#into the bloodbath and nevernight

[trans-xianxian]

as much as I love wei wuxian and slander against him is banned from this house I Do sometimes think that people forget he's like. supposed to be a morally complex person who did things that were bad. like the whole point of him and his story is that he was a good man who was pushed to do terrible things, and when we fail to examine those terrible things/completely ignore them, we're sort of doing wei wuxian and the points being made by his arc a disservice

[robininthelabyrinth]

Prompt: Au where lwj marries wwx after the bloodbath at nevernight, taking him back to gusu and hiding him in the jingshi, just like qhj did with madam lan. Also presumably like madam lan, wwx did not ask for it, nor does he appreciate it. The difference: wwx has the power to do something about it - after all, you can seal qi, but there’s no way to stop someone from performing demonic cultivation. (and, the lan sect forgot that a prison would probably have quite a bit of resentful energy in it)

“So, about half of that plan worked,” Wei Wuxian said, and Lan Wangji had the grace to look embarrassed. “Didn’t think the second half through, did you?”

Lan Wangji refrained from commenting, but then again, he was Lan Wangji.

“They don’t seriously think I’m going to just sit here in this tiny room for the rest of my life, do they?”

Lan Wangji looked – long-suffering.

It was a good thing, Wei Wuxian reflected, that Lan Wangji had confessed his feelings quite so desperately in those brief moments they’d been alone in the cave, or else he would be really upset with him right now.

Well, he was a little upset.

But it was difficult to be too upset when Lan Wangji had looked at him with that gaze, said those words, pressed his mouth to his –

“Oooh, wait, are you supposed to stay in seclusion here, too?” Wei Wuxian asked interestedly. “That’s the precedent, right? We get married and both go into seclusion, and then churn out a few kids – I could definitely give trying to make kids a solid effort, if you know what I mean –”

Lan Wangji’s ears turned red when he was embarrassed. “Wei Ying!”

“Oh no, it’s too late now,” Wei Wuxian said gleefully. “You rescued my Wen sect, you married me, you told me you like me; you’re stuck with me now! And in our very own fuck shack!”

“Wei Ying!”

Wei Wuxian didn’t know what he would do if he’d recovered from the paralysis Wen Qing had put him in to find them all dead – he would have reacted terribly – instead of the whole cultivation world ablaze with the news of Lan Wangji having stolen them right out of the Jin sect’s hands. If that hadn’t happened, he wouldn’t have stopped to wait for news, confused by the sudden twist; he wouldn’t have encountered Lan Wangji, rushing to find him, wouldn’t have read the message he’d passed along from Jiang Yanli, wouldn’t have heard him confess…

Wouldn’t have married him.

Lan Wangji was looking at him like he was the sun, moon and stars again, just at the mention of their marriage, and the only way handle the emotions churned up by that was clearly to start chanting, “Fuck shack! Fuck shack! Fuck shack!” on repeat until Lan Wangji covered his face with his sleeves in despair.

Yes, Wei Wuxian had heard the story about Lan Wangji’s mother, how this had been her place to live after her own crime – how she must have conceived her two sons here.

Yes, he was aware that calling it a fuck shack was in terrible taste.

No, he didn’t care as long as it got him out of having to confront feelings.

“Okay, okay, I’ll stop,” he said after a little while, laughing. “But seriously. What’s your sect’s plan here? Do they think that locking away my spiritual energy –” 

Nonexistent spiritual energy, coincidentally. 

“ – will allow them to keep me here forever? That’s not how demonic cultivation works.”

After all, there was plenty of resentment here to work with.

Wei Wuxian carefully didn’t think about how much of that resentment must have been from Lan Wangji’s mother.

“Unnecessary,” Lan Wangji said.

“So there is a plan,” Wei Wuxian said with satisfaction. “Well, not your sect’s, but you, yourself, have a plan. What is it?”

“Once matters calm, my brother will propose a debate with the other sects on the subject of my actions and yours, with the goal of agreeing that our punishment be left wholly in the hands of the Lan sect, the Tiger Seal sealed away or destroyed and both the Wen sect and you to be carefully monitored,” Lan Wangji said. “During that time, my uncle will come let us out.”

“Teacher Lan? Really?”

Lan Wangji didn’t repeat things, so he didn’t say anything, but he looked pleased – a little surprised himself, but happy to have had his suspicions proven right.

With both Lan Qiren and Lan Xichen on their side, it would be very difficult for the Lan sect elders to carry through their original plan. Lan Xichen would very carefully not agree to exactly what type of “monitoring” would be appropriate, allowing them to make their own assumptions, and if after everything had been settled the Sect Leader agreed that Lan Wangji could be the one to “monitor” Wei Wuxian, well, that was too bad for them. 

An argument that would only be strengthened by the two of them being far away already, because to argue too much would be to lose face in front of the rest of the cultivation world - the only thing the Lan sect elders liked even less than his demonic cultivation.

“Huh,” Wei Wuxian said. “I didn’t think he liked me that much.”

“He does not,” Lan Wangji said. “If events were otherwise, he would have tried to keep me from you. But since things have come this far, he would prefer for me to be happy.”

