#that is because i think that their time in gusu lan was one of the last times in the novel that jc knows how to feel about wwx!

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Lap Pillow

[First] Prev <–-> Next

[spottedgardeneelstan]

normal jiang brother activities <3

[ghafahey]

AND IN THE DARK I CAN HEAR YOUR HEARTBEAT I TRIED TO FIND THE SOUND. BUT THEN IT STOPPED, AND I WAS IN THE DARKNESS. SO DARKNESS I BECAME.

fall(ing) for @mdzswomen : week 4

[travalerray]

the tragedy of my fanfiction writing is that despite going from Danganronpa to MDZS, I am still writing for dynamics that don't even have hundred fics. If I am lucky that is.

Otherwise it's me all alone in the tag

[shanastoryteller]

Happy holidays!! More Fem WWX Mo pls!

a continuation of 52 53 54

He was not brought back to kill Madame Jin.

But perhaps making a clean sweep of it all is simply for the best. He'll have to ask Jiang Yanli what her opinions are about her mother-in-law. He assumes there nothing good.

"Stop looking like that," Jin Guangyao says, somehow without moving his mouth at all and bland smile still in place.

That's a neat trick.

"Look like what? This is just my face," he says then rubs at his nose when Jin Guangyao raises an eyebrow. "Why is she - it's hardly like you're an outlier!"

"Xuanyu-mei," he says mildly, voice low enough that they won't be overheard.

He scowls and crosses his arms. In these robes it has the unfortunate effect of pressing his breasts front and center but he's refusing to acknowledge that.

There's the sound of a scuffle and he glances to see Jingyi attempting to beat an Ouyang disciple with his sleeves and Sizhui putting in a half-hearted effort to stop him. What's that about?

They're going to have to tell Sizhui. He hopes he'll be excited. It'll be quite a bit of an age difference, but he still wants Sizhui to be happy about having a sibling. Or at least not upset about it. Or not upset about it for long, he amends, because Jiang Cheng hadn't exactly been thrilled at first. To be fair, Wei Wuxian hadn't been either.

"You're pouting like a child," Jin Guangyao says. "Can you at least pretend to have some decorum?"

"No," he says, eyes drifting to where his siblings are speaking with the Yu sect leader. How had Uncle Jiang told them about him? From his memory, he thinks that he didn't and just showed up with him one day.

That probably won't work on Sizhui. There are a couple things he might notice.

Uhg he's just gotten used to this body and it's going to start doing new and different things. He hopes this doesn't mess with his core too badly - he's worked hard on it!

"When are you coming back to Gusu?" he asks. That would be an ideal time for him to kill some people, because anyone with half a brain cell is going to suspect Jin Guangyao when Jin Guangshan dies.

Granted, getting him away from the scene of the crime won't do much to alleviate suspicion. It's not like he's not perfectly capable of orchestrating a high profile murder from half a world away, after all.

"When Xichen can devise an excuse, I suppose," he answers, mouth twisting.

Wei Wuxian leans so he can use his stupidly ornate robes as a cover for briefly grasping his forearm.

This whole marriage thing is so stupid and he understands that now in a way he hadn't when he'd first arrived. Mo Xuanyu had killed herself rather than marry and Lan Zhan had been stoic and furious and uninterested.

It was supposed to be Jin Guangyao and Lan Xichen.

Making two of his favorite people miserable for no reason is more than enough reason to kill him, surely. He's done more for less.

[spriteofmushrooms]

Wei Wuxian sipped the wine Lan Zhan brought from Gusu in one of Jinlin Tai's many ostentatious peony gardens. He had found a branch in a ginkgo tree that was high enough that no one should see him at a glance where he still had a good view of the moon between the yellow leaves. It wasn't the worst way he could have spent his time at the Discussion Conference. Lan Zhan, for example, had to be xiandu. What could possibly be worse than that?

"Jin Ling, what's the matter now?"

Wei Wuxian rolled his eyes. Really, Jiang Cheng is such a wronged mother. He plays his part like a grand madam.

"Do you think Zizhen-ge is a better sect leader than I am?" Jin Ling hissed.

"What?" Wei Wuxian looked down. Through the branches, he could see Jiang Cheng's silver lotus guan glimmer with his head shake. "Where did you get that from? A-Ling, sit and explain."

"You complimented him in front of everyone," Jin Ling grumbled, but he flounced onto the bench.

Jiang Cheng folded himself gracefully, careful of the drape of his robes. "It's his first conference. All I did was walk him through presenting himself, like a junior should be treated."

"You liked his proposal."

"You like it, too, brat. Besides, a little support in the beginning keeps the old men at bay."

Jin Ling knocked his shoulder against Jiang Cheng's. "So it's not because you always wanted a poet for a nephew?"

Wei Wuxian couldn't see it, but he could imagine Jiang Cheng's face. But when Jiang Cheng spoke, it didn't match the tone he expected. Sad, but trying to joke. "After the poems Zixuan wrote?"

"A-Die wrote poems?"

Oh, oh, Wei Wuxian wanted to leave.

"Once he became enlightened, he was devout. 'Rain pearls on lotus leaves which bow gracefully/Thoughts of you collect and overwhelm me.' A-jie blushed for weeks." Jiang Cheng sighed. "The Jinlin Tai library should have them all somewhere. Please don't let Ouyang-gongzi read them."

Jin Ling huffed a laugh and threw his arm around Jiang Cheng's shoulder, which is when Wei Wuxian realized Jin Ling was taller and broader now. He hadn't seen them side by side in years. A light breeze stirred the gingko leaves and lifted the scent of peonies.

"Hanguang-jun didn't murder anyone with his eyes today," Jin Ling chirped. "Do you think he's starting to like politics?"

"Don't."

"Jiujiu..."

"He's the xiandu, Jin Ling. What do you think would happen if anyone overheard you disrespect him, especially while hosting the conference?"

Jin Ling groaned and threw his head back dramatically, jostling Jiang Cheng. Briefly, Wei Wuxian amused himself by imagining what Yu-furen would have made of her grandson. Then he gently slapped himself. "You're so boring, jiujiu! It's not like he respects either of us."

Jiang Cheng snapped, "I didn't realize you aspired to be so immature and irresponsible."

Immature? Irresponsible? Jiang Cheng had a lot of nerve! Wei Wuxian would tell him so, but then he would have to admit to hiding in a tree. Jiang Cheng would be so annoying about it, and Wei Wuxian really didn't want to bother!

"Aiya, jiujiu, if I can't complain to you about him, who can I? No one else sees what he's like."

Jiang Cheng leaned against Jin Ling, but then he ruined the picture by saying, "It's good that most people can't tell. If half of the sects ran to Zewu-jun with complaints about his beloved didi, he would leave seclusion before he was ready."

They were quiet for a few moments. Suddenly, Jin Ling burst out, "Do you really not care?"

Jiang Cheng paused. "About?"

"You know I spend time with—him!"

"You're sixteen, Jin Ling. Your memory should be good enough to remember every other time you've poked at this. And use his name; he doesn't actually appear every time you call."

"Wei-qianbei misses you!" Jin Ling grabbed Jiang Cheng's shoulders and started to gently shake him back and forth, but then Jiang Cheng pushed his hands away and stood.

"As you are clearly feeling better, I will leave first," Jiang Cheng hissed.

Jin Ling zipped in front of Jiang Cheng, blocking his path. "Jiujiu, I don't understand you at all! You want to talk to him, and he wants to talk to you. Why are you waiting?"

"He wants to talk to me so much that I learned about his elopement from gossiping disciples? He wants to talk to me so much that he lives in Cloud Recesses, which he hates? He wants to talk to me so much that he ignores Lan Wangji's hand on Bichen every time we meet?" With each question, Jiang Cheng prowled forward, and Jin Ling backed up.

"I don't think he hates Cloud Recesses..."

That's right; Wei Wuxian didn't. Lan Zhan was there, for one thing. And the juniors!

"That's because you don't fucking know him," Jiang Cheng snapped.

"Oh, and you do? When you won't even talk to him?"

"I was his assignment, Jin Ling. He either played with me or starved; he either trained to be the best or lost his position." Jiang Cheng laughed, dark and mean. "Not that I noticed."

"Jiujiu..."

"Let him live the life he wants, Jin Ling. Let me go to bed."

[oneeyedoctogod]

Gods this fandom sometimes, I swear. I'm sorry I read two deeply bad takes back to back, and I have to rant. I'm sure others have said it better than I, but really. Come on. I actually have to wonder if people who talk about the extras actually read them because...

Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji didn't leave the cultivation world in canon. They elope, and then they come back. The fact they're not involved in the bigger politics is... pretty much to be expected, but they very much do participate in the day to day lives of the Lan sect. They go where the chaos is to night hunt, they teach, Lan Wangji comforts his brother in his seclusion, and Wei Wuxian meets some new Lan disciples.

As for the cottage fantasy... Again, I honestly have to wonder if the people talking about it actually read the extra it's in? Because it's just that. A fantasy. A dream. It's basically a representation of Wei Wuxian's wants for a domestic life, something he definitely has now! He's always been characterised as someone who wants to help others and who loves cultivation. Why would you think the dream is to be taken literally?

And the idea that Wei Wuxian has 'several important relationships just floating there', that he's not dealing with... Where? Which ones? He teaches the juniors and grows closer to Jin Ling. He doesn't exactly interact with Lan Xichen, but he asks after him. He meets Mianmian again and wishes her well. He asks after Wen Ning after Lan Sizhui comes back then has some father-son bonding moments with him!

Nie Huaisang and Wei Wucian aren't close. They were friendly once, but they didn't ever meet after the lectures. I don't see how that qualifies as an "important" relationship, especially with Nie Huaisang never openly admitting to his part in Wei Wuxian's resurrection. But even then, Wei wuxian says he'll be keeping a close eye on him, so one can imagine they meet again at some point.

As for Jiang Cheng... what more do you want Wei Wuxian to do exactly? Even if you want a reconciliation, why can't Jiang Cjeng be he one to actually grow up and do the work for once? He's the one who never apologized. He's the one who is still openly hostile in the extras. If Wei Wuxian wants to move on and not interact with him, he's well within his right to do that, given how Jiang Cheng treated him. Hell, he's more generous than most since he encourages Jin Ling to talk to Jiang Cheng. If I'd been treated by someone like Jiang Cheng treated Wei Wuxian and saw him hit our nephew several times, I certainly wouldn't encourage them to meet. (But that's Wei Wuxian for you, the moral ideal and better than all of us.)

Anyway, I really don't understand why people insist on making Wangxian have a sadder ending than the one they actually did. It's a HEA for them, sorry guys. And yeah, maybe Wei wuxian has some trauma to work on... but the whole point of the character is that he doesn't let his trauma define him. That he wants to forgives, forgets and moves on.

(Also, just because he doesn't have a breakdown or the cultivation equivalent of therapy in the extra doesn't mean he's not working on them? He finally is at peace, with a solid support network. Maybe he does talk about his past hurts with Lan Wangji - Lan Wangji certai ly knows when to comfort him when he needs it. But the narrative point of the extras is to show they're moving on from the past! And you know what, sometimes the beat thing to do to heal is to do just that. They're living their best lives, deal with it.)

And finally... shit did you really read the whole book and come to the conclusion Wei Wuxian should have 'learned to accept help'? Who the fuck offered help? Who did he refuse?

(Don't say Lan Wangji. 1) I love him, but "Come back to Gusu" is very much not an obvious offer to help, and when Wei Wuxian understandably misunderstands him, he never manages to correct it.

And 2) once Wei Wuxian tells him explicitly he's not leaving the Wen remnants behind, Lan Wangji understands and backs off. He approves! I'm sure he'd do more if he could, but just like Jiang Yanli, he can't!)

Jiang Cheng literally said, 'No one will help you, no one is on your side' (and then made sure that was true by saying Wei Wuxian was the enemy of the cultivation world). Jin Zixuan chose to ask the one who was ambushed to disarm rather than the 300 cultivators attacking him and lunged at him when Wei Wuxian refused to comply (because he'd be killed if he did!!). How is that help?

Who else tried to help? Whose help did Wei Wuxian reject?

Wei Wuxian was presented with a series of bad choices and took the best he could, the ones aligned with his principles, accepting he'd have to face consequences at some point but also knowing it was still worth it. He's not the one who failed or made a fatal mistake or betrayed his word.

Rant over. Sorry about that.

[wangxianficfinder]

In the mood for...

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1. Thank you fabulous mods for all you do! Itmf wangxian fics where Wei Ying recovers from starvation or struggles with eating.

