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justaghostingon · 1 year

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The Random Guy in the Carbonite

Or, Jin Ling Meets a Man who is “Definitely not the Yiling Patriarch”

An Untamed star wars au.

Jin ling will admit in the privacy of his own mind, that he did not think this through. Running off to confront one of the most notorious crime bosses of the outer rim was one thing, but ditching the Jedi hired specifically to protect him was not his best move.

In his defense, they had been very annoying. His Uncle and the Jedi master had gotten into a long fight over what plan was best, forgetting entirely that they were Senator Jiang Cheng of Yumeng, famed force user and war hero, and Hanguang-jun, the single most respected of the Lan Jedi to walk the earth. But noooo. Put them together and they argue like children!

People were dying! The clock was ticking down, and Jin Ling had to do something dammit!

What was the point of being the future emperor himself if he couldn’t even save one measly planet from the Hutts?

So yeah, he’d snuck out on his own, confronted the Hutts, and gotten thrown in this dark empty cell, surrounded with solid metal and cut off from his father’s lightsaber.

Well, not completely alone. In the wall was a carbonite encasing of a man, frozen mid scream. At least, Jin Ling assumed it was a man. He looked human, and the cut of his robes were distinctly masculine, but there really was no knowing for sure until he was released.

A grating noise from above snapped his attention away from his frozen companion. Light filtered in as a mechanism removed the dark metal lid above. Jin Ling blinked his eyes, taking a few minutes to realize that this was not salvation or release, but another worse punishment, humiliation.

For above him, separated only by a metal grate, was a growling, hooting crowd of the worst looking ruffians he’d ever seen.

“Welcome guests!” Jimbo the Hutt’s booming voice echoed in the circular arena Jin Ling now realized he was in side. “To witness the battle of a life time!”

“In the corner we have Jin Rulan!” A loud booing filled Jin Ling’s ears.

“You’re going to regret this when my Uncle gets here!” Jin Ling shouted back. “And its Jin Ling!”

“The feisty heir to the emperor himself! Quite the challenger!” Jimbo continued as if he’d not heard Jin Ling. “But lets see how he does against his family’s natural enemy...”

A pure red beam hit the carbonite. Heat danced across Jin Ling’s skin, forcing him to step back as far as he could. Little by little, the carbon melted off, freeing the man beneath.

“...The Yiling Patriarch!!” Jimbo’s voice boomed as the man inside stepped out.

Jin Ling’s blood beat fast in his ears. The Yiling Patriarch? The man who’d made him an orphan, who’d led the second great rebellion against the emperor himself, notorious sith and master of the dead. His knees began to knock. He wanted his Uncle, who’d defeated the man last, froze him in carbonite, and only lost him due to an unexpected attack of pirates. He wanted his dad, who he’d never known, but most of all he wanted Fairy, who Uncle had said would be a hinderance on this particular mission. She would have never let him get caught like this.

The Yiling Patriarch turned his head towards him, black eyes met large and grey, before grey rolled back, and the Yiling Patriarch, feared destroyer of worlds and killer of millions, proceeds to fall flat on his face in a dead fate.

Jin Ling blinked. What the heck was that?

Now he could see him clearer, he began to notice the discrepancies in the supposed enemy of all light force users. His robes were grey and black, but rough and patchy, clearly of poor make. Even the bright red ribbon in his hair was worn on the ends from what was likely years of use. The man himself was too thin, cheeks gaunt from hunger, and far to pale.

In short, this man was definitely not the Yiling Patriarch.

Jin Ling felt a bit foolish. He of all people should have known it wasn’t. After all, his Uncle had been getting sent carbon frozen bodies of “sith users” and the “Yiling Patriarch” since he was a little kid. His Uncle had diligently unfrozen every single one, confronting them on the accusations they’d been brought to him for. Some had been genuine wannabe sith, although nowhere near the level of the Yiling Patriarch. But most had just been ordinary folks who’d bought the cheeper carbon-freezing ticket for space travel on some shady ship, and gotten sold off as a novelty for looking a bit to similar to Wei Wuxian.

Lotus Pier had gotten a reputation for being a very good place to go to rescue stolen family members from these so called carbon thieves.

If Jin Ling had to guess, he’d say this guy was a farmer. He nudged the guy with his foot.

“Hey, wake up.”

The man groaned but didn’t move. Jin Ling shoved him harder. “Get up! This isn’t the place to take a nap!”

He reached his hand down and stuck a finger in the man’s ear. The man gave a shriek and flung himself up and away.

“Shidi what the Hell...” the man’s voice faded as he took in Jin Ling, and then the crowd above them. “...what is going on.”

“You got mistaken for the Yiling Patriarch and now they want us to fight.” Jin Ling shrugged. “Now stop being a baby and help me find a way out!”

“Mistaken?” the man blinked at him.

“Yeah, it happens,” Jin Ling scowled. “Don’t buy shady tickets next time.”

“Hehe, that’s very wise young master,” the man grinned. “You’re pretty smart for a Jin.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Jin Ling shook his fist.

“So snippy! No mother to teach you manners I see!” the man laughed.

Jin Ling saw red. He didn’t care that this guy was a civilian, no one talked about his mother like that. He charged forward, fist swinging.

The man stepped easily out of his way. “Good job,” he whispered to Jin Ling as he passed his ear. “Keep fighting like that.”

“Oh I’ll show you a fight!” Jin Ling aimed a kick at the man, but he sidestepped once again.

“Touchy, touchy,” the man shook his head. “I’m trying to get us out of here, you really think they’d let us go if they realized we weren't going to fight?”

Jin Ling lowered his fist. “So you’re doing this on purpose?”

“Of course,” the man struck forward with surprisingly good form. Jin Ling barely managed to parry, and that was only thanks to the unnatural quickness that all force users possessed. “We need a proper distraction if we’re to get out of here.”

“And how are we going to do that?” Jin ling struck out again.

“Oh I’m not going to do anything,” the man laughed and aimed a kick at Jin Ling’s face. “I’m a civilian remember? You’re going to get us out of here.”

“How?” Jin Ling dove forward, but missed, hitting the metal wall instead.

“Using the force of course!” the man laughed. “Find the seams of the metal and the bolts holding it down, somewhere here there has to be a trash shoot. They wouldn’t want to keep dead bodies in here long term.”

“That’s not how the force works!” Jin Ling shot back, then stopped. the man’s suggestion hadn’t been wrong exactly, just not worded very well. Jin Ling hardly had the skill to sense nonhuman things like metal, but all dead things were once living. If there was a trash shoot, he cold find it, he just had to follow the decay.

He closed his eyes and concentrated. The life of the mob above was loud and wild, but down here there were only two signatures, his own and the flickering of the man he was fighting, and just behind him...

“There!” Jin Ling dove forward, slamming directly into the carbon casing.

“Ouch,” the man tutted as he watched Jin Ling stumble back to his feet. “Let your senior help here okay? I’ve worked in the fields, I’m stronger than I look.”

Jin Ling stepped back as the man circled his old prison, thumb in his mouth. Above them the murmuring of the crowd quieted to a disgruntled hum, no doubt wondering what they were doing now they weren’t fighting.

The man darted forward, to the side of the carbon casing. Back to Jin Ling, he shoved his whole wait against the casing. For a second nothing happened, Then the force flickered, a sour taste filled Jin Ling’s mouth, and the casing moved, inch by inch, but faster every second, until the hole beneath it was visible.

Jin Ling frowned. But the taste on the edge of his senses was gone as soon as it came. Had that man used the force?

“What are you waiting for?” the man called. “Thinking later. Escape now!”So saying, he threw himself down the hole.

“Stop him!” Jimbo screamed.

Jin Ling cursed and dove after the man. Together they tumbled down the dark shaft, a disorienting fall of head over feet until it finally met its slimy end in a splat of water.

“Ugh,” Jin Ling pulled himself up. The stench was horrific, iron and rot and sick, sick sick. His clothes were soaked with who knows what and there was slime in his hair...

“Don’t look!” the man slammed a hand over Jin Ling’s eyes. His voice gentled. “This isn’t a sight for young ones.”

“I’m not a kid,” Jin Ling knocked the hand from his eyes. He blinked at his new surroundings, and promptly threw up.

Bodies lay all around them, some complete, some in pieces, some near skeletons and others almost fresh. Jin Ling ducked his head to stare at his own feet, standing next to the decomposing flesh of a human face...

A hand covered his eyes again.

“It’s okay,” the man whispered in his ears. “It’s a lot for anyone. Just don’t look. I can handle it from now on okay?”

Jin Ling nodded and took a deep breath trying to center himself in the force like his Uncle had taught him, but the decay and agony stirred the dark side of the force, making it a struggle.

He heard the man move away, rummaging around in the piss/blood/water.

“What are you looking for?” he asked.

“Just some tools,” the man reassured him. “I know a thing or two about mechanics, and I can get us out.”

“Hurry,” Jin Ling choked out, the force was moving all wrong, resentment thick in the air. Even his companion’s presence seemed to flicker in and out against it, leaving him uncertain where exactly he was.

A click echoed through the sound. “Done,” the man said.

Jin Ling began to lower his hand, but the man’s own stopped him. “It’s alright,” the man’s hand lowered to Jin Ling’s elbow. “The way it clear. You don’t need to look again, I’ll lead you.”

Jin Ling wanted to protest, to point out he wasn’t a baby, he could handle it, but the dark side of the force was choking him, eating away at his bravado until all the remained was the scared boy who really, really wanted his Uncle.

“That’s it,” the man spoke as he guided Jin Ling forward. “Step up now, over the entrance, good, good. There we go.”

Jin Ling’s feet stepped onto solid ground, the faint clink of metal beneath his boots. Behind him the resentment rose up, a furious at being robbed of its prey. Then another, sharper, redder resentment clashed with it, sending it back into the trash pit. A loud clank sounded behind him, and both presences cut off.

“You can look now,” the man said.

Jin Ling blinked the spots from his eyes. They were in a corridor, just another black metal like all the others in this maze of a palace. Beside him, the man knelt before a control panel, having yanked it open to fiddle with the wiring.

“What are you doing?” Jin Ling scowled, trying to recollect himself. “We need to run!”

“Not without a map we aren’t!” The man said. The panel glowed green under his fingers and he laughed with delight. “Bingo!”

Jin Ling leaned over him, to look at the small screen built in above the wires, dictating two pathways in red and green. “Is that the way out?”

“Not bad for a radish farmer is it?” the man beamed. “Let’s go!”

“Wait.” Jin Ling shook his head. “I can’t go. I have to get my lightsaber.”

“Just build another one,” the man dismissed, reaching out to drag Jin Ling towards the path.

“I can’t!” Jin Ling bristled, shoving the man off. “It was my fathers! It’s all I have left of him!”

The man stopped. “Your father’s?”

“Yes!” Jin Ling crossed his arms. “And I’m not leaving it!”

The man hesitated.

“It also has a tracker in it,” Jin Ling went for the killing blow. “And a panic button. We hit it and the Jedi and the whole of Yumeng Jiang will come down on their heads!”

“Yumeng Jiang?” the man startled.

“My uncle,” Jin Ling sniffed. “So its our best bet.”

“Okay.” The man let out a breath. “Okay you can go to your lightsaber. I’ll calculate you a path. But as for me...I’m getting out of here.”

Jin Ling abruptly remembered that this man was a civilian. He didn’t ask to get mixed up in this. “Fine.”

The man gave him a small smile. He reached into the control panel and pressed a few more buttons before pulling the screen itself out and shoving it into Jin Ling’s hands.

“This map will lead you to your lightsaber,” he said.

“What about you?” Jin Ling asked.

“It’s all up here,” the man rapped his knuckles on his head. “Don’t worry about me.” The smile slid off his face. “Be safe Jin Rulan.”

“Jin Ling,” Jin Ling corrected automatically. “How did you...” the man raised an eyebrow. Right. Emperors nephew. Famous. Of course he knew his name.

Speaking of which...”What’s yours?” Jin Ling asked. The man had never said, and unlike Jin Ling, he didn’t have his plastered all across the galaxy. All he knew was it wasn’t Wei Wuxian.

“Yuandao,” the man smiled. “I’m Yuandao the radish farmer.”

“Yuandao,” Jin Ling repeated. “Come to Yumeng when you’re free. My Uncle will help you find your family. They’ll probably be worried since you got frozen.”

Yuandao’s smile twisted. “Goodbye Jin Ling.”

“Goodbye.” Jin Ling awkwardly agreed, before taking off down the hall towards his lightsaber. He had an Uncle to call.

-------

Behind him the man who was not Yuandao stood and watched until the boy was out of sight. Then he turned back to the trash door and opened it, to meet the standing force of the dead within.

He nodded to one of the fresher dead who still wore the uniform of the Hutt’s staff. “Follow him, make sure he gets there safely but don’t be seen. Lie still on the ground so that they think you’re a fresh kill. As for the rest of you,” His eyes flashed red.

“Make sure to teach that Hutt a lesson.

#the untamed #wei wuxian #jin ling #mo dao zu shi #mdzs #mdzs au #the untamed au #star wars au #untamed star wars au #wei wuxian is a little out of character but listen #no one messes with shijie's kid

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robininthelabyrinth · 2 years

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:3 <3 :3 (1/2) Ok hear me out. Sect leader Yao has very little political skill. He blusters without saying anything original and latches on when the tide is clearly turning, loudly praising or throwing under the bus as neccesary. He hasn't grown his sect to be particularly wealthy or notable, despite having presumably been in power longer. What I'm saying is, Sect Leader Yao was not raised to rule.

(2/2) :3 <3 :3 It's not just that Sect Leader Yao was a second son, he's from a minor branch clan where the best strategy was deference to the main family and go-along-to-get-along. He was so far down the chain that his current behaviours made sense as a survivial strategy. Therefore the only way he came to be in charge was if everyone above him was gone and he was suddenly out of his depth, with no mentors, a heap of bereavement to process, and his only life skills are now actively maladaptive.

Useless - ao3

Summary: "Though now I’m curious – who were you thinking of to be Chief Cultivator instead of me, anyway? With all your ‘exemplar traits’..?”

Nie Huaisang’s smile suddenly broadened into a look of genuine amusement.

“A desire for justice and the ability to keep abreast of popular opinion, didn’t you say? An exemplar?” He chuckled, seemingly having thought of a joke. “In terms of what I’ve heard, I think the only person who would be fitting such a noble description would be someone like – oh – Sect Leader Yao.”

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

“Thank you all for coming to this meeting ahead of the official start of the discussion conference tomorrow,” Jin Ling said with his most formal voice, which might have worked better if he wasn’t also at the age where it tended to occasionally crack. “As we are all the leaders of Great Sects, it is incumbent on us to make sure things run smoothly in the cultivation world after all the disorder that we – uh, that we recently experienced."

He cleared his throat.

"That’s why I called you here today. It is our goal to minimize the potential for further disorder by aligning the four Great Sects on critical matters, particularly…uh…that is, in particular, you have all undoubtedly received, as I have received, numerous queries regarding the now-open position of Chief Cultivator, and I thought we might want to have a discussion to day to try to align ourselves –”

“You said align twice in a single sentence,” Nie Huaisang interrupted, voice pleasant as he fanned himself with yet another one of his countless accoutrements. “That’s poor composition – even I know that! Anyway, why are you being so circumspect? It’s only us Great Sect leaders here today. We’re all friends, aren’t we, whether it’s Hanguang-jun here, standing in for his brother, or your jiujiu, or me. So you might as well just be blunt and say what you mean outright…namely that all three of you would like to try to find a way to stop me from taking the job.”

No one said anything.

Probably because there was little point in denying it.

“Well?” Nie Huaisang prompted. He continued fanning himself, though he didn’t bother to use it to cover his face – there evidently wasn’t anything in his expression at the moment, too bored to even pretend to be offended, that he wanted to hide. “I’m curious to hear your reasoning. I mean, I’m assuming you came up with something, given that you’re too young, Hanguang-jun has no experience in running a sect and is too busy being newlywed to learn, and Jiang-xiong here may in fact be the only person in the cultivation world with a worse reputation than me…albeit more in the ‘too terrifying to approach’ rather than the ‘too useless to bother with’ vein.”

Jiang Cheng scowled and crossed his arms over his chest, but didn’t deny it.

Jin Ling swallowed and said, in a slightly squeaky voice, “Well, we thought…maybe someone from one of the smaller sects.”

“One of the smaller sects?” Nie Huaisang laughed, artless and casual. “That seems like an unfair burden to stick someone with, don’t you think? You know how conservative the cultivation world can be. Once a Chief Cultivator is elected, they won’t want to change it so quickly – not for at least a decade or two, until they’ve forgotten all the trouble involved with having an open position, all that jockeying and politicking and awkwardness…Though I suppose that’s part of the appeal for you lot, isn’t it? If someone else gets there first, the only way I’d ever be able to get the job is if the one who holds it before me voluntarily resigns.”

