Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The streets of Ghost city were ever-bustling, the endless nights in the city made it a perfect place for many to call home. Hordes of crowds would pour into it daily, regardless of status or if they were ghosts, monsters, high-level cultivators, heaven officials in disguise or foolish humans that happened onto the city or were lured in. But most were here to enjoy the sins the place offered.

Although this particular night there appeared to be something odd in the air, it was the usual cacophony but if you tuned that out and listened carefully, there were hushed whispers going around.

“Hm? Gege is something the matter?” Hua Cheng turned and asked him, a bright yet slightly predatory smile plastered on his face. They were out having a walk in one of the many streets in Ghost City at his insistence, his reason was that a walk after dinner helped digestion and it wasn’t because he was running away from the steamy situation he and San Lang were in earlier.

“Nothing...” Xie Lian stammered out, blushing slightly at the smile, he still hadn’t got used to it when his husband did that. “Wait...actually...” Xie Lian took several steps forward so he wasn’t trailing behind Hua Cheng. “...Is there something going on? Everyone looks a little restless?” He asked with a slight tilt of his head, his gaze flickered through the area.

“Ah...it seems like I can never keep anything from Gege.” Hua Cheng hummed and leaned in closer to Xie Lian. “Give me a kiss and I’ll tell you about it.” He whispered into his ear, the foreign feeling of his breath tickling his ear made him yelp and take a step back. He blushed heavily in embarrassment and let out another yelp as his back crashed into someone.

Xie Lian gasped and quickly turned to profusely apologise to the person he bumped into. While doing that, he got a good look at them. The man before him painted the perfect picture as to what an ethereal godly immortal would look like by mortal standards. Even with his meager to nonexistent spiritual power, he could tell that the man wasn’t a fellow heaven official but just simply a high-level cultivator.

Said man was dressed in impeccable snow-white robes, a white cloud patterned ribbon around his forehead, his long black hair neatly framing his sharp features and a beautiful silver ornate sword hung by his hip. As his eyes trailed up to his face, he nearly choked on his apology at the sight of his haunted and faraway gaze reflected in the man’s pale citrine eyes.

Xie Lian thought his apology had fallen upon deaf ears until he saw a slight nod in response from the man before he left. The crowd parted as the man walked before converging again until Xie Lian lost sight of him. He had almost forgotten about San Lang until he was pulled into said man’s arms and away from being bowled over by someone running through the crowd. “How rude.” Hua Cheng sneered and his eyes narrowed in disdain. “Are you okay Gege?” He asked in concern as he checked him over for any injuries.

“San Lang...that man jus-...” Xie Lian started before he was shushed by Hua Cheng, a pale and cool finger pressed against his lips. “If you’re that interested Gege, what about we follow him?” Hua Cheng teased, if it wasn’t for how long Xie Lian had been with Hua Cheng, he would have suspected that the slight twitch in his husband’s eyebrow was actually jealousy.

Xie Lian pondered a little and found himself to be stuck in a minor dilemma with his moral compass. He internally argued with his moral compass to no avail, then he sighed and nodded at Hua Cheng’s suggestion. “How are we going to find him in this crowd?” Xie Lian furrowed his brows slightly as he looked about, trying to spot a man dressed in white amidst the moving crowd.

“Hm...San Lang is a little saddened that my dear Gege has forgotten who’s the Lord of the Ghost City and what I can do.” Hua Cheng pouted a little until a small silver wraith butterfly fluttered free from the beautiful silver vambraces it inhabited and down onto the tip of Xie Lian’s nose.

“San Lang! You’re a genius!” Xie Lian exclaimed and threw his arms around Hua Cheng. Hua Cheng’s butterflies had varied uses, he still hadn’t figured out all of them out but they were useful for tracking and monitoring people.

“Mm...I try my best, Gege.” Hua Cheng mused humbly and nodded to the butterfly which took off towards their mystery man. Hua Cheng swept him off his feet before he could protest and jumped out of the crowd and onto the roofs as they gave chase to the fluttering silver butterfly. Xie Lian buried half his face in Hua Cheng’s chest as he held tightly onto him while they jumped and flew through the night sky.

The sight from up here was amazing and so was the breeze that caressed his face gently, it was as if no one in the streets had noticed the figure in red carrying another in white sailing through the air and even if they did, no one dared to question what the Lord of Ghost City chose to do in his own territory lest they incur his wrath.

“San Lang? Isn’t this the direction towards the QiānDēng temple?” Xie Lian questioned, the death grip on Hua Cheng loosening slightly so he could point out to the temple that stood brightly in the distance. “Why is that man headed there?” Xie Lian wondered out loud. There weren’t many people that frequented that area except them and once in a blue moon a fellow heaven official or some cultivators.

“Hmm I don’t want to be mean to Gege but if I tell you, you owe me a ki-.” Hua Cheng grinned before his eye widened in surprise. Xie Lian had his eyes shut tight as he leaned in to press a quick kiss to Hua Cheng’s lips before pulling away in embarrassment. “There. San Lang’s kiss.” He hid his face in embarrassment. “Better keep your promises.” He mumbled, his voice muffled by the sleeves of his robes.

“When did I not keep my promises Gege?” Hua Cheng shook off the shock and chuckled. “Gege always surprises me with his actions. You’re so cute that I want to eat you all up,” teased Hua Cheng.

“San Lang!” Xie Lian whined softly into his chest, shifting a little so he could peek at his husband.

“Yes yes, now to keep my promise.” Hua Cheng snickered then continued. “In the past couple months, there have been rumours amongst the new ghost arrivals that a cultivator has been asking around in search of someone daily. He also visited various temples in this region, in hopes his prayers would be heard. I wasn’t interested in the matter since he didn’t pose a threat but I had some people keep tabs on his actions. I did receive the information that he visited Puji shrine recently and now he’s in Ghost city searching for someone.”

“Oh...” Xie Lian furrowed his brows and tilted his head. “But that doesn’t explain why he’s heading to the QiānDēng temple, I’m the God of Rubbish...and misfortune. If he prayed, I don’t think I could offer much help.”

“Gege you’re not any of those, how many times must I remind you of that? ” Hua Cheng came to a pause on one of the roofs, his lips tugging downwards.

Xie Lian opened his mouth, ready to rebut with the many reasons he had but now wasn’t really a time to wallow in self-deprecation and self-pity so he shut it back with a huff. “Fine...now San Lang, can we sneak in from the back to spy on the cultivator? ” Xie Lian grudgingly accepted defeat and changed the subject.

Only when they were inside of QiānDēng temple did Hua Cheng let him down from the princess hold. They hid behind the beautifully carved golden offering table, Hua Cheng pressed closely to his back as they peeked out to look. Ignoring the blush that was creeping down his neck, Xie Lian focused his sight on the white figure before him.

The cultivator had sat on the floor and pulled out a guqin and settled it on his lap. He took a deep breath and with his eyes closed, he started playing. It was a somber tune, every note was a longing question in disguise.

Wei Ying..where are you?

Come back to me, please...

I’m sorry...

I love you Wei Ying

Guilt consumed Xie Lian’s heart, to sit here hidden and be privy to something this private, he felt like the world’s worst scum ever. Hua Cheng squeezed his shoulder comfortingly and kissed his forehead.

‘Gege don’t be upset...’ Came the voice of Hua Cheng in his head.

‘San Lang...but...’ Xie Lian shifted so he could wind his arm around Hua Cheng, pulling him into a tight hug. Being able to hear those silent words in the melody reminded him of how long Hua Cheng had waited and searched for him, eight hundred years was long even for immortal beings.

Xie Lian tightened his grip when Hua Cheng’s arms slid down to his waist and pulled him closer to his chest. As if he could read minds, Hua Cheng then tilted his head and leaned in to press a gentle kiss to his lips, grounding him from those negative thoughts. Xie Lian’s eyes fluttered shut as he pressed his lips back, they pulled apart after a while, he was flushed red from the kiss while Hua Cheng grinned playfully at him.

‘Well, time to do some work. Wait here for me Gege.’ Hua Cheng spoke through their private communication array again.

Xie Lian watched as Hua Cheng untangled from him and stood up to approach the white-robed cultivator. ‘San Lang!’ Xie Lian yelled, his hand reached out in an attempt to grab ahold of San Lang’s sleeve but in the end he failed to.

Xie Lian could feel his heart thudding heavily against his chest as Hua Cheng got closer but it seemed like his worry was for naught since the cultivator had never once paused in his playing nor acknowledged the presence before him, Hua Cheng seemed to have cast a spell that prevented his presence from being detected or seen. Xie Lian stayed hidden, wondering what Hua Cheng was up to, he swallowed any uneasiness and decided to trust his husband as always.

San Lang sat parallel to the cultivator playing the guqin, his hand raised and poised to gently strum the guqin strings. He seemed to be waiting for the right time to do so, patiently waiting for the opportunity. And when he strummed a few notes, the cultivator paused in his playing to stare at the reverberating strings that were not from his playing. There was a slight tremble in his hand as he reached out to pluck a few strings, asking the question: “Wei Ying?”

“Yes.” Xie Lian heard San Lang strum his reply, a cheeky grin on his face. Somehow even seated here, he knew Hua Cheng was up to no good, he could feel a tingle up his spine, it was a spell. A spell in place on the zither so no ghost, soul or being could lie through it, Xie Lian could feel his nerves bunching up in the center of his chest, he had a feeling that this might turn south very quickly but he withheld the need to rush out and kept his eye on the situation.

From the first time since he had bumped into the man, Xie Lian saw an expression on the stone-like face. A small frown marred the attractive features for less than a second before smoothing out, as if it had never appeared. Then there was the familiar sound of a sword unsheathing and flying towards Hua Cheng, the shining blue blade shot past San Lang, nearly nicking his cheek if he didn’t flip away in time.

“Reveal yourself.” The cultivator stood up, his guqin held in one hand while the other one was in a sword seal. The sword that had attacked Hua Cheng flew back to its Master’s side, the blade glinting under the candlelight, making it look almost transparent.

Xie Lian was losing his mind just watching the situation turning for the worst, maybe he should have trusted that gut feeling, maybe it was him and his misfortune that had brought about this. He gulped and tightened his grip on FangXin as he watched Hua Cheng draw E-Ming from its scabbard. Xie Lian knew how capable his husband was but that didn’t mean he wasn’t worried about him. Xie Lian watched as Hua Cheng cast aside the spell and revealed himself to the man.

“Who are you?” The cultivator demanded, his eyes narrowed at the sight of him, the sword by his side gleamed blue from spiritual energy and seemed to be ready to pierce anything that made the slightest movement.

The tension was building up in the hall, neither Hua Cheng or the cultivator spoke, they just eyed each other warily, each waiting for the other to make the first move. Just as it seemed like both were going to make a move against each other, Xie Lian couldn’t take it anymore and rushed from behind the table, yelling: “No! Don’t attack!” He had FangXin unsheathed in his hand as he ran forward to parry the blue sword that flew towards Hua Cheng’s startled form. FangXin clanged loudly against the other blade, the sound reverberating through the temple before the blue faded from the blade and it clattered onto the ground.

Things were happening so fast for his own brain to keep up, the next thing he knew he was pushed aside by Hua Cheng while said husband charged forward with E-Ming, rage burning in his eye as he went forward, ready to deal the finishing blow. The man took a step forward without hesitation and strummed his guqin. A note rang through the temple and Hua Cheng froze in his attack momentarily before breaking free to dodge the blade that came at him again.

“San Lang! Both of you stop!” Xie Lian yelled at them. Ruoye slipped off his wrist and wound around him and then the cultivator, hindering them from attacking each other any further. “Calm down! It’s fine, I’m fine. It was an accident, he didn’t do it on purpose, my entrance startled him to attack.” Xie Lian turned to Hua Cheng to reassure him then he turned to the cultivator, bowing respectfully. “I apologise for his actions. He’s a little hot-headed but if you dare attack him again, I won’t forgive you.” Xie Lian warned, his innocent looking smile didn’t reach his eyes.

After making sure the two wouldn’t go at each other’s throats, he released Ruoye from them. Hua Cheng calmly walked back to his side and wrapped an arm around his waist possessively. “Gege is so powerful and cool.” Hua Cheng grinned, pressing a kiss to his cheek. Xie Lian flushed at the kiss, turning to pout at his husband. “San Lang we are in front of someone! And you! Don’t make me worry so much, you weren’t taking him seriously and almost got hurt.”

As Hua Cheng placated Xie Lian from their side of the temple, pressing many loving kisses and hugs to him, the white-robed cultivator kept his guqin and sword away and stared at them with a forlorn look.

“Um...Greetings, fellow cultivator!” Xie Lian squirmed from Hua Cheng’s hold, slowly shifting out of the grip so he wouldn’t weird out (read: scare) the man. “Welcome to the QiānDēng temple.” Xie Lian smiled, ignoring how painfully awkward it was when silence greeted him.

The man in white nodded in greeting. His gaze turned upon Hua Cheng then to him and then back again, the forlorn look was there again. “Who are you?” He asked them. Apparently, this cultivator was a man of few words.

Xie Lian took the initiative to answer for them when Hua Cheng would rather happily hug him instead. Xie Lian ignored the way Hua Cheng was eyeing the man dangerously as he spoke. “He’s San Lang and I’m Xie Lian, we are cultivators from this temple.”

The man showed nothing on his face but Xie Lian was pretty sure he didn’t believe a lick of his words. “Lying is forbidden.” The cultivator said.

Xie Lian wilted under the unyielding gaze of the man and his words. He sighed and opened his mouth, the truth spilling from it. “I lied. I’m sorry. I’m Xie Lian, the god of this temple, and he’s-” Xie Lian’s words were cut off when Hua Cheng’s hand moved to cover his mouth.

“I’m Hua Cheng, the Lord of the Ghost City.” Hua Cheng continued haughtily, The dancing candlelight made his eye glint dangerously; a cold breeze blew into the temple upon his introduction, the area dimmed when the flames were snuffed out by the wind.

There was a flicker of recognition in the cultivator’s eyes. “Four Great Calamities, Crimson Rain Sought Flower,” the man identified, his stance shifting to the defensive.

“Hnn you know who I am and yet dare to attack the Lord of the city in his territory, I’m not sure if that was brave or foolish of you,” Hua Cheng sneered.

“San Lang let me speak!” Xie Lian huffed. His words were muffled by a hand; he gave it a daring lick, a little surprised that it tasted like flowers rather than the saltiness of sweat but then again, ghosts/demons didn’t sweat.

As if burned, Hua Cheng quickly redrew his hand from his face and looked at his hand in shock. “Gege is getting bold.” Hua Cheng teased, he lifted his hand to kiss the spot Xie Lian had licked.

“Shameless.” The cultivator spoke, his eyes averted from them.

“Shameless? Well, that is better than being rude. Did your mother not teach you any manne-” Hua Cheng’s eye widened in alarm when he found himself unable to speak nor open his mouth. A silencing spell had been cast on him.

“San Lang don’t be rude!” Xie Lian frowned and turned towards the cultivator and bowed down. “Excuse his mouth...will this honorable Gusu Lan Sect disciple release the silencing spell?”

It took some time for Xie Lian’s poor memory to jog and for him to recall where he had seen those white robes before. (He had been alive for eight hundred and more years, no one could blame him for not remembering everything!) He recalled that it had happened about a few hundred years ago, he had been taken in and saved from starvation in the cold winter by a Gusu Lan Sect disciple. Xie Lian had yet to return his gratitude and maybe now was a good chance to do so.

With some hesitancy on the Lan disciple’s end, Hua Cheng was released from the spell.

“Gusu Lan Clan, Lan WangJi,” the cultivator introduced himself.

“Lan WangJi...? I swear I've heard that name before...hmm... when was it?” Xie Lian crossed his arms, trying his best to remember. He really should read up on what was happening in the mortal realm more often, especially the news regarding the current major cultivation sectors.

Hua Cheng decided to save him the trouble of headache from trying to remember. “He’s one of Gusu Lan’s famous Twin Jades. He is the Second jade, titled HanGuang-Jun.” Hua Cheng recited the information off his mind.

“Thank you, San Lang! I knew I’d heard that name before. I really need to stay updated with what’s happening...maybe Ling Wen can help me with it later.” Xie Lian sighed and waved Lan Wangji over.

“Here take a seat. I’ll go prepare some tea.” Xie Lian declared, turning to leave.

“I’ll make the tea. Gege can maybe start his interrogation.” Hua Cheng pushed Xie Lian into a chair then headed to the back kitchen to prepare tea.

“I..I-Interrogation?!” Xie Lian sputtered and turned to look at Lan WangJi, shaking his head. “This isn’t an interrogation!”

“Mm.” Lan WangJi looked at him with his poker face, waving for him to take a seat before sitting down himself.

“I just wanted to ask some questions, that’s all.” Xie Lian clarified. “You can choose not to answer if you’re uncomfortable.” He added.

“En.” was Lan WangJi’s reply.

“But before I start asking questions, I would like to say something.” Xie Lian paused, looking at Lan WangJi’s face for signs of objection before continuing. “First I want to apologise again for bumping into you earlier, we really got off to a bad start...and secondly I would like to thank Gusu Lan Sect for saving me a few hundred years ago...I don't know where I'd be without their help.” Xie Lian bowed his head in gratitude. “Lastly to express my gratitude and if possible, I would like to lend a hand to you in your search.” Xie Lian dropped the surprise on him, he sat there patiently, awaiting a reply.

A look flickered past Lan WangJi’s eyes then he nodded. “Thank you.” Help was help no matter who offered, no one dared to aid in his search for Wei Ying. This is for A-Yuan and me.

---

6 Years Ago

Sleep at nine, rise at five, eat, meditate, read, play Inquiry, rinse and repeat. This was Lan WangJi’s daily routine in seclusion, his uncle and brother would visit sometimes when they had the time. His uncle would come to convince him, talk to him about his foolishness and the look of disappointment he gave weighed down on him heavily every visit. His brother offered care, warmth, and gentle words but none of it helped mend his broken heart. Nothing would help except for his Wei Ying but his ray of sunshine, the one person that melted his icy interior was no longer here. He cried and mourned for him, he had many things to say to his beloved and now he couldn’t do that anymore.

He drowned himself in alcohol, going mad in search of any semblance of Wei Ying yet he got nothing. He played Inquiry daily until his fingers bled, in the hope that he would get a reply from him; the days passed and he grew more desperate for an answer from anyone of any news about Wei Ying but all he got were negatives.

“Wei Ying...where are you.” Lan WangJi asked, his voice barely a whisper, in his hands he clutched tightly onto the YunMeng Jiang Sect silver bell.

From outside his room, there were the sounds of rushing feet and shouts. Lan WangJi lay in his bed uncaring, it could be a fire, an attack or even if the sky was falling, he didn’t care anymore; maybe if he lay there, the next time he opened his eyes he would be greeted by Wei Ying’s bright smile, riotous laughter and the pleasant aroma of TianZiXiao which he’d learned to love.

“WangJi!” The door to Jingshi slammed open and Lan XiChen, his brother, rushed in, kneeling by his bedside as he spoke, “WangJi, a disciple found a boy in the forest, he’s claiming to be your son. He’s hurt bad and we brought him back to treat him.”

WangJi stirred from his daydream at his brother’s words. “Son...?” He opened his eyes to look owlishly at XiChen.

“Diē!¹ Wait..!Brother Rich! Diē! Diē?...can I call you that?” A-Yuan, the little boy he had met at Yiling ,looked up at him with a bright smile, the small hand clasped tightly around his bigger hand. “You’re nice..you’re not mean to A-Niáng² ...I mean Xian-Gege! And you’re nice to me too! You brought me sweets and toys. I really like you!” The little child beamed.

“A-Yuan!” Lan WangJi sat up with a jolt, grasping onto Lan XiChen’s arm. “A-Yuan? Outside?” He asked his brother urgently, shaking him in the process. Lan WangJi’s heart thudded heavily in his chest, A-Yuan was alive! He had visited the Yiling Burial Mounds after the siege and before his forced seclusion to search for any traces of Wei Ying or his makeshift Wen remnant family, he didn’t find anyone, he hoped that they had escaped and hadn’t been mowed down in the siege. He should have searched harder, to find and protect the last connection he had with Wei Ying, he shouldn’t have given up.

Lan XiChen pressed for him to dress more appropriately before bringing him out to the infirmary where A-Yuan was being treated at. “Uncle isn’t back from his business yet and I got the juniors to keep quiet about the situation so he could be brought in,” said Lan XiChen, watching from the side.

Lan WangJi knelt down by A-Yuan’s side, his hand trembling as he took a sickly thin arm into his hand. “A-Yuan...I’m sorry...” He whispered, tears sliding down his cheek without him realising. A-Yuan’s eyes fluttered open and he looked up with bleary eyes. “Diē? Don’t be sad..” He whispered hoarsely.

“I’m sorry...” Lan WangJi choked out again, he pulled A-Yuan into his arms, noting the lightness and the lack of baby fat on the young child. A cry tore from his throat again and he held him to his chest tighter. “A-Yuan...I’m sorry.”

“Diē...A-Niáng and everyone is gone...I can’t find them...I’m so scared...Uncle Ning and Auntie Qing hid me from the bad men, they told me to find A-Diē,” A-Yuan whimpered, slowly tearing up as he recapped as much as he could without breaking down.

“The forest is scary...I couldn’t find anyone..my leg hurts but I had to find Diē so he can beat up the bad guys. A-Yuan is happy...happy he found Diē.” The child in his arms sobbed and clung onto him. “Don’t leave A-Yuan alone...A-Yuan will be a good boy so please don’t leave me.”

Lan WangJi didn’t let go of A-Yuan for a moment, not even when the child fell asleep in his arms. Both of them mourned for their loss, crying to each other, understanding each other’s pain. He soon drifted off to sleep from exhaustion, his body felt light as he slipped into a dreamless slumber.

It was around noon when he was awakened by the door to the infirmary opening. He glanced up to see his brother- stepping inside with a tray of food. “You’re awake WangJi?” His brother exclaimed, a little startled.

Lan WangJi didn’t reply but glanced down at his chest where A-Yuan lay

“I’ve brought some congee for you and the boy...and to also deliver some news. Uncle will be returning in a few hours so you should prepare yourself.” Lan XiChen set the tray down to the side.

“The doctors looked over him earlier...” Lan XiChen said, eyes softening as he looked at the boy. “He had a bad sprain on his left ankle, severe dehydration and malnutrition as well as numerous cuts, scrapes, and bruises. The doctors have tended to the injuries and said his ankle will heal in a week while the malnutrition would require some time to be resolved.”

“En.” Lan WangJi gently shook A-Yuan awake. As much as he wanted to let him rest, A-Yuan needed to eat and be bathed so they could be presentable for his Uncle.

-

“A-Yuan be good. Uncle is coming to meet us.” Lan WangJi swept A-Yuan’s hair neatly to the side. The little boy was swaddled in the Gusu Lan Sect robes, the only thing missing was the trademark cloud patterned ribbon. His brother convinced him to speak to his Uncle before making any decisions: although his brother, the current sect leader, had given his approval for adoption, he didn’t want Uncle to go into qi deviation when he saw an unknown child in the sect attire.

Lan WangJi had A-Yuan seated quietly beside him; the little boy looked like he would rather nap than seat up straight and give a good first impression. The door to Jingshi slid open and his Uncle walked in, his face stern and eyes narrowed at the child beside him. Lan XiChen had informed him that he had briefly explained the situation to his Uncle to hopefully quell his Uncle’s rage.

“WangJi.” His Uncle greeted him, his eyes never meeting the small child's since his entrance. “You exited seclusion without permission just for a child, not of your blood, who calls you Father. What am I supposed to do with you?” Lan QiRen sighed heavily. “If this wasn’t the Cloud Recesses, rumours would have spread wild, your reputation would have been tarnished. Why must you be so like your Father?”

“I don’t care for my reputation or rumours. A-Yuan is my son.” Lan WangJi stated as a matter of fact. “Elder Brother has approved of it.”

Lan QiRen rubbed his forehead slightly, massaging his headache away as he sent a look to Lan XiChen. “I’ll be the judge to that.” He knelt down beside the boy, A-Yuan, who had now hidden his face in Lan WangJi’s robes, trembling slightly.

Lan WangJi glanced down, gently murmuring something into A-Yuan’s ear and got him to sit up properly. “Hello...Shūgōng ³ ” A-Yuan mumbled shyly, his hands gripping on the hem of the robes tightly while his bright round eyes met Lan QiRen’s.

“Where is he exactly from?” Lan QiRen asked, his eyes softened at the sight of such innocence.

“Secret.” Lan WangJi answered immediately, not willing to lie but not telling the truth either. If his Uncle found out about the truth, A-Yuan probably won’t be able to stay.

“WangJi...” Lan XiChen started, a look of worry on his face. He only understood what he had overheard and pieced the bits and pieces together but he didn’t want the punishment to befall on his little brother.

Lan QiRen sighed and waved him away, “That’s fine.” Lan QiRen understood that WangJi would not give him a direct answer no matter what. Stubbornness truly ran in the Lan family. “He is allowed into the sect but if he shows any signs of being a problem...he’ll have to leave.”

“I won’t be a problem! I’ll be a good boy! Thank you, Shūgōng. ” A-Yuan exclaimed, his violet eyes teary in relief as he clutched onto WangJi’s robes.

“Mn.” WangJi pulled A-Yuan into his arms, holding him close as his son cried into his robes for the second time today; he could feel violent trembles racking through A-Yuan’s frail body. “A-Yuan..” He gently rubbed his son's back reassuringly.

I’ll protect any part of Wei Ying...especially you, A-Yuan.

Diē (爹) ¹= Term for Father/Dad

Niáng (娘)²= Term for Mother/Mom

Shūgōng(叔公) ³ = The term used to call your parternal grandfather's brothers. 

Chapter Text

It’s cold...here...

I can’t see, it’s too dark...

I’m scared...help me Lan Zh...

Wei Ying shot upright with a gasp, his eyes flew open wide while his chest heaved heavily. His panic was over the roof as his sight remained blurry, the brightness of wherever he was did not help. Wei Ying could see only blobs of colours and blur outlines of people and things? He felt like a sitting duck in an unknown and open place; he held his guard up while his hand reached down to feel for his flute or sword which were not on him. Wei Ying flinched as someone grab bed a hold of his shoulder, he repressed a yelp of surprise and batted the hand aside and jumped away as elegantly as a temporarily visually impaired man could. 

