#every single time she was trying to protect wwx and everyone else she was one step closer to danger

[miyu-hyperfixates]

What I really love about present time Wangxian is how the trope of "us against the world' is such a natural logical and personal growth for both Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian character-wise. Wangxian is all about "being there to catch you" vs "letting myself fall", it's all about "being able to be by your side" vs "willingly sharing the burden with you". And I could gush about it for hours.

I know some people complain that post resurrection, we only see LWJ doing things for WWX (doting on him, protecting him, supporting him etc) and not the other way around, that it seems a little one-sided and unbalanced... But that's the point.

Putting aside the fact that LWJ had become so OP that it would take an one-on-one fight against someone on NMJ's or WRH's level for him to be truly in danger.... had he at some point been put in a situation where he was in need of reassurance or protection or being defended, there's no way WWX aka Mr. "I'm putting everyone else safety before my own and take everyone burden into my own body" wouldn't be the very first in line.

But that situation is never shown (or very briefly with WWX getting angry at JC for dissing at LWJ). And not just because this is a danmei and it follows the very stereotypical rules of gong must protect shou. No it's because WWX's personal journey is all about learning that's it's okay to rely on someone, that someone else would willingly and gladly follow him into the night, that it doesn't have to be a single-plank bridge. So it wouldn't make sense to have WWX be once again in the role of the Protector.

The symbolism of "falling/jumping down" and "catching" is used in almost all of WWX significant relationship and the degree of success in catching him represents how well they're able to protect him.

Jiang Yanli

The first time (chronologically) this notion was introduced was of course with JYL. Young WWX found himself stuck at the top of some tree and jumped down with the assurance that JYL would catch him. Of course, at that time JYL was young and not particularly strong so he ended hurting himself.

This is so representative of their future relationship where JYL is trying to protect WWX against the scorn of the Jin (berating publicly Jin Xizun, inviting WWX to JL one month celebration etc.) but ultimately failing.

It's not that WWX doesn't trust JYL to catch him, it's that he knows that she can't "physically" catch him. But he still jumps every time because maybe, just maybe this time she'll be able to and maybe he'll finally stop getting hurt in the process.

But at the same time, JYL is deeply engraved in his heart and mind as someone that he must protect, so even if he jumps he tries not to put the weight on her, he tries not to hurt her in the process. Which is why he never shared with her what he went through in the Burial Mounds and never talked about the golden core transfer.

And speaking about golden core transfer.

Jiang Cheng

The tragedy about JC and WWX dynamics is that just like how JC was the reason WWX decided to climb up that tree in the first place, just like how JC felt guilty and tried to go look for WWX but ultimately ended up hurting himself instead.... JC ended up being the starting point/cause of WWX's fall.

Because JC tried to save WWX from the Wen he ended up getting captured instead and lost his golden core. Prompting WWX to sacrifice his own for him, he metaphorically willingly jumped down from the height of top cultivation to the low bottom of being a "mediocre" ordinary man.... And there was no one to catch him at the bottom, no one to protect him. And it got worse, he was even literally pushed down to the burial mounds and once again no one was there to catch him.

Because the tragedy of it all is that JC, because of circumstances of his own making, was not and would never be in the right place to catch him. ( And he would have done it in a heart beat if WWX stopped hiding things from him to protect him and jumping down to place JC can't reach).

The whole thing with the Wen remnants and WWX's "fall from grace" in the eyes of the cultivation society is another example of JC and WWX dynamics.

"Don't you understand? If you insist on protecting them, then I can't protect you!"

And of course, when WWX kept spiraling downward and went mad, JC was the one at the FIrst Bural Mound Siege, leading to WWX ultimate downfall: his death.

The imagery is played straight in the Untamed: where LWJ is desperately trying to keep WWX from falling and WWX purposefully letting himself fall down to his death from a cliff after JC's arrival.

Which of course naturally leads to our ML.

Lan Wangji

In the Untamed, LWJ holds on WWX's hand and try to prevent him from falling. And he fails. Just like how in the novel he goes against those 33 elders to try to protect WWX and fails because WWX rejects him.

And it actually makes sense.

Because at that point, LWJ failed to understand that the way to save WWX wasn't to pull him away from that single-plank bridge but to actually show him that he was willing to walk that path with him. He failed to understand that WWX didn't want someone to "keep him from falling" but actually needed someone to "catch him" at the bottom. He failed to understand that his actions to WWX would appear like him extending his hand from a "moral high-ground".

LWJ of that time lacked the emotional maturity and the clarity to actually pull it off. Because at that time he was still unsure of his own actions, his own feelings and his own resolution, still questioning himself about what his family rules and mind told him was wrong but what his heart actually felt was right.

JYL knew WWX enough to understand that but didn't have the ability to do so. While LWJ had the strength but lacked the understanding.

And that's why to WWX, LWJ appeared to have changed drastically after those 13 years. Because LWJ needed those 13 years to question, accept and reflects on everything that happened.

And LWJ spent the entire present timeline rectifying what he thought he had done wrong with WWX in the past. And all the while WWX started to rely more and more on LWJ.... (cues all those CQL scenes where LWJ caught a fainting WWX).

WWX saw how LWJ didn't seem to disapprove of his cultivation anymore, how he was willing to be lenient with him about rules breaking, how he seemed so much softer and accepting, how he seemed to worry so much for him when he took on Jin Ling curse mark, how when push come to shove and WWX's identity was revealed he was willing to stand by his side against the whole cultivation world because he trusted him, how he kept and kept protecting and saving WWX even if WWX actually didn't need saving (except from dogs)....

Until it reached that iconic scene:

All of a sudden, an abnormally strong impulse surged into Wei WuXian’s mind. He wanted to fall down again, just like back then. A voice inside of him said, If he catches me, I’ll… At this point where he thought ‘I’ll’, Wei WuXian let go. Seeing that he fell out of the tree without any warning, Lan WangJi’s eyes immediately widened. He shot forward just in time to catch Wei WuXian, or one might say, be caught by Wei WuXian. [...] His voice was hoarse, "Thank you" He wasn’t scared of falling. All these years, he’d fallen many times. But falling on the ground still hurt, after all. If someone was be there to catch him, it’d be more than wonderful. Hearing Wei WuXian thank him, Lan WangJi’s body seemed to freeze for a second. The hand that was about to be laid on Wei WuXian’s back paused before it returned. After a moment of silence, Lan WangJi responded, “You are welcome.” -- Extract from chapter 87, Exiled Rebels Translation

This passage here is so, so significant because this is the moment where WWX truly really conceptualizes and accepts that yes, LWJ will be here for him, and someone is finally there to catch him.

And this is Wangxian at its finest.

And it needed to be this exact same tree that paralleled his complicated relationship with his siblings. Because you need to understand how JYL wanted to stand by WWX but was powerless to do so. You need to understand how JC wanted to stand by WWX but couldn't understand why his shixiong kept distancing himself from him and throwing himself from places he couldn't reach. You need to understand how WWX had always been the protector in order to appreciate how wholesome Wangxian is.

[yioh]

hello when i say wen qing never did anything wrong i mean exactly that

[ouyangzizhensdad]

I don’t know if you’ve spoken about this yet, but if you haven’t, can you please address the way the fandom (but mostly JC apologists) blame WWX for JYL’s death? Because every single time I see a post of “well of course JC was still angry. WWX was the one directly responsible for JYL dying”, I want to pull my hair out. JYL chose to come see her brother. She chose to protect him. She died doing what she’s always done since she was a child. Protecting her brothers. Did she want to leave her child an orphan? Of course not! But did she want her brother to die thinking that she hated him for a loss she knew he must have been devastated and hating himself for? No she did not! And yet, certain parts of the fandom stay stripping JYL of her agency and the choices she made, just to protect JC, and I want to scream. And they don’t do it in a “JC is looking for an excuse to justify his anger at WWX, rather than self-reflect and admit to his very human flaws of anger and jealousy and resentment,” way, but a “JC has never done any wrong. WWX is the devil’s incarnate and a sister-murderer” way, and gods it’s so tiring.

Sorry for the long ask.

Hi anon,

I think there are ways to talk about jyl's death without denying the character her agency while acknowledging that the conditions for her death would not have happened without some of wwx's decisions (as well as those of other characters and the cultivation world more largely). In short, decisions don't happen in a vacuum, and I think the novel does highlight this, such as when wwx tells lwj that guidao is the only path for him under the circumstances to protect the wen remnants, regardless of all the risks it entails (and, as we know, how this brought him to his end). Of course, other people and their own decisions also have a lot to do with creating the context that brings jyl’s to her untimely death.

I don’t think it’s a bad thing at all, character-wise and narrative-wise, for jc to blame wwx for jyl’s death. The way people deal with grief is often illogical, and they can blame themselves and others for things that are outside of their control; like someone blaming themselves because another person got into a car accident driving to see them, for instance. But to treat that perception, that character-rooted interpretation of the events, as if it were the whole, objective truth of what took place is.... not it.

I think people also seem to fail to recognise that jyl was trying to de-escalate the situation, instead making her motivations only about wwx. We as readers already knew due to the soup incident and the phoenix mountain incident that jyl is someone who is able to calm wwx down when no one else can. I do think that while she did want to protect wwx, she also wanted to prevent others from being harmed as well. In that sense, jyl is trying to accomplish the same thing as lwj at Buyetian--protect wwx and protect others.

[...] right now, Wei Wuxian had already lost his judgement. He was already half-mad, half-unconscious. All evil was being augmented by him. He felt that everyone loathed him and he loathed everyone as well. He would not be scared no matter who came at him. It would not matter no matter who came at him. It was all the same anyway.

Suddenly, amid the battle noises, Wei Wuxian heard a faint voice.

“A-Xian!” the voice shouted.

Like a bucket of ice-cold water, the voice doused the vile flames raging within his heart.

[...]

“A-Xian,” she sighed, “you… you should stop, first. Don’t, don’t…”

“Yes, I’ll stop,” Wei Wuxian hurried.

He took up Chenqing, placed it by his lips, and began to play. He only managed to steady his mind with great effort. This time, the corpses finally stopped ignoring his commands. One after another, strange gurgles echoed in their throats as if they were complaining. Slowly, they bent down.

I don’t think it’s unfair however to point out that not only would jyl not have been there in the first place if wwx had not been, but that she gets hurt by a corpse wwx is no longer able to control and then dies choosing to take a hit that was meant for wwx in revenge for a man he had just killed. Calling wwx a sister-murderer is a very weird take under the circumstances, because it could not have been less his intent or wishes on top of him not actually harming jyl directly, but it is fair to say that if wwx had not lost control of his modao, it is likely that jyl would still be alive, same if he had not decided while filled with dark emotions and resentment to confront the sects the way he did. And we see how these events have changed him after his rebirth, for instance when he escapes from Jinlin Tai and makes a comment about how it was best not try to defend himself or confront them, but to flee, regroup, strategise and see what could be done. It’s hard not see how what happened at Buyetian has not informing this “lesson” he learned.

[flautistsandpeonies]

Retrograde

Read my Prompt [Here]

Word Length: 4,125

Tags: Time Travel, Canon Divergence, Big Brother Trio/NMJ-LXC-WWX Friendship/Brotherhood, Somebody Lives/Not Everyone Dies, Single Father WWX, Wei WuXian’s Canon Genius, Wen Remnants, WangXian

He knows he’s going to die.

As the first half of the Stygian Tiger Seal shatters, he feels the force of the resentful energy slam directly into his chest. Blood quickly fills his mouth, robbing him of the little bit of breathable air the Burial Mounds allowed him to breathe.

He flies through the air, crashing through several burnt, spindly trees before his back slams right into the stone walls of his cave, shattering with the force of his collision. He feels his spine snap, feels the numbness in his legs afterward. Blood is filling his lungs, wet gasps come out haggardly as he suffocates.

He hears the dead before he feels them.

He knows very well the sharp nails and teeth they bare. The strength in their arms and legs, the abilities he’s nurtured in them for the past three years. They would leave nothing left of him.

Thousands of them clamber onto him at once. His arms and legs begin to be pulled in separate directions, his skin is starting to tear. Spirits pound against his chest and claw at his ribs.

His skin is being peeled off, little by little. His bones are being shattered and consumed. He’s growing cold at an alarming rate, howls of the resentful dead fill his ears.

As his heart is devoured whole, he closes his eyes for the last time.

...

”Wen Zhuliu, “he feels his lips move, hears himself say, “Do you really think you can protect his dog life from me?”

His eyes open. He’s blinking. Standing before him in a darkened room filled with talismans and flickering lanterns are two people who should have been dead years ago.

Wen Zhuliu is like a wall before him, arm swirling with his foul power. Wen Chao is sniveling on the floor, body rocking and jolting at every second longer he spends staring at him.

“Better to die trying, “he knows he’s heard him say that before

Confusion immediately fills his mind.

‘Is this the afterlife?, ‘he questions himself, ‘am I watching my life unfold?”

If that was so, then why wasn’t his childhood included? Where are his parents, his life at Lotus Pier? His months at the Cloud Recesses? The Archery Competition? The Indoctrination?

He flexed his fingers. Rolls his shoulders. Narrows his eyes. Body parts that should have been consumed whole by his ghost army obey him willingly. Air fills his lungs instead of blood; there is no hole punched into his chest. Resentment sings, curls, and dances around him instead of screeching, piercing, and stabbing into his very soul. He feels the achingly familiar feeling of his empty dantian.

To his left, a ghostly woman in red shimmering silks lounges against his leg, running her sharp nails along his thigh, smirking away at the lacerations she’s run along Wen Zhuliu’s bicep. To his right, a deformed toddler clings to his ankle, crunching away at one of Wen Chao’s severed fingers. Both are swimming in resentment. Both are ready and rearing to kill at his command.

