ghostcraft | History; (Reply)

Sorry this is so messy, the live action drama is 50 episodes long and they decided to pack it with EVERYTHING. All The Stuff. Blink, and you'll miss so much, you really need multiple rewatches to get everything. Also they're allergic to telling you how much time has passed.

I won't bring up the differences between the live action and the original novel unless I find something amusing or interesting.

CW: Child abuse, corporal punishment, social class bullshit, bad treatment of POW, dubious medical practices & lack of informed consent about them, so much suicide, mentions of sexual assault, a general lack of regard for human life.

CHILDHOOD

Born to two rogue cultivators, Cangse Sanren (disciple of an immortal cultivator) and Wei Changze (former disciple of the Jiang sect of Yunmeng), and spent most of his childhood on the road.
His parents died on a night-hunt when he was young.
Spent some years living on the streets of a town called Yiling, and developed a fear of dogs because strays would fight him for food.
Discovered around 9 by Jiang Fengmian, his father's friend and sect leader, and was brought home to Lotus Pier, home of the Jiang sect. He became the martial brother to the other disciples of the sect.
Jiang Fengmian's wife, Yu Ziyuan, hated him for complicated reasons related to his parents, and the sect heir Jiang Cheng didn't like him because his dogs were sent away, and Wei Ying ended up being better than him in a lot of things. Didn't help that Jiang Fengmian blatantly favored Wei Ying over his own family, and Jiang Cheng and Wei Ying needed Jiang Cheng's sickly older sister, Jiang Yanli, to smooth things over between them.
Yu Ziyuan really did not like him and punished him, like making him kneel in front of the ancestors for hours and hitting him regularly with her electric qi whip.

TEENAGE YEARS (the good ones)

Became head disciple of the sect, and on his 15th birthday got his courtesy name of Wei Wuxian and his sword, Suibian. Jiang Cheng probably got his sword and courtesy name of Jiang Wanyin around the same time too, if not on his actual birthday a few days later.
Many Jiang disciples, including the main three, went to the Cloud Recesses, home of the Lan sect of Gusu, to attend cultivation classes as guests for a year. There, they reunited with Nie Huaisang, a fellow troublemaker and sect heir, and first met Lan Wangji, younger brother of Gusu Lan's sect leader.
Wei Wuxian immediately ~~imprinted on~~ started pulling on Lan Wangji's metaphorical pigtails for fun. Called him by his birth name (rude in polite society), tried to get his attention, got him drunk, that sort of thing. Joke's on him, Lan Wangji was into that, but wouldn't do a thing about it, and Wei Wuxian was oblivious.
In the background, weird shit was happening in the Cloud Recesses. Some Lan guards lost their souls, which turned them into puppets for anyone who knew how to manipulate their specific qi, and weird birds sent by the Wen sect were spying on them. And for the first time in a long time, the Wen sect also sent some disciples to the lectures. Wen Qing didn't seem that bad though, she took care of Jiang Yanli whenever she got sick, and her little brother, Wen Ning, was too quiet and shy to make trouble.
Had a mini-adventure with Lan Wangji-- they both stumbled into a hidden area of the mountain and met Lan Wangji's ancestor, Lan Yi. She told them that she had custody of a dangerous ore that could absorb high amounts of resentful qi and steal souls, one piece of a whole item that was the catalyst for a war several hundred years prior as a weapon for a demonic cultivator. She failed to purify it, so she sealed herself with it in the cave for hundreds of years and only passed on after the boys agreed to gather all the pieces and seal the Yin Iron for good.
She also left behind a lot of bunnies, because they were the only company she could have for all those years. They moved out of the cave after she disappeared, and Lan Wangji would later take over their care. I swear this is important.
Unintentional gay moment: Lan Yi's cave was protected by a guqin that attacked anyone not wearing the sect's forehead ribbons, so Lan Wangji needed to tie his and Wei Wuxian's wrists together to protect him. Then they bowed to Lan Yi a few times. For the Lan sect, the forehead ribbons can only be touched by family or by lovers/partners/spouses, and in Chinese culture, bowing to the gods (and ancestors), then to the parents, and finally to each other are the traditional marriage rites, with stand-ins if any one of these elements are unavailable. This is why many fans consider the drama's Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji married without any actual romance shown.
Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji reported their meeting with Lan Yi to Lan Xichen, the sect leader, and Lan Qiren, the brothers' uncle, and they figured that the Yin Iron was behind the weird happenings around them, and that the Wen sect was using the Yin Iron because of an earlier mishap that occured because of the Wens. They don't know how many pieces Wen Ruohan, the sect leader, had, just that he had at least one already, and they didn't want to let him have all four. Wen Ruohan already had a lot of power over cultivators, since he's the Chief Cultivator, someone who had power over the sects and clans and final say on things that would affect them all.
They also claimed that Wen Ruohan's powers were demonic cultivation, and that was not something anyone wanted to encourage. (This is the biggest divergence from the novel, in my opinion. Wei Wuxian created demonic cultivation in the novel, but in the live action it was created during Lan Yi's era, he just picked it up and revolutionized it to make it more accessible.)
Soulmate-type moment: The Lans assigned a group activity to build lanterns and then release them with a wish or a promise. Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji worked on a lantern together and made the same wish-- that they could always protect the weak, uphold justice, and live with no regrets
Fought Jiang Yanli's fiance, Jin Zixuan, for insulting her. The engagement was called off-- it's fine, it was just an arranged marriage.
When the lectures were over, Lan Xichen sent Wei Wuxian on a ~~roadtrip~~ secret mission with Lan Wangji to look for the Yin Iron pieces using the fragment they had as a guide.
First stop was a town that had a spirit that gifted poets flowers, and it's heavily implied that she had one-- though when Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji arrived, the trace of Yin Iron was gone, and Wen Chao had "coincidentally" passed the town before they did, so they were too late. Nie Huaisang found them here, and decided to join to delay returning home.
They found a place where a Yin Iron piece had been hidden, and its presence had caused a statue to come to life and eat souls-- and this statue was close to the home of the Wen family branch that Wen Qing and Wen Ning belonged to. Unfortunately, the Yin Iron in this statue had long been taken by Wen Ruohan, so they were too late. Again.
Jiang Cheng joined them at this point. He just didn't want to be left out, and was worried about them.
In pursuit of another piece, they followed a lead that pointed them to the recent massacre of a sect. The culprit, a criminal cultivator under the employ of the Wen sect named Xue Yang, still hung around the scene of the crime and with some help from two famous rogue cultivators, Xiao Xingchen and Song Zichen, they apprehended him. While he was confirmed to carry a piece of Yin Iron, they couldn't find it on him.
Wei Wuxian discovered that Xiao Xingchen studied under the same immortal master as his mother, making the man his martial uncle. (Another massive change from the novel, because the c-drama makes Xiao Xingchen, Song Zichen, and Xue Yang older than Wei Wuxian. In the novel, all three of them are younger and had their main arc during the big timeskip, so they never met Wei Wuxian until after it.)
Xue Yang was handed over to Nie Huaisang's brother, Qinghe Nie sect leader Nie Mingjue. Then he escaped during a skirmish with the Wen, who came to rescue him. The person believed to be at fault, Nie Mingjue's right-hand man Meng Yao, was banished from the sect.
Immediately after this event, the bromance brohood roadtrip ended. They were needed at home because the Wens were pulling something new. A lot of things.

