#wen remnants did nothing wrong

[bamboo-gdn]

Wei WuXian didn't fail.

Burial Mounds settlement with the Wens wasn't worthless. And I'm not saying this because Sizhui survived. Wei WuXian gave them a place to live together. It wasn't the best place but it was something, more than the cultivation world had allowed them. Because the Wen Remnants were doomed since the end of the war, they were destined to die. So what matters is how they died. They didn't die humiliated in a labour camp but fighting for the life they had a right to live.

Wei WuXian gave them time, time they treasured till the end and even after the end. Because of that, even after being killed unjustified and not being given a proper burial they were able to move on. Because of that, when they came back they decided it was more important to protect those they had left than to harm those who had killed them.

So, Wei WuXian didn't fail.

#wwx #wy #wen remnants #burial mounds #wei wuxian #wei ying #burial mounds fam #wei ying did his best #for the wens that was enough #wei wuxian did nothing wrong #the wens were masacred unjustly #forever bitter that cql didn't add the second siege scene #one of the bests scenes #wei ying found family #wen remnants did nothing wrong

[dilfyjilfy]

I'm probably gonna catch some hate for this, but I've never really understood the emotional attachment people seem to have towards the wen remnants, for multiple reasons. Just to start, some adaptations are admittedly better at establishing that emotional connection than others. Imo, the donghua wen remnants are probably the most forgettable

It always feels wrong whenever the wen remnants get described as these poor, weak, completely innocent people. For one, the wen remnants were still largely cultivators. They may not have been on the front lines of the war, but saying that they were innocent seems a bit ridiculous. There are other ways to contribute to a war effort that don't involve combat. Wen Qing was a head doctor. If you don't think that she was actively participating in healing the wen soldiers that were involved in combat, then what do you think she was doing the whole time? That's like saying a basketball player being put on the bench during a game means they're no longer on the team. And even if they had no real contribution towards Wen Ruohan during the war, I feel like their complicity was contribution enough. Maybe it somehow escaped my knowledge, but I've never heard of any wen remnants helping any of the other sects during the Sunshot Campaign (taking on jobs as spies, sharing supplies, deserting, etc...). It's more likely that they sat by and watched Wen Ruohan and the rest of their sect participate in deeds that they knew were wrong, but did nothing to stop it. It's in the same way that it feels wrong when people praise Wen Ning and Wen Qing for helping wwx, when they only helped after they sat by and did nothing to stop the massacre of ymj. It's just weird to praise them for not participating in the killing, when all they did was avert their eyes when the killing was going on. And if the shoe was on the other foot, and Wen Ruohan had won the Sunshot Campaign, do you think that they would have turned their back on the sect, or stayed silent and complicit, and reaped the benefits of the won war?

If your reaction to any of what I said was "well, how do you expect them to have taken a stand, they were weaker than the other wens?", why can you make that excuse for the wen remnants, but not ymj and jc? What power did he have to fully protect a group of people who largely turned a blind eye to his and his sects' suffering? And that wasn't even why he couldn't fully support them, either. That had everything to do with the safety of his own sect, and his own people who had stood by him through tragedy and war

I'm also not saying that they deserved to die, or that I was happy that they died, I just feel like their deaths were something they were resigned to, and that I wouldn't be surprised if any the guilt and resentment they carried had a lot to do with being powerless, not just in the aftermath of the war, but during it as well

It's part of the reason why I interpret the blood pool scene from the 2nd seige, especially in the donghua, differently than the typically seen "the wen remnants are better people than the cultivation world because they helped protect the people that killed them" , but rather as "the remnants are protecting the other sects from danger in a way they had been unable to do when they were alive"(they had been unable to protect the other sects from wen rouhan)

I feel like i could have explained this better, but I think that's enough rambling for now

#jiang cheng #mo dao zu shi #the untamed #I'll limit the character tags on this one to (hopefully) stop any uglies from starting problems🤣

[sherylhooper]

There's a reason that even tho my country and my people push very hard to have us included in Europe, and discard everything that make us similar to Asia, I don't count myself as just European but more Asian, because our country is moatly located in Asia and also because the Silk Road and other Asian coutries' culture is very similar to us. That's the conversation for another time tho but when someone reads this, I want them to know that foreigners may call us white because of our skin color (even tho my ethnicity is very diverse 😒) but they still always count us as Asians because we aren't white and European enough for them.

What I want to say with that is that as much as I like that damnei, and especially MXTX books became popular, western people with their idiotic ideas make my skin crawl.

Unpopular opinion here but Wen remnants weren't innocent just because they haven't done what Wen Ruohan did. If someone doesn't something horrible, doesn't make them innocent and good. This is why I can't stand western people. Someone made a tiktok about how horrible Jiang Cheng was for leading the siege against Wei Wuxian and how horrible he was and how heroic WWX is and I wanted to make something very very clear.

MXTX herself very clearly wrote during Sunshot campaign that "no Wen took Sunshot Campaign seriously". Here it doesn't say that every Wen, besides Wen Qing and Wen Ning and Wen Qing's branch, took Sunshot Campaign seriously. No, she very clearly wrote what she wrote. People assume way too much that Wen Qing couldn't leave Wen Ruohan's side. I'm sorry but yes, yes, she could, She could've taken Wen Ning with her, gone to Lan Xichen or Nie Mingjiu and given up as a prisoner, but she didn't.

The fact very much remains: neither she, nor Wen Ning or others gave up on Wen Rouhan. They clearly expected him to win (and he was very much winning before WWX turned up with undead army and turned the tides.).

Now I want to address another thing and it's called POW, i.e. what Wen Remnants were.

The phrase, Prisoner of War for the first time, has been used in 1610 but the idea of losing side of war being "either slaughtered of enslaved" has been there since ancient times: Romans, Greeks, Turk Sejuks, Turk Ottomans, Persians, Arabs, Mongols, Chinese, Japanese, etc. They all have taken people from losing side of war as prisoners.

Now I want to adress what these POW were used as - "Typically, victors made little distinction between enemy combatants and enemy civilians, although they were more likely to spare women and children. Sometimes the purpose of a battle, if not a war, was to capture women, a practixe known as raptio."

My people were part of raptio many times, as our enemies captured women from my country because they were beautiful and they wanted to "verbessern" (improve) their blood and bred them for that purpose as disgusting as it sounds, this is a very reason why many foreign leaders in history, especially in Asia, had my people as grandmas or mothers, most of the time unwillingly and my people also took their own life before that kind of fate would befall on them too.

That was what happened to women prisoners after war most of the time, as for men, they were used to work manually almost every time for their captors.

Now, as much as Jin Guangshan and Jin Zixun make me very very angry, (not because how they acted against Wens but because they were simply disgusting people) they weren't wrong to take Wen Remnants in and make them work manually till they died (what could be argued that Jin Zixun was wrong in following that bat and capturing and impriaoning WN and his group during nighthunt). If everything WWX acting the way he acted was abnormal. He literally stole and freed them and went to the enemy's side.

Here is where I want people reading this to forget their western opinions and Geneva Convention (which was created in 1949 AFTER two world wars.). I know that most of them and their countries have never been to war in near history (USA involvement in Afghanistan, in Iraq, in iran, in many other countries doesn't count and neither does WW1 and WW2), have never had their people expeciance genoc!de so I want them to shut their mouth and listen to us, who have had wars at the hands oppressors and colonizators for more than 2000 years, yes two thousand years, who have experienced genoc!de multiple times. Even nowdays 20% of my country is occupied by our oppressors and we had 2 wars in last 32 years also at the hands of them. In 1992-1993 and in 1998 my people experienced ethnic cleansing alongside with our allies at the hands of Russians. And last war we had was in 2008, which I remember very well and it was hardly a war and more likely bombing the civilians!

Keep that in mind that I actually was in Jiang Cheng's shoes and understand that I also have a sibling. If, God above forbid, my sibling after what happened to us, got up, defected and went to Russians side, I'd kill that traitor with my own two fucking hands!!

Does people even understand what kind of bullshit they are speaking when they say that WWX was actually not wrong to take "innocent" Wens' side? There was no such thing as innocent people there!! They were elders, sure, but you can't make me believe that if they were younger they wouldn't fight in that war or that WRH wouldn't force them to fight. Did anyone from Wen Remnants say "oh, Wen Ruohan was such a bad person, we weren't actually on his side even tho we never defected during the war but just because we have done nothing against others, we are innocent". That doesn't work like that. They couldn't have been innocent when they stayed by WRH's side in the war!! At best, they simply were indifferent in it! They alao profited from war. Funding, medicine, etc have to come from somewhere, right?

Now I want to adress Wen Ning and Wen Qing and why I don't particulary care about them. Wen Qing was a healer, we have to understand that today's medical ethics that was created by Thomas Percival, is different from what physicians thought was correct in antient times, especially in ancient China.

"The traditional Chinese medical ethics emphasized heavily on physician's morality and set high standarts for medical practice. To summarie the ideas in these historical works, the phyaicians nuat rescue every like without any preconditions."

At that time there was no such thing as patient's automony. For that reason we can't fault WQ when she performed the golden core transplatation. She just did what WWX asked her.

There'a one thing that I'm gonna argue tho. When WQ and WN saved Jiang Cheng from other Wens, WQ told WWX that their debt from now on was null and void.

So when people say that Jiang Cheng should've always be in debt with her, is actually not correct. I also want to argue that she trully only cared for her brother. When she fell on her knees in front of WWX, she only wanted him to save Wen Ning. Nowhere did she say "oh, Jin clan is treating my branch so horrible, we all want to save ourselves. Help me save them."

Now about Wen Ning. He is a guy who has no other personality than just being m nice. He helped JC and WWX after Jiang Sect annihilation and that was also because he was nice. He is just a nice guy, nothing more, nothing less. He just exists to be "just nice guy".

