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Chapter Text

“This kid… I gave birth to.”

Lan WangJi's brain stopped and then rushed forward in a stream of thoughts, "This kid… is Wei Ying’s… when did Wei Ying…? Is the child also mine…? Please, let him be mine... That man, before… said we have the same nose…so, he must be ours…mine and Wei Ying’s child, our son!"

It had probably only been a half of a second when the conversation with Wei WuXian continued. Wei WuXian was explaining how the child couldn't tell that he was nice with a blank face, Lan WangJi took this to heart, but he also made note that Wei WuXian called him handsome again. If the child, A-Yuan was his son, Lan WangJi had missed a lot of the child's life and he didn't want to let the child think that he wasn't nice, but he was also bad at representing his emotions. So, he bought the toys. It wasn't just that he wanted the child to like him, to consider seeing him as 'A-Die' despite the crying. He remembered how his own childhood had included few toys compared to what he had seen other children with. And he felt that a child should have a good carefree childhood, not one filled with expectations and waiting on the adults in their life. If this was indeed his child he understood that he was also Wei WuXian's child and that they would have to share him in some way. Perhaps if Lan WangJi could convince Wei WuXian to go back to Gusu with him then they could get properly married and then they could be a proper family—or well, maybe not a proper family— if Lan WangJi had a say in the matter he and Wei WuXian would share living quarters with their son at least until their son was old enough to want to stay in the dorms with the other disciples at Cloud Recesses.

Lan WangJi had finished his thoughts while watching the mock battle with the wooden swords between Wei WuXian and A-Yuan, it made him smile on the inside seeing Wei WuXian and their son like that. Then Wei WuXian was inviting him to a meal and A-Yuan, the clever and good child that he was cleaned up his toys and brought them along.

Lan WangJi was exceedingly happy when his son chose to sit in his lap. He was happy to be sharing a meal with Wei WuXian as well; it had been his true purpose in making sure that he had stopped in Yiling on the way home from the night hunt he had gone on. He was hoping that he could have time with Wei WuXian just the two of them, but sharing the space and time with their son wasn't disappointing in the least.

Suddenly, Wei WuXian pulled a talisman out from his robe and it caught on fire and disappeared. Wei WuXian's face was a picture of panic and shock. "Sorry Lan Zhan, we will leave first."

Wei WuXian scooped up their son and bolted out the door. Lan WangJi took half a second to realise that his family had really just bolted from the restaurant. He dropped the money for their meal on the table and scooped up the swords that were really requested by Wei WuXian and the butterflies that A-Yuan had promptly put into a relationship all their own.

Then, Lan WangJi bolted after the pair and quickly caught up. As they ran he slipped the toys into A-Yuan's grasping hands and asked, "Why don't you go by sword?"

"I forgot it!" returned Wei WuXian.

Lan WangJi unsheathed Bichen and then with his free arm wrapped an arm around Wei WuXian's waist and pulled his little family onto his sword. "Where do we need to go?"

They were already in the air far enough off the ground that Wei WuXian couldn't even protest the offered ride or turn Lan WangJi away from matters that did not concern him. So, instead Wei WuXian just pointed with the hand that didn't have a death grip around little A-Yuan despite the steadying arm that was around the both of them, Wei WuXian and A-Yuan. "That way?"

"Do you know what we are expecting to find when we get there?" asked Lan WangJi.

For once Wei WuXian was the silent one, and Lan WangJi had to pry a bit, there was their child to consider, "Should I be ready with Bichen or should I be ready to take A-Yuan... into my arms... so your hands are both free." Lan WangJi had gauged what to keep saying by how tense Wei WuXian got in his arms. It made it clear that Wei WuXian would at the very least not settle for being separated from their child unlike how Lan WangJi's parents had been, how his father had chosen to separate himself from his family.

Wei WuXian sighed and his tone said that he was expecting that Lan WangJi would drop him or at the very least condemn him for the words he was about to say, "I promised Wen Qing that I would save her younger brother Wen Ning if it was needed. I had wards set up that if taken down would mean that something went wrong, and they have been disturbed."

"Mn."

"When we land, take A-Yuan I'll need my hands, but if you dare to take him away, I will not forgive you Lan Zhan."

"... Mn." Lan WangJi understood. Wei WuXian was a parent that was not going to let anyone else separate him from his child. Lan WangJi wished that his mother had had that sort of strength. Wei WuXian wouldn't settle with being locked into a single house, he wouldn't chose to be in seclusion; and Lan WangJi would never wish to force him into those things.

He followed the directions that Wei WuXian gave, it was as if Bichen understood the urgency or perhaps recognised what Wei WuXian was for, and it was as if the sword was the one that was really following the directions. They flew above the Burial Mounds and below Lan WangJi could see that there were paths and fields and houses and people. They landed in a clearing towards the top by the entrance to a cave. With haste Lan WangJi placed Bichen in its sheath and then scooped their son from Wei WuXian's arms. Arms free Wei WuXian bolted toward the cave, and Lan WangJi followed at a more sedate pace. Not sure of what he might find, Lan WangJi shifted the child in his arms so his sword hand was free. Right before he entered the cave he looked around and saw that there was an elderly woman, staring at them with fear and worry in her eyes.

Lan WangJi addressed A-Yuan with a slight gesture to the elder woman, "Do you know her?"

"Granny!" exclaimed the boy and he squirmed a bit in Lan WangJi's arms.

"Why don't you show Granny your new butterflies, while I go and help your..." had A-Yuan addressed Wei WuXian? Lan WangJi wasn't sure if he had, but well it the boy had called him, Lan WangJi, A-Die, and then that meant that— "... A-Niang."

A-Yuan's forehead bunched up in a thoughtful frown and then he nodded and bolted to his grandmother, who seemed to relax a bit more now that she had the child in her arms. Lan WangJi turned back to the cave and slowly entered and followed the sound of crying.

In the back of the cave Lan WangJi came across Wei WuXian frozen in the mouth of a cavern silent tears flowing down his face. On the floor by a rock slab that had clearly been used for a bed sat two people hugging and crying. what surprised Lan WangJi was that both people were crying— corpses didn't cry, and the report from the path that had been Qiongqi and that no one but the Jins remembered the new name of, was well that Wei WuXian had woken the corpse of Wen Ning and killed all the guards of the labour camp that had been there, erasing the Wen histories that had been carved into the pass.

"You can bring the dead back to life?"

"Yeah I—" Wei WuXian whipped around from viewing the siblings to stare incredulously at Lan WangJi. "—Wait what? No! Why would you think that?"

"The report from Qiongqi Pass said hat you turned Wen Ning into a fierce corpse and had him kill the guards."

"The guards wouldn't tell us where the dead were, they were going to brand Granny and little A-Yuan with a Peony brand instead of a sunburst. I said we would see and I called the dead Wens who had died unjustly and they came from this mass grave and killed only those that had harmed them. We asked the corpses to lead us to the rest of the dead, the ones that weren't as resentful and found Wen Ning with a spirit attraction flag through his stomach still alive.

"Wen Qing is the best doctor in the world, we set out with the goal to keep those who were alive, alive, but well Wen Ning was so close to death... Wen Qing was afraid that she would fail. So, I promised that I would bring him back if it was needed. It would have been easier to do if I got to Wen Ning as soon as he died, so I set up the talisman. But I don't need to, he lives Lan Zhan, he lives, Wen Ning is alive."

Lan WangJi looked back at the siblings that had stopped crying, and had instead Lan WangJi watched as Wen Qing checked her brother over and Wen Ning continued to say, "Sister."

"Wei Ying come to Gusu with me?"

"I just told you that I didn't turn Wen Ning into a fierce corpse that the guards at Qiongqi were only killed by vengeful corpses and those were put to rest right after.  Even if you don't believe me—"

"I believe Wei Ying."

"Great! You believe me, but would anyone else? I can't go to Gusu," returned Wei WuXian, Lan WangJi opened his mouth but the younger cut him off, "I can't leave this path, can't you see Lan Zhan it is too late, if I stop using demonic cultivation would I really be spared? Would the Wens be spared?" Lan WangJi went to say something else and Wei WuXian put in the clinching argument, "Do you want to see A-Yuan branded and dead, Lan Zhan?"

"... I understand." And Lan WangJi did, parents never lived together, some lived in pretty close quarters like the previous Sect Leader Jiang and Madam Yu, or a bit further apart like the Jin Sect Leader and Madam Jin, or even further as Lan WangJi's parents had. Lan WangJi could stay at Gusu and visit his family as he worked to free the rest of the Wens if they were like the doctor, her near dead brother, and the old woman— Granny, then there had to be a way. But in the meantime, well Lan WangJi and Wei WuXian were living closer together, than say the old Nie Sect Leader who had outlived two wives.

They snuck out of the cave and Wei WuXian informed the people that were peeking out of the ramshackle houses, "Wen Ning woke up!"

A cheer went up and then Wei WuXian took back A-Yuan from Granny and said, "Lan Zhan, I'll walk you out."

Lan WangJi grabbed the other hand of A-Yuan so that the toddler was between the two of them. A-Yuan smiled and swung their arms as they walked down the mountain.

"It was good to see you again Lan Zhan, thanks for the news about my Shijie."

"Mn."

"Hope to see you again soo..." Wei WuXian trailed off, "well, probably not, right? If another night hunt brings you by," Wei WuXian took a deep breath and seemed to rally himself, "or if you need any help saving the innocent that others would condemn you for, I'll always help, I'm pretty sure that one cannot become even more condemned, right?"

Wei WuXian ended on a laugh, when the tone of the laugh started to drop into a sadder register Lan WangJi said, "I want to... I will see Wei Ying and A-Yuan again soon. Good-bye."

"Bye Lan Zhan," said Wei WuXian with a smile, though Lan WangJi didn't think that he was believed, Wei WuXian continued once he had lifted the toddler into his arms again, "Say good-bye to gege A-Yuan."

"Bye Rich-gege."

Lan WangJi frowned a bit, Wei WuXian sputtered, "Rich-gege? Than what am I?"

"Xian-gege is Poor-gege."

"Poor-gege! That isn't very filial! Poor-gege and Rich-gege will just not do! Well if you think that he is rich, well they say that the father has the money and the mother has the milk!"

"Mn," agreed Lan WangJi and when A-Yuan had turned towards him he added, "A-Die and A-Niang."

"I don't want to call Xian-gege A-Niang."

Wei WuXian sputtered again then addressed the toddler seriously, "A-Yuan, now Lan Zhan, your A-Die, your Rich-gege needs to go home and we need to go home, so why don't we agree that we will talk about this when we see Lan Zhan again. That will let us think about the best forms of address."

A-Yuan nodded and then reached out his hands towards Lan WangJi. Before Wei WuXian could put the toddler down again, Lan WangJi stepped forward and wrapped the both of them in a brief hug and they finished their good-byes.

Now, that Lan WangJi was no longer in Wei WuXian's company or worried about an unknown danger, he began to wonder how exactly A-Yuan was their—Lan WangJi and Wei WuXian, son. He believed that A-Yuan was their son at the very least in his heart, but now that the distraction that was Wei WuXian was out of sight and hearing the exact logistics of the situation flooded Lan WangJi's mind.

Chapter Text

Chapter 2

On Bichen on the way back to Cloud Recesses Lan WangJi was trying to figure out exactly how Wei WuXian had given birth to little A-Yuan and whether or not the child was his. He returned late to Cloud Recesses and had to report to his uncle on the night hunt, and he hadn't written his report on the hunt yet, which was an abnormality. But the thoughts about A-Yuan wouldn't leave his head and they were quiet distracting.

"Uncle," said Lan WangJi once he had entered his Uncle's study.

"WangJi, you have returned later than expected, was there a problem?"

"No problem," Lan WangJi replied succinctly. he didn't shift but his uncle was family and therefore knew him.

"Is there anything to be discussed?"

"I apologise Uncle I have not written the report on the night hunt," Lan WangJi stopped but Lan QiRen just continued to wait for Lan WangJi to continue, after a moment he did, "I believe I deserve punishment."

"For the late report? Or another matter?"

"For... I am not sure how to speak of it."

"What sort of transgression do you believe you committed?"

"A matter for which I need to reflect for I am unsure if there is a wrong in there that I need further regress."

Lan QiRen nodded once. "Very well, you will kneel outside my door holding two bamboo poles, until I say otherwise. After, you will write your report."

"Yes, thank you Uncle," replied Lan WangJi with a bow. He left the building and found the two lengths of bamboo and then knelt in front of his uncle's door, not too close to obstruct the flow of footfalls in and out of the building and then he raised the two polls to shoulder height and began to reflect. This particular punishment didn't have the same calming effects that handstands had on Lan WangJi. With the handstands the strain in the arm was immediately apparent, with this the strain of just holding the poles aloft built over time from nothing. And so, his thought started in the panicked swirl that they had been, since he left Wei WuXian and A-Yuan. But slowly they had started to settle and sort themselves out. A-Yuan had to also be Lan WangJi's right? The man had said they had shared a nose, so A-Yuan had to be his. But the question was how had A-Yuan come about? He would have to ask— someone— Uncle or Brother— he'd ask Brother after he wrote his report.

But he still had time to reflect, he could parse it out on his own, perhaps it was the forehead ribbon? Wei WuXian had taken it from him at the QishanWen Discussion Conference all those years ago, or perhaps in the Cave of the Xuanwu of Slaughter; the cave seemed to have the most promise since there had been a lot of time in close proximity and a lot of time in pain in sickness that not all of the details were the clearest.

But maybe it had nothing to do with the ribbon. Wei WuXian had gifted Lan WangJi with two male rabbits. Lan WangJi had brought them to the back of the mountain far enough back that it was practically no longer in Cloud Recesses. He had built them a hutch; it had two doors on either of the long ends not centred so it created the illusion of a corridor between the doors and a single large room for living off the long side of the corridor that wasn't against the wall. He did this so if a predator went in one door the rabbits had a chance to run out the opposite door. He had even made it so that the doors opened out and if the rabbits pressed against the door that they would be able to open it themselves. He had also added talismans to the hutch to discourage predators. He got into the habit of opening the hutch in the morning and collecting the two rabbits and returning them to the hutch in the evenings. If Lan WangJi was out on a night hunt or otherwise occupied his brother could be counted on to close the rabbits in for the night. But still some nights no one would be there to close the hutch, but Lan WangJi had always found his rabbits inside in the morning. He had had no such confidence that his rabbits would have been there when he returned after the burning of Cloud Recesses. He had walked slowly to Back Mountain his heart had clenched when he saw the hutch untouched by the fire. He had lifted the roof slowly to see that the hutch was overflowing with fluff. Wide-eyed Lan WangJi had surveyed the pile of rabbits. He found his original rabbits in one of the corners— he knew his rabbits and they knew him, one had lifted up on his hind legs in greeting and the second looked at him briefly before returning to cleaning the small rabbit before him, a baby recently born. He had gone back to get treats for the rabbits and supplies to clean the hutch, when he returned, he gently shooed the rabbits out of the hutch with promises of carrots.  It looked like there had been three litters produced by his original two rabbits the youngest batch was three little bunnies, there was another seven that appear to be a bit older and four that were full grown and one of those a female looked to be pregnant. So, Lan WangJi concluded that if his male rabbits could have fourteen children, then he and Wei WuXian could have one, Yuan was a good name there were a lot of possibilities for Yuan and they were all good.

Lan WangJi still wanted to speak to his brother, he wanted to know how it happened so that he could be more conscious of the decision to give Wei WuXian more children or not. The door to his uncle's rooms opened and a disciple stepped out to tell him that his uncle said he was done. Lan WangJi blinked there was a thin sheet of snow covering him and on the ground covering Cloud Recesses; it would be melted by the end of the next day, snow never stayed so long, especially since it was after Spring Festival. His arms felt the pleasant nub of exertion, he put the rods away, and by the time he made it to the jingshi his arms were fine for writing. The report went quickly, now that his head wasn't swirling with so many thoughts. He cleaned up his desk as the report dried and then headed back to his uncle and turned in the report. Then he walked to the hanshi and his brother.

"Come in," said Lan XiChen at the knock.

Lan WangJi entered with a bow and said, "Brother."

Lan XiChen waved a hand to the other side of the table, without further discussion he set aside his papers and the ink stone and brushes. Meanwhile Lan WangJi sat down and reached for the tea he refilled his brother's cup and paused. Lan XiChen pulled out a second cup and placed it on the table. Once the tea had been poured and they had both had a couple sips, Lan XiChen put down his cup and really took a moment to study his brother. "What is bothering you WangJi?"

Lan WangJi finished his cup slowly, with each sip his ears became more and more red, finally when he tried to sip air, he placed the cup done and took a breath. Lan WangJi opened his mouth and then occupied himself with refilling the cups with more tea. He took another breath as he placed the pot down; it was really not something that one talked about. "How does one get another pregnant?"

The features of Lan XiChen's face seemed to recoil in shock in the place of a whole body motion, he had to take his own bracing sips of tea and then said, "You're the one that found mother's wedding shoes shouldn't you already know that answer?"

That was true, after Lan QiRen had told Lan WangJi that he needed to stop going to his mother's house because she was gone, well he had performed probably his first act of wilful disobedience. He had gone inside the house sure that there would be a note for him and his brother perhaps. He had searched the entire building but there didn't seem to be a scrap of writing in the place and then he had found at the bottom of chest under red robes a pair of matching shoes with writing on the inside. He couldn't read all the words meticulously stitched to the inside of the shoes. So, he brought them to his brother and it wasn't until they had gotten to the end, Lan XiChen reading the character's out loud to Lan WangJi that they learned that it wasn't a message from a mother gone away to her sons, but instead instructions from mother to daughter about what she needed to do on her wedding night and the best way to ensure that she would get pregnant with a son. They had spent a long time in handstands after that and they weren't really punished as Lan QiRen had been so red-faced and unable to say a word.

Lan WangJi amended, "How does one get another male pregnant?"

"I don't think that you can WangJi," replied Lan XiChen there was a small smile on his face as if it was a question, he was more prepared for.

"But my rabbits had children."

"Mmm, but you didn't see them—” Lan XiChen cut himself off, he himself had seen the two male rabbits doing their best to procreate, "... pregnant. They probably acquired their children elsewhere."

They sat for a moment in silent contemplation, when Lan WangJi had finished his cup of tea, he said, "I thank you brother for your wisdom I will meditate on the matter."

Lan XiChen smiled warmly. "I don't have any night hunts at the moment, but maybe you could use some time to travel, help the common people, find your own night hunts, visit... friends," Lan WangJi opened his mouth and Lan XiChen hastened to add, "I'm not saying you should leave right away, but I know how you like travelling around. I'm just saying that even if there are no night hunts when you wish to go out, you can travel on your own, or even take a night hunt, send your report back with a courier and then continue wandering."

"I will take that into consideration, thank you brother," replied Lan WangJi he stood from the table and then bowed slightly, "I wish you a good night."

"And to you WangJi."

Lan WangJi made his way back to the jingshi trying to decide how one would acquire more children, and since Lan XiChen seemed to think that it required more effort or thought that it would not have happened by accident in the Xuanwu of Slaughter's cave.

Chapter Text

Lan WangJi had taken his brother's advice and had stayed in Cloud Recesses for a short time until a request for a night hunt came, one that Lan WangJi could do with a few of the juniors and another senior disciple. Before they left Lan WangJi had Lan XiChen talk with the other senior disciple going with them a guy that Lan WangJi didn't actually know the name of. Once the night hunt had been buttoned up and Lan WangJi had written his report, he gave it to the other disciple and then left the party to strike out on his own deeper into the old QishanWen territory.

He had gone pretty far north not quite as far up as to get to the Nightless City but he was getting there. It was an area that had been firmly in the QishanWen territory. And now there were no sects or only the smallest of sects in charge of the areas. The campaign had not been that long ago and the common people those without the name of Wen but had lived under their umbrella seemed to have mixed feelings about the lone travelling cultivator, but were also happy to point him to a plethora of walking corpses and hauntings, also a result of the Sunshot Campaign. Lan WangJi knew that all of the Wen territory had been divided amongst the remaining sects the largest portions going to the four largest sects. But as his brother had gone and talked to all the smaller sects that had been threatened by QishanWen the smaller sects had also gotten increases to their land, and therein laid the problem. The sects all increased their territories while at the same time the war had decreased their manpower. So these new areas so west that they were practically in the heart of QishanWen were often forgotten or ignored and the common people often couldn't afford to go to their new overseeing sect to ask for help, because the main four sects were so far east.

There was almost no way to tell which sect the area that Lan WangJi was in belonged to, because no cultivators had come through, no one had even told the people who they should go to if they had a problem for a cultivator. Lan WangJi had seen the map with the new lines draw, but when you were actually on the road it was hard to tell exactly where the division was. So, he had decided that if his night hunting became a problem it was best to ask forgiveness afterwards, and sects were often lenient with cultivators accidentally wondering into their territory.

Atop Bichen, Lan WangJi spotted a clearing in the woods that stood out for amongst all the green of the trees there was the subtle gold of Sparks Amidst the Snow— LanlingJin Sect territory then. From the sky it appeared that the Jins that were on the ground were part of some sort of camp, Lan WangJi thought perhaps it could be a mining operation or something similar. Either way it did not appear to be a place that cultivators should be stopping to catch up on the news. Lan WangJi landed in a town that appeared to be closest to the Jin camp, it was to the south of the camp, and Lan WangJi assumed that that that would be the best direction to stop at if the Jins did not want another sect's disciple in their territory.

The town's people and those workers at the inn in the town seemed to be excited to see a cultivator and Lan WangJi carefully asked if the people knew which sect was in charge of the area. No one seemed to know, they knew that it no longer belonged to the Wens but knew that there were still a lot of Wens to the north. Lan WangJi asked about any night hunts in the area, or anything that the people needed help with. Once he was done with the town he left by the east gate as simple as he pleased.

Lan WangJi disappeared into the woods and removed his white outer robe, he didn't want to cause trouble for his brother with Lan XiChen's sworn brother because Lan WangJi had heard from a town that there were some Wens further north, when he had already seen the Jin sect also further north.

Off the road Lan WangJi travelled through the woods until he made it to the mine and the Jins. It was quite clear that it wasn't the Jins or even regular common people that were doing the mining, but instead there were people wearing old, dirty, and tattered remains of the red and white of the QishanWen sect colours.

Lan WangJi was about to leave, there were no problems that he could see, the Wens were not given the nicest or easiest jobs in the world but there was really not anything that Lan WangJi could do because now anything that involved Wens was politic. And the people who were mining could have been Wen soldiers and powerful cultivators. It wasn't like when Wei WuXian had gone to get Wen Ning and found that all those people: the old and the young from a medical branch, a non-combatant branch of the family had been poorly treated. He was about to leave, continue on his wondering, help the people that needed help like Wei WuXian was doing, contemplate how one acquired children, how he could be with Wei WuXian and A-Yuan, how they could be together more. When a bundle caught the attention of Lan WangJi's golden eyes, it was clearly a child, a very young child— Lan WangJi kept watching the workers, taking them all in while keeping a single eye on the person that had a barely visible infant strapped to their back. And he found a second child, older than the first, probably older than A-Yuan even, strapped to a different person's back. He settled in to watch the encampment.

The work day was long and when it was deemed late enough far past the time that all good Lans were in bed the Jins rounded up the Wens, maybe about two dozen in total and herded them into a poorly build shack that had wide spaces between the wall slats and a roof that was roofed with tree frowns that seemed a bit thin to do too much. He watched as a couple of the Jins followed the workers into the shack, he watched as a portion of rice not even large enough for perhaps six adults was brought into the shack and then the Jins locked the door and went away. There was a guard set up but it didn't seem like they were worried about much and were a bit lax in the guard. But it had been two years since the end of the Sunshot Campaign, and they were hidden well in the forest and the mountains, the people that they were set to watch over seemed to be well and truly cowed. Lan WangJi waited, and waited, and waited.

This is what Wei WuXian had been saying, these were the types of people that needed help, he wasn't sure about the adults but two children, they did not deserve to be in such a place, but the Jins had come out practically shining from the Sunshot Campaign if he saved these people, if he killed the Jins as Wei WuXian had done his name would be brought down to nothing.  He didn't care about his name it was not something that he had ever cared about. He cared about doing what was right and helping those that needed it. But even if he could determine that the people here needed saving from the Jins, he was just one man, he could not raise corpses to help him, and he was too far away, in LanlingJin Sect territory to be able to get the people out and away easily.

He decided that he could not do anything without properly assessing the situation. When it seemed that there were no eyes on the shack at the back of the clearing he crept over. The mountain seemed to curve around and the shack was mostly surrounded by the rock creating a natural barrier to the southwest of the clearing.

Back to the rock, Lan WangJi chose a spot where the space between the slats was rather big and then he crept forward and peered in. the space was cramped and it appeared that all the adults had been shackled by the feet to a rod in the centre of the shack and were forced to sit around the area with their backs to the wall, they looked poor and miserable, their meagre ration of rice had been long gone in the corner there was even a couple of corpses. He whispered soft and as kind as he could—thinking about what Wei WuXian had said about his face when it came to talking to children—these people were not children but they had clearly been mistreated, "I am here to help, please do not be alarmed."

There was an inhale of breath; Lan WangJi swore that he could hear the heartbeats inside the shack going rabbit fast. The head closest to him turned and the man's eyes widened a bit and breathed out, "GusuLan."

"Yes, is there a way I can get inside without any of your guards seeing?"

Someone on the opposite side of the shack whispered back, "The roof isn't very solid."

Lan WangJi nodded and snuck back around the hut and watch the guards for a moment before he leapt up to the roof, he mentally prepared himself to jump down quickly or onto Bichen if the poorly made structure wouldn't hold his weight, but it did. Lan WangJi could then see that most of that which should have been proper thatching was just lain on the roof and he could easily lift it off and jump down inside.

He landed in the barely empty space in the hut, a foot to either side of the bar and he looked around at the people. They seemed a bit weary of him and they didn't look like much like the soldiers Lan WangJi had met on the battlefield. "Were you cultivators during the war?"

"Does it make a difference?" said a women she had a nasty and infected looking wound that just barely missed her eyeball and covered a bit of her ear as well, it was not a pretty wound it seemed to expose more of her eyeball than normal and that made it red and irritated.

In that moment, it didn't it really, really didn't matter. Soldiers were just following orders; even if the woman had been a solider there were too many people who looked like they might have been too old to have fought in the war. "Have you been here since the end of the Sunshot Campaign?"

"Almost," said an older man, "they used to bring in people to increase the workforce, but there hasn't been anyone new in a while, the sun has truly been shot now." the man ended with a deprecating and low laugh.

"The children," said Lan WangJi, not really sure what he should be asking.

"Can you take them with you!" said a person, though Lan WangJi couldn't tell who said it; and yes the GusuLan Sect's motto was 'be righteous' but these people didn't know who he was or that he was trustworthy, why would they just hand him children?—and then it hit him— they all assumed that they were going to die in this mine and a sliver of a chance for the children was better than no chance at all.

Lan WangJi must have been silent for too long as the woman holding the infant added, "We cannot feed her, we soak a corner of the blanket in the morning's rice water and try to get her to suckle it but, that is nothing for a baby to live on, she needs milk."

"Her mother?" The women looked over towards the corpses in the corner, Lan WangJi followed her gaze and then was filled with revolution the corpse didn't look very old and the bundle that was an all too quiet and small baby was worrisome. "How old is she?"

"Three days."

"Maybe four," added someone else, "Her mother gave birth at night and died."

That was even worse, Lan WangJi asked "Father?"

"There is no father." it was said with a note of finality in a tone that spoke of much more and much worse. So there went Lan WangJi's hope that she hadn't been at the mine for long.

"Would she have any other family I could take her to?"

"Her mother was Wen Nuan, and there are no more Wens."

Lan WangJi nodded, "Does she have a name?"

"No."

"I will take her... do you want me to take both children?"

"Yes, take Wen Gan too."

"Which Gan is it?" Lan WangJi asked, and then added, "And her family?"

"Gan like dawn, she is the daughter of Wen Gao and Yu Mei; they are dead."

Someone else added, "I think it is the Yu like MeishanYu, I don't know if Yu Mei was from Meishan but A-Gan's parents were strong cultivators and were killed early on. She’s about four now."

Lan WangJi nodded. "I will see that I find her some family and I have a good family in mind for the baby, but I need a way to carry the both of them on my sword."

The tattered blanket sling was surrendered and the people in the shack talked Lan WangJi in how to wrap it around himself and how to get little A-Gan on and off his back. While this was happening someone was speaking to the toddler, they told her that she needed to be good for the 'nice man' to say that her name is 'A-Gan' only.

Toddler on his back, and infant in his arms, Lan WangJi looked at the men and women shackled. "I will bring them as far as I can from this place and bring them to a physician, and then I will see if I can get you all out of here. I don't know how much hope I can give you... I don't know what else to do at the moment."

"Not having to worry about the children will lift a great burden from us. They wouldn't give us food for the baby and they wouldn't let us leave her behind to die either."

There was a lot in that statement, too much really. "Will... there be... problems, when the children are found missing?"

"When someone dies they have to stay in here for eight days, then we are the ones who remove the bodies, they won't notice there are less bodies for a while or at all."

Lan WangJi looked in the corner where the corpses that were less than eight days old were stacked, there were three there, it was enough that the survivors could have put the children under the other bodies upon death. Lan WangJi almost asked why the corpses had to stay for eight days and then he realised why. Now that he was looking at them he could feel the resentful energy, but if a corpse didn't rise within seven days then it probably wouldn't be rising, and these corpses knew that they would be left there and they probably wouldn't want to hurt their own family.

There had been some of the Wens peering out of the gaps in the slats of the shack looking for the presence of the guards, one turned around and broke through Lan WangJi's thoughts and he informed, "It looks like there are no guards in the area at the moment, you should leave."

"I will leave," replied Lan WangJi he gave them a brief bow that was awkward with his charges and then he jumped out of the hole in the roof. Lan WangJi paused on the roof and surveyed the area for a moment, when no alarm was raised, he replaced the branches that had made the poor roof and then he jumped back to the ground. Lan WangJi unsheathed Bichen and told it to keep any sort of glare down then thought better of it as cast the sword obscuring charm. He mounted his sword, Bichen was made for strength and stability; it was a sword made to rescue people. Lan WangJi checked the state of the guards once more and then lifted into the air and made his way over the barrier mountains to the south. He then pointed Bichen south-southeast in the direction of Yiling as the sword flies from his current position and flew.

He landed in a city that wasn't Yiling and wasn't too far from a remote mountain at dawn, and he roused the physician from his morning preparation. "The master will not open yet."

"I found a toddler and an infant by the corpse of their mother three days dead in the mountain pass," said Lan WangJi through the door. He wasn't even sure that the attendant had gone to their master before they had opened the door and ushered in Lan WangJi and the children.

The infant was taken from his arms, and almost immediately someone was sent out to see if they could find someone to wet nurse. A-Gan was taken from Lan WangJi's back and he was ushered to the side as the doctor assessed the children. Someone brought him breakfast and then after that Lan WangJi settled in to meditate and recharge.

The children would most likely live. Lan WangJi nodded to the doctor. "Thank you for your help, may I press upon your good will further and ask you watch these children while I return to the pass and see if I can find more of their family," the physician looked at Lan WangJi like he might refuse so Lan WangJi added, "I will pay for their room and board and medical expenses for two weeks, even if I am able to return and retrieve them earlier."

That had the physician agreeing though he had to make a similar agreement with the lady who would nurse the infant. Once that was done Lan WangJi took note of the physicians direction and then flew north on Bichen.

As he flew a plan formed in his mind. The problem was that it was the LanlingJin Sect again. Lan WangJi couldn’t go and get Wei WuXian to help him save the people. The first time, while the Jins had wanted Wei WuXian to answer for the lives of the guards at Qiongqi, they could be tempered by the fact that there was a good report between the YunmengJiang Sect Leader, Wei WuXian, Wen Qing, and Wen Ning; but the people at the mine were not known people to anyone as far south as Yiling. Usually in these type of situations Lan WangJi would go to his brother or his uncle, someone else from the GusuLan Sect, someone whose righteousness Lan WangJi could be assured of. But politics were in the way. Lan XiChen was sworn brothers with Jin Guangyao and that, that didn't actually make anything better. Jin Guangshan had dallied in the Sunshot Campaign and committed against the Wens late, add to the fact that it was one of Jin Guangshan's illegitimate sons that had killed Wen Ruohan; well it put the LanlingJin Sect above the others; in terms of manpower after the war and wealth. despite the fact that the YunmengJiang and LanlingJin sects were allied through marriage and the next heir was most probably already growing in the Young Madam Jin’s belly, and the tight alliance of GusuLan, QingheNie, and LanlingJin being sworn brothers; Wei WuXian had been correct about LanlingJin Sect trying to replace the QishanWen Sect at the top. And no one could stop them, a couple years was just not enough time for sects like YunmengJiang and GusuLan to rebuild their numbers or even the skill level of those that were lost in the war. So, Lan WangJi doubted that he could get his sect behind him to save some Wens and he couldn't ask Wei WuXian to come this far north, their disappearance would probably be blamed on him anyways. If Lan WangJi wanted to save these people he needed to save them himself, and for the first time in his life he wished that the GusuLan Sect didn't wear white, for it was all too noticeable, but he was already forming plans in his head, it would be a lot of work, but he thinks he can save more of the Wens, and maybe Wei WuXian would see that he understood at least that portion of the path he had chosen for himself.

He had gone to that town near the mine, dressed as a cultivator from GusuLan all white and clouds, and forehead ribbon. He appeared in his usual visage in a village that was to the north east of the village south of the mine. He took a couple night hunts in the area and then left the city from the eastern gate. He went to some larger cities without his whites and picked up even darker less descript clothing. He took out his more elaborate hair decoration and tied his hair with a ribbon like Wei WuXian did. Dressed in boring brown he went to a different city and bought a couple robes. After, he was seen in a more remote town in white. After that he was dressed in brown buying clothes for his sister. Then it was back to white.

He had two separate paths as a representative of GusuLan he travelled east for a while straddling QingheNie and LanlingJin territories before turning back south, dressed more commonly he stuck to large cities and in the guise the LanlingJin cultivators in the street didn't even seem to realise that he was a fellow cultivator let alone HanGuang-Jun despite Bichen at his side and his forehead ribbon. The supply path brought him west.

West of the mine Lan WangJi bought an ox cart and an ox. He drove it south out of the city and then once he had found his way on more remote roads moved east. As he came to cities he would buy vegetables and rice in small amounts and let it accumulate in the cart. occasionally he would hide the cart in the underbrush off of the road, so he could  fly and make a brief appearance in white in some easterly city then he would return, he traded the ox out a couple times for a fresh one. Finally he had the cart in a position by the foot of a remote mountain that may have a village or two dotting it, and it was at least a couple mountains from the mine, but it was only ten minutes by sword.

Once it was dark enough Lan WangJi returned to the mine and landed on the roof, he shifted the frowns and whispered, "I have returned." no one spoke, but he could hear the people shift around, so Lan WangJi gingerly jumped down.

"You have returned," said someone when they could see that it was indeed Lan WangJi.

"Do the guards ever check on you at night?" the golden-eyed man asked.

The people in the shack shook their heads, someone added, "Not unless we make noise."

"Then we should be quiet.” I have new robes for you, you will need to leave the QishanWen robes behind, I do not know how well they will fit," Lan WangJi said as he took out a Qiankun pouch and began to pull out the plain robes that he had purchased, and handed them out to the people.

"We are still shackled," said one of the Wens with a look that said that he believed that Lan WangJi was crazy.

"I need to look at the lock first, if I need to use my sword then use the robes to cover the cracks in the walls as to block the sword glare," Lan WangJi answered.

Everyone had shackles around their ankles, the shackles had rings on them and there was a hobbling chain connecting the shackles together that allowed the people to walk but not run; now that he looked Lan WangJi could see that there were small locks keeping the chain to the rings of the shackles, probably so their captives could easily remove the chains and replace them with ones of different lengths as need be. There was then a thicker chain that went around the room through the rings on everyone's shackles and rings set into the central bar, this was also secured by a lock. The shackle locks were small and didn't look sturdy at all. Lan WangJi bent down and looked at the lock of the nearest man and said, "Don't speak."

Lan WangJi gave the small lock a swift jerk and it opened. There was an almost audible collective inhale, then the infamous GusuLan arm strength was put to use as the locks were removed from each of the prisoners. Hope bloomed in the eyes of the people in the room and a sense of rightness settled in Lan WangJi's chest, this is what helping people meant sometimes. It is what Wei WuXian had realised before the rest of them. The lock on the larger chain was sturdier. They did their best to cover the cracks in the walls and with the robes and then trying to keep the glare down Lan WangJi struck the lock with Bichen. As soon as the lock broke the robes were down and the prisoners peered out to see it the breaking of the lock had been heard by their jailers.

The prisoners decided that the women should be taken out first. The spare clothes were sorted and Lan WangJi took the women out through the roof one at a time, he watched as they ran towards the mountain to make sure they were not spotted. Inside the men were changing clothes. Lan WangJi saw that the women had skirted around some darker spot on the ground. He focused on the area and could feel a concentration of resentful energy, Lan WangJi stepped closer to see but not in a way to be improper towards the ladies. It was an open mass grave pit half filled with bodies in what moonlight there was he could see bone peeking through from some of the bodies further down. Lan WangJi felt a wave of regret wash over him; for not finding the place earlier and for not having the time to give these people a proper burial.

Lan WangJi went back to the shack and tapped gently on the side, a voice inside replied, “We’re ready.”

The cultivator jumped back into the shack and got the men out. When the last was outside he said, “The women went to change on the mountain, go in that direction, I’m going to check that we left nothing behind.”

The men went towards the mountain and Lan WangJi went back inside. There was a single corpse in the corner, a pile of rags with the Wen flame design, and the locks and chains. He took the latter and wrapped them in the rags then he turned to the corpse. “I am sorry I had not returned in time to save you, but I will get the remainder of your family away safe.”

Lan WangJi paused he remembered that lesson at Cloud Recesses when Wei WuXian had been kicked out. Now, in this situation, perhaps he had been right. Lan WangJi didn’t know how Wei WuXian controlled corpses, or how he woke them up or how to even manipulate the resentful energy that was already in the air. “You can wake up now, take your revenge.”

The corpse didn’t move and if it did later Lan WangJi knew it would be a corpse that the junior disciples could take care of, let alone the Jin Sect members that were already at the mine.

Bundle in hand, Lan WangJi left the shack he made his way past the pit and to the mountain where the short trees and shrubbery seemed to have grown thicker. “Your old clothes,” Lan WangJi whispered into the night. There was a rustle and then a lone figure came forward with a bundle in his arms. Lan WangJi took the clothes and added, “Wait.”

He took all the cast offs and put them down by the pit. Golden eyes studied the lay of the bodies for a minute, and then he jumped down into the pit and shifted some of the bodies around. He collected the cast offs and put them in the pit and then he shifted the bodies back. He stood on the edge of the pit and looked at the corpses of the Wens that had been worked to death or murdered and he addressed them. "I apologise for not being able to give you rest, but I have saved those that I could, and I disturbed what peace you may have found in such a place to hide the evidence of the flight of the remaining Wens. We are leaving now, so any revenge you may seek will no longer have consequences that are delivered on your remaining relatives."

Lan WangJi sketched a path up the mountain for those he had rescued to follow and then he took the first person on his sword and brought her to the waiting ox cart. He showed her the drinking water and the fruit that didn't need to be cooked and went back for the others. One by one he brought the Wens over the mountain and to the ox cart. When everyone was in the cart Lan WangJi sat in the driver's seat and nudged the ox back onto the road. They travelled all night and into the day, one of the Wens offered to drive so that Lan WangJi could rest and he did do that after he showed them a map and his projected route to Yiling. The next night Lan WangJi took out Bichen and planned to strike the shackles from the ex-prisoner’s ankles.

It was decided that it would be safer to know how obvious the action was so someone stayed where they were and then the cart continued on around a bend and then another person ran ahead and around another bend. An older man who had one lame leg already offered to go first, as if Lan WangJi made a mistake his leg would not be as worse off as one of the others. Lan WangJi didn't make a mistake, and the cuff was struck off, Bichen felt pleased as Lan WangJi took off the second shackle. He paid attention to the ox to see if the noise would make the creature shy, it didn't. They didn't want to leave a trail of shackles so the cuffs were hidden under a sack of rice and then they waited for their hind most look out to catch them up, then they continued on with the cart.

When they reached the second look out they began to discuss what they were going to do. "I could see a faint flash of light and I could hear the strike." The second look out agreed.

Someone else suggested, "Would the sword glare be less noticeable in the daytime?"

"We can test it in the morning," concluded Lan WangJi, then he added, "I will need to leave soon so that I am seen in another direction, to allay suspicion that it was I that freed you. You should be able to follow the map to the Yiling area."

"Why there?"

"There is a small community of Wens living there, protected."

One of the women asked with a suspicious tone, "Doing what?"

"Living, farming, it is a simple community," answered Lan WangJi.

One of the younger women spoke up, "Can I just go back to my family? My husband is dead; I should be able to return to my father’s home."

"Mn," agreed Lan WangJi he took the map and looked at it for a moment and then added, "Yiling will be a safe place. I say that we check anyone who has family along this route to Yiling and then anyone who does not have relatives on this path we can take you to where you need to go after Yiling."

The map was passed around and the young widow was happy to see that her father's home was just out of the way, a simple side trip to take by sword. There was about another half a dozen people with family along the road. When the sun began to rise, Lan WangJi removed the cuffs on the next volunteer. The glare of the sword was less noticeable in the morning light. A strange bird call-like sound was decided on and then look outs fore and aft were set, to warn if any other travellers appeared on the road and then in the back of the cart Lan WangJi took off as many cuffs as he could. Everyone was cuff free by the next morning and they stopped long enough so that everyone could take a quick bath in a frigid stream. The day after Lan WangJi left the Wens with the cart to make their way. He left them with some GusuLan flares and some money. He left them with the story that they were villagers from a remote mountain pass hamlet and their home had been destroyed by raiders. Lan WangJi took the shackles and left them in the forest northeast of the mine and then used a lot of energy to make it to his next sighting in white by sunrise.

After Lan WangJi returned to the physician to see the children, they were both still alive that made Lan WangJi happy. "Did you find their family?"

"Mn," Lan WangJi affirmed, and then elaborated, "they were from a village deep in the mountains, raiders destroyed their homes, I am currently helping with the clean-up there are some plans for the children's family to come down the mountain and go and live with relatives that live south of here. There is no nursing mother from the village, so I will need to bring back something that can be used for the infant. If we could trouble you for a time the family should be able to reach this city in a week, we can pick up the children then or I can take them back now."

"We can keep the children for another week," replied the physician.

"I thank your generosity and kind heart."

Lan WangJi kept hoping around. He was there when they had arrived at the first city that one of the women had relatives in. she was nervous about talking to her sister and her sister's husband, so Lan WangJi dressed in his blue robe and looking more the cultivator that he was.

Lan WangJi didn't really like to travel with people, they generally wanted to talk, or gossip, and didn't seem to understand Lan WangJi when he did try to express himself. He was generally fine with this sort of interactions the words and conversations needed for a night hunt but still the words were hard, and there always seemed to be more needed then he wanted to say. In those moments he thought of Wei WuXian and his easy speech. He wanted to travel with Wei WuXian and their children of course. But at that moment he had to talk to a women's sister.

There was a few of the other Wens that were worried that their relatives wouldn't take kindly to them. So, Lan WangJi went up to the house and asked to speak of the lady of the house about a matter concerning her sister. It was something that he had to work on because as it had been with A-Yuan the women upon seeing him burst into tears.

Her husband rushed into the room at the sound and made a hasty bow to Lan WangJi. "I'm sorry we have been looking for my wife's sister for two years. We know that her husband was a Wen of QishanWen Sect, but they were just artisans, they had nothing to do with the fighting, so we had hope that they had just been... displaced somewhere." the man turned to his wife and gathered her in his arms and added for her benefit, "Take heart Wife, at least we know now, and we can lay her to rest in the ancestral hall."

"She is not dead," returned Lan WangJi and that started a fresh round of tears, "I have brought her here."

He had hoped that his words would have caused the women to calm but instead she tore herself from her husband’s arms and threw herself at Lan WangJi who froze in shock. "Where is she? You said you brought her, but she is not here!"

He couldn't do this; he really couldn't so the moment that the man had pried his wife from Lan WangJi, the HanGuang-Jun practically bolted for the door, because clearly his words were not good enough for the situation. He went a couple streets away found the young widow in question and brought her back to her sister's house. He heard his ex-charge say that she was worried that they would not want her for the name her husband carried and Lan WangJi tried to slip out when more tears sprung from eyes.

The young man caught him before he left the house. "Wait; let me pay you as a thank you for finding my sister-in-law."

"No need,” Lan WangJi replied.

"I insist," said the young man and he shoved a small money pouch into Lan WangJi's hands. Lan WangJi gave the man a bow, and thankfully left the home.

Not everyone was lucky; a man who wasn't even a cultivator had wanted to see about returning to his mother's family. when Lan WangJi got to the door a man answered the door and once Lan WangJi made his enquiries the man had spat on the ground and sneered, "I don't want the ashes of that Wen-dog, scattered his ashes I don't care!"

The other young lady that wanted to return to her father's family if she was able to had also been quite nervous as the girl before her; as she had not had such a kind father. That man had also spat and cursed the Wen-dogs. But then there was one man, he had a good golden core, not too strong or weak and he was at an age that Lan WangJi was sure that the man must have been a soldier, but that was the thing with soldiers they often were not doing what they wanted to do but what their generals wanted. He was a Wen by birth and his mother's sister embraced him with tears in her eyes. So, it went to show that humans came in all sorts. 

They finally made it to the city with the babies. The physician gave them a clay bottle that was shaped sort of like a boat with a nipple that they needed to tie a bit of cloth around for the infant to suckle on. Lan WangJi also bought a goat to bring with them so that they didn't need to worry about milk. The physician offered to look over the other survivors from the mountain village for a price of course but they all felt that they were healthy enough to make it to Yiling, so they declined. They were finally south enough that Lan WangJi felt that he no longer needed to make appearances in places that he really wasn't and instead flew on Bichen to MeishanYu to get a look at their family registries and ask around to see if their A-Gan had maternal relatives among that clan.

The answer surprised Lan WangJi, and on his way back to his charges he tried to figure out the best way to approach A-Gan's family. He decided since he had proven that he was not nearly as good with his words as others were and clearly his skills had not improved as he had sounded out other relatives of the Wens that he needed help—diplomatic help.

Lan WangJi tied A-Gan to his back and then flew to Cloud Recesses. He was in luck as his brother was home. He ignored the looks he got for the child on his back and he was particularly happy that A-Gan had learned when best to stay quiet. Outside of the hanshi Lan WangJi untied the girl and let her to her feet, and then he took her hand and knocked.

When he was bid to enter he slid the door open and said, "Brother," with a bow.

"WangJi," returned Lan XiChen, "And who is this?"

"This is A-Gan I was too late to save her mother, Yu Mei of MeishanYu when she fell prey on a night hunt gone wrong."

The reaction was immediate and Lan WangJi could see his brother filling with compassion for little A-Gan, Lan XiChen questioned nonetheless, "Why did you bring her here? You should have brought her to MeishanYu to find her father's family or her closest relative."

"I did, she is the daughter of the cousin of Sect Leader Jiang’s mother."

There was silence, one that Lan WangJi knew his brother would be able to read, one he knew his brother would question. "And her father's family WangJi, surely it cannot be all that bad, she is an innocent. We will certainly make sure that she will go to the best place possible."

"Her father is a Wen Gao."

"I see, yes well... Sect Leader Jiang you said? And what did MeishanYu say about that?"

"Sect Leader Jiang should have an heir, but if he doesn't want to take her in she is welcome in Meishan."

There was another considering silence. "We should keep this as quiet as possible, I believe. Are you tired? Could you fly to Lotus Pier now? I will carry young A-Gan of course."

"I can fly," replied Lan WangJi. Lan XiChen nodded and went out quickly to inform their uncle that he had urgent business with YunmengJiang and then Lan WangJi helped to tie the girl to Lan XiChen's back after he had charmed a smile from the girl, a bright smile on his own face, which made the girl look between the brothers who looked so similar but kept completely different facial expressions.

The flight to Lotus Pier didn't take long, especially compared to all the flights that Lan WangJi had been taking recently. When they landed and let A-Gan down she immediately clung to Lan XiChen as the kind and familiar, for unlike Cloud Recesses Lotus Pier was louder. Lan XiChen knelt down and swept the girl into his arms and walked into Lotus Pier.

"There is an urgent matter we need to speak to Sect Leader Jiang about, could you please get him for us?" said Lan XiChen to one of the disciples that had been on guard by the gate.

A page ran away further into the complex as the Twin Jades of GusuLan were led into a receiving hall. Jiang WanYin met them there and they all bowed in greeting though Lan XiChen's bow was awkward as A-Gan had tightened her hold on his neck. Once Jiang WanYin saw that there was a child in Lan XiChen's arms his whole demeanour went from tense preparing for a fight mode to a more relaxed (though annoyed) preparing for politics posture.

"Is this a discussion best done in my office?"

"It is," replied Lan XiChen.

They followed the YunmengJiang Sect Leader through the halls of the rebuilt Lotus Pier to his office. Lan XiChen noted that while the general structure of Lotus Pier appeared as it had before the burning; however, Jiang WanYin's office was not in the same place as Jiang FengMian's office had been in.

They settled into the office and Jiang WanYin made the customary offer of tea, which was politely turned down. they sat in the room in silence for a moment Lan XiChen sitting before the desk with the young girl on his lap and Lan WangJi stood in the corner watching and poised to defend the girl if need be.

Lan XiChen spoke, "While night hunting my brother saved this little girl, though he was unable to save her mother."

Jiang WanYin nodded sagely and asked the question that didn't really need to be asked, "And why have you brought her to me?"

"She is a cousin to your late mother Madam Yu; we were hoping you would take her in."

Dark eyes went wide; they had been focused on Lan XiChen but at those words his eyes whipped to the little girl, taking in her features to see if he could find the family resemblance. "How old is she? What’s her name?"

Lan XiChen shifted to look at his brother. "She is four years old, born April 6th."

The elder brother added in after he saw the nod from Jiang WanYin, though the sect leader didn't take his attention from the four year-old, "Her name is Wen Gan."

"Like purple?" asked Jiang WanYin.

"Gan as in dawn," returned Lan WangJi.

"Wait," said Jiang WanYin pulling his eyes from the child to look at the two brothers in his office, "did you say Wen?"!

"Yes."

"What did MeishanYu say about that?"

Lan WangJi answered, "She is a daughter of MeishanYu."

"Would you like to take her into your family?" asked Lan XiChen, "She would be a dawn river."

Jiang WanYin stared back at the girl for a long time. "What would I tell people?"

"Whatever you want to tell them. She is of MeishanYu no matter her father's family, no one would question you taking in an orphan of your mother's family and making her of your family."

"Yes, you are quite right," replied Jiang WanYin. He moved around his desk and bent down in front of the little girl who had spent most of the time hiding her face in Lan XiChen's robes. "Hello A-Gan, my name is Jiang Cheng, courtesy name Jiang WanYin. Your mother was a cousin to mine, and I would be very happy to welcome you into my family."

The girl still acted shy but turned to take a look at Jiang WanYin. Lan WangJi watched the scene play out until the girl held out her arms and Lan XiChen helped to lift the girl into Jiang WanYin's arms. At that moment, Lan WangJi knew that A-Gan would be safe and he spoke up, "I will leave first," he bowed, "Sect Leader Jiang, Brother."

Lan WangJi was happy with the outcome and he had learned a lot from his brother from the experience. He left Lotus Pier heading east but then when he was out of sight he turned north and west. As he flew back to the Wens he realised that he had been lying pretty constantly since he had spied the mine from the sky. He had even told his brother, his brother! A lie about the origins of little A-Gan while within Cloud Recesses. Wei WuXian may have been correct about more things than Lan WangJi had realised. He may not want to or think it was a good idea to throw away all the rules and be as wild as Wei WuXian could surely be, but there was clearly a time and a place for things such as deception. A four year-old didn't deserve to be starving and working in a mine, she deserved to be happy with family without being a huge political upheaval. He wondered if there would be a way to bring the Jins down for the work conditions of the mine and surely what had been the conditions at Qiongqi Pass. And he knew that Wei WuXian was doing his best to protect the Wens the ones that didn't deserve the treatment they had received, and Lan WangJi knew that Wei WuXian would take in these new people, but Wen Gan—A-Gan—now, (hopefully) Jiang Gan, gave Lan WangJi a hope that maybe he could help Wei WuXian by helping to find family for the Wens if they could disappear into the crowd then there would be less people that needed to be protected in the Burial Mounds and Wei WuXian would not need to worry so, and their family could be in closer quarters.

During the remaining trek to Yiling, Lan WangJi took three people by sword to see their relatives and only had to bring one back to the cart. The time he spent on the road with the Wens Lan WangJi cared for the infant Wen, who had become a more active child since Lan WangJi had first held her.

When they made it to the base of the Burial Mounds the Wens got nervous at the location and the line of corpses. Lan WangJi just looked out at the mountain and said, "Trust me."

On the Burial Mounds Wei WuXian was happily burying little A-Yuan amongst the radishes when he felt the disturbance at the base of the mountain. It seemed like a larger delegation then the usual sycophants so he called for Wen Ning and then checked that he had Chengqing with him and then went back to playing half distractedly with A-Yuan. 

There was a spot on the mounds where the branches were thin and you could easily see down, but people at the bottom could not easily see up. They had a bow and some arrows in that spot. And Wei WuXian liked to send Wen Ning as their next best archer so he could keep his hands free in case he needed to quickly play Chengqing. Wei WuXian knew that Wen Qing hated the arrangement, but Wen Ning had a golden core and was capable.

It didn't seem like a long time when Wei WuXian could tell that there were people walking up the paths of the Burial Mounds. He knew that Wen Ning was at their head but he was unsure of their context. He placed a hand gently on A-Yuan's head to keep him still and said, "Someone is coming, Granny!"

Everyone in the area stopped and turned in the same direction as Wei WuXian was looking. Granny came over and picked up A-Yuan from the radish patch and started to walk away and towards the Demon Slaughtering Cave. Before she could get too far a figure in white appeared between the trees and Wei WuXian called out, "Lan Zhan?"

Granny paused and turned to look at the GusuLan cultivator coming up the hill, to the side they could also see Wen Ning; though they couldn't gauge the situation based on his expression his demeanour seemed calm.

Lan WangJi walked up without a word to Wei WuXian and pressed the bundle that was in his hands into Wei WuXian's stomach and he held still until Wei WuXian's hands let go of Chengqing, still at his waist, and came up to support the bundle. Around them the people that had come up with Lan WangJi and the people of the Burial Mounds started to call out to each other in recognition.

Wei WuXian looked around at the Wens and then down at his hands and there he saw that an infant had been pressed into his stomach, "Lan Zhan what is this?"

"A daughter."

Wei WuXian laughed and completely took the girl from Lan WangJi he lifted her up and more securely into his arms, cradling the small girl in the crook of his arm. "A daughter, huh? And what is her name? Wen...?"

"No name. Her mother Wen Nuan died in childbirth."

Wei WuXian's dark-grey eyes narrowed as they looked back up into Lan WangJi''s golden eyes. "Lan Zhan where did you find these Wens?"

"Working in a mine in the north... under the purview of LanlingJin Sect."

The infant was practically shoved back into Lan WangJi's arms and they moved to immediately cradle the precious bundle. Wei WuXian's hand went down to Chengqing in a white-knuckled grip. "What did they do? What did you do to get these people out?"

"You know what they did, Wei Ying. I stole these people from the Jins in the night... I told the corpses of those I could not save that their family was safe that they were free to get revenge. I do not know if they rose later to do so or not."

Wei WuXian laughed the tension through his body melting away. "And you couldn't send us a warning so we could have started on building more houses?"

"I did not want people to know I took the Wens and was bringing them here," replied Lan WangJi, Wei WuXian studied the taller's face for a moment and understood that he had not wanted to bring the anger of the Jins onto Wei WuXian, when it hadn't even been Wei WuXian's decision to save the people from the mine. And that Lan WangJi hadn't wanted to draw more attention to a travelling party of people going south.

The girl made a small cooing sound and that brought Wei WuXian's attention back to her. "So, Lan Zhan you gave me a daughter, so does that mean I need to name her."

Lan WangJi's heart swelled. "Mn."

"Well, you rescued her, and you said she had no name so she should be a Lan, is that all right?"

"Mn."

Wei WuXian took back the Lan baby and looked at her, “Lan... Lan... Lan... hmm... Lan Lian, a little blue lotus, how does that sound?"

"Perfect," answered Lan WangJi and Wei WuXian's smile brightened up the entire Burial Mounds.

"Wait a moment, here hold A-Lian again," said Wei WuXian as he handed Lan Lian back to Lan WangJi then he turned and called, "A-Yuan come here, you need to show your A-Die, your Rich-gege how well you can grow."

the toddler barrelled into Wei WuXian's leg as if he had been impatiently waiting for the call and then he smiled up at Lan WangJi and said, "Rich-gege!"

Lan WangJi smiled down at the child and then watched as he sat down in the radish patch and started to cover his legs with dirt. Wei WuXian smiled at the child and then patted the dirt to pack it around the toddler's legs, "A-Yuan tell Lan Zhan why we are planting A-Yuan."

"So I will grow taller and I can get some brothers and sisters!" A-Yuan said excitedly displacing some of the dirt.

Wei WuXian carefully put the dirt back in its place on the toddler and then he agreed with the young boy, "That is correct and today all of our hard work has paid off," Wei WuXian motioned and waited until he could see that Lan WangJi had bent down to the boy's level before he continued, "this here is Lan Lian, she is your little sister, you're a big brother now."

The boy's eyes went wide. "A big brother?"

"That's right and if you sit still and hold out your arms and are very careful then you can hold your Lian-meimei, Yuan-gege," added Wei WuXian.

In an enraptured daze A-Yuan put out his hands and Lan WangJi carefully placed little Lan Lian in his arms and made sure that the hold and the girl's head was secure. Wen Qing and Wen Ning came over and looked at the scene in their radish patch. Wen Qing remarked, "So, you were finally able to grow a child Wei WuXian."

"Yes, we named her Lan Lian, her... uhh..." began Wei WuXian.

Wen Qing nodded. "Yes I already heard the story of poor Wen Nuan... I think Lan Lian is a good name; it will do the child good. But we don't have a way to feed her."

"I have bottles and there is a goat with the ox cart and the rest of our supplies at the bottom of the hill," replied Lan WangJi.

Wen Qing nodded and then bent down and addressed A-Yuan, "Here let Auntie look at your little sister A-Yuan we need to make sure she is healthy after her long journey here, you can hold her later."

Once Lan Lian was safely in Wen Qing's arms Lan WangJi stood up and pulled out a large coin purse and placed it in Wei WuXian's hands. "What is this? We aren't taking your money Lan Zhan."

"There had been more Wens’ but they wanted to go live with relatives instead, this was the reward money for saving them as dictated by their remaining family members. It should be used to help more Wens’," replied Lan WangJi.

"Their families? Like maternal families?" asked Wei WuXian taking the money.

"Mn."

"And their families were fine with their connection to QishanWen?" asked Wen Qing.

"Some, they all thought I was bringing them the remains of their relatives. They either cried or cursed."

"I hadn't thought of doing that, A-Ning and I well we were Wens on both sides, distant branches of the Sect, nothing improper, we only knew it because Wen RuoHan liked to have talent in his family tree so that he could call on it whenever such skills were needed."

"If I had everyone's name I could make inquiries about their relatives," offered Lan WangJi, Wei WuXian stiffened minutely and Lan WangJi added, "only if they want."

"They are safe here," said Wei WuXian.

Lan WangJi nodded. "We will keep them safe here, but you must know that there are many Sect leaders claiming that the Burial Mounds should be destroyed."

"It is a good idea; you and Lan WangJi have already saved so many Wens, Wei WuXian. Now, they should have a chance to see their families that are still alive." Wen Qing placed Lan Lian back in Wei WuXian's arms and then with a sparkle of mirth in her eyes she added, "Imagine, the look on those Sect Leader's faces when they come looking for the Yiling Patriarch and instead find Xian-mama."

Wei WuXian frowned and Wen Qing laughed and Lan WangJi felt light and happy, they had a son and a daughter now.

Chapter Text

Sometimes Wen Qing wondered if she disliked boys so much because she knew how stupid they were or that if she disliked them first and then their stupidity just compounded her resolve. As a renowned healer the stupidity of men was often brought to the forefront. Though to be honest, Wen Qing despite her unmarried status and relatively young age she had helped mothers with the best way to word the explanation of the marriage bed, to their daughters who were about to be wed. So, really when it came to health everyone could be stupid. She was a firm believer in people being properly educated in what was the ways of the world before it became a necessity, before in haste someone got hurt and then had to come and have an even more embarrassing conversation with her. It appeared that Wen Qing's lot in life was to suffer fools—and no one was more foolish than Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi. A dead fish could see that they were desperately in love, but the two of them, could not see it! For Lan WangJi he just couldn't see it in Wei WuXian, probably didn't know how to word it, or say it. But Wei WuXian was that dead fish— well, no the dead fish knew they were in love— he was denser than the dead, he was a rock one that could not see his or other feelings. Despite naming a girl into the Lan lineage, despite giving his future nephew the courtesy name that contained a Lan that sounded like the Lan of the love of his life.

But no matter how stupid Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi were, Wen Qing would suffer them, for they had saved the lives of her family. Before Lan WangJi had left little Lan Lian with them on the Burial Mounds he had gone down to Yiling and found and paid for boarding for the goat and the ox. he had taken Wen Ning with him. and as much as Wen Qing hated that her brother was dragged around and in possible danger. she had to admit that he had the disposition that meant a mosquito wouldn't fear him. The agreement was struck; the farmer could use the ox and cart as he wished if the Burial Mounds needed use of it they would tell him no later than the night before when they collected milk from the goat and if he was going to use either cart or ox for an extended period of time he would tell them ahead of time, he could also have any excess milk that the goat produced, on top of whatever the Lan Sect was paying him.

Lan WangJi made plans to return in a week for a list of people at the Burial Mounds that wanted him to contact their family and a list of their family members and where they lived. Wen Qing carefully made the list and then once Lan WangJi had been pried away from Wei WuXian, A-Yuan, and Lan Lian she levelled him with a serious stare. "I am entrusting this list to you HanGuang-Jun, you will not tell a soul that you have this list. If I hear that any of my people's extended families are being killed without provocation by any of the great or small sects, than you should be assured that you are offering your own family to my mercies. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, Physician Wen."

She was sure that he would do as she asked, but she wondered if he knew that she would just hide away the children from him, that she knew his thoughts on that matter.

Despite being told to not tell anyone about the list of Wen Family members, that didn't mean that the residence of the Burial Mounds didn't know about the list and its purpose. and it made Wei WuXian sullen. It wasn't that he didn't like the support of Lan WangJi or anything of that sort; he didn't like the fact that Lan WangJi had had a better way to save those that still had family outside of making the inhabitable habitable. Wen Qing knew he wasn't even jealous or angry about it really in his heart but it had the same sort of feeling, like he should have thought of it first. But he was an idiot and so was Lan WangJi, from her understanding it had been one of the young widows that had asked if she could just go home and Lan WangJi was just trying to give the option to everyone.

Whatever it was Wei WuXian squirreled himself away in his cave and ignored the world unless he was needed to watch the children. Wen Ning would often go into town and Wen Qing often tried to force Wei WuXian to go with him. Yes, Wen Ning was a cultivator, he was stronger than most since he had healed from the Jins tender mercies, but he didn't have a spiritual sword. Wei WuXian gave him Suibian, but well Suibian was reluctant to work for Wen Ning with ease, and was too recognisable in town. Wei WuXian still insisted that if perhaps Wen Ning carried Suibian around more that the sword would warm up to him.

It had proven at least a good precaution but really only left more questions. Wen Ning was playing with A-Yuan who was also gnawing on Chengqing, and Wei WuXian was nearby holding Lan Lian, they were by the fields so there were a couple people to see and shout but no one close enough to help when the shambling corpse broke the treeline. whatever the reason, the corpse wasn't under the sway of whatever accord Wei WuXian had struck with the blasted seal and the Burial Mounds. Wei WuXian would not and could not drop Lan Lian, even if Chengqing had been close enough at hand. Wen Qing had stepped out of the hut to see what the shouting was about, only to see her brother step between Wei WuXian and the children he drew Suibian which glowed with a new light and slew the corpse, as if he were only breathing.

They had been happy that in their moment of need that Suibian had taken to Wen Ning, but later when he went to practice his sword forms Suibian was once more slow, heavy, and unwieldy. They couldn't decide if Suibian wanted to protect Wei WuXian because they had that connection or the children because those are who Wei WuXian would have wanted protected. The result was that they had a single strong cultivator (in terms of cultivation if not in terms of social skills) and a single spiritual sword that was choosy in when it could be used with ease. They also had a single over-powerful, over-dumb demonic cultivator. A lovesick fool that was a bit too righteous, but was at least now on their side—and she was pretty sure that even if Wei WuXian went off with Lan WangJi that Lan WangJi wouldn't just leave them to die. And they had her, a great physician, but she was not a stupid boy, she would make contingencies.

Since Wen Ning was awake and going into town they were now privy to the gossip floating around that they really hadn't realised prior to. The people were calling Wen Ning the Ghost General, apparently the fiercest of Fierce Corpses at the head of the Yiling Patriarch's undead army. The news almost made Wen Ning cry. And that just proved to Wen Qing that people were stupid.

Wei WuXian came out of his cave with a teleportation talisman, which had a reservoir talisman worked in; he had made it work with spiritual energy. The point was that you charged the talisman with the normal amount of energy and that energy was stored in the talisman; so, you could charge it once a day and it would accumulate that power until you used the teleportation effect. Wei WuXian needed those of them with golden core to test it for him.

She charged the talisman a couple times a day, nothing strenuous for a week and then returned to Wei WuXian. It was a stipulation that Wei WuXian had put out for the people who could help him test the talisman, charge it at least once a day for a week. So now, he had four charged talismans and one that wasn't charged. Wen Ning charged the empty one a single time and then Wei WuXian handed Wen Qing’s brother the toy sword that Lan WangJi had purchased for him and said, "Send the sword to the tree."

Before Wen Ning could do that Wen Qing spoke up, "Can he send an object without sending himself?"

"Teleportation talismans are not really a secret, they are known but to get any sort of distance takes a lot of power and they are not simple to draw so it is not something that you can draw while bleeding and send yourself to an infirmary at your own sect. That's why they are not used, you will be useless when you arrive and you need to be certain that where you go will be a safe place to recuperate, cultivators don't like the thought of being so weak for so long. I haven't changed the teleportation talisman I just added a better way to power it. If Wen Ning cannot send the sword by itself than it should be just like a regular teleportation talisman, if there is enough power Wen Ning will be at the tree if not he won't be anywhere except where he is right now," explained Wei WuXian.

Wen Qing nodded and Wen Ning asked, "How do I try to just send the sword?"

"There will be... or should be a delay from the activation of the talisman as it takes out the power to activate. If you put the sword on the talisman think of the tree and then activate it you should have enough time to pull your hand away," answered Wei WuXian.

"You had us fill these up for a week, and now you are testing a single charged talisman," commented Wen Qing, "does this mean you are also trying to calculate the distance one could go on a single charge?"

"Yes," Wei WuXian agreed, "I also wanted to make sure that you could continue to fill the reservoir part of the talisman and separately activate the teleportation part."

One of the other Wen cultivators an elder man that had been dubbed Third Uncle said, "Then you should have a more exact measurement, say start 20 paces from the tree and Wen Ning should focus on a spot right before the tree, as it would be easier to measure and if he sent himself as well he doesn't end up in the tree."

Wei WuXian measured out one zhang from the tree, which was much more accurate than paces and would be easier on the math later. Wen Ning placed talisman and sword on the ground took a breath and activated it he pulled his hand away quickly and there was a prolonged pause before the sword disappeared in a swirl of lights and reappeared in front of the tree. Everyone was excited and when they calmed down Uncle Three charged a second talisman and sent the sword two zhang away. It continued that way until they tried to go four zhang away and the talisman failed. They shortened the distance until they got a success one charge seemed to be good for three zhang seven chi (12.3321 metres).

The testing continued from there, they were lucky that if the amount of distance they were testing was too far for the talisman that they had a few seconds to change their mind before the talisman dissipated and needed to be recharged. From there they moved on to human testing and each of the testers tried to zip forward three zhang seven chi but they found that the distance was effected by the size of what was being sent, though they all made it at least three zhang. From there Wen Ning used a talisman that had been charged by his sister, figuring that they would have more affinity due to their blood relation. Then Wen Ning gave one of his talismans to Uncle Three and their last helper who had been a Wen in marriage and had no blood relation to them used a Wen charged talisman. Then hesitantly Wei WuXian took one of Wen Ning's talismans and tried to activate it as though he still had his own golden core. He didn't try to go any further than the three zhang and he succeeded but felt that it took more effort than what he remembered from before. They made calculations on how far some of the talismans would take them from being charged through the week and all of the talismans had been charged for a further distance than the bounds of the Burial Mounds. And the testers were able to get to the corpse barrier without being able to actually see the barrier. Wei WuXian handed out new talismans a few that would be passed between them to see if the talisman could be charged by multiple people and then they each had a talisman that they charged twice and Wei WuXian kept to see if it there would be any decay in the energy being stored.

Wen Qing thought that Wei WuXian would relax a bit more with his success with the talisman, but he holds up once more in his cave and continued to tinker. A week later they got together and did another round of tests. Multiple people could charge a talisman, there seemed to be no decay, Wei WuXian was using a bit of the stored energy to activate the talisman as seen by the fact that he could not send the sword the full three zhang seven chi. they pulled a couple of the non-cultivators over and had them test the talisman.

The woman that had come over to help them looked at the toy sword sitting atop of the talisman and the tree which was her goal. "But how do you activate the talisman?"

All the cultivators opened their mouths and then closed them again they looked puzzled and around at each other, but no one had an idea. Wen Qing snapped out, "Wei WuXian you did it without a golden core."

"But I knew how to charge a talisman beforehand, and I just copied that motion, we don't know if I was just able to move the required energy from the reservoir to the teleportation portion through my empty pathways, or not."

Wen Ning spoke up, "Umm... maybe just think about sending the toy to the tree while you touch the talisman."

The volunteer did so the tree was only a couple zhang away there should have been plenty of energy to accomplish that amount of distance. The girl sent herself and the sword two zhang to the foot of the tree.

Wen Qing rushed over to see if the woman was safe and well much more than her panicked breathing. She was a perfectly healthy non-cultivator, that just so happened to have teleported herself a couple of zhang. That news spread fast and the people, who had never cultivated in their lives, had never flown on a sword lined up to test whether or not they could teleport.

The session ended with Wei WuXian having Wen Ning charge a couple of new talismans that appeared to be slightly different from the ones that they knew worked. Wei WuXian hoarded those and went a bit off to the side and activated them, the frown on his face deepening even as he sent the toy away from him.

"What is this?" asked Wen Qing.

Wei WuXian shrugged. "Now that I know how the reservoir interacts with the teleportation portion of the talisman, I wanted to see if I could alter the behaviour slightly."

"How slightly?" asked Wen Qing narrowing her eyes.

"Don't worry Qing-jie, I'll get Wen Ning to charge them, and I'll only test it on the toy until I am certain and then I will call you over before I try anything more."

"You will come to me Wei WuXian to charge those blasted talismans," snapped Wen Qing her eyes glaring obedience into Wei WuXian even as she added, "you hear me A-Ning? No charging talismans secretly for him.

They both agreed quickly.

Lan WangJi returned about a month after he got the list from them and immediately zeroed in on Wei WuXian, who didn't complain about leaving the cave and then the two idiots grabbed the children and went into town for the afternoon, Wen Qing gave Lan WangJi a shopping list, and he refused to take her money. Wen Qing was practical and didn't allow it to slight her pride; GusuLan had the money to spare for some food. When the family returned, Lan WangJi informed them that he could take the woman who had accidently teleported herself to her relatives' house. there was a bit of celebration and Lan WangJi stayed the night with them, he took the children with him into Wei WuXian's cave and acted as if was normal and that A-Yuan didn't usually sleep with Granny and Lan Lian with Wen Qing.

In the morning, Wen Qing woke early to find that Lan WangJi was teaching little A-Yuan how to do handstands and Lan Lian was sleeping in a basket to the side. "What is this? Shouldn't you still be sleeping?" she asked.

Lan WangJi stood from his own handstand and gave her a polite greeting. "I always wake early."

"And the children?"

"I took A-Lian out in case she cried," replied Lan WangJi.

"And you A-Yuan? Why aren't you sleeping?"

"Follow Rich-gege. He show me how to make a golden core."

Wen Qing's focused whipped over to the Lan cultivator. Lan WangJi elaborated, "He came out while I was meditating, I showed him the exercises that are taught to all Lans at his age."

The physician nodded and murmured, "Carry on with your lesson than, don't land on your heads, I can't cure stupidity." then she moved off to continue her usual morning routine, all the while rethinking what she needed to do for her plan.

Lan WangJi and the woman left before Wei WuXian woke up and that seemed to make the man a bit melancholier. About another month passed. In that time, they had a couple of the transportation talismans up in the common area and they kept a tally of the amount of charge each one had. Extensionally it was to see if there was an upward threshold, but in the back of everyone's mind it was an escape route. Wen Qing charged a few of Wei WuXian's tests for him and they appeared to fail in their purpose. Wen Ning, Wei WuXian, and the children came back from town arguing good naturedly.

"But I'm not a ghost!"

"A-Ning, those people are just stupid what is more worrying is that my little brother has a four year old daughter and my older sister is expecting to give birth to the next Jin heir! How did this all happen?"

Wen Qing hadn't gotten the information out of Lan WangJi, but she had known that the child in question's mother had come from MeishanYu and that was a sect to reckon with. They were not considered one of the great sects because they don't want to be and were known for tempers, doing, and getting what they wanted, and not kowtowing to the wills of the others. She suspected that Wen Gao and his wife had fought against the tyranny of Wen RouHan and then had been killed later by the Jins for having the family name of Wen RouHan. It was good to know that their daughter would grow up in Lotus Pier, if Wei WuXian was anything to go by, they were better than some to orphans, and wouldn't drag her status down because she had lost her parents young. Even if Wei WuXian had not the best things to say about Madam Yu, the way he talked about it, the Purple Spider's animosity had a lot to do about how her husband loved Wei WuXian and his own mother more than Jiang FengMian's own children. But Jiang WanYin and Jiang YanLi had been paragons of virtue to the orphaned Wei WuXian and those would be the influencing forces behind young— Jiang Gan's upbringing. It was a good end, one of the best for a Wen orphan.

Wei WuXian's labours seemed to come to fruit when the toy sword finally zipped to the spot that Wei WuXian actually wanted it to go. He looked excited and then handed Wen Qing another of the modified talismans. "Charge it just the once, and then send the sword to that far tree there."

Wen Qing took the talisman and then eyed the tree maybe five or so zhang away, but she did what he said only to watch the sword appear at the standard three zhang seven chi. Wei WuXian was ecstatic, and Wen Qing looked at him with an exasperated look. "It didn't make it to the tree."

"No! That is what I wanted, instead of not working because there wasn't enough power, like before; it sent the sword the furthest that it could!" Wei WuXian exclaimed.

So maybe Wei WuXian wasn't always stupid, Wen Qing watched at the man shifted his focus so that there would be a tree in the spot that the sword was expecting to appear. He handed her a couple more of the talismans and she charged them. Wei WuXian retrieved the sword and then lined up his wish and sent the sword, it didn't land in the tree as in the branches above, or in the tree as inside but appeared at the base of the tree on the side closest to them, so they technically lost some of the distance in the spell. Before Wen Qing could comment Wei WuXian moved forward as if to get the sword than he activated the talisman and transported to right before the tree, though Wen Qing knew he had been aiming for a spot past the tree— she took it back, he was an utter idiot out to get himself killed.

Wen Qing started yelling and then Wei WuXian cut her off, "Qing-jie the original teleportation talisman takes into account the topography, I just had to make sure my modifications hadn't changed that. If you wanted to go into a building you would have to know the room, you wanted in your mind’s eye or just think about being outside the building. I wonder if you could think of a person and be brought to them instead?" before Wen Qing could continue her tirade the stupid man walked off with more ideas in his head than sense.

But despite his murmurings the next talisman wouldn't work for everyone no matter whom and how much it was charged. Wei WuXian cackled, took the talisman back, and sent the toy sword off. "A couple extra added strokes and my blood in the ink, I wrote another one completely in my blood just in case the cinnabar got in the way; and you have a talisman that can be filled by many and used by one. I should test it with siblings to see if the closeness in blood would affect who could use it."

It didn't. Then Wei WuXian moved onto people, you could transport to a person instead of a place, if there was enough power you would appear before the person even if they were inside a building or in the hay loft of the farmer’s steading that they snuck into to test it. But if the person wasn't in range the teleportee would always appear outside of manmade structures even when the maths would have placed the person inside the building. Wei WuXian had then made a talisman for everyone, with their own blood, except for the children; he couldn't bring himself to get their blood, so Wen Qing took a couple regular ones and then kept them on her and charged them periodically. A-Yuan couldn't miss all the teleportation and he even tested it a couple times, but he was the best boy seeing as he had yet to try and use one without an adult around.

Wei WuXian started talking about calculations for multiple transportations, but Lan WangJi came back and took Wei WuXian and the children for a day. Apparently in that rat's nest of a brain of Wei WuXian's he had also been making plans for protections for his niece and future nephew or niece. He talked to about it to Lan WangJi and continued talking about his ideas and even showed the elder man the teleportation talismans and Wen Qing wondered if they got any sleep but the next morning Wen Qing found Lan WangJi and A-Yuan doing handstands and Lan Lian sleeping nearby. Lan WangJi took the next person to their new home and gave the bad news about some of the others Burial Mound's residence.

He returned only a couple days later with if Wei WuXian's exclamations were anything to go by five times the amount of materials needed for a single protection amulet that he had planned. Lan WangJi who had been standing there with A-Yuan on his leg and Lan Lian in his arm replied, "Protect our children too."

Wei WuXian seemed to miss the 'our' and Wen Qing shook her head, idiot, but she now had better ideas and it was time to get the others to help her.

Chapter Text

Lan WangJi figured that it must have been fate, or something crueller. He was on his way to a night hunt and it was late enough in the evening that it was dark but not too late that it was unheard of to still be on the road. He had decided that on an evening as nice as the one had been shaping up to be that he would walk and he would get to town a bit after the usual Lan curfew, but not too late that people still wouldn't be awake. Everything seemed too normal, peaceful, and not out of the order at all. And that was where everything went wrong, despite the late but not too late hour the road was pretty abandoned, so the shock of GusuLan white in the grasses at the side of the road had Lan WangJi approaching with great caution. when he got to the edge of the road he saw that there was a drainage ditch next to the road and at the top between road and ditch was a member of GusuLan facedown and bleeding too much to be alive or alive for much longer, why was he so far from Yiling, where was Wen Qing when you needed her? There was a noise from the gulley and Lan WangJi whipped his head to the side hand going to Bichen expecting the beast that had slain one of his Sect, only to see a trembling woman, terror in her eyes, shaking sword in one hand, and the other hand held across her own bleeding stomach. Lan WangJi watched her eyes take him in, in the initial frozen moment, the dark orbs flickered up to his ribbon, and then the sword dropped. "HanGuang-Jun! Is my XiaoPiPi alive?"

Lan WangJi let go of his sword and looked down at the man at his feet. But the woman shook her head she tried to pull herself to her feet and instead toppled herself face first into the shallow rivulet of the gulley, it revealed that there was a small child strapped to her back.

Golden eyes widened and Lan WangJi immediately jumped into the gulley to right the woman, check the child, and get them out of there. Once they were back on the road, he checked the GusuLan cultivator, he was dead. But the wounded took precedence over the dead. "I'll take you to a doctor." Why was Yiling so far away? Could the teleportation talisman of Wei WuXian's get them there? Had Wei WuXian tested it on the wounded, on a child? He better not risk it. He scooped the crying woman into his arms and mounted Bichen.

"My little one, my XiaoPiPi, did we protect him?"

"He appears to be asleep, what did this?"

"Bandits."

Bandits? How could bandits defeat cultivators? Lan WangJi was also sure that he shouldn't let the woman fall asleep, so he asked, "What happened?"

"My husband’s cultivation wasn't the highest, or  at least my was higher and I come from a small family the Jing's are too small to be considered a Sect, he left Cloud Recesses to live and help us, because..." she burst into a new round of tears, "he said that he could help more people living with my family. We were on our way for a visit to Cloud Recesses, we were switching off who carried our XiaoPiPi it was my turn when the bandits came, there were too many, they thought my husband was a rich cultivator, all I could do is keep my boy out of their grasp." the story came out slow and halting in places but Lan WangJi got the entire thing, and he understood it was a terrible tragedy. He flew into the next town and right to the physician's place, it was becoming a habit and he didn't like it one bit.

Once Madam Jing and her XiaoPiPi were settled in with the physician Lan WangJi went back for the body. When he got back to the physician's place Madam Jing had passed away from her wounds and XiaoPiPi had woken from a head wound. The physician handed him a piece of paper that had instructions on it, it was clear that Madam Jing had dictated the message to be written down. She gave her son into the care of HanGuang-Jun. At the bottom was her name and a blood fingerprint, the best she could do for a signature.

Lan WangJi froze, how had this happened? Really what had just happened, he didn't know what to do with a toddler, he really didn’t,—no, he did know what to do with a toddler, in the early hours when all good Lans were awake, when there was the laughing presence of Wei WuXian nearby, Lan WangJi knew what to do. He borrowed paper, ink, and a brush and wrote off a couple letters. One to the person who requested the help for the night hunt, one to GusuLan requesting that they send someone else for the night hunt and advising his brother that there was a group of bandits that had targeted and killed cultivators. He tucked the note into his sleeve and went to get a hotel for the night; he had been told that the child would be best for spending the night with the physician in case his head wound was more serious. Lan WangJi went and made arrangement for the body of the Lan cultivator and Madam Jing to be cremated and then got a room for the night, he wasn't even hungry, and he didn't know the name of his relative or the name of the child. He supposed that they could have given him a courtesy name so early and he was Lan PiPi. Lan WangJi took the note out and looked at it again; she had named no names it was very short, probably demanded in her last breaths, why had she picked him to care for the child? Why not another Lan or another Jing?

When five o'clock came around Lan WangJi woke up and prepared to make his way to Yiling with his new child, he would then return to the city for the ashes and then head to Cloud Recesses, where he could look at the records, get the names he needed and then head to the Jing family. He would hold his acquisition of XiaoPiPi a secret from his sect knowing that they would demand that he be raised in Cloud Recesses, but Lan WangJi wanted XiaoPiPi to be raised with his other children.

XiaoPiPi was much more awake on the flight to Yiling than he had been the previous night, but his memory seemed to be a bit fuzzy. Lan WangJi had expected tears and begging for parents that could no longer come, he had done his own form of that when he was older than XiaoPiPi when he had knelt before his mother's house waiting for her to open the door, but this boy just clung to him like a monkey and commented on the landscape below.

They reached Yiling a bit after midday and Lan WangJi landed to get the boy food and to see if there was anyone in town. But there was no one so after the meal Lan WangJi picked up the boy and placed him on his hip, he said, "Your mother and father, had to go away and they asked me to take you into my family. My family lives here you will have a little sister and a little brother or maybe an older brother.  You will be safe here."

When he got to the barrier of corpses the boy in his arms seemed to be more curious than scared and they didn't seem to stop him as he made his way up the more familiar paths. He saw people in the fields, and they all gave him a greeting, wave, or smile. But Wei WuXian wasn't there burying A-Yuan. Lan WangJi walked in further and he could see that Wei WuXian was standing there waiting, looking at him, Lan Lian appeared to be cradled by Granny and A-Yuan was at her feet playing with his butterflies.

"What is this Lan Zhan? Are you giving me another child?" asked Wei WuXian.

Lan WangJi lifted Lan PiPi away from his body and turned him towards Wei WuXian and the boy latched on to the slighter man, arms around Wei WuXian's neck and legs around his waist. Wei WuXian's hands came up under the child to hold him up. "Mn."

"Oof, this one is so big, you made me very pregnant this time Lan Zhan," laughed Wei WuXian.

Before Lan WangJi could respond Wen Qing marched over, "No! I will not allow you to do this."

Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi both looked at the Wen Matriarch startled. "Qing-jie what do you mean? What won't you allow?"

"He cannot keep giving you children, we draw the line at two children out of wedlock, HanGuang-Jun you must take responsibility, you cannot keep getting children on our patriarch without wedding him properly," Wen Qing declared and took the child from Wei WuXian's arms. Her words seemed to spur a flurry of activity and Wei WuXian stood shocked and confused a couple women ducked into a hut and came out with two red robes, they were patched and a multitude of different shades of red, but the smiles on the woman were bright and proud, a couple men pulled out six placards each one had a different name on them, there was both of Lan WangJi's parents, and Wei WuXian's parents and then the last two were Jiang FengMian and Madam Yu. People were rushing around pulling tables together and beginning preparations for the feast.

"What Qing-jie? What is everyone doing? You can't do this!" exclaimed Wei WuXian.

"Wei WuXian, you listen to me, we could use this you two are our savours, you Wei WuXian brought the first half of us here, and HanGuang-Jun brought the second half here. Let them celebrate you; let them have this sort of fun. If you think about it, Wei WuXian, you want this; and I'm sure that HanGuang-Jun would agree."

Dark-grey eyes continued to take in the scene of the Wen who had clearly been planning their wedding run around and complete the needed preparations. Before he could say anything, else Lan WangJi agreed with Wen Qing, "Mn." he did indeed want to marry Wei WuXian.

The sound drew Wei WuXian's attention and he starred at the other man for a long moment studying the frozen features and then he said, "If the great HanGuang-Jun wants this lowly one's hand, than who am I to protest."

"Only Wei Ying, not lowly,' replied Lan WangJi.

"My future husband, is so kind!" laughed out Wei WuXian, and then Lan WangJi had a vision of Wen Qing placing XiaoPiPi  down next to A-Yuan, before he was distracted by a man holding up a crude cage that contained two chickens. "Are these good? Or do you want to get your own in town?" and he was pulled into the preparations for his own wedding.

Lan WangJi took the chance that was presented him. "Thank you for the kind gesture, but I would like to procure my own chicken." When they were in town, Wei WuXian made little protest if Lan WangJi were to buy the meal for their little family or even to procure small fripperies, Wei WuXian would make a stronger protest for the purchase of goods for the Burial Mounds but in the end would let Lan WangJi pay. But Lan WangJi had yet to figure out how to leave behind money that wasn't the thank you gift from families reunited. So, if he went down into Yiling to get his own fat wedding chickens he could also pick up some jujubes for the wedding and more food for the people of the Burial Mounds.

When Lan WangJi got back to the settlement from his shopping trip, he presented the chickens and jujubes to Wei WuXian who had been arguing with Wen Qing and another woman that Lan WangJi didn't know the name of. She smiled at Lan WangJi's gifts and said, "See he'll make a wonderful husband."

Wei WuXian huffed, and Lan WangJi preened just a bit. Wen Qing cut through any further arguments from Wei WuXian. "HanGuang-Jun you can follow my brother, he and the boys will help you get dressed. Wei WuXian you are coming with me into that cave of yours to get you dressed."

"Why am I getting your help and Lan WangJi gets help from A-Ning? He is my friend! And I am not a girl so I shouldn't be getting help from girls to get ready."

"You are the son of a servant—" began Wen Qing.

The other lady cut her off to add, "And the younger."

"—yes, so in marriages of the southern custom, you are the one that is to take the position of wife in the marriage, despite still being husbands, you are marrying into his family. If you were ever to dissolve your marriage so that the two of you could find wives and produce heirs for your own families it would then be HanGuang-Jun's responsibility to find you a suitable wife. That means that with this wedding you will no longer be my responsibility. HanGuang-Jun has gone out to get you the proper wedding gifts, so I don't have to worry about him. But you, you Wei WuXian leave much to be desired, so I am not letting you out of my sight until you are no longer my problem!"

"But Qing-jie why would we need heirs? You are making us wed so that the children we already have are legitimate... sort of," added in Wei WuXian.

"Be that as you may, but nothing in that statement did not change the fact that you will have married into GusuLan and there for no longer my problem," retorted Wen Qing, then she pushed Wei WuXian toward the cave, "Time to get dressed."

The red robes fit, but they were not of any sort of quality, and after the wedding would probably be worn by someone else as the worked the fields, but it was the thought and the preparation that made them special. Wen Qing made true her promise and didn't give Wei WuXian any privacy as he dressed and when he slipped his shoes back on there was a strange crinkling in his shoes Wei WuXian looked to Wen Qing in question, the physician shrugged, "Tradition, words of encouragement for after the wedding, to be read when you take your shoes off before bed, and not before then, do you hear me Wei WuXian? Don't you spoil my fun."

"Yes, Qing-jie."

Lan Lian had slept through the entire dressing processes but as Wei WuXian left the cave before the girls that had helped him prepare he could hear the young giggles of A-Yuan and XiaoPiPi from their excitement from helping their new A-Die get ready for the wedding.

Wei WuXian had half a mind that they would stop short of an actual wedding ceremony, someone— or well, everyone as it was— forgot to buy tea, but still a pot of hot water was prepared and lotus seeds were placed in the cups, and Wei WuXian felt happy that there was lotus seeds for the tea ceremony, he was proud of the that accomplishment. They made their bows to the heavens, and the placards of their parents all passed, and to each other. Wei WuXian felt nervous, like he was taking something from Lan WangJi. But he figured that since there were just the Wens which to the rest of the world were already gone, that if Lan WangJi wanted he could just pretend that they hadn't bowed at all.

After, there was a feast even bigger than when Wen Ning had woken up. Wei WuXian was back on familiar ground, a feast he knew how to navigate. He and Lan WangJi were seated at the head of the long table that they had cobbled together for the celebration. Everyone took their seats the children kept from the newly married pair and the faces all around were boisterous and carefree. For that Wei WuXian would have had the ceremony, even though he was worried about where it might lead.

Uncle Four stood behind them and said, "Arms up, for a toast."

He said it just to Lan WangJi and Wei WuXian and the two looked around and saw no cups for a drink. So they put their hands up and Uncle Four placed a shallow bowl each in the upraised hands of Lan WangJi and Wei WuXian. The bowls were old and had been repaired the one in Lan WangJi’s hand had a triangular chip missing from the edge and the bowl in Wei WuXian’s hand had been broken and pieced back together by someone. But all the pieces hadn’t been found and there was a missing chip creating a hole not too far off from the edge. Wei WuXian knew these bowls but since the last time he had seen them someone had painted double fish and the double happiness character motifs on the outside of the bowls and the chip and hole were being utilised as a way to tie the bowls together with a red string. One end of which was looped through the hole of one bowl and tied while the other end wedged firmly into the crack of the other bowl. Uncle Four than took two jars of his fruit wine in hand and filled both bowls before either husband could stop him.

“Uncle Four! Alcohol is forbidden in the GusuLan Sect,” said Wei WuXian.

“But it is a good tradition and your wedding day!” replied Uncle Four.

“It is, it is! But as I’m marrying into GusuLan I will defer to their rules and we shall drink to our marriage in tea and let the rest of you fine folks drink in Uncle Four’s excellent wine!”

“How shall we empty your cups then?” Uncle Four asked.

Lan WangJi had stayed frozen throughout the exchange and watched as Wei WuXian drank from his bowl and then with his free hand dragged Lan WangJi’s bowl to his mouth by way of a hold on Lan WangJi’s wrist. When both bowls were empty Uncle Four poured in the hot water they were using for tea and then added a lotus seed each.

When Uncle Four stepped back happy with his task, Lan WangJi met Wei WuXian’s eyes and they lifted their bowls and drank a sip. Then they switched cups and finished off the water in the cup. They received some cheers for that and then the pot was pushed towards them and they poured the tea and placed the cups before the names of their parents. That done they sat once more for the feast. 

The fruit wine had been good, definitely from Uncle Four's better batches, but the uncertainty of what was going to happen that night made Wei WuXian not want to drink more. He was afraid that if he was drunk when inevitably they shoved Lan WangJi and him into his cave that he might do, he might do— what? He didn't know, but he was afraid he would do whatever it was and Lan WangJi would not be happy with him. Uncle Four went to refill Wei WuXian's bowl with wine and Wei WuXian waved him away, when he received a strange looks from the people closest he said, "I drank for my husband and myself before and now I will drink as my husband drinks, at the end I will toast the table with a bowl of Uncle Four's finest, but until then, tea please!"

After the food was consumed and everyone was pleasantly full and maybe quite a few were quite a bit drunk, Wei WuXian toasted the table in a great shot of liquor and Lan WangJi did the same in water. Granny and a few others snatched the children away and then some of the other prodded the married couple towards the Demon Slaughtering Cave.

Wei WuXian thought that they would be left at the mouth of the cave, but instead the mob brought them all the way back to Wei WuXian's bed. It looked like while he wasn't looking the single ticking and blankets that had been Wei WuXian's bed had been replaced with ticking that was meant to fit two people.

Wen Qing swept up little A-Yuan which made Wei WuXian bink and look around for the other two children, but they were nowhere to be found. Wen Qing brought A-Yuan to the bed and had him jump on the bed. "Qing-jie what are you doing with A-Yuan?"

Over the din of the people Wei WuXian could hear the exasperated sigh, but she didn't answer, a woman in the crowd did instead, "To ensure that you will get a son out of the marriage bed."

That got a round of laughter and encouragements on how to get pregnant with sons. Wei WuXian heard the words 'walnut shells' and didn't want to know what one was supposed to do with walnut shells and wondered if he could convince Lan WangJi to keep him, he didn't want to deal with a wife, if it involved what the others were yelling about. After the laughter died down, A-Yuan was taken out and there was a round of stories followed by more laughter. And then finally, after what felt like years and years, they all left so that Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi could consummate their marriage.

Wei WuXian sat on the bed and patted the spot next to him. "I'm sorry Lan Zhan, they are just excitable."

"Mn."

A mischievous smile bloomed across Wei WuXian's face. "I'm sure they won't be too disappointed if you are not able to get me with child on our first night together." Wei WuXian had kept a close look on Lan WangJi's face in the flickering light of the lantern to see if he could catch a blush spreading across Lan WangJi's face but instead the man's pupils dilated and Wei WuXian inhaled deeply and held in his breath as he studied the face before him. There was a long, long pause and Wei WuXian shifted and then remembered his shoes. "Oh! Qing-jie put a message in my shoes to be read when I took my shoes off for bed."

"Mn?" inquired Lan WangJi, he watched as Wei WuXian kicked his shoes off and lifted them towards his face but the cave was too dark so he pulled out the two slips of paper that had been cut into the shape of the soles of Wei WuXian's shoes. He dropped the shoes and held out the pieces of paper so they could both read them. Wen Qing had kindly added numbers at the top in her neat and tight script and Wei WuXian crossed his arms so they were in the correct order and then they began to read, it only took a couple lines to realise that it was a detailed description on what Wei WuXian needed to do to have a safe, pleasurable, and productive wedding night. Wei WuXian flushed red to his toes and then shoved the papers into Lan WangJi's hands and for good measure buried his burning face in the other man's shoulder.

They were quiet for a long time and then Wei WuXian peeked out of his hiding place to see that Lan WangJi was studying the slips of paper. "Lan Zhan!"

"Wei Ying."

"Do you really want to do that with me?" Wei WuXian asks and then he scans over the instructions again to see that Wen Qing had added a bit about the best was to get pregnant, and that was just not possible so the silliness of the situation bolstered his courage. "Are you studying that so intently because you want to fill me with a little Lan heir?"

Instead of the expected 'ridiculous!’ Lan WangJi snapped his head around to look at Wei WuXian his pupils dilated and his nostrils flared. "Mn."

"Really?"

"Mn, and Wei Ying?"

There was a pregnant silence, as Wei WuXian thought about that question. "I have this dream, where we live together in a cabin in the woods, I return from hunting pheasant and you're at home, you cook us dinner and then after dinner we fill the tub and we are both intending to get in the tub together but I always wake up before we actually get into it."

Lan WangJi was staring intently at Wei WuXian.

The silence stretched for a moment, Lan WangJi’s gaze shifted to look around the cave room and then settled on a small stoppered bottle by the mattress ticking. In Wen Qing’s script large and undeniable was the character for ‘oil’ and under that in only marginally smaller script read: ‘if you don’t use this, you’ll answer to me in the morning.’ Wei WuXian eyes followed and he too saw the bottle a bit confused as to what the oil was for, but perfectly scared into obedience by Wen Qing’s warning, and since all of Wen Qing’s messages had to do with—the marriage bed, he was willing to see where it all led, he was glad that Lan WangJi was so rule abiding and read all of Wen Qing’s instructions. His decision made, Wei WuXian turned back to his companion. "Lan Zhan."

"Mn?"

"Kiss me. I don't know what we would have done in that tub, I was always just so happy to be with you in that dream, I never thought about being... being in such intimate situation. Kiss me, if you don't mind."

Lan WangJi didn't mind, he dropped the instructions and swooped in quickly getting a firm grip on Wei WuXian's wrist and kissed him with such force.

The force of the kiss tilted Wei WuXian's whole upper body back and Lan WangJi curved one of his arms around Wei WuXian to support him as he ravished the younger man's mouth, but it was soon too much and Lan WangJi let go of Wei WuXian's waist and pushed him back on the bed. The fall back had Wei WuXian hands reaching up in surprise as if to catch himself on the other, Lan WangJi caught the hands and pinioned them above Wei WuXian's head.

When Lan WangJi regrettably had to part for more air he pulled away enough to see Wei WuXian's watered-ink-drop eyes and waited. "Phoenix Mountain that was you? You took my first kiss!"

Those words startled Lan WangJi enough so he let go of Wei WuXian and sat up straight and looked down at Wei WuXian in confusion. "You said..."

The silence came between them, Lan WangJi's words failed him, and Wei WuXian's memory failed him so they were at an impasse. "I don't remember what I said Lan Zhan, but I know it was my first kiss. There is no way it was your first kiss Lan Zhan you are too good at kissing!"

"My first too. Only Wei Ying, always Wei Ying."

The pregnant silence was back, and it was enough for Wei WuXian to take a note of it and he wondered briefly if Lan WangJi was so good at pregnant silences that he would also be good at getting Wei WuXian pregnant. Wei WuXian opened his mouth to tell Lan WangJi the joke he had just thought of when for once his brain caught up with him and he found that he really, really liked that idea.  "Lan Zhan, Lan Er-gege, you have your husband below you aren't you going to fill him with your heirs?"

There was none of the golden honey over black sesames in Lan WangJi's eyes just the endless ink depths of pupil. "Wei Ying."

"Please Er-gege fill me with your babies. I want you to."

Lan WangJi pounced. 

Chapter Text

The kiss was bruising and pressed Wei WuXian firmly back into the bed, there was something small and sharp that pressed into his back like a pebble and Wei WuXian gasped, which just made Lan WangJi press further into him. Wei WuXian felt like he was being devoured for a long moment until Lan WangJi pulled back slightly and his hands went to the ties on Wei WuXian's robe. Dark eyes tried to focus on the face above him, there was something different about it but Wei WuXian wasn't sure what it was until he felt two hands slip into his robes and peel the edges away— two hands, but then Wei WuXian's hands were also being held— somehow, somewhen Lan WangJi had untied his forehead ribbon and bound Wei WuXian with it.

"Er-gege, no fair, no fair, you have to take your clothes off too," whined Wei WuXian, he received a sharp bite to his neck that turned into a long suck as Lan WangJi continued to slowly divest him of his clothing. When Wei WuXian was stripped bare except for the red robe pooled around his elbows due to his bound hands Lan WangJi stood up and surveyed his work. The elder took off his own outer robe and laid it carefully aside, making Wei WuXian squirm. "Lan Zhan!"

"Wei Ying."

"I'm here, I'm here, don't leave me like this!" Lan WangJi turned his focus back to his husband and studied him for a moment and then he lifted Wei WuXian's legs and repositioned his lower body on the bed. When Wei WuXian was arranged as Lan WangJi wanted, the elder spread out above him using his whole body to press Wei WuXian firmly into the bed. The pebble was back with a vengeance and friends, a couple painfully pressed into his back and buttocks, Wei WuXian cried out, "Lan Zhan!"

