#making his disciple do that UNKNOWINGLY to his own master’s FAMILY

[earl-of-221b]

…when they bought out Nezha’s brothers…spoke of Ao Bing’s as well…

when they brought out Shengong Bao’s relatives…I knew this film was about to go off…

[grapefruitsketches]

Loose Ends

For fytheuntamed’s Untamed Fall Fest Day 18: Crisp

Rated T, 1,406 Words. Blood mention, canonical character death mentioned (MXY), post-canon, angst, POV Lan Wangji, Mo Xuanyu deserved better (but canon still happened in this one)

(Technically CQL-verse for Mo Manor layout and sword spirit mention, but these are pretty minor)

Also available on AO3

It took weeks after everything had ended before Hanguang-jun even thought of the place. Months more before he found the time (and will) to go back, only being able to bear it with Wei Wuxian by his side.

“It looks the same,” Wei Wuxian commented mildly, twirling his flute and looking up at the placard, still proudly reading “Mo Manor.”

Lan Wangji nodded, not much else to say beyond that. Wei Ying was right, of course, but they both knew that appearances had never held the true story here.

The gates stood open, just a crack, but enough for the cultivators to see there would be no use in knocking.

The courtyard, at one time busy with servants or packed with curious villagers, hoping to catch a glimpse the lives of the closest thing their small town had to nobility, was now deserted.

It was as Hanguang-jun had suspected; had feared. He knew he should have come back earlier. He and the Juniors had left very clear instructions to the servants before they’d left, but Hanguang-jun always followed up on such matters soon after anyway – especially where a clan was wiped out, where it would be reasonable for fear among those left behind to run high, and where the potential for resentment may have run deeper than the one spirit the cultivators had been summoned for. He always came back to check that the cleansing rituals, the burial rites, were performed adequately. But so much had happened, so many wonderful, tragic, unexpected things happened in the weeks following their visit that Lan Wangji had let his diligence lapse.

There had been an attempt here. That much was clear. And he and his Juniors had at least made sure the bodies had been dealt with quickly and correctly. But it seemed that eventually, the remaining servants had, not unreasonably from their perspective at least, fled the residence. The air here remained stagnant. Heavy.

They walked silently through the manor grounds, trying to get a feel for just how much work would have to be done.

“I wonder how long he...” Wei Wuxian broke the silence, hushed tone to his voice. Lan Wangji followed his gaze to the tiny building.

Mo Xuanyu’s room, Lan Wangji realized.

As though in a trance, Wei Wuxian stepped forward, pulling open the door.

Lan Wangji was at his side moments later, holding Wei Ying steady as he swayed. The man smiled up at him, “Sorry, Lan Zhan. Thank you. I just... the air here is so...” he shook his head, shrugging, “Loud.”

Lan Wangji nodded, only able to guess at what Wei Wuxian might be feeling, what his sensitivity to resentful energy might be reacting to here, if even Wangji felt a heaviness tug deeply at his heart.

The room made him shudder.

It hadn’t been cleaned up. There had not even been the slightest attempt by the look of it. The Lans had not thought to encroach on the privacy of the rooms they believed belonged to a still surviving Mo heir, and it seemed no servant had deemed it necessary to look into either, before they had fled the site forever.

The room smelt musty, the coppery smell of blood having faded to something more pungent, seeping deep into the walls and floors. The hanging talismans danced eerily in the breeze the two of them had let in.

Lan Wangji swallowed. This had been where it had happened. This was the place where the man he loved had been reborn. The reason he now stood by his side again.

But to see it here, to see the mechanisms, the details, the reality of where Wei Ying has awoken? To take in the evidence of precisely what Mo Xuanyu had done in order to give himself up for the Yiling Patriarch? It was nauseating, to say the least.

Lan Wangji thought back to that night, thought back to what his Juniors had described. The Mo-gongzi who he had just missed, who wasn’t nearly as crazy as the Mos seemed to believe.

He had let himself assume for a long while that all of that could be explained by the fact that the man that the Juniors had met had not been the young Mo Xuanyu, not the beaten nephew of the Master and Lady of the Manor, but instead his brilliant Wei Ying.  

But now... He looked at the signs of the ritual’s complexity, the precise lines on the talismans, the circle on the ground... Like he should have by now expected of one of Wei Wuxian’s inventions, it was clear that every detail mattered. Now he wished he had tried to meet, to take some interest in the shy Jin disciple. Though he knew that the Hanguang-jun of the last sixteen years would have had no reason to do, no presence of mind or interest in the affairs of the sects to motivate him, he knew he must have seen the young cultivator at least one of the Jinlintai celebrations his brother had dragged him out to. A boy taken into the sect, neither truly part of the family, nor outside of the inner circle. A boy driven – through reasons the rest of the cultivation world seemed to have missed – to demonic cultivation.

He sighed and was unable to resist glancing briefly at Wei Wuxian, who was already quietly taking down the talismans, piling them on the floor with more care than was strictly necessary.

They worked their way through the room, then through the rest of the Manor, where the energy was still strong, but not nearly so dense as it had been in the little room.

The sound of a guqin and a flute, harmonized, united as one, rang out in the Manor day after day.

Slowly, gradually, the stale air began to dissipate. The resentful energy - from the sword ghost and the Mos, but also from what seemed to be several experiments of his own that Mo Xuanyu had attempted - began to settle. To rest.

And then, after a week or so of their joined efforts, Wei Wuxian pulled the flute from his mouth, and looked to his cultivation partner. “We’re done.” He whispered, almost reverent in tone.

Lan Wangji nodded and dismissed his guqin. He breathed in slowly, the truth of Wei Ying’s assessment evident in the clean, crisp air that now graced the Manor. The grounds seemed... brighter, almost. The grass, the trees, were now showing deep greens rather than dull greys.

Here, Lan Wangji had completed the last night hunt where he still believed he was alone. Here, he had unknowingly worked alongside his beloved for the first time in sixteen long years. Here, Wei Wuxian has taken his first breaths, his first steps, in just as many years. And here, a young man had given up his life, his body, for...

Lan Wangji still didn’t know exactly what for. For revenge? For Wei Wuxian? Out of pure rage, pain, maybe desperation? He still didn’t even know whose idea the ritual had truly been, Wei Wuxian seeming to want to put the details of Nie Huaisang’s, of Jin Guangyao’s plans in the past, and Wangji was the last person to intentionally reopen old, benign wounds that his partner wished to remain untouched.

It was here that so much had changed for him. Here that he got the chance to live a life he loved, rather than for the choices he regretted.

But he didn’t know anything about the man who had made that possible. Didn’t have even the vaguest sense of who, of what, had been given up to make it possible.

Because at the end of the day, Hanguang jun didn’t know Mo Xuanyu. He never would. And perhaps no one left alive truly ever had.

And even as he selfishly knew he would never trade the life he had now for anyone or anything, that realization hurt.

A gentle hand on his shoulder, a sombre whisper, “Come on, Lan Zhan, let’s go.”

Lan Wangji nodded and let Wei Ying take his hand, lead him out the Manor gates. Watched as Wei Wuxian closed the gates, shut that pocket of the world away from them. Their work was done here.

But before the gates were out of sight, before they left this village, likely never to return, Lan Wangji turned back one last time.

“Thank you, Mo-gongzi,” Lan Wangji whispered, “And I’m sorry.”

[drwcn]

Think lan zhan and jiang yanli could be friends like wei ying and wen qing are friends? If they had the chance I could see it. Totally imagining lan zhan being bewildered at first, but than actually seeing why wei ying loves his sister so much. Also totally see them silently judging idiot people together and working together to keep wei ying mentally safe. Yanli teaching him how to cook and things about her brother.

YAS！ LWJ and JYL judging people together is Mood. I will die on this hill.

(and bc i hate sleep, i got inspired by your ask and wrote this brain vomit from my btsf!verse that no one asked for, and yet i shall shamelessly impose on the world. It’s a different take on jiang yanli chewing out jin zixun and lan wangji being there and being generally awesome. ) 

Jin Zixun is causing a scene. 

Again. 

In broad daylight in the middle of one of Jinlintai’s gardens no less. The Jins had planted lovely peonies, which are all in bloom now. Jiang Yanli had intended to enjoy them for an hour or two, but it seems her morning plans are about to be ruined. What she initially dismissed as a minor nuisance is quickly becoming an irritating fixture in her life. She has half a mind to be rid of this no good Jin cousin for good, and for that matter, she can count a good number of people who would oblige her. 

Standing toe to toe with Jin Zixun, Wei Wuxian is shaking with fury from whatever the other man had said. Not that anything even remotely tasteful has ever been produced by Jin Zixun’s mouth. It’s only productive function is eating, as that seems to be the only time he’s quiet and therefore marginally tolerable. 

Jiang Yanli already feels a headache looming just from the reminder of his mere existence. 

Lan Wangji is the first to notice her. He has one hand wrapped around Wei Ying’s wrist and another around Bichen’s sheath, pressing it across Jin Zixun’s chest to deter him from taking another step closer. Upon seeing her entourage approaching, he steps back and bows respectfully. 

“Sect Master Jiang.” 

Like wise, Jin Zixun reluctantly gives a half-hearted bow. She ignores him. For now. 

Remembering himself, Wei Wuxian flinches and quickly follows suit. “Zongzhu.” He greets her quietly. [zongzhu = sect master]

He doesn’t call her shi-jie anymore, at least not in public. 

Since the day she declared herself Sect Master of Yunmeng Jiang, A-Xian has been on his very best behaviour. Every word, every conduct, has strictly been adherent to what is expected of someone in his status and station. But Jiang Yanli could only frown. True, he is her left hand man, her lieutenant, her zuo-hufa, but he is firstly her brother, and she will not stand for him being pushed around by some second rate cultivator just so she could be spared “conflict”.

Turning her head slightly over her shoulder, she makes a small motion for Binghu (冰湖) and Shuangxue (霜雪) to stand down. Dealing with a gnat like Jin Zixun is too menial a task for upstanding cultivators like her personal guards. No, A-Xian is her brother, so Jiang Yanli will deal with this herself, and those who crosses her will only ever be sorry. 

“A-Xian, what’s going on?” 

“Nothing, zongzhu. A minor disagreement is all.” Clearly lies. 

