Note: [Text] = Thoughts-one-has | [Text]= Thoughts-one-has-but-doesn't-want-to-acknowledge-it
Warnings: the depressive thoughts (talks about regression), angst (please be aware as there might be triggering things in this chapter), bouts of misplaced and rightful anger and miscommunication. If any of these triggers you, please don't read.
Author's Notes: And here we go! Another chapter which is about 3.4K words. I'm going to try and update every half a month, but no promises, okay?
Special warnings for this chapter: talks about torture in Burial Mounds. If that triggers you please skip that part. [It starts with "It had been a nightmare..." and ends with "no don't think about it"]
"So it's safe to say Wen Ruohan is interested, right? We can take this as confirmation, right?"
This referring to the gorgeous piece of artifact, dated back to who-knows-how-long, sitting rather peacefully in front of the dumbstruck crowd. [As if the bow hadn't caused a pandemonium among the entire world just a few hours ago.]
Nie MingJue, having spoken just now, looked up when he received no response. Truthfully, he couldn't blame the others for staring at the bow as though they were mesmerized. He had been like that just a few moments ago.
"...Well, this is an unique development," Qingheng-jun finally ripped his eyes away from the artifact, opting to stare at a silent demonic cultivator. "What should we do now?"
Wei Wuxian groaned, flopping over ungracefully, "What can be done?! Wen Ruohan is interested in MingYu-ge!! We're so screwed!"
"Did you see his eyes?" Nie Huaisang was quick to give his opinion. "He was glaring, like, like that look he gets when he really wants somebody to suffer! And nobody survived Wen Ruohan!"
"He even gave MingYu-ge a gift!" Jiang Cheng finally added before he furrowed his eyebrows, "Why did he even give him a gift? He wasn't even at first place!"
"MingYu was missing for half the competition," Lan Xichen reminded them serenely. "The fact that he came in the Top 10 is surprising itself."
"...I wanted to see who would win between Wei Wuxian and MingYu-ge," Jiang Cheng muttered, crossing his arms in slight disappointment. Wei Wuxian glared at his shidi.
"Calm down A-Cheng, we can always hold a competition at Lotus Pier," Jiang Yanli soothes.
"We are not holding another 'striking the flag' competition," Madam Yu sharply declines. "We had one a week ago!"
"Without us?!" Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng looked horrified.
"...I think we're straying from the point," Nie MingJue says the rather obvious to the other sect leaders. The only response he received was the sound of sipping tea.
"What will you do now, MingYu?" Jiang Fengmian finally put an end to the fierce debate in the back. [How they had somehow deviated towards explaining how the Jiang sect incorporated their training into the games they played, Jiang Fengmian doesn't know. What the sect leader does know was that they had digressed rather severely and 'yes you were a part of it San-Niang...']
Wei MingYu however didn't respond, opting to pick the bow in deceptively gentle hands. He observed the artifact for a few more minutes before he turned to an empty corner of the room.
"You know where this should go," the demonic cultivator says, dropping the bow so casually, as though it wasn't a precious relic of the past.
It was like time had frozen when the falling heirloom suddenly disappeared mid-air, MingYu looking unaffected with the sudden deathly silence.
"...Was Stygian there? Or Amulet?" Yu Ziyuan asked cautiously, her hands twitching as if she ached to hold her whip. [Why hadn't the twins showed themselves? They usually did after MingYu had asked them to, recognizing that she didn't exactly enjoy these surprises.]
At that MingYu looked at her momentarily confused, "No, Li-jie. Gong Meili."
Everyone glanced at each other, floundering before Nie Huaisang asks, "Who's that?"
"A ghost."
...Sometimes everyone, that knew the demonic cultivator, felt like ripping their hair out. The sheer energy it takes to get a definitive answers from him was ridiculous.
"How do you know her?" Lan Xichen probes further. He was rather curious with the sudden appearance of this new name. As far as he knew, MingYu only talked to Stygian and Amulet, never to a Gong Meili.
"Met in Burial Mounds."
"Ah......Eh?"
Everyone stared.
"You've been to Burial Mounds?!" Nie Huaisang screeched in horror, everyone else looking as equally horrified when the [rather insane] demonic cultivator nodded nonchalantly. "Why?!"
