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Chapter Text

Four months after the worst dream of Lan Zhan's life, they're on a high-speed train to Jinlintai.

Things have been going well. As well as can be hoped, most likely, when the time traveler you happened to pick up turns out to be the Yiling Laozu and also you've been in love with him for two lifetimes and would be willing to fight most of the cultivation world in hand-to-hand combat to keep him safe.

Lan Zhan has not had to fight anybody so far. Physically, at least.

When he'd told Lan Zhan who he really was, Wei Ying had said he wouldn't be ready to tell the world anytime soon. But when it was clear they'd gotten to the point where he couldn't fill in any more historical information without identifying himself as the Yiling Laozu, he had a change of heart.

"I couldn't save their lives," Wei Ying pleaded. Lan Zhan hadn't said he shouldn't do it, but Wei Ying could read the fear on this face. "The very least I owe them is their place in history. I know it's six hundred years too late, but I need to clear their names."

"You told us how Wen Qing saved the lives of yourself, Hanguang-Jun, Jiang Wanyin, and Nie Huaisang at Dafan Mountain," Lan Zhan pointed out. "And that they sheltered you and your brother and sister after the fall of Lotus Pier, at great risk to themselves. The records show that Wen Qing and Wen Ning aided the allies multiple times."

"And the rest?" Wei Ying asked. "They might not have been heroes like Wen Qing and Wen Ning were, but they were innocent. They were the elderly, farmers, craftsmen, and the Jin killed them all and told the world they'd been demonic cultivators. It's time the world knew that it lost the genius of the woman who performed the first golden core transplant because of Jin Guangshan's thirst for power and revenge. That one of the most beloved Sect Leaders in Lan history was a Wen who only survived because of Hanguang-Jun."

The idea terrified Lan Zhan—opening up Wei Ying to public scrutiny, telling the world that he'd once been the most-hated person in the world, hoping that enough people in power would believe his side of the story to keep him safe. But he already knew what it was to lose Wei Ying to fear, to wanting to hide him away from the world instead of standing with him as he did the right thing, and it wouldn't happen again. If Wei Ying needed to risk himself for the Wens one last time, Lan Zhan would stand by him.

Wei Ying had insisted on learning to type as soon as he'd known it was an option—"Fabulous!" he said once. "I should have invented this centuries ago, my brush could never move as fast as my brain!" Lan Zhan did not point out that he liked traditional calligraphy precisely because it forced him to slow down, to put his thoughts in order. Nothing slows down Wei Ying's mind.

Which is to say that getting his story down on paper, and edited into something coherent, was an easy first step. Figuring out what to do with that story was harder.

"One problem," Xichen had pointed out when they brought this to him, "is that you can't rely on A-Zhan and I to corroborate any of this. If people accept your story, we might be able to work on the reincarnation thing, but it's very possible that we'll never be fully trusted as definitive sources. So I don't think we can push the Lan Sizhui part right now, since you didn't even know about that when you left."

Wei Ying had pouted but admitted that he was right. In fact, they decided that if his main goal was to redeem the Wens he'd lived with on the Burial Mounds, the story he presents to the public first should focus on that and skip over less relevant details like his friendship with Hanguang-Jun. If the world accepted this, Wei Ying would have plenty of opportunities to tell the rest of his story; in fact, offers of book deals would probably come pouring in.

So together they had crafted a streamlined version of events, one that emphasized the Wens' innocence over Wei Ying's. The fact that many of his actions were justified would be obvious to anyone who read it, but hopefully they would not come away feeling like this was just an attempt to reform his reputation.

They finally decided to take this to Lan Hong rather than the full Board of Elders. When they went to the Cultivation Council with it it might be easier if they had the full Board behind them, but Wei Ying didn't have the patience to convince Lan He or some of the others who don't hate him quite as much but never really trusted him, either. Having the Sect Leader on their side would have to do.

Lan Hong, of course, believed Lan Zhan and Lan Xichen's claims of reincarnation, because they are his beloved nephews and he knows they would never lie about such things (and that Lan Zhan, at least, does not have nearly active enough an imagination to come up with the stories he'd told). But he agreed that all of that must be set aside for later consideration, and helped them navigate the bureaucracy involved in doing something for which there was no set protocol: asking all of the sects, via the Cultivation Council, to correct their historic records with regards to what everyone thought was a well-established and well-known piece of history. The Council itself did not have any such records to revise, but representatives from all of the sects sit on it and getting a ruling from the Council would both be an important symbol of legitimacy as well as an easy way to communicate the information to the governments of all of the sects at once.

When they first approached the Council with Wei Ying's claim and a few of the details of his story, the Jin, unsurprisingly, were outraged that Wei Ying's story tarnished the reputation of Jin Guangshan. His womanizing ways were well known, even before Mo Xuanyu showed up as physical evidence, but otherwise he was considered to have been a charismatic and fair Chief Cultivator who may have led with a strong hand sometimes, but only because the post-Sunshot world was in need of such leadership. It was bad enough that they had the scandal of Jin Guangyao in that period of history; such a proud sect couldn't tolerate another stain. They had demanded that Wei Ying either recant his claim entirely, or if he continued to insist that he was the Yiling Laozu, be taken into official custody, placed under lock and key with constant supervision until the Council heard his full testimony and made a ruling on it.

The Lan made it clear that this was, obviously, unacceptable.

The Jin threatened to come to the Cloud Recesses to apprehend Wei Ying themselves, which thankfully the rest of the Council quickly shut down, but there were some members who agreed with their demand to lock up Wei Ying.

Lan Zhan, his uncle, and Wei Ying had then met privately with Sect Leader Jiang, who agreed to hear Wei Ying's full story before deciding whether to side with the Jin. Sect Leader Jiang was known to be a sentimental man, and Wei Ying's love for his former sect and his family there was obvious as he spoke. He made it clear that he never blamed Jiang Cheng for anything, that Jiang Cheng was in an impossible situation as the teenaged leader of a decimated sect and that severing ties was the only way either of them could see to keep both the Wen and the Jiang safe from Jin Guangshan's wrath. By the end of the meeting, Sect Leader Jiang was decisively on their side.

Lan Zhan found it frustrating during this process that he had little in the way of real power to either convince or compel any of these people to listen and believe Wei Ying. He wondered if he should have been more ambitious, sought leadership positions like his brother, rather than being content to teach and night hunt. But Hanguang-Jun, while having no official position beyond heir to his sect, was a highly respected war hero to whom many people would defer, and even he had struggled to make anyone listen on the occasions he did publicly stand up for Wei Ying. At least this time they had their Sect Leader on their side, whereas Zewu-Jun had wrestled with divided loyalties between Wei Ying, whom he knew to be a good man but whose actions he didn't fully understand, and his sworn brothers, who did not trust Wei Ying and whose sects were largely set against him.

Lan Hong finally convinced a majority of the Council that as Wei Ying had been in the modern world for several months and never caused a single problem—even though if he'd really wanted to, he could have stolen Chenqing at any time and resumed demonic cultivation—the Lan were capable of keeping him under control for a couple more weeks. Wei Ying agreed that he would not leave Gusu until his hearing, which was fine because he'd had no plans to leave Gusu.

Wei Ying testified in front of the full Council just a few days ago, under the influence of a talisman that prevented him from lying. The Council agreed that, if he was in fact the Yiling Laozu, his version of events was believable, particularly given the ways the historical record had previously been altered to Wei Ying's disadvantage. The problem, of course, was that it only prevented him from telling what he knew to be lies—if he were just some delusional man who believed himself to be the Yiling Laozu, the talisman couldn't tell the difference between what he'd convinced himself was true and what had actually happened.

Lan Zhan thinks it a bit hypocritical, that sects who were calling for the Yiling Laozu's arrest just weeks before just in case he was telling the truth now require evidence of that same claim, but it is no matter.

Because there is one thing that the entire Council agrees is a foolproof way to prove his identity.

And that is why they are stepping off of a train in Jinlintai.

They're met at the station by Mo Xuanyu, who, unsurprisingly, is eager to meet Wei Ying. Wei Ying is eager to meet him, as well, even if he had only been a child when Wei Ying disappeared. Mo Xuanyu seems much healthier and happier than the last time Lan Zhan saw him, nearly two years ago. His hair is down but sleek and well-cared-for, and he's wearing subtle makeup that highlights his bone structure. He wears a vermillion mark on his forehead, now that he is officially training as a disciple of the Jin Sect—he's much older than a typical disciple at his level, of course, because his training had been cut short when he was kicked out of Jinlintai the first time. He doesn't seem to mind, though, saying that it's taken him so long to learn to navigate the modern world that he's fine with taking everything slow.

When he sees Wei Ying the first time, he bows deeply, in the old-fashioned way that Wei Ying had always used when he first arrived. Wei Ying catches him by the elbows and insists it's unnecessary.

"No, Wei-qianbei," Mo Xuanyu insists. "I have you to thank for everything I have now. I know you didn't mean to do this, and you don't know how you did it, any more than I know how I did it. But I do know that if you had actually died that day, then I wouldn't be here right now. I probably wouldn't exist at all, in any form."

"And who knows how a second life back then would have gone for me," Wei Ying adds.

He takes them to the Jin archives, where the Assistant Director of Antiquities will be meeting with them. Some on the Council had pushed for Sect Leader Jin himself or another high-ranking official to oversee this, but Wei Ying was happier not directly interacting with the people who had wanted him locked up and the Jin were happier ignoring him to whatever extent they could get away with, now that it seemed likely his story would be widely accepted. Part of Lan Zhan wanted to bristle at the implied insult to Wei Ying, but most of him was relieved to keep Wei Ying away from those who might want to hurt him.

Annoyingly, a news crew has been sent with them as well. The Council representative from Pingyang, who apparently is very invested in "making sure cultivation keeps a high profile with the non-cultivating masses," insisted. (Lan Zhan is pretty sure that Mr. Yao is more concerned with selling cultivation as a source of entertainment for the masses, but someone else on the Council owed him a favor, and well, here they are.) Lan Zhan knows that Wei Ying wants his story spread to the public, but having this particular moment treated as a spectacle instead of just a simple confirmation of his identity seems crass and sensationalistic.

Wei Ying catches Lan Zhan giving the news crew a dirty look. "The Council obviously believes me," he mutters, "because who would send a news crew to see some random guy fail to pull out a sword and be revealed as... some random guy?"

They're shown into a room that's been set up to accommodate the news crew, where a locked box is sitting on a table at the front. Suibian has been on display at the Lanling History Museum for over a century, but as soon as the Jin agreed to this test it was removed from its case and sealed in this box to prevent tampering.

As the news crew starts to set up their camera and test the lighting, the door they just came through opens and a short, pleasant-looking man steps through.

