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Pre-canon – Five years before the Sunshot campaign
It was the last day of a major discussion conference. Since there was nothing specific happening in the cultivation world that required their immediate attention, discussion conferences were held only twice a year. Every major and minor sect participated in the conference, held in Lanling this time, as it was their turn to host. The conference was held under the leadership of the current Chief Cultivator, Wen Ruohan.
Everything had been mostly peaceful until then.
On the last day, in the middle of a discussion about problems encountered during night hunts, a sudden gust of wind blew into the large mess hall, rattling the windows, tables, wine and tea cups, and decorations. The sudden distraction brought their discussion to an abrupt halt. Everyone immediately became alert, their hands moving toward their weapons as their eyes tracked the unfolding events.
Then the doors suddenly slammed shut. A heavy spiritual energy spread throughout the hall.
Then, one by one, most of the people inside began to fall unconscious.
There were shouts, people calling out each other's names, and cries of alarm. Before those who were still conscious could figure out what was happening, they quieted down, as if they had finally understood what was going on.
One by one, the people who had fallen unconscious began to wake up, shouting in confusion and alarm. Some immediately tried to draw their weapons when they realized who else was in the hall.
But everyone soon discovered that their spiritual energy had been completely locked. So were their bodies.
They could not use their weapons. Not even a spiritual needle or a small knife.
It was as if their bodies had been locked in place, preventing them from moving freely or harming anyone around them. All they could do was shout, curse, and glare at the others.
Then, the hall doors were suddenly slammed open. Many young heirs and junior cultivators were brought inside. They weren't walking.
They arrived as if they were floating through the air, their bodies in the same condition as the older cultivators already inside the hall. Many people immediately cried out in alarm upon seeing their children, siblings, and disciples in such a state.
But before the chaos could begin again, the doors slammed shut once more. The spiritual energy inside the hall increased dramatically.
Almost every cultivator gasped in pain, even Wen Ruohan, who was currently considered the strongest cultivator in the cultivation world.
"Okay, now that all of you are here, let's get started."
A voice came from nowhere.
Everyone immediately tried to find the owner of the voice, but no one could locate her. They couldn't move anything except their heads, making it impossible to search properly.
Suddenly, the middle of the hall began to fill with a blinding brightness, almost obscuring everything and everyone around them. When the brightness finally faded, a tall woman stood in the middle of the hall.
Everyone could feel the heavy spiritual force emanating from her, pressing down upon them and holding them completely under her sway. Yet no one could discern the female cultivator's identity.
Her beauty was obscured by a golden veil that remained slightly transparent, revealing only the faint shadow of her beautiful lips beneath it. She had pink eyes. An unusual eye color that no one in the cultivation world had ever seen before.
Those strange eyes swept across everyone in the hall with a stern gaze, making sure that every cultivator was paying attention to her.
Then she casually swatted her hand.
The golden throne Wen Ruohan had been sitting on before the chaos began suddenly lifted into the air. At the same time, the ground beneath it began to rise, forming steps one after another.
Everyone's eyes widened at the display.
Whoever this woman was, she was clearly on an entirely different level.
She began walking toward the throne, which continued to rise until it reached a height from which she could see every cultivator in the hall while seated.
Once she sat down, she looked toward Wen Ruohan and Jin Guangshan, who were currently standing at the bottom of the steps with their backs facing her, just as they had originally been standing in front of the throne.
A grin appeared on her lips. She moved her index finger. Immediately, everyone in the hall turned to face her. Like puppets.
"Now, let's get started for real," she said as she leaned back against the throne.
"I know all of you are curious about who I am and are currently trying to figure out my identity. And you're also curious about what's going on and how most of you are back alive, right?"
Her words made everyone's eyes widen.
"Well, let me introduce myself, then."
She paused for a moment.
"I am Bai Hua, the Goddess of Peace and Justice. I am here to deliver a special message from Heaven."
She gave everyone a curt nod.
"Many of you are currently wondering why you are alive again and how this happened, right? Well, we gods had to stop your world from being destroyed in the future, and the only way it could be stopped was by removing the cause of it."
As she spoke, she turned her gaze toward Lan Xichen, Jiang Wanyin, and Nie Huaisang.
"The future Lan Zongzhu, Jiang Zongzhu, and Nie Zongzhu might have an idea of what happened, as you were among the few people still alive before we took matters into our own hands."
