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Chapter Text

Pain.

It was excruciating and irreversible.

Wei Ying looked around to divert his attention as his ghosts tore apart his flesh and drank his blood. 

He saw his trusted shidi lead an army to his last home, the last bit of warmth he had left in his pathetic life. 

He saw the cultivators of various sects swing their swords to behead those helpless beings, with cruelty in their eyes and a happy grin on their faces. There were Lans whose face held self-righteous indignation against the evil Yiling Laozu. Jins had the hunger in their eyes for the powerful Tiger Tally. Nies looked cautious, but no less interested in vanquishing the last of their so-called enemies. And then there were the Jiangs, following their leader in his viciousness.

Was there no good cultivator left in the world? Since when did kindness vanish from the face of this world? Since when did the definition of justice include killing innocent humans? Since when did the cultivators wander off their dao path into the muddy waters of the mortal world of greed for power and politics? Since when…since when...since when…Wei Ying’s heart was filled with agony.   

Wei Ying cried blood tears as he saw the Wens around him. Wen popo laid dead with her eyes wide open. One could still see the helpless acceptance of inevitability in them. And uncle Fourth clutched his last jug wine as his legs were cut off and his neck slashed. Then there was Wen Ru, a small farmer who got caught up in the war and its aftermath. His head was cut off and thrown away in callous disregard. Why would Wei Ying expect any respect for the dead, when they were not even considered humans when they were alive? Wen-dogs, they were called. No doubt, Wei Ying was the lone Wei-dog - a dog who betrayed its master and ran away with other dogs.  

Among the cacophony of the massacre - there was no battle, this was genocide - Wei Ying heard a few cultivators talking with pride in their voices.  

“Let us kill the Yiling Laozu and write our names in history. What a glorious legacy to live with for our descendants to remember us in the generations to come.”

“Truly, the Jiang sect leader was right. Yiling Laozu is the enemy of the cultivation world. No wonder he cut ties with that traitor. Just look at all Wen dogs he is harboring.”

Enemy of the world? Bitterness clogged his throat. Wei Ying had not realized until this very moment the extent of the betrayal from his once close brother and this was the last straw. 

The dark tendrils danced around the edges of his decaying body. The Burial Mounds rejoiced in the downfall of their lord. Their conqueror had become conquered and they waited with a bated breath to drink his soul. 

Wei Ying was ready to let go. His last bit of humanity, the last ray of his warmth was to be sacrificed to the abyss, to the endless greed of these righteous cultivators. 

But something made him hold on, not to give in.

"Wei Ying”

“Get lost.”

“I love you.”

“Get lost.”

“Please come with me.”

“Get lost.”

“I love you, Wei Ying.”

Wei Ying remembered. This close to his own death gave him the clarity of his life. 

“I will give you this bottle of Emperor’s smile. Can you forget my rule breaking?”

“Lan Zhan…Lan Zhan….look at me.”

“You are such a Fuddy-duddy.”

“Lan Zhan…your headband is loose. Let me tie it for you.”

“Lan Zhan, let me carry you on my back. Your leg is hurt.”

“Lan Zhan…sing me a song.”

“It is beautiful. What is it called?”

“Lan Zhan…how come you are in Yiling?”

“Let the world judge right and wrong. I know my heart. I will walk on my single plank bridge.”

“Lan Zhan…goodbye.”

Tears pooled into Wei Ying’s eyes for the first time. For this was a voice that was very dear to him - he finally realized at the last moment of his life. “ Lan Zhan” he murmured, “ you were too late, after all. And it is too late for me to realize my own heart. If only….”  

As soon as he took his Lan Zhan’s name, all the darkness around him took a step back. Burial Mounds sighed. Their lord would never surrender to them, that much was clear. The resentment cursed at Hanguang-Jun for spoiling their dinner at the last moment. 

“You truly carry a light within you, my love. Hanguang-Jun indeed”. Wei Ying thought fondly, “ Just your thoughts alone gave me solace in my last moments, beloved” . Wei Ying closed his eyes in regret. 

Everything went blank.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Sun rose again the next day. But even the mighty Sun god could not dispel the darkness of human hearts. The world went on with its celebration of their triumph of evil over good. 

“Wei Ying…I love you.”

Wei Ying suddenly opened his eyes. He saw pieces of his body scattered around the grounds. The bodies of the Wen remnants were unceremoniously thrown into the blood pool inside the cave. Anger surged through him just as heard the revelry of the people from the Yiling town. How dare they! How dare they!

He spent all his life trying to do the right thing, to be kind. All he wanted was to protect the people he loved - The Wen remnants, Jiang Cheng, Jiang Yanli, Jiang Fengmian, and even Madam Yu. All he got in return was the scorn of the world. The sects were perfectly happy with using him to win the war. Once their agendas were met they were ready to discard him like an old, torn robe. He hated everyone. He hated his uncle Jiang who ignored the gossip that claimed him a Jiang bastard. He hated Jiang Cheng who returned his genuine affection with a hatred of his own. He hated Madam Yu for all her actions. He even had complicated feelings about Jiang Yanli. She did love him and died to save him. However, all her life before that, her love for her own blood relatives weighed more than the love for an orphan stray. Her words after a serious whipping from Madam Yu or a verbal thrashing by Jiang Cheng - “ Mother loves you, a-xian” “You know how a-cheng is. Deep down he loves you as a brother.” - still rung in his ears. 

It was understandable that Jiang Fengmian wanted a shield for his son, that Jiang Yanli wanted a safe space in her horrible household, that Jiang Cheng wanted a servant who followed him for life. It was also understandable that Madam Yu hated him. He always knew what was expected of him from the get go. After all, nothing was free in the world and he did owe them the gratitude of upbringing and saving him from the streets. However, they did not have to abuse him. They did not have to emotionally manipulate. They did not have to say that he was the part of the family again and again, and when it came to actions, he was treated worse than the servants. They could have just made him a normal disciple and he still would have repaid everything he owed. He would have protected them wholeheartedly in any case.

Although the Wens gave him home, the basis of all that was his protection. Just as he always believed, nothing was free in the world. 

All his life he lived for others. He gave everything to the people he loved and protected. The world took everything from him and gave nothing but hatred in return. There was only one person who loved him and asked nothing in return.

Hindsight was a terrible thing. You understand and yet, there was no way to go back and correct it. He realised everything now. Even at the height of his power, Lan Zhan kept asking him to stop his cultivation, and kept opposing him at every turn. At that time he thought Lan Zhan was his enemy. Now he knows. All Lan Zhan wanted was to keep him safe. Lan Zhan never wanted to use him for the war. 

The irony was not lost on Wei Ying. He gave his heart and soul to everyone, to this entire world, but to one person who truly mattered. And now it was too late. 

Suddenly…

“Come back to Gusu with me.”

“Yes. Yes. I will come to Gusu. I will come to you”.  Wei Ying flew over to Cloud Recesses in an instant. 

He found Lan Zhan in a small, isolated cave. He was sleeping on his stomach, his bloody back exposed to the cold. At first, Wei Ying could not comprehend what he was seeing. On close inspection, Wei Ying saw whip marks from a first class spiritual weapon. His non-existing back twinged at the sight, it was a little too familiar for Wei Ying’s taste. 

He knew. Someone had hurt his Hanguang-Jun. Only his brother and uncle had the power to bring Lan Zhan to his knees in his own home. He must have been punished for his actions to defend him.

Wei Ying would have cried if he were alive.

“Lan Zhan….Lan Zhan….look at me….” Wei Ying lamented. 

He stood next to the second jade’s bed. He felt helpless for he could not offer any solace to his beloved.  

Just then, the first jade entered the chamber. 

“Wangji, you should not have fought against our elders. Wei Wuxian does not deserve your affection.” Zewu-Jun said to his brother. 

Wei Ying was angry once again. His own brother was injured and this was the first thing Zewu-Jun spoke. Unable to do anything, he could only listen to their conversation, silently seething. 

Hanguang-Jun opened his eyes. “Wei Ying deserves every bit of my loyalty and more. And it is not just because I love him.”

“Wangji, you are being adamant. He entered the evil path during the war. Don’t forget, he killed many innocent cultivators.” 

“Innocent?” Lan Wangji scoffed, “There was no innocent cultivator left after the war, brother. Not even me and you. We all have blood in our hands.” 

“There is a difference, Wangji. We killed our enemies.” Lan Xichen insisted.

“You mean the Wen soldiers who only followed the order of their leader? Do you think all of them wanted this war?” Lan Wangji asked.

“That is beside the point. We are talking about Wei Wuxian.” Lan Xichen changed the subject. 

“What about him?” Lan Wangji asked.

“He was evil and you were blinded by love to realize that,” Lan Xichen accused.

“No. My love for him cleared my eyes. I understand the real path now.” Lan Wangji answered calmly.

“There is no point talking to you. He committed crimes upon crimes and you are supporting him even now.” Lan Xichen sighed.

“Have we stooped so low that we call sheltering innocent lives a crime?” Lan Wangji asked.

Lan Xichen opened his mouth to speak, but Lan Wangji did not let him. “The Wen remnants are harmless.”

“Wangji, how could we believe someone who practiced demonic ways?” Lan Xichen asked, still trying to change his brother’s mind. 

“I do not expect you to believe him. But you even refused to believe your own brother. I did inform you and our uncle that there are only a few civilians and innocent Wens at the Burial Mounds. There is even a child.” Lan Wangji replied. 

Lan Xichen had no answer.

After a few seconds, “Brother. There is still time to correct the wrongs. Please help those innocent lives.” Lan Wangji pleaded.

Lan Xichen sighed. “It is too late, Wangji. They are all dead.” 

“How?” Lan Wangi was visibly shocked.

“Jiang Wanyin led an army to the Burial Mounds.” Lan Xichen refused to look at Lan Wangji, his guilty expression clear to both Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian.

Lan Wangji closed his eyes in despair, “You disappoint me, brother. The Lan clan has disappointed me. By participating in such an inhuman act, you all have forgotten our Lan percepts.”

“There was no choice, Wangji.” Lan Xichen looked uncomfortable.

“No. There is always a choice. Especially for a sect leader like you.” Lan Wangji refused to believe that excuse, “a person who was isolated and universally hated, a person who was alone, had the courage to stand up against the whole world to protect a few innocents. But a sect leader of the mighty Lan clan could not stand up to his own morals he preaches.” 

Lan Xichen was close to tears and he did not speak. 

“And Wei Ying?” There was a tremor in his voice as Lan Wangji asked. 

“Dead.” Lan Xichen replied. 

A single tear ran from Lan Zhan’s eyes. He did not speak to his brother after that. 

Unable to bear this silent treatment, Lan Xichen fled the chamber.

Wei Ying tried to talk to Lan Zhan. He could not see his love being sad.

“Lan Zhan…Lan Zhan….I am here….please look at me.”

For some time, Wei Ying tried hard to get Lan Zhan’s attention, but in vain. As a new ghost, he did not have much power. Tired, Wei Ying laid next to Lan Zhan. 

After what seemed like an hour, Lan Zhan stood up from his cot and went outside in a hurry. Wei Ying followed, full of worry. “ Lan Zhan, slow down. You are not well. What are you doing?”

Lan Zhan took out his sword and went to the skies as a man possessed. Wei Ying could only follow him. He knew where Lan Zhan was going. 

All the way, they both could hear the celebrations that were going on. Cheers rang in the air as they cursed the evil Yiling Laozu just as they drank happily at the news of his death.

With difficulty, Lan Zhan managed to land inside Burial Mounds and Wei Ying followed. It was heartbreaking to see Lan Zhan looking around in despair. After searching for a long time, Lan Zhan found Wen Yuan, hiding inside the hollow of a tree. The child was delirious with fever. Without delay, Lan Zhan held him in his hands and travelled back to Gusu. Wei Ying could only follow his love, frustrated that he could not be of any help. 

Within a few hours, Lan Zhan and Wei Ying, both anxious about the state of the child, entered Cloud Recesses.

Lan Xichen stood with Jin Guangyao on the stairs. 

“Wangji, you were asked to stay in seclusion and now you have broken the rules. You will be punished further.” Lan Xichen told Lan Wangji as soon as they entered the sect premises. 

“Er-ge, your brother does not look well. Please be merciful.” Jin Guangyao said in a kind voice. Lan Wangji did not bother looking at him.

“He deserves what he got.” Lan Xichen replied. 

Wei Ying was enraged at the callous way Zewu-Jun treated his brother. Lan Zhan was calm as ever. 

“Brother, please treat this child first. He has had a fever for a long time and may die anytime.” Lan Wangji requested. 

“Whose child is this, Wangji?” Lan Xichen asked instead of calling for a doctor immediately. 

“Is that a Wen child, Hanguang-Jun?” Jin Guangyao looked surprised.

“Wangji, tell me now. Who is he?” Lan Xichen asked.

“Brother, he is just a child.” Lan Wangji reminded him that a child is not a threat to anyone, irrespective of the name.

“Hanguang-Jun, we must eradicate all our enemies. Who knows what this child will do in future. You must not be kind to these Wen dogs.” Jin Guangyao spoke up. 

“Lan Xichen, your brother is losing consciousness, he could barely hold on. A child is on the verge of dying. How heartless can you be? Where is the famous Lan righteousness? And Jin Guangyao, spare some humanity.” Wei Ying shouted. No one heard his rage. 

Looking at the adamant Lan Xichen, Lan Wangji went on his knees.” NO!” Wei Ying shouted in agony. It was a torture to see Hanguang-Jun, the epitome of righteousness and kindness to see in this state. 

“Sect leader Lan, I beg you. Please save the child. It is innocent of all wrong doings.” Lan Wangji kowtowed to his brother, his sect leader. But Lan Xichen stood unmoved.

“But the name Wen itself is an original sin, Hanguang-Jun. We cannot let him be alive.” Jin Guangyao tittered. “By your own words, should we also treat you as the society treated your prostitute mother?” Wei Ying thought snidely.

Jin Guangyao continued, “er-ge, my father approved the funds for the new Lan library building. I just forgot to mention this before.” 

Lan Xichen finally spoke, “A-yao, please convey our thanks to the Jin sect leader. We will always remember his kindness.” 

“Er-ge, I will take my leave. Do not worry, I will not talk about your brother being a traitor with my father.” Jin Guangyao assured the first jade.

“Thank you, a-yao.” Lan Xichen patted his sworn brother’s shoulder. 

By then it was too late. Wei Ying let out a wail as Hanguang-Jun fell down on the ground with Wen Yuan clutched to his chest. 

They both were dead. 

“Lan Zhan…a-yaun…please wake up. You cannot do this. Please….” Wei Ying cried. He tried to touch them, but his hands passed through their bodies. “Damn the Lan clan! Damn the Jin clan! Damn all these noble sects! Damn these unrighteous cultivators! Damn this world!” He lamented. “ If there is a second chance, all my tenderness, all my warmth, all my love, will be reserved for my Hanguang-Jun. No one else. No more. I am done with this world.” Wei Ying vowed.

“Wangji, what happened?” Belatedly Lan Xichen saw his brother laying on the ground. After many calls to wake him up, Lan Xichen, in the end realized that both his brother and the child were no more. 

“ Lan Zhan” Wei Ying could not help but call to his beloved one last time. There was no hope for it to be answered. 

However,

“ Wei Ying.” 

Wei Ying looked around and saw the soul of his love calling back to him.

“Lan Zhan. You are here. How?” The ghost Wei Ying tried to touch the ghost of his Lan Zhan. He was not successful. 

“You called me, Wei Ying. I had to answer.” Lan Zhan replied with a slight smile.

“Are you a ghost now?” Wei Ying had to ask, lest it was all his imagination, “but, don’t all noble cultivators undergo some ritual when they were young? How come you became like this?”

“Yes. I guess the Yiling Laozu is more powerful than any ritual. Now, I am like you.” Lan Zhan answered.

“Okay. Okay. What now?” Wei Ying pondered. 

“Wei Ying can decide. I will follow.” Lan Zhan replied.

“You are so romantic, Lan-er-gege.” Wei Ying smiled.

“Romantic?” Lan Zhan looked puzzled.

Suddenly, Wei Ying realized he had yet to confess to Lan Zhan. “Lan Zhan…Lan Zhan…I remembered everything before I died. I did not mean you when I said “get lost”. No. I meant it. But to all the resentment that was troubling me that day. It was not to you. I could not hear your heart that day. Please forgive me. Now I understand everything. Me too, Lan Zhan.” Wei Ying rambled. 

“What do you understand?” Lan Zhan asked with a cautious hope.

“That you love me. And I love you too, I have always loved you. Please believe me, Lan Zhan.” Wei Ying answered. 

“Wei Ying, are you sure?” 

“Of course, I am sure. I adore you. I fancy you. I love you. I want to spend all my ghostly life with you.” Wei Ying declared.

“Love Wei Ying. Adore Wei Ying. Fancy Wei Ying.” Lan Zhan replied, overwhelmed. 

“YES!” Wei Ying tried to hug Lan Zhan, but passed right through Lan Zhan’s ghost body. 

Wei Ying giggled in hilarity. There was a smile in Lan Zhan’s eyes too.

“Then, shall we just travel around? I always wanted to do this with my cultivation partner when I was alive. No matter. Now that you are with me, I will still get to do this.”  Wei Ying offered.

“Mn.” 

Without further ado, the ghosts of Wei Ying and Lan Zhan started flying around the world in their soul forms and left behind the cultivation world. They roamed around for thirteen years, ignoring the soul summoning calls from the cultivators. 

Until one day a young Mo Xuanyu decided to sacrifice his life for revenge.

Chapter Text

Wei Ying and Lan Zhan spent the next few months travelling randomly, but mainly mourning the loss of Wen Yuan. Along with grief, also came rage and frustrations. Wen Yuan’s death was also the last testimony of their own failures and helplessness they had faced when they were alive.

Wei Ying was bound by the social hierarchy. All his actions - which people might have praised if he was from gentry - were deemed as traitorous and getting ahead of his betters. Even a small help offered to someone in need - an act that was the basic responsibility of a cultivator - was called “playing the hero” in sarcastic tones. Now, Wei Ying could only cry for the child who died. When alive, Wen Yuan represented the lack of kindness in the world. And in death, he became an eternal symbol of cruelty of cultivators.

On the other side, Lan Zhan’s hands were tied by the rules of the Gusu mountains, which itself was a form of indoctrination. Lan cultivators were incapable of making their own judgements on what should be considered as kindness and justice. Anything that could not be explained using those three thousand Lan percepts was claimed to be unkind and against the Gusu righteousness. Now, Lan Zhan could only mourn for the child who died unjustly. When alive, Wen Yuan was the hope Lan Zhan insisted on - of the righteousness of the world, of the very kindness Gusu stood for. In death, Wen Yuan became the proof of the downfall of the Lan righteousness, of the unkind nature of the world.

Wei Ying and Lan Zhan had a hard time letting go of Wen Yuan. In the end, with time, they slowly came out of their sorrow.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Six months after their escape from Gusu, Wei Ying asked, “Do you want to talk about it?” Of course, it was about Lan Zhan’s thoughts on his brother and the Lan sect itself. 

“Angry and disillusioned.” Lan Zhan replied. 

And isn’t that the crux of the matter? Wei Ying thought to himself.

“I am sorry it has come to this,” Wei Ying replied. 

“Mn.”

Wei Ying did not talk after that. He understood Lan Zhan very well as he felt the same about people in his life. Moreover, there was no use of talking about things that cannot be changed. There was no respite from their anguish. There was no solution to this. The world went on without them and all they had was each other. They just had to make do with that fact. 

Thus, they went on with their ghostly life. Happy at last that they were together. 

In the fifth month of their deaths, Wei Ying discovered he could still cultivate. It was a shock to both of them. It was when they were on their way to a far off land which boasted a beautiful meadow. “Lan Zhan, come on. I want to see the beauty of it. Of course, nothing would compare to your beauty, er-gege.”

If a ghost could feel flustered, Lan Zhan’s transparent ears would have turned red. Alas, Wei Ying would have to wait for many years to see the sight of a bashful Lan Zhan. For now, Wei Ying could only imagine his response. 

“Not true. Wei Ying himself is the most beautiful person.” Lan Zhan replied seriously. 

The ghost of Wei Ying fell from the air for a few meters, too surprised and too shy. “Lan Zhan, my fragile heart cannot take it!” He shrieked.

“Mn.” Lan Zhan replied. 

Their banter continued as they made their way into the valley. And there was a resentful ghost which troubled them. Wei Ying instinctively reacted and whistled his favourite tune to subdue the resentful energy and the ghost immediately submitted to Yiling Laozu. Wei Ying experimented on the ghost and found that he could command it to work for him just like he did while he was alive. 

Wei Ying was excited. “Lan Zhan, look. This is my cultivation.” 

“This is different from Mo Dao.” Lan Zhan observed.

Wei Ying scoffed. “Of course it is different. What I used to practice was Gui Dao.” 

“Before, I thought it was harming you,” Lan Zhan explained haltingly. 

“I understand now, love.” Wei Ying assured him, “at that time, however, I thought you hated me.” 

“Never.”

Wei Ying could not help but think how Jiang Cheng always tried to isolate him from his peers. The moment his attention was captured by the second jade of Lan, Jiang Cheng had done everything in his power to make Wei Ying believe that Lan Zhan hated him. His anger rose again. 

“You said Gui Dao did not harm you. But your disposition did change during the war.” Lan Zhan’s voice brought Wei Ying’s attention back to the present.

“Lan Zhan, with any new path there will be initial hiccups. I am sure the cultivators who tried sword travel would have fallen many times during the early stage. And in my case, there were also other factors and variables that affected my mood at that time.” Wei Ying looked pensive. 

“What were they?” Lan Zhan asked curiously.

Wei Ying did not reply. It was too soon to share that part of his life. He was still feeling vulnerable and he was not ready. And he did not want to make his Lan sad.

Lan Zhan understood at once that Wei Ying would not elaborate on that. “Wei Ying can talk about it whenever he feels like it. I am here,” he said to his beloved. 

“Thank you, Lan Zhan. I need time.” Wei Ying smiled at last. 

“Mn.”

“I want to start cultivating again and see where it goes.” Wei Ying said at last. 

“Teach me too.” Lan Zhan requested.

“Do you want to cultivate Gui Dao?” Wei Ying asked in shock.

“No. It is not my path. I just want to understand more.” Lan Zhan replied. 

“Sure. Of course, I will share everything I learned. You can even help me. You are the most intelligent and skilled cultivator I have known.” Wei Ying tried to clap, but his hands just passed through one another.

“I will help.” Lan Zhan replied.

After that, they spend more than a year in the scenic valley. Everyday, Wei Ying and Lan Zhan would work on Wei Ying’s cultivation and learn new things. It was a slow process. 

Maybe because of the way he died, Wei Ying in his soul form was weak and his power grew at an abnormally slow rate. He could not yet touch Lan Zhan. His body remained transparent. He was still a ghost. This frustrated both of them. They were madly in love and there was no way to express it other than using words. Let alone making love, even holding hands was impossible. They could only console themselves that they at least are together.

Two years after settling down in the valley, Wei Ying got bored.

“Shall we go to another place?” Wei Ying asked.

“How about Burial Mounds? We can understand more about your cultivation.” Lan Zhan suggested.

“Of course, Lan Zhan. You are so clever!” Wei Ying laughed, “let's go immediately.”

Something happened halfway through that they had to change their course.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Just a few kilometers from Yunmeng, they met a new ghost. There were still wounds visible on its soul. Looked like the person died of grave injuries. Curious, Wei Ying stopped him.

“What happened?” He asked the ghost.

“It was the Jiang sect leader. He tortured me for many days and killed me in the end.” 

Both Wei Ying and Lan Zhan were shocked. 

“Why?” Lan Zhan asked, giving Wei Ying time to process this.

“He is looking for Yiling Laozu. Every once in a while, he will capture some innocent cultivator and torture them to death. And he does not need any reason to kill someone,” the ghost cried bitterly, “all I did was use a simple talisman and the Jiang sect leader decided that it was demonic arts. I just wanted to protect my family and I was not even a cultivator.” 

“How many people has he killed so far?” Lan Zhan asked while looking at the distressed Wei Ying. 

“I overheard his followers, the Jiang disciples who stood guard around my cage. I was the eighth victim at this point.” The new ghost replied. 

“Do other sects know about this? What about the Lan sect?” Lan Zhan asked.

“By now it is common knowledge. Everyone in the world knows about the Jiang sect leader’s murderous ways. But no sect wants to get involved. Politics, they say.” Ghost replied. 

“You can leave.” Wei Ying was done with the conversation. Guilt plagued him as he thought of the golden core he had donated. 

“Well, goodbye.” The ghost left with a bow.

Lan Zhan did not comment on Wei Ying’s state of mind. 

“To think that I gave him the power to kill innocents.” Wei Ying looked to be in agony. 

“What do you mean?” Lan Zhan was suddenly worried. Somehow he knew he was not going to like what Wei Ying had to say.

Wei Ying sighed. The time had come for him to come clean.

“Jiang Cheng was abducted by the Wens right after the fall of Lotus Pier. Wen Zhuliu crushed his golden core.” Wei Ying explained in a monotone. 

“And you gave him his core. Wei Ying!” Lan Zhan looked anguished. He was able to piece the clues from the past together - how Wei Ying refused his offer to play Cleansing and never let him look into Wei Ying’s meridians. 

“I had no choice at that time. Or rather, I did not think I had a choice. Jiang Cheng was not in the right state of mind. He had lost his home, his parents, his everything, and then he lost his core. I thought he would die too. Both uncle Jiang and Madam Yu had ordered me to keep him safe at all costs. And I owed the Jiangs my core, didn't I? They took me from the streets and the reason I had a core at all was to their credit. It was an easy decision to make.” Wei Ying explained.

“Wen Qing operated.” Lan Zhan said.

“Yes. She was the most brilliant doctor of our times. At first she refused. There was only a fifty percent chance, she said. But she agreed in the end because of my insistence.”

“Only fifty percent chance.” Lan Zhan murmured. “Did it hurt?” He asked.  

Wei Ying looked at his beloved’s eyes full of devastation on his behalf and said, “Yes, Lan Zhan. It hurt a lot. Anesthesia would not work. I had to be awake for more than two days. I almost could not bear the pain. I regret it now. I granted him the power to hurt so many people.” 

It was always Wei Ying soothing the others. After his parent’s death, no one really cared about his well-being. As early as he entered the Jiang sect, he knew this fundamental truth. Years in the streets had taught him that. After a few days of spending time with the Jiang family, he knew he could not share his problems with anyone. Uncle Jiang really did not care. Madam Yu hated him. Jiang Cheng would only be happy to see him in trouble. And Jiang Yanli just wanted a cheerful brother who always smiled - a direct contrast to her own blood brother. So, he learned to hide his true emotions. Every time he complained was for some petty issues not worth anyone’s time and that earned him a few laughs. 

Now, in front of the person who loved him with his whole heart and soul, Wei Ying finally complained when it really mattered. And suddenly, he felt free.  

Although Lan Zhan did not understand perfectly, he realized this was momentous for Wei Ying. He kept quiet, but still maintained eye contact and let him continue talking. 

And Wei Ying did. It was as though floodgates were opened. Words came rushing through his lips. He talked about everything - his life in streets, his life at Lotus Pier, the abuse and manipulations he faced, his thoughts and feelings, his meeting of Lan Zhan, the indoctrination camp, the massacre of the Lotus Pier and how he was whipped just before that battle, how Jiang Cheng choked him and accused him of being responsible for everything, the golden core transfer, his time in the Burial Mounds, the war, his saving of the Wens, Jiang Cheng’s ultimate betrayal and the final encounter at the Burial Mounds, and what he faced during his death. 

Lan Zhan’s heart broke into a million pieces. There were no words he could offer that would make Wei Ying feel better. All he could say in solace was, “Wei Ying, I am here.”  

But that was enough for Wei Ying, “I know. I know, Lan Zhan. I am glad you are here.” He smiled at last.

“I want to understand everything too, Lan Zhan.” Wei Ying requested.

“Not today.” Lan Zhan replied.

“I will wait,” was all Wei Ying replied. 

“Shall we take a look at Yunmeng?” Lan Zhan asked after a few minutes and Wei Ying looked composed. 

“Yes. I want to see with my own eyes what Jiang Cheng is up to.” Wei Ying was furious again.

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Yunmneg had changed. And it was not just because of the war. Lotus Pier used to be open and free. Now it felt closed off and suffocating, a representation of its leader, perhaps. 

They heard screams as soon as they entered the courtyard. Wei Ying and Lan Zhan rushed into the secluded room from where the sound originated. There were Jiang disciples around the perimeter of the room guarding the door. Inside the room was a young man, tied up to a chair and looming menacingly over him was the Jiang sect leader, Jiang Wanyin. By the look of it, the young man was whipped multiple times with the first class spiritual weapon, Zidian. There was a sizzle in the air around both of them because of the sparks from the whip.

“Sect leader Jiang, I am innocent. I am just a shopkeeper. I bought that talisman from a salesman in Yiling. I have nothing to do with Yiling Laozu,” the young man pleaded.

“NO! YOU ARE HIM! YOU ARE WEI WUXIAN! YOU ARE YILING LAOZU! EVIL! DIE!” Jiang Cheng continued to whip the man. The Jiang sect leader was unhinged. 

Unfortunately, both Wei Ying and Lan Zhan were not powerful enough to save the man. They could only look on as the young man was reduced to a bloody mess on the floor. 

Unable to look further, Wei Ying and Lan Zhan went out. They did not speak for a while. Wei Ying was distressed and Lan Zhan did not disturb him from his thoughts. Just as they entered the main hall, Wei Ying suddenly changed his direction and flew into the sect leader’s office. Lan Zhan followed.

“Chenqing,” Wei Ying whispered. There, right on the prominent spot inside the office, Wei Ying’s spiritual flute was on display for all to see.  

“Wei Ying,” Lan Zhan looked troubled. There was no doubt that the flute was kept to show off and not as a remembrance.

“The flute represents the triumph of great Jiang Wanyin over evil Wei Wuxian. Jiang Cheng won over his nemesis, the bane of his existence, the reason for his jealousy, once and for all,” Wei Ying said sarcastically, “this is the symbol of gentry putting a mere servant in his place. How can it not be placed at the most prominent spot inside the room?”

“Wei Ying.” 

“I am fine, Lan Zhan.” Wei Ying had started to understand Lan Zhan and his various moods by the way he took Wei Ying’s name. Right now, Lan Zhan was worried that Wei Ying would be sad. 

Wei Ying went towards the flute and waved his hand. Dark tendrils from Chenqing escaped from its confines and dissipated into the air. The process went on for more than ten minutes and stopped.

"And now it is just an ordinary flute. Chenqing is gone.” Wei Ying said to Lan Zhan. Wei Ying did not have the power to confront a cultivator directly, but he could influence his own spiritual tool and render it useless.

“Let’s go, Lan Zhan. There is nothing left here.” Wei Ying looked at Lan Zhan, his face looked calm.

“Mn.”

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They traveled to Burial Mounds after that, as they had planned initially. Wei Ying and Lan Zhan spent a year there understanding the nature of resentful energy. Wei Ying also developed many curses and spells using his cultivation. Even then, he could not directly touch people or objects. He could only influence the dark energy in the environs. 

One evening, Lan Zhan spoke about his childhood and his parents - the circumstances of his parent’s marriage, their life in seclusion, how his mother died, how he waited for her outside her room, how he feared that the reason she did not meet him was because he broke rules and was a bad child, how his uncle became strict with both Lan brothers to stop them from becoming their parents, how he was conflicted about the rules during and the aftermath of the war, how it was Wei Ying who helped him gain perspective, and how it was painful because he realized it too late. 

“Oh, Lan Zhan!” Wei Ying was filled with empathy for his love, “I am here, Lan Zhan,” he said. All he could do was to stand next to him and wait for Lan Zhan to compose himself. 

“I know. I am glad.” Lan Zhan replied. A mirror conversation from when Wei Ying shared the story of his life. 

Lan Zhan recovered in the warm presence of Wei Ying.

“Once I thought of tying you up and hiding you in Cloud Recesses to keep you safe, just like my father did to my mother,” Lan Zhan confessed shamefully after a few minutes. 

“Well, I would not like the isolation and hiding,” Wei Ying was thoughtful, “although, I would not be opposed to being tied up by er-gege.” 

“ Wei Ying !” Lan Zhan groaned frustratingly. The lack of physical contact was tormenting both of them and Wei Ying was definitely not helping the situation - with all his insinuations and innuendos. This was not the first time, and Lan Zhan was sure that this would not be the last time either. 

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For the next couple of months, they talked about everything and anything under the Sun. But mostly, they talked to clear all their misunderstandings.

“When did you fall in love?” Wei Ying asked curiously, “was it during the war?” 

“Before.”

“In the Muxi mountain, when we killed that tortoise?”

“Before.”

“Speaking of the tortoise, what was the name of the song?”

“You forgot.” Lan Zhan looked aggrieved.

“NO! I simply did not hear it. I had lost my consciousness by then. Believe me.” Wei Ying pleaded.

“Mn.”

“So, the name?” Wei Ying prompted.

“Wangxian.”

“Oh!” 

“Mn.”

“OH!” Wei Ying’s eyes widened with the realization. 

“Mn.”

“Er-gege, you wrote me a song!” Wei Ying shouted.

“Mn.”

“And you named it after us!” Wei Ying exclaimed.

“Mn.”

“You are so romantic, Lan Zhan,” Wei Ying teased gently.

“Mn.”

“Why did you get angry with me in the cave, then?” Wei Ying asked.

“Mianmian.” 

“Who?”

“Did you forget? You were flirting with her.” 

“So, you were jealous.”

“You were always flirting with others.” Lan Zhan sounded petulant.

“Lan Zhan, they were all in jest, never serious. And I do not call them flirting. I call them surviving in the streets.” Wei Ying replied seriously. It was this skill of knowing how to flatter people and make them happy that kept him alive in the streets.

“Wei Ying.” Now Lan Zhan felt guilty.

“Oh, none of that, Lan Zhan. I like that you are possessive.” Wei Ying replied immediately.

“You are?”

“Lan Zhan, I want you to possess me. I want you to own me.” Wei Ying elaborated. 

“Wei Ying.” Lan Zhan closed his eyes.

For the hundredth time Lan Zhan regretted that there was no physical contact. Wei Ying was equally affected. 

