#sentient baxia
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for the ask game: naybe an AU where LXC is not on the stairs at thaf JGY/NMJ confrontatiom but baxia Got Attached so she refuses to be like. Slammed down?? And nieyao js now awkwarsly staring at each other, because whay is happening
hmmmmm you propose an interesting scenario.... i guess this could fit into the More Sentient Baxia AU that Woob and i have fever-dreamed up? in that case, five headcanons of what would happen if baxia got Attached:
baxia does not want to kill the Searching-Wanting-Waiting-Watching Human. she likes him, he gives nice skritches. and he always surrounds himself with a delicious aura of almost-evil that she just itches to sink her teeth into and rip away from him... Plus, her master clearly likes him too, he just needs her to show him!
baxia has seen into her human's heart and decided that he needs to get laid, immediately. She will take the necessary steps to make this happen, because she is a Good Sabre! now that she's saved the Searching-Wanting-Waiting-Watching Human, she only needs to find a way to make her intentions clear to the Floating-Calming-Softly-Quietly Human... her best course of action is clearly to start hovering in his peripheral vision from what she is sure is her most seductive angle.
Misunderstandings! Misunderstandings everywhere! naturally, because they are grown adults, mingjue and meng yao cannot possibly have a conversation about this. they will continue to Agonise separately and entirely unproductively while Xichen looks on and sighs. All the while everyone is being terrorised by baxia. Eventually someone breaks (my bet is on xichen) and demands to know exactly what is going on?! and if you think the resulting argument anything is but a sarcastic word-duel you'd be wrong! again, because nieyao are mature, grown-ass adults about this who can totally handle their feelings.
"are you upset you couldn't follow through, da-ge?" "I swear this has never happened before! I usually perform just fine!" "that's alright, mingjue-xiong, maybe you were just stressed?" "yes, there's no reason to be embarassed, da-ge." "a-yao is right, i'm sure this sort of thing happens all the time...?" "well did it ever happen to either of you?!" "...no." "whatever! let's try again then, i'm sure i'll manage this time!" <- this conversation will be overheard by an outside character of your choosing (nhs perhaps?) to Maximum Comedic Effect.
When the Issues Are Being Resolved, mingjue is faced with the absolutely mortifying ordeal of explaining to his increasingly incredulous sworn brothers that yes, nie sabres do in fact sometimes talk to their masters, of course this is normal what are you talking about, and also his magical bloodthirsty weapon has decided that he really really needs a romantic relationship and picked xichen and meng yao. yes she's been tormenting him. they can try a relationship he supposes, just to satisfy the Magical Bloodthirsty Weapon of course, no feelings will arise surely, and if nothing comes of it she will back off. this is entirely unaided by huaisang, who keeps orchestrating bed shortages and feeding the three of them aphrodisiacs because he is convinced that his brother is suffering from erectile dysfunction.
I'm not very good at making coherent plots or headcanons as you can see, but i thrive in crack treated seriously, and so this is what this will be.
#mail from the beloved mutuals#3zun#sentient baxia#i really need to make some humanoid designs for her istg. i have like. ten billions ideas
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Man, sabers in CQL canon are fucking wild. I mean, they're wild in the other canons too, but like... okay, sabers seem more animatedly sentient than swords are. They get put in Old Friends Senior Blade Sanctuary after their masters die because they are filled with extreme bloodlust and refuse to be passed to a new wielder. They won't even seal themselves or allow their master's loved one to wield them long-term; they have to be put in a special saber mausoleum and fed an unsustainable diet of souls because their loyalty is that strong.
AND YET
IN THE UNTAMED
Baxia--who shows more personality than any other weapon save for maybe Zidian and will later try to murder anyone who shares DNA with Jin Guangyao--BAXIA is totally cool being wielded by Xue Yang (whom Nie Mingjue does not and has never liked!!) for the express purpose of BEHEADING ITS MASTER. What are you doing, Baxia? What is going through your cognition?
#the CQL/FJ showrunners: here is some additional saber lore and some saber-related divergences from novel canon#me: I have questions plz elaborate??#the CQL/FJ showrunners: no :)
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Daemons / Sentient Sword
~*~
🧡 Song of Suibian and Bichen: Or, the Greatest (And Only) Furby Master of Demonic Cultivation by moonwaif (T, 64k, WangXian, Fix-It of Sorts, canon adjacent, The spiritual weapons are furbies, Angst with a Happy Ending, The parent trap but make it WangXian with furbies, Mutual Pining, Taking my favorite parts of every adaptation and smashing them together)
🧡 like speaking to my heart by SnowshadowAO3 (T, 613k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Daemons, Slow Burn, Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canonical Character Death, Some people live!, additional warnings in specific chapters, if you don't know what daemons are that's ok because I explain it in the author's note, also by slow burn I VERY much mean slow burn)
The Grandmaster of Daemonic Cultivation by CaptainJojo (E, 104k, WangXian, ChengQing, XuanLi, Daemons, Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, a lil bit of sexy in later chapters, Wangxian figures it out quicker, gratuitous bending of the rules of cultivation, Angst and Fluff and Smut, Angst with a Happy Ending, Metaphysical Sex, Daemon Touching, Canon Divergence, Eventual Happy Ending)
a shattering of souls by coffee_and_cardamom (M, 42k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Canon Compliant, Pre-Canon, Post-Canon, Canon Rewrite, Canon Temporary Character Death, Major Character Undeath, Angst with a Happy Ending, Heavy Angst, Comfort/Angst, Blood and Gore, Hurt/Comfort, Mildly Dubious Consent, Dubious Consent Due To Identity Issues, WWX in WWX's Body, YLLZ WWX, Oblivious WWX, BAMF WWX, POV LWJ, Protective LWJ, LWJ Character Study, Daemon Touching, Daemon Separation, Daemon Feels, Everyone Needs A Hug)
The Grand Master of Daemonic Cultivation by FayJay (G, 3k, wangxian, daemons au)
Kind of Evil by nirejseki (G, 1k, canon divergence, sentient swords, sentient sabers, BAMFs)
Crowded by nirejseki (G, 1k, NHS & WWX, wangxian, LWJ/NHS/WWX, canon divergence, different body offering ritual, atypical relationship dynamics, sentient sabers)
Close by nirejseki (Not rated, 11k, NMJ & Baxia, NMJ & NHS, body swap, sentient sabers)
Ch 25 & 33 of The Tales of Despereaux by stiltonbasket (T, 39k, wangxian, canon divergence, WWX summoned by QS, additional warnings in author's note when applicable)
the world passes by but for me there is only you by beeswaxing (E, 82k, wangxian, canon divergence, fix-it of sorts, accidental marriage, love confessions, first kiss, first time, horny teenagers, pining, fluff, everyone lives au, wedding night, emotional sex, golden core reveal) this one has sentient swords
Chenqing and Wangji Takes Matters Into Their Own Hands by HelloKitten (Not rated, 11k, wangxian, Bichen/Chenqin, fix-it of sorts, glimpse of future, time travel?)
