#wwx has to like. decide for himself to do some things differently this time around in order to reap the rewards of being really in it with | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

truly-morgan · 8 months

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[Deaged!WWX meets JC (w.i.p)]

Shuangjie | Mo Dao Zu Shi 14-07-2021

[#shuangjie + deaged wwi wuxian]

What if wwx gets cursed in some way and ends up deaged, but only mentally. His (mxy) body stays the same, but he goes back to who wwx was somewhere between the killing of Tulu Xuanwu and the attack on lotus pier. he has no memory of what happened to ymj, nothing about giving his golden core, SSC never happened to him, he isn't the yiling laozu yet and never died and revived either.

This is young wwx pre-demonic cultivation and pre-war. lsz and ljy are here when he wakes up, but wwx is so confused because he doesn't understand why these kids his age keep calling him "senior wei". even less /gusu lan/ disciple.

The only face he does recognise is when lwj finally appeared upon hearing his husband awoke. But even then, wwx is confused, who are these boys calling "hanguan-jun"? And why does lwj look... older?

of course, lwj who is specialised in everything wy immediately can tell something is off and quickly they figure out what happened.

then comes the moment where wwx starts to feel uneasy about this situation, everything seems off, why is he in CR without his shidi (or any other ymj disciple for that matter)? Also, isn't CR burned down? how come he was allowed here? Aren't the wen still here? Then he asks for his shidi, because this is what he is worried about right now. Why isn't he here? Did something happen?

He can't calm down and they set to lp after he asked to go home. The travel is made with some tension, lwj (followed by ljy and lsz) make sure he doesn't look at himself through anything reflective (which does set some worries in wwx, why can't he look at himself?) Then, when they get to lp, they are refused to enter, some glaring at him. Why are everyone so defensive around him?

After a while, they are allowed in. They were probably new disciples (he doesn't recognise their faces), yet this keeps adding to the feeling of unease. lwj isn't the same, these lan boys talk to him as though he was much older, ymj disciples act as though he isn't welcome here.

And now lp seems... off. Everything seems in place, yet some details are wrong, it feels like home but not quite. A door that should have been here isn't here. this table isn't quite what it should be. Why do many things look newer than what he remembers?

Then he passes ymj cultivator and the robes feel just as off. Is his memory failing him are were the uniform not like this yesterday?

But also...

Where is jc? Why hasn't he showed up yet?

They finally get to the sect leader quarter and even this... seems so off. But it's alright, he'll be able to ask jfm about it. but then they get in and /everything/ if different. From where furniture are placed, the furniture itself and the overall aesthetic of the place.

Then his gaze fall on the person who just stood up, looking directly at him.

And he is pinned in place by those eyes. This looks like jiang cheng, but the idea he would have of his years in the future. He looks taller, stronger, more fierce...

but also displeased.

"Second young master lan, may I ask why you decided to barge into lotus pier?"

wwx is so confused as to why jc sounds so cold towards lwj. Sure, he never was close to him, but they didn't hate each other either, right?

"A-cheng, why so cold? I simply asked to be brought back home because I have no idea how I ended up in cr"

he is surprised by the glare given to him by his shidi, not expecting for him to get mad at him. What did he do wrong this time? This doesn't look like angry chengcheng, he looks seriously mad at him, as if he did something horrible.

all of this makes him even more uneasy, yet he tries to hide it as best as he can.

jc doesn't add any more, observing wwx. something seems off about him. He knows the man can be shameless, but he wouldn't but so bold as to be so familiar with him and dare to call LP home after rejecting him.

After the guanyin temple they kept their distance (to wwx wish) and when they had to "work together" (or rather they happened to be there at the same time) wwx wouldn't act so familiar with him anymore.

Then he hears wwx go off about what he remembers before waking up in CR and it makes jc frowns even more. He must be fucking with him right now, these were all things from deep in the past, days before the wen destroyed LP.

"What is the meaning of this?" he asks, turning to lsz for answers (He is less likely to get mad if it's not lwj explaining and rather someone he got used to after being around jl so much).

He steals glances to wwx as the young cultivator speaks, seeing how confused he seems to be too. wwx apparently ran off somewhere on their last night hunt and he was unconscious when they got to him, they have no idea what happened.

"Then seni- hum..." lsz catches himself, reminded by how wwx nagged them about it, "Wei Wuxian woke up... like this". and by like this jc understood. This was wwx, but him from back in the day.

He was seriously unsure why they took him back here though because he wasn't more knowledgeable of how to get wwx back to himself. "I still don't understand how it concerns me" he does point out, "Why take him here? Doesn't Gusu Lan have the resource to search this... situation?"

"A-cheng, why are you being so mean to me, you know CR isn't for me! Plus the wen are still there right?" He then throws a look at lwj and it is a sentence in of itself, clearly he doesn't understand why jc wants him to stick with lwj either.

jc sighs at that, pinching the bridge of his nose, thinking.

He doesn't necessarily want to deal with this, but he also knows wwx. He /will/ find a way to run back to LP if they take him back to CR. In best case scenario he travels without problems, worst-case... he doesn't want to think of it.

Sure, the cultivation world might have softened their opinion on the yllp, but many were still wary of him. wwx in this state is missing nearly two decades worth of what happened in the cultivation world, but also the memory of what he did & why some will be wary and hostile towards him.

Something in him tells him not to involve himself, but stronger part care and worries for him. jc ends up accepting reluctantly, telling servants to prepare a room for their guests. lwj thanks him for his help and goes to guide wwx outside of the room, yet the man dodges him.

wwx might be really confused about what is happening, but he was able to piece together that, right now, this wasn't the time and year he thought it was.

Was he... in the future? This would explain how lwj and jc looked older and how everything felt odd (even his body felt odd). He has the impression that he should be close to lwj, but he is not? Sure, they fought well together and he does like teasing him, but they aren't close either.

He should be close apparently, yet he can't get himself to be comfortable with this unknown relationship he has with the second young master of gusu lan.

He turns to jc instead, hoping that this future version of him would help him out a bit more. He didn't understand why he was apparently not in LP anymore, but he thought jc would at least help him. He knows how he actually is not really close to lwj!! Plus he has no idea who these two young cultivators (who keep referring to him as if he was old) are.

Everyone goes silent at that, not missing the hurt on the man's face, yet he doesn't reach again, accepting it. This "isn't" his husband, this is young wwx where they have still not had the best of interaction.

ljy seems about to say something, but jc is quicker than him.

"I will take care of wwx for now, hanguang-jun doesn't need to worry".

To this, the lan politely make their exit, lwj clearly tensed, and follow the disciple who came to guide them.

Only once he was alone with jc did wwx manage to calm down a bit (which didn't go unnoticed by jc.).

jc simply asked for a servant to prepare a certain room for wwx, before going back to his desk, showing for wwx to sit with him.

"Do you understand the situation?" he asks.

jc won't run around the bush, he knows wwx si smart enough to have caught up on the situation at this point. He might not drop 2 decades' worth of information on him (not now), but he wants to make sure wwx understand the situation (and situate from when exactly wwx "is from").

"I am in the future?" wwx answers, although it does sound more like a question.

"my, you could say it like that" jc says, "Sound more like you regressed back to a younger self to us" he pointed out, "What do you remember exactly happened before waking up". then wwx proceed to tell him again, a little bit more calm this time and more at ease, allowing jc to have a better idea of when, which he was exact.

wwx had killed tulu xuanwu, but nothing had hit LP yet. truly this wwx was lucky to only have these memories (and hopefully, only for now, wwx really needed to get back to normal).

somewhere in wwx rambling about what they did the day prior to him waking up at CR, somewhere came to tell them the room was ready.

with this, jc decided to cut the conversation here, leading wwx through those halls that were the same yet not at the same time, smiling a bit happily when he realised this was the way to his room.

"For now, try not to run around and stay in your room," jc asked.

wwx was about to protest, but seeing how serious he was, (and remembering what situation he was in) he decided not to argue too much. "I'll come back to get you in the morning tomorrow, we will try and see what we can do, for now, rest".

before going, jc made sure with the servant that no mirror or overly reflective objects were in the room. maybe wwx could accept that he was in the future, but it was probably harder to understand why he wasn't in his own body (jc didn't have the energy to go back over years of bad times and memories).

On the other side, once wwx was left alone he dropped the facade, allowing himself to be worried. He seriously didn't understand the situation and even the room that should have made him feel better couldn't because some things were too off to be /his/ room. It was as if nothing in here had been touched in /years/.

He was trying to process what exactly had happened but really couldn't see how he ended up in this situation. He went to bed when a headache started to bother him.

Now he was back in lotus pier with jiang cheng. This situation was complicated and confusing, but he trusts his shidi. He felt like whatever was to happen, as long as jc was here he would be alright.

===

(Look at me, still having no idea where I go with this. I might have later when I know. I somehow wanted deaged jc dealing with deaged wwx. where he is stuck between all the shit that happened, but also still caring for wwx and knowing that /this/ wwx hasn't done anything per se (yet).

Dunno, just a series maybe of Wei "I have no idea how I got here in the future" Ying meets Jiang "I am tired of everything going bad all the time I need a vacation" Cheng.

also, make me wanna make a wei ying meet deaged jiang cheng)

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[Part 2: mixed feeling]

The next morning, wwx woke up early, a bit confused why he got up this early when he would usually sleep until later in the morning, but since he couldn’t get back to sleep, he decided to go and try to find jc.

Before that, he tried finding some robes, not that he hated the paler one that was more typical to gusu lan, but he wanted something more him. He was delighted to find some clothes that fitted perfectly what he would usually wear.

They looked pretty similar to a set of robes he had actually, now that he thought about it, yet these looked unused.

But then when he changed it felt strange. He had expected the clothes to be a bit too small for him. After all, these looked like clothing he would wear in his teen years, but his body should be at least two decades older, doesn’t this mean he should be a different size?

Yet they were actually too big for him!! It wasn’t comically too big (like a kid putting on adult clothes), but they were clearly not fit for his build. How so? Weren’t these supposed to be his clothes?

This only contributed to the weird feeling he had about his body, something was clearly up. Some things he thought were as tall as he was now taller. Touching his own body felt strange, as the feeling wasn’t quite right. And the strangest of all he felt weak, had his cultivation been affected by this curse?!?

Adding to this how he had not been able to see his reflection one time since he woke up in CR, he was starting to wonder what happened to his body.

He decided he would ask jc later, putting on these clothes even if they were a bit too big (who cares, they were in his room, they are his even if too big). He was ready to go out and find back jc (or wander around LP for a bit), but was instead surprised when he ended up face to face with the two lan kids that came with them.

“Senior wei, good morning” lsz smiled politely, followed by ljy. “We were asked by hanguang-jun to come to pick you up, so you wouldn’t get yourself in trouble by doing something stupid” ljy finally said, gaining a look from lsz for the way he had said it.

Wwx wanted to sigh at them being there so early, yet it was probably to be expected with the usual lan schedule. He did think of running but pushed down the idea (“jc seems already tired of this situation, maybe I shouldn’t add to it... for now”).

So he followed them and he found jc and lwj eating in the room, sitting at a good distance from one another. Wwx missed how lwj moved a bit so he could sit next to him, instead of directly going to sit next to jc, already greeting him and being happy to see him again.

“We were trying to figure out what happened to you,” jc said when wwx asked what they had been talking about before they got here.

And this was actually the only thing they all talked about as they were waiting for a servant to bring them breakfast. Wwx had somewhat stopped listening, as he had no recounting of what they were talking about.

When the food finally came in wwx was a bit puzzled as to why he had such bland food too, throwing confused glances to jc. Had they cooked him the same thing they did for the lan? Such bland and boring food? “A-cheng, won’t you let me steal some of your food?” he asked teasingly.

When he did try he was surprised when his hand was pinched away, making a dramatically offended face “A-cheng, why so mean!” he said, yet didn’t try again.

He really wanted to push again, but he felt like things were off. He felt like if he were to push this older jc too much, the man would seriously get mad, nothing like what he was used to from his grumpy shidi. Honestly, the last thing he wanted was to really offend and upset him.

Yet, after a while, he saw jc reaching for his bowl, leaving in some of his spicier food, making him grin.

The younger lan boys gave an uncertain look to lwj, unsure how the man felt at seeing his husband acting like this with slj, yet they couldn’t read anything, his face as impassive as usual.

Breakfast was unusually quiet for what ymj meals could be, probably because most lan do not speak while eating (even outside of gusu lan). Which jc didn’t mind, since he didn’t have much to share with his guest, even less since it was someone, he wouldn’t normally welcome like this.

Yet wwx would still start talking to him by moments when the silence would get under his skin, sometimes teasing lwj the same way he would in the past (although it probably felt like recent things for wwx right now).

This left jc the time to think about the complicated feeling he had since they got here yesterday night. He had been conflicted about how he should feel. He still felt all he felt from all the shit wwx did.

Transferring his golden core without telling him. Deflecting and choosing the wen over his promise. Being the cause behind jyl and jzx death. The way he acted now was as if they should leave the past in the past. He still had all those things that had piled up over the years.

But he still cared for him and somewhere deep inside he knew he would never stop caring for wwx, he wasn’t sure what could actually kill that care he has for him (and he knows deep down that he hope wwx also still cared for him).

But this wwx? This wwx hadn’t done anything yet per se. This was wwx before the destruction of LP. Before giving his golden core, leading him to demonic cultivation. This was wwx who wasn’t affected by war and DC. This was wwx before he did anything that caused this feeling.

Something in him felt like he couldn’t blame /this/ wwx for what he has done because this wwx clearly only wants to be by his side and actually be the twin pride of yunmeng jiang. This was a wwx who in his [wwx] mind would keep his promise because nothing could change him from doing that.

Yet another simply couldn’t throw away all the grieved and anger he had gone through (and he feel like he could never let it go fully). Another part was still telling him not to care and to keep his distance because he would only get hurt again.

Yet he could see how wwx wasn’t playing some joke on him. This was wwx genuinely acting like the wwx jc used to know.

He had barely slept because of his conflicted thoughts and had decided to slowly give it a shot. Test the waters. He would try his best not to snap at wwx the same way he would probably, because this wwx technically didn’t do anything yet.

He didn’t dare to get his hope up, knowing that if they were to manage to cure him, things would probably go back to what they were and he would only get hurt.

But he would try, because he could see wwx was holding onto him because until now, aside from lwj (with whom he doesn’t remember being close to), jc is the only one he can rely on.

Because he still cares about wwx and doesn’t fully have it in him to kick him away when he needs it like this, not when this is the wwx he had hoped to see again.

By the end of their breakfast, he had decided on what to set his mind on, feeling more at ease with this choice (yet still hoping he wouldn’t regret it). The rest of the day went by with wwx stuck to him nearly all the time as they were all trying to gather as much information as they could.

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[part 3: parts of the past]

It took until his second day in LP for wwx to finally see himself and most likely only because he decided to sneak to the pier (as much as he wanted to help with this curse, there was really nothing he could do, so he decided to go have a look at the pier).

He found somewhere in the shade and where the water was calmer to take a look at himself and he was immediately confused. This wasn’t him! Nothing about this face was him, he couldn’t even blame this on a curse maybe changing him a bit, this was just /not him/.

He started to wonder /why/ he wasn’t in his own body and why /no one/ had mentioned that as if it was actually the normal part of it. Was it normal that he was not in his body? Now he understood better why none of them wanted to let him see, but why couldn’t they tell him? It was pretty important!? What had happened to his normal body?

And so he ran back to the sect leader quarter where everyone was talking, needing an answer. He didn’t care for the disciple telling him not to just barge into the office like this, his mind racing as to figure out what happened.

Lsz and ljy jumped when the door was suddenly thrown open to reveal a rather troubled wwx. “What happened to my body?!” he asked, eyes landing on jc for answers.

Many emotions he couldn’t decipher flashed across his shidi’s face before he sighed. “This is actually a long story,” jc said, looking back at him, “And it could take a while to tell you, and none of it might be... pleasing to hear”.

“Wei Ying was offered a body after an incident happened” lwj ended up saying to his husband (if he could still really call him that) to try and reassure him without telling him all the detail.

“Jiang Cheng tell me what happened,” wwx asked, taking a step towards his shidi.

“I do not think sect leader Jiang is the best here to tell” lwj ended up commenting, not wanting for wwx to end up believing he was a monster if jc were to be too harsh.

“Oh, and second young master lan is obviously one to know better when he wasn’t even there I suppose?” jc asked, the frown on his face deepening even more at the clear implication. This only help in throwing wwx into more confusion and worries. What had happened that would make it so hard to tell him? Why were they arguing again?

“Something happened to senior Wei’s original body, and later on someone did a body transferring ritual to give you a new one” lsz ended up telling him calmly.

