Chapter Text
They made their way to Tanzhou, as Lan Xichen was supposedly night-hunting there. Now they know where the head was, they needed to inform Lan Xichen of the results of their investigation. On their way, they stopped by a garden, which purportedly used to be haunted by a spirit of petals. Mo Xuanyu then learned of the embarrassing story of how Wei Wuxian harassed the spirit, and glared at him. Wei Wuxian then chose to watch Lan Wangji leave to set up arrays as they set up camp in the garden.
“Right. I need to ask you guys a question. Just what is the meaning behind your sect’s forehead ribbon?”
Hearing this, the boys’ expressions changed at once. They looked at each other, panicking and stammering. Wei Wuxian began to feel a foreboding feeling, and his heart beat even faster.
“Senior, do you not know?” Lan Sizhui asked cautiously.
“If I knew, why would I be asking you all? Do I look like I like to mess with people?”
“Yes… After all, you could even do something like tricking us to line up and look at that sort of thing…” Lan Jingyi mumbled.
Wei Wuxian poked at the fire with a stick, releasing bursts of sparks, “Wasn’t that for you to train yourselves and get out of your comfort zones? It really is effective. If you listen to what I say, you’ll definitely benefit from them in the future.”
Lan Sizhui seemed as though he was carefully choosing his words. He only answered after a long while of hesitation, “Okay. The forehead ribbon of the Gusu Lan sect means to “regulate oneself”. Senior, you know this, right?”
“Yes. And?”
“Our founder, Lan An, had decreed that one can only let go of all restraints when they are with the one they love and cherish. Thus, the message that has been passed down the generations is that our forehead ribbons are special objects that are very, very personal and sensitive. Aside from one’s family, you cannot let another touch it, or take it off as you please and absolutely cannot tie it on someone else. That is, unless that person is…” Lan Sizhui began to blush red and trailed off.
Wei Wuxian stared at them in shock as though Lan Sizhui pulled a prank on him, but the other juniors were also blushing as well.
“Is this why you told me that I should accept becoming a cut-sleeve? You knew and you didn’t tell me!?” Wei Wuxian shouted.
“I figured it’d be better if you heard it from a Gusu Lan disciple instead of me.” Mo Xuanyu snickered. “Besides, even if I did tell you, it wouldn’t have helped untie you from the forehead ribbon anyway, Hanguang-jun’s fated person !” Mo Xuanyu teased.
“You shut it!” Wei Wuxian began panicking, remembering the time he had taken off the forehead ribbon at the archery competition. “I need to… go cool off a bit.” Wei Wuxian stood up, and ran.
“Wow… he must really like Hanguang-jun. Will we see a confession soon?” Lan Jingyi said, excitedly.
“Jingyi, please.” Lan Sizhui pleaded.
Meanwhile, standing outside the garden was Jin Ling, who had been following them since earlier. From the shadows of a grave further away, Jin Ling watched as Mo Xuanyu left the group of juniors alone. Now’s my chance! Jin Ling followed after him. He had to make sure Fairy was not too close to him in the event it chased Mo Xuanyu off. After all, it never made sense why Mo Xuanyu would be scared of dogs one moment and not scared the next. It gave more credence that maybe Wei Wuxian was possessing Mo Xuanyu in some form that cannot be detected by Zidian.
If he confirms that Wei Wuxian is indeed in Mo Xuanyu’s body, then his uncle would be happy to know that he managed to find him after so long. He paused, remembering their encounter back in Qinglu Ridge. What would he do then? Xuan-ge might still be around… I should observe further. He moved to hurriedly follow Mo Xuanyu from behind. Once he saw Mo Xuanyu alone, fretting over something, he waited. When he only saw the man pacing back and forth, Jin Ling realised that Mo Xuanyu would not summon Wen Ning any time soon and was about to go back.
Just as he was about to confront the man, he froze where he stood. Killing intent emanated from behind him, with the chill of a blade poking his back, not deep enough to be a wound yet not light enough to dismiss as non-threatening. Jin Ling considered his options; be discovered to get this assailant off him, or try to fend him off himself. In a split second, he made his choice and unsheathed his sword. He’s not some weak princess who needs to be coddled!
A whistle echoed in the forest, and Wei Wuxian immediately turned around. The juniors shot up from where they sat, and grabbed their weapons. A familiar boy dressed in gold burst out of the bushes, chased by the gravedigger they saw at Yi City.