MingYu only pinned them with a look.
"Where do you think I learned how to cultivate resentful energy?"
"You never told us it was in Burial Mounds!" Yu Ziyuan snapped, anger rising at how unconcerned the child still looked. Just what was with future Wei Ying's tendency to drop important information nonchalantly?
Burial Mounds! He stayed in Burial Mounds! A place where no-one ever made it back. A place where people just died. Why would he even go there?!
"Why would you go there?!" Wei Wuxian asked horrified. [At least his past self had sense, Madam Yu thought viciously. Just what had changed that future Wei Ying would risk his life?!]
MingYu raised his eyebrows, confusion swirling in them, "You speak as if I had a choice. Besides, it wasn't that bad once you get to know Burial Mounds."
"What?!"
Nothing seemed to be simple when it came to Wei MingYu, Lan Xichen thought sourly. Not a single day passed by without surprises. The surprise seemingly upgrading [in a rather negative fashion] each time.
"You speak as if I had a choice."
[Just who had dared to harm MingYu?]
"Let me ask you, how would you feel when you are trapped in a place with no way to get out? In a place that is brimming with resentful energy? How would you feel when you have no golden core or spiritual tools to get out of that place?!"
"..Da-ge, Young Master Wei did it to survive."
Suddenly, it seemed like everything became clear. Every odd little behavior of MingYu. He wasn't desensitized like he'd initially thought [he was far too blunt, far too casual about things that required your absolute attention], rather it would be that MingYu had forgotten what it meant to react normally.
If what MingYu said was true [that man didn't lie so it had to be the truth] then he'd literally lived in a place where no human would ever venture. Not even in a dare. [A place where resentful energy reeked. A place where nobody could even stay alive. How had he manage to survive there? How long was he even there?]
Just how badly had Burial Mounds affected him that he became like this? Just how bad was the torture?
How had he even survived?
"Well then, let me ask you when you are stuck in a place with no exit, no spiritual powers or tools, surrounded with resentful energy, what are you going to do? Sit down and let it consume you? Let it drive you to insanity? Or are you going to fight it and do something about it?"
Nie Huaisang gulped, suddenly recalling a distant memory. A memory that had every disciple who was in Lan Qiren's class to unanimously agree to never anger the demonic cultivator. [They did want to learn how to silence Lan Qiren so well. So far, they hadn't been successful.]
"How long?" he asked meekly, squeaking when all the eyes were on him. "H-How long were you there?"
MingYu took a moment to respond, eyes glazed as though he was remembering something painful. He eventually did speak, but not with the answer they desired.
"Long enough."
"We'll talk about this later," Jiang Fengmian finally said, visibly pulling himself together. "Right now, we need to worry about Wen Ruohan."
Saying that didn't make it any better. If anything, it made it worse.
No golden core [and they still had to hear the whole details about that. The Jiang couple had shared that Wen Zhuliu was responsible for it but even they admitted, they didn't know the entire details], dealing with Wen Ruohan's interest and now Burial Mounds.
Just what else was Wei MingYu hiding from them?
'Hihihihihi.'
Wen Ning jolted when Stygian and Amulet abruptly appeared in front of him, another ghost he had never seen before just behind the twins. Just what was it with the ghosts giving people a heart attack?
They did to everybody! [Well, except maybe Qing-jie, but she was an exception. Nobody could scare her. Well, maybe except Young Master Wei, but he was an exception too.] Especially him! It was like they enjoyed it or something. [Could ghosts even enjoy something? Did they even have the capacity to feel emotions?]
"Stygian, Amulet," he calls weakly. "What is it now?"
'for you. for you. for you.'
Wen Ning found it weird whenever the twins attempted to speak, their voices filtering right in their heads instead of being projected out-loud. It had given him quite a few odd looks when he'd respond to something that wasn't there and can you just make yourself visible please?
When he'd asked Young Master Wei about it, he had quite disconcertingly mumbled, 'they can talk to others too?' As though, he himself was unsure of the extent the twins could go through. [Now that was a scary thought.]
'focus. focus. focus.'
And that was the other thing, the twins never spoke in full sentences, always choosing to chant brokenly. [He admits it's very unnerving. Everybody agreed with him even if they didn't say it out-loud.]
