Chapter Text
Jiang Cheng came to his senses with a start, back cracking slightly when he moved too fast. His hands were bound over his head, his legs were chained to the wall and his golden core was suppressed much like it had been during the last unsuccessful siege of Burial Mounds. That meant that he would have to wait here until his qi returned at least a little bit to try and free himself. It would take time, but he didn't have any other options, so Jiang Cheng resigned himself to staying in this vulnerable state for now.
He turned his head and saw Jiang Qingmei in a position similar to his. Alarmingly, Jiang Qingmei was still unconscious, which made Jiang Cheng question if it was because of the strength of his core or if he simply had been hit with a smaller amount of whatever their captors used to knock them out. Either was possible, even more, there also might have been explanations Jiang Cheng couldn't think of. There was no trace of Han Lixue whatsoever and he didn't want to think what that might mean. The thoughts of Han Lixue betraying their trust resurfaced with new force. He tried not to jump to conclusions before he had any undeniable evidence on his hands. Han Lixue was his disciple after all, she was loyal, she supported him for years.
With some difficulty Jiang Cheng calmed himself down and took a deep breath. Meditating in this state was useless for his core but it might help him with reigning in his temper and regaining his composure, preparing for the moment their captors came to see them. It made sense for Jiang Cheng because they obviously were taken for some reason, that reason being most likely related to the attack on Lotus Pier and Jin Ling's kidnapping. The last one was the one that worried Jiang Cheng the most. His nephew was more important to him than Lotus Pier, the building he would reconstruct, but people couldn't be replaced. And most of all, Jin Ling couldn't be replaced. Jiang Cheng couldn't lose him, that boy was everything that had been left after a-jie's death.
Sighing heavily Jiang Cheng surveyed his surroundings once more but came to no satisfying conclusion. If he had ever been to this place he couldn't remember it. It looked like it was built around or connected to a natural cave system if he could judge by chill and staleness of the air. As far as creepy dwellings of demonic cultivators went this was classic. Everyone and their dog knew that Wei Wuxian lived in the cave in the Burial Mounds and some of his followers thought emulating that was somehow important. Perhaps, they did that for aesthetics if nothing else, Wei Wuxian had always been overly dramatic. Come to think about it, Xue Yang was the same.
So, demonic cultivators. At least he wouldn't have to search for them. It was true that he was in a vulnerable position here, but he went through worse. He wondered where Han Lixue was. Did they take her somewhere else, maybe another room, or was she their accomplice all along? Thankfully there was no trace of Jin Ling here, so Jiang Cheng could at least hope that his nephew was somewhere safe.
"You don't have to worry about him," a soft voice called. The man stepped into the room, his thin figure clad unexpectedly in golden robes of Lanling Jin. His face was vaguely familiar and it took Jiang Cheng some moments to recognise him as Li Haoran, one of Jin Ling's advisors. "Jin-zongzhu is unharmed. Yiling Laozu and Hanguang-jun will take care of him".
Jiang Cheng exhaled loudly. He might hate Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji, but Jin Ling was safe with them.
"So it was you who took him, you little traitorous bastard" Jiang Cheng snarled, trying to goad Li Haoran into talking more. "I wonder why Wei Wuxian hasn't killed you".
Li Haoran smiled, unperturbed. His pitying look made Jiang Cheng furious.
"Because he has his priorities. He had to ensure Jin-zongzhu's well-being. That gave us time. But you shouldn't have worried about Jin-zongzhu. He is a child still, the one with a big title, but a child nonetheless. We don't harm innocents, contrary to you".
Jiang Cheng scoffed. Innocents, really? What did that rat mean? Demonic cultivators and those who sheltered them? Unrighteous scum he cleaned up for the safety of people? This conversation was getting ridiculous. But he had no other choice, he had to stave off to ensure his energy returned to levels where it would be possible to attempt an escape. And he needed information too, because Li Haoran just said 'we'. Jiang Cheng suspected he had accomplices, but now would be the best time to get at least something about them.
