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rosethornewrites · 2 years

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Saturday-Tuesday T & G reading

The usual

Finished

Teen:

Blooming Bruises on my Soul and Body, by xxxMiaHikarixxx

Wei Ying is used to hiding his pain and injuries behind smiles and talismans if it means he can have his siblings by his side and a chance to make friends. But when the hunt to exorcise some water ghouls turns into a life-threatening situation, everyone around him discover how many things were hidden under those playful smiles and loose dark robes and are unwilling to keep it a secret any longer.

How to piss off the Yiling Laozu in one simple step!, by Eicas

After Wei Wuxian has vanished with the Wen remnants, Lan Wangji roams the land, nighthunting wherever he is needed... and promptly gets himself kidnapped by rogue cultivators who believe having captured the great Hanguang-Jun will be a surefire way to win the Yiling Laozu's favour.

It is not.

Drunk Husband To The Rescue, by miixz

When a drunk Lan Wangji stumbles upon a room full of bickering sect leaders wrongly accusing his husband, he stands up for him.

Earning Trust, by wolfsharingan15 (12 chapters)

Wei Wuxian wakes up after the Wens have surrendered. With no one left Wei Wuxian breaks and locks himself away in the Burial Mounds as a punishment in hopes that he will die there and make everyone happy.

Well...things don't go that way exactly. After an abysmal failure to capture the Burial Mounds, Lan Xichen and Jiang Cheng come to Wei Wuxian for help. Wei Wuxian has lost all faith and trust in the sects, but he helps because Lan Zhan is missing.

Promise me a place in your house of memories, by EuphoricRed

It’s fun to experiment and learn new spells, but sometimes, accidents happen and things go too far. Wei Wuxian just wanted to be useful but instead he created more issues. This wasn’t supposed to happen.

Or, Wei Wuxian is taken in by the Nie after the truth of Madam Yu’s treatment to Wei Wuxian comes out and his failed experiment backlashes.

看客散去唯你我不忘 | the world forgets but i still remember you, by prettyxianxian

Wei Ying made his way down the staircase, feeling a bit unsettled by the wailing sirens of the police cars surrounding the plane. Something had to be really wrong for them to receive such a welcome. The grim expressions on the uniformed people’s faces in front of him were not reassuring at all.

“Uh, there are some people here who need assistance. What’s wrong?” Wei Ying asked out loud. Hearing him, a man dressed in formals stepped forward, clearing his throat.

“Well, the problem is that your flight was supposed to land in Shanghai on July 12th, 2009…today is July 12th 2022. All the passengers of this flight had been missing and eventually presumed dead for thirteen years.”

_____

or, a Wangxian Manifest AU

i like your shoelaces!, by Anonymous

"'Unrequited crush culture is watching your crush drenched in blue paint after tripping on a bucket full of blue paint, and still think that he is the prettiest person in the world.'" Jiang Cheng read aloud, lifting one of his eyebrows. "Yeah, what about it? Did you send this ask?"

"Nope!" Wei Wuxian grinned. "But I did get drenched in blue paint during Art Class last week, in that exact scenario! What are the odds?"

Story of a heart, by ThisIsWhereTheMagicHappens (8 chapters)

With an internal shudder, Lan Sizhui remembers Wei Wuxian’s words from yesterday’s evening after their dinner in the Jingshi: “Lan Zhan, Lan Zhan.” he had said with an unusually serious expression, swinging the wine jar in his hand, “If I would leave the Talisman the way it is now, you would even find me if I would be in trouble in a future reincarnation.”

The Junior Quartet time travels into a future Yunmeng where they find Wei Wuxian on the edge of deaths door, and bring him back home where he belongs to.

General:

Beginning, by Befallings

For the Untamed Winterfest 2019 Prompt 31: Beginning

Elder, an Aesthetic, by MarbleGlove

Wei Wuxian always enjoyed picking an aesthetic and really leaning into it. As an adolescent, he was joyous, entitled and high-born; during the war, he was dangerous and threatening. After the war, he was lost. But then he found his new aesthetic: Elder of the Jiang Sect.

Take Care, by Cerusee

Jin Ling really doesn't know that much about his parents. Jiujiu never talks about them, and half of what Jin Ling thinks he knows about all that stuff that happened when he was a baby has turned out to be a pack of lies. It's a little weird, that his best source of stories about his mom turns out to be the man who was supposed to have killed her...but you know what, Jin Ling will take it.

Jin Ling and Wei Wuxian, bonding over family history.

Carry Me and Care for Me, by xxxMiaHikarixxx (2nd in a series)

Lan Zhan's eyes keep following Wei Ying during the idoctrination camp and after they are forced to go to a night-hunt. As Lan Zhan's injury starts showing, Wei Ying offers to carry him.

Unfinished

Teen:

吃一堑，长一智。, by Ididntrunawaythitimeright

He noticed when the look on Lan Zhan’s face changed. As if something within him had shuddered back to life, painful and quick. Like slipping a knife between someone's ribs and twisting.

Then panic had him wrapped it's cruel gelid grip. The space where Lan Wangji had been suddenly empty, a physical space inside Wei Wuxians chest suddenly carved away, gaping, hollow, then flooded with that same freezing terror.

He couldn't do this without him. He couldn't- He coudn't- air refused to slide down his throat. Refused to enter his lungs, or perhaps his lungs had been ripped from his being to make space for the cavity inside him. He couldn't breathe. He was going to-a blur of white and blue tumbled towards him like a god cast from the heavens, a star shot across the sky, fleeting and beautiful and sorrowing, and horror tore into him beside that panic as Lan Zhan came hurtling towards him.

He had stood so close to the ledge. Wei Wuxian had not been falling long. He was so close.

It was like he was on fire. He was burning up. He was frozen. He was closing in, and Wei Wuxian could do nothing to stop him.

Wei Wuxian falls and Lan Wangji jumps. It changes everything.

Here With Me, by iamwish

Wen Qing finds him on the roof of where he’s been staying, nursing a jar of Sishu’s wine.

“Wei Wuxian! What are you doing up there?”

Wei Wuxian hasn’t had nearly enough wine to get tipsy, let alone drunk enough for his words to slur, but he slurs them anyway for nostalgia. “What if Lan Zhan doesn’t fall in love with me?”

Wei Wuxian finds himself in the past, a few months before the Gusu Lan lectures, and decides that his best shot at hiding his trauma fixing the future is faking his own kidnapping and asking Wen Qing who all he needs to kill before she or someone she trusts is in charge of QishanWen. Clearly, he thought this through.

Or: Wei Wuxian creates a No War!AU, and then he has to live in it.

Pocketful of Soul, by Jenrose

“It’s a kid?” Wei Wuxian says to Wen Qing. “What’s a kid doing dabbling with the ghostly path? Talking to my ghosts?” He sounds indignant.

“Perhaps you should ask him,” Wen Qing says dryly.

“Kid, why are you using demonic cultivation?” Wei Wuxian asks.

“It works better when you want to work with spirits, rather than fight them,” Mo Xuanyu says. “And I’m not using demonic cultivation, I merely greeted your spirit and told him I was a friend and needed to talk to you. Well, something to that effect. Intention matters more than intonation with this stuff.”

“Who taught you that?” Wei Wuxian asks, his voice shifting from indignation to intrigue.

“You did,” Mo Xuanyu says. “Or well, your notes did, hmmm… five or six years from now.”

Wei Wuxian wags a scolding finger at him and says, “You should be developing your golden core, not dabbling around with things you don’t under—Did you say five years from now? As in, in the future?”

OR: What if instead of Sacrifice Summon, Mo Xuanyu discovered Wei Wuxian’s flawed time travel talisman?

A Mo Xuanyu-centric found family time travel looping epic.

Fic is complete, posting frequently.

Whatever it takes, by Moonlit_dewdrops

Jiang Cheng and Wei WuXian are sent back to the past. This time, they can save everyone they love. They can make the right choices. They can learn to trust one another. However, everything comes with a price.

Talking is Better than Silence, by KuroiWrites (blackcatkuroi)

"This path harms the body. Harms the nature of one's heart even more." Lan WangJi spoke those words upon first seeing Wei Wuxian alive after the Burial Mounds, unknowing of the truth.

Wei Wuxian, though, didn't need to be told, and he accepted that he'd lost whatever he might have once had with Lan WangJi. Several nights later, in a moment of drunken weakness under the melancholic light of a full moon, he tells Lan WangJi the Truth. He'd never needed Lan WangJi to spell out his fate for him - he'd known since he walked out of the Burial Mounds alive.

But one small bit of honestly can go a long way, and Talking is far better than Silence.

finding you always, all ways, by BlueFrogs

Wei Wuxian’s stomach drops as he sees Wen Ning reel his arm backwards, aimed straight for his shijie’s husband.

His body moves before he can think about it. In an instant, he pushes Jin Zixuan out of the way, into safety.

A soft gasp is punched from him, as Wen Ning’s fist runs straight through his abdomen.

Wei Wuxian thinks that beyond the pain, it’s ironic how hollow he feels. He never thought he could feel more empty than when he lost his golden core, but it seems that having a gaping hole cut through him could do the trick.

---

Wei Wuxian dies instead of Jin Zixuan at Qiongqi Path. This changes everything.

Truths Laid Bare For All, by Preludian_Staves

The betrothal letter comes in the Springtime with a Lan escort, changing how events happen in Wei Wuxian's life.

AKA Wangxian meets early before the Cloud Recesses lectures and slowly starts moderately sooner, some things change and others stay moderately the same. Plus WWX flourishing under the tutelage of the Lans when there isn't prickly Heir or his equally prickly mother lurking around that needs near constant appeasement and a truth serum is involved somewhere in the course of things.

A-Ying Lives Alone, by DizziDreams

Lan Qiren approaches, trying not to frown as he looks down at the young boy in his strange clothes. “Young man, are your parents at work? They should not have left you home alone without a caretaker."

"No, shushu!" The boy shakes his head vigorously, large eyes growing wide. "A-Ying lives alone!"

Couldn't Scream Couldn't Shout, by mermorgie

Frustrated and desperate to stop hearing Wei Wuxian’s voice echo in his ears, Lan Wangji makes a mistake with the Lan silencing spell that he cannot undo.

Temporarily muted, Wei Wuxian struggles to pretend that he’s fine, while Lan Wangji struggles to make it up to him.

You Double-faced Entendre, by pink-lotus-pods (Waterlogged_fireflies)

"Wei Wuxian! You will be charged-"

“First of all, my name is Yuandao, and second of all, you aren't a judge, but you’re the one who’s got me tied up like a chicken! Let me go, damn it, I need to get back to my chickens and my farm!” Yuandao struggled violently, but the thin, golden ropes were a lot stronger than they looked.

The man in gold on the frankly, tastelessly ostentatious throne spluttered, turning the same colour as the cauliflower that he liked to put in his stews.

“Wow. You were right, he really doesn’t remember.” A man built like a mountain whistled, his face twisted into something that looked like amusement. “Either that, or he’s a world class actor.”

“For the last time, I’m just a farmer!”

Or, an amnesiac Wei Wuxian wakes up, gets himself a new family and is immediately roped into a political schism, EXACTLY in that order. He is very unhappy about having his cottagecore life uprooted.

Updates will be once every two weeks. Some tags have been hidden until the chapter will be posted, but there will be additional warnings in the chapter notes should you want to skip a particular scene

General:

and the other gold, by ryfkah

“What,” Wen Qing said, “do they teach all you Jiangs? Do they raise you on nothing but ballads and martyrdom?”

(or, the one where Jiang Yanli manages to slide in before Wei Wuxian to sacrifice her golden core)

Two Heart As One, by Shadoak_uwu

Wei Wuxian and The Junior Quarter were thrown into the past when they almost died because of an assassination from Jin Guanyao followers.

With his baby 8 month old in his stomach, will Wei Wuxian manage to go back with the Juniors to their own timeline, or he need to stay there and create a No war Au so everyone can finally be happy.

#the untamed #mo dao zu shi #mdzs #cql #chen qing ling #untamed fanfiction

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robininthelabyrinth · 3 years

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Beautifully Spent

aka Five Times Lan Qiren Left The Lan Sect Behind

- Chapter 5 -

It didn’t matter how many years it had been, or that he had died and returned in a different body, or even that he was now a married man, an adult, well-respected by the whole cultivation world – being summoned to have tea with Lan Qiren still had a way of making Wei Wuxian feel like a disobedient schoolboy all over again.

He thought that they were on better terms now than they had been before, at least. At some point after he’d finally settled into the Cloud Recesses for good, Wei Wuxian had started assisting Lan Qiren with his classes, or perhaps more accurately, Lan Wangji had made a request with an eye towards his uncle’s uncertain health, Lan Qiren had refused, and Wei Wuxian had bullied his way in to act as an aide anyway by simply showing up and refusing to leave.

At first, he’d thought Lan Wangji’s idea was a terrible one, thinking that after all he was on bad terms with Lan Qiren, who disapproved of him as a general matter and of Lan Wangji’s relationship with him in specific, and therefore that they were on such bad terms that his presence would only make things worse. Only…one day, he had seen Lan Qiren coughing into his sleeve after they’d all had a brief scare as a result of a badly phrased letter from Lan Sizhui and spotted blood, and then suddenly been assaulted by the memory of Lan Qiren bleeding from all his qiqiao, crying out half-unconscious for Wei Wuxian to stop butchering his flute playing as if that was the only thing he remembered how to condemn.

It was not a memory that Wei Wuxian particularly enjoyed – the man had been his teacher, after all.

So despite his misgivings, he’d gone ahead and done it, and brazened it out the way he always did. They’d fought like cats and dogs at the start, Lan Qiren tetchy and querulous, Wei Wuxian too often inclined to argue just for the sake of arguing, but just as he’d been on the verge of giving it all up as a bad idea, Lan Wangji had, in his oh-so-serious way, told Wei Wuxian that he did not need to assist his uncle if he thought he couldn’t handle it and that, of course, had only lit a fire under his ass to actually manage it.

(Yes, he knew that Lan Wangji had done it on purpose, but it wasn’t like he didn’t use his own sexy wiles to convince Lan Wangji of all sorts of important things, like having a drink with him once in a while.)

At any rate, Wei Wuxian had gritted his teeth and forced himself to play along a bit better with Lan Qiren’s monotone lecturing, and after a while he found to his surprise that assisting with the classes actually wasn’t anywhere near as boring as he thought it would be. In turn, Lan Qiren had eased up a little on him, explaining the reasons behind what he was doing upon request, and things started to work better, little by little.

And now – now they were having tea.

Weird.

“You’ve adjusted well to the Cloud Recesses,” Lan Qiren said, accepting the tea Wei Wuxian poured for him. His voice was neutral and monotone, but Lan Wangji had assured Wei Wuxian that his uncle’s voice always sounded like that, and sure enough all the classes they shared together seemed to bear it out. Even when he was horribly upset and coughing up blood, his voice stayed as toneless and dull as ever; the only thing he really adjusted was the volume.

“Ah, I’ll never quite get the hang of when you wake up,” Wei Wuxian said, automatically deflecting, but Lan Qiren shook his head.

“Ancillary rule,” he said, and a few months of sitting in on Lan Qiren’s classes made Wei Wuxian ponderously put his hands together and say, using his own best monotone, “Ancillary rules support the fundamental rules. Even the keystone in an arch doesn’t stand alone.”

Lan Qiren nodded, serious despite Wei Wuxian’s attempt at teasing (clearly unsuccessful). “And yet you have adjusted to the underlying purpose of the rule regarding when to wake, which is to fill as much of your day with meaning as possible. Your relationship with Wangji is going well?”

Wei Wuxian choked a little. “Uh, yes.” He hoped Lan Qiren wasn’t thinking of dissuading him now – they were already married! Lan Qiren had even participated, accepting Wei Wuxian’s respect in the place of Lan Wangji’s parents. “Did you have any…questions…?”

Lan Qiren shook his head. “You’ve also repaired your relationship with Jiang Cheng, have you not?” he said instead, changing the subject, and – on firmer ground – Wei Wuxian nodded. “Good. He’s an excellent sect leader.”

“He is, isn’t he?” Wei Wuxian said, feeling fond as always when he thought of Jiang Cheng. “He grew up so well.”

It would have been better, of course, if Wei Wuxian had been able to be by his side – but it hadn’t been meant to be, and now they were getting over that.

Lan Qiren nodded.

There was a few moments of silence, and just as Wei Wuxian was wondering if it was his turn to come up with a conversational subject, Lan Qiren put down his cup.

“Xichen has been out of seclusion for over a year,” he said. “Wangji helps him with the work of sect leader, but the bulk has returned to his hands, and he is doing well with it.”

“Yes, definitely,” Wei Wuxian said, but he had to admit he was a little puzzled as to where this conversation was going. It seemed clear that Lan Qiren was leading somewhere, but with all these subject changes, he couldn’t keep up. “Teacher Lan, what’s your point?” he asked, taking a sip of his own tea.

“I want you to take over my classes.”

Wei Wuxian choked.

Lan Qiren politely waited for him to catch his breath. “I’m serious.”

Wei Wuxian had just been about to ask if he was joking. “Why?” he asked. “You love teaching classes.”

It was true, too. He hadn’t appreciated it as a child, seeing only the old man hiding in Lan Qiren’s bones, but Lan Qiren truly loved teaching students – and he was good at it, too. It was impossible to teach those that didn’t want to be taught, so for a reckless idiot like Wei Wuxian who hadn’t been willing to listen, he’d ordered him to copy the rules as a punishment; as a result, to this day, Wei Wuxian could still recite each and every one of them. If Wei Wuxian hadn’t gotten into that fight with Jin Zixuan and been pulled out of the classes so recklessly back then, he might’ve had the chance to learn what he was learning now – not just the basic foundation of what the rules were, but why each rule existed, the history and background of it, the debates and complexity about its meaning, the way each rule intersected with all the others. How the rules, even when seemingly meaningless, had a life and background of their own; how they could be associated with various points of good conduct, of righteousness and ethical behavior.

When they could be broken, and why.

Lan Qiren might be an old man from the bottom of his soul, he might speak in a monotone and be stiff and unyielding and stubborn, slow to change his fixed views on things and even slower to pick up on sarcasm or undue cleverness, but he worked with each student on how to understand what he was trying to convey, teaching them not only the content of his lectures but how to learn. He wasn’t especially patient, wasn’t especially gentle, was overly strict, but his students learned – sometimes despite themselves.

And now…he wanted to give up on his classes?

“Is something the matter?” Wei Wuxian asked, distressed despite himself, thinking of bad blood welling up in Lan Qiren’s chest – thinking of all the stupid things he’d done to aggravate him, whether now or in the past. Had the old man’s health really gotten that bad?