"..What is it?" he asks, making a conscious effort to pay attention to the twins rather than the wavering figure of the unknown behind them. "What's for me?"
He wasn't expecting the unknown entity to take a step forward, a malicious(?) grin on its face, hands extended as it held something very very familiar.
"..Wasn't this given to Young Master Wei?" he asks confused, even as he unconsciously picks the bow up.
'for you. for you. for you.'
"......Young Master Wei gave it to me..?" he asks unsure. [He wished his sister was here. She understood Wei MingYu far better than he did.]
'for you. for you. for you.'
"....I'll just ask Young Master Wei," he shifts nervously, clenching the bow tightly as he looked away from the three extremely pointed eyes.
"Did you deliver it?" MingYu asks in the silence, eyes turning to a smiling woman. The ghost rested her hand on his hair and though MingYu knew they couldn't actually come into contact [because life and death could never meet], he closed his eyes at the feeling of a [imagined] warmth surging through him.
"Thank you, Li-jie," he mutters, mind recalling the way she had helped him when they'd first met. She was one of the few who had aided him when he'd been thrown unceremoniously in Burial Mounds.
He'd learnt a lot from her, knowing with 100% certainty that he'd be dead without her, probably eaten by the many malicious entities roaming freely.
It had been a nightmare to survive in Burial Mounds, he remembered with a shudder, running and running from things that were usually hidden. Defending himself when he was ensnared without a golden core, mind torn apart when the resentful energy seeped into him involuntarily, craving to eat and learning just what desperation could do to someone. [Never before he had been starved like that. Soon enough, he developed a distaste for meat and bones because all it reminded him was what he ate when—no don't think about it]
MingYu had never wanted to return, only memories of Lotus Pier burning and his promises to his siblings keeping his will alive. And yet, somehow, by some weird turnings of fate, Burial Mounds became his home. Because a safe MingYu didn't attend the rest of the discussion conference. Neither did Wen Qing. Nobody noticed. haven for him and the Wen Remnants. [And yet, his home was decimated, the 'righteous' cultivators not allowing them to live peacefully.]
Burial Mounds became everything to him. His hatred, his torturer, his home, his grave, his life, his safety. Everything. [He ignored it all. Ignored everything negative that happened there, choosing to focus on the good memories. He had to, otherwise just where would he belong?]
Burial Mounds became something that even Lotus Pier couldn't achieve. [For both places, a painful memory followed a good one.] Except he knew intimately that he was nothing but a beacon of misfortune for Lotus Pier. [Even if wanted to call it his home, was it really when nobody wanted him anymore?]
"... You damn little brat! I hate you! I hate you more than anything else! Look at what our sect has gone through for your sake!"
"What Lotus Pier? Change the name. Bring down any door carved with the nine-petaled lotus crest and replace them with those with the QishanWen Sect's sun crest!"
"Go die, go die, go die!!... I want my parents, my parents..."
"My mom said that you do nothing but bring our sect trouble. It's true indeed."
But with Burial Mounds, it was different. Burial Mounds had more. Had more suffering, love, hate, fear...
And soon, he became attached after it became his [only] safe haven [they'd been planning to stay longer, after all, where in this forsaken world would they accept a demonic cultivator and Wen Remnants?].
Wei MingYu felt like he was going crazy.
"Hung them for you. We'll make a few more tomorrow to hang in the mountain path. If you hurry around in the dark all the time, you'll slip and break your bones sooner or later."
"Sister and I have come to a conclusion. We'll be going to Koi Tower to give ourselves up."
"Yeah, yeah. There's wine, there's wine. Fruit wine, made from the wild fruits on this mountain. It's quite rich!"
"Anyhow, we should've been dead since a long time ago. These days have been a strike of luck for us."
"Uncle Four likes to drink as well. He knows how to make them himself and made them especially for today. He's been trying for a lot of days."
"I've never really said such things to you before. But now that it's today, there are indeed a few things I should say. I really won't get a chance to say them after this. I'm sorry. And, thank you."
'Yiling Laozu..'