💖 the absence of hunger by parsnipit (M, 27k, wangxian, angst w/ happy ending, eating disorder, PTSD, food as a metaphor for love)

a kind of emptiness by ScarlettStorm (E, 11k, wangxian, Post-Canon, Established Relationship, Eating Disorders, Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified, featuring WWX's fucked-up relationship with food, and his own body, Eating Disorder Recovery, tricking your brain into better habits, bad choices, followed by good choices, low angst, Happy Ending, Tender smut, Frottage, Praise Kink, Additional Warnings In Author's Note)

The Second Hand Unwinds by trulywicked (E, 20k, wangxian, JYL/JZX, Time Travel Fix-It, not JC friendly, not Yúnmèng Jiāng Sect friendly, not Jiāng Family friendly, not YZY friendly, Time Travelling LWJ, Protective LWJ, Fluff, Minor Angst, Minor Character Death, JGS is his own warning, Wooing, LWJ is romantic af, Inventor WWX, Genius WWX, Cloud Recesses Study Arc, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Protective Gūsū Lán Sect, Supportive LXC, Good Uncle LQR, WIP) It's only 3 chapters in & idk where the author plans to take it, but there's discussion of WWX being starved in the past & he is put on a special diet to make up for that

my eyes got used to the darkness by curiositykilled (M, 4k, JC & WWX, JC & WWX & JYL, Dead Dove: Do Not Eat, Body Horror, Implied Cannibalism, Dehumanization, Sunshot Campaign, YLLZ WWX, Demonic Cultivation, PTSD, Suicidal Thoughts, Ghosts, Disordered Eating, Referenced Animal Abuse)

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2. hi, thanks to the mods and everyone for all the recs! i have a few requests for itmf if i may 🙏🏽

a) could people recommend their fave non-english fics (ao3 or not)? i know mtl isnt that great but i'm hoping it's passable enough to enjoy fics that I've missed (peferably wx/gen but anything's good!)

b) yiling sibs feels? or bm family? even if it's not the focus of the fic! canon or modern (truth will out is one such brilliant example)

c) i saw a fun post that the juniors (or jl and lsz) each experienced canon as a different genre of YA protag. are there similar fics, of like, canon retelling/divergence but as the junior in question Goes Through It? (full quartet is great too of course!) @danmeiireader

2A)

【羡忘】落花时节又逢君 by Faywangper (E, 245k, wangxian, ABO, Alpha WWX, Omega LWJ) My favourite non-English fic is a very long and delicious AU written in Chinese

2B)

so you’ve been robbed by a museum by yukla (M, 5k, WangXian, JC & WWX, Modern AU, Mutual Pining, yearning tm, Mild Sexual Content, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Getting Together, immortal cultivators in a modern world, JC is a good brother, WWX has a couple self-worth issues)

Lynchpin by ShanaStoryteller (Not Rated, 103k, WangXian, JC & WWX, Time Travel, Fix-It, Lynchpin [PODFIC] by Opalsong, [PODFIC] Lynchpin by Gwogobo)

And Time Is But a Paper Moon by sami (M, 139k, WangXian, XiChengQing, Time Travel, Fix-It, Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Healing, Mental Health Issues, PTSD, Hurt/Comfort, Depression, BAMF WWX, BAMF JC, BAMF LWJ, BAMF JYL, Getting Together)

2C)

❤️ kick at the darkness ‘til it bleeds daylight by AlfAlfAlfAlfAlf, tardigradeschool (T, 75k, WangXian, Hurt/Comfort, Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Eventual Happy Ending, Getting Together, Burial Mounds Settlement Days, Inspired by The Parent Trap (1998), Kid Fic, teen shenanigans, two a-yuans, Fluff and Angst)

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3. Are there any fics where Madam Lan's death actually pushes LWJ into being a (secret?) rebel instead of a perfect disciple?? I think I read an SBWY fic (I think it was Pancho's privated fic that someone looked for a few fic finders back) with something vaguely similar, but I would love to read if someone explored that idea! Thank you!

Following the Rules by BegrudginglyTumbling (SarcasticSmiler) (T, 2k, wangxian, gusu lan rules, fluff & humor, LWJ being a little shit) Not quite what the request asked for because it doesn't really delve into the why, but this has LWJ rebelling via malicious compliance

Awaiting Your Return by Karmiya (E, 114k, wangxian, burial mounds settlement days, found family, opposite of slow burn, WIP) has Lan Wanji basically acting as a rogue cultivator only rarely returning to the cloud recesses, though that is a relatively small part of the fic

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4. Hello!!! I'm looking for some wangxian (a)stripper aus, and (b) prostitution aus

All Old Things are New Again by The Feels Whale (miscellea) (M, 51k, WangXian, XuanLi, ChengQing, Reincarnation, Modern AU, canon still happened, extreme post canon, Sugar Daddy, Kink Negotiation, gentle dom!LWJ, canonical levels of consent play, Modern Cultivators) though not quite either A or B, All Old Things Are New Again has Camboy!WWX

4A)

Wuji Club Remix by babybeets (E, 30k, WangXian, Modern AU, College/University, fancy rich prep school flash back, Library Sex, Strippers & Strip Clubs, Deepthroating, Aftercare, Porn With Plot, Porn with Feelings, Getting Together, Friendship, lan zhan FUCKS, Dancer LWJ, Addled WWX, WWX & WQ Friendship)

please forgive my most passionate disruptions by pumpkinpaix (E, 65k, WangXian, Stripper/Exotic Dancer, Strippers & Strip Clubs, Modern AU, Modern with Magic, Modern: Still Have Powers, stripper!WWX, Graduate School)

little bun by eightroses (E, 6k, WangXian, Modern AU, Stripper AU, PWP, bunny tail plug, Dirty Talk, Lingerie, Double Penetration, Trans WWX, Sex Work, First Time, Confessions, Trans Male Character)

~*~

5. Hiiii!!!

I'm on the mood for a fic where Lz has his hair cut when he's punished with the discipline whip.

All Exits Look The Same by Ahlai (T, 14k, LSZ & LWJ, LXC & LWJ, Madam Lan & LWJ, wangxian, Canon Divergence, Madam Lán Lives, Family Feels, Healing, Grief/Mourning) They cut his hair when he leaves the sect in this one

my life’s journey is far from over by thelastdboy (E, 148k, wangxian, Modern Cultivation, Canon Divergence, Madam Lán Lives, JYL Lives, WQ Lives, Post-Sunshot Campaign, POV WWX, Slow Burn, YLLZ WWX, Recovery, Hurt/Comfort, Healing Is a Slow Process, therapy is good actually, All women deserve better, mlm/wlw solidarity, the mortifying ordeal of discovering you're into bdsm while you're caught up in political intrigue, Kink Negotiation, Kink Exploration, Not Everyone Dies au, WWX Lives, Mental Health Issues, References to Depression, Additional Warnings In Author's Note, Burial Mounds Ensemble as Family, Single Parent WWX, Selectively Mute LWJ, Eventual Smut, Light Dom/sub, Happy Ending)

~*~

6. hi, do you know of any royalty wangxian AUs where wwx is the royal instead of lwj? ty!

travelers through the empty gate by stiltonbasket (M, 99k, WIP, WangXian, Royalty, Emperor WWX, Mistaken Identity, Poor LWJ, Bookshop owner LWJ, Intrigue, Court Drama, Forced Marriage, Confused WWX, POV Alternating, Parenthood, Misunderstandings, Empress LWJ, Requited Unrequited Love, Fluff, Humor, Married Life, Angst with a Happy Ending)

Silver & Silk Series by farawayanddreaming (M/E, 55k, WangXian, Established Relationship, Emperor WWX, Concubine LWJ, Implied/Referenced Sex, Light Bondage, Devotion, No Plot/Plotless, vibes only, Bottom LWJ/Top WWX)

Conquering the Emperor by catbrainedschemes (E, 21k, WangXian, Historical, Imperial China, Emperor!WWX, General!LWJ, Mutual Pining, Idiots in Love, Historically Inaccurate, Misunderstandings, Fluff, Eventual Smut, Light Angst, Slow Burn, Happy Ending)

Son of Heaven and Frost General Series by Aki_no_hikari (M/T, 7k, WangXian, Royalty, Historical, Emperor/General, Fade to Black, Romance)

The Last Concubine by deliciousblizzardshark (T, 13k, WangXian, Royalty AU, Emperor WWX, Concubine LWJ, LWJ Whump, Forced Marriage, Starvation, Non-physical spousal abuse, Fluff and Angst, Doing the Wrong Thing for the Right Reasons, Happy Ending, WWX Takes Care of LWJ)

The Most Important Man in the Empire by Marayanna (G, 14k, wangxian, Royalty, Emperor WWX, Secretary/head of state LWJ, overworked WWX, Supportive LWJ, POV WWX, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, competent LWJ, Happy Ending, Inspired by the book The Hands of the Emperor, But you don't need to know it to read the fic, Competent WWX, LWJ Takes Care of WWX, As much as he is politically able to, Is 'working together to make the world a better place' considered flirting, it should be)

~*~

7. hello, how are you. For the next itmf

(a). Fics where lan wanji is incredibly inlove with wei ying. Whether is Canon or Au but he is just showering wei ying with love

(b). Fics where wangxian are the shameless couple. People will be finding them kissing in the corner or they are keeping cloud recess awake with their noice. It can also be canon or an Au.

(c). I would also like bamf weiying.

🧡 Stunted, Starving Juvenility by TomatenMark (E, 712k, WangXian, WIP, Fix-it of sorts, Talisman master WWX, Not JFM Friendly, Study Arc, Getting together, Fluff and Angst, Engagement) kind of answers all three requests

7A)

Snow by kuro (M, 38k, wangxian, Modern, Snow, Sick Character, Caretaking, Fluff, Sugar Daddy, only they're like… bad at it, Angst, Rabbits, Food, Sexy Times, occasionally)

A Matter of Time series by mrcformoso (E, 70 k, WangXian, Time Travel Fix-It, POV LWJ, POV JC, Dark LWJ, Manipulation, Grooming, WangXian Get a Happy Ending, Consensual Underage Sex, Except problematic please read warning in first chapter, Blood and Violence, Insane LWJ, Manic LWJ, Conditioning, WWX is a Lán, Minor Character Death, Confused JC, Golden Core Reveal, Good Friend NHS, WWX Isn’t Adopted by the Jiāngs, Abusive Jiāng Family, Jiāng Family Bashing, Jiāng Family Critical, POV NHS, Dark NHS, Anal Sex, Marathon Sex, Dual Cultivation, Qīnghéng-jūn Lives, LWJ Has a Big Dick, WWX Self-Lubricates, Plot Twists, Porn With Plot, Scheming NHS, Manipulative NHS, BAMF LWJ, BAMF WWX) (also fits 7C) i think they'll enjoy A Matter of Time but heed tags and warnings

7B)

Wangxian’s Time-Travelling Shenanigansseries by pupeez4eva (M, 18k, wangxian, time travel fix-it, Humor, Love Confessions, PDA, Wangxian being their shameless selves, Nothing will ruin WWX’s confession, Not even dozens of very confused disciples, or confused family members because LQR and JC are not amused, time travel at the most inconvenient moment, Everyone is just very confused, Wangxian elope with no explanation and leave everyone else to deal with the aftermath, LXC is a very good big brother, JC is probably going to end up killing WWX, Canon Divergence, Featuring: many horrified bystanders, Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, AU of Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now, The many moments that Wangxian could have travelled to, POV Outsider) Features WWX & LWJ being shameless throughout & part 3 of the series has them keeping CR awake with their noise

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8. Hi friends!! do you know of any fic where Lan Wangji moves into the burial mounds right after Wei Wuxian takes the Wens there? I’m not sure what to even search on ao3 for it but I would owe you my life if you knew any! @spectrelle

wide enough and wild by impossibletruths (E, 64k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Getting Together, Canonical Accidental Baby Acquisition, Families of Choice, References to Depression, Happy Ending, I Swear To God I’m Giving Them A Happy Ending, Overzealous Use Of Imagery, Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Well Except WN But He Was Already Dead So, Fix-It of Sorts) WWX doesn't stay in the Burial Mounds in this, but LWJ joins him anyway, so idk if this counts?

