Suihua - Jin Ling's sword, translated as 'passage of time'
Lanshi - a classroom in Cloud Recesses, transliterated as 'orchid room'
jiujiu - uncle (mother's brother). Jin Ling calls Jiang Cheng jiujiu.
xiao shushu - uncle (father's youngest brother). Jin Ling calls Jin Guangyao xiao shushu.
zupu - genealogy book; family history book
Zhang Fu Xian nets - golden-threaded nets Jin Ling uses on night-hunts, translated as 'deity-binding nets'
Suihua stabbed through the body of a snake monster.
The monster was dead in one hit, but Jin Ling stabbed it a few more times anyway.
Kicking the thick corpse aside, Jin Ling continued to trek through the tall, wild grass.
These hunting grounds were seldom visited. YunmengJiang disciples had access to far more interesting grounds, where they could show off their various skills hunting different beasts.
To Jin Ling, however, these were the perfect hunting grounds for a night like this. The patronising seniors and braindead juniors had gotten to his nerves more than usual, so he'd hopped on his sword and flown into Yunmeng's hunting grounds to blow off some steam. Throwing all trapping skills out of the window, he'd chosen to search the wild grass and stab monsters one by one.
He didn't have a plan. Perhaps, when he got tired, he would sneak into his room in Lotus Pier. Wei Wuxian had taught him how to climb walls soundlessly, so if his uncle caught him in the morning he could lie his way out of a lecture on being out in the middle of the night. He would have breakfast with Master Hu before taking him to see Wei Wuxian. After their sparring session, he would walk Master Hu back to Lotus Pier before asking Wei Wuxian what he'd found when he visited that area in Lanling.
The grass rustled. Parting the tall grass with his hands, he followed the sound to his next target.
Soon, he got sick of trekking through annoyingly tall grass. Sending forth Suihua in a golden arc, he had all the grass around him collapsing into a heap.
Instead of revealing monsters, however, the grass revealed a group of men.
Not only were they men, they were men in golden robes displaying the white peony on their chests.
'Senior Jin, Senior Kong,' Jin Ling saluted the two men at the head of the group. 'What brought you all to Yunmeng?'
None of the men cared to return the salute. Senior Jin laughed, 'Guess you didn't have a mummy to tell you not to run around alone at night?'
Jin Ling clenched his fists. He'd flown 800km away from home in the dead of the night, and he still couldn't get away from the people who seemed determined to get on his nerves.
Senior Jin continued, 'what if you got yourself killed by the creatures lurking around?'
They were trailing him to protect him? Nothing could be more absurd. 'There are no dangerous creatures on these grounds. I grew up around here.'
'Of course,' Senior Jin chuckled. 'But if someone found your body here, say, in a few days, would anyone doubt the reckless teenager got himself killed night-hunting alone?'
'Senior Jin, what do you mean?'
Senior Jin snickered. 'You want to know what I mean?' He stalked towards him, drawing his sword.
Jin Ling's blood ran cold as it dawned on him why they followed him here.
'It's time the rightful leader stepped up.' Senior Jin lunged.
Jin Ling had no choice but to raise his sword and fight Senior Jin. The other disciples stood by, watching as though they were at a theatre.
Though Jin Ling was yet to wield the spiritual energy of an adult, his skills more than made up the difference between him and Senior Jin. Fighting using the minimum spiritual energy to hold off Senior Jin, Jin Ling's mind raced. He couldn't hope for help to arrive by chance – no one visited these hunting grounds. He couldn't signal his uncle – when he was fifteen, he got yelled at for not using his signal firelights so he indignantly chucked the cylinder in his room.
He could only take a chance.
With a burst of spiritual energy, Jin Ling gained the upper hand. Using the move Wei Wuxian taught him, he grabbed a fistful of Senior Jin's collar in one hand and held his sword against his neck.
'Do not move!' He commanded in his best Sect Leader voice, even though his status was the reason behind the ambush.
The disciples stopped moving. Senior Kong, however, took a step towards him, hand on the hilt of his sword.
'Do not move!' Jin Ling commanded again, fighting to keep his voice from shaking. He knew he was bluffing. Senior Jin was here to kill him, but he couldn't kill Senior Jin. The rest of the disciples were still standing around, watching. The moment he killed Senior Jin, they would take him dead or alive to declare him a murderer. He did not even want to think about what the world would say about his uncle, if he committed murder on YunmengJiang territory.
As if he'd read his mind, Senior Kong let out a curt laugh. 'What are you going to do if I insisted on moving?'
Still holding onto Senior Jin's collar, Jin Ling shook his sleeve in hopes of something – anything – that would make this situation less bleak. Random talisman, half-eaten food, random talisman… A cylinder fell into his palm. It was a long shot, but what options did he have?
