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Jiang Cheng was still reeling from the revelations that had come back to hit him in the face. Jin Ling's confusion and despair, Lan Xichen's horror, Nie Huaisang's shock, and Lan Wangji's ice-cold fury - Jiang Cheng noticed none of that. His attention was only on the sword Jin Guangyao had put down in front of them. Suibian - Wei Wuxian's sword, his brother's sword.
Wei Wuxian, who had given his golden core to him.
Wei Wuxian, who had been thrown into the Burial Grounds to die.
Wei Wuxian, who had invented demonic cultivation so that Jiang Cheng could lead his sect with his head held up.
Wei Wuxian, who Jiang Cheng had killed with his own hands and Wei Wuxian's golden core.
Jin Guangyao had found some letters and notes written by Wen Qing and Wei Wuxian on the Burial Grounds after the siege. All that he had found, Jin Guangyao had spoken out loud - He suffered in extreme pain for two days and two nights for you, he never once regretted it, he had missed you and your sister every single day, he gave you his GOLDEN CORE. But Jiang Cheng heard what he had left unsaid as well - You are a fool, a failure of a brother, a coward. You abandoned him, left him to die, turned everyone against him. YOU NEVER CARED FOR HIM!
He was drawn out of his musings when Jin Ling’s hold on his sleeves tightened. He looked up to see Jin Gyaungyao and Su Minshan standing in front of the grand statue of the temple. Looking more closely, he realized that they were standing on top of some sort of array, one that Jiang Cheng was most certainly not familiar with.
Lan Xichen seemed to have come to the same realization. “What…are you doing? What is that array?” But Jin Gyangyao completely ignored his sworn brother’s words. Su Minshan, on the other hand, looked as arrogant as always and taunted them with a smirk. Unfortunately, everything messed up from that point onwards.
Jiang Cheng remembered the gate of the temple being destroyed. He remembered Chifeng-zun’s fierce corpse attacking Jin Gyaungyao. He remembered Jin Gyaungyao bleeding profusely and the Twin Jade trying to control the fierce corpse. He remembered trying to protect Jin Ling, and by extension, Nie Huaisang who was next to him.
Jiang Cheng remembered nothing else.
Some days, he felt like he was dreaming. On other days, he felt that all of that had been nothing but a terrible nightmare.
But he soon came to terms with the fact that this was real, and that that had been real as well. For no matter how much he had tried, he could never exactly remember his father’s tone and voice, his mother’s angry and disappointing expressions, and his sister’s sweet and calming smiles. But he did clearly remember his subordinates and disciples, raising Jin Ling, and managing the sect on his own.
For days, he had hidden his confusion and shock, not letting his family realize anything. He mourned for his nephew and the sect that had been, but also accepted the reality in front of his eyes. There was only one explanation for his situation - he had traveled back in time. And he was now going to fix everything.
Despite being back in time, his family was still incomplete. Jiang Cheng was still only 7 years old and his father hadn’t found his brother yet. Wei Wuxian was still not here. After having the truth thrown to his face and shoved down his throat, Jiang Cheng couldn’t deny that Wei Wuxian was not responsible for everything that had happened and he himself had also made things worse. Jiang Cheng had sworn to himself that he would be a better brother this time, to his sister too, but especially to his brother.
His first act of redemption was to ask his father to let him help find the son of his father's friends, much to the shock of his father and sister. Of course, he had done so when his mother had been away on a night hunt. Yu Ziyuan had never been not vocal or aggressive in her disapproval of Jiang Fengmian’s self-assigned mission of finding Wei Wuxian, and Jiang Cheng had imitated her, trusting her words that his father was showing favor to another boy over him. But now, he wanted to be better than his past self and welcome Wei Wuxian to Lotus Pier himself.
His father’s smile had been a small and tentative thing - as if he couldn’t believe Jiang Cheng’s words. Jiang Yanli had also been happy but too shocked to say anything. He soon found himself flying to Yiling with his father, happily talking to him in a way that he had never before. He wondered if his mother’s words about his father not caring for him had ever been true.