Sure, he didn’t have all the detail about the man’s life, but he could tell that much without revealing he had actually died. He barely reacted when two pairs of sharp eyes suddenly went to him, although none of the men added to his statement. “Something happened?”. It was truly frustrating that none of them would tell him, it was about him!

Couldn’t he know why he wasn’t in his own body anymore! Especially when the golden core in this body was so weak as though it never was able to cultivate correctly.

jc went to pinch the bridge of his nose again, thinking over how he could explain this without freaking out wwx too much. He wanted to wait a bit more before retelling more of what happened because if they could cure him quickly it would be useless (But he knew that if wwx were to be stuck in this deaged situation, he couldn't go about his life without knowing everything).

"Exactly like lsz said, something happened to your body and someone offered you his body" jc confirmed, "I can explain to you later what happened".

"I can explain to him, we wouldn't want to bother slj more than we already are," said lwj.

wwx looked a bit confused at the man, turning towards his shidi again. Was jc really seeing him like a bother right now?

"Does second young master lan knows what I am feeling more than I do?" jc asked annoyed, "I am the only one here who can decide whether or not this situation is bothersome".

Sure, it was a bit of a bother, but in a way, there was something about it that he still like (despite knowing he should probably not like it).

Whatever lwj might be thinking about him, jc still cared for wwx and was ready to help. He could have just as well let lwj deal with this wwx who doesn't trust his life into his hands immediately the same way the older one would do.

but he didn't because he cared for him.

wwx on the side was confused by the sudden tension of the room, unsure why lwj was acting as if he knew better. Wouldn't he have been by jc side when whatever happened, happened? How would lwj know better?

"Why not work together to tell what is necessary for this question?" lsz suggested. "Like this, if details are missing, the other can add them".

wwx gave the young man a smile at his suggestion, finding this could be a good idea if it can at least keep them from being so hostile towards one another.

So this is how they decided to go, wwx sitting with jc (as usual in the past two days), lsz and ljy ready to be a moderator so no one started to fight.

"I think we should only explain what caused lead to the body transfer" lwj stated before they could start. explaining two decades of things was already a lot to do, but also he didn't want for his husband to be overwhelmed by what he did and caused in the past.

"Finally something we agree on," jc said with a roll of his eyes.

wwx wished he could have the whole story, but he felt like if it wasn't for them wanting to tell him, no one else would.

"Event causes you to use demonic cultivation" jc stated, not interested in reminding himself of what happened to LP /again/.

They explain a little bit about the SSC, how much wwx had used DC (while slightly leaving out all the damage he had caused, this would be for later) This made wwx a bit unsure. Why would he use DC (which he was pretty sure no one else had used before) when he had a perfectly functioning core.

"You didn't have your core anymore, slj did" lwj stated, a hint of reproach in his tone, as if jc was the one who asked for it.

"I gave you my golden core!" wwx turned to jc, looking at him in shock, his mind going wild about the reason that could have pushed him to do so.

jc simply glared at lwj for revealing this, as this memory was something he would rather speak about in private with wwx instead.

"Yes, but the reasons behind it are unimportant for the situation of the body transfer, we can talk about it later"

wwx wanted to push, because this was concerning, something must have had happened if he gave away his golden core, yet he could see in his shidi expression how it was a sensitive subject and how he was already on edge because of lwj. upsetting him was not his goal, so he decided to ask later on.

"Then... did someone make a body offering because I was coreless?" he asked.

"No one knew you were coreless," jc said, a pinch of reproach in his tone that won him a glare from lwj, "I do not think someone could give a body to someone who is still alive, it was because... you were dead" jc finally said.

this made wwx freeze a bit. He had died? He had /died/?!? How could he die so young?! From what they were telling him, he had been doing pretty alright with DC.

"DC was corrupting you and ended up being your downfall" lwj mentioned, leaving out what this downfall had been, "People are saying DC backfired and you were killed by your own army".

lwj wanted to mention other rumours, but it wouldn't be fair as he knew from wwx words himself that jc didn't do it. Really, wy never told him what happened exactly. wwx nodded at that, still a bit unsure what to make of this. it was a lot to take in, that he had died, and apparently from his own cultivation path at that. How could he have gotten to that point?

"Then who gave me this body? Why would he do it?"

"Mo Xuanyu from the Mo family" lwj replied, "You told me he summoned you so you could... take revenge on his family".

This made wwx even more troubled. Someone had summoned him back /to kill/ people?! What had he done in his life for people to think he would happily killed anyone as if he was some sort of demonic spirit.

He turned to jc for answer, yet the man wouldn't get the hint (although he was sure it was on purpose). He supposed it was best like this, he felt like he had heard enough for now, he wasn't even sure if he wanted to hear what else he had actually done in the past for all this to happen.

"I think this is enough for today, now you know why you do not have your original body anymore," jc said as he stood up, "Try not to use DC too much anymore so it doesn't happen again" he simply warned, "cultivate and train your core instead, young master Mo might not have been the best cultivator, but I am sure you can achieve something".

with this, jc ended up excusing himself. After all, he still has a sect to lead. Plus, he doubted wwx was in any state to continue for today and they had already hit a wall for now, all he would do is get angrier at lwj.

Back in the room, lwj stood and went to reassure wwx, yet all he received was a small smile from the man.

He had forgotten this wwx wasn't used to him...

"Is senior Wei alright?" ljy asked, clearly able to see how the man was troubled.

"Yes, of course," he said, forcing another smile on his lips, standing up, "I think I simply need... a moment to process all of this".

He ended up excusing himself too, going back to his room for now where he could process all of what he had been told, his mind racing to figure out how come he had gotten to that point.

No one saw him all day until came diner time.

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[🔅part 4: jin ling]

It took a couple of days before wwx was able to be alright with the fact he had actually died once. In those couple of days, they also went back to the forest where everything happened, yet they couldn't really find anything and the nearby village wasn't that much more helpful in the task of finding if it ever happened in the past (they weren't sure if they were hiding something and most of them were just not good with outsiders).

It was frustrating to say the least, but they were still looking into it. They were back at lotus pier so jc could take care of some things (lwj and the juniors were back in CR to search the library about it).

This is on his return that jc was surprised by jl visit. “I heard words about wwx being in LP and since I was nearby I decided to come and see". Jl wasn't sure what had happened and simply wanted to make sure his jiujiu was alright.

Jc raised a brow at that, somewhat doubting it was entirely because he was in the area. He was about to tell jl it was alright when wwx suddenly appeared, a large grin on his face as he called out to jc. “ymj training sure are as severe as they were back then” he joked before his gaze landed on jl.

He was immediately intrigued, as he did not expect for jin cultivator to come here (although it was probably not that surprising since shijie was supposed to marry the peacock. Now that he thought about it jc didn't mention them...). “I didn’t know a-cheng had gotten closer to the llj cultivator, I thought you also thought they were too arrogant” he pointed out amused.

“wwx has been hit by a curse de-ageing him” jc pointed out before jl could ask anything, clearly getting what could have bothered his nephew. This did explain a lot in itself, jl might not have known wwx in his youth (obviously), but he had heard stories.

“Strange, you remind me of the peacock” wwx admitted, tilting his head a bit as he was looking at jl, analysing his feature. The nickname made jl scoff, somehow knowing exactly who he must have been talking about.

“Of course, jin ling is his son” jc replied.

Wwx gaped a bit at that. “No way,” he said, although he could very much believe it, “Shijie had a son!” wwx then added with a smile, “jzx better have taken good care of her or I'll beat his ass” he then added with a chuckle, missing how jc jaw tightens up and how jl tensed up at that.

“During the SSC his attitude towards jiejie changed and he took good care of her” jc commented, voice sounding off. Wwx was about to ask what was wrong, but a bark stopped him, making him freeze where he was standing next to jc.

Fairy was back from being spoiled by the ymj disciple not too far from here and was now finally coming back to jl. Jl was actually surprised by how worse than usual his reaction was, suddenly making an excuse to go to the pier (“Just finish training, must stink right? I’ll just go bath before we get back to research”).

“He doesn’t know about my parents,” jl asked when wwx was away, frowning.

“He was deaged to a couple of days before the wen attack LP” jc replied, before explaining a bit more about the situation at hand. “He doesn’t know yet what he did, only some truth of it”.

This somehow made jl a bit angry. How could wwx go back to a state where nothing ever happens and where he hasn’t done anything yet, while his jiujiu was still stuck with the knowledge of all that he has lost, some because of wwx. He was startled a bit when jc ruffled his hair a little bit, telling him not to worry.

“I can deal with it, plus I am sure we will eventually find the solution and everything will go back to normal,” he said.

“But do you really want everything to go back to normal...” jl thought to himself when he stole a glance at his jiujiu as they were going to get some tea to talk a bit more.

Throughout the day wwx tried to bother him, teasing him a bit about how similar he was to his dad yet acted like jc.

when he was not accidentally bringing back bad memories, jl could see now who had been wwx in the past and why jc was still attached to him.

truly, all jl wished for was for his jiujiu not to be hurt again...

Original

#tweet archive #mdzs #mo dao zu shi #shuangjie #jiang cheng #wei wuxian #lan wangji #deaged wei wuxian #they try solving it #and wei wuxian is confused #unfinished

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lansplaining · 1 year

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While we’re putting these characters in theoretical situation jars and gently shaking them:

What if another cultivator who wasn’t that hot on the clans and their power jockeying say one who wanders with a husband and a donkey and eventually their own kid meets Meng Shi either while she’s pregnant or while JGY is very small, and convinces her to try the Baoshan Sanren route for her son instead or waiting for the impossible aka waiting for Jin Guangshan to not be The Absolute Worst ™?

If/when Meng Yao decides to come down off the mountain like his now sect brother XXC - raised under different creeds/expectations - we now have an actual connection between him and Mr. Protagonist himself WWX via Cangse Sanren/Baoshan Sanren, can skip the Unclean Realm awfulness RIP Nie Huaisang you have no one to help you get out of saber practice now, etc etc.

Real danger is the young Lan sect leader considering running off and being a wandering cultivator after meeting Meng Yao when he flees Cloud Recesses after the Wens rock up, tho 😉

sorry i got distracted watching my faves walk around in their jar together. meng yao tried to gently teach xiao xingchen to be better at telling stories and it didn't work at all :')

i think if meng shi had the personality to do something like that, her and JGY's lives would have gone very differently, frankly. for whatever sad and (from the outside) kinda crazy reason, her belief in jin guangshan was sincere. it has to have been. she's smart, she's literate, and most importantly she is a professional sex worker, she knows how this usually goes. if she'd let herself get pregnant to manipulate jin guangshan like anxin suggests, then she would have played that scenario totally differently than in canon. meng shi is as incapable of letting go of her belief in jin guangshan and her son's birthright as jin guangyao himself ultimately is, and i don't think even he really knows why.

but yeah, let's say that meng shi and meng yao have to run away from yunping for some reason, or meng shi knows that she is dying and has some reason to be afraid that meng yao won't be able to make it to lanling-- maybe he's much younger than in canon, as you say.

i just.......... can't help but feel like yao sanren would be waiting until he could go down the mountain to find his father.

but okay, he's like an actual baby and he never gets to know meng shi and never knows who his father is or what she wants from him-- he's raised completely in baoshan sanren's principles. bloodlines are bullshit, stay on the mountain or otherwise do good in the world.

...i'm really struggling, because I don't know who meng yao is if he doesn't want the things he wants. it's very writing 101 but if a character is their desires then... he's just a different person. he's a maybe slightly more grounded xiao xingchen, someone who wants to help people but this time has been raised in the belief that it's possible. all signs show that if JGY had been properly trained he'd be very talented, so he's probably a formidable cultivator. he doesn't have to be afraid. who is he then?

and of course, we can't forget the other aspect of being a disciple of baoshan sanren.

maybe the tragedy that befalls him is that he does learn who his father is. he learns that, no matter how respected and mystical his master, his mother is still seen as filthy-- but his father is a golden god in a tower. that's where good flows from in this world. he's a xiao xingchen who starts to understand why his mother thought she had to run away from the world. he's one who begins to learn to compromise, and then compromise more, and then compromise again, and most damningly of all to want to be part of the world-- not just by leaving the mountain, but by climbing the tower, to be accepted there, for his blood, which isn't supposed to matter.

#ask answered #jgy

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robininthelabyrinth · 3 years

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Prompt: Wei Wuxian has achieved time travel! He's gonna fix so many broken things. Unfortunately, WWX has miscalculated a teensy tiny variable and instead of arriving in his original 15yo body in Lotus Pier, he's crash landed in MXY's tiny 7~8yo body at Mo Manor. But no problem, he can fix this if he can just find his real body. (Meanwhile, Yunmeng Jiang's head disciple is acting the wrong kind of childish, aka, Mo Xuanyu is having the weirdest day of his young life.)

Switcheroo - ao3

Mo Xuanyu thought that this Wei Wuxian person whose body he’d stolen must have been a really interesting person, mostly because he’d been here for three days so far and nobody’d noticed the switch yet.

Possibly it had to do with the fact that Mo Xuanyu still wasn’t exactly sure how he’d stolen the body – he’d just gone to sleep in the shed, same as always, and then he’d woken up in the softest bed he’d ever encountered in his life…no, softer than even his dreams! He’d thought it over and concluded that he must have died from cold out in the shed, turned into a fierce ghost out of resentment, grown powerful (somehow), then stolen some rich young master’s body when they weren’t paying close enough attention and, once he’d possessed the body, promptly lost all his memory of being a ghost.

It seemed like the only logical course of events.

He was very sorry about it, though. Wei Wuxian seemed like a nice, if very unusual person.

The first day, Mo Xuanyu had barely even noticed the body-switch, being quite so enamored of the soft bed he was in – he’d refused to get out of bed at all, declaring that he was going to lie in and sleep for a century or more, and the people who’d come to the door to get him didn’t beat him or anything over it, but rather just laughed or rolled their eyes and then left him to it. Luckily, at the time, he’d just assumed he was dead or something and proceeded to ignore everything in favor of napping.

He only acknowledged that he was alive later in the afternoon, when his stomach started growling – it seemed like a very unlikely thing for a dead man’s stomach to do.

Mo Xuanyu had by that point figured out that he wasn’t himself anymore, which was fine since he didn’t much like himself; he’d also figured out, through looking himself over, that he was old now. At least fifteen or sixteen, which was twice the age he last remembered himself being. That was fine, too, though: being older meant that he was stronger and faster and would be better able to handle it when people wanted to beat him or something. Most importantly, though, it meant he was old enough to enter the kitchen on his own!

Mo Xuanyu already knew that he wasn’t allowed to eat at the main table, being only the bastard son of the younger daughter, and the cook back at home was a fierce woman who didn’t allow anyone under the age of ten into her kitchen; as a result, he had to wait for his mother to bring him back some food, and it was always cold and not quite enough. Now, though, since he was older, he figured he might as well try to go to the kitchen and fill his belly that way.

Luckily, while his current body’s house was much bigger than the Mo house, all houses were generally built along the same lines, so it wasn’t hard to find the kitchen. Everyone there laughed when he showed up, even though he’d tried to be very quiet and sneak in and then screwed it up by tripping over his own feet – it seemed like everyone thought he was doing it on purpose to be funny – and then the cooks gave him a meal of his own that was hot and fresh and wonderful.

He'd wolfed it down.

“Honestly, Wei Wuxian, you eat like a hungry ghost, you’d think the Jiang clan starves you,” one of them scolded him, but with a smile, and from that Mo Xuanyu learned that the rich young master was called Wei Wuxian and that he lived with the Jiang clan. The different surnames confused him a little, but he didn’t dare ask any questions about it, so he just stuffed his mouth and pretended that was the reason he couldn’t answer.

No one questioned it.

No one questioned it when he went wandering all around instead of doing whatever chores or duties he’d been assigned, either. Someone had actually seen him hovering by a door and asked him to bring back a pheasant when he returned, so out of lack of better options he’d headed outside to try to go find one.

He had a pretty good time walking around the forest, then remembered what he’d been asked and chased the pheasants for a while, without success . Fortunately, he then got lucky and stumbled over an old snare that had three pheasants caught inside, so he’d picked up the whole box and carted it back home.

“Three,” one of the boys in purple-blue marveled as he saw Mo Xuanyu walking towards the kitchen. “You know, people say that the birds around the Lotus Pier have gotten too smart to be caught easily, but look at our da-shixiong; he makes it look easy!”

From this, Mo Xuanyu could figure out that Wei Wuxian was (apparently!) part of a cultivator clan, apparently located at a place called the Lotus Pier, and that he was the oldest or at least head disciple, to boot. He knew all about cultivator clans from his mother, since apparently his father had been a sect leader, and that meant he knew enough to call the other boy ‘shidi’ as he passed, making the other boy beam happily.