“Nothing is the matter,” Lan Qiren said. “And my health is fine, no matter what Wangji might have you think. It is merely a matter of time. Of time, and of dreams.”

“Of…dreams?”

“Mm,” Lan Qiren said, and for a moment he sounded exactly like Lan Wangji. “When I was a child, I once dreamed of being a traveling musician. I thought I’d roam the world, playing for anyone who would listen, and when I had my fill of wanderlust, return home – retire – teach.”

Wei Wuxian had had no idea. He could scarcely imagine Lan Qiren as a child – no, he couldn’t imagine it at all. Much less wanting to leave the Cloud Recesses as something as daringly bold as being a traveling musician! Not even a rogue cultivator, but a traveling musician!

The brief moment of glee that the image inspired got snuffed out a moment later when he recalled why, exactly, Lan Qiren had never gone out to fulfill his childhood dream. He knew the story well by now, the story of Lan Wangji’s father and mother, their mutual disaster. Wei Wuxian was intimately familiar with sacrificing everything for his loved ones, but he couldn’t even imagine how it must have been to be Lan Qiren – his dreams destroyed by his brother’s selfish actions, another person’s love affair leaving him chained to his sect and raising two children as if they were his own.

Even Jiang Cheng had the comfort of knowing that his life had been destroyed by an enemy.

“I became a teacher prematurely,” Lan Qiren said, nodding when he saw the light of recognition in Wei Wuxian’s eyes. “I have enjoyed it, as I always expected I would. But it is not enough. It is time.”

“Time?” Wei Wuxian echoed, and then realized: “You want to be a traveling musician? Now?”

Surely it was impossible.

Lan Qiren was – not old, no, not really, but his health was bad; he had never recovered from the attack on the Cloud Recesses, from Wen Xu’s vicious attacks that had nearly crippled him. Moreover, he wasn’t just some nobody who could go around unnoticed – he was the only sect leader left from his generation, even if he had technically only played an interim role, and more than that, he was the honorable teacher Lan Qiren, who could turn any waste into a gentleman. He’d taught hundreds of students over the years – Wei Wuxian had seen the records – and he counted among his students some of the most influential people in the cultivation world.

Even Wei Wuxian, who’d been in his class only a month or so and spent most of it in punishment, felt distress at the thought of Lan Qiren trudging through the mud of the mortal world with a guqin on his back, playing for his supper. How would those who had actually done well in his class feel?!

“It will not be as I originally imagined,” Lan Qiren said, entirely calm. “I plan to visit my former students, if they would have me there, and travel only between their homes – it will not be as stressful as the life of a rogue cultivator. I will have the sect’s resources available to assist me. It will be fine.”

“But -!”

“Xichen is sect leader, and recovering well from what he lost. Wangji is your husband, and happy. The only thing binding me to the sect now is my students – and you have helped me with my classes for months now. You are charming and thoughtful, charismatic; the students listen to you. You will do well with it.”

“I don’t know all the rules!”

“You know enough.”

“But – but –”

“If you say no, I cannot go,” Lan Qiren said, and he didn’t even sound angry about it, merely accepting. “I have a duty to see to the juniors’ education. I would entrust you with it, but I will not force it upon you. But I would very much appreciate it if you would agree. Will you do it?”

If I say no, I’d be the one locking you here, Wei Wuxian thought, and swallowed. That didn’t seem right.

“…all right,” he said, and was rewarded by one of Lan Qiren’s rare smiles. “But you have to get me up to speed first!”

“Of course,” Lan Qiren agreed. “I will plan to go only after the New Year, in the spring. I will tell Xichen and Wangji of my decision this evening.”

Wei Wuxian felt his heart freeze at the thought of their reaction at discovering their beloved uncle’s plans – and finding out that he had played a critical role in enabling it.

“Uh,” he said. “I…may need to go out tonight. For a – thing. Important thing! Very…Lotus Pier! I’m going to the Lotus Pier! Urgently!”

Lan Qiren looked at him, unimpressed.

“It will not be that bad,” he said. “They will understand, and there is no reason for them to be concerned.”

“Oh yeah?” Wei Wuxian said, and crossed his arms. “Want to bet on that?”

#mdzs #wei wuxian #lan qiren #my fic #my fics #beautifully spent

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lansyuan · 4 years

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do you love fics where wei wuxian and lan wangji parent the crap out of lan sizhui? do you want to read accidental baby acquisition fics until your eyes bleed? would you die as your heart slowly turns to mush from the softness of this family? bitch the fuck, me too. here are some of my personal favourite fics of wangxian ft their turnip son a-yuan. its a range of canon divergence, post canon, thirteen years of inquiry, raising a-yuan at the burial mounds au etc - there’ll be something for literally everyone. enjoy!

the kite string and the anchor rope by fleurdeliser (38k+)

When A-Yuan gets sick and Wen Qing doesn't have the supplies she needs to properly treat him, Wei Wuxian can only think of one place to go for help.

a crying shame by thunderwear (16k+)

Lan Wangji gets emotionally blackmailed by a toddler. It somehow fixes everything.

to recollect and long for by wonderlands (22k+) *2/3 works posted at time of posting this rec list.

a 3-part series about best boy lan sizhui and his wonderful dads who love him and each other very much.

forgetting envies, remembering your loving hold by cosmicfuss (3k+)

The first time Zewu-jun plays for him he is five and the man is trying to comfort him, playing soft songs good for soothing children. It works to a degree but he wants his gege, he wants his gege to play his lullaby. Zewu-jun apologizes and tells him that his gege is hurting right now, and needs to be alone to get better.

When he plays the xiao, A-Yuan says, "you're holding it wrong!" When he turns fourteen, he learns to play guqin, and is many years ahead of his classmates in that regard. A large factor in that is how much he has practiced Inquiry. He has grown up hearing snippets from the jingshi, of Wangji attempting to reach a spirit that never answers.

When he's sixteen, he hears a familiar tune played in the forest, he and his fellow juniors battling a stone god. It's been years since he's heard it, and he wonders why this man, Mo Xuanyu, knows it so well.

Or, Lan Sizhui grows up and learns, and remembers.

five times wei wuxian tried to embarrass lan sizhui by blackelement7 (6k+)

(and one time he realized just how badly he'd played himself)

or: In which Wei Wuxian starts a fight but Lan Sizhui (with some meddling from Lan Jingyi) ends it.

inquiry by incendir (10k+)

Sizhui cannot fall asleep for a long, long time that night. He hears the ever-familiar melody again. He thinks perhaps he has memorized it by now.

storge by respira (9k+)

Lan Sizhui is a lake.

as the warren grows in number by kore_fics (3k+)

Before Sizhui could take another step he was surrounded by black and red, loud laughter in his ears and warm fingers running through his hair, messing it up. Palms squished both his cheeks together and Lan Sizhui let out a laugh.

Lan Sizhui was home.

tell some storm* by qurbat (31k+) *the moments with Sizhui are in chapter 2, however I highly recommend reading the whole fic, it’s adorable.

"We were raised as a generation of war, A-Yuan," Xian-gege said to him. "If your generation choses to be one of love - well, I don't think any of us would be opposed to that."

In the aftermath of the events at the Guanyin temple, the cultivation world scrambles to understand their current reality. A man roams the countryside with a string of white in his hair. Another sits on the highest seat of power with a ribbon of red around his forehead. The younger generation turns out to be full of romantics. Nie Huaisang is to blame for everything, always. Jiang Cheng realizes that happiness has been more that 16 years overdue.

Wei Wuxian declares that it's time that bitch pays up.

After a generation of war - much to the consternation of the elders, much to the delight of the young, much to the pleased shock of the subjects of the tale - the world welcomes a love story with open arms.

guess we're not eating leaves today by missingnarwhal (2k+)

Baby A-Yuan has cooked up a feast, but only one lucky gege will actually get to taste it!

Set in an alternate timeline where everything is okay after Wei Ying + Wens started living in the Burial Mounds.

response by aki_no_hikari (12k+)

What if Wei Wuxian hadn't been silent to Lan Wangji's Inquiry?

love, in all its small pieces by ynvel (4k+)

Ah Yuan is brought to the Cloud Recesses and exchanges the sun and its ashes for the clouds. Lan Wangji brings a boy home, calls him his son, and renews the promises he made.

Or: Lan Sizhui is adopted by Lan Wangji and learns about his new life. Lan Wangji in turn learns about hope and living again.

child surprise by ariaste (4k+)

He huffs a sigh. “Fine. Just - let’s just make it the law of surprise, shall we? That’s nice and simple, eh? Leave it up to destiny what will bring us back in balance. Let it drop something of yours into my lap, something small, and we’ll call the debt paid.”

Three debts, three repayments.

there's a lunatic in mo village by bastetcg (11k+)

There's a lunatic in Mo Village! And to Lan Sizhui's surprise, Hanguang-Jun has decided to bring the madman back to the Cloud Recesses! How embarrassing!

A mostly canon-compliant look into Lan Sizhui's thoughts and childhood.

on being a big boy by emberloey (1k+)

“My little A-Yuan,” Dad had said the next morning, kneeling down to A-Yuan’s height with a smile, “all grown up now. Soon you’ll be hunting without your poor old dads.”

“Never!” A-Yuan shook his head and latched onto Father’s leg. He smiled up at Father, who smiled back and nodded his head. “A-Yuan always needs Dad and Father!”

in all these shades of blue (i think we found you) by fleetling (5k+)

5 times Sizhui thought about his father's white robes, and 1 time Lan Wangji wore blue.

(Or: Lan Sizhui had never seen his father in anything other than white robes.)

this is when the feeling sinks in, i don't want to miss you like this (come back, be here) by mischievousmurmurs (6k+)

Just now… the butterflies’ conversation. Where did you learn that from, Ah-Yuan?

Ah-Yuan pats his chest. In here, shushu. I feel it in here. And in here, too, he adds, pointing to his head.

Sizhui has never quite been able to remember nor forget the memory of seeing people who he knows loved each other, loved him, and whom he loved in return.

or - a wangxian story, as told by their adopted son.

yours, mine, and ours by casecous (2k+)

When they have both mostly recovered, and A-Yuan is back to his smiling, playful self, Lan Wangji presents him with a forehead ribbon. A-Yuan’s little fingers bump into Lan Wangji’s thumbs as he traces the cloud motif along it.

“You are Lan now. This is very important,” Lan Wangji tells him and A-Yuan looks away from the ribbon to meet his eyes. “You must not take it off as you please. Only family may touch it.”

A series of wangxian family moments.

innocence by snowberryrose (8k+)

In which Wei WuXian gets to raise A-Yuan.

Canon divergence from episode 31.

to recollect and long for by mme_anxious (4k+)

Lan Xichen is there when his brother becomes a father. Lan Sizhui is there when his father's heart breaks, again. Wei Wuxian is there when his son gets drunk for the first time.

Or, the GusuLan forehead ribbon, in three parts.

our little one by writedeku (6k+)

A-Yuan is here. A-Yuan, who Wei Ying loved so much. A-Yuan, who was taught to laugh just like him. Wangji hugs him to his chest and curls over him, ignoring the way the wounds on his back pull and tear. “I have to take care of you,” he says. “I will not leave you.”

(Or: Lan Wangji comes back from Yiling with a child he does not know how to care for and a black hole in his chest. Somehow, he makes it work.)

gathered herbs & sweet grasses by hansbekhart (19k+)

Later, when he’s older, it’s this that A-Yuan will remember most: the stretch of silence, the two of them both dirty and shaking with fever, as he looked at Brother Rich, and Brother Rich looked back at him.

the sacred homeland by particulate (8k+)

He has many names, and some are mouthfuls of blood.

[Or; a chronology of Sizhui, in which he does not forget.]

to the act of making noise by words-writ-in-starlight (19k+)

His father in white plays the song late into the night, and when A-Yuan wakes up confused and afraid, the guqin lulls him back to sleep.

Lan Sizhui hears his father play the same song every night for his whole life, and never, ever get an answer.

when he comes home to you by kika988 (2k+)

Home is Cloud Recesses now, and that's a thing Wei Wuxian is still getting used to. He still feels like a guest here, most days, though Lan Wangji has done everything to make him feel at home. He stands out like a sore thumb amongst the serene disciples and flowing white fabric.

Cloud Recesses has been home to Lan Wangji and Sizhui for years. It is their home, where they've built their family.

The thought warms Wei Wuxian even as it sits a little ill with him. He's an intruder here, in their homes, in their lives, the same way he had been in Lotus Pier.

five times people didn’t know sizhui is lan zhan’s son and one time they did by trilliastra (3k+)

“A-Yuan.” He repeats, reaching out for the boy, growing restless when he can’t touch him. “A-Yuan.”

Oh. Lan Xichen closes his eyes as the tears start to fall. Oh, Wangji.

Carefully, Lan Xichen takes the boy and lays him next to his brother on the bed, Wangji holds him protectively against his chest and A-Yuan stops his little cries immediately.

“Wangji,” Lan Xichen tries again, running a hand through his brother’s hair softly, “who is he?”

“He’s my son.”

5 times the lan head disciple broke the rules by liji (6k+)

“I am not aware of any rule forbidding falling in love,” Hanguang-Jun said at last. There was a quiet sadness in his eye, like he was watching a scene from far away. The novelty of it gave Sizhui the courage to ask his next question.

“Have you ever been in love, Father?” he asked.

(or, five times that Sizhui broke the Lan sect's rules growing up)

the seasons change (but i love you the same) by kdkdkd (7k+)

"Hanguang-jun!"

When did you stop calling me Bàba, A-Yuan?

Lan Wangji had always promised himself that he would never become a poor father like his own had been.

Unfortunately, it feels like he has failed to keep that promise.

✨ bonus round ✨ uncle jiang cheng and nephew lan sizhui

tintinnabulum by respira (8k+)

A small bell chimes, the sound soft and pleasant like the water crashing against a pier, like low whistles in an empty cave, like a guqin playing a lullaby.

#the untamed #wangxian #lan wangji #wei wuxian #lan sizhui #lan yuan #wen yuan #wangxian family #wangxian fic rec #myficrecs #creations #listen i just really love this family #1k

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canary3d-obsessed · 4 years

Text

Restless Rewatch: The Untamed - Episode 02

Warning: Spoilers for all 50 episodes!

(Masterpost ) (Previous Episode) (Next Episode)

Donkey Riding

way ho and away we go, donkey riding donkey riding way ho and away we go, riding on a donkey

Wei Wuxian and Apple are doing their best for the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

Xiao Zhan had trouble riding the donkey sitting side-saddle, so the Department of Questionable Practical Effects made him a fake leg to wear while riding regular style.

Can you spot it? It’s very hard to spot. It is very convincing.

Simple Pleasures

Wei Wuxian takes his time wandering up the nearest mountain, and half of the cultivators in the land also wander up this mountain because...Night Hunting! The cultivators are hot and thirsty from walking because they forgot that they all know how to fly.

Wei Wuxian relaxes by a well and listens to people stanning him.

Also

I’m going to say it: Wei Wuxian never met a drinking vessel he couldn’t blow.

Everything is Beautiful at the Ballet

The actress who plays A-Yan is named Zhang Linran. She probably has studied dance since she was 4 and now she gets her big break which turns out to be feeding an apple to a donkey. So let’s pause for a second to look at how beautifully she moves.

Reunions are Awkward, Part 1

Wei Wuxian meets up with one of his family members and it goes super well.

I...like Jin Ling? He’s much less of a douchebag than his dad, his uncles Jin, Jiang, and Mo (the three stooges), and every damn one of his Jin cousins. He’s genuinely brave (his Dad’s primary good quality) and his hair is on fleek. He’s still a whiny diaper baby, but I like him.

(much more after the cut!)

Then Jiang Cheng shows up, looking fine as hell and radiating peak arrogant-prick energy.

When he discovers that ‘Mo Xuanyu” stuck a piece of paper to Jin Ling, he tells the child to literally murder him. Excellent uncleing! A+++++ would recommend.

“In fact, literally murder anyone who uses Yiling Laozu’s tools, like talismans, lure flags, or spirit compasses - basically murder everyone in the Lan Clan plus those other fanboys we saw coming up the hill. Then get out there and make some friends, goddamn it!”

These nets full of cultivators on this daytime night hunt are the only time we ever see anything in a net during a night hunt. In fact dudes constantly go night hunting and the only prey we ever see is rock lady, murder turtle, and a couple of rag mops in the lake.

You Are Not Qualified to Speak to Me

Also radiating arrogant-prick energy on this occasion is Lan Wangji. He has been using pettiness as a weapon since long before he met this Jiang Cheng turkey, and he *brings it* when Jiang Cheng tries to have a conversation with him.

Letting your eyes wander everywhere except to his punchable face while you ignore his passive-aggressive questions? Quality work.

Dropping a silence spell on his child and then letting your own child explain it to him? Golden.

Lan Wangji is never ever going to forgive Jiang Cheng for what he did on cliff day, and his silence here is as pointed as an ice pick. I suspect the last words Lan Wangji actually spoke to him were “Jiang Wanyin, stop it,” sixteen years ago.

Jiang Cheng is actually the bigger person in this particular interaction, visibly mastering his temper and telling Jin Ling to take his medicine.

Reflecting

Wei Wuxian hangs out by a beautiful river and hallucinates for a while. River Jiang Yanli is nurturing and River Jiang Cheng is pissed off, so there are no surprises there. River Jiang Cheng thinks that Wei Wuxian is a promise-breaking douchebag. He’s not exactly wrong.

Courtesy of convenient gossiping cultivators, Wei Wuxian discovers that the 16 year old arrogant kid from the Jin clan who his brother from the Jiang clan has custody of is actually and quite obviously Jin Rulan.

Well fuck I guess now I care about something, that’s inconvenient.

Needing to help parent the child of the sister who parented him is what draws Wei Wuxian fully into his new life.

As soon as he has this realization, Apple comes back from roaming around, and never gives him any trouble after this for the rest of the story. Which...probably doesn’t mean anything.

Wen Gravesite

Does Wen Ning hang out here because it’s where he and his (dead) people came from? Oh great, now I am sad.

Judging by all the leaves on this grave thingy I’m going to say that this grave tender dude is, ah, not very good at his job.

Get him, Jingyi!

I feel like maybe we all focus too much on how Lan Jingyi is so hilarious and sardonic and not enough on how he is a such a biscuit.

Soul Grass

As mentioned in the previous post, Chinese spiritual concepts don’t always translate well into English. Soul grass? Sure, why not.

This is where Wei Wuxian’s Sherlock Holmes brain starts to work, although he still doesn’t remember really basic stuff about Dafan Mountain. Dying and changing bodies is rough on the old neurochemistry. This creates more opportunities for flashbacks, however, and if there’s one thing The Untamed deffo needs more of, it’s kissing flashbacks.