"Mr. Wei, Mr. Lan, Associate Sect Leader Lan, it's so nice to meet you. My name is Meng Yao, I'm the Assistant—" Meng Yao freezes in the middle of his sentence, because Wei Ying took one look at him and dragged Mo Xuanyu off to a corner. Lan Zhan follows them as his brother tries to placate everyone else.

"You didn't tell anyone?" Wei Ying is hissing at Mo Xuanyu.

"Who was I going to tell?" Mo Xuanyu replies, apparently understanding what Wei Ying is referring to. "They'd think I was crazy—hell, when I first got here, I was kind of crazy, I wasn't sure I wasn't seeing things! I hadn't seen him in like... four or five years? At the time? And maybe it was just a family resemblance!"

"His name?" Wei Ying asks.

"I know, I know, but I thought it had to be a coincidence," Mo Xuanyu says. "I mean, maybe it still is? Isn't it kind of crazy to think that he would come back with the same name, looking the same?"

Wei Ying grabs Lan Zhan's arm and pulls him close. "Did you ever meet Hanguang-Jun?" he asks. "Did you ever meet Zewu-Jun?" He motions to Lan Xichen ten feet away.

Mo Xuanyu grimaces. "I was just a nobody disciple. Obviously I saw them a few times, especially Zewu-Jun, but I'm not sure I was ever formally introduced to either of them. I mean, now that you point it out, yeah, I definitely see the resemblance, and the names are weird. Why, are they...?" He looks at Lan Zhan. "Are you...?"

"Mm." Lan Zhan nods.

"Fuck," Mo Xuanyu whispers. His eyes dart to Meng Yao. "I mean—his personality is the same in a lot of ways, sure, but like... I don't think he's gonna do anything like that? I mean, as far as I know he's nobody's bastard child and he's the Assistant Director of Antiquities, it's not like he's really grabbing at power, right?"

Lan Zhan looks at Wei Ying questioningly.

"Don't tell me," Wei Ying says, lowering his voice to the point that Lan Zhan has to lean close to make out any of it, "that history also lost Jin Guangyao's birth name?"

Wei Ying had made a strange face when he'd learned that twenty years after his death, it had come out that Jin Guangyao had been responsible for the death of Sect Leader Nie, and that Zewu-Jun had unwittingly aided him by teaching him Lan musical cultivation. This discovery had led to Zewu-Jun going into seclusion for several years. In the fallout, it was revealed that he had also killed his father, Jin Guangshan, and several prostitutes along with him, knowingly married his half-sister and had a child with her, and that his wife had killed herself when she found out. The entire thing is considered one of the Jin Sect's biggest scandals in history—though it is possible that Wei Ying's testimony about Jin Guangshan will make that particular murder seem slightly less appalling, other than the fact that he killed the prostitutes along with him.

"Huh," Wei Ying had said. "On the one hand, he always seemed like a nice guy, but on the other... maybe a little too nice? I can believe he was scheming behind that smile. He was the type who always seemed to have an answer for everything, knew exactly what to suggest to get people to agree—I thought he was just good at knowing what to offer people, what they wanted, but maybe he was actually good at manipulating people into wanting what he wanted to give them."

"I'm sure it's in the Jin records," Lan Zhan says now, "but most history books use Jin Guangyao or Lianfang-Zun. I don't know it offhand. I don't know if I've ever seen it."

"Well, it was Meng Yao," Wei Ying hisses, "and he looked exactly like that." He nods to the Meng Yao that Lan Xichen is currently talking to. "You two need to have some more of those dreams so you can actually see what people looked like so I'm not the only one going around recognizing people!"

Lan Xichen has had no such dreams, and Lan Zhan, to his great relief, has not had any more. As it stands, the only people Lan Zhan might recognize are Jiang Wanyin and Lan Yi, and that is assuming his dreams were fully accurate.

Wei Ying sighs and sets his shoulders, then strides back over to the others, leaving Mo Xuanyu and Lan Zhan to follow in his wake. "Mr. Meng!" he says with an overly-bright, forced smile. "So sorry about that! You know, after we're done with this whole thing and I've got my sword back and the, uh, news cameras have gone home, I think the five of us really need to sit down and have a little conference." He motions, encompassing himself, Lan Zhan, Lan Xichen, Meng Yao, and Mo Xuanyu.

"Oh, I'm afraid I have a meeting I absolutely must run to directly after—"

Wei Ying claps a hand on Meng Yao's shoulder. His smile transforms into a dark grin that even scares Lan Zhan a little. If anyone in the room had doubted who he was, they can't possibly now. He lowers his voice just enough not to carry to the news crew. "Meng Yao. The entire world is about to find out that I am literally the Yiling Laozu. I have killed a lot of people. I don't ever want to kill anyone again. You will stay, and you will meet with me."

Meng Yao's eyes widen. "I'm sorry, Mr. Wei, are you threatening my life?"

"Ha! No," Wei Ying says. "Of course not. If I wanted to kill you, you'd be dead already." He sighs. "Damn it, I've spent the past six months trying so hard not to scare people and now here you are, making me scare you. But trust me, if you don't stay and meet with me, I won't kill you, but I might just ruin your fucking life." He looks up at Mo Xuanyu. "Won't I, Xuanyu?"

"It's... it's possible," Mo Xuanyu says nervously. "Please, Mr. Meng, just. Stay?"

"Oh no," Lan Xichen suddenly says. He looks between Meng Yao and Wei Ying. "Do you mean... Is he... really?"

"Yep," Wei Ying says. Lan Xichen looks ill.

"Mr. Meng," Xichen says, not looking Meng Yao in the face, "I'm very sorry, but the Lan Sect really must insist on a meeting after this." He looks at Wei Ying. "Wuxian, please remember, though, it's not him. This man has most likely done nothing wrong."

"Of course I haven't..." Meng Yao sputters. "What?"

Wei Ying makes a face like Lan Xichen is ruining his fun. "Yeah, yeah. Okay, let's get this over with." He waves to the news camera. "Hey! News people! Come on over here, let's open a sword!"

"I have half a mind to call security," Meng Yao insists. "Mr. Wei, you don't really think I'm going to unlock that box for you right now?"

Wei Ying laughs, taking his place behind the box. "It's adorable that you think I care." He sketches a talisman on the top of the box with his finger, and it swings open. Meng Yao looks like he's going to have a stroke. The reporter was probably planning to say something before this started, but instead she's just asking the cameraman if he got that, and telling him to keep shooting, they'll edit in the intro later.

Wei Ying scoops Suibian up and gives it a warm smile. Lan Zhan wonders what it must feel like, to be reunited with his sword after all this time, knowing he'll be able to use it now. Then the smile drops off Wei Ying's face and he looks right at Meng Yao as he grips the hilt in one hand and the scabbard in the other and smoothly pulls the sword out several inches. "Boo," he says, deadpan, and then resheathes it. He turns to the news camera. "Okay, great, show's over folks, I'm the Yiling Laozu, Wei Wuxian, now if you'll excuse us we've got some things to discuss so that Mr. Meng here can get to his next meeting."

"Mr. Wei, can you tell us—"

Lan Zhan steps between the reporter and Wei Ying. "No questions."

"Excuse me, I was promised an exclusive—"

"I'm so sorry about this," Xichen says, shooting Lan Zhan a look out of the corner of his eye. "Mr. Wei will be happy to answer your questions in just a little while, but right now we do have to insist on a closed-door meeting."

Once the news crew has been unceremoniously shuffled out and the door shut behind them, Meng Yao turns on the rest of them. "What. Is. Happening?" He looks at Mo Xuanyu. "Mr. Mo, I assume you have some idea?"

Wei Ying doesn't beat around the bush. "Congratulations, Mr. Meng," he says gesturing grandly, "you are the reincarnation of Jin Guangyao!"

"What?" For his part, Meng Yao does look truly baffled. "What are you talking about? Even if I somehow were, how could you possibly know that?"

"Well," Wei Ying says, spreading his hands in front of him. "It turns out that when you have time travelers around, you learn things about reincarnation, too. Like that apparently, for some weird reason, sometimes people have the same name and look the same as the person they're the reincarnation of. I assume not always. Probably usually not. But sometimes that happens and they can remember things from their past life."

Meng Yao sputters. "I—I know that I share his birth name, but my mother had no idea when she named me! She wasn't exactly a history buff. I didn't find out until I took a history class on the Sunshot era at university. We all had a good laugh about it!"

Lan Xichen sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose. "And our parents had no idea they were naming us after Zewu-Jun and Hanguang-Jun," he says.

"And would you look at them?" Wei Ying says, motioning to Lan Zhan's face. "Do you see why they were called the Twin Jades of Lan? I mean, obviously Lan Zhan is the most beautiful man alive, but even I can admit that Xichen is also quite pretty." Xichen rolls his eyes. "And." Wei Ying's face turns serious. "He was just as pretty six months or so ago when I was looking down on him from a rooftop in Nightless City as thousands of cultivators called for my head."

"And you're saying that I..." Meng Yao still looks dubious, which is understandable.

"You do," Mo Xuanyu says, sounding weary. "I'm sorry, Mr. Meng, I got kicked out of Jinlintai for flirting with Jin Guangyao, I know what he looks like. You look exactly like him. I just thought it was a crazy coincidence."

"I think if you sit down and think about it, you'll know that it's true," Wei Ying says, much more calmly. "Just like Lan Zhan and Lan Xichen did. When you read my testimony, did you believe it? Like, no questions asked, you just knew it was true?"

Meng Yao is starting to look nervous, and it's clear that Wei Ying is right. "Well, there was no reason not to believe you. You were under a truth talisman."

"And yet I still had to come here and unsheathe Suibian to prove I'm not crazy," Wei Ying points out. "But you didn't doubt it, I bet. Now, you didn't know all of it. I'm going to guess that finding out I gave my golden core to Jiang Cheng surprised you a hell of a lot more than, say, reading my description of the day I made Jin Zixun tell me where the Wen survivors were. You didn't have any instinct as to whether or not the golden core bit was true, because he didn't know about it. But he was part of the conversation with Jin Zixun." Lan Zhan can see realization, then horror settling in on Meng Yao's face. Wei Ying looks sympathetic. "And yeah, it was him, not you. I am the Yiling Laozu, but you are not Jin Guangyao. You did not betray Zewu-Jun, or this Lan Xichen, you did not kill Nie Mingjue. But you need to understand that Lan Zhan and Lan Xichen are similar enough to who they were then that I don't exactly trust you."

"Oh," Meng Yao says, his eyes widening. "Oh, god. Oh no." He sways a little and grabs a chair to lower himself into. "I—I know things. Things I can't know. I don't remember them happening, but I know that they did."

"Yes," Lan Xichen says softly. "Lan Zhan and I have been through this process already; perhaps the three of us should sit down together before we go back to the Cloud Recesses tomorrow."