After calming himself, “if you had already written me a song by that time, then you must have fallen for me before the indoctrination camp, before the attack on Cloud Recesses,” Wei Ying mused, “was it during the Wen discussion conference?”

“Before.”

“Now, hold on, Lan Zhan! You are saying that you were already in love with me by the time of the conference. Then why the hell did you get angry with me that day? Just because I pulled your headband?” Wei Ying was indignant. 

“Hmph!” 

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“Wei Ying should not have teased me after knowing what the headband stands for.” 

“But I do not know what it means!” Wei Ying raised his hands in the air.

Lan Zhan looked incredulous. “You copied the Lan rules more than a hundred times!” 

“Yes. But I was multitasking. Most of the time I was planning various ways to get your attention while copying the rules.”

Lan Zhan did not know what to say to his silly beloved. In the end he decided to tell the truth. “Only spouse and family can touch the band. It represents our restraint.” 

“Well, in that case. I am sorry. I understand why you were upset that day.” Wei Ying apologized sincerely. 

“No need for sorry and thank you between us.” 

“Alright, Lan Zhan,” Wei Ying smiled, “no more sorry and thank you.”

“Mn.”

“Now, back to our topic. You fell in love with me during the lectures.” Wei Ying asked. 

Lan Zhan did not answer immediately. 

“What is it?” Wei Ying asked.

“First day. Rooftop.” 

“Er-gege, you fell in love at first sight?” Wei Ying asked softly. 

“Wei Ying was mesmerizing.” 

“Lan Zhan, then why did you always push me away? Almost made me think you hated me.” 

“Wei Ying was loud and always teasing. Thought you were making fun of me and of my feelings. And I was confused too, that the person I fell in love with broke so many rules.” Lan Zhan explained.   

“Lan Zhan….Lan Zhan….we both lost so much time.” Wei Ying replied sadly.

“We are together now.” Lan Zhan replied. 

“Yes. We are together at last, all in our ghostly glory.” Wei Ying grinned.

“Mn.”

“You know, I only realized I fell in love with you the moment I was dying. I did not want to understand it before. All I knew then was I wanted your eyes on me. I felt bereft without your attention. Lan Zhan, there is a reason why I was like that. Subconsciously, I denied myself any romantic entanglements. Because I knew from the first day in the Jiang sect that I was not allowed to want anything. My whole life was supposed to be spent repaying my debts to them. There was no place for my personal happiness. I was not free to love and desire.” Wei Ying explained. His eyes were filled with bitterness and lost opportunities.

“Wei Ying, you are liberated now,”  Lan Zhan pointed out, “And you never owed anything to the Jiangs in the first place,” he added. 

“What do you mean?”

“My uncle shared a story of their night hunt when they were young. Your mother saved all three of them - my uncle, your father, and Jiang Fengmian, when they were young. If at all, it was the Jiang sect who owed you. Taking you in and bringing you up could be considered as repaying a life debt.” Lan Zhan replied.

“It was all a lie! Jiang Fengmian was dishonourable, after all!” Wei Ying could not help but cry in disappointment, “I always wondered why it took almost four years for Jiang Fengmian to find me. Yiling is a small town and it should not have taken him this long to find a small child. Now I understand. I felt so overwhelmingly grateful when I was taken into Lotus Pier at the age of nine. After surviving in the streets, the Jiang sect felt like a paradise, even with all the abuse. I readily became a shield and a scapegoat for them. It was all a plan, I see. Jiang Fengmian never mentioned his life debts and he never denied when everyone told me again and again that I was indebted to the Jiangs and I have to repay them with a lifetime servitude. It all makes sense now.” 

“Wei Ying, I am here.” Lan Zhan said to his beloved. He was offering his unwavering support and his unreserved companionship.

“I know. I am glad.” Wei Ying smiled. To him, Lan Zhan always represented comfort and safety. Now he had become his home too.

Chapter Text

“That is my martial uncle!” Wei Ying exclaimed, looking down at the hall. Wei Ying and Lan Zhan were at Koi tower and below was a trial held for a young man named Xue Yang.

“Mn.” Lan Zhan observed Xiao Xing Chen, who was as young as Wei Ying. There was a sense of innocence clung to Wei Ying’s uncle which Lan Zhan found to be interesting. Even his partner, Song Lan, looked untouched by the world.

“So young and already evil.” Wei Ying commented on the young criminal after the hearing.

Lan Zhan had to agree.

What followed was a debate on the punishment for Xue Yang. Nie Mingjue, the Nie sect leader, wanted him to be executed. However, Jin sect leader Jin Guangshan was against it. Unsurprisingly, Lan Xichen and Jiang Wanyin did not participate in the debate.

After listening to all the arguments, both Wei Ying and Lan Zhan came to a conclusion that the Jin sect leader wanted to protect the murderer at all cost. There was something else at play here.

“Should we stay and look around?” Wei Ying asked.

“Mn.”

They were away from all the sects and its politics for quite some time and both were curious to know the happenings of the world. 

After Nie Mingjue threatened to kill the young man himself, Jin Guangshan had to agree to behead Xue Yang and the matter was settled. 

Xiao Xing Chen and Song Lan left for their travels. Nie Mingjue and Lan Xichen went back to their sects. Wei Ying and Lan Zhan decided to stick around Jin Guangyao, who seemed to be in the center of it all. Every time they wanted to leave Jin Guangyao, something happened that aroused their curiosity and they stayed back and it went on for almost a decade. What followed was a revelation upon revelation which left Wei Ying and Lan Zhan shocked.

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“Er-ge, let me also help da-ge. Teach me Cleansing . You know I will learn fast.” Jin Guangyao delicately persuaded the Lan sect leader. It did not take much to achieve that. 

“A-yao, you are very kind. Of course I will teach you.” Lan Xichen agreed readily. 

“Isn’t that a core knowledge of your clan?” Wei Ying asked, surprised that Lan Xichen would divulge the secrets like that.

“Mn.” Lan Zhan did not look happy about it.

Jin Guangyao was really as talented as he claimed. It did not take much time for him to learn the whole song at all.

“Er-ge, how are you doing these days? Are you still thinking about your brother?” Jin Guangyao asked concernedly.

Lan Xichen sighed, “I almost believe he deserved his fate for following that cursed Wei Wuxian. It was Yiling Laozu who caused his death. He took advantage of Wangji’s love for him.” 

“Lan Zhan…Lan Zhan…I did not take any advantage. I didn't even know you loved me until the very end.” Wei Ying insisted, worried that Lan Zhan would misunderstand.

“I know. I believe Wei Ying. And what happened was not your fault. Everything I did was freely and willingly. It did not matter whether you loved me back or not.” Lan Zhan had to make clear his own actions. Lan Zhan of course was rankled that his brother thought Lan Zhan would compromise his morals for love.

Next time, when Jin Guangyao visited the Nie sect, he offered to play to help alleviate the qi deviation effect on the Nie sect leader.

“I know what you are up to. Your father does not want to kill Xue Yang and he has made many other plans. And I am standing in the way. Lan Xichen is a fool who did not believe me when I showed him your true colours. Anyway, I am a dying man. If not today, then tomorrow. Go ahead and do your worst.” Nie Mingjue had the demeanour of accepting one’s fate.

Wei Ying gasped, “your brother is a bit stupid, isn’t he?”

“He believes in Jin Guangyao the most.” Lan Zhan replied bitterly.  

Wei Ying was speechless for a moment, and then, “He does not see the irony of it all, right?”

“Apparently, he does not.” Lan Zhan replied. Lan Xichen complaining that Wei Ying impacted Lan Zhan a lot, all the while being heavily under the spell of Jin Guangyao was hilarious, yet tragic.

They looked on as Jin Guangyao played Cleansing and noticed that it was all wrong. 

“He modified the melody. Added a section that does not belong.” Lan Zhan commented.

“Now what Nie Mingjue said makes sense. Jin Guangyao is not trying to save him, instead, he wants Nie Mingjue to die early,” Wei Ying sighed, “Brother killing brother is nothing new, anyway.” Wei Ying had own past as an example.

As the song went on, Wei Ying saw the familiar dark energy inside Nie Mingjue and shared it with Lan Zhan, “What a hypocrite! Even your brother, my love. They readily accepted the cultivation of the Nie sect, but condemned me to death.”

“Your cultivation was just an excuse.” Lan Zhan remarked.

Wei Ying sighed. “Yes, I know. They did not like that a servant pointed fingers at nobility and asked them to behave.”

“Mn.”

Days later, Wei Ying and Lan Zhan witnessed the death of Nie Mingjue at Koi Tower. It was declared that he died of qi deviation and no one suspected that he was killed, not even Lan Xichen.

And soon after that Xue Yang was released.

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It did not take much time for Wei Ying and Lan Zhan to discover what the Jins were up to. Their secret lair reeked of resentful energy.

“This Xue Yang seems to be intelligent. They want him to recreate Tiger Tally and also work with my new cultivation path,” Wei Ying flew all over the place, “Lan Zhan, look. All these are my materials. They collected them from Burial Mounds and are experimenting on them.”

Lan Zhan understood why Wei Ying was enraged. Anyone who died the way he did and then to see the same people who killed him in the name of eradicating evil, being hypocritical about practising the same evil ways would feel the same as Wei Ying.

Things came to a head when Wei Ying saw Wen Ning being tormented by Xue Yang. Wei Ying saw that Wen Ning still retained his full cognizance and refused to obey Xue Yang.

“Loyal dog!” Xue Yang muttered, “It is time to bring in the nails. That will make him obedient.” By his words, it was understood that nails would be used to completely control the fierce corpse.  

“Didn’t the Jins claim Wen Ning died? Ha! No one is innocent, Lan Zhan, including your Lan clan. To hell with all of them.”

Lan Zhan had no defense against this accusation. He was privy to many of the wrongs his clan had committed in the name of upholding justice. After everything he had experienced, he truly agreed with Wei Ying. That is why he did not stop Wei Ying’s actions.

When Xue Yang was distracted, Wei Ying used the resentment in the room to destroy everything, including his notes and he set Wen Ning free. When Jin Guangshan and his cronies came, it seemed like Xue Yang lost control of the Tiger Tally piece he was holding resulting in the mess. Unfortunately, Xue Yang was still alive, as Wei Ying could not directly attack him. However, he was injured by the debris. Because Jin Guangshan needed Xue Yang, he did not punish the young man.

The only good thing that came out of this mess was all Wei Ying’s materials were gone. But Xue Yang was intelligent and whatever he had read from Yiling Laozu's notes before this incident was enough for him to come up with some results.  

That was why, even though Wei Ying could not stop Jin Guangshan’s project, he was able to create a setback of a few years.

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“Did everything go well?” A man in white robes asked Jin Guangyao.

By everything he meant, the gruesome death of Jin sect leader Jin Guangshan, Wei Ying and Lan Zhan just witnessed. His own son, Jin Guangyao had paid several prostitutes to kill him. Death by excessive sex was possible, it looked like.

“Yes. Thank you, A-She.” Jin Guangyao replied. He looked pleased, “he refused to free my mother. It is only right that I kill him.”

“Do you know who he is?” Wei Ying asked.

“Su She. A traitor to the Lan sect. He was expelled long back.” Lan Zhan replied grimly. No matter that he did not like his sect any more, Lan Zhan hated betrayers even more.

“A loyal follower of murder Jin, I see.” Wei Ying commented.

“Mn.”

“How is your sect coming along?” Jin Guangyao asked.

“Very well, sir. All thanks to you. Now, the Lan sect cannot be considered a leader in musical cultivation”, Su She bowed happily.

“Treacherous and ambitious.” Wei Ying added.

 “Mn.”

“By the way, did you find any remedy for your Hundred Hole curse?” Jin Guangyao asked with concern apparent in his face.

“No. I am still searching. And even if there is no cure, I am happy to have gotten rid of that Jin Zixun. You made that fool believe that it was the Yiling Laozu who cursed him. It was glorious,” Su She answered.

“Wei Ying!” Lan Zhan exclaimed. And simultaneously, “Hundred hole curse!” Wei Ying shouted.

Wei Ying and Lan Zhan looked at each other.

“So, it was all a conspiracy. Jin Guangyao must have orchestrated the entire incident on Qiongqi path.” Wei Ying said.

“He wanted to get rid of Jin Zixuan.” Lan Zhan noted.

“You are right. It feels obvious, now that he also killed his father. It was not just a simple revenge. Jin Guangyao was lured by the power of the sect leader and the chief cultivator,” Wei Ying added.

“Wei Ying.” Lan Zhan was worried. Wei Ying was the main target of their actions, the perfect person to point fingers at.

“It is fine, Lan Zhan. I have become too numb to it.” Although Wei Ying reassured Lan Zhan, he still looked forlorn and Lan Zhan did not know how to comfort him.

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“I just do not understand what Shijie was thinking.” Wei Ying looked at little Jin Ling playing with his uncle Jin Guangyao.

“When she came to the battlefield?” Lan Zhan asked.

“Yes. She was a new widow. I understand that immense grief sometimes clouds your mind. However, she was also a new mother. How could she leave her son alone?”

“She loved you.” Lan Zhan replied.

“She did. It was very complicated. Her love offered me genuine warmth and comfort during my stay at the Lotus Pier. However, her love also forced me to forgive Jiang Cheng and Madam Yu for their abuse, and forced me to believe their love for me. Because she loved me, she came to visit me at Yiling to show her wedding dress. But she did not seem to realize that her future sect was prosecuting me and was after my life. She knew there were refugees at Burial Mounds and she did not bother to bring any food or necessities. All that does not matter, in any case. For, she did love me from the bottom of her heart and died to save me. That is the only truth I am going to accept.” Wei Ying declared.

“Mn.”

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“Son, I cannot allow you to live. Please understand. Your existence is a threat to me. You see, your mother is my half-sister, a spawn of my father’s indiscretion. Think of this as your filial piety and die, okay?” 

Wei Ying and Lan Zhan looked on horrified as a deranged Jin Guangyao smothered his son to death. Jin Rusong was just a young child and his own father did not hesitate to kill him at all. 

“He could have just sent him away, Lan Zhan!” Wei Ying cried. Lan Zhan was too distressed to speak. This was a new low, even for a man like Jin Guangyao.

And this was not all. Wei Ying and Lan Zhan watched as Jin Guangyao blamed another sect for the death of his son and ordered his men to kill everyone in the sect. 

“Er-ge, I have to take revenge for my son. You understand, don’t you?” Jin Guangyao pleaded to the Lan sect leader.

“I know, A-yao.” Lan Xichen replied. He was mourning his nephew and looked sad. 

“Your brother is called the first jade of Lan and you were the second jade, right? Talented men of our generation, veritable gentlemen, they said.” Wei Ying asked dully.

“Mn.” Wei Ying could hear the anguish in Lan Zhan’s voice.

“The sect targeted by Jin Guangyao had strongly opposed building watchtowers sometime back, wasn't it? And these watchtowers are somewhat of a pet project for dear A-Yao, isn’t it? Your brother must have known all this.”

“Mn.”

“Is your brother really dumb not to make any correlation? Or is he just playacting?”

“He is not dumb.” Lan Zhan replied in anger.

“Then he is being willfully ignorant.” 

“Mn.”

Wei Ying sighed, “Lan Zhan, your brother is the main reason for the rise of this Jin Guangyao. He gave Meng Yao the power to commit all his atrocious acts. Think about it. Society would never give a chance to a person of Meng Yao’s origin. Without a powerful political backing, Meng Yao would not be able to reach this height. I am the perfect example. I did not have any support and just look at what happened to me.”  

“Wei Ying is right.” Lan Zhan replied. 

Within a few days, the whole sect was gone. There was a huge uproar at that which settled down quickly. Soon, there were no oppositions for the building of the watchtowers. Everyone was afraid to voice their objections after what happened to that sect.

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Wei Ying and Lan Zhan did not want to stay near Jin Guangyao anymore. They wandered off to different places and kept away from the cultivation world. And one day, they stumbled upon Xue Yang, A-Qing, Xiao Xing Chen, and Song Lan. 

By the time they reached the village they had been staying, Xue Yang had already harmed A-Qing and had tricked Xiao Xing Chen to kill Song Lan. Xiao Xing Chen had broken down when he learned the truth and had killed himself. Xue Yang had already made a fierce corpse out of Song Lan, with those familiar nails placed inside his skull. 

Wei Ying and Lan Zhan did not want to stay in that place for a second more after learning what had taken place in the village and they went on with their travels. Wei Ying and Lan Zhan spent some time grieving for those lost lives and with time, they came out of it. 

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This time, they decided to go to Qinghe. They had already visited Yunmeng and Lanling. Lan Zhan did not want to go to Gusu. That left only the Nie sect. Wei Ying and Lan Zhan were curious to see how Nie Huaisang ran the sect after his brother’s death. 

That Nie Huaisang was clever and a capable sect leader was not much of a surprise for the couple. What did surprise Wei Ying and Lan Zhan was that the Nie sect leader already suspected that his brother was killed by Jin Guangyao. 

In front of their own eyes, Nie Huaisang collected relevant people - the prostitute Sisi, Madam Qin’s maid Bicao who knew the truth of Qin Su’s birth, and so on. The Nie sect leader also found out that his brother’s body was cut into pieces and they were hidden in different places. He also knew the role Lan Xichen played in all of this and predictably, Nie Huaisang was angry. Lan Xichen was a sworn brother to Nie Mingjue and he let him be murdered. Wei Ying and Lan Zhan saw that the Nie sect leader placed half the blame of his brother’s demise on the Lan sect leader.   

“Fair enough, I think. Being ignorant and dumb is not a good look for a sect leader and a sworn brother. Especially if Nie Mingjue had already warned Lan Xichen about Jin Guangyao.” Wei Ying whispered to Lan Zhan.

“Mn.”

Soon, their opinion of Nie Huaisang went from impressed to enraged and it was all because of a young man named Mo Xuanyu.

Wei Ying and Lan Zhan were always under the impression that the Nie sect leader would present all the evidence and prosecute the chief cultivator. But instead he got busy manipulating the young man. 

Mo Xuanyu was a bastard son of former sect leader, Jin Guangshan. When he was taken into the Jin sect as a disciple, he had a hard time. He was bullied everywhere. Only Jin Guangyao was nice to him for some reason. And this closeness with the current Jin sect leader led to his expulsion from the sect in disgrace. 

One day Mo Xuanyu stumbled upon some of Jin Guangyao’s secrete. When he was discovered by his half-brother, Join Guangyao did not hesitate to make a claim that Mo Xuanyu had bad intentions towards on the account of Mo Xuanyu being a cut-sleeve and promptly sent him away.

Nie Huaisang exploited this trauma and influenced Mo Xuanyu to sacrifice himself. 

“A-Yu, think about it. You have already lost in this. You have suffered so much. What is the point of living like this? Isn’t it better to make those people pay for what they have done? Isn’t revenge the best thing in the world? Trust me. Yiling Laozu is just the person for this job.” Nie Huaisang told Mo Xuanyu gently, with his hands placed around the young man’s shoulder in a comforting way, and he handed down an array to Mo Xuanyu.

Wei Ying and Lan Zhan were angry. 

“I did not realize Nie Huaisang would be the same as them. He was a good boy with a cheerful disposition during our lectures at Gusu. You remember how he was at that time, right?” Wei Ying looked at Lan Zhan like he was done with all of this shit.

“Mn.”

“All his intelligence was wasted during the Sunshot campaign. In any case, it was a personal decision and there is nothing to complain about. Truthfully, he treated me well during those days, just after I came back from Burial Mounds and I was grateful for that friendship. It was also true that once I was made to be the enemy of the world, he did nothing, just like many others who claimed to be my friend. Which again, is fine because who would want to be associated with a social pariah if they do not want their reputation to be ruined! After doing nothing all these years, he had the audacity to make me do his bidding now. I am already dead. And yet, he doesn't want me to rest in peace. He wants to use me for his own purposes. He is using my own array for this too. Lan Zhan, I am done with the cultivation world. Enough is enough.” Wei Ying sobbed, letting out all the sadness hidden inside. He could only wail into the air as there were no tear glands to cry.

Lan Zhan wanted to hug his beloved and shelter him in his arms. He wanted to shield Wei Ying from the world so that no harm can touch even a single hair. Alas, Lan Zhan could not do or did not do anything and it was a regret he would carry on for eternity.

“Wei Ying, I am here.” This is all Lan Zhan could offer, his company as Wei Ying finally grieved for himself. 

Wei Ying had to smile at Lan Zhan’s clumsy way of consoling him. “I am fine, beloved. And I am here for you too, always.” Wei Ying would stay strong as Lan Zhan came to terms with his dissociation with his home, his family, his clan, and everything he was taught, for the whole farce had come to an end. It was time for both of them to move on.

“Wei Ying,” Lan Zhan closed his eyes. If there was a physical body, there would be tears slowly descending down from those pale cheeks. 

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While Nie Huaisang made preparations to execute his agendas, Wei Ying and Lan Zhan acted on their own plans. 

“Lan Zhan, when Mo Xuanyu draws the array, I will write my own lines next to the array using the yin energy. It will become a single huge array with two halves - yin and yang. It will change the meaning of the formation completely.” Wei Ying explained.

“You always had this plan.” Lan Zhan commented as he started to understand the true motive of Wei Ying.

“Yes, of course. Lan Zhan, I do not want to stay in this limbo forever. Don’t you want to have proper bodies to cultivate…” Wei Ying flew close to Lan Zhan, “and to fuck?” He whispered. 

“Wei Ying!” Lan Zhan exclaimed with excitement.

“That’s what I thought.” Wei Ying was smug. All these years spending time with Hanguang-Jun was not a waste. He knew the basics of his Lan-er-gege - he was possessive, horny, and loved Wei Ying to eternity and beyond. Wei Ying had no complaints. All the while knowing Lan Zhan, Wei Ying also realized his own heart. He was no less possessive and he was no less interested in being fucked. 

“How does this work?” Lan Zhan asked after containing his initial euphoria.

“I had been working on this formation for some time now, and was waiting for the right opportunity. All it needed was the spiritual energy to balance out the yin energy. Mo Xuanyu’s timing is just perfect. I finished the array just a month ago.” Wei Ying replied. 

“Was this during the time when you went on your own, leaving me alone?”  Lan Zhan asked, his tone a bit sulking.

“Sweetheart, I wanted to surprise you. Forgive me?” Wei Ying answered sweetly.

“Mn.” 

“Now everything has aligned to my satisfaction.” Wei Ying concluded, “we will be able to get everything we want.” 

“How far back will we travel?” Lan Zhan asked.

Wei Ying gasped, “You figured it out. That this will turn into a….” 

“A time traveling array, yes.” Lan Zhan finished the sentence.

Wei Ying's grin was huge, “you truly are my equal, Lan Zhan. And it is very attractive.” 

“Wei Ying is no less seductive.” Lan Zhan had to retort. 

“I am all too happy to lure Hanguang-Jun,” Wei Ying winked.

“Always.” Lan Zhan smiled slightly, “there is no escape.”

“Anyway, to answer your question, I do not know to which stage in our life we will go back to. We could also not go back to the exact same moment together. I might go early and have to wait for you, or vice versa.” Wei Ying said.

“Insufficient energy can make the result unpredictable.” Lan Zhan observed.

“Yes. Mo Xuanyu has a small golden core and less qi. And I have to match the same amount of yin energy to achieve proper balance and complete the circle.” Wei Ying agreed.

“It is fine. As long as we will meet one day.” Lan Zhan assured.

“Yes. We will always be together.” Wei Ying promised.

“Mn.”

Wei Ying did not talk after that, suddenly looking worried. 

“Wei Ying…” Lan Zhan asked.

“Lan Zhan, I want to go back, because I want to live again and be with you.”

“You do not want to engage in the cultivation world and its wars. You do not want to help anyone.” Lan Zhan noted.

“Yes. I have had enough, Lan Zhan.” 

“I support you. And I feel the same, Wei Ying. Let us just be together and forget about everything else.” 

“And if I go back to the time when I was with the Jiangs, I will take my revenge on them. I will not forgive them for the way they treated me. If I land when I was before or after my stay at Lotus Pier, then it is their luck.”

“Wei Ying is free to do anything he wants. Just belong to me and that is enough.” Lan Zhan replied with a slight smile.

“Lan Zhan, er-gege, I always belong to you. You own me - my heart, my soul, and soon my body too.” Wei Ying smiled softly as well. 

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On the day Mo Xuanyu drew the array, Wei Ying created his own array. And then Wei Ying and Lan Zhan stood inside the array and waited for Mo Xuanyu to supply his spiritual qi to the formation. As soon as the yang energy from the qi spread across the lines, yin energy from Wei Ying also completed their circle.

The collision of the energies was too much for young Mo Xuanyu and he fainted. 

And when the energies merged, there was a void opened inside the circle of the formation. Next second, Wei Ying and Lan Zhan vanished into the unknown.

Chapter Text

“A-Xian, I have made your favourite soup for you. Drink while it is still hot.”

When Wei Wuxian opened his eyes, he saw Jiang Yanli delicately placing a bowl of soup on a table next to his bed. He blinked his eyes a few times to clear away the cobwebs of his senses and tried to remember the time and place. 

Suddenly all the memories came rushing back to him. He gasped in pain as the bloody welts on back made their presence known. He could also feel his core working overtime to treat his injuries. He sent his senses to the core and it was tiny, a newborn. 

He knew the timeframe he came back to. He had turned ten years old and it was when he had just formed the core. Madam Yu was not happy that an orphan from the streets, the son of Cangse Sanren, managed to learn everything and form a core within a year of entering the Jiang sect, whereas her own son could not even form a speck of gold in his dantian. Even after many years of learning, Jiang Cheng remained mediocre.  In a fit of rage, Madam Yu had whipped Wei Wuxian for some imaginary offense. 

“Serves you right,” was the only thing Jiang Cheng had said to him as we went off with other disciples to play in the river. Uncle Jiang had turned a blind eye and left for an inspection.

Now, it was Jiang Yanli’s turn to smooth things over. 

“A-Xian, we both know how mother is. I know she loves you. A-Cheng loves you too, for that matter. Just stop getting into trouble, alright? Our A-Xian should always be smiling. He should never be naughty.” Jiang Yanli persuaded gently as she tried to feed him the soup. Wei Wuxian let her. He would not say no to good food. If nothing else, Jiang Yanli was an excellent chef. 

“Thank you, Shije. I want to rest now. My back is hurting.” Wei Wuxian said to her once the soup was over. 

Jiang Yanli was taken aback when he did not say anything else about Madam Yu or Jiang Cheng. There was no mention of letting the whipping to be forgotten or understanding words from Wei Wuxian. 

“Is there anything you want to say, A-Xian?” Jiang Yanli asked. 

“What else?” Wei Wuxian frowned, and then his eyes became clear, “Ah! Yes.” 

Jiang Yanli brightened, anticipating conciliatory words.  

“Thank you for the soup, Shijie. Look, I forgot all my manners because of my pain. Good on you for reminding me,” Wei Wuxian grinned. 

“I see,” Jiang Yanli looked disappointed, “then I will leave. Take a rest.” She left the room with the empty soup bowl.

Wei Wuxian took a deep breath to ward off the pain. It would take at least a week or ten days to get better. He decided to just spend all that time in the room. Jiang Yanli will make sure he is fed, at least. 

However, after ten days, he had a lot to work on. In his previous life, it was from this moment onwards that his reputation as a troublemaker began to spread. And every time he was punished, it only got worse. Stepping on his ill repute, Jiang Cheng managed to gain a good standing. And Wei Wuxian also acted up to protect the real nature of Jiang Cheng from being known. With Wei Wuxian as a foil, Jiang Cheng enjoyed a good fame. Now, Wei Wuxian will not allow for that to happen.  

As a precursor to that, there was a play to be performed tomorrow. Wei Wuxian could not wait. 

He tried to sleep, but his injury kept him awake. After an hour of tossing and turning, Wei Wuxian gave up the idea of resting and decided to meditate. Sending more qi into his core would help him get better sooner. While cultivating, Wei Wuxian wondered what happened to his Lan Zhan, whether he came with him or not. Well, he could send a personal message to the second jade to check. However, it was risky. If Lan Zhan had not come back yet, it would only confuse him. And being intelligent, he would know something was off and try to investigate. Wei Wuxian did not want that to happen. Thus, he could only wait until they met face to face. He sighed as the first opportunity to meet his Hanguang-Jun was years away. 

And when he was done indulging in the memories of Hanguang-Jun, Wei Wuxian wrote many shield talismans that he had come up with when he was a ghost. Lan Zhan had helped him with his own ideas in this endeavour. These talismans would protect Wei Wuxian’s meridians and body when Madam Yu used Zidian on him. As long as he activated these talismans just before his punishment began, he never had to worry about anything Madam Yu does.

For the sake of maintaining this secret, there would only be skin deep injuries and some amount of blood to create the illusion that the punishments worked. No one would know that underneath all of that, Wei Wuxian was completely fine. And these scars could be removed later using any normal scar removal cream. Unfortunately, Wei Wuxian would have to keep these scars as long as he was at Lotos Pier.  

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The chatter of the servants woke up Wei Wuxian early in the morning. He had gone to sleep just two hours back after a round of meditation and he felt better. 

Time has come.

“Is there anyone outside?” Wei Wuxian called out.

There was a sound of scurrying down the passage and someone knocked on his door.

“Come in,” Wei Wuxian said in a low voice, as if he had no energy.

The one who came was Lu Shi, a forty years old woman, and had been a servant at Lotus Pier for more than twenty five years. At first she worked in the laundry. Over the years, she had been promoted multiple times and now she was head maid for the west wing of the Jiang mansion. There were more than ten servants under her and her husband was the groundskeeper for the Jiangs. 

But, Wei Wuxian was not interested in all this. What he needed was her other identity. Lu Shi was a veritable gossip monger. She had a like minded group of friends at the market, whom she would visit every week on her off day and talk about all the interesting happenings.

“Young Wuxian, what do you need?” Lu Shi asked in a casual tone. Most of the servants at Lotus Pier treated Wei Wuxian as their own, neither humble nor arrogant.

“Aunt Lu, my back hurts. Can you please get me a pain killer from the infirmary?” Wei Wuxian asked.

“Oh, goodness! What happened?” Lu Shi asked. What happened the day before had not yet been known to many people. Uncle Jiang wanted to keep it a secret as much as possible.  

“It was Madam Yu. She whipped me using her Zidian.” Wei Wuxian teared up. He looked like a drowned cat - weak and pitiful.

“Now, why would she do that? What did you do to be punished like this?” Lu Shi asked worriedly. 

Wei Wuxian did not answer. He looked away and he looked conflicted. 

“Boy, you better tell me what happened so that I can help you,” Lu Shi insisted. She had a child herself and could not see a small child as young as her own son being hurt. And she was also curious so that she could share it with her friends tomorrow. 

“Please do not tell anyone, Aunt Lu.” Wei Wuxian whispered. 

“No. I will not. You can be rest assured.” Lu Shi replied. 

“I do not want Madam Yu to hear about this. And Uncle Jiang does not want everyone to know.” Wei Wuxian said.

“Of course not, Young Wei. Just share it with your aunt. Tell me what you did.” Lu Shi insisted.

“I formed a golden core two days back.” Wei Wuxian looked down, with tears running through his cheeks. 

“What? Why would the sect Madam punish you for that?” Lu Shi was shocked. Isn’t it a good thing for a sect when a disciple is talented and forms a core?

“But Jiang Cheng is yet to form one.” Wei Wuxian did not elaborate, but Lu Shi understood clearly.

It was not a secret that Madam Yu hated Wei Wuxian’s mother. And there were also rumours that he was the bastard child of Jiang sect leader from that Cangse Sanren. Lu Shi had never noticed that the jealousy and hate was transferred to a ten year old child. 

“It was not the first time, was it?” Lu Shi asked gently, so as to not scare the poor kid.

“No. Before she whipped me because I broke my hand accidentally.” Wei Wuxian continued to look down. The top of his head was filled with matted hair after not being washed for a couple of days. The robes hung off small shoulders. The usual tan skin had become pale with blood loss and injuries. 

The vision suddenly ignited Lu Shi’s protective instincts. She patted his head, “Good boy. You just wait here. I will send some medicine and food for you.”

“Thank you, aunt Lu.” Wei Wuxian bowed politely. 

Within ten minutes, Lu Shi did what she promised and a steaming hot bowl of rice porridge and a bowl of pain medicine was placed in front of Wei Wuxian. 

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Thanks to Lu Shi and her friends, the entire town of Lotus Pier knew how Madam Yu punished Wei Wuxian using her spiritual weapon for no other reason than hatred and jealousy. Then the story took a life on its own and spread across.

Wei Wuxian was a pitiful orphan. He was such a nice boy. Talented too for forming a core this soon. In one version, Madam Yu transferred her rage from mother to son. In another version, it was Jiang Cheng who got jealous and asked his mother to punish the Wei boy. In some versions, it was Jiang Cheng who whipped the boy himself - which was ridiculous because the Jiang heir had not yet formed the core. 

In all iterations of the story, however, Jiang Fengmian did not come out well. He could have stopped his wife and son from abusing a young child. After all, Wei Wuxian was the son of his close friend, and yet he did not try to keep his nephew safe in his own home. There were many old people in the town who still remembered Wei Changze and they did not like how Wei Wuxian was treated by their sect leader. Even though they could not change the situation, the incident remained in their minds and the reputation of the Jiang sect slowly started to crumble. 

Wei Wuxian was satisfied with the result. In the previous timeline, he never tried to actively discredit the Jiangs. In fact, he took all the blame on himself and made sure the Jiangs were always respected. Well, no more. And next, whenever Wei Wuxian was punished, people would be reminded of this incident and the impression of Madam Yu, Jiang Fengmian, and even Jiang Cheng would become worse.

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Ten days later, Wei Wuxian made sure to stroll around the marketplace. He could feel the inquisitive gazes all around him. He did not pay attention to them and went to his favourite roadside restaurant and ordered a bowl of dimsum and noodles with a spicy broth.

Owner herself served him the food after ten minutes of waiting. She did not leave immediately.

“How are you boy?” She asked with concern, “have you recovered now?” 

“I am fine, aunty. Nothing happened to me,” Wei Wuxian replied. He looked here and there, instead of the owner. 

“I heard sect madam whipped you a few days back.” Owner insisted.

Wei Wuxian placed his hand on his back and immediately took it away. “No.No. It is all a lie.” 

“Really?” The owner sounded skeptical, “someone from the Jiang mansion told me you are always punished because she hates your mother.”   

