Chapter Text
Wei Wuxian ran to his cave in the burial mounds.
He had to do this quick. He had to destroy that amulet. It was the cause of destruction even when he did not want it. He does not want a world in which someone who wanted the destruction had their hands on the amulet.
He heard Jiang Cheng calling after him. No this was bad. Jiang Cheng should not stay here. He could get hurt. He ran faster. He reached inside the cave. The amulet was right there in front of him. Staying innocent as if it was not the reason for so many people to die. Directly or indirectly. The Wen remnants had done nothing to deserve this hatred but were blamed for the wrongdoings of their clan superiors. He picked up the Stygian tiger amulet.
He could feel the energy inside his body surface up in accordance with his desires. He felt some of it go outside. In a place he had hidden his child. Another innocent he failed to help. A-yuan was only 3 years old but the fact would not save him. Wei Wuxian thinks they have doomed further by their association with him. He could hear the shouts of anger from outside. Focus. He could not waste any more time. He bought the energy inside him into his palms and began attacking the amulet with everything he has. He could have prepared for this. he could have done experiments on this but with the limited time he must finish destroying this cursed amulet and he has to bear the consequences of the amulet fighting back.
Wei Wuxian could vaguely sense Jiang Cheng entering the cave. He pushed him out subconsciously and sealed the cave. He could also vaguely feel the corpses rise and attack him, tearing his flesh. But he had already broken the amulet and was not going to let some broken bones and skin stop him. He realised the buzzing in his mind was the sensation of pain only once the amulet was torn to pieces. He also realized he was going to die. He closed his eyes and welcomed his death. If his death was going to keep the peace in the world then so be it. He only hoped no one mourned him too much. If there were any left to mourn him at all.
He thought of white robes with blue patterns. He thought of rooftop fights and qujin songs. He thought of forehead ribbons and golden eyes. He thought of the future he had once dreamt. He thought of his soulmate.
He closed his eyes.
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He opened his eyes.
Well not that Wei Wuxian had a physical body in the first place to open them considering his death and all but he started seeing things as a spirit? Ghost? What was happening?
Wei Wuxian felt another presence attached to him which also felt like a ghost. Which ghost is this? Who is so attached to him even in death?
He then looked around. He was still in the burial mounds in his cave right where he died except no one else was here, not even the fierce corpses. Although he felt as if someone was watching him.
“Who is there?” might as well confront them. He did not want to fight somebody or something (which is very possible) so soon after his death. Wait when did he even die? How long has it been?
Black mist slowly appeared from everywhere coming from the opening of the entrance to form a shape in front of him. The mist appeared in a large ball shape nearly the size of his torso.
“You have been summoned here for your actions of kindness towards this one. I am here to give you a choice as repayment of my debt.” The ball of mist said in a reverberating voice.
“Who are you? What do you mean by kindness?” Wei Wuxian asked. He had no idea how he helped a ball of mist. He also wanted to rest in the afterlife so no talk of debts and repayments thank you very much.
“I am the spirit of what you call Burial Mounds. This used to be my land before the resentment came here. You have once again made these lands into a home even if only for some time. You have made me remember of the time before.”
“Before?”
“Before the resentment, before death.”
Wei Wuxian blinked. “What choice do you want to give me?” Wei Wuxian asked.
“You have suffered a great amount in life. My choice to you is this. You can peacefully go to your afterlife and enter the reincarnation cycle.”
“Or?”
“Or I can send you back in time to when you first entered this place. Give you a second chance at your life with the knowledge of what is going to happen.”
Wei Wuxian almost gasped. Going back in time has never been heard of. The ball of mist grumbled at him when he said that.
“Do you think I will not keep my word after I gave it to you? You can happily leave if you do not trust me. Enter the reincarnation cycle yourself since you don’t believe me. Hmpf.”
Wei Wuxian tensed. He could die peacefully as he was planning to do or he could take a chance to make things better another time.
Attempt the impossible. Travelling in time would be in tune with the motto of the Jiang sect. That is if he was able to make things right instead of screwing things up even more than it was...would have been already. There is far too much of a guess work with what can happen. But maybe he can take advantage of this chance he has been given. He can save people, maybe not everyone but at the very least he could save people dying after the war.
“Why send me back only to when I first entered here? Can you not send me back to even before?”
“no”
Wei Wuxian waited. No explanation came. Is the spirit purposefully avoiding questions he does not want to answer? So, he asked another question.