There was a shrill ringing of something in the background which was giving him a headache but vaguely through the ringing, he could hear the blurry figures around him speak in hushed voices. “Why are we stuck with dealing with the new guy?” Man No.1 spoke.

“Why am I stuck with both of you dealing with the new guy?!” A woman’s voice hissed. 

“Both of you shut up. Neither of you is helping with the situation.” Man No.2 chided from the side. 

“Ah! You rolled your eyes at me again! Get over here! I’ll poke them out!” Man No.1 curse d and lunged towards the third figure, Man No.2. 

Wei Ying sat on the ground, staring in their general direction as his blurry vision passed with him staying still. He didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at the scene as soon as he could see, the people who he thought were a threat seemed far from it. Wei Ying hunched over slightly and snickered into his sleeve and at the back of his mind, he wondered if he had gone mad already. 

“Both of you stop fighting! Ugh...I wonder how his highness Xie Lian even deals with you two bickering like an old married couple every day. Look , even his highness the new guy finds the both of you ridiculous.” The elegant lady clad in long black robes pointed to him, casually adding fuel to the flames before directing all the attention to him. 

Wei Ying was sprawled on the ground dying from laughter, he had never seen anything this hilarious since Lan....? Wei Ying’s laughter cut off and his face scrunched up as if he was in immense pain. The two men broke apart from their little tussle as soon as they spotted something odd happening. 

“Your highness , are you feeling unwell? Someone fetch a medical heavenly official , ” The lady called out as she walked closer, she pushed the scrolls into Man No.2’s hands before reaching down to grab his wrist to check his pulse and meridians. 

“Hmp his ascension is as destructive as his Highness the Crown Prince’s ascension and now he’s unwell too, rather unsightly for a martial god.” The grumpy man clad in midnight blue robes rolled his eyes, through the pain, he identified him as Man No.2.

He acts as bitter as someone that I know...but who..? Wei Ying mused in pain and curled in on himself further on the ground, his hands gripped onto his hair tightly, as if pulling it out would help. He couldn’t remember what had happened, where was he? Wasn’t he in a dark and cold place not too long ago?

“Is he okay? What’s wrong Ling Wen?” Asked the other man, his arms crossed as he stared at Wei Ying. 

“It’s nothing...just...” Ling Wen frowned, seeming to hesitate in her words a little before releasing the wrist in her grasp. “His pulse is a little quick, his meridians are fine. I think it could be something else...Mu Qing , pass me the scrolls.”

Mu Qing ‘hmp’-ed a little before passing the scrolls over, he stood at the side glaring at Wei Ying. As Ling Wen scoured through the scrolls, searching for any information that she had gathered about the new martial god just an hour ago while Wei Ying on the ground was working himself into a panic attack.

“Are the fucking medical officials not here yet?! He looks like he’s about one step away from passing out.” Yelled Feng Xin. He was crouched beside Wei Ying, looking helpless, but the next thing he knew he was flying backwards and into a pillar. He yelped in surprise as he slammed into the many columns in the Great Martial Hall. Feng Xin turned to glare at the person that had pushed him flying to the column and to his surprised rage, it was Mu Qing. However , before he could take any further actions to beat Mu Qing to the ground for the push, he found himself unable to move, a pressure washed over him, holding him down against the pillar while more waves of oppressing dark resentment energy exploded from the centre of the Great Martial Hall. 

In the epicentre of the explosion lay the new martial god, Wei Ying, who was screaming soundlessly into the sky as tears of blood trailed from the corner of his eyes. Apparently Mu Qing had pushed him out of the way as soon as he felt an odd shift in the air before the explosion of resentment energy. The commotion gathered the attention of many in the Upper Heavens and Middle Heaven, the communication array broke into chaos while a few brave ones came to the scene to see. 

Feng Xin turned his attention away from the gathering crowd and to the cause of the commotion, Wei Ying. He raised his spiritual powers, trying to fight against the powers holding him down, it was slow but there was progress. 

“Don’t just lay there like an imbecile. Shoot him!” Mu Qing growled, veins popping as he held his hand up tighter in the shield formation. Ling Wen was sheltered behind Mu Qing and was still reading the scrolls, her face changing into a whiter pallor as every second passed. Feng Xin finally managed to break free from the pressure and quickly got into action, he whipped his spiritual weapon out, a bow gifted by Emperor Jun Wu. Glowing white arrows formed from spiritual energy we re aimed at the person kneeling in the billowing black flames of resentment energy and just as he was about to release the bow, Emperor Jun Wu flitted out in a brilliance of white heavenly light and with a wave of his hand, he easily knocked Wei Ying unconscious, the dark energy also dissipated immediately.

“Emperor!” Feng Xin and Mu Qing exclaimed in shock and relaxed once the threat was dismissed. “NangYang, Ling Wen, Xuan Zhen.” Jun Wu greeted them with a nod, his eyes flitted to the dispersing crowd before turning his attention to Wei Ying. “Bring Yiling back to his Palace and allow him to rest, his mind is in disarray at the moment.” Jun Wu ordered the trio.

“Emperor Jun Wu, Xuan Zhen is aware he’s speaking out of line, however, is he really a martial god?” Mu Qing asked with narrowed eyes. “That amount of resentment energy rivals a Supreme and to my knowledge, there is no other heavenly official from Upper or Middle Heaven that wields or is able to wield such dark energy. He is a wild card, at this rate, his power poses a danger to all the three realms.” 

“Xuan Zhen, are you questioning fate right now?” Jun Wu chuckled a little, seeming amused at Mu Qing’s words. “If he ascended, it means that he has what it takes to be a Heavenly Official. I would have thought you were someone who knew better than to judge anyone superficially.” Jun Wu eyes were filled with mirth when Mu Qing’s jaw tensed at his words. “Yiling will be in the hands of you three until further notice. If you have any other questions regarding him, direct them to Ling Wen.” He tilted his head in the literature god’s direction before turning his back and leaving them. 

“Let’s bring him to his Palace before we speak, there are still people lingering here.” Mu Qing cut off Feng Xin’s questions and picked up Wei Ying by the collar and carried him in that manner despite Feng Xin's or Ling Wen’s protest s . Mu Qing could care less about this whole dumb situation they were in, he just wanted answers. 

---

This was the second time Wei Ying had woken up in a day. This time he groaned softly and nuzzled further into the soft bedding, ignoring the persistent poking on his arm. “Mm...Jiang Cheng...five more minutes...” He whined and rolled onto his side. Wei Ying heard whispers and some more rustling before pain blossomed from his forehead, he jerked up from the bed and rubbed his head. “That hurt! Jiang Cheng, you asshole!” He grouched and glared at the person by his bed. 

A temporary silence hung between him and the other three for a total of five seconds before it plunged into a chaos of noise. “Hahaha! I like this guy already. He fucking called you an asshole although indirectly.” Guffawed the man with a bow strapped onto his back, it was Man No.1.   

“Of course birds of a feather flock together.” Man No.2 scoffed and rolled his eyes in a manner that reminded Wei Ying of Jiang Cheng. . Wait...Jiang Cheng..? He furrowed his brow as he saw flashes of purple, lotus motifs, and flames in his mind. Wei Ying pushed those thoughts aside with a disguised grimace and turn to look at the trio that greeted him the second time today as soon as he woke up. Wei Ying focused his mind on what was happening now and he had many questions floating in his mind currently but amongst them all, his first question to them was, “Where am I?”

Ling Wen, the lady in black, sighed and slumped a little in her seat, “Well, your highness is currently resting in his Palace in Upper Heaven. You have ascended and have become a martial god.” She said but then paused for a moment to stare at his blank expression of disbelief.

“I’m a what!?” Wei Ying gaped unattractively and shook his head madly left and right, further messing his nest of bed head. “Impossible! I couldn-..shouldn't be able to do that?” He frowned again and looked at his hands, he didn’t understand any of this, he shouldn’t be able to become an immortal without a golden core but he had no idea why he didn’t have one.

“What do you mean you shouldn’t be able to? You’re already up here.” Feng Xin snorted, having calmed himself from his laughing fit. 

“He doesn’t have a golden core.” “I don’t have a golden core.” Said Ling Wen and him at the same time. 

Wei Ying whipped his head up and stared at Ling Wen in surprise before vaguely remembering that she had probably found that out when checking his pulse. 

“Well...I had a golden core..? But it’s gone? And I’m here.” Wei Ying sputtered out, his words not making much sense to himself nor the trio. 

“This makes his ascension sound bogus.” Mu Qing sneered. Wei Ying frowned and looked at him in question, what had he ever done to offend him before? 

“Mu Qing , you better pray that the Emperor never catch wind of those words, he would no doubt shield him just like he shields his highness Xie Lian,” Ling Wen comment ed . “Whether you have or have had a golden core, that isn’t important for now so how are you feeling?” She asked. 

“I feel better...? My head hurts a little and I feel like I’m forgetting a lot of things, I can’t remember what had happened before I arrived here.” Wei Ying answered honestly. 

“That’s good to hear I suppose, the medical officials checked you over and you’re physically fine and what you described matches what they mention. You are suffering from temporary memory loss caused by trauma. So to protect yourself, your mind is suppressing those memories.” Ling Wen pulled a scroll out of her sleeves and placed it by Wei Ying’s crossed legs. “They suggested to let it be since it will pass eventually but I believe you wouldn’t sit around and wait so here’s some information I’ve collected about your life as a mortal. It’s a rushed work and does not have everything but it is still something. I advise taking a read when you’re ready, we really don’t need a repeat of whatever that was from earlier.” 

Wei Ying’s hand curled around the scroll for a moment and brought it closer but he decided to heed Ling Wen’s advice to read when he was ready. “I apologise for what happened earlier...I wasn’t really in control of myself.” Wei Ying bowed his head towards them. 

“Demonic Cultivator or not, at least he  has better manners than you do.” Mu Qing jabbed, his words triggering Feng Xin who lunged across to grab his collar. 

“No need to apologise, we understand that wasn’t in your control, no one got hurt and Emperor Jun Wu stepped in before it could escalate.” Ling Wen waved it off. “Anyways let me formally introduce myself, I’m Ling Wen from the Palace of Ling Wen, a literature god. And that.” She pointed to her left. “Is General Feng Xin from the Palace of Nanyang, a martial god. While that is.” She pointed to her right now. “Is General Mu Qing from the Palace of XuanZhen.” Ling Wen introduced them, blatantly ignoring the glare from the two men that were strangling each other through the introduction. 

“Nice to meet all of you.” Wei Ying greeted politely, it felt strange but he felt that he should at least be respectful to the three if they really were gods and not some weird figment of his imagination from a fever fueled nightmare. “I’m Wei Ying, courtesy name Wei WuXian, a martial god?” His smiled, eyes twitching a little at the ridiculousness of the idea. “Earlier Ling Wen ZhenJun, you said that I was in my Palace in Upper Heaven..?”

“Yes, this is the Palace of Yiling of the Crown Prince Wei Ying, the Demonic Cultivation Martial God .” Ling Wen read his title aloud from the scroll she held. Wei Ying mind seemed to be shutting down as it tried to process all th is information. “I...wha?” Wei Ying stuttered out undignifiedly, as much as his bad memory could offer him, he knew deep down in his gut that he hadn’t been a Prince as a mortal, why was he one now? And it’s the Crown Prince of Yiling?!

“ In Heaven monarchs can be found in every turn of a corner, while heroes are as common as the water flowing in rivers.” Ling Wen answered his unasked question. “In your case, it was the mortals that gave you such title and that title is related to your mortal life before the ascension.” 

Wei Ying opened his mouth then closed it several times, the questions churning inside him were not coming out. He didn’t understand any of this that was happening but he didn’t know how to ask and he doubted that he was ready for the answers he might get. In the end he pressed his lips together firmly and nodded in acceptance. “Thank you for explaining all of this to me.” He smiled at Ling Wen and then to Feng Xin and Mu Qing.

“It may take some time to adjust to but you can find any of us if you need help with anything or have any questions,” Ling Wen flashed a small smile at him before tilting her head slightly and shot a glare at Mu Qing, as if daring him to say otherwise. 

With that, Wei Ying bid the trio goodbye and slumped into the bedding. All of this was mind - boggling to him, one part of him wanted to believe that this was reality while the other part believed that this is all just a dream and he’ll wake up somewhere horrible later. He nudged the scroll Ling Wen had given him with his elbow; he eyed it a little before closing his eyes, he decided that a nap would probably help clear his mind, he just hoped that this wasn’t just all a dream.  

---

Night had already fallen when Wei Ying woke up the third time today. He sure was sleeping a lot, maybe it’s his body’s way to acclimate to the change. His short nap had turned out longer than intended but was rather pleasant. Wei Ying had woken up from the scent of a rather fragrant tea, he turned to search for its source and almost had a heart attack. There was a man dressed in white armour seated at the dining table in the room which he did not realise he had till he saw him. 

“Ah, it seems like Yiling has awakened . Would you like to join me for some tea?” The man asked with a kind smile, beckoning him over. Wei Ying jumped out of the bed and made sure to make himself as presentable as possible, even for someone like him that wasn’t very religious (as far as he remembered about his mortal life) he is well aware of who this man before him was. “There’s no need for that Yiling, there’s only the two of us here,” said man chuckled and poured two cups of steaming hot tea.

Wei Ying walked over and took a seat opposite of him hesitantly, “Thank you...” He mumbled and took the cup of tea that was pushed towards him and took a sip, totally forgetting that it was hot and thus burning his tongue slightly in the process. And that did not escape the sharp eyes of the man in white. He didn’t comment about it; instead , he chuckled and gave him a once - over and nodded. “You seem well,” he said.

Not knowing how to appropriately respond to that, Wei Ying simply nodded. He kept his gaze on the cup of tea on the table and never once met eyes with the man. “Emperor Jun Wu.” Wei Ying started, his hand clenched under the table. “I apologise for the trouble caused earlier, I am grateful that you had stepped in before I hurt anyone...” 

“Let bygones be bygones.” Jun Wu waved off the apology, at the same time he mused internally, this young man really was a little similar to Xian Le. “I came to check on your health and you seem to be faring better. Other than that I have some gifts for you or rather I picked them up for you from the mortal realm,” Jun Wu stated and pulled out two items from who knows where and set them onto the table. It was his sword and black bamboo flute; the sight of them sent a wave of nostalgia through him--despite it being the first time in his immortal life that he saw them, he could recognise that he was the owner of both items and it seemed like they did too.

“They have been reforged into spiritual objects now and may I say, the sword is quite a unique being.” Jun Wu gestured towards the sword. 

Quite a unique being? Wei Ying tilted his head in question and grasped the sword, he nearly dropped it when it started glowing white and spun rapidly into the air. The emitted bright light dispersed to reveal a boy in his late teens grinning up at him. “....”

“Your sword gained its own consciousness and became a spirit after reforging.”Jun Wu paused at Wei Ying’s baffled expression. “I will say he is a rather refreshing person and I’m sure both of you will get along as well as before.” Jun Wu finished his cup of tea and stood up, a hand rested on Wei Ying’s shoulder and gave it a good squeeze. “I hope that the fates will alleviate your sufferings soon.” Jun Wu left with those words, going off as mysteriously as he had arrived.  

Wei Ying was left to stare numbly at the sword-turned -a-spirit being who seemed ready to burst in excitement because the next thing he knew he was tackled to the ground by the overly excited sword spirit. “Master Wei! Master Wei!! I’m glad to see you! I haven’t seen you for a long time!” The sword exclaimed excitedly, vibrating with happiness.

“Um...Hello.” Wei Ying greeted him awkwardly; having a teen straddling him like an overgrown puppy was something he’d never thought would happen especially so when at the back of his mind his terrible memory provided that he has cynophobia¹. Despite the small underlying (ridiculous) fear present, his hand moved on its own to pet the sword spirit’s head without his realisation. The sword spirit preened under the attention, nuzzling the hand like it was the best thing in the world. 

“My name is Suibian! Emperor Jun Wu has already told me that Master Wei can’t remember a lot of things but that’s okay. I’m just glad to see you again.” The teen grinned brightly at him, finally moving off of him. Suibian offered a hand which he accepted and was pulled up from the ground. Wei Ying dusted off the robes he wore, this time he had the time to observe his clothing and it once again made a wave of nostalgia pass through him. He clutched on the sleeve of his outer robe, the red flame - like pattern licking the edges left a nice contrast compared to the overall grey-black to white gradient of it. 

Suibian seemed to have caught onto his actions and pulled him towards a mirror placed in the corner of the room. Wei Ying stared at his reflection silently until Suibian nearly made him choke on his saliva with his next words. “Master Wei is enraptured by his own devilish appearance, isn’t he? We should eat and drink! Maybe find some pretty Jiějiě ² or Mèimei³ too!”

Wei Ying blushed slightly and looked away from the mirror, the sword spirit’s suggestion sounded great but he really didn’t want to get kicked out of Heaven on his first day but then again when had rules ever stopped him. Are there even rules here? He pondered for a moment before shrugging. “Sounds like a good idea, let’s sneak out of here.” Wei Ying grinned, it was at that moment of silly happiness that he felt like maybe he was remembering his old self.

Cynophobia ¹ = Fear of dogs

Jiějiě (姐姐) ²= Term used for older sister

Mèimei (妹妹) ³= Term used for younger sister

Chapter Text

“SuiBian..ugh..Did you see where I placed ChenQing?” Wei Ying groused as he scrambled around the floor in a rather undignified manner in search of the black flute. 

“Noo..Master..Wei..stop shouting...my head hurts..” The sword spirit whined as he lay unmoving upside down on a chair, it’s a wonder how he hadn’t thrown up from all the blood rushing to his head. Last night, SuiBian and him had gone out to get some of the best alcohol in all Heavens and flirt with the beautiful ladies they saw, then stumbled back half-drunk into the palace to drink to the point of blacking out. 

Should anyone ever say that a Heavenly Official would not be affected by human problems (i.e hangovers) he would deck them in the face in a heartbeat with no remorse. Letting out another series of loud pained groans, Wei Ying slid fully onto the cool ground and lay there; if he moved his head in any manner now, he felt like he might end up throwing up.

Suddenly, a voice called out from outside the huge, heavy, and ornately gold designed wooden doors. “Your highness are you in?” Wei Ying lay there unresponsive and stared at the door, willing it to open with his mind and to his surprise, the door opened. He decided that he needed to test out his powers as soon as his hangover passed.

“Whoa, such a mess. What the fuck happened here? Robbery?” Feng Xin voice came in.

“Filthy. Nevermind a Heavenly Official, nothing else will live in such a pigsty,” voiced Mu Qing in a disgusted tone.

“Ah? Your highness!” Ling Wen rushed over to his side as soon as she spotted him.

“Is he dead? Good riddance.” Mu Qing turned to leave the Palace.

“What do you mean good riddance!? I bet it’s you that killed him!” Feng Xin rushed forward to grab Mu Qing’s arm, keeping him from leaving.

“Nm..stop..not dead..you guys.” Wei Ying lifted his arm and waved at them lazily. 

“Master Wei...your friends are too loud. Make them go away.” SuiBian wailed then yelped when Feng Xin kicked him off the chair and onto the ground, SuiBian’s head knocking against the chair then the floor several times. “Ow! This is abuse! I call abuse! Help me, Master!”

Wei Ying didn’t verbalise an answer and simply waved his hand in a series of seals and SuiBian’s corporal form disappeared and in his place laid the sword SuiBian. “Ugh...shouldn’t have done that.” Wei Ying gulped, unable to keep what he ate in his stomach and proceeded to throw up on the floor, luckily missing Ling Wen but, unluckily, not himself. 

“Do you need a Medical official..?” Ling Wen asked hesitantly, standing a few chǐ¹ away from him.

Wei Ying couldn’t reply to her question as he continued to puke his guts out. Feng Xin answered for him instead, “It’s just a bad hangover, he probably underestimated the power of Heaven’s alcohol. Stay here for a bit, I’ll go grab a very good homemade remedy at my Palace.” He said, turning to leave for his Palace in a hurried manner. Feng Xin returned in around a luóyù² with an unseemly small linen pouch and tossed it into Wei Ying’s lap. “There’s just a couple of pills left, take it, it’s a gift.”

Wei Ying gratefully accepted the pouch; he opened it and poured the contents into his palm, a small green pill lay there. “...The colour is interesting.” Wei Ying commented before throwing the pill into his mouth. His face scrunched in disgust—the bitterness of the pill was very potent, he could feel his tongue and stomach shrivelling as it went down. 

Looking at his expression, Feng Xin barked out in laughter, “Good medicine tastes bitter." 3

“The appearance and taste could be better..but I suppose it really is effective.” Wei Ying said, grinding his teeth and shuddering a little at the aftertaste, he needed to get that taste out of his mouth immediately!

“Why are the three of you here anyways? It’s too early… It’s like what? 5am? No one wakes up this early except Lan Zhan.” Wei Ying flopped on the bed where Ling Wen kindly helped him up to while Mu Qing just glared at him disdainfully. 

“Lan Zhan? Who’s that? Your wife? The sword spirit?” Feng Xin asked. “...Is that sword spirit your lover?” Feng Xin’s voice lowered scandalously.

Wei Ying resisted the urge to leap across his bed and smack Feng Xin, he then eyed Mu Qing gratefully when he kicked Feng Xin’s calves for his ridiculous words. “No! Lan Zhan is...he is...my..enemy..?” Wei Ying frowned when he seemed to be unable to remember anything else. 

“Well, no matter who he is, let’s get down to business.” Ling Wen carried the topic away from the possible danger of Wei Ying losing control from remembering. 

“Business?” Wei Ying looked at Ling Wen blankly. “It’s like my second day up here and I have a business to settle already?!” he pouted.

“It’s not official business. We were tasked to babysit you and bring you around until the meeting at the Great Martial Hall this evening.” Mu Qing explained vehemently.

“Well, it’s still official business since Emperor JunWu tasked us. Now let’s get you out of those robes and dressed up.” Ling Wen tugged the blanket Wei Ying had managed to throw over his head through the conversation. 

“Mu Qing, can I count on you to match a nice attire? Feng Xin, go prepare a bath at the back.” Ling Wen ordered the two reluctant martial gods before turning her attention back to Wei Ying. “Now you can get out of those robes yourself or I’ll help you.” She grabbed onto his collar, clearly possessing more strength than a civil god should and started tugging his robes loose. 

“Wait wait!! Feng Xin! Mu Qing! I know you hate my guts but help!” Wei Ying yelled, his hand outreaching, hoping to grasp anything or anyone. “This is harassment! Sexual
harassment! I know I’m irresistible but I’m not into this!”

“Shut up! You’re making things embarrassing for me too!” Ling Wen abandoned her job of stripping Wei Ying and smothered him with the blanket instead. 

“Wei WuXian, don’t worry about Ling Wen, she won’t see anything she doesn’t have already!” Feng Xin barked out in laughter behind the screen as he set up the bath. 

“What?! Are you a crossdresser?! I thought you were a girl?!” Wei Ying struggled against the blanket trying to send him to his second death. 

“Feng Xin shut it! Or I’ll lock you in the women’s bathroom next time!” Ling Wen turned to yell towards the back where Feng Xin then turned to glare at the struggling Wei Ying. “I am a girl but my worshippers prefer my male self so I change my appearance when necessary. I’m not the only one, the late Wind Master is worshipped as a lady but he’s a man. It’s not too surprising.” She quickly explained to the paling Wei Ying.

“I’ll just show you.” Sighed Ling Wen and with a wave of her arm, she transformed into her male counterpart. “Is this better now?” he asked. 

“So..do you have..that..in your male form..?” Wei Ying’s eyes flitted to Ling Wen’s crotch before blushing when he was caught looking. “No! This isn’t better! I’m shameless but not a cutsleeve! I-I’ll just do it myself okay!” He stuttered and stumbled out of the blanket, running towards safety which was behind the bamboo screen. 

It took nearly an hour, more bickering and an extremely displeased Mu Qing before they managed to step out of the Palace of Yiling. Luckily for them, they weren’t the last to enter the Great Martial Hall. The monthly martial court meeting was happening today; it gave Wei Ying a good chance to look at the myriad of gods and goddesses attending. He couldn’t help but gape and stare at the people, buildings, just everything in general—Upper Court was a really beautiful place and the Great Martial Hall even more so. The last time he’d been here, he didn’t get the chance to take a good look. 

For the meeting, Wei Ying was regretfully seated away from the two that were nice to him, he was forced to sit beside Mu Qing, who upon stepping inside had taken it upon himself to treat Wei Ying like he didn’t exist. Wei Ying sighed in relief at that—at least he had one less person staring and talking behind his back. When they had entered the hall, everyone had fallen silent before the conversation picked up again, all of it revolving about the official that ascended yesterday, which was him to be exact. Trying to distract himself, he had half a mind to poke fun at Mu Qing but he really didn’t want to die or attract more attention to himself so he focused on the other person seated to his right instead. “Hello. My name is Wei Ying, I’m new here.” Wei Ying flashed a bright smile at the man.

The man looked at him, blinking a couple of times before nodding. “I’m Qi Ying.” He answered then turned his attention away, already bored of the conversation. Wei Ying withheld a sigh and shook his head: Heaven was really filled with weirdos, him included. Thankfully, Emperor JunWu walked out to his throne before he could make a further fool of himself. 

“I’m glad many of you have taken time out to attend this meeting. Before we go ahead with any reports, can we warmly welcome Yiling, he ascended yesterday, I’m sure many of you have heard the commotion.” Emperor Jun Wu smiled in his direction. 

Wei Ying flourished under the positive attention, he bowed towards Jun Wu. “Thank you, Emperor.” He said, unbothered as another bout of whispering broke out. Earlier the whispering was about his odd and destructive ascension now it was about how he had garnered the Emperor’s eyes; there were whisperings of jealousy, fear, and awe. Some of them brought up Xian Le—another martial god, apparently; again he shrugged everything off and blocked out those comments.

