*dragging myself through the pit of exhaustion* Must...post.....mad scientist au...... - all seriousness though, I didn't POST yesterday?!!??! WHY?!?!? Because...BECAUSE!!!....I have no excuse😔😔 I'm just a little they/them who gets overwhelmed by all of the ideas in their head. Like, I was going to write a post yesterday but I was like "where do I even begin?" and screamed n such. Anyway. SHUT UP, FOUR. Okay okay so, Wei Ying is in the Burial Mounds, and he feels as though he has to earn the right to leave. He has so much blood on his hands, he has caused so much harm even if it was unknowingly, he has done so much wrong and will never be able to make up for it. He deserves everything that he is going through, and would let himself rot away in the Burial Mounds if it weren't for the fact that he knows from the whispers of the spirits, of the trees, that there is a war. He may be a monster, an abomination of the blood and guts and resentful energy that paved his path into Hell, but he is still useful. He is smart. He created the beginnings of an entirely new cultivation path at eleven years old, why can't he do it again at seventeen? He's got the knowledge, he has some of his notes, and he's got more than enough materials at his disposal. So, his experimenting begins.
Instead of taking a guilty but "this is the way" approach to resentful energy and the death it causes, Wei Ying seeks to change it. He seeks to have the chance to help every spirit that helps him, in a way that he could not achieve with living humans - mainly because they didn't survive long enough for him to help them. With spirits, he can simultaneously help them let out those wild, confusing feelings, while they help him get revenge on his enemies and be useful. He can learn about the individual spirit no matter what little that is, and give them a way out. Lay them to a peaceful rest after they have assisted him. It still feels exploitative to him, but then the Burial Mounds begins to whisper about how the spirits view him - he is their God, sent from the heavens to help the spirits forgotten by the rest of the world. Spirits that are too far gone to be nothing but overwhelming emotions rush to him and are given the sweet release that death was supposed to provide them.
Wei Ying also refines his skills with the dizi, forcing himself to work through the pain of moving his fingers, a pain that is getting worse with every day he is in the Burial Mounds. He learns how to use his melodies to influence spirits to do anything he wants, calming them out of a screaming rampage through the grounds and sometimes working them into (experimentation comes first, even if he gets attacked in the process). The Burial Mounds is doing Its own creepy version of cheering on Its son, feeling simultaneously proud and in awe of what he is doing right in front of It. How has this boy, this little baby teenager, fallen from the skies and almost died in Its lands, only to force his way back into life with Its help and then immediately begins offering a form of salvation to all of the forgotten, uncared for spirits in the Jianghu.
Now, the crows. "What is their role in this AU?" Well, at first, they're just chilling around, watching Wei Ying stumble around desperately every day, scrabbling for...indescript food in order to survive (yes, it is corpses. Bone marrow, usually. It's not like there's any other food sources aside from the crows, n he can't catch them in his state). They watch as he digs around in these corpses for the bones and then delightedly pick at whatever is left over when the human stumbles off again. Listen, if you've been around for a while, you know that I've learned my fair share about crows....so I know that crows are quite intelligent! They have the minds of toddlers, n they can recognise people - AND hold grudges. That doesn't really add anything to the plot but I just thought it was cool. Anyway, Wei Ying starts offering the food as he's eating it, and they all start eating together so it's pretty chill!
The crows have to return the favour of the chill eating sessions and start bringing Wei Ying cool shit that they find outside of the Burial Mounds, often shiny shit but occasionally there's shit from cultivators and Wei Ying is sometimes whipping similar stuff out, so they bring that as well. The crows like Wei Ying, Wei Ying likes the crows. Simples! Of course, it doesn't take long for the teenager to realise that the crows are brimming with yin energy, and are drawn to his melodies just as much as resentful spirits are, and he does take advantage of this, giving them more food in return for their efforts. As Wei Ying grows more powerful, he feels like it would be necessary to reach out to the outside world, so he starts experimenting with (dead) crows to basically use them as flying cameras to see what's going on outside.
It is Not Good. There most certainly IS a war, and Wen Ruohan's forces far outweigh that of the three major sects & co. "Three?" I hear you saying - YEP. In THIS AU, the Jin side with the Wen. "WHY??" Because Jin Guangshan knows that the Wen have notes of demonic cultivation from the literal genius creator of it, and he (mistakenly) believes that the Wen can and will use them in the war. It's a no brainer for him; they will fall if they do not side with the Wen. Also he sucks and I HATE him and he's power hungry, so he's hoping that he gets information about demonic cultivation if he shows support for the Wen. Don't worry, don't worry, Jin Zixuan and his small band of loyalists (Mianmian I love you, Mianmian I would die for you) are still on the good side, Lotus Pier has taken them in (because they haven't been burned down to the ground this time around)!! The Wens' forces and control, plus the Jins' money and control, equals UH OH. FUCK.
Wei Ying also can't get any read on his precious family - he thinks they're in Qishan, because there's no information implying that they are literally down in the city nearby. He's fucking terrified, but also doesn't want to get them into anymore danger by trying to attempt contact from them if they are alive. He needs to figure out if they're alive. He needs to know whether or not they are safe. How? There was a teenager who did always seem to know everything going on in the Jianghu. Wei Ying just needs to get into contact with him. He puppeteers a crow to nab some paper from a nearby city (just missing a Xue Yang storming down the street after another failure at decoding Wei Ying's notes), and then realises that his hands are far too fucked up to write. The Burial Mounds tries to help, but Its hands (even more exaggeratedly wonky and fucked up than Wei Ying's) are not helpful. THIS is where the crows get their true calling.
They're already brimming with yin energy, and that's only heightened through their time in the Burial Mounds, so it can be reasonably implied that they are smarter than a toddler depending on how much resentful energy they are exposed to and how long they have been in the Burial Mounds. They see Wei Ying desperately using his fingers dipped in blood (nobody's really selling ink and calligraphy brushes in these wartimes so they can't be nabbed, okay??) to try and write something, and they (sort of) learn as he writes. So, while he's passed out after so long of not sleeping, they take matters into their own wings and start scratching out the message with the blood and their claws (so much neater than what Wei Ying was dropping). Then they send a crow out with that message out to the first war camp they find, listening out for the name of the person they're searching for, and basically bombard this guy with both the message and their presence.
Meanwhile, Nie Huaisang gets attacked by a crow while he's supposed to be taking his mind off worrying over his da-ge out on the battlefield with a walk. He's at first confused and offended and rather scared (did he insult the crows somehow??) but then he realises that there's some sort of scroll clutched in the crow's grasp. He opens it, fully expecting it to be some sort of death threat rambling slur filled letter (okay so maybe not that but who knows what's going through his mind??) and finds a simple message. "My sect was filled with monsters, but I had a family. Ensure their safety, and I will ensure your victory."
It seems as though Wei Wuxian is not dead.