Chapter Text
"Seize them!" the Wen soldiers shouted, as Wei Wuxian pulled his siblings in a different direction. Under different circumstances he'd probably be laughing, but not when Madam Yu and Jiang-shushu were captured and the only thing keeping them alive was the distinct absence of their children.
After all, if Wen Rouhan wanted to rule over Lotus Pier, he'd have to have a Jiang to do it. The people wouldn't listen to anyone else.
So Wei Wuxian ran as fast as he could. He would have stopped to at least tell Jiang Cheng to carry his sister, but any delay would only bring the Wen closer, and he wasn't entirely sure Jiang Cheng wouldn't try and return to his parents. He tightened his grip on both wrists and kept running.
By morning, all three of them were exhausted. Wei Wuxian had managed to find a cave they could all hide in since they were still too close to Yunmeng for inns to be safe. As the three rested, Wei Wuxian made sure he was closest to the exit so that he would spot anyone coming and keep Jiang Cheng from leaving.
It didn't take long in the cave before Jiang Cheng's temper exploded, "We need to go back for them!"
Wei Wuxian kept his eyes trained outside, "As long as the Wen don't have the two of you, they have nothing they can use against Jiang-shushu or Madam Yu."
"So we just abandon them!?"
Wei Wuxian winced. His siblings didn't know he'd been given direct orders by their parents to ensure the two of them escaped and lived. "We aren't abandoning them. But we cannot fight an army by ourselves. The Wen will keep them alive, and that will give us the chance to gather allies and free them." He took a deep breath, "But we can't do that if you run back there and get captured."
"You really think that will happen, A-Xian? That we can gather allies and save them?" Jiang Yanli asked from the furthest point in the cave.
"I have to believe in that, Shijie." It was the whole plan that Jiang-shushu and Madam Yu had given him after all.
Jiang Cheng huffed and punched a wall. "Fine! We'll do it your way. For now." Then he went to his section of floor and layed down facing the wall, ignoring the other two in the cave.
Wei Wuxian turned to look at his two siblings for the first time since entering the cave. Jiang Cheng was upset that he couldn't do anything right that second, but that wasn't unusual. Jiang Yanli, on the other hand, was staring at Wei Wuxian worriedly. He smiled and tried to calm whatever fear she had, "I'm fine, Shijie. You should get some rest before we have to move again."
"Where are we going?" She asked, with her head tilted consideringly.
"Hm?"
"To gather allies. Where are we going first?"
Wei Wuxian considered it for a moment. Truth be told, he didn't have a single clue which clan to go to first for aid; he was flying by the hilt of his sword here. But it wouldn't do to let his siblings know he was so concerned, "I was thinking the Nie would be a good place to start."
"The Nie and not the Jin?"
For a moment, Wei Wuxian had to fight back his habitual show of disgust for the Jin. Now just wasn't the time. "The Jin are closer and would certainly shelter you because of Madam Yu and Madam Jin's friendship. But I don't think even your engagement to the Peacock will be enough to get Jin Guangshan to help us without a guarantee that we'd win." He looked back out to scan the surrounding area, always wary of someone trying to sneak up on them, "The Nie, on the other hand, are just waiting for an excuse that will let them start a fight with the Wen. And, thanks to the Cloud Recesses Guest Lectures, Jiang Cheng and I are friends with the Nie heir, but without the personal connection of a betrothal, few people would think of them as the first place we'd go."
"And the Lan?" Jiang Yanli asked.
Wei Wuxian cocked his head in confusion, "What about the Lan?"
"Are we not going to ask them for aid as well?"
For a moment, Wei Wuxian's mind was filled with the image of the Second Jade of Lan, Lan Wangji. If they were to ask him for help, he would certainly come; that's just the kind of man he was. But the Lan Clan was known for its neutrality. Indeed, more than a few peace treaties and ceasefire agreements had been signed in the Cloud Recesses because of how honor-bound and neutral they were. It would've been one thing if the Wen had also attacked Cloud Recesses, but as it was asking the Lan to break that neutrality could end up backfiring on them spectacularly.
Wei Wuxian shook his head to clear it, "We could ask them for sanctuary, but asking them to aid us in a fight would be a step too far." He turned back to look at his Shijie, "We can go to the Jin first if you would like. It would probably be the safer journey for you overall as well."
Jiang Yanli gave Wei Wuxian a look that only older sisters were capable of, "A-Xian, I may not be as strong as you and A-Cheng, but that does not mean I am going to let you hide me somewhere you two deem safe so that you can go risk your lives trying to save our parents."
Wei Wuxian bowed his head, "Yes, Shijie. Sorry, Shijie. It won't happen again."