"I am here, Wei Ying."

"And I'm glad, so glad but there are rocks in the bed, can we get rid of them first?"

Lan WangJi paused in sucking a mark into Wei WuXian's neck and pushed himself up on his forearms and looked down into Wei WuXian's face. The younger just shifted to get his point across. Lan WangJi got up carefully from the bed and untied Wei WuXian's arms. Once Wei WuXian was on his feet but before he could turn to the bed, Lan WangJi had striped the robes the rest of the way off.

Wei WuXian gave his husband a look. "You are going to let me remove the rocks won't you?" with a nod, the two of them turned toward Wei WuXian's bed and began to move the blankets around looking for the rocks— there were none— instead there were shards of walnut shells, perhaps enough to make six or so walnuts. Wei WuXian was trying to remember when, if when he had eaten walnuts in bed, and couldn't. "Is this another tradition to get me pregnant?"

The micro-expressions on Lan WangJi's face said that he didn't know, but the look in his eyes said that he would be getting Wei WuXian pregnant, that night. Before the walnut shells could be completely brushed away Wei WuXian was tied up and lying spread out on the bed before his husband once more. "You can't Er-gege, so cruel; the shells hurt your husband!"

He began to squirm on the bed again but a large hand pressed into his stomach and stilled him. "Stay."

Lan WangJi collected the bottle of oil and the instructions from the floor and then placed them closer to Wei WuXian's hip, but out of reach of the younger's limbs were they to flail around. He then climbed back onto the bed and kissed Wei WuXian's forehead, then he ghosted kisses over each eyelid and cheek, and kissed Wei WuXian's nose until he scrunched it up and pleaded, "Lan Zhan." and so, Lan WangJi returned to his beloved's mouth.

They kissed, Lan WangJi plundered and explored the mouth below his and when his lungs began to burn he pulled a half a breath away and then firmly nipped at one earlobe and then returned to the beautiful expanse of neck and concentrated there, cataloguing the reactions. Lan WangJi's hands moved all around his lover's body making trails up sides and down the firm plains of chest and abdomen. Nipples hardened under the fleeting feather-like touches of his fingers as he bit hard into the juncture of Wei WuXian's neck. Wei WuXian for his part babbled, and moaned, and panted, and begged for more and less in turns. Lan WangJi moved slowly down, paying attention to every place he could and extra attention to all of the areas that Wei WuXian reacted well to.

He flicked one nipple with his fingers and soothed the other with laps of his tongue. Wei WuXian seemed to like that so he did it repeatedly, he could feel Wei WuXian's hard prick straining up into Lan WangJi's abdomen each time he flicked or pinched the nipple. He did not switch sides that he was working on and soon the one nipple was wet and the other red. "Have mercy Lan Er-gege, be gentle with your husband, it's his first time!"

Lan WangJi bit the nipple that he had been licking— hard— and Wei WuXian's entire body convulsed. He wasn't sure that it was the act itself that got the reaction, but the contradiction to the words. At that Lan WangJi switched nipples licking the one he had been pinching. he continued until they were both red and puffy and Wei WuXian looked close to tears, then he moved down licking the lines of stomach muscles and catching Wei WuXian's cock on his chin.

The elder kissed the tip of the ridged cock before him reverently, and what had been coming out as a stream of almost nonsensical babble stopped. Golden eyes looked up into the barely seen grey-black as Wei WuXian strained to hold his head up and see what Lan WangJi was doing. "Lan Zhan?"

"I am here," the words breathed out over Wei WuXian's cock and made it jump and then Lan WangJi licked a stripe up the underside of the shaft that made Wei WuXian gasp. Lan WangJi then swallowed around the tip and he could hear Wei WuXian's head fall back onto the bed. He took it slowly carefully trying to fit more and more into his mouth as he bobbed his head. At that moment he was not trying to make Wei WuXian cum, but instead he was continuing his study of Wei WuXian and creating something of a pleasurable distraction. With one hand he reached for the bottle of oil, un-stoppered it and coated his fingers, carefully and messily he pushed the bottle aside, Wen Qing had said there could never be enough oil, so Lan WangJi didn't want to accidentally spill their bottle— he wasn't going to go out and ask for more.

The wet touch behind his balls had Wei WuXian craning his neck again to look down, he was confused as he could still feel Lan WangJi's wet mouth on his cock, and then he could see it too Lan WangJi  leisurely sucking on his cock. Hadn’t he just asked for Lan WangJi to do more? He couldn't remember; his words seemed almost meaningless to the sensations that Lan WangJi was bringing forth with his hands and mouth, as if Wei WuXian was a guqin to coax and play out a tune just for Lan WangJi's pleasure. But was more really the circling and tapping feeling at a part of Wei WuXian that he generally tried not to think about. The area previously untouched in such away was sensitive in a way that Wei WuXian would be hard pressed to describe the feeling of the finger unusual and yet not unpleasant. He was still unsure of what Lan WangJi was doing when Wei WuXian's own body seemed to open to the other man, and the tapping finger slid inside. Wei WuXian sucked in a breath, and Lan WangJi sucked hard on his hard on. The finger was removed and then came back wetter to begin tapping again, but it was quicker this time to open and beg Lan WangJi in. The elder than began to match mouth and finger movements. He took more and more cock into his mouth as his finger moved in and out, deeper and deeper into Wei WuXian.

"Oh, oh, what? Lan Zhan, what?" said Wei WuXian squirming on the bed and panting at all the new types of sensations.

Lan WangJi pulled back, fingers and mouth leaving Wei WuXian. "Relax."

"No Er-gege! Don’t leave me like this, I need, I need..." returned Wei WuXian.

"Relax." then Lan WangJi returned, taking Wei WuXian's prick once more in his mouth and slipping two fingers into Wei WuXian.

The press inside was harder, there was more resistance and Lan WangJi paused holding still. Wei WuXian protested, "It's too much! It's too much!" Lan WangJi worked the cock in his mouth for a moment keeping his fingers still and then when Wei WuXian seemed to return to a more relaxed and moaning state, he started to spread his fingers apart and closing them again while moving them in time with his mouth. There was another gasp above him and a question, "Er-gege what are you doing to your poor husband?"!

He pulled back so his words would brush the cock head before him and kept up his ministrations with his fingers. "Preparing you."

"What could you be preparing me for with your hands there?"

"To fill you with my babies," Lan WangJi replied, for that was the entire purpose of the wedding night according to the instructions that they had been left.

"Yes, yes fill me with babies not fingers!"

"Fingers first."

"You must be finished by now, Er-gege, this is torture!"

"Finished when you finish."

"You're finished with your fingers when I'm finished...? What Er—"

Wei WuXian cut himself off with a long moan as Lan WangJi's renewed efforts on his prick, seemed to have more purpose, and Lan WangJi seemed to answer his husband's first clarifying question it the, "Mn," that vibrated along Wei WuXian's shaft was anything to go by.

The younger could feel himself get closer to climax despite the two fingers moving inside him and he renewed his babble, "Lan Zhan... Lan Er-gege... Er-gege... I'm... I'm—" Wei WuXian's words choke off as Lan WangJi puts a third finger inside of him and momentarily his orgasm is staved off. But there seems to be something inside of him that Lan WangJi is just barely brushing and it makes the hairs on Wei WuXian stand on end like the anticipation that the crackle of Zidian gives, but this promised so much more pleasure, and Lan WangJi was working Wei WuXian's cock expertly and he couldn't take it anymore, "Lan Zhan!"

The shout had purpose and Lan WangJi backed off his treat a bit and then swallowed it all down. Slowly, Lan WangJi pulled away from Wei WuXian and stood by the bed and removed the remainder of his clothes. Wei WuXian just lay on the bed eyes closed chest heaving. When he was naked Lan WangJi picked up the oil and poured more in his hand and then he applied that to his own cock, He made sure that it was completely coated, with lazy strokes as he took in the sight of his lover.

Wei WuXian having caught his breath opened his eyes and said, "Lan Zhan give me another moment and I'll help you..." he trailed off as his eyes focused on the vision of Lan WangJi touching himself while watching Wei WuXian.

Lan WangJi knelt back on the bed and put a hand to Wei WuXian's chest. "Stay."

Darker eyes watched as Lan WangJi settled on his knees between Wei WuXian's spread legs he shifted Wei WuXian around a bit seemed to think for a moment and then hooked Wei WuXian's legs over his forearms. Lan WangJi leaned forward, braced himself on one arm, and guided himself in with the other. There were a couple false starts, one where Wei WuXian tried to pull away with a cry of, "No you can't no more Er-gege, I am spent! I can't do more!"

"Can," replied Lan WangJi once he was fully seated inside of his husband.

Lan WangJi paused when he was fully inside Wei WuXian, he leaned down for a kiss and didn't relent until the body below his was squirming then he pulled back from the tempting mouth and body and thrust back in.

"Er-gege, so big!"

The elder began to thrust, he tried to restrain himself for the instructions had cautioned in restraint in the beginning, and as much as Lan WangJi just wanted to possess Wei WuXian body and soul for the rest of eternity, and to show the world that he possessed said tempting imp through the marks he could already see blooming on the younger's body, marks that wouldn't let Wei WuXian with his bad memory forget him; he had no desire to truly hurt Wei WuXian. He wanted Wei WuXian to be so consumed with Lan WangJi as Lan WangJi was with Wei WuXian. So, he initially held his desires in check as much as any Lan could when their forehead ribbon was binding the wrists of their beloved.

The pace began to increase, Lan WangJi tried to shift around to hit different parts inside his lover, as he had been informed that there was a particularly good spot inside a man. "I said you were so big Lan Zhan, you fill me up, so much... you cannot--"

Lan WangJi cut off his lover by letting go and using more strength to thrust into Wei WuXian. If the man could talk so, than Lan WangJi wasn't doing his job well. Their position seemed to be a bit awkward when gaining purchase so Lan WangJi slowed down enough to pick up one slender leg and draped it over his shoulder, and then he shifted so he could do the same with the other.

"What, Lan Zhan?..." The new position agreed with Lan WangJi and he could move into his lover deep and fast, which made Wei WuXian squeal, "Too rough, too rough, Lan Zhan you're too rough..." but the new position meant that it was easier for both Lan WangJi and Wei WuXian to see that Wei WuXian's prick was hard and clearly interested in the proceedings, "... be gentle with your husband..." Lan WangJi thrust in harder at those words. "... you have filled me well, I'm sure I'm pregnant now!"

"Not yet," replied Lan WangJi and he shifted and kept moving.

Wei WuXian shouted and his body seemed to convulse. "There! What was that Lan Zhan?..." Lan WangJi hit the spot again, "What are you doing to me Er-gege?"

"Be quiet," Lan WangJi admonished. He tried to keep hitting the spot, but Wei WuXian's legs had become boneless and flopped around a lot and he wasn't sure exactly where the spot truly was and there for missed it often. He tried to make up for it by keeping his thrusts deep.

"Too deep, you need to have some shallow thrust, too..." Babbled Wei WuXian but Lan WangJi did not listen to him and thrust deep, he hit the spot and whatever Wei WuXian was gearing up to say dissolved into a breathy scream. "Lan Zhan, Lan Zhan!"

The one in question thrust in deep, looked his lover in the eye, and said at the same time, "I am here.”

There was a crack of a chuckle that tried to push out between moan. "You are, you are, you're so big, and deep Er-gege, you fill me so well..."

"Mn," replied Lan WangJi he concentrated on fucking Wei WuXian into the walnut shell strewn bed folding the younger practically in half, the back of a calf in each of his hands

"Lan Zhan... I'm close... are you close? Let's finish together!"

"Mn."  And Wei WuXian wasn't lying; it didn't take long for him to shout out his release, spattering his seed high on his chest. The second that his orgasm was triggered he tightened around Lan WangJi and Lan WangJi thrust in a final time and released deep into his husband. They stayed frozen for a long minute; they slowly caught their breaths and gazed at the other in the low lamp light in the cave. Wei WuXian could feel a tingle of spiritual energy fill the cavity where his golden core had resided and then spread through his pathways and meridians—that must be dual cultivation—the release of seed also releasing spiritual energy into their partner. Slowly, Lan WangJi let Wei WuXian's legs down he rubbed his hands up and down along them for a moment and then he pulled out.

Wei WuXian stayed still for a moment until the sharp point of one of the walnut shells reminded him that they bed was still covered in them. The darker-eyed man rolled over on his knees and moved around looking for the shells and trying to brush them onto the ground with his still bound hands and little awkward brushing movements made from his knees.

Suddenly, Wei WuXian felt hands on his hips and he was pulled back onto a hard cock behind him. With a gasp at being filled again, so quickly, and so soon after his previous orgasm, Wei WuXian commented, "Lan Zhan, not so soon you already got me pregnant!"

"A-Yuan."

"What? A-Yuan why are we talking of my precious Radish at a time like this!"

"First was for A-Yuan, we have more children," returned Lan WangJi, and with those words he stopped any sort of protest that he would answer to as he began to thrust in earnest.

It took a bit after his two previous orgasms for Wei WuXian's cock to get back into the proceedings. Despite how much he yelled for gentler or to not be too rough he was sure that there would be finger bruises on his hips. But Lan WangJi was good and that spot deep inside him was magic in a way that Wei WuXian could not comprehend and his prick decided that it was good for a third round.

Wei WuXian started to thrust back at much as he could, his hands bound and his hips in Lan WangJi's control meant that he had little he could control. "Lan Zhan, so rough with your husband, so rough, you're bruising my hips, let up, let up!" the last was a shout as Lan WangJi grip tightened even more. When Wei WuXian caught his words he gasped out, "You could untie my hands and I could help you get deeper in me, I'm getting close again, I need you even deeper in me!"

Lan WangJi let go of Wei WuXian's hips and let his hand slide up his husband's back, over shoulders, and down arms. but he didn't untie Wei WuXian instead he plastered his front to Wei WuXian's back and intertwined their fingers as he kept up his thrusts, he also sucked and nibbled at Wei WuXian's neck. The pace had slowed due to the position, but the thrust were deep and the weight of the man above Wei WuXian did a lot to drag Wei WuXian toward another orgasm.

"Lan Zhan!" said man bit hard into Wei WuXian's shoulder and both men shuttered into another orgasm.

They stayed like that for a longer moment then their previous round, Wei WuXian enjoying the rush of spiritual power flowing through him, a burst that started low in his stomach and spread through his body only to return to his belly and dissipate for he lacked a golden core. There was a fleeting moment when he wondered if Lan WangJi would notice that the energy he was pouring into him was not staying as his seed had. But Lan WangJi was contently licking, sucking, kissing, and nuzzling Wei WuXian's neck; so, Wei WuXian assumed that his secret was still safe.

Slowly, Lan WangJi pulled back, letting go of Wei WuXian's hands and letting his own hands take the reverse path they had gone to grip at Wei WuXian's hands. He pulled out gently, but Wei WuXian was over-sensitised and Lan WangJi had hit that spot on the way out or something because suddenly despite all the orgasms he had had Wei WuXian was hard again. Due to their position Lan WangJi could not see Wei WuXian's erection and had planned to let his husband relax for a moment, for Lan WangJi was still soft.

Wei WuXian held still for a moment expecting the elder to fill him again, then he wiggled his ass in a way that he hoped was enticing and still he didn't get filled. Wei WuXian groaned and on shaky limbs and hands still bound he turned around on the bed brushing away a couple of errant walnut shells.

"Lan Er-gege!" Wei WuXian whined and Lan WangJi could see the younger's erection and his eyes went wide in surprise and his own cock twitched in appreciation. Dark-grey eyes caught the movement and looked down at Lan WangJi's lap and his semi-hard prick. Wei WuXian shifted and then pouted and then grinned. "Let me help you, Er-gege."

"Mn." with permission Wei WuXian practically fell into Lan WangJi's lap, his limbs were still boneless, and his wrist bound so his range of movement was limited. But he figured since he accomplished the feat of lying on his stomach with his face in front of Lan WangJi's cock that he had succeeded.

He mouthed at Lan WangJi's prick trying to get the shaft in his mouth, with only the help of his mouth, and Lan WangJi seemed intent to watch him attempt it. When he succeeded in getting the piece in his mouth, Wei WuXian hummed in triumph and twitched his hips rubbing his erection against the bed. the slightly soft member in his mouth was hard to work with, but Wei WuXian made up for it in wet enthusiasm, and slowly—too slowly in Wei WuXian's opinion, Lan WangJi was truly cruel and out to torture his husband—Lan WangJi did get hard though and Wei WuXian happily sucked on him, trying to put more and more of Lan WangJi's cock into his mouth.

When Lan WangJi's hips started to thrust up into Wei WuXian's mouth, the younger pulled away and made a horrible bid to sit up. Lan WangJi reached out and gripped Wei WuXian by the shoulder and helped him to a seated position.

Wei WuXian looped his arms around Lan WangJi's neck and used that to pull himself into Lan WangJi's lap. Shaky knees held Wei WuXian up over Lan WangJi's lap and darker eyes met lighter. "Lan Zhan we have three children you need to fill me again. I need to be filled with my Er-gege again! Don't leave me so empty!" A hand went down between them and another went to Wei WuXian's tender hip and Lan WangJi guided his husband down onto his cock. "Yes, so deep! So full!"

They sat there connected and enjoying the feeling for a moment and then Wei WuXian lifted himself pressing up with his legs and down with his forearms against Lan WangJi's shoulders. When he felt that most of Lan WangJi was out of him, he let himself drop again. Fully seated again, Wei WuXian's back arched presenting his chest to his husband and a cry of, "So good!"

He found a rhythm that he could sustain as Wei WuXian fucked himself on Lan WangJi's cock. Lan WangJi caught Wei WuXian's mouth in a kiss and they continued connected at the mouth and hip but when Wei WuXian found the spot inside him that wrenched his head back and made him scream, Lan WangJi lowered his mouth to the already marked chest and the hard and still slightly puffy nubs there. Lan WangJi bathed the chest before him in affection as Wei WuXian babbled out, "So good, husband, the best husband, fills me so good!"

When Wei WuXian's strength seemed to wain Lan WangJi used his own arms to move Wei WuXian in his lap. And it seemed for a long moment that Lan WangJi had finally fucked Wei WuXian silent for the babble cut off and the moans seemed to only come out as silent facial expression. Wei WuXian tipped forward his face pressed to the crook of Lan WangJi's neck and after a moment of heavy breaths against his neck Lan WangJi could feel a tongue lapping between deep pants at his skin. When Wei WuXian nipped at his neck, Lan WangJi slammed him down with more force than before, which caused Wei WuXian to throw his head back again. "Close... close... fill me Er-gege, fill your husband!" and Lan WangJi did.

They sat together for a while; Wei WuXian's spend cooling between them, faces pressed into the other's necks. Suddenly, Lan WangJi could feel a chuckle in his neck; Wei WuXian pulled away and looked into Lan WangJi's eyes. "I was thinking of that dream of mine Lan Zhan, you know? I wonder if this is the position needed if we were to share the bath together. Too bad I don't have my own tub here to test it, right Lan Zhan?"

"Mn," Lan WangJi agreed. He lifted Wei WuXian from his lap and laid him down on the bed. He took a moment and then he stood casting around the cave, and found a water basin and a cloth that had been left for them. He came back to the bed and gently started to clean off Wei WuXian.

"How about you Lan Zhan did we fulfil any of your dreams?"

Lan WangJi's ears immediately went red and his concentrated too much on Wei WuXian's stomach and the cloth that he was using. "I had a dream."

"Was it like mine?"

His ears if possible got even redder and he shook his head and then nodded it. "From when you switched the book in the Library Pavilion in Cloud Recesses, I did not destroy the book."

"What did you do with it?"

"In the dream you said that you would teach me... I threw you to the floor and told you to teach me... you did not want to teach me then, so... so I taught you."

Wei WuXian gasped and shifted a bit, it made Lan WangJi look up and catch Wei WuXian's eyes. The younger shifted again and said, "Er-gege, are you saying that you threw me to the floor of the Library Pavilion and forcefully taught me the pleasure of being filled by you?"

"Mn." His ears were burning.

"Did I beg you to stop?"

"Mn."

"Did you?"

It was too much for Lan WangJi and he looked back down at the cloth in his hand that had stilled on Wei WuXian's stomach right above the younger's hard cock. He stared at it as he said, "No." the cock in his sights twitched.  "I didn't stop." Wei WuXian's cocked twitched again and looked like it was trying to drip fluid, despite Wei WuXian having spent it all. "Even when you begged me." Wei WuXian moaned.

Lan WangJi threw the cloth away and got back onto the bed he pulled Wei WuXian's legs apart and settled between them. Wei WuXian made a feeble attempt to close his legs and protested. "HanGuang-Jun you can't, don't do this! You already filled me with three of your babies. No more!"

Lan WangJi filled Wei WuXian again, and despite his protests Wei WuXian moaned and wrapped his legs around his husband.

Chapter Text

Lan WangJi woke up at five like he did every morning, but that particular morning was different than all the rest. For one he had considerably less sleep than was typical while he resided in Cloud Recesses; something more akin to what he would get when out night hunting. But the previous night he had not been night hunting. Another difference is that there was a person using him for a pillow. A mass of black hair was just under Lan WangJi’s nose and the naked body was pressed all along his own. That was another thing, he usually didn’t sleep naked. And lastly there usually wasn’t walnut shells digging into his back—he had thought that they had been able to sweep them all off of the bed before they had fallen asleep.

He let his hands trail up and down the back of his sleeping husband than trailed one along an arm, he found his own forehead ribbon tied securely around one wrist, he brushed his thumb over the ribbon there alternatively touching soft silk and the underside of soft skin; a shiver of delight frizzled up Lan WangJi’s spine. He lifted the hand and kissed the wrist over the ribbon; he then looked at the skin and took in its colour. He placed the hand back down across his own chest and then carefully shifted to reach the other wrist. It was faintly red, but there was no real bruising probably due to the breadth and quality of the GusuLan forehead ribbon.

The moment was too perfect, and the rest of his day was going to be about delivering bad news; thus, decided Lan WangJi decided to bask in the glory of sharing a bed with Wei WuXian and to also do some reclining meditation.

It was maybe an hour later when Lan WangJi got up. He moved carefully, but the Demon Slaughtering Cave was well-named as Wei WuXian slept like the dead and did not stir as he was manhandled by Lan WangJi. Lan WangJi found the cold basin and the cloth that been carelessly tossed away sometime during their activities. He gave himself a cursory cleaning, one that was just enough to get him clean and then he got dressed and went out of the cave to see about a tub.

There were two tubs at the burial mounds each in their own little hut one for the men and the other for the women, in theory, the uses for the tubs seemed to change by what they were needed for. Lan WangJi went to Wen Qing for permission to take one of the tubs into the Demon Slaughtering Cave so that he and Wei WuXian could bathe.

Wen Qing had been waiting for him. “I hope you found my instructions useful.”

She was a doctor, so Lan WangJi had to answer such a question. “Mn.”

“Good, now, what’s that child’s name? We’ve been calling him XiaoPiPi; he also seemed to have hit his head recently.”

“His mother called him XiaoPiPi, I was too late to save his parents.”

“So, are there more Wens on the way?”

“Not a Wen, he’s a Lan.”

Wen Qing was quiet for a long moment her eyes flinty steel that cut deeper and deeper the longer she stared Lan WangJi down. “You’ve brought us an actual Lan by blood to live here in the Burial Mounds?”

“Mn.”

“And do you have some way to show that we didn’t kidnap this child? I’ve already heard women in the village telling their children to behave or the Yiling Patriarch will take them in the night.”

Lan WangJi took out the slip that XiaoPiPi’s mother Madam Jing had had written out before she had died.

Wen Qing scrutinised the paper and then handed it back. “I need his birth name and his parents’ names, and his birthday.”

“I will bring his parents’ home and make those inquiries.”

“What about the other children? Madam Jing gave her son to you, but the other two?”

“Our, mine and Wei Ying’s.”

“You let him give A-Lian the Lan name, will you make A-Yuan, Lan Yuan?” questioned Wen Qing with a cautious look in her eye.

“He’s your family.”

“He called you father already, he has always called me aunt. A-Yuan would be safer as yours and Wei WuXian’s son; I will still be his aunt. I have talked to all of the remaining Wens here, and we all agreed. That is if you want. He will always have family and we will not be angry if you do not want him to have your name, but I thought we should ask,” returned Wen Qing.

“I want.”

“Good I’m glad; A-Yuan will be too. You might want to think of something if cultivators come knocking at our door or tell someone of the wedding and children. So, if we are attacked the children of HanGuang-Jun are spared.”

There was a wide-eyed look of unaltered fear that flashed across Lan WangJi’s face, and Wen Qing realised that Lan WangJi hadn’t thought of that possibility. But Lan WangJi was a prominent cultivator from a prominent sect and despite his frequent visits he was still a saviour. He had saved the Wens from the mine and now was trying to get them and the Wens that had already been at the Burial Mounds to their homes and safety but he wasn’t thinking of the long term, the big picture, the ones that would be left behind—he didn’t think of the low opinion of others towards the Yiling Patriarch and the Wen Remnant.

“Look, first we need to find a home for everyone that has one out there, and then we can see who is left over and find a place for them. I just want extra safeguards for the children; they are innocent in all of this.”

“Mn.”

“You came to me for a reason. And I’m assuming as you were smart and read my instructions and therefore used the oil that I don’t need to attend to Wei WuXian. So, what is it that you came to me for?”

“Tub.”

Lan WangJi’s ears were red so Wen Qing took a moment to infer the entire meaning in that word. “You want to take a tub into Wei WuXian’s cave?”

“Mn.”

“You know where the tubs and buckets are; just bring them out when you are done.”

“Thank you Physician Wen,” replied Lan WangJi with a bow.

Lan WangJi  quickly left Wen Qing and went to fetch buckets, he filled them at the stream and brought them back to heat by the cook fire that was preparing breakfast. Then he went and hauled the tub into the back of the cave near his sleeping husband. He was able to have a quick breakfast, all the babies still sleeping, before the water finished heating.

Once the tub was filled the water was a tad on the hot side so he went out to the stream and filled the buckets again and brought them back to the fire for the next person’s bath. He took his own bath in the quiet of the cave Wei WuXian not even moving. When he was finished he wrapped himself in a towel and judged the heat of the water and Wei WuXian’s sleeping form.

After much hesitation he decided that he would attempt to bathe Wei WuXian, and that he would not dress himself until he finished the task. He judged as he had never tried to bathe a sleeping man before and was unsure if Wei WuXian would wake up or not before, after, or during the process that it would be best to save his clothes. Lan WangJi went over to the bed and peeled back  the covers, Wei WuXian made a feeble attempt to pull the blankets back up and murmured mostly asleep, “Just let me sleep a bit more.”

Wei WuXian’s body sprawled naked on the bed was a vision of mottled bruises: suck and bite marks on his neck and chest and finger shape bruises that matched Lan WangJi’s hands on his hips. Lan WangJi looked his fill memorising the body of his husband and then he carefully rolled him onto his stomach to see if there was any sort of dangerous marks—he saw none. Next, Lan WangJi rolled his husband back onto his back and carefully untied the ribbon around his wrist. He gently laid out the ribbon on the pillow as there was no such bedside table and scooped the younger into his arms and then walked the few paces to the tub and gently slipped the slighter man in.

Wei WuXian woke up submerged in water and his hair being washed. “Lan Zhan?”

“I am here.”

“Mmm… this is nice,” replied Wei WuXian, he tipped his head back so he could look into the lighter eyes of his husband. They really looked like honey-coated black sesame candies; a warm golden brown that belied any belief that Lan WangJi was just cold jade. “When you are finished with my hair will you join me?”

Lan WangJi’s ears went red. “Not this time, other’s may need the tub.” He scratched his fingers into Wei WuXian’s scalp and the barely shorter man hummed in response and sunk deeper into the water.

When the bath was finished Lan WangJi lifted Wei WuXian from the tub and towelled him off, then set about combing his husband’s hair while Wei WuXian stayed in a state of partial awareness. When Wei WuXian was dressed, Lan WangJi dressed himself and then he reached down to the pillow by Wei WuXian’s head for his ribbon.

The GusuLan forehead ribbon was hovering over Wei WuXian’s face when those watered-ink eyes opened and Wei WuXian said, “Wait,” Lan WangJi froze ribbon hovering above his beloved’s nose, Wei WuXian continued his hand reaching toward but not touching the ribbon, “you did all this for me, lugging in the tub and the water, bathing me, dressing me… I should do something for my husband; may I tie your ribbon for you?”

There was really no need to think, Lan WangJi dropped the ribbon in Wei WuXian’s hand and sat down on the bed, back to his husband. He could feel the shift of the bed as Wei WuXian sat up; the feel of fingers through his hair and against his skin as Wei WuXian indulged himself. And then the familiar and yet entirely new sensation of his forehead ribbon being tied into place, once more regulating his actions.

Wei WuXian once finished draped his arms around Lan WangJi’s shoulders and hugged the man from behind. He nuzzled into the neck, inhaled the scent of his clean husband and then added a couple lazy sleepy kisses some landing on the skin of Lan WangJi’s throat some on his long hair. The elder twisted around and caught Wei WuXian in a sweet kiss.

When they separated, Wei WuXian thought that nothing could be better. “Have you had breakfast?”

“Mn. You need breakfast though.”

“I do, are you leaving today?”

“Mn. I need to bring XiaoPiPi’s parent’s ashes home.”

“So, his name is Wen PiPi? I hadn’t really gotten to see him yesterday.”      

"Lan."

Wei WuXian laughed a joyous bubbling sound that made the death and decay that was the Burial Mounds seem like a bright sunny place. "I see you are determined that we have all these children since you married this lowly Wei WuXian."

"Told you, not lowly, just Wei Ying."

"And this Wei Ying is just the lowly son of a servant," Wei WuXian replied.

"Wei Ying is good, he protects people and is clever, and that is worth more than all the gold in Koi Tower."

"You cannot say these things, Lan Zhan!" Wei WuXian put a hand dramatically to his heart.

"It is the truth."

"My poor heart, it cannot take such words from a peerless Jade like my Lan Zhan, you must warn me!"

"Mn."

"Ahh... Lan Zhan, so you decided this one will be a Lan as well, did you give him a name as well?"

"He was born a Lan."

"Wait what?" Wei WuXian studied Lan WangJi's for a long moment and then asked in a voice that started soft and ended in a crack that was trying to be a joke, "Am I your second wife HanGuang-Jun?"

"No, only Wei Ying, always Wei Ying," Lan WangJi replied he too studied his husband and then added, "I could not save his parents, they were attacked on the road, before she died his mother asked me to care for him. I only know that his mother called him XiaoPiPi."

"Will you find his parents and his birth name?"

"Mn. when I leave."

"That's good, and he will be ours too?""

"Mn."

"Then, I think it is time for breakfast, so I can meet this XiaoPiPi, we are married now Qing-jie cannot take him from me."

"Mn."

They got up and made their way through the cave and out into the morning light. It was earlier then when Wei WuXian usually got up, unless he hadn't gone to sleep the previous night; but it appeared that Wen Qing was waiting for them. They were barely outside of the cave when Wen Qing practically threw XiaoPiPi into Wei WuXian's arms. The boy was a giggling mass that wrapped himself around Wei WuXian like a monkey: arms around Wei WuXian's neck and legs around his hips. Wei WuXian's hands automatically went up to support the child.

"Congratulations, it's a boy. Good jumping A-Yuan," said Wen Qing.

There was another giggle and then a weight was thrown at Wei WuXian's leg. The force was enough to make Wei WuXian feel off balance, but Lan WangJi put a hand on his lower back to give him support. But almost immediately Granny held out Lan Lian out for Lan WangJi to hold.

There before the cave they were a tableau of a family, whole and happy. One of the Auntie's called out, "So young and three children already, it must be love!"

"Such shameless parents though sleeping in and having others feed their children," commented an uncle.

Wei WuXian looked down at the child in his arms and asked, "Is that true XiaoPiPi? Did you have breakfast already? And you too A-Yuan?"

"Yes!" answered the boys together.

"Well your Xian-gege needs to eat breakfast too, so what am I going to do with you two?" asked Wei WuXian, he made an exaggerated humming-sound of thought and then asked, "Shall I eat these two small boys?" he made to play eat at the nearest of XiaoPiPi's arm and that got a shriek.

The weight on Wei WuXian's leg lifted and then A-Yuan exclaimed, "Rich-gege save my GeDi!"

"Wei Ying."

Wei WuXian gave an exaggerated sight and let the boy in his arms slip to the ground. "Alright, alright, you kids stay with Lan Zhan, while I get my breakfast."

He watched as the children turned to look up at Lan WangJi, the elder looked down at the boys and said, "Let's do our morning breathing and then handstands."

The boys cheered and then XiaoPiPi followed after A-Yuan who was running to the area where Lan WangJi usually had the boy practice breathing exercises that were for developing a golden core and then the handstands. Wei WuXian shook his head as he watched them leave and then he turned back to the smiling Wens, "GeDi?"

"We don't know which one is older A-Yuan or XiaoPiPi, so A-Yuan started calling XiaoPiPi his GeDi," said Wen Qing.

"Clever," replied Wei WuXian and then he headed over to where he could get his breakfast.

Lan WangJi was at a bit of a loss of exactly where he should bring the ashes. He wasn't sure where the Jing's lived and they had been Lans but, well, he felt that he should talk to Madam Jing's family first— but to do that he would have to go to Cloud Recesses first. Lan WangJi felt that he would be doing a lot of back and forth that day. After he retrieved the ashes, he left them outside of Cloud Recesses and made his own way in. he headed first to the Hall of Records to see who married the Madam Jing that had entrusted her son to him. Luckily there hadn't been too many Lans that had married Jing's. He found the right Madam Jing and her direction.

The Second Young Master Lan went to the linen stores. They had a lot of uniforms in there. Children grow fast and they had found it was best to have many uniforms on hand so that only small adjustments needed to be made to fit the child. A lot of the uniforms had been worn by other's before; they may be one of the great Sects but there was no need to waste money or perfectly good if slightly worn uniforms for children who will grow out of them and were more apt to end up rolling in the mud. He remembered that XiaoPiPi had been in white, but he wasn't sure how well the uniform had survived the attack and the first night in the Burial Mounds. So, Lan WangJi did his best to choose two uniforms for the boys.

The tokens to get in and out of Cloud Recesses were a different matter entirely. While the uniforms would eventually be noticed as absent, the tokens had a much better chance of being noticed sooner. But as the Second Young Master with a reputation of upholding the rules of Cloud Recesses even when not at Cloud Recesses, he felt that unless someone suspicious gained access to Cloud Recesses that he would not be questioned. The clerk in the room didn’t even bat an eye when he requested two tokens. Lan WangJi had of course taken XiaoPiPi’s father’s token from the man’s corpse before he had left the body to be cremated. It often happened with unexpected deaths that the tokens were not retrievable, which is why the tokens would stop working if they didn’t interact with the Cloud Recesses protection barrier often enough. The three tokens tucked away with the robes—which were in a Qiankun pouch—in Lan WangJi’s sleeve the Second Jade felt more secure about the future of his family.

He then went to the jingshi and pulled a box off of one of the shelves. He placed it reverently on the table and then sat down and carefully opened the box. Inside was a collection of GusuLan forehead ribbons, with the specific cloud pattern that denoted Lan WangJi's branch of the family. Lan WangJi took out the first ribbon it was an infant's ribbon it had been worn by Lan WangJi, Lan XiChen before him, Lan QiRen before him, and their father, and perhaps their grandfather as well. Lan WangJi was to hold this ribbon until he or Lan XiChen had a child. If both of them had spouses pregnant at the same time then new ribbons would be commissioned and the infant ribbon that Lan WangJi held would be returned to the ancestral hall. It would be the same if they had twins or if the ribbon had too much wear for another child to wear. It still looked good, as if it was waiting for another child to come along— and now one had. He took out the toddler ribbon that had also been passed down through his family. then he picked up the third one it was almost of a size with the toddler ribbon, it had been made for Lan WangJi when he had shown promise to be able to develop a golden core. It wasn't supposed to be passed down, but it was a good cause. Lan WangJi knew that if his brother or uncle knew of his and Wei WuXian's children they would demand that they be at Cloud Recesses, but that would mean taking the children from their mother-figure, and Lan WangJi wouldn't do that. He wasn't going to bring the children to Cloud Recesses until Wei WuXian agreed to come with him—them

Ribbons also tucked into his sleeves, Lan WangJi slipped from first the jingshi and then Cloud Recesses itself. He picked up the ashes of the Lan couple and made his way to the Jing estate. Lan WangJi had experience with this, approaching a family and asking if they were related to the person in question. But unlike all the other times when he brought up the question of one of the Wens and their family had assumed, he was asking because they were dead. This time, this time he had the ashes to return. He still had a hard time dealing with crying women. the Jing's lived on the coast, the air had a salty tinge to it and Lan WangJi got a name XiaoPiPi was Lan Bo— Blue Wave, his courtesy name hadn't been chosen yet, but his parents called him XiaoPiPi because he was naughty. Lan WangJi had said that the boy seemed to be well-behaved, and the Jing's just shrugged. They had accepted Madam Jing's note and had admitted that one of the reasons for the trip to Cloud Recesses was to discuss when Lan Bo could start classes so the family had already been prepared for Lan Bo to be away at Cloud Recesses. Lan WangJi did not correct them, and then he was asked if the ashes could be split and laid in both households. They split the ashes and gave them all due respect and the proper prayers so that the splitting of the ashes wouldn't agitate the spirts. But to Lan WangJi the air seemed to lighten, as if the spirit were happy with the arrangement, and the safety of their child.

The trip back to Cloud Recesses was uneventful and that time when he entered Cloud Recesses he brought the urns with him and the disciples that were at the door saw the jars and one ran ahead and alerted Lan XiChen and Lan QiRen, who met Lan WangJi before he could get to the hanshi.

Lan WangJi told them how he found the couple and how he saw to the rights and had gone to the Jing estate because that was where they had lived.

"They had a young son, didn't they?" asked Lan QiRen.

Lan XiChen nodded. "A Lan Bo, I believe. He was only three or four, they had written of him, they wanted Lan Bo to study here and were bringing him here soon to see if he could be put with the rest of the Lan children and start making friends."

"Mn, he survived," informed Lan WangJi. Lan XiChen's voice had been full of horror and emotion at the potential loss of such a young child. But Lan WangJi wasn't going to give his brother any unasked-for information.

"I assume the Jing's will take good care of him, Clan Leader Jing only had daughters I believe, Lan Bo will have a mother's love from his aunts and then when he is older and the pain not to fresh they will send the child to us," reasoned Lan QiRen.

It was a logical interpretation of the state of affairs with the information that was available to them. The note that said that Lan Bo was now the child of Lan WangJi, stayed where it was tucked into a sleeve and out of sight. Lan WangJi stayed for the rest of the day and for the ceremonies for his new son's parents. Then he left, he had a family to see.

On the way to Yiling Lan WangJi picked up the supplies that he had bought previously for the protection bell that Wei WuXian had planned to make for the Jiang sibling's children and for their children. But they had gone shopping when there had been four children and now there were five. 

Lan WangJi was slightly disappointed when he made it into the Burial Mounds and Wei WuXian hadn’t come out to meet him. He saw Wen Qing and she simply said, “We sent him to town.” He nodded and then walked toward the hut that Wen Qing often used, and she followed him inside. “Do you have the information I asked for?”

“Mn.” And Lan WangJi succinctly gave her the needed names and dates.

She nodded and said, “A-Yuan is older by some months.”

“It is good, he was our first.”

Wen Qing raised an eyebrow and then asked, “And the other problem we discussed?”

Lan WangJi pulled out the forehead ribbons and showed them to her. “Any cultivator who sees these will know they are GusuLan children, and member of the GusuLan Sect will know that they are my children.” He handed her an emergency flare, “and this will call any GusuLan Sect member to the area. It is made for children, so can be used without spiritual powers, it just needs to be broken.”

“That’s good,” stated Wen Qing, “I wish all the happiness upon your family.”

“And on your family,” Lan WangJi replied with a bow.

“Now get out of my sight, play with the kids we decided that three were too many for Wei WuXian to take down the mountain, but you can take them to find him if you want.”

Lan WangJi took Wen Qing's words to heart and went off to find the children, he found them playing in the dirt Lan Yuan was burying Lan Bo , explaining to him that if they did that Lan Bo would grow taller and they could maybe grow some more siblings.

"Lan Yuan, Lan Bo."

"Rich-die!" yelled Lan Yuan.

"HanGuang-Jun!"

"Is GeDi going to stay? We have the same name!"

"He will, and I have looked and it would seem that Lan Yuan you are the Da-ge and Lan Bo is your Er-di."

Lan Bo pouted a bit. "I'm not Gege?"

"You are Lan Lian's Er-ge and Lan Yuan's Er-di," explained Lan WangJi when the frown didn't leave Lan Bo's face, he elaborated, “You are lucky I have no younger siblings I am only a Didi."

"So, I'm both!" shouted Lan Bo.

The boys were dressed in the plain clothes of the people of the Burial Mounds and Lan WangJi wondered if Lan Bo had realised that his parents were gone or not—he felt a bit bad that he had attended two separate ceremonies for Lan Bo's parents but the boy had not attended any. "Would you like to go into town and find your Xian—“

Lan Yuan cut off Lan WangJi, "A-Ma!"

"A-Ma?"

"Mn," replied Lan Yuan with a sage nod, "I said it was too weird to call Xian-gege Mother, but Aunt Qing said you were married now and therefore you are A-Die, and A-Ma is the Manchurian word for father, they live in the way, way, way northeast, they are a good people, and have good words."

"Very wise," agreed Lan WangJi, "Would you like to go find your Xian-A-Ma and get some lunch?"

The boys began to cheer. Granny who had been sitting nearby holding Lan Lian started getting the little girl ready to go into town. They had a sling that was made of stiffer fabrics to give the girl more support. Lan WangJi wondered if there was a safer or better constructed was to carry a girl so young on one's back, but also knew that she didn't need to be carried so far so often. Granny put some cloths and a bottle in a bag and gave that to Lan WangJi. He slung the bag over his shoulder and then with Granny's help got the little girl in the sling. Lan WangJi hoped that he would find Wei WuXian before she cried, for he was unsure if he would be able to safely get the girl out by himself.

He made sure that Bichen was tied securely to his waist and then took a small hand in each of his and led the boys down the mountain and into Yiling. Yiling was a decent sized city and after they were most of the way down the mountain Lan WangJi wondered if he should have asked Wen Qing what Wei WuXian had gone down into town for, so he had a good guess of where to start looking.

Before they entered into the actual city Lan WangJi stopped and looked at both of the boys. "Do not let go of my hand when we are in the town even if you see your Xian-A-Ma, promise me."

Lan Yuan looked serious, "Mn."

Lan Bo was watching his new older brother and then copied him, "Mn."

"Good, let us go. If you see Xian-A-Ma tell me."

The boys agreed again, and Lan WangJi led them into town. Lan WangJi led the children to the area of Yiling where vegetables and other food stuffs were being sold. They were lucky when they found Wei WuXian bargaining for rice. When they saw him, Lan WangJi tightened his grip on the boy's hands so they would not run ahead to quickly. When they got closer, Lan WangJi let go of the giggling boys and pushed them forward. Lan Yuan knew what to do and barrelled into Wei WuXian's left leg and a second latter Lan Bo attached himself to the right leg.

Wei WuXian startled and looked down. "How did you two get here?"

"Wei Ying."

The confusion on Wei WuXian's melted away like snow in the spring and his smile light up like the summer sun. "Lan Zhan, I didn't know you would get back today; I see you already collected the children. Why did you bring them to town?"

"Lunch with Wei Ying."

"How thoughtful of you Lan Zhan, A good husband and father, I just need to buy the rice to save myself from Qing-jie.

The boys stayed attached to Wei WuXian, giggling, and whispering to each other as Wei WuXian continued to barter for a couple of big bags of rice. Once the transaction was completed Lan WangJi stepped up and said, "You take Lan Lian, I will take the rice."

Wei WuXian lifted the girl out of the sling and held her in the crook of one arm, after a moment of thought Lan WangJi left the sling on. "Lan Yuan you hold Wei Ying's free hand, Lan Bo you hold your gege's hand."

The Yiling Patriarch looked at Lan WangJi with a fond smile. "Where should we eat?"

"We will eat where Wei Ying wants to eat."

"Alright! Follow me boys!" said Wei WuXian as he set off back into the foot traffic of Yiling, heading to a restaurant. Lan WangJi picked up the two sacks of rice and followed behind his heart light as he watched his husband leading their children along to a restaurant for a family lunch.

They found a good place and got a table. Lan WangJi put the bags down in the corner and untied the sling. He sat down at that table and then said, "Wei Ying only get a couple spicy dishes, that way the boys have plenty to choose from."

Wei WuXian nodded and then ordered a few dishes, only one had meat and only a couple were spicy, there was another one that he ordered with a little bit of spice and once the waiter walked away with their order Wei Ying commented, "So the boys can try slightly spicy food."

"Mn."

"So, My XiaoPiPi is Lan Bo?"

"Wave."

"That's a good name for a Lan, Wave, so he is a little naughty blue wave?"

"No," shouted Lan Yuan, "He is my good Er-di, don't be mean Xian-A-Ma!"

"Eh! A-Ma?"

Lan Yuan proceeded to then explain loudly to the entire restaurant the origins of A-Ma as father and then once he was finished and a few of the closer women were 'awing' at Lan Yuan's cuteness. Lan WangJi said, "Lan Yuan we are inside, we must speak with quieter inside voices."

"Yes Rich-Die!" replied Lan Yuan, it was said at a more practical level, but judging by the chuckles from some of the closer tables, it was still too loud or they had just gained that much more attention.

Lan Lian started to get fussy and they pulled a waiter over to get some milk for her. Wei WuXian didn't seem like he wanted to let the little girl go so Lan WangJi prepared the bottle and handed it over. When the food came, he placed bits of the food including some of the meat dish onto everyone's plate so that the boys could eat with spoons and Wei WuXian wouldn't have to reach so far for the dishes. he then slid the spiciest dishes in the vicinity of Wei WuXian and started on his own meal, deftly using his chopsticks to reach the dishes and grab a piece or two before bringing it back to his bowl of rice and then his mouth.

Their little girl's cries had gotten more attention at their table and Lan WangJi wondered if it would cause any sort of problem later. If it would alert the sects about the wedding or the children before they were ready. After lunch they walked back through Yiling, they had tied Lan Lian onto Wei WuXian's back and he had the hands of each boy in his own while Lan WangJi carried the rice, if it wasn't for the rice they probably would have lingered longer. Despite Lan WangJi's superior arm strength the bags were large and unwieldy when navigating busy streets. they walked by a couple of young men dressed in black fighting over who was the real disciple of the Yiling Patriarch and trying to sell fake wares as if they would really help the people watching the spectacle. Wei WuXian just walked by the men as if they weren't there and pointed to something on the other side of the street for the boys to see.

Lan WangJi compared his husband to the fake disciples and realised that while they were dressed in the black and red like Wei WuXian wore during the Sunshot Campaign, though in a much lower quality, and Wei WuXian was also wearing red and black that the latter’s clothes were those of a farmer and he had his hands full with toddlers. Lan WangJi reflected maybe the people of Yiling being able to point to Wei WuXian and see the husband of a cultivator and the A-Ma of the three children would be good.

Lan WangJi still didn't like the charlatans he paused and stood still for a moment, until his unyielding stance drew enough attention from the crowd that had been moving and cheering on the two fighting men. "They are both fake, the Yiling Patriarch doesn't take disciples."

The crowd and the fighting men froze and looked at him. He hadn't changed, so he was still dressed in white and looked every inch of the respectable cultivator.

One of the fakes said, "If he takes no disciples how do you explain the Burial Mounds being less oppressive than before. The Wens had tried but no one could cleanse the Burial Mounds. It is clearly the work of my master the Yiling Patriarch and his disciples."

"No, it was just Wei WuXian by himself."

Someone in the crowd yelled out, "The walking corpses that have been plaguing my farm at night, they must be the work of the Yiling Patriarch!"

"Wei WuXian wouldn't do that," replied Lan WangJi, his brow furrowed a bit and looked around he found that Wei WuXian had stopped at the edge of the crowd and was intently watching Lan WangJi. Lan WangJi looked back over the crowd, but he wasn't sure who had spoken, he looked back at Wei WuXian.

The Yiling Patriarch smiled. "Whoever just spoke about the walking corpse please follow this distinguished cultivator and I and we'll get the information needed to help."

Lan WangJi nodded and then looked back over the crowd. A man also dressed in the clothes of a farmer moved through the crowd and stopped in front of Lan WangJi. With the rice bags in hand Lan WangJi could only nod to the man, but he followed after them.

Wei WuXian led them down to the river. "Lan Zhan, you take A-Lian while you talk to this man, and I'll take the boys down to the river."

Lan WangJi put down the rice and lifted the girl from the sling and watched at Wei WuXian led the boys to the river before he turned to the farmer and listened to the man as he explained his situation and watched as he didn't ask the questions that he wanted.

"I will try to come tonight, if I cannot than I will send word."

"Thank you," said the man.

The sun was high and when Lan WangJi turned back around to his family, he saw that they were having fun splashing in the river, so Lan WangJi sat in the shade of a tree with their daughter and watched his boys play.

They made it back to the settlement on the Burial Mounds and the boys were finally let free and they ran to Granny, Wen Ning, and anyone else in earshot to tell them about their time in the city. Lan WangJi stopped Wei WuXian and said, “We need to talk to the boys and to A-Bo about his parents.”

“Should we plant them in the radish patch so they will stay still?”

“Mm, the cave.”

Wei WuXian’s voice raised and he said, “Come on boy you’re A-Die and I need to talk to you real quick.” The boys ran back over to them and then followed the two adults inside the Demon Slaughtering Cave. Lan WangJi led them back to the sleeping area and then lifted the closest child onto the bed, quickly followed by the other; then he took Lan Lian from the sling and looked at Wei WuXian.

The Yiling Patriarch nodded and sat down on the bed, so Lan Bo was between Wei WuXian and Lan Yuan. “Lan Bo, A-Bo, my XiaoPiPi I need to tell you something. When I was little like you my mother and father had to go away. They didn’t want to go away and leave me, but I couldn’t go with them and then I had to live by myself and was very lonely, but then one day Jiang FengMian the old Sect Leader of YunmengJiang came and he took me home with him and gave me an older sister and a younger brother. Something similar has happened to your parents, but your mother she asked HanGuang-Jun here to take you into his family. And you were there HanGuang-Jun married me so now the people here who are my family, are HanGuang-Jun’s family, are your family. Do you understand XiaoPiPi? Your mother and father loved you very much, so much they asked the Great HanGuang-Jun to be a second father for you to give you a second family, they didn’t want to go or leave you, but they had no choice.”

“So, I can’t see them again?” asked little Lan Bo.

“No, I’m sorry sweetie I wish they could have stayed with you, but the heavens were not so kind. But you are part of HanGuang-Jun and my family and we love you very much.”

“Mn.”

Lan Yuan hugged Lan Bo into Wei WuXian’s side and he hugged the two little boys to him. “What about my mother and father?” asked Lan Yuan.

“It was the same with your mother and father as it was with mine and XiaoPiPi’s parents. But your parents gave you to Granny, you are her grandson, and then Granny loved me so much she made me her family and that made A-Yuan my son. And then I got married as you know and now we are all part of the GusuLan Sect because HanGuang-Jun is Rich-Die and I am just Poor-A-Ma and therefore we are now in his family, that is how marriage works… and that’s why we, HanGuang-Jun and I, have three little Lans: Lan Yuan, Lan Bo, and Lan Lian.”

"And Lian-mei?" asked Lan Bo as he bounced a bit on the bed.

"This was before you came to us A-Bo, you see there were less people living with us," began Wei WuXian, "HanGuang-Jun is a hero to the people and goes where the chaos is or where he is needed most and that is how he found people in the north that needed saving so he flew down from the sky and saved them all! And little A-Lian she he no family and she cried and cried so HanGuang-Jun said, 'you will be my daughter, and the daughter of my future husband we will be your parents' and A-Lian stopped crying. So, HanGuang-Jun travelled and brought all the people he saved here to us. For here on this mountain of ghosts we will save and protect anyone that needs it! And as you know small children need to be planted so they may grow and get little siblings. So one morning I was planting A-Yuan and A-Yuan was wishing so hard to have a little sister and out of the mist came HanGuang-Jun with this beautiful baby girl in his arms, and I had to give her a name and she was just so beautiful and precious like a blue lotus bloom that I had to use it for her name!"

"That's not true A-Ma!" whined Lan Yuan.

"What's not true?"

"I wished for a little brother not a little sister!" Lan Yuan exclaimed.

Wei WuXian laughed. "Well, why do you think HanGuang-Jun brought XiaoPiPi to us, he knew you wanted a little brother, right Lan Zhan?"

"Mn."

"If that is true, A-Ma saved A-Yuan but A-Die saved me and A-Lian... so, that means we'll get another little brother or sister that A-Ma saves!" reasoned Lan Bo.

"That is not how that works," said Wei WuXian with a chuckle.

"Yes it is!" retorted Lan Bo he pointed to Lan Lian and then himself as he said, "One, two," then he pointed to Lan Yuan, "one."

Wei WuXian mock gasped, "Who taught you to count? I didn't know that you could count!"

"My mama taught me, and I practiced with baba!"

There was half a heartbeat of silence. "Then A-Bo's numbers must be correct, parents are never wrong about such things," answered Lan WangJi.

"Yes, yes, HanGuang-Jun is right we must respect the wisdom of A-Bo's parents. But we need two hands to carry A-Lian and even two hands maybe if we are lucky one hand each to carry A-Yuan and A-Bo, so how many hands do we need to carry our children?"

Wei WuXian finished speaking and then pointed to Lan Lian held in two of Lan WangJi's arms and Lan Bo counted, "one, two."

Wei WuXian nodded and held up fingers as Lan Bo counted then pointed to Lan Yuan and said, "I could carry A-Yuan with one arm."

"Three!"

"And I need one arm for XiaoPiPi."

"Four!" added in Lan Yuan.

"Oh my A-Yuan can count too; soon you will be going on night hunts and leaving behind your poor A-Ma and A-Die! But you are correct; we need four arms to carry our babies. Now how many arms do HanGuang-Jun and I have together?"

Lan Yuan jumped off the bed and touched one of Lan WangJi's arms and then the other. "One, two."

He turned around and Lan Bo touched Wei WuXian's arms and the children continued counting, "Three, four!"

"Very good!" Wei WuXian's tone changed to a sage all-knowing aspect, "HanGuang-Jun and I have four arms and need four arms to carry our children, and therefore we cannot have any more children until we have a free arm to carry them. I only had two siblings an older sister and a younger brother, you two can be happy with just the two siblings can't you?"

"Yes!" exclaimed the boys.

Lan WangJi walked closer to the bed and placed Lan Lian in Wei WuXian's arms and then lifted Lan Yuan back to the bed. He didn't say anything but his actions did grab everyone’s attention. Lan WangJi pulled out the infant forehead ribbon and held it out for all to see. "This ribbon is a symbol of the GusuLan Sect; do you know what the ribbons mean A-Bo?"

"To regulate oneself."

Wei WuXian blinked surprised that a small child knew the answer. Lan WangJi nodded and continued, "That is correct. We wear the ribbon to remind us that we need to act with respect and responsibility to all those that you meet. Even though we must also be respectful to our families, with our families we don't need the reminder. So you must remember that no one but your family can touch the ribbon. A-Bo can you take off your ribbon so we can look at it?"

The seriousness of the situation seemed to fill the cavern and the children and Wei WuXian sat transfixed. Lan Bo nodded and then he carefully untied his ribbon and held it out in his hand. It was a bit grubby since he had been wearing it since his parents had died.

Without touching the ribbon Lan WangJi pointed out features on the two ribbons, "See how the cloud pattern in a little different, this cloud pattern means that you are my children, anyone from the GusuLan Sect will know that you are my children. Some people from other sects may know that this means you are mine as well but if they don't then they will know that you are part of the GusuLan Sect, if you ever get separated from your A-Ma, or Granny, or Wen Qing, or I any person will know to contact me, so I can find you quickly. This ribbon was the ribbon that I wore as a baby and it will now be worn by Lan Lian." Ceremonially Lan WangJi moved towards Wei WuXian and Lan Lian. Wei WuXian held the girl up a bit and Lan WangJi carefully tied the ribbon about her head. "With babies it is expected that the ribbon may fall off, we understand that it will happen."

Lan WangJi pulled out the other two ribbons and held them up, "These were mine when I was about your age..."

Wei WuXian cut in, "A-Bo, Your A-Die and I want you to be part of our family, no matter what you do you will always be the son of your mother and father but also the son of HanGuang-Jun and I, but," Wei WuXian paused and looked at Lan WangJi gauging the situation, "but we would like it if you were to wear the forehead ribbon that shows everyone that you are part of HanGuang-Jun's family... at least for now, since we live so far from Cloud Recesses."

"Mn that is correct. Lan Bo I will never take the ribbon you have now from you. It is your decision, you can keep it safe with you, or I can bring it to Cloud Recesses to keep it safe, or I can put it in the Ancestral Hall at Cloud Recesses or at the Jing estate. That decision is yours and your A-Ma and I will respect it. It would however make me very honoured if you and Lan Yuan would wear the ribbons of our family."

It was quiet; the decision was to be entirely Lan Bo's. The boy seemed like he was on the edge of tears and Wei WuXian shifted Lan Lian around so he could wrap an arm around the small boy. "Don't think about it as though you have lost, but that you have gained. A-Lian is too young she never knew her mother, and I don't think A-Yuan remembers much about his mother and father. It may hurt sometimes, but you have those memories and they are worth a lot. All I really remember is sitting on my father's shoulders, up high where I could look down on the world and behind us laughing and sitting on a donkey was my mother. And when the Jiangs took me in, I wore the YunmengJiang Sect clarity bell like my new brother and sister."

Both boys were crying silent tears and pressed into Wei WuXian's side. Lan Bo pulled away and then took a deep breath and did his best HanGuang-Jun impression, "I will wear the ribbon of our family. HanGuang-Jun could you... could you keep the ribbon of my father's family safe for me?"

Lan WangJi extended a hand and gently took the ribbon from Lan Bo. "I would be honoured; I will keep this safe for you."

When Lan WangJi's eyes moved over to Lan Yuan the boy too tried to act like HanGuang-Jun, "I too would wear the ribbon of my family."

"One of these ribbons is a little bit longer, who is the taller?" Lan WangJi inquired.

The boys scrambled off the bed and tried to stand on their tip toes and push the other down at the same time. Wei WuXian laughed, "Stand back to back!"

Once they were standing back to back, still trying to push themselves up on their toes, Lan WangJi put a hand on each head and gently pushed down. Lan Bo was taller, though that was probably to be expected as he hadn't spent time in a labour camp. Lan WangJi stepped back and held out the appropriate ribbon to each boy. Each boy took the ribbon as it was the best present in the entire world and then looked up at Lan WangJi.

"You tied the ribbon on the youngest first, you should tie A-Bo's ribbon next, go youngest to oldest that way. Unless one of you boys want's your A-Ma to tie your ribbon," commented Wei WuXian.

"But A-Die leaves a lot," said Lan Yuan.

"To go save people, what would the poor people do if HanGuang-Jun didn't go off to save them?" Wei WuXian replied, "But I understand your A-Die shall tie the ribbon on for the first time."

"I remember my parents tying my ribbon on, A-Yuan doesn't have that memory, A-Die should tie his next," declared Lan Bo.

Lan Yuan hugged his brother and Lan WangJi commented, "Very wise, A-Bo."

Lan WangJi moved to Lan Yuan and tied the ribbon and then he tied the ribbon around Lan Bo's head. Wei WuXian smiled from the bed, "Don't my Lans look perfect?"!

When both boys had turned back to Lan WangJi, he pulled out the white uniforms and Wei WuXian protested a bit, "We don't have the skill of Cloud Recesses’ laundry, there is no way we can keep those white."

Lan WangJi inclined his head. "Wear these only when you leave the Burial Mounds, it will make it easier to find you if you get lost." when both of the boys had nodded Lan WangJi pulled out his last present the jade token that let them into Cloud Recesses.

"Wait Lan Zhan! Is that what I think it is?" said Wei WuXian standing quickly.

"Mn."

"Boys, give your A-Ma and your A-Die a moment we need to discuss presents," said Wei WuXian he then looked around the room and added, "Sit with your back to the wall and your legs out straight." the boys did as they were told and Wei WuXian laid Lan Lian out across their laps. "Now, don't get up just sit here with your sister."

"Mn," replied both boys.

Wei WuXian moved around the room, shifting papers, and looking under clothes, eventually he made a triumphant gesture, hand waving in the air and then he clutched them to his chest and looked over his shoulder at the boys. He gave them a sheepish grin that had the two young boys in fits of giggles and then he gestured for Lan WangJi to come over to him. The adults huddled together, and Wei WuXian threw the children some looks as if he was making sure that the little ones weren't trying to sneak a peek. Wei WuXian dropped his voice low and whispered, "I finished the protection charms, well originally one for A-Yuan and A-Lian but well A-Lian isn't going anywhere on her own anytime soon, so I can give this second one to A-Bo now and make another."

He held up two bells in the shape of the nine-petal lotus on a red tassel and there was a little jade pendent. "What does it do?"

"The power is connected to the bells mainly; the pendant is to balance it. They should work as a YunmengJiang clarity bell works, but with less power toward a human mind, the power is mainly directed outwards to ward off low level corpses and the like. I think I can replace the pendent with the Cloud Recesses’ token if you want. And it shouldn't disrupt the protections; I'm not sure about whether it would disrupt the token's ability to get into Cloud Recesses."

"Can we test it?"

"It would take a minute to switch out the pendent for the jade token and then you would just have to fly out of the Burial Mounds and then see how the corpse wall reacts as you enter again, when I tested it before they scrambled away from Wen Qing as she walked up."

"I can test it quickly then," replied Lan WangJi.

The Yiling Patriarch nodded and took the token and removed it from the white and blue tassel and switched out the simple pendent. Wei WuXian checked over the whole thing, with a look of concentration that said that he was checking the magics and then he handed it to Lan WangJi. Wei WuXian then turned to the boys and said, "Just a moment my Little Radishes, HanGuang-Jun has to get one thing more and then there will be more presents!"

Lan WangJi nodded to the boys and then slipped from the cave. While they waited Wei WuXian sat on the bed and played with the children. when Lan WangJi stepped back into the cavern Wei WuXian's movements became exaggerated as he rearranged the children and then went back to confer with his husband. "It works."

"Good that's good, what do you think? Which tassel colour should we use? I still have some in the YunmengJiang colours. I made it red because it is one of my colours and a Wen colour, but they are now all Lans."

Lan WangJi thought for a moment and then said, "The bell is reminiscent of the YunmengJiang clarity bell, a symbol of their A-Ma's upbringing, the red and the power of the protection are symbols of their time here, and the Cloud Recesses token symbolises my upbringing and their future."

"You have to warn me Lan Zhan! My heart cannot take such words from a peerless beauty like you!" wailed Wei WuXian, which got giggles from the boys, then Wei WuXian held out his hand and added, "But I understand your sentiment give me the next token and I'll fix the second one."

“This token belonged to A-Bo’s father,” said Lan WangJi holding out the mentioned token, Wei WuXian took it carefully with a nod, making note of which bell had which token.

Once the two bells were fixed, they turned back to the children. Lan WangJi took their daughter from their sons and sat on the bed. Wei WuXian held up a bell for the boys to see. "Pretty!"  Awed the boys.

"Thank you, your A-Ma made this for you; it is more than just pretty. You see this bell it is very similar to the YunmengJiang traditional clarity bell. I grew up in the YunmengJiang Sect, you are all Lans because your A-Die is richer than I, but that doesn't mean that you aren't also part of YunmengJiang. The bell is in the shape of the nine-petal lotus the symbol of YunmengJiang, when it rings it can clear your mind from evil influences, but as we are now living in Yiling and the Burial Mounds this bell has a special Yiling protection, it will keep low level walking corpses away from you, the red tassel is to represent Yiling. And this jade pendent is actually the symbol of the GusuLan Sect and will allow you to walk into Cloud Recesses all by yourself!"

"Cool!" said the boys both reaching for the bell, Wei WuXian reached into his sleeve and held out the other bell. The bells were dropped into little hands and inspected by bright eyes.

"Stand up you two, on the bed is all right and I'll show you how to wear them," said Wei WuXian. Both boys stood up and eagerly handed the bells back to Wei WuXian, Lan Bo was a bit faster in the hand off so his was tied first. "My last little Radish may you always be safe. The token on your bell, belonged to your father, he wanted us to make sure you had it so you could always get into Cloud Recesses when you needed." Lan Yuan had a bit of a pout, but Wei WuXian just smiled, "My first and oldest Radish, whom we grow all our children from; may you too stay safe." Wei WuXian stood back and surveyed the boys GusuLan ribbon and YunmengJiang bell on the Yiling tassel. "Now when you are big strong cultivators and you need to hunt walking corpses; you'll have to hide your bells away or the corpses you are hunting will run away!"    

"What about Lian-mei? Does she have a bell too?" asked Lan Yuan.

"She does, she does," replied Wei WuXian, "your A-Ma has to make the bells and cast the protections on them. I had just finished these two; I was going to wait until I had finished a third bell when HanGuang-Jun had decided that it was a day for presents."

The boys seemed to understand and had decided that it was time for them to show off their ribbons and bells to the Wens. Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi watched as the boys went running out of the cave. Lan WangJi shifted their daughter and pulled out the third token for Cloud Recesses. Wei WuXian took the token and put it in his own sleeve. "Thanks Lan Zhan."

Lan WangJi could tell that he was thanking him for more than just the third token. "Between us there is no need for thanks."

"No, apologies either?"

"Mn. Come with me on the night hunt to the man's farm?"

"And if I use demonic cultivation on this night hunt, you won't say anything, at least this once?"

"Mn."

"Alright," said Wei WuXian with a smile and then something caught his eye and he added, "Could you do something for me Lan Zhan?" he moved passed Lan WangJi and picked up a box that was half covered by papers—the thing that had originally caught his eye—then he moved around the room cursing and throwing things around until he found another box. "Do you know the name of Jiang Cheng's daughter?"

"Jiang Gan, Dawn River."

"A good name, how do you write it?"

"'Ten' on top of 'early morning', with 'person' to the right.”

Wei WuXian hummed scattered some things on his desk and then picked up a brush and wetted it on the ink stone and then wrote on one of the boxes. When he was done, he put down the brush and held up the boxes one was labelled 'Jiang Gan' the other was labelled 'Jin RuLan'. "Could you give these to Jiang Cheng I doubt I'll be invited to any of Shijie's child's celebrations. And tell Jiang Cheng that if Shijie has a girl that he can change the name over the box. This is for her first child, and I'll make more for any other children her, or even Jiang Cheng have."

Lan WangJi looked at Wei WuXian for a long moment, judging the situation, and then he nodded and took both of the boxes and slipped them into his own sleeves.

Chapter Text

When the night came Wei WuXian refused to take Suibian with them on the night hunt. He told Lan WangJi it was because Suibian was their only spiritual sword and Wen Ning needed it to protect the people of the Burial Mounds while Wei WuXian was away. Lan WangJi suspected that Wei WuXian wanted to only be able to use demonic cultivation to test Lan WangJi's resolve to not admonish him.

Wei WuXian had dressed in his slightly finer robes, the one that he had worn during the Sunshot Campaign, they were old and worn now, but they were finer than the farming clothes he wore on a daily basis. When the farmer greeted them, he asked after the children, "You left the children with your wife, I hope."

"With their grandmother actually, I suppose you could say I'm his wife, we are married after all," Wei WuXian stated with a smile that bordered on evil.

Wei WuXian was just out of the clearer light from the open cottage door. The man squinted and tried to see Wei WuXian better. "Ah the other young man from earlier, you're married?!"

"In the Southern Custom," added Lan WangJi, "have you seen the corpses yet?"

The farmer was distracted from their marriage for a moment and gestured them into the house. "No not yet tonight, but it is still early, let me grab a couple lanterns and I'll bring you out to the fields. They are slow and the fields are long, it looks like they cross them and then turn around and go back across before dawn." when the farmer got a good look at Wei WuXian he gasped and scrambled around a table.  “The Yiling Patriarch! ...This noble cultivator won't let you bring your undead army into my home." There was a gasp and several sets of eyes that were peeking out from a back room, disappeared.

The Yiling Patriarch laughed, "We just told you that we are married, you saw me playing with our children earlier today, why would you think the noble cultivator would hurt his own husband, not to mention why would you think I would have an undead army cross back and forth your fields?"

"You stole those children!"

"No, the children are not stolen, they are ours," injected Lan WangJi.

"I wouldn't steal children, we have three, let me tell you I don't need more than three right now, besides why would I steal children, if I wanted more there were plenty of children orphaned during the war, that would be saving children not stealing."

"You steal children to be your demonic disciples," added in the farmer.

"Wei Ying is good, he saves and helps people, and he does not have disciples just our children that are not learning demonic cultivation. If you do not want our help, we will leave," said Lan WangJi, he turned and headed for the door.

Before Lan WangJi could make it to the door the farmer called out, "I apologise please help! It was just what I heard about the Yiling Patriarch!"

"One should not listen to rumours," returned Lan WangJi his back to the farmer.

"It is all right, we can still help. I am here partially to help my husband, but also I want to stop these rumours about me, and well... no one deserves to have their fields be trampled by corpses," reasoned Wei WuXian then he asked, "Do you recognise any of the corpses?"

Lan WangJi turned back to their host and the farmer let out a breath in relief. "Not that I have seen but there are many... I haven't seen the face of each of the corpses."

"Alright well show us where they are coming from and we'll stop them," answered Wei WuXian.

The farmer nodded and went around gathering a lantern to light the way. "Do you want to go there; the opposite end of the field is pretty far away?"

"Let's take a look first and then decided how far out to go," Wei WuXian answered.

As they exited the farmers paltry fenced in garden Lan WangJi commented, "No threshold."

Wei WuXian stopped and looked back at Lan WangJi and then at the lack of a jamb for gate of the farmers yard. "Have any of the corpses tried to get into your house?"

"No, they haven't."

"Hm..." hummed Wei WuXian, "that is interesting."

"Mn."

"We'll need to see the corpses first I think," added Wei WuXian.

The farmer looked between them confused but nodded and led them to the edge of the field. "They come out of the woods there, I think, I've never gone close. They cross the field their feet drag and leave furrows in the field."

"We will go and get a closer look," said Wei WuXian, "you should go back to your home, and get a bench or even some wood to construct a temporary jamb for your gate. Walking corpses have trouble jumping over high thresholds. If the corpses somehow get past us, then that should help to keep them from your house." the man's eyes went wide and then he looked at Lan WangJi, who nodded. Before anything else could be said Wei WuXian added, "Let's go Lan Zhan."

Lan WangJi unsheathed his sword and mounted it, he flew low and swept Wei WuXian up onto Bichen as he passed, and they left the farmer to return to his home. Bichen gain altitude and then stopped about mid-field to hover. Carefully Lan WangJi turned Wei WuXian around, so they were facing each other. "Lan Zhan so forward and on a night hunts too!"

The elder hugged his husband tighter and then said, "We will see more of the field like this." they held onto each other and enjoyed the feeling but they were on a night hunt so with their chins hooked over the other's shoulder and Bichen making lazy circles they watched the field for movement.

"There!" exclaimed Wei WuXian. Lan WangJi gently separated them and turned his husband around and then turned Bichen so they could both look at what Wei WuXian had seen.

The night was dark, but the moon wasn't, though it wasn't full there was enough light out over the flat field that they could see the darker shapes emerging from the forest. Bichen moved forward at a sedate pace, as the riders studied the movement of the shadows below. It appeared to be a dozen corpses dragging their feet across the field. The sight was strange, and they didn't seem to notice the two floating above.

"We need to see if the farmer knows any of these corpses, let’s head back, I can see if I can take control of these corpses and bring them to the farmer. If someone is controlling them, I shouldn't be able to wrest control, and if not then we can line the corpses up and see if they are known to the farmer."

"Mn." And they flew back, right over the gate and into the garden of the farmer. They explained the plan to the farmer and then Lan WangJi brought Wei WuXian to hover over the wall and Wei WuXian put Chenqing to his lips and began to play. He had the corpses leave the field and take the paths and make their way to the house. Once the corpses were before the gate, Wei WuXian told them to stay still and then they landed. Lan WangJi and Wei WuXian helped the farmer open the gate in his fencing without disturbing the hastily constructed threshold and then the farmer looked over the corpses from where he stood inside the relative safety of his garden.

"I don't recognise any of them," replied the farmer.

"Hm..." thought Wei WuXian and then he said, "you can go inside; we'll take care of this." The farmer didn't need to be told twice and went inside to his family.

"He was telling the truth."

"I agree, Lan Zhan," answered Wei WuXian, "Someone was controlling them, they are either far away, or weak in their demonic cultivation, it didn't take too much effort to get control of them, from their previous master. They also don't seem to be very resentful or at least not towards anyone near here, you should play inquiry."

Lan WangJi nodded and took out WangJi and began to play, Wei WuXian let him, and he didn't comment or ask for a translation he just waited for the conversation to end and for Lan WangJi to tell him what the spirits knew. "They were dug up from a village to the north, they were told to come to Yiling, but they never made it far into Yiling before the hold over them slipped and they could turn around and return."

"Should I tell them to just return? Or did you want to play Rest? You could probably take the ox cart in the morning and take them back."

"Rest. We need to talk to the farmer."

"Leave it to me!" Wei WuXian went inside and when he returned he said, "He said we could leave the corpses around the back, he showed me a spot, and then you can come collect them when you have the ox cart. I said that we would make sure the corpses couldn't get up again with some warding talismans that he cannot touch. I also told him that if anything else happens that they can leave a message at the path up into the Burial Mounds. I'll play the corpses over and once they are lying down you can play rest for them."

Wei WuXian pulled up Chenqing again and played the corpse around the house, Lan WangJi followed behind there was a lean-to that was meant for firewood but was rather empty at the moment. Lan WangJi restacked the remaining firewood into one end and the corpses laid down at the other end. Once they were all situated Lan WangJi played Rest and then the both of them covered the corpses with the appropriate talismans.

Once they were finished, Lan WangJi turned back to the house and Wei WuXian to the road. "Wei Ying."

"Come on Lan Zhan you can talk to them in the morning when you come for the corpses, let’s go home!"

There was a stutter in Lan WangJi's steps, but he soon caught up to Wei WuXian. They walked along the road for a while, Wei WuXian excitedly chattering, it was late enough that there was no one on the road.

They had been walking for a while the road wound briefly between two copses of trees on the one side of the road the copse was large enough to almost be considered a wood. Wei WuXian fell silent and then it was just the sounds of the insects in the night, the still clear sky, and the happy warmth between them. Wei WuXian stopped and swallowed audibly, dark eyes darted to Lan WangJi and over to the trees. Lan WangJi questioned. "Wei Ying?"

The Yiling Patriarch took a deep breath to bolster himself and then stepped back from Lan WangJi, Wei WuXian spoke in a tone that noted that he was playing, "Oh no the righteous HanGuang-Jun has caught me the evil Yiling Patriarch controlling a dozen corpses. He'll want to capture me and punish me!" the two stared at each other for a moment, then Wei WuXian added to try to get his point across better, figuring the confusion came from how he had made Lan WangJi promise not to complain about the use of demonic cultivation. "HanGuang-Jun will you be using your discipline stick to put some of your righteousness in me? Repeatedly?"

There was half a beat, long enough for ears to go red. "Shameless!" another beat and then Lan WangJi added, "You do deserve punishment."

Lan WangJi took a step toward Wei WuXian his hand outstretched and Wei WuXian danced back a laugh playing on his lips and heat in his eyes. Lan WangJi continued his advance and Wei WuXian turned and darted into the trees. Lan WangJi gave chase.

Chapter Text

Wei WuXian dodged between the trees, he wasn't really trying to get away, but a thrill went through him when his clothes had been snagged from behind, he hadn't looked back he was afraid that it had been a tree branch and wanted to keep up the illusion—but he didn't run as fast as he could have.

A hand wrapped around Wei WuXian's upper arm. The younger twirled to face his attacker and ducked his head so he would move under the outstretched arm and break the hold on his arm. He caught a fleeting glance of Lan WangJi's impassive face and he tried to force the smile from his face as he cried out, "Have mercy great cultivator!"

He was low to the ground and twisted back around to with a burst of speed he sped away from Lan WangJi. It was only a momentary burst of speed, but knowing that Lan WangJi was just behind him made him glance over his shoulder to let the anticipation build. It had been a mistake—the best thing he could have done—he didn't see that he was running directly at a tree. If he had focused in front of him he would have seen the tree and easily been able to dodge, but instead he was stuck between his husband and a tree. Wei WuXian didn't get to really see Lan WangJi on his backward glance, as the man was too close.

Lan WangJi had seen the tree and he grabbed Wei WuXian by the shoulder and pulled the slighter back to slow his speed. Wei WuXian tried to do the same twisting manoeuvre again but Lan WangJi was ready he crowded further into Wei WuXian's space and then used his free hand to grab one of Wei WuXian's wrist and then pushed the man's back into the tree. Their chests were heaving as their bodies were pressed together. They were both hard and could feel the other through their clothes. Lan WangJi bracketed Wei WuXian in with his body and then let go of his shoulder and undid his forehead ribbon.

The tree that Wei WuXian was pressed against had smooth bark and long limbs they stretched upwards with many branches coming off of those limbs. Deftly Lan WangJi tied the wrist he had in his hand with one end of his ribbon. Then he threw the ribbon over an overhead limb of the tree and reached for Wei WuXian's other hand. The younger tried to keep his free hand free and pulled down the hand that was suspended over his head. "No you can't do this! Is this what the righteous cultivators do? Tie up unsuspecting demonic cultivators?"!

Lan WangJi caught his other hand and tied it to the other end of the ribbon, he took a minute to make sure there wasn't enough slack that Wei WuXian could put his hand down then he stepped back to survey his husband. Wei WuXian hands were above his head but he was still able to stand on the ground flat-footed. That was very important, as Lan WangJi new the strain that could be put on the lungs if a person was hung by the wrists for too long. If Wei WuXian stretched up there was enough slack in the ribbon that he could grip the branch in his hands if he wanted but the branch was too long and with too many obstructions that he could not slip off. In his current position he would not truly be hurt and he could not escape—perfect.

Wei WuXian struggled a bit and tried to figure out a way to untie himself or slip away, but he couldn't his husband took to knots like it was one of the six arts. "What will be my punishment? How will you mend me of my wicked ways? How will you purify my body of resentful energy?"

"Be silent." Lan WangJi stepped forward and undid Wei WuXian's pants, golden eyes watched as the material slipped to the ground. As all the unwanted layers slid to the ground Wei WuXian struggled and kicked out, but all it did was kick away the clothing. Lan WangJi gave a nod of satisfaction and watched as Wei WuXian opened his mouth to say more; Lan WangJi spun his husband around to face the tree. He brushed aside the outer robes with one hand and laid a resounding smack on one pert buttock with the other. Wei WuXian gasped and tried to bring his body closer to the tree. Lan WangJi smacked the other cheek.

"No don't spank me! Another punishment HanGuang-Jun, anything else!" pleaded Wei WuXian. Lan WangJi ignored him and added another couple whacks on Wei WuXian's behind the red heat of flushed skin warming the palm of Lan WangJi's hand as he kept it on the flesh after each slow deliberate blow. "How is this going to drive the resentful energy from my body? It only makes me more resentful!"

Lan WangJi's hand came down once more and then he dug his fingers into the flesh of the cheek. Wei WuXian gasped again and that time seemed to press a bit back into Lan WangJi. The elder turned Wei WuXian back around so that he could see what Lan WangJi was going to do. He stepped back again and reached into his sleeve. Golden eyes caught inky ones; Lan WangJi held the gaze and then pulled a bottle from his sleeve and held it up for Wei WuXian to see.

Wei WuXian's cock that was pressing through the folds of his robes twitched at the sight of the bottle, with understanding and anticipation, but what came out of Wei WuXian's mouth said words of incomprehension, "What is that? What are you going to do?"

The bound man was spun back around to face the tree and Lan WangJi unstoppered the bottle and slicked his fingers up. He then brought one of his fingers down and pressed it to Wei WuXian's entrance. Wei WuXian tried to run, pulling his lower body from the questing finger and closer to the tree. But Lan WangJi was persistent. Wei WuXian pulled away until the tip of his straining cock brushed the tree trunk and with a sharp intake of breath he bucked his hips moving back onto Lan WangJi's finger. "You can't touch me there!"

"I can."

"That's rape!" the words were moaned out like just the sound of them brought Wei WuXian pleasure.

"You will not repent... from your evil ways, you ran from your punishment and now I must teach you by force," answered Lan WangJi. With each word Wei WuXian moaned, gasped, and pushed himself further on the finger inside of him.

Lan WangJi added a second finger, and Wei WuXian gasped, "Yes!" the Second Jade of Lan continued to open up his husband listening to the babble that fell from the younger's mouth. He had three fingers inside Wei WuXian when he cried out, "Please more!"

The fingers were removed from Wei WuXian, and the man whined and pressed back trying to find more contact. Lan WangJi let Wei WuXian's robes drop back down and he used that hand to hold his husband's hands closer to the trunk of the tree to stop him from moving so much.

Wei WuXian whined and tried to get closer to his husband, when he couldn't he took a deep breath and said, "Are you done? I don't feel any less the demonic cultivator."

"Stay." Lan WangJi let go of the hands and Wei WuXian didn't move them from where they were close to the trunk of the tree, but Wei WuXian's lower body was further from the tree as if presenting his posterior to Lan WangJi, and also keeping Wei WuXian off balance. The younger could feel his robes brushed aside again and then he felt Lan WangJi press into him in a single movement, the elder’s hands gripping each side of Wei WuXian's hip, the long strong fingers covering the fading finger shape bruises that were still healing from their wedding night.

"This is rape," gasped Wei WuXian he moaned as the fingers flexed on his hips and then he gasped out while trying to press back more onto Lan WangJi's prick, "How could a righteous cultivator like you do such a thing?"

"You asked for it." Lan WangJi began to thrust into his husband's tight heat.

"What?... No, no I... didn't... why would... would I do that?" Wei WuXian uttered between moans, "You can't... can't do this... to me... faster!"

Lan WangJi slowed down at the word and shallowed his thrusts.

Wei WuXian whimpered, "How could you force the... resentment from me like, like this?"

Lan WangJi thrust in to the hilt hard and then increased his pace without mercy.

"No, too rough, too rough Er-gege, be gentle, be gentle!"

He wasn't. He continued his relentless pounding watching the bow of Wei WuXian's back as his upper body strained for purchase at the awkward angle.

"Demonic cultivation weakens the body, I am fragile, be gentle, not so rough!"

"All the more reason to stop using Demonic Cultivation."

"So I will be strong enough for this punishment? Ahh... too rough, slow down, not so deep every time!"

"Yes, you will need a lot of punishments."

"Getting close, getting close Lan Zhan, not so deep every time, some shallow too, have mercy!"

"No, every time," replied Lan WangJi. One of his hand's let go of Wei WuXian's hip and reached around to get a grip on Wei WuXian's cock while the other hand tightened on the hip and he continued his ministrations. it was only a couple of strokes before Wei WuXian stuttered and cried out his release, he clamped down on Lan WangJi's cock and kept it deep inside of him as his husband filled him with his seed and spiritual power.

Lan WangJi carefully walked forward so that Wei WuXian's body was standing straight then he gently pulled out and turned the body in his arms around so they were facing each other. Wei WuXian sagged a bit letting his head rest in the juncture of Lan WangJi's neck. Lan WangJi too brought his head down but he nibbled and bit his way around the skin that he could reach.

"Why are you biting me?' chuckled Wei WuXian, "you already filled me with your righteousness, and chased away the resentful energy, you should let this humble one go."

Lan WangJi hummed and then dropped his hand down and gripped Wei WuXian's ass and lifted the younger up off the ground, he took a step forward so that Wei WuXian's back was pressed back into the trunk to help stabilise the lax body in his arms.

"Are you going to carry me? Is this an apology for raping me?" asked Wei WuXian, Lan WangJi could feel the half-hearted twitch of Wei WuXian's cock against his belly.

"No."

"No, what do you mean no?" asked Wei WuXian, but as the words were leaving his mouth Lan WangJi shifted around Wei WuXian's body in his hands and then dropped the slighter man back onto his hard member, filling Wei WuXian again. "Ahh! Again? You can't do it again so soon!"

The hands holding Wei WuXian's body up shifted again getting a good grip on his body and then Lan WangJi was thrusting deep into Wei WuXian's body. "You want more."

"No, no, too soon, too soon! You are too fast Lan Er-gege, have mercy on your husband!"

"Punishment."

"What, what did I do for more punishment?"

"Ran from your husband," growled Lan WangJi as he continued to thrust up into the willing though complaining body.

It seemed for a few moments that every time Wei WuXian opened his mouth to reply Lan WangJi thrust in harder than he had before, which cut off Wei WuXian's voice into gasps and moans. Eventually Wei WuXian was able to gasp out, "You should be gentle when punishing your husband not so rough! You'll break your husband going so deep!"

"Wei Ying is strong." then Lan WangJi proceeded to prove that he was correct as he continued his assault on his husband.

Wei WuXian kept up a broken stream of babble protesting the rough and fast treatment, but the manoeuvrability that Lan WangJi had on Wei WuXian's body was hard and so when they had shifted enough in their activities that Lan WangJi was accurately hitting that spot deep inside Wei WuXian the babble changed to pleas for more.

"I'm getting close again!" yelled Wei WuXian his head arched back against the tree his hands gripping the branch above to try and get the purchase needed to help in the ministrations. Then Lan WangJi proved that while Wei WuXian was strong, Lan WangJi was the stronger as he lifted Wei WuXian up until just the tip of his cock was inside his husband and held him there. "No! Lan Zhan, Er-gege, have mercy on your husband I just need a bit more. Please Er-gege fill me with your cock, I feel so empty, I need your cock in me, filling me, hitting that spot, making me see stars!... So cruel Er-gege, to stop when your husband is so close—“

Lan WangJi cut his husband off, "Punishment."

Wei WuXian continued his litany of pleas, but Lan WangJi remained unmoved until they both had caught their breaths and then he slowly lowered his husband back onto his dick. And with great control he moved in and out in slow and shallow thrust, he would occasionally drop Wei WuXian down a bit more allowing a bit more of his cock to enter his husband. But he tried to keep his thrusts random so that Wei WuXian could not anticipate how much he was going to get and he definitely didn't do nine shallow before a deep thrust. Once it seemed that Wei WuXian had been counting because on the tenth thrust Wei WuXian pushed down trying to make it deeper and Lan WangJi didn't allow it, in punishment he kept the next two dozen thrusts or so shallow and slow. Wei WuXian groaned and tried to change his tactic in his pleas and complaints.

"Silence."

In truth, Lan WangJi would probably think that something was seriously wrong if Wei WuXian was ever silent, but when the younger man actually kept his voice restrained to moans for of few of the shallow thrusts, Lan WangJi dropped him the rest of the way onto his cock so he was once more fully seated in his husband.

Even with the long pause that was meant to stave off Wei WuXian's impending orgasm; it wasn't long until the hard and deep thrusts brought Wei WuXian back to the edge. "Please, please, don't stop, fill me this time, I'm close and I need it!"

Lan WangJi didn't slow his thrusts.

Chapter Text

Wei WuXian was immensely happy that he and Lan WangJi had taken time to themselves before they returned to the Burial Mounds, for when they got to the back cavern of the Demon Slaughtering Cave they had found their bed occupied. Lan Lian was in a basket on the floor her little hands reaching for one of the little grass butterflies that was being held in a little hand hanging over the bed. On the bed was Lan Yuan and Lan Bo asleep a butterfly each in one of their little hands. And on the end of the bed asleep sitting up was Granny. Lan WangJi gently woke the old woman and led her out of the cave and to her own bed. Wei WuXian swept the little girl into his arms and rocked her while he walked circles around the room. Lan WangJi returned and better arranged the boys on the bed and prepared himself for bed. When Lan Lian was asleep, Wei WuXian put her back into her basket and then he too used the basin and got ready for bed. The little family squeezed into the bed, Wei WuXian against the wall and the boys between their fathers.

In the morning Lan WangJi woke early and he took the children that hadn't slept through his waking out of the cave. Lan WangJi settled the boys on the ground and then led them through the steps of meditation. They were really too young to be starting in on their golden core development but it was a GusuLan tradition. They started teaching the children young in the basics of meditation, short little exercises that didn't tax their short attention spans, and of course on handstands, the basics of the basics when in GusuLan. With the early training by the time the children were ready for some serious training their bodies already knew the forms and could easily slide into the proper positions. When Wen Qing and few of the other's came out in the early morning light Lan WangJi herded the children over and had them watch and help as much as they could with breakfast. Once they were finished, Lan WangJi told the boys to behave for their A-Ma and then he headed down the mountain to get the ox cart.

He explained to the man that he was paying to board the ox and goat that there had been a case of corpses walking to Yiling from another village and he needed the cart to bring the bodies back and put the graves to rights, but then he would need to investigate the cause and he didn't know how long that would take. So if the farmer wanted he could accompany Lan WangJi and take the cart and ox back when the corpses had been returned to their rightful place. The farmer thought that it was a good idea and sent one of his sons along with Lan WangJi. The boy on the cusp of puberty watched in fascination as Lan WangJi picked up the corpses one at a time from the other farm and carefully stacked them in the back of the cart. Then the boy kept looking back as they drove along to see if the corpses in the back of the cart were still there. The dozen disturbed graves had not been hard to find as the people of the nearby city were amazed at the sight of the empty graves when they knew that no one in the city had been disturbed by the corpses the previous night. With the help of the people Lan WangJi got the corpses returned to where they belonged and then he cast protections over the area to hopefully prevent any sort of lingering control that the perpetrator had over the corpses from being activated again. If whoever had done such a thing wanted to control those corpses again, then they would have to dig the people up and recast whatever enchantment they had used.

After the boy took the ox cart back and Lan WangJi went to interview the people about the corpses and to advise them to keep a watch out to stop a repeat of the walking corpses. 

Meanwhile, while Lan WangJi was doing his investigations Wei WuXian was wondering and wondering more and more about the flush of spiritual energy that he received when he and Lan WangJi joined. and despite whatever words they had said in their games the previous night about Lan WangJi chasing the resentful energy from Wei WuXian's body, it felt that, that was not what the spiritual energy that came from Lan WangJi was trying to do. So gathering his courage, Wei WuXian went to speak to Wen Qing alone.

"Wen Qing," Wei WuXian whispered as he entered her hut, she turned on him an eyebrow raised, "Physician Wen, I would like to talk to you as my physician."

"You're still using the oil I left you aren't you? And I won't believe you if you say HanGuang-Jun gave you some disease, I doubt that man even knows that brothels exist."

"No, no, that is not what I... uhh..."

"No you aren’t using the oil?"

"No! that isn't what I meant, I'm sure Lan Zhan is using it, I just wanted to speak with you about something else, but I suppose that it is a bit related."

"Do I need to talk to HanGuang-Jun about the oil?"

"No! Do you want me to lose all the face I have? This is difficult to say as it is Qing-jie."

"Just tell me why you don't know for sure about the oil? It is an important thing for healthy relations between men."

"I well; I really can't see what Lan Zhan does to me down there. But I think he is, it never hurts and he takes so long with his fingers."

"And you've never switched positions?" Wen Qing asked, but when Wei WuXian looked at her blankly, she elaborated, "Have you never tried to penetrate him?"

"What no! Why would you ask that? I'm younger?"

"Yes, I know socially you would be the one regulated to be penetrated, but what goes on behind closed doors is generally not dictated by what society has deemed to be socially proper or expected. So, I won't say, but as the one in charge of keeping you safe I need you to tell me."

Wei WuXian shook his head, "I haven't even thought of doing it the other way around. We enjoy what we are doing, I promise no pain."  Wen Qing reached out and tapped the mark that had been bitten into Wei WuXian's neck and the young man went a bit red. "I wanted that."

"All right I will believe you for now. Now, what is it that you wanted to discuss with me?"

"Uhh..." Wei WuXian stumbled over his words, "when Lan Zhan... when he..."

"For a man with a reputation for being shameless, you sure seem to have a lot of shame."

"It's not shame but you're my older sister and a girl," snapped back Wei WuXian.

Wei WuXian's flirting with women was decently well known and on top of that Wen Qing had seen him do it not too long ago with one of the sellers in town. But the expression on his face when he said that Wen Qing was a girl was one that said that the idea of being intimate with a girl was so far from what he could possibly fathom in the moment.

"You said that you wanted to talk to me as your physician and not as your Qing-jie. And the way that you are currently feeling about being intimate with or discussing such topics with a girl is the same way I feel about men. And yet here I am a physician cursed to speak to men about their problems in the bedroom for all eternity. If I can do this, than you can tell me what you need to tell me. I bet I can even guess, when HanGuang-Jun orgasms inside you? Yes?"

Cheeks red, Wei WuXian nodded. "Yes, when he does that I feel his spiritual energy move through me. It starts low in the stomach where you pulled my golden core from my body and then it feels like it flows through my entire system and then disappears when it makes it back to the cavity that housed my golden core."

"Dual Cultivation," replied Wen Qing, "If you had your golden core you would be sending your own power through HanGuang-Jun. I wonder if he is trying to dual cultivate with you, instead of just having sex. He might be giving you his spiritual energy subconsciously and doesn't realise it as you have none to give back. Even if you still had your core, if you were trying for simple sex and he started the transfer of energies than your body would automatically transfer your own energies, it supposed to be an equal trade that will strengthen both of your cultivations even if one of you had a higher cultivation than the other."

"I can feel it move through my body, I didn't think that was possible. Jiang Cheng said that you could cultivate a new golden core after the Core-Melting Hand melted your core."

"That is true; it would probably have been a better description if he had been called the Core-Exploding Hand. The shock of all they energy flushing your system at once disrupts the pathways and the meridians. The only way to repair that sort of damage is if you have an internal source of spiritual energy and an external source from a skilled physician. That's why the transfer could work. Jiang WanYin couldn’t have developed a new core with the blocked pathways, but since we put in your golden core which was a strong and well-developed core it could work with me to heal the damages to the pathways."

"But it doesn't feel like my pathways are blocked," returned Wei WuXian, taking in the information presented to him and glad that the conversation was able to turn away from Lan WangJi and his activities in the bedroom—or the forest—or a tub, they really need to find time to try that out.

Wen Qing nodded. "Yes, get up on the bed let me look as you." Wei WuXian lay down on the bed and waited in silence for once as Wen Qing looked him over. When she was finished she stood back and smiled a self-satisfied smirk, "I am good."

"What did you find?"

"Well," said Wen Qing her tone definitely hinting that she found Wei WuXian to be an idiot, "you are correct that if your core was destroyed by the Core-Melting Hand that you could not develop a new core and that your pathways would be blocked. But your core was not destroyed; you stayed awake for two days while I painstakingly and carefully removed your core. All of your pathways are intact and because you gave your core away you would be able to cultivate a new core."

"You're not joking are you Qing-jie?" whispered out Wei WuXian after he stared at her satisfied and prideful face for a long moment.

"I don't think I am. I am being serious Wei WuXian. But like with the surgery you are the first one to go through such a thing so it needs to be tested. I cannot promise you anything. And I doubt that you would be able to get your core to the strength that it was. And you need to go carefully and slowly and probably be careful if HanGuang-Jun were to transfer energy to you again without a thought."

Wei WuXian jumped up and hugged Wen Qing. "Yes of course Qing-jie I will!"

"HanGuang-Jun has been guiding the boys through the mediations needed to begin golden core development in the mornings that he is here. You could continue the practice in the morning with the boys and then join your husband when he is here."

"That's so early! Qing-jie, no one should be up that early!"

"I will admit that I don't usually get up as early as your husband but an hour or two later and the rest of us are usually awake, it would be showing a good examples for the boys, and a set schedule would be better for your health instead of staying awake for a week and then sleeping for a day or two."

"I haven't done that before!"

Wen Qing just stared at him, it had only been once, truly, and the experience had been so unpleasant after the fact that he had decided that he would have to force himself to take more sleeping breaks and Wen Qing and later Wen Ning had threatened to put him to sleep if he wouldn't do it himself. And he didn't want that, except for those moments when the voices of the dead were too loud and he couldn't sleep without a needle in his forehead. But that wasn't something to let Wen Qing know.

"Yes Qing-jie! And Thank you!" he gave her a bow; though he didn't have his sword on him he felt that it was a gesture for the future. Wei WuXian ran outside and decided that he needed to burn off some of his energy before he started in on some meditation and went to find the boys to play a game of some sort. He wanted to hurry, if he could regain his core than he could be the proper cultivation partner of Lan WangJi, he could return to the cultivation world as not a demonic cultivator, he could go on the night hunts with Lan WangJi. He wanted to do the last right that moment! Lan WangJi was just to the north trying to find the source of the walking corpses that had come to Yiling.

But even if he could convince the cultivation word that he was not a bad guy that the people that had no families to return to like Granny, Wen Qing and Wen Ning whose entire family that was above ground were in the Burial Mounds—were not threats despite their family name, the Stygian Tiger Seal was going to be a problem. Wei WuXian turned his mind to the problem of the seal and how to rectify that. But as soon as a solution came to Wei WuXian's mind the seal filled him with an almost crippling amount of resentful energy and images of what would happen to him and those around him if he were to do that. So Wei WuXian stopped thinking of such things. And he tried to come up with a way to make a solution to the problem without actually thinking about the Stygian Tiger Seal.  

Wen Qing stared at the pages before her; she had written the same lines out multiple ways, just in different orders. She finished the line she was on, waited half a second, not enough time for the ink to dry, she drew a dividing line to separate out the column of the registry, then started on the next line, she hadn’t held her sleeve back, it brushed the drying ink and smudged it in places. When the next row was finished she held up the page and surveyed her work. Yes it would do. When she wrote everyone’s names vertically and had the columns go across the page from right to left she could smudge the names just so that Lan Yuan and Lan Lian’s mother a one Wei Ying (魏婴) which she had written properly looked like it could have possibly been written as Wei Ying (魏樱) and it was under the list of mothers after all, people would see what they wanted to see, and Wen Qing was happy that Wei WuXian’s Ying was just a ‘wood (mù 木)’ away from being the Ying in ‘Yīngtáo (樱桃) cherry’; and Wei Ying (魏樱) was a very feminine name. Tests done Wen Qing burned her copies and pulled forward her ledger and began to fill it out properly.

The people of the city that Lan WangJi had found himself in didn't seem to have any idea what had happened to the bodies. They had noticed one morning that the graves had been dug up, but all the bodies were in their places and no grave goods had been missing. They had re-covered the bodies and then watched as a morning or two later the bodies would then be uncovered. There was a rogue cultivator that had arrived not too long before Lan WangJi had arrived and the GusuLan cultivator found himself at a table in the inn across from a man that was dressed in black and appeared like he didn't want to talk as much as Lan WangJi hadn't wanted to talk. The man was a disciple from the Baixue temple from far in the north where the snow actually stayed on the ground, or the temple and the man's moniker were poorly chosen. They seemed to be at an impasse. Song ZiChen had followed a series of small resentful energy pockets from the north not too far from QingheNie as they travelled south. The rogue cultivator had thought that it might be a disciple of the Yiling Patriarch and as the trajectory of the disturbances had been headed in the direction of Yiling Song ZiChen thought that he might be justified. Lan WangJi's mouth tightened and he held his tongue. But he wondered when the stupid rumours about Wei WuXian would end.

They hadn't been sitting down for too long after their own individual stories had been told when the proprietor of the inn came over. "Excuse me, Honoured Cultivators, but the Honoured Rogue Cultivator Xiao XingChen has returned. He had been following the corpses when they had left and has now returned. Should I send him to you?"

There was a pause and Lan WangJi nodded. The proprietor bowed to them and then left a moment later a boy in white came over. It took Lan WangJi a moment to see that the boy was indeed a man possibly even a year or two older than Lan WangJi himself, but more probably a couple years younger, as he seemed to have this childlike naïveté about him. He smiled and bowed to them. "This one is Xiao XingChen"

Lan WangJi and Song ZiChen stood up and bowed back.

