Work Text:
Wei Wuxian will always be with him.
That was what Jiang Cheng had believed for a long time. Jiang Cheng didn't need to worry about Wei Wuxian leaving him. His Da-shixiong had promised since he was little that he would always be by Jiang Cheng's side.
At first it sounded ridiculous, but over time he began to realize that Wei Wuxian's words made him very happy.
No matter what happened, Jiang Cheng was sure that Wei Wuxian would always be with him.
When A-die and A-Niang sent him to Tian Bu zi chu with Wei Wuxian to study, he was very happy because he could finally get out of Yunmeng. It wasn't that he didn't like it there, Jiang Cheng just wanted to see the outside world.
As the Heir of the Sect, Jiang Cheng couldn't move freely.
He had guessed from the start that Wei Wuxian would definitely break the rules on his first day in Gusu. His Martial Brother should have restrained himself more for the sake of the Jiang Sect's pride.
Then he remembered that Wei Wuxian and restraint could not be combined.
The first mistake was still tolerable, but it seemed that Wei Wuxian really couldn't resist breaking the rules. During the lesson, Lan Qiren asked Wei Wuxian a question. As expected, his brother was able to answer all of them.
Except for the last one.
Because he couldn't answer, Lan Qiren asked Lan's second Jade, Lan Wangji, again. As someone who seemed so intelligent, Lan Wangji was able to answer very accurately.
Lan Qiren returned to Wei Wuxian and began to compare the two. Jiang Cheng wanted to get mad, but he realized that the Sect's pride was at stake here. So, he could only hold back his anger in his heart.
Unexpectedly, Wei Wuxian's third option to deal with the corpse that had a grudge was to dig up its grave and control it to fight.
Jiang Cheng's anger turned to Wei Wuxian. His Sect's pride could not really be maintained if Wei Wuxian continued to cause trouble.
As expected, Lan Qiren scolded Wei Wuxian and ordered him to copy Gusu Lan's rules 20 times under Lan Wangji's supervision.
Even though A-Jie had advised him, the boy didn't seem to be very obedient. Jiang Cheng had even scolded and cursed Wei Wuxian, but his brother didn't seem to hear him at all.
Jiang Cheng just hoped that Wei Wuxian's attitude wouldn't have too big an impact.
For weeks, Wei Wuxian would stay in the Library with Lan Wangji. They only met during class. Wei Wuxian was in the Library more often. This activity lasted for 1 month.
However, after the punishment ended, Wei Wuxian began to bother Lan Wangji very often. Wherever and whenever he saw Lan's second Jade, Wei Wuxian would call and start teasing him.
What annoyed him the most was that they called each other by their birth names. Actually, how close were they to get to that point?
Jiang Cheng began to feel left out. He didn't like it when Wei Wuxian's attention was divided with other people. His Da-Shixiong was indeed quite popular, many people wanted to be friends with him, and all Wei Wuxian did was smile happily and accept the friendship politely. After that, nothing else.
Trying to distance the two, Jiang Cheng cursed Wei Wuxian and reminded Lan Wangji of his reluctance to always be disturbed if Wei Wuxian started acting up. He did this in the hope that Wei Wuxian would stop throwing himself at Lan's Second Jade.
But it was all in vain. Instead, the two of them felt closer. Even though he often acted very cold, Jiang Cheng could see that Lan Wangji didn't mind Wei Wuxian's presence near him.
The worst was when they were trapped in the Xuanwu Slaughter Cave. Wei Wuxian saved Lan Wangji and Jin Zixuan until the Wen Sect thought that Jiang's Yunmeng Sect had tried to rebel.
While trying to escape through the bottom of the lake, Wei Wuxian, who was distracting the Xuanwu Dragon, was injured because one of the Lan Sect deliberately aimed his arrow at Wei Wuxian's arm. Jiang Cheng tried to help, but Wei Wuxian told him to leave.
Because there was no other choice, Jiang Cheng left with pent-up anger.
First, because the bastards from the Lan Sect had dared to hurt Wei Wuxian.
Second, because Wei Wuxian was trapped in the Cave with Lan Wangji.
