Chapter Text
“NIE HUASIANG!”
The dark oak doors of the meeting chamber were thrown open in a crackling gale. The sound echoed, deep and tremorous. Flickers of purple lightning rendered the air charged and dangerous, and the stormy aura followed Jiang Wanyin as he stalked toward his current prey.
The coiled manticore adorning the bronze mantlepiece backing the Sect Leader’s seat fiercely contrasted the giant, fearful eyes of the meek Nie Sect Leader. The dark wood room was cast with golden afternoon light, catching on golden filigree and warm green drapery. A myriad of carved, snarling creatures seemed to prowl around the pillars and the ceiling, yet all Wei Wuxian saw when he looked at Nie Huasiang was a particularly terrified bird.
“Ah, Sect Leader Jiang—” Nie Huaisang twittered, ducking behind a paper fan dotted with spring flowers. “I wasn’t expecting your visit!”
The Nie Sect Leader glanced towards his guards, who stared back with impressively stone faces. Some things were worth protecting one’s Sect Leader from, but a snarling Jiang Wanyin looking for his missing nephew was a fight no intelligent cultivator would start.
“I expect not.” Jiang Wanyin said, voice low and dangerous. “Because if Jin Ling, current Sect Leader of Lanling Jin and my ward, were to visit Qinghe and go missing on your lands, I would be the first person you would tell.”
Sensing the nature of this confrontation, Lan Wangji surreptitiously stepped aside and placed himself on Wei Wuxian’s right. Wei Wuxian pressed a hastily scribbled talisman into Lan Wangji’s hand, the characters glowing red for a heartbeat before the paper dissolved into crimson fragments of light.
Lan Zhan, Wei Wuxian thought, Don’t be alarmed. This is a modified communication talisman paired with some theory from Gusu Lan’s Book of Mind. It will last for a few minutes but I can update you on what happened.
To his credit, the only indication that Hanguang-Jun heard the Yilling Laozu’s voice in his head was a very subtle squeeze of their joined hands.
“Of course I would!” Nie Huaisang protested. Then, he tilted his head guilelessly. “Wait, Jin Ling was in Qinghe?”
Apoplectic, Jiang Cheng yelled, “What kind of sect leader doesn’t know when other sects enter their lands!?”
“Sect Leader Jiang, could it be that you’re perhaps a little paranoid?”
“How is basic surveillance PARANOID?” At his hip, Zidian hissed, displeased. “Listen here Nie Huasiang, Jin Ling is missing and I’m—”
So, actually, Jiang Cheng has a point, Wei Wuxian explained, He sent Jin Ling to find Xiao Xingchen and Son Lang as an exercise in patience, but the kid tracked them here then went missing. I suspect he might be in that dangerous area we identified — I’m the best sensor we have here, and even my shadows haven’t found him yet.
The only place I can’t see into, Wei Wuxian noted, Is the resentment clouding the Nie Mausoleums. That place is warded with something ancient, likely from when the Nie Sect was first created.
At this, Lan Wangji’s eyes darkened. He, too, was looking at Nie Huasiang with some suspicion.
“Even if you weren’t tracking people of interest within your territory,” Jiang Cheng glared, his fury tightly controlled. “And even if you ignored every missive other sect leaders sent you, you would still know if an individual from another sect entered Qinghe Nie Sect’s warded private grounds, right?”
Caught, Nie Huaisang winced. “Ah.”
Wei Wuxian could tell that the guards were now listening with rapt attention. No doubt this would turn into high gossip within the next few hours.
Jiang Cheng made a gesture. “Wei Wuxian, explain it to this moron.”
“Nie Huaisang,” Wei Wuxian said with a pleasant smile. It was not a kind one. “Drop the act. We all know you’re not some irrelevant fool, even though it serves you well to keep the guise. There’s a patch of thick resentment hanging over your Mausoleums, within the inner sect grounds—did you know about this?”
“Brother Wei, to tell you about that would be to divulge Sect Secrets.” Nie Huaisang said, tone shifting.
“Jin Ling might be dead. Do you want to start a war?” Wei Wuxian wagered. “What happens when word gets out that Lanling Jin’s Sect Leader was attacked while inside Qinghe Nie Sect’s private lands? How do you think that would look.”
“Brother Wei does not play nice, does he?” The Headhsaker whined. “Have some mercy on this poor Sect Leader!”
Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng shared looks of immense exasperation.
“What mercy?” Wei Wuxian asked flatly.
“Mercy for me! Fine, fine. He’s not dead,” Nie Huasiang said, placating. “Because if he was, Wei Wuxian would have said so, and you—” He pointed his fan at the Jiang Sect Leader. “Would have killed me already.”
Jiang Wanyin huffed, glaring at the rest of them like so what? He did not dispute the accusation.