He stabbed Senior Jin in the thigh, stepped back, and released the blood-red fireworks.
Senior Kong and his followers descended upon Jin Ling.
-x-
Atop his sword, a black-robed figure whizzed through the air.
His blood ran cold as soon as he saw Jin Ling. The boy was standing at the edge of a rock outcropping, sword frantically slicing through the air to defend himself from the five-or-so men before him. Behind those men were more golden-robed men, swords out ready to join the fight.
Wei Wuxian's heart pounded as he hurtled towards the group, talismans shooting from his hands. Blood splattered and voices yelled as talismans exploded against bodies, the force propelling them off the rock formation onto the ground below. As soon as the men at the front were taken out, the men behind them stepped up, raising their swords. Wei Wuxian renewed his efforts, flinging out a new series of explosive talismans.
Cold metal shot through his side, sending him toppling off his sword. He landed on his back, sword clattering beside him.
Blood gushed out of his side as the attacking sword was summoned back to its owner. Panic overweighed the pain as he watched the man turn to Jin Ling.
Taking Chenqing to his lips, he poured in all he had until the world went black.
-x-
Jin Ling was going to die.
His spiritual energy was draining fast as he accumulated injury after injury. He'd backed onto the rock outcropping to stop the men from surrounding him, but even five men was impossible to fight at the same time. He was barely managing to protect against the fatal attacks, and there were more men behind them, ready to join the fight.
He could feel the edge of the rock outcropping under his back foot. There was nowhere to go.
Blood splattered and voices yelled as talismans exploded against bodies, the force propelling the men in front of him off the rock formation onto the ground below. He didn't even have time to look towards his saviour as he frantically swung his sword to defend against the new group descending upon him.
In the periphery of his vision, Wei Wuxian fell from his sword.
Jin Ling was really going to die.
Covered in injuries, he was fighting alone against the three men still on the rock formation with him. Suihua's golden ray was dimming by the second. An opponent sword clanged against Suihua. No longer able to defend against high-energy attacks, the sword fell out of his grip and clattered onto stone.
Stepping back to dodge the oncoming attack, Jin Ling fell through the air. Pain shot up his back as he landed on his hip.
The three men jumped off the rock and moved towards him. Other men were pushing themselves off the ground, descending upon him in a pack.
He reached out for Suihua. The sword lifted itself off the rock, and moved a few inches before clattering back onto the rock.
Jin Ling could only scamper backwards on the grass.
His head almost split as ear-piercing growls exploded through the field. He watched in equal parts shock and pain as corpses descended upon the LanlingJin men, turning the table against them.
Gathering all the strength in his body, Jin Ling pushed himself off the ground. Taking the Zhang Fu Xian nets out of his sleeve, he began to trap singled-out LanlingJin disciples inside them. He couldn't care less who was unconscious and who could still swear at him. Once they were all trapped, the corpses began to retreat.
After quickly searching them for weapons and signals, Jin Ling limped towards Wei Wuxian.
Wei Wuxian was lying unconscious on the ground, flute by his side.
Jin Ling didn't need to carefully examine Wei Wuxian's wound to know it was severe. With one hand, he took out the satchel from his chest and applied some medicinal herbs to the wound. With the other, he felt Wei Wuxian's pulse and began to pass him spiritual energy.
Jin Ling winced. He'd lost a fair amount of blood himself. He needed to conserve enough spiritual energy for his own body, especially if he would have to carry Wei Wuxian to help. The wound was severe enough no ordinary doctor could heal him – he would need a doctor who cultivated.
Maybe he did put his uncle's firelight into his sleeve at one point? He frantically tipped a bunch of random things out of his sleeves, to no avail. Internally, he kicked his younger and stupider self.
Clutched tightly in Wei Wuxian's fist was the bell he'd given him. His uncle would be livid if he saw Wei Wuxian wearing the YunmengJiang bell, but Jin Ling did not have the heart to remove it from his sash. Besides, the bell's spiritual energy might have been what was keeping him alive.
Just as Jin Ling submitted to the fact he would have to carry Wei Wuxian to Lotus Pier, his eyelids began to move. Slowly, Wei Wuxian opened his eyes.
Jin Ling let out a sigh of relief. 'How are you feeling?'
'Shijie…' Wei Wuxian murmured.
Jin Ling opened and closed his mouth, unable to utter a word. He could only watch in stunned silence as Wei Wuxian ran his still-bloody fingers over the golden material of his robe. 'In my dreams, you're still in your purple robe, cutting lotus roots in the Lotus Pier kitchen…'
Just a moment ago, Jin Ling was worried he would have to carry to Lotus Pier an unconscious Wei Wuxian. Now, it was clear he would have to carry to Lotus Pier a not-unconscious-but-delirious Wei Wuxian who mistook him for his mother. As gently as he could, Jin Ling picked up Wei Wuxian and began to walk through the field.