‘This is, ‘he finds himself thinking, 'Five years ago.’

He should be dead, his soul ought to be in tatters. There shouldn’t be a single piece of him that survived the Stygian Tiger Seal’s revenge.

But he was alive. He was alive and in the past.

Everyone else was alive as well.

His heart burns.

Wen Zhuliu gets tired of his silence and charges. He stands still as a stone as he approaches. He knows what happens next.

The roof crashes open, and Wen Chao hollers in shock. Zidian wraps around Wen Zhuliu’s neck and he’s raised up high in the air, a strangling gasp tearing from his throat.

Two people fall into the room, dressed in armor he hasn’t seen in half a decade.

Jiang Cheng looks back to make sure that Wen Zhuliu can’t escape before calling to him, “Wei WuXian!”

For a second, he doesn’t see the teenager in front of him. He sees a young man bearing whip and sword leading an army to his doorstep and gas is poured onto the flames in his heart.

“Wei Ying, “he turns to see the Second Jade of Lan

The Light Bearing Lord is as immaculate as ever. Bright, golden eyes, straight posture, elegant clothing waving in the night air. A part of him is struck by him for the barest of moments before he pulls himself together.

“Lan Zhan, “he breathes

Lan WangJi throws a talisman at him.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Hanguang-jun is glaring at him.

As he stares into molten gold daggers, he can’t help but remember seeing that same expression on the man as his gleaming blue and silver sword tried to destroy his ChenQing. He remembers lithe hands trying to snatch his only defense out of his hands as he battled thousands on his lonesome at Nightless City.

He crumbles the talisman he threw and tosses it into a corner.

Jiang Cheng smacks him in the chest and he has to take a deep breathe and mentally restrain himself so he doesn’t lash out.

“You brat!, “Jiang Cheng hollers, “Where have you been all these months?!”

The sight of his former shidi, eyes narrowed, Sandu in his hand and Zidian crackling behind him, does not bring him joy like it once did. In fact, it makes him sick to his stomach.

“Sect Leader Jiang, “he finds himself saying before turning the Second Jade of Lan, “Lan WangJi.”

Jiang Cheng looks bewildered at his address before scowling again, “Here, take your sword. I’m tired of carrying it around.”

The sword slaps into his hands with a muted thud, the red and white tassel brushing against his hand. Subian is as perfect as she always is, her sheath perfectly polished and gleaming in the lanterns’ lights. He grips ChenQing tighter.

He stares at Subian, feeling both a familiar reunion and a loss, “Thanks., ”he mumbles

“Wei Ying, “Lan WangJi stalks towards him

“What?, “he says almost harshly

The Lan heir doesn’t falter, “You were the one who drew those talismans.”

“Yes, “he answers for the second time in his life

“You killed all those Wen soldiers, “Hanguang-jun demands

“I did, “he answers, because it’s the truth

“Wei Ying, “he already knows what he’s going to say, “This path, there are prices to pay for this sort of power.”

He answers what he knows is true, “I can control it.”

“Wei Ying, “the Lan steps even closer, “There are some things beyond your control.”

He feels a familiar irritation in his chest, but he takes a deep breath before replying, “I know what I’m doing. Do not concern yourself with me.”

He walks past the two, Jiang and Lan eyes widen as he slowly draws Subian from her sheath. The sword feels dead and heavy in his hands, starting to drain at him immediately, but at least the blade is still sharp. He stops in front of Wen Zhuliu. The man flails as he tries to get out of Zidian’s hold.

“You pay your debt to Wen Ruohan by spilling innocent blood, “the man grunts as he pushes Subian against his neck, “You deserve this.”

He slashes and blood sprays across the room. Wen Zhuliu’s arms fall to his side, his body swinging back on forth on the electric noose.

Wen Chao shrieks as loud as a banshee as he approaches, tries to curl in on himself as he looms over him.

“This is your punishment for all your wrongdoings, “the Second Wen heir whimpers, snot dribbling down his face as he raises Subian above his head, “Know, this is my mercy, for I could have done far worse.”

Wen Chao gives a final pathetic cry before he drops his blade, ending him once more. The room is still chillingly still; he can feel both Jiang Cheng’s and Lan WangJi’s eyes drilling into him as he wipes blood on his robes and puts Subian back where she belongs.

“Wei Ying, “Lan WangJi tries to step forward once again

“No, “he says, stuffing ChenQing safely back against his waist, “We will not talk about this.”

Lan WangJi clenches his fists, but says nothing more. Jiang Cheng walks over to Wen Chao’s slumped corpse and gives it a harsh kick; blood stains his boot.

“Pathetic, “Jiang Cheng sneers and rubs the dirt on Wen Chao’s robes

Looking at him out of the corner of his eyes, he says nothing. Rolling his shoulder, he gives a sharp nod to the Red Woman and Ghost Child and they disappear. Walking past Lan WangJi, he heads immediately to the stairs.

He needs fresh air.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

The Unclean Realm is as eerie as ever. Guards are lined along the looming stone walks and at every entrance, sabers sharpened and ready to be drawn at a moments notice. Grey clouds cover the sky, an impending storm on its way.

As both Jiang Sect Leader and Second Jade touch down, he cautiously hops to the ground. Brushing non-existent dust from his robes, he observes the area, recognizing faces from a siege that hasn’t occurred yet.

“This way, “Jiang Cheng says and he follows.

Part of the training ground had been turned into a medical area; tents are lined up in the far corners to hold medicines and surgical tools. Injured soldiers laid about, the smell of blood and sweat permeated the air along the the stench of alcohols and medicinal powders.

Tending to an injured Nie disciple was a woman dressed in lilac robes gently wrapping the gash along his arm. He hissed as she lowered the limb and pat his shoulder in encouragement. Reaching down to grab another piece of cloth soaked in medicine, she gave a light hum and as she worked.

“Shijie, “he says involuntary, momentarily shocked at the very sight of of her

The woman freezes; then, turning so slowly he could almost mistake her for a low-level corpse, she looks upon him with widened eyes.

“a-Xian, “Jiang Yanli says, almost in a whisper

For the slightest of seconds, he sees a sword stabbing through her throat.

She hops to her feet, robes hiked up as she runs towards them, “a-Xian! Oh you found him!”

Yanli crashes into him, feeling at his arms and face as she searches for wounds she will not find, but he most definitely still feels.

“Oh a-Xian, “Yanli says with tears in her eyes, “Where have you been?”

He doesn’t answer her, merely stares into her once dead eyes, and that earns him a concerned look.

“a-Xian?, “Yanli places a hand on his cheek

“a-Jie, “Jiang Cheng pulls her hand away, “He’s just being weird.”

Jiang Yanli bites her bottom lip at that; wringing her hands, she looks like she wants to ask more.

“Wei-Xiong!, “a clamor draws the groups attention as Nie Huaisang breaks from the entrance of his clansmen’ rooms hall and runs for the first time in his life

“Wei-Xiong, “the Nie heir appraises him, opening his fan and waving it in his direction, “You’re alive.”

He still does not say a word. The second Nie heir is immediately uncomfortable with his silence.

“Huaisang!, “the sound of the Nie Sect Leader’s deep voice makes everyone else jump, and makes him secretly clench his fists

“Da-ge, “Huaisang looks back, "It’s Wei-Xiong!”

Coming up to the small group with the First Jade of Lan, the Nie Sect Leader raises a brow in his direction, “You found him?”

“Yes, “Jiang Cheng replies giving him a side-eye

The Nie Sect Leader is adorned in forest green silks and gold accented armor plates, a stark contrast to the silver and black of the QingheNie disciples. The Lan Sect Leader himself is a contrast to the countless white and pale blue armors of his sect, dressed in deep dark blue robes with silver armor plates. Seeing them both so ready for battle sends him back to Nightless City for a brief moment. He hears people calling for his head.

“Kill the demon!”

“Make sure he’s dead!”

“Kill the demon!”

“Make sure he’s dead!”

“Young Master Wei, “Lan XiChen gives the him a warm smile, “I’m glad to see you safe.”

“Zewu-jun, “he says tersely

The First Jade of Lan blinks at him, seemingly confused and concerned about his tone. Nie MingJue and Huaisang raise a brow, the younger covering the lower half of his face with his fan.

“Xiongzhang, “Lan WangJi walks over to his brother, but his eyes are firmly on him, “Wei Ying is unwell.”

He knows where this conversation is going to lead, and he still has no intention of going to Gusu.

“Young Master Wei, “Lan XiChen roams over him with his eyes, “Are you in need of medical aid?”

“No, “ he answers firmly

“Wei Ying, “Lan WangJi looks ready to argue with him again

“I’m fine, just a bit tired, “the he grunts and grinds his feet into the stone training ground

Nie MingJue seems to notice he’s on the edge of his courtesy and turns to Jiang Cheng, “The rooms next to yours should be empty.”

“Thank you for the hospitality, Nie Zongzhu, “Jiang Cheng snaps his head to look at him, roughly grabbing at his arm and dragging him away

“I don’t know what your fucking problem is, but you need to get a grip, “Jiang Cheng was practically snarling as he stomped down the hall

“a-Xian, did something happen?, “Jiang Yanli says from behind, struggling to keep up with their pace

He did not reply again, pursing his lips as their footsteps echoed down the hall with every one of their steps.

“Ok, enough!, “Jiang Cheng turns and shakes him harshly, “What the fuck is wrong with you?”

He still did not answer, simply blinked as the Jiang Sect leader gripped his arm even harder.

Jiang Cheng, “Are you trying to be difficult on purpose? This isn’t time to be fucking playing around-”

He snatches his arm out of Jiang WanYin’s hold. Taking a step back, he gave a sharp glance to the two Jiang siblings, freezing them in place.

“I’ll be in my room, “he says quietly

Walking around the last remnants of the Jiang Clan, he strode down the stone halls to the room he once resided in at the beginning of the first war. Stepping into the room, he quickly closes the door and locks it so no one will disturb him.

Letting out a harsh breath, he sits down on the firm mattress and lets out a haggard breath and falls back, hair flying all about him. He closes his eyes, and memories dance on the back of his eyelids. A stern woman. A quiet man. A crying child. A charming granny. An alcohol lover. A family...

Clenching his fists, the air of the room seems to leave his lungs and his entire being is set on fire once more.

...

It takes him a week to get to Yiling.

“I need to speak to Wen Qing, “he says to the two soldiers at the front gate

They eye him suspiciously, no doubt by this time the fate of Wen Chao had reached far and wide within the Wen army. Dressed in black and blood red robes, they were right to be wary of him.

“Where do you hail from?, “the first guard places a hand on his sword’s pommel

“Nowhere, I’m a traveler, “he lies easily, “I wish to speak with Wen Qing about her medical practices.”

They narrow their eyes at him. He nonchalantly places his had against his hip next to ChenQing. He wouldn’t kill them if he didn’t have to, but if they wouldn’t let him pass, he would have to rough them up.

“Young Master Wei?, “the sound of Wen Ning’s voice calms the ever-burning fire in his heart

“Wen Ning, “he smiles up at the man who looks at him in amazement

“Young Master Wei, ‘Wen Ning strides down to him, looking him over hurriedly, ‘You’re alright? You’re ok?”

“I’m fine, “he says, “I just need to talk to you and your sister. It’s very important.”

Wen Ning nods quickly, “Ok. Ok. RIght; come on in. “he waves off the two guards and they release all the tension in their bodies

Wen Ning leads him through the familiar doors and halls of the supervisory office. He can smell the readily made tinctures and boiling pots of whatever concoctions the Wen doctor was making up. A memory of strong paste being forced past his lips has him smirking just the tiniest bit.

“Jiejie, “Wen Ning tentatively pokes his head in the door at the end of the hall, “We have a guest?”

“Guest, “Wen Qing’s stern voice is like cold water on a hot day, “Who is it?”

“It‘s...”Wen Ning looks back at him for moment and he nods and smiles wider, “It’s Young Master Wei.”

There’s a pause then, and he knows that she must be thinking of the last time that they saw one another. Her hand deep inside his dantian pulling out his golden core while he bites down on a towel and clings to Wen Ning for sanity and reassurance.

He pats Wen Ning on the shoulder and pushes them both inside. Wen Qing’s eyes sharpen as she takes him in.

“Wei WuXian, “she says slowly, stepping away from her mixing table

“I have important information to share with you, “he says, sitting down on the floor

Wen Qing raises a brow at him, but says nothing. She’ll listen to him before deciding to act, and he’s only got one shot at this.

“This is going to sound insane, “he knows her methods to his insanity and has no intention of being paralyzed again, “But it’s true.”

Wen Ning stares at him curiously from the doorway, shutting the door and locking it, and then pressing himself against it in case anyone tries to listen in.

He sighs in remembrance.

He takes a huge breath before saying, “We are all going to die in five years.”

They both flinch at that.

Wen Qing frowns, “You-”

“Not just us, “he interrupts her, “But the rest of your family, Granny Wen, Uncle Four, Aunt Biyu, all of your branch will be slaughtered by the sects.”

They’re frozen as he finishes listing off members of their family he should not know of. It’s harsh, the way he says it, but he knows that Wen Qing wouldn’t want him to sugarcoat anything when it comes to her loved ones; she’d want to know everything so that she could come up with the best way to prevent the outcome.

“I had heard rumors that Wen Chao threw you into the Burial Mounds, “Wen Qing says, but he sees in her eyes she’s contemplating what he’s said, “Could it have warped your mind?”

He knows they have no reason to believe him. The Wen Sect had more cultivators than the entire Sunshot Campaign combined. They had more land and resources available to them. They idea of the sun being shot down was improbable if not outright laughable.

“I can prove it to you, “he replies, eyes almost begging

The seven day walk had given him plenty of time to figure out how to handle this situation. Wen Qing wouldn’t believe him without evidence; luckily, he had three years worth of it.