(He wondered if the distance in his family had not been because of Wei Wuxian but because of Yu Ziyuan’s poisonous words.)
Wei Wuxian had never talked about his time on the streets. Well, never clearly anyway. But he had mentioned a few shops, people, and places rather fondly. Jiang Cheng had little recollection of his words and depended on a handful of off-handed mentions here and there to find Wei Wuxian. But it was a start nonetheless.
But Yiling had another surprise for him. Jiang Cheng and his father ended up meeting Lan Qiren and a much younger Lan Wangji in the busy market of Yiling. His father and the elder Lan made the appropriate greetings and introduced their respective charges to each other, who also greeted the other pair.
Lan Wangji - Lan Zhan - was as polite and expressionless as ever. His father took the Lan heir’s bland tone in stride and Jiang Cheng had known him long enough to know better than to take offense. But he still couldn’t help but wonder what the Lans were doing there, Yiling was in Yunmeng after all. Apparently, his father had the same thoughts and asked the question.
“Lan Zhan wanted us to visit a few places. Yiling just happened to be one of them. While we were due to leave this morning, Lan Zhan got lost. A street child helped him find his way back. But the child left right after getting him to the inn. Lan Zhan insists on looking for him and helping him but - "
While the adults conversed and his father praised Lan Wangji’s virtues, Jiang Cheng grew suspicious. The Lans in Yiling… Lan Wangji looking for a street rat… did this happen before? Why would he even -
Oh…
Oh HELL no.
Jiang Cheng had known that despite how everyone claimed that Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji were nothing but bitter enemies, there had been something else between them. He just hadn’t known what, at least not until the events of the Guanyin Temple. Jiang Cheng looked at Lan Wangji only to find contempt and disgust in his gaze. He had never been able to read the Lan heir but he would never forget how he had looked at Jiang Cheng after…after everything had come out. This expression was exactly the same.
Jiang Cheng filled his eyes with the same amount of anger and fiercely met with Lan Wangji’s unsaid challenge.
You will NOT have my brother, you ice-like piece of jade! Wei Wuxian will come back to Lotus Pier with us! I DARE you to mess with my family!
But despite the violent and grudge-filled challenge, Jiang Cheng and Jiang Fengmian did not find Wei Wuxian in their subsequent search trips to Yiling. It was equal amounts of worrying and irritating. After almost two years of fruitless searching, Jiang Cheng started believing that even in his second life, his brother will be brought back home at the same time as in his first one. He could only depend on his father to find Wei Wuxian as he had originally done.
The day Wei Wuxian had been brought to Lotus Pier started just as it had originally. A loud and fierce argument between his parents, his father leaving for Yiling, his mother taking her anger out by (figuratively, or even literally) torturing the disciples, and his sister taking him to a quiet corner of the house and calming both of them down. Jiang Cheng knew that when the day ends and brings Wei Wuxian with it, things might get worse. But he was prepared for that.
And yet, the day ended and his father returned alone, with the same dejected air he always had whenever he returned from Yiling. Jiang Fengmian did not find Wei Wuxian.
Yu Ziyuan was as explosive as ever, shouting this and that. Her husband initially ignored her but when her temper escalated, so did his. Jiang Yanli tried to shield him from the worst of it. But all three of them were unaware of how Jiang Cheng was tearing his brain into pieces to find a plausible explanation for Wei Wuxian's absence in Lotus Pier.
Jiang Cheng finally gathered himself after a couple of days. He then wrote a letter to Lan Wangji, with all the pleasantries and politeness expected from a sect heir. But hidden in coded messages (that had been used during the Sunshot Campaign) were curses and violent words that threatened Lan Wangji to spew up where he had hidden Wei Wuxian. He got an equally polite letter from Lan Wangji stating that he had no idea where Wei Ying was and that if the Jiang heir wanted to gloat about finding Wei Ying before Lan Wangji, then he should do so openly. If the two spent the next week sending taunting letters to each other, nobody had to know.