TEENAGE YEARS (the bad ones)

Lan Wangji returned to the Cloud Recesses to find Wen Xu, elder son of Wen Ruohan, attacking the sect. The Wens broke his leg, killed many sect members, burned the buildings, and took the Yin Iron piece he had. Lan Xichen meanwhile disappeared.
The Wen sect demanded all other sects send them their heirs and disciples for indoctrination (read: hold them hostage). Everyone complied because Qishan Wen was too powerful to fight against. Lan Wangji ended up the only Lan member to attend.
The Wen confiscated their hostages' swords. Wei Wuxian made problems on purpose to piss off their supervisor, Wen Xu's younger brother Wen Chao. For his trouble, he was forced into an overnight stay in a cell with a mutant dog. Wen Ning put the dog to sleep (actual sleep, not the other "sleep") and gave him medicine for his wounds.
Wen Chao forced the hostages to be bait for a hunt, a corrupted monster turtle inside a mountain cave. The hostages struggled, and Wei Wuxian took a branding iron to the chest to protect a female disciple of the Jin sect.
The monster turtle was too strong and Wen Chao abandoned his hostages in the cave. Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji managed to evacuate the others, but were slowed down because the monster injured Wei Wuxian, and they were sealed in due to the monster turtle moving over the escape route.
Weird hurt/comfort scene: Wei Wuxian had to perform first aid, but first he needed the stale blood in Lan Wangji's body gone before using the medicine from Wen Ning. He started taking their clothes off, and this made Lan Wangji cough up blood out of shock and repression.
Three days later, Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji decided to stop waiting for help. They killed the monster turtle but the escape route got blocked from debris, cue another hurt/comfort scene: Wei Wuxian was heavily injured and feverish, and Lan Wangji used a song he composed to comfort him.
What Lan Wangji doesn't know: Wei Wuxian found a sword full of resentful energy inside the monster turtle's shell, and kept it in his pocket dimension.
When Wei Wuxian next woke up, he was outside of the cave, having been rescued by Jiang Cheng and Jin Zixuan. Lan Wangji had left as soon as they were rescued. The Jins returned to Golden Carp Tower, and Jiang Cheng took Wei Wuxian back to Lotus Pier.
The sect leader of a small sect escaped to Lotus Pier and claimed that the Wens attacked him and his sect was nearly wiped out. Jiang Fengmian and Jiang Yanli left to personally escort the man to the Jin sect, the smaller sect's closest political ally.
Ten days later, Lotus Pier was attacked and repurposed into a Wen office by Wen Chao and his bodyguard, Wen Zhuliu. Jiang Fengmian, Yu Ziyuan, and most Jiang disciples were killed. Wei Wuxian, Jiang Cheng, and Jiang Yanli became fugitives, and tried to make their way to Yu Ziyuan's mother in the Meishan Yu sect.
Jiang Yanli became sick again, and they had to spend time at an inn. Returning from a supply run to get her medicine, Wei Wuxian discovered that Jiang Cheng had disappeared, and assumed he returned to Lotus Pier.
What Wei Wuxian didn't know (and still doesn't post-canon): While he was buying medicine, Jiang Cheng had led the Wens away from him on purpose to protect him, and couldn't outrun them.
At Lotus Pier, Wen Ning offered his help again. He spiked the wine with sedatives, rescued Jiang Cheng, retrieved the Jiang parents' bodies, and brought the Jiangs to the Wen office in Yiling, which Wen Qing maintained.
Jiang Cheng fell into depression because not having a golden core made him a regular human, and Wei Wuxian told to him that his mother's immortal master could probably remake it or give him a new one. He roped Wen Qing and Wen Ning into this lie.
Coincidentally (no, really it's coincidence because this c-drama runs on it), Song Zichen reappeared, separated from Xiao Xingchen and recovering from a procedure and some drama. Xue Yang had blinded him and Xiao Xingchen took him to his immortal master to restore his sight-- by giving him his own eyes, which caused a rift between them. Wei Wuxian used that story to convince Jiang Cheng but left the bit about organ transplant out.
Song Zichen escorted Jiang Yanli to the Jin sect. Wei Wuxian sent Jiang Cheng to the supposed immortal master's home, but in reality, it was just a random mountain. Wen Qing performed surgery out there, physically removing Wei Wuxian's golden core and transferring it into Jiang Cheng. Wei Wuxian was completely awake for everything, otherwise the surgery wouldn't have worked. Jiang Cheng was anesthetized though.
Wei Wuxian waited for Jiang Cheng at the base of the mountain, but was captured by Wen Chao and Wen Zhuliu. After being beaten, he was left for dead in the Burial Mounds, a large area in the mountains near Yiling that was full of resentful qi so strong, the entire place was teeming with undead and ghosts and resisted all attempts to purify it. Nothing could grow there, so surely he'd die, right?

SUNSHOT CAMPAIGN

Following the attack on Lotus Pier, the other cultivators had enough. They rallied against the Wen, led by Nie Mingjue. They called this the Sunshot Campaign-- the sun being the Qishan Wen symbol. Lan Xichen had been discovered alive and well, and started to rally the Lans.
A month into the war, the Lan brothers and Jiang Cheng led a raid into Qishan to retrieve the swords of the former hostages.
Nie Mingjue killed Wen Xu early into the war. Wen Ruohan was not pleased.
Three months into the war, Wei Wuxian left the Burial Mounds and discovered Wen Chao and Wen Zhuliu's location. He killed other Wen disciples and stalked and tortured Wen Chao through the countryside for days, controlling vengeful ghosts by playing on his new flute until Lan Wangji and Jiang Cheng arrived, looking for Wen Chao too. Jiang Cheng killed Wen Zhuliu to protect Wei Wuxian.
Lan Wangji immediately pegged Wei Wuxian's powers as Something Bad, and demanded Wei Wuxian return to Gusu with him. Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng interpreted his words as him wanting to lock Wei Wuxian up for using evil powers. Lan Wangji's fatal flaw was that he was allergic to explaining things and expressing himself in a clear manner, and Wei Wuxian always misinterpreted him.
Lan Wangji left after a heated argument. Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng stayed behind to get revenge on Wen Chao.
Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng reclaimed Lotus Pier and Yunmeng, then joined the allied sects at Qinghe. He did not endear himself to them because he didn't carry his sword (proper cultivators always had swords, that's just their society), preferring spells and controlling resentful qi with his new flute instead. And also because the things he did were assumed to be demonic cultivation.
Wei Wuxian put himself forward as the one best equipped to deal with Wen Ruohan and his Yin Iron. It was a timely offer because Wen Ruohan just used them to steal the souls of his disciples, turn them into puppets, and strengthen them. He gave them the ability to turn anyone they mortally injured into puppets as well. (This is the live action's way of getting around censorship, because showing the undead onscreen is forbidden in Chinese media. Puppets are not zombies like in the original material, just people who are almost dead and had their souls removed. People in-universe treat them as completely dead though and their powers are mostly the same as the novel's fierce corpses/zombies.)
Nie Mingjue decided the best plan was to attack Wen Ruohan directly in his home in Nightless City, Qishan, and headed the stealth mission himself with some intel and a map that Lan Xichen handed him. After ten days of no news, Lan Xichen led an attack on Nightless City to rescue him.
He had definitely been found and captured, and Wen Ruohan kept him alive while having the rest of his squad killed-- Meng Yao did it, having turned to Wen Ruohan's side after his exile. Nie Mingjue was not pleased, especially when they were going to kill him during the siege of the allied sects on Nightless City.
Wen Ruohan handled them personally and easily with the three pieces of Yin Iron he had (recap: he had one which he lent to Xue Yang and got back, Wen Chao snatched one from a spirit, the last came from Lan Wangji) and the puppets he created with them, but Wei Wuxian unveiled that he had a fourth piece of Yin Iron, hidden inside the sword he got from the monster tortoise. He called his piece the Yin Tiger Tally and used it to manipulate the puppets into fighting each other.
Meng Yao took the opportunity to asassinate Wen Ruohan. Turns out, Meng Yao had been Lan Xichen's spy all along and gave him the map Nie Mingjue used to infiltrate Nightless City. Nie Mingjue was really not pleased, but Lan Xichen convinced him to spare Meng Yao.
Meng Yao got recognized by his father, Jin Zixuan's father aka the Jin sect leader Jin Guangshan, and received a position in the sect and a courtesy name. Others gave him a title for his service in the war. He, Nie Mingjue, and Lan Xichen performed the sworn brotherhood ceremony to create the Venerated Triad.
The surviving Wens were rounded up and placed in a prison camp. However, Xue Yang was still at large.

