Chapter Text
Jin Ling tried not to groan as he watched the agonizing disaster that was supposed to be a conversation between Jiang Cheng and Wei Ying.
The awkward looks and stilted smiles were bad enough, but the knowledge that the brothers actually wanted to patch things up, and were failing miserably, was enough to make him want to tear his hair out.
Except there wasn't a thing he could do about it.
Not that he hadn't tried. Of course he had. He, Sizhui, Jingyi, and Zizhen had all tried their best in various ways to help with very little success.
Unfortunately, even seven years after the horrifying mess that had been Guanyin Temple they had very little to show for their efforts. His jiujiu remained as stubborn as ever, and though his idiot of a dajiu should've known that Jiang Cheng expressed his feelings as anger it seemed that despite everything else there was something fundamentally broken.
Zizhen was of the opinion that after all the pain and hardship and sacrifice, what Wei Ying wanted wasn't a return to their old days and ways. It was an acknowledgment of everything, and maybe some words that didn't hurt.
Jin Ling was inclined to agree with him. It was written plainly on Wei Ying's face every time Jiang Cheng made a cutting comment intended to communicate that he wanted some time with his brother without sharing him with Hanguang-Jun. The subtext was not getting through anymore, and all that was there was hurt.
Which made the conferences he now had to attend even more painful than they already were.
He watched for another moment as Jiang Cheng's frustration grew at the same rate as Wei Ying's upset and Hanguang-Jun's quiet anger and decided an intervention was needed.
"Dajiu!" He called as he trotted over, ignoring the whispering of certain sect leaders he dearly wanted to punch, and was relieved to see a bright, genuine, smile blossom across Wei Ying's face.
He knew very well that often Wei Ying's smiles served to hide his pain, and this one probably was as well, but he was also genuinely glad to see him. And that counted for a lot.
"A-Ling!" Wei Ying beamed only to immediately gasp theatrically and teasingly start to dip into a bow, "I mean, Jin-zongzhu..."
"Ugh." Jin Ling groused, grabbing his uncle out of that bow, "Don't you start that too! I still look for someone else when someone calls me that!"
Wei Ying laughed and slung his arm over Jin Ling's shoulder, an act that was harder than it had been thanks to the growing he'd done over the last few years, "I believe that! Though I hear you're doing a really good job as sect leader."
Jin Ling flushed a little but couldn't help smiling. He honestly wasn't sure if he was doing all that good a job as sect leader, but he'd managed to keep from being assassinated and the sect reasonably prosperous so he supposed he wasn't completely screwing things up. And that counted well enough for him.
"Will you be visiting Sizhui and the others?" Lan Zhan asked, his expression a little softer on him. It had taken Sizhui and Jingyi ages to teach him how to read people the way a Lan did, but he was very grateful for the lessons now. It made working with Hanguang-Jun in any way a little less terrifying.
"Yes." He replied, fully intent on spending at least a couple of days in his zhiji's company, "I was hoping we could go for a nighthunt before I have to go back to Lanling?"
"Oi! You want to go nighthunting with them, but not me?" Jiang Cheng demanded, looking irritated, and Jin Ling rolled his eyes.
"Jiujiu, I could go nighthunting with them exclusively for another year and still not beat the number of hunts we've been on." He drawled, "Stop being jealous."
"Who said anything about being jealous?" Jiang Cheng demanded, swelling up in offense, and Jin Ling smirked insolently while Wei Ying tensed a little in concern.
"I did." He replied smartly, and Wei Ying couldn't quite hold back a snicker that made the whole intervention worth it. That was better.
"We'd love to go nighthunting before you leave a-Ling." He grinned.
"Mn." Lan Zhan hummed agreeably, "Conference is over for today. Sizhui, Jingyi, and Zizhen are at Wei Ying's workshop."
Jin Ling had suspected that was the case, but he couldn't help lighting up at the news anyway and he nodded before taking his leave. He hoped his work had helped to dispel the tension for a while, but he doubted it would last much beyond the moment.
Which was beyond frustrating. They really needed to do something to fix this before it broke irreparably.