A Narrow Bridge by FrameofMind, Jo Lasalle (Jo_Lasalle) (E, 700k, WangXian, Time Travel Fix-It, Canon Divergence, Slow Burn, Getting Together, First Time, Pining while fucking, Burial Mounds Settlement Days, Angst with a Happy Ending, CQL Verse, almost everybody lives/almost nobody dies, epistolary-ish, canon-ish side pairings, radishes)

Home and the Heartland by Witch_Nova221 (T, 210k, wangxian, JYL/JZX, Burial Mounds, LWJ Stays at the Burial Mounds, Slow Romance, Friends to Lovers, Hurt/Comfort, Found Family, Fix-It, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Self-Discovery, Golden Core Reveal, Canon-Typical Violence, Canon Divergence, the burial mounds aren't always a happy place, but wangxian do their best)

no one ever said the single-plank bridge had to be walked alone by roserocksrapidly (T, 174k, wangxian, Canon Divergence, Yílíng Wèi Sect, Fix-It, Not Everyone Dies au, LWJ Stays at the Burial Mounds, Fluff, Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, Found Family, Slow Burn, LWJ and WWX get to be Dads together, the healing power of homoerotic flute/guqin duets, Happy Ending)

Also re: 8 - Requester might be interested in the tag Lán Zhàn | Lán Wàngjī Stays at the Burial Mounds

~*~

9. I've got another itmf request. Does anyone know of fics where nhs gets angry or criticizes nmj/the nie sect for their part in what happens to wwx? Or ones where nhs shows that he's protective of wwx to the nie sect/cultivation world whether that's covertly or overtly. Thanks all!

and having a marvelous time by varnes (E, 108k, WangXian, Yúnmèng Siblings, Sound of Music AU, (i know!!! i know. stay with me on this.), Slow Burn, Mutual Pining, Family Feels, spies to lovers???, Protective Siblings, Sometimes You Just Want Your Dads To Admit They’re Your Dads, Angst with a Happy Ending)

A Matter of Time series by mrcformoso (E, 70 k, WangXian, Time Travel Fix-It, POV LWJ, POV JC, Dark LWJ, Manipulation, Grooming, WangXian Get a Happy Ending, Consensual Underage Sex, Except problematic please read warning in first chapter, Blood and Violence, Insane LWJ, Manic LWJ, Conditioning, WWX is a Lán, Minor Character Death, Confused JC, Golden Core Reveal, Good Friend NHS, WWX Isn’t Adopted by the Jiāngs, Abusive Jiāng Family, Jiāng Family Bashing, Jiāng Family Critical, POV NHS, Dark NHS, Anal Sex, Marathon Sex, Dual Cultivation, Qīnghéng-jūn Lives, LWJ Has a Big Dick, WWX Self-Lubricates, Plot Twists, Porn With Plot, Scheming NHS, Manipulative NHS, BAMF LWJ, BAMF WWX) (link in #7A) i think they'll enjoy A Matter of Time but heed tags and warnings

~*~

10. Can you find me a fanfic where wei wuxian doesn’t die, instead he goes into a mountain and takes orphans in to take care of them and one day lan wangji stumbles upon his mountain. Kind of like baoshan sanren except there is no immortal thing, but it’s ok if there is ofc. Also it should have a good amount of wangxian with a happy ending

and having a marvelous time by varnes (E, 108k, WangXian, Yúnmèng Siblings, Sound of Music AU, (i know!!! i know. stay with me on this.), Slow Burn, Mutual Pining, Family Feels, spies to lovers???, Protective Siblings, Sometimes You Just Want Your Dads To Admit They’re Your Dads, Angst with a Happy Ending) link in #9

~*~

11. Hii , are there fics where wei ying becomes the wen sect leader , if so can you please recommend some? 🙏 @karinasnowwwx

assuming this is for the Wen remnants, the user might want to try the Yiling Wei sect tag

uncertain if this is asking for wen zongzhu wwx or yiling wei fic so one of each!

To the Heavens and the Earth by IsilmeLasgalen (E, 77k, WangXian, NingSang, XuanLi, MingXu, ChengYu, WWX is a Wen, POV LWJ, Good Parent LWJ, Marriage of convenience, Accidental Marriage, Implied Mpreg, Time Travel, Canon Divergence, WWX isn't adopted by the Jiang's, CSSR and WCZ Live, BAMF WWX, BAMF LWJ, Cultivation Sect Politics, Bottom LWJ, Top WWX, POV NHS, Protective LJY, Good Person WRH, Protective LXC, Immortal LWJ and WWX, POV LXC, Mpreg, WangXian in Love, Soft WangXian, WangXian Get a Happy Ending, POV JZX, Emperor WWX, Emperor LWJ, Past WWX/Other(s), Everybody Lives, Fluff, Angst, Smut, LWJ is LJY's Parent) wen sect leader wwx

A Narrow Bridge by FrameofMind, Jo Lasalle (Jo_Lasalle) (E, 700k, WangXian, Time Travel Fix-It, Canon Divergence, Slow Burn, Getting Together, First Time, Pining while fucking, Burial Mounds Settlement Days, Angst with a Happy Ending, CQL Verse, almost everybody lives/almost nobody dies, epistolary-ish, canon-ish side pairings, radishes) burial mounds settlement becomes a sect

~*~

12. Is there a Pacific rim AU for wangxian? I would love to read one. Trying to quit smoking, need a good distraction.

Lightning’s Call, Abyss’ Song by DiamondCrystalInk (T, 37k, WangXian, Pacific Rim Fusion, Slow Burn, Happy Ending, but i guess, Angst with a Happy Ending, Drift Compatibility, but also..., Soulmates, Sword fights but romantic)

The Weight of the World by KouriArashi (T, 67k, WangXian, XiYao, XuanLi, Pacific Rim Fusion, Robots, Monsters, robots fighting monsters, Family, Romance, Developing Relationship, Angst, (but not about the romances), Hurt/Comfort, Politics, Happy Ending)

or for a whole list, including ones I have not read

The 'whole list' link under 12 does not work. The asker might use the shiptag and then use 'Pacific Rim' in the 'Search within Results' box to get that list.

~*~

13. Hi, thank you for all your hardwork!!

I come here for "I'm in the mood for", I would like a any good fic with some bickering between Lan Zhan and Jiang Cheng like 'Brothers in law', even if it is the main thing of the fic or just a passing scene. Don't have any preferences if it is canon or not.

Thank you once again. @anime-trash-parody

Time Kept Flowing by notoneforreality (T, 201k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Grief/Mourning, major character death is wwx, who comes back, Family, Autistic LWJ, Kid Fic, JC and LWJ raise the kids, Co-parenting is hard, Emotional Hurt/Comfort)

none lives forever, brother, and nothing lasts for long by eena (M, 38k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, LSZ raised at Lotus Pier, JC found him first, Twin Prides of Yúnmèng Dynamics, Yunmeng Bros Reconciliation)

whatever comes of you and me (I’d love to leave my memory with you) by sami (E, 12k, XiCheng, WangXian, references to past emotional manipulation, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Healing, Recovery, Family, Brotherhood, Correcting for Poor Interfamily Communication, JFM’s A+ parenting, Not MY Friendly, Not JFM Friendly, Modern AU, Angst with a Happy Ending)

A Bell That Tells Us to Rise and Fight by DeerstalkerDeathFrisbee (T, 120k, wangxian, JC/WQ, JYL/JZX, SL/XXC, Canon Divergence, Arranged Marriage, Everyone Lives au, Everyone Needs A Hug, Women Being Awesome, WQ is a goddess, content warning for JGS, content warning for XY, content warning for JGY, WWX's terrible awful brilliant plans, Yunmeng Bros, JYL is an angel, BAMF Women, I take it back NMJ still dies, Minor Character Death, NMJ is BACK and he is NOT HAPPY, MM is not paid enough for this shit) has a fun sort of brothers-in-law feeling between lwj and jc

This is our Get-Along Night Hunt by hmc73 (T, 28k, WangXian, Post-Canon, JC & WWX Reconciliation, LWJ has Feelings, canon-typical horror elements, POV LWJ, Canon Compliant, Fluff with Knives, It starts off funny but WATCH OUT, Case Fic, Good Sibling JC, Fluff and Angst)

~*~

14. Hi, me again, I have been looking for fics, Modern, with cultivation, conferences and the like, where Wei Wuxian is not treated well, were things similar to cannon happened and he's not recognised as a great cultivator and Lan Wangji and his family, Jiāng Yànlí, Jiāng Chéng or Wen Qíng and Wen Ning aren't ok with this and try to help him deal with reputation and things. they can be long or short. Please help. Be well @monicaop21

Hi, I'm number 14 in the last In the mood for…post!! I just wanted to share the fics that started my obsession with modern fics that speak well of WWX in the cultivation world!! One is My Zhiji's On Broadway by ScarlettStorm and the fic inspired by this beauty Let Her Leave Your by Worldspacewitchbot Both of them in Ao3 So amazing both of them!! More sequels!! ;) Be well and tons of thanks!! You are awesome!!

My Zhiji’s On Broadway by ScarlettStorm (E, 15k, wangxian, modern with cultivation, drunk LWJ, drunk shenanigans, getting together, first time, minor angst, major comedy, smut)

Let Her Leave Your World by spacewitchbot (E, 10k, MM/OFC, JC/WQ, JYL/JZX, modern cultivation, Seattle, Conventions, Getting Together, Jet Lag, One Night Stands, Alcohol Breastfeeding in public (not in a sexy way,) Infant Care, Canon Divergence, Fix-It, #metoo movement, Not quite everybody lives but more people do, People listen to Mianmian, That actually fixes a lot of stuff)

~*~

15. Hi! For the next ITMF, do you have a recommendation where LQR secretly fond of/have a soft spot for WWX? Thank you! @idontknowwhattowriteforusername

through the eyes of elders series by Fleetling (T, 13k, LXC & LWJ, LXC & LQR, wangxian, LXC & WWX, LQR & WWX, LQR pov, LQR is a good uncle, LXC recovering from the whole JGY thing is a major part, Wingman LXC)

💖 Lessons relearned by Iamnotawriter (T, 44k, WangXian, LQR & WWX, Not Madam Yu Friendly, Time Travel Fix-It, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon-Typical Violence, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Inventor WWX, It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better, No Golden Core Transfer, YZY Bashing) LQR goes back in time & learns to appreciate WWX

🧡 Stunted, Starving Juvenility by TomatenMark (E, 712k, WangXian, WIP, Fix-it of sorts, Talisman master WWX, Not JFM Friendly, Study Arc, Getting together, Fluff and Angst, Engagement) link in #7 LQR recognises WWX talents (& his relationship with LWJ) during CRSA & encourages both

~*~

16. For the next ITMF: life of wwx or/with lwj after the revelations at the Guanyin temple. Preferably long fic, around more than 5 or 10 chapters or more than 10k words, and completed. Thank you!

💖 Germination by taotrooper (M, 14k, wangxian, post-canon, honeymoon, domestic fluff, comedy, teaching, character study)

Imprints by Lisa_Telramor (G, 47k, wangxian, post-canon, humor, panic attacks, phobia recovery, poor life choices, JC & WWX reconciliation, dogs)

Between The Lines by Witch_Nova221 (M, 153k, wangxian, WWX & LSZ & LWJ, WWX & OCs, Epistolary, Eventual Romance, Fluff and Angst, Letters, Falling In Love, Love Confessions, Love Letters, Long-Distance Relationship, Hurt/Comfort, Loss, Canon-Typical Violence, Post-Canon, Idiots in Love)

Agapé (home is in your arms) by estel_willow (G, 15k, wangxian, fraternal bonding, Mutual Pining, Post-Canon, Wwx is oblivious, LXC is patient, LSZ remains the best son, Most of these characters could do with a good therapist, Wwx uses his words, Wwx is an unreliable narrator, Light Angst, canon-typical self dislike from our favourite chaotic disaster bi)

Vagabond by xantissa (E, 65k, wangxian, Slow Burn, Mystery, Anal Sex, Oral Sex, Frottage, Case Fic, murders, Supernatural, Angst, Fluff, those two are so in love it hurts, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, badass LXC, Canon-Typical Violence, topLWJ, Bottom LWJ)

~*~

17. Hii! I saw a lot of tiktok that got me in the mood to read wangxian again! I love canonverse fics, but bc they’re so angsty (tho i do like a bit of it as one should) I wanted to ask for canondivergance fix it fics, prefferably with xicheng too! (*by fix it i mean shijie doesn’t die and a-cheng doesn’t hate his brother bc of it) 🥹 thank you!

~*~

If you didn’t get an answer to your ask here, don’t forget to make use of @mdzs-kinkmeme and MDZS KINK MEME on Dreamwidth. Authors actually do use them for ideas. You may get what you order!***Your prompt doesn’t have to be kink! Fluff, crack, whatever - it’s all good!***

[wangxianficrecs]

Now it's just too late to turn around by kokozy

Now it's just too late to turn around

by kokozy

G, 1k, Wangxian

Summary: Cloud Recesses had never truly felt like home to him; Lan Yuan's home was wherever Hanguang-Jun was and sadly, Cloud Recesses was not Hanguang-Jun's home either. Kay's comments: I may be biased, because this work was written for me and is a remix of my own story Justice, but, I really enjoyed this one! This is based on the idea that Lan Wangji was supossed to die from his punishment, but lived, and now the Lan Sect has to deal with it and it makes them bitter and also showcases their own hypocrizy. This story is from Sizhui's POV and tells the story of how he grew up in the Lan Sect and how he realized that something was very off, but the puzzle pieces only started connecting when Mo Xuanyu turned up. I loved this focus on Sizhui and the general vibes, it's really sad with a happy ending done right. Excerpt: Out of all of them, Zewu-Jun was the strangest. From the stories he had heard, the Twin Jades of Lan had once been inseparable, two identical drops of water, yet Sizhui had never seen them interact any more intimately than he would do with any of his peers. It was like there was a barrier between them, not allowing them to act like the brothers they were supposed to be. Zewu-Jun questioned Mo Xuanyu’s presence in the Cloud Recesses the hardest yet he had not openly opposed it. The Lan Seniors had all been too eager to let Hanguang-Jun take care of the demonic arm case, taking Mo Xuanyu with him if that meant not having any of them anywhere near Gusu for the time it took to figure out the whole demonic arm ordeal. As Hanguang-Jun wasn’t present in the Cloud Recesses, the whispers became normal conversation instead. Rumours of the return of the Yiling Laozu arose; someone had controlled the Ghost General that day with the Dancing Goddess, and someone had used the Yin Tiger Tally on the demonic arm somehow. As Hanguang-Jun left, Lan Sizhui could experience for the first time just how deep the whole thing really went. Voices and pointing fingers became the norm. Hanguang-Jun should have died, they said.

pov lan sizhui, canon divergence, parent-child relationship, good parent lan wangji, post-canon, gusu lan sect rules, gusu lan sect bashing, sad with a happy ending, identity reveal, adoption, remix

~*~

(Please REBLOG as a signal boost for this hard-working author if you like – or think others might like – this story.)