“Anf if Little Sect Leader Jin is harmed, I promise it was unintentional. Night Hunting is a dangerous business, after all. I’ll take you to the Nie Mausoleums myself, but…” He trailed off, though not because of his act of false ignorance. A change seemed to come over him, suddenly serious. “I’ll need you to keep the disciples who came with you here. They cannot visit the Nie Mausoleums. You can, but each of you would need to swear an oath of secrecy.”
Eyes narrowed, Wei Wuxian spun his flute in thought. “That important, huh?”
“I’m only even considering it because of our past friendships.” Nie Huaisang said. “Brother Wei, if this gets out, it could ruin the Nie Sect entirely. I hope you understand the importance of reputation these days, because even with powerful allies, I am not willing to risk it.”
Nie Huaisang made a gesture with his fan, and the two eavesdropping guards escorted Lan Jingyi and Mo Xuanyu from the room. Nie Huaisang sunnily told them to enjoy the gardens, and that he would send for them after. When he turned back to the rest of them, his expression lacked that youthful bliss.
“Now, Brother Wei, if you could activate this?” The Nie Sect Leader held out a very intricate array, fished from the endless sleeves of his extravagant robe. Wei Wuxian studied it, interest piqued.
“Huh. This is a really, really complicated binding seal. I had no idea you could make these things, Nie Huasiang.” Wei Wuxian remarked, reading the ominous configuration. “Why me?”
Nie Huaisang’s expression was hidden by his fan. “Because your energy is currently untraceable, and I need no one to know of what we will do this afternoon.”
“Untraceable?”
“To normal cultivators, anyways,” Nie Huasiang smiled. “Now, please.”
“How nice of you to let me know.” Wei Wuxian said wryly, and then knelt to activate the array. The seal bloomed beneath their feet, twisting red branches with thorny connections much like a nasty bramble.
No wonder Huaisang didn’t want the use of this traced, He thought in Lan Wangji’s direction, I’m fairly certain, unless laws have changed horribly, that blood seals are illegal. And nasty to break with yang energy alone. What kind of secrets is he hiding behind this?
Feeling the array reaching for his core, Wei Wuxian said, “I, Wei Ying, promise not to reveal what I learn today about the Qinghe Nie Sect unless given permission by Sect Leader Nie Huaisang.”
He glanced up at Nie Huasiang, who nodded. So he approves of that wording, hm?
“With I, Nie Huaisang, as witness, this oath will hold so long as I live.” Nie Huaisang said, and the array pulsed bloody red in confirmation.
With the precedent set, Lan Wangji and Jiang Wanyin echoed the same oath. Once each promise had been made, the array dimmed, its weight sinking into each of them before lightening now that the burden had been accepted voluntarily. Had it been involuntarily, Wei Wuxian knew that he would be reminded of it constantly as it pressed against him with suffocating urgency.
“What the fuck kind of oath mediator was that, Nie Huasiang?” Jiang Cheng asked, frowning. “Did you use a modified—”
“Shh!” Nie Huaisang shushed before Jiang Cheng would inevitably link it to some of the blood arrays used during the Sunshot Campaign that were later outlawed. “It works. If the worst comes to it, I don’t have the strongest cultivation. You would be able to break it through brute force.”
“So that’s why you found something untethered to Qinghe-Nie practices.” Wei Wuxian realized. “And found a demonic cultivator to cast the first vow, meaning that if I broke it the others would not get as much backlash. How clever. This implies that you want us to reveal it at some point, you know.”
Nie Huaisang nodded, oddly serious. “Brother Wei, there’s a reason I refused to cultivate the sabre despite being next in line. This same reason is why you, of all people, would be uniquely suited to helping me. One day, this will need to be told to all, but that is not for a time yet.”
“Resentment.” Lan Wangji said, interrupting.
Nie Huaisang nodded. “The Nie Sabres are a type of Yao, with spirits forged into them at the time of their making. Spirits are not yang-oriented creatures by nature, and so using them over one’s lifetime can lead to…” He shrugged. The cheer in his eyes was chillingly false. “Qi deviation.”
“Nie Mingjue’s death.” Jiang Wanyin said, grimly. “With his cultivation strength, it’s no wonder that death reached him so quickly.”
“Using resentment while having a golden core leads to slow poisoning of your golden core, eventually leading to qi deviation due to the imbalance of energies within your body.” Wei Wuxian thought aloud, “So the Qinghe Nie Sect’s creator circumvented this by using swords as a conduit, instead of the body alone. Qi moves and coalesces within the sword before being released, taking the strain off your body.”
With a smile that was all teeth, Nie Huaisang snapped his fan shut. “I should have expected Brother Wei to figure things out immediately.”
“But from just the theory, your core should be fine.” Jiang Wanyin noted. “Every other Nie Sect leader before you has dropped dead before forty. What are we missing?”
