Honor and Cultivation (WoH×MDZS)

Hospitality

...maybe simply walking in hadn't been such a good idea.

The moment they came in sight of the town gates, the group was surrounded by corpses. Unlike most undead they had encountered, these held weapons and they looked ghastly. Most were missing body parts and some even had skin peeling off, revealing the rotting flesh or bone underneath.

Almost on instinct they formed a protective circle with the kids in the middle- Zishu even shielded Chengling's view, much to the young boy's protest. They all unsheathed their weapons, ready to fight.

The only ones who weren't ready to fight were Wuxian and Wen Ning.

They were in unfamiliar territority and no known way back after all. Best try to not start an unnecessary fight.

Wuxian laughed awkwardly, waving and tilting his head at the corpses. "Uh... hi!" he greeted. "How have you... been doing... lately...?"

His friendly attempt was met with blank and hostile stares.

"We don't mean harm. Let's all put down our weapons, yeah?"

"..."

Gu Xiang nudged Wuxian. "Whatever the hell you're doing, it's clearly not working!" she hissed.

Wuxian rolled his eyes. He clicked his tongue, looking around at the corpses- even without Gu Xiang's remark, he was getting testy. He questioned, "Can you talk? Or am I wasting my breath?"

"..."

"Fuck it!" Wuxian decided. He pushed Wen Ning forward. "You tell them!"

"Young Master?!"

"This is going nowhere, you tell them!"

"Why me?!" Wen Ning yelped.

"You're a fierce corpse, they're also corpses, you'll be able to talk to them!" Wuxian reasoned.

"But- you know fierce corpses don't have a secret language!" Wen Ning spluttered. "If they're ignoring you they have no reason to talk to m-"

A corpse in the front shook his head.

"...h- hold on, was that for me?"

The corpse nodded.

"You're... willing to talk to me?"

Another nod. The corpse stumbled forward, put a finger on Wen Ning's chest and declared, "Friend."

"I told you!" Wuxian crowed. "You really are able to talk to them!"

"But... I..."

"Oi," Kexing interrupted. "Why aren't we considered friends?"

"Obviously only the dead are their friends, do you ever think before you speak?" Wuxian snapped.

"I-!"

"Eh- Wen Ning!" Zishu cut in. "Ask them why Young Master Wei isn't their friend, didn't he die??"

Wen Ning pointed at Wuxian and asked, "Why isn't he a friend?"

"Not thoroughly dead."

"Huh??" Gu Xiang questioned. "Wen Ning can walk and talk and fight, how the fuck is that thoroughly dead?!"

"Seems like from their point of view, Mo Xuanyu's sacrifice canceled out my death," Wuxian mused. "I came back because someone willingly gave me their life after all, not because someone raised my dead body..."

"Ah uh- I should tell you!" Wen Ning realized. He pointed at the rest of the group. "These are my friends- if I'm your friend then they're your friends too! It's okay! We don't need to fight!"