He urges both Wen siblings to sit down, crossing his legs and reaching a hand out to both of them. Bright red arrays form on his palms, and they both pause for a second before grasping his hands tightly.

He feels his mind slip as they both gasp, falling into his mindscape. Landing on an invisible ground, he grabs them both and face them forward.

“Wei WuXian, “Wen Qing snaps, “What are you?”

“Shhh, “he says in lue of answering, “Watch.”

The area in front of them lights up and morphs into a mirror. It shows clear skies first, then singing birds, the waves of waters and gentle lotus blossoms dancing along the renewed lacquers of Lotus Pier.

Then, he emerges, walking along the market place. He feels Wen Ning tense at the sight of him, two years from now, a little older, more weary and wane. He stops at a vendor selling meat buns and scallion pancakes before the sight of a figure huddled in the alley way catches his attention. Buying two buns, he shuffles over to them, about to give them a meal when recognition fills his face.

Wen Qing is draped in brown, tattered robes, dirt caked to her cut up skin, long hair in disarray, a shell of her former self.

“It’s you, “he says in shock

At the sight of him, Wen Qing jumps and grabs on to the hem of his robes. She’s shaking and near tears.

“Wei WuXian, “Wen Qing clings to him, “I know I said that there would be no more debts between us. But please, a-Ning. Please, save a-Ning.”

The scene changes, they see him rushing to Koi Tower on horseback with Wen Qign in toe. Inside Koi Tower - The Flower Banquet- demanding the location of Wen Ning, only for Jin GuangShan to demand his Stygian Tiger Seal in response. He storms out, shifting into an image of pouring rain and tormented Wen refugees. Wen Ning gasps when he spots Granny Wen and many other relatives among them.

“Get to work, Wen-dogs!, “A guards shouts and waves a peony branding iron in the prisoners’ direction

The scene plays on and he feels the horror consume Wen Qing when Wen Ning’s dead body is displayed before her. He narrows his eyes as he watches himself kill the guards and gather everyone onto the horses. They rain drowns out the scene and the Burial Mounds arises out of the dead waters.

They see the years pass. They see the home they built upon bones and ashes, the love they had nurtured towards one another.

They see Wen Ning’s consciousness revived. They see a-Yuan laugh and cry as he grows older. They see Uncle Four perfect his wine. They see Granny Wen craft a new toy for the toddler. They see Wei WuXian and Wen Qing working to make every day a little bit more livable.

They see Jin ZiXuan’s death.

They see Wen Qing and Wen Ning’s departure.

They see him arrive at Nightless City only to see the Wen Siblings ashes get scattered.

They see Jiang Yanli’s death and the havoc he wreaked afterward.

They see him trying to cobble up a plan for three months to save the rest of their family. They see the army marching up their home with sword, arrows, and fire, destroying everything they had worked so hard to create.

They see him destroy the seal.

A corpses hand rips through his chest and the memories shatter into pieces. The floor beneath them brakes and they fall back to consciousness.

As he slips out of the trance, he immediately feels Wen Qing flick his forehead.

“What are you, “he’s about to complain, but she places her hand on the back of his head and pulls him forward

He feels Wen Ning squeezed up against him and realizes she’s hugging them both as tightly as she could, as if they would disappear if she let up even a little bit. He lets himself relax, finally completely safe.

“You are a fool, Wei WuXian, “she’s smiling when she finally releases him

“Should I count this as the first or one thousandth time you’ve called me that?, “he smirks at her

Wen Qing shakes her head before sniffing and putting on her normal face, “So, what do we do now?”

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Wei WuXian is missing from the Unclean Realm the next morning.

A quick search of his room revealed that his bed was hardly slept in, and his sword was left on the nightstand.

“He must have slipped out during the changes of the guards, “the Nie disciple on duty says to his disgruntled sect leader

Jiang Yanli cries and Jiang WanYin rages, but there isn’t really anything they can do about it. War waits for no one and neither the Jiang, Nie, or Lan can spare any men to search for the missing head disciple. Days pass as preparations are made; men train rigorously for the oncoming battles, and Lan WangJi worries all the while while deliberating with his brother.

“It could be that his mind is disturbed, “Lan XiChen offers to his little brother, trying to sooth his ever-growing worry, “We can’t be certain what he’s endured during those months he was missing.”

Wei-Xiong, “Nie Huaisang trembles as WangJi sends a helpless look to the floor

Another month passes before Lan WangJi sees Wei WuXian again. Standing at the gates of the Unclean Realm, he looks both the same as he did at the supervisory office, yet an entirely different man. Stern faced and shock-still, he levels himself with Chifeng-zun who’s almost seething in rage at him.

Wei WuXian did not come alone. Behind him seemed to be a never-ending caravan of people. Some carts were piled high with weapons, others with what seemed to be provisions or medical supplies. One cart was filled with what seemed to be hostages, all tied up, blinded, and gagged. There were some cultivators standing around the wagons, swords at the ready.

In three other carts, WangJi spotted what looked to be civilians. There was at least one granny being circled by a young man and woman and another man who looked like he’s toiled for centuries in the fields.

The most important person, however, was standing at Wei WuXian’s side.

Wen Qing stood tall beside Wei WuXian, her sword strapped to her waist, hilt tight in her hand. Her blazing sun robes sent a spark of fury and anxiety through everyone in the vicinity.

“Attack! Wens have barged the front gate!”

----------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Author’s Notes:

-New fic! I’m excited and I hope you all like it!

-In canon, Wei WuXian was able to watch his life on replay over and over and that’s why he’s more calm. In this fic, since it’s immediately after his death, I think he’d be a little more terse with people and getting calmer as the story progresses, don’t ya think?

Read my other Prompts and WIPs [Here]

[crossdressingdeath]

"Boys will be boys" logic is interesting since WWX himself basically uses that exact excuse in the book when he tells LWJ not to take JC's homophobic rant/assault seriously in the ancestral hall bc that's just how JC is, as if WWX himself wasn't furious when JC targeted LWJ in that scene. A lot of WWX's famed unreliable narration is rationalizing the crazy shit JC does but sometimes people tend to take it at face value.

Yes, exactly! That is such a huge thing. WWX spends so much time telling himself (and through himself the audience) that oh, it can’t be helped when JC mistreats him, JC is just like that, it’s totally fine, he doesn’t mind, and we see how that viewpoint was encouraged and strengthened by the people around him, especially JYL (sorry Shijie but it’s true). Hell, you could argue that this particular aspect of his character was entirely her doing, given YZY just thinks he should be subordinate to JC in all things and JFM mostly ignores JC’s behaviour; it’s just JYL going for the “oh boys will be boys, you’re strong and always smiling, you can take it” angle.

...Actually, let’s go into that a bit more because it very much gets buried under the “best sister” shit; I am prepared to argue that JYL consistently taking JC’s side did serious damage to WWX. Like, she was the only Jiang who consistently showed him affection and support and he convinced himself that it was unconditional! But the “unconditional” aspect was an illusion entirely based on his ability to consistently and convincingly pretend that JC wasn’t hurting him. WWX isn’t stupid, I don’t doubt for a second that he knew JYL would take JC’s side if it came down to it. She always takes JC’s side from day one. Literally; she hears WWX say he’ll take the blame for JC chasing him out of Lotus Pier and getting WWX’s leg broken while all JC did was come out looking for WWX personally (instead of doing the smart and more helpful thing and getting adults to help) because he was scared he’d get in trouble and he got a little scrape because he was running through the woods like an idiot because, again, he was too scared of getting in trouble to GET ACTUAL HELP THAT WASN’T A CHILD and she’s like “Yeah, that sounds reasonable and fair and not like a really, really bad precedent to set with a kid whose safety relies on my family liking him”. ...There’s also an aspect of “Sure, it can’t hurt to let the kid my mother very clearly hates take responsibility for something that he could be punished for by someone with a motive to take everything possible as a wrongdoing on WWX’s part”, but to be fair at this point she doesn’t know YZY will whip WWX for literally anything she can even slightly suggest is any sort of wrongdoing on WWX’s part. And let’s not pretend WWX wasn’t punished for JC getting hurt; come on, it’s YZY, she punishes him for sunbathing.

This is a running thing going forward in their dynamic, too! JC does something horrible, JYL immediately starts in on the “Oh, boys will be boys, A-Cheng might get upset if you call him out on his shit” shtick if WWX shows the slightest trace of dissatisfaction with being treated like garbage, WWX smiles and forgives JC for whatever he did without question, there’s a period of calm, the cycle repeats. JYL very much teaches WWX that he cannot EVER show any unhappiness with JC’s threats and insults. If he ever shows so much as a shred of anger or sadness or generally being upset at the way JC mistreats him JYL takes JC’s side. At most she’ll tell JC that maybe he should back off a little while basically telling WWX to grin and bear it because JC might be slightly upset if anyone ever calls him out on being horrible to literally everyone. And don’t even get me started on the whole “Oh you’re always smiling” bullshit, talk about teaching a mistreated orphan that he has literally no right to look sad about anything ever. Like, let me put it this way: WWX doesn’t even feel he can go to JYL about JC TRYING TO KILL HIM. That’s a lot? It’s a lot? And it never really gets discussed in any way? WWX doesn’t feel like he can tell his supposed sister who supposedly loves him unconditionally that her brother tried to murder him like three times and when the third time comes up JYL takes JC’s side because JC’s arm got broken in the process of the staged fight where JC stabbed WWX in the gut and that’s fine and healthy apparently. Stan WQ, the actual best sister (god I love WQ).

Anyway, now that I’m done enraging the fandom with my tangent about how much JYL sucks as a sister to WWX... Yeah, WWX insists that JC’s attitude can’t be helped because JC’s just like that even when he very clearly doesn’t buy that? He’s obviously pissed when JC goes after LWJ to the point of genuinely going after JC for it... but when they get away from JC he goes into the “Oh, he can’t help it, don’t get mad at him”. And in this particular case part of it is him panicking because JC’s homophobic ranting (and LWJ’s clear anger at it) left him questioning his and LWJ’s feelings and the mutuality thereof, but it also... really does throw every other time he insists JC’s behaviour is fine into question. Like, we know he’s not buying his own line in this scene! He was furious at JC! He’s still furious and upset! But he feels the need to cover for JC. Even after he’s realized that JC’s behaviour wasn’t okay, he still feels like he has to protect him from anyone else getting angry at him. WWX knows JC’s behaviour isn’t okay and that it’s not fair that JC treats him the way he does and I’d argue (especially at this point in the story) that he deserves better than JC’s treatment... but he still insists that JC is just like that and it’s fine.

That throws every single time WWX smiles through JC’s mistreatment into question, I’d say; we know he’ll react this way even when he knows that JC’s behaviour isn’t okay, so who’s to say he ever isn’t aware that JC’s behaviour isn’t okay? In CQL XZ does an excellent job of showing that at least in that continuity he is extremely done with JC’s shit even from when they’re fifteen; the novel is as far as I remember a little less clear, but it’s still pretty obvious that he’s not enjoying the way JC treats him. He knows that the way JC treats him is hurtful and upsetting and sometimes even frightening (think of the times JC threatens him with dogs and he’s clearly scared, which is a whole other thing because either he’s so scared of dogs that even the threat terrifies him or he has zero doubt that JC for sure would set dogs on him, which is a big thing either way and also I’m still not over how CQL JYL laughs when JC threatens WWX with dogs even though WWX is clearly scared and she totally would’ve laughed if that happened in the novel too but showing it so blatantly and then never actually getting into how messed up it is is just unnecessary), but he feels like he has to smile through it and cover for JC, just like when they were nine.

Anyway yeah, for a fandom so obsessed with WWX being an unreliable narrator the MDZS/CQL fandom sure does miss a lot of times where WWX is actually being unreliable, huh.

[featherfur]

Meng Yao should have been around when Jiang Cheng was running around with his head cut off trying to make disciples out of rogues and convince everyone to get started on the war. I just think he’d see this, probably manic, idiot who needs help and is 100% willing to be bossed around and who really doesn’t care about Meng Yao station in life because he’s just fucking desperate and wants to die but can’t because Yanli and just go “actually I’m interested”. Because Jiang Cheng would riot if he knew Meng Yao wanted to go back to his dad, and well Jiang Cheng is very pathetic when he thinks he’s being left behind (“You’re leaving me for the Jin just like Shijie? Tears and loud words for you! Tears and loud words dor a thousand years!”)

And Meng Yao would have a spot in Lotus Pier where he is VERY clearly wanted, he probably doesn’t become sworn brothers with anyone (or LXC and NMJ realize that no one needs to give the Jin any more influence and become sworn brothers with Jiang Cheng) unless it’s Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian (unfortunately WWX will still probably be killed or hunted at the very least but atleast Qin Su is alive? Maybe having MY around will help calm JC into the fact that LWJ wants to bang his brother and help him so JC can convince WWX to let LWJ atleast play for him, then maybe WWX can accidentally let slip about him already destroying one half and LWJ can help destroy the other half… Dunno if the Wen Remnants survive either sorry, honestly I don’t know if anyone can stop JGS in the long run)

So there’s two ways this goes: (under read more I have Thoughts)

Meng Yao DOES go to the Jin Sect still because JC gets wanting your Dad’s Approval even when he’s a dick AND he protects Yanli who immediately adopted him when JC showed up to the war with him. Without being stuck between a Rock and a Hard place (sorry NMJ not everyone is a annoyingly stubborn with their morals as you and MY is being hurt :( leave him alone :(( ) MY is able to continue being pressured without breaking and even though JGS keeps trying to get him to manipulate JC, MY won’t and won’t manipulate NMJ either and every time he goes to Lotus Pier to ‘look into’ the Jiang Sect he actually just spends the week being plied with children and listening to Jiang Cheng explain the fashion industry Again and talk about silks vs cashmeres vs wool so he just gets a vacay and is more prepared to stand up against his dad.