Temple Statue

Presumably grave-tender dude is also in charge of clearing away spiderwebs at the temple, because it’s not getting done.

Jin Ling walks into the temple blaspheming at full volume.

Since this isn’t a Greek story, he isn’t immediately struck blind for this. Then when he wishes for the statue to come alive, it obligingly does. Everything’s coming up Rulan!

Wei Wuxian shows up to rescue all the kids by throwing talismans at the monster which does not tip anyone off to who he is.

Baby Cultivator Babysitting

Lan Wangji chills out in the cultivators’ pavilion with Jiang Cheng and their mutual hate boners.

Meanwhile, Wei Wuxian forgets all about his nephew and turns into cool professor guy, explaining the basics of soul-eating to the baby cultivators and gleefully encouraging their fear of Hanguang-Jun’s punishments.

Because the Lan babies are good filial children they are super respectful and engaged with this random adult who is lecturing them. They also - like their own Hanguang-Jun at their age - see and admire Wei Wuxian’s intellect. It’s easy to forget how extremely smart Wei Wuxian is, because of how extremely dumb Wei Wuxian is.

Lan Jingyi suddenly figures out Wei Wuxian is not crazy.

Bis. Kit.

Then Rock Lady shows up and Jin Ling sticks 6 arrows into her while Lans Jingyi and Sizhui stand around not bothering to draw their swords.

I see a lot of comments about the bad effects in the statue sequences but I think Rock Lady is all right. The figure animation is decent and the lighting is no worse on her than on everything else in the scene. Her hair is nice, for a rock person.

Admittedly I just finished watching Guardian which has CGI monsters so bad they may have injured my retinas and possibly also my DNA, so the bar, for me, is pretty low. Rock lady clears it with room to spare.

Note: Wei Wuxian’s flute playing does zippity towards controlling the statue. Not sure what his plan was here.

Wen Ning Kicks Ass

Now we get to meet Wen Ning, who appears to be a stone-cold badass. Later we will discover how hilariously inaccurate that assessment is.

While all versions of Wen Ning are delightful, this version of Wen Ning is also...strangely attractive? He’s got a Patti-Smith-Horses-Era vibe here, instead of his more usual lost-baby-dork vibe. And his dreamy “I have nails in my head” expression is intriguing.

I mean, he’s not a total snack like zombie Song Lan or pre-zombie Song Lan or blind Song Lan or post-zombie Song Lan, but this look is a good one for Wen Ning, is what I’m saying.

Reunions are Awkward, Part 2

Lan Wangji, who has 99% already recognized Wei Wuxian because of the haunted sword and the fierce jawline and beautiful neck and tiny tiny waist, is summoned by his flute playing as inexorably as the Ghost General was.

Jiang Cheng also recognizes Wei Wuxian and goes into full beatdown mode, thwarted (silently) by Lan Wangji. Wei Wuxian attempts to preserve his incognito by sassing Jiang Cheng in as sibling-like a manner as possible.

Hanguang-Jun’s Pro-Ghost Agenda Has Been Clear for Some Time

This Jiang/Lan fight is hilarious when you consider the implications.

Macroexpression vs. Microexpression

Mo Xuanyu brought Wei Wuxian back using sacrifice summons, a dark ritual invented by Wei Wuxian that he, most likely, did NOT show to Lan Wangji back in the day. So it’s a pretty safe bet that Lan Wangji doesn’t know that Wei Wuxian was gifted a body, rather than stealing one.

when your brother turns around, you must whip him you will never live it down unless you whip him

When Jiang Cheng lets loose with Zidian, it’s not just because he’s angry. He’s using purple power to force Wei Wuxian’s ghost out of the body he’s apparently possessed. And Lan Wangji instantly STOPS him from doing that.

Clan Leader Jiang: this person has been possessed, against their will, by an evil ghost

Future Chief Cultivator Lan: Counterpoint: I am banging the ghost

Flashback Time

Welcome to your 30-episode flashback!

Once I used to join in Every boy and girl was my friend Now there's revolution, but they don't know What they're fighting

Let us close our eyes Outside their lives go on much faster Oh, we won't give in We'll keep living in the past

Road Tripping to Summer School

Gosh I’m looking forward to younger, kinder, more relatable Jiang Cheng.

...prick.

Incidentally, until now this episode didn’t know that Jiang Cheng has smile muscles, and neither did the person who glued his wig on for him.

I Like Rabbits

Here we have our first rabbit in a large collection of rabbit iconography that appears in The Untamed.

Instead of sending everyone to the Wikipedia page for Tu'er Shen I’m going to take this opportunity to rec the short film Kiss of the Rabbit God by Andrew Thomas Huang (tw: blood, tw:body-mod cutting) which you can read about and watch over at Nowness.com

Particularly if you are a queer person of Chinese heritage, check it out.

So. What the fuck are these? Are they food?

Are they made from wax? Or corn starch? or pig intestines?

Wei Wuxian runs off to get laid drunk and Jiang Cheng grumps about it. Jiang Yanli reminds him that being free is a Jiang Clan Rule, so really Wei Wuxian is following the rules by not following the rules. Does that mean he’s not free? My head hurts.

Jiang Cheng: yes but grump grump grump

Jiang Yanli: Nothing bad will ever happen because of A-Xian’s choices, trust me

Outro

Wei Wuxian faint tally: one Caught by: the cold hard ground

Soundtrack: 1. Donkey Riding by Great Big Sea 2. Living in the Past by Jethro Tull 3. Whip It by Devo

Fic prompt: Lan Wangji’s internal monologue while he sits in the pavilion with Jiang Cheng

If you write a fic from this prompt and want to share, please post a link in comments!

Bonus: Wang Zuocheng, macro-expression king

Episode 03 Restless Rewatch coming soon!

#the untamed #fytheuntamed #the untamed spoilers #the untamed gifs #the untamed stills #my gifs #my stills #restless rewatch #restless rewatch the untamed #canary3d-original #wei wuxian #jiang cheng #lan wangji #lan jingyi #c-drama #bl drama #the untamed memes

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trashexplorer · 3 years

Text

BLCD Review: Madou Soushi S1 First Part

Title: Madou Soushi / Mo Dao Zu Shi

Release Date: 2020/10/31

Author: Mo Xiang Tong Xiu

Artist: Gearous

Cast:

Wei Wu Xian - Suzuki Tatsuhisa

Lan Wangji - Hino Satoshi

Jiang Cheng - Midorikawa Hikaru

Lan Xi Chen - Morikawa Toshiyuki

Jin Ling - Murase Ayumu

Lan Sizhui - Kobayashi Yuusuke

Lan Jingyi - Shimono Hiro

Nie Huaisang - Matsuoka Yoshitsugu

Jin Zixuan - Takahashi Hiroki

Lan Qi Ren - Shingaki Tarusuke

Wen Ning/Ghost General - Hoshi Souichirou

Su She - Ichiki Mitsuhiro

Narrator - Miki Shinichirou & Kanehira Yamamoto

Synopsis: As the grandmaster who founded the Demonic Sect, Wei WuXian roamed the world in his wanton ways, hated by millions for the chaos he created. In the end, he was back-stabbed by his dearest junior brother and killed by powerful clans that combined to overpower him. He incarnates into the body of a lunatic who was abandoned by his clan and is later, unwillingly, taken away by a famous cultivator among the clans—Lan WangJi, his archenemy.

This marks the start of a thrilling yet hilarious journey of attacking monsters, solving mysteries, and raising children. From the mutual flirtation along the way, Wei WuXian slowly realizes that Lan WangJi, a seemingly haughty and indifferent poker-face, holds more feelings for Wei WuXian than he is letting on.

Review Proper

I remember exactly when I stopped reading the manhua date and all because it was the very day I met A-san back in 2019. Aside from participating in Tokiya’s event, I was also binge-reading MDZS. I tried liking this, but I still don’t get the hype to this day. It’s a little too complex and dragging for my liking. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure that it has a good plot or whatever, but we gotta just face that people have different tastes. Please don’t kill me, Ate Krisha and Kuya Reel.

I’m warning potential listeners now; this was not an easy BLCD to listen to. I literally reread both the manhua and novel and even watched the anime to find a guide on how to listen to this, but all of them were different from the BLCD. We all know that there were a lot of cutouts in the manhua and the anime had changed and switched some of the events around, but the BLCD had it’s own take as well. 😂 Do you know how difficult it was to be switching around tabs for the novel, manhua, and anime was on top of listening to the BLCD?!

If that wasn’t enough, they had to adopt Japanese names and y’all know how many names Wu Xian alone was using?! 😩

But I fucking pushed through. Nevermind the fact that I wanted to like this so I could fit in with my friends, I was going to lay my life down for the casting. Buckle up, kids. It’s time for another Tattsun centered review!

Look at that all-star cast, man! And this isn’t even for the anime we don’t talk about the regrettable choices for the dub here. They literally went all out and cast people from Gen 0 to 3! The amount of times I died and got revived throughout the BLCD whenever a new character appeared. Thanks for the BL royalty reunion, Frontier.

I thought that they got Tattsun on this because again, he was BL royalty and Wu Xian also had a Gian-esque charm on him, but I was really surprised when I found out that he and Zhang Jie actually portrayed Wu Xian in the same way despite their difference in tones. It was kind of like how Yuuma did his Kageyama Uenoyama the same way Makonyan did. Boy, when I say that Yuuma is the next Tattsun, I mean it. Speaking of Given, Hino Satoshi also went for a similar tone to his Akihiko as Lan Zhan. Like, imagine Akihiko but with more expressions and less an asshole because he knows how to treat his man right.

If I had to type down how I felt about all of the VAs here, we would have one paragraph for each and this post will never end. 😂 Just know that all of them slayed. I only had an issue with A-yuan’s VA because they weren’t all that believable, but I don’t think they were even credited. 🤷 How do I feel about HoshiSoiuchi’s only lines being oonga boonga and MikiShin only narrating twice? Sad. But hey, it was still something! 😂

AGAIN, CAN I JUST STRESS THAT LITERALLY EVERYONE HERE IS BL ROYALTY??? I really wanna talk about them all I still can’t get over how they were able to get Tattsun and MikiShin again in one room (figuratively). MY LD1 trash heart is so happy rn. 😭😭😭 Also, can we just appreciate how we came from a BLCD showcasing TakaHiro, Shingaki, Moririn, Tattsun, and then finally all of them together here! I really didn’t plan that! 😭😭😭 Is it Christmas again??? So umm can we get the other ones in BLCDs, too? Or at least make them comeback for the next BLCD??? 🙇

Anyway, like I said earlier, this is a BLCD that’s hard to listen to. Not only do you need a considerably higher level of Japanese to understand the flow of the events, you also need to know the plot by heart that the changes in setting/dialogue won’t phase you. I wouldn’t really recommend doing what I did because it was too overwhelming to switch sometimes. You’ve all probably heard this before, but at least read the novel from start to finish before you listen to the BLCD. I think it goes of to Chapter 60? of the manhua, but I don’t know where the majority of the extras came from. I hope that I’d be able to get the motivation to pick this up again so I’d be ready for the sequels if there be. 🤞

#blcd reviews #blcd 2020 reviews #madou soshi #mo xiang tong xiu #gearous #frontier works #suzuki tatsuhisa #hino satoshi #midorikawa hikaru #morikawa toshiyuki #murase ayumu #kobayashi yuusuke #shimono hiro #matsuoka yoshitsugu #takahashi hiroki #shingaki tarusuke #hoshi souichirou #ichiki mitsuhiro #miki shinichirou

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oneiriad · 4 years

Note

A potential prompt for you: What if, contrary to Wen Qing's belief, it was actually possible to re-form one's core when one has it taken out (rather than burned out by Wen Zhuliu)? It just requires a lot more concentration and self-discipline than forming it as a teen/the first time?

Nobody can really find it within themselves to be mad at Jin Ling for letting it slip. He’s young and that night at the Temple had been a crowded, confusing, traumatic time for all of them.

It’s not his fault that he couldn’t remember exactly who had been a) present and b) conscious during which revelations.

And really, a nice, private working lunch for just the four major sect leaders during the latest discussion conference in Gusu - is not the worst place he could have made a throwaway comment about Wei Wuxian’s golden core or - rather - his lack thereof.

“It’s funny, though,” he tells Sizhui, later, once his uncle Jiang Cheng has stopped yelling at him (because that’s how Uncle expresses his emotions, even when he’s not really angry), “’cause Uncle and Zewu-Jun both pretty much froze as soon as the words were out of my mouth- Zewu-Jun even had his hand raised as if he was just about to use freaky silence spell you Lans have. That’s when I remembered that Sect Leader Nie had been out cold during that whole bit, and we all looked at him, except - he was just doodling and didn’t look up at us until he noticed it’d gone quiet. And then he frowned at us, before going “ah” and folding his fan...”

But anyway, nobody - least of all his Uncle Wei - can find it within themselves to blame Jin Ling for the fact that Nie Huaisang now definitely knows.

It’s not like people weren’t eventually going to start finding out anyway...

***

The biannual Qinghe Games were not officially one of the various occasions for the cultivation world to assemble and - in good times - mingle. This was because they were mostly organized and financed by the Qinghe Merchants’ Guild with some donations - mostly prices and plenty freshly caught boars for the banquet - supplied by an anonymous local sponsor and most of the speech-making and problem solving falling to the Emperor’s local officials.

Nevertheless, the Games generally attracted quite a few cultivators, rogues as well as those affiliated with major and minor sects. Not quite enough on most occasions to make non-cultivators entirely give up on participating in the archery contests, but even when that happened the high point of the games remained the polo, where well bred horses was a far greater advantage than any golden core.

The invitations, delivered by a somewhat harried Nie disciple at the gates of the Cloud Recesses, were written in the most aesthetically pleasing calligraphy and distributed by a couple of the younger Lan disciples, who had already mastered the art of not exactly running.

Well, most of them. One of the invitations caused the senior disciple passing them on to frown and eventually send for young Lan Sizhui, reasoning that it would be preferable to trust the youth rather than sending yet another junior disciple off to fall under the spell of the dark forces outside their walls.

Said dark forces spent a fair amount of time staring at the words of the invitation.

“Are you sure this is meant for me?” Wen Ning repeated, and Sizhui repeated his assurances that there had been no mistake.

“Oh.”

***

Wei Wuxian hadn’t seen a lot of Wen Ning since they’d all arrived at Qinghe. They’d all been getting settled in some very comfortable guest quarters at the Unclean Realm, fresh from the road, when Nie Huaisang had appeared to greet them surprisingly briefly and then proceed to steal his fierce corpse.

He might be worried what the Nie sect leader was getting up to with Wen Ning, except he’d gotten the occasional glimpse of them in the days since. During the archery contest they’d sat next to one another at the viewing platform, Wen Ning clearly entranced by the competition.

It was nice to think that Wen Ning was making friends.

It was less nice to get ambushed by them.

It had been a pleasant day - watching polo matches with Lan Zhan at his side, happily buying him various treats from the roaming vendors, then just strolling around and having a quiet dinner at a local restaurant.

It had been a bit less pleasant and a bit more suspicious to come back to their rooms and find a small stack of paper on the desk and a Wen Ning who looked at once guilty and excited sitting next to a very suspicious looking Nie Huaisang (though, to be fair, Wei Wuxian could hardly be blamed for always feeling that Huaisang looked suspicious).

It was Lan Zhan who sank gracefully down behind the desk to examine the papers, picking them up and starting to read. Then he froze - just for a moment, and anybody who didn’t know him well might have missed the widening of his eyes, but not Wei Wuxian - before going through them with startling haste.

Lan Zhan put down the final piece of paper and turned to Nie Huaisang.

“Will this work?”

“It should. That’s why I needed Wen-gongzi. I needed somebody who would know the more technical aspects of how Wen Qing accomplished what she did. If it was similar enough.”

“Similar enough to what?” Wei Wuxian demanded, picking up a conveniently close jar of Emperor’s Smile to gesticulate with. “What is this, Nie-gongzi?”

It’s Lan Zhan who answers, though.

“It’s a training program. For reforming a golden core.”

Wei Wuxian drops the jar and almost chokes on the wine he was just pouring down his throat.

“What? How - how do you even have something like that?” he demands, once he’s done sputtering.

“As you know, my Nie sect’s cultivation comes with - some very unfortunate side effects. Over the years, different techniques have been tried to stall the qi deviations. One of the more successful in that regard, though the side effects make it one rarely used and utterly unsuited for any truly powerful cultivator, is the careful removal of the golden core. If done correctly, this is followed by a few years of hard training and a new golden core will form.”

Wei Wuxian is rarely at a loss for words, but just this once - just this once, he finds that he needs to let Lan Zhan do the talking for him instead of the other way around.

“Side effects?”

“Irrelevant in this case. The side effects are from the first part of the process, and to be perfectly frank, the most significant one is needing to temporarily pass a significant part of the cultivator’s control of his saber into the hands of a trusted fellow Nie disciple for the duration - which is not a problem Wei-gongzi would be facing anyway.”

“Years?”

“It’s not a fast process. From what I understand, it requires as much unlearning and undoing as it does forming the actual new core. But it can be done. It has been done. And I am confident that if anybody would be able to find ways to speed up the process, surely it will be the renowned Yiling Laozu.”

#mo dao zu shi #the untamed #specifically the untamed

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littlemdzsdump · 4 years

Note

Hey love your little xicheng ficlets!

Could you possibly write me one in which Jin Ling gets injured or sth. On a night hunt and JC may be angry but most of all worried so when a dizzy and half passed out JL asks him to sing to him like old times, he (JC) ignores WWX "but he doesn't have a musical bone in his body?!?!" And sings to him? And a certain sect leader fresh out of seclusion falls in love even more to the point he just HAS to confess ?

