#so his shijie wants him to save jiang cheng so they can all go to meishan

[spriteofmushrooms]

Chengxian, 17

From this ask meme.

17. things you said that I wish you hadn't

When Wei Wuxian enters the dream, he sees Jiang Cheng immediately. He's seated at a table and fussily arranging dishes. He looks wan. Still, his expression is so open like this; Wei Wuxian can read every thought that crosses his face. His anxious little shidi was so cute.

Next to Jiang Cheng sits a dream of Wei Wuxian. It's his original body, which makes sense. Wei Wuxian rubs his chest as the dream of Wei Wuxian pokes Jiang Cheng. 

"Shidi, we're going to eat the food anyway. Why does it matter if one thing is next to another?"

Jiang Cheng slaps the hand away. "You know a-jie worries about us running a household by ourselves. We have to show her we know how to host."

His dream self laughs. "She likes fussing, so why shouldn't we give her more opportunities?" But he still stands and scrutinizes the arrangement, then declares, "This composition is deeply pleasing. Not only do the colors complement the spatial relationship between all of the elements, but on the whole it presents a harmonious spirit. However, there is one flaw."

Jiang Cheng is looking up at the dream with wide eyes. "What is it?"

The dream plucks a dumpling and pops it into his mouth. "Rogue dumpling."

Jiang Cheng rolls his eyes and turns away, then smiles.

From Wei Wuxian's left, a voice says, "I know it's a dream. You don't have to save me."

Wei Wuxian turns to see the far more splendid version of his shidi that feels so foreign. This Jiang Cheng is sharp, luminescent, and closed. Wei Wuxian's gaze flicks between the two versions. With the original to compare the dream with, the dream is more obviously unwell.

"What's wrong with him?" Wei Wuxian asks.

Jiang Cheng raises an eyebrow. "Nothing. Tell Jin Ling I'll be out soon."

"Do you know how long you've been unconscious?"

"I thought around three shichen, but that seems like too little time for you to be here," Jiang Cheng says, gaze on the tableau.

"Almost two days," Wei Wuxian snaps.

"Shut up," Jiang Cheng says, flicking his robes into ever more perfect alignment. "A-jie is coming."

"Your yang energy is being drained even now. Do you want me to tell your nephew that seeing shijie is more important than seeing him?"

At the table, dream Wei Wuxian says, "A-Cheng, if you don't stop, I'll tell shijie you don't sleep enough."

"Whose fault is that?" dream Jiang Cheng sulks.

Wei Wuxian turns his head in time to see a flash of silver and violet as his dream self cups Jiang Cheng's face, but then his view is obscured by the real Jiang Cheng.

"Get out," Jiang Cheng hisses.

"Gege, not here," dream Jiang Cheng demures.

"I'm wearing Zidian," Wei Wuxian says.

"Then how about here?" his dream self says.

"Why am I wearing Zidian, Jiang Cheng?"

But he never gets an answer; Jiang Cheng pushes him out of the dream and wakes up.

#pallas.rtf #mdzs #add1ctedt0you #ask games #my writing #chengxian

[gentil-minou]

Xiantober Day 8 - Head Disciple!Xian

Yunmeng Jiang celebrates the promotion of their newest head disciple with festivities and merriment that last well into the night. It's a right of passage a chance for the new head disciple to shine.

Madame Yu canceled Wei Wuxian's ceremony.

She made a fair point, Wei Wuxian thinks. It was a difficult growing season and the harvest wasn't as good as last year's so it wouldn't do for them to celebrate while the villagers were suffering.

And yeah, the request for aid was also really important. It's just a shame that Uncle Jiang and Jiang Cheng both had to go for it, today of all days. Wei Wuxian had asked if he could have gone too, Jiang Cheng behind him nodding furiously as well. It would have been a great way to start his new role.

But Madam Yu said no.

Then, she took shijie off with her to visit their family. It wouldn't make sense for Wei Wuxian to go with them, he's not really their family. Shijie made him soup before she left, which will be perfect!

Wei Wuxian is okay with not having a ceremony. He sits on his favorite dock overlooking the lake, where the lotus blooms are especially big and he can see out behind the sea for miles, over to the vast landscape that awaits on the other side.

Years ago, when he first came to Yunmeng with Uncle Jiang, he couldn't even swim in the water for very long. It was the former head disciple who helped him then, teaching him to breathe between strokes so he's not holding his breath forever. They were also really kind, and never said anything about him being behind all the other kids. They gave him some extra practice after everyone left, and then some when Wei Wuxian had started to surpass the others.

He's gonna miss them now that they've moved off to marry into a new clan, but Wei Wuxian thinks he can keep their memory alive.

He didnt actually care much for the head disciple role. It was just a role and well as long as he gets to go on night hunts and save good people what does it matter what title he wears?

Still, when Uncle Jiang sat him down and told him he'd got the role, Wei Wuxian accepted it with gravity for what it would mean.

He liked helping with the younger trainees. At Yunmeng, everyone trains together, from the moment you can hold a sword properly you can join the older disciples.

Wei Wuxian had loads of experience helping the younger kids out, and it's a lot of fun!

They're a sneaky bunch and gangly and 3-shimei really needs to stop waving her sword around like it's still made of wood for crying out loud.

But they're also earnest and hardworking and adorable, and they look at Wei Wuxian like he could never do wrong, and well, he wants to prove them right.

So it doesn't matter if he doesn't get a fancy ceremony. He doesn't need it. All he needs is to help the other disciples and make Jiang Sect the best there is and ever was. Attempt the impossible, and succeed.

"Da-shixiong?"

A timid voice calls out from behind Wei Wuxian and he peers around to see a group of disciples, some around his age and some a little younger, loitering near the pavillion.

"Aiya, what are you guys doing here? Didn't Jiang-shuhu give you drills to run through?"

Technically, Wei Wuxian was supposed to help them with these drills, but okay maybe he needs a break sometimes and maaaaaybe he wanted to wallow just a little bit.

This disciples shuffle together, nudging at each other to say something. They're so funny Wei Wuxian has to bite his lips to keep from laughing at them.

Finally 6-shidi, the youngest and probably Wei Wuxian's favorite, comes over to Wei Wuxian's side. "Da-shixiong! We wanted to show you something!" he yells directly into his face, spittle flying everywhere. It's a good thing he's so cute.

Wei Wuxian raises a brow. "Okay…"

He follows the nervous group back from where they came, really hoping they haven't broken something. First day on the job and already there's something for Madame Yu to yell at him about.

Ah well, better him than the kids.

Before they turn the corner into the main training grounds, 6-shidi does an abrupt about face and stares determinedly up at Wei Wuxian, since he's still a good couple heads shorter than him.

"Da-shixiong, close your eyes!"

Wei Wuxian does so, and the little hands pull him forward. Someone covers his eyes so he can't perk but he can hear them moving around and whispering. At some point there's the sound of something dropping, a plate? Then the sound of furious whispering and Wei Wuxian has to laugh now.

Finally, the hand moves away from his eyes and he opens them, blinking as he adjusts to the bright afternoon sunlight illuminating the courtyard. When he can see, he looks around at the tables on the floor piled high with sweets from the market and freshly cooked dishes, even an extra large tureen of shijie's soup.

There's a space set up for games on the other side of the yard, simple ones like kite shooting and an archery set up with funny faces drawn on the target. A table near the center that must be the place of honor is covered with jars of liquor, and beside the table is… Jiang Cheng?

Wei Wuxian gapes at him. Jiang Cheng scowls at something unseen in a corner, arms crossed protectively over his chest. "I snuck away. Dad knows. Don't make a big deal out of it."

How can he not??? Wei Wuxian practically leaps across the courtyard to smother Jiang Cheng in a hug.

And even though Jiang Cheng complains, Wei Wuxian notices he doesn't try to shove him off.

6-shidi tugs on his sleeve to get his attention and says, "What do you think, Da-shixiong? We put this all together for you! I helped draw the faces!"

A chorus of voices sounds out around him as all his little shidi and shimei clamber over to tell him how they contributed. Wei Wuxian beams at them all, laughing and laughing and not sure if he's ever going to stop. He sniffles a little bit.

Like he said, he doesn't need ceremony when he has a sect like this one.

#i've been thinking a lot about grief in mdzs and how it's such a central theme that i feel like this fandom overlooks a lot #and just how these characters spend their whole lives losing and grieving and gaining and how it's a universal feeling in a way that is #beautiful coming from something as impossible as a world with cultivation...i just like it a lot i like to think about it a lot #i know the fandom has a lot of mixed opinions about the Jiang sect most of which I disagree with but i think the one thing that we can be #sure of is that wwx was a great da-shixiong and he definitely cared a lot for his shidi and shimei #mdzs #mo dao zu shi #mdzs fanfiction #wei wuxian #the untamed #xiantober #mdzs musings #bushy writing #yunmeng siblings #just a little bit

[stiltonbasket]

Can we have more of 15year old lwj wwx interactions at cloud recesses from your fem wwx betrothed au ? I would love to see how mischievous wwx tease and annoy lwj while knowing she is going to his future partner

“I don’t like it,” is all Madam Yu says, when Jiang-shushu announces that Wei Wuxian and her Shijie will be accompanying Jiang Cheng to Gusu. “Mark my words, Jiang Fengmian! You’ll come to regret it, just wait and see.”

“Why? Luo Qingyang from the Jin sect is going, too,” Wei Ying protests. “And anyway, uncle-in-law will be our laoshi. He’ll take care of both of us.”

“I am not worried about A-Li,” Yu-furen snaps. “I am worried about you.”

Wei Wuxian blinks at her. “Huh?”

“A-Xian, Lan Wangji likes you,” Jiang Yanli says gently, “and the standards of propriety are different in Gusu. You’ve never been there before, and it’s possible that you might do something the Lan consider disgraceful without even meaning it. Mother is only concerned for your safety.”

“But the peacock’s going to be there, and you’re coming with me. Can’t I just follow your example, Jie?”

“Lan Wangji likes you,” her sister repeats. A pained look flickers across her eyes, so swiftly that Wei Ying scarcely catches it, and then she leans forward and grasps Wei Ying’s hand. “You can’t treat him the way I treat Zixuan. How could either of you bear it, when he spent his last summer here watching you climb trees with the shimeis and catching you when you fell out of them?”

“Well, I’d hate it,” frowns Wei Wuxian, “but Lan Zhan would probably be relieved. His idea of a good day is ten hours of silent reading, in a library. He won’t even take his books outside unless I make him, and then he says he doesn’t understand why Uncle says my homework demonstrates better comprehension than his—as if Lan Zhan doesn’t know that fresh air and hot hulatang are all anybody needs to help stimulate the mind! It’s a pity that I won’t be able to shake him up in Gusu like I do here, but it can’t be helped.”

Madam Yu looks at Jiang-shushu in despair.

“You see?” she complains. “Suppose Lan Wangji yields to temptation, and they are discovered together? Wei Ying is only sixteen, and their wedding is not set to take place until the year after A-Li’s—if there must be a hasty marriage, we will never be able to hide it! This is folly!”

“I will visit Pan-daifu in the village before we leave,” Shijie says diplomatically. “Just in case we require a—a prescription. For later.”

Wei Wuxian furrows her brow and glances over at Jiang Cheng, who looks just as confused as she does. Shijie always pays a visit to Healer Pan before traveling because of her delicate health, but Wei Wuxian doesn’t understand why bringing that up now would assuage Madam Yu.

“Fine. Fine! If my own daughter believes it meet to flout my wishes, what other recourse do I have?” Yu-furen bites out at last, flicking a water beetle off her sleeve. “And you, Fengmian! If this venture goes ill, on your own head be it!”

__

"Lan Zhan.”

“...”

