LINKDING

Summary: “How could you let him?” she asked abruptly. It came out—menacing. Her own voice hadn’t been capable of conveying anger like that. If she’d tried very hard to rage, it would have been shrill and unimpressive, and if she’d spoken the way she’d tried to just now, it might have chilled the right room but it would still have sounded gentle. A-Cheng’s voice had no softness in it, and both boys went very still. ➤ mdzs/cql canon divergence au, where instead of mxy sacrificing himself to resurrect wwx, jc sacrifices himself to resurrect jyl ➤ jyl and wn and mxy eat soup together about it ➤ and jyl grapples with how she feels about everything that happened. and what she's going to do next ➤ and like. DANG I love it!!! ➤ 5k words in length

no summary ➤ mdzs/cql time travel au fic where Sect Leader Yao travels back in time at the point of his death, and intends to Make Changes For The Better ➤ a funny and fun look at how things happen, with and without his intervention! ➤ 6k words in length

summary: <blockquote>“If you died,” Huaisang started, not knowing quite where he was going with this. “I mean, you did die, da-ge, but if someone had killed you… what would you want to happen next?” / In the wake of Nie Mingjue’s death, Nie Huaisang realises how much he’s been left in ignorance. How could the artsy little brother be left to run their ancestral asteroid-mining clan? What other secrets are hidden in his san-ge’s past? And how should he get revenge? Maybe having da-ge’s personality backed up on a server was supposed to help with all this. Maybe.</blockquote> ➤ mdzs space au about nie huaisang and his years-long project in avenging his da-ge ➤ a repeated theme throughout the fic is nhs visiting and talking to back-ups that had been taken of nmj's personality before death, and the way that this makes literal how HAUNTED nhs is by his brother's absence is just sooooooo good ➤ the worldbuilding is great, the things that are changed from canon due to this different context are great, the anguish and monofocus of nhs are great ➤ I AM ALL EMOTIONS ;_; ➤ 8k words in length

summary: <blockquote>Wen Qing’s world was small these days, but she was alive.</blockquote> ➤ this is a remix but you don't need to read the original to follow this one, as it follows a character who gets less focus in the original ➤ about wen qing and her interactions over the years with jin guangyao, in an au where she's imprisoned by him and helping him, after surviving leaving the burial mounds ➤ a great look at wen qing and her choices, and what she is and isn't able to do to affect things, and what she's willing to help with ➤ 2k words in length

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>Jiang Cheng realises that his own nephew has never tried his mother's signature dish, and takes it upon himself to rectify this. [Recipe at the end]</blockquote> ➤ post-canon, jiang cheng realises jin ling has never tasted his mother's soup ➤ cue the epic quest to learn how to recreate it, and the things he learns along the way ➤ lovely fic about family and about food ➤ 4k words in length ➤ thanks to stultiloquentia for the rec!

Summary: <blockquote>all I really want is some peace, man</blockquote> ➤ author's note: "doomed best friends who understand each other so deeply" ➤ an Untamed vid about Wei Wuxian & Wen Qing ➤ ahhhhhh I have SO MANY feels about them and this vid GETS them ➤ ouchy in the best way ➤ audio is solely the music ➤ no subtitles ➤ 4:41 in length ➤ thanks to lesbianwangyibo for the rec!

no summary. ➤ fanvid about wei wuxian as the yiling laozu, set to the Lorde song Everybody Wants to Rule the World ➤ incredible ominous vibes threaded through with the pain of everything that happens ➤ beautifully edited! I was hooked from the start ➤ 2:33 in length ➤ thanks to lookitmychicken for the rec!

Summary: <blockquote>The truth was they had been friends. Three months is a long time to spend with someone, day after day, sharing meals and weary hours. At the time, Jiang Cheng really didn’t have anyone else and neither did Lan Wangji. It wasn’t only the search that bound them, but the desperation as well: that there might be some mercy in the world left for the two of them. That out of everyone else they’d lost, Wei Wuxian at least should live.</blockquote> ➤ exploring the relationship between Jiang Cheng and Lan Wangji; the three months of almost-friendship when they were searching for Wei Wuxian together, and then the many years of hatred that followed ➤ and yet lwj saves jc's life when he's injured in a night hunt. but they still hate each other. ➤ the deep well of bitterness on both sides, as both feel fully justified in their hate! god it's so good. the vibes in this fic are impeccable. ➤ 2k words in length ➤ thanks by-lookitmychicken for the rec!

