It's deadline season so ofc I can't stop thinking of post-CQL WWX getting ambushed and murdered because man was literally out there alone without any Sect protection nor claim in a Cultivation world that would (realistically) still very much rejoice at his death.
The men who ambush him are a group of cultivators from different sects, big and small. They each want different things - Revenge, righteousness, glory - but they all agree that the world would be better off without the Yiling Patriarch in it.
In the end the accursed demonic cultivator twisted from their grasp and fell to his death into the rushing waters below a cliff. The cultivators felt this to be fitting - As he should have died the first time he fell off that cliff in Nightless City.
They walk into the next Discussion Conference with pride, Chenqing held up high amidst the crowd, a warded qiankun pouch containing what must be the Yiling Patriarch's evil teachings presented as evidence.
The Chief Cultivator is silent for a long time, before he takes the Yiling Patriarch's belongings into custody and adjourns the session. There will be an investigation, Lan Jingyi says in their Xiandu's behalf, as killing without a trial beforehand could be considered murder.
The Chief Cultivator himself returns to his quiet home, steps and hands quiet as he settles down the Yiling Patriarch's ghost flute, and then his belongings before him. The ward on the qiankun pouch yields easily to his touch, as if recognizing him.
Beside an almost-empty coin pouch and neat bundles of dried herbs, there are no writings of demonic cultivation, no diagrams of forbidden and dark rituals. There are only letters. Crinkled at the edges yet folded neatly, as if written in haste but then carefully smoothed out.
Lan Zhan, the first letters say, and then another, and then yet another. Lan Zhan, it's so different being on the road by myself to when we were together. Lan Zhan, I saw a bunny yesterday and it reminded me of you!
Lan Zhan, do you think it would be awfully quick of me to return to Gusu for New Years? I don't want to be a bother - Ah Lan Zhan, how great would it be if you could have come with me, huh? Just like old times! But you're doing so much good now, our Xiandu -
Lan Zhan, my Lan Zhan. The world is so wide, but what if there's just no place for some people? What if - Lan Zhan, the last letter in the pile says. I miss you, I miss you so much.
So many words, unsent and unheard. