Here he was, in the flesh. The one and only Wei Wuxian himself.

A sigh came from behind Wei Wuxian. "Gongzi, are you all right? I commanded those men to leave so everything is fine now."

Oh. And Jiang Cheng was here too.

The Yunmeng Bro Duo.

In her mind, Pan Wukun cursed. - I've met and trained Meng Yao. Shouldn't that have canceled this kind of bad luck out? What the everloving fuck, Universe?!

Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng were both members of YunmengJiang sect. Head senior disciple and sect heir, respectively.

So Pan Wukun knew that she will have to act polite and civil.

"Yes. I am all right. Thanks to you both." Pan Wukun saluted. "Greetings, I am Pan Chun, courtesy name: Wukun, of…actually, I am not affiliated with any sect."

Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng both saluted back.

"I am Wei Ying, courtesy name: Wuxian, of YunmengJiang."

"I am Jiang Cheng, courtesy name: Wanyin, of YunmengJiang."

With pleasantries out of the way, now Pan Wukun needed to find out what the hell these two were doing here. "What exactly brings Wei-gongzi and Jiang-gongzi to this town?"

"We're on our way to Gusu!" Wei Wuxian answered. "GusuLan sect recently sent out invitations to all the prominent sects' young masters to attend its year-long lectures."

So it was just before the Cloud Recesses School arc started. As if Pan Wukun didn't want to stay as far away as possible from Gusu already.

Wei Wuxian leaned closer to Pan Wukun. "What about you, Pan-gongzi? What are you doing in this town?"

Pan Wukun inched back. "I'm just passing through. And please refer to me as 'Pan-xiushi'. Other than practicing the cultivation arts, I am but a humble farmer."

"Humble farmer? But you were really cool in your match against The Valiant today!" Wei Wuxian's eyes seemed to sparkle. "What was that move you used? Ah! The Fist of the Rock, Scissors, Paper!"

Pan Wukun froze. "Wait. You were watching that?" To think Wei Wuxian was somewhere in that crowd and she never noticed him! Were her "canon character danger senses" degrading?

Wei Wuxian laughed. "Yeah! We were!" He wrapped an arm over Jiang Cheng's shoulder. "It was quite the show, wasn't it, Jiang Cheng?"

Jiang Cheng sighed. "Yes. Yes, it was."

Wei Wuxian got off of Jiang Cheng and faced Pan Wukun again. "Pan-xiushi, you said you were not with any sect. So does that mean that you're a rogue cultivator?"

Pan Wukun nodded. "Yes, that's correct, Wei-gongzi."

Wei Wuxian's eyes seemed to sparkle again. "How cool! I've never met any rogue cultivators before!"

Shit. Wei Wuxian was getting too enthusiastic. Pan Wukun needed to leave now! "Uh. My apologies, but it's late and I'm exhausted. I must go."

Wei Wuxian pouted. "Eh?! But we've barely talked! Do you really have to go so soon?"

Jiang Cheng placed a hand on Wei Wuxian's shoulder. "We should be leaving soon too, Wei Wuxian. A-jie's[1] still waiting for us back at the inn. She's probably realized we're gone by now and is worried sick about us."

Wei Wuxian's eyes softened. "Ah...that's true."

This surprised Pan Wukun.

Wait. Jiang Yanli was going to the Cloud Recesses too?

Was she actually in the CQLverse?

But Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng looked nothing like Xiao Zhan and Wang Zhuocheng!

They didn't look like their CQL counterparts. In fact, they looked more like their donghua or mobile game versions, but in real life.

This was probably going to be the same case for Meng Yao when he grew older. And the same for the other canon characters who Pan Wukun will never meet, of course.

Meeting Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng at this very moment was already deep into death-level peril territory. She'll have to be more careful.

Wei Wuxian waved cheerfully at Pan Wukun. "Until we meet again, Pan-xiushi!"

Pan Wukun inwardly shuddered. - Please no. Please never again!

Jiang Cheng saluted Pan Wukun. "Safe travels, Pan-xiushi."

Pan Wukun made her polite goodbyes, walking away calmly and gracefully.

Then once she was out of their sight, she broke into a run and promptly got the hell out of there.

"Wukun-ge!"

Meng Yao rushed up to Pan Wukun, panting as he carried her cultivation gear and Yuyun.

"Wukun-ge, are you all right?!"

