Chapter Text
Rumor 4: The Yiling Patriarch performs all manner of dangerous heretical experiments
The idea has been stewing in his head for years. He had been thirteen and on a night hunt when he and his fellow disciples had been forced to fight a number of malevolent spirits in the middle of a town, while ensuring that no harm came to the townspeople. It had been a brutal fight, as they couldn’t fight at full power for fear of hurting someone. In the end, it had taken them too long to subdue the spirits and two townspeople had received minor injuries.
It hadn’t been the first time Wei Wuxian had looked at a night hunting practice and thought it could be done better, but it was the first time an idea had latched onto his mind so tightly. He had believed, even then, that it would make things so much easier if cultivators were able to fight on their own terms instead of chasing after whatever ghost or fierce corpse they were hunting. It was just one of the ideas in the back of his head.
That was, until he had been thrown into the Burial Mounds and was forced to learn to manipulate resentful energy, which gave him a better understanding of both resentment and energy than he had had before. Suddenly, things just began clicking into place in his mind. His new ability to manipulate such energy was because he understood it on a fundamental level.
Of course, his use of demonic cultivation in the Sunshot Campaign was mostly out of desperation and necessity to survive, and he had often used unrefined techniques because he cared more about it as a way to win his battles rather than as a cultivation method in it’s own right. Once it was over, he was able to concentrate more on how he could use resentful energy as more than just a means to an end. But it was only back in the Burial Mounds that he was able to explore the limitations of demonic cultivation closely through experimentation. That had led to him figuring out the problem he had been tossing around in his head for almost a decade now— whether it was possible to use methods of attracting resentful energy to lure malevolent beings into an ambush.
“I call it the spirit-attraction flag,” he proclaims to Wen Qing and Wen Ning as he shows them his finished prototype. As the only others here who have backgrounds in cultivation, they are the ones he counts on to test the validity of his theories.
“I suppose the name is self explanatory,” Wen Qing says. “How far away is it effective?”
“Well,” he scratches his head. “I haven’t exactly been able to test that. The Burial Mounds is full of ambient resentful energy, it wouldn’t give me the most reliable results.”
“We could test it the next time we hear of a night hunt near Yiling, Young Master,” Wen Ning suggests. “We might have to hide from other cultivators if they decide to show up, but…”
“But testing this might be worth the risk,” Wei Wuxian picks up where he trails off. Wen Ning nods. “Wen Qing? Do you agree?”
Wen Qing thinks for a moment before sighing. “If it’s going to be of any use, I agree that it needs to be tested. I would argue that you should wait until it’s a little less dangerous for you to be out there, but…”, she shrugs.
“But that won’t happen any time soon?” Wei Wuxian says with a wry smile. For a moment, both Wen Qing and Wen Ning look pained and he can tell they’re both blaming themselves for him being on the outs with the cultivation world. He needs to lift the mood
“Right!” he says brightly. “We’re in agreement, then? The next night hunt?”
They both nod, the pained expressions fading slightly, but he can tell that the guilt still lingers.
“Great!” Wei Wuxian says, slinging an arm around each sibling’s shoulder. “Let’s go celebrate then!”
As he chatters on, he can feel the tension slowly leave both of them. He can’t help the fondness that fills his heart. He might have lost a family, but he gained one in return, and he will never regret helping them.
It was common for those who lived in the Burial Mounds to be woken by the sound of explosions, followed by loud apologies. Wei Wuxian was a genius inventor who saw the world in a way most struggled to comprehend, but that also meant that he had the unfortunate tendency to put things together just to see what would happen, even when what would happen was most likely an explosion. Nevertheless, everyone had gotten used to the fact that when Wei Wuxian was involved, explosions tended to occur, and usually ignored them.
Until this particular explosion, however, which was followed not by apologies, but cheers. Wen Qing immediately comes over to see what has happened. She finds Wei Wuxian celebrating with a talisman in hand. When he sees her, he beams.
“Wen Qing!” he exclaims. “I figured it out!”
“Figured what out?” she asks warily as she makes her way towards him. His smile doesn’t even falter as he hands over the talisman in question.
“The modification to the heating talisman I was telling you about,” he gestures eagerly. “We can use these to get each of the caves to the exact heat and humidity you need to grow your herbs!”
“Oh?’ she asks, looking vaguely impressed. “I thought it was giving you too much trouble?”
“Ah,” he waves his hand dismissively. “I got stuck on that compass I’m working on, so I decided to work on this for a change.”
“Of course you did,” she says, an amused twist to her lips. “Alright, let’s try it out tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow?’ he whines. “Why not right now?”
“When was the last time you slept?” she asks sharply. He looks away, his face giving away his guilt. “That’s what I thought,” she says, rolling her eyes. “Go eat something, then sleep.”
“But Wen Qing,” he continues, dragging her name out as he pouts.
“No,” she says firmly. “Now get some sleep before I stick a needle in you!”
He huffs and walks away, dragging his feet. As he goes, he turns back to see Wen Qing tracing her fingers on the talisman, a small smile on her face. For all that she’s harsh on him when it comes to his health, she is the one person who is always fully appreciative of his inventions while also understanding them. He wouldn’t trade her for the world.