“No. No. I am always told I should repay my debts. I am very grateful. I am very happy. And how can anyone beat me? Uncle Jiang is my father’s friend. He would be so angry if he hears rumours about Madam Yu. Please do not ask me anymore, aunty. And please do not tell anyone anything. Here, take my money. I will leave now.” Wei Wuxian took a deep breath and ran away. 

His entire act of being scared and yet trying to be brave worked like a charm.

Soon, a fresh wave of rumours spread around the town. That Wei Wuxian was scared of his uncle Jiang. And the Jiangs were completely unaware of everything. Jiang Fengmian was busy running the sect and rarely went into the town. And no one was brave enough to discuss such an issue with him. Madam Yu was either at home or out on night hunts. Jiang Cheng and Jiang Yanli did not visit the town often. And when they did, Wei Wuxian was always with them and people did not want to mention unpleasant things in front of Wei Wuxian and spoil his mood. 

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Over time, Lu Shi became his confidant. It all started when she caught him training at night. 

“Boy, why are you not asleep?” Lu Shi asked. 

Wei Wuxian did not reply, but hunched over. He radiated sadness and fear.

“What is it?” Lu Shi started to talk in hushed tones.

“Aunty, can I trust you? I lost my parents and I have no one to talk to.” Wei Wuxian asked.

“Oh! You poor little lamb! Of course you can talk to me.” Lu Shi patted his head.

“Jiang Cheng was not happy when I did better than him in sword training. I stopped doing that immediately. I am afraid Madam Yu will whip me again. Aunty, I do not want to be punished for this. But I also know my duty. I have to do better in order to repay Uncle Jiang. He will be extremely disappointed in me if I lack skills. I can only train secretly like this. Please do not tell anyone.”  Wei Wuxian cried. 

“Why don’t you talk to your uncle and tell him clearly? He is your father’s friend, right?” Lu Shi asked curiously.

“I did at first. Then he scolded me for complaining. He said that they are just excuses for me not performing well. He said I just wanted to escape from paying my debts. Aunty, that is not the case at all. I am grateful everyday for the food on my table and a place to sleep.” Wei Wuxian replied bitterly. 

“I understand. But this is not the way to go. Your body needs rest. Go to bed now, young boy.” Lu Shi sent him away to his room. On the way back to her personal room, she could not help thinking about the phrase “ food on the table and a place to sleep ”. Isn’t it the case with many of their disciples? All disciples in the sect - both inner and outer - are provided with free boarding and lodging, and disciples in turn will work for the sect. There was no question of debts. That has always been the case. And Wei Wuxian was not an exception at all. He was the norm and as such not required to feel so indebted. Moreover, isn’t he a nephew to the Jiang sect leader, on the basis that his father was a close friend? Isn’t it a duty of an uncle to look after his orphaned nephew? She remembered her own cousin who adopted a young orphan, who was her friend’s son and the cousin never mentioned any debts. 

She could not wait to talk to her friends about this. 

Within a day, everything was known to the people of the town, on how Jiang Fengmian was exploiting his own nephew and allowed his wife to abuse him at will. And Wei Wuxian became an example of a filial and grateful child, who insisted on repaying for everything no matter the cost he has to pay. 

After spoiling the reputation of the Jiang sect leader and his wife, now, it was Jiang Cheng’s turn. 

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“Uncle Jiang, I want to read these books from the library. But I am not allowed to go there. I need your official seal,” Wei Wuxian presented a list of books to Jiang Fengmian. 

Wei Wuxian chose a time when his uncle was in a hurry for a sect meeting. Jiang Fengmian casually looked at the titles of the books - Advanced Talisman Theories, History of Yunmeng Jiang, Yunmeng Jiang and his territories, and so on. There were around ten books in total and all of them looked inconsequential at first glance. The Jiang sect leader did not bother to enquire further and stamped his seal. What he did not realize was that there was considerable space between the last entry in the list and the seal. 

It was deliberate on Wei Wuxian’s part. As soon as he got the approval, he did not waste any time visiting the library. And he secretly added several more books into the list - Yumeng Jiang and its political allies, Diplomatic and trade relations - a study, Running a sect and the Jiang motto - attempt the impossible and so on.

Jiang Lixin raised his eyebrows when he saw the list Wei Wuxian presented. Jiang Lixin was the librarian and keeper of all books in the Jiang sect, a well respected cultivator. He also had another identity. Jiang Lixin was also a cousin to Jiang Fengmian and fiercely loyal to the Jiang sect leader. And he had many friends within the Jiang sect who were in the Jiang Fengmian’s faction and did not like Madam Yu. 

“Well, go ahead, then. Return the books within a week.” Jiang Lixin instructed and did not say anything else. He looked like he was on the verge of a discovery. Having created the effect he wanted, Wei Wuxian, left with the books whistling a happy ditty.

For the next couple of months, Wei Wuxian would bother Jiang Fengmian to sign in the paper for  him to read more books from the forbidden section of the library. Fed up with constant interruptions, especially just before important sect meetings, Jiang Fengmian personally went to Jiang Lixin and ordered him to allow Wei Wuxian full access to the library. The Jiang sect leader never suspected Wei Wuxian of anything. He was fully confident that he had Wei Wuxian’s blind loyalty, grateful as he was for protecting him from the streets.  

Now Wei Wuxina could read any book he wanted and he made full use of it. Everyday, he would go to the library and talk to Jiang Lixin for a minute or so, before selecting a book to read. He selected books specially related to running of a sect and helpful guides on becoming a good sect leader. With every interaction, the way Jiang Lixin looked at Wei Wuxian changed. From initially curiosity to now a hint of respect, as if he guessed Jiang Fengmian’s intention. Wei Wuxian achieved what he wanted and he just had to wait for the next developments.

Soon, there were rumours that spread across all the Jiang cultivators who were close to Jiang Fengmian that the Jiang sect leader was training his bastard son Wei Wuxian to be the sect heir. After knowing how Madam Yu and Jiang Cheng treated Wei Wuxian, they felt it was plausible that Jiang Fengmian preferred Wei Wuxian. Otherwise, why would Madam Yu and Jiang Cheng behave so? These senior cultivators did not put much weight into the rumours outside - that Jiang Fengmian was not good to Wei Wuxian. More than that, they believed what they saw in front of their own eyes. Jiang Fengmian did treat Wei Wuxian differently. And they also saw how Wei Wuxian trained secretly and intensely too. 

Being overly clever was not a good thing when it came to subordinates and they should never try to guess their leader’s intentions. Unfortunately, that was what these Jiang cultivators did. Obviously, they would not share this piece of speculation to Madam Yu’s supporters inside Lotus Pier. However, they did not even bother to ask Jiang Fengmian directly. Just because the Jiang sect leader did not directly talk to them about it, even to his close confidants, they all assumed that it was to be kept under wraps for now. And they all went along with this “secret plan” of their sect leader. They took it upon themselves to help along.

These Jiang cultivators started to pay more attention to Wei Wuxian. They instructed their children to build a good relationship with the next sect heir, Wei Wuxian.

Chapter Text

After hoodwinking the senior Jiang cultivators, Wei Wuxian decided to work on the juniors. At first he stopped being a go-to between Jiang Cheng and other disciples. And he would start training seriously when Madam Yu was not present at Lotus Pier. He would do it secretly too and let Jiang Cheng accidentally discover him. On multiple occasions, Jiang Cheng saw Wei Wuxian working on his cultivation, hiding from everyone and he had a sense of crisis.

It did not help that a lot of disciples - who were once followers of Jiang Cheng himself - now flocked to Wei Wuxian. Jiang Cheng was seething with jealousy. 

Then the rumours reached Jiang Cheng’s ears.

“Hey, Jiang Mo. Why are you being nice to Wei Wuxian all of a sudden?” 

“My father asked me to.”

“Isn’t your father Senior Lixin who runs the library?”

“Yes.”

“Why would he say that?”

“He thinks the Jiang sect leader wants Wei Wuxian to be the sect heir instead of Jiang Wanyin.”

“What? Does that mean the rumours of him being a bastard are true?”

“Maybe.”

“I see. Include me next time when you meet him.”

“Sure.”

Again and again, Jiang Cheng heard how his father preferred his bastard over his legitimate son to be the next sect leader. Combined with his mother’s words that his father loved Wei Wuxian more, Jiang Cheng could not handle the new development. 

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Then Wei Wuxian started asking for various things from Jaing sect leader in front of Jiang Cheng. One day it was a beautiful artisan fan. The next day it was an expensive trinket. He even bought new silk robes using Jiang Fengmian’s money. Wei Wuxian also performed exceptionally well in front of Jiang Fengmian, earning him praise from his uncle. He also made sure to subtly point out the lack of skills on Jiang Cheng’s part. 

“Uncle Jiang, thank you. This was nothing. I will do even better next time. And don’t worry. I will also train Jiang Cheng well. Right now, his sword skills need a bit of improvement. And his stamina is not up to the mark too. Uncle, you do not have to worry about Jiang Cheng. I am here and I will look after him.” Wei Wuxian would say. 

The more this happened, the more the sect leader thought he managed to win him over to become his son’s shield. And this would earn Jiang Cheng a good scolding. Jiang Fengmian would always then compare Wei Wuxian with Jiang Cheng, “Look at him and look at you. Learn from A-Ying, will you?” He would say to his son.

In this way, Jiang Fengmian indulged Wei Wuxian whenever possible. This only fed into Jiang Cheng’s jealousy and the senior Jiang cultivators’ assumptions. 

When Jiang Fengmian came to know of these new rumours about Wei Wuxian being his heir, he did not bother correcting it just like previous rumours. Because he saw that these rumours inspired Jiang Cheng to improve himself. Perhaps Jiang Fengmian never tried to refute the rumours about Wei Wuxian’s birth in his previous life because it stimulated Jiang Cheng and fueled his ambitions, Wei Wuxian thought.

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Jiang Cheng trained more and more, just to prove that he was better than Wei Wuxian in every way. That proved counterproductive. The psychological pressure made his performance decline. And when that happened he always complained to Madam Yu. And she would whip Wei Wuxian or punish him to kneel in front of the ancestral hall. And everything that happened inside the Jiang mansion would spread outside, thanks to Wei Wuxian’s mechanizations. 

Over time, everyone knew that Madam Yu was a shrew who hated Wei Wuxian and unnecessarily punished him all the time. Instead of Violet Spider, people started calling her Violent Spider, making her really infamous. 

Jiang Cheng did not do well either. He became known for his jealousy and temper tantrums along with his mediocre skills. 

By now, there were mixed opinions about the Jiang sect leader. Earlier people thought he did not treat Wei Wuxian well. Now, some people believed that he would make Wei Wuxian the heir and thus he was good to his nephew. 

All in all, there was chaos at Lotus Pier and rampant rumours. Wei Wuxian came out of it with a pristine reputation. He was no longer the troublemaker. He was considered to be a good boy, who respected his elders and worked hard to repay his debts. But unfortunately, he was treated worse than the servant by Madam Yu and Jiang Cheng. Poor boy , they lamented.

And Jiang Yanli was always considered by everyone as a kind girl and Wei Wuxian did not bother to change anything. He just let her be.

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For the next two years, Wei Wuxian put immense pressure on Jiang Cheng’s psyche. From time to time, Wei Wuxian would say things that would get Jiang Cheng angry. 

During sword practice, after thoroughly beating Jiang Cheng to the ground -

“ I am training hard, Jiang Cheng, because I do not want to disappoint our father, I mean your father, of course. You will always be less than me.” Wei Wuxain whispered to Jiang Cheng, while pulling him up.

When Jiang Yanli treated both of them with her famous soup -

“Jiejie, you do not mind I call you this right? After all, we are siblings.” Wei Wuxian grinned at Jiang Yanli.

“But, mother will punish you, A-Xian. I do not want you to invite her anger.” Jiang Yanli replied.

“Did you not say that I am your brother?”

“Yes, of course, A-Xian.”

“Then do not worry, jiejie, Jimu, I mean Madam Yu is always angry with me. It will not make any difference.” Wei Wuxian shrugged his shoulders.

Jiang Cheng could not hold it anymore, “She is my jiejie, not yours. Call her Shije. And she is my mother, not your step-mother. Stop calling her Jimu. To you, she is Madam Yu.” He shouted and ran away.

“A-Cheng…A-Cheng…come back. Finish your soup. It is your favourite." Jiang Yanli called after her brother, but he did not come back.

Wei Wuxian sighed, “Shijie, it is better to call you this, I guess. I thought he would be happy that I am truly your and his brother. Instead, he looks upset. Did you not say he loved me like a brother? I am so disappointed in him. I will go to my room, shijie. Thank you for your soup though.” 

When Jiang Cheng fought with a disciple and verbally abused him - 

“Cheng Cheng, we cannot treat our disciples like this. They also deserve our respect and dignity.” Wei Wuxian looked like an elder brother lecturing his younger sibling, ‘A-Chi, please forgive my brother today, alright? He will correct his behaviour and will not repeat the same mistake.” Wei Wuxian requested magnanimously. The disciple walked away in anger. Jiang Chi was the grandson of an important Jiang elder and he could afford to get angry at the sect leader’s son. In reality, Jiang Cheng never really learned more about the disciples and their background. It was always Wei Wuxian who would remind Jiang Cheng and help him avoid making mistakes. Now, without Wei Wuxian standing in front of Jiang Cheng and protecting him under his care, this flaw was exposed and Jiang Cheng’s true nature won over.

In classroom, when Wei Wuxian scored well and was praised, and Jiang Cheng was the last in the class - 

“Teacher, thank you. And do not worry about Jiang Cheng coming in last. I will teach him personally.” Wei Wuxian would claim in front of everyone, which only embarrassed Jiang Cheng. Until then, no one knew the score of Jiang Wanyin and how badly he did in academics.

Most of the time, Jiang Cheng was unable to control his rage and he would shout at Wei Wuxian in front of everyone. And this would soon follow a session with Madam Yu’s beloved Zidian. It always looked like Wei Wuxian was bearing the brunt of Madam Yu and Jiang Cheng’s anger without any provocation. Not only Wei Wuxian was himself an excellent cultivator, he also tried to help Jiang Cheng, only to meet with hatred. The mother-son duo was looked down upon by many. 

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There was another reason why Wei Wuxian continued to just torment Jiang Cheng for two years without taking any other action against him or against Madam Yu. He wanted to first consolidate his core for a year and then start cultivating the yin energy. And only after he mastered it he would execute his next step.

So, at the end of his eleventh year, he had started his yin cultivation, and his core had turned crimson, with perfect balance of yin and yang. Although he could not use yin energy in the open, there was no one who would stop him from using it for nefarious purposes in secret. 

There was another thing he had to deal with just as he entered his twelfth year. Jiang Fengmian wanted to make him the head disciple, just like in the last life. Wei Wuxian refused. He did not want to take on this thankless job. In his last life, he was exhausted trying to appease Jiang Cheng’s bruised ego, the training of the disciples, and the handling conflicts between the two parties. This time, he never looked after the Jiang disciples till now and he did not want to start doing it again. 

Last time, these were the same disciples who looked on happily as he alone got whipped by Madam Yu, when in truth it was all of them who were part of the mischief. Although he could understand safeguarding their own interests, he would never be able to treat them as true friends anymore. So, he firmly pushed back Jiang Fengmian’s offer to make him the head disciple.

“Uncle Jiang, it is better to give this job to Jiang Cheng. I think this will motivate him to train harder and also he can get close to the disciple’s this way.” Wei Wuxian gave a high sounding reason for his refusal. 

“But, you are the perfect choice. You are capable.” Jiang Fengmian tried to persuade.

“Uncle Jiang, Jiang Cheng is the sect heir and he should build good relationships with disciples early on so that his job will be easier later. And I am always there to back him up and help him with everything.” Wei Wuxian assured, “and moreover, additional responsibilities will only build character.”

Jiang Fengmian thought about it for two days. And Madam Yu - who had come back to Lotus Pier to specifically address this issue - fought with her husband. In the end, Jiang Fengmian made Jiang Cheng a head disciple. 

This move did not make Jiang Fengmian’s followers think Jiang Cheng would be the next leader. Instead, they assumed that this was a consolation prize for Jiang Cheng as he would lose out on the sect leader position. It was a wonderful misunderstanding and when Jiang Cheng learned of this, he started hating his father more and more. He also did not like his mother because she always kept scolding whenever he did not do well. Talking to Jiang Yanli did not help. Other disciples did not want to associate with him because of his bad temper. Jiang Cheng felt isolated in his own home.

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When Wei Wuxial entered his thirteenth year, he had mastered the yin energy cultivation and proceeded with his next plan. He chose a day after Madam Yu came back from a night hunt.

That day, Wei Wuxian performed exceptionally well in the written exam and scored the highest marks. And in the afternoon, during the sword assessment test, Wei Wuxian purposefully chose Jiang Cheng as his opponent and thrashed him without leaving any dignity. Wei Wuxian knew very well that Jiang Cheng would be scolded by Madam Yu and he would definitely be complained against.

After following his plan, Wei Wuxian waited patiently in his room after the evening drill. He ate his secret stash of food as he would be exempt from dinner for sure. He did not have to wait for long. The two servants who always stayed with Madam Yu came to escort him to the ancestral hall.

Madam Yu was pacing in the hall. She looked angry with her famous Zidian in hand and from time to time she looked at her son in disappointment. Jiang Cheng was looking down seemingly in shame. Even without seeing Jiang Cheng’s face, Wei Wuxian knew he was feeling smug about the fact that Wei Wuxian was going to be punished. 

“You cursed boy! HOW DARE YOU!” Madam Yu screamed at Wei Wuxian as soon as she saw him. The two servants of Madam Yu pushed Wei Wuxian onto his knees and held him down. 

Madam Yu sent her crackling and sizzling whip flying at him without any hesitation. This time the power used was much more than the previous times. Wei Wuxian did not try to dodge the hit. He could not escape the iron grip of the two servants anyway, they were powerful for him at this age. Unless he resorted to using yin energy, with only a two year old golden core, he could not fight cultivators much older than him.   

The whip gripped his skin in its teeth and when Madam Yu pulled it out, it left an injury. Of course, it was only for the show. There was no real damage to Wei Wuxian at all. As soon as he was held down, he activated the shield talisman sewn into his inner robes.

“Madam Yu, what is the reason this time?” Wei Wuxian asked bravely. From the corner of his eyes, he had seen Lu Shi lurking outside the hall. 

“YOU ARE JUST A STREET RAT! HOW DARE YOU QUESTION ME!” Madam Yu continued to whip him in rage.

“Madma Yu, I am sorry I am better than your son in every way. I did well in today’s exam. I know you are upset that Jiang Cheng did not perform well. And I know he complained to you. But, please Madam Yu. I am only doing this to honour uncle Jiang who took me in. I just want to repay my debts by being the best cultivator I can be.” Wei Wuxain declared heroically, all the while laughing inside his mind for using such high sounding words. He just wanted to always maintain the moral high ground over the Jiangs. In his previous life, every punishment was followed by fresh ruining of his reputation that he was a mischief maker. 

He knew why uncle Jiang allowed all the false rumours associated with him and his parents to fly around. A kind word from Jiang Fengmian when he was feeling sad about it and Wei Wuxian would be grateful, indeed.

Madam Yu hit him for more than ten minutes and she stopped only because her qi was almost depleted. And Wei Wuxian promptly “fainted”. He made sure to look miserable and pitiful, all the while being graceful. 

“SOMEONE COME HERE! Take him away,” Madam Yu called for a servant to take an unconscious Wei Wuxian away. Just as he was being carried out by two male servants, with a worried Lu Shi following behind, Wei Wuxian sent a tendril of dark energy into Madam Yu’s meridians. It was miniscule and within a second, it would settle down into her dantian. No one in this world would be able to detect that. 

The resentment that stayed inside Madam Yu had only one job to do - that was to enhance and magnify all the hatred, rage, insecurities, and hidden fears in the form of dreams. The more you were affected by these dreams, the more the resentment would grow, and in turn the dreams would become more intense. It was a vicious cycle. 

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“Yu Ziyuan…..Yu Ziyuan….you are nothing….you are just pathetic. I will always be better than you.” 

Madam Yu was having a nightmare. 

“Cangse Sanren, is that you?” 

“Yes…. How does it feel to have a loser son?”

“NO! My son is not a loser.” 

Madam Yu screamed and woke up. It was still three hours until sunrise. But she could not go back to sleep. Every time she closed her eyes she would hear Cangse Sanren - laughing at her. 

The nightmare followed her everywhere, no matter where she went. Every night, as soon as she closed her eyes, Cangse Sanren would appear and tore her pride to shreds.

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“I was always better than you. My son is better than your son. My husband loved me a lot while your husband hates you. Tell me Yu Ziyuan, what are you so proud of?”

“No..no…no…NO! Go away.” 

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“Ha ha….did you see? My son beat yours to the ground. Your A-Cheng can never do better.”

“No. A-Cheng is the best cultivator of his generation. He just needs time.”

“Delusions look good on you, Madam Yu.”

“Get lost!”

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“Why do you think you are so good? Are you a beautiful woman? A skilled cultivator? A capable sect madam? A wonderful mother? You are just a weakling. You literally had to force your husband to marry you. Now your daughter is weak and your son is mediocre. And you are a failure of epic proportions. Ha…ha….” 

“NO! GO AWAY”

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“Listen, your husband always loved me. He hated you before and he hates you now. Because I refused him, I am the white moonlight that exists in his heart. You picked up something I rejected. And you think you succeeded?”

“You are dead! What are you being smug about!”

“Yes. But I am alive in Jiang Fengmian’s heart. Heee…heee...heee...” 

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“Madam Yu…. Madam Yu…. Madam Yu…..”

“NO! I will not listen to you”.

“Madam Yu….Madam Yu…. Madam Yu….”

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“Yu Ziyuan….Yu Ziyuan…Yu Ziyuan…Yu Ziyuan…Yu Ziyuan…”

“GET LOST!”

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“Jiang Fengmian will make my son the next sect leader, mark my words.”

“NO! He has only one son, Jiang Cheng and he will be the next leader!”

“Ah! But, Jiang Fengmian wishes Wei Wuxain is his son, instead, doesn’t he? People already think Wei Wuxian is actually his son. What is to say Jiang Fengmian will not make it true? Why do you think he never refuted those rumours? You are just an idiot clinging to him, hoping your son will get recognition. Your son will never be loved by his father. I took away your husband’s attention from you. Now my son is taking your husband’s attention from your son. Ha…. ha….”

“GO! DIE BITCH! I WILL KILL YOU!”

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“Oh Yu Ziyuan……Madam Yu….I am here….again. How are you?”

“NO!”

“You are rude! Where are your manners? Always behaving like a shrew. Aren’t you proud of your birth and upbringing?”

“GO AWAY!”

“Looks like you are not in the mood for company. I will come tomorrow. Wait for me....”

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“Yu Ziyuan, your son is not qualified to be a head disciple at all. Look at him losing every match against other disciples. Ha ha…” 

“He is good. He just needs time…”

“You are the only one to think so. Even your husband has given up on him…”

“NO! GO AWAY BITCH!” 

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The torment continued for over a year. Madam Yu was almost driven crazy. As a result her already atrocious behaviour got worse during the day. She has lost her barely there rationality and remaining cautiousness. The lack of sleep only added to her madness. Now, instead of just Wei Wuxian, she started whipping other disciples too for slightest mistakes. Even Jiang Cheng was not spared. 

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Jiang Cheng had lost a sword match against his opponent for the umpteenth time. Madam Yu dragged him away to her private quarters. 

“A-Cheng, you are such a waste. You cannot even do better than that street rat. Even she is laughing at me.”

“Mother, mother…it hurts. Please stop. No one is laughing at you.”

“How dare you talk back! Where is your filial piety?”

“Mother…please. I will do better. I will work hard. Please spare me.” 

That day, it was Jiang Cheng who was fed soup and was lovingly taken care of by Jiang Yanli. The bloody welts on Jiang Cheng’s back looked beautiful to Wei Wuxian and he had fun watching the drama unfold.

“A-Cheng, please bear with the pain. I have added pain medicine to your soup. It will take effect soon.” Jiang Yanli caressed her brother's brow.

“A-jie, it hurts a lot. I don't know why my mother is punishing me. I don’t know why she hates me like this.” Jiang Cheng whined.

“Cheng Cheng, this is where you are wrong. Your mother loves you a lot. That is why she whipped you like this.”  

“A-Xian, no. Mother should not have done that. It was wrong. I will talk to her.” Jiang Yanli promised to Jiang Cheng.

Wei Wuxian looked puzzled, “But, did you not used to say that Madam Yu loved me whenever I was whipped? Shijie, did you already forget?”

Jiang Yanli was taken aback. She did not have an answer to Wei Wuxian’s question. Wei Wuxian used her silence for his purpose. He turned to Jiang Cheng, “See, Shijie agrees with me. Do not doubt your mother’s love for you. In fact, she is just worried that you are not good enough. You have disappointed your mother so much this time. Just stop being a troublemaker and you will be fine,” and then he looked at Jiang Yanli, "isn't that right, Shijie?”   

Jiang Yanli saw Wei Wuxian looking at her innocently, as if waiting for a praise for appeasing Jiang Cheng so well, and was forced to reply, “Yes. A-Xian is right, A-Cheng. Just practice more. Everything will be alright.”

“YOU! GO AWAY. I am like this because of you.” Jiang Cheng screamed at Wei Wuxian.

Wei Wuxian raised his hands in a placating gesture, “Okay. Okay. Calm down. I am leaving. Shijie, please take care of our brother properly. Don’t worry. He will be fine. As you know, I always recovered quite well after my punishments.” 

It was up to Jiang Yanli to placate her brother and it took a long time for Jiang Cheng to calm down. Although on the surface he agreed to his sister’s cajoling words, this incident left a mark on his heart.

And then it happened again and again. As Jiang Cheng was punished more and more, the resentment against his mother grew with time. Add in his jealousy towards Wei Wuxian, his frustrations because of his own inadequacies - Jiang Cheng channeled all of that towards his mother. It was as if he hated her.   

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Madam Yu saw a bunch of Jiang disciples frolicking in the pond, laughing out loud and generally making noise. It was a hot summer day and all of them had just participated in a sword practice session which ended a few minutes before. Their bodies were sweaty and wanted to cool down before heading for dinner. 

“HOW DARE YOU! Is this what the disciples should be doing? Instead of working, you are playing around, disregarding all the rules.” Madam Yu shouted at them. She called her servants and asked them to bring these disciples to the main hall. 

Before these disciples knew what was going on, they were being whipped on their back. The howling of the Jiang disciples in pain was heard even outside the Jiang mansion.

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From the moment Madam Yu started having night terrors, there was not a moment of peace at Lotus Pier. 

The two people who were punished the most were Wei Wuxian - because she hated him, Jiang Cheng - she was provoked by Cangse Sanren at night and wanted her son to do better than Wei Wuxian. Not only that, every Jiang disciple was whipped at least once. In some cases, a couple of disciples were whipped multiple times.

Although Wei Wuxian had not anticipated this scenario - he just wanted to drive Madam Yu crazy - he was pleased with the result. Now, all those disciples, who laughed as he was punished in his previous life, had themselves tasted the flavour of Zidian.

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In the end, Madam Yu provoked someone who should not have been provoked and paid the ultimate price.   

Chapter Text

The past year had been a fast descent into madness for Madam Yu and no one thought there was an external intervention in the process. Everyone was already aware of her temperament and her new craziness only felt like a natural progression. 

The beginning of her end was on a gloomy monsoon day. It had rained the previous night and it was still drizzling in the morning. The grounds were muddy and no one wanted to practice sword forms in that weather. Much to everyone’s irritation, Jiang Cheng had insisted that they train and exercised his authority as the head disciple. This resulted in arguments, with some of them supporting Jiang Cheng and some fighting against the head disciple. 

Wei Wuxian stood aside and let both parties fight. No matter which stance he took, he would be punished anyway. Why waste his precious words and energy? Rather, he would enjoy the commotion and wait for Madam Yu to arrive.

The disciples who were arguing against Jiang Cheng were measured in their act because he was still the son of the sect leader, even if he was not the heir. However, there was one disciple who took it too seriously. He was only nine years old and had just become a disciple for the Jiang sect. The reason for his late admission was because he was pampered a lot at home. His grandfather Jiang Ze, was a prominent elder in the sect. His father Jiang Xin was a senior cultivator who had a lot of say in the sect and a huge network of connections. As an only child in the house, Jiang Yu was spoiled a lot. 

As it is, Jiang Yu was not used to hard work. The regular schedule for the Jiang disciples itself was too tough for him that he would throw tantrums at home. Now when Jiang Cheng asked him to work extra hard in the rain, he snapped. He cursed at Jiang Cheng to his heart’s content. It was to witness this scene, Madam Yu arrived. 

“HOW DARE YOU! YOU HAVE NO RESPECT! YOU CANNOT TALK TO MY SON LIKE THAT!” Madam Yu screamed and started whipping Jiang Yu. 

Wei Wuxian waited for a few minutes and ran away to call help. He bypassed Jiang Fengmian and directly went to Jiang Xin, the boy’s father. Fortunately for Wei Wuxian - and unfortunately for Madam Yu - Jiang Ze, the grandfather was also present.

“Help! Senior Jiang, Elder Jiang! Madam Yu has gone mad. She is whipping your A-Yu. Come fast.” Wei Wuxian pointed at the training grounds. 

“What do you mean? What happened?” Jiang Xin asked Wei Wuxian. 

“Just hurry. It is bad.” Wei Wuxian insisted. The grandfather was quick on the uptake. 

“Boy, take us there immediately." He demanded. 

“This way, elder Jiang. To the training grounds.” Wei Wuxian started running back with the two men at his back. 

By the time they went to the place, Jiang Yu was lying on the ground, bloody and unconscious. And Madam Yu had moved on to punish other disciples, who were running all over the place in order to avoid a hit.

Elder Jiang saw red. “Stop this instant! You mad woman!” He pulled his sword and attacked Madam Yu. Senior Jiang Xin also joined his father in subduing Madam Yu. Within minutes, the two of them had tied Madam Yu and blocked all her meridians. She would not be able to use her qi for at least a few hours. 

Obviously, Elder Jiang was still seething in his rage. His precious grandson was harmed and he needed to vent his anger. He forcefully took away Madam Yu’s Zidian in the form of a ring. Without her qi, the ring came off easily. Jiang Ze blasted a strong spiritual qi to the ring which rendered it into pieces. Madam Yu would never be able to use her weapon anymore. 

Satisfied for now and vowing to not let this matter die down and make Madam Yu pay for everything she did, Jiang Ze and Jiang Xin went to look after his grandson. 

Meanwhile, Wei Wuxian had already taken Jiang Yu to the infirmary. And that was where the two men went next. They were grateful for the quick action of Wei Wuxian. If he had not called for help, who knows if Jiang Yu would have died. And now, he was kind enough to send the child to the doctor. 

This incident sent a wave of sensation around the whole of Yunmeng. Everyone clamoured for Madam Yu to be punished. Especially the parents whose sons were whipped over the past year, were ruthless in their demand. With the backing of Jiang Ze and Jiang Xin, they asked the sect madam to be removed from her position and beheaded. 

After hyping up the crowd of Yunmeng, Jiang Ze and Jiang Xin worked on the other cultivators and elders of the Jiang sect. 

“Today is my son. Tomorrow it could be yours. We cannot let this go.”

“I have been an elder in the Jiang council for a long time now, and she dared to do this to my grandson. What about children without any support?” 

“It is time we correct the mistakes we allowed to happen. This is not the first time Yu Ziyuan did this and if we do not stop her now, then who knows what else she will do? Today our disciples are getting injured and tomorrow they will be killed.”

“This Yu woman from the Yu Meishan has been a bane of existence for our Yunmeng for many years now. And just look at her children and you will know how bad she is. One is weak and the other is incompetent.”

“We have to address this issue now. Otherwise our sect is doomed.” 

With the support of all the elders on council, an open trial was held three days from the incident.  

Jiang Fengmian was caught unawares. He was not in the sect when the issue occurred. And by the time he was back, everything was already arranged and he was directly taken into the trial place. He had no time to find a scapegoat nor did have any chance to call on people who could help Madam Yu. 

And before he could record his protest, he was severely warned by the jury which consisted of five elders. Jiang Ze was obviously not part of it as it would be a conflict of interest. For the same reason, Jiang Fengmian was not allowed to have a say either.

“Jiang Fengmian, although you are the sect leader and it is your right to lead the hearing, you are too close to the criminal. And you are not allowed to say anything. A single word of support to your wife will be held against her. Also, do not think of using your sect leader power in the hall. We can easily remove you from the position and select a new one.” 

After that blatant threat, Jiang Fengmian could only watch on helplessly.  

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The trial was being held in one of the training grounds. Jiang Ze wanted to make this huge and wanted the entire town to be present. The place was brimming with people - both civilians and cultivators alike. There was a section on the left side which was reserved for the disciples who were punished by Madam Yu in the past year and their families. Surprisingly, both Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng were both sitting amongst them. On the right side were the witness and people who were related to the incidents involving Madam Yu. At the center were the jurors and judges. And the townsfolks and other cultivators stood on the other side. They were just there to watch the proceedings. 

“Bring the culprit,” Jiang He, the head of the elder council ordered. Two senior Jiang cultivators brought a tied up Yu Ziyuan into the ground. It looked like she had aged a few years in just a couple of days. 

Looking at his wife, Jiang Fengmian pleaded, “Why are you being so harsh? Can’t you see her state? You have already sealed off her qi. She cannot run away.  Please remove the ropes.”

Jiang Ze sneered at him, “Sect leader, I believe you were asked not to interfere.” 

“Yes. Jiang Fengmian, please keep quiet,” Jiang He ordered. 

“Let the trial begin.” Another Jiang elder from the jury requested. This incident was shameful for any sect and he just wanted this to be over.

“The first one to come up is Jiang Yu,” Jiang He instructed, “please bring him in.” 

Jiang Yu was still recovering and most of his body was bandaged. There was a collective gasp from the crowd as they saw a young child was reduced to this state. A chair was provided for the young boy. 

“Please explain what happened that day.” Jiang He asked gently, so as to not scare the already traumatized boy.