Pan Wukun massaged her shoulder. "Yeah, I'm fine, Meng Yao. I gave those cheats a good beating." She retrieved her cultivation gear and Yuyun from Meng Yao.

Meng Yao smiled in relief. "As expected of Wukun-ge." Then his smile dropped. "But you had to fend those crooks off without any of your cultivation tools! It must've been such a hard fight!" His lip trembled. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry I didn't make it in time!"

Meng Yao frowned in frustration. "If only! If only, I'd formed a golden core! I could've made it in-!"

Pan Wukun placed a hand on Meng Yao's shoulder. "You have nothing to be sorry for, Meng Yao. All is well now. The time will come when you form your golden core."

"I wish that time will be soon. Preferably now," Meng Yao grumbled.

Pan Wukun patted Meng Yao's head. "Just keep training and your body will form a golden core when it's ready."

Meng Yao sighed. "I know, I know."

Pan Wukun smiled. "Good! Let's head back to the inn for some rest!"

On their way back to the inn, Pan Wukun explained to Meng Yao what had happened with the PingyangYao cultivators.

"Those scoundrels!" Meng Yao growled. "Taking advantage of non-cultivators like that! How despicable!"

Meng Yao sent Pan Wukun a satisfied smile. "But you brought justice upon them, didn't you, Wukun-ge?"

Pan Wukun nodded. "That I did."

Pan Wukun and Meng Yao entered the inn.

"Welcome back, good sirs!" An inn worker, bandages wrapped around his throat, waved at Meng Yao and Pan Wukun with a friendly smile.

It was the same inn worker who the PingYangYao cultivator had taken hostage. Meng Yao had tended to the inn worker's throat before running off with Pan Wukun's cultivation tools.

"It's nice to see that you are both unharmed," the inn worker said as he brewed some tea for Pan Wukun and Meng Yao.

"Yes. I pounded those thugs into the ground with my martial arts." Pan Wukun glanced at the inn worker's throat. "How is your throat?"

The inn worker grinned. "My throat is faring well! Now it's definitely on its way to a speedy recovery after hearing that you have managed to avenge me!" He turned to Meng Yao. "Thank you, young man! Your care for my throat has saved me!"

Meng Yao smiled. "Ah. Yes. Of course, you're very welcome."

"That's good to hear," Pan Wukun said.

After the inn worker expressed his gratitude a multitude of times, Pan Wukun and Meng Yao returned to their rooms.

Pan Wukun sighed and stretched. "I'm going to take a bath."

Meng Yao lay in bed.

Wukun-ge hadn't returned yet.

He was taking an awfully long time in the bath…

Wukun-ge always did like to have some time and space to himself. Especially when he was stressed out.

And despite how content he appeared, Wukun-ge seemed pretty shaken up tonight, seeing how out of breath he was.

Wukun-ge did not open up so easily about everything going on in his life. So Meng Yao knew it was best not to disturb him during his bath.

Whatever happened in town, Meng Yao hoped that Pan Wukun was all right.

Pan Wukun scrubbed herself especially thoroughly as she bathed.

This better wash all the "Protagonist Radar" filth off of me.

Glossary

[1] Jie: "big sister"

A/N: In-story, the characters don't look like the CQL versions. - No, Pan Wukun, you do not get the comfort of looking at familiar actors' faces.

The characters mostly resemble a mix of their donghua and mobile game versions. The donghua is my favorite visually. But the mobile game character designs are a perfect blend of the live-action drama and donghua designs.

The donghua character designs have the flaws of same face syndrome and clothing designs that are too simplistic (I say this even though I'm always drawing MDZS characters in the donghua art style (clown face emoji)). But I also understand the simplistic clothing designs help make the animation process easier and less time-consuming so I can't really be so hard on the donghua's character designers for that (they made Yiling Patriarch Wei Wuxian hot as fuck so I'm not complaining).

Also, with a mix of wardrobes from the donghua and mobile game, the characters wouldn't be wearing the same clothes all the time. Helps add some realism (and variety in attractiveness. - Donghua Yiling Patriarch with his exposed neckline. Mobile Game Yiling Patriarch and High Ponytail Jiang Cheng *swoons*). Why not have both, y'know?

(The mobile game is going to implement NFTs though, which is not good. So appreciate the art but avoid the game.)

The character appearances stated in this fanfic are just my personal preferences. Feel free to picture the characters based on your favorite adaptation or your own personal interpretation.