And finally, he was angry at himself for not being able to be with Wei Wuxian. He was his Shidi, Jiang Cheng should have been in Lan Wangji's position.
What made him even more angry was when Jiang Cheng walked for days to Yunmeng, and returned while bringing some people to help, he found a scene that heated his heart the most.
Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji fell asleep while hugging each other.
Not wanting to rage in front of others, Jiang Cheng stepped back and let others help the two people.
The first time Wei Wuxian chose someone else. It was after the Sunshoot Campaign. Even though he had been convinced many times, Wei Wuxian still refused to return to Lotus Pier. Because of his Demonic Cultivation, Wei Wuxian was respected and feared by other Cultivators.
Jiang Cheng had lost a lot. Lotus Pier had burned down and his parents were killed at that time. All he had was A-Jie and his nephew Jin Ling who had just been born. He would not let Wei Wuxian leave him either.
Their feelings were different. Wei Wuxian preferred to stay at Burial Mound with the remaining Wen. It happened after the Jin Sect captured the remaining Wen and forced them to work, until Wen Qionglin died from torture. Wei Wuxian took over the remaining Wen with the agreement of several Sect Leaders and brought him to Yiling.
Some time later, Wen Qionglin came back to life as a ferocious corpse and had the nickname Wen Ning the Ghost General.
Although annoyed, Jiang Cheng still took the time to visit Wei Wuxian in Yiling. Both to continue to persuade him, and just to relieve his pressure as the new Sect Leader. A-Jie also often came with him while bringing lotus rib soup. And they would be together like before, as if all these problems had never happened.
The Jin Ling one-month celebration would be held soon. A-Jie said that Jin Zixuan himself would deliver the invitation to Wei Wuxian. Although the man used to be a jerk, now the Jin Peacock has changed for the better. As long as Jin Zixuan doesn't hurt his sister, Jiang Cheng will let him do anything.
Bad news came. Jin Zixuan is dead. And he was killed by Wen Ning on Wei Wuxian's orders. A-Jie was immediately shocked and sat down weakly, especially when she saw Jin Zixuan's body with a deep wound in his stomach. His sister was hysterical and sobbing.
Jiang Cheng tried to calm his sister down. His heart was thundering and angry at Wei Wuxian for daring to make A-Jie cry. And he was even angrier at the other Jin Disciples who kept babbling nonsense about how cruel Yiling Laozu was. Even though Jiang Cheng was very angry, he still thought rationally. There was no way Wei Wuxian would kill Jin Zixuan. No matter how jerk the Peacock was in the past, now he had tried to change for the sake of his wife and child.
His arrival at Yiling to get answers yielded nothing. Wei Wuxian just kept quiet when asked, even Jiang Cheng had cursed and threatened to use Zidian if Wei Wuxian still didn't want to speak up.
Still Wei Wuxian didn't say anything.
Jiang Cheng was forced to leave after being pressured by one of the Wen women there. In order not to make A-Jie even more shocked, Jiang Cheng obeyed.
A few weeks later, A-Jie finally calmed down. She even intended to meet Wei Wuxian. Not to blame him, but to help him choose a proper name for Jin Ling.
A-Jie was a very kind woman. Unlike other people who would definitely hate their husband's killer, his sister still loved and trusted the person who made her lose her husband.
When she arrived at Burial Mound, Wei Wuxian was playing with the only child there who was always called A-Yuan by his brother. When he saw them, Wei Wuxian made the child leave and approached them.
There was no hatred, no disappointment, no grudge, only affection that radiated from A-Jie's eyes. His actions and words did not change, as if Wei Wuxian had never been the one responsible for Jin Zixuan's death.
Every time A-Jie spoke, Wei Wuxian only lowered his head and nodded when asked. It was very obvious that Wei Wuxian felt very guilty about this incident.
It was only after A-Jie brought up Jin Zixuan's death that Wei Wuxian stiffened and his fists clenched.
A-Jie only asked without any judgment, but Wei Wuxian became more and more trembling. Gradually, sobs were heard and without hesitation, A-Jie hugged Wei Wuxian very gently.
The sobs turned into cries and finally a sad wail. Apologies were continuously said by Wei Wuxian and Jiang Yanli would forgive him many times.
