The blood-red glow of resentful energy filled the back of the Cloud Recesses, before finally fading into the black of night. In a desolated training ground, four teenagers had finished transporting the spirits' memories into the past using a device created by the one and only Yiling Patriarch.
"...Do you think it worked?"
"Of course! Senior Wei's inventions never fail!"
"But what if they somehow break out before they're done watching?" Lan Sizhui asked, glancing nervously at the orb before them. "They'll miss the information about Jin Guangyao and Nie Huaisang's abilities."
"Don't worry about it!" Lan Jingyi laughed, clapping Sizhui on the back. "This was made by the greatest cultivator ever. No one's made even close to the impact his inventions have, even with the 13 year vacation he took. Who could possibly break through something created by Wei Wuxian?"
"I bet I can break through this," declared Wei Wuxian as he looked down at his messily thrown-together notes. This was not the Wei Wuxian who had created the time travel talisman, but rather one nearly twenty years younger, living in the parallel dimension the four teenagers created with the talisman.
Five hours ago, a truly unprecedented event occurred: the main families of all five of the great clans had collapsed simultaneously, sent into a coma for no identifiable reason. From the Jiang clan, Jiang Fengmian, Yu Ziyuan, Jiang Cheng, and Jiang Yanli; from the Jin clan, Jin Guangshan, Madam Jin, and Jin Zixuan; from the Nie clan, Nie Mingjue and Nie Huaisang; from the Lan clan, Lan Qiren, Lan Xichen and Lan Wangji. The Wen clan tried to hide the information pertaining to them, but word soon got out that Wen Ruohan, Wen Chao, Wen Xu, and Wen Qing had all fallen unconscious at the same time as the other leaders.
In every clan except Jiang and Nie (who retained their head disciples), all the sect's leaders were taken out, leaving the cultivation world in temporary pandemonium. Luckily, the collapse happened right before Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian left for six months to the cloud recesses, and Wei Wuxian was able to take charge of both the sect and his family's health.
Things were falling apart at the lotus pier, but at least it was worse everywhere else.
The Lan elders had taken control of their sect and were the main force working to contact the other great clans. That said, every elder had grown used to using either Lan Qiren or the Twin Jades to relay their orders, and were fumbling as they tried to find a new spokesperson.
The Nie sect, despite having its head disciple, wasn't doing any better. Said disciple had gotten injured in a night hunt the day before, and was now on bed rest. Luckily, most people in the Nie clan were independent enough to come to their own decisions.
The Wen sect had done a complete lockdown on Nightless City, having lost both their leaders and their most trusted doctor to the incident. No further information had gotten out.
The Jin sect had been overrun by various half-brothers and cousins of Jin Zixuan, each creating a faction vying for greater control during the temporary lapse in power. They hadn't come to blows quite yet, but Wei Wuxian wasn't confident that would last for much longer.
Meanwhile, the Jiang sect happily cooperated under Wei Wuxian's instruction, easily allowing their head disciple to manage the situation. Wei Ying had a reputation of playing around and relaxing in frivolous entertainment which hadn't been available when he was just a poor orphan. He could have tried to gain more authority in the sect, but had never had any motivation to lead.
That wasn't true now.
Wei Wuxian had taken to the leadership suddenly thrust upon him like a fish to water, using his confidence and charisma to keep the sect from falling apart. Some of the older disciples had objected to his authority, but even combined he wasn't a fight they could win.
It hadn't taken long for Wei Wuxian to identify the spell attacking them as a product of both spiritual energy and resentful energy, seemingly operating under a master rather than the chaotic mess most fierce corpses and resentful ghosts had. If he could just find a way to bend it to his will instead, he might be able to break everyone out or, at the very least, find a way to contact them and make sure they're still alive.
Wei Wuxian had sent his findings over to the other sects, but none of them seemed interested in (or unified enough to try) helping him test his theory.
(It was a good thing Yu Ziyuan was among those asleep. She would have strangled him if she knew he was going to try manipulating resentful energy, and Yanli would have been disappointed. But, with them both asleep, he was running out of options.)
If only he could figure out why this was happening.
"Where are we?" Nie Huaisang squeaked, turning to his brother. Nie Mingjue looked around, but couldn't see anything except his brother in the darkness.
"Huaisang? Is that you?" a voice asked from Nie Mingjue's left, and he quickly recognized it as the Jiang sect's heir.
"It's me!" Huaisang responded. "When did you get here?"
"Just now!"
"Keep your voice down," Yu Ziyuan growled. "We don't know what's going on."
"How many people are here?" Lan Xichen asked from behind Nie Mingjue, nearly making him jump in surprise. It seemed their spiritual senses were dulled as well.