“Aiyah, Lan Zhan.”

Lan Wangji glances up from his latest composition (an essay titled The Role of Intention in Inquiry and the Contributing Effects of Resentment, by Young Master Lan Wangji) and tries not to shy away from the bright eyes of his betrothed. “Yes?”

“Lan Zhan, you’re ignoring me,” she accuses him. “To think that I traveled all the way from Yunmeng to see you, and you barely give me the time of day! What a neglectful betrothed you are!”

“You are here with me now,” Wangji points out. “I spend more time with you than I do with anyone else, save Shufu and my brother.”

“But I’m only here for the summer. Didn’t I take care of you well at Lotus Pier? You have to pay back the favor now that I’m here.”

Lan Wangji lays his brush aside and folds his hands neatly in his lap, for he had felt a little wretched at the thought of disappointing her. “Then what would you like to do?”

“Well, first I want you to tell me what’s allowed here and what’s not,” Wei Ying says reasonably. “Jiang-shushu’s only rule for us was—”

“I remember!” Lan Wangji interrupts. He was rude just then, he knows, but he doubts he could bear hearing Wei Ying repeat that particular rule in the safety of the Cloud Recesses. The only provision for his continued welcome at Lotus Pier was that he should never be caught alone in a room with his betrothed behind closed doors; other than that, Jiang Fengmian only asked that he accompany Wei Ying to her meals to make sure that she ate on time, and to treat her kindly and defend her if she fell into danger.

Those were simple rules to follow, and Lan Wangji had felt very proud of the trust that came along with them, but to mention them being caught together here in the Cloud Recesses—

“Why is your face turning red? Do you have a fever?” Wei Ying demands. “Lan Zhan, let me check.”

He tries to protest, but her rough fingers are already scrabbling at his brow, trying to feel his forehead through the cold silk of his ribbon, and Lan Wangji nearly passes away on the spot as the ribbon slips down to his nose. Engaged couples are allowed to touch each other’s ribbons, though it isn’t often done, and pushing her away would only hurt her feelings: so Lan Wangji forces himself to endure while she checks his pulse and temperature, taking care not to pull away too quickly after she finishes.

“You are sick,” she gasps, looking down at her empty palm as if she could still feel the heat of Wangji’s skin burning there. “Let’s go to the healers and ask for medicine.”

“No need.”

Wei Ying tugs at his sleeve. “Then what about Shijie? She could set up her own private apothecary here with all the medicine she brought from home. And she apprenticed with our Lufeng doctors, so she’ll definitely know what to give you. Come on!”

Lan Wangji cannot bring himself to refuse; for he can feel the sudden pounding of his pulse and the flush darkening at his throat, and a blissful sense of dizziness that worsens when Wei Ying grasps his hand and haul him out of the library pavilion. He follows without resistance, allowing her to tow him along like a doll dragging behind a child; and when they reach the guest quarters, Wei Ying kicks her sister’s door aside and pulls Wangji over the threshold.

“Shijie!” she cries, startling Jiang-guniang so badly that she rends a long hole in the sampler she was embroidering. “Jie, I know Lan Zhan’s not supposed to be here, but we need some of the medicine Pan-yishi gave you.”

Jiang Yanli blanches and drops her needle.

“You need what?”

“I know it’s expensive, but I’ll pay you back,” frets Wei Ying. “Please, Shijie? For Lan Zhan’s sake?”

For some reason, Jiang-guniang looks more astonished than ever. “You...A-Xian, you need it now? You’re not anticipating it for, ah, later?”

“Right now,” Wei Ying says firmly. “Any delay in treatment could cause trouble, Shijie. Lan Zhan didn’t want to go to the infirmary, you see, so I brought him here.”

“I see,” Jiang Yanli frowns, shooting a stern glare in Lan Wangji’s direction. “Very well, then. I’ll go fetch the herbs and water for tea.”

She stands up and hurries towards the back of the house, shooting Lan Wangji a stern look on her way; and then she disappears, leaving Wangji and Wei Ying alone in the middle of the receiving room.

“Your Shijie is not happy with me,” Lan Wangji murmurs. “You have asked for the herbs on my behalf, and I will not reject your kindness, but it seems the medicine is dearer to Jiang-guniang than I thought. Will you come down with me to Caiyi tomorrow so I can buy quality replacements for her? It must be difficult to part from a needed medicine so far from home.”

“Shijie isn’t angry,” Wei Ying whispers back. “She carries more fever tonic and strengthening pills than she could ever need. Pan-yishi gives her a whole year’s worth at a time, and we’re going back home before autumn.”

A moment later, Jiang Yanli re-enters the room with a pot of hot water and a bag of herbs, which she distills into medicine so quickly that most of the Cloud Recesses’ best healers would have envied her speed. The tea takes less than a a minute to steep, and two minutes to cool; and when Jiang-guniang can put it to her lips without wincing at the heat, she passes it over the table to Wei Ying.

“Here, Lan Zhan,” Wei Ying says tenderly, giving it to Lan Wangji. “Drink.”

“No!” Jiang-guniang cries, snatching the medicine back. “A-Xian, you’re supposed to drink it. What could it possibly do for Second Young Master Lan?”

“But Shijie, that’s not fair! He’s the one who needs it!”

“I know such things are not fair,” Jiang Yanli says, glaring daggers at Lan Wangji; apparently, his worries about the value of the herbs had not been unfounded. “But there is no way to place this responsibility on men, so you must take the medicine. Quickly.”

Wei Ying blinks, puzzled by her sister’s irritation, and reaches out to take her hand. “Jie,” she beseeches, “Shijie, don’t be angry. Lan Zhan wouldn’t have come near me if he’d known that—”

“He is old enough to know,” Jiang-guniang says tartly. “And I’m not happy with you either, Xianxian. I thought Mother was being too strict with you, and that she should trust Lan Wangji to treat you with due respect, but it seems that she was right and I was wrong.”

“Lan Zhan is always respectful towards me.” Wei Ying looks more confused than ever. “If he came to the library knowing he had a fever, it was only because I asked him to accompany me while I copied lines. And he took ill after we got there, anyway, so it’s not his fault!”

“Sister-in-law,” Lan Wangji cuts in. “I apologize for the intrusion. I should not have entered your quarters, or accepted your medicine when you have need of it yourself. Rest assured that I will procure more herbs for you before this afternoon, and seek treatment for my fever elsewhere. Good day.”

He turns around and walks out into the garden, taking slow, measured steps with one hand tucked behind his back. Wei Ying runs after him, urging him to come back and finish the tea Jiang-guniang prepared; but for some reason, Jiang Yanli rushes out after her, looking so embarrassed that her snowy-white cheeks are practically scarlet.

“You wanted medicine for fever?” she gasps, giving Wei Ying a gentle shake. “Just—a simple fever, because Lan-er-gongzi was taken ill in the library?”

“Fevers and sweats, and a shallow pulse,” Wei Ying tells her, counting on her fingers. “You can take his temperature, if you need to. Lan Zhan won’t mind.”

Lan Wangji very much would mind, but providing proof of his fever seems important. He holds out his wrist and lets Jiang Yanli feel it, wondering if she suspected some ailment that could have endangered Wei Ying: perhaps one that harmed women more readily than men, since she had tried to give the medicine to her sister instead. If that is the case, Wangji thinks, Maiden Jiang’s anger is justified; for he would never forgive a man who knowingly made his brother ill, especially if the guilty party was Xiongzhang’s intended.

“I’m a fool,” Jiang Yanli mutters to herself, dropping Lan Wangji’s hand. “But you’re not ill, Lan-er-gongzi. You had a fit of nerves, that’s all.”

“Nerves!”

“Yes, nerves,” Jiang-guniang repeats. “I recommend solitary meditation after training with your sword and hot milk before bed. It worked wonders for A-Cheng when he was a child.”

And with that, she bids them both goodbye, and hastens back into the little guest house before closing the doors behind her.

“I have no idea what just happened,” Wei Ying confesses, “but A-Jie really thought I was in danger. Does Gusu have some kind of mountain fever that spares men and kills women?”

“Not to my knowledge, no.”

“Ah, well. At least we know what’s wrong with you,” his intended says cheerfully. “Let’s go meditate, you dear fuddy-duddy. Shijie told you to start after breakfast, and it’ll be lunchtime in less than a shichen.”

Suddenly, Lan Wangji’s heart feels so full that he can scarcely breathe.

“En, you are right. I will do as you say,” he smiles, taking her hand in his. “Lead the way, Wei Ying.”

#wangxian #the untamed #mo dao zu shi #lan wangji #wei wuxian #jiang yanli #my fic #fem!wwx au #long time no see for this au!!! #please reblog if you liked this :>

[rosethornewrites]

Sunday-Wednesday T & G reading

The usual

Finished

Teen:

Factions, by nirejseki

Lan Qiren didn't know whatever it was that had sent him back in time - the cause, how to fix it, if he could return to his own time – all he knew was that he was trapped here, here in this hellish time period in the past, an era of war and bloodshed that was so casually passed over in the Lan sect histories, never avoided but also only barely mentioned.

And then he'd found the boy.

finding you always, all ways, by BlueFrogs (7 chapters)

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.

General:

Unfinished

Teen:

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.

Baby Whisperer Wei Wuxian, by Preludian_Staves

Thanks to his ability of soothing children everywhere he goes, Wei Wuxian accidentally acquires a child during the Cloud Recesses study arc and it changes things in how he interacts with the Lan Sect.

Bright Voice Roughly Rendered Softly Silent, by Preludian_Staves

The fight between Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian after the Fall of Lotus Pier goes differently, changing the course of events that should follow, but now don't.

Lan Wangji goes looking for the boy that captured his heart. (Also known as Wei Wuxian goes to the Gusu Lan earlier than in canon)

General:

A Street Kid Named Wuxian, by NaoNazo

“Pffffff- ahahahAHAHA!” The kid curled up, resting one hand on his stomach while he used the other to smack at Lan Wangji’s shoulders. “That was close!” he giggled.

Lan Wangji was starting to think he’d been saved by a madman.

“... Thank you.” He bowed as best he could while seated and prepared to make his way down.

“Wait wait wait!” The kid grabbed at his sleeve before he could shift away. “If you go down like that, you’re just gonna get caught, y’know!”

Lan Wangji looked down at himself and back at the kid, raising an eyebrow.

The kid propped himself up on his elbows and gave him a blatant once-over, obviously holding back laughter. “You’re wearin’ all white, genius. Even if you scuff it up a bit and take off the girly ribbon--” Lan Wangji scowled reflexively-- “no one around here wears stuff that nice.”

Lan Wangji had to admit he had a point.

Two Heart As One, by Akak_ShadMe

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

[lan-xichens]

The one lesson he took to heart, at the cost of himself.

#theuntamededit #mdzsedit #mdzsnet #cqledit #cql #wei wuxian #jiang cheng #jiang yanli #jiang fengmian #yu ziyuan #ugh i have a lot of feelings about this one #but i'm not sure the gifs get the point across #it's just the recklessness and lack of self-worth that follow wwx after his family has fallen on bad times #so his shijie wants him to save jiang cheng so they can all go to meishan #but wwx doesn't answer - because he can promise the first but not the last part #he WILL save jiang cheng #but he doesn't care if that means he himself doesn't make it back #giving his golden core to jiang cheng - he doesn't answer wen qing #because what does it matter what the consequences are? #and then that most heartbreaking scene #where he secedes from the jiang clan #which you can write LONG essays on the layers of miscommunication #but jiang cheng saying he'll have a difficult political situation if he needs to keep defending his brother #and wei wuxian finding the easy answer - then don't protect me. just abandon me #and while these actions didn't start out focussed on saving jc #wwx does realise perfectly well how his actions implicate the jiang clan and therefore his brother #so as to unburden jc - since that's how he sees it - he takes away the difficulty by just leaving the clan #just so he can protect jc from political ramifications #i just... god my dude i understand why jiang cheng wants to beat him up sometimes #he means well but also. get a sense of self-worth

[tossawary]

I was thinking about Jin Zixuan Time Travel fic again today. If I wrote this AU, it would be Zixuan/Yanli-centric, and he would loop her into everything A.S.A.P., so one potential goal for them moving forward would be to get married as soon as possible after the guest lectures.

1) Zixuan loves his wife so much and he wants to take her everywhere with him; he can function on his own, but he doesn’t want to do that.

2) It helps cement a Jiang-Jin alliance when, you know, war is pretty much imminent. (Zixuan wants to help Yunmeng Jiang of course, but if nothing else, he wants Yanli out of there whatever happens.)

One of the biggest problems, however, is that Zixuan and Yanli both have pretty limited influence at this point in time, all of their power comes through their parents. Zixuan can send letters home all he likes about how he’s seen the light and fallen in love with Yanli and wants to get married A.S.A.P., but even if his mom is psyched about that and they’re already engaged (it has not been broken off), there are three other potentially more suspicious parents and this is supposed to be a big wedding, so there’s no guarantee that a wedding would happen in time.

(There’s also the issue that the Wens might somehow “take offense” and accelerate any plans for Yunmeng Jiang to interrupt the wedding.)

So, how do they persuade their parents to let them get married right away?

Now, if I was writing this, Zixuan would be trying to build a relationship with his half-brother, Meng Yao, so it would probably be Meng Yao (who doesn’t know it, but pulled this exact move in another life) who says, “Are you stupid? Ask for forgiveness, not permission. Force their hands.”

And Jin Zixuan goes, “What? How-? Oh. Oh.” And promptly turns the brightest shade of red that Meng Yao has ever seen on a human being.

Thanks to The Untamed, I now have some difficulty picturing the characters as anything but 19-20 minimum during the guest lectures, so I’m personally picturing them being like 18-19 in this AU. (Young adults can be just as immature as teenagers, anyway.) But...

Jin Zixuan and Jiang Yanli starring in Operation Teenage Pregnancy During Lan Camp To Help Save The World.

It’s such a tempting concept (even without time travel or trying to save the world), if only because Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng would go bonkers. They’re going nuts. They’re ready to kill and/or die over this. They’re going to pick up the nearest heavy object and beat Jin Zixuan to death with it. The only thing more shocking to them than learning their beloved sister is pregnant is Jiang Yanli telling them that she got knocked up on purpose. That freezes them.

"...Shijie, what the fuck,” Wei Wuxian says.

Jin Zixuan is not at this pregnancy announcement. He is across the Cloud Recess, in hiding, to Meng Yao’s immense amusement, because Jiang Yanli patted her lover’s hand like, “That’s very brave of you, but it’s better if you’re not there because I like your face and I don’t want it broken before we can explain anything. A-Xian or A-Cheng just might launch across the table before you could say more than three words.”

#tossawary mdzs #fic ideas #jiang yanli #jin zixuan #xuanli #jin zixuan time travel fic #operation teenage pregnancy during lan camp to help save the world #wei wuxian #jiang cheng #meng yao

[shanastoryteller]

happy valentines!!!! I would love a continuation of the jyl/wwx in hiding au, or the wwx/lwj secret time travel au. hope you're having a lovely day!! ♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💖💖💖💖💞💞💞💞💞💞💓💓💓💓💓💓

a continuation of 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Wei Wuxian isn't prepared for this.

He reaches out to Jiang Cheng and he flinches away from him, something he's never done before. It's a horrible mirror of when he came back from the Burial Mounds and couldn't trust that any touch wouldn't hurt him.

He does what Jiang Cheng had done for him then, the one thing that had really convinced him he wasn't trapped among corpses anymore among his rage and pain.

Wei Wuxian closes the distance between them and tugs him into his chest, wrapping his arms around his shoulders and ignoring the way that Jiang Cheng tenses, shifting away from him but not actually doing anything to break his hold. "We thought you knew."

Jiang Cheng doesn't soften or bend, even though before he'd never managed a few moments before giving in, even if it was just pushing him away with a reluctant grin. Instead he stays too stiff, his arms hanging at his sides. "I killed you. I couldn't save A-jie and I killed you and you were dead because of me."

He can hear Shijie crying and Wei Wuxian has to blink rapidly to keep from joining her. "You didn't. No one's dead. We're right here, okay? Something went wrong, somewhere. But it wasn't you."

"Sorry," he says and it comes out sharp and mean, but he continues, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean - I didn't want - I'm sorry."

Jiang Cheng had always been shit at apologies and this might actually be the most alarming thing so far. Wei Wuxian thumps him on the back of the head and then goes back to clutching at him. The fact that he hasn't yielded at all, hasn't grumbled or hugged him back, is just standing there like a statue, is really starting to worry him. "It's okay. Don't be sorry."

He shakes his head, but says nothing.

Shijie is right next to them then and Wei Wuxian raises an arm so she join them, so she can grasp their little brother around the waist and pinch his side. "A-Cheng, don't say that. We're sorry. We didn't mean to - we sent you so many letters! We really did!"

"Okay," he says, and Wei Wuxian is still trying to figure out what that's supposed to mean when Jiang Cheng wrenches himself away from them and starts walking away, his hands clenched into fists. It could mean he's mad, but Wei Wuxian is pretty sure it's to keep them from trembling. "Let's go back to the pier."

Wei Wuxian looks at his back in despair.

Jin Zixuan steps next to them. His eyes are red and he's crying, but he's smiling too. "It's been a long thirteen years," he says, and then looks behind them.

He and Shijie do the same. A-Ling and A-Yuan are standing pressed against each other, eyes wide and worried, and this really isn't how he wanted their kids to meet their family, but there's nothing for it. He holds out his hand. "Come on. We'll figure this out."

A-Yuan goes to his side immediately and A-Ling does the same to Shijie, although he does give Jin Zixuan a tentative smile. Jin Ling whispers, "You didn't say Uncle Wanyin was so - um, scary."

"He didn't used to be," Wei Wuxian says. Not like this, not outside of a battlefield.

Then again, if he's spent the past thirteen years alone and carrying the guilt of his and Shijie's death, every day had probably felt like a battle.

#prompt answers #prompts are closed #asks #gays-of-the-lost-cities #untamed

[heavymetalchemist]

I think it’s easy to forget that Wei Wuxian is strongly villain-coded. We see the story from his perspective, we know his reasons and justifications, if you’re watching CQL and paying attention you can figure out the core transfer before the reveal. We know that Wen Qing and Wen Ning are good guys. We know that the Burial Mounds gang is a bunch of tired uncle/aunts trying to grow some stupid radishes, a four year old, and the Disaster Bi Gang (none of whom have swords, even!) We know that Wei Wuxian has his heart in the right place, that he feels an incredibly strong debt to the Wen Siblings and by extension their remaining family, that he has no golden core and has no choice but to forsake the sword and cultivate the demonic path, that he defects from the Jiang sect in a fake fight with his brother so that the Jiang sect won’t suffer the consequences of his actions, even though they have Secret Soup later.

But if you’re not us, the audience? If you’re, for example, Sect Leader Yao?

Hey did you all hear about how Wei Wuxian got kicked out of the Cloud Recesses for violently lashing out at the Jin sect heir?

Hey did you all see how he doesn’t carry his sword any more and claims it’s because he’s so badass that he doesn’t need it? And he has that Stygian tiger seal, so maybe it’s not bullshit? Can you even fight against that with a sword?

What kind of power does this guy even have? He’s a teenager! He drinks all the time and he’s moody and surly and holy shit did you hear what he did at that Wen outpost? He tortured all of them to death! Ugly stuff, man. Gruesome way to go. Maybe even worse than what Wen Ruohan did, at least a hot poker doesn’t make you claw your own eyes out.

Oh shit, he just stormed into this banquet and just SAID “if I want to kill someone who can stop me” and he still has that tiger seal I think we should be worried???

He just busted a bunch of Wen cultivators out of prison! And then he ran off to the Burial Mounds??? And his sect leader didn’t even know anything about it? Is he going rogue? Is he starting an uprising? This demonic cultivation stuff really seems to be corrupting him!

Oh man he got kicked out of the Jiang sect? You mean even the man he grew up with, who he was raised with practically as a brother, can’t control him any more? Did you hear about his fierce corpse? They call him the Ghost General! He’s unstoppable! What are we going to do if he comes for us?

He could be building a whole army in there, Sect Leader Jin said so! Who knows what kind of sick, twisted stuff he’s getting up to! Don’t forget all that horrible shit in the Sunshot Campaign, remember when he was raising the Wens’ own dead to turn against them? He could do that to us! He’s working with the Wens now, even! He’s gone totally crazy!

We can’t let some outlaw have all this power. It’s putting the safety of all of us at risk. What if it’s just another Wen Ruohan waiting to happen? (especially applicable if you’re thinking he’s using Yin iron as in CQL!) If we let him consolidate his power too much, then he’ll be unstoppable!

HOLY SHIT he murdered the Jin sect heir and his cousin with his fierce corpse! That’s the man his former shijie married! The one he punched in the Cloud Recesses, remember when the Lans kicked him out because he was so unruly and disrespectful? Yeah! It was probably revenge! Have we done anything to him? Oh gods what if we’re next???

A major point of MDZS/CQL is how important reputation is, and how that affects everything. Wei Wuxian’s reputation is straight-up villainous. We, the audience, know that he’s trying his best, that he’s a traumatized teenager with a shitload of emotional baggage trying to do the right thing and repay a colossal debt, that he’s made choices that he now has to try and live with, etc. But to the rest of the world this guy has fucking lost it, he’s gone off the deep end and he has an incredibly powerful weapon and a mode of cultivation that seems to corrupt you and turn you into a monster, and frankly, they’re not wrong! It does affect his temperament and he does end up killing a lot of people and he is out of control!

MDZS/CQL is interesting precisely because we’re getting an entire Villain Apology Story. A long time ago I read a post by someone on here saying they find Jiang Cheng challenging to write about because he’s the protagonist of a different story, and he really is. He’s the guy whose former shixiong turns into a villain in pursuit of power, the Obi-Wan to WWX’s Anakin, the one who sees how incredible power corrupts and is obligated to fight against it. Having to fight against a former ally who was seduced by “the dark side” (in this case, demonic cultivation) is a story that gets told over and over, but always condemning the one who went to the dark side. He’s the blackened protagonist, the aren’t you tired of being nice, don’t you want to go ape shit power fantasy, where we as the audience can justify his actions because we know he did it to save his brother, his sister, the Wen remnants he owes a debt to. He isolates himself from the people who love him to protect them, he refuses Lan Wangji’s help because he’s convinced he just wants to lock him up and stop him from using demonic cultivation because he’s a righteous upstanding Lan (totally unaware of LWJ’s intense crush, obviously). He jokes about it but he knows he’s being painted as the villain, and he’s in denial about how much that will affect him, because after all… he’s the Yiling Laozu, and he knows his power. But so does everyone else, and they’re rightfully terrified!

And yet? When he comes back, LWJ still wants him, still cares for him, will move heaven and earth to protect him. JC cares about him so much he’s having a Constant Crisis about it. And WWX has not forgotten his shijie or shidi, immediately cares about Jin Ling, and still is the man who really just wanted to be free and grow some goddamn radishes. He accepts that he paid for what he’s done with his death, and just wants to start over.

It just drives me nuts when people pretend like WWX was an angel who did nothing wrong because the whole POINT is that he was a villain-coded gay (well, bi) and the man you had to really watch out for was the polite, thoughtful, soft-spoken one that worked his way up from a tragic backstory. It’s a whole subversion and it’s awesome!