It also meant that when he chanced a guess and called the young woman in a pretty pink dress who waved at him ‘shijie’, she smiled and nodded, which meant to him that he’d done the right thing.

“I heard you slept even more of the morning away than usual,” she told him, but didn’t seem too upset about it. “I bet that means you’ll be skipping dinner and staying up all night, hmm?”

Mo Xuanyu had no intention of skipping dinner if it was anything like what the kitchens had given him earlier, actually, but while he was still trying to figure out a way to say that, she said, leaning in close to whisper, “It’s probably a good idea, anyway – Mother and Father are fighting again. Just go to the kitchens to grab something…I promise I’ll make it up to you with some soup tomorrow, pork ribs and lotus roots, your favorite. All right?”

“Shijie, you’re the best,” Mo Xuanyu said effusively, willing to die for her at once, and she laughed and tousled his hair.

“I am,” she said, looking happy. “And if my little A-Xian stays good and obedient, I may even feed him.”

She did, too, the next day when he finally tore himself out of the beautiful wonderful soft bed and went to go find her. She’d made him soup, just as he’d promised, and laughed and laughed for some reason: apparently, she interpreted him being quiet and not talking too much as his efforts to be ‘good and obedient’, which was apparently so out of the ordinary as to be a deliberate joke.

From this, Mo Xuanyu concluded that the young master he’d possessed, Wei Wuxian, was a jackass.

Well, perhaps that was a bit harsh. Arrogant and self-centered, talented and brave and probably brilliant, definitely charming and maybe even kind, but also spoiled and inclined to step on other people to get where he wanted to go, if Mo Xuanyu had to guess – why else would everyone constantly react as if him not being obnoxious was the world’s biggest stunt?

No one seemed to expect anything of him at all: he didn’t do any chores, and no one batted an eyelid; he didn’t go where he was told, and everyone just sighed…at one point the sect leader himself came and patted him on the head, scolding him in a joking tone that he hadn’t seen him leading any of the training the way he was supposed to – but when Mo Xuanyu quailed, he’d burst out laughing, telling ‘Wei Wuxian’ to stop pretending to be a scared little rabbit, that it was fine if he’d gotten distracted by some clever new invention or whatever, that someone else would handle it, that he should take as long as he needed.

Mo Xuanyu had pasted a great big smile on his face through force of effort and agreed cheerfully.

The sect leader had accepted it.

Probably a jackass, but clearly a beloved one, Mo Xuanyu thought to himself as he packed up clothing and a few small treasures that no one would miss, a little wistful. The scare of the whole encounter had put things in perspective – he wasn’t going to be able to keep up this sort of façade for long. In fact, he was shocked he’d managed it so long already; surely, no matter how many pranks this Wei Wuxian played, no matter how childishly he behaved, surely someone should’ve noticed that he was actually an eight-year-old masquerading as a sixteen-year-old?

Mo Xuanyu couldn’t decide whether it was sad that no one paid too much attention or something that this Wei Wuxian fellow had brought down on his own head by being so consistently annoying.

Either way, there was nothing for it – he was going to have to leave.

Now that part was really sad: he’d never in his life had such good food, or such a soft bed, or even so many people that just seemed plain old happy to see him as since he’d arrived in this place. But he wasn’t the one all those things were for; he was just a sad ghost possessing a person, and if he stayed, the cultivators would eventually figure out something was wrong and exorcise him.

Probably violently.

Mo Xuanyu probably deserved it, too, but despite that he wasn’t willing.

So he packed up what he could and headed out.

He got all the way to the gate before a new purple-clad disciple – about his age, if he had to guess, and holding a pack like he’d just come back from a trip, with a scowl on his face – called out for Wei Wuxian.

Mo Xuanyu waved a little, hoping that that would be enough.

For the first time, it wasn’t.

The boy’s face settled into an even deeper scowl.

“Hey, what’s wrong with you?” he demanded. “Wei Wuxian! You’re acting all weird – hey! Where are you going?”

Mo Xuanyu was running away, obviously. He wasn’t about to get tied up and exorcised, no thank you.

He didn’t think he’d make it, but it was still worth trying.

Sure enough, the purple-clad boy who was probably called Jiang Cheng, based on what everyone was calling out as they ran by, got tired of running and jumped on his sword, and there was no way Mo Xuanyu would be able to outrun a sword, not even if he tried as fast as he –

Someone picked him up.

It wasn’t Jiang Cheng.

Mo Xuanyu turned his head and stared.

It must be some sort of yao, he thought. Humans were definitely not that pretty.

“Lan Wangji!” Jiang Cheng howled. “What are you even doing in the Lotus Pier?! Put my shixiong down!”

The rescuer, Lan Wangji, frowned a little at Mo Xuanyu.

Mo Xuanyu didn’t know exactly what expression he ought to be making in return, and was a bit too dazed to even dare to guess. He’d just noticed that they were flying – flying! on a sword! – and he was clutching onto this Lan Wangji’s shoulders for dear life.

“You are not Wei Ying,” Lan Wangji said. His voice sounded very definitive.

“Uh,” Mo Xuanyu said. “Sorry? Please don’t drop me.”

“I will not. What is your name?”

“Mo Xuanyu,” Mo Xuanyu admitted, and Lan Wangji’s eyes widened as if that meant something to him – except it couldn’t, of course, because Mo Xuanyu was sure he’d never met anyone even remotely like this Lan Wangji fellow in his life. “I don’t remember taking his body. I’m sorry. Can you not exorcise me? I don’t want to die.”

Lan Wangji was silent for a long moment.

He was still flying very fast, and Jiang Cheng was still following, shouting out curses and demands that he stop, not that Lan Wangji was listening.

“There will be no exorcism,” he finally said, and Mo Xuanyu exhaled in relief. “We will, however, fix this.”

“…we?”

“Wei Ying and myself.”

Mo Xuanyu nodded. That sounded more likely than anyone relying on his participation.

“Where are we going?” he asked. Jiang Cheng was falling further and further behind.

“Mo Village.”

Mo Xuanyu tensed up at once.

“You will not be left there,” Lan Wangji clarified, and – how did he know that Mo Xuanyu didn’t want to be left there? “But we must collect Wei Ying, who I suspect is currently in your body.”

“In my…I’m still alive?”

Lan Wangji was quiet again, and then said, “Yes. And you will remain so.”

That was reassuring, mostly.

“Okay,” Mo Xuanyu said, and found that he mostly felt relieved. He’d be very happy to have his normal body back again, if possible, especially if he didn’t have to stay in Mo Village…“Wait, if I don’t have to stay there, where will I go? I don’t have anywhere else to go, unless my father comes back for me. He's a sect leader –”

“He will not, and even if he did, you should not go with him. Once Wei Ying returns to his body, you will be able to stay at the Lotus Pier. If you do not wish to stay there, I will bring you back to the Cloud Recesses – that is my home – instead.”

“Oh,” Mo Xuanyu said, feeling bewildered. That was an awfully nice offer, even if Lan Wangji was feeling guilty about Wei Wuxian stealing his body by accident – which seemed like what had happened here rather than Mo Xuanyu being the one who did the stealing. Maybe he should go with Lan Wangji instead, he seemed much more responsible than Wei Wuxian was, rushing over to rescue him and explain things instead of throwing him into a body and leaving him all alone in a strange place. But on the other hand… “Is the Cloud Recesses…I mean…no offense, but…does it have…”

“Yes?”

“Does it have soft beds, too? And – and hot food?”

Mo Xuanyu didn’t need much, not really. He looked eagerly at Lan Wangji, who had an odd expression on his face briefly before wiping it back to neutral and nodding in confirmation.

“Okay,” Mo Xuanyu said, and curled up in Lan Wangji’s arms. “Then I’ll stay with you. You can take care of me.”

“I will,” Lan Wangji said, sounding strangely serious. “In return for the gift you last gave me – I will.”

#mdzs #mo xuanyu #jiang cheng #lan wangji #my fic #my fics #switcheroo

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silenteyes · 3 years

Text

If Wei Wuxian Grew Up In Different Sects (or with our lovely Rogue Cultivators)

ft. fanfictions I’ve read for each of them - excluding Yunmeng Jiang Sect

Warnings: Spoilers for MDZS, Canon-typical Yu Ziyuan and her treatment to WWX, a few uncensored cursing

Yunmeng Jiang Sect

Clearly, we know that he and the Jiangs have a- complicated relationship. With Jiang FengMian it’s on a thin line, and though it’s clear he cares for WWX - JFM still sees WWX as just a disciple, not a son because the last words he says to WWX are “A-Ying, A-Cheng... you must look after him.”

With Madam Yu it’s clear that their relationship is unhealthy, she basically abuses him. With Jiang Cheng it’s also unhealthy - as much as I loathe to say it, they will NEVER get the reconciliation we want because WWX has done too much for JC to forgive and JC and his anger issues are not safe for WWX. The only ACTUAL healthy relationship he’s got in the Jiang Sect is with Jiang Yanli. She forgives a lot and it’s clear she loves WWX.

Gusu Lan Sect

Ah - yes, this one. In all honesty, if he WERE to be found by the Lans he would’ve probably be well-behaved since he was just a child and easy to, how do I say it - teach.

He might still have his playfulness but it would be toned down quite a lot. I also like to think that he would get along with Madam Lan and most probably prevent her death. This may be an unpopular opinion, but he and Lan Xichen would get along well, and LXC would be the one to make him comfortable first. WWX would still grow close with Lan Wangji of course, but if anything happens he would not go to LWJ first.

If they grew up together, I’m sorry - but I can’t imagine that he would date LWJ then. But, you can think the other way around! I don’t boss you and tell you who to ship and who not to ship!

Fanfiction: ‘Some call it kidnapping. The Lan Clan call it adoption.’ by IceBreeze

Summary: “Lan Zhan, Lan Zhan, look!” Wei Ying did a twirl. “I’m the same as you now! Am I pretty? Say Lan Zhan, am I pretty?”

Huan muffled a laugh behind his sleeve as A-Zhan said “Mn,” eyes never once leaving Wei Ying. There was something a little like awe in his stare, like Wei Ying was the only one in the world to him at that moment, and if Huan hadn’t already known that his little brother cared deeply for Wei Ying then that look would have been all the confirmation he needed.

(If A-Zhan knew what marriage and romance was beyond the vague explanations he’d heard then he’d probably already be courting Wei Ying, with all the dogged determination he shows everything he puts his mind to. It’s adorable, and Huan supports it wholeheartedly, no matter what direction it heads in the end).

Or: an AU Wei Wuxian is taken in by the Lan clan instead of the Jiangs.

Qishan Wen Sect

Hm, this one is quite complicated. To be honest, WWX would probably fit in well in the sect, and Wen Ruohan most possibly cares about power, and WWX is powerful so he’d care for him AND Wen Xu. Wen Chao is just there in the background being bullied, I like to think.

WWX would make Wen Qing their head doctor and give her more power, while he would also help Wen Ning with archery. All and all he would be alright in the Wen Sect, but there would still be a couple casualties here and there, because of Wen Chao’s jealousy.

Fanfiction: ‘ He was brighter than the Sun’ by AncientOceanmelody

Summary: Wei Wuxian was the head disciple of Yunmengjiang Sect, he was the pride of Yunmeng. Jiang Fengmian see him like a son, everyone (except Madam Yu) love him.

He would do everything for those who were dear to him.

So why do is feel horrible when Uncle Jiang didn't hesitate when he offer himself to the Wens instead of Jiang Cheng?

Why is he crying?

After all, he was just the son of a friend, the son of a servant, is was obvious his Uncle would prefer his Sect over him.

Qinghe Nie Sect

Again, I’m gonna be honest, but this sect would be the BEST one for WWX to grow up in. Nie Mingjue would get along great with WWX (we’re ignoring canon GROWN WWX) and Nie Huaisang has another brother :D

NHS and WWX would use their time to cause mischief and plot stuff while NMJ is like “These are my brothers. They’re annoying. Don’t you fucking dare lay a finger on them.”

Just - THEY WOULD BE THE HEALTHIEST RELATIONSHIP EVER IN ALL THE SECTS! NMJ taking care of WWX and NHS, NHS constantly worrying over WWX and NMJ because they fight (you know- war I mean) and WWX just being the self-sacrificing moron he is and protecting NMJ and NHS

Fanfiction: ‘shades of grey’ by cl410

Summary: This was why he didn’t like to leave the Unclean Realm, Nie Mingjue thought with dismay. Guileless dark eyes blinked up at him, tiny hands clutching at his robes.

Or: Nie Mingjue comes across Wei Wuxian before Jiang Fengmian, and decides Nie Huaisang could use a friend.

Lanling Jin Sect

OH BOY! I just love Jin Zixuan getting along with WWX and being an older brother to him. I would think that if JZX (Not Zixun, I despise him) grew up with WWX they would definitely get along and have a healthier relationship than the Yunmeng Bros. Jin Guangshan would definitely not see the point in having WWX in there, and Madam Jin is much more empathetic and she would be the on to take care of WWX.

You may be wondering - Jin Zixuan is Jin Zixuan. Wouldn’t his pride get in the way of things? He’s not called a peacock for no reason, and yes! I can see why you think that! But look at MianMian! She’s JZX best friend BECAUSE she probably grew up with him, and it’s clear in terms of temperament she’s better than JZX and she might even rival him in swordsmanship. If given the choice to grow up with him, WWX would have an amazing brotherly relationship with JZX, and would most likely accept the fact that WWX is amazing and would be PROUD of him.

Also JZX’s relationship with Jiang Yanli may improve JUST BECAUSE WWX is there

(I might just be biased, idk)

Fanfiction: ‘Twin Treasures’ by crossdressingdeath

Summary: When Madame Jin happens to come across Cangse Sanren's orphaned son on a trip to Yiling, she can't bring herself to leave him there. Wei Wuxian finds a somewhat different family. Jin Zixuan finds a little brother. The course of history changes accordingly.

(Some things are written in fate, but even fate itself changes.)

Rogue Cultivators - Song Zichen and Xiao Xingchen

Let me point out first that Xingchen is ETHEREAL! HE’S THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PERSON ON THE PLANET! (Song Jiyang is amazing istg I’ve never watched The Untamed but I’ve SEEN clips of them like 哥你怎样那么美).

ANYWAYS, BACK TO THE POINT! Xiao Xingchen and Song Zichen would be amazing parents, don’t deny it. SZC would be rocky at taking care of WWX at first but he would get the hang of it and be the most over-protective person on the planet and would KILL ANYONE who hurts his family. Xiao Xingchen on the other hand would be the doting and loving parent. He spoils WWX but not as much as SZC (though he would never admit it). SZC and XXC would be the best if you want WWX to have parental figures.

Fanfiction: ‘Frost moon's sun’ by RenaFair

Summary: Xiao Xingchen and Song Lan had dreamed of founding a sect together, that is until Xingchen heard what happened to his shijie. The two then decides to put their little dream on hold as they care for a pair of tiny hands between them, protecting the little boy with a sunshine smile as best as they can.

Alternately; Xiao Xingchen and Song Lan adopted Wei Ying after his parents' death.

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drwcn · 2 years

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For the man-eating mer! Yanli au, are there any ChengQing Wen Merbabies running around? Does Jin Ling and possible siblings share their mom's eating habits? Will Wen Yuan still be part of the Addams-esque family? Enquiring minds have an inquiry.

LOL, hi friend.

So only men of the Jiang family - despite being carriers themselves - can pass on their mer-gene, which means only Jiang Cheng's daughters will be mermaids, while Jiang Yanli's children won't.

But how can that be? It's not magic, my friends. If you wanna know how, I put a genetics explanation undercut. :P Sorry I geeked out a little.

Chengqing is in almost every au of mine LOL.

Just imagine Jiang Cheng building a pond/pool outside of his new daughter's bedchamber. Its bottom is paved with cobblestone with lotuses surrounding it on the outside as a fence. The water is connected to the river, so it's always fresh. His father said a-jie didn't need to be put into the water until her first birthday. Prior to that she was breastfed and doing well. Jiang Fengmian did not tell Yu Ziyuan of their clan's secret until they had a daughter together, and it certainly gave her no time to get used to the idea. Yu Ziyuan was pretty restrictive of how much time Jiang Yanli spent as a merfolk, but Jiang Cheng has no such qualms.

Literally on their daughter's first birthday Wen Qing walks in with some baked treats to see Jiang Cheng tossing their baby butt naked into the pond like a dead fish.