Several shouts came from every direction, until they were silenced with a low growl.
"Enough."
Nie Mingjue clenched his fists, glaring in the direction of the voice who ordered his father's death. It seemed Wen Ruohan present as well.
Nie Huaisang squeaked again.
Under Wen Ruohan's growled orders, they soon determined that there were 16 people, all with blood lineage or marriage linking them to the five most famous sects. Lan Qiren tried using a flame talisman to create light, but it was as if their golden cores had been sealed, and no spiritual power came to them.
Nie Mingjue had originally thought it was a plot by the Wen clan, but they seemed to be just as stuck as everyone else. Yu Ziyuan initially hissed to her husband that it was Wei Wuxian's fault, but no one bothered discussing that idea. Madam Jin accused her husband of sleeping with a God's servant, and he was now cowering near the Wens to escape her wrath. Nie Mingjue was seriously considering trying to knock himself out when light abruptly filled his eyes and he saw where they were.
"Is this… the cloud recesses?" Jin Guangshan asked, looking around at the open pavilion surrounded by a thin layer of cloudy mist. On the grass, sixteen chairs were set down for them in a circle.
"Hello there," a voice said to them, and in the center of the circle of chairs a boy dressed in the robes and headband of a member of the Lan Clan flickered into existence.
Lan Qiren frowned, not recognizing him. Nie Mingjue growled in annoyance.
"Who are-"
"This is a prerecorded message," the boy said. "I'll try to answer as many of your questions as I can."
A Jin disciple to the boy's left appeared next, along with two other boys. The Jin boy turned to them, allowing them to see several of Jin Guangshan's features on him.
Honestly, how many illegitimate children did the man have? Madam Jin looked to be seriously considering murder for the third time that day.
"My name in Jin Ling," the boy introduced himself, then gestured to the boy who spoke first. "That's Lan Sizhui, and the people behind him are Ouyang Zizhen and Lan Jingyi."
The boy who had smirked at them when "Lan Jingyi" was introduced stepped forward next.
"I understand if you're suspicious, but I can assure you that we have your best interests in mind. You may not believe this, but we're from about twenty years in the future."
He paused dramatically, as if waiting for them to react with gasps and applause.
"Who are they trying to fool?" Yu Ziyuan demanded, annoyed that they were being made to sit around and listen to utter nonsense. Nie Mingjue scowled and continued looking around for the spirit causing the mass-hallucination.
"Maybe we should just get on with it," Ouyang Zizhen whispered, leaning in closer to his friend.
"Just a little longer. If there's a standing ovation, we'll need to wait for them to finish," Lan Jingyi hissed back.
"We're just trying to prepare them, not entertain them."
"Lan Jingyi just say your lines! I'm not doing another rehearsal!" Jin Ling demanded.
Thankfully, before they could delve into a petty argument and waste everyone's time further, Lan Sizhui cleared his throat and took over his friend's part.
"I understand if you're skeptical, but please listen. In the future, numerous events happen that shake the cultivation world to its core. We're trying to prevent this in your timeline by educating you all on what mistakes were made in our world, and I can assure you each and every one of your lives was made worse by not having this information. We used a modified version of empathy on numerous spirits to create a 3D model of everything we want to show you. You won't be able to physically interact with each other or the scenes you see, but you'll be able to talk to each other whenever you want."
Curious at the last comment, several people tried grabbing whoever was closest to them, only to pass through as if they were both made of air. Nie Mingjue relaxed slightly, knowing that even if he wasn't able to kill Wen Ruohan right now, at least his brother wasn't in danger.
"We'll be showing you things in the hope that you'll react differently than your counterparts in our world did, mainly in terms of how they treated one person," Sizhui continued, pausing there to allow his words to sink in.
"Now who's being dramatic?" Jingyi muttered, and Jin Ling kicked his shin.
"To us, this person is known by his official title as The Yiling Patriarch. To you, his name is Wei Wuxian."
"What?" Jiang Cheng demanded, despite knowing the boys couldn't respond. He turned to his father, and the Jiang sect leader looked to teens with an additional layer of caution added on to his already displeased expression. Wen Chao scoffed, muttering something about wasting time on an inconsequential child, and, although she didn't say it, Wen Qing seemed to be feeling much the same.
Yu Ziyuan scowled at the boy being brought up, mentally berating him for, as she expected, being the cause of all her trouble. Jiang Fengmian's disapproving gaze did nothing to temper her rage.
"The memories will be shown in segments so as to not overwhelm you. In the meantime, your bodies will be put to sleep and spiritual pressure will be flowed in, allowing your inedia and defensive cultivation to temporarily become even stronger. I can personally assure you that your bodies will be safe; please focus on what we present to you."