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

thank you for being my first ask! this is for you! <3 .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

~~~

“Shit, grab him!” Jiang Cheng yells above the flurry of swords. He doesn’t have time to fully check on his nephew when he turns back to whip Zidian blindly in his grasp. The snake demon is merciless, having hunted the souls of too many and tormented the outskirts of a small rural town for too long.

The Jiang Clan was adamant about ending it tonight.

It was supposed to be a quick night hunt, great practice for younger cultivators. One of the biggest reasons why Jiang Cheng had allowed his nephew’s presence in such events. Everything had been set, they had more than enough manpower, there were other dependable (he guesses, Wei Wuxian is dependable, Lan Wangji sure is though) chaperones and Jin Ling had even invited his little friends along.

But Jiang Cheng had over looked one small detail; that being his nephew’s incredibly stupid stubborn personality who would rather die, then miss a planned night hunt because of a fever.

The teen had done such a good job at hiding his illness until their current battleground, where Jiang Cheng had just seen him fall to the ground.

Jiang Cheng moves to the rear as Lan Wangji and his husband take the front. Wei Wuxian uses Chenqing to play a subduing melody as Lan Wanji deals the final blow to rid the creature once and for all. Jiang Cheng doesn’t see it, he’s too busy running to the small group of kids surrounding his nephew.

“Hey, Jin Ling, look at me. Don’t be like this...”

“Do you think that the cut is poisoned,” Zizhen’s voice carries over nervously.

Jiang Cheng’s stomach rolls at the notion and he nearly barrels into the group if it weren’t for their quick reflexes. He finds Jin Ling sat on a small rock, hunched over as he holds his arm. His bow is laid lopsided besides him, something already uncharacteristic. When Jiang Cheng kneels down to face him, large drops of sweat dot his red flushed face.

“A-Ling, hey, do you know where you are?” Jiang Cheng asks, holding his nephew’s shoulder. It takes longer than Jiang Cheng would have liked for Jin Ling to notice him. When the teen looks up, his eyes are bleary.

“Jiu-jiu,” Jin Ling calls out softly. Jiang Cheng bites his lip, holding onto Jin Ling’s face as to keep him from falling straight into Jiang Cheng’s chest.

“Stay awake for Jiu-jiu, you hear me? I have to check your wound. At least do that for me Jin Ling,” Jiang Cheng bites out, shifting the teen to lean into his arms as he checks the gash. It takes a bit of coaxing to get Jin Ling to release the hold on his upper arm. Only when Sizhui manages to gently pry his fingers away does he see the gash that’s marred there. It’s an ugly thing despite how small it is. From the looks of it, it seems shallow, which is a blessing. But Jing Lin’s forehead feels too warm against the bottom of Jiang Cheng’s throat.

“Jiang Cheng,”

He looks up at the call of his name, finally noticing his brother’s quick approach with Lan Wangji in tow. He’s also surprised to notice another silhouette of white besides the invited Lan.

“What’s happened to Jin Ling? Why does he look so bad?” Wei Wuxian immediately questions as he kneels down to look at Jin Ling.

“He had a fever before he came out here with us. Then during the fight the snake demon managed to nab him on the arm” Jingyi quickly explains, clutching his sword tightly.

“No fever, fine...”

“Fine?” Jiang Cheng almost roars. But Jin Ling’s warm breath is becoming labored and Jiang Cheng is more fearful than he likes to feel.

“We’re going to back to Lotus Pier now,” Jiang Cheng says, already beginning to get a sturdy grip on Jin Ling when he feels a gentle hand on his shoulder. Jiang Cheng looks up to meet Lan Xichen’s worried eyes.

“Let me check on his wound again. We should bandage it up so he won’t lose anymore blood.” Lan Xichen suggests. Jiang Cheng wants to protest; his nephew is as ill as he is, isn’t this enough of a reason for him to teleport back to Lotus Pier?

“He’s hurt like this--”

“Please, let me help,” Lan Xichen pleads, eyes locking with Jiang Cheng.

Let me help you

The small fire that they make warms the mild night. Everyone is huddled closely to conserve warmth.

Jiang Cheng is sat with Jin Ling closest to the fire. Lan Xichen is kneeled on the opposite side, wrapping a tight bandage around Jin Ling’s wound. With the fire crackling before them, Jiang Cheng places his hand on Jin Ling’s forehead once again. His skin is still hot, but not as flushed as it had been when he had just come from the fight. Leaned in his Uncle’s arms, Jin Ling almost looks relaxed.

Jiang Cheng’s eyes roam around the fire, catching Lan Wanji and Wei Wuxian sharing a deep blue Lan cape. Near the other side of the circle, the three teens sit close together, legs and shoulders brushing. Jiang Cheng tries to ignore the lingering looks that pass over Jin Ling’s exhausted form.

“Jiu-Jiu” Jin Ling asks.

“Jiu-Jiu’s here,” Jiang Cheng responds immediately. He feels his nephew let out a tired sigh.

“Can you sing for me? Like when I was small?” Jin Ling asks eyes blinking open to catch a glimpse of the orange firelight before closing again. Jiang Cheng looks down, hoping that the teen is only sleep talking. But he’s surprised to meet with eyes wide open, imploring him.

“A-Ling,” Jiang Cheng starts, but Jin Ling continues to stare.

“A-Ling, don’t tease your Uncle like that. He doesn’t have a musical bone in his body,” Wei Wuxian tells Jin Ling. Jin Ling’s gaze moves from Jiang Cheng’s face to sleepily shift over to his other Uncle.

“You haven’t heard him sing before,” Jin Ling replies, before leaning deeper into Jiang Cheng’s embrace. Jiang Cheng huffs at his nephew, warmed by something different than Jin Ling’s body temperature.

“Sing Jiu-Jiu, please” Jin Ling asks, one last time. Jiang Cheng sighs, at his nephew. But he concedes. The fire crackles, sending small floating lights up to the night sky. In the soft pause, Jiang Cheng sings.

Long nights by the hearth are warm in love And the day smiles at the dawn that renews Stand here with me I hold you Stay here with me I cherish you

When Jiang Cheng looks down to check on his nephew, he’s satisfied to see that Jin Ling has truly fallen asleep. When Jiang Cheng looks up again, he catches many pairs of widened eyes.

“Your voice is so good!”

“I can’t believe you can actually sing!”

“Can you do another song?”

“Marry me,”

Jiang Cheng’s head whips to the side towards the final voice. Lan Xichen stares at him, eyes deep and bright and amber in the reflected firelight. Jiang Cheng looks at Lan Xichen incredulously; he’s rendered completely speechless.

“I--”

“Let me court you. Let me serenade you and show you how you have always made me feel,” Lan Xichen says, quickly, hurriedly. It is so un-Lan of him that Jiang Cheng can’t quite believe it. The rest of the group falls to the background.

“I don’t want you to think that this has come out of nowhere. I have...I have always had my affections. And tonight has showed me, just another reason for my admiration for you, Jiang Wanyin”

Jiang Cheng sucks in a soft breath, looking down at Jin Ling if just to have something to look at other than the person beside him.

The quiet that surrounds everyone is not even interrupted by the crackling hearth.

“Can you please...can you please let me...be with you?” Lan Xichen asks quietly.

Another pause, bated breath underlying.

“...You can try...” Jiang Cheng answers, though he doesn’t find the strength to meet eyes with Lan Xichen as he continues, “Be with me.”

Jiang Cheng finally looks up to meet Lan Xichen’s eyes, bashful but glowing in the warmth of the fire.

And Jiang Cheng doesn’t forget to hush Wei Wuxian when he wolf whistles too loudly, mindful of Jin Ling’s restful slumber.

#xicheng #ficlet #mdzs one shot #mdzs fic #cql fic #jiang cheng #lan xichen #junior quartet #mdzs juniors #lan zhan #wei wuxian

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alliaskisthepossibilityoflove · 3 years

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Chapters: 10/10 Fandom: 魔道祖师 | Módào Zǔshī (Cartoon), 魔道祖师 - 墨香铜臭 | Módào Zǔshī - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù, 陈情令 | The Untamed (TV) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Lán Zhàn | Lán Wàngjī/Wèi Yīng | Wèi Wúxiàn Characters: Lan Zhan | Lan Wangji, Wei Ying | Wei Wuxian, Lan Yuan | Lan Sizhui, Lan Huan | Lan Xichen, Wēn Cháo, Wen Ruohan, Chenqing (Módào Zǔshī), Jiang Cheng | Jiang Wanyin Additional Tags: Howl's Moving Castle AU, Canon Divergence, personified Chenqing, Canon-Typical Violence, Wei Yuan - Freeform, Magical Girl Lan Wangji Summary:

The rumors have been going around for weeks now. Even Lan Wangji, who never pays attention to gossip, has heard it, filtering up through the rafters of the store to where he sits in the alcove, digging through the books of magic. The moving castle is back, they whisper, in low voices, in the bookstore his brother runs. On the hills above the city, there’s a castle that crawls like a centipede, made of black brick. Smokes pours from its chimneys. He’s here, they whisper. Wei Wuxian. The demonic cultivator, in his moving castle, roaming around the Yiling Wastes.

Howl's Moving Castle AU

#Fic rec #Amazing writing #Mzds #Wangxian #Diana Wynne Jones fusions are my favorite thing

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wangxiangiftexchange · 3 years

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Lunar New Year Gift for alightbuthappypen!

For @alightbuthappypen, I wish you a happy lunar new year, last year was a tough one for everyone around the world. We had to carry too many burdens besides the ones already on our shoulders, so I hope this cheers you up a litte. And if you are totally fine, then just enjoy it. I hope you like it, Im a bit shy to aproach and start conversation, but I tried to stick to the letter in your resquest.

*****

let me adjust my grip, don’t slip

When Lan Sizhui fell unexpectedly ill, it took less than a day for the Yilling Patriarch to arrive at the doors of Cloud Recess.

Lan Wangji suspected it had something to do with their mutual undead acquittance, but when Uncle asked with a suspicious tone, implying things that made his soul tremble with anger. He just fisted his hands behind his back and said “They have a bond; he has a place besides his bedside...”

He wanted, he really wanted to run to the infirmary to be with them. But his duties couldn’t be dismissed easily, in fact, he had several weeks of pending work with the sects that he already asked to be delegated. Yet, he still needed to hand over a list of priorities and names of the people assigned to them, and it was taking him too long already.

He tried to let that the methodical task of sealing scrolls with wax and metal distracted him from his convoluted feelings with the unexpected situation.

The night before while having dinner, the Junior had collapsed to the surprise of all. They took him to the infirmary right away, and not caring about appearances he followed. He spends a long night seated by the little table in the private suit where Lan Sizhui was being attended and probed and examined.

He knew that he had not the correct training to know, do or solve whatever it was happening to him, it fell into the proper and experienced hands of the doctors and healers of the sect. Nevertheless, he jumped lightly whenever they turned the boy in the bed, whenever the men made observations and humming noises, it was the need to run at his side, put his hand over his forehead.

Still, it became obvious very early in night that this was beyond of what he could do to help. By morning they still didn’t know what it was happening, but at least the junior hadn't worsened, and very painedly he had to separate and do his responsibilities.

By the time it was meal time, he was informed of the arrival of Wei Ying. But as he couldn't meet with them, he wondered if they knew something by now. If Wei Ying had come storming by the doors frantically asking to see the boy, walking in circles on his room, hand on his chin asking questions and answering himself while he unraveled the malady with the genius he only could possess.

Something about the idea made his chest ache with longlines.

It's been almost three months since his last visit. He knows, he counts the days with ease born out of experience.

One day since he last saw Wei Ying.

Two days since he lasts seen Wei Ying....

Three.....

One week....

One month....

One Year...

sixteen years...

Counting days was not healthy he knew. But he never could help himself. Some part of him is afraid that the count grows again. Days and days that ache with guilt, with lose...with love...

Three months it's not a very long time if compared with the long wait. But some days, the heavy loaded ones, the stressful ones, it does. It does hurt like it. He wished he could end those days walking to his private room and seem him, see his beautiful welcoming smile. To know he is there and would never go again.

Still, it's not something that can be solved. What right does he have to ask Wei Ying to stay here? Hes as free as he wants, as free as he always wanted.

He understands, he did travel the land too, he was not free exactly, he was running away, hiding his morose mourning and his inability to let go of the past from his family and peers. But he knows there is solace in the open skies of empty roads and peaceful farmed fields, fulfilling the promise they made, he failed him in many ways, but at least he gave himself to the task of fighting evil.

Mourning...Wei Yings needs it as much as he did.

He thought he could follow him, it was his plan as soon as he found him again at Dafan mountain, as he was sweep up his feet by his bright personality, his laughter, his brilliant mind once again. Being with him at all times. But....

But what right does he have to be free of responsibility?

After all, Lan Huan was tasked with their sect since he was born. But that didn’t mean he had to carry the load by himself. And yet, while he was roaming around, raising a kid. His brother never asked him do to his responsibilities if he was not up to them. His brother was sympathetic and caring, and worked and worked without help for years.

Now Lan Huan was suffering his own grief, his own mourning and his own count. But he knew that his was meant to last forever.

Staying here, being the acting sect leader, and being the chief cultivator really was the only retribution to his filial brother. He might harbor a great dislike to all of the sects and clans across the land for the wrongdoings committed to Wei Ying, to them both.

But he couldn’t just walk away while his brother was heartbroken and alone. Or can I?.... his mind thinks but he erases the thought and the doubts as fast as he can.

He can't ask Wei Ying to stay, and he can't follow him either. So, it was just another wait, probably not as endless as the first had felt, but something in him just wants it so desperately to end.

However, there still was something to confess, something kept deep on his chest for as long as he can remember. It probably is because during those years, this feeling just grew and grew until he could no longer remember a time when he didn’t feel like this.

It was like roots had taken over until they filled his chest and touched his soul. Tangling deep into his whole being.

He carried Wei Ying in his heart as one carries a lamp in the darkness. Sometimes warm, and sometimes ardently, but always the light he followed like a moth since he was young.

Where he to confess those feelings to him, would he feel compelled to return them even if Wei Ying does not feel the same? would he stay here with him the way he wants him?

Hes the type of person that sacricifies what he feels and what he wants for the people he cares about. No matter how undeserving of such sacrifice those people could be. Or more exactly how underserving Jiang Waying is. But he does not care to follow that line of thinking because it is against the rules to think so poorly of another sect Leader.

He should feel ashamed to think himself so important in Wei Ying’s life, but it wouldn’t be enough for him to feel obligated to accept something as deviant as being an open cut sleeve just because he cares about Wangji, and it wouldn’t be right. He wants him to sincerely return his feelings, but who would accept such disgrace.

If he feels he owns him something for helping him solve Meng Yaos plot, he’ll never ask for anything. Wei Ying should stop feeling guilty, especially about this because firstly, it was the right thing to do, and second because everything he did was because he wanted.

He wanted to absolve Wei Ying’s reputations, because he wanted him to stop feeling guilty for things that happened so many years ago and weren't even his fault to begin with.

Even before knowing the whole truth, he suspected for years that something or someone had played a hidden evil hand. He spends years questioning his own memories, questioning what everyone accepted as facts and truths, because his heart told him, it always told him that Wei Ying was not the evil person they invented in their twisted minds.

It was then that he noticed that this was the last scroll he needed to prepare to send, so he put out the heating lamp and put aside his official seal, he didn’t stop to clean it as it was his routine and just put it on his sleeve pocket on his haste to reunite with his family.

He didn’t run, but he speed walked on the empty corridors until he arrived. Once he opened the door, he was greeted with a sight that made his heart ache.

Many years ago, when Sizhui was still a child, a fragile little thing that clung to his robes. He would catch colds in the winter. He was from warmer lands, and even if he never was raised on them, something in him always made him unprepared for long chilly winters. It was true even after he stopped being underfeed and was getting round rosy cheeks.

He would lay in bed, while Wangji spend the night rubbing his back with medicinal herbs and would sing him lullabies. It would be just the two of them by the candle lights, with warm coils burning on the stove. It would get warmer and warmer, but he still felt a cold inside his chest and ribcage, creeping up and down his scarred back, an empty heartbeat, the pang of lost.

Something would whisper on his ear Wei Ying’s name, and how needed he was. How he missed him. He wanted to say to him. What I am doing? Why I am doing this without you? What I am doing with your child?

He would imagine a life where Wei Ying was with them, so close to the image that greet him now, that he felt like that dream was finally true.

Wei Ying was on the floor, lightly petting Sizhui hair and whispering sweet things.

He noticed him then, and the spell broke, and the mirage that mixed reality and hopes fell apart. Wei Ying smiled tiredly and raised from his place to invite him to sit with him by the table.

“How is he doing?”

“It's not getting worse....”

“Do they know something now?”

“They do...” he sighed. “It's a curse. I already questioned Lan Jingyi about it. But he just told me he had no idea, he said nothing was amiss, nothing had gone wrong on their last night hunt. He noticed nothing weird.”

“He wouldn’t...” he sighed.

“Hes not very observant, I agree, that why I drilled him with questions, even force him to tell me an hourly account of their trip, and there was something”

He nodded expectingly.

“Some strange looking lady tried to sell them flowers by the road. When they didn’t, she became erratic and tried to.... offer them a different...kind of flower....”

He frowned.

Wei Ying laughed. “Yeah, she offered to sleep with them for a piece of silver. When they said no, she tried to hug them, Jingyi pushed her off of course, but Sizhui being as kind as he is, tried to help her go to the next town, but she pushed him, screamed and ran to the woods. They thought she was just a very poor crazy woman and brush it off....”

“Thats not unusual”

“It is not unusual although very sad, but it’s the only thing that came to my attention...everything else was as they said, just a normal night hunt.”

“What kind of curse”

“The slow one at least, it's obvious he was pinched with a needle on the neck, its going down...” he said looking at the table. “We have a lead now, it's better than nothing”

“umm” he agreed.

“We should depart at the earliest”

“Why not tonight?”

Wei Ying smiled sadly. “He was....he was asking for his dad....”

Wangji’s hands clenched and all the air in his lungs was pushed out and let him breathless

“You really are his father....” he said.

“He called me that when he was little until Uncle stopped him. I let him do it when were alone....”

“I was a little hurt Hanguan-Jun. You stole my child....” He sounded truly sad.

“He’s....he’s yours too”

“But he was asking for you...his father”

“Because.....you are his mother”

That made Wei Ying laughs and wipe the sadness out of his eyes.

“So shameless!” he keeps laughing. “waiting all these years to deliver such a punch line Hanguan Jun. Your sense of humor is twisted and no one would think it of his excellency”

He could feel his lips pushing to fight the smile carried by his laughter

“I suppose I dig my own grave with that one Lan Zhan” he keeps with a light teasing smile. “But I did say I was...And I want to spend the night here if you don’t mind”

“I don’t, Theres blankets on the trunk”

He stood up to retrieve them and put them on the floor by the bed. He put another set besides the one already on the floor.

“What?, is his excellency spending the night on the floor”

“umm” he nodded.

“But Lan Zhan, the floor is uncomfortable, you should go to your bed”

“I'm not” he simply said to avoid the argument.