He was prepared to ask, to ridicule the man further and wait for more slip ups. Then he heard footsteps and decided to wait. Someone was coming their way, a woman or a very slender man. They were not a talented cultivator or decided against muffling their steps, which would be perfectly reasonable since they were on familiar territory, but spoke about lack of a habit. Was it another Lanling Jin cultivator? It seemed to be possible, especially considering that they had ties with demonic cultivation in the past. Whatever Jin Guangshan's ambitions and projects were, Xue Yang couldn't have been his only heretic. Well, he and that lunatic son of Jin Guangshan's who had gone mad enough to resurrect Wei Wuxian in an obscure and clearly forbidden ritual.
Knowing Jin Guangyao, he could have hidden them better and made them keep working on their cultivation. He hadn't thrown his half-brother out right after Jin Guangshan's death, but after a scandal where Jin Guangyao accused that freak of harassment. So it was entirely possible that some demonic cultivators were still working for Lanling Jin. Why then would they choose him as their target? Why not Wei Wuxian or Lan Wangji, people who were crucial to Jin Guangyao's downfall? Or was there some story to that, one that Jiang Cheng had no idea of?
He didn't hear the door opening but that meant nothing. Who said there had to be doors in cave-like structures? Even though Jiang Cheng expected a new person to join their talk, he was almost startled by a familiar figure.
"Han Lixue," he growled.
"Wrong," she answered coolly. "But I am certain she mentioned me at least once".
She did, Jiang Cheng realised. A sister. A twin. Was the one he followed to that forest his disciple or this unknown to him duplicate with a hard expression that could rival a Lan? Why had he assumed that Han Lixue's sister was dead? The woman before him was strikingly similar to his disciple, yet her demeanor was different. She reminded him of someone he couldn't quite recall.
Something was wrong with his memory lately. He suddenly couldn't remember some peculiar facts or little episodes of his childhood and youth, nothing major or too important but it still troubled him. Of course, it could be time, but Jiang Cheng had a feeling now that it was not a coincidence. Turned out, he was a target of some elaborate conspiracy, only one question remained: what was their final purpose? Were they going to kill him now? Objectively speaking Jiang Cheng knew he could die any day, any night-hunt could be his last one because whatever they were hunting was too strong even for him. But Jiang Cheng had never envisioned his death at the hands of some demonic cultivators with his core sealed and his hands bound.
Maybe he should have thought about that, especially with his hunting habits. Even more so, after Guanyin temple where he fell to a trap set by another cultivator, a seemingly righteous man and an uncle of his nephew. Well, Jin Ling had too many uncles and not all of them were as good as they wanted the world to see them.
Still, Jiang Cheng was furious with himself. He should have kept a small dagger in one of his sleeves or something like that. That way even with his spiritual energy unavailable to him he could have tried to free himself. Still, he got caught with the same ruse twice, and that was unforgivable for a sect leader and an experienced demonic cultivator hunter. His mother would have called him weak and soft and she could've been right there, not because loving his nephew would be seen as weakness, but because he should have been prepared. It was too late to think about it now, he was already caught in this trap. And he really could do nothing about his situation, the chance of getting alive out of here was too slim, almost non-existent. Well, of course if Wei Wuxian didn't come barging in to rescue him like he seemed to always do much to Jiang Cheng's ire. It was humiliating how his fate was to always be in need of help from his former shixiong, the one even Jiang Cheng's own father saw as the best embodiment of Yunmeng Jiang values.
Deep in his thought he almost missed the appearance of new people in the room. Two of them he remembered, they were the same ones who came to that sham of the discussion conference to accuse him of killing their relatives. They were one of the reasons his sect had so many reputation problems over the last few months. The last one was a young man in his twenties with sharp features and dark unpleasant eyes. He studied Jiang Cheng as if he was a rare species.
"What?" Jiang Cheng snapped.
"Nothing," the man smiled, cold and unpleasant. "I wonder how loud you would scream while we take care of you, Jiang-zongzhu".
"You are full of yourself if you think you could make me scream," Jiang Cheng scoffed. Whatever they intended to do with him, he would never give them the pleasure to hear him in pain.
