Disclaimer: I do not own MDZS/ The Untamed. This will of course be a mix of canons as is usual for me. Wei Wuxian has returned with his original appearance but it's only superficial as he has Mo Xuanyu's core.

It was supposed to be a routine night hunt. Nothing that the juniors couldn't handle. And with Wen Ning and a poorly concealed Sect Leader Jiang following behind them, things were usually fine if it turned out to be something more than they could. It had been 2 years since the fateful Guanyin Temple incident and they'd more than gotten accustomed to stalking the juniors together, though Sect Leader Jiang of course put up a grumpy front. They were back in Yunping, this time following the trail of a strangely elusive spirit that seemed to disappear every time they were close to trapping it. It did not help that Lan Jingyi was terrified of ghosts and his teeth kept chattering, possibly alerting the thing when they were near.

"Really Lan Jingyi if you're that scared you shouldn't have come!" teased Jin Ling. Lan Jingyi pouted, "I'm not scared!"

A cold gust of wind blew past them and Lan Jingyi shrieked and grabbed onto the person closest to him, clinging like a koala. It was Jin Ling, who smirked and raised an eyebrow at him. "This doesn't prove anything," Lan Jingyi said stiffly, "I...I did this because I wanted to!"

"You wanted to hug me?" said Jin Ling, an amused grin on his face. Lan Jingyi sputtered and let go, face turning red. "Who wants to hug you, Young Mistress?!"

"You apparently," Jin Ling snickered.

Before a furiously red Lan Jingyi could retort, Lan Sizhui shushed them.

"There's something here," he said, pulling out a spirit trapping pouch, and gesturing to Ouyang Zizhen to be ready to send the thing his way.

Lan Jingyi and Jin Ling also got into the same position, all levity fading, though Lan Jingyi had gone pale.

They'd agreed on this formation so that this time if the spirit evaded one spirit trapping pouch, it would directly be forced into a second one. Jin Ling and Lan Sizhui held the pouches and the other two got ready to banish the spirit into it.

Circling the area where the resentful energy was felt, the spirit soon materialised and cackled menacingly. Lan Jingyi shivered but as the spirit lunged at him his fight or flight mechanism kicked in and he strongly banished it towards Jin Ling.

The spirit was getting sucked in and Ouyang Zizhen cheered. "Finally!"

Except right at that moment there was a spike of resentful energy. The spirit did not intend to go quietly.

Before anyone knew what had happened, Lan Sizhui was being pinned down by Sect Leader Jiang, who had slumped over him, unconscious.

The ghost had shot a blast of light towards him and Lan Sizhui could not move out of the way in time. Sect Leader Jiang was closer than Wen Ning, and had tackled him out of the way, absorbing the blast himself.

The last thing they heard of the spirit was it's maniacal laughter before it was fully gone, trapped within the pouch, leaving behind several very panicked juniors.

"Jiujiu!"

"Sizhui!"

"Sect Leader Jiang!"

Sizhui, dazed from having the wind knocked out of him, still lay flat and unmoving on the floor with Sect Leader Jiang's deadweight on top of him. He managed to raise his hand weakly to indicate he was fine.

Wen Ning, worried about Sizhui, hurried over and lifted Sect Leader Jiang off of him.

Lan Jingyi helped him to his feet while Jin Ling fussed over his uncle, held in Wen Ning's arms like he weighed nothing. Ouyang Zizhen took a moment to appreciate the strength of the fierce corpse but he too was worried as Sect Leader Jiang was not waking up. Lan Sizhui took his wrist to try and see if he could figure out what was wrong. Wen Ning had been teaching him the little medical knowledge he had from Wen Qing; Lan Sizhui was a natural.

"There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with him. His qi seems normal but then why isn't he waking up?" said Lan Sizhui, feeling worried and guilty.

"Lotus Pier is close, let's take him back and alert the healers," said a frantic Jin Ling.

They all agreed that was the best course of action. Lan Sizhui carried Wen Ning, who was the only one who could properly hold an unconscious Sect Leader Jiang at the moment, on his sword. Travelling with three people was taxing and Jin Ling flew next to him, passing him spiritual energy so that he wouldn't fall. They made quite the procession and as they approached Lotus Pier the disciples noticed something was wrong immediately.

As they landed they were quickly surrounded by worried Jiang disciples, some of whom shot Wen Ning suspicious glares.

"We're taking him to the infirmary, go and find Healer Zhang," commanded Jin Ling.

"Yes, Sect Leader Jin." They reluctantly dispersed, though some of them trailed behind the group to keep an eye on their Sect Leader.