Wei Yings shoulders dropped in defeat and only prepare himself to sleep by striping of his outer layer. He gave him privacy by turning his back and doing the same before laying side by side on the floor.

“He looks peaceful, they gave him tea to sooth him and ease the symptoms.”

He looked at the youth and Wei Ying smiled sadly.

“He still looks so young even if he is becoming a man in everyone's eyes. But early today he looked as when he was little and was so tired, he got crackly before his nap. I could tell he wanted to stick his fingers on his mouth”

He smiled gently. “It was hard to break him out of that habit”

“I can imagine. Were you harsh on him?”

Wangji frowned and said “no”

“Well, I was a little bit, I was not in the best place, and sometimes I was so tired, and so angry with the world. And he was just a child, he didn’t know better, he was lonely and wanted to play. I regret snaping at him”

“He missed you too”

“I Thought he didn’t remember much”

“He doesn't now. But the first days he would ask for you in his feverish state, Lan Huan sleep with him but he cried until he was allowed to stay with me”

“Such a little manipulator he was”

“It was because he didn’t recognize this place, or those people”

“Yeah, I bet he was sad”

“Um” he nodded. “Didn't ask only for you, he wanted all his family back”

“I'm really sorry he had to experience that, I could have done more, or the right thing...I keep thinking what could I have done different”

“Pointless, can't change the past”

“I know, but I can't forget, is a burden I must carry if nothing else. It was a mistake; I shall live with the regret”

“Stop blaming yourself, what does that accomplish?”

“Aiyooo” he said. “I know you are right, but I can't help myself, I can't just forget you know, and when you remember something, you always get to wonder what if....”

“Then find solace in the fact, that he survived, and he was cared for, looked after”

“I do that too. I'm so grateful you took him in, he couldn’t have ended in better hands, he was seriously lucky, you didn’t just give him a chance, you gave him a whole new better life, he wouldn't have ended such a fine gentleman with me and with his family even if they had survived”

“Would have offered him an education in Gusu Lan anyway”

Wei Ying smiled softly. “I'm sure you would have, the way you looked at him that day in Yilling. I know the look of a mother hen when I see one. You wanted to gift him the world, feed him until he got fat, and teach him manners, am glad you still got to do it in the end”

“And yet...I couldn't even save Wei Ying, the person he needed the most”

“Lan Zhaaaan, stop, stop!. Alright, we already said Theres no point in regret, I won't do it, if you don’t either. In fact, we already made a pact about it, no more regrets. That was then, but this is now. We have to solve this, I'm here now, I can't lose him, this is entirely different..., he’s...he’s ours”

“Ours...” he said in affirmation.

“It's almost nine, we should sleep, we have a long way tomorrow. We have to find this mysterious crazy hugger in the woods.”

“Um” he nodded and closed his eyes.

It took just a few moments for his routine and his command to take over his body, but while he waited. He relished in the fact, that the room was warm, that he could hear two sets of breathings in rhythm. The room was lived in. No more emptiness. No more cold.

+2+

Lan Wangji woke up before first call. Lately, he found himself awake before he was due. It might be the stress of the job; he did have too many responsibilities that took his days away and didn’t allow his mind to rest at night. Much less the pleasure of meditation.

It might also be an age thing. He heard from uncle that it happened to him too around this age. It was a strange notion that the mind, still felt the passage of time even if his cultivation didn’t allow his body to age in a normal rate.

He looked young; his strength still was that of a young man. And yet, time did come to pass. Sizhui was the more affected by it. There where once lay a baby, now was an adolescent. But when he looked at Wei Ying peaceful sleeping, he still saw the young man he was when he died...

At first it was shock to see him as if not a single day had passed. But it had, Wangji himself didn’t look more than twenty-nine. Even if he was already thirty-five. But Wei Ying looked so young still.

But he couldn't be considered naïve, he saw too much, suffered too much to be a child. He was just barely older than Sizhui, but he lived a whole life time over. As they sleep like this, they looked like two young brothers, so precious and innocent wrapped by their dreams.

He felt old, tired and alone inside way before he meet Wei Ying at seventeen. But as soon as he stormed into his life, Wei Ying provoked the child on his soul. How much he wanted to be free, playful. He wanted to chase him, to joke and laugh. Run as fast as he wanted, rules be dammed.

He didn’t get to do that at the end of those days. But he did run behind his memories, after his retreating back on his own dreams, chasing him and never being able to hear him or touch him. Oh how much he missed him. How much he wished he had the courage to do all he wanted before it was too late.

And now that he was back, he still couldn’t be with him, because he couldn't chase him anymore. How unfair it was. To have waited so long and still don't have what he wanted. Even it was the facsimile of just being in his company.

He should have been a child when he could, because now he was a true man and responsibilities couldn’t be thrown away, he can't justify in younthness his actions or his wants. If he had chance with him, I would have been years away, he could have a stolen a kiss and pass it off as ignorant imprudence and improperty, he might have been forgiven. Be excused with it, and say he didn’t know better.

Wei Ying might have even returned it then.

But now he does. He does know better and how inappropriate it is.

But he wants....he wants so much.

As he sees Wei Ying sleeping. His whole soul plays a different tune. Lust tights his fist around him, and he burns ardently with desire.

Every time, every single time Wei Yings calls him “Lan-er-gege". He’s no listening the innocent way a young man calls an elder. Oh no. All he hears is the tilt a shameless woman uses to seduce a man.

The way it sounds as a beckoning call to her bedchamber. And he knows Wei Ying is only teasing, only playing with him.

He never stopped trying to make him play with him. But how can he answer in jester, when these things provoke the man in him? He should be ashamed, and he is.

But he can't help himself. He drinks the image of rosy lips, soft skin and messy black hair. His long beautiful eyelashes. Even if he is a proper man, he still looks delicate, soft in young masculinity.

He wants to destroy the person lucky enough to have him, even if it is a woman or man. Even if is only just an idea. Because he knows there's no such person lurking on his life. Or maybe he just doesn't want to think there is. Wei Ying hasn’t spoken of anyone new on his letters.

Wei Yings writes him about people yes, but as always is in a disinterest rude manner, sometimes he can't even remember the name of the people he just meet. No one has cached his attention.

He really doesn't want to see it happen. Same as the day Lan Sizhui began noticing women and he felt pride and fear in equal measures. Pride, because he was so gentle, and one day he would be happy knowing love. And afraid because he was already mourning his child. The innocent chubby baby he wrapped on blankets and allowed to sleep on his shoulder.

However, he can't decide what is the appropriated feeling regarding Wei Ying and the concept that one day, he might be with someone he wants. It hurts to think about it. To imagine him so happy and in love.

And it makes him angry to feel this way, what claim does he have? -- none, and truly Wei Ying deserves all the happiness he can get on his second chance. He suffered and sacrificed enough; he deserves everything.

Wangji let his chance go, and he has to suffer those consequences.

Wei Ying is far away and so close. Hes right here just a foot apart. If he extends his hand, he can touch, and he is tempted. His fingers ache with the desire to feel his warm presence. Instead, he coils his fist tightly.

+3+

When he comes back with a light breakfast, Wei Ying is already on his feet, already scribbling away in parchment an assortment of talismans.

“I may need them” he says as an explanation while he finishes with the ink and hastily moves the paper away to make room. “Lan Zhan....” he says and Wangji looks up from the plates. But he is pointing to the bed, where Sizhui is awake with half lidden eyes.

He goes to him and puts a hand over his forehead. He’s warm with a light fever.

“How are you feeling?” he still asks.

Sizhui moans.

“That good uh?” jokingly answers Wei Ying while he sits on the bed.

“A- diē” he moans. But his eyes aren't fixed on one of them, they go from one to the other, making unclear to whom he calls.

“We are here A-Yuan" says Wei Ying. “Here, Lan Zhan got you sweet soup, you still like it right?”

He can feel the tiny smile taking over his lips.

“Bába.... a- diē....” says Sizhui raising his hand shakily, Wangji takes it.

“yes...” says Wangji. “Bába wants to give you soup, be a good child”

A-Yuan nods feverish, Wei Yings eyes are shinning like the ponds in Yummeng, but he gathers the strength to feed A-Yuan the soup and the tea before the boy falls sleep again.

“I hope he doesn't get upset if he doesn't find us the next time he wakes”

“I’ll made sure his cousin is here to keep his company”

“We better hurry with this task then, it pains me to depart”

They rushed with their breakfast even if it is against the rules, but it's just the two of them and really, that is one unrealistic rule. Life can get so fast at times, that chewing trughly can wait for more placid times.

By noon they have covered several li of distance, he can see Wei Ying has regained much needed strength in the last months. But by meal time, they decide to make a quick stop at an Inn to eat.

“Oh no, I'm just power walking” says Wei Ying when he tells him what he thinks. “I gained a little weight, but I'm not near as strong as before. I don’t think I’ll ever will, especially since I'm relaying in talismans rathe that demonic cultivation. But the pshyquical weakness is here to stay, I'm just a normal guy, takes me ages to reach my destinations”

“It will do no good if Wei Ying tires excessively then” he says. “I should acquire horses”

“Well, it will be even faster, and as ashamed as it makes me feel, it would be helpful"

“Theres no shame in admitting weakness”

“But I don’t want to become a burden for anyone”

“Wei Ying is no burden”

“So, you say, but you have to admit it makes things awkward with the sects, having me around and bothering such a stemmed cultivator like yourself”

“They are the ones who should be ashamed of being burdens, because they are...all the time”

Wei Ying laughs deep. “Such a burden Lan Zhan, I can't even...; some of those men can even wipe their asses without assistance”

“It's been very troublesome, but I can't just....”

“I know” cuts Wei Ying with a tired smile. “They do need you....”

“I rather be traveling.... like this...with you” he says lowering his eyes because he can't stop the furious beating of his heart.

Wei Ying laughs awkwardly. “It doesn’t think you’ll like it, I'm sure you would be bored by me pretty soon”

“I really can't imagine that....”

“Of course, no, with men like clan leader Yao and Ouyang lowering the intelligence of a room”

“So, you do know it happens the opposite when you are in it?” He sneaks a glance and Wei Ying is fumbling with his cup and blushing.

“I suppose, if you put it like that, then yes, yes of course I am better company”

“Then your presence can't be called a burden”

“Lan Zhan, politics make you very....” he fishes for a word, but keeps opening and closing his mouth. “Flirty...”

As soon as he says it, Lan Zhan feels the warmth creeping up and up, until he also knows he has blushed. But also, the victory of it. Feeling like he did something right, like he won, he feels satisfaction. He feels accomplishment. But like an addict, his body craves the attention with powerful intention, like a possession of the mind. He wants more of it.

“You are being very talkative now”

He huffs a quiet laugh. “Couldn't stop them from arguing unless I found witty responses to shup them up”

“But you had always being witty with your remarks. It something else, you aren't minding your words.”

He thinks about it, and its true on some level. Being acting sect Leader, and Chief cultivator, has forced him to talk more than he is comfortable, it's not on his nature, but things weren't get done, and frosty commands and final decisions made the sect leaders feel like he was becoming an evil overlord, they hadn't felt threatened by Meng Yao at all. Not even once even if he was a true devil mal.

Nie Huaisang had given him an unsolicited advice, but that it turned out it really was helpful.

He would never be like his brother, who had a sweet and kind disposition. But it turned out that if he explained things more and engaged in conversation more, the sect leaders had a very different disposition.

But he was by no means, a flirty leader. It was just Wei Ying.

It was like a broken dam, and words and feelings were leaking tru the cracks. He needed to...express this warm thing on his chest, it wanted to get out.

“Just with you” he clarified once again, not controlling himself or his feelings.

“Whatever it is. I can't say I'm displeased.” He smiles. “You are witty and intelligent and funny! I would love to see you in session”

“You should come”

“I don't think the leaders would appreciate it like you do, would make them angry. And It would make me angry if they say something stupid”

“You still should come. Things are getting settled, and they could see you are in no way a treat, and you know I would never...turn my back on you”

“I know you wouldn't, you haven't done it since I returned, I'm not even sure if you ever did, even in the past. Maybe I was too stupid to see it, but you have always been on my side, and it makes me happier than I can describe. For that reason, I can't cause trouble to you...”

“Theres no trou...”

“Let's get going Lan Zhan, we have yet a long road ahead”

It feels like punch to the gut, disappointment grips him hard. He lowers his eyes and nods.

They do acquire horses. And as soon as they hit the road outside of town, Wei Ying speeds the horse freely. He can see his satisfied smile when he shouts.

“This is an upgrade of that stupid lovely donkey!!”

Wei Ying knows how to ride with elegance and with power, he is good at it, like he is good in a lot of other gentlemanly arts. And it is a beautiful visage, seeing him riding into the sunset.

But as beautiful as he is, it still feels like Wangji is running behind his back, like he’s always dragging his feet in a race. Following at close heals, but never enough. Fingers brushing mere seconds before his hands slips and he falls, until he is lost forever.

Slow down Wei Ying.

Please slow down...he wants to say.

Let me catch up, let me adjust my grip, don’t slip.

+4+

They arrive to their destination by night fall, in the morning they’ll have to ride a few li more before reaching the forest, but it doesn't make sense to keep going, whatever the woman in the woods is hiding. They wouldn’t find her at night. The forest has too many foliage, and there's lots of places a soul can hide during the night.

But the Inn in town is overcrowded and they only have a room for both of them. It's no trouble really, they have camped and sleep in shared rooms before.

Only it is a problem now, because Wangji has been feeling.....

He’s been feeling like his heart wants to come out of his chest. Like it wants to jump out of his ribcage. Like he can't breath a second longer, the feeling beats wildly out of his cage of control.

And it hurts, it hurts so much, because he wants, he wants so much.

So close and so far, away, and his shoulders feel heavy loaded with despair. He just wants to hug him, feel him alive, touch his warmth with the tips of his fingers. But he knows it won't be just that.

It stopped being enough seeing him from afar. But It would never be enough, if he touches him, he would crave it, he would desire. He wouldn’t be able to control it.

He thought he could control those feelings, because it became obvious why he couldn’t be with him. Why he couldn’t force this feeling on him.

He promised himself that as long as Wei Ying was alive and happy or content. As long as he was in no danger. He was happy and content too.

But it is a lie.

And the pain, the sorrow, the despair feels as big as mourning his death once felt, maybe even worse, because he’s right there with a brilliant smile.

He feels like he is falling, but the wrong way, the desperation, the frustration. Those kinds of feelings are the kind that make a good man turn bad.

He’s shaking with it, and he is ready to renounce everything, just for the chance to have him. Ready to let the sects destroy themselves. Sick and tired of their petty disputes. He feels compelled to even renounce his family, abandon his brother in time of need, just for a chance to be with Wei Ying.

But he is better than this. Wei Ying wouldn't even want him is he ever did such a traitorous thing. They promised to be good, to do justice and good deeds to the world.

And yet....he is angry.

Why does destiny take this from him?

This only thing he wants and needs, and it's not even the flesh sexual act what he wants. He has no desire to force him, it's not his desire to be with him skin against skin.

Although it is too.

But he wants so much more than just that. He’s burning with the desire to be with him when he goes to bed, when he wakes up in the morning, he wants to be there when he laughs, when he gets melancholic about the past. He wants to be the guardian of his dreams, and the protector during his nightmare's.

He just wants to be there for all of it for the rest of his life.

And then so more in the next and the next, and the next. Because it pains him to imagine another lifetime so far away from his very soulmate.

Red string and knot around his core, soul, and heart.

It's unfair.

+++5+++

By dinner time, his fingers felt cold, his chest hollow, empty, throbbing with each breath.

“Hanguan-Juan, why are you so upset, Sizhui will be fine”

“um” he nods and drinks from his cup of tea.

“Ayooo!” he says “Who killed your rabbits?”

“No one, they are safe back....home” he struggles with the last word.

Can it still be called a home? Empty rooms and empty bed? It was not one when a little child cried at night. He can't decide if the ghostly echoes of the cries are his or A-Yuan's. But Gusu Lan sometimes feels like the broken abandoned nest a family of birds left behind.

“I think you are being over worked” he says casually. “Or something big is on your mind”

“There is...” he says. “I might just say it now....”. Because really, some part of the pain is not knowing if there is chance.

“Alright, whatever it is, I'll help you, because you should know I got your back too”

“We should be cultivation partners”

Wei Ying looks surprised for a moment, he wasn't expecting that, but then he begin laughing

“See!, you are funny!”

“I'm not joking”

“Of course, you are, are I expected to believe that you, his revered Chief Cultivator wants to...to...cultivate with the likes of me?”

“Yes”

Wei Ying scoffs “If it is a joke, I must ask you to stop, you damn well know I can't cultivate”

“It is not, Wei Ying....I....I....”

His eyes go soft. “I see... I didn't want to say anything about that, but I recon this can't go on any longer. I'm not as clueless as everyone thinks me to be”

“I know you aren't. I know you sometimes walk faster”

Wei Ying bites his lips and he goes serious. Hes talking with the Yilling Patriarch and that scares him. Maybe he shouldn’t have said anything. Maybe he should have kept his mouth shut. He might have ruined this friendship.

“You do know that being with me is an act of selfishness I can't allow? The cultivation worlds need you. And I can tell it would be very disappointed if you did something like this. I know you want to help me recover by cultivating, but It won't even work, why bother?”

“If I can't be allowed to be with my soul mate even if the cultivating doesn’t work, then what is the point of cultivating? What is the point of this whole lifetime? What is the point of leading the cultivating sects? “

Wei Ying snorts. “Such a romantic you are”

Wangji didn’t know if he should be offended.

“It's too much trouble even if your intentions are good. Gusu Lan won't just open his arms to me, your brother and uncle...”

“I'm acting sect leader. Xichen is not coming out of seclusion, and I expect it will take him a long time, as for my uncle. He might be disappointed, but not entirely surprised. He asks about your whereabouts often”

“Yeah, because he wants to know when the devil it's in theirs mist”

“Because he knows I care. He may never trust you, but he knows I do. And sometimes, you have to make do with the situation”

“And what about the other sect leaders”

Wangji frowned. “Smaller sects will cave to the bigger ones and their opinions can and are influenced easily. The bigger ones. One is your nephew, whom I know you spend considerable time with, and the other is your brother, you are avoiding him, but I can tell he just acting angrier because he wants you to contact him”

“Thats Jiang Cheng for you, but how have you gained this understanding of him?”

“Is it really that difficult to understand a man that expresses everything with anger?”

