Chapter Text
"Tell me Jiang Wanyin if you were given a chance to go back in time and change your life, would you take it?"
Jiang Cheng bows his head. Would he? If he were asked that question months—maybe even a few days ago— he would have said no. Why would he when his sect was thriving and his nephew was alive and happy? Sure there were things he's come to regret over the years but nothing major enough to make him want to change anything. Because days ago even with all his regrets he was happy, but now?
Now after his nephew has been made into a fierce corpse and he is forced to watch as his Jin Ling is killed for a second time. After he is forced to watch as his nephew's body is cremated and laid to rest in the Jin Ancestry Hall. And after he's thrown into a reality where every single one of his loved ones are dead and his entire world now lays dead inside a jar. He would give everything he had just to say yes.
Because his nephew didn't deserve to die like that. His Jin Ling didn't deserve to have his life cut short by Jin Guangyao's selfish schemes and Wei Wuxian's careless actions. His A-Ling deserved more.
His A-Ling deserved to live long and be given the chance to enjoy his life. His A-Ling deserved love and warmth and a chance to find love and have a family of his own. His A-Ling didn't deserve to die this early. His baobei didn't deserve to die a cold and cruel death.
For a week Jiang Cheng has done nothing but curse Jin Guangyao for his selfishness, Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji for their carelessness, and even most especially himself for his failure to keep Jin Ling safe. He's gone from weeping in his chambers to begging his sister for forgiveness and finally hunting Demonic Cultivators to distract himself from the pain he's in.
Time is a blur to him and Jiang Cheng doesn't even know which mountain he's in and who the Goddess is in front of him. Hell, he didn't even know if the woman in front of him was a Goddess, a powerful ghost, or even a Demoness masquerading as a Heavenly Being.
But he's desperate.
He's desperate because he refuses to believe the simple fact being presented to him. He refuses to believe that his Jin Ling—his precious baobei—is dead. And he refuses to believe that there is nothing he can do to change that.
The woman in front of him could be a Goddess or even a Demoness, he doesn't care. He doesn't care what she wants from him in return, he would give it all: his wealth, his soul, and even his golden core. Just for a chance for a better future.
And if she is lying and just trying to deceive him, it doesn't matter. It isn't like he has more to lose. His nephew is gone and his sect is thriving even without him. Even if at the end of this all she tries to kill him, at the very least he would know that he didn't turn away a chance to save his nephew.
"Yes"
The woman looks at him with a glint in her eyes before her lips curve to form a grin. "Good"