[poorlittleyaoyao]

Didn't want to derail that last post since it's specifically about novel canon, but it got me thinking about the ramifications of the changes that the drama makes:

CQL Mianmian is a Jin disciple. I like this change overall because it facilitates her being a larger part of the narrative and implies that Jin Zixuan has a life outside of being That Rich Guy Wei Wuxian Hates. Still, as is also the case with Meng Yao and Lan Xichen due to them meeting earlier, it means that Jin Zixuan is defending someone already dear to him rather than protecting a stranger simply because it's the right thing to do. Don't shrug off his heroism yet, though, because...

A nameless Jin disciple is the one who tries to hand over Mianmian. Jin Zixuan (and only Jin Zixuan) strikes him down and says in disgust that he can't believe the Jin clan contains such cowards, or something like that. However, Mianmian herself reminds Jin Zixuan when they're giving up their swords that they're under orders from their sect leader to comply with whatever the Wen clan asks of them. Jin Zixuan's choice to defend Mianmian is potentially in defiance of his father's directive. (Why is Jin Zixuan willing to disobey his dad here but stays awkwardly silent during his family's BS at the Phoenix Mountain hunt and conference later on? Well, his dad's not in the room with him here.)

Su She is not involved here, as Lan Wangji is the sole representative from Gusu Lan. The selfishness/cowardice of trying to feed Mianmian to a monster is replaced with his (more socially unacceptable in-universe but IMO more sympathetic to the viewer) revealing the Cold Pond Cave secret. There aren't any Lans standing by as nobody but Lan Wangji does the right thing.

The hostages generally show a lot of solidarity! After Wen Chao punts Wei Wuxian deeper into the cave, everyone else climbs down after him. None of them responds to Wen Chao shouting questions from up above, forcing the Wen guards to climb down to their level to investigate. The Jin guy attacking Mianmian is an outlier, indicating a problem with Lanling Jin culture rather than the jianghu as a whole. They cooperate well when it's time to band together and escape!

So the takeaway in CQL canon isn't that everyone is a coward or overly concerned with politics except for the protagonist, his love interest, and Jin Zixuan for some reason, but more like... here are these young people and future leaders who are fully capable of acting together for the good of the group. They refuse to comply with their captors despite being unarmed, and they'll convince the older generation to take action against the Wen clan. (Nie Mingjue, the only sect leader who's part of the younger generation without an older relative's influence, has already been in open conflict with them.) And isn't it a shame, then, that Jin Guangshan--and his sect culture that would've excused feeding one of his own disciples to a demon turtle--is going to crush all of this.

*I initially assumed, when I started making this post, that Cloud Recesses in the novel gets burned after the indoctrination in retaliation for Lan Wangji's part in killing the Xuanwu of Slaughter. But the wiki timeline has the indoctrination still coming after Cloud Recesses is attacked? If that's the case, how do the Lan have that many disciples to send?

[thisisallthehattersfault]

Most warprizeji fics have either YLLZ going That One I Want That One and sweeping LWJ off his feet after LWJ thought he’d be treated like shit, or LWJ being offered up to a YLLZ who is suspicious of his new bride and suspects assassination attempts or something only for the two to mutually fall in love anyway, and I love both of those flavors! However, please consider: The sects all bully Lan into giving up LWJ as a war prize, LWJ is escorted (forced) to the Burial Mounds by representatives from Every Sect, and YLLZ takes one look at this new “gift” before absolutely fucking popping off because That Is A Person!! A Human Being!! What The Fuck Is Wrong With All Of You?!? Get Off My Mountain. And LWJ is left standing there, watching this actually very beautiful and powerful man absolutely rip the other sects a new asshole for basically trying to sell him a slave, thinking “... Maybe I DO want to tap that.” Only YLLZ has sent him away! He has forbidden the sects from ever trying anything like this again! Seriously, What Is Wrong With All Of You? (Yunmeng Jiang, the only ones who were not involved, are all quietly smug about the whole thing. We told you he wouldn’t go for it.) Not two weeks after returning to Gusu a caravan shows up outside cloud recesses, from the Yiling Wei Sect, carrying gifts for LWJ and his family and his sect as an apology for whatever the fuck that was, and a promise that if anybody tries to do anything like that again, they can reach out to Yiling Wei and YLLZ will come make damn sure nobody is going anywhere or doing anything they don’t actually want to be doing. ... LWJ definitely wants to tap that. He ends up writing back a thank you letter to YLLZ, who responds in kind with reassurances that no thanks are necessary and seriously dude are you okay cause that was A Lot. LWJ writes another letter, promising he’s returned safely and happily to his home, and his brother and uncle have been very clingy and overprotective but things are settling down again. YLLZ writes him back. LWJ writes him back. Suddenly they’ve been pen pals for the better part of two years and LWJ has finally convinced WY to come visit him in Gusu so he can properly begin Operation: Seduce The Yiling Patriarch. The operation goes much smoother than expected, because it turns out YLLZ never actually saw his face last time. LWJ had been wearing a veil. So poor unsuspecting WWX rolls up to Gusu to come hang out with his buddy LWJ who he’s been sending letters to pretty consistently since the whole War Prize Fiasco only to come face to face with the most beautiful man to ever walk the earth. WY immediately decides to begin Operation: Seduce Hanguang-Jun. A week later they’re getting caught making out in the library like randy teenagers. Xichen does Not say I Told You To to Lan Qiren. Lan Qiren hears it anyway.

[canary3d-obsessed]

Restless Rewatch: The Untamed, Episode 39 Part 3

(Masterpost) (Pinboard)  (whole thing on AO3)    

Warning! Spoilers for All 50 Episodes!

Days of Future Past

After they leave Yi City, the gang comes to a proper town where there is a lantern festival going on, or else it's just a town that is really nuts about lanterns.

The juniors go shopping, looking at random trinkets, cell-phone cases, sunglasses, and electric toys that will break as soon as you get them home. Wait, that's my local mall I'm thinking of. But it's the same idea, pretty much.

Judging by the dream catchers hanging up on the right, this particular Ancient-China kiosk is owned by a traveling Ojibwe person.

Sizhui experiences a callback to symbolism from the past as he looks at an array of toy insects.

Jin Ling toy shames him, and Lan Jingyi comes to his defense.

Toys are for every age, people. Even if you outgrow one style of play, there's a lot of ways to enjoy toys, including tucking them in your robe and pulling them out to look at them whenever you have a memory cascade.

When Sizhui was young, he looked at toys with Wei Wuxian. Wei Wuxian didn't give him the toys, however, because "asking is asking, buying is buying." For Wei Wuxian, there was always a vast chasm between what he wanted and what he could actually have. Lan Wangji, of course, promptly gave A-Yuan toys, including a version of this grass butterfly.

The last time we saw A-Yuan with the butterfly is the last time A-Yuan saw Wei Wuxian. WWX frightened him and he dropped his butterfly, and everything went to shit after that. So I think it's fair to say the butterfly symbolizes some stuff.

(More after the cut!)

Jingyi points out to Sizhui that they have all of this same stuff at home in Gusu, which is what happens in a franchise-based retail economy.

Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian enter the market together, but Wei Wuxian quickly runs ahead, enjoying the energy and the sights. Grown-up Lan Wangji, unlike his younger self, seems perfectly comfortable in this crowded and busy environment.

Lan Wangji pauses at a seller's stall to experience his own callback to the past, as he contemplates a lantern with rabbits on it.

Here the show the show restrains itself and does not show us a flashback to the rabbit lantern of the past. That's ok, though; the first lantern scene is one of the most memorable in the show, so we can just replay it in our heads.

Back then, Wei Wuxian made a special lantern for Lan Wangji, and they released it together. That was the first time we saw Lan Wangji smile, and it's also when Wei Wuxian's pledge of chivalry turned their mutual interest/attraction into something much deeper.

While Lan Wangji and Lan Sizhui are contemplating lost things from the past (sky lanterns, by their nature, are losses, but in a nice way), Wei Wuxian is confronting one of his own losses.

He sees a little kid running to a vendor, and his mind's eye sees A-Yuan.

Lan Wangji sees Wei Wuxian's reaction to the child, and he stops looking at the lantern to watch Wei Wuxian instead.

When Wei Wuxian realizes that the child is not, in fact, A-Yuan, the air goes out of him.

Is it too cruel of me to point out that while Wei Wuxian's heart is breaking from realizing that A-Yuan could not possibly be shopping for toys in this market, the real A-Yuan, Lan Sizhui, actually is shopping for toys in this market?

Wei Wuxian allows himself to feel things, for a moment--and when he turns around and sees Lan Wangji watching him, he doesn't immediately paste a fake smile onto his face, which is some kind of relationship growth.

Lan Wangji takes this opportunity to say "hey, Wei Ying, I forgot to mention that A-Yuan isn't dead."

Ha ha ha ha ha of course he doesn't say that. He's waiting for the right moment to share this information, and Lan Wangji has no idea what constitutes a right moment for verbalizing anything. If he can't use his sword to communicate his devotion or his disappointment, he's in a pickle.

Also, Lan Wangji is aware of the popular Wuxia trope of "lone survivor of a massacred clan grows up to seek revenge," and the rules say you can't reveal the survivor's identity until they have gotten a job as the bodyguard and/or concubine of their enemy's innocent heir. Sizhui has made a good start by befriending Jin Ling, but he's not showing much inclination to revenge, so Lan Wangji is stuck for now.

Like a Lantern in the Dark

When Wei Wuxian sees the lantern next to Lan Wangji, he breaks into a genuine, sunny smile, and runs up to very gently tease LWJ about it.

Like a lantern in the dark, Follow on now, follow your heart

Back then the lantern had a single rabbit, and was a gift from Wei Wuxian. Lan Wangji said he's used to doing things alone, and Wei Wuxian said that he can change. This rabbit lantern has two rabbits, and is about to be a gift from Lan Wangji to Wei Wuxian. Because Lan Wangji has changed.

"Lan Zhan, let's buy it"

Wei Wuxian has also changed. He asks for what he wants, instead of just wishing, and is delighted when Lan Wangji gives it to him. The lantern, people. Lan Wangji gives the lantern to him.

They take the lantern together, walk with it together, and immediately give it to (their son) Sizhui, telling him to take good care of it. Sizhui is confused but Jingyi knows what's up. Look how happy he is that his favorite teacher has a boyfriend.

I'm pretty sure ceremonial lantern-giving is going to be incorporated into Gusu weddings from now on, at least weddings where there is already a kid who needs a special role in the ceremony.

Brotherly

The kids tell Lan Wangji that Zewu-Jun is here to see him, and Lan Wangji makes this face:

Holy fuck, what is going on between the Lan brothers? It occurs to me that we haven't seen them together since Wei Wuxian came back to life. They were close, in the before times, but 33 lashes and 3 years of forced seclusion might have changed things.

Wei Wuxian gets back into his mask, and they go and show the sword spirit to Lan Xichen. Lan Xichen...absorbs it...into his body? What is actually happening here?

I mean, it looks cool, but that can't be healthy.

Now that Nie Mingjue's body has been - mostly - found, his fears are confirmed. He says that Nie Mingjue qi-deviated in public and "all his veins were broken," which I'm pretty sure should actually be translated "all his meridians were broken." Meridians are what carry your qi around your body. After that happened, nobody knew what happened to him and/or his body.

So he's sad about this, but not shocked. I feel like Lan Xichen maybe could have tried harder to find out what happened, but he never was as stubborn as Lan Wangji.

You Don't Know Him Like I Do

Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji point out that Jin Guangyao is the obvious suspect in the current situation, but Lan Xichen doesn't want to hear it; he literally turns his back on them while he explains all the reasons Jin Guangyao couldn't be the person who's in control of the Yin tiger seal.

Lan Wangji is hard to read in this conversation; he lets Wei Wuxian do the talking. But he seems deeply suspicious of Jin Guangyao, and is maybe kinda resigned to his brother refusing to hear him.

I wonder how many sketchy things Lan Xichen has forgiven, over the years? How many does Lan Wangji know about?

"He wouldn't do that"

Lan Xichen's statement here is a direct parallel to Lan Wangji's statement way back in epsiode 21, which is the last time we saw the brothers talking about anything besides battle strategy.

