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idlebeks · 1 year

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Random MDZS Recs Part 2

I found some more gems hiding in my bookmarks. The sheer number of MDZS/Untamed fics that I have found worth bookmarking is kind of remarkable. Part 1 and 2 of these lists make up less than half of the whole selection. This is such a prolific and talented fandom. This is another collection of favorites that I have enjoyed reading more than once, or that were compelling and/or unforgettable in some way. Same warnings as my other lists, all ratings and categories apply with no discernible organization at all.

we're starting at the end by Miss_Enthusiasimal

When Wei Wuxian fell at Nightless City he was, unknowingly to him, brought back in time to when Wen Chao pushed him into the Burial Mounds. Believing himself to be dead, and this afterlife to be some sort of punishment, he resigns himself to a painful existence. Until Lan Zhan and Jiang Cheng rescue him, and he realises he has a chance to change things for the better - if he hasn't messed everything up already.

You are what you eat by deliciousblizzardshark

“What happened to you?” Jiang Cheng demands.

Wei Wuxian sighs. “I already said I don’t know. This conversation is so boring,” he says. “I’m hungry. Can’t we get some food? They’re all too dead,” he adds, flicking a hand at the dead Wen guards, “to be tasty.”

and

Then there’s a sound like someone hacking something up and Wei Ying comes back into the room and, with a very proud expression drops a handful of teeth on the map table. Human teeth. They’re bloody and… wet…

“What?” Jiang Cheng asks. “What’s this?”

“Wen Chao’s teeth!” Wei Ying says proudly.

and

Lan Wangji wants to hold him tight in his arms and cry. He wants to eat him out. He wants to perform an exorcism.

in this place where we don't have a prayer by Cerusee, Mikkeneko

And now it’s time for the canon divergence AU where Jin Zixun has the tactical sense to station archers on both sides of Qiongqi Path for his murder ambush, and Jin Zixuan shows up fifteen minutes late with Starbucks.

Heart and Hand - Daemon AU by updatebug

One month after Wei Ying first disappeared, twelve days since Lan Zhan learned of this and joined the search, Wei Ying's daemon landed in his lap. She was terrified, injured and, most importantly, alone.

She does not know what has happened to Wei Ying. No one does

from the other side of sorrow by Sour_Idealist

Yu Ziyuan cuts off Wei Wuxian's hand. The cultivation world changes.

The One-Body Problem by metisket

The good news is that Lan Jingyi has found a mentor, friend, and constant companion through the difficulties in life.

The bad news is that that’s because he’s been accidentally possessed by the Yiling Patriarch.

Fated Meeting by LtLJ

Lan Wangji had come to Carp Tower to seal an alliance with the Yiling Patriarch, in order to prevent a war the Lan Sect couldn't win. But the deal was brokered by the Jin sect for reasons of their own, and instead Lan Wangji found himself all but coerced into an unexpected marriage.

Ticket to Ride by mistresscurvy

After one final look at the profile photo, Lan Zhan closed Grindr.

"Not even a flame?"

Startled, Lan Zhan turned to his left.

"I know not everyone wants to start chatting right off the bat, but you spent long enough looking at my face," said the man from the app, who was sitting at the bar.

Or: Lan Zhan gets stranded at the airport, decides to scroll through Grindr, and meets someone new.

Where the Lonely Ones Go by CSHfic, VSfic

“When did you arrive?” Lan Zhan asks, but he’s looking at the child in Wei Wuxian's arms, and the question is clearly, whose baby is this, and maybe, should I be concerned?

Accidental (haunted) baby acquisition

Wearing Down Every Bone by CSHfic, VSfic

“Sizhui, tell me,” Wei Wuxian says. “Does this feel... familiar to you?”

After running into Lan Zhan on a night hunt, Wei Wuxian is cursed to live the same day over and over and over.

climbing up that coastal shelf by Sour_Idealist

Jin Ling had begun to suspect years ago that there were parts of his family history that had been crossed out; long streaks of black where Wei Wuxian had been. The truth is more like whole books being brought up from their hiding places again.

Or: Jin Ling tries to figure out what family means, now.

he's still left with the river by Keiya

Jiang Cheng knows that he is dreaming because his silver bell won't make a sound no matter how much Jiang Cheng shakes it. He also knows he's dreaming because Wei Wuxian keeps acting as Jiang Cheng wishes he would, and that has never been a thing in real life.

Jiang Cheng knows he's dreaming. It doesn't help.

when the sun goes out by travelingneuritis

Wei Ying was so strong, that was the thing. He needn't have sought out alternate methods at all. He didn't need to use talismans, he only did it for his own amusement. He invented new ones all the time. Useless ones, and silly ones; inventing just for the sake of it. He talked about tech cultivation like it was fun, not an embarrassment.