Jiang Yanli looks to Lan Wangji. The younger man does not let go of his betrothed’s wrist, but he does lower his eyes out of deference to her. “Zhangjie, Jin Zixun-gongzi suggested that your brother Jiang-gongzi should be disqualified from tomorrow’s hunt on account of his unorthodox cultivation method. He said that he who could not protect his own golden core has no place amongst cultivators.” [zhangjie = a formal way of saying older sister]

Zhangjie. Rather bold of him to call her that, seeing he and A-Xian are not yet legally wed. But perhaps his choice of words is deliberate, used to remind her that Wei Wuxian is not just her subordinate, but her family. She’d be offended if the gesture isn’t so genuinely endearing. Lan Wangji is a quiet one, but so fiercely protective of Wei Wuxian. Out of this wretched war and all the underhanded maneuvers she’s been forced to take, nothing has pleased her more than this marriage alliance that she and Lan Xichen arranged.

“Lan Zhan…” Wei Wuxian frowns and admonishes him quietly.  

“I spoke the truth.” 

Jiang Yanli casts Jin Zixun an aloof side glance, then says, “Perhaps I have confused the rules. Clarify for me, Wangji, is spiritual cultivation required for the hunt tomorrow?”

“No.” 

“Does cultivation affect the participant’s performance and ability?”

“No. Not if they follow the rules of conduct.”

“The Hunt is a strictly skills based competition is it not?”

“It is.” 

“Well then, I think that settles that. A rather simple mistake, Jin Zixun-gongzi, but I wouldn’t fret too much if you didn’t remember. This has been trying times for us all.”Jiang Yanli’s smile is bright but scorching, like the desert sun. 

Colour rises in Jin Zixun’s cheeks. He turns up his nose and huffs, “Has Yunmeng Jiang fallen so low that there’s no one left but deviants, servants, and women?”  

Wei Wuxian starts towards him, fully intending to throttle the man, but Jiang Yanli calms him with a gentle hand. Unflustered, she turns her full attention to the Jin cousin. The smile on her face does not dim, but her eyes are glacial. 

“Deviants, servants, and women. It’s true. We are that. But what can be done? It is unfortunate that there’s not enough reliable cultivators to count on, that even deviants, servants, and women must be forced to take up arms against a tyrant. How tiresome that we must not only fight our own fights, but you cultivators’ fights too.”

“How dare you -” Jin Zixun bristles, which is about as intimidating as an angry ferret, in Jiang Yanli’s considered opinion.

“Shall I remind you when you led your troops into enemy territory last winter in a bullheaded attempt to boast your ego, whose squadron came to your aid when you were trapped, starving in the snow? Whose food fed your men’s bellies, whose blankets and tents warmed your bodies in that storm?” Jiang Yanli does not raise her tone, but holds nothing back. “And who, after you so pitifully grovelled, omitted your incompetence from the report to your uncle and Sect Master.” 

“I -” Jin Zixun darkens from red to purple, unable to come up with a single word of refute. Typical. 

Jiang Yanli plows on.

“If we deviants, servants, and women are not befitting polite company and the gentlemanly sport of hunting, then you sir, with so little grace and gratitude for the people who saved your life and the lives of your kinsmen, are not fit to even stand in our presence.” She takes a step closer, forcing him back. “You’re right. I am a woman, but Wei Wuxian was raised along side myself and Jiang Cheng, as close to us as flesh and blood. That you have called him a servant is untrue and a grave offence, which I will not accept. So remembering that, Jin Zixun-gongzi, you will apologize to my brother, Yunmeng Jiang’s zuo-hufa Wei Wuxian. Immediately.”

It is Jin Zixun’s turn to shake, too humiliated and furious to say a thing. It’s clear that he’d rather the ground swallow him than apologize, but as servants and disciples start to crowd around them, whispering and pointing, it seems he has no choice. Jiang Yanli is still a sect master, and Wei Wuxian is a much respected hero. 

“Apologies, Wei-gongzi.” 

“What’s going on here?” Behind Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian, Jin Zixuan and Qin Su can be seen making their way towards them from the other end of the lang. The latter of the two dips in a proper courtesy of a gentlewoman, but the former only manages an awkward cultivator’s bow without meeting Jiang Yanli’s eyes.  

“Nothing that needs to worry you, Jin-gongzi. Just a small misunderstanding, all cleared up now. Is that not so, Zixun-gongzi, Wangji, A-Xian?”

“Barely a tiff.” Lan Zhan lies with a straight face. Wei Ying says nothing. 

Jin Zixun forces himself to nod once. 

Jiang Yanli quickly forgets that such a person ever existed. Stepping up to the two that just joined them, she offers her usual sweet smile. “I don’t believe I’ve had the opportunity to congratulate you both on your upcoming nuptials. Such wonderful news! Qin-meimei, Madam Jin has asked me to consult on the design of your fengguan, I hope we shall see more of each other so I can make better judgement of your preferences.”

Qin Su blushes. “Jiang-jiejie - eh - Jiang-zongzhu, you tease me! There’s been so much to do lately, we’ve not had time to send out the invites. I - Congratulations to your family too, Hanguang-jun, Wei-gongzi.”

Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian return her well wishes politely, though somewhat with a stiff back. Jiang Yanli internally frowns, wondering perhaps things aren’t going as well she is led to believe… A matter she needs to think on later. 

“Well, I must be off now. I wish I had the endurance of a cultivator, but alas the summer heat is somewhat getting to me. Do enjoy the peonies though, Qin-meimei, Jin-gongzi, they are lovely this year. Wangji, A-Xian, come.”

Jiang Yanli leaves the garden at a leisurely pace, her head held up high, followed by her brothers and her entourage. As she turns at the round archway, she spares a discreet glance towards Jin Guangshan’s son and his future bride, a pairs of unfortunate siblings trying to fit into each other’s lives and unknowingly heading towards a disaster.

She decides to let that one stew a little longer. For now no real damage is done - Jin Zixuan is far to awkward even if Qin Su finds him handsome. The marriage won’t go through; she’s not so cruel that she will actually let that runaway carriage go off the proverbial cliff. However, the key to every offensive strike is timing, and now is not the time to reveal the truth to them. As long as Madam Qin is medically incapacitated, the secret holds, and she will stay that way for a while yet. Jiang Yanli muses that she rather likes the landscape now the way it is, and longs to see the day Jin Guangshan and Qin Cangye gets what’s coming to them.

-

1. zongzhu = sect master2. zuo-hufa =  the “zuo - left” hand man of the sect master. Their function is to serve and protect the sect master, as the word hufa literally means protector. 3.  Binghu (冰湖) & Shuangxue (霜雪) - YJL’s bodyguards. Binghu means ice, lake, Shuangxue means frost, snow. 4.  zhangjie = a formal way of saying older sister.5. lang =  A long, belt-like structure, Lang, the covered corridor is a roofed passage usually with low railings and long side benches. 6. meimei = younger sister. jiejie = older sister. When used in conjunction with last names, this is a way for women who are familiar with each other to address each other. I7.  fengguan 凤冠 = it’s the term for the headpiece that brides wear on their wedding day. 

[hamliet]

Su She and Jin ZiXun: Society vs. Connection

Or, the SuXun meta no one asked for. (I’m kidding about SuXun.)

In all seriousness, though, this meta will focus on Su She and Jin ZiXun, who, while they initially come across as semi-unlikable one-note antagonists necessary for plot connections and not much else, both actually have a ton of depth and thematic relevance. In particular, they are both used to explore the concepts of insecurity and arrogance through the lens of privilege, thereby exemplifying the novel’s central paradox: society is a corrupting disease, but human connection saves.

Jin ZiXun and Su She are extremely similar characters; in fact, I’d say the only difference in their characters is essentially that Jin ZiXun is privileged and Su She is not. The defining trait for both seems to be arrogance. Arrogance and insecurity are very common character traits in Mao Dao Zu Shi (in addition to these two, we also see them to various extents in Jin ZiXuan, Jin GuangYao, Wei WuXian, Wen Chao, Wen Ning, Jiang Cheng, and Jin Ling).

Jin ZiXun is privileged in ways Su She could never be. He looks down on everyone around him except for one notable exception (to be discussed further on). He’s said to consider Jin GuangYao, his cousin, as being of “lowly” background and it’s added that he “was ashamed to be of one clan [with Jin GuangYao].” When he acts arrogant, trying to force Lan XiChen and Lan WangJi to drink with him despite Jin GuangYao’s protests that they do not drink, he appeals to the idea of perceived scorn to manipulate them, thereby revealing what is most likely his true fear of insecurity:

“The Jin Sect and the Lan Sect have always been like one family. We’re all the same. My two Lan brothers, if you don’t drink this, you’d be looking down on me!”

It’s also notable how society responds to his evident insecurity manifesting as narcissistic arrogance:

On the side, a few of his followers all praised, “What a bold move!”“That’s just how an esteemed cultivator should act!”

However, Su She’s position in society is quite different, and therefore so is his manifestation of his insecurity.

The incident with the waterborne abyss is where we first meet him, and it tells us all we need to know about society in the novel and Su She’s position in it:

a disciple on the other side also drew out his sword, thrusting it toward a dark shadow which swiftly swam by in the water.

However, after his sword went underwater, it never came out again. He chanted the sword incantation for a few more times, but nothing was retrieved from the water. It was as if his sword had been devoured by the lake, disappearing without a trace. The disciple looked like he was a youth of similar age as Wei WuXian and the others. Without his sword, his face grew paler and paler. An older disciple beside him spoke, “Su She, right now, we still haven’t determined what the thing inside the water is. Why did you act on your own and make your sword go underwater?”

Su She seemed like he was somewhat flustered, but his expression was relatively calm, “I saw that Second Young Master also…”

He realized, before he even finished speaking, how unsuitable this sentence was. No matter what, the Bichen sword or Lan WangJi were not comparable with others… He glimpsed at Lan WangJi, but Lan WangJi didn’t look at him, and instead attentively observed the water…

This passage emphasizes Lan WangJi’s biggest flaw: his inability to say what he needs to say. It also indicates, again, what society thinks of Su She: they don’t notice him. Everything he does appears to be for naught. He’s just not important. (The comment about Su She being unable to compare to Lan WangJi also draws to mind Wen Ning’s ultimate rebuke of Jiang Cheng.)

The waterborne abyss is itself a symbol of society, as it is sent to the Gusu Lan Sect’s territory from the uppermost sect in society:

Although they knew where the waterborne abyss came from, everyone grew silent.

If it was done by people of the Wen Sect, then there would be no result no matter how hard they accused or criticized. First of all, the sect wouldn’t admit it, and second, there wouldn’t be any compensation either.

