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Defeating Wen Ruohan was all well and good and glorious, Wei Wuxian thought to himself wryly, but not exactly the ‘end of the war’ the way the Jin sect was trumpeting. Not when Wen Ruohan still had an outstanding army under some very determined generals who’d just realized that the death of the entire main Wen family meant winning would crown them the new heads of the Wen sect.
Wei Wuxian’s fingers had started hurting long ago. His lungs had started to burn, too, and he was getting a cramp from standing for so long in one place – he tried to remind himself that making himself a target was a good idea, luring out his enemy for his undead army to attack, but it was getting harder to justify as he continuously lost undead soldiers to magic-infused arrows and showers of talismans.
His eyes drifted to the Tiger Seal hanging at his waist.
He was currently using it only for a power boost, not actually using it directly. He’d learned his lesson on that one! It was so powerful, no person could control it, not even him. It was like riding a tiger.
He’d definitely learned his lesson.
Yeah.
Definitely.
Two shichen later, he put Chenqing away and pulled it out.
“I’ll control it better this time,” Wei Wuxian promised himself. “It’ll be fine.”
It was not fine.
It was…not a complete fiasco, mostly on account of the ghosts in the Nightless City being by and large very vengeful against the Wen sect in particular, but that was about all that was keeping it from turning very bad, very fast. Wei Wuxian really didn’t have control over the Tiger Seal, and even just keeping it from summoning every dead thing within a thousand li was proving extraordinarily difficult.
Not that he was letting anyone else know that, of course. If anyone found out…the hit to morale alone…
Wei Wuxian made himself laugh and allowed the resentful energy wrap around him to fan out dramatically, filling his robes as he turned to survey the battlefield.
“Nice,” one of the ghosts hanging around not far from him said. A cultivator whose soul had been torn out of his body by force, it seemed – Wen Ruohan had some strange habits.
Wei Wuxian ignored him. He’d go away eventually.
“Nice ass, I mean.”
Wei Wuxian had meant to continue ignoring him, but he turned to stare instead. “Are you joking? You’re dead.”
The ghost looked unrepentant. “Can’t blame a guy for trying, right?”
Wei Wuxian couldn’t help himself – it was a dire situation, near to disastrous, and he needed his full concentration on trying to fix it, but the smile overcame all his better instincts. It was just so ridiculous.
“I’m flattered,” he said. “But also, no.”
“Mm, fair enough,” the ghost said. “Looks like you’re having some trouble with that seal of yours. Have you considered grounding it?”
“Considered – what?”
“Grounding it, sending the resentful energy into the earth to dissipate. That’s what always worked for me when I was being overwhelmed.”
Wei Wuxian stared. Demonic cultivation had existed before in other forms, of course, albeit mostly murder-other-cultivators-for-their-power forms, and he knew there must be technically orthodox methods that probably came closer to demonic cultivation than their users preferred to admit, but he had never expected to actually meet someone, even a dead someone, who had anything useful to add.
“Show me how,” he finally said. It was worth a shot.
As the ghost had said – can’t blame a guy for trying, right?
It ended up working, too. Not so well that he’d be able to use the Tiger Seal regularly from then on, nothing was going to allow for that, but he was able to bring it down under control and then fight it the rest of the way to dormant, locking the monstruous resentful energy into place.
“Well done,” the ghost said approvingly. He’d stuck around even when the other ghosts had dissipated, whether out to cause mischief in the world – Wei Wuxian would worry about that later – or on to the reincarnation cycle. And that was a bit of a problem, actually: he’d been very helpful in coaching Wei Wuxian in his battle, and now Wei Wuxian felt like he owed him one.
“All right,” he said, rubbing his arms to try to regain warmth. “What can I help you with?”
“Me?” the ghost seemed surprised. “You need to go fill your stomach, take a nice bath, and sleep for three days before you even think of doing anything practical.”
That sounded good. But he couldn’t spare the time –
“If you don’t, there’s a risk the Seal will break through your protections and you’ll be too drained to do anything about it. And that’s much worse than anything else you could otherwise be doing.”
…that was a good point.
“At least tell me what it is that you want in order to be liberated,” Wei Wuxian said stubbornly. It wasn’t like the Jiang sect would even have food, hot bathwater, or a safe place to sleep – they were too poor for that. He could keep daydreaming until he got there, when he’d have to settle for stale leftovers, a frigid bucket of water over his head, and a too-small cot in the side of Jiang Cheng’s tent, getting disrupted every few moments by someone rushing in with urgent business. “I don’t know if it’s something I can do, but at least I can start thinking about it.”
The ghost considered it for a moment. “Well,” he said, and glanced out at the battlefield. “You know the Nie sect at all?”