“I suppose not that difficult, or different to understand as yourself, a man that expresses everything with a calm stoic face, here we are after all, expressing our feelings in such a matter, I should be offended, you should be more romantic than this”

“Does Wei Ying want to know about what I feel when I see him? about my racing heart, about how much happiness it brings me? about how much I missed him for years and years?”

Wei Ying blushed. “No, no, stop, I thought I could take it, but I don’t"

“um” he nodded and felt the disappointment.

“You miss understand. I... feel very deeply for you too, but this not about what we feel for each other. I do know. I knew that night before the temple. And I though....”

Wangji closed his eyes.

“But the world.....”

“I know”

“I did so much wrong”

“You didn’t.... everyone makes mistakes, but they weren't born out of evil intentions. They weren't plotted and malicious, they never were, and the world knows this”

“They know, but they aren't going to stop being hypocrites and judgmental. How are you going to maintain such an important position, with me hanging from your arm?”

“Then I don’t care anymore.”

“What about our son?”

“He can remain with my uncle. But I gladly would quit and travel the lands. It is our promise to each other. How many years have to pass, before we fulfil it?, How many years are we supposed to wait? I can't...not anymore. Wei Ying is my soulmate”

Wei Ying sighed. “I thought this was going to end sooner too. Less than a year, but they are so clueless, like a pack of children, making and making the same mistakes”

“Then we have to solve it in other ways. We might never agree with the current leaders Wei Ying. But you are an excellent teacher, and you have been taking unofficial hunting trips with the boys of every clan. And the leaders constantly bring this fact to my attention. I think that if you officially joined Gusu Lan Clan, this wouldn’t be a worrying matter anymore, you would have expressed permission to do it”

“And how do I join Gusu Lan?”

“Marry me...”

Wei Ying looks surprised. “you mean...besides cultivating together you want to....not as...platonic soul mates...”

“As husbands”

“With kissing and everything?”

“Everything....”

“Bed sharing?”

“Everything”

“Clan allowance?!”

“Everything”

“Fucking?”

“Yes”

“Oh....”

His heart beat faster and faster and he’s getting light headed, it was not an answer yet.

“Can't say I expected that...you hide it very well...”

“umm” he hums' disappointed.

“So, I wonder if you are as passionate with this in action, as you are with everything else. You are a man of actions, not words...”

He looks into his eyes. They are shinning with mirth.

“Wei Ying might like to find out”

“He might indeed...” he smiled fully. “But seriously are you really sure you want us to be....so publicly together?”

“I'm not ashamed of what I desire, I want Wei Ying as my husband and Sizhui as our son”

“You are being very shameless” he smiled softly. “And... I'm happy. Glad. I do want to be with you, but I need to know you are completely sure you want this”

“I do, with all my passion, with all my hopes for the future. I never wanted to be chief cultivator in the first place. I did it because it seemed the right thing to do. But I can't go on without you anymore, its drowning me, it's killing me, I'm tired and alone, and I can't be apart from you a single day more. They either accept what you mean to me, or they can destroy themselves however they see fit”

“You are so sure...and I....”

“I understand....you want pace, you don’t want to go back to those clowns and jesters”

“I just don’t want to cause more trouble, it frightens me, politics....people's opinions, it has scarred me, it was so horrible last time, I did everything wrong, didn’t save the people I loved, I'm so afraid of failing you”

“Take your time thinking about it. I too need to know Wei Ying is sure to accept me and my responsibilities.”

“Thats a bit unfair. Makes me look like the bad guy. If I don’t go back to Gusu with you, you want to quit your job, how can I steal you all to myself, you know that doesn't settle with me, and this fear I feel.....”

“I don’t need a big position to keep our promise. And I do want to settle with you. We gave them too much before. And I know now what I might lose....I don’t want to lose you ever again....”

They both submerged into a contemplative state, only interrupted by the noise of the overcrowded Inn. When it was time to retire. Wei Ying made a big fuzz about the bed. But then again, he always did.

This time tho, it was different. A soon as the candle was blown. Wei Ying moved close enough to touch. Close enough to be held in his arms.

It felt so right, Wangji couldn't think of ever sleeping apart from him again. He was older now, so he knew that often, what people said it was wrong, it wasn’t actually. It was just misunderstood. And what people thought to be harmless, it often was.

He was not a youngster easily swayed into believing a set of hard rules and supposed truths.

People would always talk, they would whisper, they would plot. But being with this man, no matter what they tough or said. It was not wrong.

What felt wrong was to keep them apart.

If a good man can be driven into perdition, he thought this was his edge cliff.

And he’s sure to jump.

++6++++

Next morning, before sunset, they departed from the Inn in search of the hugger of the woods.

“Let's go this way, there's a stream nearby. And I believe a starved woman would set camp near it, it’s a very plentiful place, been there fishing too”

“umm”

“Hanguan-Jun, please don’t be disappointed if I can't be so sure to answer your kind attentions”

“I'm not. It is a serious matter”

“Of course, and there's also that our son is in pain”

“Must hurry”

“I'm serious, It's not that I don’t want.....its just....I feel fear, I feel so tired too, some days I feel like I can't love anymore. I feel that if I lose a single person on my life, it would break me again, everything would be dark”

“I'm here for you”

“And sometimes I wished you weren't....it's painful to think about, but the fear I have of losing you sometimes keeps me awake at night. Sometimes I dream my sister, and sometimes I dream it's you whose death I provoke. I...I feel so empty without you, but I keep thinking that I can't do this. I can't do it anymore”

Wangji stopped walking and felt his heart shattering.

He knew like an abstract concept that Wei Ying had lost so much, and that his pains and ghost would always be with him. But hearing him say these things, made him feel like he failed him. Like he was not enough to protect him. Like once again he couldn’t do a single thing to stop him.

Maybe he shouldn’t.

When they were younger, he tried and tried to stop him from suffering and that made him go away.

But then, what was he supposed to do?

“Lan Zhan...” he begins. But stops abruptly.

From the foliage, a needle sails the air. Wei Ying’s talisman stops it. A furious scream is heard and in just a matter of seconds, Wangji takes his sword and takes a stance.

The woman comes out of the shadows. Shes as described, a shabby dirty woman with crazed gaze.

“Why are you attacking people?!!” screams Wei Ying full of anger, Chenqing on his hands.

“Not people, just you!” she rages and storms in his direction.

No time to think about it. Wangji sways his sword to stop her. The woman to his surprise, takes a sword out of a shahs on her back just in time to stop him from cutting her in half.

They dance around, taking blows and stopping deathly hits. Shes no joking around, she truly wants to kill them, no explanation.

“WHY?” screams Wei Ying throwing more talismans than what Wangji can track, but she is so much experienced than expected.

She is definitely a cultivator, but her face is not one he remembers

“Who in this land does not want to kill you, Wei Wuxian?, haven't you killed enough people to warrant a revenge?”

“Too many to count!”, he says angered. “But I'm asking why did you attack my son?”

“Lan Wangji son!” she screams and, in her rage, she nicks him on the face. He frowns and looks at her feet.

He’s seen that before.

As soon as he thinks he seen it before, he knows where he’s seen it before. DeJa'Vu.

“This are Gusu Lan techniques, badly done.”

“Shup up!” she screams. “Bastard, fucking bastard, you got the gall to tell me that to my face”

Wei Ying stops long enough to examine her, then he throws into the battle again, dancing in the way the Yummeng Jiang Sect does when in defensive attack, but he does not carry a sword with him anymore. And just dances around, his back glued to his, as the woman desperately moves in look of an opening.

But with Wei Ying guarding his back, they both moving in tandem to the sound of an erratic dark melody. The restless souls in the woods come, ghostly lights in the shape of screaming faces.

No human voice's, empty expression forever etched in agony. Their voices are the cruel screams of the ghost flute.

She keeps the pace, never underestimate the power of anger and the thirst of revenge. And of course, never understimate a Gusu technique even when badly performed. But in the end, she slows down her attacks.

Shes starved, she's tired.

“Why do you want this revenge?!” grunts Wei Ying with the effort.

“Because I swearer to kill you both, that child too, if I could, and the opportunity presented itself”

“What did we do?!”

She roars and moves quicker in one more powerful blow. Shes erratic and she stumbles and yet, she still grazes him in the arm and then very nearly gives Wei Ying a poke. But because he thinks Wei Ying has too many scars. He moves lighting fast and shoves her out.

She falls to the ground with a hard hit. She bleeds from the deep wound he gave her on the shoulder. She hisses.

“Enough is enough” says Wei Ying. “I’ll give you one chace to break my sons curse. Or I'll kill you”

“I won't do it!” she grunts.”

“I'm just fine with it. Some people a better off this world”

“Why couldn’t you stay dead?”

“I don’t know what business I have with you, so you shouldn’t care about mine”

“Underserving bag of dirt” she spats. “You!..... you two!,..you killed my husband”

They both understand then.

“Who?” asks Wei Ying.

Ok, maybe just Wangji understands, but he can't blame him.

“Su she...” he says ending the mystery.

“Who?, ah?!, wait....that guy was married? and to a formidable cultivator?”

She begins laughing. “You ended my life. He was my world. We were very happy”

“He took wrong choices and bad turns” Wangji says. “He was a lying traitor”

Her laughter turns into crying. “Yes....but I loved him”

“You can still turn around, it's not late, whatever he might have done, your life should be spared. You can love again if you wish”

“As if...” she says looking at Wangji. “As if one can have more than a soul mate on one lifetime, you should know Lan Wangji”

He does. It is sometimes impossible. It's so rare to find even one. He can't imagine ever finding another soulmate. Not in the way Wei Ying is to him. He has never doubted that their fates are tied by romantic love from another lifetimes.

A tie so strong can only mean a wife or a husband. Otherwise, his lust is not necessary. Fate could have them as friends, as brothers, as any other thing. But he was born into a cut sleeve to make it work.

“Then its better if you go meet him soon” he says. Because he honestly thinks it's a mercy.

When Wen Ying was lost to him, he considered the possibility of just going after him. Another chance in another place, in another timeline.

He did not, because of their child. Said child was sick and hurting. And that made him pause. If he had given up, he might miss Wei Ying’s return.

“Do you have a keepsake of him?”

“No” she closes her eyes. “We couldn’t....”

“Then why did you hold on? if you don’t have...hope” he asks.

“Revenge is a hope” she says with frown. “Because I promised him at his grave”

“Thats bad...” Wei Ying says. “No matter what he did, he took some Karma he would have to repair later. And if you do more damage, you’ll lose your chance to meet him again, too busy repairing your own wrong doings”

“I don’t care anymore”

Wei Ying sighed. “Then....we.”

She scoffed. “Fuck you....I hate you so much, but the mere thought of ever seeing you again even if I don't know it's you, it's disgusting. I don't want to ever cross fates with you, I’ll let the boy live, but you better kill me, I'm done”

“I don’t want to do you wrong either” said Wei Ying slumping his shoulders.

“Coward” she said. She removed a wooded box out of her sleeve and the putrid remains of a heart were inside filled with needles and ribbons. She untied them all. “He should get better...” she sighed. “You are a such bastards, and I hope one day, you feel this pain again”

She took a dagger out and ended herself. The splatter covered the ground. Wei Ying flinched and looked away as she struggled for breath.

And that was the end of that.

+++7++++

The journey back was peaceful and quiet. Both of them too worried to resume their talk. They needed to know that Sizhui was safe.

But also, the woman's words were etched into their minds.

It sat heavily and unsaid.

++8++++

When they arrived at Gusu, they were informed that Sizhui was getting better. When they visited him, he was awake and full of questions.

Wangji still needed to reprimand him about the incident.

“Be more careful, be more vigilant. Some people would always look to do you harm, just because who your parents are....”

“You mean....”

“I feel responsible for you A-Yuan, when I joke and say I am like a mother to you, what I really mean is that I do love you like a son, I always did. You were so small...” Wei Ying says. “I'm sorry that would make your life harder. But I don’t regret it. Loving you as a father”

The boy blushed and nodded. “Thats...more than I can hope for and deserve, honestly”

“Nonsense, you are a sweet kid”

“I’ll be more careful from now on. It honestly passed my attention. I didn’t feel when she prickled me, but I should have checked out as soon as I felt it, it was just like a bug bite as the days passed”

“Yes, you should inform us at once whenever you feel something out of the ordinary. Your father is the chief cultivator and head of Gusu Lan after all. You are too burdened by us, but also, very, very loved”

“I will!” he says earnestly. Wangji feels a deep warm on his chest.

Even if they aren't husbands in the future, they still are fathers together.

+9+++

After two more days of rest, Sizhui is allowed to stand from the bed. They let him sit on the garden outside the infirmary, he sits on a warmed patch of grass. The sun over his head, book in hand.

Wangji and Wei Ying sit on the shaded porch of the budling drinking tea in pace.

It's very, very peaceful, and exactly what he needed. Those days are blurred with quiet happiness. A vacation of sorts to him.

“He shouldn’t stay in the sun to long unless he gets a hat” comments Wei Ying.

“um” he agrees.

“This feels too domestic”

“um?” he asks

“the three of us.... sitting here as time passes. I know it can't be like this all the time, but this stolen moment is perfect”

Wangji looks over at Sizhui and agrees.

“Maybe we should get another one....”

“Another one?...” he asks confused.

“Another child...” he smiles. “Just to keep stealing moments like this....”

He grunts a small smile.

“We could do that. Adopt another child in need. Educate him”

“Yes...”

“Because no one would bat an eyelash if we are married all good and proper”

Wangji looks quickly at him.

“Yeah...” Wei Ying smiles. “That woman made me think. It's true that soulmates are a rare gift from fate. This is my chance to be with you. Who knows when would I get the chance of finding you again? You are the one for me, we have known this since when were young. As an adult I can't deny that I was born for you. I have done too much damage, and I will be expected to repay all my wrong doings, I'm sure we’ll find each other again, but that’s a problem I don’t have right now”

“What about your fears?”

“Can it really get any worse than what has happened? I'm sure I won't be all very peaceful like this. I'm sure it would be hard and sometimes dark. But you are a light to me. You don’t have to run after me anymore. I'm done running. And I believe it is my time to sit beside you and wait. I’ll wait until you are done with whatever you need to do, and then, when we both are free with our time. We could do anything we want. And besides, I do have a knack for teaching”

Wangji took his hand.

“I’ll be a great life” said Wei Ying with a smile. An Wangji knew then, that it was true.

The race was over, but they’ll kelp walking beyond the finishing line.

#alightbuthappypen #wangxianLNY21 #*LNYfic21 #*LNYgifts21

12 notes · View notes

alice-in-wonderart · 4 years

Note

Could you do marriage proposal headcanons for the junior quartet (Sizhui, Jingyi, Jin Ling and Zizhen), pretty please?

Oof, I apologise for the wait, dear. This got much longer than anticipated- regardless, I hope you enjoy me clowning the juniors. After all, proposing isn't easy.

Jin Ling

Panic. Panic. Panic. Panic. Panic. Panic.

"Why do I have to propose?! Can't she?!"que angry whailing from the Juniors.

No, in all honesty, Jin Ling would be utterly out of it. The moment he realizes he wants to spend his life with you hits him in the face like a brick. And suddenly he doesn't know what to do with himself... So he turns to his friends, who of course, tease him like hell for it.

Ultimately, they help him set up some sort of plan - the plan of taking you out and proposing. The whole idea was for him take a day off from being a sect leader to spend it with you, which turned into an impromptu mini trip to Yunmeng. And so the plan is set in motion.

But nothing ever goes as planned, does it? For the most part - it went okay. He took you around Yunmeng, showing you anything and everything interesting, reminiscing even. But you knew something was off - Jin Ling was jittery, much more unruly and quick to anger than usual.He was blushing like crazy at the simplest of touches. In fact, he was a walking time bomb ready to explode any second. And- it did.

It did, when work found him anyways. Urgent business he had to discuss with his uncle, apparently something which couldn't wait. He wasn't even listening to the logistics of it, his mind was on you - who was going to have to wait for him patiently. Not only that, but because of said work - you'd have to stay longer than expected. (Maybe he should have warned his Jiujiu about his plan, but such smart decision-making doesn't run in the family)

And, you see, usually this wouldn't bother him much, but when he had meticulously *tried* to plan a PROPOSAL, things were very different. So, coming out after a few hours of endless work, he's pissed - at himself, at work, at life...and he yells at you. He yells at you for asking why he's been acting strange all day, frustration falling from his lips like a sinner's confession.

"Strange?! You have no idea what is going on, do you!? No, of course you don't! Ugh. My entire plan got ruined!! This is a disaster!!"

And you'd have to calm him down, that no - nothing was a disaster, you had fun, Yunmeng was lovely, you'd love to stay a bit more. And once again it was proven to him, that there is nobody in the entire world he'd rather spend his days with.

"Okay, look. I know I'm not perfect. I can be rash, hot-tempered, bad-mannered. I'm a sect leader, I'm always busy. And even now, when I tried to make everything perfect for you, it still failed. And here I am, standing in front of you, feeling like an absolute lovestruck moron, like you're my first crush and I just lose my train of thought around you. And-

Goddamn it, I love you, I love you with all of my heart. And I want to show you that everyday. I want to give you everything, I want to give you the world and - I just want to know if- you'dwanttomarryme?"

Lan Sizhui

Sizhui knew very well, that one day he was going to marry you - after all, you were his light, his soulmate. His first love, his world. You stayed with him through thick and thin already, you were his support, his treasure. And he simply couldn't imagine a world without you.

But proposing didn't come as naturally as he'd expected. After having witnessed WangXian in its full potential, having been a part of their wedding, and knowing fully well how it should go down, he still felt a tad too lost and decided to ask for advice.

Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian were very supportive, albeit teasing. Ultimately they were of little help outside of support, suggesting (WWX) all kinds of crazy proposals, from poems, to serenades, to fireworks, wild animals, crazy adventures. Lan Wangji suggested simply asking, which also didn't quite sit right with Sizhui. He was never one for the extravagant show-off performances, but a little more care would never hurt anybody.

Ultimately, he decided to ask you during one of your occasional evening walks around Gusu. He'd told you to wait for him outside a tad later than expected. That of course caught your attention, since Lan Sizhui was never one to break rules, but the little night date was set in motion regardless.

Walking around the back mountain and near the pond with the bunnies, he felt his hands sweat a bit, while waiting for the right moment. He seemed much more distracted than usual, a light pink dusting his cheeks. Soon he found himself kneeling next to you, as you were holding one of the white fluffballs in your hands, lovingly petting it.

"I could stay like this forever" he'd hear fall from your lips. Or perhaps it was something else? He wasn't listening.

"You can..I mean- we can. Just you and me." he'd mumble, gently taking one of your hands in his. He took a deep shaky breath. The bunny jumped off you and he gently caressed the palm of your other hand, before pulling it slightly to his heart. The questioning look you gave him made his heart skip a beat..or two. He smiled warmly at you.

