qingxinling | bang! crash! the lightning flashed!! -- that's another story, nevermind, anyway!

bang! crash! the lightning flashed!! -- that's another story, nevermind, anyway!

Jiang Wanyin sweeps along the shores of the lake, glowering. This is not his beloved Lotus Pier. These waters are cold, foreign, uninviting. Clearly there's been some trap: he's been distracted by duty in this hunt, and when he followed the slight tug in his chest, he ended up getting pulled into unfamiliar territory.

No matter. He draws himself to full height, letting cool arrogance slip down his shoulders and suffuse him. Sandu is naked in one hand; Zidian crackles in the other. He can handle whatever monsters may arrive.

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That guy is also a cutsleeve? What, is it in the water here or something? Is there some kind of pollen that encourages men to lay with men? "The immortal cultivator?" he asks, to make sure.

"Yes, the immortal cultivator. He's a Peak Lord of Cang Qiong Mountain Sect." Obviously, since Jiang Wanyin is from the same world as Lan Wangji, and Lan Wangji is from the same world as Luo Binghe, he will have heard of Cang Qiong. Somehow, in the past three months, no one has given Luo Binghe any reason to believe otherwise.

"Never heard of it," Jiang Wanyin says, glibly. "Is it anywhere near Baoshan Sanren's mountain?"

He must come from the same remote region as Lan Wangji, where the news of Luo Binghe's rule has yet to reach. That's irritating, but Luo Binghe likes Jiang Wanyin enough that he'll generously forgive him for the slight. After all, Cang Qiong doesn't even exist anymore, and Shen Yuan doesn't need its prestige to impress. "No. What's that?"

"She's the only confirmed immortal I've ever heard of, until today," Jiang Wanyin says. If there's an odd tone to his voice, well. That's understandable and surely doesn't need to be explained to anyone here.

This strikes Luo Binghe as very odd. Immortality among cultivators is simply not that uncommon.¹ Cang Qiong Mountain has a number of immortals among its Peak Lords, and it is (was) only one of the three major sects. "I find that hard to believe. I myself could reach immortality easily, and likely will. Heavenly Demons can already live hundreds of years without cultivating at all."

¹Genre differences!

Jiang Wanyin, who has opened his mouth to suggest that -- after meeting a bunch of weirdos from a bunch of different places here, and since he's also not particularly familiar with any emperors of three realms -- they might be from different places, stops so abruptly his mouth clicks audibly closed. "Heavenly... Demons?" he repeats.

Luo Binghe naturally assumes Jiang Wanyin is impressed. "The last of the line," he says, tossing his hair and smiling winsomely. "My mother was a human cultivator, but my father was the great demon king Tianlang-jun."

Jiang Wanyin, who has definitely absolutely never leapt to conclusions once in his entire life, does not leap immediately into attacking the demon in front of him, who so recently had seemed affable and amiable and a good sort of person to be around. A suspicion is dawning on him. "Are you in cahoots with Wei Wuxian?"

"Of course not. We've barely spoken."

Something rotten is afoot -- this doesn't follow. "A Heavenly Demon has barely spoken to the Yiling Laozu."

"Why should I speak to anyone?" Luo Binghe crosses his arms. "Explain yourself."

"Because he invented demonic cultivation?" Obviously.

Luo Binghe's face is almost still, but his eyebrows shoot all the way up. "He invented demonic cultivation? I would love to hear how. How he invented demonic cultivation."

"I didn't fucking ask him," Jiang Wanyin snaps. He has, however, dealt with many copycats trying to emulate the stuff. "He did it during the Sunshot Campaign."

"Unless the Sunshot Campaign was at the beginning of time," Luo Binghe says coldly, "I'm confident that it was demons who invented demonic cultivation. What a talented shixiong you have, to have cultivated to immortality so long ago, before demons existed."

"Obviously we're from different worlds, if you haven't heard of the Sunset Campaign or Baoshan Sanren," Jiang Wanyin snaps.

"Then why wouldn't Lan Wangji say so long ago?"

To Jiang Wanyin's own abundantly-evident shock, he laughs at something a self-avowed demon has said. "Have you met that asshole?" he asks. "Why would he say anything about anything when he could just look constipated instead."

Luo Binghe's irritation also softens. "You're right," he says generously. "It does explain some things. I've found his self-importance utterly baffling for someone from a sect I've never even heard of."

He should not have been so quick to anger, when Jiang Wanyin has shown himself to be such a reasonable and pleasant man. Luo Binghe will give him another chance. "A friend here taught me a sign of fellowship common to other worlds. Two people clasp hands, and it indicates that they regard each other with respect." He holds his hand out to shake, the way Janet showed him.

It seems a lot more complicated than just bowing like a normal person, but whatever. Jiang Wanyin isn't above the diplomatic inclinations of his conversational partners. He's certainly not the worst sect leader in his world. He clasps Luo Binghe's hand firmly -- but keeps his hand still, because surely that's all that's involved in this strange ritual?

Luo Binghe's not fussed about the specifics of Janet's friendship ritual. He drops Jiang Cheng's hand, satisfied.

"Anyway," Jiang Wanyin says, resisting the urge to cross his arms. "If you really are a demon, watch out. Wei Wuxian..." He pauses. He doesn't want a demon to kill his stupid former shixiong, but he thinks that if a guy as reasonable as Luo Binghe is an actual demon (unlikely), he also doesn't want to give Hanguang-jun an excuse to try and kill him.

"He's strong. But he's --" not family. Not a disciple. What? "Someone my nephew likes, for some reason."

"The Yiling Laozu, who invented demonic cultivation?" Luo Binghe says to confirm, even though he still doesn't understand how a human can demonically cultivate at all. "Why must I watch out for him? What is he likely to do?"

It may sound strange, but Jiang Wanyin doesn't actually want Wei Wuxian to be murdered by some demon emperor. Nobody is allowed to murder Wei Wuxian but Jiang Wanyin!!! And he doesn't even --

Whatever.

"He can raise thousands of fierce corpses at once," he grumbles. "The people who found his notes used it to harvest resentful energy from demons. He probably can too. He won't. Stupid fucking Hanguang-jun has neutered him with sex, or whatever. But he could."

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protagonisthalo - 2023-12-30 05:56 (UTC) - Expand

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