"Lan Zhan, courtesy name Lan WangJi of GusuLan."

"Song Lan, courtesy name Song ZiChen of Baixue Temple."

Then they all sat back down.

"I heard that one of you has brought the corpses back and buried them. And you put up protections as well. Do you think that the protections might be a bit premature? If we want to find what keeps waking them," said Xiao XingChen.

"I am certain that someone woke them and was controlling them to walk. They were outside of the range of influence when they reached a field on the border of Yiling. The corpses would walk across a northern field there and then would turn around and walk back to their graves."

"Most curious," stated Xiao XingChen, "I had first started to see if I could find the source of the corpses waking, by staying in the city. After the corpses were reburied it appeared that they were getting out of their graves on their own, which was possible as the soil was all loose. Or at least I didn't see anyone else in the graveyard. When I couldn't find the source in the city after several nights, I decided to follow the corpses."

Song ZiChen looked at Xiao XingChen and asked, "Why didn't you fly?"

"I knew that they were not going too far as they would be back in their graves in the morning, and I wanted to see if there was anything in their path that would have been of importance so I followed a ways behind them and then I broke out of the forest and there were no corpses and I turned back to look for them. I did eventual take to my sword, when it became morning and I knew the corpses would no longer be walking."

"The farmer in Yiling asked for help. We subdued the corpses and used inquiry to ascertain the corpses’ provenance and then I played Rest. This morning I brought the corpses back," Lan WangJi informed the two rogue cultivators.

"What did inquiry tell you?" questioned Song ZiChen.

"They do not know why they were woken and told to walk."

"That is certainly strange," said Xiao XingChen, "do either of you have an idea as to who is behind such an odd thing."

"The Yiling Patriarch," Song ZiChen replied.

"I'm sorry I have only recently left the home of my master BaoShan SanRen and I do not know this Patriarch, though if the corpses were walking toward Yiling and it is the same Yiling than I would assume that it is a sound assumption and worth investigating further," returned Xiao XingChen.

Song ZiChen nodded. "The Yiling Patriarch is the Grand Master of Demonic Cultivation. They say he has an army of the undead and that he kidnaps children."

"No," said Lan WangJi he had said it with enough force that both men's heads whipped towards his direction. "Wei WuXian may be called the Yiling Patriarch but he has not done the things that you have said, and he has not done this."

"As I travelled south, I heard many things said about the Yiling Patriarch and none of them were good," returned Song ZiChen.

Lan WangJi glared at Song ZiChen and the man wearing black glared back, Xiao XingChen placed a hand on each of their shoulders—both men flinched at the casual touch from a stranger but Song ZiChen pulled back from the touch—and Xiao XingChen said, "Calm down, we need to have solid proof one way or the other on the case of these corpses, before we can blame anyone, though a Demonic Cultivator seems to be a good place to start."

"He knows nothing more than I know of the situation."

"So, you thought it was him as well and went to confront him before you brought the corpses back," accused Song ZiChen.

"No," Lan WangJi returned with another glare, "Wei WuXian was with me when the farmer asked for help, we helped together."

There was a tense silence as the two men continued to stare at the other. Xiao XingChen had yet to remove his hand from their shoulders and he patted them gently before he added, "Rumours have a way of morphing and become more estranged from the truth the further they travel from the source. And you said you have heard these stories in the north; then I say that we take Lan WangJi at his word unless we find proof otherwise. What say you two? Will you work with me on this mystery?"

After a bit more glaring. Both of the other cultivators agreed to work on the mystery together. It was about a week later—a week without any walking corpses, but signs that someone had tried to disturb the wards that Lan WangJi had placed, a week of not getting very far—when Lan WangJi had decided that he could trust Xiao XingChen and Song ZiChen to a point.

"I have been looking for relatives for a group of refugees that I have helped, I need to make a couple inquires," Lan WangJi told the other men one morning over breakfast, "I will leave and return as quickly as I can. If you solve this mystery you can leave word at the Yiling Couriers office and I will get it."

"If something comes up while you are away, anything related for example, you can send it here, or if you think that we have left Baixue Temple will know how to get a message to me if needed," returned Song ZiChen.

After breakfast was finished, they bowed to each other and then Lan WangJi took his leave. They needed to get as many people out of the Burial Mounds as possible. Especially if the false reputation that Wei WuXian had gained was drawing Demonic Cultivators to Yiling or if there was someone out there trying to put more blame of Wei WuXian.

Wei WuXian finished the bell for Lan Lian and hung it from the handle of her basket so she could play with it. He learned handstand skills from the boys and taught them about meditating to develop their cores. His own core was a fluttery fragile thing that wasn't an actual solid core at any point. Wen Qing said that it was good progress.

The alter that had been erected at the bottom of the mountain, that used to be filled with fruit slowly started to have less and less food and offerings and then started to gather dust and then one day had a request for help that Wen Ning took care of. Wei WuXian was getting impatient and bored and the voices were getting troublesome. He took to carrying around Lan Lian's bell when she wasn't playing with it, but it only dulled the edges of the voices. Lan WangJi had given him more materials and Wei WuXian started making more bells he had made one for Granny and Uncle One the oldest of the uncles and then he made one for Wen Ning and then one for Wen Qing. he was going to make more but Uncle One died of what Wen Qing ensured them all for at least a week was old age, and his bell was passed down to the next eldest and Wei WuXian got distracted as the compass that he had been thinking of making, could be made with the materials that Lan WangJi had given him for the bells and so he worked on the compass instead.

Lan WangJi returned to take someone away and home, but he couldn't stay for long so they had taken the children to town and had lunch and bought a couple things the young girl needed and then before dinner he stole her away and the little settlement on the Burial Mounds got smaller.

The voices got vicious about that, they teased Wei WuXian about how the marriage was a farce and Lan WangJi really didn't want him, how Lan WangJi was just there to take away his family. But the voices were quieted when the small children nestled in around him shifted in their sleep and little Lan Lian who sometimes slept like Wei WuXian himself kicked out at the dangling bell and the quiet chime filled the Demon Slaughtering Cave and for the moment Wei WuXian's demons were slaughtered and the Yiling Patriarch fell asleep surrounded by the warmth of family.

Lan Yuan blink wide eyes up at Wen Qing, she smiled down at the boy and then gave him an exaggerated serious face. "A-Yuan you’re a big brother now, do you know what that means?"

"That I have a little brother and a little sister."

"Yes that is true, but I am a big sister you know A-Ning and Wei WuXian are my little brothers, and I know you have seen me doing my best to protect and heal them when they are hurt. That is the job of a big brother or sister, to protect and love your little brothers and sisters forever. When A-Bo gets a bit older he will be able to help you protect A-Lian and when A-Lian is old enough to protect herself then you will all help to protect each other. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Aunt Qing! I have to protect Bo-di and Lian-mei!"

Wen Qing nodded. "Very Good, so everyone here has a job if bad people come here to hurt us."

"Are bad people coming?" Lan Yuan's lip wobbled and his eyes filled with tears.

"No, no one is coming to hurt us, but everyone has to be careful just in case," calmed Wen Qing. She inwardly sighed and cursed the necessities of circumstances; Lan Yuan was too young for this but if she was going to make sure that the babies were safe this conversation had to happen. "My job is to heal anyone who is hurt, A-Ning uses Suibian to protect us and your A-Ma will use Chenqing. Your job as a big brother is to protect A-Bo and A-Lian."

"Mn," agreed Lan Yuan he was doing his Lan WangJi impression which the children seemed to do when they wanted to show that they were serious.

"Good," smiled Wen Qing she held up the registry that she had made, "if you see any strangers that come here or if anyone tells you to run you need to come here and get this book and then you need to get your brother and your sister and find a place to hide."

She had him repeat the first part of the instructions back to her a couple times and then said, "I keep the book here, and you can find it here whenever you need it." Wen Qing opened the book and took out the talisman and showed it to Lan Yuan, "You know what this is, remember you used it on the toy sword, your A-Ma sent you to the bottom of the mountain to your Uncle Ning, you remember?"

"Yes!"

"This isn't for fun; this is only if there are bad men here. Remember you are to hide with your brother and sister. You need to be sitting down with A-Lian in your lap and you need to be holding A-Bo's hand. If you have A-Lian's basket you have A-Bo hold it, if you don't have the basket forget it, it is not that important. Then you are going to activate this and think about going to your A-Die."

Again, she had the little boy repeat her instructions. And then she continued, "When you get to wherever your A-Die is if you don't see him you need to break this,” Wen Qing held up the flare that Lan WangJi had given her, she had tied it to a bit of string and had tied it to the book so that they were always together. "When you break it, it will send a light into the air that will show your A-Die where you are. Then you just sit where you are and wait for your A-Die to come and get you."

"Mn."

"Good, you're my good and brave boy aren't you A-Yuan?"

The boy smiled up at her all teeth, "Yes!"

She also really didn't want to say the next part, she didn't want to remind him, and she silently promised that she would make sure that both little boys would share a bed with their A-Ma that night, in hopes of keeping the nightmares at bay. "Do you remember the bad people from the bad place?"

Lan Yuan's entire demeanour changed and the boy nodded a half-hearted, "Mn," escaped his lips.

"If they come here, you grab this book and your brother and sister, I would prefer for you to be away from here and safe with your A-Die when it is not a real emergency than here with the bad people. But if it is just one bad person or maybe even two, there is no reason to run so far, just maybe too hid under the covers of your A-Ma's bed, yes?"

That bolstered the boy's spirits and he nodded.

"Good. So if you have to break this stick, to help your A-Die find you, other people might find you first. The light doesn't say A-Yuan, A-Bo, and A-Lian are looking for their A-Die it says someone from GusuLan Sect needs help. So if someone else comes first, you tell them you want your A-Die, if they ask for his name you need to say HanGuang-Jun, understand?"

"I want A-Die, HanGuang-Jun."

"Yes, exactly like that. Don't let anyone move you unless it is someone that you know, or that A-Bo knows. Cry if you have to. The light will probably bring people from the GusuLan sect they will be wearing white like your A-Die and the three of you with your forehead ribbons," said Wen Qing, she reached forward to tap the ribbon, having been told previously that she was family and therefore allowed.

Lan Yuan giggled and batted her hand away.

"GusuLan is not far from YunmengJiang they wear purple. Do you remember when your A-Ma's brother came to visit?"

"No," Lan Yuan said with a pout.

"That is all right," assured Wen Qing, "they are also good people, generally but still tell them you won't go with them that you won't move unless it is with your A-Die."

"Mn."

Wen Qing huffed a laugh through closed lips at the Lan WangJi-like answers, then she took a deep breath. "You might see some people dressed like the bad people. You cannot be scared of them and you cannot run from them. You can cry all you want, but they cannot know that you know that they are bad people. You will have to be the bravest boy. If you see them outside the Burial Mounds when you are alone and waiting for your A-Die, you have to be brave. Can you do that for me? To help protect your little brother and sister?"

"Mn."

"I need to hear you say the words. If you can say the scary words than you will be brave enough to do the scary thing."

"Yes Aunt Qing, if the bad people come to the light before A-Die I cannot run, I must pretend I don't know that they are bad people, I must cry and ask for my A-Die HanGuang-Jun and not move until A-Die comes."

"See? That wasn't too bad; I knew you were the bravest boy. Now, you might see people from the QingheNie Sect they wear a silver-grey or olive colour but they live much further north than everyone else so I doubt that you will see them. But they are fierce fighters they would also protect you until your A-Die arrived," said Wen Qing with a smile, which was returned. Then she had the child repeat back his instructions. As the days passed, whenever Wen Qing had to watch the children she made sure that they saw her checking her medical supplies—her job, if the bad people came—and had Lan Yuan repeat his job and through osmosis Lan Bo soon learned what was going to happen in an emergency situation.

Lan WangJi stayed away from the Burial Mounds far longer than he had wanted, he would pop around finding relatives and then heading back to Song ZiChen and Xiao XingChen to help with the investigation. The two rogue cultivators at one point decided to recheck the forest that separated out the city from Yiling and see if Xiao XingChen might have had missed anything. When they broke through the trees and into Yiling Song ZiChen did not need to expend too much effort to get Xiao XingChen to help question the farmer to see if he had any new information. And then Song ZiChen convinced Xiao XingChen that they should go into Yiling proper and ask the people about the Yiling Patriarch as local opinion would be invaluable.

They went to a restaurant for the midday meal and were told about the Yiling Matriarch and how she would help them with their hauntings, or sometimes the Yiling Matriarch's brother would take care of their problems. After the meal they walked around the city taking in the sights, the local people, and the local food. They had stopped the talk to some monks who had recognised Song ZiChen as another monastic man. And had turned the topic to the Yiling Patriarch. Song ZiChen commented, "I heard that the Yiling Patriarch steals children."

One of the vendors at a nearby stall overheard them and spoke up, "Honourable Daozhangs excuse this lowly merchant for over-hearing your conversation. But the Yiling Matriarch doesn't steal children. Look that is her down there." the vendor pointed down the street and everyone turned to look.

There were no women that really stood out that could really be considered a matriarch. The rogue cultivators and the monks turned back to the vendor and he said, "There she has the two little boys with her and the baby strapped to her back. That's her brother next to her, she married some big regal looking cultivator, and he had to leave to take some walking corpses home and hasn't been able to come home for a while. He comes back for short visits the Yiling Matriarch and the children are happier when he is around."

Everyone looked again and they did see two small children but they were accompanied by two men. But then one of the men turned and it was clear that there was a child strapped to his back. They looked around at the nearby women, but none of them had a baby strapped to their backs. Could that man really be the Yiling Matriarch? It would seem to line up with the people outside of Yiling calling him the Yiling Patriarch, but you would think that the people of Yiling would see that the person in question was a man. And how could the man surrounded by children be the Yiling Patriarch of the stories? He looked like a poor farmer!

Song ZiChen decided to ask, "If that man is the Yiling Patriarch, then did he not steal those children?"

"Oh no! The story is that he fell in love with that righteous cultivator but he was just some poor farmer that decided to take in some refugees from the war and his huge heart and good deeds attracted the righteous cultivator and they decided to get married and adopt the children, who were war orphans."

"That is noble," said one of the monks and Song ZiChen and Xiao XingChen had to agree.

"I heard they live in the Burial Mounds," commented Xiao XingChen.

The vendor nodded. "The farmer is poor like I said, he has some cultivation and is very good at making talismans and things, but because he is so poor his family couldn't afford multiple swords that's why his brother has a sword and he doesn't. But well they needed space for the refugees and had no money, or not a lot of money, and the Burial Mounds are free if you could tame them. So they tamed them."

"Where did all those evil rumours come from do you think?" Xiao XingChen asked.

"Oh there were a lot of those around here as well of the Yiling Patriarch the Lord of Evil; we had all these disciples in the marketplace trying to sell the inventions of the Yiling Patriarch even! One day, the Yiling Matriarch's righteous cultivator husband heard the charlatan disciples and put an end to their lies. Once we realised the truth... well, I actually don't know how it started, but well you know what they say, the father has the money and the mother the milk," the vendor ended with a laugh and pointed again. They looked back down to see that the Yiling Patriarch was handing the children some buns. "Just suddenly anyone who interacted with him started calling him the Yiling Matriarch instead."

They chatted a bit longer and then the monks separated from the rogue cultivators. Xiao XingChen turned to look at Song ZiChen to see where he wanted to go next when the Yiling Matriarch, his brother, and the children walked by them. The Yiling Matriarch was telling some tale that had the rapt attention of the children and his brother seemed to be the one that was keeping the children from tripping as they looked at their parent more than the road. They could see the forehead ribbons like the one that Lan WangJi had on the foreheads of all three children, and now they knew why the GusuLan cultivator had been so adamant about the innocence of the Yiling Patriarch. just as the family was getting out of range they heard the children's delighted shouts of, "A-Ma!" and Song ZiChen wondered if the Yiling Matriarch was from Manchuria, as that was a term for father, but was written in the Han script with the same character that was used for 'mother', it could have also helped the people of Yiling to make the change from calling the man the Yiling Patriarch to the Yiling Matriarch.

Lan WangJi returned to the Burial Mounds and he had arrived late enough in the evening that he had decided to spend the night. It was too late to take his family into town, but after his legs had gained a couple of boys and his arm's his quickly growing daughter; Wen Qing, Wen Ning, and Granny had spirited the children away and Wei WuXian had dragged him to their bed.

Lan WangJi held his husband tight at their completion and he felt a little flush of foreign energy speed through his pathways and then settle back into his core light as the kiss of a butterfly, but he was still amazed.

Wei WuXian was basking in the moment when Lan WangJi spoke, "Wei Ying did you feel that too? The exchange of energies?"

Molten metal eyes popped open and with a frantic look met golden orbs. Wei WuXian could see that the amorousness that had died upon their first orgasm was coming back in Lan WangJi's eyes. Wei WuXian pushed away at Lan WangJi  and the man reached to once more hold Wei WuXian's bound wrists above his head, when Wei WuXian said, "No, stop."

'Stop' was never a word that Wei WuXian actually uttered unless it was 'don't stop', he'd say 'no' or 'you can't' but not 'stop' and so Lan WangJi paused and really looked at his husband and that was when he saw the growing panic in his eyes. Lan WangJi pulled back. "Wei Ying?"

"We need to get dressed; we need to talk to Wen Qing now!"

He was not going to question his husband but instead he pulled completely away and deftly untied his ribbon. Wei WuXian came up off the bed and threw his clothes on, Lan WangJi did the same.  

Wei WuXian burst into the hut. "Wen Qing!"

The physician turned when she had heard her door opening, she had a curse on the tip of the tongue, but at her name said as thus by Wei WuXian she knew that he was in need of a physician. She turned to him and watched as Lan WangJi came in behind him looking a little confused and a bit worried as well, she raised an eyebrow and waited for the man to tell her what she needed to know.

"I... he... uh... he felt the duel cultivation!" Wei WuXian spat out and the words made both Wen Qing and Lan WangJi's eyes widen.

"What are you doing still in the door Wei WuXian, get over here on the bed and you explain why this is a worry to HanGuang-Jun as I look you over," replied Wen Qing, "wait, no tell me first how long ago was this?"

"Qing-Jie do I have to?" asked Wei WuXian as he moved over to the bed.

"Yes, you do, now answer my question, and then start talking."

"As soon as Lan Zhan had said he could feel it we got dressed and came here."

"Good, HanGuang-Jun what did you feel and how long after you felt it did you say something?"

The room was silent for a moment and then Lan WangJi said. "It felt like the brush of butterfly wings moving through my pathways and then settling in more in my core. As soon as the feeling settled, I told Wei Ying."

Wen Qing nodded and looked at Wei WuXian. "And you?"

"It’s more of a steady flow through my pathways; I hadn’t paid attention to whether or not it stayed in me or dissipated."

"Why?"

"...Because I was used to the feeling." Wei WuXian ducked his head when he finished talking and even Wen Qing could feel Lan WangJi's shocked gaze on Wei WuXian.

She nudged the man who fashioned himself as her younger brother. "Tell him."

"Uh... Lan Zhan, you uh... you know that Wen ZhuLiu was at the battle at Lotus Pier?"

"Mn."

"Well, Madam Yu and then later Uncle Jiang sent Jiang Cheng and I away, but well we went back and saw that they had killed Jiang Cheng's parents. But when she sent us away Madam Yu told me to protect Jiang Cheng with my life and then Uncle Jiang said the same thing and we were told to go to Meishan and find Shijie. So, I had to drag Jiang Cheng away since he wanted revenge immediately. We were hiding from the Wens when I went to get us food and when I returned Jiang Cheng was gone. I don't know, he was either found and captured or went back himself and was captured; but I found him at Lotus Pier and Wen Ning helped me to get him out of Lotus Pier and he brought us to his sister at the Yiling Supervisory Office to hide us. And well Jiang Cheng's core had been destroyed. The Core Melting technique doesn't allow for the re-cultivation of a new golden core, but well a golden core could be given to him. Jiang Cheng was the Jiang Sect heir, he needed his core..., and well, I would never have had a golden core if Uncle Jiang hadn't brought me to Lotus Pier to begin with. And Qing-Jie had a theory about core transfer and so I convinced her to give Jiang Cheng my core. The transfer was successful."

The room was silent, Wen Qing seemed frozen, and Wei WuXian wonders if she had finished her inspection and was just waiting for Lan WangJi to speak. "How long does it take to transfer a golden core?"

"A couple days," murmured Wei WuXian.

"Did it hurt?"

Wen Qing answered, "I thought that I could have put Wei WuXian asleep for the procedure, but then I realised that if he was asleep that it would..." she paused for a second and gauged the look on Lan WangJi's face and finished quickly, "medicines would have reacted badly with his core during the procedure so he had to stay awake."

"Did it hurt?"

"Yes," said Wei WuXian not looking at Lan WangJi.

Lan WangJi was silent for a moment, and then he said, "How could I have felt your spiritual energy?"

"I could feel yours since that first time, I asked Wen Qing about it when I realised that it felt like all my pathways were intact. And we realised that I had a chance to reform a core, since mine wasn't gone because of the core melting technique. We didn't know if I could, and well this whole thing was a secret. Even if I could reform a core it would be weak and small like a child's. So, I have been meditating with the boys and trying to reform the core, but well I hadn't thought about how you seem to just duel cultivate without thinking."

"Am I hurting Wei Ying?" asked Lan WangJi after a moment, his question directed at Wen Qing.

The physician moved so she could look at both men at the same time and said, "Wei WuXian doesn't have a golden core as of yet, he has however taken in a good amount of spiritual energy into himself and it is close enough to a core that it reacted to HanGuang-Jun's spiritual transfer. The substantially more transfer of spiritual energy from HanGuang-Jun to Wei WuXian does not seem to have had an adverse effect on Wei WuXian or his core development. I would however like to monitor the situation. If you two are... still feeling... amorous, then you should go and not try to stop the duel cultivation but then you would have to come to me right after again. If you aren't then well, I would like to check Wei WuXian's levels in the mornings before meditation or any sort of cultivation and then after any sort of cultivating activity. This way to belay some of the embarrassment as long as you hadn't done extra cultivating beforehand, and that includes demonic than you can go off and do whatever it is you do, but you'll have to come to me right after."

The room was filled with men who were red in the face or the ears and it took them a moment to gather themselves. Then Wei WuXian said with an evil bit of smile twisting his lip, "But Qing-Jie Lan Er-gege is a beast, just one time doesn't satisfy him! He—"

"As much as I am sure that HanGuang-Jun does not want to hear about intimate relations with girls involved, I do not want to hear it when boys are involved, especially from a little brother, and unless it actually is relevant to something medical I never want to hear it. You hear me Wei WuXian if you tell me more about your sex life, I will make sure that you can no longer have such a sex life."

"I hear you Qing-Jie! But it is important!" said Wei WuXian as he stood and bowed to Wen Qing.

Wen Qing sighed, why couldn't she have had sisters—though the fact that she didn't have to worry about Wei WuXian getting pregnant was a relief. "HanGuang-Jun as you are the more responsible I will tell you that the two of you will have to restrain yourselves, I need to check after each round of duel cultivation until I am sure of the stability of Wei WuXian's core or until I murder Wei WuXian because he is so annoying!"

"No murder," returned Lan WangJi.

"Then please take your husband away and go duel cultivate with him, then take a bath," declared Wen Qing as she waved the two from her hut. She sighed and expected that she would see them again, smelling of sex, relatively soon. It was a bit longer than she would have assumed and decided she really never wanted to know.

After he brought a couple people to their relatives and brought the bad news to a few others, he went back to the city north of Yiling and the investigation with Song ZiChen and Xiao XingChen. Lan WangJi had to admit that the two rogue cultivators were both good and righteous men and he had felt bad when Xiao XingChen had first brought up his martial sister CangSe SanRen and wanting to find her, just to say hello and see how she faired in the wider world. Lan WangJi was lucky in a way that one of the older people that Xiao XingChen had questioned had said that he had heard that CangSe SanRen had died.  

Xiao XingChen hadn’t even asked Lan WangJi whether or not he knew CangSe SanRen. But as their investigations were coming to the increasing and ever obvious stalemate, they had begun discussing leaving the mystery as it was, since the corpses were at rest. The news of the first of the next Ru generation of Jin being born a one Jin RuLan—Jin Ling came to the town and it wasn’t long until Lan WangJi had gotten a summons to meet with his brother at Koi Tower. When he arrived, it was with a bit of news all around. Lan XiChen needed to go further north to QingheNie and then he would be travelling south with the QingheNie contingent attending the one-month celebration. And Jin ZiXuan had an invitation for Wei WuXian for the one-month celebration and asked since Lan WangJi was returning south to GusuLan that he stop by Yiling on the way and give the invitation to Wei WuXian.

Lan WangJi first went back to see Xiao XingChen and Song ZiChen he explained how he needed to go back to Cloud Recesses. They discussed the issue and decided there was no more to find in the city. In their time together Song ZiChen and Xiao XingChen had become great friends and had decided to night hunt together. Before they parted ways, Lan WangJi made a decision.

“Xiao XingChen, I know the son of your martial sister CangSe SanRen.”

The man in white perked up a bit like a child. “You do, could you give us an introduction?”

“I could,” began Lan WangJi, “but I need your assurances that you understand that this man is righteous and has done nothing that could be considered untoward but has done some things that are not politic. I need your promises that you will not attack him or those whom he lives with.”

There was a silence where the three men looked at each other and gauged the others. Xiao XingChen agreed, “I accept your terms, I’m still learning at what everyone seems to think is politic, so I am sure that I have no say in such matters. May ZiChen come too?”

“Mn,” replied Lan WangJi and then he turned his eyes to Song ZiChen and waited for the other man’s answer.

Despite having grown up in a monastery Song ZiChen knew what was politic in the world and in general seemed rather worldly, but being so far north he had dealings with both the Manchus and the Mongols, and some of the peoples that were even further away.  After a moment he too nodded in agreement.

They set out by sword for Yiling. Lan WangJi thought it would be best if they could skip over the corpse barrier, but it was still visible by air and visibility was low due to the concentration of resentful energy in the Burial Mounds. They landed and Song ZiChen sent Lan WangJi a suspicious look but held his tongue. They walked up the paths to the settlement in silence, though the two rogue cultivators got tenser as they went.

Unsurprisingly, Wei WuXian was burying the children in the radish patch. The boys were sitting side-by-side, their sister across their laps. “We all had our baths this morning, so you have been watered; now you need to soak up the sun, or else you won’t grow big and tall like your A-Die.” Wei WuXian explained.

Lan WangJi’s heart felt light and full of affection as he greeted, “Wei Ying.”

Wei WuXian’s whole face brightened up, and he made a running leap for Lan WangJi, the boy’s faces also brightened but they were good and waited for Granny to take up their sister before they bolted for Lan WangJi as well.

The GusuLan cultivator was glad for his superior arm strength as he caught his husband and before he could be sure that Wei WuXian was solidly on his own feet, he felt the weight of his son’s slam into his legs and hold on.

Wei WuXian kissed his husband with what could be barely be called restraint and said, “Lan Zhan we missed you!”

"Wei Ying."

"I'm here Lan Zhan," said Wei WuXian with a grin as Lan WangJi put him down on his feet, careful of the children.

"Let me introduce you, these are Daozhang's Song Lan courtesy Song ZiChen of Baixue Temple and this is Xiao XingChen disciple of BaoShan SanRen," said Lan WangJi he watched as Wei WuXian's dark-grey eyes went wide, and then he turned a bit so that the men could see Wei WuXian and continued, "Song ZiChen, Xiao XingChen this is Wei Ying courtesy Wei WuXian son of Wei ChengZe and CangSe SanRen."

"You’re my mother's younger martial brother? Did you know her well?" said Wei WuXian a note of awe in his voice.

Xiao XingChen had a small sad smile on his face and he shook his head. "Sadly I did not. Your mother left the mountain before I arrived," his smile brightened and he waved his hand to the radish patch and added, "but I see that she raised you properly planting children is very important."

A laugh burst from Wei WuXian's throat while tears glistened in his eyes. Wei WuXian attempted to make a joke, “Where are my manners? Lan Zhan you should have been watching those for me." He made a bow to the other men and said, "This one is honoured to meet his Shishu and this other honoured cultivator."

Song ZiChen and Xiao XingChen both bowed in turn and then Xiao XingChen added, "The honour is ours."

The weight on Lan WangJi's legs lifted and he looked down to see that both boys were on their feet and copying the bows that the men had done. Wei WuXian noticed as well and laughed again he put a hand on Lan Yuan's head and said, "And this is our oldest Lan Yuan," he put his other hand on Lan Bo's head and said, "and our middle child Lan Bo, I believe that Granny spirited our youngest and only girl Lan Lian away." Wei WuXian bent down letting his hands slip from the boy's heads and crouched between them. "A-Yuan, A-Bo this is your A-Ma's Shishu your Great Uncle Xiao XingChen, and his friend Song ZiChen."

When the two boys went to hug the same person they went for leg hugs. But if they were headed for different people or were asking for hugs by themselves Lan Yuan tended to go for the legs, but Lan Bo would make a running leap and force the adult to catch him and then he would wrap his arms and legs around the adult like the little mischievous monkey he was. Lan Yuan was standing in front of Xiao XingChen and Lan Bo in front of Song ZiChen and by some secret brother talk they both made to hug the new comers. All of the adults could see their move and Song ZiChen stepped back a fleeting look of panic in his eyes. Wei WuXian lunged forward and snatched the back of Lan Bo's robe but could not grab Lan Yuan too.

"Whoa XiaoPiPi I don't think your uncle's friend likes hugs."

Lan Yuan was already attached to Xiao XingChen and Lan Bo looked at his parents then back at the new people and back to his parents, "Great Uncle wears white like A-Die and his friend wears black like A-Ma, does that that means they are married too? Do I have to marry someone who wears black? Because we are part of the GusuLan Sect and wear white?"

Xiao XingChen went red and Song ZiChen looked like he was about to burst with some sort of anger but Lan Bo was so young and cute that he really couldn't do it. Wei WuXian laughed and said, "It doesn't work like that you get to marry your best friend, the one you like the most, the one that gives you children. Now it looks like your Great Uncle likes hugs, why don't you hug his other leg no jumping." Wei WuXian looked up at Xiao XingChen for confirmation before he let go of Lan Bo and let the boy go to Xiao XingChen.

Lan Yuan tugged on Xiao XingChen's robe until he looked down and then asked, "Can I go to your wedding? I went to A-Die and A-Ma's wedding, when you marry Black Uncle."

"Children," laughed Wei WuXian.

Xiao XingChen just smiled and said, "If I marry him you can surely come little Lan Yuan."

"Me too?"

"And you too Lan Bo and your sister and parents too," agreed Xiao XingChen.

It was a good promise he had said 'if he married Song ZiChen', it could still lead to a bit of disappointment on the kids’ part, but would assure the peace for the moment.

Song ZiChen shifted away from the children and Xiao XingChen and over to Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi. "Wei WuXian did you grow up in Manchuria?"

Wei WuXian looked truly puzzled for a moment and then shook his head. "Oh no, A-Yuan didn't want to call me A-Niang and then Qing-Jie told him that A-Ma was another name for father."

"You have a sister?" asked Xiao XingChen pulling himself from the conversation with the boys for a moment.

"Not by blood, but two older sisters none the less," replied Wei WuXian, "How did you all meet anyways?"

"Song ZiChen had followed a trail of resentful energy down from the north, he thought it might have been the Yiling Patriarch or one of his disciples, for the trail ended in the city where the corpses we stopped had walked from," said Lan WangJi.

Wei WuXian nodded. "Yes that wouldn't have been me, the furthest north I've been was the Nightless City during the Sunshot Campaign and I have no disciples."

"But you use Demonic Cultivation? It is a crooked path, and should not be used. Why would you do such a thing?" asked Xiao XingChen.

The sigh could be heard across the radish field. "Before the Sunshot Campaign I was captured by the enemy, I had been thrown into these very Burial Mounds without my sword or a single talisman, if I had not learned to utilise the resentful energy than I would have died. Now it is just something I can use and I had used it to help in the Sunshot Campaign, and I need it so we can continue to live here."

Lan WangJi cut in to turn the conversation away from the topic, "Xiao XingChen was already investigating the corpses from the city that they came from. So we decided to work together."

"Did you find the cause?" asked Wei WuXian.

"No," admitted Xiao XingChen, "the trail went cold."

"And Song ZiChen's trail? Did the resentful energy spikes continue south?" Wei WuXian inquired.

"No," said Song ZiChen and the other two nodded.

Wei WuXian brushed his nose and then tapped his finger to his lip in thought. "I don't have any actual disciples but there were plenty of people that had come to the base of the Burial Mounds asking to be my disciple, and there were the charlatans in Yiling that claimed that they were my disciples. Maybe Song ZiChen had followed a demonic cultivator down. Maybe there was another or the same demonic cultivator in that other city. They sent the corpses to Yiling to get my attention."

"But why do you think they sent the corpses just to get your attention?" Xiao XingChen asked.

"Well," said Wei WuXian, "the farmer said the corpses had walked back and forth across his field multiple times. If you were a demonic cultivator and you wanted to use corpses for some purpose, if they had not fulfilled their purpose that first night because there wasn’t enough control to get them to where they needed to be, why would they do the exact same thing the next night? Unless their goal was the continual and minimal damage to the farmer's field. We should probably double check that he and has family hadn't angered anyone lately."

"That is an interesting possibility," said Xiao XingChen.

Song ZiChen frowned minutely, "But would be hard to look into."

"Hmm..." hummed Wei WuXian in thought, Lan WangJi could tell that he had thought of something new, "if the matter of the walking corpses and the matter of the spikes in resentful energy are separate matters..., or maybe even if they are not. My reputation is well known as a Demonic Cultivator and as the title Yiling Patriarch attests, everyone knows where I am. It could be that there is a demonic cultivator or a group of them that did these things to draw suspicion to me, while they go somewhere else to do something evil. The Jin heir was just born, that would be a good target. The Jiangs have an heir now too, and Lan Zhan has heirs though I suppose not too many people know that. But the Sunshot Campaign is over of the great Sects are consolidating and ensuring their continuing power, which could leave some of the smaller sects angry."

"Another thing to think about," agreed Xiao XingChen looking worried, "ZiChen and I could travel around see if we can find anything that would point to more Demonic Cultivators. If we send a message to Yiling would you receive it Wei WuXian?"

"I would but you may want to address it to the Yiling... Matriarch," Wei WuXian turned a bit pink though his face was thick enough that he hadn't been overly embarrassed by the moniker the first time that he had heard it, "if you say Patriarch then the people of Yiling will think you are one of the crazy people."

"A message to Baixue will get to us, if the person responsible for the walking corpses appears again," added Song ZiChen.

"Brother is headed to the Unclean Realm I will send him a message; he can ask the Nies to keep a look out in the north. Brother also asked me to stay in Gusu, until the Jin heir's one-month celebration. So, I will not be able to escort you to Koi Tower," Lan WangJi said.

"Why would I be going to Koi Tower?" asked Wei WuXian perplexed. Lan WangJi reached into his sleeve and took out the invitation written by Jin ZiXuan himself, and Lan WangJi handed it to his husband. Wide-eyed Wei WuXian opened the missive and read it. Tears did come to his eyes then and he looked up into his husband’s face. "This isn't Shijie's writing."

"Jin ZiXuan."

"I'm really invited?"

"Mn," replied Lan WangJi and he opened his arms and Wei WuXian fell into them. There was looks of embarrassment on the faces of Xiao XingChen and Song ZiChen at how demonstrative the couple was being. Perhaps the children they could excuse and maybe, possibly, the greeting, since they knew that Lan WangJi had been doing a lot of travelling—but still, that sort of display just wasn't done—the two of them were shameless. But their actions brought over a young woman and man that looked very similar to each other.

The man was all smiles. "Don't mind them, they are always like that," he bowed, "I am Wen Ning courtesy Wen QiongLin, but no one uses it."

The women frowned. "A-Ning they are strangers."

"Sister, they came with HanGuang-Jun, they are Daozhang's," replied Wen Ning.

"The Wen name is no longer good to all peoples," Wen Qing retorted.

Xiao XingChen bowed. "Well met Wen QiongLin and young maiden I am Xiao XingChen a disciple of BaoShan SanRen."

"And I am Song Lan courtesy Song ZiChen from Baixue Temple, far in the north, we have no opinions on players neither of the Sunshot Campaign nor on where the Mongols raid," added Song ZiChen with his own bow.

"Wen Qing," she said with her own bow, "and what can we owe this visit too?"

"Wei WuXian is my martial nephew, and I just wanted to visit him," replied Xiao XingChen.

The physician smacked Wei WuXian's shoulder and snapped, "You shouldn't be crying on your husband with your children attached to your Shishu, if they are here for a visit you should bring them further than the radishes."

"Qing-Jie! Look I got invited to my nephew's first-month celebration! And by the Peacock even!"

"That's nice Young Master Wei, too bad you already sent the present along,' said Wen Ning.

"Will HanGuang-Jun be flying with you to Koi Tower?"

"No, he's needed in Gusu," Wei WuXian pouted.

"You could go by river to YunmengJiang and travel with them," Wen Ning suggested.

"Jiang WanYin is already at Koi Tower," Lan WangJi informed them.

"Qing-Jie is right we should show the honourable Daozhang's our humble little village, we can discuss travel arrangements later," said Wei WuXian with a smile, he wiped away his tears and held his hands out to the boys, "Come on boys, let's show your Great Uncles your home, and introduce your sister to them." the boys detached themselves from the Xiao XingChen but made a grab for his hand and they dragged the white-clothed cultivator towards the settlement. Lan WangJi and Song ZiChen followed behind faces impassive, Wei WuXian and Wen Ning laughed, and Wen Qing sighed but smiled.

Chapter Text

Wei WuXian had sent a reply to the invitation he included a note for his Shijie that warned her of the possible Demonic Cultivator activity and his worry since it turned up so soon to little Jin Ling's birth. He also gave a million blessings on the new mother and her son. He promised a gift for Jin Ling to be arriving with Jiang WanYin and sent along a chicken, because he worried that the eggs, he should have gifted her would not stay fresh on the entire trip to Koi Tower. Despite the gifts that were coming from different quarters, Wei WuXian also promised his presence at the celebration.

It was decided that Wei WuXian would walk and hitch rides as he could to Koi Tower. They had thought about the ox cart, but if there was an emergency, they already knew that the cart could get a lot of people away. Lan WangJi had added his own charge to the teleportation talismans of the residence of the Burial Mounds and Wen Ning planned to go with Wei WuXian because Suibian would help Wen Ning protect Wei WuXian—they each had a general teleportation talisman not done in blood just in case.  Walking had been deemed safe after much discussion, since even the people of Yiling hadn't realised that Wei WuXian was the Yiling Patriarch dressed in such poor garb, until the night hunt with Lan WangJi. Despite that they did the math out for the distance between the Burial Mounds and Koi Tower and made sure that the teleportation talismans would take them the distance. Lan WangJi even gave those two talismans extra charges just to be safe. Lan WangJi had bought some nicer clothes for Wei WuXian to wear at the celebration; they were in Wei WuXian's colours but were a different style than the ones that Wei WuXian had worn during the Sunshot Campaign. Those were carefully packed in a Qiankun pouch and were safe in Wei WuXian's sleeve.

Wen Ning and Wei WuXian had to leave to get to Koi Tower earlier than most of the invitees as their path would be the slowest, even MeishanYu who were further west could leave a bit later, if they could go by horse or sword. They tried to sneak away but the people of Yiling woke early and had joyfully seen their Matriarch off and were told that he would be returning with his husband, most likely after the celebration. One of the Yiling residents that was heading out of the city by the same gate, with his own ox cart, offered to take Wei WuXian and Wen Ning on the first leg of their journey.

The journey was slow, but Wei WuXian enjoyed it, even when he couldn't spare the time to take care of a haunting and could only tell the afflicted that they should send to the local sect for help. Wen Ning was good company and they had felt that they were making good time. They paused for a moment when they realised that they would be walking through Qiongqi Pass. They borrowed some maps but avoiding the pass would be near impossible and it was impossible if they wanted to arrive on time for the celebration. They tried to find someone that was going through the pass as well, but there was no one that would take them that was leaving in a timely fashion from the city. So, gathering their courage and the ghosts of their past Wen Ning and Wei WuXian set out to get through Qiongqi Pass.

Qiongqi Pass felt weird, Wei WuXian couldn't put his finger on it, but a look at Wen Ning showed that the other man felt uneasy too. So, Wei WuXian put it off as the memory of the atrocities that had been performed to Wen Ning and their family there. They were about halfway through the pass when Wei WuXian thought he would reach out to the spirits of the Wens that might have remained and tell them that their family was safe and happy. There was nothing—no restless spirits. Wei WuXian paused and stretched his senses he knew there had been a mass grave somewhere in the pass—there was no corpses in the area. Wei WuXian stopped walking all together and stretched his senses to the furthest and still there was not a single corpse.

"Wen Ning, someone removed all the corpses, we need to turn around and get out of here now," said Wei WuXian and he turned on his heal. Before he could take a step before his hand could reach into his robe for the teleportation talisman before Wen Ning could say anything—Suibian leapt to Wen Ning's hand and sliced an arrow in half that had been speeding toward Wei WuXian. Suddenly the tops of the rock face gained a golden blanket, but it wasn't a nice view, as the golden dressed cultivators all held arrows at the ready.

"Wei WuXian!" yelled a single sparks amidst the snow clad cultivator that stood from his hiding place and looked down at Wei WuXian and Wen Ning. Wei WuXian squinted, the man looked a little familiar, but really all Jin cultivators looked the same. To be fair it was the same with all the sects, with everyone dressed the same, Wei WuXian knew YunmengJiang sect members—or well he did—

The man was yelling about some curse. Why would he curse someone he didn't know? And he had said as much. Especially, Hundred Holes Curse, he couldn't do that even if he wanted to. He could barely give Lan WangJi the butterfly feeling of spiritual energy when they came together—he needed to get out of here. Wen Ning was between him and that man but he wasn't in touching distance, and there were archers at his back, so if he went for a lounge so he could teleport them away would the archer's beat him to the punch?

Suibian flew from Wen Ning's hand it soared agilely towards the cultivators. Suibian didn't strike them dead however, but seemed to start whacking the Jins on their heads with the flat of the blade, it appeared to have knocked several unconscious. This enraged the Jin cultivators and some drew their swords to fight Suibian and others tried to shoot Suibian down. Wei WuXian thought the whole thing was rather amusing, but he wasn't going to teleport Wen Ning and himself to safety and leave Suibian behind.

Jin ZiXuan appeared also in front of Wei WuXian and started yelling at the leader—Jin ZiXun sounded like a person that Wei WuXian may have met before, but he was clearly the worst sort of person not worth knowing.

"Wei WuXian, stop Suibian now!" yelled Jin ZiXuan as he turned from his cousin and looked at Wei WuXian, "A-Li is waiting for you, just stop Suibian and we can go to Koi Tower."

Of course it wasn't Wei WuXian that was controlling Suibian, he could feel that his good old sword wasn't drawing his power but instead must have been drawing spiritual energy from Wen Ning. And Wen Ning was a good, kind hearted soul that trusted that people were also good-hearted. So before Wei WuXian could answer that it wasn't him slapping down the three hundred strong ambush party three things happened: Wen Ning recalled Suibian and stepped away to be closer to the sword as it came back down to him; Jin ZiXuan not realising who was in control stepped closer; and arrows were loosed.

Wei WuXian would have been lying if he were to say he hadn't expected the impact of multiple arrows to his back. He was surprised by the look of surprise in Jin ZiXuan's face as arrows struck his back as well. One of the speeding arrows missed Jin ZiXuan and struck Wei WuXian's front before he collapsed to the ground next to his brother-in-law.

Wen Ning and Suibian were too late but only by inches and before he passed out Wei WuXian said, "We need to save him." Arrows were flying as Wen Ning activated his talisman and Wei WuXian, Jin ZiXuan, and Wen Ning disappeared from Qiongqi Pass and appeared in Wen Qing’s hut.

"A-Ning what is this?" yelled Wen Qing as she moved over to the hurt men.

"We were ambushed at Qiongqi pass by some Jins. Young Master Jin tried to stop the ambush, but the archers shot both young masters," replied Wen Ning.

Wen Qing's mind was a whirl. On the one hand Wei WuXian was family and on the other if Jin ZiXuan died, the Jins would surely kill them in retribution. And the Jins would be coming and coming soon unless she could patch up their young master, save him, and send him on his way. Or at the very least have him conscious for their defence when the Jins arrive. She checked them over and saw that they wouldn't expire in the next few minutes.

"Come we need to get a second bed," said Wen Qing. She rushed out of her little hut with her brother on her heels and went to the next hut for the bed that was there. There was only one of her and both men needed her so she would need them to be in the room. The hut belonged to Aunt Two and Wen Qing told her as they grabbed her bed, "Emergency, have everyone come to me one at a time."

Back in her own hut with her medical equipment Wen Qing had her brother put the men on the beds. Wei WuXian had to be laid on his side and Jin ZiXuan on his stomach. Despite having a few extra arrows in him, nothing major had been hit in Wei WuXian; however it looked like Jin ZiXuan had had an arrow nick his lung. checking them over a bit more Wen Qing realised that despite politics, if she wanted both of them to live she would have to focus on Jin ZiXuan and that while Wei WuXian's organ appeared whole there was a couple arrows that were holding back internal bleeding, especially since he was unconscious it would be safer to leave the arrows in him for the time until she could focus completely on stopping the bleeding that would occur when the arrows were removed. As she worked and barked orders at her brother, the people of the settlement came to the door and one by one to get their instructions.

Wen Qing sent Uncle Four out to destroy any spare teleportation talismans that they had and anything else that Wei WuXian had been working on that would be too dangerous in other's hands, Wei WuXian's notes would be left for last. Metals and talisman papers were easier to replace than the notes. One of the younger women, who was a Wen by the marriage to her late husband, was tasked with equally distributing their money to everyone that was left. If they had to flee they would not be destitute. Granny ambled in and looked wide-eyed at the two on the bed. Wen Qing glanced up and then went back to her work. "Granny don't tell the boys that Wei WuXian is back, take that book on the corner of the table, if it comes to sending the babies away give the book to A-Yuan, he knows what to do, and I want those children in white until we safely get this young master on his way!"

She didn't want to keep the children there with the possible bad situation that was coming, but if the Jins took the time to get the other sects to help them, then GusuLan babies could work in their favour, as long as she could make it clear that they hadn't kidnapped them. If the cultivators went through Yiling first they would possibly hear the good things that were said about the Yiling Matriarch.

Everyone was rushing around; they were packing their things for flight and waiting nervously and on edge. But Wen Qing had been a good leader, she was practical, and made sure that they were prepared for such things.

Jin Ling's one-month celebration was fast approaching Jiang WanYin had been at Koi Tower since before his sister had given birth. After she had been in her sitting in period which would end and then the day after the celebration would occur. But despite not being able to see his sister, Jiang WanYin wanted to be nearby and by that time he and his daughter Jiang Gan had fallen into step with one another. She had been a shy, quiet, and starved little thing. Once she had realised that the safety, the security, and the food wouldn't be taken from her she became a fierce and angry little hellion. Their first visit to Koi Tower had made her go quiet and fearful again and Jiang YanLi had coaxed out of the little girl that the 'gold men' were 'bad men'. At home in Lotus, Pier Jiang WanYin had gotten the bare bones of the  story from his daughter but hadn't known what to do or say about it. He had explained that the Jins didn't know her and they couldn't take her from him, or the Jins would fall to Zidian. That had gotten a giggle, and Jiang WanYin knew his daughter was already in love with Zidian. So they had gone to Koi Tower and stayed though they couldn't see Jiang YanLi, so that Jiang Gan would get used to the Jins; especially since Jin Ling was born there would be more and more interactions between the cousins.

That also meant that the young Sect Leader Jiang wasn't really doing anything as Jiang YanLi still had a couple days in confinement, when he saw the panicked Jin cultivators running around and then forming up to leave Koi Tower, as if there was a battle. It took longer than Jiang WanYin felt was politic for something of that nature, to be explained to him. He had tried to stop the running cultivators but none of them would say anything. Finally, Jiang WanYin was able to corner Jin GuangYao. "What is going on? Is Koi Tower being attacked? Is my sister, nephew, or daughter in danger here?"

"No, no danger here Sect Leader Jiang," replied Jin GuangYao with a smile, "Sect Heir Jin ZiXuan and Young Master Jin ZiXun took a small honour guard to meet Wei WuXian and escort him to Jin Ling's celebration. Young Master Jin ZiXun and some of the honour guard returned, it appears that when they met with Wei WuXian he had the Ghost General attack and he kidnapped the Sect Heir. We are sending men to rescue Sect Heir Jin ZiXuan."

That most definitely didn't sound like Wei WuXian and Jiang WanYin had spent a lot of time with his brother-in-law, and Jin ZiXuan hadn't mentioned anything about Wei WuXian needing an escort. "Why didn't you say something? Jin ZiXuan is my sister's husband of course YunmengJiang would help."

Jin GuangYao bowed and made apologies for not having thought of it, he also insisted that the Jiang Sect didn't need to bother but the help was welcome and that the Jin Cultivators had already left for Yiling. Jin GuangYao left and Jiang WanYin went to find his daughter and make sure she was in the hands of Madam Jin. Any sworn sister of Madam Yu would be a formidable force if this situation were to escalate.

"Madam Jin, please protect my daughter in my absence and tell my sister that I'm going to get to the bottom of this and drag both her husband and our idiot brother by the ear before her to repent for this unneeded stress at the end of her sitting in."

It had been a bright and clear day in Yiling—the residents would always remember—there wasn't a cloud in the sky, which is why when the shadow passed over the city they all took note. A cloud of gold clad cultivators blotted out the sun and headed directly for the Burial Mounds. The people worried for their Matriarch, his children, and the good people he had saved. Not long after the people of Yiling would have the death of the Yiling Matriarch forever burned into their memories.

Lan WangJi was flying on Bichen when right next to him a GusuLan flare went off, it was so close and so sudden that Lan WangJi almost lost his balance and swerved to the side. He immediately landed, one to get his footing again to continue his flight and two to see who needed his help. The spot of white in the barren field below, told Lan WangJi where to go. The sight of his children made his heart stop.

"A-Die!" they called.

Lan Yuan burst into tears he would have run to Lan WangJi, but Lan Lian was across his lap. "A-Die the bad men came, Granny told us to run! I saved A-Bo and A-Lian, but I don't know where A-Ma is!"

"What did the bad men look like?" asked Lan WangJi.

The eldest just cried harder and Lan Bo said, "They were wearing gold and had swords and everyone was screaming."

Lan WangJi nodded and then cursed why would the Jin attack? Was it because they knew Wei WuXian was away for Jin RuLan’s Celebration? It also made Lan WangJi hesitate, he didn't want to bring the children to Koi Tower, and Gusu was after all closer to Yiling. Golden eyes scanned his children, they had a pack, Lan Lian's basket, and Lan Yuan had a book clutched in his hands.

"A-Yuan can I see that book?" the boy handed it over. It was a registry of those that were living in the Burial Mounds. It stated their names, ages, and occupations. There was also a record of the deaths and of Lan WangJi and Wei WuXian's wedding. He saw that the date had been smudged so that the year could not be read and that Wei WuXian's name under that of mother to the children Lan Yuan and Lan Lian was also smudged but still readable if not perhaps appearing like a different more feminine sounding 'ying'. And there was also the record of Lan Bo's adoption. Lan WangJi nodded he reached into his sleeve and took out the paper that gave him Lan Bo and tucked it into the book and then the book into his sleeve. Then he surveyed what they had. The blanket in the basket was one of their red wedding robes the pack was the other red robe tied around provisions, favoured toys, and the baby sling. Lan WangJi took Lan Lian and placed her in the basket and used the sleeves of the robe to tie her in then with the boy's help he got Lan Yuan the slightly shorter onto his back. Lan Yuan was in charge of the bundle as he didn't need to hold on to Lan WangJi. Lan Bo had a bell clutched in his hand, but Lan WangJi could see that he still he had his own tied properly to his belt. "Whose bell is that?"

"Granny's she gave it to me for extra protection she said," answered Lan Bo.

Lan WangJi nodded. "Let me carry it for now." Lan Bo handed the bell over and once it was safely tucked away Lan WangJi held Lan Bo around his front and let the boy wrap arms and legs around him. One hand clutched his son to his front and the second crossed under the child for more support and held the basket with his daughter.

Bichen was steady and swift as possible to get them back to Cloud Recesses.

They landed at the gate and the disciples on guard rushed forward to help Lan WangJi with the children. There was a barely audible gasp when the children's forehead ribbons were seen. "Get my Uncle." One of the disciples turned to go inside.

It wasn’t that his Uncle couldn’t fight, or that he wasn’t important enough to go to the celebration instead it was that Lan WangJi had wanted to leave early so maybe he could have travelled the last leg of the journey with his husband. But that meant now, that there was someone he could trust with his children as he went off to save his husband.

Lan QiRen appeared at the gate of Cloud Recesses and looked down wide-eyed at the children. “WangJi what is this? Who are these?”

“My children, Uncle, I need to go see if I can save their A-Ma,” replied Lan WangJi as he handed the basket with his daughter to his uncle.

There was a sputtering sound that probably drew more attention than the children, as it surprised the GusuLan disciples who had never known their teacher to lose composure. But the sound and any comments was quickly cut off by the two boy’s cries, “Don’t leave A-Die, don’t leave!”

When they had arrived the basket with Lan Lian had been taken by a disciple and Lan Bo had been put on the ground and then another disciple had helped get Lan Yuan from the sling. Lan WangJi had checked his daughter had made it through the flight intact and untied the red robes from around the basket. Then he placed the basket near his feet within reach, and scooped up Lan Bo to do his monkey impression and let Lan Yuan cling to a leg.

Now, he was trying to pry Lan Bo from his body so he could look at both his sons. In the struggle to pull the children away, Lan QiRen picked up the basket so it couldn’t be kicked over. It took a moment and more tears but finally both boys were an arm’s length away a shoulder clasped gently in a hand of their father’s.    

“Lan Yuan, Lan Bo you two have been very brave and I need you to be brave for a bit more,” Lan WangJi coaxed.

He got a couple sniffs and then two frankly adorable, “Mn.”

Lan WangJi turned the boys so they could see Lan QiRen. “This is my uncle Lan QiRen, when I was your age he took care of me when my parents could not. He is a good man, as he is my uncle that means he is your Granduncle and he will make sure that no bad men will get you while I go get you’re A-Ma. Can you be brave and stay with QiRen-Shugong?”

Whatever protest or indignations may have been on Lan QiRen’s lips died he glanced down at the basket in his hands and the infant inside and then at the teary-eyed boys. Lan QiRen made an awkward bow, basket in hand and said, “I am Lan QiRen your QiRen-Shugong, I am honoured to meet the sons of my beloved nephew, my Grandnephews.”

There was a pause. Then Lan Bo bowed, “I am Lan Bo QiRen-Shugong.”

“And I am Lan Yuan QiRen-Shugong,” added Lan Yuan with his own bow, “and that is our sister Lan Lian.”

“Come Bo-Zhisun and Yuan-Zhisun, let your QiRen-Shugong show you around Cloud Recesses while your father… gets your mother,” said Lan QiRen.

“Not mother,” said Lan Yuan as he made a weird face, “A-Ma.”

“Yes,” said Lan WangJi, “I will leave first to retrieve you’re A-Ma.” He bowed to the surrounding cultivators, hugged each of his son’s, and wiped their eyes, and then he looked at his uncle and handed over the registry. “This WangJi thanks Uncle.” He ran a finger down Lan Lian’s nose and then turned and left the path to Cloud Recesses with all speed on Bichen to Yiling.

Jiang WanYin lands in the Burial Mounds and wished that he hadn't. He could hear the YunmengJiang men land behind him, but his eyes could not leave the atrocities that were playing out before him. He had arrived too late to do anything and early enough to see everything. Wen Ning was fighting alone trying to block Jins from getting past him and into the settlement, but for the famed Ghost General he was fighting like a mortal man, and Suibian was dancing around helping him to protect the people—but he was just one man with the help of one spiritual sword, Jins had gotten passed Wen Ning and were attacking people that looked like if they had ever seen a war it was at least fifty years prior. There was an old, old woman with toddlers and she ran from a Jin Cultivator. Jiang WanYin watched as the old women pushed the children further away and turned to their pursuer. "Spare the Children!"

"Wen-dogs are not spared, they are put down!" yelled the gold clad man as his sliced down the old woman who just wanted to protect children. And then the man continued after the children.

Before Jiang WanYin could try to get in the way—children shouldn't be killed, old women neither, but Jiang WanYin had been too late for that—Wei WuXian came stumbling out of a hut that was between the cultivator and the children, he had clearly known the man's purpose and took a firm stance in the man's way. Wei WuXian was a far cry from his usual self, even the self that he had been during the Sunshot Campaign. For one Chenqing was not on him, and for two there were arrows sticking out of his torso and he was on his feet by sheer willpower alone.

Skeletal hands reached up through the ground and grabbed the ankles of every Jin Cultivator, halting the carnage. To Jiang WanYin's left he heard a demand, "Wei WuXian! As to be expected from the Lord of Evil! Return our Sect Heir and hand over the Stygian Tiger Seal and we will give you a swift death!"

It had been a red faced Jin ZiXun who made the outrageous demands while held back by skeletal fingers. A quick glance around, showed Jiang WanYin that most of the Jin Cultivators had freed themselves from the grasping hands. And only Jin ZiXun was still having problems with his skeletal bounds.

Wei WuXian laughed, it ended in a racking sort of cough; one of the arrows may have pierced a lung. "Swift death, little Jin Cultivator? Were your arrows supposed to have been swift? My only true regret would be if I died at the hands of a weak nobody like you!"

Jin ZiXun sputtered but before he could get angry again, Wei WuXian pulled two halves of the Stygian Tiger Seal from his sleeve and held it up for all to see. Any attention that had been given to the fleeing Wens was diverted. Wei WuXian's eyes made a slow circuit of the settlement and Jiang WanYin's did the same, every Jin’s attention was on Wei WuXian as they all whispered, "The Stygian Tiger Seal!" Jiang WanYin could see some of the poor wretches that had lived on the mountain of the dead slip away in the distraction.

The self-sacrificing idiot, Jiang WanYin was suddenly furious his stupid brother who was supposed to be his elder was going to trade his life for the rest of the people on the hill. Wei WuXian snapped the two halves of the seal together and yelled, "Is this what you want? Has a single one of you even looked for Sect Heir Jin ZiXuan? Or have you been having too much fun killing farmers and old women?"

The seal was exactly what the Jins had come for, Jiang WanYin could see it on their faces, and as one they choreographed their charge. There was a second round of grasping hands. Wei WuXian had a smile on his face, but it was tight like he was arguing with someone in his head or he was trying to do something, without letting anyone know that he was expending the energy. The dark-grey eyes finally caught Jiang WanYin's own eyes in the fleeting moment before the Stygian Tiger Seal exploded.

Jiang WanYin's anger at his brother's stupidity and the brazenness of the Jin cultivators melted into a look of stunned shocked as he watched the mountain as it was truly of the dead rise up into corpses that descended on Wei WuXian and consumed him. Then the shockwave from the destruction of the Stygian Tiger Seal hit Jiang WanYin and the world went black.

When he woke again, Jiang WanYin could see that there were already Jins walking around, he did not see Wei WuXian, not even a body, nor the bodies of any of the Wens that had died—the old woman's corpse was gone and Jiang WanYin wondered if the Jins had killed the children.

He got to his feet, and stumbled to the hut that Wei WuXian had come from. Laid out of a bed was Jin ZiXuan, next to his body were a couple bloody arrows, fletched in the fashion common to the LanlingJin Sect. There was a work area in one corner that had neat rows of medical supplies. By the far wall was a second empty bed and next to that one were Chenqing and a couple more arrows. Clearly, Wei WuXian hadn't needed Chenqing to control the corpses of the Burial Mounds, but that was perhaps due to the Seal or the concentration of resentful energies in the Burial Mounds themselves. Jiang WanYin checked to see if Jin ZiXuan was still alive and then pocketed Chenqing. as he was leaving the hut to get his men so they could bring Jin ZiXuan back to Lotus Pier as the closer stronghold he ran into a Jin Cultivator coming in. "Sect Leader Jiang!"

"I will be taking your Sect Heir to Lotus Pier, we are closer to Yiling than LanlingJin, if Wen Qing is still alive she is a physician, she can... make reparations by healing Sect Heir Jin ZiXuan," stated Jiang WanYin in his no non-sense Sect Leader tone.

The man in the doorway flustered and then said with a bow. "That does sound like a logical course of action, but as it was Young Master Jin ZiXun that led the rescue forces, you will need to talk to him."

Jiang WanYin nodded and pushed out of the hut and immediately looked around for Jin ZiXun and found him yelling at his underling to find anything valuable or any live Wens.

"Sect Leader Jiang!" Jin ZiXun greeted without a bow, "LanlingJin sect thanks you for your help in ridding the world of the evils of the Yiling Patriarch Wei WuXian and the Wen Remnants."

Zidian crackled, and Jiang WanYin covered the sparks with his other hand as was polite and bowed. "Young Master Jin ZiXun, I suggest that I leave first and take your Sect Heir to Lotus Pier, we are closer to Yiling than LanlingJin, if Wen Qing is still alive she is a physician, she can make reparations by healing Sect Heir Jin ZiXuan."

"A grand idea," said Jin ZiXun, "but I am afraid that all remaining Wen Remnants especially their leaders Wen Qing and the Ghost General Wen Ning will be taken to LanlingJin for trial."

"Even the children?" Jiang WanYin questioned.

"Children?" said Jin ZiXun in a flippant tone.

The young Sect Leader gritted his teeth and covered the sparks again in a bow. "My disciples and I will leave first." Jiang WanYin turned from the odious man and went to find his disciples on the way he found that the Jin just had Wen Qing and her brother under guard. How many people were living in the settlement? Were they all dead now? He caught Wen Qing's eye and mouthed, "Can he fly?”, and she just minutely shook her head.

The YunmengJiang Sect disciples that had accompanied their Sect Leader were all unharmed as they had arrived too late to try to stop the Jins before Wei WuXian had done it for them. "We will be taking Sect Heir Jin ZiXuan back to Lotus Pier for healing. I want him off this mountain and then we will see about hiring a carriage of something to get him home. I need a couple of you to come with me and help me make a litter and get the Sect Heir."

Helper's at his side Jiang WanYin made it back to the hut that had clearly been a small infirmary. The Jin had been through the hut because all the jars and boxes that had been in neat rows in the work area were now smashed, the empty bed was in pieces, and the Jin arrows that Jiang WanYin was certain that had been pulled from Jin ZiXuan had been knocked to the floor. Of the heir himself he was still alive and appeared as if he hadn't been touched. Jiang WanYin paused in the hut and let his men take a look and get a feel for the situation.

From the broken bed a litter was fashioned. They carefully moved Jin ZiXuan onto it and then moved together out of the hut. Jiang WanYin had already said their good-byes and so they walked to the remaining men in purple and headed down the path that would lead them off the mountain.

The shock wave had been felt in Yiling, and with the cloud of cultivator's that had arrived before hand, the people knew that the Yiling Matriarch was dead. Some of the people the ones who had known the gentle soul that was Wen Ning, or the fruit wine of Uncle Four, or the children—the children—had gone to the base of the mountain. The corpse barrier was gone but not a single person wanted to step foot on the mountain; they were all normal simple folk, what would cultivator's do to them if they attacked the people living on the Burial Mounds when Wei WuXian and Wen Ning had been on their way to a LanlingJin celebration. They were planning on waiting until they saw the cultivator's leave and then they would go up and see if they could find anyone alive and hiding, and if not they would bury the dead.

The brown of the bare winter trees and dried grass was suddenly interrupted by a column of purple dressed men. It was soon a standoff, as neither party seemed to know what to do.

"This man is seriously hurt, we need to get through," said Jiang WanYin.

One of the crowd yelled, "Yeah and how many of the people living there did he hurt beforehand?"

"None."

One of the Yiling townsfolk that was in the front could see that Jin ZiXuan was in fact a Jin. "He is dressed like the cultivator's that attacked!"

"And you said he has hurt none, where is your honour!" shouted someone from the mob and Jiang WanYin was afraid that the people of Yiling would be a mob soon.

"No, he met my brother Wei WuXian... the... the... uh... Yiling Patriarch on his way to LanlingJin, to escort him to the celebration, I don't know his own men attacked Sect Heir Jin and Wei WuXian and the Ghost General brought them back to the Burial Mounds for healing. But the rest of the LanlingJin thought that their heir was kidnapped and brought their attacking force. My brother tried to save the people of the settlement here and died for his pains!"

—Lan WangJi had come too late, he had known it in his heart when he had seen the children, but a part of him had hoped that the Jins had just attacked the Burial Mounds when Wei WuXian had been away. But no they had attacked Wei WuXian himself. How many days had he and apparently Jin ZiXuan been lying hurt in the care of Wen Qing.

“Honoured Cultivator!” one of the people in the crowd had spotted Lan WangJi and called out to him and drew everyone’s attention to the white clad cultivator.

Before the townsfolk could declaim over the loss of Lan WangJi’s husband he pushed to the forefront and said, “Who killed him?”

“I…” Jiang WanYin started not sure what to say, not sure what Lan WangJi was doing in Yiling, “Wei WuXian destroyed the Stygian Tiger Seal and it caused this wave of resentful energy that drew the corpse to him and they consumed him, then I was knocked out from the backlash, and when I woke there were no bodies of the dead, but some of the Jins had been at work before I woke up, they could have moved the bodies.”

“And him?”

“I was at Koi Tower when the commotion started, Jin GuangYao said that Jin ZiXuan and Jin ZiXun had gone to escort Wei WuXian to the celebration and Wei WuXian attacked them and kidnapped Jin ZiXuan. But I saw Wei WuXian leaving a hut with arrows still in him, before he died and in that hut is where I found Jin ZiXuan with bloody Jin fletched arrows on the nearby table. I figured that it would be best to finish his healing at Lotus Pier,” answered Jiang WanYin he didn’t change his inflection but instead gave Lan WangJi a look, then continued, “and Jin ZiXun wouldn’t let me take Wen Qing to heal his cousin and Sect Heir.”

“I see,” Lan WangJi frowned. Then his face became impassive again and he turned to the crowd and said, “These men are innocent of wrong doings, please someone lead them to the Ox cart and let them have use of it, I will go up the mountain.”

Jiang WanYin looked confused but the people seemed mollified and started to disperse, though a couple stayed behind to lead the Jiang Sect cultivators to the ox cart. Jiang WanYin narrowed his eyes and asked in a low hissed tone, “Ox cart? What ox cart, and why would you have an ox cart in Yiling?”

Lan WangJi dropped his tone to whisper for Jiang WanYin’s ears alone, “I may not have been able to save her mother, but there were others, and where else would they have been safe? We travelled here by ox cart.”

“Where was she when you found her?” Jiang WanYin’s heart had clenched he had forgotten the name of his daughter’s father had been shared by the people his brother had protected. He hadn’t asked where his now-daughter had been, ‘a night hunt’ had made him think that she had been a victim of walking corpses that there had been Jins there and that was the reason for her fear, but more Wens meant that it could have been more sinister, like Wei WuXian said of Qiongqi Pass.

“Later, take the ox cart, if you do not need it any further send it back to the farmer, and tell him the goat now belongs to him,” with those words Lan WangJi headed up the mountain. From the base they could see that some of the Jins were leaving. Jiang WanYin knew it wasn’t the entire force yet.

Lan WangJi climbed the mountain once he was out of sight of any people he took off the white outer robe and then continued on. He knew these paths, he skirted around and avoided the Jins but Jiang WanYin had been correct there were no bodies and it appeared that there was no Wen Qing or Ning either. Lan WangJi made his way back down the mountain and made his way to the farmstead that housed the ox cart.

Despite having been told to go away there were a few people and one said, “What of the children? Your husband? The others?”

“The children are safe in Gusu, my husband died to ensure they could escape, the others I do not know, I saw no bodies so pray that they made it out as well.”

“We are glad that the children are safe, but grieve with you.”

Lan WangJi bowed to the people and left. He caught up with the Jiang contingent, at the Yiling gates. “Were you able to get Wen Qing or even Wen Ning from the Jins?”

“I saw neither.”

Jiang WanYin dropped off the back of the ox cart and let it and his men amble ahead of them and then he said, “I’ve been thinking, what if this was a plot against their own Sect Heir? What if the plan all along was to kill Jin ZiXuan and blame it on my brother? They execute any Wens that are alive to keep their duplicity a secret. And if that was their plan what will they do to my sister, her son—the next Jin heir, and my daughter?”

“You should go to Koi Tower, protect the rest of your family, try to protect what is left of the Wens,” replied Lan WangJi.

“You’re HanGuang-Jun, your words have weight.”

“Only YunmengJiang know that I was in Yiling, I’ll get Sect Heir Jin ZiXuan to Lotus Pier, you go to Koi Tower,” returned Lan WangJi.

After a moment of thought, Jiang WanYin agreed and told his people the plan, and then took to his sword and headed back to LanlingJin. They wouldn’t hear him on the matter of the Wens or at the very least Wen Qing, to be used to save Jin ZiXuan. But Madam Jin believed Jiang WanYin and she packed more than was needed to see to her injured son in Lotus Pier. With Jiang YanLi just out of her sitting in and Jin Ling only a month old they took Madam Jins carriage to Lotus Pier.

Jin GuangShan praised his nephew for his bravery and fortitude in defeating the Yiling Patriarch and avenging his Sect Heir. At the celebratory feast that had been planned to celebrate life but had instead celebrated conquest, the ashes of the leader of the Wen remnants Wen Qing and the Ghost General Wen Ning were spread. At the same feast later when everyone was in their cups it came out that Jin ZiXun should be happy that the Hundred Holes Curse was now lifted that the Yiling Patriarch was dead.

Chapter Text

Wen YaoBan found himself on a street—in the middle of a busy street—and he was attracting a lot of attention, for it was as if he hadn't occupied the space a moment before—which was the truth, not that Wen YaoBan would tell anyone that. His father had run an ink shop far from the Nightless City, but still in the old Wen territory, as a child before he learned to cultivate and as a young man visiting his family, he had helped with the inks. He had hoped that it had been enough time; that the shop was still there, that he could make a quiet life for himself. But there hadn't been enough power to get there and now Wen YaoBan was lost. Wen YaoBan scanned the street and took in the shops, there was an ink shop and the name looked familiar, but he couldn't place it. At the very least maybe he could settle down in the city and work at such a shop.

"Are you all right? You look lost."

Wen YaoBan startled and looked down at a young man, a young master of the QingheNie Sect. Wen YaoBan figured he should be lucky that he hadn't ended up in LanlingJin territory. "I am, where is this? I mean what city?"

"Heyang."

"This one thanks the young master," replied Wen YaoBan, Heyang had definitely been in the QishanWen territory, and that meant that Wen YaoBan did actually know the ink shop nearby. He shifted so he could look inside, but the young master was still in his way, was he caught out as a Wen so soon? Wen YaoBan looked down and saw that the young master was carrying a couple ink sticks. "Young Master, it has been many years, but the last I knew this shop here sells inferior inks."

With his free hand the young man flicked a fan open and covered a part of his face with it. "And who are you to say such things?"

"My father owned an ink shop; we made a good quality product. This shop has a few sticks of good quality ink that they allow their customers to test and then they sell the inferior product."

"Where is your father's shop and what is your name? If I may ask uncle," replied the young master.

"My apologies," said Wen YaoBan he made another bow to stall for some time, "Near Yiling young master a small place and shop nothing you would have heard of. My name is Wei Hao, courtesy..." Wen YaoBan paused for half a heartbeat Hao meant grand or vast it was fine with the Wei name but YaoBan was clearly a Wen name, his mind whirled, what was the opposite of a sun flare?—“Wei BingTao." —‘Ice Wave' that would work.

"And Sir Wei BingTao knows the ink shops so far north of the Yiling area?"

"My mother was from further north, when we would visit her family my father liked to see what other ink shops on the way were offering. I remember that he was always angry with this particular shop. But like I said it has been many years, the shop may have new owners or have been forced to mend their ways," replied Wei BingTao.

The man nodded behind his fan and said, "I thank you for the advice Wei BingTao, come with me to the shop to ascertain your memory."

Wei BingTao looked around and realised that the Young Master hadn't been alone and there was enough of a sabre wielding guard around that Wei BingTao didn't think that he could get away easily. So, he just nodded and then watched the scene unfold before him. The young master entered the shop again, claiming that Wei BingTao was a messenger, and asked for paper. then the young master insisted on using the ink he had just bought and Wei BingTao realised that the young master had thought that he was wrong, or might have been correct in the past, the furrow in his brow made it obvious how obviously the disparity in the quality was. Then the small, skinny, fan wielding young master took the shop apart with his tongue.

"Well met, Wei BingTao, this Nie HuaiSang thanks you," said Nie HuaiSang once he exited the shop, "say what are you doing this far from Yiling lost in Heyang?"

There was a long silence as Wei BingTao tried to come up with an answer. "My family was attacked, everyone was killed I think, or maybe they ran too, a few of us were cultivators but we were too poor for spiritual swords, so we tried to hold off the attack with talismans and ran. I didn't know where to go, I think I was headed to where my mother's family lived, but I know that I have no family there anymore, they were... casualties of the war."

"Yes this was QishanWen territory, but far from the Nightless City this whole area had been crushed under clashing armies," replied Nie HuaiSang, Wei BingTao could only nod, "you have done me a good turn, and as you have no family that you know of come to the Unclean Realm with me and I'm sure you can find an ink shop there or you could become a guest disciple, if you take to the sabre style, my brother will commission one for you."

Wei BingTao began to sweat during the war if it hadn't been Wei WuXian killing Wens with his flute, a Wen would expect to be beheaded by Nie MengJue. But in the same instance he was now Wei BingTao of Yiling and no longer a Wen cultivator who had got conscripted into the war because of his ability to cultivate and his surname. The Wens were all dead, thanks to the attack on the last home of the last free Wens, well the Jins were never quiet, the cultivation world would know soon. And in the cultivation world the only Wei of renown was Wei WuXian and even with his connection to Yiling, Wei BingTao felt he could be safe, Wei WuXian wasn't the only Wei in the world after all. So, Wei BingTao agreed and followed the young master of Nie, Nie HuaiSang to the Unclean Realm. Sabre or an ink shop's apprentice or an ink shop of his own if his memory served him well, would be a good new start on life.

Wen PeiRu and Bei ZhiHua had been touching each other without realising it when they had been thinking of separate places and had activated their talismans. The magics had interfered with the other and they had ended up who knew where in the middle of a forest and were unconscious for at least a time. When they had woken they were in no condition to move and ended up huddled together in a lean-to they hastily constructed in the forest for about a week; foraging for food and eating what they had packed in preparation for flight.

The two women walked when their strength had returned, and walked some more, they left the trees, but everything seemed to be lakes and fields and there wasn't a lot of people to inquire with. They didn't want to be remembered and had decided to wait until they were in a larger city to ask direction.

Their clothes hadn’t been the finest quality to begin with, and then with the added time living in the woods and the fact that it was the winter months even if they were not in a truly cold region—the two women looked wretched. And despite having a decent amount of money, which they even showed one inn owner, no one was letting them in for a hot meal, bath, or bed. So, the two women were left looking lost on the street trying to figure out exactly where they were and what they should do next.

“You’re some new faces, can I help you?” The two from the Burial Mounds turned and saw a beautiful woman with a bright smile and a small baby in her arms. She was flanked by people dressed in purple robes.

Both women bowed and Wen PeiRu said, “Yes, we were driven from our home, and were unsure the direction we fled, by the purple of your honour guard may I assume that we are in YunmengJiang Sect area.”

“You may, Lotus Pier is actually not that far from here.”

Wen PeiRu remembered when the Sect Leader of YunmengJiang had come to the Burial Mounds, but Bei ZhiHua who had been at the mine, was quick to answer, “That is a relief, we were from near Yiling, so it is nice to still be under the purview of the Jiang Sect.”

“Oh no Yiling area, what happened?”

Both women hesitated, Bei ZhiHua answered, “I am not sure Young Madam, there was just a lot of screaming in the night and we ran.”

“Yes,” Wen PeiRu added, “I didn’t see what was doing the attacking.”

“Should YunmengJiang send out cultivators?” said the woman, with a worried face.

Wen PeiRu shook her head sadly. “I’m afraid that it is too late, we fled a couple weeks ago, if you haven’t heard anything than perhaps whatever it was wasn’t a matter for cultivators or another sect arrived first and took care of the matter.”

“Yes, I see. Do you have any family? Do you need help getting anywhere?”

Bei ZhiHua shook her head, “No family left to go to. We were just disoriented, and because of our long trek are not reputable enough to get a hot meal or inquire about work.”

“What sort of work are you qualified for?”

“I took care of a little one like that recently, when her parents were busy,” said Bei ZhiHua.

Wen PeiRu nodded. “Yes, and most recently the family had fallen on hard times so we all helped with farming work. But I could work as a maid, no problem. We have some cultivation and I was studying to do some healing work, it was a specialty of my direct family line, but I wasn’t the most apt at the art.”

“I can cultivate as well, my late husband was a fine calligraphist and I helped with that. I’m sure I could do maid work as well, if you know anyone who would hire those as lowly as we,” added Bei ZhiHua.

“May I have your names?”

There was a moment and then making a quick decision Wen PeiRu said, “Wei PeiRu.”

“Wei PeiRu?”

“Wei as in ‘the Kingdom of Wei’ Pei as in ‘the pendent hanging from your belt’ and Ru as the ru in ‘flowery’.”

The woman’s eyes widened, and she barely murmured out, “and you?”

“Wei ZhiHua, the same Wei, the Zhi of ‘the purplish brows mushroom that has miraculous powers’ and the Hua is ‘brilliant’.” The Bei family had been asked by Lan WangJi about their daughter who had married into the Wen family, and the Bei family had spat on poor HanGuang-Jun—the Bei family wasn’t worth a continued association.

“I am Jiang YanLi of YunmengJiang Sect and the current Young Madam of Jin. My younger adopted brother was also a Wei, and he did live in Yiling most recently, I don’t suppose you would have known him? No matter, we of the YunmengJiang Sect use the clarity bell as our waist hanging pendent, it is very important for us and the same Ru is the name for this generation of the Jin. I feel it is a sign that we will be good friends, I will find you two jobs in Lotus Pier!”

As Jiang YanLi talked the two women were getting more and more worried. They had forgotten in the bustle that Wei WuXian’s martial sister had married the Jin Heir. But they also knew that the man had been shot by Jin archers. Either way, whether Jin ZiXuan was their enemy or not, they had lost their chance to get away, as they were swept up into Jiang YanLi’s excitement.

Jiang YanLi had returned to Lotus Pier with all haste and a bit of trepidation. Her husband was still healing and it was still the winter months, so she was advised to stay indoors for her and Jin Ling’s health. But she couldn’t and she didn’t think it would really hurt Jin Ling she had bundled him up well. She needed to do something, help someone, and in such an uncertain time she wasn’t going to let go of her baby. So, she had taken a walk through the city and seen the normal folk, asked after people she knew, and made sure that the lean months weren’t too lean on anyone. Finding the two women was great she felt it was an auspicious sign; Lotus Pier did well when there was a Wei in residence. The women wouldn’t be quite like JinZhu and YinZhu as those two had trained with Jiang YanLi’s mother since she had been a child; but Madam Jin too, had a cultivating maid who was fierce. Jiang YanLi always wondered why she had never had a companion cum cultivating maid. Maybe that fiery temperament was needed? Well, Jiang Gan had that.

It took a while for Jin ZiXuan to wake up. Then the truth came out, though Jin ZiXuan had been shot in the back with three hundred Jin cultivators aiming for Wei WuXian and Jin ZiXuan standing in front of the demonic cultivator, the chances that his own cultivators had shot him were high. He was not ready for travel but word that he had wakened had been sent to Koi Tower. Jin GuangShan turned down the suggestion that he come to Lotus Pier and ascertain his heir's condition with his own eyes. The courier that brought back the reply was plied for gossip and then the company learned the state of the world. They were too late, the Jin cultivators who had been at both attacks had spread lies about Wei WuXian, Jin ZiXuan, and Jin ZiXun—who had apparently been cursed with the Hundred Holes Curse by Wei WuXian and had gone to escort the demonic cultivator to Koi Tower in hopes that his good will would ingratiate Wei WuXian. But instead Wei WuXian had wounded and kidnapped the sect heir. So the brave Jin ZiXun had stormed the Burial Mounds and rid the world of the scourge of the Lord of Evil the Yiling Patriarch Wei WuXian and the Evil Wen Remnants, and saved his cousin."

Jiang WanYin was disgusted, he had seen the Jin slaughter the old and try to slaughter children. But the story that the courier had brought back to Lotus Pier was the official story that was being spread around by the LanlingJin sect and appeared to be supported by Jin GuangShan and all those at Koi Tower. With Jin GuangShan's apathy towards his only legitimate heir, Madam Jin decided that it might be best if they all stayed at Lotus Pier for the time being, especially if Jin ZiXun had designs on Jin ZiXuan's life. The Jin cultivators that had come as escort with them from Koi Tower was given the choice whether they wanted to stay with them in Lotus Pier and serve the Sect Heir or return to Lanling. A few left, all having sworn their loyalty to Jin ZiXuan but stating family obligations back in the north. Not too long after a few of the men had returned Luo QingYang arrived at Lotus Pier with every single one of the female cultivators of the LanlingJin Sect and a few of the male cultivators. They all swore to serve their Sect Heir and his family. So a small contingent of Jins worked their way into life at Lotus Pier.

Jiang YanLi and Jin ZiXuan were blessed with their second child, and Jiang YanLi's confinement wasn't over in time for the wedding of Jin GuangYao and Qin Su. Jin ZiXuan, Jiang WanYin, and their honour guard went to LanlingJin for the wedding, but though it was mentioned that Jin ZiXuan should return to Koi Tower, he claimed his wife's sitting in month, and the health of his daughter Jin Lian—his Golden Lotus, really too young for such travels as a reason that he would have to return to Lotus Pier. The truth was the moment that his daughter had been placed in his arms he was in love, it wasn't that he didn't love Jin Ling, but there was a special bound between father and daughter that ran deep and strong at first sight. They had named her Lian in honour of her mother's family, and in honour of the place that she was born. By the amount of women surrounding his father, and bastard children that were Jin ZiXuan's half-siblings he felt that Koi Tower would be a nest of vipers that he wouldn't expose his daughter to and wouldn't risk his son.

Jiang WanYin had been there, he had been there because his sister and brother-in-law had taken up residence in his residence. Jin Lian had been born and Jiang YanLi had gone into her Sitting In and Jin ZiXuan had adapted a drunk-stupid silly face, which hadn’t left for the entire month that Jiang YanLi had been confined to her bed. Jiang WanYin knew that his brother-in-law loved his son, his first born. But Jin Ling had been born at Koi Tower surrounded by the opulence and the extravagance of Jin GuangShan. Jin Ling was heir and political. Jin Lian born quietly—not that the birth was quiet—but without the fanfare of LanlingJin, she was born for her parents and that was the reason for the stupid face that seemed to have taken up residence on Jin ZiXuan’s face. There was no One-Month Celebration planned. Jin Ling didn’t get one so Jin Lian wouldn’t get one, but there was a feast. The morning that Jiang YanLi could leave confinement, leave her bed, and take a bath, she had she got up early and got herself into a tub and soaked until the water was cold, Jin ZiXuan washed her hair. Then she picked up her daughter and went into the kitchens and didn’t leave until the evening meal. When the evening meal came Jiang YanLi brought with her from the kitchens so much food it was ridiculous, she had spent all day making all their favourites. It was during that meal that Jiang YanLi said, “A girl should be an older sister.”

And still in a daze but with all seriousness Jin ZiXuan nodded and agreed, “Of course, as my lady wife says.”

Jiang YanLi had looked then at her husband with all adoration, and Jiang Cheng had a vision of his sister having children until they had a second son. He could see it: Jin Ling, grown, standing with his father on one side Jin Lian on the other and then a dozen more Jin girls follow to the end of the line a glowing and happy Jiang YanLi holding a new-born baby boy. Judging by the look on Jin ZiXuan’s face there would be more female than male disciples before long. And Jiang WanYin was happy his own heir was a girl, because he felt that she prepared him for this inevitable future.

So, when word came that the renowned rogue cultivator Xiao XingChen had captured Xue Yang a LanlingJin disciple who was being charged with the slaughter of most if not all of the YueyangChang Sect, Jin ZiXuan stayed in Lotus Pier with his family while Jiang WanYin went off to take place in the trial.

Lan WangJi generally had no need to go to Koi Tower and no wish to. The rumours that the LanlingJin Sect had spread about Wei WuXian had angered Lan WangJi. Most of the people of Cloud Recesses saw HanGuang-Jun as a model cultivator and father, most knew that his children were adopted, and as he wasn't the Sect Heir and there was still time for Lan XiChen to produce his own heirs, they left the topic as something that generally didn't need any further scrutiny. Though, most of the GusuLan cultivators didn't watch as Lan WangJi buried his children in rabbits. "We have no good radish patches in Cloud Recesses, but rabbits eat radishes, so they retain their growth potential." and were fluffier. Lan WangJi would also take all three of his children into town and the people of Caiyi Town were not restricted to rules against gossip. Generally the people knew that the Second Jade of Lan was low on words and wouldn't speak with him very much, or expect much in the way of answers. But the people had put Lan WangJi on a pedestal of peerless beauty and righteousness, so with three such fine children, his wife must be the same beauty. Many people had thought that Lan WangJi's so called wife was confined to Cloud Recesses. Lan WangJi never said anything about his spouse and the children generally replied to such questions with, "A-Ma isn't here."

For the trial of Xue Yang, Lan WangJi went to Koi Tower, by all account a child disciple that wouldn't even be admitted to study at Cloud Recesses for another year, and now? Even if he was acquitted, Lan WangJi was sure Lan QiRen would never accept such a child. He wanted to see the trial and he wanted to see Xiao XingChen, tell him the truth about Wei WuXian.

That was how Lan WangJi found himself walking through some back gardens of Koi Tower enjoying the ambiance while he waited for the agreed upon meeting time with Xiao XingChen. Lan WangJi walked by a pathway that led to another garden on the other side of a couple of buildings, movement down the path and shouts drew Lan WangJi's attention and when he turned to look his heart stopped in his chest. There was a fleeting glimpse of a figure as he ran passed, he looked like Wei WuXian. Lan WangJi felt hope swell but crushed it down even as he went to the next garden. The original boy that had run passed had been followed by a couple more boys and by the time that Lan WangJi had entered the garden there was a boy on the ground covering his faced and curled in on himself while the other boys kicked and jeered at him, "Bastard!"

"Cut-sleeve bastard!"

"Not only do you stain the reputation of our great Sect Leader with your dirty blood, but you have to tarnish it further with your disgusting cut-sleeve ways!"

"Stop," Lan WangJi commanded once he made it over to the boys.

Despite the noise that the boys were creating, the command cut through and the bullies instantly stopped. They all turned and looked at Lan WangJi, and their eyes went wide, they all made hasty bows. "HanGuang-Jun."

"What are you doing? One should not harm the innocent," returned Lan WangJi.

"He's a nasty cut-sleeve HanGuang-Jun, he is not worth your pity, he is a bastard son of the servant and not innocent, we were just reminding him that such thing do not just go away when he is living inside Koi Tower," one of the boy's said and the other boy's nodded in agreement.

"Children are always innocent, I will be speaking to your master's about your ill-behaviour, now leave."

The children darted away and when their footfalls had faded the boy uncovered his face and moved to sit up and look at his saviour. Golden eyes took in the boys feature and there was something a bit of Wei WuXian in the shape of the boy’s face, and some other features that now that Lan WangJi was close enough spoke of Jin GuangShan.

"Are you all right?" Lan WangJi asked.

The boy was able to get to his feet; he was maybe only a few years older than Lan Yuan and Lan Bo, perhaps in the generation above the boys for academic purposes. He made a bow and replied, "This Mo XuanYu thanks HanGuang-Jun for your help, I am well; you stopped them before they could hurt me too much."

"Mn," agreed Lan WangJi with a nod, "don't mind their words, there is no truth to them."

"But my father is Sect Leader Jin GuangShan, I am a bastard."

"So is LianFang-Zun," returned Lan WangJi.

Mo XuanYu looked down at his feet and clenched his hands at his side until his body trembled. Lan WangJi waited and let Mo XuanYu take his time, if he was late for his meeting with Xiao XingChen the rogue cultivator would understand. Finally, Mo XuanYu whispered out between half closed lips, "and if I am a cut-sleeve?"

Lan WangJi figured that might have been the next thing that the child would say but waited until the dark eyes lifted and met his own to speak, "You are young still, you have many years to decide on your heart."

"But what if I am?" the child cried.

The great HanGuang-Jun was a father now, first before all others, so he squatted down so that his face was level with the child and said, "It might not seem so when you look at a map but Lu is too far north, it is called the southern fashion when two men marry for a reason. But I think that the people here are just stupid. Love is a good thing to feel, nothing wrong with that."

"Really?" the child brightened and then thought about everything for a moment and then added with a mischievous grin that made Lan WangJi's heart clench, "Yes the people of LanlingJin are often crude and rash as well I suppose it is to be expected. It is a wonder that Qufu is in the area, I suppose it is still a bit of a distance away."

"Mn."

"Can men really get married? I've never seen it, can men have children together? No one likes a child whose parents aren't married."

"My husband and I had three children."

Mo XuanYu's eyes lit up and he jumped excitedly on his feet. "Can I meet your husband?"

"My husband died."

"Oh," Mo XuanYu's shoulders drooped, "I'm sorry, I hadn't even known that you had married, nor had children."

"I don't like to talk about it, and the children are a bit too young for travelling to these sorts of events."

Dark eyes studied the white-clad cultivator for a long moment and seemed to see something in Lan WangJi's face. "I understand, I won't say anything, I am good at secrets."

"Husbands don't have to be kept secret," returned Lan WangJi.

"Just in rash and crude places, with stupid people, even when not in Lu," countered Mo XuanYu, and Lan WangJi could only nod.

Lan WangJi met with Xiao XingChen and then sought out Jin GuangYao to inform him of the bullies, the names of which he had gotten from Mo XuanYu before they separated. The results of the trial were satisfactory Nie MingJue was probably the most vocal in wanting Xue Yang to be executed and in the end the sects had on the whole agreed with him. But the Jin Sect had wanted life in prison instead, and that worried Lan WangJi when it came to how they valued people, and he vowed to check on Mo XuanYu when he could.

The disciples in charge of watching the gate into Cloud Recesses were simply baffled; it was evening just before curfew and between one blink and the next there was a squalling toddler on the ground. “HanGuang-Jun!”

The disciples were confused one of them carefully scanned the surrounding for an adult or anything and the other went to the child. “Where are your parents?”

“HanGuang-Jun save my Mama and Baba,” screamed the child.

“He saved them and where are they now?” asked the disciple, very confused as Lan WangJi hadn’t gone out on a night hunt and was in Cloud Recesses at the moment.

“No!” protested the child, “Baba said get HanGuang-Jun to save Mama from monsters!”

The noise had alerted the people inside and a couple of the people that had first watch that night came down to see what the matter was. One ran back inside for Lan WangJi while the other helped to scan the area for monsters. The child would not be moved or quieted, he asked anyone who tried to move him if they were HanGuang-Jun, when they replied in the negative, he just cried harder.

Finally, Lan WangJi appeared at the gate, he went and immediately squatted down in front of the toddler and said, “I am HanGuang-Jun and who are you?”

“Are you really?”

“Mn.”

“Baba said,” the child began then he dropped his voice and leaned forward to whisper, “he was at your wedding, ask you which uncle poured your toast?”

Lan WangJi nodded he reached for the child’s hand tucked in his thumb so only the four fingers were up. “Uncle Four did. What is your father’s name?”

The child’s tears dried, and he smiled. “Wei Xu, you need to come save Mama and Baba!”

“Where do you live can you bring me there?” asked Lan WangJi, he didn’t know a Wei Xu, he had known a Wen Xu, one with the unfortunate luck to have the same name at Wen RuoHan’s son. The child handed Lan WangJi a teleportation talisman, one of Wei WuXian’s teleportation talismans. Any question that this was a child of one of the people who had lived at the Burial Mounds fled Lan WangJi’s mind.

“I Wei Bao, live in Yiling.”

“I understand, A-Bao, you said monsters?”

“Yes.”

“I need to tell them that we are going to Yiling and then you will take me to your house,” Lan WangJi said. When the boy nodded Lan WangJi turned to the GusuLan cultivators and said, “Send people to Yiling, I will leave first and will send up a flair, to lead the way.”

“Yes HanGuang-Jun,” replied the cultivators and they turned to go and collect more people. Lan WangJi turned and scooped up the child and quickly left.

Once they were away from the eyes of the others Lan WangJi took up the talisman and handed it to the child. “Think of your home, not where the monsters are but outside; and this will take us back, or get us closer to your house then we are now.” The boy nodded and touched the talisman.

It wasn’t walking corpses trying to storm the small farmstead, but from inside the cries of children could be heard and from where they stood it was obvious that the door had been broken down. Lan WangJi set off the flare and then asked the boy, “Do you have siblings?”

“No.”

“I need to take you somewhere safe first,” Lan WangJi unsheathed Bichen and flew with the boy to the next nearest home. He dropped the boy off and quickly talked to the residents before he returned. He entered the house carefully and saw the horse like tail and scaly rumps of two Yayu, they had scaly tiger-like bodies and a bit more elongated dragon-like heads. It was strange from what Lan WangJi could remember they were solitary hunters and their cries, which sounded like those of a human baby, were used to draw pray to them. Yayu weren’t usually ones to go so aggressively after their pray as to claw through the outer wall gate of a homestead, the door of the house, and to keep going. They were man-eaters and seemed to be preoccupied with getting into a large cupboard, which probably meant that little Wei Bao’s parents or relatives were inside. The cupboard had at the very least been made of a strong wood and was standing up well against the beasts’ claws. It further compounded the beast’s odd behaviour—why were they so set on whomever was inside the cupboard? Could someone with a grudge be controlling the Yayu? Bichen sung in his hand and Lan WangJi attacked.

The two beasts were tough, their scale hard to cut through, and there was two of them and one Lan WangJi—which meant they just split their attentions. They were hungry or being controlled. If the first a man with a sword was ranked equally as human(s) hiding in cupboard as an acceptable meal. If the later it was the reason that Lan WangJi wasn’t fighting the two at once; though he did do his best to distract and attack both of the yayu.

Lan WangJi was cursing the distance between Gusu and Yiling, since he wasn’t sure he could keep the beasts occupied or kill them before more help arrived when suddenly the yayu that was clawing at the cupboard was jerked back a ribbon of purple lightning wrapped around its neck. Once Lan WangJi saw the crackling purple line, he focused entirely on killing the beast before him. A few Jiang cultivators entered the home and helped to surround the beast. And together the yayu was killed.

When all was said and done and Wei Xu and his wife exited the cupboard, and Lan WangJi sent Wei Xu’s wife to the neighbours for their son, Lan WangJi exited the house and started scanning the area to see if he could find the path that the yayu had taken.

SanDu ShengShou stepped next to Lan WangJi and the elder said, “Thank you for answering the GusuLan flare and assisting.”

“Yiling is in our territory, can’t have anyone from GusuLan hurt in YunmengJiang territory, it would be a political nightmare, and since politics is already a nightmare, it seemed best to avoid it.”

“Mn.”

“Were you chasing the beasts? Is that how you ended up this far west of Gusu?”

“I met Wei Xu years ago, he asked for help,” Lan WangJi replied.

Jiang WanYin frowned. “Perhaps I need to make more of a presence in our further territories, so the people know they can come to us the closer sect for help.”

“The yayu behaviour was strange. Before I knew the nature of the problem I sent someone to gather reinforcement from Cloud Recesses, they should still be on the way.”

“You think what? Something drove the yayu from their usual hunting ground?”

“Perhaps. Could a human control a yayu?”

“I’m not sure; we’ll talk to Wei Xu see if he has any enemies, someone who might want to control yayu against him. We can send people to follow the yayu trail if it is discernible see if they can find a cause for the odd behaviour from the yayu’s environment. We can make it a joint YunmengJiang and GusuLan night hunt,” reasoned Jiang WanYin.

“Mn.”

“You said you knew Wei Xu?”

“Mn.”

“My sister… not long after she came to stay with her family at Lotus Pier met two women Weis from the Yiling area, they said there was some sort of attack and that the rest of their family was dead, I wonder if Wei Xu is a relative of theirs? I should ask. My sister gave the women employment at Lotus Pier; they are good people they should know if they still have family.”

It didn’t take long after that, what with Lan WangJi’s children getting more articulate by the day, the eavesdropping citizen of Caiyi town had somehow pierced together that Lan WangJi had married a women from a YilingWei family and the children had lived with her, but she had died at the hands of the Yiling Patriarch, and that is when the children came to be entirely in Lan WangJi’s care. Lan WangJi hated the story because the Yiling Patriarch was the bad guy of the story, but well Wei WuXian had died to destroy the Stygian Tiger Seal and protect the children—so in that way the Yiling Patriarch had killed Wei Wuxian. But tha gossip that luckily stuck to the Gusu area about Lan WangJi’s family died down when Nie MingJue publicly went into Qi deviation at Koi Tower and then fled, never to be seen again.

Lan XiChen ended up spending a lot of time in the north between LanlingJin and QingheNie. He spent days and nights searching for the body of Nie MingJue and helping Nie HuaiSang establish himself in the position of Sect Leader. Jin GuangYao was right with him from the start, and the two worked close together to try to find their lost sworn brother and help Nie HuaiSang. That meant that Lan WangJi stayed close to GusuLan and Cloud Recesses to take care of some of his brother's duties as Sect Leader. But he did still take the junior's out on some night hunts. At the moment he couldn't go off on his own night hunts, but he could go as the supervising senior disciple. Lan WangJi was standing back watching the junior's ahead of him working when a young woman appeared from mid-air and barrelled right into him. She was crying and drew the attention of some of the juniors. "Focus on your enemy," snapped Lan WangJi and the disciples that had turned towards the sound of the crying woman, returned to the task at hand.

Lan WangJi looked down at the crying woman her face was hidden from view her cries having quieted and it seemed more like she was trying to stay as unobtrusive as a frightened rabbit. "Calm yourself, what is the trouble?"

The woman raised her head and a look of relief filled her eyes and moved down to affect her entire posture. "HanGuang-Jun."

"W—“ Lan WangJi started and then corrected himself, "Wei? XiTong."

"Yes."

"Is anyone else in trouble, or can we wait for the juniors to finish here?"

"No, we can wait. Thank you HanGuang-Jun."

The juniors finished with the walking corpses and then Lan WangJi sent them to bury the corpses and he sat down, now that he could give more attention to Wei XiTong. "I got a job in an inn, nothing and nowhere special. I was out enjoying the night when this man came after me, he offered to pay for my services when I said I didn't deal in skin and flesh he continued to pursue me, I ran but ended up at a dead end and I couldn't think of anything else to do."

"Where would you like me to bring you?" asked Lan WangJi.

Wei XiTong looked down her hands and shrugged. "Do you know anywhere where the men will take no for an answer?"

"Mn."

"You do?" Wei XiTong looked up to see Lan WangJi's face her own full of disbelief.

"Cloud Recesses, and if I am wrong, I will fix it."

And with that the juniors were surprised to find that the woman that had appeared frightened during the night hunt would be returning to Cloud Recesses with them. Wei XiTong wasn't a cultivator just had the misfortune to share a family name with those bent on control of the cultivation world. So, she was given a job doing maid work. She hadn't been working for long when she went to Lan WangJi with a talisman paper. Lan WangJi took it and studied it, it was the talisman for teleportation that Wei WuXian had made, there wasn't a stroke out of place, and it was new. Golden eyes studied the woman before him, and he noticed the scab on her fingertip.

He gave the talisman a couple charges and handed it back to the girl. "This is a YilingWei secret technique," intoned Lan WangJi.

"Thank you," Wei XiTong replied. After that whenever Lan WangJi saw that particular maid, he would give her talisman a charge.

Jin ZiXun died, no one knew why. But the news of his death brought Jin GuangYao and Lan XiChen back to Koi Tower and before anything could be said or done about the mystery, his body disappeared. The search for Nie MingJue came to an unsatisfactory end and then the search for the Sect Leader's nephew began.