“Jin Ling?!” Everyone shouted.
“Why the hell are you coming after me for?!” Jin Ling shouted, deflecting the blow from the swordsman. “Don’t you guys interfere!” He jumped further away from them.
“You’re clearly in trouble, of course we will help!” Lan Jingyi shouted, unsheathing his sword.
“No, don’t attack! You might hurt Young Master Jin if you’re not careful.” Lan Sizhui stopped the juniors from acting. “What do we do, Senior Mo?”
“What Sizhui said, don’t jump into the fray. This assailant is almost as good as Hanguang-jun in combat.” Wei Wuxian calmly spoke, and grabbed some talismans.
The juniors all widened their eyes in disbelief. “But we can’t just…”
Isn’t that… the Gusu Lan sword style? Jin Ling calmed down and side stepped the assailant’s stabs. There’s absolutely no reason for a Gusu Lan disciple to attack me at all! He continued to run, hoping that his spiritual dog could catch up with him soon. The oppressive offensive caused him to be on the defensive, deflecting the blows the best he could. Some ghouls rose up from the ground, taking the heat off him. However, this did little to stop the attacker, who slashed through them like paper.
The strumming of a qin echoed in the distance, and Jin Ling saw Hanguang-jun descend from the sky. Distracted, Suihua is knocked out of his hands and it drops to the floor. The gravedigger had his sword to Jin Ling’s neck as Lan Wangji landed in front of him.
“Let him go!” Wei Wuxian demanded.
“You know what I want.” The gravedigger’s voice was distorted. “Give me the body parts.”
“No! If you give him whatever that is, I will never forgive you!” Jin Ling shouted.
“Can you save him, Senior Wei?”
“I can. Are you willing to trust me?” Wei Wuxian asked, and Lan Wangji also looked at him.
“Senior Wei. I trust your judgement. After all, no one else knows better on how to manage the body parts.”
The juniors looked at him expectantly as Mo Xuanyu held onto the Qiankun Pouches, which were struggling to burst through.
“Lan Zhan.” Wei Wuxian turned to look at Lan Wangji and nodded.
“Well? I don’t have all day.” The blade inched closer to the boy’s throat.
“Okay. You win. You can have your body parts.” Wei Wuxian smiled.
“No, don’t do it!” Lan Jingyi shouted. “Hanguang-jun, are you okay with this?” Lan Wangji only stared at the grave digger, his hand still on Bichen.
“You coward!” Jin Ling shouted. “I thought better of you, Xuan-ge!”
“Jin Ling. I only want you safe.” Both Wei Wuxian and Mo Xuanyu spoke in unison, and Jin Ling froze, completely taken aback by those words. “Trust me. This will work out.” He smiled.
Jin Ling stared at him in shock, with an image of a smiling Xuan-ge overlapping with Mo Xuanyu in front of him. He held the pouches at a distance, walking closer to the gravedigger and Jin Ling, while Lan Wangji stood where he was. The juniors began to feel desolate. When Mo Xuanyu walked very close to the grave digger, the Gusu Lan juniors wanted to look away.
“By the way, I forgot to mention, we forgot to calm the corpse down.” Wei Wuxian cheerfully said, and threw the pouches to where the grave digger stood.
A burst of smoke appeared as Jin Ling closed his eyes. Immediately, the grave digger dropped him to the floor and he heard a sword clashing with something hard. Jin Ling immediately rolled away, grabbing Suihua in the process. The corpse pieced itself together, and began attacking the grave digger.
“It actually worked.” Mo Xuanyu said, stunned.
“Spread out! Don’t stick too close together, the corpse will be attracted to yang energy!” Wei Wuxian shouted at the juniors, who immediately dispersed themselves.
Jin Ling got up and ran off in another direction. He hid himself in a bush, but could not find the other Lan juniors. Jin Ling panted heavily, the adrenaline pumping in his blood as he tried to compose himself. I caused trouble again, didn’t I? I’m so useless. He then looked up from where he hid. The gravedigger struggled to defend himself from the corpse. Wei Wuxian moved to another corner while Lan Wangji watched.
“You did this on purpose, didn’t you!?” The grave digger shouted in anger.
“You said you wanted the body parts, so I put them all together for you!” Wei Wuxian said in a sing-song voice.