If You Give a Cultivator a Daemon Series by ushauz (T, 23k, WangXian, XianNing, JC & WWX, Daemons, Yunmeng Bros Reconciliation, Polyamory Negotiations)
@zeldacw seems to be this fandom’s originator of the Anthromorphic Weapons trope; those comics can be found under the tag 忘情隨塵 (WangQingSuiChen) and post on her Tumblr and on her Twitter @/zeldacw; inspired Kindred Spirits by EstelweNadia (Not Rated, 2k, WIP, Bìchén/Suíbiàn, Chénqíng/Wangji, Humor, Angst, Eventual Romance, Drama, Slow Build, Slow Burn)
Spiritual Weapons Have Feelings Too Series by meicairoubingfan (kiradyn) (T, 10k, Suíbiàn/Chénqíng, Anthropomorphic Spiritual Weapons, Pining, Weapons As People, Angst, Separation, Grief/Mourning, Loss, Romantic Relationships Between Weapons, But Also Platonic Relationships, Brotherhood, commiserating, Reminiscing, Good Guy JC, Good Brother JC, Established Relationship, Between A Sword And A Flute, Canon Compliant, Foreshadowing of Bichen x Suibian, Foreshadowing Of Wangji x Chenqing)
A somewhat unconventional family by DamieMontclair (T, 1k, Bìchén/Suíbiàn, sentient sword spirits, sentient first class spiritual tools, Little bit of angst, Recovery, Getting Together, Fluff, and dare I say...., Domestic Fluff) crackfic where the weapon and instrument spirits are a family in their own right
~*~
#Wangxian Fic Rec#The Untamed#wangxian#MDZS#wangxianficfinder compilation post#long post#daemons#daemon au#daemons au#sentient swords#sentient swords au
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Is it still okay to send in mini prompts? If so may I request a small snippet of a universe where all swords are sentient the way the Nie Sabers are?
Bichen sang in his hand, joyous and serene, beautiful and straightforward. Lan Wangji envied her for that.
He himself had, of late, found himself far more complicated. Wei Wuxian had crashed into his peaceful life like a meteor into a lake, vaporizing everything in his path, radically changing the entire landscape around him...
You are thinking of him again.
Yes. Lan Wangji was.
You said you were going to stop.
He had said that, hadn't he?
I like him, too.
"Bichen!" Lan Wangji exclaimed, aghast, and then flushed in embarrassment - he hadn't made a rookie mistake like speaking to his sword out loud in years. He was all alone, luckily, so no one had witnessed his shame, yet still...The rules said Maintain your own discipline.
The rules said - many things.
I thought you said you didn't like Suibian, Lan Wangji thought at his sword, who laughed at him, quicksilver sharp.
I don't, and I do; I might, or I might not, she said. We don't really speak the same language.
Lan Wangji didn't understand.
It's like Baxia and Shuoyue.
Lan Wangji...still didn't understand. But his brother had been very happy with Nie Mingjue for some time now, so...maybe it was hopeful?
Enough brooding, more fighting.
Lan Wangji agreed with that wholeheartedly. (Many years later, Suibian whispered in Lan Wangji’s mind - I want you to give me to him - and Lan Wangji bowed his head in acceptance.)
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It sure is chatty here, on the sword rack...
Consider for a moment... Baxia, the very much sentient and very very much opinioneated saber spirit.She just spends her whole day shit-talking everyone Nie Minjue talks to.
(If Suibian can seal itself, probably to inconvenience as many people as possible, Baxia can have loud opinions.)
Just image though - Nie Mingjue, newly-minted Sect Leader, trying to sit through a discussion conference while Baxia is providing a sass-filled running commentary. No-one is safe.
Better yet, this is not a Baxia-specific trait. All the swords are just running commentary the whole time and while cultivators can hear their own sword, one unlucky soul can hear all of them.
For maximum chaos, Yours Truly will name Wen Ning as said unfortunate soul. He is so polite and shy that he would pretend not to hear anything normally, but if he hears something alarming enough for one of his friends he would absolutely speak out. Also he once managed to drug an entire compound and not get caught so I think people underestimate how far he will go if he has too....
He slightly regrets having the ability when Suibian and Bichen start gossiping about their cultivators while Wen Ning is 3rd wheeling them.
But can you imagine the hilarity that would result when he gets so used to it that he no longer distinguishes between human and sword voices and he accidentally answers to something a sword said that he shouldn't have heard?
Or he maybe uses this ability deliberately. "Even so-and-so sword thinks this is a bad idea."
He accidentally gets into full conversations with the sword and its owner and everyone else is like, 'wtf?'
He also finds it increasingly difficult to keep a straight face during conferences, since all the swords are bitching together. And they all universally hate Sect Leader Yao. Sect leader Yao's sword has stopped making excuses years ago and is doing the spiritual equivalent of screaming on a pillow in dismay.
This of course raises the interesting question, does the sword's personality mirror or complement that of its cultivator? I can see the Jin sword being particularly stuck-up. Baxia is basically an unfiltered version of Nie Mingjue. Lan Qiren's sword is an absolute savage, especially when he's marking his students' work. Shuoyue is even sassier than Baxia and half of Lan Xichen's smirks are because of something she's said.
Or maybe it's partially at least influenced by the name. I am convinced that baby Wei Wuxian asked his sword what its name was and Suibian didn't have the heart to tell him he's supposed to name the blade so it told him "whatever" and that's how it stuck.
Also Bichen is absolutely Lan Wanji's anger translator and absolutely delighted when Jingyi comes along to add his own spin to the game of "what does Lan Wangji mean".
As always co-authored with/enabled by @sswangxian
#the untamed#baxia#first lady of the nie#bichen#suibian#Shuoyue#sword spirits#we serve crack here sir#lxc also deserves an anger translator#I suppose nmj would be glad to offer his services...#suibian continued the good work#of frustrating the jin#while wwx took his afterlife sabbatical
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NaNoWriMo 2020 #02
And here we go again, I strayed a bit from the prompt but after all I’m using them to have an idea and remain consistent in my monthly writing.
The more I write, the more I love a sentient Spirit Baxia.
Day: 02/11/2020
Prompt: Blindness
Ship: Nielan (or gen, it’s not specified in details.)
