Chapter Text

Chapter 1 - Two swords

Lan Qiren trusted his nephew Lan Xichen. He was proud of him ; he really did, not only the boy saved the Lan sect’s precious books before it burned down with Cloud Recesses, but he also gathered smaller sects and joined the war effort despite the odds. And the boy -no the man- succeeded. The Sunshot campaign ended up with their victory ; the Wen sect had been beaten, Wen Ruohan killed by Lan Xichen’s friend and spy.  Definitely, all those actions were worthy of many praises... Yet, Lan Xichen was many things, and had many great qualities, but he hated conflict. If he could avoid it with a smile and a tiny bit of sacrifice on his part, he would always choose this option. 

How could Lan Qiren ignore that when he basically raised the boy himself?

And there’s one thing Lan Qiren also knew : after a war comes the negotiations. Winners argue over the spoiled goods and territory, which inevitably means conflicts. Cloud Recesses still had to be rebuilt, they couldn’t afford to do an okay-deal. It would have been alright if Lan Xichen only had to deal with his friends and war comrades, who were of the same age and as tired of these battles as him...But Jin Guangshan would move from Carp tower to the front lines especially to get the upper hand in the negotiations. Lan Qiren was old and wise enough to guess that. He had a decade behind him having to deal with the elders too, he knew how older people worked when facing a younger and inexperimented person. Lan Xichen could handle Nie Mingjue, Jin Zixuan and Jiang Wanyin...But he would be eaten alive by a crooked Sect leader like Jin Guangshan.

So, Lan Qiren decided -against the elders- to go to Qishan and assist his nephew during those negotiations. He also hoped to see Lan Wangji and assure his other nephew was well before bringing them both to the safety and peace of their home.

The journey didn’t take him long since he traveled on sword and he even managed to get there before Jin Guangshan. Lan Xichen obviously welcomed him with great respect, yet Lan Qiren couldn’t help but notice how pale and skinnier he got during the months they were apart. The war took a toll on him. And Lan Wangji. His youngest nephew was beyond exhausted.

“Young master Wei fought valiantly during the last battle, but unfortunately he was hit by the backlash of his...unusual cultivation methods. He has been in coma since the battle ended. Lan Wanji is playing cleansing everyday for him, in order to save him.” explained Lan Xichen. 

Lan Qiren didn’t like to hear that -not that Lan Wangji was trying to clean Wei Wuxian’s body of resentful energy : that was the right thing to do, after all- but that the boy, the foolish boy had actually attempted demonic cultivation! Ah! He should have punished the idiot harder when he suggested the very idea during Cloud Recesses classes! Now the result for Lan Qiren’s leniency might be the boy’s death. 

Though it might be better for Wei Wuxian to die, if what Lan Xichen said is true, then the fool has managed to actually master demonic cultivation and best Wen Ruohan. Allowing this heretic path to spread would only end up in a disaster. 

Lan Qiren didn’t say such a thing of course ; it is bad to wish for one’s death, and he didn’t. He was just looking at the full picture here. Annoyed still by his own conclusion, and what it said about his character -he still had to get better- he decided to directly go to the fire palace.

“You don’t want to take a rest and some tea before going? Surely you must be tired after your trip,” tried to temper Lan Xichen, the worry in his eyes reminded Lan Qiren that the last time they saw each other, Lan Qiren had been gravely wounded, recovering from an almost Qi deviation. 

But Lan Qiren had no time to waste ; there was no way to know when Jin Guangshan would arrive and he had better be prepared before the other man. There would be plenty of time to rest after the negotiations. Lan Xichen, of course, sided with his arguments. He hated conflict after all and had to respect his uncle. 

“My friend is actually preparing a list of all the goods confiscated in the fire palace right now, I will lead you to him.” He explained. 

Knowing that Lan Xichen let someone else -a third party- do this work without supervision did not please Lan Qiren. When he said so on their way, Lan Xichen assured him that he trusted the person with his life, and even if it still did not please Lan Qiren, it was enough. He trusted his nephew. 