YILING PATRIARCH ERA

In the autumn after the end of the war, the Lanling Jin organized a hunting competition. Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji came across each other alone, and had A Moment: after arguing about Wei Wuxian's demonic cultivation, they kind of made up by declaring each other "zhiji", which was translated to "soulmate" or "lifelong confidant" in the official subs. (This definition of WWX and LWJ's relationship is live action-only because onscreen homosexuality is forbidden in China-- they had to present it as a soulmate bromance to get it past censorship. It's also a big change from the novel because they defined their relationship early, so Wei Wuxian became more aware of Lan Wangji and where they stood with regards to one another much earlier-- the novel only defines their mutual romantic feeling in the final chapters. This is a nice essay about "zhiji".)
The Jiang sect won the competition because Wei Wuxian used his demonic cultivation to send the ghosts and corpses to them. This sparked gossip about how Yunmeng Jiang was only good in the Sunshot Campaign because of Wei Wuxian, which hit Jiang Cheng right in the pride.
Gossipers also began discussing Wei Wuxian's odd behaviors, like his lack of sword when he's an excellent swordsman, and his casual use of demonic cultivation. People slowly started treating him like a ticking time bomb.
Wen Qing found Wei Wuxian during yet another banquet thrown by the Jin sect and begged him to help her find Wen Ning. Wei Wuxian crashed the banquet to demand where the last Wen members were, as a Jin cousin, Jin Zixun, had been the last one to see Wen Ning. Jin Guangshan attempted to change the subject and demanded to have the Yin Tiger Tally surrendered (preferably to him), and Wei Wuxian accused the Jin sect of trying to become the next Qishan Wen.
Wei Wuxian and Wen Qing raided the prison camp that Jin Zixun pointed them towards, meeting resistance from the guards. They found Wen Ning just barely alive, having been stabbed and left to bleed out long before they arrived. Wei Wuxian turned him into a puppet to save him and ordered him to kill the guards.
Wei Wuxian took all the remaining Wens-- about 50 non-cultivators, mostly elders and one 4-5yo orphan-- and escaped. Lan Wangji attempted to stop them, but eventually allowed them to pass after Wei Wuxian pleaded with him. Wei Wuxian took them to the Burial Mounds and set up wards and patrolling puppets as defense.
Wen Ning was placed in a cave and plastered with talismans to keep him still until Wei Wuxian found a way to wake up his consciousness.
The sects decided Wei Wuxian was a problem that needed to be dealt with, and Jiang Cheng was forced to agree with them to protect his sect. Luo Qingyang, the woman Wei Wuxian saved from the branding iron years ago, walked out of her own sect in protest.
Jiang Cheng visited the Burial Mounds alone to try and convince Wei Wuxian to return, but was rebuffed. He and Wei Wuxian fought (Wei Wuxian cheated, he puppeteered Wen Ning), and the fight ended with Jiang Cheng declaring that Wei Wuxian was expelled from the sect.
Some time later, Lan Wangji visited Yiling and met the tiny Wen boy, Yuan, on a shopping trip with Wei Wuxian. Wei Wuxian's weird kinks started showing and he claimed that he birthed Yuan himself. This was after people mistook Lan Wangji as Yuan's father, mind you.
Wen Ning broke free from his restraints during Lan Wangji's visit, but Wei Wuxian managed to wake his consciousness. He became good ol' cinnamon roll Wen Ning again.
Wei Wuxian offered Lan Wangji a tour of his home in the Burial Mounds. Here's a cave where he slept and worked, it was called the Demon-Quelling Cave because Wei Wuxian was a "demon" who practiced demonic cultivation, there was that pool of water that became blood with the amount of corpses in the ground, corpses that he tried to raise for various uses. As one did in a new house when visited by an old friend.
Wei Wuxian's exploits began reaching more people, and cultivators and civilians alike began calling him the "Yiling Laozu" or Yiling Patriarch, the supreme evil overlord who created a new cultivation path and made the most powerful puppet. Many people attempted to impersonate him, or claim to be his disciple. He hated it.
Around the same time, Wen Ning gained a title too, the Ghost General. He had no comment.
A little later, Jiang Yanli visited Yiling in secret just before her wedding, escorted by Jiang Cheng, her engagement with Jin Zixuan having been renewed while Wei Wuxian was away. She just wanted a moment with her boys before she had to stay in Golden Carp Tower with the rest of the Jin sect. Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng were peaceful enough to each other.
He was allowed to name Jiang Yanli's firstborn son, whenever that baby would come (though it's implied that she's early in her pregnancy). He settled on "Rulan" and Jiang Cheng got on his case for naming the hypothetical baby after the Lan sect, but Wei Wuxian meant "lan" as in "orchid" rather than the Lan sect's "blue". (But he likes the Lan sect though.)
When not trying to find ways of improving the quality of life at the Burial Mounds, Wei Wuxian developed tools using demonic cultivation as a base, like lure talismans and compasses that point towards resentful qi. He also grew lotuses in his spare time with seeds procured by Wen Qing.