The stuffed bunny, the beautiful nephew, and other gifts from Lan Qiren by deliciousblizzardshark

Wei Ying was pretty sure his next door neighbor Lan Qiren hated him until he adopted A-Yuan. Now he’s bringing by disgustingly healthy food, taking Wei Ying and A-Yuan to family dinners, and let’s not even mention the nephews he keeps hinting Wei Ying should meet. Is it possible Wei Ying, consummate orphan, has found a family in his grumpy old neighbor?

The Children's Crusade by natcat5

Innocence isn't the only thing to die in war. Propriety is the last thing on the minds of the teenaged generals, the orphan clan leaders of the Sunshot campaign.

Jin Guangshan is the only leader who ascended as an adult, who didn't have his parents murdered by the Wen, who didn't come of age during a war. The last adult standing, the only one with experience and age. He assumes this will put him in the most advantageous position, once the war ends. That the infant leaders of the other clans will gladly fall into step within his shadow.

He is wrong.

Star Cluster by hypermoyashi

Born within the Empire are those who were able to break the confines of the possible and soar through the air with the strength of their minds alone. Wei Wuxian was one of these people, but in honor of his late mother's wishes and fear of the Empire itself, Wei Wuxian kept his feet firmly on the ground.

It wasn't all that bad. At least he had his two siblings to keep him rooted.

We Are the Afterlife by NevillesGran

Jiang Yanli wasn't breathing anymore.

Wei Wuxian lifted the Stygian Tiger Seal above his head and raised every dead thing in Wen Ruohan’s thrice-damned Nightless City.

Every dead thing but one. His sister, he dropped to his knees beside and began drawing every talisman he had ever used on Wen Ning.

A Corpse Called By Name by jaemyun

She loses her brother in a hoard of the undead.

She finds a corpse wearing his face in a convenience store.

The corpse calls her name.

Joy In the Midst of These Things by Glitterbombshell

“Wei Wuxian,” the man grits out, and he pauses with one hand reaching for the door handle. The disciple who had come in to speak to Lan Qiren brushes past him and exits the pavilion without a backwards glance. Wei Wuxian turns back to Master Lan, one eyebrow tilting up in question. “An urgent matter has come up,” Lan Qiren says, every word sounding like it’s being forcibly dragged from him. “His Excellency requests my presence. Their current instructor is ill, I was meant to take over classes for today,” he continues, gesturing towards the tiny juniors. He swallows heavily, and the next sentence sounds bitter. Choked. “I cannot leave them unattended.”

Wei Wuxian just blinks at him.

Wei Wuxian is asked (under duress) to babysit a class of tiny Lan cultivators for just a few minutes. A few minutes turns into an hour, turns into two hours, turns into an impromptu literal field trip and now there's an entire class that is weeks ahead of their curriculum, their most junior disciples have apparently imprinted on Wei Wuxian like baby birds, and Lan Qiren has no one to blame but himself.

Like Arrows Pointing to the Sky by runningondreams

Oneshots from the Sunshot Campaign.

quail by celialoveslwj

“a-Xian,” Jiang Yanli calls, and he races to her, same as he ever has. “Help me with my hair.”

He is gentle, still. He slowly pries every knotted hair strand with the sharp edge of Wen-guniang’s hair stick, whiling away the hours on bent knees, picking through the muck and dried blood as if he had all the time in the world. He asks her now and again how she feels: if she is tired, unwell, or bored in a general way.

Jiang Yanli is dead, and quite literally beyond such trivial things.

She tells him, soft as she is able, that she is well.

or, rather than retaliate against the masses, Wei Wuxian takes Jiang Yanli's body and flees to Luanzang Gang.

one hundred, twenty thousand, thirty million by Mikkeneko

The Untamed... IN SPACE!

A retelling of the xianxia story The Untamed in a futuristic setting where spells and golden cores are replaced with cyberware and computer programming, sects become space stations, swordsmen become fighter pilots, resentful energy becomes killer nanobots, and love and sacrifice and heartbreak... well, they stay just the same.

floodplain (silt) by astronicht

Wei Ying’s neck is twinged because he fell asleep on the sofa watching celebrity dance-offs. His left wrist is twinged because two days ago he tracked down a daolao gui in the underground metro. They throw off venomous darts, and Wei Ying caught one between the two bones of his forearm. Radius and ulna.

