#Sect Leader Jiang Yanli

[wangxianficrecs]

Just go forward like you mean it by tawaen

Just go forward like you mean it

by tawaen

M, WIP, 67k, Wangxian

Summary: Before Wei Wuxian can say he will join Jiang Cheng and attend the Wen indoctrination, a letter describing the burning of the Cloud Recesses reaches Lotus Pier. Realizing the danger to the Jiang sect, he decides to stay behind to help with the defenses and keep his sect safe. While he agonizes over the fate of the disciples sent as little more than hostages, he upgrades the wards of the Jiang sect to stand against the inevitable Wen army. Lotus Pier will survive, and Wei Wuxian changes his own fate and the fate of the Sunshot Campaign. Kay's comments: A WIP, but only barely! I hope I manage to post this in time for WIP Rec Week, because tawaen updates quickly and there's only one chapter missing! I really, really enjoyed the direction this canon divergence took with Wei Wuxian staying behind in Lotus Pier during the indoctrination and making sure there's at least one person who prepares for the inevitable Wen invasion. I won't spoil much, but he's also becoming a rogue cultivator and finds his way to Lan Wangji sooner and you know, I'm so weak for that. Can't wait for the last chapter! Excerpt: “A decision on aiding the Lan need not be made now. However, our disciples will need to leave early tomorrow. A-Xian, I assume you will go with A-Cheng?” Jiang Fengmian looks over with an indulgent smile, but it is strained at the edges. Jiang Yanli turns in her seat to face him with open concern. She would send no one if that were possible. At some point during the argument she stopped peeling lotus seeds, remaining still and impassive to avoid drawing attention to herself. Her hands clench with her nails digging into her palms. Wei Wuxian didn't even notice. He gives her a reassuring smile. Wei Wuxian salutes, “Uncle Jiang, at this time, I would like to stay in Lotus Pier. We should not send our two best fighters to Qishan. One of us should remain behind in case of further Wen demands.” While Jiang Yanli relaxes slightly, Jiang Cheng turns sharply to look at him with betrayal in his eyes. This would normally make Wei Wuxian change course – but the Lan wards failed. Who is to say the Jiang wards would prevail?

pov wei wuxian, canon divergence, fall of lotus pier, inventor wei wuxian, genius wei wuxian, no golden core transfer, sect leader jiang yanli, jiang cheng has no golden core, dysfunctional jiang family, jiang family dynamics, bad parents jiang fengmian and yu ziyuan, developing relationship, friends to lovers, angst with a happy ending

~*~

(Please REBLOG as a signal boost for this hard-working author if you like – or think others might like – this story.)

[bambooswordwielder]

Thinking about writing a Role Swap! Yunming Trio au and came up with a few changes. (Note the characters still retain their base personality features eg. Wei Wuxian is still a wackey self-sacrificing genius idiot, just his role and a few details in the story are changed)

Swaps are:

Jiang Yanli gets Jiang Cheng's role (AKA The Lonely Jiang Sect Leader)

Wei Wuxian gets Jiang Yanli's role (AKA The Married Sibling who died too soon)

Jiang Cheng gets Wei Wuxian's role (AKA The Cruel Demonic Cultivator hated by the world)

So the AU actually has its major changes start all the way back at Jiang Yanli's childhood where she actually manages to create a rather strong golden core. This causes Madam Yu to take more control of raising Jiang Yanli because she sees herself more in her, causing Jiang Yanli to have a lot more pressure on her.

Eventually Jiang Cheng is born and is born with a less pressure on him due to his mother focusing on training Jiang Yanli's golden core, allowing him to be a bit more calmer and carefree. After a few years, Jiang Fengmian finds Wei Wuxian on the streets and brings him back to the Jiang Sect.

This causes Madam Yu and Jiang Fengmian to argue for nights, which leads to Wei Wuxian feeling guilty for causing trouble at his new home. Jiang Yanli and Jiang Cheng (after their promise to always stay together) both insist that it's not his fault.

Wei Wuxian doesn't believe it. He acts like he does though.

Jiang Yanli wishes she could support and care for him more, but Madam Yu's fierce attention on him doesn't allow her much time to do that.

Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian are still best friends and often go out hunt pheasants, often with Wei Wuxian inventing and teaching Jiang Cheng a bit after learning of his slight inferiority complex to Jiang Yanli and how much Madam Yu focuses on her.