DOWNFALL OF THE YILING PATRIARCH

Less than a year later, the birth of Jiang Yanli and Jin Zixuan's son Jin Ling was announced. Wei Wuxian's courtesy name for the baby stuck. Wei Wuxian was invited to the month-old celebration, but many people were not happy about that.
Wei Wuxian headed toward the celebration in Lanling with a gift and Wen Ning in tow. However, Jin disciples ambushed them and accused him of cursing Jin Zixun. Jin Zixuan tried to mediate, Wei Wuxian tried to defend himself, and lost control of Wen Ning, who killed the cousins and many other disciples.
What was unnoticed in the chaos: there was another demonic cultivator hiding nearby who used the same flute techniques as Wei Wuxian to usurp control of Wen Ning.
The Wens paralyzed Wei Wuxian and surrendered themselves to the Jins to protect him. Wen Qing and Wen Ning were burned alive and the rest were hanged from Nightless City's parapets.
Three days later, he managed to break out of paralysis and snuck into Golden Carp Tower to try and save them, or retrieve the bodies. He got spotted by other cultivators, even from other sects, and had to fight to escape, but refused to kill. He also found news that the sects called an emergency conference at Nightless City, to discuss Wei Wuxian and scatter the Wen siblings' ashes.
Wei Wuxian fought the sects at Nightless City with resentful energy, but a hidden demonic cultivator started turning people into puppets. Everyone was fooled into thinking that this was Wei Wuxian's fault. Again.
Jiang Yanli took a sword meant for him and died in Jiang Cheng's arms. In his grief Wei Wuxian went mad, strangled the man responsible, and then summoned the Yin Tiger Tally only to destroy it, unleashing a lot of resentful energy that attacked people.
Wei Wuxian moved to the edge of a cliff at the battle site and jumped off. Both Lan Wangji and Jiang Cheng attempted to save him, but he forced his arm out of Lan Wangji's grasp. Either he didn't survive the impact on the ground, or he fell into a stream of lava, because Nightless City was built near an active volcano. Either way, he didn't show up again and there was no body to retrieve.

RETURN

Wei Wuxian woke up 16 years later in a body that's not his and the lingering bits of the previous owner, Mo Xuanyu, demanding he avenge the man.
Mo Xuanyu had used an ancient ritual to offer his body to Wei Wuxian, willingly destroying his soul just so Wei Wuxian could kill five people for him, indicated by four cuts on his arm that would not heal. Wei Wuxian needed to complete the demand otherwise his soul would be destroyed as well, but once he did, the body would be his permanently.
Mo Xuanyu's appearance also changed to resemble Wei Wuxian's, forcing him to wear a mask in case he met people from his past. (This is live action-only so they could keep Wei Wuxian's actor the same. In the novel, Mo Xuanyu's body remains as it is, so people used other ways to figure out it's Wei Wuxian behind the wheel.)
From his investigations, Wei Wuxian discovered that Mo Xuanyu was another of Jin Guangshan's illegitimate children, had been a disciple in the Jin sect until he was kicked out not too long before Wei Wuxian's summoning, and had a reputation for being a lunatic who did weird things.
At the same time, there were reports of something killing people in the village that the Mo family maintained, and they had asked for help from the Lan sect. The disciples arrived just moments after Wei Wuxian's return. Coincidence?
Wei Wuxian also discovered that they were using his talismans that he had developed to attract creatures with resentment. He did this by snatching one of said talismans-- the Lan disciples weren't happy, but one of the older ones who was also a member of the main Lan family, Lan Sizhui, was at least nice to him.
He assisted the Lan disciples in investigating the evil spirit. They were juniors and still not used to night hunting without a senior, and it soon became clear that the spirit was well above their level because it possessed multiple people and turned them into puppets-- Mo Xuanyu's cousin, Mo Xuanyu's aunt's husband, and a servant-- in quick succession during the night without being detected by anyone. While he did discreetly help them solve the mystery and prevent more deaths, none of them could actually stop it when it possessed Madam Mo, and the best Wei Wuxian could do was use the currently available puppets to fight her and stall for time.
Eventually he ran with a donkey from the town because the Lan juniors had sent a signal for help, and Lan Wangji finally arrived. At the very least, Lan Wangji properly subdued the spirit and revealed its true form as a spirit within a cultivator's sword, and that it had absorbed a lot of resentment.
At the same time, Wei Wuxian noticed that three of the cuts healed, indicating that the people who died in Mo manor were among the ones that Mo Xuanyu had grudges against. No idea on who the last one was though.
He got swept into a night hunt by accident. Again. Among the participants were the Lan juniors from before, and a bratty Jin who turned out to be Jiang Cheng's nephew Jin Ling-- meaning, this was Jiang Yanli's son. The kids were trying to investigate the statue that stole souls, and Wei Wuxian used demonic cultivation to fight it... only to accidentally summon Wen Ning, who seemingly lost his sentience again. And was supposed to be dead.
Because the juniors were juniors, they were still chaperoned by guardians-- unfortunately, they were Lan Wangji and Jiang Cheng. Both of them pegged him as Wei Wuxian immediately despite the mask. Jiang Cheng attempted to exorcise him, but failed because the body was willingly given to Wei Wuxian.
Lan Wangji dragged him to the Cloud Recesses to recover and filled him in on the investigation: that the blade spirit from Mo manor had traces of the Yin Tiger Tally's distinct qi signature-- meaning there was a Yin Tiger Tally. They suspected Xue Yang, as he was the only other known demonic cultivator left who knew the ins and outs of the Yin Iron.
Small cute moment: Wei Wuxian found that the back paths of the Cloud Recesses were full of rabbits-- Lan Wangji had been caring for them all these years. I told you this was important. It's important to ME.
Sad moment: Wei Wuxian also found that Lan Wangji had a lot of old whip marks on his back, but couldn't get an answer as to how that happened or why.
The Lan sect attempted to exorcise the blade spirit but couldn't handle the backlash. Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji took care of it themselves and set out on a new roadtrip, following the direction it pointed towards.

