The Twin Prides of Yunmeng @sanduandsuibian - Tumblr Blog

Jiang Cheng is the picture of “I knew from the moment I met you that I’d spend a lifetime forgiving you.”

Like—start with the dogs. The only gift his father ever gave him, and Jiang Cheng gave them away. Why? Because Wei Wuxian was scared of them. That’s it. No resistance. No conflict. Just: oh, you’re afraid? They’re gone.

That is the blueprint. That is the foundational dynamic. That is the relationship.

His father resents him, prefers his shixiong. His mother tears him down for not being his shixiong. His sister, bless her, loves both of them—but it’s Wei Wuxian who gets the hand on the shoulder, the soft words, the shared wine. And yet. Jiang Cheng never once chooses bitterness over devotion.

He loves him. That’s the tragedy. That’s the rot. Because he never stops.

Wei Wuxian gets dragged into the Burial Mounds and comes back fundamentally altered, and Jiang Cheng still believes in him. Still gives him room to return. Still duels him instead of executing him outright, still spares him even when the sect is watching. Still tells Jin Ling to be kind to him. Still keeps Chenqing in perfect condition, like a grave he refuses to let crumble. Even when Wei Wuxian’s choices leave him hollowed out. Even when all he has left is silence. He still carries him.

And the thing is—Jiang Cheng’s sacrifices are quiet. He never says them. But we know. We know that when he was captured by the Wens, he let himself be caught. On purpose. Because if he didn’t distract them, Wei Wuxian would’ve died.

We know that when Wei Wuxian said, “I can fix this,” Jiang Cheng believed him with his whole heart. And when Wei Wuxian smiled that soft, golden smile, and said “Don’t worry,” Jiang Cheng didn’t. Because when your entire world is falling apart, and your brilliant, impossible shixiong tells you he has a plan—you believe him. That’s what love is.

And when he disappeared? When he died?

Jiang Cheng never believed it.

He said there was no proof. But it always read like something else to me. Like: “I’d know if he was gone. I’d feel it. He’s part of me. I would know.”

This man spent years believing he murdered the person he loved most in the world. And he still couldn’t bring himself to throw the flute away.

Tell me that’s not love. Tell me that’s not the worst kind. The kind that doesn’t die even when it should.

qiu-yan

jiang cheng: you gave me your golden core and didn't tell me???? why didn't you tell me???? you let me think you left me for the past 13 years. you let me hate you for the past 13 years! why didn't you trust me enough to tell me the truth??????

also jiang cheng: yeah i only got caught in the first place because i drew the wen patrol away from you. yeah i'm going to keep letting you believe that i ditched you in hostile territory to go back for my parents' bodies, specifically after you told me not to do so. no i'm never going to tell you the truth lol

$frost-flower-fractured-ice blog's avatar$

frost-flower-fractured-ice

Need to talk more about how utterly crazy the Yunmeng trio is. Yunmeng boys apparently floated around in the waters like corpses. Wei Wuxian could bleed from his nose whenever he wanted and used it to get out of situations. He lived for ages without a core and apparently no one found out because he really was that insane. First time Jiang Cheng lost his core he had a breakdown because everyone he knew was dead and he just lost the ability to get revenge, but next time he picked up his significantly heavy sword and went swinging at a bunch of zombies (multiple times!) out of spite for Wei Wuxian's stupid cave. Child Jiang Yanli, weak of cultivation, carried two eight year olds home and apparently still made soup afterwards. Her husband died and she immediately ran into a battlefield in search of her crazy brother. Said crazy brother killed the legendary Murder Tortoise and brawled with local hotshot's annoying son. Other crazy brother charged the Core-Melting Hand and then went running across the country in enemy territory (and back). In the middle of a whole-ass invasion, Jiang Fengmian saw his two boys on a boat tied up with his wife's special spiritual weapon, screaming crying and throwing up, and his first reaction was "...new game maybe? ❣👍🏼"

Jin Ling's I-investigated-a-dead-cat-outside-my-door and I-climbed-into-a-tomb-and-nearly-perished didn't come from nowhere. He will 100% crawl out of a vault full of ingots of Jin gold to fight a dragon and that is why every single adult in his life has their blood pressure through the roof.