He wanted both of his uncles to be able to be in the same room together without it ending in an argument. Unfortunately, Jin Ling didn't know how to fix whatever had twisted between them. He wasn't his mother -- he didn't have her legendary diplomatic skills and had no idea what she would do to fix this.
His jiujiu had often told him about her, more so in recent years after things became more steady between him and Wei Ying. She had always been able to bring them together after they spent so much time fighting with one another. She had been able to smooth Jiang Cheng's jagged edges while reigning in Wei Ying's antics and teasing.
However, it was a skill he had not inherited at all, and he knew the instant he left his uncles, they would go right back to awkwardly stepping around one another. With Jiang Cheng growling, Wei Ying forcing a fake smile to his face and Lan Zhan's stony silence.
He sighed and headed to the workshop, shoving his hands into his sleeves to ward off the chill coming in from Gusu's spring rivers and creeks, and wished for the thousandth time that his zhiji didn't live in a place so damned cold. Wei Ying had certainly looked like he had been cold earlier, layered in a fur lined cloak that he had laughingly insisted was Lan Zhan's way of coddling him.
He walked into the workshop with some measure of relief just as the wind rushed by him, whistling loudly against the door. He hoped absently that Wei Ying was not still arguing with his jiujiu out in the cold, in Mo Xuanyu's body he was bound to catch something.
Jiujiu was frightful with his temper when it came to taking care of his loved ones, and he would not take Wei Ying being sick well at all either. He shuddered at the thought of that encounter and instead turned towards the three others that were alerted to his arrival.
"Little mistress!" Lan Jingyi crowed at the sight of him, springing up to his feet and a wide smile flashing across his face. Next to him was Sizhui, who had been seemingly reading a book of poetry out loud to the others, and Jin Ling couldn't help swooning a little when he looked up and smiled at him.
Nearby, under a pile of half-scribbled talismans and books was Zizhen, who looked like he was on the verge of crawling across the floor to beg for mercy from his assignment.
"Let me guess," Jin Ling said casually, trying very hard not to laugh outright at his poor beloved, "Dajiu has you cleaning up his workshop?"
"He said it would be good practice to see how 'the mind of a genius' works!" Zizhen complained miserably and Jin Ling laughed at his plight.
"Well don't look at me, I haven't been able to figure that out myself at all!" Jin Ling smirked and sprawled back, leaning against Jingyi's shoulder once he took a seat on his opposite side, pleased when one strong arm curled around his waist. He thought back to his uncles staring one another down and scowled.
"If I could, everything would be easier." He muttered, more to himself than anyone else.
Still, it caught the attention of his companions and Sizhui hummed and carefully bookmarked his page as he straightened up a bit more.
"How was the conference?" He asked and Jin Ling groaned.
"Awful, simply awful." He bemoaned, "It's not fair that you all get to skip and I have to waste away, bored out of my mind while you guys get to hang out here and read Wei Wuxian's dirty poetry!"
"Was it fuqin again?" Zizhen asked sympathetically and Jin Ling snorted.
"Yeah, but he wasn't any worse than usual." He grumbled, "Dajiu was there because he had to explain his latest inventions, and it was horrible."
"What happened?" Sizhui asked in concern, "Wei-qianbei worked very hard on what he was going to say leading up to today. Surely he didn't forget his speech? He was so proud of it!"
Jin Ling shook his head, "His speech was fine. Though your fuqin and Yao-zongzhu were kind of asses about it, Zizhen."
"That's a surprise." Zizhen hummed, "Those two are quick to back whoever is in the best favor currently, but ever since everything came out about Jin Guangyao they've been very firmly in Hanguang-Jun's corner."
Jin Ling shrugged, "I'm pretty sure it was because they couldn't see the use in the water purification or the possibilities of soil purification. They wanted to know how that would benefit the cultivation world. Hanguang-Jun had to step in and tell them to shut up long enough for dajiu to explain."
"Ouch." Jingyi winced sympathetically, "I hope that was the worst of it."
Or Jingyi would be ready to draw on whoever had made it worse. Jin Ling smirked a little at the subtext there. He loved his aggravating, bloodthirsty, Lan. He really did.
"I wish." He sighed, "Dajiu and jiujiu tried to have a conversation afterwards."