No matter how high his cultivation, Su She could not possibly calm and defend himself from the corpse at the same time. Nonetheless, they cautiously observed the situation in the event that Su She had any hidden cards up his sleeve. Su She barely blocked the blows, as the corpse’s familiarity with the Lan sect moves proved to be a disadvantage. The corpse gained ground and pushed Su She back. Although he tried to divert the corpse’s attention, he failed, barely surviving the onslaught of the corpse’s attacks.
“Why isn’t he attacking you?” The grave digger gritted.
“None of us here have killing intent.” Su She noticed Lan Wangji had sheathed his sword. “Your intention to threaten your hostage backfired on you, that’s all.” Wei Wuxian explained.
The grave digger managed to extricate himself, jumping away. The headless corpse continued to pursue him, waving his arm in a loose fist. Both Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji observed the situation, slowly following the corpse and the grave digger. With the way he waved his hand like that, it is clear that he is indeed Nie Mingjue. Nie Mingjue was known as a powerhouse in battle, and having grown up as a good friend of Lan Xichen, it was no wonder he had familiarity with the Gusu Lan techniques. Su She would never be able to win, with no experience against the Nie saber style.
“Unbelievable. What kind of monster is that?” Lan Jingyi said, shocked as he joined up with Lan Sizhui in their hiding place. “Why is he so powerful?”
Su She continued to struggle. He could not lure the monster to anyone else as the juniors effectively spread themselves. Even his former hostage had managed to gather some distance. He gritted his teeth, and seeing Wei Wuxian put the flute to his mouth angered him further.
“Is he going to play that awful song the other day?” Lan Sizhui shushed Lan Jingyi up as they watched the stalemate.
However, no sound came from Wei Wuxian at all. He merely smiled. Lan Wangji continued to wait, his expression stoic. It was as though they were waiting for something. Soon, the sounds of a xiao resounded not far from the clearing they were in. Zewu-jun is here! The corpse suddenly paused, standing still to listen for the player. Taking this opportunity, Su She immediately grabbed a transportation talisman and disappeared into a burst of blue flames. The headless corpse then halted, only catching air. It looked around, and everyone held their breath. Jin Ling took out his bow.
“Hanguang-jun! Is it safe to move now?” Lan Jingyi shouted.
The notes of the xiao stopped, and suddenly, the headless corpse turned to their hiding spot, The juniors gulped, fear climbing up their spines, their feet frozen to the ground.
“Are you an idiot?” Jin Ling shouted, almost ready to shoot.
“Don’t attack him!” Wei Wuxian shouted, and Jin Ling flinched, having nearly fired his arrow.
The headless corpse turned to Jin Ling and his expression paled. Wei Wuxian immediately threw a pebble at him, attracting his attention. Then, the corpse changed course, and sprinted towards him. Lan Wangji immediately unsheathed Bichen, and attacked. The corpse caught Bichen’s hilt with its own bare hands. It tried to examine what it caught, despite not having a head. The juniors gasped in worry. Lan Wangji coolly took out his guqin, and plucked on one string. The sound echoed through the air, and flew towards the corpse, who slashed the note into half with Bichen.
Wei Wuxian then began playing his flute, shrill notes filling the air. Lan Wangji continued strumming downwards, unleashing the weight of all seven notes. The strumming of his guqin reverberated through the air. In response, high notes of a xiao accompanied it, and grew louder. Hearing the sounds of someone flying through the air, the juniors turned to see their Sect Leader descending gracefully from above with his flute, Liebing.
“Zewu-jun!” they exclaimed, excited and relieved to see him.
Once he landed, Lan Xichen paused, as though stunned by the headless corpse in front of him. However, seeing Lan Wangji engaged in combat, Lan Xichen recovered and played his instrument. The onslaught of the notes weakened the corpse, as though swords rained from the sky. Both Mo Xuanyu and the juniors watched in awe. So this is how the Twin Jades fight! Jin Ling too watched, mesmerized by the music. Once again, the corpse stopped upon hearing the sounds of the soothing xiao , and eventually fell apart into pieces.
“Thank you for your timely arrival, Zewu-jun!” Wei Wuxian thanked him as Lan Xichen approached them.
“Are you all right?” Lan Xichen asked and turned to his brother. “I got worried when you did not manage to meet up with me, so I assumed you have been delayed and tried to catch up with you.”
The juniors cheered as they left their hiding spots to join up with their seniors. Jin Ling immediately ran over.