"Not that you have much choice," Jin Ling added. Ouyang Zizhen stepped on his foot, silencing him.
"The memories will begin in two minutes."
The teenagers disappeared as their explanation ended, and the cultivators moved around the chairs to form groups divided by sect. Nie Mingjue noticed instantly that they were the smallest percentage of the population, with the Jin and Lan clans following shortly after with their groups of three. The Lans seemed to be discussing why their Clan head wasn't present, turning their gazes to the influential but distantly-related Wen Qing as evidence.
Bloodline wasn't the only factor. Whoever those boys were, they were connected to the cultivation world. Perhaps demons, malicious ghosts, or, less likely, minor gods who were prayed to by cultivators. It didn't explain the odd strategy being used to affect them, but at least they had some information.
"Da-ge," Nie Huaisang whined, walking closer and reaching out, only to pass through with the no-touch limitation imposed on them.
"Calm down Huaisang," Nie Mingjue hissed, motioning for his trembling brother to step even closer.
"Do-do you think they're telling the truth? That we're about to see the future?"
"Of course not, don't be stupid. But we can't get out of here while our golden cores are sealed, so we don't have much choice except to watch for now."
Being reminded of that last fact scared Nie Huaisang even further, and he seemed to curl in on himself in fear. Still trembling, his gaze turned to his friend Jiang Cheng.
"What do you think?" Huaisang asked. "About Wei Wuxian. I mean… what do you think his Yiling Patriarch title means? I-why him? Why are we being shown him when they could just as easily make it about any of us?"
"You know him better than me," Nie Mingjue said. "Does he have any connection with Yiling?"
"Well, he lived there for a little while after his parents died, but I'm not sure why he'd be called that."
Nie Mingjue glared at the empty spot their captors had stood in, hating his own helplessness. If he could just get his brother out of this mess-
But there was no point in worrying about things that weren't possible. All he could do was work to impact what was happening, not what already happened. And right now….
"I suppose our only choice is to wait and find out."
"I told you that boy would bring nothing but trouble!" Yu Ziyuan growled, but Jiang Fengmian only looked down with a troubled expression.
"Mother, please. They even said he was just misunderstood by a lot of people!"
"And you're just going to believe they're from the future?" she asked with a single raised eyebrow, and Jiang Cheng sank in on himself.
"We can't be sure of anything, including whether this is actually about Wei Ying," Jiang Fengmian corrected. "We should hold our judgement until we have more information."
"Oh, of course you'll take his side in this. I sure he could murder A-li and you'd write it off!"
"Mother!" Jiang Cheng nearly shouted, astounded by her proclamation.
"Mother, please, enough. We don't know what's going on." Yanli spoke, ending the conversation. To her side, Jin Zixuan watched her with a slightly surprised gaze, not having expected her to speak up. Before Jiang Fengmian could add anything, the cloud recesses pavilion shifted into pure white.
"It's starting," Wen Qing observed calmly.
"Wen Clan ran amok, and people suffered," Lan Sizhui's voice read aloud. "Righteous Clans launched the Sunshot campaign to oppose the Wen."
Nie Mingjue frowned at the mention of his sect's enemies, but — despite his sons perking up at the words — Wen Ruohan had clearly decided to ignore the information given in favor of watching reactions. Fair enough; the only beneficial thing about watching the fiction would be gaining insight into the other members of the audience.
"Wei Wuxian, the Yiling Patriarch, contributed heavily during the campaign."
Several gazes turned to the Jiangs, interested in how the head disciple they raised would play a part. It was truly unusual for a spirit to make up a story about someone not present.
"However, due to his demonic path and great power, some feared him, and had him set up. He was thusly despised by the public, his home destroyed by his beloved shidi, and he died miserably."
Jiang Cheng flinched at the final words, and Nie Huaisang immediately lifted a hand to his face, holding in a gasp and hiding his stunned expression. Despised by the public? Died Miserably? That couldn't be further from the Wei Ying they knew.
Did the beings who created the hallucination not know anything about him? Perhaps they simply picked a person the majority were familiar with?
"Demonic path?" Wen Xu wondered.
"If anything could trap all of us here, it would be someone who had access to that power," Lan Xichen observed calmly. "Is the ghost or demon using Wei Wuxian as a vehicle for conveying what happened to them?"
Lan Wangji hummed in consideration.
"The 20th year of the reign of Xuanzheng. The year of Gongchen."
Crows squawked and the moon shined overhead, and those furthest to the back were suddenly rushed through as men wrapped in shadow passed by them.