But the point was - Wei Wuxian was not found. He was neither in Lotus Pier nor the Cloud Recesses. Jiang Cheng came up with hundreds of reasons why this happened, each worse than the last one. He only hoped his worries turn out to be unfounded.
The years passed, and Jiang Cheng grew up. While his father continued his search for Wei Wuxian, it was obvious that he was losing faith and starting to believe that his friends' son had passed away. Gradually, the search trips stopped altogether. Yu Ziyuan gloated about his fruitless efforts and taunted her husband about his failures. Once, Jiang Cheng had felt that his mother only ever tried to show his father the right way, now it seemed like she was nothing more than a bitter woman.
Life continued in Lotus Pier. His father was as involved in his life and training as he had originally been. The war with the Wens was fast approaching and as the head disciple, Jiang Cheng did everything in his power to train the disciples and strengthen the security and wards of Lotus Pier.
Unlike his original life though, Jiang Cheng knew that his father was distant not because he disliked him but because being the leader of a sect, one of the great sects on top of it, was too exhausting. And looking after a child - an heir - after all, is a lot of work. Jiang Cheng had raised Jin Ling by himself and although he loved his nephew very much, looking after him got too much at times. Jiang Cheng couldn't imagine how his father managed to look after the sect in such a dangerous political atmosphere while also raising two children and having a wife as explosive as Yu Ziyuan. Of course, that was no excuse for his 'neglect'... But still, Jiang Cheng felt that he understood his father a little better now.
He saw his sister and realized that while Jiang Yanli had always seemed so calm and patient, she was only a child herself. She always tried her best to fulfill the role of a parent for him. Despite being so young, she had to groom herself to think and act like an adult so that she could look after him. Jiang Cheng tried to be the best brother for her and soothed her unsaid worries as best as he could. He wondered if Jiang Yanli had had someone who could support her emotionally when they were young. His mind could come up with no name.
His mother on the other hand… He felt as if his memories of his mother had been wrapped a little. As an adult, he had remembered Yu Ziyuan as a strict and headstrong woman. Now, she just seemed to be bitter, angry, and somewhat abusive. She was angry at anything and everything and her ways of 'disciplining' others were downright cruel at times. Her barbs were usually completely unnecessary and uncalled for, and her views and beliefs were completely opposite to the Jiang sect's as a whole.
Jiang Cheng realized that he had grown up to be an adult just like his mother and wondered if his disciples had seen and talked of him the same way the current Jiang disciples did for his mother. He realized that the Lotus Pier he had grown up in was very different from the one he had led. It became too much like a Yunmeng Yu sect rather than the Yunmeng Jiang.
No matter what he did, it was never enough for her. Thanks to his circumstances, Jiang Cheng was leagues ahead of his peers. He performed excellently in his classes, much better than he ever had. He could say that he was currently better than Wei Wuxian had been at this age but that would be an unfair comparison - Wei Wuxian had been a normal teenager and he was an adult in his teenage self's body. Out of all the young masters of his generation (excluding Lan Xichen and Nie Mingjue, because their situations were complicated), he must be the most capable, along with Lan Wangji (yes, they have received their courtesy names now), and that still isn't enough for his mother.
As much as it disgruntled and irritated him, he got used to her barbs and started tuning them out. It was no use to listen to words that would only discourage him. Wei Wuxian was not there but his parents still fought, his mother as poisonous as ever, his father as distant as he had been, and his sister as caring as she always was. Still, there was a Wei Wuxian-shaped hole in his heart and mind. He only hoped that he would find him safe and sound soon. But right now, he had to worry about his upcoming studies at the Cloud Recesses.
The classes at the Cloud Recesses started as they had. But Jiang Cheng became aware of a lot of things that he hadn't known till then. But he considered three of them to be the most important -
1) The time travel array was most likely Wei Wuxian's creation as the Jin sect had thrived on his inventions. There was nothing else about it anywhere.
2) He and Lan Wangji were not the only time travelers, Lan Xichen and Nie Huaisang had also come back.
3) Lan Wangji had known since the beginning but didn't tell him anything because, despite his (fake) persona of being a righteous and perfect Jade of Lan, Lan Wangji was a petty bitch.
