Past is set in stone, only your feelings may change

Parent Wei Wuxian

Wei Wuxian was standing in front of a very sorry looking group of Dafan Wen clan elderlies and was watching them with sad eyes. When Wen Qing had come to him requesting his help, begging and almost crying, he could not say no. He knew that Jiang Cheng would not like his rash behaviour and would probably scold him for it later, if he did not outright kick him out of the Yunmeng Jiang sect for causing trouble. However, it held no importance now, not after seeing innocent civilians being tortured and worked to death by the disciples from the Lanling Jin sect.

He had also not forgotten that he owed a life debt to Wen Qing and her brother. But even without that, he would have still gone and saved those innocent people. If only he had known about this earlier; he had seen so many corpses in that gods abandoned pit that his insides were turning, even after everything he had witnessed in the Burial Mounds. No matter in how much trouble this would get him, he had to save those people.

He reached down and took a very sickly-looking and thin toddler from one of the elderly women and cradled him closer to his chest. The child looked up at him with wide innocent eyes and smiled when Wei Wuxian leaned down and planted a gentle kiss to his forehead. It was such a miracle that after everything he had witnessed in this camp, the child was still alive and apparently not fazed by the circumstances. Only so very, very weak that Wei Wuxian was afraid it would die on their way.

When he looked at him, he saw another child who needed rescuing, a child who cowered from wild dogs in the streets of Yiling, begging for help those indifferent passers-by. He saw himself before Uncle Jiang rescued him, thus saving his life. If he would be able to save a life today as well, everything would be worth it.

However, he was worried for the child and the Wen remnants in general. He knew that the Lanling Jin sect and also the rest of the cultivation world would most probably blame him for their disappearance. They would deny everything just for the sake of keeping up their own reputation. They would hunt them down again and try to imprison them, or worse kill them on the spot. He had to hide them somewhere.

He immediately thought about going to Lotus Pier, the place where he had once upon the time found his sanctuary. No! He could not do that. It would put the Yunmeng Jiang sect which was still weakened and had not finished the rebuilding at risk. It would push Jiang Cheng into an uncomfortable and perhaps ever dangerous position.

He had already risked enough when he had stormed the banquet back in the Koi Tower to demand Wen Ning's whereabouts. He had known at that time that he should have acted more politically but there had been no time to lose. And still, he had arrived too late, the gentle and kind Wen Ning was already dead, currently turned to a fierce corpse by him. He would have to think about a way to bring his consciousness back, he had to do it for Wen Qing, he had to safe her brother just as she had once saved his.

If Lotus Pier was out of the question and with the other cultivation sects soon at their heels, there was only one place where they would all be able to hide. Now one would be brave enough to follow them there: the Burial Mounds.

Wei Wuxian did not want to go back to that terrible place which made him pick up demonic cultivation and where he had suffered so much, but it was the only option. He looked down at the child in his arms again, the small boy was now sucking on his thumb and his eyes were closing sleepily, it was too adorable for words. The only relief from all the horrors of the situation.

Yes, there was no choice, he had to protect the child and its family no matter what. He mounted his horse and turned in the direction of Yiling, he had to lead the Wen remnants to the Burial Mounds so they would be able to make a life for themselves there. It would not be easy, but they would make it work somehow. They were now as a part of his family and by extension, the Yunmeng Jiang sect motto should apply to them as well. They would attempt the impossible.