hi allow me to admit that I have avoided touching the Nie sect both because I couldn't think of a good animal but more because think of anything that worked to make a funny pun because that is actually where everyone of my choices is genuinely based. What makes the most pun. Now, you don't need to understand the pun the pun is for me. But the whole reasoning behind using Crows for the Wen sect was specifically just to allow me to make bird jokes at use the term murder as in a group of crows. You can ask me to explain all of these but the reasonings are very dumb and silly. Because... I primarily write comedy scripts.
Slow and steady is the hand that carves a statue from a mountain and swift and avaricious is the rumors that fly in the air about the Qinghe Nie sect. If one is to kill a man that is as slow as sudden as falling rock and is hard and composed as jade then it is best to only strike where the body is weak. That was the nature by which Nie Huaisang chose to act.
When he was a child he remembered his father stating that the symbol of their sect was that of an undefinable beast because the path of the sword is as such.
"To wield a weapon is a path violence but how you wield it determines the shape. We are whatever our path sees fit."
He thinks that was the man trying to assure him that despite Nie Huaisang's inability as a cultivator that he was fine with him. That it was okay that he was not the brilliant strength of his brother and that he was still loved.
You made my courtesy name Huaisang. Your expectations of me were vividly clear.
But it was true in a sense. He was overly fond of luxuries and riches and found the life of the sword both distasteful and inelegant. Not even just that he was far more interested in art and the mundane elements of the world that while any gentleman should know of was certainly not supposed to indulge in. Nie Huaisang often found he had a lot in common with the mulberry.
They were both perceived as useless and frivolous. Something that people of value who create use to feed themselves as they spun new things into the world. It didn't matter how much his efforts would bear fruit; he'd long since fallen behind and he didn't much care about that.
In fact, he was glad his cultivation was so weak because it gave him the advantage that nobody expected much of him. He was the perfect fool whose leaves fed the silkworms around him joyfully. Nie Huaisang is more than aware of how he is seen by his sect.
He's the Head-Shaker.
The fool.
The complaint sheep who does what is easiest.
He is the idiot you can mutter secrets around.
It's quite a handy face to wear.
Nobody has suspected him now or will till it's all unfolded for them to see. Till he breaks Jin Guangyao and holds him up for all to stare at the black ichor they called his heart.
Nie Huaisang first suspected Jin Guangyao after his brother's death. In a way, he feels he should have suspected him even before that but at the same time- at the same time Nie Mingjue's mental state and death were unfortunately common in the Nie sect.
Unlike most sects and clans which had a specific treasure, the Nie sect was different. Much like how no two swords were exactly alike so too were no two fates of Nie sect members. No, in the Nie sect to say one was changing into a beast was to announce they would soon be dead both in the mind and physically once the qi deviation struck in full.
It is a fate that has killed nearly everyone in the Nie bloodline, and it is one that also strikes disciples who cultivate strong spirits.
A violent end as a violent thing.
It's why their wills say 'when I fall to a qi deviation' not 'should'. The blood of the Nie clan- the sect as a whole- was one that burned brightly and fizzled out too soon compared to all others. They were a clan of beasts and monsters overall who's fate was to turn into a predator.
When his uncle died he'd been turning into a bear. A distant cousin a panther. He knows that people thought if his father had lived long enough he'd be the king of animals and be a tiger maybe not white like Lan Wangji but he would have become something grand.
Nie Huaisang had grown up surrounded by vicious predators that were tamed with strength and ferocity so that they may serve. Jaws with the strength to tear through not just monsters but even hard stone. If skinned the leather was the same quality and strength as imperial armor if not better. The houses and territories they guarded were not only safe but impenetrable fortresses to even a skilled group of cultivators.
Yes. Their treasures were strong, but they were also volatile. It took a strong hand to tame the nature of a Nie Beast and to keep them in line and those with those hands often ended up on all fours themselves one day. Nie Huaisang couldn't understand why they kept with such traditions when it ended with their sect and clan slowly being weeded out.
"The founder of our sect ascended with this technique! His spirit was so strong he became a dragon and went to the heavens. Do you know why?"
"I don't know." But he had. He'd been lying because admitting he knew why the sect- why people in general- were frustrated by him meant they might start expecting things from him.
"Because our method weeds out the weak and only allows pure strength both in spirit and body."