He had somewhat always known the latter part of the last one but he hadn't realized the extent of it till now. Anyways, he came to know the first two soon after he arrived at the Cloud Recesses and met with Nie Huaisang.
Jiang Cheng had been in the library trying to find anything about the array, as he had looked repeatedly in Lotus Pier's library and found nothing. The Lans were the most scholarly of the cultivation sects, therefore they must have something that would help him. This is when Nie Huaisang approached him.
"Jiang-xiong, what are you looking for?" Jiang Cheng tried to subtly cover more of the obscure and disturbing books on his table and gave him a vague answer. But Nie Huaisang then surprised him with an almost whisper-like response, "Say, it wouldn't be related to a certain temple right? Because er-ge, Wangji-xiong, and I have already searched the library thoroughly and didn't find anything. We were… waiting for you so that we could discuss more"
Jiang Cheng would never admit that he almost had an aneurysm then and there. The four of them, in the guise of studying in the library, gathered to discuss everything they know.
It was only then that Jiang Cheng met Lan Xichen for the first time after time traveling. And to be completely honest, it was very easy to tell that this Lan Xichen was not the one he had met in his original life. His forced smiles, slumped shoulders, and dull eyes, all indicated having gone through a terrible tragedy, quite similar to how Jiang Cheng had looked for some years after the siege on Burial Grounds.
He also came to know that Lan Wangji had been performing the duties of the sect heir till recently.
"For the longest time, I had pitied Wangji for trusting and giving his heart to the wrong person. Because Wei-gongzi had been a demonic cultivator, I refused to want to know more about his side, or even Wangji's words and thoughts. I believed that since Wei-gongzi was Wangji's first friend and love, Wangji must not be thinking rationally. And I blindly agreed with everything Jin Guangyao told me - because he had saved me at my worst, he was my sworn brother, and he was rational and realistic in a way I wasn't.
While there were some questionable things that I had noticed, I ignored them due to his precarious position in the Jin sect. To know that he was fooling me all this time, that he had killed da-ge using something I had trusted him with, that he was the reason for Wangji's and numerous others' suffering, I lost faith in myself. Soon after we realized that we had come back, I went into seclusion. No matter how much I meditated, I still couldn't let it go. Even now… even now I don't know whom and how to trust anymore…"
This was perhaps the longest he had heard Lan Xichen speak, outside of the diplomatic role he played in Discussion Conferences. But that was not what he came to focus on.
"The four of us came back…does it have something to do with our physical closeness with the array? If that's true, does it mean other people came back too? Other than Jin Ling, of course… if Jin Guangyao and Su Minshan are back too then -"
"Su Minshan will not be a problem." Lan Wangji declared confidently. He continued on Jiang Cheng's questioning look, "He came back with us, and had muttered something about being 'too far'. But then he…panicked and qi deviated; didn't make it in the end."
"Well, that is one problem taken care of." Nie Huaisang's words and expressions truly shocked Jiang Cheng. Wei Wuxian had always said that Nie Huaisang was smarter than he looked but Jiang Cheng hadn't given his words much credit, mainly because the Nie heir wasn't a strong cultivator. Truly, a mistake on his part.
It looked like Lan Wangji came to the same conclusion.
"You knew." He said to Nie Huaisang.
"Hmm? Knew? About what?"
"About Jin Guangyao."
Nie Huaisang raised his fan to hide his mouth but none of them missed the sharp glint in his eyes. Jiang Cheng and Lan Xichen could only stare at him, shocked out of their wits. But Lan Xichen finally spoke.
"Huaisang… you knew…about Jin Guangyao…? Then… everything that happened - did you know about that too? Why… why didn't you say anything?!"
Nie Huaisang's eyes sharpened in a way that almost made Lan Xichen flinch.
"And say what er-ge? That the sworn brother you loved so much was a plotter, a murderer, and a backstabber? Would you have believed me? Over Jin Guangyao? No I don't think so… but I can't blame you for that, can I? After all, I was the useless Nie-gongzi and then the Head Shaker Nie-zongzhu, and he was the esteemed Lianfang-zun, the Chief Cultivator. Who would believe me? And even if I did say something, he would have found a way to get rid of me."
