Chapter Text
Wei Wuxian was a lot of things. He had been called shameless, ridiculous, cocky, arrogant, and more. He was quite possibly every single thing his brother ever said about him—but not this time. This time, he was innocent.
He had just come back from having dinner and was about to remove his outer robe when his arm brushed against a bookshelf. The bookshelf itself fell out and the token along with it. Wei Wuxian had managed to clean up everything, but he kept the token aside. Jiang Cheng had entered the room not long after.
He looked down at Wei Wuxian who was sitting cross legged on the floor with an accusing look. They had been in Gusu for nearly three months and his adopted brother had already found himself in trouble multiple times. Though he had also engaged in some of the foolishness, he could not risk angering a Lan due to theft.
“I said that I didn’t steal it; I’m not a thief!” He huffed and glared at the glowing golden token in front of them. It looked a bit like the common GusuLan token that every Lan cultivator seems to own. Except that it was golden. And glowing.
“Then pray tell, where did this come from?” Jiang Cheng yelled. Then he planted his face in his hands and sighed. “If this belongs to an elder, we are ruined. It won’t be enough to become my mother’s dogs—No, I had no part in this. Wei Wuxian, my deepest sympathies to you henceforth.”
Wei Wuxian gaped at his sworn brother, realising that he’d been betrayed.
“I found this right here in this room when I came back. I’m innocent, too!” He hissed. Slowly, then, his expression became thoughtful. “Though, it looks very important. Perhaps it holds something interesting?”
Jiang Cheng watched as his brother picked up the gold token and started investigating it like a child who had received a new toy. “Tell the truth, Wei Wuxian. You did steal this, didn’t you?” He asked, eyeing the youth in front of him in suspicion.
“If I did do something like that, I would definitely tell you first. After all, who else is there to bury my corpse?” Wei Wuxian grinned wickedly. “And if I were to steal anything, why this? I can skip over to Caiyi town without it, right over the rooftops!”
“And have the second young master Lan catch you at it, again? Spare me.” Jiang Cheng scowled and then sat down opposite Wei Wuxian, who was still examining it. “What do you suppose it is?”
“Can’t be sure, but it contains a lot of spiritual energy. If I didn’t know any better, I would say it contained someone’s golden core.” Wei Wuxian scrutinised. “This would be impossible to make by any one of the cultivators we know.”
“How can you be sure?” Jiang Cheng asked, leaning in. The conversation was starting to pique his interest. “You don’t mean… do you think it’s made by an immortal?”
“That’s what I was thinking.” Wei Wuxian nodded, seriously and continued examining it.
Jiang Cheng was growing impatient as he too, had wanted to take a closer look at it since long ago, yet his brother kept holding it out of reach. He tried two times to take it out of Wei Wuxian’s hand only for it to move further away again.
“Show it to me, already!”
“What–hold on!” Wei Wuxian said as Jiang Cheng grabbed onto the token without so much as a warning.
The moment, his brother touched it though, it flared–the light strong enough to engulf them both in a sea of gold. They felt their sense of reality distort as the room they were in, melted away to create new images in front of them.
Wei Wuxian soon found himself standing in a cave with lanterns keeping it bright.
“Where—“ Jiang Cheng said and only then did Wei Wuxian recognise his presence.
“A-Ning, stop crying, we need to transfer the core quick!”
Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng turned around hearing the harsh voice of a woman behind them and promptly froze, shock overcoming them.
There, in front of them, lay their bodies, unclothed from the waist up, both of their chests opened to reveal the bloody internal of it. They were lying on two stone beds as a woman stuck her hands in Wei Wuxian’s chest, who was very much awake and looking to be in the worst kind of agony but unable to move as he was gagged with a cloth and his wrists and ankles were tied to stakes that were embedded in the stone.
There was another man standing beside Wei Wuxian, tears flowing down his face.
Wei Wuxian felt bile rise in his throat, but couldn’t bring himself to vomit even as he wanted to for some reason.
“What the fuck is going on?!” Jiang Cheng raged. “What is that woman doing to us?!”
He ran over to where the man was standing and reached for him. However, both of them could only watch in shock as Jiang Cheng’s arm just slipped right through him.
“What…”
“Jiang Cheng…” Wei Wuxian said through his biting nausea. “This is not real. That token… it’s showing us an illusion.”
Jiang Cheng looked at him, a mixture of relief and confusion on his face. “An illusion…?”
They both flinched as the woman’s voice rang through the cave once more. In a place as bare as this, every breath echoed, and combined with Wei Wuxian’s agonised groans, the man’s constant sniffs and the woman’s desperate voice, it was a picture of torture.
Wei Wuxian watched the woman carefully. She didn’t look like she was attacking him at the very least. Her eyes were too kind.
“Hold on, Wei Wuxian! Just a little… more!” She exclaimed, sweating beading all over her forehead. The man who was with her, dabbed a cloth where her sweat was threatening to be a nuisance.
Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian watched in horror as she finally pulled her hands out of Wei Wuxian’s chest… because they were not empty. There, in her hands, a small golden ball of light rotated on its own axis.
