@here4hualian Kissmas Day 5: Kissing The Cursed Shackles

@here4hualian kissmas day 5: kissing the cursed shackles

Xie Lian is bathing himself in the river when he notices the little ghost fire.

He calls out to it. "Hello? Do you need anything?"

Xie Lian doesn't feel particularly concerned about his modesty. Maybe it's the fact that the ghost fire doesn't have visible eyes to watch him with, even if it is hovering rather intently.

"Are you alright?" Xie Lian tries.

The ghost fire finally responds. "I'm fine. Dianxia doesn't need to worry about me."

Xie Lian is too tired to deal with how being recognized makes him feel. "Did you want to use the river? I don't mind sharing."

Slowly, the ghost fire drifts over, although it makes to movements towards the water. It just hovers next to Xie Lian, giving off a faint blue glow.

Subconsciously, Xie Lian scratches at his cursed shackle. It's been hurting all day. Ah, that's probably how the ghost fire recognized him. Word of his banishment and the punishment he received has spread quickly through the mortal realm.

"Does it hurt?" the ghost fire asks, and Xie Lian startles.

"Ah, it's nothing, really."

The ghost sinks lower towards the water, and Xie Lian is reminded of the way a human might pout. Perhaps it was looking to emphasize? Who better could understand pain than someone who has experienced death?

"I tried to use my spiritual powers today," Xie Lian tells it. "This thing has been squeezing at me ever since. It's only a little painful, don't worry. I've felt way worse."

"Is there anything this one can do to help?"

"Unless you have some spiritual energy to lend me." Xie Lian means it as a joke.

The ghost fire takes it seriously.

It floats upwards, flying over to Xie Lian's neck. The sensation of cold flames on his bare skin tickles, and chills rise down Xie Lian's spine.

And then, there's a tendril of energy flowing into him. It's small, barely there at all, but to Xie Lian, who hasn't had anything like it in so long, it may as well be an ocean of power.

It feels almost like a kiss, the way the ghost fire is transferring it.

After a moments, Xie Lian pulls away. His cheeks are slightly flushed. "You'll burn yourself out if you give me too much, silly thing. You really didn't need to do that."

"But I wanted to. Does it still hurt?"

Xie Lian pauses. Because... "No. It doesn't. I... thank you."

you know what'd be really fucking funny? gusu history lessons with the new generation (re: lan sizhui, lan jingyi, jin ling, ouyang zizhen)

jin ling asking jiang cheng about if yunmeng jiang truly was eradicated almost to extinction, lan jingyi asking lan xichen about the burning down of the library, but most importantly:

lan sizhui, approaching wei wuxian: wei-qianbei! i apologise for being so direct, but was there really someone who could melt spiritual cores? and, if someones core was melted, would restoration be possible?

wei wuxian, freezing up:

wen ning who was nearby, dropping the radishes he was carrying:

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coolnightfire

5 months ago

Crack plot

Jin Guangyao: If we want a bloodless solution to how the Yiling Patriarch should be handled, we should have a competition. Whichever sect wins will decide what happens to Wei Wuxian and the Wen Remnants.

Dumbass Yao: And what competition would we have?

Nie Huaisang: I don't really know, but what about whichever person can get Wei-gongzi to leave the Burial Mounds and Yiling willingly? I don't know, something like that

Jiang Cheng: Agreed. Once he's back in Lotus Pier, we can put all of this nonsense behind us, correct?

Jin Guangshan: Once there is a clear winner, their decision will be final. We can all move on to other things.

Jiang Cheng: Good. If that's all, I have a letter to draft.

Lan Xichen: Gentleman. If I may be so bold, I would like to make an attempt now, so there's no confusion about any success or failure that might come.

Jin Guangshan: Go ahead. What secret technique does the Lan clan have to summon demonic cultivators?

Lan Xichen: Just this. I'M SORRY WANGJI, BUT WE DON'T HAVE A CHOICE! YOU'LL HAVE TO MARRY JIN ZIXUN!

Wei Wuxian, out of nowhere: I'll skewer the Jin pig!!! Lan Zhan doesn't have to marry anyone he doesn't want to! That pompous prick doesn't deserve Lan Zhan anyway!

Lan Xichen: I believe I've won

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coolnightfire

4 months ago

kiss of death

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coolnightfire

8 months ago

Wei Wuxian using the Wen's attempted public humiliation and subsequent punishment of memorising the Wen rules and reciting them as a way to flirt with Lan Wangji by reciting the Lan rules instead is fucking wild

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coolnightfire

2 months ago

happy lunar new year 🐍 2025 ✨🎉💖

*a sketch requested by my patron--- Jiang Cheng with SanDu and ZiDian (my weapon spirit oc design) celebrating lunar new year :3

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coolnightfire

4 months ago

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coolnightfire

9 months ago

I find it funny how jiang cheng experiences misogyny despite NOT being a woman??

Like he is emphatically not a woman, alright, but he's an 'ex' in the narrative sense. The bitchy love rival between the BL couple fandom would have hated on a couple of years ago before we accepted it was cringe to hate on the rival, she deserved better etc etc except. He's neither a woman OR technically, a romantic rival. Most of the subtext is sibling subtext.

He's paralleled with his mother who is also somewhat given the hysterical woman treatment by her husband. Jiang cheng says "Father doesn't like me because I'm my mother's son". Did jfm take one look at this kid and go "I hereby assign him his mother at birth"??? Even in wei wuxian's narration he subconsciously parallels Jiang cheng to his mom. They both have tempers, wield zidian, wear purple if you want to go there lmao, but that's a surface level 'woman are unreasonable and somewhat the same' reading. Like.

He is actually not his mom. He arguably breaks generational abuse cycles because jin ling is confident Jiang cheng loves him in his own way. He did not set out to have that kid, he chose to be responsible anyway because that's his sister's son. Jiang cheng doesnt spend years not-communicating in a bad marriage and taking it out on his kid. He lets wei wuxian go at the end because there's no point in dragging it out and everyone being more unhappy after he somewhat gets an explanation on WHY wei wuxian went off the deep end (aka golden core reveal).

But the easy read is to go, 'quick temper and harsh words- that's yu ziyuan's next coming'

So it's deeply funny to me that he's assigned scorned-ex-wife by narrative, if I'm making sense.

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coolnightfire

8 months ago

Xie Lian, age 17, says (paraphrasing): "if heaven needs to sacrifice an innocent little boy to be appeased then heaven is wrong and I will stand against it" and he continues to do that until 800 years later with head being bashed in still screaming he won't do what Jun Wu said. I love him.

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