Wen RuoHan is defeated and Wei WuXian lies in the courtyard of the Fire Palace as if dead. The Healers can't detect his Golden Core because of the mass of resentful energy swirling through his dantians and meridians. In an effort to save his life, L...
Wei WuXian felt a wave of dizziness wash over him. Worry, exhaustion, relief, all seemed to set in at once. "Food sounds like a good idea in general," he offered, hearing his stomach growl in agreement.
"XianGege's tummy is making silly noises!" Wen Yuan giggled.
"Yes, Baobei," he laughed. "XianGege is hungry!" He wanted to tease the child about eating him for a snack; it didn't seem like the appropriate place or time. A quick look at the sky revealed the sun was already sinking in the western sky. No wonder I'm hungry. Actually, he couldn't remember when he'd last eaten.... Certainly not the evening before.... Perhaps lunch? No. I didn't eat lunch, either. Breakfast. I ate some dried fish. I think that was breakfast?
Jin ZiXuan nodded towards his new nephew, and quietly ordered his aides to start cooking. Lan XiChen objected, stating that his people were already cooking congee for the GusuWen, so it would be easiest for them to just start cooking a more filling meal for everyone else. The Jin sect leader looked pained at the idea. Pleasantries and objections and demurrals went and forth until Mo XuanYu snorted rudely, interrupting the non-argument. "Lan ZongZhu... can your people cook food that has flavor?"
Lan XiChen blinked slowly at the young man, sighed, and bowed. "We will leave the meal in your people's capable hands, Jin ZongZhu."
Sleeping arrangements were haphazard. Some opted to move into the less broken houses in the city while others simply removed bedrolls from their qiankun pouches and slept wherever the ground seemed to be less rocky. Lan WangJi had a small tent packed away, and he set it up in a relatively secluded place. It was a tight fit for two men; there was no room to move with two men and a boy snuggled in between them. But as Wei WuXian looked over his son's head to smile at his husband, he wouldn't have changed their cramped lodgings for a luxurious room in a palace.
Sending a couple thousand restless dead to rest the following morning was nowhere near as taxing as cleaning the Burial Mounds, even though it was just as tedious. It would be easier if I had my Yin Tiger Seal still, Wei WuXian grumbled to himself. It would be easier still if he didn't have a small shadow literally attached to his legs and hips, hindering his every movement. He worked in tandem with GusuLan cultivators. He played Chenqing and ordered the dead to return to their graves. There, the GusuLan would play Cleansing and Rest to send the Wen to a resentless sleep and into the reincarnation cycle. They were exhausted, physically and spiritually, when they returned to the main camp.
The sun was high in the sky; the smell of cooking meat sent his stomach rumbling. "Let's go have some delicious food!" he grinned at his son, who nodded happily.
Delicious food would have to wait. A still pregnant, and very pale, Wen Qing was leaning on Jiang Cheng's arm arguing with SiShu.
The elder was crying heavily. "I want him back, too, A Qing.... For what?"
"For him to live!" she cried. Spying Wei WuXian, she yelled, "I saved your shidi instead of handing you over to my cousins and uncle. You owe us, Wei WuXian."
"Not like this," SiShu shook his head. "Let them go, A'Qing."
"Let them go? Like this?" she pointed a finger at Wen Ning staring blankly.
"Yes," the older man swiped at his cheeks. "I want my son to be alive again; of course I do. This? This isn't living. His heart is still. There is no blood running through his veins. He is dead."
"They can be alive again!" she protested. "They're not dead. Not completely. I examined them. There's still... the ability for them to come back. Wei WuXian... can you revive them? Can you bring them back to life?"
"I can try," Wei WuXian allowed. "I can definitely bring their consciousness back. Give them control over their bodies."
"No!" SiShu yelled. "What good is that? Can you make them alive again? Can you make it so they can live as a normal person? Will they love again? Will they feel pain again? Will they be happy again? Will they grieve again? Will they grow old and die?"
"I don't know," Wei WuXian allowed. "I suppose it depends on how dead the body is?"
"After the funeral, my daughter-in-law announced she was pregnant. We were celebrating the new life when Meng Yao attacked us. My son and I were captured, tied up and helpless. We were forced to watch her being run through. He took my place because..." the older man wiped fresh tears away. "Because he didn't want to live without her. Can you guarantee that he won't remember watching her die? That he will have the opportunity to love again, to have the chance to be a father again? That he will have the chance to grow old by his new wife's side? What use is him being alive again if he won't be able to live?
"A'Qing... A'Ning had already been made a puppet when Lan Fen and their unborn child were brutally murdered. Do you think he will appreciate being brought back to consciousness only to find out that the family he loved died in such a gruesome way? Or would he rather drink Meng Po's soup and forget this life? Would he rather exist forever without them or hope to meet them again in their next life?"
"I can't leave him," Wen Qing sobbed, crumpling in on her anguish, only standing because Jiang Cheng held her firmly in his arms. "I can't...."
"You must, A'Qing. Let him go."
"Wei WuXian..." she begged. "Can you bring him back to me? Can you..."
"I can try to make him aware again. I can try to make him live again. I don't know if I can make him alive again." His short examination the night before had shown him that the puppets' bodies were dead. The powder shut down their internal organs while keeping them from decaying or developing rigor mortis. But Meng Yao claimed that even without the yin iron, these puppets would continue to move on their own somehow. The yin iron nails were probably how Meng Yao controlled them. He'd have to investigate further. He needed time to examine the bodies. He needed to know what Meng Yao knew, what was in that corpse powder, what those yin iron shards did, before he could make a firm promise.
"Give me back my did," Wen Qing begged. "I gave you back your shidi. You owe me. A life for a life."
"I'm sorry, Wen Daifu," Wei WuXian knelt before her and kowtowed. "This one is incompetent."
"Get up, you idiot," Jiang WanYin hissed. "'Attempt the impossible' does not mean 'find a way to bring the dead to life'." To his wife, he sighed into her hair. "Qing'Er... let him go."
"I don't know how!" she sobbed.
"I'll help you," he soothed. "I'll be right with you. Xingan... let him go."
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