Chapter 14 - Refinement

Lan WangJi did not look at Wei WuXian. He nodded to indicate respect and spoke in a monotonous voice, "First, liberate; second, suppress; third, eliminate. The initial approach is to utilise the gratitude of his relatives and grant his dying wish, set free what he could not let go of. If it fails, suppress it. If the crimes were extremely wrongful, and its energy of resentment does not dissipate, exterminate it completely. The cultivation world should precisely keep to this order of measures. No errors should be allowed."

Everyone stared blankly at Lan Wangji's picture, internally wondering how dull of a childhood he must have had to be able to answer a question in such a thorough, but dry way. It certainly sounded very accurate, like a page from a manuscript written by a thousand-year-old bearded cultivator. It seemed that Lan Wangji's personality had remained constant from 15 years old to now.

"I wonder how he was able to handle Wei Wuxian... he certainly didn't follow those rules." one cultivator whispered. Her friend elbowed her, casting a terrified look behind her at Wei Wuxian, who was gazing past them, the slightest hint of a smirk playing on the corner of his mouth.

Lan QiRen nodded with satisfaction, "Not a single mistake was made." With a pause, he spoke again, "No matter in terms of cultivation or as a person, one needs to be as solid as this. If one becomes complacent and proud just because they defeated a few simple mountain beings in their home and hold some empty reputations, one would definitely bring disgrace upon themselves, sooner or later."

Lan Qiren gave a huff. "And was I wrong?", he muttered, loud enough for Wei Wuxian to hear.

Wei Wuxian pulled a face. "Well, no, but that wasn't because I was complacent and proud from defeating a few simple mountain beings."

"Wasn't it?" Lan Qiren shot back. "Wasn't it because of your arrogance, thinking that you understood right and wrong better than the rest of the cultivation world that you got thousands of people killed? Including your own family?"

Wei Wuxian's heart jolted. Mentioning that death of his shijie was way below the belt, but... Lan Qiren was right. He had often wondered if it had been his fault, not Jin Guangyao's. Believing that he could control his demonic cultivation, that he could be the hero and save the Wens... hadn't it led to all their deaths? The death of his sister? His own death?

Lan Wangji gave an irritated frown at his uncle and looked anxiously at his husband's downcast face, thinking hard about what to say to cheer him up.

"Wei Ying. Watch. I remember this is close to the part where you get thrown out of the class."

Wei WuXian raised his brows and took a look at the side of Lan WangJi's face. He thought, so, apparently this old man meant it for me. He called his best pupil to listen with us in order for me to watch.

He spoke, "I have a question."

Lan QiRen replied, "Speak."

Wei WuXian, "Although 'liberation' comes first, it is often impossible. 'To grant his dying wish' sounds simple—it would be easy, if the wish was a new piece of clothing, but what if the wish was to kill lots of people for revenge?"

There was an uncomfortable silence. Why did Wei Wuxian feel the need to bring up such an example? Still, it wasn't a bad question and most of the cultivators were genuinely curious to hear the answer.

Lan WangJi, "Thus, suppression assists liberation. If it is necessary, elimination would also follow."

Wei WuXian smiled, "Such a waste." He paused, and continued, "It wasn't that I didn't know of this answer, I was only thinking of a fourth path."

Lan QiRen spoke, "I have never heard of any fourth paths."

Nie Huaisang started laughing manically. "Ahahahaha! I remember this day, Wei-xiong! It was so funny, hahahaha!"

The audience exchanged nervous looks.

Wei WuXian spoke, "Because the executioner died in such a way, it is only natural that he turned into a ferocious corpse. Since he executed more than one hundred people before he died, why not dig up the graves of these people, arouse their energy of resentment, collect the heads of those hundred people, and use them to fight with the ferocious corpse..."

Gasps sounded throughout the audience.

"Completely immoral!"

"Digging graves up... typical!"

"The Yiling Laozu started from a young age, huh?"