He started suspecting they were all talk. If they wanted to hurt him they would have done something by now, but they just kept going about nonsensical things like hurting innocents and having justice served. But who had they thought they were to bring him to justice? What he did was not a crime, he had every right to hunt down every demonic cultivator he found because they were a threat to the cultivation world. Demonic cultivators were outlaws, taking them down was not considered a crime at all, not after Wei Wuxian and Xue Yang. Jiang Cheng was a sect leader, he could give a trial in his own lands, that right was as old as the sects themselves. Neither Jin Guangshan nor Jin Guangyao tried to restrict him in his practice of punishing the followers of unorthodoxy. Only when Lan Wangji took the post he was forced to stop and Jiang Cheng didn't like it the slightest bit, but he had to obey.
So, these were relatives of some previous scum he got rid of. At least two of them definitely were, he remembered them all too well, so he had reasons to believe that all these people got together to have a chance of bringing him down. Of course, they never had one each on their own, weak and cowardly as they were. But they came prepared and used every advantage they had to suppress him and keep him in this position.
Jiang Cheng wanted to know what they had in mind for him. Torture him, perhaps. The unpleasant one was somehow certain Jiang Cheng would end up screaming so torture was most likely possible. Too bad for them that he knew pain like almost no one else did, except maybe Wei Wuxian and a couple of others. He lived through his golden core being melted in his body, nothing could compare with that, perhaps core transfer Wei Wuxian underwent, but Jiang Cheng didn't want to think about Wei Wuxian.
He heard Jiang Qingmei groan next to him, possibly regaining his consciousness. One of the men took two steps forward and kicked Jiang Qingmei in the sternum.
"Finally awake," he muttered. Jiang Cheng remembered him as the one whose stupid wife didn't want to step away. "Might as well start with you".
"Wait. Mo Kailong, they won't be happy if you start without them".
Mo Kailong grimaced, but stepped back from Jiang Qingmei, who was fully conscious by now. Jiang Cheng didn't question who 'they' were, he would find out soon enough. But this delay gave them a chance, the more time they took, the more qi would be replenished in his vast reserves. Perhaps, if their captors waited for their little get-together to be complete he and Jiang Qingmei had an opportunity to get out of here. Now, he only had to be patient.
And maybe patience was not Jiang Cheng's strong suit, had never been for as long as he remembered himself, he was his mother's son as his father was so fond of reminding him. But he still went through the war, he spent years hunting the worst miscreants of their society and that sometimes demanded patience from him. He knew how to wait for his prey to fall into a trap, he just preferred a more straightforward way of dealing with his problems. Now though, they were in a life or death situation, the one they couldn't simply fight their way out of. That was frustrating, but Jiang Cheng wanted to live, he had a sect to rebuild and disciples to train and a nephew who needed his care and advice. To think that he warned Jin Ling about the rat that was standing with a blank, perfectly good courtly expression right next to people who were about to torture and kill Jiang Cheng and Jiang Qingmei. Whoever served Jin Guangyao during his years as a sect leader and Xiandu was as duplicitous and scheming as that bastard.
But no, Jin Ling had to insist on making his own decisions, he didn't want to rely on his elders' experience and look where it took them. If he came out of this alive Jiang Cheng would shake him and scold him until his ears were red from hearing that amount of lectures, maybe smack him once or twice to right his brains. Then he would insist on cleaning up Koi Tower because it was a snake pit from which a good half of the cultivation world's problems originated. The second half, naturally, started with Wei Wuxian, but who could do something with Xiandu's husband. Well, perhaps after this Jiang Cheng would have an opportunity to appeal to the fellow sect leaders for relieving Hanguang-jun from his burden of governing over them.
"We will be poor hosts if we don't entertain Sandu Shengshou and his right-hand man, won't we?" Li Haoran started, his voice dripping with so much sarcasm, especially over Jiang Cheng's title, that he had to ask himself how no one else hadn't noticed disrespect. "All of this started with lotus plants, but you already understood that. We have Wei Huajun to thank for that, by the way. He is a healer, but he has a vast knowledge of agriculture diseases too".