To say she nearly strangles him would be an understatement. "Look - look - Wen Qing - look -"

Her precious cherub is no longer a cherub - she is a hellion. No baby merfolk is able to control their appearance in open water (they're not affected by well water, or baths, or rain). Jiang Yanli's true form is actually terrifying, but as she grew she was able to control her upper body to look beautiful and more human when she was in water - how else would you entice stupid sailors? Once she fully emerges from the river/lake/ocean, she returns back to human form. But as a baby, merfolks essentially look 12 different shades of ghastly.

Jiang Cheng spends hours lying on his belly out on the deck splashing with his hands while their baby swims around, "Come to diedie, come to diedie- ow! she bit me!"

Wen Qing, "serves you right." Also: jfc I seriously need to start having some sons.

[ WWX: Or, you know, you can stop having sex with your husband. WQ: I'll stop if you stop. ]

She does not. Wen Qing has 5 daughters, much to Jiang Cheng's absolute delight.

Wen Qing, "We're not gonna have enough people to feed your offsprings!"

Jiang Cheng, standing over the now expanded pool, holding a plate of fresh liver that once belonged to a greedy merchant from Lanling, dangling one piece in his hand while his five daughters chomp at the surface like piranhas for their mid afternoon post-nap snack. "....hmm... I'll think of something."

Then Wen Qing thinks hell maybe it's better she doesn't have any boys, so this fuckery can end with her....

She gives birth to a bouncing baby boy the very next year.

Jiang Cheng decides that he's done enough good in the world and elects to go to Qishan and gets himself an ancient chinese version of a vasectomy.

Their daughters all grow into astonishing beauties, much to the misfortune of seamen and seawomen everywhere.

Fuck.

The genetics

1) mer gene: People have 23 pairs of chromosomes, which means for each gene we have (for the most part), you have two copies of that gene, called two alleles. In a given population, there could be many many alleles that encode for one thing, that's why people look different and have different appearances, personality and health status. The X and Y chromosome, called the sex chromosomes, are a little different than the other 22 pairs. The location where the mer gene is encoded is on the X chromosome. For most of the population, this is a null allele. As in, it doesn't encode anything, or it encodes something that is non-functional. Therefore, people are people and not mermaids. Only the Jiang mer gene, found on the X chromosomes of people with Jiang blood, form an active protein with subsequent physiological impact. You could call it a gain-of-function mutation for those us in the field ;). The mer gene is a X-link dominant gene, meaning it only requires one working allele on an X chromosome to be expressed.

Females are XX. This is why Jiang Yanli is a merfolk. She inherited 1 gain-of-function mer gene from her father Jiang Fengmian (who is a carrier), and one null mer gene from her mother Yu Ziyuan (who is human). Because the Jiang mer gene is dominant, JYL only needs one copy to be a full merfolk.

2) mer transposon gene: So now your question must be, hold on, hold on a second. If the active mer gene is found the Jiang X chromosome, then how can Jiang Cheng be a carrier? He inherited the Y chromosome from his dad, and normal X chromosome from his mom. If Jiang Cheng has more daughters, he would donate his X chromosome, which is normal (since it came from Yu Ziyuan). So how can his daughters be mermaids?

Well, the Y chromosome, which is a shrivelled up little chromosome, is a little peculiar in the Jiangs. It has a special transposon sequence. Transposons are....kind of like DNA viruses. It has a sequence of genes that encode a transposition gene and a structural gene. The transposition gene first gets transcribed by DNA transcription factors into a mRNA, which then gets translated into a protein. This protein then comes back from the cytoplasm into the nucleus to its DNA origin site to cut out the structural gene and then implants it into another location in the DNA. I know. It's wild. This actually happens in real life, I'm not making this shit up. The structural gene in this case is a gain-of-function mer gene.

For the mer transposon, it specifically translocates from the Y chromosome to the X chromosome in an in-frame fashion (as in it won't fuck up the reading of the rest of the DNA on the X chromosome). This way now Jiang Cheng's normal X chromosome which he inherited from his mother, has a working mer gene.

So... why isn't Jiang Cheng a merfolk? Well because -

3) anti-mer gene: The Jiang Y chromosome not only carries a mer transposon gene, it also carries an anti-mer gene, which suppresses the expression of the mer-gene, even though the poor transposon gene did all the work to transpose it lol. So even though Jiang boys has a X chromosome that carries a working mer gene, they do not express it themselves. Only when they have daughters, when they pass on that X chromosome, does that gene get turned on in the presence of no inhibition by anti-mer.

This is essentially how the SRY gene, which determines male sex, works in humans. Without the SRY gene on the Y chromosome, the default sex is female.

But this doesn't answer, why can't Jiang Yanli's daughters become merfolks? Well -

4) Epigenetics: paternal vs maternal imprinting. Now here's where things get really interesting. The mer gene is a Jiang Clan secret, if all their daughters who married out of the clan also made mer babies, then the cat would be out of the bag in no time. The reason why only Jiang sons can pass on the gene is that some genes are "maternal" and some genes are "paternal". DNA expression is not simply dictated by what's encoded in the DNA - the T G C A sequence - but also regulated by the proteins that are attached to it, aka the epigenetics. Even though most genes are in pairs (remember, 2 alleles?), some times you only want to express 1 copy of it. Some genes, we only express the copy that we inherit from our mother, and some genes we only express the copy we inherit from our father. When a gene is imprinted either through methylation or acetylation or both, that gene is silenced - aka those DNA transcription factors we talked about earlier can no longer get to it to make mRNAs.

For example: DIRAS3 is a paternally expressed and maternally imprinted gene located on chromosome 1 in humans. This means ALL of us express the DIRAS3 we inherited from our fathers. And if one day I have a child (I'm female), even if I pass on the DIRAS3 that I inherited from my father through chromosome 1, in my child that gene will become imprinted and silenced, because I am the female parent, and my copy of that gene in my offspring will always be silent.

That's how the mer gene works. It is a paternally expressed, maternally imprinted gene. The gene is active in Jiang Yanli because she got it from her dad. If she were to have children, they would have gotten that gene from their mum, and that gene would be "imprinted" aka silenced and they would a normal human.

#cql #the untamed #chengqing

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silverflame2724 · 3 years

Note

WWX decides to kill two birds with one stone and with the help of WQ reforges the Stygian Tiger Seal into a artificial golden core replacement which she implants into WWX.

WWXs eyes are now permanently red and he has the full power of the seal at his fingertips at all times because its part of him now.

Another side effect of this Stygian Core is discovered when WWX misses JZXs ambush and is instead attacked and disembowled in Carp Tower in full view of the cultivation world but then immediately regenerates without a scratch and blood ruined robes.

Watching WWX be more annoyed at the bloody robes than being disembowled because the Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation has apparently cultivated to immortality USING RESENTMENT shakes a lot of people.

“Huh.” Wen Qing says as she observes yet another failure of Wei Wuxian’s inventions quite literally blow up in his face. “So this Seal of yours protects you?”

Wei Wuxian coughs from the smoke of his busted invention, “Well, yeah. What about it?”

“It’s sentient, correct?”

“Yeah....?”

“Hmm.” Wen Qing observed the Seal slowly bobbing up and down. “Can you circulate resentful energy through the Seal for a moment? Don’t make it do anything. Just channel resentful energy through it like you would if you channeled spiritual energy normally.”

“Okayyy??” Wei Wuxian was perplexed but nevertheless obeyed and watched as Wen Qing’s eyes brightened. “What? What is it? Wen Qing, tell meeeeee! Don’t leave me out!!!!!”

“Brat, I’m trying to concentrate.” She scolded him, but her tone was fond.

Wei Wuxian waited a few more moments before it seemed like Wen Qing had seen enough.

“I want you to calm down when I say this, but I think you can reforge the Seal into a core which I can transfer into you.”

Wei Wuxian was silent......for about two seconds. “............What?”

Wen Qing sighed. “Wei Wuxian, when you channeled resentful energy through the Seal, the Seal acted much like how it would if someone were to channel spiritual energy through their core. The Seal can be made into an artificial core is what I’m saying.”

“I.....you are sure?” Wei Wuxian asked. He knew Wen Qing wouldn’t joke about this.

“Yes. I’m about eighty percent sure this will go well. I can even knock you out when I cut you open this time.”

“I.....okay.” Wei Wuxian was at a loss for words.

“So I’ve rendered you speechless.” Wen Qing smiled. “That kinda feels good.”

Wei Wuxian pouted.

...........

It took a few days to reform the Seal into a form that would resemble a core but Wei Wuxian was a genius and having Wen Qing there to bounce ideas off of helped in giving him a clue as to how a core should look and feel like.

“Are you ready?” Wen Qing asked.

Wei Wuxian, who was one hundred percent not ready, said, “Yes.”

Wen Qing saw through this. “It will be alright.” She squeezed his hand. “This time, it will be alright.”

That was the last thing he heard before he was knocked out.

When he awoke, his eyes had burned for a little before the pain dissipated.

Wen Qing had been in the midst of declaring the operation successful when she suddenly paused, “Huh.”

“What is it?” He asked nervously. Did something go wrong?

“Oh.....it’s, hmm. A’ Ning, get me some water, will you?”

Wen Ning returned not long later and locked eyes with Wei Wuxian. He seemed quite startled and that made Wei Wuxian even more curious. Based on Wen Qing’s reaction, it wasn’t anything bad, but still.....

“Wei Wuxian.”

“Yes?”

“Look at your reflection and you’ll understand why A’ Ning and I looked startled.”

Wei Wuxian did.

And he was shocked to see that his eyes have now become a brilliant shade of red. “What the hell?”

“Mmhm.”

“Why are my eyes red???”

“Well, Wei Wuxian, I’m not sure if anyone’s told you, but you’re aware your eyes turn red everytime you use demonic cultivation, right?”

“Umm, no??”

“Well, they do. And considering what your core is, well. I’m not entirely surprised this happened. It was certainly unexpected though.” She finished cleaning up and left Wei Wuxian to just sit and admire his reflection.

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

A week and some carefully supervised experiments later, Wei Wuxian had full control over his core. It was really just the same thing as how one would normally use a golden core, so it didn’t take long for him to get the hang of it. However, considering his core is the Seal, he also had the ability to control thousands of corpses and this time without any of the side effects.

He also spent time trying to get Suibian to respond to him using resentful energy. Considering that the sword was a spiritual sword, he was unsure of the compatibility but Suibian seemed to adapt well enough and Wei Wuxian was so glad he didn’t have to give up ever using his beloved sword again.

The next step on his agenda was to update the wards. Using the power of the Seal to strengthen it was a walk in the park and Wei Wuxian finally felt like despite how the cultivation world was always on the verge of killing him and the Wens, they’d be safe. The wards would hold out.

He then started absorbing all the deep-seated resentment in the soil to make it more fertile as well as trying to clear the Burial Mounds resentment by listening to the stories of the dead and helping them pass on. He also painstakingly dug up all the strewn about corpses, burned them and held proper funeral rites for them.

The crops flourished, the Wens and him were well-fed, and the Burial Mounds started to lighten up. Wei Wuxian no longer looked to be on the verge of death and he was able to cultivate without any problem.

Like this, time passed peacefully.

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

He was invited to his nephew’s one month celebration not long later and Wei Wuxian decided that this would be a good time to show the cultivation world that he truly is the grandmaster of demonic cultivation they all claim him to be. (In truth, he never considered himself to be any sort of grandmaster considering how little he knew of demonic cultivation, but it was different now.)

He told Wen Ning and the other corpses - of the resentful spirits that stayed behind saying they wanted to help him - to watch for any Jins since he trusted they’d take this chance to attack the Burial Mounds.

After he put on a concealing talisman for his eyes - since he knew that his different eye color would make a huge uproar -, he took to the skies with Suibian and nearly teared up. He’d missed flying. He’d missed this feeling. Laughing happily, he circulated the resentful energy in his core and sped up, becoming a black blur as he flew straight over Qiongqi Path.

When he landed at the foot of Koi Tower, invitation in hand, the Jin guards seemed surprised to see him there but had to let him in, not wanting to offend him.

Jiang Yanli-- no, it was Jin Yanli saw him and waved excitedly, beckoning him over. Out of his sight, Jin Guangyao and Jin Guangshan seemed surprised to see him there.

“A’ Xian!”

“Shijie!” The form of address slipped out.

Her face softened. “You made it!”

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world!”

The whispers of the people around him, wondering why he was there, surrounded him, but he ignored it. “Shijie, here’s my present!”

She looked at the bell with a little bit of wonder. “What does it do?”

“It’ll ensure that high level resentful beings and below won’t be able to move!”

“Oh, A’ Xian! This is perfect.”

“Thank you.” Jin Zixuan said, awkwardly. Wei Wuxian had forgotten he was there.

“No need! If it’s for Shijie’s son, I’d do anything!”

“He’s my son, too.”

Wei Wuxian made a face at that. “Well, yeah.”

“Wei Wuxian!” Jiang Cheng called and then stopped. “You have your sword?”

Wei Wuxian shrugged, “Yep!” He twirled around. “I started picking Suibian up again! But let’s not focus on that, Jiang Cheng!”

Jiang Cheng seemed hesitant but dropped it readily enough as they started bickering like they used to.

Suddenly--

“Wei Wuxian!” Someone yelled.

Wei Wuxian groaned. Can one day go on without someone yelling my name with hatred??? Like, please??

“Yeeeeeees?” He drawled tiredly.

And some Jin guy that vaguely looked like Jin Zixuan stomped in, looking murderous. “You, remove the curse that you put on me!!”

Murmurs started up all around them.

“Curse?” Wei Wuxian looked confused. “What curse? And who are you anyway? Am I supposed to know you from somewhere??”

“You know who I am!!”

“No, I don’t actually.” Wei Wuxian scratched his head as he walked forward to get a better look. He really didn’t know!

“That’s Jin Zixun.” His shijie said, coming up to him. “From the Phoenix Mountain hunt?” Before Wei Wuxian could say anything, she continued. “The one that was supposed to apologize to you.”

“Hmm?” Wei Wuxian thought really hard. “Oh! I remember you now!” He said to a rather red-faced Jin Zixun. “Sorry about that buddy, but uhh I didn’t curse you! I didn’t even remember you until now!”

“It must be you! It has to be you!!” He screamed and it was really grating on his nerves. “See! Look at this!” He ripped his robes open and everyone gasped at the evidence of the Hundred Holes curse on his torso.

Wei Wuxian whistled. “Well, that’s quite some curse. But I still didn’t do it.” Jin Zixun looked ready to refute so he continued, “Why would I curse you secretly when I usually make a big production of those I kill?”

People had to admit he had a point.

Jin Zixun continued to scream expletives until he finally rushed forward and in a rather bold move, drew his sword, plunging forward. However, in his anger, he completely missed his target and the direction of the blade pointed towards Jin Yanli.

“A’ Jie!!” Jiang Cheng screamed

Wei Wuxian was the closest to her and pushed her back, stepping in front of her taking the sword to his gut.

“A’ XIAN!!!” “WEI WUXIAN!!” “WEI YING!!” Jin Yanli, Jiang Cheng, and Lan Wangji, who was actually there, all screamed.

And Wei Wuxian who had just been disemboweled, grit his teeth and pulled out the sword. Which, in hindsight, was a horrible decision since blood got everywhere. Though not so much when his stomach stitched itself back together. “................Huh.” I knew I regenerated quickly considering how often I got hurt plowing the fields and digging up the corpses to put them to rest, but damn that was quick. Though..... “My robes!” He fake-cried, turning his attention to a stunned Jin Zixun. “You ruined my robes! I just managed to scrounge up enough money to buy this new pair and you ruined them!!!!” He fretted over the large rip over his abdomen. “What am I going to tell Wen Qing? She just told me not to stain them!”

The entire cultivation just stared at him in silent shock, making Wei Wuxian feel a little self-conscious.

“Uhh, what are all of you staring at me for?”

“Wei Wuxian,” Jiang Cheng said with all the patience of an exasperated brother. “Is that the only thing you can ask?!” He glared, signaling for two Jiang disciples to restrain Jin Zixun from anymore stupid ideas he’d like to enact. “When did you cultivate to immortality?”

“I didn’t??? What do you mean??”

“Wei Ying.” Lan Zhan said, checking him over. “Are you alright?”

“Hmm? I’m a little dizzy considering all the blood I’ve lost, but it’s nothing big!” He grinned. It felt nice to have Lan Zhan care for him rather than fight with him.

“Wei Wuxian, stop flirting with Hanguang-Jun and answer the damn question.”

Wei Wuxian turned his attention back to his brother and pouted at him, missing Lan Wangji’s red ears. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“A’ Xian.” Shijie said and Wei Wuxian abruptly realized her robes had his blood on them.

“Shijie, I’m sorry I got your robes dirty!”

“It’s fine.” She patted him. “But A’ Xian, I know you didn’t pay attention to those lectures, but only immortals can heal from wounds like that that quickly.”