Wei Wuxian pouted. It had seemed to him like a cool way to solve the problem, back then. To be honest, it still did. So what if 'digging up graves' seemed a bit unorthodox? Why should their resentment go to waste? Surely it was the most just solution?

Lan WangJi finally turned around to look at him. His brows were knit, still expressionless.

"Lan Zhan! What did you think of my fourth path? Were you angry too?"

"No. I was not angry. Just surprised." Lan Wangji paused for a bit, as if thinking hard. "Actually, I was a bit angry. But only at myself for not disagreeing with you. I remember thinking..."

"Yes?" Wei Wuxian said eagerly when Lan Wangji cut himself off, ears going red.

"You were different, but not bad. I wanted to talk more with you. I...liked you. Even though I should've hated you. That's why I was angry."

Wei Wuxian blinked in surprise, then beamed his widest smile, the one that was sunshine personified. Their happy moment was suddenly interrupted by a huge, thundering shout that shook the room.

"How dare you!" Lan QiRen was so angered that his goatee was quivering. He sprang to his feet, "The essence of exorcising demons and annihilating ghosts is to liberate! You do not study the methods of liberation, and even think about increasing their energy of resentment! You reverse the natural order, and ignore ethics and morality!"

Wei WuXian replied, "There are some things that have no use after liberation, so why not find a way to make use of them? When Yu the Great tamed the flood, obstruction was the inferior method, and redirection was the superior. Suppression is the same as obstruction, so isn't it inferior..." Lan QiRen hurled a book toward him, but he flinched to the side and avoided it.

Whether they liked Wei Wuxian or hated him, everyone in the room was cowering, praying for Wei Wuxian to shut up. Lan Qiren in a rage was far more terrifying than a horde of fierce corpses. But, of course, Wei Wuxian didn't shut up.

His expression remained unchanged, and continued to talk nonsense, "Spiritual energy is energy; resentful energy is energy as well. Spiritual energy is stored in the dantian. It can split mountains and fill oceans, available for human use. If so, then why can't resentful energy also be used by humans?"

The crowd flinched as a book came hurtling at Wei Wuxian again. At the same time though, many were pondering Wei Wuxian's words. It was a different perspective to what had been drilled into them as they were growing up, and it didn't seem like a malicious one.

He spoke harshly, "Then, let me ask you again! How do you make sure that the resentful energy only listens to you and does not harm others?"

Wei WuXian ducked while speaking, "I haven't thought of it yet!"

Lan QiRen raged, "If you thought of it, the cultivation world would not allow your existence! Get out!"

Many wondered if Lan Qiren was actually omniscient, because that was precisely what had happened. Wei Wuxian had cracked the puzzle, found a way to control resentful energy: the Stygian Tiger Amulet. And right after that, the cultivation world joined forces to wipe him out. But, that was because Wei Wuxian had used his powers to control resentful energy to harm people, right?

It was easy to forget that Wei Wuxian was a murderous demonic cultivator who had wreaked havoc on the cultivation world, with these pictures of a young, well-meaning boy and the current, care-free reincarnated version of him.

Wei WuXian couldn't be more glad, and quickly went out. He wandered about the Cloud Recesses for the morning, picking flowers and playing with grasses. After everyone finished the lesson, they finally found him on the roof of a tall wall. Wei WuXian was sitting on the grey tiles of the ledge, holding a piece of grass in his mouth. His right hand was under his cheek, and sat with one leg propped up and the other hanging down, swaying slightly. The disciples down there pointed at him, "Weixiong! How admirable of you! He told you to get out, and you really went outside! Hahahaha..."

Wei Wuxian rubbed his nose, slightly embarrassed at his cocky attitude. It all seemed quite silly now he was a (definitely very mature) adult.

