiong.”

Jin Guangyao had set up Jin Zixuan’s death, had caused the situation in which shijie had died… Wei Wuxian could understand Nie Huaisang’s desire for revenge. But revenge cycled over and over and just led to more death—had led to his own. 

“I know,” he said. 

But it didn’t bring back the dead—even he couldn’t really do that. Though people thought that was what he’d done with Wen Ning, it wasn’t quite correct. His body had been actively dying when he’d reanimated him with resentful energy, which had essentially put him in a sort of stasis. He was in between life and death. 

“But dage’s still gone,” Nie Huaisang said, as though reading his mind or seeing a tell on his face. “As are all of the other victims.”

Wei Wuxian set his bottle of wine aside, no longer having the taste for it. All he could focus on was the bitterness of it, and he took no pleasure from it now. 

“More bodies pile up, more blood is spilled. All we taste is gall,” he murmured, thinking of a poem he once read, one that romanticized war.

Much was written on the idea of just wars, often the defensive or punitive kind. But most people felt their wars were somehow just, and the opposing side or sides unjust. And regardless of the writings, he’d seen himself how non-combatants were massacred despite the philosophies of both Mengzi and Xunzi stating the execution of even one blameless person was inhumane and unrighteous. So much of the end of the Sunshot Campaign had been filled with acts of injustice, a disregard of jus in bello.

He found himself suddenly tired, feeling the weight of everything—his hubris, the people who died because of him, who continued to die because of him in service of someone who wanted him dead, his own death. 

“Is it so wrong to just want peace?”

He’d thought, having died once, that perhaps his sins—those he was guilty of and those he was falsely credited with—had died with him. If so, they had been resurrected with him, because even if some of the air had been cleared, he was expected to die again. 

Now he was just so tired, and there was nowhere he could go where he could just exist and rest. Anywhere he went, people would find reason to take offense to his existence, to make rest impossible. 

Wei Wuxian hated that sometimes even now, despite Mo Xuanyu’s sacrifice to resurrect him, he wished he was still dead. He didn’t remember anything of the years that had passed, only a sort of peace that had perhaps come from nonexistence. 

Times like these he felt like his skin was too tight. 

“Wei-xiong?”

Nie Huaisang was looking at him with concern, which was almost funny. Before his death, Wei Wuxian would have said he wouldn’t understand what he was concerned about. Now… even he had scars. 

“Too much wine,” he demurred. “I should… I guess I should sleep it off. I’ll be out of your hair tomorrow.”

That got a frown. 

“Wei-xiong, I’m still looking into the assassins. Please at least stay until it’s handled?”

Right. They hadn’t addressed it. Wei Wuxian had assumed Nie Huaisang had already handled it, which he supposed said something about how high his expectations of his old friend had become, now that he knew his role in Jin Guangyao’s downfall. 

“It’s pretty peaceful here, and we have a lovely library, and good food and wine, and you can rest and get a nice bath,” Nie Huaisang rambled, his tone at the end implying he thought Wei Wuxian needed one.

His old friend’s words, about not regretting bringing him back, came back to him, and Wei Wuxian was belatedly gratified that more than one person was glad he was alive again. He’d left the other one in Gusu. Well, maybe there were more than two—A-Yuan and Wen Ning counted.

“All right, all right,” he said, waving his hands to get him to stop. “I’ll stay, at least until the assassin thing is dealt with.”

Nie Huaisang’s smile was so full of relief and hope, it was almost heartbreaking to think he’d spent so much time alone with his revenge. 

“I wish you’d told me, though,” he said, schooling his voice into petulance, hoping to lighten the mood a bit. 

“If I’d told you about the assassins you might have thought I was threatening you,” Nie Huaisang said, pouting. 

That was fair. After all, he’d threatened Nie Huaisang at the Cloud Recesses, and was used to getting threatened himself. It wasn’t what he was thinking about, though.

“Well, maybe. But I meant when Lan Zhan caught you at the man-eating tomb. Couldn’t you have just told us everything then?”

“If I told you and Lan-er-gongzi, he might have told erge,” his old friend pointed out. “And if he tipped off Jin Guangyao, all bets were off about whether any of us would have survived.”

Wei Wuxian remembered the way Lan Xichen had been taken captive, the garrote against his own neck and then Jin Ling’s, the death of Qin Su and the fact that Jin Guangyao had killed his son, father, brother, and cousin, Nie Mingjue, and likely hundreds of other people to rise to power. 

Here all Wei Wuxian had wanted to do with his own power, the power everyone was convinced he’d use for ill, was farm potatoes (not radishes) in a mass graveyard and protect the people he’d rescued. He’d acquired power out of necessity, to win the war, not because he wanted to babysit the cultivation world—that sounded fucking exhausting and he felt bad Lan Zhan was now stuck in the role. 

“True,” Wei Wuxian mused. “We caught him relatively by surprise and he still managed to kidnap the juniors and organize another siege of the Burial Mounds.”

Plus the situation at the Guanyin temple in Yunping had been very touch-and-go. There had been so many ways it could have gone badly, and nearly did. He was still amazed no one had died—aside from Su She and Jin Guangyao and their peons, but he didn’t care about them.