Back then, Lan Xichen asked about the deaths at the supervisory office - you know, all those people who killed themselves in horrible ways and/or were killed by vengeful spirits. He wanted to know if WWX killed them using Yin Iron. Lan Wangji said nope, not my sweetie, he sure didn't.

"He wouldn't do anything like that."

Same framing, same camera angle, same blocking. Same message: the one I love would not do bad things using Yin iron. But - here's the thing - Lan Wangji was flat-out lying in that earlier conversation. He saw Wei Wuxian doing forbidden stuff and got in a huge-ass fight with him about it, only to deny it to his brother.

Parallels being what they are in this show, I think this is a strong suggestion that Lan Xichen is knowingly lying in the current conversation.

If we look back at that previous conversation, when Lan Wangji asked Lan Xichen "how can we understand someone's heart?" Lan Xichen gave a surprising answer.

"When looking at someone, you[...]shouldn't use a clear right or wrong, black or white to judge them. What matters is what their heart believes in."

When this conversation happened, it seemed that he was giving Lan Wangji advice about his Wei Wuxian situation, but in retrospect, I think he was thinking about Meng Yao, who had recently murdered a guy and defected to the Wen clan.

In the present moment, I think Lan Xichen knows that Jin Guangyao is sketchy, but he also believes there are some lines his friend won't cross. (He doesn't know yet about the fratricide, patricide, and filicide, or the massacre of the sex workers in the brothel where JGY grew up.) I don't think any of these guys really believes that "Yin iron" is one of those uncrossable lines.

The conversation is interrupted by the juniors having a loud argument inside about whether Wei Wuxian is The Worst, or merely bad. Lan Sizhui started this by very very mildly defending demonic cultivators. Jin Ling is super upset, because of the whole "Wei Wuxian killed my dad" and "Uncle Jiang Cheng frequently reminds me to kill people like Wei Wuxian and feed them to my dog" situation.

Lan Wangji immediately drops the important conversation he is having to go inside and deal with the more important problem of a child talking shit about his boyfriend.

Busted

The moment that Lan Wangji goes inside, Lan Xichen addresses Wei Wuxian by name, letting him know that he's recognized him. Watching him fondle his untouchable didi's shoulder might have been a clue. Wei Wuxian is alarmed but makes a quick recovery.

Lan Xichen is surprisingly kind to Wei Wuxian at the same time as being extremely extremely wary of him. He's not pleased to see him, and Wei Wuxian's 1000 watt smile and apparently genuine pleasure in greeting him properly receives a chilly response.

Wei Wuxian gently asks Lan Xichen to think about what they've discussed, but he doesn't press. He gives him time and space to think. In a way, Wei Wuxian is better at handling Lan Xichen than Lan Wangji is; Lan Wangji's stubbornness makes him inclined to push. Wei Wuxian is better at fitting his tactics to the situation.

He says his bit and then leaves Lan Xichen to think things over in peace.

Soundtrack: Follow the Heart by Yaima

[mamoonde]

mdzs ancient magus bride au where

yiling laozu is the mage risen from the nightmares and resentful energy of the burial mounds, neither human nor fae

and lan zhan is a pre-adolescent, rare and very coveted dragon halfling, one of the last known alive, captured and sold at an underground auction.

the yiling laozu buys lan zhan to rescue him and takes him away to their remote little cottage in yiling. lan zhan is understandably mistrustful at first, but a week of living with this strange, kind, dark being who treats him as a person instead of a slave or rare artifact, well.

lan zhan falls.

and when lan zhan proposes to stay by the yiling laozu's side forever and ever and be his, the yiling laozu laughs it off and brushes it off as the whimsy of a duckling imprinting on the first carer it meets. a fleeting childish phase. perhaps lan zhan has more human in him than dragon, the yiling laozu thinks. they are always so easily swayed by emotion...

but lan zhan is determined.

and so, as lan zhan grows up, he learns more about his dragon-side, his magic, his whole self. and he trains hard to be a suitable for the yiling laozu. he takes note of the yiling laozu's likes and dislikes, carefully tests his boundaries, tries his best to show how much he loves the yiling laozu in every way.

and then when lan zhan comes of age, he gets discovered by his kind - he learns he has a dragon brother and a paternal uncle. he leaves to spend a year with them, with his kind, far and protected in the unreachable mountains of gusu.

when he leaves the yiling laozu's cottage - a place that's felt like home more than any he remembers - he's barely shoulder-height (head-to-head if they count his antlers) of the man who makes it home.

the yiling laozu waves goodbye, feels a bit of pain and heaviness in his chest and thinks, oh, this must be what "missing someone" feels like.

the year trudges on like a slug.

the yiling laozu misses lan zhan more and more, sees his tiny serious face in every little nook in his - their - home. which should be weird, because he has had this house for longer than lan zhan has been here. and yet it feels incomplete to be in it without lan zhan there.

so he spends less and less time in it, spends his days where it's less empty, hoping the loneliness will fade away.

it doesn't.

until one day, as the yiling laozu drags his feet back to his house - dreading another night in a cold, empty space - he finds something is different.

the lights are on and there's a fire going.

and outside, on his doorstep, there's someone there.

the person standing by his door is huge - tall and broad, maybe something familiar in the regal set of the shoulders, the stiff-but-not posture.

it's the golden eyes that freezes the breath in his lungs, that force his feet to move, like a lighthouse guiding him home.

"lan zhan...?"

the yiling laozu feels strange. he feels light and heavy at the same time, hot and prickly even though the air remains the same temperature.

the lan zhan before him is more dragon, more man now than boy. so much of him has changed -- has his gaze always been so intense?

"i have come back," lan zhan's voice has lost its adorable pitchiness; now it is deep and smooth. like rumbling thunder, the call of the heavens. "wei ying."

the yiling laozu freezes. the name - those two syllables that no one has called him by in-- in a long, long time.

it feels like lightning in his bones.

distantly, his own words echo back at him, spoken to a then younger lan zhan.

"if you still feel that way when you come of age, you can call me by my name." "what is your name?" "now that is a secret! only if you are determined to call me can you do so." a small pout. "already am."

"oh, lan zhan..."

"though my mother was human, the dragon blood in me is strong." gently, lan zhan takes his hand in his. "did you know? dragons only love once. for the rest of their lives."

wei ying smiles shakily, " that's a shame then, surely you want a redo?"

lan zhan's hold tightens, another hand cupping his face.

"never." lan zhan presses a gentle kiss on his knuckles, almost an affectionate nuzzle that washes wei ying's hand with a cool breath. "i will only ever want wei ying. i will always want to be by your side."

and isn't that a tantalizing offer.

the yiling laozu has lived long - longer than even he remembers. and the immortality has only ever hammered in the fleetingness of life, the loneliness of time.

and yet here lan zhan is, offering him the promise of something a little more permanent. perhaps it was fate that wei ying had chosen to settle down in a house in yiling, a scant few decades before he met lan zhan.

perhaps it was a sign, that wei ying only ever called it home, when lan zhan was there to call it home, too.

[stiltonbasket]

for whenever you feel like: wrh raises wwx au continuation?❤️ i already love it!!

"You cannot send your son to war."

It is the first time Lan Wangji has spoken in days. He retreated from the Wei-fu's main compound nearly a fortnight previously, filled with mingled dread and fury when he heard that Wei Ying's son would be riding to battle—and in all that time, Wei Ying did not once attempt to have the conscription order rescinded.

Perhaps he knew the effort would be fruitless. Wen Ruohan valued Wei Ying above his own sons, before he was wounded—for otherwise, he would have never carved those wretched compulsion sigils into Wei Ying's skin—but Wen Yuan was worth nothing more to him than the guest cultivators who were sent out to perish by the hundreds during the second year of the war, because he did not share Wei Ying's blood.

His father's training went only so far, Xiao Liuzi had said, when Lan Wangji first came to the Wei-fu as a concubine. Young Master Yuan has no rival for talent among the other boys of his age, and Lady Wen says that he is the very picture of Xinhua-jiangjun as a youth—but there is something about the lord's cultivation that came from his mother, the one who came down from Baoshan Sanren's mountain, and the little master does not have it. That is the power Wen Ruohan most desires in a right-hand, and so the little master is useless to him.

Wei Ying was as useful as a flesh-and-blood right hand to Wen Ruohan, even injured, but not useful enough to be kept truly happy. He had been showered in riches for the past two decades, denied no treasure that could be obtained by gold or human toil; but he had few dear ones that Wen Ruohan could not touch, let alone any assurance that his family in the Nightless City would be kept safe if he were to fail his master—and if the sigils on his back had not prevented him from doing so, he would have taken his own life in misery long before he came of age, hoping that his death would permit the infant Wen Yuan to pass out of Wen Ruohan's notice for ever.

I wish he had not told me that, Lan Wangji thinks painfully, recalling the night his beloved drank himself sick on spoiled wine and confessed the truth of his long years of service to the tyrant who lived in the Sun Palace. I can do nothing for him, and now there is nothing left but empty hope for the both of us.

For his part, Lan Wangji suffers no delusions about Wen Sizhui's ability in war. While night-hunting, he could rival Xichen at his strongest, in the years before he commenced work on the great warding seals that protect Gusu and the Unclean Realm; but A-Yuan cannot bear to stand helpless in the face of pain, whether his disciple siblings' or the pain of some little creature that crossed his path on his travels, and bearing witness to the unending agony of war will dull A-Yuan's wits and strength to the point where they might well abandon him entirely.

"You cannot send him," Lan Wangji repeats now, folding one hand over Wei Ying's shoulder. "Let him ride out with the others, if you must. But surely he can leave his regiment under cover of night and escape, long before he reaches Qinghe. He is your son—he could easily find a way to depart without being noticed, and then—"

"Where would he go, Lan Zhan?" Wei Ying asks, turning around to face him. "If he deserts his regiment, the way home will be barred to him forever. If he ever dared to come back, he would be executed as a traitor after Wen Ruohan came to hear of it, and perhaps tortured for days before that. If I must lose him, I would rather he meet a quick end in battle than a terrible one in the torturing chambers."

Lan Wangji says nothing.

"You came out of the xingtang yourself," Wei Ying says dully. "You know Yuan'er would never survive it."

His gaze flickers down towards Lan Wangji's legs, as if he could look right through the thick silk of his trousers and down upon the knotted scars beneath them; and then he turns his face up to the ceiling and stands without moving for a long, long while.

"How dear is he to you?" he says at last. "A-Yuan, I mean."

"Dearer than life."

The confession falls from his lips easily. When Lan Wangji first entered the Wei-fu, he was prepared to kill his way out of it with the stone splinter he tore from the dungeon walls, if necessary—but on the wedding night, A-Yuan stole into the bridal chamber while Wei Ying slept, carrying ointment and bandages for Lan Wangji's shattered legs, and treated his injuries as skillfully as his aunt Wen Qing might have done.

"I doubt Wen Ruohan will be pleased to hear of this," Lan Wangji had rasped, stunned almost speechless by the small, deft hands flying over the deep gouges in his ankles. "Go back to bed, xiao-gongzi. Wen Ruohan ordered me here to humiliate your father, not to serve as a companion to him. What do you think he will do if he finds that someone from Xinhua-jiangjun's household dressed my wounds?"

"You're here to serve as a reminder to my Uncle Yu, actually," A-Yuan muttered. "He's Fuqin's favorite concubine, and Wen-zongzhu sent you here to punish him. He thinks Yu-shushu should have died in battle before he allowed any harm to come to my A-Die."

With that, A-Yuan finished tying off the bandages and departed; and brief though the treatment had been, it permitted Lan Wangji to ignore the fire in his bones for long enough to have a full night's rest.

The wounds are nothing more than scars now, and the full function of Lan Wangji's legs has long since been restored. He could take A-Yuan and flee from the Nightless City this very night, if he tried—but Wei Ying would be forced to stop them, no matter how desperately he wished to let them go, and then...

"Forgive me," Lan Wangji murmurs. "Good night, Wei Ying."

He spends the night tossing and turning in his bed, his thoughts lingering over the bed in the next room where Wei Ying is asleep with A-Yuan in his arms; and then, almost before he knows it, the hour of Wen Yuan's departure is upon them.

The day dawns much like any other, in a riotous storm of red and gold that falls over the Wei-fu like a blanket. Wei Ying rises early and sends the servants away, insisting that no one aside from himself should serve A-Yuan on his leaving-day; and when Lan Wangji sees the boy next, he is riding at the head of Wei Ying's old regiment, three paces behind the general who replaced his father after Lan Wangji was taken captive.

Lan Wangji reaches out and takes Wei Ying's hand.

"He will return," he vows. "Your brothers in arms love him as their own. With them close by, A-Yuan will come to no harm."

But Wei Ying's fingers do not squeeze Lan Wangji's hands in turn; and when he meets his husband's empty eyes, he knows that some part of Wei Ying's spirit has given up all hope of seeing Wen Yuan again.

[robininthelabyrinth]

The Other Mountain - ao3 - Chapter 32

Pairing: Lan Qiren/Wen Ruohan

Warning Tags on Ao3

————————————————————–

Dear Shixiong,

Welcome back! I hope you had a very enriching and meaningful year in seclusion.