The older cultivators rolled their eyes. Why did it surprise them that Wei Wuxian had been that kid, the popular one with a gang of admirers who constantly showered them with praise. They had to admit it was probably something to do with Wei Wuxian's vibrant personality that drew people in - like moths to a flame. They liked to think that if they had known Wei Wuxian back then, they wouldn't be one of those disciples gathered at his feet, looking up at him in awe.

Meanwhile, the young cultivators were watching in delight. Senior Wei was officially the Coolest Person Ever.

"After you went out, a long while passed before he finally understood what happened. His face was so purple!"

Wei WuXian chewed on the grass and shouted toward below him, "He asks, and I answer. If he tells me to get out, I will get out. What else does he want me to do?"

Nie HuaiSang spoke, "Why does it seem like old man Lan is especially strict towards you? He always directs his scoldings at you."

It was true. Lan Qiren had barely spared a glance for any other disciple other than Wei Wuxian and his prized nephew. Lan Wangji was understandable, but he had only known Wei Wuxian for barely 20 minutes, yet he seemed to already have a vendetta against him. Wei Wuxian decided to regard it as an achievement rather than a misfortune.

Jiang Cheng humphed, "It serves him right. What sort of answer is that? It's fine if he spouts these nonsense at home, but he dared to say these in front of Lan QiRen. He's seeking his own death!"

Wei WuXian spoke, "No matter how I answered it, he wouldn't like me, so I might as well just say what I wanted to say. Anyways, I didn't try to offend him. I was just answering properly."

A thought suddenly struck Zizhen. "Senior Wei, if you had so many friends when you were young, why don't you hang out with them anymore? Did they support you while you..um... you know...were doing your Yiling Laozu things?"

Wei Wuxian made a strange, twisted face. "First of all, what 'Yiling Laozu things'? Why does everyone think I need a different name for when I started using demonic cultivation? It's not like I'm offended by you mentioning my demonic cultivation activities. I'm literally the one doing them. And. " He cleared his throat. "To answer your question. They're all dead. Of all those disciples on the board, including me, only Jiang Cheng and Huaisang are alive now. "

The junior disciples looked in alarm back at the board, at the crowd of young disciples who were all their age. All dead?

"How did they all die?" Jingyi asked, too astonished to be tactful.

"In a few years from when these pictures are set, there's going to be a huge civil war between the clans. Us younger disciples were all so eager to fight, but not experienced enough..." Wei Wuxian looked away from the screen. He hadn't thought about those disciples he used to hang around constantly for a very, very long time. It seemed eons ago, but it still gave him a sad pang when he realised they were all gone.

Zizhen, seeing the pained look on his idol's face, really regretted asking that question. But Wei Wuxian kept talking, appearing to be lost in thought.

"Even if they were alive, I don't know if they would have supported me during those years in the Burial Mounds. Maybe they would've learned to hate me like everyone else did."

Suddenly there was a shout from near the back of the room.

"YILING PATRIARCH! WE SUPPORTED YOU! LET US BE YOUR DISCIPLES!!!!"

Everyone turned around to look at the gaggle of cultivators in black and red robes, who were waving their arms frantically.

Wei Wuxian yelled back, "I told you more than 13 years ago to leave me alone! I'm not starting a sect and I'm not teaching demonic cultivation! Get a life!" He sighed. He should've anticipated that with his return becoming publicised, his crazy followers would start pestering him to teach them demonic cultivation again. As if he had the faintest clue on how to make resentful energy safe for widespread use.

After thinking for a few moments, an expression of envy and yearning appeared on Nie HuaiSang's face, "To be honest, Wei-xiong's words were quite interesting. Spiritual energy can only be obtained through cultivation and taking great pains to form a golden core. It would take I-don't-knowhow-many years to do, especially for someone like me. But, resentful energy are from the fierce ghosts. If they can easily be taken and used, it would be beyond wonderful."

Wei WuXian also laughed, "I know, right? No harm comes from using it."

Nie Huaisang burst into laughter again. "This is a great opportunity to write down all the ridiculous things you said that sound funny to us now."