That’s how he met the young Meng Yao, the spy who helped the sunshot troops to win this war. It was a small man, who looked weak and inoffensive. But of course it was a lie, since the man actually killed Wen Ruohan. Lan Qiren was grateful for his actions, but he couldn’t help be wary. After all, a spy makes their living by deceiving people. Though as he watched the room where the treasures were piled up, Lan Qiren saw a couple of Nie cultivators and an image surged in his memory.

“Didn’t i see you at Cloud Recesses before? You accompanied the young master Nie Huaisang, right?” 

Meng Yao gave Lan Qiren a low bow. Lan Xichen helped him raise up to their level, insisting it was not needed. Still, Meng Yao insisted :

“This one is honoured Grandmaster Lan Qiren remembers him.”

“So you are part of the Nie sect?”

Meng Yao’s smiles did something, a twitch, maybe, though it went back to normal very quickly. 

“Ah. Unfortunately no, I'm not part of the Nie sect anymore. Spying is not their way of dealing with their enemy.”

That would explain the hateful glares (and not envious ones) he got from the Nie cultivators. Lan Qiren didn’t know what to think of it, but he was glad that at least different individuals supervised the list making : that way there were less chances of some goods being robbed. While he never lived through a war, he did read a lot in their archives, especially after they got the Iron Yin out of the cold pond, since the last time it had, in Lan Yi’s time, it caused one. So he knew what to expect of the aftermath. 

He asked to be able to read the list, and was obviously obeyed. 

“We were not able to identify every cultivation tool we found, and having Grandmaster Lan’s help would be a great honour.” Meng Yao declared, with a dimpled smile that looked and even sounded genuine.

Lan Qiren was starting to like this petite man, his list was carefully written, organized and clear. At the very least he was competent. He grumbled in approval and asked to be led to the goods they were unsure of. 

At first he thought he would see dozen of enchanted mirrors, or rare animals’ parts used for medicine and pills, but Meng Yao and Lan Xichen first guided him to another room, where hundreds of cultivation swords were stocked.

“We assume most of these blades are from the indoctrination time, where the Wen confiscated their students’ weapons. But Sect master Jiang and second young master Lan Wangji assured us they got everything back when they raided one of the Wen’s strongholds during the war. So we don’t know whom those swords belong to. Surely, grandmaster Lan might know, he has, after all, been the teacher of many cultivators. maybe he will recognize some and we will be able to give it back to their owners.”

That was an awful sight. All those swords - all those young cultivators. Lan Qiren couldn’t help but feel distraught. Meng Yao said that there was still a chance to give it back to their owners, but no one was fooled here. Most cultivators would rather die than be separated from their cultivation swords. This was a graveyard. Or a trophee chamber.

Wen Ruohan killed many people in his quest for power, Lan Qiren knew first hand -he witnessed his young disciples get slaughtered. He felt just like that day, when he got out of the cold pond and contemplated the dozens of corpses of young students lying on the ground. So many futures were robbed unfairly. 

He let out a saddened sigh and did the only thing that could do, the same thing he had to do back then. Clean up and grieve. He knew a lot about grieving already. He grieved for many things in his life ; his parents first, then his teacher.  His future and plans. He also grieved his elder brother twice ; the person he admired and loved that were lost because of love, and the person that bore his name and married their teacher’s murderer. Lan Qiren always thought, in moments like this, that he already knew there was no way he could ever be more hurt. He survived worse so he could survive whatever this was. It helped sometimes. Not always though. 

“I better start now.” He declared, and went to pick up the first sword of the pile. 