He thinks that was when Nie Huaisang decided he would like to be weak. That being weak was the better choice than a life that would end with him eventually being impaled on his own sword. Better than ending up like his brother who had been screaming with rage and desperate for anyone to save him or kill him before… He swallowed back the bile that came with the memory.
Nie Huaisang's suspicions had started when even through all the rage and fire in Nie Mingjue as that qi deviation blinded his sight he'd seen him. He'd looked at him and for the first and only time, Nie Huaisang would see a flash of true weakness in his brother.
It wasn't the fear of death. It wasn't the regret of hurting others. It was something more horrifying for a man like Nie Mingjue who was so strong and perilous.
Submission. Genuine submission and even as blood poured from Nie Mingjue's eyes and mouth- as his teeth fell loose. He'd been screaming and lashing out at everyone thinking they were Jin Guangyao. Insults and screams that the man was a monster- a son of a whore- heartless.
Evil.
"Why can't you see it?! Why?" He'd been swinging Baxia wildly all striking down everyone who tried to restrain him. His skin bleeding as dark scales broke along the surface as smoke trailed from his breath.
Even when he'd called his name his brother's eyes still looked lost to him. Still afraid and tearful as he mournfully spoke, "Huaisang, you can see it right?"
Somehow, in that moment Nie Huaisang could not believe in any way his brother was about to die. That this pillar of strength who people respected and revered was bleeding and breaking in front of him.
I thought if anyone could be strong enough to become a dragon it would have been you
"You won't die. You can't!"
Nie Mingjue couldn't die of his qi deviation and be left deformed in between like the rest. He couldn't- he couldn't! He couldn't die and leave him be. Not when they hadn't properly made up. Not when it would leave him to take care of the sect by himself.
The Nie family were descendants of butchers and as such the way to shed the human skin was rather similar.
So he took Baxia and with every intention and every ounce he hoped that for once he was strong enough. He'd seen his brother do it before. Nie Huaisang knew how to do it himself, knew the words that accompanied it. He knew!
But all that came of it was red and self-hatred.
No
No- this shouldn't- I didn't-
Jin Guangyao had been crying and he'd pulled him away from the body with rage and regret spilled across his face. "You- how could you do that! What were you thinking?"
"…That if I changed him before the deviation completed he would live…"
I was too weak… too late… too- too- too
There were many tears spilled that day and even some from Jin Guangyao but despite it all, Nie Huaisang could not stop thinking of the anger. Of the tone that spoke:
You interfered and ruined everything.
After that day, after the burial and the mourning Nie Huaisang became the leader of his sect. The one thing he had never desired. The one thing he was certain that as long as his brother remained strong and healthy he'd never experience.
He at first tried to be competent but he was uniformed in many aspects and he did not know the answers for a fair amount of things. But… well, it was so much easier to just leave it to someone else and enjoy himself.
And then he noticed the body was missing. That suddenly everything became beneficial towards the Lanling Jin sect and while the relationship between them and Gusu Lan had always been strong it suddenly seemed comical.
And yet no matter how obvious it was nobody noticed. Or if they did nobody cared. His own sect members seemed more than happy to note their approval of a man who they used to mock relentlessly.
There was also the increase in treasures being seen not just in Lanling and Gusu but in every sect it seemed. Even Yunmeng had over the past decade had an increase in hounds but Nie Huaisang also understood that Jiang Wanyin had been rebuilding. It was natural for them.
But he remembered his brother calling it odd and when he looked closer at the people who changed, the ages, the politics everything about it was just too convenient. It was too perfectly ironic for Jin Guangshan to end his life the way it did. It was too convenient how politics lined up for Jin Guangyao.
For such a small man his steps are heavy.
Nie Huaisang had taken one of his men into his quarters- one he suspected was with Jin Guangyao- and ran his blade through his chest, "May your weakness fall on my blade and this blood become strength."
The face distorted and he started changing- morphing as cysts bubbled over his skin and burst in hair and teeth as the blood poured on the ground. The wound spilling and spilling not clotting as it should as mishappen claws scratched the ground and a yowl echoed out that voice.
The man died a few seconds later and Nie Huaisang knew that feeling he'd experienced wasn't an illusion. This man had already been changed before. Was already subservient to someone and the master he had no doubt about.