I can't seem to force myself to care about him.

Someone on above mentioned tiktok commented and I quote:

"there is nothing jc went through that was significantly worse than what others went through yet people baby him so much 🙄 sry i don’t like mr genocide everyone"

The tiktok author replied:

"NO FR like “he lost his family” hate to break it to u bud but so did like. Everyone else … it was kind of a war,,,"

Did I read it correctly or did they simply compared Jiang Sect Genocide to people losing one or two relatives in the war??

The author in their bio had "free Palestine". Unfortunatelly that comment here clearly speaks that they don't actually care about anyone's genocide and they probably only do it for the trend.

Apparently these people also think that Jiang Cheng hunted down that tortured "pure innocent Demonic Cultivators for fun".

Are they dumb or do they trully think that these Demonic Cultivators all were like WWX and not blood-hungry like Xue Yang?? The only remotelly normal Demonic Cultivator was WWX!! Nowhere did MXTX say, even in interviews that JC hunted Demonic Cultivators for fun! Some people have never read a book in their life and it shows!

Especially when they act as if WWX was second coming of Jesus and has never done anything wrong.

First of all, WWX did, in fact, have an army in Burial Mounds, the army of undead, fierce corpses and ghosts. That army may not have Wen Remnants, but it was still an army! Also wasn't WWX the one who wrote death threats with his own blood and sent them different sects? He, obviously, wasn't in right mind at that time but he really was the threat to the Jianghu. He was arrogant and, what we know is that Jiang Cheng led the siege (please, remember that we also hear that from other people - who love rumors and speculation and etc. We don't know for sure if JC led the siege or not.).

WWX did betray him. He left him alone when he took Wen Remnants. They were brothers!! What kind of older brother abandons their little sibling? Wei Ying also indirectly caused Jiang YanLi's death. Mind you, Wei Ying didn't die on the same day as JYL, but three months later.

That alone left Jiang Cheng trully alone with a newborn nephew!!

It's a wonder he didn't go out of his mind.

Just because WWX suffered doesn't mean other people, especially Jiang Cheng didn't lose everything in the world. He had to revive a dead sect with his two very hands in his early twenties.

Some people also don't understand what kind of power vacuum Jiang Fengmian and Yu Ziyuan's deaths created! Take cultivation out of the novel and you are left with 5 big sect with Sect Leaders who are like the kings in their own land! People pay taxes here canonically. Do some people trully believe that Yumeng Jiang would remain untouched when there was no Jiang Sect left to rule it? Jin Guangshan and other sects, big or small, would start fighting over the land. Jiang Cheng had more problems at his hands than caring about leftover Wens and the problems that Wei Wuxian created because at that time, when he stole Wens from Jin Sect, he was still a part of AND the Head Disciple of Jiang Sect 🤌🏻

Wen Ruohan wiped out one of the 5 big sects and he may have done the same if Wei Wuxian didn't insult Wen Chao, but he indirectly gave Wen Chao the reason to hate Jiang Sect even more than his father's brainwashing and people think it's not that important.

People also genuinely hate Lan Xichen because he never cared about Wen Remnants enough to take them in or save them 🤦‍♀️

Wei Wuxian should also have cared enough for his sect to at least help JC revive it or something as his Head Disciple. Him giving JC his golden core meant nothing at that time, I said what I said! Especially because he didn't know! 🤷‍♀️ I blame Jiang Fengmian for raising him all highty and mighty and lone wolf or smt, but that's the discussion of another time.

I trully believe that some people read the novel with their eyes closed! This here is exactly why I hate westerns so much when they seriously think that JC is the worst character and hate him more than Wen Ruohan, Jin Guangyao/Meng Yao and Jin Guangshan 🤌🏻

MDZS fandom is clearly very toxic and I'm very glad I'm not a part of it. I'll stay in my SVSSS bubble for eternity.

P.S. just so I can make something very clear. The Siege didn't happen because of Wen Remnants as Jin Zixun allowed WWX to take them away, but because WWX killed Jin Zixuan, who was a sect heir and also husband of his Shijie. Wen Ning killed him indirectly, WWX had no control over his abilities, he was powerfull but with no control and his mind was deteriorating at that time. He was a danger to the cultivation world. Siege happened because of him, against him, and Wen Remnants died as a colletal demage. Morally right or wrong, what he created was a political disaster and it ended with every Wen, excluding WN and Wen Yuan, and with himself dead!

UPDATE. someone from China reblogged this post and called me quite horrible things, but that's okay. They also questioned if my people have even gove thro genocide at all. Okay, denial of my people's genocide is not new either. What they said next was that Siege of Burrial Mounds was a genocide of Wen Remnants. No, actually it wasn't. They died as an collateral demage because Wei Wuxian was there, that's the tragedy. I'm gonna repeat once again, Siege happened because of WWX, not because of Wens.

Another thing what they said is that people have empathy that I lack and I'm a horrible person for that, and I should be ashamed for even thinking that or that I'm Chinese literature to spread my hate, etc, etc.

My empathy died when things such these happened to my people.

Mind you, this is only one, one single city and it's not even the whole list of crimes they have done. I'm gonna find and update this post once again, cuz it's clear that I need to spread awereness, I won't let their names be forgotten...

Today the remains of 12 people, who were considered as "lost during war", were found and transferred to my country for burial and it was very emotional as many remains still haven't been found after 30+ years yet and people still hope that there could be even a single bone found and returned so they can bury it.

So, yeah, I bury whatever empathy I have left with the remains of people everytime something like this happens. Every time people deny the genocide of my people, every time these people call US colonizers and many degrading things, saying that we oppressed them when in reality it was other way around, when we couldn't speak our language, when they called it the "dog's language" and and laughed at it, couldn't get any service if we spoke it and they mockingly told us to speak "human language", which to them was Russian, WE were oppressed in our own country and land and they took everything from us and made the world believe that we were oppressors and colonizers, they even stole the name of our region for themselves....

And no one in the world did anything about this because they didn't care. So no, everytime I'll always imagine myself in JC's shoes that I'm asked to care about ethnic Russians and Apsuas, I simply can't care, don't care and won't even care unless justice is served, unless all the land they have stolen is returned, unless they all apologize for what they have done and stop spreading lies about us....

So, good for you, if you have empathy and are a better person, unfortunately, I am not...

#mo dao zu shi #modao zushi #mzds #mxtx #the untamed #cql #jiang cheng #wwx #wei wuxian #wei ying #wen remnants #wen ruohan #wen ning #wen qing #sunshot campaign #the siege against wwx #jiang cheng is allowed to feel sad #jiang cheng deserves more than toxic mdzs fandom gives him #yunmeng bros #yunmeng siblings #yunmeng jiang #yunmeng jian sect #jiang fengmian #he was a dumbass who did nothing to protect his clan when Wen Ruohan dared to attack Gusu Lan and burned it #how was this man a sect leader i will never understand #jiang yanli #jian yanli was also very stupid when she left baby Jin Ling and went to “save” WWX #like girl there was literal fight going one #like what do you think you could do there 🤦‍♀️ #also fuck imperial russia ussr and russians in general

[atqh16]

The thing is it’s understandable for Jiang Cheng to be angry at Wei Ying for ‘choosing’ the Wens and the whole issue with the golden core. But what makes it infuriating is that he never tries to understand the situation from WY’s perspective. JC was practically catatonic after losing his core. They were in the middle of a war and the wens were more than eager to look for and kill him. WY did what he had to do to keep his brother alive and he absolutely does not deserve blame for it. If someone you loved was spiraling into a destructive disassociation it’s not wrong for you to intervene even if it’s against their wishes

And about the Wens, again his anger was understandable but morally? He was in the wrong. Extremely. He was being selfish to an almost inconceivable extent. JGY wasn’t incorrect when he said JC shared a responsibility in WY’s demise. In a way JC abandoned WY first. When he needed him most.

He participated in a FUCKING GENOCIDE. He knew and saw with his own eyes that the wen remnants were nothing more than the elderly, children and a few young people. Even if you want to argue that there’s an Infinitesimal chance that he didn’t he still did NOTHING to stop it. If he did then mxtx would have brought it up because that’s a pretty fucking important piece of info.

I absolutely do not understand how most readers can brush that part off and make him a woobie.

#jiang cheng #mo dao zu shi #mdzs #and again I LIKE him #he is actually really well written #he is a wonderfully complicated character #but fans go overboard in their victimization of him #it’s the Loki effect all over again #and again trauma does NOT and will NEVER excuse asshole behavior #mine

[pharahsgf]

Looking at that on JC fans thinking WWX belong to JC actually and makes me think about how many of the stans are just not willing to see the Wen Remnants as people within the narrative. There’s all these excuses, there’s all these “well Wei Wuxian abandoned Jiang Cheng and broke his promise! Wei Wuxian is actually the one who should’ve done things differently! Jiang Cheng made so many sacrifices like giving up his dogs for Wei Wuxian!” that it’s so so clear that they don’t see the Wen Remnants as hurt, innocent people (OLD PEOPLE AND A BABY) that WWX is protecting because it is the right thing to do and instead are a plot device for him to hurt Jiang Cheng and then fall to his own “hubris” and “savior complex” and it’s such a bonkers take, like Jiang Cheng’s feelings are more important to them in the story then like actual lives in the story.

Like both Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng commit fantasy war crimes and do some pretty fucked up stuff, the difference is Wei Wuxian is like “hmmm I shouldn’t have done most of that, that was a bad thing to do actually” and Jiang Cheng just…doubles down and continues the cycle of cruelty and so many people who love Jiang Cheng don’t want to accept that. They don’t want Wei Wuxian to have grown up and Jiang Cheng to be trapped in the past, they can’t stomach it, and it’s so funny because of the wild takes they’ll make because of it.