“At least you’re self-aware,” Jiang Cheng said coldly.

“We thought it might be better if it was someone with different qualities,” Jin Ling tried, clearly intent on following their original plan to be diplomatic even if his uncle was willing to give it up in favor of an outright fight. His other uncle’s influence, perhaps, or else the fact that they were all gathered together in Lanling and it was his sect’s battered reputation (due to the said other uncle, the last Chief Cultivator) that he was seeking to protect. “Someone – uh – someone approachable, but respectable. Someone that has no issues with their reputation, with a sense for the popular opinion, a desire to pursue justice…”

Nie Huaisang’s hand, which had been lazily wielding his fan, paused. “Why, Sect Leader Jin,” he said, and his voice was suddenly very soft. “Are you saying you think I lack the desire to pursue justice?”

“Everyone here knows to what extent Sect Leader Nie seeks justice,” Lan Wangji said neutrally even as Jin Ling flinched. “I believe the young Sect Leader Jin was merely listing exemplar traits.”

“Oh, well, that’s all right then,” Nie Huaisang said, abruptly cheerful, and resumed fanning himself, looking relaxed once more. “Anyway, it’s not like I’m actually going to fight about it with you.”

Jin Ling blinked. “You’re…not?”

“Well, it’d be a tall order, wouldn’t it?” Nie Huaisang shrugged. “I’ve done a few things well here and there since we last met, but I’m still best known as being the good-for-nothing Headshaker. If I’m opposed by the other three Great Sects, it’d be absolutely impossible for me to get the position simply on the strength of my own reputation. So why fight it? Though now I’m curious – who were you thinking of to be Chief Cultivator instead of me, anyway? With all your ‘exemplar traits’..?”

Nie Huaisang’s smile suddenly broadened into a look of genuine amusement.

Jiang Cheng barked out a laugh, and even Lan Wangji briefly raised his eyes to the ceiling.

After all, everyone had ‘heard’ about Sect Leader Yao’s desire for justice…to hear the man himself tell it, anyway.

Jin Ling glanced at the three others, then gritted his teeth and said, tentatively, “I mean…that’s not such a bad idea, is it? I mean, if the goal is to let most people continue their lives unaffected…”

“Really? Sect Leader Yao?” Nie Huaisang rolled his eyes. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

“I don’t know, we could certainly do worse than Sect Leader Yao,” Jiang Cheng said, with a sidelong and very pointed look at Nie Huaisang. “Who knows? Maybe having a big important job would get him to shut up about how important he thinks he already is.”

“One cannot deny that Sect Leader Yao is generally quite well-informed regarding what people are saying on any given subject,” Lan Wangji said, and his habitual deadpan couldn’t conceal his slightly scathing tone, probably a result of all the rumors Sect Leader Yao had passed along about Wei Wuxian in his day. “One might even say that he is at the forefront of such knowledge.”

“He’s the biggest gossip-hound in the cultivation world, you mean!” Jiang Cheng scoffed, unable to resist. “Add in a thirst for glory and a tendency to exaggerate his own contributions in any circumstance – why are you Lan always so damn polite about everything? I don’t know why you can never come out and just say these things –”

“You can’t deny he was at least at most of the important events of the past few years,” Jin Ling pointed out, at this point clutching at his sword hilt with white-knuckled fingers in a way not wholly dissimilar to a child clutching onto a stuffed animal for support. “Including both the Sunshot Campaign and its – er – recent revival. Anyway, you’re not wrong that everyone’s heard about him and his supposed exploits, so it doesn’t really matter how much truth there is or isn’t there, does it? If anything the exaggeration will be useful in making him seem appropriate for the role! Listen, I’m not saying I like him or anything, but if the whole point is to fill the seat with someone who won’t do any harm, then why not him?”

“Must it be him specifically,” Lan Wangji asked in that not-asking sort of way he had. He already sounded resigned.

“I don’t care who it is,” Jin Ling said, exasperated. “But if it’s him, it would give us unanimity in proposing a new candidate, and that’s not nothing, right?”

“If you’re talking about me when you say ‘unanimity’, I haven’t said I’d agree to it,” Nie Huaisang pointed out.

“You don’t have to, you suggested him, that’s the same as supporting it,” Jin Ling said self-righteously, and Nie Huaisang looked somewhere between offended and approving. “Anyway, I mean, putting aside how annoying he can be, have any of you ever seen Sect Leader Yao himself do anything? I’m not talking anything bad, I mean – anything?Anything serious? Or even anything at all?”

Jiang Cheng and Lan Wangji both looked thoughtful.

“You can’t actually be serious,” Nie Huaisang said, glancing at both of them. “I mean…Sect Leader Yao? That blustery old puff of wind? Really? Are you sure you wouldn’t rather have me instead?”

They would not.

“All right, then,” Nie Huaisang finally said after much convincing, rolling his eyes and slouching back in his seat. “Have it your way, then. Sect Leader Yao it is.”

“That could have gone much worse,” Nie Huaisang said, sweeping into the room without ceremony.

Yao Zhibin jumped, having not expected him –

No, that wasn’t quite true, was it? He had been expecting him, only perhaps…not so soon.

Maybe that had just been wistful thinking.

Probably.

It usually was.

“That’s good, Sect Leader Nie. I’m glad to hear it,” he said cautiously. He wished he knew why Nie Huaisang had asked to meet with him a day before the discussion conference opened – or at least he wished that he’d given him more of a heads up on the subject. If he’d only known in advance, he could have asked someone else to give him their opinion on how he ought to handle it, only his wife was still busy elsewhere and his friends weren’t in the know, so there really wasn’t anyone he could ask, unfortunately. He wasn’t very good at forming an opinion entirely on his own, he never had been, though it hadn’t ever been much of a problem in the past.

On the contrary, his general uselessness was – probably his only talent.

You really can’t do anything, can you? had been the very first thing his wife had said to Yao Zhibin back when they’d first met. Her tone had been stunned, as if she’d never even conceived of someone so incompetent as him, and just a little amused, as if she’d thought he’d done it just to entertain her. He’d been young, back then, and his lack of any serious skills had been something that affected no one – if anything, it’d been seen as a good thing, encouraged.

Something that made his family smile.

After all, Yao Zhibin wasn’t supposed to be good at things. He was only one of the Yao sect’s many countryside cousins, part and parcel of a trade made two generations back when the head of the Yao clan sent his youngest son to marry the orphaned daughter of a very rich farmer and settle out in the middle of nowhere in order to grow the food that the rest of them needed to live on, with some left over to sell to pay for the clan’s expenses. But Pingyang Yao was a small clan, not big enough to have what the Great Sects called branch families despite their conviction that the only way to get big was to act as if they were already big, and that meant that all the boys from that family, Yao Zhibin included, got sent back to be raised in the main household, still considered to be possible rightful heirs if only they were worthy enough.

Which meant, of course, that they couldn’t be worthy.

Maybe if Pingyang Yao had been big enough that Yao Zhibin and his brothers could have known to one and all as mere ‘branch members’, they would have been allowed to develop as they pleased. A branch cousin could be seen as a skillful retainer that would help strengthen your sect in the future, rather than a rival that needed to be disposed of here and now – but they weren’t a branch, not really. And so Yao Zhibin’s father, a shrinking violet of a man, more farmer like his maternal grandfather than cultivator, cowardly in an amiable sort of way but one who loved his children dearly, had been very clear with his sons that he wouldn’t be able to provide them with any sort of protection from their cousins with their powerful mothers from other cultivation clans, and that meant that they either had to be talented enough to fight against the current and win themselves a position through their own merit, or else they had to give up and go with the flow the way he always had.

Yao Zhibin figured out pretty quickly that he wasn’t going to do the former.

So he’d accepted his lot in life – a possible substitute that was never meant to have a chance to get used – and he’d developed a different set of skills: the skill of saying a lot without saying anything of meaning, the skill of knowing which way the wind was blowing before there’d even been a light breeze, the skill of being part of a crowd instead of standing out; it was safe in a crowd, where everyone had to be blamed if they were going to be blamed at all. He wasn’t strong enough to resist pressure, but others often were, and hiding in their shadows was the best way to take advantage of their strength.

(A fox borrowing a tiger’s power, his wife later liked to tease him. You may not ever be the first one out there, but no one can say that you’re not always the first among the seconds!)

It was a way to live, though not necessarily a good one. Somewhere along the line, Yao Zhibin had gotten so good at flattering those more powerful than him – a nice, safe activity, unlike critiquing them – that he forgot how to do anything else, even when he wanted to. The inability to ever let out his true feelings annoyed him, digging in under his skin, and there was nothing he could do about that, except maybe to complain to his friends, all of them second sons or cousins like him, or else the heirs of sect so tiny that they were shunned by all the other better-born boys, like poor little Ouyang Huiyu who was always tagging along with him like a duckling following its mother.

Yao Zhibin got pretty good at complaining, actually.

He didn’t mind that. He expected that it would be all he’d ever get the chance to do.

After all, who was Yao Zhibin, really? He wasn’t half-bad at cultivation, but he was no cultivation genius that could make his way alone, without his family’s support, and he wasn’t particularly notable for anything else. He was of average height and slender build, with not especially notable features, he was not particularly good at the craftswork that were Pingyang Yao’s specialization beyond the sword, and while he wasn’t as stupid as he sometimes presented himself to be, he wasn’t much smarter, either, tending to be quite gullible in a given moment, believing whatever he saw in front of him and the rumors his friends passed onto him without knowing how to pause long enough to question what he’d heard. It really wasn’t hard to trick him. He certainly wasn’t going to be tricking anyone else, anyway.

So, in sum: no power, no looks, no skills, no smarts. He couldn’t be called especially lucky, either.

No, by the time he was crowned as an adult, it was quite plain to everyone, Yao Zhibin included, that he wasn’t going to make anything of himself in this life. He’d be considered lucky if the head of his family decided to use him as a pawn in a marriage exchange, as a place to dump some other sect’s unwanted daughter – and probably one who needed to be made a wife sooner rather than later, leaving him unwillingly raising children not his own – and he might even find himself married off to somewhere else as some recruited son-in-law, his children not even bearing his own surname and having no right to anything from his family, a symbol of his utter uselessness that would haunt him to the rest of his days. If he was unlucky, they wouldn’t even bother to do that much, leaving him to spend the rest of his days growing old alone in the family home, a clownish uncle to entertain his cousins’ sons or an extra body for night-hunts to win the Yao sect some glory, and maybe, maybe,if he survived long enough, he could have some vague hope of eventually growing into a not-very-respected greybeard elder of the Yao sect.

Yao Zhibin hadn’t liked any of that, of course. Who would? But, on the other hand, what could he do about it? Without talent, without family backing, without luck or an opportunity…what other choice did he have, other than to give in once again and accept his lot in life?

And then, just at the moment his despair had starting to shade into resignation, he’d met his wife.

It had changed everything.

“You can’t do anything, can you?” Nie Huaisang asked with a sigh, and his eyes when he smiled in amusement were just like hers. “I just said it could have gone worse, not that it’d gone well!”

He snapped his fan shut and threw himself down artlessly on the couch right next to Yao Zhibin, who tensed up for a moment before relaxing, realizing that they must really be alone if Nie Huaisang were acting like that. Or at least, acting like that around him.

“How many times have I told you not to call me Sect Leader Nie all formal like that?” the little brat complained, wrapping his arms around Yao Zhibin’s arm and leaning his head against his shoulder, an insolent little smirk on his face. “I liked much better what you were saying before – what was it again – ‘whoever he is, he’s a man of justice who’s definitely standing on our side’..?”

Yao Zhibin could feel heat in his cheeks. “You told me to make it sound good.”

Nie Huaisang sniggered. “I did, I did. No one’s better at moving a crowd than you, Uncle! Anyway, you owed it to me after that stunt you pulled with Wei Wuxian all those years back.”

“I didn’t realize you were actually friends with him! Anyway, we needed the help, back then, and I didn’t know what else to do, and he made it seem like it was such a small thing, a stupid little favor…ah, Sect Leader Jin, I mean – er, the last one, that is, or rather the one before last –”

“Jin Guangshan. You certainly don’t have to save an honorific for him.”

That was probably the case, assuming all those rumors about how he’d died (and lived) were true.

Admittedly, Yao Zhibin had gotten a little wary of rumors as of late…

“You should’ve come to us for help, not accepted the Jin sect’s offer,” Nie Huaisang said, pouting. “Fight or no fight, you know we would have helped.”

“She said not to!” Yao Zhibin said helplessly. “And I couldn’t – not without asking – she would have been so angry!”

Nie Huaisang giggled. “Well, you’re right about that. Auntie doesn’t play around!”

That she didn’t.

Nie Huaisang’s generation of the main line Nie clan had consisted only of himself and his elder brother, the (frankly) terrifying Nie Mingjue, and in just the same fashion its previous generation had consisted of two siblings as well: the former Sect Leader, a terrifyingly powerful man that had been almost universally known as Lao Nie, and his considerably younger sister, Nie Xiao, just as universally called Xiaoxiao for reasons long lost to the sands of time.

Normally, a Great Sect with a daughter to marry off would be much in demand, with everyone in the cultivation world eyeing a chance to net themselves a Great Sect leader as father- and brother-in-law, but in Nie Xiaoxiao’s case, both father and brother alike had proclaimed that they would be respecting their family’s precious treasure’s choice in the matter of her marriage, no matter how unlucky such a thing was said to be. The rumor in the cultivation world at the time had been that Nie Xiaoxiao had personally won the right to determine her own marital affairs through her terrifying prowess with her saber, displayed in a series of duels against all the Nie sect’s finest warriors.

Whether or not that was true, Yao Zhibin had no idea – Nie Xiaoxiao had laughed every time he’d asked, which wasn’t actually an answer – but what was undeniably true was that no one in their right mind wanted to go up against Nie Xiaoxiao. Possibly in defiance of her name, she’d opted for what seemed to Yao Zhibin to be the largest saber the Nie sect had, a zhanmadao capable of slaughtering cavalry, both horse and rider, in a single swing, and she was like all of her sect highly enthusiastic in demonstrating its use in night-hunts.

In fact, it had only taken a few such ‘demonstrations’ involving the bisection of an enemy yao until the number of suitors petitioning for her hand had dropped down to only the most powerful, the most ambitious, or the most desperate. Despite that, none were successful, and she’d remained unmarried long past the usual age; by the time Yao Zhibin met her, it was widely believed that she intended to remain unmarried for good.

You really can’t do anything, can you? Nie Xiaoxiao had said, bemused, when Yao Zhibin had tripped and fallen flat on his face in front of her, kneeling down to help him up out of the mud. Come on, up you go. You can’t fall behind in a night-hunt like this.

It’s all right, he’d said back, equally bemused as to why this terrifyingly powerful woman was taking the time to bother with him. I’m only here to make up the numbers anyway.

I didn’t mean in terms of winning glory, she said, rolling her eyes up to the heavens. I meant it more literally: we’re hunting yao that were originally pack animals, which means that their instinct is to target the weak ones in the herd. If you fall behind in a night-hunt like this, you’ll die.

…oh. Huh. Ah…yes, I think I’d like to avoid that, all things considered, thank you.

She’d giggled. It had been a remarkably silly sound, wholly unexpected from a woman like her – Nie Xiaoxiao had the pointed Nie chin and an aquiline nose that lent her features a sense of harshness and ferocity, even some beauty in a fierce sort of way, but nothing about her suggested the sort of vacant-headed femininity that many of her female cultivator counterparts deliberately cultivated in themselves.

Tell me, then, she said mischievously, linking her hand through his as if they were on a moonlit stroll through a garden in Jinlin Tower rather than in some dark, gloomy forest where the gnarled branches blocked out almost all the light from the stars above. If you’d rather not die, then why are you alive?

At any other time, Yao Zhibin would have remembered himself well enough to say something politic, something fashionable, perhaps a joke, something harmless and distracting…but his cousins had been particularly intolerable that day, and none of his usual friends had been around to distract him from gloomy thoughts about his future, so he’d ended up blurting out the truth as he saw it: …mostly to complain, I think.

Nie Xiaoxiao had burst out laughing.

That’s good, she said, eyes glinting with the shadow of other arguments. No one in my family ever complains about anything. We just throw ourselves against our problems until our bodies wear out and there’s nothing left of us…your cousins told me you were useless, you know.

Yao Zhibin winced. He was all too well aware of what his cousins thought of him.

Well, in my opinion, there’s room out there for the useless. She’d squeezed his arm. I’ve been useful my whole life long, and I find that I’ve grown sick of it. When we get out of here, why don’t you show me something else?

He’d thought she was only joking, but she wasn’t.

They were married by summer.