I wanted to –

(Note to self: when you write the second BETTER version of this, add some formal greetings & well-wishes here first before you get to the actual stuff. DO NOT forget this time! EVEN IF it’s boring! Remember that Shixiong likes it when you’re being properly formal!)

I know it’s a little inappropriate to leave a letter under your doorstep for you to read as soon as you rejoin the world. I know you’re supposed to be spending your final moments of seclusion and your first moments of coming back to the rest of the community in thoughtful contemplation, considering the concepts of transition and the transient nature of time, not immediately getting shoved head-first into the petty matters of the world. I would never want to interrupt you while you do that, since I know how important it is to you, and to your cultivation, and I would definitely never ever EVER do it lightly.

I even admit that sending you a letter like this could maybe be seen as a violation of Do not use frivolous words.

Despite all of that, I hope you can forgive your favorite Shidi for the impertinence. In case all of that wasn’t clear enough, this is Lan Zhijin writing to you. You remember, Lan Yueheng’s eldest son? Lan Yanyu’s little brother? The one who used to always follow you around everywhere -

I assure you, I actually have a very good reason for deviating from tradition in this case. After all, tradition is only tradition, and the rules supersede it, particularly Appreciate good people, see friends as neighbors, and be considerate of others. Also, if you disagree with my evaluation and decide that you’re going to report me to the Discipline Hall anyway, can you at least tell them not to hit too many times, okay? Scratch that, tell them kneeling is sufficient, no hits at all! I’m acting in good faith here, Shixiong, really! 

Listen, when you read the rest of this, you’ll see what I mean, and you’re going to thank me for doing this for you, I promise -

You see, Shixiong, ever since you entered strict seclusion a year ago, there have been a number of changes in the Cloud Recesses which are rather more significant than the usual. To put it mildly

I know you must be thinking to yourself, ‘How much can things really have changed? It’s the Cloud Recesses, the Gusu Lan sect, it’s been the same for generation upon generation’ and before you complain, this isn’t a breach of Don’t make assumptions about others, I just know you and of course you’d be right. The fundamental core of our Gusu Lan sect is still there, still going strong, and there are even a few new rules on the Wall of Discipline, as you might have expected. But despite that, there have also been some fairly significant events which have resulted in certain changes that are sufficiently noticeable, and maybe even shocking, that I think that you would want to be prepared in advance before you went out and encountered them.

It’s not gossip if it’s news, you know!

I’m doing this for your sake, Shixiong, really! Not because I want to be the first to tell you –

Really, it would be much funnier if I could see your face when you read this ACTUALLY. But Be easy on others, be hard on yourself is a rule so I won’t prioritize my own amusement over your well-being. See, Shixiong, that’s how much I like you –

First, when you come back, you may very quickly notice a considerable decrease in the average age of the people you see. By this, I mean that you will probably notice pretty quickly that there aren’t any elders walking about the place stroking their beards and talking about the weather and sometimes lecturing innocent juniors who really didn’t mean to break the rule about running, they were just a little bit excited –  

It’s not a violation of Talking behind the backs of others is prohibited if it’s true, Shixiong.

Well, when you notice it, rest assured that you aren’t missing anything, and you aren’t just seeing things. There really aren’t any elders around! They’re all temporarily absent, having each and every one of them either retreated into seclusion to go contemplate and cultivate themselves, or else out into the world to increase their virtue through night-hunts and other beneficent acts. Which you really wouldn’t have expected a bunch of old grandpas that usually like to sit around to play weiqi and gossip all day to be able to do but there you go. Don’t make assumptions, right?? Why would they do this, you may ask? Particularly in such numbers? Especially the ones who tended to be a bit more full of themselves? That’s a very good question. You may even now be thinking of all sorts of reasons and engaging in lots of speculation wondering what happened.

Well, you can count on your shidi for the answer, Shixiong, since there is absolutely NO way you are going to be able to guess. EVER. So I’m going to tell you out of the kindness of my heart what happened.

And what happened is this: the elders are all gone because Teacher came back and gave them such an incredibly harsh talking-to for breaking the rules that they all felt so bad about themselves that they decided they needed to do some self-reflection.

Yes, I know how ridiculous that sounds. I KNOW! But on the other hand you’ve got to give it to Teacher, he’s REALLY good at scolding people – you know the type the ones that make you feel both really guilty, like he expected you to do better because he knows you’re better than that, but also really proud, because he has full confidence that you will do better going forward because you’re good like that – anyway, the point is, they all temporarily resigned from their usual duties of supporting the sect through advice and counsel and went to go do other things. All of them. Every single one of them!

Except for one that we’re all pretty sure Teacher just flat-out killed.

Yes, killed. As in dead. As in totally dead. That’s crazy, right? Teacher! Teacher! LAN QIREN! Old righteous and rigid! Who would have thought he had it in him, right???

Trust me, I know it sounds crazy and I know how crazy it sounds, too. If I hadn’t seen it myself – okay, no, Do not tell lies– if I hadn’t seen Teacher come back to the Cloud Recesses with his Someone Did Something Wrong And It’s Actually Serious This Time face, go meet with all the sect elders, and then leave half a day later, and then not very long after there was the announcement about the funeral and Lan Zhengquan wasn’t even that old, okay, and then all the sect elders were talking about their resignation – oh drat, I haven’t explained why Teacher would be coming back yet –

On second thought, let me start from the beginning chronologically, as that may make things a little more less confusing. [Note to self: do NOT send this version of the letter to Shixiong. Remember what Teacher said – use one piece of paper to write down all of your ideas, figure out which ones you want to use and where, and only then use the second to write your final version with elegance and restraint.]

Okay, so –

I need to stop starting sentences like that, it’s actually not a very good transition. Do better!

Do you remember all those times when we were younger when we’d talk with all the other disciples about the Sect Leader? Not Teacher, since he was only ever technically acting sect leader, but the real one, Qingheng-jun, you know, the one who went into seclusion something like ten or eleven years ago and never seemed to come back out? Anyway, remember how we all said that he sounded really cool what with the way everyone always talked about his amazing swordsmanship skills and his handsome looks and the way he was supposed to be both smart and personable and really clever? Remember about how we all said that it sounded like it would be super awesome and cool if he ever came out of seclusion?

Well, about half a month after you went into seclusion, he really did come out.

It was NOT COOL AT ALL.

I mean, okay, it wasn’t that bad, I guess. The Sect Leader really is very smooth and charming and he’s an amazing swordsman from what little I saw, but obviously he’s also Sect Leader and very busy so I didn’t see very much of him at all. But it was so weird! He did everything so differently from Teacher! And not in good ways, I didn’t like it them at all, but in all sorts of weird ways, like the curriculum or discipline or sect priorities.

Shixiong, the older disciples nearly went to WAR!

If you had to go your mother would have been so upset! I would have been upset! I mean, what if you’d gotten hurt or something! I was so happy you were in seclusion and didn’t have to go. Not that I’m saying it’s a good thing you missed out on everything – wait, I got sidetracked. 

Everyone was really excited to see the Sect Leader at first, especially the elders that remembered him well from before, and the seniors that were his friends from before he went away. It was a little sad, though, because Madam Lan had just died – you remember, his wife, the one who was sick and never came out? – and little Xichen and Wangji were really sad about that, as you can imagine. And since Teacher is the one raising them, he was really busy dealing with that, or trying to as much as he could, so maybe he didn’t have as much time to tell him about how things in the Cloud Recesses were supposed to work normally.

Personally I think it’s a little weird that the Sect Leader came out right at that time? I mean, his wife had just died! You’d think he’d have more reason to be in seclusion, grieving, rather than less. Jiejie said that  some people deal with grief by needing to do work, so maybe that’s the reason? I mean, I don’t really understand why he went into seclusion for so long in the first place, and none of the seniors will explain. Shixiong, if you know, you have to promise to tell me, all right?

I’m sure Teacher would have eventually gotten around to explaining, which might have made it all right, but unfortunately, not long after, Teacher went into seclusion.

Before you start telling me Do not tell lies, I know it sounds weird, but it really did happen!

And no, I don’t mean seclusion like all those times Teacher tried to take a half-month off of work in order to go play music, which don’t really count because he was in his own house and you could still ask him questions as long as you sent them to him by writing, and he was still grading tests and doing sect paperwork (last time around I helped pick it up every morning and drop off the new requests every night, and ooh boy was there a lot of it, you should’ve seen, I NEVER want to be sect leader!!!), and of course Xichen and Wangji were still visiting him every day for dinner. In other words, definitely NOT seclusion. Anyway, I don’t think Teacher actually managed to stay in his house the whole half-month even a single time he tried it, so it really doesn’t count.

No, in this case, I’m talking about real serious business seclusion, like what you have been doing for the past year, the sort where you don’t talk to people on the outside and not even answer notes from your favorite shidi when they get shoved through your window, because you’re mean like that. Would sending one note back really have killed you…?

There were a lot of rumors at the time about why he did that. It just seemed so weird, you know, and badly timed? I’m not saying Teacher isn’t entitled to go into seclusion whenever he wants, of course he is, and he’s even entitled to go into seclusion to have a nice relaxing break because his brother is back and willing to take over sect leader duties, the way some of the sect elders seemed to suggest was the situation, but…it seemed weird and wrong.

I mean, what about poor Xichen and Wangji? Their mother just died! They were so upset already, especially Wangji – he was refusing to talk and tried to sit outside in the snow and it was awful, Shixiong, really awful. And then Teacher, who’s been raising them like they’re his own sons all this time, suddenly goes into seclusion? Something was definitely going on there! Something wrong!

Jiejie says I have a suspicious personality.

Someone claimed that Teacher got into a fight with the Sect Leader and the Sect Leader ordered Teacher to go into seclusion to reflect on himself, as a punishment, but that’s completely crazy, right? I mean, it’s Teacher. Even if he’s going to break a rule, he’s going to do it having drafted his own punishment in advance, and I’m pretty sure he’s never picked seclusion as a punishment. Probably because of all that paperwork.

Someone else said it was because he was actually on a super-secret mission for the sect to do something, but that didn’t really seem reasonable either. I mean, Teacher’s great and all, but he’s not really the super-secret mission sort of person, is he? He’s a little too straightforward.

Anyway, we were all really curious, but no one ever figured it out. The Sect Leader just smiled kind of a weird smile honestly, I’m not going to lie, and even jiejie agrees with me so you know it was really weird and shook his head whenever he heard people speculating, but that doesn’t really mean anything. I guess we’ll never really know. The sect elders never tell people anything if they think they don’t need to know it…

At any rate, as you might expect, the situation with Xichen and Wangji only got worse after Teacher went into seclusion. Xichen got super anxious about everything, really anxious, and Wangji reverted back to biting people and throwing temper tantrums, really bad ones, like some sort of feral street child. He even hit people! None of the teachers or caretakers could do anything to make him stop.

And Teacher didn’t break his seclusion to come help them, which makes it even more suspicious, in my opinion. It just seems so unlike him…I really wish a-Die had been around instead of on that long trip down to the south to get ingredients. He was always one of the few people who could talk to Teacher about things, and he’s always willing to tell me things he hears. My best source of gossip I mean my best source of NEWS abandoned me in my time of need!

Everyone was speculating an awful lot, though, and of course the teachers were handing out punishments for No talking behind the backs of others left, right, and center. And also down, up, and upside-down, but it still didn’t stop anyone.

One time, our whole class derailed because some of the older students wouldn’t stop talking about it in the context of discussing the importance of Honor your teacher and respect his teaching. It was super interesting and really quite clever, but I think it maybe made the teacher kind of uncomfortable? Probably because they were being really aggressive and pointed about some stuff, though I’m not entirely sure what point they were trying to make. That was one of the better teachers, though, because he let us have the debate anyway. Some of the other teachers just canceled class any time someone started talking about it or made us do self-study or whatever. Even after I pointed out that we were starting to miss things on the curriculum Teacher set out at the start of the year, no one seemed to care!

It occurs to me that you don’t care about any of this, so I’ll leave it out of the final version.

After Teacher went into seclusion, a lot of things began changing. At first it seemed just like curriculum changes, like there was a lot more sword training than usual, and also a lot of the seniors got really busy all of a sudden, so we juniors had to pick up a lot more of the chores. But later on we found out that the seniors were getting ready to go out on a super important mission that no one was allowed to know the details of – which was very exciting, at first. Everyone was talking about how it was the Sect Leader’s doing, that it was going to be something really exciting, an opportunity to win glory and honor for our Gusu Lan sect, you know, all the usual.

Except later on (much later, I’m skipping ahead a little), it turned out that the mission was going to be a war. Yes, a war, an affirmative war, by our Gusu Lan sect! I know, it sounds unbelievable, but it’s true. It was supposed to be a little border skirmish, the type everyone does well we usually don’t but OTHER PEOPLE do, but still, there was a lot of preparation and a lot of the seniors got dragged into it, whether they wanted to participate or not.