I love Jiang Cheng as a character, he’s complex, he’s interesting, he’s funny, and he’s *wrong*, like it’s so important within the narrative and to his character is that he’s wrong, he’s wrong to say the Wen Remnants should die, he’s wrong to help lead the first siege of the burial mounds, and then his stans take that and go “what if Jiang Cheng was completely in the right about everything he did actually?” and it’s just so bonkers

the key to those apologist narratives is that personhood is withheld from everybody who isn't jiang cheng. your average jc defense post will posit that it was more convenient for jiang cheng to let the wens die and that his specific situation and trauma made it hard for him to do otherwise, therefore the morality of his actions aren't even worth considering. it's taken as a given that jiang cheng's safety and success weigh heavier than the lives of fifty-odd people, two of which literally risked everything to help jiang cheng when the situation was reversed. jc-centric takes on wei wuxian's actions are so crazy because it's all being analysed through a lens of "does this hurt or benefit jiang cheng, the only person who matters?"

i really love these last two paragraphs. jc stans dismissing wei wuxian's development because jiang cheng is so fucking static is something i hadn't even considered lmao, but it absolutely does check out - they love nothing more than pointing at the horror movie shit wei wuxian pulled in his yllz era and claiming this means you can't criticise jiang cheng somehow, when in reality wei wuxian moved on and bettered himself while jiang cheng is an active murderer and torturer pushing 40. wei wuxian ultimately stayed true to his ideals of protecting the weak and vulnerable; jiang cheng remained as someone the weak and vulnerable need to be protected FROM.

#replies #anonymous #i'm not joking when i say that jc stans taking wq + wn's sacrifices for granted bc they're 'just doing the right thing' #while jc can't be expected to sacrifice even less #is going to make me snap one day #long post

[withthewindinherfootsteps]

i saw “Jiang Yanli is a well-written character actually” and i had to follow you

Thank you very much! I do very much think she's a character people give very little credit to in the fandom – I did actually start writing a meta on this last year, and because I'm not sure when I'll finish it*, I'll post an excerpt here:

She’s a much deeper character than people give her credit for, and part of that stems from just how coherent her traits are with her background. And I feel bad for her, because she’s so much more well-written than people give her credit for. And more than that, she’s just so very human. She’s like Lan Xichen in a lot of ways (and the way that the fandom treats them is very similar, too). They’re both sheltered and naive, and often wilfully so, but ultimately want the best for the people they consider family. The only problem is that they’re not willing to confront their worldview to do that until it’s too late – they want the world to be like the comfort of how they think they is, and ignore the signs that point to something else. And that’s a very understandable! It takes a lot of courage to confront your worldview and replace it with a truth that’s worse, and not very many people have the courage to willingly do that – and that makes them flawed and perhaps complacent, but not evil in any way.  And the best part about this in Jiang Yanli is that it makes perfect sense with the way she was brought up.  She was sheltered pretty much all the time in her early life – she doesn’t go to Gusu to study, she doesn’t go to the Wen indoctrination camp, she doesn’t really experience anything that broadens her horizons and perspective and forces her to face and confront the harshness of the world. Even when Lotus Pier falls, she doesn’t experience it first-hand – which may hurt just as much, but yet again she doesn’t have to physically confront the Wen clan’s tyranny. She’s not brought up as a cultivator who goes out to face danger and fight foes and inevitably experience the harshness of the world, she’s brought up as somebody from a wealthy clan whose role is to marry for political gain into another wealthy family, where she’ll presumably be sheltered all her life, too.  By that time the Fall of Lotus Pier happens, and everything else after that, she’s grown up and her mind isn’t as susceptible to being shaped by new experiences – her view of what the world is and how she thinks it is is already instilled into her, and much, much harder to change. And she wants nothing more to hold onto that world – she doesn’t want to venture out of her comfort zone or confront truths that may be painful. We see that all the time in her actions. During the Sunshot Campaign, during a war, what does she focus on? Her familiar childhood crush on Jin ZiXuan, and by extension the familiar life that was planned out for her; and her ability to make soup, something she made all the time at Lotus Pier for her family there. When Wei Wuxian is protecting the Wen remnants, what does she cling onto? The idea that nothing’s wrong, that he and her and Jiang Cheng can still be a happy family because that’s how it’s always been to her, even if that was never really the case, and even if it’s impossible; her soup, again, and it’s not just because she likes making the soup, it’s again symbolic of their childhood days in Yunmeng. During the gathering at Nightless City, why does she go? To see her brother one last time.  I think that that aspect of her also stems from the volatility of Lotus Pier – she wants things to be predictable, to be safe, she wants to be in control of her grasp over the situation. That’s why she de-escalates conflict the way she does, that’s why she stays ignorant to the more sinister parts of the world. She wants things to stay how she knows them to be. She does try to distract people from conflict rather than resolving it, which can do more harm than help, but it makes sense with her character – she grew up in the incredibly volatile Lotus Pier, with her parents arguing all the time, and of course that affects her! Of course she wants to avoid that! And she takes after the only example she has of someone trying to de-escalate conflict, Jiang Fengmian, who does the same thing. (September 2022)

*I'm saying this because 1) I know I've been very inactive lately, which is because currently my hyperfixations are on other fandoms (they always cycle back around, but it can take a while) so it's harder to make myself write content here; and 2) because I haven't read MDZS in a while so don't want to write using only use information from my memory without canon sources, and risk misinterpreting something or giving a reading that doesn't fit with the source material. I do plan to read it again, but I'm not confident in how accurate I can be right now, and I definitely don't want to spread misinformation. Even the excerpt above doesn't have evidence ie quotes, which I'd quite like to back up the claims I make. But yes, thank you very much for the ask!

#mdzs meta #my asks #my meta #(sort of) #jiang yanli

[mxtxfanatic]

Wei WuXian stayed quiet. A while later, he answered, “So that’s why we should cut ties right now, in case anything I do affects the YunmengJiang Sect in the future.”

Or else, he really couldn’t make any guarantees on what he’d do in the future.

“...” Jiang Cheng murmured, “My mom said that you do nothing but bring our sect trouble. It’s true indeed.” He laughed coldly, talking to himself, “‘To attempt the impossible’? Fine. You understand the YunmengJiang Sect’s motto. Better than I do. Better than all of us do.”

—Chapt. 73: Recklessness, exr

Jiang Cheng isn’t saying this because he believes that he will be dragged into Wei Wuxian’s “mess” by association, or else he would have been satisfied with Wei Wuxian offering defecting as a solution. He’s saying this because Jin Guangshan just told him that Wei Wuxian’s actions make it look like he’s “starting his own sect” with the Wen remnants, with the implication being that any sect Wei Wuxian founds will be more powerful and popular than any of the current established clans, especially the Jiang Clan who owes its continued survival directly to Wei Wuxian (and from the way all those cultivators were clamoring at the foot of the Burial Mounds, jgs wasn’t wrong).

Madam Yu always said that Wei Wuxian would show Jiang Cheng up no matter what he did. This is the “trouble” that she was afraid of and the fear that her son inherited. By Wei Wuxian refusing to return under his command to Lotus Pier, Jiang Cheng is accepting this as Wei Wuxian reaching “above his station” to show him up once more.

#human reads mdzs: take 2 #human metas mxtx

[jiangwanyinscatmom]

I'm sorry, but Jiang Cheng has no right whatsoever for his continued malice towards the Wen Remnants when the ones in power already were killed. Just a nice parallel that he didn't learn anything from the killings of his own sect members, while demanding the deaths of people based on only his hate, when they already had lost their sect seat and any political hold it had.

"He hates them justly", is wrong in accordance to what we are shown in the book, same as Nie Mingjue's. They only dismissed them and their situation out of hate that was no longer valid. Wei Wuxian himself said he held no love for them originally, but there is a limit of what personal hate is, and outward malice to make things worse on a people that were already defeated.

He has no justifiable reason to continue to pursue them until they were wiped out, and demanding Wei Wuxian to return them to a labor camp. Karma, does not work like that, and what he did had nothing to do with the wheel of karma and fate.

#mdzs #mo dao zu shi #canon jiang cheng

[grewlikefancyflowers]

unpopular opinion time but i'm thinking about how people are often like 'well the lans were at the pledge conference/siege too!!!' like yeah they were there because wen ning had killed multiple members of their clan in an unprovoked attack after they'd travelled to jinlin tai to defend him & wen qing ????

obviously the reader knows that wwx was not responsible for this (he was restrained all the way back in the burial mound). but the lans (and everyone else) has no idea. and at this point, to be honest, how can they reasonably be expected to question whether there's some misunderstanding or justification behind it?

i mean, wwx had wen ning kill four of the labour camp guards, in what the guards claim was an unprovoked and unjustified attack. when asked for an explanation, wwx's own sect leader does not dispute this, instead he publicly fights with wwx then declares to everyone that he is their enemy.

then jzx, and who-knows how many other jins are killed at qiongqi path. it's safe to assume that the jins did not make it public knowledge that they'd ambushed their own guest on his way to see them, and instead spun some other tale about it.

we don't know exactly what the lans thought of it, but we do know that they spoke up for the wen siblings. they obviously weren't willing to blindly follow the jins or condemn wwx & the wen remnants at this point. they only ever agreed to take any action against the burial mound settlement after wen ning had already killed several lans.

like idk i think it's fairly reasonable after two incidents or supposed unprovoked massacres and a third confirmed one to conclude that the guy behind it might actually have done all that. especially when the guy in particular has a reputation for mass, brutal killings and has made threats against them in the past 🤷🏻‍♀️

and i think it's a disservice to mdzs to read it through some 'society=bad' lens. like sure, we do see mob mentality and widespread hypocrisy and misplaced resentment against convenient targets. but the events of mdzs didn't just happen by accident ?? it was orchestrated by the most powerful in society to suit their own agendas.

fear and hatred of wwx was so widespread because jgs lied about him, because he had him ambushed and gave him no choice but to fight back. and because jc refused to support wwx's statements that they owed a debt to wn's branch of the wen sect & they hadn't participated in the war. and because jc withheld the truth about what happened to wen ning and why wwx released them and instead told everyone that wwx has made himself their enemy!!

i guess these arguments come about because people are defending wwx's actions at nightless city, but you don't need to paint the jianghu side as motivated purely by evil intentions in order for wwx to have done nothing wrong?? it doesn't matter if they had real justification to be there or not??

they all voluntarily agreed to attack him, he fought back, how could they expect anything else ?? they're not victims of the battle that they volunteered for & instigated. and if their army of 3000 or 5000 or whatever still isn't strong enough to defeat him then that's their problem, not wwx's lol.