“Oh my gosh, that was so cool of you, Senior Mo! I almost thought you really wanted to hand over the corpse to the bad guy!” Lan Jingyi shouted.
Lan Xichen looked at Wei Wuxian, demanding an explanation.
“Someone took Young Master Jin hostage and demanded the body pieces. The assailant fled just before you arrived.” Lan Wangji explained, and kept the body parts in the Qiankun Pouches.
Jin Ling then sheepishly walked over to them, awkwardly standing in front of them. He refused to look anyone in the eye.
“I’m so sorry for the trouble I’ve caused.” Jin Ling said, “I should have left when you told me to.” He looked down.
“What matters is that you are safe, Young Master Jin.” Lan Xichen said.
“It’s not your fault.” Lan Jingyi tried to reassure him.
“We didn’t expect him to take you hostage when you left us.” Lan Sizhui added.
“But I should have—” Wei Wuxian immediately hugged him out of nowhere.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have driven you away,” Mo Xuanyu began, closing his eyes. “As you are safe, nothing else matters. Because to me, you are my precious nephew even if you don’t see me that way.” Both Wei Wuxian and Mo Xuanyu said in unison.
Jin Ling blinked in complete surprise. His hands were still in mid air, before he returned the hug. He didn’t care if he looked like a child in front of the other Gusu Lan disciples now, because a long time ago, someone used to hug him like this. Gentle, and warm...
They set up camp afterwards. Lan Wangji had ordered the juniors to go rest, and Jin Ling joined them as well. Lan Xichen, Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian sat around a campfire, and the latter two explained what had happened in the past two months. Mo Xuanyu sat in and listened.
“I see. It must have been hard on you in the past two months.”
“You came at the nick of time, Sect Leader Lan. That said…”
Judging from the movement of the corpse, the corpse’s familiarity with the Gusu Lan sect moves, Lan Xichen’s hesitation, and how the other person had fought for the corpse’s pieces, everyone knew who was the most likely suspect.
“He will not have done such a thing.” Lan Xichen defends the person immediately. “Your investigation of this case and encounter with the gravedigger took place within the past month, and he has been discussing matters with me for the Discussion Conference every single day. He definitely could not have been the gravedigger, considering that he was busy discussing matters with me the whole time.”
“Even if he used the teleportation talisman?”
“The technique itself is already difficult to use, and you need to expend large quantities of spiritual powers to use it, and he has not shown any signs of cultivating it. We went on a night hunt a few days ago, and his performance was excellent as usual. Thus, I am certain he has never used the transportation talisman.”
“We are not saying that it is him, since he could have gotten someone else to do it for him.” Lan Xichen still shook his head. “Sect Leader Lan, you know who is the most suspicious person. You’re just refusing to admit it.” Wei Wuxian spoke.
The light of the bonfire casted everchanging shadows over the three faces.
“I understand that because of certain reasons, the world holds quite a few misconceptions about him.” Lan Xichen finally broke the silence. “But… I trust what I have seen throughout these years. I trust that he is not this sort of person.”
It wasn’t difficult to understand why Lan Xichen defended Jin Guangyao. The man had always treated others with kindness and humility, never offending anyone and also being able to make everyone in his presence feel comfortable talking to him. Such a great person with a harsh past, Wei Wuxian had thought that he would not even have had a terrible opinion of the person. Until he saw Mo Xuanyu’s memories. Some things can’t be trusted on the surface, he mused.
“I agree.” Mo Xuanyu blurted, and they stared at him.
Then, at the back of his mind, Wei Wuxian could feel Mo Xuanyu tugging at him. He looked at Lan Wangji, who nodded.
“Well, Sect Leader Lan, there is another thing we have yet to tell you. I am not Mo Xuanyu. I am Wei Wuxian.” Lan Xichen widened his eyes, and stared at Lan Wangji in confusion. “You’ve been talking to me instead of Mo Xuanyu.”
Wei Wuxian then closed his eyes and breathed in calmly. They rarely swapped in front of other people aside from Lan Wangji. For Mo Xuanyu to want to speak, it spoke volumes of what he wanted to say. Lan Xichen could feel a shift in atmosphere as the man in front of him opened his eyes again. His expression changed from that of seriousness to solemness, and he politely bowed.