Nie Huaisang finished his wine and set the empty jar aside.

“In the inn, when I told you about the issue with the sabers…” he started, then sighed.

Wei Wuxian knew what he was asking.

“As the foremost expert on demonic cultivation and resentful energy, you’re hoping I’ll see if I can solve your qi deviation issue while I’m in the Unclean Realm,” he said, not without mirth.

“I know you like puzzles, Wei-xiong. And you get bored easily.”

Nie Huaisang wrinkled his nose at him with a knowing smile, and Wei Wuxian remembered, back in Cloud Recesses, pushing his friend off-balance and into the freezing cold stream out of boredom. He couldn’t help but laugh.

“I’ll do less damage with something to occupy me, as you well know. I suppose I can take a look.”

“Excellent!” Nie Huaisang said, fiddling with his fan in a practiced way, but not bringing it to his face. “Now, we’ll discuss your compensation tomorrow, after you’ve gotten a nice bath and some rest. Your quarters are fully furnished, and I took the liberty of stocking it with some better quality and less threadbare robes…”

As Wei Wuxian feigned righteous indignation, he realized the prospect of staying here made him feel more centered, like he had found a place he actually could rest in this new world, somewhere where he wouldn’t be a burden, where he could maybe do some good.

He thought maybe Nie Huaisang had recognized that in him, but maybe also in himself—that they could help each other in what amounted to a time of transition for them both.

Wei Wuxian could rest here for a while, taking in a refreshing breeze, before he continued wandering this terrestrial world. 

---------

The poem Wei Wuxian is thinking of is Wei Wang’s “Song of Mt. Yanzhi,” which is more a celebration of war, but it’s a remembered line that hits him here. 

Regarding the issue of just war (and aggressive vs. defensive vs. punitive war), there’s a lot written on it in multiple cultures’ philosophies. Famously, Mengzi/Mencius resigned his post in the Qi dynasty when the Qi army killed non-combatants and plundered wealth. There are some really fascinating papers on this issue. Jus in bello is a really fascinating concept involving the responsibilities an invading army has to the inhabitants of the area they are invading. Yes, I read scholarly research articles when writing this chapter, because that’s how I roll.

The last line is a reference to Su Shi’s “First Ode on the Red Cliffs,” same as the title.

Nope, we don’t know who sent the assassins, but Nie Huaisang is working on it, so you know it’ll be resolved (hopefully in less than a decade this time). This fic is about their reconciliation, with that being an unresolved thread. Wei Wuxian’s feelings about Lan Wangji are also unresolved, as is the status of his relationship with Jiang Cheng. If I get inspiration, I might make this a series and handle those in the future. We’ll see!

[secretaryunpaid]

Bed him... check... Let’s set the Trap...

Trap set... But by whom exactly?

Remember this guy... Yeah, it’s Jay... This was my boo right here... I guess it’s time we had a little talk about things... I’ve calmed down enough, at least I think that I have ...

TNA Fanfic

Pairing: Jay Christopher X Dahlia Schuyler

Main Characters: Samuel Dalton and Dahlia Schuyler (property of Pixelberry)

Additional Characters:  Jay Christopher Hunt (aka J.C.) personal character, Jenny Klein (PB owned) , Robin Flores

Rating: Explicit

Warnings:  ADULT CONTENT!!!!

Triggers: unexpected sexual partner, explicit music lyrics

Word Count:  1000+ approx.

(I do not own the music/GIFs/Pics used in this fan fiction.)

But First... back to this Celeb Zeta Psi party...

Okay, I knew Jay was cocky, but I just LOVE how he backs his words up... DAAAAYYYUUUUMMMM... Bae put it down! I think I am in love...

Yes... these two new friends were named Bill (because he said B.o.B was getting way too much credit for orgasms and Jesus (because his oral would have you calling for Jesus, or his father, God). I warned you, Jay is cocky... but with damned good reason... Inhale... Exhale... Just.... WOW!

She had fallen for Jay so deeply after just one night under his touch... feeling like a brand new woman and shit.. Forgetting the past events that took place here... Healing, indeed.

She couldn’t take her eyes off of him... her mind replaying the prior attention he’d given her body. They had returned to the party, but for Dahlia... everything was now happening in slow motion... she could only vaguely hear the music around her as Jay smiled through the crowd... giving a chin up nod to someone Dahlia was totally oblivious too. After their dance, Jay excused himself for a moment.

Dazed, she just said, “Oh, okay Bae... I’ll just be right here.” Thank goodness for Jenny running up to talk excitedly, or that would have told him unavoidably that he had Dahlia hook, line, and yes... he had definitely sunk her.

“Girl, where the hell have you been?”

“Becoming a woman...” Jen just looked at Dahlia as if she had suddenly sprouted four heads or something... “Girl, what is that even supposed to mean?... But anyway, did you get a good look at that hottie I was grinding with?”...  “I don’t know him, it’s my first time seeing him on campus... Why, what’s up?”

