Chapter Text
“Don’t be so quick to refuse. If you don’t know what to do, we can have a talk!” Xue Yang spoke as he attempted to pierce Wei Wuxian’s chest with his blade. “Look into it together.”
“What aspirations to have…” Ouyang Zizhen mumbled in awe. “You think Senior Wei will really dive into demonic cultivation with you? And even if he did, you think he’d… become your best friend and study-buddy?! This man has got to be insane!”
“You hadn’t already figured that?” Lan Jingyi muttered, sparing a glance to the grinning delinquent. “On that thought, please move yourself two metres away…”
Wei Wuxian cursed under his breath, “Are you trying to take advantage of this body’s low spiritual power?”
“That’s right!” Xue Yang voiced with a grin as he continued to attack Wei Wuxian, therefore slowly backing him into a corner.
‘Wow!’ Wei Wuxian thought sarcastically. ‘I finally meet someone who is even more shameless than I am!’
“Now isn’t that a surprise?” Jiang Wanyin commented sarcastically, sending a side glance to Lan Wangji. “Someone more shameless than Wei Wuxian? Wow, I never knew such a person existed.”
Lan Xichen rolled his eyes with a small smile, “Sect Leader Jiang, now, let’s be nice. Wangji doesn’t bite.”
Wei Wuxian couldn’t help but hear their conversation, for he was always interested in what Jiang Cheng had to say. At Lan Xichen’s words, however, he couldn’t push back the memory of Lan Wangji biting on his arm during their stay at Xuanwu cave…
“Lan Zhan, why did you bite me that day?” Wei Wuxian asked. “I now know that it wasn’t because of Mianmian, but you never did tell me, did you?”
“Mn,” Lan Wangji hummed, his eyes focused on the screen. “Doesn’t matter.”
“But Lan Zhan, your ears are red.”
Lan Wangji closed his eyes and bravely defended his honour, “Are not.”
“Uh–but Lan Zhan, I can see the very tips are turning red-”
“Ridiculous.” Lan Wangji huffed.
Wei Wuxian nodded slowly, exhaling a small chuckle. “Right, right, it’s definitely ridiculous. Of course the noble Hanguang-Jun wouldn’t do such a cute thing like blushing–oh! They’re bright red now!! Hahaha, Lan Zhan, I love you so much!”
“Offending a good person is better than offending a delinquent. You, in this case.” As soon as he spoke those words, Wei Wuxian ran for the door. “I’m not fighting with you, switch out!”
“...Really, Wei Wuxian?” Jiang Wanyin mumbled. “Who with?! Because Lan Wangji certainly isn’t there.”
Xue Yang snickered, “Switch out for who? That Hanguang-Jun? I’ll send over three-hundred walking corpses to surround him!”
“Oh really?” Lan Xichen smiled, staring straight through Xue Yang’s eyes. And if he had a cup of tea, oh PLEASE , would he be sipping it right about now.
Xue Yang shifted uncomfortably, which didn’t go unnoticed to Lan Jingyi, who was seated right beside him. “Oh, did no one tell you? Xue Yang, if you f`ck with Hanguang-Jun, or even Senior Wei for that matter, then you f`ck with the whole . damn . world times ten, bro.”
Xue Yang’s words proved to contradict himself, for he was caught off guard when Lan Wangji suddenly appeared, a fluorescent blue light encompassing his mystic figure that was clad in overlapping layers of white. Before he could even react, Lan Wangji’s hand outstretched in his direction, sending bichen flying straight for his head!
“And here is when you’re proven wrong, Sect Leader Jiang,” Lan Xichen said teasingly, smiling at the angry scowl on the other’s face.
Xue Yang quickly retreated backwards with deft steps before striking back with the sword in which he held, successfully blocking the attack with a loud ‘DING’ produced as they clashed.
“Is this called–” Wei Wuxian said with a small grin. “Better to arrive just in time than to arrive early?”
Lan Wangji replied, “Yes.”