“It’s a two-way connection.” Wei Wuxian said. “A constantly open two-way connection. Just as much as qi can go from you to the sword, qi can also go from the sword to you, especially if you’re using it subconsciously.”
“Which leads to long-term destabilization and qi deviation, yes.” Nie Huaisang concluded. “When each cultivator dies, the sword spirit does not die with them. So we need to encase them both in a mausoleum so the sword spirit does not go on a murdering spree. Some of them are docile… but others…”
“Fuck.” Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng said in tandem. Wei Wuxian looked sheepish, and Jiang Cheng rolled his eyes.
Wei Wuxian tapped Nie Huaisang’s head with his flute. “That’s the patch of resentment I’ve been feeling. It’s warded so nothing can see in, and nothing can get out, isn’t it?”
Nie Huaisang nodded. “I’m not keyed into the wards as well as Da-Ge was. My core isn’t stable enough to carry that kind of weight, so if Jin Ling is in there I would not know. I can take you there, however. There has been some disturbance, I just don’t know who.”
“Well stop wasting our time and take us there!” Jiang Wanyin snarled. “What else is left to say?”
“Ah, nothing much!” Nie Huaisang deflected, his hands raised in surrender. “Just a request for the great Yilling Laozu that might be beneficial for us both. Consider it a trade.”
“You’re really surprising me, Nie Huaisang. First the strength of that oath array, and now this.” Wei Wuxian remarked, but he was more intrigued than offended. “I’m starting to think that you do know how to keep your sect safe when it comes down to this. What do you need?”
“Oh no, I need all the help I can get.” Nie Huaisang met Wei Wuxian’s red eyes with playful, hazel ones and played his hand. “If Brother Wei can work with Nie artisans and forge-masters to create a safer version of the Nie Sabre, then I will do what I can to clear the reputation of the Yilling Laozu.”
The cleverness of it shocked Wei Wuxian. Another chisel chipping against the construct of the mastermind behind the fierce corpse debacle, and so elegantly wagered.
He made a mental note to bother Nie Huaisang about strategy games sometime. The offer of an idiot this was not, and Wei Wuxian found himself once again surprised at how much the people around him had grown in his absence.
“Nie Huaisang, you’ve been holding out on me.” Wei Wuxian laughed, waving a placating hand at Lan Wangji and Jiang Cheng’s open bafflement. “I accept.”
Jiang Cheng gave him a sour look. “All those years tarnishing your reputation, and now you care about it?”
“If I’m going to be seen with Hanguang-Jun, it’s best that I don’t drag down his reputation with me.”
“To be with Wei Ying is not a dishonour.” Lan Wangji added, giving Jiang Wanyin a look of immense distaste. Jiang Wanyin returned it with vigour.
“You two disgust me.” He hissed, then turned to Nie Huaisang. “Congrats on taking advantage of the most selfless idiot alive, just like you did when you were a kid.”
“I aim to impress.” Nie Huaisang said, fluttering his fan, and Jiang Wanyin’s face contorted in disgust once more.
“I hate you all.” He said, with feeling. “ All of you should go fucking die. Now let’s go find Jin Ling so I can never see your faces again.”
“Aww, ChengCheng you don’t mean that~”
“Who’s ChengCheng!? I will murder you too, Wei Wuxian!”
-- -- --
The place that Nie Huaisang led them to was shrouded in mist. Wei Wuxian saw that while the trees appeared healthy, their foliage was darkened. It’s a lot like at Yilling, he noted, Where everything turns as black as charcoal after being exposed to resentment. They don’t seem to be growing in an unnatural manner though, so I suppose it’s fine. To think that some poor ancestors have decided it was best to rest at such an unrestful place — the Qinghe Nie Sect truly is one of a kind.
There was a worn stone path to indicate the way, though the cut stones were littered with leaves and debris and had overgrown vines curling between the cracks. Nie Huaisang complained about bugs and roots the entire way, prompting Wei Wuxian to sigh and release his hold on his mortal skin.
“There. Now they won’t come near.” He said, having given his shadows full permission to steal the life force of any beetle that wandered by.
“And you look like someone’s night terror.” Jiang Wanyin observed, “It’s a little like back when we first found you, after you disappeared.”
Lan Wangji looked like he was about to say something abrasive in Wei Wuxian’s defense, so Wei Wuxian nudged him and said, “Lan Zhan, it’s fine! That’s not Jiang Cheng’s offensive tone.”
At Hanguang-Jun’s judgemental stare, Jiang Wanyin looked away. “Tch. I mean it, this idiot looks scary but it’s not inhumanly so. He should know that.”
Now, Lan Wangji was looking at Jiang Cheng with some measure of consideration. I better derail this before it gets too far, Wei Wuxian thought, and turned back to Huaisang.