The meeting lasted for around a shíchén ⁴ before it was adjourned. Emperor Jun Wu had asked him to stay: he mentioned that he had an important message to pass on. Wei Ying waited nervously as the last of the heavenly officials trickled out of the hall, Feng Xin and Ling Wen cast him one last look before they left and honestly that didn’t make him feel any less nervous. 

“Emperor Jun Wu.” Wei Ying greeted as he stopped in front of the throne. The Emperor smiled and greeted back, “Yiling, I’ve heard parts of your interesting adventures from last night.” 

Wei Ying nearly choked and flushed red, “Yea..they were interesting..Anyways what was it that you need to tell me?” Wei Ying spluttered, ready to move onto the next topic. 

“Hm..Well I wanted to ask if you would be willing to take up a mission. In the West, there have been prayers to get rid of a ferocious yāo ⁵ which cultivators are struggling with. Usually, we would let QiYing, the Martial God that rules the Western territory, handle it, but we have he's rather elusive and hard to get a hold of for long. Although your temple and domain is located in the North-west, I thought that you would be the perfect candidate for the job. If you’re unwilling to do this, I will understand. Travelling back to the west may bring about the memories which aren’t all that pleasant, I can ask another martial god to do the job.” Emperor Jun Wu said.

Wei Ying digested the information, a heavy weight on his racing heart—he wanted to help those mortals but the idea of going to the East made his stomach stir and clench uncomfortably. Last night, when both of them had been borderline drunk out of their minds, a loose-lipped SuíBiàn had shared some stories of his past life. They were amusing to hear and play out in his mind as an outsider due to his memory loss but it didn’t sit well with him when he didn't have an inkling of the people’s faces or the places that were mentioned, he felt like that fundamentally betrayed something. The spun and mostly horrible stories and rumours that went around the main spiritual array played a big part in Wei Ying’s heart wavering; however, Wei Ying knew that he needed to overcome this one day and learn about his past.

Gritting his teeth, his eyes unknowingly glowing red, Wei Ying agreed to accept the mission. “I’ll take up the mission, however, on the condition that half the merits be given to Tai Hua. It would be too brazen of me, a newly ascended martial god, to do so much in a place which is technically his territory.” 

Emperor Jun Wu’s eyes lit up with mirth, “You really are very interesting, really similar to Xian Le, I do hope you get to meet him soon, he frequents the mortal realm a lot,” he mused. “ That condition is agreeable but Tai Hua may have a different opinion in regards to that. Here is the scroll with the information, I do wish you success in the mission.”

Wei Ying lingered a little, wondering if he should ask about this Xie Lian that he kept hearing about but decided that he should probably head back to prepare for his descent to the mortal realm; this mission was urgent enough that the Emperor had appointed someone for it so he shouldn’t dilly-dally any longer. Before packing up for the trip, he quickly changed out of the elaborate and elegant robes on him—he didn’t want to stand out if he was heading to an area where people may recognise him. Once he was done changing into simple black and red robes he’d found, he started packing. Grabbing a qiankun pouch, he threw in a couple of miscellaneous items such as Feng Xin’s hangover medication, extra talismans, some blank ones as well as the scroll about his past Ling Wen had gifted him. Other than that, he tucked ChenQing into his sash, talismans and a pouch of money behind his lapel and SuiBian by his waist. He exited his Palace and to his surprise, Ling Wen was outside waiting for him, a scroll in her hands. “I didn’t think you would be this heartless to leave without saying anything.” She said, her arms crossed. 

“I-I planned to leave a message or something! I bet Mu Qing’s happy that he doesn’t need to look after my sorry ass for now. Anyways what’s that? A gift?” Wei Ying reached out with grabby hands for the scroll. Ling Wen rolled her eyes at his action and whacked the hand away with said scroll, “It’s more information regarding your mission.” She sighed. “If you need anything, don’t hesitate to contact me...okay, maybe any questions regarding something serious and not some dumb question you thought of when drunk.” She frowned. 

Wei Ying stopped himself from launching forward to pull his first friend over here into a hug: he doubted she would enjoy such a thing. He gratefully accepted the scroll and grinned widely at her, “Thank you so much, Ling Wen Jiě! I’ll make sure to bring a souvenir for you.” Just as he was about to leave for the mortal realm after thanking Ling Wen, Mu Qing and Feng Xin came by. “Here to see me off?” He asked, eyeing Mu Qing suspiciously but he was happy that Feng Xin was here. 

“Yep! Not so sure what the grumpy old man wants though.” Feng Xin side-eyed Mu Qing. “Here, I thought you might want more of these. I rushed to finish them.” Feng Xin threw over a familiar-looking bottle—it was another bottle of those miraculous hangover pills. 

“Thanks! Feng Xin xiōng.” Wei Ying beamed and tucked the bottle into his sleeves, thanks to whoever created qiankun sleeves. “Here.” Mu Qing grunted from the side; he held out his arms. “What?” Wei Ying blinked, looking at Mu Qing’s face then to the item in his hand. He hesitantly took the item: it was a swordsman hat⁶ with a black veil. 

“I can’t believe you would dare go down to a familiar territory without something to hide your mug.” Mu Qing remarked exasperatedly. “Immortals don’t die from wounds inflicted by mortals but only a fool like yourself would tempt fate and attempt the impossible and become the first to die.” 

“Hmph, I’ll have you know that my motto is ‘Attempt the impossible’,” Wei Ying huffed with his arms crossed, although he still clutched onto the hat gratefully. Feng Xin at the side shot him a look as if saying ‘I really don’t think you should attempt the impossible for that.’

“I should get going! I’ll keep in contact with you guys. Thank you for the present, niáng.” Wei Ying made eye contact with Mu Qing and kept it as he spoke. Then, with a yelp, Wei Ying waved at them, his eyes twinkling in mischief as he dodged Mu Qing’s attack and descended, getting away from his wrath. 

Wei Ying landed mostly safely in some forest near his destination. He quickly brushed off any stray leaves and twigs caught on him from the small tumble he did in the end. He took the time to read from the scroll of information before standing up properly and placed the hat on, securing it tightly before he set off for the nearest village. His mission took him to the outskirts of Qishan where many people were moving to. After the fall of the nightless city during the Sunshot campaign, the main city and the surrounding villages had all fallen deserted; it was the same for the outskirts but more people were moving back to those empty lands. However, there had been some disturbance reported to Tai Hua—there was a monster disrupting the lives of those that lived there. Those that had survived it described it as a nine-headed snake monster, the beast that Wei Ying had a vague memory of reading about during his human life and from the description, he had some suspicions about it being a Xiāngliǔ ⁷, a yāo that devastated the ecology everywhere it went, leaving behind nothing but gullies and marshes devoid of animal life.

Soon he could see some semblance of human settlements—he was officially in the QiShan land. He could note the traces where the xiangliu had been, and it was not a kind sight. Wei Ying decided he should head to the nearest place that sold alcohol; he hummed softly as he approached the crowded space. He could spot numerous farmers hanging around and drinking, it was an odd sight to not see them on the field at such time but given the state the fields were in, he understood why. “ Xiōngdì⁸! Bring me the best wine and some snacks,” he yelled over the crowd of drunken men then settled himself in a corner. “Coming right up, Gōngzǐ!⁹” The farmers paused in their drinking, shooting him with odd looks; a few of the braver ones came over to sit at his table. “This gongzi, what brings you here to this rundown town?” One farmer asked while another crowed, “Why are you wearing a hat, are you perhaps ugly? HAhah that’s okay, buddy, we are not lookers either.” “Is that a sword? Are you a cultivator? That’s cool, can I touch it?” yelled someone in the crowd.

Wei Ying chuckled and shook his head, the black veil shifting slightly to show the movement. He pondered for a moment if he should remove the hat since the group was probably too drunk to remember his face but again he didn’t want to risk it. Taking a small peek at the scroll about his past given by Ling Wen, his eyes caught on some keywords and apparently he had been a key person in the downfall of QiShan; why or how that had happened, he didn’t know yet but just from being on said land, his stomach was doing weird flips and flops. 

“I’m...Líng yīng 陵婴  ¹⁰ !” Wei Ying stammered out, he really should have thought his backstory out before approaching people. “I’m a cultivator from the Yiling Temples, I am currently wandering the place in search of the next night hunt.” The word Yiling elicited murmurs from those that were still sober enough to understand. 

Before they could ask any questions, his wine and snacks were placed onto the table. He stealthily snuck the drink and snack under the veil, keeping the prying eyes off of him. “So I want to know, why is a bunch of farmers drinking the daylight away?” He asked, his eyes flickering amongst the changing expressions of the farmers. 

“Aiyo, if only we could farm anything on this terrible cursed land. We had travelled far to come here for more farming land but it has been a good few years and nothing will grow well here. I bet it’s those Wen-Dogs’ fault, a curse they placed onto the land,” a farmer spat, disdainful. 

“Eh, really, Yi-xiong? I heard it was those Lanling Jin people that cursed these lands. It’s the current salacious Sect Leader Jin’s—what’s his name again? Jīn GuāngShǎ? 金光傻 ¹¹—fault. He was the one very interested in the Yiling Patriach’s work although he was the loudest one to voice his disdain. I heard that he has many of the Yiling Patriach’s inventions, he tinkered around with them and probably cursed this land. Someone needs to get rid of him and vote for a new chief cultivator.” The farmer seated opposite slammed his fist down onto the table; Wei Ying really was glad that they weren’t aware of who the god of the Yiling Temple was. 

“If only Jin ZiXuan wasn’t by his unconscious wife’s side every day for long hours and did something about his dastardly father, maybe things would be better. For something to have happened just as their son turned one month old..life is truly cruel.” A farmer sighed, shaking his head. 

“Even his brother-in-law, the young Sect Leader Jiang doesn’t trust Jin ZiXuan’s capability to raise his son, he takes time out to visit and care for his nephew every week. And it’s true that the world is cruel and we can’t blame the Jin Sect’s heir for everything. After his mother, Old Madam Jin, passed from sickness, the cultivation world seems to be doing worse under that Jin GuangShan’s control.” The farmer seated to Wei Ying’s right drawled, a sneaky hand reaching for his wine. 

“I think that the fox’s illegitimate son, JinGuangYao, is better than Jin ZiXuan, he should be the new sect leader. If it’s him, he’ll definitely care about us, we are from Lanling and QiShan is unofficially part of LanLing’s territory.” A drunk farmer yelled from the back. “Fuck off! Jin ZiXuan is better than that picked-up riffraff!” A small scuffle started at the back from this disagreement. 

Sensing how the air was turning hostile, Wei Ying decided that he needed to intervene before it escalated. Despite how those farmers’ words left a pang in his heart—those names must mean something to him if he felt such pain—Wei Ying pushed the hurt into the depths of his mind and instead focused on questioning the people but first, he needed to calm them down. 

“Boss, bring out another round for these men, I’m treating,” he yelled out. The farmers cheered at the prospect of free booze and forgot about the topic they were on quickly. As the farmers enjoyed the free alcohol, Wei Ying started asking them questions with regards to the yāo haunting the place. It didn’t take long for Wei Ying to confirm his suspicions: there indeed was a Xiāngliǔ in the area, it seemed like it had appeared. Wei Ying left the drunkards after finishing his own jug of alcohol, deciding that he would need to survey the area thoroughly and search for its frequent spot or its hiding spot. 

---

It was late at night when Wei Ying got the chance to check into a very simple inn; it was the best such a small town could offer. He set the few jugs of alcohol he’d bought and slid SuiBian off his waist, applying a little bit of spiritual power on the hilt, and the sword transformed to its human form. “Master!! Did you really have to stick me into that hole earlier?!” SuiBian pouted, dusting non-existent dirt off of himself. 

“I didn’t have anything else to use! I’m not using ChenQing for that!” Wei Ying slid the flute away from SuiBian’s grabby hands. “Here, I got this for you, my apology for earlier.” Wei Ying waved his arm over to the jugs. “Leave some for me too! You greedy sword!” He hissed as SuiBian immediately skipped out the window with the jugs tucked under his arm. 

As much as he would love to join SuiBian in drinking, he had some work to do. Earlier with the help of SuiBian for a long stick, he managed to fish up what had caught his eye in the dark. Wei Ying slid it out of his sleeve and immediately dropped it to the ground; a sense of nostalgia hitting him as he stared at it in horror. He picked it up gingerly. He vaguely remembered destroying it but why was one half of it still here? As if it could sense its creator, the Stygian Tiger seal emitted a dark glow, wisps of resentment energy caressing his hand gently. That caress turned into a sharp jab of pain when the seal glowed bright red; he yelped and hurled the seal far away from him. He cried out in anguish, crumpling onto the ground and clutching his hand as a series of images invaded his mind. 

 Wei Ying found himself floating in the air, his body translucent and glowing a faint white and his back in the attire which he was wearing when he ’d ascended. His attention was brought down to the scene happening below him. His eyes met a myriad of colours : there were hordes and hordes of people from different sects from major to unknown fighting uncountable raised corpse s ; all of them were fighting their hardest to accomplish their one and only goal — rid the world of the evil demonic cultivator, Yiling Patriarch. 

Wei Ying ’s eyes flickered to the lone man donned in red and black standing amongst the obedient corpses, both hands grasping the familiar Stygian Tiger Seal. It was himself , he recognised, he was looking at the moments before his death, the half of the seal he found was showing him this. The him from this memory locked eyes with an angry man dressed in purple, a sword in one hand while the other held a whip, purple lightn ng emitting from it. “WEI WUXIAN!” the man yelled and charged forward, weapons raised to kill. However , before that could happen, the past him smiled cruelly to the world, his eyes glinting in unshed tears as a surge of energy burst forth, the seal breaking and falling away as the previously obedient corpse turned its attention towards him. No screams or cries of agony fell out of his mouth as he was being consumed by his own creation ; instead it was the words, “I’m sorry...my shidi..Jiang Cheng.” 

Wei Ying saw the man ’s, who he now recognised as Jiang Cheng , face fall from the unrestrained anger to bitter horror as the him from the past soon turned into nothing as the corpse fought to tear him to pieces. Around Jiang Cheng, everyone broke into a loud cheer as the Yiling Patriarch was finally gone. 

He watched and was unable to understand what was going through Jiang Cheng’s mind as he stood numbly from shock. Unbeknownst to anyone, Jiang Cheng’s anger morphed into resentment, resentment for the man that had brought happiness to his family and also the one t o burn that all down, hatred towards the man that had hurt his sister, anger about the betrayal when they should have been back to back as the Two Prides of YunMeng , and bitterness towards himself for having be en unable to save his dear shixiong. He ha d so many questions, so many things he want ed to say to the idiot but it was too late. Jiang Cheng’s lips curled into a snarl and his eyes narrowed, he turned with a flutter of his robes, his angry mask never leaving his face as he stormed out of the area. 

The scene faded out and the next scene he came to was the ugly mug of Jin GuangShan holding onto the half piece of the Stygian Tiger Seal and beside him stood a young teen, dressed in the GusuLan disciple robes , a sly grin on his face. 

That scene then shattered into a multitude of pieces and faded to darkness. He found himself under a suffocating pressure before that disappeared with a loud thump to his chest. 

Wei Ying opened his eyes to meet a pair of pale purple eyes, “Master is finally awake!? SuiBian spent so long trying to wake you up. I thought you died again when I found you face down on the floor suffocating.” SuiBian hummed and moved his face away, a hint of worry in his words didn’t go unnoticed by Wei Ying. 

“I feel terrible..SuiBiannn..pull me up.” Wei Ying whined with his hand held up, waiting for the sword spirit to pull him up. “I had a shitty nightmare too, come give me hugs!” He grabbed onto the offered hand but instead of letting himself be pulled up, he yanked the sword spirit down so he crashed onto the floor beside him. “Masterr let me go..you gotta take a shower.” SuiBian tried to push Wei Ying’s grabby hands away, his master really was much more shameless than he remembered. “I’m not that nice to hug, maybe you can find some pretty maidens to talk to later.” SuiBian squirmed away, this time putting his weight into it, and pulled Wei Ying off the floor. 

In the end, neither the sword nor the Master left the inn after the bath; instead, they chose to drink late into the night. Neither spoke of what had happened. SuiBian suspected something when he had spotted the fallen Stygian Tiger Seal beside Wei Ying’s prone form but since his Master didn’t bring it up, he wouldn’t either. However, by the end of their drinking party, SuiBian spoke up: “Master..you know you can tell me anything, right? I’ll never leave your side unless you throw me aside.”

Wei Ying looked at his sword, a little pale under the faint moonlight. “I know SuiBian. Don’t worry about this old master.” He smiled softly. “Go to bed, we need to hunt that Xiāngliǔ tomorrow.” 

 ----

“Master look out!” SuiBian yelled out, flying forward to parry one of the nine heads of the Xiāngliǔ. Wei Ying jumped back, skidding slightly before he turned around to face the Xiāngliǔ; leaving SuiBian to distract the monster, he worked on a blood array that would seal off and purge the creature. He really needed to get more cultivation materials when he dropped by a big city the next time: so much blood for one array was still a huge strain on him even if he was immortal. 

“Those villagers better treat me to some nice spicy food after this.” Wei Ying groaned, flicking the excess blood off his arm as he tried to stem the blood flow with his torn sleeves. “SuiBian, return!” He yelled for the sword spirit who reappeared into his hand in his sword form. Now it was to lure the rather intelligent creature into the centre of the array. He had stolen some chickens to act as bait that morning—honestly, wasn’t a fun experience, you could tell that by the scratches on his arms. The Xiāngliǔ didn’t give as much as a glance to the chickens in the centre of the array but instead found him, who was standing on the edge, much more appetising. He chalked it off to the fact that he was an immortal and when compared to the three chickens, he was like a buffet of spiritual power, but he couldn’t be the bait if he needed to complete the seal.

Getting onto SuiBian, he flew above the huge snake and several times he was almost thrown off as he evaded those snapping jaws. Wei Ying held onto a few fire talismans, throwing fire at the snake’s heads in the hope to blind it and also lead it towards the array. He was initially successful until he forgot that other than the heads he had to look out for, there was also the tail. One swipe of that huge tail, and Wei Ying yelped and was thrown off SuiBian. The sword slammed against the cave wall, clattering loudly. He was disoriented as he tried to focus his swimming vision on the incoming monster. Just as he was about to accept his fate of being torn apart the second time, a loud crackle of lightning(?) sounded and a flash of a long purple rope lashed forward and curled around the body of the snake, jerking it off course. 

More yells and footsteps entered and echoed the huge cave, his vision clearing itself slowly and he saw men in purple; not one, not five but twenty of them. He really thought he was going to pass out again, maybe he should be the martial god of passing out. Gritting his teeth and crawling towards SuiBian, he pulled his sword towards himself and sheathed it; after a moment of thought, he hid the sword in the qiankun bag. If that telltale purple crackling lightning that he saw was flashing around the cave, that could only mean one thing: Jiang Cheng was here, the shidi of the Yiling Patriarch, whom he had been when he’d been alive. Wei Ying needed to get out of here immediately! 

As he sneakily crawled past the men clad in purple, he glanced back to those engaged in battle. They had snared the Xiāngliǔ into the array; all he needed to do was to get them out of it, complete the last part of the seal and get out of there. Taking a deep   and ignoring the stinging pain in his forearm, Wei Ying yelled out to the Jiang Sect disciples, “Get out of the array! It’ll hurt if you’re in it when it’s completed!” He hoped really hard that Jiang Cheng wouldn’t recognise his voice in this ruckus. The disciples flashed odd looks at the black-red clad man crawling on the ground with a black-veiled bamboo hat obscuring his face, none of them budging at the stranger’s words. “Move for fuck’s sakes! Don’t yell at me when you get fried by the spell!” Now this prompted the disciples to scatter off. A quick scan of the cave ground, and Wei Ying saw now discrepancies in the array; with a little bit more blood, he completed it. Clasping his hands together, his eyes slid shut and he chanted a spell. It would have been better with the use of ChenQing but with the alleged demonic cultivator-hating Sect Leader Jiang (he’d overheard from some passing merchant at the inn this morning at breakfast), he would rather not try and piss him off. 

Mid spell-reciting, Wei Ying felt something off about the array. He opened his eyes and almost face-planted onto the ground when he saw Jiang Cheng still slashing at the monster. And with a closer look, he could see a Jiang Sect disciple scampering off from behind Jiang Cheng, it seemed like he’d stepped in to pull the idiot out. It would have been heartwarming if the array wasn’t seconds away from activating. Without thinking, with a loud yell, “Jiang Cheng!!!” Wei Ying unsheathed SuiBian and hopped onto it, zipping forward to grab Jiang Cheng by the collar, hauling him out of the range of the array just as a blinding light engulfed the cave and the deafening screams from the Xiāngliǔ echoed around them.

Wei Ying dropped Jiang Cheng on the ground, pushing him under him as he shielded him from the waves of spiritual energy thundering and bursting out from the centre of the array. He grunted under the pressure, gritting his teeth as he held on. Once it had all calmed down, Wei Ying glanced down to check if Jiang Cheng was fine; however, on Jiang Cheng’s face there was a look of horrified anger and then the slow realisation that his bamboo hat had slipped off dawned upon Wei Ying. He quickly jumped back and righted his hat, picked SuiBian up and turned tail to run. 

Before he could get far, a familiar crackle came soaring towards him, followed by a surge of pain as the purple lightning ran through his body. “Ow ow!! Stop!” Wei Ying yelped, untangling himself from the whip. He staggered away and rubbed his sore middle, then turned to glare-pout at Jiang Cheng from under the veil. “What’s wrong with you people!? I just saved your ass and this is the Thanks I get?!” He huffed and crossed his arms. 

“Who the fuck are you!?” Jiang Cheng growled, Zidian in his hand looked ready to leap out and give him another hard lash. Wei Ying flinched and eyed the sparking whip warily, “Hmph, why should I tell you that?”

“You fucker! You’re Wei WuXian, aren’t you?! How are you alive? I killed you, is this some of those demonic cultivation tricks. Take off that hat right now!” Jiang Cheng raged on, storming forward, the hand with Zidian twitching slightly.

Wei Ying slowly backed away, glancing around for an opening he could take but found none. Some of the Jiang Sect disciples that were scattered around moved closer towards them, surrounding him while some went to check the remains of the Xiāngliǔ. “What? Who’s Wei WuXian? Haha, never heard of him.” Wei Ying laughed dryly. “I err..got to feed my rabbit!” He shouted and unsheathed SuiBian, a few explosive talismans in his hand. He got onto the sword and flew upwards, throwing the talismans upwards, trying to create an opening through the side of the cave and maybe to also cause minor distraction and delay the chase.

However, before he could get too far, a flash of purple flew out and latched onto his ankle and yanked him off balance. Letting out a loud indignant screech, he reached out to grab hold of the floating sword while dodging rock pieces and enduring the blooming pain around his ankle. “This is abuse! I say abuse!!” Wei Ying cried out, attempting to shake off the tightening grip of the whip. 

With a hard yank, Wei Ying was pulled down from the top, he crumpled to the ground in a heap as Jiang disciples surrounded him. “Tie him up and disarm him, we’re bringing this scum back to YunMeng,” Jiang Cheng ordered. 

“Hey! Don’t call me a scum! I’m shameless and rude but I don’t go around calling people names!” Wei Ying grumbled as he tried to dodge every attempt at tying him up. 

“Who are you calling rude?! You’re to be called scum until I figure out why you have the face of Wei WuXian.” Jiang Cheng’s lips curled in anger and purple sparks crackled around him again. 

“Like I would quietly lie down and let you take me back!” Filled with determination not to deal with the past, he gripped SuiBian tightly, he was a martial god and even if he wasn’t, he was confident he could easily defeat a group of senior disciples and a sect leader on a good day but he had just performed a rather big spell that had drained him quite a bit so obviously the reasonable method left was to flee. He threw SuiBian towards Jiang Cheng and leaped towards the opening he’d created: he might not be able to use his godly powers to oppress mortals but technically this was self-defense and a spiritual sword wasn’t his exactly part of his powers? 

It was a great idea but that didn’t stop some of the quicker disciples from springing to action. An arrow flew towards him and the tip dug into the back of his shoulder; he cried out in pain but prioritised in getting the hell out of there, preferably in one piece. The last thing he heard from the cave was: “Master! Why am I always the distraction?!” 

---

It was only after he was out of QiShan that he got the chance to catch his breath; night had fallen as well and he didn’t think he’d spent that long running. Wei Ying had trust in SuiBian’s capability to hold them off and then escape later. Wei Ying slumped against a tree at his side, breathing in deeply as he carefully avoided the protruding arrow in his back. He would need to recuperate for half a day for his spiritual power to be back to its most; the backlash would have been half as bad if he hadn't had to protect Jiang Cheng the dumbass. He really wished he could get in contact with any god right now, even Mu Qing. He winced a little when his ankle and waist twinged at the memory of Jiang Cheng, the pain from his back momentarily forgotten. He gingerly rolled his pants to examine the injury: the skin there was red and raised; it was barely visible but it still hurt. He swore Zidian was some spiritual weapon that a klutz of a minor martial god had dropped and forgotten in the mortal realm. 

Wei Ying shrugged the thought away and with a minor spike of spiritual energy and a sword seal, SuiBian came whizzing past him through the trees instead of crashing into him like it intended. “Come on, SuiBian, don’t be mad!” Wei Ying huffed, watching as the sword transformed to its personified form. 

“I demand three jugs of Emperor’s Smile!” SuiBian crossed his arms, looking away from his master sulkily. 

Wei Ying sighed and cajoled the pouting sword with other promises which were promptly ignored. “No! It must be Emperor’s Smile.”

“Fine..but only 2 jugs! But that is when we get to Gusu. Right now we need to go to LanLing to check something.” Wei Ying reluctantly agreed with a wince as his flailing movement caused a surge of pain down his back. “Before that..maybe let’s get this out of me. I can’t really reach it.” Wei Ying chuckled a little, his face grimaced in barely hidden pain as cold sweat beaded his forehead. “I must be the first martial god to have gotten this injured from mortals.” He sighed.

“Stay still..I’ll pull it out, it’ll hurt a little.” SuiBian jumped into action, guilt pooling in his stomach when he remembered that his Master was hurt but still played along with his teasing; if he had done a better job protecting him, they wouldn’t be experiencing this now. SuiBian took hold of the broken-off arrow with a grave look on his usually joyous face and with a quick yank, he pulled the tip out. 