Word count: 1820
Nie MingJue was no new to qi deviations; he was young, too young to have had that many in such a short time, that was true, but he wasn't surprised if he had to be fully honest
His first deviation occurred when he was fourteen, more or less a month after he had been officially appointed Sect Leader. It was a minor, very small one, he felt his energy rumble, flow wrongly inside of him, he grasped the table with both hands and let out a pained moan. But like it came, so it went away barely a couple of minutes later before he could pinpoint the real cause. He blamed grief. He blamed the memories of his father's blade shattering, his cries and the blood. He blamed the scar over his left eyebrow Nie ZhenXiang caused with a knife while he was attending him. He could have blinded him, he almost did, Nie MingJue was a lucky boy, the healer said. The wound never hurt much and he never blamed his father.
The first major deviation occurred after the Sunshot campaign. It wasn't just a feeling like the other times, he felt the difference and, worse, he didn't felt it stop. His golden core twisted inside of him, pulsed painfully, his body felt too small, too weak to contain all that uncontrollable energy. Then Baxia was in his hand, trembling and pulsing, and everything around him had a red hue color, like an aura around people and things, everything that was alive was red, everything around him pulsed of evil energy. When he lowered his eyes on the hand holding Baxia, that was red too. He screamed.
He didn't remember much after that moment, he returned to his senses with the soft sound of Liebing, his head cradled on Lan Xichen's lap as he played.
“What-—” his voice sounded strange, weak and foreign. Lan XiChen stopped playing and looked down at him, a tired smile on his face.
“Everything is fine now, don't worry MingJue-xiong.”
He didn't tell him what happened, he didn't have to, he knew already on his own. Nie MingJue lifted a heavy hand, placed it over Lan XiChen's arm and squeezed it weakly ignoring the white bandages covering the hand, wrist and up to his arm. It wasn't really painful, but he always had a high tolerance to pain since he was younger. Ever since his father tried to blind him in a fit of rage.
Jin GuangYao was a fast learner. Nie MingJue wasn't an expert of music, not in the way his mother had been, even less how Huaisang's mother was, but that didn't mean he couldn't appreciate it or he wouldn't recognize talent. He had doubts, he didn't trust Jin GuangYao anymore, not completely, not after what he did, but he had a talent for music and he was indeed a fast learner; whenever he played with Lan XiChen he felt his mind at ease, he drifted in a peaceful silence, lulled by the music, his energy stabilizing slowly but steadily. Even Baxia was calm, her voice reduced to a low hum, like when she spoke to him when he was younger, like when she spoke of other spirits she liked. Like Liebing. Nie MingJue joked with her a couple of times, about how cute it was that she, a war-like spirit, forged in fire for war, had a crush on such a delicate being. She retorted that, one, Nie MingJue was the first to have a crush on the Xiao wielder, and two, Liebing was everything but delicate. “Don't misunderstand calmness with gentleness, Xiao Jue. You won't easily find a darkest spirit around.” She said and laughed at Nie MingJue's reaction the next time Lan XiChen played Liebing for him. He wondered if XiChen too felt his spirit so clear in his mind like he did with Baxia.
At first he really believed it would help, at first he believed he would help.
“There's something… Wrong, Xichen.” He confided him once. Lan XiChen stilled the strings of his guqin and looked up.
“What do you mean? Did my music upset you?” Maybe he was distracted and he changed the melody or--
“When he… Jin GuangYao plays it. It's wrong. I don't understand what or how, but it doesn't feel right, it doesn't calm me. When you do it's different, it's fine”
In the end Lan XiChen didn't pay too much attention to it, not as he should have. In the end he almost failed to see, he almost lost MingJue.
Nie MingJue saw him smile, his finger pulling the strings as he always did but the melody was strange, even with his little knowledge he could hear it. It wasn't just wrong, it was dark. Baxia screamed, his body seemed in fire, his energy surged up, pain exploded and he jumped on his feet, blood rushing in his ears, dripping down his face, and rage, a blinding, scorching rage mixing with the unbearable pain.
Baxia was in his hand, trembling with desire for blood, and Nie HuaiSang was in front of him, eyes wide in fear, in despair, in hope.
“Da-ge!” He called, just like in the ancestral hall. “Da-ge! Da-ge it's me!” Yes. It was-- Jin GuangYao. Playing his music. Not the one Lan XiChen played. Jin GuangYao causing his core to twist, his qi to boil and explode. Jin guang---
“Huai… sang…?” He fell, Baxia holding him on his knees only to slow the fall. The last thing he saw was his HuaiSang, his little brother crying out his name.
The world was quiet and dark.
Nie MingJue was used to walking in the darkness, every time his mind was too overwhelmed, every time a qi deviation occurred he always walked in the darkness.
“We shouldn’t have trusted him Xiao Jue.”
Baxia. He opened the mouth but he found out he couldn't. He could only walk.
“I told you he would betray us. I told you not to be soft. You tried to fix him but he's not broken.”
You're right, he wanted to say. He wanted to cry, to run somewhere, usually he would find a light after a while. Now it was only darkness.
“He's evil, Xiao Jue. We cannot fix evil.”
Tears fell from his eyes and he felt the ghost of an embrace enveloping him, gentle hands caressing his hair, a voice he couldn't recognize nor make out the exact words whispering. He turned on himself a couple of times and blindly followed the voice.
“Xiao Jue, - she said again, not angry, never really angry at him. - I will always be by your side, I promise. But I need you to be on mine too.”
And he believed her. He promised her, silently.
When he opened his eyes it was night. It was the darkest night he had ever experienced in all his life.
He sighed, his body ached at that simple movement, he didn’t remember being wounded, and never before a qi deviation left him that weak and hurting all over.
“Da-ge?” He turned to the voice, he still couldn’t see, like a veil had been placed in front of him, but he would be damned for every life if he didn’t recognize his brother. He moved the hand until he found HuaiSang’s and held it, squeezed it gently, he sighed again.
“How do you feel?” Nie HuaiSang asked, it was a stupid question, it was the kind of question everyone asked after anything happened. Nie MingJue didn’t know how he felt. Weak. Tired. Aching. Thirsty. Calm. Strangely enough he felt calm. Baxia was humming softly, her eyes closed until he dared moving forward. Then she opened them and turned, she almost looked familiar, hair braided in the Nie style, two small horns shining like gold, her whole robes seemed golden fluttering in the air.
“And so we meet.” She smiled and Nie MingJue wondered how someone looking like that could be the same rageful and blood thirsty voice he heard in battle. Then he remembered his mother, how graceful she looked, how fierce and fearsome she was.
“Da-ge?”
He blinked and looked at HuaiSang again, his brother was there, close, somewhere.
“I’m fine. - He could feel him frown and squeezed his hand once more. - Really, I’m fine, HuaiSang.”