However one day, Jiang Cheng gets injured, nothing life threatening, but just injured enough that Wei Wuxian is forced to end their little outing early and drags him back to the Sect. The healers take Jiang Cheng, leaving a pale confused Jiang Yanli, a trembling Wei Wuxian, and a silent Madam Yu.

"Wei Ying."

Wei Wuxian's body tenses and he turns to face Madam Yu.

"Follow me."

She orders him, turning around with not a mother word. Wei Wuxian feels his heart stop for a moment. He nods his head and follows her only to be stopped by a hand gripping on his shoulder. It's Jiang Yanli.

"A-Xian- Wait! Maybe I should come with you–"

Wei Wuxian shakes his head as he gently takes Jiang Yanli's hand of his shoulder with a small smile on his face.

"No need to worry Shijie. Everything will be okay."

Jiang Yanli opens her mouth to protest, but a glimpse from behind Wei Wuxian showed her that Madam Yu was glaring at them both.

"Wei Ying. A-Li. What is it that is so important for you both to ignore me?"

Jiang Yanli froze and when she finally gained control of her body, Wei Wuxian had vanished off to wherever Madam Yu had taken him.

She felt her body freeze and her eyes burn as she saw Wei Wuxian again the next day outside Jiang Cheng's room in the medical bay, his body clearly trembling as she saw the traces of Madam Yu's discipline on him.

"O-Oh hey Shiji—" He stopped. "...Jiang-Guniang! I was just about to check on Jiang-Gongzi!"

"A-Xian..." Her eyes widened. "You know you can just call me Shijie..." Or A-Jie, but Jiang Yanli knew her mother would murder the boy if he ever tried. Now he was uncomfortable calling her Shijie... was he not a disciple of YunmengJiang, couldn't he at least have that?

Jiang Yanli felt discomfort growing in her body as she noticed that Wei Wuxian was bowing slightly to her, like a servant.

His smile melted away, "Its... rather improper for someone like me to do something like that..."

"A-Xian... Did A-Niang–"

The door slammed open. It was Jiang Cheng.

"Jiang-Gongzi, you shouldn't be out of bed, what if you're still injured–"

Wei Wuxian was cut off as Jiang Cheng wrestled him to the ground, hugging him tightly as Wei Wuxian was staring confused.

"You idiot! Didn't we say we were family! What's this Jiang-Gongzi and Jiang-Guniang business!"

Jiang Cheng yelled out as he continued to hug Wei Wuxian tightly. Wei Wuxian blinked before a conflicted look grew on is face.

"Madam Yu simply reminded me of place..."

"Well she's wrong."

Both Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian's eyes went wide and Jiang Yanli wondered who said that until she realised it was herself. She tightened her fists.

"A-Niang was wrong. You're my brother and she can't stop that." She kneeled down to the floor beside the others and hugged him both tightly. "You're both my brothers. We stay together no matter what. No matter what others say."

Wei Wuxian's eyes became shiny and wet until two thin trails of tears came down his cheeks.

"S-Shijie..."

Jiang Yanli smiled, "A-Xian, remember our promises." She turned to Jiang Cheng. "We all promised to protect each other."

Jiang Cheng nodded, "And we will." He then turned to Wei Wuxian, "So you better not be stupid and get injured because you feel guilty!"

"You're the one who's injured!"

"And?"

"You–"

As the two boys started to playfully argue, Jiang Yanli smiled. This was her home. This was her family.

...

Years later, Lotus Pier would burnt down and later on she would be forced to watch Jiang Cheng cradling the bleeding body of Wei Wuxian as Jiang Cheng's army of corpses fought against the disciples of the other Great Sects.

[acearohippo]

Don't mind me, just rambling

Sometimes, I see childhood!Wei Wuxian and think "wow, the untreated ADHD is really powerful with this one". And then I see him post ressurection as mo xuanyu and go "wow, he really be suffering from that lack of oxygenated brain" and then I pause and think.

"Wait. holy crap... Did mxtx purposely make him TBI (traumatic brain injury) -coded?? Did she understand that, as he wouldn't be in his original body, the ADHD wouldn't've followed him, but mxy being legally dead for who knows how many minutes (aka, no oxygen/blood flowing to the brain) before the soul of wwx completely merged, WOULD cause a whole load of similar symptoms but with less executive dysfunction??"

Because if that was on purpose, I am blown away at the attention to detail. And if it wasn't on purpose... I'm still blown away at the difference! Not to mention, the more stable he became with support from Lan Wangji the less debilitating his symptoms were to him.