Wei Huajun, the same man whose brother pretended to be Wei Wuxian's relative, huffed.
"It was ridiculously easy to poison your plants, the main problem was to control the spread of it. Non-cultivators didn't have to suffer for a sorry excuse of a leader that you are".
Jiang Cheng wanted to tell them that ordinary people suffered nonetheless, because problems of the sect were problems of all Yunmeng. Li Haoran didn't give him a chance.
"My part was relatively small: ensuring that troubles with finances persisted. First you had to get into a debt with Lanling Jin, let me assure you that it never was against the sect or young Jin-zongzhu's interests," here Li Haoran gave him a genuine smile, like he recalled something he thought of fondly. "Then it was easy. A word to a seamstress here, a proposal to silver miners there, a comment only for Nie-zongzhu's ears about how you would be unlikely to repay any debts soon with how much you already owe Lanling Jin".
So, Nie Huaisang was never directly involved in creating problems for his sect, he just decided to make the most out of it for himself. Typical.
"And when Nie-zongzhu was looking for the best carpenters to build some dangerous things with secret cultivation purposes I recommended a family from Yunmeng," Li Haoran continued. "And that silver was indirectly bought by Wei-gongzi to create gifts for his future daughter-in-law and her family. I did it on his behalf through Jin-zongzhu, of course".
Somehow Jiang Cheng was not even surprised. It was not enough to ruin his plans, it had to be tied to that traitor of a former shixiong or it had to sully his relations with his family. These people wanted not only to humiliate him, they wanted to play on his temper, to make him feel rage and helplessness. Jin Ling and Wei Wuxian both were obvious tools to achieve that, considering how much he loved his nephew and how long and full of mistrust and resentment was his history with his former shixiong. They couldn't have chosen better targets.
"Making sure our guests won't get bored?" another familiar voice joined the conversation and Jiang Cheng saw Zhao Daiyu stepping out of the shadows, Han Lixue close behind her. Jiang Cheng had already got used to the thought that Han Lixue was a traitor, but Jiang Qingmei gasped when he saw her in her purple Yunmeng Jiang robes.
"You traitorous bitch!"
"Traitorous?" Han Lixue asked incredulously. "You might not understand the meaning of the word 'traitor', da-shixiong," a crooked, mocking smile appeared on her face. "I had never been loyal to Yunmeng Jiang, it was all an act, a way to have a mole inside of your ranks".
This admission made Jiang Cheng even more furious. So this all was planned well ahead, years ago when Han Lixue was just a child he picked to train as one of his disciples. Of course he hadn't noticed a thing, Han Lixue was just one of those orphans he took to Yunmeng Jiang because she had some talent. How could he suspect that she was a part of a group that planned to get revenge on him for disposing of demonic cultivators. Was her relatives one of those?
He really didn't want to know. What was the difference when she misused his trust to get close to him and cause destruction to his sect? She had never been truly a part of it. He should've remembered how Wei Wuxian turned out to be, should've left her with her fucking aunt and not think how he could train her into a perfect little disciple. Oh, how stupid he really was. Why did he want to trust people when it brought him nothing but trouble in the past? After a-jie died there really was no one he could put his faith in completely and unwaveringly. He should have remembered that. It seemed like he should have done a lot of things, some of them more important than others, but he was not the only one to be blamed for the situation he found himself in. Wei Wuxian promised him loyalty, Wei Wuxian was the one who made demonic cultivation as popular as it was now.
"Jiang-zongzhu," Han Lixue called his attention back to herself, "I might have been not a real disciple of your sect, but I had studied diligently. Would you like to see?"
They didn't expect an answer from him, it was irrelevant what he wanted by this point of time. They wanted to destroy him and they wanted to torture him mentally about it. And Han Lixue was somehow directly involved in what they intended to do now.
She stepped right into his space and kneeled beside him reaching for Sandu and realisation downed on Jiang Cheng. There was a technique among the Jiang clan secret knowledge that was used to deal with traitors and defectors. He hadn't used it with Wei Wuxian because by the end Wei Wuxian hadn't cared about Suibian at all. But a violent shiver ran through his body when he understood what she had in mind.