And before I forget, Xichen and little Wangji, remember how I said they were unhappy? Well, it turned out they were SO unhappy that they ran away from home. For real! They’re not even ten yet! And they MANAGED it! They managed to get out of the Cloud Recesses and all the way to the Nightless City where Teacher was staying!

Actually I’m kind of impressed with that. Even if Cangse Sanren found them nearby by coincidence and took them with her, ending up in the Nightless City by accident because of the war and all that, it’s still an achievement, especially given their ages…

Yes, you read that right, the war stuff happened after they disappeared. It wasn’t that people weren’t looking for them, because of course they were, but then the Sect Leader came back and said not to worry, so people stopped because they thought he knew where they were, and presumably he’d heard from Cangse Sanren or maybe from Teacher about it. I don’t know, the whole thing confuses me, I still don’t understand why we needed to go to war at all – I’m getting away from the point.

And lest you think that’s everything, there’s more to it than that!

See, at some point, Teacher left seclusion to go get married.

Without telling anyone.

Yes, Teacher. Yes, a marriage. Yes, left – he married out, not in. Yes, it was a secret marriage.

YES I KNOW IT’S CRAZY BUT IT’S TRUE!!!

The Sect Leader must have known about it, of course, because he’s both Sect Leader, the head of the clan, and Teacher’s older brother, and we all know that Teacher would never fail to obey proper protocol even if he was going to run off to elope.

Shixiong, I swear I go a little more crazy every time I think about it. I can’t believe Teacher eloped! Teacher! TEACHER!!!

Jiejie says that it’s possible that the Sect Leader arranged the marriage for Teacher, rather than it being at Teacher’s instigation, and that maybe he decided it wasn’t enough to make him go into seclusion but rather that he had to go away entirely. And she says I have a suspicious mind…

I mean, that would be ridiculous, right? If it was an arranged marriage, why would Teacher agree to it? Much less to marry out? And the Sect Leader would have to be the rottenest sort of bastard to set up an arranged marriage and then not give any of us the chance to give Teacher a proper send off, and he’s presumably not like that. I mean, that’s based mostly on my experience with Xichen and Wangji since obviously I’ve never met the Sect Leader myself, but it stands to reason, right? Teacher’s his little brother! No one would be that mean to their little brother, right, Shixiong?

I swear that was a genuine question, not a hint.

But wait – if you think Teacher eloping in a grand romantic fashion is weird, just wait till you find out who it was that he married. See, normally this is when I’d tell you to try to guess, Shixiong, but there’s no way that you’d get it, not even if you guessed a thousand times! And that’s why I’m your favorite shidi, because I’m not going to leave you in suspense about it.

The answer is:

Teacher married Qishan Wen’s Sect Leader Wen.

And before you ask, no, there hasn’t been some sort of coup in Qishan Wen or something. I really am talking about Wen Ruohan. Yes, THAT Wen Ruohan. The Wen Ruohan with the torture palace and the professional army and his fingers in every sect’s pie, the one who’s older than dirt but looks like a pretty boy, except you’re not supposed to say that part out loud. The one that everyone says is completely crazy but also really sneaky and clever, the one everyone says is going to take over the cultivation world one day and oh boy have I got news on that front for you, just be patient –

But you want to know what’s even stranger?

(Yes, Shixiong, I know you must be thinking to yourself: what could be stranger than Teacher marrying Sect Leader Wen?? And in fairness in normal times you’d be right to ask, because that was incredibly strange, but in this instance, the world is weirder than you could have possibly imagined!)

At the discussion conference that wasn’t – wait, I’m getting ahead of myself again

After they eloped, Teacher showed up with Sect Leader Wen to a discussion conference that Yunmeng Jiang sect had organized at the Lotus Pier, and that’s where they ended up announcing their marriage.

(Yes, that was the first announcement we had here, too. The Sect Leader didn’t tell anyone about Teacher marrying out, even though he must have known – he didn’t even pretend to be shocked, to hear some of the people who were at the discussion conference tell it. I guess that’s brotherly solidarity for you. Or something?)

Anyway, while they were there, they didn’t just formally announce the marriage – they also announced that Teacher had been married in as the husband. The HUSBAND!!!

Which, yes, means that Sect Leader Wen is the wife.

His wife.

And Sect Leader Wen agreed with it.

Which means: Wen Ruohan! Is! Teacher’s wife!!!

(As you might imagine, everyone immediately went to the library to read up on the rules regarding honoring your teacher’s wife. There was that one treatise written a few generations ago, the one that goes into detail, you may or may not remember it – well, it got so popular that the librarians had to make a request to the Discipline Hall for assistance in having the disciples who were assigned to writing out lines to make extra copies of it. There was such a fuss over it that I think it even got to the ears of the Sect Leader! I don’t know what he thought about it, but I bet it was really funny. Don’t you agree?)

Anyway, I’m going to let you pause to think about that a little bit more.

Wen Ruohan! The master of torture, the near-god, the would-be madman tyrant…is, to all appearances, extremely happy in his role as our Teacher’s beloved little wife!

I mean, I have no problem believing it of Teacher, if you know what I mean – everyone knows that when Teacher says jump, you say how high, it’s practically an unstated rule, and of course Teacher has always been very doting when it comes to people he loves. Look at how meticulous he’s always been about Xichen and Wangji! I bet that now that he’s married, he probably spoils his wife rotten…not that I think that Sect Leader Wen is easy to spoil. I mean, just think about the size of that dowry, right?

I mean, the Qishan Wen sect is all Sect Leader Wen’s, and he doesn’t even have sect elders to worry about because he’s so old and powerful. Even his wives don’t cause trouble and by all accounts seem to be pretty content with Teacher managing him, which is only reasonable, because Teacher managing anything makes it better. Practically a rule. Qishan Wen really are the sun in the sky, spreading their influence everywhere – I think they control a third of the cultivation world, if not closer to half.

Well back then anyway, before everything went down…I shouldn’t have crossed that out.

Well, it would be correct to say that Qishan Wen controlled a third or maybe a half of the cultivation world before you went into seclusion. There have been a few changes since then.

First off, before I get there, let me start with the mountain, and to explain the mountain, I need to explain the war. I unfortunately can’t tell you too much about exactly what was planned for the war, Shixiong, since I don’t actually know. The long and the short of it is that the Sect Leader decided we were going to have a border skirmish with one of the small independent sects, the sect elders didn’t object (or at least they didn’t succeed in objecting, which I personally think Teacher would have), and a lot of the seniors had to go to fight.

A lot of them were very stressed about it, some of them to the point of throwing up, but there wasn’t any choice. We were all so worried about them, Shixiong! Especially once all the other sects found out about it and it turned into a really big deal – we kept hearing all sorts of updates, about Lanling Jin hiring mercenaries and the local sects activating their defenses and the Wen sect’s army moving into the area – it was very frightening, Shixiong. I’m completely in earnest, it was terrifying. The thought of all of our shixiongs and shijies going to war and maybe getting hurt or even dying…I threw up once or twice myself, actually.

But don’t worry! Despite what a lot of us were afraid of, it all turned out all right in the end. Not because war isn’t as bad as we think it is, but rather because in the end we didn’t end up having to have a war at all.

There was an earthquake instead.

Some people said that it was caused by –

Well, some of the seniors were a little silly and believed –

There was this whole thing with Baoshan Sanren’s mountain supposedly moving –

In a somewhat amusing turn of events, Cangse Sanren, disciple of the celestial immortal mountain of Baoshan Sanren, apparently came by and made a joke that got a little out of hand –

Well, Teacher says that it was obviously a joke, anyway. But on the other hand, according to the seniors the timing was really suspicious and all, and also I think Teacher and Cangse Sanren are friends, so theoretically they could be engaged in some sort of cover-up, who even knows –

Listen, Shixiong, even if it’s fake it would be SO COOL if it were true –

There was an earthquake.

The earthquake was so powerful that it shook the foundations of one of the local mountains in the area (it was in a place called Xixiang, you wouldn’t have heard of it) and kicked off a terrible landslide, which was going to destroy the nearby towns and poison the local reservoir. I say ‘going to,’ because it didn’t, because Sect Leader Wen stopped it.

‘What are you talking about, Zhijin?’ I can hear you saying now. ‘Don’t be ridiculous, everyone knows that it’s impossible to fight a natural disaster, not even if you have a whole bunch of cultivators.’

WELL.

GUESS WHAT.

Turns out that when they say that Sect Leader Wen is powerful, they really, really mean it.

I mean, the entire cultivation world was absolutely shocked by what he did, so it wasn’t just a surprise to us. No one can entirely agree on what exactly he did or how he did it, but they do agree that he used some sort of secret cultivation art and just blasted all the rocks coming down from the mountain into dust before it could hit the towns.

Just…imagine that.

Shixiong, isn’t that so cool? And he’s our Teacher’s wife! Get it, Teacher!

Reminder: implications aren’t a violation of the rule against vulgar language.

Anyway, while or maybe shortly after Teacher’s wife fought a mountain and either won or at least got to a very respectable draw, a bunch of evil spirits (ghosts, spirits, corpses, everything) that had been hiding in the base of the mountain got out and started swarming everywhere. Luckily all the sects or at least many of them were already there, because they were expecting to have to go to war, and so everyone was able to go deal with them at once. It was a whole big thing! Everyone was fighting them, the whole cultivation world working together instead of competing against each other.

(Sadly something like that is not likely to happen ever again in either of our lifetimes outside of something artificial like a discussion conference or a big celebration. And we both missed this one, me because of age and you because of seclusion. Oh, well.)

Anyway, I wouldn’t be wasting your precious just-out-of-seclusion time with this update, Shixiong, unless I really thought it was important – I’m NOT gossiping just for the sake of gossiping – but rather I’m just giving you the background for all the stuff that happened after that. We’re talking big massive shifts in the entire cultivation world, Shixiong, stuff you really need to know about, you understand?

We’re talking about the change of power in multiple Great Sects, the rise of the Wen sect (well, continued rise anyway), and Teacher becoming the second or maybe first most important person in the entire cultivation world, which is so cool I sometimes think about it while daydreaming and then someone scolds me for violating Do not smile foolishly. I’m not the only one, either, everyone is violating that rule these days.

Now, because Do not tell lies,I will admit that I don’t know exactly what happened, since it’s still unclear – some things are really best left to later historians and record-keepers – but I can at least give you the general gist to the best of my understanding.

So, remember how I mentioned all those ghosts and spirits and corpses? Rumor has it that Lanling Jin’s Sect Leader Jin got possessed by one of them, apparently a libidinous ghost. Supposedly that’s how it got through all of his defenses as a cultivator and sect leader, because he was himself so libidinous that it attracted the ghost’s attention and it used that to get him. Jiejie says that it took the form of a beautiful woman and he couldn’t resist grabbing at her and THAT’S how it got him, which just goes to show that our ancestors were right about Do not indulge in debauchery and Promiscuity is forbidden.

It must have been a really super powerful ghost to manage to get to a sect leader like that, and it was a very vicious ghost, too, because it made Sect Leader Jin make a whole bunch of cursed gold coins which then got passed around to everyone in the cultivation world. It was really dangerous, Shixiong – everyone accepted them because it was polite (they were really ugly), but because they had a commemorative design, the sect elders were planning on letting people keep them. Imagine what might have happened if they hadn’t figured out that they were cursed! It would have been awful!

What we THINK happened is that the Sect Leader and Teacher must have met up somewhere on the battlefield and figured out something had gone wrong, somehow, because they were the ones that ultimately solved the issue. The Sect Leader went off to hunt down the libidinous ghost’s tracks, or at least that’s what must have happened because there’s no other reason why he would have just disappeared like that right after a big battle while Teacher and Sect Leader Wen went to investigate the rest of the cultivation world.

Maybe because Sect Leader Wen was the one who fought the mountain landslide, Sect Leader Jin the ghost possessing Sect Leader Jin also tried to have him killed right in the middle of the Lotus Pier. (Yunmeng Jiang sect was hosting a party to make up for the fact that everyone went home after the discussion conference; it’s not really important to the story, Shixiong, but if you have questions I’ll tell you all about it later because it is SOOOO funny). Teacher had to go rushing in to save his wife, like a hero rescuing a damsel in distress, a scene right out of a novel – I wish I was there to see that, even more than the mountain thing. Not because of how good a swordsman Teacher is (the Sect Leader is probably better, I GUESS) but, well, the idea of Teacher waving his sword around and charging in through a door to save his wife just sounds like it would have been amazing, right?

Especially because the wife is Sect Leader Wen. I mean, you’ve got to admit that’s funny, right??

After that, Sect Leader Wen took his army to Lanling City, Unfortunately, they weren’t in time to keep the libidinous ghost from killing Sect Leader Jin – supposedly he died in bed with a whole bunch of prostitutes because the ghost kept going and going until his heart exploded, if you know what I mean – and then possessing someone else, though I’m not sure exactly who. From what I hear, the Sect Leader ended up fighting and killing it in some sort of epic showdown, fighting side-by-side with Sect Leader Wen or something like that, but he was hurt really badly in the process and ended up dying.

Which is heroic and all, I guess, but also a little sad?