The abyss, or society, eats up Su She’s accomplishments (and sword) and tries to swallow Su She in the end. Wei WuXian risks his life to save Su She, and then Jiang Cheng observes them, but cannot help (foreshadowing what will later happen when Wei WuXian dies: Su She will unknowingly lead to Wei WuXian’s destruction, Jiang Cheng will stand by and let it happen, and Lan WangJi will act). Lan WangJi pulls them all from the abyss, symbolizing how human connection is ultimately the answer for society’s poison.

So let’s talk Jin ZiXun and Su She’s connections next. Jin ZiXun has a one-sided personal beef with our protagonist Wei WuXian, while Su She has a one-sided rivalry with our other main character, Lan WangJi. And both Jin ZiXun and Su She have someone they esteem as more important than themselves, someone they cling to and use as a way to feel less insecure themselves. For Jin ZiXun, this person is his cousin Jin ZiXuan, who is repeatedly held up as a societal ideal. In fact, Jin ZiXun is introduced to us challenging Wei WuXian when he is unimpressed by Jin ZiXuan’s accomplishments, proclaiming, “If anyone here remains unconvinced, then feel free to try if you can shoot better than ZiXuan!”

For Su She, this person is Jin GuangYao, Jin ZiXuan’s brother who is on the outskirts of society because of his birth as the illegitimate son of a prostitute and a sect leader. Ironically, it’s Jin GuangYao’s desire for acceptance by anyone and everyone (but especially societally important people, as his father is) that leads to Su She and Jin GuangYao forming a bond--at the same moment Su She forms a rift with his privileged foil Jin ZiXun:

Someone spat, “Is this a road that someone like you can walk on? Who let you roam around!”

A young voice replied, “I’m sorry. I…”

Hearing this, Lan XiChen and Lan WangJi looked up at the same time. Beside the wall reliefs stood two men. The one who had just scolded someone was Jin ZiXun, with a few servants and cultivators following behind him. The one who had been scolded was a white-clothed young man. When the man saw Lan XiChen and Lan WangJi, his face immediately went pale. He couldn’t even continue with the things he wanted to say. As Jin ZiXun kept up his haughty guise, Jin GuangYao came to the rescue just in time.

He went to the white-clothed man, “The paths of Koi Tower are rather intricate. Young Master Su, it’s not your fault that you got lost. You can come with me.”

Seeing that he appeared, Jin ZiXun sneered and walked around them. The white-clothed man, however, hesitated, “You know me?”

Jin GuangYao smiled, “Of course I do. Why wouldn’t I? Haven’t we met each other once? Young Master Su, Su MinShan, your swordsmanship is quite good. I’ve been thinking ever since the hunt at Phoenix Mountain about what a pity it’d be if such a young talent didn’t come to our sect. In the end, though, he did come to our sect. I was over the moon with joy. This way, please?”

There were countless cultivators who sought assistance by going to the LanlingJin Sect like Su She did. He thought that not many people would recognize him, having never expected Jin GuangYao to be able to remember him so clearly, going as far as to praise him, after just one hasty encounter with him. Instantly, Su She seemed to be more relieved. He ceased to look at the Lan brothers and followed Jin GuangYao away, scared that they’d mock or point at him.

The sad thing is that the Lan brothers likely would not have mocked him. In the end, both Jin ZiXun and Su She die with these respective friends of theirs, as nothing more than mere footnotes to the Jin brothers’ deaths. However, Su She’s death, in particular, shows us another aspect to his relationship with Jin GuangYao: even on the outskirts of society, they had a genuine connection.

After the waterborne abyss, the next time the novel introduces Su She is when he tries to sacrifice MianMian to appease Wen Chao (a symbol of arrogance and societal acceptance if there ever was one):

However, one of the GusuLan Sect’s disciples on the side had been trembling as he listened to Wen Chao’s threatening words. He finally couldn’t hold it any longer as he rushed over, grabbing MianMian, and prepared to tie her up. Lan WangJi’s brows stiffened. He immediately struck the disciple to the side.

Although he didn’t say anything, the way he looked at the disciple was more than imposing. What such a look meant was clear to everyone—it truly is a shame that the GusuLan Sect has taught a disciple like you!

The disciple’s shoulders quivered as he backed off slowly, unable to face the others’ eyes.

It is however an interesting reversal that Su She dies in a manner that redeems both of his earlier shames that drove him out of the Lan Sect. He dies sacrificing himself to save Jin GuangYao, rather than trying to sacrifice someone else, and he dies sacrificing his sword instead of losing it:

Su She dodged to the side with force. With the tip of his foot he picked up the sword that had fallen to the ground and conjured up all of his spiritual energy in one thrust at Nie MingJue’s heart. Perhaps because of the dire situation, the attack was abnormally swift and ruthless. Brimming with spiritual energy, the blade glowed brightly, enveloped by swirling radiance. It was so much better than all of the previous seemingly-elegant attacks that even Wei WuXian wanted to praise its excellence….

However, the sword had been infused with so much spiritual energy, due to Su She’s sudden explosion, that it could no longer withstand it. Halfway through the lunge, it broke into pieces with a crack.

On the other hand, Nie MingJue’s punch landed right in the center of Su She’s chest. Su She’s splendor left as quickly as it came. He couldn’t even spit out a mouthful of blood or say a few last words, no matter with dignity or cruelty, before the life in his eyes went out.

The symbolism of the sword is twofold: firstly, all the powers in the world can’t actually accomplish anything more than having little power can. The curse of insecurity originates with himself, which is why the rebound curse leaves him with holes on his chest.

Jin ZiXun’s death is also symbolic: he is cursed by Insecurity Embodied in Su She, cursed with the Curse of a Hundred Holes, which leaves holes on his body, symbolizing how he feels incomplete, and also marking him as a pariah from society.

Additionally, he allows this curse to separate him from the person he’s closest with, Jin ZiXuan:

“Why didn’t you tell me at all that you were cursed with Hundred Holes and instead came to do this without saying anything?!”

The fact that Jin ZiXun had been cursed with Hundred Holes was indeed an unspeakable matter. First of all, he had both a good appearance and a good physique. He’d always thought of himself as handsome and couldn’t bear for others to know that he was under such an unsightly, repulsive curse. Second of all, to have been cursed meant that his level of cultivation wasn’t high enough, since his spiritual energy was too weak to be able to hold against the curse.

In contrast, Su She’s death involves him becoming closer with someone he has a genuine connection with, because by helping Jin GuangYao, he knows that he’s going against society. As Wei WuXian says, the entire world is coming for Jin GuangYao, yet Su She still helps him.

To return to the sacrificial nature of Su She’s death, it’s also hard not to compare it with a sacrifice that happens earlier the same scene (and kind of the same chapter): Wen Ning’s sacrifice for Jiang Cheng, who is sacrificing himself for Jin Ling.

Jiang Cheng could only stuff Jin Ling behind him and unsheathe Sandu, which at the moment was unable to use spiritual energy, forcing himself to fend off the attack...

Wen Ning blocked himself before the wall, in front of the two of them. With both his hands, he grabbed Nie MingJue’s iron arm and slowly pulled it out of his chest, leaving behind a large, hollow hole. There was no bleeding. Only a couple of black organ crumbs fell out.

Wei WuXian, “Wen Ning!!!”

While Jiang Cheng looked as though he could lose his mind right there. He stammered, “You? You?!”

Wen Ning actually a character who is important to both Jin ZiXun and Su She’s stories throughout the novel.

Like Su She, he is insecure and regarded as weak by others. Like Jin ZiXun, he is, however, a skilled archer. And of course, he is killed in one of Jin ZiXun’s camps, by Jin ZiXun’s guards after Jin ZiXun failed to capture a monster:

Wei WuXian looked at him, “Who are you?”

Jin ZiXun paused in surprise before fuming, “You don’t know who I am?!”

Wei WuXian mused, “Why should I know who you are?”

Jin ZiXun, “I don’t remember, which means I don’t remember. I’m not so idle as to go out of my way to remember a Wen-dog’s name.”

Wei WuXian, “Fine. I don’t mind explaining it in greater detail. You couldn’t catch the bat king and happened to run into a few of the Wen Sect’s disciples who were there to investigate the same thing. And so, you threatened them to carry spirit-attraction flags to be your bait. They didn’t dare do it. One person stepped out and tried to reason with you. That’s the Wen Ning I’m talking about. After some delay, the bat king got away. You beat up the Wen cultivators, took them away by force, and the group disappeared. Do I need to say any more details? They still haven’t returned yet. Apart from you, I don’t know who in the world I could possibly ask.”

Jin ZiXun, “Wei WuXian, what do you mean? You came for him? You aren’t standing up for a Wen-dog, are you?”

And Wen Ning later kills both Jin ZiXuan and Jin ZiXun--however, it was not Wen Ning’s fault, but Wei WuXian’s. By trying to become a part of society, by searching for a place in it, you become a monster and a tool, even if not always as literally as it is with Wen Ning. Jin ZiXun is being manipulated by Jin GuangYao to kill Wei WuXian. In the end, Wen Ning uses his genuine connection with Wei WuXian to sacrifice his body to save Jin Ling and Jiang Cheng--the very same Jiang Cheng he just told this:

Sect Leader Jiang—you, so driven of a person, have been comparing yourself to others your whole life, but you have to know that you never should’ve been able to equal [Wei WuXian]!

Essentially, Wen Ning, having been someone at first looked down on for not being strong enough, and then shamed for being a Wen, and then regarded as a dangerous weapon, is telling Jiang Cheng that despite his not being the best in everything, despite how people might look down on him, you are still worth living. 

Wen Ning is able to live, because he’s already dead. But Su She does not, and in true MXTX fashion in which self-sacrifice is often viewed as a form of self-harm, Su She’s sacrifice is ultimately futile. Jin GuangYao is stabbed killed later that very chapter. 

However, it is fitting that this theme which has continued throughout the novel reaches its conclusion with Jin GuangYao. If there’s one character who embodies what it’s like to scrabble for society’s approval as a remedy for insecurity and self-loathing, it’s Jin GuangYao. As this incident shows:

On the other hand, Jin GuangShan, standing with a blank face where his seat was, finally lost his temper and kicked over the table in front of him. All of the gold dishes and silver platters rolled down the stairs.

Seeing his discomposure, Jin GuangYao wanted to ease the situation, starting, “Fa-”

Before he could finish, Jin GuangShan had already left. Jin ZiXun also felt that by giving in, he lost face in front of everyone. Out of both anger and hatred, he wanted to leave as well.

Jin GuangYao hurried, “ZiXun!”