Jiang Yu explained everything that took place on that fateful day. He could not help but cry and there were constant tears in his eyes. Everyone present that day was angry at Madam Yu. This was the effect Jiang Ze and Jiang Xin wanted to see. That was the reason Jiang Yu was brought in first. Although there were many disciples who were the victims of Madam Yu’s atrocities, their injuries were already healed. Their accounts will not hold the same visual impact as Jiang Yu with his fresh wounds. 

After Jiang Yu’s statement, other disciples who were present that day were asked to give their statements on what happened. It was clear that Madam Yu used her authority to commit crime and there was doubt that Madam Yu was finished this time. Perhaps Jiang Fengmian realized it too and he looked down in despair. Jiang Yanli, who was sitting next to her father, was on the verge of tears and clutched her father’s arm for support.

The next was a series of interviews which were lined up just to make sure Madam Yu was nailed to the pillar of crime.

The disciples were called one by one and were asked to share the time when they were punished by Madam Yu and the reason for the same. Many incidents came to light one by one.

“Ten of us were just resting on the ground after a four hour intense sword practice. It was a fifteen minute break allowed by our teachers. Madam Yu whipped us for being lazy.”

“I fell down while exercising. We were asked to run around the field to build our stamina. I fell down and twisted my ankle. Unfortunately, I bumped into Jiang Cheng at that time and he also fell down. Nothing happened to him, though. And yet I was whipped a few times.”

“My mother was ill and I had taken leave for two days to attend to her. And when I came back, Madam Yu started punishing me for missing the training for two days and she did not even ask for my reasons for doing so.”

“Jiang Cheng accidentally fell into the pond one day and it was a hilarious scene - with all his limbs flailing around and him screaming in shock. I just let out a few laughs and then I helped him to get out of the water. Even then Madam Yu got angry.”

“Jiang Cheng used his authority as a head disciple to make us practice archery for two hours. This was after we had sword practice for more than four hours. All our hands were still shaking. There was no way we could have used bows and arrows immediately. I just requested a few minutes rest to get back our energy and he scolded us for being weaklings. This resulted in a mild argument and he complained to Madam Yu.”

As the crowd listened on, they were shocked and equally confused. None of the mistakes these disciples committed warranted a whipping from a first class spiritual weapon. At most they should have received a few beatings from a normal stick. The parents of these disciples shouted at the top of their lungs that Madam Yu should be punished severely.  All this while, Madam Yu stood silent and proud, as if she had not yet realized the severity of the situation and was waiting for her husband to fish her out of the troubled waters.

  “Please keep quiet, all of you. We will punish Yu Ziyuan for her crimes. But first, let us hear from a few more witnesses." Jiang He requested and everyone went silent.

The first one was, of course, Wei Wuxian. 

“Boy, tell us when Madam Yu first hit you. Share with us everything you have faced since you came to the Jiang sect.” Jiang He asked. The reason why he and all the other elders were being considerate of Wei Wuxian was because they all thought he would be the next leader.

Wei Wuxian did not answer at first, he looked hesitant. 

“Young Wei, do not be afraid. We are with you.” Jiang Ze urged. He had a good impression of Wei Wuxian because of his grandson’s matter.

Wei Wuxian did not buy into the kindness of anyone from the Jiang sect. None of them did anything to help when he was being abused in his previous life. It was only when their own children faced the same that they all suddenly decided to punish Madam Yu. Everyone today who displayed righteous indignation did not utter a word when an orphan was left all alone to face the wrath of Madam Yu. Still, Wei Wuxian had a part to play and could not say what was truly in his mind.

“I am grateful for Uncle Jiang and Madam Yu for taking me in. To say anything against them would be unfilial and ungrateful, and I do not want that.” Wei Wuxian bowed. 

“Wei Wuxian, I know what you mean and I appreciate your character. However, you should remember that you were never adopted into the Jiang family. It is the sect that took you in, not Madam Yu. Thus, your loyalty is owed to the Jiang sect leader and the Jiang sect itself, and not to an individual,” Jiang He told Wei Wuxian, “By eliminating such a person, you are only helping your uncle. Don’t you want your uncle to lead a good life?” 

Wei Wuxian knew what Jiang He was doing. The Jiang elder wanted to draw a line between Madam Yu and Jiang Fengmian in front of Wei Wuxain. He did not want Wei Wuxian to side with Madam Yu in the name of filial piety. At the same time, he appealed to Wei Wuxian’s sense of family towards Jiang Fengmian, because in Jiang He’s mind, there should not be any feud between father and son. 

Wei Wuxian looked conflicted and did not speak for a while. After a couple of minutes he then took a deep breath as if he had made his choice. He looked at Jiang Fengmian, “Uncle Jiang. Please forgive me. I can only sacrifice my filial piety for righteousness and the greater good of the sect.” 

“Good boy. This is how it should be.” Jiang He encouraged Wei Wuxian, “now, please tell us everything.”

Wei Wuxian explained everything he faced from the moment he came to the Jiang sect at the age of nine and the next four years, until he turned thirteen. 

Lu Shi and a few other servants were asked to be the witness and they corroborated Wei Wuxian’s testimony. 

The last witness caused chaos in the audience. It was the first time people saw a son going against his own mother.

Jiang Cheng had a lot to say about his mother and by the time he finished narrating his story, he was visibly angry, “I do not know why she did this to me. I am her son. I hate her! I hate her! I hate her! Take her away from me. I cannot handle it anymore,” he screamed in the end.

Yu Ziyuan had kept silent all through the trial. But the moment her son spoke against her, she started shouting, “A-CHENG…A-CHENG…I did this all for you. I just wanted you to do better. I do not want her to win. I do not want that BITCH TO WIN! And HER SON SHOULD NOT GET AHEAD TOO! Servants should not cross the boundaries….A-CHENG…you are misunderstanding me! I DID EVERYTHING FOR YOU! FENGMIAN IT IS YOUR FAULT ....”  On and on she went - pleading to her son, cursing at Cangse Sanren, scolding Wei Wuxian, and blaming her husband. Her tirade went on for more than a minute before she was silenced. 

“ENOUGH!” Jiang He shouted, “someone please shut her up.” The Jiang guard who stood next to Madam Yu pushed a cotton cloth into her mouth to keep her quiet.

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It took the jury less than ten minutes to decide on a verdict. 

“Yu Ziyuan has committed various mistakes detrimental to the growth of the Jiang sect. The disciples are the future of our Yunmeng and they should be nurtured with kindness and love. Instead, they were abused by the very person who should be responsible for their well being. She is to be removed from the position of sect madam and all her power to be taken back,” Jiang He announced, “Also, it is clear that she is emotionally unstable and we all have seen the traces of madness. She is a potential danger to the society and for the safety of the people of the sect and the town, she will be kept under solitary confinement for the rest of her life. She can never meet her husband and her family from now on. Only one servant is allowed to look after her. And the servants of Lotus Pier will take turns doing that. Her spiritual power will be permanently sealed and she can never cultivate.” 

The decision was met with claps and cheers from everyone. 

“NO…NO…YOU CANNOT DO THIS. I AM THE THIRD DAUGHTER OF YU CLAN. I AM THE WIFE OF THE JIANG SECT LEADER….I AM A NOBLE LADY…” Yu Ziyuan screamed and screamed as she was led by two guards back to her personal room. Her sentence will be carried out the next day. 

“No. Please, elder He. Have mercy.” Jiang Fengmian pleaded. 

“Please, elder He. Spare my mother. She will be good from now on. A-Cheng, A-Xian, please say something.” Jiang Yanli begged. But no one replied to her.

“Jiang Fengmian, It is either this or you divorce her and send her back to Mieshan. But remember this, she will never cultivate again. This part of the punishment will never change,” Jiang He gave a choice to Jiang Fengmian - either she is confined in Lotus Pier or sent back. 

Jiang Fengmian could not bear to divorce his wife. So, he had to agree to the judgement.

Before they moved on to the next agenda for the day, one of the elders suggested deciding on the sect heir.

“Fengmian, we all think Wei Wuxian is the best choice for the role. We can take this moment to announce that. What do you think?” One of the elders suggested. It was an unanimous agreement that Jiang Cheng was not suited for the job and Wei Wuxian had performed exceptionally well. 

Jiang Fengmian was flabbergasted, “Why would Wei Wuxian be the heir to the Jiang sect? He has no Jiang blood.” 

All the Jiang cultivators were shocked. One of them bravely asked, “isn’t he your bastard son?” 

“NO!” The Jiang sect leader denied vehemently. When everyone was shocked, Jiang Cheng started to gloat. For a moment he forgot this was his mother’s trial and started to plan on how to suppress Wei Wuxian using his status. Of course, it was another matter altogether that Wei Wuxian would never give him that chance. Jiang Cheng was brought back from his dream when Wei Wuxian spoke up.   

“In that case, uncle Jiang, why did you not refute the rumours as soon as they appeared? My mother bore the reputation of a slut all these years instead of being celebrated for the brilliant cultivator that she was.” Wei Wuxian asked suddenly. 

Everyone wanted to know the answer to this. If Wei Wuxian was really not his son, then what Jiang Fengmian did was not gentlemanly. To deliberately let the reputation of a woman remain sullied was not in good taste.

Jiang Fengmian did not answer. He could not say out loud the plan he made for Wei Wuxian with regards to his son and wanted to deliberately put Wei Wuxian in a difficult situation. 

All the elders of the Jiang sect also looked uncomfortable. They had incorrectly assumed that Wei Wuxian was the next leader and placed all hopes on him. They did not like Jiang Cheng. The irony was that they could not blame anyone for this. Wei Wuxian definitely did not behave like the sect heir. Jiang Fengmian never outright said anything about this matter. It was all in their heads. Now, it seemed, they had no choice but to accept Jiang Cheng as the heir. While they were busy thinking, Wei Wuxian stood in front of them and bowed.

What he asked shocked everyone.

Chapter Text

“I want to leave the sect. I cannot stay in a place where my parents are not respected. That would be unfilial of me.” Wei Wuxian requested. Although it was shocking, everyone could understand what this young boy was feeling.

“NO! ABSOLUTELY NOT!” Jiang Fengmian shouted. He did not want to even think about what would happen to his son if Wei Wuxian left. 

All the Jiang elders were with Jiang Fengmian in this matter. Wei Wuxian was a great cultivator and would be an asset to any sect. Now that they knew it was Jiang Cheng to be the next sect leader, it was even more important that Wei Wuxian stay and help him.

“Wei Wuxian, we know you are wronged. But it is also true that this is your home. And where will you go, anyway? It is difficult to survive in this world for a lone cultivator. How about we do this, instead? The Jiang sect leader will issue a notice to put all the rumours to rest and clear your mother’s name. And we will also compensate you for all troubles you have faced.” Jiang He persuaded.

Wei Wuxian pretended to think hard and then made a show of reluctantly agreeing to stay, “I will respect all your elders and stay here. I know it is the right thing to do. After all, this is my sect.” For Wei Wuxain, it was an easy decision to make. He was still waiting for his Lan Zhan to come back to this timeline. Meanwhile, he would get to stay at the Jiang sect with free accommodation and everything else taken care of. He was getting money in the name of compensation. All this, and he would also get to watch the daily show of the Jiang family. Only a fool would refuse such an arrangement. In any case, he had nothing else to do before he met with his Lan Zhan and planned for their future. Until then, he would stay in the Jiang sect and watch the suffering of the Jiang family.  

“When it comes to compensation, it is not just Wei Wuxian. All the disciples who were harmed will be paid to redress the injuries they have faced.” Jiang He announced to the crowd. By doing this, the Jiang elders hoped to regain the loyalty of the disciples that was lost because of Yu Ziyuan. Only punishing her would not suffice at all. 

“We will send out the payments within the next seven days,” Jiang Ze offered while looking at Jiang Fengmian, who could only nod. 

With this, everyone thought the meeting was done for the day. However, Wei Wuxian was waiting for the climax of the show. Previous day, he had overheard two elders talking about the compensation to be paid to all the disciples and came up with a plan to humiliate the Jiang sect further. The Jiang disciples were not the only ones who were affected by Madam Yu. There were many more and it was only fair that they would be paid too. He put his plan in motion secretly and actually, he did not have to do much. Liu Shi was more than enough to plant ideas and watch as she circulated it to the entire town. 

Just as Jiang He and other elders got up from their seats, a loud voice interrupted them, “I say, elders of the Jiang sect, we need to be heard too.” 

It was the town magistrate. 

“Xu Kai, what is it? We are only discussing the issues related to Yu Ziyuan today. We can hear what you have to say some other day,” Jiang He replied. 

“But, what we have to say is related to Madam Yu.” Xu Kai insisted. 

There was no other option but to hear the magistrate, “Very well. Let us hear you out then,” Jiang He said as he sat down, and others followed.

“Well, I have with me the list of people and families who were harmed by Madam Yu and her servants. All we ask for is restitution.” Magistrate Xu Kai requested humbly.

Jiang He and other elders did not want to do that. Even Jiang Fengmian was against this. However, they had announced the compensations to be paid to their disciples. If they did not offer the same for the civilians, it would be detrimental to the reputation of the sect. And maintaining that was of paramount importance - especially after the debacle that was Madam Yu - than saving money.

“Please read out the list. We promise to appease the people to the best of our abilities,” Jiang He replied. 

Xu Kai opened the list, “Xiao Yuan lost his arm because he did not serve proper tea to Madam Yu and she said that was an insult to the noble person that she is. He Chen was killed because of Madam Yu’s carelessness during a night hunt and he was the only breadwinner of his family. He left his two parents who are too old to work and two children - now orphans, as his wife died during childbirth. Xi Yun’s shop was burned down because he questioned Madam Yu when she whipped his son for no reason. Madam Yu refused to visit a remote village to take care of a Lion yao, saying that it was not serious because there were no deaths. She also did not allow them to inform anyone else from the Jiang sect. This resulted in the death of five farmers in the span of two days, leaving behind widows and orphans. Then there was An Ning…..”

Jiang He stopped Xu Kai from reading it further, “How many such instances are there?”

“More than twenty that we know of,” Xu Kai answered. 

Jiang He sighed. This was too much. “We will investigate this. If what you mentioned are true, then the victims and families will be compensated,” Jiang He could only make sure this was carried out without an issue. There was no margin for errors now. 

“Thank you, Elder Jiang. And I will send out notices to all the surrounding villages to come forward if Madam Yu had harmed anyone. This way, we can make sure justice is carried out for everyone affected,” Xu Kai bowed politely. 

Jiang He cursed at the cunning magistrate, but only in his mind. However, he could only reply, “Of course…of course. Please do so. This way we all can have a clear conscience.” 

Although the day’s hearing had come to an end, the matter did not end there. The Jiang sect faced the repercussions of this for many years to come. The amount they had to payout for the compensation emptied the coffers nearly by half. Because of this, for the next few years, the Jiang sect always had to exercise frugality and let go of luxuries in order to save money. Jiang Fengmian and other elders were too tired trying to find ways to earn extra income to fill up the treasury. By the time they saw a remote chance at recovery, the war was upon them.

As the main culprit of the matter, Madam Yu lived the rest of her life alone. Till her very end, none of her family members visited her. Her son was angry at his mother and did not want to see her. Her daughter did not have courage to go against the elders and meet her. And her husband was not allowed to meet her. 

She died alone in the end, abandoned and in despair. 

But that was a few years later. At present, her deeds of cruelty were spread far and wide, courtesy of one Wei Wuxain. The details of the trial were not hidden either, no matter how much Jiang Fengmian and the Jiang sect tried. Within a week, all the sect leaders and their close associates knew everything about Madam Yu. The disciples of all the sects were not far behind the news either. For many days, Madam Yu was the major topic of conversation. Along with people cursing at Madam Yu, they also started to have a bad impression of Jiang Fengmian. As a sect leader, instead of doing his duty, he let this situation continue for many years and was thus considered to be a bad leader. The reputation of Jiang Cheng did not survive either. Everyone now knew of his true nature and how incompetent he was as a head disciple. His inadequacy as the sect heir was well established at this point. 

All in all, the Jiang sect’s decline was inevitable.  

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Wei Wuxian led a fun life at Lotus Pier for the next one year.

At first Jiang Fengmian held a little grudge against him for his role in the downfall of Madam Yu. He did not speak to Wei Wuxian. He did not even acknowledge Wei Wuxian when he was in front of him. This silent treatment would have worked on a young Wei Ying who wanted and hoped for family love. Yiling Laozu - who spent an entire life experiencing one struggle after another - was not bothered at all. In the end, Jiang Fengmian had to give in. He was counselled by a concerned elder that Jiang Cheng needed Wei Wuxian’s help if he had to take up the mantle of sect leader. After a couple of months Jiang sect leader started talking to Wei Wuxian in an affable manner. Gone was the stern Jiang Fengmian and sweet Uncle Jiang was back, as Wei Wuxian watched the play in amusement. He did not bother to point out the hypocrisy of his uncle. Rather, he used this incident to emotionally blackmail Jiang Fengmian to get more money from the Jiang sect. He needed money to marry his Lan Zhan and also for their comfortable life later. 

In the following months, Wei Wuxain went on with his life in a casual manner. He slept well and ate well. He did not attend any of the training sessions. He already had all the theoretical knowledge in his mind and just needed to train his physical body to catch up with that. That was the reason he spent a lot of time outside Lotus Pier - night hunting and also, looking for his Lan Zhan who might have come for a night hunt as well. He was successful with the former and unsuccessful with the later. 

And when he was not busy, he would manipulate Jiang Fengmian into truly favouring him. In his previous life, Jiang Cheng was always jealous and would falsely accuse him of taking away his father’s love. And in this life, Wei Wuxian did just that. 

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During dinner - 

“Uncle Jiang, have this. I know this is your favourite,” Wei Wuxian placed the best piece of fish into Jiang Fengmian’s bowl, ”Cheng Cheng, you need to pay more attention to your father now. He is now alone and it must be very difficult for him. Just look at Shijie. She always worries about Uncle Jiang. It is time for you to grow up.” 

Jiang Cheng looked livid, “YOU ARE SUCH A HYPOCRITE! MY FATHER DOES NOT NEED YOUR CARE!”  

Jiang Fengmian sighed in disappointment.

“Thank you, A- Ying. A-Cheng, you need to learn from him…” 

Before Jiang Fengmian could admonish Jiang Cheng any further, Jiang Yanli cut him to spare her brother’s feelings, only for it to backfire.

“Father, A-Cheng will do better. Don’t worry. He is a good boy. I will help look after him. Please do not get angry with him.”  

Although she meant well, to Jiang Cheng’s ears, it felt like she was talking just like Wei Wuxian. So, he got angry at her as well.

“A-Jie, I know you and Wei Wuxian stand against me. You are trying to sow discord between me and my father. Do you think he will make you the heir if you do this? A woman like you will never be considered for this role.” Jiang Cheng sneered at his sister.

“A-Cheng, I did not….I never thought…” Jiang Yanli ran away crying. 

“A-Cheng, apologize to your sister, right away.” Jiang Fengmian scolded.

“NO WAY!” Jiang Cheng stood up from the table in anger and walked away, without finishing his dinner.

“Uncle Jiang, I am sorry. I did not realize Jiang Cheng resents me so much. I just wanted to help. I just want him to be filial to you. I know how hard you are working to run the sect. Maybe I should just keep away from Jiang Cheng from now on. Or how about I leave the sect? I am sure that will make Jiang Cheng feel better,” Wei Wuxian looked down. But not before he showed a glimpse of his tears to the Jiang sect leader.

Jiang Fengmian patted his shoulder, “A-Ying, I know. Don’t cry. Do not even think of leaving the sect. The Jiang sect needs you. And Jiang Cheng is your brother. There is no overnight feud between family members. He will come around. Just be patient for now.” 

“Alright, uncle Jiang,” Wei Wuxian sniffed.

Jiang Fengmian took out his money pouch and gave it to Wei Wuxian, “Here. Take this and buy what you want. Tell me if this is not enough.” 

Wei Wuxian clutched the pouch tightly, “Thank you, uncle Jiang. You truly are very good to me,” and he smiled gratefully.  

For Jiang Fengmian it was difficult to let go of the money, not with the current economy of the Jiang sect, not with him and his team struggling to earn more to fill up the gaps left because of Madam Yu’s trial. However, he was determined to treat Wei Wuxian well just to retain him in the sect. In order to do that, he had to appease Wei Wuxian. And one way to do that was to give money to Wei Wuxian as Jiang Fengmian learned during the trial. In a way, it was better to know Wei Wuxian’s weakness. A person with no weakness was difficult to manipulate. 

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After the monthly assessment -

“Uncle Jiang, the teacher, was not happy with Jiang Cheng’s result. How about we get additional teachers for Jiang Cheng and ask them to tutor him privately? After what happened, we cannot let the reputation of the Jiang sect fall even further because of poor results on Jiang Chang’s part.” Wei Wuxian looked concerned, “Please do not mistake my intention, uncle Jiang. I only want what is best for the sect. And Jiang Cheng is my brother. I want him to do well and become a great leader in the future.” 

Jiang Fengmian looked happy that Wei Wuxian cared so much about the sect and loved his son like a brother. He patted Wei Wuxian’s head, “A-Ying, I know what you mean. I will not misunderstand you. I will hire new teachers today itself to teach remedy classes for Jaing Cheng.” 

“Thank you, uncle. You are a great father.” Wei Wuxian bowed happily. 

“Why are you thanking me? As you just said, I am Jiang Cheng’s father and it is my duty. Instead, I should be thanking you for taking care of A-Cheng. Especially after what happened.” Jiang Fengmian sighed.

“Uncle Jiang, on one hand you say I am family. On the other hand, you say thanks. Will it not make me feel like an outsider?” Wei Wuxian pouted.

“Alright, alright! How about I give money for you to buy some good robes? Will that make you stop feeling angry?” Jiang Fengmian teased and took out his pouch filled with money.

“Uncle Jiang is the best!” Wei Wuxian took the pouch and ran away happily.

When Jiang Cheng heard that he was to have extra classes with no break at all in a day, he was not happy. And when he heard that it was Wei Wuxian’s idea, he was enraged. He threw a tantrum at his father, making Jiang Fengmian even more angry with his only son. If possible, he wanted to avoid talking to his son just to avoid getting upset by him, and leave his entire care to Wei Wuxian. 

After making his father angry, Jiang Cheng went to his sister to complain. But, Jiang Yanli did not cooperate. She genuinely felt that her brother needed all the help he could get and wanted him to become the best cultivator and the best leader.

“A-Cheng, this for your own good. I know father and A-Xian only want the best for you. Why don’t you work diligently and show them you can improve? How about you work on your homework and I make your favourite soup a treat?”

Jiang Cheng did not reply and went to his room to hide. He resented his mother and father, and now he started to dislike his sister too. He felt he was all alone and everyone in this world was against him.

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After archer practice with flying kites -

“Uncle Jiang, Jiang Cheng was unable to draw the bow properly. We might as well ask for a private teacher to build his stamina. What do you think?” Wei Wuxian asked like a concerned elder brother. It was him who made Jiang Cheng unable to use the bow. He used a small charm to place a huge ghost on the bowstrings for a few minutes and later released the ghost into the reincarnation cycle. But to others, it looked like Jiang Cheng could not use even a small bow which even the junior disciples could easily lift.

“You are right, A-Ying. Let me look for a good teacher.” Jiang Fengmian shook his head in pity and disappointment at Jiang Cheng, and patted Wei Wuxian on his shoulder, “but, well done, A-Ying. You did really well.” 

Wei Wuxian looked proudly at Jiang Cheng looking dejected and angry at his father’s words and his own inability to do simple tasks, and asked, “Thank you, uncle Jiang. Where is my reward?” Wei Wuxian stretched his palms towards the Jiang sect leader.

Jiang Fengmian took out his money pouch once again and placed it on Wei Wuxian’s eager hands, “Here you go, you greedy monkey!” He laughed as he went to his office.

By then, it had become a norm that Jiang Fengmian spoiled Wei Wuxian a lot and treated better than his own son. No one found it weird. Because Jiang Cheng was a mediocre cultivator and even worse head disciple, everyone thought it was only natural that Jiang Fengmian favoured his nephew who was good in every aspect. Some people often talked about how it would be better if Jiang Fengmian adopted Wei Wuxian truly into the Jiang household and make him the next leader. All of this was heard by Jiang Cheng and it only made him seethe in anger and jealousy. But he did not have the strength and skills to change the status quo.  All he wanted was to grow up and actually become the sect leader. Only then he would have enough power to deal with these messy people, including Wei Wuxian.

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Although everything looked beautiful on the surface after Madam Yu’s trial and punishment - without her, the air in Lotus Pier did feel better - only Wei Wuxian knew that Jiang Cheng was alienated from his family. 

Wei Wuxian was satisfied with the result. Madam Yu was isolated and would be alone all her life, without seeing her precious son. Jiang Fengmian has already failed as a husband. He was failing as a father. Soon, he would fail as a sect leader as the Lotus Pier would burn during the war. And post war, Wei Wuxian would not be there to attract many disciples and obtain funds to rebuild Yunmeng Jiang. With an already stressed economy, the Jiang sect would never recover after the Sunshot campaign. Jiang Fengmian would live all his life feeling like a failure. 

Wei Wuxian could already see the signs of it in his uncle’s eyes. When he thought no one was looking, Jiang Fengmian would shed tears because of what happened to Madam Yu. The Jiang sect leader would feel distressed because of his son and his growing hatred. And he had no hopes for Jiang Yanli either. He was also under tremendous strain as he was working towards making money and unable to do so. This was another reason why he held onto Wei Wuxian a lot. He might have felt that Wei Wuxian was the only saving grace and that the Jiang sect needed him.

There was one last gift Wei Wuxian was planning for Jiang Cheng and he would be done with the Jiang sect. Although it was for the son, even the father would be affected by this. He was only waiting for the right opportunity. And the right moment came a few years later,  during the chaos at Muxi mountains while battling a giant turtle. 

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When Wei Wuxian just entered his fifteenth year, his operations at the Jiang sect were almost done. Wei Wuxian remembered that the lectures at Gusu happened at the beginning of his sixteenth year, which was one year more away. Now that he was free, Wei Wuxian wanted to try one last time to meet Lan Zhan and that was to attend this year’s discussion conference happening at Lanling. In his last life, both Lan Wangji and Lan Xichen were not present during the event. Wei Wuxian did not know why Lan Xichen did not attend, but he knew why Lan Wangji was absent. He learned later, while attending the lectures, that Lan Wangji was in seclusion with meditation and strengthening his golden core. In fact, Lan Wangji had completed his cultivation just before the lectures. However, Wei Wuxian hoped that he got to see his pretty Lan at Koi tower this time. If Lan Zhan had come back to this life by the time of the discussion conference, there was no way he would miss attending the same to meet Wei Ying. His Lan-er-gege would never wait for another year to see Wei Ying at Gusu. Thus, as early as he knew about the conference at Koi Tower, he had informed the Jiang sect leader that he would participate. 

It was not like Wei Wuxian did not miss Lan Zhan in all the four years he had been back from the previous timeline. He did. He craved his Hanguang-Jun’s presence like an addict. Lan Zhan had been in his heart all this while. 

When Wei Ying had a wet dream for the first time, he woke up taking Lan Zhan’s name. It was a week after he gave nightmares to Madam Yu and he was riding the high. All that energy had been transformed into dreams of his own - sexual in nature involving Lan Zhan. 

Over time, it had become a ritual of sorts. During the day, Wei Wuxian would secretly look at spring books involving two men and read through every scandalous page. In his last life, he never bothered about this. As a researcher, now that he had time, it would have been shameful not to research erotica. And during the night, when the memories of Lan Zhan tormented him, he would touch himself, imagining it was Lan Zhan’s calloused hand rubbing along his length, bringing him to completion. Sometimes, he would simultaneously push his fingers into his hole and imagine it was Lan Zhan’s long fingers breaking him apart. One day, it would be Lan Zhan’s mouth, sucking him into oblivion. Another day, it would be Lan Zhan’s huge dick in his needy hole, absolutely ruining him to the core. His favourite was when he dreamed of Lan Zhan fucking into his mouth as he greedily slurped the cock and in the end drank all the juices released into his throat.    

It was unbearable for Wei Ying not to be next to his er-gege. They had spent thirteen years together, without a second apart, in their ghost forms. Missing Lan Zhan almost drew him insane in the past four years. Only his schemes and plots against the Jiang kept him busy and helped not lose his mind. 

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A week after his fifteenth birthday and a year before the lectures at Gusu, finally it was time for the discussion conference at the Jin sect.

Chapter Text

Jin Guangshan was the same person as he was in Wei Wuxian’s memories - a slimy bastard. Next to him was Madam Jin who looked like she ate a sour lemon - anyone would be if they had married Jin Guangshan. Just behind his parents was Jin Zixuan. He looked equal parts innocent and proud. Not a combination one would see in a sect heir. But, Wei Wuxain knew that it was these characteristics that ultimately led to his demise. Otherwise, why would Jin Zixuan be present at Qiongqi path and act the way he did. Wei Wuxian did not intend to engage with Jin Zixuan in this life.

Jin Guangshan was busy welcoming Jiang Fengmian and Jiang Cheng. Even though what happened to Madam Yu was not hidden and the entire world knew about it, even though the incompetence of Jiang Cheng as the heir was known throughout, no one had yet realized the financial problems the Jiang sect faced. It was a secret Jiang Fengmian and other Jiang elders worked hard to preserve. That is why the Jiang sect still maintained the aura of being a giant noble sect and Jin Guangshan had to pay all the due respect to the Jiang delegation. 

On the other hand, Madam Jin was talking to Jiang Yanli. Wei Wuxian noticed that she was not as enthusiastic about Jiang Yanli as she was in his memories. Either Madam Jin was disappointed that her close friend was a criminal or that she was unhappy that Yu Ziyuan got caught, bringing shame to her friendship. Wei Wuxian did not dwell on it as he was busy looking around to get a glimpse of his Lan. Unfortunately did not see anyone wearing Lan robes, let alone his Lan Zhan.

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Jiang Fengmian and his children were housed within Jin family’s private wing on the account of them being future in-laws. And the remaining twenty Jiang disciples - including Wei Wuxian - were led to their guest quarters. They were given five rooms in total with four disciples per room. 

While on the way, Wei Wuxian had bribed a Jin servant to ask details about the Lans and was told that they would arrive in the afternoon. He gave some more money to the Jin servant and got to know that the Lan disciples would be staying on the other side of the guest area, along with Nie disciples. The rooms next to the Jiangs were reserved for the Wen disciples. Wei Wuxian understood. Jin Guangshan was not an idiot to house Nie and Wen disciples close to each other. 

Because of this information gathering, Wei Wuxian was delayed and the rest of the disciples had already settled into their rooms. And his other three roommates had already selected their beds and had left the corner bed next to a window for Wei Wuxian. The other three Jiang disciples did not speak to Wei Wuxian as he laid on his bed. They were not friends and with Wei Wuxian deliberately getting close to Jiang Fengmian, the status of Wei Wuxian had changed considerably, making it impossible for the rest of the disciples to get close to Wei Wuxian. 

“ Look at this robe. I love it. It feels so soft. I have never worn silk in my life.”

“ I agree. And this time we got five sets of robes. And new swords too. Is it because we are selected to come to the conference?”

“ I think so. My friend did not receive new robes and he did not come with us either.”

“ Better enjoy while it lasts. Who knows if we are asked to give back these robes after we go back.” 

Wei Wuxian could hear the disciples talking in low voices as they unpacked their luggage and laughed to himself. It was indeed because they were to come to Koi Tower that they got new robes. It was Wei Wuxian’s idea. He suggested to Jiang Fengmian that they need to invest in new robes and new equipment in order to maintain their status. Otherwise, the disciples would have worn old cotton robes from last year and it would lose the face of the sect. Jiang Fengmian liked the idea and spent a lot of money to buy silk clothes and new swords. There were even new bows and arrows. Of course, Wei Wuxian gave this idea only to let Jiang Fengmian spend more money. 

“ Tell me. Aren’t Wei Wuxian close to the Jiang sect leader? Why is he staying with us then? Finally he is shown his actual place, isn't he?”

“No idea. And keep your voice down. What will you do if he hears this?”

“Who cares!” 

Wei Wuxian rolled his eyes at that. In fact, Jiang Fengmian wanted him to stay with the family. Wei Wuxian refused. If he stayed at the Jin family area, it would have been difficult for him to come out in the night to meet his Lan Zhan, that is, if his Lan Zhan is back. Although Wei Wuxian was not sure, he did not want to take any chances. But the reason he gave to Jiang Fengmian for his refusal was something else - “ Uncle Jiang, I know you treat me like your own son. But it is not good for the reputation of the Jiang sect if a mere disciple mingled with the main family. And don’t forget, Shijie is going to be married into the Jin sect. We do not want the Jins to look down on her and the Jiang family because we do not follow conventions.”  Jiang Fengmian quickly agreed. In this timeline, he really needed the Jin sect to be the ally of the Jiang sect, given Yunmeng Jiang’s financial status. He did not want to jeopardize the marriage alliance between his daughter and the Jin sect heir at all costs. Wei Wuxian used this mindset to get a spot in guest quarters. 

Now that everyone was settled for the day, all Wei Wuxian had to do was wait for the Lan disciples to arrive.

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Wei Ying decked himself in his finest robes of purple silks before he went into search for Lan Zhan. The robes were of the same quality as Jiang Cheng’s and this was the compensation Jiang Fengmian had offered when Wei Ying had found a new physical education teacher for Jiang Cheng. He twisted his hair into an elaborate style and used two different hair pins to hold it in place - one was gold and amethyst decorated in lotus flowers and the other was a purple jade comb. And the purple silk looked decadent on his tanned skin. He looked lavish and gorgeous. Wei Ying only hoped that Lan Zhan would one look at him and ravish him against a wall. Even more so, Wei Ying hoped that Lan Zhan had come back from their timeline and attended this conference.  

Wei Ying lurked around at the entrance of the Koi tower, making it seem like he was just chatting and making friends with the Jin cultivators. He did talk to a couple of Jins who were there to welcome the guests and show them their residence. He saw Jin Zixun talking to his cousin Jin Zixuan and promptly avoided the duo. He did not want to talk to people he did not like just before a potential reunion with his beloved. 

The Lan delegation arrived on time. As soon as he saw the Lans coming up the stairs, Jin Zixun sent a butterfly message to his uncle. Wei Ying saw Lan Qiren and another Lan senior cultivator leading the group. Just as Lan Qiren climbed the last stair, Jin Guangshan came with a flourish along with a couple of other Jin elders. 

