Chapter Text
After Wei Wuxian died, he had hoped for rest. He had hoped that everything would just fade into nothingness. That he could finally let his tired soul rest.
But, apparently, the gods had something else in mind.
He woke up with a start, which annoyed him greatly already. Because what do you mean he woke up, he did not want to wake up. He was dead for god’s sake. Let him rest in peace, please.
When he looked around, he seemed to be outside the mouth of a cave. It kind of reminded him of his Demon Slaughtering Cave and the Burial Mounds. But, the rest of his surroundings were just not right.
Thinking of the Burial Mounds, he felt his soul ache. Thinking of Wen Qing, Wen Ning, Granny, Uncle Four, the other family he had found in the rescued Wens. And he thought about poor little A-Yuan whom he had failed to protect. He felt tears welling up, but forced them back.
He then distracted himself by looking around. Everything was barren and deserted, black and dead. But it wasn’t entirely pitch black like the Burial Mounds. It was more like a desert, fine sand, black and a bit of dark orange mixed.
Wei Wuxian tried to reach out with his senses, but found he could feel nothing except for an insanely high amount of concentrated resentful energy from the cave, which was frankly disturbing.
After he had mastered Demonic Cultivation, he would probably have entered the cave immediately, wondering what kind of treasure he could dig up. Now, after losing everything because he lost control of his cultivation, he’d rather not enter if he had another choice.
He looked around once more, noting down mentally that it was just a vast land of sand and sandhills. Nothing else around really.
Wei Wuxian sighed, why was he placed here? Why did the gods insist on him entering and living in caves? Didn’t he already have enough experience with caves. Was it not finally someone else’s turn? First the Xuanwu in Mount Muxi, then the Demon Slaughtering Cave and now this one!
Although Wei Wuxian had the feeling he was forgetting one…but his point has been proven anyway! Enough caves for a lifetime!
He grumbled a bit, wanting to throw his tantrum and wailing that Xianxian was just three years old. But remembering that no one was there to actually buy his act, he sighed and abandoned that idea. He then waited for a bit longer, just wondering if something would happen. When nothing happened his mind started to wander again.
Where was he? Was he even required to do something? Was this the afterlife?
Looking down at the sand, that seemed somehow softer than the slab of rock he had rested on in the Burial Mounds, he wondered. He actually could just lie here and sleep, couldn’t he?
Wei Wuxian shrugged a bit. Whelp, no time as the present to try it out he supposed.
He then proceeded to lay down on the sand, grimacing when he immediately felt it getting into his shoes and clothes. Why did he think this was a good idea again? Then again,
nothing would deter him from having a good sleep now.
He died, he could finally rest. It was practically the holiday season!
His mind was whirling with everything that happened at Nightless City and how everyone he cared about had died or abandoned him in the end. And he’d rather face the abandoned part than the dying part because he was not ready to confront his feelings on that yet. But abandonment, he had expected it, it was familiar, and thus it was easier to deal with.
Before he could think more about it he forcefully shut his mind down. If there was something he had learned, it was that thinking too much rarely helped him. It would make him feel sad and since he had no Emperor’s smile, or any alcohol really, in his vicinity to cheer him up, it would not do to overthink.
Wei Wuxian had no idea if he had actually succeeded in sleeping or not. But when he got his consciousness back after his rest, he had his suspicions about where he had ended up.
When he opened his eyes, he grimaced again. Sand was everywhere.
He got up and tried to shake as much sand out as possible. Then he suddenly realised something. He looked down, seeing the clothes in which he had died. No blood, but his robes were tattered. He did not have his dizi either. No other personal items. And most importantly, he did not have any of his talismans or cinnabar on him.
Not that it was that important, but he clearly remembered that he had some on him when he had died in Nightless City. An hypothesis was slowly forming in his mind, and he was not liking the answer.
He looked around again, just to be sure. It was just barren. No birds singing, no breeze, no clouds, no trees, no plants at all. It almost seemed that it was a permanent sunset, colouring the sky a deep orange. Wei Wuxian frowned. He had not taken notice of the sky before he went to sleep. He really should have.
Oh well, he was about to enter the cave anyway. It seemed that that was the purpose. He had nothing else better to do really.
When he finally entered the cave, he found that the corridors were lit with torches which allowed him to see quite deeply into the cave.
He stood there at the entrance, just inside the cave and looked back outside. Deep down, he knew where he ended up already. It was inevitable. There would be no turning back, not that there had been any turning back after he had died.