“What happens after we leave?” Wei Wuxian asked.

Lan Wangji shrugged.

Wei Wuxian supposed that they could be rogue cultivators, staying at the outskirts of the other sects’ territories until the furor died down; with the Tiger Seal gone and Wei Wuxian technically under the supervision of a member of the Lan sect, they wouldn’t have much basis to argue. Travelling together – probably letting Wen Ning tag along – maybe with a donkey – 

“We could have a farm,” Wei Wuxian said, brightening. “Just the two of us!”

Lan Wangji smiled.

Wei Wuxian’s heart skipped a beat.

“Yeah,” he said, a little weakly. “Yeah. Let’s do that.”

And maybe they wouldn’t need to fight the whole cultivation world off with his demonic cultivation to do it…although if that were necessary, he was willing and able.

No one was getting in the way of this marriage.

[punk-weiwuxian]

hi! sometimes I write <33333

a series of various danmei characters that can't fucking sleep

He fell.  And fell.  And fell.  Until something gripped him tight and dragged him down into the dark.

Lan Wangji kills Wei WuXian at the bloodbath of Nevernight! Immediately after, he ascends to the heaven!!! Hundreds of years later, there is an eruption at Mount Tonglu, a new ghost king is born!

(first 9 chapters are up!)

Wei Wuxian didn’t answer him. Lan Wangji shuffled the blanket so he could see if Wei Ying was in fact still asleep. Occasionally he would play tricks on Lan Wangji, he would pretend to be asleep before tackling him and pinning him under the blankets. When he pulled the quilt away from his face he saw Wei Wuxian’s brow furrowed, his teeth digging into his lip, covered in a thin layer of sweat.

“Wei Ying?” Lan Wangji asked, starting to become worried.

Has Wei Ying fallen ill?

The last recipe in the book was for pork rip and lotus root soup. He felt tears prickle his eyes, but this time let them fall. A smile on his face, remembering all the times his a-jie had made it for him and Wei Wuxian. They had argued so many times, but the moment she brought out the soup they returned to being brothers.

Jiang Cheng hurriedly and carefully put her room back in order, before rushing to the marketplace for fresh ingredients.

[sssrha]

WangXian wouldn’t have been very functional pre-Wei Wuxian’s resurrection

So I was talking to @litescheme on Twitter and I decided to pour my heart out about how I hated the general fandom consensus that Wei Wuxian going to Gusu when Lan Wangji asked him to would have solved all of his problems, primarily because the idea of just straight up going to Gusu is incredibly flawed. Lo and behold, they agreed wholeheartedly. We had a great discussion and now I’m here to relay the discussion onto Tumblr in essay form uwu.

(By the way, this is based mostly on CQL with a good bit of novel added in, as well as a few hints of the donghua.)

Part One: “Come back to Gusu!” is a great romantic notion but a terrible plan of action.

First of all, one must ask the question: what on Earth was Lan Wangji’s game plan with the whole “Come back to Gusu!” thing? I think we can all agree that most of the Lan Sect hated Wei Wuxian - by the end, at least. Lan Xichen certainly had less than charitable feelings toward him. With such a hostile environment, the only way I can see Wei Wuxian surviving within the Sect is while being forced into a Madam Lan-type situation. I find that prospect more reminiscent of a horror movie than a heartwarming fic about healing.

Luckily for us, we can safely say that canon Lan Wangji would not have done that! Due to certain childhood trauma, Lan Wangji definitely would not have forced Wei Wuxian to do anything, go anywhere, or stay anywhere that he didn’t want to. That isn’t even touching on how much Lan Wangji genuinely wanted Wei Wuxian to be happy, and forcing Wei Wuxian to do anything had generally been proven to not make him happy. Good on him!

The next point: why would Wei Wuxian have gone to Gusu in the first place? Even while ignoring WangXian’s rampant misunderstandings, Wei Wuxian always actively had a reason to not go to Gusu. During the Sunshot Campaign, he was a major player and commanded a huge amount of power that probably aided the Sects greatly. During his stay in the Burial Mounds, he had a community of war prisoners to protect. How could he go to Gusu?

I’ve seen fics where Lan Wangji ensured the safety of the Wen Remnants, and while I absolutely adore the trope, I really don’t see that happening with canon Lan Wangji. First, I don’t think he’d grown as a person enough to fully rebel against his Sect until Wei Wuxian was in immediate danger, and second, I straight up don’t think that he had the sway to. Pulling that kind of stunt implies a good deal of political power within the Sect...and also implies that Lan Wangji would have had enough power to escape a punishment which he clearly never thought he deserved. However, I could be wrong on this point! Politics has never been my forte. 

Also, I don’t think anyone can bank on the Lan Sect accepting the Wen Remnants. After all, the Lan Sect participated in the First Siege of the Burial Mounds and thus, presumably, also the slaughter of the Wen Remnants.

Upon further reflection, I figured that the only time Wei Wuxian might have actually gone to Gusu was that brief period of time after the Sunshot Campaign and before he met Wen Qing. However, for him to agree, I figured that three things had to happen:

Wei Wuxian had to understand that Lan Wangji wanted to help him, not hurt him.