But Meng Yao doesn't even seem to have heard him. Instead, he looks back up at Wei Ying. "I'll tell you everything he did," he says, a new intensity in his voice. "There was more. I'll tell you everything as long as you won't hold me responsible."

Wei Ying looks at him a little funny. "I mean, I don't think anyone can legally prosecute you for—"

"I know that!" Meng Yao snaps. "I'm not asking the Council not to hold me responsible, or even the Jin Sect. I am asking you, Wei Wuxian, to remember that I did not do these things. I wouldn't do these things. I..." He shakes his head, looking like he's sifting through thoughts he barely understands. "The world is so different now, anyhow, and I had a perfectly happy childhood. My father died before I was born; I never had any reason to resent him or try to grab power from him. My highest ambition is to become Director of Antiquities, and I'm not going to murder my boss, just wait for him to retire! I was never rejected by my sect; I left cultivation training of my own free will because I realized that my interests lay elsewhere and I don't need a strong golden core to oversee collections of artifacts."

Wei Ying wrinkles his nose and looks at Mo Xuanyu. "I thought you said his personality was similar."

"The... nice, smiley part," Mo Xuanyu replies, motioning vaguely at Meng Yao's face. Then he stops and looks at Meng Yao, squinting thoughtfully. "Actually... Mr. Meng, I know we've only met a few times, so I apologize if I'm making assumptions here, but I think... I think you're good at a lot of the same things, you just use it for different purposes. Director Luo said you've been expanding our collection, right? Talking other sects into giving us items, tracking down artifacts that were sold in other parts of the world to bring them back to Lanling. I mean, you got some stuff back from the British Museum. Nobody gets stuff back from the British Museum."

"Huh," Wei Ying says, scratching his nose. "Yeah, okay, I can see that. Okay, great, excellent. You're not Jin Guangyao, you're not scheming to take over the cultivation world, you're just scheming to get the Jins' shit back from the Europeans. I'm glad you've found a productive outlet for your manipulative instincts. Okay, I won't personally hold you responsible for anything Jin Guangyao did. I promise. Now... why would I?"

As Meng Yao explains, Wei Ying goes pale. It was Jin Guangyao via Su Minshan, not Wei Ying, who cursed Jin Zixun and then caused Wen Ning to kill both him and Jin Zixuan, and who wrestled control away from Wei Ying at Nightless City so that the puppets became more vicious and started turning on the people Wei Ying was trying to protect. As they listen, Lan Zhan first puts an arm around Wei Ying, then when he realizes he's trembling guides him to sit down in one of the folding chairs.

But when Lan Zhan sits beside him and goes to take his hand, he realizes that Wei Ying isn't just trembling. His entire body is tense, and he has Suibian in a grip that would bruise if it were human flesh. What makes Lan Zhan's heart stop for a moment, though, are the wisps of black smoke starting to curl around his hands, barely there but growing darker every second.

"Wei Ying," Lan Zhan says, voice low and urgent.

Wei Ying doesn't seem to hear him. Meng Yao comes to the end of his explanation, and Wei Ying's lips are twitching slightly as he asks, "Is that all? You just added the deaths of my sister, my brother-in-law, and all of the innocent Wens to your list of crimes, are you sure you want to stop there?"

"It's not him," Lan Zhan reminds him. He tugs at Wei Ying's shoulder. "Wei Ying, look at me."

Wei Ying turns to him on reflex, and as soon as he does he looks suddenly disoriented. His eyes flick up to where a forehead ribbon would go, and then down to his own wrist where he is wearing Lan Zhan's wrist cuff. The sinuous black swirls start to fade as he traces one finger over the embossed design in the leather.

Then he passes out on Lan Zhan's shoulder.

"Wei Ying!" Cold panic shoots through Lan Zhan's veins as the others bolt out of their chairs around him. He breathes a sigh of relief to find that Wei Ying is breathing.

Someone's hand reaches for Wei Ying, and Lan Zhan doesn't think, he just pulls Wei Ying in protectively and snarls as he swats the hand away. He doesn't know what he looks like, but when his head snaps up his brother takes a step back, eyes wide. It's enough to bring him back to the present, and he relaxes incrementally.

"I'm sure he'll be fine," Xichen murmurs. "This is a lot more than any of us were expecting to deal with today."

"Perhaps I should go," Meng Yao says tentatively. "I don't think—"

"Not yet," Xichen says sharply, holding up a hand. "I have—" He closes his eyes and takes a breath. "Perhaps not now. Mr. Meng, I would greatly appreciate it if you and I could speak privately later, perhaps after your afternoon meetings?"

"Of course," Meng Yao says, his voice almost a whisper. He takes out his phone and looks at it. "If you can come by my office at five, I can be at your disposal all evening. And please, call me Meng Yao."

Xichen does not quite look at him. "I'm not sure I can say that name. Just yet." He drags his eyes up to meet Meng Yao's. "That is not your fault. But I think it may be easier for me to keep things... separate... if I continue to call you by something he... Zewu-Jun never called Jin Guangyao. For now. If you don't mind."

Meng Yao gives him an understanding smile that, thanks to his familiarity with Wei Ying's smiles, Lan Zhan can tell is hiding the fact that this stings. "Of course."

By then, Wei Ying is stirring in Lan Zhan's arms. Lan Zhan helps him sit up as Meng Yao freezes, clearly unsure if he should still leave or at least acknowledge Wei Ying in some way first.

"Sorry," Wei Ying says, rubbing a hand over his face. "I'm not... I'm okay. I'm not going to kill anyone or anything." He glances up at Meng Yao for just a moment before looking away again. "You're not him. I get it. I know. Thank you for telling me all that. I know it would have been easy for you to just keep it to yourself and not, y'know..." He motions to himself generally. "Risk pissing off the most powerful demonic cultivator in history. So thanks."

"It seems the least I can do," Meng Yao says. He nods to Xichen and then Lan Zhan and turns to Mo Xuanyu. "Mr. Mo, please feel free to include all of that in your report to Sect Leader Jin. I am assuming from the fact that I had not heard about anyone... feeling the effects of reincarnation, shall we say, that this has not been made public knowledge in the same way Mr. Wei's position has been. I suppose we shall have to decide how to deal with the information we have, given that I, at least, have no proof of any of it."

"We can discuss it this evening," Xichen says.

Meng Yao gives him another nod and then leaves.

Lan Zhan insists on taking Wei Ying directly to their hotel, ignoring the reporter who is growing increasingly agitated because she was promised an exclusive interview as well as the paparazzi who have gathered outside the building, because somehow word has already gotten out the Wei Ying passed the test. Wei Ying seems too exhausted to do anything but be led, not even mug for the cameras or call out sarcastic quips as they go by, which only worries Lan Zhan more.

Lan Zhan does not truly relax until Wei Ying is asleep in his arms, which happens very quickly despite his protestations as Lan Zhan manhandles him into the bed for a nap. Lan Zhan himself is not tired; if anything, his mind is wide awake and buzzing. Meng Yao's story didn't trigger any new memories for him, not like it clearly did for his brother, but Hanguang-Jun never spent much time with Jin Guangyao. He's not sure what to do with the rage he feels at a man who's been dead for six hundred years and was already considered a disgrace. He tries to meditate, but his thoughts are too agitated even for that. Finally, he grabs his phone from the nightstand and plays a mindless game Wei Ying installed on it as Wei Ying sleeps.

Later, Lan Xichen comes by their room before he heads out to meet Meng Yao as planned. Wei Ying is overly nervous about it, and Lan Zhan can't keep him from pacing the hotel room.

"I know it's not him, I get it, I know. This guy has managed to put his gifts to work toward something other than taking over his sect and using me as a scapegoat to kill everyone who got in his way. But he could also still use them for that! Or, or not that, just. Bad things." He takes Xichen by the shoulders. "Just because he hasn't done bad things yet doesn't mean he won't. He's capable of it, somewhere in there."

"Believe me," Xichen says, gently removing Wei Ying's hands, "I know. I probably know that better than you do. I'm quite glad that I don't actually remember the experience of being Zewu-Jun, but I know what happened to him. I know their history. I know how similar A-Zhan and I are to our past selves, but remember that there are differences. We were born into different lives in a different world, and have made different choices, and so has he. I don't know if we'll stay in his office, or maybe go grab dinner, or what, but we will be in public the entire time."

"Don't let him close his office door while you're there!" Wei Ying says, poking an accusing finger in Xichen's face that Xichen bats away with an amused look. "And if everyone else in the building—or even on the floor you're on!—if everyone else goes home, you insist on going somewhere else with him!"

Once Xichen finally extracts himself long enough to leave, Wei Ying is still nearly vibrating. They have at least a couple of hours alone, so Lan Zhan shoves him back down on the bed and distracts him the best way he knows how.

Some indeterminate amount of time later, he's just starting to think that maybe they should get dressed before his brother gets back when his phone rings. He reaches over and tilts the screen up, expecting to see Scam Likely or some unidentifiable number he can easily reject. Instead, he sees his brother's name.

"Are you okay?" he says in lieu of a greeting.

"Yes yes," Xichen says quickly, "I'm fine. Don't worry. It's going well." Lan Zhan's heart rate starts to return to normal as he waits for Xichen to tell him why he would call him on the actual phone if it's not an emergency. "I'm sorry, I was worried you might not check a text immediately. Meng Yao has remembered some other things. One of them might be important, and Wuxian should be there when we investigate."

"Investigate?" Lan Zhan frowns. He doesn't like the thought of his brother investigating anything with that man, even if apparently he can say his name now.

"Is Wuxian there?" Lan Xichen asks. "Can you put me on speaker?"

"Mm." By now, Wei Ying has noticed something is up and is sitting up, leaning into Lan Zhan's shoulder. He fiddles with the phone. "You are on speaker."

"Meng Yao tells me that there is a room under the Jin clan family residences, under the place that was once the Sect Leader's suite, that no one has ever been able to get into," Xichen says. "They've tried all sorts of talismans, spells, even explosives at one point. It's a well-guarded sect secret; he only knows about it because it's old enough that if they ever were to open it the contents would surely be under his authority. According to Meng Yao, Jin Guangyao is the one who sealed the room, just before he tried to flee when his role in Nie Mingjue's murder was revealed. Meng Yao says that he put a few weapons in there that he thought would come in handy if he was able to come back later to get them, but that he didn't want falling into anyone else's hands. He won't tell me exactly what, because he, quote, 'doesn't want to get Wei Wuxian's hopes up.'"

"Uh," Wei Ying says. "Let him know that I really, truly don't plan to kill anyone? And if I decided to, I don't need Jin Guangyao's stuff, I'd just break Chenqing out of its case. I could probably still take down at least one sect with that alone."