Also JC and Yanli catch on pretty quick to Madam Jin abusing MY because they were there after Madam Yu would hurt WWX and they know the signs of trying to hide the pain and Yanli suddenly starts Show Up whenever Madam Jin tries anything because that is her Didi now and she will protect him and if anyone ELSE tries to mess with him she will rip them apart like when Jin Zixun tries to bother WWX.

JGS does eventually manage to frame something on WWX but MY intervenes immediately by telling JC the truth and without the ‘did my kinda insane PTSD ridden brother so this?” Panic thoughts JC gets his people and is waiting for the force of Jin and smaller sects, with his two sworn brothers on either side. Because yeah NMJ absolutely hates the Wen but can he really ignore LXC and JC? Plus NHS on the side? He’s only there to protect WWX, anyone else can get fucked and even then he’s only protecting WWX because JC asked him too because NMJ thinks WWX sucks for choosing the wens because he’s very much of the one track ‘the wens suck’ mind. MY pretends he has no idea what’s going on but he does summon Jin Zixuan on ‘accident’ who shows up, annoyed he had to leave his kid, and is like “are we really going to accuse Nie Mingjue, known Wen hater, of protecting Wei Wuxian and lying about his innocence? Because his sword is the same size as my body and I’d rather Not”

(okay he’s more polite and subtle but that’s the gist) somehow Jin Guangshan dies, I’m voting Yanli poisoned him because I think Meng Yao is 100% willing at this point to simply take the abuse because Jiang Cheng and Lan Xichen aren’t essentially telling him to murder his father and that he’s stupid for not holding harder to his morals (sorry NMJ,,, you just,, I love you but MY is hurting and he’s not as stabby as you) NMJ is still very much crankily telling him his dad sucks whenever they meet but Jiang Cheng gets all sparkly whenever MY is around because MY will say he’s Doing Good, so there’s only so much room before JC start just biting anyone who even looks at MY wrong. (NMJ says he’s proud of JC once and JC just starts crying and NMJ UnderstandsTM why MY won’t leave him alone)

But Yanli has to be the one to kill him because MY wouldn’t because he’s a filial son and probably hasn’t lost his hope he will be Loved, Jin Zixuan wouldn’t because he’s like the only one in the entire show not down with murder, Madam Jin is not about to give up the power and money that comes from being the wife of Jin Guangshan even if JZX would take care of her because Yanli clearly is willing to rip everyone apart who fucks with her family and unlike Jiang Cheng is willing to change the status quo, and if JGS dies on a hunt they’ll blame WWX so Yanli just poisons him slowly and he dies from ‘illness’. JZX takes power, Meng Yao is told he’s amazing twelve times a day because JZX can do busy work and argue against anyone but he cannot have a small talk conversation to save his life. Life continues peacefully, Jiang Cheng keeps kidnapping JZX’s advisor because he misses him. Meng Yao knows how to control literally every single great sect but he’s busy chasing down his nephews and helping Jiang Cheng avoid marriage offers to do anything.

Once Jin Guangshan died, LXC and MY both swooped in to have the Wen Remnants moved somewhere else to ‘civilize’ them (using LXC’s own words here) and WWX is very much caught between Jiang Cheng and Lan Wangji arguing over who he’s going home with and he’s honestly never felt more Loved TM. WWX spends six months to break the rest of the tiger rally under the grumpy/watchful eye of NMJ who still isn’t happy anyone from the Wen’s is still alive but he’s weak to puppy eyes and also when he’s being strong armed by his sworn brothers, MY, and NHS (though he still keeps an eye on the actual cultivators, he’s pretty much forgotten the rest of the Wen Remnants exist he just cares about the ones who know how to use a sword). Wangxian happens, idk how I’m voting for a wild Jingyi another orphan decides that he wants to meet the Purple Angry Man and body slams into WWX’s legs trying to get to the Purple man and LWJ catches him and it’s a full on romantic moment of staring into each other’s eyes while Jiang Cheng makes disgusted noises and Meng Yao pats his hand and just tells him to accept it.

Or Meng Yao stays in Lotus Pier because Jiang Cheng has problems and Meng Yao loves a messy loudmouth aggressive bitch with a secret heart of gold. Also Jiang Cheng is the exact kind of Demi-aroace dummy to not realize Meng Yao has a crush on LXC and keeps sending him over to Cloud Recesses to help with trade or something and MY gets to hang out with his crush constantly.

MY is Jiang Cheng’s personal advisor since WWX is currently refusing to process his trauma and staying in a very traumatic place. MY does try to help but WWX doesn’t trust him and probably only half trusts him around JC, BUT MY is very good with kids and helps work with JC on how to slip WWX supplies while negotiating directly with Nie and Lan without Jin glaring over him this time, and Jin Zixuan is more than happy to help when he can because again he’s just like the only one with modern morals and wants Lotus Pier to be strong since if all the sects fall then well the fucking demons/ghosts they hunt will eat them. So WWX is slowly atleast not ready to kill him, Meng Yao finds out WWX already destroyed half the Tiger Tally and tries to get him to let NMJ and LXC help him destroy it further (because that ties the three sects closer and so WWX won’t just stab someone if someone isn’t happy about the Wen’s existing)

Yanli poisons Jin Guangshan again because I think that’s the best way for him to go, Meng Yao does grieve but also that lasts for three minutes before Jiang Cheng shows up with some children he found in Yunmeng and Meng Yao needs to explain to him again that just because the kid latches on doesn’t mean you can take them home. But with JGS out of the way it’s a lot easier to strong arm NMJ into letting the Lan take the remnants (JC and NMJ still aren’t happy about it but NMJ can’t fight the three other sects and JC is getting his brother back and he’ll take the Wen living if that means WWX is too) and WWX returns to Lotus Pier. The truth of the golden core comes out probably via WWX having a flashback or panic attack or something (or that one theory of Yanli knowing,,,) words happen, WWX storms off to find LWJ.

Meng Yao wonders why he likes messy cry babies but still helps out Jiang Cheng because they’re technically brother in laws and also because he really does care about him. Wangxian happens and now Jiang Cheng is really pissed but WWX also said he wasn’t going to just up and leave so they’re on a rotating system but honestly everyone’s just waiting for them to move permanently to Lotus Pier because Lan Wangji has this giant hole in his heart for kids who love Wei Wuxian and Lotus Pier is filled with kids who are Jiang and therefore are insane ans love WWX.

Personally I think this one is the least likely but it sounds very nice right?

[ibijau]

I guess the question I have for the nhs is a half demon au is: what reason are we going to give for lxc to marry him after he comes back from visiting his mom? Also is he going to save wwx?

wwx did well for himself while nhs was off to live his little demon life, but he is the first person nhs visits upon returning among humans, because he's heard some concerning rumours...

On AO3

Small feet ran to the entrance of the cave, only slowing down at the very last moment and stopping just shy of actually coming in.

“Xian-gege, there’s a person at the gate,” Wen Yuan announced, careful to not actually shout.

Wei Wuxian smiled to himself, proud as always of this most excellent young boy he was helping raise, who obeyed rules much better than Wei Wuxian himself had ever done in his life.

“What sort of person?” Wei Wuxian asked, still hunched over his latest prototype. He was getting somewhere with this, he knew it. He just had to figure out how to…

“It’s an odd person,” Wen Yuan announced. “He says he’s here to see you.”

That was hardly news. Most of the visitors they'd had these last five years had come to the Burial Mounds to see Wei Wuxian. Sometimes, Lan Xichen would also come to see his brother and give them money. And in recent months, some people from the area had started coming to see Wen Qing in hopes she might cure them. But still, people mostly came for Wei Wuxian, either because they wanted to kill him, or because they wanted to join him. Either way, they were usually rejected.

“Did that man give his name?”

“He didn’t,” Wen Yuan announced, sounding indignant that anyone would be so rude. “He says you have to come see him, and then you’ll know him, and you’ll let him in. He sounded very sure.”

That intrigued Wei Wuxian enough to make him look up from his work and walk up to join Wen Yuan. A lot of people knew him, but there weren’t that many he knew, few of which would be sure to be allowed on the Burial Mounds, fewer still who would wish to be there at all. Jiang Cheng was the only person that came to mind, but he’d been around a few times in the years since Wei Wuxian had left Yunmeng Jiang, and Wen Yuan knew him well. Who else, then?

“That man, did he have any trouble walking?”

Wen Yuan shook his head. So it couldn’t be Jin Zixuan then. With his wooden leg, the climb to the gate would have been difficult anyway, and he would not have come unannounced.

“What did he look like?” Wei Wuxian asked, growing puzzled enough to consider meeting the stranger.

“He has a nice face, but it’s weird because of his eyes,” Wen Yuan said. “And he’s dressed with very good fabric, even better than Jiang-gege. And there’s a lot of teeth when he smiles.”

Without a word, Wei Wuxian started walking, with Wen Yuan following him. He didn’t like that description at all. He had hardly met him personally, but he’d heard about that boy in the Jin sect, that Xue Yang who was apparently trying to reproduce some of Wei Wuxian’s creations, with some success. He had an odd smile, Lan Xichen had said once when talking about him, so maybe…

“Oh, and there’s one more thing,” Wen Yuan said, slapping the side of his head. “I should have said first! But he has a mark on his forehead, it’s very red and looks a bit like a flame.”

Wei Wuxian froze.

“Xian-gege?”

“Go get Lan Zhan,” Wei Wuxian ordered. “Tell him there’s an emergency and I need him at the gate immediately. Wen Ning too. And tell Wen Qing to take everyone else to the hideout. No matter what, none of you are coming out until we come to get you. Go! Now!”

Frightened to see him so serious, Wen Yuan didn’t ask any question and scampered away as fast as his legs would take him. Wei Wuxian for his part hurried toward the gate after having made sure he had everything he’d need for a fight, knowing thing might turn vicious if he was right. He cursed as he walked, and hoped to be wrong about the identity of their visitor.

When he reached the gate and saw the man standing there, Wei Wuxian almost believed for a second that he’d been wrong indeed. The stranger, who had his back to the gate, was too tall, his shoulders too broad. But then, hearing that someone was approaching, the man turned to look at Wei Wuxian, and there was no mistake possible.

“Wei-xiong, it’s been a while,” Nie Huaisang said, smiling as if they were old friends who hadn’t seen each other for a few years. “You look worse than I remembered, but better than I expected.”

“Nie-xiong, it’s pretty bold of you to come here after what you’ve done,” Wei Wuxian retorted. “Couldn’t you have made it easier for everyone and stayed dead?”

Nie Huaisang's smile got wider, showing just a little more teeth than a mortal's would have. He looked better than he'd done last time Wei Wuxian had seen him. Healthier and a lot more confident. And why not? Last they'd been around each other, Nie Huaisang had been terrified someone might try to kill him, but he'd now proved just how difficult that would be.

“I would have, but some news reached me that forced me to rejoin the human world after all these years. Wei-xiong, won’t you let me in?”

“I hope you understand why I’d rather not. You have a history of slaughtering people I’d rather not see repeated.”

Nie Huaisang frowned and pinched his lips, looking almost sincerely hurt by the reminder of his past deeds.

“I’ve been told your shijie recovered,” he said in a softer tone, sounding more like the boy Wei Wuxian had studied with in Gusu. “And that Jin Zixuan too is… well, he’s alive, right? Don’t they even have a son?”

“They’re both doing as well as they can, no thanks to you.”

Again, Nie Huaisang looked wounded by the accusation. Wei Wuxian remembered how his old friend had been after the reveal of his true nature, the way he’d desperately tried to hide what he was, the terror he’d expressed in every letter they had exchanged… Still, what had been done couldn’t be changed, and Wei Wuxian hadn’t survived this long by trusting just anyone.

If anything, it was Nie Huaisang’s example who had taught him to be wary.

“Wei-xiong, you remember when we were in the Cloud Recesses together, and we made realgar wine a little before you were kicked out?” Nie Huaisang suddenly asked and though surprised by the change of topic, Wei Wuxian nodded. “All the other Nie disciples with us were quite stunned,” Nie Huaisang reminisced with a sad smile. “They’d never seen me drunk before. It’s a skill I’ve always had, though nobody at home really knew why. I can eat anything, drink anything, and never get sick… anything but realgar, which affects me badly, I’ve found since.”

Without thinking, Wei Wuxian nodded again. Realgar was used to ward off evil, and it was said to have a particularly strong effect on demons. That particular time, Nie Huaisang had only had one small sip because he’d found the smell of realgar wine unpleasant, and just that single sip had made him violently sick, and so irritable he'd bitten Jiang Cheng who'd only wanted to check on him… though of course most people would be in a bad mood after vomiting that much. At the time, none of them had thought there was anything odd with that.

Yet if he’d had more wine than that, Nie Huaisang might have died, or attacked his friends.

“It wasn’t the time of year for realgar wine,” Wei Wuxian noted, feeling himself grow more curious than angry. “So find a better excuse.”

“It wasn’t the season for it, and I didn’t notice the difference in smell,” Nie Huaisang agreed. “But the person who helped me recover from my wounds assured me that my blood was tainted by realgar, and I’ve learned since that there are ways to cover the taste, or to increase the effect. And Jin Zixun was ever so insistent on making me drink that day. Funny, when we’d never been close. Or indeed when I had been promised that he wouldn’t be there, since I didn’t much care for him.”

It was something that had always puzzled them indeed. Not just Wei Wuxian, but Lan Wangji too, and even Jin Zixuan and Jiang Yanli when they’d had a chance to speak about that. As far as everyone had known, Jin Zixun had been in hiding at that time, terrified that Wei Wuxian might try to kill him for what he’d done to Wen Ning and his family. And Jin Zixun had been quite vocal regarding what he thought should be done to Nie Huaisang, too.