“He said that he was a friend of Sam’s ...” Before Jenny can finish her sentence, Dahlia cuts her off... “No, Jen... I can’t think of him ever again... Things, well... things have changed. I just can’t talk about it right now. Jay is heading back this way. Are you good, though? I might disappear for a bit, but we can ride home together.”

“Nah, girl... That was the other thing I was going to tell you... I’m kinda leaving with him... I’ll drop a pin, so that if I don’t come to rehearsal tomorrow, you will know my last location... but I’m feeling promiscuous tonight. We have to talk about what I learned though, but tomorrow then, promise me..”

Promises made, Jenny leaves just as Jay returns. He leans in, pressing his face at the back of Dahlia’s ear, “Want round two?” Her eyebrow twitch and right cheeked smile is a tell all. He leads her back to the room that new memories have been made in, erasing the old. “Are these bed coverings new? I could swear they were a different color...? Um, ignore me... I guess I’m just anxious.”

Just then “Whisper” by Ying Yang Twins begins to play.

He tells her that he will be right back, he is going to get something to hydrate them later, promising that she will appreciate it later. She isn’t quite sure how much time passes, but in her excitement, she strips down, figuring that he’s wasted enough time... She wants him upon entering that door.

Soon, she hears footsteps approaching the door. She turns the lights out, wanting to take control of this round... Anxiety begins to take over as she thinks of exactly what she plans to do to him. With a devilish grin, she stands against the door watching the knob turn.

As she watches his  silhouette enter the door, she promptly closes it, approaching him. She takes his hands and guides him to the corner chair. She pushes him into the chair, straddling him while lifting his shirt over his head. A gentle moan is the only sound heard other than the continuous music wafting throughout the house.

She unzips his pants, then runs her hands over his length to verify his excitement. He begins pulling her dress up her thighs, moving her panties to the side, then enters her with a powerful thrust.

Taking control of this round back into her will, she holds his thighs down with the tops of her feet planted firmly. She uses the added momentum to ride his erection with reckless abandon, driving him deep within her... until... she stops her movement abruptly...

Jay? He says nothing, but leans in to kiss along the underside of her chin, pulling her to him... But she now has her confirmation... She’d realized that she’d adjusted to his erection a bit to easily... This wasn’t Jay’s cologne that she smelled. 

The light comes on as Jay enters the room with the beverages he’d left for. Afraid to turn and look at the face of the male she was straddling, who’s erection was building instead of subsiding....

Then it hit her... panic started to build as she began to recognize the cologne...

“Oh no...”

She became totally petrified, unable to move. How could this be happening to her again?...

------ Meeting Robin-----

Planning her revenge would prove to be easier than she thought. Dahlia didn’t want to take this the same way as last time... She was finally realizing that where she thought she was the bad person for sleeping with a drunken Samuel Dalton, she had been set up from the start.

“Hi, we’ve never met... You’re Robin right. I’ve heard around campus that you’re friends with some... talented people... I have a project that I need some help with. I can make it worth your time...” She drags her nail against his chest, sliding it teasingly down the center of his chest... giving him that “I’ll do whatever you want, if you help me out” lash batting, tilting her head as she runs her tongue seductively across her lower lip. Will she make good on her subtle hinting of pleasuring him?...

Robin had many connections around campus. He knew where to get the little pills to make you forget life and just chill... he knew people who had hacker abilities... Let’s just go ahead and say that he was the most resourceful person on campus per the grapevine.

Thanks to Jen, Dahlia now knew most of the story. She had been targeted by this elite group on Princeton’s campus. Their name... “The Boys of Princeton”...

Although they rival during Stomping of the Yard, members from the various campus Fraternities have joined together, forming this private society. It is a very selective group, and no matter their differences, members had to honor the request made of one another.

These select members were offered an immunity afforded to the richest of the rich... dismissed misdemeanors and other violations of the law, i.e., DUIs, traffic tickets, fender benders... just to name a few.

She had been targeted as a challenge among the group. Only one of them had to gain her attention, to sway her to interest, and the rest would fall to the group... Once she became the ‘property’ of one, she would be the property of them all. These men recycled their women among the group, some did so willingly, some did so according to their code. The females would be oblivious to this group and their sinister practices.

Robin’s connections would prove to be useful in uncovering the identities of every person who sought to or became members of this group. She would expose them to prevent this from ruining another girls life, as it has clearly affected hers...

----- Future talks with Jay ---- 

Goddammit, answer the phone...

“Umm, is this not a good time to talk to you Jay?”...

“Dahlia?”

I told you that in order to forgive you for what happened, you would have to be at my beck and call. I didn’t press charges, but there is no statute of limitations, don’t push me... I’ve sent you the address... be here in an hour... I don’t care what you have going on...

Dahlia had made it a point to keep up with Jay’s career, or lack thereof. A certain Ms. Klein had contacted the parents of one Mr. Jay Christopher Hunt.

Mr. Bump-N-Grind had told her, in his inebriated state, that the Sorority both she and Dahlia were members of was in fact founded, funded and currently owned by none other than Mrs. Janelle and J.B. Hunt... parents of one J.C. Hunt.