(Or, "I need you to come and get me")

#fic recs #mdzs fic recs #the untamed fic recs #mdzs fanfiction #the untamed fanfiction #putting these together is surprisingly fun #i think I may do a list of favorite podfics next #if anyone is interested

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oneiriad · 4 years

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For MDZS promt; There is something much worse than ferocious corpses and resentful energy in the Burial Mounds, it is hopefully the last resting place of a tainted and hurting divine creature. When WWX is dropped to the BM it makes a note of him and when WWX comes back it makes itself known. The creature is old and jaded but it also likes WWX and the Wens and appreciate their efforts to purify the land. What do you think would happen if Jin other sects attacked BM in this au? Thanks ☺️

A/N: Probably not what you were looking for, but have a crossover with a bit of Chinese lovecraftiana, Oobmab’s “The Flock of Ba-Hui”, because I’ve been reading a certain short story collection.

******

It’s Wen Yuan who finds the crack.

It’s deep within the cave that Wei Wuxian has named the Demon Slaughtering Cave, hidden in a shadow and halfway behind a large rock. It really is the sort of thing a small, curious child is far more likely to find than an adult.

It’s Wei Wuxian who finds that while the crack itself is barely large enough for a somewhat thin adult to squeeze through, behind it is far more space, as it opens into what appears to be a somewhat rough-hewn tunnel sloping downwards.

Well, technically Wen Yuan is the one to find it, except Wei Wuxian is the one to bring a light talisman along when he goes to fetch a crying A-Yuan who can’t find his way back and has sat down inside the tunnel.

Of course, once his Xian-gege is with him, Yuan is soon comforted and not at all inclined to go back. He wants to explore, and so does Wei Wuxian. Perhaps bringing a small child along is a choice Wen Qing will stab him with her needles for later, but - he’s got his flute and all the resentful energies of the Burial Mounds. What could go wrong?

So they walk together down the sloping tunnel, followes it as it meanders first to the right, then to the left, then right again, undulating their way deeper under the mountains.

At the end of the tunnel is a cave, and in that cave is an altar. The walls are covered in half-faded murals of fantastical things, that seem almost and yet not quite human - too large, too feral, too - wrong in sundry, subtle ways.

Wei Wuxian does not spare them much notice, though, because there are things on the altar - a bowl of rice and one of fruit as vividly coloured as gems and a single, burning incense stick.

If he’s any judge, it was probably lit - a very short while ago.

Worryingly short.

He tells Yuan to stand behind him, backs the both of them back to the tunnel they came from, and lifts Chenqing to his lips, but nothing stirs.

“Xian-gege,” Yuan whines, having gotten bored fast. “I’m hungry!”

The fruit is clearly a sacrifice to whichever ancestor or god this cave is dedicated to, but - well. Wei Wuxian bows to the altar and apologizes, putting two of his finest talismans on the altar and takes the bowl of fruit to share with Yuan. They settle down by the tunnel and lose track of time for a bit.

They smell it first - a musty smell, though not unpleasant. Then they hear it, a faint noise of something scratching, of small stones being disturbed by something’s passing.

Finally, they see it as it rises behind the altar.

At first Wei Wuxian thinks it’s just a snake. Perhaps a measuring snake, like those the Peacock had thought to impress his shijie with back on Phoenix Mountain. Some form of yao, anyway.

Then he sees the arms. The hands, thin, long fingers tipped with claws, holding a handful of unlit incense sticks.

The snake, in turn, sees him. Sees them.

For a moment all is frozen except the snake-person’s flickering purple tongue. Then - as Wei Wuxian watches, Yuan clinging to the back of his leg and breath ready to blow a tune - it puts down the incense sticks, lifts its arms and bows in polite greeting.

***

“I don’t trust them!” Wen Qing states, firmly.

Wei Wuxian doesn’t argue. He did that days ago, when he and Yuan came out of the Demon Slaughtering Cave laden with baskets of fruits they could not name, bearing the news of their strange, but very polite neighbours.

The snake people have so far proven to be excellent neighbours indeed. They’ve brought gifts - cloth, farming tools, and of course food. Fruits, mushrooms, even dried meat - some form of pork, Wei Wuxian thinks.

They haven’t been to visit, though. The crack that connects their tunnel with the Demon Slaughtering Cave is too narrow for their serpentine bodies. But that’s alright. Wei Wuxian is happy to spend hours in the temple cave, listening as they tell their stories - of an ancient god, Ba-Hui, who sleeps deep beneath the mountain, about pilgrimages slithering through tunnels that a human would find all but impossible to journey through.

In sibilant voices, they tell him of a human kingdom long past, of sharing their alchemical secrets and their worship with people from the surface. Of having come together as something greater than their parts, and of how it ended, in blood and tears and flight deep, deep underground, as the neighbouring kingdoms took up arms and brought war and fire to their homes.

Wei Wuxian dreams of Lotus Pier that night, of the Cloud Recesses, of faceless armies of Wen cultivators.