"As... reassuring as that is," Xichen says, "I don't think he expects you to want to use these weapons. I don't know what they are, but perhaps he took something of value to you and turned it into a weapon? But he says he doesn't know what condition we'll find it in."

Wei Ying frowns, a look on his face like he's piecing together a puzzle. "Huh. I mean... I've got one guess but I'm not sure the condition would matter much. I'm also not sure I feel like following Meng Yao into an armory?" he adds. "Like, sure technically that's public but a sealed underground chamber doesn't exactly sound public enough for him not to jump us."

"There will be three of us and one of him," Lan Zhan points out, "and he is a very weak cultivator who has not made regular use of his golden core in years." Wei Ying still looks skeptical.

Xichen sighs. "He is quite insistent that he is going to go retrieve whatever this is, with or without us. Would you rather he do it alone?"

Wei Ying groans. "No. If it's what I think it is, he shouldn't even touch it. Where should we meet you?"

Chapter Text

Now that he has Suibian back, Wei Ying insists they fly to the meeting spot. "Do you know how long it's been since I've flown on my sword?" he whines when Lan Zhan suggests public transportation. "My new core is strong enough for a short ride."

Lan Zhan looks at him, really looks at him, head to toe, assessing whether he's ready for such a thing. He seems to have recovered from the brief brush with resentful energy earlier, but they don't know what they're going to find when they arrive at the Jin clan's residence compound.

"It could be a trap," he points out. "You may need your spiritual energy."

Wei Ying reaches out, lays a hand on either side of Lan Zhan's face, and tilts their foreheads together. "Lan Zhan. My love. Light of my life. I realize this whole Yiling Laozu thing is mostly an abstract concept to you, but a half an hour before I met you, I killed a man with my bare hands. I will be fine."

He is right; Lan Zhan still has trouble picturing his brilliant, kind, loving fiancé killing as many people as he knows he has killed. He's seen what Wei Ying looked like then, but did not see him actually commanding the army of puppets. He is fine with this. The Yiling Laozu is welcome to remain an abstraction.

"You may not have had a golden core then," Lan Zhan replies, "but how much resentful energy did you have at your command? I do not want you to feel the need to draw upon that again if your core is overextended."

Wei Ying puts three fingers up near his head in a salute. "I promise, a ten-minute sword trip won't drain me so much I can't fight," he says. Then he holds out his wrist. "Here, check."

Lan Zhan does, somewhat wishing that when they had sex earlier he'd thought to use it as an opportunity for dual cultivation to strengthen Wei Ying's core just a little bit more. But when he closes his eyes and reaches in with his spiritual energy to probe Wei Ying's core, as much as he'd like to he knows he can't deny its strength.

When he opens his eyes again, Wei Ying is grinning, knowing he's won. Lan Zhan gives him a look to let him know he still doesn't like this, but then says, "You should be proud of how much progress you've made. Even two months ago, you would not have been able to do this."

Wei Ying's grin goes soft, and he leans in to kiss Lan Zhan. "How long do you think it would've taken me if I didn't have a proper cultivation partner?" he says, his voice going low and husky. "Lan Zhan takes such good care of me."

They are about thirty seconds from not going to meet his brother at all, so Lan Zhan gently pushes Wei Ying back. "Get your sword."

When they arrive, Lan Xichen and Meng Yao are standing near the entrance. Meng Yao is frowning at his phone, swiping furiously at something.

He glances up briefly, his professional smile flashing across his face. "Mr. Wei, Mr. Lan. Thank you for coming. I'm just looking at some blueprints. I've been to this room before, briefly, so I know generally where it is and I know how to break the seal. But breaking the seal involves approaching it from a different direction, not just from the hallway the door is on, and since I don't actually have Jin Guangyao's memories of what the catacombs looked like, and everything other than this room has been remodeled since, I'm trying to work out how to access the right spot."

"So... this room has just been sitting there for six hundred years?" Wei Ying asks. "And nobody's been worried that someday it's going to, I don't know, just explode or something?"

Meng Yao looks up at him with wide eyes. "Of course we are! We've had a variety of experts check it over the centuries, and have always been assured that whatever is inside can't get out any more than we can get in, but it's still a concern. That's why the Jin keep its very existence a secret. I could be fired just for taking you to the door without authorization, but I cannot put this off."

Wei Ying crosses his arms. "Look, I'm not going down there unless you tell me what you think we're gonna find in that room. I'm not gonna have some curse that's designed to hurt everyone but you jump out at us as soon as you break the seal."

Meng Yao winces. "Jin Guangyao sealed three things in the room before he fled. The first is a stack of documents. Some of the music he'd stolen from the Lan library—which, of course, the Lan are entitled to take back if they haven't disintegrated," he adds, nodding to Lan Zhan and Lan Xichen. "Along with, well. Your notes, Mr. Wei, on demonic cultivation, retrieved from the Burial Mounds after your death... or, rather, your disappearance. Those are, of course, yours to take."

Wei Ying nods. "My notes," he says, voice grim. "So I'm going to go ahead and assume the second thing was Xue Yang's piece of the Yin Iron."

"How did you..." Meng Yao starts.

"Well, I know there's another piece out there, right?" Wei Ying answers before the question is finished. "I've told the world now, I created the Yin Tiger Amulet using Yin Iron I found in the Xuanwu of Slaughter—not one of the four pieces that was known to exist. Only three of those were ever found, and everyone just assumed I had the fourth. That Xue Yang gave it to me in exchange for freeing him in Qinghe. Everyone stopped looking for it once the other three were destroyed, and oddly enough nobody's even asked about it since I took my story public. Everyone's just kind of forgotten it exists. Which is weird, because the Yin Iron doesn't like to be ignored. It wants to be used, that's the whole problem. Nearly a thousand years ago, they managed to suppress the pieces, but it didn't take six hundred years for one of them to convince someone to grab it, and it had been causing problems even before Wen Ruohan found it. Now, part of the problem then was that the pieces were calling to each other, which isn't an issue now, so I think it would be possible to ward it so that no one would sense it for six hundred years or more. And the fact that everyone's kind of forgotten about it means that somebody did seal it away, very effectively. I don't know when Jin Guangyao got it from Xue Yang, but if he had it he sure wouldn't want anyone else using it."

"Wait," Xichen cuts in. "Wuxian, if you knew the entire time that Xue Yang had a piece of the Yin Iron, why didn't you tell anyone? Even if it didn't improve their opinion of your Yin Tiger Amulet, they would have wanted to catch him and get rid of it before he used it, and at least they would know you hadn't colluded with him."

"But without Xue Yang himself," Meng Yao says, his smile taking on a slight edge to it, "or his Yin Iron, as evidence, who would ever have believed the Yiling Laozu about a thing like that?"

"And I knew that if I didn't free Xue Yang, it was probably Jin Guangyao," Wei Ying adds. "I didn't know if he had the Yin Iron or if Xue Yang still had it, but either way, calling attention to Xue Yang would have pissed Jin Guangyao off and possibly his father, and I realize nobody is going to believe this even now, but I actually was not trying to attract any more heat from the Jin than necessary! I was good enough at that already. I figured if Xue Yang started using it, it would be obvious, and him on his own with one little piece wouldn't have been a match for me." He turns back to Meng Yao. "Now I am wondering why Jin Guangyao didn't take it with him," Wei Ying says, crossing his arms. "It was his strongest weapon, why wouldn't he take that along when he ran away?"

"Jin Guangyao was... not Wei Wuxian," Meng Yao says delicately. "I hope you won't think it flattery if I say that, even without a golden core, you were possibly the single most powerful cultivator on earth at the time." Wei Ying shrugs in faux-modesty. "You could, and did, take on the world alone—and nearly won. Everything else that Jin Guangyao had done, he'd done with the help of Xue Yang, Su Minshan, or both. His only two accomplices were dead, and he knew that Yin Iron or no, he couldn't take on the collected might of the Nie and the Jin single-handedly. He was very intelligent, but he was not a strong cultivator, and by himself he could not have controlled more than one or two fierce corpses at a time. So, if he could not use it for protection, it was only a liability. If they caught him and searched him, finding that would simply add one more thing to the list of charges against him, and now someone else would be in possession of it and could use it against him. He knew that if he were caught, they would kill him, but he held out hope that he might get a quick, painless death rather than, say... what you did to Wen Chao."

Wei Ying nods along, still thinking. "And he thought that if he did manage to escape, eventually he'd find someone new to help him, and then he could sneak back here and retrieve his most powerful weapons. So what would he have put in there with my notes and a Yin Iron shard? I feel like there's a pattern here, but it obviously wasn't Suibian or Chenqing so I think I'm out of guesses."

Meng Yao takes a deep breath. "When the Wen refugees presented themselves at Jinlintai to be killed in retribution for Jin Zixuan and Jin Zixun's murders, Jin Guangshan and Jin Guangyao did not burn all of their bodies as they claimed," he says carefully, watching Wei Ying's reaction closely. "They kept Wen Qionglin, but stripped him of his spiritual consciousness again so that they could control him themselves." Wei Ying makes a choking sound, and Lan Zhan automatically takes his hand. "He is the last item Jin Guangyao sealed away before trying to escape. But Mr. Wei, I truly do not know what condition we'll find him in! Jin Guangyao put talismans on him that should have preserved him as he was, even centuries later, but if they somehow fell off I don't know how long his body would last before it started decaying." He cringes away from Wei Ying. "I hope this isn't the case, but we may not find much left but bones."

Lan Zhan squeezes Wei Ying's hand, then looks and realizes that Wei Ying isn't looking at Meng Yao angrily. There's a hope in his eyes of a kind that Lan Zhan isn't sure he's seen before.

"But he might be in there?" Wei Ying asks eagerly. "Wen Ning might be in there, and he might be just fine?" His eyes narrow. "Except they took away his spiritual consciousness again, and this long after death it might be harder to get back..."

"No no, it was temporary! Blocked more than removed," Meng Yao assures him. "Very simple, a few cursed nails inserted into his skull. If he is there, and if he is in the same condition he was when Jin Guangyao put him there, removing the nails should reverse it."

Wei Ying nods along with Meng Yao's explanation, one hand over his mouth. His other hand is squeezing Lan Zhan's hand almost hard enough to hurt. For a moment, he looks too overwhelmed to speak.

Finally, he takes deep breath and shakes his head a little, as if to clear it. "So," he says, "Jin Guangyao sealed the Yin Iron, my notes, and Wen Ning in this room, hoping that if he escaped he could sneak back and retrieve them. But he did not escape, and they did kill him, and somehow his seals have held strong for six hundred years." Wei Ying frowns. "Like you said, he wasn't the strongest cultivator. How'd he manage that?"