And I was already shook by Lan Wangji, Jin Zixuan, and Jiang Cheng's autism-coded personality clashes. It's not often we see (accurate) portrayals of when two (or more) neurodivergent characters clash, usually there's more emphasis on solidarity vs neurotypicals. There's no "trauma-bonding", no "coming to a truce through marriage", no "I hate socialising, you hate socialising, let's avoid it together". And it's accurate, because when stuff goes down and they need to work together, there's no hesitation because the expectation is that- well, they need to handle the shit that hit the fan. And when all is over and done with? They don't fall under the societal pressure to bond with each other, there's no need. They did their jobs, they're good.

Mxtx is just really damn good at writing complex characters with complex neuroses. I ain't even touch how you can almost always tell who's the "coded" ones in her stories and they're not all the same character archetype. It's glorious.

[sherylhooper]

There's a reason that even tho my country and my people push very hard to have us included in Europe, and discard everything that make us similar to Asia, I don't count myself as just European but more Asian, because our country is moatly located in Asia and also because the Silk Road and other Asian coutries' culture is very similar to us. That's the conversation for another time tho but when someone reads this, I want them to know that foreigners may call us white because of our skin color (even tho my ethnicity is very diverse 😒) but they still always count us as Asians because we aren't white and European enough for them.

What I want to say with that is that as much as I like that damnei, and especially MXTX books became popular, western people with their idiotic ideas make my skin crawl.

Unpopular opinion here but Wen remnants weren't innocent just because they haven't done what Wen Ruohan did. If someone doesn't something horrible, doesn't make them innocent and good. This is why I can't stand western people. Someone made a tiktok about how horrible Jiang Cheng was for leading the siege against Wei Wuxian and how horrible he was and how heroic WWX is and I wanted to make something very very clear.

MXTX herself very clearly wrote during Sunshot campaign that "no Wen took Sunshot Campaign seriously". Here it doesn't say that every Wen, besides Wen Qing and Wen Ning and Wen Qing's branch, took Sunshot Campaign seriously. No, she very clearly wrote what she wrote. People assume way too much that Wen Qing couldn't leave Wen Ruohan's side. I'm sorry but yes, yes, she could, She could've taken Wen Ning with her, gone to Lan Xichen or Nie Mingjiu and given up as a prisoner, but she didn't.

The fact very much remains: neither she, nor Wen Ning or others gave up on Wen Rouhan. They clearly expected him to win (and he was very much winning before WWX turned up with undead army and turned the tides.).

Now I want to address another thing and it's called POW, i.e. what Wen Remnants were.

The phrase, Prisoner of War for the first time, has been used in 1610 but the idea of losing side of war being "either slaughtered of enslaved" has been there since ancient times: Romans, Greeks, Turk Sejuks, Turk Ottomans, Persians, Arabs, Mongols, Chinese, Japanese, etc. They all have taken people from losing side of war as prisoners.

Now I want to adress what these POW were used as - "Typically, victors made little distinction between enemy combatants and enemy civilians, although they were more likely to spare women and children. Sometimes the purpose of a battle, if not a war, was to capture women, a practixe known as raptio."

My people were part of raptio many times, as our enemies captured women from my country because they were beautiful and they wanted to "verbessern" (improve) their blood and bred them for that purpose as disgusting as it sounds, this is a very reason why many foreign leaders in history, especially in Asia, had my people as grandmas or mothers, most of the time unwillingly and my people also took their own life before that kind of fate would befall on them too.

That was what happened to women prisoners after war most of the time, as for men, they were used to work manually almost every time for their captors.

Now, as much as Jin Guangshan and Jin Zixun make me very very angry, (not because how they acted against Wens but because they were simply disgusting people) they weren't wrong to take Wen Remnants in and make them work manually till they died (what could be argued that Jin Zixun was wrong in following that bat and capturing and impriaoning WN and his group during nighthunt). If everything WWX acting the way he acted was abnormal. He literally stole and freed them and went to the enemy's side.

Here is where I want people reading this to forget their western opinions and Geneva Convention (which was created in 1949 AFTER two world wars.). I know that most of them and their countries have never been to war in near history (USA involvement in Afghanistan, in Iraq, in iran, in many other countries doesn't count and neither does WW1 and WW2), have never had their people expeciance genoc!de so I want them to shut their mouth and listen to us, who have had wars at the hands oppressors and colonizators for more than 2000 years, yes two thousand years, who have experienced genoc!de multiple times. Even nowdays 20% of my country is occupied by our oppressors and we had 2 wars in last 32 years also at the hands of them. In 1992-1993 and in 1998 my people experienced ethnic cleansing alongside with our allies at the hands of Russians. And last war we had was in 2008, which I remember very well and it was hardly a war and more likely bombing the civilians!