Wei Ying did not bother hearing the pleasantries. He was too busy looking at the man he was insanely in love with. Right in front of him, standing behind Lan Qiren and his brother Lan Xichen, was Lan Wangji, the second jade of Lan, who was equally enthralled looking at Wei Ying. 

Wei Ying gave a once over and noticed several differences compared to the Lan Zhan from his past life. This fifteen year old Lan Zhan was shorter by a couple of inches and the shoulders were yet to grow into the broader shape the adult Lan Zhan had. Yet, there was no mistake in the strength of those arms though. And then there were slightly chubby cheeks with the last of the baby fat yet to burn. Adorable , Wei Ying thought. He just wanted to pinch Lan Zhan’s cheeks. And then he made the mistake of looking into Lan Zhan’s eyes. 

His gaze was anything but cute. The golden of his eyes had given way to the dark intensity - like an eagle honing on its prey. His body stood alert as if waiting for the perfect moment to hunt, to devour . Wei Ying shivered - with more anticipation than fear, for no one else in the world was this ready to be conquered and consumed. 

Then Lan Zhan blinked and the moment passed, with his eyes going back to his usually calm serenity. Because Jin Guangshan addressed directly to the second jade and etiquette required him to answer. Wei Ying did not hear anything, too busy calming down his heart. The effect of that single glance was enough to send Wei Ying into one of his fantasies. 

And soon, the Lan cultivators were taken away by Jin servants to their guest quarters.   

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Wei Ying waited until all the Lans were shown their rooms. He distinctly remembered that Lan Zhan was allocated a single room. It could be because Lan Zhan the sect heir or Lan Zhan himself would have requested for one. In any case, it worked well for both of them - plenty of fun to be had in the next few days. 

He waited for an hour for the Lans to have lunch and settle down, and then talked to the same servant he did in the morning. With a few coins, the servant pointed to the exact room Lan Zhan stayed in. His room was in between his uncle’s and brother’s rooms. It could cause potential problems. But no matter, Wei Ying had already drawn a lot of silencing talismans. 

There was to be an opening banquet in the evening. Till then, guests were free to engage in their own activities. Jins had allocated a few guides at strategic locations inside Koi Tower who would offer their suggestions and help in case cultivators wanted to explore the city or visit any tourist attractions. However, Wei Ying was not interested in that. Having already seen the Koi Tower and the city - both in human and ghost forms, he would rather spend the time with Lan Zhan engaging in other, pleasure-filled activities. He had waited for many years by now and was craving for Lan Zhan’s touch. With this plan in mind, Wei Ying wandered into the Lan quarters and knocked on Lan Zhan’s door. 

The door was opened at the first knock and Wei Ying was forcefully pulled inside by his wrist. 

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Before Wei Ying could open his mouth, his lips were sealed with another warm pair. Wei Ying clutched the back of Lan Zhan’s robes tightly and clung to the tall frame as he was kissed thoroughly.

First, Lan Zhan licked and sucked on the upper lip and then lower lip. He then bit Wei Ying’s lips to almost draw blood and Wei Ying moaned. The sound only spurred Lan Zhan further. He tightened his arms around Wei Ying and bit those luscious lips to almost draw blood. Wei Ying opened his mouth to complain, but Lan Zhan did not let him. He took the opportunity to push his tongue inside. He traced Wei Ying’s teeth and inside of his mouth, and drank in all the nectar. Wei Ying tentatively offered his own tongue and Lan Zhan sucked and bit on it to his heart’s content. Wei Ying could only accept everything passively, whining and moaning in rapture. He shivered inside Lan Zhan’s arms, getting intoxicated with Lan Zhan’s taste. The things heated up more and more, with Lan Zhan’s hands roaming on Wei Ying’s body and kneading Wei Ying’s plump ass, bringing Wei Ying even closer to his body than before.  

Wei Ying did not know how long this went on. He felt light headed - it was difficult to breathe. He could feel the wet drool of saliva on his chin, that had escaped from having his mouth forcibly kept open by Lan Zhan who was busy eating out Wei Ying. It must have been an eternity, when Lan Zhan finally released Wei Ying. Lan Zhan’s breath was harsh and Wei Ying could see Lan Zhan held back from doing much more with great difficulty. 

Wei Ying himself was not doing well. His chest was heaving with air rushing inside his lungs. The pleasure he felt was everything he had imagined and more. The kiss was heady,  addicting, familiar. Wait. Why did it feel familiar? Wei Ying was confused for a moment and then he remembered. 

Wei Ying looked at a slightly disheveled Lan Zhan - disheveled by Lan standard, that is, meaning still impeccable, with only a slight wrinkling of his robes, courtesy Wei Ying - and glared. 

“Wei Ying,” Lan Zhan questioningly looked at Wei Ying.

“You pervert!” Wei Ying hit Lan Zhan’s arm in fake anger, “It was you at the Phoenix Mountain Hunt, wasn’t it?”

Only then it dawned on Lan Zhan that he had in fact kept this a secret, that he had kissed Wei Ying when he was blindfolded. 

“Wei Ying, I am ashamed.” Lan Zhan had no excuse. It was wrong of him to kiss Wei Ying without permission. 

Wei Ying smiled at a guilty looking Lan Zhan, “Oh! Come here, you brute. I am not angry. I am happy that you are my first kiss in both lives,” and hugged him. 

“First kiss?” Lan Zhan asked, “but you claimed otherwise.”

Wei Ying faintly recalled boasting about his non-existing kissing escapades and giggled, “and you believed that? Lan-er-gege, you are so easy to deceive. Back then, no one took me seriously as a romantic partner.” 

“You were famous.” Lan Zhan remarked.

“Yes. But as a fun friend. No one wanted to get involved in an affair with an orphan and a lowly servant. And moreover, I never liked anyone either. So, you are my first love as well.” Wei Ying kissed Lan Zhan’s cheek.

“And last.” Lan Zhan replied darkly.  

“Oh! You possessive man! Yes, you are the only one for me. And I bet you are thrilled about being my first kiss too, aren’t you?” Wei Ying asked.

Lan Zhan did not bother to reply. Instead, he drew Wei Ying closer for another kiss, which only ended after a long time. 

Much later, when the initial ardour had cooled down, they just hugged each other, savouring the warmth and comfort that bought. 

“Er-gege….” Wei Ying whispered as he was held tight in Lan Zhan’s arms. 

“Wei Ying.” Lan Zhan murmured into Wei Ying’s neck.

“Five years, Lan Zhan. It has been five years.” Wei Ying sniffed the sandalwood scent that always clung to Lan Zhan.

“I missed Wei Ying too.” Lan Zhan caressed Wei Ying’s neck.

Wei Ying came out of the embrace and looked at Lan Zhan, “when did you come back?”

“It has been a week.” Lan Zhan answered. He touched Wei Ying’s cheeks, shoulder, arms, and held his hands, as if he still did not want to let go of the physical touch. 

“I hoped you would come to the conference.” Wei Ying said, clutching Lan Zhan’s hand tightly. 

Lan Zhan took Wei Ying to his inner room, and sat down next to the table. He then pulled Wei Ying into his lap. Wei Ying happily settled down and adjusted himself comfortably. He circled his arms around Lan Zhan’s neck for further support. 

“Did you have fun, at least?” Lan Zhan asked, nosing Wei Ying’s cheeks. He was of course referring to Wei Ying’s stay at Lotus Pier.

Wei Ying giggled, “I did! So much! Lan Zhan, what did you hear at Cloud Recesses?” Wei Ying asked curiously.

“I know Madam Yu was punished into isolation. She would remain alone inside the cage till the end of her life. That is how I knew you were already back to this timeline.” Lan Zhan replied. His right hand caressed Wei Ying’s left thigh and gripped his left ankle with Wei Ying laying sideways on Lan Zhan’s left arm holding his head up.  

Wei Ying sighed in content - being in Lan Zhan’s lap was like finding home. “Well, yes. I gave her a year’s worth of nightmares. There was no way she would not go crazy and commit something which people could not ignore. It is a pity that years and years of whipping a lone orphan boy did not elicit the same rage as whipping a boy with background only once.” Wei Ying was referring to his own childhood.

Lan Zhan caressed Wei Ying’s cheeks with his finger, “It is all in the past.”

“You are right. And I have taken revenge for that.” Wei Ying grinned and then he proceeded to tell Lan Zhan everything he did in the last few years, “So, Jiang Cheng is not as powerful as the previous timeline. In fact, his mindset has become very fragile. Right now he does not like his sister and hates his parents. Jiang Yanli is fine, I guess. I did not get close to her this time. And Jiang Fengmian truly favours me now, more than his own son. If not for blood, he would make me the next sect leader without fail.” 

“But the Jiang sect may not exist after a few years.” Lan Zhan commented.

“Yes. With their current financial situation, a war will completely wipe out their economy. Without the Yiling Laozu contributing in the war on Yunmeng’s behalf, they will not receive reparations to resurrect the sect. Without the Yiling Laozu’s power, the sect will not be able to attract new disciples,” Wei Ying replied grimly. There was unmistakable satisfaction in his eyes.  

“What happened to her two servants?” Lan Zhan asked suddenly. He remembered Wei Ying talking about them before.

“They were killed right after Madam Yu’s trial. They carried out almost all of Madam Yu’s orders and the jury punished them by beheading the two.”

“Mn.” 

“Lan Zhan, how did you feel after coming back and meeting Lan Xichen?” Wei Ying asked. He had not forgotten how because of him his Lan Zhan and Wen Yuan died. Although he did not kill them directly, Lan Xichen had the power to save them and he did nothing. 

Lan Zhan did not reply immediately, but held Wei Ying tightly into his chest.

“It was difficult to treat him the same way as I did before I came back. Although my brother who is now has not yet done anything, I know that the potential is there. Our relationship will never be the same.” Lan Zhan replied after a while. 

“Shall we just elope? We will travel around the world, just the two of us, like a pair of rogue cultivators. To hell with this world and to hell with their war.”  Wei Ying said in rage. Even after all this, he had not forgotten what was done to him in his last life. Not taking revenge on the cultivation world directly was already the extent of kindness he could afford.  

As usual, Lan Zhan understood him perfectly, “I know. I feel the same.” Likewise, Lan Zhan had not forgotten the disappointment he had felt towards his sect, his family. He wanted no part of that hypocrisy. “Let us elope,” he agreed. 

“We need an opportunity. As such, we will not be allowed to leave. Death is the only escape.” Wei Ying replied.

“Timing is important.” Lan Zhan reminded him. 

“I know the perfect moment for our freedom. Muxi mountain.” Wei Ying grinned at Lan Zhan and he understood immediately. 

“Mn.” Lan Zhan smiled. 

“And don’t you get injured this time. I will be very angry otherwise.” Wei Ying tickled Lan Zhan’s chin.

“No breaking the leg then?” Lan Zhan teased.

“NO! Not even a single strand of hair should be harmed.” Wei Ying pouted. 

“I will follow Wei Ying’s wish.” Lan Zhan pulled Wei Ying towards him and kissed again to seal the deal. 

After this bit of planning, they decided to just have fun for the next few days. 

Chapter Text

Welcome banquet was a success. Jin Guangshan had spared no effort to make an opulent event. There were female entertainers performing provocative dances with barely there clothes. There was no limit to the food and alcohol. 

It was a long hall with pillars also acting as section breaks and each section was allocated to a sect, with Jin Guangshan sitting at the centre with his family. The Lans and the Wens sat closest to the host, on either side, showing everyone their status. Nies sat next to Lans and the Jiangs sat next to Wens. And the smaller sects took their positions according to their importance. And each of these sections had two pretty maids serving wine and tea to the guests. There were another four maids who were also beautiful, responsible for serving the food. It was clear from the way they dressed that food and wine were not the only things they offered. 

One of these maids in the Jiang side of the hall was serving wine to Wei Ying. She was standing quite close to him, bending a certain way that best displayed her twin assets. Wei Ying had to only look sideways to enjoy the view. Attracted by his handsomeness and his status in the Jiang sect - based on his luxurious silk robes and how close he sat to the sect leader, the maid used every trick she knew to get him to notice her. However, Wei Ying was too busy to look at Lan Zhan, who was sitting diagonally opposite to him, and did not pay attention to the poor girl. Unfortunately, someone did notice her and her proximity to Wei Ying and he was not happy. Lan Zhan scowled at her and Wei Ying was surprised. Only then he realized what was happening. Instead of getting away from her, Wei Ying deliberately leaned in even closer and talked to her sweetly, asking her to get him some more wine. All the while he was flirting with her, he kept an eye on Lan Zhan’s reaction and was pleased to know his Hanguang-Jun was considerably riled up. Having gotten the result he wanted, Wei Ying sent the maid away and waited for the dinner to end to reap the benefits. 

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Lan Zhan slammed Wei Ying into the closed door of his room and bit into his neck harshly. Wei Ying titled his neck to give him more access, “you really a beast. Why are you biting me?” 

Lan Zhan bit him again and growled, “Punishment.”

Wei Ying moaned. He only hoped they had placed the silencing talismans, with how loud he was being. 

“Don’t act innocent. Flirting with that maid just to make me jealous.” Lan Zhan gave Wei Ying a bruising kiss without waiting for Wei Ying’s answer. Lan Zhan knew very well that Wei Ying was not interested in that maid. It was all to make him lose control. 

The kiss lasted for a few minutes. After - 

“Kneel,” Lan Zhan pushed Wei Ying on the floor and he went down willingly. Finally, Wei Ying thought . He looked up at Lan Zhan in anticipation. 

“So greedy,” Lan Zhan cupped Wei Ying’s face. 

Wei Ying licked his lips, “er-gege….We have waited for many years now. Let’s not waste anymore time, okay?”  

“Open your mouth,” Lan Zhan ordered gently and Wei Ying obeyed. He could already feel a stirring of arousal between his legs. 

Lan Zhan opened his robes and took out his cock. It was already hard and leaking. 

Wei Ying gulped at the size, but was also thrilled. It was also huge and for a fifteen year old Lan Zhan, it was already impressive. Wei Ying could only imagine how big the grown up Lan Zhan would be. He could not wait for this monstrosity to plug his mouth and ravage his hole. His mouth parted even wider. 

Lan Zhan had been noticing all the changes in Wei Ying’s face and was satisfied with how receptive he was. He took his member in his hands and traced Wei Ying’s soft petal lips with the wet tip. An impatient Wei Ying shivered and licked the pre-cum smeared on his lips, and shuddered at the taste. It was slightly bitter and salty and Wei Ying loved it. He wanted more. 

“Er-gege….” Wei Ying whined and put out his tongue like a starving man. Only his iron will stopped Lan Zhan from roughly pushing his cock into Wei Ying mouth. Not yet. He delicately placed his dick on Wei Ying’s tongue. The weight of it felt heavenly on his tongue and Wei Ying was aroused to the core and the pre-cum was soaking his robes. Wei Ying smacked his lips and sucked on just the tip like a candy. He also closed his eyes to savour the taste. 

Lan Zhan could not stand the stimulation. He held Wei Ying in place by his hair. Wei Ying moaned loudly at the pull and the pain - it was delicious. Lan Zhan forcefully inserted his cock into Wei Ying’s wet mouth, hitting the throat. Wei Ying gagged at the intrusion, his hands flailing and finally holding on to Lan Zhan’s thighs for support. And yet, Wei Ying did not ask for Lan Zhan to go easy on him and neither Lan Zhan thought of sparing Wei Ying. 

Lan Zhan set a relentless pace as he used Wei Ying’s mouth for his satisfaction. Wei Ying could only take it passively. In between, he would lick and slurp the cock, and his muffled moans filled the room. 

Unable to stop himself, Wei Ying palmed his own erection through his clothes as Lan Zhan chased his release on his mouth. Lan Zhan came with a grunt. Ropes and ropes of his semen filled Wei Ying’s mouth to the brim, a few drops trickling down his chin. Wei Ying drank it all like a cat got its milk. The feeling of fullness made way for his own release and Wei Ying groaned as his seeds spilled into his own robes. Tears clung to his lashes at the ecstasy he had felt at the moment.

Lan Zhan slowly withdrew his softened dick and Wei Ying still could not let it go. He licked the remnants of the release clean off the cock. Only when Lan Zhan groaned with overstimulation did Wei Ying release his favourite snack.

“Are you alright?” Lan Zhan had to ask. He was quite brutal with Wei Ying just now - he simply could not help himself. His desire for Wei Ying had been simmering in his gut since he was sixteen in his last life. 

“Yes.” Wei Ying replied. Lan Zhan’s eyes darkened at the sight of Wei Ying. 

Wei Ying’s voice had gone hoarse with the way Lan Zhan had abused his throat. His eyes were filled with tears. His cheeks were bright red and droplets of sweat visible on his brows. His robes were askew and there was a wet patch - Lan Zhan knew Wei Ying had come just with his dick in the mouth. 

Lan Zhan became hard again in front of Wei Ying’s horrified eyes. 

“No…” Wei Ying’s jaw was still hurt from the workout it did. 

Lan Zhan did not let him go. He took Wei Ying’s hand and placed it on his member. 

And then it was endless battles of conquering bliss.  

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

This was only the beginning of their debauchery. They sneaked around Koi Tower, escaped boring dinners, and even reenacted their Phoenix Mountain Hunt scene from their previous life in broad daylight. The nature of the conference was only conducive to their improper behaviour. Jin Guangshan did not want any competitions this year because he knew only his son, Jin Zixuan, although talented, it was only in archery. And he was not sure his son would win even that category. He definitely had no hopes for his other cultivators. At least in this regard, he was cleverer than Wen Ruohan, who had lost all his face in the previous timeline because of his son Wen Chao and other Wen disciples. 

All seven days of conference were filled with one party after another, apart from a day allocated for sect business. One day it was a flower appreciation banquet where all the guests were invited to the best garden of Koi tower. Another day it was pleasure boat rides specifically for the male cultivators. On that day, Madam Jin led all the ladies to a small get together with fun games and gossip. There were on the spot poetry writing, singing, dancing, playing various instruments, and even courting. 

This way, Lan Zhan and Wei Ying played to their heart’s content.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

“Er-gege…” Wei Ying pleaded. He was pushed against a tree in the Phoenix mountain - the same tree where Lan Zhan had deceptively taken Wei Ying’s first kiss in their previous life. They were in an open area where anyone could come anytime. However, the time they chose was just after lunch and they hoped all the guests and hosts were resting with an afternoon nap. Even then, there was potential of getting caught in the act and it was all so thrilling for Wei Ying. And Lan Zhan always wanted to claim Wei Ying in front of everyone.   

Wei Ying could feel his growing arousal as Lan Zhan licked and sucked on his neck, leaving behind more hickeys on top of the older ones. The second jade then stroked his hands all over Wei Ying’s body, deliberately missing the one place where those hands were needed the most. Wei Ying wanted Lan Zhan to do something…anything to take him off the edge and instead Lan Zhan plunged his tongue into Wei Ying’s mouth and kissed him thoroughly. The wet noises from the kiss could be heard a few metres away. They did not care - too carried away with their passion. 

Wei Ying tried to use his hand to solve his problem, but Lan Zhan did not allow him to do so. He held both of Wei Ying’s hands hostage above his head. 

“Mean….bully…” Wei Ying babbled non stop at his Lan Zhan, “how can you treat me like this? What kind of behaviour is this towards one’s lover? Lan Zhan…I did not know you to be so bad. I am hurt…..”   

Lan Zhan did not even look at Wei Ying, busy with leaving trails of kisses over Wei Ying’s collarbone, alternatively using his lips and teeth. The delicate flesh turned red instantly and Lan Zhan let out a satisfied hum. 

Lan Zhan ignoring him and doing whatever he wanted only made Wei Ying even more crazy. Only when Wei Ying was tormented to the limit did Lan Zhan insert his right thigh between Wei Ying’s legs. The solid muscles of the thigh offered much needed friction and a delirious and desperate Wei Ying started humping on those muscles like a dog in heat.      

Lan Zhan still did not speak and let Wei Ying do all the work. Wei Ying, who found a respite was back to his teasing self, and gently nudged the huge bulge between Lan Zhan’s legs with his own thigh. Immediately, Lan Zhan took a step back and released Wei Ying’s hands. There was no contact with Wei Ying’s body at all. 

Wei Ying whined, “No…..Lan Zhan…er-gege…come back.” Lan Zhan just stared at him with a dark glint in his eyes. Wei Ying, still needy and eager for a release, moved forward and pushed himself on Lan Zhan’s body. He held onto Lan Zhan shoulders for balance and started grinding on Lan Zhan legs again. 

“Lan Zhan…you are so cruel…..ah….I…I am so sad….hmmm….ah…nhhggg…..you have to coax me pro-prop-properly after this….er-gege…er-gege….I am coming….ahhhhh….” Wei Ying screamed and soiled his robes with his cum. 

Tired, Wei Ying leaned back on the tree trunk behind him and panted harshly. Without saying anything, Lan Zhan pushed Wei Ying on his knees. He took out his cock into his own hand and started masturbating close to Wei Ying’s face, who was still dazed from his own intense release. 

It did not take long for Lan Zhan to finish at all and he aimed the streams of his release on Wei Ying’s eyes, nose, lips, and all over his face. Wei Ying tried to capture as much as possible into his mouth, but most of it was still sprayed on his face and a few drops even landed on his neck. 

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

“A-Ying, I heard you are spending a lot of time with the second master Lan.” Jiang Fengmian asked curiously. It was just two days before the end of the conference and Wei Wuxian decided to pay some attention to the Jiang family. 

It was only Jiang Fengmian and Jiang Cheng this time. Jiang Yanli was staying with Madam Jin. Although she was not happy with what her friend Yu Ziyuan did, she did not want to give up on Jiang Yanli who was innocent. Thus, she tried to ignite a more tender relationship between her son, Jin Zixuan, and Jiang Yanli. She was not yet successful thus far. 

Back to the dinner, there were only three of them and they decided to eat at Jiang Fengmian’s room.

“Yes, Uncle Jiang. Lan Zhan is a friend.” Wei Wuxian replied with a grin.

“Traitor…that is what you are. How dare you mingle with outsiders! You eat the Jiang food and yet you cater to those Lans. Lan Wangji must really hate you for bothering him. After all, you are just a son of a servant and he is the young master.” Jiang Cheng sneered. 

Jiang Fengmian was taken aback from the venom in his son’s voice. He had not expected to hear this for an innocent enquiry. He saw Wei Wuxian looking down, seemingly sad.

“A-Ying, do not take it to heart.” Jiang Fengmian tried to appease as Jiang Cheng snorted in derision. The sect leader looked at his son with disappointment - common occurrence these days, and ordered, “apologize to your brother right now.” 

Jiang Cheng did not bother even looking at his father and continued to eat. His silence was clearly a defiance against his father’s words. 

Wei Wuxian looked up looking despondent, “Uncle Jiang, it is fine. Let my brother eat in peace.” He then looked at Jiang Cheng, “Cheng Cheng, I am making friends with Lan Zhan for your benefit. We cannot work in isolation. As a sect heir, you should understand the concept of diplomacy and fostering relationships. I am doing just that. And don’t forget we have to attend lectures at Gusu next year. So, yes, I am friends with Lan Zhan. But I did it for you. And I will continue to get close to him even if he looks down on me. You should follow my example. Why don’t you treat Jin Zixuan better? After all, he will be your brother-in-law in the future.” Wei Wuxian said gently. 

To Jiang Fengmian, it looked like an elder brother teaching his younger sibling. To Jiang Cheng, it felt condescending and that Wei Ying was pointing fingers at his incompetence. 

“HOW DARE YOU LECTURE ME!” Jiang Cheng shouted at Wei Wuxian.    

Wei Wuxian looked at his uncle helplessly. Jiang Fengmian got angry. He felt insulted because of his son going against him everyday and not taking his words seriously.  “Go to your room and reflect on this. Day by day, you are becoming an embarrassment to me and the Jiang sect.” The Jiang sect leader raised his voice. 

“WHO CARES ABOUT YOU!” Jiang Cheng pushed his dinner tray away and walked out in rage. He dared to go against his father because he was secure in the knowledge that he will be the next sect heir and his father did not have another son as an option.

Wei Wuxian  was so happy that he ate an extra bowl of rice that evening.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-    

It was much after Lan sleep time and Wei Ying was sprawled on Lan Zhan’s as they slept for the night. From the moment they met, Wei Ying had always slept in Lan Zhan’s room, never wanting to keep a distance from him. They only had a few days before they had to part ways again and they wanted to spend every minute in each other’s presence.  

“Today brother and uncle asked where I disappear to,” Lan Zhan caressed Wei Ying’s back lazily and said just as Wei Ying had started to feel drowsy. 

Surprisingly, both Lan Xichen and Lan Qiren had not noticed their closeness. And since his brother and uncle did not listen to gossip, no one informed them of the weird friendship between a Jiang disciple, Wei Wuxian, and second master Lan Wangji. 

“Hmm? What did you reply?” Wei Ying asked curiously.

“Meditation in solitude and working on my cultivation,” Lan Zhan replied. He knew his family would never suspect his answer as he was always a loner and only interested in studies. 

Wei Ying giggled, “Well, technically it is not a lie. We are working our way up to dual cultivation.” 

“I will work hard, ” Lan Zhan teased.

“Is the esteemed Hanguang-Jun making sexual jokes now?” Wei Ying grinned. 

“Not a joke. I am very serious. I want to fuck Wei Ying again and again.” Lan Zhan said solemnly. 

Wei Ying groaned and hid his face on Lan Zhan’s chest, “ Lan Zhan! How can you say that…and with a straight face too!”    

“I will not say anything then. After all, action speaks more than words.” Lan Zhan kissed the top of Wei Ying’s head.

“You menace of a man! I cannot wait for you to ravage me, er-gege….” Wei Ying whispered.

“Wei Ying!” 

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Lan Zhan held both their cocks in one hand and jerked off. Wei Ying laid panting on the bed with Lan Zhan on top of him, *almost holding him down with his weight. Their robes were in disarray and harsh breaths filled the room as they both chased their release. 

It was the third time that night and Wei Ying did not have energy left to even moan. His voice was already hoarse from all the screaming he did previously. All he could let out was a handful of pitiful whimpers.

“Er gege…enough...spare me…I cannot do this anymore…” He begged.

“Wei Ying, one more.” Lan Zhan coaxed as he licked Wei Ying’s earlobes and bit into it. 

“So demanding….” Wei Ying let out a small moan and he could feel his dick ready to spill. And it felt sinful to feel Lan Zhan’s cock rubbing against his. 

“Did you not say you used to do this alone in your room all the time?” Lan Zhan asked. 

“Not three times in a row, er-gege!” Wei Ying replied.

“Promise me you will never find your release without me from now on!” Lan Zhan ordered as he sped up the hand movements. 

Wei Ying sobbed as another wave of pleasure hit him by the calloused hand of his Lan. He was in no position to answer to Lan Zhan.

“Wei Ying! Promise me!” Lan Zhan stopped just as Wei Ying was about to cum. 

Wei Ying almost screamed in frustration, “YES! I PROMISE! Er-gege…get on with it please…” 

“Remember your words.” Lan Zhan took Wei Ying’s hand and placed both of them on their joined dicks and resumed the activity.  

Both of them came together with dual grunts. 

Too tired to care about anything anymore, Wei Ying promptly fell asleep, leaving all the cleaning to Lan Zhan.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

It was the end of the conference and the Jins hosted the most extravagant dinner to date for all the sects. However, Wei Ying and Lan Zhan were not in the mood to attend till the end. They escaped to Lan Zhan’s room as soon as cultivators got increasingly drunk and started acting up. 

Wei Ying hugged Lan Zhan once inside the room, “Lan Zhan, I will miss you.” 

Lan Zhan tightened his arms around Wei Ying’s waist, “Will miss Wei Ying too.” 

Wei Ying kissed Lan Zhan on the lips gently, “just a couple of years more and we will be together forever.” 

“Mn,” Lan Zhan took hold of Wei Ying’s lips again and kissed him deeply, which lasted for a few minutes. 

In the end, they laid down on their beds. Wei Ying did not chatter away as usual. He just slept on Lan Zhan’s chest and listened to his heart beat. Lan Zhan gently ran his fingers through Wei Ying’s hair and he too did not find the need to speak. 

They spent the last night in each other’s arms and could only bid a temporary goodbye in the privacy of their room in the morning. 

Chapter Text

From the moment Lan Zhan had come back from the Jin discussion conference, he had become restless – a direct result of missing Wei Ying. Thus, he spent the rest of the year in seclusion to calm his heart which always urged him to get Wei Ying to Jingshi and hide him there. This also helped him avoid talking to his brother and uncle. Although Lan Zhan did not care about his uncle anymore, he also did not hate him. It was his brother, Lan Xichen he disliked. He had not forgotten how Wen Yuan died.

In his previous life, the cultivation world had numerous excuses and reasons to justify their dishonorable actions of killing innocent Wens and causing the death of his beloved. Although it stood against Lan Zhan’s core principles, he would have moved on, spending years alone, mourning his beloved’s death, and yet, he would have gone on with his life.

No amount of excuses and reasons, however, would ever justify killing a child. And this was the last straw that broke the camel’s back and made Lan Zhan forever turn his back on his clan, his family, and his sect.

In the past couple of months, since he was back, he had a difficult time adjusting to his role as the second young master of Lan. His only respite has been a few days spent with Wei Ying and that was when he was at home.

Now, after many months of waiting, Wei Ying would be back to Cloud Recesses, and Lan Zhan came out of his meditation just two days before the lectures would start. He knew this time Wei Ying would not climb the rooftop with his contraband alcohol. Because Wei Ying already knew his favourite Emperor’s smile was waiting at Jingshi, stored in a secret compartment under the floor. There was no need for Wei Ying to break the rules and attract attention.

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Lan Zhan was playing guqin at his home to pass the time. It was the day before the opening ceremony and he already knew the Jiang disciples were welcomed in the afternoon and have now settled down in their guest rooms. It was just after dinner, and Lan Zhan gave it another hour before Wei Ying could be free. And then Lan Zhan would go to the guest rooms and bring Wei Ying over to Jingshi. This would be the first time in two lifetimes Wei Ying would enter into his personal space and Lan Zhan was excited.

When the time came, Lan Zhan placed his guqin back and went outside. He sneaked in and around Cloud Recesses to avoid the night watch. It took him more than fifteen minutes to reach the guest wing where the Jiang disciples were housed. Sure enough, Wei Ying was waiting outside his room when Lan Zhan reached the place.

“You Lans are making me share a room with Jiang Cheng.” Wei Ying complained with a pout. 

Lan Zhan hid his smile. He was always pleased when Wei Ying shared his wants and needs, and was especially happy when Wei Ying complained about something, even if it was as trivial as the room allotment. 

“Wei Ying shall stay with me all through the year.” Lan Zhan held Wei Ying by his wrist and pulled him along. Wei Ying did not reply as they were breaking the rule and did not want to get caught on the first day.

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And Wei Ying did not get an opportunity to speak for a long time that night. 

As soon as they reached inside Jingshi, Lan Zhan pushed Wei Ying against the nearest wall and devoured his mouth. It had been quite some time since Lan Zhan had tasted the pleasures of flesh and could not wait to partake in that again. 

“Er-gege…slow down….” Wei Ying tried to push his beloved away. However, Lan Zhan did not budge. He bit into Wei Ying’s chin, leaving a mark. There was not much fight in Wei Ying to begin with, and the stinging sensation on his chin made him surrender completely. 

Lan Zhan picked him up and took him to bed. He stripped Wei Ying of all his clothes and removed his own clothes so quickly that Wei Ying was left too stunned to speak. Lan Zhan loomed over Wei Ying and asked, “did you touch yourself all these months?” 

“No. I promised.” Wei Ying answered, shaking his head. 

“Wei Ying has been good. I shall reward him.” Lan Zhan said, looking at a naked Wei Ying lying below him, with his eyes full of lust. 

Wei Ying shivered at the praise. 

Lan Zhan licked Wei Ying’s neck, “sweet….” he murmured into the velvety skin. 

“Er-gege….” Wei Ying breathed, tilting his head to give more access. Lan Zhan worried the skin with his teeth, leaving behind a bruise. Wei Ying moaned. Lan Zhan then took his time to leave behind hickeys all over Wei Ying’s neck and clavicle. 

“More….Lan Zhan….I want more…” Wei Ying asked, clutching Lan Zhan’s upper arms tightly. 

Lan Zhan moved down and swiped his tongue on the left nipple and sicked on it soon after, almost chewing on the skin around the peak. Wei Ying screamed and lifted his body off the bed for more and held Lan Zhan by the back of his head to push his chest further into Lan Zhan’s mouth. Lan Zhan did the same to the other neglected nipple. When Lan Zhan was done, the twin peaks looked red and puffy with Wei Ying crying for more. Lan Zhan then left a trail of kisses and bites along Wei Ying’s torso and stomach, and left Wei Ying a moaning mess.  

Wei Ying closed his eyes - the pleasure was too much for his senses. He could feel the prickling and tingling sensation on his skin, wherever Lan Zhan had used his teeth on Wei Ying. His cock was already hard and leaking, the pre-cum oozing out to drench his skin. 

“Lan Zhan….please….” A desperate Wei Ying begged. 

“Please what?” Lan Zhan teased as he lifted Wei Ying’s left leg and put it on his shoulder. He drooled over the soft skin of Wei Ying and took a bite. Wei Ying moaned loudly. Lan Zhan worked on one leg and then the other, leaving behind the thighs bruised. 

“Please….er-gege…I cannot take it anymore…” Wei Ying whimpered. His whole body already felt battered. The combination of this pain and pleasure made Wei Ying lose his mind, and tears rolled down his eyes.

Taking pity on him, Lan Zhan finally paid attention to the place Wei Ying wanted him the most.

Wei Ying screamed. His cock was enveloped by the wet heat of Lan Zhan’s mouth, and the sucking drew him wild. He laid on his elbow to look down. This image of pristine second jade of Lan - doing inexplicable things to his body, sucking his dick with the same concentration as when he trained with swords - would forever be printed in Wei Ying’s mind. There was a surge of pride in Wei Ying for having reduced the young master Lan to this state. 