Wei Wuxian had to come to the (false!) conclusion that Jiang Cheng no longer needed his help or support at Lotus Pier.

Wei Wuxian had to accept that he was worth saving in the first place.

(The concept came pre-set with some delicious Yunmeng Bros angst because Jiang Cheng would almost certainly take Wei Wuxian (permanently) going to Gusu the same way he took Wei Wuxian taking the Wen Remnants to the Burial Mounds: a betrayal, a promise broken. Emotionally, of course. There definitely wouldn’t have been political pressure closing in from all sides the way there was in canon.)

I was going to expand on that concept, but then I hit a bit of a hurdle: I genuinely did not, and still do not, see any reason for Wei Wuxian to actually go to Gusu. At that point, Wei Wuxian was doing everything he felt he needed to: he protected Jiang Cheng because Madam Yu told him to (and because he genuinely cared for him, but Madam Yu’s command was his driving force) and he only left Jiang Cheng when Wen Qing - someone he perceived himself owing a greater debt to due to the golden core removal - came along. When looking at it from that regard, I don’t think Wei Wuxian would ever see a reason to go to Gusu.

So, even after clearing up the miscommunication, Lan Wangji would have to present a good reason for Wei Wuxian to listen to him. 

I don’t think Lan Wangji going up to Wei Wuxian and saying, “Please come back to Gusu, I want to protect you,” would have worked. Considering how prideful Wei Wuxian was back then - with a good bit of it justified when you consider the fact that he killed a large amount of people in a single night during the Pledge Conference (though the exact number is never actually confirmed as far as I remember) - I don’t see Wei Wuxian taking the implication that he needs protection very well. No matter how many good intentions Lan Wangji had, he would have ended up offending Wei Wuxian at that point.

Another route Lan Wangji could have taken: “Please come back to Gusu, I want to play Cleansing for you.” Again, I don’t think this would have worked. (At least, that was definitely his stance in CQL and Wei Wuxian still didn’t do anything.) In Chapter 78, Wei Wuxian mentioned that the Sound of Lucidity had no effect on him. The Sound of Lucidity is, presumably, one of the Song(s) of Clarity, of which Cleansing is the most powerful. Lan Wangji used the Sound of Lucidity at the Pledge Conference after the battle had started. I don’t exactly know why he didn’t use Cleansing when it was more powerful... Either way, after he played the Sound of Lucidity, Wei Wuxian said, “You should’ve known since long ago—Sound of Lucidity is useless to me!” Thus, Lan Wangji asking him to go to Gusu so he could play Cleansing probably wouldn’t have seemed like an especially compelling reason to Wei Wuxian.

After some thought, I figured that post-resurrection, Wei Wuxian agreed to stay with Lan Wangji in the Cloud Recesses after the mystery was solved because:

He was not as prideful as pre-death Wei Wuxian.

He saw no reason to go back to Lotus Pier since Jiang Cheng made it very clear that he was unhappy with him.

He managed to process and confess his feeling to Lan Wangji, who did the same.

Pre-death Wei Wuxian has none of this. Basically, Wei Wuxian at that point had no reason to go to Gusu for anything other than a short visit.

Now, I don’t know if any of you have noticed, but this entire time I’ve been ignoring not only the reality that Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji’s relationship pre-death was...very bad, but also something else very important: the Stygian Tiger Seal. 

The Stygian Tiger Seal was, of course, stupidly powerful, and Wei Wuxian only kept it because it would take too much time and energy to destroy, and it was meant to deter anyone from attacking him since he already knew that so many people were against him. One of his main fears was someone else - someone with impure motives - getting their hands on it, so of course he was paranoid wondering who would try to steal it from him. Lan Wangji asking him to go to a place where Wei Wuxian would be surrounded by people who hated his form of cultivation? Yeah, that didn’t sound that great. 

(Also, can we please take a moment to appreciate this excerpt from the novel: “The Stygian Tiger Seal’s powers were considerably greater than what he had imagined. He originally wanted to use it to assist him, but its powers were almost exceeding him, its creator” (Chapter 30). Almost. He said the Seal was not as powerful as him! The Stygian Tiger Seal was, indeed, strong, but he was more so! I see a lot of fanfics paint the Stygian Tiger Seal as what made him so terrifying and...it was certainly a part of it, but he did most of it on his own! Ah, we love terrifying main characters~)

Now, I’ve acknowledged the existence of WangXian’s miscommunication, but I’ve never actually addressed it. So, here it is: I do not think Lan Wangji confessing to Wei Wuxian (even before his stint in the Burial Mounds after the Bloodbath at Nevernight) would have gone well. In Chapter 2, there is this excerpt: “Wei WuXian’s eyebrows twitched. Not only a lunatic, a homosexual lunatic as well.” This requires a bit of interpretation because it’s not exactly clear what Wei Wuxian’s eyebrow twitch means, but I’ve always interpreted it as annoyance - or even disgust - at the addition of “homosexual” to Mo Xuanyu’s profile. I’m not saying that Wei Wuxian was necessarily homophobic before the entire events of the novel, but I sincerely don’t think Wei Wuxian would have appreciated Lan Wangji - or any other man, for that matter - confessing to him. If even (immediate) post-resurrection Wei Wuxian had that attitude, I can imagine what would have gone through pre-death Wei Wuxian’s head. 