“Of course,” Wei Wuxian said, surprised, but then glanced down at the man’s clothing, characteristic of the Nie sect now that he was looking for it, and the face had some of typical Nie sect features, too. Maybe he’d been part of their clan before he died? “Something to do with them?”
The ghost nodded. “If you could take me to them, I can probably handle the rest from there.”
“Well that’s definitely not enough to pay you back,” Wei Wuxian said wryly, “but I can do that even before I sleep. We’re all allies, after all. Come on, follow me.”
“My pleasure. I’ve always enjoyed a good view.”
“…will you give it a rest with my ass?”
The ghost gave a long sigh. “It’s not my fault,” he complained. “I’ve always had a thing for people who might be able to kill me.”
“Is that how you died?” Wei Wuxian asked. He was smiling again. He hadn’t smiled in what felt like a year, and this ghost had done it twice in a row, almost effortlessly. “Hit on someone you shouldn’t have?”
“…you know what, some things are private.”
“You did, didn’t you?” Wei Wuxian sniggered. “Was it worth it?”
“Probably not,” the ghost said with a shrug. “But you don’t live your life by whether it was worth it or not, you just try your best and hope it’s good enough, you know?”
Wei Wuxian paused briefly, then continued walking towards the Nie sect camp.
“Yes,” he said. “I know.”
He made it to the Nie sect encampment fairly easily, using a few walking corpses as guards to hide the presence of the ghost – he didn’t want to risk bumping into someone who had a problem with the ghost before he got Nie Mingjue’s approval for the ghost to be liberated – and started heading towards the main tent.
“You don’t want to go there,” the ghost said. His voice had gone oddly flat; he sounded somewhere between worried and guilty. “He’s probably in his private tent. He got hurt, earlier, and he’d want to be somewhere private to recuperate – too many doctors, otherwise.”
Wei Wuxian glanced over, but decided not to ask, and changed the direction of his steps.
Sure enough, when he clapped outside of the tent Nie Mingjue had chosen for himself, he heard the man’s familiar voice shout out, “No more doctors!”
Wei Wuxian suppressed an inappropriate giggle. “It’s Wei Wuxian, Chifeng-zun. Can I come in for a moment? I won’t take up too much of your time.”
A brief pause, then, “Enter.”
He ducked in through the flap. Chifeng-zun was shirtless, covered in a fair number of bandages, and scowling at an empty bowl of medicine as if it had offended him personally, but he still rose up from his bed to greet Wei Wuxian with a welcoming expression, waving off his attempt to salute.
“How’s it going?” he asked. “I heard you managed to summon up another army of corpses with the Tiger Seal, then put them back down again before they went out of control, this time.”
The ‘this time’ was fair, though it hurt Wei Wuxian’s pride a bit.
“It was extremely useful. We couldn’t have done without your contribution,” Nie Mingjue continued, and the hurt slipped away at once. “Is there something still lingering? My understanding from the reports I’d received was that we were only doing clean-up now…”
“Nothing new,” Wei Wuxian assured him. “Clean-up only, that’s right. It’s just, you see, I had some help from a ghost in getting – some help, anyway, and I want to liberate him in thanks. Only, you see, he’s a Nie, and he wanted to come here…”
“Naturally we will do everything we can to assist. What is his desire?”
Wei Wuxian crooked his finger to let the ghost out and a moment later the ghost appeared, his face extraordinarily tense.
“A-Jue,” he croaked, and all the blood abruptly left Nie Mingjue’s face. He sat down on his bed so hard that there was an audible crack, staring at the ghost.
Wei Wuxian glanced between them. “Uh…”
“A-Jue, I’m sorry,” the ghost said, and well, shit, Wei Wuxian hadn’t realized the ghost that he'd brought with him from the battlefield was new enough to actually know Nie Mingjue personally. “I didn’t mean to – you know I didn’t –”
Nie Mingjue opened his mouth a few times, not saying anything, and then, just when Wei Wuxian thought he was just going to give up, he finally said in a very small voice: “…a-die?”
…well.
Shit.
Shortly thereafter a lot of people came running in and there was a lot of noise and yelling and such things, and Wei Wuxian was politely led away – which actually turned out to be a good thing, because unlike the Jiang sect, the Nie sect’s camp actually did have warm food, hot bathwater, and nice comfortable beds covered in privacy talismans. Apparently they were ranked as essential army supplies, which, in combination with the advice the ghost (former Sect Leader Nie, apparently) had given Wei Wuxian, raised more questions than it answered, but Wei Wuxian decided not to question it.
He’d heard a little about how the former Sect Leader Nie had died – Wen Ruohan had apparently done something to his saber, which had shattered on a later night hunt; the man had apparently had a qi deviation as a result, and then slowly died of rage. He didn’t know anything more to it than that, but the fact that no one had ever spoken of it, not even in gossip, suggested it had been an ugly sort of death.