#mdzs #i mean i don't think the lans or nie or whatever background sect or characters behaved perfectly but i just don't think they're comparable #the people who actively orchestrated wwx's downfall and death #aside from jzx the only time we see wwx feeling guilt about the deaths he caused was those lans at qiongqi path that's part of the reason #***jinlin tai not qiongqi path lol #he was so keen to avoid lwj at first and always summoned wen ning in secret #like i don't think post-canon wwx is gonna be getting mad at the lans for attending the pledge conference 😶 #mdzs meta

[haunted-radishes]

I don’t understand how anyone can be anti-Jiang Cheng and pro-Nie Mingjue. Seriously every criticism I’ve seen leveled at Jiang Cheng, Nie Mingjue deserves it more.

Jiang Cheng threatens Jin Ling? Nie Mingjue has made multiple attempts on Jin Guangyao’s life, burned Huaisang’s possessions, and both of them are terrified of him. At least Jin Ling knows that Jiang Cheng has his back and wouldn’t actually seriously hurt him (i may be blending canons a bit here with the best possible interpretation of jc and the worst possible interpretation of nmj)

Jiang Cheng did nothing to protect the Wen remnants? My dude, have you forgotten that he was the only one to put in a good word for them at the conference? Which Nie Mingjue brushed aside? Or that Nie Mingjue had a hand in deciding the remnants’ fates and Jiang Cheng didn’t? (CQL canon. I don't remember if this is a thing in the novel)

Jiang Cheng alienated and antagonized his quasi-brother figure? See above point about Jin Guangyao.

Jiang Cheng is angry and violent?..... Do I really need to say anything?

Jiang Cheng’s fans are too defensive of him and act like he did nothing wrong? Have you ever seen anyone who isn’t a hardcore Jiggy apologist criticize Nie Mingjue?

#saltbox #i think this is my riskiest post yet #in spite of how long it's been sitting in my drafts

[sizhui]

My favorite thing about MDZS/The Untamed is the existential and moral substance of its romantic plot - the. object of longing embodies a value initially lacking in the subject of longing; his existence itself answers a question that the subject has been posing.

Lan Wangji asks Lan Qiren, “what is black and what is white? What is good and what is bad? what is orthodoxy and what is heresy?” Lan Qiren quotes a section of the sect rules which states, “I will not make friends with bad people.” Meanwhile, Wei Wuxian responds to the question not with words but with the entirety of his life and death. He subjects himself to humiliation and resentment by giving up on his golden core for Jiang Cheng, then to banishment and death by siding with the Wen remnants, all while allowing the world to think of him as selfish, unfilial and motivated by greed for power. The contradiction to Lan Qiren is most prominent here. The Wen Remnants are, in the Lans’ eyes, the lowest of the low - belonging to an enemy sect, and on top of that elders, women and a child - people who can’t even die honorably, left to work to exhaustion instead. Wei Wuxian’s love for them is very different from anything Lan Wangji might consider love.

For young Lan Wangji, love is considered a tribulation and a temptation to overcome - the “earthly matter” he needs to overcome. Though ardent, it is an unspoken feeling, never expressed in a way that can be meaningfully received and interpreted. For Wei Wuxian, love is a series of definite acts of partaking in others’ pain and condemnation. First he accepts being branded with hot iron instead of Mian Mian. Then he gives away the golden core he cultivated all his life to Jiang Cheng. Finally, in his grandest display of compassion, he leads the Wen Remnants away to the Burial Mounds. The odds are very poor-looking: he cannot save anyone, only prolong their lives by a few years, and he will eventually also die with them. If he were to abandon them, the outcome of Wens’ destinies would be the same, but Wei Wuxian might have earned back his respect and livelihood. Still, he chose the former, because that’s the value his character is assigned - it is more than compassion or even empathy - it’s a mad, willing descent for the sake of a doomed another.

And while Wei Wuxian in life still perplexed Lan Wangji, Wei Wuxian’s death drills the lesson into his head fully and fatally. Only in Wei Wuxian’s absence did Lan Wangji come to understand the “self-chosen right and wrong, the crooked bridge you walk into the night” that Wei Wuxian spoke of, and accepted it - branded himself with the same hot iron, symbolically taking upon continuing the fate of Wei Wuxian. He begins selling his charity so cheaply that all the orthodox sects sneer at him, a hero of the people rather than the cultivation world. He does not make his love and ideals known, no longer out of shame but because he asks for no recognition, no reward and no way out. Goodness, for Wei Wuxian and now for him, is a sacrifice that asks for nothing, not even to be acknowledged.

[silverflame2724]

Everyones Reaction Prompt

When Wei Wuxian took the Wen Remnants to the Burial Mounds he wasn't very optimistic about achieving anything other than subsistence farming and living. So as you can imagine using a breakthrough in Demonic Cultivation to completely restore the Burial Mounds to their original state as a legendary divine garden exceeded his and the Wens wildest expectations.

The rest of the cultivation world are collectively forced to reevaluate everything they know about Demonic Cultivation and Wei Wuxians capabilities as the Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation.

For a long time, Wei Wuxian had never understood demonic cultivation. He had stumbled into it in a fit of desperation in order to survive and never gave much thought about it for many months. But here, now, as Wei Wuxian made a breaththrough in demonic cultivation, he realized that there was much misunderstood about resentful energy. 

The Burial Mounds - could it really be called that anymore - was a paradise now. Wei Wuxian didn’t know how exactly he had done it, but when he had reached enlightenment as he pondered about resentful energy, the Burial Mounds had been transformed, purified into what seemed like a celestial garden straight out of a fairytale.

There was not a speck left of resentful energy, all of it having been absorbed into Wei Wuxian’s newly formed yin core.

.......................................

Jin Shuirui stumbled backwards as he witnessed the purification of the Burial Mounds. He had been given orders by his sect leader to keep watch over the demonic cultivator and the escaped Wens but had started growing bored of watching them farm and live like normal people. He would rather face a stampede of fierce corpses than continue to spy on what seemed like the ordinary life of a commoner. 

But now.......he hurriedly ran away. Wei Wuxian had purified the Burial Mounds! He absorbed all of the resentful energy from that damned place and hadn’t gone crazy!! That man was a monster.

But it did make him curious.

Demonic cultivation made Wei Wuxian so powerful. Could Jin Shuirui also possibly cultivate it to achieve the same power?

..........

Soon, the news reached far and wide to everyone and anyone. Whether they be sect leader or disciple, merchant or commoner, it soon became public knowledge that the Yiling Patriarch purified the Burial Mounds.

Some people, namely Jin Guangshan, became even more consumed with the idea of bringing over Wei Wuxian to his side. Even though food, money and all kinds of bribes had been sent to the Burial Mounds, they were rejected without even a second glance.

(Wei Wuxian, of course, wasn't an idiot. He took the money, since he could be sure it wasn't poisoned, and merely replaced the lost money with rocks and an illusion talisman that would trick the Jins.)

Jin Guangyao, on the other hand, was forced to reevaluate Wei Wuxian's power. If he could be so powerful as to purify the Burial Mounds, then what else could he do? Perhaps trapping Wei Wuxian using the lingering affection he had towards the Jiangs would backfire. What else should he do to make sure he could please his father?

...

Others refused to believe they were wrong about demonic cultivation, choosing to stick to old and traditional ideas that resentful energy brought nothing but destruction and pain.

Of course, those voices were small, and were soon drowned out by the overwhelming evidence that resentful energy could do good for once.

Lan Qiren was one of these people. He had never had a good impression of Wei Wuxian, regardless of the fact that he knew he was being unfair to him. He had always been stubborn about sticking to the rules and his own ideals. Even Cangse Sanren hadn't been able to shake him out of it.

However, what Wei Wuxian did was beyond a miracle. He used resentful energy to do something good. Something Lan Qiren had never thought was possible. And Lan Qiren.....he was forced to take a good look at Wei Wuxian for the first time and see him as the person he had always been.

Lan Qiren didn't know how to feel about that.

As this was going on, Lan Xichen, too, began to feel a little more care towards Wei Wuxian. Perhaps, with this deed, he could finally be worthy of Wangji's love and care.

...

Jiang Yanli just smiled. Finally, everyone will know how great her didi is!

Jiang Cheng grumbled as he heard of what his idiot shixiong did. This will cause him more work, as Wei Wuxian is still technically part of the Jiang sect, but at the same time, it also makes it easier on him with regards to Wei Wuxian's reputation. He hoped that with this, Wei Wuxian won't be bothered anymore.

Of course, he'd never voice his concern out loud. (But he might send a congratulatory letter with some supplies. Just maybe though!)

...

Nie Huaisang clenched his fists, fanning himself lightly as he watched his network spread that information around. He knew that Wei-xiong would eventually work things out! Now all Huaisang had to do was use this momentum to restore his friend's reputation.