“This place is pretty big. What’s the plan for investigating?” He asked. His flute, twirling elegantly between his fingers, now had a small jade charm attached to it.
Lan Wangji had handed it to him privately as they walked, and once Jiang Wanyin and Nie Huasang had turned a corner, Wei Wuxian kissed him deeply in thanks. It was a white charm with a red tassel, matching his new flute. The charm depicted two bunnies nestled together, and Lan Wangji had etched customized sigils of energy storage around the circular frame. It was beautiful, and likely very expensive. Wei Wuxian felt extremely blessed that Lan Wangji liked to spoil him.
Jiang Cheng, having noticed their disappearance, walked in on them mid-kissed. In a fit, he had called him disgusting, and then turned to Lan Wangji and asked if he really had no self control. Surely, Hanguang-Jun could do better.
After some consideration, Lan Wangji answered with a judgemental “No.”
Then, to rub it in, he added that people should be proud to show affection to Wei Wuxian. Wei Wuxian felt his face heat up and burst into flames.
Jiang Cheng, champion of drinking vinegar, had deftly changed the topic after that, stating that Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji were perfect for each other and it’s a miracle that the world doesn’t condemn how obstinate Lan Wangji was.
Lan Zhan, for his part, seemed proud of the accusation. Wei Wuxian loved that man so, so much. This petty feud with Jiang Cheng, with the earnest embarrassment of Wei Wuxian aside, was incredibly funny.
Returning to the present, Nie Huaisang seemed to have finally decided on how to approach this. He eyed them all, seemingly nervous, and then slowly stepped towards Jiang Wanyin.
“I suppose it can’t be helped.” He sighed. “We’ll have to split up. Work horizontally along the rows. Brother Wei, you and Hanguang-Jun should take the newest ones. The resentment tends to be fresher, there, but the wards are also stronger. Sect Leader Jiang and I will take the older tombs. Their protections have eroded somewhat, and if someone is in danger, that is where they’re most likely to end up. But I don’t know for sure, I really don’t.”
Jiang Cheng made a face at being stuck with Nie Huaisang, but then he sighed and pulled the Nie Sect Leader with him.
“The faster we find Jin Ling, the safer your life is,” He barked, unimpressed at Nie Huaisang’s flailing. “Come on, march. Why didn’t you change into something less obstinate before coming here?”
“Because I didn’t realize I would be abducted!” Nie Huaisang wailed.
As the two of them disappeared, Wei Wuxian turned to Lan Wangji and said, “I’m really glad I’m stuck with you, Lan Zhan.”
Lan Wangji held his hand tighter. “Mn.”
“Now, shall we? I bet we can find Jin Ling before either of them~”
-- -- --
The Nie Mausoleums were, if you ignored the danger-sense that spiked with such resentment, rather peaceful.
“These look like tiny stone castles,” Wei Wuxian said, brushing his hand alongside the granite bricks. “It’s like a kiln, Lan Zhan. It keeps the resentment in. For it to be leaking out… there’d have to be a lot. Nie Huaisang is in a bit of a bind.”
“Mn.” Lan Wangji agreed.
They hadn’t been walking long before Wei Wuxian heard the barking of a dog, and promptly shrieked and hid behind Lan Wangji.
Lan Wangji obligingly held him, but then betrayed Wei Wuxian by saying, “Jin Ling has a spiritual dog named Fairy.”
“Ugh, I don’t want to go there. Lan Zhan, take me as a paperman and leave my body here. That way I can disappear when I want to.”
With some sympathy, Lan Wanji kissed Wei Wuxian’s forehead. “Wei Ying can go incorproreal if the dog comes too close.”
Wei Wuxian grimaced. “I’ve only done that because of strong emotion— Oh!” Nothing scared him more than dogs did. “Oh you’re right. I’ll just turn into a ghost out of fright, and then I won’t get bitten. You know, you may have a point.”
“Wei Ying would investigate anyway. Wei Ying loves Jin Ling more than he fears dogs. I want Wei Ying to be… reassured.”
“Aiyah, Lan Zhan, you’re so sweet to little old me.” Wei Wuxian patted his cheek, and kissed him properly. “Be my knight in shining armor, hm~? Let’s go find this kid.”
The sound of Fairy’s barking led them to a particularly nasty tomb, decorated with stone adornments that indicated the rank of Sect Leader. The husky was pacing across the front in agitated motions, pausing occasionally to bark worriedly at the entrance.
“Spritual dogs are fiercely loyal. Will not stray far. Jin Ling must be nearby.” Lan Wangji observed, stepping forward to clip a leash to Fairy’s collar. He tethered Fairy to a nearby tree, far enough away that she couldn’t lunge at Wei Wuxian.