“Really?”

“Mn.” Lan Zhan confirmed.

“Huh. So I’m immortal?”

“Yes.” Jiang Cheng deadpanned. “And you didn’t even notice it. In true Wei Wuxian fashion.”

Lan Zhan frowned then. He had still been checking Wei Wuxian’s pulse. “Wei Ying, what happened to your core?”

“Hmm? .........Oh shit.”

“Why is it covered in resentment?”

“Oh. Umm.” Wei Wuxian really was at a loss for words now. “We can discuss that later?”

“Wei Ying.”

“Aiya, how do you make my name sound like reprimand?”

“Don’t try to deflect the conversation.” Jiang Cheng said, now paying attention.

Wei Wuxian groaned. “Okay. Well, everyone would have found out sooner or later but umm. I might have cultivated to immortality accidentally via demonic cultivation? Haha, ha......”

No one laughed with him. They all looked pretty shaken and Wei Wuxian wanted to laugh at their reaction. He felt pretty detached from it all, to be honest.

“Can we all just forget about this and continue celebrating Jin Ling’s one month celebration?”

And everyone collectively said, “No.”

“Aww.”

___________________

To this day, I’m still unsure of whether it’s Carp Tower or Koi Tower.

#mdzs #wei ying #wei wuxian #wen qing #immortal wei wuxian #fluff #wei wuxian has a new core #but it's not a golden core #wen remnants #jiang cheng #jiang wanyin #jiang yanli #jin zixuan #jin zixun #humor #lan zhan #lan wangji #mild warning for blood

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grewlikefancyflowers · 2 years

Note

This feels like a dumb question, but I’m honestly going in circles: What exactly is going with LWJ insisting on keeping WWX with him immediately post-resurrection? How is it in character? What’s different this time around about taking a protesting WWX back to CR?

Is WWX (unconsciously?) not actually as resisting as it seems? Is LWJ driven by wanting to protect him from JC?

It just seems crazy that WWX is actually repeatedly running away and being dragged back by the collar.

I don't think this is a dumb question at all ! Excessively long answer under the cut.

The first and most obvious conclusion is that yes, LWJ was protecting WWX from JC. Taking everything into account - WWX being only recently resurrected and already in danger again, LWJ having already experienced his death once - it is easy to see why LWJ would just pluck him up and take him back to CR.

The juniors themselves do also point out the logic in LWJ's decision making here - 'Lan SiZhui tried to reason with him, “Young Master Mo, it was for your sake that HanGuang-Jun brought you here. [...] Lan JingYi spoke, “That is right. You have seen Sect Leader Jiang’s methods, have you not?' (Ch.11, exr)

While they're not wrong, I think this exchange is far more interesting in its illustration of how LWJ can pretty much kidnap an 'unwilling' person, and people will still think him righteous. Even when LWJ uses the silencing spell on WWX, LXC's only reaction is 'pls be nice to ur new friend wangji :)' To me this whole bit is reminiscent of this quote about LWJ...

'Saying that he [WWX] was actually innocent was even more of a joke. [...] Lan WangJi, though, was different from him. He wouldn’t even have to explain, and people would explain for him' (Ch.50, exr)

So I see that exchange as a example of the commentary on class & privilege in MDZS, rather than some convenient exposition to explain to us what LWJ is doing (though serves as that too).

That being said, while LWJ's initial reaction is understandable, his continuing to keep WWX is a little muddier, but there are some hints MXTX gives us to be able to piece together exactly what might be going through LWJ's mind throughout this early part of the novel. Generally I'd say that while there is a lot of confusion created by identity shenanigans, LWJ is responding to things WWX himself says/does.

First thing to consider - when LWJ says he is taking WWX back to CR, it is in response to WWX saying 'I am very much attracted to people like Hanguang-Jun.' While I don't think LWJ took this as sincere for even a second, I do think this is what made him decide in that moment that he was going to take WWX back. LWJ even warns him, 'mark your words,' telling WWX - someone who has always said/done things like this with apparent obliviousness - to be aware of what he's doing, because LWJ is responding to it. Taking Identity Shenanigans into account, LWJ may not even realise at this point that WWX didn't intentionally give his identity away to him, or that he hasn't realised he's done so, and LWJ obviously doesn't know WWX doesn't remember his confession, and, while they are in public like this, they can't exactly talk openly. Whatever LWJ is making of all this, he would definitely not have any reason to assume that WWX is doing this to disgust him & and make him leave.

We're not given any particular description of how WWX behaves while they're travelling back to CR, but if we assume that he continued with the 'acting gay to disgust LWJ' tactic then... LWJ would, I think, still just probably be confused about what he's doing, and still not assume that the reason WWX is doing that to try to escape. It's not as if WWX has had any problem just bluntly telling him in the past that he didn't want to go back to CR. Most likely LWJ thought WWX might drop the act once they were in private.

And then there is of course the iconic 'drag him inside' scene when WWX is wailing outside CR. On this part I think, as I sort of mentioned above, LWJ has seen how a WWX who is genuinely unwilling to do something behaves, and it is not like this. Since we can probably assume that on the way, WWX did not obediently follow, but instead got up to all kinds of outrageous cut-sleeve behaviour very sincere attempts to escape, is it really that surprising that LWJ is not taking this little tantrum very seriously? At this point, to LWJ, has WWX actually come across as that dedicated to trying to escape? I don't think so.

That being said, while I don't think its quite accurate to say that LWJ literally dragged an unwilling WWX back to CR, its clear that LWJ here isn't at his most sane & rational. Which, tbh, is an understandable response to the whole... situation. But LWJ also does deal with this in his own way, we know that he goes to the cold spring almost immediately after returning to CR, before speaking directly with WWX, the purpose of which we are told is to 'calm one’s heart, clear one’s mind, quench one’s fire.' (Ch.11). If I had to guess what is going on in LWJ's mind here, he's probably imagining he can chill the fuck out in the cold spring for a bit, then go and have a very calm and normal conversation with WWX. Listen, LWJ did spend the 13 years of WWX's absence honing his brat taming abilities, but nothing could have prepared him for the unprecedented brattiness of post-resurrection WWX.

Anyway, that didn't happen, obviously, instead WWX interrupts LWJ, gets dragged back to the Jingshi and thrown on the bed, but before he can go ahead with his devious plan of 'whining flirtatiously' (lol) he gets distracted by LWJ's 'tousled hair and exposed collarbones' brand on his chest... This whole moment, which is honestly just overflowing with sexual tension, is interrupted by the Lan's bed time bell. WWX's hole is safe for now. This is followed by WWX leaping into LWJ's bed, LWJ tells him twice to get off, then asks him 'Are you sure that this is what you want?' - once again warning WWX to think about what he's doing/saying, once again, LWJ only responds to things that WWX himself initiates.

I do also think this interaction between WX is important in understanding LWJ's thought process...

'The YiLing Patriarch’s ghost flute, “Chenqing”, was known far and wide. Yet, right now, with his bamboo flute, he purposely played it with many mistakes [..] Lan WangJi had probably never played with someone with such terrible skills before. After a while, he finally couldn’t bear to continue as if nothing was wrong any longer, and raised his head to look at Wei WuXian with an expressionless face.' (Ch.19, exr)

I think this moment really solidifies for LWJ that WWX is dedicated to hiding his identity from him, even when they are alone and in a fairly pressing situation, WWX still keeps it up. LWJ's behaviour towards WWX changes after this too, instead of letting WWX into his bed - 'Whenever Wei WuXian wriggled into his blankets, he would use a light slap to make Wei WuXian’s body rigid, and then stuff him into the other set of blankets in a proper position.' (Ch.20, exr) He's no longer willing to go along with WWX's games now that its clear that WWX is doing this as part of an act, not his own intentions. Once LWJ reveals he knows WWX's identity, they go back to sharing a bed, and LWJ even starts teasing him back again - eg, 'undress after we return.' Whereas between WWX playing his flute badly and LWJ saying his name in Qinghe, LWJ always rejects WWX's advances, and doesn't make any of his own moves towards him until WWX once again initiates - 'Should I take my clothes off and show you?'. LWJ even refines his bamboo flute, and says to WWX 'Play it properly' (Ch.27) once his identity is revealed, further drawing attention to the significance of WWX's bad playing.

Additionally, it was not LWJ who decides to take WWX away with him once more to investigate NMJ's arm - 'The few nodded, “Okay! Are you going to travel down the mountain?” Lan WangJi gave a slight nod. Wei WuXian had already stealthily shifted behind him, talking to himself in a loud, cheerful way, “Yes, yes, yes, we can finally get off this mountain and elope together!”' (Ch.19, exr) LWJ is still just responding to what WWX says, in the best way he can considering the circumstance.

The only time we actually specifically see LWJ repeatedly dragging WWX back by his collar is - 'Wei WuXian originally wanted to sneak away during their expedition off the mountain. However, even though he attempted to run away multiple times, it always ended with Lan WangJi carrying him back with one hand holding the back of his collar. He changed his strategy, sticking to Lan WangJi as hard as he could. At night, especially, he would persistently climb into Lan WangJi’s bed' (Ch.20, exr)

So WWX pretty quickly gives up on 'running away', instead once again resorting the the equally ineffective unhinged cut-sleeve behaviour. All of which is to say that, no, I don't think WWX is resisting half as much as he wants to believe he is. In fact, I think it's a stretch to say WWX is resisting at all. It shouldn’t need to be said that if Yiling Laozu truly wanted to escape LWJ, he could find a better way to do it than all that. I would say LWJ is very aware of this too.

Final point on this, since WWX seems to not want LWJ to know or acknowledge his real identity, LWJ respects this. He only reveals he knows in Qinghe, which I would say he does for two reasons, 1. he only does this after WWX willingly comes back to him, cementing that WWX doesn't actually want to escape him, 2. after he says his name, LWJ immediately asks him about his encounter with JC. WWX getting hurt after only being separated from LWJ for a short time makes LWJ want to speak plainly about these things, as WWX could be encountering these potential threats relating to his past life.

As for what has changed from LWJ's struggle in the past about taking an unwilling WWX back to CR, the change is in LWJ himself. Whereas the younger LWJ had a lot of internal conflict over his own motivations towards WWX, which was only fed by WWX's immediate assumption that LWJ wants to imprison or punish him when he expresses his concerns over WWX's modao, the present LWJ is far more self assured. He's not the same LWJ who succumbed to his own desires and kissed WWX on phoenix mountain, WWX himself comments several times on his improved ability to tolerate WWX's teasing.

There's also the point that, when taken in the context of WX's whole relationship, these interactions at the start of the novel take on this far more light-hearted, flirtatious tone that might be initially lost in a first time read through. Differing translation choices also can change the tone here too - I found FYY's and tamingwangxian's translations to come across far more flirty than exr's. Overall, we see WWX repeatedly enact his 'outrageous cut-sleeve behaviour,' ostensibly with the aim of disgusting LWJ, yet despite him never actually succeeding with his supposed goal, he continues doing it anyway, even to his own detriment. This all just follows the typical pattern in their interactions, which MXTX described as 'the one who is teased is the gong, the one who failed in his teasing, and ends up getting screwed instead is the shou.' (Ch.17 author's notes, tmwx).

Honestly, there is so much more to be said on WWX's behaviour here, and how he delights in having this excuse to behave this way towards LWJ, but this post is long enough already.

#mdzs #mdzs meta #lan wangji

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vrishchikawrites · 3 years

Note

Are you still taking prompts?

Cause if so, I'd love to see a time travel fic where post-canon WWX and LWJ get yeeted back into their younger bodies, and land just before the GC transfer. And Post-Canon WWX - who's had some years of being a part of a loving, supportive family, in a non-toxic, non-abusive environment; and therefore no longer has any misconceptions about how much the Jiangs were not his family - takes one look at JC lying there on the table in the cave after WQ knocked him out (and is now in the middle of prepping for surgery); and just goes, "LOL, yeah; nope.😆 Been there, done that; 10/10, would not recommend.😝 Hey, WQ - change of plans!😎"

(Except, you know, not written like crack. 😉)

Not necessary to include, but a fun idea:

JC gets dragged along to the past as well because he has WWX's GC; so whatever sent them back mistook him for part of WWX and brought him along.

So when he wakes up from the anaesthesia, he freaks out about not having a GC anymore. And WWX has this whole story ready to tell young JC about how, "Oops, sorry; you can't have a new GC after all" - but this is Post-Canon JC; so he knows about the transfer, and knows that this means that WWX decided not to do it again.

Which means he ends up screaming at WWX about, "How dare you not give me your GC!"

So WWX feels exactly zero sympathy.

(Before that happened he was maybe feeling a little bit bad for young JC; because that JC hadn't done anything too bad yet - but he already knew how it would turn out if he went through with it. And he was not giving up his chance to cultivate to immortality with his hubby; just so that JC could Feel Like A Real Man, and go on to murder his way through life again.)

What would be really, really great about this, is if WWX had brought JC to Qinghe or Gusu; or somewhere the other cultivation sects involved in the SSC had gathered, before JC woke up. Planning to leave him there where he would be safe. So when JC wakes up and starts screaming, everybody hears him.

And they're all like, "...WUT."🤤

"You expected him to do what?!?"😲😨😱

So instead of all the sympathy and compassion, etc, that he would have gotten over what happened at LP (that he probably did get the first time), or for losing his GC; basically the entire allied cultivation world as a whole is collectively side-eyeing him.

IDK; I just think it would be really funny.

But mainly, I just want to see WWX a few years post-canon; having the chance to do it all again, and choosing not to go through with the GC transfer. LWJ going with him is because the thought of post-canon LWJ losing his WWX makes me sad; and I want them to stay together. 😋

Post-Canon JC going back and getting stuck with the coreless body he deserved is just for my own catharsis.

(The rest of that idea is simply for the lulz.) 😉

(I decided not to include JC traveling back in time. Hope this works and satisfies you!)

“No, I don’t.” Wei Wuxian sees Wen Qing blink and stare at him while Wen Ning stills in the process of making Jiang Cheng comfortable.

“What?” Wen Qing asks but rethinks it immediately, “No, no need to answer that.” She starts packing away her instruments immediately like she’s glad that Wei Wuxian has changed his mind. He looks at her and feels aching fondness rise in his chest. She must be frustrated that he made her go through all of that trouble and yet she still chooses to move before he can change his mind again.

“What… are we going to tell Jiang-gongzi?” Wen Ning asks tentatively but Wei Wuxian notes the faint look of relief in the boy’s eyes.

“We’ll tell him the treatment wasn't possible,” He says, glancing at his… former shidi. It isn’t an easy decision to make, because he knows Jiang Cheng would suffer for it. A part of him feels like he’s being unnecessarily cruel by denying Jiang Cheng his core.

But he has already paid his debt and it cost countless people their lives. Jiang Cheng’s actions didn’t just lead to the death of the Wens. Lan Zhan had told him about the numerous ‘demonic cultivators’ Jiang Cheng had pursued relentlessly. Even his love wasn’t certain how many people died or were tormented to insanity because of Jiang Cheng’s persistence.

While Wei Wuxian doesn’t intend to let the situation get so out of hand, it is apparent that Jiang Cheng can’t be trusted with power.

He is worried about how Jiang Cheng would react. Wei Wuxian had promised him a core, after all. But whatever happens, a powerless Jiang Cheng is safer for everyone.

“We’ll tell him that rebuilding the core is impossible because Wen Zhuliu destroyed his meridians as well.”

“He has,” Wen Qing points out, “I was about to repair them.”

Wei Wuxian frowns, “And can you repair them still? Without transferring the core?” That would certainly help Jiang Cheng heal faster and accept some spiritual energy transfusions. Wen Qing looks at Jiang Cheng with a frown and nods.

“Wei-gongzi… what changed your mind?” Wen Ning asks as Wen Qing goes to work immediately. Wei Wuxian knows that if he has to help the Wens, he needs to tell them the truth. While Wen Ning would trust him and accept his explanation without too many questions, Wen Qing wouldn’t be so easy.

Wei Wuxian takes a deep breath and closes his eyes, getting his thoughts in order. When he opens them again, both of the Wens are looking at him with frowns.

He grins wryly and spreads his hands, "I have a tale for you, my dear friends."

Jin Guangyao needed to have his last 'hurrah'. He just couldn't leave them be, even as he died. Whatever he did, whatever tool he used, it sent a shockwave of Resentful Energy that would've killed them all.

As always, Wei Wuxian stepped forward to protect people. As always, Lan Wangji stepped forward to protect him.

Wei Wuxian gritted his teeth and changed his plan at the last moment. At first, he wanted to absorb the energy and channel it somewhere else. But with so many people just lingering instead of running, he needed a different solution.

His mind flashed, he saw Jiang Cheng, and decided.