“What is this newfound humour I see?” Li Daiyu mumbled with an appreciative nod. “Lan Wangji, you’ve really outdone yourself, haven’t you?”
“He really has…” Nie Huaisang agreed. “I’m glad they both found clover..”
Lan Wangj once again attacked Xue Yang, but alas, the delinquent managed to block it with a second sword that he just recently unsheathed.
“Jiang-zai?” Lan Wangji muttered.
“What’s that? Is it supposed to be his sword ?” A junior Jin disciple commented.
“There’s no way!” Another commented with a snicker, spreading their arms wide dramatically. “Jiang-zai: a sword of misfortune, bringing with it carnage and blood!”
That same junior disciple brought his hands together in applaudance as they cheered.
“Hm? Hanguang-Jun recognises this sword?” Xue Yang asked with a grin of his own as he expressed faux appreciation. “I’m truly honoured!”
Wei Wuxian pondered as they fought, ‘Xue Yang can dual wield those two swords with such expertise?’
“Has he done it before?” Someone suggested.
“Of course he’s done it before,” another replied as they pointed to the screen. “If you look at his posture and stance, it just screams years of training, and much experience. I wonder why he even bothered to learn dual wielding…”
“Right, isn’t that so much effort? Just learning to use one sword is still hard, man.”
“Perhaps he had a reason behind it?”
“Oh!” A Jiang disciple exclaimed. “ Maybe he used them to represent two people. You heard his passionate speech about how ‘ungrateful’ Xiao Xingchen was just now, no? What I think is that he’s using them as two—he wants the noble and otherworldly Xiao Xingchen to fight by his side, their friendship growing closer than ever before!”
“This isn’t one of your romance novels, shidi.”
"...Right, sorry."
Lan Wangji turned to him and said, “Stand back. You aren’t needed here.”
Lan Wangji felt like he had to give Wei Wuxian an explanation for his rudeness, so he turned to his husband determinedly. “Was— was just concerned. Think Wei Ying is always needed here!”
“It’s fine, Lan Zhan,” Wei Wuxian smiled warmly. “I know that I was in the way, and you just wanted to fight without involving me. Thank you.”
On the other side of the room…
“Lan! Wang! Ji!” Wen Ruohan exclaimed. “That is such disrespect! Apologise to my son!”
“And he finally surfaces from the water,” Li Daiyu remarked. “My favourite Wen is back, I see, but would you mind telling me why the only time you’re interested in this is when something happens with WangXian?”
“Whenever something interesting happens, when isn’t it WangXian?” Wen Ruohan justified.
“True point there, true point..” she muttered.
“Would you prefer it if I spoke more often?”
"Quite."
Wei Wuxian replied with much glee, “Got it~”
It was then however, that Lan Wangji’s sword began to emit an even brighter hue, illuminating both himself and the surroundings within the room. Xue Yang’s eyes narrowed in both anticipation and humiliation, ‘He was holding back?!’
“Discrepancies officially forgiven, Wangji, my boy!” Wen Ruohan exclaimed. “Kick that delinquent’s behind and—yeah, just like that!”
Lan Wangji’s eyes shone a molten gold as he leaped forward with one step, and knocked Xiao Xingchen’s sword from within Xue Yang’s grasp, immediately taking it for himself afterwards.
Xue Yang growled, “Give. That. Sword. Back.”
“Why?” Yu Huizhong challenged. “It’s not yours, and never has been. Rather, it was stolen by you. So why should it be returned?”
“Exactly!” Luo Qingqing exclaimed. “Listen to this guy! Don’t give him the sword back, Lan Wangji.”
Lan Wangji replied calmly, “You aren’t worthy of this sword.” Xue Yang only scoffed at his swords.
Xiao Xingchen smiled with gratitude at Lan Wangji’s comment, “Thank you for retrieving Shuanghua. It was right of you to say that it doesn’t belong in his hands…”
Song Lan nodded his head, following Xiao Xingchen’s statement. “I am grateful as well. I was unaware that he’d taken Shuanghua for his own.. thank you so much for returning it to us.”