#mdzs meta #wei wuxian #yiling laozu #of course wwx has a good heart but remember when that kid shot an arrow at him and he threw it right back through his heart? #remember when JC and LWJ walked into that Wen outpost and were like oh fuck oh man what the fuck? #remember when he almost busted out chenqing to murder JZX over a SOUP MISUNDERSTANDING? #this is not a wwx hate post this is a pls understand complex characters and nuance post #that audience knowledge is NOT character knowledge #is this a lowkey NMJ defense post? yes.

[silverflame2724]

Accidental Martial God WWX

That was exacty what I meant actually but I do have a few more povs if you want.

LQRs reaction to a demonic cultivator ascending, JGS and JGY reaction to the Yin Tiger Tally moving completely out of reach, WQ pondering the true requirements for ascension given WWX doesn't have a golden core yet ascended, WWX musing on Godhood and on his new followers both the good and the more disturbing worshipers.

Maybe LWJ protects the Wen Remnants because WWX asked him to in a dream and after he succeeds (13 years later) he ascends and is finally reunited with WWX.

Lan Qiren did not know what to think. Wei Wuxian, his most troublesome student, a demonic cultivator, had ascended. He’d ascended. How was that even possible? Were the Heavens blind? Why would they allow someone like Wei Wuxian to ascend?

From what Lan Qiren had thought, only those who are righteous and followed the correct path in life like the Lan clan’s founder, Lan An, would be worthy of ascending.

Either the qualifications for ascension were lower than he thought or Lan Qiren had been horribly mistaken about Wei Wuxian’s personality and motivations for using demonic cultivation. That last thought made Lan Qiren feel very uncomfortable.

He’d always been harsh on the boy and disregarded him, even - he ashamedly admitted - punishing him harsher and more frequently than others.

He’d thought he was in the right because of how Wei Wuxian was but…..

But if he was wrong then Lan Qiren owed him an apology.

………………….

Jin Guangshan wanted to scream out in frustration seeing Wei Wuxian ascend. That brat had the Stygian Tiger Seal on him - according to his spies - and now that he ascended, the Seal went with him.

He had had so many plans on bribing Wei Wuxian to his side or killing him when he refused - as well as stealing the Seal - and then taking over the cultivation world, lording over it as he was always meant to be.

Now those plans are ruined. He sighed. Hopefully that bastard son of his can finally prove his usefulness and give him countermeasures or he might retract his favor from him.

……………………

Jin Guangyao’s first thought upon seeing Wei Wuxian ascend was: Oh shit. I have to go make up new plans to help Father.

He knew his father wanted Wei Wuxian and the Seal and didn’t really care how he obtained both or either, just as long as no one traced it back to him. He sighed. This was going to be a big headache. But at least the plans on putting his father as Chief Cultivator were going smoothly. He could only imagine what his father would do to him if even this failed.

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

Wen Qing had still been in Yiling, making plans to relocate her family, when the news that Wei Wuxian had ascended had reached her.

Her first reaction was, That’s impossible.

Because it was, right? Wen Qing should know. She cut out his core, after all. But to think he was still able to ascend while he was a demonic cultivator made her wonder what the requirements were for ascending. Perhaps it’s an honest heart? Self-sacrificing tendencies? Or is it a sacrifice of some sorts? She paused. What if.....it was a trial? To test a person’s will? What Wei Wuxian had suffered was.....horrible. Could it have all been just a test from the Heavens?

If that was so, the Heavens really are cru--- 

“A’ Jie, we have to go! Some Jin were spotted nearby!”

Wen Qing gritted her teeth. Members of the branch families of Qishan, regardless of whether they were innocent or not, were captured and subsequently tortured to death by the Jin and sometimes the Nie. Because her family was all in Yiling, they were safe.......but only for now. They had to hurry and escape.

Wen Qing sent a quick prayer to Wei Wuxian, hoping for her family’s safety, and tucked the rest of her belongings in her qiankun pouch, remembering to wrap her arms in bandages to hide the needles she might need to paralyze any Jin that came close.

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

Wei Wuxian’s first thought when he landed in the Heavens was, What the fuck.

Then he looked around and looked taken aback and wary at the unfamiliar faces around him. Where the fuck am I?

“Hello.” A rather stoic-faced man greeted.

“Hello.” Wei Wuxian parroted back. The person in front of him didn’t seem to be a threat so he felt a little tension loosen from his shoulders. “Um, Xiansheng? I’m afraid I don’t know where I am?”

“You have just ascended.” The man replied, throwing Wei Wuxian aback.

“Are you pulling my leg?” Wei Wuxian asked. “How is that even possible! I don’t even have---” He swallowed. I don’t even have a core.

“I do not lie. Come, we are wasting time. We must get you washed up and dressed for the induction ceremony.” Seeing Wei Wuxian still frozen, the man sighed, signalled for some people to pick Wei Wuxian up and dragged the struggling man to some quarters.

After absentmindedly washing, drying and changing himself, Wei Wuxian noticed some differences in his body. He wasn’t....cold or hurting anymore. And - he touched his back - he could feel his back! After having his muscles and nerves shredded by Zidian, he didn’t think he’d ever be able to sense touch on his back or even move without pain! But now he can!

He heard the urging of some people and grumbled.

“You will become a god of demonic cultivation.” Was the first thing he heard when he stepped out of the room.

Wei Wuxian choked. “Excuse me?!”

“I said what I said. Now then, if you would please concentrate, you should be able to hear the prayers of the people below.”

Wei Wuxian felt like everything was moving a little too fast for him, but nevertheless complied. Immediately after, a flood of prayers hit him at full force.

“Wei Wuxian!” That was Jiang Cheng! “….Have some fun up there.”

“A’ Xian, do be well. Shijie isn’t there to take care of you so do be well.” Wei Wuxian refused to cry.

“Wei-Xiong! I hope there’s someone up there to supply you with you know what *winks*”

How does someone even wink in their prayers? Wei Wuxian thought amusedly.

“Wei Ying.” That was Lan Zhan. “Wei Ying, I will—be well.”

Ah, Lan Zhan. Always concise even in your thoughts.

Wei Wuxian was a little teary. As much as he was glad to not be a part of the cultivation world considering all the rumors, he did regret leaving behind those that cared for him.

That thought was much more cemented upon hearing…….

“Ah, Lord Wei, the pinnacle of evil, the role model of all demonic cultivators!” Wei Wuxian’s eye twitched. “Please hear my plea for more power! I need it, I need it to destroy everyone who harmed me!”

“Wei Wuxian, I wish to gain power over resentful energy so that I may tear my enemies limb by limb!

“Give me money! You’re a god, aren’t you? Be useful for once and give me some gold!”

“Tch. If I’m going to pray for anything, then it’ll have to be the Seal. You’re a god, now, right? So you have no need for the Seal. Just give it up.”

No matter the good or bad, Wei Wuxian heard the wishes and prayers of the people down below and while some were innocent enough, there were those that wished for death, destruction, tools for torture, power, money, women…….you name it.

It made Wei Wuxian feel a little disgusted with humanity. He cut off his focus from the bad and focused on the prayer he received from his friends and family.

“Wei Wuxian, I heard you became a god.” It was Wen Qing. He hadn’t heard her voice in a long time. “I know this might seem shameless of me after all I did to you, but please. Please guarantee the safety of my family. We’re being hunted down and—”

Her prayer was abruptly cut off, before coming back in full force with notes of desperation. Her family had been captured and taken to Qiongqi Path! Wei Wuxian panicked. He didn’t know how to escape from this place and try to go help her.

The…..person who was watching over him evidently knew what he was thinking about and merely stated that gods cannot interfere with the mortal realm. So he was stuck.

But that didn’t mean he was out of options.

It took a few days, but he managed to wheedle out how to help: via dreams. He merely needed to get into the mind of one of his followers and tell them to help. Much like those prophetic dreams Wei Wuxian had read about as a kid.

So he buckled down, thinking of the best candidate to help him.

……………………………

Lan Wangji looked at the landscape around him and concluded that he was dreaming. Though, it was a little odd that he was aware that he was dreaming. Not that he hasn’t realized he was dreaming before - especially in those many fantasies he had of Wei Ying - but to be aware that this is a dream and to see nothing but a flat landscape was pretty out of the ordinary. 

Anyway, he digressed. What was going on?

“Uhh, Lan Zhan? Can you hear me?”

“W-Wei Ying?!” Lan Wangji couldn’t be blamed for stuttering. He wasn’t expecting this!

“Phew. Oh good, you can hear me. Anyway, Lan Zhan, I gotta be quick about this because I’m kinda sorta bending the rules here, but do you think you can go to Qiongqi Path and rescue Wen Qing and her family?”

“Okay.”

“Huh? Just like that? Not even going to ask me for a reason, er-gege?”

Lan Wangji’s ears flushed red at the address. “If Wei Ying wants to save them, you must have a good reason. That’s enough for me.”

“Ah, Hanguang-Jun.” The title was spoken fondly. “Always so good. I’ll tell you anyway. Wen Qing and her family sheltered Jiang Cheng and I after Lotus Pier fell and even brought back Jiang-shushu and Yu-furen’s bodies! That’s a debt I cannot repay.”

“I understand. I will help.”

He couldn’t see Wei Ying, but could practically feel the amusement from him.

“Wei Ying.”

“Yes?”

“Are......Are you well?”

“Of course I am. I’m actually feeling so much better than before.” Wei Ying grumbled, “I’m not even in pain anymore.”

“You were in pain?” Lan Wangji asked worriedly. “Wei Ying, why didn’t you say anything.”

“Lan Zhan, there was nothing you or anyone else could do to alleviate my pain. It doesn’t matter now. I’m okay.”

Lan Wangji was still worried and wanted to speak to him more, but---

“Ah! Looks like my time’s up!” Wei Ying exclaimed cheerfully as the dreamscape wavered. “See you, Lan Zhan!”

Lan Wangji nodded. “See you, Wei Ying.” I’ll catch up to you soon.

.

.

.

And 13 years later, Lan Wangji kept his promise.

___________________

I didn’t edit this so I’m hoping there’s not too many grammatical errors lol. 

#mdzs #wei ying #wei wuxian #lan qiren #jin guangshan #jin guangyao #lan zhan #lan wangji #wen remnants #wen remnants survive #JGS and JGY can no longer scheme against WWX :) #LQR is kinda an asshole #but at least he sorta admits it? #hurt wei wuxian #implied chronic pain

[vrishchikawrites]

There was an idea I had seen on crossdressingdeath's tumblr where JC & WWX were having an argument and then JC tells WWX that LWJ should've died in Xuanwu cave. WWX snaps at him by saying that he had wanted JZX to die as well to which JL overhears that and results in a fallout between the uncle and nephew.

I thought that idea was amazing and I needed to see it written.

(I hope crossdressingdeath or op don't mind me writing this. As always, this prompt goes in a little different direction)

"He should've died and saved all of us the trouble!"

Jin Ling stops and frowns at his Uncle's sharp words. Tentatively, he peers around the corner to see Jiujiu scowling at Wei Wuxian, his eyes flashing and posture stubborn.

And Wei Wuxian...

Jin Ling shivers, eyes going wide.

He has never seen Wei Wuxian angry. He didn't even know the man was capable of anger.

Jin Ling resists the urge to take a step back and run because Wei Wuxian looks ready to kill. His red-tinted gaze is focused on Jiujiu and his expression is almost cruel.

A sneering smile, teeth bared like a demon on the verge of devouring its meal.

"You know, Jiang Cheng, the way you talk about Lan Zhan makes one thing very clear. You've now switched to projecting your insecurities onto him." Jin Ling winces and his uncle snarls, "It would serve you better if you followed his example instead."