It also meant that Lan XiChen and Jin GuangYao could get back to their normal routines. Lan XiChen returned to Cloud Recesses and his duties, while Lan WangJi left to night hunt, but in reality it was to look for Jin ZiXun's body. If he died of the Hundred Holes Curse than that was proof of Wei WuXian's innocence and perhaps then the people would finally listen to Jin ZiXuan.

The body was missing though, the coffin it should have been in empty and Jin GuangYao, Jin GuangShan, and the rest of the Jins seemed to have given up on the search quickly. Lan WangJi though kept searching for a while after the rest had stopped until he too was recalled to Gusu.

Lan XiChen enjoyed the quiet teas he could have with his sworn brother. He enjoyed his time with his older sworn brother as well, but Nie MingJue had never been one for gossip, or quiet teas. Though even now after so long Lan XiChen still held a hope that Nie MingJue would be found. But in the meantime, he would take his pleasures where he could get them without people demanding that he solve their problems. Despite the sadness and the missing corpses Lan XiChen was determined to relax.

Jin GuangYao entered the room with a servant following with a pot of tea. Once the tea was poured and the men settled Jin GuangYao asked, “How has everyone been in Gusu? Your brother? His children?”

“Everyone has been doing well. I sometimes feel that WangJi would be better at the administration portion of the Sect-leadership, but he just can’t express himself!”

“Hmm,” hummed Jin GuangYao and he nodded his head. “I know what you mean, father seems to want to groom the heir for taking over the sect, and step away from the administrative duties himself, but Jin ZiXuan is still in Lotus Pier and is refusing to return. I don’t mind the work, but I am not the heir, I fear for the future of LanlingJin if it were to have an underprepared heir.”

“But you’ll be there to help Sect Heir Jin, A-Yao, when Sect Leader Jin retires you two will lead a brighter LanlingJin,” comforted Lan XiChen, “and your wife how is she taking to pregnancy?”

“She glows with it and never once asks if she is too fat from it,” smiled Jin GuangYao, “And Second Young Master’s children? You hadn’t said.”

“They are good, growing and learning their lessons well. I believe they will be strong cultivators when they get older.”

“That’s good!” exclaimed Jin GuangYao, “I still feel it is a bit odd talking about Second Young Master Lan’s children.”

“I know!” Agreed  Lan XiChen as he aborted taking a sip of his tea, he put the cup down and then a bit more animated with his hands continued, “We always talked about how my brother was in love with Young Master Wei and his stubbornness, you just never expect a pairing such at that to have children. I mean when he first came back with the children, you know how I thought that he adopted them all? And that he convinced Young Master Wei to forge that document saying that the children that he adopted were his and that Wei Ying girl’s children.”

“Yes, I remember, I mean it is only a matter of four strokes between Young Master Weis name and that girl’s name, but I still say that it is not something a person would do, fake a wedding and all.”

“Young Master Wei would do it,” insisted Lan XiChen, “but that is not the point! Have you heard of YilingWei? Caiyi Town is a buzz with the rumours.”

“I’ve never heard of a YilingWei Sect.”

“I know!” Lan XiChen was practically vibrating with excitement, “I’m not sure they are a cultivation sect, but just a family from Yiling, if they have cultivation skills, they don’t have the money to forge spiritual weapons.”

“Do you think they are relatives of Young Master Wei? Isn’t Yiling the city Jiang FengMian found him in, if he had relatives there, he wouldn’t have been on the streets,” reasoned Jin GuangYao.

“Yes, Young Master Wei isn’t the only Wei in the world though; I just always thought it was just too much of a coincidence, to be true.”

Jin GuangYao scoffed, “And you think it is true? What is it the common people say? HanGuang-Jun met a beautiful lady during the war, and because of the war he married her in secret and they immediately had a son…”

“Who was born early,” chuckled Lan XiChen.

“Of course, and their love was so great that she bore him a second son eight months later! Both boys would have to be early it is the only way!”

“There was a war,” said Lan XiChen and then they both burst out laughing.

“You can’t think that is true besides, we know the parents of Lan Bo,” said Jin GuangYao when he sobered.

“But there are YilingWeis! We have one working as a maid now in Cloud Recesses, she has no cultivation but appeared in distress during a night hunt, and WangJi brought her back and gave her a job. Before that, a young Wei child appeared at Cloud Recesses to get WangJi to help his family in the Yiling area.”

“So, you think that Second Young Master Lan forsook Young Master Wei?” his face looked incredulous.

“No! Well maybe, usually the weddings in the southern custom occur with one partner younger than the age expected for a man to wed and the other one over the age generally a widower… I think. And then when the younger partner is of an age to marry a woman his husband will find him a wife. What if… what if… WangJi thought he needed children before he could be with Young Master Wei? So, he married this Wei Ying had an heir and she was pregnant with their second child a spare heir and all when WangJi found Lan Bo!”

“It sounds crazy; do you think your brother would really marry someone he doesn’t love? Instead of just adopting the children?”

“Lan Yuan does have WangJi’s nose, and I think he would do it if Young Master Wei said something to him about having heirs, he’d do anything for Young Master Wei.”

“And Young Master Wei was oblivious,” agreed Jin GuangYao. 

BaiXue Temple was slaughtered. It was a story that trickled down from the north and was seemingly only significant because it was an attack on a monastery, and despite their relative location near too many different peoples with different beliefs the slaughter didn't seem typical of the Mongols or any known group of peoples in the north. Despite QingheNie being the closest to the tragedy Nie HuaiSang didn't know what to do with the information he had received, and it took more time for him to bring it down to Jin GuangYao his San-ge. Jin GuangShan decided to call a meeting to see if anyone knew anything of the slaughter despite the other two great sects being further south.

Lan WangJi who had known Song ZiChen had accompanied his brother to Koi Tower, and while he was there, he tried to find the teenager, for he should be a teenager by then, that he had met before. He wanted to hear from his own lips that the bullying had stopped. But Mo XuanYu was nowhere to be found.

One night, after the meeting Lan WangJi went to Jin GuangYao and asked, "LianFang-Zun the boy Mo XuanYu that I met a couple years ago, I wanted to see how he was doing."

“Oh I am not sure, we sent a bunch of the junior disciples away on a night hunt, he was in that group, but you know how it can be sometimes with night hunts, I couldn’t possibly give you his exact whereabouts,” replied Jin GuangYao with a smile.

Lan WangJi nodded. “Thank you.” He bowed and left once his back was to Jin GuangYao he frowned, if he were to guess Mo XuanYu wouldn’t be old enough for night hunts but Lan WangJi let it go.

Before Lan WangJi left Koi Tower, he asked that if any of the sects saw the rogue cultivators Song ZiChen or Xiao XingChen, that HanGuang-Jun wanted to talk to them and to please send them on to Gusu.

Another child appeared before Cloud Recesses, older and able to form more sentences then the previous one, but still she cried for HanGuang-Jun. No one tried to pick her up, but they called her ‘Little Miss Wei’

“Hello, I am HanGuang-Jun,” said Lan WangJi when he got down on her level.

She gave him a suspicious look and said with all the petulance of a four-year-old, “What did you toast your wedding with? My mama was there I know the truth.”

“Tea, but we had no leaves so it was a tea of hot water and a lotus seed.”

The girl frowned for a moment, gauging his answer and then she nodded. “Baba hurts Mama, please save my Mama.”

“Did she give you a way back?” The girl shook her head. Lan WangJi nodded and scooped up the girl and then turned to the other’s at the gate. “I will be taking her home.”

Lan QiRen was there he stepped forward and having heard the girl’s words asked, “What do you mean to do?”

Lan WangJi frowned at his uncle. “Save her mother.”

“You cannot,” returned Lan QiRen, “domestic problems are not problems for cultivators to fix; they are personal matters to be taken care of privately, not for outsiders to interfere.”

“I’ll be leaving now,” replied Lan WangJi with an icy look. When he was out of sight he pulled out the talisman that he kept on him and handed it to the girl. “Think about your mother and it will take us to her.”

A rumour started after that not only did HanGuang-Jun go where the chaos was; he would protect battered wives and children.

Jin GuangShan died. It was sudden and surprising, but also not as he was found dead of apparent sexual exertions in one of the many brothels that he had been spending his time and money in. With Madam Jin with her son and his family in Lotus Pier, Jin GuangShan had been rarely seen with his clothes on at Koi Tower. There was even a good chance that little Jin Ling and Jin Lian had younger uncles or aunt's floating around. With the death, Jin ZiXuan had to return to LanlingJin and Jin GuangYao offered his services to his half-brother as he had been seeing to most of LanlingJins accounts and the political aspects of a Sect Leader, and well everything. Jin ZiXuan hadn't been idle either during his stay in Lotus Pier he had helped his brother-in-law with his own Sect Leader duties. The Jin cultivators that had sworn loyalty to the son over the father, stayed outside of Koi Tower. They all remembered how none of the Jins wanted to properly persecute the Jin archers that had shot Jin ZiXuan. No one was sure what Jin GuangYao's attitude was toward his brother, and they didn't want to appear overly aggressive by showing up with an army. They did have YunmengJiang flares to summon the loyal if something went pear-shaped. And Jiang YanLi had her cultivating maid Wei PeiRu which looked so innocent, even after she cut your throat; and Madam Jin, her own maid.

There were no problems however and they all attended the funeral rights for the previous Sect Leader. Though there was some question of whether or not Jin GuangShan had gone too far with one of the women and HanGuang-Jun took his retribution too far. But since he had been in GusuLan within Cloud Recesses, sitting with his daughter who had had a cold, the inquiry had dropped.

The return to Koi Tower seemed to derail Jin ZiXuan and Jiang YanLi’s plans of more children. It was quietly whispered just between husband and wife that another pregnancy would make Jiang YanLi an easy target and more children just gave more leverage points against Jin ZiXuan and until they were certain of the political field a life at Koi Tower was sadly not conducive to a large family.

All the Sect Leader’s and their immediate families came to pay their respects to Jin GuangShan the last of the previous generation of Sect Leader’s a group that didn’t make it to retirement. Lan QiRen looked impossibly old in the company. All the Jins were in white rows upon rows of cultivators in mourning. All those with Jin GuangShan’s blood were in the front, and Lan WangJi found it odd that Mo XuanYu, a boy that Jin GuangShan had personally brought to Koi Tower, was not there. The last time Lan WangJi had visited Jin GuangYao had stated that Mo XuanYu was on a night hunt, but for the death of the Sect Leader the boy should have been in attendance.

When it wouldn’t have seemed, inappropriate Lan WangJi went to talk with Jin GuangYao, “LianFang-Zun, I know this is a trying time, I wanted to ask after young Mo XuanYu, I did not see him at the service.”

"We had to send him home," said Jin GuangYao sadly, he sighed and shook his head, "it is really quite sad that boy wasn't quite right in the head. He became obsessed! He kept trying to insinuate himself into my own bed! And I am his own brother, that sort of desire is just disgusting, and I am a happily married man. He would also harass my wife! And A-Su is such a gentle soul it was causing her much stress, she feared for her safety and the safety of our son around such a man. Please HanGuang-Jun, put that wretched boy from your mind, you are too kind, but he is too sick."

"I understand."

He had seen that there was one of the women from the Burial Mounds in Jin ZiXuan's household, he had to finagle it a bit to not draw attention to them, or allow anyone to think that anything improper was going on, but he was able to get her to help him find where Mo XuanYu was.

Almost immediately after the proper rights were finished Jin GuangYao proposed a watch tower project. Jin ZiXuan wanted to look at all the paperwork of the sect before they considered a new project. he found that Jin GuangShan's whoring had dipped a bit too much into the Sect coffers that paying for the watch towers in the immediate future would put a serious strain on the Sect funds. Jin ZiXuan decided that they needed to discuss the towers with the other sects and make and cultivation world project, as to not put too much pressure on the LanlingJin sect coffers.

Chapter Text

 Lan WangJi started but wasn't really surprised when the letter appeared on his desk. It did make him worried because the teleportation talisman created by Wei WuXian was too precious to the YilingWei people. So, to use one to deliver a letter meant that the letter was a matter of life and death, or that Wei PeiRu was worried about someone in the Koi Tower or the LanlingJin courier service reading her message. The message just gave directions to Mo Village, which seemed innocent enough, but due to the delivers method Lan WangJi took precautions—so the next morning Lan WangJi headed out. Mo Village which was further west, probably in the direct purview of MeishanYu, and YunmengJiang was also closer than GusuLan and especially LanlingJin. Which made Lan WangJi wondered what Jin GuangShan had been doing so far southwest or what Mo XuanYu's mother had been doing so far northeast.

When he arrived Lan WangJi started to understand—the First Lady of Mo was a simpering power-hungry woman, who barely asked Lan WangJi his business before she tried to throw her talentless son in HanGuang-Jun’s path—he could see the First Lady of Mo putting the Second Lady of Mo in Jin GuangShan path, to advance her direct family. It was clear that this was a common family and Mo XuanYu's cultivation was due entirely to Jin GuangShan, a pity how those things seemed to work, as before Lan WangJi could state his purpose, he knew that it was that blood that caused Mo XuanYu problems in LanlingJin and it would be the jealousy of that blood that would cause problem's in his mother's home.

"I have business with your nephew Mo XuanYu," stated Lan WangJi, and he was once again glad that his demeanour seemed to make people think the worst.

First Madam Mo simpered, "He is an awful wretch, he has no money, but you can take any sort of reparations out on him. Now, let’s talk of more pleasant things, my son..."

Lan WangJi politely let her ramble on and on and when she came to the end, he replied, "I cannot make such decisions, which are for the Sect Leader to decide, and the... issue I have with Mo XuanYu cannot wait."

"Of course, of course, you will mention my A-Yuan to the Sect Leader?"

"Mn," he meant it in the negative, she took it as he had hoped in the positive.

The First Madam Mo smiled and waved a servant over. "Show HanGuang-Jun to the brat, let HanGuang-Jun do what he would like with him."

A mousy and snivelling servant showed Lan WangJi outside of the house proper and around the back to a decrepit barn and opened the door, "Wake up you lazy wretch!" the servant delivered a sharp kick to the lump of a person that was lying on the ground and the lump moaned.

"I'll be taking him with me," said Lan WangJi, the servant hesitated, and Lan WangJi added, "Your mistress said I could do what I wanted with him."

"Yes, you are correct, I just..."

"You can go back to Madam Mo if you would like, I will get him up."

The servant nodded and scurried away. Lan WangJi went to his knee beside the prone form; he transferred a bit of his spiritual energy to the boy, to promote the healing process. After a moment dark eyes fluttered open and through dried lips Mo XuanYu croaked, "HanGuang-Jun?"

"I am taking you away from here."

The boy tried to jerk up, but his injuries were too many. "Not to Koi Tower!"

"To Cloud Recesses to heal," assured Lan WangJi, the boy nodded and relaxed, Lan WangJi added, "I need you to get on your feet so we can leave."

By the time that Mo XuanYu was on his feet and leaning on the wall for support the servant returned. "Madam said that if you take the boy for his deserved punishment, she doesn’t want him back."

"Understood," replied Lan WangJi with a tight expression he grabbed Mo XuanYu roughly and said, "We will take our leave. You will not see him again."

Lan WangJi unsheathed Bichen and mounted his sword to return to Cloud Recesses, once they were high enough; Lan WangJi shifted his grip to be a gentler hold and took the boy away from the tortures of his family.

Lan XiChen was away at Koi Tower again, so he didn't know about Mo XuanYu until he returned, and the boy was up and about attending classes and dressed as a guest disciple. On his first night awake HanGuang-Jun brought three younger children to the infirmary with his meal. "I believe I told you of my children."

The children were pleasant to converse with though they all were silent while they ate, except for the second boy that had to be admonished by his older brother a couple times. Mo XuanYu liked to see the little family and wondered why his family didn't love him like these people loved each other. But despite the love they felt for each other there was clearly a deep sadness that surrounded them. The children maybe only five or so years younger than Mo XuanYu himself but they addressed him so formally.

"You can call me gege, no need to be so formal," Mo XuanYu said to the children with a smile, he had never been a gege before—that he knew of.

"We can't have any gege's, A-Ma is gone," said Lan Yuan and the room went silent. Mo XuanYu looked up at Lan WangJi and saw the truth in that, HanGuang-Jun was a man that would never stop loving his husband. He would protect people and save them, but his heart was already taken, as the absence of his husband persisted, he could not open his heart for more people, and apparently not his own family if only in address either.

While the interaction with HanGuang-Jun and his family made Mo XuanYu happy and sad in equal measure and the disciples were perfectly kind and respectful, Mo XuanYu was never happier for all the rules, especially when they didn't permit bullying—Mo XuanYu's first run is with Lan XiChen the sworn brother of Jin GuangYao made Mo XuanYu panic.

"Mo XuanYu, I would like to have a word with you," said Lan XiChen on the moment of their meeting.

A moment prior he had been walking with Lan WangJi and laughing (quietly) with the children. Mo XuanYu began to sweat and then he bowed and said, "Of course ZeWu-Jun."

He followed behind the GusuLan Sect Leader until they were both seated in the receiving room of the hanshi. Lan XiChen made every nicety and refused to speak on anything until they both had cups of tea in hand. "I am not here to accuse you of anything, and I would like to remind you of the rules against gossip, slander, and rumour. I have heard the reasons that my sworn brother has given for sending you away. From the teacher's here I feel that there may have been exaggerations on the reports from LanlingJin on your behaviour. But I want you to understand that my brother has loved very deeply and despite the passing of his love his heart will not open to another. It is a curse of the Lan family, to love one so irrevocably for eternity."

"I understand ZeWu-Jun, I am just happy to be given this second chance to prove my worth in cultivation. I have learned from the errors of my way and won't be making the same mistakes twice."

"I am glad to hear that Mo XuanYu," said Lan XiChen with a smile.

 Mo XuanYu waited a moment his mind whirling, he swallowed hard and brought tears to the edges of his eyes, he looked up through eyelashes at Lan XiChen and gave him the biggest saddest puppy eyes he could manage, "Please ZeWu-Jun don't tell LianFang-Zun that I am here. I want to prove myself as a cultivator and then tell my brother myself, so perhaps he could forgive me and be proud of me, now that our father has passed."

Mo XuanYu kept up the pleading look until Lan XiChen nodded. "Of course, A-Yu, I understand. If A-Yao sees you here when he visits, I cannot do anything; but I will not say anything."

"Thank you! Thank you, ZeWu-Jun," replied Mo XuanYu as he made a couple deep kowtows. When he returned to his quarters after the meeting with Lan XiChen, Mo XuanYu wrote down every last one of his secrets, and hide them in the room, he put them in a place that would be found by a maid when they cleaned his room in the case of his death, but would hopefully not be discovered by whichever assassin Jin GuangYao sent if his secret wasn't kept.

The beginner Guqin class came after the more advanced class. Mo XuanYu didn’t think he would advance far in the instrument, but when he arrived early to his class, he would often hear the instructor say phrases and then he could hear the students repeat the phrases in the qin language. It was calming and Mo XuanYu found the whole idea of a music language fascinating.

He had listened enough that he could hear the basic phrases, the common ones used to speak with spirits, so he found it odd when he was walking HanGuang-Jun’s children out to the rabbit field to go to their father when he heard the guqin, but the notes were not the typical ones that he heard. Though he supposed that a man of HanGuang-Jun’s talents would not be just using the typical qin phrases, but a moment later Lan WangJi played the typical, ‘how did you die?’, ‘what would bring you rest?’ questions. The group kept walking and Lan WangJi seemed to play the unknown phrase again before any of the other typical phrases some of his thoughts must have shown on his face for the next time it started, Lan Bo said, “I’m looking for Wei Ying… Are you Wei Ying… No… Do you know Wei Ying?... No… How did you die?...” the boy trailed off.

“Wei Ying?” asked Mo XuanYu.

“Our A-Ma,” replied Lan Yuan, “A-Die looks for him every night.”

“He died when the bad men came,” said Lan Lian.

“A-Lian! We aren’t supposed to say that!” admonished Lan Yuan.

“Why? A-Die saved Mo-xiong from bad men too! Did the bad men kill you’re A-Ma too?” returned Lan Lian.

Mo XuanYu shook his head, but before he could say anything Lan Bo said, “We told you A-Lian A-Ma isn’t the same as mother.”

“But I heard some children call for their Mama!” said the girl petulantly.

Lan Yuan wrinkled his nose, “But calling him mother would be strange and we explained it to you, most people have one mother and one father, we have a father and an A-Ma.”

“But they are written the same, the Ma in A-Ma and the Ma in Mama,” added Lan Bo.

“And Aunt said that A-Ma is the Manchurian word for Father, and that is why he is our A-Ma!” the group was silent, still in the distance HanGuang-Jun played.

Mo XuanYu decided to end the argument, “I had a mother, and she died long before the bad men of a broken heart.”

Strangely the comment made Lan Yuan turn red, the young boy turned and bowed to Mo XuanYu. “Mo-xiong, please forget what you heard, we aren’t supposed to say.”

“I knew from before that HanGuang-Jun had a husband and not a wife, I won’t say anything, I just didn’t know his husband’s name was Wei Ying,” replied Mo XuanYu with a smile.

Lan Bo got excited, “A-Ma was the best! When we lived in Yiling it was so much fun and the people in the city would call him the Yiling Matriarch!”

“A-Bo it is a secret!”

“I won’t tell, now we need to get HanGuang-Jun,” said Mo XuanYu before the children could start another argument. He kept his mouth shut and filed away the information in case he needed it later—HanGuang-Jun had married Wei Ying the Yiling Matriarch and Mo XuanYu would bet that most others called him the Yiling Patriarch.

It was a few nights later when Mo XuanYu was sent to the jingshi to collect Lan Yuan and Lan Bo to take them to the dorms, as they were getting to the age to start sleeping with the other disciples when he heard the Lan Yuan ask after a granduncle XingChen and then inside Mo XuanYu noticed that one of the letters on Lan WangJi’s desk mentioned Xiao XingChen.

The entire walk to the dorms and then back to the jingshi, Mo XuanYu warred with himself about whether or not he should speak. Once Mo XuanYu got to the jingshi he hesitated but made his decision and knocked. “Come in.”

The second Mo XuanYu was inside and the door was closed he bowed deeply and said, “HanGuang-Jun forgive this lowly Mo XuanYu and unworthy disciple, I overheard your conversation with your children before I entered earlier and I read one of the letters that was left of your desk. Many apologies HanGuang-Jun, I will take any punishment you deem worthy, but I have information concerning Xiao XingChen, I feel you should know.”

“Look at me Mo XuanYu, tell me your information, and then we will discuss your rule breaking.”

Mo XuanYu rose from his bow and hesitated again. “Could you promise me, that you will not tell anyone it was me that told you this?” when Lan WangJi nodded Mo XuanYu continued, “Xue Yang was not executed by LanlingJin, after Sect Leader Nie disappeared Sect Leader Jin let Xue Yang go and told anyone who asked that he was still in the cells.”

The room was quiet for a long pregnant moment, Mo XuanYu fidgeted under a stare that seemed to be seeing through him as if he weren’t there. Finally, Lan WangJi spoke, “I thank you for this information, I believe for the safety of everyone involved we will not draw attention to you at this moment. But if you are to receive punishment at a later date it will be doubled for your eavesdropping and reading of other’s correspondence, today.”

Chapter Text

Song ZiChen received an urgent message from BaiXue Temple requesting that he return and help with a matter, which was too delicate for a message. He had been with Xiao XingChen when he had received the message and Xiao XingChen said that he would finish up the night hunt that they had been on and follow after.

What awaited Song ZiChen in the north was a massacre, none were left alive, and there in the middle of it was a grinning face of someone that was barely more than a child, harvesting the tongues of Song ZiChen's family members. Song ZiChen attached but then the laughing boy made his family rise and attack him back. It was a long and tiring battle made all the more painful that he had to slice through the people he had grown up with. Apparently a few years prior Song ZiChen had stopped this boy from re-destroying a food seller's cart, but he wasn't angry about that no, he was angry at Xiao XingChen for bringing him to trial for the murder of the YueyangChang Sect, before this child had finished killing the entire sect for the crime of one of their members running over his hand. Xiao XingChen appeared somewhere in there and the boy gloated again so that Xiao XingChen would know his actions were the rogue cultivator's fault. Somehow the two of them had slashed through the corpses and made it to the demon in a child's body. For one so young he was skilled, he also wasn't tired from fighting corpses but he was still a child. It looked like they were going to get him, and this time (not that Song ZiChen had been their last time) they would not be bringing the boy to trail. He threw powder in Song ZiChen's eyes and then he couldn't see anymore. The next thing he knew he could feel Xiao XingChen's tears falling on his face. Apologies spilled from his lips, he apologised for everything taking the blame on himself, he apologised that the boy had been able to use a teleportation talisman to escape, he apologised for the sun setting, by the time his tears had dried.

The next time Song ZiChen was conscious he was on Baoshan the mountain that no one knew where it was, the mountain of BaoShan SanRen. The mountain Xiao XingChen had sworn that once he left he would never return to. Xiao XingChen was crying again, the tear's once more falling on Song ZiChen's face, there was the voice of a woman admonishing him.

The next time Song ZiChen had regained consciousness there were no tears, there would be no more tears from Xiao XingChen ever again. Song ZiChen could see again but the eyes in the mirror were not his own but the beloved pair that he had often looked into, before he had walked into a trap—before his family had been slaughter. Why had they ever separated? Why had he gone after the disturbances from a brothel that had burned in the Yunmeng area while Xiao XingChen had gone up to the north for the slaughter of the YueyangChang Sect. if they had worked one of the cases together would they have been there now?

They weren't there now—it was just Song ZiChen. He had woken in an inn with a note from his friend by his pillow. He didn't want apologies from his friend, there were no need for apologies between them; he just wanted his friend. So, he ignored most of the requests for night hunt help and searched for the 'blind cultivator in white', the people at the inn had said that that was how Xiao XingChen had left them. But apparently Xiao XingChen had disappeared because there was no information about his whereabouts, his trail had long since gone cold. But Song ZiChen would not give up.

He was in an inn eating a meal in a city that he didn't know, with an unknown amount of time since he had woken with new eyes when a man came up to him. "Honoured Daozhang are you the rogue cultivator Song ZiChen?"

"I am."

"HanGuang-Jun has been looking for you and a Xiao XingChen for a long time; he said that he has information of the greatest importance for you in Gusu."

"Have you seen a blind cultivator dressed in white?" asked Song ZiChen.

The man shook his head. "Perhaps HanGuang-Jun has, all the cultivators of GusuLan wear white if there was a cultivator in white they would be there. Maybe that is what HanGuang-Jun wants to talk to you about."

"I thank you for the message," Song ZiChen replied, he gave the man a bow and finished his meal. After he asked one of the inn workers for directions to Gusu and then he took to his sword and hoped that the young cultivator that had married into Xiao XingChen's family, sort of, had news.

The people at the gates of Cloud Recesses didn't seem to be surprised that there was an uninvited guest asking after HanGuang-Jun. though they did call him Wei-daozhang instead of asking for a name and he was left on the steps waiting for HanGuang-Jun to come out. Song ZiChen thought that it was a bit rude but then gleamed that the disciples expected him to rush off with HanGuang-Jun as soon as he appeared.

There was a look of relief on Lan WangJi's face when he saw Song ZiChen, and he quickly ushered the elder man inside. They made their way through Cloud Recesses at a fast pace, but not a run, their steps had enough purpose that no one tried to stop them. Once they were inside a building and sat at a low table the tension seemed to leave minutely.

"I have been searching for you and Xiao XingChen since we heard of BaiXue Temple. I am glad to see you well," Lan WangJi began, his eyes travelled over the other man searching for injury and stopped on Xiao XingChen's eyes, "your eyes...?"

"There was this disciple of the LanlingJin Sect, not more than a child and a demonic cultivator, he blinded me, Xiao XingChen... gave me his eyes," explained Song ZiChen.

"Xue Yang?"

"Yes."

"I only recently heard that he had escaped execution, this WangJi is sad to know he was too late to stop a tragedy."

"That child was responsible for the massacre at BaiXue Temple; he got away with a teleportation talisman."

Lan WangJi's golden eyes went wide. "Do you need help hunting down Xue Yang? GusuLan will help. Where is Xiao XingChen?"

Song ZiChen frowned and looked down at the table. "XingChen blames himself... for well everything. He left before I woke up from the eye surgery; apparently he felt that I would not want to see him anymore after everything, wrongly of course."

The room was silent for a moment and then Lan WangJi said just above the whisper, "Wei Ying was the same."

Song ZiChen snorted. "Must be something they get from BaoShan SanRen."

"Mn, we will find Xiao XingChen first then."

"When did you want to leave?" Song ZiChen didn't want to be rude but he wanted to find his friend and then make him realise that he wasn't hated and then they could stop Xue Yang from anymore destruction, and then go on to start their own Sect, and complete their dream.

Lan WangJi understood, deep down he was the same as Song ZiChen, at least when it came from his own BaoShan SanRen legacies. "Tomorrow. I have to—“

He was cut off by the door of the jingshi opening and three children piling inside. "A-Die!" said the boy in the front.

"Lan Bo, we have a guest,' returned Lan WangJi.

"Sorry A-Die," said the first boy again he straightened up and bowed to Song ZiChen and his sibling's followed.

"Song ZiChen you remember Wei Ying and mine children that is Lan Bo, Lan Yuan, and Lan Lian. Children you may not remember but this is Song ZiChen he is a friend of your great uncle Xiao XingChen, the martial brother of your A-Ma's own mother."

"Greetings honoured Shidis and Shimei," returned Song ZiChen with his own bow.

"I remember you honourable Daozhang, it is good to see you again," Lan Yuan said with another bow.

"I remember!" exclaimed Lan Bo, "Where is Great Uncle? Are you getting married now?"

"Your Great Uncle has gone missing, we will leave in the morning to find him, and while I am away I expect you to keep up with your studies."

"Yes A-Die!" returned the children.

The words of little Lan Bo struck a chord with Song ZiChen, he had thought it was preposterous all those years ago, and of course marriage wouldn't stop Song ZiChen from losing Xiao XingChen again, but maybe, just maybe, it would cut through his stupidity and then Xiao XingChen wouldn't run from him on his own volition.

Lan WangJi had to talk to his brother and Song ZiChen had been given a room for the night and in the early morning they left Cloud Recesses. Song ZiChen hadn't stopped to read the rules carved into the side of the mountain when he had arrived, so it had been a bit of a surprise to see so many people going about their business so early. There were a few things that Lan WangJi had to do that morning and Song ZiChen read the rules on the mountain side while he waited. The morning had barely trickled along when Lan WangJi announced his business was finished and they could leave.

They headed down the mountain and when they were out of sight of the gate but not quite to the base of the mountain Lan WangJi stopped He held out his sword silently for Song ZiChen and the man in black took it. Song ZiChen watched uncomprehending as Lan WangJi took off his outer robe so that a light blue was revealed then he took off his intricate head piece, so his hair was up more simply and placed both in a Qiankun pouch.

"What are you doing?" Song ZiChen asked.

"Xue Yang was or is a disciple of LanlingJin and despite the cultivation world stating that they wished for Xue Yang's execution the LanlingJin Sect secretly went against the order. While I am away I do not want to bring attention to my sect or my children," explained Lan WangJi.

Song ZiChen nodded and handed the sword back. "And the GusuLan Sect is known for their white robes."

"Mn," agreed Lan WangJi and then said, "I have a teleportation talisman, but I would need to touch you, skin I think for us both to go."

Song ZiChen froze. "Do you know where XingChen is?"

"No," answered Lan WangJi, "this talisman can take us to a person, and if they are out of range it will get us as far as possible."

"That doesn't sound like any teleportation talisman that I have heard of."

The talisman was held out but Lan WangJi would not let go of it, Song ZiChen studied it. "It is a talisman that Wei Ying made to save those people in Yiling."

"Can we both just touch the talisman?"

Lan WangJi frowned in thought. "I do not know if Wei Ying ever tested that."

"Fine!" Song ZiChen snapped but Lan WangJi knew he wasn't angry with him as he held of his hand and his whole body went stiff. Lan WangJi quickly took the hand and activated the talisman, once they had winked out and reappeared Lan WangJi dropped his hand.

Song ZiChen took a few minutes while Lan WangJi looked around their immediate area for Xiao XingChen. The rogue cultivator commented, "That was not what I was expecting, I would have thought it would have made you pass out from exhaustion."

"Wei Ying was clever."

"He was, I sorry for your loss."

Lan WangJi just nodded and they walked towards the village or city that they could just see on a hill. At least in wherever they were the people had seen Xiao XingChen recently, they could point them in the right direction and gave them a warning about how some of the surrounding villages would have all the people turn up dead overnight. It took a few days but they were pointed in the direction of Yi City, a city that was known for its funerary goods. Dread washed through Song ZiChen when they were pointed to the old Coffin Home. But as they walked through the city it was obvious that the city had fallen on some bad times and a lot of the buildings where empty and abandoned and the Coffin Home was one of those places.

They found a girl that had the white eyes of the blind and Song ZiChen asked, "Excuse me miss, but we are looking for a cultivator that is blind and wears white, have you heard of anyone like that? We were told that he would be found in the Coffin Home."

"How do I know that you are to be trusted?" said the girl.

"He is a dear friend of mine and I have been searching for him for a while," answered Song ZiChen, the girl frowned and Song ZiChen sighed he took his sword and placed it in the girl's hand, but didn't let go, "this is my sword, so you know that I cannot hurt you, he will know this sword and know that it is me. If you know this man we seek take the sword to him, we will follow after or wait here, whichever you deem necessary."

The girl though for a moment and then pulled the sword towards her. "You wait here."

Song ZiChen didn't let go he said, "Do not let him run from me, tell him that I do not blame him." with those words he let the sword go.  And they watched as the girl walked her way towards the Coffin Home sword in one hand and bamboo cane in the other.

They waited. It had been clear that the girl knew Xiao XingChen and that she was protective of him and weary of strangers; so Song ZiChen handed over his sword, he knew that Xiao XingChen wouldn't take it and run and the girl appeared to not have cultivation, so she would have a hard time getting far with Song ZiChen's sword.

"Hey Little Blind what do you have there?" said a scratchy voice clearly male and younger than Xiao XingChen.

"That is not my name, and it is nothing for you!" snapped the young blind girl.

The first voice spoke again, "That looks like a sword, where didya get it? A sword is too dangerous for a blind girl like you; you should give it to me."

"Daozhang is blind too, and he has a sword!" her words made Song ZiChen's heart clench.

"But he is not a little girl! Give it to me it would be better in my hands than yours, I can wield a sword!"

"No let go! I told you it isn't for you! You are just healed you can't wield a sword either!"

There was the sound of a struggle as the two fought over the sword, the bamboo pole clattered to the ground. Song ZiChen and Lan WangJi shared a look and then the entered into the Coffin Home to help put an end to the situation. Xiao XingChen who had also heard his two charges fighting had also come out and went to see if he could assuage their anger. It was an interesting tableau the two fighting over Song ZiChen's sword and Song ZiChen frozen in shock at actually seeing Xiao XingChen. Xiao XingChen who couldn't see his old friend kept moving towards the commotion which had covered up the sounds of others that were approaching. So, it was down to Lan WangJi's quick reflexes, the golden eyes saw that the boy had a hand on the sword and was trying to tug it from the young girl’s hands but in his other hand was a sword of his own just out of sight behind his back from the girl's perspective, if she could see. But it was in plain view to Lan WangJi. Bichen lashed out and blocked the swing of the sword, the girl screamed and Xiao XingChen pulled his own sword, Shuanghua, and pushed away Bichen. The clash of swords brought Song ZiChen's focus back to the scene before him and he say that the boy that had tried to kill the poor blind girl was Xue Yang.

"XingChen it is Lan WangJi and me! Girl my sword," yelled Song ZiChen. The girl turned to him and threw Fuxue with accuracy. Fuxue flew from the sheath and Song ZiChen went towards Xue Yang, "Xue Yang your evil ends now!"

Xiao XingChen pulled back from where he had engaged Lan WangJi. "ZiChen? Lan WangJi? Xue Yang? A-Qing, are you all right? What is going on?"

The boy was now fully engaged in fighting Song ZiChen and laughing manically, though the laugh came out scratch and halting, like there had been serious damage to his throat or lungs. "I'm all right Daozhang. A man said he was your friend he gave me his sword to give to you, he is now fighting the boy we saved," said the girl as she stepped behind Xiao XingChen and away from the fight.

"Stop fighting, he is just a hurt boy!" called out Xiao XingChen.

"It is Xue Yang, XingChen!" called Song ZiChen back.

"What, no it can't be!"

"It is Xiao XingChen."

"Lan WangJi?"

Bichen blocked a swing of Xue Yang's sword, which had gotten inside Song ZiChen's guard, splitting attention between Xiao XingChen and the fight was proving to be detrimental. "Can everyone just stop fighting and let us talk about all this?" cried Xiao XingChen.

"Daozhang, the look on that boy's face isn't kind, I don't think he is a good person," A-Qing commented. The fight continued the three ranging around the Coffin Home courtyard. Song ZiChen and Lan WangJi had strength and experience on their side but Xue Yang knew the terrain and was able to stay just out of their reach. A-Qing picked up a heavy pot and snuck around. It was clear that Song ZiChen and Lan WangJi were keeping their backs to A-Qing and Xiao XingChen so that Xue Yang couldn’t grab one for a human shield. The noise of the battle was making it hard for Xiao XingChen to follow and since it was three live humans fighting Shuanghua could not direct his movements and Xiao XingChen didn't want to hurt any of them accidently. They moved around enough that A-Qing had a clear shot and she threw the pot at Xue Yang's head, he got Jiangzai up to smash the pot but it was a distraction that Lan WangJi used to disarm the boy and then a shard of the pot smacked him in the head rather hard and he stumbled backwards and fell dazed to the ground. Everyone froze, Lan WangJi kept Bichen on the boy and Song ZiChen went to Xiao XingChen. He held out Fuxue, now back in its sheath towards his friend.

"XingChen it is me, just reach out and you will feel Fuxue, you know Fuxue and you will know that I am who I say I am," Song ZiChen said.

The white clad cultivator reached his hand forward and felt for the sheath of Fuxue, when he found the sword with his questing hand, Song ZiChen had the sword leave the sheath just enough for the engraved character's to be revealed. Xiao XingChen felt for them and then gasped, "ZiChen what is going on?"

Song ZiChen pulled back his sword and stepped to his friend his hand grabbed one white sleeve and tugged Xiao XingChen forward. "Come I will show you," said Song ZiChen as the pulled Xiao XingChen towards the form of Xue Yang, he gave Lan WangJi a look and the GusuLan cultivator shifted Bichen to rest against the youth's neck. Song ZiChen guided Xiao XingChen's hand to the missing fingers of Xue Yang's hand.

Xiao XingChen let out a cry, "Xue Yang?"!

Lan WangJi could see that more talking was needed so he shifted his grip on Bichen and whacked Xue Yang over the head, and the boy slumped to the cobbles unconscious. Xue Yang wasn't his enemy as much as he was the enemy of Song ZiChen and Xiao XingChen; they had first rights to his life. The two men in question were kneeling on the cobbles hovering near each other and talking in low words that were punctuated by sobs.

"I don't blame you XingChen; it was not your fault. You and I were doing what we believed in protecting the innocent. It wasn't your fault that LanlingJin didn't execute him when they said they would, or that he is a murder. I thank you for giving me your eyes but I would never want them without you in my life. How can I get you to believe me?"

"I don't know, I... if I... I don't know."

"What if I married you? Would you believe me then, that I don't want you to leave, that I do not blame you?"

Xiao XingChen chuckled but his whole body still seemed like if was strung tight with sobs. A-Qing gasped, "Daozhang!"

But Xiao XingChen didn't hear her but instead leaned further into his friend stopping a hair's breath away from touching knowing Song ZiChen had a strong aversion to touch. "Can we marry if you won't touch me?"

A-Qing tried to move closer to the men and Lan WangJi used the sheathed Bichen for extra reach to stop her forward movement. In that moment Xue Yang slapped his chest and a bright light engulfed his body and he disappeared.

"What was that?" yelled A-Qing.

Lan WangJi sighed, "A teleportation talisman."

"We don't have any luck when it comes to bringing Xue Yang to justice," whispered Xiao XingChen.

"It wasn't your fault," said Song ZiChen and he took an extra moment but put his hand on Xiao XingChen's cheek, "don't blame yourself and don't leave without me, even if he doesn't always get the best of us when we are separated, I don't want to be without you."

"I have A-Qing to think about, she is blind too, she has no one," replied Xiao XingChen.

Lan WangJi looked over at the girl. "You are not blind."

A-Qing huffed, "Do these look like eyes of a person who can see?"

Lan WangJi just kept looking at her until she gave in. "Alright fine I was born with these eyes, but not blindness."

"You lied to me A-Qing?" said Xiao XingChen pulling away from Song ZiChen.

"You were really blind and you are too kind and horrible at bartering, I wanted to help... but you didn't want me at first," said A-Qing.

"I... well... I want you to stay with me now, but no more lying," replied Xiao XingChen he turned to where he thought the girl was and opened his arms. A-Qing went to him and was folded into his arms, "this is my good friend Daozhang Song ZiChen... well ZiChen and I are apparently going to get married, and he really doesn't  like to be touched so don't hug him. ZiChen this is A-Qing"

"So, where does that leave me?" asked the not-blind girl.

"As their daughter," said Lan WangJi, his tone made it sound like the most obvious thing in the world and there could be no argument. The other three looked at him as if they did want to argue. But before they could Lan WangJi added, "We should leave this place soon, Xiao Qing why don't you get your and the Daozhang's things."

"That isn't how children work," said Song ZiChen.

"Not here. We do not know how far away Xue Yang went," returned Lan WangJi. So the three men waited for the young girl to return. When she did with two bags slung over her shoulders, Lan WangJi pulled out his talisman paper and held it up for Song ZiChen to see.

The man nodded. "Can we make a chain? Or—“ Song ZiChen asked but cut himself off at Lan WangJi's nod, he took a deep breath and then he grabbed Xiao XingChen's hand and pulled the other to his feet. "XingChen hold A-Qing's hand and A-Qing hold his hand and he will use that talisman to get us away from here." The girl looked sceptical but did as told and when they were all in a line Lan WangJi activated the talisman.

They were on the road between Yi City and Cloud Recesses, everyone dropped hands. Lan WangJi looked around and spotted some sort of settlement in the distance. "Xiao XingChen can you fly? Or Song ZiChen could you fly Xiao Qing?"

Xiao XingChen and Song ZiChen both said, "No."

And the young girl said, "Xiao Qing? He is not my father."

"He is your family," returned Lan WangJi and he started to walk down the road towards the settlement.

There was a beat and then the rest of the party followed after him. Song ZiChen huffed, "I told you children don't work that way."

"They do," disagreed Lan WangJi, "I have three."

"But you married your husband," returned Song ZiChen.

"Where are we? What happened?" asked Xiao XingChen.

"Your Shizhi's legacy a special talisman for transporting, we are on a road now, but we won't know exactly where until we find some people," answered Song ZiChen.

"Oh," answered Xiao XingChen, "Wei WuXian was a clever one, I wish I had been able to know him better, I too feel the loss of your husband Lan WangJi."

"Mn."

"Wouldn't we have to be married first to make A-Qing our daughter? And isn't she a bit old your children were young," commented Xiao XingChen.

"...Qing-jie said that we had to be married before our third child Xiao Qing would be your first."

"Mm... well, I suppose in that case A-Qing would have to want to be my daughter and then ZiChen would have to accept her, if he was serious about marriage, and then it would be all right. Something for everyone to think about." 

They were able to get four horses in the town they came to and their direction. Xiao XingChen knew how to ride a horse but A-Qing didn't, on the other hand A-Qing could still see. So, Xiao XingChen rode double with A-Qing, and he gave the girl general instructions on riding. It had caused some strange looks when they left the town so when they came to the next one Song ZiChen took the reins of Xiao XingChen and A-Qing's horse so it looked like they didn't just have two blind people on a horse. After a couple days A-Qing felt more confident and they tried moving at a trot. They rotated all four horses around so it wasn't the same two horses that had to carry two people.

It took some time but they made it into Gusu and Cloud Recesses, what greeted them however was not good news. One of the minor sects had killed Jin GuangYao's son Jin RuSong. Lan WangJi's heart went out for the toddler for he too had children, though older now. But it seemed to be a bit convenient as the sect accused of the atrocity was one of the ones that had been opposed to the watch towers that Jin GuangYao kept on insisting on. Lan WangJi wasn't against the watch towers and he thought they could be a help to the common people, a similar principle had been applied to the Mongol invaders from the north with the Great Wall, and it could be applied for this purpose as well. What Lan WangJi found to be odd was that there was a heinous crime that no one would refute revenge on that was perpetrated by a Sect that opposed Jin GuangYao. With Xue Yang fresh in his mind he thought about how the young child had eradicated the YueyangChang Sect and BaiXue Temple, and he remembered the mysterious disappearance of the TingshanHe Sect which had also opposed LanlingJin. The case of TingshanHe Sect was Jin GuangShan's era of the sect, but also when Jin GuangYao was doing a lot of the administrative work of the sect. Lan WangJi found it suspicious but had no proof, Lan WangJi couldn't imagine killing his children, or letting someone kill his children to further sect matters.

The other problem that they had is that they knew that Xue Yang would not rest until the remains of the YueyangChang Sect and now Xiao XingChen, Song ZiChen, and A-Qing were dead. But could they do anything when most of the cultivation world thought that Xue Yang had long since been executed?

"I worry that the LanlingJin Sect is reaching too far. We know that Xue Yang is alive and he was associated with LanlingJin and may still be," said Lan WangJi when he got everyone inside the privacy of the jingshi. He moved around the room and prepared tea. A-Qing had been left the take the horses to graze in the rabbit field with one of the GusuLan disciples.

"Would LianFang-Zun really kill his own son?" asked Xiao XingChen.

"I do not know," replied Lan WangJi.

Song ZiChen nodded and said, "Let's say for arguments sake that he did. Has he done anything else like this? Killing an entire sect."

"TingshanHe Sect was against the power that LanlingJin had accumulated and they disappeared," informed Lan WangJi.

Xiao XingChen nodded. "And I brought Xue Yang to trial for the slaughter of most of the YueyangChang Sect, even if it was a personal vendetta, LanlingJin supported him."

"But what would he gain now? He isn't the Sect Leader, is he?" asked Song ZiChen.

"Maybe that is what he wants," commented Xiao XingChen.

The jingshi was silent, and then Lan WangJi commented, "You shouldn't stay long if Xue Yang heard my name or recognised my sect he may guess that you have come here."

"Should we look into this? Where should we go, we have A-Qing to worry about," said Xiao XingChen.

"We can leave by the north road and then we can turn south," suggested Song ZiChen.

"Leave to the north, go west," countered Lan WangJi.

"West?"

"YunmengJiang. The Sect Leader's sister is married to Sect Leader Jins family he'll believe you about Xue Yang," Lan WangJi explained.

"Is that not risky? Is there not a better ally?"

"My brother is good friends with LianFang-Zun, I would say ChiFeng-Zun but he is also missing and QingheNie is north of LanlingJin."

"What of your family though?" asked Xiao XingChen, "if Jin GuangYao is behind Xue Yang and his own son's death would his friendship with your brother stay his hand against your own children?"

Lan WangJi frowned, "I will talk to them."

"We can go west for a while and then stay in the southern areas, maybe we can travel north later see about any information in QingheNie," said Xiao XingChen.

HanGuang-Jun looked at the two men before him and hesitated, but he knew what they were up against and they were Wei WuXian's family through his mother. He took out talisman paper and drew, when he finished he charged the talisman and slid it across the table, "This is a YilingWei secret talisman."

Song ZiChen looked over the talisman. "What are the limitations? How does it work? You were not tired after either time you used this?"

"You can calculate a distance of three zhang for a single person from a single charge. There is a reservoir worked into the talisman to hold and accumulate the charge, if you find an upward threshold please send word. Multiple people can charge it and non-cultivators can activate it, when they do it will take some of the power from the reservoir for activation. Think of a person or place and if they are too far it will deposit you as far as you have power. If you mix your blood into the ink, others can charge it, but only you can use it. The charges don't dissipate, so you can just give it a charge each day until it is needed."

Song ZiChen looked impressed down at the paper; he placed a finger on the paper and sent a charge of spiritual energy into it. He then put the talisman in front of Xiao XingChen and hesitated.

"I'm going to place your hand on the talisman, just charge it like you would any talisman," said Lan WangJi he then reached across the table and positioned Xiao XingChen's hand so he could charge the talisman. "You can make them for your family; the blood writ ones will destroy themselves if someone else tries to use it. But remember this is a YilingWei secret, for emergencies."

The two men agreed and then Lan WangJi went out a got them and A-Qing a room for the night, they would be leaving in the morning. Lan WangJi went out and found Mo XuanYu and brought him back to the jingshi, he felt talked out but there needed to be more precaution put in place, to protect children. What he had to discuss with Mo XuanYu he had thought about before, but now was the time to implement it.

"Mo XuanYu you are a very good student."

The boy stiffened and looked down at his lap, "but?"

"I believe that while you are righteous that you would fit in better with the YunmengJiang Sect. I want to send you there to learn. It is only a couple of years until you will be of age to come to Gusu and study for the year. If you do not like life in YunmengJiang by then, or even before, you can return to GusuLan."

Mo XuanYu looked up and studied Lan WangJi's impassive face. He could see the truth in his eyes. "Why now?"

"I have been thinking about it before now."

Young dark eyes studied the adult across the table, "You're worried because Xiao-Song died."

"I found Xue Yang; he may have recognised that I am from GusuLan as well."

"All right, I will go."

"I'll have brother bring you over in a couple days."

"ZeWu-Jun?" said Mo XuanYu his body stiff again.

"Mo XuanYu, my brother won't let harm come to you, not to a child."

"What if he didn't think that it would harm me? If he mentioned me to the wrong person?" asked Mo XuanYu in a small voice.

Lan WangJi gave the boy a look and said, "There are many ways to disappear into the workings of a large sect."

There was a pregnant pause while Mo XuanYu mulled those words over and then he nodded. "Thank you HanGuang-Jun, I will get myself ready for the journey."

Lan WangJi nodded and they bowed to each other. Lan WangJi took out WangJi and played until his children were due to come back. The day had been stressful, and he still needed to talk to his children and get their blood for the talismans. If Xue Yang snatched one he wanted them to be able to literally slip out of their hands. And the boys were old enough that charging their own talisman and that of their sister everyday would be good for them.

Song ZiChen, Xiao XingChen, and A-Qing took the four horses and road to Lotus Pier, by a meandering route one that crossed the Yangzi River a couple times, they crossed the big river when it was called the Wan River and then when the big river was called Jing they knew they were close to YunmengJiang’s Lotus Pier. When they got there A-Qing met a child about her age that she could have sworn had been in GusuLan but his name was different. He introduced himself as a Jiang.

She was sent away as the adults talked behind closed doors but the disciples in the YunmengJiang Sect were an energetic and fun lot to be around. They proclaimed that she could still learn archery even if she was blind, and took her to shoot kites and she amused herself with how the disciples tried to describe where she needed to aim. It was different than GusuLan in a lot of ways the most noticeable being that male and female disciples trained together. A-Qing wondered why until she saw a blur of purple come out of nowhere and lash out with a practice sword at the YunmengJiang Sword Master. "Who is that?"

"That," said one of the disciples—not even remembering that she wasn't supposed to be able to see—“is the Sect Heir. She is called 'the dawn river, the purple storm.'"

A-Qing could see why the figure switched between calm fluid moves and a whirlwind of movement as easy as breathing. When sword practice came to a halt, A-Qing was introduced to the Sect Heir. "I am Jiang Gan courtesy ZiBiao YunmengJiang Sect Heir."

"Xiao Qing," A-Qing replied, she never had to be so formal and in the past few weeks they thought of having a father or two had grown on her, she'd have to tell them her discussion later, "daughter of rogue cultivators Xiao XingChen and Song ZiChen."

Once Jiang ZiBiao left, Xiao Qing turned to one of the disciples beside her and said, "Jiang ZiBiao which characters are those?"

"Jiang you know, Zi is like the colour and Biao as in whirlwind," said one of the boys.

Xiao Qing hummed, "Sounds like a girl’s name."

"Our Sect Heir is a girl."

Chapter Text

Lan XiChen had put a hand on Mo XuanYu's shoulder and walked him forward until Sect Leader Jiang had put a hand on his other shoulder and pulled Mo XuanYu a bit towards his own person. "I give this Mo XuanYu into your care."

When Lan XiChen had left the office Jiang WanYin motioned to the place on the other side of his desk and said, "Sit let's talk."

"SanDu ShengShou," replied Mo XuanYu with a bow and then he took his seat. He tried to sit perfect and proper like the Lan Sect disciples but Jiang WanYin was intently studying his face and the scrutiny made him want to hide a way.

"You look a bit like my brother, but I can see Jin GuangShan in you as well."

Mo XuanYu's eyes widened in shock and he looked puzzling at Jiang WanYin for a moment. "Wei WuXian?"

"Yes, but that is no matter, you are part of my family now, are you an orphan completely? What of your mother?"

"I am an orphan."

"Well, I don't know the Mo family but you are old enough to make the decision yourself, if you want to take the Jiang name you can. But I must tell you that despite being older I already have an heir and you will not be taking her place. But you can take the Jiang name if you want and if it causes problems we can say you are a cousin or some such."

Mo XuanYu was even more shocked, "I'm sorry Sect Leader, why are you offering to take me into your family why not just make me an outer disciple."

"From the way ZeWu-Jun presented you I had a feeling that you needed family more than you needed to be in a sect. and I will admit that you do look a bit like Wei WuXian and that makes me want to keep you close. I have also heard of some of the rumours, GusuLan might forbid gossip but LanlingJin does not. You're not even old enough to study at Cloud Recesses how can they make such claims on your feelings? My sister wouldn't have stood for it if she had been at Koi Tower when you had been... But you are here now, and so now you will make a fresh start, and if you are in want of a family, my daughter and I will be your family and YunmengJiang will be your Sect."

The room was silent and Mo XuanYu's brain whirled with everything that Jiang WanYin had said. He had understood why Lan WangJi had not taken him into his family completely, he hadn't even thought about it as a possibility—but here was the Sect Leader of YunmengJiang offering his name, and all that Mo XuanYu could think to say was, "but… didn't become a Jiang."

"I cannot say the reason why, but my parents knew his parents, my father was friends with his father, so I think that was why his name hadn't been changed. I don't know your parents, and you are old enough to understand this, so it is your choice. The Jiangs were once a larger family and it is now quite small and would be happy to grow, and our sect motto is to attempt the impossible Lan XiChen says that will suit you better, so you can be a Jiang if you want to be one."

"And if I am a cut-sleeve?"

"Well, I lived with Wei WuXian, he shamelessly flirted with women and then became obsessed with Lan WangJi, and honestly your behaviour cannot be worse than that."

Mo XuanYu laughed and smiled up at the elder man, "Thank you."

Jiang WanYin waved off the gratitude. "Just tell me what name to write down."

There was another moment of hesitation as Mo XuanYu thought about the question; HanGuang-Jun had told him there were many ways to disappear into a large sect. "Jiang XuanYu."

"How am I to write that?" asked Jiang WanYin, he slid a bit of scrap paper over and held out the brush.

Mo XuanYu—now, Jiang XuanYu wrote out the three characters, he changed the last character in his name, it sounded the same, but he changed it from 'feather' to 'islet'.

He pushed the paper back and held the brush out; Jiang WanYin took the brush and looked at the paper, "You're a Mysterious River Islet, sounds good. Welcome to the family Jiang XuanYu."

Lan WangJi had been correct Jiang XuanYu was better suited for life in the YunmengJiang Sect than life in the GusuLan Sect or the LanlingJin Sect. There were a lot of orphans from the war, a lot of the older cultivators had also had their Sects all but destroyed by QishanWen and they had decided to join the YunmengJiang Sect after or during the war. And then they took in the children that had also been orphaned during the war. there was a couple of other Jiangs running around, ones that hadn't been at Lotus Pier the night of the Wen attack due to having had no cultivation skills and they left the sect, but they came back to give their skills to the sect. One of the archery instructors was not a cultivator, but he could outshoot many of the cultivators so he taught the younger disciples so they would all have a solid foundation in the skill. There had been a couple of Jiang woman who had married out, but had brought their husbands and children back to be part of their maternal sect. One such husband, a third son, took the Jiang name and they renamed their children. Cultivating and non-cultivating Jiangs alike also adopted children and gave them the Jiang name. So Jiang XuanYu was not the first or the last to enter the Jiang family in such a way.

The YunmengJiang Sect had a good strong foundation in sword craft and archery, but their talisman work was higher than what he had remembered from the LanlingJin Sect. The disciples were also expected to help with the lotus harvest, to swim, and to pursue their own interests. Where GusuLan offered many classes so a disciple could learn many different skills, YunmengJiang expected their disciples to go out and discover what they will on their own and ask for a master to teach the skill to them if they wanted or needed it. Jiang XuanYu was still careful and hid all the secrets that he had written down in a new place in his room in Lotus Pier.

Not long after Jiang XuanYu came to Lotus Pier; Song ZiChen, Xiao XingChen, and Xiao Qing arrived. There was a closed door conversation. After the conversation every person in Lotus Pier had been assembled in lines of the training field. Xiao XingChen did a lot of the talking but Song ZiChen and Xiao Qing provided the physical description of Xue Yang. It came off that Jiang WanYin, Xiao XingChen, and Song ZiChen did not know how he had escaped his execution by the LanlingJin Sect, but the esteemed Distant Snow and Cold Frost Song ZiChen and the Cool Moon and Gentle Breeze Xiao XingChen were Daozhangs of great renown and their honour was beyond reproach so if they said they saw Xue Yang than they saw Xue Yang.

The trio left and then it was known that Jiang YanLi and her children Jin RuLan and Jin RuYu would be spending the cold months in Lotus Pier, about half the year away from Koi Tower. The justification being that Lanling was much colder and for much longer than Yunmeng and Jiang YanLi's more southerly blood couldn't handle the winters at Koi Tower.   

It soon became obvious that there was a large Wei WuXian shaped hole in the lives of many. Jiang XuanYu could see it in how Jiang WanYin seemed to refuse to believe that his brother would stay dead, in the sad little flicker on Jiang YanLi's face when she served Lotus Root and Pork Rib Soup, and not to mention the questions that Lan WangJi asked every night of the dead, and Wei WuXian's children. Jiang XuanYu was feeling rather secure in his position so far southwest of LanlingJin and Jin GuangYao that he started to think about what he knew and what he could find. The Lotus Pier library had books on a lot of different topics and even had Lotus Pier's share of Wei WuXian's papers from the Burial Mounds. Jiang XuanYu had actually been surprised when the LanlingJin Sect had shared the bounty from their slaughter of the Burial Mounds with the YunmengJiang Sect. but now that he had a feeling for Jiang WanYin, he was perhaps more surprised that he had taken victor's spoils. But then he would see Jiang WanYin staring blankly at ChenQing and thought that perhaps he didn't see it as victor's spoilers.

Through these people he could see how Wei WuXian had loved them, how he would have wanted to protect his Wens and the children, how he would have died for them. Jiang XuanYu was an unwanted bastard of a power hungry man and a woman who had delusions on the way the world was. He had known he had been brought to Koi Tower not because the Sect Leader loved him or would ever care about him beyond what Jiang XuanYu could give him. He had been a threat to Jin GuangYao. Jin GuangShan had hoped that since he had been brought into the cultivation world earlier than Jin GuangYao that Jiang XuanYu would develop a stronger core than Jin GuangYao, he would have been a better threat that way. But it didn't work out that way and they had put him to use by combing through Wei WuXian's messy notes and re-developing Demonic Cultivation, often alongside Xue Yang.

Xue Yang and Jin GuangYao were frankly scary, but while he worked for Jin GuangShan, he was fed and generally treated better than back with his mother's family. But then again there was the bullying and the slander—on the other hand there was more food, and the research had been interesting. So, Jiang XuanYu knew a lot of secrets, and had a lot of information. He was sure that if Jin GuangYao had known as much as he did, about all that he did, and then well Jiang XuanYu wouldn't be alive. Since, he was alive; he thought he could develop a way to help the people that were kind to him.

Jiang XuanYu spent his time in the library and slowly formed a plan. Spiritual Swords were an interesting phenomenon, and in the Lotus Pier library there were many romanticised tales about their powers, but from those Jiang XuanYu could gleam kernels of truth. And he knew that Wei WuXian's Suibian had sealed itself after his death. Everyone had thought that it had been instead a demonic cultivation seal, as it had appeared that towards the end Wei WuXian had forsaken Suibian and Jin ZiXun had said that the Ghost General had been using the sword. But when Jin GuangYao had brought it to Xue Yang's work area Wen Ning had been unable to draw the sword. He had said it was because the sword would only be drawn to protect Young Master Wei and innocents. Jiang XuanYu had seen the Ghost General cry when he couldn't use Suibian when Jin GuangYao brought a street child for Xue Yang to kill. It had been left a mystery to Jin GuangYao, who generally didn't trust the words of the Ghost General who insisted that he had never died. But Jiang XuanYu was inclined to believe those words—Suibian would only draw in protection of Wei WuXian and innocents. If Wei WuXian was dead Suibian would seal itself.

There was half a page about a reservoir talisman that collected spiritual power, written in Wei WuXian's messy scrawl. Jiang XuanYu thought he could use that if he could get it to work. He had thought of taking his ideas to Jiang WanYin but then a Demonic Cultivator was caught and whipped with Zidian, and Jiang XuanYu realised that the anger that Jiang WanYin held would get in the way. So, Jiang XuanYu worked on his own. He was pretty sure that he could build a ritual around the love and sympathy that people like Jiang WanYin, Jiang YanLi, and Lan WangJi had for Wei WuXian. He would also need Suibian's cooperation, to reform a body and bring Wei WuXian's soul to it.

He worked on the talisman and figured out how to make it collect and store spiritual energy. It took more work to get it to automatically collect only Jiang WanYin's ambient spiritual energy use. Then he covered Lotus Pier in the talismans, and well Jiang WanYin's anger was so great that everyone just assumed that Zidian was sparking and crackling where it laid dormant, but Jiang XuanYu noticed with a smile that there were no more sparks, that undirected energy going instead into Jiang XuanYu's talismans.

Lan WangJi was a harder character, he didn't really seem to waste spiritual energy, and Jiang XuanYu was sure that he gave the man hope and then failed it would kill the great HanGuang-Jun. so he had to tweak the talismans, and made sure he was prepared to set them up when he went with the other Jiang disciples to Cloud Recesses to study.

The forge was far enough outside of the main Lotus Pier complex that it had gone unnoticed by the Wens beyond making sure that there had been no one hiding there. And there were drawings and schematics of the entire Jiang Clans Sword Lineage, and that included Suibian.

It was a lot of late nights and secret work, Jiang XuanYu had to enlist the help of one of the common blacksmiths that he hoped wouldn't be questioned by Jiang WanYin, or anyone else. He even chose a man that had come to the area after the war so as to not have him recognise Suibian as having belonged to Wei WuXian. Jiang XuanYu meticulously carved what appeared to be a sheathed Suibian out of a single piece of wood and then had the blacksmith help with the embellishments. Jiang XuanYu used a heavy wood as he hoped that it would make up the weight of the actual blade, or that Jin GuangYao didn't have the habit of picking up a blade that couldn't be used.

While Jiang XuanYu had to wait to put the rest of his plan in action, he focused on his core development and the relationship with his own sword, for he had a feeling he'd have to do a lot of flying HeFeng—Gentle Breeze, was a quiet sword and seemed to be fine with his research and talisman work, but also carried him gently when they flew. But if he was going to have to sneak into Koi Tower, he would need to have to fly quicker.

Chapter Text

The YunmengJiang disciples that were going to Cloud Recesses for the year went by river. They travelled down to the big river, the Jing River and travelled east through the Wan River and Yangzi River and then south by one of the smaller tributaries to the big lake of Caiyi Town.

The disciples were greeted and it was clear that Lan XiChen had a list of names. He was polite and cordial with all the young disciples. That year there wasn't any of the sect heirs in attendance, Jiang ZiBiao was the oldest of the lot of the next generation of heirs, and she was four years younger than Jiang XuanYu.

"Jiang XuanYu, nice to meet you, I hope you are able to learn a lot from us here at Cloud Recesses," said Lan XiChen as he got to Jiang XuanYu.

The youth kept his face blank and wondered if the Lan Sect Leader was being a bit stupid or was acting. "Thank you ZeWu-Jun, I am ready to learn," replied Jiang XuanYu with a return bow.

"You have a look of Wei WuXian about you, has anyone ever told you that?"

"My mother was a Wei, a cousin or some other," replied Jiang XuanYu, it was a lie he had told a few times before.

"Ah I see, I hope that you are less mischievous than your relative," returned ZeWu-Jun.

"I believe I am ZeWu-Jun."

The truth was that he just didn't like people looking at him, perhaps if he knew that some key people wouldn't seek his death he would be happier to be remembered. And despite many people saying he had the look of Wei WuXian, he seemed to be in general forgettable, which was the way he needed it to be at the moment. He knew that there were also bits of Jin GuangShan in his features, but in the south it was not something that many people would be able to recognise.

Lan WangJi did not mistake him and had invited him back to the jingshi after the evening meal and before curfew to hear about his life at Lotus Pier, it was a nice and comforting gesture. But there was one question he needed the answer to. "Did you help me because I look like your husband?"

"I saw you run by in that garden, I thought it might have been Wei Ying," started Lan WangJi after he had taken a slow sip of tea and placed his cup back down on the table, "when I stopped the bullies I wasn't thinking of Wei Ying. With such a loss, you see ghosts everywhere, I knew you weren't him but I couldn't help myself but to follow and I am glad I had been able to stop the bullies and then save you from those people you lived with, because you are good and worthwhile child."

"Thank you HanGuang-Jun," replied Jiang XuanYu, he finished his own tea and then said, "I shall retire for the evening."

When he left the jingshi he hid his talismans around the building, he had already snuck down to the rabbit field and the Cold Spring. Lan WangJi frowned as not a single ghost would even tell him that they didn't know Wei Ying. With the guest disciples Lan WangJi was busier and he took sentry duty as well, he had been the one that had caught Wei WuXian sneaking in, so he was the most adept at catching the younger generations as well. So the next night, and the next, and the next, and every day after when not a single spirit answered that they did or did not know Wei WuXian, Lan WangJi really didn't have time to think of why.

A couple months after the start of classes was the Discussion Conference and that year it was to be held at Cloud Recesses, the guest disciples despite none of them being sect heirs were meant to sit in and learn about the politics behind the sects. Jiang XuanYu got a special dispensation excusing him from the conference from Jiang WanYin, which he had presented to Lan WangJi, who had nodded and made sure he had enough funds for a room in an inn for the duration.

HeFeng flew him north to LanlingJin. He stole clothes from the servant’s clothes line and dressed in a maid's clothes. In LanlingJin he didn't have the look of Wei WuXian about him but instead the look of one of Jin GuangShan's bastards, and dressed as a disciple or even a man he had the look of Mo XuanYu about him but as a maid, he was just one of many of the unseen servants, and if someone saw the Jin GuangShan about him, he wasn't the only one.

He made his way slowly to the Fragrant Palace and kept an ear out he was sure that Qin Su would recognise him. But he was sure that Jin ZiXuan, Jiang YanLi, and Jin GuangYao were all at the conference.

He had a basket of linen in hand, and walked by the guard which had lessened due to the Sect Leader being away, on the pretence of changing the bed linens. The Fragrant Palace had changed a bit since Jin GuangShan had been living there. But Jiang XuanYu’s eyes paid no attention to the room as a whole and zeroed in on the bronze mirror. It had moved but only to the opposite side of the bed. But Jiang XuanYu knew that that wouldn’t affect anything. The room was actually deep under Koi Tower, and had no actual doors. The mirror was a portal array into the room and the mirror could actually be moved up to a descent distance outside of Koi Tower so if the tower was under attack instead of moving all of the precious treasures you just had to move the mirror.

Jiang XuanYu paused there was something about the mirror—it looked newer. He took a couple steps and then felt for the warding that he knew Jin GuangShan and Jin GuangYao had used. There was warding but it was different Jiang XuanYu stepped back from the mirror and actually surveyed the room. It looked different but Jin GuangShan was no longer the one who occupied it, so it was expected. The youth went to the wardrobe and opened it. He was greeted by a vision of purple gowns Jiang YanLi—she had exquisite taste in clothes. But that meant that the Fragrant Palace was still the Sect Leader's chambers, but Jin ZiXuan hadn't been at Koi Tower while his father collected Demonic Cultivators to the LanlingJin Sect. So, would Suibian be in the treasure room of the Sect Leader?—the mirror did look newer—

He changed the bedlinens he put the old ones in his basked but made sure to leave an article behind in case he needed an excuse to return. Then Jiang XuanYu made his way to Jin GuangYao's old rooms and hoped that he hadn't moved rooms with the change of Sect Leader.

He knocked politely on the door in case someone was inside and when there was no answer he slipped in. It looked the same—well, almost the same since he had been in the room last, so he was sure that it was the room that belonged to Jin GuangYao. Dark eyes took in the darkened room there was no bronze mirror, but the mirror could be slipped under the bed and pulled out when needed, so Jiang XuanYu made a slow circuit of the room. He found a rather silver coated standing mirror behind the privacy screen—a bronze framed mirror. Jiang XuanYu studied the mirror carefully and then noticed that it didn't stand with its back against the wall, but instead there was space between the wall and the back of the mirror. The youth walked around the back so he could see, and it looked like the mirror that he had seen before when Jin GuangShan was alive in the Fragrant Palace. He reached his hand out and felt the warding. It felt the same. Perhaps Jiang XuanYu should thank his maternal family for how they treated him? It he had come to Koi Tower as anything else but a meek boy that followed any instruction and bowed under the weight of bullies, would Jin GuangYao have sent him back to the Mo family, secure in that fact that Mo XuanYu would die there?

Jiang XuanYu did the job of the bedlinens first so that he could leave immediately after he retrieved Suibian or ascertained that the sword wasn't in the treasure room guarded by Jin GuangYao. Careful to not trip the wards as an intruder Jiang XuanYu stepped through the mirror with his linen basket in hand. Once on the other side he saw the front room that had the desk—so, that the Sect Leader could peruse the texts contained within the treasure room at his leisure and comfort without leaving the room. Everything was still and as Jiang XuanYu remembered—he dropped the basket by the door and pulled his fake Suibian from the folds of linen and then made his way past the desk and to where he had last seen the famed sword.

He had narrowed his focus again, moving swiftly across the room towards the rack with Suibian, which was in its place, and Jiang XuanYu sighed in relief his hand outstretched for the sword; when he heard a clink of chains and a muffled voice behind him.

Slowly, Jiang XuanYu turned around his eyes wide and they grew wider still when he saw that there was a mountain of a man chained to a table through another doorway. Jiang XuanYu had forgotten that there had been a torture chamber of sorts added to the treasure room, before Xue Yang was given a work space outside of the tower. Jiang XuanYu crept over into the torture room and saw that the man was one: still alive and two: Nie MingJue the previous (?) Sect Leader of the QingheNie Sect.

"Shit!" Jiang XuanYu cursed and looked around, the man was in branks and his arms, and legs were chained to the table. The youth inspected the cuffs and then added, "I'm going to look for a key. Is it in this room?"

The man on the table shook his head and Jiang XuanYu nodded he left the torture room and saw Suibian once again. He quickly went over and switched out his fake and then made it back to the front room. He placed Suibian under the linens and then searched the desk. He knew that one of the drawers had a false back, as he had been of little consequence and Jin GuangShan thought nothing of him even when he was standing in front of the man. When there was no key in any of the regular drawers, Jiang XuanYu pressed the ornate notch in the scroll work of one of the table legs and the top right drawer popped out and he could reach behind for the second drawer. Inside was a set of keys.

He ran back and held up the ring Nie MingJue nodded. And the young YunmengJiang cultivator went to work trying all the keys until he found the one that worked for the cuffs and then the branks.

His voice was rough and just a whisper, "Who are you?"

"No, one you would know. I need to put the keys back, you get yourself up and ready and then we’ll have to sneak out."

Jiang XuanYu turned to leave when he heard a heavy weight hit the floor, he turned to look and say that Nie MingJue was laid out on the ground. "My sabre."

The words were so soft and hoarse that Jiang XuanYu had barely heard them. "Give me a moment I will look and come back."

He went into the treasure room and scanned it looking for the sabre. He figured that while it was probably dangerous—for Jin GuangYao—to have the sabre so close to Nie MingJue that it would be impossible to actually hide such a telling weapon anywhere else. There was another rattle and Jiang XuanYu almost turned back to the Nie Sect Leader when he realised that it was coming from one of the cupboards. Keys in hand Jiang XuanYu tried them all again, this time until the cupboard door opened and inside was definitely an antsy sabre. The thing was heavy much more so than his HeFeng as Jiang XuanYu dragged it down from the shelf and over to the man on the floor. He dropped the sabre by ChiFeng-Zun's outstretched hand and then went to put the room back to rights. He paused in front of the cupboard. Would it be more or less suspicious if he left it open? If he un-kidnapped Nie MingJue—re-kidnapped? Rescued Nie MingJue it would be obvious that he had escaped. Jiang XuanYu didn't have a fake Nie MingJue to replace the real one and Nie MingJue wouldn't leave without his sabre. Decision made Jiang XuanYu just closed but didn’t lock the cupboard and then returned the keys to their rightful spot and the desk to rights. With that done he went back to the room and Nie MingJue to see that he had barely moved. "What's wrong?"

"I've been on table since..."

"You've been chained to that table since you have been brought here? Since you disappeared? It has been years!"

"Years..."

"Can't you use Spiritual power?" said Jiang XuanYu desperately.

"No... song..."

"Jin GuangYao used a song to what? Stop your spiritual power? He can do that?"

"Mn..."

Jiang XuanYu looked around and then he placed the hilt of the sabre in Nie MingJue's hand and addressed his words to the sabre, "You try to help him." then he looked around in to assess the entire situation. Nie MingJue was mostly naked and Jiang XuanYu could see now that he was lying face down on the floor that the man had some nasty sores on his back and where the cuffs had been. He went back to the cupboard and luckily found the man's clothes. It took a while, since the strength in the man's limbs seemed to be non-existent, but he got the man dressed. In his linen basket he had a couple of the sparks amidst the snow tunics. He had put them in the basket in case Suibian had been moved to the armoury which was closer to the barracks for the rank-and-file soldiers. He pulled out the largest tunic that he had and struggled to get the man into it. He then dragged Nie MingJue to the door and he felt that the sabre may have actually been helping him with the task as it wasn't as impossible as it had seemed before he started.

The mirror was too close to the wall. Jiang XuanYu left the hidden room with the basket, sabre, and Suibian. He placed the swords on the ground to mark where the legs of the mirror were and then he pulled the mirror back from the wall. Once Nie MingJue was through the mirror and into Jin GuangYao's room Jiang XuanYu fixed it back the way it was.

It was a slow process, Jiang XuanYu would go out and check the position of the guards and then he would return and drag Nie MingJue until he was too tired or found a dark corner to hide him in and then Jiang XuanYu would leave him to scout ahead to check the next area of Koi Tower.

It wasn't an infallible plan, as Jiang XuanYu found out as he was dragging the man down the hall. "You maid, what are you doing?" Jiang XuanYu's head, which had been watching his steps, snapped up—shit. Qin Su's eyes went wide, "You, you depraved brat what are you doing here dressed like a maid, dragging a man?"

"Su-Jie, look at him," Jiang XuanYu pleaded. He had to practically drop Nie MingJue to the ground so he could use his hand to lift his companion’s head.

"Is that the missing Nie Sect Leader?" Qin Su practically shrieked.

"Shh! Su-Jie."

"What is he doing here and in that state?"

Jiang XuanYu purposefully closed his mouth and wouldn't say a word.

Qin Su narrowed her eyes and studied the pair and then the hallway they were in and where they could have come from. "Before A-Yao kicked you out you were following me around, you used to always follow my husband around and he never seemed to notice, but then you started to follow me, you looked like you wanted to say something then. And now you have a man that everyone thought was dead and you are trying to sneak him out of Koi Tower, and you refuse to speak."

"Please Su-Jie."

"If you get out of the tower, with that man I want more of an answer," said Qin Su, when Jiang XuanYu nodded she added, "Do you have male clothes that you can change into?"

"Yes."

"Quick boy and put his sword away."

Jiang XuanYu moved to a little niché with the basket and changed into another one of the tunics. He strapped the sabre to his back under his clothes, wrapped Suibian in the cloth of Nie MingJue's robe that had been in the cupboard and strapped that to his back as well.

He went out of his hiding spot, but left the basket behind, he held his arms out to his sister-in-law. "Good now you take him and I'll walk ahead."

The going was slow and Jiang XuanYu would lose sight of Qin Su when she went around corners in the hallway. Jiang XuanYu thought he would pass out under the strain when he turned the corner and ran into Qin Su having a conversation with a Jin Cultivator. Jiang XuanYu froze and his strength left him and Nie MingJue fell loudly to the ground. The two conversing turned to him.

"Boy what happened?" said the cultivator.

Jiang XuanYu stood up but kept his head down. Qin Su commented with a look of distaste, "that man looks drunk."

"Is that it boy? Are you covering for your superior officer?" asked the cultivator. Jiang XuanYu nodded and the cultivator sighed, "Excuse me Madam Qin I will help this boy get this man to the barracks."

"I thank you for your kind heart,” replied Qin Su. The cultivator bowed to her and then he went over and slung one of Nie MingJue's arms over his shoulder and Jiang XuanYu did the same. The trek down through the tower was faster, they went into the barracks and found a bunk room that had no men inside and dropped Nie MingJue onto a pallet.

The Cultivator looked at Jiang XuanYu and said, "Take a moment catch your breath and then return to your duties."

"Sir," replied Jiang XuanYu with a bow and the man left him in a room with Nie MingJue.

"My sabre..." came the soft voice from the pallet.

"I have it," replied Jiang XuanYu, he scouted around finding the people and a postern door. He dragged Nie MingJue out of the door and then away from the building. He re-tied the swords so the sabre was under Nie MingJue's tunic instead, and oriented himself so that he could get back to the original clothes line.

Before they could get too far Qin Su stepped from the shadows. "What happened to Sect Leader Nie?"

"Jin GuangYao," was the raspy reply.

"What did my husband do?"

"Locked him away in a secret room, and took his spiritual powers," admitted Jiang XuanYu.

"Why?"

"Xue Yang," croaked Nie MingJue.

"What does that—“ Qin Su cut herself off. "You wanted him executed and then you disappeared and the sentence was changed."

Nie MingJue nodded. Qin Su narrowed her eyes for a moment and then she made a decision and went to help drag Nie MingJue away. At the clothes line Jiang XuanYu redressed Nie MingJue in his own clothes and took off his own gold tunic but stayed in his black under robe. "Thank you for your help Su-Jie."

"What did you want to tell me before?"

"It's too late now and I am sorry, I really am," returned Jiang XuanYu not wanting to say the words.

Tears pricked Qin Su's eyes. "Tell me."

"I heard my brother... your husband, say... say... that A-Song might have to die, I didn't hear why he thought so."

Silent tears slipped down her cheeks. "Yes it is too late for A-Song, and I won't protect you from him, now go."

"I'm sorry Su-Jie and thank you," Jiang XuanYu gave her a bow and then dragged Nie MingJue into the woods he found where he had left his things and put his Jiang Sect clothes back on. When Jin GuangYao discovered that Nie MingJue was gone he would assume that the man would go back to QingheNie and if Jiang XuanYu was to get back to Gusu in time he would have to go south.

He touched the sabre and said, "We need to keep him balanced on my sword to get away." HeFeng was not made for the weight but was still as steady and gentle as ever. Jiang XuanYu stuck to the woods and relatively low to the ground to avoid detection as they headed south and Jiang XuanYu thought of a place where he could hide the sect leader. Nie MingJue was too weak to bring back, everyone was in Gusu at the moment and Jiang XuanYu had no doubt that Jin GuangYao would kill Nie MingJue before any of them could blink.

Chapter Text

The Discussion Conference ended, Jiang XuanYu returned to Cloud Recesses, and classes returned to normal. It took less than a week for the news that Jin GuangYao apparently in a panic on the night that he arrived at Koi Tower disappeared in the night. Lan XiChen looked worried but couldn’t do anything at the moment because he had put a lot of his duties on hold to attend to the Discussion Conference. He was sure that he would hear from his only remaining sworn brother soon, and the news had come with the information that Jin ZiXuan had sent out Jin cultivators to search for him. It was maybe a week after when Qin Su and Jiang YanLi arrived at Cloud Recesses to speak with Lan XiChen. They had assumed that Jin GuangYao would have gone to his best friend in whatever distress he had found himself in.

Jiang XuanYu didn’t know any of that of course and had continued on with his studies as if nothing had happened, he occasionally had to sneak out and fly food to his bolt hold, but no one knew that. When he was walking along a path and a person stepped in front of him and said, “Don’t ignore me! Do you know?”

The boy looked startled at the person. “What?” Jiang XuanYu looked around and then added, “Su-Jie what are you doing here?”

“Looking for Jin GuangYao, what are you doing here?”

“Studying, he isn’t here.”

“I still want to talk to you,” commanded Qin Su.

“Not here,” said Jiang XuanYu than he looked around again and when he saw no one else he added, “I’ll ask HanGuang-Jun to set something up, so we can talk in private.”

He hadn’t expected it to be the jingshi, and half assumed that he would be sent somewhere else to meet Qin Su when he got to the jingshi after the evening meal. But instead Lan WangJi allowed Jiang XuanYu to go inside as he took Wangji and played in the garden. The sound of the guqin blocked any of the sounds of conversation from inside the jingshi.

Jiang XuanYu had never been in the jingshi alone and felt that the only reason he had ever been allowed inside as Lan WangJi considered him akin to a child. Seated in Lan WangJi’s normal spot was Qin Su, there was tea and even snacks laid out. The youth took his seat, he didn’t take the tea or the cakes he just sat and waited. He hadn’t thought that he had gotten so far on Qin Su’s bad side before he had been kicked from LanlingJin, and well he supposed he had stolen Nie MingJue right out of Koi Tower, but she seemed snappier than he would have assumed.

“Do you know?” Qin Su began again.

“Not where he is, I assume that he is worried that ChiFeng-Zun will come after him now that he escaped,” replied Jiang XuanYu.

Qin Su looked a bit worried, “Why didn’t he come for him? Or did he? Is Jin GuangYao already dead?”

“If he is dead, it wasn’t ChiFeng-Zun, Jin GuangYao had him chained for years I think, and his muscles don’t work right now.”

“He has to exercise them to get movement back. But that is not what I meant. You knew that Jin GuangYao had Nie MingJue, now I know, do you know his secret that pertains to me?”

“Besides, what I said about A-Song? No.”

“I don’t trust your words Mo XuanYu,” said Qin Su, “I tell you, I am your sister.”

“I know you are Su-Jie.”

“No,” her words were hard but there was tears in her eyes, “we share a father, that bastard Jin GuangShan forced himself on my mother, and my mother told our brother Jin GuangYao in hopes that he wouldn’t marry me, but he married me anyways!”

Dark eyes went large and Jiang XuanYu sucked in a breath, “I didn’t know that! I swear I didn’t know that! Why would you tell me that?”!

“We share two secrets now you and me, I know you have ChiFeng-Zun and you know my truth as it pertains to Jin GuangYao. Now, tell me what will Jin GuangYao do if he discovers even one of these secrets?”

No thought was needed; it was Jiang XuanYu’s life, the air he breathed, the sun that dictated his days. “He’ll kill us.”

“Hide me.”

“What?”

“Hide me,” Qin Su said, “I have heard nothing of ChiFeng-Zun, you hid him; you can hide me too. I’ll even hide with him; I cannot stand to see Jin GuangYao again. Even that he knew about A-Song, A-Song was my baby and I have no doubt in my heart that Jin GuangYao killed him to keep the secret and for his own political gain! He was my baby, mine… and I just can’t.” She broke into more tears.

“I… I… I don’t know Su-Jie.”

“Mo XuanYu, Hide me.”

“But I can’t let my sister live with a man not her husband.”

“If this secret gets out, living with ChiFeng-Zun while not married is not the worst thing that will happen to my reputation. Hide me.”

“I need to think.”

“Tell me where he is, and I’ll just go to him.”

Jiang XuanYu heart seized and he looked up panic in his eyes. Had it been a trick, has Jin GuangYao finally caught him out? Had he convinced Qin Su to bait him? Did he find out that she had helped him get Nie MingJue out of Koi Tower and she is doing this to him in exchange for her life?

He got up from the table, glad that he hadn’t eaten or drank anything that had been on the table. He couldn’t see HanGuang-Jun going along with his assassination, but then he was the younger brother of the Sect Leader and the sworn brother of LianFang-Zun. Could he trust any of this? He walked slowly around the room; he checked behind the privacy screen and glanced out the windows. The sound of the guqin could still be heard, but nothing else. On the other hand, Jin GuangYao was good, he was a sneaky spy that clawed his way to the top, he worked with Demonic Cultivators, and he most likely killed his own son for A-Song was also the son of his sister—if Qin Su hadn’t fabricated that to trick Jiang XuanYu.

“Where is he?”

“Who?”

“Jin GuangYao.”

“I don’t know.”

“How do I know that you aren’t here to draw me out?”

“We share secrets, he’ll want us both dead now,” returned Qin Su, “Please Mo XuanYu hide me. I know that Jin GuangShan and Jin GuangYao did nothing when Jin ZiXun shot Jin ZiXuan—“

“Everyone knows that!” scoffed Jiang XuanYu.

“Yes, but I can see! They are dead Jin GuangShan, Jin ZiXun, Jin RuSong; a Sect Leader died in a brothel, and a body that disappeared, a child with too much of Jin GuangShan’s blood. The blood we share! I know that the current Sect Leader sends his wife and children away to Lotus Pier as much as possible; I know he won’t be alone without a cultivator he trusts at his back. This is our blood too, he hasn’t mentioned you, and I don’t think ZeWu-Jun has mentioned you, but me? Please hide me.”

“All right, Su-Jie,” sighed Jiang XuanYu, he went back to the table, and looked at his half-sister. One secret—now two in her eyes—was not all the secrets that Jiang XuanYu had that Jin GuangYao would kill him for—she had no idea, what was another one? He’d been counting his days since about a week after Jin GuangShan had first brought him to Koi Tower. “You need to get away from Koi Tower yourself; I have to attend classes here to not cause suspicion I can’t help with that. If you can sneak away on the trip back—“

“I’m sure Madam Jiang would cover for me.”

“No!” protested Jiang XuanYu, “She would but you can’t, you can’t leave knowledge that Jin GuangYao would kill for with the Sect Leader’s wife! This has to be done on your own.”

“All right.”

“Take money or jewellery, stuff that is yours no question. I’ll have a day free from classes in two weeks; you need to be in… Shanghai before then.”

“Shanghai?”

“Yes, it is a big city, and easy to get lost in. Don’t dress extravagantly, don’t dress too poorly that your money will be questioned, stay away from the poorer areas and carry a knife at the very least. You should bring your sword though, so you can fly, wrap the sheath in cloth so you cannot be recognised by it. I’d tell you to dress as a man, if you think you won’t be found out.”

“It is a big city as you say, how will I find you, or you find me?”

“We’ll meet…” Jiang XuanYu had never been to Shanghai before it was just a place that he knew of that wasn’t far from Gusu and was in a direction that wasn’t telling. “… At YangZiJin, the river ferry crossing, on the new moon. You might want to get to the area of the river ferry early; I’m not sure when in the morning I’ll be able to leave here.”

After ZeWu-Jun could not help LianFang-Zun’s wife with the whereabouts of her husband the distraught woman, with low cultivation disappeared in the night. She had left a note saying that she had gone to look for her beloved husband. She was a childless mother; she wasn’t going to be a childless widow as well. Lan XiChen was sad, his eldest sworn brother had died years previous, and then his remaining sworn brother had disappeared.

The day after the new moon Jiang XuanYu fell asleep in class and had to copy Conduct in punishment, which was then doubled as Jiang XuanYu still owed HanGuang-Jun a punishment from when he eavesdropped.

To Jiang XuanYu’s great relief the rest of the year was uneventful, minus the food runs to his sister and Nie MingJue. Qin Su was working on trying to get ChiFeng-Zun his mobility back, and Jiang XuanYu wondered if it was driven more by the fact that there wasn’t much else to do in their hiding place or if it was because she knew Nie MingJue would kill Jin GuangYao.

The night before he was to go back to Lotus Pier he collected all of his talismans filled with the energy Lan WangJi used to try and talk to the soul of Wei WuXian. Classes ended in time for Spring Festival. The fifteen days from the new moon to the Lantern Festival and the first full moon of the year. Jiang WanYin and his daughter would be spending the holiday in Lanling with his sister’s family. Neither side of the Jiang-Jin family had much of an extension, but the LanlingJin Sect was known to be ostentatious, so the family festivities were held at Koi Tower. Despite the Jiang name and being considered part of the family Jiang XuanYu got out of the celebration. Because he hadn’t “done something that would prove his worth to Jin GuangYao” yet, but really it was because he was the black feathered blight on the Jin family name, and he didn’t want to be murdered horribly.

He used the time Lotus Pier was a ghost town for the festivities to fine tune his plans. He decided that yes he’ll need three sources of spiritual power that they would need to be in equal measure, that he had the power he gleaned from Lan WangJi as the threshold. Yes, Lan WangJi played for Wei WuXian every night but Jiang WanYin got angry much more often. So Jiang XuanYu carefully bundled the Lan WangJi talismans together and then carefully added one of Jiang WanYin’s talismans to the pile until he could feel an equal amount of energy. The two piles were carefully tied with string and then bundled together and safely hid, there were quite a few left over filled with Jiang WanYin’s power. He, Jiang XuanYu, himself was low of spiritual energy, but he was good at thinking, seeing bigger pictures, calligraphy, and generally coming up with ways to safeguard his life at a moment’s notice. That had made him useful to Jin GuangShan and he would have been useful to Jin GuangYao, if Jin GuangYao hadn’t seen his blood as a threat—or perhaps it was that Jin GuangShan had used him as a threat before and Jin GuangYao was bitter about it. However it worked out, he had been made (not born, literally moulded) for that sort of work. Could he bring Wei WuXian back from the dead? Well, his family did train him in Demonic Cultivation. Could he from fragment and fairy tales cobble together the necessary spells and arrays to accomplish the task? Was everything that the Jins had from Wei WuXian, the things their Demonic Cultivator had to learn Demonic Cultivation, really anything but fragments and fairy tales? But he knew, that it would be down to Wei WuXian’s soul, the power he collected from Wei WuXian’s loved ones, and Suibian whether or not it worked, he was just gathering everything and drawing an array.

So he talked to Suibian, told the sword the tales he had found. The first about a sword that used its connection to their cultivator to drag the cultivator’s shattered soul back together. There was a sword that took poison for their cultivator. Who had been poisoned regularly by his jealous brother. The sword had apparently absorb it ‘through their strong bond’ into itself. There was another story where a sword did an energy transfer to a dying cultivator to keep them alive long enough for help to arrive. There were a lot of tales and a lot of them were more fanciful than flying on a sword. Suibian had been there, but he told the story of how Baxia, which Nie MingJue had later informed, was the name of his sabre, had lent strength enough to Nie MingJue to keep him from falling from Jiang XuanYu’s sword and probably took some of the giant of a man’s weight so as not to crush Jiang XuanYu in their flight.

All that figure out, and explained, Jiang XuanYu turned his mind on how exactly he was going to get Jiang YanLi’s spiritual energy for his ritual. But her cultivation—though probably higher than Jiang XuanYu’s—wasn’t actual very high and she never used the energy in a wasteful way or for something that could be diverted. By the time Lotus Pier was filled with people again and Jiang WanYin returned from LanlingJin with his daughter, sister, nephew, and niece. Jiang XuanYu had decided that his own sister Qin Su had been correct—Jiang YanLi could be trusted. Not in something that could get Jin GuangYao’s attention on her more, no matter if he was still missing or not, but for something like this. So he resolved to somehow privately ask her to charge a reservoir talisman so he could try to bring back her brother.

What came out instead his first attempt to talk to her cordially and with more intimacy than their prior interactions was nothing about Wei WuXian and everything about her gorgeous dresses. The one she was wearing was layered gold under purple, winter weight still, but a perfect pastel springtime shade. “You have the best taste in clothing, that gown looks especially gorgeous,” Jiang XuanYu murmured to her, he had been going to say something else but the sway of the fabric caught his attention and when his mouth opened those words had come out. He hadn’t even realised that he had spoken—

—Or that her nearby martial maid looked like she was going to murder Jiang XuanYu on the spot for propositioning Jiang YanLi when Jiang XuanYu finished his thought, “I wish I had gowns like yours.”

His revere was broken by a giggle, and he blinked and looked down into the happy face of Jiang YanLi, “Come along than, I think I have something that would suit you well.”

Jiang XuanYu didn’t really know how it happened or why it happened, but he found himself in front of a mirror in a gorgeous purple gown, as long as he didn’t focus on the bottom hem line that was too high up his legs, he thought he looked rather nice as well.  

There was a strip of darker purple fabric that wound around his chest right under his arms and the lighter purple fabric belled out from there and flowed down his body. the fabric around his chest was a bit thicker and when he turned to the side it gave some semblance of a chest that wasn't there, Jiang XuanYu believed that he looked so good despite the dress being a bit short, and for once in his life he smiled and relaxed.

It was slushing, that magical time after Spring Festival when there were even buds and a few early blossoms on the trees and the temperature dropped. The clouds looked grey and heavy overhead and Jiang XuanYu was sure that they were trying their best to snow, but even with the drop in temperature—well, it wasn't that cold and so it slushed. The ground though was a slippery mess and training had been cancelled for the day despite the relative close date to the previous break in training. Everyone was trying to stay inside, it was YunmengJiang after all—yes it got cold in the winter months, yes they may have even seen snow fall, no they did not know how deal with such weather with any practicality. Jiang XuanYu was lounging around and trying to come up with answers when little Jin Lian, Jin RuYu came bounding into the library and pulled him from the room with no explanation, but well one did not tell little miss Jin no—unless you were her mother (the only reason the girl wasn't a spoiled brat).

Jiang XuanYu found himself in Jiang YanLi's room with Jiang YanLi, her maid, Jiang ZiBiao, Jin RuLan and Jin RuYu. They had found an old trunk of clothes that had survived the fire, filled with Jiang YanLi's old dresses and Jiang WanYin's old clothes. Jin RuLan who was had just turned six a few months prior looked like he couldn't decide what to do with the dresses. He was in an interesting position, as Jiang YanLi and the children spent half the year at Lotus Pier. He didn't find his uncles old clothes exciting, but was trying to decide if he wanted to try on the dresses. Jiang YanLi seemed to be letting the children choose what they wanted to try on and would only help to get them into the outfit, or to give opinion on what colour (mostly shades of violet) would look best on the children. For Jiang XuanYu she opened her own closet and let him pick what he wanted. Once he was dressed in another lovely dress, Jin RuLan also put on his own dress. Jiang YanLi had them all lined up by height in their dresses, than she had them line up by shade of purple. Jiang ZiBiao pulled out one of her father's outfits that would fit her and decided she was done with the dress. Jin RuLan who idealised his older cousin agreed and went to find a new outfit; he looped his sister into the costume change. Jiang XuanYu sat down at the dressing table and started in on his make-up trying to remember what Jiang YanLi had taught him previously.

Jiang YanLi fixed his make-up a bit and had him stand next to Jiang ZiBiao, she gushed, "You two look like A-Chang and I when we were younger." Both of them puffed up and preened.

The next time Jiang YanLi had a dress for him that was not one of hers but instead was long enough for Jiang XuanYu's height. And she told him he could keep it in his own closet and he didn't need her to wear it. She slowly increased his wardrobe and still took the time to be with him and dress him up and do his hair and make-up like he was a doll. And he loved that time.

He quickly realised that her martial maid a Wei PeiRu was not going to be dismissed, and he was running out of time, it was getting warmer and Jiang YanLi would go back to Koi Tower.  So, he pulled what courage he had and one time he talked at the mirror as Jiang YanLi did his hair. "I don't know how to say this. I want to ask you a favour, but I'm afraid it will make you sad, and I need you to keep it a secret."

"You can ask me anything, and if it is a secret I can keep it," replied Jiang YanLi, Jiang XuanYu's eyes flicked to her maid in the mirror, "A-Ru can keep a secret too."

The maid nodded in the mirror. Jiang XuanYu took a deep breath. "I created an array and I need help with it, but it is a new array so I don't want to get your hopes up if it doesn't work but I can't do it without your help."

"I'm not very good at arrays, but I can look at it."

"No, I need your spiritual power."

"Oh, I'm not very powerful you should talk to A-Chang."

Jiang XuanYu took another deep breath and said what needed to be said, "He is too angry, I don't think he could handle what I'm attempting to do if I fail..."

"And that is?" Jiang YanLi prompted.

"I think I can bring Wei WuXian back, not as a fierce corpse but as a living person. I need the energy of the people who loved him, which is why I need your energy."

He could see in the mirror the comb raised above his head and the woman holding it and not breathing. "You think you can bring my A-Xian back?"

"I think so, and I know giving you this hope is cruel but I couldn't think of another way to get your spiritual energy without telling you."

"A-Cheng might be angry, but he loved A-Xian too."

"Promise you won't get angry?" asked Jiang XuanYu he looked up through his eyelashes at Jiang YanLi in the mirror until she nodded. "Wei WuXian made this talisman that let you continually add spiritual power a little at a time, and then you can use the accumulated energy to do a bigger casting. I saw the notes when I was in LanlingJin, it was part of my task to take the partial notes and make sense of them. It wasn't until I got here that I figured it out. The array I made needs energy from more than one person. Essentially your love and energy is going to form a golden core type thing that will draw his soul back. Like I said I could have this all wrong and I didn't want to get anyone's hopes up so I modified the talismans to collect spiritual energy that a single person just gives off... so... I have already secretly collected Sect Leader Jiang WanYin’s energy, it was really easy every time he got angry and Zidian sparked, but he didn't take it out, instead that energy got drawn into the talismans."

The room was quiet; the maid in her reflection had a look on her face that Jiang XuanYu couldn't name. It was another long moment, the comb fell to the floor from slack fingers, and then a hard look came over Jiang YanLi's face, "Tell me what to do."

He got the filled talisman back from Jiang YanLi when she returned from Koi Tower, when the weather turned cold again. It didn't have enough energy in it so she kept adding to it and she had him check it again before she left for the Spring Festival celebrations the following year in Lanling. She had enough. He thanked her and then saw off his family.

He waited a couple days for the new moon, for Spring Festival—new for a new life. Lotus Pier like always during that particular holiday was a ghost town. So he carefully set up the array. Suibian was in the centre, the talismans from each of the people making a triangle around the sword. He touched a finger to the array to light it up with power, really just a nudge of his energy to start everything rolling. He watched the array light up around the circle to either side of his finger, the power hitting Wei WuXian's sibling’s power on either side first and then racing up faster and with more power to the well of Lan WangJi's power. There was a flash, and Suibian was gone.

Jiang XuanYu looked around, checked everything thrice, and spent the remaining time until everyone returned in the library trying to figure out what had happened to Suibian and the array. But he could come up with nothing, except that he had somehow destroyed the sword. He was glad that no one but perhaps Nie MingJue knew that he had had it, so no one knew that he had destroyed it. There was one person Jiang XuanYu could think of that was alive—most likely, cognoscente at least—that would not try to kill him on sight; someone he could ask about Wei WuXian and Demonic Cultivation. Sadly, getting to them was going to be the hard part, and it would take time and planning. When Jiang YanLi came back she gave him a look and all Jiang XuanYu could do was shake his head in the negative.

Chapter Text

Wei WuXian opened his eyes slowly. He felt that he shouldn’t have, the last time his eyes were open he had seen Jins killing Wens, his brother with a look of rage on his face, and a herd of corpses that were bent on destroying him because he had destroyed the seal. He had hoped that that action would save some of the Wens and the babies especially; and he had assumed that he wouldn’t be opening his eyes again—at least with the memory of his death. So why were his eyes opening?