Once again outside of the room, Wei Wuxian asked the disciples, “Everyone alright?”
“Yes,” Lan Sizhui answered. “We all listened to you and held our breaths.”
“Don’t you just love how they all consider him like their teacher and immediately follow his commands?” Luo Qingqing idly commented. “It’s very cute, if you ask me.”
Jin Ling muttered, “It was out of survival.”
“Oh really?” Lan Jingyi replied. “But I recall you telling us that you wanted ‘your uncle’ to go back home with you, hahaha!”
“That—that was because I thought he was- I thought he was..!!”
Jin Ling queried, “Hm? What’s that sound?”
“It sounds like a lot of people are approaching.”
“Cultivators, perhaps?”
“It’s either that or….” Yu Huizhong commented. “Fierce corpses…!!”
“People?” Ouyang Zizhen shivered at the sight of an entire colony of corpses walking in their direction. “There are only walking corpses here!”
Jin Ling gaped, “These are–Walking Corpses?!”
“Gahhhh!” Lan Jingyi wailed. “How can there be so many walking corpses?! Is it a corpse army?!”
“We love you, Jingyi.” A girl exclaimed with a slight chuckle. “Even at the worst of times, you’re still so funny!”
“Hear that?” Ouyang Zizhen said with a smirk. “Jingyi, looks like a few maidens are taking interest. Way to go!”
He didn’t comment on Lan Jingyi’s pink cheeks out of consideration.
And as soon as they appeared, the corpses were defeated in one swift strike by none other than the guqin Wangji. “It is Hanguang-Jun!”
With his other hand, he held bichen, which was brewing used to defend the delinquent Xue Yang’s attacks. At this sight, the juniors could only gape.
“What skill!”
“He’s qualified!” Wen Ruohan exclaimed.
“For what?”
“It’s a wonder he didn’t become chief cultivator…”
“Exactly! Who knew he was so strong?!”
“Um, we all did?”
“Not some of us because we were unfortunately dead at the time.”
“Oh… sorry, I guess.”
“He’s amazing!” Jin Ling gasped. “I’d always thought my two uncles were the two most powerful cultivators in this world. Who would’ve known Hanguang-Jun is this good, apart from his technique of silencing others and his cold temperament?”
At his words, the crowd broke into fits of laughter, some commenting on the young Jin’s humour.
“Little mistress, until now, I never realised you said that! Is that what you’ve thought of Lan Wangji this whole time?!”
“Oh dear..” Lan Xichen exclaimed with a chuckle. “Wangji, it appears you’ve earned quite the reputation amongst the juniors.”
Lan Wangji’s ears turned red in embarrassment. “”Xiongzhang, no teasing.”
Lan Xichen replied, smiling, “But you let Wei Wuxian do it, do you not?”
“That’s Wei Ying..” Lan Wangji reasoned. “Mn.. that’s Wei Ying.”
There were stars in Lan Jingyi’s eyes as he exclaimed in excitement, “Of course Hanguang-Jun is strong. He just never likes to show it off. He is very low-key.” He then turned to Wei Wuxian for affirmation. “Right?”
Wei Wuxian pointed to himself in confusion. “Are you asking me? Why are you asking me?”
“Maybe because you’re like.. his..?” Li Daiyu said. “Wait, what is Wei Wuxian to Lan Wangji right now? In the eyes of the juniors, I mean.”
Luo Qingqing suggested, “A lunatic turned sane who ran around screaming during a night hunt, and actually beat the living backside out of a goddess statue, then claimed he loved their senior, only for their senior to take that same ‘lovesick’ person back to Cloud Recess with him and go on adventures hunting ghosts and corpses alike, solving mysteries and beating up bad guys together? Yes.”
“That… pretty much summarises it all,” Li Daiyu mumbled..