Wei Ying bit onto his sleeve, his scream of pain muffled by it. He panted softly and a wave of dizziness and pain hit him. “I’m fine..” He said hoarsely when SuiBian hovered around him worriedly. “I’ll be fine..help me look through the qiankun bag, there’s some medicine that may help with the pain and the bleeding.” SuiBian rummaged through the pouch and procured some herbs to apply to the wound, then bandaged it up with the torn robes. “Don’t worry. A god can’t die, some sleep will help. We’ll camp here tonight, can you take the first watch? Wake me up in a couple of hours or if Jiang Cheng and the men come.” Wei Ying’s eyes flickered open and shut, the fever caused by the poison settling into his bones and his body wracked with chills as it fought the poison coursing through his body. 

“Rest, Master..I’ll protect you.” SuiBian’s soft voice floated into his mind, along with the soft humming of a familiar tune. Wei Ying nodded off, feeling warm and tingly, it could be the fever talking but he felt that the tune was more likely to be the reason. The last coherent thought he had before he fell into a deep sleep was: “Tomorrow...LanLing...need to protect ...”

Chǐ ¹ (尺) = Traditional Chinese unit of length, one chǐ is equivalent to 33.33cm / 1.094 ft

Luóyù ²(羅豫) =  A unit of time in ancient china equivalent to 2 minutes and 24 seconds

Good medicine tastes bitter  ³良药苦口, liáng yào kǔ kǒu) = Usually means that the most helpful advise may be difficult to listen to / frank criticism is hard to swallow but in this scenario, it literally means that the bitter the medicine the better it is for you.

Shichen ⁴ ( (时辰) = Ancient measurement of time equivalent to about two hours

Yāo ⁵(妖) = Monster/Demon

Swordsman hat ⁶ = It's the precious bamboo hat Xie Lian wears, Ref Pic is here.

Xiāngliǔ ⁷(相柳) = A nine headed snake demon/monster, Wiki link here. and here.

Xiōngdì ⁸(兄弟) = Brother

Gōngzǐ ⁹= Young Master / Sir

Líng yīng ¹⁰ (陵婴) = The Líng  is from Yiling and yīng is taken from Wei Ying , no real meaning behind the name but if was written with this Líng (灵) was used instead, together it would mean Spirited Baby which is cute and very true for Wifi but this interpretation can still be taken. 

Jīn GuāngShǎ ¹¹ (金光傻) = The word Shǎ (傻) is used instead of shàn (善) , Shǎ means fool/dumb/stupid while shàn means kindness (Which we know is bs)

Chapter Text

The peace in Cloud Recesses was once again broken when the Second Jade of Lan brought back a calamity demon and a god back. No one dared ask the aloof man or the peculiar guests why they were here or why they were brought straight to HanGuang-Jun's private quarters, the Jingshi.

“HanGuang-Jun.” Lan SiZhui knocked on the sliding door, waiting for permission to enter. Lan SiZhui entered the room and bowed respectfully in greeting towards him, then to his two guests. “SiZhui apologises for intruding but I bear a message from Teacher Lan and ZeWu-Jun." 

Lan WangJi kept a steady gaze at Lan SiZhui, silently prompting him to go on. SiZhui gave a small glance to the two guests, wondering if he should speak of inter-sect related issues in front of strangers. Lan WangJi followed Lan SiZhui’s gaze and looked at the two. “Continue,” he stated firmly. 

Lan SiZhui nodded and spoke without further prompting, “Teacher Lan and ZeWu-Jun received news of a spike in resentment energy from the watchtowers in the areas of YunMeng and QingHe. At the same time, a Gusu Lan signal flare sounded in the area near YunMeng and QingHe. With a group of disciples, they rushed to check the situation out, Teacher Lan to QingHe and ZeWu-Jun to YunMeng. Teacher Lan has also said that you should join ZeWu-Jun as soon as possible.”

Lan WangJi might look cool and aloof to those not close to him but Lan SiZhui could clearly see worry stirring in his eyes. Lan WangJi got up, strapping Bichen and his guqin onto him,  prepared to leave any moment. He turned to survey his two guests that also had gotten onto their feet. “We’ll go with you, we may be able to help and start our search there as well.” Xie Lian beamed, adjusting his bamboo hat and securing it tightly. 

Lan WangJi nodded, heading towards the door until his son grabbed the sleeve of his robes. “Father...here’s some food and medicine. They might need it.” He mumbled, pushing a qiankun pouch towards his chest while red painted the tips of his ears. Lan WangJi couldn’t help the warmth spreading from his heart. “En..Thank you.” He moved to pat Lan SiZhui’s shoulder: as his son got older so did Lan WangJi’s awkwardness around showing affection to his son. Lan SiZhui never complained and understood that his Father was not one to speak much but he could sense the pride Lan WangJi had when he spotted him training or in lessons. It had only been six years; the small frail child had grown splendidly into an eleven-year-old boy. 

The qiankun pouch was tucked into his robes safely and Lan WangJi led his guests out. He mounted onto Bichen while Hua Cheng joined Xie Lian on FangXin. The trip was mostly quiet: the only heart-stopping incident was when the old sword FangXin couldn’t take it anymore and caused both Xie Lian and Hua Cheng plummet towards Earth for a couple of seconds before silver butterflies surrounded them and they were now flying in clouds of those. It took them about a shíchén to rush to YunMeng and a little bit more to spot ZeWu-Jun and the other disciples. What surprised Lan WangJi was the fact that Jiang WanYin, YunMeng’s sect leader was engaged in a deep (mildly heated) discussion with his elder brother. 

“Elder Brother. Sect Leader Jiang.” Lan WangJi greeted the two with a small bow once he dismounted from Bichen, his two guests standing behind him in silence, watching them.
 

“WangJi...” Lan XiChen smiled gently at the presence of his brother, nodding to the other two at the back. “I heard that WangJi had brought some interesting guests back home,” he commented. 

“En.” Lan WangJi’s gazed over to the slightly injured Lan disciples along with the disheveled Jiang WanYin and his disciples. “What happened?” he asked.

“Wei WuXian is what happened.” Jiang WanYin spat out in disgust, the telltale purple sparks of ZiDian coming from him. The disciples behind him flinched and scurried off to help with the injured Lan disciples. 

“Wei Ying..?” Lan WangJi’s breath hitched at the mention of that name. 

“What Sect Leader Jiang is trying to say is that the cause of the disturbance came from QiShan where he was just returning from a night hunt. He met someone with the same face as the late Wei Gongzi and he suspects that these may be linked.” Lan XiChen quickly summarised (read: inferred) the information he had been told by said grumpy man. 

“I think it may be too early to point fingers at anyone.” Xie Lian stepped forward, hands up in a placating manner. “Let’s head to Lotus Pier so that the disciples can rest before we continue this discussion.” 

Lan WangJi steeled himself and nodded—as much as he wanted to mount his sword and fly off to Qishan, he had been sent here to help his brother, he’d go after. With some assistance to the injured disciples, they flew back to Lotus Pier. The sight of a huge open lake with a multitude clusters of lotus flowers blooming and boats dotting the water greeted them. Lan WangJi greedily took in what he could see, and a small emptiness rang in his heart when he realised this perfect scene was missing someone: Wei Ying. 

“WangJi...is everything okay..?” Lan XiChen flew closer to him, noting the change in his mood. Lan WangJi gazed at his brother before turning away to face forward and nod in response. 

“Is it about Wei Gongzi..?” his elder brother asked. 

“We are here.” Lan WangJi declared, stepping off Bichen and ignoring his brother’s concerned questions and look. He stuck closer to Xie Lian and Hua Cheng: the two were silently trailing behind the group, observing them and whispering to each other. The disciples were dismissed at the wooden dock, Jiang Cheng snapping orders around before he led the group of guests towards the Lotus Pier estate. 

At the door to the estate, Jiang Cheng turned around to glare at Hua Cheng. “No demonic creatures allowed in.” 

Hua Cheng reacted to that with an equal amount of hidden hostility, his eye narrowed into a thin slit as he smiled in reply to Jiang Cheng. “Hm? Who is that you’re talking about?” 

“Don’t play dumb with me, you monster.You may fool the rest but you will never fool me.” Jiang Cheng growled, Zidian sparking its purple lightning on his clenched fist. “I will strike you where you stand if you dare step into Lotus Pier.”

Noticing the climbing tension between the two, Lan WangJi stepped in front of Hua Cheng. “Jiang WanYin. These are my esteemed guest. Do not threaten them.”

“They are Lan-er gongzi’s guests but right now we are in YunMeng and I’m the Master of Lotus Pier. I have the say on who to let or not to let in.” Jiang Cheng bit out, an eyebrow raised in challenge at him. “And again it seems like the great HanGuang-Jun often protects those that walk the demonic path.” Jiang Cheng scoffed. “How pathetic that you couldn’t protect him.”

Xie Lian couldn’t stand watching this from the side: he surged forward and stood before Lan WangJi. It would have made a funny picture, to see people lined up in front of the doors, if they didn’t look like they were about to kill each other in a few seconds. “You can make as much noise as you want but never demean HanGuang-Jun’s capabilities because as much as I know, he tried and is still trying to protect him. Something which you can’t get past your ugly pride to do.” 

“What ugly pride?! You don’t understand anything and you dare to step into this?! An outsider should keep their nose out of our problems.” Jiang Cheng snarled, the purple spark growing bigger with his anger.

“Gege.” Hua Cheng moved past Lan WangJi and placed a hand on Xie Lian’s shoulder. “Calm down...” he mumbled and pulled him to his side, squeezing his hand reassuringly. “You can insult me as much as you want but never speak to Xie Lian like that ever again.” Hua Cheng’s eye glowed faintly red as he took a threatening step forward. “True, we do not understand anything but deep down you yourself do not understand yourself either so don’t you dare bring that up. Now are we going to go in? We have more important things to discuss other than my origins.”

“What Hua-gongzi says is correct,” Lan XiChen stepped forward; the usual gentle smile seemed odd in this tense situation. “Drinking some tea will calm everyone down. If Sect Leader Jiang doesn’t permit Hua-gongzi inside, how about we have our discussion in a nearby teahouse?”

In the end, Jiang Cheng came to a compromise—they are gathered in a teahouse in one of its private rooms. Until the tea was served, there was a suffocating silence in the room: one could see the slight strain in Lan XiChen’s smile. “The tea is nicely brewed,” he commented. “Now that we’ve drunk some tea, let’s discuss the pressing matters,” he started.

“As gathered, the watchtowers set up in these areas were set off due to an explosion of resentment energy.” Lan XiChen pointed to the marked points on the map scroll he had put onto the table. “Without the watchtowers in QiShan we are not sure if it was the epicentre; however, the watchtowers on the borders of QiShan and QingHe sounded.” He motioned to the string of marked points. “The resentment energy spread inwards QingHe and the scattered watchtowers sounded off. The same happened to YunMeng as well, however, Sect Leader Jiang was quick to arrive from QiShan and took up preventive measures to stop the spreading as well as help the Lan disciples. Again I would like to thank Sect Leader Jiang for it.”

“It’s no big deal.” Jiang Cheng focused his gaze on his tea cup and nothing else. “Are YunMeng, QiShan and QingHe the only areas that had these changes?” He asked, lifting his gaze to examine the map carefully. 

“On the outskirts of Gusu, it was observed as well and was quickly resolved before we received more news and rushed to aid. LanLing did not notice those changes but Jin GuangYao informed me that Jin ZiXuan had assembled a group and headed to QingHe to assist, despite Sect Leader Jin’s protest.” Lan XiChen laid out a second scroll onto the table. The group silently viewed the two maps until Xie Lian let out a soft gasp, “San Lang...this is..!”

“En, Gege,” Hua Cheng shifted the two maps slightly and pulled a brush out of his sleeve and put it in Xie Lian’s open palm. “Sect Leader Lan, excuse me.” Xie Lian brushed aside the sleeve of his white robe that got in his way; swiftly, he drew on the map, pulling away after a while to looked at his work. 

“This is...” Lan XiChen grasped the map and pulled it closer.

“Different arrays.” Lan WangJi’s eyes flitted across the map with a critical eye: the marked out points in each region were joined and now formed four arrays.

“In QiShan, the array’s centre is the word 蛇 (Shé, Snake), in YunMeng it’s 龍 (Lóng, Dragon), Gusu is 鹤 (Hè, Crane) and QingHe is 牛 (Niú, Ox).” Xie Lian read slowly, looking at everyone’s reaction to the revelation. “Do any of these words or creatures mean anything in the locations?” he asked. 

“Only one would make sense, that would be the Ox for QingHe,” Lan XiChen answered.

“Gege, isn’t it odd that all these great sect territories have these arrays on them but in LanLing, there is nothing. And LanLing itself is located in the centre of all of the resentment energy,” Hua Cheng pointed out.

“...Are you saying that the culprit of all of this is LanLing Jin?” Jiang Chen asked, tone solemn, and his hand twitched towards his ring, twisting it; thankfully, no sparks of purple appeared. 

“No...I think what San Lang is trying to say is that something may be happening there. It can mean that they are the culprit or that they are yet to experience the resentment energy flood,” Xie Lian cut in before Hua Cheng could open his mouth to snap out a probably sarcastic answer to the snappish sect leader. 

“No matter what it is, I can always check the situation with A-Yao. I’m sure if anything should happen, Jin Gongzi and Lady Jin will contact you immediately.” Lan XiChen reassured, pacifying Jiang Cheng growing irritation. 

Jiang Cheng crossed his arms and looked away from them. “The snake array in QiShan may be related to the XiangLiu that we slew yesterday. It might also be related to the weird Wei WuXian lookalike.” He spat the name out forcefully. 

“A XiangLiu appeared in QiShan?” Lan XiChen looked surprised at the new information.

“Tch...should have mentioned that earlier.” Hua Cheng grumbled in the back, soft enough that Jiang Cheng didn’t catch it. 

“No resentment energy was detected from the scales brought back. Sect Leader Lan may take a look at them later.” Jiang Cheng said. “In QiShan, resentment energy other than from the nine-headed snake was detected, in fact the whole of QiShan was teeming with that energy after the Sunshot campaign. The bastard fighting the XiangLiu used some demonic cultivation trick and harnessed that resentment energy in the air with a blood array as a medium to capture and ‘purify’ the creature, or rather, it was the surrounding energy that enveloped and overpowered the yao.”

“Wasn’t QiShan included into LanLing’s territory? How did they allow resentment energy to build up? The four big clans could purify and guard the Yiling Burial Mounds in case the Yiling Patriarch returned but didn’t bother with their own land?” said Hua Cheng with a raised brow. “Not that I’m interested in cultivation sect politics but I find that it’s hilarious that your priorities are placed wrongly.”

Hua Cheng spoke the truth but rubbing salt into an open wound didn’t help them: Lan XiChen’s smile was strained, Lan WangJi seemed indifferent but agreeing and Jiang Cheng looked seconds away from flying off the handle. “Hua Cheng...” Xie Lian started, gauging the group’s reactions before sighing softly. “We should head to LanLing at the first light of dawn. Gather information from the returning Jin Sect heir and his men, understand what happened in QingHe and discuss from there.” There was a silent agreement amongst the group as that was the best option they had. Jiang Cheng offered the two Jades of Lan a room in Lotus Pier but the offer was politely declined by both, agreeing to stay at an inn with the other two. They arranged to meet the next morning in front of the inn before setting off to LanLing. 

✵☁☾❅☽☁✵

The night spent on the forest ground—his head propped up by a protruding tree root covered with his shredded top while a fever raged through his body in a fight against the poison with only a small fire to keep him warm—wasn’t the best night he had ever spent. If anyone found out about this, he bet his ass that he would be the laughing stock of Heaven. “Master, you’re awake!” Wei Ying heard the crunching of leaves from his right before a figure towered over him. “Here, drink up.” SuiBian propped him up with one hand while the other fed him water. 

Wei Ying groaned softly and pushed SuiBian’s fussing arms away, “I’m fine...the poison is mostly gone. We need to head to LanLing now.” With a slightly unsteady hand, he pushed himself up from the ground, gritting his teeth when he could feel the wound stretch from the motion. He waved off the concerned sword spirit and reached to pet his head, “You did a good job yesterday. Thank you.” 

SuiBian blushed at the praise, gently pushing his head against the petting hand, “Mm...glad that Master is better...If I had been quicker and better, maybe Master wouldn’t have gotten hurt at all.” 

Wei Ying sighed and shook his head; the hand petting SuiBian’s head switched and gave the sword spirit a soft whack on his head instead. “I just complimented you and you just ignored that to bring yourself down. I’m glad to have you with me, SuiBian, especially in a place where everyone apparently hates Wei WuXian’s, my mortal self’s guts when they see my face. Well so far we’ve only met Jiang Cheng and he was as mad as the last time I saw him in the weird dream...memory? Anyways...maybe I should start referring to myself as Wei WuXian... it feels foreign...since I’ve been thinking of him as a separate person since I can’t remember anything...but...” 

Before Wei WuXian could continue rambling off, SuiBian brought it to an end by shoving an entire peach into his mouth. He nearly choked at the sudden intrusion but was grateful for the sweet and juicy fruit. As he ate quietly and his mind wandered off, SuiBian took the chance to run a thorough check on him: his spiritual energy was about two-thirds recovered which was reassuring and good for quicker healing. “Master can keep eating while SuiBian shall share some things he saw, heard, and found out about from yesterday.” 

A quick nod from him and SuiBian went on speaking, “This morning when I went to the nearest town, LiYang, I overheard some smaller sect cultivators speaking about watchtowers going off due to the sudden increase in resentment energy in a few places, one of which was QiShan. Apparently the situation in QiShan wasn’t unknown, it was ignored, the XiangLiu had been there for years but didn’t pose a threat until settlers arrived there. The recent buildup and spike of resentment energy transformed it and it evolved into a threat and that rang the watchtowers in the QiShan area.” 

Wei WuXian held up a hand, in a gesture for SuiBian to pause. “What are the other places that were mentioned..?” he asked with a sliver of dread. 

“QingHe, Gusu, and YunMeng were affected. The same as QiShan, the resentment energy appeared on the outskirts and headed into the territories, as if in search of a place or something.” 

“...Stygian Tiger amulet..” Wei WuXian pulled the half piece he had out of his sleeves and stared down at it. “Was LanLing not affected at all?” He ask, urgency in his question; he just needed more information to confirm his suspicions. 

“As far as I found out, Jin ZiXuan from LanLing along with some Gusu disciples went to assist QingHe while another group of Gusu disciples went to assist YunMeng.” SuiBian reported.

Somehow hearing that YunMeng was fine made him very relieved. “Jin ZiXuan...went to help QingHe?” He raised a brow at the name— from the gut feeling he had, he clearly didn’t like him but didn’t hate him, he merely dealt with him. 

“Yes, Jin ZiXuan forewent Sect Leader Jin’s warning and words and set off to assist as soon as he was notified about the situation.” SuiBian affirmed.
 

“Hmp, doesn’t sound like him.” Wei WuXian snorted at the words. “Did his marriage with Shijie change him that mu-...Shijie!!” He jumped up from his seated position, ignoring the jolt of pain from his injury. “How could I have forgotten Shijie?!” Wei WuXian clutched his head. “I rememberd Jiang Cheng’s stupid mug first and not Shijie’s.” He whined, slumping against the tree; the sudden movement made him feel faint. 

“Master!” SuiBian was immediately plastered to his side, holding him from planting face-first into the forest ground. “You’ve regained some of your memories..?” He asked in worry. 

“Try getting whipped by ZiDian several times, like that wouldn’t reawaken some deep dark memory.” Wei WuXian shuddered and slowly regretted his words when SuiBian seemed to worry even more. “Just kidding...haha...well, it may be partly true but I saw a part of my memory...from the Stygian Tiger amulet...the siege in the Yiling Burial mounds..”

“SuiBian deeply apologises for being so useless and failing Master...this sword should have protected Master better even when he couldn’t wield me...” SuiBian’s grip on his arm tightened, his body sagged down and his words mumbled. 


“Mm, since you know that, then you should work harder to protect me this time. No point in staying in the past that we can’t change.” Wei WuXian nodded sagely, grinning at the other. 

SuiBian couldn’t help but tear up at his words and pulled Wei WuXian into a tight hug while sobbing into his tattered inner robes. “Ah...careful! Why are you crying, silly child.” Wei WuXian chuckled softly, gently rubbing the trembling figure in his arms, his pain long forgotten for more important things.

---

The Master-sword duo travelled the nearest town that was not located in any of the four great sects’ territories. It allowed Wei WuXian to fully recuperate, get new medicine, rest and most importantly drown in alcohol before their long journey ahead. However during their short stay in that town, other than the average alcohol, their trip was soured by a few black-clad men going around and claiming they were the Yiling Patriarch or those that claimed to be selling products created and tested by the Yiling Patriarch himself. It was all slander, the were rubbing his name into dirt with what they claimed and wasn’t he supposed to be dead to everyone’s knowledge!?! 

It took him everything not to lunge and attack those imposters but he was a martial god now and he should know better. But again who knew why the two imposters suddenly fell violently ill after consuming a free drink at an inn or why those peddlers soon found their fake goods upended in the nearby stream. Maybe it was the wind.

Travelling on foot took time, travelling on swords would attract too much unwanted attention to himself, especially when YunMeng disciples could be spotted in some places they went to despite how far away from home they were. And having SuiBian’s company not as a piece of metal spiritual sword was fun: he had someone to talk to, tease, and prank. 

Their next stop before LanLing was YueYang, a great place to stock up on cultivational materials since the past few villages and towns they had been in had no cultivation sects. They had mostly used up their talismans, medicines, and other important things during the impromptu night hunts to help those who needed their expertise but had no sect to turn to. They got a roof over their head or a simple meal in gradititude—a good way to save their money for more important things.


Wei WuXian led them to the nearest inn once they stepped into the town, both sword spirit and himself famished despite the fact they could practice inedia: food was delicious and there was no way to stop them from eating. Wei WuXian was mid-bite into his food when his attention was drawn away by the loud commotion at the front; he had half a mind to smack SuiBian’s sneaking hand away from his plate before he got up to check it out.

On the dirt ground, there was a child. Barely a teen, covered in mud and dressed in rags, he was curled up on the floor with one arm curled around his head protectively and the other arm clutched to his chest. “Someone, grab hold of the brat. We’ll chop his hand off so he can no longer steal!” The leader, donned in elaborate robes the colours of the YueYang sect and seeming to be someone of a high status in the sect, yelled out. The people around him cheered in agreement and a surge of YueYang disciples came forward to hold down the struggling child while the leader unsheathed his sword.

Just as the sword came down, Wei WuXian moved into action—he could not stomach this cruelty, especially when the scene struck a chord in his blurred memories. SuiBian materialised in his hand in its sword form and stopped the descending sword before it reached its victim. “Hm...what’s this? A young master from YueYang sect condoning and leading the bullying of a weak and helpless child?” Wei WuXian hummed; those that were close enough could see the faint red glow that shone through the black veil. The young master drew his sword away and took a step back from the dangerous aura Wei WuXian was letting out, hmph even an idiot can sense danger. “I don’t think the sect leader or other sects would like to find out about this scandal. Wouldn’t do good for YueYang sect’s reputation, would it?” He mused out loud. 

“W-who are you?! Do you know who I am?!” The man held out his sword shakingly before an unimpressed Wei WuXian. 

“You really are an idiot...who I am doesn’t matter and that was your cue to scram. So SCRAM before I get mad.” Wei WuXian growled, his tone low and threatening. The young master from YueYang fled with his men with their tails between their legs. Wei WuXian turned his attention to the remaining crowd and they quickly dispersed without a word in case they accidentally incurred his wrath. Once the scene was cleared, Wei WuXian knelt down beside the prone figure that lay on the floor surprisingly conscious despite the pain. He gently helped the teen up into a sitting position, hands flitting to prod around with the purpose to check for injuries. However, his hands were smacked away; he was genuinely more surprised when the kid pushed him away and stumbled onto his feet. “I’m fine...” The kid wheezed. 

“Yeah fine my ass, come let me treat those wounds.” Wei WuXian stepped forward to pick up the kid but was once again pushed away. 

“Who in their right mind would follow a creep wearing that! I don’t even know why you saved me,” snarled the boy. “Now fuck off and mind your business.” He held onto his injured arm and limped past Wei WuXian, purposely bumping against him really hard as he walked by. 

Wei WuXian swore he had never been that disrespected before by someone younger than him; it was as if someone had spat on his grave—which, he was pretty sure, happened often given his reputation but only if he had a grave at all. It was kinda sad to think about. “Master...we should go back to eating.” SuiBian appeared by his side again, pulling his sleeve so they could get back to their table. 

Just as they finished their meal, Wei WuXian reached into his robes, digging around for his money pouch to realise that it was missing. “That little bastard!” He growled, eyes flashing red for a second before fading. He snorted and shook his head. “I’m impressed that he managed to steal my pouch in such a short amount of time.”

“Stay here SuiBian, I’ll be right back.” Wei WuXian got up from the seat, turning to leave the confused and sputtering blade behind as he went on his search of the streets for the boy. It didn’t take long to notice the boy, lying passed out in some discreet alley; he rushed forward to check on him, internally very worried since his initial quick assessment of the boy’s state had indicated injuries that weren’t too serious but now said boy was barely conscious. Wei WuXian hurriedly scooped the kid up and rushed back to the inn where SuiBian was still waiting. Once back, he threw the retrieved money pouch to SuiBian and headed up to his room with the teen cradled in his arms.

SuiBian joined them in the room a little later. He had the young teen laid gently onto the bed as nimble fingers checked him for injuries. “...Broken arm...and ribs...his meridians are fine...he has cultivated before, a good foundation...” Wei WuXian mumbled in relief: it was something he could patch up. “SuiBian, pass me that qiankun pouch and fetch a tub of water.” He called out. The sword spirit nodded and swiftly got to work, bustling around to fetch the items. 