There was a rustle somewhere behind the younger Nie, someone moved closer and only then Nie MingJue realized the room had fallen silent.
“MingJue-xiong. How do you Fe— - To his and everyone’s surprise Nie MingJue stifled a laugh. - Ah… He probably just asked.” The mattress moved slightly as Lan XiChen sat down close to him, with his free hand he searched for him. He grasped his arm and moved up to the shoulder, the neck and his face, cupping his cheek while Lan XiChen coved the hand with his. When his fingers brushed over his eyelashes he suddenly realized what he couldn’t understand until that moment.
“Is there something wrong with my eyes?” He freed his hands from both their hold nd touched his face, there was a bandage over his eyes.
Lan Xichen and Nie HuaiSang shared a worried look before HuaiSang once more took his hands.
“What do you remember last?”
“The qi deviation.” He said without missing a beat. Of course he remembered, he knew what happened. “You were there and I stopped. - His hands found the side of Nie HuaiSang’s head and stroke his hair. - You always know how to bring me back from the edge.”
“You were bleeding…”
“That’s an… unfortunate and annoying consequence, yes.” He said again, stopping their words before they could move on, before they could reveal the truth, before they could make it real.
“Your eyes were badly damaged.” But Lan XiChen didn’t stop. Nie MingJue teared the bandage away and opened his eyes.
The world was dark.
He shook away from HuaiSang gentle hold, his body trembling with emotions he couldn’t understand. Fear mixed with anger. Loneliness. Cold. His pupils white, the people he loved the most were not just a memory. He couldn’t see their faces.
“You’re alive at least.” Lan XiChen whispered, and he knew his words meant very little in that moment. “Maybe we can find a way to reverse it. I’m sure something must exist.”
Nie MingJue wanted to say something. Say that he trusted him, them. Say that of course they would find a way. Say not to worry, he survived something that was meant to kill him, that was a small price to pay. He said nothing and let HuaiSang hold his hands before throwing himself at his neck.
“Don’t worry, Xiao Jue, I will be your eyes now.”
The deeper the bond, the deeper the knowledge, his father told him once. Maybe it was time to test a new type of cultivation after all.
The deeper the bond.
They merged.
#nie mingjue#lan xichen#nie huaisang#baxia#sentient baxia#blindness#qi deviation#the untamed#cql#mdzs fic#grandmaster of demonic cultivation#Fanfic#nanowrimo 2020#angst collection in cultivation#aki writes
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Awfully lucky of Huaisang that the people who died in Mo Manor were the other ones Mo Xuanyu wanted dead...
I thought so too at first, except you really don’t know for sure how Baxia infected the first Mo. Wuxian links it to the spirit attraction flag the dude had stolen, and then from there it just naturally traveled through physical touch.
But that was when he thought it was a random powerful spirit, not the opening move in a grand plan. So on a recent re-watch I paid closer attention-
Mo Xuanyu’s cousin carries his sword in his left hand, and when he first appears with Tong to tell him to go steal the Spirit Attraction Flag, he’s coughing and doesn’t really look well. Other than the cough he’s a bit paler and kind of red around the eyes.
Earlier that day, Wuxian cased a huge scene in Mo Manor in front of all the villagers looking in, the Lan disciples, and the Mo family. During that tantrum, the Mo Cousin ran over to fight with him but didn’t pick up his sword.
My bet is that Huaisang used the distraction as a chance to send Baxia’s spirit to that blade (probably from the shadows near his side of the room).
Once that blade was infected, Baxia took a bit of time to devour him (maybe because as a cultivator-wannabe he didn’t carry his sword as often as a normal one would or maybe because she needed a nap). Once she was unleashed though, she was unleashed.
When Wangji takes control of the situation he doesn’t draw anything out from Madam Mo, he goes after the Mo Cousin’s sword, then identifies it as being infected with a Spiritual Tool. The sword seems to be the epicenter.
So if Huaisang knew in advance who the targets would be and how the Mo Family interacted with one another, it’s pretty simple to figure out the one that would infect all others would be the pampered “child” of the family. He cries, everyone runs to help him, and Baxia is free to move wherever she pleases.
#ask#nie huaisang#mo xuanyu#wei wuxian#the untamed#baxia#Anonymous#baxia was a good little pet shark#taking care of her master#i also wonder how much control huaisang had over baxia while he was taking her to mo manor#like; does she give him shit too or does she recognize him as either clan leader or Mingjue's kin#would she allow him to transport her or did huaisang have as much trouble moving her as Wuxian and wangji later would#probably not because huaisang doesnt know the musical side of things#i don't think he'd be able to forcefully subdue her#if she's a semi-sentient spiritual tool as she appears to be she might have known his intent#but then she'd also know wuxian and wangji's intent and be nicer to them#you can say she was impatient with her outburst at cloud recesses#but yeah#huaisang had to find her and draw her from the casing#then subdue her; take her to mo manor; and wait for confirmation that wuxian had risen before unleashing her#so she cooperated in some way#as much as a semi-feral piranha could#though Huaisang lived with Mingjue his entire life up until Mingjue's death; he's good at subduing aggressive minds#especially on parent teacher conference days
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i get so violent seeing people refer to baxia as it and theres no reason for that
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also, follow up: please tell us ur thoughts on chengning. i am intrigued by their potential dynamic.
(i apologize if u’ve already done that, i’m relatively new here)
Consider This My Unofficial Chengning Manifesto
I'm so sorry this is late, anon. I was in the middle of writing a much more in-depth post to answer this, but then real life got in the way and I'm not sure I'll finish it. I have a free moment now, though, so I'm going to do my best. It's probably going to be long, and rambling, and a slight mess. You have been Warned.
So, Chengning. These two don't seem to make much sense together at first, considering that they've ended up on opposite sides of almost every conflict that involved them, but they actually share a lot of parallels and those combined with their differences make this ship so much fun to dig into. Jiang Cheng and Wen Ning are younger brothers whose older siblings would and did do everything in their power to protect them. They're the experiments of each other's sibling as a result of that protection (the first sentient fierce corpse and the first recipient of a golden core transfer). Both of them live in the shadows of their siblings' glory up until they become feared instead of admired, and both of them shared a connection with the other's sibling that ended in tragedy. For more Chengning comparisons, I will direct you to @elysean's gifset here.
(To be honest, the things that tie the Yunmeng Shuangjie and the Wen siblings together could be an essay all on their own, but this is about Chengning, so I'll move on.)