"While he is my sworn brother he is devious. He claims his time with the Wen sect did not change the kind of person he was but who can believe that give what the sect did? And he is unchanged what does that say of him?"
He knows that by the end their relationship was strained and harsh but he also knows Nie Mingjue was constantly wanting it to be better. For Jin Guangyao to prove he was better than someone so taken in by power and status.
Nie Mingjue cared for him- took him in- Nie Huaisang had respected the man fully and this- this was how Jin Guangyao repaid him.
You tried to bind my brother's will. You tried to warp his mind
Is that why his brother couldn't stop how his rage and frustration- a secret adoration- towards him? Is that why his entire sect mutters behind his back? He wasn't sure how he did it but he knew one thing Jin Guangyao was using him.
Had used his brother and in all likely every sect leader and disciples he could get his hands on.
So with fire boiling in his chest and turning the world a deep red of hate and revenge, he chose to seek out what he could of his brother's corpse. To find all the loose ends that were left no matter how frayed and unraveled. He let the birds be his spies and the fierce animals he had grown up with his saboteurs.
He cast deep roots across the land to listen and gather intelligence while he waited to strike. He arranged it all neatly and lined up the steps to get everything ready for revenge. Nie Huaisang laughed and acted dumb while he could see Jin Guangyao plotting and scheming all the while. He let himself fall under the man's control enough to feel the magic sinking in his marrow.
All of it just enough to make him scream but he bared with it. Bared the laughter in those eyes as his body twist and broke. Till he was allowed to return back to his humanity. "You turned out just as pathetic as I expected."
"I'm sorry master." He felt that emotion binding in his chest. One that says he should be loyal and love this man- this demon pretending he is a god. He feels it so strongly and it chains and binds his heart so he plays games with these orders. These commands he's been given.
Passes it as a matter of incompetence.
There was never a rule for how loyal he needed to be. Never a law that said he couldn't send someone else. Nie Huaisang needed a victim- nay, a pawn who would move along the board and do everything he needed all while unaware of the strings being pulled. He knew he would need Wei Wuxian that much was certain.
A man as familiar with this magic and with a heart as kind as he would not be able to resist saving the sects and those he cared about. Then there was Lan Wangji who was sure to follow anywhere Wei Wuxian went as he was a lovestruck fool with a heart just as golden.
That left the body. A person who could be manipulated into giving up their life for revenge.
He found the victim in Mo Xuanyu. A poor cut-sleeve boy who's mind had clearly never been all there but then again he grew up in a locked room from his understanding. Was it cruel that he was going to use him as every other person had?
Oh, no doubt in that. "All the pain, all the suffering was cruel. It was wrong." He tried to be kind to him. To be sweet to this wretched thing of a human being. Mo Xuanyu the life you live is truly cursed and for what he is going to do know Nie Huaisang is truly sorry for you.
But his kindness could not reach too far or it might be problematic. It might make Mo Xuanyu unwilling to follow if the light he gave was too bright.
"I loved Jin Guangyao. I loved Papa. I never did anything I wasn't supposed to so why did they hate me? Why didn't they love me?"
"Because they are broken." Nie Huaisang said as he hugged Mo Xaunyu, as he smiled. He pushed back a strand of hair. "They treated you like a toy and here they treat you even less. It's so cruel and horrible."
"I'm a good child."
"Yes, you are." He held out sweets for him knowing Mo Xuanyu was half-starved and those eyes wide and feral as he snatched the food greedily. "Mo Xuanyu more than anything what do you want? What do you want for the people that hurt you so much?"
"Dead!" He says it so firmly. So joyful and full of resentment. "I want them all dead. I want them to suffer every second of the rest of their lives."
"Would you like to learn how? How you can bring all of them down with a single spell? How you can make Jin Guangyao- your family- the world- regret everything?"
Mo Xuanyu licked his lips eyes wide, "Yes! Anything- I will do anything!"
Nie Huaisang wished he felt more guilt for what he was about to do but he didn't. No. He was only glad to finally be making progress on his revenge.
If gods rely on mortals to worship, then you must destroy the god's flock. Then the temple will fall to ruin along with the rest of the piety till it is only ashes and rubble. A little bird chirps that Wei Wuxian is already in Cloud Recesses.
Good. Hurry up and come visit old friend. I'm waiting.