Everyone turned to look at the three sect heirs, especially those who had died before ever seeing them become sect leaders.
"Fifty years into the future, the resentment from the Burial Mound starts to increase, and it begins leaking through the barriers. The resentment began to affect the land and the people. It spread so quickly that no one was able to do anything to stop it."
She paused, allowing everyone to absorb her words.
"The future sects had tried to stop it in various ways, but none of them were successful. So, we gods had to intervene before it destroyed the entire cultivation world and countless innocent people."
Her gaze swept across the hall.
"So, we decided to give all of you another chance to stop the resentment from becoming powerful in the future. To do that, you will have to take responsibility for your own actions and for the future of your people."
Her voice became more serious.
"Remember, many of you will be dead in the future. You will need to stop things from happening the same way they happened to you."
She turned to look directly at Wen Ruohan and Jin Guangshan, especially as she added her next words.
"If you think of continuing what you were not able to accomplish before your deaths, think carefully before doing it."
Her gaze hardened.
"Specifically, you, Wen Zongzhu. There was only one with the Wen blood alive in the future before we revised time."
She gave everyone in the hall a hard look.
"Your powers and mobility will return in two shichen. Use that time to discuss how you will proceed with the future. Remember, this will be your last chance to save your future. We will not be able to give you another chance."
She leaned back slightly.
"Use it wisely."
With those final words, the bright light appeared in the throne again.
"Oh, I forgot to mention, we had removed some people from your world as the payment for this second chance." Her voice came from within the brightness, and she vanished in another burst of bright light.
When everyone could see again, the throne had returned to its previous state, and everyone was sitting on cushions, facing one another so they could see each other clearly.
Surprisingly to most—or perhaps not to the people who were alive in the future—it was Jiang Wanyin who spoke first.
"Ahm, well, let me introduce myself first before I share what I know."
His voice immediately drew everyone's attention.
"I am Jiang Cheng, courtesy name Wanyin, title Sandu Shengshou, the Jiang Zongzhu from the future, but currently the Jiang Sect heir."
He introduced himself in his usual gruff voice. Many people who had died before he became sect leader widened their eyes upon hearing his words, including his own parents.
"As you heard, we were facing some problems with the Burial Mound. As the nearest sect to the Burial Mound, and because Yiling was under my territory at that time, I had sent my disciples to investigate what was happening when the problem first started."
His expression became serious.
"But all my disciples had to return because their golden cores were affected by the resentment. Every team I sent, one after another"
He continued, unmindful of the stares he was receiving. He didn't even look toward his parents or his sister, whom he had missed so much.
"Then I sent a message to the other sects and our Xiandu, Nie Zongzhu."
He gestured toward Nie Huaisang, who had already started fanning himself now that most of them could move their hands again.
When everyone who had died in the next few years heard that the bratty Nie Er Gongzi had become the Chief Cultivator, their eyes widened. Even Nie Mingjue stared at his younger brother in disbelief.
Wen Ruohan and Jin Guangshan, meanwhile, began studying the younger man with renewed curiosity, wondering what had happened to make him become the Chief Cultivator.
"Ah, I am Nie Rue, courtesy name Huaisang, Nie Zongzhu, and the fourth Xiandu from the future. But currently, I am the Nie Sect heir."
Nie Huaisang bowed his head toward the hall, using his fan like a sword as he did so.
"So, after Sandu Shengshou's message, I also sent a few Nie disciples to check the situation, but their cores were also affected by the resentment. I also received many requests for help from a few lands in Qishan territory that had been given to several new sects. They reported that their lands were being affected by resentment, poisoning the land and water resources. Their people had started to get sick, and their lands had started to die."
He paused before continuing.
"So I called an emergency discussion conference at Cloud Recesses, hoping to find a solution to the matter. After discussing several plans, we decided to send our two strongest cultivators to the Burial Mound and seal it."
His fan stopped moving. "But then we opened our eyes here. In our past." Nie Huaisang said the last words quietly.
"Who were those cultivators? Did you find the reason?" one of the older cultivators asked.
"Let me answer that question." Lan Xichen started speaking.
"I am Lan Huan, courtesy name Xichen, titled Zewu-jun, Lan Zongzhu from the future." He bowed toward the hall.
"Yes, we found some answers as to why the Burial Mound became like that in the future. There were many studies about resentful energy in our archives. And what we found in the lands in Qishan and Yiling matches the information we found in our library."