So, Sunshot Campaign, post-Sunshot Campaign, and Yiling Patriarch Wei Wuxian would all definitely not go back to Gusu, nor would they appreciate a confession from Lan Wangji. That leaves the question: what about pre-Sunshot Campaign Wei Wuxian?

Part Two: Why I really don’t think WangXian would have worked out pre-Sunshot Campaign.

From here on out, “Wei Ying, come back to Gusu!” is no longer relevant because, well, Lan Wangji never said it before the meeting in the supervisory office. (And I think I’ve made my point regarding that as well as I could.)

Starting with Cloud Recesses-era Wei Wuxian...I think that, out of all the different versions of Wei Wuxian, he would have been the one of the two most-likely to get together with Lan Wangji (pre-resurrection, of course). Even then, I don’t see that high a likelihood of that actually happening. Why? Repression! Fuck both Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji were so deeply repressed at that point! Lan Wangji was obviously more aware of his feelings, and Wei Wuxian...I don’t know, I haven’t read the novel far enough to actually have this be a legitimate interpretation, but looking at CQL, I don’t really think Wei Wuxian was in love with Lan Wangji at that point (but I don’t have much evidence to back that up other than my a-spec radar...).

And even if they did somehow manage to overcome their repression - and actually both had feelings for each other in the first place - they were still teenagers! Fifteen at the beginning, I’m pretty sure, and fifteen-year-olds are decidedly bad at maintaining any sort of relationship. That doesn’t even touch on the fact that WangXian was probably legitimately incompatible at that point. Lan Wangji still lived and breathed the rules and Wei Wuxian didn’t give a fuck about them. To maintain any sort of long-term relationship, they’d have to simultaneously undergo a whole novel of character development...which is doable! But! I don’t exactly see it as plausible.

Then, of course, Wei Wuxian got kicked out of the Cloud Recesses and WangXian didn’t see each other until two years later, at the Discussion Conference in Qishan. I don’t really see long-distance relationships working out very well in ancient China, so I can’t imagine them properly maintaining their relationship throughout that. And, of course, Lan Wangji’s rage after Wei Wuxian pulls his forehead ribbon was also due to his repression. Considering how short the Discussion Conference seemed to be, I don’t think there was much room for a relationship to develop. 

At the Indoctrination Camp, Lan Wangji had a whole swarm of things to worry about other than his (frankly painful) pining for Wei Wuxian so, again, I don’t see a romantic relationship developing at that point in time. 

A time-frame that I think can be uniquely isolated as a very possible place to develop their relationship would be while they were trapped in the cave with the Tortoise of Slaughter. Mostly before they killed the beast, though, since afterward, Wei Wuxian had too much of a fever for any romantic shenaniganry. My reasoning is that the cave was the first time since Wei Wuxian’s punishment in the Cloud Recesses that the two of them were forced to spend a long stretch of time together, and thus could potentially open up to each other. I remember in the anime that Lan Wangji sheds a few tears as he mentions that the Cloud Recesses had burned, that his brother was missing, and that his father was...dead? Severely injured? One of those two. He was back in business-mode pretty soon afterward, but if Lan Wangji could have been persuaded to open up a bit more by an persistent and concerned Wei Wuxian, I can see a slow confession being teased out of him - there was certainly enough time!

Then again, them getting together would only happen if Wei Wuxian were both comfortable with the idea of gay men and willing to accept that he was, in fact, attracted to Lan Wangji, and if Lan Wangji were willing to let go of the rules enough to be comfortable with Wei Wuxian’s naturally rebellious nature.

After that, WangXian doesn’t meet again until the supervisory office, and I’ve already talked about all of that.

In conclusion, “Come back to Gusu!” was sweet but misguided and WangXian wouldn’t have effectively happened pre-resurrection.

Now, what does that mean for you? ...Nothing. Absolutely fucking nothing. This doesn’t mean I’m forsaking all fics where WangXian gets together pre-resurrection (in fact, I absolutely love them!) and I’m definitely not trying to say that my interpretation is the only right one. I’m not trying to police what everyone thinks and decree that all fics where Wei Wuxian is open about liking men are wrong or any crap like that. Those fics are great and I love them! These are my (and @litescheme’s) thoughts on the matter that I (we) wanted to spill out into the greater world! You can agree, you can disagree, you can ignore me (us) entirely! But if you read through this meta, then I’m assuming that you found the concept interesting. That is all I was going for!

(Well, that and trying to thoroughly debunk the notion that Yiling Patriarch Wei Wuxian getting shoved into seclusion in the Jingshi by an apologetic Lan Wangji would be in any way “healing” or even “good” for Wei Wuxian, because honestly? Fuck that.)

Ahh, thanks for reading!