“It is a pleasure to meet you, Zewu-jun. My name is Mo Xuanyu, a former disciple of the Lanling Jin sect. ”Mo Xuanyu introduced himself.
“What exactly is the meaning of this?” Stunned, Lan Xichen looked to his brother, and Lan Wangji shook his head. “This… Body sharing?”
“The original owner, and Wei Ying.” Lan Wangji supplied. “He had been at the Mo Manor where the arm was first found.”
“A month ago, I offered my body to the Yiling Patriarch at Mo Village through the sacrificial ritual. I succeeded, and he came back, but somehow I’m still here.” He explained, a chuckle escaping him before he stared at the head of the Gusu Lan sect. “I know this is not my place to speak, but I have something to tell you. About the corpse.” He started.
“You are… his half-brother, if I recall correctly. I’ve heard a bit about you.” And maybe from him, of course. Mo Xuanyu inwardly thought.
“It’s all right. I’m sure everyone knows me as the shameless cutsleeve who hit on his own half-brother.” The sense of self-loathing was strong in his tone.
“Please don’t demean yourself.” Lan Xichen said sternly.
Wei Wuxian found himself in another one of Mo Xuanyu’s memories, the younger him running through Carp Tower. Except this time, it was somewhat different.
Mo Xuanyu was reliving his memories right now.
“Everyone knows the act of offering one’s body to be of the demonic path, so you might be wondering where I learnt about it. I actually studied demonic cultivation at Lanling Jin. Brother Yao was the one who introduced me to it.” Lan Xichen continued to stare at him. “He said that since I was unable to cultivate a golden core, I could instead study demonic cultivation which did not need one.”
“He would never do such a thing. He had sealed off the demonic cultivation materials for a reason.”
“Sect Leader Lan, I believed in that too. I believed that he was actually a nice person too. He was the only one who would remember my name and the only one,” he hesitated, “who was nice to me.” Lan Xichen began to have a foreboding feeling. “So I studied hard in demonic cultivation. Brother Yao handed me all of the Yiling Patriarch’s notes, and told me to learn how to control Wen Ning or make more charms for the sect. In truth, I did it all not for the Lanling Jin sect, but for him.”
“Big brother! I finished all the talismans you asked me to do!” Mo Xuanyu ran up to Jin Guangyao with the talismans in his hands.
Wei Wuxian moved closer to scrutinize the talismans in the boy’s hands and widened his eyes.
“Great! We can use them now to see if they work!” Jin Guangyao beamed, but Mo Xuanyu soon grew confused.
“Now? Aren’t these talismans used for sealing away corpses with resentful energy?” Jin Guangyao moved to a copper mirror in the room.
“Sect Leader Lan, I know you are sworn brothers with him, so that means you’ve been to the Fragrant Palace, right?” Mo Xuanyu then began to list out whatever he could remember of the room. “Do you recall if there was a copper mirror there?” Mo Xuanyu asked, and Lan Xichen tried to recall, before nodding.
His hand passed through it. Mo Xuanyu had been here several times, but he had no idea that the copper mirror wasn’t mere decoration.
Jin Guangyao took his arm and slowly guided him through the mirror. Wei Wuxian followed.
“There’s actually a secret room behind it. A room that I think Sect Leader Lan doesn’t even know about.” Mo Xuanyu smiled, somewhat proud of this knowledge.
Just as they entered, oil lamps in the room all lit up by themselves. Mo Xuanyu looked in awe at all the shelves and cabinets surrounding the room. That immediately transitioned into disgust and fear at the sight of the torture devices in the corner. Iron rings, sharp spikes and silver hooks, which looked strange. Some were rusty, and Mo Xuanyu wondered who were the unfortunate ones before brushing those thoughts away. Good thing Brother Yao kept them from bad people.
Wei Wuxian on the other hand knew the history of these devices and gulped. Jin Guangyao had created these to cater to Wen Ruohan’s needs when he infiltrated the Qishan Wen sect. It gave him goosebumps thinking about it. Why did he keep these things? For memory’s sake? Beside the desk was an iron table, long enough for a person to lie down on it. Wei Wuxian scanned the table, and noticed that there were black, dried up traces of something on the surface of the table.
The perfect table to cut a person on.
“Why do you have these corpse sealing talismans here?” Wei Wuxian turned to see Jin Guangyao heading to a shelf covered in a curtain. “There can’t be a corpse in your room, right—” The curtain lifted, and Mo Xuanyu widened his eyes in shock.