“Do you think it’s possible to use resentful energy for healing?”, Wei Wuxian asks Wen Qing as he watches her prepare her herbs. He has offered to help, but she prefers to do it herself or with Wen Ning because they can’t afford to lose any herbs to improper preparation.
She hums slightly. “There’s no precedent, but then again, there was never any precedent for a golden core transfer either.”
“Nobody’s needed to research it,” he says, now simply thinking out loud. “Everyone who’s tried to work with resentful energy in the past had a golden core, so they could just use that to heal. But their failure to control resentful energy could be because they didn’t compensate for that.”
“Or overcompensated for it,” Wen Qing adds. He nods in agreement.
“But there must be some way to get resentful energy and spiritual energy to work together. Energy is energy, right?”
“Theoretically, yes. Practically? Nobody has ever figured it out, so who knows?”
“I mean,” he shrugs, “When I got thrown in here, I was badly injured. Wen Chao and his men beat the shit out of me and the fall definitely didn’t help. I’m pretty sure I stuffed my body full of resentful energy, and I somehow managed to heal enough to be able to walk out of here without any physical pain.”
“But you don’t remember exactly what you did?”, she asks.
He shakes his head. “I don’t know if that’s because I’ve forgotten or if it’s because I did it accidentally. And if I did forget, I have no way of telling if it was natural or if the resentful energy messed with my thoughts somehow. I was hallucinating pretty heavily for a while in here.”
“And there’s no way to know exactly how resentful energy affects you when you let it in unconsciously,” Wen Qing points out.
Wei Wuxian hums in agreement. “That’s what makes demonic cultivation dangerous,” he says. “Nobody knows anything about it. There are dangers associated with using spiritual energy too, it’s just that people have already figured out what those dangers are and how to mitigate damage. That’s what I plan to do with demonic cultivation too, but does anyone listen? No, the minute they hear the words ‘demonic cultivation’, all they hear is ‘dangerous’.”
He rolls his eyes and is uncomfortably reminded of how his every conversation with Lan Zhan since the beginning of the Sunshot Campaign has degenerated to the harm he was doing to his body with resentful energy. He can’t help but bristle everytime it comes up. He knows. He knows exactly what effects demonic cultivation is having on him, on his temperament, and what is simply because he no longer has a golden core. His constant fatigue, for instance, is because he no longer has a golden core to compensate for a lack of sleep. He looks more worn and haggard because he can no longer practice inedia. They aren't problems arising from his cultivation path. It irritates him that Lan Zhan won’t believe that he has, in fact, thought this through. He knows that there are significantly more dangers to his path than established forms of cultivation, but it’s not like those avenues are open to him anymore. Of course, he can’t tell Lan Zhan that, so he supposes the two of them are bound to argue about this endlessly.
“You should publish your work,” Wen Qing suggests, breaking him out of his thoughts. “People would understand it better if they read about it.”
He snorts derisively. “Who would want to read what the evil Yiling Patriarch has to say about heretical demonic cultivation?”, he asks. “Apart from the power-hungry people who regularly show up and beg me to teach them how to slaughter their families or whatever they want?”
He sighs and buries his face in his hands. From the gaps between his fingers, he can see Wen Qing come and sit across from him. He sighs again, louder, and lowers his hands to look at her properly. She grips his wrists softly. Her hands are gentle but firm— the hands he would entrust his life to, the hands he had entrusted his golden core to.
“Wei Wuxian,” she begins, her tone just as gentle and firm as her hands. “Listen to me. You have done the most unprecedented of things. Honestly, if anyone manages to create a healing method using resentful energy, it would be you. I have no doubts about that. You saw my research, heard the odds, rolled the dice on that and then followed through. You are a living, breathing embodiment of the Yunmeng Jiang ideal.”
He huffs out a laugh at that, but there’s no humour in it. “I did all of that because it was the only option available at the time, Wen Qing.”
“Anyone else would have given up years ago.”
He shakes his head, smiling sadly. “You know that wasn’t an option for me, Wen Qing.”
“Exactly. You never give up. I know that. You know that. But you need to listen to me now.”
“I’m listening to you,” he replies, meeting her eyes properly for the first time since the conversation began.
“Good.” One of her hands still holds his wrist, but the other cups his cheek, making sure he doesn’t look away. “You do not have to do this alone. You have walked alone for far too long. But now, you have me. There is no better doctor than me. And I will do everything I can to help you. So don’t do something stupid like stabbing yourself and trying to heal the wound, alright? That sounds exactly like the sort of thing you would do when you’re consumed by an idea.”
“I— uh… I won’t do that,” Wei Wuxian’s voice cracks as he tries to blink away the traitorous tears that threaten to make an appearance. “Thank you…”, he hesitates, then decides to take his chance. “Thank you Qing-jie.”
“You’re welcome,” she replies, the warmth in her voice unmistakeable. “Now,” she says, standing up, “Show me how much your tea-making has improved.”
Wei Wuxian laughs, glad that Wen Qing isn’t going to mention how watery it sounds. “I make the best tea, Qing-jie. Don’t lie, you love it.”
“We’ll see,” she sniffs.
Wei Wuxian laughs again. He could stay in this moment forever.