The rebel in him, the one who had evaded death once, did not believe that this would be the only way out. He was not ready yet. He wanted to explore first. He wanted to know if there was anything else to do or to experience.
Wei Wuxian stepped out of the cave again and was surprised to see that he actually still could. Somewhere he had expected to be stuck already.
He shrugged and started to walk into one direction. He did this for what felt like an entire day and realised that there was no change in scenery, no change in the colour of the sky, nothing that crossed his path. No bugs, not small insects. There was just absolutely nothing, nothing except for him.
And he could not even tell if it was a day or not, the sun just never set. It actually didn’t move at all. He had not felt any hunger or tiredness. And most worrying of all, the high concentration of resentful energy from the cave had seemed to follow him for every step he had taken.
He sighed and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath before he turned around and opened his eyes again. He indeed saw the cave just right there. It was as if Wei Wuxian had never set a foot in any direction.
Wei Wuxian dramatically flopped down again. No, he did not want to deal with this. He closed his eyes again and drifted off into a slumber for a bit.
After god knows how long, he woke up again. The first thing he saw were the orange skies. And he knew, felt it in his soul now, that he had to enter that damned cave. No other way around it.
Soon he found himself walking through the torch-lit cave tunnels. It was bigger than he had expected. It was a maze. Wei Wuxian tried to feel if the resentful energy would lead him to a certain path, but he could not hear them anymore. There were no voices, no wails. He felt the concentration of energy, but he could not command them to share information with him like before.
He was grateful for not hearing them anymore though, don’t get him wrong. There had been only a few coherent voices. Most of them were just always screaming like a banshee or just muttering murder or screaming revenge. Of course, there were a few voices in between that repeated a few sentences over and over again. But yeah, it was not the best way to find any semblance of peace.
Wei Wuxian wandered around for a bit. Some tunnels were big, as if titans had carved them. For some he had to crouch and it hurt his back. There did not seem to be an end to the meandering tunnels.
Wei Wuxian honestly started to wonder what the entire point of entering the cave was if it was just all empty.
How long had he been here already? How much further did he need to go? He had lost all semblance of time.
That was until he found a dead end with two doors, two gigantic doors which were decorated in orange and green floral motifs.
Wei Wuxian felt relieved that he had found something at least. But then also started to wonder, typically there should have been a guardian to accompany him to the Ghost Gate. At least, if Wei Wuxian was not mistaken, this should be it.
Now that he thought about it, maybe the Xuanwu should have been the guardian until he became a deformed guardian? And since he actually died in the Nightless City, which the Xuanwu should have guarded. And since Lan Zhan and him had killed the deformed Xuanwu, would that mean that there was no guardian to guide him?
Not that he really minded, he would be able to find out where he needed to be anyway with a bit of nosing around.
Then he thought about the Wens who had been slaughtered and suddenly felt that it was unfair. They should at least have had guidance. What if they ended up stuck forever?
He sighed and when he actually heard muffled voices from the other side, he proceeded to knock.
When it suddenly felt silent, he pushed the doors open. Which were surprisingly light for how gigantic they were.
Once open he was hit with waves of hot air, which made Wei Wuxian blink rapidly, tears forming in his eyes.
“Wei Wuxian.” A voice boomed.
Wei Wuxian blinked a few more times until the heat was more bearable, his face already flushing. Somewhere in the back of his mind he wished he had more holes in his uniform so it would be less warm, which was ridiculous.
When he looked over, he could almost swear that it was old man Lan that was judging him right now. Wearing white hanfu with blue details, and a very long beard but if it was chopped short to a goatee length and not white, it could have been old man Lan with how the person was staring at him with disapproving almost red eyes.
Wei Wuxian wanted to laugh, or maybe even raise his arm yelling that he was here. But he thought better of it since he was most certainly in the place where souls went after they died. He was in Diyu.
Then he bowed, “Wei Wuxian greets old master.”
When he got up again, Wei Wuxian wanted to wince. Maybe he should not have added the old? And maybe he should not have addressed him as an old man, since it was clearly a disguise of a deity, or maybe one of the kings of Diyu would be more accurate.
The master scoffed a bit, but gestured for him to enter the room.
Wei Wuxian looked around. It was a very big room and it reminded him of Koi Tower, but there was no gold and no leeches like Jin Guangshan. Instead, it was filled with a few desks. Some were occupied, some were empty.
Behind the occupied desks sat people who looked like old man Lan, like elders from Yunmeng Jiang and the other clans. But Wei Wuxian knew better. He could feel the energy radiating off of them. These were the Kings of the Ten Courts of Hell. They were here to pass judgement.