ROADTRIP 2.0

First stop was Qinghe, where they found Jin Ling again. Wei Wuxian also met Jin Ling's dog, Fairy, and showed he was a pretty good screamer.
According to a local fake cultivator who was selling portraits of the "Yiling Patriarch" as talismans to ward off evil, there were rumors of a nearby ridge where people went missing, dubbed the Man-Eating Ridge. Despite it being the territory of the Nie sect, nothing was done about it, and everyone attributed it to the sect leader being useless. Nie Mingjue passed away from a qi deviation several years prior because of the Nie sabers corrupting their wielders' qi, forcing Nie Huaisang to take the role. He became known as the "Headshaker", an incompetent sect leader who always said "I don't know" three times when asked a question.
The Man-Eating Ridge turned out to be a tomb of sabers full of resentful energy, and it ate Jin Ling. Literally. They found him inside a wall and managed to save him before he suffocated to death. Someone was also spying on them, and Lan Wangji went to catch them while Wei Wuxian brought Jin Ling back to town
Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng confronted each other in town, ending in Jiang Cheng capturing him. Jin Ling managed to free him though, so he could meet up with Lan Wangji again. Wei Wuxian also discreetly removed a curse from Jin Ling that had attached to him in the tomb, and transferred it to his own body to be examined and cleansed later.
The "spy" turned out to be Nie Huaisang, who admitted that the Man-Eating Ridge was in fact the underground tomb of the Nie clan, but instead of burying their people, they buried their sabers because the weapons kept wanting to fight even after their owners died, and that the walls "ate" people to turn them into fierce corpses to keep the sabers busy. The monicker came from tomb robbers going missing when they targeted it, and Nie Huaisang let it be in the hopes that the rumors would keep people away.
The curse agitated the blade spirit, which told Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji that a second visit to the tomb was necessary. None of the sabers in the tomb reacted to the blade spirit, but Nie Huaisang mentioned that Nie Mingjue's body and saber were missing. They could only conclude that the blade spirit they had was Baxia.
They followed the next direction Baxia sent them, and on the way concluded that the person who took Nie Mingjue and Baxia and the person who released Baxia's spirit into Mo Village were different-- one wanted to hide the corpse and sword, the other wanted to bring attention to the actions of the first person.
On the road, Wei Wuxian learned from gossip that Xue Yang had been captured once more by Xiao Xingchen and Song Zichen, yet Jin Guangshan made him a Jin disciple rather than executing him. He was no longer a Jin disciple though, and currently MIA.
Lan Wangji willingly drank wine. He got drunk from a single cup and Wei Wuxian had his hands full trying to wrangle him. RIP to someone's house that Lan Wangji carved grafitti on.
Wei Wuxian examined Wen Ning to check why his consciousness was being suppressed. In Wen Ning's head, he pulled out two Skull-Piercing Nails used by cultivators to subdue and control powerful puppets, indicating that Wen Ning had been hidden away and kept under control until Wei Wuxian returned and accidentally summoned him. Drunk Lan Wangji didn't like Wen Ning though, so Wei Wuxian just asked him to follow from a distance.
A masked man attacked them, presumably to steal Baxia or just kill them, but Lan Wangji was too strong, even while drunk as a skunk. Too bad that guy teleported away. Actually teleported, with a talisman.
They arrived at a town that used to deal in the funerary business-- coffins, joss paper, etc-- that had ironically become a ghost town. A mist that obfuscated sight, aggressive puppets everywhere, living corpses instead of residents, the works. "Coincidentally", they found Jin Ling, the young Lans, and a bunch of other juniors from smaller sects banding together to survive. Some of them had been poisoned by the puppets, but there were no chaperones around to help, so Wei Wuxian took care of that, while Lan Wangji handled the masked man who had followed them all the way there.
The juniors claimed that someone had deliberately chased them into town. Under Wei Wuxian's guidance, the juniors investigated what was going on in town. There were four that rose to the challenge-- Jin Ling, Lan Sizhui, another member of the main Lan clan named Lan Jingyi, and their new buddy and heir to the Ouyang clan, Ouyang Zizhen.
What they found: a blind and mute young woman desperately following them around, a blind Xiao Xingchen fighting puppets nearby and being saved by Wei Wuxian, and Song Zichen, now a puppet, literally crashing into their shelter. Wei Wuxian pulled Skull-Piercing Nails from him after the juniors restrained him.
Lan Sizhui performed a Lan ritual where he communicated with Song Zichen directly and asked who was controlling him. Song Zichen's answer? "The one behind you." There was no one behind them but Xiao Xingchen. Wait, that's Xue Yang wearing a face-changing spell.
Song Zichen had more nails in his head, and Xue Yang ordered him to attack. Wen Ning came in time to protect Wei Wuxian, leaving Xue Yang to do the job himself-- and Lan Wangji came in time to take care of him, too. That left Wei Wuxian free to dive into the wandering girl's memories with a spell called Empathy, because she was very insistent in hanging around, so obviously she had something to say.
Years ago, Xue Yang had been squatting in the town after being expelled from the Jin sect, taking advantage of Xiao Xingchen's blindness to live with him and A-Qing, a girl Xiao Xingchen had picked up off the street-- the same girl whose memories Wei Wuxian was in. At the time, she wasn't blind nor mute, but Xue Yang blinded her and cut out her tongue after he caught her witnessing his crimes. He also manipulated Xiao Xingchen into mortally wounding the residents of the town, which turned them all into puppets without Xiao Xingchen's knowledge. The final straw was the puppet Song Zichen, which caused Xiao Xingchen to realize what he'd done and kill himself out of guilt. Xue Yang wanted to make Xiao Xingchen a puppet as well because he genuinely liked the man in his super obsessive way, except the man's soul was too shattered and any puppet made using his body wouldn't be like Wen Ning or Song Zichen. Wei Wuxian coming into town gave him hope, because he wanted the man to stitch Xiao Xingchen's soul back together.
With Wen Ning pinning Song Zichen, Wei Wuxian managed to remove the last of the nails from his head and released him from Xue Yang's control.
A-Qing helped in the fight against Xue Yang, following him closely and using sound to signal his position, so that Lan Wangji knew where to attack despite the fog obscuring their vision. However, Xue Yang killed her for her trouble. At the very least, the fog lightened up enough for Lan Wangji to dearm Xue Yang literally. The same masked man who attacked them appeared out of nowhere to save Xue Yang, but Lan Wangji fended him off, and he only managed to run away with Xue Yang's Yin Tiger Tally.
Song Zichen got to deal the final blow. Lan Wangji reported to Wei Wuxian that he recognized the masked man's swordsmanship as a mix of Lan and Jin. While the juniors were sent to an inn in a nearby town, Song Zichen cremated Xiao Xingchen's body, took his friend's sword and the pouch containing his soul, and left on a solo journey to nurture Xiao Xingchen's soul back to health.
Under Xiao Xingchen's old coffin, they found another one underneath, and this one contained Nie Mingjue's body. Baxia assumed its true form the moment the body was unveiled, but the corpse was missing the head. The mystery continued.