Lan Xichen silently assisted him in his work while Meng Yao promised to return and help once he finished doing his list. It was only a few hours later, when they reached the bottom of the pile that Lan Qiren’s heart made a loop in his chest. So far, he had managed to protect his very soul from the hurt, identifying each sword and attributing it to a face and a name...It was sad, but most of them were just passing strangers he had the honor to accompany to a night hunt and give his guidance a few days, at most. But this sword, oh this sword- 

“Uncle? What’s wrong?” Lan Xichen asked, noticing the way his uncle’s fingers curled before  touching the blade. 

“This is Cangse Sanren’s sword.” 

He never thought he would ever see it again. Not after hearing that she died on the road and that not even a corpse remained of her. He always hoped that a wandering taoist monk took care of her and her husband’s bodies and buried them both, but deep down he always knew it had been nothing but wishful thinking on his part-

Lan Qiren suddenly realized something else and rose up. 

“If Cangse Sanren’s sword is there, maybe then-”

And indeed, not long after he spotted another sword ; whose style was definitely of the Jiang Sect. Wei Changze’s sword. While he didn’t give the man as much attention as he did to Cangse Sanren, he could recognize it at first glance too. Lan Xichen got closer to take a look at it, and he respectfully took it in his hand, as he would do to a wounded animal. 

“Uncle, if it’s here, does this mean-?”

Lan Qiren nodded, solemn. It meant that Wen Ruohan’s quest of power made two more victims, so many years ago. And no one noticed. Oh how Jiang Fengmian longed to ever know what happened to his friends, and yet, Lan Qiren doubted he would have been comforted by today’s answer. Maybe it’s for the best that he didn’t live long enough to witness this ; it would have broken his heart. It was one thing to know your friend died because of an accident -something that was always a risk while night hunting- and another to know they had been murdered. 

“We should bring these to young master Wei,” stated Lan Xichen. 

And his nephew was right, as much as Lan Qiren disapproved of Wei Wuxian’s actions and did not like the boy, he deserved to get his late parents’s belongings. It was his. He also deserved to know that the murderer of his parents -both adopted and biological- had been stopped. He had heard horrible stories of his “exploits” during the war. Maybe it would help him pull through the predicament he put himself into and return to a healthy right path. How could one wish to use the same method as your parents’ murderer ?

Lan Qiren swallowed the bile in his throat, and restrained his sadness, as instructed by the sect’s rules. Once his emotions settled down he rose and went to take Cangse Sanren’s disregarded sword. 

Lan Qiren expected many things : he prepared himself to bring those swords and have an unpleasant conversation with Wei Wuxian, or the Jiang sect leader if the boy hadn’t woken up yet, and be being the bearer of very bad news. He expected anger and sadness, tears maybe. But he did not expect light.

The moment his fingers brushed the blade, everything went white. He had to close his eyes to not get blinded, and he heard Lan Xichen’s gasp behind him and got pulled backward. It crossed his mind -very quickly- that his nephew really did grow too fast, normally he should be the one protecting him not the other way around. But Lan Qiren didn’t have much time to ponder on what war had done to his nephew, because when he opened his eyes again, he saw a very familiar silhouette standing in front of them. 

Cangse Sanren was there. As beautiful as the last time he saw her. 

She sent a puzzled look at Lan Xichen’s sword, pointed to her chest, and lets out a small hums:

“Huh, weird, it was supposed to unseal me only in the hands of people we could trust, why are swords pointed at me again?I haven't done anything yet!?”

“Please put down your sword-” another voice said. 

It came from behind them, where Lan Xichen had let go of Wei Changze’s sword to draw his own and protect his uncle. The very owner of the sword stood there too, back from the dead. He, too, hadn’t aged one bit since they last parted ways. 

“Who are you-” Asked Lan Xichen with a tensed smile,, his sword still up in the general direction of Cangse Sanren, but his eyes on Wei Changze. 

“Who are you to ask us our names?” Answered Cangse Sanren with an offended expression. 

Then suddenly she hiccuped:

“Wait! Those ribbon! You’re a Lan! and…”

Her eyes fell on Lan Qiren, who felt like  his blood had turned into acid ; everything burned. She squealed in delight. 