Nie Mingjue had been on a night hunt when the news broke and didn't really have an opinion on this. He had never been close to Wei Wuxian, and though there were a bunch of rumors about him at this time, the kid had assisted him during the war. Besides, who was he to comment about one's cultivation method when the Nie's was similar to his? He was only glad that Huaisang's friend was a good one.

...

Lan Wangji had been helping an isolated village in the woods surrounding Gusu when the whispers of the recent gossip reached his ears.

"Did you hear? That Wei Wuxian purified the Burial Mounds!"

What? Lan Wangji was frozen stiff in confusion before an abnormal amount of worry flooded his mind. Is Wei Ying okay? To absorb or get rid of that much resentful energy had to have had an negative effect on him. I need to go see if he's okay even if he rejects me!

Having that plan in mind, he thanked the village head for the food provided as payment and headed off to Yiling.

____________________

Some things I should clarify. I don't really like Lan Xichen. He's always assumed that Wei Wuxian should return Lan Wangji's feelings and didn't really care about what he had been through. This is, of course, in my opinion.

This little fic also takes place a little before the "planned fight" between Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng. (Towards the prompter, not sure what part in the timeline you wanted, but I chose this part. If you want me to change it, I can. You'll have to wait until I open the asks again, which might take a while.)

Towards everyone else, sorry for the long wait. College is picking up since I have to do internships and get part-time jobs, so I've been away. Regardless, I hope you enjoyed this!

#mdzs #wei ying #wei wuxian #lan zhan #lan wangji #wen qing #wen ning #wen qionglin #wen remnants #wen yuan #fluff #demonic cultivation #switching POVs #WWX has a new core #it's not a golden core though #he's not quite immortal but he's getting there #LQR is improving #but he's still a stubborn old man #LXC is.....LXC #he doesn't approve of WWX #but that's starting to change? #LWJ is worried #he's very worried #JC is a good brother #JYL is just here for the ride #she's very happy watching everyone acknowledge WWX

[closetchaosstuff]

I love your recent post, just one thing, jc goes up the mountain and says : so its only the weak the women the old and the children, and other info tells us these people are from wen qings healing branch, they were also uninvolved in the war/they did not shed blood. But i think there was also info they were cultivators, in the sense they need to cultivate to be able to heal, this of course changes nothing about their unjust deaths or any excuse on jc's behalf because they still shed no blood, they were no threat to anyone yet he and the rest of the world killed them for simply being wens, just they were not non-cultivators. Ive come across posts saying 'oh but they cultivators so they had to be killed/others were right to be scared' etc when the cultivation world killed a granny and threw them all in blood pool. I think cultural context was nmj hung wen xus head to display a just kill, but they threw wens in blood pond to hide the sins they committed because they were also afraid of their karma, blood pool essentially stopped their souls from moving. i have a lot of feelings about what happened to wen remnants, fuck the cultivation world

Fuck the cultivation world. Honestly, they're so hypocritical that it makes me sick. Even the Lan who were arguably 'the most righteous' of the lot. Like maybe they didn't know these were non combatants before the seige, but during it? I don't think they're blind or incompetent enough to not notice that the people they're killing are civilians. They 100% dumped the bodies in the blood pool to hide what they knew was a wrong action and still went on preaching for years how these people were abominable and deserved to die.

About the cultivator thing, I came across a fic by @asksythe who is a part of the Chinese mdzs fandom and they explained in one of the comments that there is a stark difference between medicinal and martial cultivators and the terms used for them are also different. The difference is however lost in translation. Basically, medical cultivators are non combatants(basically spiritual doctors rather that cultivators). They're not taught to fight. And therefore are generally counted the same as civilians in this case. Here's a link to that fic:

I would also highly recommend their blog here on tumbr for insights on cultural background of mdzs.

#mdzs

[fixaidea]

hows about 8. 18. and 28. for the ask game lol

8. common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about

Gonna go with a MDZS one with this one - a surprising amount of people treat Jiang Cheng like this poor innocent puppy everyone keeps being so unjust and mean to, and evil Wei Ying forcing his golden core on him and how he was actually in the right and totally justified when leading the siege to slaughter the Wen remnants and... you get the idea. I don't much care for this opinion.

18. it's absolutely criminal that the fandom has been sleeping on...

I can't really add anything in here because recently I had the luck of mostly latching on to the MCs or fan favourites, so I never really lack for content even in smaller fandoms.

28. - list ends at 25 so I'll go with 'common fandom complaint that you're sick of hearing'

'MXTX is a nasty evil degenerate fetishist' like then find another fandom maybe. Or if you really did read a novel the length of Les Misérables for the two (2) sex scenes (or none in the case of TGCF, or the single and intentionally horrible one in SVSSS) and found nothing else noteworthy in there, then that's maybe a you problem. Also yes the MDZS extras are a bit racy but like. Nothing much or outstandingly depraved. Please just find a nice ~*wholesome*~ YA book that actually suits your taste.

#fanfic woes

[h3artf3ltint3nt]

@battleguqin continued from x

Kexin does indeed listen to each word he speaks and a fond smile crosses her features. This kid was more clever and intelligent, and understood the world better than most adults she knew. But he had been raised by Hanguang-jun, so what else should one expect. Granted, there was part of her that disagreed about being able to control one's fate entirely. She had once been very confident in what she believed was right and wrong. That had been a very long time ago. Before Sunshot. During the war is when her views started to shift. Even more so after everything with Wei Wuxian and the Wen remnants. To the point that she had even argued with Dà-gē about it. But in the end, she had still stood against Wei Wuxian like everyone else had. "So intelligent for someone so young," she says. "To live a life having no regrets. What a life that must be," she muses. She had quite a few regrets herself.

Her face falls at Sizhui's question regarding her. But before she answered that, she answered is other question. "A teahouse sounds good," she had agreed. It was only after a few moments of silence that she went back to his question. "In regard to your question, yes. I have. I was involved in a war at 16. Amongst the people I killed, who knows how many of them didn't even want to be there, so immediately there's that," she points out and then her frown deepens. "But I was thinking of something else just now. The siege of the burial mounds, Wei Wuxian's death," she speaks softly, brows furrowed. "I had shared my views on thinking it wasn't right, and yet I did nothing to stop it. And I stood beside everyone else as they turned against him after he basically won us the war. Even if I didn't kill Wei Wuxian or the innocent people he tried to protect with my own hands, I was still complicitous in their deaths," she finishes. It's true that it had been an order for her to do so, but perhaps just that once she should have disobeyed. She wondered if Dà-gē would have forgiven her if she had...

#battleguqin #//no regrets #//yeah she can't relate to that lol

[shadow-bringer-ao3]

Edo Tensei and it's Equivalents

4.

The fourth time Wei Ying is summoned to Senju Tobirama's side, he gasps and coughs and chokes for air that he can't get into his lungs. He curls up as tightly as he can, hands scrabbling at his chest and throat in an attempt to soothe the burn or pressing into the floor, desperately trying to feel something, anything, beyond the pain and panic and regret (and flickering, poisonous anger). The fourth time Wei Ying is summoned, it is bare moments after taking his mistakes into his own hands to destroy, letting his resentful energy tear him and the Stygian Tiger Amulet apart. The fourth time, he is dead and Tobirama is not. Senju Tobirama hums above him, familiar and confused, and Wei Ying calms slightly, thinks he's safe now, Senju Tobirama will listen to him and believe him-

"It didn't work."

-and the panic returns, crashing into him and determined to break him (he's already broken, what more could he give, what more can be taken from a dead man?) all before he even has time to let himself uncurl, his finger digging like claws into the wood beneath him. Lan Zhan doesn't believe him and Jiang Cheng hates him and Shijie is dead and Senju Tobirama can't see him and-

And-

He'd failed. He failed, he's a failure, why did he even try?! Madam Yu was right; everything he touches breaks or goes to shit and now the YunmengJiangs are gone and so are the Wen Remnants and little A-Yuan. A-Yuan who looked up to him and believed him and loved him. A-Yuan who was a child, they killed a child, he let them, he- he failed him, all of them, and now he's dead so he can't even give himself over to Jiang Cheng so he can pay his debts.

"What did I do wrong?" Senju Tobirama's murmured question staves off the panic, quiets the self-hate, and brings him back to the present enough for him to register the wood of the floor and the lines of blood-ink inches from his face. He hadn't even thought of the idea of blood-ink until Senju Tobirama had brought it to his attention. It certainly made directing the resentful energy easier. It listened to blood, to pain, more than it ever did pure ink.

"Nothing, Tobi-er," Wei Ying breathes. "Absolutely nothing." He garners no attention, not even the slightest or pauses, nothing to prove that this really exists and isn't just some fever dream his mind made up in its last moments. Senju Tobirama steps away from the array, swiping up a journal from a nearby desk, talking to himself as he begins to pace, working through ideas and questions. It's a process Wei Ying had employed, the few times he had been able to research something that he wanted to know more about, to perfect and show off or to claim as solely his own. His friend's speech is too fast or quiet or complicated, or all three, for Wei Ying to understand. He lets himself lay there instead, letting the soothing babble of words lull him into something that couldn't be considered sleep even for an insomniac like him. He wants- a lot of things, really, but death would be nice. Finally being able to rest, to put this goddamn mess of a life behind him. Then the people he loves might actually get a good life, without him around to screw it up. Being able to cry would be nice, at least, if not-existing is off the table. He lets out a shuddering ghost equivalent to a breath and pulls himself carefully into a sitting position. He's not sure what he expected, or why he expected anything at all, but when Senju Tobirama still doesn't notice him, he feels disappointed. Irritated.

(Unnatural anger curls low in his gut, simmering and beckoning like his resentful energy once had. Begging to be used, adored, fed.)