Immediately the other three all froze with looks of mingled horror and very optimistic hope.
"How... how bad was it?" Sizhui asked uncertainly.
"Weapons weren't drawn, and all Hanguang-Jun did was glower, but otherwise it was more of the usual." Jin Ling shook his head, "I had to intervene. It was too painful to watch otherwise."
They winced collectively and Zizhen groaned, "This is getting ridiculous." He whined, "I know their past is complicated, but come on! It's been seven years already! Surely they can talk things out a little by now?"
"I wouldn't count on it." Sizhui sighed, "They don't like talking about it much, but given what history alone tells us the situation was far from clear. It would be easy to get things badly tangled up. Especially with Wei-qianbei's personality."
"What do you mean?"
Sizhui eyed their lover with mild surprise, "Wei-qianbei always does what he thinks is right. No matter what." He replied, "And while that's very admirable, you have to also consider the situation of the time." He began ticking points off on his fingers, "There was war. The Jiang sect had to be rebuilt after the massacre. And Jin Guangshan wanted the Stygian Tiger Tally. Jiang-zongzhu had no means to protect it from him. Likewise, he would have had no means or strength to protest the treatment of the Wen and offer them succor. And those are just the things I've thought of so far. I'm sure the reality was even worse."
Jin Ling nodded soberly, "I agree. Everything was going wrong at that time." He rubbed his face, "It makes me wish we could go back and do something to help. If we could change things even a little..."
"We might have larger effects." Sizhui nodded, "Yes. I wish we could too."
Jin Ling was a little startled by that agreement. Generally Sizhui was the sensible one of the four of them, and the least likely to do something rash. But then, if it was a choice between trying to save what was left of the Wen and knowing you were the last of your clan, it became a lot more understandable.
"Maybe we can."
The softly spoken words from Zizhen had all of them whipping around to look at him and he laughed a little as he held his hands up, "Don't look at me like that! It's shizun's idea! Look!"
He dug around a little in the boxes and containers and pulled out a stack bound around a square box, "See?" He said as he untied them, "Shizun has been working on this in private. I only know about it because I had to clean up the papers and put them in some kind of sensible order. If I'm reading his handwriting correctly, it's an array that links past, present, and future together."
"Are you serious?" Jingyi asked as Sizhui took the papers and began looking through them with interest, "Why would he make something like that?"
Zizhen shrugged, "I don't know. Shizun's notes are the worst to read on a good day, and he didn't put his thoughts down on this. But he probably has regrets of his own he wishes he could fix. I think he hit a wall or gave up on it though. The work looks incomplete, and the whole thing was shoved into a corner and didn't look like it had been touched in ages."
"Really?" Jingyi gasped, pushing himself forward to stare at the notes eagerly before his brow furrowed, his face twisting in confusion. "Are you sure you can actually read this?"
Zizhen gave Jingyi a distinctly offended look and leaned back against him so Jingyi rested his hand on his shoulder and brushed his hair off the back of his neck.
"I'll have you know you are looking at Wei-qianbei's first disciple of resentful energy! I am very capable of reading my shizun's writing!" Zizhen tapped his chest.
"You're his only disciple." Jin Ling pointed out dryly and Zizhen gave an overly offended gasp that left them all laughing.
Sizhui came in close so they all ended up huddled together so he could look at the talismans, "Wei-qianbei..."
He said it mournfully as he looked at his terrible writing and Jin Ling smothered a laugh. The Lan had perfect calligraphy, and even Jingyi boasted some of the most beautiful, flowing script he had ever seen before.
Zizhen grabbed a brush and began transcribing his own notes off of Wei Ying's handwriting and Jin Ling had to admit that he was doing a better job of reading the mess than any of them could claim.
Still, if he was reading what his zhiji was writing correctly… it seemed Zizhen's claims were true.
"Are you sure this could work?" He asked tensely, "You said it was incomplete."
"It is." Zizhen murmured distractedly as he worked, "But the bulk of the work is done already. All we need to do is refine and finish the design."
"Is it that simple?" Sizhui asked with a frown of concern, as aware as the rest of them that creating or modifying a talisman or array was often difficult and dangerous. If even one stroke was off then if you were lucky it wouldn't work.