There were no corpses the sky was that sort of grey that always hung over the Burial Mounds, there were also those trees that weren’t really alive but hadn’t quite died yet. Not the black bamboo or the fruit trees that seemed to grow all right on the Burial Mounds; these were the trees that had been overhead before the corpses had blocked out his vision and ripped him apart.

And there was Suibian hovering above Wei WuXian right in his vision.

Suibian dropped it hadn’t been hovering very high above Wei WuXian but when Suibian fell it hit Wei WuXian in the stomach. Wei WuXian knew that even though it hadn’t really hurt he should have reflexively moved in counterpane to the strike from the sword, the air had been forced from his lungs after all—but he hadn’t. Wei WuXian tried to then move on purpose, while he contemplated needing air in his lungs, and well having lungs—he couldn’t move.

So, Wei WuXian lay there on the ground, in the quiet and waited. As he waited he took stock of his body. It seemed to all be there, he could feel all the way down to his toes—he thought, at the very least could feel Suibian laying half across his torso.

He turned his inspection inward and found the fluttery golden core inside him. It seemed to be weak like it had been before he had died, but it was more solid—core-like? It felt like something was holding it there. The feeling was a bit like the feeling of laying in Lan WangJi's arms at night, the more he meditated on his small little core he swore he could feel Lan WangJi begging for him to return, and Jiang YanLi's love and promises of soup, and Jiang WanYin's anger. The anger was the only one that made sense; he had seen his brother's face that day. His Shijie's husband had been shot full of arrows because of him, how could she still love him. And Lan WangJi? Yeah, they had been married, but that was just a joke of the Wens. Yeah, they had had sex, lots of really good dual cultivating sex, but that was probably just fun—many men had sex for fun. And yeah, they had made a family with the babies—the babies!

The area was quiet no one had come to look at him, he couldn't hear anyone walking around, he extended his senses, as a Demonic Cultivator on a mountain made of bones he had been acutely aware of the shape, the warp, and weft of each and every Wen in the settlement. He could find none of them. He looked for the babies first, then the others, and then the babies again, they weren't there. He tried to sift through the dead on the mound but it like looking for one specific slightly greener straw in a pile of straw, an impossible task even for a disciple of YunmengJiang Sect. He cried and when his body let him curl up in his grief he jerked out of it and onto shaky feet.

Wei WuXian reached down and scooped up Suibian, he pulled his beloved and faithful sword from the sheath just enough to see the blade. Suibian looked good, well cared for, the act of pulling the sword seemed easier than before, so whatever that maudlin bit of reflection on three of the people that meant the most to him, it must have been an actual core. But Suibian's glare wasn't bright it was a weak little thing, and Wei WuXian pushed a bit of his power into Suibian—partially to see if he could—and the sword blade glowed weakly like when you tried to breathe life into dying embers. Whatever had happened, Whatever Suibian had done it brought Wei WuXian back but left them both weak. He looked around but there was no Chenqing, he was pretty powerless. Maybe that was why he could find nobody, he just was too weak from being torn apart by corpses and reformed that he couldn't sense them. He stumbled on wobbly legs towards the settlement.

There was no one. He went in to the shack that he had been sure was Wen Qing's infirmary, it looked like it or at least the single mostly intact bed and the remains of Wen Qing's medical supplies gave Wei WuXian that opinion, but there was no Chenqing where he had thought that he had left the flute. He checked a couple more buildings they were all destroyed and empty. He scanned the settlement and saw how crumbling it was, he looked over at the fields and found them to be overgrown. But the babies! He turned back to the way he had come from where he had made his stand to stop the Jins from hurting the babies, he hoped to find little Lan Yuan, Lan Bo, and Lan Lian hiding in a dead tree waiting for their A-Ma to come back and find them.

He found dead hollowed out trees but no babies, and with each step his heart broke. He couldn't have failed! They had been his children he loved them as if he had given birth to each and every one of them, they were his babies, and he had never wanted to leave them. He had been fine with dying if it had meant that the children were safe, but, well—his heart was shattered. Tears made tracks down his cheeks and he just wanted to throw himself in Lan WangJi's arms and cry—but he couldn't, could he? he had gotten the children killed, he had loved them all and he was sure that Lan WangJi had as well, but well Lan Yuan and Lan Lian were both Wens by birth, if it was any sort of time since he had died, then the world had plenty of time to convince Lan WangJi that the cultivator that had killed Granny had been correct about Wens, and that Wei WuXian was a monster because he had gotten Lan Bo—an actual Lan—killed.

Night was coming on and Wei WuXian stumbled back into his cave. There was enough light that he could see the ruins of his things shoved against walls. He sorted through it all for a candle and then saw, or took in that he was naked and still had the Wen brand on his chest. Finding clothes seemed to take more work. He wondered if the Jins had just destroyed everything of his that they could get their hands on. Dressed in the tatters of a robe sans under robe or any sort of pants Wei WuXian made his way back to where he used to sleep, Suibian in one hand, and the candle in the other.

Things looked to be lived in, in the back of the cave; he even found a sack of rice and another of vegetables that were still good. He wondered if someone was using his cave. But there was no one in sight; Wei WuXian wondered if it had become a thieves den of some sort. But then he couldn't think of it and he just collapsed on what had been his bed. Despite being no longer dead, the tears, the grief, and the search had tired him out. He couldn't bring himself to eat in the moment but was sure that he would be happy for the food when he woke again, if he woke again.

Wei WuXian was drifting out of consciousness when he heard heavy footsteps coming into the cave and moving into the back of the cavern where the bed was. Wei WuXian shot up in the bed and reached for Suibian, though neither of them had any sort of strength. The candle flicked and Wei WuXian realised that he placed it down but didn't blow it out. He waited.

A giant of a man came to stand in the mouth of the cavern entrance and paused to look at the room before him. He held up a large sword and pointed it at Wei WuXian, "Who are you? And what are you doing in my bed?"

"This was my bed and my cave first, I should be asking you those questions," Wei WuXian returned, he had realised in the moment his best weapon was his words, and he needed to use them before whoever that was tried to test his sword.

"Wei WuXian!"

So the man knew him and wasn't happy with him, of course! The man stepped more into the glow of the candle light and Wei WuXian could see who it was standing in front of him threateningly. "ChiFeng-Zun?"

The younger scrambled to his feet and held Suibian as if he was going to draw it and froze waiting to see what the Nie Sect Leader, who was notoriously against Wens and Demonic Cultivators, was going to do. Nie MingJue's eyes narrowed, "Wei WuXian didn't use Suibian during or after the Sunshot Campaign, draw that sword."

Wei WuXian swallowed, well he hadn’t hated being dead and when it came to swords there was no way he could fib his way out of things, he drew Suibian. Anyone with spiritual energy would be able to see how weak Suibian's glare was, and how weak Wei WuXian was.

ChiFeng-Zun snorted, "So you are Wei WuXian, and you are weak. Get away from the bed, it may have been yours, but I am your elder brat."

Nie MingJue was standing in the only exit to the cave; Wei WuXian was trapped and could only really do what he was told. He walked away from the bed he went to the opposite wall where his desk-rock was and found that it seemed to be a table now. "What are you going to do to me?"

"Question you for the moment," replied Nie MingJue as he made measured steps over to the bed and sat down, "first, what have you done to Qin Su?"

"Who? I don't know a Qin Su... do I? You're the first human I have seen..." said Wei WuXian.

"I'm here," said a voice from further back in the cave.

Wei WuXian head whipped around and watched as a pretty woman stepped out of the dark shadows in the back of the cave, if he remembered correctly there had been another smaller cavern back there. "I definitely have never seen such a lovely woman; I would not have forgotten such a lovely face."

The Nie Sect Leader snorted again and looked at the woman, she said, "He just came in he was poking through things, his footsteps were lighter than yours so I knew it wasn't you. He just went to the bed and went to sleep before you came in."

"Mm," said as a way to fill the silence as he processed the information, "The Jins claimed that they had killed you in a raid. What bit of demonic cultivation did you use to bring yourself back to life?"

"Nothing!" replied Wei WuXian, Nie MingJue stood up threatening and dark-grey eyes darted around and fell on a half broken basket, Lan—A-Yuan and Lan Bo had been playing around the cave and had broken the basket, luckily A-Lian hadn't been in the basket at the time. Wei WuXian scooped it up and held it up so that they could see the faded once bright fabric and the ripped grass butterfly dangling down. "All I was thinking was I needed to stop the Jins from killing my children. I wasn't thinking of how I could bring myself back from the dead."

"But you are still a Demonic Cultivator," the look on Nie MingJue's face as he said the words had softened at the mention of children.

"I had no choice!"

"Explain, and I might not reacquaint you with death, right now."

It was Nie MingJue, the man that only idiots would get on the wrong end of his sabre. What did it matter now? He had no one left; he wouldn't be going back to the sects unless he was QingheNie's prisoner. "Right after Lotus Pier burned I had a run in with Wen ZhuLiu and lost my core. Then Wen Chao threw me into here and my only choice for survival was to use Demonic Cultivation, the only way I could get my revenge on Wen Chao was to use Demonic Cultivation."

"So, why take those Wen's later?"

"Wen Qing and Wen Ning's branch of the family were healers and not fighters. Wen Ning helped Jiang Cheng and I get out of Lotus Pier, and to get the bodies' of Jiang Cheng's parents. He brought us to his sister who healed us. When Wen Qing asked me for help to save her brother I owed them a debt. When I got to Qiongqi Pass I saw Granny and her great-grandson a toddler, which I later adopted as my own. There were people who had been branded by the Jins like how the Wens used to brand people, and I couldn’t stand for it so I saved them."  

"What are you going to be doing now? More of your heretic ways?"

Wei WuXian thought, what was he going to do? "Tell me did anyone get out of here?"

"Jin ZiXuan, did."

"No one else? Not even the children? Do you know the whole story?"

Nie MingJue looked truly sad at the mention of children. "Apparently Jin ZiXuan and Jin ZiXun went to meet you and escort you to the celebration, when they met up with you; you had the Ghost General attack and kidnap Jin ZiXuan. Jin ZiXun rushed back to LanlingJin and then Jin GuangShan sent cultivators lead by Jin ZiXun to the Burial Mounds to rescue Jin ZiXuan. Jiang WanYin was already at the tower and when he heard what happened he took some of the Jiang Cultivator's as well to the Burial Mounds. The siege was a joint Jin and Jiang effort. Jiang WanYin took Jin ZiXuan back to Lotus Pier as it was closer to heal him and the Jins dealt with the clean-up. They brought the Leader of the Wen Remnants Wen Qing and the Ghost General to Koi Tower for trial. But the Ghost General attacked and killed a bunch more Jin Cultivators, so the last remaining Wens were sentenced to death without trial. I saw Jin GuangShan spread their ashes at the feast later. That was six years ago now, I think. What happened from your point of view?"

"Well, Wen Ning had never been dead before, though I suppose he is now. He came with me as I travelled to LanlingJin on that day. Suibian was the only spiritual weapon we had, and Wen Ning could use it only if I or the children were in danger. So, he came with me. We were in Qiongqi Pass where we knew that there were a lot of Wen dead. Wen Ning wasn't dead, but they had thrown him in a mass grave, so we knew there was dead. But they had been removed. We were just turning around to give up on the trip when Suibian leapt to Wen Ning's hand and blocked an arrow coming for me. There was this Jin Cultivator he said I cast the Hundred Holes Curse on him, but I couldn't have, and he came with three hundred archers. Wen Ning and Suibian were going around slapping down the cultivators trying to shoot me, I don't think they actually killed anyone, but I don't know. Then Jin ZiXuan showed up and tried stop everything and Wen Ning backed off and then the Jin archers shot at me, but Jin ZiXuan was standing in front of me and we were both hit. I woke up with arrows still in my chest in a bed next to Jin ZiXuan and people screaming outside. I saw a Jin Cultivator kill Granny and then continue after my children that Granny was protecting, I had the dead of the Burial Mounds hold the Jins still, and then I distracted them by destroying the Stygian Tiger Seal. Destroying the seal killed me and apparently I failed as well, if no one survived."

The cave was quiet. Qin Su walked over and put a hand ChiFeng-Zun, he sat back down on the bed his muscles seemed to tremble.  "What are you going to do?" asked Nie MingJue.

"Disappear, I've burned my bridges, what was left of the narrow path I had walked. I have a core, I guess but it is weak, I'll probably use Demonic Cultivation if I need it to save someone. I guess I'll night hunt, be a rogue cultivator. Die on a night hunt like my parents. But I don't think I can go anywhere at the moment, so I'd have to impose on your hospitality, or you'll kill me. What will you do to me?"

ChiFeng-Zun laughed bitter and cold. "You are in luck Wei WuXian. A lot has happened since you died. Stay for now."

"Thank you ChiFeng-Zun."

Qin Su came forward and introduced herself than she went around the cave and pulled out food that she had cooked earlier. Wei WuXian watched with keen eyes and noticed how slow and careful Nie MingJue was. The meal was silent there wasn't much to say or well there was a lot to say and no words to say them.

After the meal finished Wei WuXian asked, "May I ask why you are living here ChiFeng-Zun? You said a lot has happened, what of... Jiang WanYin and my Shijie?"

"They are fine last I knew, Jiang WanYin and Jin ZiXuan are both Sect Leaders."

"And QingheNie? Nie HuaiSang?"

"Fine and my brother is Sect Leader."

"But why are you here?"

Nie MingJue gave Wei WuXian a hard and narrowed look. "Jin GuangYao, and I don't care what else he has done and to whom, I will be the one to kill him."

"Your sworn brother? If he has really committed a crime why don't you have the might of QingheNie at your back."

"I died of Qi Deviation," replied Nie MingJue.

"Well, I didn't know you could look so whole after Qi Deviation and you're not a fierce corpse."

"Jin GuangYao secretly stopped it by sealing my spiritual powers and then kept me prisoner for a couple years tied to a table as he performed more experiments on how to seal away other's spiritual powers."

"I see, and he is still alive because?"

"You try being tied to a table for years with your spiritual power sealed! Everything atrophied. The reason I let you talk instead of killing you is I had just finished expending my energy on beating back the resentful energy on these Mounds."

"Should you be using your spiritual energy to exhaustion like that?"

Qin Su spoke up, "We found that it helps he fights until he's drained and then more energy returns to him the next time."

"Mm..." thought Wei WuXian then he turned a blinding smile on Qin Su, "And you Madam Qin or are you Madam Nie is that why you are in this place with the illustrious ChiFeng-Zun?"

"I assume since Nie MingJue disappeared and Jin GuangYao was afraid, Jin GuangYao disappeared, no one has heard from him in years. But I know one too many of his secrets and I had helped Nie MingJue's rescuer get him out of Koi Tower so I thought while I had the chance I should get out from under Jin GuangYao and this was the safest place."

"And you will not say a thing against Qin Su's honour," Nie MingJue demanded.

"Helping each other in a time of need is honourable," said Wei WuXian sagely, "look, I said that I wouldn't bother any sects, can you keep my secrets too and let me stay a couple days?"

"I think we can agree on that," Nie MingJue replied gruffly.

After that it was quite obvious that Nie MingJue couldn’t move much for long, that he was still recovering and that he had been completely bluffing when he had initially kicked Wei WuXian from the bed. He was still healing and had never actually seen a doctor. Qin Su and Nie MingJue also wouldn’t say who had helped them; Wei WuXian after all was planning to go out into the wider world, they didn’t need to put others in danger. Wei WuXian was given one of Nie MingJue’s older set of clothes and he spent his few days taking them in to fit his shorter and slimmer stature—but that was par for the course when it came to ChiFeng-Zun and anyone else.

The sewing kept his hands busy and his mind semi-focused as he tried to meditate on his new core and not think of all that he had lost and why he was there again. He hadn’t wanted to come back. He had died to save his family, his children, he had been content that he had been able to do that for them—but, he hadn’t had he?—no, he wasn’t thinking about that. He would become a rogue cultivator like his parents WuXian SanRen, maybe Wei SanRen? He’d have to see what opinion of him was now, it had been years Nie MingJue had said, but Wei WuXian had been a hated person, maybe he could honour his parents more? Call himself CangZe SanRen—Hidden Lustre that was a good name. He’d have to see which way the wind blew when he left. He would have to also do some night hunting and request some payment, he wouldn’t be extravagant he just needed enough to feed himself, get a change of clothes, maybe a donkey—Suibian and he weren’t up to flying at the moment. He needed a new flute. He may not really have anything left to live for: Jiang Cheng hated him and came to kill him with the Jins, his children were dead, and that would gain more of Lan WangJi’s hate, and his friends were dead. But despite all that he would go out swinging, or fluting, whatever.

When he had clothes that fit, he went out with Suibian and found some black bamboo for a new dizi. He took a couple days to shape it, to tune it, and then he searched through the wreckage of his past and found his tassel making materials. He had bought purple for Jiang Cheng’s daughter, gold for Jiang YanLi’s son, and red for his children. The colours were all faded and in the pile of string he found the tassels from GusuLan that the tokens had hung from before Wei WuXian had put the entry tokens on his children’s protection bells. He took a Lan tassel faded and off white, he braided in some of the strands of lilac (once YunmengJiang violet) and pink (once blood red). He took one of the pendants he had had for his original bell design and used that. Suibian was sheathed in a dark wood and was at least a bit recognisable, he made a matching sword tassel for Suibian, and a waist ornament with the third pendant. Nie MingJue also wore dark clothing, so what he had altered hadn’t been that different from his previous aesthetic, but now he was accented in pastels.

He went into town with Qin Su, who was the least recognisable between her and ChiFeng-Zun, so she went into town to do their shopping. The two lived simply buying just what they needed apparently on a considerable amount of money that Qin Su had brought with her, mainly in gold and jewels. They gave him a couple strings of coins to help him on his way; they said it was because they took his home. But either way Wei WuXian had a bit of money, a flute, a sword, and inexplicably a new life. He’d stick to the west of Yiling, and skirt around MeishanYu the only place more west than Yiling that might know him, and generally stay out of everyone’s way.

Chapter Text

There had been an increase of cases of resentful energy cropping up in places that didn’t seem to make sense. There were whispers of the Yiling Patriarch coming back from the dead. Jiang WanYin was going on a rampage through Yunmeng searching for Demonic Cultivators, there were problems up north in QingheNie as well but Nie HuaiSang had already gained a reputation as being useless. There had been no cases in LanlingJin territory as of the moment and Lan WangJi had received a message from Song ZiChen saying that they were sure that some of the cases of resentful energy were Xue Yang because some of the victims had been from the remnants of the YueyangChang Sect, that Xue Yang had previously sworn to eradicate at his farce of a trial at LanlingJin.

So, it hadn’t surprised Lan WangJi when Xiao XingChen, Song ZiChen, and Xiao Qing arrived at Cloud Recesses.

Lan XiChen was a bit startled that the famed rogue cultivators had come to ask for help capturing a person that his sworn brother’s father had had executed. The problem was pinning down the young Demonic Cultivator. They didn’t want to use the YueyangChang Sect as bait, for they would have to collect the remaining members and gather them in a single area. Xue Yang was crafty and they worried that if they got all of his targets in a single area that he would still get to them, or he would just bide his time, as he had before.

The only other person that they knew that Xue Yang had gone after with such a single-minded determination had been Xiao XingChen. And he had already slaughtered Song ZiChen’s entire temple in retaliation against Xiao XingChen. Since BaoShan SanRen was on an uncharted mountain they had to assume that she was safe from Xue Yang’s focus.

Xiao XingChen seemed excited when he suggested that they get married. Song ZiChen looked at Xiao XingChen with a sort of happy and yet confused look. Xiao XingChen explained that they could hold a ceremony invite some of the sects to the ceremony and announce that they were going to move ahead with their plains to start a sect that was based on shared ideals over blood. It was a good idea; it was something that both Song ZiChen and Xiao XingChen had wanted to do, though perhaps with less pomp and ceremony. They also had the hope that Xue Yang would come to crash their wedding and they could capture him, a sort of three for one deal—and if all the sects were in attendance, the big four at least, then they could see that the previous Sect Leader Jin had not fulfilled his duties.

They decided that they would have the ceremony around Yueyang as it was where a sect that had been near eradicated by Xue Yang was, and an area that could benefit from a sect established in the area. Lan WangJi also suggested Tingshan, if the rogue cultivators would be happier on a mountain, as the TingshanHe Sect had disappeared, some years prior.

It was bad luck, such bad luck, Wei WuXian was sure he was cursed somehow, it was the only explanation. He was in some town that he had never even heard of before, when he started seeing more and more cultivators appearing on the streets. Wei WuXian had made a beeline for the city gates to get away when he saw that there were some sect members doing a bad job of surreptitiously watching those that were coming and going.

Wei WuXian had learned quickly that outside Yiling the Yiling Patriarch was still a household name. He had gotten into arguments with a lot of charlatan peddlers trying to sell his 'likeness' as wards against evil. It taught him a couple things, apparently the common folk didn't remember he had been towards the top of the list of young masters, and they had no clue who he was. He looked about the same as he had age and features-wise as he had when he had died. So, to the common people he looked too young to be the Yiling Patriarch. He had even gone so far as to set up and sell (by donation only)/give away actual protection talismans not far from one of the charlatans, with no ill effects. But cultivators, cultivators from the big four sects were another matter entirely. He looked like himself, and there was no way around it. On top of that the gates of the city were being watched and that meant that if Wei WuXian tried to disguise himself with cultivation, he would stick out like a sore thumb. Dark-grey eyes scanned the streets and tried to come up with a plan.

He needed something that no one would think of and associate with the Yiling Patriarch. He saw a dress shop and formed a plan. He had had an older sister, and he and Jiang WanYin would: one, never mention the story and two, swore that it was the right of passage of every younger brother, to be dressed up in their older sister's old clothes. As children it was agreed that Wei WuXian looked better in a dress than Jiang Cheng had. He could do it again.

He took a deep breath and then plastered a dopy sort of wide-eyed look on his face and walked into the shop. "Welcome, how may I help the young master?"

"I wanted to get a gift for my wife, we live far in the north, and I wanted to bring her back something from my trip. I know the measurements might not be perfect, but I think that I could give you a good description of my wife, we are of the same height, so at least the length would not be wrong."

He had picked the far north for he thought that he remembered that they had a reputation for being tall, but it also was a great distance and would mean that his 'wife' couldn't be called in to be measured. Wei WuXian was lucky that the shop assistants thought that he was a kind husband and were very helpful. He ended up with a robe in purple, blue, and pink—darker than his tassels but still complimentary.

He returned to his inn with the dress tucked away and informed the owner that he needed to make an early start the next morning. Then he proceeded in staying in his room for the rest of the night. The next morning impossibly early Wei WuXian got up and felt a bit of a thrill because it was too early for a Lan to be getting up. He went downstairs with his pack and things and turned in his key and watched as the kid whose job it was to watch the shop in the early hours went back to a pallet and went to sleep, instead of sending someone to check on his room. Wei WuXian went outside and around the building then he jumped up into his window and settled in. He did not allow himself to go back to sleep and when the morning was of a more Lan-friendly hour, Wei WuXian got ready. He put on his dress it had been one that had been almost completed and only modified a little to fit. He then did his best to apply some cosmetics tastefully and then he climbed back out of the window. The streets were just beginning to wake up and Wei WuXian made his way to the other side of the city and just when the shops and inns were opening for the day Wei WuXian got himself a new room and only a couple odd looks for being a woman travelling alone. But the presence of Suibian, seemed to make the proprietor relax as the city was slowly filling with more and more cultivators.

In the early afternoon light, Wei WuXian went out and to another dress shop and got himself another dress. He also tried to glean from overheard conversations what was going on to bring all the cultivators to the city. He was trying to listen in to one conversation behind him while he perused a stall when he bumped into a man next to him. he spoke in a tone that was soft and quiet for his guise and said, "Oh I—“ he looked at the person he had bumped into and was surprised to see that it was Xiao XingChen! He almost swallowed his tongue in fright at being caught out, when he realised that his Shishu was blind. "Oh! Daozhang, forgive me."

"It is all right, it was probably my fault anyways," laughed Xiao XingChen, "I had thought my daughter was next to me."

"No, no it was definitely my fault Daozhang," assured Wei WuXian while his brain was racing he had a cousin?! "I could help you look for your daughter, if you would like."

"Thank you kind maiden, but I wouldn't want to keep you."

"I was just looking and not doing any buying, what does your daughter look like?"

Wei WuXian cursed himself afterward, if his Shishu was blind before he had his daughter, he wouldn't know what she would look like. But instead he placed Xiao XingChen's hand on his arm and turned him from the stall. "Her eyes are white and she has a bamboo stick with her, but she is not actually blind and will probably be skipping about."

That description made Wei WuXian laugh a bit, and he scanned the street for a not-blind blind girl. "Daozhang if I may ask, I have seen a lot of cultivators come to the city recently, and I was..."

Xiao XingChen patted Wei WuXian's arm and beamed. "There is nothing to be worried about, I am getting married tomorrow to my cultivation partner, and these cultivators are our guests." 

The younger's heart clenched and tears pricked his eyes. A-Bo had wanted to go to Xiao XingChen and Song ZiChen's wedding. Was Song ZiChen even Xiao XingChen's cultivation partner, did he realise that he shouldn't have children before marriage? "Your cultivation partner must be one amazing lady."

"My cultivation partner is a Daozhang like me, he is amazing, a man from the far north," said Xiao XingChen with a grin.

So it was Song ZiChen, a weight lifted from Wei WuXian's chest. He spotted a blind-looking girl and started to lead Xiao XingChen over to her. "Well, I hope that you and your cultivator partner are happy, many blessings on your wedding. I think this is your daughter here."

Xiao XingChen's head moved around. "A-Qing."

"Here Daozhang," said the girl.

"Thank you for your help; may I have the name of the helpful maiden?"

Shit! Shit! Shit, of all the people to ask! Wei WuXian had thought to and had given his mother's name—well, Wei CangSe. But he couldn't say that to Xiao XingChen, the next girl's name that was in his head was Wen Qing, but another Qing would invite more conversation. his brain jumped from dead sister to hopefully live sister, and he could just barely abort and modify his words as there was a chance that Jiang YanLi was also in the city—“Li Li.”

“Well, thank you Maiden Li, for your help and I apologise for running into you earlier,” replied Xiao XingChen.

“Oh no, Daozhang, that fault lies with this lowly one, I apologise and I hope you have a wonderful marriage ceremony and life together,” Wei WuXian replied and he wished deep down that he could attend the ceremony. As he continued to walk around the market, he realised that there were simply too many cultivators around from the big sects. And while Wei WuXian was not trying to stay alive, he also wasn’t trying to get himself killed; and he had promised ChiFeng-Zun to stay away.

Wei WuXian was pretty happy to know at the very least that his martial uncle was getting married, it brightened his mood a bit, since he was trapped until he could figure out a way to leave the town without drawing attention, or if he could wait out the cultivators without drawing attention to himself. But in the meantime he could be happy for Xiao XingChen, Song ZiChen, and their daughter.

As he walked he heard the gossip of some nearby women. “Did you see? The Twin Jades of Lan are here!”

“They are so handsome and unmarried too!” exclaimed another voice.

Wei WuXian wanted to cause a bit of chaos he turned to the gossipers and was about to say that Lan Zhan was married when another woman had beaten him to it. “The youngest is a widower though!”

“He’s so young!”

“The story is he met his wife during the Sect War and married her secretly and she immediately got pregnant!”

“He is still so young and handsome a widower with child isn’t a bad match, the child will need a mother!” said another girl.

The woman with the story shook her head. “But that is not the end of the story their love was so great they had a second child only eight months later!”

“Oof,” said a woman that looked like she was at least old enough to have had her own children, “that poor mother she must have loved him.”

“Was the first a girl than? With the war securing family lines was probably important.”

“No,” said the story teller with glee, “she birthed two strong boys and then after the war gave him a daughter as well!”

The woman were expounding on the love of Lan WangJi, as Wei WuXian’s heart plummeted. Was the Sect War the one against the Wens? Or was there another one after he died? Or had they meant when the Jins laid waste to the Burial Mounds? Had Lan WangJi been married to some woman while he had been play-married to Wei WuXian? Wei WuXian couldn’t bare the thoughts in his head. So, he’d snuck out of the city, maybe just look like he’s in the company of others who are leaving and just walk out of the city that way. Then he’d get to the next town and drink.

Jiang XuanYu knew that his Sect Leader was going to the wedding of Xiao XingChen and Song ZiChen in a sect neutral area in old QishanWen territory in hopes of being able to arrest Xue Yang. He also thought that the plan was too obvious, and Xue Yang wouldn’t fall for it, but on the other hand that Xue Yang wouldn’t be able to resist putting in a showing. Jin GuangYao was still missing so Jiang XuanYu thought that perhaps he didn’t need to continue to avoid inter-sect events, but well, all of YunmengJiang was used to it, so Jiang XuanYu had not gone to the wedding.

He instead headed to Xue Yang’s Corpse Training Grounds outside of Lanling. If there was any time that he could be sure that Xue Yang wasn’t there it would be then. And he could finally get to the person, maybe the one person he could ask about his failed array to bring Wei WuXian back to life.

Corpses didn’t need to eat, so they could be left alone for a long time. Jiang XuanYu knew that Xue Yang’s ultimate goal was to raise a corpse to rival the Ghost General, but he generally kept his corpse army caged and rather dumb. Xue Yang had a habit of torturing his soon-to-be-corpses before death and removing their tongues to make tea. Not to mention that if he put his mind to eradicating a sect that he wouldn’t even leave so much as a dog alive. That meant that the resentment towards Xue Yang was rather high amongst his own army.

The training grounds were still, it was probably the first time that Jiang XuanYu had been there without there being corpses fighting each other or tearing live people apart in the arena area. Jiang XuanYu stayed quiet and skirted around the edge of the complex, with his eyes alert and on the lookout for Jin GuangYao or Xue Yang or some walking corpse. There had been a building built mainly as a sort of laboratory and living quarters for Xue Yang. He had a library room in there and in the basement, he had cells. The last Jiang XuanYu knew there had only ever been and still was the one occupant. As the place was secret known only to a select few of the Jin Demonic Cultivators, Jin GuangYao, Su MinShan, Jin GuangShan, and the dead; the keys to the cells were on a hook by the door at the top of the stairwell.

Jiang XuanYu with keys in hand crept down into the basement and hoped that there was no one that he missed who would bar the door behind him. There was no sound in the basement and Jiang XuanYu had a slight fear that who he had come for was already gone and dust. The cells were dry and dark there wasn’t any windows or fresh air circulation, so the air was still, stale, and rank with human waste. In the corner of the first cell sat a huddled figure. There were just the four cells in the basement and Jiang XuanYu spared the other three glances to make sure that they were empty. They were.

“Ghost General are you alive?” asked Jiang XuanYu tentatively.

The head of the man roses slowly wide eyes blinking in the faint light coming from the top of the stairs, but otherwise he didn’t move. Jiang XuanYu moved forward and fit the key into the lock. “I’m getting you out of here so please don’t kill me.”

“Why?” the voice wasn’t as crackly from disuse as Nie MingJue’s had been but rather dry.

“You always insisted that you were alive, if you are you don’t deserve this.”

The man huddled in the cell looked hard at Jiang XuanYu and then said, “You’re that boy I’ve seen you before. Why now?”

“I can help now,” Jiang XuanYu replied the man stared at him not saying anything, so Jiang XuanYu added, “I tried to bring Wei WuXian back to life and it failed, you knew him at the Burial Mounds I thought you could help me figure out what went wrong.”

“Why him?”

Jiang XuanYu sighed. “I have spent time with HanGuang-Jun, SanDu ShengShou, and Jiang YanLi they all love Wei WuXian, and all miss him. They all helped me, and I wanted to help them.”

The Ghost General studied Jiang XuanYu for a long moment and then he nodded. Jiang XuanYu opened the cell and then went in to help the man stand and walk out. Jiang XuanYu locked the cell door again and then when they made their slow way up the stairs, he locked the door behind them and rehung the keys. To avoid leaving a trail of footprints Jiang XuanYu got the Ghost General on his sword and carefully went some distance from the training grounds over rough ground and through wooded land.

The Ghost General—Wen Ning, was not as big as Nie MingJue, and Jiang XuanYu had gotten that man on his sword. The Ghost General had more mobility than Nie MingJue had had at the time. So, Jiang XuanYu took this as proof that a spiritual weapon could understand and help. Because while Nie MingJue was the biggest and tallest man around, but maybe only Jin GuangYao was shorter than Jiang XuanYu and he was sure that no one was weaker than himself. Jiang XuanYu was therefore sure that there was no way he could fly the Ghost General to the Burial Mounds. So, they stopped not too far away in the forest.

Despite, Jin GuangYao, and Xue Yang having all been convinced that Wen Ning had been killed at Qiongqi Pass and Wei WuXian had resurrected him as the Ghost General, Wen Ning needed food—normal, everyday, people food. And since Jiang XuanYu knew the eating habits of Xue Yang ran towards sugar and human tongues, he had filled a Qiankun pouch with some food. So once they were safe on the ground Jiang XuanYu took out the food and handed it over. he expected Wen Ning to fall on the food like a starving man, as he was generally starved to the point of breaking before given food but he calmly picked up a steamed bun and ate it at a slow consistent speed.

"You tried to bring Young Master Wei back from the dead?" asked Wen Ning.

Jiang XuanYu looked at the other man, his face was relatively easy to read, and he was often surprised that he had been able to keep his secrets from Xue Yang for so long. In the Ghost General's face he could see that he wanted answers to his own questions but felt that the breakout put him in Jiang XuanYu debt, so he would talk about what Jiang XuanYu wanted first.

"You know how I was working with the Jin Demonic Cultivators, I had seen some partial notes on a reservoir talisman, and I... have had an occasion to look through the YunmengJiang library and well I was able to complete the talisman and I stored the power from HanGuang-Jun, SanDu ShengShou, and Madam Jiang and then used it as a sort of sympathy to give power to Suibian to heal and restore Wei WuXian's body and soul..." the whole—well, it was abridged, Jiang XuanYu didn't want anyone knowing where he was living—story came spilling out. Jiang XuanYu cleared the dead leaves and needles from the ground and drew the array in the ground underneath it; he explained all his principles and Wen Ning listened. When he got to the end he looked up hopefully at Wen Ning.

Wen Ning looked pitying and regretful in equal measures, a strange look on the famed Ghost General. "I'm sorry but all of that is beyond me. I really don't know anything of Demonic Cultivation, as I told the Jins before, I was close to death and Wei WuXian came and took me away with the other and my sister through regular medicine, not Demonic Cultivation, healed me. I know about medicines, how to swing a sword, and shoot with a bow... maybe a bit about talismans. My only guess as it didn't work because you didn't have anything of Young Master Wei’s; maybe if you had done the array at the Burial Mounds where he had died it would work?"

Jiang XuanYu's hopes sank; he thought that Nie MingJue and Qin Su would have stopped him if he had tried to bring Wei WuXian back in their presence and so he hadn't tried to. "Thank you, if you think of anything that could help later that would be useful. It might take a bit but I can bring you to the Burial Mounds ChiFeng-Zun and my half-sister are currently staying there."

"And my sister? Where is she?"

Jiang XuanYu frowned. "I don't know where she is now; I haven't been part of the LanlingJin Sect for a long while."

"Where was she?"

"I was sent back to my mother's family right after Jin GuangShan died, and Jin ZiXuan became the Sect Leader, while Jin GuangShan was alive Jin ZiXuan was in Lotus Pier and your sister was held in the cultivation suppression cells beneath Koi Tower.  I don't know if in the time between Jin GuangShan's death and Jin ZiXuan's arrival in LanlingJin if Jin GuangYao moved your sister so she wouldn't be found by the new Sect Leader. He still swears that the siege on the Burial Mounds was unjust, but I also haven't heard anything about your sister actually being alive."

"I have to look. She has kept me alive all these years, every time that that man went too far, she was brought to heal me. I need to go to Koi Tower."

"I cannot help you with that. I could only get to you now because the four great sects have set a trap for Xue Yang, and I was sure that Jin GuangYao wouldn't be hiding at the Training Grounds. But if Xue Yang escapes or even if he doesn't if I draw attention to myself if I am not where I am supposed to be when it is discovered that you have escaped, it would be my life."

Wen Ning nodded and thought for a bit then he said, "Can you tell me what you know about the cells in Koi Tower and where my sister was? Can you give me ink and talisman paper, I just need to draw one... two talismans, and then any supplies that you have: food, clothes, and camping gear."

Jiang XuanYu looked at the other man. He didn't have siblings like Wen Ning had. He had half-sibling that generally treated him like dirt, and extended family that did the same. He thought back to his mother, who had been loving and a bit detached as she seemed to spend most of her time in some fantasy world. For so long he had just been doing what was needed to survive, his quest to return Wei WuXian was a bid to thank those who he is sure saved his life. And in the end he really didn't care about Wen Ning, Nie MingJue, or Qin Su and their lives—they were accidental, and he hoped that if it came down to it they would save him in payment. Probably not Qin Su, she had forced his hand. But he could do this; he could give Wen Ning what he wanted. "There is a tunnel out of the cells, it was meant to be the way to remove the bodies of prisoners that had died. But I know for a fact that it was used to transfer you from the Tower to the Training Grounds and to secretly free Xue Yang. You could get into the cells from there..." Jiang XuanYu wiped away his drawing of the array in the soil and started to draw a map of Koi Tower, the cells, and the tunnel. He told Wen Ning what he remembered of the guard and how they rotated, though that information was old.

He pulled out ink and some talisman paper, they were his strengths after all, and he didn't want to be caught unawares. Wen Ning drew a talisman, carefully and so, so slowly as if he was dredging it up from long ago memory. He wouldn't let Jiang XuanYu see it. "Secret Sect Technique, sorry." he stared at the first one for a long moment and it looked like he sent a charge of spiritual power into it but the talisman did nothing and the use of charging the talisman seemed to have strained Wen Ning more than it should have. The second talisman was drawn faster. Jiang XuanYu gave Wen Ning a string of coins and all the supplies that he could, he offered again to take Wen Ning to the Burial Mounds, and he refused again and then thanked him profusely.

Jiang XuanYu realised that he had stupidly told Wen Ning about Nie MingJue and Qin Su, but well Wen Ning hadn't asked for his name or anything of the sort, and not many knew that Qin Su was his half-sister, and that should muddy any waters if Wen Ning was captured again. Jiang XuanYu went to the Burial Mounds made a cursory search for anything that might have been Wei WuXian and then talked to Nie MingJue and Qin Su about the possibility of Wen Ning and Wen Qing arriving. Nie MingJue took Jiang XuanYu's explanation of their innocence and imprisonment better than he would have thought. He admitted that Wen Ning knew that they were already at the Burial Mound, as to ensure that neither party attacked the other, but also the risk if Wen Ning got captured again.

Then when that was all done Jiang XuanYu defeated and wondering what he could try next and if he should try something next—HanGuang-Jun and the Jiang's never asked him to do what he had attempted, after all—returned to Lotus Pier. The news that Xue Yang had shown up to the wedding, caused havoc, and then escaped, reached Lotus Pier before the wedding contingent returned to home.

Chapter Text

Lan WangJi looked at the class lists and sighed. His brother had been unable to greet the guest disciples that arrived that year to learn, and Lan WangJi himself had missed the Jiang delegation, so they had been greeted by Lan QiRen. A Lan QiRen who apparently didn't realise that Jiang ZiBiao was a girl.

He supposed he should have given his uncle a bit of slack. It was the first class that Cloud Recesses had hosted since the wedding, the wedding that had literally gone up in flames, involved a chaotic fight, and an extremely happy couple (outside the escape of Xue Yang). But in that town Lan QiRen swore he saw CangSe SanRen, he even heard gossipers talking about the beautiful Wei CangSe. Lan QiRen was a nervous wreck for a while convinced that CangSe SanRen would break down their barrier and shave off his beard. The wedding had been almost two years prior and every time Lan QiRen seemed to calm down and stop looking over his shoulder a rumour of CangSe SanRen would pop up and raise Lan QiRen’s blood pressure all over again. Lan WangJi had heard rumours of a CangZe SanRen a male rogue cultivator that yes shared the same Cang but there was a big difference between Se and Ze and Lan WangJi had a feeling that his uncle was letting his past colour his hearing. So, his uncle was a bit more high-strung than usual, and could be excused from perhaps not seeing properly.

He would talk to the Jiang heir and make sure that she was being properly respected, and see about fixing any mistakes. Even if she didn’t dress in a particularly female fashion, Lan WangJi didn't think that her name was particularly hard to parse as female, there were  characters in her name that were on the rare side, maybe that was where the confusion came from?

She was found lounging on the roof of her assigned quarters in the male guest quarters. If she had had a bottle of alcohol in hand she would look even more like her uncle. Lan WangJi was actually sure that Jiang WanYin didn't have as much of a rooftop habit as Wei WuXian had had. And found it interesting that that Jiang shared the trait with an uncle she never met. Lan WangJi leapt nimbly to the roof and noticed that she was wearing the bell that Wei WuXian had made for her. "Maiden Jiang."

Jiang ZiBiao turned with a frown that evened out when she saw who it was. "Please don't call me that. Isn't my courtesy name not formal enough?"

Golden eyes took in the girl's entire figure, he knew that she was a girl—the girl that he had rescued, the girl that his brother gave to Jiang WanYin, the girl that Jiang WanYin raised to be strong and fierce—but she didn't look like a girl, she was dressed in a boys uniform, and sprawled on the roof in a manner reminiscent of Wei WuXian and not any girl that Lan WangJi had ever seen.

"I wanted to make sure that you were comfortable with your sleeping arrangements, I can have you moved to the girls dormitories," said Lan WangJi.

Jiang ZiBiao wrinkled her nose. "And if I do that, would I then be taking classes with only the girls?"

"Mn."

"I'm a Sect Heir I should take classes with other Sect Heirs. You know GusuLan's separation of the sexes is really old fashioned."

"Jin RuLan is too young to be studying this year, the classes are the same it’s just the students that are different."

"Lan SiZhui is like the heir presumptive, I heard Sir is rather happy with him, he'll be the next GusuLan Sect Leader I am sure."

"My brother is still young."

"Ouyang ZiZhen is here this year, and you can't deny that he is Sect Heir."

Lan WangJi inclined his head in agreement, and then asked, "Did you want me to get you your own room?"

"We have a privacy screen and my roommates are our own disciples, who know I will castrate them if they try anything and then my father will kill them."

"Mn," Lan WangJi hummed in agreement, it was what he would have expected from the YunmengJiang Sect. Jiang ZiBiao had been perhaps backward in her understanding of the separation of sexes in a Sect. Yes, GusuLan had a complete separation of male and female disciples, which was more than the Jin and Nie Sects but it was just YunmengJiang under SanDu ShengShou that had completely obliterated those pre-set notions. He wouldn't interfere with the way that YunmengJiang treated their disciples. "I do not know what will happen if my Uncle realises that you are female, and of course my brother knows you."

"I understand thank you... and ahh... thank you for saving me. My father told me of my birth parents how they fought against the Wen with MeishanYu, even though they were family too, and how you saved me and brought me to my father."

"My brother brought you to your father."

"I know that, but you still saved me."

"Mn."

"Thank you."    

Lan WangJi turned to leave the girl on the roof, but her voice reached out and stopped him. “Is it true what they say about the arm strength of the GusuLan disciples?”

 “Mn.” HanGuang-Jun turned back to his niece.

She drew her sword and turned it so Lan WangJi could get a good look at it. It wasn’t a soft sword but it was thin and light built for speed and agility. “I like Weiyi, don’t misunderstand me HanGuang-Jun, but it was only foraged because I do not have the arm strength to wield my Grandmother’s sword, Zhuji. My father has promised me that sword since as long as I can remember. If the secret to the Lan arm strength isn’t a Sect Secret, this humble disciple is requesting your tutelage so I may do my father and grandmother proud.”

It wasn’t a secret it was just something that Lan disciples had been doing since a young age, so by the time they got older, the punishment of copying the rules while in handstands was possible, but not given to the visiting disciples as they often didn’t have the balance to complete the tasks without hurting themselves. Jiang ZiBiao could do the handstands on her own, but he didn’t want her to hurt herself until she had the balance. And despite her mannerisms and aspect, it could be seen as improper if Lan WangJi helped guide her through the movements on his own. But he still did an hour of handstands with his children in the morning thirty minutes per-hand. And he did have a daughter, so there could be nothing improper in that case. “I do the exercises every morning with my children, you may join us.”

“Thank you HanGuang-Jun!” said the girl excitedly. Lan WangJi watched her smile drop when he told her the time and place to be the next morning, but a sense of determination flared in her flinty eyes. Weiyi meant ‘winding’ like a river, and Madam Yu’s—the Violet Spider’s—sword, Spider Strike, seemed like they both would suit the girl well.

Lan WangJi decided it would still be prudent to write a letter to Jiang WanYin. He made sure to word it in a way to say that at the very least he, Lan WangJi would not punish the girl for her sleeping arrangements unless it was requested by Jiang WanYin himself. The reply came with a list of names all male YunmengJiang Sect disciples as acceptable roommates for his daughter.

Word did not seem to get out, Lan QiRen never seemed to catch on that Jiang ZiBiao was a girl, possibly due to the distraction that was 100% Lan JingYi and 100% just Lan JingYi being himself and not trying to cause a distraction. Lan XiChen when he taught classes recognised the young YunmengJiang Sect Heir and also didn’t seem to register that she was the only girl in the room. Morning lesson with his children and niece progressed well; his children helped their cousin and generally were able to keep their balance for the prolonged amount of time and to accomplish the needed qi manipulation to keep their blood from rushing to their heads, while inverted. Some mornings when he had time Lan XiChen also joined them and was delighted to see all four children.

There was a breakout from the prison under Koi Tower. Guards went to bring a morning ration to the prisoners and discovered one missing. The cell was locked, and the prisoner was just gone. It had the cultivation world in an uproar, they were further incised when it was discovered that the missing prisoner had been recorded in the prison registry as ‘female cultivator’ and they had disappeared from a cell that suppressed cultivation. It got even stranger when it became known that there was no crime listed in the registry and that she had been placed there by Jin GuangShan. Jin ZiXuan figured that her crime had probably been telling his father ‘no’ and was inclined to let it go with just an increase of guards at the nearest watchtowers and cities.

Jin GuangYao was found by one of the patrols; he was dirty and pale and hurt. He had apparently received a disturbing letter; he went for a walk outside Koi Tower to clear his head and had been kidnapped by a lesser sect that had had issue with him and the policies that he had proposed. He had been held captive in the prisons of that Sect for years and had only just escaped. The Sect denied everything, but they had found a cell in their prison that had clearly recently been occupied. The Sect in question wasn’t worth mentioning by name, because they were no longer a sect.

Before they had found the cell that Jin GuangYao had been held in, Lan WangJi had a feeling of how the situation would turn out. It had taken a bit of convincing but luckily Lan SiZhui had a gentle personality and a way with words that Lan WangJi assumed had been instilled in him from a young age living with Wei WuXian, because honesty Lan WangJi still didn’t like talking to people. But with the help of his children they were able to get the non-combatants out of the immediate area before the enraged Sects swept through and decimated the sect that had kidnapped Jin GuangYao.

The upside was that with the return of Jin GuangYao Lan XiChen with tears in his eyes was not paying attention to Cloud Recesses and therefore didn’t notice the influx of people filling the inns of Caiyi Town. 

Chapter Text

There was an explosion of resentful energy a massive pillar of dark swirling energy that reached into the sky and stayed visible for an amount of time that defied all sense and then exploded outward covering a substantial area in resentful energy and then seemed to collapse in on itself and seemed as if it was going to be greater than any spirit attraction flag that Wei WuXian could have made. Lan WangJi was worried, very worried when he realised that the epicentre was the Mo Village.

Cloud Recesses had received a letter from the First Lady of Mo from some weeks prior about strange goings on and a request for help. The letter was ambiguously worded and sounded like a ruse. So they sent the juniors, they had finished the classes with the foreign disciples and that meant they were of the age to go out alone to night hunt—the easier things, and a hoax would be good for them; so, when they were older they could see through duplicity on their own.

The more Lan WangJi had thought about it the more he thought that the First Lady of Mo was the worst sort of person there was. Mo Village was under the purview of MeishanYu directly but as MeishanYu was tied to YunmengJiang; therefore, they too were also responsible for the area. And they were the closest largest sects to the village. But as when Lan WangJi had gone to save Mo XuanYu he had been struck by the unlikelihood of Jin GuangShan having ever been able to meet the Second Lady of Mo. So, the First Lady of Mo had sent her request to GusuLan because she liked the prestige of Gusu better than Yunmeng or Meishan. And of course GusuLan was a righteous Sect so they had passed along the request to night hunt in Meishan territory and answer the request to both MeishanYu and YunmengJiang and both had wrote back in a tone that seemed exasperated that GusuLan was welcome to help the Mos. So, before the shock of resentful energy had appeared the GusuLan junior disciples lead by Lan SiZhui had headed out to the Mo Village, and they should have arrived right in time for the blast of energy.

Wei WuXian hadn't been far from the Mo Village when he felt the pillar of resentful energy shoot into the sky. It was a worrying thing and he hoped that he was closer than MeishanYu to the source, so he could get a good look at the cause without worrying about being recognised.

He had no luck, it was daylight when he appeared in the village and snuck over the wall of the compound where the strongest concentration of resentful energy had been. He snuck a look around the corner just in time to see two lines of GusuLan disciples being escorted into the main hall of the complex. Wei WuXian secretly watched the lines and scanned the faces, he didn't know any of them, but they looked young and he wondered if they would have been friends with A-Yuan and A-Bo if they had survived. Refusing to cry Wei WuXian slipped into a little used building and searched through dusty rooms for a disguise. Rich people often didn't take notice of the servants and Wei WuXian often was able to sneak around if he dressed like one. With the present of GusuLan Juniors there was a good chance that there would be a Senior GusuLan Cultivator in the area, and that person might be able to recognise Wei WuXian. So, as he often did in such situations he dressed in woman's clothing an occurrence that happened much more than he would have liked. Then he hunkered down and waited for the evening to see what the pillar of resentful energy had brought to the area and what the Baby Lans would do.

A servant was found dead at the epicentre of the resentful energy by the son of the First Lady of Mo. Wei WuXian could hear what was said from his hiding place to the Lan disciples. They don't know if it was a creature that had come into the complex and killed him or if the servant had tried to summon something and it had killed him instead. The son that had found the man was not able to give many useful answers, and the First Lady of Mo made the excuse that the servant was a good friend of her son and he was filled with grief. A loud and bordering on rude Lan asked about some original matter that the First Lady of Mo had written to them about, and the woman brushed it aside stating that the death took president. It did Wei WuXian's old—new?—heart good to see such an un-Lan-like Lan argue the importance of the initial complaint. Though he wanted to stay and hear everything, he decided it was best to see the corpse before the Lans did and he snuck off and found a desiccated corpse, dry to the bones, sucked of fluids and life alike.

The Lans quarantined a courtyard and set up some of Wei WuXian's own spirit attraction flags, to draw whatever was the source of the murder to them. Wei WuXian assumed he would have a few hours to look things over before anything came to the Juniors. In the lower light of the evening, Wei WuXian walked around a bit more freely, just another servant in the house. He found a way into the room where the servant had died, and he found chalked onto the ground a very familiar ritual array. It was one of his own, but whoever had chalked it didn't know anything and probably only had part of the ritual to begin with. It was a soul summoning array. It was supposed to be done in blood not chalk, it had been greatly altered. It looked like the perpetrator was either trying to sacrifice the servant, when the ritual required a willing sacrifice, or that the person had tried to skip over the need for a sacrifice all together. Wei WuXian found some paper and ink and copied out the chalk marking and then he searched the room for the papers that the servant or who ever had used to model the array on, and found none. So there had probably been two people at least involved in this ritual.

Wei WuXian walked through the halls, he was dressed like the other servants and didn't need to hide, and he looked for the son's room to see if he had any papers. But he wasn't a servant and he didn't know where the young master's rooms were, so he drifted in and out of the rooms looking around for any clues. And he missed the gossip of the servants. A quiet hall in the evening in a large complex like the Mo's wasn't unheard of, but Wei WuXian failed to notice was that he was the reason that the hallways had cleared. Early he had passed a servant, both ignoring the other as they had their own tasks. But the servant had turned back around and looked at Wei WuXian's retreating back and then whispered to the next servant he had seen, "I just saw the Second Lady of Mo walking down that hall."

"The Second Lady of Mo died years ago," said the second servant with a scoff and looked down the hallway in question just in time to see Wei WuXian exit a room and get a good look at his profile and flowing skirts. The servants both went pale and scurried away to spread the rumour of the return of the ghost of the Second Lady of Mo.

Wei WuXian finally found the correct room and the papers. It appeared that there had been someone writing to the Young Master, to 'teach' him cultivation, but really it appeared to be just bits and pieces of Wei WuXian's work on Demonic Cultivation.

Grey eyes scanned the room and took it all in. the ritual had occurred the previous night and the Young Master had at the very least been the one to find the dried out corpse of his servant and at the most had been present for the death. The bed had been slept in, so the Young Master had been able to sleep afterwards—wait, why hadn't a servant made the bed? Had the young master gone to bed early and then gotten back up again? Wei WuXian went over to the bed and felt the sheets to see if they were still warm. He didn't have more than a small candle on him, as he hadn't wanted to draw attention to the rooms that he entered. So the room had been cast in shadows and the grey haze of dusk-light. He could see that the bed was rumpled but when he got closer it was obvious that there was a person in the bed. Wei WuXian paused and internally cursed at having been a fool, to have not realised that the young master had been in this bed.

He then saw that the figure was completely under the bed sheets and curled up against the wall but the exposed bedding of the nearside looked slept on, as if there had been a second body in the bed at one point. Wei WuXian held still his eyes fixed on the sheet; he waited a few of his own slow breaths until he determined that the figure in the bed wasn't breathing. From a qiankun pouch he pulled Suibian and with his offhand he pulled back the sheet. The hair on the head was raven black and silky, the hair of a young woman, the body looked old and wizened, a mummy with paper thin skin over bones barely more than dust. There was a pile of folded sheet next to the girl—so she had come to change the sheets in the young master's room and had died for it. Had the young master really not returned to his room for the entire day? Had he not complained about his unmade bed or the corpse in it? Or had he been the one to put it there?

There was a roar, unhuman and bone rattling. Wei WuXian made a decision, he sheathed Suibian and switched the sword for his flute and bolted from the room. Wei WuXian arrived in time to see the GusuLan Sect disciples take off their outer warded robes and try to use them to tie up what had been the young master. The man was snarling and gnashing at the Lans. His skin had cracked, it wasn't a dry crack since the skin was covered in rivers of blood, and it was ripping as if whatever was on the inside was too big for the skin to contain. Maybe Suibian would have been the better weapon in the instance. Wei WuXian did another switch and pulled his blade.

Someone screamed, "Watch out! Second Lady of Mo's ghost!"

One of the Lans blocked Wei WuXian's strike at the creature. "Why are you blocking me? You should be focusing on that creature! You're a music cultivating sect! Can one of you play a purification? Or anything before whatever monster is inside that man burst from his skin?"

The Lan backed off and then the Lans reformed and one pulled out a guqin and began to play. The creature howled, but didn't seem to be overly affected. Wei WuXian watched for a moment and then said, "The human skin is protecting it!"

"You said we had to kill it before it got out of the skin!" yelled the mouthy Lan.

"I'm saying that the skin is protecting it from the effects of the music. You should keep playing but the rest of us need to try to kill it before it gets loose of the skin, and if it does get loose we'll need the music!" Wei WuXian yelled he brandished Suibian and moved around to fill a gap in the circle of disciples.

The disciples looked around at each other and then they took up their own positions. The mouthy Lan stayed in a position in front of the musician as a guard. The musician said, "JingYi send off a flare."

The flare went up and it seemed to be the go signal, as the creature shrunk back from the noise and the light now that it was partially out of the skin and not completely protected, but then it redoubled its efforts. Wei WuXian leapt forward and tried to take off its head, or well the human head of the body that it was inhabiting; for how much the skin was coming off, it seemed to be hard as rock. Wei WuXian saw one of the Baby Lan's come at them so he jumped backed and they went in around fighting like that. The clothes were slowly getting destroyed along with the skin and then one of them was able to behead the creature—the man the creature was hiding in, as the head went flying a black roiling mass bubbled up and out of the neck of the corpse it looked to be something between smoke and a liquid and was moving up and away from the musician. Wei WuXian put away Suibian and pulled out his flute he listened to the guqin for a moment and then added his flute to the tune. The creature still was exiting the body and appeared to be a massive dark cloud, it shrieked a shape trying to form and then it tried to back away from guqin and flute. There was a sudden sharp strum of a guqin from behind the creature and it shattered like ice and fell to the ground like dark snow.

The Baby Lans shouted happily, "HanGuang-Jun!" Wei WuXian cursed and slipped away from the courtyard. He moved around the house and destroyed the chalk array, he raided the kitchen, just a bit (he had helped after all, and they could lose a couple apples), then he left through back pastures where he found a lonely donkey. He took it but did leave behind coin for the beast, perhaps not enough for what the beast was worth; but the GusuLan disciples had seen a female cultivator—or the ghost of one, they wouldn't associate that cultivator with a man on a donkey.

Chapter Text

The resentful energy was still thick. Since the death of that thing the feel of the resentful energy calling and pulling like to like to the summoning array and/or the creature was gone. But the resentful energy that had been released had not gone. And Wei WuXian realised that it was a bit sad that it felt a lot like the air of the Burial Mounds and home.

Wei WuXian pulled out one of the apples that he had pilfered and took a bite. His donkey's ears pricked back at the crunch and then the donkey turned his head and tried to get at the apple. Wei WuXian pulled the apple away and held it over his head as he admonished the donkey. The donkey turned in a circle trying to get the apple. Wei WuXian had to do some dodging, but he hastily ate the apple down to the core and then threw the core to the side of the road. What he hadn't expected was the donkey would go chasing after the core and wouldn't be moved. Wei WuXian huffed and crossed his arms from where he stood at the donkey's side. "What are you a dog?"! He shivered at the thought. Wei WuXian brushed his finger against the side of his nose and thought of what to do instead of abandoning the donkey. He got an idea, keeping the donkey in sight he went a bit further off the road until he found a supple and long stick, then he pulled out some string and tied a second apple to a line attached to one end of the stick. He climbed back onto the donkey's back once he was settled; he held the stick in one hand and took a bite of the apple. The donkey's ears perked up and he turned to try and grab the apple.

"That's right Lil' Apple," said Wei WuXian, he let the apple drop and swung on the string and the donkey—Lil’ Apple followed the motion and walked back onto the road. With a smile Wei WuXian started to whistle as the morning slowly turned to day.

As the days went on the roads seemed to get more and more cultivators luckily, they were all the smaller sects and rogue cultivators, not people that knew Wei WuXian. So, Wei WuXian turned off the road and headed up into the mountains. The area reeked of resentful energy and Wei WuXian felt bad if he left the area without assuring that the people were safe. It had gotten dark and Wei WuXian was looking for a good place to make camp when he was thrown from Lil' Apple. He rolled a bit on the ground and when he had stopped and his head had stopped spinning he looked up at the noises that Lil' Apple had been making to see that his donkey was trapped in a Spirit Catching Net, a pricy cultivation tool. Well, it was whoever's fault it was that put up the net, capturing unsuspecting donkeys.

Wei WuXian unsheathed Suibian and studied the net. They were expensive and he had also not been paying enough attention to his surroundings—well, that wasn't true. The resentful energy was just so overpowering and he could feel all the creatures that had gotten fat on the power in the air or had used it to rise and seek their own revenge, despite not having had the energy to rise within the first seven days after their death. He had been focusing on the dead and the monsters on the mountain and not the spiritual energy. Now that he had shifted his focus, he could feel hundreds of the nets. It made sense if he could feel the resentful energy other cultivators could as well. He had seen that his Compass of Evil was in popular use, but for something like this, the compass would be going haywire, however cultivators of standing like HanGuang-Jun would be able to feel it without the compass, out in the air as it were.

He made a decision, he gripped the rope above the knot where it was tied and tested it, he couldn't untie it; so, he used Suibian to cut between his hand and the knot. The weight of the donkey was too much, and it jerked Wei WuXian from his feet as soon as the rope was no longer holding the weight. Lil' Apple and Wei WuXian crashed to the ground.

When he had regained his senses, Wei WuXian was looking up at the youngest junior cultivator he had ever seen. He looked around expecting to see the adults that would recognise Wei WuXian or the slightly more senior junior disciples like boys the ages of the Lan disciples had been when he had been in the Mo Village. The boy was alone. Watered-ink eyes turned to take in the features of the child; the sparks amidst the snow, the vermillion mark to pierce through knowledge, what was LanlingJin doing? There was no way the child before Wei WuXian had finished his courses at Cloud Recesses, no way he was old enough to be on a mountain alone.

"What did you do? You stupid!" screamed the child.

"I am sorry young master, but this donkey was trapped, and I just cut the rope on the net, you should be able to reuse the net, but perhaps not in the middle of the path."

He had promise Nie MingJue that he wouldn't get involved with sects, and the Jin sect hated him the most, he had to do his best to get away from the child before the adults came for him. And he knew what little peacocks the Jin children were and he simply didn't think if he pissed the child off that he wouldn't have to then run from the angered adults.

"The whole mountain is covered in resentful energy only cultivators should be walking around and only idiot cultivators would walk into the net."

This child, a vain in Wei WuXian's forehead twitched and he took a deep breath. "Where are your parents or your seniors? As you said the mountain is covered in resentful energy, one so young shouldn't be wandering around alone."

"I'm an excellent cultivator!"

The boy looked angry; Wei WuXian swallowed the words on his tongue. "I'm sure you are how about I help set the net back up?"

Apparently, his tone wasn't taken well for the Baby Jin howled in rage and rushed Wei WuXian with sword drawn. Suibian was sheathed and Wei WuXian held it out blocking the sword thrusts and dancing around the child. The air was thick with resentful energy it made tempers short, but Wei WuXian could also feel the spirits. He snatched a leaf off a tree and then a spirit passed and Wei WuXian bound it to his makeshift talisman and the next time he blocked the child's sword thrust and spun away he slapped the talisman to the child's back and the spirit of a young mother wrapped her arms around the child and sat down keeping him in her lap.

Wei WuXian nodded. "Let him up if you see adults dressed in the same colour as him, or if something too dangerous for you attacks, protect him otherwise."

The spirit nodded with a serene smile and the Jin child sputtered. Wei WuXian walked away Lil' Apple had found the apple that had been on the string and had eaten it, the stick was also broken. Wei WuXian made quick work of getting a new stick and getting away from the child and off the mountain. He started down one path only to see cultivators going up it, he turned Lil' Apple went around and then tried to go down a new path only to see more cultivators. They repeated the process a couple more time and Wei WuXian was getting frustrated and worried. He found some thick underbrush and did a quick costume change, he put on his first dress the one in pinks, purples, and blues and redid his hair in a more feminine style, as he couldn't do his make-up. Then he went back to Lil' Apple and went in search of a path down the mountain that had the least cultivators.

There was something in the air, Wei WuXian could taste it, he knew the power, it was a tingle on his tongue and a tug on his memories—he couldn't place it and it was going to drive him insane, he ended up going towards it as he tried to parse it. There was a scream, the voice young and frightened, there were more screams—Baby disciples? Or young civilians? Wei WuXian urged Lil' Apple faster.

Wei WuXian entered a clearing and from the other side a group of Junior Disciples came pounding in. Wei WuXian watched as a statue of a woman came walking in slow stone steps her head visible over the treeline. Belief magic! That was it! The statue was worshipped as a god, so it became a god. Wei WuXian studied her face wondering why she was now attacking, it looked like her nose had some damage and maybe she was missing an ear. So, she became a god because the people believed she was a god and then the people stopped. She became resentful, but no longer had the power—until the area was flooded with resentful energy. He heard that the peoples to the northwest worshipped a single god and were not fans of iconography; maybe they had the right of it.

Wei WuXian took stock, a resentful god on a rampage and a bunch of baby cultivators, they needed more bodies. He brought the flute to his lips and called on the corpses that he knew were on the mountain. The air was ripe with the energy that he could use for it, it would be the easiest summoning of his life, easier than even with the Stygian Tiger Seal, he had plucked the perfect ghost from the air with no preparation to hold that Jin.

Nothing answered. He played harder and harder and nothing came. He tried to split his concentration to figure out what the problem was. He had all the energy he needed for the summoning and the corpses and the dead had all the energy to go about their own business. He shifted his focus. He needed the dead that would want to help him protect the children. The flow and the music became calmer and easier and into the clearing came the corpses of the dead that would rise from their slumber for children. They attacked the statue, but it wasn't enough had Wei WuXian sent the call out further and once more for anything that would listen.

An arrow sped at the head of the statue and struck, but it seemed to be just a scratch to the statue. Wei WuXian looked up at the archer and his heart stopped. Wen Ning stood on the top of a tree, bow in hand. But no, Nie MingJue said that Jin GuangShan had scattered his ashes. He couldn't be there, and Wei WuXian prayed to anyone that Wen Ning wasn't really the Ghost General now. Wen Ning lined up another shot and it had the same result. A ghost brushed by Wei WuXian she had answered his summons but she had no body. She had stayed, she hadn't been reincarnated, she forced into his mind as he played, because she worried about her granddaughter. Her granddaughter, who had had her soul sucked out by the goddess statue just a couple days ago.

Wei WuXian nodded. He pulled the bit inside of him that was Jiang YanLi's love, Jiang Cheng rage would also be good he fused those sensations to a talisman and then attached it to the ghost. She fluttered across the distance and waited. Wei WuXian shifted his song he needed to draw the energy from the statue. Wen Ning took aim again and the arrow flew and pierced the talisman and the arrow carried the power and the spirit to the statue, her head exploded with a faint crackle of purple lightning. Wei WuXian kept up his song trying to make sure that the statue couldn't reform.

Wen Ning jumped down from his tree, he didn't have a spiritual sword just his bow and quiver, and it looked like he wanted to do something about the corpses that had attacked the goddess and to check on the children. The corpses that Wei WuXian had summoned were just standing around. They had been summoned to also protect the children, they would not attack. Wei WuXian was heartened when he noticed the corpses scrambling away from Wen Ning; just like they had from the charm he had given Wen Ning. Wen Ning was alive. But before he could get close enough to the Juniors, adult cultivators rushed into the clearing.

And for a brief second Wei WuXian could see what the scene looked like to an outsider: Wen Ning walking towards the Junior disciples and the corpses scrambling away from him. Well, there were more people there now, Wei WuXian changed his tune no longer removing the resentful energy from the goddess fragments but instead playing Rest so that the corpses could return to their peaceful slumber. The corpses ambled away, most likely returning to their graves. A couple of the arrived cultivators hacked through the corpses. Wei WuXian winced but he had played for them, so their souls should still be able to find rest.

Then someone yelled, "The Ghost General!"

The call was picked up, "It's the Ghost General Wen Ning!"

He couldn't watch his friend be killed by the ignorant masses. Wei WuXian's arm was grabbed right as he was lowering his dizi. Dark-grey eyes glanced over and saw the gorgeous face of Lan WangJi. Wei WuXian's heart swelled, but the cries from the clearing and the scrutinisation of the golden eyes had his heart stutter to a stop. This was no longer his husband, this man had a wife and children, and he had allowed their children to be killed.

He choked on tears and whispered out, "Wen Ning is alive, he stopped the statue, you can't let them hurt him!"

Wei WuXian was struggling in the grip and when Lan WangJi let go he stumbled into the clearing. It drew the attention of many of the cultivators, and stopped them momentarily from encircling Wen Ning. Then the worst thing that could have happened was that the mouthy Lan, the one that Wei WuXian had liked so much pointed at him and yelled, "The Ghost of the Second Lady of Mo!"

The Cultivators turned fully towards Wei WuXian and in the distraction Wei WuXian could see Wen Ning slip back into the trees. It seemed to be a sound decision so Wei WuXian turned to slip away himself before he could be surrounded. There was a crackle in the air and then there was a soul deep pain as Zidian came crashing down on Wei WuXian and throwing him forward. It hadn't been a strike for pain, but a strike for the soul—one to root a spirit that didn't belong in the body out. Despite him being in his own body the soul strike was painful and he could feel the super changed angry air that surrounded Jiang WanYin.

"Not a ghost," growled the Jiang Sect Leader.

The mouthy Lan protested, "But we saw her at the Mo Manner and all the servants that saw her said she was the long dead Second Lady of Mo!"

The well-spoken leader and diplomat of the Lan Juniors spoke up, "But JingYi that was Zidian, a spirit would not be able to resist and cling to this world or a body."

Jiang WanYin took a step towards the figure he had just struck and Lan WangJi stepped forward to block the view of the person on the ground. "I will be taking this individual back to GusuLan for questioning about the matter at the Mo Manner as it was our disciples that handled that problem."

The clearing seemed to freeze. The resentful energy hung in the air and seemed to remind people why they were all there. No one had known of Wei WuXian's involvement in bringing the corpses or lending a bit of extra power to Wen Ning's arrow. He was just a woman that was witness to some tragedy. The fog of resentful energy and the creatures it was calling were a more pressing matter.

Lan WangJi helped Wei WuXian stand. He looked back at his disciples and they bowed to him and the leader said, "We will continue to help clear the area of resentful energy, HanGuang-Jun."

Lan WangJi helped to lead Wei WuXian out of the clearing and back onto a forest path. he kept a kind arm about Wei WuXian as if he was leading away a hurt lady, but Wei WuXian could feel the grip, Lan WangJi was afraid that Wei WuXian would run away. Wei WuXian murmured when he saw Lil' Apple where he had been left, "My donkey."

Lan WangJi nodded and lifted Wei WuXian onto the back of the donkey, and then he took the reins and led the donkey down the mountain and towards Gusu. The shock to his soul from Zidian had left an ache. Wei WuXian had been whipped with Zidian before the whip marks still on his back, but Madam Yu had been aiming to hurt his body and not his soul when she had struck him. And Wei WuXian's core wasn't as strong as it had been before he had lost it. He fell asleep across Lil' Apple’s back. At some point while Wei WuXian slept Lan WangJi had gotten a horse and had rode as he had lead the donkey carrying Wei WuXian. When Wei WuXian woke and felt stronger he tried to focus on his core and strengthen his body. There must have been something in his eyes, because Lan WangJi switched his horse out in the next town and then pulled Wei WuXian to sit with him on the horse, secure in the Lan Cultivator's arms while Lil' Apple trotted on behind with their things. When they got to Caiyi Town Lan WangJi brought the horse to a stables in the city so some other traveller may rent it. He placed Wei WuXian back onto Lil' Apple and lead the Donkey up into Cloud Recesses.

At this point Wei WuXian realised that escaping would be a bad idea and that his best hope would be to not bring attention to himself, answer some questions and then when GusuLan was satisfied that he hadn't had anything to do with the tragedy at Mo Manner they would let him go and he could disappear into the crowds of the city and do a quick costume change and then be on his way with no one the wiser.

His resolve that he could survive the short visit to Cloud Recesses crumbled when he read the Wall of Discipline and saw that in the time he had been away they had added more than a thousand new rules. He was going to die, either by rules, or Lan WangJi finding out who he was.

A disciple had gone ahead to inform a healer that Lan WangJi was bringing a woman that had been struck by Zidian. The disciple had told a second one who had then gone to inform Lan QiRen of the return of his nephew. Zidian was a serious spiritual weapon, if a young lady was struck with it than that meant that she could have been possessed. With the blanket of resentful energy spreading over the world, any sort of horrifying impossibilities had become possible.

Lan QiRen went out to meet his nephew and to see what he could say for the state of the wider world. Lan QiRen's eyes first met those of his nephew and then he drew an assessing eye over him to see if Lan WangJi was still whole. He saw the reins held in Lan WangJi's hand and then his eyes travelled up the reins to the donkey and then up to the figure perched there. Lan QiRen's eyes went wide and the colour drained from his face. "CangSe SanRen." he fell to the ground in a dead faint.

Everyone in the area froze and looked at the figure of Lan QiRen passed out on the ground and then to their second Young Master and the Lady siting on the donkey. Then the disciples rushed forward, a couple going to Lan QiRen and taking him towards the healers. Another offered to take the donkey. Lan WangJi helped Wei WuXian off the donkey and led him to the healers behind Lan QiRen.

When they entered the infirmary one of the disciples was telling one of the healing apprentices, "He just said CangSe SanRen, while looking at the young maiden HanGuang-Jun brought with him and then fell to the ground."

The healing apprentice nodded with a hum and gestured for the disciples to bring Lan QiRen in the back room and place him on a bed.  She followed after, Lan WangJi lead Wei WuXian after them and they entered the large treatment room, the apprentice was relaying the tale to the healer who watched as the apprentice assessed Lan QiRen and declared, "He just fainted, he will come to in a moment."

The healer noticed Lan WangJi first, it made the apprentice turn around, and she said, "A-Die."

"WenNuan," Lan WangJi inclined his head, "he was struck with Zidian."

Wei WuXian's heart had broken to look upon Lan WangJi's daughter—WenNuan,  “warm” it was a good name for a healer, she looked regal and reminded Wei WuXian a lot of a younger Wen Qing, though she had been older then Wei WuXian, she had still been young when she had gained her reputation in the healing arts. A daughter of the righteous and peerless Second Jade would no doubt be just the same. And that hurt so much.

"CangSe SanRen? I presume," said the healer, "struck with Zidian, because she should be dead?"

Wei WuXian chuckled, "I don't know this CangSe SanRen, the Junior disciples thought I was the ghost of the Second Lady of Mo."

"You look young to be the mother of Mo XuanYu."

Wei WuXian rubbed the back of his neck and realised that separating himself from his mother hadn't helped. Lan WangJi said instead, "Wei Ying."

The mentioned's head turned with such speed to look in shock at HanGuang-Jun. He opened his mouth to try and get a question out when the young apprentice said, "A-Ma?"

Wei WuXian's head snapped around again, it was probably good that he was in the infirmary his neck was going to hurt. "What?"

"Wei WuXian!" Lan QiRen uttered from his bed and then he passed back out. The healer went back to check him over.

"A-Ma, why are you dressed like that?"

"I'm not your mother."

"Wei Ying, this is Lan Lian courtesy WenNuan, our daughter."

There was a pause punctuated by the revived Lan QiRen falling from his bed and crashing to the ground, where blissful oblivion once more embraced him.

"My A-Lian?" tears were rolling down Wei WuXian's cheeks as he spoke, "You're alive!"

Lan WenNuan rushed into Wei WuXian's arms and the two hugged. "What do you mean A-Ma? How are you alive?" There was a pause as the hug continued then Lan WenNuan pushed back and prodded Wei WuXian into a bed, "And you were struck with Zidian! We must check on you. Did you somehow possess this lady's body... and got around Zidian's power somehow... no, Granduncle said that you looked like CangSe SanRen, then this must be your own body... why are you dressed as a woman then?"

A chuckle filled the room it started tinged with tears that filled with a delighted and soft happiness. "I thought you died when, when... with everyone else. I thought I was hated by the great sects, so this was my disguise. I don't know how I got back I just woke up in the Burial Mounds naked and with Suibian floating above me. That was a couple years ago now; when Zidian hit me I could feel it in my soul, and my soul still feels like it aches."

"Why didn't you come back to us when you woke up, do you not love us?" asked Lan WenNuan.

"No, of course I love you my baby girl, I named you my Blue Lotus, and I didn't know you were alive! It has been so long and you have grown so much, how was I to know you?"

There was a few more tears and Wei WuXian learned the boys had been in the group of Lan Juniors from before and Wei WuXian was checked over, though soul wounds or ache were hard to check and heal.

Though, Wei WuXian’s admission to his resurrection had the healer pushing him back on the bed and examining him. After a moment Lan WangJi asked, “What did you find at the Mo Manner?”

Wei WuXian glanced first at their daughter; a pang hit his heart at that thought. And he wondered if he could still claim such if Lan WangJi had a wife now. Could he claim time with his kids? Then the healer walked in front of him and he brought himself back to the present—the literal blanket of resentful energy stirring up beasties was more pressing. He looked purposely at the healer and then at Lan WangJi in question.

Lan WangJi gave a half-nod that seemed hesitant, so Wei WuXian glossed over details as he explained, “I went to see the cause for the resentful energy. I saw the Lan disciples, and was worried that a senior disciple might recognise me so I borrowed some of the clothes of the female household staff and used that to sneak around the Manner. I listened in on what the First Lady of Mo had said to the disciples and then went in search of the site of the summoning and the body of the first victim… though he was probably one of the summoners. The array used in the summoning looked like an array that utilised the power in a willing self-sacrifice to summon a spirit into the body of the summoner. A lot of that is conjecture based on observations, the fact that the victim had been drained of bodily fluids and life, and following events. It would be clear to most cultivators that the array had been drawn wrong and that for a non-cultivator there would need to be some sort of instructions. So I went in search of the young master's room as he was the one that found the servant and was the most likely to have had removed anything from the summoning room. I found letters sent to the young master claiming to teach him cultivation and partial notes on the array, and the dead body of the servant girl that probably had been sent that morning to change the bed linen for the young master. Her corpse was much like that of the original body. So, I assume whatever that was in the young master had come from the summoning the night prior and lived inside his body for the day.”

“Mn,” replied Lan WangJi clearly satisfied, and then he asked, “Do you know why the Juniors thought you were the ghost of the Second Lady of Mo?”

“I must look a bit like her? I think the servants started it.”

“And CangSe SanRen?”

“Uh… I…” Wei WuXian tried to wave it off with a bit of a chuckle than he took a breath and continued, “I thought the world hated me and most of my loved ones were dead. So, I have just been travelling around and generally avoiding areas with a Sect presence, but occasionally I get stuck and fear that I’ll be recognised, so I got this dress as a disguise, and then I usually use my mother’s name… well, Wei CangSe.”

“QiRen-Shugong has been worried about CangSe SanRen for a couple years now!” said Lan WenNuan said with a glint of amusement in her eyes.

“Err… would it make him feel better if he knew it was me the whole time and not my mother back from the dead?”

“Just Wei WuXian back from the dead,” returned Lan WangJi.

Wei WuXian just started laughing. He continued as the healer declared that he just needed rest and didn’t seem like he would suffer lasting damage. Since Wei WuXian wouldn’t calm Lan WangJi was set to take Wei WuXian away and find him a place to rest.

They walked to the jingshi, Wei WuXian was still laughing, though a bit more subdued. Lan WangJi kept a guiding hand on the man still in a dress, partially so he wouldn’t run and partially so he wouldn’t fall over in his mirth, and partially because he was alive.

But it hurt Lan WangJi deep down that Wei WuXian had come back to life a few years ago and didn’t come to him. They had been married, had three children together, and Wei WuXian hadn’t wanted to come back to them. There was a little voice deep down a flicker of a flame of hope that said that Wei WuXian had thought the children dead, perhaps he couldn’t face Lan WangJi over that sadness. But there was a bigger piece that mocked him saying that they had never truly been married to begin with, that it had been a lark by the now dead Wen Qing.

Lan WangJi had waited thirteen years expecting that he would have had to wait even longer, for the next life to see Wei WuXian again, he could wait a bit more. Maybe once Wei WuXian had gotten to see how the children had grown up, and how dedicated Lan WangJi still was, Wei WuXian would stay in Cloud Recesses. Because even if it was typical for married couples to live apart—Lan WangJi had waited 13 years, had come too late to save his husband—he wanted to hold Wei WuXian in his arms for forever.

They entered the jingshi and Lan WangJi moved around in a way that it was clear that he was comfortable in the space. Wei WuXian peered around curiously but couldn’t see that there was anything that said adult female also shared the space. He could see some child’s drawings but nothing of Lan WangJi’s wife. But Cloud Recesses completely separated out their male and female disciples, so perhaps they did it with their male and female spouses as well?

Wei WuXian was a bit baffled to see that Lan WangJi made tea and then poured two cups, and then as an afterthought removed a floorboard and pulled out a jar of Emperor’s Smile and poured a single teacup full of that as well.

“Emperor’s Smile? Lan Zhan, Lan Zhan, is that Emperor’s Smile?” babbled Wei WuXian as he leapt into a seat at the table.

“Mn.”

“But the rules! Lan Zhan,” hedged Wei WuXian.

Lan WangJi just gave Wei WuXian a look that was trying to tell Wei WuXian so many things. The elder pushed the alcohol to the younger and Wei WuXian looked  down a moment, he could have sworn that Lan WangJi was trying to convey that the alcohol had always been for him—and that just couldn’t be, could it? Wei WuXian took a drink. When he slammed the cup back onto the table, Lan WangJi silently refilled it. “Lan Zhan you are too good.”

“Wei Ying,” returned Lan WangJi, he paused for a moment like that was the beginning and end of his thought. He took a sip of his tea and then added, “The resentful energy is going to cause many problems.”

“Yes,” agreed Wei WuXian, “after the initial surge and spread of resentful energy, it was acting like a beacon calling all like to like. But then when we killed the creature, the beacon stopped and it feels like the resentful energy is spreading again.”

“All the Sects are working on it,” added Lan WangJi.

“That is probably a good thing.”

“Can you tell me more?”

Wei WuXian studied Lan WangJi for a minute then he reached into his sleeve and pulled out a bunch of papers. He took a minute to separate them out into two piles. He put a hand on each pile and then looked up to meet golden orbs. “These are the papers I found. This pile,” he pressed the pile under his left hand, “is copies of my notes, incomplete copies on theoretical Demonic Cultivation arrays, multiple arrays, which I don’t want anyone to know about. This,” he pressed his right hand down, “is letters from an unknown individual to the Young Master of Mo I assume, I found them in his rooms.” He pushed the pile of letters across the table to Lan WangJi.

Wei WuXian drank his alcohol and refilled his own cup as Lan WangJi perused the letters. “These are worrying.”

“Do you recognise the handwriting?”

“No,” Lan WangJi said and then paused considering, “I know the son of the Second Lady of Mo, he is a cultivation disciple, he may have insight… but he doesn’t like strangers. I can find him quickly, would… Wei Ying wait here and rest from Zidian? And I will return once I speak to him.”

“Am I a prisoner?”

“No,” there was a frantic look on Lan WangJi’s face and he almost shouted his protest. Then HanGuang-Jun physically reined himself in and added, “If someone has misused your work you are the best person to solve the issue, I will not investigate without you, it is just Mo… and you could use the rest.”

Wei WuXian agreed, "All right Lan Zhan." He didn't really trust the statement that he would not be held prisoner, but he took comfort in that lying was forbidden in Cloud Recesses. 

Lan WangJi looked happy and hummed a bit while drinking his tea, Wei WuXian had a bit more of the alcohol and the tea. "I will leave soon, you can stay here I will have WenNuan bring you lunch."

"Why did you pick WenNuan for her courtesy name? Doesn't it hint too much at her origins?"

"It does," agreed Lan WangJi, "it was the name of her mother, she died in child birth, A-Lian asked for her mother's name. She wanted to honour that spirit."

"And no one has discovered that her birth mother was one Wen Nuan?"

"The children teleported to me, with a registry, the registry stated that Lan Yuan and Lan Lian were birthed by a Wei Ying not a Wen."

Wei WuXian spit out the tea he had been drinking to a comical effect, then he picked up the jar of Emperor’s Smile and tried to calm his coughing with it, but the jar had run dry. Lan WangJi took the jar from his hand placed it back under the floorboards and pulled out a second bottle and handed it over to Wei WuXian; who drank gratefully.

"Does everyone think they are your bastards?"

"It also had the record of our wedding."

Wei WuXian coughed again and then said, "So, the world thinks that you got the Yiling Patriarch pregnant?"!

There was a flare in Lan WangJi's golden orbs and he hummed in agreement, but shook his head in the end. "The records were smudged; I believe the elders read your Ying as the Ying in cherry instead."

Wei WuXian choked again but this time on laughter. They drank amicably for a little while longer and then Lan WangJi insisted that Wei WuXian get into the bed and rest. Lan WangJi pulled out Wangji and played their song until Wei WuXian had fallen asleep and then Lan WangJi left the jingshi to find his daughter and then Cloud Recesses to find Jiang XuanYu.

there was a light knocking on the door and Wei WuXian croaked out, "Come in." the door slid open and his daughter—just too young to actually attend classes at Cloud Recesses with the guest disciples, but still grown!—was framed in the doorway a tray of food in hand. She came in and set the tray down. The scents made their way to Wei WuXian's nose and he could smell the delicious aroma of a properly spiced meal, which got Wei WuXian out of the bed and to the table. "I never thought I would see the day that Cloud Recesses would spice their food!"

"A-Die said that you would prefer the food from town," replied Lan WenNuan.

"Ah, I do! I do! Lan Zhan has such a good memory! He is too good!"

"A-Ma is good too," the girl returned with a smile.

"What a filial child! Lan Zhan raised you well! But tell your old A-Ma all about yourself and your brothers! You are training to be a healer?"

"Mn, A-Die said that Aunt Qing was the best healer in the world! I don't remember her but I want to be just like her!" Lan WenNuan began and then she proceeded to catch her A-Ma up on their family. After the meal Lan WenNuan had Wei WuXian change into his regular robes and follows her to the back of the mountains to help catch the rabbits and put them in the hutch. "A-Die said you gave him the first two rabbits and then they had babies."

"I thought those rabbits were both male?"

"So are you and A-Die, A-Ma," stated Lan WenNuan like it was a practical and irrefutable truth. She continued to reminisce, "My brother's said that you would bury them in the radish patch so they would grow, we don't have radishes here so A-Die would bury us in rabbits, since the rabbits like to eat radishes."

Wei WuXian laughed and had to agree it was a sound argument, they spent the time before twilight herding rabbits and then the sunset relaxing in the field and chatting. Wei WuXian thought as he sat next to his little Blue Lotus that Cloud Recesses wasn't so bad after all, in the quiet with his daughter. It quashed the nagging voice in the back of his heart asking where Lan WangJi's wife was and their children—HanGuang-Jun's children by blood. Wei WuXian assumed the boys had been old enough to remember the Burial Mounds and that they had called him their A-Ma, and young enough that they would have told their sister without understanding the weight of it. And HanGuang-Jun was too good, that he would have saved and indulged the children. But as he laughed with his daughter in a rabbit field painted orange in the setting sun, he couldn't think such morose thoughts.

Lan WangJi made it to Lotus Pier before the evening had gotten too far from him and found that Jiang XuanYu, was there taking his turn at patrolling the towns for anything that could be stirred up by the explosion of resentful energy. Lan WangJi was able to talk to some of the people at Lotus Pier and they had insisted on calling Jiang XuanYu back. So a disciple was off to take over Jiang XuanYu's rounds and send the youth back. Lan WangJi was offered a meal as he waited for Jiang XuanYu to arrive, he took the meal so he could be free to talk when Jiang XuanYu arrived and made sure that there would be food waiting for the youth, so he could eat when he got back.

"HanGuang-Jun," said Jiang XuanYu when he entered the small private dining room that Lan WangJi had been left in. after the boy bowed and moved to the other side of the table a maidservant came in with a tray of food and put it down in front of Jiang XuanYu. The boy with dark eyes a bit like Wei WuXian's looked up at Lan WangJi. The elder made a gesture that encompassed that he should eat.

After a few mouthfuls of food, Jiang XuanYu said, "What can I do for HanGuang-Jun?"

"Have you heard that the source of the resentful energy was Mo Manner?"

The boy swallowed audibly and said after a long moment, "I heard it was in the area at least."

"A servant friend of your cousin and possibly your cousin as well attempted a summoning array, and the explosion was the result of their attempt. Some unknown creature took residence in your cousin and the creature killed the friend of your cousin and at least one other servant."

"I didn't do it!"

Lan WangJi tipped his head to the side. "I did not mean to imply that you were also involved, I am just explaining."

"I apologise for my assumption HanGuang-Jun," replied Jiang XuanYu with his head bowed over his food.

"In your cousin's room incomplete notes on the array and letters from an unknown individual were found. I was hoping you could look at the letters and see if you recognised the hand writing."

"Oh, yes! I can do that HanGuang-Jun!" replied Jiang XuanYu clearly more relaxed; Lan WangJi took out the letters and handed them over. It was clear quite quickly that he didn't know the hand that inked them. "I don't know the hand that wrote these, but let me read through them and I can see if I can recognise anything in the words themselves."

Lan WangJi hummed, he gestured for the boy to eat, and he took the papers and organised them as best he could by date, so that the first letters were on the top and then then handed them back. Jiang XuanYu read while he ate. When he had finished both meal and letters he looked back up at Lan WangJi, darker eyes meeting lighter ones. "Did you see the incomplete notes on the arrays?"

"Mn."

"Where they in Wei WuXian's hand?"

"No, they were his work but copies of the notes."

"I see, could you recognise them it you saw them again?"

"Mn."

"We shall check the library here. After the siege Sect Leader really only took Wei WuXian's flute as his due for the spoils, he took some of the papers as well, but the majority of the papers went to LanlingJin. By the description in the letter it sounds like something I had seen while I was studying in LanlingJin. But we should check the library here."

"Wise," replied Lan WangJi.

They went into the library and Jiang XuanYu went directly over to where the scraps of Wei WuXian's research had been kept. Jiang WanYin had gone over them with as fine a toothed comb as was possible and had determined the papers that they had had to be harmless and then in the spirit of the Sect motto had placed them in the library.

Lan WangJi took his time over the fragments relishing in seeing the familiar messy scrawl, despite having the real thing back in Cloud Recesses. "None of these."

Jiang XuanYu nodded and though for a moment. "Then the source of these letters is not in YunmengJiang, or had a way to get to the library. In LanlingJin the papers are kept under lock and key outside of Lanling. So you are looking for someone that could gain access to the area."

"Do you know who has access?"

"Xue Yang and Jin GuangYao, perhaps a few servants and any of the other LanlingJin Demonic Cultivators," replied Jiang XuanYu he looked intently at Lan WangJi to see his reaction.

"LanlingJin had Demonic Cultivators?"

"As my cousin proved you don't need to have a golden core to do Demonic Cultivation, and as Wei WuXian proved it is powerful. Of course Jin GuangShan would want to have it in his retinue."

"All right, can you think of why someone in LanlingJin would send the letters?"

Jiang XuanYu studied Lan WangJi for another moment. "I've told you about Xue Yang and the LanlingJin Demonic Cultivators. Those were two secrets that I had guarded. If I tell you more of my secrets HanGuang-Jun you need to not tell a soul that they were mine and you need to understand that knowing the secrets even just the two you know would mean your life if known by the wrong people."

There was a pregnant silence as Lan WangJi mulled over the words. "Mn."

"If either Xue Yang or Jin GuangYao learned that I knew some of their secrets, they could have set this up to frame me. Or to just draw attention away from their selves as they do something sinister. Last I knew they thought I was in Mo Village so I or my cousin were meant to be their unwitting dupe, you did notice that the first couple letters were addressed to me?"

Lan WangJi hadn't looked too closely at the words of all the letters and when he organised them he had skipped the introduction and gone to the meat of the letters to gauge a timeframe, since none were dated. He shook his head, and Jiang XuanYu handed the letters back to Lan WangJi and pointed to his name on the top most letter.

"There is also the chance that someone else found out Jin GuangYao and Xue Yang's secrets and are trying to set them up to expose them. Or initially wanted my help, but had to change their plans when my cousin answered. You cannot bring this no matter the situation to Jin GuangYao; he should not be trusted—“

"My brother...?" interrupted Lan WangJi.

"From what I remember Jin GuangYao likes your brother, as long as he knows none of the secrets he should be safe. Xue Yang on the other hand is a psychopath even if you captured him I don't think that you would get any answers from him. He'll be harder to find since Jin GuangYao came back, but you could probably get Xue Yang to give you his opinion on the explosion, and you would have to gauge his involvement on that answer."

"I will look into the matter," replied Lan WangJi, he moved to leave the library and then paused, “There may be rumours that your mother’s ghost was at Mo Manner when your cousin died, and these rumour are false.” With those words Lan WangJi left the library.

He stayed the night in the guest chamber at Lotus Pier and then returned to Cloud Recesses in the morning. Jiang XuanYu decided once Lan WangJi had gone he too would go. He would check to see if Xue Yang was at the Training Grounds and see if Wei WuXian's notes were still there, and then he would check other hidey-holes that he knew of. The increase of resentful energy was a serious problem.

Chapter Text

Lan WangJi had already had suspicions about Jin GuangYao and how he handled things. But he was the sworn brother of Lan WangJi’s brother. And he knew that Lan XiChen held Jin GuangYao in high regard, he also knew that Jin GuangYao had saved his brother before the Sunshot Campaign. Prior to the conversation with Jiang XuanYu he had always assumed that the driving force behind Jin GuangYao’s more questionable machinations had been Jin GuangShan; now, now Lan WangJi had more worries. But Jiang XuanYu brought up a good point about Lan XiChen being safer if he was kept in the dark, and Lan WangJi was good friends with Xiao XingChen and Song ZiChen and they had been hunting Xue Yang for a long time.

So, Lan WangJi would pick up Wei WuXian and then they would head south to Tingshan. The mountain that the small TingshanHe sect had been established on. That had been a strange mystery as it just so happened that in one day the small sect whose members were mainly from the same clan disappeared, servants and all. From stories of Xue Yang Lan WangJi would have thought that it had been Xue Yang but the bodies had never been found. After their wedding Xiao XingChen and Song ZiChen looked for a place to set up a sect, but they didn’t feel equipped to deal in the politics so they didn’t form a sect so much as a cultivation school. They had thought to take over the old Chang estate in Yueyang but there were still a few remnants of that sect alive. So they took the mountain that had been the He estate. With it being so far south of the great sects it was easy to stay out of politics, and while they said they were a non-sect, a school, whatever you wanted to call their sect of ideals instead of blood, they hadn’t taken any disciples that hadn’t understood that Xue Yang was still out there and had a grudge.

"HanGuang-Jun!" came an alarmed voice when Lan WangJi entered Cloud Recesses. Lan WangJi was a bit surprised at the volume that his name was spoken in and turned to reprimand the disciple when the man threw out a map and added, "Reports from the watch towers, there is disturbances further north than the visible resentful energy cloud!"

Lan WangJi took the map and studied it carefully the area around Yueyang which was north of the cloud of energy had a suspicious amount of activity. "I will head to the Yueyang area, if any messages come for a coordinated effort, please inform them of my position. And send word to Tingshan, this is an area that they have worked a lot in."

The disciple took the map back and bowed. Lan WangJi went to the jingshi, he entered his rooms quietly not sure what he would find, he had told Wei WuXian to rest but he didn't know if the other man would listen to him or not. He found Wei WuXian asleep in Lan WangJi's bed and the elder paused for a long moment he breathed in the sight of the younger man in his bed. It made him feel too old looking at the man as he only appeared to be a couple years older than he had been when he had died.

"Wei Ying," said Lan WangJi as he knelt by the bed and put a hand on Wei WuXian's shoulder.

"Mrr...ff... Lan Zhan?"

"There is activity further north than expected; do you feel well enough to investigate?"

Wei WuXian woke up a lot faster than Lan WangJi had ever seen him and wondered if it was the prospect of an adventure. "What did you learn from that Mo person?"

"He had connections to the Jins when Jin GuangShan was Leader..."

"So, he knows where some of the bodies are buried from the previous regime?" asked Wei WuXian and he got ready.

"Mn. He said that the Jin Sect and the Jiang Sect were the only ones with your papers, and we looked at what the Jiangs had, and I didn't recognise any of your notes."

"So, does he think that it is one of his old associates getting back at him or trying to frame him?"

"Mn, or..."

"Or someone is trying to frame the old associates, by using cultivation techniques that only the Jin or I would know."

"Mn, or..."

"Or someone knows I'm alive again and are trying to frame me."

"Mn."

"Where are we going?"

"Yueyang area, we know that there was a Jin Sect Demonic Cultivator that had a grudge with the YueyangChang Sect, swore to kill everyone in the Clan, last I knew there were a few people still alive."

"So, we need to determine if the activity is due to this Demonic Cultivator or the recent explosion of resentful energy?"

"Mn. Can you fly?"

Wei WuXian nodded along as he went around the room and collected his things; he tapped his nose a couple times and pouted. "You’re right if we fly, we can go in a straight line at a faster speed and be able to get a clearer impression of the resentful energy cloud. But Suibian and I cannot fly for long, we'd slow you down."

"I can take you.'

"Would that not also slow us down?"

"I can take you and then you can determine which would be faster."

"All right let's go! We should say good-bye to WenNuan first."

"Mn."

They said their good-byes and then left Cloud Recesses and headed off on Bichen. Wei WuXian had to admit that it was faster to ride double than it was on Suibian. The thought hurt a bit as Suibian had been built for speed and now they couldn't fly as they had been able to before.  Lan WangJi had his arm around Wei WuXian so he wouldn't fall off, and as close as they were on the blade of Bichen, Wei WuXian could feel how much of his spiritual energy that Lan WangJi was expending to carrying them northward, and he could pretend that they were still married.

They stopped for the night and got a single room, but it had two beds. Lan WangJi paid for everything and even got a bottle of wine for Wei WuXian, but he wouldn't buy a second one. And when Wei WuXian started to insist Lan WangJi touched his pressure points that froze Wei WuXian and then told him to sleep and curled them together in one bed. Wei WuXian didn't want to go to bed at GusuLan time, but he couldn't complain that he was in Lan WangJi's arms.

Early than Wei WuXian would have liked but later then Lan WangJi would have preferred they got out of bed and headed back on their trajectory. They hadn't been flying long when Wei WuXian said, "The ambient amount of resentful energy that is in the air has increased a bit, it feels like ripples or slow waves, pushing in the direction that we are going, I think the cloud is expanding."

"If it has increased overnight…"

"Yes, I think you are on the right path, unless there was something we missed in the Mo Village than the resentful energy will press outward eventually there will be none in Mo Village, but there will still be the cloud in the surrounding areas, until it dissipates."

"Mn."

The next stop they had no choice but to get a room with a single bed, and Lan WangJi aggressively cuddled Wei WuXian in his sleep, not that the younger was complaining. They continued on like that sometimes they would stop and get two beds and sometimes one, but they always ended up sharing. Since they were still flying on Bichen they were stopping earlier in the evening then was typical. They would stay in the main room of the inn for the meal and listen to the gossip and then sometime patrol around outside the city limits to see what was going on.

They got out of the sphere of the resentful energy and into the areas which were deep within the old QishanWen's sphere of influence. Whatever the towers were reporting or sensing Lan WangJi and Wei WuXian were finding no evidence of, though Lan WangJi was guessing how close they were to the areas that had been marked on the map.

One night as they were on separate swords seeing how the areas outside the city were doing, they heard the wail of a child. Wei WuXian sped off in the direction of the sound, but Lan WangJi caught up to him and reached a handout to slow Wei WuXian. "Wait it is too loud."

Wei WuXian paused to and listened for a second, it didn't sound like a single baby it sounded like perhaps half a dozen. The Yiling Patriarch looked at Lan WangJi in question, "who would leave so many children alone?"

"Could be creatures like the Yayu," replied Lan WangJi.

"But they are lone hunters; do you think it is an effect of the resentful energy?"

"Perhaps, but let's approach with caution."

They headed in the direction of the sound of the crying and as they got closer, they heard the wails of human adults, mixed with the sounds of the crying infants. They flew closer and were startled to find a pack of yayus at least six of them prowling the street of a small village as people ran into houses. Wei WuXian turned to Lan WangJi and asked, “How did you know it would be yayu?”

Lan WangJi took in the scene and said instead, “Their behaviour is most strange.”

Wei WuXian turned to look at the scene and Lan WangJi was right the yayu were stalking the street and howling, but they seemed to be sniffing out something specific and mainly ignoring the screaming people. “It looks like they are hunting something or someone specific, we should get ahead of them and see if we can find it first.”

“Mn,” replied Lan WangJi as he pushed Bichen ahead.

The village was small and it didn’t take long to get to the opposite end and see that the houses at the end of the village had already filled with many of the townsfolk. Lan WangJi set off a flare, it had been a hard fight all those years ago against the two yayu; six would be a whole different issue. Hopefully they could find whatever the yayu were hunting and remove it. If it was removed the best case scenario would be that the yayu would disperse and return to their separate hunting grounds.

They landed and poked a head in the first house they had come to; the small room was packed with frightened people. Wei WuXian put a finger to his lips and then made a staying gesture and then they moved to the house on the other side of the road. It was in the third house when a desperate voice rang out, “HanGuang-Jun, HanGuang-Jun you have to help!”

Lan WangJi studied the man for a long moment and then said, “You are from YueyangChang Sect.”

“Yes, please HanGuang-Jun you have to help!”

“Where is your sword?”

The man looked down, his face turned red and he stuttered out, “I… I… left it in my home when I fled.”

Wei WuXian asked, “Which is your home?”

The man from the YueyangChang Sect gave out directions to one of the houses that had been closer to where Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi had first seen the yayu. Wei WuXian went back for it, while Lan WangJi stood to block the path of the slowly stalking pack of yayu.

The house in question was swarming with the yayu when Wei WuXian reached it and he stayed hovering on Suibian watching the man-eaters tear apart the furniture and the clothes in the wardrobe. If there had been a question about who the yayu were hunting before, it had been pushed from Wei WuXian’s mind at the sight. Three of the yayu peeled away and went back to snuffling the ground outside the house. They spent some time going around the house, and following common paths to the wood pile and the outhouse and back. Dark-grey eyes could see the sword in question through the window and the one yayu who found the blade of interest. Wei WuXian bet that the hilt at the least would reek of the owner to such a beast. The spiritual weapon had also been left unsheathed. Wei WuXian could see the man drawing his sword with the intention to fight and then in a panic at seeing the six beasts dropping it and running. It was still odd behaviour for a cultivator, but there was something niggling at the back of Wei WuXian’s mind about the YueyangChang Sect, had Lan WangJi told him about them? A few days as ago? Had he heard about them on his travels beforehand?

Yes, that was it! They were the sect that had been hunted to almost extinction by Xue Yang. Could Xue Yang somehow be controlling the yayu? Six of them, so far against their nature? He could no longer contemplate that as the yayu tried to bite the unsheathed sword and howled in pain—a heart wrench wail of an injured baby—as it got cut by the spiritual weapon. The yayu reared away lashing out with great scaly paws the sword went skittering out of view of the window and the last three yayu left the house.

Wei WuXian waited a moment until the yayu were back on the road and then he went into the house. He knew where the sheath was but the force the hurt yayu had exerted had pushed the sword under the debris of a broken table and some torn up fabric, which may have been cushions.

As he approached where he had left Lan WangJi he could see that there was two figures in white standing in the road to protect those hiding in the houses from the man-eating beasts. For a moment Wei WuXian thought that it most have been a second GusuLan cultivator, but then one of the shadows moved and Wei WuXian saw a man in black shift on his feet, perhaps restless for the upcoming fight.

He landed in front of the group and saw that newcomer in white had turned towards the noise of Wei WuXian’s arrival and had his sword out. Lan WangJi hovered a hand over the man’s shoulder and said, “It’s just your Shizhi.”

Wei WuXian made a hasty bow, two swords in hand, “Xiao XingChen, Song ZiChen, well met. Four or five of us against six yayu… sadly, is not enough.”

“Mn.”

Xiao XingChen bowed in the direction of Wei WuXian. “Shizhi, I am glad you are not dead. We have a plan; do you have the hunted man’s sword?”

“I do, I do.”

Song ZiChen moved further into the shadows by a house and brought the YueyangChang cultivator onto the road with him. He kept a firm eye on the man, a freezing look that was as good as any staying hand. Wei WuXian handed over the sword. “Please must I?” pleaded the man.

“We are going to save your life and you are going to save these people,” replied Song ZiChen in a tone of a man that had long made the same explanation.

There was a pregnant pause and then the man swallowed hard, nodded his head, and then he mounted his sword. Wei WuXian thought that the sword didn’t look so happy about it, but maybe they just weren’t the best flying pair to begin with.

“Wei Ying stay and guard the people,” said Lan WangJi. Wei WuXian nodded and then Song ZiChen and Lan WangJi also mounted their swords. They flew high and back towards the yayu. It was silent as they waited Wei WuXian wanted to say something to his Shishu but also knew that they needed to focus in case the force of six scaly beasts descended on them. 

A spot in the village was chosen and Lan WangJi landed and made sure the houses were clear. There were a few people and he sent them back to Wei WuXian and Xiao XingChen. Then the hunted man dismounted and paced the width of the road before he walked between two houses that butted against the field and then walked across the field all the time on edge to jump on his blade and flee into the forest on the other side of the field. The shout came when he was not even half way across the field; he mounted his sword and flew low enough to the ground to keep his scent available. Song ZiChen appeared at his side and they made their way to the forest. They had a decent head start on the man-eaters and so they spent some time weaving between the trees until the six yayu had caught up and then they gained altitude and stayed clearly out of reach of the beasts but within sight in case they stopped chasing the pair.

Lan WangJi made it back to the other’s first. “They should be gone.”

They mobilised the people and got all the villagers in the most easily defendable place in the village and had everyone settle down for the night. There was a bit of a fuss about propriety, but fear won out. Some of the non-cultivators who knew how to fight offered to take shifts on watch, especially when they learned that Xiao Qing the blind looking girl would be sharing watch with her father the blind cultivator. It was a stressful night with little sleep had by many, Song ZiChen returned in the pre-dawn hours and the rising of the sun was a cause for celebration.

The village was small and poor but the people all pitched together to prepare a meal for their cultivating saviours. Over breakfast Song ZiChen said, “The yayu appeared to have followed the Chang cultivator for quite the distance, but we lost them going over a mountain. I sent him to Tingshan; our wards should keep him safe.”

"Since there was a member of the YueyangChang Sect involved I am inclined to believe that Xue Yang is involved," said Xiao XingChen, "but I cannot see how as it was yayus and not the man himself that did the attacking."

"But the yayus were acting strange," added Wei WuXian, "could Xue Yang have trained them somehow? To hunt down just a single person?"

"I have never heard of such a thing," admitted Xiao XingChen.

"Yiling," returned Lan WangJi.

The name made Wei WuXian perk up, "What about Yiling?"

"A couple years after... after, there were two yayus that attacked a family in their home. They initially ignored me and continued to try to get at the couple that had hid themselves in a stout wardrobe. Even when the yayus were being attacked one at least would try to get at the people in the wardrobe."

"That is also strange behaviour," Song ZiChen said.

Xiao Qing looked around the table and then focused on Lan WangJi. "So, you think that someone has trained the yayus to hunt a person or people, and they have been doing it for years?"

"Mn."

"There had been an explosion of energy when Xian-Shizhi... destroyed his amulet, and because of the Burial Mounds, Yiling enjoys a higher than usual amount of ambient resentful energy. And this time there was another explosion of energy. Perhaps it is an effect on the yayus that we just didn't know about before," Xiao XingChen returned.

"Both are possible. Were the people in Yiling related to the YueyangChang Sect or Xue Yang?" asked Wei WuXian.

"Not that I know of."

"We need to look into the matter and see if we can track down Xue Yang," decided Song ZiChen. The rest agreed and finished their meals and then went off to find beds that they could use to sleep the day away.

They stayed in the village for a few days to make sure that the yayus would not be coming back. The village was small and had no inn so they were all put up in separate people’s houses. A family with four daughters had taken Xiao Qing in to share the sleeping space with the four girls and the cultivators were spread throughout the village. It was partially because those were the houses that had the spare space for them and partially so if something happened there wouldn't be far to run to find one of the cultivators. Everyone insisted on returning the generosity with coin but the village staunchly refused. They did take the help in rebuilding the buildings that had been destroyed or damaged in the chaos of the yayu attack.

It was decided that the Tingshan Trio would accompany Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi on their investigation, because the yayus hunting a member of the YueyangChang Sect just stank of Xue Yang. So they headed up in the direction of Yueyang, while asking along the way for anything out of the ordinary, and gauging the cloud of resentful energy.

Wei WuXian admitted that he had been the woman Li Li that had helped Xiao XingChen find Xiao Qing, the day before the wedding, which got an incredulous look from Xiao Qing as she looked the man up and down as if to gauge whether they had been the same person or not. "I don't think you could make a convincing woman," she decided.

There was a burst of laughter that almost had Wei WuXian falling from his sword. "I looked so much like my mother; the sight of me almost killed Lan Zhan's uncle. I had a whole house thinking I was the ghost of their Second Lady. I make a very convincing woman."

"We had heard rumours of my martial sister," commented Xiao XingChen.

"Yeah, that was me and I also went by CangZe SanRen for both of my parents, and I used Qing... like the Qing in wenqing, tender feelings, a few times. I have had a lot of names."

Xiao XingChen frowned, "You could have come to us, instead of hiding for so long."

"I respect Song ZiChen, and I know that he does not have any bad feelings towards me, but after I came back from the dead? I don't think it would have been a safe thing to come to you. And I truly thought that my children had died and the world hated me."

"I have seen the Yiling Patriarch protection charms on the decline in the markets," added Song ZiChen.

"That was me too!" exclaimed Wei WuXian with a wave, "I gave out real protection charms right next to those charlatans in a few different cities. I would take donations, what the people thought the charms were worth or could afford. I would even have some people come back the day or two later to give coin for my actual helpful talismans. One of the charlatans was amazed at how much money I had gotten based on donations that he decided to sell proper talismans instead!"

Xiao Qing laughed at that and Xiao XingChen's arms tightened on her so she would not fall from the sword. Shuanghua was a good blade strong and steady and the trio had learned once the truth was out in the open about Xiao Qing's eyes that Shuanghua could carry both of the Xiaos and Xiao Qing was the eyes, the navigator, and Xiao XingChen the helmsman.

They made it to Yueyang and found an inn for the night. Wei WuXian marvelled at the way that Song ZiChen handled crowds as compared to Lan WangJi. Both men didn't like to be touched and they both walked through the crowds differently. Lan WangJi walked with a purpose and a look in his eye that demanded that he be left alone, but took no notice of the casual brushes of shoulders that could occur in a busy street. Song ZiChen on the other hand seemed to dance around the street dodging even those little touches.  Xiao Qing had an arm looped through her father's arm and she also seemed to dance at his side while she used the pole to clear the path before them of people. Wei WuXian wondered at the people he was with and how they adapted and dealt with life, and he wondered what an outsider would see in him as he made his way down the street.

If he had had his way they would have visited many alcohol shops, bought wine, and gossiped, to gain their info. But Wei WuXian was the only one in the group that drank, and a blind cultivator brought a bit too much attention so just sitting in the back and listening to the people chatter around them was also out.

They sat in the main room of their inn and Lan WangJi made sure to order a couple of the house's most spicy dishes for Wei WuXian. When the food came Song ZiChen filled a plate with bits from the communal in the centre of the table, while Xiao Qing narrated what each thing was. The girl handed Xiao XingChen a pair of chopsticks and then a bowl of rice. When Song ZiChen placed the plate before his husband, they all started to eat. The meal was mostly silent Wei WuXian not even talking as he was straining his ears to pick up gossip. He had a couple jars of alcohol for himself. Xiao Qing was a young woman and looked like she might want to have a drink, but she too refrained.

In the end they didn't have to ask for rumours as a man from a nearby table came over and said, "Excuse this one honourable Daozhangs, but we had heard that further south there was an explosion of resentful energy and that it has stirred up the dead and the monsters. Are you here because that plight has reached us here in Yueyang?"

The question seemed to have silenced the room as everyone wanted to hear the answer. Wei WuXian chuckled and waved off the formalities. "No need for such deferential speech. It has not reached Yueyang from what we can tell. We are here to see if there has been any unusual activity. We are trying to determine how far the influence has reached. And we would also like to remind you that the Watch Towers are still in place, if things should change for Yueyang later."

The man who had asked his question looked relieved and he bowed to them before returning to his own table. When they were going up to their rooms the one of the serving women pulled them aside in a niche in the upstairs hallway away from the eyes of the patrons in the main room. "Everyone wanted to know why you were here, and your words Young Master soothed a lot of people's nerves, but well no one wants to be the one to say that there have been problems. But I would prefer to ask for your help."

"Of course we will do what we can to help," replied Wei WuXian.

Xiao XingChen smiled. "Some problems can arise in the normal course of life and even if it is related to the problems that occurred further south, it would be best to have everything taken care of sooner rather than later."

The girl nodded and smiled a bit shakily. "Some time ago now the Sect that lived here was slaughtered. The night it happened it was said that the gates of their manor were closed and now one could get in or out. The death screams of those trapped inside were horrifying and the people also banged on the gates begging for someone to help they get out and that knocking could be heard with the screams far from the house. In the morning—“

The serving girl choked off, and Xiao XingChen put on another smile, "It is all right, I had investigated the murders when they had happened, you don't need to say more."

The girl nodded and took a deep breath. "It had been a haunted place ever since. People who walk by the house or children who dare each other to go into the manor would say that they had heard the knocking or the screams. But you had to be there to hear it. But now the knocking is back and you can hear it from further away."

They reassured the serving girl that they would go out to look into it. And they asked her a couple more questions to establish the timeline as compared to the calamity at Mo Village and found that the knocking had only started a few days prior. Xiao Qing had her own room and the two sets of husbands had their own rooms. Xiao Qing would go out to take in the city in the early evening and see if she could hear anything new, while the four men would go to Chang Manor. Before they separated Song ZiChen made sure that his daughter was well armed and had a couple signal flares on her. Once her fathers were satisfied they all left.

It was still early evening when they got to the manor and with a good leap Wei WuXian was the first to bypass the locked gate and enter the manor’s courtyard. Lan WangJi and Song ZiChen with Xiao XingChen followed after. The later described the scene he had seen the morning after the slaughter.  

There was nothing. Well nothing that they hadn't expected. And there were no signs of anyone having been in the manor recently, not even the signs of squatters. But they waited for the night to get on and give more power to the dead. The echoes of the screams that had seeped into the walls of the manor rose in volume but they didn't reach a pitch that would be far reaching. The knocking when it started was loud the group of four moved around looking for the source of the sound and found the graveyard.

"The corpses are knocking on their coffins, trying to get out," said Wei WuXian.

Xiao XingChen nodded. "Yes we should look for something that has disturbed their rest."

They spread out and searched the area but could find nothing disturbed or out of place. They met back at the gate and they all shook their heads to say that they found nothing. Lan WangJi suggested, "Inquiry."

"It could help," agreed Song ZiChen.

Lan WangJi pulled out his guqin and started to play. The knocking stopped and the entire graveyard went still. Lan WangJi asked his question and then waited. Multiple spirits came forward screaming their pain into Wangji, "Xue Yang! Xue Yang! Xue Yang!"

It took longer for Lan WangJi to calm them down and then get more details out of the spirits. Finally, he put away the guqin and turned to his companions. "They say that Xue Yang is actively hunting their family members at the moment."

Wei WuXian brushed his nose with his thumb a couple times and hummed. "Is this the first time he has hunted the survivors since the massacre?"

"No," answer Song ZiChen.

"But this was something out of the ordinary that it was mentioned to us as a new occurrence since Mo Village. It could mean that the resentful energy in the area is higher in normal giving them the energy to try and rise and save their family members. I haven't been this far north in years I don't remember how much resentful energy is their ambient level," reasoned out Wei WuXian.

"Wouldn't that then mean that the increase of resentful energy has spread past the visible cloud of resentful energy?" added Xiao XingChen.

Song ZiChen nodded. "We should send a message to the sects working further south, it is valuable information."

"Or someone wants us to think that it is a new occurrence," conjectured Lan WangJi.

The other three looked at him and then Wei WuXian snapped his fingers and exclaimed, "Of course, no one wanted to talk to us, the serving girl said they were afraid, but what if the corpses are trying to save their relatives every time Xue Yang tries to hunt them?"

"So, why lead us to this what would someone else gain from knowing that YueyangChang Sect is not at rest as long as Xue Yang is hunting them?" asked Song ZiChen.

"They want us to stop him," answered Xiao XingChen.

"Not that," countered Lan WangJi.

Xiao XingChen frowned. "Xue Yang needs to be stopped."

"No, he meant that it might not be to learn about the connection but to think that the knocking is related to Mo Village," clarified Wei WuXian, "we should see if we can find the serving girl again when we return and ask her a few more questions."

They agreed and headed back to their inn. When they stepped into their hall Xiao Qing's door flew open. "There you guys are!"

"Shh... A-Qing it is late, are you all right?" said Xiao XingChen as he walked a bit faster down the hall.

It was clear that she had matters to discuss with them. Wei WuXian opened his door and gestured. "Come let us talk in here."

Once they were all in the room, with Xiao Qing seated between her fathers on one bed and Lan WangJi and Wei WuXian on the other bed, Song ZiChen asked, "What did you hear?"

She turned to look at Song ZiChen and said, "That you have been slaughtering entire villages of people."

"What?" exclaimed Song ZiChen, "I have not"!

"When and where was this supposed to have happened? We haven't been this far north since our wedding!" added Xiao XingChen.

"You've been slaughtering villages’ worth of people too Daozhang according to the rumours I heard, some of the people on the streets are nervous that the two of you are... well, you, because of these rumours."

"You two are Xiao XingChen the bright moon and gentle breeze, disciple of the BaoShan SanRen and Song ZiChen the distant snow and cold frost. You are well known: people know what you look like and your weapons," added Wei WuXian.

"They know we are paragons of virtue!" pointed out Song ZiChen.

The room was silent. Then Wei WuXian purposed, "could this be complete conjecture, rumours started by someone that say didn't want you to follow up on Xue Yang. So they picked villages in remote areas or made up the villages and put them in remote locations so that it would be hard to confirm? So, people just assumed that it had been true."

"We should try to find one of the villages that were attacked, see if we can get more information," Song ZiChen answered.

"The serving girl wasn't found," reminded Lan WangJi.

"Yes," Wei WuXian nodded and reasoned, "then we can perhaps assume that the serving girl and the rumours were to detract from Xue Yang, and since everyone knows that you two are always going after him, they did an educated guess on who to start malicious rumours about. You two should switch clothes and maybe not carry the horsetails whips for the moment."

Xiao XingChen and Song ZiChen stood and then it was obvious that Song ZiChen had a good bit of height on his husband. Xiao Qing added, "It is too obvious if they accidently wear the other's clothes."

The shorter of the two went red, Wei WuXian chuckled and flew to his feet pulling Lan WangJi up with him, "Let's see, let's see!" Wei WuXian shoved Lan WangJi in the direction of Song ZiChen then he said, "Shishu, you're only just taller than me! You can wear one of my spare robes, or even one of my dresses! And look Lan Zhan is not as short as you are compared to Song ZiChen! Oh and we should give you new names... ZiChen is a very common name; we could call you Xiao ZiChen! And Xing in XingChen sounds like the surname Xing! We could just call you Xing Chen!"

"Wei Ying, calm," said Lan WangJi as he moved back over to his husband.

Wei WuXian no matter the excitement had merit and they separated to go to their own rooms for the night. They were going to sleep on the issue of whether Wei WuXian or Xiao XingChen should crossdress to complete the disguise. Once it was just the two of them in the room Lan WangJi watched as Wei WuXian bounced around the room, too excited to lay down and go to sleep. Golden eyes followed the other as he moved around the room and checked on their things, he pulled out spare clothes and the dress he thought would look the best on Xiao XingChen and aired them out, ready for either possibility. As he walked by the bed that Lan WangJi had settled on the elder cultivator snatched him and dragged him down to rest.

Xiao XingChen didn't wear the dress but put on the set of black robes as Song ZiChen put on the GusuLan white robes. Song ZiChen took both Fuxue and Shuanghua and strapped them crossed on his back, while Xiao XingChen pulled out a bamboo pole to use as his eyes as it would draw less attention.

Chapter Text

After breakfast, they attempted to find the serving girl again but they couldn't and she hadn't had any sort of discerning feature they could use to pin down the worker. Xiao Qing had a couple names of villages that they could look into and they went to the currier station to look at the maps and find the mentioned villages. They were found on the maps, which at least showed that they were not fake names of villages. They then dispatched messages describing what they had learned of the extent of the resentful energy cloud, to each of the great sects plus MeishanYu as Mo Village had been under their purview. They chose the closest village and headed there. Once they had left the city and then was on a blank stretch of road they took to their swords to decrease the travel time.

It was a village of ghosts, not a soul living in the entire place. There were bodies that had been rotted and left out and there had been brown stains that were still a bit too crimson to have happened a long time prior. Lan WangJi had played inquiry and the ghosts that answered said that a blind man came to the town, stayed for a night and then the second night proclaimed, "I am Xiao XingChen and I declare that you are unrighteous." then he started killing everyone.

They stayed long enough to bury the people who had not been buried and then they played rest and moved on. The next one they found the ghosts said nearly the same thing except that it had been Song ZiChen that had killed them. When they stopped for a night in an inn in a city they seemed to draw less attention than they had in Yueyang. But when they had asked about the 'abandoned' village they had gone through to get to the city, they were told horror stories of Song ZiChen and Xiao XingChen.

They still asked for odd happenings in the area, but with two people with bamboo sticks they were not immediately taken as cultivators and so as they travelled to the next village that had been destroyed they went off the direct route to follow rumours.

They were off the beaten path, but it had been clear that the road had been well used sometime in the past. The fog got thick and made it so hard to see that they almost ended up running into the gates of the city. "This place seems familiar," commented Song ZiChen.

The streets were quiet and the fog thick enough that even Xiao Qing walked cautiously. Despite their caution Wei WuXian kicked something and they could hear it go skittering off into the distance a light weight hollow sound. They looked more closely down at the ground and found nothing else. "I wouldn't be out in this fog either, but there should be people somewhere, let’s find a building."

They shuffled to the right side of the road and Xiao XingChen ended up almost tripping over the pole that one would hang their wares from on a cart that had been overturned. They slowly righted the cart and Wei WuXian looked at some of the wares that had come from the cart, "Funerary Goods."

"Yi City?" asked Lan WangJi.

"The last time we were here there were more people wasn't there?" asked Song ZiChen.

"You both were here before?" asked Wei WuXian.

"This is where Daozhang took us when we found Xue Yang hurt, before we knew that it was Xue Yang," said Xiao Qing.

"Lan WangJi helped me to find XingChen, and this is where we tracked them to. I should probably thank you for that YilingWei teleportation talisman, it made finding XingChen much easier," added Song ZiChen. 

“YilingWei Teleportation talisman,” whispered Wei WuXian and then he turned to look at Lan WangJi an unreadable expression on his face. “You remember that?”

“Mn.”

“Why?” there was a deep emotion in Wei WuXian’s voice something that threatened to flood him.

“Wei Ying made it to save people. It does well to save people,” replied Lan WangJi.

Wei WuXian opened his mouth to say something, when a figure in black ran past the group mostly obscured in the fog. Lan WangJi broke off and gave chase, Wei WuXian turned to his uncles. “Xue Yang?”

“It could be,” said Song ZiChen.

“XingChen-Shishu, do you have any idea where he would set up camp?”

“The Coffin Home, that’s where we stayed before,” Xiao XingChen replied.

“A-Qing you know this city?”

“When it is easier to see, yeah,” Xiao Qing returned.

The clash of swords could be heard in the direction Lan WangJi had gone after the figure in black. Wei WuXian clapped his hands together and directed, “Shishus you go to the Coffin Home, try to see if Xue Yang is who we are dealing with, find his base of operations if you can. A-Qing we’ll move away from the fighting, see what I can find, show me anywhere else you think Xue Yang might have hidden.”

They agreed and separated. Wei WuXian and Xiao Qing walked away from the sound of fighting and soon the distance or the dense fog muffled the sound so that it couldn’t be heard at all.

Xiao Qing looked over at him and said, “Aren’t you worried about your husband?”

Wei WuXian stuttered to a stop and stared at the girl, “Where did you hear that?”!

“Daozhangs said so, said you have three children and everything. When we went to Cloud Recesses they were introduced as my cousins because of you.”

“Oh, uhh… it isn’t really like that…”

“HanGuang-Jun told Daozhangs that they didn’t have to get married until they had wanted to get a third child.”

Wei WuXian didn’t know what to say to that he opened his mouth but before he could come up with the words to reply they heard a voice through the fog, “We turned around!”

“We have not turned around; I have been keeping careful watch!” came a second voice and then there was a group of people that appeared in the mist literally a hand span from Wei WuXian and Xiao Qing.

The others screamed and leapt back, and the sound of swords unsheathing cut through the fog. “No need for weapons, fellow Cultivator these ones mean you no harm. From what great Sect do you hail?” Wei WuXian called out.

There as the sound of a few of the swords being re-sheathed and then a young, too young voice snapped out and said, “You stupids! We don’t know who they are they could be lying!”

A calm voice cut through the scant distance between the two though only vague shapes could be seen, “Daozhang some of us are from the GusuLan Sect and what great Sect are you from?”

“That’s Shibiaodi’s voice,” said Xiao Qing.

“My little Radish? Which one?” exclaimed Wei WuXian he didn’t wait for a reply but leapt forward to the shapes in the fog. When he could see the feature of the junior disciples around him, he sought out those of GusuLan. “A-Yuan, my XiaoPiPi, give you’re A-Ma a hug.”

The junior disciples seemed to step back from Wei WuXian but two of the ones in GusuLan white held their ground. The soft spoken one choked out, “A-Ma?”

“Yes,” replied Wei WuXian but before he could say anything more he had the young man’s arms wrapped around his middle and a head pressed into his chest. Wei WuXian chucked and petted the boy's head for a moment before pulling the boy away to get a look at his face. “Now, you’re too tall I can’t tell if you were going for a leg hug or a monkey hug, which one of my Radishes are you?”

“A-Yuan.”

Wei WuXian gave his eldest a found smile and then turned to the boy who was still a bit behind his brother. “Too old to give you’re A-Ma a hug XiaoPiPi?” He reached an arm out over the shoulder of his eldest and got a fist of white fabric and pulled the other boy into his chest. “I thought you died that day my Radishes, I am so happy that you survived.”

The youngest choked back tears, “You did die A-Ma.”

“Shush now, I’m here, I’m here,” he pressed both boys back and looked them over; he dried their watery eyes and said, “Now, look at you two! XiaoPiPi was the taller last I saw the two of you. And you are all grown up, no more wooden swords for you two, no. Now, tell your dear A-Ma what courtesy names you’re A-Die gave you.”

That made the two boys straighten up a bit and the eldest bowed first with his arms out proper and filial, “Lan SiZhui.”

“Lan JingYi,’ said Wei WuXian’s youngest boy.

“The Guqin Player and the Loud Lan!” laughed Wei WuXian.

"A-Ma what?" sputtered Lan JingYi.

Wei WuXian laughed I was there at Mo Manor when you fought that creature. I saw you," he booped Lan SiZhui on the nose, "play your guqin, and I heard you, " he booped Lan JingYi on the nose, " well, not talking with the decorum of a Lan of GusuLan at all."

"Hey!" exclaimed Lan JingYi.

His parent just smiled as if to say he was proving his point. "Don't worry I take all the credit. When we get back we’ll have to shave Lan QiRen’s beard, it is a family tradition."

He was used to Lan WangJi so he could easily see the redness of Lan SiZhui and Lan JingYi exclaimed a bit too loud, "SiZhui already did that!"

"Oh my Radishes, you do your poor old A-Ma proud!"

Lan SiZhui hissed, "JingYi!" but before anything else could be said the distinctive sound of dozens of shambling corpses filled the street. Wide-eyed Xiao Qing barrelled through the fog and closer to the people that had swords. Lan SiZhui and Lan JingYi pressed their recently-found-father and cousin behind them and the young cultivators made a circle so that they could have all angles covered. Wei WuXian raised his flute to his lips and tried to take control of the corpses and have them stand down. But he didn't feel like he was reaching the corpses, like he couldn't gain control, he put more power behind his command visibility was still bad so they couldn't do anything until the corpses were right on top of them. The first couple corpses fell to Junior disciple blades and Wei WuXian cursed there was only one reason that he could not at least wrest control of the corpses, and that was the Stygian Tiger Seal. Before anymore of the corpses could reach the group there was a strum of a guqin and the fog thinned and the corpses fell.

"HanGuang-Jun!" called out the Lan disciples all smiles.

Lan JingYi grinned the widest. "Look HanGuang-Jun! It’s A-Ma!"

Lan WangJi nodded to the disciples and then turned to Wei WuXian. Wei WuXian returned the look trying to convey that someone had pieced the Stygian Tiger Seal back together. But then he saw a man in a Ghostface mask behind Lan WangJi and flicked his eyes with purpose. Lan WangJi sent Bichen flying behind him and turned to engage the Ghostface man.

"A-Ma," said Lan JingYi, Wei WuXian turned back around to look at his son, "there was this weird powder that came from the corpses when we killed them."

Wei WuXian rushed to his youngest son and said, "Show me your tongue JingYi."

The boy stuck out his tongue and it had a slight blueish tinge to it Lan SiZhui gasped, "What is that?"

"Corpse poisoning, did anyone else breathe in the powder? Come on everyone show me your tongues," said Wei WuXian. The fog was closing back in around them as Wei WuXian studied all of the junior disciples and separated out those who had also been poisoned. He then had Lan SiZhui check his own tongue. "Those who are not poisoned need to carry those that have been, keep their heads and hearts above their feet."

"I can walk A-Ma," said Lan JingYi.

"I know XiaoPiPi, but we don't want the poison reaching your heart so you need to make sure that you don't make your blood move faster. Now, we need to find a house with people in it. If you aren't helping to carry then you need to go and knock on doors."

The Junior disciples rushed around to do what they were told. A young voice called not too long after, "Quick! This house is empty!"

Wei WuXian turned to see through the thinned fog a little Jin disciple. "I didn't say I needed an empty house, but that we needed people."

The little Jin huffed but moved on to the next house. It was Lan SiZhui that found them a house, and through the liberal application of charm and a foot in the door, they were allowed into the shop of paper funerary goods.

"I need some help in the kitchen," said Wei WuXian. Both his sons volunteered and he smiled, "XiaoPiPi you need to stay here, and don't move, stand as still as possible to keep your heart slow. That goes for the rest of you who are poisoned. SiZhui and A-Qing you can come with me." Wei WuXian made his way into the back where the kitchen was.

Despite the dim light of the shop it still offered more visibility than the fog had and many of the boy noticed that there was a girl—no a young woman in the midst for the first time.

One of the boys dressed in red expounded, "She is lovely, a good face and figure, I am surprised a beauty like her could have gone unnoticed in the fog she shines like the sun and the moon!"

Xiao Qing blushed as she followed behind her cousins. In the kitchen Wei WuXian started to go through the stores in the kitchen and Xiao Qing and Lan SiZhui wrinkled their noses. "SiZhui, could you get a pot of water and clean off the stove, A-Qing can you dust off this area, and set anything aside that will be needed for congee."

"How will she do that, she's blind!" said a voice from the doorway. The three of them turned to see the young Jin. Xiao Qing huffed picked up a rag and then started to dust. She picked up a jar and deliberately read the faded label out loud.

"Oh good more help, you can help by taking the rancid meat out," said Wei WuXian.

"What why would I do that? Why would you be cooking at a time like this?!" exclaimed the young Jin.

"Young Mistress Jin, we are going to cook a cure for the corpse poisoning, so we need a clean kitchen to do it."

"Who are you calling Young Mistress?"

"The one that appears to be above helping his fellow cultivators who were poisoned."

The young Jin huffed and stopped over to the counter and picked up the bowl filled with a rotting chicken carcass, his nose wrinkled as he picked up the bowl and brought it outside. Wei WuXian smiled and then went back to cleaning the rice. Wei WuXian moved on to adding the spices to the congee when the Jin came in after disposing another bit of rotting food and he swiftly grabbed Wei WuXian's wrist to halt him adding in the spices in his hands. "What are you doing? That is too much spice!"

"Jin Ling!" said Lan SiZhui.

"My mother is the best cook and I learned from her, our congee is never boring! He’s adding spices like Wei WuXian in my mother's stories, and that is enough spice to kill any man that isn't Wei WuXian!" returned Jin RuLan.

Everyone in the room froze at the mention of Wei WuXian's name but then the elder's brain caught up with all the words that had been said and Wei WuXian whispered, "Jin RuLan?"

"Yeah, what?"

"My Shijie's son? Shijie taught you to cook?"

"Who are you?" asked Jin RuLan.

"Perhaps this isn't the best time," interjected Lan SiZhui, "A-Ma, is the amount of spices in your hand required for the cure, or can we defer to the wisdom gleaned from Young Madam Jin?"

"No, no, you're right," replied Wei WuXian he held out the spices to the youngest and added, "Jin RuLan how much do we need?"

Jin RuLan finished up spicing the congee and when it was in the pot to cook Wei WuXian looked serious at his son and asked what he was doing in Yi City. Lan SiZhui explained that the BalingOuyang and GusuLan sect disciples had been helping to quell the things that had been stirred up due to the explosion in Mo Village and the activity had just lead them to Yi City.

"And you Jin RuLan, I know you're younger than SiZhui, aren't you too young to be on a night hunt alone? Where are the other Jin disciples?"

The youngest's face went red and Lan SiZhui answered, "He insulted his cousin the YunmengJiang Sect heir about being a girl and she told him that he could join the night hunting party that was only men."

"How could you Jin RuLan? Your mother is the best woman there is," returned Wei WuXian.

"Of course she is! No woman could compare to my mother, and I told her that."

"You mean Jiang Cheng's daughter? Surely she knows you and your mother well."

"That I believe was the problem, A-Ma," replied Lan SiZhui, "the plight of men who are surrounded by woman."

"You mean they just realise that woman are superior to men," snapped Xiao Qing.

Wei WuXian was about to interfere and stop a second fight when Jin RuLan elaborated, "No, you are all misunderstanding! My cousin Jin Chan we don't get along he too calls me Young Mistress and told me to join my cousin's party, but then my cousin wanted me to go back to Jin Chan's group because she didn't want to 'babysit' me. I compared her to mother then she told me she didn't care where I went just to leave!"

"Alright, alright, I see, I apologise for earlier than, let’s check on the congee," the congee was ready and Wei WuXian sent Jin RuLan out with the first bowl but held the other two back. "SiZhui do we need to have a talk about the 'plight of men'?"

"No, A-Ma, I meant only that Jin Ling's family is more woman than men and they all get compared to Young Madam Jin even Jin Ling, and that causes problems with other young masters like Jin Chan, LanlingJin is too far north I guess they just don't seem to understand."

"They came to Daozhangs' wedding to try to stop Xue Yang and only Jin Ling's immediate family showed any respect to my fathers."

"I see," replied Wei WuXian, "well then, SiZhui let’s get our own bowls, A-Qing why don't you ready the rest of the bowls and we'll come back to get them Jin RuLan should be back in a minute."

Wei WuXian sent Lan SiZhui out first and then left the kitchen after he had made sure that Xiao Qing was no longer angry. When he got back to the main room he couldn't see his children but he could hear them talking. "We saw him stumbling around outside, we called him over and got him inside, he's been poisoned too."

"Xiao XingChen wears white he can't be him," returned Lan SiZhui.

Wei WuXian made his voice rise above those blocking his way, "There were some horrible rumours about the Daozhangs so they switched clothes Xiao XingChen was wearing black last time I saw him." he pushed the bowl into one of the disciples before him, "here give this bowl to one of the poisoned disciples, I'll go back and make sure we have enough for one more. Hurry guys we still have to get this cure into our friends." Wei WuXian turned back to the kitchen and he could feel Lan SiZhui and Jin RuLan fall in behind him.

Jin RuLan moved ahead he picked up two of the bowls that Xiao Qing had prepared and then moved back into the main room. Lan SiZhui came next, then Wei WuXian came to a stop before the young woman, “Xiao XingChen is out there, is there enough for another bowl?”

Her eyes went wide and Wei WuXian could see that her hands were starting to shake. “Yes.”

Wei WuXian went over and picked up the ladle and got another bowl of congee. “He’ll be all right, he was fine enough that the boys were arguing over why he was wearing black, take a moment, you don’t want to worry the baby cultivators and all.”

She snorted and nodded. Wei WuXian smiled took the last bowl of congee and left the kitchen. When he got back to the main room the poisoned juniors were sitting down and eating and against the far wall sat Xiao XingChen. Black clothes and a white piece of cloth across his eyes, there was blood at the corners of his mouth, he had probably spit up blood, but it was hard to see while he wore black.

Lan JingYi choked on the congee he was drinking, “What is this? Poison?”!

“No, it’s seasoned properly, I prevented you’re A-Ma from making it poison with spice, stupid,” shot back Jin RuLan.

“Who are you calling stupid?” retorted Lan JingYi.

 “People who think bitter tasteless food is food!” called Jin RuLan.

Wei WuXian had a faint smile on his face, he had paused his steps toward Xiao XingChen, to see if he would need to stop the fight first. Despite the argument Lan SiZhui was making his brother drink the congee in between bouts of yelling and the other poisoned were sedately eating their own congee.

There were heavy footsteps on the roof and everyone went silent, there was the shuffling sound of fierce corpses outside, Wei WuXian yelled, “Get back!”

The junior disciples pushed back against the walls, the ones that had been drinking congee either clutching their bowls or wearing the remainder. A fierce corpse crashed through the ceiling and stood there in the middle of the room. Wei WuXian had to hand it to the juniors they were quick and had their swords drawn on the corpse. As the mini battle ensued Wei WuXian could see that the corpse was 1. Not the typical fierce corpse and 2. The children were probably still outmatched. Wei WuXian pulled out his flute and played. This corpse too was controlled by the Stygian Tiger Seal but he could exert some control over it.

Wei WuXian took a breath and yelled, “Tie him up!” before he went back to playing. The children were able to get the corpse tied up and the building besides the fluting grew silent. Outside the shuffle of corpses could be heard. They weren’t coming to the building, but they could be circling it. Wei WuXian stopped playing and gauged the corpse before him. Someone the person in control of the Seal and the fierce corpse was gauging the confrontation, how far could they take it?

He shifted back to get a look at the roof but couldn’t see the puppet master. “Do any of you know how to play Inquiry? And have your guqin?”

“I can A-Ma,” said Lan SiZhui he sheathed his sword carefully and backed up to take out his guqin.

When Lan SiZhui nodded Wei WuXian said, “Ask him who he is.”

The youth murmured to himself for a moment and then played, the corpse twitched his head, and then the guqin played back. “He Su.”

There were murmurs among the disciples but it was clear that no one knew the man. “How did he die?” asked Wei WuXian.

After a moment Lan SiZhui made a face and repeated the reply, “Horribly.”

“What do you even know the Qin Language?” exclaimed Jin RuLan.

Lan JingYi still trying to choke down the congee jumped to his brother’s defence. “A-Ma had SiZhui ask the two most common questions you ask a spirit, so of course he knows them!”

Wei WuXian interrupted before a fight could start, “Killed?”

There were a few notes; the Yiling Patriarch was stiff with anticipation waiting for the master to stop the Inquiry more than the answers itself. His son was brief in his answer, “Mn.”

“Who killed him?” Wei WuXian was prepared for an attack as he asked the question.

He was tense as Lan SiZhui played but then he understood when SiZhui said, “He is unsure.”

Jin RuLan scoffed and Lan JingYi glared as Wei WuXian thought. The room was quiet and then Wei WuXian understood. “Did someone order or hire someone else to kill him?”

“Yes.”

“Who ordered his death?”

The air in the room was audibly sucked in. Lan SiZhui frowned and answered, “Unsure,” but he had translated too quickly as four characters were played afterward. Lan SiZhui gasped and looked wide eyed at the others.

“What did it say?” demanded Jin RuLan.

Lan SiZhui frowned. “LanlingJin Sect.”

Before the room could explode into anger Wei WuXian said, “Does he know the names of anyone that contributed to his death?”

It was a question that sharply drew everyone’s attention to Lan SiZhui and his guqin. “Yes.”

“What are the names he knows?”

Lan SiZhui played and the spirit of the fierce corpse began to play back when there was a sound, a double tap and then a scraping sound like a stool being pushed along a wooden floor. Wei WuXian thought it was the owner of the shop the poor woman that was and was not dead. But in a blink of an eye Lan SiZhui had leapt away from his guqin and had his blade to Xiao XingChen’s throat and half a second later Lan JingYi had drank down his remaining congee. And he was on his feet like lightning, his blade also at Xiao XingChen’s throat.

“Boys?” questioned Wei WuXian. But before anything could be said Suibian leapt to action and blocked the sword that the not-Xiao XingChen had lashed out with saving Lan SiZhui from a nasty gut wound. The fierce corpse of He Su broke the ropes and made a move to attack one of the boys dressed in Ouyang red. The boy didn’t seem to be much of a fighter as he tried to scramble away behind the others.

Suibian was back in Wei WuXian’s hand as he moved closer to the not-Xiao XingChen. And then suddenly the door burst open and there stood Wen Ning of all people a bow and quiver over his shoulder. “Wen Ning?” questioned Wei WuXian in the stillness that followed the interruption but then everyone returned to fighting. Wei WuXian sheathed Suibian and looked down at his trusty sword, “Help Wen Ning, help us please.” He tossed Suibian across the room. “Wen Ning!”

The fierce corpse snatched it from the air and tried to pull the sword, but he couldn’t. The corpse’s hand was slapped with the curve of a bow arm and he dropped the spiritual sword. Wen Ning grabbed Suibian before the sword hit the ground. He leapt back out of the fray long enough to replace his bow across his back and then he drew Suibian and re-entered the fight against the corpse.

Wei WuXian took a breath of relief then he put his dizi to his lips and pushed the breath out and began to play. He used the music to feel out the resentful energy of the area to see what he could call and manipulate. The dead of the area seemed to be under the sway of the Stygian Tiger Seal. But there were not-dead like the old woman, Wei WuXian probed more. The poison had reached their hearts, I was too late to save them, they were dead in that respect, but they hadn’t made that tipping point from a living soul to a dead one. There was the old woman and few others in the village, they wanted their revenge, and they would take the strength and direction that Wei WuXian was feeding them.

The old woman burst from the back room that she had holed up in; it was another distraction that had made the fighting pause. Wei WuXian pulled away from his music and shouted, “Get out of here! Try not to breathe the air and find a place to hide!”

It jumpstarted the junior disciples and they disengaged to run out of the broken door. The fierce corpse went to follow but was pulled back by the old lady. For a moment it was just Wei WuXian and Wen Ning facing the not-Xiao XingChen. “That isn’t Chenqing,” said the man.

“Why would I have Chenqing?”

“Demonic Cultivator standing next to the Ghost General, there could be no one else but the Yiling Patriarch. We finally meet.”

“And who am I meeting?”

The man laughed and he reached up and pulled off his face, a Xiao XingChen mask, that looked like it may have been made from human skin and then he unwound the cloth from his eyes. White—they had switched the white cloth for a black one when they had had Xiao XingChen change clothes!—how stupid could Wei WuXian be?

Wen Ning gasped, “Xue Yang!”

“Ah yes, I had had the occasion to play with the Ghost General, he is a marvellous creation! You know I tried to get your attention, to become your disciple before you died. I sent you corpses,” said Xue Yang with a sort of wistful tone.

“I didn’t receive any corpses. And let me tell you flowers are always more appreciated over corpses, you’ll never make friend with corpses,” returned Wei WuXian flippantly.

“I was young and they were not that strong, but I got stronger, I control man-eating beasts!” exclaimed Xue Yang he had a grin on his face and reached into his robe and pulled out a very familiar piece of metal, “I repaired the Stygian Tiger Seal, but I could not make something like the Ghost General… I was going to use the Stygian Tiger Seal to bring you back, gift you with your Ghost General, an army of corpses, and beasts, and the seal.”

“Why would I be happy with any of that, besides Wen Ning safe?” questioned Wei WuXian.

“We’re the same,” replied Xue Yang.

“I don’t see how.”

“You took revenge on QishanWen for their wrongs against yourself by decimating them, the YueyangChang Sect enacted wrongs against me; so, I have the right to decimate them as you had the Wens.”

“What was the wrong?” asked Wei WuXian his tone sounded interested.

Xue Yang held up his hand with the missing little finger. “They took my finger.”

“QishanWen burned my home to the ground; a finger is small in comparison,”

“I was seven! They lied to me and then crushed my finger under the wheel of a carriage!”

“They broke my husband’s leg and took the lives of my adopted family,” returned Wei WuXian calmly.

“The finger was mine, and I say how much it is worth. Who are you to say that my finger wasn’t worth as much as someone else’s leg, or the lives of your family, or the lives of the YueyangChang Sect? That is for me to decide!”

“I thought my opinion mattered to you? Didn’t you say you tried wooing me with corpses?” Wei WuXian returned in an absent fashion, he could see that it made Xue Yang angrier.  

The fierce corpse broke away from the old woman and burst out the door and into the street; he was probably going after the juniors while its master was chatting with Wen Ning and Wei WuXian. The two friends shared a look and then Wen Ning chased after the corpse.

Wei WuXian turned back to Xue Yang. “Well, I am back, and I have Wen Ning, why don’t you hand me the seal?” he held out his hand with an expectant look.

Xue Yang studied him for a moment and then he put the seal back in his robe. “You’re protecting that Chang boy; I can’t abide by people who try to protect the scum of the YueyangChang Sect.”

“I don’t know any Changs.”

“You lie! Why side with the people who hated you? Call off the Ghost General, join your disciple; together we can put an end to the underserving!”

“I never had disciples, and if I did they wouldn’t be you,” said Wei WuXian with a wave of an uncaring hand.

Xue Yang attacked and Wei WuXian blocked the blade with his dizi and then jumped around the room trying to make his way to the street, at least there he would have more space and could more easily get help. He whistled sharply and the old woman launched herself at Xue Yang, she gave Wei WuXian the time to get out of the shop.

He rushed out of the shop and into the street from around the back of the house came Xiao Qing they looked at each other and then around the street. They could hear the fighting nearby and could see the corpses that littered the ground all had arrows protruding from their bodies—Wen Ning. Wei WuXian thought quickly, Xue Yang thought that they had a Chang in their party, and he wanted to kill everyone from the YueyangChang Sect, so that meant that his fierce corpse was chasing the baby cultivators. “Come on we need to find the kids.” And he turned towards the fighting and ran; he could hear Xiao Qing behind him.

“Why are we going towards the fighting?”

“Xue Yang wants at least one of them dead,” replied Wei WuXian.

They turned a corner and saw that Wen Ning was still using Suibian to fend off the fierce corpse. Wei WuXian looked around and then from inside one of the building he saw Lan JingYi waving. He ran into the building and Xiao Qing followed after him.

“A-Ma!” cried both of Wei WuXian’s boys and that made the older man smile.

He looked at the collected faces of the youths and then said, “Which one of you is a Chang from the YueyangChang Sect?”

The children looked around at each other, but none of them spoke. Wei WuXian saw that the one that had earlier proclaimed Xiao Qing’s beauty had subtly shifted to block the view of a shorter boy wearing Ouyang red.

Wei WuXian nodded. “All right that is Xue Yang out there and that is his fierce corpse, and the other corpses are probably under his control. He wants to kill the Chang we have with us, and it is your job as cultivators to protect the innocent even when the innocent is also a fellow cultivator. Xiao Qing will lead you to where her fathers should be, and I will protect your retreat.”

“Don’t think that Xue Yang will let you go just because he hasn’t declared a personal grievance against you or your family, If anyone of you think about leaving one of our number behind I will kill you myself,” Xiao Qing said to the junior disciples, then she turned towards Wei WuXian and added, “Cousin, I need a look outside first to orient myself.” Wei WuXian held up his flute and nodded.

Xiao Qing took a deep breath, changed the grip on her bamboo stick and then Wei WuXian carefully opened the door so he wasn’t in front of it, he exited cautiously and then he stepped out of the way of the door and motioned for Xiao Qing, after a moment she gestured inside and then with the silent BalingOuyang Sect member in the centre of the knot of boys, they filed out. As they moved past Wei WuXian got his first good look at the boy, he was young not as young as Jin RuLan but he was close, and he had clearly known fear for too long—Xue Yang needed to be stopped.

The fighting in the street immediately changed as the children retreated the fierce corpse’s body shifted to face in the direction that they had gone. Wei WuXian brought up his dizi and started to play hoping to aid Wen Ning. He walked backwards following after the children and kept his eyes on the move in search for Xue Yang. He brought the poisoned people who had not made their final fall to the area and made them attack He Su then Wei WuXian called to Wen Ning, “Come on!”

Wen Ning broke off and left the corpses to the corpses and followed after Wei WuXian who was hoping that he hadn’t lost the children in the fog. On the roof tops they could see the flash of Bichen’s frosty blue glare and Wei WuXian waited a moment to make sure that it wasn’t a critical point in a battle and then he yelled out, “Lan Zhan we’re heading to my uncles! If we don’t get lost in the fog! Follow after!”

There was a pause and then Bichen’s glare disappeared and there was a strum from a guqin and the fog was pushed away with the sound waves. Wei WuXian looked up to see that Wangji was already put away and Bichen was back in hand. The Ghostface masked man who was on the next building’s looked shocked—or well; he was frozen in place as Lan WangJi lunged. The fog rolled away from the road ahead and Wei WuXian could see that Xue Yang had snuck up on the junior disciples and was poised to stab the Lan Sect disciple that was standing at the back of the group.

“No!” yelled Wei WuXian. Both Suibian and Bichen made a beeline for Xue Yang and all the disciples turned around. Xue Yang’s attempt thankfully thwarted. The disciples circled up around Xue Yang’s target and Xiao Qing seeing that Wei WuXian was there as well as Xue Yang ran off in the direction that they had been headed. Wei WuXian hopped that she would be able to get her fathers fast enough. The fierce corpse was coming up behind them.

Lan WangJi came down to street level and Wei WuXian wondered if the Ghostface man would also be joining their fight. There were three of them against Xue Yang and his corpse, but they only had the two spiritual swords. The juniors held their porcupine and slashed at any enemy that came to near. Xue Yang was strong, and he made a worthy opponent, if not a dangerous one. Still Xue Yang was able to get in close to the juniors and Wei WuXian s heart stopped for a moment and then Fuxue came flying and sliced off Xue Yang’s sword arm!

Xue Yang stumbled back in shock and his robes slipped and then the Stygian Tiger Seal fell to the ground and rolled a bit away. Wei WuXian made a move to get the seal but then out of nowhere Ghostface appeared. Wei WuXian put in a burst of speed but the Ghostface snatched up the seal first and then he danced back over to Xue Yang, everyone moved to attack them but before they could get close Ghostface pulled out a teleportation talisman and disappeared.

The street was quiet for a moment and then He Su came lumbering toward them but Xiao XingChen and Shuanghua made quick work of him. He stood his face downturned as if he was looking at the corpse. “Do we know who they were?”

“He said He Su during Inquiry,” volunteered Lan SiZhui.

“The last known Sect Leader of the TingshanHe Sect,” whispered Lan WangJi. There was a quiet moment where they all looked down at the fierce corpse.

Xiao XingChen frowned, “We should bring the body back; QingheNie is the closest sect to here.”

“The Head-Shaker is just going to say he doesn’t know!” commented Jin RuLan.

“LanlingJin then, they are the next closest,” countered Song ZiChen.

“Uh Daozhangs, we should probably discuss the information we gained from Inquiry first,” said Lan SiZhui, he shifted his eyes around nervously.

Wei WuXian came to the rescue. “Yes, let’s get out of this town first; Daozhangs had you found the Coffin Home? Is there anything that could help us transport Sect Leader He’s corpse?”

They moved around quickly and got a cart and a coffin for He Su’s corpse and then they left Yi City. Lan WangJi who was used to guiding the juniors on night hunts had organised the children so that they rotated lookouts. In the rotation a couple disciples got to rest in the cart, but Lan WangJi had those resting write their night hunt reports for Yi City since they needed all the information they could gather about Ghostface, Xue Yang, and Sect Leader He.

While they were on the road Wei WuXian asked the BalingOuyang disciples, “So are you a guest disciple Young Master Chang?”

The quiet boy shrunk back, and it was Ouyang ZiZhen that answered, “My cousin is an Ouyang now.”

“Cousin?”

Finally, the boy spoke, “I was born Chang YaJie, my mother was Sect Leader Ouyang’s sister. But I’ve been going by Ouyang YaJie for most of my life; I had thought I had gotten away from him.”

Wei WuXian patted the boy on the shoulder and said, “We’ll make sure of it, if you fear to stay at Baling for the time being, we can find you somewhere else to stay.”

“My cousin is a BalingOuyang in blood even if he wasn’t born one in name, he will stay with us, Ouyang’s don’t abandon their own!” proclaimed Ouyang ZiZhen.

Sentimental, loyal, and steadfast—Wei WuXian was sure that that boy would go far, or at the very least make a good future Sect Leader. They travelled on, in an easterly direction to stay out of the resentful energy cloud as long as possible while they decided where to go. Wei WuXian didn’t want to go to LanlingJin because he suspected they had ordered the death of He Su but he also didn’t really know Sect politics when he had been more active in sect life Jin GuangShan had been alive. The children were eyeing Wen Ning suspiciously, but the adults weren’t saying anything so they weren’t saying anything either. Of course, Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi knew Wen Ning, and Song ZiChen and Xiao XingChen had met him once so they didn’t have a problem with him.

When they arrived in a city near nightfall the group first made their way to the Coffin Home. There they left the body of He Su. Lan WangJi rallied the juniors around and made them take notes as Wei WuXian made talismans to seal the coffin lid and obscure the box in a way that made it hard to focus on, so if they had been followed it would have a less likely chance of being stolen. The junior’s raised the question of setting a guard but Xiao Qing said it would just draw attention to the Coffin Home to begin with.

 They then went off to find an inn and procure rooms for the night. When everything was settled (Xiao Qing the only one with her own room), they settled the juniors in the main room to take their meal and Ouyang ZiZhen begged and waxed poetic at Xiao Qing until she agreed to eat with them. The other adults went upstairs to have their own meal brought to one of their rooms. Wei WuXian was happy to see that Lan WangJi had brought up a bottle of alcohol for him.

They hadn’t even gotten their food when there was a knock on the door. The door slid open and Lan SiZhui stood there he gave a bow from the door and his whole body radiated nervousness. Lan WangJi just said, “SiZhui.”

There must have been something on Lan WangJi’s face because Lan SiZhui seemed to relax a bit and then he came into the room and sat at the table across from HanGuang-Jun. He still was a bit nervous, he took a moment and then reached into his sleeve and pulled out his night hunt report and slid it across the table to Lan WangJi. HanGuang-Jun took the report and read it. When he finished, he handed the report to Wei WuXian as he looked at his son.

 Wei WuXian started to skim the report, but then he started to read it more in depth as he went on his eyes widened. “He Su answered your last question?”

The report was passed around. Lan SiZhui nodded. “That was why I didn’t want to talk about where to bring Sect Leader He’s body in front of Jin Ling; it was his uncle Jin GuangYao that Sect Leader He named.

“It says that Xiao Qing gave you a signal and that is why you attacked Xue Yang. But you didn’t write what the signal is,” questioned Wei WuXian.

“A-Die says those are not my secrets to share,” replied Lan SiZhui he looked over at HanGuang-Jun and then continued, “the Daozhangs came up with a bunch of different unobtrusive signals used to hunt Xue Yang mainly. For the day of the week the first tap meant ‘not’ and the second tap followed by the scrape of her pole meant ‘Xiao XingChen’.”

“Clever,” praised Wei WuXian, “and you called Wen Ning a ‘passing cultivator’.”

Lan SiZhui looked sheepish and turned his attention to Wen Ning and said, “Sorry Uncle Ning A-Die always said that we weren’t supposed to admit that we lived with you in case the bad people came back.”

Wen Ning looked perplexed and tilted his head, and then his eyes went wide, “A-Yuan?”

“Mn,” said Lan SiZhui with a smile.

“You look a bit like my cousin,” said Wen Ning, “A-Bo and A-Lian?” He looked around the table with such hope in his eyes.

“My courtesy name is SiZhui, A-Bo is downstairs courtesy name JingYi, and A-Lian wanted to follow in Aunt Qing’s footsteps, she’s at home courtesy WenNuan.”

“Wen?”

“A-Die says that her birth mother’s name was Wen Nuan, she requested it. JingYi’s Jing is the same as grandfather and grandmother’s Jing. I said I didn’t need anything to honour my family since they were firm in my heart and memory, I just wanted HanGuang-Jun to give me a name,” answered Lan SiZhui. The comment made Wei WuXian sort of fall sideways and lean on Lan WangJi while he gave the nearby arm a squeeze.

“JingYi and I made sure no one else will mention Uncle Ning in their reports,” added Lan SiZhui.

“Do we know when Sect Leader He went missing?” asked Song ZiChen.

“Not long after the… Burial Mounds,” replied Lan WangJi.

“Then his disappearance is connected to Jin GuangShan’s reign. By the way Inquiry played out his death could have been ordered by Jin GuangShan and just carried out by Jin GuangYao and Xue Yang. By all account Jin ZiXuan is a fair leader and Jin GuangYao a trusted advisor. LanlingJin as the sect responsible should be the one to make the reparations. Unless there is something else that would make a different sect a better option?”

“Jin GuangYao,” said HanGuang-Jun and he looked at his son.

Lan SiZhui nodded. “After a Discussion Conference in Gusu, LianFang-Zun returned to Koi Tower and then he said later he received a letter which had him out for a walk and from there he said he was kidnapped. But at the time he was thought to just be missing, his wife Young Madam Qin Su came to Cloud Recesses and asked ZeWu-Jun if he had seen LianFang-Zun as they are sworn brothers, but he hadn’t and then she disappeared as well. Years later LianFang-Zun was found and told everyone he was held captive. Once he named the sect HanGuang-Jun took JingYi, I, and some others and we collected all the non-combatants and put them up in Caiyi Town. HanGuang-Jun’s intuition was correct, as the sect was found guilty and destroyed in retribution by LanlingJin. No one was left alive except the people we got out.”

“That was after Jin GuangShan died,” Lan WangJi added.

“So he may have learned suppression of minor sects from his father, is there any proof that the sect didn’t take him besides their own word?” Wei WuXian questioned.

Father and son shared a look and Lan WangJi said, “Jin RuSong.”

The youngest elaborated, “Jin RuSong was LianFang-Zun’s son with his wife Young Madam Qin Su. He was assassinated by two of the smaller sects that apposed LianFang-Zun’s watch tower proposal.”

“Also after Jin GuangShan.”

“So,” began Wei WuXian, he eyed Wen Ning for a moment as he kept shifting in his seat during Lan SiZhui’s explanations, but he didn’t seem to have anything to add so Wei WuXian pressed on,  “even with Jin ZiXuan in charge Jin GuangYao may still just try to make our evidence disappear, or work in his favour. But how would we justify not bringing this matter to LanlingJin, as both a sect that is closer than say GusuLan and the sect accused?”

“With the testimony of He Su through Inquiry we could maintain that LanlingJin would not be the best place to bring this grievance,” added Xiao XingChen, after a pregnant pause.

Song ZiChen nodded. “We should head to GusuLan, they would be the most understanding of Inquiry and if asked why we didn’t go to either QingheNie or LanlingJin we can say that GusuLan is closer to Tingshan, where the body will finally be at rest.

“I think there are more GusuLan disciples in the group than BalingOuyang, so you can also claim that it is officially a GusuLan night hunt,” added Wei WuXian.  

“Thank you SiZhui,” said Lan WangJi before they could go further in the discussion.

The boy didn’t look angry he just nodded. “Mn,” then he stood from the table, bowed to them and added, “I will go and eat my dinner now.”

He bowed to each of them again and went out of the room. Their food arrived soon after and they ate in silence, well Wei WuXian kept trying to start a conversation, but was shot down until the meal had ended. “Wen Ning why were you in Yi City?”

“Young Master Wei, I thought it was you… that… uh… helped with my arrow that destroyed the god statue on Dafan Mountain, so I followed you. I mean you look like you in the face a bit, but I wanted to make sure because you were in a dress and you have a sword but it isn’t Suibian, and…”

Wei WuXian nodded, he knew that Wen Ning was going to say that he could use his sword. If he had followed them he would have seen that Wei WuXian could fly, which was not something that he could have done right before he had died. “This is Suibian; I uhh… woke up in the Burial Mounds a few years ago, with Suibian hovering over me. Suibian must have brought me back somehow, but we were both pretty weak for a while. I used resentful energy to obscure Suibian.”

“Oh, that’s good, I’m glad,” said Wen Ning he shifted a bit and looked like he wanted to ask something else, but couldn’t bring himself to do it.

“Hey Lan Zhan, how did you know that it was me? On Dafan Mountain,” Wei WuXian asked.

“Mm, you told me,” replied Lan WangJi.

“What? No I didn’t!”

Lan WangJi rested a hand on the tassel of Wei WuXian’s flute which he had laid on the table. “Yes you did.”

Wei WuXian blushed, the pendants he had originally purchased for their children’s protection bells, so Lan WangJi remembered that too. “Do the bells work for Cloud Recesses as well?”

“Mn,” confirmed Lan WangJi and that made Wei WuXian smile and forget his embarrassment.

It was getting close to the Lan bedtime, when there was a knock on the door again. This time it was both Lan JingYi and Lan SiZhui; Lan JingYi attacked Wen Ning in a hug and then Wei WuXian, with a little more reticence Lan SiZhui came after for hugs. Wen Ning bunked in with the children as an extra guard for Ouyang YaJie while Song ZiChen and Xiao XingChen shared one bed and Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi shared the other bed in their room.

When they left the next morning they turned south and headed for Gusu. None of the juniors argued over the decision, some of them even assumed it was done because HanGuang-Jun was there and therefore the night hunt was definitely a GusuLan hunt. Most of the boys had been at the classes at Cloud Recesses the previous year and they knew how to write a report to the standards of GusuLan. Jin RuLan and Ouyang YaJie were the only two that had not been at the previous year’s class, they would most likely be attending the next one; but the Lans were happy to show them how to write the report.

One-by-one the junior’s turned in their reports, which would be in the end more and more evidence against Xue Yang, Ghostface, and perhaps LanlingJin or just Jin GuangYao. They were below LanlingJin and back in the cloud of resentful energy, when the children took their leave of the adults.

Ouyang ZiZhen was badly but with great affection and effort waxing poetic about Xiao Qing. He got stuck somewhere around, “Eyes like the moon, full and white. And like the moon they see all before them. Oh, let me bask in your light.” And he was very sad to be departing from such a beauty as her.

Chapter Text

They entered into Cloud Recesses carrying a coffin and that drew a lot of worried onlookers, so it was rather easy to get an audience with ZeWu-Jun, Lan QiRen, and the other elders. The coffin was opened in one of the meeting halls and the elders of the GusuLan Sect all filed passed, and the ones who had known the TingshanHe Sect Leader agreed the corpse was indeed He Su. The night hunt reports were handed out so each elder had one, and then when they finished they’d pass the report they had read to the left, until everyone had read each report. Lan WangJi may have made certain that his brother would read Lan SiZhui’s report last, as it was the only one that implicated Lan XiChen’s sworn brother LianFang-Zun.

As the elder’s read the six adults that had been in Yi City waited in the rabbit field. Wei WuXian felt that Wen Ning shouldn’t have come with them and that he should have left before they had gone to Cloud Recesses. Wen Ning looked nervous but ultimately stuck around. They were called back to the elders and Xiao XingChen, Song ZiChen, and Xiao Qing gave their summary of events. Xiao Qing had the most to say as she was the one that had recognised Xue Yang. They were given leave to take the body of He Su back to Tingshan and put him to rest as well as check on the YueyangChang disciple they had sent to Tingshan for protection.

The group of three said their good-byes to Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi and then headed out. Wen Ning was questioned next and the elders went into a rage when they realised who he was. They listened to his story, how he was imprisoned for years by Xue Yang before he escaped. How he had been hunting Xue Yang and had been afraid that the explosion of resentful energy had been Xue Yang’s doing.

The elder’s insisted that Wen Ning get checked out by the healers of Cloud Recesses to ease their minds that he wasn’t a fierce corpse or controlled by resentful energy. Wei WuXian had been surprised at Wen Ning ability to not outright lie but to misdirect or not entirely answer the questions from the elders. At the demand for the medical check Wei WuXian felt indignant by Wen Ning submitted to the inspection with grace.

Wen Ning went to the healers and Lan XiChen invited his brother and Wei WuXian back to the hanshi for tea and a chat.

Lan XiChen went through the motions of making tea. And they all sat at the table in silence while he worked. He put three cups of steaming tea on the table and then he took his in both hands and held the warm cup for a long moment. In a mechanic movement he brought the tea to his lips but did not drink, he brought the cup back down, but didn’t place it on the table. He repeated the motion a couple more times until finally the cup was placed on the table.

“A-Yao saved me, when I ran away after Cloud Recesses,” he said.

“I know, and I am thankful he helped Brother,” returned Lan WangJi.

“I know,” began Lan XiChen he took a deep shaky breath then pushed on, “that he had to do some horrible things when he was a spy during the war.”

“We all had to do some terrible things during the war that we wouldn’t have done in peace times” agreed Wei WuXian.

“I know he would have done a lot for his father’s affections; it was the dying wish of his mother to be legitimised by his father,” Lan XiChen continued.

“ZeWu-Jun why are you telling us this?” asked Wei WuXian.

“I want you to know that, to think about that, to understand that I know him to be a good person,” Lan XiChen said he took another deep breath and added, “when I ask you what you think of the situation with Sect Leader He.”

They were silent, the tea remained undrunk. “Xue Yang is unhinged,” began Wei WuXian, “I didn’t know Jin GuangShan well, but I know he wanted to have the Stygian Tiger Seal… that he wanted to have that power. And if Jin GuangYao really wanted his father’s affections I could see him delivering Sect Leader He to Xue Yang at his father’s insistence and then Xue Yang doing the actual killing.”

Lan XiChen nodded in agreement but stayed silent, he could see that Wei WuXian was gearing up to say more. Wei WuXian took his own deep breath he knew what he was going to say would possibly hurt Lan XiChen. “Yi City was closest to QingheNie, so we thought about bringing Sect Leader He and the night hunt reports and the tale of Xue Yang to LanlingJin. But Lan Zhan told us—Song ZiChen, Xiao XingChen, and I—about when LianFang-Zun was found after he went missing. When HanGuang-Jun heard that a Sect had kept LianFang-Zun captive he secretly went and collected all the non-combatants of that Sect and hid them away afraid that the Sect would be destroyed, and it was.”

The elder’s eyes went wide. “How could you know that WangJi?”

Lan WangJi gave his brother an unwavering stare. Wei WuXian answered for him, “He mentioned that it had happened when LianFang-Zun’s son had been assassinated, he did it as a precaution.”

“When A-Song died we didn’t…”

“Everyone was killed,” reiterated Lan WangJi.

“I hadn’t realised…” trailed off Lan XiChen, “but A-Yao he…”

“I know someone,” Lan WangJi began he drew his brother’s attention, “they are afraid of LianFang-Zun because they know some of his secrets. They are currently in hiding and have warned me against LianFang-Zun. But they also said that they believe that LianFang-Zun holds genuine affection for you.”

“Can the word of this person be trusted?” asked Lan XiChen.

“Even if Jin GuangYao did allow or instigate the total destruction of these sects after Jin GuangShan’s death. He could have simply learned bad habits about the way Sect politics work. We did start the Sunshot Campaign, and then the Jin’s laid siege to the Burial Mounds to finish off the Wens. Then, Lan Zhan mentioned that the TingshanHe Sect just disappeared in its entirety, if Jin GuangShan ordered that and LianFang-Zun followed those orders. Wouldn’t he believe that that is the way things are done?” asked Wei WuXian.

ZeWu-Jun nodded and thought. “Do you trust this person, WangJi?”

“Mn.”

“Well, I trust A-Yao, I know him, and while I have noticed a difference between the A-Yao that I know and the LianFang-Zun that the public sees, I still trust that it is his heart that I know and not others. May I ask WangJi, if this person who is afraid of A-Yao told you that Young Master Wei was the one that couldn’t be trusted, would you believe him?” the silence that followed Lan XiChen’s question was answer enough.

“We of course will take your testimony for LianFang-Zun’s character to heart. We of course do not know anything for certain as of yet, we just have a lot of disjointed pieces that can only clearly say that Xue Yang is not a person to be trusted,” soothed Wei WuXian.

Lan XiChen inclined his head and said, “I will of course remain impartial and view all evidence as it comes not as WangJi or A-Yao’s brother but as the Sect Leader of GusuLan.”

Wei WuXian hummed in agreement and Lan WangJi went to take a sip of the tea that was surely tepid at that point when there was a soft knock on the door. Everyone froze and looked at the door, it was approaching curfew, definitely not a time to begin a visit.

“Yes?” called out ZeWu-Jun.

“Sect Leader, LianFang-Zun is here, he wanted to know if it was too late to talk with you,” came a voice through the door.

The three looked at each other. Wei WuXian made a motion with his hands and before Lan XiChen could interpret it Wei WuXian dumped all three undrunk cups of tea back in the pot and then put it over the flame to heat up a bit, then he used his sleeve to dry out the three cups and placed one back on Lan XiChen’s tea tray and placed the two remaining cups on the table. ZeWu-Jun watched it all with a sort of wide-eyed fascination. Wei WuXian looked pained at Lan XiChen and made a motion towards the door and then grabbed Lan WangJi by the arm and dragged him behind a screen.

“Sorry, yes of course I can see him now,” called out Lan XiChen.

It wasn’t long after when LianFang-Zun arrived. Lan XiChen smiled. “A-Yao, I’m afraid I made tea earlier and then did not drink it so this tea is reheated, but it should still be good.” Lan XiChen felt nervous but could easily hide it in the motions of grabbing the pot and pouring tea. “I put the pot back on the fire when I heard you were here, so I am not sure how hot the tea is.”

“I’m sure it will be fine Er-ge, it is I who have called late,” replied Jin GuangYao.

“Is there some sort of emergency? Is it that resentful energy cloud?” asked Lan XiChen.

“Perhaps related… I must ask Er-ge, there are rumours that HanGuang-Jun was seen travelling with the Yiling Patriarch. Did they come here?”

“They did with Xiao XingChen and Song ZiChen, they had met up, and fought with Xue Yang in the north, Xue Yang had controlled the corpse of the TingshanHe Sect Leader He Su. They were able to liberate the corpse and brought it here, in hopes that our elders could confirm the identity of the corpse. Sect Leader He’s identity was confirmed, and he was sent on to Tingshan.”

“And you didn’t find Wei WuXian’s presence strange?”

“WangJi trusts him,” replied Lan XiChen, he gave Jin GuangYao a look that said he too should know that.

“I’m afraid that HanGuang-Jun might be being tricked.”

“How?”

“There are strange readings from Yiling, corpses in the city, but the mountain which always had more resentful energy than the rest of the area now has lower resentful energy then the surrounding area. With the resentful energy cloud, it is a worrying anomaly. With the appearance of the Yiling Patriarch so many years after his death… well, I question why you let him leave Cloud Recesses.”

ZeWu-Jun paused, had he not mentioned that Lan WangJi had brought Wei WuXian back to Cloud Recesses, wearing a dress? “He came in the company of my brother, Xiao XingChen, and Song ZiChen; three men whose integrity and righteousness is above question, they said that Wei WuXian was an asset to them on the night hunt and was not the enemy that they had been hunting. It turned out that one of the BalingOuyang disciples was born to the YueyangChang Sect, and so Xue Yang was chasing after the juniors, especially after he was thwarted in his attempt to kill another YueyangChang Sect member by my brother and the others. WangJi, Young Master Wei, Xiao XingChen, and Song ZiChen had then chased Xue Yang and that is how they were there to help the juniors.”

“That may be,” said Jin GuangYao diplomatically, “But the matter of Yiling is troubling. There is going to be a meeting of the Sect Leaders at Koi Tower to discuss the resentful energy cloud and the strange activity of Yiling, will you come? You can add your own knowledge about Wei WuXian and Xue Yang to the discussion. Though Mo Village is not overly far from Yiling and we know that Wei WuXian didn’t have love for the Jins and my own half-brother lived at the epicentre of the explosion, I am worried for what it might mean. If it is determined—once every sect has been able to present what they have learned thus far, of course—that the Yiling Patriarch is responsible then there may be a second siege of the Burial Mounds.”

“But…” began ZeWu-Jun.

Jin GuangYao put up a hand and said, “I know HanGuang-Jun’s feelings in this, but when you let the Yiling Patriarch leave, what guarantees do you have that he was actually going to Tingshan?”

Lan XiChen felt that he had missed some part of conversation, he know he implied that Wei WuXian had left for Tingshan with the others, but how did they get from a meeting to discuss the explosion to a siege on the Burial Mounds? And Lan XiChen trusted in his brother when he said where Wei WuXian had been since the explosion.

His silence must have been taken for answer because Jin GuangYao reached a hand across the table and patted Lan XiChen’s hand before he said, “Will you come? You can share your own knowledge and all the sects can talk about the resentful energy cloud. And if it turns out that your brother is being tricked by the Yiling Patriarch we will of course protect him.”

“Yes, of course I’ll come, the cloud is worrisome. Are you planning on leaving tonight? It is already late, I can have your usual room made up, and then I can collect the relevant night hunt reports. It was our disciples that were at Mo Village first after all. We had received a request from the First Madam of Mo for help, before the explosion, I should find that letter as well it may give hints to the events that had led up to the explosion.”

“That would be good information, I think I will take up your offer of a bed tonight, walk me out?”

“Of course, A-Yao,” said Lan XiChen with a smile. The two of them got up and left the hanshi. After a moment Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi stepped out from behind the screen and settled back at the table. Wei WuXian studied the two cups Lan XiChen seemed to have been able to swallow a sip, but Jin GuangYao had drank half the cup—he was cool and calculated, but Wei WuXian had to smile because he was planning to storm the lair of a man that had already claimed right’s to Jin GuangYao’s head, and he didn’t even know it.

Wei WuXian looked over at Lan WangJi and saw that there was a crease between his eyes. “Don’t worry Lan Zhan, you have a secret person in hiding from LianFang-Zun, and I know a secret or two of my own, I won’t talk about it now, I made my own promises and the least said in the vicinity of LianFang-Zun the better.”

“Mn,” replied Lan WangJi and his features shifted.

“LianFang-Zun cares for your brother; I don’t think he will hurt him. And I care for you Lan Zhan, and I unlike Jin GuangYao, will care for your brother because of my affection for you.”

Lan WangJi relaxed he nodded and his lips tipped up in a hint of a smile, he then moved around the room and got the stuff for tea, and he poured more cups and he and Wei WuXian sat at the table and waited for the return of ZeWu-Jun as they sipped their tea.  

Lan XiChen returned to his quarters and stood a moment in the doorway and watched his brother and the man his brother loved. “What do you think?”

Wei WuXian turned around and looked at Lan XiChen for a moment and then he said, “I believe I know why the Burial Mounds have less resentful energy at the moment.”

“And that would be?”

“A… friend, whom I’ve promised to keep his secrets regularly battles the beasts and ghosts of the Burial Mounds,” replied Wei WuXian.

“The corpses in the town?” questioned Lan WangJi.

“I don’t know Lan Zhan, his… wife is the one that goes into Yiling, if she didn’t need to do the shopping than maybe they don’t know about the corpses,” explained Wei WuXian.

“Hmm,” thought Lan XiChen, “I will go to Koi Tower, try to prevent the other Sects from misplacing the blame. If anything, the aftermath of the explosion needs to be dealt with. You should go to Yiling, if you know someone who is already there trying to combat the resentful energy.”

Lan WangJi and Wei WuXian stood from the table and walked over to Lan XiChen. “That is a good plan, we will leave in the morning as well,” said Wei WuXian.

ZeWu-Jun shook his head. “No, you should take Young Master Wen with you; wait until the healers are done with him. Lanling is further from Gusu then Yiling you can wait an extra day.”

“As you say brother,” Lan WangJi replied.

The both bowed and went to leave the hanshi, at the door Wei WuXian turned back and asked, “LianFang-Zun calls you Er-ge, because you are also sworn brothers with ChiFeng-Zun?”

“Yes.”

“And if it was ChiFeng-Zun that spoke against LianFang-Zun?”

“He did that in life, he would say that he only agreed to be sworn brothers with A-Yao to keep an eye on him.”

Wei WuXian nodded sagely. “Would you say you hold ChiFeng-Zun in as high regard as you do LianFang-Zun?”

“Da-ge, is one of my oldest friends, A-Yao saved my life, I would say that in my heart they are equal.”

The sage nodding continued and then Wei WuXian asked, “Say you found ChiFeng-Zun tomorrow and he told you his death was caused by LianFang-Zun, but LianFang-Zun cried and appeared happy to see his Da-ge, who would you believe?”

There was a beat of silence. “What a cruel thing to ask. My friend died young of Qi Deviation.”

“I do not mean to be cruel. It was only an example used to illustrate. HanGuang-Jun believes me because he trusts me, you trust him so you will not do anything against me until you have solid proof stronger than your brother’s faith against me. You could not see his face but HanGuang-Jun was angry when LianFang-Zun mentioned a second siege on me. The three of us know at the very least I am not there now and have nothing to do with anything at the Burial Mounds now. By your tone of voice, you believe that LianFang-Zun is operating with only some of the facts and when you can clear up these matters pertaining to me. But based on Lan Zhan’s face, your trust in LianFang-Zun was the only thing keeping HanGuang-Jun from confronting LianFang-Zun. So if it was two people on equal standing in your own heart who would you believe? Your eldest friend or a man who saved you?”

“I don’t know, I would have to set aside feelings and examine the evidence.”

Wei WuXian nodded sagely again he turned to the door and tugged on Lan WangJi’s sleeve, as a parting thought he threw over his shoulder, “And if the only physical proof remaining was that ChiFeng-Zun, was alive and well?”

Lan WangJi followed Wei WuXian as he snuck them around Cloud Recesses to get to the jingshi, so they could avoid being seen by any guards. Once inside Wei WuXian reached for the alcohol stash as Lan WangJi readied for bed. Wei WuXian didn’t stay up late but instead climbed into bed not long after Lan WangJi. The next morning Wei WuXian slept in and Lan WangJi made normal non-suspicious appearances around Cloud Recesses. ZeWu-Jun and LianFang-Zun left early for Koi Tower, but not GusuLan early. After they left Lan WangJi roused Wei WuXian a bit and then went through the motions of bathing and dressing him before propping him up at the table so he could wake for breakfast.

Once Wei WuXian had finished his meal, they made their way to the healers and found their daughter who was happily chatting with Wen Ning the uncle she couldn’t remember. After a brief discussion of the overall plan, and the need for all of them to be out of Cloud Recesses; Lan WenNuan offered to take any heat for discharging Wen Ning early without doctor’s permission.

They didn’t talk for a long time after they left Cloud Recesses. Wei WuXian had wanted to bring his donkey, but Lan WangJi insisted on horses and they took three of the GusuLan white horses with them. As they got closer to the Burial Mound Wei WuXian could see that Wen Ning was getting antsy.

He thought that jovial conversation would calm his friend, so Wei WuXian asked, “Wen Ning how did you survive? I was told that you and your sister were burned. I’m happy to see that you are alive, but well…”

“Mn,” agreed Lan WangJi.

Wen Ning looked around the empty road; he scanned the horizon and then looked pointedly at Lan WangJi. Wei WuXian laughed, “Don’t worry about Lan Zhan he never talks, he can keep secrets.”

Nervous eyes scanned the area again they were in the fog of resentment at that point so the roads were emptier than usual, but there could be all sorts of sinister things in the area. “I was put in a dark underground dungeon; I don’t really know where. I saw Jin GuangShan once at the beginning; he wanted to know how you made me. He wouldn’t accept that I wasn’t dead. He told Jin GuangYao that he wanted their Demonic Cultivators to be able to replicate me. Jin GuangYao introduced me to Xue Yang he was their head demonic cultivator. He was the one that wanted to cut me to pieces to figure out how I worked, despite having all human needs they insisted on me being dead. Jin GuangYao didn’t want to risk ‘whatever magic held me together’ since you were dead Young Master Wei. I was out of the cell occasionally Xue Yang was training his own fierce corpses; I sometimes had to fight the fierce corpses. They hadn’t taken my clothes, so I still had the bell on me and that made the corpses leave me alone. They took that as proof that I was a superior fierce corpse, that I could make other fierce corpses cower away from me.”

“So, you also have first-hand experience that would incriminate Jin GuangYao?” Wei WuXian questioned.

“But I am a Wen and dead I don’t think my word would count for much.”

“You are not ash,” added Lan WangJi.

Wei WuXian nodded. “The fact that you were not executed points at least to the duplicity of the LanlingJin Sect. How did you escape?”

“There was this person,” began Wen Ning his eyes shifting around, and Wei WuXian realised that this was a long kept secret, Wen Ning sure that they were alone continued, “he had been one of the Demonic Cultivators, I had seen him before. He came for me, he wanted my help, and had the means to get me out. He said that he was sure that Jin GuangYao wouldn’t be hiding in that complex because of the corpses, and he knew that the sects had set a trap for Xue Yang and the lure was good enough that this person was certain that Xue Yang wouldn’t be there.”

“What did they want your help with?”

Wen Ning hesitated for a long moment and then the words burst from him with great speed, “He tried to resurrect Young Master Wei, but failed and hoped I could help him!”

They were silent and then Wei WuXian’s brain caught up. “Wait! What? Why?”

“He said that HanGuang-Jun, SanDu ShengShou, and Young Madam Jin had helped him a lot and that they were all missing Young Master Wei, so he wanted to bring Young Master Wei back for them.”

This time it was Lan WangJi that shifted in the saddle. Wei WuXian looked between his two companions and then he said, “Did this person tell you how they tried to bring me back?”

“He modified one of your reservoir talismans and had it collect spiritual energy from HanGuang-Jun, SanDu ShengShou, and Young Madam Jin and then he used Suibian as a connection to you. He showed me the array but I’m not good at arrays, I could only say that he should have perhaps used the array at the Burial Mounds.”

They were quiet again, Wei WuXian’s hand went to his stomach, even years latter his core still felt like the hugs and the pleading of his once-Husband, the love of his Shijie, and the anger of his Shidi, did he have this unknown ex-LanlingJin Demonic Cultivator to thank for his second life?

“I didn’t give any one my spiritual energy for an array,” said Lan WangJi.

Wei WuXian looked over first at Lan WangJi and then at Wen Ning. Wen Ning could read his expression and he kicked his horse into a trot and went a bit ahead of them. Wei WuXian directed his own horse closer to Lan WangJi and then he said, “Lan Zhan did you ever beg for me to come back using Spiritual energy?”

Lan WangJi froze and then nodded once. “Inquiry.”

“Did I ever answer?”

“No, other spirits would, but none of them had seen you either. Then they stopped answering.”

“How often did you ask for me?”

Lan WangJi’s ears went red. “Every night.”

“Even after the other spirits stopped answering about me?”

“Mn.”

“I think this person knew that you asked for me and that I wasn’t answering. That they used the talisman to collect the energy that you were using to ask for me.”

“How do you know?” there was hints of desperation in Lan WangJi’s voice.

Wei WuXian went a bit red. “You should let me keep my face Lan Zhan!”

But Lan WangJi just kept looking at Wei WuXian and beseeched, “Wei Ying.”

“When I woke up in the Burial Mounds with Suibian, I had this small core and it felt like I was being held together by Jiang Cheng’s anger, Shijie’s love, and… and your hugs and pleads for me to come back.”

Lan WangJi sucked in an audible breath. “We will have to thank this person, tell them that they succeeded.

They had opted to camp out instead of staying in any of the towns. As they were unsure what rumours had been spread around by Jin GuangYao or even any of the juniors who hadn’t had the forethought to think their words and actions through. It was after they had finished their evening meal and were sitting around the fire that Wen Ning told the others how he had snuck into Koi Tower and got his sister out of their cells.

When they reached Yiling, it was only Wei WuXian that was worried about being recognised. Though he was dressed the same as he had when he had initially left Yiling after his resurrection, in black and pastels before he had been alone or in the company of Qin Su, this time he had the HanGuang-Jun and Ghost General at his sides. Not that the people of Yiling had ever really called Wen Ning the Ghost General.

What surprised Wei WuXian the most was how happy the people of Yiling were to see them. They called Lan WangJi by his title and called out for “Master Wei” Wei WuXian looked around and it took him a moment to realise that they were talking to Wen Ning!

They had barely dismounted their horses at the stable near the city gates when a woman came up to them. “HanGuang-Jun! how have you been, the children?”

“They are well,” replied Lan WangJi.

The woman opened her mouth to say something else and then her eye caught Wei WuXian and she breathed out, “Matriarch!”

“Uhh…” Wei WuXian trailed off not knowing what to say.

“We are so happy that you came back! And thank you for Master Qin he has been keeping the mountain well, it was like when you lived here with your family,” the lady went on.

“I believe Master… uhh… Qin came here before I returned, but I am happy that he had been able to help you.”

“But he doesn’t leave the mountain, and down here there have been some corpses, we blocked off two of the gates and Master Wei’s sister loaned us her bell to hang on the gate to keep the corpses out while allowing people in, another Wei hung his own bell at the other gate. But please you must come tell us what is happening. The air has become dark and travellers say the worst things are happening.”

Wei WuXian was baffled usually when you came to a town to get any useful information you needed to go to an inn or an alcohol shop and spend money, but in Yiling people just accosted you with the information.

Lan WangJi nodded to the woman and they followed behind her so they could be in a better position to tell the most people their news. Wei WuXian was still in a panic, he hissed at Wen Ning, “Wei? Why are they calling you Wei, they know you are Wen Ning don’t they?”

“Wen is still not a good name to have, they just started calling me Wei Ning on their own,” replied Wen Ning.

“She said that there are more Wei’s with my bells! Does that mean that more…”?

“Yes,” said Lan WangJi.

“Lan Zhan? You knew that everyone hadn’t died, and you didn’t tell me?”

“If you had not been determined to hide, you would have known,” replied Lan WangJi.

Wei WuXian looked down, he knew that Lan WangJi had been right; he had assumed that everyone hated him, but here in Yiling they were thanking him for bringing Nie MingJue to the Burial Mounds, when he hadn’t been a part of that at all. The woman brought them to an inn and they stood in the corner and discussed what to say as the inn workers ran onto the street and gathered as many people as they could all with whispers of, “Yiling Matriarch.”

Wei WuXian was pushed forward to the centre of the now packed room. “There was an explosion of resentful energy further west, the cause is not clear right now but every sect is out there now trying to dissipate the fog or battling the creatures that have been stirred up by the energy. The last we knew the cloud of resentful energy was spreading. We had heard about the walking corpses and as Master Qin’s work on the mountain isn’t something that the cultivation world knows about, they might be coming here to investigate, and we wanted to give Master Qin our support and to see if we could stop the corpses. If you know anything that you think could help us, we would appreciate it.”

A man in the crowd, clear by his clothes that he had been recently travelling, they could have passed him on the road as they came in the gate, he spoke up, “I heard that it was the Yiling Patriarch, that he came back from the dead and caused the fog.”

Before they could reply the crowd turned on the man. Many people were yelling at the man and then one question cut through the rest, “Is that what they are really saying outside of Yiling?”

The man cowed and cowering now, nodded vigorously. “Yes, I just repeated what I had heard I swear!”

The crowd turned to Wei WuXian and started all yelling at him but unlike the angry tone of the words directed at the man, the words were imploring and worried, some were even panicked.

“Are the Sects coming to attack us because you are our Matriarch?”!

“Are you worried they will try to kill Master Qin?”!

There were many other questions thrown at them and the three friends shared a look and then Wei WuXian held up his hands and said, “It is true that I have a bad reputation. The great ZeWu-Jun has gone to tell the sects that I am not involved in this. As Master Qin is a man of the sword first and words second, we wanted to be here to stop any misunderstanding. And with Master Qin’s work on the Burial Mound, you shouldn’t be having such problems with corpses. We are here for you and Master Qin.”

The voices rose again. “Will the gold plight come again?”

“Gold plight?”

Another voice clarified, “That day, a great cloud of gold-clad cultivators came and blotted out the sun, they killed you.”

“Oh,” said Wei WuXian he thought fast and then had continued, “that day… I had been on my way to LanlingJin when I was attacked by archers, so that day I had been wounded when the cultivators came. I have faith in ZeWu-Jun but if he were to fail, this time I am not hurt and I have HanGuang-Jun, Masters Wei and Qin, and Madams Wei and Qin here to help me. If they come again don’t try to stop them, we won’t be spending much time on the mountain, so if they go there, they won’t see us. And no one will die this time.”

They talked a bit more with the people, there had been a couple that had heard screams and the sounds of struggles a few nights prior, but the people had been either too afraid that it was something like a yayu that mimicked a human sound to draw in humans, or they couldn’t find the source. They agreed that the sounds were headed to the mountain and they had found no bodies or wounded come daylight, so they had assumed whatever creature it was fell to
Master Qin.

The crowd dispersed the people gone to spread the tale. Wei WuXian, Wen Ning, and Lan WangJi stayed in the inn for a meal and to wait to see if any other information came their way before they headed out to the Burial Mounds and to talk with Nie MingJue, Qin Su, and Wen Qing.

Chapter Text

The Burial Mounds were just as dry and unhospitable then what they all remembered. There was however a distinct lack of corpses. Wei WuXian extended his senses and to his relief found that the mountain was still mostly bone. But there was a distinct lack of walking corpses. The barrier that Wei WuXian had long ago erected to protect the Wens was gone. The walking corpses that had come to the city could also not be seen. With the dense atmosphere of resentful energy, more corpses with the ability to get up and move was expected, since Yiling was relatively close to the epicentre, the corpses walk to or through Yiling was not suspicious. But once the stiff corpses found their way blocked, then before their death-slowed consciousness’s could think to go around the city wouldn’t the siren song of the Burial Mounds draw them in? And even baring that could Nie MingJue really have slain all of the Mountain-born corpses?

Suffice to say, it was a quiet and almost idyllic climb up the mountain. Closer to the base of the mountain but still within what would have been the corpse barrier were the fruit trees Uncle Four had utilised for his wine, and what everyone else used as an invaluable food source. Those trees in the spring and summer months covered in green leaves though their colours seemed washed out in greying scuzzy water—at least their fruit had tasted sweet and hadn’t killed anyone. Further up you went the more the trees lost their leaves until they were as bare boned as the bodies beneath their roots. The wind blew and the bare branches rattled in the breeze, a soft clattering all around the group, a sound that was peaceful in its own way and not unlike a bamboo wind chime.

They came out in the Wen’s Settlement; it had always had a bit of a ramshackle-ness to it even at the celebration for Wen Ning and the wedding of Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi. But now there were fewer buildings and more piles of lumber. Wei WuXian had expected to be greeted by an angry Wen Qing, it took a moment of the silence for Wei WuXian to remember that Wen Qing was actually alive according to Wen Ning and then a flutter of hope rose to choke Wei WuXian and he looked around widely for Wen Qing. It was another moment before he remembered Nie MingJue was also in residence. Now, Wei WuXian was expecting to be faced with a yelling ChiFeng-Zun, Wei WuXian had a vague sense that he had promised to stay away from the sects and now he was in the presence of the Second Peerless Jade of GusuLan. Perhaps they would find the two of them—Wen Qing and Nie MingJue—yelling either at each other or Wei WuXian.

The stillness of the dead mountain—the mountain of the dead was broken, but not by a sharp-tongued physician or a quick to fight (ex?-) Sect Leader, but by a plethora of young voices. The mouthy Lan—his XiaoPiPi—was one of the voices, Wei WuXian’s heart thrilled it was his son! But then his heart plummeted, why was his son here? Then there came softer voice trying to calm the others—SiZhui. A fond smile lit Wei WuXian’s lip and he glanced at his companions before they entered into the Demon Slaughtering Cave the big main room right inside the entrance had been fitted out with all sorts of arrays so that there was a modicum of protection from the Burial Mounds for the people that had resided there. It was also used for array and talisman experimentation, there were dozens of arrays chalked and painted onto the floor and walls.

Inside was a gaggle of junior disciples in a rainbow of sect uniforms BalingOuyang Red, GusuLan White, LanlingJin Gold, and YunmengJiang Violet. The littlest Jin—Jin RuLan was arguing with Lan JingYi, it sounded like they were arguing about trying to leave the Burial Mounds or staying.

Wei WuXian interrupted them, “What are we doing here?”

Many things happened all at once, Wei WuXian gained everyone’s attention one of the YunmengJiang disciples whipped out two swords lighting fast. The sword in the forward arm Wei WuXian would never forget—it was the sword of Madam Yu ZiYuan. Wei WuXian studied the disciple for a bit more and could see a bit in her features that she was indeed a girl, though she wasn’t dressed as one—so that was his martial niece Jiang Gan.

“A-Ma, HanGuang-Jun!” called his boys. Lan WangJi’s presence seemed to calm some of the others from GusuLan and the other Sects as well, since Jiang ZiBiao put away her swords.

“Is Maiden Xiao here as well?” said a voice in the back that sounded suspiciously like Ouyang ZiZhen.

“No, she isn’t, now answer the question, why did you come here?” asked Wei WuXian again.

Lan SiZhui came forward and spoke, “We were captured; these men in masks came and tied us up in Spirit binding ropes, and piled our swords in the corner. As they were leaving ChiFeng-Zun came out of the back of the cave and killed the men—”

“—The brats started screaming that I was a vengeful ghost, until I freed them,” cut off Nie MingJue as he once more came from the back of the cave, “we then fed them, got them blankets to sleep on, fed them again and then they started arguing about whether they should leave or not. What’s going on?”

“There was an explosion—” began Wei WuXian

“These children have been here for a night I know about that!” Nie MingJue snapped.

“Do you know about the fight with Xue Yang and how he escaped again?” asked Wei WuXian.

“Yes.”

“Alright, so this is just my guess based on what I heard and what I know of certain people, and the fact that the juniors were kidnapped and brought here,” began Wei WuXian then he looked around at the young faces and rearranged the words in his head as to not incriminate anyone that everyone didn’t know was evil, there was no point in causing an argument.

“We know that Xue Yang isn’t above using rumours, we uncovered many villages that had been destroyed by him, but people think that it was either done by Xiao XingChen or Song ZiChen. So I think that either Xue Yang started a rumour about me, or maybe one of the juniors who were in Yi City or any of the other people who saw me started a rumour about the Yiling Patriarch,” Wei WuXian paused as there were indignant squawks from a few of the juniors then he continued, “LianFang-Zun,” Wei WuXian paused again and gave a look to Nie MingJue, “came to Cloud Recesses last night with tales of the walking corpses in Yiling City and the diminished resentful energy on the Burial Mounds, which with the explosion is the opposite of what everyone would think would happen here. He had heard rumours of the Yiling Patriarch and was gathering the Sects to discuss the issue with the resentful energy cloud and specifically Yiling and the possibility of a second siege here. We came to warn ChiFeng-Zun. And now seeing all these junior disciples I’m assuming that someone knew a siege might happen, so they kidnapped the Disciples to further anger the Sects against me.”

“But that is not believable, A-Ma is too poor to hire all those kidnappers,” replied Lan SiZhui he waved a hand and in the direction of the hand wave was a pile of at least ten corpses. There was a containment barrier erected around the corpses that prevented them from rising.

“Yes, thank you SiZhui.”

Before anyone could say anything else there were moans and shuffles coming from outside. Nie MingJue spat, “More walking corpses, they have been an extra nuisance as of late.”

“I have my bell!” came five voices at once and only Wen Ning added, “I can hold them off.”

Wen Ning went over to the pile of kidnappers and looked at the Spiritual Swords he picked the one that was most amenable to working with him and went out the door.

Lan SiZhui, Lan JingYi, Jin RuLan, and Jiang ZiBiao were now huddled in a group and glaring at each other.

“My A-Die said my Shishu made this for me,” said Jiang ZiBiao.

“My A-Niang said my Shishu made this for me!” added Jin RuLan.

“I remember, A-Ma made ours,” said Lan JingYi.

Lan SiZhui added, “A-Die gave him the token for Cloud Recesses to help make ours.”

“Hey kids that’s me,” said Wei WuXian with a laugh as he moved over. “Lan Zhan and I had a couple kids and then I heard that my beloved Shidi had had a daughter and my beloved Shijie was pregnant with a son!” he paused to pat each respected kid on the head when he mentioned them, “I came up with the design and then my Lan Zhan got the materials, and yes we decided to combine my bell with the entry token on our children’s bells, since I was a disciple of YunmengJiang Sect, the bell  is special to me as well, but our children were Lan’s so you know both in one.” He ended his speech with a bright smile.

“Wait! So…” trailed off Jiang ZiBiao.

“You’re Shishu!” Wei WuXian clapped excitedly, “SiZhui, JingYi, greet your Shibiaojie and Shibiaodi properly.”

“HanGuang-Jun is their father! You can’t be their father too!” yelled Jin RuLan.

“Of course, I can I gave birth to them!” exclaimed Wei WuXian loud enough to draw the attention of the rest to the group.

There were plenty of gasps and Wei WuXian would have sworn he heard Nie MingJue sigh, “Is this the right time?”

“No, I can’t have more cousins without my mother knowing, if you’re her Shidi, she’ll kill you for not telling her. They are older than me, you have had plenty of time!” proclaimed Jin RuLan.

The cave was silent for a half a moment as Wei WuXian sweated over the thought of his Shijie’s disappointment. Jiang ZiBiao nodded sagely. “He is correct.”

“This is not the point!” roared Nie MingJue, “I will not be besieged by the sects 

We have plenty of the repelling bells we can get the children out and the then the adults can dispatch the corpses.”

Jiang ZiBiao looked around the room and her eyes settled on the littlest of them all Ouyang YaJie and thrust her bell into his hands, “It will keep the corpses away from you, I’ll want it back when we get out of here.”

“What are you doing?” asked Wei WuXian.

“The kids need the bells to get out,’ she said.

“You’re a kid too!”

“I’m seventeen,” she retorted, Wei WuXian went to argue more but she cut him off, “I am the Dawn River and the Violet Storm, I cultivate with two blades, I am the strongest disciple in our generation, and the heir of the YunmengJiang Sect are you saying you think I cannot fight?”!

Wei WuXian’s mouth clicked shut. It was Lan WangJi who replied, “You are all those things and that’s why we need you to get the children to Yiling proper.”

The words of HanGuang-Jun calmed the storm that was Jiang ZiBiao and she nodded. Before they could make any move, the doors of the cave were thrown open by the body of Wen Ning came flying through them.

There was a cry of, “A-Ning!” and Wen Qing melted out of the darkness in the back of the cave and too her brother’s side.

ChiFeng-Zun stepped to the door Baxia at the ready. Wei WuXian strode forward and put out a hand, “Wait, let me see if I can play them off.”

“I can dispose of a few corpses,” growled Nie MingJue.

As Wei WuXian became abreast of Nie MingJue he whispered, “If I can’t control them then that means someone out there has the Stygian Tiger Seal, we need to know if we have a live enemy out there.” Nie MingJue nodded and then Wei WuXian raised his voice, “Lan Zhan.”

Wei WuXian strode out of the Demon Slaughtering Cave with HanGuang-Jun guarding his back—at exactly the wrong moment. Wen Ning hadn’t been thrown back by corpses but by Zidian—the Sects had arrived.

Someone in the crowd called out, “Yiling Patriarch Wei WuXian your evil ends here!”

“I see, but you are the ones that have come to the Burial Mounds, I’ve just been here not doing evil, so I suppose you have succeeded.”

A man limped to the front and said, “Wei WuXian do you know who I am?”

“No, but my memory has always been bad.”

The man pulled up his pants leg to reveal a wooden stump. “I lost my leg to one of your corpses during the war.”

“I’m sorry.”

“And me?” called another man who stepped forward, “you won’t know me, you might not know my brother-in-law but he was one of the three hundred Jin Sect Members that died when they captured the Ghost General!”

With an exasperated sigh Wei WuXian took a step forward and exclaimed, “Wen Ning is alive! He was alive back then and he was held prisoner for years by Xue Yang and he is alive today, as long as Zidian didn’t kill him! I don’t know how your brother-in-law died but one man, cultivator or not cannot kill three hundred cultivators without any spiritual weapons of his own!”

But the majority of the crowd didn’t seem to be listening, another man stepped forward. “You don’t know me either Wei WuXian, but do you know why I’m here?”

“A war injury or a death in your family?”

“No, I just cannot abide by men like you, kidnapping children, attacking Koi Tower, injuring LianFang-Zun, you sicken me!”

“Sect Leader Yao!” interrupted Lan QiRen.

“Hey Lan Zhan why does everyone think I have money for kidnappers and assassins? Do they think the great HanGuang-Jun would pay for them?”

Lan QiRen sputtered, “Son of CangSe SanRen!”

“Uncle,” said Lan WangJi, “Brother?”

“He stayed with LianFang-Zun,” replied Lan QiRen, “the disciples?”

“Inside, the kidnappers have been dispatched of,” replied Lan WangJi.

“Are you to say that the corpses that we had to fight on the way here were not yours as well?” said another man he stepped to the front in his hand was a guqin and his uniform was of a grey almost white colour.