Lan Jingyi exclaimed, “Are you saying Hanguang-Jun is not strong?!”
Wei Wuxian replied, “Yes, strong.”
“Of course he is super strong!”
“His admiration for Hanguang-Jun is enviable..” a woman commented. “I wonder, with his reputation, just how Lan Wangji managed to gain such respect from these kids..”
Jin Zixun scoffed, “Lan Wangji this, Lan Wangji that; why is it always Lan Wangji?! He’s not even as good looking as me!”
“Dude, I forgot you were even there..” A Jin replied. “And are you blind? Oh dear, you must be blind and delusional, how pitiful..”
A slight smile blossomed on Wei Wuxian’s face as he declared, “He’s the strongest.”
Li Daiyu speechlessly clapped her hands with an expression that said ‘you see?!’ as she spoke, “He’s falling hard. And by hard, I mean very hard.”
Across the room, if Lan Wangji’s gait didn’t scream proud , then Li Daiyu seriously needed to get her eyes checked out by a healer. “Do you see how smug he looks right now?! He’d give the bloody peacocks in LanlingJin a run for their money!”
“Ah.. love how you put two and two together there..”
“The ghost of the blind girl is here again!” Jin Ling spoke, motioning in the direction of the familiar tapping of bamboo.
“Let’s go. Follow the sounds of the bamboo pole!” Wei Wuxian instructed. “She clearly wanted to tell us something important last night. She disappeared the moment Xue Yang came, so she was probably hiding from Xue Yang.”
“Xue Yang?” Lan Jingyi asked. “Why is Xue Yang here too? Was it not Xiao Xingchen and Song Lan?”
“Wow, he is so behind…”
“But didn’t we just find that out, what, like, ten minutes ago? What are you saying that for? Besides, if you think about it, he found out years ago, when it actually happened.”
“Dude, chill.. I just made a small comment, why are you on my case so much?”
“Uh, I’ll explain this later.” Wei Wuxian replied slowly, “Anyways, the one fighting with Hanguang-Jun inside isn’t Xiao Xingchen, but is instead Xue Yang who was pretending to be him. Let’s go for now.”
“I love how he just says that so nonchalantly…”
He then cupped his hands over his mouth and yelled, “Hanguang-Jun, I’ll leave it to you. We’re gonna go ahead!”
As soon as he spoke, the sound of the guqin resounded around the area. Wei Wuxian stifled a laugh as he realised, ‘Lan Zhan is telling me “Mn”!’
Lan Xichen couldn’t help but tear up at his little brother's action. “Wangji, you are…”
Lan Qiren, too, looked like he thought his nephew was very adorable, for his scowl had miraculously disappeared!
“Lan Zhan…” Wei Wuxian sniffed. “I remember this. You’re so cute, I love you so much words can’t explain it!”
“I love you too, Wei Ying.”
“I love you more!”
“Love Wei Ying more.”
“Aside from the public display of affection…” Chu Rong mumbled. “That is the cutest thing I’ve seen in years . Does anyone have a handkerchief? I would like a handkerchief, please—oh, thank you.”
As they ran in the direction of the bamboo pole’s sound, Lan Jingyi asked, “That’s it? You’re not going to say anything else?”
Wei Wuxian replied, “What else do you want me to do? What else do I need to say?”
“Oh no…” Lan Jingyi turned red in the face as he realised what was to come. “Oh dear….”
“Why did you two not say–” Lan Jingyi cleared his throat as he pulled out his cutest puppy eyes and exclaimed, “I’m worried about you. I’m staying!——Just go!——No! I’m not going! If I’m going, you’re going with me!” At the display, Wei Wuxian could only snort in amusement. “Is it not a must?”
The group of girls stalling in the background could only share hushed whispers between one another excitedly.
“It looks like we have a new member!”
“It’s about time someone realised how Wangxian were acting like a married couple..”
“How should we scout this kid? Where is he?”