A forbidden array formed.

"I needed something that would use up all of the Resentful Energy and protect everyone, including Lan Zhan."

"So, at the last moment and on the verge of dying, you chose something as improbable as time travel." Wen Qing deadpans. Wen Ning is looking at him with wide eyes. Strangely enough, both look like they believe him. Well, he did mention a few things, personal incidents, that he had no way of knowing if the Wens hadn't told him.

Still.

"I'm not the one for regrets," He says softly as he looks at Jiang Cheng, "But I thought that array was the safest solution. It doesn't harm the current timeline so everyone is safe. Lan Zhan, I know, wouldn't mind following my lead in this." He did regret taking Zewu-jun's brother away from him after such a traumatic event but there really was no other option. Not with Jin Ling so close and so many innocent people in the vicinity.

Wei Wuxian is quite certain that the blast would've destroyed everything around them, including the innocent people around the Guanyin Temple complex.

The siblings exchange glances before Wen Qing returns to Jiang Cheng's side, preparing to work on his meridians, "You're going to change things." She observes, "Save people?"

"Save you and Wen Ning. Save Jiang Yanli. Save innocents, yes."

Wen Qing freezes.

---

Lan Wangji doesn't know what Wei Ying did but he trusts his beloved. When he finds himself in the past, just before the Sunshot Campaign begins and shortly after the fall of the Lotus Pier, he doesn't hesitate.

He knows that his brother is safe and his uncle is managing things at Cloud Recesses. But he also knows that somewhere out there, his beloved is preparing himself for a risky, painful procedure.

Wangji can't let that happen. He thinks back on everything Wen Ning shared with him about the incident, particularly the location of where it occurred. He's probably too late to stop the transfer but perhaps not late enough to stop the Wens from finding Wei Ying.

It takes him days to reach Yiling without the aid of Bichen but he manages and immediately heads towards the approximate location Wen Ning had mentioned.

"Wei Ying," He breathes softly when he spots his beloved shopping for some supplies. He hadn't anticipated finding him so soon but is grateful nonetheless.

Wei Ying is dressed like a peasant and blends in well with the people around him but Wangji can recognize him anywhere.

Dressed discreetly and without his forehead ribbon, Wangji too is inconspicuous. He moves swiftly towards Wei Ying and catches his elbow, eyeing the people in red and white uniform at the far end of the street warily.

"Come." He whispers.

Wei Ying doesn't say a word, just paying the vendor and following Wangji into a more discreet location.

Wangji looks at his beloved's face, drinking in his bright silver eyes and sharp features with acute relief.

"Wei Ying, you… you look well." Strangely so, for someone who has just given up his Golden Core.

Hope stirs in his chest and Wangji reaches for Wei Ying's wrist.

His love's lips quirk in amusement, but Wangji ignores him, focusing on sending his spiritual energy through Wei Ying's meridians.

A strong core pulses in response.

"Wei Ying," Something bright and triumphant burns in his chest and he resists the urge to pull his beloved into a crushing embrace.

He would've supported Wei Ying's decision to give up his core and cultivate with resentful energy again. He knew it wasn't evil or harmful now.

But Wei Ying chose himself. His beloved had finally chosen to save himself.

"Aiya, Lan Zhan!" Wei Ying laughs, "If you keep looking at me like that, I'll do something quite shameless and embarra-"

Wangji kisses him.

He cups that precious face, pulls him close, and slides his lips over soft flesh in a tender expression of love he can't contain.

Wei Ying chose himself.

---

Jiang Cheng returns from his trip to the mountain with a thunderous expression on his face.

He disregards Lan Zhan and grabs Wei Wuxian's arm in a tough grip, dragging him away from the crowded tea house. Lan Zhan follows without a word, his expression frosty and eyes on Jiang Cheng.

"Your Grandmaster," He spits, "Is just as useless and worthless as you. All she could do is repair my meridians! My body was too damaged for anything else, she said!"

Wei Wuxian knows Wen Qing wrote the note they left by Jiang Cheng's side but he hadn't known what she had written.

It must've been reasonably convincing for Jiang Cheng to be convinced.

"That's-" He searches his mind to find words that would be appropriately sympathetic. Saying 'that's too bad' would be just rubbing salt on an open wound.

He may dislike Jiang Cheng, but some of the childhood affection still lingers. He doesn't wish to hurt his former shidi.

"I didn't know," He says finally, his heart throbbing in sympathy at Jiang Cheng's devastated expression. He briefly reconsiders his decision but Lan Zhan shifts discreetly by his side and Wei Wuxian remembers why he made that decision in the first place.

Jiang Cheng had been unworthy of the gift he had been given.

His shidi snarls and turns to Lan Zhan, "What are you doing here, Lan er-gonzi," He snarls, "Coming to triumph in our misery?"

Lan Zhan looks at him flatly, "I came to assist Wei Ying."

"Came to assist Wei Ying," Jiang Cheng mocks, his expression tight and furious, "Well, you're welcome to take him away! There's nothing left for him to destroy. Everything is gone. He invited the wrath of the Wens on our heads to protect you and that led to the destruction of my sect. He couldn't even repay that debt. His Grandmaster failed."

Jiang Cheng turns hate-filled eyes towards him, "You are a curse. My father should have left you to rot on the streets!"

"Jiang Wanyin!" Lan Zhan warns but Wei Wuxian places a hand on the Second Jade's arm to halt him.

"I'm taking you to Meishan to be with shijie." Wei Wuxian says calmly, "And then I'll go join the war efforts."

Jiang Cheng sneers before turning his head away, silent.

Wei Wuxian does as he says. He leaves Jiang Cheng in Jiang Yanli's care and heads to Qinghe with Lan Zhan. The war goes differently than before. He manages to kill Wen Zhuliu and Wen Chao early, which gives them a big morale boost. But that's the only thing that goes their way for a long time.

"I'm going to use it," He tells Lan Zhan once, when the scales tip dangerously in the Wen's favor.

Lan Zhan studies him before nodding gracefully, "I will help."

There's no way to avoid using his cultivation method, not if he wants to keep people safe. He's more careful and restrained this time and he doesn't create the Yīn Hǔ Fú. But Mo Dao is Mo Dao. It attracts disapproval from people regardless.

Wei Wuxian doesn't care and Lan Zhan stays by his side without paying any heed to the grumblings of his clan. He goes to sleep every night with Lan Zhan's guqin notes in his ear and meditates every morning with the Cleansing purging the Resentful Energy from his body.

With a powerful and active Golden Core, Wei Wuxian can't use Mo Dao liberally without risking Qi Deviation. But he uses enough to help them win the war.

Wei Wuxian successfully retakes Lotus Pier and Yunmeng from the Wens. Jiang Cheng's hatred doesn't diminish and even Jiang Yanli grows distant after a while. Jiang Cheng's suffering and downfall hardens something in his soft shijie.

Wei Wuxian accepts that consequence quietly.

He hands Lotus Pier back to Jiang Cheng and stays on the front lines, leaving most of the freshly recruited disciples behind to protect his former martial siblings. When the war ends, argues to keep the Wen cultivators in better conditions. He makes sure everyone knows how much the Jiangs owe the Wen siblings, and saves the children and elderly.

With Jiang Cheng out of the Cultivation World and Wei Wuxian's reputation as a war hero, saving the Wen remnants is easier than it had been before.

---

Everyone is baffled when Jiang Wanyin names a new head disciple and Wei Wuxian never returns to Yunmeng. People gossip, sect leaders question, and new Jiang disciple flounder.

Neither Jiang Wanyin nor Wei Wuxian confirms it but it is clear to everyone that the Jiang Sect has, foolishly, kicked out its most powerful disciple. YunmengJiang remains wealthy but the Sect's influence diminishes significantly once Wei Wuxian leaves.

Other Sects, big and small, scramble to find Wei Wuxian, ready to offer him a place and get a powerful cultivator in their ranks. Letters pour in promising wealth and prestige.

Wei Wuxian ignores them all and settles in Cloud Recesses. He's content to teach a group of eye-wide Lan ducklings now to deal with resentful energy and limit the risk of Qi Deviation. He takes them on Nighthunts, teaches them real-life lessons, encourages creativity, and becomes a well-loved senior.

New YunmengJiang disciples aren't near as strong as their predecessors without someone to teach them properly.

People gossip and speculate as the years pass. They hint that he is wrong to leave his former sect behind but he doesn't care.

Wei Wuxian has Lan Zhan and Lan Sizhui. Wen Qing and Wen Ning live happily in a small farming village not far from Gusu. They intervene before Jin Guangyao kills Nie Mingjue. They save Lan Xichen from heartache. Jin Ling is born and has both of his parents.

That's all he needs to be happy.

YunmengJiang is no longer his responsibility.

#short prompts #time travel au #wei wuxian #lan wangji #no golden core transfer #anti jiang cheng

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plan-d-to-i · 2 years

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Hi Plan,

Probably You might've answered this already. Is so, Please Link it.

I would like to know, Where did this "WWX, LWJ was suffering from PTSD or any other mental illness" take comes from???

I admit I started out with CQL and then I read the novel but I've never found at any page where the Author mentioned anything about Trauma or mental illness. I always see ppl portraying them as victims... Whereas I see them as two Heroic Figures with strong moral conviction....

Is this something common in this fandom??? Because I am fairly new and it's just annoying to see these amazing characters getting reduced into some Drama Queens🙄🙄🙄

I think that's just fandom in general. People are always trying to make characters more relatable for themselves. These days that means frequently giving them x identity. In terms of characterization it's probably some cql leaching into things as well. And ofc "trauma" is always thrown around a lot. If the character doesn't show any symptoms of it, it must be just because they don't know it yet! Or ~no symptoms must be a symptom >:0~! WWX in particular seems to suffer a lot from this treatment in fandom. Which is odd because he only really has one thing he can't get over, that fandom is far less understanding of, and that's dogs! (Both in the case of jc stans who use it to try to make their fav into a victim, or bc many ppl like dogs and want their fav to like them too.) As for everything else, WWX has a pretty healthy way of processing things for himself in the end.

After staring at this face for a long while, Wei Wuxian rubbed it again a few more times, massaged his eyes, and thudded back onto the shore.

It wasn’t that he couldn’t endure others’ harsh tongues and nasty words. After all, when he had first made his decision, he had understood perfectly clearly the kind of road that lay ahead. His mind had long reminded him: remember the motto of the Yunmeng Jiang Clan—“attempt the impossible.”

Only, he had believed his heart to be an unmovable stone. Yet, in the end, humans were not rocks or vegetation.

The little donkey seemed to recognise his low mood and, for once, didn’t impatiently moan and bray."

This only comes right after he overhears the cultivators discussing Jin Ling and YanLi (and his own encounter with Jin Ling). And again about his core in a very similar vein:

"It wasn’t something he liked to reminisce about. He didn’t want to be reminded again and again of what it felt like when his core was cut out or what price he had to pay. If this were exposed in the past, he’d most likely laugh and comfort Jiang Cheng, ‘It’s not that big of a deal anyways. Look at me all these years. Without the core, I still managed to come through, didn’t I? Beating everyone I wanted to beat, killing everyone I wanted to kill.’ But now, he indeed didn’t have the strength left to put up such a confident, nonchalant pretense.

From the bottom of his heart, he knew he wasn’t so indifferent about it after all.

Was it really that easy to move on from such a thing?

Of course not."

He's not dwelling on it. He's not blaming himself. He's not struggling with resentment. He's not spiraling in grief. So it's not like we need to make up WWX's feelings as we go along and just decide he must always be secretly traumatized. A lot of those type of posts also have this weird 'he's too oblivious to know if he were traumatized' flavor to them... Which leads to- there's also a significant difference between WWX allowing himself to acknowledge that he's faced hardships, and it wasn't a lark now that he has the space and time to do it, and the woe is I, everyone owes me, victim mentality so much of fandom imposes on him. That just erases a really significant aspect of his character, in the interest of making him more understandable and palatable to people who seemingly can't wrap their minds around someone going through trying things without making those things their entire personality.

#deeply apologetic for the delayed responses. have been away from my computer the past few days :) x #mdzs #answers #Wei Wuxian #Lan Wangji

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kurowrites · 3 years

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Can I give you 2 prompts for wangxian fics? 1: meddling Xichen (to ship) + jealous lwj + oblivious wwx and 2: kissing practice + childhood friends + caught red handed by lan qiren. Thank you so much! I love your modern au fics.

I am relatively sure that this is NOT what you wanted, but you know, something something beggars something. ;) Once it had been planted in my mind, I had to do it.

---

Lan Wangji was aware that due to his distant nature and his courtesy name, some people falsely assumed that he was blind to all worldly concerns around him.

This was, however, a completely wrong conclusion. He was very much aware of what was happening around him. Just as much as he was aware that this supposed ‘conference’ that they were all attending was little more than a shoddily hidden marriage market.

Which would have been fine, it was not like Lan Wangji did not see the necessity to build stronger ties between the sects. It was not his place to judge such things, and, after all, marriage was a necessity to sustain a stable society. He might not approve of the vulgarity of some of the participants of this conference, but he did not deny the necessity of such an event, however impractical and distasteful it might be to him, personally.

However.

Why Lan Xichen, his own brother, seemed to have made a very strong connection with Wei Wuxian at this conference, was completely beyond him.

Out of all possible matches, Lan Xichen seemed to favour Wei Wuxian over anyone else!

Lan Wangji was unable to make sense of it, no matter how long he considered the case before him.

A marriage between them would not only be questionable in terms of inter-sect politics, he also doubted that their wildly different personalities would be a good foundation for a successful marriage. Lan Xichen should be perfectly aware of these things, and yet, he seemed to prefer Wei Wuxian’s company to that of anyone else.

And Wei Wuxian… Lan Wangji did not want to make unfounded assumptions, but aiming for a sect leader seemed to be reaching very high for someone in his position. Especially when there were other suitable matches to be made that were much closer to his own age and status. Such an attempt was sure to incur the displeasure of all other major sects, and several minor ones, too.

He considered bringing the evils of such an unsuitable match to his brother’s attention, but he did not want to hurt his brother’s feelings, and Lan Wangji knew that no matter how carefully he chose his words, they would end up sounding petty and biased.

His brother knew very well how he felt about Wei Wuxian. He had been a witness to more than one fight between Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian, and yet he seemed to have decided on Wei Wuxian without hesitation. None of Lan Wangji’s words would be able to change his choice now, he was sure.

It was just.

The thought of having someone like Wei Wuxian as his brother-in-law was unbearable. Loud and obnoxious and infuriating, how could his brother bear the presence of a person like that? And even worse, bring such a person to Cloud Recesses?

Perhaps, after the marriage, Lan Wangji would be allowed to go into seclusion for a while, in order to work on his cultivation in silence and contemplation. Once Wei Wuxian was installed at Cloud Recesses, there would be an end to all peace, that he was sure of.

He tried to make peace with that thought, and redoubled his own efforts to evade all the potential marriage partners and their families that seemed to have set their sight on him. As the second son of a prestigious sect, he had proven to be rather more popular on a marriage market like this than he had wished for, and by now, he sincerely regretted letting his brother convince him to accompany him to this sham of a conference.

He was determined not to accidentally fall into an engagement, and planned to leave the conference as the same staunch bachelor he had been before.

“Lan Zhan!” came the loud voice that Lan Wangji would have preferred not to hear right now, or ever again.

One moment later, Wei Wuxian bumped into his shoulder.

“Ayoo,” he said once he had glanced into Lan Wangji’s face. “Someone is grumpy today. Are you getting tired of being hounded by pretty girls? You should be happy! You can pick any girl you like, they’re basically throwing themselves at your feet!”

If Lan Wangji had less self-possession, he might have felt tempted to strangle Wei Wuxian right there and then. Alas, he was in control of his emotions, and so he only levelled Wei Wuxian with a disapproving glare.

He did not want anyone to throw themselves at your feet. He did not want to get married. He did not care for pretty girls.

Wei Wuxian seemed to take his quelling glare as encouragement, and laughed heartily.

“I see, Hanguang-jun does not approve!” he teased. “There is no one good enough for Lan Zhan, after all!”

Lan Wangji wondered about that particular remark, because Wei Wuxian obviously believed himself to be good enough for Lan Xichen, who arguably was above Lan Wangji in dignity and respect. Lan Wangji was only the second son.

But perhaps Wei Wuxian was teasing him, alluding to his taciturn and forbidding nature. That made more sense. After all, Lan Wangji’s brother was the more friendly and approachable one between the two of them, no competition at all.

It needed far more than a gentle smile to impress Lan Wangji.

Wei Wuxian rambled on about all the dramatic scenes he had witnessed during the conference, the little jealousies that had been happening among those that were looking for a marriage partner in order to secure the status of their sect.