Wei WuXian’s eyes flickered to the man’s forehead and then he said, “You are the sloppiest Lan I have ever seen, I’m surprised that Sir let you leave Cloud Recesses.”

The man sputtered, “I’m not a Lan don’t you know who I am?”!

Dark-grey eyes stared at the man with the guqin but just couldn’t place him, “Sect Leader Su MinShan of the MolingSu Sect,” said Lan WangJi.

“Oh,” said Wei WuXian absently has he turned his body to look back at Lan WangJi, to be honest he had started to wonder how long Nie MingJue’s patience was and forgotten what they had been talking about, “I’ve never been.”

“How do you not know me, we attended classes together!” sputtered the man with the guqin.

There was a silence as Wei WuXian tried to dredge up a memory. Lan WangJi provided a context, “He lost his sword to the Waterborne Abyss; you saved him.”

“Lan Zhan,” Wei WuXian whined, “that was so long ago! How could I remember that?”

“He shot you in the arm with an arrow in the cave of the XuanWu of Slaughter,” added Lan WangJi, Su MinShan was getting redder each time Lan WangJi spoke.

Wei WuXian waved that off, “I was feverish; you sang to me, oh and killed the XuanWu!”

The conversation had taken a strange turn that no one had expected and they were all suddenly unsure if the man before them was indeed Wei WuXian or just one of the Charlton Yiling Patriarchs. Jiang WanYin growled, “Wei. Wu. Xian!”

“Ah! Jiang Cheng, don’t hit me with Zidian again! My soul still hurts!” pleaded Wei WuXian as he scrambled back behind Lan WangJi. Jiang WanYin’s arm raised Zidian up anyway but before he could bring it down corpses came shambling into the clearing. Everyone turned as one and engaged the corpses. The arch of Zidian changed course and struck one of the walking dead. Wei WuXian raised his dizi to his mouth and then thought better of it as he didn’t want the Sect to think that the corpses were his.

He whistled, but the corpse coming at him wasn’t stopping. Using his voice was harder so he whistled again this time putting all of his focus into the nearest shambling corpse. He was parsing the feeling of the response he received from the resentful energy when the attack of the corpse against Wei WuXian was blocked by Bichen then the corpse was beheaded by Suihua. “A-Li is waiting for you, so stop dreaming and fight.”

Suddenly, everyone that was fighting seemed to lose their energy and a second wave of walking corpses came through the trees. The living humans started backing away from the corpses. Wide eyed Wei WuXian drew Suibian and leapt into the fray after Lan WangJi they both tried to keep the corpses away from the others who had all coughed up blood as they had tried to force the energy they had been using through their meridians as they had been doing.

Lan SiZhui suddenly appeared in the door of the Demon Slaughtering Cave flanked by all of the Sect heirs that had been captured. “Quick everyone come inside there is an array on the ground, it’ll keep the copses out!”

The QingheNie contingent didn’t seem to hesitate, led by a disciple and their Sect Leader, one of the female YunmengJiang cultivators followed behind. Jiang WanYin and Jin ZiXuan studied their children then followed after. Lan QiRen looked like he wanted to go into the fight and help his nephew but he too turned and lead the Lans into the cave. Sect Leaders Yao, Ouyang, and Su were hesitant and the even smaller Sects seemed to oscillate between going in or staying outside.

“Die, what are you doing? Come in!” yelled Ouyang ZiZhen.

“It’s a trick!” shouted Su MinShan.

Ouyang ZiZhen scoffed, “And you think it is wise to stay outside when you can’t fight the corpses?”

That decided the rest and they all ran inside. When the last was inside, Lan SiZhui yelled, “HanGuang-Jun!”

Lan WangJi disengaged and grabbed Wei WuXian’s hand and leapt them over the corpses and ran them into the cave. As soon as they were through the door the juniors closed it behind them and Lan QiRen stood at the ready to fix the array. There was an initial loud bang of a corpse striking the door that had pushed the juniors away and then the array activated and the doors sealed and the noises from outside faded slightly.

Everyone was watching the door and staring at the array to make sure it would hold. Wei WuXian got close to Lan WangJi and whispered, “The Seal was used,” he tapped on of the arrays on the wall and added, “anti-teleport array, there are twelve around the cave you activate I’ll distract.” If the Stygian Tiger Seal was there or nearby that could mean Ghostface was too and they didn’t want him teleporting in or out when they were all trapped like that. Lan WangJi nodded and cut his finger as he sheathed Bichen. And Wei WuXian walked away from his husband and drew everyone’s attention.

“Since we are all here why don’t we talk,” brazenly stated Wei WuXian. Every eye in the room turned to him, except Lan QiRen’s that seemed to track Lan WangJi—that just wouldn’t do. “I know you think I am the evil Yiling Patriarch that was resurrected in an explosion of resentful energy in Mo Village. But let me point you to Sect Leader Jin ZiXuan he should at least be able to tell you that I didn’t hurt him at Qiongqi Pass, and if you ask Elder Lan QiRen he can tell you he has been hearing rumours of my mother CangSe SanRen running around and night hunting for at least the last couple years and those were me. I didn’t come back in Mo Village, I came back years ago, and the only reason you know I am back now is that the cloud of resentful energy is a problem that everyone needs to be worried about.” He paused, let the words sink in, he waited for the inhalation of breath that heralded the beginning of an outburst and pressed on, “But right now we need to figure out how you all got poisoned.”

A few choked on their inhalation a couple others were able to shift thoughts fast enough that they seamlessly went into shouting, “What do you mean poison?”

“You all lost your Spiritual Energy more or less at the same time, so you more or less got poisoned at the same time. I’m fine, so are HanGuang-Jun, and the children. So, what did you all do?”

“Are you admitting to poisoning us now?” snapped the sloppy Lan, Wei WuXian was sure Lan WangJi had said his name and Wei WuXian did listen to Lan WangJi, but the sloppy Lan paled in comparison to HanGuang-Jun so his name had gone in one ear and out the other.

“You all seem to believe that I have boundless resources, I can hire kidnappers, assassins, and now I can slip poison to every one of you while I was here surrounded by all these disciples! Have you even looked at the kidnappers? Maybe you will recognise them and then know where they came from!” snapped back Wei WuXian. That got a couple of the senior members in the sects to amble over to the warded off area and the pile of corpses within.

“Die,” said Ouyang ZiZhen, “is your spiritual energy gone forever?” the question made Sect Leader Ouyang freeze for a moment, but his son wasn‘t done, “If it is, does that mean that I am now the Sect Leader?”

Sect Leader Ouyang’s eyes went wide as if the thought of his young son taking on the mantle of Sect Leader was just too much. “Is there a doctor here?” he looked around frantically and a physician steps out of the crowd and checks Sect Leader Yao, Ouyang, and a couple others and everyone was relieved to know that it is only a temporary condition.

Lan SiZhui speaks up with a look of genuine curiosity, this next generation would go far, and they were helping Wei WuXian keep the attention of the others away from things that they shouldn’t be looking at. Lan JingYi parries his brother’s comment about the poison with the question of what the adults could have done to get the poison.

Jin RuLan speaks up next, “From the corpses? Could it be a different type of corpse poisoning? Xue Yang did escape, and he would be angry at us.”

Lan WangJi returned to Wei WuXian’s side and no one seemed to notice his arrival or the fact that up until that moment he had been absent. There was the sound of a sword drawing that made everyone look around the cavern in worry. Wei WuXian wanted to smack his face for he knew that it wasn’t the sound of a sword drawing but a sabre and as he glanced at the contingent from QingheNie they seemed to recognise it as the sound of a sabre as well, then out of the shadows stepped ChiFeng-Zun in all his glory Baxia pointed at the contingent of sloppy Lans.

“It was music. It wasn’t corpse poisoning; it was done with music, who played while you fought the corpses?”

A drip from a stalactite, fell into the Blood Pool in a room further back, the light plink echoed around the cavernous front room of the cave. Then one feckless idiot in the back screamed, “Fierce Corpse!”

While a second idiot stuttered out, “Vengeful Spirit!”

Wei WuXian did hit himself in the forehead. “Lan Zhan how did we win the war with such idiots in our ranks?”

“Mn,” agreed Lan WangJi.

“Well? Answer me!” barked Nie MingJue.

“Da-ge!” yelled Nie HuaiSang and he pushed through the crowd and threw himself into his older brother’s arm.

“HuaiSang what are you doing here?” asked Nie MingJue his tone automatically going softer and his arm that wasn’t holding out Baxia curled protectively around his little brother.

“I think I was just brought along to round out the numbers,” laughed Nie HuaiSang through his tears he looked up into his brother’s face and even squeezed the bicep that was wrapped around him as if testing its realness, “Are you really alive? Does that mean I am no longer Sect Leader?”

ChiFeng-Zun patted his brother’s head. “We’ll talk about it later. Did that Jin GuangYao play for you? Who played the music?!”

A murmurer of confused, “LianFang-Zun?” rippled through the crowd.

“What sort of distracting trick is this? The Yiling Patriarch calls up the dead to spout nonsense!” exclaimed Su MinShan.

“They are not dead! Not Wen Ning, not ChiFeng-Zun how many times do I have to say this?” retorted Wei WuXian.

“And we are to believe you? Everyone here knows that LianFang-Zun was hurt at Koi Tower by your assassins! And everyone knows that the real ChiFeng-Zun cares not for music or drink and just for battle! So, this is all just some sinister plot!”

“But… Senior Wei is too poor to hire assassins!” pointed out Lan SiZhui with a sad perplexed look on his face.

“And he arrived with HanGuang-Jun, and HanGuang-Jun wouldn’t let him hire assassins, besides ChiFeng-Zun is the one who killed our kidnappers, and he doesn’t seem dead, so it cannot be as you say Sect Leader Su,” added in Jiang ZiBiao.

“If my uncle played sinister music for everyone at Koi Tower, would everyone have had their energy to fight the corpses as they came up the mountain?” asked Jin RuLan.

“Is there such a thing as sinister music?” lamented Ouyang ZiZhen.

The room as one turned to Lan QiRen. The elder Lan looked around and then said with a sigh, “There is such a type of music, but any sort of scores that are in GusuLan’s keeping are kept away from the general public, not many would have accesses to the scores we have. That is not to say that there aren’t other compositions out there in the world, are there such compositions in the Nie Sect’s libraries and treasuries?”

“I don’t know… I uh… I don’t think there are, I never saw any music,” said Nie HuaiSang, he had moved from the front of his brother to standing behind him, he was completely blocked from view by the simple height and breadth of his brother’s form.

“See!” yelled the one figure that seemed to be so thoroughly against Wei WuXian, “This has to be a trick! No one survives a Qi Deviation like the one that ChiFeng-Zun had suffered, there were witnesses to that, but the only witnesses we have to this farce are dead men, children, and the Yiling Patriarch.”

“Hey! There is HanGuang-Jun! You cannot refute his character!” shouted Lan JingYi.

“And the animosity between HanGuang-Jun and the Yiling Patriarch during the Sunshot Campaign is also well known and witnessed. For HanGuang-Jun to not speak against the Yiling Patriarch just proves that has been enchanted.”

“You’re right,” said Nie MingJue, “I should have died from Qi Deviation but I didn’t because Jin GuangYao played music that sealed away my spiritual energy. Your Qi cannot deviate, if you have no Qi.” He let the words sink in then he continued, “But it was only a temporary fix and he knew that if I got my energy back even if it caused my Qi to Deviate I would kill him. So Jin GuangYao locked me in a secret room for years and experimented on how to permanently seal away my Qi. Trust me when I say he failed, Baxia and I are perfectly capable of getting revenge.” Su MinShan opened his mouth and ChiFeng-Zun pressed on, “And before you protest, you came here because the Burial Mounds had less resentful energy then it should? That was because of me, I have been here taming these mounds, while you go around blaming others. And as I ‘died’ after the Yiling Patriarch you cannot say it is a trick of his and you will answer me, for I know intimately that music can be used to temporarily stopper spiritual energy, who played?”

Even the stalactite in the back cave held its breath at the killing intent swirling around ChiFeng-Zun, the cavern was deathly still. ChiFeng-Zun’s eyes narrowed and Nie HuaiSang offered, “MolingSu Sect played the battle hymns on the way up.”

Baxia’s focus shifted and Jiang ZiBiao had moved like the wind, her swords drawn so the members of the MolingSu Sect were hemmed in between Baxia, Weiyi, and Zhuji. Lan JingYi scoffed, “MolingSu Sect always makes mistakes even if they did this they wouldn’t play the music properly.”

“ZiBiao!” yelled Jiang WanYin.

“JingYi,” admonished Lan SiZhui.

“They played the battle hymn,” stated Lan QiRen. And everyone knew what he meant, they had played the battle hymn not that they had played something that they called the battle hymn.

The room froze, the MolingSu Sect still at blade point. Their Sect Leader had his fingers poised on his guqin prepared to strike either Nie MingJue or Jiang ZiBiao. Wei WuXian saw it and found it odd, but if the sloppy Lan still had his spiritual energy he would prefer to be the target over his Shizhinü.

“Did you forget…” began Wei WuXian.

“Su She,” said Lan WangJi.

Wei WuXian turned his head and gave Lan WangJi a sunny smile, “Thank you HanGuang-Jun,” he then turned his attention back to the standoff, he could see the rage on that person’s face—yes, he was that annoying, no need to target children, Wei WuXian was better equipped to take ire anyways—“Su She, you don’t have your Spiritual Energy?”

The man’s fingers relaxed. “It is as the Elder said, we played the Battle Hymn. Now, call off your undead minions Wei WuXian!”

Three things happened at once; Wei WuXian danced back with a mocking smirk and then turned his back on the odious little man with his heart set on vilifying Wei WuXian, as to say that he didn’t matter. Jiang WanYin stalked forward, a growl like thunder, “My daughter is not dead! Nor is she anyone’s minion! Though I think you might be!” Weiyi disappeared from sight and Su MinShan’s head snapped back as Jiang ZiBiao’s fist met his nose.

Su MinShan seemed angrier then before but Baxia was blocking his path so he could not go for the Jiang Sect Heir, Jiang WanYin pulled his daughter away. She turned away from the man she just punched, a Sect Leader her senior, in a very similar manner to the way Wei WuXian had, dismissing Su MinShan as if he were nothing. She held her swords sheathed before her and she stopped before Lan QiRen, she gave him a very respectful bow and then asked as calm as you could please, “May this humble disciple ask a question of Sir?”

“You may,” said Lan QiRen.

“I know that your sect rules forbid you to talk ill of others, and you would not tell the MolingSu Sect that their musical cultivation isn’t very good, but it is also against the rules of GusuLan to lie. So, I must ask as I was not with you as you ascended the Burial Mounds, did the members of MolingSu Sect play the Battle Hymn correctly? You said that it is what they played so it was recognisable as such, but was it in its entirety properly played, disregarding general skill with the instrument, and just based on the score, was it properly played?”

“No, it was not,” replied Lan QiRen.

Wei WuXian could see the tension in the man who still held his guqin like he was waiting for a fight. He brought the conversation focus back to him. “ChiFeng-Zun says that LianFang-Zun used music to stop the flow of his spiritual energy, Sir says that the battle hymn was played but that sections of the song were wrong. It sounds like to me that those of the GusuLan Sect may be used to hearing the… MolingSu Sect, playing poorly or the score wrong, but they would never say it, as is their way. But what if LianFang-Zun taught them or just their Sect Leader the score to stop Qi, maybe he even combined it with the battle hymn, LianFang-Zun is known to be clever, right? Sir, could such songs be combined?”

There was outrage from the MolingSu Sect disciples over the slight to their Sect Leader, but the man in question just sneered at Wei WuXian and said, “You dare slander the good name of LianFang-Zun, he is the man that got valuable information from inside Nightless City and sent it to ZeWu-Jun, the man that killed Wen RuoHan, that ended Sunshot Campaign, he’s one of the venerated triad! And you the besieged, demonic cultivator Wei WuXian Lord of Evil dare speak such slander?”!

“ChiFeng-Zun is one of the venerated triad as well, what of his honour?” retorted Wei WuXian. And watched as the man in question pulled back from Su MinShan.

“Everyone knows that there was tension between ChiFeng-Zun and LianFang-Zun. ChiFeng-Zun is a great man on the battlefield but he sees little in the subtle hidden work that LianFang-Zun did, he thought it made him less worthy of trust,” explained Su MinShan.

The Yiling Patriarch nodded. “And ChiFeng-Zun is a violent man with a family history of going into rages and dying of Qi Deviation.”

“Exactly.”

“If I was LianFang-Zun and thought that ChiFeng-Zun wanted my head, I might research a way for… well… anyone, to defeat such a big and strong cultivator. Kill him first, before he could kill me,” deduced Wei WuXian.

“But as you say ChiFeng-Zun is alive, or should we take it that you are lying and he is your puppet after all?” snapped Su MinShan.

“Compared to ChiFeng-Zun every man is small and weak, LianFang-Zun must have decided that he liked the idea of controlling such a big man, or he was the best candidate for his experiments in Qi suppression,” countered Wei WuXian.

“That sounds like something you would do Wei WuXian!” snarked Su MinShan, “ChiFeng-Zun has been presumed dead for years and here we find him in your abode in the Burial Mounds! ChiFeng-Zun does not abide by Demonic Cultivators, who’s to say it was not you who were afraid of ChiFeng-Zun and have held him prisoner all these years?”

“You’ve been very much against me from the beginning, what did I ever do to you?” asked Wei WuXian.

“Save him from the Waterborne Abyss,” helpfully added Lan WangJi.

“Thank you, Lan Zhan, but that was so long ago, it’s hardly something to hold on to. I have been a bane on Sir’s very soul since I was fifteen, but he was quicker to believe that I was not entirely ill intentions, but not you, why?”

“Any decent folk would not trust you!”

Wei WuXian looked around the room with a slow deliberation as if to show that there were plenty of ‘decent folk’ in the room. “Why don’t you play the music, the battle hymn as you played it against the corpses, and we can give the Lan’s a chance to parse the score now, no one has spiritual energy, your playing can only hurt the ears.”

Su MinShan glared and then there was a slight upturn of one side of his mouth, and he put his hands to the strings of the guqin. Those with their power sealed were like the common folk and would be unable to feel spiritual energy in the music, but those that had been on the mountain prior to still had their spiritual energy and could feel. The second that Su MinShan put spiritual energy into the song Bichen flew without pausing Su MinShan’s own sword flew out to block the attack, but Suibian was able to come in from behind and sever the strings on the guqin.

The cavern was still, and Wei WuXian commented, “So you still have your spiritual energy, do the rest of your Sect have theirs as well? Or were they expendable?”

The MolingSu Sect members stepped away from their leader. Su MinShan looked around the room and then glanced down at the floor. Wei WuXian realised his intention a moment before, “He’s going to destroy the array! Quick Sir activate the one on the door!”

The words were barely out of Wei WuXian’s mouth when Su MinShan spat the blood that had trickled into his mouth from the punch onto the floor. The large array sputtered out. Su MinShan grabbed a talisman from inside his robes and activated it. The light of a teleportation talisman surrounded him and then dissipated as if it had never been there. Su MinShan had a moment of utter shock on his face before Baxia separated his head from his shoulders.

There was a bang on the door, and everyone turned to the door to see that Lan QiRen was just fixing the array there. There was one more bang and then the door fell quiet once more. Wei WuXian bent down and started rifling through the robes of the decapitated corpse.

“ChiFeng-Zun you were really too hasty we could have questioned him,” admonished Wei WuXian.

“There was already too much talking,” was the reply.

“The array on the door won’t last long it was my initial defensive array, which I later replaced with the one on the floor. Everyone, make sure you have what you need on you now we’re going to have to leave soon. How’s Wen Ning? Will we need to make a litter?”

Wei WuXian could hear some people moving around but there was still plenty that were just standing still. Someone asked, “What just happened?”

With a sigh Wei WuXian said, “While we were fighting, I realised that the corpses were being controlled with the assistance of an amulet similar to the Stygian Tiger Seal. The same one that we saw in use in Yi City, which was controlling Sect Leader He. The perpetrators escaped using a teleportation talisman; I didn’t want any more surprises, so HanGuang-Jun activated some anti-teleportation arrays around the cave. I think this man was our Ghostface man. But he doesn’t have the amulet, which means his accomplice is out there somewhere controlling the corpses.”

He looked down at the headless corpse and untied the robes so he could see if there were any hidden inner pockets. He saw some discolouration on the man’s chest and pushed the fabric aside—the hundred holes curse—why hadn’t he asked Lan WangJi to search the body? If he points this out now, he could still be blamed for it!

 “How will we get out then?” called out someone. Wei WuXian’s head looked up and his hand still felt around in the folds of fabric for the seal.

“What is that?” exclaimed Jin RuLan, Wei WuXian turned to see that the child was standing over his shoulder and looking down at the corpse. He pushed Wei WuXian aside and moved the cloth more to expose the blackened holes on the corpse’s chest, “Is this what made my father’s cousin shoot my father?”

Jin ZiXuan pushed his way over to his son and he too scrutinised the body. Jin RuLan was officially Wei WuXian’s favourite nephew, though sadly he had to stand and step from the corpse empty handed. He turned from the Jins and the small contingent that gathered around them and addressed the rest of the room, “The plan we had for the juniors is solid. How many bells do we have? Five? How’s Wen Ning?”

Wen Qing’s voice cut across the cave, “He’s alive but will need to be carried out, I have his bell.”

Half the room spun in shock to see the two women standing just in the shadows. Before the crowd could dissolve again Wei WuXian called out, “Give Wen Ning’s bell to ChiFeng-Zun. We need someone calm and level-headed at the front. Lan SiZhui can you do that?”

There was an audible swallow. “Yes, Senior Wei.”

 “Good stand in front of the door. Lan JingYi and Jin RuLan I need you behind SiZhui so you three make a triangle,” continued Wei WuXian the boys got into formation and Wei WuXian used his senses to separated them as much as he could and still keep a solid wall of the repelling power of the bells, “Now, everyone crowd in behind them. Jiang ZiBiao, get your bell back, BalingOuyang you need to be in the middle—”

“Why?” asked Sect Leader Ouyang.

“The man with the amulet in Yi City was fixated on little Ouyang YaJie, if Xue Yang is out there then we need to give the boy as much protection as possible.”

Wei WuXian watched as everyone formed up, Jiang WanYin threw Wen Ning over his shoulder after he was sure that it would be all right with Wen Qing. As Jiang WanYin moved into place, he pressed Zidian into Jin RuLan’s hand. “Take this your cousin has two weapons, you should too.”

Jin RuLan shook his head. “I haven’t trained in it; I could hurt someone.”

Jiang Cheng smiled. “Sensible like your mother.” He patted the boy on the back and then moved down to his daughter to say a few words to her. The people with their power sealed were huddled together the entire BalingOuyang sect in the middle with Jiang WanYin. Around the outside were the remaining junior disciples. Wen Qing strapped the sword that Wen Ning had chosen earlier to her back and chose a sword for herself among the dead. She quickly checked Nie MingJue over and then turned to Wei WuXian she smacked him on the head before she checked his own spiritual well-being then she took up position near Lan JingYi and opposite Qin Su. Wei WuXian looked the group over and adjusted the lines of people to keep everyone within the protection that they had. He put Nie MingJue and Jiang ZiBiao at the back to cover their retreat.

“Now, remember your presence in the line is keeping everyone else safe so keep the fight to what is only necessary, once everyone is out and safe you can come back and kill the corpses,” said Wei WuXian.

He then looked over the crowd and the door that was buckling and he took off his outer robe, he handed the material to Lan QiRen who was nearby in the lines and didn’t look happy about it. He cut his finger on Suibian and then drew the Spirit Attraction Talisman on his white undershirt, but he stopped one stroke short of completion.

“What are you doing?” asked Lan QiRen.

“If this isn’t enough, then I will draw the corpses to me and the rest of you can get out.”

Lan WangJi frowned but nodded, Wei WuXian knew he would help to dispatch the corpses if they had to use the attraction talisman. They took their own places on either side of the column, still within the protections.

“SiZhui disrupt the array on the door, but from a distance, be firm and lead us out. Everyone, try to keep the formation as much as possible. Those in the centre watch the trees for any sort of living opponents. Keep your eyes peeled and stick together.”

The door burst open and bounced back against the wall. The corpses rushed in and split around Lan SiZhui like a rock in a river. They started to move forward, the progress was slow and steady as they made it through the settlement and down the hillside. Nie MingJue and Jiang ZiBiao both slashed at some of the corpses, bouncing a bit away from the formation but they ultimately held the line. They were an odd sight as they slowly made their way through the gates of Yiling City. The Jin Sect robes in the mix had some of the townsfolk and a couple looking at the group threateningly, they relaxed a bit at the sight of Wen Qing and Qin Su but someone from the crowd still asked, “Physician Wei, Madam Qin what have these cultivators done? Where is our Matriarch?”

Wei WuXian stepped out from the end of the column, as he tied his outer robe back on. “I’m here, I’m here, unhurt and everything! And look I have the children with me!” he put a hand on Lan SiZhui and Lan JingYi’s shoulders and looked around at the column that had dissolved into a clump of bewildered faces. He gestured to Nie MingJue who was coming around from the back, “I am sorry good people of Yiling for I had to drag your Master Qin from his vigil to help these poor cultivators escape. We may have left the Burial Mounds in a worse state for the moment, so keep up your safeguards for now, we will need to leave to address the cloud of resentful energy but then I promise we’ll return.”

The people of Yiling seemed satisfied with that pronouncement and the slowly dispersed but the crowd of sect member were still there looking lost and bewildered. Nie HuaiSang who had been closer to the centre of the group went to his brother and looked up at him with questioning eyes. “Master Qin? Da-ge did you get married? Now, I don’t have to worry about continuing the Nie line! Truly today has been the best of days!”

“That’s Madam Qin Su, she’s married to LianFang-Zun, we thought she died years ago as well!” said someone in the crowd.

ChiFeng-Zun snapped, “This is not the time we need to decide where to go, so we can discuss what to do next and then I can come back and kill those corpses… and Xue Yang!”   

There was a sudden barking and Wei WuXian yelped, “Dog, dog!” he flew behind Lan WangJi and clung like Lan JingYi used to but to Lan WangJi’s back instead of his front.

A dark little spiritual dog came happily running up Jin RuLan bent down and exclaimed, “Fairy!”

“Jin Ling,” said Jiang WanYin and when the boy looked up at his uncle Jiang Cheng shifted his gaze to the impassive Lan and the monkey clinging to his back, “Keep Fairy away from Wei WuXian it will save us all a headache.”

“We need to go somewhere to rest up!” yelled one of the crowd of cultivators.

A man standing in the door of an inn nearby yelled back, “Well, you can’t stay here we are all full up!” he then turned and bowed politely to Wen Qing, “Madam Wei do you need a bed to doctor your brother?”

The fact that Wen Ning was still flung over Jiang WanYin’s shoulder became obvious. ChiFeng-Zun came up and took the unconscious man from the shorter. He had been living with the Wen siblings for a while now, and he still didn’t trust many of the Sects with what needed to be done, because of the real truth.

“That is kind of you, but sadly I think I have to stick with these people,” replied Wen Qing with a bow to the inn owner. It was the same story all down the street. Inns had no rooms for them but would offer them to Wen Qing and Ning, Qin Su, Wei WuXian, and Lan WangJi. A couple of the street sellers wanted to know about the Yiling Matriarch’s children and Lan WangJi pointed to his two sons. Those people usually ended up pushing food into the children’s hands and then Lan SiZhui insisted on paying and they shared the food out among the other young disciples. The leaders of the minor sects were getting annoyed. It was clear that Jin ZiXuan was also annoyed but he could also understand, despite becoming the Sect Leader of LanlingJin Sect he had been unable to sway people to the fact that his own cousin shot him full of arrows and he had probably only survived due to the help he received from Wen Ning, Qing, Wei WuXian, and Jiang WanYin.

Finally, Sect Leader Yao called out, “Let’s all go to Lotus Pier it is the closest! We can rest there until at least 80% of our energy has returned!”

Despite the vein pulsing in Jiang WanYin’s forehead the call was taken up. Jin ZiXuan leaned over and whispered, “Inviting themselves.”

Jiang ZiBiao smiled sweetly and reminded; “Diplomacy Die, Gufu,” she then grinned, “besides if we stay with them, we might get to see ChiFeng-Zun remove more heads.”

Both the older men snorted with restrained laughter and Jiang WanYin yelled over the masses, “We’ll see if they will rent us boats Yiling is on the Jing Jiang and we can get to Lotus Pier easily.”

The group moved on Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi loitered near the back as Fairy had run ahead. Despite still being asked about their boys they could still see that the attention was bothering Lan SiZhui and after the stress he and Lan JingYi wanted to run around a bit with the other disciples and enjoy the town. So, Wei WuXian had pushed the boys away and told them to go have fun, and Lan WangJi made sure they had money on them. And that they would generally make their way towards the docks.

“Master Wei?” said a voice to Wei WuXian’s right.

Wei WuXian turned and looked to see who had called him. He had been so used to the people of Yiling calling him ‘Matriarch’ that being called ‘Master’ threw him off. In the door of a wine shop was an old man. There was something about him and it made Wei WuXian’s eyes narrow in concentration as he tried to place the face in his sieve of a memory. He looked up at the sign of the shop and read: ‘Four Uncles’ Fruit Wine’ and the pieces came together, “Uncle Four?”!

“Come in, come in, if you have a moment,” said Uncle Four.

Wei WuXian eagerly went into the shop followed by Lan WangJi. Inside there were a few tables and a few denizens drinking their wine, but Uncle Four ushered Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi to the back of the shop. Once they were safely in the back Uncle Four said, “I heard you had died!”

“I thought you all had died!” returned Wei WuXian, he then added, “I did die, but someone helped me get back but we aren’t sure who. How did you get away from the Jins that day?”

“I was checking on how the peach trees were weathering the cold; so, I had one of the bells with me and then I was coming back up the path and I heard the noise, it was all over by that point Wen Qing and Wen Ning were captured and Wen Qing caught my eye and made it clear that she wanted me to run, so I did. Got a job making fruit wines, and when I had the money bought this shop. I still collect the fruit from the Burial Mounds, not right now of course my bell is being used to keep the corpses out of the city, but I call it my Ghost Wine, very popular. I also have wine made with regular fruits would you like some, either or both is all right,” replied Uncle Four with a big smile he was already walking around the room and collecting jars of wine and a bowl to drink from.

“I would love to try! We have time don’t we Lan Zhan? Uncle Four have you seen Qing-Jie and Wen Ning? They survived! Do you know about anyone else?”

Uncle Four laughed, “Yes, yes I’ve seen them and quite a few people survived, they used your talisman, or were able to sneak down the mountain. The Jins flew in I think or came up just the one path, but we knew the others. We all took your name and I don’t even think anyone had discussed it before. But we’re all the YilingWei family now.”

The first bowl of alcohol was poured it was from the regular wine as technically Wei WuXian had tried Uncle Four’s Ghost Wine, though his taste buds were eager for a reminder. He smelled the wine and then took a sip he savoured the flavour and smiled. “It’s good! But I’m afraid I cannot accurately remember the flavour of your Ghost Wine I must try some of that as well to definitively state which fruits make the superior wine!”

“Of course, of course!” laughed Uncle Four; he got down another bowl and poured from the second bottle. He pushed the bowl across and Wei WuXian picked it up so he had a bowl in each hand.

“Everyone changed their name? Even those that hadn’t been Wen’s by birth?” asked Wei WuXian. He brought the Ghost Wine to his lips and Jiang YanLi appeared at his feet. Wei WuXian jerked the wine spilled onto his robes. “Shijie!”

“A-Xian!” Jiang YanLi was on her feet and pulling Wei WuXian into her arms at record speed; the wine didn’t stand a chance and covered the both of them. Jiang YanLi pulled away and then smacked Wei WuXian hard on the shoulder. “You died!”

“To destroy the seal, the Jins wanted it and they were trying to kill children Shijie! Children!”

“And since when have you been alive? A-Yu said his array didn’t work!” Jiang YanLi narrowed her eyes.

“… Shijie, why are you here?” asked Wei WuXian nervously.

“Where’s here?”

“A wine shop in Yiling.”

Jiang YanLi’s eyes went wide and she looked around the back room of the shop and saw both Uncle Four and Lan WangJi. “Oh, HanGuang-Jun! Quick, I need your help… or well A-Yu and your brother needs your help!”

“What happened?” asked Lan WangJi.

“I was staying at Lotus Pier and LianFang-Zun and ZeWu-Jun showed up. LianFang-Zun somehow had sealed ZeWu-Jun’s spiritual energy and he just stood there, he knew too much about Lotus Pier and he had too many people that he was able to overwhelm  my martial maid, A-Yu, and I. He used us against each other and made us seal our own spiritual energy. Then he packed us blind folded into a carriage and took us away. We didn’t go too far from Lotus Pier he took us to a Guanyin temple in the middle of a city. From what I saw of the city itself it could have been Yunping. They had closed the temple for the day and they just kept us in a group while they did some sort of construction. I felt a hand on my back and then I was here, how did I get here?” said Jiang YanLi.

“YilingWei Teleportation Talisman,” replied Lan WangJi.

“No, it couldn’t be, if you let the secret out Ghostface wouldn’t have used the power consuming Teleportation Talisman,” said Wei WuXian.

“Wei PeiRu is her martial maid,” replied Lan WangJi.

“Oh, that’s right she said she was of the YilingWei, so she was able to send me to Yiling because of her family technique. So, A-Xian you had family in Yiling?”

“Shijie, I’ll explain everything later. Uncle Four I’ll have to come back for your delicious wine. Shijie, LianFang-Zun sent all of the sects to bring siege to the Burial Mounds and sent a mole among them to temporarily take their Spiritual Energy. So, they are all on their way to Lotus Pier at the moment and they are going to discuss evidence against LianFang-Zun, you should catch up with them, tell them your tale. Lan Zhan and I will go ahead and save your A-Yu and ZeWu-Jun.,” reasoned Wei WuXian.

“All right A-Xian, but only because people are in danger, if I don’t see you when this is done…” agreed Jiang YanLi.

Wei WuXian swallowed hard. “Of course, Shijie, they should still be heading for the docks or renting boats to Lotus Pier.”

Jiang YanLi hugged Wei WuXian close once more and then she stepped back, she straightened her clothes and bowed to everyone before leaving the back room of the wine shop. She popped her head back in and said, “A-Yu was wearing his favourite purple dress when we were captured, so don’t mistake him.”

Wei WuXian blinked in confusion, but Lan WangJi nodded. “Of course, Young Madam Jin.”

“Let’s go Lan Zhan,” said Wei WuXian as he too patted down his damp clothes and made sure his flute and sword were on him.

Before they could say their good-byes to Uncle Four the elder man came away from a back shelf with a piece of paper in hand, he held it out. “To get you there faster.”

“This is…” trailed off Wei WuXian.

“Your talisman,” answered Uncle Four.

“But why would you have it, still?” asked Wei WuXian he felt the reservoir and could tell that it was plenty full, “Are you still filling it?”

“Every day.”

“But why?”

“We were Wens and even when we didn’t do anything bad we were vilified for our names or the family that we married into and then you came. And saved us, and then HanGuang-Jun came and saved more of us and he tried to find our families people who would love us for us and not a name, and then you made this talisman so even those without power could get to safety. I think that is why we took the name Wei even if it wasn’t the safest as say Wang. And it keeps us safe. You remember our Wen Xu? He’s Wei Xu now and has a farm on the outskirts of Yiling. His family was attacked by monsters and they used the talisman to send their son to HanGuang-Jun, then HanGuang-Jun came to save them. You made them to save us, and they are still saving us.”

As Uncle Four stopped talking Wei WuXian wanted to cry, he turned to Lan WangJi. “You saved Wen Xu?”

“And others.”

“So good Lan Zhan!” Wei WuXian gushed; he then turned to Uncle Four and bowed, “Thank you Uncle Four for the help, we’ll come back and with the children.”

“It’s the least I can do for our Matriarch,” replied Uncle Four and then he laughed at the face Wei WuXian made. 

Chapter Text

They decided to not use the talisman, they didn’t want to just appear in front of Jin GuangYao, and they were not sure if the temple in the city was in Yunping or not, or the lay out of the temple and city to get to a proper place within the city, so they went down to the dock. Most of the boats were rented out and all the members of the sects and the children were on boats, Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi rented a smaller boat for themselves and had a couple of the locals offer to help them steer the boat. They took the men up on the offer as they wanted to make sure that they got the boat back to where it belonged. They asked around the docks if anyone had heard of a Guanyin Temple in a city instead of on a mountain side and they learned that there was one in one of the Yunmeng cities or a city near Yunmeng, so Wei WuXian, and Lan WangJi’s trailed behind the rest of the flotilla.

When they came across the docks of other cities stretching into the river they would row closer to the banks and yell their enquiries to the people on the banks. The boat carrying the QingheNies was close enough to hear the questions shouted to the shore and Nie HuaiSang looking particularly happy waved a fan at them. “Wei-Xiong! Wei-Xiong! There is a Guanyin Temple in Yunping!”

“Nie-Xiong, are you sure?” called Wei WuXian.

“Yes, I saw it when I was shopping for some new paints,” Nie HuaiSang returned.

Wei WuXian waved back. “Thanks, Nie-Xiong!”

They could hear Nie MingJue start to berate Nie HuaiSang for spending too much time on painting and not on the sect. Lan WangJi had their boat slow down and they could hear the argument between brothers fade. Apparently Nie HuaiSang thought it wouldn’t matter because his brother could be Sect Leader again and Nie MingJue said that Nie HuaiSang was better at paperwork and they should split the work. As their voices faded Lan WangJi had a feeling that QingheNie would become a diarchy. They let the others get ahead and soon the river seemed to just be for Lan WangJi and Wei WuXian. Yunping City wasn’t far from Lotus Pier and luckily for them it was between Yiling and Lotus Pier. But Yiling to Lotus Pier would take a few days by river, still faster than by horse, as a beast of burden tired and a river did not, but still it was a trip of days! They discussed the best options to get to Yunping City. The man who owned the boat told them of a derelict boat that had been left in the shallows off the bank of the river in Yunping city.

There was more discussion and Lan WangJi pulled out his own teleportation talisman, he was confident that his had enough power to get two people to Yunping City. Before they left Lan WangJi took off his tell-tale white in favour of a light blue and Wei WuXian put on his dress. Their ferryman though they were the oddest pair and found it even stranger when they asked him to think of the derelict ship and touch the talisman and then pull his hand away quickly. There were a couple false starts, as the man pulled his hand away too quickly but suddenly Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi found themselves on a rotting ship.

They wanted to see the lay of the land and if it looked like they could wait they would go back in when it was dark, and they could dress in their regular clothing. They walked around the city arm-in-arm and tried to look the part of tourists. They got a room in an inn of middling standards, too rich for Wei WuXian and too poor for Lan WangJi. Then they continued on their jaunt around the city until they happened on a Guanyin Temple. It wasn’t closed for construction there were people going in and out the temple gate. They walked by it and tried not to pay it any mind. They found a little noodle shop that had some non-spicy food along with their usual spicy Yunmeng fair and Lan WangJi and Wei WuXian sat down for a meal.

They ordered their food and when the waiter walked away Lan WangJi picked up his tea and took a sip while his free hand landed on Wei WuXian’s knee. Wei WuXian was just about to comment on Lan WangJi’s shamelessness when he recognised the character that Lan WangJi was tracing onto his leg. You could say for once Wei WuXian did not speak during the meal and Lan WangJi did. Jin GuangYao had a superb memory and would probably recognise Lan WangJi no matter what, Wei WuXian dressed as a female lent to a better disguise and a larger chance of not being caught out. So they would separate and Wei WuXian would go into the temple to see if there was any construction or if they were at the wrong place. On the way back to the temple Wei WuXian even bought a fan that he could use to cover his face if needed.

He followed a group into the temple and made his way around. Lan WangJi had loaned him the money so he could purchase the incense and make all the proper offerings. He couldn’t see any construction but overheard a monk reminding a local that the temple would be closed for the next three days.

“Daozhang,” said Wei WuXian with a respectful bow, “I didn’t mean to overhear, I’m travelling with my husband you see, and he had business today I had hoped I could bring him to this temple tomorrow. Are you really closed tomorrow? I hope there is nothing wrong!”

The monk smiled congenially. “Madam, I am sorry to say that it is so. Nothing is wrong, but the support in the bell tower was weakened and the necessary repairs need to be done.” As he spoke, he had waved toward the front of the temple where the bell and drum towers lay. Now that Wei WuXian looked, he could see some bamboo scaffolding.

“But surely just the bell tower wouldn’t require the temple to close entirely.”

“As you say Madam,” replied the monk, “but it is our custom to use the time needed to make a repair to ensure that there are no other repairs needed. There are of course a few missing or cracked paving stones, that we haven’t replaced yet, and we’ll properly clean the place as well during the closure.”

Wei WuXian nodded and reached into his sleeve he pulled out some money and said, “That is surely wise, Guanyin Temples are so rare outside the mountains I had wanted my husband to visit, but it’ll have to be another time. For your repairs.” Wei WuXian pressed the money into the monk’s hand. They exchanged closing pleasantries and then Wei WuXian left.

The evening was getting on and the two had already eaten so they made their way back to their inn. The attendant in the main room asked if they wanted food or drink for it wasn’t that late in the evening. Not wanting to look suspicious they ordered a couple little dishes to be brought to their room and then retired for the evening. Lan WangJi almost ordered a bottle of alcohol for Wei WuXian but Wei WuXian playing the attentive wife said that he didn’t want Lan WangJi to drink. This earned him a baffled look, before Lan WangJi understood. In their rooms they returned to their usual selves, nibbled a bit of the food and took a short nap. It was the middle of the night when they made their way out of the window.

“The monk said they were just doing construction on the bell tower, but that is towards the front of the temple complex, but Shijie seemed to think that the temple was already closed. This could be the wrong temple,” Wei WuXian commented.

“While you were inside, I walked around the complex,” said Lan WangJi.

“Could you see any other construction?”

“Yes, in the back and I could feel a suppression array.”

 “Okay, that seems to point that we are in the right place.”

The gate was closed when they arrived. It was times like that they made Wei WuXian miss his strong golden core, because Lan WangJi could sense the seal on the door before Wei WuXian could.

“We can climb over the wall.”

“Bringing prisoners through the back would make more sense.”

“But the back should be the places that are not opened to the public, the monk’s quarters, and the like. They should be able to be closed off from the rest of the temple, so sealing this door is suspicious.”

“Mn.”

“We can split up, I’ll climb the wall and look in to see what there is here, you see if you can get in the back. Once I’ve finished spying, I’ll come to you, or if there is no way in the back you can come back here.”

Lan WangJi thought it over for a moment and then pointed to the alley on the right of the temple and said, “This way is shorter.”

“So, we don’t miss each other, good thinking Lan Zhan!” Wei WuXian said with a broad smile.

“Don’t take unnecessary risks.”

Wei WuXian had already backed up to look for the best place to peer over the wall. “Yes husband.”

He didn’t see the little upturn of Lan WangJi’s lips, before he went off down the alley that he had previously indicated. Wei WuXian found a good spot where he could get up on the wall but it would be hard for him to be seen, he hoped due to the roof ornamentation.

He had not expected to see the courtyard filled with monks readying weapons. Well that was odd. What was probably the most odd was that Lan XiChen was walking the ranks of weaponised monks and looking for all the world like he was their army marshal. Wei WuXian’s stomach dropped could his Shijie have gotten it wrong? But no, Lan XiChen had had that entire conversation with Jin GuangYao while Lan WangJi and Wei WuXian were hiding, he hadn’t said anything,—then he had escorted LianFang-Zun to his quarters for the night, while the other two stayed behind—

All thoughts of possible betrayal from Lan Zhan’s brother, the ZeWu-Jun, fled Wei WuXian’s mind as through the still of the night came the barking of a dog! Wei WuXian looked down he was high up off the ground—like tree high, right? Dogs couldn’t jump so high, right?

“Fairy!” came a voice and Wei WuXian internally groaned, what was the thirteen-year-old doing in Yunping of all places?

The dog started scratching at the door and all the men with arrows swivelled so if the door were to open they could shoot Jin RuLan dead. The boy knocked and yelled and tried to open the door anyways; then there was a long pause. “What now you want to leave?” questioned Jin RuLan and the returning barks seemed to be further away than they had been before.

Wei WuXian sighed in relief but then a voice froze his heart in absolute terror, “Did your stupid dog change her mind? I thought she had A-Ma’s scent.”

Oh, his XiaoPiPi! He had no doubt that where one of his sons were, the other was. Why couldn’t he have had three sensible children who all became doctors like their Aunt Qing! But luckily it sounded like the steps were moving away, and Wei WuXian breathed a sigh of relief.

It was a short-lived relief for a few minutes later Jin Ling’s head appeared over the wall. There was a frozen moment as the child eyed the archers and the archers eyed the child. Wei WuXian half expected to find Suibian in his hand always ready to defend children—his children apparently, Suibian was quiet, and Wei WuXian was across the courtyard. When the arrow flew Wei WuXian whipped his flute out and intercepted the arrow. The splinter and clatter woke Jin RuLan and the boy disappeared from sight.

The attention was now on Wei WuXian, he needed to keep it from the children, and he figured that keeping the children safe would not be considered an unnecessary risk. He threw down a smoke talisman and leapt to the ground. Once he was close to the nearest coughing monk, Wei WuXian reached down to draw Suibian only for the sword to fly out of reach and cut through a couple more arrow that were headed towards the heads of his sons that had popped up over the wall opposite of Jin Ling.

His boys seemed to regain their senses faster than Jin RuLan had and ducked out of sight, his good boys—well, they were still in trouble, but their reflexes were good. And Wei WuXian had to bend himself backward to avoid the sword thrust as the smoke he had created dissipated. With the children out of reach Suibian came back to Wei WuXian and the fight was on.

It didn’t last long, Wei WuXian’s hand was stayed when a wire was wrapped around his neck and he was pulled down his back arching and putting him off balance as his assailant was much shorter than he. “Where is HanGuang-Jun?” asked the voice—Jin GuangYao—behind him.

“How should I know?” retuned Wei WuXian. He had a vague hope that Lan WangJi would be able to save the other hostage, find the boys and get them all to safety.

“Why wouldn’t he be with you Young Master Wei? You left to go to the Burial Mounds together,’ replied Lan XiChen.

“And then I came here,” said Wei WuXian as nonchalantly as he could with a wire to his neck, “and here I though ZeWu-Jun that you were going to try and stop the sects from storming the Burial Mounds.”

“I was sadly tricked,” Lan XiChen returned.

He was the distraction for the children and his husband of old, so Wei WuXian through back to the man behind him, “Sorry to say that your plan failed, we all got out of the Burial Mounds, it was very amusing to see your minion’s head fly across the room.”

“Yes, I figured, now where is HanGuang-Jun?” Jin GuangYao asked again.

“Why would he follow me? I’m nothing.”

Lan XiChen looked perplexed and Jin GuangYao laughed, he sneered, “Just the mother of his children.”

“But I’ve died, and with death goes the flame, I’m nothing though just the ash of memories,” countered Wei WuXian.
“So it is you, you’re Wei Ying the mother of Lan WangJi’s three children?”

“But how does that compare to the love of a woman so great that they had two children only eight months apart?” asked Wei WuXian, it was his greatest pain that he had been just a passing game to Lan WangJi, he was happy that Lan WangJi had saved their children, but he know he couldn’t compare to the love of Lan WangJi’s wife.

Lan XiChen looked confused at Jin GuangYao over Wei WuXian’s shoulder and it seemed that the grip on the wire had loosened, but the angle that Wei WuXian was pulled back at meant that he couldn’t use the moment to his advantage.

“Could it be that you don’t know your children’s own birthdays?” asked Lan XiChen.

“I don’t know my own birthday!” said Wei WuXian, he was nothing just a silly man he wasn’t a threat and he had no connection to HanGuang-Jun, to no one.

“Surly, that isn’t true!” Lan XiChen looked completely pained by the thought.

“I know that I am five days older that Jiang Cheng.”

LianFang-Zun sighed, “And do you know when his birthday is?”

“Of course!” exclaimed Wei WuXian he tried to smile despite the situation and be his usual self, “At the end of the Lotus blooming period.”

“How did anyone ever believe that this idiot was a mastermind, plotting to overthrow the sects?” asked LianFang-Zun.

Wei WuXian replied, but it was perhaps not the best thing to say while being threatened to be garrotted, “If they hadn’t would any of your plans have succeeded?”

The wire tightened and ZeWu-Jun’s eyes widened and he continued on the conversation in the previous vain, “SiZhui is eight months older than JingYi; WangJi has had no other wife besides you.”

Wei WuXian own eyes widened as his whole world seemed to shift. “Really ZeWu-Jun? Only me? Are you sure?”

“Young Master Wei, for WangJi it has always only ever been you. Didn’t he marry you? Are you the Wei Ying from the registry?” said Lan XiChen.

“Yes, but—” Wei WuXian was cut off as two of the monks came in the door dragging Jin RuLan between the two of them.

“Where is the dog?” barked LianFang-Zun.

“It escaped,” said one of the men holding Jin Ling, “vicious thing it kept biting. And then it ran away before we could get a hold on it.”

“Find it! Kill it! It could bring others to us!” ordered Jin GuangYao.

The look on Jin RuLan’s face which had been complex due to seeing his Xiao-Shushu threatening the life of his recently realised Shishu, but it morphed into one of utter betrayal, “But uncle you gave Fairy to me!”

Before there could be more said, more of Jin GuangYao’s men left to go after the dog and a couple more came in dragging both Lan SiZhui and Lan JingYi. Wei WuXian’s heart sank—at least Lan WangJi was still out there.

Lan WangJi was not still out there as he appeared on the roof Wangji in hand and sent out a wave of sound that knocked back the archers. It had disrupted the balance of Jin GuangYao but it hadn’t been enough for him to let go. Quite the opposite, instead Jin GuangYao tightened his grip on the guqin string and pulled it tighter across Wei WuXian’s neck to use it to help him regain his balance. The line of red that blossomed under the wire was visible from the roof as Lan WangJi, returned his guqin to its place and unsheathed Bichen as he leapt to the ground. Jin GuangYao pulled Wei WuXian back as Lan WangJi advanced.

“I’d stop that if I were you HanGuang-Jun, I have you life in my hands after all,” said Jin GuangYao.

Everyone in the courtyard froze. Jin GuangYao smiled over Wei WuXian’s shoulder and Lan XiChen wondered how he had never seen such a menacing smile on his sworn brother’s face. “Don’t listen to him Lan Zhan!” exclaimed Wei WuXian.

“Of course he will, he doesn’t want me to kill you or your children. Now, HanGuang-Jun sheath Bichen,” order Jin GuangYao.

Lan WangJi hesitated and Wei WuXian would have nodded in satisfaction, if it weren’t for the wire biting even deeper into his skin. This was it he would die, but Lan WangJi would still have Bichen and he would save the others. “Wait I have something to say!” Jin GuangYao pulled more on the wire and Wei WuXian coughed a bit before he continued, “Lan Zhan, Lan Zhan, I’m sorry I really thought I had gotten everyone killed, Master Qin said so! And then the common folk talked about your wife that you loved so much. I didn’t know that was me!—“

Wei WuXian stopped in a choke and LianFang-Zun snapped, “Is this the time? Sheath Bichen HanGuang-Jun”! Bichen returned to its sheath, golden eyes carefully wouldn’t look away from Wei WuXian and Jin GuangYao. The later made more demands, “Seal your spiritual energy.”

“I want to be filled with your babies! I’ll have as many as you want Lan Zhan!” It was the truth, and Wei WuXian had yelled it in hopes that it would stop what was happening, he could hear the sneer of disgust by his ear and the gasps from the children and his brother-in-law. But it seemed to not stop anything as Lan WangJi sealed his powers.

LianFang-Zun kicked Wei WuXian’s knee and let go of one end of the wire with his free hand he pulled Suibian away from Wei WuXian. Jin GuangYao tried to pull Suibian but the sword wouldn’t budge, after a frustrated moment he reached down and pulled his own sword from where it had been wrapped around his waist as a belt and held it to Lan SiZhui’s throat.

“Where did you get this sword?” snarked Jin GuangYao, “How did you even come back from the dead? Jin ZiXun assured me that you were ripped to shreds by your own corpses.”

“A-Ma!” called the two Lan disciples.

“Uncle Jiang gave me Suibian,” spat Wei WuXian.

“I have Suibian in my secret treasure room, this is not Suibian,” mocked Jin GuangYao.

Wei WuXian grinned and he released the clouding of resentful energy that masked the telling details of Suibian. “My sword loves me; it’s what happens when you are a good person who only wants good for others.”

“Impossible, I saw Suibian myself before leaving Koi Tower!” denied LianFang-Zun. Wei WuXian returned it with a vulpine grin. Jin GuangYao scowled, “No matter, seal your own spiritual power, or I’ll kill your SiZhui and then JingYi.”

There was no hesitation, his sons’ life were too important and Wei WuXian had once learned how to protect his own without spiritual energy, he could do so again. Once his powers were sealed Jin GuangYao threw Suibian back at him. But he didn’t pull his sword from Lan SiZhui’s throat. Lan XiChen spoke up, “A-Yao that’s my nephew.”

“I know.”

“He’s a child.”

“But whose child? I know Er-ge that you are happy to have him as your heir, so that one day he will be the Sect Leader of GusuLan, do you even know what blood you would be giving that power to? Shouldn’t I just rid you of the uncertainty?”

“SiZhui has A-Die’s nose!” blurts out Lan JingYi.

“And WangJi’s disposition,” added Lan XiChen.

“Wei Ying’s heart and smile,” said Lan WangJi.

Sword still to the throat of the teenager LianFang-Zun turned to look at the others. Overhead thunder rumbled and a sprinkle of rain began. “You’re going to stand by the farce? Sure the great HanGuang-Jun should know where children come from.”

“The Wen Discussion Conference at the Archery Competition Wei Ying took my ribbon,” answered Lan WangJi.

“That isn’t how it works.”

“Clearly it is,” Lan WangJi retorted.

“So he is a bastard than, a blight on the GusuLan name,” sneered Jin GuangYao.

“We aren’t all like your father,” returned Wei WuXian.

The rain was really coming down, the sky, and the courtyard periodically lit by a flash of lightning. Wei WuXian’s comment had worked as the sword was pulled from Lan SiZhui’s throat. Lan XiChen stepped forward. “A-Yao, maybe we should go inside, get out of the rain and you can check on the digging.”

Jin GuangYao looked at them through the rain for a moment and then commanded, “Bring them inside.”

Lan WangJi moved to help Wei WuXian up off the ground. Wei WuXian clung to him and spoke in babbling pleas and promises perhaps a bit too loud due the rain as it was loud enough to make their family’s faces turn red, “When we get out of here, let’s go to Cloud Recesses and just spend some time as a family.”

“Mn.”

“Then we can night hunt! Will you night hunt with me? I want to night hunt with you forever!”

“Mn.”

“No more separate houses, I don’t want to live like Uncle Jiang and Madam Yu, I want to sleep with you every day!”

“Mn.”

“Hey, Lan Zhan, Lan Er-gege how many children— Hey, I know you! W—“

“Wei PeiRu,” interrupted Lan WangJi and he bowed to the woman sitting on the floor before the statue of the Guanyin, he then shifted his focus and bowed to the second figure dressed in a purple dress, “Mo XuanYu.”

Lan SiZhui and Lan JingYi bowed as well, “Madam Wei, Young Master Mo.”

The youth in the purple dress put his hands out and nodded. Wei PeiRu did the same but said, “Master Wei, HanGuang-Jun, A-Yuan, A-Bo.”

“My courtesy name is SiZhui, Madam Wei, and my brother is JingYi,” informed Lan SiZhui.

“Well met Young Masters, I am happy to see you all together, just not happy to see you here, I assume you had received my mistress safely,” replied Wei PeiRu; the last part of her sentence had been said quieter than the rest.

“Yes, thank you, we were with Uncle Four in Yiling and we sent her home to Lotus Pier with her brother, husband, and son,” replied Wei WuXian quietly though he shot a mild glare in Jin RuLan’s direction.

“Yiling?” Jin GuangYao said—so, Wei WuXian hadn’t been quiet enough. “Then the stories of a YilingWei are true and they are related to the Yiling Patriarch?” no one said anything, Jin GuangYao smiled one of his self-satisfied smiles, “Yiling is famous for being against the Jin Sect. and they have the habit of talking about the Yiling Matriarch instead of the Yiling Patriarch. And you just swore you birthed your own children, so that must be you Master Wei, or should I be calling you Mistress Wei?” the tension in the room increased, Jin GuangYao just continued to smile and went on, “What was that that you had told me about Er-ge, Weis just appeared out of the air at Cloud Recesses begging for HanGuang-Jun’s help… the husband of their thought to be dead Matriarch. So what you have a technique that calls your family home? And this maid used it to send Young Madam Jin to Yiling.”

“LianFang-Zun is a very clever man,” replied Wei WuXian, from his spot by HanGuang-Jun’s side.

Jin GuangYao’s smile fell for a moment. “That’s not quite right. Keep them separated,” Jin GuangYao’s men moved forward and Lan WangJi tightened his grip on Wei WuXian, “if the love birds give you issues break the children’s legs.”

Wei WuXian stepped from Lan WangJi’s arms—he left Suibian on the floor, he didn’t want to keep anything on him that looked threatening—and walked up to the statue and studied it. “LianFang-Zun is a clever man putting suppression array in a temple to the Goddess of Mercy, who or what are you suppressing and wish to gain mercy for?”

“So you’re not as stupid as you let on,” glared Jin GuangYao.

Wei WuXian walked around the space being sure to not get to close to the people. “Oh, I’m a genius!” Wei WuXian waved it off and continued, “Sadly, I had to sacrifice my memory for it. But I have eyes I might not remember you tomorrow, but I can see the similarity in this goddess statue and your own face, standing here now. Deifying yourself? You seemed so against assigning feminine characteristic to men, like it’s an insult.”

Before Jin GuangYao could make a response the wind blew the door open with a spattering of rain and a bang. The candles and oil lanterns were snuffed out and the room was plunged into darkness. Jin GuangYao’s men went to close the door. When the door banged closed, Jin GuangYao pulled out a fire talisman and lit the candles. When the room was lit again, Wei WuXian was by the wall much closer to the children then he had been before.

“LianFang-Zun, we found it! We can see a corner!” came a voice from behind the statue.

Jin GuangYao’s face lit up, he snapped at the men near the doors, “Keep them separated!” then he bolted around the statue.

One of the guards approached Wei WuXian with a menacing look and the Demonic Cultivator held his hands up and backed away until he occupied a space between Lan WangJi and their sons. They were quiet for a while as they listened to Jin GuangYao tell people how to remove whatever they had dug up, “Do you know what they are digging up ZeWu-Jun?” asked Wei WuXian.

None of the guards moved to stop Wei WuXian from talking. “I do not know, just that he doesn’t want to leave without it. He called XuanYu a loose end.”

“So, he intends to kill all of us,” Wei WuXian hummed in thought and then turned to the children, “I hope this is a lesson that you three will take to heart, what possessed you to follow us?”

“We just got you back A-Ma,” said Lan JingYi.

“Mnhmm, and Jin RuLan?”

“He wanted to help, and he’d been to the city and had his spiritual dog who could track you,” said Lan SiZhui.

“What do you have to say for yourself, Jin RuLan?”

“Don’t call me that!” snapped the youth.

“I chose that courtesy name. The orchid is the gentleman of flowers. Now, be like one, and answer my question properly,” Wei WuXian returned.

Jin RuLan stuck out his bottom lip in an extreme pout he crossed his arms. “Helping friends is the right thing to do!”

“And am I to assume that you got here the same way that Lan Zhan and I did?”

“SiZhui’s,” answered Lan JingYi.

“You too XiaoPiPi?”

“Yes, A-Ma,” Lan JingYi replied.

“Good, I hope you understand what to do in this situation, to ensure that the most people come out alive,” questioned Wei WuXian.

“Yes, A-Ma,” said both boys.

Wei WuXian turned to look at Jin RuLan. The youth looked indignant and opened his mouth but then he paused and thought the situation over and then he said, “Yes Shishu.”

Lan XiChen was looking at the others in a confused manner, but then recent events had thrown Lan XiChen’s world on its head. He had had a lot of faith in Jin GuangYao and now he was unsure of whether the man that had hid him after the Burning of Cloud Recesses was trustworthy or not. He kept clinging to the words that Wei WuXian had said, that Jin GuangYao had learned bad and murderous habits at the hands of Jin GuangShan. But he was now looking at the others and realising that Wei WuXian had never meant those words, he had just said them to save Lan XiChen’s own feeling. He knew the others were talking in half sentences to not give stuff away to Jin GuangYao’s men, but it also made Lan XiChen realise that he was looking at his family from the outside, and he didn’t like that. He glanced at the boy that he had promised to keep secret from Jin GuangYao. Mo XuanYu—Jiang XuanYu, he had given the boy to Jiang WanYin, he had not said a word, he had believed the youth when he had said he had wanted to do his family proud. He hadn’t said anything when the boy had come to study at Cloud Recesses.  He hadn’t said anything for years, and then and then Jin GuangYao had expressed worry about the boy as he was ‘in’ Mo Manner at the time of the explosion and Lan XiChen had said, ‘oh no, he is safe at Lotus Pier.’ And here they were; how could he have missed so much? But the youth seemed to be not as lost as Lan XiChen was with the conversation around them. And he could see that there was probably more to the boy then what Jin GuangYao feared.

The door banged opened once more, the wind and the rain swirled into the temple the lights flickered and the guards moved to close the door once more but before they could get too far a line of purple lightening snapped out and struck the men. In the door stood Jiang WanYin he looked stoic under his umbrella like he was walking into a Discussion Conference and not a hostage situation.

“Sect Leader Jiang watch out for the guqin,” warned Lan XiChen.

From behind the Guanyin statue came the first strum of a guqin. The umbrella clattered to the wet stones of the floor. Zidian flicked down and latched onto the nearest sword on the ground, the lightning flipped the sword into the air and pulled it from the sheath. Zidian dissipated and Jiang WanYin caught the falling sword he immediately started striking the two swords against each other, it created a racquet that grated on the ears and blocked out the sounds of the spiritual energy sapping song.

Eventually, when everyone’s ears were ringing Jin GuangYao gave up and came around the statue to glare at Jiang WanYin. LianFang-Zun’s expression changed to a perplexing one. “You drew Suibian?”

Jiang WanYin looked down at the swords in his hands to see that he was indeed holding Sandu and Suibian. “Wei WuXian has always been careless; leaving his sword on the ground is not something to cause shock.”

Jin GuangYao looked at both Jiang WanYin and then Wei WuXian and then he smiled, the smile that meant that someone was about to be stabbed, Jiang XuanYu knew that smile well. Jin GuangYao leisurely paced forward. “When the Jins took that sword from the Burial Mounds it had sealed itself, such a young cultivator, and a young spiritual sword to do such a thing…”

“I told you, Suibian loves me, and is dedicated to doing good—“ Wei WuXian shot back.

But was cut off by Jin GuangYao, “When I was in Nightless City Wen RuoHan received a report that the Jiang Sect Heir had had his core melted, and the YunmengJiang Sect Head Disciple had been thrown in the Burial Mounds. And there fell the YunmengJiang Sect. To our utter surprise, who was at the fore of the Sunshot campaign?—But a lightning wielding Jiang and a Demonic Cultivating Wei WuXian. It makes me wonder…”

In the dramatic pause Lan XiChen warned, “Don’t listen to his words; they are just lies to distract you.”

“I have never lied to you Er-ge!” said Jin GuangYao turning a sweet and pleading look on Lan XiChen, then he turned his focus back on Jiang WanYin, “Makes me wonder though, had we seen Wei WuXian use his sword once he came back from the Burial Mounds during the Sunshot Campaign?... For you to draw Suibian, a sword that sealed itself for all but Wei WuXian, I wonder…” Jin GuangYao smirked and glanced at Wei WuXian, “How did you do it?”

“How did I come back?” asked Wei WuXian nonchalantly, “You asked that before, didn’t you? I woke whole of body with Suibian floating over me in the Burial Mounds where I had made my last stand to protect my babies, from the Jin cultivator who slew their grandmother and was attempting to continue in his unjust slaughter with the slaying of toddlers! And swirling with my golden core, was the desperate love of my husband, the warm love of my sister, and the anger of my brother,” Wei WuXian paused there to bring the point home, Jiang XuanYu gasped, an almost cruel smile spread on Wei WuXian’s face. “Suibian is a good sword that knows good people; Wen Ning used Suibian as recently as Yi City, why would my sword not draw, for the good people of my family? For my brother whose righteous anger helped to piece the shreds of my soul and body together? I think the fact that you couldn’t draw Suibian says more about you then it does about Jiang Cheng.”

Jin GuangYao turned on Wei WuXian and suddenly had his blade out. Jiang WanYin tossed Suibian over and the sword flew with purpose to block the attack against Wei WuXian’s person. Suibian landed neatly in Wei WuXian’s hand but the sword glare immediately lost its shine. Jiang WanYin had followed up the block by Suibian with an attack with Sandu. Jin GuangYao turned and engaged Jiang WanYin fully. But he wasn’t alone, Jin GuangYao still had other guards besides the ones that had been knocked out by Zidian earlier and they would jump in to also attack the Jiang Sect Leader. When he saw that LianFang-Zun wasn’t above fighting dirty, he let out a piercing whistle and Fairy leapt through the door all wet and snarling. Jin Ling started to command the dog to bite the guards and Wei WuXian yelped and scrambled behind Lan WangJi. Fairy fought admirably but got kicked back out into the rain and Jin RuLan yelled, “Get more help Fairy!” and the dog must have listened as the guard that had gone out the door to finish the dog off could be heard curses fading into the distance. Eventually Jiang WanYin fell back against the Goddess of Mercy statue spattering it with blood from a new gut wound.

LianFang-Zun flashed a triumphed and mocking grin at Jiang WanYin. “Seal your spiritual energy.” Jiang Cheng spat blood onto the floor. Jin GuangYao backed up and put his blade to the throat of the youth in the purple dress. “Do it or I’ll kill Mo XuanYu… oh, I’m sorry, you adopted him didn’t you? Jiang XuanYu then.”

“Don’t Sect Leader,” said the youth.

“Oh, I must have misspoke, I’ll start with Jiang XuanYu, then move on to Jin Ling, then Wei WuXian, then I suppose I’ll have to send a butterfly to my men, and that daughter of yours would be next.”

Jiang WanYin sealed his spiritual energy. Jin GuangYao walked back to the back of the statue giving orders to his guards and the diggers, then he threw over his shoulder, “So loyal to your people Sect Leader Jiang but it makes me wonder what kind of sect has an heir that refuses to wear skirts when she should, a spare that wears them when he should be a man, whose old lead disciple births bastard children for a another man, and a Sect Leader who lost his core.”

Jiang Cheng sat fuming where he was and the lack of the crackle from Zidian had never been more pronounced. “Sounds a bit impossible to me!” commented Lan JingYi, “and isn’t that the YunmengJiang Sect motto? What is the LanlingJin Motto? Hoard Wealth and Covet Power?”

“JingYi!” said Lan SiZhui, Lan WangJi, Lan XiChen, and Wei WuXian.

“I don’t know anything about Sect Leader’s core, but he was wrong, I was at the wedding there isn’t a bastard in the lot of little Lans,” commented Wei PeiRu.

Jin RuLan went over to Jiang WanYin. “Jiujiu, are you all right?”

But before he could touch his uncle the guards drew swords on the child. Jiang WanYin called out, “I’m fine A-Ling, go sit back down.”

Once the Jin Sect Heir was seated the two guards that had gone after the child turned to Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi. They took a couple menacing steps toward the couple Lan WangJi put up his arm so that he blocked Wei WuXian from view. Wei WuXian just sighed he pushed the arm down and went back over to the spot he had been when Fairy had arrived.

“How did you get here Jiang Cheng?” asked Wei WuXian.

“How did I get here? He kidnapped my sister and my kid and you ask me that? Why did you come by yourselves?” Jiang WanYin demanded.

“You all were without your spiritual energy.”

“It took twelve hours to come back and days to get to Lotus Pier. Despite that all those people still wanted to impose upon the YunmengJiang Sect, I was so close to begging… that Master Qin to behead them all when we realised you had left.”

“So you are just going to let those Sects overrun Lotus Pier?”

Jiang WanYin snorted. “Hardly, I left A-Biao in charge with her aunt and uncle. You may not know my daughter well but with the backing of Jin ZiXuan and A-Jie nothing is going to happen. And you’re the one to talk about overrunning; I discovered that there were Weis among the cultivators of every sect, except GusuLan.”

“That’s us!” exclaimed Lan JingYi as he gestured between himself and Lan SiZhui.

“There is a non-cultivating maid who’s a Wei at Cloud Recesses too,” added Lan SiZhui.

“SiZhui, JingYi,” warned Lan WangJi.

“Sorry, HanGuang-Jun,” said the boys as they bowed to their father from their seated position.

“Master Qin?” asked Lan WangJi with his attention on Jiang WanYin.

Wei WuXian noticed the dawning of recognition in the eyes of Jiang XuanYu, and then he too looked at Jiang Cheng and waited for the answer. Jiang WanYin clenched his jaw for a moment and then said, “He was held up, by a Xiao problem.” He gave a hard look when he said that.

It took a minute, but Wei WuXian at least understood that he wasn’t talking about a little problem, but Xue Yang—a problem for Xiao XingChen. He was proud that his brother could be clever and subtle instead of just angry.

“Sect Leader Lan I don’t understand why you told Jiujiu to watch out for the guqin…” commented Jin RuLan.

“He knows a score that seals spiritual energy,” replied Lan XiChen.

“So, Chi—“

“Jin RuLan,” commanded Lan WangJi.

“Master Qin,” finished Jin RuLan with a pout, “he was telling the truth when he said that LianFang-Zun could take spiritual energy with a song. And he taught it to that Sect Leader Su who cursed my father’s cousin.”

“What?” asked ZeWu-Jun.

“At the Burial Mounds,” explained Jiang WanYin, “it was discovered that the MolingSu Sect who had been playing the battle hymn on the way up the mountain had modified the hymn so we would lose our spiritual power. When it came out Master Qin killed the MolingSu Sect Leader, when we were looking at his corpse we found the Hundred Holes Curse Mark, so it had been him all along that had cursed Jin ZiXun and not Wei WuXian.”

“He had a lot of power,” commented Wei WuXian, Jiang WanYin looked at his brother strangely, and Wei WuXian clarified, “raw power, he used teleportation talismans, those take a lot of power, but he just didn’t seem clever enough. On the other hand LianFang-Zun is clever, but low on power.”

There was a scream from the back of the temple and the guards put their hands on their swords and everyone stood to get a better look at the back of the temple when an acrid smell drifted to them. Jin GuangYao came running around to the front of the temple and he threw the door open to get some more air into the temple. It was still raining hard some of it splattered Jin GuangYao and the shorter male hissed and jumped back from the door. Lan XiChen rushed over to him and pulled the arm that Jin GuangYao was holding to his chest everyone could see the skin of his arm that looked like it was burned but also like the left over remains of melted candle. Lan XiChen hissed and began to wrap the hand in a cloth.

Everyone moved towards the back of the room to see what had happened. Lan JingYi grabbed Lan SiZhui’s hand and then started dragging him over to Jin RuLan. But he was seen by Jin GuangYao who still had his presence of mind. “Stop them.”

The guards that had been watching them before ripped the children from each other. And everyone froze once more on edge now that the children had been targeted. Lan XiChen finished tying the bandage and then Jin GuangYao pulled away and they could see him take a couple fortifying breaths before he stalked towards Lan JingYi. “What is it that you have?”

Lan JingYi went wide-eyed and started backing away from Jin GuangYao. Wei WuXian began to whistle. The reaction was more than he could have expected. He had wanted to see what was being supressed and had gone around the room and weakened the array. But the purity and sanctity of the space was still holding back whatever it was. Jiang Cheng’s blood on the statue ended that, and then slowly the malevolence of the fog from Mo Village seeped into the once sanctified ground and Wei WuXian thought it just needed a wake-up call. The walls crumbled away and half burned corpses came stumbling into the space. Dozens of them, mostly female and naked, Wei WuXian used a sharp whistle to direct them but he could hear them screaming for Meng Yao’s blood. The corpses reached for Jin GuangYao and pulled at him, Lan JingYi was able to escape and get away from the Jin Cultivator.

The guards immediately started to hack at the corpses; Jin GuangYao pulled his own blade. Wei WuXian made wild movements and got Lan SiZhui to also dodge corpses to get over to them. Wei WuXian pulled Jiang WanYin’s son up, a boy who was clearly also clever and probably knew more than he should, “Do you know a place in Lotus Pier, that it safe and would have no people?”

“Yes,” replied Jiang XuanYu.

“JingYi give him your talisman, your leaving now,” said Wei WuXian.

Jiang Cheng pushed Jin Ling also into the knot of boys. Jiang XuanYu protested, “But my spiritual energy!”

“No need,” said Wei WuXian, “make sure you are all touching first then think of your safe place and touch the talisman with the intent to be there.”

There was a minute of hesitation, Jiang XuanYu pressed close to Wei WuXian and whispered into his ear. Once Jiang XuanYu was pressed back into the other boys, confusion fell over both Jiang XuanYu and Wei WuXian’s faces, then concentration on Jiang XuanYu’s face, and then the four youngest were gone from the temple. Wei WuXian turned around intent to get to the back of the temple and see what happened there. But there was a corpse in his way; she wanted the truth to be known.

“Jiang Cheng, I’m going to find out why Jin GuangYao was supressing these corpses, please have your clarity bell ready.” Wei WuXian put his hand on the corpse’s head and fell into the memory.

There was a ringing of a bell, and Wei WuXian snapped his eyes open, he hadn’t been in too deep in the memory or the possession but a quick look around the room showed that there were only a couple corpses still standing. Wei WuXian whistled: pretend to fall to their next strike, wait, your revenge is assured.

The corpses were felled quickly and Jin GuangYao spun on them. “Where are the brats?”

“Ran out the door,” smiled Wei WuXian.

Jin GuangYao smiled back, “I have men out there, men who won’t hesitate to kill them.”

“Like you didn’t hesitate to burn the brothel you grew up in to the ground? You know that your mother’s sisters wouldn’t have been so hell bent on revenge if you had buried them properly instead of supressing them, I mean with the explosion in Mo Village this temple was more dangerous than ever for you. What was so important?”

“So clever, Yiling Patriarch, you can talk to the dead,” Jin GuangYao replied.

“Did you ask Su MinShan to curse Jin ZiXun?” asked Lan WangJi.

“Whatever are you talking about HanGuang-Jun?” said Jin GuangYao with an innocent smile.

“No one believes you, did you not hear? Su MinShan’s duplicity was discovered in the scheme to have all the sects lose their spiritual power. And well when he lost his head we learned about the Hundred Holes Curse. The two of you had musical scores to temporarily seal spiritual energy, it’s only too obvious that the two of you could have worked to get my brother-in-law killed while framing my brother,” added Jiang WanYin.

Lan XiChen was looking frantically between everyone a confused look on his face. Jin GuangYao caught on and turned his innocent eyes on ZeWu-Jun. “Er-ge, do you believe them?”

“Should we also tell ZeWu-Jun how you became proficient in sealing spiritual energy?” asked Wei WuXian. Jin GuangYao turned his back to Lan XiChen his body still seemed to radiate innocence but he was glaring at the Demonic Cultivator. Wei WuXian nodded. “How you stopped ChiFeng-Zun’s Qi Deviation with your song.”

“Da-ge? You stopped his Qi Deviation? A-Yao where is Da-ge?” demanded Lan XiChen he spun LianFang-Zun around so he could see the younger’s face.

“Strapped him to a table, for years, wasn’t it? That’s what you did to your eldest sworn brother, burned down the brothel you grew up in since your father didn’t care for you, so of course we would think you tried to kill your half-brother,” stated Wei WuXian.

“Young Master Wei, A-Yao wouldn’t. I know he had to do some bad things before but there has always been a good reason. These things you speak of, they are just too much,” said Lan XiChen.

Jin GuangYao turned back around, there was a flicker of a smile on his face, but it disappeared. “This is why there was a siege, you know. You say these things, like you are correct, but no one believes them. Perhaps if you had not sold your dignity, carried your sword, not resorted to Demonic Cultivation, you wouldn’t have been thought of as a dangerous weapon. This arrogance is what turns people against you, even if Su MinShan hadn’t cursed Jin ZiXun as you say, if he hadn’t blamed you as you said, there would have been something else.”

“ZeWu-Jun,” said Jiang WanYin, “You have heard us talking of a Master Qin he is the one that beheaded Su MinShan. Even if you do not believe my brother’s words—“

“Brother, ha!” interrupted Jin GuangYao, “wasn’t it also your actions that allowed the siege on your brother? YunmengJiang Sect had been gutted it could be said that there was just the Young Sect Leader and the Head Disciple, a head disciple with a scary power, if you had shown that your bond was strong, would any of it have happened you could have raised on the might of Wei WuXian, but instead you were there at the siege against your ‘brother’!”

Wei WuXian shook his head and Jiang WanYin nodded and then continued with what he had been saying before, “You might be interested in what I have to say as well LianFang-Zun, Master Qin has been living in the Burial Mounds for years, and he is the reason that the resentful energy of the Burial Mounds had been so contained. He is called Master Qin as a Madam Qin… Su is the one that descends the Burial Mounds to do the shopping in Yiling.”

“Qin Su?” asked Jin GuangYao his voice going high.

“A-Yao’s wife?” asked ZeWu-Jun

At the same time Wei WuXian said, “Your sister,” after he registered Lan XiChen’s words he added, “LianFang-Zun’s sister, apparently you knew that before the wedding too.”

“They are brother and sister?” shouted Jiang WanYin.

“Is it that hard to believe? Jin GuangShan had no problem in making more and more bastards, for a sect so against bastards you think they would have embraced cut-sleeves,” commented Wei WuXian, “and we will not besmirch the good ladies honour I promised Master Qin.”

“LanlingJin dislikes cut-sleeves as well,” added Lan WangJi, “that was the justification for removing Jiang XuanYu, after all.”

“Go back, Sect Leader Jiang, tell me who Master Qin is. If they are truly siblings then they are not married and Qin Su would be free to marry, her honour is safe,” beseeched Lan XiChen.

But it wasn’t Jiang WanYin that answered but Lan WangJi, “Brother, Master Qin is ChiFeng-Zun.”

“Are you trying to tell me that my wife ran away with my sworn brother?” the incredulity in Jin GuangYao’s words was palpable.

“I believe Madam Qin said that you ran away in fear of ChiFeng-Zun’s revenge, where upon she discovered her paternity, and decided she would be safer away from you,” added Wei WuXian, “You were gone for years, did you think ChiFeng-Zun had died, or was there something else that happened that made you come back?”

“Prisoner escaped from Koi Tower,” supplied Lan WangJi.

“Was it Wen Ning or Wen Qing I wonder? Were you worried they would tell on you?” asked Wei WuXian.

“You said you were kidnapped A-Yao,” said Lan XiChen.

Lan WangJi spoke up, “Brother, when I heard his claim I went to that Sect and evacuated all of the non-combatants, and anyone who would believe me. The next day LanlingJin led the siege on them.”

Lan XiChen looked carefully at his sworn brother he took in his expression as his mind worked over the new information. “A-Yao is Madam Qin your sister? What about A-Song? When he died LanlingJin also retaliated against those sects. What happened?”

Jin GuangYao backed away tears in his eyes, “Er-ge, you don’t understand, they are twisting things!”

“Then explain it to me,” said Lan XiChen his voice calm and coaxing.

LianFang-Zun fell to his knees. “I didn’t know I loved A-Su and she loved me but there was opposition to our marriage from Sect Leaders Jin and Qin, so we thought if there was a child they would have to agree. And then the night before the wedding Madam Qin came to me and told me A-Su was my sister that my father had violated Madam Qin and hadn’t even realised that Qin Su was his! What was I to do?”

The blubbering seemed over the top to Wei WuXian but it spoke to Lan XiChen’s heart as he got down on his knees and tried to comfort his sworn brother, “You could have cancelled the wedding, and injustice like that done to Madam Qin should not go unpunished.”

“But A-Su was pregnant, if we didn’t marry then A-Song would have been a bastard, A-Su was too good, I couldn’t allow her to carry that shame! But I swear Er-ge I never touched her again after that night!”

“And A-Song?”

“You have to understand, he couldn’t live,” admitted Jin GuangYao.

He sort of doubled over with more wails and Wei WuXian saw his uninjured hand reaching for his sword. Wei WuXian whistled sharply and the corpses that could rose again and they grabbed at Jin GuangYao. But his hand had been on his sword and he whipped it out and attacked the corpses back. Lan XiChen scrambled back wide-eyed. The remaining two guards, who had been happy to have everyone talking instead of fighting started attacking the corpses, Wei WuXian kept up the whistling directing the corpses to defend themselves and attack. They managed to wound the guards and Jin GuangYao before they finally fell.

“You! Yiling Patriarch is the Yiling Patriarch! Without the Stygian Tiger Seal or Chenqing you command corpses, truly the Lord of Evil, not even ChengMei got to that level, he could wake them send them off in a direction but nothing more before the Seal!” Jin GuangYao got staggering to his feet as he spit his vitriol and confession, and stumbled towards Wei WuXian. Everyone seemed frozen, Jin GuangYao looked the least capable that he ever had before.

But he wasn’t—a guqin string shot out and wrapped itself around the neck of Wei WuXian once more. “Don’t you dare think of whistling again,” Jin GuangYao snarled he pulled Wei WuXian back again at the awkward angle and walked backwards towards the door, “Thank you for telling me about your connection to YilingWei, for now I only have to worry about whether or not Sect Leader Jiang cares for your life.”

“A-Yao don’t!” protested Lan XiChen.

Jin GuangYao frowned and said, “I would never hurt you directly Er-ge, but I have a boat to Dongying to catch, leave my evils in the past you will never see me again.”

“Wei Ying?”

“Sorry HanGuang-Jun he’s my insurance, once we are safely at sea… well, he’s from Yunmeng I’m sure he is an excellent swimmer.”

The door from behind Jin GuangYao banged open and LianFang-Zun turned his body to see, through the door came a flying body. In the same instant a sword appeared at Jin GuangYao’s neck and before LianFang-Zun and his hostage appeared a smiling face and the woman’s sword was already outstretched it snicked the wire in two and Wei WuXian could slip away. Jin GuangYao looked around the room and saw many cultivators from many sects but he knew they were all Weis. How had he never noticed, one or two in a sect and he never thought how there were Weis in every sect! There was a tall shadow in the door and very carefully as to not provoke the people with swords to his neck he looked at the open door.

The Jiang Sect Wei before him removed her sword. “Don’t worry about us, your head has already been claimed by another.” The sword at the back of his neck retreated as well.

The sheer size of the figure in the threshold left no doubt in the mind who it was. The one remaining guard that had been conscious screamed, “The ghost of ChiFeng-Zun!”

Wei WuXian sighed aggressively, “He never died! Honestly I’ll take the head of the next person who—“

“Wei Ying,” quelled Lan WangJi.

“Da-ge,” whispered Lan XiChen and then he fainted straight onto Jiang WanYin, though Lan WangJi made an effort to get there in time and catch his older brother.

“Da-ge,” squeaked Jin GuangYao, and in a last ditch effort he tried to pull his sword but it was knocked away by Wei PeiRu.

ChiFeng-Zun walked into the room, Jin GuangYao scrabbled back until his back was against the statue of the Goddess of Mercy. Nie MingJue’s eyes darted around the room rabbit fast. “XiChen?”

“Just unconscious,” replied Lan WangJi.

“Good he doesn’t need to see this. I’m assuming I gave you sufficient time to talk this time? Any last questions?” asked ChiFeng-Zun, he kicked the man who had screamed and the man fell over possibly dead, probably unconscious.

“I think I am good,” said Wei WuXian.

Jin GuangYao was now looking around trying to find something to save him at the last moment his eyes landed on the body that Nie MingJue had thrown, it was Xue Yang. He fell on the body like a mad man, scrabbling in the folds of the clothes.

“The Seal” said Lan WangJi.

“Wei WuXian!” yelled Jiang WanYin, the elder turned only to catch Chenqing.

The old dizi was brought to his lips and he played. The remade Stygian Tiger Seal was held up by Jin GuangYao but it slipped out of his fingers and skittered to the floor. It rattled and shook as it moved across the floor toward Wei WuXian. Jin GuangYao got to his feet tripping and chasing after the seal.

“Meng Yao,” the words froze Jin GuangYao he turned to look at his eldest sworn brother.

“Da-ge, Mercy!”

“Meng Yao I knew you were playing Clarity wrong, I was waiting for you to do better, you lost the right for mercy when you tied me to that table.”

Baxia swung, it was hard to see whether the sabre sliced through man and then struck stone or not, but the Guanyin statue cracked and then the upper half fell and crushed the body of Jin GuangYao. Even if there was a question of Nie MingJue’s strike being fatal, the weight of the stone seemed final.

Chapter Text

It was still raining, so after the dust cleared, they all stood around the room and looked at each other. It was Wei WuXian that started laughing and then he greeted all the other Weis. Jiang Cheng looked around the room like he was finally seeing all the different Sect colours. “Did you really put all these people in all the Sects? And I know you didn’t have any family in Yiling, these are all Wens aren’t they?”!

Wei ZhiHua who had been Jiang ZiBiao’s personal maid for as long as Jiang YanLi had brought back both her and Wei PeiRu stepped towards Jiang WanYin and gave him a bow. “Actually, I was born Bei ZhiHua I married into the Wen Sect and then my husband was killed by Wen RuoHan  for refusing to fight, but that didn’t stop you from throwing me into a work camp did it? Have we done anything to show that we were against you?”

“No, you haven’t,” boomed Nie MingJue, “I remember when Wei BingTao came to us, and he seems to have been loyal to my brother in the intervening years.”

“What happened on your end?” asked Wei WuXian.

“We realised the children had left, and Nie HuaiSang admitted that you were asking about the temple, and by then we had already talked to A-Jie and then out of the crowd come Wei BingTao and Wei ZhiHua and they spoke quietly with us and… well ChiFeng-Zun refused to be left behind, he wouldn’t allow his brother to go and it was decided that having a mid-rage weapon might be useful, that and I knew the Yunping City Pier. So we came here with your YilingWei Secret Method, why would you show that to the children, anyways?” explained Jiang WanYin.

“I didn’t, I was dead,” denied Wei WuXian.

“It saved them and brought them to me and away from the siege,” intoned Lan WangJi, “it is their heritage.”

“You taught them a transportation talisman?” yelled Jiang WanYin.

“It teaches them routine and is good for emergencies, they will be punished for misusing the talisman,” Lan WangJi admitted.

“We arrived, in any case, “continued Jiang WanYin, “and Xue Yang had an army of corpses. Fairy found us and I was sent on ahead to follow her.”

“Fairy came back and ChiFeng-Zun sent us to follow the dog, we ended up watching most of what occurred inside. We each made new talismans gave them a couple charges and discussed where everyone would go I would stop any attack from Jin GuangYao for example BingTao would appear behind him. Your corpses actually took out most everyone else’s targets,” said Wei ZhiHua.

“They sent the dog back to guide my way,” added ChiFeng-Zun.

“Where is the dog?” asked Wei WuXian.

“Outside,” shrugged off Nie MingJue.

“I suppose,” Wei WuXian swallowed hard then continued, “we should let it in out of the rain.”

Jiang WanYin went to the door and Nie MingJue continued, “I got here with the body, and they told me to wait! My patience was getting thin, when I got the signal and I tossed the body, I probably should have been more respectful, but I was there when we sentenced the fucker to death, and I had to ‘be removed’ so he could be set free, and you made me wait!”

“We should check what they were digging,” commented Lan WangJi.

The group went around the statue and to the back of the temple. It was a coffin that had been lifted up out of the hole. It looked like it was still closed, but by the arrangement of the partially melted corpses it appeared like they had at least begun to lift the lid when they were attacked and the lid dropped back into place. It was clear that the attacking agent had been a powder as they could see the faint discolouration that it had created around the coffin. Jiang WanYin flexed his hand and Zidian sparked to life. Everyone stood well outside the radius of the previous spray and Jiang WanYin flicked his whip so it would push the lid clear off the coffin. A mist of powder rose from the coffin but it didn’t have the force of the previous time. The noxious smell filled the air and they moved back to the front of the temple. Fairy was lying down in the corner Jiang WanYin had left her in and she had her nose buried in her paws. Jiang WanYin talked to the dog and they waited until the dog went around the statue and barked at the humans that it was safe.

The coffin was empty. There was a discolouration at the bottom of the coffin to show that there had been a body inside and that it had decayed. There were bits of the yellowish soil inside the coffin and on closer inspection they found that it appeared like the bottom of the coffin was not as well attached as it should have been. They looked at the hole and saw the yellowish top soil and then the darker soil that was under. On the edges of the hole the stratum were pretty clear, the coffin had been placed in the ground many years ago, but the soil in the bottom of the hole was the wrong colour and it sunk a bit in the centre, it had been displaced—so, it wasn’t a poorly built coffin but that the bottom had been removed at one point more recently.

“Who would be so important that Jin GuangYao had to retrieve their corpse?” asked Wei WuXian.

“His mother,” said Lan XiChen coming around the statue, when he came into view, he froze, “Da-ge.”

Nie MingJue moved over and put a steadying hand on his friend’s shoulder. Wei WuXian asked, “Did his mother die in the fire?”

“No, she died right before he went to Koi Tower the first time,” whispered Lan XiChen.

Wei WuXian nodded and extrapolated, “So his mother was already dead, but he loved her and then he heard his father say that he and his mother didn’t matter, so he wanted to erase this part of his past, and burned down the brothel. He must have felt that those that had survived his mother had wronged him somehow so he refused them a proper burial and erected the temple to contain their resentment… and then commissioned the statue in his mother’s likeness, so she could receive the worship… so her next life would be more blessed?”

“I didn’t know that Meng Shi was buried here, so who did?” asked ZeWu-Jun.

“He made a lot of enemies and he failed to kill all of them, he did generally make them too afraid to go against him though, but maybe one of them thought of this? They couldn’t hurt him so they desecrated his mother?” speculated Nie MingJue.

“And this poison?” asked Wei WuXian.

“They knew he would come back for her,” concluded Lan WangJi.

It was early for good Lans to be awake so that meant that everyone else would be dead to the world. They decided that it was not a good time for flying, and they didn’t want to use the YilingWei teleportation talisman, mostly because they only had Uncle Four’s left and they didn’t want to be caught between the two cities with such a large group in the rain. They would wait in the temple until they could rent a boat.

Opposite to where Fairy was hunkered down for the night Wei WuXian leaned against Lan WangJi, who had his arm wrapped around his shorter husband. His eyes were closed, and Wei WuXian’s head was resting on his shoulder, but neither was asleep. Wei WuXian’s eyes were open but Lan WangJi had his eyes closed and a serene look on his face. Jiang WanYin who had been oscillating between sitting and attempting to sleep gave up his internal struggle with a great huff and stalked across the temple floor.

“We need to talk.”

“Keep your voice down,” said Wei WuXian and he shifted his eyes toward Lan WangJi despite the fact that he knew his husband was awake.

Jiang WanYin did lower his voice, “I’m going to assume that if he wakes up you’ve already told him about what I want to talk about.”

“You want to know if what Jin GuangYao said about our golden cores were true, he was a liar,” stated Wei WuXian.

“But his story fits; just tell me what happened when I went to BaoShan SanRen, why you weren’t in town afterwards.”

“I’m sorry Jiang Cheng that I was unable to keep my promise to you, to be the twin prides of Yunmeng. I chose to honour the promises I made to Uncle Jiang and Madam Yu instead. And I know that hurt you.”

“Just tell me!” Jiang WanYin’s voice rose a bit but he visible reigned himself in at the end.

“I don’t know where BaoShan SanRen is. It was Wen Qing she had a theory of core transfer and I asked her to perform it.”

“I never asked you, if I had known I would have refused.”

“I know, and that is why I didn’t want you to know.”

Angry tears were welling in Jiang WanYin’s eyes. “You had always been better than me; you could have led the sect!”

“No! Jiang Cheng, no! I never was, I would have been dead without Uncle Jiang finding me, and I was too much like my mother I could never lead a sect! Forget the core for a second and remember what you did, you are SanDu ShengShou you rose Lotus Pier and the YunmengJiang Sect from ashes and waves! I couldn’t have done that, I was always going to just be the power behind you.”

“But you aren’t, you left!”

“I know and I’m sorry it was the hardest thing I had ever done, leaving you then,” said Wei WuXian.

“We could have found another way,” pleaded Jiang WanYin.

Wei WuXian looked around and then said imploringly, “Look, you’re not going to like what I am about to say, but just keep your voice down and remember I don’t like saying this either.”

Jiang WanYin glared. “All right.”

“So, the problem with the core-melter was that when he destroyed a core it also destroyed your pathways and meridians. That’s why you couldn’t form a new core, but if you had a core already and the help of a skilled doctor you could repair the pathways. So, the only way to help you was to give you a core someone else formed. But look Wen Qing was very good she removed my core without damaging my pathways. But we didn’t realise what that meant at first… I could… I could… feel Lan Zhan’s energy flowing through my pathways… when… we dual cultivated,” Wei WuXian paused to let his face calm down and to wait for the appalled look to leave Jiang WanYin’s face, “so, I started nurturing a new core. See even before I died I was getting my core back! Lan Zhan was working on finding remaining family for all the Wens, if I hadn’t been ambushed there was a real possibility that I could have come back to Lotus Pier, while knowing that everyone I cared about was safe… well, I was married to Lan Zhan, and we did name the children Lan… but we could have split our time!”

“So, you did tell him before me?”

“It was a dual cultivation thing, we had to be safe about it when I… uhh… formed enough of a core that I was sending energy back, I didn’t really want anyone to know!”

“So, what about now, you’ll come back to Lotus Pier now right?”

Wei WuXian looked down and he whispered, “I’m married Jiang Cheng! My children are GusuLan disciples, we can visit of course, but my life is with them!”

“A-Jie spends half the year in Lotus Pier with her children, she has two too.”

“Three.”

“Three what?”

“Lan Zhan and I have three kids, our daughter is at Cloud Recesses, she is going to be a healer,” stated Wei WuXian with pride.

“So, you won’t be my right-hand man like our fathers? You won’t be the power behind me as Sect Leader?”

“My father left the sect for love, and I’m afraid I am like him in that respect.”

“You’re wrong,” said Lan WangJi suddenly and whip fast he snatched up Jiang WanYin’s wrist and felt for the pulse of spiritual energy, “in this way, Wei WuXian is always with you. It shows his love, regard, and support for you as his brother.”

It appeared like Jiang Cheng didn’t really like the sentiment but he seemed to have run out of steam since Lan WangJi had entered into the conversation. He nodded once and then stalked back across the room. The Weis were in their own knot; they had catching up on the lives of the others since they scattered, but were now asleep. Nie MingJue had Lan XiChen asleep on his shoulder and a look on his face, which asked how he could have not a single younger brother that was like him.

Dawn took it’s time, the rain petered off, but they stayed where they were. They got up and left when they could hear the Yunping City Bell Tower ring in the morning. Jiang WanYin who hadn’t slept was the first one in the courtyard Lan WangJi and Wei WuXian were not far behind. Nie MingJue came practically ambling out of the temple and seemed to be in a fine mood.

“I wanted to talk to you,” said Nie MingJue he had stopped equidistant from the YunmengJiang Sect brothers. Jiang WanYin and Wei WuXian looked at each other and then at Nie MingJue, he continued, “I want to build a summer home… or maybe a winter home… you know I should probably just call it a Southern Home.”

“Why do you want to talk construction with us?” asked SanDu ShengShou.

“I think Yiling is within the YunmengJiang Sect jurisdiction, and Wei WuXian lived there originally, it seemed best to ask,” Nie MingJue replied.

“You want a vacation home in Yiling?” returned Jiang WanYin disbelievingly.

“The Burial Mounds, actually. Well, I suppose if Master Wei doesn’t think largescale construction is feasible then I’d have to build closer to Yiling proper.”

“You want to build a holiday home in the Burial Mounds?” Jiang Cheng felt like everyone around him had gone crazy and forgot to tell him.

“Well, I’ve lived there for years, got used to it and all, I find it cathartic, and Baxia likes it. But I promised HuaiSang I’d return to The Unclean Realm, and take back some of the Sect Leader responsibilities.

Wei WuXian smiled. “We’d have to work out the best way to keep the workers safe, but I’m sure it could be built.”

Jiang WanYin looked between the two and then threw his hands up. “Fine, do what you like; Yiling has never liked me since I tried to get Jin ZiXuan’s body off that mountain, they didn’t believe me when I said I hadn’t harmed anyone and had been trying to help, so I doubt they’ll want to hear anything from me now.”

“You had looked… so angry… that time,” said Wei WuXian, only realising after he had started speaking that he hadn’t wanted to say any of it.

Jiang Cheng glared. “If you saw me getting torn apart by corpses, right after watching a cultivator slay and old woman and threaten to do the same to children, would you not be angry too?”!

Nie MingJue motioned Lan WangJi over and then steered them away. Wei WuXian stayed silent for a long time and then finally looked Jiang WanYin in the eye and said, “I’m sorry I doubted your integrity Jiang Cheng.”

“I saw them when I went that first time, I knew what kind of people they were, and I chose not to see. I’m sorry that I was blind, before,” returned Jiang WanYin.

“We need to stop apologising, we both did things we regret, or would change if we could; in the spirit of brotherhood that had bound us tight; there should be no more need for apologies.”

The Jiang Sect Leader snorted, “If I didn’t still think that you were my brother, I probably wouldn’t be this angry.”

“Ah… Cheng-Cheng! Me too, it’s why I couldn’t go back, that angry face, I thought it was for me, but I couldn’t live with confirming that my brother hated me, so I hid.”

“Who are you calling Cheng-Cheng!” Jiang WanYin roared and he reached out and tried to smack Wei WuXian’s shoulder but the elder danced back, “For your false representation of my character I demand a boon from you.”

“Of course, of course, anything for my sweet Shidi!”

“Mark your words Wei WuXian!”

“They are marked!”

Jiang WanYin turned around and motioned the hovering Lan WangJi forward. “You heard that idiot right? You are my witness.”

“Mn.”

“Then Wei WuXian you must return to Lotus Pier, talk to A-Jie and then help me explain this mess to the other sects,” declared Jiang WanYin.

Wei WuXian had paled at the mention of his Shijie and looked sick at the mention of talking to the other sect. “What are the chances that you daughter had beheaded a couple of those sect leaders in your absence?”

“None, people seem to forget she is the Dawn River first: cool, calm, implacable.”

The elder man’s shoulders slumped, but he bowed to his brother. “Yes Sect Leader Jiang I will accompany you to Lotus Pier.”

Jiang Cheng smirked, and slapped Wei WuXian on the back before he walked off in the direction of the gate. As they made their way to the river Jiang WanYin kept Fairy away from Wei WuXian. At the docks it was easier to get passage back to Lotus Pier, not only was it closer, there was no animosity between the travellers and the townsfolk. They did make a stop to ensure that the temple stay closed until they could send someone to do clean-up. Lan XiChen was bundled into a boat and Fairy stayed with him to offer furry comfort after Lan WangJi failed to find a rabbit in the market to give to his brother. Nie MingJue and Jiang WanYin also went in that boat with a few of the Weis, everyone else went in a second boat. Along the river between the boats bits and pieces of the time earlier in the previous evening could be heard, as everyone was brought up to the same page.

Chapter Text

Jiang YanLi met them on the docks of Lotus Pier. Behind her stood Lan QiRen, Wen Qing, Nie HuaiSang, Jin ZiXuan, Jiang XuanYu, Jiang ZiBiao, Lan SiZhui, Lan JingYi, Jin RuLan, and Jin RuYu. Wei WuXian took a moment to recognise Jiang XuanYu because he was dressed in male clothing and he didn’t recognise the smallest girl at all, but the dress in gold that was a compliment to Jiang YanLi’s own outfit and Jiang FengMian’s sword strapped to her hip clued Wei WuXian in to who she was.

They disembarked but Jiang YanLi only had smiles and curt words for the others, and eyes that would not let Wei WuXian escape. “A-Xian I am so happy to see that you have come home safely and were able to get A-Yu, PeiRu, and ZeWu-Jun back safely.”

