Chapter Text
When Lan Qiren saw that Wei Wuxian was wearing his beloved nephew's undershirt, he gave up. There was no saving him. No help. Lan Wangji was gone… way too infatuated with that boy. Heck, if they hadn’t had sex yet, he would be surprised.
He just wished it didn’t go the same way as it had with his own beloved
However, when Wei Wuxian exposed Su She’s plot, he couldn't help but be surprised. Was he truly innocent? Lan Qiren was an excellent judge of character, and while he wouldn't admit it, Wei Wuxian was a good person.
Was.
Why did things turn out like this?
His shock grew as Wei Wuxian willingly painted the Spirit Attraction Flag on his own shirt, and announced that he would stay behind with Wangji to defend him while the others escaped.
But even then, the corpses kept on coming in waves, and waves. It didn’t help that The Ghost General was still shocked, unwilling to fight his family, and Shizhui- oh dear lord what if Shizhui remembered? What would he do?
Run away with his parents
With yet another wave of corpses, Wei Wuxian stopped fighting. He whispered something to Wangji, and oh-
Lan Zhan's face. In all his life, Lan Qiren had never seen something so heartbreaking. He was devastated… He tried to go to Wuxian, but a corpse blocked the way, and Wei Ying drew another array on the ground. There was a flash of light.
Stillness.
Nothing.
‘Wei Ying?’ Lan Zhan asked tentatively.
And that was how they were in this position. Lan Wangji cradling Wei Wuxian’s dead body, the juniors along with Sect Leader Jiang crowding around him. The whole group of cultivators were silent. There were no more corpses, that was true. But Wei Wuxian, the Yiling Louzu, was dead.
‘How- why- why did that idiot? That self-sacrificing idiot why!’ This outburst surprisingly came from Jiang Wanyin. Hmm. Interesting, did they not hate each other?
‘Shut up’ The hiss came from Hanguang-Jun. ‘You shut up. You’re an ungrateful filthy bastard-
Jiang Wanyin cut him off again. ‘Don't you dare assume anything! You don't know- you don't- you wouldn’t.’ There were tears streaking down his face. Wangji shut up.
Lan Qiren felt a stab of pity for Jiang Cheng. The poor boy was only 20 when he lost his parents, sister, and brother. And this was the second time.
‘How?’ Lan Jingyi voiced. There was a cough.
“I know.” The cultivators turned to the raspy voice of The Ghost General. “It's a talism, one that Master Wei didn’t use and put it away as it was dangerous. It was made in case the spirits in the Stygian Tiger Seal got too rowdy, and he couldn't conquer them. It works by showing the intention of people you want to save, and the thing you wanted to eliminate. Master Wei never managed to make a version which didn't have such dastardly consequences, such as depleting ones spiritual power”
The room fell silent. Had the Yiling Lauzuo, the most evil being to ever exist, saved them? No way. The mere notion was highly laughable. But the way the body lay limply in the white-robed cultivators lap, the lack of the rise and fall of the chest, and the sheer paleness of the body was enough evidence. Wei Wuxian was dead. And he had saved them all.
“There's something else.” Jiang Wanyin stated. Lan WangJi's head snapped up.
“There's something you're not telling us. What's the price?” he questioned. A feeling of dread settled in Lan QIren. Please don't let it be-
“Master Wei wasn't 100% sure, but-”
“But what?” XiChen asked.
Interrupting someone was against the rules.
“It's possible that his soul will never enter the reincarnation cycle again.”
Silence.
“
WHAT!???!??”
It had been half an hour since the ‘incident’, or so Jingyi had dubbed it as. It was so uncomfortable in the stuffy room which they were currently blocked in. An unforeseen side effect of the talisman. As the only people who had spiritual energy left were the Juniors, it was best for the adults to wait until the spiritual energy replenished itself.
And Su She. He was… missing. Having teleported out, the Clan leaders began to discuss what to do when out of here.
And… there was of course the matter of Wei Wuxian. The Yiling Laozu. A dead man twice. The body was still in Hanguang-Juns lap, Jiang Wanyin and Nie Huisang surrounding him.
Ehhh… dead body? Best not to question it.
The only good thing out of this situation was that the Little Mistress wasn’t being a little shit. Amazing really. It’s a wonder what a death could do.
But… Jingyi would miss Senior Mo… or Senior Wei? Yiling Laozu? The man had bought spice into his life, both figuratively, and literally. And it looked like Sect Leader Jiang and Hanguang-Jun were affected. Sect Lader Nie just looked… tired??? Like a prank gone wrong? Obviously Jingyi being the master of deception and chaos reincarnated, he would know that look. But…. Best not to question it.
Before he could go over and bother Sizhui (the child looked traumatized), there was a flash of bright light. Coming from the dead body
Oh no. Nothing good ever came out of flashes of light. Especially flashes of light coming from a dead body. He sincerely hoped that it not going to explode. Too young to die or some other shit. And Jingyi was right. Because when the flash of light subdued, a very loud yell came… in the voice of someone Jingyi didn’t know?
And suddenly the body in Lan Zhan’s lap was bigger than before and the face was slightly distorted, and the DEAD BODY was moving…!!!
Nope. Fucking nope. Today was not the day to meet a fierce corpse (the Ghost General did NOT count)
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Everything hurt. Why did everything hurt? It was NOT nice. At least the smell was nice. Yes nice smell. Sandalwood, just like Lan Zhan!