But, Wei Wuxian still did not tell the truth.
The Sect Meeting was held a few months later. The meeting was to urge all Cultivators to oppose Wei Wuxian and slaughter the remaining Wen. Jiang Cheng tried to reason with them, but no one listened.
Jiang Cheng almost gave up. He had always tried hard to keep the Cultivators from turning against Wei Wuxian. But he also couldn't do anything to oppose the dozens of Sects who definitely agreed to oppose Yiling Laozu. If Wei Wuxian had apologized and left the Wen from the beginning, the situation wouldn't be this complicated.
Several Cultivators suddenly shouted. When he saw the source of the voice, Jiang Cheng's blood ran cold. Wen Qing and Wen Ning walked towards the hundreds of Cultivators as if they had no burden. Jiang Cheng also didn't see Wei Wuxian anywhere.
The atmosphere became noisy when the Wen Woman surrendered herself along with the Ghost General. On the condition that the other Wens would be released—and so would Wei Wuxian.
After considering it, they agreed to the request. At first everything was fine, but when Wen Qing was sentenced to death, Wen Ning's control was released and he went berserk, injuring several people.
It took a while before Wen Ning was finally subdued, and Jin Guangshan volunteered to take care of the rest. The other Cultivators agreed, fearful.
Just as Wen Ning was taken away, a wave of hatred filled the air. Everyone looked up and saw Wei Wuxian staring at Wen Qing’s corpse with hatred and sorrow.
This wasn’t good.
The hatred grew even thicker. It then revived the corpses on the ground and attacked the other Cultivators.
No matter how Jiang Cheng yelled and cursed, Wei Wuxian remained in his rage.
“A-Xian!”
Jiang Cheng turned and his eyes widened as he saw Jiang Yanli in the middle of the fight. Just as a ferocious Corpse was about to attack A-Jie, Lan Wangji immediately slashed at it.
Wei Wuxian seemed to realize it too, he immediately got down from the roof and played his flute to stop the ferocious Corpses. When the Corpses were silent, a Cultivator took advantage of this and tried to stab Wei Wuxian from behind.
Before Jiang Cheng could warn him, Jiang Yanli stepped forward and protected Wei Wuxian from the sword—and ended up stabbing Jiang Yanli instead.
His eyes widened in horror. Anger and sadness immediately took over his mind. He stepped forward and kicked the Cultivator, then grabbed Wei Wuxian by the collar and shouted at him.
But Wei Wuxian didn't even flinch. His eyes were blank as he stared at Jiang Yanli's stiff body. Jiang Cheng let go of his collar and turned to Jiang Yanli. He tried to transfer his Qi, but it was all in vain.
Wei Wuxian stood up. Jiang Cheng stopped his questioning when he saw the 2 pieces of Yin Hufu in his Shixiong's hands. Before he could warn him, Wei Wuxian flew into the air and lifted the two pieces of the seal.
And finally bloodshed could not be avoided. The ferocious corpse continued to prey on everyone, again and again it would not stop until the Yin Hufu user died or was exhausted.
After a long time, Wei Wuxian finally got tired and almost fell. Lan Wangji immediately caught him and took him away who knows where.
The events after that were blurry in his mind. Because of anger and revenge, Jiang Cheng suggested to surround Luanzang Hill. Only to slaughter the remaining Wen and kill Wei Wuxian.
This time, Jiang Cheng would not hesitate.
His memory became increasingly blurry. All he remembered was when the ferocious corpse turned to attack Wei Wuxian. Even when Jiang Cheng tried to pull Wei Wuxian, the person actually pushed him away.
And finally Yiling Laozu died because he was torn apart by the ferocious corpse.
A few years later Jiang Cheng realized that even though Wei Wuxian had a promise and debt to him, Wei Wuxian would definitely not choose him and continue to be with him.
Wei Wuxian was free-spirited. He would not be tied down to someone like Jiang Cheng.
First Wei Wuxian chose to save Lan Wangji and Jin Zixuan rather than listen to him.
Both Wei Wuxian chose to stay with the Wens rather than fight with them.
And now Wei Wuxian chooses to stay in Tian bu zi chu—marrying Lan Wangji rather than forgiving him.