As he waited, Wei WuXian grasped onto the thin wrist, gently sending some dark spiritual energy to promote healing. That was also something he had discovered when he’d been injured and was travelling towards LanLing; he was aware that he didn’t have a golden core and instead had abundant resentment energy (or dark spiritual energy at SuiBian’s suggestion because resentment energy sounded scary) flowing through his body. But with given time to meditate and practice during the sleepless nights, he could condense that energy into something like a golden core or, as he called it, a dark core. Honestly, not one of his most creative names he would use since SuiBian had shot almost all of them down. The dark core was exactly the same as a golden core: it was a source of energy that was different and not all people were suited to such energy or there would be more mad demonic cultivation imitators roaming the streets, crazed from succumbing to the dark whispers from the resentment energy.

Speaking of compatibility with dark spiritual energy, this young teen before him surprised him for the third time this day: he had readily accepted the energy without any rejection. Wei WuXian had known of the risk of rejection but it was worth a shot if it meant that it would speed up the healing. A heavy weight on his shoulders reminded him that this boy was really similar to him when he had been simply a street rat. His memories might not be full and were filled with holes but he was aware that the streets were not kind, and it was even worse when one was heavily injured or ill. He was drawn out from his reminiscing when SuiBian set the tub down noisily beside him. Removing his hand from the wrist, he got to work with cleaning the minor scrapes and cuts that littered the teen’s body. Once he deemed the boy clean enough, he worked on applying medication onto them; he left the broken ribs and arm until last. He was gingerly tying up the last of the bandages on his arm before his senses were assaulted by pain: the teen had jolted awake, sitting up in fright, and immediately slammed his head into his chin . 

“F’ck ow...” Wei WuXian scooted away from the teen, tears almost spilling out of his eyes as he clutched his hurting chin, it seemed like he’d bitten his tongue from that attack too. SuiBian was immediately hostile to the awakened threat, sliding himself between Wei WuXian and the injured teen. 

“Shit...why do you have such a hard chin.” The teen groaned, clutching his head with one hand. It was then that he realised that his wounds had been treated and he was all bandaged up. He tensed up, his hand flying to his left side but noticing his blade was missing, then he remembered all that had happened today. Those YueYang disciples, especially that Chang Ting, the only son of the sect leader, should be blessed that his sword wasn’t on him today. An evil snarl formed on his lips when he remembered what those evil men had attempted to do too. 

“SuiBian, stand down. It’s fine.” Wei WuXian gently prodded SuiBian aside and the sword spirit turned into its blade form and laid by the wall, seeing that he was not needed. Wei WuXian kept a wary eye as he noticed the teen slowly was spiraling from sanity; it was especially concerning to see such an evil look on a boy that was barely a teen. He mulled over how his should snap the kid out of it but then shrugged and simply threw caution out the window. He reached over to pet his head, whispering soft reassurances to him—what's the worst an injured kid could do to him? 

The worst didn’t come since the boy simply froze under his touch and slowly shifted his unfocused gaze to him; he was glad that he’d removed the bamboo hat when he’d entered the room or he was sure that would have simply scared the kid further. It was as if he was approaching an injured stray kitten—all hissy, claws and fangs, but after some affection and coaxing it slowly warmed up. 

Wei WuXian looked down at the boy he was now half-cradling in his arms. “You shouldn’t strain yourself, I passed some energy to you but those injuries will take some time to recover, especially the broken ribs and the arm,” he mumbled, his petting yet to cease. Wei WuXian felt the boy shift in his hold, the good arm coming up to push his chest away. Understanding that silent plea to be unhanded, Wei WuXian moved away and headed to the table in the centre of the room and retrieved a bowl of congee. “Eat some, you’ll get energy back faster.” 

The bowl was snatched from his hands quickly and downed by the starving boy equally quickly. “Hey, slow down, no one is going to take it away from you.” Wei WuXian watched him from the side, a small sigh leaving his lips. Really, this was just wave after wave of nostalgia hitting him, flashes of kind gentle smiles and eyes, a warm hand picking him up from the streets and into a kind place. Wei WuXian hummed a little, searching in his sleeves before pulling a few pieces of candy out, “Here.” He placed them into the teen’s palm after taking the empty bowl away from him. The oddly silent child teared up at the sight of the sweets—it was a real contrast to the person he’d met in the streets literally one incense stick¹ ago. 

“Thank you...” A small whisper, barely audible if one didn’t pay attention. 

“Hoho? What did you just say? I can’t hear you.” Wei WuXian grinned teasingly. “You should speak up, boy.” He playfully poked the teen’s cheek. The reaction that he got amused him but also settled some of his worries: the teen scowled at his teasing words and actions, sharp words at the tip of his tongue spilling out. 

“Don’t call me that! The name’s Xue Yang, the gangster of Kuizhou, you better remember that.” The boy, now identified as Xue Yang said, miffed.


“Nice to meet you, I suppose. I’m Wei- I mean I’m YingLing.” Wei WuXian choked on his words, tripping slightly over messy thoughts. “Honestly, not the best first encounter since you evil little brat stole my money pouch.” He huffed, arms crossed. 

“You were an easy target,” Xue Yang grinned, sticking his tongue out mockingly at him. Not raising to the bait as much as he could, he gritted his teeth and smiled in response, his eyes two  menacing crescent slits. “Anyways brat, catch.” Wei WuXian tossed another money pouch to the teen, only to realise, how can one catch a pouch with a broken arm? He winced a little when the arm in that makeshift sling twitched forward to catch. 

“Oops...” Wei WuXian snickered, not remorseful for his actions as he watched Xue Yang glare at him. “There’s some money there, it should last you for a week so try not to get beat up until your arm’s healed.” 

Xue Yang quickly tucked the pouch safely aside and resumed his glaring at him, “Ah...I’m so scared of you, the great gangster of KuiZhou is glaring at me.” Wei WuXian said monotonously, snorting into his sleeve when he spotted the changing colours on Xue Yang’s face. “Relax and get some rest, kid.” Wei WuXian dropped his teasing manner and pushed the teen to lie on the bed. “I’ll transfer some energy, just rest.” Although he had many questions that he wanted to ask the kid and that sentiment seemed to be shared with the teen too, rest was more important. Wei WuXian watched silently as the teen slowly fell asleep, the dark spiritual energy playfully coiling and curling around as it soothed the pain and chased away the nightmare at its master’s command. 

Chinese Lesson with Shiroko!

One incense stick/一柱香 ¹= A lot of translation site state its 5mins but tbh it's like 20-30min. I can attest to that, I do burn incense stick when I pray, they don't burn that fast even with the shortest one , unless affect by external factors i.e wind.

蛇 (Shé, Snake), 龍 (Lóng, Dragon), 鹤 (Hè, Crane) , 牛 (Niú, Ox) = The translation is beside it, it's self explanatory and you'll soon know why they were chosen and why they are located at that area >:)

A/N : To clear some confusion, I used Wei Ying at the start because WWX himself doesn't remembers himself as WWX but as WY the martial god and thus doesn't feel right calling himself WWX until he slowly get fragments of memory back.

Chapter Text

Wei WuXian wasn’t surprised when he woke up a few hours later to find Xue Yang no longer in the room. A blanket was draped across his shoulder: it seemed like he had fallen asleep while transferring energy. He smirked a little, pulling the blanket off his shoulders as he got up, his bones cracking in satisfaction when he worked his kinks out. That kid wasn’t that bad, he mused. 

“SuiBian, have you rested enough?” Wei WuXian called out to the silent sword laid against the wall. “Are you sulking?” He asked when he got no response from the sword spirit. “Fine..you can sulk all you want. I’ll be paying a small visit to the YueYang Chang Sect, maybe I’ll scare that bully of a young master a little.” Wei WuXian grinned impishly. “I’ll see you there if you decide to join me.” 

A quick stop for a snack and some directions later, he soon arrived at the Chang Sect’s manor. A brow rose at the slightly ajar front door and the lack of disciples standing guard; it jogged his curiosity. He could hear yells, screams, and clangs of swords against each other; training this late in the evening? He stuffed the last bit of the bun into his mouth as he entered; the door immediately slammed shut behind him. If it wasn’t for his quick reflexes, his head wouldn’t be on his shoulders. “Shit!” Wei WuXian twisted his body, jumping away from the blade coming down at him again. Isn’t that the rascal, Xue Yang? Wei WuXian reached for his sword only to realise that he had left SuiBian in the inn. He didn’t have the time to summon the sword; with a curse, he took another step back, nearly tripping over a fallen body on the floor. Wait, body?! 

It took almost falling for him to realise what state the whole place was in: dead or maybe half-dead bodies littered the front yard, all were in a bloodied gruesome manner. What in the world happened in the span of those few shichen. Wei WuXian took the opportunity when an enraged, probably crazed Xue Yang was being attacked by Chang disciples, and summoned SuiBian to his side. 

“SuiBian..could this possibly be the dark spiritual energy that I shared with him during the healing earlier that has now caused him to lose his sanity?” He whispered. He had hidden behind a pillar, trying to make sense of the situation; taking this opportunity, he threw out a few talismans, each flying to a wall and sticking to it. A barrier to ensure Xue Yang didn’t escape and to prevent outside interference, namely reinforcements. 

“WHERE IS SHE?! RETURN A-QING TO ME YOU SCUM!” Xue Yang roared at the new wave of Chang disciples sent towards him. Peeking out from behind the pillar, he could see a thick veil of resentment energy hugging Xue Yang’s body, those dark flames licking the air, flickering black and red menacingly. What was the most terrifying were those eyes, the witty and sly eyes had been blown out and were now filled with murderous anger, glowing a bright red which put the famed Crimson Rain Sought Flower’s robes to shame.

“Master, you should have left the kid where you found him..He’s not good.” SuiBian frowned. “And this is not Master’s fault either, earlier the kid almost lost his sanity to anger but this time something bad has happened to serve as a catalyst for his current state. He’s absorbing the resentment energy of the disciples he has killed..”

Wei WuXian was rendered speechless by SuiBian’s conclusion—he had never once seen his spiritual sword companion this serious before, it was honestly a shock. He snapped himself out of it and stammered, “I-if this is somewhat similar to what happened at the inn, then I know how to calm him down.” He recalled how he had calmed the teen with a hug, a gentle warm touch. However, the look on SuiBian’s face told him his idea might not be the brightest—he would probably be stabbed by Xue Yang if he tried getting close; consumed by rage, the teen would never recognise him.

“CHANG TING COME OUT HERE AND GIVE A-QING BACK TO ME.” Xue Yang screamed into the sky, the amount of resentment energy increasing in huge folds. 

Wei WuXian’s focus was diverted towards the manor when he saw Chang Ting being followed by a group of disciples stepping out. In Chang Ting’s grasp there was a young girl, her hair clenched in the fist of said man whom he had the unpleasant opportunity to meet today. Wei WuXian scowled and his grip on SuiBian tightened; he had never liked that arrogant sneer the man wore. That hatred was hammered in further when Chang Ting smirked lecherously as he leered at the young girl he was holding. She was probably one or two years younger than Xue Yang. She was dressed in rags like Xue Yang, a couple of cuts in her skin bleeding and staining her robes. To anyone, she looked skinny and frail but the look in her blind? eyes said otherwise: despite the evident fear, he could see the burning flame of defiance in them. 

“Let go of me you bastard!!” The girl, A-Qing, yelled, landing a kick on Chang Ting’s shin. With a yowl of surprised pain, A-Qing was thrown onto the ground, the side of her head clipping the floor and making her go unconscious. Wei WuXian’s eyes flitted back to Xue Yang. If it was anyone else other than the Yiling Patriarch standing here, they would have pissed their pants from the amount of resentment energy in the air. “Time to step in before this attracts attention..” He mumbled, unsheathing SuiBian; first he had to get the girl to safety. 

Chang Ting clambered to his feet, having been thrown back by the resentment energy. He held his sword before him, quaking at the frightful sight of Xue Yang, the girl he’d kidnapped for revenge long forgotten. With a loud yell of rage, Xue Yang rushed forward with his sword and the two swords clashed. A loud ringing sounded in the yard.

Using the moment of distraction as an opportunity, Wei WuXian darted forward, careful to move out of the centre of the fight as he approached the prone figure on the ground. He exhaled loudly as he knocked an arrow off course: apparently he was wrong—not all the disciples were down. He looked up to glare at where the arrow came from as he scooped the girl into his arms, will this ever end? 

He got his answer very quickly. His eyes widened a fraction when he saw more arrows flying towards them; it seemed like they didn’t care that the young master of the Chang clan was still there, either. “..Xue Yang, watch out!” He yelled out. He was a god so he probably wouldn’t die from this but Xue Yang and this human girl would. Running forward, he pulled Xue Yang and Chang Ting before him, one arm cradling A-Qing, his back exposed towards the soaring arrows with only a sentient spiritual sword defending them. 

Wei WuXian grunted; his eyes shut tight as he felt the sharp metal tips of those arrowheads plunge into his back. Two thoughts skittered through his mind at this moment: would it be self-defence if he put these assholes in their place? And that this asshole Chang Ting better appreciate that he was using himself as a meat shield for the incompetencies of his fellow disciples. But lo and behold, Chang Ting struck again: there it was, a sword was pierced through Xue Yang and at him. Now this gave the expression “joined at the hip” a whole new meaning. “Chang Ting!” He hissed, eyes glowing red; his free hand shot up to grasp Chang Ting’s arm in a death grip causing him to lose his hold on the sword. “Wake up and go after them.” His figure trembled with rage as his eyes grew brighter at his command. A gentle cool breeze blew through the courtyard as the multitude of fallen bodies started groaning and moving towards their targets. 

With the corpses doing the dirty job, SuiBian reappeared to assess his situation, fretting over his injuries. “SuiBian, stay calm, I’ll be fine. First we need to move to the side, where it’s safer. Move the maiden first.” He tried to reassure the sword spirit. With some hesitance, SuiBian heeded his words; he then returned his focus to the sword connecting him and the teen. Wei WuXian was very glad that Xue Yang had passed out at some point—any struggling or swift movement wouldn’t do them any good. Biting his lip to hold back the sounds of pain, he slowly extracted himself from the sword, “Ugh..yep never feels good to get stabbed. Especially if that spot got stabbed twice in a row.” He winced at the deja vu, momentarily recalling some very grainy bits of his fight with Jiang Cheng on Yiling Burial Mounds.

Ignoring the screams in the air and the sound of flesh tearing echoing in the back, he focused on the teen before him: the sword was still embedded in his lower abdomen. This was a precarious situation: his meager first aid skills he’d picked up during his time on Yiling Burial Mounds from Wen Qing would not help him with a stab wound to this degree; broken bones, sure, but a sword through someone—nope. With a steady hand, he eased the sword out of Xue Yang; the teen twitched, and his hand faltered at the sight. Thankfully, SuiBian returned in time to assist him, and with a piece of the torn robe in his hands, he applied pressure to the stab wound, stemming the blood flow. Xue Yang was far from being safe from danger so he’d do what he could for now. “Okay, now let’s move him carefully..” Between the two of them, they shuffled carefully to lay him beside A-Qing.

Once settled back to the ground, Wei WuXian grasped the limp hand with his bloodied fingers and started to slowly transfer small amounts of dark spiritual energy to the teen. While doing so, he kept track of Xue Yang’s meridians, ensuring that it wasn’t affecting him negatively. As much as Xue Yang was suitable for demonic cultivation and receptive to Yin/dark energy, too much of anything wasn’t good, especially when he originally had a golden core which carried Yang energy. 

Things seemed to be dying down more but just as he thought things would never get worse than they already were, the front door to the household slammed open with a loud bang, dust thrown into the air from the impact. Why does he attract trouble wherever he goes? The steady stream of energy was cut off as Wei WuXian’s attention was brought to the newcomers. “Crap...We lingered for too long, it’s probably reinforcements. SuiBian, keep the pressure on the wound, I’ll take care of them.” Wei WuXian ignored the concerned look his sword flashed to him. He picked up a fallen sword from the ground: it was his best bet for now. “If it gets too dangerous, take the two of them and leave at my signal. I’ll find you later.” Wei WuXian said with finality, his tone indicating that he would take no other answers. 

The dust cleared and two men stepped in: one was dressed in elegant white with a white spiritual sword in his grip while the other was dressed in black, a black spiritual sword with him; both exuded an aura that no doubt made it clear that they weren’t some low-level cultivators. Wei WuXian could see the sharp gleam in their eyes as they analysed the situation before moving to stop the walking corpses from attacking the last of the Chang sect. 

Emperor Jun Wu, please close one eye at this whole fiasco, Wei WuXian thought in a silent prayer; he probably was ranked number one in the list of Heavens’ rule breakers. He’d probably get an earful from Mu Qing if he didn’t die from the disappointed glare first. Wei WuXian watched the two cultivators warily: they didn’t look like they were part of the Chang Sect, nor did they look like they were from any major or minor sects so he concluded they were rogue cultivators. Usual he would rely on his sharp tongue to weedle himself out of these situations but nothing was coming to his mind that he could say yet because of the suspicious looks they were sending over, he blurted the first thing on his mind. “I didn’t do it.” Wei WuXian mentally facepalmed himself—that was literally the worst thing one could ever say in such scenario. 

Sadly, one of the surviving members happened to be the asshole, Chang Ting, who somehow managed to have grown a backbone as he cowered behind the two cultivators in his piss-soaked robes. “Liar!” He shouted indignantly. Wei WuXian eyes glowed red, sending Chang Ting into further panic as he scampered out of the manor, screaming, “Monster!! All of you are monsters!” with the few disciples running after him.

Wei WuXian rolled his eyes, scoffing under his breath as he turned his attention back to the two.The taller of the two, the one in black, narrowed his eyes as he spoke to him. “Stop pulling our legs. Surrender now or we will take you down by force.”

“Hah no way I’m taking this when lying down when I have nothing to do with it and you probably won’t wait till I finish explaining myself, will you? ” Wei WuXian scoffed and with a roll of his eyes he flew forward, his blade intercepted by the one in white while he narrowly avoided the black blade that aimed for his neck. He dropped the borrowed sword and jumped back onto the roof; slipping Chenqing from behind his waistband, he played an eerie tune. The active walking corpses abandoned the Chang disciples they were terrorizing as more corpses raised at the melody. Suddenly he was glad that there were many Yiling Patriarch imitators out there—these two would probably suspect he was some weird crazed demonic cultivator wannabe. 

From his perch he watched as the corpses swarmed at  the duo; he knew that it wouldn’t do much other than buy a fen¹ of distraction for cultivators of such high calibre. “SuiBian! Go take both of them and go!” Wei WuXian’s lips momentarily left the black flute so he could give the orders. “Oh no you don’t!” His reddened eyes narrowed down at the cultivator in black that broke off from the swarm and seemed to have noticed SuiBian retreating back. With two explosive talismans in his hands, he threw them towards the huge wooden doors; upon the contact, the structure caved in, the shockwave throwing the man off his feet and against the wall.

“Song Lan!” The cultivator in white yelled in concern. He sliced through the sea of corpses around him and used a fire talisman on the remaining few, creating an opening so he could rush to his friend's side and aid him.

“XingChen, I’m fine, not to worry. Watch out yourself too.” With the help of his friend, Song Lan got back up on unsteady limbs, a small trickle of blood escaping from the corner of his lips. “Should I go after those that escaped?” He asked as Xiao XingChen checked over him, wiping the blood away with the back of his hand.

“You guys seem to be having some fun private time over there, do you need more time?” Wei WuXian cleared his throat loudly, calling out to the couple. He would rather not stand there watching them and consuming the dog food² . That seemed to have gotten their attention: both flushed and pulled away from each other. Before the fight could resume, about one li³ away from the manor the sound of multiple explosions echoed; screams filled the air and black smoke billowed into the sky intertwining with the immense amount of familiar resentment energy. 

“...Stygian Tiger Amulet..” Wei WuXian gasped and his hand shot to his lapel, searching through his robes, but found nothing. “That brat stole it...” Wei WuXian scoffed in amusement. He then glanced to the two, his arms crossed. “As much as I’d love to continue our fight, we have some trouble over there so I’ll see you soon.” With a flick of his sleeve, he leaped off the roof, hopping onto another one, and headed towards the sound of destruction. As he neared the epicenter of the disaster, SuiBian slammed into him and the two tumbled a little before regaining their footing. “Master! You’re here, that demonic brat has the Stygian Tiger Seal. The whole thing!” SuiBian quipped. 

“The whole seal?! Why..how did h- Nevermind that..first where is the girl?” Wei WuXian sputtered in shock .As bad as his memory was, he was very sure he had destroyed a half of the seal in the siege and just yesterday when he last checked, it had still been a half of the piece. Honestly this brat was way too multi-talented but maybe a little too mischievous—Xue Yang just needed someone to guide him to the correct path. 

“The girl is slowly waking up, I have the store keeper keeping guard there,” SuiBian pointed over to the man peeking out from behind his stall. “Taking care of her...bribed him with some silver...” SuiBian added the last bit softly. Wei WuXian nodded and turned his attention back to the chaos; from the corner of his eye, he saw two figures flying over on their swords. It seemed like the couple from earlier had joined them. “Both of you there, if you’re not helping then stay out of it. Evacuate the humans instead.” Wei WuXian nodded towards the few stragglers and injured villagers. 

“Alright SuiBian.” An evil grin spread across his face, although SuiBian couldn’t see it but he could hear it in the words.

SuiBian whimpered, slowly backing away from Wei WuXian.“Please..no..not again..” 

“Yes, time for you to do your job!” Wei WuXian raised one leg and with all his might, kicked the sword spirit towards the tornado of resentment energy.

Of course this action did not bode well for the righteous couple that immediately sprung into action and jumped after SuiBian, straight towards the crazed Xue Yang who had been consumed by the dark energy. With a sigh, Wei WuXian slipped out the remaining blank talismans he had: honestly, what he was going to do wasn’t the safest idea but it was the only method. He had to do it quickly or else Xue Yang’s body might not withstand it, especially so when he had already been weakened by the stab wound. This sealing ritual was on a par with the ritual he’d used to destroy the half of the Stygian Tiger Seal, potentially deadly, the only difference being that it had a ninety-nine percent success rate and that was better than the fifty-fifty percent success rate of the seal destruction. And at least this time he had an immortal body—hardy but maybe not indestructible. 

For this sealing ritual, what was required was his breath, saliva, and blood. To meet all these three requirements, he had to first write an incantation in blood on the blank talismans; next, he simply needed to hold the paper gently between his lips, and lastly, he would have to blow and release them with a clap of his hand. The incantation glowed a dark red, the talismans shooting out to form a circular barrier around Xue Yang; the incantation on the talisman wriggled off the yellow paper to assemble a long chain, connecting the talismans together and thus creating a strong barrier, unbreakable from the inside and outside. Another special trait of this barrier was that it was selective: it would only trap and harm objects or people with resentment energy so that meant that the Xiao XingChen and Song Lan couple, and also SuiBian were safe. 

However, when it came to weird (possibly demonic cultivational) rituals or spells, it paid to be safe rather than sorry and the duo were right to have moved out of it at the start—that left SuiBian keeping Xue Yang from causing too much destruction. Wei WuXian could feel a headache forming: it could be blood loss or from expending too much spiritual energy. “Seal,” he grunted, his brows furrowing as he made a series of hand seals. He was fighting an uphill battle, forcefully using his own energy to smother and contain the energy from the Stygian Tiger Seal.

“SuiBian, grab the girl. We’re booking it once this is done,” Wei WuXian bit out. The wind was picking up; the swordsman’s hat hiding his identity fluttered precariously on his head before a huge gust of wind blew it off. With his identity possibly exposed, he shouldn’t stay here any longer. 

The final incantation left his mouth and it was as if the space around them had slowed down to a stop before it quickly fast-forwarded and all the resentment energy slammed into him, his body doing its best to take in all of it, thus leaving a power vacuum momentarily in that space. The talisman shot towards Xue Yang, swarming around him and covering every inch while a blood-red chain wrapped around him tighter than a deity-binding rope. Before the teen could plummet towards the ground, Wei WuXian leapt off the roof and grabbed the unconscious body in midair. Just as he landed beside SuiBian and the girl, a quick throw of a teleportation talisman—and in a burst of blue flames they disappeared into thin air. 

✵☁☾❅☽☁✵

Ever since Xiao XingChen had descended from Baoshan Sanren’s mountain to join the mortal world, every day had been like an adventure to him. He’d made his first friend, Song Lan from Baixue Temple, during a night hunt, and they had spent many days together ever since, travelling towards their next hunting destination as he learned more about the mortal world. 

One night, as they were returning to the inn after a hunt, he brought up an idea that had been brewing at the back of his mind for a while. “Song Lan...what if we established a sect, the two of us, a sect where common ideals are valued instead of blood ties.” Xiao XingChen paid close attention to Song Lan, anticipating his response. 

“Mm, you will make a brilliant sect leader, I am honoured to join you in turning this wish into reality.” Song Lan stated with a small smile. 

“Of course!” Xiao XingChen grinned, a little flustered at his smile. “We are, as the people say, Xiao Xingchen the bright moon and gentle breeze; Song Lan the distant snow and cold frost. We can accomplish many and anything together.”

---

Months had passed since that night when Xiao XingChen had asked Song Lan that question; they had since grown closer as they continued with their travels, in search of a place best suited. They arrived at YueYang city late in the afternoon: it was a quaint little town which many merchants passed by on their way to and from LanLing. The people here had a rather great amount of respect toward the cultivational sect in the area—a minor sect, the Chang Sect. Many sang their praises but those seemed a little too fake or forced. Nothing escaped their eyes: although many rich people walked the cobbled stone streets, by the curbs or in the alleyways they could see the poor being ignored by others, struggling to get by everyday. 

As much as he wished to help them all, he knew he couldn’t. Song Lan guided him to the nearest inn to settle in while they waited for nightfall or searched for more strange spiritual happenings. Time flew by quickly even though all the two did was sipping on tea. They had only spotted one oddity so far: it was someone—a young man; a cultivator, he thought—who wore a black-veiled swordsman hat and whom they had seen leaving the inn. It was an odd sight and it got even weirder when his sword, ShuangHua, had reacted to the man. ShuangHua could detect corpse energy, although it was unable to differentiate between living and walking corpses or people that had been infected with corpse poison. It had raised some alarms in his mind; he sent a look towards Song Lan and received a nod in reply. They finished the pot of tea and left to follow the strange man after some time, following the directions given by his sword.