“Oh gosh, Lan Qiren is that you ?! You’re an old goat! I told you all the screaming and frowning will make you age too fast! Now look at you, I have been so right! You’re gonna have to say i was right!”

“Lan Qiren?” Asked Wei Changze, frowning.

“Look at this goatee! Lan ribbon and goatee are Lan Qiren’s trademark, it has to be him!” 

Wei Changze gave a confirmation hum at that comment. 

“Uncle?” Asked Lan Xichen, unsure of himself. 

He could almost hear his nephew pleading him to just say something, to clarify the situation and gives him pointers about what the heck was happening. But honestly Lan Qiren has no fucking clue and when he did open his mouth...It was to spit blood and pass out. 

Summary 

The story starts at the very end of the Sunshot campaign, Wen Ruohan just got killed and Sects Leaders are pillaging the Sun palace out...And they stumble on two strange prisoners. Wei Changze and Cangse Sanren are in a cell, it appears that they didn't die on the night-hunt all those years ago, but got kidnapped by Wen Ruohan who wanted to find Baoshan Sanren's mountain (why it was so important for Wen Ruohan to find the immortal that he did not kill either of them is to be defined). Anyways they get released from their cells and meet their son who is actually in comatose state for 3 days because canon stuff happening, and proceed to somehow fix the rest from there while meeting and learning who their son is. Goal : reach total happy ending (with Wei Ying having a core no 13 years of mourning and bonus point if I manage to not make Wen Ning a fierce corpse) Probably tying Song Lan's injury to Wen Ruohan's desire to find Baoshan Sanren, maybe they followed Xiao when he went back to ask his teacher for help and found the mountain and slaughtered everyone there which would explain why Baoshan Sanren never appear in the story to save everyone's butt. The fic focuses on Wei Changze and Cangse Sanren learning to know their son after all these years, maybe help Jiang Cheng feel better (even though at first he is not okay because he lost his parents and suddenly Wei Wuxian has a new family). I will go with the theory Meng Yao acts differently from bookcanon because he got corrupted by the iron piece Xue Yang hid when they met and so he is saved by getting rid of the Iron Yin corruption / so he owes Wei Wuxian and hence cannot plots against him.

Untamed canon settings 

Reminder of the differences between novel canon and the untamed : In the untamed/CQL canon there’s Iron Yin, a divine artefact that got corrupted. Meng Yao is working at Qinghe as Nie Mingjue's assistant at the begining. Wie Wuxian and Lan Wangji falls in the cold pond and meets the ghost of Lan Yi who sends them into a quest to find the Iron Yin. Xue Yang is of the same generation as the main protagonist (his age is not given clearly though so he can be Lan Xichen's age for example). He has been noticed by Wen Ruohan who is in possession of one of the Iron Yin's piece (That he stole from the Dafan Wen mountain's statue, causing Wen Qing and Wen Ning to be orphaned). Wen Ruohan is already using demonic cultivation and is looking for the other pieces. Xue Yang kills the sect that offended him as kid, and got captured by Wei Wuxian who brings him to Qinghe. The Wen sect attacks Qinghe, Meng yao kills a Nie commandant and got exiled. He hears about Cloud Recesses being burned and go save Lan Xichen. The tiger amulet is probably from the sword found in the Tortoise of slaughter, but it is probably made from the same metal of the iron yin or a fifth piece of the iron yin. Wei Wuxian tells Lan Wangji that he once thought of him as his soulmate at the Phoenix Mountain hunts. Before Jin Ling's one month celebration, Wei Wuxian is ambushed by Jin Zixun and Shu She. Shu She is a demonic cultivator and controls Wen Ning in order to kill Jin Zixuan. Wei Wuxian dies in Nightless city siege,There’s 16 years of longing. During those times...Jin Guangyao marries Qin Su, he learns about their sister-brother bond right before marriage but still sleeps with her producing Jin Rusong. Jin Guangshan spares his life and decides to have him work to make another tiger amulet.  JGY realizes he will never be accepted by the man. So he kills his father and becomes chief cultivator. He builds supervisory towers to protect common people but got lot of opposition from it, so he kills his son and accuses his main opponent of the deed, allowing himself to get rid of them and get the towers constructed. Lan Wangji becomes chief, Wei Wuxian and him part way on top of a mountain but promises to meet again one day.