“Where the fuck did you get a leash from?” The great Yilling Laozu asked, still shaking with fear. “Wait, Lan Zhan, do you just randomly carry one around?”
Lan Wangji returned the qiankun pouch to his sleeve. “When travelling with Wei Ying, I wish to ensure Wei Ying’s comfort.”
“That’s really sweet of you, Lan Zhan.” Wei Wuxian said, “But let’s head inside. I’m sure Fairy is well-trained, but all I can see is some monstrous Yao.”
Pleased with this turn of events, Fairy looked between them and the shattered hole in the side of the dome mausoleum, and barked eagerly. She lay down, watching their every move with her piercing eyes. Her tail never stopped wagging in anticipation.
Lan Wangji gave the dog a single pet for good behaviour, then joined Wei Wuxian at the entrance. He placed his hand along the wall of rubble, feeling for traces of spiritual energy.
“A spiritual tool did this,” he noted. “The energy signature is similar to Jin Ling’s.”
“Must be Suihua.” Wei Wuxian noted. “Let’s go.”
Together, they stepped inside. Their shadows lengthened as they walked into the tomb, the light waning behind them. The entryway opened into a shallow chamber, with three worn ancestral tablets placed against the back wall, with thick black-stained vines growing over and between the worn stone.
Then, the screaming hit.
Dissonant, unorganized screaming that crashed into him with the force of a tidal wave. Wei Wuxian felt his own shadows react protectively, swirling around him as he tried to block out the noise. The wailing cries eventually solidified as a guttural, echoing chant:
Kill, kill, kill, kill —
Wei Wuxian covered his ears.
Kill, KILL, KILL, KILL —
“What’s wrong?” Lan Wangji asked.
“It’s so noisy.” Wei Wuxian admitted. “Whatever Jin Ling did to bust into this place, it broke the barrier keeping the spirits quiet. They’re still trapped, sure, but it sounds like everything this Cultivators’ sword killed has decided to gather here in rage.”
“Mn.” Lan Wangji said, golden eyes narrowed. “Dangerous?”
Red lighning crackled around Wei Wuxian, and he quelled the ghosts quiet using a variant of the Lan Silencing Spell.
“Not to us.” He said, his red gaze scrutinizing the array on the floor. “To Jin Ling, possibly. It’s definitely something that can occur due to use of resentful energy, so Nie Huaisang wasn’t lying about that.”
He pulled the Evil-Seeking Compass out, grimacing when the arrow began spinning in every direction. As I thought. I’m sure Jiang Cheng gave Jin Ling one of these, but it would have been useless here. They’re not strong enough to manifest, still likely just Class I Gui, but depending on how much death this sabre has brought, it could become trouble. It’s easier to fight one big monster than a hundred smaller, intangible ones.
“There’s a secret door.” Lan Wangji said, breaking Wei Wuxian’s focus. He had walked forward, and was now examining a different part of the outer wall. He pressed two fingers against the activation array, brute-forcing his way past the initial protections. The door opened without complaint.
Interestingly, Wei Wuxian didn’t feel anything break. “How curious. Jin Ling must have forced his way through already. That kid has some skills.”
The space behind the door descended into darkness. Wei Wuxian approached it, then frowned.
“Lan Zhan, is it just me or is it this place far larger on the inside?”
“Mn.” Lan Wangji agreed, glancing back.
Something’s up with how they built this place, Wei Wuxian thought. Are the above-ground crypts just a front? Is the real mausoleum deep underground? What a marvel of engineering, if it is. Nie Huaisang never mentioned that the Nie had such curious burial practices.
Then again, he thought with a wince as he felt the erratic energy of displeased spirits press up against him, such measures would be needed to keep this all under lock and key.
The Yilling Laozu studied the passage stretching out in front of them. The stone walls were supported with dark, polished wood. The decorative carvings continued across the ceiling, in customary Nie interior fashion. A series of torches stood dormant in sequence, presumably to light the way.
Lan Wangji lifted a talisman to light them, but Wei Wuxian gently brought his hand down. He kissed Lan Wangji’s fingers in apology as he pried the talisman from his fingers.
“Let me, Lan Zhan.” He explained, “If you use spiritual energy, you might throw these ghosts into a frenzy, and then we’ll really be in trouble.”
Conceding the point, Lan Wangji nodded.
Wei Wuxian channeled a small stream of resentment into the talisman, and when it was glowin a steady, pulsing red, he made a motion with his hand and pushed it down the entire path. Green ghostly fires flared and lit the torches.
With one hand forming the mudra for control, Wei Wuxian tempered the flames, bringing them down to a obedient flicker that didn’t eat too viciously at the natural resentment created by the trapped ghosts. The light turned the already eerie mausoleum into something out of a spirit-tale.