ShuangHua, held in his hand, glowed a gentle white as it pulled them after the mysterious man; it had been a while and they hadn’t seen him at all. The sword stopped glowing for a short second and Xiao XingChen looked down at it curiously, entertaining the thought that the man had found out he was being followed and thus disappeared but before he could come to a reasonable conclusion, the sword shot out of his hand and straight forward. Alarmed, Song Lan quickly checked if he was injured before they both mounted on FuXue and gave chase.

They arrived to the front of a grand manor—it was the YueYang Chang Sect’s property. There it was, ShuagHua floating in front of the huge wooden doors. Xiao XingChen approached it and reclaimed his sword. This was the first time ever since receiving his sword that he observed such a reaction. “Something is happening inside...there has to be a reason why ShuangHua suddenly reacted in that manner,” Xiao XingChen mumbled. “There’s a barrier up as well.” He stepped forward, pressing a hand to the invisible forcefield around the manor. 

Song Lan silently held up FuXue, nodding towards him. They struck forward at the barrier, not surprised that it did not budge or give way: the caster must be rather powerful then. Not at all fazed by the failure, the duo kept at it, looking for any signs of weakness. 

It appeared—for a split second, a sign of weakness surfaced and without hesitation, the two struck down in sync. The barrier cracked, fracturing upwards before breaking into millions of pieces, then dissipated. With it gone, they could hear the hellish sounds emitted from inside the manor, and Xiao XingChen tried the door only to find out that it still wouldn’t budge. The amount of resentment energy from inside continued climbing; with the door sealed by another force, time was ticking for them. They needed to get in now and stop what was happening so filled with determination, he stepped one step back. Song Lan stood behind him, understanding what he planned to do without words. Closing his eyes, Xiao XingChen gathered all his spiritual energy into his palm and once at the peak, his eyes sprung open and he extended the palm forward, releasing the contained energy and thus slamming the door right open. 

Song Lan and him rushed through the open doors; the first second they were stunned by what they saw before they jumped into action. Saving people were their first priority, apprehension was secondary. 

They stood before the perpetrator—the mysterious young man they had seen at the inn seemed to be the mastermind. They had no idea what this man had against the Chang sect but he was caught red-handed in the massacring of the disciples. Other than that, he had also possibly kidnapped two children, a young girl and grievously injured preteen. He was a man that prefered words over actions so he had first simply asked him to surrender but that didn’t go well seeing how he and Song Lan were now back to back, fending off walking corpses. 

“Song Lan!” Xiao XingChen yelled in fright as he watched Song Lan being slammed hard against the wall. He quickly got rid of the corpses before him so he could rush over to help him up. He fretted over him, wiping the blood trickling from Song Lan’s lips, his hand lingering on his cheek as their eyes locked onto each other. The moment was broken when they heard the mysterious man holler, “You guys seem to be having some fun private time over there, do you need more time?” 

Xiao XingChen broke the eye contact, removing his hand in a hurry and stepping a couple of steps away as blood rushed to his cheeks. He didn’t dare look up at Song Lan, keeping his gaze trained on the peculiar man on the roof. From the corner of his eye, he could see Song Lan readying his sword to attack but before the fight could be continued, chaos broke out a li away from them, the destruction uncontained and tendrils of resentment energy whipping around in the sky. 

The enigma of a man they were trying to apprehend seemed to know what exactly was happening:, with a jovial farewell, Xiao XingChen and Song Lan were left behind at the Chang manor, trying to understand what had just happened. 

“XingChen, we can speak of ‘it’ later. Let’s head over to help the townsmen first,” Song Lan brought him back from his thoughts. At his words, he couldn’t help but be flustered; not trusting his ability to speak, Xiao XingChen nodded in response. 

Mounting onto their swords, they arrived at the centre of the disaster in a very short time. What they saw was worse than what they had imagined: he was sure maybe around half the town was destroyed from this. “Let’s evacuate the people first.” Xiao XingChen started assisting and guiding the townspeople to head further from the dangerous zone while Song Lan busied himself with looking through the rubble for injured and trapped people. It was only later that they saw the reason of the destruction— it was the heavily injured teenager that they had noticed at the Chang manor earlier. From the obvious difference between him now and before, Xiao XingChen concluded that he was being controlled by external forces. 

What shocked him further next was how the young man they were chasing had kicked his accomplice into danger without remorse. With almost all of the people evacuated, Xiao XingChen and Song Lan jumped into the fray to assist the young man’s accomplice. Completely focused on defending and attacking the possessed teen, Xiao XingChen almost did not realise what sealing ritual the black-veiled man was casting. It was an odd spell, never seen before and seeming to have a complicated nature. With half his focus on the teen and the other half on the strange young man he watched from the sidelines, Song Lan by his side and the accomplice, SuiBian, he had just learned the (strange) name joining him a while after.

Xiao XingChen didn’t notice the young accomplice, SuiBian, disappear from their side until it was nearing the end of the unknown ritual. “...Impossible...that man...he’s absorbing the resentment energy,” he gasped in shock, concern, fear and other mixture of emotions. It was also at that point that the man’s hat slid off, revealing a handsome young man with glowing red eyes and onyx black hair whipping around from the wind. That face was familiar...Cangse Sanren...was the first person Xiao XingChen thought of. But before he could take a second look, in less than two heartbeats, everything ended, and the mysterious man, SuiBian, the teen and the young girl disappeared in bright blue flames. A teleportation talisman. 

“S-song Lan...did you see his face..?” Xiao XingChen asked softly, trembling slightly at the sheer overwhelming difference between their power. “...He wasn’t fighting us seriously in the first place,” he stated numbly, having realised that the odd man had still had enough spiritual energy for a huge sealing spell and to teleport with so many people even after the fight at the Chang manor and the injuries sustained there. 

“XingChen...” Song Lan stepped forward and supported his weight, an arm on his back while the other held firmly on his upper arm. “Calm down...” Song Lan whispered and then he visibly sagged into his embrace. 

“Sorry...I was just a little overwhelmed...” Xiao XingChen mumbled, sounding a little winded. “...I just...he looked like the spitting image of my shijie, Cangse Sanren...” 

“Your shijie Cangse Sanren?..” Song Lan looked at him with furrowed brows. “I thought she had...passed...many years ago?”

“She did...and of course the man we saw wasn’t her. It didn’t feel like her spiritual energy.” Xiao XingChen looked down to the dirt ground, worrying his lips.

“Based on the rumours, I could say that he could be Wei WuXian, the rumoured son of the disciple of the great Baoshan Sanren, Cangse Sanren, but it is said that he practiced demonic cultivation and slaughtered thousands of cultivators before he was laid to rest by his shidi six years ago,” Song Lan said. Xiao XingChen tensed at the mention of his shijie’s son, guilt overwhelming him—if he had descended earlier, maybe he could have prevented his Shīzhí’s⁴ death or even stop him from pursuing demonic cultivation.  

“...It isn’t your fault XingChen...let’s head back to the inn. You’ve been through a lot, you need some rest. We’ll talk later. ” Song Lan shifted his hold on him as they headed towards the inn which had stayed clear of the destruction. 

Xiao XingChen couldn’t help but wonder where the group had disappeared to, worried for them. In his heart, there was a glimmer of hope or just wishful thinking that maybe his shijie’s son was still alive and that strange young man was him. 

---

In the distan ce not too far from YueYang city, four people found themselves in an unfamiliar place.

Okay! Chinese Lessons with Shiroko again! Well tdy it's more like reminders XD

Fēn(分) ¹=  It's abt 14.4 seconds.

Dog food (狗糧 gǒu liáng) ²= When being fed dog food means you as a self-pity of single guy/dogs gets triggered by the public displays of affection by couples online or offline.

Lǐ (里) ³= Measurement in ancient china of approximately 500m /1640 ft

Shī zhí (师侄) ⁴= Martial nephew, in this context, XXC's shijie CangeSe SanRen's son, WWX is XXC's shizhii.

Chapter Text

A flaming bright blue eruption engulfed the area for split seconds before plunging it to temporary darkness as candle lights went out before flickering back. Four figures reappeared from the explosion to an unfamiliar place, Wei WuXian crumpled onto the hard ground, breathing heavily the Stygian tiger amulet clattered noisily beside him. 

“That was fun..” Wei WuXian choked out, unwilling to get up from the comfy stone ground. Xue Yang and A-Qing are still knocked out cold and SuiBian has returned to its sword form, unable to maintain a corporeal form after the ordeal. “To whichever god that this temple belongs to, I’m sorry in advance for bleeding all over the ground. I’ll wake up soon..hopefully.” His eyes struggled to remain open as his body insisted to shut down and recuperate. 

It was the sound of pouring rain pelting against the terracotta tiles on the roof, Wei WuXian opened his eyes, staring at the cob-webbed free ceiling. A martial god body is sturdy but at its he had been pushing the limits, unlike a golden core cultivator, his dark core heals wounds slower. But nothing can’t be fixed without a good nap, although at this rate he would run out of fingers to count the amount of time he had passed our or gotten injured in general, honestly, he is probably a total let down compared to some of the greater gods. 

It suddenly hit him as his mind was wandering off on its own, the two kids! Wei WuXian struggled to push himself upright, he could feel the stiff and soreness of his muscle. Wei WuXian was confounded, there was not a single soul in the temple, literally nothing at all. Where had they all disappeared to? He swore the teleporting talisman worked and he did bring all of them here, was this some joke they were playing?

 Wei WuXian flopped back down onto the floor. Oh well, it didn’t matter, it’s better that they run away from him, in fact, it was better for him and them. It’s not like Xianxian is lonely, he has SuiBian after all...they could have at least left a note or something. Wei WuXian was totally not pouting. 

The temple doors to his right suddenly swung open with a force, Wei WuXian turned to the door, his eyes wide and definitely not red and watery. “Master!” SuiBian’s cry sounded throughout the temple, he dropped the bag he was holding to the teen beside him and threw himself at him. 

If Wei WuXian hadn’t been mostly lying down, his skull would have definitely cracked open upon impact with the ground at that force. “SuiBian, ah get off me.” Wei WuXian weakly struggled against the clinging sword. 

“Geh, that’s gross.” The teen still standing by the door remarked before getting an elbow to his stomach by the shorter girl beside him. “You’re the gross one! And don’t tell me that you weren’t worried about him at all because you were the most worried after SuiBian!” She snapped at him. 

“Why are the two of you crowding the door get in before the rain gets blown in.” A man came up behind the door, his face pinched and brows furrowed. 

Wei WuXian brain was unable to catch up to what was happening, all he could do was dumbly gaped at the group. His hand shot up to his face, realising that he didn’t have his hat on and now they all knew what he looked like. Panic slammed into him but a warm squeeze to his shoulder seemed to have grounded him, SuiBian was still in his lap. The duo, he now recognised as A-Qing and XueYang wasn’t one he should worry about, they probably didn’t know what the Yiling Patriarch looked like. It was the male cultivator behind them he should be wary. 

“Master... Everything is fine. I had taken the liberty to brief his highness, TaiHua about the situation.” SuiBian spoke softly, his eyes flicking up to the teens than to meet Lang QianQiu’s. Wei WuXian nodded numbly then choked on his next breath as SuiBian’s words finally registered in his mind. “TaiHua?!” He hissed, sweat beading on his forehead. SuiBian nodded in confirmation and he felt himself die a little inside. What a great first impression he had made, he’s truly a disgrace. Can someone just stab him or something already, he would rather deal with another siege than this? 

“I am glad to see that you have awakened and done well.” The man started towards them.  “And yes, we are currently in the Temple of the Martial God, TaiHua. My name is Lang QianQiu, it is very nice to meet you, Ling Ying.”

“Hello.” Wei WuXian managed to croak out a reply, that one respecting cell in him, forcing him to do so. He had already imposed upon the god, this was the least he could do, give him the respect in his own abode.

“Ah! Stop hogging all the candy to yourself, you stingy asshole!” A sharp yell came from the side, garnering Wei WuXian’s attention. SuiBian hastily pulled away from hugging the life out of him and went over to break the impending fight up. Lang QianQiu and he both exchanged a common look, one of which he didn’t understand but accepted. 

Clearing his throat, Wei WuXian got up and gave the other a quick bow. “I am glad to have formally met you. The Martial God of Yiling, Wei Ying, courtesy name WuXian greets your highness TaiHua, Lang QianQiu.” 

“There’s no need for formalities, we are not in the Upper courts nor are we on an official mission.” Lang QianQiu ushered him up. “Sit back down and rest, the kids are preparing food.” 

Wei WuXian thanked Lang QianQiu and sat back down, he was glad that his senior isn’t as scary as he thought he would be, honestly, no one was as scary as Mu Qing. Ling Wen had mentioned  Lang QianQiu briefly, a martial god that is also frequently missing in action, like QiYing, the martial God of the West who should have taken the Qishan tasked not him. It was surprising enough to see QiYing at the monthly meeting but he did disappear mid-meeting. He opened his mouth to ask about the martial god. 

“I hadn’t see QiYing on my trip around here. And it's about the merits you can keep them, I’m not close to him but he is annoyingly stubborn about some things. You’ll be wasting energy and effort trying to argue.” Lang QianQiu said, seemingly from experience.

“B-but..merits are very important are they not?!” Wei WuXian asked, flustered. 

“They are, however those that are that stingy over them shouldn’t have ascended in the first place. The task was assigned to you in the end, you earned the merits so it’s yours, that would be what QiYing would have said.” Lang QianQiu spoke with finality in his tone, his arms crossed in a goading manner, testing if Wei WuXian would try to argue any further. 

Wei WuXian promptly kept his mouth shut and nodded placatingly, “Then..may I ask why your highness hasn’t been in contact with the Upper Courts during your trip...?”

Lang QianQiu visibly tensed at the question. “That is if you’re willing to answer. I know it’s a very personal question and we haven’t known each other for that long.” Wei WuXian rambled on. 

“You don’t need to be that stiff around me.” He sighed, “I am on a mission in search of a Wrath level ghost. One of the Four Great Calamities, Green Light Wandering Nights, Qi Rong.” spoke Lang QianQiu. 

Wei WuXian expected a further explanation but received none, “I see...Good Luck with your search then. Do try to get in touch with Ling Wen though..I would be lying if I said she wasn’t furious with the piling paperwork you have..”

“Why do you think I hadn’t been in touch with the Upper Courts.” Lang QianQiu huffed with a roll of his eyes. Wei WuXian nodded in understanding, even with the short time he had spent with the civil god. 

“Since you’re done with the mission, what do you plan to do next? Now with two kids with you.” Lang QianQiu asked. 

Oh, he didn’t think about that when he saved the two. “What are the odds you would be interested in taking care of them instead?” Wei WuXian chuckled nervously, which got him a stern look from the other martial god and he wilted under it. 

“I’ll just drop them off to the nearest village with some money before I head off towards Lan Ling.” Wei WuXian suggested, he received no affirmation or refutation, taking the silence as a yes. “They weren’t causing you trouble right?” 

“No, your sword corralled them well, there was a small altercation when Xue Yang was released of his bindings but otherwise nothing else.” Lan QianQiu said, immediately easing his worries.

“Would you like a drink?” Wei WuXian broke the silence,  rummaging through his qiankun pouch, he remembered storing some emergency wine in there. No one had ever said no to free alcohol, well except for Lan Zhan, but that is because of those dumb rules. He still remembers the first time they had met, fighting on the rooftops at Cloud Recesses. Lan Zhan’s reaction to his teasing was always amusing, he misses that stone-faced fuddy duddy, maybe he could purposely pass by Gusu and hopefully catch a glimpse of him but that would be after the whole Lan Ling shenanigan is settled. 

He poured two cups, one for each of them after a got an affirmative grunt in reply, the two let the silence settle between them as the drunk, neither of them seems to have a common topic to speak of, it may be normal for the martial god but not for Wei WuXian. 

Finally, SuiBian and the other two walked back into the main area, the sounds of their petty squabbles and jabs at each other seemed to lighten the place a whole lot. 

“Master! How could you have started drinking without me!” SuiBian gasped in betrayal, he quickly rushed over before Wei WuXian could do something asshole-ish, like chugging the whole jug before him. 

“Hey don’t leave us with all the dishes! Since the three of you are that free, come help us set the table.” A-Qing ordered. 

For a girl her size, her words were oddly threatening, but imagine if she learned that she was speaking rudely to two martial gods. She probably wouldn’t change her speech pattern anyways, seeing how Xue Yang beside her was not trying to hide his guffaws in the slightest. 

Wei WuXian and Lang QianQiu were quickly roped into helping the little girl out, lest they got smacked around with her bamboo stick, the accuracy of those warning strikes was alarming. She definitely was not blind in the slightest, despite those milky white irises. 

The five of them settled around the table, several simple dishes plated before them and without a word they attacked the food with fervour. Halfway through the meal, A-Qing tugged at his sleeve, Wei WuXian turned to look at her, his cheeks puffed out with the food he had stuffed into his mouth. “...I still can’t imagine you as the cool dude that swooped in to save our asses from child slavery and murder like what SuiBian had shared.” she deadpanned, her dead eyes boring into Wei WuXian’s.  “But I guess, we owe you our thanks...So thank you for saving us.” The end of her sentence came out slightly muffled. 

“You’re welcome, kid.” Wei WuXian swallowed his mouthful of food, reaching over to ruffle his hair. She may be a little prickly around the edges but a good kid on the inside, Xue Yang, on the other hand, was a totally different story. He still needs to give that rascal a good lecture to not steal people’s things. 

Dinner was uneventful, the wine was quickly finished between the two martial gods and one sword spirit. Xue Yang had tried to trick them into offering him some, tried , being the keyword and he was not successful.

Say no to underage drinking! 

After dinner, late into the night, Wei WuXian sat by the temple entrance, his sleek black flute grasped loosely in his hand, the red tasseled attached to it swaying with the gentle breeze.  With a practiced twirl of ChenQing and a snap of a wrist, he had the flute pressed near his lips. His eyes slid shut and his body relaxes, the stress melting off him as he played a familiar tune. He doesn't know where he had heard it before but the piece felt warm and loving to him. 

Ever since he had awoken as a Martial God, he had not once used ChenQing until now. It brought back memories of his mortal life, he didn’t want to recall although his memory was absolutely horrendous as what Jiang Cheng claimed, he had the memory span of a goldfish which wasn’t incorrect. 

The melody tapered off and his eyes fluttered open, he only knew part of the music, maybe one day he will go in search of the composer and learn it. From the corner of his eye, he saw Lang QianQiu emerge from the treeline, his longsword stained with blood and fluids. It seemed like someone was busy all this time after leaving mysteriously after dinner. 

“Patrol went well it seems?” Wei WuXian eyed the sword with a raise of a brow. 

“There wouldn’t be a need for patrol if things were well. It seemed to me that there has been an increasing amount of creatures cropping up at the edges of Gusu and QingHe region. There might be something bigger happening.” Lang QianQiu flicked the sword with a quick motion, cleaning off the blood. 

“Ah, you should have called me then. I’m an expert with those kinds of things.” Wei WuXian pouted. 

Lang QianQiu remained silent and walked forward to stand before him, he was deep in thought. Wei WuXian peered up at him with a tilt of his head, in question. Was it something he said?

“There are times that we have to leave it to fate.” Lang QianQiu started, “ We are gods and we should refrain from meddling with mortal business directly. No good would come out when humans find out that there is a God in the midst of them.” 

Wei WuXian didn’t understand the emotions that welled in him, the unbridled rage that threatened to overflow as his body trembled in barely restrained anger. “Well, fate can fuck itself. It doesn’t dictate my actions, I choose what I do in my life. I will challenge fate and change it if necessary to keep my loved ones safe. I made a home for the Wens and protected them as much as I could and I never once regretted that decision even if fate had wanted them to disappear.” 

“I share that same sentiment...although there wasn’t a chance for me to change fate then and stopped what had happened but I am doing what I can now, for the sake of justice.” Lang QianQiu barked out in laughter. “Now calm down before you wake the children.” A warm hand came down upon his head and ruffled his hair roughly. 

Lang QianQiu then left the baffled him on the steps, blinking at his words. He looked down at his lap where a package bundled in cloth laid, Lang QianQiu had dropped it there as he walked past. Wei WuXian undid the knot and laid in the cloth was a simple carved black bamboo mask, silver accents decorate the perimeter of the mask. It wasn’t gaudy per se but it was probably the best option he had without his bamboo hat. Appreciative of the gift, he carefully slid it into his robes and re-entered the temple, a small smile on his face and his anger forgotten. 

---

“Alright kids, off you go. Here’s some money which ought to last you a month or two until you get a job.” Wei WuXian handed A-Qing (the one that is obviously more reliable) the small bag of coins. 

The group of three had left the temple mid-morning after the combined powers of SuiBian, Xue Yang and A-Qing managed to get him out of bed and ready for the day. Lang QianQiu had hurried off before dawn, something about receiving a tip on the man he was hunting down. He hadn’t broken the news to the two about his plans and that was clearly evident from the expression he was given. 

“What?! You’re just going to leave us here? In this random village?” A-Qing gaped, unable to believe how responsible of an adult Wei WuXian was. Like a switch turned on, A-Qing went from disbelief to grieve, “No..but..what can a weak girl as I do..? A-Yang..talk to him.” Tears threatened to spill out of her eyes as her lips trembled. 

Xue Yang had a little more indifferent look on his face, rolling his eyes he turned his back on them, intending to walk away. “Then I suppose I can keep this right?” Xue Yang hummed as he held up the Stygian Tiger Amulet in one hand, the item glowed and floated in midair with a toss. 

Wei WuXian yelped and search in his robes and sleeves for the amulet, only to find it really missing from him. That damn brat had swiped it off him again and formed the whole seal a second time too. 

“Xue Yang! Give that back, it’s dangerous and you shouldn’t have it.” Wei WuXian demanded, his hurried over to rip it out of the air but the amulet simply just moved out of his reach. The stupid amulet really will accept any and all to use doesn’t it. 

“Nope~” Xue Yang sang, turning back around a smirk on his face, “But I would do that if you would take us in as disciples.” Wei WuXian was not prepared for that sudden proposal, he had never thought about taking any disciples when he was alive and especially not now! He wanted demonic cultivation to die with him when he was ripped apart those corpses years ago but now he was being pressured to do so. 

And it seemed like he was taking too long to answer as Xue Yang taunted. “Hmm...maybe I’ll give this a whirl, it seemed fun the last I used it.” Xue Yang’s smirk widened, a malicious glint in his eyes. 

He crumbled under Xue Yang’s words, Wei WuXian was playing into Xue Yang’s hands but what else was he supposed to do? He didn’t need a repeat of yesterday, no thank you. “Fine, I’ll take the two of you in as my disciples.” He sighed.

A-Qing cheered from the side, sharing a wide grin like Xue Yang, less malicious but equally mischievous.

It seemed like he hadn’t only played into Xue Yang’s hand, A-Qing was in it too. And damn good of an act did they put. Xue Yang tossed the Stygian Tiger Amulet back to him, Wei WuXian fumbled around and caught it in his palm. Upon contact, half the amulet shattered and crumbled, leaving the original half in his hands. 

“This time it lasted a little longer.” Xue Yang noted at the side with a click of his tongue. Wei WuXian decided that he should grill Xue Yang more on how he could create a half of the amulet. 

“If we are your disciples then we need to dress well and in the same colours too!” A-Qing pointed out, shaking the pouch. “And since our teacher generously gave us some money, let’s go shopping A-Yang!” She grabbed Xue Yang’s arm and tugged him further into the village. “Although we don’t need that lame mask.” She stuck her tongue out, as if in disgust. 

“The two of you wait up!” Wei WuXian hurried after them, he could feel the impending headache with these two around. “Excuse you, my mask is not lame! And give that money back! If we are going to be master and disciple you should listen to me then!” He huffed, he could feel the mirth rolling off SuiBian that laid by his hip. That sword would get it from it later, however, now he needs to make sure he doesn’t lose sight of the two. 

Chapter Text

It was almost dawn, the sun peeking above the horizon on a slow and steady rise up into the sky. Shades of blue and black were painted over, illuminated by pink and orange, as if an artist had gently brushed across the sky and breathing life into the world. 

Xie Lian and Hua Cheng were waiting by the inn’s entrance for Lan WangJi to arrive. Last night the white-clad cultivator had visited to inform them about some minor change in plans. He said that they were leaving early to have a head start in their search and that meant that they intended to skip out on the agreed second meeting. Hua Cheng was elated to not have to look at Jiang Cheng’s ugly mug early next morning and Xie Lian himself can’t help but feel somewhat agreeing. 

Lan WangJi stepped out of the door, immaculately dressed and ready to leave but right behind him was Lan XiChen. Although Lan XiChen’s presence didn’t seem to be part of the plan. 

“Good Morning, it seems like we have all gotten up early with the same idea in mind.” Lan XiChen greeted cheerily. Lan WangJi with a stone face just stared at his brother.

“WangJi should not worry about my duties. Shufu is aware of the current happenings and this is also part of my duties.” Lan XiChen reassured, reaching into his sleeve, he pulled out a folded piece of paper. “A letter from Yue Yang arrived last night, in it, they wrote to seek help with a sudden resentment energy outburst that destroyed a good part of the city.”

If the news shared wasn’t that worryingly or odd, Xie Lian and Hua Cheng would be wracking their brains on how Lan XiChen got all of that from one look at Lan WangJi’s constipated expression. Xie Lian turned to Lan WangJi when he spoke. “Yue Yang?” Lan WangJi queried. 

A valid question, Xie Lian recalled there being a small sect, the YueYang Chang sect if he didn’t recall wrongly. So should any cultivation problem arise the villagers should have sought their help first? 

“The Chang sect was uncontactable and the cause of the outburst seemed linked to the sect. More information would be revealed when we get there. I have dispatched a group of senior and junior disciple to help with the people while we investigate the situation.” Lan XiChen passed the letter over to him, to which he took a quick look and nodded. It would be a small detour from the route they had planned however it was en route to LanLing. 

“Sect Leader Jiang.” Lan XiChen seemed to brighten even further when the purple-clad and visibly grumpy Jiang Cheng landed by them. 

“I had a feeling that you would do something like this and guess what, I was correct.” Jiang Cheng had his arm crossed, glaring at them like they were dirt. Jiang Cheng’s eyes flickered over to the letter in his hands and a look of recognition flickered across his face. “You received the missive as well.” He commented. 