Keep that in mind that I actually was in Jiang Cheng's shoes and understand that I also have a sibling. If, God above forbid, my sibling after what happened to us, got up, defected and went to Russians side, I'd kill that traitor with my own two fucking hands!!

Does people even understand what kind of bullshit they are speaking when they say that WWX was actually not wrong to take "innocent" Wens' side? There was no such thing as innocent people there!! They were elders, sure, but you can't make me believe that if they were younger they wouldn't fight in that war or that WRH wouldn't force them to fight. Did anyone from Wen Remnants say "oh, Wen Ruohan was such a bad person, we weren't actually on his side even tho we never defected during the war but just because we have done nothing against others, we are innocent". That doesn't work like that. They couldn't have been innocent when they stayed by WRH's side in the war!! At best, they simply were indifferent in it! They alao profited from war. Funding, medicine, etc have to come from somewhere, right?

Now I want to adress Wen Ning and Wen Qing and why I don't particulary care about them. Wen Qing was a healer, we have to understand that today's medical ethics that was created by Thomas Percival, is different from what physicians thought was correct in antient times, especially in ancient China.

"The traditional Chinese medical ethics emphasized heavily on physician's morality and set high standarts for medical practice. To summarie the ideas in these historical works, the phyaicians nuat rescue every like without any preconditions."

At that time there was no such thing as patient's automony. For that reason we can't fault WQ when she performed the golden core transplatation. She just did what WWX asked her.

There'a one thing that I'm gonna argue tho. When WQ and WN saved Jiang Cheng from other Wens, WQ told WWX that their debt from now on was null and void.

So when people say that Jiang Cheng should've always be in debt with her, is actually not correct. I also want to argue that she trully only cared for her brother. When she fell on her knees in front of WWX, she only wanted him to save Wen Ning. Nowhere did she say "oh, Jin clan is treating my branch so horrible, we all want to save ourselves. Help me save them."

Now about Wen Ning. He is a guy who has no other personality than just being m nice. He helped JC and WWX after Jiang Sect annihilation and that was also because he was nice. He is just a nice guy, nothing more, nothing less. He just exists to be "just nice guy".

I can't seem to force myself to care about him.

Someone on above mentioned tiktok commented and I quote:

"there is nothing jc went through that was significantly worse than what others went through yet people baby him so much 🙄 sry i don’t like mr genocide everyone"

The tiktok author replied:

"NO FR like “he lost his family” hate to break it to u bud but so did like. Everyone else … it was kind of a war,,,"

Did I read it correctly or did they simply compared Jiang Sect Genocide to people losing one or two relatives in the war??

The author in their bio had "free Palestine". Unfortunatelly that comment here clearly speaks that they don't actually care about anyone's genocide and they probably only do it for the trend.

Apparently these people also think that Jiang Cheng hunted down that tortured "pure innocent Demonic Cultivators for fun".

Are they dumb or do they trully think that these Demonic Cultivators all were like WWX and not blood-hungry like Xue Yang?? The only remotelly normal Demonic Cultivator was WWX!! Nowhere did MXTX say, even in interviews that JC hunted Demonic Cultivators for fun! Some people have never read a book in their life and it shows!

Especially when they act as if WWX was second coming of Jesus and has never done anything wrong.

First of all, WWX did, in fact, have an army in Burial Mounds, the army of undead, fierce corpses and ghosts. That army may not have Wen Remnants, but it was still an army! Also wasn't WWX the one who wrote death threats with his own blood and sent them different sects? He, obviously, wasn't in right mind at that time but he really was the threat to the Jianghu. He was arrogant and, what we know is that Jiang Cheng led the siege (please, remember that we also hear that from other people - who love rumors and speculation and etc. We don't know for sure if JC led the siege or not.).

WWX did betray him. He left him alone when he took Wen Remnants. They were brothers!! What kind of older brother abandons their little sibling? Wei Ying also indirectly caused Jiang YanLi's death. Mind you, Wei Ying didn't die on the same day as JYL, but three months later.

That alone left Jiang Cheng trully alone with a newborn nephew!!

It's a wonder he didn't go out of his mind.

Just because WWX suffered doesn't mean other people, especially Jiang Cheng didn't lose everything in the world. He had to revive a dead sect with his two very hands in his early twenties.