Meng Yao smiles, just a little. "Some of it came from your own notes, Mr. Wei. Some of it was his own ingenuity. He'd been working on them for quite some time, it wasn't something he threw together at the last moment. The spells holding it don't require a lot of power to put them in place, and his death actually strengthened the seal. He was..." Meng Yao sighs. "A petty and vengeful man, as we all know. In his view, if he could not have the Yin Iron, after all the work he'd done, nobody else could have it either. They hadn't earned it as he had. And so the lock he made was attuned to his own soul, such that if he died, no living person could open it by any means at all. Unless, of course, he were to reincarnate." He looks thoughtful. "I'm not entirely certain, but I believe he assumed that he would want power like that in any lifetime, no matter his circumstances. You see, if later construction hadn't obscured one of the walls, I could have opened it entirely by accident—he didn't expect to remember anything from his previous life, so he made it so that, if his future incarnation were to simply touch the chamber in the right places, it would open to them, and from there he assumed that he—that I, I suppose, would take full advantage of the opportunity presented by the items therein."

"Huh," Wei Ying says, looking impressed. "Yeah, that makes sense. Ah, I bet I know how he did it... Well, no wait, that wouldn't... Huh, but how did he make up for..." He looks at Meng Yao, eyes bright. "You gotta show me how he did it when we're done."

There is clear relief in Meng Yao's eyes as he replies. "I would be happy to."

"So," Wei Ying says, clapping his hands and rubbing them together. "Everyone here is totally cool with setting the Yiling Laozu loose on a hunk of Yin Iron, possibly with the Ghost General beside him? That's a thing we're ready to do?" He gives them an eager grin.

"How do we destroy it?" Lan Zhan asks.

Wei Ying blinks at him. "Why are you asking me? I didn't destroy any of it. I don't even know what happened to my piece after I made it explode in Nightless City. There must be documentation of how they did it back then, though, right?"

"I know how to do it," Lan Xichen says. "Zewu-Jun was involved in destroying the first three pieces. But shouldn't we... tell someone or something? If nothing else, Meng Yao knowing how to open this, then being able to open it because he has Jin Guangyao's soul, would be proof of our reincarnation claims, and right now the three of us can't really go public with anything we know from our past lives because there's no reason for anyone to believe us."

"If Jin Guangyao did this the way I think he did," Wei Ying says, "he should be able to open the seal without removing it entirely. Just like unlocking a lock. So the seal will still be there as proof, and I don't know, we can, like, take video of opening it and what's inside and everything? Here's the thing: You and Lan Zhan are literally the only two people on this planet who I trust to come anywhere near that piece of Yin Iron; nobody else is finding out about its existence until it's gone. In fact." He looks between the three of them. "Meng Yao and I are not allowed to touch it, you two got that? We're tainted—no offense—" Meng Yao nods diplomatically. "—and you two aren't. Once we get in there, he and I will deal with Wen Ning, you guys find the Yin Iron and get it into a bag or something. Keep it away from us."

Lan Zhan nods, but then tugs on Wei Ying's sleeve. When Wei Ying looks his way, he tilts his head toward the corner of the building.

"We'll be right back," Wei Ying says to the other two, and follows Lan Zhan.

"Wei Ying.. will you be okay?" Lan Zhan asks once they're out of earshot.

Wei Ying rears back, a distrustful look in his eyes that makes something inside Lan Zhan wither. "I just said I won't touch it, didn't I?" he snaps. "I'm not going to go power-mad just from being in the same room as the thing. I carried a piece of it around for years and used it every day!"

"No!" Lan Zhan shakes his head desperately. "I know that. I trust Wei Ying with the Yin Iron. I do not trust the Yin Iron with Wei Ying. Using resentful energy harmed you before. You've said you're recovering now that you're developing a new core, but I saw what happened when you were angry at Meng Yao."

Wei Ying, who had been starting to relax, tenses again. "What do you mean? What happened?"

He didn't even realize he was doing it. That doesn't make Lan Zhan feel better. "When he was explaining everything Jin Guangyao did to you, you were gripping Suibian so tightly, and... and black smoke was starting to form around your hands. I know it was resentful energy, but I don't know where it came from, and if you can do that without even realizing it, what if you... somehow call the resentment in the Yin Iron to you without meaning to? What if it harms you even if you don't touch it?"

Wei Ying sighs and puts his arms around Lan Zhan's neck. Lan Zhan's hands automatically wrap around Wei Ying's waist and pull him close.

"I'm sorry, I truly didn't mean to do that earlier," Wei Ying says. "You're right, I didn't know I was doing it and that's not great. The thing is, I don't actually need the Yin Iron to control resentful energy. It makes it easier, and I need it to do things like create new puppets or fierce corpses. But just using resentful energy became automatic, just like using spiritual energy is automatic when you have a golden core, and habits like that are hard to break. I think it helped that no resentful energy got pulled forward in time with me—when I died, or when I fell at least, I was full of it. It was coursing through my veins, clouding my head. When I opened my eyes here, it was gone. It would have been hard to stop using it if I'd had to let go of it all myself, but once I didn't have any to work with it wasn't so hard to just not call it to me, especially once I started recultivating my golden core. But it was always harder for me to control it—to control myself and what I did with it—when I was angry, and I must have automatically called some to me then. There's no reason for me to be angry now. I've already spent all my anger at Jin Guangyao for the moment. Even if Wen Ning isn't in there, I appreciate that Meng Yao tried to get us there to save him. I'm the only one here who knows what the Yin Iron feels like. I know how to resist it. It will take effort, but I can do it, Lan Zhan. And if a little resentment gets in and does a little damage, it'll be a drop in the bucket compared to the condition I was in when I got here. And with my new golden core, even my little baby one, my Lan-er-gege can help me fix it." He grins and kisses Lan Zhan on the nose.

Lan Zhan kisses him on the mouth. "He never thought that, you know," he says.

"Who? Thought what?" Wei Ying asks.

"Hanguang-Jun never thought you were power-mad. He couldn't understand why you would use the Yin Tiger Amulet instead of regular cultivation to pursue your goals, but he knew the goal itself was to do what you thought was right, always. He was only ever worried for you, not worried by you."

Wei Ying smiles sadly. "He tried to tell me that," he says. "I heard what I expected to hear, not what he was trying to say." He gives Lan Zhan one more kiss and they return to the others.

Lan Zhan is chosen to be the cameraman. Meng Yao leads them into the building, through a set of doors that he has to scan an ID to open, and down a half a flight of stairs to an elevator that looks like it hasn't been updated since the 1950s, but that has been fitted with a card reader so that Meng Yao has to scan his ID again before it will open. They'd started on the ground floor, but the elevator takes them several floors down.

"This is the tricky thing," he murmurs as they step off the elevator into a dark, dank hallway far beneath the family residences of the Jin clan. "The first place I need to touch is now inside the shaft of this elevator." He points to a door about six feet away from them, on the same side of the hall as the elevator. The door looks old, older than anything else in the hall. "That's the door we've never been able to open. I just need to touch a specific sequence of places on two of the walls. Back then, of course, there was no elevator, and this was just a corner here, so two of the four walls of that room were exposed to the corridor and you could just walk right up and lean on them. At some point the elevator was installed, and it's very lucky that I don't need to get to the wall behind it because I am really not sure how we would manage."

"I hope this is the bottom of the shaft," Wei Ying says.

Meng Yao hums and looks at the blueprints on his phone. "Unfortunately, no. Another layer of subbasement was added at some point. It doesn't go under the chamber, because the chamber wouldn't allow them to dig below it. It starts at the elevator and goes west." He motions down the hall away from the elevator. "The elevator shaft is a bit too deep for me to simply lean in and touch the right places, so I think the easiest way to do this would be if one of you would be so kind as to take me into the shaft on your sword."

"I can do that," Xichen says. "But how do we make sure the elevator stays far away from us?"

"Oh that's easy," Wei Ying chirps. "I can do that and I didn't know what an elevator was six months ago!" He motions for Meng Yao to open the elevator door again, then leans inside of it and very obviously pushes the button for every single floor. The building is at least ten stories high, and they're at least five stories below ground. "There, that'll keep it busy!" He pulls back out of it and watches the door close and the Up arrow light up above it. "I learned that from a bunch of kids at that hotel we stayed at when I went to testify for the Council!"

Lan Zhan helps him wrench the doors back open onto an empty shaft while Xichen gets out his sword and he and Meng Yao step onto it, Xichen holding his shoulders to steady him. Sure enough, the elevator car is slowly making its way up all fifteen floors, stopping to open its doors at every one.

Lan Zhan starts recording as Meng Yao directs Xichen toward the very back of the shaft, where he presses his palm to the wall in two places, and then to a spot near the middle where he runs his fingers along it. By the time they fly back out, the elevator still hasn't finished its climb.

"How quickly do you have to touch them all?" Xichen asks as Meng Yao steps off the sword. "If you don't get it quickly enough, will we need to go back in there and start over?"

"Oh, no, there's no time limit," Meng Yao says. "Remember, Jin Guangyao set this up to maximize the chances that I would open it accidentally even if I had no idea how. As long as I just happen to touch the walls in these specific places, it could be on six different days, a decade apart, and when I touched the last one it would still unseal the room."

He walks down the hall, carefully inspecting the wall before touching it in two more spots, then stands in front of the door. "Well, let's find out," he murmurs to himself, and then he lays his palm over a sigil at the center of the door. It immediately starts to glow a bright blue.

"Mmmm," Wei Ying says, leaning close enough to the brightly-glowing door that Lan Zhan worries for his eyes, "I see. Ah, that was clever, yeah. Nice."

The glow fades, and Wei Ying immediately jumps back from the door. "Shit!" he yelps. "There sure as fuck is a piece of Yin Iron in there, and it's not happy. You guys can't feel that?" He looks around at the others.

Lan Zhan shakes his head. Xichen tilts his head to one side, considering. "I might feel... something?" he finally says.

Meng Yao is looking at the door distrustfully. "I clearly don't feel it as strongly as you do, Mr. Wei, but I definitely feel something that wasn't here a moment ago." He shudders. "I assure you, I have no desire to get any closer to the thing emanating that, let alone touch it or, god forbid, take it home with me. It would probably kill all my houseplants."

Wei Ying looks at him with raised eyebrows. "You definitely aren't Jin Guangyao," he says, shaking his head, and then turns back to the door. He reaches out carefully and grasps the handle. When he pulls, it swings open easily.

"It worked," Meng Yao says faintly. "Honestly, I was sort of hoping it wouldn't. I think I'd rather be delusional than the reincarnation of Jin Guangyao, but it looks like I don't get a choice in the matter."

Wei Ying's eyes widen as he takes in the contents of the room, and he runs in. When Lan Zhan makes it to the doorway, he sees that Wei Ying has run over to a table in the back corner on which is the body of a large man.