"I..called you out here for a reason actually. I've never actively looked for love, never thought I might find it, yet here you are. And I love you very much, much more than I have the words to express. And you see, everytime I look at you, I can't help but imagine a bright future with you, together, as partners. Even now, my heart beats so fast around you, I fear it might jump right out of my chest. No amount of eloquent poetry or masterfully crafted music can contain everything that I feel for you."

He stopped and moved to kiss your knuckles. "And through it all, we stayed together. You know me better than I know myself. And I know now, that I can't imagine a life without you in it. With all the love and respect I have for you, I'm asking you if you'd like to marry me?"

Lan Jingyi

Let's say your cultivation level isn't the best for the sake of the scenario lol

Panic. Panic. Panic. Panic. Panic - Part 2

Oh wow, something scarier than ghosts - commitment love.

Jingyi is lost. He knows he loves you more than anything and he's pretty sure you love him too but- marriage?! He's never had to deal with...that!? Out of desperation, he'd turn to Lan Xichen, who would give him the unhelpful advice of "Follow your heart and see where it leads you." thx m8, rly helpful.

At the end, he'd simply decide to ask you outright. And he was going to propose to you after the upcoming night hunt. He'd imagined it so romantic - him, returning to you, adrenaline-high and sweeping you off your feet with a proposal even the gods would envy.

But then you just HAD to request joining the night hunt. And Lan Xichen had the audacity to agree!

Each time he'd look at you, his heart would skip a beat, his face would flush and he'd forget his own name. It wasn't fair - that you decided to accompany him on his night hunt, since now he had a constant distraction. And of course, he'd complain about it. Not only did he have to look after himself, but now you too? Why was life so cruel?!

And of course, you'd just giggle with your perfect melodic voice and assure him you'd be perfectly fine, and that if something were to happen, you'd be safe and sound next to him. And of course his heart would do a 360 and run an entire marathon. Who needed sanity anyways? Not him, nope.

But night hunts aren't always safe. And that night, resentful energy had seeped much deeper within their hunting grounds than usual, bringing about an army of spirits to roam the dark forests. And when a few decided to sneak-attack, things took a turn for the worst, quicker than expected.

The ambush, of sorts, left you vulnerable, when everybody else ran in all directions, dealing with the spirits at hand. And as much as Jingyi was keeping an eye on you, in the dark of the night, amongst the resentful ghosts, he lost track of you. And panic struck over unlike anytime before. At once his fear of ghosts was utterly deminished and a single thought flooded his mind - where are you?

He stopped in the middle of the battle ground, looking at every direction imaginable. And surely enough - there you were, about to be attacked by a spirit.

And Lan Jingyi saw red. In the blink of an eye, he was in front of you, dead set on protecting you until the very end of time. And that he did.

Once the threat was taken care of, he turned to you, no disregard whatsoever about the others around him, and pulled you into a bone-crushing hug, asking over and over if you're okay, if you're hurt and if you needed anything.

After having to assure him, that you are in good health, he pulled away from the hug, only to grab you by the shoulders and leave a quick kiss on your lips. Lan be damned, he nearly lost you.

"Forget anything, what if I wasn't there on time?! I just realised how unpredictable this life can be and now how do you expect me to rest peacefully, without you safe by my side? I almost lost you just now! How could I live with myself if that happened? God, this job is so dangerous! We live a life where any second could be our very last and I can't stand that thought! Let me protect you for all eternity and marry me!"

*cue dead silence from half of the Lan clan and a severely amused Wangxian.

Ouyang Zizhen

I call him - a modern day teenager in ancient China, which applies to his idea of marriage as well.

Out of all of the Juniors, he'd be the most set on actually proposing the "right way" - whatever that meant.

To him, a day meant for a proposal was a day meant for spoiling. It was a "show my love I'm ready to do anything for them" day. Was he an absolute nervous wreck? Yes. Was he showing it? ....well. That's arguable. Did you absolutely know something was off with him? Of course. You'd spend enough of your life with Zizhen to know him like your own name.

So, when he came up to you, gingerly asking if you'd like to go downtown for a little walk, awkwardly scratching the back of his neck, you knew you were in for a wild ride - after all, that's one of Ouyang Zizhen's many charms - the adventurous spirit. ( ugh, he's such a Sagittarius. Don't @ me, we don't know his bday)

Upon setting foot in the middle of the town, he turned to you and smiled brightly. "Anything you pick today is all yours. Anywhere you want to go, we go. Anything you want to eat - will be given to you." And he meant it.

He didn't expect you to, however, disregard all of that, instead choosing to spend the day with him, simply walking around and talking. Perhaps drinking a cup of tea. And he followed your humble request, of course.

Yet he still wanted to spoil you - from the freshly baked goods further down the street, to some pretty hair ornament he absolutely insisted would look lovely on you. He just wanted to show you how much you meant to him. Alas, he just wasn't sure how.

He proudly strode by your side, hand in hand, despite his bashfulness, loving every minute spent with you. You ran around, enjoying each other's company, listening to the funny gossips, petting all kinds of animals in the streets, all until you got to a street musician. (I swear those have existed back then - I've seen a documentary, but if I'm wrong, do correct me ✌️ )

He ran up to him and whispered something you couldn't hear, then payed him. The musician in question smiled in return to him and changed the song to one you both recognised and loved. Turning to you with the most bashful of smiles, Zizhen spoke in a fairly hushed tone. "And this - this is for you."

Through a painfully big smile, you couldn't help but ask whether you were forgetting an anniversary, or if it was your birthday and you hadn't realised. The slight worry that you had forgotten some important day threw him off immediately and he frantically waved his hands. "Oh no, no, no. You haven't forgotten anything!" Then he grabbed your hand and turned to you fully.

"Today isn't an anniversary, but I was hoping it could be in the future... We've been together through so much and I wanted to repay you for all of the kindness, understanding, and love that you're giving me. And before you argue that repaying isn't an option, let me finish first. Sometimes I lie in bed at night, wondering what I've done to deserve you, what wonderful hero I must have been in a past life to have you here next to me. And then I always hear your beautiful voice in my head, reminding me, that you're here to stay and I just can't believe it. I wanted to make this day special for you, because I love you and I appreciate everything you've done for me. And well..there is one more thing. I've thought long and hard about this and... Well... I can't help but wonder, if you'd want to stay with me until the very end and marry me?"

Thank you for reading~

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pastthevaulteddoors · 3 years

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MDZS/The Untamed AU thoughts!

Awhile ago, I headcannoned an AU but I can’t find the post. I wanted to babble on it while I’m waking up.

A/B/O AU where if you decide to cultivate a golden core, you’ll present as one of A/B/O, therefore when you present it’s biological, but magic based so you can choose to present, but you can’t choose what it is.

Long post. Mentions of the R word.

Normal people don’t present and are just normal.

WWX was an alpha. As was Lan Wangji so while they might angry-flirt, they’re never going to be mates. But then the Wens win at Nightless City during the Sunshot Campaign and Wei Wuxian is publicly executed.

13 years later, WWX is reincarnated into the omega body of Mo Xuanyu.

The world is quite different from when he died.

The Wens have the run of the place. Wen Ruohan has been crowned King while all other cultivation sects are now considered supervisory offices. More or less labor camps that are tightly overseen by Wens.

Before WWX can come to grips with this new world and what he’s supposed to do, he’s swept out of Mo Manor by yet-presented and beta cultivators lead by a young man named Wen Sizhui. His troupe are all Lans with threadbare grey-not-white robes and forehead ribbons that look like they were ripped off of white clothing, or the ribbons are so frayed they look tattered and second hand.

While Wen Sizhui appears kind, with a sweet face and gentle tones, he’s ruthless. They take out the Mo family curse that’s closer to a death sentence than a saving, then they drag all omegas out of the manor for The Games.

They were there to pick up the omegas originally, and just happened to save/kill the Mo family while they’re there. Confused, WWX goes along with it, barely registering that he is in fact an omega now.

WWX is taken on a carriage that looks like it could be closed up like a jail cell. He’s squished in with a handful of others that look crossed between terrified and depressed, resigned to a horrible fate.

Along the way they are met with another group. These are Jins with another handful of villagers. This one is headed by a Jin Ling. There’s an offhanded conversation, where it seems that Wen Sizhui and Jin Ling know each other, maybe even friends.

Turns out, the Jins sided with the Wens and are thriving under the heavy hand of Wen, while the other sects are dwindling in homes that closely resemble labor camps.

The Lans had rebelled again, so The Games are going to be held on the mountains of Gusu. They head up to Cloud Recesses which was never properly rebuilt. There’s huts, not homes. Attempts were made to make this suppressed sect back into its tranquil past, but it’s clearly lacking.

Throughout a semi-imprisonment while people are gathered to Gusu, WWX learns that the Lans have been the biggest rebellion to subjugation even over a decade after losing. He sees LXC a few times. He looks as beautiful and regal as ever, but his clothing is old, his ribbon is cut short, and the once brightness in his eyes for hope has darkened to a façade. He has yet to see LWJ.

Lotus Pier is gone. Wen Xu was killed by LWJ, and Wen Ruohan has adopted Wen Sizhui as his heir when Wen Chao had proven unable to perform after he ‘lost his mind’ during the Sunshot campaign.

When Wen Ruohan arrives WWX is shocked to see that he’s flanked by Meng Yao (top advisor) and Jiang Cheng (his body guard). Turns out, Meng Yao was a pivotal point in getting the Jins to turn on the other sects that won the Wens the war. Jiang Cheng was said to be a loyal dog to the Wens when he had no where else to go. Others say that JC was blackmailed into the position when his sister was threatened.

Jin Guangshan cowers before Wen Ruohan, but he smiles and has his head held high. He knows he’s in a position of power but only at the behest of the Wens. Then a crowd gathers and a ceremony is being presented for The Games.

WWX and other omegas are ushered to a side stage like cattle. Across from a crowd he sees alphas on a similar platform. On the main stage Wen Ruohan has a handful of minor and major sect leaders.

WWX is THRILLED that his sister is in the omegas with him so he tries to communicate with her who he is. Like everyone in the group, she looks frightened but resigned to what is going to happen. She doesn’t give WWX much room to talk, as they must be quiet while a presentation happens. Jiang Yanli does hold WWX close, as if comforting the other omega. He notices that there are others clinging together, and this is not uncommon.

WWX also sees LWJ across to the other stage at where the alphas are lined up. This group is different. The alphas are stoic in general, but there is a good number of Wen alphas in front of them, clearly rowdy and excited.

WWX notices that Nie Mingjue is not there, and Nie Huaisang is a cowering beta on stage. Sadly, NMJ was killed a few years ago protecting LXC in The Games. It’s rumored that it was closer to a murder than self defense, an orchestrated attack. Jin Zixuan looks disappointed and is instructed by his father to stand with the Wen alphas.

A gruesome display happens. A Lan omega has been induced into a heat and is on display as they writhe, out of control, on stage. LXC finally breaks ranks and covers the omega before a rowdy Wen can get too close. He covers them with his coat and they’re both beaten.

“At least he’s not raped this year,” someone says in the omega’s stage, a whispered, scared thing. WWX is surprised but as it turns out, LXC is an omega. He always said he was beta, but being an omega as a sect leader is near impossible when it comes to respect among peers.

The Games, as it turns out, is like Hunger Games. Higher ranking omegas and alphas are forced into heats and ruts then let loose in a designated area for sport. Wens hunt the omegas. The alphas that are not Wens are let loose for the sake of humiliation.

The forced heats will usually last three days, in which there is no shelter on the mountainside, but magical barriers to keep them in one area. Birds with eye-talisman fly overhead so that those not in the arena can watch the chaos from a screen-like object.

After the ‘ceremony,’ the alphas and omegas are ushered into a tight space and a magic hormone scent is pumped into the area. They are being forced into head/ruts.

First into the arena, the omegas are released. They’re separated so they cannot hide together. The first alphas WWX encounters is JC and Jin Zixuan. He’s afraid of JC immediately when he’s rushed upon, thinking that he’s about to be raped by his former brother-turned Wen, when JC rushes past him to knock out a Wen that was coming up behind him.

Jin Zixuan looks on at WWX in disgust. Apparently, Mo Xuanyu had no shame and would try to mate with his blood relatives. But WWX’s fears of JC being let loose on him begins to fade when JC notes that he doesn’t like WWX’s scent and they surround him as they walk to find other non-Wens. They’re playing guard.

WWX is confused. Aren’t they Wen allies now? But as it turns out, in The Games, people form pacts. JZX obviously would only want to mate with his wife, and JC says he has a pact with another omega so he can’t spend his energy on WWX’s nasty smell.

The scents they give off is magic based with their golden core. Despite giving up his core, then dying, the scents of MXY is mixed with that of his own brand of magic. JC notices something is.. off on the scent. Familiar. Like the past and like his own but different. He can’t put his finger on it so he puts Mo Xuangyu into a familiar category in his brain/hormones which is a no-mate zone.

They find Jiang Yanli. She’s apparently the alpha of omegas and is known for taking omegas under his wing. She has a trail of them behind her and they all look relieved when JC and JZX come into view. They know they’re here to protect them... until their own hormones overwhelm them and they have to mate.

The next day they run across a group of roaming Wens that induced themselves to give them vigor and a stronger sex drive. JC and JZX have to play a careful political game to outwit and beat off the Wens without compromising their positions in the Wen hierarchy.

So JC isn’t a Wen loyalist after all. He was, indeed, blackmailed, and it appears that JZX had spoken out against the Wens and that is why he’s forced into The Games along with his wife. Despite protecting each other, it isn’t unheard of omegas getting raped despite being mated in these games. They are built to humiliate and tear down heroic sprites, but if one becomes pregnant with a Wen, then they are forced into a sort of Wen concubine’s life, forced to live under the Wen that is the parent of the child.

They eventually come by a small pact of Lans. WWX learns that the Lans have long since kept to themselves after they were overthrown and have little trust with other clans. However, WWX does note that LWJ and JC have a sort of alliance, possibly even friendship going for them. Or as friendly as the two of them can get. JC is low key always helping where he can, and WWX suspects that JC led Wen Xu into LWJ’s sword.

Among the Lans are a few others with masks on. WWX quickly recognizes the scent of Wen Sizhui. He holds respect for Lan Wangji because he saved his small village of Wens, including Wen Ning and Wen Qing.

Seems LWJ is all over the place making allies!

The few pacts run together for a bit until a few get too rowdy to help out. A few mated couples have to part way, unable to keep hormones in check.

During The Games, there is little shame among them. They cannot control themselves, so announcing to the group that one has to part because they’re going to lose control, and need to have a good dicking with their mate, is not frowned on. If one has to turn away in the corner of a cave to take care of things, it’s respectfully ignored and understood.

WWX has struggled quite a bit. This body is in his prime and he is not used to the responses of an omega.

When the pacts begin to shrink due to the need to part ways to mate, they start to converge. Eventually, the Lans run with JC’s group when JZX and Jiang Yanli had to leave.

Finally, JC admits that he cannot stay in control, and Lan Xichan leaves with him... that is when JC’s familiar scent leaves and WWX is overcome with LWJ’s dominate hormones.

That’s also when LWJ is not simmered from his brother’s scent and is overwhelmed with WWX. Not MXY, but he knows, he cannot mistake the scent of the former alpha he used to love.

It has been rumored that LWJ hasn’t touched anyone when forced into these games. He’s one of the few that still have fire in their eyes, a desire to fight back. In WWX’s opinion of seeing him again, he’s still just as beautiful as ever, even with his ripped robes and messy hair, he stole WWX’s attention even from far away.

Now, closer, stuck in this pact with LWJ the sole alpha among a handful of omegas and undercover Wen helpers... WWX lets out a whine and LWJ responds!! It takes everyone by surprise when LWJ doesn’t even try to move them away from the group as the others did when he grabs WWX and start rutting up against his thigh.

They’re used to this in The Games, honestly. It’s the sorry and sad nature of the event, but to see someone like LWJ break shakes them.

Wen Sizhui can’t get LWJ’s attention enough to even ask him to leave, that they’ll take care of the omegas when LWJ pushes WWX down on the ground and starts rucking up his robes. So the omegas and undercover Wens run before LWJ penetrates WWX. And as for WWX, the dam broke the moment LWJ touched him. He was gone, all wet and wants nothing more than to get LWJ inside of him and mate him until he can’t see straight.

Which he does. Brilliantly.

Having held back for so long, and never taken anyone, even in a forced rut, LWJ has very little control or downtime. He mumbles, between sessions, how he is sorry that he “cannot care of Wen Ying as he should” and WWX understands. And gets that, well, LWJ knows who he is.

After The Games end WWX begins to incite rebellion among the people. Mo Xuanyu was never respected for his obvious incestuous desires for his kin and his general lack of sanity (or so they say). But he suddenly gains new respect among the repressed with the rebellion leader LWJ by his side.

However, Meng Yao (sorry, he is the evil bad guy in this one) is smart, and uses his skills of persuasion and sweet face to always be at the right place at the right time when the rebellion tries to rise up. However, soon, the entirety of Gusu Lan is overturned and the Wen office is burned.

NHS gets on board and make a personal vendetta against Meng Yao for the plotted death of his brother. Soon, smaller sects join in once they see the tides turning.

Then on a surprise move, Jin Guangshan is poisoned. No one is 100% sure who did it, but some suspect his son. Jiang Yanli will never tell the public how her father-in-law tried yet again to get her into bed, and how her fingers slipped over his drink with something hidden in a ring.

This incites inner fighting, then a pushback on the Wens.

A few months of fighting passes by and changes happen as tensions rise and people are pushed together as they fight. Mainly, having to maintain heats around alphas.

WWX didn’t realize the amount of work that omegas went into to keep their scents at bay, so he didn’t realize at first just why LWJ would not let him have a night to himself. Or why LWJ would be possessive around other alphas. Then he goes into heat again, naturally, and LWJ steals him away for an amazing few days of doting and mating and come back to a lost battle for the rebels.

Lan Xichen has to teach WWX these things. Here, WWX learns about JC being a secret romantic to LXC and they have mated no just out of necessity. LXC blushes and says that JC marked him years ago and they had to find a spell in the black market to cover it up. Apparently, Wen Sizhui discovered this and handed the spell to JC and since has shown himself as an allie as well.

WWX slowly falls in love with LWJ, who turns out to be an incredibly doting mate and even asks to be marked before the final battle. LWJ never stopped loving him, even in death.

