Past is set in stone, only your feelings may change

Artist

Wei Wuxian was dying. He knew that because he had been in the Burial Mounds for over a week now and he was barely surviving. Although he had managed to find water and some dead looking fruits, roots and berries, he had not gotten a wink of peaceful sleep since being thrown here. The resentful energy was overcoming all his barriers no matter had hard he was trying and the attacks of walking corpses seemed more and more frequent. No matter how Wei Wuxian looked at it, he was sure that one time, he would not wake up at all.

However, he also knew that he had to survive. He was worried that after Wen Chao had captured him, he waited in the inn for Jiang Cheng to arrive and... No, he did not want to even imagine what could have by now happened to his brother. Although Jiang Cheng had his golden core so he should be fairly strong, he would still not be able to stand up to a dozen of soldiers and Wen Zhuliu.

Even worse, if the Core Melting Hand touched Jiang Cheng again, perhaps his brother would want to die willingly because being once again deprived of a golden core. And this time, Wei Wuxian would not have anything to offer to console him.

That was, if he was ever going to make it out of the Burial Mounds. Until now, he had survived while fighting with his nails and teeth against the resentful energy and the walking corpses. But he could not keep that up for much longer, he was getting weaker and weaker with every passing hour and there was only so much which would sustain him; will to protect his family and thirst for revenge were not enough.

And then, in the dead of the night on his eighth day, it happened. He heard the sound of wind whispering between braches of dead trees and he remembered Lan Zhan playing on his guqin. A tear slipped out of his eye, he wanted to see the Second Jade for one last time before the Burial Mounds would finally take his life away.

Out of desperation and half delirious with lack of sleep and proper alimentation, he closed his eyes and started whistling the song that Lan Zhan had played for him back in the Cave of the Tortoise of Slaughter. It helped him to keep on trying, he had found his will again. He had to get back to his siblings and to Lan Zhan no matter the cost.

He opened his eyes with determination and he could not believe what he was seeing. Judging by his previous experience, there should have been walking corpses already surrounding him when he sat down for that long. However, none were around him, they kept their distance and only stood there. It did not seem like they were about to attack. Wei Wuxian was completely baffled and he stopped whistling the song.

Immediately, the corpses started walking towards him again. Desperate, Wei Wuxian was still trying to figure out what had kept them at the distance before. He could only come up with one explanation. He started whistling again and the corpses stopped in their advance.

Now everything was clear to him. It was the music! He knew about the theory of musical cultivation and it was all making sense to him. He could manipulate the resentful energy in the same way as for example Lan Zhan had been able to do with spiritual energy. This was a shocking and surely life-saving discovery.

He did not even hesitate for a second. Although he had never been an artist or a musician really, he would become one. He knew the dangers of the demonic cultivation into which he was now about to plunge himself, but his siblings needed him. There was no doubt in his mind that if they were alive somewhere out there, they were searching for him without rest.

There was a dried patch of jet black bamboo in the vicinity. Wei Wuxian stood up and staggered towards it all the while whistling to keep the walking corpses at bay. He snapped one bamboo pole and made a flute out of it. This was everything he needed to come back to protect his family.