They followed the stairs down into a circular chamber. This one was far larger than the initial entryway, and at the centre of an eerie circle of green flame, lay a thick gold and black marble coffin. Protective sigirly was carved into the heavy stone coffin placed in the centre, with the suppression array extending in a 8-point floral seal that bloomed on the stones below the coffin.
Wei Wuxian knelt at the foot of the shallow staircase leading into the depression, idly tracing the carved lines. This is some complicated work. Whoever first invented this must have been some Nie genius, because as far as I know, neither Nie Huaisang nor Nie Mingjue showed any particular talent towards runes, warding and sigirly.
Standing up, he huffed. In fact, this person is giving me a run for my title as master!
“Wei Ying?” Lan Wangji asked, and Wei Wuxian turned to his zhiji to explain the complexity of the seal. The real brilliance came in how it tricked the ghosts into thinking they were free to move—but really, they just circled the ghosts in the area of the crypt itself.
Also interestingly, there was an intricate inner layer that, if Wei Wuxian was reading correctly, kept spirits of a certain level from noticing each other. This was likely to prevent any ghost-on-ghost violence that could destabilize the careful balance of power.
With a quick tune on his new flute, Wei Wuxian summoned one of the bridal ghosts who had helped him during the Sunshot Campaign. Wu Xiran had died unable to marry her true love, instead forced to marry a man, and so they had killed each other to find themselves together in the afterlife.
She was kind. She stayed because she cared, not because she hated, and she didn’t seem to mind her patriarch’s occasional favors when most of her time was spent with her wife. Wei Wuxian had called on her help often, and it was with practiced ease that she pulled out parchment and charcoal, and drew the seal.
“What trouble have you found yourself in now, I wonder?” She said, her beautiful, eyeless face turning to him with an amused smile. Wei Wuxian felt Lan Wangji stiffen behind him.
“Wu-Guniang, your veil,” Wei Wuxian reminded, and she spun around in embarrassment before fishing it out and putting it on.
“My apologies, Hanguang-Jun, Laozu.” She amended, “I hope my appearance was not too horrible.”
“Age has not waned your beauty in the slightest~” Wei Wuxian reassured her, kneeling to watch her work. “Do you think you could sneak this to our rooms in the Qinghe Nie Sect’s fortress? I can pick them up later. Technically, this may count as a Nie Sect secret, and Huaisang could demand I destroy the paper if he knew.”
“But only if he knew,” she echoed with a knowing smile, and packed up her work. “Thank you, Laozu, for calling me first. We had placed bets on your return, and you have won me several cowrie shells.”
“Is that the currency where ghosts live?” Wei Wuxian wondered aloud, and returned her bow. “Of course, Wu-Guniang. I’m happy to have been of service.”
Her work done, she stepped into the flickering shadows surrounding them and simply disappeared. Lan Wangji turned to Wei Wuxian the moment she was gone, a thousand questions in those pale gold eyes.
“Ah, Lan Zhan, she’s a friend. It got lonely in the Burial Mounds, I didn’t always have living cultivators to help me, so I asked a few dead ones. She’s got better handwriting than me in a pinch.”
“Is it not frivolous?” Lan Wangji asked.
“Well, that’s where consent comes in.” Wei Wuxian noted. “Think about it. I’m not forcing them to do anything—but, well, most times for ghosts, their afterlife is boring. Inviting them here and giving them the power to interact with the mortal world is like gifting them a fancy trinket. Wu-Guniang is Class III without my help, if she didn’t want to be here, we’d know.”
Lan Wangji inclined his head, mollified by the explanation.
Standing, Wei Wuxian walked over to the coffin in the centre of the room. He ran his hands along the edge of the gold filigree, noting the interesting design showing a wolf chasing a boar.
“Nice coffin.” He muttered, then with careful augmentation of resentment, shoved the lid open. The lid clattered behind them with an echoing bang.
One heartbeat, two, then—
AaaaaAAAIIIEEEEEEĒ̵̤Ȩ̸̻̟͇̞̳͌̄̊̅͘͜Ĕ̵̝̠͙͕̀͂̚͘͝Ḙ̵̅͋͝E̵̘̞̺̓́͋̚͝E̸͖̯͇̙͙͆̅͘Ȩ̷̺̣̼̏̚E̵̫̟̤̙̦͐̓͠ͅE̵̢̺͙͓̮̻̊̕E̴̘͉̺̗̤̟̔̀̔̅͛̆͠È̷̜̠̩̲̞̥̌̒̈͠È̴̠͛̊ͅ!!!!!
Gritting his teeth, Wei Wuxian stared impassively at the influx of spirits and power that fled the coffin. So powerful was the river of ghostly energy that it kicked up the stale air of the mausoleum, making their robes and hair dance.
It didn’t stop.