"It seems we really can't touch them," Lan Qiren observed with distaste, no doubt displeased with the mention of demonic cultivation. Nie Huaisang jumped every time he was passed through by a shadowy figure, but Jin Zixuan seemed fairly interested in the realistic vision before them.
Even without walking, the watching cultivators were brought along as a small regiment made its way through a bamboo forest, carrying lanterns bearing the words "Wen Clan." Then, suddenly, the men in front stopped, their eyes widening in fear as the sound of a flute creeped through the woods.
"What's that?" Jin Guangshan demanded as Lan Wangji tried to close his hand around a sword he didn't have. Even knowing they couldn't be touched, their instincts screamed at them to move.
Resentful energy assaulted their senses like a tidal wave.
Hundreds of crows took flight at once, circling around a figure who stood in a distant tree. His long hair swayed freely in the wind behind him, but his appearance was masked in shadow under the moon's glow.
The music continued, and its effects were soon obvious. The corpses which had been laid around the small army suddenly twitched, then moved in earnest as they stood.
"Controlling — creating — fierce corpses?" Jin Guangshan asked, lifting a single eyebrow and trying to hide the fear in his eyes. "My, how far the Jiang clan has fallen, to have their head disciple associate with such a vile form of cultivation."
Yu Ziyuan glared at the man, hissing, "Don't pretend to believe their story just when it's convenient."
The hauntingly beautiful music continued as the corpses turned towards the mortal army.
"The ghost flute, Chenqing?!" a man revealed, shaking as he spoke.
Their view of the situation changed until they were directly in front of the man, allowing the moonlight to illuminate a portion of his handsome features.
Jiang Cheng's eyes widened in horror.
"Is that-"
"It couldn't be-"
"That's the Yiling Patriarch Wei Wuxian!"
"Wei Wuxian?" Jiang Cheng asked, recognizing his shixiong immediately. Jiang Yanli took a step back, falling down onto the chair behind her. She clasped her shaking hands together, and willed them to stop.
Even knowing it wasn't real, that it was just a vision, she couldn't stop the fear that crept through her bones. The man was so, so similar to her A-Xian.
Except, instead of childish joy, light, and charisma, there was only a dangerous, cold hate.
Lively skin was deathly pale; bright silver eyes had become deep gray; his warm, teasing smiles were now frigid, malicious smirks. The boy they loved had been ripped to shreds in this fictitious future.
"That… does look like an older version of him," Jiang Fengmian admitted at last, refusing to add more.
With a crackle of red energy, the nearly-unrecognizable man's eyes glowed with crimson light. In an instant, the Wen-robed corpses attacked, surging forward in an enormous wave toward the now-outmatched army.
The Wens were easily devoured.
Wen Ruohan narrowed his eyes, taking in the massacre before him. It was true that he was the strongest cultivator alive, capable of defeating anyone in one-on-one combat. Even if several of the strongest cultivators were to team up, it would be difficult to say who would win. A single show of his power could force an army of weak cultivators to their knees.
But the scene before him was beyond even his wildest imagination.
Each cultivator killed joined the army of the undead. Friend against friend; brother against brother; every fallen soldier fell to the influence of Wei Wuxian's music. The corpses could continue fighting even as their limbs were chopped off and their heads were crushed to dust, but whenever the same happened to one of the Wen cultivators, the army of corpses had a new recruit.
No one had ever mastered resentful energy. Some thought it couldn't be mastered, being too wild and dangerous for a cultivator to ever use.
But if what he saw before him had even the slightest bit of truth….
Perhaps this would be worth his time after all.
"The 25th year of the reign of Xuanzheng: the year of Yiyou."
A cup fell, spilling onto the table below it.
"Yiling Patriarch Wei Wuxian is dead!"
Jiang Cheng and Jiang Fengmian flinched away, and even Yu Ziyuan frowned at the tone. It was fake — it had to be — but it was hard to remember that when the scenes before them were so realistic.
"Really? Who killed him?"
"Who else? His old friend Jiang Cheng, leader of the Jiang Clan."
"No." Jiang Cheng muttered breathlessly. "No. No, no, no, no, no-that's a lie! It's wrong, and lying and I wouldn't-"
"A-Cheng," Yanli whispered, turning to him. "Don't worry, we know you'd never do that. I don't know why the spirit is trying to make us think you would, but we know you better than it does."
Jiang Fengmian stepped closer, trying to offer a comforting shoulder, only to pass through his son's body as if he wasn't there. He frowned and dropped his hand.