Jin ZiXun was at the peak of his anger. Without a second thought, he flung away the cup of liquor that was turned down, directly towards Jin GuangYao’s chest. A splash of liquor immediately sprouted on top of the Sparks Amidst Snow blooming passionately over the white robes. It was more than embarrassing, but because of how chaotic the state of the hall was, nobody really minded the act of great misconduct.

Lan XiChen was the only one who exclaimed, “Brother!”

Jin GuangYao, “I’m fine, I’m fine. Brother, please be seated.”

It was unsuitable for Lan XiChen to comment on Jin ZiXun, so he took out a snow-colored handkerchief and passed it to him, “Go retire and change your clothes.”

Jin GuangYao took the handkerchief, wiping away as he forced a smile, “I can’t leave, can I?”

He was the only one left to clean up the mess. How could he leave the scene? He reassured the crowd as he ranted, completely exhausted, “Young Master Wei really is too impulsive. How could he speak in such a way in front of so many sects?”

Lan WangJi spoke coldly, “Was he wrong?”

Jin GuangYao paused almost unnoticeably. He immediately laughed, “Haha. Yes, he’s right. But it’s because he’s right that he can’t say it in front of them, correct?”

Here he is ignored by his father, insulted and humiliated publicly by his cousin, and left to clean the mess up. He refuses to retire and clean himself up like Lan XiChen asks him to do (a call-back to Lan WangJi asking Wei WuXian to come back to the Cloud Recesses with him). He knows that he’s saying something wrong, he knows that Wei WuXian is morally right, he knows society is a trap that eschews truth, but he cannot bring himself to pull away from it for the sake of seeking acceptance from his father, acceptance which will never come.

And in the end, Jin GuangYao too realizes that his need for societal acceptance led nowhere, that it wasn’t really what he wanted:

“Lan XiChen! In this life, I’ve lied countless times, killed countless times. Like you said, I killed my father, my brother, my wife, my son, my teacher, my friend—of all the evil in the world, what haven’t I done?!”

He took in a breath, rasping, “But I’ve never even thought of harming you!”

Lan XiChen was astonished.

Jin GuangYao panted harder, gripping the word as he spoke through clenched teeth, “… Back then, when the Cloud Recesses was burned down and you fled outside, who was the one that saved you from all the danger? And when the GusuLan Sect was rebuilding the Cloud Recesses, who was the one that helped with everything he had? In all these years, when have I ever cracked down on the GusuLan Sect, when have I responded with anything but support?! Apart from this time, when I’ve only temporarily staunched your spiritual powers, when have I ever wronged you or your sect? Why have I ever demanded gratitude?!”

Hearing these questions, Lan XiChen could no longer persuade himself to silence him again. Jin GuangYao, “Su MinShan could repay me in such a way just because I remembered his name back then. You, on the other hand, ZeWu-Jun, Sect Leader Lan, are as intolerant of me as Nie MingJue—you refuse to spare me even a single breath of life!”

In the end, however, Jin GuangYao uses his last gasp of strength to save Lan XiChen’s life, pushing him away from death. What mattered to Jin GuangYao in the very end was not societal approval (he’d lost that beyond belief), but his own desire to live, and even more than that, even when that was taken from him, his genuine human connection to Lan XiChen. Even if Lan XiChen is just like Nie MingJue in condemning him (he’s not, and Jin GuangYao has to know that), his connection is real. And that connection is valuable enough to him to throw off comfort in his moment of death to save the other.

It’s also fitting that Lan WangJi and Wei WuXian then leave the cultivational world together, pursuing their marriage and connection as cultivation partners away from society. However, they return in the end not because they want to be a part of that world, but because they have connections to people who need them: Lan SiZhui, Jin Ling, Jiang Cheng, and Lan XiChen.

[crossdressingdeath]

I think you're totally right and opened my eyes about stans treating JC leading the Wens away from WWX as his only in chara action and building their understanding of him from that when it was pretty much the exception compared to JC usual self-centredness and disregard of what happens to others, even to people close to him, as he barely hesitated before leaving WWX to his doom alone with a gravely injured man in the Xuanwu cave but still wanted plaudits from JFM for going back to get help(1/8

but like, walking really fast (another strike against the idea that JFM exceedingly favored WWX over JC). He did that one good thing, he wanted to try being a hero like WWX but realized the terrible price to pay for it, a price WWX was ready to pay each time, realized that there are things worse than death (losing his GC) and it broke him, so he's now seething when WWX takes the courageous "single plank in the dark" choice again and again, involuntary underlining in JC head how JC tried(2/8

doing it and couldn't bear it, coming 2nd here too. This sacrifice was OOC for JC and it's the whole point!That his jealousy and absence of trust in the goodness of WWX character weakened their bond and allowed for WWX fall, that his anger and inability to let go condemned him to push away people who cared for him just as YZY did and to WWX cutting all ties, that's the point too! But no, fandom goes, JC is so so full of love, sometimes he says bad things but he can't help it the poor dear(3/8

he just needs proof that he always comes first for WWX (by letting the Wens die, I suppose, I never understood that line of reasoning tbh, too much mental gymnastics and I'm bad at sports) meanwhile the author goes and here is JC with the title Sandu Shengshou, the master of the Three Buddhist Deadly Sins of delusion, anger and greed lol Even the whole JC tirade in Guanyin is not all about the consent the fandom always harps about or regret about not taking different decisions had he known (4/8

about WWX sacrifice because he has zero regrets and I'm sure he would do everything he has done since the fall of LP the same way again, but only about WWX besting him with his courage (the hero complex part), cutting JC usual avenue of blaming all things wrong with his life on WWX (the not taking responsibility by way of the reveal part) and also removing credit from JC achievements as the GC was WWX's. Which wasn't even WWX's reasoning, he never blamed JC once in his life for anything! (5/8

WWX explains that he has hidden the truth as a further sacrifice so JC can enjoy his new golden core with peace of mind and not think that WWX bested him again or that he owes WWX (such an abusive dynamic). I also never got the puzzlement in the fandom about why in that scene JC never mentions leading the Wens away to WWX? Outside of the fact that hopefully he's growing up and learning to let go, it's mainly pride because talking about it will again paint him in a lesser light compared to(6/8

WWX who looked at him and said that of course, I'll gladly give my core to you while JC couldn't find enough meaning and love for WWX for his involuntary GC core sacrifice to be worth it. Like the single thing that set me against any reconciliation is not even the cliff scene, but exactly that moment when JC learns about the GC and proceeds not to care about all the things in addition to the GC WWX risked and lost to give him that gift and just rants about how that made him feel. It's not(7/8

even the verbal abuse, but this single moment of total absence of empathy that made me think with 100% certitude that whatever their shared past is, WWX will be better without JC in his life. My whole issue is not even with WWX sacrificing things which can be a part of love (though giving his GC is definitely born of abuse), but giving and giving in a relationship and never getting anything back, be it support or understanding, unlike the relationship WWX has now with LWJ or even WN(8/8 

I actually got the entire thing for once! It’s a miracle!

My theory for the whole thing where JC leads the Wens away from WWX and then never risks anything for him again is that... Well, JC does occasionally speak up for WWX when YZY is screaming at him, doesn’t he? And the worst he gets from that is a few harsh words. And he chases dogs away! At zero risk to himself, because the dogs aren’t dangerous, WWX just has severe cynophobia. JC is used to being able to “defend” WWX without any consequences. He’s used to being able to get WWX’s praise and gratitude and put him in JC’s debt without any actual risk to himself. Then he leads the Wens away from WWX and learns that... actually, defending WWX can have serious consequences. It could cost him everything. And he decides that WWX isn’t worth that. Now, to give him a little credit, it is possible he didn’t want to lose this last remaining member of his family... but the point still stands that once he learned that standing up for WWX could have serious consequences, he never did it again.

And yeah, he was really quick to leave WWX in the Xuanwu’s cave; maybe he told himself that he was going to get help (which he did, to be fair, even if it was almost too late), but he did cut and run almost the second WWX suggested it. Just like later, when he kicks WWX out of the Jiang sect and stabs him when WWX suggests separating him from the sect, without really arguing against it. If I had to guess, I’d say JC likes having the excuse of “Well, it’s all WWX’s fault really because it was his idea, never mind that I didn’t have to go along with it and could’ve argued or straight up refused!”

Also, I’m pretty sure JC didn’t mean to sacrifice anything for WWX when he led the Wens off. Remember that thing I said the other day about how a sect heir with an exaggerated view of his own abilities is a dead sect heir? Yeah. JC was raised by YZY to believe that he was WWX’s equal and JFM was being super unfair by heaping praise on WWX and ignoring his totally equally skilled son. I’m pretty sure he thought he was skilled enough to take care of the Wens and then come back, and given the way he completely shut down the risk of losing his golden core to WZL (who he knew was in the area!) didn’t even occur to him. And then when it came to it... he just wasn’t good enough. His cultivation and martial ability weren’t enough to beat the Wens; he might have been better off alerting WWX to the danger and giving them both a chance to run, or fight together. It wasn’t some huge sacrifice for WWX’s sake, it was a vast overestimation of his skills that led to him taking on a fight he couldn’t win instead of cutting his losses and just running with WWX. Remember also, JC wanted to go back and fight the Wens to the point that WWX’s assumption all the way through the story was that JC left him to go back to Lotus Pier. Who’s to say his “sacrifice” wasn’t just him seeing an excuse he could give himself that would allow him to fight Wens?

And... you know, I always forget that the reason WWX didn’t tell JC about the golden core transfer was so that JC wouldn’t be all upset about WWX showing him up. It was about not upsetting JC, but not because JC would feel awful about costing WWX so much. WWX, who tries so hard to see only the good in JC, thought that JC’s primary concern on learning that WWX had sacrificed his cultivation for him would be that WWX was better than him. How fucked up is that, that WWX felt he had to hide such a huge thing from his own family for years, not even just saying “Oh yeah, WZL destroyed my golden core when he captured me” or otherwise giving an explanation for why he can’t cultivate anymore, because JC would throw a tantrum about being second best if he knew? WWX had to suffer through everyone, including his family, calling him rude and arrogant for refusing to cultivate properly or carry a sword because if he told even part of the truth his brother would whine about being shown up. He couldn’t even admit to losing his golden core, because when JC lost his he shut down completely, whereas WWX invented an entirely new form of cultivation so he could keep being useful.