He spent so long in seclusion and died so shortly after he got out – it doesn’t seem fair.

Jiejie says that what actually killed the Sect Leader was more likely a broken heart. She says that even though the ghost must have been super powerful if it took over Sect Leader Jin, it wasn’t enough that it would have defeated our Sect Leader – certainly not with Sect Leader Wen to help out, even if he was still super tired from fighting the mountain – but that the Sect Leader was still so sad about his wife dying that he’d just wanted to do one last thing for the sect before he died, so when he defeated the ghost he was satisfied with what he’d done and so he died.

It sounds like a ridiculous load of romantic nonsense to me, but don’t tell Jiejie I said that –

On reflection, the suggestion made was a totally reasonable theory which I definitely don’t doubt in any way and also Jiejie says to say hi and best wishes on your return to you, Shixiong. Which I’m doing, because she’s the kindest, most beautiful and most forgiving jiejie in the world, with the sharpest eyes for READING OVER PEOPLE’S SHOULDERS, and also the one with the strongest pinching fingers with unerring aim right for my ear. Which still hurts.

Anyway.

My point is, think about that, Shixiong: both our Sect Leader and Sect Leader Jin died! And in our case, we didn’t even have Teacher around any more, because he married out, and then he comes back and does the most epic scolding in Gusu Lan history, causing all the sect elders to retire, leaving us completely bereft…!

It’s madness, Shixiong, I’m telling you, madness!

Okay, maybe not madness, I’m exaggerating. It could be much worse. At least we still have Teacher! Even if he is going to be mostly managing the sect providing advice on managing the sect from where he lives in the Nightless City, though of course they’re going to be promoting a lot of the sect seniors that were already doing things to do most of the day-to-day stuff (but more importantly we’ll still have Teacher, too, because Sect Leader Wen has already agreed that they’ll spend a little time out of every season or two in the Cloud Recesses, as needed, until Xichen and Wangji get old enough to start apprenticing as future sect leader/second-in-command).

Before you start worrying, Shixiong, we’re not actually becoming a subsidiary sect of Qishan Wen. Teacher would never let that happen.

Least of all to Xichen and Wangji, who are going to inherit it eventually!

Anyway, we’re still definitely in a better situation than, say, Lanling Jin, whose only option for sect leadership is a six-year-old child. His mother, Madam Jin, is temporarily acting as sect leader in his place, but given everything that happened with the ghost, Sect Leader Wen has stationed a battalion of his army at Jinlin Tower to make sure that nothing goes wrong.

Now THAT is called becoming a subsidiary sect, even if Lanling Jin will never admit it.

At this point, Shixiong, you may be thinking to yourself – wow! That’s a lot of change! The Qishan Wen sect has extended its influence over two Great Sects and all of their subsidiaries!

BUT THERE’S MORE.

It seems like, either during the events of Xixiang or shortly before, Qinghe Nie’s Sect Leader Nie suffered from a minor qi deviation – and you know how Qinghe Nie sect leaders tend to be with qi deviations. Anyway, since he’s friends with Teacher and Sect Leader Wen, they all put their heads together along with the Nie sect doctors and they seem to have come up with a way to keep him from having any more qi deviations. Now obviously I don’t know what that method is, since no matter how it was created, it’s officially a Qinghe Nie sect secret now, but what I do know is that whatever the method is, it involves Sect Leader Nie needing to retire from being sect leader in another year or so.

Apparently he’s going to go travel the world with Cangse Sanren and her husband, because he’s promised to kill some sort of beast for her in exchange for something that she’s doing for him that helps with his qi deviation problem. Jiejie says that Cangse Sanren is so funny that she can use jokes to make his qi travel right and that’s why he needs to be with her all the time, but that seems dumb, right? Maybe? DO NOT TELL JIEJIE OR SHE’LL GET MY EAR AGAIN.

Interestingly enough, Shixiong, they came to check out something in our Cloud Recesses’ library once, and it turns out that Cangse Sanren’s husband – you know, Wei Changze, formerly a servant in Yunmeng Jiang – is actually a historian with an interest in curses and unorthodox cultivation styles. Cool, huh? I think he’s going to stick around for a bit, too, or at least until he’s made his way through most of the library, which will take a while.

What this means, though, is that his son, Nie Mingjue, is going to have to take over, and he’s not even fifteen yet. I think? Maybe he is. He could even be older. You know how the Nie are. Either way, I don’t think the Nie sect is going to install a regent for him, but obviously, at that age, he’s probably going to need a lot of help in running sect matters. His father will be able to help somewhat, but otherwise he’s probably going to need to reach out to his sect’s allies.

Which, if you think about it, are: Gusu Lan and Qishan Wen.

And more specifically, Sect Leader Nie’s good friends, Teacher and Sect Leader Wen.

If you’re keeping track, that’s now three Great Sects that Qishan Wen has somehow managed to get its claws into (with Teacher’s help, which only goes to show you how awesome Teacher is).

Now, Shixiong, you may be thinking to yourself: ‘Okay, I think I see where this is going. Now tell me who died in Yunmeng Jiang!’

Well, I’m pleased to tell you: nobody died. They’re all okay. For once.

They’ve actually had a very positive change for the better. You see, apparently, Madam Yu or maybe we’re supposed to call her Madam Jiang now? Madam Yu got inspired by Sect Leader Wen being Teacher’s wife despite being more powerful and the proper sect bloodline and all that. She apparently went and demanded that Sect Leader Jiang let her be the husband, because she was more suited for the role than he was. And he AGREED!

(Only Yunmeng Jiang, am I right? Attempt the impossible!)

So now Madam Yu is running Yunmeng Jiang and Sect Leader Jiang is helping her do it, I guess, but either way the rumor is that they’re both much happier now. Or at least you don’t hear stories about them fighting all the time anymore, anyway.

Oh, and their kids are also all right. Uh, I may have forgotten to mention, but actually Cangse Sanren temporarily took the two Jiang sect heirs with her so that they could get to know her son while spending time together on a road trip, which turned out to be the same road trip where she happened to trip over Xichen and Wangji. What a coincidence, right?

Which leads me to the best part: TEACHER IS GOING TO BE TEACHING AGAIN!!!

It’s not going to be at home, of course, because he lives in the Nightless City now. But all that means is that all of us juniors get to go to stay at the Nightless City (which is supposedly HUGE) so that we can all do our lessons there together! It’s going to be year-round classes, with month or two month breaks around all the big holidays, and it’s going to be great. Qinghe Nie is sending their young master, Nie Huaisang, with Nie Mingjue going to go as well to learn how to run a sect from Sect Leader Wen, and Lanling Jin’s Jin Zixuan is going to be there (he doesn’t get a choice), Xichen and Wangji are obviously going to be there because Teacher is there, the Wen heirs (I think there’s two of them? maybe more if you count in some of their cousins?) already live there, and the Jiang sect heirs got brought there by Cangse Sanren along with her son…listen, Shixiong, you know how Teacher always invites some people from other sects to join our lessons with him, right?

Well, imagine that, except EVERYONE is going to be there. It’s going to be so much fun!

Yes, you read that right – it’s going to be fun, for me, because your favorite shidi is going to be one of the people that gets to go! I’ve never been happier to be one of the age groups that Teacher teaches…if you come out of seclusion early enough, maybe you can try to get a spot too? You’re not that old, you could probably get in with the older group!

Please, please please, Shixiong? It would be so much fun to have you there!

And even if you can’t get a spot, maybe you can come help teach or something? Teacher has already had to start recruiting extra people to come help with the classes, since there’s probably going to be a fair number of us there. Someone to supervise self-study, keep an eye on the sword training, help the ones who don’t know music with the basics – that sort of thing.

Supposedly Sect Leader Wen even volunteered to personally teach a class on arrays!

Jiejie says Teacher might not let him do it if he doesn’t behave. Then she giggled for some reason? I’m pretty sure it’s some sort of innuendo, but I’m not sure I understand what she was referencing…

Speaking of Sect Leader Wen, if you’re worried about the Fire Palace, don’t be – he’s apparently working on dismantling most of the torture palace aspects of it and turning it into a hobby palace instead. Or, well, apparently it’s always been the Wen sect leader’s hobby palace, only the sect leaders before Sect Leader Wen made it a pleasure palace and he made it a torture palace.

And now it’s going to be a…study palace, I guess?

I don’t know exactly. I think it’s supposed to be a place where people do experiments with arrays, which are Sect Leader Wen’s specialty. I don’t think I know enough about it to really understand, I think, but there was something about studying what happens to spiritual energy when it gets really small or really big and how it interacts with all sorts of things, coming up with rules about how it works and then trying to break them and stuff like that…anyway, all of a-Die’s alchemist and artificer friends got really excited, and a lot of the sect’s philosophers did, too, so I’m taking that to mean that it’s a good thing.

At minimum, it’s lots better than a torture palace, anyway.

Not that I would expect anything less from our Teacher, of course. They say that he can make a gentleman even out of a waste – why not make a good wife out of a tyrant?

Don’t tell Jiejie I said that. Or anyone else. Just imagine if Sect Leader Wen heard about that…!

Actually, I don’t know, maybe he wouldn’t mind?

I actually saw Teacher and Sect Leader Wen recently. They came together to the Cloud Recesses on some sort of business – maybe related to that time Teacher just straight up murdered a sect elder for breaking the rules? Teacher is SO COOL – and they were walking together through the Cloud Recesses, their heads bent together as they spoke with each other. Sect Leader Wen really does only look like he’s only in his twenties, particularly when he smiles, and he was smiling at Teacher, who looked content and pleased and warm in the way he does when he’s had some time to work on his music or spend time on things that make him happy.

His whole face was softer, you know? And for once, he was actually getting the chance to walk around without getting bothered by either the sect elders (not present) or the juniors (too afraid of Sect Leader Wen). I don’t think I’ve ever seen Teacher look so peaceful.

They’re obviously in love.

It’s just nice to see, you know? You hear about all those stories about Gusu Lan as compared to other sects, and particularly about the idiosyncratic yes I know big words too, Shixiong, I can be elegant when I want to be ways that the Lan of Gusu Lan go about falling in love when they end up falling in love. It’s just so - so - why are words hard And in this case I just feel like it sort of feels like the right end, you know? You know the way that Teacher always seemed a little lonely sometimes, like he wanted to be one of the ones that fell in love like that, but he just happened not to have had a chance yet.

And now he found his chance.

I mean…okay, sure, he found his chance and his love with possibly the weirdest person ever. There are definitely people in the sect that are never recovering from the shock they got when word of Teacher’s marriage got out. But you know what, if it works for him, good for him.

I’m glad they’re in love.

And they were obviously in love.

Really obviously in love, even if they weren’t putting it on display or anything.

I mean, they were glowing. Both of them – I think it might even be a bit literally true? They seemed brighter than the surroundings, somehow. I called Jiejie over to look, and she agreed that they were cute! Which wasn’t actually my question, but I guess it’s true.

And I guess I can understand why Teacher decided to elope with him.

(But only because we still get to attend Teacher’s classes. If Sect Leader Wen took away Teacher for good, I would be sooooo mad!)

Anyway, Shixiong, I hope that this is helpful…

Uh, sorry shixiong, it looks like I may have misunderstood the exact time and date and uh, everything, and now I really have to go pack RIGHT NOW because otherwise I’m going to be super late and I mean SUPER LATE so uh I guess you’re just going to have to get this letter as is, hopefully I haven’t forgotten to cross out anything too embarrassing, have a nice time back from seclusion bye!!!

~ Lan Zhijin

P.S. FIND A WAY TO COME TO THE NIGHTLESS CITY! WE’RE ALL GOING TO HAVE SO MUCH FUN!

[wangxian-the-zhijis]

After a few months of thinking (I’m a new fan), I finally know what Lan Wangji meant when he asked Wei Wuxian to trust him and that the situation has changed.

First of all, the answer is related to why the hell Lan Wangji was absent at the gathering and why he was sooooo late. This post clearly explained that after the Wens surrendered themselves, Lan Wangji went to the Burial Mounds to search for Wei Wuxian but found A-Yuan instead. This means that Lan Wangji saved A-Yuan before Wei Wuxian’s death and not after.

Another answer can be found in the list of the deleted scenes. Lan Wangji actually saved Wen Qing in Jinlintai. He battled Gusu Lan’s and Lanling Jin’s soldiers just to save Wen Qing because he knows that she’s important to Wei Wuxian.

Lan Wangji did ALL OF THAT for Wei Wuxian.

So that solves why it took so much time for Lan Wangji to appear and what the hell he was doing.

What I think Lan Wangji’s plan is… is that he will ask Wei Wuxian to stop everything. Stop his revenge for a while and calm down because not all the Wens are dead. There’s still a few people left of his newfound family. And I dare say that those 2 (plus Wen Ning but he ain’t there) are the ones who matter the most to Wei Wuxian (among the Wens).

You know what I hate? Is that Wei Wuxian was always saying something like Lan Wangji not believing him and that’s why he never accepted his help. But he never believed Lan Wangji either. He never listened to him. So like ??? Same banana.