Odd that he’d come to a Night Hunt where were present not only Wei Wuxian’s beloved shijie, but also the terrifying demon that terrorized everyone.

It sounded a lot braver than Jin Zixun had ever been known to be.

“It’s easy to blame a dead man,” Wei Wuxian remarked.

“And it’s easy to blame a demon,” Nie Huaisang retorted. “Especially for someone who’d have the demon’s trust. Funny also how this incident ensured that Qinghe Nie became isolated and despised, just when it was considered the one sect which might have stood against Lanling Jin’s ambitions.”

Wei Wuxian shrugged. He’d personally also profited quite a bit from this conflict between the Nies and the Jins.

It had distracted everyone from what he was doing in Yiling. By the time the Jins had emerged fully victorious from that political battle, Wei Wuxian’s presence in the Burial Mound had been secure, while the Jins had been too busy securing their new power to think of attacking him. Besides, with him no longer part of Yunmeng Jiang and thus not involved in politics, and with his actions having made it clear that he wasn’t a threat, everyone had found it easier to leave him alone. Sometimes someone would still wonder if he should be annihilated, but a few words from Lan Xichen or Jiang Cheng seemed to usually be enough to put an end to that, at least for now.

Everyone might start thinking differently if he associated with a demon though.

“Supposing I believe you,” Wei Wuxian said, and he was ready enough to believe Nie Huaisang, demon or not. “I’m not sure what I can do for you.”

“Don’t think of it as you doing something for me, Wei-xiong. Think of it as the two of us teaming up to protect our families. You see, demons gossip just as much as mortals do, and I’ve been hearing a few worrying things while living with them. There’s a reason I know your shijie has a son, you see.”

Wei Wuxian shivered, but before he could ask for details, Wen Ning and Lan Wangji arrived at last. They were both stunned to see Nie Huaisang, though Lan Wangji had to be the more shocked of the two, since he would actually recognise the young man, while Wen Ning had never met him before.

Smiling faintly, Nie Huaisang bowed elegantly to the two newcomers, as if this were but an ordinary meeting between old friends.

“Lan gongzi, I did not expect you had really come to live here!” Nie Huaisang exclaimed with something like real joy. “I suppose gossip these days carries more truth than I’d have expected.”

“Fine, I’ll bite,” Wei Wuxian said. “What have you heard about my shijie and her son?”

“Let me come in,” Nie Huaisang replied. “And then we can talk.”

It felt like a trap, and maybe it was one.

Even after having disappeared for years, Nie Huaisang knew Wei Wuxian’s weaknesses. It had been a mistake perhaps to write to him back then, to confide in him, to stay his friend when the rest of the world shunned him… but Wei Wuxian too had needed a friend after the Sunshot Campaign, and Nie Huaisang had never judged him for what he’d done, not even before his demon blood was revealed.

This was a mistake.

And yet, Wei Wuxian opened the gate.

[i-like-plan-m]

Omg hey an idea for the Jin!Wwx au - I'm a hoe for wangxian so wwx is still oblivious and wangji is obvious and Zixuan can see where this is headed from miles away, his shitty relationship with his fiance notwithstanding he has good instinct on this and it involves his gremlin so he's a BIT PRICKLY at lwj okay. Maybe he suffers a milder version of the JC effect aka prickly at lwj thinking he's taking wwx away from Koi Tower. Maybe he unwittingly get into over protective siblings mode.

Yes good I love it

{continuation of this)

____________________

Jin Zixuan was beginning to regret this dinner. Especially the part where he’d let Wei Wuxian invite Lan Wangji, because he had actually accepted the offer, which Jin Zixuan... had not planned on. 

So now he sat with his idiot sect brother, the fucking Second Jade of Lan, his betrothed, and his betrothed’s brother. Between Wei Wuxian’s nonstop chattering at Lan Wangji, Jiang Cheng’s unwavering glower, and Jiang Yanli’s soft smiles, Jin Zixuan couldn’t string a single coherent sentence together. 

Not that it mattered. Wei Wuxian hadn’t shut up for a second since they’d sat down, for some reason so hyper-fixated on Lan Wangji that he’d barely spoken to anyone else. 

Jin Zixuan was still stuck on Lan Wangji agreeing to come. He still had grass stains on his robes from when Wei Wuxian had knocked them both to the ground earlier, for heaven’s sake. 

Jiang Yanli seemed equally puzzled by his presence. She glanced at Jin Zixuan during one of Wei Wuxian’s tirades, and he was too distracted by the weirdness of the situation to freak out at her attention. He gave her a helpless shrug, flushing deeply when she smiled at him, wide and genuine.

“We’re pleased that you joined us, Young Master Lan,” she said kindly. “I did not realize you and Wei Wuxian were close.” 

Lan Wangji’s expression suggested she was deeply, terribly mistaken. Wei Wuxian laughed. 

“Lan Xichen heard me invite him after he helped us up earlier. He very lovingly bullied Lan Wangji into accepting,” he said, blissfully unaware of the irritation radiating from Lan Wangji. Or maybe he did know and just didn’t care, which was far more likely knowing Wei Wuxian. 

“So you tricked him into it?” Jin Zixuan asked, pained. If Wei Wuxian returned from Cloud Recesses with Lan Wangji as his declared nemesis, Jin Zixuan would never hear the end of it. 

“Yep! Well, actually, I didn’t expect Zewu-Jun to be so invested. He must really want us to be friends. Right, Lan Zhan?” 

Lan Wangji showed no signs of hearing Wei Wuxian speak. Jin Zixuan admired his restraint-- Wei Wuxian had driven life-long notorious politicians in Lanling into aggravation-induced frenzies within an hour of being locked in a room with him. It was his mother’s favorite tactic for people who’d annoyed her. 

“Lan Zhan? Hello? Are you ignoring me?” Wei Wuxian pouted, shoulder drooping with his usual dramatics. “You’re still mad about earlier, aren’t you? I didn’t mean to knock us down, I swear!”

Lan Wangji eyed him, lingering on the wounded expression on Wei Wuxian’s face. “Talking during meals is forbidden.” 

“You’re talking right now,” Wei Wuxian pointed out. 

Lan Wangji cut his golden eyes at him, and Jin Zixuan wondered idly if he was going to maim Wei Wuxian with his chopsticks. 

But Wei Wuxian was off once again, recounting a wildly unbelievable story about one of the night hunts he’d dragged Jin Zixuan and MianMian on that was unfortunately entirely true and mostly embarrassing for him.

Jin Zixuan tuned him out, not wanting any reminders of that particular nightmare, and mostly paid attention to Jiang Yanli’s entertained reactions. 

Except he had to look away whenever she laughed after he’d spilled soup right into his lap the first time, and he was avoiding Jiang Cheng’s entire everything, so he ended up looking in Lan Wangji’s general direction by default. 

And he was starting to notice things. Like how Lan Wangji watched Wei Wuxian out of the corner of his eye. He thought at first it was simple self-preservation so he didn’t get beaned in the side of the head with a flailing arm. 

But then he saw how Lan Wangji’s expression softened by half a degree every time Wei Wuxian chirped a question at him, or laughed, or absently put something else in Lan Wangji’s bowl. 

Oh no. 

Lan Wangji didn’t hate his brother. Lan Wangji didn’t hate his brother at all. 

And everyone except his idiot shidi had realized he was in love with Lan Wangji, so clearly the feeling was mutual. 

Jin Zixuan scowled down at his bowl. The thought of returning to Koi Tower without him made him feel sick. He couldn’t picture life in Lanling without his shidi’s complete lack of regard for decorum or civil behavior. Wei Wuxian and MianMian were the only ones in Lanling besides his mother that he could trust.

“What’s wrong with you?” Wei Wuxian asked, poking him in the side with his chopsticks. “You look like your mom that time she caught us in the Koi Tower rafters.” 

“She didn’t catch me doing anything,” Jin Zixuan argued reflexively. “I was trying to get you down.” 

“Yeah, but MianMian dared me to do it. My reputation was at stake. My honor!” 

“What reputation?” Jin Zixuan grumbled. 

“I am widely regarded as the holy terror of Koi Tower, thank you very much, and I wear that badge with pride,” Wei Wuxian said primly. Jiang Yanli covered her giggles with her sleeve. 

“Good,” Jin Zixuan said before he could stop himself. “You can drive everyone in the tower insane for all I care.” If that’s what it took to keep him in Lanling, Wei Wuxian could have free reign to torment whoever he wanted. 

Wei Wuxian frowned and leaned in, invading his personal space. “Are you feeling all right?” He felt Jin Zixuan’s forehead, undeterred when he was batted away. “Usually you tell me I’m a walking disaster and that it’s a miracle I’m still alive.” 

“It is,” Jin Zixuan insisted. “And I’m fine, keep your grubby hands off of me.” 

“Oh, good, now you sound back to normal.” He sat back, satisfied, and promptly tried to engage Jiang Cheng in a contest of throwing food at each other to catch in their mouths. Jiang Yanli intervened, thankfully, so Jin Zixuan transferred his disapproving glare to Lan Wangji, who completely ignored everyone at the table. 

Wei Wuxian was his gremlin brother, he thought possessively. Lan Wangji couldn’t have him. 

[restingdomface]

Okay I can’t believe I’m going there, but, Lan Wangji’s magical healing cock and also mpreg AU:

Okay. So. Instead of Jin Zixuan being a dick to his crush, he genuinly never had a crush on her at all, and in fact, it never came to light until the Sunshit Campaign started, but JZX had a crush on Jiang Cheng all along. Jiang Cheng, who, reluctantly, returns his affections. Wei Wuxian is disgusted. His brother has terrible taste in men wtf.

So. Things went differently this time. What’s the change here? Meng Yao never left Nie Mingjue’s side. Of course, he did the spying thing, but he never betrayed him (this could be a part of my idea where NMJ and MY plan to actually have him be a spy and send him off after a planned execution of a soldier that NMJ decided needed a death sentence more than banishment, or, an AU where MY presented the idea to Wen Rouhan that his coming to WRH’s side was the betrayel itself). Now how does this change things? Because I honestly and truly think that if MY didn’t go to Jin Guangshan’s side afterwards, JGS wouldn’t have had the sway to execute anyone else in the Wen Family, or do anything horrible like that.

TBH he tries to wipe out the rest of the Wens, but it goes so badly and this time MY isn’t on his side (lol you know JGS would have tried tho, imagine how humiliating it would have been to be publicly denied by your own bastard son at the banquet after wow) and so JGS ends up removed from power entirely and JZX gets made sect leader instead.

This means, that since JZX is about to marry JC, they’re going to have to move to LanlingJin instead of both of them arguing over if they’d move to Lotus Pier or not. Cause they would argue over that. This means that Jiang Cheng is going to be the next Young Master Jin and Jiang Yanli is now officially the Jiang Sect Leader. Nice.

So. We’re rid of JGS and everyone’s happy and MY probably isn’t gonna kill anyone cause now he can marry NMJ in peace and not have to deal with anyone else, where does LWJ’s magic healing dick come in? Hold on I’m getting to it. Impatient.

So. The Wens. Of course, before JGS was removed from power, Wei Wuxian was actually running around saving Wen survivors and gathering them in the Burial Mounds, so he actually has to be coaxed into leaving by his siblings and LWJ and even JZX and NMJ (who thinks this is rather like that one time he had to coax Nie Huaisang out from under his bed when he became convinced NMJ’s cat was a demon because it wouldn’t stop attacking his songbird and he couldn’t come out cause she was in the room and she would steal his soul but she’s just sitting on the windowsill and meowing at them and NMJ is just silently planning to feed her more and keep her away from the atrium and tbh plz NHS you’re 16 years old you’re too old for this plz stop crying) and it’s great. It’s just great.

Anyways. WWX is paranoid af. Like so fucking paranoid. Cause they have been attacked. He’s got 12 year old girls talking about what the adult men in the Jin sect did to them. He’s got a traumatized toddler on his hip that screams when he sees Jin robes. He’s got children with branded scarring on their faces and wounds you can’t even imagine to come from anything but torture. He’s paranoid. He’s trying to keep the kiddos safe. They’re healers, and he’s given them the tools to heal, but they’re scared, and he’s paranoid without his Golden Core, and he’s scared, and he’s not putting down the toddler plz stop asking, he’s keeping this one, shut up.

So. What can he do but make a few demands? The Lan sect may have strict rules, but they would never attack innocent civilians, and they have rules about killing even animals in Gusu. He asks them to send all the Lan guards they can to escort them to GusuLan. He doesn’t think they’d hurt them in YunmengJiang either, but he can’t risk it. He was there when Lotus Pier burned. Cloud Recesses didn’t lose nearly as many people, and he’s still too traumatized to spend much time in LP rn.

So they go to Cloud Recesses. This actually, also gives the other sects a lot of time to get some glimpses at everyone that came from the Burial Mounds.

Not a single one of them was a cultivator.

This is a little different than canon. WWX can’t handle the loss of his golden core in this one. Not to say that he shouldn’t have done it, but that the resentful energy is dragging him down to the point where all he can feel is paranoia and fear. He’s almost completely unresponsive at this point. He follows after LWJ when told to, and he holds little A-Yuan in his arms, but he doesn’t pay much attention to anyone.

Wen Qing tells them of the loss of his core, but not how it happened. Lan Qiren doesn’t much like WWX still, but he accepts that a cornered animal will bite, and WWX lost his main weapon right before a major war. Of course he would do all he could to keep himself safe.

Jiang Yanli offers for the Wen Survivors to be integrated into YunmengJiang, since they lost so many people. It could help a lot. They accept, since she’s offering them protection and help.

Of course, Wen Qing and Jiang Yanli used to Spend A Lot Of Time Together in Cloud Recesses, so love is blooming there between the two sect leaders, and by the end of a year, they’re getting married themselves.