"Jiang Clan of Yunmeng, Jin Clan of Lanling, Lan Clan of Gusu, and Nie Clan of Qinghe have all taken the lead, and burned the Burial Mounds to the ground."
Wen Ruohan calmly noted the lack of his clan in the list.
"Burial Mounds?" Lan Xichen asked. "But it's suicide to go there."
"Mn," Lan Wangji agreed, and glanced around the room. Four of the great clans had united to take down just one person? What on earth had Wei Wuxian done in this supposed timeline?
"I heard, since he cultivated the dark path, his powers backfired during the battle and he was torn to a fine powder by his own ghost soldiers. If so, serves him right. The ghost soldiers he had were like mad dogs, biting everyone that they came across. In the end, they turned their fangs on him!"
Jiang Yanli scowled at the cruel comparison.
"Huh? But the Yiling Patriarch and the four Clans were allies during the Sunshot Campaign, right?"
"You call that being allies? The Jiangs raised him like their own, but almost all of them were killed because of him!"
"I told you," Yu Ziyuan hissed, but even her words lacked their usual bite. Wei Wuxian killed nearly all of the Jiang clan? Why? How? She might not like the boy, but even she had never expected that.
Jiang Fengmian, on the other hand, stood stock still as he listened to the villagers speak. It had been odd, he noticed, how they had described Wei Wuxian. An "ally" of the Yungmeng Jiang sect. Not head disciple; not son; not student; ally. How could the spirit think he would become so isolated? What had Wei Ying done?
(No, not him. Not the real Wuxian. It couldn't be.)
"What an ungrateful bastard."
"I heard that he has another evil weapon. The Stygian Tiger Seal!"
At the revelation of the unfamiliar name, the 3D memory shifted into a far away red ball of energy collapsing in on itself into an explosion.
"Yes, don't forget that he has that. Or how he killed three thousand cultivators overnight."
"Five thousand if I'm not mistaken."
Wen Chao huffed. "Foolish peasants. To believe such a thing." Not even his father could kill five thousand in such a short time. Civilians always exaggerated.
"He destroyed the Seal before he died. At least he did one good thing."
Jiang Cheng growled, wanting to protest the phrasing, but finding he couldn't speak after the revelation about his clan's fate. He knew it was fake, but-
"They say he has powers beyond imagination. What if he steals someone's body and comes back?"
"Heh. Various clans spent months trying to summon him, but to no avail. It seems the Yiling Patriarch has truly left nothing behind."
A sigh.
"Back then, Wei Wuxian was also a prominent figure from an established Clan."
"He also helped destroy the Wens. He made a name for himself at a young age. But how did it end up like this…."
"Destroy the Wens?" Wen Chao repeated. "Preposterous. This segment is entirely fictitious Father! There's no need to listen to such slander."
"Quiet," Wen Ruohan growled, no longer interested in his son's empty pandering. It wasn't as though they could do anything to escape, so those words were useless.
What would he have to do to get a capable heir?
"You're sure he can't be brought back?"
"Aside from himself, who else would be capable of that?"
In the next instant, the world turned misty, and the memories momentarily halted.
"Perhaps this is one of the breaks they brought up earlier?" Lan Xichen suggested, and his brother made a short sound of acknowledgement.
Nie Mingjue watched the Wens for a moment longer, before turning to Huaisang.
"That was your friend?"
"I-um, it seemed to be? But he hasn't-he would never use… I don't know why he's a demonic cultivator. He's great at spiritual cultivation, so there shouldn't be any-I mean…."
Nie Huaisang stuttered off, and his gaze turned to the Jiang heir, kneeling on the ground beside his parents.
"I told you he would be trouble!" Yu Ziyuan hissed. "This whole mess is probably because of him! Think of the shame he's thrust upon our clan! We would have been better off leaving him in the streets."
"But Mother, he didn't actually do-"
"You must have heard them," she interrupted, looking again at her husband. "The great 'Yiling Patriarch.' Only he would find a mess like this entertaining-"
"We don't know everything. Calm down," Jiang Fengmian spoke, raising his voice at last. "All we can do right now is continue watching."
"Mother, arguing won't solve anything right now," Yanli explained. "Please, sit."
Once again, Jin Zixuan found her calm and mature handling of the situation at ends with the weak and average impression he had of his fiance. He had thought, when faced with a figure as imposing as the Jiang matriarch, she would cower away and remain silent, but instead….
Perhaps getting to know her wouldn't be so bad.
"Mo Village, 13 years later. Mo Xuanyu."
They were brought to a dark room, and, in the center, was a lone youth using his finger to sketch symbols on the ground.
Jin Zixuan frowned at the disgusting state of the room. Jiang Cheng barely bit back a laugh when he saw the peacock's reaction.