[david-sharkthot-webster]

chet, chet ,chet... this is why mr. hanks disowned u

Ch*t hanks literally must be an experiment by hanks. If you have a Colin you must balance out the universe by having a ch*t... Ying and yang

[gusu-emilu]

Cantatio: Chapter Five

Ship: Lan Zhan / Wei Ying (POV Lan Zhan)

Summary: Wei Ying gives Lan Zhan a scare while bringing pixiu statues to life in Song Lan’s class.

Cloud Recesses Academy AU, Rated T - read on AO3

Lan Wangji stumbled over as fast as he could. His legs were not working reliably after having so much of his energy drained. What kind of state would Wei Wuxian be in?

He squatted in front of Wei Wuxian, grasped his shoulders, and lifted his hunched torso. His eyes were shut tight, and his mouth hung open, threads of saliva beaded on his tongue.

Starting to panic, Lan Wangji pressed three fingers into a groove on Wei Wuxian’s neck. He was warm. His pulse was surprisingly fast.

“Wei Ying?”

< Ch. 4 | Ch. 6 > |  chapter list

Although Lan Wangji would be disinclined to downplay his uncle, he had to admit that Beings & Creatures with Song Lan was much more interesting than Trans-Himalayan poetry.

Half of the intrigue was the professor himself. He was terse in words and frosty in demeanor, but beneath his withdrawn temperament was a vast expanse of worldly knowledge and wary cynicism that did not seem like it belonged in a man who couldn’t have been much older than thirty. His presence reminded Lan Wangji of something he had felt before.

Lan Wangji had met many Lan Clan elders. Some members of this venerated generation carried a certain type of sorrow. It was a quiet, subdued torment that resided within their aged bones, dormant and faceless.

In a way he could not comprehend, Lan Wangji was able to sense its aura. It made him stiffen when those weathered men and women spoke his name or touched his shoulders, as he was overcome with a foreboding that if he got too close, their frail sorrow would sense his youth and vigor, and slink out of its hosts and into Lan Wangji’s heart to feed on his fresh life force.

These were people who were deeply haunted, but with the blessing of age had managed to integrate their pain into the sinews of their body until their identity and their misery were one and the same. It was not peace. It was the closest these people could come to peace.

Song Lan was one of these people.

Why did a man so young carry such a burden, and how had it settled into his being so seamlessly?

Yesterday evening, Lan Wangji had asked his brother what he knew about Song Lan. It was not much. Lan Xichen remarked that Song Lan had been a rogue cultivator for over a decade, traveling to places beyond the reach of the major cultivation sects. He went wherever the stars guided him, and he solved whatever problems crossed his path. There was no record of his deeds, only that his name roused a vaguely positive reaction if spoken in a few villages spread throughout the land. This was his first time teaching at the Cloud Recesses Academy after being personally invited by Lan Qiren.

Lan Wangji decided that he liked Song Lan, if only for the secrets he kept.

He liked Song Lan’s class, too. The other half of the intrigue of Beings & Creatures was the course material.

Instead of studying at desks in a classroom, the disciples kneeled in a clearing of soft trimmed grass that was a short walk away from the central buildings of the Cloud Recesses. The sunshine was warm upon their backs. In the distance were lush forests and misty mountains.

Song Lan parsed the disciples into groups of two, then took his time as he wordlessly weaved through the clearing and placed before each pair a greyish-brown stone carving of a pixiu, a magical hybrid that looked like a winged, serpentine roaring lion. The statues, small enough to hold in one hand, were old and beat-up. Each wide-mouthed pixiu carving sat atop a rectangular platform.

Lan Wangji’s pixiu sat in the grass between him and his partner Jin Zixuan. Jin Zixuan leaned forward and hesitantly inspected the pixiu.

“It’s kind of cute. In an ugly way,” he remarked.

Jin Zixuan’s head bobbed up and down every few moments to judge the statue from different angles, while Lan Wangji watched Song Lan in anticipation for their instructions.

Song Lan was in no hurry to start. His posture was stiff, but his jaw was soft and his eyelids were heavy. His robes were dark and held tints of cool blue and green. The diagonal golden hilt of a sword was visible behind his shoulder.

A cloud of reluctant curiosity formed over the disciples’ heads. They had no idea what the lesson would be about. In fact, their professor had not said anything other than ‘Do not touch these.’ He hadn’t even introduced himself yet.

On Lan Wangji’s left and two rows ahead, Wei Wuxian was partnered with Nie Huaisang. Both of them were crouched down in the grass to examine the backside of the pixiu.

“It really doesn’t have a butthole,” Wei Wuxian whispered.

“Why is that the first thing you look for?” Jiang Cheng said through clenched teeth from where he kneeled behind them.

Nie Huaisang laid a dainty finger on his chin. “Legend has it that after a pixiu pooped in the Jade Emperor’s palace, the Emperor spanked it so hard that its butt sealed up.”

Lan Wangji’s exhales became a bit more forceful.

Thankfully, the shameless disciples were silenced by a frigid glare from Song Lan.