(Even as late as the dawn of his wedding day, one of his cousins had told him, sounding deeply confused, that he’d wracked his brains for months and he still had no idea how Yao Zhibin managed to snag himself such a fine bride. After all, it didn’t matter that she was older than he was, or that she wasn’t a traditional beauty, not when she had a family so powerful that the only possible response to their suggestion that the Yao clan really ought to find a willing matchmaker and propose already had to be a resounding yes and some very hasty internal reshuffling to return Yao Zhibin to the official roster of possible heirs from which he’d very nearly been officially dropped, even moving him up a few steps. Yao Zhibin hadn’t taken offense at the comment – it wasn’t like he had any idea, either.)

Yao Zhibin hadn’t really expected to get married, and he certainly hadn’t expected to be happy, either, but he was. With Nie Xiaoxiao at his side, doing her best to pretend to be demure and mostly failing – it wasn’t as if his aunt would dare be harsh or demanding to such a powerful daughter-in-law, and his mother even less so, but Nie Xiaoxiao got the strangest enjoyment out of play-acting her (somewhat strange) idea of what a good subservient wife ought to act like when they were in public – Yao Zhibin’s family couldn’t bother him any longer even if he didn’t suck up to them, though he generally still did out of habit, and his company was suddenly considered respectable enough to join in the circles from which he’d previously been excluded.

Even better, his rising tide lifted all the boats in his wake, and he was able to bring his friends with him, finding them good wives and better arrangements than they might have otherwise hoped for. Even excitable little Ouyang Huiyu, who refused a proper marriage option like the reckless romantic that he was and eventually ended up marrying some wild rogue cultivator woman he’d found that he cheerfully and bull-headedly insisted was probably some sort of bird yao (she wasn’t, as she herself confirmed), ended up profiting considerably, with his tiny little sect becoming the beneficiary of multiple valuable trade agreements with both the Nie sect and the Jiang sect, mostly due to the latter’s concern that the former was trying to steal one of their subsidiary sects out from under them, and growing accordingly in importance.

They were happy.

Even after Nie Xiaoxiao had some sort of terrible fight with Nie Mingjue following the death of his father, her brother, and promptly refused to have any sort of interaction with him ever again – Yao Zhibin didn’t ask, but he suspected that each of them had made some sort of terrible self-sacrificing offer to each other, that Nie Mingjue had gotten his way in being the one to sacrifice himself, and that Nie Xiaoxiao would never forgive him for it – it had been all right. Nie Mingjue’s vengeance was focused on the Wen sect, and anyway the fight was very scrupulously one-sided; he routinely sent New Year’s gifts and regular updates on Nie Huaisang that Nie Xiaoxiao devoured avidly before burning.

They’d been happy.

And then – and then –

The Cloud Recesses had burned.

News of the attack hit the cultivation like a bolt of lightning from the blue, wholly unexpected. No one understood what had driven Wen Ruohan to take such a shocking action, no one had known what it meant, what he would do next. The clan head had asked Yao Zhibin to send his wife to the Nie sect to glean whatever insights a Great Sect might have on the subject, despite their ongoing quarrel, and it was a measure of the seriousness of the situation that she had consented to go. Yao Zhibin, still thinking to himself that this whole thing was probably some sort of horrible misunderstanding, seized the opportunity to ask her to take their young children with her so that they could meet their maternal family – fight or no fight, it was still a connection that the Nie sect honored, and that meant forming a relationship would be a benefit to their children in the future – and she’d rolled her eyes good-naturedly and agreed, kissing him good-bye and gracelessly loading them all onto her zhanmadao like sacks of rice.

Yao Zhibin waved goodbye, smiling.

Three days later, word came of another sect that had fallen before the Wen sect army – this one a smaller one, their size, not too far away. Two days after that, another one, and by now they were all very nervous, preparing letters to everyone they knew, trying to find out what people knew, trying to figure out where the Wen sect might head next, what the risk was that they’d come their way. Yao Zhibin had done his part in drafting some to his own acquaintances, though he thoroughly doubted that his small circle could do anything that the main clan couldn’t.

In the end, it didn’t matter. The letters never even had a chance to get sent.

Yao Zhibin was never sure, later, if during the attack on his home he had conducted himself with honor or covered himself with shame – in fact, he lacked any memory whatsoever of what had happened, retaining only brief flashes of sensation: an overall sensation of cold and lack of feeling in his limbs, a feeling of resistance as his sword entered someone’s body, the burning sensation of his throat hoarse from too much yelling, the seemingly impossibly heavy weight of a child in his arms as he tried to carry them from somewhere to somewhere else. Had he stayed and fought to defend his home? Had he tried to run and defended only his retreat?

He didn’t know.

It didn’t matter.

You have to be a hero, one of his uncle’s wives said when it was all done, wiping her eyes. You have to have been a hero. If the Yao clan is to survive, we need to have conducted ourselves so well that no one will doubt our strength, or else we won’t have any chance of getting one of the Great Sects to accept us.

A Great Sect? But the Yao sect isn’t a subsidiary sect, Yao Zhibin protested, more out of instinct than anything else. We’ve always been independent.

Even the Cloud Recesses burned! You saw how easily the Wen sect destroyed us, taking our sons hostage, our daughters driven to suicide…even if the Nie refuse to accept us on account of their grudge with your wife, the Jiang will take us.

The Jiang? We’re not going to the Jiang!

Listen here –

Stop arguing with him, Auntie, one of his cousins said, clinging onto her child. If he’s going to be sect leader, he needs to make the decisions.

Yao Zhibin staggered back. Me? Sect Leader? he’d cried out. Impossible? Why me?

You’re the next one in succession, they told him, and he’d found to his horror that it was true – anyone else who might have taken the job was either dead, crippled, or captured by the Wen sect, which was as good as the first. Even accounting for the fact that he’d been artificially bumped up a few spots in order to make his marriage to Nie Xiaoxiao less embarrassing, there was simply no one else for the job.

He’d ultimately refused to let them join the Jiang – ultimately a good decision, given what ended up happening to them, even if the actual reason he’d decided against it was more on the basis of how long the trek to the Lotus Pier would take them if they brought along all the women and children they had – and they had instead gone into hiding before ultimately joining independently with the forces of the Sunshot Campaign. It would be over a year until he had a chance to see his wife again, Nie Xiaoxiao having joined the war on the Nie sect’s side as soon as she’d heard about the devastation of the Yao sect and received the one hastily-written letter he’d managed to get sent out to her asking her to prioritize getting the children somewhere safe.

Safe turned out to be the rebuild Cloud Recesses, where Nie Huaisang was staying. Yao Zhibin had burst into tears the first time Nie Huaisang had greeted him as casually as if he were still that five-year-old child Yao Zhibin had once spent an afternoon talking about birds with, throwing his arms around him and calling him Uncle. He’d kept crying the entire time he’d been introduced to his youngest daughter – he hadn’t even realized Nie Xiaoxiao had been pregnant again when she’d left, neither of them had – had been sobbing unashamedly, taking breaks only to blow his nose, and somewhere along the way something in Nie Huaisang’s breezy carefree smile seemed to soften into something more genuine.

Ah, he’d said, eyes curving. I see why Auntie likes you.

Yao Zhibin didn’t. They’d been married a decade, and he still had no idea why his wife took such delight in him – he was useless. Every skill he’d ever spent time honing had been meant to help him avoid being noticed, to go along with the flow, to defer to and to borrow the power of others, and now he was suddenly a sect leader, responsible for being a hero and being notable and standing out, for winning glory on behalf of his family name. He couldn’t fade into the background anymore, couldn’t put safety and wanting to be with his family over valor – he had to have achievements.

Nonsense, Nie Huaisang had said gaily when Yao Zhibin had confided his fears in him, lacking as he did anyone else to talk to about it. You don’t have to actually have achievements, as long as people say you did. All those skills of yours can still serve some useful purpose! Just listen to your dear darling nephew, and I’ll explain it all to you.

At the end of the war, Yao Zhibin had become Sect Leader Yao to the point that he no longer flinched upon hearing himself referred to in that way. His wife was lying unconscious at home, comatose and deemed unlikely to ever reawaken, having been crushed in an onrushing tide of the enemy on the front lines – it hadn’t had anything to do with the Yiling Patriarch, purely her own valiant heroism in the face of overwhelming numbers, but it was still easy to get caught up in the tide that turned against Wei Wuxian back then, especially with Jin Guangshan spilling largesse and rumors from the same hand. Yao Zhibin’s clan had needed the largesse, desperately, and he’d always been good at spreading rumors, something Jin Guangshan had identified at once. He’d made Yao Zhibin an offer that sounded too good to be true and was, but at the time he hadn’t thought so; it had been like getting coal in the middle of winter, unexpected aid just when he needed it most, because he really did need the help desperately, feeling that he couldn’t go to the Nie sect, since his wife hadn’t wanted him to and wasn’t awake to change her mind.

It hadn’t seemed like such a big deal, either. It had been easy enough to pass along word to Jiang Cheng that Wei Wuxian was being disrespectful – that was mostly even true – and easy enough stand up against the Yiling Patriarch and proclaim that he was there purely on behalf of justice, rather than a personal vendetta, providing cover for anyone else who might want to join in. Easy enough to encourage others to stand up against him as well. Easy enough…

His wife had nearly eviscerated him for it when she’d finally woken up.

He really should have just gone to the Nie sect.

After all, in the end the Jin sect’s largesse, however much of a lifeline it had been at the time, disappeared without a trace, while the Nie sect remained…remained, yes, but damaged, and it was Yao Zhibin’s own stupidity in helping weaken the Jiang sect and strengthen the Jin sect that had let Jin Guangshan and Jin Guangyao feel comfortable turning their eye upon Nie Mingjue himself as the final obstacle in their path.

His fault. His to remedy.

Yao Zhibin had been a good little songbird for Nie Huaisang ever since.

Whether it was to publicly doubt Wei Wuxian’s sincerity so that his later about-face would be seen as a signal for the rest of them that it was also all right to change their previously held positions, to loudly proclaim his belief in the stories told by Sisi and Bicao which after all weren’t anything but words with no evidence, to suggest vile motives for Jin Rusong’s murder rather than let people think about excuses, or even to lay the groundwork for Nie Huaisang’s actions, should they be discovered, to be praised by all as virtuous and clever rather than diabolical…

Truly, he supposed, it was as Nie Huaisang had said all those years ago: his skills might not be the most suitable for being a sect leader, but they weren’t actually useless.

“So what was the result?” he asked Nie Huaisang now. “If it went – not as bad as it could have been?”

“As I expected, they don’t want me as Chief Cultivator right now, and there’s no convincing them otherwise,” Nie Huaisang said with an airy shrug. “It’s perfectly understandable. Emotions are still so raw, after all! Jiang-xiong is angry at me for having made his nephew cry, A-Ling is a child who keeps going back and forth between thinking that I’m useless and thinking that I’m dangerous – as if I can’t be both! – and Lan Zhan might be my friend but he’s so far up his new husband’s ass at the moment that he wouldn’t dare come out and support me for fear that it would make Wei-xiong feel momentarily uneasy…of course, clever little brat that he is, he also didn’t oppose me, either. He remembers that you’re my auntie’s husband, your children my cousins, even if Jiang Cheng forgot and Jin Ling never bothered learning.”

Yao Zhibin had a distinct sinking feeling sensation in his stomach.

“Why is that relevant?” he asked hesitantly.

Nie Huaisang’s smile had a dagger hidden behind his teeth. It always did, these days, now that he’d stopped pretending to be totally useless – he was still mostly useless, that was just the way he’d always been, careless and carefree, but he’d already started rearranging the entire cultivation world to his liking just the way he’d once arranged the Nie sect under his indulgent brother to his liking, and he wasn’t going to stop any time soon.

“It’s not, of course,” he said, and he snapped open his fan once more. “Except in the sense that I can trust that you’ll step down when the time is right for me to step up.”

The sinking feeling became even more profound. It’d gone all the way down to his boots by now.

“Step…down…?”

“He’s gone and made you Chief Cultivator,” Nie Xiaoxiao said, shoving the door open with a grunt and wheeling herself in. She must have gotten back from whatever she’d been doing and started listening from the other room, and Nie Huaisang must have known she was there – he didn’t look surprised in the slightest, just twisting and giving her a jaunty wave. “And you’re going to accept it, too.”

Yao Zhibin turned to look at her, horrified by the thought. “Me? Chief Cultivator?”

“Only temporarily,” Nie Huaisang said soothingly.

“And he’ll make all the important decisions,” Nie Xiaoxiao added, making Nie Huaisang’s smooth expression crinkled up into an expression of disgust. “And take a fair share of the paperwork.”

“Auntie!”

“Don’t ‘Auntie’ me. You want to make my poor useless husband be useful for your own purposes, you’re going to have to be useful yourself.” She tapped the arm of her wheelchair, a gesture she’d picked up in the years since she’d started using it – her back had been broken during that final battle in the Sunshot Campaign, robbing her permanently of the use of both her legs for any significant length of time, but she’d gotten quite used to getting around in her chair by now. She’d even come up with a way to continue training her saber, and was somehow still as terrifying as she’d ever been. “Don’t think you’ve gotten so high and mighty that I can’t still put over my knee and spank you, Huaisang.”

“I surrender!” Nie Huaisang said at once, because he really was quite clever under all his ridiculousness. “I’ll make the big decisions, and I’ll – ah – well, I’ll delegate the paperwork.”

Nie Xiaoxiao rolled her eyes. “That’ll do, I suppose.”

“Do I have to?” Yao Zhibin asked plaintively. He could already see how tomorrow was going to go – the new Sect Leader Jin would nominate him with the claim that Nie Huaisang had suggested him, his uncle Jiang Cheng would second the motion, as expected, and then attention would go to Lan Wangji, who would nod in asset, and to Nie Huasiang, who would slouch and grumble and nod as well. After that, he would have to get up and stammer some words of surprise, an attempt to refuse the honor that wasn’t really a refusal, and then someone would need to jump up spontaneously to support him…

Nie Huaisang probably had someone in mind, but Yao Zhibin could probably convince him that Ouyang Huiyu would do the job just fine, and believably, too, and that would give him an excuse to be a little more partial to the Ouyang sect than others in the future. Nie Huaisang’s chosen agent could then lend his voice in additional support, the small independent sects all excited by the notion of getting one of their own above the Great Sects for once, and that would be that.

He wouldn’t be able to refuse.

“Yes,” Nie Huaisang said, patting him on the arm comfortingly. “Yes, you do. I need the influence of the Chief Cultivator position to ensure that my sect has breathing room to rebuild appropriately after the depredations of the past decade, and of course we should continue to build on and expand the good things san-ge put in place – whatever his reasoning might have been, the Watchtowers are a genuinely good idea, and now that a representative of the small sects is the one advocating for them, we might even be able to finally expand them to those areas that were too suspicious of the Jin sect’s motives to accept them before. Anyway, you’ll be winning all sorts of glory for your sect for the rest of time, pleasing your ancestors and benefiting your children; isn’t that reason enough?”

Nie Xiaoxiao was rolling her eyes again, but Yao Zhibin, gullible fool that he’d always been, still managed to feel comforted by Nie Huaisang’s words even when he knew they were meant just for that purpose.

After all, it was rather nice to think of being respected by everyone – not just him, but his children as well, making sure that they would never need to know the social isolation and ostracism that had so pained him in his childhood. His eldest children were already nearly adults, and the younger set he and Nie Xiaoxiao had had after the war were only a few years younger than Jin Ling, so serving as Chief Cultivator would at least mean that he’d be in a position to be able to find them good marriages that suited them and made them happy.

Because that was what mattered, really, wasn’t it? Being happy.

“And you will let me retire eventually?” he asked, just in case. “I don’t want to be useful forever.”

“See? He can be taught,” Nie Xiaoxiao said happily, and Nie Huaisang just laughed.

“That’s amazing!” Ouyang Huiyu said, practically bouncing up and down in his shoes – in some ways he was still that excitable little boy Yao Zhibin had met all those years ago, even though he had a beard and a wife and an equally excitable son that he treasured more than life itself. “I can’t believe it, almost, it’s just…you’re Chief Cultivator! Of course it’s well deserved, don’t take me as saying anything otherwise, you know how much I’ve always admired you, Yao-xiong. You’ve got some fame under your belt, and justly so after all these years, it’s just…one of our small sects, the Chief Cultivator! It’s amazing!”

“Truly amazing,” Yao Zhibin agreed, and stuck a smile on his face when Jiang Cheng, looking marginally content for once, came over to congratulate him as well. It was a rare sight, Jiang Cheng content, and Yao Zhibin was really looking forward to being as far away from him as humanly possible when he finally reintroduced his wife to the crowd at a later event and Jiang Cheng realized what had actually happened. “I truly appreciate being recognized by my peers like this…and really, I must say, even for someone as farsighted as me, it came as a complete surprise!”