And the old man that had greeted him, he was the king of the first layer. The mirror in which every soul has to look.
The desks should be occupied by the kings of the other levels. To his relief, with a few missing kings, it meant that he had not been a very bad person in his life after all.
After everything that had happened, he knew he had not been a good person. He knew he had quite a few wrong deeds to his soul. They were things he honestly regretted, even though he had strove to stand with justice and to live without regrets. He succeeded mostly, up until the ambush at Qiongqi Path.
Although, maybe that was not entirely true. He thought back to when he had made the wish to stand with justice and to live without regrets. The second jade…
He was brought back to the moment when he saw the judge move and open his mouth, as if to condemn him.
Before the judge could even start, Wei Wuxian was already mentally listing everything he had done wrong. That way it would hurt less when the judge would lay out all his failures. However, Wei Wuxian was unknowingly actually talking out loud.
“Well, clearly I can be placed anywhere since I probably need to spend time to repent for every crime I have committed.”
Wei Wuxian reached for his dizi, belatedly realising that he had no dizi. Damn, twirling the dizi made it easier to think without getting anxious.
“I stole things when I was small and on the streets before I got adopted by Uncle Jiang. I was famously known to be very disrespectful, but in my defense, Jin Guangshan and the old man Lan definitely deserved it for being rude first. I have not been a filial son to my parents. I have not made them any offerings really except for the years in Yunmeng Jiang. And then I even had to do it in secret because of Yu-Furen.”
He blinked, trying to erase the image he got from Yunmeng Jiang going up in flames.
“I was the reason for discord in the Jiang family. I was a real troublemaker really, causing trouble everywhere I went. I caused Lan Zhan to get in trouble with his sect. I caused Wen Ning trouble by asking him to help us. I disrespected the dead through my cultivation by using corpses to fight my battles. I caused Wen Qing and Wen Ning trouble. I played god because I brought Wen Ning back from the dead. I caused my Shijie to lose her husband and then I killed Shijie as well. I failed to protect the Wens and A-yuan.”
Thinking of the last year of his life, so many things had gone wrong at once. He really thought he had everything under control. And maybe, that was his biggest sin yet.
“I was very arrogant and thought that I could pull everything off, that I could protect everyone. I kept secrets that maybe in hindsight, I should not have kept. Maybe things would not have gone as wrong then.”
He then thought back to how he willingly had died, too tired to fight anymore since he had failed everyone he wanted to protect so spectacularly.
“I committed suicide… maybe I had committed it before I even realised I did it by giving away my golden core. And I also fooled death once, after escaping from the Burial Mounds. I have raided tombs because I needed corpses for the war against the Wens. And then I have killed many innocent people besides the Wens, Shijie and the Peacock. I have killed many people during the war with the Wens. Then during the siege I killed even more cultivators.”
Wei Wuxian shuddered, suddenly realising that his list was actually pretty long. Whelp, it would seem that it would take a while before he was able to drink Mengpo’s soup. Maybe by then, even Lan Zhan would have arrived in Diyu.
Although, who was he kidding? Lan Zhan would probably ascend to immortality and become a god because he was so good. His only wish would be to drink Mengpo’s soup with Lan Zhan. That way they could find each other in the next life.
When he was done, he realised that the judge was staring intently at him, appraising him this time. His hand came up to stroke his beard and Wei Wuxian could not help to compare the judge to old man Lan once again.
How was it that that stuffy old man could even follow him into his afterlife?
Before Wei Wuxian could contemplate the matter further, the judge spoke. “Wei Wuxian. You are not as bad as you think you are. Most of those circumstances were forced onto you through circumstances.”
Wei Wuxian froze then, openly gaping at the judge. Then he sputtered in disbelief. “You, you must be kidding me!”
The judge pinned him with an unimpressed look. “I am telling you that you were mostly forced into those circumstances. Actually, if you wanted to become a local deity or a god and ascend to heaven, you could, you know.”
Wei Wuxian then stared at the judge with his mouth hanging wide open, because what?
Then hysterical laughter started to bubble up. Wei Wuxian laughed out loud, clutching his sides and falling over. That could not be true, no way.
No one stopped him, but everyone stared.. Laughter was rare in these courts after all.
When Wei Wuxian finally stopped, he had to wipe away his tears. He had a slight hiccup still from all that laughing. He focused on the judge again, who seemed to be unimpressed and exasperated. “Oh that is a good one. Now tell me the real verdict.”