AAAIIIEEEEEEEĒ̵̤Ȩ̸̻̟͇̞̳͌̄̊̅͘͜Ĕ̵̝̠͙͕̀͂̚͘͝Ḙ̵̅͋͝E̵̘̞̺̓́͋̚͝E̸͖̯͇̙͙͆̅͘Ȩ̷̺̣̼̏̚E̵̫̟̤̙̦͐̓͠ͅE̵̢̺͙͓̮̻̊̕E̴̘͉̺̗̤̟̔̀̔̅͛̆͠È̷̜̠̩̲̞̥̌̒̈͠È̴̠͛̊ͅḘ̵̅͋͝E̵̘̞̺̓́͋̚͝E̸͖̯͇̙͙͆̅͘Ȩ̷̺̣̼̏̚!!!!!
The relentless wailing continued, and Wei Wuxian covered his ears with a grimace. Lan Wangji glared at the coffin in extreme distaste. The green fire around them flickered dangerously, but with a little boost from Wei Wuxian, kept burning steadily through the onslaught.
Then silence.
Blessed, beautiful silence.
Curious, Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian looked into the coffin.
“This is—” Wei Wuxian whispered in shock. “Where is the body? Is this coffin just for the sword? That’s a first for me.”
Inside was not a body, but a sabre. The blade gleamed wickedly sharp despite years of disuse and abandonment. Wei Wuxian felt uneasy. All that resentment, just from a sword? Nie Huaisang really undersold this issue.
“A lone sabre interned in such a fortified crypt…” Lan Wangji wandered aloud, frowning.
“Yeah, there has to be some secret to this.” Wei Wuxian agreed. No way that occasionally touching resentful energy led to such a buildup. I wonder whose sabre this is? I bet that’s the secret. “But more importantly, what about Jin Ling? Where is he?”
Lan Wangji’s eyes darkened. “Let me ask.”
And so they attempted Inquiry, now that the spirits had already been roused. Inquiry gave voice to shades that did not have one, and while Wei Wuxian was extremely sensitive to the voices of spirits just on his own, in here, it was overwhelming.
I’m so glad Lan Zhan is here, Wei Wuxian thought, watching his partner fondly. I’d go insane from voices all over again if he wasn’t. What a mess. What a mess, indeed.
Lan Wangji concluded his song with utmost serenity, and once the glowing spirit-bubbles had a moment to confer amongst themselves, a single brave soul ventured forward and plucked a few strings on the guqin. Lan Wangji frowned.
“What is it?” Wei Wuxian asked.
“The souls here are odd.” Huanguang-Jun reported. “They know nothing about this place from when they were alive.
Hmm, so my hunch was right. Wei Wuxian thought, the spirits tied to this place are probably the spirits the sabre killed — I just don’t know if these are trapped ghosts or new ghosts of people murdered. On that latter thought, what kind of Nie Sect Leader goes butchering people?
“How odd!” Wei Wuxian remarked aloud, “Have any of them seen Jin Ling?”
“Face the south-west.” Lan Wangji translated, and Wei Wuxian did. “After each note is played, take a step forward. When the music stops, he will be right in front of you.”
And so Wei Wuxian did.
Ding.
Ding.
Ding.
Ding.
Ding.
Ding.
Ding.
Ding.
“Lan Zhan,” The YIlling Laozu paused, puzzled. “This is a dead end. Don’t tell me—” The pieces clicked together. “He’s in the wall?”
Furious, Wei Wuxian drew a shattering talisman in the air and slapped it on the wall, causing the entire structure to shudder. A person-size hole crumbled away into fine rubble, and once the dust had cleared, Wei Wuxian saw a hint of golden cloth.
“Lan Zhan, he’s here. Get the rocks off!” Wei Wuxian commanded, leaning in further to catch Jin Ling as his upper body slumped forward. He was unconscious, but thankfully Wei Wuxian could find a pulse. Once Lan Wangji got the rocks off Jin Ling’s robes, Wei Wuxian pulled the kid free.
Around him, the spirits of the mausoleum tensed in anticipation. Wei Wuxian snarled at them, casting a wordless spell that threw them back in a wave of thick, black shadows.
“Lan Zhan, take Jin Ling.” Wei Wuxian pushed Jin Ling into Lan Wangji’s arms. “I’ll make sure nothing follows after us, but you have Bichen. Fly him out now!”
As Lan Wangji took off with a nod, Wei Wuxian loosened his careful control and let crimson lightning crackle around his form. The wailing reached a mind-shattering pitch as the spirits coalesced, dissonant and angry, but Wei Wuxian’s skill in talismanry was scond to none.
He drew them in the air, using blood as his medium. Supress, confuse, daze. Might as well toss in the one I saw on that array, too. Now you can’t see each other either.