#mdzs #sect leader yao #nie huaisang #jin ling #jiang cheng #lan wangji #original characters #my fic #my fics #useless #yes this is a serious version of the chief cultivator yao fic

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thatswhatsushesaid · 1 year

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hmmmmmmm 🧐

it has been a hot minute since i last wrote fic for literally anything, but i can’t stop toying with ideas for a canon-divergent xiyao fic. (thank u to @verdantrivers for talking through lots of this with me)

vague concept: jgy, having survived the events of the guanyin temple confrontation somehow and fleeing to dongying (with minshan!!), finds some way to come back to china some years later to help shore up jin ling’s position in lanling. not because his ruined reputation can help jl’s vulnerability, but because without the need to preserve something that has already been destroyed (at least in terms of popular opinion), that, uh, frees up his options somewhat in terms of what he can do to protect his nephew.

what inspired this thought: besides just wanting to see a post-canon AU where jgy comes back and reclaims some of what was his by right, one of the extras makes it pretty clear that while the jin sect itself is struggling within the broader cultivation world, jin ling is also at risk from distant relatives looking to usurp him in the vacuum left by jgy. (thank you to jiang cheng and zidian for coming in clutch to keep the greedy relatives at bay!)

the focus would be primarily on the coming back vs the getting away because i’m just not interested in the specific gritty details of reimagining the guanyin temple scene. but that also means that the biggest long term complication and obstacle for jgy will undoubtedly be nhs. and as much as i love nhs, i struggle to see my way to an end for this particular story where they both make it to the finish line alive. (that isn’t an impediment to writing the story, just something i’m having to accept, sigh.)

and obviously there will be delicious xiyao catharsis because there has to be, perhaps with a side helping of unrequited affection from poor third wheel su minshan. hmmm. yes, i think i like this idea tremendously.

#xiyao #he did crimes??? good for him 😌#post-canon fix-it where my special little guy gets to keep doing what he does best #and at no point bows or scrapes at anyone’s boots demanding forgiveness #since no one has ever apologized to him for any of the injustices he’s endured #get fucked ‘redemption arc’ you’re not invited to this party

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aiyexayen · 1 year

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WIP WORD SEARCH GAME

tagged by @theleakypen who gave me the words:

sleep | sky | press | breath | bud

time to search my endless wip folder for these~

sleep, from my The Untamed wip titled protagonist jiang yanli:

Jiang Yanli is eight years old and slow to form a golden core, falling ill whenever it rains, plagued by poor sleep and worse dreams more and more often. There is some concern that she won't be well enough to inherit as she grows up, and her a-niang has not managed to become pregnant again. She isn't sure if she should be worried about this or not. No one has told her.

sky, from my The Untamed wip titled Long Way Home:

Still, he will not drench the ribbon with even his own blood. He cannot go that far. Nie Huaisang gives him this small compromise and lets him leave it pushed askew, higher up on the corpse's forehead than the prominent facial damage. It's the last thing Wangji sees before he turns to go--bold against the grisly scene, pristine and preserved and safe. He does not cry as he walks away. The next day in Qinghe, he buys a sky blue ribbon and ties it around his wrist underneath his sleeve, right next to the red one that's been there for years.

press, from my Word of Honor wip titled zishu/qianqiao mask:

A ghost after all? He hardly has time for the thought before her mouth is on his and she's kissing him, hard. For the way the lipstick smears and her breath blends into his, for the way she grabs his face to keep it still and presses herself closer, for the way fingertips slide through his hair and fluttering silk brushes across the skin of his neck, there's shockingly little passion. It is, in fact, the single most efficient kiss Zhou Zishu has ever experienced. Thorough and businesslike and coating his mouth in the waxy taste of makeup, and-- Oh. He hasn't tasted lipstick in a very, very long time. He also hasn't tasted this particular sedative in nearly as long. Sloppy. Out of practise. Ex-Tianchuang-shouling indeed. Lao Wen will laugh at him later.

breath, from my Word of Honor wip titled chengling goes with wen kexing instead?

Wen Kexing flicks his fan closed and reaches out to put his free hand on Chengling's shoulder. He searches the boy's face, feeling that unavoidable kinship still burning bright. "You want revenge so badly?" he asks. Chengling nods. "You're willing to do anything?" Chengling nods again. "And you trust me?" His voice is severe but Chengling nods a third time. "Then do you believe me if I tell you that not all ghosts are the same?" Behind them, Wen Kexing hears A-Xiang's sharp indrawn breath. Chengling doesn't seem to notice; he just blinks once and considers the words. In the end, very slowly, he still nods. "Some of them are evil, do evil things." Wen Kexing swallows, and keeps lying: "And some of them are very good people who want the rest of them dead as much as you do."

bud, again from my The Untamed wip titled Long Way Home:

When A-Ling was a baby, Jin Yuan could get him to stop crying nearly every time. He doesn't remember it very well anymore, but everyone says so. He was even allowed to go to Lotus Pier with A-Ling and Jiang-zongzhu every summer until A-Ling turned six and could be convinced to go without him. He does remember that: swimming and playing and the way the lotus buds peek up like tiny frogs out from the vast expanse of green bit by bit until one day the world is pink and lotus blossoms hover over the still waters everywhere you look, enough so the whole place smells lovelier than cakes. Sweet and fresh and bright. In summers since, he would even spend time meditating by Jinlintai's little lotus pond while A-Ling was away to keep himself from worrying or missing him too much, and to remember the smell.

tagging @rustycreekspoon, @sundaeserenade, @littleredruns, @deepestbluesky, and anybody else who wants to join! your words are (including variants):

tear | soft | red | under | hold

#thank you for tagging me puck :D #my writing #tag game #wip word search #i had fun looking for all of these!#my poor wips #someday i will get back to you i promise...

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malicemismanager · 2 years

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Hi you mentioned once that mdzs is the first fandom you have actual ships for and I am nosey so... 👀👀

Damn, that was a while ago that I mentioned that, wow XD

Ok well since you asked, in no particular order, there's:

Wangxian, obviously, not insignificantly because, while I love them both very very much, I would not inflict either of them on anyone else 😂

Songxuexiao, in it's various configurations, and I do believe I've also made this one pretty clear, particularly Xuexiao because they are My Babies

3zun, again in it's various configurations, though this one I'm more flexible in that it can be romantic, platonic, or some combination of both

Jingyi/Jin Ling (i don't know what this ship is called) mostly because the sheer chaotic potential of throwing them at each other amuses me even as I feel a little bad for poor Sizhui and Zizhen having to Deal With That XD

JGY/Qin Su (dunno what this one's called either) Look, I know, and incest usually squicks me the fuck out, but listen, they're perfect for each other if not for that One Thing and it's just. It's about the Tragedy™

Xuanli cuz I just think they're neat XD

And then there's the ships I don't necessarily like so much as don't mind being presented with if the fic's well written enough:

Sangcheng and Chengqing; I very firmly headcannon JC as ace and WQ as aroace, so I'm really picky about the latter in particular, the former I'm more just 'meh' about generally speaking

Sizhui/Jin Ling, again more just 'meh' about this one, but it seems to be pretty popular so I just kinda put up with it if it shows up y'know? XD

Oh, and Special Mention to:

Mianmian and her gods damned husband. You know. Her husband? That she married and has a daughter with? Whom we don't get much of but seems like a genuinely nice guy? That husband? 😐😐😐

This was a longer response than I was expecting, holy shit, what has this show done to me >_>

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lan-xichens · 4 years

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Chapters: 1/? Fandom: 陈情令 | The Untamed (TV), 魔道祖师 - 墨香铜臭 | Módào Zǔshī - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Lán Zhàn | Lán Wàngjī/Wèi Yīng | Wèi Wúxiàn, Jiāng Chéng | Jiāng Wǎnyín & Jiāng Yànlí & Wèi Yīng | Wèi Wúxiàn Characters: Lán Zhàn | Lán Wàngjī, Wèi Yīng | Wèi Wúxiàn, Jiāng Chéng | Jiāng Wǎnyín, Jiāng Yànlí, Lán Yuàn | Lán Sīzhuī, Lán Jǐngyí, Jīn Líng | Jīn Rúlán, Ōuyáng Zǐzhēn, Wēn Níng | Wēn Qiónglín Additional Tags: Somebody Lives/Not Everyone Dies, yunmeng siblings reconciliation, Getting Together Series: Part 2 of Discontented

Summary:

When minor clans put forth a petition to the Chief Cultivator to deliver the Yiling Laozu to be tried for his continued demonic cultivation activity—with a not-so-friendly postscript to demand verification for Lady Jiang’s resurrection—Jiang Cheng and Lan Wangji butt heads over how best to protect Wei Wuxian from such unwanted inquiries.

In which Jiang Yanli’s return ends in a custody war for Wei Wuxian, and in which a home is not always the place where one lives.

#the untamed #my writing #so the first chapter of part 2 is up!#i normally don't do this #since i posted the last one only after i'd written everything #but it's going terribly slowly #and maybe this will help me make time to finish it?#either way! i'm very excited to share!#i hope this second part will have loads of lovely moments between different characters #and i feel i could rant endlessly in the tags about it #but that's mainly because most of the story isn't on paper yet - it's in my head #and it wants out but tags isn't the place for it #but! you'll find:#wwx and jc making steps to reconcile and TALKING #and uh i want to tag 'spoilers' for the first story but with this summary that's kind of redundant #so jyl is alive! and everyone will get to have their moments with her because oof #poor jin ling in particular #story arcs that are going on - more or less at the same time because of the POV switches:#the juniors on night hunts in the area #teaming up with wen ning at some point #the seniors scrambling together a discussion conference at lotus pier #because well. jiang yanli is alive and there seems to be demonic cultivation at work #hint hint nudge nudge the cultivation world still hasn't forgiven wwx everything #the summary calls it a petition -- i'm not sure if i'll make it as serious as that #or if that kind of thing is even done? ha!#i wrote the summary months ago #i'll edit it as we go

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antebunny · 2 years

Text

Truth or Dare

“Guys I have a great idea.”

Lan Sizhui and Jin Ling exchange a look. Nothing good comes when Lan Jingyi says that, especially not when they’re in a bar. Especially when Lan Jingyi’s been eyeing Jin Ling jealously all evening because he’s the only one allowed to get drunk. It’s been extremely loud in this particular bar for the past hour or so. On the other side of the room, a man is loudly and drunkenly ranting about the evil Yiling Patriarch. Lan Sizhui’s been tamping down a familiar old anger on behalf of the father he’s not supposed to remember (and barely does–he’s just sort of vaguely adult-shaped in Lan Sizhui’s memories). It’s not easy for Lans to get bored but it is very easy to tire them out with rooms of loud people. Lan Sizhui’s been eagerly counting down the time until his father (the living one, that is, Hanguang-jun) arrives.

Unfortunately for Lan Sizhui, Jin Ling is drunk.

Jin Ling slams his drink down. “Lay it on us.”

“It’s for a game to play with friends,” Lan Jingyi says eagerly. “We each take turns, and you have to choose whether to answer an embarrassing question or do something embarrassing that the others choose. I call it…Truth Or Dare.”

Lan Sizhui politely avoids rolling his eyes. The drunk man ranting about the Yiling Patriarch breaks down in tears. Lan Sizhui almost feels bad for him because he clearly lost someone dear to him because of Wei Wuxian, but secretly Lan Sizhui thinks that he’s lost enough people to people trying to kill the Yiling Patriarch that he shouldn’t have to care.

“I’m in,” Jin Ling says, but in a moment of craftiness neither of his dinner companions expected; “But only if you go first.”

Automatically, both of them look at Lan Sizhui. He’s distracted by the drunk man across the room insulting the Yiling Patriarch’s personal hygiene, and all the other sufficiently drunk inhabitants of the bar loudly agreeing with him.

“Do you agree?” Lan Jingyi asks Sizhui. He’s practically vibrating out of his seat.

Out of fear that Jingyi might just vibrate through the roof if Sizhui doesn’t do something, Lan Sizhui relents. “Alright. Truth or dare?”

Across the room, the drunk man climbs on top of his table. He appears to be vividly animating a fight scene between himself and the Yiling Patriarch. The other bar patrons cheer. Lan Sizhui unclenches his jaw, with difficulty.

“What could he possibly be afraid of saying?” Jin Ling mutters.

“Dare!” Lan Jingyi nearly shouts.

“There’s not much he’s afraid of doing, either,” Jin Ling says, with a dirty look at Lan Jingyi, realizing he’s been conned.

“AND IF HE EVER DARES SHOW HIS UGLY FACE–”

Lan Sizhui can’t help it. He shoots the drunk man (still wriggling atop his table in a poor imitation of a fight scene) the worst glare he can manage.

“Would he shut up?” Lan Jingyi groans.

For a brief moment, Lan Sizhui’s filial side wins out against his common sense. “I dare you to go walk up to that man and tell him to shut up.”

“Done,” Lan Jingyi says instantly, because even Lan Sizhui’s reckless side is Lan Jingyi’s calmest voice of reason.

“And,” Jin Ling jumps in, surprisingly joining in instead of getting angry like he usually does whenever someone brings up the Yiling Patriarch, “you have to tell him it’s because his words are offensive to you, personally, as the Yiling Patriarch’s former student.”

Finally, Lan Jingyi’s confidence wavers, and Lan Sizhui’s amazement matches his appallment. Lan Jingyi? Has a limit? He wants to push Lan Jingyi into doing it about as much as he wants to drag Lan Jingyi out of the bar and never return to this town out of embarrassment. While Lan Sizhui’s common sense and evil side go to war, Lan Jingyi glances between that obnoxious man who has moved on to insulting the Yiling Patriarch for never getting a date (don’t they usually accuse Wei Wuxian of sacrificing hundreds of virgins?) and Jin Ling’s smug face and makes a decision.

Lan Jingyi stands up. “I’m doing it.”

Immediately, Lan Sizhui tries to grab his sleeve. “Jingyi, no–!”

Too late. Lan Jingyi skillfully evades captured and marches his way to the other side of the bar. In open horror, Lan Sizhui watches from his spot next to Jin Ling, tea growing cold on his table, as Lan Jingyi stops just two steps from the table causing all the ruckus and shouts “HEY!”

The drunk man, so thoroughly caught by surprise he nearly topples off his table, shuts up for one blessed second. Lan Sizhui is too busy drowning in second-hand embarrassment to appreciate it. The drunk man plonks himself down and gives Lan Jingyi his undivided attention (even worse).

“What’s the problem?”

“I can bear your tasteless, baseless words no longer!” Lan Jingyi, bristling with indignation and swelling like sponge, instantly has the attention of the entire bar. He bows very respectfully. “Please, sir, stop insulting my former teacher. His, uh, atrocities have made me into the person I am today and it pains my heart to see you slander him so.”

The Wei Wuxian hater stares in utter bafflement at Lan Jingyi. Perhaps because of the sheer insanity of a teenage Lan disciple coming up to him and declaring to be the Yiling Patriarch’s former student, perhaps out of shock that someone would enthusiastically declares themselves an ally of the Yiling Patriarch while still in Yunmeng.

Lan Sizhui puts his head in his hands. Beside him, Jin Ling is the only one to notice the arrival of Lan Wangji, there to pick up his disciples and their surprise friend (a surprise to Lan Wangji, but the friendship is a surprise to Sizhui and Jingyi as well).

The drunk man tugs his red hair ribbon nervously. Scratches the back of his neck. And then, in the flavor of raw honesty that only comes tumbling out of the mouths of resurrected men drunk on their tenth bottle of Emperor’s Wine: “Huh. Funny, I don’t remember teaching you.”

#mdzs #antebunny's ficlets #lan sizhui #jin ling #wei wuxian #the untamed #my writing

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tossawary · 3 years

Text

Right, so I was just thinking about genderbend fics, trans fics, and body curse fics, etc. in regards to Wei Wuxian. (I’ve been thinking generally about how these explorations and interpretations each do and mean something different for readers.) If WWX was brought back into the body of a cis woman instead, you can do some fun exploration of WWX’s relationship to gender.

Personally, I’m kind of imagining Wei Wuxian alternating between “well, I’m still a man, so I’m going to wear whatever clothing I like and sprawl inelegantly when I sit and do whatever the fuck I want” and “ah, well, since I’m a ‘woman’ now, I am obligated to find men attractive and flirt outrageously with them now” depending on what’s convenient or funny (or comforting) to him.

Also, because I am always fond of humor (especially slightly cracky humor), I think he would crack an unbearable number of “oh nooo, I am but a poor lonely woman in this big scary world, I should find a big strong man to marry me and take care of meeeee” jokes. Everyone in the vicinity suffers when WWX starts cracking “Lan Zhan, if no one else wants me, you’ll marry me, right? As one bro to another bro in the body of a woman?” jokes. Shameless!