UNCOVERING SECRETS

The first thing they did after resolving this was meet with Lan Xichen, Lan Wangji's older brother and the Lan sect leader, at the inn where the juniors were.
Actually, no, the actual first thing they did was buy a lantern with a rabbit painted on it, and Lan Wangji gave it to Lan Sizhui. Then they met with Lan Xichen in secret.
They reported to him what happened. Given Lan Xichen and Nie Mingjue's relationship as childhood friends and sworn brothers, Lan Xichen was devastated, especially when he figured out who was responsible according to Wei Wuxian's description-- close with Gusu Lan, knew the secrets of Nie cultivation, complicated relationship with Nie Mingjue. It was, of course, Jin Guangyao, whom Nie Mingjue never fully trusted after Sunshot.
Just one problem-- Jin Guangyao had become sect leader after his father died, and also took on the role of Chief Cultivator. He had a lot of political power desite being an illegitimate son who wasn't supposed to be in the line of succession.
Another problem: Lan Xichen claimed that Jin Guangyao didn't have enough time to do those things because Lan Xichen was his alibi, and that he didn't have a strong enough golden core to power a teleportation talisman. Which meant that the masked man was Jin Guangyao's helper, and he likely had more.
There was also the issue of Nie Mingjue's missing head. Lan Wangji suggested that they visit the Jin sect to search for it, because if Jin Guangyao was truly the mastermind, he would want it close to him. Lan Xichen agreed to bring them to the cultivation conference in the following month, because it was being held at Golden Carp Tower.
Lan Xichen also revealed that he knew that Wei Wuxian was back, he figured it out because his brother didn't show this much care to anyone else.
What did they do while waiting for the conference? No clue. Not even the book mentions it and all the adaptations just skip from the discussion straight to the conference.
Mo Xuanyu had a reputation in the Jin sect that affected how Wei Wuxian was recieved-- Mo Xuanyu had been expelled from the sect for harassing Qin Su, Jin Guangyao's wife, but given what Wei Wuxian already knew, he suspected the story was a cover for the real reason that Mo Xuanyu was thrown out. The real question was what it was.
Martial uncle-nephew bonding moment: Jin Ling was being bullied by the other Jin juniors, he's not popular in his clan. Wei Wuxian taught Jin Ling how to subdue them without weapons and that he should just get into fights when he wanted because he was still young enough to get away with it. Who was going to scold the Jin heir, anyway?
In his and Lan Wangji's private room, Wei Wuxian attached his soul to a talisman shaped like a person and snuck deeper into Golden Carp Tower. He listened to a conversation between the man and his wife where she accused him of things she found from an anonymous letter, that there was something unspoken between them that disgusted her and made him not want to touch her since their wedding, and that he killed their son (he claimed he didn't, but the kid needed to die anyway). He subdued her and locked her in his secret treasure room.
Inside that treasure room, Wei Wuxian found his own sword, Suibian, a deed for a plot in Yunping, a city neighboring Yunmeng, and Nie Mingjue's head. Wei Wuxian was forced by the strong resentment to perform Empathy on the head, and witnessed how Jin Guangyao had been slowly poisoning Nie Mingjue's qi with music, which ended with a qi deviation that Nie Huaisang, Lan Xichen, and most of the Jin sect witnessed. Then Jin Guangyao stole him away, turned him into a puppet, and had Xue Yang kill him. The head was kept as a trophy and Xue Yang hid the body away.
Wei Wuxian nearly escaped with his life-- Jin Guangyao had discovered him and almost destroyed his vessel. He bought himself time by unsheathing Suibian and returned to his body.
Despite Jin Guangyao raising the alarm, Wei Wuxian dragged Lan Wangji to the treasure room to rescue Qin Su, picking up Jin Ling, Jin Guangyao, Lan Xichen, Nie Huaisang, Jiang Cheng and a minor sect leader named Su Minshan along as they went. Qin Su killed herself in front of them as soon as they arrived. Meanwhile, Nie Mingjue's head was no longer there.
Jin Guangyao quickly blamed "Mo Xuanyu" for this mess. While Su Minshan accused "Mo Xuanyu" for wanting revenge against the Jin sect, Jin Guangyao prepared to interrogate "Mo Xuanyu" for his wife's death, and potentially fight. Wei Wuxian drew Suibian again on instinct.
This was a very, very big mistake. The Jins had taken the sword as a trophy when Wei Wuxian died, but it had sealed itself out of loyalty to its owner, and no one could draw it. Well, except the actual owner-- and Jin Guangyao baited him into doing it in front of witnesses. His identity now revealed, Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji ran.
Just outside of Golden Carp Tower, they were ambushed and surrounded. Wei Wuxian offered Lan Wangji one last chance to get out and return to everyone's good graces, but Lan Wangji was insistent on staying at Wei Wuxian's side. Maybe he should have watched the other side, because in the ensuing fight, Jin Ling snuck in with a stab that put Wei Wuxian out of commission. (I'm making a joke, but Lan Wangji was on Wei Wuxian's right and Jin Ling came in from the left.)
Lan Wangji hid him in the Cloud Recesses to recover, but he discovered the final wound from the sacrificial ritual, and Wei Wuxian was forced to admit that Mo Xuanyu had one last enemy he wanted Wei Wuxian to kill. With everything they knew now, it was obvious that it was Jin Guangyao. He speculated that Mo Xuanyu found out about the secrets that Qin Su only vaguely alluded to and he tried to warn her about them, which gave Jin Guangyao a convenient reason to kick him out with just a little bit of embellishment.
Lan Xichen was protecting them from the Jins, revoking Jin Guangyao's unlimited access to the Cloud Recesses. He also informed them that Nie Huaisang had Nie Mingjue's body.
Wei Wuxian played the tune Jin Guangyao played for Nie Mingjue, and given Lan Xichen taught Jin Guangyao the song because it was a Lan song, he knew immediately that there was something wrong with the piece. The song was meant to clear the effects of Nie Mingue's saber because continued cultivation with it was making him sick, but Jin Guangyao had snuck in a few notes that negated the healing effects of the song and made the corruption worse. A bit of research in the forbidden section of the Lan library told Lan Xichen, Wei Wuxian, and Lan Wangji that the amended piece came from a collection of foreign songs meant to harm people. In fact, the book had a page missing, the exact page that the song had been recorded on.
So how did Jin Guangyao get his hands on it? Jin Guangyao likely knew of its existence during the Sunshot Campaign, as Lan Xichen had it and a bunch of other books from the forbidden section on himself when running from the Wens. Because Jin Guangyao had sheltered Lan Xichen until the Sunshot Campaign began, he could have checked Lan Xichen's dimensional pocket at any time without him knowing. When it came time to kill Nie Mingjue, Jin Guangyao had a free pass to the Cloud Recesses thanks to the sworn brotherhood, and knew how to get around without being seen.
Because Lan Xichen was shielding them, they could afford to relax for a bit. Lan Wangji went to check in on their uncle, who was still recovering from the attempted exorcism on the blade spirit, and Wei Wuxian asked Lan Xichen about Lan Wangji's scars. What he got was a terrible story where the sects raided the Burial Mounds to search for Wei Wuxian's body and to kill any Wen left alive. Lan Wangji blocked them from entering Wei Wuxian's cave after his death, and his uncle had him beaten in punishment. Lan Wangji then was forced into seclusion for three years to recover.
Lan Xichen continued story time by mentioning how their father saved their mother from execution by marrying her, how she was imprisoned instead, and how their father went into seclusion as punishment. Lan Wangji developed a deep attachment to her, deep enough that he took over her house after she died. Then Lan Xichen mentioned that the pain that Lan Wangji felt watching her suffering was the same as the pain he felt watching Wei Wuxian's descent into madness, implying that implied that Lan Wangji's attachment to Wei Wuxian ran similarly as deep, even if it was a different sort of attachment.
Lan Wangji offered Wei Wuxian some wine. A little thing I haven't mentioned much: Lan Wangji had been giving Wei Wuxian alcohol since his return and never cared who saw. It felt quite significant for him to do it in the Cloud Recesses right in front of his brother the sect leader though.
Awkward gay moment: Wei Wuxian tried to thank Lan Wangji for everything he did, but figured it was too flirtatious or sappy to say.
He mentioned Lan Xichen instead, and how he was probably in a tight spot for defending a criminal against his own sworn brother. Lan Wangji countered by asking why he didn't tell Lan Xichen about the events on the day Jin Zixuan died, that he heard the events from Wen Ning's perspective when they were running from Golden Carp Tower, and Wen Ning claimed there was a second flute that day. Wei Wuxian admitted that he heard the same during the battle at Nightless City-- he never lost control, it had been taken from him. (This is probably the second biggest divergence from the novel IMO, because in the novel Wei Wuxian did lose control multiple times due to his fragile mental and emotional state and those incidents formed a big part of his character growth. The c-drama develops him differently due to this, but he's still recognizeably Wei Wuxian.)
He also admitted that now that he knew about the evil songs, he was quite sure that the saboteur was aiming specifically to mess him up, even if hey didn't know if it was Jin Guangyao or a helper. In the end though, it didn't matter who did it, because people would always just find someone to blame for the bad things in the world, and right now, that was the Yiling Patriarch.
Extremely gay moment: Even with shit always happening to him, he was glad for having one person who was always there-- Lan Wangji, though he never said this out loud. What he actually said was "I'm sorry" and "thank you". Finally.