When the judge actually did not say anything else and Wei Wuxian realised that everyone was just staring at him, he felt his stomach drop. Although, thinking about that feeling, could his stomach even still do that in the afterlife.
Before he jumped into another rabbit hole, he shook his head and forced himself to focus on the conversation at hand. “No, that can’t be true! I-”
But he was abruptly cut off by the judge. “The only thing that would count was probably stealing during your time in the streets. The rest was due to your surrounding circumstances. The problems in Yunmeng Jiang would exist even without you.”
Wei Wuxian collapsed on the ground, tears streaking down his face again. “No, the Jiang family fell apart because of me. And then Wen Chao would never had-”
Again he was interrupted. “The Wens would have come for Yunmeng Jiang either way. And since Jiang Fengmian and Yu Ziyuan were hell bent on not speaking and fixing their problems, the Jiangs would have fallen anyway during the war.”
Wei Wuxian shook his head because that could not be true.
The judge did not spare him any pity or sympathy. He continued on. “You were always respectful until you were disrespected. The Lan are set in their ways, which is a fault of their own and not yours.”
At that Wei Wuxian raised his head. “Yes, the Lans are stuffy and rigid, but they have Hanguang-jun. He is good and a beacon of light.”
That was when the judge pinched his nose. “We are not talking about Lan Wangji right now, we are talking about what you deem to be a crime while in reality it is not your fault because you have not instigated it.”
Wei Wuxian sighed, if he wanted to play that game, then fine. “I have killed thousands of men during the war and during the siege.”
The judge nodded. “Yes you have.”
Wei Wuxian wanted to jump up in triumph, but the judge stopped him by saying. “During the siege, it was in self defense. Everyone wanted you killed while you were protecting innocents. They coveted your power. During the war, everyone who participated had killed enemies. That would make your Lan Wangji no better than you.”
Wei Wuxian paused at that. “And you let innocents go. You did not go after the Wens like the Jins did. Or condemn them like the Nie did. Or be ignorant like the rest of the Lans.”
Wei Wuxian accepted that reluctantly. “And for the few innocents that you killed, your protection to the last of the Wens made up for it.”
“But I failed the Wen remnants too.”
The judge wanted to hold onto his composure dearly, but he really wanted this conversation to end. What was this kid actually doing, arguing with the king of the Ten Courts of Diyu?
“You protected them when no one else would.” The judge said slowly and, really, Wei Wuxian could not argue with that.
But he had more crimes as evidence. “I brought Wen Ning back from the dead.”
The judge nodded at that. “You certainly did, he would have ascended to heaven you know.” Wei Wuxian flinched at that, wondering if he had condemned his friend. “But you have brought him back to repay a debt you had towards Wen Qing, because she asked you to. Not because you wanted to. If she had not asked, would you have done it?”
Wei Wuxian actually thought about it. Would he have if he did not owe it to Wen Qing? Probably not. Then he focused on the thing he could not forgive himself for at all. “I killed Jin Zixuan and Shijie.”
The judge sighed. He really did not want to open this can of worms. He was not even sure if he should. But seeing that this stubborn kid was not listening to him at all. “You did not. The corpses were not under your control.”
That made Wei Wuxian pause and his head snapped up, the implications sinking in. “No, that is impossible.”
“It is not. Someone else had the corpses under their power, you had no control over them.”
Wei Wuxian felt his anger rise. Someone else had set him up to kill the Peacock and Shijie? He had to find them, he had to kill them and make them pay for their sins.
As if the judge could read his thoughts, or maybe even feel his murderous intent. “No you will not. You cannot interact with the living.”
Wei Wuxian deflated again. What good was being a grandmaster of demonic cultivation if he could not even avenge his Shijie?
“However, you can become a deity or a god and make their lives more difficult, you cannot kill them though.” The judge offered.
Wei Wuxian then sighed. It sounded tempting, but that meant that he had responsibilities to the people in the Jianghu. “The Jianhu don't even like me, they are cursing me right now. Don’t gods and deities need praise at least?”
The judge then raised his hand to stroke his beard once again in contemplation. “That is unfortunately true. You have to wait it out. After they discover you were set up, everyone will sing you praises again and then curse someone else.”
Wei Wuxian wanted to face palm. Did the king not realise that he would be probably cursed for centuries to come?
Even though he had no idea who had set him up, theories were forming in his mind already. Because who had benefited from all that, who had continued to disturb his peace after the Wen clan fell. It could only be the Jins. And the worst thing he had realised, the Wen remnants had been collateral damage because the Jins wanted his power. Shijie and the peacock had been collateral damage.