The easiest way to do this is to make Mo Xuanyu a cis woman, except it’s also fun to brainstorm other options. I’ve seen Qin Su as the one who does the sacrifice-summoning ritual and that’s a fun idea. Unfortunately, MDZS is very short on female characters here, but in the same vein of Qin Su, if we’re talking about women who have lost their son and probably want the whole cultivation world to get fucked (JGY especially), if you want to get really weird with this particular premise and kind of cracky, there’s always Madam Jin.

It would be such a mess. I am delighted just thinking about the mess of this. Jin Zixuan would probably have to stay dead for Madam Jin to have motivation for this, so we wouldn’t get to see Jin Zixuan react to this, but all of the other reactions would still be excellent. Every single one of them I can imagine is good. (Jiang Cheng, Lan Xichen, Jin Guangyao reacting to this... it’s all gold.)

And there’s always Jin Ling’s reaction!

There’s always Jin Ling having to deal with the fact that his embittered (possibly grieving in seclusion since his father’s death?) grandmother has sacrificed her body to resurrect his mass-murderer, Yiling Patriach, Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation uncle! Who is now outrageously flirting with and definitely going to sleep with Hanguang-Jun! Near-adult life is already so damn weird!

#tossawary mdzs #wei wuxian as madam jin au #wei wuxian vs gender au #fic ideas #wei wuxian #madam jin #wangxian #mdzs

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ibijau · 2 years

Text

Persuasion AU pt7 / On AO3

In spite of how serious the task at hand was, the Night Hunt started as a very joyous occasion. Lan Xichen himself, although a little grim at first, quickly got swept up in the good cheer of people reuniting with those they loved, all of them expressing affection in their own way.

The juniors were without a doubt the most outwardly joyful, and none quite as much as Wen Yuan and Jin Ling. It gave Lan Xichen sincere pleasure to see his nephew so happy, and how excited Wen Yuan was to introduce all his new friends to the boy he liked. Jin Ling for his part appeared a little less assured at first, even as he introduced Ouyang Zizhen, an old friend he’d invited to join them because his sect lived quite near. Poor Jin Ling appeared a little worried upon seeing that Wen Yuan had become close to so many others, and in particular he seemed quite suspicious of Lan Jingyi. But when it became clear that Wen Yuan only saw the Lan juniors as relatives, and that Lan Jingyi’s affections were otherwise engaged, Jin Ling relaxed at last and took part more actively in the general good cheer.

The mood among the adults was somewhat different. Even though they had reconciled some years before, there still remained some tensions between Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng due to the former’s decision to abandon their sect and fight in a war that did not concern him. But for the most, that betrayal had been forgiven, and Lan Xichen had the surprise of learning that during the last part of the war, after Jiang Cheng became sect leader, Yunmeng Jiang had secretly offered support to Qinghe Nie. It had needed to remain a secret, because of Yunmeng Jiang’s alliance to Lanling Jin, who while proclaiming to be just as neutral as Gusu Lan, had also given every sign that it hoped for a victory of Qishan Wen, and was rumoured to have given secret support of its own to that side.

Having kept his involvement secret, Jiang Cheng was able to maintain a decent relationship with the sect into which his sister had married. But he was aware not everyone could do the same, and so as they all headed where the fierce corpses should be hiding, Jiang Cheng warned Nie Huaisang that someone from Lanling Jin was meant to come find them and bring Jin Ling home right at the end of the Night Hunt, because his nephew was expected to attend a series of internal lectures at home.

“I can’t be sure who will come, but Jin Zixuan is busy lately, so it will probably be Jin Guangyao.”

“Then I will do my best to leave quickly when we’re done here,” Nie Huaisang replied coldly. “Thank you for the warning. Now, let’s decide how we will deal with those fierce corpses.”

The matter was thoroughly discussed, and it was decided they would separate in several groups in an attempt to encircle the fierce corpses. The juniors of Gusu Lan and Yunmeng Jiang alike were disappointed to learn they would all be supervised by adults during the whole Night Hunt, though the former were less open about their annoyance than the latter. The Jiang juniors only stopped protesting when Jiang Cheng threatened to send them home, after which they meekly agreed to stay with him and the few more experienced cultivators who had come with him. As for the Lan juniors, after a moment of displeasure, they were all delighted when they understood they would get to see Lan Wangji in action, and Wei Wuxian too. A third group of the Nie cultivator would also help encircle the fierce corpses.

Lan Xichen, at first, thought that he would follow his brother. But Lan Wangji suggested that he should go with the strongest of the juniors as a fourth, smaller group. They would catch any fierce corpses that might escape the main assault, and be ready to help if either of the other groups encountered any difficulties. It was a sensible plan, and Lan Xichen had regained some of his former skill thanks to frequent sparrings with his brother, but he still wasn’t sure he was quite up to the task. But before he could object to the plan, Nie Huaisang had intervened, offering to go with that group as well since he claimed he would be of little use elsewhere. Considering that Lan Jingyi was to be among those juniors whom Lan Xichen was meant to supervise, it came as no surprise, but as a great displeasure. And yet Lan Xichen would not ruin his young cousin’s chance for more time with Nie Huaisang. It would have been too unkind. So he swallowed his objections, and with a smile agreed to that plan.

Theirs was truly a small group. Aside from Nie Huaisang and Lan Jingyi, there would be only Wen Yuan, Jin Ling, his friend Ouyang Zizhen, and two youths from Yunmeng Jiang. As they set out into the woods together, Wen Yuan and Jin Ling soon started to fall behind, smiling and whispering together about something that most likely had nothing to do with the Night Hunt. Lan Xichen found them too sweet to scold them, especially once it became clear that they were still paying attention to their surroundings. The two young people from Yunmeng were soon engaged in a similar manner, making Lan Xichen wonder if his duty was to supervise or act as a chaperone. Guessing that Nie Huaisang and Lan Jingyi would probably appreciate some privacy as well, Lan Xichen fell into step with Ouyang Zizhen, the only person left for him to chat with.

The boy was sweet enough, if a little prone to bouts of lyricism. Lan Xichen would not have minded talking with him, but before half a shichen had passed, Nie Huaisang joined them and suggested that Lan Jingyi seemed to have some interest in local birds which Ouyang Zizhen, being a local himself, might help him with. Ouyang Zizhen was only too happy to oblige and quickly went to join a very disappointed looking Lan Jingyi, immediately starting to explain what he could about birds, a topic on which he appeared to have some knowledge.

"It's nice to be off the Burial Mound, isn't it?" Nie Huaisang said then, startling Lan Xichen. "I appreciate Wei Wuxian's effort, and his goal is a commendable one, but I'm never fully at ease over there."

For a moment, Lan Xichen found himself at a loss for words, unsure that Nie Huaisang was even talking to him. But there was nobody else near enough, and Nie Huaisang was looking at him with an expectant expression, waiting for an answer.

"It is not the most pleasant place I've ever visited," Lan Xichen mildly agreed, fearing to give offence if he said the truth about how oppressive the Burial Mounds felt at times, especially whenever the weather turned cloudy.

"It certainly isn’t,” Nie Huaisang said with a grimace. “But I suppose you start at a disadvantage. Compared to the Cloud Recesses, what home wouldn't be found lacking? It is a pity that this will always be your basis for comparison. No matter where you go for a visit, you must always think that your own home is better. I know my own visit there has ruined me in that regard. No matter where I am, I often find myself wishing I could be in Gusu instead."

"The effect of nostalgia perhaps,” Lan Xichen awkwardly remarked. “When you were there, you often spoke of leaving."

"We all make mistakes in our youth, Lan gongzi. Just because I once resented the Cloud Recesses doesn't mean I cannot long for them now."

"I am certainly in no position to scold others for the choices they made as young men."

Nie Huaisang faltered, making Lan Xichen fear that he had once again made a mistake in alluding to their shared past. He thought he couldn’t be blamed for it though, not when it was Nie Huaisang himself who had first mentioned the Cloud Recesses and his time there. But Nie Huaisang soon recovered, and even smiled in that same impish way he used to do.

"The issue for you,” Nie Huaisang said, “I believe, is that you were trying to not act as a young man. Lan gongzi used to be so serious. Lan gongzi still is, I suppose, and perhaps regrets even those few moments of joy he allowed himself."

"I regret many things. The joy I felt, and the circumstances that caused it, are not among those, nor the friends I made back then. I only wish I had known how to retain those friends, who now must think so poorly of me for the way I treated them.”

“Hm. However angry they were once, your friends too have grown older,” Nie Huaisang pointed out, “and hopefully a little wiser. They might understand now what they couldn’t accept back then. Perhaps Lan gongzi should try to reach out, and see what happens. Supposing you do still miss those friends of yours, of course. If you do not… I am sure they are wise enough to understand that, too.”

Lan Xichen could only stare, too startled by that offer to find his words. Nie Huaisang, far from being offended by that silence, smiled at him with nearly the same hopeful warmth he used to possess, before heartbreak and war changed him. Had they been alone, Lan Xichen might have presumed too much and said something silly, and thus betrayed just how much he still felt for Nie Huaisang.

But they were not alone, and Lan Jingyi was getting tired of being ignored. He had chatted with Ouyang Zizhen up until then, waiting for Nie Huaisang to come and joke with him as he normally did. But with Nie Huaisang’s attention directed elsewhere, with Wen Yuan busy laughing softly at whatever Jin Ling is whispering to him, and with Ouyang Zizhen not being quite the companion he wanted, Lan Jingyi lost patience at last. After proclaiming that this Night Hunt was horribly boring, he announced his intention to find some of those fierce corpses already and deal with them. Having said so he sprung forward before anyone could think of stopping him, leaving them all behind.

Lan Xichen sighed, disappointed but not surprised. Considering how much Lan Jingyi had been enjoying Nie Huaisang’s attention, how could he not react like this once that attention was removed from him, however briefly? Still, Lan Xichen would need to scold his cousin later, and to remind him that their sect’s rules on conduct and self-control were to be applied even away from home. Love was no excuse for misbehaviour.

But love certainly was not easily dismissed, and just as he would need to scold later, Lan Xichen couldn’t resist being kind now.

“Nie gongzi, could you go after him?” Lan Xichen asked. “I don’t want him to stay alone when there could be danger around.

“Wei Wuxian did say those fierce corpses were no joke,” Nie Huaisang replied, looking rather nervous suddenly. “Between us, you are the better cultivator, and the one better able to protect your cousin if any creatures should attack.”

“Whatever skill I once had, everything I’ve heard about you shows you have probably surpassed me in cultivation,” Lan Xichen sincerely said. “I entrust my cousin to you. Besides, I fear he’s not going to listen to me if I go find him.”

“And yet I think it would be wiser for you to go,” Nie Huaisang insisted. “I doubt I could be of much help, should trouble arise.”

Such reluctance surprised Lan Xichen, nearly as much as it had surprised him for Nie Huaisang to come talk to him, when Lan Jingyi had been there, waiting only to be flirted with. It seemed unlikely that those two had had a falling out of any sort, because Lan Xichen was certain his young cousin would have come running to him if there had been any argument, seeking either comfort or support. But it still couldn’t be denied that Nie Huaisang no longer seemed interested in spending time with Lan Jingyi, that instead he appeared in a mood to favour Lan Xichen’s company. It made little sense, after everything that had passed between them, and yet Lan Xichen still felt flattered at that renewed attention.

More than flattered, Lan Xichen felt hopeful. And yet that hope was quickly followed by a sense of guilt, knowing what heartbreak it would cause his poor cousin if Nie Huaisang were to change his target. Lan Jingyi did not deserve such pain, while Lan Xichen was not sure he would deserve such luck either.

A piercing scream coming from further ahead put an end to those interrogations. Lan Xichen, who had recognised the voice as being Lan Jingyi’s, ordered the other boys to be careful and to follow him as he ran toward the danger. Before they had gone very far, in a denser, darker part of the woods, they found Lan Jingyi who had become frozen from terror as a group of fierce corpses surrounded him. Lan Jingyi had his sword in one hand, a talisman in the other, and yet appeared too scared to move at all. The fierce corpses, initially frightened by his weapon, eventually understood that he paused no threat to them and the tallest among them launched himself at Lan Jingyi, clawing at his throat and making the young man collapse among sprays of red.

Before Lan Jingyi had finished falling, Lan Xichen had attacked the fierce corpse who had harmed his cousin and easily dispatched him. He then moved on to the next target, as fearless and efficient as he had been in his youth, while shouting for his companions to help him. The others, shocked at first by the sight of Lan Jingyi’s blood, sprang into action. Strong as they were, none of the fierce corpses were a match in the end, even though Lan Xichen had been the only adult fighting, Nie Huaisang instead rushed to Lan Jingyi’s side to try and make sure he wouldn’t bleed to death.

As soon as the fight was over, Lan Xichen came to kneel by his cousin and checked the wound. He soon asserted that while it might not be deadly, it was still serious enough that Lan Jingyi might die if he didn’t receive the necessary treatment. In fact, it surprised him that all Nie Huaisang had done was to tear off parts of his sleeves to press against the wounds left by the claws, when sharing spiritual energy to prevent the blood from flowing too freely would have been much more efficient.

“Will he die?” Wen Yuan asked weakly, not daring to do more than glance at his cousin, while Jin Ling took his hand to comfort him. “Bofu, you can save him, can’t you?”

Lan Xichen felt less than certain, but assured his nephew that he would do everything in his power to save Lan Jingyi. In the meanwhile, he asked Jin Ling and Wen Yuan to see if they could find either Wei Wuxian or Jiang Cheng to warn them of what had happened. When the boys had left, he tasked Ouyang Zizhen and the two Jiang disciples with checking if there were any more fierce corpses nearby, giving them strict orders not to provoke them if they found any, but to return and warn him if they came close.

With everyone thus dispatched, save for Nie Huaisang who was still pressing blood stained silk to Lan Jingyi’s throat, Lan Xichen could turn his full attention to his cousin. While it puzzled him why Nie Huaisang still wouldn’t use spiritual energy to help the boy, Lan Xichen made no remarks, assuming there had to be a good reason for it. As for himself, he couldn’t see any reasons why he shouldn’t do it, and thus took the boy’s hand and proceeded to let his energy slowly trinkle into him to stabilise him.

Before very, long Lan Xichen felt another flow of spiritual energy go into Lan Jingyi beside his own, just as a hand damp from blood covered his, offering some comfort and support. Lan Xichen startled, not just because of that unexpected touch, but because of the energy he now felt flowing alongside his.

It was obvious from the first moment that Nie Huaisang’s spiritual energy was not as strong as that of a regular cultivator, just as had been the case in his youth. Lan Xichen looked up from the wound and toward Nie Huaisang’s face, only to find him staring right back at him. In an instant, Lan Xichen realised two things.

First, that Nie Huaisang, always a weak cultivator, who had despaired so much of his inability to form a golden core at the appropriate age, who even as a boy had tried to hide what he considered an embarrassing secret, who pretended among his peers that his core had merely been late to form and told the truth only to Lan Xichen so there would be no lies between them, had a cultivation so weak as to make it a possibility that he still didn’t have a golden core, and a certainty it was a particularly frail one if he had formed it.

Secondly, Lan Xichen realised that Nie Huaisang still trusted him with this fact.

Had the situation not been so dire, had he not been so worried for his young cousin, Lan Xichen’s mind would have jumped to a thousand conclusions. Even like this, his heart was racing between his ribs from more than mere fear, and a hope he had tried to keep buried all day started burning anew, brighter than it had ever done before.

No words passed between them. No words could have sufficed. But until help arrived, Lan Xichen felt that hand on his, and the warmth of that trust, both keeping him grounded as they worked together to keep Lan Jingyi alive.

#xisang #nie huaisang #lan xichen #mo dao zu shi #mdzs #persuasion au #feeling better today so I managed to edit this after all yay #jau writes

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neuxue · 3 years

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The Untamed Liveblog: Episode 46 – When You Take A Secret To Your Grave But The Grave Has Other Ideas

Yeah. It’s this one.

1. Who needs evidence when you can use confirmation bias instead

How easily they turn on Jin Guangyao, now.

I don’t really have much else to say on this particular development, really, other than poor Qin Su. That’s a hell of a thing to have dropped on her like that, and to know that Jin Guangyao knew and didn’t tell her. I do wonder why Jin Guangyao… allowed them to conceive a son in the first place if he was so sure that son had to die, though.

(I mean unless we want to go really fucking dark here and speculate that he was playing a very long game? Knowing that any child of his would have to die, but that he could use the circumstances of such a death to his advantage… which feels like a bit of a stretch? I mean I’d read that fic, but.)

And now we’re taking the statements of Sisi and Bicao, and weaving into them all the rest of the rumours, and speculation—once a target it chosen, it is so very easy to choose the things that will further stain them.

Which Wei Wuxian cannot help but notice; he’s watched firsthand as it happened before, after all.

Wei Wuxian: “Now we have the witness, but where is the evidence?” Sect Leader Yao: “We will find out sooner or later since we already know the truth.”