Wei Wuxian coughed. "Okay. For the record, there is plenty of harm. Including mental instability, delusion, trauma and then a painful and violent death." He directed that last statement to his crazy cosplaying followers.

Jiang Cheng warned, "That's enough. It's fine if you talk about it, but don't actually walk such a crooked path." Wei WuXian smiled, "Why would I leave the nice, broad road, and walk on a single-plank bridge on a dark, narrow river instead? If it really is that easy, people would have already walked on it. Don't worry, he was just asking, and I was just answering. Hey, are you guys coming? Since it's not curfew yet, hunt for pheasants with me."

Lan Wangji blinked. That phrase Wei Ying used, it sounded familiar... He had said a similar thing, back when Lan Wangji had visited him at the Burial Mounds. Something like, 'Who cares about the crowded, broad road? I'll stick to my single-plank bridge until it's dark.' That expression described Wei Wuxian well. He had never been fit for the normal road. He might not have wanted to take the difficult path, but he would do it without a backwards glance when it came to doing the right thing.

The other cultivators had much less knowledge than Lan Wangji did on Wei Wuxian's motivations.

"Wei Wuxian was already a skilled cultivator. It's not like he needed demonic cultivation to become a renowned figure, he clearly already would have been one. Sect leader Jiang is right, why did Wei Wuxian have to go for the crooked path??"

The juniors looked at each other, silently agreeing with the unknown cultivator. Why did Senior Wei turn towards demonic cultivation if he didn't need it? Hopefully they would get to see for themselves soon.

Jiang Cheng scolded, "What do you mean 'hunt for pheasants'? Why would there be pheasants here?! First, go copy Righteousness. Lan QiRen asked me to tell you to copy the Virtue section of Righteousness for three times, so that you can learn what natural law and morality is." Righteousness was the collection of the Lan Sect's sect rules. The sect rules here was too long, so Lan QiRen revised them into a thick collection. The sections Virtue and Conduct were four fifth of the whole book.

Jin Ling made an 'ah' sound. "So that's how you know all the sect rules so well! Hahaha, you had to copy all those 3000 rules?"

Wei WuXian spat out the grass which he held in his mouth and dusted his boots, "Three times? I'd fly up to Heaven if I just copied them once. I'm not from the Lan Sect, and don't intend to marry into the Lan Clan, so why should I copy the sect rules of his sect? I'm not gonna copy."

It didn't take a genius to see the irony in that - the whole room rang with laughter. Nie Huaisang was busily writing it down, cackling.

"You had no idea you'd be married to Lan Wangji in 16 years, hahahaha!"

"I never would have imagined", said Wei Wuxian nodding. "If you told that to either of us then we would have sent you to a doctor."

"Well, it's good that you didn't copy all those rules for nothing, seeing as you did marry into the Lan sect, right, Senior Wei?" Sizhui said a wide smile.

"He never follows them, anyway." Lan Qiren said sourly.

Nie HuaiSang quickly spoke, "I'll copy for you! I'll copy for you!" Wei WuXian, "No good person does favours for others out of the blue. Tell me, what do you want me to do?"

Nie Huai Sang replied, "It's like this. Wei-xiong, old man Lan has a bad habit. He..." In the middle of his sentence, he suddenly paused and coughed drily, opening up his fan and shifting to the side. Wei WuXian knew that something was wrong. He turned around and, sure enough, Lan WangJi stood under an ancient, verdant tree and gazed in their direction, carrying the Bichen sword on his back. He looked like a jade tree, reflecting the mottled shadows of leaves and sunlight. However, his stare wasn't kind at all, as if it could lock them in a cavern made of ice.

Jiang Cheng groaned. "First it's 'moonlight' and 'polished jade', and now it's a 'jade tree'. It's never going to stop, is it?"

"I cant stop my thoughts, Jiang Cheng. Whenever I see Lan Zhan, my mind just starts to make up poetry. I can't help it!" Wei Wuxian exclaimed in a dramatic voice, to which Jiang Cheng rolled his eyes.

