Chapter Text
The day the Nightless City fell, the sky was crimson.
No, the word 'crimson' was not enough. The entire heavens blazed as if vomiting blood, and beneath it, everything came to an end.
Ash, burnt black, and the screams of resentful spirits covered the sky. Wei Wuxian had already lost his mind. Each time the sharp melody of Chenqing pierced the air, fierce corpses tore the throats of the sect cultivators, and fresh blood splattered in a scene that looked as if the gates of hell had opened.
"A-Xian...!"
A woman in white, Jiang Yanli, cut through the chaos. She ran toward Wei Wuxian and took a blade intended for him with her own body. Her purple robes were stained red, and her frail body collapsed to the ground. Wei Wuxian’s pupils contracted. A scream that felt like his heart was exploding remained trapped in his throat, unable to break past his lips.
But the tragedy did not end there.
As the rampaging Stygian Tiger Seal threatened to swallow every living soul nearby, a man in the snow-white robes of the Gusu Lan Sect stood in its way. It was Zewu-jun, Lan Xichen.
He was not the one supposed to be there. Lan Wangji had already been forced into seclusion in a cold cave in Gusu by his uncle, Lan Qiren, under the name of forced meditative seclusion. It was an extreme measure taken by Lan Qiren, who had early on detected the dangerous affection for Wei Wuxian in Wangji’s eyes. Wangji had struck his head against the frozen ground, pleading with his elder brother: ‘Please, stop him. Please, save him.’
Unable to ignore his younger brother's desperate plea, Lan Xichen had come to this place carrying his own Shuoyue instead of Wangji's Bichen. However, the death-defying fierce corpses controlled by an irrational Wei Wuxian breached even Zewu-jun's exquisite swordsmanship.
Crack—!
The sharp claws of a fierce corpse pierced Lan Xichen’s chest. Fresh blood splattered onto his pristine forehead ribbon. Lan Xichen stumbled to his knees. Even as his vision blurred, he reached his hand toward the void. His final thought was not of the flames of the Nightless City, but of his brother’s sad eyes left alone at Cloud Recesses.
"Wangji... I am sorry. In the end... I could not protect him."
Lan Xichen’s head fell powerless. The man called the Light of the Cultivation World collapsed in such a hollow manner.
Far away at Cloud Recesses, Lan Wangji, clutching his chest while trapped behind the barriers, felt the chilling vibration of his brother's life token shattering.
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Wei Wuxian laughed while weeping tears of blood. The woman who had tried to protect him and the only person of goodwill who had tried to stop him had both died by his hands.
His Shijie was dead. Lan Xichen was dead. Thousands of cultivators were dead. Everything in the cultivation world, built over a decade, turned to ash and scattered in the time it took for him to draw a single breath.
Wei Wuxian stood in the center of it all.
He was standing, yet it was a state where one could hardly even call it 'standing.' The mere fact that his two feet were touching the ground was the only evidence that he was still alive; everything else seemed to have already drained away. His eyes were open, but he could not see. His ears were open, but he could not hear. Flames soared from all sides and the sound of people wailing echoed, but all of it felt as distant as something happening beyond a thick pane of glass.
The final expression on his Shijie’s face would not leave his eyes.
And the hand of Lan Xichen. That hand, reaching out toward Cloud Recesses.
Wei Wuxian could not move a single step from that spot. It wasn’t that his body wouldn't obey him. He simply could not find a reason to move. The flames were surrounding him from every direction, but he felt it would be fine to just stand there in the fire. No, he thought it might be better that way.
Chenqing was held in his hand. Even that felt heavy. As if he were holding the heaviest thing in the world, his entire arm hung limp at his side.
It was then.
He sensed a presence. Even amidst Wei Wuxian’s paralyzed senses, that specific presence was captured clearly. The survival instinct carved into his body over long years reacted before his consciousness did. That presence was not approaching for the sake of salvation. Wei Wuxian knew. Those were the footsteps of a hunter.
He had no strength to turn around. He had no will to turn around. Just feeling those footsteps drawing closer and closer, Wei Wuxian closed his eyes.
Come.
Whether it be Lan Wangji, Jiang Cheng, or anyone else.
It doesn’t matter anymore.
That fleeting moment of resignation decided Wei Wuxian's fate.
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When Jiang Cheng discovered Wei Wuxian amidst the ruins of the Nightless City, he paused for a moment.
Over ten years. The emotions Jiang Cheng had harbored for Wei Wuxian during that time were something even he could not clearly define. It was too hot to be called hatred, and too filthy to be called obsession. From the moment his father began to cherish Wei Wuxian more than him, something inside Jiang Cheng had started to rot away. He didn't know what it was. He didn't want to know.
But now, Wei Wuxian stood there in that state.
In the middle of the flames, with his eyes closed, as if he were waiting for death.
A low breath escaped from between Jiang Cheng's teeth.
That bastard.
Fury surged within him. Jiang Yanli was dead. Jiang Cheng’s sister, that radiant and dignified sister, had died because of this man. Yet the man himself stood there perfectly fine, waiting for death. He was waiting to die. That attitude, that indifferent resignation, doubled Jiang Cheng's rage.
How dare you.
How dare you try to die so easily.
Jiang Cheng moved quickly. He knew Lan Wangji was coming. The collapse of the Nightless City would have vibrated through the clouds and the earth, and it was only a matter of time before Lan Wangji arrived. Jiang Cheng had reached this spot before him. It was no coincidence. Jiang Cheng had been preparing for a long time. He knew that a day like this would come, that a moment would come when Wei Wuxian was at his most broken.
Jiang Cheng’s hand reached out from behind Wei Wuxian’s back. Striking his spiritual points happened in an instant. Before Wei Wuxian could even react, his body began to slump forward. Jiang Cheng caught the body and slung it over his shoulder.
Wei Wuxian’s eyes fluttered open slightly. Even as his consciousness was fading, what those eyes held was not fear. It was recognition. A cold, sharp recognition of exactly who had laid hands on him.
"...Jiang Cheng."
A voice came out. It was as thin as a thread, but what it held was not thin at all.
Jiang Cheng did not answer. Holding Wei Wuxian's body firmly, he vanished into the flames.