A few paces away from the class, Jin Guangyao sat alone without a statue. Jin Guangyao may have been a cultivator and the son of the Jin Clan Leader, but he was also the son of a prostitute. He existed in a precarious state of ambiguity—privileged enough to attend classes with the best disciples in the land, but too unclean to fully participate in them. He was condemned to forever watch and serve from the sidelines, true greatness an arm’s length away but yet just beyond his fingertips.

At least, since Jin Guangshan had snatched him out of Nie Mingjue’s more humanizing tutelage the minute he showed promise. Lan Wangji understood why Nie Mingjue and Lan Xichen complained so much about their doe-eyed friend joining the Jin Clan.

Suddenly, Song Lan, too, looked at Jin Guangyao. A subtle, inscrutable line appeared in his brow. Otherwise, he did not move.

Jin Guangyao clutched his robes uncomfortably as the professor stared at him.

Another few seconds passed.

By now, the one disciple left to finish examining his pixiu and turn his attention to Song Lan was Wen Ning. Finally, Wen Ning looked up with his dark, expressive eyes.

It was only then that Song Lan spoke.

“Welcome. I am Song Lan of Baixue Temple. Today we will learn to animate guardian statues.”

This was a hefty topic for their first day. Normally a round of lively comments would spread through the crowd of disciples after such an announcement, but no one made a sound.

Song Lan was like a source of gravity, drawing in all attention, noise, even the bright sunlight, and weaving it into a narrow thread of solemnity.

“Someone please inform the class of what a guardian spirit is.”

It was Luo Qingyang who spoke.

“Guardian spirits are formed from the intentions of the founders of a location and are housed in statues. Although many buildings have statues to ward off evil, most contain weak guardian spirits, if any at all. Thousands of prayer intentions of great conviction are necessary to form a potent guardian spirit. Usually only palaces, temples, and important locations like the Cloud Recesses have strong ones.”

Lan Wangji visualized the architecture of the Cloud Recesses. Small statues of animals sat upon its roofs, and guardian lions stood before its most important buildings. They had protected the Cloud Recesses for countless years.

“Very good. Guardian statues take the form of a powerful animal,” Song Lan continued. “Pixiu are a common example. Females have two antlers and fight off evil. Males have a single antler and attract wealth.”

“Why is mine female?” Wen Chao grumbled as though it were a terrible affront.

The frost in Song Lan’s visage turned to sharp ice.

“Why not?”

Wen Chao looked up with a start. Apparently, he had not expected Song Lan to hear, despite how loud his voice was. But a jerk before an audience of one didn’t always have qualms about being a jerk before all.

“Because, I’m a man! Give this to the girls instead.”

In the row behind him, Wen Qing rolled her eyes.

Song Lan gave his head a slight tilt. “Please prove to me, with textualized arguments, that there is an established, well-researched reason this should be done.”

Wen Chao scowled as he processed Song Lan’s words. “I’m male! There’s nothing more to it.”

“Can you prove it to me with words alone, other than references to your sex?”

“…”

“Every object—people, plants, even these statues—contains a balance of feminine and masculine, of yin and yang. To waste one is to starve the soul. If you would like to starve, I will not stop you.”

A vein bulged in Wen Chao’s neck. He looked like he was about to jump up, but having been bested, he did not reply.

“This is basic cultivation theory that a child would know. Do not make me question the legitimacy of your attendance here.”

Several of the disciples grinned and nodded their heads in agreement with Song Lan. Then again, it was easy to agree when the object of ridicule was a Wen.

Song Lan’s eyes left Wen Chao, and darted to Jin Guangyao again. That same line appeared in his forehead. This time, Lan Wangji recognized discomfort in his expression.

Strange.

Then Song Lan continued the lesson as if it had never been interrupted.

“A guardian statue can be animated in a time of crisis by drawing on its guardian spirit. However, animating even a small statue will greatly drain a cultivator’s spiritual energy. Attempting to animate one that is too large can destroy a cultivator’s golden core.

“You are young. Although you possess golden cores, they are immature and fragile. Therefore, you will practice by animating statues that contain weak guardian spirits, and you will work in pairs to combine your energies into a single summoning.”

Jin Zixuan turned his head to exchange glances with Lan Wangji, but Lan Wangji did not return the gesture. He stared at the pixiu, studying its single-horned head. It was male.

“Place one hand upon the statue and reach out to the spirit. Be careful. Once you contact the spirit, it will immediately begin absorbing your energy.”

With two fingers, Lan Wangji gently touched the left side of the pixiu’s head. The stone was rough and slightly warm from sitting in the sun.

Once his partner was also touching the pixiu, Lan Wangji closed his eyes and reached out to probe the spiritual energy orbiting him. He felt Jin Zixuan’s nervousness and determination enter his mind and become one with his thoughts.

Then, something pounded over his spiritual essence like a wave crashing on the shore in ocean storm. Like the tide washing that wave back out to sea, it pulled Lan Wangji.

No, it tore at him—it was draining him, ripping his core from him—

In a second, the pain was gone. He panted for breath. His body felt much weaker, like he had swum a mile at full speed on an empty stomach: sleepy, aching, and dizzy, but still healthy.

He opened his eyes.

The little stone creature had jumped off its platform. Its movements were rigid and awkward, but it was very much alive. It radiated a joyful, protective energy.