Okay first of all no, that’s not how this is supposed to work, please shut the fuck up.

But oh, what a loaded exchange. They chose their truths and their evidence to fit their chosen narrative about him once, too.

“Jin Guangyao used Chifeng-zun and Zewu-jun to climb the ladder. Otherwise, as the son of a whore, how could he achieve the position he holds today?”

How easily a target is made. How easily opinion turns, especially when it is against someone already in some way considered an outsider. Because even now, even holding the highest seat available to him, even commanding the power and authority he does… they fall so easily back on this, on seeing him as no more than his background.

(He hated when people called him that, tried so hard to find a place of security for himself in this society determined to reject him, and yet because of something beyond even his ability to control or manipulate, that security would always be fragile).

And it’s happened over and over—Wei Wuxian was the first disciple of a great clan, and very much treated as having that status (even if many found him infuriating)… right up until they needed a target; and then he was the son of a servant, the rumours of his parentage brought back into play because it made him even more convenient. It wasn’t the main mark against him, but it made it easier.

And Su She—a clan leader, until they need to turn on him as well, and so instead he becomes the disciple who was cast out of Gusu Lan. Jin Guangyao, son of Jin Guangshan when that was convenient and xiandu these last years, but when they turn on him he is once again the son of a prostitute. Even Xue Yang had the protection of Lanling Jin, right up until he didn’t.

It’s not the same with each of them; there are differences in status and the degree to which their backgrounds matter, against the various other marks against their names, but it is a pattern. It is easy to turn on someone when they’re somehow set apart. And easy to find ways to set them apart, once you turn on them.

Now they’re dragging Jin Guangshan’s other sons into it, and Xue Yang, and the Yin Tiger Seal, and it really is just… an echo, only slightly distorted through time, of the accusations they cast on Wei Wuxian.

We keep seeing Jiang Cheng and Jin Ling and, in contrast to so many of the others gathered, they look… well. Jin Ling looks like he desperately needs something in his life to not fall apart, and also a hug. Jiang Cheng looks… troubled. And how could he not? He’s worked alongside Jin Guangyao for years, and they have Jin Ling in common, and Jiang Cheng will do anything to protect Jin Ling and so to hear these things said about Jin Ling’s other uncle, his only other family…

(Not to mention, Jiang Cheng is too good at politics not to wonder some of the same things Wei Wuxian has: why now. And is also too clever not to hear the similarity to the accusations once made against Wei Wuxian, especially when the other Jin sons are mentioned, and wonder… what actually happened. I don’t think it’s the first time he’s wondered that; I think there are many rumours about Wei Wuxian he never believed, but hearing them dragged out like this…)

And Wei Wuxian’s thoughts, about how easily they have turned Jin Guangyao into their enemy, their target… the similarities are not missed on him.

Really? Really? Now you ask him for help? When they need his power, he is their ally. When they do not… then he can’t be trusted with it, because it’s too much power for any one person to hold. Literally hours ago they were calling for his death. Now they call for his aid, without a hint of apology, or thanks for saving them just earlier that day with a target drawn on himself in his own blood.

Wei Wuxian decides that’s his cue to leave, which. Fair.

2. How much emotional devastation can you fit into 15 minutes

Oh. Wei Wuxian looking at their family shrine, trying to say it’s nothing, but not doing very well at pretending.

It calls to mind the end of episode 20, after his return from the Burial Mounds, when he knelt there with Jiang Cheng before their parents’ tablets and whispered to them “you asked me to protect them. I did.”

And more recently, the memory of Jiang Cheng in that room in Qinghe, telling him to kneel before them and explain his failures.

And he would, he wants to, but he also doesn’t feel like he has the right to anymore, and.

(Did anyone light incense for him?)

Oh. Lan Wangji goes with him. The two of them bowing side by side is. A lot.

Wei Wuxian: “Between me and Jiang Cheng, the estrangement is so great; it’s not that easy to solve”

First of all, this just hurts, to see these two who love each other not know how to take that first step, because each believes the other doesn’t want it. (I mean, also because it’s messy and complicated and there’s a lot between them, but that feels so much like the heart of it).

And second of all… of course this is when Jiang Cheng walks up. Of course this is the part he hears.

(Jiang Yanli please, I’m sorry to disturb your rest, but I need you to just come back for a hot second to sit on your idiot brothers until they figure this out)

Jiang Cheng: “Wei Wuxian! You still really don’t think yourself an outsider, coming and going as you please.”

Oh this.

This is going to hurt, isn’t it?

Even this opening salvo is… it’s vicious, and it cuts straight to the heart of so much that lies between them, but the thing about this is, it feels like Jiang Cheng is wielding a sword by the blade here; this is going to hurt him as well, but he can’t stop himself.

Because it’s both about this and not about this at all. It’s about too many conflicting feelings that manifest as anger; it’s about both loving and hating (or wanting to hate) the person before him; it’s about Wei Wuxian not coming home, but then when he does come home he acts like a stranger and that’s intolerable, but then he acts like he’s not a stranger and that’s intolerable too…

And then!

And then Wei Wuxian just offers a quiet, calm explanation, and…

Wei Wuxian: “we’re leaving now.”

And wait, no, that’s not what Jiang Cheng wants either! Because that just… feels even more like Wei Wuxian no longer cares about him. Like he can just walk in here and then walk away, can leave this all behind. This place that Jiang Cheng is bound to by ties of family and duty and pain; he cannot leave, cannot escape the ghosts, and now he watches as Wei Wuxian, one of those ghosts, appears to be so free from those ties, and so Jiang Cheng just feels even more alone, even more left behind, watching everyone else move on while he can’t…

Jiang Cheng: “You really should kneel to them.”

So now it’s no longer ‘get out’, it’s ‘stay and pay your respects’ and yes! This absolutely sounds unfair! But the thing is, none of this is rational.

Part of Jiang Cheng’s tragedy is that… he so fears being left by those he loves, but his reflex is also to push them away. (Again, I’m brought back to that first scene of the two of them as children, Jiang Cheng shouting at Wei Wuxian to go away, but he never actually wanted him to leave).

Some of it is maybe the whole ‘it hurts less if you’re the one to push them away, right???’ but I also think, without being able to articulate it to himself, what Jiang Cheng wants is for someone to want to stay enough to fight for it. He wants to say go away and have someone say no, I’m staying with you. He wants to be wanted, wants to matter enough to someone that he can’t push them away; he doesn’t want it to be so easy to always leave him behind.

And that. Hurts.

So what he wants here, I think, is a fight. Because that’s how he and Wei Wuxian are, and also because it hurts to see Wei Wuxian treat this place (treat Jiang Cheng) like something he can wander in and out of, like it’s easy to leave behind, like it doesn’t really mean anything to him.

But from Wei Wuxian’s side… well. This is the tragedy of the both of them: the things they internalised about themselves interact in the most destructive way possible without either of them quite understanding or intending it.

Jiang Cheng fears being left behind and watches it keep happening, and wants someone to want to stay. And Wei Wuxian… fears being a burden and sees his life as a debt, to be repaid by tearing away pieces of himself or leaving when he thinks he is a source of pain.

Jiang Cheng pushes, which Wei Wuxian reads as you are causing him pain, you should go. And so Wei Wuxian withdraws (or defects), because yep, that checks out, he’s a burden and an imposition so he should just go because that’ll be better for everyone! Problem solved! And so then for Jiang Cheng, yep, that checks out, no one will ever stay because he’s easy to leave behind because he’s not enough, never enough. So then he pushes again, so then Wei Wuxian leaves, so then—

They’re each trying to solve the problem, but it’s not working because neither realises…exactly what the problem is, from where the other is standing. some of it is not truly understanding how the other sees them or cares about them, but some of it is also each not quite understanding how the other sees himself, and so not knowing how to mitigate that.

(Jiang Yanli could, once, but she’s not here, and so there’s no one to stop this… spiral between them).

So Jiang Cheng keeps pushing and Wei Wuxian keeps turning away and Lan Wangji is trying to help but really isn’t because his presence is just… another instance, to Jiang Cheng, of Wei Wuxian always choosing other people over him.

Wei Wuxian: “Jiang Cheng, scold me as you like, but not others.” Jiang Cheng: “Wei Wuxian […] need I remind you? It’s because you wanted to be the hero, to save Lan er-gongzi, that all of Lotus Pier and my parents died!”

Oh, this hurts. Because… this conversation is a fight—or an attempt at one—and Wei Wuxian keeps evading, and so Jiang Cheng keeps pushing, as if to say look at me!, and it keeps circling, from the catalyst that wasn’t really what all of this was about, inward towards these deeper hurts that lie closer to the centre.

Because this… here, Wei Wuxian is refusing to fight Jiang Cheng (as Jiang Cheng so clearly seems to want him to) on his own behalf, but he’ll fight for others. And for Jiang Cheng that’s the point at which this just snaps, because he has watched Wei Wuxian do so again and again, throwing himself on the sword for anyone, everyone… except him, except his family, from Jiang Cheng’s perspective. And so this is just… it’s why do you choose them over me? And also just…Why did you have to do this, why do you keep doing this, why can’t you stay, you promised—

(Why is caring about you not enough to keep you safe?)

But again, because of who they are and how they see themselves, this plays to Wei Wuxian as yes, it is all your fault just as you fear, and so you owe anything and everything you have to give; you have no right to fight back, just stand and take the blow.

And then Jiang Cheng, still pushing, still looking for a way to get a reaction, to get Wei Wuxian to look at him, damn it, to get him to fight rather than just leave, turns his accusation against Wei Wuxian bringing Lan Wangji and Wen Ning here, which, again, why do you choose them? What are they to you, that I could not be? Why do you keep leaving me behind? Why will you fight for them but you won’t even face me?

(I mean also yes! Seeing them feels like a reminder of everything that went wrong, and while they may not be the actual cause, it’s again not entirely rational and Jiang Cheng seeing them here, in his home that was destroyed, is hard).

Wei Wuxian: “Jiang Wanyin!”

Oh.

Wei Wuxian using Jiang Cheng’s courtesy name, the only time we’ve seen him do so…

And that lands like a blow, not unlike Wei Wuxian’s deliberate use of Lan Wangji’s title and courtesy name in episode 20; it’s a distancing. It’s everything Jiang Cheng feared: that Wei Wuxian has left him behind, is no longer his brother, no longer wants to be, will choose Lan Wangji or Wen Ning or anyone else over him. (Of course he left you, Jiang Wanyin; everyone always does).

It’s even worse because it’s the first time in this fight that Wei Wuxian has metaphorically raised his sword to block, to meet a blow directly, to engage, rather than to dodge or step back or refuse… and it’s to defend someone else. It’s the same pattern Jiang Cheng keeps seeing and cannot stand.

Jiang Cheng: “Let’s fight then!”

This is what he wants! This is the whole point! Everything he’s said has been to try to get Wei Wuxian to fight back, so that they can clear the air between them as they used to, because he doesn’t know another way; they keep dancing around each other and it’s intolerable so maybe if they can just fight, if they can throw words and fists at one another and get it all out in the open, then they can… I don’t think he’s got much of a plan beyond that, because again this isn’t exactly rational, but Jiang Cheng has never been good at actually articulating his feelings and Wei Wuxian doesn’t answer questions and so this is the only way he knows to actually reach him, only it’s not working—

And for a moment it seems like it will, as Wei Wuxian grabs Jiang Cheng’s collar and Jiang Cheng says “let’s fight then”… but then once again Wei Wuxian just steps away. And so none of the tension between them can go anywhere and Wei Wuxian is walking away again.

So Jiang Cheng follows. And that moment before he moves, when you see him just… furious but mostly he looks lost. Because Wei Wuxian’s walking away and there’s still no resolution or release and everything still just hurts and nothing worked to get Wei Wuxian to engage.

Jiang Cheng: “Aren’t you ready for a fight? Let’s do it!”

And he doesn’t understand why Wei Wuxian won’t, and it feels so much like that moment in episode 24 when he pushed Wei Wuxian down and Wei Wuxian fell, and Jiang Cheng stood there lost and Wei Wuxian only said “I’m tired. We can fight tomorrow.”

Now, as then, it’s a kind of… aloud, it’s ‘why won’t you fight’ but the question is more why won’t you let us resolve this? And yes okay maybe it is not a ‘healthy way to resolve conflict’ but it’s what they know. It’s a familiar pattern and Wei Wuxian isn’t following it and so Jiang Cheng reads it as rejection and doesn’t understand why, unless it’s that Wei Wuxian doesn’t care enough to try, that Jiang Cheng doesn’t matter enough anymore to be worth fighting and clearing the air with, that Wei Wuxian doesn’t want to move past any of this.

And Lan Wangji being there and trying to hold Jiang Cheng back makes it worse, because… well. Any number of reasons, beginning with ‘they hate each other’, but I think there’s a sense of… why are you defending him now? You let him fall before, just as I did; what gives you the right? (Why wasn’t it enough, then, to keep him safe?)

Lan Wangji: “Let him go.”

Oh, and isn’t that a bitter echo.

(Especially as the music that plays softly over those words is the same as when Wei Wuxian said them on that cliffside)

And then just… Wei Wuxian’s face, as he looks at Jiang Cheng and cannot answer, as blood drips from his nose because this is why he can’t fight, and the song of his fall is playing over the entire thing and Jiang Cheng doesn’t know, doesn’t understand.

And now Wei Wuxian is leaving again, turning away, and Jiang Cheng doesn’t know what to do, doesn’t understand what’s happening, doesn’t understand why, and his strike with Zidian is, I think, far more desperation than cruelty. Because none of this makes sense and all of it hurts and he’s about to lose Wei Wuxian again and Wei Wuxian is hurt again and he can’t watch this all happen again and doesn’t know how else to stop it.

(This time, when Wei Wuxian falls to this music, Lan Wangji catches him)

That, too, I think hurts Jiang Cheng to watch. That Lan Wangji is there to catch him, and he is not. That Lan Wangji can, and he cannot. Jiang Cheng’s angry at so many things in this scene, and I don’t think he spares himself from some of that anger. Because now… the soundtrack helps the parallel, and once again it’s Lan Wangji holding on to Wei Wuxian, while Jiang Cheng strikes. And now as then, now perhaps more than then, he doesn’t strike to kill, but I think there’s this sense of… why does it always end like this? Why am I cast in this role, while another holds him and I cannot? Wanting to lash out but wanting, too, to hold on. (Telling Wei Wuxian to go, but not ever wanting him to leave).

Just… everyone in this scene is hurting, and I love it for how messy it is, for how it’s a little bit everyone’s fault and a little bit no one’s fault, for how so much of it is just… spirals, with all their sharp edges catching in all the wrong ways, and they’re all hurting themselves as much as each other, and none of them want to but they don’t know how not to.

Now Wen Ning’s here, which makes it worse because a) Jiang Cheng cannot stand seeing him and b) now it’s two people defending Wei Wuxian while Jiang Cheng is positioned against him, and I absolutely think there’s a part of Jiang Cheng that hates this, that’s just screaming why? I didn’t want this either!, this push-pull of not being able to reach out and so instead only being able to lash out, but hating himself for it even as he does it, but not knowing how not to.

Oh.

OH.

Wen Ning. Without a word, with nothing but determination on his face, holding out Suibian.

Because…

Because so much of this scene up until now was about not understanding.

And this… is the answer.

Wen Ning falling and just pushing himself to his feet again, holding out Suibian again… this is the debt he feels he owes. No longer to keep the secret, but to reveal it. His loyalty here is to break a promise, which I love because so much of Wen Ning’s story is about… loyalty, yes, but also the question of choice.

Wen Ning is not a weapon, Wen Ning is not a thing; Wen Ning is holding out a weapon, making a choice and a demand. Wen Ning is loyal, and Wen Ning will do anything for Wei Wuxian, but that doesn’t mean simply doing what he is told. It doesn’t mean standing outside Lotus Pier or offering a trembling apology; Wen Ning is gentle and Wen Ning is able to take down an army, and now we see the balance between those as he chooses something of both, accepts both as a part of him. Now, the loyalty he chooses means standing defiant against Jiang Cheng, and holding out a sword and a secret, and saying “draw it.”

And Jiang Cheng does.

(As the music of Wei Wuxian’s fall reaches its crescendo)

And he looks at the blade he holds, and just breaks. He doesn’t—he can’t let himself understand what this means, because even approaching the edge of that feels like his entire world rewriting itself before his eyes, so all he can ask in a voice now devoid of anger or anything but shock, “it unsealed itself?” and I think on some level he already knows the answer.

(Lan Wangji’s face, as well, is just… the beginning of a horrified understanding).

There is no tremor in Wen Ning’s voice as he explains.

Wen Ning: “Because the golden core that now fuels the spiritual energy within your body… is his.”

That sound you heard was Jiang Cheng’s world shattering.