What separates these two didis is their choices, which we see throughout canon but I'll do a quick recap. Wen Ning endangered his clan for Wei Wuxian's sake again and again, but when the Dafan Wen needed help, Jiang Cheng didn't offer it. These two witnessed the destruction of each other's clans. Wen Ning killed Jin Zixuan. Jiang Cheng let both Wen Ning and Wen Qing march to their demise at Jinlintai. Skip to the present day, and Jiang Cheng becomes the only person Wen Ning loses his temper at while fully conscious, during the golden core transfer reveal. But a day later, Wen Ning saves Jin Ling and Jiang Cheng from Baxia, despite knowing how much Jiang Cheng hates him.
By the end of canon, we're left with two people who are the last of their clans (save for nephews with different surnames), who share some very messy history and traumatic events, but also similarities and the potential to get to a better place. What can we do with that?
Well, post-Guanyin Lan Sizhui and Jin Ling are going around night-hunting together, and it's canon that Wen Ning and Jiang Cheng follow their respective nephews around during hunts to make sure they don't get hurt. That's a lot of time around each other in forced proximity, where they have to be civil for the sake of the juniors. And possibly work together to defend said juniors from harm. At some point you have to go, Okay, you keep saving my nephew whether it was a deliberate choice or not, maybe you aren't completely terrible.
Also, both sides of Chengning are removed from Wei Wuxian in this situation, who is someone who ties them together and exacerbates their problems with one another. There's a slightly better chance of open communication working out in the middle of the forest, away from the cultivation world and all the judgment and baggage that goes with it.
I'm not saying these two work it out just like that, though. No, I'm of the belief that Chengning's first real step toward each other is hatesex, along the lines of Fuck you, you keep saving the only family I have left and you're good at it, and some mixture of unwilling attraction. Look, both Sandu Shengshou and the Ghost General are hot, single and lonely. In addition, I think it's hilarious to make Jiang Cheng have a very good time while regretting it more than most things in his entire life, and Wen Ning deserves to be mean in a fun way! Whether or not you want Chengning to acknowledge the things they have in common at this point is for your interpretation, but I think it adds to the pairing if their thoughts are somewhere around I hate you, but you're the only person who actually gets what I feel like.
With Chengning as reluctant night-hunt chaperones and enemies-with-benefits, we have room for trust to form. An unconscious trust in each other to watch their nephews' backs in a fight, to watch out for each other, and while Chengning's lingering anger at one another is still counterproductive to where we want them to go, there's a twisted sense of trust to be found in that too. It provides them with a sense of agency- Wen Ning believes Jiang Cheng doesn't need to be shielded from secrets and told him the truth about his golden core, and Jiang Cheng has blamed Wen Ning specifically for his actions for a very long time. It's not exactly healthy, at least not at first. But having someone you can consistently rely on to view you as a person with flaws, who thinks you deserve to be held responsible for bad things and possess the autonomy to do so, is more than most have been willing to give Wen Ning or Jiang Cheng.
Being able to trust someone's rage gives Chengning the open space to process their emotions, for Jiang Cheng to break down and Wen Ning to lash out. It's an outlet they both need, and these are two people who will be able to understand what the other person is going through regardless of what they think about it. There's something to be said for acknowledging the person across from you as a reflection of yourself, until you learn to see them not with hatred or anger, but something close to acceptance. Of them, and of yourself.
From there, it's a journey for Chengning to be on the same side of something for once, and actively making that decision. It's about the slow unveiling of vulnerability! It's about healing yourself by doing the same for someone else! It’s about looking back at a fractured past and choosing to make the future something different! Everything I’ve said is just one example of how Chengning could go, of course, nothing is set in stone. But you asked specifically for my thoughts, so these are some of the broad points in a Chengning arc I like to see.
The way I look at it, Chengning is not a soulmate story, it’s a story of two people who had to put in the immense, terrible effort of understanding and reconciling the other, and they got through those conflicts in the end. And once they’re actually together, Jiang Cheng and Wen Ning’s personalities actually go fairly well together. Their strengths are different, and they’re willing to confront in situations where the other withdraws. Wen Ning can soothe Jiang Cheng’s temper, Jiang Cheng can draw out more of the emotions Wen Ning keeps hidden. This already happens in canon, because Jiang Cheng has seen the anger Wen Ning didn’t show anyone else, and Wen Ning has seen Jiang Cheng at some of the most vulnerable points in his life.
And I have to mention this last point because we, the people sharing the one (1) Chengning braincell in this fandom have collectively lost our minds over this multiple times, but Wen Ning and Jiang Cheng each have sixteen years’ worth of touch starvation. To whoever’s bothered to read this far, if nothing else has convinced you to ship Chengning, imagine them cuddling. Imagine just a few of these touches, but reciprocated, and all the time. (If you want your fill of this, @gusu-emilu has been doing the gods’ work and writing fantastic Chengning cuddling for the few of us in the rarepair seats.)
I could go on about Chengning for hours (and most definitely have on more than one occasion) but I think that covers the basics of this pairing. I’ll leave you to decide whether you ship it or not, though at the very least, I hope I provided you with a change in perspective. Thanks for the ask!
#there is whole other part of chengning i could talk about wrt to guilt and debt#and feeling like they owe each other something#but we'd be here all day#feel free to ask me if you want fic recs and i'll compile a list#also check out the blogs i've tagged throughout this post if you haven't already <3#they are my chengning partners-in-crime with exquisite taste#ok im gonna go now. my word counter said this essay is 1377 words jesus christ#mdzs#cql#chengning#jiang cheng#wen ning#meta#the untamed meta#ashton answers#anon#ningcheng
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Fictober21 16 “Not This again”
Fanfic: Mdzs, rating G
“Not this again,” Wen Ning hears his sister sigh as he rounds the corner at the end of his walk. He doesn’t entirely feel things anymore, but the rope is still familiar in his hand, and he can- he can- feel the happy-pleased-contented-burning-rage of the old Nie Sect Leader’s sabre buzzing up the rope and into his arm.
“It’s fine,” he tells her quietly, because he’d been wary at first too. “He doesn’t mind, he said it was good someone could still connect properly with her.” Actually, Nie Mingjue had snorted, and laughed so hard, body shaking a little that Wen Ning almost hadn’t recognised him. Especially hadn’t recognised him as the angry man who had refused to be utterly broken down even as everyone in his Sect, all his friends, his family had tried.
Wen Qing watches him a little worried, a little angry. She’s angry a lot these days, Wen Ning thinks he might be a bit more angry too, but most things still feel muted. He’s only been walking around for a few months, and he’s just glad. He tries not to be angry at the little things, because he knows under all the blankness he is burning rage. At what happened to his family, his Sect. At what happened to him. And now, what happened to Wei-Gongzi, and maybe… though he never thought he’d have any fond feelings for a Nie… He looks at Baxia, maybe he’s angry about what happened to Nie Mingjue too. How everyone gets treated after something bad happens to him.