'Lan Zhan did come to tell me you were getting married. Lan Zhan hasn't changed at all. Lan Zhan sat in the restaurant in the same proper posture as when we studied together in the Lanshi.'
'Lan Zhan in the Lanshi…' Wei Wuxian repeated. It was the fourth time he'd murmured Hanguang-Jun's name, as though he gained strength from uttering the two syllables.
Please don't start confiding in me that you love Hanguang-Jun.
Jin Ling's silent prayers were somewhat answered. Wei Wuxian murmured, 'Your future son… How about we name him Jin Rulan?'
Jin Ling almost tripped.
Growing up, Jin Ling never knew his courtesy name. He'd figured his parents were yet to give him one at the time of their deaths, and one of his uncles would give him a courtesy name when he grew up. When Jin Chan turned fifteen, he'd started asking other juniors to address him by his courtesy name to assert his maturity. On his own fifteenth birthday, Jin Ling had asked his jiujiu to give him a courtesy name, so he could do the same. His jiujiu had given a firm no, which quickly escalated into a heated argument. His xiao shushu had to come to resolve the screaming match, but he didn't move to give him a courtesy name either.
When he opened the Jin zupu to enter his xiao shushu's death date, he found the courtesy name 'Rulan'. It was certainly his entry – he was the only son of Jin Zixuan and his birth name and birth date were both correct.
He had a courtesy name, but why hadn't anyone told him what it was?
That night, as he lay awake in his bed, he remembered the movement of a boat as it moved through water. He was on the boat with Lan Jingyi and a few other juniors. The Ghost General was talking to Lan Sizhui. He called him… Jin Rulan.
He didn't remember incorrectly. The Ghost General had called him Jin Rulan. At the time, he assumed the Ghost General had simply gotten his name wrong. But Jin Rulan was the courtesy name recorded in the Jin zupu. How did the Ghost General know his courtesy name when he himself didn't?
Over the next few days, he had found himself repeating the name in his head. 'Ru' was the character that marked his generation. 'Lan' referred to orchids. But why orchids? The Jin Sect's motif was the white peony; the Jiang Sect's motif was the nine-petalled lotus. Neither of his grandmother's sects had any connection to orchids as a symbol.
After spending far too long writing and rewriting the character in his room, he'd given up on finding deeper meaning in the origin of his name.
Who knew it would all fall upon him, as he carried a delirious and wounded Wei Wuxian step by step to Lotus Pier.
His courtesy name was given by the wounded man in his arms; his courtesy name originated from Wei Wuxian's yearning for Hanguang-Jun. He shook his head. Now was neither the time nor the place to think about the absurdity of his courtesy name. He forced himself to think about his to-do list after he got to Lotus Pier.
Senior Jin and Senior Kong were probably preparing an alibi. When it came to his word against theirs, there was no telling who the LanlingJin seniors would believe. Wei Wuxian's word would mean nothing to them. His uncle would stand beside him of course, but his uncle had already done too much for him. He hated to ask others for help, but he couldn't think of any other option. He would need to call in Sect Leader Lan and Hanguang-Jun. Hanguang-Jun would trust Wei Wuxian's word; Sect Leader Lan would trust Hanguang-Jun's. He trusted them to be righteous, and no one could ignore the word of the Twin Jades of Lan.
He decided he would call in Sect Leader Nie as well. Though whether the QingheNie Sect still stood as one of the Great Sects was often questioned, it would be helpful to have another Sect Leader. He barely knew Sect Leader Nie, but he should be able to hear him out impartially. After all, Sect Leader Nie had no reason to be biased towards Jin Guangshan's right-hand man.
When the gates to Lotus Pier appeared in the distance, it was almost dawn.
Chinese is full of homophones - characters that sound the same, but are written differently and hence have different meanings. In Jin Rulan or Lanshi, lan (兰) means orchids. In the GusuLan surname, lan (蓝) means blue.
To this day, many Chinese families employ 'generation names', where all members of a generation share the same character e.g. Jin Zixuan and Jin Zixun, Jin Rusong and Jin Rulan.
What about Jin Guangyao's courtesy name? Why did he take the character that marks his father's generation rather than his own? A theory: Naming him Jin Ziyao would formally recognise him as Jin Guangshan's son, placing him in the line of succession and inheritance. On the surface, the guang character upgrades him to the generation above Jin Zixuan/Zixun, but in reality it removes him from any chance at succession/inheritance (unless he kills everyone, of course).