To think that Wen Ruohan had gone even beyond that, going so far as to steal the man’s soul…
It was a good thing Wen Ruohan was already dead.
By the time Wei Wuxian was allowed to rejoin the rest of the world – he’d been allowed to refuse the care of a doctor, but apparently the food-bath-sleep-food-sleep-food cycle was non-negotiable – Nie Huaisang had somehow been spirited out from the back lines and brought to meet his father’s ghost, and they were all having a very good time. Nie Huaisang was the happiest Wei Wuxian had ever seen him, Nie Mingjue’s eyes were often red for reasons other than rage, and they were both very, very grateful to Wei Wuxian for having summoned up the ghost.
The ghost, who was universally referred to by everyone in the Nie sect camp as Lao Nie and refused to give any more details than that, seemed to be quite happy about it, too.
“I’ve written to Xichen and Wanyin,” Nie Mingjue said at one point. “We need to talk seriously about what to do next, and they’ve been doing all the real work – the Jin sect is only showing up now to help split any treasures, rather than actually risk having to fight…there’s no point in including them.”
That was a little ruder and a little less equitable than Nie Mingjue usually was, but both the ghost and Nie Huaisang looked very pleased with themselves, and in all honesty Wei Wuxian agreed; including the Jin sect now felt almost like an insult to everyone who did put in the effort.
Jiang Cheng arrived first, pulling Wei Wuxian into a hug and then into a corner to scold for what felt like half a shi for not having come back to the Jiang sect first after he finished fighting – they’d been worried about him – and Wei Wuxian felt a little bad about it, but even Jiang Cheng admitted that his counterargument (“They have hot baths here!”) was a very compelling one. Wei Wuxian, by now wise in the ways of the Nie sect, flagged someone down and had them bring over copious quantities of barbeque with chili sauce, and by the time Jiang Cheng was full for the first time in months he’d completely forgotten what he was scolding Wei Wuxian over in the first place.
The Lan sect arrived next, Lan Xichen, Lan Wangji, and even Lan Qiren – at first Wei Wuxian wasn’t sure why that last had arrived, since he was normally in charge of the Lan sect back line, but then it transpired that he’d been friends with Lao Nie while he was alive and had wanted to come see him. Even he called the ghost Lao Nie, which meant that Wei Wuxian might as well give up and accept it; any creature on earth that could make even Lan Qiren unbend in his rigid formality was obviously far too powerful for him to do anything about.
“He likes to flirt with me sometimes,” he informed Jiang Cheng gleefully, and was amused by the expression of horror on Jiang Cheng’s face. Lan Qiren, in contrast, merely looked long-suffering about it, which confirmed Wei Wuxian’s suspicions that that was just a thing for Lao Nie.
“I’ve promised to stop,” Lao Nie protested when Lan Qiren confronted him with it later. “Anyway, I’m dead, as certain people keep pointing out. It’s not as if I can do anything with it…hey, Wei Wuxian!”
Wei Wuxian arched his eyebrows at him.
“You and Huaisang are on good terms, right?”
That wasn’t where Wei Wuxian had expected him to go, so he blinked, but answered gamely, “Yes, we’re quite good friends. Why?”
“Plans for the future,” Lao Nie said cheerfully. “You’re the head disciple of the Jiang, but not a blood relation. That makes you perfect for marriage alliances.”
Wei Wuxian felt a shiver go up his spine and Jiang Cheng was abruptly sitting straighter as well.
“What was that?” he asked. “You don’t have any women.”
“So what? Wei Wuxian’s obviously a cutsleeve anyway,” which, rude, Wei Wuxian was not, “and he likes my younger son well enough. That means he can marry in! Anyway, it makes sense. Your Jiang sect is still rebuilding and needs strong alliances, and he’s a demonic cultivator, disdained by the orthodox path, with an extremely dangerous object of power that he needs help controlling – my Nie sect can provide your Jiang sect with resources, Wei Wuxian personally with protection, and also guidance on controlling the Tiger Seal. Perfect alliance!”
Wei Wuxian opened his mouth, then closed it again. It was a surprisingly cogent argument, actually.
He glanced at Jiang Cheng, who was still in the open-mouthed horror stage.
“Uh, I have an objection,” Nie Huaisang said, and sharply elbowed Lan Wangji, who he was sitting next to – apparently they’d been friends as children, which Wei Wuxian hadn’t known and had become suddenly deeply jealous of the second he’d heard it. Lan Wangji had gone strangely pale, too; Wei Wuxian wondered if he should order him some food and bundle him into one of the tents with a bed as well, everyone knew how hard Lan Wangji was always working, he was probably exhausted. “Everything you said is just as true about the Lan sect, isn’t it?”
