Kind of short, but for good reason.
Lan WangJi walked through the catacombs with light footsteps. Despite the crunch of tiny rocks and gravel, he was as silent as a ghost. He looked like one as well with the white robes and piercing red eyes. Lan WangJi remained walking with a single determination in his mind:
Find out everything.
He would find the demonic cultivator that cursed him. He would find out why such a scheme was initiated against him. And he would bring this all to light. If that meant he had to play a villain in this narrative, then so be it. Lan WangJi could be a villain.
He was never as selfless or forgiving as Wei WuXian.
Truly, Wei WuXian was better than him. Lan WangJi felt as his title was misleading and fit Wei WuXian more than himself, but of course, the cultivation world would never see it that way. They saw Hanguang Jun and the YiLing Patriarch as two sides of the same blade. One in elegant white with a discipline admired throughout the land, an epitome of righteousness. The other shrouded in black with an eccentric and heretical personality, feared and used as a nightmare to scare children into obedience.
How far off the rumors were of the truth.
Everytime he visited YiLing and Lan WangJi heard of someone speaking ill of Wei WuXian, it was the demonic cultivator who had to hold the light-bearer from drawing Bichen out. But in this scenario, there was no Wei WuXian to restrain him. Lan WangJi loved him with everything he had, and yet some pricks had almost took Wei WuXian away from him using Lan WangJi's hand.
Lan WangJi would show them his hand for such a daring move. Every choice will have its consequences and Lan WangJi was head of discipline after all.
"Ah- Fuck!"
Lan WangJi stopped moving at once, pressing against the walls which had changed at one point to be a proper walls rather than dirt tunnels. He must've reached a legitimate part of Koi Tower. And if the cell not to far from Lan WangJi meant anything, the second jade assumed it was dungeons.
"Damn it! I'm out of candy!!!"
It sounded like a young male, a teenage boy at most. The problem was that Lan WangJi could feel the heavy strain of resentment in the air. Lan WangJi peered around the corner to find a young man with a childish charm, looking nothing more than a boy. He was dressed in the LanlingJin gold robes which flowed as he looked for something.
"Aha!!" The boy beamed when finding a bag of what Lan WangJi guessed was candy, turning slightly so Lan WangJi could see his face.
His canine teeth show when he smiled. He had bright eyes, a high nose bridge, and thin lips that have a soft red hue. He could almost be described as handsome. He was rather tall even as a junior of his perceived age, yet his eyes are filled with casual contempt. The boy giggled insanely, tossing a couple pieces in his mouth as he lifted up a piece of parchment, glaring at it, "Fucking Wei WuXian. Why can't he just take in that stupid curse so Sect Leader Jin can let me go do what I want!"
With such a conformation, Lan WangJi let rage guide him. With terrifying speed, he burst out, the boy turning around and jumping out of the way, dropping the paper but refusing to release the bag of candy. He switched the bag to his left hand, while a black a sword that seemed to release a dark aura slid from the gold sleeve and into the child's hand.
"Hanguang Jun!" The child laughed, "What a pleasant surprise for you to grace me with your blinding presence!"
Lan WangJi was in no mood for games. He attacked relentlessly, the child stumbling slightly but managing to get a few powerful blocks. Lan WangJi didn't hold back, using both physical and spiritual strenght. Within a mintute, the sword was knocked far away with the candies. The child didn't even get a chance to yell his protest before Lan WangJi had him pinned to the ground, red eyes glaring and Bichen at the kid's neck.
"My fucking candies!!!" The kid shrieked in anger, glaring with a fury Lan WangJi knew no child should hold.
Lan WangJi growled, "Who are you?"
"You want to know my-"
"I will not ask again!" Lan WangJi let out black wisps at his lessening patience, the boy looking at them with interest.
"You- you managed to control it? So quickly? I've been trying for years with Su Minshan and you got it that quickly!?" The child was in disbelief.
'Su Minshan,' Lan WangJi noted this word down firmly in his head.
Lan WangJi thought about the kid's words and then said, "Fine, how about a deal?"
The kid looked interested and Lan WangJi continued, "You answer my questions, including who you are and everything you are doing here practicing this cultivation. And I'll teach you how to do it properly,"
The kid narrowed his eyes, "And why would you want to teach me?"
"I don't," Lan WangJi spat, "But your nothing but a boy. If you are really going to learn, then you might as well learn properly. If you want, I'll even ask Wei Ying to take you under his wing so you can have proper guidance,"
The kid's eyes brightened at the name of the demonic cultivator, "You'd really let me see Master Wei?"
Lan WangJi pressed Bichen as a warning, "Only if you behave,"
"Throw in an endless amount of candy and its a deal," The kid challenged.
"Fine,"
The kid laughed like a maniac and Lan WangJi just stared at him, demanding answers.
"I am Xue Yang, a guest disciple of this fucking sect. I've been here for a little over two years and tasked with learning demonic cultivator and after Master Wei's death, the recreation of the Stygian Tiger Seal and other inventions of his," Xue Yang rambled with glee.
"...death?" Lan WangJi spit out, ignoring everything else for now.
Xue Yang laughed, "Do you really think you and Master Wei are so subtle? These past two years, there are people who are completely aware that you visit the Burial Mounds repeatedly and that you and Wei WuXian are close!"
Lan WangJi goes still above Xue Yang, who laughs louder at the reaction. He mocks, "Hanguang Jun, you really think the sects would just let someone of Master Wei's abilities to exile without guards?"
Lan WangJi's patience was slipping, "What do you know about the curse Xue Yang?"
"That? Pfft, Su Minshan and I are the one who cursed you!" Xue Yang said with boredom.