Soon, it was impossible for Wei Ying to think of anything. Lan Zhan took his cock deep into his throat and hummed. Wei Ying felt the tightness in his abdomen when his cock hit the wall of Lan Zhan’s throat and he jolted with pleasure. He moaned and begged for more. He clutched Lan Zhan’s head for purchase and sobbed. For a long time, Lan Zhan sucked on Wei Ying and kept him on the edge. The tipping point came when Lan Zhan lightly scraped Wei Ying’s member with his teeth, and the pain hurled Wei Ying towards his release. Wei Ying shouted as he came into Lan Zhan’s mouth. Lan Zhan drank every bit of the semen and continued sucking. Wei Ying's face was full of tears with over stimulation and yet, Wei Ying did not ask him to stop. It was as if he craved that pain.

And it was not over yet. 

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Lan Zhan could not wait to fill up Wei Ying with his seed. He had waited many years in two different timelines for this moment. When Wei Ying was still dazed from his orgasm, Lan Zhan spread his legs wide open to access the puckered hole. Wei Ying was embarrassed but the desire to get Lan Zhan huge dick inside him was unstoppable, and thus held his thighs in his hands and opened himself up even further.

“Good job….” Lan Zhan approved. He took out a small bottle he had kept hidden inside the table next to his bed and removed the stopper. He poured the oil into his hands and gently rubbed it against his fingers. The earthy scent of sandalwood drifted into the air and Wei Ying inhaled it like an addict. 

“Now your inside will smell like me too…” Lan Zhan nosed the red patch he had left on Wei Ying’s thigh earlier and delicately bit into it again, making the bruise even deeper. Wei Ying moaned. Lan Zhan then slipped one finger into the eager hole and it went in easily. 

“I see you have practiced it…Wei Ying is so desperate for my dick….” Lan Zhan curled his finger inside the hole and it grazed the bundle of nerves inside. Wei Ying howled and almost fell off the bed. Lan Zhan had to hold him down using his forearms on his hips. 

“L-La-Lan Z-Zhan...how can you say such vulgar words so straightforwardly…have some shame…” Wei Ying could not help but tease even in the current situation.

Lan Zhan pressed on the same place again to make Wei Ying moan again as revenge. He then pressed two fingers inside and stretched the hole open. 

“Er-gege…enough… I want you inside right now…” Wei Ying begged. 

“No.” Lan Zhan was relentless in opening up Wei Ying and torturing him by touching that sweet spot again and again. After a few minutes, Lan Zhan inserted another finger and then the fourth one, and Wei Ying came again, spilling all over his own stomach and Lan Zhan’s. 

Even before Wei Ying came back from the high, Lan Zhan removed his fingers. The emptiness was unacceptable for Wei Ying. So, he pleaded.

“Er-gege…gege…please…fill me up…quickly…” 

“Wei Ying is so greedy….” Lan Zhan teased as he lined up his member against the entrance of the now stretched hole. 

“Er-gege…now…” Wei Ying ordered.

Without a second delay, Lan Zhan entered Wei Ying’s waiting hole in one shot and filled it to the brim. 

Wei Ying opened his mouth to scream, but no sound came out - it was all too overwhelming. 

“Hanguang-Jun, I feel so full…” Wei Ying whispered at last, and closed his eyes. The burn and the stretch he felt was too heavenly. 

Without giving Wei Ying a chance to adjust to his size, Lan Zhan started fucking him in earnest.

After two orgasms, it was borderline painful for Wei Ying and yet, he reveled seeing Lan Zhan’s cock ripping him apart. 

“Lan Zhan…Lan Zhan…this feels so good…harder er-gege…put more force into…I want to feel you for at least a week…” With a new found strength, Wei Ying encircled his legs around Lan Zhan’s waist and started to move upwards to match the rhythm, “er-gege…faster…oh! I never want to leave this bed…I want you to fuck me to the eternity…Lan Zhan…Lan Zhan…do you like it…how do you feel inside me?”

“Tight. Wei Ying feels amazing.” Lan Zhan kissed Wei Ying hard on his mouth.

Wei Ying hardened again. “Look at this, Lan Zhan…” he pointed at his own dick, “You have debauched me…ruined me…” 

Lan Zhan increased the speed of his thrusts. He clutched Wei Ying’s hips tightly - which would leave finger shaped marks on his skin - and pounded into Wei Ying vigorously. Wei Ying screamed and screamed. The assault on the delicate bundle of nerves inside the hole went on for a long time and Wei Ying lost all his voice and could only whimper against the immense pleasure he was feeling. 

In the end, Lan Zhan groaned into Wei Ying’s ears and came inside Wei Ying. The gratification of being filled up with hot cum pushed Wei Ying towards his own release. There was in fact nothing left within Wei Ying after all this time, and it was only a few drops of white spilled outside. 

By now, Wei Ying had lost all his energy, simply opted to sleep. That left Lan Zhan to clean up all the mess. He first cleaned the tears and sweat from Wei Ying’s face using a small cloth. He lifted Wei Ying in his arms on one hand and used his other to change the sheets on the bed. He then took his beloved towards the bath he had already prepared and kept hot using talismans. Lan Zhan washed and cleaned Wei Ying with utmost care and washed himself too. He used a huge, soft towel to clean both of them, and did not bother with the clothes for either of them.

Lan Zhan held Wei Ying in arms and slept peacefully for the rest of the night. 

“I could get used to this hedonist lifestyle,” was all Wei Ying had to say in the morning when he realized both of them had slept without clothes, fully naked.

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The opening ceremony went well. Jiang Cheng, as the heir and the head disciple, presented the gift on behalf of the Jiang sect. The classes started the next day. This time, Wei Ying did not have the reputation of a troublemaker and Lan Qiren did not target him specifically. In fact, Wei Ying did not bother to stand out in the class at all. Because, unlike his last life, he did not have the responsibility of drawing attention to himself to protect Jiang Cheng’s image. 

By this time, Jiang Cheng was already known for his bratty temper and not-so-great talents. Wei Ying imagined Jiang Fengmian would have asked Lan Qiren to teach his son well, and that was why Lan Qiren mostly concentrated on the Jiang heir amongst the Jiang disciples. Most days, it was Jiang Cheng who was called out to answer the question and when he faltered, Lan Qiren would ask Lan Wangji to give the right answers. And the second master of Lan had no interest in sparing Jiang Cheng’s fragile ego. Lan Wangji would give a perfect answer and look at Jiang Cheng in a condescending manner. It would spark outrage in Jiang Cheng and behave inappropriately, resulting in punishments. Jiang Cheng and other Jiang disciples were also caught sneaking alcohol into the premises and punished for it. Lan Qiren suspected Wei Ying to be involved in this incident with him being a Jiang disciple, but it was Lan Zhan’s testimony that they were always together learning cultivation that saved Wei Ying from false accusations. It was a good turn of events compared to before. It was always Jiang Cheng who had to write lines or get beaten up by discipline paddles instead of Wei Ying. This continued throughout the year and Jiang Cheng left Cloud Recesses with a worse image than before. But, this happened later. 

Wei Ying, on his part, spent all his time either in class or with Lan Zhan. They would sneak around Cloud Recesses and Lan Zhan would always manage to find opportune moments to fuck Wei Ying. Various places within Cloud Recesses were witnesses to their passionate love making. 

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At a remote corner in the library - 

Wei Ying was bracing over the wall with his two hands, while Lan Zhan brutally rammed into him from behind. They were still wearing their robes and the place where their bodies were joined was hidden from prying eyes.

“This is one of your fantasies, isn’t it? Tell me, er-gege. Did you imagine this, all the while giving me the cold shoulder during my daily punishments? What would have happened if you had forcefully taken me on the floor when I presented you with the erotic book, instead of sending me away? Now, that would have been the perfect punishment for my prank, wouldn’t it?” Wei Ying babbled away as he took the force of Lan Zhan’s desire.

“Mn.” Lan Zhan increased the speed and force with which he took Wei Ying. Wei Ying moaned loudly. Fortunately, they had the presence of mind to put up a sound barrier before they started going at it, and no one came to check on all the noise they were making.

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At the cold pond - 

Lan Zhan had pushed Wei Ying against a rock and holding his entire weight on his arms as he fucked into his tight hole. Wei Ying had to hold on to Lan Zhan’s shoulders and encircled his legs around Lan Zhan’s waist to keep himself steady on the rock. The intensity of their sexual activity produced huge waves in the pond. Because it was late in the night and after the curfew hours, no one was there, which led the two lovers to give in to their passion. 

“Er-gege, you are so free with my body. Oh! Right there, er-gege, you hit the spot. Using me to fulfill all your teenage imaginations from your previous life. Ahhh…too much…slow down…not so hard…What else do you have in mind? I am curious.” Wei Ying grinned.

“I have many ideas. Everything ends up with you serving my cock with your pretty mouth or with your greedy hole.” Lan Zhan lifted Wei Ying slightly for better access to that sweet spot inside Wei Ying which always made him scream. 

“Er-gege…you say the sweetest thing…” And then Wei Ying never stopped screaming till the end.

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At the swords room - 

Wei Ying licked off the remaining semen from his lips. His throat was burning and his jaw hurt from how well he took Lan Zhan dick in his mouth. And yet, he had to quip. He looked up towards the flaccid cock of his lover from where he was kneeling and grinned.  

“Lan Zhan, your sword is pretty impressive.” Wei Ying whispered. He had also lost his voice for the time being. 

Lan Zhan pulled Wei Ying up by his hair and ordered, “lift your robes.” He did not react to Wei Ying’s joke. 

Although it was night time, there was always a patrol near the weapons room. They did have silencing talismans put up. Yet, there was still a possibility of getting caught and that made the experience thrilling. 

That was why Wei Ying was excited when he lifted his clothes and showed Lan Zhan his hard and leaking cock. It was Lan Zhan’s turn to take Wei Ying’s member into his mouth and bring it to completion.   

It did not take for Wei Ying to cum into Lan Zhan’s mouth with a muffled scream - he had placed hand on his mouth to stop himself from being loud. 

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“Do you want to come with us tomorrow?” Lan Zhan asked. It was quite late in the night and Wei Ying was laying down next to Lan Zhan - naked and tired from their two rounds of sex. He turned his head and looked at Lan Zhan, who was looking back at him, and answered, “No. I have no interest in battling an abyss. Lans can handle it without me.” 

“Mn.” Lan Zhad knew this would be the answer, but he had to ask anyway.

“What about you?” Wei Ying turned sideways and put his weight on his elbow for a slight elevation so that he could look at Lan Zhan’s face properly.

“I have to go. There is something I want to do.” Lan Zhan replied with a mad glint in his eyes.

“That person will die without me anyway. Why bother?” Wei Ying looked curious.

“I want to make sure it happens. I do not want to let that person live for another day.” Lan Zhan said as he caressed Wei Ying’s cheeks.

“You are the best, er-gege.” Wei Ying grinned at the dichotomy of his lover having murder in his eyes and yet being gentle with his touches at the moment. Moreover, this was Lan Zhan being protective and how could Wei Ying not feel his heart dipped in honey. He kissed Lan Zhan on his nose, “I will wait here for you.” 

“Mn.” 

The next day, Lan Zhan was out early in the morning. And Wei Ying, having nothing to do, lazed around the entire day, waiting for his beloved. He could not wait to hear what happened during the hunt for the waterborne abyss. 

Chapter Text

“You have become close to the Jiang disciple Wei Wuxian.” Lan Xichen remarked. 

“Mn.” Lan Wangji replied. He did not know how much of this curiosity was just to fill the silence and how much genuine affection was present. Because, as Lan Wangji had learned in his ghostly life, nothing between the brothers was sacred. Lan Xichen was comfortable sharing everything he knew of Lan Wangji with Meng Yao. That was a breach of trust that rankled even today. Thus, he did not elaborate anything else. In any case, it was not in his nature to share much. And he absolutely abhorred the idea of talking about Wei Ying in front of his brother. 

“Do you want to invite young Wei Wuxian to our hunt? I believe he is a capable cultivator.”

“No need.” Lan Wangji replied firmly. 

If Lan Xichen was taken aback by the chill in Lan Wangji’s tone, he did not mention it and let the silence resume once again. 

They were walking down the path towards the entrance of Cloud Recesses. Lan Xichen had cornered him just after breakfast about the water ghoul problem at Caiyi. Lan Wangji knew it was a waterborne abyss. But he did not offer any suggestion, but quietly followed Lan Xichen’s arrangement. The only thing he did was make sure that person was on the team this time around too. 

Since Wei Wuxian was not there to participate, naturally, Jiang Cheng did not come either. They did meet Nie Huaisang and Jin Zixuan later on and they did join them like last time. 

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The hunt went just like last time. The only difference was Lan Wangji guiding the team towards the conclusion that it was in fact waterborne abyss and not an infestation of water ghouls. He purposefully kept far away from Su She the object of his target and also made sure to perform extra well in front of him to arouse his jealousy. Predictably, Su She took risks beyond his capabilities and lost his sword. 

In the end, Su She fell down towards the abyss and there was no Wei Wuxian to save him this time. He also once again witnessed how fickle cultivators’ righteousness was. Lan Wangji had a reason not to help Su She. But to the rest of them he was supposed to be a friend, or at least a fellow cultivator who participated in the hunt with them. They should have had his back. And yet, none of them tried to save Su She. 

Lan Wangji knew the reason. Kindness and righteousness were the tools in the hands of these people. It was to be exercised only when it was convenient or when showing off one’s superiority against the low-born cultivators. The moment there was a real stake, a real consequence, a real threat to their well being, a real risk, they would be the first one to back out. 

However, Hanguang-Jun from the previous life was no more and he did not feel anything towards the cultivation world anymore. What these cultivators would do and what would happen to this world held no importance in his heart. Lan Wangji looked on with grim satisfaction as one of the perpetrators of Wei Ying’s tragedy died a painful death.

The loss of Su She did not create too much wave in the Lan clan. He was not well liked and a couple of friends he had mourned for him and then moved on. Lan Wangji was happy to see this. Su She did not deserve even a single thought, much less an elaborate mourning. 

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Another change that happened on the day of Caiyi hunt was that no one mentioned the Wen clan. Without Wei Ying being there to question and debate, other cultivators simply did not talk about the origin of the abyss. 

At night, when Lan Zhan mentioned this to Wei Ying, he just shrugged his shoulders and replied, “no one is interested in the Wens unless they are the ones being harmed. Even your Lan sect, the epitome of righteousness and kindness, never stood up for all the minor sects harmed by Wen Ruohan till now. It was only after your sect was attacked that they took a stand against the Wen sect. It is meaningless to call the Sunshot campaign a war for righteousness against tyranny. It was just self-preservation by then.” 

Lan Zhan agreed. 

“Lan Zhan, are we going to talk about this all night?” Wei Ying teased as he slowly removed his robes to tantalize his beloved. Lan Zhan watched with fascination as the velvety expanse of the skin was showcased in front of eyes and he couldn't control himself anymore. All the matters related to the waterborne abyss and the hunt were forgotten and put aside. 

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Lan Zhan was especially aggressive that night. Wei Ying screamed as Lan Zhan violently thrust into Wei Ying ready hole in one go and settled inside. Then began pounding into Wei Ying like a bull charging ahead towards his target. 

“Er-gege…you are so good to me…just like this…argh…I love it when you get like this…” Wei Ying scratched Lan Zhan’s back and held on for his dear life. 

The fucking continued for a long time. 

At one point, Wei Ying asked, “what if Su She had not fallen down…” 

Lan Zhan growled after a hard thrust, “I would have pushed him.” The declaration that Lan Zhan would deliberately commit murder sent euphoria into Wei Ying’s veins. With all his strength, he pushed Lan Zhan off him and turned him on his back. Wei Ying then sat on Lan Zhan’s dick and pushed it into his quivering hole. Both of them groaned at the same time. 

Wei Ying clutched Lan Zhan’s shoulders and rode with abandon.  

“Lan Zhan...look at me…look how I take your cock inside me…” Wei Ying goaded as he moved up and down. 

Lan Zhan held Wei Ying’s hips tightly to leave marks and rammed upwards to match Wei Ying’s rhythm. Wei Ying screamed again - with this, Lan Zhan had reached the deepest part yet, and Wei Ying was delirious. It did not take much time for Wei Ying to come. His hole tightened as he released all over Lan Zhan’s stomach, and that led to Lan Zhan sending his seeds inside Wei Ying as well.  

That night, Lan Zhan did not let go of Wei Ying for a long time. It was as if he had a lot of adrenaline from witnessing Su She’s death and he had no way to vent all of it other than on Wei Ying.

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After the hunt for the water ghouls turned into an encounter with waterborne abyss, Wei Wuxian faced an unwelcome conversation with the first jade of Lan. 

It was just after breakfast and Wei Wuxian was walking towards the class alone - Lan Zhan was assigned a task by his uncle and was busy - when Lan Xichen stopped him for a talk. 

“Good morning, Wei Wuxian.” Lan Xichen smiled gently at the Jiang disciple.

“Zewu-Jun, good morning.” Wei Wuxian bowed appropriately. He did not speak after that. He would not make small talk with Lan Xichen to ease the conversation. Since the first jade came to him, he should spell out his purpose. 

After a few seconds of awkwardness, Lan Xichen spoke, “Well, I see that you are close to my brother,” in a probing manner. 

“Yes. We are close friends.” Wei Wuxian replied and added nothing more. If Lan Xichen wanted to know more, he should just ask the question. Of course, it was up to Wei Wuxian to answer them or not.

“How did that happen? You see, Wangji did not have any friends before.” Lan Xichen asked. 

“Aren’t you happy that he has a friend now?” Wei Wuxian said.

“Well, of course. I am indeed happy.” Lan Xichen replied with an awkward smile. 

Wei Wuxian knew Lan Xichen was just being nosy. He knew Lan Xichen had urged Lan Zhan to make friends with Wei Wuxian in the previous timeline and later on turned against this friendship, rather he turned against Wei Wuxian - quite the irony, given his own friendship with Meng Yao. Hypocritical too.  

“That is good to know. For a moment, I was afraid that you would not want your brother to make friends with the son of a servant.” Wei Wuxian smiled.

“No...no. The Lan clan does not put much importance to the family name. Instead, we always put emphasis on one’s character.” Lan Xichen replied self-righteously.  

What a load of crap! Wei Wuxian clutched his sword tightly to control his anger. He had not forgotten the death of Wen remnants and especially, Wen Yuan. Well, then. Since the first jade of Lan had come to him and had the affront to spout nonsense like this, then Wei Wuxian would not let him go. He anyway had plans for the first jade and now was the best time to enact it. 

Wei Wuxian sneakily sent a small amount of resentful energy into Lan Xichen. It would remain undetected in his golden core and cause trouble from time to time.

“That is good to know, Zewu-Jun. Then, let me say goodbye. Your uncle will not be happy if I am late for the class.” Wei Wuxian bowed and left Lan Xichen standing alone in the path. 

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“I did something bad to your brother.” Wei Ying confessed to Lan Zhan that night.

“What did you do?” Lan Zhan pulled Wei Ying on his lap. His tone was just a curiosity rather than an accusation. 

Relieved, Wei Ying replied, “Well, I sent a small trace of resentment into his meridian.” 

“Like Madam Yu?” Lan Zhan asked.

“Not to that extent, but yes. Nothing will happen on a normal day. But, whenever he is tired, either emotionally or physically, whenever he is vulnerable, he will have nightmares.”  Wei Ying kissed Lan Zhan’s chin. He deliberately did not share everything at once. He wanted Lan Zhan to keep asking questions. It was fun this way.

“What kind of nightmares?” Lan Zhan played around. 

“Sometimes he would hear the cries of a baby. Sometimes, he would hear a young child accusing Lan Xichen of murdering him. At first, your brother will be able to withstand this. But with time, with the upcoming war adding to his mental stress, he may slowly believe the child. And that will lead to the shame…to the guilt…which will slowly eat your brother from within. He has to live like this his entire life. What do you think, er-gege?” Wei Ying grinned evilly.

“Perfect.” Lan Zhan kissed Wei Ying on his lips. 

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The life in Cloud Recesses continued as usual. After the abyss, the rest of the year was uneventful. Because there was no punching incident. That is not to say Jin Zixuan did not speak ill of Jiang Yanli. 

Wei Ying of course would not defend Jiang Yanli. And it was also Jiang Cheng who had changed and had started to dislike his sister by now. As a result, he also did not stand up to her. Jin Zixuan remarks were left unopposed and soon spread across the world, causing Jiang Yanli’s reputation to plummet. 

Jiang Fengmian was not called to Gusu and he had no reason to break the engagement. It was imperative to note that, even if Jiang Cheng or Wei Wuxian had punched Jin Zixuan and caused a huge issue, Jiang Fengmian would not have cancelled the betrothal. The Jiang sect at present was not the same as it was before and he needed the alliance with the Jin sect.  

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Because of the changes in timeline, Wei Ying was able to spend the whole year with Lan Zhan. At the end of the lecture, they had to part once again with a heavy heart. But, both Wei Ying and Lan Zhan knew it was only temporary.

“See you soon, Lan Zhan.” Wei Ying hugged Lan Zhan as tightly as possible, “will miss you.” 

“Will miss Wei Ying too.” Lan Zhan cupped Wei Ying’s face in his palms and kissed him on his forehead, “will write to Wei Ying.” 

“You better. A letter once a week.” Wei Ying demanded.

“I promise.” Lan Zhan replied and kissed Wei Ying hard on his lips - a memory for the road. 

“Well, we will meet again during the Wen conference next year.” Wei Ying smiled. 

“Mn.”

“Goodbye, darling.” Wei Ying kissed Lan Zhan on his cheeks and left with a wave of his hands. Lan Zhan was left alone in Jingshi. 

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“Lan Zhan, your headband is crooked.” The Lan disciples standing next to the second jade of Lan gasped at Wei Wuxian’s loud call. They looked at their second master to see his reaction. 

“Nonsense.” Lan Wangji replied. Everyone else thought he was irritated. Only Wei Wuxian read the happy glint in his eyes and giggled. Lan Zhan’s eyes softened at the sheer beauty of his beloved. Seeing the image of Wei Ying - relaxed, with his eyes full of joy, his shoulders not tired holding the weight of the world - offered a balm to Lan Zhan’s restless soul.   

Without needing words, they started walking together, close enough that their shoulders brushed against each other. 

“You did not meet Wen Ning.” Lan Zhan asked. Last time, Wei Ying had lost his way in Nightless City during the Wen discussion conference and met young Wen Ning.

“No. I am not lost and I know the way around now. Moreover, I do not want to meet Wen Ning. It was this encounter which led to Wen Ning and subsequently Wen Qing to become friends with me. I do not want their loyalties to be divided this time.” Wei Ying replied seriously. 

“Mn.” Lan Zhan understood Wei Ying’s thoughts. Wen Ning was a sweet soul and would go to great lengths for his friends. What happened on this day led to Wen Ning and Wen Qing helping Wei Ying and Jiang Wanyin. In return, Wei Ying laid his life trying to save the Wen remnants. The cause and effect had been fulfilled and there was no need to recreate it.  

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The conference was a display of Wen Ruohan’s arrogance and power and all the sects somewhat felt the imminent change in the political dynamics. And yet, none of them thought of challenging the Wen sect, secure in the knowledge that their sect was safe. This was especially true for the major sects like Lan and the Jiang sects. Nie Mingjue was always ready to go on war with the Wens however was powerless alone. Jin Guangshan was a friend and a selfish person who would never do anything to compromise the Jin lifestyle. 

Wei Ying and Lan Zhan knew this status quo would be broken soon and they could not wait to get out of this mess. It was only a matter of a few months remaining to achieve their goal and they were eagerly looking forward to it. For now, Wei Ying and Lan Zhan performed well enough to win top prizes. Meanwhile, they also did not fail to make trouble for Wen Chao. 

All in all, the conference went just like last time - more or less.  

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Back to Lotus Pier, Wei Wuxian’s life went on as usual. He irritated Jiang Cheng on a daily basis and charmed his uncle into giving him more money. Before Wen Ruohan banned all the night hunts, he went out in the name of a night hunt and tamed the Burial Mounds. This time it was easy. This place would be the hideout for Wei Ying and Lan Zhan during the war, after they faked their deaths. He also built a small cottage next to the cave he used to stay in his previous life. And in it, he stored all his belongings and wealth he had collected from the Jiang sect. He did not want to take anything to the indoctrination camp other than his sword and a few things he would need. Lan Zhan had also given him all his riches and belongings during the Wen conference, and Wei Ying did not fail to keep them secure at their new cottage as well. 

In all these years at the Jiang sect, Wei Ying had made many preparations for the day. He had created invisibility talismans to hide Qiankun pouches where he and Lan Zhan would be storing their swords and other necessities during the indoctrination camp. Of course, they would be carrying dummy swords to show for everyone which would imitate the real swords. Wei Ying had already shared these talismans with Lan Zhan when they met during the Wen conference. 

Wei Ying was also ready with new inventions like face-change talismans when they fancied going out of Burial Mounds for a while. It would get boring to stay at one place for long. He was ready with arrays to mask their swords and sword glares - Bichen and Subian were known to many. 

With all these preparations in hand, Wei Ying waited for the events to take place. The next was when Wen Xu attacked Cloud Recesses and Wei Ying was desperate to know what happened. He did not want Lan Zhan to get hurt. Although he had full confidence that Lan Zhan would be safe - given that he was more skilled and more experienced, Wei Ying could not help but worry.  

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Lan Zhan’s letter arrived soon after the attack on Cloud Recesses.

Wei Ying,

I am fine and safe. I am not hurt. You do not have to worry anymore. I cannot wait to see you soon. All the preparations are done from my end. I have commissioned new robes for us to wear when we leave the Muxi mountain. It is light blue for me and bright red for you. Although I am letting go of everything that is Lan, including the robes, I am, however, unable to let go of my headband. It means a lot to me and I humbly offer my headband to you, as my commitment to you. Please wear it always. 

Forever Yours, 

Lan Zhan

Lan Zhan,

I will of course accept your headband wholeheartedly and wear it on my arms all the time, hidden from the prying eyes, of course. In return, I offer all my gentleness, my kindness, my love, and everything that I am to you. 

New robes are a good idea. We can drape our old robes on a corpse to make it look like it is us. And given that the tortoise would eat a few cultivators, their family would think that the two cultivators, whose dead bodies we would be using, were eaten by the beast too. It will be a perfect cover. And I am excited to take my last revenge on Jiang Cheng. The mayhem in Muxi Mountain will be the perfect opportunity for me to send my resentment into his core. From then on, every time he gets angry or feels strongly, his core will weaken bit by bit. By the end of the war - depending on when it will end this time - and within a few years, he will lose his core entirely. Isn’t it fitting? It was always in his fate to lose his core and I am only setting it right.  

Looking forward to seeing you again. For, I know, we will never part after this.

Always yours,

Wei Ying

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“Wei Wuxian, sect leader Jiang is looking for you.” One of the disciples informed Wei Wuxian while he was practicing with his Subian.

Wei Wuxian knew the time had come. Just as he had anticipated, it was about the indoctrination camp.

Jiang Cheng and Jiang Yanli were already present along with their father Jiang Fengmian when Wei Wuxian entered the main office.

“How disrespectful of you to keep your sect leader and sect heir waiting.”  Jiang Cheng scolded Wei Wuxian as soon as he came.

Wei Wuxian did not bother to reply to Jiang Cheng, instead, “I am sorry uncle Jiang for making you wait. The disciple gave me your message just a couple of minutes ago,” he bowed to the Jiang sect leader.

“That is alright, a-ying. We did not wait for long. Don’t mind your brother’s words. You know how he is.” Jiang Fengmian patted Wei Wuxian’s shoulder.

“Of course, uncle.” Wei Wuxian sat next to Jiang Cheng. 

“I received a letter from Wen Ruohan himself. He thinks the education we provide at our sects is not sufficient and we are misleading our young cultivators. In order to correct that, the Wen sect is conducting an indoctrination camp to re-educate our disciples. They want all the sects to send twenty disciples, including the heirs, by next week.” Jiang Fengmian told the other three. He looked tense. 

“Father, is there no other option?” Jiang Yanli looked at her brother worriedly. 

Jiang Cheng rolled his eyes at her, “Don’t worry. We will not send you to the camp. As the heir, I will be going,” he sneered. 

”A-li, you should not go. Your health is not good. Let A-cheng take care of it.” Jiang Fengmian patted his daughter’s head. 

“Yes, father. A-cheng, you must take care of yourself.” Jiang Yanli tried to hold Jiang Cheng’s hand in hers, only to be tossed aside. 

“A-Ying, the reason I called you today, is because I want you to go too.” The Jiang sect leader pleaded, “I will be relieved if you go.” 

“Of course, uncle Jiang. I would have volunteered to go even if you had not asked me. I cannot let Cheng Cheng go alone, can I?” Wei Wuxian replied with a shy smile. 

“Of course, A-ying. A-Cheng is my only heir. His safety and life is in your hands now. Protect him at any cost.” Uncle Jiang requested. 

Wei Wuxian controlled his rage. It was the same as his previous life. But now, he will not heed to these words. But on the outside, “Uncle, Jiang. Do not worry at all.” 

Jiang Cheng did not oppose Wei Wuxian being a part of their group. He knew very well that Wei Wuxian was a capable cultivator and as his father ordered, he would be protecting the only heir to the Jiang sect. Wei Wuxian coming with him was only beneficial to Jiang Cheng and thus he did not protest at all, no matter how much he loathed Wei Wuxian. 

“I will select the other eighteen disciples myself.” Jiang Cheng declared. He had no choice with Wei Wuxian. But, he will choose his companions after careful consideration - someone who would obey him at all costs and never go against him. 

“Then, you can take care of everything, A-cheng. You have to leave in seven days.” Jaing Fengmian said to his son. 

That was the end of it. 

The Jiang disciples flew a few days later and reached Qishan after a day. The indoctrination camp began once the disciples from all the sects arrived at the location.

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No one knew what happened in the camp. No news leaked out of it. However, there was a shocking turn of events after a couple of months. Many of the disciples had died in Muxi mountain, in the hands of a beast. Wei Wuxian of the Jiang sect and Lan Wangji of the Lan sect had managed to save the remaining disciples and sent them away with great difficulty. They stayed behind to give the remaining cultivators enough time to escape.

Even before the heroic deeds of these two young, promising cultivators could be spread, the news of their tragic death reached world wide. 

Chapter Text

Jiang Fengmian was alarmed when he saw his son and other Jiang disciples injured. When he had sent them to the indoctrination camp he had not imagined this would be the state they would come back with.

“How is my son?” He asked the healer. At present, all of them were getting treated at the infirmary. 

“He is fine. There are several injuries on his body. But none are life threatening. He should recover in a couple of days. Do not worry.” The healer answered and went to look after other disciples. 

Jiang Fengmian saw that Jiang Xin was awake and he was the only one. The rest of them were sleeping.  And he did not find Wei Wuxian, which was worrying. He went to the disciple to know what happened, “A-Xin, tell me what happened.”

“Sect leader Jiang, it was Wen Chao.”  Jiang Xin grimaced as he remembered the incident and he explained everything clearly to his sect leader, “three of our disciples died in the cave. And Wei Wuxian stayed back with the second master Lan as bait to let us escape. This was three days ago. I do not know what happened to them.”

Jiang Fengmian was irritated. He had invested too much in Wei Wuxian and now it was not sure if he was alive or not. 

“Please send someone to save them, sect leader,” Jiang Xin interrupted Jiang Fengmian’s thoughts.  

“Of course, A-Xin. We cannot let him die there after he helped all of you. I will send someone immediately.” Jiang Fengmian assured Jiang Xin and left the infirmary to arrange for the expedition. 

The rescue team came back after a week. With them were two bodies. The faces were unrecognizable. There were numerous cuts and injuries all over the body too. However, based on the clothes they wore and the build of the bodies, it was concluded that the bodies were Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji. 

Jiang Fengmian was devastated. Although he felt sad for Wei Wuxian’s death, he was more frustrated because all his plans had come to naught. He was also angry at Wei Wuxian for needlessly putting himself in danger and getting killed.  Now, Jiang Cheng had no one to depend on when he became the sect leader. 

“We met Jin sect heir, Jin Zixuan, on the way. He helped us too. It was him who identified the bodies as Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji.” The leader of the team reported to Jiang Fengmian. That meant - with the Jin sect heir as the witness - everyone in the world would soon know Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji sacrificed themselves to save others. No matter how Jiang Fengmian felt about Wei Wuxian, he had to play the part of a proud sect leader and a grieving uncle. He had no other way than to hold a grand funeral and mourn for him properly. And they also had to act grateful to Wei Wuxian. From now on, no one from the Jiang sect could speak ill of Wei Wuxian, unless they want their reputation to be ruined. Jiang Fengmian dreaded the task of educating his son of this development. He knew Jiang Cheng hated Wei Wuxian and now his son had to act like a mourning brother. It would be difficult.    

“Jiang Yu, take some rest and come back tomorrow. There is still another task for your team,” Jiang Fengmian addressed the leader of the rescue team, “Take the body of Lan Wangji to Gusu and explain everything to them.” 

“Yes, sect leader. We will leave early tomorrow.” Jiang Yu, the leader, bowed and left with his team.

Jiang Fengmian then called his steward and asked him to arrange for the funeral of Wei Wuxian after two days. By then Jiang Cheng would be awake and able to participate. 

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A few days after the funeral, Jiang Fengmian went to the Wen sect to get the swords back, which Wen Chao had confiscated. He was refused. The Jiang sect leader had to come back empty handed. 

Soon after, all the night hunts were prohibited by Wen Ruohan and the Jiang disciples could not go outside. All they could do was stay at the sect grounds. Unfortunately, the head disciple, Jiang Cheng, was not good at planning, and none of them trained. Instead, they treated this as a rare vacation and played around. 

A few months later, an unprepared Lotus Pier was attacked by the forces led by Wen Chao and Wen Zhuliu. Surprisingly, Jiang Fengmian was at the sect, instead of leaving like last time. That was because in the previous timeline Wei Wuxian and Madam Yu were present, and he was confident in their handling of things. Now Madam Yu was imprisoned and Wei Wuxian was dead. And his son, Jiang Cheng, was not capable. The Jiang sect leader was forced to stay at the sect all the time. 

Jiang Fengmian saw that there was no hope for the Jiang sect to win this battle. So, he decisively fled the scene with his son, hoping to get back the sect later. As a leader, he did not fight with his disciples. Cruelly, he let the Jiang disciples act as a shield and bought time with their deaths, which allowed him and Jiang Cheng to escape. 

“What about mother?” Jiang Cheng asked as he rowed the boat away from the burning Lotus Pier. Jiang Yanli was already at Meishan Yu and there was no need to worry about her. 