"With my blood, drawn by my hand, I sacrifice my body to you. My soul shall disappear. Humbly I await you, Yiling Patriarch, Wei Wuxian!"
"What? Resurrecting someone is impossible!" Madam Jin declared, wondering why the scene they were shown was venturing so far from reality. Surely the spirit would at least want them to believe it was real?
Wind howled, and a donkey outside whined at the disturbance, but, in the center of the array, resentful energy gathered to a level few cultivators had felt before. In the fluttering pages of the nearby book, the words "Written by Wei Wuxian" were visible.
The array finished glowing, and Mo Xuanyu collapsed onto the ground.
Time passed quickly as the spirits' memories zoomed ahead to the following morning, when the boy before them finally blinked his eyes open.
"Where am I?" Mo Xuanyu asked, tilting his head in confusion.
For a moment, Lan Wangji thought he might have failed the procedure. After all, demonic cultivation was extremely volatile and dangerous; given that Wei Wuxian hadn't appeared from thin air, it was possible the failed attempt had taken memories in exchange.
Then, he took a closer look at the boy sitting up.
The body was the same, but — even considering the short time he had to observe Mo Xuanyu — there was obviously something different about the aura the newcomer gave off. It was peaceful, content, confident, inviting….
Almost… cute.
An apple rolled towards maybe-Mo Xuanyu's feet, and from the side, the voice of a child called out.
"Madman. Madman!"
Maybe-Mo Xuanyu rubbed his eyes as a large man lumbered in, chasing the children away.
"What do you think you're doing?" A rude voice interrupted. "You sleep in my house and eat my food. I took some of your magic items, so what? And you snitched on me?"
"You must be out of your mind," another man's voice added. "You've got balls!"
"Don't think you're so great because you father's a Clan leader. You're just a bastard! A bastard who's been kicked out like a dog."
Many people frowned in consideration, trying to theorize who the mentioned father could be.
Madam Jin frowned at her husband, feeling certain she knew the most likely option.
With those final words, the unknown man applied a kick to Mo Xuanyu's side, ignoring how the boy was already laying down. With a final, raspy growl, the fat man grabbed Mo Xuanyu's hair and pulled him up so they were sitting face to face.
"Mo Xuanyu, listen carefully. My Mom is the leader of Mo village. She didn't recognize your Mom as her sister, and we are not family!"
Nie Mingjue scowled, grumbling "spoiled brat" under his breath. Lan Xichen glanced over disapprovingly, but made no outward objection to the comment.
Mo Xuanyu was thrown to the side, and he finally turned over to see his own makeup-covered face in the water. When he stared down at his reflection, he gasped in shock, eyes widening in disbelief.
"A self-sacrificial summoning ritual," he whispered. "And this blood. How miserable must he have been to do this to himself?"
The use of "he" confirmed it. The man before them was no longer the boy named Mo Xuanyu.
Instead, it was quite likely that it was Wei Wuxian. Or at least the version of Wei Wuxian being depicted in the spirit's artificial hallucination.
He lifted his arm up, pulling back his sleeve to reveal numerous cut marks made on it.
"He was summoning a heinous spirit? But it couldn't have been me… it must have been some lunatic."
His laugh was cut off as he was hit from behind again by the fat young master.
"Your mother is just a servant girl. You too are a servant!"
Only Yanli's hand near his arm kept Jiang Cheng from running over and futilely trying to attack the young master before them. Despite her actions, her gaze held only contempt for the cruel young master, knowing just how close his words were to some of the things which had been whispered about Wei Wuxian when he first came to the Yunmeng Jiang sect.
They knew it wasn't real, but-
"We have important guests today, don't let him embarrass us." The young master ordered to the servant beside him. A quick bow showed respect to the young master, before he turned to Wei Wuxian and began to hiss out insult after insult.
"Stupid lunatic. Stop playing dead! Get to work."
'Playing dead?' Wei Wuxian repeated internally. 'I've been dead for many years. It's not an act.'
They were hearing his thoughts, several people realized.
"...Perhaps the power of the spirits who made this allowed them greater insight," Jiang Fengmian suggested, noting the deep glower Yu Ziyuan and Lan Qiren adopted at his reference to demonic cultivation. That, at the very least, was better than the amused fascination on both Wen Ruohan and Jin Guangshan's expressions.
Getting up into a kneeling position, Wei Wuxian continued his thought process.
"Spirits summoned through this ritual must fulfill the summoner's wishes. If not, the spell will render them unable to be revived. Mo Xuanyu, since you've summoned me, you should have told me what it is you want. Shall I humiliate them? Beat them down? Kill them all?"