UNVEILING THE TRUTH

The morning after, Jin Guangyao came to the Cloud Recesses to visit Lan Xichen. Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji were coincidentally in the same room, hiding behind a screen. He mentioned that the sects were preparing to siege the Burial Mounds, as puppets had started to appear again, and were heading that way. So obviously, Wei Wuxian was there and gathering an army.
Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji had to go for themselves. On the way, Wei Wuxian figured out how Lan Wangji figured out it was him despite the mask-- the song he played back then was the same one Wangji sang to him in the monster turtle's cave. Lan Wangji refused to give up the name though, just that he composed it himself.
Wen Ning accompanied them more openly now. He proved useful as they ascended the Burial Mounds because of the puppets-- even though Wei Wuxian's body looked like his old one, it was still physically Mo Xuanyu's, and Mo Xuanyu was a mediocre cultivator with a weak golden core. It'd take a while for Wei Wuxian to be able to use Suibian properly again.
Timeline inconsistency: Wei Wuxian got nostalgic in Yiling, mentioning that if Wen Yuan were still alive he would be a teenager. Wen Yuan was about 4-5 years old during the Yiling Patriarch era, and it's been 16 years since then-- he'd be about 20, which is the oldest age a junior disciple can be. I guess they forgot that they aged up their characters.
In the Demon-Quelling Cave, they found all the junior cultivators, not just the main four but others from various sects, and they all claimed to have been taken by people in masks. To give them a chance to run, Wen Ning volunteered to clear out the puppets.
Well, they would have had a chance if the sect leaders and senior disciples hadn't just arrived, and they were not willing to let Wei Wuxian and Wen Ning go. Thankfully, the puppets were there to distract them and give them a common enemy... Until the adults suddenly found their spiritual qi sealed, whereas the juniors were completely fine. Luckily for them, Lan Sizhui remembered that there was an array to repel puppets and ghosts inside the Demon-Quelling Cave.
When Wei Wuxian tried to figure out how the adults' qi got sealed, Su Minshan tried to stop him, which made him look suspicious. Even more so when Nie Huaisang asked for the tea, and Lan Jingyi mentioned that Su Minshan had been expelled from the Lan sect for letting his fellow disciples die when the Wens burned the Cloud Recesses, and that when Su Minshan made his own sect, his sect's techniques were based off of Lan ones, which annoyed the Lan sect even more.
The final clue came when Lan Jingyi mentioned that the Su disciples made many mistakes while playing a Lan battle song. Wei Wuxian concluded that these "mistakes" were what sealed the adults' qi, especially if the Su sect had been playing this as they fought their way up. Other sects wouldn't have noticed mistakes, and the Lan members were already inclined to think of the Su sect as bad imitators. Wei Wuxian even went as far as mentioning the book of evil songs, and that the scores could have come from there. Su Minshan claimed that he had never been allowed in the forbidden area of the library, and Wei Wuxian rebutted that the person he was working for could.
With all the clues that Wei Wuxian left them, everyone could figure out that it was Jin Guangyao, especially when there were no Jins around except for the juniors. Wei Wuxian baited Su Minshan to attack him, and the man used his sword, indicating that he could access his spiritual qi this entire time. He destroyed the array and escaped with his teleportation talisman, indicating that he was most likely the masked man.
Wei Wuxian drew a lure talisman on himself and acted as bait while Lan Wangji and Wen Ning kept the puppets off him, giving the allied sects a chance to get away. They all agreed to leave Yiling via river, and rest at Lotus Pier until the qi blockage ended, since it was the nearest sect compound.
After the fight, Wei Wuxian was tired and delirious enough to call for Yuan-- which confused Sizhui because this was his birth name, yet he never told Wei Wuxian. This caused Wen Ning torstart to recognize him as Yuan and he approached Lan Sizhui later. (This scene is clunky because of the undead censorship-- in the novel, the corpses of the fugitive Wens fought the Burial Mounds' fierce corpses and they recognized Lan Sizhui, which kickstarted Lan Sizhui's memories and caused Wen Ning to recognize him too.)
The juniors willingly joined Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji on their boat. Except for Jin Ling, he was Full of Emotions given his complicated relationship with Wei Wuxian and Wen Ning-- he wanted to like them but they were responsible for the deaths of his parents, and he didn't know how to come to terms with that yet. The other three members of the main junior squad decided to let him have some space.
Jiang Cheng refused to let Wen Ning into Lotus Pier, so Lan Sizhui kept him company on the docks. Wen Ning shared an anecdote where Wei Wuxian buried Wen Yuan in the vegetable patch, and Lan Sizhui shared that Lan Wangji, his primary guardian and father figure, buried him in rabbits when he was younger. Wen Ning still did not tell Lan Sizhui that they were related though.
Jiang Cheng also refused to let Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji into the main hall where everyone gathered. At least it was an open building so they could still see and hear everything going on.
Two civilian women who knew that there would be a gathering of sect leaders in Lotus Pier asked for an audience. One was a prostitute who had been present when Jin Guangshan died-- he died in an orgy attended by prostitudes, with the implication of having been poisoned then the sexual activity accelerated the effects. The orgy had been secretly organized by Jin Guangyao, then he had the women killed except for the only survivor, whom he imprisoned (out of respect for his mother, since they were close friends in their brothel) until she was released by someone else. The other woman had been the maid of Qin Su's late mother, Madam Qin, and she knew that Madam Qin had been assaulted by Jin Guangshan and birthed a child from the incident-- Qin Su was Jin Guangyao's half-sister. This helped Wei Wuxian realize that this was the secret that Mo Xuanyu knew.
Madam Qin had revealed this to Jin Guangyao and begged him to call off the wedding, but he did not. Madam Qin wasted away from sadness over her daughter's fate, and confessed everything to her maid before she passed.
Wei Wuxian knew that whoever was pulling these particular strings was Jin Guangyao's unknown rival, though he had no clue who it was. He didn't want to stick around though, the sects were getting insufferable because their bad attitudes towards Wei Wuxian shifted to Jin Guangyao, so he brought Lan Wangji to the Jiang ancestral hall to pay respects to the family.
Jiang Cheng really did not like this, because Lan Wangji was an outsider, because he attributed the family's misfortunes to Wei Wuxian, and because Lan Wangji kept shielding Wei Wuxian from consequences-- Wei Wuxian attempted to de-escalate, Jiang Cheng was too emotional to calm down, and Wei Wuxian fainted from the stress and the energy he expended earlier. Only Wen Ning managed to "successfully" de-escalate by telling Jiang Cheng the truth about his golden core and forcing him to handle Suibian. It was "successful" because Jiang Cheng stopped harassing them to go have Feelings elsewhere.
What Wei Wuxian wasn't awake for: during their departure from Lotus Pier, Wen Ning thanked Lan Wangji for raising Yuan. Someone had hidden Wen Yuan in the Demon-Quelling Cave before the Wens surrendered to the Jins, and Lan Wangji had found him after the clans finished ransacking the camp, bringing him home. Yuan had suffered from a fever at the time, which caused him to lose his memories. In turn, the lack of memories allowed him to be renamed Lan Yuan, courtesy Sizhui, and easily integrated into the sect.
When Wei Wuxian woke up, a long-distance message talisman with an unknown sender arrived for Lan Wangji, telling him that Jin Guangyao was in Yunmeng, but there was no word of Lan Xichen. Wei Wuxian suggested visiting Yunping to check the plot of land that Jin Guangyao owned, believing that he only used Yunmeng as a rest stop before moving on to Yunping.