He looked at everyone in the hall.
"We found that resentment had been increasing for many years after the great war with the empire. But since all the sects took care of the resentful creatures, it didn't cause any major problems."
He paused, his gaze shifting toward Wen Ruohan.
"But we found out that, due to some of Wen Zongzhu's experiments and later the war we fought against Qishan Wen, the resentment in the lands had increased at the highest rate in hundreds of years."
There wasn't even an ounce of fear in his voice as he looked directly at Wen Ruohan. He then turned his gaze toward Jin Guangshan.
"Some of Jin Zongzhu's actions also made it worse. Specifically, he recruited a team of demonic cultivators to continue Wen Zongzhu's and the Yiling Patriarch's experiments."
As he said those words, everyone in the hall began looking between Wen Ruohan, Jin Guangshan, and Lan Xichen. Some had wide eyes. Some looked frightened for Lan Xichen. But the future sect leaders didn't seem to fear Wen Ruohan or Jin Guangshan, even though they were still young.
"So, if we need to stop the Burial Mound from acting up again, we will need to act fast and clear the lands that are currently seeping with resentment. We will also need to put strong barriers around the Burial Mound again, as we did in the future."
Lan Xichen added.
"Who put up the barriers in the future, Zewu-jun?" Jiang Fengmian asked.
Lan Xichen let out a small sigh before looking at the current Jiang Zongzhu.
"It was my brother, Hanguang-jun, and his husband, Yiling Patriarch Wei Wuxian."
There was an immediate uproar at the mention of the Yiling Patriarch. Some cultivators started shouting. Madam Yu was among those who reacted particularly strongly.
Nie Huaisang, however, simply stared at Lan Xichen with wide eyes.
"Er-gē, where is Hanguang-jun? Why isn't he here?" he asked.
Then he turned to look at Jiang Wanyin.
"Jiang Xiong, where is Wei Xiong? Wasn't he with you before we fainted?"
Everyone suddenly started looking around. They searched the hall for Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian—the two people who had been strong enough to put barriers around the Burial Mound in the future, before the reset. Some searched for them out of genuine concern. Others searched out of curiosity.
Why had Hanguang-jun married the Yiling Patriarch? How had the Yiling Patriarch still been alive in the future when he had died during the first siege?
And Wen Ruohan wanted to find the two people who had been strong enough to cast barriers around the Burial Mound on their own. One of them was a demonic cultivator who had been responsible for Wen Ruohan losing the war.
Yet neither of them was anywhere to be seen.
A month passed after that conference.
The sect leaders and disciples returned to their own sects without a clear plan for what to do, other than to meet again in another month after investigating the state of resentment in their own territories. And, of course, finding the two missing people who were the only ones known to have put up the barriers around the Burial Mound in the future.
But no matter where they searched, they couldn't find them.
To everyone's horror and surprise, the cultivators who had attended the conference soon discovered something even stranger. Only they remembered their future lives.
As for Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian... They seemed to have never existed.
The Jiang Sect found no record of anyone named Wei Wuxian. The disciples didn't know anyone by that name. Instead, they called a senior Jiang disciple from Jiang Fengmian's generation their Da-Shixiong.
When they asked around the Jiang sect and servants, they learned that Wei Changze had once been a Jiang disciple before leaving the sect to travel with his wife. There wasn't even any news that they had a child. A few years ago, however, an accident during a night hunt had caused the couple to vanish. According to several villagers, a lady from Weimo with long silver hair had taken the two heavily injured cultivators somewhere. And that was the last anyone had heard of them.
Jiang Fengmian, Jiang Wanyin, Yu Ziyuan, and Jiang Yanli didn't know what to make of it. How could someone simply disappear like that? According to everyone in this timeline, Wei Changze and Cangse Sanren had never had a child. So there was no child named Wei Ying.
While the Jiang main family was busy trying to understand how Wei Wuxian could have disappeared like that, the GusuLan Sect was in chaos.
Many Lan elders had attended the conference along with Lan Qiren and Lan Xichen. All of them remembered their second young master, Lan Wangji, Hanguang-jun, the man who had later left the sect to live with his husband and sons despite everyone being against it.
The people who had attended the conference were already planning to stop Lan Wangji from marrying Wei Wuxian—or even meeting him in the first place. But they couldn't find their young master in Lanling. So they assumed they could find him in Cloud Recesses. Or, if Lan Wangji had somehow run off with Wei Wuxian before they had started searching for them, Lan Qiren and the Lan elders planned to send search parties as soon as they returned to Cloud Recesses.