And I never actually considered that aspect of JC not mentioning him leading the Wens off and getting captured; if he says that now, he’ll once again be second best because he couldn’t deal with the consequences of that risk, while WWX knew full well what he was getting himself into. I’m still not sure why he didn’t say anything before, though. JC, passing up such a golden opportunity to guilt WWX into staying by his side? Strange and OOC. Maybe he decided the fall of Lotus Pier was enough, or that it wouldn’t have enough impact since WWX gave up his “chance to get something from BSSR” by allowing JC to take his place. Who knows.

JC’s reaction to learning about the sacrifice is... very much not the reaction of a man learning his beloved older brother gave up something that huge for his sake. It’s all about him, how it makes him feel, how he can’t be the best now because he was using WWX’s infinitely more powerful golden core... He does not care that WWX gave up everything for his sake. He doesn’t care that it left WWX all but defenceless in a war because JC’s happiness was more important than his own safety, or that it led to WWX being thrown into the Burial Mounds, or that he was forced to turn to creating demonic cultivation in order to survive. It doesn’t matter to JC that he spent years unknowingly pouring salt in the wound by constantly getting on WWX’s case for not carrying his sword, not training the disciples, not cultivating properly. No, it’s all about JC and how it makes him feel that there’s now no way for him to surpass the brother he never would’ve been able to surpass anyway. It’s just so incredibly selfish and self-centred, and I do not understand people who say JC’s reaction to the transfer speaks to some failing on WWX’s part. JC is angry at WWX for giving too much, but not because he didn’t ask; it’s only because JC will now spend the rest of his life in second place.

[zykamiliah]

i really can't be sure of many things in regards to shen yuan because he's such an unreliable narrator you have look for the clues with a magnifying glass and even then you might just find yourself with even more questions.

i'm inclined to believe his relationship with his family was more complex that he lets on, but since we don't know much we have to speculate. it's also possible that when he talks about his family he's portraying a simplified version of their actual dynamics, again because he's unreliable you have to question the way he frames his thoughts.

his older brothers took care of the family business and he doted on his little sister. he didn't have to make any effort to live. he was not given any responsibilities, and there's a chance he would have been subtly discouraged of trying to make something else out of his life that wasn't living idly. because there was no need for him to do it. that's why thinking about building a trade empire is "an indulgence" and not an actual brilliant idea that he could execute if he put his mind to it. his habit of downplaying his own abilities is probably something that he assimilated while growing up. which lives events and feelings caused him to develop that habit, that's a mystery.

i think it's also possible that rather than chronically ill, he really just happens to be someone who's generally bad at taking care of himself or has this almost self-destructive tendency of pushing himself too far.

you know this reminds me of his post-endless abyss grief mourning period and how he'd isolate himself, spend hours kneeling by the sword mound, and stop eating. he was also in denial of his own grief, even if it was obvious to everyone else. he's so insistent to his disciples that they most value their lives above taking unnecessary risks that it is quite ironic how he becomes this self-neglected person when he's depressed. if he wasn't capable of performing inedia and had a whole sect worried about his well-being, it is possible he would have fallen sick in his second life too.

with my impression that he could really just be someone who tends to push himself too far without realizing it and this undiagnosed depression you see in him, it's not impossible at all that the cause of his death is simply a case of life genuinely catching him at a bad time which pushed him to unknowingly neglect himself to death, quite literally.

so yes, i agree with your impression, and also with the idea that he pushes himself too far! because he tries to convince us and himself that he's a lay-back person often how hard he works on things like spiritual cultivation, teaching his disciples, doing anything with his time but sitting idle, even if he frames this information in a way that tries to imply he's just lazing about. again, his bad habit of downplaying himself, his own efforts, his influence in others, his own agency... and even his own kindness.

how he downplays his own abilities and intelligence, for example. he says that he "had, since his arrival, been furiously reviewing various manuals", and just from studying them he was able to evolve of the "plucking leaves, flying flowers" technique. he was able to knock out zhuzhi-lang, devise a plan to escape alive in case luo binghe killed him, create a way to punish the bai zhan disciples without beating them himself and maintaining plausible deniability, navigate the holy mausoleum just from what he'd read about it 8 years ago. he was able to master his cultivation and i will probably make a different post to talk about it, but it's mentioned that sj defeated elder single arm using underhanded tricks, but sqq fought him and won fair and square.

in regards to the parallels between shen yuan&his little sister and sj&qiu haitang, i'd quite agree there's some similarities, but it seems to me that sj's situation is much more similar to wei wuxian&jiang yanli's relationship. imo, sy's relationship with his family wasn't as bad because unlike sj and wwx, he still trusts figures of authority and relies in his family, which the other two don't seem to do. and shen yuan as shen qingqiu doesn't seem to favor women over men like sj does. but lets leave the discussion of the cycles of abuse in svsss and how it influenced some characters relationship in mxtx's other works for another post qwq this is supposed to be about shen yuan

can i just say that while i was reading your description of the kind of people he probably found himself hanging out with, it suddenly hit me that there might be a chance that our SY is a JOCK and his friend group consists of dumb jocks or dudebros???

i love this!!!! whatever the chinese equivalent to a jock/dudebros may be, that's probably the type of people sy surrounded himself with, even if you can't tell he didn't fit seamlessly in that group, even if he adapted. he was a rich second-gen, and i suppose that he'd met other boys similar to himself and simply didn't have any deep relationships with them-- he doesn't miss any friends from his past life.

it would explain why he'd have a high pain tolerance despite not being chronically ill. and also why even though he's not a native of the xianxia world, he's so quick on his feet.

oh friend. do i have news for you (pardon the long quote but it's necessary to understand the context)

After a few such exchanges, they had brawled themselves into a heap. They rolled off the bed, tumbling the whole way, white flashes and sparks exploding in every direction, spiritual and demonic energy churning in a confused fog, spiritual blasts flying at random.

Shen Qingqiu had spent too long being a poser; he didn’t know how long it had been since he had fought in such a crude manner. Only after the brawl reached its peak did Shen Qingqiu have a sudden realization: That’s not right—this is a cultivation novel. Why the fuck am I fighting with my bare hands? What sort of dumbass has a cannon he doesn’t use?! (Chapter 14: House Arrest)

@/ineffectualdemon noticed this in their reread and i have been fascinated with this little piece of shen yuan trivia ever since. the fact that his first instinct is to fight with his bare hands and not use his cultivation speaks volumes! this guy used to brawl, and i'm so sad this little piece of characterization is so underutilized. admittedly it's shen yuan's own fault because he just drops this little tidbit and never mentions it again, but still!! this guy used to get into fights!!!

so picture this second-gen middle child, rich and sheltered, a semi-otaku, a veteran reader of cultivation and stallion novels, emotionally and sexually repressed, venting his anger in the internet and, maybe, occasionally, getting into brawls where he wasn't overpowered often. he also has the philosophy of "running if the opponent it's too strong, your life is more important" as i mentioned earlier, so if this was something he learned on his first life, either from real experience or from reading novels........ it makes me really really curious.

damn. can't stop thinking about binghe being shen yuan's comfort character in his previous life now. idk, but i am simply convinced that shen yuan has had the childhood of a typical asian middle child, made worse by the fact that he's from a rich family. all his little quirks and oddities would actually make a whole god awful lot of sense too if that were the case. like it would just makes sense.

ofc nobody else would be as good in watering down their feelings, devaluing their positive qualities, and underestimating their ability to make any real impact (on anyone they of value) than a second child who grew up often compared to the first and had been, intentionally or unintentionally, made to feel like they never have or never will measure up or measure enough.

i think it's also why of all the moments, he only genuinely started to understand binghe's true feelings when binghe began going off about feeling unwanted and never being enough to make anyone stay. all those feelings, those exact insecurities too, despite himself, he understood well enough bc he'd lived with them his entire life. even built half of his personality and put up most of the mental and emotional walls he have up to cope with them.

for so long, he'd seen binghe, post-abyss, as someone so unlike him. as far as he's concerned he's just some average guy who needs to learn how to settle with whatever life gives him bc he'll never be good enough to really, really achieve things. binghe, on the other hand, is an OP protagonist destined for greatness, to have everything and everyone he can ever want, to be chosen by anything or anyone he chooses.

they can't be any more different!!! except as it turns out, casting roles aside, binghe doesn't feel any differently about himself as shen yuan feels about his own self. and worse of all, and he's realized this too, that he's the last straw that got binghe feeling so strongly that way about himself.

anywaY, yes. binghe as shen yuan's comfort character—hoo boy, yes. he would soooo love a character like the original flavor binghe, alright. middle child who's constantly made to feel like he'll never be enough would totally love the living hell out of a white lotus who's constantly treated like a lesser being by the people around him only to emerge as a blackened OP protagonist who finally has achieved power not just over his life but the whole fucking world!!!

even before binghe turned real, he's helped shen yuan embrace, even just a little, his own feelings. they really are soul mates, idk, god.

[drwcn]

RE: [Post]

I’M SORRY TO HAVE CAUSED YOU PAIN (not really, not even a little bit sorry).

Once upon a time I had hopes of writing a sequel to “Begotten”, but I don’t know which decade that’s going to happen - maybe not at all - since I’ve got “Discordance” and “Before the Sun Falls” to tackle now before my schedule eats me up in September.

So, I’m here to bite the bullet and face the music. Here is the condensed one shot of what would’ve been the Begotten Sequel:

“Alone Stands the Quiet ” 

[AO3] 

Word Count: 4005

Summary: The story of the Yin Iron starts with a celestial war and ends with Lan Sizhui. 

The story of Lan Sizhui did not start at the fall of Jin Guangyao. It did not start when Hanguang-jun brought him to Cloud Recesses. It did not even start when Yiling Laozu led the remaining Wens to the Burial Mount.

The story of Lan Sizhui started eons ago, before the sects were sects, before man could vie for divinity through cultivation.

Lan Yi once told Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji that the Yin Iron was an item of the ancient, a 上古之物. It existed with the sky and the earth. She was not wrong.

Long ago, a terrible war had broken out between the six realms: shen (gods), xian (immortals), ren (man), yao, mo (demons), and ming (ghosts). It was said that the God of War led the front for gods and immortals, protecting humans who could not protect themselves. The God of War was fierce, was brave, was righteous, but the God of War was flawed. They met their match in a Demon General, their nemesis on the celestial battlefield, yet a kindred spirit in every other way.

The war dredged on. The earth cracked open; the sky splintered into pieces. Creatures died. Fire raged. Victory was not promised, but Death surely would come for them all. Both the God of War and the Demon General knew the war could not go on, though hesitant they were to put an end to the other as they’d been ordered to do so by their heavenly/demonic masters.