Summary: <blockquote>Wei Wuxian & Jin Guangyao as narrative mirrors.</blockquote> ➤ the bit it says about how people often talk about how lwj and lxc both put all their love and trust into one man, and only one of them was right to - but actually before his resurrection wwx ALSO causes a lot of death and harm to loved ones

Summary: <blockquote>"He's in the sword," Wei Wuxian realizes. "Shuoyue is the man and Xichen is the sword."</blockquote>

Summary: <blockquote>In-between meeting back up at the start of ep 44 and returning to the burial mounds, the trio stops to get Wen Ning presentable for their upcoming trip through a small town.</blockquote> ➤ wen ning touch-starved and uncomfortable with the changes in his body as a fierce corpse

Summary: <blockquote>When Jiang Yanli was eight years old, she was sent on a visit to her grandmother in Meishan.</blockquote>

Summary: <blockquote>“I think the member coordinator saw our Chinese names and was like, ‘Better send all the Chinese Jews to these guys,’” Ning said. “All the better!” Wuxian said, grinning. “Double holiday for everyone!” / The Wens host Sukkot/Mid-Autumn Festival.</blockquote>

Summary: <blockquote>Convinced Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian will never reconcile of their own accord, Jin Ling takes matters into his own hands by trapping both of his uncles alone, together, without their cultivation.</blockquote> ➤ yunmeng shuangjie - first fic is them talking post-canon and resolving nothing, but it ends with wwx knowing that there is something that potentially COULD be solved so the door is now open for more. and then in the sequel, from jc's pov, they fight a dog demon together and manage the beginnings of a reconciliation ➤ series consists of: murky waters many envies

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>Jin Ling didn't mean to commit zine fraud. Surely you get a free pass if you didn't know how taxes work?!</blockquote>

Summary: <blockquote>Or, 'five times Wei Wuxian broke the rules, and one time Lan Qiren broke them instead'. In which Lan Qiren learns, reflects, and comes to know the man now married to his nephew.</blockquote> ➤ lqr pov

Summary: <blockquote>sometimes second chances are given to the person you least expect. Or, the Wen Chao time travel AU that literally nobody, and I mean no one on this entire planet, asked for.</blockquote> ➤ damn, I'm so invested in this tbh, the way wen chao's trauma overwhelms all his other priorities, but also mean that he can barely bring himself to actually do anything to change the course of history, and the steady care wen zhuliu provides him but which wen chao is unable to trust as unshakeable.

Summary: <blockquote> You are angry, but also tired. It is a kind of tired that never stops, a constant exhaustion that seeps into your bones, your heart, that never disappears no matter how much you rest. You are tired of being angry, tired of wondering, tired of regretting.</blockquote> ➤ the one where jc maintains chengqing over the 13 years wwx is dead - bamboo flutes require upkeep to keep from cracking

Summary: <blockquote>Minutes turned into hours, and the shrills of agony puncturing through the walls of the courier station did not stop. Sometimes they would diminish, even silent for a moment, before exploding into a battered howl, enough to make the wind shiver. Still, Lan Wangji did not move.</blockquote> ➤author's note: <blockquote>So yesterday i may have had a realization on twitter about why, near the end of the novel, wwx says that "you dont like when i say thank you to you" and cited the courier station as a time when he said "thank you", when he never did. I thought it might have been just an overlook by MXTX, but it was still odd considering MDZS had been revised at this point. Then I thought about how LWJ didn't leave, but waited downstairs, and that they might still have had a short interaction that day. So, this happened! It follows right after chapter 62, when LWJ walks downstairs the courier station while JC and WWX stay to kill Wen Chao, so you might wanna re-read that part (if you're able) just to refresh your mind.</blockquote> ➤ oof

Summary: <blockquote>In the aftermath of Guanyin Temple, Jin Ling has one question for Nie Huaisang.</blockquote>

Summary: <blockquote>The slow purpling of the evening sky makes their robes blend into their shadows, their shadows blend into the still water stretched out before them. Home, Jiang Cheng thinks, satisfied, and A-Ling exhales softly against him, and everything is good, and none of them move to leave.</blockquote>

Summary: <blockquote>The life and times of Luo Mianmian; or, what happened after she secedes from Lanling Jin sect. As she suspected, the world is far bigger than the great cultivation sects.</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>In which Wei Wuxian is cast back in time to the school at Cloud Recesses instead of falling to his death. Everyone is very confused and upset. Wen Qing fixes things.</blockquote> ➤ wwx is the one who time travels but it's from wq's pov. mostly gen but with a chill wq/lqr background relationship

<blockquote>Some scholars of resentment believed that strong enough resentment could bind souls together, both before and after death. Some further believed that, were this resentment to be tempered with some other powerful emotional energy, it could become magnified to the point that it could bend the laws of the natural world, even those governing space and time. Or, Jin Guangyao and Nie Huaisang find themselves thrown back in time to the end of the Sunshot Campaign, each determined to outmaneuver and destroy the other. Their schemes don't quite have the effects they anticipated.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Transcript of video interview of Dr. Jiang Yanli, textile historian at the California Institute for Magic and Cultivation.</blockquote>

<blockquote> The rules and principles of his sect had always given Lan Qiren structure and purpose beyond the frailty of human attachments. Once, he had believed that his nephews were, in this, his mirror. The years and their events eroded this belief. In its place, he was starting to see a different kind of trust in his family and his sect. One that could bend with the pressure of time and not always break. </blockquote>