Jiang Cheng couldn't hold back anymore. "When did you…? How did you come to know?"
Nie Huaisang shrugged, hesitating a little. He then sighed and continued, "Since the mess with Wei-xiong started? I don't know… It was quite obvious that the Jin were targeting him because they wanted his demonic cultivation. And he foolishly isolated himself by siding with the Wen remnants. Wei-xiong may have been reckless and oblivious at times but he would not attack or kill without reason. I believe things might have been too horrendous if he killed all the Jin disciples to free the prisoners.
But that is not the point. All the rumors and horror stories about the Yiling Laozu were obviously spread by the Jin. And it wasn't like any sect would have spoken against the Jin for a bunch of Wens, no matter who was in the right or the wrong. I tried to talk to da-ge but his justice and fairness became skewed whenever Wens came up. He was too rigid in his beliefs and didn't want to see things in other ways. To be honest, Jin Guangyao's hatred for my brother was not completely unfounded.
Anyways, soon after I heard some Lan disciples playing Cleansing and realized that there were some differences in how Jin Guangyao played it for da-ge. After that, I started looking for things deeper and found more dirt on the Jin sect. And you know how things happened afterward. My plans went a bit sideways, but the result I got was actually much better than I had expected."
The other three were quiet for a while. To think that Nie Huaisang had had more sense and cunning than all of them - it was too much. But there were still some things that weren't clear.
"You said your plans went sideways - what does that mean?" Jiang Cheng asked.
For the first time since the discussion started, Nie Huaisang became a little uncomfortable. "My original plan… included Mo Xuanyu. But he died during the attack on Mo Mansion so…"
Mo Xuanyu? Jiang Cheng has heard that name before. But where -
"Mo Xuanyu? You mean Jin Guangshan's illegitimate child that was thrown out of Carp Tower because he…" As Lan Xichen uncomfortably trailed off, Jiang Cheng realized who they were talking about. But Nie Huaisang merely snorted.
"Oh, he wasn't kicked out because of that. Mo Xuanyu found out about Jin Guangyao and Qin Su's actual… relationship. But Jin Guangyao couldn't let the secret out. So he had Mo Xuanyu declared a lunatic so that no one would believe him. In reality, Mo Xuanyu actually worked on demonic cultivation theories and practices for the Jin sect. I was…going to have him use one of those theories to bring Wei-xiong back but… it was too late…"
Jiang Cheng felt his blood freeze in his veins. For a moment he couldn't breathe, he couldn't think. Unbeknownst to him, Lan Wangji was in a similar position. When Lan Xichen asked Nie Huaisang for details, he explained the purpose of the ritual that he had given to Mo Xuanyu. But alas, he had not expected Mo Xuanyu to delay the date for the ritual, and hence 'the plan went sideways'. An awkward and restless quiet again fell over them.
"But anyways Jin Guangyao wouldn't be a problem either." Nie Huaisang said not caring about the hit he landed on Jiang Cheng and Lan Wangji.
"What does that mean?" Jiang Cheng asked in a small and tired voice.
"It means that he is dead." This caused a different type of shock among them. Lan Xichen was the one with a small voice now, "He's dead?"
"Yes."
"Did you -"
"Actually no, I didn't. I had to start building up my spy network from scratch. That took some time. I was sure that if he had come back then he would run away with his mother or something. But when I sent someone to check his status in Yunping. Apparently, Meng Yao died soon after we came back. He was found in one of the alleys near the brothel his mother worked at. She recognized the body and everything, and was devastated as well."
Lan Wangji finally spoke up, "Did he qi deviate as well?"
That could be a plausible reason. Su Minshan had most likely qi deviated due to powering the array. Since Jin Guangyao was also doing the same, he could have also qi deviated.
"No." What? "According to the reports, he died due to a slit throat." What?!