He felt the hysterical laughter bubble up. All of their deaths for what, his Yin Tiger Tally? For his powers and research?
If there was nothing he could change, nothing he could do to bring the Wens and his Shijie back, then Wei Wuxian was not interested. “No thank you. Now that I am dead, I just want to rest without any responsibilities.” Just the thought about responsibilities gave him shivers.
The judge just shrugged. “It is up to you, we cannot force you to choose. But you will not be punished here. You can also choose to drink the soup of Mengpo to move on. You can linger here until you finally make a decision.” Even though the judge knew he had to offer this, he had the feeling that he would regret it.
Wei Wuxian sighed, knowing deep down that he wanted to wait for Lan Zhan either way. “If I drink the soup, I would like to wait for Lan Zhan. I am only going to ascend if Lan Zhan ascends.”
And Wei Wuxian could swear that he saw a vein pop on the judge’s head. Which was… very interesting.
“Maybe I can look around and see if I can find A-Yuan.” Wei Wuxian continued, not realising that he was thinking out loud again. “A-Yuan and I can wait together for Lan Zhan. Shijie must have definitely moved on with the peacock by now…”
The judge did not want to deal with this nonsense any longer. “A-Yuan is still alive.”
Wei Wuxian jumped up then. “What? He is?”
The judge then decided to ignore Wei Wuxian suddenly jumping up, deciding to at least tell him this last piece of information before banishing him to a random court so that he no longer had to deal with this kid. He would be the problem of one of the other kings.
“Your Lan Wangji is not able to ascend right now, it might take centuries even. He has some bad deeds to his name which he still needs to atone for.”
Wei Wuxian bristled at that. “No that cannot be true, Lan Zhan is good, he is the best of the best! This is pure slander, how can Hanguang-jun be anything but good, compared to the evil Yiling Patriarch?” Actually, thinking about this slander Wei Wuxian was almost ready to throw hands. Then realising what the judge had just said. “And what do you mean centuries? He only needs to cultivate immortality and with his golden core, he must be so close already. Maybe within a hundred years.”
The judge then sighed heavily again and rubbed his temples. He did not want to list someone else’s sins, but he had a feeling that this soul would not leave him alone. Of all the souls he had dealt with, this one might be the most annoying one yet. Not taking his answer as definite judgement and even arguing with him. The audacity.
“Your precious Lan Wangji might cultivate immortality within a hundred years, yes, but he will not pass the tribunals to make him a god or a deity. He had made a vow with you, to stand with justice and to live without regrets. He did not stand with justice. He did not help you protect the innocent Wens, even though he saved Wen Yuan.”
Wei Wuxian felt his legs go weak again. “Lan Zhan saved A-Yuan?
The judge wanted nothing more than to send him away, Wei Wuxian seemed to be not listening to everything he said, only to the things he wanted to hear. “Yes he did, but not out of the pureness of his heart. He saved him because it is one of the last pieces he has left of you.”
Wei Wuxian felt tears streaming down his face once more. “A-Yuan…”
“Lan Wangji has also secretly married and stolen a kiss from someone without their consent.”
Wei Wuxian then choked because that was just scandalous and like, what? What the fuck? “What the fuck?!” The thought that Lan Zhan would do that, no. “Lan Zhan would never!”
The judge just gave him a deadpan look again. “In the caves in the back mountain, you were there. You had to know that the Lans use their headribbons. Tying them and bowing to their ancestors, it basically is a wedding ceremony.”
Unbelievable, that meant that after bowing to Lan Yi with Lan Zhan…
“I have been married to Lan Zhan all this time?!” No that cannot be true, Lan Zhan would have said something. Also, Wei Wuxian knew he forgot to mention a cave!
“Yes you have. And your first kiss, it was stolen not?”
Wei Wuxian flushed bright red, remembering that. “Yes, but that was a strong maiden…” he trailed off when he saw the look the old king was giving him. “You can’t mean…” He unconsciously raised his hands up to his lips. He had wondered for a very long time who had stolen his kiss.
And now that it finally clicked. “YOU MEAN LAN ZHAN KISSED ME?!”
When the judge realised that the young man might start to hyperventilate, he sighed and snapped his fingers. Wei Wuxian disappeared in a puff of smoke. He did not care where he ended up, as long as he was not here in his court.
Somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew that Wei Wuxian would find his way back to him to ask more questions. But he had a headache right now and did not want to deal with someone who was not even aware of his own feelings.