His sister isn’t wrong to be angry, but he just wishes she didn’t have reason to be.
Baxia is starting to dig into his legs, not the bladed side, but a little insistently. The rope strains where the sabre floats a little above the ground, and Wen Ning sighs, looking at his sister with an apologetic glance. He bends down to untie the sabre where it promptly drops to the ground.
When Wen Ning stands up again he sees the ghost of a smile dropping of Wen Qing’s face.
“I’m worried about what it’s doing to you,” his sister explains, “What it could do to you.” Her brow pinches, and Wen Ning politely waits, “I’m suspicious of why he of all people would allow you to have something so important and valuable- whether he can still use it or not.”
Wen Ning nods, because Wen Qing isn’t wrong. Nobody is kind to them, so this should be wrong. Baxia is a timebomb of resentment, and it’s convenient that Nie Mingjue, with his professed hatred of the Wen should be so willing to let one of them carry her around.
But Wen Ning almost doesn’t care because-
“It’s relaxing for me,” he tells Wen Qing, and the corner of his mouth ticks up at her surprise. “I-“ he tries to think about how to word this without making his sister even more worried about him. Not when she’s got enough else going on and he doesn’t want to upset her more with his condition.
“Baxia is unrestrained rage and anger- a weapon, but a dangerous one that could explode at any minute.” He looks his sister in the eye to try and soften the blow, “One that can be controlled if you have the right tools, but…” he licks his lips and makes his eyes apologetic, “She just gets me?”
He laughs a little, shakes his head. And yes, it sounds slightly stupid, Baxia isn’t properly sentient- although, to say entirely otherwise seems false but- everyone here is either firmly of the view that there is actually nothing wrong with him- even though Wen Ning thinks that’s dangerous. Or, outside, they think he’s utterly mindless. He’s much more in the middle, he’s like a sabre, ripped from a cultivator when they lose their golden core.
He’s not, he’s a fierce corpse. But there are a lot of similarities. And Baxia is less dangerous for him, not that that seems to stop Nie Mingjue from still practicing his forms every day. But… she’s like a particularly familiar pet. Wen Ning- ironically- feels most at peace when walking around the resentment filled Burial Mounds with the murder sword, an unknown amount of days away from exploding in a fit of rage.
Wen Qing his silent for a while, and Wen Ning waits while she thinks.
“You know how stupid it looks though, right?” she asks after a while, “It’s so ridiculous?”
Wen Ning just smiles and shrugs… because, yeah. But he thinks he wants some of that now, after everything.
“Okay, okay,” she says, voice still so strong, bringing him in for a hug which he easily agrees to. “You tell me the moment you think he’s using you though,” she whispers into his ear, protective anger sharp.
Wen Ning doesn’t move. Doesn’t say anything. He’d appreciate it, but he’s not sure that even if Nie Mingjue ever did anything to harm them (Unlikely now) that they could risk harming him.
Nie Huaisang… A well connected, powerful, protective and utterly without morals man is not someone he thinks even they could afford to cross.
#mdzs#fic#fictober21#quick fic#850 words#wen ning#wen qing#baxia#as a dog bless#wen au#but also no because wn pov#THIS WAS MEANT TO BE CRACKY BUT THEN WQ WAS A WORRIED SISTER#two unestrained resentment sinks go on a walk#the walk has already happened though
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Considering Baxia is our wonderful sentient saber in CQL, here's one way Guanyin Temple could have, should have, ended:
Baxia is placed to rest with Nie MingJue inside the sealed coffin, like she was.
Lan XiChen tends to Nie HuaiSang and Jin GuangYao’s injuries, like he did.
Lan XiChen stabs Jin GuangYao, like he swore.
Jin GuangYao assaults Lan XiChen with a dose of guilt-tripping mental abuse, like we heard.
Jin GuangYao drags Lan XiChen to his death, like we saw.
Jin GuangYao has his back to Nie MingJue’s coffin and does his, "Stay and die with me," to Lan XiChen, like he did.
The temple does not start crumbling, because that didn’t make any sense.
Baxia, however, is right there with Jin GuangYao’s blood dripping all over her, the Stygian Tiger Seal, and her master’s body.
Baxia, who should have awoken along with the Stygian Tiger Seal, returns to her furious task of seeking revenge against the person who wronged them.
(Nie HuaiSang wasn't the only one vying for Jin GuangYao's life, remember?)
Baxia stabs Jin GuangYao in the back. She stabs him in the back just like Jin GuangYao did to Nie MingJue when he fed him poison and called it brotherhood.
Lan XiChen is saved by Nie MingJue through Baxia just when Jin GuangYao tried at last to kill him. “I never thought of harming you,” Jin GuangYao said just moments before trying to take Lan XiChen’s life. Nie MingJue wouldn’t have allowed it, so Baxia wouldn’t, either.
Jin GuangYao bleeds and Jin GuangYao speaks and Baxia won’t miss this time.
And Shuoyue, who is also a first-class weapon who a degree of sentience, who recognizes Baxia and the killing intent pointed at them, would have unsheathed herself from Jin GuangYao's chest and driven Lan XiChen back from danger since Lan XiChen was still holding onto her hilt.
Lan XiChen stumbles back, maybe even still reaches out in shock as Baxia tears through Jin GuangYao.
But he’s not reaching out to save him. This isn’t Nie HuaiSang reaching out for his dear brother.
But it is like how Nie MingJue had stood alone at death, so too does Jin GuangYao.
Baxia destroys the evil she was cultivated to fight. The evil that had destroyed her master. A life for a life.
Jin GuangYao crumbles. He’s dead before he hits the cold temple floor.
He had destroyed their lives, so of course it should take Nie HuaiSang, Nie MingJue, and Lan XiChen together to defeat him -- Just like in the novel.
In conclusion, death by a collapsing temple? Boring. Death by Baxia? Exciting!
#nie mingjue#baxia#lan xichen#jin guangyao#3zun#mdzs thoughts#i sure do write a lot about the 3zun these days lol#3zun isn't an inherently ship tag right? because i do not ship#canon divergent au
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How well do you think Jiang Cheng, anger boy extraordinaire, would do with a Nie-style Fucked Up Sabre of Make You Lose Control? If Sandu was doing to him what Baxia was doing to Mingjue?
I know they’re all very attached to their magic semi-sentient soulbond swords, but the existence of a saber-spirit puts it over the edge. It triggers Jiang Cheng’s pet naming instincts. He and Sweetheart are very happy together. Can a saber snuggle you at night? Not exactly, but so long as it’s sheathed it probably won’t stab you either. And it’s bad manners to talk to your saber in public, but Jiang Cheng spends so much time alone, anyway. Everyone else is gone.