He crushes the uncharitable feelings deep down inside him because he knows Senju Tobirama doesn't deserve his annoyance and short temper. Besides, disappointment has never done anything more than drive families and friends apart, trust him. It's a wonder anyone stuck by him in the end, considering how disappointing he knows he was to them all. A demonic cultivator and a Wen sympathizer? What a perfectly good waste of a cultivator, right there. The door to the room swings open with a slam and both he and Senju Tobirama turn towards it. A strangely familiar man stands there, older and tanner than Senju Tobirama. He has darker hair as well, with those chocolate locks. An almost unheard of colour, back home (not his home, Wei Ying reminds himself fiercely, not anymore), even more so than Senju Tobirama's white- although white-haired people were rare enough on their own. White hair only showed up with albinism, something Wei Ying had gotten curious about, after his first meeting with his friend. Albinism has so many different effects on the human body. Senju Tobirama seems to have lucked out in that department; as far as Wei Ying can tell, the other has a fully functional golden core (or whatever passes for one in this strange land), full hearing, smarts enough to outwit any man. Just a light sensitivity and a tendency to burn which he likely 'fixes' with a layer of that weird, impure spiritual energy (hadn't Senju Tobirama referred to it as chakra, once?).

"Tobi~" The newcomer whines, drawing out the 'o' and 'i' sounds. Are they close, then? He swears he recognizes the man from somewhere. Senju Tobirama closes his journal with a loud snap. The man is unafraid, apparently unaware of the fact that the albino is on the verge of homicide. Wei Ying leans forward, wishing he had something to snack on while he watches this go down.

"Don't call me that," Senju Tobirama says, his almost as sharp as the sound his journal had made. Under it, deep under it, Wei Ying can make out the fondness. The other man ignores Senju Tobirama, chattering on about something Wei Ying has no hope of understanding, although he does manage to catch a few words here or there. It's not nearly enough. Eventually, Senju Tobirama cuts the man off, gesturing at Wei Ying as he says something. Or rather, gesturing at the talisman Wei Ying is still sitting in the smackdab middle of. Actually, now that he thinks about it, why hadn't Senju Tobirama used the smaller, improved talisman that he had created? The one he used last time, that had fit so snugly into a scroll? Had Senju Tobirama already tried that and it was just too weak to summon Wei Ying? Spirits are probably more slippery than living humans, particularly ones that haven't been around very long... Wei Ying watches as Senju Tobirama begins to argue with the new arrival, quiet and insistent. He's pretty sure the albino could pass off as a Jiang Cheng, Lan Zhan love child-

Nope!

Nope, no, absolutely not, that's a horrifying thought!

Senju Tobirama scuffs a break into the array with his foot and Wei Ying hisses a breath in, muscles bunched and coiled, eyes wide as he waits for the inevitable reaction. Except... nothing happens. And nothing continues to happen. Not a single thing; not a spark or a surge of energy or release of tension. He thinks that that might be worse. He shifts forward into a crouch as Senju Tobirama sweeps one last, furrowed look over the array. Wei Ying waits until his friend and his friend's friend have left the room before he edges from the array, overly cautious and hyperaware that bad (and hazardous) results are abundant with talismans. It can't be terribly different with these one-sidestep-from-normal talismans that Senju Tobirama's world dabbles in. Again, nothing happens when Wei Ying leaves the array, besides one or two harmless sparks of spiritual energy at the section where he stepped over.

There’s a tug in his chest, tight like a band pulled taught, and the longer he lingers the more insistent it gets. Uncertain of the rules of the afterlife and not particularly wanting to get his soul torn to shreds in the first few minutes of his new half-life (as much as it would probably be better for everyone involved), Wei Ying generously decides to follow it. Based on his haphazard luck, it has the possibility of being an absolutely horrid decision and the only way to find out is to just do it, he supposes. He travels cautiously through the unfamiliar halls, sticking close to the sides to avoid the living walking around. He doesn’t want to run into one on the off-chance he’ll actually hit them and give himself away or on the likelier chance that he’d phase through them because that’s just plain weird. He can’t imagine what it’ll feel like.

In the end, he's back by Senju Tobirama's side, peering over his friend's shoulder to take a look at the stuff he's got laid out in front of him. What Wei Ying can make out is... not terribly interesting, to be honest. Finances, it looks like, and supply routes. There are some other things that look sort of like war plans but he can't make out enough of them to be sure. He looks away from the papers, eyeing the brown-haired man that had called Senju Tobirama so familiarly. Now that he can investigate the man properly, his panic and other unsavory emotions squirreled away into a tiny little box, the man shares some features with Senju Tobirama. They're plenty different, of course, but there are enough similarities in the facial structure to make him think that they're related. Maybe siblings. If one took more after the mother and the other after the father, adding to it Senju Tobirama's albinism, there's more than enough evidence for that. Wei Ying hums curiously and flounces away to the corner of the room. He'll have to content himself with watching since it's not like he can do much else. Death, he thinks, is going to be quite boring.

...

Fucking Hashirama! That guy is Senju Hashirama, how did he forget Senju Tobirama's brother, honestly he knows his memory is bad but this is just sad!

Wei Ying shoots a glance at Senju Tobirama, checking that the man is still asleep. Seeing that he is, Wei Ying sighs and turns back to the book he's trying to use to entertain himself. It had worked for a bit- until he read the entire page and realized that he can't flip the page. He had tried to control the resentful energy around him to maybe solidify his hands or cause a gust of wind or something but the resentful energy is being incredibly slippery. He thinks it's because he's dead but either way, he's definitely not going to be able to control it without even his dizi. Well, any instrument would work but he would prefer Chenqing; he already made her into a spiritual weapon. Resentful weapon? Whatever, the point remains the same.

"Hello?" Huh. Wei Ying hadn't heard the door open. He doesn't bother looking, knowing the greeting isn't for him. He glares at the book. If the page would just flip-

"What are you doing?" The newcomer asks. Wei Ying glances at Senju Tobirama to see what's so interesting but his friend is still sleeping. Weird. He shakes it off and turns back to his problem. Alright, he can do this. He created the first stable version of demonic cultivation, he can get resentful energy to turn a damn page in his book. He takes a deep false-breath in, closing his eyes to focus on the resentful energy around him. It's strong but not as pure as the resentful energy in his own world. It's mixed with the same stuff these people mix their spiritual energy with. He frowns, focusing more fully on the resentful energy. It may not live in any way people accept but Wei Ying knows its heartbeat, its hunger, its sentience. It wants, craves, in the same way people do. It wants a home, somewhere to rest and someone who will take care of it, feed it. He just needs to let it in-

"Stop!" The person from before snaps and Wei Ying is yanked backwards. It snaps his concentration and the gathering energy dissipates. Wei Ying snarls whirling on the person-

It's a kid. It's a kid, no more than eight, blood staining his skin.

It's another spirit.

"You're-"

"You were hurting him!" The boy interrupts, angry and protective in equal measures. Wei Ying blinks, glancing at Senju Tobirama. His friend is no longer sleeping, now pressed into the corner with a kunai held out in front of him, an instinctual fear making his eyes wide and his grip shake ever so slight. Shit. He's already released the resentful energy and it's clearly already having an effect. Senju Tobirama is calming extraordinarily fast, now more confused than fearful. Wei Ying turns back to the child spirit.

"I'm sorry, I didn't realize, I'll- I'll try not to do it again," Wei Ying says quietly.

"You better," the boy hisses, storming over to Senju Tobirama's side to hover like a mother hen. Under the boy's baleful eyes, he lets himself out of the room, sucking in a sharp breath when he's out in the hall.

"Shit," he breaths. "Shit."

After running into the boy spirit (who now sticks close to Senju Tobirama's side and glares at him when he gets too close), Wei Ying gets a lot more observant. To be frank, there are spirits everywhere. Most are clearly family or friends of the living but there are also vengeful spirits. Ones that were killed and want to kill the Senju but don't have the innate control over resentful energy that the dead did in his former world. The good thing about this is that it means he can rope various spirits into conversations (read: arguments. Most of them are on the aggressive side of things) to learn more of this dumb language.

It’s so strange, how similar yet undeniably different this language is to his first. It makes some aspects difficult and he’ll often times end up mixing the two languages together but he thinks he’s starting to get the hang of it. He’s not sure he knows enough yet to explain himself to the child ghost but he’s getting there. He’ll get there.

He has had less time to research and experiment on the strange reaction people here have to resentful energy, considering he can only get so far away from Senju Tobirama and his overprotective little follower, but he thinks that he’ll be able to figure it out eventually. Maybe not in Senju Tobirama’s lifetime but there’s only so much he can do if he stays in this world where spirits are so much less powerful anyway. He doesn’t understand why spirits are so weak, either, since resentful energy, even if it’s impure, is teeming in this place, swirling around people and clinging to souls like some sort of disease. Honestly, with how resentful energy seems to affect people here, he’s not entirely sure it isn’t a disease or a leech or some other equally bad analogy.

Whatever the case, it’s not as active, as sentient, as it was in his former world. He thinks that’s good, considering how abundant it is here.

(He wants to experiment, to get himself home, but if it comes at the cost of anyone in this universe- especially Senju Tobirama -he’s not sure he’d ever forgive himself.)

(Oh, who is he kidding, he knows he wouldn’t. He’s carrying it with him the same way he carries the destruction of Lotus Pier, the loss of Jiang Cheng’s golden corse, Shijie's death, Jin Ling’s status as an orphan, the deaths of the Wen Remnants.)

"You’re weird," a spirit says to him. Wei Ying blinks, eyeing the kid— and that doesn’t even surprise him anymore. There are so many child spirits here and it breaks his heart. The boy honestly looks rather like Senju Hashirama if Senju Hashirama was about ten and unimpressed with what the world has to offer.