And we don’t even see the immediate response to that; we cut directly to this brief flashback, to that mountain where Jiang Cheng walked blindfolded, to Wen Ning holding him and Wen Qing standing beside them… and Wei Wuxian approaching.

This is Jiang Cheng’s reaction, this stunned rewriting of everything he thought he knew.

The fact that it’s all set to this music, to the music of that cliffside that all this ultimately led to, is. Beautiful and heartbreaking and perfect.

And now, as the music ends, we finally see Jiang Cheng’s face, and he’s just… devastated, and lost, eyes full of tears as he’s frozen in this space between not understanding anything and understanding far too much of everything.

And Lan Wangji, too, because he didn’t know either—all those times he argued with Wei Wuxian, or questioned him…

Oh Jiang Cheng. This is breaking him.

(The very thing that once healed him)

Lan Wangji, crying for the first time we have seen since Qiongqi Path, as he holds Wei Wuxian in his arms and begins to understand…

And Wen Ning, still resolute, determined to make the truth known because… among many reasons, because so much of this post-flashback sequence for Wei Wuxian is about precisely this: those who love him choosing to protect him, or stand beside him, even when he tries to push them away. It’s Lan Wangji walking back to his side on the steps of Jinlintai. And it’s Wen Ning deciding that no, the price of this secret is too high.

It’s Wei Wuxian still willing to throw himself on the sword for those he loves, but those he loves saying no, not this time, not alone.

(And then there is Jiang Cheng, who did not know, who doesn’t get to choose here, who just has to stand and endure this rewriting of who he is)

So much of the whole story comes back to this: to sacrifice and self-sacrifice, but also to the question of choice, and cost, and consequence. The way a sacrifice like this can be both gift and devastation, kindness and catastrophe. The way it can heal one wound but also cause another. The way someone like Wei Wuxian can choose to give and give and give, but it hurts those he loves to see him bleed. The way it’s not just an elegant solution in a vacuum, but something that pulls at all these ties that bind, something that has those consequences, a knife that cuts both ways.

And then there’s the question of choice, and whether that lies with the one who chooses to sacrifice or the one who must accept or reject it, and what to do when those choices reach an irreconcilable crossroads.

Which then intersects again with the issue of cost, and who is hurt, because it’s never as simple an equation as it seems; there will be a cost not just to the one who makes the sacrifice but also to the ones who care about them, who hurt to see them bleed. This is the part Wei Wuxian never considers, because he never understood that it could hurt anyone but him, never understood that he was anything beyond fuel for the fire that would keep everyone around him warm.

But we see it over and over, in so many variations: Wei Wuxian willing to give everything he had to save the Wens, but Wen Qing and Wen Ning equally willing to die when it seemed untenable, and Wen Qing immobilising Wei Wuxian to make that choice. Wei Wuxian willing to die for his sister, but Jiang Yanli making the split-second choice to push him out of the way and take the sword herself. Wei Wuxian determined to face the swords on those steps alone, but Lan Wangji refusing to leave his side. Xiao Xingchen’s eyes and Mo Xuanyu’s existence and Wei Wuxian’s golden core and and and.

Who is hurt, and who gets to choose, and what is wrong and what is right and—

And I love that it’s left to be messy like this, because isn’t that the point? That it’s not as simple as right and wrong, black and white, kindness and resentment? Because sometimes there isn’t a clear answer or a painless solution. There’s just… intentions and choices and consequences.

I also love the way this also plays into the way a character’s greatest virtue can also be their greatest flaw. And the way it’s another of these situations where everything hurts, for pretty much everyone in this scene, not because of clear lines of right and wrong or fault and innocence but because of the way those virtues and flaws intersect, because it’s complicated.

(I also love that Wei Wuxian is unconscious for all of this, because it’s a kind of… he has made his choices, and now others make theirs, and again there aren’t really clear answers, just consequences)

Wen Ning: “Why do you think he never carried his sword again?”

And Lan Wangji and Jiang Cheng are both without a doubt replaying so very many things in memory, in this new light, as so many things fall into an awful kind of sense but in so many ways that only hurts more, to know this now and to never have known. To look at all the things they did or said unknowing, all the assumptions they made incorrectly, and to hate that but at the same time they didn’t know; it wasn’t their fault but that doesn’t make it hurt any less, and there’s no doubt that self-blame in retrospect, that feeling that they should have known, should have realised.

(It’s also not entirely unlike Wei Wuxian learning Lan Wangji’s story from Lan Xichen, that moment of realising that so many things he thought he knew were wrong, or incomplete, or off-centre. Which. I love that both of them have this moment of probably looking back on the exact same conversations, and seeing the things they assumed or read wrong, and hating that they didn’t understand, but how could they have, but—)

This all just hurts a whole hell of a lot.

Oh! Oh we’re actually getting those flashbacks—

As Jiang Cheng remembers all these conversations, all these moments he questioned Wei Wuxian. The moment he pushed him and Wei Wuxian fell—the moment Jiang Cheng, now, no doubt hates himself for not realising, but at the time how could he have? From the outside, or in hindsight it seems obvious but it was so unthinkable.

How many other memories, that we don’t even see? Sunshot, where Wei Wuxian walked out of meetings and would not carry his sword and laughed at accusations of arrogance, where Wei Wuxian stood on a battlefield armed with nothing but a flute and a lie. Baifeng Mountain, when he won the hunt for Jiang Cheng but would not stay at his side, where he faced Jin Guangshan’s calls for him to hand over the thing they all saw as too powerful but was all he had. And—the Burial Mounds, where they fought and Jiang Cheng stabbed him, a wound that would that should have been nothing but wasn’t. Nightless City, where he stood on a rooftop and bled black smoke from yet another wound and faced down a world still clamouring for his power when all that was left inside of him was emptiness and ghosts—

All the times Jiang Cheng told him he was doing nothing to help rebuild, or that the deaths and destruction were his fault, or that he broke his promises; all the times Jiang Cheng watched Wei Wuxian appear to choose others over him, and again he kind of did, but he also did this…

It’s such an unbearable shift in his understanding of everything they were to one another, everything they are to one another, and Wei Wuxian never told him, and he never wanted this—

And the fact that he took this secret to the grave, and then continued to keep it even after that (even when Jiang Cheng cornered him in Qinghe, shouted at him that he had broken his promise, that a thousand deaths wouldn’t be enough, even then, Wei Wuxian said nothing, and now Jiang Cheng knows he could at any point have wielded this secret like a weapon but he never did, no matter what anyone said to him, no matter what Jiang Cheng said to him; this was never a debt he expected repaid, only one he felt he owed, and so he kept his silence) only makes it hurt more. This realisation that he was never going to tell Jiang Cheng. That he was going to give Jiang Cheng this vital part of him but let him believe he had left him.

Wei Wuxian made the choice he believed would spare them all from the pain, to take it on himself instead but it just caused different pain, because again it comes back to one of Wei Wuxian’s greatest blind spots, which is that letting himself be hurt isn’t a perfect solution, and that it does hurt those he loves, and… and what is right and what is wrong? What is black and what is white?

And now, the full story told and Lan Wangji and Jiang Cheng both silent in their devastated new understanding of everything, the music changes to that same song of loss, the one that played over the departure from Lotus Pier and their grief in the field at its destruction. Because once again Jiang Cheng is left standing in the wreckage of his world, of everything he thought he knew.

This time, when Lan Wangji carries Wei Wuxian away, Jiang Cheng doesn’t move.

This time he is left behind again, but now he knows his brother left him with a literal piece of himself; Jiang Cheng, who always watched as Wei Wuxian seemed to choose others over him now stands there knowing that Wei Wuxian’s greatest sacrifice was for him… but that doesn’t actually make it hurt any less. It may only make it hurt more. Which is, again, kind of the point.

It’s your brother loves you, and always has… but in the absolute most painful way possible.

An extraordinary kindness, that also causes extraordinary pain.

3. More emotional devastation but this time in softer lighting

I’m not sure how I’m supposed to process anything else after that, a bit like how episode 39 kept going after the Yi City arc ended, but. Deep breaths, okay, let’s go.

This is a beautiful opening shot to this scene, with Lan Wangji holding Wei Wuxian in this boat surrounded by lotuses.

It’s also, honestly, kind of hilarious that Wen Ning is just. Sitting in this boat, third-wheeling like a goddamn pro. Or maybe it’s just that the last scene broke me and now I’ve tipped over into that point where everything is vaguely tinged with hysteria.

But now his manner and voice are almost timid again, as it’s his turn to ask this secret to be kept, and I love this quiet thread in his story of finding this balance between these different aspects of himself; the capacity for gentleness and violence, kindness and something not unlike cruelty (particularly in his parting words to Jiang Cheng, which, that hurt, but from Wen Ning’s side… how long has he had to stand by and not speak, how long has he been wielded as a weapon but unable to choose who to hurt)

Wen Ning: “Thank you for speaking for us in Jinlintai back then. I’ve always remembered it. Thank you. And thank you all the more for taking care of A-Yuan for so many years.”

Wen Ning may be done with determined defiance but he’s apparently not done with breaking whatever is left of my heart. This is just so achingly lovely.

Oh he—Lan Wangji went to the Burial Mounds first, to look for Wei Wuxian. That’s. That’s why he turned up late (too late) at Nightless City. That’s why he said things had changed, I’m—

He went to the Burial Mounds! Everyone else went to Nightless City but he went to find Wei Wuxian, and Wei Wuxian never knew because he had already left; Lan Wangji came back, when Wei Wuxian had quietly accepted that he probably never would, but he was too late…

Except he wasn’t, because A-Yuan was there. Wei Wuxian thought he had nothing left to lose, thought he had lost everything, but Lan Wangji came back and A-Yuan was still there, but Wei Wuxian didn’t know and Jiang Yanli called out from the battlefield just before Lan Wangji could explain and it’s all these… what-ifs, these questions of moments.

(“Will rich-gege come back?” “Probably not” just. help me.)

Wen Ning: “He kept talking about you. Before that, he talked about Wei-gongzi. But never about me.”

I can’t HANDLE THIS, Wen NING—

This is devastating, and he says it so quietly, so sadly but he just accepts it. Says Sizhui seems so happy, and this would only make him sad… and this, right after revealing to Jiang Cheng a secret that held the power to do the same. But now, he’s the one to self-sacrifice rather than reveal.

And so we come back to the golden core reveal, and Lan Wangji—Lan Wangji just looks down at Wei Wuxian, lying in his arms, and asks “was it painful?”

(Yes, goddamn it, because everything about this whole episode is painful—)

Wei Wuxian was CONSCIOUS FOR THAT?!?!

That’s.

I’m.

Fuck.

And Lan Wangji’s voice shaking as he repeats it.

(It’s not unlike, again, Wei Wuxian finding out about the cause of his scars, and the three years)

Just. Wei Wuxian went through that, and then was thrown into the Burial Mounds, and dragged himself out and fought a war and no one ever knew.

They thought it arrogance, they turned on him, and all through it he laughed, deflected, accepted it, and all the time there was this beneath it and.

(This is, though, always one of my favourite moments in a story that involves this kind of hidden pain: the moment when the truth of it and the extent of it is revealed, even though the one who experienced it tries to keep it secret. There’s such a sense of catharsis—and yes, okay, wish-fulfilment—in watching that play out, in the idea of… not having to reveal it, but having it revealed nonetheless, having it seen, understood, acknowledged. And not just the pain but the endurance, the things they did anyway, when they couldn’t let anyone know, and having that recognised. That moment when another character is devastated by it and so there’s a sense almost of… not validation, exactly, but I’m struggling to think of a better word so we’ll go with that for now.)

Now it’s Lan Wangji’s turn to remember something with wholly new context, and of course it’s that reunion in episode 20, asking Wei Wuxian why he gave up the sword, pushing him to answer, and now the answer lies in his arms and in Wen Ning’s words. Now he knows the pain and emptiness Wei Wuxian felt in that conversation and never let show, and it’s. Everything! About this! Is devastating!

(Part of it, too, is… Lan Wangji asking what the chances were, and Wen Ning answering, and Lan Wangji realising just how much earlier than he ever thought or knew, Wei Wuxian looked at that cliff and let himself fall. Realising that Nightless City was only the end of something begun so long ago; that he wasn’t too late by moments but by years, and that perhaps there was nothing he could have done. Realising just how willing Wei Wuxian was to fall; how Nightless City was just… gravity catching up.)

Surely Wei Wuxian waking up means we’re done with the worst of the pain?? Right???????

Wei Wuxian: “Lan Zhan, you should forget what Jiang Cheng said. He’s been like that since we were children.”

And Wei Wuxian understands this! He understands that Jiang Cheng says hurtful things in anger but doesn’t always mean them! And will forgive what Jiang Cheng says to him, and tells Lan Wangji to do the same… but still cannot quite make the connection to maybe that also means Jiang Cheng doesn’t hate him and want him to stay gone forever and sometimes I just want to shake these two brothers who love each other but don’t always realise they are loved.

Meanwhile Lan Wangji is just… with his entire understanding of the world-as-pertains-to-Wei-Wuxian recalibrating, watching Wei Wuxian yet again ignore any insult or harm to himself in favour of trying to comfort Lan Wangji.

Oh good yes let’s do memories of Jiang Yanli as well, I haven’t been hurt enough by this episode yet!

Followed by Wei Wuxian again deflecting when they ask what’s wrong— and all of that just looks different to Lan Wangji now. Not that he didn’t realise Wei Wuxian did this before, but. The extent of what he hides—

LAN WANGJI. HANDING HIM. A LOTUS POD.

First of all yes I absolutely see you and your parallels to Jin Zixuan handing a lotus to Jiang Yanli, I See What You Did There, it is extraordinarily unsubtle and for that I am grateful.

But also it’s just… it’s something he can do, something he can give him. He can’t say I know now what you went through or I’m sorry but he can listen to what Wei Wuxian does say, even if it’s just “I’m hungry” as a deflection, and give him this.

Date night plus Wen Ning interrupted by this butterfly message— Jin Guangyao is in Yunmeng and Lan Wangji hasn’t heard from Lan Xichen, so it’s time to get back in the game because they can’t even get one evening’s peace around here.

Wei Wuxian you literally collapsed like an hour ago, sit down.

(But he won’t, because there are people who need him. Because he sees something he can do, so he won’t hold back from doing it for something as simple as his own safety).

And now this episode realises it’s time for a moment of comic relief, apparently, and Wen Ning, who just laid waste to Jiang Cheng’s entire world with a few words, needing to be rescued from a football game is. Priceless.

Next (ep47) Previous (ep45)

#well that was. devastating.#the untamed #neuxue liveblogs the untamed #cql

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stiltonbasket · 3 years

Note

Hello!!! Do you think we could see some more of your qin su!wwx? Maybe some of his time before travelling around, stuck in koi tower? No stress if you dont want to!!

After his unexpected resurrection, Wei Wuxian spends the next several months adjusting to his new life at the Jinlintai. For once, no one is trying to imprison him, or curtail his daily activities; but he returned as Lianfang-zun’s wife, and every single thing he does reflects on Jin Guangyao’s reputation, and on Qin Cangye’s. Wei Wuxian had to learn how to walk like a high-class lady, and talk like a high-class lady, and host guests and events and dinners with all the grace and aplomb required of the Chief Cultivator’s spouse--and along with all that, he had to learn all the rules and particulars of being married to Jin Guangyao, and step into Qin Su’s place as Jin Ling’s shenshen.

Having the chance to raise A-Ling is both the sweetest and the most painful thing about being alive again, and when his nephew barged into his room after a fight with Jin Chan and put his head on Wei Wuxian’s knee (just like Wei Wuxian used to do with his Shijie, over fifteen years ago) he had nearly cried, because Jiang Yanli should have been doing this instead of him, and he’s the one who took her away from her son.

But Wei Wuxian is fully settled in his role as Madam Jin by midsummer, rising from his bed in the mornings with a handmaiden close at hand to remind him of his agenda for the day, and then carrying out all his duties to perfection until he retires for the evening.

No one expects Qin Su to do very much around this time of year, as Wei Wuxian soon discovers. Jin Rusong was murdered during a summer conference, and the real Qin Su devoted the month of his death-anniversary to doing good deeds among the poor to secure her son a good fate in his next life; so Wei Wuxian spends a few weeks going out to orphanages and rice kitchens in plain white robes instead of the golden gowns that fill Qin Su’s closets, and then he puts his predecessor’s escape plan into action.

Zewu-jun is one of my closest friends, Qin Su wrote, in the diary she left behind for him. He comes to burn incense for A-Song every other month, or every two months if his duties in Gusu and Qinghe keep him away. But no matter how busy he is, he will certainly come on the death anniversary, so you must act during his visit whilst my husband is elsewhere.