If you weren't… well, there was a reason why talisman masters were so few and far between.
"Simple isn't the world I would choose." Zizhen snorted as he flashed them a smirk before snatching up a clean sheet of paper to draw on, "Fortunately, the groundwork had already been laid. I only need to follow the path to its natural conclusion."
And if anyone could follow that path, it was Zizhen. He had a talent for engineering, talismans, and arrays that Jin Ling knew he could never understand in a thousand years if he tried. Their zhiji's mind was always thinking, always calculating, always creating. It had only taken a little encouragement from Wei Ying for him to blossom, and now his dajiu was the only one who could truly keep up with him.
Which meant that if Zizhen thought he could do it, then he could.
It was a dazzling thought that left Jin Ling breathless from the possibilities.
It was a chance to change the past, their past, with the knowledge that in doing so would create a whole new future. Though it wasn't without some very explicit warnings. Changing the past came with the price that those doing the changing would fade from existence as their futures became irrevocably altered. And if they didn't ensure their younger selves were alive, or at least conceived, before that happened, they might not ever exist at all.
Which was a daunting prospect. Still...
Jin Ling swallowed, his eyes jerking up to meet Sizhui's.
"We could fix it." He breathed out quietly.
"We could change everything that happened." Sizhui's eyes went bright before abruptly going somewhat stormy with emotion, "But--"
"But why wouldn't Wei-qianbei cast this himself? He made the spell, didn't he? Even with the consequences, he could've changed so much." Jingyi asked quietly into the air between them. He leaned in close to Sizhui, one hand squeezing slight comfort on Jin Ling's shoulder and the other hand cupped in Sizhui's.
"Because what could he change?" Jin Ling answered softly, "He made his choices back then, and to change them now would risk undoing everything he has gained."
"Yes, he would force himself to be grateful for what he has now." Sizhui said softly, "He wouldn't want to be too greedy and anger the gods by demanding too much."
But they would. Jin Ling absolutely would at that moment. They had never before had a chance to do something to change the fate of their seniors. They all deserved some kind of help. Some kind of closure to the pain that had plagued them for years.
He knew eventually Wei Ying and Jiang Cheng would probably get through to one another, but there was also just as much of a chance that they would both decide to mutually close those chapters on their lives together and go their separate ways.
"I don't care about angering the gods," He growled in a tumultuous voice, "I'll do it myself! How does it work, Zizhen?"
"Eh?" Zizhen looked up in surprise and gave him a wide eyed look, "Don't be dumb a-Ling, you want to fix this problem by yourself?"
Jin Ling frowned and opened his mouth to protest but Sizhui cut him off.
"This problem is too big for any one of us to handle alone. And we're your zhiji. Therefore, I'm going too." Sizhui said firmly.
"Same here." Jingyi smirked.
Zizhen grinned wide at the others, catching Jin Ling completely off guard, "Looks like you're being overruled Jin Ling."
"You two don't even have a direct link to put yourselves at risk for!" Jin Ling protested. He grunted when Jingyi dragged him close with a strong arm and pressed a gentle kiss to the vermilion mark on his forehead.
"Yeah, you think so?" Jingyi demanded, his eyes narrowing with a fierce sharpness.
"Better think again." Zizhen huffed at them and tilted his chin up, "Not only will we stay by your sides, but we care about Wei-qianbei and Hanguang-Jun too!"
"We need to plan." Sizhui spoke up with that little frown that said he was thinking hard, "Very carefully. For as many contingencies as possible. We're only going to have one shot at this and we cannot mess it up no matter when we land."
"We'll have to decide that too." Zizhen replied as he frowned at both his notes and the original papers, "The array was very clear on that part. We have to specify when we want to go so it anchors itself properly."
Jin Ling exhaled slowly as the reality of that sank in. Any point in the timeline of the past nearly twenty-five years was a lot to work with, and for a moment the possibilities dazzled him.
"We could go back to the beginning." He breathed, "When they were juniors attending the lectures."