With her usual no-nonsense attitude she pulled Sandu out of sheath and put a hand on the blade right under the hilt. With her free hand she pulled her clarity bell from her sash and channeled qi through it to ring one long high note. Jiang Cheng knew what was going to happen but he was not prepared for that nonetheless. He might have actually gasped quietly when Sandu's blade shattered under Han Lixue's hand as his connection to his sword was severed. To break a cultivator's sword was one of the harshest punishments in Yunmeng Jiang, a sign of dishonour.
"How does it feel?" Han Lixue asked with grim satisfaction. "Is it even a little close to the experience of a five-year-old finding their parents' mutilated bodies?"
He didn't tell her that if he killed her parents they deserved it. That's not what she wanted to hear so why bother? Losing Sandu was like losing another part of himself, of that Jiang Cheng who had parents and sister and a happy carefree life in Lotus Pier. For a long painful moment he wondered if Wei Wuxian felt like that when he couldn't connect with Suibian any more, but dismissed the thought. Suibian was not broken before Wei Wuxian's eyes, that sword even sealed itself, forever loyal to his master. If Jiang Cheng could manage to get out of this alive he would just have another sword forged for him. It wouldn't be as good as Sandu, the sword that his father ordered for him, the sword that his mother helped name, but he would have a spiritual sword again.
And then he would hunt down every single one of these people and he would make them pay.
He was lost in his thoughts again and almost got startled hearing Jiang Qingmei's grunt of pain. The man from before, Mo-something, Jiang Cheng couldn't remember exactly, was standing over Jiang Qingmei with a feral look on his face. He kicked Jiang Qingmei in the ribs and hummed with satisfaction when another sound was wrenched out of his head disciple.
"You know what it is for, don't you?"
"Fuck you," Jiang Qingmei muttered, showing his bloodied teeth.
"You brought some of those manuals for a-Mei. And then not a half year later your Sandu Shengshou was there to kill her," another kick and Jiang Qingmei couldn't hold back a gasp. "Did that bring you pleasure or were you supplying your sect leader with entertainment that way?"
Jiang Qingmei didn't answer. Maybe, there was nothing to answer here. That man might just be delusional, he found someone to blame and decided to go with it. His words meant nothing, he had no evidence, so these were only baseless accusations.
Not that it stopped any of these bastards. They wanted revenge and for him and Jiang Qingmei to suffer, and they were going to have it at least until they regained access to their cores. And while it was unclear what else would be done to them before they could fight back, these enemies would be fairly easy to manage even bruised and beaten and without a sword. Jiang Cheng hadn't had Sandu at the start of the Sunshot Campaign either and he had managed well enough.
"Mo-qianbei, Mo-qianbei," called the youngest man, the arrogant one that promised Jiang Cheng to make him scream. "I have an idea you might like. That one is Jiang-zongzhu's right-hand man, isn't he?"
With a cruel laughter he pulled his sword and in one swift motion severed Jiang Qingmei's right hand. Jiang Cheng closed his eyes in terror and it somehow made Jiang Qingmei's wail of agony even louder in his ears. These people were mad - that was the only thing Jiang Cheng could think at that time. They were mad and bloodthirsty and they had chosen Jiang Cheng and Jiang Qingmei as objects of their violence.
He felt nausea twisting his stomach and he didn't want to think about horrors these people could bring upon them until their cores were unsealed. Torture was one thing, permanent disfigurement - completely another. If Jiang Qingmei ever got to take up his sword again he would have to train using it left-handed. And while it was possible, it was also hard as fuck to re-learn so late in one's life.
His eyes snapped open when Jiang Qingmei let out a pitiful whimper and Jiang Cheng was startled to see Zhao Daiyu kneeling beside his head disciple. Who probably wouldn't be his head disciple for long because expecting a person to lead the sword training while being unable to wield a sword was an utter idiocy. That was an unfortunate turn of events but it didn't mean that Jiang Cheng was going to abandon Jiang Qingmei.
