LINKDING

Summary: <blockquote>“The…Lan sect?” Meng Yao said doubtfully. “Are you sure?” “I am,” his mother said, her mouth tight. She looked upset, the way she always did these days when he referenced, intentionally or otherwise, the original plan that she had had to send him to join his father, sect leader of Lanling Jin. She’d raised Meng Yao on a steady diet of stories of what his life would be like when his father finally took him back the way he’d promised her he would, stories that had filled his days and nights for years and years and years, and then just last year she’d suddenly stopped talking about it entirely. It was as if the person who’d told those stories had nothing to do with her. Meng Yao didn’t know what had happened, but he assumed it must have been pretty bad. “It'll be a good fit,” she added.</blockquote> ➤ canon divergence fic where young Meng Yao goes to the Lan Sect to learn cultivation as a guest, instead of trying to be accepted into Jin ➤ I had a lot of fun with the route this fix-it took! ➤ and I enjoyed that it included friendship between Meng Yao and Su She <3 ➤ 5k words in length

Summary: <blockquote>The Yiling Patriarch is a living legend—a terrifying, ancient force of nature, dispensing punishment or reward with implacable, indifferent fairness. Wei Wuxian, on the other hand, is a weird but oddly charming guy who wanders around the cultivation world making fun of people's art and mooching food from sect leaders. It really upsets people to find out that they're the same person.</blockquote> ➤ a fun cute look at a time travel fixit au where wwx is the alarming immortal who fixed the burial mounds and will grant wishes to deserving people, and lwj meets him for the first time at 8 years old and decides he'll marry him ➤ I enjoyed the look at how this au has changed things for all sorts of different people across the cultivation world, and the ways in which wwx both is indeed extremely powerful and also is someone who still has his blind spots and emotional vulnerabilities ➤ lots of different povs throughout the fic which is fun too! ➤ 17k words in length

Summary: <blockquote>Lan Qiren was running to catch up, because he was always running to catch up. He was determined not to fall behind, but he was slow, as always, and tired more easily than the others, and then he got distracted and realized a considerable distance had opened up between him and the rest of the group. He ran to catch up – He tripped. He was going to fall flat on his face, he realized as he pitched forward, throwing his hands up in front of his face to try to blunt the pain since humiliation was already a given. He probably wasn’t far enough behind for them not to see this, and then his brother would turn his face away and sigh, aggravated, his shoulders slumping in disappointment at how Lan Qiren had lost him and their sect face all over again. Lan Qiren was so bound up in his gloomy thoughts that it took him a moment to realize that he had not, in fact, hit the ground. Someone had caught him. Lan Qiren straightened himself up immediately and dropped into a deep salute. “Thank you for your help –” He looked up. “…Sect Leader Wen,” he finished weakly.</blockquote> ➤ another lan qiren/wen ruohan canon divergence au! though also wen ruohan/nie dad at the same time ➤ this one follows lqr from when he's a young teen and it's very fun to see his changing perspectives on wrh over time ➤ I enjoyed it a great deal, and also it's fun to see what is and isn't the same between this fic and the others by the same author featuring these characters and ships ➤ and I just want MORE! ➤ 89k words in length

Summary: <blockquote>Lan Qiren still couldn’t quite bring himself to believe it. He was married. He had a wife. That wife was Wen Ruohan.</blockquote> ➤ omggg I tore through this fic SO fast and had SO much fun with it ➤ lan qiren/wen ruohan arranged marriage! ➤ I'm always here for fic that's like "okay this ship might sound ridiculous but WHAT IF --" and then comes up with genius ways to make it plausible ➤ there's fun character interactions and fascinating plot and it does interesting things exploring the situation between Qingheng-Jun and his wife, and I love how much lan qiren loves rules and has carefully considered what they mean wrt right behaviour ➤ I love this vision of lqr so much, and I love how FUNNY the interactions between lqr and wrh are, and how well these interpretations of the characters work with each other and play off each other in mutually beneficial ways! ➤ the fic started off a little slow but once I was into it I was INTO IT and read every word with relish ➤ completely delightful. do recommend. ➤ 287,000 words in length

