Chapter Text
It had been seven years since Guanyin temple.
Seven years since Jiang Cheng found out that the spiritual energy flowing through his body was not his. Seven years since his ex-shixiong came back from the dead. Seven years since Wei Wuxian told him to leave the past in the past, as if it were the easiest thing to do. It probably was, to Wei Wuxian.
Its not like they are complete strangers now. Acquaintances at best. They had a few (extremely awkward) conversations now and then during discussion conferences with Lan Wangji looming around like a fucking ghost.
Neither of them tried too hard to reach out, afraid of getting burnt by the other. Both of them thinking that the other wouldn’t want them in the new life that they had each built.
And it was fine, really. Awkward acquaintances was much better than complete strangers.
Jin Ling disagreed. He thought that they were the most stupid people ever. The brat had grown really comfortable in calling Jiang Cheng out on every single fucking thing he did since he had become a sect leader.
Jin ling.
Jiang Cheng would never admit it to anyone, but he really didn’t like Jin Ling growing up. He wants his tiny, wobbly-legged nephew back. He wished Jin Ling could stay young forever so that Jiang Cheng could keep him hidden by his side, away from all the awful things in this cruel world.
But just like his every other wish, this one too, was a mere fever dream.
Jin Ling was a well-respected sect leader now. He was competent and confident and everything that Jiang Cheng wanted him to be. He was also married. To Lan Jingyi.
To say that Jiang Cheng was shocked to hear about his nephew’s new boyfriend, would be the understatement of the century. He’s really surprised that he didn’t die of qi deviation then and there. It took some time to come to terms with the fact that his dear little A-Ling was a cut-sleeve, but eventually, he conceded and gave them his blessing. He was rewarded with the most blinding smile ever from his nephew.
Well, whatever, as long as A-Ling was happy.
He was shaken out of his reminiscing (he’d been doing that a lot nowadays) by a knock on his office door.
“Come in”
“Apologies for interrupting Zongzhu. There is an urgent matter which requires your attention”, said Jiang Zurei, his second-in-command, while bowing.
“It better not be about Sect Leader Yao’s cabbages again”, he said, with an exhausted glare.
“No, it is not about Sect Leader Yao’s cabbages”, Zurei replied with tight lips. It was clear that he was trying not to laugh.
Jiang Cheng sighed, “Thank Heavens”.
Apparently the ‘urgent matter’ had been regarding a bunch of disappearances in a small town at the foot of Mt. Dafan. The villagers said that many people had disappeared on the mountain and that they would hear loud roars of a beast in the middle of the night.
A wild beast whose roars could be heard all the way to the village and who was, most probably, the one to blame for the disappearances. This was definitely a much more urgent matter than cabbages.
Jiang Cheng quickly ordered Zurei to gather a few disciples and mounted his sword, his disciples following after him.
The evening air felt really refreshing on his face. His ever-present eyebags only kept getting heavier and heavier every day. They had started getting worse and worse as the years went on and had been a permanent presence for quite a while now. They had been there since A-Ling’s wedding.
Since A-Ling’s wedding, Jiang Cheng had felt lost.
He was proud of how his nephew had turned out. He was happy that A-Ling had a proper family now, instead of a grumpy, old, overly nagging uncle. He was happy that his nephew was happy but he still couldn’t help missing his adorable boy, always circling around him screaming “Jiujiu!” and demanding attention.
Jiang Cheng rarely ever saw him anymore.
For almost two decades, Jiang Cheng’s only reason to keep living and pushing had been A-Ling. A-Ling was the one who gave him the strength to keep going when he had nothing, not even a will to live.
Now that he had let A-Ling go, he felt lost. Now, he felt like a puppet who went through his days almost mechanically. With A-Ling, he used to live and feel alive. Now, he just survives. The idea of death has started seeming really enticing recently.
He was once again pulled out of his mind when they arrived at Piyu town, which, he didn’t even realize. How long had he been reminiscing, again, for? (damn, he’s really getting old)
He shook his head to dispel his thoughts and ordered his entourage to start scouting the mountain. The sun had almost set. The sky had grown orangish, blending perfectly with the slowly encroaching dark blue of the night.