For a moment, everyone who personally knew Wei Wuxian stopped breathing. It was true that there was genuine competence and skill behind his playful demeanor, but there was never this. Never a calm, desensitized reaction to the suggestion of mass murder, whether on innocents or criminals.
Obviously, the spirits didn't know the first thing about Wei Wuxian.
Standing up, Wei Wuxian laughed for a moment. Then, when the young master turned to face him, kicked him to the ground with a satisfying thump.
Not even Jiang Yanli could resist snickering at that.
"Do you want to die? How dare you?" the servant demonded. "I'm about to give you the beating of a lifetime!"
With an entirely-too-cheerful giggle, Wei Wuxian finally stood upright so he was looking down on the people seated before him.
"Who do you think you're talking to?" he asked, playfully.
The young master spluttered half-threats, but, after only being met with a deepened smirk, quickly ran away. His servant followed like a dog barking at his master's heels.
Wei Wuxian giggled at the scene, then climbed on a donkey's back to chase after them. When his attempts at ordering the animal around proved fruitless, he grabbed a nearby apple and used it as bait for the donkey to chase after.
Jiang Cheng and Nie Huaisang relaxed slightly and blinked in confusion at the instantly-altered demeanor. Despite the words just before, the boy they saw now was certainly similar to the Jiang head disciple they remembered. Could the spirit know more than they realized?
Lan Wangji was perplexed and intrigued by the shameless, carefree joy in the supposedly terrifying cultivator. He had never seen anyone act so playfully.
Their view switched to a different spirit's memory, bringing them to the center of town where the local civilians discussed the arrival of cultivators.
"Demon hunters are really coming?"
"Of course. Zombies have been seen in the back hills. Many have died. The demon hunters are coming for them. I hear they're from a prestigious Clan."
Jin Guangshan leaned forward in his seat, hoping his clan would get a chance to be in the spotlight.
"Look out!" was shouted from behind shortly before the young master from before began barreling through the street, knocking over tables as he went.
One cut of alcohol thrown into the air was caught by Wei Wuxian mid flight, and he greedily drank it down.
Lan Wangji frowned at the destruction they caused.
"Isn't that the crazy elder son of the Mo family?" someone asked.
"The abuse he suffered drove him mad," a woman confirmed. "The Mos are cruel. I pity him!"
Frowns marred the faces of Lan Xichen, Jiang Fengmian, and Jiang Yanli. Even with their near-unrivaled positions, they were always prone to sympathy.
In the next second, they were inside a building. While not as fancy as many of the palaces sect leaders owned, it was obviously fairly well off.
"I hear disciples of Lan Clan are great heroes," an elderly woman said. "And here you are. Every one of you is so handsome."
Lan Qiren and Lan Xichen perked up at the announcement, and even Lan Wangji refocused his eyes for a more thorough analysis.
"So high spirited, so bright, so brave. The cream of the crop!" she continued, layering on the praise as thickly as she possibly could.
The moment the Lan sect disciples came into view, nearly everyone did a double take.
"Those are some of the ones who trapped us here!" an indigent Wen Chao announced. At this, the trio of Lans took an even more speculative look at their representatives.
"Mrs. Mo, you've told us the zombie epidemic is a recent occurrence?" the one who had introduced himself as Lan Sizhui asked. He was the epitome of calm grace, and, regardless of what he ended up doing later, even Lan Qiren couldn't complain at what was before them.
"Yes, some have even invaded the village," the woman continued. "And lately demon hunters have come around, talking about a night-hunt."
Lan Sizhui nodded once. "Cultivators enjoy traveling and demon hunting. They often appear at night. Thus, the name."
"Oh, I see," she continued, unable to pick up the approaching heavy breathing a cultivator's enhanced senses allowed them to notice. "Actually, my son has always dreamed of hunting demons. He's very refined and intelligent. I think he would make a great cultivator. Pity there are no opportunities-"
A second later, young master Mo broke open the doors, cries of "Mom!" still on his lips.
"That stupid Mo Xuanyu bullied me because he knows some magic," the man continued, collapsing into his mother's arms like a child despite having no problems being on the opposite end of the spectrum. "He must be punished for this!"
'Childish hypocrite,' Jiang Yanli's eyes seemed to say. Jiang Cheng's mouth spoke the thought aloud, growling in indigent rage which overwhelmed his amusement at the shameful display.
Yu Ziyuan turned a disapproving glare on her children, but Nie Mingjue approved. There was very little he hated more than having to cater to those sorts of people while working; he wondered how the Lan clan always worked up the energy to do it.