“Yes, we did. We are on our way to Yue Yang ourselves, care to join us Sect Leader Jiang?” Lan XiChen offered.

“Hmph, I would have joined no matter what anyway, although I do wish that I didn’t need to travel with that.” Jiang Cheng rolled his eyes at them.

Xie Lian shuffled forward, shielding Hua Cheng from Jiang Cheng, irked at his words. Would it be murder if his sentient cloth weapon, Ruoye, happen to trip him onto FangXin?

Before a fight could commence, Lan XiChen deescalated the situation and without any further complications, the group started for Yue Yang. The trip didn’t take long and they soon neared the city. From the view above, they could note the amount of destruction that had happened, it was amazing the whole city wasn’t wiped out, the destruction looked contained in one area. Dots of Jiang purple and Lan white could be seen moving about, clearing debris, purifying the resentment energy or taking out any reanimated corpse. 

Where they had landed, the surrounding disciples paused at what they were working on and greeted them, a chorus of “Sect Leader Jiang”, “Sect Leader Lan/ZeWu-Jun” and “HanGuang-Jun” sounded. 

Jiang Cheng broke off from the group, walking over to inspect his sect. Xie Lian had wanted to walk away and do his own little investigation however, two disciples, one he recognised as Lan WangJi’s adopted son walked over with another disciple. The two stepped forward and bowed low in greeting, “Junior division leader, Lan SiZhui and vice leader Lan JingYi, greets ZeWu-Jun, HanGuang-Jun, and esteemed guest. SiZhui would like to report that the recovery mission is well on its progress, half of the affected area has been cleared. The shixiongs that are tasked with investigation awaits you at the Chang Manor.” He reported. 

“Mm...well done. SiZhui, JingYi.” Lan WangJi nodded at them, his hand curled into a fist by his side as he seemed to be holding back the urge to reach out for his son. It amuses Xie Lian a little, those Lans never seem to change. Although it had been less than a week since Hua Cheng and he met Lan WangJi but anyone could recognise that look, the warmth, and pride in those eyes. He shared a look with Hua Cheng and intertwined their fingers further, maybe they’ll find a little one to dote over in the future too, it was still too early. 

“Oh! It’s Song Daozhang and Xiao Daozhang.” Lan JingYi perked up, waving at someone behind them, he was tugging at Lan SiZhui’s sleeve excitedly too. They broke the look between them and turned to look in the direction that the boy was looking at - walking towards them were two gentlemen, one in black the other in white. 

“The Distant Snow and Cold Frost, Song Zichen, the Cool Moon and Gentle Breeze, Xiao XingChen. It is a surprise to make acquaintances with you here.” Lan XiChen bowed in greeting. 

“It sure is a surprise to meet you too, Sect Leader Lan, HanGuang-jun and esteemed cultivators.” Xiao XinCheng greeted in reply. 

“I am glad that the Lan and Jiang sect replied to the missive sent, it would have been impossible to handle all of this alone. Song Lan and I had made a stop in Yue Yang for a few days but the day we intended to leave, disaster struck.” Xiao XingChen sighed softly. “We were there to see to the destruction and tried our best to prevent it however what that power was, it was beyond us and perhaps even beyond gods.” 

“Perhaps we should continue this conversation at a teahouse.”  Lan XiChen suggested. 

“That seems like a good idea, we just finished our investigations and cleaned up the Chang Manor and intend to take a break ourselves now.” Xiao XingChen nodded. 

“Since there are no objections, shall we?” Lan XiChen swept his sleeve out in invitation for Xiao XinCheng to lead the way. 

Upon stepping into the teahouse, a loud yell greeted them. “Ah,  your highness!” A lady in white waved her closed fan up in the air. 

“Shi QingXuan?!” Xie Lian replied to the call in puzzlement. “Why are the two of you here?” He blinked. 

“Ming-Xiong and I were sent down on a mission. But we are having some tea before it, this shop sells the best egg tarts I tell you!” Shi QingXuan brandished the dish of egg tarts towards them. The man in black beside him, Ming Yi mournfully look at the plate that was now out of his reach. There was a beat of silence then Ming Yi’s eyes moved up to meet with Hua Cheng, a weird stare off commenced between them.

“Your highness?” Xiao XingChen picked at the title, “Is Xie Daozhang perhaps royalty? Excuse us for the impertinence then.” 

“Ahaha No! Don’t get the wrong idea, I’m not a Prince of a fallen country or anything.” Xie Lian blabbed out in panic, that garnered many looks in his direction. In the background, one could see that Ming Yi had covered a hand over a struggling Shi QingXuan’s mouth. 

“Why are the whole lot of you crowding the damn entrance?” Snapped Jiang Cheng who had just joined them. Although the sentence could be worded a little nicer, Xie Lian was glad at how crass Sect Leader Jiang was, it served a good distraction. 

The group was soon led to a private room, one which was barely able to contain the eight fully grown men and a lady but it was still manageable. Xiao XingChen invited Shi QingXuan and Ming Yi to join the meeting despite both Xie Lian’s hesitance and then Hua Cheng’s strongly-worded disagreement. Lan XiChen hadn’t mind the addition and neither did Lan WangJi, said man seemed to have made a connection and decided that two more gods joining may work in their favour. Only one person had disliked the two new addition to the meeting,( *cough*JiangCheng*cough*).

Tea was brought in and poured, there were pockets of small chatter as Lan XiChen exchanged simple pleasantries with, Shi QingXuan and Ming Yi. And bless Ming Yi, the latter had created a cover story before Shi QingXuan could expose them as immortal gods. Xie Lian hovered nearby, laughing nervously while Hua Cheng seemed to be glaring a hole into Ming Yi’s skull. It didn’t seem important right now, he should probably get the meeting started before it drifts off.

Xie Lian cleared his throat, this garnered the attention of everyone in the room. The meeting started with Xiao XingChen and Song Lan sharing their side of the story. 

“At the manor, we crossed swords with a man in black wearing a black swordsman’s hat, he practiced demonic cultivation, he killed the Chang disciples with the fierce corpse he summoned by the flute.” Xiao XingChen brought up. “He denied killing despite being caught red-handed and alongside him was a young adult and two children which we initially had thought was a case of kidnapping but it didn’t seem so..”

“The confrontation at the manor didn’t last long after the two kids were carried away then there was the surge of resentment energy in the town. The man went towards it and we followed, one of the kids seemed possessed by the resentment energy and was destroying everything. He was sealed soon with a bizarre blood array and they disappeared with a teleporting talisman. There has yet for anyone to return to the Chang Manor, although a few disciples and the Sect Heir have escaped.” Song Lan finished the story, his hand squeezing Xiao XingChen’s lightly. 

The mentions of a man clad in black with the black swordsman's hat triggered a reaction out of Jiang Cheng. Then Xie Lian recalled that Jiang Cheng indeed had a run in someone with a similar description, he worryingly shot Lan WangJi a glance. He seemed unperturbed though the hand around his teacup tightened. 

“Tch..that Wei WuXian or Wei WuXian lookalike.” Jiang Cheng hissed, the sound of Zidian’s lightning crackled in the air and Lan WangJi tensed, a slight glare was directed in his direction. 

“Lookalike?...Wei WuXian..?” Xiao XingChen’s eyes were wide at the mention of that name. “..The man we saw, we did catch a glimpse of him even for a moment. He..bore a resemblance to my Shijie, Cangse Sanren…but..he..can’t..” Xiao XingChen trailed off, his back stiff and he turned a shade paler. 

“Whoever it is, all demonic cultivators and demons should be killed and fed to dogs.” Jiang Cheng’s eyes shot daggers towards a certain someone in all red in a non-subtle manner. Xie Lian felt the hand around his waist tighten, he gently pats Hua Cheng’s thigh in appeasement.  “That person sounded like him, had the same figure and posture. No man ever came back to life but knowing him he probably crawled out of hell in revenge.”

“Perhaps it’s a new calamity? Do you know anything, Crimson Rain Sought Flower?” Shi QingXuan proposed, lightly fanning herself with the fan as he gazes over to Hua Cheng.

Mulling over the idea, Xie Lian frowned slightly, he hadn’t received any news regarding that and if it was so, Hua Cheng would have said something, after all, Calamities do not come that easy or often. “I can see what you’re trying to say…to use demonic cultivation, perform a complicated blood sealing spell to seal resentment energy levels between a Severe and Wrath ¹ that could wipe out half a town then cast a teleporting talisman isn’t an easy feat. It would kill anyone with a low cultivation level.”

“Mm, Gege’s is right it’s a possibility but it is rather unlikely and if it was true I would have been informed. Again it would also mean that the four great sects had managed to let a high-level demonic cultivator slip pass them and here I thought that Sect Leader Jiang was rather stringent with stamping out all demonic cultivators.” Hua Cheng’s lips curled, he knew his words were egging on, said Sect Leader but he seemed to enjoy being antagonistic towards him. 

“Y-you. Who would have thought you weren’t some low-level ghost lackey haunting a cultivator. I can’t believe the Gusu Lan sect associates themselves with Yin creatures, a Calamity no less. But then wasn’t HanGuang-Jun a betrayer that stood by the murder’s side till the very end.” The stool Jiang Cheng was sitting, clattered loudly behind him with the force when he stood. Purple lightning from Zidian sparked with malice, the frown on Jiang Cheng’s face seemingly deepened every passing second. 

“That is enough Sect Leader Jiang. Perhaps you should head out for some fresh air.” Lan XiChen stood up too, the smile on his face absent, his tone firm as he said with finality, to say he didn’t look livid would be a lie. “We wouldn’t want to destroy this nice establishment after all.” He directed that sentence to all in the room. Xiao XingChen looked like he had something to say but held his tongue while Hua Cheng seemed irked and amused but Xie Lian could feel himself trembling in restrained rage, or was that E-ming?

“Elder Brother.” Lan WangJi reached forward to hold onto his brother’s sleeve after Jiang Cheng stomped out of the room. 

“WangJi doesn’t have to be upset over this...I understand that you and Wei-gongzi were good friends and you care deeply for his well being. What Jiang Cheng said was out of line, he didn’t understand what you went through but neither do we understand him. I’m sure he regrets what he was unable to do back then too.” Lan XiChen reassured him, he gently squeezed Lan WangJi’s shoulder. “And I am glad to see you making friends out of the sect, Xie Daozhang and Lord Hua Cheng seem like good people.”

The meeting soon resumed after the small moment shared between the Lan brothers. Jiang Cheng didn’t seem like he would be returning anytime soon, he supposes his fellow sect leader could fill him in later. “Moving to the next part, we would like your opinion on something Xie Daozhang found yesterday.” Lan XiChen slid the open maps to Xiao XingChen and Song Lan. 

The two appraised the maps before them with a critical eye, “These are arrays...I have never seen them before but is there any correlation of it to what happened here in Yue Yang?” Inquired Xiao XingChen, looking up from the maps.

“Without a detailed investigation it is hard to tell but it seems like a possibility.” Hua Cheng mused. “All occurrences had surges of resentment energy and two incidents sighted the same man. It could be mere coincidence or bad luck.”

“Ah! San Lang repeat your last sentence!” Xie Lian yelped, pulling the map to his side and a brush out of thin air. 

“It could be mere coincidence or bad luck?” Hua Cheng blinked, wondering what he was doing. 

“No! The one before that!” Xie Lian worried the top of the brush between his lips as he hunched over the maps.

“All occurrences had surges of resentment energy and two incidents sighted the same man.” Hua Cheng repeated, light in his eyes when he seemed to catch on with Xie Lian’s suggestions. 

“There.” Xie Lian pulled away and presented the addition to the map proudly to the group. 

“..Hm? Is that supposed to mean something your high-...I mean Xie Lian.” Shi QingXuan bit her tongue, her fan smacked onto her pursed lips. 

“I see what you’re trying to indicate.” Xiao XingChen met his eyes, “The sighting of the man may be in correlation to the bigger problem and he seems to be heading in one direction.” 

“Lan Ling.” Lan WangJi breathed. 

“That is the theory anyway..I could be wrong haha my luck isn’t the greatest after all.” Xie Lian chuckled softly. “Mm Gege can always borrow my luck or spiritual energy anytime, remember.” Hua Cheng whispered into his ear, earning a flush traveling from his neck up to the tip of his ears. 

Clearing her throat softly, Shi QingXuan spoke, “If that is true, that would mean the next area they may stop by is Yi City.” Her fan lightly taps the city name on the map. 

“Then we shall head toward Yi City once things over here have been settled.” Lan XiChen decided, “Anyone with objections?” 

No one had anything against the plan and the meeting was adjourned. The group broke apart, leaving the heavenly official trio and calamity behind.  

“Will the two of you be joining us ?” Xie Lian turned and asked his two fellow heavenly officials. 

“Of course! Our mission is in that area too, plus I’ll never miss out on going on adventures with you. Haha, it would be perfect if we could get Mu Qing and Nan Feng to join us.” Shi QingXuan beamed at the prospect of a new adventure. “Though I last heard from Ling Wen-Jie that they are busy babysitting a new martial god” She chortled, “I can picture how unamused Mu Qing looked.”

“Oh a new martial god? That hasn’t happened for a long time, what’s their name? How are they like?” Xie Lian asked, eyes sparkling with curiosity, meeting new people is always fun. . 

“Hm...I didn’t get the chance to meet him, Ming Yi and I weren’t there for the meeting but rumour and news have been all over the communication array.” She sighed, “Honestly, I am glad they have moved on to the next gossip.”

“From the mound of rumours, I could pick out of a few things. One, his ascension was very destructive although not if compared to your twice ascension, your Highness.” Shi QingXuan said in mirth, chuckling to herself. “Number two, he apparently uses resentment energy? Instead of spiritual energy. Three, his domain is in Yiling and Four, he is also a Crown Prince like you dianxia! And Five, He’s a huge flirt that likes to drink!” Shi QingXuan counted off the points, “I think that’s about it?” 

“A martial god that cultivates resentment energy? That is unheard of.” Xie Lian hummed, “Did you happen to get his name?”

“Hm?” Shi QingXuan turned her focus back to him, she had given up from wrestling the new bowl of peanuts Ming Yi has. “No? But I think Ling Wen might know, but she hasn’t been replying to messages for a while...she’s probably busy with the increased paperwork. The ghost month is coming and there’s this whole mess with the surging resentment energy almost everywhere.” She sighed.

Xie Lian pondered, his hand clasped together. “I see..it’s just that the description of this new martial god sounded similar to the target of our search.” 

Just as that sentence was completed, the door abruptly slid open and a pale-faced Lan WangJi stood by it. “I apologise for eavesdropping but is what you say true..?” For the first time Xie Lian had met Lan WangJi, this was honestly the most emotion he could see on him. Lan WangJ’s eyes seemed to tremble with emotions, those warm golden orbs held hopefulness after so long. 

The question was left hanging in the air before Xie Lian stood up and waved him over to a seat, “Take a seat first.” His eyes met with Lan WangJi’s as he tried to piece an answer to the question, a sudden thought hit him. Was this what San Lang felt in the early stages of waiting for him to return? His gaze turned to Hua Cheng seated beside him, words caught in his throat, his eyes met with his concerned ones. 

Xie Lian tore his gaze away, heart heavy, perhaps they should talk privately afterward. “I-it could be a possibility that it is true. For one to achieve immortality and ascend, one required innate talent, high cultivation, the right opportunity, and fate. I spend my time in mortal realm or ghost city more than I do in Immortal City, I do not have sufficient knowledge of the ascension.” Xie Lian said regretfully, he wished he could provide more information. 

“...A possibility is good enough.” A little bit of colour seemed to be returning to Lan WangJi. “I visited Yiling...after his death, I was led to the temple that was built in Wei Ying’s memory, the Crown Prince of Yiling. Lan WangJi’s soft voice trembled with every word, it always hurts to recall, “ Wei Ying was feared but revered and loved by the people, he was a benefactor that made living near the burial mounds easier and a kind soul that helped others regardless of his own needs.” 

“This Wei-gongzi sounds like an absolutely wonderful person, I would say he probably ascended. The descriptions do match and he probably is better than many heavenly officials up there with what you described.” Shi QingXuan grinned, her words breaking up the somber mood in the room. Xie Lian silently thanked Shi QingXuan’s somewhat disability to read the mood but exuberant personality, if it was just them, he would have struggled to think of a reply.

“Don’t worry Lan Er-gongzi, the possibilities are high and given the sightings, I am sure you would meet him soon.” Xie Lian offered reassurance, he could visibly see part of the heavy load seemed to have come off Lan WangJi’s shoulders. 

---

Their odd group made of cultivators, heavenly officials and demon calamities left the Yue Yang the next afternoon towards their next destination in mind, Yi City. 

Trouble and chaos awaited them there.

Severe and Wrath ¹= ‘Severe’ ranked monsters could wipe out a household and 'Wrath’ ranked ghosts could massacre a whole city. - This is taken from the TGCF/HOB translation.

Chapter Text

Their small group of three travel during the day and rested where they could upon nightfall, Wei WuXian always sequesters himself for some meditation to sort his spotty memory out, Ling Wen scroll only had the main points but not the finer details of his mortal life. But other than traveling, Wei WuXian took every opportunity to teach on the go. Both teens picked up quickly, it did suck when it came to teaching reading when they didn’t have any materials to use. Thus this was why they had traveled to the next big town and here he was looking through the selection of teaching materials and haggling with the owner. His two disciples wandered off with the small money pouch he has given, everything was fine until he heard  A-Qing shriek sounded across the street. 

" Shifu! A-Yang is picking another fight again!"Wei WuXian groaned and looked up from the haggling for his problematic disciple. It had been less than a week since he (reluctantly and was tricked into) took in the two gremlins and he has since regretted it. In a heartbeat and maybe some hesitance, he would sell them to the devil for a sip of Emperor’s Smile wine.

They have traveled long on foot to the next town in search for a quick night hunt to sustain their journey, A-Qing has yet to own a spiritual sword yet and he did not trust Xue Yang with his thus confiscating it, which in turn limited their mode of transportation. He hasn’t figured out where Xue Yang got his sword or how he attained it, that remains a mystery like many things about the teen. Upon spotting the teen in black, he rushed over seconds from ending a fight if it started and an apology ready, what he saw had him nearly trip over the empty ground. 

In the middle of the crowd was Xue Yang hands clenched into fists and his teeth bared at his opponents, an older teen and his posse of servants. Behind him was a smaller prone form and A-Qing.  

“You useless cutsleeve, whore’s son. Mad dog, where did you find a butt buddy to protect you huh? I bet you sold yourself to him for protection.” The hefty young man curled his lips contemptuously, slurs firing out with no end as his servants rained down fists at them, with some success. 

Red clouded Wei WuXian’s vision, in a fit of protective rage, he pushed past the crowd to grab the haughty teen’s hair in a tight grasp. His words came out in a snarl, “Get your filthy hands off my fucking kids.” To add to the intimidation factor, he let out a sliver of resentment energy to spook the kid. From any bystander’s view, he was simply an angry man but to the teen in his hands, he was the devil incarnate. 

“Do you know who you’re touching?! Get your hands off Young Master Mo! ” The most loyal dog of his barked from the side. Wei WuXian raised a brow at him, daring him to try anything. Wei WuXian then looked back down and scoffed as an acrid scent wafted up, the idiot had wet himself. He bodily threw him to his servants and stood aside in disgust.  “You better hope I never see you ever again or I’ll cut that poisonous tongue of yours.” He spat, his eyes following the retreating group, scrambling around like frightened dogs with their tails between its legs. As soon as the main characters of the little show they were apparently putting on were gone, the crowd quickly dispersed. 

Wei WuXian crouched down by the trio, worry marred his feature, he kept his fretting a minimum since A-Qing was doing enough for them all.  “You’re bleeding too! A-Yang!” She panicked, scrambling to grab onto his face to carefully examine the wound.

“It isn’t a big deal, it’s just a small cut.” Xue Yang grunted as he tried to push her hands away, “Mother Hen over him instead.” He grumbled, jabbing a thumb towards the trembling figure beside him.

“Are you alright kid?” Wei WuXian asked, glancing at the frail and overly thinned body that sat beside his disciples. He barely was able to keep his face neutral when the boy finally looked up to meet his gaze, smudge rouge and white powder covered his face ,he resembled a hanged-ghost, ignoring that Wei WuXian eyes zeroed in on the blue and black of the kid’s neck, was that a handprint? 

“This servant is alright. He thanks this DaoZhang and Young Master for helping, this servant needs to hurry back or Auntie and Cousin will get mad..” Mo XuanYu squeaked, shifting to kowtow in gratitude to his saviours then scrambled away from the group before anyone could stop him. 

Wei WuXian looked back down at his disciples, Xue Yang was staring worryingly in the direction where Mo XuanYu had run off to. A cheeky grin split across his face, a question at the tip of his tongue. “Hm..does our  precious little A-Yang have a crush.” With a yelp he sidestepped the arm that shot out to whack him. 

“As cute as that is, sitting in the middle of the street, it’s going to rain soon and we still gotta treat those injuries.” A-Qing viciously prodded at a forming bruise. 

“Ow! What happened to all the love and care from earlier? Jealous aren’t you? ” Xue Yang huffed then let out another yelp when A-Qing descended upon him, pinching at the bruises. 

Shaking his head in amusement at their antics, he moved to grab their collar and started dragging to the nearest inn, they got a job to check out later so they shouldn’t waste any more time.

---

After making sure his two disciples won’t bring the inn’s roof down on themselves by siccing poor SuiBian onto them, Wei WuXian set out to get some gossip and news of the night hunts in the area.Sieving through the grapevine, he picked up the news on Mo family burial sites and its walking corpses problem. It has gone bad enough that a death had occurred in the past week and before sundown the shops nearest the manor had all packed up and locked themselves in. 

Mo Family? Hm? That surname sounded familiar. Oh . Didn’t he threaten and humiliate the young master? What coincidence, he shrugged it off and made his way back to the inn. His mind wandered and his thoughts drifted to the small and way too skinny teen that Xue Yang had protected, maybe had a crush on, it did remind him of his distant past, a young child plucked from the streets by Uncle Jiang. Perhaps he could find out more about that boy. 

Walking up the rickety steps of the inn, Wei WuXian could hear screaming coming from their shared room, sighing softly , he made a mental note to pay a couple more silvers for the inn owner for any destruction. Slamming the door open,  he opened his mouth to yell at them but then  silence greeted him instead as everything halted in his presence. A chorus of “Master!” and  “Shifu!” greeted him, followed by them shouting over each other in explanation.

“Alright if you guys don’t settle down , you won’t get to participate in today’s night hunt.” Wei WuXian yelled over the cacophony. And that got their attention, the room fell into silence, Wei WuXian patted himself on the back mentally, glad that this method worked after all he was often on the end of such threats. 

Eager wide eyes were on him as they waited for the announcement, “Our next night hunt will be at the Mo Manor, they seem to be having walking corpse problems at their family grave.And yes Xue Yang it’s the asshole Mo teen’s house but I expect all of you to be on your best behaviour....” His eyes scanned across the trio and lingered on Xue Yang who had that angry blood-thirsty revenge look in his eyes. “...Well unless they are assholes then prank the fuck out of them.” Wei WuXian smirked, he was met with three reflections of equally mischievous looks. 

---

The small group, now dressed to impress, in their signature black and red looked like an actual legitimate sect and not some random oddball group of rogue cultivators forced to work together at a moments notice. At the lead was Wei WuXian, seeking an audience with the Master of the Mo Manor. As they were led into the main hall, multitudes of murmurs, pointing and stares sent towards them. Ah dang, it could be the same servants that saw him ‘bully’ their Young Master Mo earlier this afternoon. Or it could be his mask garnering odd looks, it wasn’t the first time, he simply got used to it by the second village they happened on. 

Seated in the hall, Wei WuXian played around with his cup of tea while waiting for the head of the house to arrive. He was crushed that he wasn’t served wine despite asking for it. They didn’t have to wait any longer when Madame Mo made her entrance. “The Mo family is very thankful to be graced by the esteemed cultivators in their humble manor.” She greeted them. “We had searched for help but reached none so we are really grateful for your presence. I have heard that you are from a small sect in Yiling. You must have traveled far and long; perhaps we can have you settled into the guest quarters then for dinner too.”

Wei WuXian stared at her, the hair on the back of his hand stood ramrod at another pleasantry sent towards them. And he thought he was the King of being thick skin and many words, and he was proven wrong now. He hadn’t the chance to cut into Madame Mo’s words and stop her from speaking, A-Qing looked bored out of her mind and Xue Yang focused with fiddling the hilt of his sword, Wei WuXian too also was zoning out from the speech, this was as painful as sitting in Teacher Lan QiRen’s lecture

“A-Mei, bring their servant to help out with dinner preparation.” Madame Mo sneered towards A-Qing, “Make sure she doesn't break anything.” She added, her eye flitted to the bamboo pole A-Qing couldn’t bear to part with in disdain. 

Now Wei WuXian can’t let his sweet disciple be walked all over like that and neither could Xue Yang. “Hey old hag, there seems to be some misunderstanding, we are here for a fucking night hunt. If we wanted a place to stay or food, an inn is better than your humble manor. Also, A-Qing is no servant of ours so don’t you dare insult like this.” Xue Yang growled, slamming his sword loudly on the table. 

Xue Yang has once again climbed the ranks in his favourite disciple list, Wei WuXian snorted into his sleeve, trying to keep the bubbling laughter down at the sight of Madame Mo’s furious face, man that makeup made it funnier. 

Before Madame Mo could pull herself together, the door crashed open and Xue Yang’s maybe crush stumbled in, screaming in fright as a rotund figure followed behind. “A-Niang! This Mo XuanYu actually dared to hit my face and say that I stole his things!” Young Master Mo bellowed, his face red, robes and hair a mess. 

“I didn’t do it..I’m sorry. Please don’t hurt me.” Mo XuanYu whimpered as he scrambled away from Young Master Mo.

Madame Mo broke out of her stupor and started yelling at the panicking servants, “Someone drag this lunatic away.”