“What do you get out of this?”
The mist seemed to make a grumbling sound which looked like it was … laughing? ‘Excuse me this is a very good question’ Wei Wuxian thought indignantly. ‘No one asks you to time travel just because you built a house in a graveyard’
But apparently the spirit of Burial Mounds did not seem to think so because it completely avoided his question.
“There are some conditions for this to happen. One, you must stay the same amount of time in here as you stayed before that is for three months. The advantage you WILL have is that your younger body will have the abilities you have now so you can work to improve your control of resentful energy from the level you are at now instead of starting from scratch.”
'Ok can be done' Wei Wuxian thought
“Two, you must make sure to reduce the burial mounds of the resentful energy again in your second life. If you go back in time this place will become as it was before and I cannot say I will not attack you in a fit of resentment especially after I have tasted the freedom reduced resentment brings. Three you are to take that ghost attached you too. This one is quite stubborn but not harmful to you and I have not found a way to simply send you back without it being separated from you.”
“But if I go back in time, how could you have felt reduction in resentful energy? Wont it be the same for you? Who is this ghost attached to me?”
“I am an entity outside of mortal time. I will remember this conversation even then. And I do not know who the ghost is. They died outside of Burial Mounds. I may stay outside of time but I have not gone outside this place. You did mourn their death so I assumed it is a friend and not an enemy.”
Wei Wuxian thought for a while. He has the chance to go back and save Shije. He can also probably save Jin Zixuan. Hell, if he was going back to when he was thrown into the Burial mounds, he could also change the war and make it so that so many of their cultivators do not die. He can save the wen remnants.
But the ghost attached to him might be a problem depending on who it is.
He decided to take his chance.
“I accept. I will travel back in time and change things. I also promise that I will come and tame the burial mounds as much as I can.”
The mist rumbled pleased. “Good. You will be transported to where you were when you first came here.” Wei Wuxian tried not to grimace. Those three months were not fond memories.
“You will also learn to control the resentful energy from clouding your mind like it happened before. This ghost will go back to its body at that time. You will have to find out who it is yourself, I cannot help you in that.” Wei Wuxian nodded.
“To ensure you will stick to my conditions you have to reduce some of the resentment in the burial mounds in the three months you are going to be staying here.”
Wei Wuxian nodded ‘Fair enough.’
“You will also be healed from your initial injuries from before you came here.”
Wei Wuxian felt his eyes widen in surprise. ‘That would be nice’
“Any questions?”
“No, I’m ready.”
“Well then”
Wei Wuxian felt the world spin and closed his eyes. He could feel the ghost attached to him try to stretch as if to cover him, then he felt it leave.
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Wei Wuxian opened his eyes and closed them again immediately from pain. He groaned and sat up slowly. Didn’t the spirit say he will not have any pain?
“This is not your pain from then. It is the pain of time travel. You’ve woken up earlier than planned. Let’s get you to sleep for now.” He heard the spirit say.
Wei Wuxian thought it was very unfair but nodded as best as he could and promptly closed his eyes.
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The next time he opened his eyes he was relieved to feel less pain overall in his body. He sat up slowly and looked around. He was exactly in the place he fell when Wen Chao threw him in the burial mounds. The same half broken tree branch under his back, skeletons and swirls and fog of resentful energy and everything. He also found a thin barrier made up of spiritual energy surrounding him like a bubble along with a note.
‘This barrier will keep any resentful energy from noticing you. You can call the energy inside but it will not enter on its own. To remove it you should feed it resentful energy from inside. My favour to you is repaid. What happens to you now is no longer my concern.’
Wei Wuxian sighed and got up. The barrier was in fact very handy. He raised a hand and pulled the smallest tendril of energy. Black mist came to him in a small quantity and filtered from the barrier to form a rope as thick as his finger. He absorbed the energy into his body and let the energy swirl through him. He may control his energy but his body was not accumulated for it. Taking a deep breath, he got down to work. He had the advantage of having done this before. He now knows which tricks to try and which ones to not even think about. Not that burial mounds is a good experience, but he has memories of a family here. It helped him to think about a plan to save then and think about the future with his family. He wonders if he could even be family with how he plans to change things. But well, he’s here to change the past so relations are going to change too.
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Wei Wuxian spent the first week in Burial Mounds adapting his new (or old?) well, his current body to resentful energy by slowly pulling black tendrils of energy to be absorbed. It worked way better and easier than the first time especially since he was healed of various wounds. The injuries from Zidian and the stab had been getting infected. His body being fresh out of a very traumatic surgery did not help matters at all back then.