“I think he’s guarding that delinquent Xue Yang… the poor child is probably getting eaten alive!”
“Then how can we rescue him?”
“That’s the problem! It would be impossible to rescue him from that demon’s evil claws!!”
“Lost member, I pray for your safety!”
“We pray for your safety!” Many other girls repeated.
“...” Wei Wuxian face palmed helplessly, his expression following the traumatised Lans behind. “Who taught you all that?”
Soon afterwards, A-Qing led the group to a coffin home surrounded with damp mist, its roof darkened by age. Within the house was a coffin, in which A-Qing instructed them to open. Inside of the coffin, however, was a corpse: It was a young man placed to rest, hands together over a horsetail whisk against his stomach. He was dressed in snow white daoist robes and the features of the bottom half of his face were handsome but elegant; his skin a deathly pale, lips near colourless. The upper half of his face was wrapped in layers and layers of bandages, missing the protrusion that should be created by his eyes. Instead, the bandages there sunk in hollowly. There were no eyes there, just two empty sockets.
“He’s really pretty, don’t you think?”
“Wait, isn’t that…?“ A Nie disciple exclaimed, glancing at Xiao Xingchen across the room. “It’s Xiao Xingchen!!”
“No way! This is his corpse?!”
“So he was dead the whole time…?!”
“I figured everyone already knew that..”
“Xingchen, are you alright?” Song Lan asked, holding his best friend by the shoulder. “You… you've just seen your corpse, that is a most unpleasant thing to witness.”
“I…” Xiao Xingchen swallowed, closing his eyes with a small smile. “I’m perfectly fine. ”
“This is–” Wei Wuxian startled at the sight of tears of blood streaming down A-Qing’s eyes. Because the corpse laid before them was the real Xiao Xingchen.
“AAAAH AHHHH!!” A-Qing hysterically screamed, her face a tirade of emotions. “AAAHHHH!! AHHHH!!”
“A-Qing..!” Xiao Xingchen exclaimed, instinctively reaching out towards the screen. He then turned his gaze to the present-day A-Qing with a sigh. “Sorry, A-Qing.. You suffered a lot—if only I wasn’t so foolish back then..!”
“It’s okay..” A-Qing whispered. “We got our revenge in the end, didn’t we? Everything went okay..”
Lan Jingyi muttered solemnly, “It seems like she has a lot she wants to tell us…”
Lan Sizhui suggested, “Should I play inquiry again?”
“No need,” Wei Wuxian replied. “I think her answer will be complicated–too hard to explain and interpret.”
“Then what should we do?” Lan Jingyi asked.
Wei Wuxian inhaled a deep breath before exclaiming, “Empathy.”
Lan Wangji jumped out of his seat so quickly that it startled all of who were near him, “…Wei Ying!!”
Wei Wuxian nervously chuckled, “Ahaha, Lan Zhan, I must have forgotten to tell you…”
“Wei Ying, you…” Lan Wangji looked hurt. “ Why didn’t you tell me ?”
“Because…” Wei Wuxian muttered, avoiding all possible eye contact. “I thought it wasn't necessary.”
“Do you not trust me..? Wei Ying, I am your husband, you can rely on me.”
“I know..” Wei Wuxian whispered. “And I’m sorry..”
Lan Wangji stared at his face for a moment before he sighed, pulling the other into a hug. “Don’t carelessly run into danger like that. I love you too much to lose you again.”
“I’m sorry, Lan Zhan…”
Jin Ling looked at Wei Wuxian with despair in his eyes, his lips quivering as he yelled, “That’s far too dangerous! A dark technique like that, there’s no…”
Jiang Yanli smiled, “A-Ling, it’s very sweet of you to be concerned for A-Xian. I always knew you’d grow up into a good boy.”
“Good boy?!” Jin Ling spluttered, his cheeks flaming red. “A-Niang, I’m not a child! …Besides, It’s not like I was concerned. I just didn’t want him to die, that’s all.”