"He's—he's here. He's here! He's not decayed or anything, he looks exactly like he did last time I saw him. Lan Zhan, Lan Zhan! This is Wen Ning!" Lan Zhan is, of course, already on his way to Wei Ying, but Wei Ying reaches out and grabs his wrist and pulls him the last few feet. Lan Zhan struggles to keep the video on his phone steady as he goes.

A tear escapes Wei Ying's wide eyes. "It's really him. Holy shit. Okay, okay, look." He reaches out and pets Wen Ning's hair as he speaks. "A-Ning, I don't know if you can hear me, but we're gonna get you out of here, and even if taking out those nails doesn't work, I brought you back once and I can do it again, okay? I can do it. I'll figure it out."

Meng Yao appears at Lan Zhan's side. "We'll need to remove all the talismans preserving him first," he says. Wei Ying nods and starts to pull bits of paper off of the body.

Lan Zhan looks around for his brother to see if he's found the Yin Iron. As it turns out, it was not hidden particularly well, or at all—there is a twisted, charred piece of metal just sitting on the ground, and now that he is closer Lan Zhan can feel some of the resentful energy coming off of it.

Lan Xichen stands over it, staring. "Meng Yao? Did Jin Guangyao just... throw this in here?"

Meng Yao looks over his shoulder from where he is helping Wei Ying remove talismans. "He may have," he says. "I really don't remember exactly where he put things, just what he stored in here and how he sealed it. He was in quite a rush. Wen Qionglin was already in here, but for the rest he likely didn't have time to be picky about where he put them."

Lan Xichen takes out a qiankun pouch he had in his pocket and starts to gingerly use it to pick up the Yin Iron shard, speaking for the camera's benefit as he does. "This is a shard of the original Yin Iron," he says clearly, "which Meng Yao has helped us to recover thanks to his access to the memories and soul of Jin Guangyao. I am going to go destroy it, which I can do because I can access what Zewu-Jun knew. I'll videotape that process myself."

Since he has that under control, Lan Zhan turns off the camera and goes to gather the documents that are piled up haphazardly on a table in another corner. As soon as he reaches for them, though, Meng Yao is at his shoulder.

"Oh, please don't touch those just yet," he says, rummaging in a qiankun pouch he's produced from somewhere. He finally pulls out a pair of white cotton gloves. "Here, put these on first," he says, handing them over to Lan Zhan. As Lan Zhan starts to put them on, he pulls out a few more items. "I wasn't sure what size or shape any of this would be, and I didn't have time to go the store room and grab everything we might need, but hopefully we can make do. These are all archival-quality. Please make sure the documents go in one of these folders or sleeves. The sleeves are better when you can use them, but anything really fragile it's better you just put it in a folder rather than risk damaging it trying to get it into a sleeve." He looks up at Lan Zhan. "If you don't mind."

"Of course," Lan Zhan says, and sets the folders and sleeves neatly next to the pile of documents. Meng Yao nods and goes back to helping Wei Ying.

Lan Zhan realizes immediately that the documents do not have the advantage of the preservation talismans used on Wen Ning, and while some seem fine, others look fragile enough that he's worried they may start falling apart if he picks them up. So he begins a careful process of sorting out the ones he thinks are stable enough to handle, gently moving the others to the side.

"I think that's all the talismans," he hears Meng Yao muttering. "He should be able to wake up now, but he still won't be in control of himself, so we need to be gentle."

"He shouldn't do much without someone telling him what to do, but he might lash out if he feels like he needs to defend himself," Wei Ying guesses.

"Indeed," Meng Yao says. "The nails are at the back of his head, so let's sit him up and I'll remove them."

"What about all these chains?" Wei Ying asks. "Do we need to remove them first?"

"They are not enchanted in any way," Meng Yao says. "They won't prevent him from regaining his spiritual consciousness, but I think we should leave them on until he does, in case he tries to get violent. Anyone with a spiritual sword should be able to cut them off once he's awake."

"Okay," Wei Ying says. Lan Zhan is still focused on the documents he's sorting, but he can hear the nerves in Wei Ying's voice. "Okay. Look, you realize, like... how much I'm trusting you here, right?"

"I know," Meng Yao says. "And I appreciate it. Although, even if I were Jin Guangyao, you would have nothing to fear. He never managed to convince Wen Qionglin to do his bidding. Even in this state, he recognizes you as his only master."

"Aw, that's kinda sweet," Wei Ying says. He sighs. "Okay, my friend, we're gonna bring you back, and then you don't have to have any master, got it? Not me, not anyone."

Lan Zhan finishes sorting the most fragile of the documents out and starts to slide the sturdier ones into the plastic sleeves. He can hear Wei Ying and Meng Yao mumbling to each other and grunting a little as they try to lift Wen Ning to a sitting position. Once he's put everything he can into the plastic sleeves, he takes the document that was in the best condition—it's one of the Lans' forbidden scores—and carefully slides it under some of the fragile documents, using it to gently tip a few at a time into open folders.

"Do you two need any help?" he hears Xichen ask from behind him.

"No, and keep that thing away from us," Wei Ying snaps. He pauses. "Sorry, sorry. We're good. Just... stay over there. Please?"

"Of course," Xichen says.

Even tucked away in folders, Lan Zhan doesn't trust his pile of papers to withstand being crammed into a qiankun pouch, so he hugs them tightly to his body before he goes over to observe. They have Wen Ning sitting up, and Meng Yao positions himself behind him.

"All right, there are two nails..." he says, feeling at the base of Wen Ning's skull. As soon as he grasps something, Wen Ning's eyes fly open. They're solid black. Before he can start to struggle against his chains, though, Wei Ying starts to whistle. It's a slow, gentle, slightly haunting song that tugs at something at the back of Lan Zhan's mind. Wen Ning relaxes, staring at Wei Ying's face as if transfixed. Everyone else in the room holds their breath, but Wei Ying seems to have the situation under control. He motions for Meng Yao to continue.

He gets one nail out, and Wen Ning twitches but doesn't look away from Wei Ying. After another moment and a nasty little squelching noise, the second bloody nail comes out in Meng Yao's hand and Wen Ning's eyes fall closed. Wei Ying lets his whistling fade out to nothing. When Meng Yao tries to come around to see Wen Ning's face, Wei Ying puts up a hand to keep him where he is.

After several tense seconds, Wen Ning's eyes open as he blinks several times. Lan Zhan lets out a whooshing breath when he sees they're no longer black.

"Wei... Wei-gongzi?" Wen Ning asks, squinting at Wei Ying. His voice is rough with disuse (and possibly, Lan Zhan reminds himself, being a corpse).

"Hey," Wei Ying says, a relieved laugh running through it. "Wen Ning. Hi. Welcome back. How do you feel?"

Wen Ning stares at him for a good ten seconds, still blinking confusedly. "I... I'm not sure," he finally says.

"That's okay," Wei Ying says. "Do you know what happened to you?"

Wen Ning frowns, just a little, thinking. "The day my sister and I went to Jinlintai, Sect Leader Jin locked me up," he says slowly. "After that, my memory gets more and more blurry..."

"Okay," Wei Ying says, laying his hands on Wen Ning's shoulders. "Okay, now look. The first thing I need to tell you is that there is a man here who looks like Jin Guangyao, okay? But he's not. I know that Jin Guangyao helped lock you away, but this man is not him. This man helped us rescue you, so don't freak out when you see him, okay?" Wen Ning nods. "Okay. He's going to help me help you off the table, got it?" Wen Ning nods again, and Wei Ying nods to Meng Yao.

When Meng Yao steps around to Wen Ning's side and Wen Ning sees him for the first time, he flinches but manages not to react beyond that. He's clearly extremely stiff—not just a corpse, but a corpse that hasn't moved in six hundred years, and who is still wrapped in chains.

Once his feet are on the floor and he's straightening up, he notices Lan Zhan standing there, clutching the documents. "Lan-er-gongzi!" he says with a faint smile. Lan Zhan isn't sure how to react to this, so he settles on raising his hand in a small wave. That's when Wen Ning seems to notice his clothing, and then Wei Ying's clothing. "Wei-gongzi, why are you dressed so strangely? Both of you?" He looks at Meng Yao. "All three—" He catches sight of Lan Xichen on the other side of the room. "Zewu-Jun!" He falls into a clumsy, stiff bow, and Xichen doesn't seem to know what to do any more than Lan Zhan did. "Your—your hair, what happened to it?"

Wei Ying slings an arm around his shoulders. "This is a long story," he says.

Wen Ning nods along, looking politely bewildered, as Wei Ying explains the situation. Lan Zhan has to admit, even after everything Wei Ying has told him, he was not at all prepared for the Ghost General to be so... adorable.

Xichen leaves to take care of the Yin Iron shard. Meng Yao walks him out, since his ID is required to get back to the entrance of the building. When Meng Yao returns, he comes to stand near Lan Zhan.

"Are those all the documents?" He asks quietly.

"I believe so."

Meng Yao nods. "I'm going to do a sweep of the room before we go, just in case there's anything else that I didn't happen to remember. It's really rather odd, isn't it, remembering things this way? I doubt I want to remember doing the things he did, but it seems like normal memories would feel more... natural, at least. Less confusing."

"I... have had dreams," Lan Zhan says haltingly. "Only twice. Xichen has not so far. I do not know if you will. But in them I see events from Hanguang-Jun's point of view."

"Oh." Meng Yao, pauses, looking at him hesitantly. "Good memories, or bad ones? If you don't mind my asking."

Lan Zhan swallows. "One of each."

Meng Yao nods. He looks at Wei Ying and Wen Ning for a moment, then gives a very small, delicate snort. "I already felt terrible for the many, many things Jin Guangyao did, of course," he says. "But I have to admit I didn't feel that bad about this one, compared to everything else. Until now. If I had realized he's basically an enormous, dead puppy I would have felt worse sooner." Before Lan Zhan can think of a response to that, he's left and has started checking under tables and in cabinets for anything else Jin Guangyao may have hidden in there.

Once they're sure the room is clear, and Wen Ning has a basic idea of what's going on, they cut off his chains and start to shepherd him out of the building. Wei Ying keeps up a steady stream of chatter the whole way, which Wen Ning seems to cling to like a life preserver as Wei Ying explains and makes jokes about the elevator, electricity, and all sorts of other modern things they pass on the way out to the sidewalk.

Just as they step out of the building, Lan Zhan's phone vibrates with a text from his brother, saying he's finished, with a video attached of him destroying it.

"It's done," he reports to the others. "Xichen should be back in just a few minutes."

"Okay, we'll wait for him before heading back to the hotel, then," Wei Ying says. He looks up at Wen Ning. "Um. Do you think you're okay to fly on a sword with one of us? You're still a little unsteady, I wouldn't want you to have trouble balancing..."