Entering the infirmary, Wen Ning placed Sect Leader Jiang on the bed and they waited in worried silence.

"Okay what happened?" said Healer Zhang, striding into the room and foregoing formalities in her no-nonsense way.

"We were chasing a spirit and we'd caught it, but at the last minute it attacked Sizhui. Jiujiu pushed him out of the way but he got hit by that weird blast of light it sent out and now he won't wake up!" said Jin Ling, his voice going wobbly at the end.

When he'd seen his Jiujiu lying like that on the floor for one heart-shattering second he'd thought he was dead. He knew he would be having nightmares about this moment. He wouldn't feel secure until he knew his uncle would be okay.

Healer Zhang tsked and muttered something about self-preservation as she put up a screen and went about examining her Sect Leader.

Except, she'd come to the same conclusion as Sizhui. "Sect Leader Jiang is fine, or so it appears. Nothing seems to be wrong except that he hasn't woken up. There's a small mark on his arm that I assume is the site of where he was hit but other than that I can't find anything wrong."

"But something is wrong! Why won't he wake up?" Jin Ling cried. They had tried to rouse his consciousness to no avail.

Lan Sizhui was feeling guilty that it was to protect him that Sect Leader Jiang was like this. He couldn't just sit still and do nothing but he didn't know what he could do that the healer couldn't. "I'll go and write to Wei-qianbei. Maybe it's a curse? Wei-qianbei might be able to see if anything is off. A-Ling, could I have one of your butterfly talismans? It would be faster and we don't know what is going on so the faster he can get here the better."

Jin Ling handed him the talisman without a word. Things between him, his uncle, and Wei Wuxian were complicated, though it was better than before. But he didn't care about anything at the moment other than making sure his uncle was okay and if Wei Wuxian could help he wasn't going to refuse. Lan Sizhui hurried out of the medical quarters (with Wen Ning slinking behind him; he felt awkward just standing there) and Jin Ling turned back to the doctor expectantly, "Do you have any theories at all as to what happened?"

"Well we don't know what the spirit was trying to do. What do you know about the spirit?" asked Healer Zhang.

"It was a terrifying thing!" said Lan Jingyi, shivering at the memory, "The townspeople we spoke to said that it was possessing people and stealing away children with the hosts' bodies, causing many people to be wrongfully accused of kidnapping."

"The people who were possessed had simply taken them to their own homes except, nobody could get into the home to rescue the children no matter how hard they tried. This happened in three villages and each time the children were only released after the spirit left the body and moved to another town. But by that time it was too late and someone got beaten severely after the spirit left his body since it wasn't known that he was possessed and the villagers thought that he was a child molester because why else would he just keep the children in his house. They weren't even being abused! The spirit was taking good care of them," said Ouyang Zizhen, puzzled.

"The spirit had a lot of resentful energy," said Jin Ling, "We couldn't figure out how it could be that badly off and yet it was not harming the children."

Healer Zhang sighed. "Well, this is all good to know but it really doesn't have much helpful information. It clearly didn't possess Sect Leader Jiang. We may simply have to wait and see if he wakes up. I can have someone stay with him and alert me to any changes."

"No need, I'll stay with him," said Jin Ling fiercely, in a tone brooking no arguments.

"Very well then," Healer Zhang sighed, "But someone will need to stay with you. You're all just back from a long night hunt and you've drained yourselves flying here so quickly."

"I'll stay with him," Lan Sizhui volunteered, stepping back into the room. It was the least he could do, after all it was his fault this was happening.

"No, you flew three people here Young Master Lan," said Healer Zhang, "You need to rest. In fact you all do. I'll let Head Disciple Han settle you all in the guest rooms. I can't deter Sect Leader Jin but the rest of you will rest."

Wen Ning cleared his throat, startling all of them. He'd been so quiet when he re-entered that nobody realised he was there. "Healer Zhang is right A-Yuan. I..if I may… I.. well.. I don't have to sleep. I c..could stay with Jin-zongzhu i..if you permit it." He and Sect Leader Jiang certainly had their differences, but he had saved Sizhui, who would be the one lying in that bed if he hadn't pushed him out of the way. Wen Ning was grateful to the man. A-Yuan was precious to him and the thought of something happening to him almost made his dead heart beat again in fright.

"Alright," said Jin Ling, it made sense after all. Healer Zhang did not look pleased but with Sect Leader Jin's agreement she simply nodded and went to inform the head disciple to make arrangements for their guests, who followed her reluctantly. They all wished to stay with Jin Ling but the doctor was accepting no protests.