"This is what I found the most troublesome." Nie Huaisang sighed worriedly. "Jin Guangyao was murdered. But due to his, ah, parentage and position, no one cared to look for the murderer. My spies didn't find anything either. Thus, the murder was obviously well-planned and intentional."
He let that hang for a moment.
"The question is - who did it?"
They attempted to try and theorize who it could possibly be but came out empty. Lan Xichen suggested that he might have committed suicide. But Nie Huaisang countered it with completely logical arguments. Firstly, Jin Guangyao was not the type of character to commit suicide. Secondly, he would have most likely believed that he was the only time traveler, maybe along with Su Minshan. He had no reason to think otherwise. If anyone came for him, he could have pleaded ignorance. Not that it would have mattered much, but it was the principle of the thing.
The classes continued as they had. And everything remained the same.
Well, everything, except one - Wei Wuxian. They didn't know where Wei Wuxian was, whether he was alive or not, whether he even existed in this new reality or not. Nie Huaisang also suggested that maybe Wei Wuxian had returned. But if the array had affected only the people who were close to it, then that ruled out this possibility.
But if it had something to do with him being the creator of the array? Well, they can't say anything for sure. None of them saw the array completely and thus couldn't replicate it to study it. The two people who knew about it were dead. And Wei Wuxian was, well, missing.
This also caused them another worry. The Wens were moving as they had, and the disciples had had to deal with the Waterborne Abyss as well. No matter how much people had cursed Wei Wuxian and his techniques, those who had fought in the war knew that they had only won the Sunshot Campaign due to his demonic cultivation. What the Wens had in numbers, the alliance had made up with Wei Wuxian's corpses. Now that he was missing, the chances of their victory had decreased considerably.
Their time at the Cloud Recesses was approaching its end. When Jin Zixuan insulted his sister, Jiang Cheng used all of his political experience to verbally obliterate him. When he finally went too far with his words, Jiang Cheng punched him. The ensuing fight had to be broken up and their fathers were called. The engagement was canceled as expected and the two of them had to serve their punishments. Jiang Cheng understood where Jin Zixuan's frustration came from but his behavior wasn't fair to his sister.
The classes came to an end without any further incidents. All disciples returned to their sects. His sister was as accepting of the situation as she had been and his mother was as furious as she had been. It doesn't matter - Jin Zixuan would learn to treasure his sister soon enough anyway, and their relationship would be much better like that.
All that's left is to wait for the Qishan Wen's Discussion Conference.
And that is when everything fell apart.
Jiang Cheng had no idea how he would control himself while trying to deal with the Wens so he decided to ignore them altogether. He forced himself not to focus on them. He did not mingle with the other sects either, other than performing the necessary greetings. Wei Wuxian had led the Jiang sect to victory last time, Jiang Cheng would not insult him by doing anything less.
His disciples performed admirably. Other than himself, there will definitely be a couple or not Yunmeng Jiang disciples who would be in the top 15. The results would be declared in soon enough. And then -
A member of the Wen sect soon stepped up to name the victors.
And then came the announcement that shook Jiang Cheng to the core.
"The title of champion of this year's Discussion Conference goes to Qishan Wen's Wen Wuxian. The runner-up is Gusu Lan's Lan Wangji. In the third position is -"
Wen Wuxian.
Wen Wuxian.
Wen Wuxian.
Jiang Cheng was about to faint. He had no other explanation for the sudden dizziness and shock that he was experiencing. Wen Wuxian…? How could it -
A look at the Lan delegation ensured that he was not hallucinating. While the other Lan disciples were celebrating their heirs' victory, the victors themselves were frozen. Lan Wangji looked as if he had seen a ghost, his brother was not much different. The three of them simultaneously turned to look at the champion of the competition.
It was Wei Wuxian. Oh, it was definitely Wei Wuxian, but it soon became obvious why none of them had recognized him previously. Wei Wuxian, no, Wen Wuxian looked healthy, confident, and put together in a way he had never been before. And with the high-quality Qishan Wen robes, he looked nothing less than a sect heir. The other Wen disciples were praising and congratulating him.
“As expected of our Wuxian!”