Multiple chapters story

Ships : Wei Changze/ Cangse Sanren - Wei Wuxian/Lan Wangji - Jiang Yanli/Jin Zixuan- Nie Huaisang/Jiang Cheng /Wen Qing - Nie MIngjue/Meng Yao/Lan Xichen  -SongLan/Xiao Xingchen - Ouyang Zizhen/ A-Qing 

Possible other ships : Wen Ning/Qin Su or Wen Ning/second lady Mo - Lan Qiren/Sisi or Lan Qiren/Madam Jin or acearo!LanQiren - Lan Jingyi/Lan Shizui/ Jin Ling - Mo Xuanyu/Xue Yang (if he lives)

No character bashing on Jiang Fengmian, Yu Ziyuan or Madam Jin...or anyone. They will be treated with respect and be as close as their canon selves as possible. Unfortunately the story starts after Lotus Pier being burned so JFM, YZY and her twin maids are dead already.

Antagonist that will be saved : Meng Yao and maybe Shu She ?  Jin Zixun ? Xue Yang ?

Main antagonists (and people that will be killed) : Wen Ruohan - Wen Zhuliu - Wen Chao - Wen Xu (because story happens after their death) - Jin Guangshan (because he must go).

Necessary tags : Found family - Family Reunion - Wei Changze and Cangse Sanren live

Additional details SPOILERS

I will once again play with family tree. Here it will be as such :

Cangse Sanren is the one with moles, she is related to Wang Lingjiao by her father's side, and her mother's side is Mo.

Wei Changze is Jiang Fengmian's half brother (bastard). His mother was a widow with a girl in charge, and so entered servant-hood to make sure she will be abel to feed her. Previous Jiang sect leader's marriage wasn't going well, they had been childhood sweetheart but grew apart as they grew older. he fell in love with the servant and she had Wei Changze but previous Jiang sect leader didn't want to hurt his wife by revealing that. Since she had a frail composition he promised to reveal everything once she would be dead so no one would be hurt. Wei Changze was recognized as fatherless. His sister never forgave the Jiang sect leader and left as soon as she could to work at the Mo Manor (where she fathered Second lady Mo, joke on her for repeating his mother's mistake). Joke also on Jiang sect elader, because his frail wife survived both Wei Changze's mother and her husband. So no one but Wei Changze knew the truth about his father in the end.

Wei Changze left because when he announced he wanted to marry Cangse Sanren to Jiang Fengmian, Jiang Fengmian didn't take it very well and said "Leave" (so he could mope alone and leek his wounded pride). Wei Changze took this as a diect order to leave PERMANENTLY. He eloped with CSSR as a result. JFM came back and realized he was gone and went "oh shit no you literal idiot" ! CSSR and JFM shared letters together while the couple did some rogue jobs, and were trying to reconcile WCZ and JFM (but WCZ can be stubborn and thought JFM really meant it, because he doesn't understand people talking things they don't think under the influence of anger + believes in actions, and JFM is doing nothing to bring him back, CSSR is doing all the work)

Then they got attacked by the Wen and sealed in swords

Wen Ruohan did find Baoshan Sanren's mountain and killed everyone here after Xiao Xingchen and Song lan left.

While i share this idea i do have a first draft of the first chapter of this story, so it's very likely i will write it one day... Here is the first draft of the first chapter i have so far 3 chapters written but i'm focusing on burning home and just a drop for now to not lose the characterization of WCZ and CSSR.