On the top wooden shelf, sat…
Bile nearly traveled up his neck as he held in the urge to retch. “W-Why is his head here?” He pointed at it in fear, stepping back.
“I’m aware that you may think that I am infringing on his trust, since secret rooms are supposed to stay secret. Every sect has their own vault. But I am telling you this. The head you’re looking for is in that very room behind the mirror.” Mo Xuanyu told the twin Jades.
“Who… is it?” Lan Xichen asked, despite knowing the answer.
“Brother, why?” He said in disbelief. There’s no way he would do this!
“I had to kill him. No matter what I did, he was never pleased. Just like how he took you here and left you to your own devices.”
“You wouldn’t!”
“You’re underestimating me. I will get rid of people who get in my way. Even my father.” Even you , was left unsaid.
“You killed father? Why?” Mo Xuanyu said, shocked.
“It was Chifeng-zun’s head, to be precise. How can I not recognise the faces of the Venerated Triad?”
“It seems you won’t agree with me either. Such a shame, I thought you would understand. After all, father did abandon your mother too. Did you not feel hatred for him?”
“Yeah but… I thought you were a nice person.” Mo Xuanyu gripped his fists tightly.
“I take it that you can’t accept me, huh…” Jin Guangyao sounded disappointed.
The young man stepped back, terrified. “Are you going to kill me then?”
“Are you sure?” Lan Xichen seemed doubtful.
“I’m not going to kill you, Xuanyu.”
“I am sure.” He closed his eyes.
“Because from now on, no one is going to believe you.” Without warning, he shouted. “Mo Xuanyu! Get your hands off me!” People burst into the room and grabbed Mo Xuanyu.
Jin Guangyao masterfully changed his expression from disappointment to that of reluctance.
“Sect Leader, are you all right?!”
“I am fine. He didn’t do anything wrong. I merely failed to guide him as his older brother.”
Wei Wuxian watched Jin Guangyao turn the tables on Mo Xuanyu, horror seeping into his expression and his helplessness.
Mo Xuanyu’s palms were full of sweat, he trembled and squirmed where he sat. The sect leader of the Gusu Lan scrutinized him.
Disgusting. Useless.
“Your words do carry weight, but there is no evidence.” Each word the sect leader uttered made his leg throb even more in pain for some reason.
“It’s okay. I know no one would believe me.” He smiled, and Lan Xichen flinched.
“That is not what I meant. Before the truth is entirely revealed,” the sect leader spoke, and Mo Xuanyu felt his chest tighten. “I will not be partial to either side. What you speak is a serious accusation that I cannot bring up without evidence.” The sect leader explained.
You are a liar. You don’t even have evidence, don’t you? How dare you take advantage of Lianfang-zun’s kindness like this! He is your brother after all!
Mo Xuanyu looked at Lan Wangji, whose expression remained impassive. He gripped his knees tightly. See what this brought you? It’s futile. No one believes you.
He treated you so well! How can you betray him?
I am your brother, but I cannot accept you, Xuanyu. You betrayed me.
Remember what A-Fang used to tell you? Repay kindness with kindness. What kind of repayment is this?! You want revenge, didn’t you? So much for ‘family’, no wonder he threw you out you ungrateful bastard!
Mo Xuanyu then took in heavy breaths. It was all my fault. If I hadn’t… The mutters began to ring louder into laughter and mockery.
Wei Wuxian suddenly fell over, the memory becoming hazy. He watched all the faces of the Lanling Jin sect members, Jin Ling and many other servants flash through Mo Xuanyu’s mind, uttering the words in constant repetition and echoing throughout that even he had to press his hands against his ears.
“I believe you.” Lan Wangji said, and Lan Xichen turned to him. “He is innocent and he has nothing to gain from lying to you.”
Suddenly, Mo Xuanyu’s expression began to pale. His hands reached up to his face and he started to shirk away from the two brothers. His breathing became ragged and he found his chest constricting on itself. He curled up into a ball, trembling.
“What’s wrong?” Lan Xichen tried to approach, reaching his hand out.
Widening his eyes, the younger man retreated.
“I’m-I’m fine, really! It’s okay, I know you don’t believe me.” he struggles to calm himself down, moving away from the other two cultivators. “Please don’t hate me.” he muttered, looking down.
“Why would I hate you?” Lan Xichen said, confused.