“They’re still rebuilding,” Lao Nie objected. “They need resources as well, they can’t be giving them out…huh, actually, that’s not a bad idea! Wei Wuxian, I’ve changed my mind. Why don’t you marry in with my elder son, and we can marry Huaisang off to Wangji, send him to the Cloud Recesses? That way both sects have a reason to draw on ours –”
“You can’t just marry Lan Zhan off like that!” Wei Wuxian protested. Nie Huaisang and Lan Wangji? Impossible! Childhood friends or not, they didn’t even like each other!
“I don’t want to leave the Unclean Realm!” Nie Huaisang protested. “And maybe Lan Wangji does!”
“Then they can both marry in! I don’t see what’s the problem –”
“You can’t make decisions like that,” Jiang Cheng put in, a bit belatedly.
“Why not?” Lao Nie wanted to know. “I might be dead, but I’m still the eldest person here, and I say it would be a good idea to get Wei Wuxian married in…hey, Qiren, Qiren! You’re in charge of your nephew’s marriages, right? Work with me here!”
Lan Qiren was pinching the bridge of his nose. “I will do no such thing,” he said sternly. “We have just finished fighting a war. We do not need to rush so quickly to marriage…especially since you’ve proposed ones with no issue for both your sons.”
Lao Nie shrugged. “That’s what concubines are for.”
“Also, who says I cut my sleeve!” Wei Wuxian finally and belatedly manage to interject. “Why do you think that, anyway?”
“Because you immediately figured out that I was flirting with you, and you were flattered, not repulsed,” Lao Nie said practically, and Wei Wuxian gaped at the sheer shamelessness of the statement – which wasn’t a feeling he’d ever had before. Clearly his statement that if he were second in shamelessness, no one would dare to be first was only applicable to his current generation; the past generation obviously had him beat! “You have no idea how long I spent flirting with Qiren before he noticed long enough to tell me to jump off a cliff. Months. I wasn’t subtle, either.”
Given that Lao Nie had opened with ‘nice ass’ when it came to Wei Wuxian and that had been when he was already dead, Wei Wuxian wasn’t sure he wanted to know what Lao Nie considered to be ‘not subtle’. Also, he wasn’t sure he agreed with that method of analysis. Surely there were plenty of people who would have noticed and responded the same way? It didn’t mean he cut his sleeve!
“There’s an easy way to test it,” Nie Huaisang said. “Wei-xiong, look at Lan Zhan here. Would you say he’s attractive?”
“Naturally,” Wei Wuxian said. What a stupid question. “I mean, have you seen him? He’s the second most desirable young master in the cultivation world, according to the list, and he probably should be first, meaning no offense to Zewu-jun.”
Nie Huaisang nodded as if he’d said something very wise. “Which feature of his would you say is the best? His eyes?”
“That’s an impossible question,” Wei Wuxian objected. “His eyes are gorgeous, of course, but he’s also got those ridiculously powerful arms, and he’s one of the best fighters, too – the way he moves is just perfectly graceful – and –”
“I think the point has been made,” Lan Qiren said. He was now covering his eyes with his hand. For some reason, Jiang Cheng had a similar posture, while Nie Mingjue was covering a smile with his sleeve in a pose that looked an awful lot like his father’s. Lan Xichen just looked pleased. “Please desist at once.”
“What point?!”
“Wei Wuxian,” Jiang Cheng said. “Just…shut up, okay? Before you get yourself married out.”
“To my sect,” Lao Nie said.
“To the Lan sect,” Nie Huaisang corrected forcefully. Wow, he must really not want to get married.
Lao Nie looked at his youngest son, who glared at him. They didn’t speak for a long moment, but some meaning had to be conveyed because eventually Lao Nie gave a great big sigh and said, “But it’s not fair. I want him to come to our sect, he’d fit in so well! We’re the ones who can really help him with his demonic cultivation; the Lan sect has too many rules against it…can’t they both marry in? Are you sure that wouldn’t work? Huaisang, work with me here…”
“Maybe I want to marry a girl?” Nie Huaisang argued, then frowned. “Wait. Do I want to marry a girl?”
“Wait, why did everyone decide I was a cutsleeve?” Wei Wuxian argued. “Lan Zhan, help me out –”
“You are to do no such thing,” Lan Qiren informed his nephew, who promptly turned and looked at his older brother.
Lan Xichen looked at his uncle. “Shufu, under the circumstances…”
Lan Qiren grumbled for a moment, then said, begrudgingly, “At least wait for the matchmakers.”
“What matchmakers?” Wei Wuxian asked. “Jiang Cheng –”
“Wei Wuxian. Shut up.”
“But –”
“I think this is all going to go very well,” Lao Nie said happily. “Very well indeed.”