MingYu's raging thoughts slowed down when he heard a distinct garbled whisper, feeling like somebody had abruptly pressed the pause button, giving him a brief respite from those painful memories. 2 pairs of hands pushed him back, finding himself staring at the ceiling with unseeing eyes.
'Yiling Laozu..Yiling Laozu..'
"Tonight, the ones whose ashes had been scattered were the two leaders of the Wen Sect's remnants. And tomorrow! It will be the rest of the Wen-dogs and—the YiLing Patriarch, Wei Ying!"
A shudder wracked his frame, and all of a sudden, it was too much for him, feeling the room caging him from all sides. Up, down, left, right.
He wanted to escape. Wanted to leave. Wanted to—
'Yiling Laozu Wei MingYu...Yiling Laozu Wei MingYu...Yiling Laozu Wei MingYu'
"You! Back then... you caused the deaths of Jiang FengMian and his wife, and now you caused the death of your shijie. You suffered from your own actions, and yet you dared vent your anger on another! Instead of turning around, you took yet another life. Wei WuXian, your crimes—shall never be forgiven!"
MingYu doesn't know how long he spent there, lying underneath the twin ghosts as they murmured his name over and over again, wanting nothing more than everything to just stop.
Wanted nothing more than to use the Stygian Tiger Amulet to give him the peace he wanted. [But he'd failed one time instead was whisked to a time he didn't even want to return. Would he be able to go back to his world if he were to try to break it again?]
"MingYu?"
A sword slashed before his eyes, cutting apart the haze that had settled on him unsuspectingly.
"Are you okay?"
His eyes met concerned ones, blinking when it took him a moment to recognize who was speaking to him.
Xichen sat next to him, worry marring his face, "Are you okay, MingYu?"
He didn't reply.
The frown increased.
Silence and then, "Did you know that Wangji refused Wuxian's offer to practice together again? Just how can they both be so..."
MingYu closed his eyes, letting the small ramblings wash over him in a brief lull. For a moment, MingYu could delude himself into believing that nothing had ever gone wrong.
If the next day, Xichen received a surprise visit [which was rather creepy. Why were they just staring at him and doing absolutely nothing?] from the twin ghosts then it had nothing to do with what happened the night before.
MingYu didn't attend the rest of the discussion conference. [Neither did Wen Qing but nobody noticed.]
Wen Ruohan glared at the cowering disciple in front of him.
"I asked you to keep an eye on him."
The disciple shuddered even as he mindlessly blurted out, "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! B-But he just disappeared! I was followin—!"
"Take him away."
"N-No, p-please! J-Just one m-more—!"
"I gave you plenty Wen Jinhai," Wen Ruohan delivered coldly.
Everybody kept their eyes down as they saw the unfortunate disciple pitifully dragged towards the dungeon. Nobody dared to breath when Sect Leader Wen gave them a once-over.
"Pathetic," the man said, clicking his tongue as he left the room, leaving behind a heavy somber mood.
'there. there. there.'
A-Ru looked towards his small team, all of them looking determined to not mess this up.
"Ready?" he asked silently, earning nods in return. He smirked wildly before turning towards the building that kept the hostages.
"Well then, let's go recruit them, okay?"
That day, the Wen sect lost an important ally.
Moments before the Discussion Conference began, Wen Ruohan had commanded one of his long-time loyal disciple.
"I want you to follow Jianjun-zun, Wen Jinhai."
The mentioned man furrowed his eyebrows, "I understand Sect Leader Wen."
"I want to know everything he does. Don't let him out of your sight. There will be no second chances, understood?"
The man shuddered at the threat, "Yes Sect Leader."
"Sect Leader Wen, Jianjun-zun.. he has an odd method of travelling," Wen Jinhai reported to the man.
"Oh?"
"It's almost like he uses the teleportation scroll," he says softly. "He just disappears from our sight."
There was silence for a few moments.
"Stop giving excuses for your incapability," a voice void from feeling said, Jinhai shivering at the dangerous tone.
"I-I'm not-—!"
"You're loyal Wen Jinhai. Very loyal," Wen Ruohan said, lounging in his throne languidly. "I don't give second chances all the time."
Wen Jinhai froze when cold red eyes settled on him.
"Don't waste it."
"Did he ask you to keep an eye on me?"