The pixiu bounded over to Jin Zixuan, who had dropped onto his stomach in exhaustion. Jin Zixuan peered up at the pixiu that practically stood atop his nose. He gave a weary smile.

Male pixiu sought wealth. Jin Zixuan was undoubtedly the richest person in the vicinity. Their guardian statue performed its duty well.

Lan Wangji observed the progress of the disciples surrounding him. No one had animated their statues as quickly as them. Most sat with clenched muscles as they pressed their hands against the pixiu, trembling and whimpering as they fell deeper into the trance.

To his left, beads of sweat dripped down the side of Jiang Cheng’s face as he bared his teeth.

Two rows ahead, Wei Wuxian’s black curtain of hair was outlined in a fluffy yellow halo created by the sunlight. He was arguing with Nie Huaisang before a still-frozen statue.

“Just put your hand on it!”

“No, it’s too scary!”

“Come on, Huaisang, it’s not that bad!”

“It was going to pull out my golden core! I didn’t like it at all!”

Wei Wuxian grabbed Nie Huaisang by the folds of his robes below his neck and shook him back and forth. Nie Huaisang’s head lolled left and right.

“It couldn’t have felt much worse than this!” Wei Wuxian teased.

Nie Huaisang grinned and tried to peel away Wei Wuxian’s hand. “Yeah, you’re way worse, Wei-xiong! Way worse!”

Lan Wangji became bitterly aware of the lack of Wei Wuxian’s hand on his own robes.

Wait, what?

Ridiculous, Lan Wangji decided, directing his judgement at the two boys in front of him, and not at himself, because that thought had never happened.

Wei Wuxian released Nie Huaisang with a flimsy shove. “Aiya, you’re useless, Huaisang. I’ll just do it myself.”

“Wait, but didn’t the daozhang say that two people—”

“Shh! I just wanna try! It can’t be that hard!”

Lan Wangji clenched his jaw. He had experienced firsthand how much spiritual energy the pixiu had taken from his golden core, and it was already enough to warp his breaths and exhaust his muscles. That was with the help of Jin Zixuan, who was one of the most powerful disciples.

Where was Song Lan? Did he not see what was happening?

Wei Wuxian wasn’t foolish enough to try to animate the statue himself, was he?

The young cultivator wrapped a hand around the neck of the pixiu.

Apparently, he was.

“Wei Ying!”

Lan Wangji jumped to his feet and was about to rush forward to aid Wei Wuxian with what remained of his own spiritual energy, but it was over already.

Wei Wuxian’s back rounded, and his arms fell limp into the grass. The pixiu jolted awake and ran around in circles. It looked like it had gone berserk.

“…Wei-xiong?” Nie Huaisang said with an undertone of dread. He poked Wei Wuxian in the shoulder.

There was no reaction.

“W-W-Wei-xiong???”

Lan Wangji stumbled over as fast as he could. His legs were not working reliably after having so much of his energy drained. What kind of state would Wei Wuxian be in?

He squatted in front of Wei Wuxian, grasped his shoulders, and lifted his hunched torso. His eyes were shut tight, and his mouth hung open, threads of saliva beaded on his tongue.

Starting to panic, Lan Wangji pressed three fingers into a groove on Wei Wuxian’s neck. He was warm. His pulse was surprisingly fast.

“Wei Ying?”

“LAN ZHAN!”

With a sadistic grin, Wei Wuxian shot his eyes open and thrust his fingertips into Lan Wangji’s chest, sending a terrifying jolt through his entire body. Lan Wangji’s heart exploded with fright as he tumbled backwards with a gasp.

“Hahahahahahaha!”

Wei Wuxian doubled over in laughter. Nie Huaisang stared in surprise, then soon joined him in the hilarity.

Song Lan appeared over their shoulders, his expression unamused.

“Compose yourselves. This is not a game,” he said. Then he slinked away to a different pair, leaving as abruptly as he came.

Lan Wangji’s tired, sluggish mind was still processing what happened. His fingers curled into his palms, and soon his fists shook with anger. His ears burned red.

“Wei Wuxian.”

“Ahahaha, so once I’m awake, it’s not Wei Ying anymore? Hahahaha! I’m so hurt, Lan Zhan! Maybe I should just stay asleep! Hahahaha!”

Wei Wuxian’s obnoxious demeanor was not even slightly subdued. He didn’t seem to have lost any energy to the pixiu that scampered away into the forest.

“How…How…”

“How did I do it?” Wei Wuxian said with a smirk. He crossed his legs and leaned forward, resting his chin in his hand in one swift, cocky motion.

“Remind me later. I’ll tell you during detention. You have the privilege of supervising me, right?”

Lan Wangji staggered to his feet and glowered down at Wei Wuxian.

“Do not speak to me again.”

* * *

The rest of Song Lan’s class was a blur fringed with silent fury. Lan Wangji’s brain was dominated by a single thought: He did not like Wei Wuxian. At all.

How had he animated the guardian statue by himself without losing energy? Had he and Nie Huaisang conspired just to play a joke on him?