To his utter surprise Zhao Daiyu seemingly was not trying to hurt Jiang Qingmei but heal him. At least she stopped the blood and passed him some spiritual energy to start the healing process. Jiang Cheng could not understand why she would do something like that. Cultivators even without help of their cores were unlikely to die from loss of limbs or blood. Zhao Daiyu caught his baffled look and shrugged.
"You know, I had not always been Zhao Daiyu," she said while wiping her hands. "Before, my name was Wen Daiyu. Thankfully, I had never been as talented as Qing-tangjie, or that horrendous man would have turned his attention to me. But no, I was a distant enough relative to not have any political value and not special enough to keep close".
That actually made sense. And Jiang Cheng now understood who she was reminding him of this whole time. She had the same delicate figure, the same sharp eyes and, as it turned out, talent for medicine. Jiang Cheng snarled at her:
"So, you're a Wen-dog".
"Oh, you can bark as much as you want. You can't bite after all," she huffed almost like he amused her.
He shouldn't talk. Creating entertainment for these sick in the head bastards was making Jiang Cheng unwell. He should have known better, should have kept quiet and not let them mock him when he had no other way to attack except for his words. But he had never tried to keep his temper in check for the sake of others, especially not when those others had not even a drop of his respect. He might think a little longer before responding to Lan Xichen or Lan Qiren whom he respected, and even Jin Guangshan made him think twice for the sake of politics, which he hated. Now it was about survival. He reminded himself about times when they were teenagers and he had to keep Wei Wuxian from fucking up every single fucking time because of his inability to keep his mouth shut.
"You broke him, Wen-qianbei," the cruel one huffed. He reminded Jiang Cheng of Xue Yang with his frequent smiles and cold disposition. "What, honourable sect leader did not expect such blatant disrespect?"
Jiang Cheng didn't answer. Maybe, if he made them talk more, he could win some time. Sooner or later someone would look for them. Fuck, Jiang Cheng would even be glad to see Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji now. He could be angry about them saving him later, but really Jiang Cheng didn't want to die. He wanted to crush his enemies, to make them suffer, make them miserable like they made him go through all this. All the humiliation of recent months, all money problems, gossip about curses and his damaged reputation, all those disciples that died on night hunts and those who had fallen during the attack on Lotus Pier - all of that was because of these people. He could bet other things were caused by them too. It was this Wen-dog who gave him that tea for insomnia, it was her niece right at his side that probably passed all the information about Jiang disciples' hunts. Li Haoran whispered in Jin Ling's ears and his naive nephew who wanted to seem adult and take responsibility for his sect listened to the one who encouraged that behaviour. It must have been Li Haoran who destroyed their relationship.
So, of course he wanted to live and make these people pay. And that meant he would stop provoking them and wait. With how Wei Wuxian loved being the hero of the day he would eventually show up.
And fortunately for him that young man was not discouraged by his silence.
"Well, then I will talk. I patiently waited for my turn," the young man gave him an exaggerated deep bow and continued in the most polite tone: "This humble one is Wang Ningling, the only one of this group who actually is a demonic cultivator," Jiang Cheng jerked at the admission. Wang Ningling acted as if he didn't notice and went on. "My teacher though, the one that was killed by Jiang-zongzhu, had never been one, despite Jiang-zongzhu's judgement. Unorthodox, yes, but not demonic. You see, I loved my teacher, he was the only one I had. And he only had time to hide me before you stormed into the cave where we were hiding from the storm".
He thought he remembered the man. That one tried to reason with him when he hunted him down, he talked about talismans being a respectful field of study and insisted on use of blood in array designs having nothing to do with resentful energy. Those words only made Jiang Cheng angrier as well as pathetic attempts of self-defence that relied heavily on talisman. So there was a witness to that scene, a disciple who grew up and decided to avenge his teacher. Well then, Jiang Cheng guessed it was better to suffer through stupid talk then dismemberment.
Not that he believed that these people who were fixated on revenge against him would leave him if he simply listened to them rant about their precious relatives being innocent. And maybe they even believed that, people can be delusional when it comes to their loved ones, but that didn't mean he was at fault. For them, though, it was not important. They saw him as a villain and themselves as victims.