The final battle, NHS calls a secret truce talk with Meng Yao where NHS says he’ll betray the rebels as long as he’s left alone and safe with his art and fans. Then he stabs Meng Yao in the back. Literally, NHS asks for another bowl of wine, and when Meng Yao turns to get it he stabs the little f’er in the back.

The Wens are falling apart when JC pulls his loyalists/secret rebels/Jiang clan survivors to turn the tide. It’s Wen Suzhui that kills Wen Ruohan with a bloody show of power; even holds up his head as proof before everyone that he’s dead, then orders Wen Chao dragged out and beheaded as well.

Wen Suzhui is viciously cold when he has to be. Therefore, the young man becomes sect leader and surrenders the Wens to the rebels. Unlike before, when the Wens are all rounded up in the end they have a leader that doesn’t resist but demands boundaries to be set, all the while with the sweetest of faces and the deception of youth.

Wen Ruohan loyalists are cut down, and what little remains of the Wens are banished to a village where Wen Ning and Wen Qing are. So, not many Wens left. (Doesn’t stop Wen Suzhui from courting the Jin heir from afar with sweet letters, gently returned with flowers with Jin Ling’s scent)

At the celebratory banquet for their win, WWX announces his pregnancy and LWJ publicly cries happy tears. And then...?

Happily ever after? Probably.

#xicheng #wangxian #mdzs #mo dao zu shi #the untamed #wei wuxian #lan wangji #a/b/o au

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deesarrachi · 4 years

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One week down, three to go! @fytheuntamed‘s fall fest continues.

Shout out in this one to @trans-axian for pointing out that wwx and jc would have basically identical parenting styles in this post lmao

Jin Ling has A Plan.

It's a really good plan, by his usual barometer of plans (Lan Jingyi approves but doesn't have suggestions, Lan Sizhui disapproves but doesn't refuse to take part), and it's going to work out great and then his maternal uncles will stop being super weird and stilted and formal at each other and he can stop feeling vaguely guilty every time he choses which one he wants to spend time with on any given day.

It would have been a great plan, very simple and straightforward and easy except for the fact that apparently someone (not him, certainly) had neglected to make sure that the carefully planned and perfectly safe fake haunting he'd roped the Lan juniors into setting up wasn't going to get completely derailed by the very real and dangerous actual yaoguai that was also wandering around the forests outside Lanling – and really, he was going to have a long and involved talk with every single Jin cultivator, what was even the point of being the best and most powerful sect if they couldn't even keep their own lands clear of roaming ghouls?

But maybe that conversation would have to wait until there isn't a long and – thankfully – shallow slice across his chest, staining his robes red.

He meets Lan Sizhui's equally wide eyes, tearing his eyes away from the matching gash across his chest and has a momentary jolt, wondering if his face is as ashen and filled with terror as Lan Sizhui's.

Before they have time to react beyond shock, a black arrow fletched in red erupts from the yaoguai's chest and purple lightning encircles its neck, snapping it with a loud and final crack, and Jin Ling breathes a sigh of relief. Not, of course, that he couldn't have easily handled it himself, but the ground feels a little uneven under his feet and there's a faint buzzing in his ears that would make it slightly more difficult. It's nice to know his uncle – two of his uncles, he corrects himself a little dizzily, realizing belatedly who the arrow must belong to – is there to step in and lend a hand.

From opposite sides of the clearing, he hears "A-Yuan!" and "A-Ling!", and then the two voices ring out in almost perfect unison, "I can't believe you went off alone; you're not too old for me to throw in the pond, you know!"

Jin Ling and Lan Sizhui share another shocked look in the silence that follows, a silence that seems to ring through the woods around them as though every living creature is holding its breath. He counts out three heartbeats before he dares to look around, first to one side at his jiujiu then across the grass at Senior Wei (technically, he thinks somewhere behind the sharp sting of the cut on his chest that's starting to push its way over all his senses, also his jiujiu). They're both wearing almost identical expressions of surprise and horror, staring at each other over the fallen body, bow fallen limply to the side and Zidian deactivated.

"At least they have something in common," Jin Ling mumbles mostly to himself, but he's still gratified by Lan Sizhui's laugh, even if it's followed by a pained noise.

"It's a start," Lan Sizhui agrees, pressing a hand to his chest with a wince. "Good plan."

"I know," Jin Ling retorts, then, "Thanks."

Well, his shushu had always talked about the importance of being flexible.

He was sure his New Plan would be just as good, as soon as he thought of it.

#untamed fall fest #day 7 #Jin Ling is such A Teenager I love him #the untamed

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spaceskam · 4 years

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in dreams of days and nights and everything in between

ao3

Lan Sizhui understood, on some level, that his memories couldn’t be entirely accurate.

No one had perfect memories, after all, and the fact that he’d lost his for so many years only made them less credible. Still, they felt real. They felt nice. That just couldn’t possibly be true. A childhood among corpses during a war shouldn’t have been nice.

He’d heard enough stories from enough mouths to know they couldn’t have been so happy up there. Long days, long nights, always just working to survive. He’d been told Wei Wuxian had been raising an army, but he knew that wasn’t true. Even so, the truth was that there were a plethora of elderly men and women who were weak and a still uncontrollable Wen Ning. What was joyful about that? What was joyful about being unsure of if there would be enough to eat, about the uncertainty of their survival, about a world full of people seeing them as monsters, about being raised by the most hated man alive?

But, when he sifted through his own mind, he couldn’t find any of that.

He remembered crying, sure, but it was never like that. When he was hungry, they gave him food. When he was cold, they kept him warm. When he was scared, they held him. Names and faces were blurry now, but he was never unloved. He never felt lonely.

Sometimes, when he slept, he could remember things a little bit better. They got a little more vivid.

“Ah, A-Yuan,” Xian-gege had said, lifting him over a tree root that was protruding from the ground seconds before he could trip, “Watch where you’re going.”

A-Yuan just laughed, jumping again and again until Xian-gege laughed with him and grabbed his hand a little tighter to lift him off his feet again. He lifted him higher, swinging him a bit, and then swung him all the way up until he landed on his hip. A-Yuan smiled wide, his fingers going to his mouth as he settled against him.

They walked up towards home easily, navigating all the old trees that looked the same if you didn’t look at them enough. A-Yuan had, though, and he was sure he could walk all the way home all by himself. He never had to, though.

“You have to watch where you’re going,” Xian-gege said again. A-Yuan looked up at him. “Always, no matter what. You can’t stay safe if you don’t pay attention.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s dangerous,” he said.

“Why?”

Xian-gege scrunched up his nose and looked at him. A-Yuan smiled until he smiled right back. He took a deep breath and looked up, so A-Yuan looked up too.

“Ah, Wen Yuan, you’re a smart boy. You understand I’m here now to watch for you, but you have to watch so, when I’m no longer here, you can watch for yourself,” he said. A-Yuan reached out to touch his face.

“Where is Xian-gege going?”

“Nowhere,” he said and he said it firm because he meant it. A-Yuan nodded.

They walked a few more steps and A-Yuan watched. When he saw another tree root in the ground, he pointed.

“Xian-gege!” he said, “Watch where you go!”

He laughed and jumped over the root that was hardly sticking out of the ground.

“Good boy,” he said, “You’ll be good at watching all by yourself one day. And you can watch for others too. That’s very good.”

“Why?”

“You should always watch for others,” he said, “It’s the right thing. Even when they say it isn’t, it’s the right thing.”

“Why?”

“Ah, you ask so many questions!” Xian-gege announced loudly, but he looked at him with a smile, “You see, one day, if I’m not here, you’ll watch for me. I’ll be gone, but it’ll be all fine because you’ll be here to watch and all of this, all the trees, all the mountain, all the sky, all the people, will be all yours. You’ll be the one who knows it best.”

“Mine?” A-Yuan repeated.

“Everything,” Xian-gege said, nodding. A-Yuan blinked hard and nodded, looking around. There was so many things to be all his. “Everything inside the wards. And, when you get a little older, I’ll show you how that works as well.”

“And outside?”

“Outside the ward...” he said, taking a long break, “Outside isn’t safe unless you’re with someone else. Your Xian-gege or your Qing-jie or, or the gege in white and blue. Remember him?”

“Rich gege!”

“Yes, he’s safe too, I think,” Xian-gege said, “So we stay safe here, inside the wards. Until you’re all big and grown and more powerful than even me, you don’t try to go out alone, you understand?”

And Lan Sizhui did understand.

He sat up in bed, a little out of breath and his eyebrows drawn together as he looked around. He was at home, safe in the Cloud Recesses. Things weren’t like that anymore. Wei Wuxian was roaming the world and Hanguang-Jun was adjusting to being Chief Cultivator and Sect leader while Zewu-Jun was in seclusion. Wen Ning was allowed inside the Cloud Recesses under the condition that Hanguang-Jun was aware when that was. Lan Sizhui (assuming Zewu-Jun had no children of his own) was set to be Sect leader one day due to strings that he had no idea how Hanguang-Jun pulled.

It was all better, it seemed.

But that didn’t stop him from thinking about the Burial Mounds of Yiling. He remembered when they’d traveled up there before all hell really broke loose and he remembered being weirdly comfortable with his surroundings. He just hadn’t pieced together why. He wondered if he went back there now if he would know it even better.

Lan Sizhui got dressed quickly and quietly. He knew it was inappropriate to be so impulsive and outright against the rules to be breaking curfew, but he couldn’t help it. He needed to see. So he left a note in his bed, telling whoever read it that he’d be back within a few days, and quietly made his way out of the Cloud Recesses.

He stood in front of the wards, unguarded by anything else for the night, and took a deep breath. He could hear Wei Wuxian in his head, telling him it wasn’t safe to leave alone. But he was grown now, wasn’t he? He led a group of other disciples on night hunts all the time, so he could go alone.

Besides, no one was here to tell him otherwise.

With a deep breath, he quickly dismantled the wards only to let himself out and then he put them right back up. It took only a few seconds and yet, by the time he turned around, Wen Ning was standing there and staring at him.

“Sorry, I’m sorry,” he said when Lan Sizhui took a sharp breath in, “I didn’t mean to scare you, A-Yuan.”

“It’s alright,” he promised, smiling softly to make sure he knew he wasn’t scared.

“It’s very late.”

“I know,” Lan Sizhui said, looking around. He gave it only a few minutes before someone came to check the wards. As tired as Hanguang-Jun was these days, he was never that tired. “Let’s go, I’ll tell you on the way.”

Once they were far enough out and well on their way to Moling and, hopefully, Yiling by the next morning, Lan Sizhui started to talk. Or, he did his best. It was still strange trying to vocalize what he remembered or what he wanted to know. But Wen Ning was always helpful and filled in any gaps that he could.

“I had a dream about Luanzang Hill,” Lan Sizhui began softly. Wen Ning blinked with his wide eyes, clearly listening intently. “And I want to go back there.”

“But,” he started, a million different feelings passing through his eyes in a way he was incapable of hiding, “Did-did you tell Wei-gonzi? Or Hanguang-Jun? They, they might not think--”

“No,” Lan Sizhui said, “That’s why I didn’t tell them. I don’t want them telling me no.”

“But--”

“You don’t have to come with me,” he said, “But please don’t tell them. I need to go see it on my own, without them watching me. I need to, Wen-shushu.”

That seemed like enough to make him agree.

The sun was already peaking over the horizon by the time they made their way into Moling. They fetched a few things to eat for the rest of the trip before Wen Ning kept his head down as they approached a man by the river that would take them closer to Yiling. Lan Sizhui charmed him until he allowed them to rent a boat for longer than his usual time frame. Wen Ning stared at him intently the entire time, but he didn’t ask why.

“Do you remember everyone who lived with us then?” Lan Sizhui asked as they got going. He gave a little spiritual power that he’d normally use to fly to make the boat go a little faster.

“Yes.”

“All of them?” he asked, “In my dream, Wei Wuxian mentioned someone called Qing-jie. Was she real or did I dream it?”

Wen Ning gave a little smile, “My sister.”

Lan Sizhui’s eyes went wide and he sat up a bit straighter, the boat slowing as his focus faltered. He had never been told that. Then again, he’d never been told about a lot of things. Hanguang-Jun was many things. Talkative wasn’t one of them. Funnily enough, the more Wei Wuxian spoke, the less he actually said. Neither of them were any help.

“I didn’t know your sister was there,” he said, “I don’t know if I remember her, I’m sorry.”

“I remember her,” Wen Ning said. Lan Sizhui smiled.

The boat ride was filled with stories of Wen Qing, strong and resilient and smart. She was a doctor and unapologetic about her intelligence, even when it came to the great Yiling Patriarch who had saved them all. She was the only one who never seemed afraid to lecture him. And she cared for everyone fiercely, including A-Yuan. She made sure he was clean and fed and warm and loved. Lan Sizhui felt an unspeakable amount of guilt when, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t remember her face.

“Did she look like you?” Lan Sizhui asked, desperate to at least try. Wen Ning paused in thought for a moment before he shook his head.

“She was perfect,” he decided on. Lan Sizhui couldn’t disagree.

They kept talking. Wen Ning got more comfortable and more animated as he continued to tell stories. He drifted away from just stories from the Burial Mounds and told stories about his time in the Cloud Recesses and how he met Wei Wuxian in the first place.

It was a funny thing to hear about stories of when Hanguang-Jun and Wei Wuxian were young, but it was nice to know neither of them had really changed all that much. Wei Wuxian was still brash, Hanguang-Jun was still stoic, and they were both always incredibly smart and where the trouble was. If nothing else in the world made sense, that did.

“I spoke to Huanguang-Jun, ah, Lan-er-gongzi very little,” Wen Ning said, “But I, I know he’s a good man. He, he took care of you, just as Wei-gongzi took care of you, even with... They’re very good men, very strong.”

“Yes,” Lan Sizhui said, nodding his head as he thought back to times he remembered far better.

He’d followed Hanguang-Jun around whenever he could and, in the times he couldn’t because he was hurt, he followed Zewu-Jun. He never really remembered where they thought he came from. Hanguang-Jun was his a-die. Simple as that. Perhaps that’s when the strings to make him an option as an heir was possible.

“They raised you well,” Wen Ning said, smiling and nodding.

“They might not think so when they find out where we’re going,” Lan Sizhui said. It was meant as teasing, but Wen Ning’s eyes went wide and he shook his head.

“No, they will always think so,” Wen Ning said, “A-Yuan is very good.”

“Thank you.”

As the sun began to set again, Wen Ning urged him to take a nap and he’d wake him when they got to the right place. He didn’t want to argue and he also hadn’t slept in too many hours under the sun with too little sleep from the night before, so he agreed. He closed his eyes and laid in the boat, trying to keep closer to a meditative state rather than actual sleep.

However, it wasn’t long before he found himself on the Burial Mounds of Yiling all over again.

“Mine!”

“And who told you that? Xian-gege?” Qing-jie said, a scowl on her face as she brushed dirt off him. A-Yuan pouted until her face softened. “Xian-gege will tell you all the tales in the world, but it doesn’t make it so.”

“Ah, don’t lie to him,” Xian-gege said from somewhere. A-Yuan tried to look for him, but he couldn’t see him.

“Oh, perfect timing! The infamous Yiling Patriarch can come do his evil duties and wash his clothes you let him dirty!” Qing-jie yelled towards him. No sound came and he didn’t come closer. Qing-jie just rolled her eyes and focused back on A-Yuan. “Xian-gege plays games.”

“A-Yuan likes games.”

“I bet you do,” she said, reaching up to his hair. She took it down and the scooped it all up into a bun.

When she was done, she stared at him. Even when he looked away and got distracted by everything he could see, she looked at him. There was something wrong, but she said nothing of the sort. She never really did. Not in front of him, not if it was serious.

“Let’s go take a bath, A-Yuan,” she said, “Then I’ll toss you into Xian-gege’s bed for the night and he can deal with what’s yours or not.”

His hands went to his mouth as he nodded. She stood up and reached for his other hand, leading the way. She walked with her head held high. Whatever was wrong didn’t change that.

Lan Sizhui woke up with a start and it startled Wen Ning enough that he jumped back. He took a deep breath and saw that they were docked on the riverbed, Luanzang Hill visible in the distance.

“A-Yuan, are you alright?” Wen Ning asked.

“Yes, I’m alright,” he said, his eyes unable to move from the place he couldn’t stop thinking about. It was still very dark out, the moon lighting the sky. It should’ve been much more ominous than it felt. “I just... had a dream.”

“Oh.”

Lan Sizhui felt a little dazed as they made sure the boat was secure and started their walk towards the Burial Mounds. It took him a few minutes to really digest his dream before he could ask anything about it.

“Your sister,” Lan Sizhui started, “Qing-jie, ah, Wen Qing? She... She knew it wasn’t permanent there, didn’t she?”

“Hm? Oh, I-I don’t know,” Wen Ning said. When Lan Sizhui looked at him, it was clear he really didn’t know. Maybe she treated Wen Ning the same way she’d treated him.

Lan Sizhui decided not to ask about it more. It was in the past. Whatever he thought about it now didn’t matter. The fact was Wei Wuxian had given them a handful of happy months, whether they knew it was impossible to keep everyone safe forever or not no longer mattered.

Perhaps he stayed a little too lost in thought because before he knew it, the sun was rising again. He knew by now it was long past the time people had noticed he was gone, but Hanguang-Jun hadn’t appeared on Bichen so it was clear he trusted him enough to know he wasn’t going to get himself killed. Or maybe he just trusted Wen Ning enough to know he would protect him.

They passed a few people on their way towards Luanzang Hill, but no one really gave them more than a cursory glance. It helped not to shake him out of his thoughts that only seemed to get louder as they got closer.

They reached a certain point and Wen Ning stopped walking and Lan Sizhui followed suit. A few feet away was a broken down structure, weathered and old. He’d seen it before when he’d come up here with the other juniors, but it felt a little different now when it was just him and Wen Ning.

“This is the entrance,” he said, looking over to Wen Ning. He looked back and nodded before they turned to the entrance together.

And they took a few steps through it.

Lan Sizhui took a deep breath as he let himself take in his surroundings. All the trees were virtually the same, but he knew the closer to home he got, the less it would look right. They’d destroyed so much. But this...

“If I’m not here, you’ll watch it for me,” Lan Sizhui whispered to himself, scanning the surroundings easily, “You’ll be the one who knows it best.”

Wen Ning who smiling at him. He was young perpetually and he acted even younger, but his mind was still wise in ways that maybe was a bit harder to appreciate. In this moment, though, he was the only one that understood. The only one who could.

Lan Sizhui turned towards the entrance and took a deep breath, carefully mimicking the way the Cloud Recesses set their wards. They locked into place, sealing them inside, and Lan Sizhui felt like he could breath a little easier.

“Everything inside the wards,” Wen Ning recited. Lan Sizhui looked over at him, eyes a little wide, but he wasn’t looking back. Instead, he was facing the way home. “Do you remember the way?”

“I think so,” Lan Sizhui said softly. He swallowed hard and took a determined step forward. “Let’s go.”

And they stepped over the tree root together.

#lan sizhui & wen ning #lan sizhui #wen ning #wen yuan #wei wuxian #the untamed #i have no fucking idea how to tag this #my fic

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