FINALE

The plot was a Buddhist temple dedicated to Guanyin, the goddess of mercy. They noted an array inside, but they couldn't investigate at the moment because of the people around. Investigating further, Wei Wuxian noted how odd the temple was (Buddhist temples were usually out of the way of cities, and didn't worship just one god or bodhisattva), and that the monk on the premises was not ordained. (How he knew, I don't know.)
They came back at night, but Lan Wangji noted a ward on the doors that implied someone would be alerted if they tried to open them. Wei Wuxian suggested climbing the wall, and ordered Wen Ning to stand guard and to go to Jiang Cheng for help if they stayed inside for too long. However, as soon as they climbed the wall, We Ning noticed a lot of resentful qi on the horizon and ran towards it.
Spying on the courtyard from the wall, they found that the monks were holding Jin swords (a sign that they weren't monks, because Buddhist monks didn't use swords no matter what cultivation story they're in), and conversing easily with Jin disciples. They also saw Lan Xichen, walking freely and being greeted by all of them.
Without Wen Ning to intercept, Jin Ling visited the temple, as his dog was insistent on investigating... but the dog bailed on him again because it saw something. To protect him from the cultivators and give him time to run, Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji had to instigate a fight. In the chaos, Jin Guangyao used a guqin string as a garotte-- another Lan skill he learned-- to keep him from playing music, and control Lan Wangji's actions at the same time.
Lan Xichen claimed that he was also a hostage, and his qi was sealed, hence why he wasn't physically restrained-- and because Jin Guangyao liked him too much to hurt him physically. Jin Ling was also captured, and Jin Guangyao had no issues threatening him if he acted out. Jin Guangyao demanded that Lan Wangji seal his qi as well, and had them all moved inside due to the storm that rolled in. Su Minshan arrived, dragging Nie Huaisang with him, having come across in him the city and figured he would be useful in the current situation. The cast of hostages was completed when Jiang Cheng came, and while he gave Jin Guangyao a proper fight, Jin Guangyao distracted him by mentioning the golden core transfer and then stabbed him.
Inside the temple, the monks were digging a hole behind the statue. They managed to find something, which gave the hostages time to talk amongst each other without Jin Guangyao messing with them.
Jiang Cheng used the time to keep being mad, and Wei Wuxian used it to apologize for abandoning him.
The fake monks had found a coffin, but a trap inside released toxic gas that killed them and corroded Jin Guangyao's skin like acid. When the gas cleared, they found Nie Mingjue's body inside, complete with head. Noting Jin Guangyao's real distress, Wei Wuxian figured that the mysterious person who opposed Jin Guangyao was the one who took the original body, replaced it with Nie Mingjue, and set a trap for whoever opened it.
Su Minshan's robes were torn, and revealed evidence of a curse-- the same curse Wei Wuxian had been accused of casting before, a curse that applied the same effects onto its caster. Another piece of the puzzle fell into place-- Su Minshan had cursed Jin Zixun and helped Jin Guangyao orchestrate the ambush that killed Jin Zixun and Jin Zixuan. He was also the second flutist.
Everything that went wrong traced back to Jin Guangyao, basically. He married Qin Su to appease his father and father-in-law despite knowing their blood relationship, had the sects gather at the Burial Mounds to die, and sent Jin Zixuan to stop Jin Zixun, knowing he'd lose his life. The one thing he claimed not to do was get Qin Su to kill herself, but still felt responsible anyway. He claimed he did this to prove himself, because he was constantly being judged for being the son of a prostitute.
In fact, her body was supposed to be in that coffin, because this plot was the site of the brothel she had worked at. It burned down some time in the last 16 years, and Jin Guangyao bought the land, built the temple, and buried her in it. The goddess' statue itself was meant to represent her in the hopes that the worship of people would help her reincarnate to a better life, though thanks to current events, Jin Guangyao now wanted to retrieve her body to cremate her, and then flee the country.
He took Jin Ling hostage to force the adults into letting him go, but Lan Sizhui and Wen Ning crashed into the temple, carrying Baxia. Wen Ning was also being possessed by it, which made all hell break loose. Baxia aimed for Jin Ling and Jin Guangyao, forcing Jin Guangyao to release him to get away, and Lan Wangji took the opportunity to remove Jin Guangyao's arm. The Lan brothers then attempted to pacify Baxia, though it only listened to Wei Wuxian after Jiang Cheng gave him back his old flute, freeing Wen Ning and allowing Wei Wuxian to try to lure it and the Yin Tiger Tally to the coffin with Nie Mingjue.
Unfortunately, Nie Huaisang was in danger, prompting Baxia to kill Su Minshan to save him. At the very least, it went with Wei Wuxian easily after that, and he sealed the coffin.
As they were leaving, Nie Huaisang yelled at Lan Xichen to watch out, and Lan Xichen responded by stabbing Jin Guangyao, who was right behind him. Having gone mad from being stabbed by the one person he genuinely liked, Jin Guangyao broke the seal on the coffin, agitating both Baxia's and the Yin Tiger Tally's resentful qi, which made the temple start to collapse. His final moments were spent asking Lan Xichen to die with him, but when Lan Xichen gave in and agreed, he threw Lan Xichen away in time to avoid the roof falling down. Isn't this drama supposed to be about Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji? No, it's Jin Guangyao and Lan Xichen's show now.
In the aftermath, Lan Xichen questioned Nie Huaisang if he really saw Jin Guangyao about to attack, and Nie Huaisang said he didn't know.
The final wound on Wei Wuxian's arm disappeared.
Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji returned to the road, temporarily accompanied by Lan Sizhui and Wen Ning-- Lan Sizhui finally recovered his childhood memories, and Wei Wuxian was happy to reunite with Yuan. Lan Sizhui expressed his desire to visit Nightless City to honor his birth clan, and Wen Ning planned on assisting Lan Sizhui on any night hunts to spend time with him.
Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji parted ways, but Wei Wuxian later visited him at the Cloud Recesses, where they dueted their song. Wei Wuxian also got word that Lan Wangji accepted the role of Chief Cultivator, though Lan Wangji mentioned that he was going to use the position to make good on their promise during the lantern ceremony-- that they could always protect the weak, uphold justice, and live with no regrets.
Nie Huaisang visited the Cloud Recesses, and Wei Wuxian implied that he knew what Nie Huaisang's role in all of this was-- that he gave Mo Xuanyu the sacrificial ritual, released Baxia's spirit, etc. It was a warning against future behavior, but Nie Huaisang claimed that he wasn't interested in further "meddling".
Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji parted ways again, and Lan Wangji asked where he would go next. Wei Wuxian figured he'd just wander around as a rogue cultivator. It's implied, of course, that they would meet again one day.
Note: This is the ending for the original broadcast, but the Special Edition moved straight from the talk with Lan Sizhui and Wen Ning to the duet at the Cloud Recesses, cutting out the scenes with Nie Huaisang and of them parting ways. There's also a Japanese edition that changes the ending a little bit too, but I haven't watched that yet.

History;

Post a comment in response: