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This year was the first discussion conference after Hanguang-Jun was appointed as chief cultivator.
It was also the first discussion conference for almost 14 years that hosted the Yiling Laozu as an honored guest. The chief cultivator himself invited him as his confidant. A scandal. Completely inappropriate.
Lin Zhao was a disciple of the Yao Sect. A young and ambitious man, hoping to please his sect leader and earn himself bonus points.
Sect Leader Yao had appointed Lin Zhao to represent him in this year’s conference and he was determined to master this task.
He grew up with stories about the misdeeds of the Yiling Laozu. His monstrous actions, the terror he reigned over the Sects.
How could Wei Wuxian suddenly be granted absolution of all his crimes, just because he was friends with the new chief cultivator? This new evidence that suddenly emerged about Jin Guangyao being the mastermind behind all this was surely exaggerated.
Jin Guangyao might have been a viper, but who in a position of power wasn’t? That couldn’t excuse all the terrible things Wei Wuxian had done.
And no one else seemed inclined to say something about it. Lin Zhao decided that he had to be the guy to do so. For that, he needed something recent. Something that would cause enough outrage to get rid of Wei Wuxian again. And what better could that be than justice for a dead man?
He had decided that he shouldn’t allow the discussion conference to pick up pace. This was too important to be delayed. And he would make a better impact at the very beginning, when everyone was still full of energy to join his fight.
Right after the opening toast he stood up and announced, “I demand justice for Mo Xuanyu, whose body the Yiling Laozu stole!”
Gasps echoed through the room. Stunned silence followed.
He glanced at his companions, expecting proud faces, awed expressions.
Instead, he was met with wide eyes. His fellow disciples tried to gesture as subtly as possible with signs that normally meant he should shut up immediately.
Lin Zhao gulped. He turned to face the chief cultivator again, his earlier confidence slowly draining out of him. Should he maybe have told someone about this plan beforehand?
The chief cultivators face, already resembling cold stone, had frosted over with ice. “No.”
“He's right, though.”
Everyone turned to the Yiling Laozu.
“Wei Ying.”
Wei Wuxian turned an apologetic smile on Hanguang-Jun. “He is right, Lan Zhan. I’m only alive because Mo Xuanyu died. How much do the circumstances matter, really? This is a stolen body.”
“Not stolen. Gifted.”
“From a desperate boy,” Wei Wuxian retorted gently. “That doesn’t really count, you know.”
“You didn’t steal it. You didn’t know what he was doing.”
Lin Zhao, slack jawed by this turn of events, was starting to feel ridiculous. He was still standing in the room as prosecutor when the culprit was pleading this case against himself. That wasn’t exactly how he thought this would turn out. And did they call each other by their birth names? How great of friends were they?
Someone to his left snorted dismissively. He turned, just to catch the eye of the Jiang Sect Leader, Jiang Wanyin. “Did you think he would try to defend himself? You clearly haven’t met him. This idiot is a self-sacrificing fool who probably just waited for someone to bring this up so he could punish himself again.”
“But ...”, he trailed off. “That’s the Yiling Laozu. He sacrificed children and killed countless innocents and ...”
“What? You believed all this crappy gossip about him?” The woman beside Jiang Wanyin - the Jiang’s head disciple? What was her name again? - stared at him as if he was the idiot. “You are aware that this is someone who gave up his home, all his friends and his zhiji just to save some strangers with the wrong surname. Sacrifice children? Where did that even come from?” Her amused tone threw him for another loop.
Lin Zhao vaguely remembered that she had been part of the Jiang sect even before the burning of Lotus Pier, so she had to know Wei Wuxian before his days as Yiling Laozu. Lin Zhao had always been under the impression that Wei Wuxian was a terror since birth. No one should sound so fond about him.
In the front, the Chief Cultivator and the Yiling Laozu still argued about whether or not Wei Wuxian stole the body. Wei Wuxians arguments against himself grew more and more desperate.