Wen Ning, who has been eyeing the street warily from where they're standing against the side of the building, far back from the cars racing by, looks slightly alarmed. "If we don't fly, do I have to—have to get in one of those?"

"They're really not that bad," Wei Ying says. "And I hate to break it to you, but you're gonna have to ride in one tomorrow; it's the only way for us to take you home. But okay, I'll take you on my sword this time, it'll be fine."

Wen Ning's eyes widen. "Wei-gongzi, you can..." His eyes cut to Lan Zhan, and he seems to catch himself.

Wei Ying grins. "Your sister left just enough scraps of golden core in me that the future doctors were able to help me recultivate it. I'm good as new! Well, nearly."

When Xichen arrives, they discuss next steps. It's decided that Lan Zhan and Wei Ying will head back to the Cloud Recesses the next day as planned, and take Wen Ning with them; hopefully, they'll have him in Gusu and officially under the protection of the Lan sect before the Jin know he exists. Xichen will stay in Lanling for another day or two to help Meng Yao present the information about everything he's remembered and the Yin Iron they destroyed to the Jin Sect Board of Directors. He isn't sure how they will react—whether bringing non-sect-members into the chamber and then letting them destroy or run off with the contents will cost him his job, or be seen as righting old wrongs. If it were the Lan or the Jiang, he would likely be safe; the Jin, however, are already stinging from Wei Ying's testimony regarding Jin Guangshan and are always at their most dangerous when their pride is at stake.

"I spoke with Sect Leader Lan on the phone on my way back here," Xichen says. "I know you don't want to leave your sect, and this would be an absolute last resort, but if it comes to that, the Lan would be eager to put your expertise to good use."

"Let us hope the Board of Directors is able to see all of this as the miracle that it is," Meng Yao says, "and that that won't be necessary. I will admit, though, I have always envied the Cloud Recesses library..."

Even with his stiffness making it harder than usual to balance, Wen Ning seems more comfortable on Wei Ying's sword than he has at any other point in the evening, which Lan Zhan supposes makes sense. It's likely the closest thing to his home that he's seen since he woke up.

When they arrive at the hotel, they realize they forgot to address one thing. "Er, I'll get moved to a room with two beds, and he can stay with me," Xichen says. People are already starting to stare at Wen Ning, so he continues, "Why don't you take him up to your room and get him a change of clothes while I work that out?"

"Wow, Lan Zhan," Wei Ying says as he expertly opens the door to their room with the key card, "who would've thought when you and Xichen brought me back to your hotel room and gave me a set of your clothes that we'd be doing the same thing for someone else just a few months later? Ooh! Wen Ning, I have to show you indoor plumbing! I know you don't eat or drink so you probably won't need the toilet, but I bet even you will benefit from a long, hot shower."

Lan Zhan listens to Wei Ying chatter away in the bathroom, Wen Ning occasionally asking hesitant questions, as he carefully sets the recovered documents (which he has been holding against him this entire time; his arms creak a little when he finally straightens his elbows for the first time in nearly two hours) on the desk and opens his suitcase. He's hit with a sudden sense of deja vu, like he's been sent right back to the day they found Wei Ying. He takes a moment to bask in the memory, how his body knew he belonged with Wei Ying before he did.

Unfortunately, they only packed for an overnight trip, so they don't have much in the way of spare clothing. He did bring one set of exercise clothes, intending to go for a run in the morning before they leave, so he takes those out for Wen Ning. Wen Ning is a good bit broader than him, but hopefully the relaxed elastic at the waist will be enough for now. Wei Ying seems to be getting Wen Ning ready to shower, so Lan Zhan drops off the clothes and then sits down at his computer to find the store that will open earliest in the morning so that he can buy Wen Ning a proper outfit for the trip back to Gusu.

Once Wen Ning is showering, Wei Ying comes out and drapes himself around Lan Zhan's shoulders. "Lan Zhan," he says, a hint of a whine in his voice, "come hold me so I can cry a little about this. Just a little, I promise, I'm not feeling that messed up."

Lan Zhan, of course, is loathe to deny Wei Ying anything but would especially never deny him this.

Wei Ying is right; he doesn't cry for very long. "I'm just processing," he says when the tears have subsided. Lan Zhan smiles a little; therapy has been good for Wei Ying. "I'm so happy to have Wen Ning back, but of course I can't help but think of his sister and all the other Wens who didn't get saved-slash-imprisoned by Jin Guangshan, and then I can't help but think of him thinking about them, when he can't even cry. So I have to cry a few extra tears for him, obviously. I hope being dead doesn't make it too much harder for him to acclimate to modern life. Oh man, what will we even do about his legal status? Like, will the government even be willing to give him the documentation I've got?" He gasps sharply. "Lan Zhan, what if they want to experiment on him? We can't let them take him away and run tests and experiments on him! "

"I do not think they will do that," Lan Zhan assures him, "but if they try, we will not let them. The Council has done well so far adapting to take your and Mo Xuanyu's unusual circumstances into account and working with the local governments to ensure they will accommodate you. I believe they will do the same for Wen Ning."

"I sure hope so," Wei Ying says. It's past nine by now, and Lan Zhan is starting to get drowsy when there's a knock at their door, and at the exact same time the shower turns off.

As it turns out, Xichen's current room is booked the next night and could not have been extended anyhow, so it was just as well that he needed to switch to a different one. He looks as tired as Lan Zhan feels, and Lan Zhan thinks he is relieved when Wen Ning comes out of the bathroom, tugging on the t-shirt as if he's not sure he's got it on right.

"You look great!" Wei Ying crows, bouncing up out of the bed where he'd been lounging with Lan Zhan as they talked to his brother. "Ah, Wen Ning, once you get used to the modern clothes you'll like them. Such a wide variety to choose from! Now, I know you don't actually sleep but it seems like a night of deep meditation would do you some good after all that, so Lan Xichen has gotten a room with two beds so you can have the second one, all right? So you'll go with him, just down the hall, and Lan Zhan and I will be right here and see you in the morning, okay?"

"Okay," Wen Ning says, nodding, but then he looks at Lan Zhan sitting on the bed and tilts his head just a tiny bit, a small furrow in his brow. "Wei-gongzi, are you and Lan-er-gongzi both staying in this room? Won't you be needing two beds, too?"

Wei Ying and Xichen both freeze. Lan Zhan does not, but he was not moving to begin with. Wei Ying's mouth drops open and he slowly looks from Wen Ning to Lan Zhan and then back.

"Uh. Wow." He laughs a little nervously. "There's just been so much to tell you, I forgot all about that! And Lan Zhan was hugging those papers all evening, so it's not like we've been—anyhow. Wen Ning, it turns out you decided to get rescued at just the perfect time! There's going to be a wedding soon!" He glances back at Lan Zhan, looking startled. "Oh. Very soon, actually. Lan Zhan, it's less than a month away!" Lan Zhan smiles. He knows exactly how many days it is.

"Oh, that's wonderful," Wen Ning says with a soft smile. "Who's getting married?"

Wei Ying laughs. "Lan Zhan and I!"

Wen Ning's smile fades into confusion. "Both of you at the same time? To who?"

"To each other!" Wei Ying says, fondly exasperated. "Wen Ning, really, who else would I possibly marry?"

"Oh!" Wen Ning's smile comes back. "That makes sense. You did get very drunk and very sad that time he came to visit but left before dinner. I'm glad you won't ever have to be sad about him leaving again."

Wei Ying laughs nervously. "Me too, me too. Um, I don't exactly remember what all I said that night, so maybe don't talk about it in front of anyone else until you've run it by me so I know exactly how embarrassing it's going to be? Can you do that for me?"

"Of course," Wen Ning says, and it's a little hard to tell with his stiff features but Lan Zhan is fairly certain that he is looking at Wei Ying with amusement.

A few minutes later, Wei Ying is closing the door behind Lan Xichen and Wen Ning. He comes over to the bed and then just falls into it, right on top of Lan Zhan, who grunts with the impact.

"It's only 9:30," he says, face muffled where it's pressed into the comforter. "Am I turning into a Lan or has today just been ridiculously exhausting?"

"Mm." Lan Zhan considers as he pulls Wei Ying's hair ribbon out and combs his fingers through the loose hair. "Both."

Wei Ying rolls over and grins up at him. "I can't believe I'm going to be a Lan, Lan Zhan. Me. Marrying into the Lan Sect. Living in the Cloud Recesses, like, permanently. If we ever meet the reincarnation of Lan Qiren his qi will deviate on the spot when we tell him."

"Some of the elders may yet suffer from qi deviation," Lan Zhan says. "Although I notice that, as much as they do not approve of the Yiling Laozu marrying a Lan, they have not gone so far as to refuse to let you teach next year. Or fail to announce the fact that you will be teaching a talismans seminar in the Cloud Recesses in every advertisement for guest disciples."

"Heh, true," Wei Ying says. He reaches up and tugs on a bit of Lan Zhan's hair. "Hey. This is probably gonna, y'know... blow the whole reincarnation thing wide open. Are you gonna be okay with that? Technically, we could get away with people only knowing about Meng Yao and Xichen to explain what happened tonight, but..."

"But if we tell the world that one of the ways you knew was because they had the same name, people will notice that I, too, share a name with a historical figure," he finishes. "Who was the brother of the man who shares a name with my brother. People would ask questions. Probably incessantly. It is fine; there is no need to try to hide it. What about you?"

"Me?" Wei Ying rolls back onto his stomach so he can push himself up on his elbows. "I was already going public. This won't make anything any worse for me. If anything, if people believe you guys then everyone will know Jin Guangyao was responsible for some of the things I've been blamed for; this is good for me!"

"Mm. But if people know that anyone who shares a name with and looks like someone from your time period is likely their reincarnation, you'll be besieged by people trying to find out if they look like anyone you knew. Mo Xuanyu too, most likely—we need to let him know what's happening."

"I think Meng Yao was going to tell him about it tomorrow morning," Wei Ying says. "I'm glad I got his number, he and I need to hang out. And he needs to meet Wen Ning! I gotta admit, it'll be nice to know at least a couple people who were really around back then, even if I didn't know Xuanyu before. But anyhow, getting off topic. Yeah, I know. Everyone and their brother will be trying to claim their real name is secretly Jiang Cheng or Nie Mingjue and wanting me to take a look at them. But I figure it'll die down pretty quickly. And." He reaches over to grab Lan Zhan's hand. "It's totally worth it, if it means we can tell the world about A-Yuan, y'know? Like, even if all the Jin Guangyao stuff about me weren't a factor, if the world is willing to believe you about him, that's totally worth however many annoying people trying to pretend to be Wen Qing."

"I agree."