Seeing the raised hand in front of him, Mo Xuanyu squirmed further away. You just wanted some pity, didn’t you? Their concerned looks remained in his mind slowly twisted to that of pity, then to that of disgust .
“I-I-I-I don’t know. Please-please don’t hit me, I didn’t mean to do it for pity. F-Forget anything I said, I… didn’t mean to cause trouble.”
“You haven’t caused any trouble.” You did. Lan Xichen then moved closer in concern and Mo Xuanyu flinched.
“I’m fine! I’m perfectly fine! I’m not a lunatic! I’m telling you that it happened!” He choked on his tears, sobbing. “I didn’t do it! I didn’t do anything! I really didn’t do anything, so why won’t anyone believe me?!” He wailed, shattering the tranquility of the clearing around them.
The two brothers immediately pulled out their instruments and played them. As they played their duet, a soft, soothing piece could be heard. In the midst of his rambling and sobs, he could hear the music drowning out the other voices in his head. Mo Xuanyu’s breathing slowly returned to normal, his chest feeling lighter. Blood no longer pounded in his ears, and a sense of calmness fell over him, the voices slowly disappearing from his mind. His heartbeat eased, and he released his hold on himself. Fatigue spread throughout him, and with an imaginary soft caress on his back urging him, he surrendered himself into a deep sleep.
“Mo Xuanyu?” Lan Wangji spoke, trying to see if the boy’s awake after he slumped onto the ground.
“He’s asleep.” Came the reply, but completely indifferent.
“Wei Ying.” Wei Wuxian carefully shifted, slowly getting up.
His arms were weak and limp, all the energy completely drained out of him. His leg ached, so he reduced pressure on it by sitting up straight.
“He fell asleep right after you two played Cleansing .” His eyes were no longer soft, though reddish from the tears, and they had light in them.
Wei Wuxian wiped his face with his sleeve. He can’t blame Mo Xuanyu for crying and breaking down like that, but he felt awkward. He hadn’t cried in years . Technically, his body cried, not him, but still all the more perplexing to him.
“I’m sorry, I didn't mean to agitate him.” Watching a man switch from crying madly to complete calmness within a minute gave Lan Xichen an uncomfortable, jarring feeling. “It seems I made him recall a terrible memory.” Lan Xichen grimaced.
Even if one wanted to lie… the fear he saw in Mo Xuanyu’s eyes could not be faked.
“Sect Leader Lan, it’s not your fault. He just happened to relive the entire memory, and it was very traumatic for him, and it got compounded because… right after that Sect Leader Jin expelled him from the sect. That breakdown has been coming for a long time now.” Wei Wuxian assured him. “He repressed them for a reason.”
“It must have taken a lot of courage for him to come and talk about it.”
“He figured that if you’re Lan Zhan’s brother, you would be kinder and receptive to him. So far, from what I know, he believes no one will listen to him or treat him nicely without an ulterior motive, and from what I saw, I don’t blame him for thinking that way. It’s just depressing, knowing that he’s already dead and only receiving kindness after death...”
“What do you mean by he is dead? Are you two not sharing the body?” Lan Xichen asked, confused.
“We suspect that the body sharing is temporary. He performed the sacrificial ritual successfully. When I got hit by Zidian at Mount Dafan, it’s probably likely that the body could not determine which one was the correct soul, as Mo Xuanyu apparently was still around, so it grabbed him back instead. When we started sharing this body, he told me he forgot how he died. He can remember that he did the ritual, but everything else is a blur.
“I wondered why that was until I started to see his memories. Memories of his life. It has been hypothesised that most people will see the memories of their life play out in front of them when they are about to die. The more I get nearer to his demise, the more unstable he gets. I suspect once I get to the end of his memories… he’ll move on from this world.” Wei Wuxian clenched his fists.
“That’s why you said he has no benefit in lying to me?”
“Dead men tell no tales.” Lan Wangji stated.
“I’ll keep this in mind.”
“He loved that man as a brother, not as a lover.” Wei Wuxian commented, remembered what he saw. “Betrayed by one of the very people who treated him nicely… I can’t imagine a life any sadder than that.”
Lan Xichen grew pensive at this.
“Don’t blame yourself, brother. Let’s rest.” Lan Wangji comforted his brother, placing a palm on his shoulder. “It has been too much to take in, after all.”
They turned in for the night. It has been a very long day after all.