Lin Zhao, clearly out of his depth, slowly sat down. He didn’t even know Mo Xuanyu. He just thought it was a great way to get rid of the evil residing inside their circles. He choked as that evil threw himself in the chief cultivators lap like a three year old, just to whine in a high pitched tone, “Lan Zhan! Stop trying to protect my misdeeds! My heart can’t take your niceness.”
Niceness ... was that even a proper word?
He jumped when Jiang Wanyin slammed his tea cup on the table and hissed, “I’m gonna strangle him. They can’t even argue properly without starting to flirt like the shameless fuckheads they are.”
Flirt? No, surely they didn’t ....
Fuck. They did, didn’t they? Lin Zhao could feel the blood rush to his head. Why did he bring this up again? He should have kept his mouth shut.
“You shouldn’t beat yourself up”, the Jiang head disciple told him quietly. “They would have acted like this eventually. They can’t be in the same room for more than 5 minutes without starting to behave shamelessly.”
“But ... why?” he whispered overwhelmed.
“Well, they are married, after all,” the woman revealed amused and resigned.
“Married?” he squeaked. He would gladly fall into coma right now, thank you. Did he actually accuse the husband of the chief cultivator to be a body-stealing monster? His political career was over. At least the accused himself seemed to be on his side? Maybe the chief cultivator would have forgotten about him by the end of this? But judging by his fellow disciples icy glares he should definitely consider switching to a different sect. And change his name.
“Sure. So maybe its not so much as shameless, but more unfair for all of us single souls. Having to watch them drowning in love like this.”
Their conversation finally reached beyond the small circle of their tables and drew the attention of others.
Lin Zhao was almost glad that he clearly wasn’t the only one left out of the loop with this information.
Exclamations of “married?” and “in love?!” echoed through the room, finally cutting the argument (flirting) in front short.
By now, Wei Wuxian had managed to climb fully into Hanguang-Juns lap, their faces only centimeters apart.
Both looked up simultaneously.
“Eh, yes? Wasn’t that clear?” Wei Wuxian asked confused.
“NO, IT WASN’T,” one of the minor sect leaders screeched. “Why wasn’t there an announcement of the wedding?!”
“That´s right! We should have been informed!” Another sect leader joined in.
“That’s what the protocol says.”
“And the wedding invitations?”
“Who was even invited?”
“Outrageous.”
A cough drew attention to the Nie delegation. Face half hidden by his fan, Nie Huaisang said, “I attended. As did sect leader Jiang. And young Jin Rulan was in attendance as well. I’m sure everyone else might have lost their invitations?”
That shut everyone up.
“Well, proper marriage protocol being followed or not, I still agree with the complaint.” Wei Wuxian brought the conversation back to the starting point. “This isn’t my body and the owner died for me to have it. I should pay the price.”
The whole room glanced at Hanguang-Juns face and quietly disagreed. They wouldn’t be responsible for the destruction of their sects, thank you very much.
“Wei Ying is overruled,” Hanguang-Jun stated, this time smug enough that everyone picked up on it. “We shall close the topic and move on.”
Wei Wuxian pouted. Pouted. This was the man the cultivation world was terrified of for 13 years? Lin Zhaos world view shifted significantly.
Hanguang-Jun seemed to take pity on his husbands misery. He took his hand. “If it will make Wei Ying feel better, I shall punish him myself.”
Wei Wuxians face lit up like a fire talisman. “Later then?”
To everyones horror, Hanguang-Jun nodded seriously. “Hm.”
Lin Zhao suddenly felt sick.
Only Jiang Wanyin, obviously accustomed to this behavior through regular close contact with the couple, was able to shout what everyone was thinking. “Could you filthy bastards finally shut up and continue with this farce of a discussion conference?!”
“Awww, Jiang Cheng!”, the Yiling Laozu cooed. “Don’t worry, we will find a wife for you in no time. Don’t be jealous.”
And as the Jiang Sect Leader chased a loudly cackling Yiling Laozu through the room, the entire cultivation world vowed to never demand a punishment for Wei Wuxian ever again.