That night, Lan Zhan has another dream. It is, thankfully, not about Wei Ying's death, or any of the painful memories he knows Hanguang-Jun has related to Wei Ying's demonic cultivation.

In fact, Wei Ying is not in it at all.

When it starts, Hanguang-Jun is sitting at his guqin in a clean, tranquil room, playing. Lan Zhan immediately recognizes the song—it's the one Wei Ying whistled to calm down Wen Ning. Hanguang-Jun wrote it himself, Lan Zhan realizes, for Wei Ying. He is only playing for a moment, though, before he is interrupted by a knock at his door.

When he opens the door, there is a young man standing there. He is not wearing a disciple's robe, but looks to be only just old enough to have passed out of discipleship. His smile is apologetic.

"Hanguang-Jun," he says with a bow. "This one apologizes for not being able to join you for dinner this evening."

"It is just as well," Hanguang-Jun says as he steps aside to let the young man in, "I have much to discuss with you, and I could not have done so while eating anyhow."

The young man lets out a small laugh, and Lan Zhan realizes who this is: Lan Sizhui. The family resemblance to Wen Ning is unmistakeable, particularly in the eyes.

Sizhui settles at a table while Hanguang-Jun fetches tea.

"I hope," he says, watching his father with a careful expression, "that you called me here to talk about whatever it is that's been making you so pensive all week." Hanguang-Jun's surprise is mild as he brings the tea set over; he knows full well that Sizhui is one of a very few people who can read his moods. Lan Sizhui keeps looking at him as he pours the tea. "Obviously if it's something else, I'm eager to hear it, but something has been bothering you, father."

Hanguang-Jun sets the teapot down and looks at his son, whom he loves more than any living person, whom he is so proud of every single day that sometimes he doesn't know what to do with it.

"You are a man now," Hanguang-Jun starts as Sizhui blows on his tea. "You are no longer a junior disciple but a full-fledged cultivator, and will someday be leader of the Lan Sect. It is time you knew the truth about who you are, and where you come from."

Lan Sizhui sets his cup of tea down. When he speaks, it is slow and hesitant. "I know I was not born a Lan," he says, "but I thought you found me on the street in Yiling and didn't know who my parents were."

"I do not know the names of your birth parents," Hanguang-Jun says, "and I did first meet you on a street in Yiling." He pauses, takes a sip of his tea. Lan Zhan can feel his nervousness. He has thought long and hard about how to tell his story, even written it down and gone over it to be sure, but he is still worried he will trip over his words, miss important details. It is not a feeling Hanguang-Jun is familiar with. "This story is not only about you," he explains. "For you to understand not only where you came from, but why I insisted that I have custody of you, even when I was injured and in seclusion and could not see you every day while you lived with your uncle, even when the elders said that a single man was not an adequate family and wanted to give you to a couple who already had children, I must start long before I met you."

"I have... heard things," Sizhui says, looking at his father with concerned eyes, "about that. Thankfully, most of what I've heard was in the form of people commenting on how well you've raised me, how they had their concerns but you've proven them wrong. Nothing about why any of it happened, though."

Hanguang-Jun takes a deep, calming breath. "When I was sixteen," he starts, "I found a boy drinking wine on a rooftop."

He talks for longer than he has ever spoken before in his life. Lan Zhan listens, fascinated to hear the story from his point of view. He does not know, of course, about Wei Ying's missing core, but he does understand that, for whatever reason, demonic cultivation was the only way Wei Ying could survive the Burial Mounds. This he accepts. He understands, even if he does not like, that Wei Ying continued to use it to win the war. He does not understand why he felt he needed to use it to protect the Wens, when his normal cultivation would have been just as strong, if not stronger. His regrets are clear. He wishes Wei Ying had let him help him, but wishes more that he had seen beyond his own limited viewpoint and considered whether there were other forms of help Wei Ying may have been willing to accept.

When he tells of the day he first met A-Yuan, there is real joy within him, and Lan Zhan is reminded of Wei Ying telling the same story: This part is a happy story, Lan Zhan. There aren't many of those.

"I loved you nearly as soon as I met you," Hanguang-Jun says, his voice warm. "Because Wei Ying loved you, and I trusted his heart." Sizhui is biting his lip, holding back tears.

The tea is long gone and it is well past haishi by the time he finishes. "I would have taken you home that day in Yiling if Wei Ying had asked me to. When he died, you were already mine in my heart, and I could not give that up. But you had also been loved and raised by Wei Ying, and I couldn't bear to let you be raised by someone who might poison you against him with lies your entire life. I could not save him, but I could make sure that you were loved, and that you would grow into a man he would be proud of. And you have."

A few tears have slipped out of Sizhui's eyes by this point. He sits quietly for a moment after Hanguang-Jun finishes. Lan Zhan can see this man being someone he might have raised, his emotional reactions to the story balanced by this contemplative stillness while he decides how to react to everything he's learned.

Finally, Sizhui raises his eyes to his father's. "Why haven't you made sure more people know the truth?" His voice is soft and curious; it is an honest question, not an accusation. "I've always noticed that you were... disdainful, I suppose, of what people said of the Yiling Laozu. I knew you'd fought beside him, and I could tell that you knew him better than most, and that you'd probably seen sides of him that the people spreading the stories never had. But they still spread the stories, and I did believe many of them, even if I knew he had to be a better man than they said for you to have been friends with him. Why have you never stopped them?"

Hanguang-Jun sighs, a heaviness in his heart that he has carried for nearly two decades. "I tried," he says. "For a time. I corrected people. I spoke up in defense of the Dafan Mountain Wens when people claimed they were demonic cultivators." His voice turns bitter. "Unfortunately, the only other person to have seen the village on the Burial Mounds was Jiang Wanyin, and he had no interest in defending his own brother from slander. I found that the world had already decided which version of the story it wanted to hear, and one voice could not change that. And so I decided that a better tribute to Wei Ying would be to live my life in a way I knew he would respect. I stopped worrying about what people said and instead focused on two things: Righting injustices, even when—especially when—those in power turned a blind eye or were at fault, and raising you to do the same."

"Thank you," Sizhui murmurs, eyes focused on his empty teacup as he toys with it. "For telling me. I have a lot to think about. Can I—I know you may not have answers, but can I ask you if I think of questions?"

"Of course," Hanguang-Jun says. "You know that I always want to hear whatever it is you have to say, and I will answer all questions honestly." He stands. "It is late. We must both get to bed."

Sizhui nods and stands, but when Hanguang-Jun passes him on the way to the door, Sizhui puts a hand on his arm to stop him.

"I'm sorry you lost him," he says. "I'm sorry we lost him."

"Mm." Hanguang-Jun looks down, choosing what to say carefully. "It is an old wound. One that may never heal fully, but that causes me pain very rarely now. It gives me solace to know that when I find him again—and I will—I have learned from this, and will love him the way he deserves to be loved. I do not know what happened in our last life together, but my soul knew him the moment I saw him. It knew him, but it still did not know what to do with him. Next time, it will know. In this life, it is enough that I have been changed by him. That knowing him gave me you, and gave me the courage to be the person I am meant to be. Our story is not over yet, but the next chapter will come when it does. I am a patient man."

Sizhui's eyes are glistening again, and suddenly he is colliding with Hanguang-Jun, throwing his arms around his father's neck. Hanguang-Jun smiles to himself. A-Yuan was a very cuddly, affectionate little boy. It took Hanguang-Jun some time to get used to, but once he did, he couldn't imagine life without it. Obviously since teenagerhood Sizhui has not been what one might term "cuddly," but when they are alone he is still open with physical affection. Hanguang-Jun holds him tight and hopes he never grows out of that.

This time, when he wakes, Lan Zhan is not sobbing or shouting. He does not have to go fumbling into the night, desperate to reach Wei Ying before the dream can fade. He wakes with Wei Ying in his arms, the first rays of morning light just starting to peek in under the heavy hotel curtains.

He is thankful to Hanguang-Jun, who could so easily have turned inward after his loss. Could have left A-Yuan to be raised by others. Could have chosen to tell himself that loving Wei Ying was a mistake and hardened his heart instead of opening it. Could have looked at an unjust world that had taken something precious from him and lashed out at it, or simply withdrawn from it entirely.

He's not sure what would have happened when he met Wei Ying if Hanguang-Jun had chosen one of those paths. Perhaps his soul, unwilling to be hurt again, would have led him to push Wei Ying away entirely. Perhaps he would have been too like his predecessor's teenage self, too tied to rules and what had been handed down by authority to question the narratives of history, and thus unable to earn Wei Ying's trust. Perhaps he would have simply fumbled his way through things again, having learned nothing from his last life, too slow to either understand his own feelings or act on them to keep Wei Ying from slipping through his fingers.

He smells the shampoo on Wei Ying's hair and gives thanks to his ancestors and all of those who tended this soul before him, that their choices have prepared him to be the man Wei Ying needs him to be. Hanguang-Jun's patience has paid off; his soul will not be parted from Wei Ying's again.

He does not know if one day he and Wei Ying will meet a chubby-cheeked little boy named Yuan (Lan Yuan, Wen Yuan, perhaps Sizhui?) and bring him back into their lives knowingly, or if they will find him and love him without ever knowing for certain that their souls have met his before. He does know that if there is a third person, beyond his brother and Wei Ying, that he is meant to find in every life, it is their son. Having seen Lan Sizhui, his gentle curiosity, his open mind to whatever his father had to say, his capacity for love, Lan Zhan is eager to make sure the world knows who he really was. He is just as eager to see who he will grow to be when raised with the love of both souls that are tied to his.

There is so much to do. He has no idea how they will carve out a place for Wen Ning in the modern world. No idea what will happen when the Jin find out what Meng Yao has done, that he opened the chamber he shouldn't have even shown them and has already destroyed one of the priceless items within and sent the rest home with the Lan. He wonders what will become of his brother and Meng Yao, whether they will be able to be friends in this life or if there is too much pain left from the last one to ever mend what Jin Guangyao destroyed. He wonders how they are going to finish planning a wedding in the next three and a half weeks with all of this swirling around them.

If he thinks too hard about all of the new challenges that have opened up before them on top of what they were already facing, it will quickly overwhelm him. So instead he stretches, carefully extracting his arm from under Wei Ying's head. He slips out of bed and focuses on just the next steps. Shower, dress, pack. Run to the store down the street to buy clothing for Wen Ning. Make sure Wei Ying is up at a reasonable hour, make sure he and Wen Ning are both ready to go.

These are all achievable goals. There are so many stories for them to tell, so many wrongs to right, so many people to deal with, but right now Lan Zhan does not have to fight the entire world, much as he's perfectly willing to do so. Right now, he has a few people he cares about to tend to. It is what got Hanguang-Jun through his punishment and seclusion so that he could go out into that world ready to fight. It will keep him focused until it is time to do the same.