[goldencored]

Years based off of the Han Dynasty to help the timeline of MDZS become a little more understandable (to me). This timeline is super unofficial and has DEFINITELY strayed a little bit from canon!

72 AD —Wei Wuxian is born

77 AD —Wei Wuxian’s parents die on a night-hunt at 5 80 AD —Wei Wuxian is discovered by Jiang Fengmian & brought back to the Jiang Sect at 8

82 AD —Mo Xuanyu is born. His mother is 16. —**Su Minhui is born 86 AD —Jin Guangshan returns to Lanling Jin. 91 AD —Junior Cultivators are invited to study at Gusu Lan. Wei Wuxian, Jiang Cheng, Nie Huaisang & Jin Zixuan are all present. Jiang Yanli is present in The Untamed. They’re all between 15 & 16. —Fallout between Nie Mingjue and Meng Yao —Cloud Recesses are burnt by the Wens 92 AD —Junior Cultivators are forced to go to the Wen Sect to be indoctrinated. Lan Wangji, Wei Wuxian, Jiang Cheng, Nie Huaisang & Jin Zixuan are all present. They’re all between 17 & 18. —Lotus Pier burns. Jiang Cheng loses his golden core. With help from Wen Ning and Wen Qing, Wei Wuxian gives Jiang Cheng his own golden core —Wei Wuxian is captured and thrown into the Burial Mounds. —Mo Xuanyu is brought to the Jin Sect —Lan Sizhui, Lan Jingyi and Oyang Zizhen are all likely born during this time period, as they are all 15/16 when the story begins. 92-93 AD —Sunshot Campaign  +Misson to steal back their swords  +Wen Xu dies  +3 months after Wei Wuxian disappears, Wen soldiers begin to die in mysterious & gruesome ways  +Wei Wuxian returns and has Chenqing. He kills Wen Chao while Jiang Cheng kills Wen Zhuliu   +Attack on Nightless City. Meng Yao kills Wen Ruohan —Chief Cultivator position is made, Jin Guangshan becomes the first —Work to rebuild Lotus Pier begins —Hunt at Phoenix Mountain —First Incident at Qiongqi Way. Death of Wen Ning, Wei Wuxian returns to the Burial Mounds —Jiang Yanli marries Jin Zixuan

94 AD —Jin Ling is born —Second Incident at Qiongqi Way. Death of Jin Zixun and Jin Zixuan (—**The Untamed:   +Wen Ning, Wen Qing and the other Wen remnants give themselves up at Lanling Jin. All are killed. +Battle at Nevernight. Jiang Yanli dies protecting Wei Wuxian. Wei Wuxian destroys half of the Stygian Tiger Seal, throws himself off of a cliff.) —Bloodbath at Nightless City. Death of Jiang Yanli —Wen Ning is captured and burned to ash. —First Siege of the Burial Mounds  +Wei Wuxian destroys half of the Stygian Tiger Seal, dies —Xiao Xingchen (17) leaves Baoshan Sanren’s mountain

95 AD —Xue Yang murders part of the Yueyang Chang Sect

96 AD —Xiao Xingchen implicates Xue Yang as the murderer of Yueyang Cheng Sect.  +Jin Guangyao finds Xue Yang’s talent useful & coerces the only survivor to recant  +Xue Yang becomes a guest cultivator in the Jin Sect —Tensions mount between Nie & Jin Sects over Xue Yang

98 AD —Nie Mingjue dies of qi deviation —Xue Yang Baixue Temple and blinds Song Lan as revenge on Xiao Xingchen.    +Xiao Xingchen takes Song Lan to Baoshan Sanren’s mountain, gives up his own eyes for Song Lan. 99 AD —Jin Guangshan dies —Jin Guangyao becomes Sect Leader —Mo Xuanyu is shamed and cast out of the Jin Sect. +his mother dies shortly after his return to Mo Village +he is locked in a shed and verbally and physically abused by the Mo Family and their servants

100 AD —Xue Yang is cast out of the Jin Sect —Xue Yang is found and nursed back to health by Xiao Xingchen & A-Qing —Song Lan leaves Baoshan Saren’s mountain to look for Xiao Xingchen

104 AD —Xue Yang murders Song Lan, Xiao Xingchen & A-Qing —Xue Yang murders Chang Ping via lingchi

107 AD —Mo Xuanyu uses his own blood to draw an array to perform a body offering ritual.  +Wei Wuxian is brought back to the living in the body of Mo Xuanyu  +**The REAL Mo Xuanyu awakens in a previously drawn blood array with temporary amnesia; becomes Cang Jinse, a brothel worker.