She nodded her head once, "See that it doesn't." She went back to her spot in the cave, the only one with an actual blanket because Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng had both refused it. As she lay down, she said, "Make sure you wake Jiang Cheng up at some point so that you can rest as well."
Wei Wuxian made a noncommittal sound. Switching watch with Jiang Cheng would defeat the secondary purpose of his being at the front of the cave.
The trip to the Unclean Realm was long and hard, and all three of them were fairly sick of caves by the time they finally arrived.
It had been decided to stick to caves and the wilderness as much as possible, even after they'd left Yunmeng, to make it that much harder for the Wen to track them. Which, in theory, wasn't a bad plan; however, in practice, it had led to weeks of cold floors, aching muscles, hungry bellies (only when Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng couldn't hunt enough meat for all three of them, which wasn't often but had happened more than once), and grouchy siblings. More than once, Jiang Yanli had been forced to play peacemaker between the two brothers when the harmless snapping had taken a turn for the more vitriolic.
But finally, they had made it to Qinghe. Now all they had to do was convince the Nie guards outside the city that the three dirty, disheveled, travel-worn, and slightly smelly teens were indeed the three children of the Yunmeng Jiang Sect without identification or proof of any sort. Wei Wuxian had been far more optimistic when they'd started out.
The gods of luck must have been looking out for them, though, because the two disciples on duty just so happened to be ones who had also been at the guest lectures with Nie Huaisang and had recognized the two young masters and their sister. They were let inside the gates immediately and one of the disciples ran off ahead of them to inform the Nie brothers.
Wei Wuxian moaned in pure relief as his skin hit the almost blisteringly hot water. It had been so long since he'd had a proper bath or anything more than a quick dunk in a nearby river. It was so nice that he felt he could ascend from the feeling alone. He finally had the chance to scrub off the caked-on grime that had started to feel like a second layer of skin.
The water had to be refreshed twice before he felt clean enough to leave the tub and dress.
Their robes had needed to be burned, which was unfortunate but not surprising to the three of them in the slightest. Thankfully, they'd each been able to retrieve their clarity bells from the burn pile before being shepherded to their individual bathing rooms.
The robes were of Nie colors and cut, which felt strange to wear, but they were clean, and Wei Wuxian wasn't about to complain about the extra camouflage as he tied his clarity bell to his sash and walked out.
Unsurprisingly, he was the first to exit his bathing room. "It's good to see you, alive, Wei-Xiong." Nie Huaisang said from his brother's side.
Wei Wuxian smiled, "Were our lives in question?" He asked.
"Well, you know that I don't know anything," Nie Huaisang began after glancing at Nie Mingjue to get the go-ahead, "But there might be some nasty rumors floating around that after the Wen captured Lotus Peir, the three of you were quietly executed for refusing to obey the Wen orders. I'm quite pleased to see they were false."
Wei Wuxian snorted, "It was Wen Chao and Wen Zhuliu who showed up. As if we'd ever obey them." Before they could discuss more, Jiang Yanli exited her room, now also dressed in the robes of a Nie disciple.
Nie Mingjue and Nie Huaisang bowed in greeting, "Young Mistress Jiang."
Jiang Yanli bowed back, "Sect Leader Nie, Young Master Nie, on behalf of Yunmeng Jiang, thank you for taking us in." By some unspoken agreement, the four spoke no more of events until Jiang Cheng was out of his room.
When he had, Nie Mingjue spoke, "I'm sure the three of you are exhausted and concerned about the state of your home. We should talk more somewhere more private. Follow me." Then he turned and began walking deeper into the compound, leaving the four of them with nothing to do but follow.
The five of them sat in a room that was very clearly decorated by Nie Huaisang, filled with paintings and fans, and other knick-knacks that showed the younger man's taste.
"Before we start, can you tell us what actually happened?" Nie Mingjue began, "We have the story that Wen Rouhan is feeding everyone, but it will be easier to help if we know what happened."
Jiang Cheng stared at the table as he recounted the story.
It was just after the last Cultivation Conference, where Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian had easily beaten Wen Chao in the archery competition, and Jiang Cheng had beaten Wen Xu in the sparing contest.
The Wen Chao had shown up at Lotus Pier spouting some nonsense about the Jiang becoming too arrogant and not knowing their place in the world. He then demanded that, in order to show their fealty to the Wen, they destroy their training halls and burn their sect's teaching material.
Jiang Fengmian refused and told Wen Chao to leave.
That night, the Wen returned and captured the entire family, threatening to execute every disciple unless they did as ordered. The Jiang family surrendered.