He also made sure to try and communicate his thoughts to the energy. Spiritual energy emerges from nature which includes the living and non-living. Hence it only needs a focused mind and a cultivation method to accumulate in a person. Resentful energy on the other hand comes from the dead - once living, thinking and conscious but now dead beings. So theoretically he should be able to communicate with the energy too. It worked, there were a few knots in the process he needs to straighten out but he can figure it out.
The second week had him digging through dirt, mud, and what was most likely rotten (rotting?) flesh to collect all the bodies human animal or plant. He couldn’t control them with how much of the body has rotted away but he could sieve for the spirits and souls in this mass of resentment with their corpses and put them to rest.
The third week had him making his Chenqing. It was made from a bamboo dark as the night. Not that there was much light coming in the first place. He felt nostalgic of the first time he created his weapon and then felt troubled to feel nostalgic about one of the worst moments of his life. He shrugged off his weird feelings; he has the experience doing so many times.
The fourth week is when Wei Wuxian started cleansing the resentment in large masses. The spiritual barrier had given him much protection and helped a lot to keep his body and soul unharmed while he took upon what was a fool’s task. He dug graves for the corpses present and put their souls to rest.
The completion of a month in the past was notified by the carvings he had been making on a wall with a sharp piece of bone he found. He took a break for the day as celebration. Which meant he made plans of advancing his cultivation while he lied on the branch/bed.
It was difficult, he decided, staying in this place a second time. When he had brought the Wen remnants here, he had already cleaned up the place in the small area they stayed at. Now, he had to meditate for longer and longer periods of time everyday to keep his thoughts and the manipulation of resentment separate.
The second month found him discovering as many trick as he can. Every idea got him making a discovery in this cultivation. He spent almost two weeks learning about it and making sure it wouldn’t hurt his body. He can’t get hurt now, he has plans. He was able to learn to bend the energy the way he wanted. He learnt to communicate with it. He also practiced precise control over his cultivation when he was not clearing the resentment in the area. He cannot afford to lose control and he cannot let the events of Nightless city happen again.
The third month Wei Wuxian spent exploring the place, to map its various hiding places, valleys and caves with the help of the ghosts and spirits of every dead being here, just in case. He made a map of the place and hid it inside a cave in a valley in the burial mountain. He also placed various talismans and arrays to make sure no one other than him would find it. Even if nobody would even think of coming here.
The last two weeks had him creating wards around the area similar to the ones he made when he and the Wen remnants lived here. He also added additional protections recognising him as the master of this place. Wei Wuxian laughed to himself at the irony of Burial Mounds being his safe space in two lifetimes. He also made sure to keep a layer of resentment outside the wards to keep people from noticing anything amiss. His plan does not involve it, but he wants a safe place for roughly a hundred people as a back-up plan in case he does need to hide from the cultivation world.
The last day in Burial mounds he sat and meditated for the whole afternoon to get his thoughts in focus. He brought together all his little half formed plans he had thought of the past three months. He had two more days before he met Jiang Cheng and Lan Zhan. The future will not be the same from the get go if he has to say anything about it and Wei Wuxian needed to plan for when circumstances might differ. He made a list of things needed to be done and the easiest and simplest way to do them.
That night when the time came for him to leave, he prepared himself. Chenqing secured in his waist, he bowed low to thank the spirit for giving him a second chance. He then left and started walking to Yiling for a well needed bath and warm food. Inedia doesn’t work as well with resentful energy and eating tree bark will never be comfortable. He also thought upon some conversation starters he could possibly need. Months of talking to only resentful energy means not talking to people who are of the living, breathing (and not knowing of his situation so they may ask uncomfortable questions) kind.
In the trek downwards, Wei Wuxian tensed when he came across a cultivator fully in black robes, no sign of any sect anywhere. Even his face was covered and he seemed to be taking deep breaths as if he ran a long way.
“Wei Wuxian!” he shouted “you explain yourself to me right now. We are in the war again. You came from the future and dragged me along too. What were even you trying to do?”
Wei Wuxian took a deep breath at the familiar voice. 'It can’t be…'. It seems he does not have to go in search for the unwilling ghost attached to him. Very well then. The cultivator took off his mask and Wei Wuxian felt his eyes widen.
“JIN ZIXUAN?!”