—Events of Mo Village   +The Mo Family die at the hands of an evil Arm (**The Untamed: Sword Spirit) —Events of Dafan Mountain   +Soul snatching statue   +Wen Ning’s return   +Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian’s rocky reunion —Lan Wangji returns to Gusu Lan with Wei Wuxian —Search for “Our Dear Friend”  +Xinglu Ridge      ^Nie Burial Mound secret is revealed      ^Jin Ling’s curse mark      ^Jiang Cheng learns the true identity of “Mo Xuanyu”      ^Wei Wuxian discovers nails controlling Wen Ning and removes them

 +Yi City      ^Fate of Song Lan, Xiao Xingchen & A-Qing revealed      ^death? of Xue Yang —Incident at Fragrance Hall   +Paperman adventure!       ^The truth of Nie Mingjue’s death       ^Crimes of Jin Guangyao revealed       ^Suiban returns   +Death of Qin Su   +“Mo Xuanyu” revealed as Wei Wuxian        ^Jin Ling stabs Wei Wuxian —Second Siege of the Burial Mounds   +Cultivators vs Wei Wuxian round 2; all but the juniors, Wei Wuxian & Lan Zhan lose their spiritual energy   +Su She revealed to be working with Jin Guangyao          ^Su She flees, **causing Su Minhui to scramble and pick up the pieces   +Wei Wuxian, Wen Ning & Lan Wangji pave the way for the cultivators to escape —Return to Lotus Pier   +Jin Guangyao’s crimes on full display via Biaco and Sisi   +Wangxian Yunmeng date (**Not in The Untamed)   +Confrentation between Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian          ^Wei Wuxian faints          ^Wen Ning confronts Jiang Cheng with Suiban, reveals the story of the golden core —Incident at Guanyin Temple   +**Death of Su She (I believe this is Untamed only but I haven’t read the book in a hot second)   +Death of Jin Guangyao

108 AD —Aftermath:  +(**The Untamed: Lan Wangji becomes Chief Cultivator)  +Nie Huaisang becomes Chief Cultivator  +**Su Minhui becomes the leader of a broken Moling Su Sect     +Jin Ling is poised to become leader of the Jin Sect thanks to Jiang Cheng       ^The Jin Sect’s reputation may be irreparable  +Wen Ning and Lan Sizhui go to make a monument to their family  +Lan Xichen goes into seclusion

109 AD —**The REAL Mo Xuanyu returns, memories still a bit hazy, but there-ish.

[stiltonbasket]

like heaven’s patient, sleepless night: preview!

HELLO Y’ALL! I have been hinting at this fic for so long in Twelve Moons and a Fortnight and its sequels, so here’s the preview for Like Heaven’s Patient, Sleepless Night, Lan Xichen’s fic in the Twelve Moons series!

“Did you think I was fool enough to believe such a thing twice?” Lan Xichen whispers. “Has this not all happened before, A-Yao? Did I not rush to your side to heal you on that night fourteen years ago, when you were the one who took the poison yourself?”

But Jin Guangyao does not speak, and seals away Xichen’s golden core with his zither before leaving him alone in the dungeons.

(Or, four times love breaks Lan Xichen, and two times it saves him instead.)

When Lan Xichen returned to his own quarters after leaving the jingshi, he expected to have the next twelve hours or so to himself. Wei Wuxian has not yet recovered from the wound Jin Ling gave him at the Jinlintai, after all, and he and Wangji must have much to say to each other after so long apart--so the last thing Lan Xichen expected to hear that night was his brother knocking at the door, which opened before he could get out of bed and answer it himself.

“Wangji?” he asks, wrapping his sleeping robes closer around his waist as his brother steps into the front room. “Is Young Master Wei well? Do you need me to play Liebing to tend his wound again?”

“No, but...there is something more you must hear before Jin Guangyao arrives tomorrow, Xiongzhang.”

Wangji looks almost nervous, Lan Xichen realizes. His right hand is wrapped around Bichen’s hilt so tightly that his knuckles are whiter than bone, and he seems reluctant to lift his eyes from the floor--but then he does, and breaks his silence with a sigh with a sentence that echoes through the Hanshi’s front room like a mourning bell.

“Wei Ying was not responsible for the bloodbath at Bu Ye Tian,” he says. “There is someone we have not yet found, who…”

Lan Xichen frowns at him. “I know that, Wangji. I realized it just after you went into seclusion.”

His brother closes his mouth in astonishment and then opens it again, clearly thrown at the prospect of not having to convince Xichen of something that should have been impossible, given what they all saw that day. “Did--did Wei Ying tell you?”

“He did not have to. But you were going to ask if I heard a second flute, were you not?”

Somewhat bewildered, Wangji nods. “How did you know, then? I knew because I saw him lower Chenqing while the puppets were still advancing, but you were at the other end of the battlefield with Chifeng-zun.”

“I did not see, but it was quite clear to me later. It was why I never suspected A-Yao could be responsible, since he was out in plain sight with the Jin cultivators and fought only with his sword.”

“What?”

“I knew for certain when I dreamed of that night again, and pieced the dizi score together from memory,” Xichen clarifies. “My ear for music was of great help then, especially when I realized that the second flutist was not playing on Wei-gongzi’s Chenqing. The score was far too even, you see--Wei-gongzi plays impeccably when he wishes to, as he did today when he showed me the melody he heard through Empathy, but during battle he tends to improvise, and introduce new chords as he sees fit. The second dizi tried to imitate him, but it was a poor mockery because it had a clear rhythm of its own--and the flute could not have been Chenqing, either, because its pitch was too low.”