Some people also don't understand what kind of power vacuum Jiang Fengmian and Yu Ziyuan's deaths created! Take cultivation out of the novel and you are left with 5 big sect with Sect Leaders who are like the kings in their own land! People pay taxes here canonically. Do some people trully believe that Yumeng Jiang would remain untouched when there was no Jiang Sect left to rule it? Jin Guangshan and other sects, big or small, would start fighting over the land. Jiang Cheng had more problems at his hands than caring about leftover Wens and the problems that Wei Wuxian created because at that time, when he stole Wens from Jin Sect, he was still a part of AND the Head Disciple of Jiang Sect 🤌🏻

Wen Ruohan wiped out one of the 5 big sects and he may have done the same if Wei Wuxian didn't insult Wen Chao, but he indirectly gave Wen Chao the reason to hate Jiang Sect even more than his father's brainwashing and people think it's not that important.

People also genuinely hate Lan Xichen because he never cared about Wen Remnants enough to take them in or save them 🤦‍♀️

Wei Wuxian should also have cared enough for his sect to at least help JC revive it or something as his Head Disciple. Him giving JC his golden core meant nothing at that time, I said what I said! Especially because he didn't know! 🤷‍♀️ I blame Jiang Fengmian for raising him all highty and mighty and lone wolf or smt, but that's the discussion of another time.

I trully believe that some people read the novel with their eyes closed! This here is exactly why I hate westerns so much when they seriously think that JC is the worst character and hate him more than Wen Ruohan, Jin Guangyao/Meng Yao and Jin Guangshan 🤌🏻

MDZS fandom is clearly very toxic and I'm very glad I'm not a part of it. I'll stay in my SVSSS bubble for eternity.

P.S. just so I can make something very clear. The Siege didn't happen because of Wen Remnants as Jin Zixun allowed WWX to take them away, but because WWX killed Jin Zixuan, who was a sect heir and also husband of his Shijie. Wen Ning killed him indirectly, WWX had no control over his abilities, he was powerfull but with no control and his mind was deteriorating at that time. He was a danger to the cultivation world. Siege happened because of him, against him, and Wen Remnants died as a colletal demage. Morally right or wrong, what he created was a political disaster and it ended with every Wen, excluding WN and Wen Yuan, and with himself dead!

UPDATE. someone from China reblogged this post and called me quite horrible things, but that's okay. They also questioned if my people have even gove thro genocide at all. Okay, denial of my people's genocide is not new either. What they said next was that Siege of Burrial Mounds was a genocide of Wen Remnants. No, actually it wasn't. They died as an collateral demage because Wei Wuxian was there, that's the tragedy. I'm gonna repeat once again, Siege happened because of WWX, not because of Wens.

Another thing what they said is that people have empathy that I lack and I'm a horrible person for that, and I should be ashamed for even thinking that or that I'm Chinese literature to spread my hate, etc, etc.

My empathy died when things such these happened to my people.

Mind you, this is only one, one single city and it's not even the whole list of crimes they have done. I'm gonna find and update this post once again, cuz it's clear that I need to spread awereness, I won't let their names be forgotten...

Today the remains of 12 people, who were considered as "lost during war", were found and transferred to my country for burial and it was very emotional as many remains still haven't been found after 30+ years yet and people still hope that there could be even a single bone found and returned so they can bury it.

So, yeah, I bury whatever empathy I have left with the remains of people everytime something like this happens. Every time people deny the genocide of my people, every time these people call US colonizers and many degrading things, saying that we oppressed them when in reality it was other way around, when we couldn't speak our language, when they called it the "dog's language" and and laughed at it, couldn't get any service if we spoke it and they mockingly told us to speak "human language", which to them was Russian, WE were oppressed in our own country and land and they took everything from us and made the world believe that we were oppressors and colonizers, they even stole the name of our region for themselves....

And no one in the world did anything about this because they didn't care. So no, everytime I'll always imagine myself in JC's shoes that I'm asked to care about ethnic Russians and Apsuas, I simply can't care, don't care and won't even care unless justice is served, unless all the land they have stolen is returned, unless they all apologize for what they have done and stop spreading lies about us....

So, good for you, if you have empathy and are a better person, unfortunately, I am not...

[ultfreakme]

See XiCheng to me is particularly wonderful when Lan Wangji finds out about it. Like he's feeling terrible for his beloved older brother for giving his heart to Jin Guangyao and he's JUST getting over that mess and he's thinking "okay my brother will be fine now the worst has passed".