"Why?! Wei Ying almost died because of that!" Lan WangJi's voice was rising in anger.
"He's going to die anyway!" Xue Yang snorted, "It's all part of Sect Leader Jin's and Jin Guangyao's scheme to get to Master Wei and his Stygian Tiger Seal. I was ordered to use demonic cultivation to implant a curse inside you, one that feeds off of resentful energy. It's supposed to be a trap for Master Wei, one that will result in his faithful end,"
Lan WangJi stared, expression paling and his knuckles turning white from the tightening grip on his sword's hilt.
Seeing the great Hanguang Jun paling gave the young Xue Yang an immense power. He kept going, eyes sparkling with cruelty, "Since you don't have resentment in your body, the curse draws in resentment from outside sources like corpses and demons you fights during night hunts. And apparently, Master Wei as well! Haha, it would have been funny if he died then, but then you'd be stuck with that curse and impending death. And Jin GuangYao is still hesitant on hurting you since it would affect Zewu Jun, which is amusing to me since he's already done all of this behind his back,"
Lan WangJi's meridians are flaring as the resentment inside him begins to flail, his anger feeding it and the dark thoughts and voices leaking into his head.
Xue Yang kept talking.
"Anyway! Wei WuXian would obviously be called out to help since he's the only one with such an ability! Jin Guangyao was the one who subtly suggested it after all to Zewu Jun. And once he did, he'd take in your resentment, the easiest method and safest after all! Hence, the curse would go directly into him. Then, he'd return to the resentment filled burial mounds, or maybe he'd lose control in a few days!"
"Lose control?" Lan WangJi barely got the words out.
"The curse will make him lose control and almost have a qi deviation but using resentment instead. Once there's enough resentment, it begins to poison cultivators meridians and cores. It kills them slowly and basically turns them agitated. The agitation would eat him alive from the inside out, leading to death of himself and Master Wei losing his mind!" Xue Yang grinned at the horrified expression on the jade, "HAHA! Hanguang Jun, aren't you pale now? Are you mad? Are you hurting? Did you really think you could save such a man? Wei WuXian has brought this upon himself with flaunting goodness!!! In the end, everyone around him will suffer!!! After all, aren't you and him hiding everything? Aren't you in such a position because of him?!"
"Shut up!!" Lan WangJi roared, senses overloaded with anger and restraint.
Xue Yang laughed crazily, "Did you really think you could save him?! You're nothing but the second jade! Even if you could do something, do you really think your sect would help? They'd kill him and you know it! They've never liked him, didn't he get kicked out back then?! Doesn't your uncle hate him?! Don't you?! Who are you trying to fool Hanguang Jun? You're nothing but a sad man lying to himself that he can save a broken man who has been brought up as a fucking shield!!! You are all as naive as your parents when they believed Wen Ruohan wouldn't dare to start a war! Look at how that turned out!"
"Xue Yang, be quiet!"
"Guess what Hanguang Jun, in the end, none of you will ever save him!! You will all fail and then, you'll blame him for it all! You never care, that's how you nobles work! You will never grasp the full extent of suffering as a servant's son, a prositutes son, a street rat! You think just because of Wei WuXian's title as a head disciple he should be lavished? How blind are you?! He's a servant's son, the boy brought into the Jiang Sect yet never added into the registry! He is nothing but a servant!! And yet he's stronger than all of you combined and you can't handle that!! After all, isn't that why you're trying so hard to please him with your changed relationship?"
Xue Yang's mocking tone and words make Lan WangJi freeze, staring down at the boy, who cackles, "You're feeling guilty for everything you've said and yet deep down, you still want to keep him all to yourself. Just how selfish can you be?! Us lower class are nothing to you all that you think you can just trap us anywhere we want and expect us to be complicant by goods!! Ahaha!"
"NO! BE QUIET!" Lan WangJi screams.
Xue Yang's laugh is infuratiang, "HAHAHA!" he pauses and his voice drops into a cruel whisper, "For all you preach and feel, it'll be you who will kill him,"
The resentment snaps and Bichen moves. The splatter of red stains the white robes and the clear blade, Lan WangJi shaking in fury, resentment leaking out from him.
'Wei Ying. Wei Ying. Wei Ying. They were going to kill Wei Ying. They tried to kill Wei Ying. They almost killed Wei Ying,'
His thoughts were swarming and the emotions Xue Yang had manipulated into his mind deafened him to the approaching figure. It blinding him by the short man in gold with a brown gauze, who stared at the scene with alarmed horror. With quick movements, Jin Guangyao shot forward, hand glowing with gold spirtual energy. Lan WangJi was too out of control to detect him in time. By the time he moved to defend, Jin Guangyao had already slammed a powerful hand on the second jade's neck, effectively knocking the man out.
Jin Guangyao looked around the room for a moment, avoiding the scene and messing with the items. Hiding the demonic transcripts and letters of his and his father's involvement. Then with a fake fear and panic, he ran out, screaming for help.
The rumor spread faster than anything had ever before.
When it reached a certain group, the shatter of cups that were dropped in shock and paling expression were all that followed the words they were given.
"Lan WangJi has killed a child!!!"
——————
I know some might find this part a bit ooc for Xue Yang so I'd like to explain. The xue Yang here is not the same xue Yang as the one in the book. He's still very young and with Wei Ying still alive, he has not gained the liberty to eliminate the Chang Sect yet. He's still a guest disciple of the Jin sect. This also means he hasn't met Xiao XingChen and Song Lan (this is also why they're not mentioned as much here. Without Xue Yang, they have no ticket to become deeply intertwined with the great sects. And Wei Ying had been in seclusion for two years so he and Xiao Xingchen haven't reason to meet)