Wen Chao then separated Jiang Fengmian and Madam Yu from Jiang Yanli and Jiang Cheng. Locking them in different parts of the compound. Sometime after that, Wei Wuxian appeared and freed Jiang Cheng and Jiang Yanli, at which point the three of them made their escape.
"And that's what happened." Jiang Cheng finished.
"How odd." Nie Huaisang commented.
"What's odd?" Jiang Yanli asked.
"Why didn't Wen Chao also capture Wei Wuxian? It's no secret that he is Jiang Fengmian's ward."
Wei Wuxian answered, "I was on a night hunt and didn't get home until after everything had happened. I snuck in to find out what had happened."
"How did you know something was wrong?" Nie Mingjue asked with narrowed eyes.
"Well, the doors were busted open, and the Jiang crest wasn't hanging over the gate. It wasn't hard to guess that something was wrong."
Nie Mingjue nodded, satisfied. Nie Huaisang opened his fan with a snap, "I have just one more question for the three of you."
"Of course." Jiang Yanli said with a nod.
"Forgive the rudeness if you can, but what does the Nie Clan gain if we decide to help you? The Jiang and the Nie share no border or waters, so trading rights would be inconvenient. Our cultivating styles are far too different, so your texts would be useless in our hands. The Young Madam Jiang is already promised to another, and you have no other prominent young women of marrying age. So what does our clan get out of this aside from a chance to fight the Wen?"
Wei Wuxian froze. The one question he didn't have an answer for. The one thing he'd been hoping wouldn't be asked until after everything was over and Jiang-shushu and Madam Yu were free and able to handle these kinds of details.
Nie Mingjue flinched and rubbed the side of his head like it was bothering him, before grabbing the hilt of Baxia. Wei Wuxian's mind flew through everything he knew about the Nie Sect. His eyes widened.
Jiang Cheng opened his mouth to offer anything they wanted to get their help, but Wei Wuxian cut him off, "Talismans!" he shouted. Everyone jumped at the loud noise. Wei Wuxian continued, his eyes bright with the makings of a plan, "And arrays!"
"What?"
"Talismans to help reduce the overall accumulation of resentful energy and arrays to purify the energy that has already accumulated to stave off qi deviations." The Nie brothers' eyes widened in shock and concern, but Wei Wuxian had to get it all out before anyone had a chance to stop him, "That's why Nie Sect Leaders are known to die young of qi deviations, isn't it? The beast spirits used in your blades naturally absorb the resentful energy of the creatures you defeat, which echoes back to the wielder!" Wei Wuxian felt manic, "That's our offer to you. Help us take back Lotus Pier from the Wen, and the talismans and arrays are yours."
Nie Mingjue looked like he doubted every word coming out of Wei Wuxian's mouth, but Wei Wuxian wasn't too terribly concerned about convincing the sect leader. He was more concerned about convincing his one-time school friend.
Nie Huaisang leaned forward determinedly, his eyes wild, "Can you actually do it? Can you make them Wei-xiong?"
Wei Wuxian thought for a moment and tried to determine if his mouth was making a promise he couldn't keep, and nodded determinedly, "Given enough time, resources, and space, yes. I can definitely make them."
Jiang Cheng looked mad that Wei Wuxian had made a promise for the sect without even talking about it with him first, and Jiang Yanli looked concerned that his mouth had gotten away from him again. But all Wei Wuxian could hear was Jiang-shushu and Madam Yu ordering him to keep their children safe.
Nie Mingjue looked at his little brother, "Do you actually believe him, Huaisang?"
Wei Wuxian bit his lip as Nie Huaisang stared back at his brother, "If anyone can do it, it'll be Wei-xiong. I'm certain of that."
Nie Mingjue nodded, "Alright then. In exchange for saving Lotus Pier, Wei Wuxian will create a series of talismans and arrays that will help mitigate the absorption of resentful energy. And as proof of concept will create at least one such talisman before Lotus Pier is retaken."
Jiang Cheng and Jiang Yanli shared a look, both concerned about their brother taking on more than he was capable of, but Wei Wuxian agreed to the terms.
Nie Huaisang's fan snapped shut, and he smiled, "Well, now that all of that dreadfully serious business if finished, we can eat! And tomorrow, Wei-xiong, I'll show you our library and any records you may need so you can get started!"
Wei Wuxian breathed a sigh of relief. For the first time since Lotus Pier had been captured, he felt something akin to hope swelling in his chest.
It wouldn't be easy. The talismans he'd promised, ones that could limit the amount of resentful energy taken in by an object without outright stopping the absorption, had never even been experimented with before, let alone created for an entire sect. Most would consider the idea impossible at best and heretical at worst.
But if it meant saving Lotus Pier, he wouldn't just attempt the impossible, he would achieve it.