“She is not important right now. We have to be alive in order to take back our Yunmeng. If fate permits, she will be alive and we can liberate her later.” Jiang Fengmian replied. Although he felt guilty for leaving his beloved wife, he knew this was the best decision given the circumstances. He was the sect leader and his son was the sect heir. In the future, they would build a new Yunmeng Jiang. The disciples were expendable. They could always hire new ones later on. 

Jiang Cheng did not insist on saving his mother either. He hoped he did not have to go back to the fight and die. It was just a casual question and was satisfied with his father’s decision. 

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“HOW DARE YOU GIVE THIS FOOD FIT FOR BEGGARS! TAKE IT AWAY AND BRING ME PROPER MEALS” Madam Yu screamed at the servant and threw the tray containing chicken porridge at him. The edge of the tray hit his forehead and started bleeding and a small portion of the porridge fell on his clothes too. He looked at Madam Yu with resentment. It was already kindness on his part to bring her food. He ignored the mess on the floor and went out in anger. He also vowed never to volunteer for this particular duty again. Now he knew why no servant wanted to come to this part of Lotus Pier. It was supposed to be his friend’s shift that day to bring food to the fallen sect madam. But his friend wanted to meet his sweetheart and as a good friend, he took it upon himself to help out a friend in need. And look what happened. He would be having a firm talk with his friend that evening, no doubt. 

Madam Yu was left alone. She looked like a mess, matching the state of her room. Her possessions were strewn around in the room and her unwashed clothes piled up in the corner. The robes she was currently wearing were untidy and her hair had not been washed or combed for many days.  Her eyes were filled with equal parts desolation and rage. Utter helplessness plagued her just like the daily nightmares she still had. 

Initially, when Madam Yu was imprisoned in a small room at a remote corner of Lotus Pier, the servants looked after her wholeheartedly. Although all her spiritual powers were gone and her core sealed - she could never cultivate again - she was, after all, still the wife of the sect leader. The Jiang sect leader had not divorced her even after her crimes were proven to be right. As such the servants were not courageous enough to neglect the care of Madam Yu. And to prove that their caution was right, the Jiang sect leader would ask after his wife’s well-being everyday. He would talk to the servant of the day and instruct them to take care of his wife meticulously. Slowly, it became once a week, then once a month, and over time, Jiang Fengmian stopped asking after his wife altogether as he got busy with the sect and his son. This allowed a loophole for the servants and retainers of Lotus Pier to exploit.

For many years, the servants of the Lotus Pier had not liked Madam Yu for the way she treated them. The only two people she offered some respect were those two female cultivators who came with her from her natal sect. Now, those two women were dead and Madam Yu was all alone. This gave them a perfect opportunity to give an outlet to their frustrations. At first, they stopped cleaning the room. When there was no consequence, when no one asked them about it, they got bolder. They stopped bringing her food three times a day. Instead, she was allowed only breakfast and dinner. Lunch was forgotten. When nothing happened to the servants, they started to provide her only one meal a day.  As far as her bath, the servants would only give her some cold water to wash, and that too only after Madam Yu asked for it multiple times. 

After a while, looking after Madam Yu was a job no one wanted to take. Servants would find excuses not to go there or they would find reasons to change their shifts. Today was one such incident and the servant who volunteered started to hate Madam Yu. Just as he left Madam Yu’s room in rage, his friend, whom he was cursing in his mind, came in a hurry.

“We have to run. The Wen soldiers are attacking Lotus Pier. There is a huge fight outside.” The friend said as he pulled the servant by his wrist. 

Without a second delay, they started running. The fact that this was a remote part of Lotus Pier helped them escape quite easily. The Wens had not yet breached into these interior places. 

“What about Madam Yu? Are we leaving her here?” The servant asked his friend. 

“Then, what do you want to do? Save her? Don’t be an idiot. Her own husband and son did not care for her and left her to die.” The friend panted harshly while running.

“WHAT! Jiang sect leader and the heir already left?” The servant was shocked. He could hear the fight happening outside. 

“Yes. Cowards, both of them. They left the fight to their disciples and escaped meanwhile.” The friend was angry. Rightfully so. The disciples were dying at this very moment in the hands of the Wen soldiers and the leader, who was supposed to lead and take charge, ran away. 

“Forget it then.” The servant did not ask anything after that. He was fully concentrating on saving his own life.

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Yu Ziyuan felt hot fury running through her veins. She screamed into the empty room at the insolent behaviour of a mere servant. She ordered someone to clean the room. She shouted for someone to serve her a meal fit for the sect madam. No one came. That made her cry angry tears. And she also felt frustrated at her powerless existence. She had been alone in the past few years and loneliness had slowly eaten her soul. She cursed at Wei Wuxian and Jiang Fengmian who she held responsible for her situation. She also had a vitriol for her ungrateful and unfilial son and daughter. 

Amongst her screams and shouts, she heard the sounds of fighting. She tried to call her trusty weapon, Zidian, and her hand came out empty. Once again, she faced the ugly truth that her powers had gone and she was vulnerable. That scared her a lot. Soon, she heard voices of people shouting against the cacophony of the battle and understood that Lotus Pier was under attack by the Wen sect. 

Madam Yu waited for her husband and son to come for her, for she thought they still cared about her. There was this inherent belief in her that she would not die because her Fengmian would ultimately save her at all costs. 

She waited and waited. No one came. As the Sun descended in the west, so did her hope. The sounds of fight had dwindled, meaning the battle was already over. 

Suddenly, the door of her room opened from outside. 

“There is someone in the room. Tie her up and bring her to the second mater.” It was a Wen soldier who was looking for the survivors. 

Thus, Yu Ziyuan was tied in ropes like a prisoner that she was and pulled like a cattle to the training grounds. Around her, Lotus Pier was burning and many of the buildings were already in ashes. The bodies of Jiang disciples and other occupants of the Jiang sect laid haphazardly on the grounds. There was no dignity offered to the dead.

The soldier pulling Yu Ziyuan bowed to Wen Chao, “Second master, she was found in a remote place.” 

“Well, do you know who she is?” Wen Chao asked. 

It was Wen Zhuliu, who stood next to Wen Chao answered, “Yu Ziyuan, the sect madam. I heard she was punished for her mistakes.” 

“Ah! Given the location she was found in, I thought she was a concubine of Jiang Fengmian,” Wen Chao sniggered. 

“HOW DARE YOU! I AM A RESPECTABLE SECT MADAM AND A LAWFUL WIFE!” Yu Ziyuan shouted.

“Hey! Talk to the second master with respect.” The soldier holding her scolded Madam Yu.

Wen Chao walked towards her in rage and slapped her. The force of the slap was so hard that it left a cut on her lips, “You have no business raising your voice here. Remember your status. You are just a prisoner and your fate is in my hands.” 

“My husband will save me. My son is a great cultivator. He will kill you.” Yu Ziyuan looked confident.

Wen Chao started laughing and everyone around him did too. Even Wen Zhuliu cracked a smile. 

“Don’t you know? Your husband and son ran away like the cowards that they were at the fight sign of struggle. They left you alone,” Wen Chao said with a relish.

“NO! YOU ARE A LIAR!” Yu Ziyuan screamed in denial. 

“I have no reason to lie.” Wen Chao grinned. He was enjoying tormenting Madam Yu.

Yu Ziyuan fell silent. As unfathomable as this news was, Yu Ziyuan was forced to believe it because she really did not see Fengmian or A-Cheng around for a long time. Desolation filled her heart. She was first forgotten and then abandoned.   

“YOU ARE THE REASON FOR IT! YOU PATHETIC WEN! YOU LOSER!” Yu Ziyuan could not help herself, just like the flame burning extra bright just before its death. All she was left with was her rage.  

Wen Chao was beyond angry at her words. “Burn her!” He ordered his minions.

“NO! I AM THE DAUGHTER OF YU! YOU CANNOT KILL A NOBLE WOMAN LIKE THIS!” Yu Ziyuan kept shouting, but no one bothered. Soon, two Wen soldiers obtained oil from the kitchen and dosed her with it completely. 

Wen Chao personally set the former Madam of the sect on fire.

Yu Ziyuan screamed in agony as fire engulfed her entire body and finally died a horrible death.   

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Wen Chao made sure to spread the tale of how he took over Yunmeng Jiang and the cowardice of its leaders. By the time the Sunshot campaign commenced, everyone knew what Jiang Fengmian had done. As a result, no one joined the Jiang sect as a disciple. By the end of the war, only three people were left in the Jiang sect - Jiang Fengmian, Jiang Cheng, and Jiang Yanli - the same number as the beginning of the war. 

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“How are you feeling, Xichen?” Nie Mingjue asked his friend. 

Lan Xichen did not reply, too deep in his sorrow. 

After Wen Xu took a small army to attack Cloud Recesses, Lan Xichen was only missing and not dead, as everyone had feared. When Nie Mingjue heard of the events, he sent some of his people to look for the first jade. Lan Xichen came to Qinghe after a few days, haggard looking and tired, but alive and well. Before Lan Xichen even recovered from his ordeal, he received a letter from his uncle informing of the demise of Lan Wangji. Nie Mingjue definitely did not read the personal letter, but he knew the gist of it.

Apparently, Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji died saving others. And it was a team of Jiang disciples who recovered Lan Wangji’s body and sent it to Cloud Recesses. 

And now Lan Xichen was back from the funeral. There were dark circles around his eyes, telling a tale of sleepless nights. 

“Xichen, I know nothing I say will help. I have a brother and I can only imagine the grief you must be feeling. All I can say is we cannot let this incident go unacknowledged. We have to make the Wen sect pay for their actions.” Nie Mingjue said to his friend. 

“Mingjue, I know and I agree. But, the Wen sect is huge. Only Nie and Lan sects is not sufficient. We need more people.” Lan Xichen replied. There was a determination in his eyes which was present a few days back.     

“It was before. Now things have changed. I got the news that Lotus Pier was attacked some time back and the survivors are on their way to Qinghe. This unexpected massacre of the Jiang sect, right after the incident at Muxi mountain, has lit a fire across the cultivation world and now I know for sure that many sects want to fight against Wen Ruohan.” Nie Mingjue replied. 

“What about the Jins?” Lan Xichen asked.

“Ha! That Jin Guangshan is a coward of first class, I suspect he is in alliance with Wen Ruohan. I do not think he will join our cause. But, his son, Jin Zixuan wrote to Nie Huaisang two days ago. He is willing to fight and is coming here with a small army.” Nie Mingjue replied. 

“Oh! That is good, I suppose.” Lan Xichen was pleasantly surprised. He did not think Jin Zixuan was honourable this way.   

“Finally we can declare war against the Wens,” Nie Mingjue exclaimed in delight. Finally, he could get revenge for his father , he thought. It was a pity that Lan Wangji was dead. He would have become a capable warrior in no time. And Nie Mingjue had heard that Wei Wuxian was a skilled cultivator too. Nie Mingjue was regretful that two promising young men died so early. He knew they would have become an asset to the army. 

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The arrival of the Jiang sect coincided with the rumours flying around about the horrible deeds of their sect leader, Jiang Fengmian, while his sect was under attack. Lan Xichen and Nie Mingjue did not know what to make of this and decided to wait until they met the Jiang disciples to get a clear picture. 

When they saw the size of the Jiang delegation, they did not have to ask anything at all. It was clear as water that the rumours were in fact true. It was only Jiang Fengmian and Jiang Wanyin. Not a single Jiang disciple was alive. 

Still, Nie Mingjue could not ignore the sect leader and his son, and offered two rooms for the guests. Jiang Fengmian was also included in the war council, hoping that his experience would help.  

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Only after a few days, the opinion of the people regarding Jiang Wanyin went south. It started with the room allocated to them. Jiang Wanyin had a fit about the size of the room. He had problems with everything - the bed was not firm, the sheets were not soft, the food was not up to the mark, and so on. The Nie servants did try to appease him to the best of their abilities. Even Jiang Fengmian requested his son to control his temper as they were staying in someone else’s house. But, Jiang Wanyin did not change his ways. 

In the end servants despised him and were perfunctory in serving him - what was the point if he screamed at them even when they did a good job. And cultivators from other sects refused to deal with him too. They only communicated when necessary and that too, related to war efforts. Jiang Wanyin had no friends in the cultivation world.

Seeing his son being marginalized, Jiang Fengmian was helpless. For the umpteenth time, he cursed Wei Wuxian in his head. If he were alive, this would not have happened and he would have acted as a shield and dealt with the public relationships on Jiang Cheng’s behalf. But, now there was no other option. Jiang Fengmian could not play the role as he was busy helping Nie Mingjue. And the Jiang disciples were no more. 

And because of this, Jiang Fengmian asked his daughter to stay at Mieshan Yu for the duration of the war. He knew his son did not like Yanli and would not take care of her if she came to Qinghe. And he was busy anyway. It was better for her to stay there, away from all of this. 

Thus, unlike previous life, this time around Jiang Yanli had no way to prepare her soups and win the heart of Jin Zixuan. Perhaps, even if she were here and made soups for him with love, he would have not liked her. Because they were still engaged and that was something Jin Zixuan could not look past.

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A couple of months later, various sects sent their leaders and representatives to Qinghe for a war meeting. They were all dedicated to the cause of defeating their common enemy Wen Ruohan and signed a treaty of cooperation and friendship. They vowed to be allies in war and beyond. 

The Sunshot campaign had officially begun.

Chapter Text

The first order of business once the war started was to retrieve the spiritual swords Wen Chao had forcefully taken from the disciples who attended the indoctrination camp. 

Nie Mingjue himself led the team to collect the swords and personally sent them to their owners. Lan Wangji’s sword, Bichen, was given to Lan Xichen. The first jade of Lan did not check the sword properly, what with a new wave of grief clouding his mind. He simply sent it back to Cloud Recesses to be stored at Jingshi as a memorial. And Jiang Fengmian also did not bother to look at Subian at all. He just threw it in Wei Wuxian’s room and forgot about it. 

Because of this, no one realized that both Bichen and Subian were fake. 

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A few months into the war, there was good news that boosted the morale of the alliance. Until then the Sunshot campaign had not been going so well. 

Initially, everyone was enthusiastic. The cultivators boasted one after another on how they would kill all the Wen soldiers, how they would march right into the Nightless city and conquer it, how they would be the one to kill Wen Ruohan, and so on. They talked as if the war would be over within a couple of months and they would go right back to their homes and their life. 

The reality was completely different. There was no glory they had imagined. They soon realized war was nothing to be celebrated about. Everyday routine - of getting up, going to battles, and coming back to tend to their injuries - had started to become weary.   

That is why, when Nie Mingjue killed Wen Xu, the first master of Wen, everyone cheered and clapped. Next it was Lan Xichen’s turn who killed Wen Chao. Of course, before he could touch him, Wen Zhuliu needed to be dealt with. Nie Mingjue and Lan Xichen worked perfectly together to kill him too. Three prominent deaths close to each other sent shockwaves across the world. Suddenly, the alliance was invigorated. They fought with a new found energy. 

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Jiang Cheng was not happy. The abysmal state of the tents and food aside, the war itself was not pleasant. A small part of his unhappiness also came from the fact that he had to look after himself like all the other cultivators. There were very few servants at the camp and all of them served their own masters. Jiang servants had run away during the fall of Lotus Pier and Jiang Cheng had no money or reputation to hire new ones. No one wanted to work for the Jiangs, especially Jiang Wanyin. 

However, the horrible part of it all was Jiang Cheng could feel his core diminishing and that was the main cause of his discomfort. It was always his anger that fueled his fight, and after every battle, a small part of his core drained away. He did not understand that it was the rage that affected him rather than the fight itself. If he had, then, he would have probably made sure to calm his mind down. Instead, not only was he fighting in anger, he also spent the rest of his time enraged as well. His frustration towards losing his power fueled his rage which in turn made sure he lost his core at a faster rate. 

The cycle continued throughout the war and by the time it ended, his core had completely melted away and he had become a powerless, common person. 

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

“Xichen, are you alright? Was yesterday’s battle too much for you?” Nie Mingjue was concerned for his friend. 

Lan Xichen was looking haggard day by day and he smiled less and less as the war went on. At first Nie Mingjue thought it was because he lost his brother, Lan Wangji. And then the war affected all of them. Nie Mingjue felt it was only natural that Xichen would be affected too, no matter how much of a cheerful person he was. War was not like night hunts where you kill monsters to protect people. No. Everyday, they would kill their fellow humans and this was bound to leave a mark on their souls. 

Nie Mingjue remembered the initial month of the Sunshot campaign and how the cultivator looked sad all the time. After a while, most of them had accepted the reality of the war and had started to find humour and happiness in the middle of it all, just to keep themselves sane. Only Jiang Wanyin and Lan Xichen looked worse with time. Nie Mingjue was not concerned about the Jiang brat as he never liked him. He was worried that something was happening with his friend. There was another issue that bothered Nie Mingjue. Lan Xichen was arguably one of the best cultivators they had and was one of the leaders people would follow unquestionably. The most valuable asset in the war not being in the best possible state would not be good for their cause.   

When Lan Xichen did not answer, Nie Mingjue asked again, “Xichen, you can share whatever is on your mind.” 

Lan Xichen took a deep breath and said, “I am having frequent nightmares.” 

Nightmares were not uncommon given what they faced everyday. But, it should not affect a strong cultivator like Lan Xichen this much. Still, Nie Mingjue had to get to the bottom of this.

“What kind of nightmares?” The Nie sect leader asked gently. 

“Every time, I hear the cry of a small child. Sometimes, that is all. But, my worst nightmares have this child accusing me of murdering him. He calls me unkind, unjust, unrighteous, and unfit to be a Lan.” The first jade sighed in sorrow. It was clear that these dreams were affecting him a lot.

“Do you know who this child is?” Nie Mingjue asked.

“No. All I can see is the white and red robes.” 

“Perhaps a Wen child.”  Nie Mingjue mused.

“Mingjue, do you think this is a premonition? Am I so morally depraved that I would kill a child?” Lan Xichen asked desperately.

“No, you are not, Xichen,” Nie Mingjue replied, “However, Wens are our enemies and we should kill till the end. Total annihilation of the Wen sect should be our goal,” there was a mad glint in Nie Mingjue’s eyes. 

Lan Xichen looked horrified, “But to kill children…” 

“SO WHAT! We must eradicate Wen blood completely.” Nie Mingjue patted Lan Xichen on the shoulder, “and that is why, you must not let this affect you. You should be happy instead. If your dreams are showing the future, then you must agree that this is a good sign. It means we have won and the Wen sect is no more.” 

The future Nie Mingjue hoped for did not come to pass. Lan Xichen continued to have these dreams that affected his performance in the battlefield. In the end, these nightmares broke him down and he went into seclusion immediately after the Sunshot campaign was over.  Just like his father, he spent his entire life alone and miserable. He never came out of isolation and died after a couple of decades. 

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Nie Mingjue had a headache. The meeting room was filled with chaos as cultivators shouted and talked over each other in a bid to make themselves heard. 

The reason was this - there was a secret report that Jin Guangshan had made a formal pact with Wen Ruohan and had officially become his ally. He recalled his son, Jin Zixuan, and his followers from the battlefield. And there was also a never ending Wen army waiting to fight. 

It was over a year into the Sunshot campaign. After the initial success and minor victories here and there, there was not much progress. Although the alliance was composed of many skilled cultivators, the Wen sect was winning just by their sheer size. No matter how many enemies Nie Mingjue and his army killed, there was always another batch ready. Wen Ruohan had an endless supply of Wen cultivators and for many months now they were on the losing side. Now people were worried and terrified. 

“SILENCE!” Nie Mingjue bellowed, unable to control himself. The sudden silence that followed was foreboding. 

“Sect leader Nie, what should we do? We will be defeated within a few months at this rate and Wen Ruohan will kill all of us in revenge,” a sect leader asked helplessly and the rest of the cultivators looked at Nie Mingjue in despair too.  It was clear where they stood at present. And as far as their future was concerned, they did not believe they had one.

Nie Mingjue had no answer. He was feeling frustrated as well. Let alone taking revenge for his father’s death, he was not sure he could save his own life. 

Unexpectedly, it was Lan Xichen who had a solution. 

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“How much do you trust this spy of yours, Xichen?” Nie Mingjue asked. When Lan Xichen said he had an idea, this was not what he was expecting. 

No doubt, Lan Xichen’s mysterious spy had given some good intel and on several occasions, good advice too, resulting in a few victories for the alliance. In spite of this, Nie Mingjue was still skeptical because Lan Xichen refused to say who the spy was, no matter how much he put pressure on the first jade. 

And now, Lan Xichen had produced a plan claiming to be from this spy and Nie Mingjue was not convinced. 

According to this person, the best way to end the war is to kill the leader. And he suggested that a few cultivators including Nie Mingjue and Lan Xichen to sneak into Wen Ruohan’s throne room and assassinate him. The plan included a detailed map to a secret tunnel that led straight to Wen Ruohan himself and the time when the Wen sect leader would be present in the room. That itself was significant. To get such sensitive information, the spy had to be close to the Wen sect leader himself. No doubt he must have carried out many evil acts in order to gain the trust of Wen Ruohan. Nie Mingjue did not trust the man, not completely. He only held back because Lan Xichen seemed to believe in this man, solely on the account that he had saved the first jade just after the attack on Cloud Recesses. 

“Mingjue, I know you do not trust this man. But I do, wholeheartedly. He is a kind person and suffered a lot in life. And moreover, he saved my life and looked after me when I was most vulnerable. At least trust my judgement. This is the only option we have. Otherwise, we will lose the war.” Lan Xichen insisted. 

A few of the cultivators, who were in awe of the first jade of Lan, support him. And it did not take much time for the rest of them to agree. What else could they do, anyway? They were already losing and if this effort could turn things around, then it would be for the better. 

Nie Mingjue was forced to agree. Lan Xichen made sure they followed the plan without any divergence. Within a week, Nie Mingjue, Lan Xichen, and a few other skilled cultivators travelled to Nightless city and entered the secret passage, with a purpose of ending the war for once and for all. 

War did end after this expedition. Only, it did not go as they had intended. 

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Meng Yao was on the verge of a decision that would change his life forever. 

Ever since he was beginning to understand the world, his sole ambition was to become powerful, to rise above the filth he was born in. And his mother only fueled his dreams by feeding the glory of his father and what his backing would bring to him. So, as far as he remembered, he wanted to be recognized and acknowledged by his father, Jin Guangshan. On the day he was thrown down the stairs of Koi tower, the dreams had become real ambitions. And he is ready to do anything to achieve his goals. It did not matter how many people he had to kill - directly or indirectly. They were all just the steps that led to the higher planes. And the Sunshot campaign did not matter to him at all, that is, beyond what it could offer to him to further his agendas. 

He saved Lan Xichen in a calculated move. He was the additional support he had designed. He knew his father would not only survive the war, he would even thrive. All Meng Yao had to do was to become an important member in the Sunshot campaign and Jin Guangshan would not be able to ignore him. He would maintain the friendship with Lan Xichen so that the first jade would offer necessary support and credibility to his new status as the son of Jin sect leader. Thus, he was playing with both sides in this war, being a spy for both parties. 

After a few months it was clear the alliance was losing. And it seemed that Lan Xichen would not be of much help to Meng Yao post war. That was the reason for his confusion. Lan Xichen was a carefully built pawn. He had too much respectability being the sect leader of the Lan clan - just the person to cling to if one wanted to wash the stigma of being the son of a prostitute. After so much work, Meng Yao did not want to let go of Lan Xichen and he was still hesitating to fully commit to Wen Ruohan.

However, his decision was made on its own, when one fine day, Jin Zixun, a cousin of his, came to Wen Ruohan with a letter of surrender. Jin Guangshan agreed to ally with Wen Ruohan on the condition that the Jin sect would be left alone during and after the war. In return, the Jin sect leader would send his troops and wealth in aid of the Wen sect. Meng Yao was there when a treaty was signed. But this was not the reason for Meng Yao’s change in mind. No. It was what happened after. 

Wen Ruohan was chuckling to himself that evening. And Meng Yao, in a rare fit of bravery, had asked him about it. Lucky for him that Wen Ruohan was in a good mood. He readily answered his question, “Your father just surrendered to me while your brother is still fighting with the alliance. No matter. I have already asked Jin Guangshan to punish his son and I am looking forward to this. If he does not give me a satisfactory result, then our alliance is over.” Wen Ruohan smiled darkly. 

This was it, Meng Yao thought. It was an opportunity to stop Jin Zixuan from being an obstacle. Then later, when Meng Yao sent a detailed plan to lure Nie Mingjue and Lan Xichen to the throne room, he had already made up his mind. 

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Nie Mingjue growled as he was forced to kneel. He looked around to see all his companions were in the same state as him. He looked at Lan Xichen who was next to him, “Xichen, explain to me. You said this room would be empty at this time and we only had to wait for Wen Ruohan to enter inside to kill him. Where did these Wen cultivators come from and why are we being arrested?” He hissed at his friend. 

Lan Xichen frowned his brows, “Mingjue, I am sure there is a reason. I trust him completely.” 

“I did not know you were this naive, Xichen.” Nie Mingjue scoffed at him and did not talk to him after that, no matter how much Lan Xichen tried to assert his spy’s goodwill. 

After an hour, the spy - Meng Yao, came inside with a gentle smile. He would have looked harmless and kind, if not for cunning in his eyes. 

“YOU!” Nie Mingjue shouted in shock. He turned to look at his friend in disbelief, “So, this is your spy?”

“Yes, Mingjue. I am sure A-Yao has answers.” Lan Xichen looked at Meng Yao benevolently. 

“Xichen, if only you confided his name to me, I would have told you that this vermin is a traitor. I sent him away from the Nie sect for betraying me.” Nie Mingjue said angrily. 

Meng Yao looked on with a smile as two friends argued. 

“Mingjue, I am sure he has his reasons. He saved my life. How can I not believe him?” Lan Xichen replied.  

Before Nie Mingjue could reply, Meng Yao ordered the Wen cultivators in the room, “Kill everyone but Zewu-Jun.” 

All the Nie and Lan cultivators who came with their leaders, including the Nie sect leader, were killed in an instant. Lan Xichen looked horrified as the head of Nie Mingjue rolled in front of him. He backed away as the head came close to his body.

“A-Yao, you…how…” Lan Xichen tried to speak, but the words simply did not come out of his mouth. He was too shocked.

Meng Yao bowed to Lan Xichen politely, “Zewu-Jun, I was forced. Please say you understand me. Please I beg of you. It was my father who made me do this. I had not no choice.” 

“No…no…” Lan Xichen shook his head in denial.

“It would have been unfilial of me had I refused his orders. I hope you will forgive me. I know you are a kind man.” Meng Yao continued as if he did not see Lan Xichen’s plight, “Everyone scorned me because of my mother. Zewu-Jun, you are the first jade of Lan. You will never understand how I have lived till now.” 

“A-Yao, please…” Lan Xichen whispered. 

“I begged to spare your life. That has to count for something, right? You are the only one who treated me with kindness. Please, I hope you are good to me in future as well. I really have no choice...please forgive me…” Meng Yao took out his sword hidden around his waist, “please…I cannot let others do this…they might kill you by mistake…even if Wen Ruohan had spared your life at my request. Zewu-Jun, it will be over in a minute…” 

What Meng Yao did not say was that he had already made up his mind to kill Lan Xichen too, along with Nie Mingjue. However, there was a voice in his head that urged him to cripple him instead. The intensity of the voice had only increased when he had ignored it at first. The noise in his head went away when he decided not to kill Lan Xichen. 

“NO!” Lan Xichen screamed as Meng Yao cut his right hand off at his wrist.   

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The Sunshot campaign came to an end with the death of Nie Mingjue - much earlier than the previous timeline. The alliance had lost a lot of cultivators and the remaining few were already demotivated. 

They held an emergency meeting. 

“Lan Qiren, how is Zewu-Jun?” A sect leader asked. 

In the absence of Lan Xichen, Lan Qiren was once again the acting sect leader. 

“He is still recovering. There is a long way to go.” Lan Qiren replied sadly. First it was the death of Lan Wangji and now Lan Xichen was incapacitated with a severe injury. All of it was a huge shock to him.

“Is there any way he will be back to leading the campaign?” Another sect leader asked.

“No, I am afraid. His sword hand is cut off completely. Even if he recovers, he will never be able to fight again.” What Lan Qiren did not say was - after the betrayal of Meng Yao and losing his sword hand, Lan Xichen had lost all his will. His mental state was unstable.  

“We have lost Chifeng-Jun and Zewu-Jun is not available. Who will lead us next?” Someone asked.

“We have lost many of the capable cultivators who had the potential to become the leader of this campaign. I am afraid there is no one.” Lan Qiren replied. 

“Let’s just face it. We have already lost. Nothing we can do to change the situation. It is better to surrender now. At least our lives will be spared.” A cultivator suggested. It was met with unanimous agreement. It was a foregone conclusion that with the elimination of their leaders and not finding a replacement worthy of Nie Mingjue, they would simply give up. 

Next day, Lan Qiren sent an official surrender letter to Wen Ruohan and pleaded to be allowed to live and keep their sects. Wen Ruohan accepted and called for a parley meeting at Nightless city a week later. He even invited Jin Guangshan. 

The sects from the alliance side who had lost their leaders in the war had to re-appoint a new one in a hurry. Nie Huaisang took over the position after the death of Nie Mingjue. Lan Qiren continued to be the acting sect leader. Only now he was representing his nephew instead of his brother. Similarly, all the remaining sects prepared for the meeting and they knew it was going to be unpleasant. 

Chapter Text

It was the day after he sent the letter of surrender to Wen Ruohan when Lan Qiren received a letter from the head of the Lan healers who attended to Lan Xichen. He went back to Cloud Recesses immediately.

“What happened? How is Xichen?” Lan Qiren asked Lan Yu, the head of all the healers at Gusu. 

“Xichen is recovering physically. Except for his missing hand, there are no lasting injuries and should be back to being healthy in a couple of months.” Lan Yu paused, not sure how to continue.

“Please tell me as it is. I am sure you had a reason to send a letter to me.” Lan Qiren asked. He looked tense. 

“We are worried about the mental state of your nephew. You already know he had become unstable and fragile. The problem is, he is not improving at all, but regressing. Initially, he would talk to us, at least a few words. Now he is silent all the time. We thought you could try to communicate with him. As a family member, he might respond to you.” Lan Yu replied. 

“Of course. When can I meet him?” Lan Qiren asked. 

“Right away. Let us not delay.” Lan Yu took him to a private room within the infirmary where Lan Xichen was kept.

Once outside the room, Lan Yu said, “I will leave it to you.” and left to give both uncle and nephew some privacy.

Lan Qiren entered the room to see Lan Xichen lost in thoughts. 

“Xichen, excessive grief is not allowed. By doing this, not only are you harming yourself, you are also breaking our rules.” Lan Qiren berated. He already knew the whole story of Meng Yao and knew the reason for Lan Xichen's sorrow. However, it had gone on for many days now and it was time to put an end to it.  

Lan Xichen closed his eyes and tears dripped down his cheeks, “Uncle, I am trying.” 

“Apparently, not enough. Yes, it stupid of you to believe Meng Yao. But, what is done is done. There is no need to dwell on it.” Lan Qiren said.

“I know, uncle. I will get better. Please believe me.” Even though Lan Xichen assured his uncle, he knew deep down he would never recover from this. He trusted the wrong person and lost his hand as a result. He would never be able to fight with swords again. But this was not all. His decision to support Meng Yao also led to the death of his friend, Nie Mingjue. And he single handedly ended the war, with the alliance on the losing end - he already knew about the surrender letter. He would have to carry this burden for the rest of his life. Not only that. The nightmares of a child continued to plague him. They never stopped and he was getting affected more and more. No. Lan Xichen did not think he would ever come out of the horrible mental state he was in currently. 

Even if he explained all of this, his uncle would not understand. Lan Qiren would throw a bunch of rules at him and order him to get better. Lan Xichen was alone in this agony. 

“Uncle, I want to stay in seclusion after I recover from my injuries. Healers say I will be able to come out of the infirmary in two months.” Lan Xichen requested. 

Lan Qiren thought for a while and decided it was the best. “Yes, of course. A few months of seclusion would be good for you. Just do as you wish and come back with a firm mind.” Lan Qiren agreed. 

“Yes, uncle. Till then, please take care of the sect.” Lan Xichen requested.

“Yes, Xichen. Do not worry about the sect for now.” Lan Qiren replied and left the infirmary. He had many things to do as the Lan representative, now that the alliance has sent a letter to Wen Ruohan asking for mercy. 

What Lan Xichen did not say was that he would never come back from the seclusion and spend the rest of his life alone. Lan Qiren would continue to look after the sect until the next leader was selected, Lan Jingyi.  

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When the war was over, Jiang Cheng was angry. He had yet to take revenge on the Wens for the attack on the Lotus Pier and they had already given up. He had shouted at the failure of the alliance and especially, Nie Mingjue for dying so early. 

“WHY COULDN'T HE DIE AFTER WE WIN THE WAR! NOW WE ARE DISGRACED!” Jiang Cheng shouted from inside the tent for all of them to hear. People outside who heard his words felt it was in poor taste. Nie Mingjue had just died a couple of days ago, and Jiang Wanyin was cursing the dead. Naturally, they were angry on behalf of their fallen leader. It was especially true for the Nie cultivators. They swarmed into his tent and attacked him. 

Jiang Cheng had to fight off more than ten Nie cultivators alone and he lost within a few seconds. After taking their anger out on Jiang Wanyin, the Nie cultivators left him to his injuries and did not bother to call any healer. 

It was Jiang Fengmian who came running to his son when he heard of the incident and with him came a Lan healer. After she bandaged all the injuries, she tried to send some qi for faster healing. Nothing happened. 

“What!” The Lan healer exclaimed and took hold of Jiang Wanyin’s wrist to check his meridians. 

“What happened? Is my son okay?” Jiang Fengmian asked worriedly.  

Lan healer took a deep breath and replied, “Jiang Fengmian, you better be prepared. It is a shock to me as well. I have not seen anything like this before.” 

“Please, tell me truthfully.” Jiang Fengmian prepared himself for the bad news and nothing had prepared him for what the Lan healer had to say. It was like a bolt from the blue.

“Your son’s core is dead. The meridians are fine and the core is intact too. However, it does not have any life. It cannot hold any qi. For all intent and purposes, he has become a common person,” Lan Healer looked at Jiang Fengmian with some sympathy. 