In the final battle, the two unfortunate beings perished. How exactly, no one knew. As their existence faded into the expanse, like stardust scattered by cosmic wind, a single drop of their blood, mixed together, fell to Earth into the iron quarries beneath the mountains of Yiling, forming what will one day be known as the Yin Iron.

The Yin Iron as Lan Yi knew it, had never been anything but an instrument for the wicked, though try as she did to purify it to its original state. She had believed that the Iron itself, however powerful it had been, was not inherently evil or good. She believed that it was only Xue Chonghai’s malice and greed that had corrupted such an ancient item through dark cultivation. 

Lan Yi, though unsuccessful, was right.

What Lan Yi didn’t know and what no one knew, not even Wei Wuxian, was that something of that magnitude, of that divinity, could not be destroyed by mortal means, cultivator or not.

Before his death, Wei Wuxian was beyond magnificent mostly due to the Stygian Amulet in his possession. It grew so powerful that he eventually lost control of it. Part of the blame could possibly be laid on Jin Guangyao, but his loss of control demonstrated an important truth that no one realized: The Yin Iron and its spiritual force - its essence - were beyond the capacity of man. Every time a piece was supposedly destroyed, the energy was transferred to the closest remaining pieces. By destroying Wen Ruohan’s three Yin Iron shards, Wei Wuxian had unknowingly absorbed additional dark energy in his own Stygian Amulet.

When Wei Wuxian obliterated the seal at the final confrontation before his first death, its spiritual energy had no solid matter to bind to. Most cultivators’ golden cores repelled or were incompatible with demonic energy. Xue Yang’s piece was hidden far away in Lanling. The only place that could sustain such a large quantity of yin energy was the Burial Mount, and there it found a receptive host, in the form of an unwitting coreless child. The Energy itself was partially sentient, and for self-preservation, it laid dormant in the child’s body, hidden and waiting for the day to come.

A dangerous near-death experience during a failed night hunt triggered the awakening of Sizhui’s powers when he was thirteen years old. For years, he nurtured it, kept it a secret with the help of his friends Lan Jingyi, Jin Ling and later on Ouyang Zizhen.

Some day, the Gods of the Nine Heavens will say that it was always meant to be Wen Yuan… that Fate had chosen him to bear the powers of the God and Demon who had fought and died for the middle ground.

 ~~~

 Following the incident at the Guanyin Temple, Lan Sizhui lived up to his promise to Jin Ling. He came back for Jin Guangyao’s soul sealed within the temple along with Nie Mingjue. His uncle, the kind and gentle Lan Xichen had gone into seclusion, unable to face the fact that his blindness had allowed Jin Guangyao to go unchecked or that he had been the one to kill him. Nie Huaisang’s vague answer had confirmed everything he needed to know.

Confident and naïve as youths often were, Lan Sizhui believed he could find a way to bring Nie Mingjue and Jin Guangyao back from the dead without using life sacrifice as Mo Xuanyu had done. Mo Xuangyu had barely been a cultivator, and Lan Sizhui had grown in leaps and bounds and was on the verge of surpassing even the great Yiling Laozu himself.

Sizhui stole Nie Mingjue and Jin Guangyao's souls and brought them to a place that he knew no one visited anymore: The Wen Sect’s ancestral seat of power, Wen Yuan’s birthright, Nevernight. There, over the chasm where Wen Ruohan had once cultivated three pieces of the Yin Iron, Lan Sizhui kept the souls of his uncle’s sworn brothers in protected suspension.

If he were to do this, he knew he could not just save Jin Guangyao alone, but Nie Mingjue as well. He did not understand the grievance and hatred between the men of the previous generation, but his family deserved happiness and closure, and if he could give it to them, he would without hesitation.

This, he kept as a closely guarded secret. Only Jingyi and Jin Ling were his confidants.

As a child, he did not tell Lan Wangji about his power out of fear, but now, Sizhui kept his silence for another reason entirely. Let him be selfish just this once. He did not want to answer to anyone, to explain himself, his motivations or his powers. A part of Sizhui instinctively knew that Xue Chonghai, Wen Ruohan, Wei Wuxian, Xue Yang - they were all just vessels, a long line of cultivators that the Iron used to get to him. With him was where the Iron’s power always belonged; it may have taken centuries in the making, but finally, the wrong had been righted.

Sizhui hid his secret it from his fathers, from his sect, from everyone. Meanwhile, his powers grew, both spiritual and demonic, to the point where Wei Wuxian's willful ignorance could no longer deny the fact that something was very different about this boy he saved. He hoped it was not true, hoped that Sizhui hadn't been doing exactly what he thought he was.

"A-Yuan," he said to Lan Sizhui one evening when they were taking a stroll through the back mountains of Cloud Recesses. Lan Wangji was busy with Chief Cultivator business and could not join them.

"Yes, a-die?" Responded Sizhui. He heard the change in Wei Wuxian's tone, but he pretended to be none the wiser.

Wei Wuxian paused in his step, turned, and placed a hand on the shoulder of his child. Sizhui had grown taller over the last couple of seasons. He was no longer a boy.

"Is there something you'd like to tell me?"

By then, Lan Sizhui was already in too deep. Since the early days of his resurrection endeavours, he had realized there was no way that he, as a mortal cultivator, could bring back a life from nothing. A sacrifice was always needed, and even if he were to give up his own, it would only revive one of the two souls. 

Both Nie Mingjue and Jin Guangyao’s souls had been damaged, though in different ways. The seals placed upon them would hinder their reincarnation for a hundred years, and after that, there was no telling where they would end up. Without resolving the hatred they both carried into their deaths, their next several lives would be fraught with perils and misfortune.

Jin Ling had by this point come to terms with the passing of his uncle, but Lan Xichen…

If he could not bring back Chifeng-zun and Lianfang-zun to be reunited with Zewu-jun, then at the very least, Sizhui would alleviate his Uncle’s guilt by offering peace to his sworn-brothers. With this in mind, Sizhui did not give up, and eventually he had found a way.

So when Wei Wuxian confronted him, there were so many things he wanted to tell him, but he knew he couldn't. Sizhui was so close to the end, so close to achieving what he needed to do, and he could not afford anyone standing in his way. He had learned from the past. He'd heard of Wei Wuxian's audacious suggestions spoken right here within the walls of Cloud Recesses. Even then, as a guest disciple, he had planted the idea in the minds of his peers and mentors that he, Wei Wuxian, was a divergent from The Path, that he was to be wary of, to be monitored and to be taken down before he could uproot their lives.

Lan Sizhui had no intentions of allowing the small-mindedness of his elders to hinder him. He also did not want his fathers blamed for his own doings, though being his fathers, perhaps they would be blamed no matter what he did. He knew it was unfilial of him to disregard that, but he had gone too far to turn back now.

Lan Sizhui had started out wishing to help Jin Ling, to help Lan Xichen, but now… now he wanted to do this for himself. He didn’t want to stop; he wanted to know if he could do it, if he could make this one thing come true. They say power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. They also say curiosity killed the cat, and Sizhui was willing to find out if satisfaction was really able to bring it back.

Thus, the secret of his power must be kept hidden until the spell was complete. Both Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji must have reasonable deniability. When all is said and done, Sizhui had made plans to disappear and save the cultivation world the trouble of removing him.

"A-Yuan, is there something you'd like to tell me?" Wei Wuxian repeated. The hand on Sizhui's shoulder tightened.

Lan Sizhui stared the man in the eye and lied, "No, a-die. There isn't."

 ~~~

 When Sizhui revealed the plans of his departure, that was when Jingyi finally broke.

"No, Sizhui, no! You were supposed to be Sect Master, it was supposed to be you!"

"I can't go back, Jingyi, if I do this, I can never go back."

"Sizhui, please, please don't - "

"You'll still have our friends when I’m gone. Zizhen is a good man, a trusted friend. He would stand by your side. And Jin Ling too, he would never leave you.” 

"J-Jin Ling?! Th- that brat, I - I don't know what you're -"

"It's okay. He likes you too." Sizhui smiled brightly at his friend's flushed cheeks.

"H-he does?"

"Yes, yes he does."

They didn’t know it then, but Sect Master Jin Rulan and Sect Master Lan Jingyi would one day become cultivation partners. Openly and without shame, they formed the Lan-Jin alliance their predecessors wished but could never achieve.

 ~~~

 The plan was this:

Sizhui had discovered that he could put souls into human bodies if he manipulated with their reincarnation cycle and transported them distantly enough in time. Jin Guangyao and Nie Mingjue were not destined to meet again in another life, but Sizhui had his ways.

Against Fate or not, he was going to do it.  

Somehow, Lan Xichen found out. After years in seclusion, he emerged one day and sought out his nephew at Nevernight where he couldn't deny what he'd been planning.

Sizhui had panicked, thinking his uncle would for sure admonish him for tampering with reincarnation and matters entirely too divine and out of his control.

But Lan Xichen simply stood there, gazing up at the two suspended souls above the pit of Sizhui's swirling demonic and spiritual energy. His sworn brothers. They had knelt before Heaven and Earth and promised that though they had not been born on the same day, in same month and in the same year, they would seek to die on the same day, in same month and in the same year.

And what became of them? Mingjue was beheaded, A-Yao stabbed. Both murdered. Yet, here he was, still alive.

Left behind.  

"I want to go with them." Lan Xichen said.

For the first time since his journey began, Lan Sizhui was truly horrified. 

"I - I can only transport souls, and yours -"

"Then transport mine."

Sizhui shook, sputtering, "But – but - you would have to die! I would have to kill you!"

"I know. Sizhui," Lan Xichen turned to the boy he helped raise into the fine young man he was now and bowed his head. "A-Yuan, please."

Sizhui floundered. What would Father say, if he knew his A-Yuan had been the one to take the life of his beloved brother?

"You can't ask this of me, you can't Zewu-jun, no - da'bofu… da'bofu don’t…"

But Sizhui knew, he knew, deep down, that he would do this for Lan Xichen. In the hallow abbey of Nevernight, his uncle held him as he cried, as if he was still that scared lonely little boy. 

"I am a selfish man. I'm sorry, child, forgive me."  

 ~~~

 Sizhui spun the spell for nine days and nine nights.

A barrier was formed from his mixture of demonic and spiritual energy, barring anyone passage into the palace. Lan Xichen’s disappearance from Cloud Recesses quickly alerted cultivators all round, and the strange energy coalescing around Qishan commanded the attention of Chief Cultivator Hanguang-jun and the other sect masters. Together, Sizhui’s fathers and the leaders of all major and minor sects marched on Nevernight for a third time, completely surrounding the place on day two of the nine-day spell. 