Lan Wangji did not really care about these things, but he let Wei Wuxian talk nonetheless, content to listen as long as he was not required to speak.

“Seriously though, Lan Zhan,” Wei Wuxian ended his excursion. “You don’t have your eye on anyone? Come on, tell me! I’m not going to tattle! I’ll help you!”

That was precisely not what Lan Wangji wanted, and the last thing he needed was ‘help’ from Wei Wuxian, of all people. So he tightly closed his lips, and walked faster. Unfortunately, Wei Wuxian was almost as tall as him, and so he easily kept pace with Lan Wangji easily.

“Lan Zhaaaaan, come on, don’t be so stubborn,” Wei Wuxian pouted, swishing his ponytail back and forth in disappointment. “I’m trying to be supportive.”

“Wei Ying had better mind his own business,” Lan Wangji said curtly.

“Wei Ying has no business to mind,” Wei Wuxian whined, his pout growing impossibly more pronounced.

“What were you discussing with my brother, then?” Lan Wangji asked impatiently.

He regretted his words as soon as they had left his mouth.

“Oh, you saw that?” Wei Wuxian replied, perking up immediately. “Xichen-ge has been trying to convince me to come to Cloud Recesses again, to study some more or something. I wonder why he’s so insistent on it, I wasn’t that bad of a student, was I? I shouldn’t need special education!”

Lan Wangji looked at Wei Wuxian in surprise, but there was no impish glint in his eye, and no mischievous smile on his lips. Wei Wuxian was entirely serious.

“Brother asked you to come study at Cloud Recesses again?” Lan Wangji asked.

“Yeah,” Wei Wuxian agreed. “Though I’m not sure why he would ask. I feel Lan Qiren will have a qi deviation if I visit a second time.”

Lan Wangji needed a moment to process this new information.

Apparently, Lan Xichen had invited Wei Wuxian to Gusu. But there seemed to have been made no promise of marriage, or Wei Wuxian was expertly deceiving him on that account.

But there was no real reason for Wei Wuxian to be deceptive. On the contrary, Wei Wuxian would probably enjoy to lord an engagement to his brother of Lan Wangji with gusto.

Which meant that his brother had never made an offer. And yet, he had invited Wei Wuxian to Gusu.

He had invited Wei Wuxian to Gusu.

Deliberately.

Without making an offer of marriage.

Lan Wangji froze for a moment and gripped Bichen, considering.

He looked at Wei Wuxian, who looked back at him with a half-smile on his face, evidently confused about Lan Wangji’s strange reaction to his words.

Oh, it was starting to make sense now.

It was all clear.

He was going to have to commit fratricide.

“But, you know,” Wei Wuxian said, now smiling fully, clearly unaware of Lan Wangji’s dark, dark thoughts.

“If Lan Zhan asks me, I will come.”

#kuro writes #the untamed #wei wuxian #lan wangji #wangxian #mdzs #prompt #mdzs prompt #anonymous

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truly-morgan · 9 months

Text

[WRH doting on JC]

RuoCheng | Mo Dao Zu Shi 07-04-2021

[#ruocheng] (I forgot wrh canon personality a bit, so let's roll with what I have here)

What if wrh started kind of doting on the ymj heir after seeing the potential he had? Like the kid is pretty good and really hard working, why isn't jfm talking more about him? So anytime jc is at a sect conference with his father, wrh check on him, ask how is training is doing, even train a bit with him if he has the time. jc is not used to this kind of attention and loves it.

Most sect leaders are a bit wary of this attention given to jc, wondering why the man was putting such attention on the heir of a different sect when he barely acknowledges others.

This left an impression on jc, where his opinion of wrh is softened because of it. he couldn't be /that bad/ if he can be this nice and friendly, right?-

then around studying at CR, jc just get really sick of /everything/. jfm won't even acknowledge any of the improvement he does, his mother nearly only focus on telling him to "Do better"/"This could have been better"/"wwx did it, why can't you? you will be the heir" And he remembers the suggestion wrh had given to him of helping train and studying the same way he was doing at CR before going back to LP.

So he goes, figuring it would be a good change of air. he has to reassure wwx and jyl that yes, he will come back in one piece, no he is doing alright, he just needs to be away for a little while. He has for too long lived on scraps of love and barely anything, he just needs someone to give him /some/ attention and praise, and he knows wrh doesn't mind giving him just that. So he goes, getting /personally/ trained by wrh, to the surprise of many who didn't think the sect leader would do so himself. jc of course doesn't see anything wrong since the man has basically been training with him since he was young, he just listens to what wrh as to show him. he doesn't like much the idea that the wens are better than everyone, sometimes even daring to disagree, yet to everyone, surprise wrh only laugh it off a bit amused rather than ready to beat him as he would to anyone else. and so jc who isn't used to any of this kind of falls for wrh, which he poorly tries to hide from the older man. at first, wrh doesn't do anything of it, he had a wife and was happy and isn't looking for anyone else.

yet jc is a breath of fresh air, he love his pretty cute and something pulls him to the young man. So he just let him dance around as he clearly doesn't know what to do with his feeling for wrh.

wrh decides that he won't try anything unless jc approaches him first and it doesn't take long before jc decides to test the water, trying to seek more affection from him, daring more physical touch when they are alone. his most bold move is when he believes wrh has fallen asleep sitting in his study. he dare a shy kiss on his lips, only to jump when he sees wrh open eyes, flushing deep red. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean, it just" he tries to apologise, unsure what to do if the man was to take it badly. he is instead pulled into wrh laps, receiving another kiss, this time a bit deeper. "this is alright". then a relationship settles between them, slowly getting a bit more intimate than it was at first.

then I see two things happening in the future:

a) jc manages to make wrh not try to basically take over the cultivation world once he's basically his new wife helping to direct the wen sect at his side as he also will take his sect leader place later in the ymj sect (happy ending yay)

b) the sunshot campaign still happen because the wen caused some kind of problem and this ends up with jc having to either choose between all the other-

great sect and wrh. he would most likely try to calm everything down until he sees some of the other cultivators turn their back to someone who basically "protects the wen dogs".

wrh tries keeping him out of the war, knowing it would hurt him more than anything otherwise if we feel angsty enough wrh get kill and it jc who has to take over the sect and he manages to settle thing down as he changes thing in the wen sect (which does not please wc, but who cares about him). he probably also take his right at ymj, leading both clan in a mix of how jfm and wrh were, taking the iron grip needed to keep people in place, but nice and diplomatic when needed to not have everyone on his back.

let's say I prefer option A, the idea of Sweet jc somehow managing to tame wrh to not basically kill everyone and take over the cultivation world seems rather funny. He doesn't mind showing it off too, how wrh listen to him. They are both very "See how great jc is, you clearly missed out" to jfm.

Original

#tweet archive #mdzs #mo dao zu shi #ruocheng #wen ruohan #jiang cheng #doting wen ruohan #he looks after jiang cheng #and sees his potential

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ouyangzizhensdad · 3 years

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Do you think LWJ took the advantage of being a Young Master of a prominent clan to publicly display the people he hates? (We know who that is) I saw someone claim about it and It's haunting my head.

Hi anon,

I’ll start first by saying that I think the novel does, to a degree, understand that there are people who have, to use Bourdieu’s terms, forms of ‘capitals’ that others do not and integrate that into the narrative and character dynamics. LWJ has not only capital due to his position as a gongzi and the son of a Leader (then later, as heir-in-line) to one of the prominent clans, but also due to his stellar reputation and fighting abilities (and to a degree, the fact he is a man). All this allows him to have a wider range of actions that are considered ‘acceptable/legitimate’ versus another person with different or lesser forms of capital--think for instance of the reaction and consequences when LWJ challenges what powerful men are saying (making up) about WWX versus when daughter-of-a-servant MianMian does the same. However, I find it weird to frame that as LWJ “getting away” with something--with his character, it’s more like he is able to have an opinion or stand up against injustices with less chances of getting punished and ridiculed for it.

Now, if it is about Jiang Cheng, it is kind of a myopic argument to be saying that LWJ “gets away” with “publicly hating JC”. First because by that point JC is technically even higher in the social hierarchy, being a literal Sect Leader. But it’s also weird to phrase this as “publicly hating JC”: LWJ is not running around badmouthing JC or the Jiang sect--the pettiest we see him is when he doesn’t silence LJY when he engages in gossip about JC. Instead we see LWJ standing up against JC when the situation calls for it, which is not the same. Of course, as JC does, it can be considered as an inherent ‘insult’ since it makes JC ‘lose face’ but I think there is a difference. And it’s not like JC does not get away with being impolite towards LWJ and the Lan sect, something we see at Dafan Mountain.

We know with the MXY altercation that JC was ready to kill him on sight for using modao (”Do you have any last words?”/“Break his legs? Haven’t I told you? If you see this sort of evil and crooked practice, kill the cultivator and feed him to your dogs!”). After LWJ intercepts, we have this exchange showing JC being impolite to a degree that prompts LJY to call him out for it, only bringing more disrespect for the Lans from JC:

He raised one brow and spoke, “Hanguang-Jun, you sure live up to your reputation of ‘being wherever the chaos is’. So, you had time to come to this remote area today?” [..] Right now, Jiang Cheng really didn’t seem too polite as he said the words in such a tone. Even the juniors who came following Lan Wangji did not seem comfortable hearing it.

Lan Jingyi spoke straightforwardly, “Isn’t Jiang-zongzhu here as well?”

Jiang Cheng replied grimly, “Tsk, do you really think that you should butt in when your seniors are conversing? The GusuLan Sect has always been known for its respectful conduct. Is this really how it teaches its disciples?”

It is imo more true to say that, due to LWJ’s higher and respected position in society, JC is not able to use his usual means of responding to someone challenging his decisions and thus making him lose face.This is again something we see during this altercation.

LWJ silences JL after he dismisses his mistreatment of other cultivators with the deity-binding nets. LWJ destroys the entirety of the diety-binding nets JC and JL were using to give JL an advantage over the other cultivators competing, something they were only able to do because of the Jiang and Jin sects considerable power and wealth. Is it daring of LWJ? Sure. Would he be able to do so without consequences if he was someone else? Probably unlikely, especially when we’re talking about JC. But is that ‘getting away’ with something? It’s literally the opposite scenario: LWJ is using his own status and capital to make it so that JL (and JC) are not getting away with what they are doing (although there are, in actuality, no consequences for their behaviours; they are just forced to give up on JL’s unfair advantages. Hell, LWJ even offers to pay for the nets he destroys, which I guess can also be taken as a baller move). What’s more, the novel even takes the time to point out that, if LWJ were not such a strong cultivator, JC might have pushed aside the risks of offending LXC and physically confronted him (let’s appreciate how this also serves as well-integrated exposition for their weapons).

Jin Ling’s grim expression was exactly the same as his uncle’s, “What can I do? It was their own fault for stepping into the traps. I’ll solve everything after I finish capturing the prey.”

Lan Wangji frowned. Jin Ling was about to speak again, but he suddenly realized that, shockingly, he could neither open his mouth nor make any sounds.

[...]

The man spoke in a low voice, “Not long ago, a blue sword flew over and destroyed the deity-binding nets that you had set up.”

Jiang Cheng glanced at Lan Wangji harshly, his displease plastered all over his face, “How many were broken?”

[...]

Although four hundred deity-binding nets were a whopping price, it wasn’t too much for the YunmengJiang Sect. Nonetheless, losing the nets were a small matter, but losing face was not. With Lan Wangji’s actions, Jiang Cheng felt a whirlpool of anger at the bottom of his heart, rising higher by every second. He narrowed his eyes, his left hand casually stroking the ring on his right hand’s index finger.

[...]

However, after stroking it for a while, Jiang Cheng compelled himself to restrain his hostility.

Although he was displeased, as the leader of a sect, he needed to take more things into consideration, which meant that he couldn’t be as impulsive as Jin Ling. After the fall of the QingheNie Sect, among the Three Great Sects, the LanlingJin Sect and the GusuLan Sect were quite close due to the personal relationship between the two leaders. By leading the YunmengJiang Sect alone, he was already in an isolated situation among the three. Hanguang-Jun, or Lan Wangji, was quite a prestigious cultivator, while his elder brother Zewu-Jun, or Lan Xichen, was the leader of the GusuLan Sect. The two brothers had always been on good terms with each other. It was best to not openly dispute with Lan Wangji.

Also, Jiang Cheng’s sword, “Sandu (三毒, Sāndú),” had never made actual contact with Lan Wangji’s sword, “Bichen,” and it was not yet decidable whose hands would the deer die on. Although he owned the powerful ring, “Zidian (紫电 Zǐdiàn),” a family heirloom of his, Lan Wangji’s guqin, “Wangji”, was also known for its abilities. The thing that Jiang Cheng hated the most was to be disadvantageous during a fight. Without complete confidence in his success, he would not consider fighting with Lan Wangji.

Now if it is about Su She, again what does LWJ truly do?

He silences him in the Demon-slaughtering cave? Although we’d be hard-pressed to believe LWJ respects Su She after what he’s seen him do in the Xuanwu Cave, the guy is literally trying to get everyone there killed and being a smartass to WWX while at it. And if it had been extremely disrespectful of him, LQR could have lifted the spell--something once again that the novel points out. When it dissolves into a game of calling out between the MolingSu sect and the GusuLan sect, LWJ does not say anything, even if, as LJY points out, Su She was imitating him. It’s only when WWX starts going that LWJ takes part by acquiescing to the truths WWX lays out (which are, yes, damning for the Su She and the MolingSu sect). But again, there are layers to what WWX is doing: he’s not only trying to expose what is going on, but anger Su She into revealing he still has his spiritual powers as proof of what he has worked out. So while WWX and LWJ are being by some measures disrespectful, there is a point to how they are going at it.

Touching his chin, he grinned, “Well I was worried that you’d get mad if I asked him too many things in front of you, wasn’t I? But since you’ve told me to ask him already, I’ll go ahead and ask. Lan Zhan?”

Lan Wangji, “Mn.”

Wei Wuxian, “The MolingSu Sect was a sect that branched off from the GusuLan Sect, right?”

Lan Wangji, “Mn.”

Wei Wuxian, “Although it branched off, the MolingSu Sect’s techniques still used the GusuLan Sect’s techniques ‘as reference’, right?”

Lan Wangji, “Yes.”

Wei Wuxian, “One of the GusuLan Sect’s techniques, the Sound of Vanquish, has the effect of exorcising evil. Amongst them, the seven-stringed guqin was the most powerful, and so there is the greatest number of people who cultivate through the guqin. The MolingSu Sect did the same, and the guqin is the most common in their sect as well, is that correct?”

Lan Wangji, “That is correct.”

Wei Wuxian, “Although the MolingSu Sect’s leader left the GusuLan Sect with knowledge of its techniques when he founded his own sect, is own guqin skills weren’t anything special, and the disciples he taught often make many mistakes too, right?”

Lan Wangji answered with honesty, “Yes.”

Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji went on back and forth, speaking as though nobody was around. More and more people realized that they weren’t only mocking Su She, but rather taking something apart. Thus, they began to listen more carefully.

Next, Wei Wuxian slowed down, “… And that means, even when a section of the battle melodies that the MolingSu Sect played when killing corpses on Mass Grave Hill was wrong, the GusuLan Sect wouldn’t find it unusual, and only think that they made a mistake because of their inferior techniques and remembered the sheet music wrong, not taking the time to notice whether it was an accidental mistake or a mistake on purpose. Is this the case?”

Hearing the last question, Su She’s pupils shrunk. The hand he placed on the hilt of his sword was suddenly lined with veins. The blade of the sword was already half-an-inch unsheathed. On the other hand, Lan Wangji lifted his eyes at the same time. Both Wei Wuxian and he saw the sense of understanding in each other’s eyes.

He stated one word at a time, “This is the case.”

Su She unsheathed his sword with a clang. Wei Wuxian moved the blade of the sword to the side with two fingers and smiled, “What are you doing? Don’t forget. You’ve lost all your spiritual powers. Would threatening me like this do anything?”

Sword raised in his hand, Su She could neither attack nor put it down. He clenched his teeth, “Aiming at me for so long—just what are you trying to imply?”

As much as we love to talk about LWJ’s hidden sass and pettiness, he does not seem to ever be disrespectful without a reason, and it’s usually in the process of standing up for others. Reading his character as an illustration of a man in a position of privilege and power getting away with things is a little bit of a reach--particularly when JC is literally right there.

#mdzs meta #lwj #jc #mdzs

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no--envies · 3 years

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It’s hard to tell how much WWX was actually affected by his demonic cultivation during his first life. He's still the same person as he was before practicing it and the differences in his temper could be easily attributed to circumstances. I think it's important for the themes of the novel, because MDZS is not a story about someone corrupted by his powers; the point of everything that happened isn't that WWX's cultivation method was harmful and he shouldn't practice it anymore. This is clearly not what the novel is trying to tell us.