He gathered resentment around him and used it to augment his steps, running after Lan Wangji. The sheer number of spirits made it hard to trap them, and after overwhelming his stalling, they focused on Lan Wangji with vengeance. They were drawn to vulnerability, and Jin Ling was the most vulnerable one here.
I need to be faster, Wei Wuxian thought, forcing his resentful energy into some mimicry of a jian. I don’t actually have a sword, but maybe I can ride this out. The perimeter defenses still hold, I just need to stay ahead of them or this will get ugly, fast.
As the crackling, bloody lightning stabilized amidst his shadows, Wei Wuxian found himself keeping pace with Lan Wangji. The balance of it was so, so delicate. Like the prick of a kitten’s claws. Such fine control that it was hard to keep focus, but it was working.
The hands of some pissed ghost nearly caught Lan Wangji’s robes, and Wei Wuxian tore them away with claws of his own. The fury within him bled into his own resentment, causing the current he was riding to lash about dangerously.
Wei Wuxian blindly threw another sequence of powerful suppression talismans into the void behind them. Whatever ghost it hit went careening to the side and shattered a stone pillar from the force of it, and now falling debris joined the mess of things for them to dodge.
The exit appeared, only heartbeats away.
They were so close.
Wei Wuxian held his breath.
One.
Two.
And they were out.
The wave of furious spirits crashed into the invisible barrier seal surrounding the perimeter of the crypt, angry that their prey had escaped. They screamed and wailed and sobbed, grotesque, flickering faces occasionally manifesting from the force of the accumulated fury. Their vicious voices became a cacophony that turned the air around them into a living hell, but thankfully Wei Wuxian couldn’t hear them anymore.
Breathing heavily, Wei Wuxian turned to Lan Wangji. “How is he?”
“Unconscious but alive.” Lan Wangji reported. Wei Wuxian reached into his partner’s robes and pulled out an emergency flare. He fired it off.
“That’ll bring Jiang Cheng and Nie Huaisang to us.” He said, sitting on a large rock. Between them, they settled Jin Ling as comfortably as they could in the grass. Wei Wuxian removed his over-robe and rolled it up as a pillow for his nephew.
They didn’t have to wait long. Jiang Cheng appeared moments later, having raced here on Sandu at the sight of the flare. Curiously, Nie Huaisang wasn’t with him.
“I ditched him,” The Jiang Sect Leader growled, seeing their curious looks. “If Nie Huaisang can’t navigate his own ancestral graveyard, that’s his problem. I’m not waiting for that slowpoke. Where’s Jin Ling?”
Wei Wuxian beckoned him over. “Alive, but unconscious. The spirits inside these mausoleums are nasty things—they were leeching his life force dry, and had trapped him inside a wall.” He paused, red eyes narrowing. “He wasn’t in there long enough for permanent damage, but I think there’s a curse on his right leg.”
Jiang Cheng took off Jin Ling’s boot and rolled his pants up without preamble. There was indeed a curse—a nasty, green-black swirl of resentful miasma that had started to blister.
“Fuck.” Jiang Cheng hissed. He pulled out a qiankun pouch of his own and began to rummage through the medical supplies.
“I can transfer the curse to me. It’ll be burnt off within the day.” Wei Wuxian offered.
Jiang Wanyin shook his head. “No. It’s not life-threatening. It’ll be a good lesson in recklessness for it to heal slowly. Let’s just negate its effects and let the resentment dissipate with time.”
Surprised, Wei Wuxian took the bandages from the pouch and began drawing quick sigils in charcoal. It would make sure that the effect of any resentment didn’t extend beyond the injury and affect his mind.
Once Jiang Wanyin had applied an antibacterial salve, he took the bandages and carefully wrapped up Jin Ling’s leg. On top of Wei Wuxian’s work, he added a traditional Jiang Lotus Seal, to promote quick healing and prevent infection.
As the wound was dressed, Wei Wuxian played a few notes on his white jade flute to test the intensity of the curse, and found that it had been successfully trapped and neutralized. The blistering had already healed from the strength of his golden core, which meant Jin Ling would just have an extremely bruised, sore leg for a few days.
Lan Wangji offered to play Clarity to soothe Jin Ling’s mind, to which Jiang Cheng accepted, bowing in thanks. The afternoon had turned into evening, the sun slowly vanishing, and it was only the glow from Lan Wangji’s calm spiritual energy that kept their gathering from falling prey to the ominous atmosphere.
As the gentle music surrounded them, Jiang Cheng turned to Wei Wuxian.
“When Hanguan-Jun is done.” He said, “Let’s get out of here and discuss things over dinner. This place is full of nasty, neglected things and Nie Huaisang is a horrible Sect Leader. Jin Ling needs a bed and a proper doctor to make sure I didn’t fuck up my field medicine, and then we can tear Huaisang a new one.”
Wei Wuxian nodded, grim. On that, they were of the same mind.
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