Unable to look at the spectacle continuing in front of him, Xue Yang stuck the gleaming blade of JiangZai under Young Master Mo’s throat. Wei WuXian scooped Mo XuanYu out of the way and set him by A-Qing. He turned back to his stabbing (trigger) happy disciple, his tone sharp and serious, “Xue Yang sheathe your sword. Remember that when I returned your sword you promised to not point your sword at a civilian nor the unarmed.” There was no need for bloodshed yet. 

“Xue Yang.” He intoned, his eyes narrowed in warning. A few seconds went by before Xue Yang sheathed the sword in reluctance. 

Suddenly struck with an epiphany, Wei WuXian went up with a grin, “Ah isn’t this Young Master Mo, what displeasure to meet you again. Do you happen to remember what I said earlier? I was thinking maybe pig’s tongue soup on the menu for tonight’s dinner, what do you guys think?.” He hummed, getting looks of disgust from them. 

“Hm maybe not.” He chuckled in amusement.

“Now, your arrival here helped clarify my thoughts.” Wei WuXian turned to look at his disciple, “ A-Yang, A-Qing remember that smell when we came into the manor? I’ve figured what that scent was.” The two stared at him like he had gone mad but went along with the tirade.

“It is the smell of piss, even with the change of robes did not help. Young Master Mo did you perhaps change a little too late or got it all over the manor that the stench permeates everywhere.” Wei WuXian held his sleeve up pressed against his nose as his face scrunched in disgust.” This felt like deja vu, he had done this before. 

“You!” Madame Mo shouted, her face purpling into a shade that put YunMeng Jiang purple to shame. 

“Yes me?” Wei WuXian pointed to himself, he stood rooted despite the angry woman stomping towards him and her son. 

“How dare you come into my house and insult the Master of the house and my precious baby!” Madame Mo jabbed at his chest. Wei WuXian scoffed at her words, “Precious baby my ass. He’s a bully and apparently so is the entire family.” 

“And get your hands off me, I do not need the smell of piss to get onto my new robes.” Wei WuXian continued egging them on.

Madame Mo screamed in rage, a hand raised poised to slap but the hand never met his face nor managed to get near him. There was an oppressive air around him, resentful energy cloaked his figure and his eyes glowed eerily red. The candles that kept the room well lit were blown out by a strange cold breeze, the area dimmed, shadows seemed to dance around at the corner of their eyes. “How bold of you to raise a hand against me.” Wei WuXian smirked, a single brow raised in mirth. Not as if a hit from a non-cultivator would harm him. 

Both Madame Mo and Young Master Mo were frozen in fear, Wei WuXian huffed slightly and turned away to look out in annoyance. “We got company.” He announced. “Xue Yang handles them, A-Qing back up if necessary but continues tending to Mo XuanYu.” Unfazed by it all, Xue Yang got to his job, his sword singing for blood. A-Qing continues her first aid while keeping an eye out. Wei WuXian noted the look of amazement and fear on Mo XuanYu’s face, at this rate he might be flooded with strays when they reached LanLing. 

“You’re a demonic cultivator.” Madame Mo gasped in horror, slumping down onto the ground. Her precious son had long gone and ditched her as soon as he could move. Not confirming the claim, he continued, “As payment for this night hunt we will be taking the boy, Mo XuanYu as a disciple. We’ll leave the town right after and you won’t see us ever. Do not speak of our presence to anyone either or else...” The sentence left to hang there.

“You can’t threaten and blackmail like that! I’ll tell those big sects and they will kill you all! That lunatic isn’t worth it, he was kicked out of a sect because h-”  In a quick motion he knocked Madame Mo out before she could finish her sentence and cause a bigger headache. It isn’t very heavenly official like but when did he ever follow the rules and since this was not an official paper no one would know. 

Wei WuXian turned his attention to the fight happening out at the yard, Xue Yang was holding out rather well against four fierce corpses, A-Qing hadn’t needed to step out to help. Mo XuanYu looked up at him surprised, struggling to find words to say. “I..Sir I am not worthy enough as payment..”

Mo XuanYu was immediately cut off by him, “You’re more than worthy, believe in yourself more,kid. Although I did say I would take you in as a disciple it is still your choice.” Wei WuXian grinned, slowly reaching out to ruffle his hair.

“...Thank you.,.Shifu. If you would accept...I am grateful to be your disciple.” The teen flushed under the affection, leaning into the touch. 

With a wide grin, Wei WuXian nodded,  “Now let’s finish this up.” Wei WuXian let out a sharp whistle from his lips to take control of the situation, he was unwilling to wait for Xue Yang to take forever to finish the job. At his command, the walking corpses in the yard all froze mid-action, Xue Yang startled at the change; snarled, and turned to glare at him. “Shifu! I was doing just fine, I didn’t need any help.” 

“I know that but I don’t want to stay here any longer, plus I’m starving, I’m sure that your Shimei and Shidi is as well. So hurry and finish up!” Wei WuXian yelled at the unruly disciple. Not long after, with a simple ritual and a few talismans stuck here and there, the corpse problem has been settled and done with. However before they left, there was something that still needed to be done: “Alright A-Yu is there anything important you need to take?” Wei WuXian asked.

“Um... some of the stuff I have in my room.” Mo XuanYu mumbled, seeming overwhelmed when the three of them had crowded him. “...I’ll just grab them..” He squeaked, rushing off to the small hut hidden at the back of the manor. 

The trio headed to the entrance to await for Mo XuanYu’s return. They first heard loud braying followed by muffled sounds of struggling and scolding before they saw said boy returning with a small bag tied onto the donkey. “...A-Yu that’s a donkey.” Wei WuXian said, dumbly pointing out the obvious.

“Yes..his name is Lil Apple.” Mo XuanYu smiled nervously at them, running a hand down the neck of the beast. 

“Alright...Lil Apple can join us.” Wei WuXian chuckled awkwardly, waving for them to start moving back. 

The donkey was a mistake, this was hell. 

After sending the disciples to wash up first, Wei WuXian was left to wrestle the sassy young master attitude of a donkey to the barn. “C’mon Lil Apple, get your ass moving, we don’t have the whole day and I’m starving.” Wei WuXian tugged unrelentingly at the lead line, not a single budge.

How could a stubborn donkey have more strength than a martial god?! What was the world?

“If you don’t move then you can stay here for the whole night, it’s going to rain and I’m not the one that will be stuck in it.” Wei WuXian sniffed, crossing his arms grumpily. 

This time the donkey moved, it moved to spit on him. “Yuck!” Wei WuXian yelped; he was too late to move out of the way and now a wet patch of donkey slobber slid down the front of his robes. “Eww, you stink..ugh these were new robes too!” His face was squished in disgust. 

To anyone else he looked like some crazy young master arguing and conversing with an old donkey, it was honestly not good for his non-existent reputation. 

Oh he was about to throw hands with this dumb ass but it was Mo XuanYu’s friend and animal companion, he wasn’t that kind of asshole. 

He sighed and turned to leave, although not without yelling for it to stay put. He returned with a shiny red apple and the donkey started braying like mad, bucking about in excitement at the fruit.  Wei WuXian snorted and threw the apple right into the barn, Lil Apple ran after it without hesitance and finally getting into the barn. 

“Really? That was it? I wasted so much time and effort but an apple got you to listen?!” Wei WuXian wailed. “Like what they say, you are what you eat.” He shook his head and returned to the inn, a steaming hot bath was waiting for him. 

They were gathered in the room where the three disciples were staying, the table had a spread of delicious food and like usual, Xue Yang and A-Qing were bickering, the new addition - Mo XuanYu was observing them from the side (read: staring very hard at Xue Yang only), unsure on how to join in. He caught A-Yu’s attention first, the teen scrambled up to bow in greeting. “Shifu!”

“Ah, there’s no need to be so stiff and formal, sit down.” Wei WuXian looked amused at the flustered boy, this will be fun, his two idiot disciples liking each other.  “Let’s start eating, tell me what your favourites are and I’ll order them the next time.” Wei WuXian reached over to ruffle the new disciples' hair. 

Dinner was enjoyable, filled with chatter, some awkward conversation attempts coming from Xue Yang, and a minor food fight that was stopped as quickly as it started. “A-Yang and A-Qing can take the room, A-Yu you can stay in mine.” He announced the sleeping plan, none of them had any objections. “Don’t go to bed too late..well at least don’t cause a ruckus to the other guest.” He chortled, already knowing the mischief the two can get into. 

Mo XuanYu trailed behind him, quiet as a mouse, he had Mo XuanYu share his room to not overwhelm him any further with that two gremlins. That and he also needed to check over some things with his new disciple. “A-Yu, take a seat first.” Wei WuXian mumbled, moving about, and looking for that first-aid kit he swore was hidden in the room. With a cheer, he pulled the box out from the depths of somewhere. He turned to look at the visibly nervous and distressed teen sitting at the side table.  

“Are you feeling okay?” Wei WuXian asked softly; he approached him, setting down the box onto the table and crouching down by him, he rested an arm on a shoulder, squeezing it lightly. “XuanYu you need to breathe, calm down and follow after me.” He took a deep breath, prompting him to follow, holding it for a couple of seconds before letting it out. The breathing exercise was repeated a few times before Mo XuanYu looked better and had relaxed. 

“Now that’s over, A-Yu can you take off your upper robes, I need to check you for injuries and treat them.” Wei WuXian rubbed a warm arm soothingly down the teen’s back. “If you’re uncomfortable with it, you don’t need to take it all off. You can also tell me what is okay and stop me anytime. I am here to help you get better.” He spoke in a gentle tone, hoping to keep him relaxed and feeling safe.  

He got a nod in reply, Wei WuXian allowed him to move away and disrobe, he kept his eyes to the first-aid kit, opening and fiddling with the items until Mo XuanYu was ready. A small tap of his shoulder and Wei WuXian looked up, using every will power and skills in his body to keep a neutral expression. 

The bruises he saw were bad, they littered his body, some small and some big, they were all a varied shade of purple, blue, black, and plum. There were no cuts however which was reassuring. “I’m going to apply this ointment onto them, tell me if they hurt too much.” Wei WuXian stated what he was going to do, this felt similar to when Uncle Jiang had found him, there was a warm protective feeling coursing through him. 

Gently and with steady hands, he rubbed the nice smelling oil onto the affected areas, it was the same recipe as the one Wen Qing made for him. “XuanYu...do you want to talk to me about what happened?” Wei WuXian asked with a hum, he only knew what he found from rumours l he was considered a lunatic and he was kicked out of a big sect due to some scandal. 

There was no reply from him, the only sound was the soft clinking of the ointment filled glass vial against the wooden table. Then a small sob escaped Mo XuanYu, immediately going into panicking Mama Bear mode, he set the vial aside and scooped the child into his arms. “Hey hey it’s okay, you don’t need to stay anything.” He reassured. 

“I...I’m sorry for crying Shifu..” Mo XuanYu sniffled into the collar of his robe. 

This precious child, being sorry over something like this, “Silly kid, you don’t need to apologise to me for that. It’s just clothes, plus your donkey did worse. That young lord actually dared to spit on me!” Wei WuXian huffed in mocked anger, he was glad to hear wet laughter and soft sniffles. Good that his suffering was amusing to some. 

“I bet you’re tired after all that.” Wei WuXian sat up, handing over the clumsily folded robes. “Get some sleep, we can talk some other time.” 

Once settled comfortably in their bed, with a swipe of his hand, Wei WuXian plunged the room into darkness. He laid stiffly on the mattress, both his body and mind restless - it was still too early for him to go to bed. He could sneak out to the roof when he was sure Mo XuanYu had fallen asleep. “Shifu?” Mo XuanYu’s voice echoed in the silent room. “Are you asleep?” He asked.

“Nope? Can’t fall asleep?” 

 “Umm..no..Can I tell you a story..?” The meek voice asked. 

“Sure.” Wei WuXian looked up at the ceiling in mirth, shouldn’t he be the one telling stories to the children when they can’t sleep, oh who the tables have turned. 

“Oh okay! This is a story about a little boy...definitely not me! It’s a friend that told me this.” Mo XuanYu frantically tries to get that out. 

Wei WuXian nodded in reply then realising there was no way he could see that in a dark room. He cleared his voice. “Okay, whatever you say A-Yu. Now don’t keep me waiting for this story.”

Without any further prompts, Mo Xuan Yu started the story, “There’s a young boy living in a small town...he had a very kind mother that loved him very much but he didn’t have a father...his mother always spun wondrous tales of his great sect-leader of a Father and how he will come back for them one day. 

As years past, the little boy grew older, his kind mother grown tired from waiting, driven mad by it, and her family, she left and became an angel. He lost everything. The little boy was then cared for by his mean aunty and tried to befriend his spoiled cousin but was only thrown aside like a worn-out toy that was not their worth.

One day after many years again, his Father sent men in shiny gold to the village and he was collected and brought back to a great righteous sect where he gained a purpose, an interest as a disciple. He made new friends, met his half-brothers and his little nephew.

But one day after stumbling upon a secret section of the library, he saw some things that shouldn't be seen. His Father found out about it, rumours were created to hide the truth, locked in prison for days before being kicked out and sent back home. 

He returned home a disgrace, a lunatic in their standards. With rumors surrounding him, that said he had tried to seduce and assault a disciple in the library, a male disciple who never existed. He never got a chance for justice or to say goodbye to his brothers and sweet nephew. But he was glad as well, he was extremely scared that they would hate him because of those lies. 

He cried as he lost everything for the second time. He spent every day in fear, locked up, out of sight, and ignored for the most part as he tried to continue his cultivation. There were days he couldn't take the pain but he buried all of that deep inside. He wanted to grow strong and leave to explore the world. He continued working hard until one day he meets his saviors, helping him from harm and then later saving him. His saviors were cool and a little scary but he was glad that he no longer needed to stay there and that he got the chance to fulfill his dream…" Mo XuanYu trailed off, the story had ended there. 

"Shifu thank you very much" Mo XuanYu choked out earnestly, his words coming out in a small wheeze. 

Wei WuXian hadn't noticed that he had also started crying mid-story too. Swiping his tear away with the back of his hand, he sat up, to only fall back down when Mo XuanYu rushed over and tackled him down in a hug. He felt the smaller frame tremble and quake with sobs.With no words to comfort, Wei WuXian held onto his disciple tightly and simply hummed a familiar tune, one he can't name nor recall where he heard from but he does know that it felt warm and loving. 

Late into the morning Wei WuXian was stirred awake by the door slamming open followed by two sets of footsteps rushing in. There was a small gasp, followed by the sound of a sword unsheathing. He then saw the slick blade of JiangZai pointed between his eyes, he felt his comfy warm pillow shift at his side.  Then it clicked in his brain, with a yelp, he scrambled off the bed, spectacularly tripping and falling face first onto the hard floor.

There was a flurry of movements and sounds of laughter. Groaning softly on the ground,  Wei WuXian channeled his inner angry purple grape, Jiang Cheng, and bellowed. "Ahh, kids! How dare you hurt your Master! 20 laps around the town!" His attempt failed when he dissolved into laughter too. A quick round of explanation set Xue Yang's jealous mind at ease. Mo XuanYu looked refreshed, lighter and happier, neither of them spoke of the 'talk/story' last night. 

Breakfast was some mouth-watering congee paired with freshly fried dough fritters, with their stomachs full they soon set out for the next town. Their next destination, Yi-City. 

The estimated time of arrival to Yi-City was a day and a half but it has already been two days. With the added members to the party, especially Lil Apple, it took them more than necessary to get there. Another problem was that they had gotten lost, again Lil Apple was to be blamed. The dumb donkey took off into some random direction, pulling Mo XuanYu with it and all their other goods too. They had to give chase and now they don’t know where they were at. 

Wei WuXian was ready to pass out on the next flat surface that was not dirt. 

Out of the corner of his eyes, he finally saw one lone standing building along the road. The kids cheered at the sight of civilisation since the past four hours of dirt and greenery. Eyeing the oddly placed hut they have stumbled upon, he followed after the disciples. Wei WuXian is rather suspicious to see a hut all the way out here but who knows they could get some directions or a resting place.

Upon reaching the wooden building, he sees Xue Yang and A-Qing going to town, flipping and poking at everything.  “Hey hey! Don’t touch any of those things, anything broken will be paid out of your own pockets.” Wei WuXian yelled at them. Mo XuanYu leads the Lil Apple over to the pile of hay. Hearing the ruckus, the hut’s door slammed open, a bloodied hunter stepped out, an equally bloody knife in his hand. 

Wei WuXian hopped up and quickly try to placate the man. “Haha we are not some weird people, we are not here to steal anythin- Xue Yang put that bread back down!” He chucked his makeshift flute at him. Sheepishly looking at the stonefaced hunter he quickly pulled his money pouch out and press a small piece of silver into his hands, “Sorry about that umm have this DaGe, we are just some cultivators traveling to Yi-City and have gotten a little lost. Do you happen to know how to get there?” 

The odd, bloody and dead-eyed Hunter man gave the directions necessary and they were soon set off again, this time in the right direction. They paused upon reaching a fork on the road, there were two signages by each road. It had the city name written on but both were unreadable due to old age and weathering. He stayed at the back, a grin on his face as an idea struck him. He could turn this into a lesson for the disciples. 

“Alright kids, listen up! Time for a lesson and quiz ,those that answer correctly will be treated lunch by me!” Wei WuXian beamed, he held a hand out before him to stop all the chatter. “You have 10 minutes to figure out and tell me which path leads to Yi-City, there also has to be a good explanation to back it up.”

Xue Yang scoffed, “I bet it’s because Shifu is too lazy to figure out which it is so he’s telling us to do it.” 

“I know the answer! I’m your Shifu so I know better and you gotta listen to me!” Wei WuXian gasped, how dare he be undermined. He was a known genius of his generation. “Now go before I revoke the reward!”This got the trio to dispersed, Xue Yang still grumbling and A-Qing elbowing him towards Mo XuanYu. 

After 10 minutes, Mo XuanYu was the first to return from his investigation, the other two only got back when he started yelling for them to. Wei WuXian sighed and patted A-Yu’s head, “Xue Yang is demoted, A-Yu is now my favourite disciple. The two of you never listen to me and mess around too much and it’s a lot if it’s coming from the Head Prankster/Rule-breaker of my time.” 

He vaguely heard Xue Yang coughing loudly and quickly saying under his breath, “Don’t think you should be proud of that.” then covering it with another cough. 

Ignoring that for now, he focused on the two good disciples, “Time for those answers, I will need my two cute disciples” He purposely avoided looking at Xue Yang as he said that, “ to stand by the road which you believe leads to Yi-City.” Wei WuXian instructed, there was a strange gleam in his eyes as he watched them move. There was some hesitance between A-Qing and Xue Yang but A-Yu however seemed confident with his answer and sticking by it. 

“Congratulations! You all got the correct answer but now, let’s see who can give me the reason why.” He sauntered over his tone teasing. “A-Yu can go first!” He nodded towards the quieter disciple. 

“Yes, Shifu! Um, A-Yu chose this road because..it’s not as worn as the other. There’s no tracks of human or carts going back despite it raining heavily a day ago..and..I’m sorry but I eavesdropped a little...and overheard the scary hunter saying no one frequents Yi-City…and..I just connected those together to get the answer...I’m sorry!” Mo XuanYu squeaked, looking at his shoes nervously and only shyly peeking up to gauge his reaction.

“That’s a good explanation. Don’t worry about eavesdropping, it wasn’t a private conversation anyways. And  that’s not the worst you can do.” Wei WuXian barked in laughter, rewarding him with another pat to his head. “Now A-Qing, what’s explanation do you have?” He asked the girl. 

“Err..” She looked towards Xue Yang for any aid and said martial brother just looked away with a roll of his eyes. “Don’t look at me like that.”

“A-Qing can take a little more time to think, so Xue Yang what’s yours?” He finally turned towards him. “Gut feeling but mostly it’s those signboards that gave the answer away.” He jerked his head towards the boards. “ The age of the wood is drastically different, although both were old and worn out.” Xue Yang pointed to the ‘Yi-City’ sign, “This is older than the other, the way it’s written is also different.” Xue Yang huffed, his arms crossed and his head tilted back to show that devilish smirk. “Plus Shifu kept glancing towards that direction and you did announce that you knew the correct path so only an idiot would miss that obvious sign.” He scoffed, that taunt directed towards A-Qing. 

“Idiot?! Who are you calling an idiot? You are the dumb one! Hmp, anyway Shifu I also saw you looking towards this path and I guessed it!” A-Qing huffed, reaching forward to tug at his robe in a pleading manner, puppy eyes glittering with tears, looking up at him. 

Weak to that look despite his cynophobia, Wei WuXian heart gave in to it. “Fine, all of you did a great job, good observation skills, and smart thinking. All of you will be rewarded.” He sighed, should have thought about it before offering his hard-earned money. “Now even if you have to guess the answer, luck is also important in cultivation. You can work hard but if Lady Luck is not on your side then everything might go to a waste. So A-Qing here is very lucky, maybe it would rub it off on all of us.” He winked at them playfully, he had won over Lady Luck’s heart many times seeing how he’s still alive and an immortal too, they were best friends. 

“To Yi-City then. Here are some things I have heard about this city, it is made up of generations of skilled craftsmen of burial goods. The land was said to be cursed since the early settlers, many arrived in this town and never left it. Families perished and only some escaped this hellish place before they wound up as the next curse target.” Wei WuXian gave a rundown of the city’s background. “We might find an interesting night hunt over here too. Maybe see some ghosts?” He grinned, turning back to look at the three, he noted how Mo XuanYu looked a shade paler, he should probably keep an eye on him. He trusts the other two to handle themself.

Keeping the chatter going as they walked closer to the city’s main gates, the hair at the back of his neck went ramrod, he felt a shiver go down his spine. Someone was watching them or specifically just him, he was unable to determine if it was a foe or not. Wei WuXian shrugged it off, wary but not showing that he noticed their stalker. They stood in front of the gates, with its wooden doors that looked a breeze from falling off its hinge. The Yi-City sign that hung above the doors had cracked down the center, pieces of wood laid shattered on the ground. Spooky and full of splinters. 

“Get into pairs, I don’t want anyone wandering off.” Wei WuXian instructed cheerfully, stay calm and normal,  don’t scare the disciple. This wasn’t his first rodeo,  a spooky town, and possible killer-stalker isn’t as bad as Wen Chao’s ugly mug.  “A-Yu will be coming with me, A-Qing I trust that you would take care of A-Yang.” 

Xue Yang spluttered at the sentence, giving him and A-Qing an incredulous look, especially when A-Qing replied with: “Don’t worry Shifu, this disciple will ensure her martial brother doesn’t get into trouble.” 

Stepping into the City and standing outside its gates were two different feelings. The first thing to note was the mist that straight up reduces all visibility, one could vaguely see their partner if they stood less than a step away. “Stay in your pairs, do not separate.” Wei WuXian yelled into the air, Mo XuanYu tightened his hold on his sleeve and Lil Apple’s lead line. They slowly moved towards where they believe is the right direction, he heard A-Qing yelp from the right. 

“I just stepped on something!”

“Ow! You brute of a woman, it’s just a paper mache head, don’t need to hit me or freak out like that.” Xue Yang voiced his disgruntlement. “Let’s just keep going and don’t let go of my hand. You’re already hard enough to spot - being so small, so if you disappear in this mist, you won’t be missed.”

There was never a boring day with his disciples, Wei WuXian snorted in amusement, “If we do get separated, we shall meet back at the gate in an hour.” Once receiving a response from them, they resumed walking. 

It was after a while that Wei WuXian noticed something, he was aware somewhere along the way, Xue Yang and A-Qing’s footstep disappeared but he wasn’t too worried. He strained his ears a little and uselessly looked about. There was a continuous dripping sound coming from somewhere, it reminded him of rain, it was odd given that it wasn’t raining. He felt a strong tug on his sleeve and he turned towards Mo XuanYu’s figure. “Shifu..do you see that?” A-Yu asked, “There are green orbs floating around..I think it's following us?” He pointed out. 

“Green light? A sword gleam?” Wei WuXian wondered, looking to spot what the disciple saw but saw nothing but the feeling of being watched by something was coming strongly at him. A hand slipped to SuiBian sheathed by his waist, undoing the knot he slipped it off. “A-Yu give me a hand.” Wei WuXian held the free hand and moved it about the air in search of the other. Upon securing it, he pressed his sword into his hand. “Hold onto my sword, his name is SuiBian and he’ll help you when you’re in danger.” It seemed like Mo XuanYu fumbled to say something to refute but in the end accepted the sword, strapping it to his waist. 

“Don’t worry about me, I still got my trusty flute on me. I am a successful Yiling Patriarch imitator, after all, no green light can bring me down.” Wei WuXian joked loudly, he had to keep up the act he was putting up for his disciples and also for whoever was watching him. In a softer tone he spoke, “When I tell you to run with Lil Apple just do it.” He whispered. 

“No! Shifu this disciple can’t just abandon shifu here!” Mo XuanYu sounded distressed. 

“Well, I guess that isn’t for you to decide. Hold tight.” Wei WuXian warned before lifting his hand back to bring it down in a slap on Lil Apple’s rear. The donkey brayed loudly in offence before running off in a direction at his command, “Lil Apple go! Good donkey! ” Mo Xuan Yu was dragged away by the beast. It was also just in time for the first attack. The sword attack was parried off with ChenQing, he jumped away from the assailant, putting distance between them so he could summon any resentful beings in the vicinity. 

The sharp trill of the flute sounded in the city, he was a blur amongst the mist as he retreated away. His playing had barely managed to wrestle control into the walking corpses they oddly populated the city. Wei WuXian heard a mad cackle coming from behind him, he slammed into something? , his playing cutting off. From the corner of his eyes, he saw green fireballs flying towards him and an unknown sword glare. There were two attackers here. The corpses wouldn’t be able to reach him in time, SuiBian was with A-Yu, he only had some talisman on him and none of which is useful for the situation. He braced for impact but the pain didn’t come, The hard wall he thought he hit wasn’t a wall. He hears sounds of a sword slicing through those green menace, it clashing against the assailant’s sword that is followed by a strum of the Guqin? Now that he wasn’t dying the second time, he could tell that the ‘wall’ was rather warm, firm, definitely human and male. “Are you alright?” His ‘wall’ queried, the voice low and sharp, nostalgia tingled at the back of his mind, his nose registering a strangely familiar scent. 

Who had helped him?