"So are you," Wei Ying says back stubbornly, not to be outdone.

"No- well, maybe- not as weird as you." The kid sounds rather frustrated. "You act weird and talk weird and somehow managed to piss off ‘Tama— I didn’t even know that was possible —and you never leave Tobirama alone." Wei Ying tilts his head.

"You know Senju Tobirama and his..." Wei Ying hesitates, glancing over to his albino friend and the even younger child glaring holes into his head, "his bodyguard?" The boy laughs.

"'Course I do. Tobirama's my older brother and Itama’s my younger one." The kid grins. "I'm Kawarama, the best, of course." Wei Ying bites back an insensitive comment about his status of life and how that makes Senju Tobirama and Senju Hashirama better, reminding himself that Senju Kawarama is a child and doesn’t deserve his pent up frustration.

"Okay," Wei Ying says slowly, "so why aren't you ever by Senju Tobirama? And why do you want to talk to me?" Senju Kawarama waves him off.

"A person Itami is angry at is clearly a person I have to be friends with. Besides, I'm almost always with Hashi- I like him best," Senju Kawarama says in the manner of a child without fear.

"Err... that’s sort of rude, isn't it? Picking favourites?" Wei Ying may have never entirely understood Jiang Cheng and Jiang Yanli but he had loved them equally— even if he had pretended otherwise to get Jiang Cheng to actually accept his love without being all weird about it.

"Eh, it doesn't matter. Itama's favourite is Tobirama and Tobirama's favourite is Itama and my favourite is Hashirama and Hashirama supposedly loves us all equally but none of us actually believe that," Senju Kawarama say, matter-of-fact.

"That sounds..." He doesn't even know. Awful? Impossible? He couldn't ever imagine picking one of his siblings (they're not his siblings anymore- he threw their bond in their faces like it didn't matter and then killed Shijie-) over the other. It's just... not possible.

"Hello, earth to- wait, hey, I don't even know your name!" Wei Ying laughs, focusing back in on the kid.

"I'm Wei Wuxian."

"You're the one Tobirama kept trying to summon!" Kawarama pauses, staring at him. "No wonder it didn't work if you're dead." Wei Ying glares playfully at him.

"Rude, bringing up my lack of life. Don't you have any manners?" The kid snickers.

"In this family? Hell no." Wei Ying has a bad feeling that that sums up this world quite well.

"Why do you talk so weird?" Senju Kawarama asks, curling in the air over Wei Ying’s shoulder. Wei Ying pushes him away, trying to see the scroll the kid is blocking. He thinks it’s something on finances and war plans but he can’t quite tell. He also thinks it might be in code.

"What do you mean?" He asks absently. This scroll is so, so annoying. It’s like when you open a book expecting one story and getting a completely different one. Sort of uneasy and confused and angry all in one.

"Well, you say words weird and you always say people’s full name." Wei Ying pauses, his attention finally pulled away from the scroll. He turns to actually look at the hovering kid (note to self- he needs to figure out how to do that).

"You don’t use people’s full names when referring to them?" He asks curiously. Kawarama shakes his head.

"Nope. Too long and annoying."

"Oh. Well it’s a sign of respect where I come from. You always use people’s full names unless you’re close enough to them that they let you use their personal name," he explains. Kawarama sticks out his tongue.

"That’s so stupid! When we want to show respect, we jus add an honorific onto their last name. Like, you’d be Wei-san and Hashirama would be Senju-sama because he’s the leader of the clan now. And there’s also -chan and -kun but those are for friends. I think." Kawarama shrugs. "I never really paid attention and now I don’t have to use them so whatever." Wei Ying tilts his head, humming interestedly.

"We have something like that, too. I can call Senju- err, Tobirama Tobi-er. Then there’s also a- like a-Yuan-" Wei Ying snaps his mouth shut, swallowing thickly at the thought of the little boy who had idolized him. The little boy that’s dead now because he couldn’t save them, he can’t do anything, he-

"That’s not good, you know," Kawarama says softly, breaking through his fog of self-deprecating thoughts. He forces his breath not to shudder, yanks the mask he had used during the war, after the war, down around him.

"What’s not?" Wei Ying asks, smiling and ignoring the way the fake expression sends pains like needles through him. "Using familiar-"

"You’re blaming yourself for something," Kawarama interrupts, making Wei Ying’s voice die in his throat. "Or someone, like how Tobirama blamed himself for me and Itama." He shudders, his mask fracturing. He shakes his head, ignoring the desperate edge to the motion.

"Was it the name you used? ...Yuan?" Wei Ying takes a step back.

"Kawarama," he warns quietly.

"Whatever happened, it wasn’t your fault. You can’t blame yourself-"

"Don’t" Wei Ying snarls, the diluted resentful energy snapping and crackling around him where it’s counterpart would have flooded in like smoke. Kawarama stumbles away, eyes wide and fearful. "Don’t talk about things you don’t know about." Wei Ying turns and stalks from the room, rage seething in the pit of his stomach. He knows he shouldn't have reacted like he did, shouldn't have gone straight to threatening. Kawarama's just a child after all, no matter how long the kid has been dead. He can't apologize though. Not now, when he's still seething and hurt.

He just wants to go home, just wants his mismatched family of Jiangs and Wens (and Lans) back. Hell, at this point, he'd even take Jin Zixuan.

Whatever his feeling, his leash is short and he reaches the edge of where he's allowed quickly. He tucks himself into the corner, sliding down to wrap his arms around his legs. The dead can't cry. He wants to. Oh, how desperately he wants to.

Itama is even warier of him from then on. Wei Ying can’t really blame him. First, he accidentally scared Tobirama and then he went so far as to basically threaten his brother. He would hate him too if he was Itama. The brat is definitely Tobirama’s brother, with a glare like that. In other news, referring to people by their first name only is still strange but he wants to respect their customs even if he can’t control his own emotions. The other ghosts are avoiding him as much as they can and he himself is avoiding Kawarama so he hasn’t had an actual conversation partner in forever. He makes do listening to the living. Usually, they’re just talking about boring stuff. Every once in a while, like today, the compound is energized and talk of the supposed war echoes through the halls. This is the first time he’s seen Hashirama and Tobirama gearing up for a battle, however. Kawarama and Itama seem unconcerned. He, on the other hand, is full of jittery nervous energy.

This will be his first time seeing what this world considers a war. Not only that but he’s a ghost; unable to interact in even the most basic of manners. What happens if Tobirama is in trouble? What will he be able to do? His control over resentful energy has waned with his life and he’s not sure what strand he has left to pull on would be enough to save his former friend. (He still remembers when Tobirama was young and full of fear for a man that should have been his father. The protectiveness never really faded, he supposes.) In what world do ghosts lack power like this? Gods, he hates this. He’d rather not exist at all if he’s only going to exist to watch his friends and family be cut down in front of him while he watches like it’s some sort of sick play he can’t stop or even walk away from.

"It’s better to know what happens, isn’t it?" Wei Ying jerks, expecting Kawarama, but he doesn’t recognize the ghost in front of him. They have the same features as most of the Senju, although something about them doesn’t quite fit with the theme.

"Who are you?" He asks curiously. The ghost smiles.

"Funny that," they say. "I’m not entirely sure. I’ve been around so long I’ve forgotten who I was." Wei Ying can’t imagine that. To be a ghost so long you forget your family, your own name… it must be horrible.

"It isn’t, really." When Wei Ying jerks again, breath hissing out between his teeth, the ghost smiles apologetically. "Sorry, habit, I suppose. But back to what I said… forgetting can be good, I think. Can’t hurt to remember if there’s nothing to remember." Wei Ying has to admit he can’t think of a logical argument against that. Still…

"I wouldn’t give up my memories for anything," Wei Ying says. "They might hurt but they’re mine and… it proves some part of me is still alive, in a way." That’s not the only reason, of course. It’s not even the biggest reason. He simply can’t think of a way to explain his feelings to someone who allowed themselves to forget all their bonds.

"I suppose," the ghost muses. They fall quiet, neither of them really willing to budge on their opinions. Wei Ying lets his mind wander although it’s not a surprise when it comes back around to this curious being in front of him.

"What did you mean when you said that it’s better to know?" Wei Ying asks. The ghost hums, tilting their head like a curious songbird. It reminds him oddly of Nie Huaisang and all the little birds he would sneak around within Cloud Recesses.

"Well, it’s better to know what happens to the ones you care about than being left in the dark." Wei Ying shakes his head.

"But there’s a difference between knowing and being there, unable to do anything," he insists. The ghost simply watches him with blank eyes. "Anyway, I thought you don’t remember anyone you care about." The ghost’s eyebrows furrow.

"You seem to think I can only care about people I knew when I was alive," the ghost says. "But you forget I have been here watching as the shinobi around us grew from children to adults. I care as much about them as I would about anyone I would have known when alive." Wei Ying frowns, unable to see how. Watching someone’s life and interacting with someone as they grow are very different. You just can’t get the same kind of bond as an observer. The ghost shrugs at him, seeing his disbelief, and floats away. The ghost was interesting, despite their differences in opinion. He hopes they meet again.

Besides that, the ghost had used a word. ‘Shinobi’. Wei Ying has heard that word used by the living and dead alike but he still doesn’t know what it means. It’s a strange term. He thinks it’s something like ‘cultivator’ but the more he watches these supposed shinobi around him, the more differences he finds. The first being the clan mentality. Although cultivator sects had been built around specific families, they still took in outside disciples. These shinobi don’t do that. Then there’s the lack of monsters and fierce corpses and whatnot. What are the shinobi for, if not protecting the people? (He knows the answer, remembers distracting those three shinobi so that Tobirama could escape, he just doesn’t want to believe that there’s an entire culture built around murder.) He misses his easy friendship with Tobirama most these times, the way they could talk and figure out the differences in their language and cultures as easily as snapping their fingers. Other people are more difficult to deal with, especially in this universe.