Then

Then he shows up like "hello Wangji I'm now in love with Jiang Wanyin, say hi Wanyin"

And Lan Wangji is error404-ing what the fuck WHAT THE FUCK going feral because Sandu Sengshou his worst enemy since they were teenagers his bitter rival his rotten cheese his horrible soldier the guy he refused to get along with though they shared similar goals of getting Wei Wuxian some help, the guy he'd fucking throttle and throw in a ditch if he could-

THAT JIANG CHENG

Is dating his brother.

And also I wanna see Wei Wuxian going from "oh Lan Xichen my beloved brother-in-law, my bestie, the only person who's actually a decent person in this godforsaken world nice dude who I am very grateful for" to wanting to interrogate him and going absolutely NUTS and wallowing in confusion on what to even do about this situation because that's still his little brother he's dating and he thought he fully forgot about any "i'm Jiang Cheng's older brother" feelings but turns out they're THERE so now he's like, accidentally super passive aggressive to Lan Xichen because he needs to toe the line like "great guy, wonderful man, I'd kill you, but you're a great dude, get away from my brother."

like

the DRAMA. the sheer ridiculousness. chef's kiss.

[lecinea]

My goodness there is a lot of bullshit in the Jiang Cheng tag again.

[the-girl-with-too-many-ideas]

Does anyone else get the feeling that at their core, all of mxtx's works are about cycles of abuses.

[enbiart]

Shijies!!! (and Others)

[tossawary]

Thinking about an AU where Jiang Yanli's "weak / mediocre cultivation" was caused by a horrific training accident when she was pretty young, in part to explore the tragedy and disability of it all and in part for the humorous "older relative casually drops wild personal lore that changes your entire perception of them" angle.

Like, Jiang Fengmian and Yu Ziyuan's firstborn child is a girl, which is not ideal in this deeply sexist world, but the sect motto is "attempt the impossible", right? It's not unheard of for female cultivators to lead sects and Yu Ziyuan wants her daughter to be the first female Jiang sect leader, to show up the cultivation world, and Jiang Fengmian isn't against the idea and wants the best for his daughter (although he probably doesn't want her to be a copy of his wife). So Jiang Yanli starts her cultivation training pretty early. There's a lot of intense pressure, a lot of expectation and projection and some arguments, and it all culminates in this poor child getting badly injured, with permanent damage to both her body and to her cultivation. It's a "no one's fault and everyone's fault" thing.

Jiang Fengmian and Yu Ziyuan quietly drop their plans for Yanli to become the sect leader and focus on a very young Jiang Cheng instead, which is easy in part because everyone expects the son to inherit anyway. A young Jiang Yanli is betrothed to the heir of the Jin Sect and this is basically never talked about ever again. General perception is that Jiang Yanli is a mediocre cultivator at best because she was born that way (she's a WOMAN, after all) and/or because her disposition is just too sweet and agreeable, and OF COURSE the son became the heir as soon as the Jiangs had a son. That's just how things work!

So, in an AU where Jiang Yanli (and Jin Zixuan?) lives and teenage Jin Ling is freaking out about some embarrassing and/or dangerous mistake on a night hunt...

Jiang Yanli, patting her son's shoulder: "It's going to be okay. You know, when I was a young child, I permanently injured myself in a training accident and could no longer become the Jiang sect leader, and it felt like the end of the world, letting everyone down, but it all worked out in the end!"

Jin Ling, whose entire 15-year-old worldview just got flipped upside-down: "...Mother?! What?!?!"

[qiu-yan]

reread a lot of mdzs while going through the book for quotes recently, and wow jiang cheng really does not show his love through his words at all. somehow everything he says is acerbic, cruel, or both.

but then you look at jiang cheng's actions instead, and it turns out this guy's actually busting his ass really hard for his loved ones? wei wuxian gets beaten by gusu lan, and jiang cheng carries him back. wei wuxian and lan wangji get trapped in the murder turtle cave, and jiang cheng runs for seven days without rest to rescue them. jiang cheng and jiang yanli secretly visit wei wuxian in yiling. helicopter-parent jiang cheng goes charging up dafan mountain the moment jin ling sends a distress signal flare. jiang cheng goes running after jin ling whenever he gets into trouble. when jin ling cries, he cries to jiang cheng. and - of course - jiang cheng only got his core melted in the first place because he led the wen patrol away to save wei wuxian.

what's interesting is that, whenever jiang cheng is saying or doing something cruel, the narration always adds a few extra sentences describing how cruel jiang cheng is being. an aside about sect leader jiang's infamous ruthlessness, wei wuxian's snarky commentary about how jiang cheng can never let a grievance go, or just a description of the vicious sneer twisting jiang cheng's face - the narration never just lets jiang cheng's actions or words stand on their own.

however, whenever jiang cheng does something kind, the narration does not comment on it at all. it merely describes what jiang cheng did before moving on immediately. almost as if we aren't meant to take note at all.