Everyone knew that their shouts were a bit too loud, and the noise had probably led him over, so they all shut their mouths. Yet, Wei WuXian jumped down and gravitated toward him, "WangJi-xiong!" Lan WangJi turned around and immediately walked away. Wei WuXian cheerfully went after him and yelled, "WangJi-xiong, wait for me!" The white clothed figure flashed behind the tree, and suddenly disappeared without a trace, clearly showing that Lan WangJi didn't want to converse with him.

Lan Wangji remembered that day. He had heard the shouts of the disciples and Wei Wuxian, and had come out to watch. He had never had any friends his age before - only his brother. His uncle and brother had wanted him to hang out more with people his age, make a few friends. But Lan Wangji didn't know how - something about his cold demeanour had scared off every young person within a mile. Of course, except for Wei Wuxian. No one had ever called him 'Wangji-xiong' before. And of course it had to be the most unruly boy, the one who his uncle hated but he secretly liked. He had run away like a coward.

Having received only a view from behind, Wei WuXian turned around and complained to the others, "He ignored me."

"Yeah," Nie HuaiSang spoke, "It looks like he really hates you, Weixiong. Lan WangJi usually... No, he never does something so impolite."

Wei WuXian, "He hates me already? I wanted to apologize to him."

Jiang Cheng sneered, "Apologizing now? Too late! Like his uncle, he surely thinks that you are evil and unruly to the core, and didn't bother to pay you any attention."

Lan Wangji frowned. For a wild moment, he wanted to shout, 'That's not true!'. But it was just a picture of the past. He couldn't change the impression he'd made on younger Wei Wuxian and his friends.

Wei WuXian thought otherwise. He chuckled, "Who cares if he ignored me? Does he look pretty?" After a thought, he realized that Lan WangJi did look pretty.

There were snickers again.

Only after three days, did Wei WuXian finally know of Lan QiRen's bad habit.

Lan QiRen's lessons were not only tediously long, but everything was also tested on. The generational changes of important clans in the cultivation world, the division of their areas of power, famous quotes by famous cultivators, family trees... Although he didn't understand a single bit as he listened in class, Nie HuaiSang worked as hard as a slave when the date of the test approached.

He copied Virtue two times for Wei WuXian, and begged before the test, "Please, Wei-xiong, if my grade is lower than yi, my brother would really break my legs! Stuff like telling apart direct lineage, collateral lineage, main clan, clan branches... For us disciples from big clans, we can't even distinguish our relationships with our own relatives, randomly calling everyone who are more than two tiers away from us aunts and uncles. Does anyone have enough capacity in their brain to remember those of other clans?!"

Some younger cultivators nodded vigorously to themselves, feeling a rush of kinship with Sect Leader Nie. Sect Leader Nie understood them!

As a result of cheating notes flying everywhere in the air, Lan WangJi suddenly attacked during the test, and caught a few initiators of the commotion. Lan QiRen exploded with anger, writing letters to the prominent clans to tell on them.

He loathed Wei WuXian—in the beginning, although these disciples could hardly sit still, at least nobody started anything, and their buttocks were able to stick to their legs. However, now that Wei Ying came, the originally spineless brats were influenced by his encouragement, venturing out at night and drinking alcohol however they pleased. The unhealthy practices grew greater and greater. As he had expected, Wei Ying was one of the biggest threats to humanity!

Once again, Lan Qiren displayed the uncanny ability to predict the future.

Jiang FengMian replied, "Ying has always been like this. Please take care to discipline him, Mr. Lan." And so, Wei WuXian was punished again.

There was a flash of a smiling man in purple, with soft eyes and a calm voice. At the voice, both Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian froze.