“Well done, Wuxian!”
“That was great!”
“We won!”
Meanwhile, Lan Xichen had gathered his wits and approached the Wen disciples, seemingly to gauge Wei Wuxian’s reaction in the guise of congratulating them. Wei Wuxian made the appropriate greetings and they started conversing. But one thing was very obvious - Wei Wuxian had not come back. He acted as if he was meeting Lan Xichen for the first time. Lan Wangji looked up at Jiang Cheng and his heartbroken expression showed that he realized the same as well.
So, Wei Wuxian did not come back with them. But someone else definitely had - a Wen who rescued Wei Wuxian and brought him to Qishan to join their sect. But who could it be? Wen Qing? Wen Qionglin? Who -?
He was pulled out of his head when he felt someone staring at him. Jiang Cheng turned to see Wen Ruohan, the most powerful cultivator in the vicinity, looking at him with extreme amusement. When he realized that Jiang Cheng had finally noticed him, he shot him a slow and victorious smirk.
Jiang Cheng felt a chill go up his spine. Suddenly, everything that had been missing in their speculations started making sense. He felt his heart drop.
It was over.
They had lost.
The Sunshot Campaign had been lost before it even began.
He remained in the living world, but not as a resentful ghost or some spiritual being. He just…existed there. He could not influence his surroundings but he saw and learned everything. He saw how those sub-par cultivators, who claimed to be ‘just’ and ‘fair’, hunted his brethren as if they were animals. They called him a villain and a monster, but were they any different?
He saw how poor little A-Ning was tortured to death. He saw how his proud niece begged her sect’s former enemy to save her people. He saw how the man who had single-handedly destroyed a majority of his entire forces became the only one who spoke out against the inhumane treatment his people had faced. He saw how the other sects vilified a single man and the 50 or so helpless people under his care. He saw how unjustly and brutally they were all killed.
He saw how the other sects tried to keep themselves together, how they tried to trick each other at every turn. He saw how that backstabber Jin got what he deserved and how that useless Nie heir outsmarted everyone. He learned the truth about the man who had given his life for his enemy’s remnants. He saw that Jin brat bring out the array he had created in his youth but never used. He felt the qi in the array get disturbed when a fierce corpse entered it. He felt the crack it caused in his array. He jumped in and woke up before it all began.
Wen Ruohan lazily looked on as his disciples celebrated their victory. Originally, he had believed Jiang Fengmian to be foolish when he had looked for his former subordinate’s child. But Wei Wuxian had proven to be a formidable force, no matter what side he was on. The first thing Wen Ruohan had done after coming back was to look for Wei Wuxian, bring him into his sect, and give him the Wen name. He became Wen Qing’s and Wen Ning’s adopted brother - a bond that they had shared in their previous lives.
And then, with no one to hold him back, Wen Wuxian thrived in his sect. Wen Ruohan would never admit it, but out of all the children in his care, Wuxian was probably his favorite. He even had a positive effect on his useless Chao-er. This time around, both his sons became satisfactory heirs. His sons are also very close with A-Qing, A-Ning, and Wuxian. Wuxian had also started dabbling in demonic cultivation, carefully and with complete supervision of course. With Wuxian’s loyalty to Qishan Wen, their sect was bound for victory.
The second thing he had done was to get rid of Meng Yao. Wen Ruohan had pitied the boy, taken him in, and treated and rewarded him fairly. But then he betrayed him - for some trash like Jin Guangshan as well?! The audacity! He had claimed ignorance, then pleaded for mercy. Wen Ruohan despised double-faced hypocrites like him, but even he was not going to torture a child. So, he gave Meng Yao a quick death.
Wen Ruohan internally sighed. There was still so much to do! Chao-er and Zhuliu would have taken over Qinghe by now. And Xu-er and his army would have occupied the Cloud Recesses as well. As soon as the Nie and Lan delegations reached their homes, they would be apprehended too. Afterward, he would have to send his forces to Lotus Pier and Carp Tower as well. So much to do in so little time…
After all, the sun must retain its eternal glory.