More seriously I think pretty much like Mingjue does. He’s a jock with a temper. He’s going to spend a few years being gloriously powerful on the field of battle and then rage and paranoia will eat his brain. Assuming he’s still alive when Wei Wuxian comes back I think he still doesn’t really want to hurt him, but we’re already at defcon dog in canon and does he have it together enough to refrain from physically fight Lan Wangji over an allegedly random demonic cultivator in front of a crowd? Probably not.
#in this universe lan wangji does not pull that shit with making#sizhui and jingyi speak for him#because jiang wanyin is a mad dog and he's not putting them in the line of fire#depending on what he knows about the saber problem#it might make their relationship genuinely less fraught?#like there's no point in being mad it's the rage poison#he's just a threat that has to be managed
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Nie Mingjue - time travel after being a ghost and watching events go down. First point of action. Hug Huaisang then thump him over the head (Deserves it). Second action. GrabWei Ying off the streets and throw him at Huaisang (Distraction). Third action. Sit down and work out how Huisang managed to plot so well because he needs to copy that to keep his parents alive and prevent a war (Damn. Hard one).
Nie Mingjue would be the very first to admit that devious plotting was not his strong suit – if anything, it was a point of pride: that he didn’t need to be underhanded, that his strength came from straightforward skill rather than lies and treachery. But as the years trickled by, his soul and body both torn into pieces by someone he’d cared for, someone he’d trusted, and his spiritual consciousness trapped on this plane as if by an anchor, he eventually grew to admit that perhaps, maybe, there was a place in this world for schemes.
His brother’s vengeance, for one thing. That was extremely well done – but it shouldn’t have had to get done. Not by his baby brother, his little Huaisang, who he’d tried so hard to protect from the world.
Still, Nie Mingjue learned from his mistakes, even if it took time, and he was as ruthless with himself as he was with anyone else. The forbidden ritual from the deepest darkest depths of his family’s coffers was said to be agonizing beyond agony, the consequences of using it grave beyond telling, but the second he regained enough of his mind to move the fingers of that raving mad fierce corpse he’d become, he used it without a second of hesitation.
He woke up in his bed at home.
Baxia quivered in his arms, which were still small and a little pudgy: as he’d hoped, it was the first night after he’d chosen her, or she’d chosen him, however it went. He was twelve years old.
There were still nearly three years before Wen Ruohan would murder his father, leaving him to scramble to lie about his age to avoid any questions about his eligibility as Sect Leader – he’d only just barely gotten away with it, between Qinghe’s tradition of being secretive with personal information, never sharing given names and rarely birthdays, and the fact that he was so abnormally tall for his age – and even more before Wen Ruohan’s intentions were finally revealed to the world.
He got up out of his bed, Baxia obediently slipping into place on his back – it took him months to tame her, at the beginning, but there was no such problem now. Qinghe Nie rituals were always centered on the saber: Baxia been the vessel by which he’d come back and the consequence that he accepted for having done so, she was the same blade she’d been when he died, full of resentful energy as if he’d been through a war, while his cultivation had returned to how it had been. It would be an even greater struggle to control her in the future, though at the moment she was quiet, almost as if she were pleased to see him again.
Huaisang was in his bed, with altogether far too many fluffy pillows by his side: he was four years old this year. A year younger than the peers he would meet at the Cloud Recesses some then years hence, and three years younger than Meng Yao – he’d have to decide what to do about Meng Yao. He couldn’t trust him, of course, but maybe if someone got to him early enough, before the brothel and the world’s disappointment corrupted and twisted his mind into dishonor…Wei Wuxian, too, was a question; he remembered that his brother had once remarked that he’d lost his parents at the age of five. He would be five now, so obviously if there was still a chance to save his parents from their fate, Nie Mingjue would be honor-bound to try to do so…
There was a lot to do, if he wanted to fix everything before he succumbed to his already too-vicious blade. This time around, though, he’d do better. He wouldn’t leave everything for Nie Huaisang to fix.
Careful not to wake his little brother up, he leaned down and pressed his lips to his forehead.
“Thank you for being a good brother,” he murmured, aware his words were insufficient to repay the debt of gratitude he owed him – perhaps he’d try to be slightly less overbearing about training in this lifetime….well, after Nie Huaisang formed his golden core.
He wasn’t going to let him avoid cultivation entirely.
Mind made up, he straightened up and headed back out of his brother’s room, not looking back.
Perhaps if he’d looked back he would have seen Nie Huaisang’s eyes opening, glassy with unshed tears from a lifetime of regrets, or the way his fists tightened or heard him whisper, “Don’t worry, dage. This time – I’ll do better.”
part 2 here
#mdzs#nie mingjue#nie huaisang#my fic#my fics#baxia#baxia the semi-sentient rather possessive sword spirit is my favorite thing in the world#I really should write more of it#Anonymous#time travel nie bros
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Really, how did Nie Huaisang control the discorporated spirit of Baxia? How did he get his brother's headless body back from Yi City? How did he even figure out the basket of secrets held together with a lie that is Jin Guangyao in the first place? How did Nie Huaisang do any and every thing that he did? I burn with these questions and all he does is snap open his fan in my face
Hi nonny!
Excellent questions that I...may not be able to answer lol
I’m assuming WWX and LWJ bring NMJ’s body back from Yi City when they find him and this is given over to NHS for safekeeping because…well, it’s his brother’s body.
NHS IS VERY OBSERVANT and actually extremely clever. He just chooses to play dumb so no one pays attention to him.
I think he really started paying attention to what was happening on a political level when his brother died. Even if Qinghe Nie sect leaders have always died young due to qi deviation, NMJ died way too suddenly. And NHS, having grown up with stories of his predecessors, is probably more knowledgeable about their path to qi deviation than JGY, no matter how much research JGY did beforehand. Enough, at least, to suspect something was Not Right.
I’m assuming Qinghe Nie is quite well-off as a sect, so NHS would have access to money to buy informants and people to do his bidding (see: storyteller at the beginning of The Untamed). He probably has a huge underground spy network as well, none of whom know it’s actually him running the show behind the scenes, who operate through anonymous coded letters and eccentric meetings behind veiled screens or through proxy.
Of course, some of it he probably had to do himself. Like probably retrieving NMJ’s severed hand. Because would he trust anyone else with it? If LWJ could successfully contain it in a qiankun pouch, then I’m guessing NHS did that as well when he found it (STILL DON’T KNOW WHERE OR HOW HE FOUND IT AND WHY IT WASN’T WITH THE REST OF THE BODY??).