[mxtxfanatic]

Every time I see mxtx fandom discourse about how villains and antagonists “had no choice” in doing evil and how we should feel sympathy for this cowardice because “it’s not like they (actual factual ruling class) had the real power to break the mold,” I think of:

Si Xiyan, imprisoned disgraced cultivator, being told that she can be accepted back as the most beloved disciple of one of the most powerful cultivation sects in the world if only she would kill her baby, and her choosing to ingest the poison on her own so that her child could be born safely at the cost of her life.

Gongyi Xiao going against his entire sect to rescue Shen Qingqiu from the Water Prison despite already having an increasingly tenuous relationship with the sect leader and his daughter.

Shen Qingqiu, certified scum villain, risking his life over and over again to do right by Luo Binghe even though he is certain that Luo Binghe will repay his kindness with death.

I think of:

Lan Wangji, a clan heir, fighting his own beloved family to protect one of the few people in the cultivation world willing to stand up for what’s right, and accepting being whipped for it.

Jiang Yanli, a clan heir’s widow, running onto a battlefield and giving her life for her little brother.

the Wen siblings, labor camp escapees and remnants of a reviled clan, sacrificing themselves so that their protector wouldn’t be killed for the crime of self-defense.

Mianmian, a servant only just elevated to becoming a disciple, publicly defecting from her sect in protest of them slandering a hero.

I think of:

Yin Yu, a banished god, choosing death over regaining his godhood by harming Quan Zizhen—the shidi he’s always been told to had “stolen his rightful status” in life.

the street performer, a poor man who could only make money performing humiliating entertainment for the well-off, choosing death over saving his own life by harming the man who for all intents and purposes stole his business.

Mu Qing, a staple god for about 800 years who had betrayed friendship for the approval of other gods, finally choosing to make an enemy out of the ruler of the heavens over betraying his former friend again, even if it meant that said former friend would never believe that he didn’t betray him again.

Of all of these characters, some of them were people of privilege, but many of them were the very bottom of their social hierarchies. Some are staring down the edge of the knife with their only hope of survival and living well being to make the immoral choice. Nevertheless, they chose to be moral people by putting themselves on the line rather than sacrificing others for personal gain, a choice that no antagonist—all of whom are people of power and means even if they didn't start out that way—makes in an mxtx novel. “But everyone would have hated them!” is not an excuse for participating in evil. “But they would have died otherwise!” is not an excuse for participating in evil. If other characters of less means could do it, if their peers could do it, then why didn’t your fav?

[randomness-is-my-order]

you know what is genuinely heartening for me about wei wuxian’s character? we can very easily discern that throughout the course of the series, countless people are ready to kill wei wuxian but on the flip side?? wei wuxian is also someone who is capable of inspiring enough loyalty and love that people are willing to die for him. this is a random reference but i remember having a discussion about a kdrama (strongest deliveryman for anyone who’s curious) and this one person said that it is easy to tell how good of a person the main character is because he has all these people surrounding him, ready to listen, ready to lay down their lives for him. and that is exactly the case with wei wuxian–it is a testament to his character that people like wen qing, wen ning, jiang yanli made the sacrifices that they did, just so he could live on. it is a testament to his character that lan wangji, an absolute paragon of virtue, would 100% die for wei wuxian. and yes, wei wuxian would stick his neck out for each of them as well but it’s the fact he doesn’t have to–that this loyalty is not transactional but something he has inspired within these people simply by being himself and doing the right thing and proving that he is deserving of their loyalty.

it’s the fact that other “leaders” of their world did not only fail at earning loyalty but they were such horrible people that instead, they inspired betrayal within their subjects. it’s so fascinating how wei wuxian’s effect on people compares against the cultivation sect heirs and leaders because, despite all the odds stacked against him, he did a better job at actually leading the cultivation world (the war victory, the advocation for the wen remnants, the inventions that advanced the cultivation society) than any of these political figures at their peaks (and this includes jin guangyao with his watchtowers and lan wangji’s arriving where the chaos is stuff, though these are validly debatable).

okay but point is: it is very easy to make people hate you and want to kill you, atleast in the mdzs world, but it is far more difficult to inspire the kind of loyalty that would make people want to die for you and wei wuxian, somehow, managed to do just that and not just once. also, that the people loyal to him, are some of the most morally upstanding characters–as perceived either by the cultivation world and/or the fandom. isn’t that so telling?