They ventured out on the mountain with their swords drawn. Locating the monster hadn’t been difficult, its roars were deafening. It was a hideous thing with a disfigured head and limbs sticking out from weird directions. It lunged at them as soon as it noticed them.
It was tough beating the thing but it wasn’t something they couldn’t handle. Soon after, they were all exhausted and trying to catch their breaths while the corpse of the hideous thing lay near. There was a cave that they had failed to notice before. Whether the beast was protecting it or not, would remain a mystery.
“I’ll go check out the cave, zongzhu”, Jiang Zurei said as he stepped towards the cave.
“Don’t go in too deep”. He was about to tell him to take some others along but as soon as Zurei put a single step inside the cave, an array lighted up all of Jiang Cheng’s blood froze. Jiang Zurei was the person who had been by his side for the longest, a constant presence that he had been extremely thankful for. There was no way that Jiang Cheng was ever dealing with any of Sect Leader Yao’s stupid ‘urgent matters’ without Zurei at his side to stop him from tearing the old man like his fucking cabbages.
Without thinking, Jiang Cheng quickly yanked Zurei back from the cave but in his haste, he lost his balance and ended up falling on his knees on the array.
As a blinding light engulfed him, he heard his disciples shouting and his last thought before he closed his eyes was; ah, so this is how I go. Well, this isn’t too bad. I hope A-Ling doesn’t miss me too much. He felt guilty for thinking that but he still couldn’t help the wave of relief he felt at the idea of death.
***
When Jiang Cheng opened his eyes again, he expected to see the bright fire of hell and a warden waiting to count his sins to him. He was honestly ready to face hell. How difficult can it even be? Surely it can’t be worse than sitting and listening to Sect leader Yao spit nonsense for hours.
He might be right about being in hell because it was bright as fuck for the time of the night. He had to squint a little to focus his eyes. There were six tiny suns? stars? above him. The floor which he was splayed on, felt really soft though. Slowly, he sat up and rubbed his eyes to get rid of the spots in his vision.
He then finally turned his head around to scan his surroundings. The place looked really weird and unlike any other place Jiang Cheng had ever seen. There were weird tables and shelves made out of some shiny material. There was also a bed(?) with what looked like headrest(?) on three sides(?), two of the opposite ones being really short.
Hell was a weird place.
Suddenly, he felt a presence behind him and he slowly turned around, expecting the warden to finally appear. The hospitality was awful here.
All his thoughts came to a sudden halt and he gaped as he laid his eyes on the face of the figure clad in some ugly golden inner robes(?), standing with his mouth and eyes blown wide, looking like he has seen a ghost. Jiang Cheng didn’t know what kind of face he was making right now but he was pretty sure that it wasn’t much different from the expression on the yellow-clad-guy-who-was-maybe-not-a-warden’s face because-
“A-LING??” Jiang Cheng cursed his still-blurry vision.
That seemed to snap the guy (Jin Ling?) out of his frozen state.
“AHHHHHHHHHHHHH”
The guy let out the loudest shriek Jiang Cheng had ever heard, dropping the bowl he was holding, which Jiang Cheng only now noticed, spilling some light-yellow colored flowers(?) all over on the carpet and promptly passed out.
.
.
.
“WHAT THE FUCK??”
What in the hell just happened? Why the hell did the warden-of-hell-who-looked-like-Jin-ling pass out after seeing him?
Jiang Cheng slowly stood up and carefully started walking towards the warden(?)- god, he really didn’t fucking know anymore-, rubbing the last of the blurriness out of his vision and oh-
Oh.
This…this is…
His brain had suddenly stopped doing thoughts so he just dumbly stood there, looking at the guy’s- Jin Zixuan’s- face.
He was tired from the lack of sleep and his recent fight and this new revelation and he just didn’t know what to do, so he just decided to follow the guy’s- Jin Zixuan’s! - lead and passed the fuck out.