Wei Wuxian had almost forgotten how his adopted uncle's soothing voice was always able to smooth out anything, put anybody at ease. Seeing his uncle's face, even for a few seconds, made Wei Wuxian feel like a little boy again. He was grateful that this strange board was giving him the opportunity to re-commit Jiang-shushu's face and voice to his memory. He wondered, if Jiang Fengmian was somewhere in Heaven, watching, would he be proud of Wei Wuxian? Or would he be disappointed, regretting that he ever took him in? Wei Wuxian flung the sickening feeling off, not wanting to know the answer.

At first, he didn't think too much of it. It was only copying texts, and he never lacked people who copied for him. Yet, this time, Nie HuaiSang spoke, "Wei-xiong, even if I want to help you, I can't any more. You'd have to endure it on your own." Wei WuXian asked, "What happened?"

Nie HuaiSang, "Old... Mr. Lan said that you have to copy both Virtue and Conduct." Conduct was the most complicated section of the twelve sections in the Lan Sect's sect rules. It cited a lot of classics, was terribly long, and had a lot of rarely-used characters. Copy it one time, and one would lose all interest in life. Copy it ten times, and one would fly to Heaven on the spot. Nie HuaiSang added, "He also said that, during the time of the punishment, nobody is allowed to fool around with you or copy them for you." Wei WuXian wondered, "How would he know if someone copied them for me or not? Surely it doesn't mean that he's making someone watch me."

Jiang Cheng spoke, "That's exactly the case."

"..." Wei WuXian spoke, "What did you say?"

Jiang Cheng, "He told you that you're not allowed to go outside and have to go to the Library Pavilion to copy, and also face the wall and reflect upon your mistakes. Of course, there will be someone to watch you. I don't need to tell you who he is, do I?"

It was perfectly clear to everyone who that 'someone' would be. In this world, little seemed to be a coincidence. And Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji, they were clearly fated to be together.

— Inside the Library Pavilion—

There was one bamboo seat, one wooden desk, two candlesticks, and two people. One sat in a proper position, but, on the other side, Wei WuXian had already copied Conduct for more than ten pages. His head felt dizzy and his heart felt bored, so he dropped his pen to take a breath and looked across.

The cultivators watching winced at the nasty-looking and archaic characters, feeling a strange pang of sympathy for the young boy. Even he would grow up to be a fearsome demonic cultivator, no one should be subjected to such torture.

Meanwhile, Jingyi gave a great snort. "He's not even doing a handstand! Why is he complaining..." he said indignantly.

Before this, Wei WuXian never had the chance to carefully examine the front of his face. Now that he had a look at it, he started to think random thoughts, He looks quite nice indeed. Yet, if only those girls in Yunmeng could come and see him with their own eyes. Looking as bitter as if everyone had offended him or his parents died, it wouldn't matter no matter how nice his face looks.

"The only person you're fooling is yourself, Wei Wuxian." muttered Jin Ling. "Just admit that you like him."

Lan WangJi was recopying ancient books, which were not only old but also unavailable to most others, in the Lan Sect's Library Pavilion. His brushstrokes were slow and steady, and his handwriting was neat yet sharply vigourous. Wei WuXian couldn't help but to compliment him sincerely, "Those are some great characters! They're of the top level." Lan WangJi remained indifferent.

Wei Wuxian pouted. "I was being serious, you know. Your calligraphy is amazing. Well, everything about you in amazing. It's not surprising that you can write amazingly too?" He gave a long suffering sigh. "It's always like this... I say something, you ignore it."

Lan Wangji ignored him. Wei Wuxian thought he could see the corner of his mouth tilted slightly up, though.

Wei WuXian rarely kept his mouth shut for such a long amount of time. Feeling suffocated, he thought, I have to sit in front of such a stuffy person for so many hours each day, for a month. Will I even survive? At this point of thought, he couldn't help but slightly tilt his body forward.

For a month? Wide-eyed, the cultivators looked at each other. Those two in the same place, alone, for a month was definitely a recipe for disaster. And sure enough...