However, he did not want to hear whatever explanation Wei Wuxian planned to offer later. He had heard his distasteful voice enough.

It took until Song Lan dismissed the disciples for Lan Wangji to fully organize his haywire emotions and regain his composure. It had not helped that his body had been exhausted for most of class. But at last, he felt strength and confidence return to his limbs, and his familiar unfaltering tranquility returned to his mind.

For the most part.

Then he remembered—Wen Qing. They needed to discuss the closet portal.

Lan Wangji barely had the chance to look around for the young medical student when she popped up at his side of her own accord.

She pointed an accusatory finger at his chest. “You will not speak a word to anyone about what you saw last night.”

Her brow was stern and authoritative, her eyes hawklike.

This was not a good start to the conversation.

* * *

* * *

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this chapter, you can be a supportive sibling like Jiang Yanli by liking, reblogging, and visiting me on AO3! New chapters posted every Monday on AO3 and Tuesday on Tumblr.

Ch. 6 > |  chapter list

[tsunflowers]

flowers’s mdzs character list as of ch 30

wwx: my boy. everyone knows that he is into men. betrayed the yunmengjiang sect so thats why jiang cheng wants him dead? also wei ying

lwj: boyfriend material? really cold and proper. big gay feelings. also lan zhan, hanguang-jun

wen ning: some dead guy. wwx made him? he should be sentient despite being dead but isn’t

lan jingyi: annoying little bro

lan sizhui: helpful older bro

jin ling: some shithead. something happened with his mom and wwx?

jiang cheng: mean guy with magic ring. jin ling’s boss/uncle. leader of yunmengjiang sect

lan xichen: lwj’s older brother and the leader of their sect. handsome and kind. also lan huan, zewu-jun

jin guangyao: leader of lanlingjin sect (most important sect?). jin ling’s uncle. sworn brothers with lan xichen. also lianfang-zun

lan qiren: famous gusulan teacher. hates wwx for being shitty

jiang fengmian: jiang cheng’s dad, like an adoptive father to wwx, former leader of yunmengjiang

nie huaisang: porn boy, wwx’s friend from qinghenie sect. lmao he grows up to be sect leader and sucks at it

jiang yanli: like a sister to wwx? jiang cheng’s older sister. apparently shes ugly so her fiance jin zixuan doesn’t like her

yu ziyuan: jiang fengmian’s wife

baoshan sanren: badass cultivator lady who fucked off to live on a mountain

xiao xingchen: studied under baoshan sanren at the same time as wwx’s mom

zangse sanren: wwx’s mom, studied under baoshan sanren

xue yang: an evil child. has a powerful weapon, the stygian tiger seal wwx made

song zichen: xingchen’s bf who he cut his eyes out for

[burntheupholstery]

Been seeing several meta posts going around about the themes of happiness, love, and romance in MDZS going around. Generally, I wholeheartedly agree with it.

Any worthy response I might have that would add meaningfully to the discussion isn’t formed yet. Mostly what I have now is a knee-jerk grief for Jiang Cheng.

I think there’s another aspect that I’d like to put into the discussion: growth, and how one learns to be happy.

If we’re talking about happiness and working towards it... Jiang Cheng tried just as hard as the others, didn’t he? Nothing stops him — not dead family, not dead friends, not a house reduced to ash and followers scattered to the wind. He stands right back up, holds back his tears puts up mental fortifications and goes ahead with life with nary a complaint. But what did he get? Rejection and death, on every side. By the end of the novel, he has nothing left, nothing except what his two hands have built: his sect. No emotional connection remains to his family or friends. Did he even have friends, you ask. Wei Ying is a lost cause by the end conclusion — you’ll see why when the translation gets to chapter 90~100. Nie Huai Sang? Too caught up in grief over his brother. Lan Xi Cheng? What interaction did they have, ever? Jiang Cheng values emotional ties just as much as Wei Ying did. But what did it leave him?

Jiang Cheng has never been taught how to achieve personal happiness. That’s 1). And then, he’s never had the freedom to search for a way to achieve happiness. That’s 2).

At every turn, he’s been blocked, by others’ expectations that he can’t shrug off, bound by societal duty that’s given him from birth.

It’s all well and good to discuss how Wei Ying is a paragon of grasping personal happiness. I want to stress that there’s nothing wrong with this discussion. But we have to remember that, in canon and in RL, not everyone’s at the liberty to take that path.

Some are bound by duty: Lan Xi Chen; Jiang Cheng.

Some are lost in grief: Nie Huai Sang; the above two.

Some are overcome with ambition, again borne of societal expectation: Jin Guang Yao.

And some just plain have no idea how: Xue Yang.

Here is where I think the book falters a little. There isn’t any conceivable thing these characters could’ve done to prevent their unhappiness. It gives Happy Endings only to the free, to the societally unburdened.

How are Lan Wang Ji and Wei Wu Xian unburdened? Isn’t one a pillar of the Lan sect, held to such a high standard he might as well stop being human altogether? Isn’t the other the dreaded Yiling Patriarch, who brings death and destruction to everything he’s involved in?