Summary: <blockquote>This is alarming; he has always been a solid cultivator, master of his senses and body and spirit, etcetera, as rigorously forged as his sword. Even in his deepest grief Sandu Shengshou will run in a straight line. It is not alarming. Hasn't he, hasn't the entire cultivation world, been through a shock? / Jiang Cheng attends Wen Qing's execution because he must. And then he learns about his passenger.</blockquote> ➤ after wen qing's execution, she ends up sharing jiang cheng's body! ➤ they're both dealing with so MUCH at this point in the narrative, and they're so careful with each other now that they are tied together like this, and it's so gorgeous ➤ 3k words in length

Summary: <blockquote>Qin Su is a surprise when Meng Yao brings her to Wen Qing, mid-war. Even more so when she stays.</blockquote> ➤ Wen Qing/Qin Su canon divergence fic! joining forces along with Meng Yao to spy on the Wens :))) ➤ Qin Su is a character who I always love to see being given more scope for complexities and personhood and decisions than we get to see in canon and this fic delivers ➤ also it really lets itself inhabit that period where Wen Qing is working for Wen Ruohan and everything that means ➤ the subtleties of how the relationships between Qin Su and Wen Qing and Meng Yao are portrayed in this fic are soooo good ➤ 2k words in length

Summary: <blockquote>Zixuan would like to be closer with his half-brother. He would like to skip all the awkward fumbly beginning bit where they don't know each other and just magically arrive at fraternal harmony, where they can joke around like the Jiangs and look out for each other like the Nies and have that spooky synchronicity like the Lans, but the truth is that he's never had a sibling, and he has no script or example for what you're meant to do when you discover one as an adult. They don't have years of in-jokes and growing pains to fall back on, they're basically just strangers who happen to share a parent. / the sickfic fixit in which JGY discovers the Mortifying Ordeal Of Being Known and Zixuan discovers the Mortifying Ordeal of Getting To Know Other People</blockquote>

Summary: <blockquote>“Wait,” Wei Wuxian said, goggling at Jin Guangshan and not caring one bit that he was being incredibly rude by interrupting the other man’s announcement, nor the fact that he was implicitly challenging Jin Guangshan on his own home territory, being as virtually the entire cultivation world had returned to Lanling City for the feasting following the Phoenix Mountain hunt. “Wait, wait, I’m sorry, are you trying to tell me that you think Teacher Lan – and just to make sure we’re being precise here, we’re talking about rule-abiding, rigid, stubborn, boring old nerd Lan Qiren, the one who used to lecture me all the time about even thinking about something unorthodox – is the Lan sect’s secret demonic cultivator?!”</blockquote> ➤ the one where lqr becomes a demonic cultivator instead

Summary: <blockquote>Upon their first meeting, Hanguang-jun and the Yiling Laozu begin an affair. Wei Wuxian understands this; what he doesn’t understand is why Lan Wangji keeps coming back for more.</blockquote> ➤ mdzs canon

Summary: <blockquote>"My son is overwhelmed by such flattery," Jin Guangshan says from the table. The words are friendly but Jin Guangyao can hear the rebuke in his tone, the sharp anger promising consequences should Jin Guangyao refuse. For a moment, he longs to refuse. He could keep the secret and marry Qin Su, have his children recognised as Jin and make his mother proud. He could be part of his father's sect as she'd always dreamed for him. But his father has no intention of letting this possible alliance slip through his fingers and Jin Guangyao doesn't know if he could keep such a terrible secret; if he could bed Qin Su knowingly, if those children would ever be possible. Marrying into the Lan will please his father. Jin Guangyao will still be a member of the gentry as his mother wanted. If he has to leave the Jin and play the subservient furen, he could choose no one better than Lan Xichen.</blockquote>

Summary: <blockquote>“Why are we even here?” Wen Xu groused. “Yeah! That’s right! Why are we here?” Wen Chao immediately chimed, very obviously taking his cues from his elder brother – much to the latter’s irritation, judging by his immediate scowl. Lan Qiren knew that he needed to pick his next words very carefully. With recalcitrant students, a teacher only had a few opportunities to really connect with them. If he allowed them to dismiss him or categorize him as an enemy at this early stage, it would be an incredibly uphill battle to gain enough respect in order to teach them anything, and in this case, given the strength of their background and the fact that this little teaching session was both likely to be short and definitely completely unauthorized, it would quite possibly make it completely impossible to ever get through to them. “You are here,” Lan Qiren said solemnly, each word slow and thoughtful, “because your father is an ass.” (a story of kidnapping and falling in love, reluctantly)</blockquote>