“The sound did not seem so different to me then,” his brother says slowly, with a deepening wrinkle marring the smoothness of his forehead. “How could you tell?”

“Young Master Wei fashioned his dizi for his own use, and no other’s,” he  explains, “and today I saw that Chenqing’s body is narrower than most side-flutes, simply because Wei-gongzi’s hands are quite small for a man of his height.” Lan Xichen holds his own hands up to demonstrate, nodding in approval when he sees the realization dawn in Wangji’s eyes. “Thus, Chenqing’s base pitch is even higher than most other flutes of its kind, and so it cannot reach some of the lower notes one expects to hear from a dizi--but the second flutist at Nightless City strayed into a measure composed only of such notes, and so I knew it could not have been him, because his dizi could not have played them at all.”

“And then, Jin Guangyao…”

“His hands are even smaller than Wei-gongzi’s, so to play on a flute like the one at Nevernight would have been quite difficult for him. He may be guilty of--of Mingjue-xiong’s murder, but--”

He can hardly wrap his mind around the idea, Lan Xichen thinks dimly. His mind has been strangely numb all day, completely disconnected from any sort of feeling as he went about his investigations in the library pavilion--because if he stops for even a moment to think about what A-Yao must have done, or what his A-Jue suffered, or what Huaisang suffered, he will go mad with the agony of it. He saw Mingjue’s body at that inn in Tanzhou, knew it by its broad palms and wide shoulders and the heavy boots on his feet--though the jade Guanyin Lan Xichen gave him for his fifteenth birthday was missing, likely taken by Xue Yang for how much the trinket was worth, because A-Yao never knew that it was a gift from him. 

Would Jin Guangyao have kept the necklace for himself, if he knew it was Lan Xichen’s?

A-Jue is dead, a voice screams at him, your A-Jue was dead and beheaded on a slab, and he died alone, alone--

He hopes, briefly, that it was the qi deviation that killed Mingjue and not the beheading. 

“Xiongzhang,” he hears Wangji call again, “there is something else.”

Lan Xichen wishes for a moment that he were dead, or else somewhere far away where he can wail himself hoarse in despair--but whatever his brother has to say is clearly important, and so he will do his best to listen. “Yes, Wangji?”

“You must sit down,” Wangji says, with some difficulty. “This--Wei Ying overheard this in his paper form, while he was in Jin Guangyao’s quarters, but he could not have invented such a thing, or misunderstood. It will be of special concern to you, so you must--you must sit.”

Heart thundering in his throat, Lan Xichen sinks down onto the bed and tries not to cling to his quilt for comfort. “I am sitting. Now, tell me.”

“Before--before he discovered Wei Ying was there, Jin Guangyao asked his wife to tell her who had sent her a certain letter, one she received between the time she departed the banquet hall and arriving in her own rooms, because Wei Ying reached them before she did,” his brother tells him. “But Qin Su refused to tell him, and then she accused him of having arranged their little one’s murder himself.”

Lan Xichen feels the blood drain out of his face. 

No. Not my A-Bao, not A-Song--please, not this, too. 

[goldencored-arc]

Years based off of the Han Dynasty to help the timeline of MDZS become a little more understandable (to me). This timeline is super unofficial and has DEFINITELY strayed a little bit from canon!

72 AD —Wei Wuxian is born

77 AD —Wei Wuxian's parents die on a night-hunt at 5 80 AD —Wei Wuxian is discovered by Jiang Fengmian & brought back to the Jiang Sect at 8 —Mo Xuanyu is born. His mother is 16.

82 AD  —Su Minhui is born 84 AD —Jin Guangshan returns to Lanling Jin. 91 AD —Junior Cultivators are invited to study at Gusu Lan. Wei Wuxian, Jiang Cheng, Nie Huaisang & Jin Zixuan are all present. Jiang Yanli is present in The Untamed. They're all between 15 & 16. —Fallout between Nie Mingjue and Meng Yao —Cloud Recesses are burnt by the Wens 92 AD —Junior Cultivators are forced to go to the Wen Sect to be indoctrinated. Lan Wangji, Wei Wuxian, Jiang Cheng, Nie Huaisang & Jin Zixuan are all present. They're all between 17 & 18. —Lotus Pier burns. Jiang Cheng loses his golden core. With help from Wen Ning and Wen Qing, Wei Wuxian gives Jiang Cheng his own golden core —Wei Wuxian is captured and thrown into the Burial Mounds. —Mo Xuanyu is brought to the Jin Sect —Lan Sizhui, Lan Jingyi and Oyang Zizhen are all likely born during this time period, as they are all 15/16 when the story begins. 92-93 AD —Sunshot Campaign    +Misson to steal back their swords    +Wen Xu dies    +3 months after Wei Wuxian disappears, Wen soldiers begin to die in mysterious & gruesome ways    +Wei Wuxian returns and has Chenqing. He kills Wen Chao while Jiang Cheng kills Wen Zhuliu     +Attack on Nightless City. Meng Yao kills Wen Ruohan —Chief Cultivator position is made, Jin Guangshan becomes the first —Work to rebuild Lotus Pier begins —Hunt at Phoenix Mountain —First Incident at Qiongqi Way. Death of Wen Ning, Wei Wuxian returns to the Burial Mounds —Jiang Yanli marries Jin Zixuan