So much could be saved if they went back that far! So much pain averted. The burning of Cloud Recesses, the massacre at Lotus Pier. He could see his parents while they were young and still courting! He could see his uncles when they were vibrant and eager and not burdened with the pain and suffering that would come. Just the thought made his eyes misty.
"We can't a-Ling." Sizhui murmured regretfully, snapping him out of his reverie and Jin Ling shot him a glare.
"Why not?" He demanded.
"It's... like ripples in a pond." Sizhui replied slowly, "If we go too far back then Wen Ruohan will still be alive, and the ripples we cause could change the entire outcome of the Sunshot Campaign." He curled his hands into fists, "I want to spare my birth clan. I want to save them. I want to save myself and popo and shushu and everyone. But what would happen if our interference caused the Wen to win?"
Jin Ling's heart stopped a little in horror at that thought. Such an outcome would be... incredibly bad.
If there was one thing that everyone agreed on, it was that Wen Ruohan and his sons were vile in every sense of the term. And unlike what had happened to Wei Ying, there was enough historical evidence backing that claim up to prove it wasn't a false claim. As terrible as it would be, the Wen could not win.
"If we don't..." He replied just as quietly, "Lotus Pier will fall. Jiujiu will lose his core."
And Wei Ying would sacrifice his core for his brother just before being thrown into the Burial Mounds. Marking the beginning of a slow slide straight into madness, despair, and ultimately hell itself.
Sizhui nodded. He knew what he was suggesting they allow to happen. What Jiang Cheng, his mother, and all the others would suffer. The war crimes that would be committed on both sides for the sake of vengeance. They were scars that were still marked on their senior's souls. And always would be.
"We have to let it happen." He said thickly, "Without Lotus Pier, the Sunshot Campaign never happens. Without everything from that time, none of it will happen."
"Then... we have to set our goal for after that." Zizhen said, though he sounded a little shaken by the prospect that they were knowingly not going to stop the war from taking place, "We can aim for a time after the war is over, but before everything goes to hell."
"The Phoenix Mountain tournament." Jingyi spoke up soberly, "That would be the best place. The war will be over, and Wei-qianbei will have had time to heal a little. We'd be able to nudge events from there. That's all we can do. We won't be known in the past. At best, we'll pass for rogue cultivators without names. We can't just expect people with power to listen to us. So we have to work around them in smaller ways."
Jin Ling nodded slowly and reluctantly. As much as he didn't want to admit it, the others were right. In the past, he wouldn't be a sect heir. None of them would. They wouldn't matter to the major players of the era one bit. He blinked and straightened as he realized that wasn't entirely true.
"Nie Huaisang." He breathed, prompting the others to look at him in confusion, "Maybe you're right about the timing, but you're wrong about us not being able to get anyone in power to work with us. If we can get Nie Huaisang on our side from the start, then he can help us. Everything that happened seven years ago happened because he wanted revenge for his brother's murder. What do you think he would do if we dangled the promise of dajiu's cure in front of him in exchange for his help?"
It was widely known now that Wei Ying had pioneered a way to subvert and train out the build up of resentful energy in the Nie cultivators. It was first accomplished with a series of acupuncture treatments in a call back to the infamous doctor Wen Qing, combined with Lan cleansing songs to hold the effects at bay until Wei Ying was able to create a spring dedicated wholly to the cleansing and balancing of Nie cultivators.
It allowed them to keep their practices without compromising their safety or even encouraging a potential qi deviation.
That act alone had earned the collective gratitude of the Nie and marked the moment relationships between the Nie and Lan improved, and more specifically between Nie Huaisang and Wei Ying. There had been some initial distrust due to the man's plotting and machinations, but they had slowly grown back into a friendship. One that Jin Ling had overheard his jiujiu speak to the other sect leader about in a belated wish he had done something to help Wei Ying in the past, even if it was just done for his selfish desire to have his brother back healthy and whole.
"That could work." Zizhen murmured and moved to the floor to begin marking out his finished design. "Nie Huaisang had all of us fooled back then, and he may not be the same man he was then that he is now, but he's our best bet!"
"Are we sure we want to involve him?" Jingyi asked worriedly, "Will the promise of a cure be enough to get him to help us?"