Jinhai froze when Jianjun-zun turned towards his direction, eyes devoid of any emotion. Knowing that the demonic cultivator knew he was there, he had no choice but to leave from his concealed position.
His heart hammered in his chest as his mind conceived the hideous ways the demonic cultivator would deal with him. [How did he get stuck between two powerful men? One who wouldn't hesitate to kill him despite his loyalty—and wasn't that a sore thought—the other who had unknown means of making his life miserable. Just what wrong had he committed that Sect Leader Wen would throw him to the wolves?]
"Hmm, be careful then, Wen Ruohan doesn't do well with failures."
His heart plummeted. [Just why did Jianjun-zun speak of his sect leader like he actually knew him? Had they been acquainted before? No, not possible. Wen Ruohan wouldn't have been asking for information about Jianjun-zun.]
"You're not going to kill me?" he stuttered out
"Why should I?"
"...I'm following you," he pointed out the rather obvious. The demonic cultivator, however, looked unfazed.
"You won't be the first."
Jianjun-zun stared at him for a few moments, before he said, "You can keep following me. Wen Ruohan would kill you if you don't."
At that, Wen Jinhai could do nothing else but slump. He didn't understand the demonic cultivator's intentions. Was it meant to deceive him, torture him or to actually help him? [The third notion seemed so far-fetched that he stopped thinking about it right there.]
The only things he did know right now with certainty was that the demonic cultivator knew he was there, allowed him to shadow him [god knew what Wen Ruohan would have done to him should he find out he failed] and didn't seem to be like what the rumours had suggested.
Rumours of him being hideous [just how was he ugly?], of being ruthless [could this encounter be considered as ruthless? the man did allow him to follow him], of being worse than Wen Chao [nobody could be like Wen Chao. He was unique in that sense], of killing those who dared to trouble him [he literally told him to follow him...], of being evil [well... he's a demonic cultivator, they are meant to be evil?].
[Idly, he wondered just how truthful were the rumours?]
Author's Note: Who is Gong Meili? A ghost that I never planned on introducing. But then I did because I needed to introduce Burial Mounds to the others. Btw, did you all notice the weird sentence that WMY said in regards to Burial Mounds? [Not specifying which one otherwise it will be too obvious... but if you do, just know that I've hinted about it many times]
Now, Stygian and Amulet are able to talk to people. WMY didn't know that either at first, considering that I'm going with the fact that there wasn't an apparition in his original world. So like when they became ghosts.. it was kind of a shock which didn't really register as a shock since he was still mentally unstable?
I hope I was able to portray the relationship that MingYu has with his 'homes.' Lotus Pier was a wonderful home, his childhood home, but WMY now believes that he doesn't deserves it because of how misfortune just kept coming. [The fights btwn JFM and YZY, the burning of Lotus Pier, JC being left alone etc] On the other hand, Burial Mounds is a place where he was practically tortured [We still don't have details about this, but based on the rumors shown in all adaptions, it makes sense to say that it would have been very hard for him to survive there] so he must hate it but then he began living there with the Wen Remnants. So that would create some good memories [A-Yuan, Uncle Four, WQ, WN etc.] So when they died? Well... its a complicated explanation and WMY has never had verey healthy relationships before.
Now you may be confused about why Stygian and Amulet were repeating Yiling Laozu over and over again, but let me clarify. They are ghosts, they know nothing about comforting a damaged human. It was their way to ground MingYu and in case it wasn't exactly clear, it somewhat helped MingYu. [Somewhat, because while it did help, it certainly didn't help.]
Who the heck is Wen Jinhai? [Don't ask the author cause she herself doesn't knows lol.] Somebody from the Wen sect who may or may not have an impact on Guiren-Jun.
- - - - - -
QQ
01. Is WRH going to join the WMY harem (which is apparently building up without WMY actually knowing?)
↳ There is no harem. Like no joke, no harem whatsoever. There is a close friendship circle group that WMY is creating, in which WRH is not invited xD
02. Why did WMY give the bow to WN?
↳ Spoiler Alert: You know why. It's obvious why. Wen Ning deserves it, don't you think?
Have any questions? Ask on Tumblr @finoalcielo where I'm more likely to respond. Enjoy the chapter!