Lan Sizhui’s absence from Gusu Lan’s entourage drew speculations right away, as he was the unofficial Sect Heir.

Under immense pressure and terrified by the development of both political and spiritual tension, Jin Ling and Lan Jingyi caved and told their qianbeis the truth: that Sizhui was a practiced demonic cultivator from an early age, that he planned to release Chifeng'zun and Jin Guangyao's trapped spirits into reincarnation for a second chance, that Zewu-jun had begged him to send him as well, that Sizhui had agreed to it all.

The reveal shocked all, even the usually nonplussed Nie Huaisang.  “Is he really able to do it? To give my brother peace and absolution?”  Jingyi nodded. “If anyone can, Sizhui can.” 

For nine days the cultivators meditated, their collective cultivation keeping yet another barrier between the surrounding land and Nevernight’s epicenter.

As the only non-spiritual cultivator present Wei Wuxian knelt before the long stone steps, stained and darkened by the blood of countless lives that were ended upon it. 

Whose blood they were yet to spill he did not know and was too afraid to think on it further. Two live-times’ of memories flooded his thoughts, threatening to overtake him. Wen Ning knelt with him, silently by his side as always. 

When the spell ended, the spiritual and demonic powers in Lan Sizhui came to a culmination. The earth quaked, the sky darkened. For a minute, all was quiet.

Then, suddenly, four flashes of lightning cut across the sky, lighting up night as though it were day. Its thunderous echoes shook the cultivators down to their knees. Even the mighty Hanguang-jun, the Chief Cultivator himself, bowed to its strength. Men and women quivered and trembled, for they knew those were not your ordinary lightning.

Four, consecutive strikes, each hitting where Lan Sizhui would be within the main palace. Those were Omens, Heaven's Trial. It was clear to all of them what had happened.

Lan Yuan, Lan Sizhui, had ascended.

"That was...that was an ascension." Jiang Wanyin’s voice spoke out first.

Beside him, his nephew the young Sect Master Jin Ling bit back his sobs. He had hoped this wouldn't happen, though the signs were all there in the preceding days. Ascension was what all cultivators sought, though in this case, it was most definitely not a blessing.

He feared for his friend, and he blamed himself for ever posing that ridiculous request that day at the Guanyin Temple.

“Sizhui!!” Lan Jingyi was the first to break rank, dashing forward in a mad panic. He was stopped in his track by Jin Ling’s arms circling his waist from behind.  

“Jingyi, stop!! It’s too late, we can’t stop this!”

“Sizhui! Sizhui!”

“Jingyi! Jin Ling!”  Ouyang Zizhen rushed to their side and helped Jin Ling haul back their friend.  

“He’s ascended! He’s ascended, he’s ascended, it’s just an ascension, just an ascension,” chanted Jin Ling over and over to his friend as they crumbled to their knees.

"No, not 'an' ascension," corrected Lan Wangji, his voice rising over the deafening silence. He stood and helped Wei Wuxian to stand. His husband was white as sheet, for he too understood what four lightnings meant.

Historical records have always noted that one lightning was the sign of ascension from cultivator to di’xian (lesser immortal). Unlike popular belief, the lightning was not a sign of Heaven’s favour, but a Fated Trial. To be an immortal, a cultivator must survive the trial, and of the few who were ever graced with the lightning, even fewer survived. Aside from Baoshan, no cultivator had even reached anywhere close to this stage in over a hundred years.

Three lightnings, however, were the price to pay for the ascension from lesser to higher immortal (shang’xian). 

Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian clung to each other. To leap through two tiers and ascend twice consecutively...it was completely unheard of. Was their son still alive?

“We have to find him,” said Wei Wuxian when the lightning faded. Sizhui’s barrier had slowly melted away from Nevernight. Above them, the thick clouds parted, giving way for the soft morning light. 

“Mn.”

“Jiang Cheng –”

Jiang Wanyin stood up right, drawing Sandu from its sheath and nodded. “I’ll keep watch. Go.”

When Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian finally reached Sizhui, he was waiting for them. Well...a form of him was. 

Soaring around along the vaulted ceiling was a large fire bird, Qishan Wen’s symbol immortalized. Its feathers were as black and shiny as obsidian, and its belly as pale as pearls. Crimson flames trimmed the edge of its large wings and trailed behind in its wake. With a sharp piercing cry, the creature dived mid-flight and came sweeping down until it disappeared into fractals of bright lights and materialized the next instant into a young man. 

Half of Lan Sizhui’s hair had gone completely white. Mixed with black, it fluttered loose and wild in the waves of divine magic that now enshrouded his person.

His Gusu Lan robes once pristine were in tatters, and from where he stood several feet in front of them, Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian could see the streaks of lightning scars running where his veins ought to be.

Then, he looked up, revealing a blood-red iris.

"A-die, fuqin.” Sizhui took a couple steps towards them and crumbled in their arms. Somewhere behind his shoulder, Lan Wangi saw his brother's body lying prone on a slab of rock. There was no doubt Lan Xichen was dead.

"I don't have long. They're coming for me." Sizhui hugged them close.  

Wei Wuxian was distraught, "Who's coming for you?! A-Yuan -"

"I've tampered with timelines, changed fates, the Gods are angry. The demons tell me so."

Lan Wangji cradled his child’s face in his hands and found it hard to imagine this was the little boy he saved from the Burial Mount early twenty years ago. "Sizhui, son, please let us help you -"

"You can't help me. This is my burden to carry."

But Lan Wangji refused to accept it. "We won't let you die -"

"I won't die, fuqin, a-die, but I will be going now."

"G-go? Where will you go? You’re not going anywhere! I won’t allow it!" Wei Wuxian held him tighter.

"A shangxian's place is with the Heavenly Court. That is where I must answer for my crimes."

“No…no, you won’t – A-Yuan, our little A-Yuan…”

Sizhui clasped all three of their hands together and whispered, "Qing-gugu once said that when there is too much to say, all one really need to say is thank you and I’m sorry. Fuqin, a-die, Sizhui has been unfilial. I hope you can forgive me.”

As he spoke those words, the entire hall was suddenly lit aglow. A figure appeared, too bright and blinding to discern its feature.

The voice that called out to him was calm but commanding, heavy with gravitas. "Lan Sizhui, your presence is requested." 

"I know."

"Do you admit your guilt?"

"I do."

"Then come."

A-Yuan stood, pulling his hands from his fathers' grasps. With one last gentle smile, half in pain half in love, he turned to face his future. He could no longer bear to see the devastation on his fathers’ faces, awash with tears.  

As he walked calmly into the light, his last words, spoken over his shoulder, were: “Tell, xiaomei that I would’ve loved to meet her." (xiaomei = little sister.)

“SIZHUI!!” 

“A-YUAN!!” 

 ~~~

 On their way back to Cloud Recesses from this eternal parting, Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian happened upon an orphaned baby girl on the side of the road.

They brought her home and adopted her. Their daughter was named Wei Xiao, courtesy Lan Mengyuan.

To dream of a reunion...

Wei Xiao grew, happy and loved. Then, nearly a century later, at the end of a very long life, Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian passed, peacefully and together.

 ~~~

 In front of a Starbucks in a modern metropolitan city, a young man holding a latte and talking quickly on the phone is attempting to cross the road without looking both ways.

"I'm honestly trying my best here! I have my thesis to finish and my PI is -"

He is struck by a car, which immediately took off. This is witnessed by a jogger coming from the opposite direction and a man in professional attires waiting by the bus station. The jogger and the bus taker both rush to the injured man at the same time, as many others crowd around to the scene.

The jogger introduces himself as "Nie Mingjue, a fireman", and the bus taker pulls out a stethoscope from his bag and replies with a polite smile and a quick handshake, "Lan Xichen, doctor – pediatrician specifically."

A student in the crowd exclaims, "Oh my god, that's Meng Yao, my finance TA. Please help him!"

“Do you have contact for his next of kin?” Nie Mingjue asks.

“N-no, but I-I can call his department. My prof should know, or HR, hold on.”

“Call the ambulance,” instructs Lan Xichen to another bystander, “Tell them we have a man, in his twenties, who’s been struck by a hit and run…”

…

Across the street, under the umbrella of Starbucks’ patio, a young man raises his head. His hair is cut short, though strangely dyed white on one side. The sunglasses on his nose slips a little, revealing a startling red iris. On the table beside his elbow, his phone pings, showing an email alert from lan.wangji@edugusu.org, bcc-ed to the entire class and cc-ed to wei.wuxian@edugusu.org.   

Midterm Tutorial Session: Updated Slides.

“Finally, I was starting to think it would never happen.” A young woman slides into the seat across from him, sipping on a freshly made frappuccino.

The young man picks up his own cup and smiles. “Good morning to you too, Mengyuan.”

“Satisfied now, my meddling rebellious brother?”

“Yes.” The god in mortal clothes sighs, content. “Yes in fact, I am.”

 FIN

 Note:  *Wei Xiao’s name Lan MengYuan isn’t the same Meng* as MengYao’s last name, and isn’t the same Yuan* as Wen Yuan. Completely different words and meaning. :) 

[jytan2018]

Yessss.

Hope OP doesn't mind me adding on, but another thing that makes Shen Gongbao a good Nezha/Ao Bing foil is how their parents contributed to their self worth.

Nezha grew up with parents that relentlessly defended him from an entire town that's hated him since his birth, even if Nezha went on to act out in ways the townsfolk rightfully resents him for (property damage and serious physical injury is no joke when you're a peasant who does manual labour for a living, y'all). Ao Bing grew up with a father who not only got the entire dragon clan to pry off their toughest scales (which is explicitly shown to be a PAINFUL process) in order to forge armour for him, but also admitted that his life experience may not be applicable to Ao Bing's pursuit of happiness and allowed him to resume risking his life with Nezha.

Shen Gongbao, on the other hand, grew up with a bootstrap-mentality father that teaches his disciples, "If you must hate, then hate the fact that you were born a demon!".

Like, I understand it's intended to be motivational, but that can't have been good for Shen Gongbao's self esteem. Papa Shen was unknowingly setting his own son up for a lifetime of failure, not because of a skill issue on SGB's part, but because Papa Shen himself is so loyal to the oppressive status quo that he doomed his own disciples by asking them to surrender to the Chan Sect. And when the only way to win the game is to change the rules entirely, is it any wonder that SGB found himself repeatedly losing and got desperate enough to turn evil?