"You!-" Jiujiu steps forward threateningly, Zidian sparkling in response to his anger, "How dare you?!"

"How dare I?" Wei Wuxian's tongue goes razer sharp, "Unlike you, I don't stay silent when someone attacks the people I love."

Jiujiu seems to understand something from that because laughs coldly, "I never loved you! You were a bane since the very beginning!"

"Good to know!" Wei Wuxian snaps back, "Because that gives me the freedom to shove some hard truths down your throat." He takes a step forward and for the first time, Jin Ling sees ice-cold resolve on Wei Wuxian's face.

It looks remarkably like Hanguang-jun's expression.

"You forget Lan Zhan wasn't the only one I saved that day, Jiang Cheng. Where would Jin Ling be if I hadn't saved Jin Zixuan? Wen Chao ordered his men to kill both Lan Zhan and Jin Zixuan. Did you care for Shijie's heart at all?"

"Shijie would've moved on." Jiujiu snaps and Jin Ling grows cold, "She would've had children with someone -!"

"Jiang Wanyin!" Wei Wuxian sounds just as horrified as Jin Ling feels.

"You killed Jin Zixuan! You hated him before that. Don't act high and mighty now." Jiujiu says but Jin Ling is just numb. He knows his parents died under complicated circumstances.

While he isn't entirely comfortable with Wei Wuxian's role in their death, he has learned to move on. He hasn't forgiven the man, not entirely, but-

'You're a lot like your father, prickly and sensitive. You also have his heart. He was proud but he had a good heart.' Wei Wuxian had laughed, 'And there's your mother's kindness hidden there, too. You have her capacity for love. Her generosity of spirit.

You are good.'

Wei Wuxian had been the only one to say he was like his parents. Everyone said he was like Jiujiu.

To hear the same man casually dismiss his existence hurt.

"I fully acknowledge my part in it but you don't get to turn this around! Have you no care for Jin Ling?" Wei Wuxian demands, his voice is stern and concerned. "What are you doing, Jiang Cheng? I hope you haven't said anything like this to Jin Ling! That boy is your nephew!"

Jiujiu snarls, "Of course, I care about him! But what about my mother? My father? All the people who paid with their lives because you provoked and distracted the Wens! Are they less valuable than Jin Ling?"

"Jiang Cheng," Wei Wuxian breathes, "Mind your words, what are you saying?"

"I'm right!" Jiang Wanyin says and Jin Ling covers his mouth shakily, "Who cares if Jin Zixuan died then? Who cares if Lan Wangji died? What's so important about them that you were willing to risk it all? If you only had kept your head down-"

"You cruel, cowardly fool."

There's complete silence and Jin Ling swallows.

"The Wens would've attacked regardless. They wanted to setup a supervisory office. They did it already in Qinghe!" Wei Wuxian starts pacing, "Think. Think for once in your life! War was on the horizon and our response was 'let them come to us, we'll fight'. It was arrogance itself to presume we wouldn't fail. We should've prepared, we should have come up with backup plans or evacuation plans! Something. But we did nothing and we paid the price."

"You-!"

"Don't! I am ashamed of you!" Wei Wuxian's tone is sharp and grave, "It is good that we're no longer martial brothers."

Jin Ling sucks a sharp breath and watches as Wei Wuxian spins around and walks away.

"Jin Ling deserves much better than you."

Jin Ling is too shaken to react as Wei Wuxian rounds the corner and spots him. He just looks up blankly as the man's expression goes from cold disgust to horror.

"Jin Ling,"

He sounds heartbroken, somehow. Jin Ling looks beyond Wei Wuxian to see Jiang Wanyin. The man had followed Wei Wuxian to shout some more, he supposes.

He looks shocked and dismayed too. There's perhaps a touch of regret in his expression.

He doesn't care.

He stares at them wordlessly and Wei Wuxian crouches before him, placing both his hands on his shoulders, "Jin Ling- how much-?"

"I heard enough to know Jiujiu thinks I'm replaceable." He says, eerily calm.

"Don't be stupid," Jiang Wanyin says, "I didn't-"

"Just stop talking." Wei Wuxian interrupts, rubbing his hands down Jin Ling's arms comfortingly. "Jin Ling, what do you need?" He asks, raising his hands to cup his face, "How can I help?"

Jin Ling appreciates that his- his mother's shidi- doesn't ask any stupid questions or offer empty reassurance.

He appreciates that Wei Wuxian doesn't say, 'He didn't mean it,' or 'don't misunderstand.'

Jiang Wanyin absolutely meant it.

"Baba?"

They all look to see the Hanguang-jun and Lan Sizhui walking towards them. The younger Lan is clearly concerned. Even the Hanguang-jun seems a bit suspicious, glancing from Jin Ling's face to his husband's and then to Jiang Wanyin.

"Wei Ying?"

"A moment, xingan," Wei Wuxian studies Jin Ling, "What do you need, nephew?"

Jiang Wanyin hisses but Jin Ling grabs hold of that word and embraces it, holding it close to his soul.

He can choose to dismiss him. Or he can choose to reach for the hand that is offered in compassion.

"I need Jiujiu to leave." He takes a deep breath, "And I don't want to see him until I'm ready."

"Jin Ling!"

"Very well, Lan Zhan, can you drag Jiang Cheng away for me? He's being an absolute brat."

The Hanguang-jun doesn't hesitate and Jin Ling refuses to pay attention to Jiang Wanyin's protests. He just stares into compassionate silver eyes.

Eyes that haven't looked away for a single moment.

He takes a deep breath, absorbs all of that focus, and steps forward.

The scent of sandalwood incense envelopes him as his uncle hugs him back.

Even now, he isn't alone.

He needs to focus on that.

#short prompts #wei wuxian #jin ling #anti jiang cheng

[drwcn]

《midnight sun》 — # 13

Summary of questions: does lan wangji believe jiang yan is wei wuxian and jiang cheng's daughter? does wei wuxian know lan wangji thinks jiang yan is jiang cheng's daughter? Answer: worse. wei wuxian thinks lan wangji knows jiang yan is their daughter. lan wangji doesn't know shit. LOL.

(i recommend listening to [x] for this snippet)

When she opened her eyes, it was Jingshi and a guqin's melancholic tune that greeted her. She had half-hoped (and half-feared) that she would be back at Lotus Pier again.

But back then, did you really believe in me?

Lan Wangji did not respond, and so they fell into a silence. Wei Wuxian rested there, propped up by pillows, staring into the darkened woods around Lan Wangji's home. She was still in Mo Xuanyu's clothes, but his macabre steel mask sat on the bed-side stand.

Wei Wuxian touched her own face gingerly. Thirteen years — a lifetime has gone by. There were secrets she had taken to her death, but this time around, she no longer wished to hide.

Earlier that day, she had not seen Yan'er amongst the Jiang disciples at Mt Dafan.

Weren't you the one who killed her yourself, Jiang-zongzhu?!

Lan Jingyi's words had reminded her of what death had obscured - the horrifying fact that she had left her only child in the custody of the brother who had willingly taken her life.

Heavens...

Suddenly, it no longer seemed important that she continued to keep this secret from Lan Wangji. She had to know that Yan'er was safe. At once.

"Lan Zhan, there's a person, a junior, I want to ask you about -"

"Jiang Yan."

Lan Wangji lifted his eyes from his guqin to meet hers from across the room. There was... hurt, disappointment, and something entirely too deep to comprehend inside those eyes that kept her company in her dreams during her years at the Burial Mount.

Wei Wuxian felt the heart she carried in her throat plunge to the pit of her stomach.

"You know."

It was not a question.

"Mn."

"How long have you known? Did Jiang Cheng -?"

"He did not tell me anything. He didn't need to. The first time I met her, I knew. The child bears a great likeness to you."

"I -" She clutched the blanket that covered her, fighting the urge to escape under it as one hand curled around her belly subconsciously. "I..."

Wei Wuxian! Stop, stop pushing, stop trying, you're dying damn it! Listen to me, you're dying! Wen Qing's lovely face floated into her mind, one of many souls who'd been let down by her arrogance and pride, a ghost of her guilt.

In the end, Wei Wuxian supposed she had let Lan Wangji down too. All those men who had wanted her for her power, for the Stygian Amulet, circling the newfound Lotus Pier like sharks in the water...she may not have lost her virtues to them, but perhaps she did lose sight of herself along the way. That day in the forest, at Phoenix Mountain, what a selfish impulse it had been to lay claims to the untouchable Hanguang-jun.

If she were fair to him, she would have drank the medicine Wen Qing offered her. Give him a clean break, release him, absolve him. The minute she had pulled Lan Wangji down onto the grassy meadow and wrapped him between her legs, she knew she'd be tainting him. Yet still, she had held on so tight and begged him for everything he had. When he gave himself to her, with fervor and faith, she had greedily consumed him: his first touch, his first kiss, his first release...his first child.

She had taken it all and gave nothing back. Now, when nothing could be changed or salvaged, she would not assume that he would ever forgive her. And if he did not wish to be burdened by the consequences of her actions and desires...well, she understood that too.

Wei Wuxian, please, forsake the baby, choose yourself. Wen Qing had clutched her hand and pleaded through her scared and desperate tears. Give me permission, give me permission to save you!

No, Qing-jiejie, I can - I can do it! Lan Zhan - Lan Zhan -

Lan Wangji is not here, Wei Wuxian! It's just you. Just you, do you hear?! Please, please don't -

Her heart was not broken. Heartbreak was a privilege of her last life.

"Is Yan'er well?"

Wei Wuxian was fully aware of her every debt and sin, but they were hers and hers alone. Jiang Yan should not be the one left to pay for a mother whom she had never known.

"Yes. She lives at Lotus Pier. Jiang Wanyin is very good to her. He raised her as his first disciple and her named her Jiang Yueqian. She is very bright, and a strong cultivator. He's very proud of her; as you would be too once you meet."

And you, Wei Wuxian wanted to ask. Are you proud of her too?

Externally, Wei Wuxian let out a breath of relief. "Jiang Cheng kept his word to me after all."

Lan Wangji's face seemed to fall at those words, though that could easily have been a trick of the light.

"Wei Ying, you and Jiang Wanyin …"

Wei Wuxian frowned. "What about me and Jiang Cheng?"

Lan Wangji stroked the strings on his guqin contemplatively, mulling over his words for a moment before carefully asking, "Would you like to... go back to Lotus Pier?"

"After shijie's death, you think I would still be welcomed back at Lotus Pier?"

"But you are Jiang Yan's mother. Surely -"

Wei Wuxian shook her head. "If Jiang Yan is as you said - the first disciple of Yunmeng Jiang - then she is an orphan, and her mother is dead. I am the resurrected Yiling Laozu; I cannot be her mother. For her sake, I should have stayed dead. Since that is not the case, then at the least, I shall stay away."

Lan Wangji said nothing in response.

Wei Wuxian closed her eyes. She did not cry.

#cql #the untamed #wangxian #lanyan #midnight sun #ly13 #corie fics #cql ficlet #i recommend listening to if only life were as we first met while reading this.