"He-he hit you?" she demanded, checking her son over. "Are you hurt? Please forgive me!"
His whimpers continued, but the Madam quickly turned to the cultivators and covered her mouth to prevent her lips from being read.
"Ziyuan, hold it together," she whispered.
Shouts from outside proved the servants were trying to prevent someone from entering, but their use proved negatable when, shortly after, a poorly running Wei Wuxian outran the two servants chasing after him and entered the main hall, cackling gleefully as he went.
Nie Huaisang, Jin Zixuan, and Jiang Yanli were trying to muffle their laughter at the ridiculous act, but many of the adults did not look upon it as kindly.
"He's trying to humiliate them," Lan Xichen observed, placing a hand on his uncle's shoulder in an attempt to calm the man down, only to have it pass right through thanks to the no-touching rule the area maintained.
Lan Qiren was still displeased by the utter lack of shame on display, but conceded to his nephew's point.
"I suppose that's better than jumping right to killing them all, demonic cultivator or not."
As backhanded as the complement was, Jiang Cheng was comforted by the hope that perhaps his shixiong wasn't quite as far gone as he had initially appeared to be.
Wen Ruohan found it amusing that even Lan Qiren couldn't remember what they saw was only a spirit's illusion. Seeing it so realistically before them made even the illogical events seems possible.
Suddenly, Wei Wuxian tripped on a raised edge in the door, flailing around and crashing towards the ground.
"Watch out!" Lan Jingyi called out, grabbing his arm and stopping his descent.
'A cloud pattern?' Wei Wuxian thought, gazing at the headband on Lan Jingyi. 'He must be from the Lan clan of Gusu. Hm, what a coincidence.'
Wei Wuxian laughed and excitedly leaned over, startling Jingyi. "Are you the one that's hiding my things?" he asked, exaggeratedly.
Nie Huaisang snickered at the show his friend put on for them, pleased that Wei Wuxian's nearly legendary enthusiasm hadn't been lost even in the fake vision. Both Jiang Cheng and Jiang Yanli also seemed to find the performance amusing, though their fear of their mother kept them from being too obvious.
On the side, Lan Wangji watched with fascination. He could understand the logic behind humiliating the family, but found the boys actions so different — so shameless — that he remained befuddled nonetheless. It was truly astounding that anyone could be so full of life and humor and confidence and everything unacceptable in the Cloud Recesses.
His smile was infectious.
"Somebody!" The house's matriarch called. "Get this lunatic out of here!"
Wei Wuxian shook his head and climbed onto a nearby pillar, shouting that he wouldn't leave. The servant tried to pry him off with both physical force and threats, but nothing seemed to work.
Finally Wei Wuxian turned a teasing gaze over, smirking like his greatest joke was finally about to reveal itself.
"I'm willing to leave if he gives me my things back!"
"Nonsense! When did I take your things?"
"Right, right. You didn't "take" them. You stole them! And you did it in the middle of the night! You disgrace!" Wei Wuxian shouted back, still clinging to the pillar.
Enraged by the boy's words, the young master hefted up a table and threw it, leaving his servant and cousin to dodge just in the nick of time.
"Murderer! He wants to kill me!" Wei Wuxian cried out as he ran and hid behind the young masters of the Lan sect. The two looked at each other, silently communicating their complete bewilderment.
The young master lunged towards Wei Wuxian, but Lan Sizhui caught his hand, stopping it from making contact. Even as big as the Mo's young master was, no non-cultivator could ever hope of defeating one in a contest of strength and skill.
"Please," Lan Sizhui began. "Friend, we can talk."
"Hm," Lan Qiren hummed, watching his student calmly deal with the situation.
"Huh, he kinda takes after you, doesn't he Xichen," Nie Mingjue asked, focusing in on the smile. Though there were undoubtedly differences between them. The attitude, while friendly, had a greater emphasis on calming people down rather than being silently encouraging. It was more like someone took a mini Lan Wangji, and added a little happiness into his life.
Young Master Mo pulled his hand away from Sizhui, but his mother quickly moved in, dragging her son away and apologizing to the cultivators.
"I'm sorry, my son is just upset about being falsely accused of theft. As for Mo Xuanyu, he has some mental problems. He's always spouting nonsense. Ignore him."
Jiang Cheng growled at the accusation, even if she wasn't technically talking about his shixiong when she said that.
Wei Wuxian gave a laughing scoff at those words.
"Who says it's nonsense? Try stealing from me again. I swear, I'll cut off his arm!"
"Mom! Are you going to let him bully me?"
"Shut it!" The Madam growled, but turned when Sizhui interrupted.
"Your family issues don't involve me. The sun is close to setting-"