They watched Wei Wuxian’s illusion look at it, tears now running down the side of his face, a look of immense relief present and it suddenly hit them. This was voluntary. The Wei Wuxian over there was doing it of his own accord.
“Suture him up, A-Ning!” The woman commanded as she quickly moved towards Jiang Cheng and lowered her hands inside his chest the golden orb spinning and shining in them.
The suturing did not take much time and though, the man was crying throughout his work, he didn’t slow his pace. Finally, they watched as the man took out the gag from Wei Wuxian’s mouth, who looked too tired to even grit his teeth anymore.
“Wen Qing…” He gasped, every breath looking more painful than the last.
“Talk later, take your rest! A-Ning, use the anaesthesia!” She commanded once more as she pushed the orb into Jiang Cheng’s chest and picked up her needles.
Wei Wuxian’s illusion seemed to have none of that and was determined to talk, however. He had the face of a man who didn’t know when ‘later’ would come. Or if it even would.
“Do not tell Jiang Cheng… not even if it means my life.” Wei Wuxian croaked, And despite the situation, even cracked a smile. “He has a lot of pride…”
They watched the woman, Wen Qing, as her face softened. “Why bring this up now? I’ve given my word.”
Wei Wuxian turned to the man, now. “You as well, Wen Ning… Swear to me… not a word.”
Wen Ning who had already finished injecting the anaesthesia looked at him with bloodshot eyes, tear ducts seemingly dry now, and nodded fervently. “You have my word, Young Master.”
“...Good… I think I…”
However, no one heard what he said next as Wei Wuxian collapsed into slumber immediately.
“Sister… he fell asleep…”
“Let him sleep. It’s only natural to be tired after being awake for two days straight during an operation like this.” She said as she too, began suturing up Jiang Cheng’s chest.
“Is it…?”
“Mn… it’s complete. The golden core transplant was successful. Wei Wuxian must truly cherish this boy for his golden core to so easily take to this body. The chances were only half when we started, after all…”
They watched as Wen Qing now slumped onto the ground.
“Sister!!!”
“A-Ning… I’m tired. I will rest for just a while. Watch over these two for the time being…”
“...Yes. Please rest.”
Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng felt a wave of dizziness as the images before them began blurring and before they could comprehend the end of the vision, they were back in their room, sitting opposite each other as the token was held by them.
Both immediately dropped the golden object as if it was on fire and backed away from each other in panic.
“What… Wei Wuxian… What the actual fuck was that?” Jiang Cheng asked, the fear on his face quickly turning into raw rage. “What the fuck was that??? ”
He leaped over to Wei Wuxian and held him by the lapels, but he stopped his ministrations when he saw the look on Wei Wuxian’s face. He was shocked beyond comprehension, eyes wide with disbelief. Seeing this new look on Wei Wuxian’s face made Jiang Cheng sit back on his heel and calm down.
“Wei Wuxian… tell me honestly… do you think that what we saw was purely an illusion?” He asked through gritted teeth, as patiently as he could.
“I-I… don’t know. I don’t know.” Wei Wuxian shook his head. “It has to be. Why would I need to give you my golden core? It makes no sense. I’ve never even heard of such a thing as a golden core transplant.”
Jiang Cheng looked at him sceptically. If he did indeed think of it as an illusion, then he would not be so shaken.The reason he was so shaken could only be because it felt so real. Like it had actually happened.
He hesitated before asking the forefront question. “Then… if by chance… I would actually lose my golden core… Do you swear that you wouldn’t do such a thing if you could?”
Wei Wuxian looked at him is surprise and opened his mouth to answer, but as soon as he had decided to, he realised that he couldn’t. He couldn’t answer, because he would and Jiang Cheng didn’t want to hear that.
Instead he sat there quietly, for once.
“...Your silence is enough.” Jiang Cheng sighed in frustration. He stood up and looked down at the token. “Keep that thing hidden. Illusion or whatever, it wouldn’t be good if someone else found it.”
He watched as Wei Wuxian looked at the object warily, all his childlike curiosity from a while ago replaced with careful wariness.
“...Why did it only react when I touched it? Nothing happened when only you were holding it.”
“I think… it needs two people to hold it for it to work.” Wei Wuxian answered, and as if to back up his theory, reached out for the token. He hesitated just before his fingers made contact with it and then picked it up.
Jiang Cheng look at him in anticipation. “Well?”
Wei Wuxian flashed him a grin and this made Jiang Cheng relax. It was disorienting to see his brother without a smile. “Nothing happened. My theory is right.”
“It will only be right if I touch it again, and make sure.”
At this, Wei Wuxian stiffened again. “...”
“I won’t if you don’t want me to.”
“...No, go ahead. We need to make sure of what this thing can actually do.” Wei Wuxian answered, because if his theory was correct, then it meant that this object is much more than just a pretty trinket that gives false ideas.
Jiang Cheng nodded at the confirmation and sat down again, crossing his legs. Wei Wuxian held the token out in front of them and readied himself. Jiang Cheng as well allowed himself one, deep breath before he reached out to touch it again.
The golden light flared.