[shanastoryteller]

Happy happy birthday 🎂🎉🥳 As always, I’d love some more of thee MDZS Identity Porn (with the masks and LWJ getting jealous of all of his husband’s “husbands”) (Or JC traveling back in time?) Thanks!

a continuation of 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Lan Wangji wouldn't have categorized Jiang Yanli as chatty, but tonight there's really no other way to describe her. She talks at length about Lotus Pier, about the Jiang clansmen and her immediate family. That would be one thing, but she seems to forget that they don't have the same familiarity with these subjects that she does, mentioned names and places carelessly, as if they already have context for these things.

He doesn't know why Wei Wuxian would care about the minutia of Lotus Pier, but Jiang Yanli holds his complete attention. More than that, there are several moments when he has to bite his cheek to keep from laughing and at various points his smile can only be equaled to what he looks like when he's holding his children. If his husband looked at him with a tenth of that adoration, Lan Wangji doesn't think he'd have a complaint.

He prompts her to continue whenever she trails off, because as much as he wishes that he held Wei Wuxian's heart, he can't deny him the bittersweet happiness that conversing with Jiang Yanli seems to bring him. Lan Wangji should not be greedy. He knows the Patriarch's face, his voice, his affection. He's his husband and helping raise his children. It is not appropriate for him to want more than the abundance he already has.

It's nearing the end of the banquet, where mingling and drinking will take place and propriety won't allow Jiang Yanli to hold Wei Wuxian in place. She looks at him with a desperation that makes Lan Wangji feel bad for Jin Zixuan. "You know," she says softly, "years ago, before the war, before - a lot of things, I lost my younger brother."

Wei Wuxian goes completely, utterly still. Lan Wangji stares - as far as he knows Madame Yu has only ever had two children and Sect Leader Jiang is notoriously faithful, regardless of the state of his marriage.

"He wasn't mine by blood," she continues, as if answering Lan Wangji's thoughts. "But we grew up with him and A-Cheng and I couldn't think of him any other way. He was our first disciple and he and A-Cheng used to go off together all the time - but on our way to Cloud Recess, they got in trouble, and he led that trouble away so Jiang Cheng could escape and we never saw him again."

Lan Wangji remembers now. He heard about this then, remembers how Jiang Cheng's attitude had been near intolerable that summer. His heart sinks.

His husband can reanimate the dead, but not like this, there's nothing he can do for Jiang Yanli's long dead little brother.

"I'm sorry for your loss," he says to her.

She glances at him for only a moment, but when Wei Wuxian maintains his silence, her shoulders drop and she says, "Thank you," but it comes out more subdued than anything else had tonight.

Later, when they've retired to their room and he hopes Wen Qing and Meng Yao have done the same, and they're lying in the same bed with the darkness and the quiet between them, Wei Wuxian says, "He wasn't Jiang Cheng's younger brother."

Lan Wangji, just on the cusp of sleep, blinks several time until he feels more awake. "Excuse me?"

"The - the first disciple, of the Jiang," he continues, sounding very awake himself as he lies with his hands behind his head and stares at the ceiling. "The way she said it, it sounded like he was younger than Jiang Cheng, but he wasn't. He was older. Jiang Cheng was the youngest one."

"Ah," Lan Wangji says finally, "I see."

"Yeah," Wei Wuxian answers nonsensically, then looks over and offers him a weak grin. "Sorry. Never mind. Get some sleep, we have a long day tomorrow."

"Yes," he says, but it takes a long time for either of them to get to sleep.

[sonik-kun]

The fact that Jiang Cheng is described as looking more like Jin Ling's older brother, the latter having adopted his mannerisms and "tsundere" attitude just shows how close these two are.

Wei Wuxian even acknowledges it when he teases Jin Ling for his dog's name which he observed was similar to Jiang Cheng's.

Then, at the end of the book, Wei Wuxian quickly recognises that Jin Ling just wants to protect his JiuJiu from political enemies. Likewise, Jiang Cheng wanted to protect Jin Ling and keep his position as a new sect leader safe and secure. He wants him to have a protective adult figure in his life that can guide him because Jiang Cheng was deprived of this when he first started as sect leader. 🥺

They truly are all they have, and I love their relationship so much 😭😭

Jiang Yanli would be so proud of them 🥹