Summary: <blockquote>If you had asked Lan Qiren ten years ago, he would have confidently asserted that Lao Nie was one of his dearest friends. And yet – it had been Lan Qiren, who was short on friends, and not Lao Nie, who had many, that had cut off their relationship. Lan Qiren hadn’t truly spoken to Lao Nie in seven years, limiting their conversations to the subject of sect business and keeping their meetings as short as could be allowed by etiquette, ignoring the way Lao Nie looked at him with sadness and regret in his eyes. Even when Lan Qiren’s anger had finally died down from a raging flame to a simmering anger he suspected would never leave him entirely, he had thought to himself that it was too late, that the fire had burnt everything out, that there were only ashes left behind. And yet – on the seventh year, apparently apropos of nothing, Lao Nie wrote to him, requesting his presence. As a friend, he wrote. Come as a friend, or not at all. I have no use for a sect leader.</blockquote> ➤ in which lan qiren saves nie dad from his fate

Summary: <blockquote>“It’s just odd.” Qiren raised an eyebrow at his nephew’s words. “Hm?” “After all, Wangji and I grew up with you telling us our parents do not define us,” Xichen said—a half explanation Qiren knew the boy would want to finish. “And?” he probed. “And you are defining Wei-gongzi by his mother,” Xichen pointed out with a polite smile.</blockquote>

<blockquote>狐假虎威: the fox assumes the tiger's power When the Sacrifice Summon ritual goes wrong, Mo Xuanyu assumes his chance at revenge and freedom is gone. However, he still has bound Wei Wuxian's ghost to him, and together they make a plan: Mo Xuanyu will pretend to be fully possessed by the Yiling Laozu, they'll get rid of the Mo family, and then Mo Xuanyu will be miraculously "cured" and excused of all wrongdoing when a cultivator tries to exorcise him. What could go wrong? Steps one and two go fine. Step three gets tricky when the cultivator who shows up is Hanguang-jun, who seems very uninterested in any exorcisms and very interested in "Wei Wuxian." It becomes even more complicated when Mo Xuanyu realizes he's stumbled into the middle of a star-crossed romance: and worst of all, that he's falling too.</blockquote> ➤ the declarations of love/attraction felt awkward to me, but other than that I really enjoyed this fic, and loved that mxy got to stay alive and have something good too

<blockquote>to get away from the taunting of the other jin disciples, mo xuanyu sneaks away into the dark recesses of koi tower. the places mere disciples are not supposed to go and here he finds things no one is meant to find</blockquote>

<blockquote>“Who are you?” Wei Wuxian asks finally. Sizhui takes a deep breath. This is it. He isn’t ready. But he is. Er-ge said so. He lets his eyes fill with tears and spill down his cheeks. Wei Wuxian leans away, probably unconsciously. Good, Sizhui thinks, a little viciously. He never promised Er-ge to tell Wei Wuxian the truth, but he has never had a better weapon at hand than exactly this. “My name is Nie Sizhui,” Sizhui says. “I’m the master of the Unclean Realm, now.”</blockquote>

<blockquote>Today, with a formal missive from Koi Tower in hand and Zonghui staring at him with open concern, Nie Mingjue throws his head back and laughs and knows that no request will ever bring him such joy: Sect Leader Jin Guangshan has been brutally assaulted and, due to a conflict of interest, the Jin sect begs the assistance of the Honorable Sect Leader Nie Mingjue in the search for justice. / Wei Ying was raised in a brothel in Yunping, and Sect Leader Jin is having a very bad day.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Generations after the events of the novel, Lan Xichen and Jin Guangyao come out of retirement to investigate a series of mysterious fires targeting the watchtowers.</blockquote> ➤ the fic works well as is but I am still desperate to know what the solution might be that will honor yao-guniang's ambitions and keep her safe from yao-zongzhu at the same time!