94 AD —Jin Ling is born —Second Incident at Qiongqi Way. Death of Jin Zixun and Jin Zixuan (—**The Untamed:     +Wen Ning, Wen Qing and the other Wen remnants give themselves up at Lanling Jin. All are killed.   +Battle at Nevernight. Jiang Yanli dies protecting Wei Wuxian. Wei Wuxian destroys half of the Stygian Tiger Seal, throws himself off of a cliff.) —Bloodbath at Nightless City. Death of Jiang Yanli —Wen Ning is captured and burned to ash. —First Siege of the Burial Mounds    +Wei Wuxian destroys half of the Stygian Tiger Seal, dies —Xiao Xingchen (17) leaves Baoshan Sanren's mountain

95 AD —Xue Yang murders part of the Yueyang Chang Sect

96 AD —Xiao Xingchen implicates Xue Yang as the murderer of Yueyang Cheng Sect.    +Jin Guangyao finds Xue Yang's talent useful & coerces the only survivor to recant    +Xue Yang becomes a guest cultivator in the Jin Sect —Tensions mount between Nie & Jin Sects over Xue Yang

99 AD —Nie Mingjue dies of qi deviation —Xue Yang Baixue Temple and blinds Song Lan as revenge on Xiao Xingchen.      +Xiao Xingchen takes Song Lan to Baoshan Sanren's mountain, gives up his own eyes for Song Lan. —Jin Guangshan dies —Jin Guangyao becomes Sect Leader —Mo Xuanyu is shamed and cast out of the Jin Sect at 17.   +his mother dies shortly after his return to Mo Village   +he is locked in a shed and verbally and physically abused by the Mo Family and their servants

100 AD —Xue Yang is cast out of the Jin Sect —Xue Yang is found and nursed back to health by Xiao Xingchen & A-Qing —Song Lan leaves Baoshan Saren's mountain to look for Xiao Xingchen

103 AD —Xue Yang murders Song Lan, Xiao Xingchen & A-Qing —Xue Yang murders Chang Ping via lingchi

104 AD —Mo Xuanyu uses his own blood to draw an array to perform a body offering ritual.    +Wei Wuxian is brought back to the living in the body of Mo Xuanyu    +The REAL Mo Xuanyu awakens in a previously drawn blood array with temporary amnesia; becomes Cang Jinse, a brothel worker.

—Events of Mo Village     +The Mo Family die at the hands of an evil Arm (**The Untamed: Sword Spirit) —Events of Dafan Mountain     +Soul snatching statue     +Wen Ning's return     +Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian's rocky reunion —Lan Wangji returns to Gusu Lan with Wei Wuxian —Search for "Our Dear Friend"    +Xinglu Ridge        ^Nie Burial Mound secret is revealed        ^Jin Ling's curse mark        ^Jiang Cheng learns the true identity of "Mo Xuanyu"        ^Wei Wuxian discovers nails controlling Wen Ning and removes them

   +Yi City        ^Fate of Song Lan, Xiao Xingchen & A-Qing revealed        ^death? of Xue Yang —Incident at Fragrance Hall     +Paperman adventure!         ^The truth of Nie Mingjue's death         ^Crimes of Jin Guangyao revealed         ^Suiban returns     +Death of Qin Su     +"Mo Xuanyu" revealed as Wei Wuxian          ^Jin Ling stabs Wei Wuxian —Second Siege of the Burial Mounds     +Cultivators vs Wei Wuxian round 2; all but the juniors, Wei Wuxian & Lan Zhan lose their spiritual energy     +Su She revealed to be working with Jin Guangyao            ^Su She flees, causing Su Minhui to scramble and pick up the pieces     +Wei Wuxian, Wen Ning & Lan Wangji pave the way for the cultivators to escape —Return to Lotus Pier     +Jin Guangyao's crimes on full display via Biaco and Sisi     +Wangxian Yunmeng date (**Not in The Untamed)     +Confrentation between Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian            ^Wei Wuxian faints            ^Wen Ning confronts Jiang Cheng with Suiban, reveals the story of the golden core —Incident at Guanyin Temple     +Death of Su She     +Death of Jin Guangyao

105 AD —Aftermath:    +(**The Untamed: Lan Wangji becomes Chief Cultivator)    +Nie Huaisang becomes Chief Cultivator    +Su Minhui becomes the leader of a broken Moling Su Sect       +Jin Ling is poised to become leader of the Jin Sect thanks to Jiang Cheng         ^The Jin Sect's reputation may be irreparable    +Wen Ning and Lan Sizhui go to make a monument to their family    +Lan Xichen goes into seclusion

106 AD —The REAL Mo Xuanyu returns, memories still a bit hazy, but there-ish.

[trans-xianxian]

the mask and the mirror by poor mans poison wei wuxian sunshot campaign to bloodbath at nevernight song.......