Jiang Cheng was startled when Wang Ningling moved suddenly into his space. The face before him was full of dark interest and Jiang Cheng didn't know what he should expect, but understood that it meant nothing good for him. Wang Ningling was looking at him like Wei Wuxian did at one of his experiments. At that moment Jiang Cheng thought that he, perhaps, should take his words back because dismemberment was actually preferable to becoming an experiment of demonic cultivator. He remembered Xue Yang with completely sick ideas in his head, and Wei Wuxian was unhinged too when it came to revenge and he was, one could say creative, in that regard. So this look was bad news for him.
On the other hand, maybe he would live long enough for help to come.
Nonetheless, he actually shuddered when Wang Ningling took a pair of talismans from his sleeve. Jiang Cheng hated talismans. Why had it always something to do with talismans that were the most unpredictable part of cultivation theory?
"I haven't tested them yet, but I am pretty good with them," he said, tugging on Zidian. Jiang Cheng felt dread filling him.
"Ning-ge, outer wards," Han Lixue's sister warned. Wang Ningling frowned.
"Alright, we'll make it quick".
With that he plastered the talismans right on the heavy ring. Jiang Cheng struggled against his restraints despite knowing that it probably wouldn't help. Someone was coming, someone was at wards border. Even if it was Wei Wuxian, Jiang Cheng would be glad.
Pain surged through his body starting with his hand the moment Wang Ningling activated the talismans. He clenched his teeth but small sounds of pain still escaped his throat. He couldn't control that, no matter how he tried. After a few painful moments Wang Ningling clasped and something fell to the cave floor with a dull sound. Jiang Cheng opened his eyes - when had he even closed them? - and saw a blackened and deformed thing next to his thigh. Then his brain registered the absence of familiar weight on his hand.
It couldn't be… Zidian was a first-class spiritual weapon, it was in his mother's family for centuries and no one had ever come close to harming it. No one could destroy Zidian. No, it was a heirloom, the thing that was left to him by his mother, her final gift, his birthright. Much like Lotus Pier, Zidian belonged only to him after his parents left this world.
"You bastard," Jiang Cheng growled through gritted teeth. Blood trickled down his arms from where Zidian burned and broke right on his hand. "I should have looked better in that cave, should have killed you then," he laughed. Blood bubbled in his throat and he spit it right in Wang Ningling's face. "It's a pity I didn't think to look for you. A pity I hadn't found you two," he jerked his head in the twins' direction. "How many good people died because of you!"
"Good, Jiang-zongzhu. Now you have shown your real face," Han Lixue smiled thinly. "Ning-ge built strong wards, but couldn't make them soundproof. Instead the sound multiplies between layers. We thought it would be a problem, but look how fortunate it turned out".
Wasn't that a stupid thing to tell him? Whoever came for him had to at least suspect that he really killed demonic cultivators during those sixteen years after Wei Wuxian's death. Now they knew that Jiang Cheng was really here. He still had a chance as long as they hurry up and blast through those fucking wards.
Jiang Qingmei must have had the same idea because he gave a desperate shout for help before Mo Kailong kicked him in the ribcage again. The only thing left for them now was waiting and hoping that help would come faster than their tormentors moved to the next step in their plans of revenge. Though Jiang Cheng didn't know what more they could take from him. Lotus Pier was in ruins and he had no resources to rebuild, only a great debt to Lanling Jin, at least half of his senior disciples were dead as a result of last weeks' ambushes and today's attack, his head disciple was crippled and they even destroyed Sandu and Zidian. He would have preferred to lose a hand to losing the same weapon his mother has owned and wielded. Zidian was one of a kind, was in his family for generations and Jiang Cheng was going to give it to Jin Ling.
That Wen woman tried to look at his hand but he aimed a kick at her. She chuckled like it was funny and motioned for Wei Huajun to come closer. He, Jiang Cheng now remembered, was a healer too. He was not thrilled by the idea of that pathetic dog touching him, but it was better than letting a Wen near himself. And this way time was on his side, he could explore the opportunity. So he stayed still while the man not too gently examined his hand and declared that he would live and even heal. That verdict eased some weight off Jiang Cheng's shoulders but that also meant that buying time was not working.
