illuminate the world
by Rose Thorne
Note: This will not make sense unless you have read "the thread may stretch or tangle but it will never break" chapter 24.
Disclaimer: I don't own MDZS or The Untamed and make no money writing fanfiction.
Jin Zixuan wasn't unaware that he was kept in the dark about certain things; too many conversations had stuttered to a halt when he entered rooms for him to be ignorant of that reality. He'd always told himself he didn't want to know what his father was up to, having learned unpleasantly at a young age about his father's more salacious inclinations.
But standing in the Burial Mounds between his wife and the sentient fierce corpse of a man who had died by his clan's hands, watching a toddler melt down in abject terror at the sight of his zhushazhi, screaming for Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji—calling them Diedie and Baba, with implications he wasn't able to immediately comprehend—he couldn't ignore the signs he'd been seeing in the months since the war.
He could only let A-Li wipe the mark of his clan away, hoping in vain that it would calm the child, and then let himself be ushered away by his xiao jiuzi as the man who was his jiuzi tried to comfort the boy, only to be greeted by the sight of civilians and the elderly in a clearing with some ramshackle huts.
Koi Tower had always been a place where one had to watch their step, and he'd spent a lot of his childhood learning not to show his emotions or trust anyone through bad experiences, but he hadn't thought it could sink to the level of throwing children, civilians, and the elderly into labor camps for no crime but their family name.
He wished the corruption of his clan stopped there, but he met a woman who showed him a peony branded on her body as Mianmian would have had a sun burned into her face if not for Wei Wuxian, and heard tales that turn his stomach about the callous treatment and deaths of all children but the little boy who was rightly terrified of him—a little boy who was apparently his zhizi through A-Li, the adopted son of Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji who as it turned out were married.
If that were all, it would have been easier to handle, but then Jiang Wanyin told him exactly how far Wei Wuxian would go for family, that he'd found a way to give him his own jindan after his was melted by Wen Zhuliu… and had not intended to tell him, instead resigned to suffering silently and becoming the enemy of the jianghu repaying Wen—Wei, rather, now Wei—Qing and Wei Ning for sheltering them and performing the surgery by saving their family. Or he would have, had Lan Wangji not discovered the truth and decided he would not stand for it, instead confessing they'd somehow been married since they were fifteen, which confusingly he hadn't told Wei Wuxian until he determined it could be used to protect him and…
"They're disgustingly in love," Jiang Wanyin muttered, shaking his head, "and I guess it didn't even occur to my idiot brother that was why he was obsessed with Lan Wangji."
"They are also not quiet about it at all, so now there are silencing talismans engraved on the cave wall that get activated every evening," Wei Qing added.
She had rejoined them in time to explain the core transfer after finishing a session of musical healing cultivation on Wei Wuxian, something she and Lan Wangji had invented.
And that was significantly more than Jin Zixuan wanted to know, ever, about his jiuzi—thinking about his surgically-removed jindan was hard enough, and Wei Qing had blessedly not gone into much detail but his imagination was enough—but he didn't dare protest under the circumstances.
"I would prefer not to know certain things about my brother," Lan Xichen said, blessedly, and the discussion moved on.
So Wei Wuxian's act of liberating the labor camp and all that had followed was due to a life debt for rescuing Jiang Wanyin—Jin Zixuan had to reconsider his view of Wei Ning as timid given that he'd drugged Wen Chao and his men to do so—sheltering them following the razing of Lotus Pier, and performing the transplant surgery. Which, according to Jiang Wanyin, was at least in part because he felt he owed a debt to the Jiangs, which turned his stomach because he could see A-Yao feeling he had to do whatever their father wanted out of a perception of owing the Jin for finally recognizing him. Wei Wuxian had felt he owed his very jindan, though Jin Zixuan was certain from seeing him defend his siblings it was also a measure of the depth of his love for them.
Wei Ning's actions, arguably treason, had been prompted by Wei Wuxian simply being kind to him, which was amazing in and of itself and made clear his values.
Jiang Wanyin and A-Li, upon learning of this debt, had decided to also shoulder the burden with him, as had Lan Wangji in marrying him.
Nie Huaisang believed he should also shoulder some of the burden because of his own life debt—Wei Ning had helped him escape from the Wen indoctrination after the rest of them had been left for dead at Muxi Mountain. Otherwise he would have been a valuable prisoner to keep Chifeng-Zun out of the war effort.
The argument, which was somewhat tenuous if only because it required he agree, was that he too owed a life debt through A-Li because she had been sheltered along with her brothers, and thus the eight of them should swear siblinghood. Jin Zixuan saw no need to disagree, as without them his wife may not have survived, and that was enough for him.
"A-Li's debt is my debt," he said as soon as Jiang Wanyin paused to take a breath.
Given that this likely went against his father's wishes, his decision could be unfilial, but life debts transcended that in his eyes.
The bright hope that his words sparked in those gathered around him, A-Li's like the sun, only confirmed he'd made the right decision. Even Zewu-Jun and Nie Mingjue.
Jin Zixuan abruptly realized why—Fuqin couldn't move openly against Wei Wuxian if he was his heir's sworn brother, and so he and these refugees would gain more protection.
He didn't regret the decision. Perhaps it was the fact that he had grown up seeing and trying to ignore the rot at Jinlin Tai and couldn't deny that he could absolutely believe that it had sunk so low as to do the things that had been done at that labor camp, could believe his own cousin Jin Zixun would sell women from the camp to brothels, and could still see little Wei Yuan wailing in abject terror at the sight of his zhushazhi every time he closed his eyes that made it easier to dismiss any doubts he might have.
Wei Wuxian was a war hero whose ill treatment since the war was distasteful, and it disgusted him that his clan was violating its own motto through vilifying him—darkening rather than illuminating the world. Jin Zixuan had stood in battle with him during the Sunshot Campaign and now knew more of the price he had paid to help them win it. Further, he had done his utmost to protect A-Li from him when he was an absolute boor.
Becoming his sworn brother would be an honor and the right thing to do.
More importantly A-Li loved her brother and wanted to protect him, wanted him home so he could heal.
That was enough for him.
Nie Huaisang's already started on the propaganda, as you can see, pushing his tale of Wen Ning letting him escape. I'm not sure Nie Mingjue completely believes him, but under the circumstances he's not going to question it. But are there hints of the Headshaker in his rewriting the narrative to suit his needs?
The Jin clan motto is "opening the doors toward wisdom and aspiration; illuminating the world with the vermilion light," which is referred to in the title.
baba = dad (informal)
diedie = dad (informal)
fuqin = father (formal)
jindan = golden core
jiuzi - wife's younger brother
xiao jiuzi - wife's youngest brother
zhizi - younger brother's son, can apparently also refer to wife's younger brother's son?
zhushazhi - zhusha is cinnabar, and with zhi it becomes cinnabar mole