Wen Ning settled down on the floor and Jin Ling squeezed in next to his uncle on the bed, a few tears leaking out when seeing his still, blank face beside him. His uncle was the only one he had left and he thought he might sincerely go mad if anything happened to him. He grasped his uncle's hand and whimpered softly at it's lifelessness. He didn't know if he was imagining it or not but jiujiu's hand seemed a bit warmer than normal too.

"Sect Leader Jiang is a strong cultivator," Wen Ning said softly, trying to comfort Jin Ling, "I am sure he will be fine."

"I hope so," Jin Ling said, voice thick.

Jin Ling didn't know when but at some point the weariness from the hunt and the emotional turmoil finally got to him and he fell sound asleep. Wen Ning let him sleep because he could keep watch over Sect Leader Jiang and Jin Ling needed the rest. A little before 5 am, Jin Ling jerked awake, suddenly feeling very hot. He was sweating which meant he'd been heated for a while.

"Shit!" he swore quietly, he hadn't meant to fall asleep. Sitting up he checked on his uncle only to realise that the source of the heat was in fact him! "Oh no," he said, worry creeping back in, "Wen Ning, could you let the disciple on guard know we need Healer Zhang? I think jiujiu's running a fever."
"Of course, I'll be back," Wen Ning said, frightened and ashamed he hadn't noticed something off, though there really was no way he could have known that Jiang-zongzhu had a fever as the man had not stirred, even in discomfort.

"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah"

Lan Jingyi awoke abruptly. It was almost time for the Lans to get up anyway but that was the first time he'd had that kind of wake-up call.

"What the heck is that?" he said, the shock waking him up better than any alarm talisman.

Sizhui yawned, "It sounds like a baby." They'd chosen to put another bed in the room and share because Jingyi had taken one look at Sizhui's anxious face and declared he was not leaving him alone for the night. He knew Sizhui was feeling guilty but it wasn't his fault. Nobody could have predicted what would happen. It was an accident. He'd talked it through with Sizhui and tried to make him let go of the guilt but he knew it wouldn't be so easy until Sect Leader Jiang recovered.

A loud wail pierced the air again, suddenly cutting off halfway.

"There it is again!" said Jingyi.

"Well somebody's baby is probably an early riser," Sizhui joked weakly.

"I suppose so."

They got ready for the morning, not hearing any more sounds, and decided to immediately go to the infirmary. Breakfast could wait and anyway Sizhui wasn't sure he could eat until he saw that Sect Leader Jiang was fine. Not many people were up at this hour inside the Sect, they noticed as they hurried to the infirmary.

But the scene that met them once they arrived was…

Jin Ling was really worried as his uncle had gotten hotter and hotter. It all culminated in a blast of light, just as Healer Zhang and Wen Ning walked back in. They shielded their eyes a second too late as none of them were expecting that outcome. For a moment they were all dazed, blinking back spots from their vision. When their sight cleared Jin Ling gasped, horrified. Where his uncle had been was now simply a pile of robes. "Jiujiu!" he cried. The pile of robes moved. His eyes widened as he scrambled to move them and Healer Zhang and Wen Ning hurried forward to see what had happened.

Before any of them could say anything, a little head popped out of it. Seeing three strange adults hovering over him the baby did what babies do. His big eyes watered and his lips trembled.

"Wha-"

Jin Ling didn't even get to finish before the child opened his tiny mouth and let out a loud wail.

"What on Earth?" said Jingyi.

"Where is Sect Leader Jiang," said Sizhui, "What happened?"

As soon as they opened the infirmary door, the sound of crying hit them like a suckerpunch.

"Shut the door!" Jin Ling demanded, "Do you want all of Lotus Pier to show up here!"

They'd just managed to put up a silencing talisman when the baby showed no signs of stopping his cries. Jin Ling had wrapped the naked baby in jiujiu's inner robes and was holding him but the baby's little fists were hitting him and he was trying hard not to think about the situation he found himself in because he was just that close to having a full on panic attack.

Jingyi winced in sympathy. "Where did the baby come from?" he asked, looking at Jin Ling who was trying and failing to stop the baby from crying by patting his back awkwardly.

"Congratulations Sect Leader Jin, you have a bouncing baby boy," said Healer Zhang, who was worried but found Sect Leader Jin's awkwardness with the baby hilarious.

Jingyi's eyes bugged out of his head, "What?! Young Mistress, you have a baby!?"

"Don't be stupid!" Jin Ling laughed, sounding slightly hysterical, "Everyone, meet xiao jiujiu."

A/N- I am bad at writing action/fight scenes don't come at me for that crappy ghost scene ? pls

- Also I know at 3 years old he's technically a toddler but.. I still consider them babies at that age so… He's still babie.