[presumenothing]

timetravel au where wei wuxian wakes up at the xuanwu cave after dying at the burial mounds, on account of it being his original encounter with the would-be tiger seal, and proceeds to fake his death.

not immediately, of course! he's sick and injured enough at that point that he's almost certain this is a hallucination, which is just… yeah, great, fine, of all the moments in his life it's gotta be this one that flashes before his eyes when he's dying? really? says a lot about his life, doesn't it. (it really does.)

it's not until he wakes up again to find himself in lotus pier that wei wuxian starts believing all this is actually real. because even his subconscious wouldn't do this – arguing with jiang cheng is one thing (though he'd almost forgotten what it was like to quarrel over anything less than life-and-death), but seeing shijie smiling, warm, alive? even in that terrible future she would not be dead, if not for him. he doesn't have the right to even imagine her like this.

therefore: this is real. lotus pier is still standing, the elder jiangs still alive, and he has two weeks to figure out how to keep it that way.

or not. he has to prioritise the latter over the former, has to make sure they all stay alive with their golden cores intact because he can't put jiang cheng through that again. and wei wuxian is good, five years and a war's worth more ruthlessly skilled than he'd once been, but even he can't protect everything; the future has already shown him that, and the possibility of still losing lotus pier despite knowing all this is very real and made more painful on the heels of already having lost everything at the burial mounds.

but what if…

what if he can delay the attack, at least? make the jiangs seriously consider the possibility of a repeat of what happened at the cloud recesses, buy them time to shore up their defenses and prepare for an evacuation if needed? because the truth of it is that the wens were always going to come to lotus pier sooner rather than later, as the next most likely target among the major sects now that the lans are down. if he can give them a whole month, or even one more week –

(the roughest hints at plans to fortify their defenses and gather supplies for an evacuation are shoved at jiang cheng and yanli respectively, to build into something that can save them. he has never been one for subtlety and doesn't have time for it anyway; they both clearly know that something is wrong but that's alright, he'll let them chalk it up to his near-death at the xuanwu cave.)

(which isn't even wrong, in a way, and the important thing is that this jiang cheng will never have wei wuxian's ridiculously strong core. he'll still be one of their generation's strongest fighters, someday, but without that sheer power he needs an even stronger basis to lead the jiangs when the time comes, and this is as good a place to start as any.)

– the question is, how?

well, that one's almost simple in comparison, at least for someone with a self-sacrificial streak as wide as this. the wens were always going to attack, yes, but if he appears to die in a manner grotesque enough to satisfy some of wang lingjiao's petty hatred, combined with heightened defenses that means jiang fengmian doesn't leave lotus pier so lightly… it's not a sure bet, but it's the best one he has to get them more time.

he's got plenty of experience at dying but this is still going to suck, especially without anyone to count on this time. (and for a moment wei wuxian fiercely misses the jiang cheng of the future, even with all the anger and everything between them, because he doesn't want to leave his siblings here in the dark but they're young, so young and he can't risk them stopping him or slipping up somehow.)

but being dead had worked the last time; there's no reason it shouldn't work this time too. he's got a lot of work to do, and much of it will be easier if he can just stop being himself for a little while.

(you don't watch out for the dead, after all, especially in this world where yiling isn't yet spoken of as anything but an ordinary town. the wens will never see him coming.)

#mdzs #long post #fanfiction #(well sort of) #mine #i did originally want to have wwx letting jc and jyl know at least some of his plans #but then from wwx's perpsective this is literally the same jc who went back to a besieged lotus pier so like. that's not gonna work #anyway this could go a lot of ways but in the happier timelines after the immediate danger to lotus pier passes #he secretly lets jc and jyl know he's alive #goes to burial mounds to pick up demonic cultivation anyway because they still need it against wen ruohan #finds wen ning and therefore wen qing #and possibly stops by cloud recesses just to check that lan zhan is still alive. would be quite stupid if he'd died #(not necessarily in that order)

[featherfur]

Meng Yao should have been around when Jiang Cheng was running around with his head cut off trying to make disciples out of rogues and convince everyone to get started on the war. I just think he’d see this, probably manic, idiot who needs help and is 100% willing to be bossed around and who really doesn’t care about Meng Yao station in life because he’s just fucking desperate and wants to die but can’t because Yanli and just go “actually I’m interested”. Because Jiang Cheng would riot if he knew Meng Yao wanted to go back to his dad, and well Jiang Cheng is very pathetic when he thinks he’s being left behind (“You’re leaving me for the Jin just like Shijie? Tears and loud words for you! Tears and loud words dor a thousand years!”)

And Meng Yao would have a spot in Lotus Pier where he is VERY clearly wanted, he probably doesn’t become sworn brothers with anyone (or LXC and NMJ realize that no one needs to give the Jin any more influence and become sworn brothers with Jiang Cheng) unless it’s Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian (unfortunately WWX will still probably be killed or hunted at the very least but atleast Qin Su is alive? Maybe having MY around will help calm JC into the fact that LWJ wants to bang his brother and help him so JC can convince WWX to let LWJ atleast play for him, then maybe WWX can accidentally let slip about him already destroying one half and LWJ can help destroy the other half… Dunno if the Wen Remnants survive either sorry, honestly I don’t know if anyone can stop JGS in the long run)

So there’s two ways this goes: (under read more I have Thoughts)

Meng Yao DOES go to the Jin Sect still because JC gets wanting your Dad’s Approval even when he’s a dick AND he protects Yanli who immediately adopted him when JC showed up to the war with him. Without being stuck between a Rock and a Hard place (sorry NMJ not everyone is a annoyingly stubborn with their morals as you and MY is being hurt :( leave him alone :(( ) MY is able to continue being pressured without breaking and even though JGS keeps trying to get him to manipulate JC, MY won’t and won’t manipulate NMJ either and every time he goes to Lotus Pier to ‘look into’ the Jiang Sect he actually just spends the week being plied with children and listening to Jiang Cheng explain the fashion industry Again and talk about silks vs cashmeres vs wool so he just gets a vacay and is more prepared to stand up against his dad.

Also JC and Yanli catch on pretty quick to Madam Jin abusing MY because they were there after Madam Yu would hurt WWX and they know the signs of trying to hide the pain and Yanli suddenly starts Show Up whenever Madam Jin tries anything because that is her Didi now and she will protect him and if anyone ELSE tries to mess with him she will rip them apart like when Jin Zixun tries to bother WWX.

JGS does eventually manage to frame something on WWX but MY intervenes immediately by telling JC the truth and without the ‘did my kinda insane PTSD ridden brother so this?” Panic thoughts JC gets his people and is waiting for the force of Jin and smaller sects, with his two sworn brothers on either side. Because yeah NMJ absolutely hates the Wen but can he really ignore LXC and JC? Plus NHS on the side? He’s only there to protect WWX, anyone else can get fucked and even then he’s only protecting WWX because JC asked him too because NMJ thinks WWX sucks for choosing the wens because he’s very much of the one track ‘the wens suck’ mind. MY pretends he has no idea what’s going on but he does summon Jin Zixuan on ‘accident’ who shows up, annoyed he had to leave his kid, and is like “are we really going to accuse Nie Mingjue, known Wen hater, of protecting Wei Wuxian and lying about his innocence? Because his sword is the same size as my body and I’d rather Not”

(okay he’s more polite and subtle but that’s the gist) somehow Jin Guangshan dies, I’m voting Yanli poisoned him because I think Meng Yao is 100% willing at this point to simply take the abuse because Jiang Cheng and Lan Xichen aren’t essentially telling him to murder his father and that he’s stupid for not holding harder to his morals (sorry NMJ,,, you just,, I love you but MY is hurting and he’s not as stabby as you) NMJ is still very much crankily telling him his dad sucks whenever they meet but Jiang Cheng gets all sparkly whenever MY is around because MY will say he’s Doing Good, so there’s only so much room before JC start just biting anyone who even looks at MY wrong. (NMJ says he’s proud of JC once and JC just starts crying and NMJ UnderstandsTM why MY won’t leave him alone)

But Yanli has to be the one to kill him because MY wouldn’t because he’s a filial son and probably hasn’t lost his hope he will be Loved, Jin Zixuan wouldn’t because he’s like the only one in the entire show not down with murder, Madam Jin is not about to give up the power and money that comes from being the wife of Jin Guangshan even if JZX would take care of her because Yanli clearly is willing to rip everyone apart who fucks with her family and unlike Jiang Cheng is willing to change the status quo, and if JGS dies on a hunt they’ll blame WWX so Yanli just poisons him slowly and he dies from ‘illness’. JZX takes power, Meng Yao is told he’s amazing twelve times a day because JZX can do busy work and argue against anyone but he cannot have a small talk conversation to save his life. Life continues peacefully, Jiang Cheng keeps kidnapping JZX’s advisor because he misses him. Meng Yao knows how to control literally every single great sect but he’s busy chasing down his nephews and helping Jiang Cheng avoid marriage offers to do anything.

Once Jin Guangshan died, LXC and MY both swooped in to have the Wen Remnants moved somewhere else to ‘civilize’ them (using LXC’s own words here) and WWX is very much caught between Jiang Cheng and Lan Wangji arguing over who he’s going home with and he’s honestly never felt more Loved TM. WWX spends six months to break the rest of the tiger rally under the grumpy/watchful eye of NMJ who still isn’t happy anyone from the Wen’s is still alive but he’s weak to puppy eyes and also when he’s being strong armed by his sworn brothers, MY, and NHS (though he still keeps an eye on the actual cultivators, he’s pretty much forgotten the rest of the Wen Remnants exist he just cares about the ones who know how to use a sword). Wangxian happens, idk how I’m voting for a wild Jingyi another orphan decides that he wants to meet the Purple Angry Man and body slams into WWX’s legs trying to get to the Purple man and LWJ catches him and it’s a full on romantic moment of staring into each other’s eyes while Jiang Cheng makes disgusted noises and Meng Yao pats his hand and just tells him to accept it.

Or Meng Yao stays in Lotus Pier because Jiang Cheng has problems and Meng Yao loves a messy loudmouth aggressive bitch with a secret heart of gold. Also Jiang Cheng is the exact kind of Demi-aroace dummy to not realize Meng Yao has a crush on LXC and keeps sending him over to Cloud Recesses to help with trade or something and MY gets to hang out with his crush constantly.

MY is Jiang Cheng’s personal advisor since WWX is currently refusing to process his trauma and staying in a very traumatic place. MY does try to help but WWX doesn’t trust him and probably only half trusts him around JC, BUT MY is very good with kids and helps work with JC on how to slip WWX supplies while negotiating directly with Nie and Lan without Jin glaring over him this time, and Jin Zixuan is more than happy to help when he can because again he’s just like the only one with modern morals and wants Lotus Pier to be strong since if all the sects fall then well the fucking demons/ghosts they hunt will eat them. So WWX is slowly atleast not ready to kill him, Meng Yao finds out WWX already destroyed half the Tiger Tally and tries to get him to let NMJ and LXC help him destroy it further (because that ties the three sects closer and so WWX won’t just stab someone if someone isn’t happy about the Wen’s existing)

Yanli poisons Jin Guangshan again because I think that’s the best way for him to go, Meng Yao does grieve but also that lasts for three minutes before Jiang Cheng shows up with some children he found in Yunmeng and Meng Yao needs to explain to him again that just because the kid latches on doesn’t mean you can take them home. But with JGS out of the way it’s a lot easier to strong arm NMJ into letting the Lan take the remnants (JC and NMJ still aren’t happy about it but NMJ can’t fight the three other sects and JC is getting his brother back and he’ll take the Wen living if that means WWX is too) and WWX returns to Lotus Pier. The truth of the golden core comes out probably via WWX having a flashback or panic attack or something (or that one theory of Yanli knowing,,,) words happen, WWX storms off to find LWJ.

Meng Yao wonders why he likes messy cry babies but still helps out Jiang Cheng because they’re technically brother in laws and also because he really does care about him. Wangxian happens and now Jiang Cheng is really pissed but WWX also said he wasn’t going to just up and leave so they’re on a rotating system but honestly everyone’s just waiting for them to move permanently to Lotus Pier because Lan Wangji has this giant hole in his heart for kids who love Wei Wuxian and Lotus Pier is filled with kids who are Jiang and therefore are insane ans love WWX.