It also sounds like Baxia’s spirit is especially targeting people blood-related to JGY too, so it may have been somewhat sentient enough to recognise NHS? Who knows?? Maybe NHS is secretly The Cultivation Master and subdued it himself? Or maybe he utilised some of WWX’s old writings to help him? ANYWAY, IF ANYONE HAS ANY IDEA PLEASE LET US KNOW.
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Nie sabers being sentient and possessing their welders from time to time, when slashing evil is not enough to prove their point.
~~~°°°~~~
"well, isn't that curious? Almost intriguing. - there was a pause and for a moment Nie ZongHui was scared of what would come. - most definitely unorthodox." one of the elder said. Zonghui lowered his eyes, twin sabers, perfectly equal and balanced held in his hands, unwilling to be put down. "it's both of us, or none." they whispered when he picked the first, or perhaps he only thought of hearing it, either way he felt drawn to both, their hilt fitting in his small palms like they were meant for him.
"what's unorthodox about it?" Mingjue asked taking place by his side, his own saber, larger and bigger than most, secured over his back, making him look more imposing than he really was.
Nie zonghui felt him inhale sharply, like a sudden burst of air had been knocked inside his body, he felt his sabers, yes, yes, they were his, both of them, he didn't want to put them down, vibrate slightly in his hold, he looked sideways to his closest friend, the young Master of Qinghe, saw his eyes flash briefly black, than taking a weird red hue. For some reason he wasn't worried or scared.
"it has never been heard of wielding two sabers." the elder said, nie mingjue tilted his head.
"so… - his voice sounded slightly different, it slipped from his lips like melted metal, silver, hot and delicate and dangerous. - because you never heard of it, you call it unorthodox and wrong. You fear what you don't know, and you don't even know your own saber's name." he stopped briefly and turned to look at Nie ZongHui, he couldn't exactly place what he was seeing, there was nie mingjue in front of him, and yet it wasn't really him. He smiled and lift a hand to caress the side of his head.
"they choose you because they saw your heart, not your core. - he said, and it was obvious, to everyone by then, that it wasn't mingjue anymore. Whoever was possessing him, though, was kind, gentle. Righteous. - I can't wait to see what you can do with my two shidi."
Then his eyes turned back brown and he staggered back a few steps before balancing himself, MingJue's hand ran to the hilt of his saber, stroke it with a fond smile, eyes half closed as he let a new familiar wave of energy flow Through his body.
"baxia. - he whispered, more to himself than to others, letting the name roll over his tongue. - her name. Her name is baxia."
#Nie mingjue#Nie zonghui#Baxia#Sentient baxia possessing young mingjue#To prove her point to the Nie elders#The untamed#Cql#MDZS#The untamed fanfic#MDZS fic#Aki writes
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爱不爱死你是我各人的选择，我无悔哈哈哈 I do have a question though (or a request, rather?), you mentioned in the tags of one your posts that you have feelings for Shuanghua and Xiao Xingchen and I would love to see more of that!! because honestly, MOOD. I love Xiao Xingchen LOL. And also, about courtesy names! If I remember correctly, the 墨香 mentioned somewhere (in one of the author's notes on one of the chapters of 魔道 I think...) that the characters in 魔道 receive theirs at 15 (for aesthetic's sake, I guess)
(hi anon I love you???)
heck, where to start with my feelings about Shuanghua…
(my feelings for Xiao Xingchen are everywhere and omnipresent, there is nowhere to start or end with them)
okay so first of all, I’m a huge fan of Brandon Sanderson’s Cosmere, so I have to shout-out everyone’s favorite neutral evil sentient sword, Nightblood. Nightblood greets everyone who touches it, very pleasantly, with the catchphrase – hello! Would you like to destroy some evil today?
(unfortunately, Nightblood has a very, ah, capacious understanding of the word ‘evil’)
but back to Shuanghua – first of all, both its name and appearance are devastatingly beautiful, much like its wielder. But what really got me thinking was in the Yi City arc, when they casually mention that Shuanghua can point Xiao Xingchen towards undead targets, which helps Xiao Xingchen continue to night-hunt even after his blindness
we know that this is a world with semi-sentient swords; Suibian seals itself after Wei Wuxian’s death, which can alternately be read as a hissy fit or a kind of self-immolation for Suibian, a sword so loyal that it chooses never to be unsheathed again because no wielder could possibly replace Wei Wuxian
and also the Nie Clan’s sabers, which are glutted on so much blood and brutality throughout their wielders’ lives that they continue to thirst for strife and struggle even after their wielders have passed away, living on with a half-life of their own in the Saber Hall
and especially Baxia, in the live-action adaptation, who leads Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji to uncover the malicious murder of its master and wielder
maybe its ability to direct its wielder to the undead is a special property of Shuanghua alone, but I like to think that it’s an ability Shuanghua developed in response to Xiao Xingchen’s blindness, that the emotional connection between Xiao Xingchen and his sword is such that, in his time of need, Shuanghua felt his anguish and responded
but it’s still a sword, it doesn’t entirely understand the ways of the world, so its identification of threats isn’t perfect
(and it’s through this narrow gap that Song Lan falls)
and so Shuanghua doesn’t understand why Xiao Xingchen is crying? It tastes live human blood on its steel, which is rare, but sometimes daozhang has to fight bad people before they die? and Shuanghua just met and sang with Fuxue again, one of its old sparring partners, so this should be a joyous reunion, but the waves and waves of grief and guilt and hopelessness coming from Xiao Xingchen feel overwhelming, like both the blistering heat Shuanghua was forged in and the bitter cold it was quenched in at the same time, like the world ending around the two of them in the fire and ice of their making
and then Shuanghua tastes something it never wanted to – Xiao Xingchen’s blood, its wielder’s life bleeding out down its sharp edge, still warm and heart-heavy
for the next eight years, someone else carries Shuanghua. Shuanghua doesn’t entirely understand why someone else carries it now, but this wielder can see, so it keeps quiet, pretends that it’s just a piece of dumb steel
until another sword-wielder appears, robed in white, graceful and deadly, fiercely virtuous and painfully familiar
and this newcomer reaches out a hand and calls Shuanghua, and Shuanghua comes
in the years after, I like to think about Song Lan unsheathing Shuanghua and just resting the bare steel blade across his lap
of Song Lan communicating to Shuanghua, and Shuanghua with Song Lan, because the language of sword and wielder never needs to pass through words
and together they mourn the loss of that brightest star in their lives
#ask and ye shall receive#my incoherent feelings about semi-sentient swords#Xiao Xingchen#Shuanghua#not exactly mdzs meta?#Yi City Arc#Song Lan
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