When Wei Ying turns back to Tobirama, Kawarama and Itama are gone. He hesitates, not entirely sure if the kids aren’t just lurking around in wait, before steeling himself. It’s not like he can avoid them forever, tied to Tobirama like he is. He returns to his place by his friend’s side, peering over the albino’s shoulder as he sharpens his sword. The movements are methodical and calm although unneeded. Honestly, if Tobirama continues sharpening his already very sharp blade like this, he runs the risk of weakening or dulling it. He twists over his shoulder, grimacing as the whetstone slides through him. At this angle (which would be very uncomfortable if he wasn't a ghost), he can see Tobirama’s expression. It’s as blank as he can make it but Wei Ying has had practice translating Lan Zhan’s expression (though he was often wrong) and this is comparatively easy to figure out. He’s anxious. He has a right to be, of course, war is dangerous. This feels different, however, in a strange way Wei Ying can’t grasp.

(He figures it out later when the air cracks and splits and Tobirama vanishes. Wei Ying’s presence falters, blinks and glitches with the lack of a lodestone, resentful energy surging, before he’s yanked across the battlefield, Tobirama reentering reality. It’s the resentful energy, he knows, that makes Tobirama flinch. It’s why his sword strikes shoulder and not lung.

It’s why Tobirama is spared when his opponent’s brother appears in a rush of speed and panic, stumbling under the weight of Wei Ying’s flickering control and lashing resentful energy. It’s why a ghost, hateful and tainted, doesn’t join them.)

The man was supposed to die. Wei Ying can taste in the air, feel it pulling at the empty place where his golden core used to rest. It sings to him. The man was supposed to die to Tobirama and Wei Ying prevented that just by being. The air is electric and tense as Hashirama works on healing him. The start of a peace treaty. Wei Ying is glad- he doesn’t want to watch another battle. Still… he flits around Tobirama, trying to get more space between himself and the Man Who Should Have Died without leaving his friend’s side. He’s jittery, energy compounding with every glare or muttered word sent the way of his friends. He wants to do something, to break the tension. The only thing he can do, though, is flood them with resentful energy. He knows from experience that that only makes everything worse.

"There!" Hashirama exclaims, seemingly blind to the tension. The Man Who Should Have Died is asleep, healed, beneath his hands. The brother, the man that had been fighting Hashirama himself, nearly sags with palpable relief.

"Thank you." Hashirama beams at the soft words, waving them off.

"Anything for a friend!" Except… friends don’t try and kill friends. Friends don’t go to war with friends. Not when the so-called friends are both leaders of their respective sects- their clans -and make no move to stop the war. Wei Ying tucks himself into Tobirama’s side, desperate for any sort of comfort as his memories rise and pull like currents. They stay long enough for someone else to check Hashirama’s work as if someone like Hashirama could be as needlessly cruel as someone like (Wen Rouhan, Jin Guangshan, Wen Chao). Wei Ying stays close to Tobirama’s side as they’re led from the building. He glances back once, to see, and finds the Man That Should Have Died groggy but awake.

Piercing red and black eyes meet his and he pauses, checking once on Tobirama and Hashirama. He turns back to the Man That Should Have Died, tilting his head curiously. This, he thinks, will be fun. He waves, watching as the man hesitating lifts his hand in response. With a grin, he twists back around, flitting back to Tobirama’s side.

"Where did you go?" Wei Ying asks. "During the battle?" Kawarama hesitates, glancing at Itama and Tobirama. He’s always uncertain, Wei Ying has noticed, about how much he can say.

"We were waiting," Kawarama says slowly. Wei Ying doesn’t speak, content to let the boy come to his explanation naturally. "We didn’t… want to see it. See them die. So we- we went. And we waiting for them to show up."

"You don’t have very much faith in them." Kawarama shakes his head, frustrated by Wei Ying’s words.

"It’s not that- how many people have you seen that are- old. Like, over thirty. How many ghosts?" Wei Ying glances around, realizing for the first time that Kawarama is correct; dead and living alike are all disturbingly young. "I don’t know how it is- wherever you come from but people don’t live long, here." Wei Ying turns back to Kawarama, stomach churning at the idea of what Kawarama is saying to him.

"...How did you die?" Kawarama’s bottom lip wobbles dangerously for a moment before his features still into a bitter smile. Wei Ying’s heart sinks in his chest. What is Kawarama? Twelve, at most? And Itama is younger- Kawarama leaves him with this realization, heading back to his family. Wei Ying stumbles over to a table, bracing himself against it even though he doesn’t need to. He wants to throw up. Wei Ying stares blankly at his pale, translucent fingers splayed over the surface. How could the people of this world think this normal- ok, even?

The peace talks are… strange. Certainly not peaceful, in any definition of the word. The one who should have died, Uchiha Izuna, seems particularly against the peace. Part of this is understandable- Tobirama had nearly killed him. Would have killed him, if not for Wei Ying’s timely but accidental intervention. Still, he’s too… angry for that to account for it all. There’s something visceral, familiar about it. Familiar in the way it devours anger and doubt and hesitance to sow chaos and deception. It’s living. Not in the same way resentful energy is living but more like a spirit or monster. Something with true sentience, rather than just desire and hunger. It sinks a pit in Wei Ying’s stomach.

Izuna himself keeps a careful watch on Wei Ying whenever he’s not arguing against the peace. Every time they meet eyes, Wei Ying gives him a face and a thumbs down. This only seems to irritate Izuna more but there’s not like Wei Ying has much choice in how he interacts with the living. Resentful energy won’t exactly be very useful in this particular endeavour. Unless he could flush Izuna’s system with resentful energy and take the strange leech- infection? -with it. It might be an idea but it’s one he’d have to save for later, at a less precarious time. He wonders if Izuna would react with fear towards the resentful energy as most do or if the infection would be able to take it, warp it until it comes out angry and spiteful.

Wei Ying lets his attention wander away from his watcher, returning to the empty space by Tobirama’s side. People tend to give his friend space- only Hashirama is brave enough to stand a solid presence by his side. It reminds him of how everyone started to give him space after he started manipulating resentful energy except for shijie (and Lan Zhan, always there even though he seemed to hate Wei Ying, always hovering, standing by him until suddenly he wasn’t). He’s face to face with an Uchiha in his new position, the one always with Izuna and Madara. He doesn’t know what the Uchiha’s name is but he has the niggling feeling it starts with ‘H’. He has to lean forward a bit to get a good look of Madara, all the way on the other side of Izuna. Wei Ying still doesn’t really like him but he also sees the way Madara almost seems to revolve around his younger brother, his clan, and Wei Ying can respect that, at least. There was little he wouldn’t do for Jiang Cheng, his own shidi. Or, well, former shidi. Not only has he left the sect but he doubts Jiang Cheng still considers them brothers after all he’s done.

Izuna mutters another comment that has Madara bristling, arguing with Hashirama, and Wei Ying can’t help but wish they weren’t brothers. Or at least, not as close as they are. He just wants this to be over, for Tobirama to truly be able to rest and recuperate. Wei Ying knows how a war weighs on a person, drags them down and drowns them even if they don’t notice it. These people may have been born and bred for war but he is stubborn in his belief that it must affect them in the same way. Who wants to take another’s life? Who really feels good about, revels in it? Even these violent people couldn’t possibly be like that. (He can still taste the smug contentedness of when he had taken Wen Chao apart, piece by piece, as the other had screamed and cried and begged. He remembers revelling in the blood, the fear, feeling it justified. Sometimes he still feels that way. Other times, he feels sick, revolted with himself. With what he allowed the resentful energy to do to him. Sometimes, he thinks Lan Zhan was right.) He’s not sure anyone leaves the peace talk happy. Not even Hashirama, painfully optimistic (and yet so he never once reflected his words in his actions as he moves troops, took land and lives and gave nothing back).

The village starts slow. The people are tired, eager to finally rest, but they are still wary of their new allies. The air is filled with tension and unease, people trusting their years of being enemies more than they trust this new treaty. It’s fragile. Wei Ying knows Tobirama can see that, can see that his friend hesitates and deliberates. He knows Tobirama doesn’t know how to bring them all together. Wei Ying wishes he could help, watches as Tobirama throws himself into the logistics of the village in the absence of the skill with people that Wei Ying finds comes so naturally.

Itama has returned to his place by Tobirama’s side. While the boy seems less wary of his presence than before, Wei Ying would prefer not to test him so he stays away, tests his leash. Whatever ties him to Tobirama has been weakened, flickering ever since that last battle when it was severed for those precious few seconds. He uses it to people-watch, mostly. Not that there’s much else for him to do, of course.

Life, or rather the lack thereof, is quiet. Not in the stifling way Cloud Recesses had been or like the oppressive sorrow of the Burial Mounds. No, it’s quiet in the murmur of voice, the settling of lives. In quiet in the way Wei Ying finally finds himself in a sort of peace, lurking like a shadow amongst these people, pretending he still has a place there. Many of the ghosts seem to feel the same way and it’s gotten to the point where Wei Ying can’t quite tell if the crowds are living or dead.

There are still those in opposition. He thinks there probably always will be. He’s learned over the years that that is simply how people are. Wei Ying resigns himself to ignoring it, lets himself relax his overprotective nature. It hasn’t been able to do much for him in a long, long time. He lingers in this place and finally lets himself rest in the only way he can, anymore.

Part 3 | Part 5

#nart fic #mdzs fic #originally posted on ao3 #au #edo tensei and its equivalents #crossover #senju tobirama #wei wuxian #uchiha izuna #self hatred #depression