<blockquote>In which Meng Yao, later Jin Guangyao, sets his heart upon the most unlikely of targets. (five times Jin Guangyao tricked Lan Qiren into hugging him, and one time he didn't have to)</blockquote> ➤ I love this vision for them both!!

<blockquote>Depending on how one looked at it, Nie Mingjue either should have gotten married years ago or didn’t need to marry at all. Especially not to Jiang Yanli. Still, when, after the war, she made the suggestion, however circumspectly, Nie Mingjue did not refuse immediately, but agreed to consider the matter.</blockquote>

<blockquote>“Become my personal disciple,” Lan Qiren said to Wei Wuxian, feeling the weight of what he said on his tongue, the bitter taste of it mixing in with the ash of the Burial Mounds. “And as your shifu, I will bear the shame of your actions for you.”</blockquote>

<blockquote>Wei Wuxian always enjoyed picking an aesthetic and really leaning into it. As an adolescent, he was joyous, entitled and high-born; during the war, he was dangerous and threatening. After the war, he was lost. But then he found his new aesthetic: Elder of the Jiang Sect.</blockquote> ➤ omg this is a lot of fun, and also I love that this allows him to find a respectable position in his clan even with his post-war struggles!

<blockquote>“It’ll be all right,” Nie Mingjue murmured to Nie Huaisang, who was curled in his arms, shaking and terrified. "It’ll be all right. We’ll manage, somehow.” He didn’t believe a word he said, of course. How could everything be all right? Their father was dead. Murdered – Wen Ruohan had put him down like a rabid dog, wringing his neck and tossing him aside. He’d then announced that Nie Mingjue and Nie Huaisang, now orphans, would be brought back to the Nightless City and taken into the Wen sect to be his wards, to be appropriately reeducated and brought up well. Brought up properly. Nie Mingjue didn’t know what to expect when they arrived. He didn’t think it would be anything good.</blockquote> ➤ the one where nmj becomes everyone's da-ge and that makes all the difference (by everyone I even include wen chao and wen xu!!)

<blockquote>Qin Su frowns up at him with her hands on her hips. How did you know what I was thinking? she does not say, but he hears just the same. Jin Zixuan blinks at her. I heard you, he thinks carefully. Can you hear me?</blockquote>

<blockquote>A modern OC arrives in Yiling before the start of the Sunshot Campaign. She has no friends, no money, and no cultivation. She knows what's coming, but what could she possibly do about it? / “Well…” I looked down at my fingernails and tried not to squirm. “If there were a way to separate Wei Wuxian from Madam Yu without ruining his relationship with his siblings, I’d encourage it. Like, as an example, marriage.” Xichen blinked. “To you?” “No. Absolutely not. What even—?” The thought was so abhorrent I couldn’t hold it in my head. My brain spat it right back out. “To your brother.” Xichen blinked. Again. “To Wangji?” “Obviously?” “This is a concern of yours?” “I realize it’s not my business at all,” I admitted. “But you asked.” </blockquote> ➤ ah, you know, it's been a long time since I've read this kind of fic, and done well it really is a lot of fun! I enjoyed this a great deal

<blockquote>Lan Qiren finds a boy on the streets of Yiling and the world changes. A story in three parts</blockquote>

<blockquote>Lan Xichen goes to the kitchen each morning to get his own breakfast. There's a new servant one morning. He didn't realize they would become so close.</blockquote> ➤ cloud recesses era, jyl pretending to be a servant

<blockquote>Zhao Zhuliu, once the feared Core-Melting Hand and now a rogue cultivator, finds Mo Xuanyu in the woods on a winter's night that changes both their lives for the better.</blockquote>

<blockquote>In his madness, they say, the Yiling Patriarch stole into Koi Tower and abducted the widow of Jin Zixuan and her young son, only for all of them to die in a fire in the Burial Mounds shortly thereafter. Sixteen later, Lan Jingyi runs into two rogue cultivators during a night hunt.</blockquote>

<blockquote>The Wens are safe, the tiger amulet is out of Jin Guangshan's hands, and Wei Wuxian is going to cooperate when Hanguang Jun puts him down like a rabid dog. It's not the end to his story he wanted, but it's one he can accept.</blockquote>