Personally I think this one is the least likely but it sounds very nice right?

#the untamed #mdzs #Jiang Cheng #Meng Yao #Jin Guangyao #fix it #sorta #Lan Xichen #Nie Mingjue #Jiang Yanl #Wei Wuxian #read more #don’t take any of this seriously lmao pls I’m just fucking around

[stiltonbasket]

Wangxian prompt: wwx becomes deaf or is deaf, and lz who has trouble expressing himself has a new way to talk by leaving sign language. Maybe they even avoid a lot of misunderstandings that way.

Come back to Gusu, the note says. Demonic cultivation harms the mind and heart. You know this.

Wei Wuxian is fairly apt at reading lips, since he got a month’s worth of practice in while slaughtering his way through Wen Ruohan’s armies, but Lan Wangji hasn’t bothered with talking this time. Instead, he wrote his irritating refrain on the back of a used scroll and shoved it into Wei Wuxian’s hands, and then refused to leave until Wei Wuxian gave in and read it.

To Jiang Cheng’s utter mortification, Wei Wuxian has been pretending not to understand a word whenever his ex-classmate approaches him with an invitation to the Cloud Recesses. Lan Wangji is from Gusu, after all; he has a Suzhou accent, while Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian grew up speaking the Yunmeng dialect, and who really knew enough about deafness to argue that accents don’t have a thing to do with lip-reading?

Aside from Wei Wuxian, of course. Losing his hearing gave him a free license to ignore Jin Zixun (win) and act as if the phrase come back to Gusu with me is incomprehensible (also a win), but Lan Wangji caught on to his act and made him read the invitation instead.

“No, thank you,” he says politely. He pays special attention to the way his voice sits in his throat, just to make sure he doesn’t speak too loudly. “Not today, Lan Zhan. Maybe never? Yeah, never sounds good. I’m not particularly fond of being punished, you see.”

Lan Zhan makes a strangled face and shakes his head. Not punishment, he seems to be insisting, but that’s probably what teachers in the Lan nurseries tell the little baby Lans before beating their tiny palms with sticks when they eat four helpings of rice. Lan Zhan will just have to forgive Wei Wuxian for not falling for it; Wei Wuxian might keep saying he’s three whenever Shijie comes around with his meals, but that doesn’t mean he was born yesterday.

“I’m afraid I can’t read your lips,” Wei Wuxian apologizes, before spotting Nie Huaisang in the distance. “You’ll just have to ask Jiang Cheng so he can tell me.”

And that, naturally, is the end of it. Lan Zhan probably knows he’s lying, but he’s definitely not going to ask Jiang Cheng to send Wei Wuxian to Gusu.

It’s been another successful day spent avoiding Lan Wangji.

Suddenly, the idea of doing it again tomorrow leaves him very cold.

__

“Hanguang-jun wants to speak with you,” is the first thing Jiang Cheng says the next morning. “Get out of your tent and stop moping. We’re going to Qishan tomorrow, and the last thing we need is you lazing about because Lan Wangji made you cry.”

“I haven’t been crying,” Wei Wuxian protests. “You’re just being mean.”

“He has something for you,” his brother says stiffly. “I don’t know what it is, but he said Nie Huaisang helped him make it. It should be safe, so get out and see what it is.”

The gift proves to be a couple of scrolls covered with Lan Zhan’s neat calligraphy and tied with Huaisang’s green hair ribbons. “What’s this?” Wei Wuxian wonders, looking at Nie Huaisang for an explanation and ignoring the tiny prick in his heart when Lan Zhan’s lip starts to quiver. “Nie-xiong?”

“It’s a way for you to communicate when you can’t read lips,” Huaisang explains. “Signs for combining all twenty-three hard sounds with soft ones. Hanguang-jun wrote it up last night, and I helped.”

He spreads the scrolls out on Jiang Cheng’s messy table, and points to each illustrated sign as Lan Zhan copies them with his fingers--and of course, of course, the first thing Lan Zhan does is ruin the moment by begging Wei Wuxian to come back to Gusu with him, except with his hands instead of his voice this time.

“I already said I won’t!” he snaps, standing up so sharply that he overturns the table and splashes tea all over Nie Huaisang’s clean robes. “I don’t need to go to Gusu! Not to be punished, not to be watched, and I certainly don’t need to be saved from myself--”

Not punishment, Lan Zhan signs painstakingly. Healing. Make sure that the Burial Mounds did not injure you. Treatment for your lost hearing, if you should want it. Rest.

And then, with shaking fingers: Missed you. Spent three months wishing I had at least said goodbye.

“Good--goodbye?” Wei Wuxian croaks, the fight going out of him like a sailing chuan losing the wind out at sea. “What do you mean, goodbye?”

I feared I had lost you forever. I thought I would never have the chance to tell you how I feel.

“That you hate my demonic cultivation?” he scoffs. “You say that, sure, but I don’t see anyone else getting the job done, so--”

I love you.

Jiang Cheng bursts back in a split-second later, summoned by his shixiong screaming, “What do you mean you’re in love with me? This--you’re Hanguang-jun! The hope of the campaign, a jewel among jewels, the--Lan Zhan, don’t you dare keep going!”

“I love you!” he hears Lan Wangji cry, while Wei Wuxian stares at the man’s stupid lips like they’re the most enthralling pair of lips he’s ever seen. “I want you for life, Wei Ying, and I will die if I ever have to live without you!”

(Next to them, Nie Huaisang is clearly having the time of his life. Traitor.)

#wangxian #the untamed #mo dao zu shi #jiang cheng #nie huaisang #lan wangji #wei wuxian #my fic #reblog please?🥺

[red-talisman]

An unbetaed snippet of post-CQL canon Yunmeng reconciliation, which is mostly extremely morbid and blunt conversation after beating each other hard enough that they’re too tired for their usual conflicting modes of emotional avoidance.

EDIT: now edited and posted on AO3. :D

CW for past suicidal ideation. Part of my “let WWX express some of his cynical humor and creepiness more often” and “let WWX find out about JC’s own sacrifice goddamnit” agendas.

___________________

Jiang Cheng stares blankly into the trees, their trunks slowly disappearing in the deepening darkness of twilight. Wei Wuxian’s back is warm against his and heaving for breath just as heavily. He thinks his ankle might be broken, but Wei Wuxian is probably worse off.

“You’re an asshole,” Wei Wuxian says thickly.

“Hypocrite,” Jiang Cheng mutters without heat, and Wei Wuxian manages a snort between his gasps.

“Yeah.” After a moment, he adds, with an echo of the old Yiling Laozu in his voice, “You know that if you ever do something like that again, I’ll probably find a way to do something worse than I did before.”

“If I do what, save your life by pulling the same fucking sacrificial shit that you do?”

“I swear to every god out there that I will bring you back as a fierce corpse and kill you myself,” Wei Wuxian says in a pleasant, albeit still somewhat breathless, tone. “I will dismember your carcass and make Jin Guangyao look like a fucking amateur.”

“Good thing Mo Xuanyu’s core isn’t worth shit, then,” Jiang Cheng replies. All of his attention is focused on the feeling of his brother’s bones and muscles moving against his own spine.

“You’re an asshole.”

“Yeah.”

There’s a pause. Somewhere distant Jiang Cheng hears the panicked yells of what’s probably the juniors they left behind a few li back. Then Wei Wuxian sighs. “We’re really fucked up.”

Jiang Cheng takes his time considering and discarding several possible responses. His ankle hurts like a bitch; Mo Xuanyu’s core may not be worth shit, but damn if his asshole genius brother hasn’t figured out how to make the most of it anyway. He finally settles on a tired, “Yeah.”

The silence stretches on long enough that Wei Wuxian goes on, more quietly, “You and Shijie are the only reason I didn’t die in the Burial Mounds. The Wens grabbed me before I knew whether or not you’d even survived the core transfer.”

Jiang Cheng tilts his head just enough to glance briefly over his shoulder. “How did you survive the Burial Mounds?”

“Nope, no, I’m not putting that on you. Not even Lan Zhan knows. I can’t...I can’t do that.”

“Fine. Then tell me, is any of it going to come back and bite us in the ass at the worst possible moment?” he asks dryly.

Wei Wuxian snorts, humorless. “Nah. It’s all mine.”

“Would you tell me if it wasn’t?”

When Wei Wuxian hesitates for a few telling seconds, Jiang Cheng mutters, “You fucking asshole.”

“Yeah.” Wei Wuxian sighs again.

“You left me.”

“You didn’t need me.”

“Who the fuck said that?”

The knobs of Wei Wuxian’s spine are starting to press painfully into Jiang Cheng’s. Wei Wuxian snorts. “I was practically a fierce corpse myself when I dragged myself out of the Burial Mounds. Your position as sect leader was too precarious,” he says bluntly. “You were seventeen years old with no real family, a sister who was getting married off anyway, and an adopted brother who’d been controversial years before the war even happened and who was clearly half-mad and getting worse. And I...my mind never really left the Mounds, honestly.” He coughs, makes a wet sound, and spits. “If I stayed much longer I was going to end up dragging you back into Hell with me. I was a risk you couldn’t afford and I wasn’t going to destroy Yunmeng Jiang a second time.”

"Don’t pull that bullshit, Wei Wuxian.” Jiang Cheng is so, so tired. “Mother was wrong. You know Wen Chao was looking for any excuse. You’re as responsible for that as our shidi was for using a round kite.”

Wei Wuxian doesn’t respond. Jiang Cheng makes a mental note to beat that nonsense out of him in the future, when he can lift his arms again and his ankle isn’t most likely broken.

But Jiang Cheng remembers what it was like to try turning weapons, human and sword alike, into tools of peace. There are still whole weeks of the Sunshot Campaign that are just smears of sense-memory: the cacophony of screams and curses; the reek of mass funeral pyres and the soft ash drifting through the air like black, silent snow; the startling warmth of being suddenly drenched in blood after Sandu sliced open another living human. Half the time he’d come back to himself laughing hysterically, unable to see anything through the tears on his face, and as the war dragged on, the tears eventually dried up. It had taken months afterwards to settle into the mindset of rebuilding for Lotus Pier. (If he’s honest with himself, he never really did settle there. There's always a part of him still dragging itself through mud made by blood spilled on battlefields and churned up by soldiers' boots.)

“Jin Ling’s the only reason I never actually killed myself after you died,” Jiang Cheng says. “...Don’t you ever tell him that.”

“Wait, what?” Wei Wuxian snaps.

“You saying I would’ve died without a core - it was never about not having a core, you idiot, not really.” Not to say that hadn’t hurt, and Jiang Cheng really doesn’t know how he would’ve managed life as a commoner. But there were still worse things to lose than a core, which had also just lost and was about to lose yet again. “I had a few ideas on how to do it, depending on where I was and what was available when I decided I might as well get it over with.” He huffs a brief laugh and idly rubs his thumb over Sandu’s hilt. “I thought poison might be a good option, if a little heavy-handed on the metaphor.”

“I’d be laughing,” Wei Wuxian says flatly, “if you weren’t talking about killing my little brother.”

“Am I?”

“You never stopped.”

The silhouettes of the trees start to blur in Jiang Cheng’s eyes. “You left. You left, and everyone died, and somehow I was responsible for keeping our sister’s baby alive while the wolves tried to eat what remained of our sect from every direction. You left.”

“I never wanted to.”

“But you did.”

“Because I didn’t see any other way to keep you safe.”

“Because you chose strangers over family.”

“Because I didn’t see any other way to keep you safe,” Wei Wuxian hisses. Apparently they’re not so exhausted that they can’t get pissed after all. “I was hardly human anymore, Jiang Cheng. If I was going to die, then at least I’d die actually managing to save innocent people this time around and you would be safe from me.”

“I never wanted you to do that for me!”