Jin Zixuan grinned, “Isn’t that the same thing? A-Ling, you were totally concerned!”
“I was not!!”
Li Daiyu asked, “What is Empathy?”
Yu Huizhong furrowed his eyebrows in bewilderment, “Do you not know?”
“I doubt they’d tell, let alone teach, junior cultivators about such techniques.” Wen Ruohan reasoned. “Why don’t you explain it to her?”
Yu Huizhong nodded once more as he spoke, “Empathy is the offering of a spirit to possess oneself, and using one’s own body as a medium to infiltrate the spirit’s memories and soul, hearing what they heard, seeing what they saw, feeling what they felt. If the spirit’s emotions were abnormally strong, then the possessed would be affected by those emotions, thus, it was known as “Empathy”.”
“Okay..?” Li Daiyu remarked. “I kind of understand it, but why was Lan Wangji freaking out like that? Shouldn’t this be a good thing?”
Yu Huizhong replied, “That’s because although Empathy is the most direct, most efficient, and easiest out of all the methods one could use to gain information from a spirit, it is also the most dangerous.”
“ Oh… thanks for explaining.”
Wei Wuxian shook his head dismissively, “It’s alright, we don’t have much time. Get in position, hurry! After we’re done, we still have to go back and find Hanguang-Jun.” He then turned to Jin Ling. “Jin Ling, you act as supervisor. Did you bring the silver bell?”
Jin Ling replied with a slight flush to his cheeks, “Yeah…” He removed the bell from within his sash and held it out for Wei Wuxian to see.
“Why does Wei Wuxian need that bell for Empathy? Does it hold some significance or something?”
“I think it’s a Jiang thing,” Another replied. “Ask them.”
“Well… the Clarity Bell is a signature accessory we of YunmengJiang Clan wear… it has the ability to calm and clear people’s minds.”
“Then why does Wei Wuxian need it?”
“He probably needs it incase the spirit’s emotions are too overwhelming. My guess is that it will act as the code, although I could be wrong.”
As he saw the bell, however, Wei Wuxian’s eyes hazed over with familiarity. A memory appeared on the screen from long, long ago, when Wei Wuxian was still the Yiling Patriarch and was speaking to Wen Ning, the same bell in his hand. ‘So long as my nephew wears this silver bell, no weaker ethereal creatures will be able to approach him.’
Jin Zixuan gasped at the sight, instantly recognising the bell Wei Wuxian held in his hand. ‘So that was it...’
Noticing his trance, Jin Ling asked, “What’s wrong?”
“It’s nothing,” Wei Wuxian replied. “Use it as the code.”
Jiang Wanyin slowly lowered his head, his fists clenched as they rested on his lap. To prevent the person undergoing Empathy from getting lost in the spirit’s emotions, they needed to set a code with the supervisor. The code was best as a sentence or a sound the person undergoing Empathy was very familiar with. If the supervisor realised something was going wrong, they were to act immediately and pull the one undergoing Empathy out.
The fact that Wei Wuxian suggested using the clarity bell as the code, made him feel a sense of… accomplishment?
“He should be fine, right?” Luo Qingqing quietly spoke. “Wei Wuxian is alive now, and looks perfectly healthy, so it must have gone fine.”
“I’m ready,” Wei Wuxian turned to the girl who was coming from behind the corner, wiping her bloodied face with a hand. She ran straight through Wei Wuxian’s chest, her spirit intertwining with his own. Wei Wuxian suddenly went limp and fell to the ground, although was quickly caught by the juniors and placed into a comfortable position beside some straw.
His eyes swirling with countless emotions, Jin Ling unconsciously clenched the bell within his palm tighter.
The screen faded into black.
As the viewers watched the episode come to an end, they all tensed with anticipation for what was to come. Would Wei Wuxian breeze through it, or would he exit eventually, although not in one piece?
“He’s the Yiling Patriarch, of course he’ll have no trouble!”
“I wouldn’t be so sure about that…”