Oddly enough, Wei Wuxian hasn’t seen much of Lan Xichen over the past five months. He writes to Qin Su every few weeks, and Wei Wuxian had a nightmarish time of learning how to imitate her calligraphy in time to reply to him. But most of Lan Xichen’s meetings with Jin Guangyao take place in the Cloud Recesses or at the Unclean Realm, so Jin Rusong’s death anniversary is the first time Wei Wuxian gets to see the Lan sect leader in person.

“You brought gentians again,” Wei Wuxian says softly, his heart beating twice as fast as usual as he kneels down beside Lan Xichen at Jin Rusong’s little grave. “Thank you, Zewu-jun.”

“I would not forget,” Lan Xichen replies. “A-Song always loved to help you in your garden, and I...”

His voice fades away into silence, and for a while, the two of them just sit there together without speaking. Wei Wuxian lights three sticks of peony-scented incense by the grave, one for every year of A-Song’s short life, and then he lets two tiny tears roll down his cheeks.

Wei Wuxian’s eyes are smarting due to the smoke, but Lan Xichen doesn’t seem to realize it, and his own eyes widen with concern when he spots Wei Wuxian trying to dry his face with a handkerchief. “A-Su?”

“It is nothing,” he says shakily, turning away. “Nothing--nothing new, at least. You know an ache like this never heals.”

But Lan Xichen only shakes his head. “No,” he frowns. “A-Su, we have wept together for A-Song more often than I can recall, and these are new tears. What is troubling you?”

“It is a matter between husband and wife,” Wei Wuxian tells him, feeling thoroughly wretched at the thought of deceiving someone who so obviously loves poor Qin Su and simultaneously overjoyed at the prospect of leaving Koi Tower for good. “Forgive me, but I cannot burden anyone else with it.”

“I am your husband’s sworn brother,” Lan Xichen persists gently. “And he loves you so dearly, but if there has been some misunderstanding--”

“What misunderstanding can there be!” Wei Wuxian cries, properly bursting into tears this time. “When I am the mistress of the Jinlintai, and wed to a man who says he adores me, but refuses to touch me even to give me a second child to soothe my heart a little for the one I lost!”

Lan Xichen blinks, clearly bewildered. “Ah--” he says delicately, laying a hand on Wei Wuxian’s shoulder. “That--A-Su, I--I had thought that he refrained from, ah, marital relations out of fear for your health.”

Wei Wuxian glares at him. “Is there anything wrong with me?” he demands. “Did I not bear him a good, sound son, and recover well from his birth? And would you not have sensed sickness in me if it were present, and offered to heal it?”

“I would have,” Lan Xichen admits. “Have you spoken to him about the matter? I know he is afraid for you, but if a healer were to give him sound assurance...if I could vouch for your health, then--”

“No, I have my own healers,” Wei Wuxian says quickly. “But if you could just speak to A-Yao, and tell him how much it would mean to me...”

Lan Xichen agrees at once, both too close in Jin Guangyao’s confidence and too experienced as a doctor to be embarrassed about making such a promise, and then Wei Wuxian goes off to his own quarters and takes a long, relaxing bath with a maidservant in attendance to wash his hair with scented water and rub sweet oil all over his arms and shoulders.

After that, the young girl helps him don his jewelry and smooth on a light layer of make-up, and dresses him in a loose, alluring pink robe before leaving him to wait for Jin Guangyao alone.

If you attempt to seduce him, he will find the first excuse he can to keep away from you, Qin Su had written. There is nothing that frightens him more than the thought of my true parentage coming to light, and once you have made your move, he will not stop you from leaving Lanling.

And indeed, when Jin Guangyao comes to their bedchamber after dining with Lan Xichen, he takes one look at Wei Wuxian’s loose hair and gown and blanches so badly that his cheeks turn whiter than salt.

In the end, he passes the night in his study, and lets Wei Wuxian leave for Laoling less than twelve hours later.

#wangxian #mo dao zu shi #the untamed #qin su #lan xichen #my fic #qin su!wwx

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difeisheng · 3 years

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Top 5 Jiang Cheng & Jin Ling moments (or Jin Ling & any other uncle you want to mix in there)

Alright, so these are some of my top moments, but I don't dare to put them in any particular order because I can't decide.

- When Jiang Cheng shows up on Dafan Mountain, and Wei Wuxian has his 'oh shit' moment. Jin Ling is in peak Rich Spoiled Brat mode here, and Jiang Cheng is disappointed in him but he's also so protective like 'Who do I need to beat up for you?'. They're so ride-or-die for each other, and I'm not counting this as a full moment but when Jin Ling tells Wei Wuxian that Jiang Cheng has never hit him, he's jumped up in defense of his Jiujiu and ugh I love them.

- When Jin Ling has his well-deserved breakdown on the dock and Jiang Cheng asks 'Who made you cry?' No 'stop crying', no 'be a man', no 'we're in public and this is unacceptable', all of which would be typical things to say in that situation. He just lets Jin Ling cry and then tries to find out what he can do to fix it (in his Jiang Cheng way, of course, which usually doesn't always make things better, but he's got the spirit). I think this is where it sort of shows that Jiang Cheng tried not to parent Jin Ling the way his own did for him? He obviously did not get it perfect, but he made his best effort.

- When Jin Ling shows up to rescue Wei Wuxian from Jiang Cheng and bullshits his way into getting Jiang Cheng to leave. One thing I find really refreshing about these two is that for people of their respective positions, they should be very formal and polite, but Jin Ling and Jiang Cheng treat each other with a large sense of irreverence most of the time. They're out here having arguments in front of esteemed cultivators and sniping at each other in public, and they seem to be completely used to it. It's just their thing now.

- Jin Ling being able to wield Zidian. This is more indirect, but despite all of *gestures at Jin Ling's entire personality* Jiang Cheng has enough trust in him to allow him access to his spiritual weapon. I think it's also sort of poetic, because if not for her apparently poor health, I think as the eldest child Jiang Yanli should have been the one to inherit Zidian. For her son to be one of its wielders kind of completes the cycle for me.

- The 'take care' scene outside of Guanyin Temple, when Jin Ling goes and bugs Jiang Cheng about what he was going to say to Wei Wuxian. Jiang Cheng is a fool if he doesn't think Jin Ling can read him like a goddamn book, after growing up beside the man. Here's where I think Yanli's side of Jin Ling starts to shine through, the emotionally perceptive side, and post-canon I strongly believe Jin Ling had an instrumental part in the Yunmeng brothers' reconciliation.

Okay! I need to stop writing small essays for answers, but I am always down to scream about Jiang Cheng and Jin Ling. Thank you for the ask!

#mdzs #cql #jin ling #jiang cheng #jin ling and his jiujiu #ask game #ashton answers #pocket-emilu

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robininthelabyrinth · 3 years

Note

I'd like to see more of the Jiang Cheng has spider venom fic. Mostly because I want to see him bite someone else. How about a Jin?

Normal For the Spider - Extra: 5 People Jiang Cheng Bit, Some of Whom Deserved It

ao3

1 – Wei Wuxian

“So I’ve been exchanging letters with shijie on account of the whole theoretically banished business,” Wei Wuxian said as they strolled down the Qiongqi Path together, Wen Ning behind them making shy stuttering friends with the handful of Jiang sect disciples Jiang Cheng had brought along with him – he’d deliberately picked the friendliest and most social of the lot, the ones that acted like overgrown puppies and wanted to adopt everyone they met, and sure enough they’d mobbed Wen Ning like a bunch of crows intent on raising the poor little sparrow they found into a proper bird. It was no more than Wen Ning deserved, in Jiang Cheng’s opinion. Someone needed to socialize him, and clearly neither his sister nor Wei Wuxian were doing crap about it.

“That’s nice,” Jiang Cheng said. “If by nice you mean extremely suspicious. What about in particular?”

“Your family inheritance.”

“Is this about the summer house we have near that mountain lake? I told you, it’s been deserted for years and may possibly be haunted by something resistant to the usual liberation techniques, but if you really want to go there, you’re of course allowed…”

“That’s not the inheritance I meant and you know it.”

Jiang Cheng rolled his eyes. He did know it. “What questions do you have now?” he asked. “More medical stuff from Wen Qing?”

She’d recovered from the venom very well and immediately started wanting to know everything. Recovered a little too well, in Jiang Cheng’s opinion.

“No, this one’s for me,” Wei Wuxian said. “We’re going to Lanling City in order to let Jin Ling bite me as a way to establish familial ties and let him ‘absorb’ good aspects from my personality, right?”

Jiang Cheng nodded.

“So in some cases, biting is an act of affection?”

Jiang Cheng nodded, a little more warily.

“Then how come you’ve never bitten me?”

“It’s only affectionate when you’re a baby,” Jiang Cheng said. “Once you grow into your childhood venom, it starts being dangerous, even to family; you don’t do affection-bites after that point. And when you’re an adult…well, you saw Wen Qing!”

“Eh, she’s fine now,” Wei Wuxian said cheerfully. “I feel like I missed out! It’s not fair, Jiang Cheng. I deserve a bite! I’m practically your brother! We share essential bodily organs!”

“Wei Wuxian! Don’t talk about that!”

“Bite me and I’ll stop.”

“I’m not biting you just to make you stop being annoying –”

2 – Jin Zixun

“What are you doing here?!” Jiang Cheng demanded. “This is an ambush! Is the Jin sect considering waging an act of war against the Jiang sect?”

Jin Zixun scowled at him. “Not against the Jiang sect,” he said haughtily. “Against the Yiling Patriarch.”

“He’s my head disciple!”

That got a confused sort of frown. “But you banished him…?”

“Rumor,” Jiang Cheng said, with dignity, the way they’d always planned. “Baseless rumor, that’s all.”

Rumor he’d never denied, and had instead implicitly encouraged so that people would leave his Jiang sect alone for a little while as he gathered up strength and resources to tell them to fuck off.

“But…” Jin Zixun hesitated. “You just – attacked him?”

Jiang Cheng glared at Wei Wuxian, still lying prone on the ground with his head in Wen Ning’s lap to elevate it and his neck bandaged but still a little red – surely the paralytic had worn off by now?

Wei Wuxian noticed him staring and gave a jaunty little wave, grinning and very clearly regretting nothing, which meant that the paralytic had worn off and he was just lying there to be comfortable while watching the fun.

Typical.

“A friendly exchange,” he said, trying to maintain his dignity. “Also? Not the Jin sect’s business. What about you? What did you want with him?”

“I want him to remove the curse he cast on me,” Jin Zixun said, and he strode forward before Jiang Cheng could stop him and kicked Wei Wuxian in the side. “You hear me, you bastard?! I want the damn thing gone this instant or else –”

3 – Wen Ning

“So this is going to be a little awkward to explain,” Jin Zixuan said, rubbing his face. He looked tired, but that was possibly a side-effect of having Jin Zixun as a cousin. “Tell me, why are my cousin’s flunkies – er, I mean, my cousin’s friends convinced that it was Wen Ning that poisoned him?”

Jiang Cheng scowled.

“No offense meant,” Jin Zixuan added, nodding politely to Wen Ning. “It’s just, you know, you’re very much not a Yu, or even a Jiang.”

“No offense taken,” Wen Ning mumbled, though to Jiang Cheng’s eyes he looked a little pleased, even if his stiff wooden face still didn’t do emotions all that well. “It’s nice not to be automatically feared.”

“It’s because Wen Ning punched Jin Zixun in the face at the same moment that I bit him,” Jiang Cheng interjected, because someone needed to answer the actual question. “And then Jin Zixun fell over and someone started shouting about corpse poison – even though he’s obviously turned purple! Purple venom, purple spider, purple lightning…what part of this thematic color scheme is not obvious?!”

“Technically, the livor mortis spots generated by corpse poison are also purple,” Wei Wuxian said, completely unhelpfully. “According to Wen Qing, it’s the lack of oxygen in the blood pooling under the skin or something, which is the same thing your mom’s poison does.”

“Do you think you’re helping?” Jiang Cheng demanded.

“No, not at all. Did I sound like I was helping? I didn’t mean to.”

“I’m going to bite you again, you little…”

“My father isn’t going to want to let Wen Ning through the door if he’s considered a possible threat,” Jin Zixuan said, wisely deciding to carry on with the conversation despite their bickering. “You know he’s been saying all those things about how dangerous the Yiling Patriarch is – this’ll just feed into that.”

“I’m not going to Lanling City without Wen Ning!” Wei Wuxian exclaimed. “Wen Qing made me promise! It’s his first time visiting such a big place, too!”

“I’m pretty sure Wen Qing made you promise not to leave him behind because she was worried about your well-being, not Wen Ning’s ability to be a tourist,” Jiang Cheng said.

“Doesn’t matter! I’m not leaving him, and I’m definitely not going to not attend the party, so you have to fix this!”

“I don’t know how to fix this –”

Wen Ning coughed lightly. “Uh,” he said. “Jin-gongzi…would your father let me in if I wasn’t a threat? Say, if I was unconscious?”

A moment of silence.

“…does venom work even on fierce corpses?”

“Of course it does,” Jiang Cheng said irritably. “It wouldn’t be much of a defense mechanism for a cultivator if it didn’t.”

4 – Jin Guangshan

“I didn’t mean to!” Jiang Cheng said, his hands over his mouth. “I really didn’t mean to! It’s Wei Wuxian’s fault!”

“How is this my fault?!” Wei Wuxian asked. He looked amused, which was never a good sign, and even less so given the extreme crisis of the situation. “I wasn’t even in the room.”

“You encouraged me to keep biting people as a solution to everything!” Jiang Cheng hissed. “It got me in the mood. I wasn’t thinking!”

He looked down at the unconscious (and swiftly purpling) Jin Guangshan and grimaced. There was no convenient Wen Ning to put the blame on this time: it had been just the two of them, Jin Guangshan and Jiang Cheng, alone in a room together. Jin Guangshan had wanted to have words with him, sect leader to sect leader, which mostly meant that he wanted to throw his weight and seniority around to try to brow-beat Jiang Cheng into doing what he wanted, except that wasn’t going to work because Jiang Cheng was prepared, okay, he’d worked so long and so hard to try to build up the Jiang sect until it could resist Jin sect pressure.

And he’d probably just ruined everything.

“He has legitimate grounds to declare war against us now,” Jiang Cheng said miserably. “Or maybe to demand that we hand over that stupid Tiger Seal he keeps bugging you about as reparations, or in order to keep him from declaring war…”

“We can’t let him have it,” Wei Wuxian said at once. “It’s far too dangerous. I’d destroy it, first.”

“But then he’d still have a reason to strike against us…”

There was the soft sound of someone clearing their throat, and at first Jiang Cheng thought it was Wen Ning but when he looked up it was Jin Guangyao, instead. He looked the same as always, gentle and personable and smiling, which struck Jiang Cheng as being unaccountably weird for some reason that he couldn’t figure out until he remembered that the man’s father was currently lying on the ground being poisoned and maybe Jin Guangyao shouldn’t be smiling so much.

“If you don’t mind,” Jin Guangyao said, “I might have a suggestion that would get rid of that problem…”

5 – Wen Qing

“…and long story short, Jin Guangyao is going to run Lanling Jin until Jin Zixuan is done having kids, which may be never based on the soppy looks he and my shijie keep exchanging, and we all have the Jin sect’s blessing to move back into the Lotus Pier,” Wei Wuxian concluded. “All’s well that ends well, right, Jiang Cheng?”

Jiang Cheng crossed his arms and glared, admitting nothing.

“I’ll be happy to move anywhere that has decent food,” Wen Qing remarked. “This damn place won’t even grow radishes properly, and it’s Yiling; the radishes should be practically growing themselves.”

“I’ve arranged for some farmland for your people,” Jiang Cheng said, because practicalities he could do. “There’s still lots left over from before the war, lying fallow, and some of the places are medicinal herb fields – we need people with cultivation to tend to those, so I figured that might work for you. You’d have half regular farmland, to make sure you can grow whatever food you feel you need to be comfortable, and the other half, the herbs, can be sold to the Jiang sect at profit.”

“That sounds good,” Wen Qing said.

“Especially since they’re medicinal herb plants,” Wei Wuxian chimed in. “You could stock up on medicines you need!”

“A lot of medicines have to be obtained through trade, you utter nincompoop! I can’t make medicine just using what a single medicinal herb field will generate!”

Jiang Cheng nodded approvingly, thinking to himself that at least there was someone else in the world who understood exactly how aggravating it was to have to deal with Wei Wuxian’s unbridled and illogical optimism on a regular basis.

“And as for you,” Wen Qing said, turning to Jiang Cheng, who blinked owlishly at her. “Don’t think I missed the part of that story about how biting people is a sign of affection!”

“It’s – what?! No, you don’t – that’s when we’re children– it’s –”

Wei Wuxian started cackling.

#mdzs #jiang cheng #wei wuxian #wen ning #jin zixun #jin zixuan #jin guangyao #wen qing #my fic #my fics #normal for the spider

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