WWX doesn’t go back to LP with them. He couldn’t do it. A-Yuan and Granny and Wen Ning stay with him in Cloud Recesses. Granny talks with Wen Qing regularly, and A-Yuan is attached to Lan Wangji enough that Lan Xichen starts mentioning that he could attend classes there when he’s old enough. LXC is a WangXian shipper and is trying to get his brother to adopt the child. Y’all know he would. WWX spends his time arguing (loudly, but in a room with magical wards for sound so they don’t get in trouble) with a Lan mind healer that talks through his bullshit with him, sleeping the day away in one of the rooms of the Jingshi (because LWJ made him move in right away and WWX couldn’t even argue cause A-Yuan loves him too and he can ask LWJ to play Their Song whenever he wants to hear it) and following after A-Yuan as he enchants (and terrifies) all the rabbits in the field. Also getting yelled at (softly) by LQR for breaking rules. LQR and LWJ have been making it their personal mission to find a way to either purify the resentful energy so WWX can go back to his normal cheerful self that doesn’t jump or hide when startled, or to regain a Golden core so the yin and yang energies can balance each other and keep him stable.

Of course, JYL sends him a message that she’s getting married, and WWX pulls himself out of the fog enough that he can ask them to go to the wedding (he’s being polite, he’s going no matter what they say lol,) and LWJ accompanies him to the wedding. His siblings are so happy to see him there.

Anyways. Things get rocky when WWX hears them talking about kids.

Jiang Yanli will carry Jin Zixuan’s children, and they’ll keep the Jin name. They’ll know that all four of them are their parents, but it’s a way to pass on the name.

Wen Qing will carry Jiang Cheng’s children, and they’ll carry the Jiang name. This also helps to keep track of what kids are heir to what sect.

Of course, Wei Wuxian, the master of ‘I know The Most Obscure Bullshit Ever’, asks why they don’t just have their spouses children. There are spells and potions for that.

Well. No one else in the room knew that but him apparently. Well, they’re still going to go with their idea for the first few kids, and then they’ll decide if other means of pregnancy options are viable.

Anyways. Guess who else didn’t know it was possible for men to get pregnant? You guessed it. Lan Wangji. Who was also in the room at the time.

So. Wedding is lovely. They all have an amazing time. WWX is able to pull himself out of bed every day. He was even able to work on some cultivation items that LQR begrudgingly admits are amazing items and very useful to cultivation.

They go back to Cloud Recesses, and Lan Wangji combs through his and his uncle’s notes till he finds a viable solution to a return of a Golden core that they had originally scrapped because WWX wasn’t a girl.

To return a Golden core to a body by means of very careful pregnancy. Of course, such a thing would be considered stealing under normal circumstances, and most mothers would rather die than harm their child in the womb in a way that could kill them. But this was a method made to keep both parent and child from harm. A way to build the slightest lump of core in the parent, enough to stick and allow a base to build off of later.

Of course, without consulting Uncle (because the man would be horrified at the idea, and LWJ would rather be rejected by the man himself thanks very much) he takes the proposal to the man in question.

WWXA has to think about this one for a long time. He thinks about it while helping Wen Ning with zombie stuff so he can maintain a stable body. He thinks about it while writing letters to his siblings. He thinks a LOT about it while tucking their two year old into bed and reading him a story with the funny voices. He thinks about it when he spends a night in the cold springs with LWJ one night, close enough to touch the man, because without a Golden core, the water is too cold for him to survive in on his own.

He asks why LWJ would besmirch his honor like that. Having a child out of wedlock, his uncle would throw a fit. His name would be in tatters.

LWJ blinks, once, and twice. He quietly tells him the offer could involve marriage if WWX thinks it’s of import.

So. They get married. So they can have a child. Another child. Just. Yeah. Let’s get married so we can mate like rabbits.

They’re in love. Of course they are. But they’re also shy idiots. LWJ is a sex fiend like usual, and WWX quickly gets addicted to it, but they’re both too shy to say anything sappy yet. Well. No. Scratch that. LWJ is fully willing to admit his love to the world. But he’s a very quiet person. So he mostly just tells WWX how much he would do anything for him, and even eats his horrible poison cooking. Not even A-Yuan will touch that shit.

A-Yuan is so excited to be a big brother. His favorite place to lay is curled around WWX’s big belly and giving it kisses while A-Die scratches his hair and reads him stories.

A-Yuan finally gets his baby and Wei Wuxian gets the stability that a Golden core provides so he can continue using resentful energy to dodge the many many scrolls Shifu Qiren will throw at him over the years to come. LQR swears that if that man hadn’t given his nephew happiness and also many great nephews-

Anyways. The Lotus Flowers are all gay and all happy send tweet.

[inessencedevided]

The Untamed, episode 46 - watching notes

Full disclosure: I'm not in a particularly good mood today. Have you seen that "no productivity. Only guild." Meme flying around? That's me today :|

Hopefully this will distract me (though distraction was the problem in the first place 🙈)

I apologise for any typos you'll finde in this post 😅

To recap, the last thing I learned was that apparently, Jiggy married his own sister because Jin Guangshan was a scumbag who raped more women than he could possibly remember

I was told by several people that this episode is their favourite. No pressures or anything :D

The way someone is dragging up Jiggy's secrets has a lot of poetic justice to it. Everyone is outraged and gossiping. Consensus is reached quickly. Kinda makes me feel that that someone (who probably also wrote the letter to jgy) knows exactly how to use the sect world's worst qualities as a weapon

Yao what's-his-name, resident gossip queen, at it again

Don't look at me my memory is as bad as wwx when it comes to names :D

I was about to write who is Lianfang Zum again and then I remembered that it's jiggy's honorary title. See what I mean? ^^

What does it say about me that my heart makes a leap when I simply see wwx leaning close to lwj to whisper to him? 😅 I'll probably die reading the novel, that's what that says

Oh so it was the maid who sent the letter

Come on Wei Wuxian! That was cruel

Yeah Yao what's-his-name, why would you need to know the identity of who ever is behind this? It's not like you've ever been deceived before!

What's... with that bracelet?

I love it how everyone looks positively startled when Lan Wangji says something unprompted :D

Wait ... Zwei Jun is in his hands? Shit, i don't remeber what happened there. Where did Xichen go again? 😬

I'm so confused right now 🙈 I can't watch and read the subtitles and type

Okay, watched the whole conversation again, now I'm following

I reiterate my earlier statement that whoever is pulling the strings here knows exactly what strings to pull to get the clans to act

Great, another mob 🙄

Loooool

NOW you want his help? 😂

Sure, as soon as he can serve YOU with his "evil tricks", that's okay!

You can see how much wwx changed because he does not hold their hypocrisy to their faces. He mostly seemed tired of it

And Jiang Cheng just realised that wwx might indeed not be responsible for Jiang Yanli's death, didn't he? He's almost stunned 🥺

Or is BEAUTIFUL to see Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji move in such unity! 😭

Oh ... those are the graves of his foster parents, right? :(

And Yanli ... oh God I forgot about Yanli 🥺

I'm crying again. Nothing on this show will ever hit as hard to me as the Yunmeng siblings' fate

I couldn't help myself, I legitimately just stroked my laptop screen where Yanli's plate was 🥺

So many conflicting emotions

Thanks to a friendly anon, I know that these three bows together are marriage thing! 😭😭😭

So yeah, they're married now. I dont make the rules :')

Somehow, this feels like them asking wwx's foster family's blessing

And now I'm imagining Shijie smiling back at them gently and I'm crying 🥺

And by God, I love lwj's gentle teasing :')

This whole scene, he's so soft! 😭

And it think that Wei Wuxian probably thought that he'd never get to step into Lotus Pier again. But here, he can finally say his goodbyes to his Shijie properly. He can heal! 🖤

And again, I cannot stress enough how wonderful that is! And how rare and precious in a show like this. So often character's get put through unimaginable trauma, but they either brush it off no problem or the show/movie ends immediately after the main action and you are left to imagine the number it did on the character's psyche. There are so rarely fantasy shows that really dive into the emotional fallout the plot has on their characters and then give them time to heal. Thus show does both and I'm so goddamn overjoyed my it!

Come to think of it, it reminds me of a very good hurt/comfort fic 🤷‍♀️

Jiang Cheng pleae, fir once, try not to be angry immediately when you're hurting :(

He still takes special offence that lwj is there. Makes me wonder if he still feels like wwx chooses lwj over the Jiang sect and is still hurt by it 😔 (note that at the same time, he reminds wwx that he's very much not a member of the Jiang clan anymore. God, the man has not worked through his own feelings ...)

For once, as much as I love it when lwj defends wwx (especially when it's not against any physical harm, but because he doesn't want wwx to be hurt emotionally) I think him interfering with this particular conflict does not help

Okay sorry, but no! lotus pier was not destroyed because wwx saved lwj in that cave. That was just an excuse for the Wen sect. They would have come eventually anyway

Ohhh

So there's my answer

He's still hurt because he feels wwx chooses anyone else over his family, which is to say him

And he probably can't understand because their positions are so different. The (future) sect leader and the son of a (dead) servant and a rogue cultivator who never felt quite like he belonged 😔

It's so goddamn tragic how much between these two was destroyed simply because they have such a different status in society and could never quite understand each other's perspective

And again, wwx just takes it 💔

Until, that is, lwj's honour gets besmirched

Don't fight in front of Shijie 🥺

Jiang Cheng's every action screams that he still loves his brother and that amidst all that pain for his lost family, is also deep betrayal and grieve for the brother he thought he could always count on 🥺💔

Can we appreciate for a second how much this shot tells us? From Jiang Cheng's angry desperation, to Wei Wuxian's quite acceptance of his rage (which must be so confusing to Jiang Cheng and probably hurt him even more. Because fighting is always how these two resolved their issues!) to Lan Wangji who is in full on protective mode (which I find more than heartwarming,but still think probably isn't helpful rn)

He ... what?

I still don't quite understand when exactly wwx's lack of golden core shows. Why does he have a nosebleed here?

What?

Oh!

Wen Ning 😱

I get what he wants to do!

Have we ever seen him this calm and determined before?

Abd they understand 😱😱😱

The look on all of their faces! Shiiiiit

I'm crying again

Oh wangii is crying 🥺

Wen Quing 💔💔💔 I'm crying even harder just looking at her. I've MISSED her 🥺

Lan Zhan your FACE!! 😭

The way he's looking at wwx in his arms, as if he's seeing him fir the first time

And by god, I can only imagine what he must be thinking

He must be reevaluation every single interaction they had since wwx started down the path of demonic cultivation 😭

I'm a bit in awe of Wen Ning here and how much he must have been holding in. That's the steadiest and most confident he's ever been

Oh Jiang cheng 💔

That looks like a man whose entire world has just been shaken to its core

And Lan Wangji is crying so much 🥺

God I hope he doesn't blame himself even more 🥺

Aaaaaaahhhh, so that is why he wouldn't just carry the sword for appearance sake and why he just had a nosebleed!

Jiang Cheng probably needs about a month to process all that :/

And therapy ...

Aaaaaaahhhh! The boat scene! I've seen gifs! 😍😍😍

A penny for Lan Wangji's thoughts ...

Oh I'm so so so so glad that Wen Ning gets to say thank you to the man who raised his ... cousin (?) :')

Oh god we get to see!!!!

Oh little a Yuan 😭😭😭😭😭😭

I wonder now, did Lan Qiren know who the child was that his nephew suddenly brought back to cloud recess?

I'm glad that we all learned from this that keeping secrets from the people we love, especially secrets that concern them personally, will eventually come back to bide us in the ass. Than you for delivering that important lesson, wen Ning!

Which reminds me that I hope they eventually tell wwx that they know 😬

I swear to god, one of these days I will melt from the gentleness in lan Wangji's gaze :')

Shit. He had to be awake? 😳

You can pinpoint the moment Lan Wangji's heart breaks for all the suffering wwx endured and how close he came to loosing him even then 🥺

Waking like that in you lovers arms in the middle of a lotus pond - that's the dream *sighs* (minus the passing out bit)

It's weirdly cute that wwx thinks that it's Jiang Cheng's insults that have lwj so upset 😅

Oh GOOOOD ...

I can't

The moment Yanli's themes started to play and she appeared I started to bawl 😭😭😭

And he's sharing the lotus pods with them ... oh please, lwj, please understand what he's saying. That's his pove language! His sister's food was how he received love and right now he passes it on to you! Please, please understand it! 🥺

Oh lwj, don't 🙈

Awwwwww ....

He's breaking the rules for you!!! Just to make you smile!!! 😭😭

And holy shit look at their expressions 😭

By now you should know that he's willing to break the rules for you :')

And poor third wheel Wen Ning 😂

Now there are glittering butterflies???

Do they have some kind of romantic aesthetic bingo going on in this episode???

Oh okay, messenger butterflies

Please appreciate wwx almost climbing into lan Wangji's lab in excitement :D

Thay scene transition was pretty af!

Hey! Why do they bully wen Ning? 😤

*shakes wwx by the shoulders* DO YOU GET THAT HE LOVES YOU NOW???

Huh, this episode was a roller coaster. you guys did NOT exaggerate! I loved it to pieces. I'm floored once more by all the actor's performances. Wen Ning revealed a lot about his character, Jiang Cheng broke my heart, Lan Wangji made it melt and Shijie is still able to make me bawl in an instant. But ... I'm not left with a bitter feeling. Sure, jiang Cheng and wei Wuxian havebt reconciled, but the truth is the first step to even have that possibility. Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji are both healing and whatever happens in the last 4 (4!!!😭) episodes, I'm not dreading it that much right now. I feel like we're climbing upwards :)

@sweetlittlevampire @fandom-glazed @elenirlachlagos @allhailthedramallama @luckymoony @kyrrahbird @i-love-him-on-purpose thank you guys for staying with me for this crazy ride 💙🖤💙

Also one last thing: please don't tell me what happens differently in the novel in any given scene. I am still reading it (about half way through rn) and I'd like to still be surprised by stuff like first kisses and love confessions 💙🖤

I should have put something like this at the end before, but I always forgot. That's on me 😅 so don't feel bad, if you've shared something before :)

[devianta]

MDZS/Persona 5 xover that literally no one asked for

I just feel like there’s so much potential for this. Think about it, both of these works have themes surrounding the damage gossip can cause, getting punished for doing the right thing (no good deed goes unpunished), what constitutes justice, and the consequences of shitty parenting, amongst other things. 