But what they found upon their return caused complete chaos within the sect.
Just like with Wei Wuxian, everyone except those who had returned from the future claimed that they didn't know anyone named Lan Wangji. According to them and sect records, there was no second young master of the main family. According to them, Lan Xichen had no siblings. The second young master of GusuLan was Lan Rui, Lan Xichen's cousin. According to everyone, Madam Lan had died weeks after Lan Xichen's birth. Qingheng-jun was still in seclusion, but now it wasn't because of his punishment. It was because he was mourning his wife. So there had never been a second child of Qingheng-jun.
Lan Zhan, Lan Wangji, Hanguang-jun from the future. He had simply vanished from existence. Just like that.
Later, the people who had attended the conference where they met the Goddess of Peace and Justice discovered that Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian weren't the only ones who had disappeared.
The entire village of Dafan Wen had also been lost. The whole village had been hit by a landslide, and no one could find any survivors. According to the Wen disciples working in the healing rooms in Nightless City, Wen Qing and Wen Ning had been visiting their village when the disaster occurred.
So there was no Wen Qing. No Wen Ning. No Ghost General. At least they existed. Compared to Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian, who don’t even exist in memory, the Wen siblings are recorded in the memories of many people and in sect records. But surprisingly, the landslide had claimed their lives.
It was almost like karma.
Because many people had already been planning to sacrifice Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji all over again. Many had planned that if Wen Ruohan—or anyone else—attempted something driven by resentment despite the warnings, they would have Wei Wuxian, the Yiling Patriarch, solve the problem.
They had thought they would still have Hanguang-jun's skills and power on their side, even if the man had sided with the Yiling Patriarch.
The people who had returned from the future had created all kinds of plans for this possible future. But many of those plans had one thing in common. They involved using Wei Wuxian as a tool. Because no matter how powerful he had become, he was still considered a lowborn.
But every single one of those plans was now screwed up. Because there was no Wei Wuxian. There was no Lan Wangji.
Extra –
Somewhere in the Heavenly Realm…
"Child, oh, I see you two have finally woken up." Bai Hua said as she walked into a huge, luxurious room.
Inside, wide-eyed Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji were staring at two infants sleeping peacefully in the small cot beside them. Both men looked utterly confused. Looking at their wide eyes and bewildered expressions, the goddess smiled fondly.
"Did you meet your two sons, A-Ying, A-Zhan?" she asked.
Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji gasped. Only then did they finally recognize a few familiar features of their sons in the two infants.
"But how?" Wei Wuxian asked, his voice filled with disbelief.
"Don't you remember, A-Ying? You gave birth to them." Bai Hua said it seriously.
Wei Wuxian let out a startled squeak. Lan Wangji's eyes widened even further. For a moment, Wei Wuxian simply stared at her, as if his mind had completely stopped working.
Looking at their reactions, Bai Hua couldn't help but laugh.
"Lady Lord, you nearly gave me a heart attack," Wei Wuxian whined, clutching his chest dramatically.
He had almost started questioning whether the goddess was telling the truth—and whether he had somehow given birth without even knowing about it.
Bai Hua smiled.
"I promised you, A-Ying, A-Zhan, that we would bring justice to you and your sons."
Her expression softened.
"That I would give your sons back to you here. That I would make sure your brother and sister are safe and protected far away from the cultivation world."
She reached out and gently patted both men's heads before sitting beside the cot. Her eyes fell upon the two sleeping infants.
"You can now live here without any fear, for as long as you want. Your children will grow up as who you want them to be."
She gently looked at the two fathers.
"Here in the Heavenly Realm, as part of my family, no one will harm you or your children. Not these two, and not anyone who will be born to you in the future."
Wei Wuxian's expression slowly changed. The disbelief in his eyes began to fade, replaced by something softer. Lan Wangji quietly looked down at the two infants.
Bai Hua continued.
"You two only have a few years to surpass your mortal limits. You are almost there. Once you do, your path to godhood will open."
She smiled at them.
"Until then, you will be my children and will remain under my protection. So do not worry."
She looked at Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian again.
"You two earned this chance when you sacrificed yourselves for others." Her voice became softer. "Again."
She paused.
"Even after knowing well what they were going to do to you."