MDZS Oneshots / The Untamed / WangXian

Vinegar (Vol. 1)

Requests open <3

Request Summary: Wei Ying returns from the Burial Mounds obviously broken with a mysterious rogue cultivator by his side. Lan Zhan is concerned and maybe just a wee bit jealous.

CW: Again, dabbling a little in the horror genre. Graphic depictions of violence and gore.

Sorry if this is just a hot mess honestly I can't tell it's 4 am and I am half asleeeeep

•••

Lan WangJi had been lost in a never-ending winter from the day he departed Dusk Creek Mountain.

But it wasn't the mountain he'd left behind.

It was the boy he'd left within it.

He had left his soulmate with nothing but a fever and a secret confession written in zither notes.

Then Lotus Pier was burned to the ground, its people were slaughtered, and Wei WuXian was never heard from again.

Lan WangJi agonized over his guqin every day. He called for Wei WuXian's soul through inquiry—it never sung back. He played WangXian until he'd worn the tips of his fingers to the bone, yet all he had to show for it were bandaged hands.

He blamed himself for abandoning Wei WuXian.

Thus, when he heard the rumors that Wei WuXian had been cast into the Burial Mounds, he didn't hesitate to request (read: demand) a battle assignment in Yiling, as did Jiang Cheng.

To both men's surprise, there was a new player on the battlefield already wreaking havoc in Yiling. The absolute carnage this person left behind in every Wen outpost was nothing short of demonic.

Lan WangJi swallowed thickly. Limbs shoved down throats, bodies dangling from banisters, soldiers suffocated by their own intestines—not even in his most sadistic fantasies could the Jade fathom such gore.

"Lan Er Gongzi, we can't waste time here... Wen Chao is on the move," Jiang Cheng reminded.

Closing his eyes, Lan WangJi nodded once.

In an abandoned outpost, they finally found their targets. Jiang Cheng and Lan WangJi located a hole on the building's roof and peered inside. The Young Wen Master was rocking back and forth on his bottom, muttering nonsensical riddles about flutes and death.

"I need to apply a balm to your wounds," Wen ZhuLiu said.

When Wen Chao pulled back his hood, the men on the roof felt their eyes go wide. The Wen was nothing but a dried-out molt of who he used to be. His entire body was covered in traces of fingernails and human teeth, and his head was naked of any hair. Layers of skin peeled back to reveal muscle and bone like someone had tried to dig out his brains.

He howled in pain as Wen ZhuLiu applied the medicine.

"You mustn't cry. If you do not receive this medicine, you will die-"

Without warning, a candle was snuffed and Wen Chao wailed. He pushed Wen ZhuLiu away and crawled pitifully into the nearest corner.