Mostly I just want to run wwx’s palace. He has a palace, there’s no doubt about that, and I want to run it. I’d kill 500 men for the opportunity. Also, pretty sure his treasure would be his lost golden core. Meaning, that if you successfully steal that shit you get to give to it him and then he’d have a new one without 1) him having to die and be brought back in a new body or 2) having to fuck anyone else up. (Phantom Thievery ftw!) You’d just have to successfully complete the palace. That’s all. 

Can you imagine wwx as a boss? Like, can you imagine that boss fight? He’d have at least 12 health bars. I mean, this is the guy who got shot by an arrow, pulled it out, and threw it back, instantly killing the bitch who shot him. This is the fucker who got disemboweled by his brother, stuffed his intestines back in, and then went and bought potatoes. This guy got a super experimental operation done on him, got stabbed with his own sword by wen chao (at least in the donghua, can’t remember if this happened in the other adaptations), and was then thrown into burial mounds. Like after all that, he was literally thrown off a cliff and he was still able to move around. Wwx is not unlike a termite: there’s really not much that can kill him. During the Sunshot Campaign he managed whole battlefields on his own. He played the flute days and nights on end without rest. 

His boss fight would be near impossible but I would be so willing to try. BTW, I’m imagining this taking place after he’s moved into Burial Mounds with the Wen Remnants but before jzx gets dead. You know, before everything gets irreversibly fucked. So the Stygian Tiger Seal will definitely feature in the boss fight. Most likely it’ll be something you need to steal it during the fight. I’m imagining that he uses to summon endless waves of corpses that prevent you from getting any hits in so you have to distract him in order to steal the seal off him and finally be able to deal actual damage to him. That’ll be stage one of the fight. Stage two will be fighting wwx and shadow wen ning. You have to defeat wen ning before you move on to stage three. Wen ning exclusively uses physical attacks. Wwx never uses physical attacks. He mostly commands wen ning but throws out curse and almighty attacks every one or two turns. Stage three is just wwx and he starts hitting you with a crap ton of curse damage with some almighty mixed in to spice things up. He repels most physical attacks and all curse moves. He’s weak to bless skills but has a 50% dodge rate for them. Beating wwx earns you no money (b/c he’s poor af) but he drops 2x Shijie’s soup (restores full sp to all party members), 5x wen qing’s needles (cures any status condition), 5x curse talismans (does 50 dmg), and one (1) golden core. 

What does wwx’s palace look like? Where is it? I want to say Lotus Pier and the distortion (what he thinks of it as) is a graveyard/mausoleum/something along those lines. But an argument could be made for burial mounds. I’m not sure what the distortion would be though in that case. I feel like wwx sees burial mounds pretty clearly. No, I think wwx’s distortion revolves around Lotus Pier and his family there. Mini bosses? Jiang Cheng definitely. Maybe Madame Yu? Shijie would show up (his palace wouldn’t be complete without her) but she wouldn’t be a shadow you’d fight. She’d offer guidance or healing items. Lwj’s shadow would definitely be there but I’m not sure what his role would be. At that point in the story, wwx’s unknowingly in love with lwj and sees him as a nice guy who asks wwx questions he can’t answer. He believes that he and lwj will inevitably end up on opposite sides of the battle field but ultimately wwx does not want to fight him. He feels that a death at lwj’s hands would be a good death. So he might be a shadow you have to impress or prove yourself to before receiving help. I feel like wwx’s palace would be a bit like Futaba’s in that he wouldn’t have full control over it because he no longer has complete control over himself or his demonic cultivation. Which is why I think there would be shadows in wwx’s palace that act counter to his purpose of pushing others away (not unlike in Futaba’s palace). If anything, I feel like his palace would be like a weird mix of Futaba’s and Nijima’s palaces. Because wwx has that distinct self-blaming loneliness that so permeated Futaba’s pyramid but he also has that single-minded determination and overbearing hubris that featured so strongly is Nijima’s casino. I don’t know. Nijima, in her boss battle, repeatedly yelled “I must win! I must win at any cost!” and I can kinda hear wwx saying something similar but it would be more along the lines of “I must protect them! I must protect them no matter what!” “Them” of course being his family and the Wen Remnants. 

 Other palaces to conquer in the MDZS universe? (It might be easier to list the people who wouldn’t have palaces.) 

Jiang Cheng definitely has a palace. A very purple palace. Lotus Pier, the Revenge. But what does he see his home as? An empty house? Jyl did say in the Untamed that three of them must remain together forever. And what happened? Wwx ran off with the last of the Wens and Jyl got married and left. If anything, jc is lonely. All he wants is his family back. So his palace would either reflect the state of his existence: alone in an empty home with no one to call his own, or it would reflect his deepest desires: his whole family returned to him. What sort of palace ruler would he be? He has that inferiority complex and brother and mother and father issues. (So. Many. ISSUES.) I can see his wwx shadow being completely obedient, because that’s sort of what he wants. He wants his brother home again and fulfilling his promise, to be the other half of the twin heroes of Yunmeng. It might be fun to fight shadow!jc and shadow!wwx at the same time. The Phantom Thieves vs the Twin Heroes of Yunmeng, loser gets sent to the Shadow Realm! (Just kidding. Unless...?) The other possibility is that wwx is completely absent from the palace but his absence is blatantly obvious to anyone that gazes upon the palace, like walking into a bedroom with no bed. There should be a bed there. Everyone knows a bed belongs here but there is no bed. Jc’s palace should have a wwx but wwx is not here. But he should be.

What would jc’s treasure be? His original golden core? Probably not. As far as he’s concerned (at this juncture) the golden core in his body is his original, restored by baoshan sanren. So it’s not that. The puppies that he lost as a boy, that he was forced to trade for an errant brother? A possibility. That was seemingly the start of jc’s problems. First he lost his beloved dogs, then he lost the love of his parents. Jfm focused on wwx to the detriment of jc and madame yu wouldn’t shut the fuck up about how jc couldn’t compare to wwx. If wwx hadn’t come to lotus pier, jc’s parents might’ve been satisfied with him. But I sincerely doubt that. There were clearly problems between J-fucking-M and Mad-Yu’s (can you tell that I think nothing of these two assholes god what I wouldn’t give to kick their asses in the metaverse I’d tear their fucking hearts out to quote ryugi) marriage prior to wwx’s arrival. Wwx’s presence there only brought those problems to the surface. Whether jc is capable of recognizing that truth is another matter. (Sorry, jc but your parents are shit and their marriage was doomed to failure before they even made their bows.) 

Or would wwx himself be the treasure? Jc’s parents are dead; they can’t be returned to life and therefore are unattainable. Jyl didn’t necessarily abandon jc and I doubt he sees her leaving as a betrayal. Jyl’s marriage was more or less inevitable. She’s able to easily visit. There’s no real conflict there. Wwx, on the hand, defected from Jiang sect. Jc has to pretend to loathe him, to not want him back when the opposite is in fact the case. Most of jc’s problems, wishes, and desires center around this one person. It wouldn’t be inaccurate to say that wwx is the locus of jc’s world, the axis upon which all turns: the triumphs and failures, tragedies and victories. When wwx is missing, jc looks for him. When wwx drops his sword, jc picks it up and returns it to him. Whatever happens to one brother affects the other. Even if/when wwx isn’t obviously present in jc’s life, he’s still there, even if you don’t see one brother next to the other. Even though jc doesn’t know it at that point in the story, wwx is the core of jc’s body and, therefore, it would make thematic sense for him to the be the core of jc’s palace.

Other palaces? Well, Jin Guangshan and Jin Guangyao obviously. Su She is debatable. I feel like he’d be a Mementos run. Besides, he’s not important enough to warrant a palace. Likewise, Jin Zixun would be a Mementos case. Wen Ruohan would have a palace but we don’t get to really know him as a character so I can’t say what his palace would like look except that it would encompass the whole of Ancient China. Wen Chao would likely have a palace even though he doesn’t deserve the attention ripping his palace apart would require. Most likely it would be a cross between Kamoshida’s and Kanoshiro’s. Jgs’ palace would probably look like Kamoshida’s and Jgy’s would probably be like Shido’s. 

Am I missing anyone? What do you think the characters’ palaces would look like? Whose palace would you most like to run? Let me know! 

[queenmorgawse]

a story about blood

a small piece about xy and wwx’s relationship in an au in which xy met yunmeng jiang sect quite earlier in his story. written for @baebeyza for the yiling wei server exchange. 

“Get lost, you damn brat!” 

The child scrambles off the road just in time not to get crushed by the next cart, cradling his wounded hand. Whatever reply he had dies in his throat, replaced with white-hot hatred almost too violent for his body to contain. 

When he makes to stand, a purple-clad arm grabs him and pulls him upright. “Hey, you alright?” 

Xue Yang almost spits in the stranger’s face. Who is he, to offer his pity? He didn’t stop Chang Ci’An, or shove his words back down his slimy throat. Everything else is secondary.

The boy in the purple robes doesn’t seem to share his thoughts. Either he’s oblivious to the daggers Xue Yang glares at him, or he simply doesn’t care. When he drags Xue Yang along, he has no choice but to follow. The teenager is bigger and stronger than he is ⎯ though it’s not saying much, given an underfed street rat must weight about as much as a drenched kitten. 

Before he can say anything, he’s sat down at an innkeeper’s table, facing another uniformed boy with a furrow between his brows, and the one who pulled him from the street has taken his maimed hand in his, pulling various bottles of salve from his sleeves.

Xue Yang snatches it back with a hiss. The nails of his good fingers rake across the back of the boy’s hand when he reaches for him, making him recoil in return. “Ow, what the hell?”

“That’ll teach you to pick up strays, Wei Ying,” the other grumbles. Xue Yang dislikes him on sight, with his lordling airs and the haughty purse of his lips. 

His friend - Wei Ying - has already recovered, rubbing at his grazed skin. “Shut up, Jiang Cheng,” he snaps back, though not unkindly. His eyes - gray as storm clouds - drift over to Xue Yang again. “I’m just trying to help, you know? Stop the bleeding.” 

“You’re a cultivator,” is all Xue Yang says. “Like the man in the cart.”

Wei Ying’s face falls. “Oh. Oh, no, I’m not like that.” He sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Listen, if you don’t want me to touch you, it’s fine, I’ll just hand you the bandages, okay?” 

Xue Yang eyes him warily, then nods toward the steaming bowls set on the table before him. “And I want the soup too.”

Wei Ying throws his head back and laughs. “Okay, okay! Anyone ever told you you drive a hard bargain?” He slides a set of clean linen strips across the table at Xue Yang, who pounces upon them and stuffs most of them into his pockets before setting to wrapping up his still-bleeding hand. It’s a clumsy job, but better that than let some stranger move him around like a straw doll. 

When he’s done, he unceremoniously grabs one of the bowls and all but dumps the contents down his throat. The soup burns his palate, but when the hunger that’s been hounding him around starts to wane, it’s more than worth it. 

Wei Ying and Jiang Cheng watch him eat, one with bright-eyed fondness and the other with mild indifference. 

“What do you want?” he asks when he’s done eating. It’s simple enough : in his life, no one has ever given something without asking for a favor in return. Though he fails to see what he could give some pampered young masters in exchange for his care, he has no doubt they have some ideas.

“Your name, first.”

“Xue Yang.” So he thinks, anyway. Whoever his mother was barely lived long enough for him to remember the sound of his own name in her voice. 

Here comes the real demand, then. He tenses, bracing himself for some other thankless task, maybe even money.

Instead, Wei Ying leans forward, drumming his fingers on the table. Jiang Cheng opens his mouth as if to try and stop him, then seems to think better of it and closes it, staring off to the side with a sullen look. “We saw you fight earlier. You don’t have technique, but you’re pretty fast on your feet, right? Xue Yang, have you ever been to Yunmeng?” 

-

Yunmeng is unlike anything Xue Yang has ever seen. The people there never sneer at him or kick him around, though that might be due to the new set of purple robes Wei Ying clumsily ties him into upon arrival. 

They're the nicest clothes Xue Yang has ever owned, though he gets blood on them less than a week later, viciously knocking the teeth of a too-touchy disciple with his wooden sword during training. Wei Ying has to wrestle him away by the neck of his clothes, loudly apologizing all the while. 

After, as he sullenly nurses the bruised cheek his opponent left him right after he got his hit in, Wei Ying and Jiang Cheng's shijie ( she's your shijie, too, Wei Ying told him solemnly, so you take care of her ) sits him down and serves him freshly steamed buns and a bowl of pork ribs and lotus soup.

Xue Yang doesn't dislike Jiang Yanli. She doesn't look like much, but he can tell being mean to her is not a wise choice – not only because he's been here long enough for him to notice her brothers glaring daggers at anyone foolish enough to be even mildly rude to her, but also because he might actually feel bad if she gets that disappointed look about her again. 

“You've got to get a hold of yourself, A-Yang,” she chides gently as she ladles another serving into his bowl. “One day, it'll have worse consequences than a bruised ego.”

“So what do I do?” He peers at her defiantly from behind his mop of dark hair. “Let people...do whatever they want? Like I'm small and–” Weak. Too weak to afford not being the first one to strike.

Jiang Yanli smiles a small, sad smile, and reaches to pat his head. She stops just short of touching his hair, her gaze interrogative. 

Xue Yang huffs and doesn't duck away. 

“It's alright, A-Yang.” Her voice is so soft, full of pity. Her hand is warm where it lays on top of his head. “You don't need to be strong all the time anymore. We'll be here to protect you.” 

He wants her to shut up. He wants her to never stop talking again. 

-

Jiang Yanli is a liar, Xue Yang thinks, as the Lotus Pier comes crashing down around him. Her words ring in his ears as he crawls through the smoke, close to coughing his lungs out, the only thing holding him back the looming presence of Wen troops among the ruins. 

It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter that she isn't here, or that Wei Ying and Jiang Cheng's fates are uncertain, or that the people he reluctantly started calling his martial brothers and sisters lay in pools of their own blood around him. The other shoe had to drop eventually. 

Not all of the cultivators involved in the massacre of the Lotus Pier die at the Yiling Patriarch's hands. Some breathe their last in the dark, as a sword called Jiangzai carves their flesh off their bones, piece by piece.

Wei Ying finds him again, a handful of months later. There is little left of Yunmeng in him, save for the silver bell he tied to Jiangzai's hilt in a fit of sentimentality. 

“You’ve been busy,” his shixiong remarks. When his eyes sweep over the scene - gore strewn across the floor, the white of Wen robes almost entirely overtaken by grime -, his eyes glow red as coals.

Xue Yang shrugs. “No more than you have, apparently.” His sleeves are meticulously clean, though his boots have been steeped in blood for longer than he cares to count. Jiang Yanli would point out the change in him, the cruel edge he always carried with him sharpened to a fine point.  

Then again, Wei Ying - Wei Wuxian, really, as few dare call him by his birth name now - is not the way he used to be either. Something about him reminds Xue Yang of a corpse risen from the grave, no longer afraid to die, inevitable.

He doesn't flinch when he looks down at the corpse Xue Yang made. It barely resembles a man anymore : lingchi has made a puddle of flesh out of him, white bones peeking out of the crimson wreck. 

“I’m surprised no one’s come after you yet. Does everyone approve of your methods?” Even as Wei Wuxian speaks, he sounds like he already knows what answer to expect.

“Am I supposed to care whether they do?” Their home didn’t burn, as far as Xue Yang’s concerned. Well, the Cloud Recesses did, but he’s never known the Lans to be the vengeful type.

Wei Wuxian breaks into a grin. It should have been familiar, as the same lopsided smile he sported whenever his kite flew higher than any of the other disciples or when he pulled one of them into the lake by their ankles, but it is frightening now.

At least, Xue Yang imagines it should be. In it, he can only find a mirror of his own. 

“Anyway,” Wei Wuxian continues with a tilt of his head towards the corpses at their feet, “I came to take care of these, but it looks like you’ve got everything handled.”

“I want to come with you.” The words slip past his lips before he can think them through. “That’s not all of them. Wen Chao’s not dead yet.” 

Hatred stays with you, he realizes. After so many years without truly feeling it, Xue Yang finds that he hasn’t forgotten its taste.

For the first time since the beginning of their talk, Wei Wuxian seems to waver. “Are you sure?” His gaze takes on a wistful tinge, like the words in his mouth aren’t his own. “Whatever happens, no one will ever look at you the same. You’ll be walking the single-plank bridge with me.” 

The implication hangs in the air between them : one stumble, and he will fall. And, of course, there will be no turning back from this.

“You think I don’t know that?” Xue Yang crosses his arms, chin raised, defiant. “I’ve already gone this far anyway. If you can do it, I can do it.” 

Something tugs at the corners of Wei Wuxian’s lips, almost like a smile. 

-

“Eat or I’ll pour it down your throat myself.”

“You’ve been spending too much time with Wen Qing.” Still, Wei Wuxian reaches for the bowl. Up close, Xue Yang can see what the man himself is refusing to admit : that he’s grown thinner and gaunter with every passing day, crumbling into a shell of himself. 

Taking advantage of Wei Wuxian’s distraction, Xue Yang skirts around him and snatches up a page of his notes. It’s covered in scrambly handwriting, as if jotted down in a hurry, but he’s had enough practice by now to decipher the bare bones of it. 

“What’s a…” He squints. “...Stygian Tiger Seal?”

Weu Wuxian whirls towards him, wild-eyed. “Put it back!” 

Xue Yang raises his hands, cocking an eyebrow at the other. “Not until you tell me what it does.”

For a moment, he thinks Wei Wuxian might actually strike him. He draws himself up to his full height, resentful energy gathering around him quiet as thunder ⎯ and then the fight goes out of him, and he slumps onto the slab of stone he calls a chair again. “It’s supposed to help me,” he explains, running a hand through his soot-stained hair. “It should control the corpses better than I do on my own, like a catalyst.” 

Xue Yang considers the notes with newfound interest. “It could change everything.”

“If I manage to do it,” Wei Wuxian points out. “And if I do, you’ll have to keep it to yourself.” At the lack of change in Xue Yang’s expression, he adds, “I mean it. In the wrong hands, it’ll be carnage.”

And what do you plan to bring with it, if not carnage? 

He can see, though, that Wei Wuxian will not answer him. The Yiling Patriarch is already lost in thoughts again, half-emptied bowl abandoned on the side as he grabs a stick of charcoal and starts to sketch, muttering something about swords and giant tortoises.

For lack of something better to do, Xue Yang gathers a few more scrolls from under his nose, settles into one of of cave’s corners and starts to read.

-

For better or for worse, Wei Wuxian’s prediction comes true. When, under the cover of night, Xue Yang comes to see the remnants of Nightless City, he can find no other word to describe the scene but carnage. 

-

On the last day of autumn, a young man boldly strolls into the Unclean Realm. The cultivators who first run into him will remember him grinning even as his throat bobbed against a saber’s blade, upper lip pulling up over little sharp teeth, until the Sect Leader steps in to break off the fight and announce - to everybody's surprise - he will receive his honored guest in his own desk.

“That artefact you mentioned...” Nie Huaisang starts, snapping his fan shut once the door closes behind them. For a moment, two beasts seize each other up, black against gold. “Do you have it?” 

“I thought your being daft was only a facade, Headshaker,” the other snaps back. Still, he reaches into his sleeve. Nie Huaisang’s gaze follows his hand as it draws out a slab of stone shaped like a tiger’s head, crude in design yet unmistakable. 

Half of the Stygian Tiger Seal dangles from the young man’s hand. Nie Huaisang has had the occasion to see the original once - granted, from a distance, and not for very long -, but he can tell that though this is a an attempt to recreate Wei Wuxian’s invention, it’s a skilled one. “It’s rather pretty, but does it work?”

His interlocutor shrugs. “You don’t have the other half, do you? I thought you’d have it ready, since you were only in the market for half of it.”

“I will procure it,” he says, perhaps a little more forcefully than he meant to. “In the meantime…”

Nie Huaisang considers the missing half, his eyes heavy-lidded. When he looks up, his gaze has taken on a sharper glint. “It seems we’ve got ourselves a deal, young master Xue.”

[lanzhanss]

I saw one of the anons' question about Madame Yu survived instead of WWX, so.if WWX isdead and Yunmengis in shambles, the stress and pain of loss is too high, and with a vow of vengeance, Madame Yu, JC, and LZ went to Yiling to hide, while doing so they practiced one Cultivation that was hated by all, Demonic Cultivation. with it they will obliterate the Wen Sect as the Demonic Trinity of Yiling, The Matriarch (YZY), The Son (JC) and The Fallen Righteous Spirit (LZ).

OHHH THE DEMONIC TRINITY OF YILING SOUNDS SO GOOD!!!! I want to add jiang yanli here too bc I love badass shijie but I guess I’ll just go with the trinity you said.

but then again, their cultivation was completely fine and their golden cores were also not melted so I don’t see why they would cultivate the dark path???? ok but to go with this au, maybe jc and lwj were really traumatized due to seeing wwx like that and hearing those rumors, especially jiang cheng. So

They go to Yiling after they take jiang yanli with them. They don’t stay in Mieshan Yu Sect for shelter because what if the wens comes after them there and also destroy mieshan? So they quietly leave for Yiling. Jiang Cheng then vows to avenge his brother, he vows to raze the Wen sect the same way yunmeng was and bring back his father and he vows to cut Wen Chao and hang him up for the world to see.

But he is powerless, the path he cultivates is not enough, he needs more power, he needs much more. He then remembers what his brother said back in the cloud recesses, how dark energy can be controlled, even people with weak spiritual energy can get an immense amount of power by cultivating that path. It is a crooked path, he knows, he knows the risk is very high but he will do anything to avenge his brother, his sect and bring back his father. He tells his mother that he made up his mind about cultivating demonic energy. Madame Yu stops him in every way possible but Jiang Cheng made up his mind and doesn’t listen to a single thing she says to him on this topic. So she decides to cultivate the path with him. She can’t allow her only son to walk on that path alone. She starts practicing with him. She too wants to bring justice to her lost sect.

Meanwhile, Lan Wangji blames wei wuxian’s death on jiang cheng and his mother as he investigates their whereabouts and goes to yiling. He meets them and is shocked to see Jiang Cheng and his mother. They are nothing like what they used to be. They don’t wear purple robes anymore. They are dressed all in black, even the aura around them is black. Something isn’t right. But he asks them that how could they leave Wei Ying alone, asks them that if they really wanted to run why didn’t they take Wei Ying with them? Lan Wangji tells them that he will avenge Wei Ying. He will hunt down the Wens.

Jiang Cheng feels guilty. He tells Lan Wangji about demonic cultivation and says that he is going to avenge wei wuxian too. He tells lan wangji how much power they can get from demonic cultivation. He then takes out a flute from his sleeves, red ribbon tied at the end of it, and shows him the power of demonic cultivation. Shows him that he is no longer the jiang cheng of old days and tells him that if they want to bring the Wen Sect down, they need to get much stronger and this is the only way they can do so.

The bright smile, the cheerful face flashes across Lan Wangji’s eyes following with the body full of blood hanged up, eyes painfully closed when he decides to cultivate with jiang cheng. That was the fall of the most righteous man.

After that, the people from Wen sect started disappearing. One after the other, they slowly disappeared. And after some time of disappearing, their corpses were hanged on the streets, killed in different ways. But each corpse had one thing in common, hole in a chest and golden core removed and scars of disciple whip. Everyone from Wen sect was shocked. Even the remaining three great sects were horrified. But Gusu Lan sect had another, much bigger problem than this. Their second young master Lan was missing. The Lan sect searched everywhere but couldn’t find him. There was not a single place they didn’t search.

Days passed by and the number of wen sect’s corpses kept going up. There were rumors that many times a woman and two youths in black were sighted at the place where those wen disciples were seen last time. No one knows if those rumors were true or not.

Three months later, a discussion conference was held by the Wen sect. All the sect leaders were present except for the arrogant Wen sect’s. Wen sect’s leader’s son was present instead of him. Everything was going as it should be but then they heard the loud sound of flute along with guqin and howls of fierce corpses. Suddenly hundreds of corpses attacked them. But shocking thing was that they only attacked the Wens. All of the people present there were shocked. Many people were present there but not even one helped the Wens.

That day people understood the true meaning of ‘horror’ as those fierce corpses tore the flesh of Wens. And that day they saw Madame Yu, her son Jiang Cheng and the esteemed cultivator Hanguang Jun. They were nothing like before. They were dressed in black. The zidian which was ruthlessly lashed on the wen cultivators was also black instead of bright purple. It had an evil aura around it. She was no longer the Violet Spider but a Black Venom.

Jiang Cheng played flute which controlled those fierce corpses. And the most shocking one was the Hanguang Jun. He too, was dressed in black, holding a guqin which emitted dark energy from it and controlled those corpses along with Jiang Cheng. They killed hundreds of wen sect’s people in just a short time. Jiang Cheng walked up to Wen Chao who was hidden behind Core Melting Hand, Wen Zhuliu. Jiang Cheng asked,

“Can you really protect his dog life from me?”

Wen Zhuliu replied, “Better die trying”

As Wen Zhuliu attacked Jiang Cheng, Lan Wangji came between them and stabbed him in the chest, taking out his golden core. Lan Wangji then spoke up, “This is how Wei Ying felt that day when you melted his core”

Wen Chao started screaming and crying, ordering the sects to help him otherwise his father won’t let them off. But everyone was shocked speechless. No one could believe what they were seeing. And no one cared about him, everyone loathed him. Jiang Cheng started laughing and spoke up, “ Do you really think that they will save someone like you? Have you forgotten what you did? Don’t you remember how you treated them?”

Wen Chao was terrified as he asked, “ Were you three the ones who kidnapped and killed the Wen Sect’s people?”

Jiang Cheng, “ Of course, who else do you think hates you more than us?”

After that no one spoke, only Wen Chao’s screams were heard. His screams and his begging to be spared and forgiven. Jiang Cheng took out a disciple whip and lashed him with it. He kept on lashing him until the ground was wet with his blood. He then slowly made a hole in his chest, very slowly so that it would hurt more and then ruthlessly took out his golden core. Many cultivators came forward to stop him but were stopped by Lan Wangji and Madame Yu. Wen Chao kept on pleading but he was hanged. Jiang Cheng spoke up, “ Do you remember who else was hanged like this? Do you remember whose golden core was melted and was beaten by disciple whip like this? I’ll kill you in far more worse way than you killed my brother”

He was ruthlessly beaten to death in front of hundreds of cultivators. That day Jiang Cheng announced the start of SunShot Campaign.

That day the Yiling Matriarch, her Son and the Fallen Righteous Spirit came in front of the world and later razed Wen Sect from existence.