“And I never wanted you to do that for me!”

The tension that had them both struggling to sit up straight suddenly breaks, and their backs collide again. Jiang Cheng grits his teeth against the urge to groan over the pain that ricochets through his chest and down his limbs. He hears a muffled yelp from behind him.

“You’re a damned fucking asshole and you’re my fucking brother and I hate you and don’t you ever assume you know what I need again, do you understand me,” snarls Jiang Cheng.

“You’re the damned fucking asshole and if you ever do that again then I will brand a reminder into your flesh right over the scar from the discipline whip,” Wei Wuxian snaps back, because he's never held back from fighting dirty if he thought it necessary.

“Fine!”

“Fine.”

They both stare into the dark forest, in opposite directions. It sounds like the juniors have finally picked up their tracks. Useless, the whole lot - Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian hadn't exactly been subtle in stepping aside for a private conversation that inevitably escalated, how could it take the kids this long?

"Those dumbasses had better not forget that we're on a night-hunt," he says.

"Like we did?" Wei Wuxian replies.

"You started it."

"Did not."

"No, I'm not doing this with you."

"Hey, you started this one."

"Shut the fuck up."

They fall silent again. A cold breeze picks up and Jiang Cheng feels Wei Wuxian shiver, pressing back just a little more firmly against Jiang Cheng for warmth, and he...leans back too. Just a little.

"I'm still fucking pissed at you," says Wei Wuxian.

"And I've got years' worth to pay you back for," says Jiang Cheng.

"Fine."

"Fine."

"Sect Leader Jiang!" they hear. "Senior Wei!"

"If you don't show up for the mid-autumn festival," Jiang Cheng suddenly says, "I'll come drag you out of the Cloud Recesses by the heels."

"But the dogs - "

"Don't be an idiot. Jin Ling's dog is the only one allowed in Lotus Pier, you know that."

Well, come to think of it, Wei Wuxian probably doesn't know that, but whatever, now he does. Wei Wuxian is terrifyingly silent, but before Jiang Cheng can say something that will inevitably bring them back to throwing fists, he hears a quiet, "Yeah, okay."

"Do you think they killed each other?" they hear Lan Jingyi asking loudly. "I mean, Sandu Shengshou versus the Yiling Patriarch - who would win?"

"Don't be an idiot," retorts Jin Ling, and Wei Wuxian's body briefly shakes with a laugh. "My uncle, obviously."

"They're both your uncle, idiot!"

Jiang Cheng just sighs and lets his head fall back against Wei Wuxian’s shoulder.

#jiang cheng #wei wuxian #yunmeng bros #yunmeng reconciliation #through inappropriate and blunt conversation #this is not Trauma-Informed (TM) #i just wanted to vent some of my own feelings about them both #jukebox fic #mdzs

[nillegible]

Jin Zixun accidentally saves canon, Part2

(Read part one of the fic, here!)

“Did you hear? The Yiling Patriarch killed Jin-er-gongzi, and dragged away his corpse.”

Jiang Cheng might not have been the intended listener, but he has no qualms in stalking toward the cultivator who was speaking. Pale green robes with white accents, he must be from Laoling Qin. Jiang Cheng doesn’t take him by the collar, but his fingers twitch. He definitely wishes to.

“What did you say?” he asks.

From the expression of abject terror that crosses the other man’s face, Jiang Cheng didn’t do a particularly good job at appearing non-threatening.

“Jian-Jiang-zongzhu. I. Jiang-zongzhu, it was. They’re all saying.”

“That Wei Wuxian killed Jin Zixun and took away his corpse? When did he even get here? Where did he drag him away from?”

“Ah, no. It wasn’t. Jiang-gongzi must know I don’t speak for Jin sect, but it wasn’t here.”

Jiang Cheng considers shaking a more coherent answer out of this coward, but decides against it. Gods knew what nonsense he would actually spout. No, he needs a better source, he needs Shijie.

Protocol forgotten, he storms into Koi Tower.

*

Oooh, Jiang-xiong looks furious. Jiang Wanyin had stormed into Carp tower like a small purple thundercloud. He’s taller than Yu-furen was and less delicate looking, but one could absolutely see that Jiang-xiong was his mother’s son. The air even smelled electric when he strode by, purple sleeves billowing elegantly.

Where is Jiang-xiong going, making quite so much of a display? Huaisang directs his casual wandering in his wake, stretching his cultivation senses to keep track of him when he storms out of view. He wonders if this is about the rumours that have been slowly spreading from the anxious and guilty looking Jin cultivators. And there are so many­, oddly many, low-level cultivators who can’t have all been invited at this time for the naming-day ceremony, it was gauche. So much yellow, they interfere with the decorations.

“Whatever did Jin-gongzi do this time to anger Jiang-zhongzu so much? Ah, I’d hoped a nephew would mellow him,” Nie Huaisang complains, or something along those lines to the most disgruntled people he crosses, with a laugh and conspiratorial smile. The reminder of Jiang-xiong’s rather Extra tendencies seems to put people at ease, and Nie Huaisang sails through, keeping an eye out for anyone who might actually matter.

He sees Lan Wangji, who, in spite of the way he stands separate from the crowd like a drop of water on a lotus leaf, definitely matters. Nie Huaisang makes his way towards him.

*

“What nonsense is everyone spouting about Wei Wuxian and Jin Zixun?” Jiang Cheng demands, bursting into Jin Zixuan’s office, where the wary Jin disciples had directed him.

“Jiang-gongzi!” says Jin Guangyao, the first to stand, just as Jin Zixuan says, “Jiang Wanyin, you’re here!”

Jin Zixuan says, after a beat, “Wei Wuxian and the Ghost General were seen taking my cousin away.”

“Surely even he couldn’t attack and cart someone off from Koi Tower. What would he even want from Jin Zixun?”

“It wasn’t from Koi Tower, he didn’t reach here,” says Jin Zixuan. “It was on the way.”

“Explain,” says Jiang Cheng.

“A-Yao will explain,” says Jin Zixuan. His voice is colder than Jiang Cheng has become accustomed to hearing it.

“Jin Zixun was cursed. It was the hundred holes curse. He got it into his head that Wei-gongzi had to be the one who did it. I only found out this morning, but he – he went to waylay Wei-gongzi and demand that he remove the curse.”

“Leaving aside the absolute idiocy of Wei Wuxian being the one to curse him, why would Wei Wuxian then kidnap him? Maybe he actually knows a way to remove that curse, and Jin Zixun’s gone back with him.”

“Ah, it wasn’t quite so amicable as that–” Jin Guangyao looks towards Jin Zixuan, but when he doesn’t take over the explanation he continues, “Jin Zixun took three hundred archers with him –”

“THREE HUNDRED archers? Why would the Jin sect send a full battalion to ask Wei Wuxian to remove a curse?”

Jin Guangyao’s voice, which was already quiet, lowers further, “I believe that the show of strength was only meant to make Wei-gongzi give Jin-er-gongzi his due consideration. Wei-gongzi doesn’t always listen.”

“That is not what you told me,” Jin Zixuan says.

“He may… he may have planned to end the curse in a different way if Wei Wuxian didn’t comply,” says Jin Guangyao, finally.

Jiang Cheng tries to choke back his rage. How dare they! “If it turns out that Wei Wuxian has been harmed, Jin sect will not be forgiven,” Jiang Cheng threatens. “He may not be of my sect anymore, but to ambush him and try to kill him on such a stupid pretence, after you invited him to my own nephew’s ceremony! As if Wei Wuxian would not kill Jin Zixun himself if he had wanted him dead, and reanimate his corpse!” Jiang Cheng knows what happens to those his brother punishes. Jiang Cheng had joined him, in exacting their vengeance against Wen Chao, Wang Lingjiao, and Wen Zhuliu.  

“Jiang-zonghzhu, seems to be planning to do that, now. They say he carried Jin-er-gongzi’s body away,” says Jin Guangyao. Implicit in that is what foul things Wei Wuxian is known to do with corpses.

Jiang Cheng just can’t believe it. In a rage at the people who had murdered Wen Ning? Perhaps. But to kill Jin Ling’s uncle on his special day? Wei Wuxian would know better! And there’s more that doesn’t make sense. “How did Wei Wuxian kill Jin Zixun? You said he took a whole battalion!” Even if Wei Wuxian had killed half of them, it’s unlikely he could get away, especially if they were archers.

“Ah. Uh. Wei-gongzi did not kill him. The Jin archers shot him.”

It takes Jiang Cheng a moment. “The Jin archers shot Jin Zixun?” he turns to Jin Zixuan for confirmation. His brother-in-law looks miserable and angry, but nods. “How the hell did.” Jiang Cheng is out of words. “Do you not train your disciples to aim?”

“Faced with the Yiling Patriarch, one of the younger disciples may have been afraid? As far as I gathered they were actually aiming for Wei-gongzi,” – Jin Guangyao winces as Zidian sparks – “but he ducked, and so Jin Zixun was shot.”

“He ducked,” repeats Jiang Cheng, looking between Jin Guangyao and Jin Zixuan, who don’t disagree with that frankly ridiculous assessment. They have to be joking. Or worse, they have to be lying. And if they’re lying to his face, then who knows what really happened? Jiang Cheng bows lightly to his brother-in-law. “Jin-gongzi, I take my leave of you. My apologies for missing Jin Ling’s celebration, but if I’m lucky, I can fetch Wei Wuxian and be back in time to meet my nephew and my sister before they retire from the feast. I know how much A-jie was looking forward to seeing our brother.” Jin Zixuan winces at that, no doubt imagining explaining to Jiang Yanli that his stupid cousin had tried to murder her brother.

That’s Jin Zixuan’s problem though. Jiang Cheng is going to fly to the Burial Mounds and his brother’s awful little encampment, and shake him until he gets some answers.

He ducked.

Which meant, at the least, that Wei Wuxian was being shot at. Stupid, I told you I couldn’t protect you, and this is what you get up to? Jiang Cheng had thought his brother would keep his head down until people forgot about him! Some sort of self-imposed imprisonment that kept him out of everyone’s way. That was why he wasn’t even invited to the wedding. Stupid, stupid Wei Wuxian.

As Jiang Cheng sweeps out the doors of the main hall, he sees Lan Wangji, looking stiff, and if Jiang Cheng isn’t just projecting, angry. He meets Jiang Cheng’s eyes and weaves his way closer.

“Jiang-zongzhu.”

“Hanguang Jun,” returns Jiang Cheng. On any other day he’d wait and glare until the second jade spoke his mind, not making it any easier for him. Today, he hasn’t the patience. “If you’ll olease make my excuses to Lan-zongzhu, but I will be unable to greet him. I need to go to Yiling and find my–” he realizes with a jolt that he’d called Wei Wuxian brother too many times today in conversation already. “-Wei Wuxian. There’s all sorts of rumours flying about, I don’t like it.”

“I will come with you,” says Lan Wangji.

Jiang Cheng eyes him. “If Hanguang Jun believes me incapable of judging Wei Wuxian if he is at fault today–” he snarls, but is cut off by a sharp gesture from Lan Wangji. And what might even be a real emotion on his face.

“Wei Ying would not have,” he says, with a certainty that even Jiang Cheng could not feel. Jiang Cheng hates how much he appreciates the words. “Let me come.”

Jiang Cheng should say no, should say that Wei Wuxian was his responsibility.

‘Just Let me go. Tell the world that I defected. From now on, whatever Wei Wuxian does, it would have nothing to do with Yunmeng Jiang sect.’

“Fine,” says Jiang Cheng. “Just keep up.”

He knows from experience, as he takes off into the sky, that Lan Wangji can keep up.

#Shitty!JZX #Jiang Cheng #jzx #jgy #canon divergence #fix it au