“Shijie, it was thanks to Wei PeiRu’s quick thinking and your knowledge that allowed us to get to Yunping City in time,” replied Wei WuXian he looked nervous though and kept inching towards Lan WangJi.

“I heard from the children that you sent out of danger along with A-Yu that you have been alive for some time and hadn’t thought to let your poor grieving sister know you are alive.”

“Shijie, I thought… I didn’t even tell my husband…”

“Oh yes I heard, you got married without even telling me, I came to you to show you my wedding robes, and you didn’t even give me the courtesy of telling me that you were getting married. It is an important day in my little brother’s life, I as his loving and caring older sister of course wanted to be there. What have I done A-Xian to deserve such callous disregard from you?”

As the exchange started the Weis in the boats swiftly left the pier and went to go back to their own retinues. Some of the others also made themselves scarce. With each exchange the people behind Jiang YanLi took a step further away. At this point Lan WangJi took a step away from Wei WuXian in part to give him the room needed to grovel, and in part to give more of a sense of privacy.

“Ah! Shijie! You’ve done nothing, you are always perfect. It was just, see Lan Zhan he gave me another child and Qing-Jie she said that you can’t have so many children without marriage that Lan Zhan was disrespecting me by giving me children before marriage and she demanded our wedding immediately! I couldn’t invite my beloved Shijie, no matter how much I wanted!”

Jiang YanLi considered the words and then nodded. “I understand the rush on the wedding, but surely you could have sent me a letter informing me that I had a new brother-in-law. But that brings up the next point; I’ve just recently found out that I have two more nephews that I didn’t know were my nephews before today. Two boys that went to classes with my darling niece at Cloud Recesses and I didn’t know. How do you explain that HanGuang-Jun?”

Everyone on the dock froze for a moment and Lan WangJi looked down at his feet. But before either man could form an answer, she continued, “A-Xian died, and right before that I was doing my Sitting In and before that I was very pregnant. I could see that maybe A-Xian was worried about my health, not wanting me to get too excited—“

“Yes! You are right Shijie that is exactly it!” interrupted Wei WuXian.

“Don’t interrupt A-Xian, and don’t lie to me. But I can still understand, there was a lot going on, and then A-Xian died. But you HanGuang-Jun you had years, I mourned my brother for years when you could have soothed that ache with the balm of nephews.”

“My apologies Madam Jin, but if you are to remember the Jin Sect’s attitude towards Wei Ying was very negative, the true identity of my spouse was a tightly guarded secret,” replied Lan WangJi.

“A-Jie it gets worse Wei WuXian has a daughter as well and he is the one that gave birth to the children,” added Jiang WanYin.

Jiang YanLi’s understanding eyes whipped from Lan WangJi’s form over to her youngest brother and then to her other brother. Wei WuXian’s eyes went wide and he put his hands up and took a step back Lan WangJi had to put a hand out to stop him from walking off the pier, “Shijie it is not like that I swear!”

“I believe that it was pointed out early that Lan SiZhui share’s HanGuang-Jun’s nose and disposition, but Wei WuXian’s heart and smile. You could compare them right now, come Lan SiZhui smile,” encouraged Jiang WanYin.

Everyone turned to the boy in question but instead of smiling his face turned red. Jiang Cheng grinned. “Oh look, he blushes like Wei WuXian.”

“Jiang Cheng!” hissed Wei WuXian.

And Jiang YanLi’s attention returned to her brother and his husband. “So, the rumours about HanGuang-Jun’s children are true, and they are your children as well A-Xian?”

“Yes Shijie.”

“I have already sent for our daughter,” added Lan WangJi.

“Lan Zhan, what?”

“In Yunping.”

“But why?”

“You told Uncle Four.”

Wei WuXian nodded, but Jiang YanLi interrupted, “I thank you HanGuang-Jun for your foresight even if it wasn’t for my benefit. Now, I know SiZhui and JingYi, who is your daughter?”

“Lan Lian, my Blue Lotus, I gave her that name!” said Wei WuXian perking up a bit, “Her Courtesy name is WenNuan, that’s from Lan Zhan! She is studying to be a healer, she wants to be like her Aunt Qing, whom she’ll be happy to know is alive! She was just a baby when she was with me so she doesn’t have memories of Yiling.”

Jiang YanLi made a motion and her daughter stepped forward, “Lan Lian? Really? A-Xian you named your daughter after mine; this is my youngest and your niece who you have yet to meet Jin Lian courtesy RuYu. Delicate as a flower and refined as precious jade, isn’t she?”

“Wei WuXian greets his Shisheng-nü, I am glad to meet you, you are well named and by the sword you carry I am sure that you are strong and diplomatic as your grandfather before you,” replied Wei WuXian, he had given a perfect and polite reply, so of course he had to dig himself a deeper hole, “But I have to disagree Shijie, it is you who named your daughter after mine, my children are all older than your children. Lan Zhan pushed Lan Lian into my belly and I first held her in my arms not long before I heard that Jiang Cheng had a daughter and Shijie was pregnant!”

“In that case A-Xian you must have had plenty of time to inform me that I was an Aunt, as A-Cheng had. Do I not deserve to know my nephews and niece? To cook for them and spoil them? Do I not deserve to know that my baby brother was happily married and then proceeded to give birth to three children?”

“I’m sorry Shijie, forgive me!” cried Wei WuXian and he got down on his knees.

 More people dissipated from the docks as Wei WuXian cried into Jiang YanLi’s skirts like a child. Jiang YanLi stroked Wei WuXian’s head and said, “Oh my Xian-Xian, it’s all right now. Come on it is still early let us go have breakfast and we’ll discuss what to tell the others.”

Wei WuXian bolstered by his Shijie’s words did indeed get to his feet with renewed vigour. “Did you make soup Shijie? Your soup is the best!”

“Soup isn’t breakfast food!” yelled Jin RuLan.

“I made soup,” said Jiang YanLi with a smile.

Lan WangJi who was closest got snatched by Wei WuXian, “Lan Zhan, Lan Zhan you get to try Shijie’s soup! It’s the best soup in the entire world!” as they got close Wei WuXian swept his sons up as well, “My Radishes! It is your lucky day, although A-Yuan I think you had a taste all that time ago. I feel remiss as you’re A-Ma to not have made sure you had tasted your Aunt’s soup!”

The crowd of people moved into Lotus Pier proper and then into a formal dining room that was big enough for everyone. It wasn’t the big area for discussion conferences, but it was still big enough. The soup despite not being a breakfast food went over well with everyone and SiZhui started to tear up when his senses remembered the soup. After they had finished breakfast and done a brief discussion on what best to outline to the other Sects. Jiang ZiBiao told them that when they had arrived at Lotus Pier the previous night two women arrived not long after. One was a prostitute from the brothel in Yunping, who had further information about the death of Sect Leader Jin GuangShan, and the late Madam Qin’s maid who after a tearful and private conversation with Qin Su did not want to speak. It had been decided that they would edit out Jiang XuanYu’s involvement in rescuing both Nie MingJue and Wen Ning.

Their breakfast had just been small bowls of soup as the rest of the guest expected to breakfast and then get an explanation. It made the day long, and unbearable. Lan WenNuan arrived in the late afternoon and was barred from the meeting room and had to spend her time with the YunmengJiang Disciples, while her brothers were required to be in the room as they had been present for many of the happenings. The discussions had only ended as it approached nine o’clock in deference to the GusuLan Sect and it was arranged that they would continue the discussion but this time beginning after breakfast.

There was short introduction between Wei WuXian’s extended family and Lan WenNuan before everyone went off to their beds. It had been days, and days since anyone of them had slept. Jiang WanYin had snapped that of course Wei WuXian still had a room in Lotus Pier and he and Lan WangJi had retired there. They were too tired to do anything but fall into the bed tangled in the other arms.

The next morning Lan WangJi woke at the regular time and went out to see about a tub, and when breakfast would be served. A servant who had been warned of the habits of their guests from GusuLan informed him that he and Wei WuXian had been invited to the private family meal that morning before the discussions continued. Lan WangJi then went about filling the tub first for himself and then for his husband, he luxuriated in the ability to bathe his sleeping husband and then he laid him back out on the bed and dressed him, when that was done he rested Wei WuXian’s head in his lap and combed out his hair. He left the damp hair fanned out across his lap and the bed to dry and he did his morning meditation until there came a knock on the door to tell him it was time to get ready to head to breakfast.

Lan WangJi sat Wei WuXian up and slipped him to the floor, he framed the slumbering man between his legs, with Wei WuXian’s back to the bed. Lan WangJi did Wei WuXian’s hair with a quick deftness and then hoisted the other man into his lap. Not long after there was another knock and when Lan WangJi called out the door slide open to reveal their three children all impeccably dressed.

“Wei Ying, time to get up”

“Just a bit longer, Jiang Cheng.”

“I’m not Jiang WanYin, Wei Ying.”

That bolted Wei WuXian awake and got a laugh from Lan JingYi. Wei WuXian looked around the room with bleary eyes. “Lan Zhan?”

“A-Die, A-Ma we must go to breakfast,” said Lan SiZhui.

“Yes, yes breakfast, let me just get ready,’ said Wei WuXian he pulled himself from Lan WangJi’s lap and stumbled to his feet he looked down at himself and then up with a perplexed expression, “I’m already ready…”

Lan JingYi laughed, and his sibling gave slight chuckles and broad smiles and Wei WuXian had to stare because Lan SiZhui did have his smile, actually all three of them did. Lan WangJi got up from the bed and he straightened his robes that didn’t need to be straightened and then he put a supporting hand on Wei WuXian’s back and led the mostly asleep man out of the room, behind their children.

The dining room that the servant led them to was a small and intimate affair. Jiang YanLi was bustling around trying to make sure that everything was ready. Lan QiRen and Lan XiChen were already seated, but the small family paused in the door not sure where to sit. Jiang YanLi turned to them and said with a bright smile, “HanGuang-Jun!” then her eyes shifted and practically jumped from her skull, “A-Xian! You’re awake!”

“Not quite,” answered Lan WangJi.

That answer got Jiang YanLi to giggle, Lan JingYi to laugh, and Lan QiRen to glare. They were quickly seated and given tea while they waited. Jin ZiXuan, Jiang WanYin, Nie MingJue, Nie HuaiSang, Qin Su, and Jiang XuanYu came in next. The children came in last with sleep still lingering in their eyes, followed by the Wen siblings. When Jiang WanYin had arrived, he had stared at Wei WuXian half-asleep at the table next to his husband for a long moment. But by the time the congee was laid out on the tables Wei WuXian was at least functional enough to eat.

“I think Jiang Cheng said that you stay half the year at Lotus Pier Shijie, is the weather so bad in Lanling?” asked Wei WuXian as he tried to make polite conversation and catch up on his family.

“Well, after… the tragedy A-Cheng brought A-Xuan to Lotus Pier because it was closer to Yiling then Lanling. He set the doctors to work, and here I really must thank Physician Wen, I don’t think he would have survived if you hadn’t seen to him first,” began Jiang YanLi.

Wen Qing nodded her head in acknowledgement and Jiang YanLi continued, “He then went to Lanling to give us the news. By that point Jin ZiXun had already returned. But A-Cheng told us what he saw and about A-Xuan, so we all went to Lotus Pier.”

“Jin GuangShan didn’t even seem to care that Jin ZiXuan could die!” growled out Jiang WanYin.
“To be fair,” said Jin ZiXuan diplomatically, “My father did have Jin GuangYao kicked down the stairs of Koi Tower on our birthday, then he only showed any interest in Mo XuanYu because he could be used against Jin GuangYao. Not to mention Madam Qin, or any of the other half sibling I have come to realise that I have. It is just proof that my father cared for the act of making children and never once cared for the result of those actions. We stayed in Lotus Pier until my father died and we had to go back to Koi Tower. We had A-Lian here, but it was a bit obvious that there seemed to be someone after my family, so for safety reasons we kept the children away from Koi Tower.”

Wei WuXian nodded he was much more awake, and he smirked as he turned his attentions to his brother. “Jiang Cheng, what about you? Are you still band from all the matchmakers in Yunmeng?” Jiang WanYin’s face went red, but Wei WuXian pushed on, “I heard about your daughter of course, I made her the bell… oh! Lan Zhan, I need to make another bell for Jin RuYu!”

“Why are you telling HanGuang-Jun that you idiot?” snapped Jiang WanYin.

Wei WuXian tilted his head, “So, he can buy me the material, I have no money.”

The comment got a few squawks, but the little Lan family nodded, and Lan WangJi agreed, “Mn.”

“Anyways, you did not marry and get your children the traditional way, like Shijie and I—”

“What about you or your family is traditional?” grumbled Jiang WanYin.

“—so, how did you become lucky enough to have such an exceptional daughter?” Wei WuXian finished as if Jiang Cheng had said nothing.

Jiang WanYin puffed up, but his daughter was the one who answered. “My father was a Wen and my mother a Yu of MeishanYu; they fought in the Sunshot Campaign with MeishanYu, but were persecuted after for the Wen name. HanGuang-Jun saved me.”

“Lan Zhan, Lan Zhan!” said Wei WuXian a look of shock on his face, “Did you give my brother babies too? And here I thought I was the only one!” he swooned dramatically half falling onto his husband but then sat up again when he heard the squawk from Jiang WanYin.

“What are you talking about? I’m going to break your legs!” yelled Jiang WanYin.

“My brother gave Jiang ZiBiao and Jiang XuanYu to Jiang WanYin,” said Lan WangJi. The red of Jiang WanYin’s face drained to white.

“WangJi!” exclaimed Lan XiChen, “That isn’t how it works.”

“Clearly it is, I have three children,” retorted Lan WangJi.

Lan JingYi got into the spirit of the conversation, “Xiao XingChen and Song ZiChen too right A-Die they have Qing-Shibiao!”

“Mn.”

Lan XiChen sighed, “But Sect Leader Jiang and I are not married.”

“Not required until the third child, Physician Wen said so,” Lan WangJi persisted.

All the eyes in the room turned to the table where the Wen siblings sat. Wen Qing took a measured sip of tea and then put the cup down with a dull chink. “I did say that.”

“Oh, this is great our family is so amazing! Hey Lan Zhan; that makes you like a double uncle! You are the brother of one parent, and you are the husband of the other parent’s brother!” exclaimed Wei WuXian.

“Wei Ying too,” added Lan WangJi.

“Oh, you’re right,’ said Wei WuXian with a smile and then he turned and addressed his brother, “Hey Jiang Cheng, we’re brothers again! So, I know you didn’t come to my wedding, but please invite us to your wedding!”

“I’m not marrying ZeWu-Jun!” growled Jiang WanYin.

 “Well, you don’t have to until you have your third child, you could give ZeWu-Jun an heir! Little Lans are the cutest!”

Lan XiChen looked completely startled like he had no clue how his life got to that point, Lan QiRen looked like he was composing new rules for the face of the mountain, seriously considering the ramifications of his nephew marrying the Sect Leader of the YunmengJiang Sect, and wondering if his nephew could move on, what with the death of Jin GuangYao and the Lan Love Curse working against him—Lan QiRen had to admit that Jiang WanYin was much better than Jin GuangYao; they were both smart and hard working in their own ways, but Jiang WanYin wasn’t a mass-murderer and didn’t marry some woman (not matter how lovely she was) when it was clear to Lan QiRen that Lan XiChen had feelings.

“You know what Wei WuXian? I’m done with you for right now, you take your family and leave the rest of us adults to our breakfast. Don’t forget the talks; you still have to attend those.”

There was half a beat where Wei WuXian considered then he jumped to his feet and pulled up Lan WangJi. “Come on Lan Zhan, kids! I’m going to show you all the best places in Lotus Pier!”

They hadn’t gone far when the door to the dining area opened and Jin RuLan came running out. “Shishu!” The group turned around and looked back at the younger boy. Jin RuLan stopped and bowed to them and then held out something to Wei WuXian, “Fairy brought it to me; I think she wanted to thank you for saving me at the temple. I would as well, thank you Shishu for saving me and for my bell.”

Wei WuXian looked at the boy shocked and took from his hand the splinters of black bamboo, pale tassel, and jade. “No need for thanks Jin Ling, I was happy to do it. Please thank Fairy for returning this to me; she is a good dog, though that doesn’t mean that I will want to see her anytime soon. If you want, you can come with us and I’ll tell you the stories from when your mother and uncle were young.”

“Let me just tell mother!” excitedly replied Jin RuLan.

“I’ll need to put this in my room first, we’ll meet at the gate,” said Wei WuXian with a smile.

When Wei WuXian and family got to the gates all of the Jin and Jiang children were waiting for them, though Jiang XuanYu could be considered a young adult. Wei WuXian just grinned and led the band around Lotus Pier. He showed them the tree he ran to when he had first come there; he told them stories on the docks and in the training hall where the boys would lay out when it got too hot. He pointed into the distance and told them how to get to the Lotus Lake that the farmer had befriended the Water Ghoul.

He expressed a wish to hear the highlights of Lotus Pier from the next generation, and Jin Ling immediately took the lead to regal them of his own stories as they traipsed around the area. Wei WuXian brushed an arm across Lan WangJi’s in greeting and then let himself drop to the back of the group. It didn’t take long for Jiang XuanYu to also drop to the back of the group.

They walked on but at a slower pace as the rest so soon Jin RuLan’s explanations and Lan JingYi’s snark faded as they moved further away. Wei WuXian paused and looked out at a garden. “I should probably say thank you, I’m pretty sure that it was you that brought me back.”

“I’m glad it worked, I was so worried it had failed,” replied Jiang XuanYu.

Wei WuXian nodded. “Jin GuangYao said that he had seen Suibian in Koi Tower right before he left.”

“The sword smith still has the schematics for all the swords made; I had a weighted wood replica made. I knew that Suibian had sealed itself so I figured that a solid wood replica would be cheaper and go unnoticed.”

“Clever, Wen Ning said you saved him because you hoped he had the knowledge of Demonic Cultivations to figure out where you went wrong. ChiFeng-Zun said that you saved him and Qin Su as well.”

“I don’t disserve such credit,” humbled Jiang XuanYu.

“Well, I know that you saved Wen Ning so he could help you. So what? You snuck into Koi Tower for Suibian and found ChiFeng-Zun while there?”

“As you say.”

“Then what about Qin Su?’ Wei WuXian asked.

“She’s my sister,” replied Jiang XuanYu, Wei WuXian turned to look at the younger Jiang XuanYu sighed and said, “She gave me no choice.”

“Still makes you a hero, and unsung hero.”

“Accidental hero at most,” Jiang XuanYu grumbled.

“Tell me how you brought me back,” inquired Wei WuXian.

And Jiang XuanYu told the story to him.

When he finished Wei WuXian nodded and brushed at his nose. “Very clever. And you did all that just because Lan Zhan, Jiang Cheng, and my Shijie were kind to you?”

“I hoped… that is you had been called an unsung hero as well.”

“One that lost their hero status and died from the spite and greed of others.”

“Just as you say.” Nodded Jiang XuanYu.

Wei WuXian studied the youth for a moment and then nodded. “You knew Jin GuangYao was clever and so am I. You needed someone to find Jin GuangYao out without risk to yourself, and I already died to protect the innocent, I would do it again.”

“As you say.”

“But you didn’t remove the body from that coffin and set that trap,” Wei WuXian didn’t make it a question but waited for Jiang XuanYu to shake his head anyways, before he added, “and someone sent letters to your cousin. My guess is that there was someone else out there that had felt as you did. They too are clever, but couldn’t directly go against Jin GuangYao.”

Jiang XuanYu thought for a moment. “It is something to consider.”

“So what do you know about the restoration of the Stygian Tiger Seal?”

“Why are you asking me that?” said Jiang XuanYu after he sucked in a large breath.

“Last time I destroyed the Stygian Tiger Seal I died. You were one of Jin GuangShan’s Demonic Cultivators; you might know what they did to make it whole again. And you are clever, brought me back from the dead, kept all those secrets and weren’t caught by the secret master Jin GuangYao. Why wouldn’t I ask you?”

The Stygian Tiger Seal was being kept a secret. Only the people, who knew, were going to know. And it had been decided with no argument that it would be destroyed. Lan WangJi currently had it in a Qiankun pouch, which meant that Wei WuXian could discuss it with Jiang XuanYu without having to worry that the Seal would hear him and try to warp his mind again. Wei WuXian listened as Jiang XuanYu spilled more of his tightly guarded secrets.

The talked in whispers and slowly trailed behind the group. As the morning continued on there were more and more people about so their conversation petered off and they re-joined the group in time to watch Jin RuLan turn red by some embarrassing story in his youth. It was however approaching the time for the meetings to resume, the children were set free but Wei WuXian, Lan WangJi, Jiang ZiBiao (by the virtue of being the Sect heir and almost of age) and Jiang XuanYu had to go indoors.

The discussion was grating on the sanity as it had been before and Wei WuXian was increasingly happy that he had been adopted into the Jiang family and not born to it, so that these sort of meetings fell on Jiang WanYin’s shoulders. And then in his head he waxed poetical about the virtues of his husband, chief among them being that his husband was the second son and therefore not the sect heir. He felt a tinge of fear for Lan SiZhui’s future and prayed to all the ancestors that Jiang WanYin and Lan XiChen would have a baby Lan and then they would have to get married and Lan SiZhui would no longer be the GusuLan Sect Heir.

The discussion that day had been about the cloud of resentful energy which had dissipated some but was still an issue, and had been the issue Jin GuangYao had used to gather all the sects together before and had never actually gotten discussed practically. After the meeting Jiang XuanYu grabbed Wei WuXian and they squirrelled themselves away to discuss the resentful energy problem from a Demonic Cultivation standpoint over dinner.

Lan SiZhui didn’t seem to think that the meetings and inter sect discussions sounded horrible, Jin RuLan argued that Wei WuXian must be a baby because talking wasn’t bad; when Wei WuXian bemoaned the loss of his day to the children that evening. They had the best sons however as Lan JingYi offered to wear black and go to the meeting for Wei WuXian at the same time Lan SiZhui did the same. It only took a bit of needling but Lan WangJi agreed to skip out on the meeting with Wei WuXian.

After the family breakfast, which sort of looked like a Sect Leader’s family breakfast as it still included Nie MingJue and Nie HuaiSang. Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi retired to their rooms and Lan SiZhui and Lan JingYi followed after their fathers. Once the boys were dressed and Suibian and Bichen reluctantly turned over. The four stood and stared at each other. In an emergency Lan WangJi could use either of the boys’ swords, but Wei WuXian couldn’t seem to hold a sword with intent that wasn’t Suibian. So, he decided to keep Chenqing with him. He held up the dark flute and looked at the bright red tassel and frowned a moment now that he looked at the flute in his hand it just seemed wrong. He looked around and found the splintered remains of his second flute and took up the faded tassel. Wei WuXian attached the tassel of his second flute, to his first one. The blood red tassel was for his first life when he was coreless and feared the faded tassel for his second life when he was the unobtrusive rogue cultivator, now this was sort of like his third life, which was hopefully going to take the best parts of his previous two attempts.

The boys went to the meeting early so that they could be in their seats early and have a better chance of avoiding getting drawn into conversations that would end the game too early. Wei WuXian had a habit of still being sleepy in the morning portion of the meeting and shamelessly clinging to Lan WangJi’s side. So Lan JingYi rested his head on Lan SiZhui’s shoulder and attempted to take a nap.

When everyone had just gotten into the meeting, Lan WangJi and Wei WuXian slipped out of the room and made their way down to the pier and they borrowed a boat and slipped into the lake.

The came back for lunch after slipping into a small Lotus Pond that Wei WuXian knew was or had been owned by a single old man. They had had a very pleasurable time in the boat, and luckily were just thinking about starting another round when they were interrupted by a water ghoul of the child. There had been a mad rush for clothes, which took Wei WuXian minutes and he still looked freshly fucked and a mere blink for Lan WangJi to look perfectly composed.

Apparently the old man that Wei WuXian remembered from his excursion to pick lotuses after a ghoul hunt had passed away and his grandson who had moved back to take over the business didn’t know what to do with the ghoul. And the ghoul didn’t know its friend had died. So, in the end it was a good thing that Wei WuXian had Chenqing, because he was able to use it to smooth negotiations between grandson and ghoul. The man allowed them to pick a couple pods each before they left the pond. Wei WuXian had made sure that Lan WangJi had picked them all with the stems still attached and then allocated some of their bounty for their kids.

When they got back to Lotus Pier they were accosted by their brothers who had both realised their ruse. Lan QiRen said that Wei WuXian was corrupting Lan SiZhui and the boys told their grand-uncle that it had been their idea. In the end, swords were returned and Lan JingYi tied his forehead ribbon back on and donned his mourning clothes and Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi attended the afternoon meetings.

The conversation had shifted to the LanlingJin Sect, and how many of the smaller sects had been decimated on the words of Jin GuangYao. The thing was that Jin ZiXuan wasn’t an idiot. As evidence by the way he had guarded his family, it had been the killing of Jin RuSong that had drawn suspicion away from Jin GuangYao in his mind when the incident had occurred. He had thought that perhaps Jin GuangYao had learned bad diplomacy from Jin GuangShan as Wei WuXian had suggested to Lan XiChen. But it still stood that Jin GuangYao had been Jin ZiXuan’s counsel and the LanlingJin Sect had to make some reparations.

The next day Jiang WanYin wouldn’t let Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi leave his sight so there was no way that they could get out of the meetings. The tone shifted to a chief cultivator. Wen RuoHan had taken his position too far and there had been war. After the war the LanlingJin Sect had had the most power, they had been the least touched by the war as they had played the gambit of playing both sides. It was a good thing that despite Jin GuangShan’s stance and lack of commitment to the early days of the war Jin ZiXuan had been in the fight from the beginning. It had been Nie MingJue who had been the most against having a new Chief Cultivator, all the while Jin GuangShan had just assumed that he would fall into the role.

What had happened was that officially there had been no Chief Cultivator for the past sixteen years. But what with Jin GuangYao’s demeanour, smiles, and mind he had sort of fell into the role. He was one of the Venerated Triad, and was easier to approach than ChiFeng-Zun and for most people easier to reach then Lan XiChen. Though, it could be said that many of the people south of the ring of LanlingJin’s influence sought help from GusuLan over YunmengJiang. And what with Jin ZiXuan healing in the greatly diminished YunmengJiang Sect, the people had begun to see Jin GuangYao as the next Sect Leader and went to him accordingly, and that hadn’t changed much when Jin ZiXuan had become Sect Leader. Now that Jin ZiXuan thought about it, perhaps the reason his father had brought Mo XuanYu to LanlingJin was to make sure that Jin GuangYao didn’t get ahead of himself in terms of influence of the Cultivation World.

But now people were wondering if they had had a Chief Cultivator if anything could have been prevented, like the eradication of the TingshanHe Sect or if Xue Yang hadn’t been given to the LanlingJin Sect could they had stopped the systematic hunting of the YueyangChang Sect? There were many things to considered; there were people who held that there shouldn’t be a Chief Cultivator, others who thought it should be a post that had a limited term and others who thought that it should have a limited term and a set cycle through all the sects.

It was when they started talking about how HanGuang-Jun would be a great Chief Cultivator, that Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi snuck out of the meeting, they quickly found their children. The five of them packed their things and then headed out of Lotus Pier. At the last second Jin RuLan ran up to them and stopped them.

“What are you doing here Jin Ling? HanGuang-Jun and I are eloping, go back home,” said Wei WuXian.

“You’re already married!” snapped the little Jin boy.

“That is right we are, but can you see me as the wife of the Chief Cultivator?” said Wei WuXian.

Jin RuLan huffed. “My mom is going to kill you for leaving.”

“We’ll write! But we need to go; they want to make HanGuang-Jun Chief Cultivator! You tell them we will become Rogue Cultivators if they insist and we’ll take the kids with us, tell that to Sir, he won’t want to lose our babies, they are the heirs to GusuLan after all, or maybe tell that to ZeWu-Jun… ooo or your uncle, they won’t want to get married so ZeWu-Jun can have a new heir. Oh you can tell Wen Ning and Wen Qing we’ll leave them a message in Yiling. And I’ll get in touch with ChiFeng-Zun and Jiang XuanYu.”

“There is something wrong with you Shishu!”

Wei WuXian laughed. “Don’t worry even if we become Rogue Cultivators we’ll night hunt with you!”

Jin RuLan stood there with a perplexed look and watched as Wei WuXian ushered his family into the bustling streets of Yunmeng the boy could hear his Shishu buying all the best food and then fading into the crowd.

They did go to Yiling and they returned Uncle Four’s talisman and stocked up on his wine. Wei WuXian went into the Burial Mounds and made an assessment. He then sent a letter to Jiang XuanYu and the boy met them in the city a few days later. For long hours Wei WuXian and Jiang XuanYu spent their days alternating between the Burial Mounds themselves and the room in the inn as they discussed obscure theories and what could be done about the still present cloud of resentful energy. The Wen Siblings came a couple days later and then Lan WenNuan begged Wen Qing to return to Cloud Recesses with her and teach her the healing arts. Wen Qing agreed and she left for Gusu with Lan WenNuan.

Nie MingJue, Nie HuaiSang, and Qin Su were the next to arrive they had left some of their things in the Burial Mounds and they wanted to discuss the home that Nie MingJue wanted built.

Chapter Text

The thing was that Wei WuXian and Jiang XuanYu thought that the Burial Mounds predisposition to high levels of resentful energy could be used to suck in the fog of resentment from Mo Village. They also thought it would be the best place to destroy the seal, as it had been before. The people of Yiling had experienced the shockwave of its destruction before and hadn’t suffered for it. Yes, the Burial Mounds had plenty of corpses to rend the destroyer of the seal to shreds, but that was why they were going to plan everything better. Or they could just bury the accursed thing under the foundation of Nie MingJue’s house. They’d figure it out.

The thing was they thought they could use the seal to draw in the resentful energy that was blanketing the world. But that would raise the resentful energy of the Burial Mounds, which would mean that any workers that came would need more protection.

Nie MingJue made the decision for them, as the other sects hadn’t come up with a plan to get rid of the fog, while Wei WuXian and Jiang XuanYu worked on perfecting their plans for the cloud and the destruction of the seal he would start construction of his vacation home; as construction could always be stopped and the cave was still serviceable. Nie HuaiSang was allocated to house design and staying with Jiang XuanYu and Wei WuXian.

Wen Ning left behind his bell to help the future workers and then he went out with the children who also left their bells behind to help to combat that which had been stirred up by the excess resentful energy. Lan WangJi was reluctant to go far from Wei WuXian and generally dealt with the problems that were closer to Yiling. Nie MingJue sent for some of the angrier Nie Sect members, the ones that they considered could be a danger to others if their ardour carried them to a breaking point. Nie MingJue was sure battling the Burial Mounds would help his fellows. The men that came seemed to have proved Nie MingJue right so they battled the mounds as men came in to build and in the nearby cave Nie HuaiSang lounged with the occasional comment as Jiang XuanYu and Wei WuXian worked out the problems they had. Every night Lan WangJi would return and almost every night so would Nie MingJue who had gone out to help the common people. 

They had come up with an array that they believed would draw all the resentful energy to them. It had to be big, as they didn’t want all the energy from the cloud to be concentrated into a single point. Wei WuXian had a feeling that was probably how the original sword that he had pulled from the XuanWu of Slaughter had been formed. So the array had to be adapted to work with the terrain and they slowly carved it into the very pathways, rocks, trees, and bones of the Burial Mounds. At the centre they buried the Stygian Tiger so deep it was in a solid layer of just bone dust. There was a rod resting on the seal and it stuck straight up into the air as a conduit. It was just regular iron, though they did coat it in blood. Jiang XuanYu was sworn to secrecy—which as a whole felt both a bit late and entirely unnecessary—and was shown the YilingWei Transportation Talisman.

The mountain was cleared of the living before Nie MingJue’s vacation home was finished and after Uncle Four got a last harvest of fruit in. Jiang XuanYu and Wei WuXian activated the array and teleported away. It did nothing. The workers came back with Nie HuaiSang who lounged around and made comments on the proper crenulations in the architectural flourishes. Uncle Four stayed awake for days and nights to properly prepare all the fruit, so it wouldn’t go to waste. Wei WuXian and Jiang XuanYu went back to their contemplations.

It was decided that the array would need fresh blood and Wei WuXian’s dizi playing to actually keep it activated. They would need a way to know when the energy had been pulled from the furthest areas. Any sort of self-sufficiency and self-regulation that had been built into the array just wasn’t going to work. So they called on the people they knew they could trust and wouldn’t try to argue or butt in to the process unnecessarily—also people who had a good sense of how the energy would feel. Nie MingJue dragged Lan XiChen out of whatever slump he had been in to help and Lan QiRen had come as well. He had come across Nie MingJue and had said that he also had the needed skill. Nie MingJue said he could help if he didn’t fight with Wei WuXian and wouldn’t go against the plan. It was the fate of the world and Lan QiRen was righteous enough to admit that that was more important than the morality of a solution.

They had the leaders of the four great sects with them, Wen Ning, all the YilingWei cultivators that were able, Xiao XingChen, Song ZiChen, and the YueyangChang Sect member they had sent to Tingshan and away from the yayus. And the rest were junior disciples, the ones that knew Wei WuXian from Yi City and a few other groups that their core set of disciples said were trustworthy.

The Sect Flares were a well-known and tested resource. All the way back when it was just’ flash of light whose colours changed depending on the Sect, all the way to the present where they would explode into the Sect symbol. They knew what to do to change everything from colour, shape, altitude of explosion, the distance of visibility, and length of time the lights would hang in the sky.

They weren’t using Sect symbols, just different colours they had a ring of cultivators at the outer edge of the area of influence then a second set further in just within the sight line of the outer edge’s flares, then another row further in. Not as far out as flare distance, but they had another line of cultivator they were there to make sure that the resentful energy’s sphere of influence didn’t expand again. Once the outer edge let off their flares to say that the energy had dissipated at their spot to a normal level they would fly to the next spot within the third ring and that pattern would follow until the energy was only within the Burial Mound.

As Yiling wasn’t the epicentre of the explosion, from the Burial Mounds the sphere of influence was more of an ovoid. So, they had done a practice run, without the flares and just marking their sword flying speeds.

They were as ready as they could be, on a clear night they took their places. Wen Qing fed Jiang XuanYu something that would make his blood thinner. Jiang WanYin held Jiang XuanYu on Sandu hovering over the metal rod ready to feed him spiritual energy at a constant rate so he would continue to bleed but not bleed out. That was something they had practiced under the watchful eye of Wen Qing. Lan WangJi floated nearby on Bichen, his husband in his arms. Wei WuXian waited Chenqing poised at the ready.

Lan WangJi set off the starting flare a bright red flash into the night; a couple of red flares could be seen in the middle distance. If it hadn’t been a clear dark night, if it hadn’t been a solid ring of cultivators, the brief thin line of red as the closest ring of cultivator set off their readying flares wouldn’t have been visible.

Jiang XuanYu cut his palm and gripped the top of the rod to activate the array; Chenqing started whispering its haunting notes. The commoners had been warned to stay inside for the night, in case the coaxing notes and draw of resentful energy took the beasties with it. When the tendrils of resentful energy started to twine down the rod like snakes, Jiang XuanYu let go of the rod and Jiang WanYin flew higher. The younger made a fist over the rod and let the blood drip steadily on the rod or as near as it possibly could get.

“Saffron,” said Lan WangJi, when he spotted the thin line of orange flares on the horizon. That meant that the resentful energy had been pulled from the outer most edge.

It was a longer time than before, but it made sense as the line had been on the edge, they wouldn’t have been waiting for the energy to dissipate for the distance between the flare lines first. “Yellow,” announced Lan WangJi, the line looked thicker to his eyes, and he fed his spiritual energy to Wei WuXian’s lungs to help him keep up his playing.

“Green.”

“Green-blue.”

They were getting closer, and closer. “Blue.”

“Violet.”

A flare of white, then they went back to saffron. The initial red flare would hopefully be the only red they would see that night. The furthest line that had started outside the ovoid of influence was slowly flying inwards if there was a resurgence of resentful energy they would send up the biggest and brightest red flare in warning.

The work was long they made it back around to the third green before they had all the energy in the Burial Mounds. Everyone held for a long moment, Wei WuXian still played but Jiang XuanYu stopped bleeding. As the night progressed they had flown higher and higher above the Burial Mounds. Looking down on them now the air was viscous and dark. Wei WuXian stopped playing and they held their breath. Jin ZiXuan came and took Jiang XuanYu from Jiang WanYin so he could rest from keeping his son alive. Lan QiRen came, followed by Wen Ning both men offering to support Wei WuXian and give Lan WangJi a rest, Lan WangJi refused. When dawn broke hours later Lan WangJi sent up a volley of flares, eight in rapid succession starting with white and then moving into reverse rainbow order. So the night began and ended in red.

Yiling City was in a festive mood as tired cultivators landed and were handed food and wines and ushered into beds. No one went into the Burial Mounds for three days, at which time Wen Qing had announced Jiang XuanYu and Wei WuXian sufficiently recovered to go in. but no matter what they said Lan WangJi, Nie MingJue, and Jiang WanYin insisted on joining them. Jiang WanYin took one look at the wall of resentment and handed out clarity bells to everyone.

The air was viscous—it felt like you were trying to walk along the bottom of a lake, but instead of just floating upwards no matter how hard you tried to stay down, it was a heavy pressure, weighing one down. The air was not wet on the contrary it left a dry bone dust taste in the mouth and had a cloying rotting flesh smell. Despite it being high sun they were attacked by quite a few shambling corpses and yao, which Nie MingJue gleefully went after. They were happy to note that the Demon Slaughtering Cave had no new residence and the Nie Vacation Estate seemed to have not suffered.

They pulled out the metal rod but left the seal buried they wanted to observe the Mounds in such a state for a while but didn’t want to leave a visible marker for others to find the seal. Jiang XuanYu had bled enough on the seal that he would always be able to find it.

They left the Burial Mounds and monitored the air around the Mounds for about a week to ensure that the energy was staying within the array that had been laid down and deciding what would be the next move. When they had first left they had all tried to return the clarity bells to Jiang WanYin, but the YunmengJiang Sect leader only accepted Nie MingJue’s bell.

“You’re my brother aren’t you?” said Jiang WanYin with a glare at Wei WuXian when Lan WangJi went to give his over, Jiang WanYin practically growled, “You married my brother didn’t you? Are you saying the YunmengJiang Sect clarity bell isn’t good enough for you?” Wei WuXian cried and hugged his brother. A couple days later Wei WuXian had combined the YunmengJiang clarity bells with the Cloud Recesses token and after Lan WangJi bought the materials Wei WuXian had made a protection bell for Jin RuYu, Jiang XuanYu, and Xiao Qing.

Clarity bells were made and placed on the old altar at the base of the Burial Mounds; groups of cultivators would enter for daylight excursions and battle what they could. But not everyone was used to such devices even something as simple as a clarity bell appeared to be and it seemed that the mountain absorbed most of the energy into itself. The air became clearer, but the level of resentment didn’t go down—slay all the corpses and the next night the same amount would rise.

Nie MingJue hired YunmengJiang cultivators to continue work on his house and Wei WuXian and Jiang XuanYu went back to the cave for some up-close monitoring of the remade Stygian Tiger Seal.

The Stygian Tiger Seal didn’t seem to be doing anything beyond basking in the resentful energy that saturated the entire area. But Wei WuXian didn’t trust the thing; it had whispered horrible things to him and had actively tried to avoid its own destruction. So, leaving it buried in the corpse mountain was not a good long-term answer. Besides, Nie MingJue might be an honourable man that had no designs on the power that the seal possessed; but depending on whether he actual cleanses the entirety of the Burial Mounds in his lifetime or not, the Nie’s will have a vacation home there—and some future generation of Nie might not be as honourable. Though when Wei WuXian really thought of it well, Nie MingJue seemed content to either not continue the line or to perhaps marry Qin Su (Wei WuXian was sure that that option was partially contingent on any malicious rumours that may start about Qin Su and either Jin GuangYao or her time with Nie MingJue at the Burial Mounds). If they did marry, Wei WuXian felt that there was no way they could have corrupt offspring. –But still, it needed to be destroyed.

The last time it had been destroyed it had only really taken Wei WuXian’s life and not any of the Wen’s houses, even though the Jins had already ravaged a lot of the area. So, Jiang XuanYu and Wei WuXian made their plans and waited for the Nie home to be finished. They didn’t want to destroy it with anyone living nearby and they didn’t want to ask the workers to leave just for the day. That was how rumours started.

So before Nie MingJue could ever lay his head down in his new vacation home, but after it had been built, the Stygian Tiger Seal was destroyed. It wasn’t hard—well, that is to say that it was less complicated then sucking in a massive cloud of resentful energy into the confines of a single mountain—Wei WuXian already knew how to destroy it. The people of Yiling were consulted about the day their matriarch died, and then they together chose a date that would be good to stay inside. With the resentful energy fog, night was chosen for visibility-of-flare reasons, for the Seal midday was chosen for power reasons. Feet on the ground with Lan WangJi and Jiang WanYin hovering on swords overhead and Wen Qing hold up in an apothecary she was borrowing in town; Wei WuXian prepared to destroy the Stygian Tiger Seal and Jiang XuanYu prepared to activate a teleport talisman with Wen Qing firmly in mind.

There were no problems, the Seal shattered, Jiang XuanYu and Wei WuXian disappeared, Jiang WanYin and Lan WangJi flew higher to avoid the shock wave, and Nie MingJue’s house still stood. After they were all cleared by Wen Qing, they went looking for the pieces. Jiang XuanYu could still feel the bigger pieces of the Seal, and luckily it was just two and it was quiet clear that they were just two small pieces of the whole; however they were still too big to be left alone. They repeated the process, until the blood-soaked metal could no longer be found by Jiang XuanYu and Wei WuXian’s fluting couldn’t call it up.

Nie HuaiSang was waiting for the go ahead, and when it was given, he led a band of servants with furniture and decorations up the mountain, each sporting a clarity bell. The people of Yiling celebrated and Wei WuXian and his family enjoyed the party. Uncle Four had provided some of his Ghost Wine and Jiang WanYin had immediately wanted to know why such a wine had been kept from him. And Nie MingJue pointed out that rights to the wine now belonged to QingheNie by virtue of their vacation home on the mountain that the fruit grew. Neither went for weapons but they did dissolve into a drunken shouting match, where Wei WuXian had pointed out that if he hadn’t originally saved and brought the Weis to the Burial Mounds or made the bell that allowed for a safer harvest there would be no Ghost Wine.

It was then decided that clearly it was wine too good for the Jins, first and foremost (which caused Jin ZiXuan and his son to sputter when they heard, and Jiang YanLi to hide a giggle as she gave her boys consoling pats). Due to GusuLan’s stance on alcohol they would be receiving none as well. However, despite his intentions to be mainly residing in Cloud Recesses, Wei WuXian would be gifted wine on a regular basis, as he deserved nice things and was poor. And as Jiang WanYin and Nie MingJue were both sect leaders from prominent sects, Uncle Four received two very lucrative contracts for annual shipments of wine to Yunmeng and Qinghe (or the Burial Mounds depending on where Nie MingJue was at the time or the wine was needed).

Chapter Text

It was sort of anticlimactic; everyone just sort of went home. So many people had been hiding and/or healing and now that there wasn’t a cloud of resentment stirring up the monsters and the dead, now that there was no longer a psychopath hunting the YueyangChang Clan remnants, now that people knew the truth of Jin GuangYao and the setup of Wei WuXian, everything just calmed down and went back to normal. They still didn’t know the person who sent the arrays to Mo Village was, but all the sect leaders of the major four sects, young as they may be, were on the lookout.

So everyone settled down, Wei WuXian followed his family back to Gusu. Wen Qing had already taken up residence in their infirmary and probably due to the examination that they had performed Lan QiRen didn’t protest to Wen Ning’s presence. He did however point out the new rules carved into the side of the mountain specifically the ones that were added because of him. Of course there were the ones because of Demonic Cultivation, but Wei WuXian had to smile when he saw “Physical altercations in defence of a family member’s honour while in Cloud Recesses are forbidden” and “Do not speak in ignorance of others.” He was sure that there were at least a dozen other rules that could be considered to cover the subject matter of that new rule. But Wei WuXian was beginning to see that there was really a core set of rules and then there was a lot of amendment to remove the wiggle room that some of the rules had left behind. Or in the case of that first one gave the wiggle room. Wei WuXian bet that a Lan would calmly say, “You have impugned the honour of my sister, let us leave the mountain and settle this.”

The juniors still went on night hunts; Jiang WanYin—as Lotus Pier was closer to Cloud Recesses then Koi Tower—often appeared to enquire about whether or not Jin Ling had gone off with the GusuLan juniors. Since Ouyang ZiZhen and his young cousin also went on the GusuLan night hunts none of the juniors thought it was strange to be adding Jin RuLan to the group as well.  Wen Ning often liked to go with the juniors, as he had never really had the chance when Wen RuoHan had been in charge, he had been seen as weak, but now he was seen as a wise Senior. Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi often went with the juniors as well, and they would take Lil’Apple out on night hunts whenever someone talked of HanGuang-Jun being Chief Cultivator.

But that was really it; even Nie MingJue who had enthusiastically dove into building his holiday home, spent a single night in the finished and furnished home, and then went back to Qinghe with his brother and Qin Su.

The Nie brothers worked out a good division of labour, among the responsibilities of a Sect Leader. Nie MingJue had to spend a lot of time meeting with people to deal with the damage from the “Head-Shaker.” Most of the administration went to Nie HuaiSang, and his brother promised not to bother him about cultivating with a sabre. So, Nie HuaiSang was happy to sit down and actually get work done. And he was maybe not so secretly happy when his brother praised his quick mind, and a head for numbers.

Nie MingJue was the most level-headed that Nie HuaiSang could remember since the death of their father, he claimed that killing Jin GuangYao had done wonders for his temperament, but either way it had been a good year before Nie MingJue had decided he needed a break and went down to Yiling.

Nie HuaiSang was in his study after dinner going through the Sect accounts and making sure that everything was in order before he retired for the evening. A breeze flittered through the room and fluttered his papers. The young Sect Co-Leader looked up; he had thought that he had closed the shutters earlier because the breeze had been so bad and not conducive to proper work. In front of his desk stood a young man dressed in black.

They both froze. Everyone knew that Nie HuaiSang wasn’t above screaming for help. The figure in black had a sword strapped to his waist but it wasn’t unsheathed, so the younger Nie Sect Leader cocked his head and looked at the man. He was taller than Nie HuaiSang—but only Jin GuangYao had been shorter than Nie HuaiSang in their generation—when your brother is a mountain of a man, you quickly lost all sense of male prowess associated with height. He had remembered how the others boys had been in school. The young man before him was slim, with handsome features, and a bearing that made Nie HuaiSang think that he wasn’t much of a cultivator despite the sword he carried. There was something about the features that niggled at the back of his mind, he snapped his fingers, “You’re that Jiang boy that was kidnapped by Jin GuangYao, last I saw you, you were wearing that beautiful violet gown.”

“I’m also the one that got your brother away from Jin GuangYao,” said the figure in black.

Nie HuaiSang broke out in a smile and then made a series of bows. “I am eternally in your debt. You do not know how much the life of my brother means to me.”

His head was down in a bow still when the young man said, “You killed my cousin.”

The bowed figure froze for a second then Nie HuaiSang rose, for a brief moment his features betrayed a cold and calculating continence. A hand landed on the desk and snatched up the fan that was laying there. Nie HuaiSang snapped the fan open with a flick of his wrist. The fan opened with a crack that was thunder in the silence of the room. “I don’t know your cousin, I don’t know, I really don’t know.”

Slowly, and without looking away the man in black reached into the breast of his robes and pulled out a stack of paper, he unfolded them and then brought them up to read, in a way that he could still see the man behind the desk, he cleared his throat and read the words on the page, “Dear Mo XuanYu, you do not know me, though I have heard of you and how you were cruelly and falsely expelled from the LanlingJin Sect. I too am a cultivator that does not have the strongest cultivation and understand what it is to come from a powerful cultivating family, and not be strong in the same sense. I therefore wish to extend my hand in friendship…” Jiang XuanYu’s voice trailed off and he gave Nie HuaiSang a pointed look.

Behind the fan, Nie HuaiSang shook his head. “I know nothing of Mo XuanYu’s—”

“Should I read a couple more?” interrupted Jiang XuanYu, “How you offered to send cultivation texts, how you realised I wasn’t the one that was answering your letters but instead it was my thieving cousin, how you started writing to him instead of me?” Jiang XuanYu flicked through a couple of pages and then read, “My dearest Mo ZiYuan. I have found that I have grown rather found of our correspondences. I find you a much better conversationalist than the rumours of Mo XuanYu had led me to expect. Your story is truly harrowing, how you have been denied a proper cultivating education that was handed to your bastard of a cousin.”

“What makes you think those are my words?”

Jiang XuanYu ignored the question and asked one of his own, “Your words were so understanding, sympathetic, with the right amount of praise, and as you go on just a hint of a flirty tone. Did you go with flirty because you heard that I came onto my own brother and his wife? The flirting wouldn’t have worked with my cousin, you know, even if he had been open to activities with men, he wouldn’t have done anything, except feel a sense of self-loathing and blame me.”

“Why are you here? What do you want from this?”

“That is exactly what I want from you, why did you write these letters? What did you want from it?” Jiang XuanYu flipped to one of the last pages in his bundle, and read, “I have found this array that I think will help you greatly. It should be easy for you to complete with how far your cultivation has come. It is an array to summon a teacher, a spiritual guide who will protect you and help to make you stronger. Follow the instruction while having the purist intent on giving yourself over completely to the hands of your guardian spirit. I would suggest the playful spirit guide Wei Ying. But please keep this array close it can be easily changed and used to summon a demon like the Yiling Patriarch and bind them to your will.” Jiang XuanYu stopped reading and put the pages away and levelled Nie HuaiSang with a penetrating stare, “Hedging your bets were you? So many people forgot that Wei WuXian’s birth name was Wei Ying. You wrote it obviously as a name but well ghost is in the character for Wei and Ying doesn’t exactly mean infant in the context, but the tone of the words can make it seem like Wei Ying is an infantile spirit of a sort.”

Nie HuaiSang sat back down, snapped his fan closed and glared back. “You still haven’t said why you came to me with this.”

Jiang XuanYu smiled he walked forward he pushed a rack of brushes from the corner of the desk and then sat on the corner. He crossed his legs and folded his hands with a distinctly feminine air in the movements—he suddenly seemed so much more dangerous. The sweet smile was still on his face as he said in a mocking tone, “Dearest Nie HuaiSang, you don’t know me, though you thought you did based on the words of my brother, whom you knew was a liar. But I understand I too came from a cultivating family that felt strong cultivation was the most important. But while your brother always loved you, I was only ever acknowledged as a weapon against my own brother Jin GuangYao to be wielded by my father. But I failed in that and they made me into one of the LanlingJin Demonic Cultivators. But you knew that didn’t you? You probably even knew that that cousin of mine, the one you heaped your disgusting praise on made sure that I knew my place, which was under the foot of the strongest family member in the area. A servant to do as told, to take the hits, to be neither seen nor heard. What you might not know is I amassed a collection of secrets that could have ruined LanlingJin, and would most certainly have ruin my father Jin GuangShan and my brother Jin GuangYao. But you are familiar with that aren’t you? Would you like me to guess what happened?”

Nie HuaiSang didn’t say anything.

“You found out that Jin GuangYao killed your brother. A man with weak cultivation and a quick mind killed your brother a man with strong cultivation and brain to not be scoffed at. If Jin GuangYao could take down ChiFeng-Zun, what could little Nie HuaiSang do? You needed someone righteous, strong in cultivation, but ZeWu-Jun loved Jin GuangYao, and besides you needed someone as clever as Jin GuangYao, someone not afraid to face the more powerful… you needed the help of Wei WuXian. You were suddenly Sect Leader, you were in the spot light, but all people knew of you was about how your brother complained about your sabre work, and that you failed your courses at Cloud Recesses. You became the Head-Shaker to hide from Jin GuangYao. See I told you I understood.  You’re not the only one; Sect Leader Jin ZiXuan spent so much time at Lotus Pier, despite not knowing that it was Jin GuangYao he was hiding from, I disappeared, even Qin Su when she learned of one secret too many of Jin GuangYao’s fled and hid. It is a natural response. Let me ask you a different question, did you plan from the beginning for me to sacrifice my soul so Wei WuXian could return?”

The room was silent for a moment except for the rhythmic opening and closing of a fan. Nie HuaiSang pointedly didn’t look at the long legs draped over his desk or the person attached to them. ”You were a Demonic Cultivator, you probably also had no love for the Jins. I was just looking for allies that would have had a chance to bring Wei WuXian back.”

“And I did.”

Nie HuaiSang’s eyes lit up. “How did you manage it, without sacrificing your soul?”

“Through the love and compassion of those that he had left behind.”

“No one knew that he was back,” snorted Nie HuaiSang, “forgive me for not believing that.”

“And your method was so slow,” snapped Jiang XuanYu, he added with a cruel smile, “You were still plying my cousin with sweet words when I snuck into Koi Tower and took Suibian and your brother out.”

“I didn’t know! I didn’t know, if only my brother had come back to Qinghe!”

Jiang XuanYu’s posture softened. “He couldn’t really move when I found him, and I could only take him south. If he could have escaped on his own he would have gone to Qinghe or killed Jin GuangYao immediately. So to keep him safe from Jin GuangYao before he got better it had to be south. And we didn’t know if you could act the same knowing that he wasn’t dead. If it makes you feel better I thought I had failed to bring Wei WuXian back.”

“How? And why did you bring him back in the first place?”

“I did the ritual in Lotus Pier, but he returned to the Burial Mounds. He made a pact with your brother so they both kept the other’s secret,” replied Jiang XuanYu with a shrug then the mocking look returned, “I told you why already, but I’ll explain it again. HanGuang-Jun took me from Mo Village, almost as soon as I got there; there was never any chance that I could have received your letters. I told ZeWu-Jun that I wanted to prove myself to my brother,” he had adopted a pleading tone and made his eyes look big and earnest, then the smirk returned, “the great ZeWu-Jun curbed his impulse to gossip with Jin GuangYao and kept my secret, then he gave me to SanDu ShengShou, because HanGuang-Jun thought I would be happier in YunmengJiang than in GusuLan. Sect Leader Jiang WanYin welcomed me into the family, even let me choose the name I wanted to be known as, got me a sword, and made me family. That was all I ever wanted family who loved me for me and no other reason. Young Maiden Jin even got me that violet gown that you complimented earlier. And the only thing they wanted was Wei WuXian.”

The silence in the room stretched between them the wind blew through the still open window. Then Jiang XuanYu asked, “Why did you send the array to my cousin when you did?”

“I had the witnesses and the proofs I needed, I just needed Wei WuXian.”

“Were you just going to walk up to him and ask for help? If my cousin had done the soul summoning correctly Wei WuXian would have been bound to his dying wish. Am I missing some of your letters, had you primed my cousin to ask for something for you as his requirement?”

“Found the corpse of Jin ZiXun, well the head and the torso. He clearly died of the Hundred Holes Curse, I figured that would get Wei WuXian investigating, the head is in Qinghe figured I could drop other hints,” said Nie HuaiSang with a shrug.

“You have patience, I’ll give you that,” replied Jiang XuanYu and then his eyes widened, “you desecrated Meng Shi’s grave!”

“I gave her a proper burial, in her original grave even; I feel that it wasn’t desecration. Think about it, Jin GuangYao burned that brothel to the ground, built the temple to contain all that resentment, dug his own mother up from her rest and moved her to that temple, filled with the bodies of her sisters, and deified her image; in its way that was the desecration.”

“You killed my cousin,” stated Jiang XuanYu again.

Nie HuaiSang studied the younger man perched on his desk. “He wasn’t a good person.”

“You put the tools that could have killed us all in the hands of my idiot cousin.”

“So what will you do now, that you found me out?”

“Ah, what’s one more secret?” said Jiang XuanYu with a smile as he hopped off the desk, “But I’m going to be keeping an eye on you?”

“Why will you do that?”

“Because you’re just so cute,” Jiang XuanYu said with a wink and he inwardly laughed at the look on Nie HuaiSang’s face, the elder man clearly hadn’t expected that. Jiang XuanYu let his smile drop and said with ice in his tone, “Wen RuoHan sparked a war when he desired to control the entire cultivation world. Jin GuangYao killed him and then proceeded to use his wit to raise LanlingJin Sect into the spot that Wen RuoHan left behind, and you’re the one that methodically plotted Jin GuangYao’s demise. I would be remiss if I didn’t ensure that you didn’t try to fill the vacancy left by Jin GuangYao and a strong LanlingJin, with ChiFeng-Zun and a strong QingheNie.”

“What about you?”

“Me?”

“A Demonic Cultivator Jiang in name, Jin in blood, with the compassion of the Lans behind you, and a hundred secrets. I’m sure that with what you know you could probably topple empires.”

“So, what? I have designs on Chang’an?”

Nie HuaiSang snorted, “You think I have designs on the Sun!”

“We are at an impasse,’ said Jiang XuanYu he spread his arms out.

He let a critical artist’s eyes travel the length of the younger’s body and then back up again with a smile he said, “We’ll just have to keep an eye on each other.”

The younger burst out laughing, a fully bellied thing. There came a knock at the door and the question, “Sect Leader?”

Sect Leader Nie the Younger took his eyes off the youth and looked to the door, it seemed but a moment but when he looked back Jiang XuanYu was gone and the open window was closing itself. “Nothing to concern yourself with!” the accounts that had been spread across his desk remained forgotten. Nie HuaiSang leaned back and contemplated the closed window. He had forgotten to ask how he had been found out. The boy had been good, Nie HuaiSang didn’t think he had learned anything new about the boy, except the connection to the Lan’s and that it was Jiang XuanYu who had saved Nie MingJue, Wei WuXian, and had gotten Suibian out of Koi Tower. He felt he may have given too much of himself away, but the boy seemed good and Nie HuaiSang could always use more clever friends, and based on his tastes in dresses, he was a man of taste, as well.

Chapter Text

Cloud Recesses didn’t hold their guest disciple classes every year it was generally a five-year cycle. After the Sunshot campaign the first few classes were small. So, after the first class there wasn’t another class for until the third year after and then the next year would not have a class and the pattern would start over again, a sort of three then two-year pattern.

The year before the explosion in the Mo Village there had been a class at Cloud Recesses, the year after there was one too. They thought about cancelling the course because the resentful energy hadn’t quite been dealt with at the time, but Cloud Recesses was a safe place and good for the cultivators who needed to be out in the world to send their young disciples to.

Cloud Recesses generally was looking for fifteen- to seventeen-year-olds but depending on your birthday there was a chance that you could start your courses at the age of fourteen. The year Nie MingJue attended was the year that Gusu saw their oldest and youngest students Nie MingJue had refused to go to class without his brother and was nineteen when he had gone and Nie HuaiSang was thirteen for the first few months of classes before his birthday. That was Lan XiChen and Jiang YanLi’s year as well. That year had made Jin ZiXuan mad as he had turned fourteen before classes had started and had felt that if Nie HuaiSang could attend then he should attend as well; after all Jin ZiXuan was Nie HuaiSang’s senior by a couple months.

Now that it was his own son, he understood; Jin RuLan was born at the end of the year, he would be fourteen for the majority of the year. The argument didn’t last long when Jin Ling learned that Jin Chan who would be turning fifteen earlier in the year would be attending, and that Wei WuXian, and all of Jin RuLan’s older friends wanted his help to dissipate the cloud of resentful energy. So, three years later when Jin RuLan was sixteen he would go to classes and would finish when he was seventeen. Lan WenNuan who would be seventeen since almost the beginning of classes would be—well, not joining, but joining Jin RuLan in classes. Jin RuYu would not be joining her brother, she had their father’s problem (her birthday only five days after his) and she would only be fourteen.

Jin RuLan was confused when the resentful energy was dealt with and his father had made the correct reparations to the sects that Jin GuangYao had hurt, when they weren’t planning the trip to Lotus Pier for their winter stay. Jin ZiXuan said it was because; they weren’t worried that someone would try to kill them anymore. It was explained to Jin Ling that his parents had had a suspicion of Jin GuangYao right after Jin GuangShan had died. The two half-brothers shared the same birthday, who was to say who was older? (Brothels weren’t known for keeping exact birth details such as time of birth) And Jin GuangShan had legitimised Jin GuangYao, and Jin GuangYao had his own son and heir. It wouldn’t have even been that strange if he was clearing the way for his succession after the death of their father. It had been the death of Jin RuSong that had lifted the suspicion from Jin GuangYao in Jin ZiXuan and Jiang YanLi’s minds but confirmed the need to keep their family safe. Jin RuLan argued with his father that a breach in tradition so soon after everything would be seen as a weakness. If they didn’t go to Lotus Pier like every other year, then it would show people that they had suspected treachery within Koi Tower and ran from it. He won his argument.

Jin ZiXuan grumbled that perhaps more time with Jiang ZiBiao wasn’t the best but he helped his wife pack and then sent his family off to Lotus Pier. The year after when everyone went to Koi Tower for Spring Festival, they would stay in Lanling for the end of the cold months, instead of returning to Lotus Pier as they had done in the past.

Jin Ling had been excited as Lotus Pier was closer to Cloud Recesses and he could more easily sneak out and join the juniors from GusuLan and BalingOuyang on their night hunts. And he was happy to get messages in the summer months when his friends were on night hunts close to the LanlingJin area.

So, when he got to Cloud Recesses, he felt older than he was because he spent so much time with HanGuang-Jun’s children and the BalingOuyang Sect heir, not to mention his own cousin. He felt awkward when it was announced that Lan SiZhui and Lan JingYi were going to be the overseeing Senior disciples (they were seniors to Jin RuLan’s group) on the night hunts for the guest disciples. But the entire way to the night hunt they acted like normal and when they were actually out and about doing the work, instead of jumping into the fray as they normally would they stood back and let the others do the talking, they spoke up when one of the juniors forgot to ask a witness a vital question and made sure that no one got maimed. Typically, Wen Ning, but occasionally Wei WuXian or HanGuang-Jun was within flare distance as Lan SiZhui and Lan JingYi were also being evaluated on their responsibility and teaching skills.

The awkwardness that Jin Ling had initially felt eventually faded from his mind as they came to the last night hunt of their time at Cloud Recesses. It was an extended night hunt that was supposed to take days. They knew there was a good chance that the enemy would be numerous and would also require a lot of investigation. As it was the final night hunt there were more elders and they were staying nearby enough to observe but not interfere. Jin RuLan was too used to seeing Wen Ning, Wei WuXian, and Lan WangJi on night hunts with them that the addition of Lan QiRen and a few of the other teachers didn’t faze him.

The night hunt was in a place a lot like Dafan Mountain. It was thick and wooded and there was a rundown temple and what looked like the ramshackle remains of a long-abandoned settlement. The terrain was rough and there were plenty of natural obstacles—most you needed to go over or around, but because of the humans that had been there, there were also pitfalls and other manmade obstacles.

They knew that travellers going over the mountain were reporting strange things and that there had been some disappearances. More recently there had been a report of fierce corpses. There was a good chance that the corpses were the missing people and there was something else. They had spread out to check more area, but they weren’t too far apart that a shout wouldn’t bring the others.

He hadn’t seen any of the adults that were evaluating their work it was as if they had melted into the shadows and Jin RuLan wondered if Wei WuXian could actually do that. He knew somewhere to his right was Lan SiZhui and to his left was Lan JingYi. He knew they would be near the fighting but would still be not trying to participate while they tried to give advice.

There was a cry faint and pitying, it sounded like a small child and instead of leaping to the thought of a human child abandoned in such a place Jin RuLan thought yayu, he had heard that story from Wei WuXian, and the one from Wen Ning about how Xue Yang would train such creatures that he liked the ones that sounded like human children the most, as he got a sort of sick pleasure from it. He pulled out his bow, best to stay back and assess the situation, best to have a ranged weapon at the ready.

Jin RuLan scanned the gloom: the wall of trees before a wall of rock, a row of dilapidated huts, he knew that the temple was further along the rock face, where the rock broke through the treeline and into the clearing; he wondered if the temple cave was now a yayu den. The moon shone overhead pregnant and bright, the only light in the area. That close to the huts the trees were sparse and gave Jin Ling a clear view of the sky and thus the moon gave him a clearer view of his surroundings. He judged the distance to the huts when he heard the sound again. He walked sideways slowly so he could see through the doorway of each hut. Well, that was his intention, but the first hut was just the back and right wall. The thatching was gone from all the rooves in that row of houses so the moon could shine into them, but it wasn’t a lot of light, when the huts still had their walls. Jin RuLan cursed what he could see was just oddly shaped shadows. Judging by the detritus in the more open ruins it was what had remained from the inhabitants and the walls, but he couldn’t tell if it was also hiding a yao of some sort.

There was a flash of something pale and Jin RuLan paused in front of a hut that had just most of the left wall caved in. there it was again, it waved, a bit of cloth? There was no wind though, so there shouldn’t be anything blowing in the wind. Jin Ling took a few steps closer and stared at the thing it waved in and out of the moon light. He checked his grip on the arrow he had notched and pulled the string back. Could it be some sort of snake?

He was at the door and the night was still quiet but being inside would be so much more constricting than in the open-air. The sound came again and, in that moment, Jin RuLan was pretty sure it was an actual human baby. He focused his energy on his sword, while he was switching weapons he needed to be prepared. If it was still some sort of demonic trick, he needed to be able to call his sword to him fast. He let the bow string go slack and then he unnotched the arrow and put it away, nothing jumped out at him. He kept his bow out to block if need be and he took out his sword. He waited another moment and then slung his bow over his back. He took a deep breath and stepped into hut. The wall collapse must have been recent as the timber lay over the rest of the debris and the waving hand was at the end of the collapsed section of wall. He did his best to step nimbly around the room he had a feeling that child and parent may have been caught in the wall collapse.

He had been right. There was half a corpse of a woman under the wall, what was left of her was curled around the child who was maybe a year and some months old. What of her hadn’t been covered by the wall was freshly eaten. Jin Ling didn’t know enough about bite marks to tell if it was something mundane or not that had snacked on the dead mother, he didn’t even know if she had been dead before she was eaten. He had to lift the wall up, to get to the child and there were no nasty surprises for him when he did it. The child appeared fine, there was dried blood on his face and Jin RuLan was wiping it away to see if it had been his own, an awkward action due to the sword already in his hand.

The roar of a fierce corpse bellowed from outside the hut. Jin RuLan’s eyes snapped up to the door to see a body come flying towards him, either it was someone thrown by the corpse or a corpse thrown by a talisman. Jin Ling scooped up the child and had to nimbly leap up and over the remains of the wall to avoid impact with the body.

When he could see the clearing, he could see that it was being overrun with corpses and that everyone had converged in the area to fight them. Jin RuLan saw Lan SiZhui and made a beeline to his friend; he pressed the child into Lan SiZhui’s startled arms and then turned back to the fight.

“Was there anyone else with the child?” said an awed sort of voice from behind him.

“Dead, partially eaten, not sure by what,” replied Jin Ling.

Jin RuLan wished that Wei WuXian or even HanGuang-Jun were around, they would have been keeping and extra eye on their sons and Jin Ling. They would have seen the child in Jin Ling’s arms or when he had passed the kid to Lan SiZhui and they would have stepped in and took the kid out of danger. But that was exactly why they weren’t there. There had been reports along the entire path over the mountain. So they had split into two groups and one started on one side of the mountain and the other on the other side. And due to their relationships to those being evaluated Lan SiZhui, Lan JingYi, and Jin RuLan were in one group and Wei WuXian, Lan WangJi, and Lan QiRen were evaluating the other group. At least both groups would meet up in the morning to discuss what they each discovered the night before and come up with their next plan of action.

As the fighting continued Jin RuLan was acutely aware of where Lan SiZhui and the child were and he spent most of his energy making sure that they were protected. He would never imply that Lan SiZhui couldn’t protect himself, but with a child in his arms he really couldn’t fight effectively; besides he wasn’t supposed to be fighting but directing instead.

There were a lot of corpses and the fighting took a while. When they were finally laid to rest they split their forces some digging graves and others looking around for any other problem. Jin RuLan showed people the body of the woman but they were unsure of what killed her. There was a chance that the wall falling could have killed her if animals hadn’t gotten to her. But now that there was time it was concluded that an animal attacked the woman while she was still partially alive, based on the blood around her. At the upper edge of the of the wall there were fresh gouges made from talons, but large cat-like paw prints trailing out of the hut in blood. It was lucky that the child survived.

“Maybe a Gudiao,” said someone looking at the talon gauges, and talking of the poison eagle, it was one of the dozen creatures Jin RuLan could think of that sounded like a baby. The person continued, “She ran in here to hide, the Gudiao landed on the wall, which collapsed and that startled the bird away and the dust that rose covered up the scent that they were still alive.”

Someone else pointed to the paw prints, “No, I think Qique—" The Qi-magpie? Jin RuLan snorted but the other boy continued, “They have tiger paws.”

“Claws,” Jin Ling snapped, “a Qique has tiger claws.”

“If it’s got the claws—” began the first guest disciple.

One of the Lans in the group gave a put-upon sigh, “Rat feet. A Qique has rat’s feet and tiger claws, so it isn’t a Qique.”

“Make a tracing of the print and the talon marks, so we can show others,” said Lan SiZhui from the door. Jin RuLan looked back to see his arms baby free and Lan JingYi further back with the child.

Once everyone dispersed leaving Jin RuLan to take care of the body, Lan SiZhui came over and studied the woman. He patted down what remained of her clothes and then removed her single hair ornamentation, so they could inquire about the family in town. Lan SiZhui tucked the bobble into his own pocket instead of putting it with the others taken from the risen corpses. He took out his guqin hoping to find the woman’s ghost, and perhaps the child’s name. But he couldn’t find her. Outside other GusuLan Sect disciples were also testing their skills at Inquiry. Jin RuLan buried the woman at the end of their new little graveyard and by the time they were finished everyone was exhausted. They made a make-shift sling and as they flew down the mountain the child was tied to Lan SiZhui’s front (he was terrified about having the child on his back while he flew.

Jin RuLan got dragged behind Lan SiZhui and Lan JingYi to find a doctor willing to open up late for a baby. The child was pronounced generally healthy but hungry and thirsty. They were told to feed him just milk for a while, as it would be easy on him, though he was at an age to be starting more foods. The doctor got them a bottle and watched them feed the child and then sent them off.

Everyone they had asked so far didn’t recognise the hairpin or the description they could give of the mother, as he found the child Lan SiZhui said that the child was Jin RuLan’s responsibility. It meant that he would be spending the night in Lan SiZhui and Lan JingYi s room. All the juniors had to bunk in just a couple rooms, and it was crowded so even though he would have to share a bed, it would be a more comfortable room.

He fell into the bed next to Lan JingYi as Lan SiZhui situated himself to share with the child; the child who woke them in the night. Jin Ling sat up and watched as a bleary-eyed Lan SiZhui fed the child in the light of the single candle he had lit. When he was done he plopped the child in Jin RuLan’s arms and pushed the younger to the empty bed. He was in a state of shock as he watched Lan SiZhui practically fall on the bed next to his brother, after a moment Jin Ling put out the light and curled up around the baby. When he was woken a couple hours later by the baby he did as Lan SiZhui had done and then woke up the oldest. Lan SiZhui lifted his head but didn’t sit up, he blinked at Jin Ling and the baby for a moment and then promptly kicked Lan JingYi awake, and they rotated beds again. Jin RuLan even climbed over Lan SiZhui so he was against the wall and wouldn’t be handed a baby again.

By the very nature of night hunts, there was an inherent and understood sleeping in (by Lan standards), mid-morning starts were typical. The next Jin RuLan woke it was not quite mid-morning, but Lan JingYi was helping to secure the baby to his brother’s stomach again and there was a tub of hot water and food on the table.

 “Good, you’re awake, eat, and take a bath quick, we should check for family on the other side of the mountain,” said Lan SiZhui when he noticed that Jin Ling was awake. It was too early to argue, and he had to admit that he realised before the sleep fog could lift and the annoyance descend that finding the child’s family was very important.

They flew to the city on the other side of the mountain, the one that the other group had stayed the night in. It was too early for Wei WuXian to be up and about and therefore HanGuang-Jun wasn’t seen either. The elder’s in general seemed to have made themselves scarce, though they were all Lans so they had probably been up and about for hours, some of the others in the guest disciples class were eating breakfast, and on one table was set out the identifying trinkets that their group had uncovered and there were a few disciples sitting there to watch over the trinkets and a group of worried people were hovering nearby.

Jin RuLan took up residence by the table with the baby and the pin, while Lan SiZhui and Lan JingYi were out on the street asking more people about the child and getting more people to go inside and look at the trinkets and hopefully identified more of the people who had died on the mountain. Luck was with them as someone recognised the hair pin.

The four (with baby) set off to meet with the old woman they were directed to. The woman was shaky the second Lan SiZhui who they had all silently decided would do the talking showed her the hair pin. Her husband and unmarried son had recently died in an accident, her daughter whose husband had his own brother said they would come to stay with her. She wasn’t sure when they were going to arrive as they had to settle their affairs; she hadn’t known that she needed to worry about them. She held the baby for a bit but her continence just wasn’t up to it and Lan SiZhui eventually handed the baby back to Jin RuLan and sent him and Lan JingYi out of the house while he calmed and talked to the distraught grandmother.

Chapter Text

Jin Ling wasn’t sure how they had gotten to that point. It was a sort of confusing haze, from Jin RuLan’s perspective from the old woman’s house back to the inn that the other disciples were staying at. As they approached the inn they could see both Wei WuXian and HanGuang-Jun standing outside. The later was standing tall and straight and the former was animatedly talking to Lan WangJi, all laughter and smiles. When they saw the older couple Jin RuLan could tell his own companions dispositions lightened or brightened. A moment later the elders saw them and Jin Ling could actually see the shift in HanGuang-Jun’s posture when he saw them. Perhaps, Jin Ling reflected, he was spending too much time with the GusuLan Sect.

They came to a halt in front of Lan WangJi and Wei WuXian. Lan SiZhui walked around and pulled the baby from the sling that was strapped to Lan JingYi’s back. Lan SiZhui was all smiles and he stepped to stand next to Jin RuLan, who was still a bit in a daze. Jin Ling looked at the child his eyes not leaving the hastily constructed vermillion mark between his eyes.

“Fathers,” Lan SiZhui said with as he bowed awkwardly with the child in his arms. “This is Jin Ling’s son Jin Jie, I gave birth to him.” Jin RuLan sputtered and choked as he was wrenched violently to the present. And of course Lan SiZhui just kept talking, “As the next generation of the Jin will be named ‘Hui’ I have given him the courtesy name HuiFeng.”

“And he comes with a grandmother too!” added Lan JingYi with a bright grin, “and I was the one who thought of the idiom: ‘the right place at the right time’!”

Jin RuLan did vaguely remember Lan JingYi saying that idiom, shìféng-qíhuì, he hadn’t realised that they were naming the child when they were doing that.

“Lan Zhan, Lan Zhan! We’re grandfathers! Aiya! I’m too young to be a grandfather! SiZhui you are older, you should not be the one who gave birth! Why is my first grandchild a Jin?”! wined Wei WuXian as he jumped around with a grin on his face.

“I remember A-Ma how you gave birth to Jingyi and WenNuan. It was just the same, Jin Ling gave me Jie-Er as A-Die gave you my siblings,” replied Lan SiZhui, “Jin Ling has only one younger sister, while I have a younger brother and a sister. He is in more need of an heir than me. Besides it was I who gave birth to Jie-Er and you gave birth to all Lans, A-Ma.”

“Sound reasoning. Congratulations SiZhui, Jin RuLan,” said HanGuang-Jun, “I am sure that Jin HuiFeng will do both the Jin and Lan clans proud.”

“Thank you A-Die,” replied Lan SiZhui, “If we have more children Jin Ling could have the next one and they could be a Lan.”

“I could have a Lan too!” called Lan JingYi.

“Yes, yes” said Wei WuXian now waving it all off, “I believe you should get in there and discuss your other findings with the other disciples, and hand me my grandson!”

The two young Lans laughed and Lan SiZhui walked forward and handed his son to his father. Wei WuXian immediately started gushing. Lan JingYi also moved forward and for a moment all three of them were focused on the baby. Then Lan WangJi said, “SiZhui, JingYi.” And the two boys pulled away bowed, left a bag of baby supplies and went into the inn.

Jin RuLan still stood there in a state of shock; he was startled when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up and saw HanGuang-Jun looking down at him and said, “I felt the same when Wei Ying said he gave birth to SiZhui. You may be young but you have many people to help you and I am sure your son will bring you great joy.”

“Thank you, HanGuang-Jun,” said Jin Ling as an automatic reflex.

“You’ll need to send a message to your mother. Obviously, as we are here, we learned of our grandson. But if your mother isn’t the next to know she’ll kill me. In the mean time we can watch the baby and meet this new grandmother,” added Wei WuXian.

The younger paled considerably and nodded numbly before he crafted a Jin butterfly for his mother. The message just said that he needed her to meet him as soon as possible; it was nothing bad, but something to say in person, and to bring his father. Then he went inside.

When they were alone Lan WangJi took the child from Wei WuXian for a cuddle. Wei WuXian watched them with a fond smile. “I always thought that JingYi would get together with Jin Ling, you know with the fighting and all that it would turn to passion.”

“They still could,” answered Lan WangJi who was focused on Jin HuiFeng, the child was getting fussy and Wei WuXian rifled through the bag for the bottle and followed Lan WangJi’s instructions for preparing it.

“An impeccable memory as always Lan Zhan, these motions feel familiar, but before you said anything I couldn’t remember them,” replied Wei WuXian he watched Lan WangJi feed their grandson for a moment and then added, “Would that cause problems? If JingYi and Jin Ling got together? I mean would Jie-Er be a bastard? What of SiZhui?”

“GusuLan has had occasion to follow a marriage practice of Bod Chen Po.”

“How do they marry in Bod Chen Po?”

“Two brothers may marry the same wife.”

“But in or sons’ case they’d be marrying the same man.”

“We have had variations on this practice, it would be allowed.”

Wei WuXian tilted his head and looked at his husband. “I’m sorry Lan Zhan, but could explain a bit more?”

Lan WangJi is quite for a while; he finishes feeding the baby and then thinks for a bit more. “Uncle calls it the Lan Love Curse; Lans will only fall irreversibly in love once.”

“So, two different Lans could fall in love with the same person, and both would never be able to find another love?”

“Mn. Sometimes it ends sadly; sometimes they will come to an agreement.”

“It can’t be common, can it?”

Lan WangJi shrugged. “WenNuan has a classmate; her parents are a brother and sister who share the same husband.”

“Oh, and the Venerated Triad! Can one Lan have two lovers? Hey, wait why did you set your brother up with mine and not ChiFeng-Zun or LianFang-Zun? I mean obviously LianFang-Zun ended up not being a good person, but you didn’t know that when Jiang Cheng got Jiang ZiBiao, did you?”

“I did not,” said Lan WangJi quickly, but then he thought about how to say the rest for a minute, Wei WuXian waited patiently. “I think my brother may have…”

“Loved both of them?” asked Wei WuXian but by the set of his husband’s body he knew his answer was wrong, “Your brother was friends with ChiFeng-Zun since they were children right?”

“Mn.”

“But ChiFeng-Zun is older and everyone knows he cares not for anything but fighting,” reiterated Wei WuXian he gauged his husband and said, “you were afraid your brother would fall in love with his best friend and be alone forever.”

“Mn.”

“But LianFang-Zun? He seemed to care for XiChen-Ge right up until the end.”

“He wanted to be a Jin.”

Wei WuXian laughed, “You can’t mean a Jin in general, can you? You mean because of Jin GuangShan?”

“Mn. The Jins were also not compassionate to the Wens. You are, however, looking at it backwards.”

“How?”

“Jiang Gan had MeishanYu blood; she was always going to be Sect Leader Jiang’s if he wanted her. I thought my brother would fit your brother better than another. And at the time YunmengJiang had better men then LanlingJin for my brother.”

The night hunt lasted a few more days as they cleaned out the mountain road, it seemed to just be corpses, but there showed signs of animal-like activities. It culminated in a fight with a few beasts that had developed beast cores and realising that the temple that had fallen to the wayside had a resentful god statue as the temple on Dafan Mountain had. But this statue didn’t get up and start walking around but instead it had gathered as much of the resentful energy as it could from the explosion a few years prior and started the infect the surrounding wildlife, growing the beast cores and the like.

Jin HuiFeng stayed the nights with his grandmother and during the day the baby played with his other grandparents and all of them helped the old woman pack for her move to either Cloud Recesses or Koi Tower, that final decision would need a discussion that included Jin ZiXuan and Lan XiChen. They could also see the improvement in the child’s demeanour the further he got from his trauma, which meant that he got louder and more inquisitive.

Chapter Text

Jiang ZiBiao was at the gates of Cloud Recesses when the guest disciples returned from their night hunt. And of course, though HanGuang-Jun had carried Jin HuiFeng when they flew, when they had landed for the final trek into Cloud Recesses Jin Ling was carrying his new son. He stopped before his cousin, Lan SiZhui, Lan JingYi, and Wei WuXian at his side. HanGuang-Jun went into Cloud Recesses to get the age appropriate Lan forehead ribbon for Jin HuiFeng. Wei WuXian was already talking about new bell construction and had asked them about their preferred colour scheme. Jin RuLan was beginning to think that the child would be weighed down by the expectations of three great sects.

“Your mother, sent my father a butterfly, she was worried about the message you sent and wanted him to check up on you, as Lotus Pier is closer, or some such,” said Jiang ZiBiao.

“Then why are you here?” retorted Jin RuLan.

“Father was assisting with one of those minor sects and couldn’t get away, so he sent me in his stead,” was her reply.

That meant that Jiang WanYin was dealing with a minor sect whose leader was so old one would have thought that they had reached immortality, but they hadn’t and wouldn’t. It was a tone of voice that was reserved for the group of sect leaders who had been too old to fight themselves in the Sunshot Campaign and didn’t seem to think that the world had changed. Despite years, centuries even of living near YunmengJiang (in the case of these particular sects), and having had strong relations with Jiang FengMian’s reign and therefore knew Yu ZiYuan, they were as a whole against female cultivators, females having a voice in sect matters, and HanGuang-Jun marrying Wei WuXian (everyone has had a lover or two, why marry?), and just Wei WuXian in general.

If Jiang ZiBiao was at Cloud Recesses then that meant she had also won the fight. Jiang WanYin had a short temper and generally disliked people who would insult women or his brother. And he would take any excuse to get out of a conversation with someone he could absolutely not whip with Zidian, but would absolutely deserve being whipped with Zidian. Jiang ZiBiao who would also find the conversation tedious and aggravating, could usually keep her head longer than her father. But these particular sect leaders would be particularly stubborn and refuse to talk to her and then go on about how Jiang WanYin needed to marry and produce a proper heir. So there usually was an argument between father and daughter about who could get such aggravating work done and who could escape.

Jin RuLan had a brief thought about whether she would regret coming in her father’s stead, when he opened his mouth and said, “This is my son Jin HuiFeng, Lan SiZhui gave birth to him. I wanted my mother and father to be the first in the family to hear the news, but I suppose that it you now.”

She narrowed her eyes as her brain worked through what she had been told. “Your parents are already on their way; I’ll message my father, he’ll be glad to be called away from Lotus Pier for such news. Then he’ll probably break your legs, and SiZhui-Shibiao.”

They turned to go into Cloud Recesses; Jiang ZiBiao immediately went off to send her message. They met with Lan WangJi who was walking towards them with Lan WenNuan, Wen Qing, and Ning at his side, by the library pavilion. Jin RuLan couldn’t see a discernible difference but everyone seemed to have gotten the signal to go into the library. They crowded around one of the tables and Lan WangJi held out a length of white ribbon to his eldest son.

Lan SiZhui nodded solemnly and took the ribbon then he turned toward the two Jins in the group. “Did you want to tie the ribbon or hold Jie-Er? JingYi and I put his Vermilion Mark on.”

The ribbon resting in Lan SiZhui suddenly seemed a monster and Jin RuLan swallowed hard. “You do it. Are you sure that the library is a suitable place for this? The Jin’s Vermilion Mark is done in a ceremony at Koi Tower, and is also to say that the child is a member of the clan, not just to pierce through ignorance.”

“Our forehead ribbon implies ‘to conduct oneself well’, to ‘regulate oneself’ and it is only with our families that we can let go of some of those regulations. Only a parent or a spouse can touch ones forehead ribbon, and I suppose a young child can touch their parent’s as well. So it is a family matter for us. And that means that you too will be able to touch HuiFeng’s ribbon,” explained Lan SiZhui.

“But you’d have to make your bows before you can touch SiZhui’s ribbon, even if you share children,” added Wei WuXian as he waged a finger in front of Jin Ling’s face. The effect was ruined by Jin HuiFeng trying to grab the finger—despite that Jin RuLan’s face went red. Wei WuXian laughed and teased the child for an extra second before he stepped back; luckily it was at about the same time that Jin RuLan had gotten his blush under control.

The air seemed heavy like it was a more momentous act, than it appeared. Lan SiZhui stepped forward and had a couple false starts as Jin HuiFeng kept trying to look at the knot being tied at the back of his head. Lan SiZhui laughed with affection and when he had the knot tied, and booped his son on the nose. Jin RuLan suddenly realised why it had felt so heavy yes it was just a ribbon, but he knew that if for whatever reason his parents reacted negatively Jin HuiFeng would still have a family with GusuLan. Jin Ling reached up and smoothed the sparse downy hair so it sat nicely with the ribbon and the mark, his thumb touched the ribbon, and everyone around him smiled. Jin RuLan smiled down at the child in his arms—Jin HuiFeng, his son. No matter what those from LanlingJin said the child was his. And Jin Ling felt happy.

Jin HuiFeng probably felt hungry, as he started crying. Wen Qing led them to the medical pavilion, Wen Ning ran off to get food for his new grandnephew, and Lan WenNuan disappeared. She appeared in the medical pavilion as Jin Ling and his two friends were doing the best to get some more solid food into their son’s stomach as Wen Qing monitored the situation.

Behind Lan WenNuan, Lan QiRen and Lan XiChen stepped into the room the later took in the scene and then said, “WangJi?”

Lan JingYi and Lan SiZhui turned swiftly around a spoon clattered to the floor. “ZeWu-Jun! And Sir,” the both said with a bow.

Jin RuLan who had been holding his messy son just sort of nodded his head. Lan XiChen tilted his head and asked, “And who may this Young Master be?”

“Is that the child you found on the night hunt Young Master Jin?” added Lan QiRen.

Lan SiZhui bowed again. “He is indeed that child QiRen-Shugong, but he is also the son I gave birth to. Let me introduce you QiRen-Shugong, XiChen-Bofu, this is Jin Jie courtesy HuiFeng.”

Lan QiRen nodded in a move that seemed to surprise most of the people in the room. “So you have decided to keep the child. A child is a great responsibility and you are quite young, are you prepared for this responsibility?”

“Uncle!’ exclaimed Lan XiChen, “WangJi you are teaching the children unsubstantiated habits.”

“QiRen-Shugong, I believe that no one is completely ready for a child, so we will do our best. Jie-Er has a grandmother that will be coming when we know where we will settle Jie-Er here or Koi Tower and of course we will differ to the wisdom and knowledge of our other family members. QiRen-Shugong did you want to hold your Zengzhisun? Or do you XiChen-Bofu want to hold your Zhisun?”

Lan QiRen said as he stepped forward to get a better look at his great-grandnephew, “Jin RuLan is an upstanding, righteous, and clever cultivator, at least this nephew of yours chose well XiChen, mine chose Wei WuXian.” There was an initial squawk from Wei WuXian and then he burst into laughter, Lan JingYi just started laughing from the beginning, and both Lan WangJi and Jin RuLan had proud looks as if they had both received the best compliment imaginable. Lan QiRen smiled down on Jin HuiFeng. “Let him finish his meal first, he looks like he is still hungry, I’ll have plenty of time with him later. SiZhui your next child should be a Lan, or I suppose you could convince your uncle to marry Sect Leader Jiang and have an heir for himself.”

It wasn’t that Lan QiRen had mellowed in his old age it was just that—okay, perhaps he had mellowed a bit, but he had had time. He had years to watch Lan WangJi’s children grow up, he had the knowledge that Lan JingYi was the only one with Lan blood in actuality, and while he was the most un-Lan like Lan to ever live, Lan SiZhui and Lan WenNuan were very good Lan’s and now Lan QiRen had come to the realisation that Lan SiZhui had had the longest exposure to being raised by Wei WuXian.

It had been pretty obvious on the night hunt that Lan SiZhui was heading in the direction of adoption. And since it had been Jin RuLan that had found the child—well, Lan QiRen couldn’t say the vermilion mark and the forehead ribbon were a surprise. When the three had returned that morning to the inn with Jin HuiFeng, after they had said that they were going to bring the child to his family, Lan QiRen had known and he had internally fumed and raged and worried for his heart—but then how many people knew their great-grandnephews?

He had been worried for Lan XiChen since Jin GuangYao had died. Lan QiRen was fairly sure that his eldest nephew hadn’t quite fallen in love, but it was a near thing. And well there had been a sort of slump in his aurora for the last few years. When he had heard about the rules set out for adoption and how Lan WangJi had set his brother up with Sect Leader Jiang, Lan QiRen had had hopes that it could at least get Lan XiChen out of his rut. Even if he ultimately decided to marry a woman or a different man, as long as Lan XiChen could get back some of his happiness Lan QiRen would accept any of the ludicrousness—after all he already accepted that Lan WangJi had married Wei WuXian.   

Jiang WanYin was the next to arrive and he was directed to where everyone was in the medical pavilion. After his meal, Wen Qing insisted on giving Jin HuiFeng a very thorough examination. Jin Ling was outside when he saw his uncle. “Jiujiu what are you doing here?”

“You sent your mother a message that got her worried, so she asked me to check on you, so I sent your cousin, and I just got an urgent message from her! What is going on? You don’t look hurt; do I need to break your legs for worrying your mother?”

“Mother is going to kill me,” stated Jin RuLan.

The Sect Leader of YunmengJiang opened his mouth, but at that moment Lan SiZhui exited the infirmary and said, “Jin Ling he wants his A-Die.”

There was half a beat and then Jiang WanYin asked, “Who knows of this?”

Jin RuLan groaned and took his child. “Everyone now I think accept my parents.”

“I’ll bury your body.”

“Thanks Jiujiu.”

The contingent from LanlingJin arrived that evening before the meal. It was as explosive and tear ridden as could possibly be. By that time if someone within Cloud Recesses had not heard that the young heirs of LanlingJin and GusuLan had a child, together they would have realised something was up with the arrival of LanlingJin’s Sect Leader and a score of soldiers.

“You what? And you didn’t tell me first,” shouted Jiang YanLi!

The whole story came out explained succinctly without the added Lan SiZhui giving birth bit, though when they got there everyone learned that it wasn’t Wei WuXian that had the worst survival instincts ever but instead Lan WangJi who insisted on the birth thing. At which point birth by the giving of already born orphans had to be explained. Wen Qing had ducked out of the conversation wisely and it was left to Wei WuXian to explain the third child marriage rule, which he was sure that he had explained to Jiang YanLi before, after the Guanyin Temple. Wen Ning stepped forward and explained his sister’s marriage decrees, but the tension had the man stuttering and in tears, which luckily diffused the situation enough for Jiang YanLi to demand to be handed her grandson.

The next morning, the family large and in all of its facets went into Caiyi Town for lunch, it had a feeling of the Spring Festival Reunion Dinner (which Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi had been able to dodge the one at Koi Tower, by going to Lotus Pier for a pre-Spring Festival Reunion). Jiang XuanYu, Madam Jin, and Ouyang ZiZhen had been sent for the previous night. They took over a large room in a restaurant that served food for all the different palettes available. It was decided that they should do another giant groups meal when Jin HuiFeng’s grandmother had settled in.

Despite the proximity to Cloud Recesses the conversation at the meal was boisterous and Jin ZiXuan (too young to be a grandfather) and his mother (too young to be a great-grandmother) were enjoying a jar of alcohol, with help from Wei WuXian and Jiang WanYin. There was a lull in the conversation and Jiang ZiBiao asked, “So I can get a future husband pregnant and we would not have to get married?”

“Yes,” said Lan WangJi.

“But you’ll have to get married before your third child,” added Wei WuXian.

“Hold on,” exclaimed Jiang WanYin, “I’m too young to be a grandfather, please wait!”

“No, it doesn’t work like that for girls!” exclaimed Jiang YanLi.

They had all sort of talked over each other and it was hard to discern exactly what everyone was saying. Wen Qing cleared her throat and the table silenced. “If you intend to marry a man at some point then you would have to marry him before marriage relations. The third child rule only applies to people who have yet to engage in marriage relations.”

In the silence that followed Wei WuXian turned to his brother and exclaimed, “Hey wait! I’m a grandfather how are you too young to be a grandfather too? You’re only five days younger than me”!

“That’s right! Five days! Much too young to be a grandfather!” replied Jiang Cheng with a grin. The conversation dissolved into the usual YunmengJiang sibling squabble with Jiang YanLi mediating.

After the meal the family decided to walk through the town and enjoy the afternoon. As they continued on the large group broke off into smaller groups as different stalls and shops caught the eye of different people. Wei WuXian was laughing when there came the distant sound of a dog barking. It was immediately obvious that Wei WuXian had heard the dog as his laughter cut off immediately.

The bark came again, louder that time and Wei WuXian leapt into the air in fright. Jin ZiXuan and Jiang WanYin were beginning an argument about who had brought Fairy, and Lan WangJi shifted his stance to be better prepared to be a spring board and/or to catch his frightened husband.

Wei WuXian’s hand was coming down on his husband’s shoulder to help him to complete the flip over Lan WangJi’s head when the sound of a child’s scream came after the next bark. Wei WuXian put more force in his push and flipped so he was right side up. His foot came down on Lan WangJi’s shoulder and he sprung forward into a run. In a dead end alley he found a child of maybe five or six cowering. As the wind, he bound down scooped up the child and leapt up onto the roof and away from the dogs.

He sat on the roof with the child in his arms and checked the child for bites or other injuries. “Hey it is all right I got you, those dogs can’t get you here. My name is Wei WuXian what is your name?”

The child sniffed and hiccupped his tears back. “A-Yong is A-Yong.”

“Well met A-Yong, and does the Young Master A-Yong know where his parents are?”

The child who had clearly been on the street for a while judging by the grime, made a huff that would have been a giggle in a happier child and shook his head. “Mama had to leave a long, long, long time ago.”

Wei WuXian nodded. “Do you know your honourable last name? Or the way to write A-Yong?” the boy shook his head and fresh tears flowed over his cheeks. “None of that Young Master, no need for tears Wei WuXian is here! And this Wei WuXian has a big strong husband and a big strong brother and they will make the dogs go away and then I will help you look for your mother, and if I cannot find her then you could be my A-Yong, my son! Would you like that?”

The tears flowing down A-Yong’s cheeks slowed and he nodded. Wei WuXian hugged the boy tight to his chest and rocked him. “Wei Ying.” Wei WuXian looked down and saw his husband, brother, and children in the alley below sans dogs.

In the end it didn’t take long to find where A-Yong had come from—or well, they didn’t actually know, but instead had the speculation of the people on the streets. But it was a higher the average group of people who believed that he was the son of a prostitute. They were split on whether his mother left him behind for a life somewhere else or his mother died, and the brothel threw him out. As it was law that the children of prostitutes could not attend school, they were just going to forget that most people assumed he was the son of a prostitute. Looking down at A-Yong, Wei WuXian wondered if there hadn’t been that law like that in the world if Jin GuangYao would have had better.

A-Yong was holding on to Wei WuXian as Lan JingYi used to when he was young. He shifted his grip and held out the dirty little child to Lan WangJi. “Lan Zhan, Lan Zhan look we have another Radish, Lan Yong! That’s all right, right? I mean he is older than his nephew, so he can be our baby.”

Lan WangJi stepped forward he pressed the child back into Wei WuXian’s arms and hugged the both of them. “Mn.”

Wei WuXian smiled and pecked Lan WangJi then he turned and looked at his children. “Look, look A-Yong this is your Da-gege, your Er-gege, and your San-jiejie. Kids this is your new Didi Lan Yong!”

Lan JingYi frowned, “A-Ma I think he should be a Wei.”

“I don’t want to get Lan Zhan pregnant!” exclaimed Wei WuXian with a whine.

“You can give birth to him, you should just give him the Wei name, so there is a Wei heir too,” reasoned Lan SiZhui.

Lan WenNuan agreed, “Yes that's right A-Ma, besides four is a bad number, four Lan children would be unlucky. A-Yong as a Wei would be one Wei and three Lans, those are better numbers."

“But, but... are you saying that if I want to have more children that are Lans I’d have to have twins?” asked Wei WuXian.

“Mn,” agreed Lan WangJi.

“But!” Wei WuXian exclaimed like he had come up with the best argument, “There is a good chance that he’ll be afraid of dogs and I am afraid of dogs, we shouldn’t both be Weis.”

Jiang WanYin who had been off to the side watching everything unfold butted in, “But that would be the better reason for him to be a Wei. So, my new nephew Wei Yong, which Yong is it?”

“Yong like Yǒngyú gǎiguò, as Wei Ying was very valent in rescuing him,” said Lan WangJi.

“It’s a good name,” commented Jiang WanYin, “it will do him well. Now, you need to find A-Jie, because I’m not going to bury your body.”

Wei WuXian nodded. “Yes, you’re right ready to meet your Aunt YanLi, A-Yong?... oh, should I give him a bath first and dressed in cleaned clothes?”

“I said I was not going to bury your body if A-Jie kills you,” growled SanDu ShengShou, “if you give him a bath first you’ll have to go back to Cloud Recesses and then there will be plenty of opportunity for everyone else to meet him first. Do you want a repeat of your grandson?”

“Yes, you are right Jiang Cheng,” said Wei WuXian going a bit white, “although, I feel we need to teach the children how to communicate better, if Jin Ling’s message was worded better.”

“A-Ma! You can’t call us children! We have our own children now!” whined Lan JingYi.

“Children?” asked Lan WangJi.

Lan JingYi paled a bit. “No, A-Die I misspoke, child, there is only the one child SiZhui birthed.”

“Mn.”

Lan WangJi shifted and looked at Wei WuXian who was still in his arms and the younger man looked over his husband’s shoulder and filled in the rest of Lan WangJi’s thought, “We know you are grown up now, but you are going to be our babies forever. And we will love you no matter who you love or marry or whether you have a hundred babies or none. We just want to know about; those sorts of things are not to be kept secret. I want grandchildren to spoil…” in the time it took for Wei WuXian to take a breath his children all had happy, sappy looks on their faces. Wei WuXian grinned and finished, “…and we need to know the best person or persons to tell all the embarrassing stories too!”

“A-Ma!” came the aspirated cry from three voices. But everyone was grinning, and Wei WuXian was so happy that he had been able to get to that place in his life. He was happy that he had stopped being stupid, that he got to see his Radishes grown and his oldest (two? Maybe he’d have to wait for the wedding) with a Radish all his (their?) own. He made a gesture or perhaps Lan WangJi did, but Wei Yong found himself squished in a group hug of his new parents and siblings.

After a grumble from Jiang WanYin they broke up to find Jiang YanLi and introduce her to her new nephew. The last to let go was Lan WangJi, which meant that he and Wei WuXian were at the back of the group.

“Hey Lan Zhan, SiZhui said that Jin Ling’s family was mostly girls,” said Wei WuXian, Lan WangJi gave him a look and he elaborated, “he said it a long time ago… maybe when there was all that resentful energy. Anyways, I was just thinking we just got a new son and grandson, I think there may be too many boys in the family. And if we listen to our one lone daughter, if I birth you a fourth son that would be a bad number!”

“Mn.”

“I’m glad you agree Lan Zhan,” said Wei WuXian with a grin, “I can only see one course forward, what about you Lan Er-gege?”

Lan WangJi stopped walking and just looked at his husband.

“Twin girls!” exclaimed Wei WuXian, “It’ll have to be!” Wei WuXian opened his mouth to say more and then looked down at their new son in his arms and shifted his words, “Do you think we could do it? Could you give me twin girls… Er-gege?” he drawled the pet name.

Golden eyes brightened with heat. “Mn.” Wei WuXian smiled sun-bright and Lan WangJi added, “Later.”