And still, Wen Qing speaks against them, their kind neighbours. Several of the Uncles have gone into the caves to light incense in the temple cave and say prayers of thanks to the great Ba-Hui, and barely a day goes by without Yuan talking either Wei Wuxian or his uncle Wen Ning into letting him go below. He is endlessly fascinated by the snake people, and they in turn seem fascinated by him, letting him climb all over them as they carry on sibilant conversations, as they offer him more of those gem-like fruits and pinch his cheeks as he laughs.

Wei Wuxian almost gets a little jealous, sometimes.

But only almost.

“We do not have children, not like humans do,” they explain. “Our new brethren are fully formed upon their first shed, as Ba-Hui wills it.”

***

When the invitation to Jin Ling’s one-month celebration comes, they are delighted for him. They bring him jade from their home in the depths for him to make a suitable present, and they encourage him to bring the child back to the Burial Mounds for a visit.

They offer to take him to Lanling along their paths, deep beneath the world, but he refuses. He walks in the sunlight with Wen Ning by his side and his world begins to fall apart.

***

He hears them as he lies paralyzed in the cave.

If he could turn his head, he thinks he might see a grey-green arm trying to reach through the crack at the back of the cave.

He hears them scratching, claws against rock.

He doesn’t look back once as the third day comes and he runs out of the cave, barely takes the moments to reassure Yuan, safe in Granny’s care, that he’ll be back, before he leaves the Burial Mounds, far too late.

***

Lan Wangji brings him back to the Demon Slaughtering Cave, because where else would he bring him? He tells a weeping Wen Yuan to hide, and then he walks out, Bichen and Wangji at the ready, to defend the two of them.

The snake person, the old priest with the scales gone greyer than any of the others, slides out of the crack, enlarged by sheer tenacity, large enough to let a snake person through.

It rises above where Wei Wuxian sits, ignoring his furious shouts at everything and nothing in favour of wrapping its arms around the scared Yuan.

Then it starts to sway, raising its voice in something a bit like a hiss and a bit like a song and perhaps most of all like the whistling of a flute, and Wei Wuxian finds himself grow calm.

Grow cold.

“Come,” the snake person says and Wei Wuxian does, without a glance towards the cave opening and beyond, without pause for the sounds of ringing blades and screams that he cannot hear.

Once they are past the temple cave they carry him.

The tunnels are dark, and undulating. They’d be impossible to climb or crawl through, for a man, but the snake people move fast and sure, and Wei Wuxian and Wen Yuan are safe in their arms.

Far below the world they are taken.

The old priest sings to him as they travel, sings to him of the god Ba-Hui, of the rites of his priesthood, of the great gift. Sings the names of those who have been on this pilgrimage before him, and somewhere in the dark he hears the voices of his brothers-soon-to-be answer to the names.

Eventually they reach their destination and it is a cave of enormous proportions, strange crystals reflecting light to let him and see, and oh, he sees.

The snake is gigantic. The Xuanwu, horror that it had been, was like nothing compared to the snake.

Compared to Ba-Hui.

They carry him to the god and he watches as the jaws open, and somewhere he can hear Yuan crying. He’d like to turn around, like to reassure the boy that all is well, that this is right, but finds that he cannot.

The jaws shut around him, down here at the deepest part of the world.

And he is reborn.

***

Lan Wangji returns to the Burial Mounds for the second time when the three years of his seclusion comes to an end.

He knows there’s nothing to find. He knows that - others have searched, covered every inch of the Burial Mounds to find the hated Yiling Patriarch. He himself searched the caves and the area around the settlement, searched every nook and cranny, but found nothing.

No sign of Wei Ying and no sign of the child he’d left with him,

He does not expect today to be different.

He’s carrying two tablets, carefully carved in the finest wood. He’s carrying incense, and paper money, and jars of Emperor’s Smile.

He’s carrying a toy butterfly.

He’s making his bows, offering his prayers for the dead when he hears a noise behind him, like many stones sent tumbling, and he jumps to his feet, Bichen unsheathed as he turns to face - a snake.

Or perhaps not.

The thing emerging from an opening in the back of the Demon Slaughtering Cave, an opening that must have been covered by many rocks when last he was here, searching, is certainly akin to a snake, but also not, a pair of arms at its sides as it pushes itself upright, swaying slightly as if not entirely accustomed to the position.

It is naked, the snake thing, except a red ribbon wrapped tightly around its wrist.

There’s something thin and black cradled in its claws and Lan Wangji gasps at the sight, before letting his cold fury rise and Bichen with it. He does not care what this thing is, he does not care whence it came, all that matters is that it dares to be here and now and waving Chenqing around like some perverse trophy.

Except - except then the snake swallows its flickering purple tongue and hisses.

Hisses words.

“Lan Zhan?”

#mo dao zu shi #my fanfiction #the flock of ba-hui #aka the short story of the snake people and the cannibalistic monster humans and their giant snake god

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