jujuism-studies

idk, man, i think that if i lost everything and almost everyone ive ever known and loved, got caught on purpose so that my brother could live, taken back to my now destroyed home where the bodies of my parents were hanging as trophies and the bodies of everyone in my community piled up, got tortured by the men who killed my family, a vital part of myself destroyed, somehow got rescued by a friend of my brother i didnt even know he had so now im alive and no way to restore my parent's legacy or protect my siblings, who are the only other two people alive that i care about, got like three business days to process everything before my brother, who is stronger, faster and smarter than me, that i trust with my life, that always managed to pull off the impossible to the point that my father clearly preferred him over me, told me there's a way to get back in the fight by going to his deceased mother's (who i never met) elusive immortal teacher (who almost no one knows) so she could restore the vital part of myself that got destroyed and i was still highly suicidal and possibly delirious from the all the emotional and physical trauma i JUST went through, i would probably have believed him too but maybe that's just me idk

jujuism-studies

idk, man, i think that if i lost everything and almost everyone ive ever known and loved, got caught on purpose so that my brother could live, taken back to my now destroyed home where the bodies of my parents were hanging as trophies and the bodies of everyone in my community piled up, got tortured by the men who killed my family, a vital part of myself destroyed, somehow got rescued by a friend of my brother i didnt even know he had so now im alive and no way to restore my parent's legacy or protect my siblings, who are the only other two people alive that i care about, got like three business days to process everything before my brother, who is stronger, faster and smarter than me, that i trust with my life, that always managed to pull off the impossible to the point that my father clearly preferred him over me, told me there's a way to get back in the fight by going to his deceased mother's (who i never met) elusive immortal teacher (who almost no one knows) so she could restore the vital part of myself that got destroyed and i was still highly suicidal and possibly delirious from the all the emotional and physical trauma i JUST went through, i would probably have believed him too but maybe that's just me idk

hawberries

i think this might be the entire novel

sonik-kun

Let's remind eachother why Jiang Cheng resorted to leading the seige, shall we?

If you recall, WWX inadvertently killed JZX after he lost control of WN. JZX being JC's brother in law .. The heir to the powerful Jin sect but most importantly, his sister's husband whom she loved dearly.

EVEN THEN JC DIDN'T OUTRIGHT DECLARE A SIEGE!

We see he's reluctant, torn, but still holds some hope for WWX. This can be seen in the line thereafter where WWX loses control once again and JC cries "I thought you could control it!"

Both JC and JYL in that moment couldn't truly bring themselves to go after WWX and hold him accountable. But we can also see that they are torn. That they are unsure how to feel about WWX and the dangerous person he has now become. We see this when JYL is dying and she can't bring herself to express what she may or may not be feeling in that moment.

But love and loyalty aside, let's look at what would happen if JC didn't take part in the siege.

If JC didn't take part he would either look complicit in JZX's death or he would look like a weak coward who rolls over for his former second in command. Not only that, he would be expected to pursue justice on behalf of his sister. How would it look if he didn't raise a finger to kill or apprehend his sister and her husband's "killer?"

We don't even know if he wanted to kill WWX in that siege or apprehend him. Giving his literal job and the politics of that world, he wouldn't be wrong to do either. JC's job is to keep his people safe. And if WWX has become a threat, a threat that killed two of his family members, then I'm afraid to say it is his duty to stop him.

I would also argue in defence of his mental state at the time of his siege. JC literally lost his only remaining family left, his sister leaving behind an orphaned nephew. He's also not being fed the information we as the reader receive.

From his pov WWX had not only betrayed him to side with the sect that had nearly decimated his own, but it also looked like he had walked down the dark path and had become corrupted by his DC. His corruption had led to the death of people who he loved. In JC's eyes, WWX had betrayed him first.

Now before anyone starts, I am in no way condoning the massacre of the Wen remnants. But I would like to argue that we don't even know JC's full role in the siege other than that he lead it.

His goal was to get to WWX. If he wanted the Wen dead, he would have sided with the rest of the cultivation world in the beginning instead of defending WWX's actions and being mocked and demeaned for it. He was willing to embarrass himself and receive criticism from the other sect leader's for WWX! That to me suggests his love and loyalty for his brother.

For all we know, JC's party could have went after WWX and his fierce corpse army. Whilst the Jin took advantage and took care of the Wen. WWX never blames JC for the death of the Wen nor does he seek justice or revenge. Instead he puts the blame on the Jin when the truth of their conniving comes out. So.. if you think JC should be held accountable for the Wen, WWX himself doesn't even entertain that idea. 🤷

So no, actually. The siege does not nullify Jiang Cheng's sacrifice. JC made that sacrifice out of love for his brother without a second thought. JC only turned against WWX at the very last minute when he inadvertently got his beloved sister killed. He could have picked the easy way out and sided with the three powerful sects to take down WWX and the Wen a long time ago but he didn't. Because he loved WWX. He respected him. And he was only pushed to commit the atrocities he commited because of WWX. JC is not inherently evil.

smolnerdisms

THIS IS SO IMPORTANT

heartbeats-exe