"Middle wards," Han Lixue interrupted his thoughts. Jiang Cheng gritted his teeth. Just how many layers of wards did they have in this fucking place?
"Thank you, a-Xue," Wen-bitch said softly. Then she turned to Jiang Cheng and fixed her cold glare on him. "We have one more surprise for you," her voice was quiet but everyone else stilled and only Jiang Qingmei's whimpers of pain disturbed silence around them. "You see, when I lived in Nightless City most people didn't pay much attention to me. But there was one man who enjoyed spending time with me, he said I reminded him of his little sister".
She smiled at the memory a little, but her expression was still cold and sharp. Jiang Cheng couldn't understand where this was heading. Why did she think that he was interested in her life story? Was she expecting him to pity her, show his compassion to one of that Wen-dogs over how she was pathetic that even her own relatives dismissed her? He had no chance to throw that on her when she started talking again.
"If Wen Ruohan knew he shared his knowledge with me I would have been monitored much closer, favoured even more than Qing-tangjie. I couldn't be Wen Daiyu after the Sunshot Campaign, but ask yourself: why would I choose to be Zhao Daiyu?"
He had no answer to that question but cold dread settled in his stomach nonetheless. He remembered only one man who was that valuable to Wen Ruohan, only one horrible man that had been dead for decades but still appeared regularly in Jiang Cheng's nightmares. That was not surprising considering how much Jiang Cheng had suffered because of that man.
Han Lixue's sister stepped closer and her impassive face lit up with cruel satisfaction. Her bitch of an aunt patted her shoulder and Wang Ningling assured from behind her:
"You can do it, a-Li, just don't dawdle".
That endearment made Jiang Cheng shudder. It was just a coincidence, he told himself as the young woman stopped right in his personal space and nodded to herself.
"This one is Han Liling, Jiang-zongzhu. You took everything from me and my sister. Now we are going to take everything from you".
She unsealed his qi, but before he could do anything her palm collided with his dantian and Jiang Cheng felt pain that he was intimately familiar with. His meridians were withering like his body couldn't support the power of the core in his dantian. He felt his system of spiritual veins breaking, passages snapping one by one overflowing with qi his core was running through his body. He was helpless, he didn't even have a weapon and he could do nothing while his body jerked in agony. Jiang Cheng did scream then, feeling his core exploding within him.
Then, there was only emptiness he remembered after that fateful encounter with Wen Zhuliu. Somehow this scum restored the technique and used it to take the last thing that was important. Now Jiang Cheng was nothing, he was mediocre. He could not avenge himself or his home, he could not rebuild his sect because who would follow a sect leader without a golden core? They really took everything from him, turned him to no one, to a laughingstock of the cultivation world. Once a powerful leader that lost his whole life to a group of miscreants.
Distantly he heard voices and raised his head only to come face to face with a blurry image of Wei Wuxian. He was crying, Jiang Cheng realised, he was weeping for everything he lost and of course that was the moment Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji appeared. Not a slightest bit earlier, when they could at least save his golden core, but when he already lost.
"I hate you!" Jiang Cheng sobbed when Wei Wuxian finally freed his hands and he sagged to the ground like a sack of rice. "I hate you. I hate you. Hate you".
There was not enough power in him to even lift a hand.
***
Wen Ning stood to the side while Wei-gongzi and Hanguang-jun provided Jiang-zongzhu and his head disciple with basic aid. Young Jin-zongzhu stood next to him, too shocked to come near his uncles for now. Of course he would be shocked, they had heard everything, every accusation, every scoff or snort or degrading word, all of which were as good as confession from Jiang-zongzhu's lips. By the time they barged into the chamber people who did all of this to Jiang-zongzhu were gone, the last light of transportation talisman fading away. Jiang Wanyin looked pitiful, even more so than all those years ago when he lost his core for the first time. He looked completely broken.
Their eyes met and Wen Ning nodded to himself. Jiang Wanyin got what he deserved, even if sometimes justice worked in unexpected ways.