“I-is t-t-there a cure?” Jiang Fengmian asked hesitantly. 

“No, I am afraid. As I said before, this is something completely new. Probably the only person who can cure him is Wen Qing, the best healer of our generation.” The Lan healer answered, “She is the foremost expert on everything related to golden cores.”  The healer knew it was impossible for Wen Qing to treat Jiang Wanyin. 

Before Jiang Fengmian could reply, Jiang Cheng shouted at the Lan healer, “GET LOST! WE DO NOT NEED YOU HERE!”  He was awake for the entire conversation. 

Lan healer got angry and left with a huff.

“YOU TOO, FATHER! You are such a failure. You cannot even cure your son.” Jiang Cheng screamed at Jiang Fengmian. Nothing he said calmed his son down. 

Jiang Fengmian left his son’s tent in despair, feeling very much the failure his son found him to be. 

His son’s condition weighed on Jiang Fengmian’s mind for the next couple of days. In the end he decided to seek external aid and hoped that he would be able to save his son and his sect in the aftermath of the Sunshot campaign. 

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Just before the meeting at nightless city, there was another at Koi tower which went unnoticed by all. Jiang Fengmian went to Jin Guangshan to talk about the marriage between Jiang Yanli and Jin Zixuan. It was Jiang Fengmian’s last effort to save his sect and his heritage with the help of the Jin sect.

Over the course of the war, Jiang Fengmian had failed to recruit even a single disciple into the Jiang sect. His reputation as a deserter had spread far and wide. No one wanted to work under a leader who would leave them in danger and escape himself. He only hoped that his son’s condition was not known to others. This way, he would have a few years to select a new heir.  

“Fengmian, what do I owe the pleasure of your company?” Jin Guangshan asked. He had a teasing smile on his face, as if he was toying with the prey. 

Jiang Fengmian cleared his throat, “Well, Guangshan, this is about the engagement between our children….” 

Jin Guangshan cut in, “Ah! I had forgotten about that entirely. Good that you reminded me of it.” 

“Yes. That is to say, when can we plan for the wedding, now that the war is over.” Jiang Fengmian replied. He almost looked begging with his bent posture.

“Wedding? Why do you think I would want my son to marry the daughter of a defeated sect leader?”  Jin Guangshan looked surprised. 

“But, there was an agreement.” It was Jiang Fengmian’s turn to be surprised.

“It was only a verbal agreement between my wife and yours, Fengmian. There was no formal betrothal." Jin Guangshan snapped.  

“You cannot go back on your word.” Jiang Fengmian was desperate. 

“Even if there was a written engagement decree, I would have broken it. Why would I force my son to marry someone he dislikes, especially when she brings nothing to marriage?”

“She still has Yunmeng Jiang.” Jiang Fengmian insisted. 

“Not anymore. Come back to reality, Fengmian. The war is over and you are on the losing side. Everything belongs to Wen Ruohan now. Do you think he will give back Yunmeng Jiang to a worthless father and a worthless son? How can a sect be run with an incompetent leader and a coreless son?” Jin Guangshan taunted. 

Jiang Fengmian gasped in shock.

“Did you think your son losing his core is a secret? The whole world knows by now. His tent was not secluded nor were silencing talismans placed. Naturally, many people heard what happened that day. And it does not take much for the gossip to spread.” Jin Guangshan added.

“Think about your reputation. You will be breaking your promise.” Jiang Fengmian said anxiously. 

“Threatening will not work, Fengmian. You see, I do not care about my reputation. Do you think I do not know what people say about me behind my back? They would not dare to say that to my face. In front of me, they have to be respectful. That is the power I hold. Be gone. This meeting is over. The engagement is over.” Jin Guangshan asked his servants to throw Jiang Fengmian out of Koi tower.   

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As predicted, the meeting at Nightless city was horrible. The fallen sects were treated with disrespect and they had to swallow all the humiliation if they wanted to keep their lives. They were made to wait for hours in a huge meeting hall before Wen Ruohan graced them all with his presence. Following him was Meng Yao, holding a few scrolls. 

“My deputy will read out the condition of your surrender. There is no need for discussion. I am just informing you of the terms and you better follow them properly. Otherwise, the Wen sect is ready to fight with all you until there is no sect left,” Wen Ruohan grinned evilly.

Everyone was too scared to react. 

Meng Yao opened the scroll and started reading - 

“Terms and conditions to end the war:

1. All surviving sects have to become the subordinate of the Wen sect and will be under the ruling of the great leader, Wen Ruohan.
2. Sects with a population less than ten surviving cultivators will cease to exist and the land belonging to those sects will automatically come under the jurisdiction of Wen sect. 
3. All the remaining sects can function on their own. However, there are a few conditions which they have to follow in order to maintain their own autonomy and legacy:
1. As a one time payment, they have to give up half of their land and wealth to the Wen sect. 
2. The total number of disciples and cultivators in each sect should not exceed a certain number, which will be decided in the following days.
3. The sects have to pay yearly tax to the Wen sect, the amount will be decided in the following days. 
4. The sects have to send twenty percent of their senior disciples each to Nightless city for an indoctrination camp held every year. They have to stay here, at the Wen sect, for one year. After that those disciples can be replaced with a new batch. 
5. The sects have to host a few senior Wen cultivators permanently who will oversee the running of the sects. 
4. All the cultivators must read and memorize the “Quintessence of the Wen sect”, and follow the rules written in it diligently. Breaking those rules will be a punishable offense. 
5. The Jin sect was wise enough to choose the right side early in the war. As a reward, they do not have to send their disciples for the indoctrination camps. However, they have to surrender half of their lands to the Wen sect and they are also required to pay yearly taxes.   
6. Failing to follow any of these conditions, the entire sect will be mercilessly killed.

All the sect leaders are requested to provide signatures for the peace treaty."

No one dared to disagree and silently signed the contract. 

Next was the rewards given by Wen Ruohan to his generals and soldiers of the war. 

Meng Yao took another list and read out the rewards. According to that, there were five minor sects which had less than ten cultivators alive and these sects were given to five Wen leaders of the war who had provided considerable contribution. The next was Yunmeng Jiang which was famous for valuable lands and lakes. The entire Yunmeng region was divided into six different territories and they were all given to Wen Ruohan’s favourite generals. With this, the famous Jiang sect was erased from history. 

Perhaps the most shocking thing of the day was Wen Ruohan declaring himself the Chief Cultivator, ruling over the entire world. 

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At first Jiang Fengmian did not know what to do. He had lost everything. His wife was dead. His son was useless. His daughter was not valuable. And the sect was lost under his rule. He did not know how to face his ancestors. He felt like an utter failure of a man. 

After the disastrous meeting at Nightless city, there was no more Yunmeng Jiang. Obviously, the three Jiangs could not go back to Lotus Pier. The Jin sect had abandoned them. The only sect he could take asylum from was Meishan Yu. Surely, they would help as A-Cheng and A-Li have the Yu blood as well. 

His calculation was right. Meishan Yu did allow Jiang Fengmian, Jiang Cheng, and Jiang Yanli to stay inside the sect lands. However, they were not treated all that well. A small house with a couple of acres of paddy field was allocated to the family of three. Jiang Fengmian was forced to work for a living. Even Jiang Cheng had to toil in the fields while Jiang Yanli took care of the house. 

Along with taking care of the estate, Jiang Fengmian also looked for many healers to help his son. The sect leader of Meishan Yu also helped him in this regard. If Jiang Cheng recovers his core, then that would be adding another cultivator in the Yu clan, and Jiang Cheng was family, in any case. None of the healers had any idea how to cure the issue. Most of them did not even realize how Jiang Cheng lost his core, let alone finding the solution. Some were just charlatans who collected money from Jiang Fengmian and gave false prescriptions, which tasted horrible and the only thing they helped with was to turn Jiang Cheng’s temper to worse.   

After two years, a disillusioned Jiang Fengmian stopped his efforts to cure his son and started to look down on him instead. He lost all his liveliness and became a shell of a man. He would often scold Jiang Cheng for losing his core and bringing him shame. He did not scold Jiang Yanli, however his attitude was rather cold towards her. He secretly blamed her for not winning the heart of Jin Zixuan and thus losing out on a great marriage deal. If only she was able to marry Jin Zixuan, their life would have been much better, even after the Jiang sect was abolished. Jiang Fengmian led a bitter life till the end. 

Jiang Cheng hated his life. He just wanted to die rather than live a coreless existence, but every time, his father forced him to live. Jiang Cheng was needed to work in the field, his father said, without which they would not have food to eat. Jiang Cheng would often burst into shouting matches with his father, but he could not win against Jiang Fengmian. He did not have a core while his father did. Jiang Cheng always hated the lower class of society. Perhaps the biggest punishment for him was the fact that he was reduced to the very class he hated. From being a nobleman, he had become a peasant, and that was the biggest source of his turmoil. He led a miserable life till the day he died. 

Jiang Yanli was the most adjusted out of the three. However, she was always sad because her love for Jin Zixuan was not reciprocated and she never even got married to him. But, she did find peace with the small life she got to build. She was content with looking after their house. After a few years, she got married to a local farmer and led a normal life. When she died, she left behind several children and grandchildren.     

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Meng Yao was ecstatic that all his dreams were coming true. After the treaty conference, Wen Ruohan had called Jin Guangshan for a private meeting. Meng Yao did not know what they talked about. However, the first thing Jin Guangshan did was to remove Jin Zixuan from the position of heir. Meng Yao knew Wen Ruohan was unhappy with Jin Zixuan and he had an inkling that he would be punished for it. He was waiting for it, in fact. And he proved to be right.  

Soon after Jin Zixuan was removed from the position, Jin Guangshan had taken Meng Yao into the Jin sect with a proper ceremony. After all, Meng Yao was a war hero and was trusted by Wen Ruohan. In order to curry favour with Wen Ruohan, Jin sect leader would of course take care of Meng Yao. But, he did something no one had anticipated. Jin Guangshan gave Meng Yao a new name - Jin Ziyao, and made him the new heir of the sect. 

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A year after Meng Yao was named Jin Ziyao, he had cultivated a few spies in order to collect information from within the Jin sect. One day, just after dinner, one of the spies came with the news that Jin Guangshan was considering Qin Su, the daughter of the Qin sect leader as the bride for Jin Zixuan. Jin Ziyao already knew his father canceled the engagement between Jin Zixuan and Jiang Yanli and he also knew that he was looking for a marriage alliance for both his sons. 

“What about me?” Jin Ziyao asked. 

“He was considering the daughter of the Li family, Li Hua for you.” The spy told him. Jin Ziyao thanked the spy and sent him away. Once the spy went out, he showed his anger openly.

Qin Su had a prominent father, while Li family was a small cultivator family and marriage to Li Hua would not help in any way. He was not sure if this was what his father personally wanted, or that no one wanted to marry their daughters to a son of a prostitute. But no matter what, Jin Ziyao decided to marry Qin Su who will bring in a lot of benefits and let Jin Zixuan marry Li Hua. At present, Jin Guangshan was only considering marriage alliances and had not yet talked to the other parties. There was still some time, as for the next two months, Jin Guangshan would be busy with the discussion conference at Nightless city and an yearly expedition to sleep with beauties of different regions. 

Jin Ziyao implemented the plan the very next day. First, he planned an accidental encounter with Qin Su where he saved her from a thief - which was also planned. And then he proceeded to seduce her. Only when he was sure she was pregnant with his child, did he go to his father and confessed everything. 

“Father, I love Qin Su and now she is carrying my child, I can only do the responsible thing and marry her. Please help me father,” Jin Ziyao said to his father as soon as he came back to Koi tower. Jin Guangshan had no way to refuse this because that would mean offending the Qin sect. 

Even though the Qin sect leader did not want his daughter to marry Jin Ziyao because of his origin, his daughter was already pregnant and it was already a done deal. Thus, the marriage date was fixed and the preparations were undertaken in a hurry. 

After Jin Ziyao’s marriage was settled, he instigated a deputy of Jin Guangshan to suggest Li Hua for Jin Zixuan and being too lazy to care, Jin sect leader agreed. The Li family was his choice anyway for one of his sons and it did not matter who married her. 

Everything was going well and Jin Ziyao was happy. But his happiness did not last long. Just two days before his wedding, Qin Su’s mother met him secretly and shared her secret - that Qin Su was his half-sister, they shared the blood of their father. It was truly shocking and at first, Jin Ziyao did not know what to do. After thinking for a day, he continued with the wedding anyway. Nothing would stand in the way of his ambition. 

The wedding of Jin Ziyao took place on the date it was decided and Qin Su seemed to not know her story. Jin Ziyao made sure she never talked to her mother alone and there was always someone keeping an eye on mother and daughter. 

Two months later, Jin Zixuan married Li Hua. 

Their sons were born next year, one after the other. 

Chapter Text

Ten years later

Although the surviving sects functioned on their own, the economy never recovered completely after the war. The money they had already spent for the war was huge. After the war they had to give up half of their lands and resources. Then they had to pay yearly taxes. On top of that, there was a limitation on the number of disciples they could have at any given point of time, thus reducing the income they would earn through their services outside. Even the Lan sect had to reduce their expenses and tighten their budget to function properly. Only the Nie sect seemed to do slightly better under the leadership of Nie Huaisang, but not by a large margin. The Jin sect suffered through financial loss as Wen Ruohan collected more than half of their income as taxes every year. With their crippling economy, any thoughts of rebellion were nipped in the bud.  

It was not just the economy that suffered. Even the cultivators from the various sects could not escape the harassment of the Wen disciples. Whenever they encountered the Wen cultivators - during night hunts, during social engagements and so on -  they would be forced to endure taunts and jeers from the winning sect, sometimes even resulting in a physical fight. However, with Wen Ruohan being the chief cultivator, no Wen disciple was ever punished. 

The discussion conferences were turned into humiliating sessions for these sects, often faced with embarrassing situations and power displays from the Wen sect leader. 

The disciples sent to the indoctrination camp had the worst experience. They would be beaten, starved, and often used as bait during night hunts - all in the name of a loving memory of the person who started it himself, Wen Chao. Because the disciples who went to these camps were allowed to come back after a year, this bred corruption within the sects. People with some political background or extra money would bribe so that cultivators from their families would not be sent.  

For ten years, all the cultivators of the world suffered under the tyranny of the manic himself - Wen Ruohan. Fear and abuse ran rampant and all of them lived in perpetual agony and despair, waiting for the time they would be liberated.  

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Wen Yuan was his favourite child among all the children Wen Ning looked after. As early as the war, Wen Ning was appointed as the caretaker of the children who were too young to go to war. Later, it became his permanent job. 

And after the death of Wen Chao, his life had improved to some extent. His standing within the sect increased when Wen Qing became famous for treating injured Wen soldiers during the war and they all had seen how Wen Ning worked with his sister. There were a lot of people within the Wen sect who respected and revered the Wen siblings.

Wen Yuan was born during the war and was the son of their cousin. Wen Ning was especially fond of him, having practically raised him while the parents were busy working. One day Wen Ning’s peaceful life was shattered because of Wen Yuan. 

It was just after dinner and Wen Ning was walking back to his home he shared with his sister. There was a small patch of woods on the way and through those trees, Wen Ning heard a small scream. Worried that someone was injured, he went inside to check. 

It was Wen Yuan beating a small dog with a stick. The cries he heard were from the dog.

Wen Ning was horrified, “A-Yuan, what are you doing?” He did not wait for the answer. The dog needed to be treated immediately. So, he carefully held the dog in his hands and pulled Wen Yuan by his wrist, and walked hurriedly to his house.

Fortunately, Wen Qing was at home. She patched up the dog and let it sleep peacefully. Only then, she asked for details. “What happened, A-ning?”  

Wen Ning explained how he had found Wen Yuan and the dog. And finally, it dawned on Wen Yuan that he had made a mistake and looked down in shame. 

“A-Yuan, explain to me why you did this?” Wen Qing asked. 

“Aunt Qing, all my friends are doing this. I thought I should also learn how to beat someone too. At first it did not seem right. But, later on, everyone started boasting about what they did and teased me for being a weakling.” Wen Yuan said in a thin voice.

“I assume, and correct me if I am wrong, today was the first time you did this horrible act?” Wen Qing looked stern.

“Yes, Aunt Qing.” 

“How did you feel?” 

“I did not like it.” Wen Yuan insisted. 

“Good. I do not want you to repeat this again. Do you understand? I will be speaking to your parents about this too.” Wen Qing said.

“Yes, Aunt Qing.” Wen Yuan looked guilty.

“Now, tell me why your friends are doing this at all instead of cultivating?” Wen Qing wanted to get to the bottom of this. 

“It was A-Ming. He is our leader. His brother works at the camp held for those disciples from other sects. Once A-Ming went with him and saw what our Wen cultivators were doing. His brother told A-Ming that when we all grow up, it will be our turn to punish those enemies. A-Ming came back and shared it with us. Everyone decided to train early so that we can do a good job later.” Wen Yuan explained. 

Wen Qing took a deep breath, “You can go back, A-Yuan. But remember not to do this again.” 

“Yes, Aunt Qing.” Wen Yuan ran back to his home.

“Jiejie, this is bad,” Wen Ning finally said.

“Yes. What are we teaching to the next generation of cultivators, A-Ning?” Wen Qing replied. She looked as horrified as felt. 

“Jiejie, we have to do something about it. This cannot go on.” Wen Ning was sad. 

“But, A-Ning, he is our uncle and sect leader. It would be treason.” Wen Qing was conflicted. 

“So what! Jiejie, this is the right thing to do,” Wen Ning was firm. He could not stand by and watch children learning to become crooked. 

Wen Qing thought for a long time and Wen Ning did not disturb her. They sat like this till morning. 

“Let’s do this, A-Ning. You are right. We cannot let this continue.” Wen Qing had made up her mind at last.

“How will we do this?” Wen Ning asked. 

“Leave it to me. I have been researching golden cores for so many years now. I know just what to do. All you have to do is go on with your life like usual. Don’t give out any clues.” Wen Qing patted Wen Ning’s head.

“You will let me know if you need my help, don’t you?”

“Yes, of course.” 

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A year later, the cultivation world was shocked to hear that their nightmare, their tyrant, Wen Ruohan died of qi deviation. Some were relieved, some cried of happiness, and many were not optimistic at all. They were worried about the person who would become the next leader. 

After a month, it was known to everyone that Wen Qing, the niece of Wen Ruohan, was the new sect leader and the next Chief Cultivator. The first thing she did was to stop the indoctrination camp permanently and put an end to the atrocities committed by Wen cultivators towards others. With these acts, Wen Qing became famous as a kind and benevolent leader, and other sects had a better opinion of her. 

However, Wen Qing did not remove the restrictions placed on the other sects and also did not pardon the taxes they had to pay. She was still new to these roles and did not want an unexpected rebellion on hand. To make sure there was no unnecessary trouble, all the sects had to send ten percent of their prominent cultivators to stay at the Wen sect and act as ambassadors. In reality, they were nothing but hostages, just like how indoctrination camps were. But there was no abuse and the way everything was worded made it seem like a diplomatic mission, giving it prestige.  

In the end, the sects were still suppressed and the cultivators still suffered, only their lives became a bit breathable. Nothing much really changed for them except for the absence of severe physical abuse. But their life was still humiliating as they still had to bow down to the Wen sect and Wen Qing as their Chief Cultivator.

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Jin Ziyao, previously known as Meng Yao, had led a privileged life after the war. As the sect heir, he had managed to amass quite a following and more than half of Jin elders looked favourably on him. All of it was mainly because of the influence of Wen Ruohan. Over the last ten years, Jin Ziyao had made sure to suppress Jin Zixuan, the only threat to his succession. Many times, he wanted to kill Jin Zixuan to eliminate the possibility of him becoming the sect leader. However, he was unable to do so because Madam Jin always protected her son. He did not try too hard anyway, thinking that he could take action once he became the sect leader after his father, and then he could just kill both mother and son. 

Jin Ziyao waited for ten years for his father to die or retire, and give his position to the heir. But Jin Guangshan was still alive and in good health. Even then, Jin Ziyao took it for granted that the position of the sect leader would be his one day. 

But everything changed after the death of Wen Ruohan.

As soon as the Wen sect leader died, Jin Guangshan decided to make Jin Zixuan the sect heir and remove Jin Ziyao from the position. “Did you really think I would make the son of a prostitute and my illegitimate son, the next sect leader?” Jin Guangshan had sneered at Meng Yao. 

Something snapped within him after seeing all his dreams crumbling in front of his eyes and the betrayal of his father. So, Jin Ziyao killed his father in a fit of anger, before Jin Guangshan could implement his plans. Jin Ziyao used prostitutes just like the previous life. He also killed a couple of elders who knew Jin Guangshan wanted to reinstate Jin Zixuan. 

With his father out of the way, Jin Ziyao naturally became the next sect leader, since no one else knew Jin Guangshan wanted Jin Zixuan to be the next sect leader. 

Six months after he became the sect leader, he poisoned Jin Zixuan, his wife, and his son. He did not want to take any chances of Jin Zixuan and his descendants making a comeback. And he blamed the murder on a servant. According to the statement of the servant, Jin Zixuan was just like his father and had harassed his sister. He killed the family of three as revenge. Even if a few people doubted the statements, they could not do anything, as the evidence was conclusive. The servant was sentenced to death. 

One year after Jin Ziyao became the sect leader, he killed his own son. This time his son’s death was proved to be an accident drowning and only the nanny who looked after the boy was punished for negligence. 

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“Sect leader, You called me.” Nie Xu asked Nie Huaisang. 

“Yes, take a look at this.” Nie Huaisang gave a talisman to his deputy.

Nie Xu examined the talisman. It was unlike anything he had seen before and could not understand the function of it, “what is this? I cannot make out at all.” 

“It is a truth talisman invented by a cultivator named Yiling Laozu.” Nie Huaisang sighed. 

“Who?” Nie Xu had never heard of this name before.

“No idea. I do not know anything about him, his age, his appearance, nothing,” the Nie sect leader replied. 

“How did you get this?” 

“It is a long story. Sit down and have some tea while you listen to it.” Nie Huaisang motioned his hand towards an empty chair.

Nie Xu took his seat and paid attention to the story.

“You know how I visit the Opulent Orchid Inn every month…” Nie Huaisang started.

Nie Xu frowned in disapproval, “You should not be going to such shady places alone. How many times do I have to tell you…”

Nie Huaisang waved his hand, “It is fine. I always wear a disguise and no one has recognized me till now. And I know you send guards after me secretly. So, I am really not in any danger.” 

Nie Xu looked resigned, “Fine. Please continue.”

“Last month, I met a merchant and talked to him for a long time. After some time, he mentioned Meng Yao. He said how it was unfair of him to kill the previous Nie sect leader, and now he has killed his own father, brother, nephew, and his own son. He said Meng Yao married his own half-sister, even after knowing the truth. After committing so many crimes he is still the sect leader. On and on he lamented the tragedy of a criminal leading a prosperous life. Then he mentioned a legendary cultivator called Yiling Laozu and how he has invented truth talismans. If only someone can use it to make Meng Yao confess his crimes and get him punished.” 

“So, you bought these talismans. Do they work?” Nie Xu asked. He knew how much his sect leader hated Meng Yao, now Jin Ziyao, for killing his brother. Because it was during the war and he acted on Wen Ruohan’s behalf, he did not face any consequences, even though everyone knew he killed Nie Mingjue and cut off Lan Xichen’s hand. Instead, Jin Ziyao was made the sect heir and rewarded heavily. There was no way to get Jin Ziyao to be punished for the death of Nie Mingjue. Since then his friend and sect leader Nie Huaisang had been looking for a reason to kill Jin Ziyao.

“Talismans work perfectly fine. But I have so many doubts and no way to resolve them.” Nie Huaisang replied.

“What are they?”

“The merchant could very well be Yiling Laozu himself or someone sent by him. He has a grudge against Meng Yao and wants to use me for his purposes. I sent some of my people and no one else knows these truth talisman. They are not sold in the market. That means he gave those to me alone for the purpose of exposing Meng Yao. I have no way to verify these, but I believe I am right. I feel that I am being used and it is not a good feeling.” Nie Huaisang said. He looked slightly angry.    

“And did Meng Yao really kill his own family?” Nie Xu asked. 

“Yes. Meng Yao did kill all those people, just like the merchant claimed. But there is no evidence.” Nie Huaisang replied.

“Is using this talisman the only option we have?” Nie Xu asked. 

“Yes. I do not care at this point whether I am being used or not. Finally we have a way and I am going ahead with this. Next month's discussion conference is the perfect time.” Nie Huaisang said. 

“How are you planning to do this?” 

“You remember the servant who was beheaded for killing Jin Zixuan and his family? I have found his parents. They were sent away by their son before he confessed to killing Jin Zixuan and I have found them. I will make sure they present their case in front of Wen Qing. I have already talked to her about the truth talisman and she has agreed to use it on Meng Yao.” Nie Huaisang explained. 

“That is good. Hopefully he will be punished. By the way, who will become the next Jin sect leader? Jin Zixun? I hope not. He is conceited and an idiot. The Jin sect will have a tough time under his rule.” Nie Xu asked.

“Not Jin Zixun. Someone cursed him - a hundred holes curse.” Nie Huaisang replied. 

“WHAT! But who?” 

“No idea. So, he cannot be the sect leader. In any case, who becomes the next sect leader has got nothing to do with us and the Nie sect.” Nie Huaisang shrugged his shoulders.

“True.” Nie Xu agreed.

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The discussion conferences these days were just a shadow of the previous ones and usually were over within a day. It was nothing but the Wen sect giving new instructions and the other sects implementing them without asking any questions. There was a part of the day allocated to hear the complaints and in all these years, no one had made use of this. In almost all instances, the case would have been against the Wen sect cultivators and everyone was too scared to voice their issues.

This year, however, was an exception.

Just after the regular sessions were over, Wen Qing asked if anyone had any issue to report. Sect leaders present were looking forward to going back home soon. They knew it was just a routine question and no one would actually report anything. They were wrong. 

An old couple stood up. “We have a case against the Jin sect leader,” the husband presented a written document. 

Chaos ensued. There were shouts all over the hall. 

“Silence,” Wen Qing’s assistant shouted and he had to be loud to overcome the cacophony and there was silence at once. 

“Now, please state your case, sir.” The assistant asked the husband. 

“We are the parents of the servant who was accused of murdering Jin Zixuan and his family. But, he did not do it. He was forced to accept the false charges. It was the Jin sect leader who killed his brother and his family.” 

At this point, Jin Ziyao stood up and bowed to Wen Qing, “Chief cultivator, I have full sympathy for these parents who have lost their child. I am sure someone used their grief to act against me. It must be one of my enemies. Please do not punish these unfortunate parents. Allow me to investigate who is acting behind the scenes.” He then smiled gently at the old couple.  

Cultivators present in the hall agreed and said Jin sect leader was too kind.

“Jin Ziyao, let me be the judge of this. I am the chief cultivator after all, and this couple has reached out to me. Come to the centre of the hall and face the trail.” Wen Qing ordered. 

Jin Ziyao’s face twisted in irritation for a second. But before anyone could notice, his face went back to his usually calm appearance. He walked towards the centre of the hall and stood straight, as if he feared nothing. 

“Two days back, I was sent a letter with the list of crimes Jin Ziyao has committed. I did not take it seriously and thought it was just a prank. Now, with these parents coming up to me and asking for justice for their son, I find it imperative that we address all these supposed crimes as well.” Wen Qing took out a scroll.

“Chief Cultivator, although you are powerful enough to kill me without a fair trial, I must stand up to injustice. Punishing me without evidence is gross mismanagement. I must stand up to many other people like me who will be judged in this hall in future.” Jin Ziyao said. He looked around to see the reaction of other cultivators and they looked thoughtful.

Wen Qing smiled, “Jin Ziyao, your sophistry will not work today. There is no need for evidence at all. Today you will admit to everything you did in front of these people. I have with me truth talismans. Just paste this on your body and all the truths will come out.”

Jin Ziyao was finally scared. Still he tried to salvage the situation, “None of us here have heard of this talisman. How do we know it works?”

“It is a new invention by someone called Yiling Laozu. Before we use it on you, we will of course test this on others to eliminate all the doubts. Guards, please make sure Jin Ziyao does not escape meanwhile. Also, confiscate his weapon. I believe his sword is around his waist.” Wen Qing ordered. Four Wen cultivators stood guard around Jin Ziyao and also removed his sword. 

Wen Qing openly tested the talisman on a few people and people present in the hall realised that the talisman works without fail. Now it was Jin Ziyao’s turn.

The assistant to Wen Qing applied the talisman on Jin Ziyao’s forehead and immediately, Jin Ziyao’s eyes were glazed over. 

Wen Qing started asking questions, one by one.

“Did you kill your father, Jin Guangshan? How did you kill him?” 

“Yes. I asked several prostitutes to keep him engaged in fornication till he died of over-sex.”

“Why did you kill your father?”

“After Wen Ruohan’s death, he decided to make Jin Zixuan the sect heir and remove me from the position. He taunted me with my mother’s status.” 

“Did you kill Jin Zixuan, his wife, and his son?” 

“Yes.”

“How did you kill them?”

“I administered poison in their evening meals.”

“Why did you kill them?”

“I did not want someone to use Jin Zixuan to threaten my position as the sect leader. And his son had to go too. His wife need not have died. But, I thought, why not kill the whole family? They can all be together in the afterlife.”

“Did you use the son of this couple as a scapegoat?”

“Yes. I paid him a lot of money. He wanted to earn for his family as they were too poor.”

“Why did you marry Qin Su?”

“I wanted the power and influence of the Qin sect leader.”

“Did you know she was your own half-sister before you got married, that Qin Su was the daughter of Jin Guangshan?” 

“Yes. Qin Su’s mother confessed to me before the wedding. But I wanted her husband's help to consolidate my position. I had no choice but to marry her.”

“Why did you kill your son?”

“He was showing signs of abnormality because of his parentage. He had to die so that the truth never came out.”

When the questioning was over, the entire hall was too stunned to speak. It was shocking to realize one man could commit so many atrocities. Only now do they knew that his image of a benevolent person was false. 

Jin Ziyao was horrified to know he had confessed everything. But there was nothing he could do. His fate was already sealed. He only hoped he would be killed in a humane way. However, his prayer was not answered.

Wen Qing looked around the hall, and said, “This man should be punished for his crimes. I believe no one has any objection.” 

None of them dared to answer, not after what they heard just now. Wen Qing decided to behead Jin Ziyao, a common practice in the cultivation world. However, just before she could announce the decision, a voice whispered in her mind, “ burn him alive,” it said. And something made her agree to that voice.

“Jin Ziyao will be burned alive immediately, in front of everyone.” Wen Qing ordered.

Everyone was too shocked to react to this new form of punishment. They all had thought Jin Ziyao would be beheaded as was the norm. However, no one tried to plead for him. 

In the next moment, Jin Ziyao was burned to death. 

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To the people of the cultivation world Jin Ziyao was dead. But there was a secret no one knew. The moment Jin Ziyao was set on fire, his living body was replaced with a dead body, without anyone noticing. 

On the same day, a man named Xiao Shu, meaning a small rat, was sent to work at a small brothel somewhere near Yiling. No one knew where he came from. He had a few burn marks on his face and arms. Many more marks could have been hidden inside his robes, but no one wanted to check. He had to get up early everyday and clean up the rooms of all the prostitutes. Throughout the day, he was kept busy with one chore after another. His work only ended late at night. Often, women would take out their frustrations in life on Xiao Shu and abuse him. Day after day, the torture continued and Xiao Shu led a horrible life. 

Sometimes he would get drunk and claim that he was a cultivator and a sect leader too. No one believed him. One of the patrons of the brothel was a healer and he checked Xiao Shu’s meridians. He was curious to see if Xiao Shu was indeed a cultivator. But there was no trace of qi at all. Xiao Shu had no core and no meridians. He was just a common man. 

Xiao Shu remained at this brothel, working to his bones, till the day he died.  

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Two years after the ‘death’ of Jin Ziyao, in a small town on the outskirts of Lanling, the mayor had a headache. There was an unidentified dead body. It was a young cultivator, murdered by the look of it, with no identification. The clothes he wore indicated that he did not belong to any sect. The only unique feature the body had was a missing pinky finger. Another cause of worry was that there was an excessive amount of resentful energy around the body. He had to call a cultivator from a town nearby to remove all the resentful energy before he could proceed with his investigation. 

For a few weeks, the mayor tried to search for clues - both of the murder victim and the murderer - with no avail. In the end, the dead body was buried in an unmarked grave. 

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Somewhere in the cultivation world, there was a small cottage built inside an estate. There were fruit trees and flower plants around the house, making the whole vision cheerful and charming. There were formations and arrays around the boundary of the estate which kept strangers away.  There were only two occupants in the cottage, a pair of lovers.

At present, they had just laid down to sleep. Wei Ying did not speak for a long time, which was unusual. 

“What are you thinking?” Lan Zhan asked Wei Ying.

“I just took a look into Cloud Recesses. Your brother is still in seclusion. Do you disapprove of what I did? That I influenced Meng Yao not to kill your brother and let him live his entire life in agony? Death is a mercy for him after all.” Wei Ying looked back at Lan Zhan worriedly.

“No. I could never forgive him for the fate of Wen remnants, especially Wen Yuan,” Lan Zhan kissed Wei Ying’s forehead.

“Good.”

“Wei Ying, are you happy?” Lan Zhan asked as he pulled Wei Ying towards his chest.

“Very much so, Lan Zhan. They used me and my powers to win the war in our previous life. Once the war was over, when I was not needed, they easily cast me aside. Now, look. They lost the war and suffered for so many years under Wen Ruohan. Fitting I would say.” Wei Ying grinned and kissed Lan Zhan’s cheek.

“Wen Qing,” Lan Zhan said.

“Oh, I knew she would do something. I thought she would have taken action long back. I guess there was not enough motivation. In the end, it was Wen Yuan who became the catalyst. I am so happy it lasted for ten years when I expected it to be less.” Wei Ying smiled.

“The situation is still not good.” Lan Zhan replied thoughtfully. 

“Just as well. This can continue for a long time, for all I care. Anyway, we have nothing to do with this cultivation world, now that Nie Huaisang has done his part. All our enemies are dealt with. Now, it is just you and me, forever,” Wei Ying said to his love. 

“To eternity and beyond.” Lan Zhan agreed and pulled Wei Ying for a kiss.