Well, consider it from this perspective. None of those assumptions of their character are placed on them from before their birth. That is to say, none of these restrictive societal views on Lan Wang Ji and Wei Ying are something they can’t change.

The title of Han-Guang-Jun is earned by Wang Ji’s achievements. His actions gave him the title, and so his actions can also strip him of it. The Yiling Patriarch chose to walk the road of demonic cultivation, instead of becoming a mortal.

Yes, there are extraneous circumstances that make the above slightly less simplistic then the way I put them. But when push comes to shove, both Lan Wang Ji and Wei Ying can shed those identities and still have somewhere left to go.

What about Jin Guang Yao? Jiang Cheng?

Jin Guang Yao I can’t speak for — I didn’t pay much attention to his story, but I know that everything he has, he built for himself, and the place he came from (unlike Lan Zhan and Wei Ying) has no inherent happiness-potential to speak of.

Jiang Cheng...we say he doesn’t know happiness, he has no idea how to reach for it. 

So how, then, would someone in his position — bound by duty to his sect and the teachings of his harsh mother and expectations of his distant father, all of which to shake off would shake him to his very foundations, a process that neither LWJ nor WY needed to go through if they should choose to throw off their roles — act, to find their own happiness?

We don’t know. We aren’t told how. There doesn’t even seem to be the possibility.

That... that doesn’t seem very nice or fair to me. How are we to learn from him, then?

He is as much a product of his environments as anyone else. His hand is forced by society as much as anyone else’s.

It’s no wonder that the product of Jiang Feng Mian and Yu Zi Yuan would be two children who valued vastly different and opposing things. Wei Ying, who values abstract ideas of justice and looks to the future; Jiang Cheng, who values concrete attachments and looks to the present.

No one is wrong. Both are reasonable and understandable in their values.

But why is it then, that Wei Ying gets the completely happy ending, has friends and a lover and doesn’t regret what he put down to get his happy ending, but not Jiang Cheng?

Because Wei Ying martyred himself for a greater cause?

That’s... I wouldn’t call that a nice message, by any means.

[wangxianficrecs]

these dreams, like ashes (float away) by AStarlightMonbebe

these dreams, like ashes (float away)

by AStarlightMonbebe

T, 161k, wangxian, xueyu

Summary:  13 years ago, Wei Wuxian ran away from what he had done, turning his back on his friends, his family, his future, and the one person who had began to matter to him the most.

Now, on the cusp of thirty, Wei Ying finds himself back where it all started with a low profile job, exactly two friends in all of the country, a masked neighbor who seems to be a different person entirely than what everyone says, and too many memories he would rather forget.

At the same time, his old classmates are turning up dead in a grisly manner...and the prime suspect is him. Worst of all, the head investigator for the case is none other than Lan Wangji, the person Wei Ying wants to avoid at all costs.

My comments:  Very interesting case fic. Wei Wuxian maybe killed Jin Zixuan 13 years prior, under murky circumstances, and then shijie killed herself;  so he's stayed away all that time.  Within a few days of his return bodies start piling up... all people who had bullied him during his time at Cloud Recesses. Jingyi (a young detective on the case) is pretty convinced it's him, but when Lan Wangji finally returns (he shows up in Ch. 6), he puts an immediate stop to THAT line of inquiry. The juniors are all completely thrown, because clearly there is HISTORY between their boss/uncle/father and their primary suspect. So who IS he?

POV jumps around to EVERYBODY, which is immersive and revealing. The primary characters are Mo Xuanyu (lonely and traumatized) and Xue Yang (homeless and only mildly sociopathic) and Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji. We follow the juniors around a lot, too, as they learn how to investigate and draw conclusions. I adored Xue Yang and Mo Xuanyu and the way they very slowly and cautiously revealed themselves.

About halfway through, story turns from investigative case fic (with intriguing tastes of Whatever Happened Back Then) to a much faster-paced threatening culmination where slowly everyone is hurt or beaten or incapacitated from the shadows. There is SO much whump. Whole second part is mostly at a hospital, where any time they turn their backs someone else is hurt. And then Mo Xuanyu and Xue Yang are kidnapped (and lightly tortured) and the bubbling situation begins to come to a head....

Graphic Depictions of Violence and no smut.

****

I gotta say I love Wen Xu in this. I've never even considered him as a character, and this story has changed my mind. Also, he spawned THIS precious paragraph, and now I'm completely won over:

“Hmm.” Wen Xu said. He reached over and peeled back the lid of a creamer, drinking it straight, with no care as to how others perceived him. He ripped open a sugar and poured it into where the creamer had been. It was such a fascinating display of randomness that Huaisang couldn’t pull his eyes away from it.

modern au, police/detective au, case fic, angst, hurt/comfort, POV multiple, hallucinations, skin hunger, touch starved, homelessness, homeless xue yang, whump, hurt everybody, car accidents, bullying, light torture, hurt wei wuxian, hurt mo xuanyu, hurt xue yang, hurt lan sizhui, lan sizhui finds out he’s a wen, adoption, serial killer, insecurity, adorable juniors, hospitals, serious injuries, false accusations, HAPPY ENDING, @astarlightmonbebe

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