Part of WWX’s character arc is about facing his limits and accepting that despite being incredibly talented and skilled, there are things beyond his control. The loss of control of his demonic cultivation is connected to that theme.

He was the one who couldn’t control such a weapon. He was the one who grew too confident in his own abilities. He was also the one who ignored all of the ominous indications that had happened up to now, with the belief that he could suppress any loss of control.

(Chapter 76)

WWX himself admits that he “ignored all the ominous indications” because he felt sure that he could suppress any loss of control. This doesn't necessarily mean there's something inherently harmful about demonic cultivation, but using it as much as WWX did, especially in stressful situations, is not a good idea since it's clearly affected by the state of mind of the person practicing it. The problem isn't that WWX was so arrogant that he thought nothing could go wrong, but that he didn't really have another choice. Instead of worrying, he chose to keep an optimistic mindset and put his trust in his own abilities, as he always does.

I don’t actually consider what happened at Qiongqi Path his fault, since JZXun really pushed him beyond what anyone could reasonably stand, but WWX's thoughts indicate the loss of control wasn't something that happened suddenly. There had been signs before. Other than being plausible, this is important for the themes of the novel: this is a moment where WWX is faced with his own limits. Despite being a prodigy, he's still a fallible human being. He can get tired, stressed out, make mistakes and fail.

Taking all this into account, the signs mentioned by LWJ when they met in Yunmeng were probably real and he hadn’t imagined them. I don’t think LWJ would have been so worried otherwise.

Lan WangJi, “Last time, during the hunt on Phoenix Mountain, have you noticed certain signs?”

Wei WuXian, “What signs?”

Lan WangJi, “The loss of control.”

Wei WuXian, “You mean me almost getting into a fight with Jin ZiXuan? I think you got something wrong. I want to fight with Jin ZiXuan whenever I see him.”

Lan WangJi, “And the things you said afterwards.”

Wei WuXian, “What things? I say so many things every day. I’ve long since forgotten about the things I said two months ago.”

[...]

Lan WangJi, “It is not too late yet. In the future, even if you regret…”

Without waiting for him to finish talking, Wei WuXian’s expression changed. He suddenly stood up, “Lan Zhan!”

Behind him, red light had begun to glow within the eyes of the girls. Wei WuXian, “Stop it.”

Thus, the girls lowered their heads and retreated, but still they stared unwaveringly at Lan WangJi. Wei WuXian turned to him, “What can I say? Even though I don’t think that I’ll regret it, I don’t like it when people take guesses at how I’m going to be in the future, either.”

After a while of silence, Lan WangJi replied, “I am the one who was out of line.”

(Chapter 71)

LWJ’s way of approaching the issue could have definitely been better and it was a source of misunderstandings between them, but he did have a point. I think it's telling that WWX got very defensive every time LWJ brought up the subject. Although part of it was understandable irritation for feeling always judged by LWJ, I think he himself had probably already noticed the signs, but since he couldn’t really do anything about it (it’s not like he could go back to cultivating with spiritual energy) he chose to ignore them and believe in his own ability to suppress any possible loss of control. Having LWJ constantly reminding him that something could go wrong - especially without offering any feasible solution - only irritated him more.

After WWX came back, LWJ stopped being so insistent about the potentially detrimental effects of demonic cultivation, because he understood that his own attitude during WWX’s first life hadn’t helped at all and had only caused the rift between them to become worse, to the point that before he died WWX believed even LWJ hated him like everyone else:

Wei WuXian spun around to dodge the attack and laughed, “Fine, fine. I knew since the start that we’d have to fight a real fight like this one sooner or later. You’ve always found me disagreeable no matter what. Come on!”

Hearing this, Lan WangJi’s movements paused, “Wei Ying!”

(Chapter 78)

After losing WWX, LWJ had a lot of time to reflect on his mistakes and come to terms with his regrets. We see the result of this in all of LWJ’s actions during WWX's second life. LWJ is done with being still and waiting: this time he’ll actually do everything in his power to support WWX and keep him safe. As long as WWX seems unaffected by demonic cultivation, LWJ will never bring it up again. LWJ probably realizes WWX must have his reasons to cultivate that path (we learn in chapter 89 that LWJ had his suspicions and thought WWX’s spiritual powers were somehow impaired), so this time he chooses to just trust WWX’s judgement. LWJ’s own character development also made him become a lot more tolerant in general and less rigid about some things, so he doesn't care about traditions as much as he did when he was younger.

In conclusion, WWX's loss of control might have been due to inherent effects of his cultivation method, but it’s not meant to portray demonic cultivation as something that should be avoided no matter what: it's part of larger themes like facing one's limits and coming to terms with one's failures. I think it's highly unlikely that WWX will lose control again in the future: we see him using his powers with more moderation in his second life and, more importantly, his current state of mind is a lot better than when he was in the middle of very stressful situations. As much as WWX is mentally strong, he spent years isolated from the world, with a group of people under his protection and without knowing when someone would decide to attack him. Having to shoulder all of this alone would put a toll on anyone, so it's no wonder he lost control in the end. Now he has LWJ by his side, so he doesn't need to do everything by himself anymore.

#mdzs #mdzs meta #wei wuxian #lan wangji #wei ying #lan zhan #demonic cultivation

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canary3d-obsessed · 3 years

Text

Restless Rewatch: The Untamed, Episode 25 part two

(Masterpost) (Other Canary Stuff)

Warning! Spoilers for All 50 Episodes!

Jin Jerks Continued

Jin Furen is all judgy about Wei Wuxian, so it's hard to like her, since WWX is our protagonist and whatnot. But! Jin Furen is actually totally awesome. She adores Jiang Yanli and takes sides with her against her own son. She knows he likes Yanli and works her ass off to do all the courting for him, since he sucks at it, rather than picking a random wife for him and sticking him with her choice. She's always gentle with Yanli in her tone and body language. And Jin Zixuan had to get his good side from somebody.

Wei Wuxian politely tells Jin Furen that it's all over (again/still) between Jiang Yanli and Jin Zixuan, and cousin Jin Zixun rushes up to argue with him, saying he's being too proud and that he shouldn't talk to Jin Furen that way, since she is his senior. Wei Wuxian, still politely, explains the clan politics that underlie every one of these Zixuan-Yanli interactions. As a matter of clan pride, the Jiang Clan can't allow Yanli to be insulted.

Cousin Jin Zixun immediately goes all in on the clan rivalry, beefing with Wei Wuxian about how much prey he caught. Everybody forgets all about Yanli's situation while they talk about the hunt results instead.

The Jin cultivators--parroting what they heard from Jin Guangyao--say that Wei Wuxian has flute-walked 30 percent of the prey into nets by himself. Lan Wangji actually decides to react to something, saying "30 percent? and giving Wei Wuxian such a series of LOOKS, oh my god.

This Wangxian moment is an important one, I think, because it shows where Lan Wangji's priorities are, and they're...wrong. He's continually telling Wei Wuxian "be good," in one way or another; trying to help him back to the correct way of being a cultivator. Meanwhile the Lans are totally fine with the Jins being murderous shits who feel entitled to insult high-ranking ladies.

CJZX continues to snipe at Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji continues to judge WWX for being unsportsmanlike.

(more after the cut!)

Wei Wuxian says that he's just showing his capability, and CJZX tries to tell him both that 1. he's practicing evil cultivation and 2. he's just playing the flute. WWX offers him Chenqing and says "show me your capability" which I think is cultivator speak for "fight me, bitch."

Cousin Jin Zixun moves the goalposts, saying that Wei Wuxian broke the rules, and starts in with class-based dogwhistling, saying "it's understandable that you don't know the rules," and citing examples of Wei Wuxian’s previous bad manners at cultivation events.

Things escalate and pretty soon Wei Wuxian is yelling at everybody, threatening to tell them why he doesn't carry his sword, (which would actually clear up SO much) and saying he's going to beat them all using necromancy whatever is just this side of necromancy.

Cousin Jin Zixun tosses his birth status at him, and then it's ON. Scary music, shaking fist, Chenqing booting up...

Lan Wangji, who has been singularly unhelpful since CJZX started talking, suddenly forgets his judginess as he's swept into motion by his constant fear of whatever is going to happen next time Wei Wuxian loses his temper.

He rushes to Wei Wuxian’s side, grabs his wrist, says his name, and wills him to chill the fuck out. Jiang Yanli joins him, grabbing Wei Wuxian's other arm, and Wei Wuxian manages to get control of himself.

Queen Yanli

Yanli has had it, and she has Wei Wuxian stand behind her while she goes to politely reduce Cousin Jin Zixun to a heap of smoldering cinders.

First she recaps CJZX's accusations against Wei Wuxian; says she doesn't know a lot about the hunt, and apologizes formally on her brother’s behalf. WWX says "Shijie!" but she shakes her head at him and he shuts up.

CJZX laughs and tells her, in a tone designed to infuriate Wei Wuxian even further, that Wei Wuxian doesn’t rate her apologizing on his behalf, and says that their clans are like family; reinforcing WWX's outsider status. I don't think CJZX is taking orders from Jin Guangyao, because he's way too big of a snob for that, but he's definitely helping JGY to move his agenda forward.

Even Lan Wangji is having trouble staying cool during this exchange; he is focused on keeping Wei Wuxian in check but he’s also angry himself, judging from what his neck is doing here, anyway. *Stares at his neck for way too long*

Wei Wuxian is super upset about Jiang Yanli apologizing, and he’s unable to hold back tears, even with Lan Wangji using the power of extreme staring to help him.

Jiang Yangli is nowhere near finished, though and she turns around and proceeds to tell everyone that they suck, that it's not Wei Wuxian's fault if he's more talented than everybody else, and that they are just making up rules because they are a bunch of losers.

Clan Leader Yao has the nerve to say that they know the rules "in their hearts" which is just another class-based dogwhistle.

Yanli defends Wei Wuxian's cultivation method to everybody, saying it's something he worked at and put effort into--that it's different, not wrong. She's literally the only person who defends his cultivation style, even though they all have benefited from it.

Then she gets right up in Cousin Jin Zixun's face and tells him that it's not ok for him to insult WWX by calling him the son of a servant, and she wants CJZX to apologize. (full gifset here) All of the Jins and Captain Blowhard Clan Leader Yao are SHOCKED at this idea. Jin Furen tries to talk Yanli down but Yanli politely nopes her away, so JFR tells CJZX to apologize.

He's saved from having to actually do it by the arrival of Jin Guangyao and Lan Xichen, who jump down off a box fly over to find out what's wrong.

Jin Furen yells at smiley, blinkey Jin Guangyao, telling him he should be able to figure out what's wrong, saying "aren't you good at judging the situation," i.e. aren't you a conniving little creep? She's bitchy but she's not wrong.

When the "30 percent" thing is explained again, Lan Xichen gives Wei Wuxian the same Lan Glare of Sportsmanship Disappointment that his brother did.

Lan Xichen: It's fine for my boyfriend's obviously power-hungry family to insult my brother's war-hero best friend in a bid to reduce his social status, but him using magic powers in our magical creature hunt is super wrong.

Jin Guangyao and Lan Xichen explain that they're going to open up more area for the hunt, but it's too late to make Cousin Jin Zixun happy. He takes his ball and goes home.

The Breaking of the Fellowship

The remaining group stroll slowly through the woods, Jin Furen and Jiang Yanli together, while Wei Wuxian walks at a bit of a distance and Jin Zixuan follows right behind his mother. His mother offers to beat him to make Jiang Yanli feel better. See? Perfect Mother-in-Law material.

Jiang Yanli tries to leave again, and is stopped again. This time Jin Furen tries to convince her to come back to the stands to sit with her and Jin Zixuan, and not to go with Wei Wuxian. First she tries saying that it's not appropriate for her and Wei Wuxian to be alone together. Yanli shuts that right down, saying that Wei Wuxian is her didi. Then Jin Furen says that Wei Wuxian has "strong wicked energy" and that he may do something evil. Like fighting back when he is ambushed on his way to a party.

Jiang Yanli repeats that Wei Wuxian is her didi, and says that she'll never leave him. JFR keeps trying but Wei Wuxian steps up and takes Yanli by the wrist and goes to lead her away. Jin Zixuan finally, FINALLY admits that he likes Jiang Yanli.

He is embarrassed, Jiang Yanli is delighted, and Lan Xichen is amused.

Jin Zixuan runs away and Jiang Yanli agrees to go back to Jinlintai with Jin Furen. Wei Wuxian is super immature unhappy about it....

....but he accepts her decision, in a nearly wordless exchange that we’ll see echoes of much later, between him and Lan Wangji. (Exceptionally cruel gifset here)

Wei Wuxian formally bows to Jin Furen, asking her to take care of his sister. Because he recognizes this for the parting that it is.

Jiang Yanli isn't wrong to make this choice. She deserves to be happy, and married women in this environment can't live with their original family. But she told Wei Wuxian, over and over, that the three of them have to stick together, only to change course and leave him behind with no warning. It’s not even five minutes since she said "I will never leave him." Wei Wuxian isn’t the only person making impossible promises in these parts.

Jiang Cheng and some Jiang cultivators show up, and everyone, including Wei Wuxian, tells Jiang Cheng that he missed an important scene, but nobody will tell him what actually happened.

Wei Wuxian says he's going into town, and he leaves Jiang Cheng behind just as abruptly as Jiang Yanli left him.

Jiang Cheng asks Lan Xichen what happened, and Lan Xichen says "there was an argument but it's mostly smoothed over now; also, Jin Zixuan says he likes your sister." Ha ha ha ha! Of course he does not say that, he says "You should ask your sister at the banquet" and Jin Guangyao says it wouldn't be appropriate for them, as outsiders, to comment.

I would like to see Jiang Cheng respond to this by beating the crap out of them with Zidian for being a couple of coy bitches, but he just furrows his brow.

JGY hangs back from the group for a second to tell JC that WWX is sooooo great, before they all head back to Jinlintai.

Insecurest Boi

As everyone is walking Jiang Cheng hears Captain Blowhard saying that Lotus Pier made a strong impression today, and that they'll be able to recruit a whole lot of disciples. The cultivators are of two opinions about whether having Wei Wuxian is a good thing for a clan.

Then a Jin cultivator says he heard that the Yin tiger amulet is made of the missing piece of Yin iron. He says he overheard it from Jin Guangyao. He says even if it's not for certain, the timing fits. Jiang Cheng reacts to this as if he 100% believes it, because Jiang Cheng is a dumbass sometimes.

He should just frickin’ ask Wei Wuxian about the amulet. Lan Wangji asked where he got it and Wei Wuxian told him, and Jiang Cheng, while they have their issues, is officially on WWX's side, so there’s no reason for WWX not to tell him.

The Jin cultivator goes on to say that the Jiang Clan ain't shit, that all their deeds belong to Wei Wuxian. Jiang Cheng takes all of this on board totally unfiltered. Literally everything that any Jin cultivator other than MianMian says is propaganda coming from Jin Guangyao, but Jiang Cheng thinks they're friends and doesn't know how to recognize manipulation.

Jiang Cheng is hearing the exact same criticism that Jiang Yanli heard, but he's not equipped to handle it, and instead of fighting back he gets angry at Wei Wuxian. Despite all his recent growth, he is still crushingly insecure, and this is hitting him right in his tenderest spot. Jiang Fengmian has a lot to answer for.

Instant Replacement Sister

Wei Wuxian is off working through his own feelings; he's wandering the street in Lanling with a bottle of wine in hand. Wen Qing, in her red Wen robe and her hooded cloak, is wandering the street in the opposite direction. They pass each other without seeing, in a moment that's excruciating to watch the first time.

But then some Jin cultivators obligingly push her to the ground, and Wei Wuxian, with his beautiful heart of fucking gold, hears someone who needs help and turns around.

For a moment he smiles in recognition, before the smile clouds over. Wen Qing, for her part, looks horrified; perhaps it’s everything she’s going through, but perhaps she can see that he, in his own way, is struggling nearly as much as she is. Meeting with her will galvanize him and give him the life direction he desperately needs.

A Day Late and a Tael Short

Lan Wangji wants to solve Wei Wuxian's problem, but he lacks imagination, so his best idea is to hide him in Cloud Recesses.

Lan Xichen points out that Wei Wuxian might not be on board with that. This conversation is short, but it has some layers, once you know about their parents' relationship. Lan Wangji frowns but doesn't have a second idea.

#the untamed #the untamed gifs #wangxian #jiang cheng #jiang yanli #clan leader yao #canary3d-original #my gifs #restless rewatch the untamed

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