I'm gonna go off on a tangent here, but another character I've seen people suggest SGB is a foil to is Taiyi Zhenren, and I find that especially interesting. Taiyi is consistently portrayed as the favoured disciple throughout both movies, be it through SGB's jealousy when he discovers their master gifted him the Shan He She Ji Painting (Taiyi's Doraemon pouch of ridiculously OP magical items suggests it's a regular occurence) or Wuliang calling Taiyi "privileged" while ranting about his justification for committing demon genocide. Literally, the plot of Nezha 1 kicks off because SGB got nothing after years of doing Wuliang's dirty work, and all Taiyi had to do to score the Golden Immortal title was babysit the Spirit Pearl's reincarnation (a.k.a. Nezha) for 3 years.

This privilege is also glaringly obvious in the simplistic suggestions he provides to them. Why don't you just ask Tianzun for Liquid Jade instead of going through the three trials? Why can't you simply apologise to Tianzun instead of killing everyone? These are solutions that can only come out the mouth of someone who's never been told no.

By all accounts, Taiyi is just as much a personification of the system's inequality as SGB is, and he should be its staunchest defender because of everything he stands to lose when it falls.

And yet, who was the one that decided to risk it all for Nezha and Ao Bing when they were caught in the Heavenly Trial Curse? Taiyi. Shen Gongbao gave up when the Curse struck because he simply couldn't see a way out of it, but Taiyi was the one who jumped in the moment they survived long enough for a glimmer of hope to emerge. He was only able to help BECAUSE he's never been discouraged and therefore has rock-solid confidence in his ability to save them. His magical items were only there to guarantee his success.

Another notable thing about Taiyi is that he's the only non-family person that SGB doesn't stutter around. Jiaozi has confirmed in the past that the stutter was a result of Chan Sect folks repeatedly speaking over/interrupting SGB and destroying his self esteem, so it says a lot about SGB's trust in Taiyi AND Taiyi's respectful treatment of SGB if the guy instinctively feels safer and more relaxed around him than he is with Ao Bing, the universally acknowledged precious boy who's never done anything wrong except when he tried to massacre all of Chen Tang Guan.

Of course, it's very easy to do good when you have the cultivation equivalent of a Doraemon pouch in your pants and you're not being constantly beaten down by the status quo, but I feel it's important to realise that Taiyi as a character isn't meant to prove that SGB had no excuse for what he did, and that the current system is still salvageable if it could produce wholesome thicc chads like him.

Nah, I'd argue Taiyi is meant to showcase the importance of refusing to succumb to bitterness and despair. This particular trait also makes Taiyi a foil to Oubing, because both of them grew up with the depressing realisation that their parents may have their back, but the world doesn't. SGB used the resulting bitterness to fuel his cultivation efforts, but he failed to realise that it doesn't work the same way as anger. Anger is your heart telling you that something is wrong and you must fight back, bitterness is your mind telling you EVERYTHING is wrong, so you don't have to hold back your worst self against anyone, not even those who don't deserve it. The ability to process that bitterness and despair (or at the very least, block it out temporarily) via self-care, mutual aid etc. can make or break a revolution, and it shows when the only thing Ao Guang had to say when demons were dying by the dozen in that cauldron was, "Don't give up." Taiyi had a lot of chances to turn bitter when asked to teach Nezha, or after he realised how far gone Wuliang was, but he continued to put the "relief" in "comedic relief" and kept everyone going with the resources he had at his disposal and/or his refusal to give up.

With Nezha 2's post credit scene implying SGB will accept the deal with Wuliang to save Papa Shen, I think Nezha 3 will set up another crossroads moment where he decides who he truly wants to be. However, given that Nezha's OG myth revolves around this epic battle between the Chan and Jie Sects where multiple major characters die and subsequently attain godhood for their service (both movies reference the Fengshen Bang/Fengshen Da Zhan, or God Induction List/God Induction Battle for this reason), literally everyone will likely be struggling just to stay alive, let alone reach out to a enemy-turned-ally-turned-enemy-again guy like SGB. Well, everyone except the comedic relief guy who's had god-tier plot armour for two movies straight.

It'll come down to Taiyi Zhenren, the one Chan Sect Guy who he can trust AND has the resources to shield him from some of the immediate backlash for his betrayal, to help SGB complete his redemption arc.

Nezha 2 spoilers - on the character of Sheng Gongbao.

More on Sheng Gongbao, because I think what the movie did in introducing this classic antagonist's parent and kid brother may feel really random at first, but totally recontextualsies him to be (1) an even closer foil to Ao Bing and (2) a new foil to Nezha.

Ao Bing

In Nezha 1, Shen Gongbao explains his nature to Ao Bing so he could share the similarities of their situations: that he is a leopard demon, and demons suffer the same disrepute and disadvantage of dragons in the world of cultivation. That's why he did all this scheming from Ao Bing's birth to set him on a path that can diverge from his own - so he can prepare his disciple to advance where he can't - so Ao Bing can climb higher on the cultivation ladder. Shen Gongbao would benefit from Ao Bing's advancement as the master who trained, raised, and sponsored him to advance on the celestial stage. Ao Bing's father and people would also benefit from Ao Bing's ascension.

The foil Shen Gongbao plays for Ao Bing is being a demon - underpriviledged, undesired, having to struggle and claw his way in everything, being twice as good and yet not good enough, all because of what they are and how they were born. But he's known to Ao Bing only as his master and senior, someone who understands how the world works and whom taught Ao Bing his martial arts and magic.

In Nezha 2, the characters Sheng Zhengdao, the father, and Sheng Xiaobao, the kid brother, are introduced. This immediately changes the reading of Shen Gongbao. Not only is he a master, senior and an 'adult' in the complicated and cruel cultivation world - but he is also a son. Not only is he a son, there is an intricate backstory about what kind of son he is - he's the son who left his home and backwater town to go to celestial university, he's the first in the family to be accepted into the Chan Sect, the son who achieved human form, the over-achieving son, the son with a career, the son who made it, the absolute pride of the family. The eldest son who's family think he is living it up.

He is..........decidedly not. This is where the 'demon' storyline comes back: he has hit wall after wall. He's done dirty quid pro quo. He's been decieved, used, and even cowed by the system. One can't be treated fairly as a demon. Since he cannot make it any further by himself, he's resorted to relying on Ao Bing.

However, Sheng Gongbao's new role as a 'son' now paints him in an interesting light to both Ao Bing and Nezha. We instantly see that his motivation isn't just about feeling oppressed as a demon and wanting to be recognised for his merits. There is also clearly some insane filial piety driving him - because his position and ascention is supposed to benefit his kid brother and aging father back home! He is not just doing it for himself. He did all that dirty quid pro quo, being used as a tool, cowed by the system....because he needed to be the good son for his family. Because the truth is he has not made it at all. But if only he trains the perfect disciple, more perfect than himself...if only he gets him accepted into the celestial word...if only Ao Bing becomes a god of the Fengshen Bang...if Sheng Gongbao is reocognised as one of the 12 Golden Gods.........

On and on. His foil to Ao Bing as a son adds an extra dimension to Nezha 1. Ao Bing trained his whole life (being given the advantage of being the 'Yang pill') to advance his father's and people's position. To the point of being convinced, even if for a moment, that levelling Chentang Guan and killing all the people to keep the shameful secret of his dragon nature, was the only way forward...This now sounds very similar to his master. This is the solution his trusted, experienced master sold him. In Nezha 2, we learn Shen Gongbao has done terrible things for the celestial Wuliang (his senior cultivation brother)...it follows he would unload that same treacherous cycle onto Ao Bing.

2. Nezha

In a broad sense, Sheng Gongbao as the son becomes 'young,' a former protagonist himself, the hero of his own story, with his own parents and brother to appease. What I found endlessly interesting, is that with this new role, Shen Gongbao explicitly becomes a foil to Nezha as well. But the specific foil to Nezha in this case is 'being a son who will go on a total rampage out of love for his parents/family.'

With the knowledge of his parent's 'deaths,' Nezha goes on a total rampage out of love for his parents and the pain of losing them, that ends in beating up dragons and locking them in a huge magic furnace, completely playing into the hands of the evil celestial Wuliang. When our hero Nezha mitakenly fights the Eastern Dragon King Ao Guang, with the threat of his unfinished flesh body being disintegrated (he's not ready to fight in that condition yet!) - what does he say? He says "I don't care if I'll die, so long as I kill you!" The urge to avenge his parents is stronger than his self-preservation. But it's a twist. His parents are alive!

In the furnace scene, Nezha is offered a chance to save his parents who are getting cooked into cultivation pills by Wuliang. To accept a pill that makes him lose his memory and fall under the control of Wuliang. But Nezha's mother bats that thing out of Wuliang's hands, that's stupid and her son will never be a puppet for nefarious gods! Nezha, in the end, comes from a loving and supportive family who knows and understand him. They accept him for who he is. They would never stand for it. And so Nezha is protected from being manipulated.

Upon the Chentang Guan plot twist, it's revealed Shen Gongbao actually has the same reaction Nezha has when he thinks his family has died. Except for the point that his kid brother really does die - right in front of him! After whisking away Nezha's parents, Sheng Gongbao steps out again to the war-torn Chentang Guan, to fight off a thousand demons and the three traitor dragons. All by himself. There's dialogue, Nezha's parents ask Master Shen Gongbao what is he doing - where is going - why doesn't he take shelter with them?! And Shen Gongbao answers with bitter acceptance, "What's the point? My family's gone." And he goes out to fight. To take a last stand. To die.

Going back to Nezha, doesn't that reveal Sheng Gongbao's deepest motivations as the same as our hero's? He wasn't really doing it - all of it - entirely for himself. Now that his father and kid brother are dead, there is no reason to strive further. Shen Gongbao can let go of being one of the 12 Golden Gods or whatever. He's going to go out into danger, satisfy the urge to avenge his father and brother, and die.

Which takes me to the very delicious, delicious, diabolical end credits scene. The villainous Wuliang goes to a terrible prison where Shen Gongbao and his barely-ok father are alive. In a scene that totally parallels Nezha's choice in the furnace, he presents the same offer to Shen Gongbao. Accept a curse on his mind and body that will enslave him to Wuliang in exchange for his father's life.

But Shen Gongbao doesn't have the same honesty, understanding, protection from his father...because all this time he has been away from home...not returning because he hasn't made it...his father under the impression he is living it up as a celestial...his father not even conscious...

His kid brother died.

He has just this one family member left.

A person he was supposed to be doing all this for, to make proud.

A person he was ready to get revenge and die for.

After all he has already done - what is a little curse on Sheng Gongbao for the benefit of his father?