Jin Ling believed it would be. He had witnessed what happened in the temple on that fateful night where Nie Huaisang's plan came to fruition.
He had been patient, quietly waiting for a chance to run Jin Guangyao through and completely destroy him. He had done everything to earn that revenge, even going as far as to destroy his own reputation. To sacrifice even the reputation of his sect and make it so the Nie were a laughing stock among the others.
That was a terrifying man.
And an excellent ally.
"It will be enough. We just must find a way to convince him that what we're telling him is the truth." Sizhui said firmly.
"The knowledge of his brother's failing health will probably be enough. It was kept a secret from everyone except Shushu and Zewu-Jun." Jin Ling murmured.
"It's done."
They turned towards Zizhen, who had drawn all over the floor with cinnabar and whatever else Wei Ying had laying around. Jin Ling swallowed hard as Sizhui straightened with determination. He joined Zizhen on the floor, Jin Ling stepping down beside them with Jingyi determinedly joining them.
"Last chance to back out." Jin Ling said firmly but the others met his stare evenly. They joined hands in the center and Jin Ling stared at all of them, feeling some kind of way over his zhiji willing to walk this path with him.
It meant more than he could ever hope to say, but it seemed they understood anyway. Of course they did. They always understood. That was what it meant to be zhiji.
"In case something goes wrong and we get separated, let's plan to make for Yiling at the first chance." Zizhen said, "Or if all else fails we can use Shizun's messenger ravens."
Jin Ling and the others nodded. They'd all learned Wei Ying's version of the butterfly messengers, and while he was of the opinion the butterflies were far more elegant, there was no denying the ravens were a distinct upgrade to the original.
"Is there a time limit?" Sizhui asked and Zizhen shook his head.
"No. We'll have as much time as we need."
They all nodded again and Zizhen took a breath as he carefully placed a small round marble in the center of the array and tucked both box and papers inside his robes. Jin Ling wondered idly if that stuff would follow with them, and if they should get more supplies, but decided that more delay would increase the chance of discovery. There was only so long Lan Zhan would allow Wei Ying and Jiang Cheng to talk at each other before shooing his husband away to more positive and pleasurable pursuits.
They could figure out supplies once they got there.
"Alright." Zizhen breathed, "Let's change history."
They pressed their hands against the array, channeling their spiritual energy into it, and in seconds the array was glowing brightly around them. Jin Ling sucked in a breath as the power grew into an almost blinding light around them and he felt a sharp tug on his golden core.
It was working!
He distantly heard the door to the workshop slam open just as the power around them rose into a crescendo and had only a moment to glimpse Wei Ying's horrified face before it crashed over them and abruptly his world tilted sideways and then he was falling.
He wasn't sure how long or hard he fell, but he knew the moment he landed when he hit his shoulder on something hard. He grunted a little in pain as he tried to get his spinning senses back under control and in some semblance of normal. A process that took what felt like several minutes before the world stopped spinning even with his eyes closed and he was able to risk cracking them open.
When he did he couldn't help gaping as he slowly registered the fine wooden floor he'd landed on and the opulent, to the point of tacky, decorations.
Carp Tower. That was the only place he could be. And as his senses cleared a little more he even recognized the room.
Or the type of room anyway. It was one of the smaller and, for the Jin, lesser rooms generally reserved for the more distant blood relations to the main branch family. Specifically, the ones who were also cultivators. Even better, this particular room was not occupied, and didn't have any indication it had been for a while.
Which was perfect for him since there was no way he could've held back the giddy laugh that bubbled up in him if he'd tried.
It had worked! It had really worked! He was back in the past at least twenty-one years! His uncles were alive! His parents were alive! And now they could ensure everyone stayed that way.
The reminder that he hadn't come alone startled him out of his laughter and he groaned a little as he pulled himself upright. He had to find the others. If they were really here during the Phoenix Mountain tournament then they would probably be nearby. Perhaps they were with their respective sects?
The thought was as good as any, and Jin Ling clung to it as he regained his balance enough he could walk without looking drunk before heading outside to do some scouting.
With luck, he would find the others and Nie Huaisang soon and they could set their whole plan into motion.
The thought made him feel giddy with anticipation all over again.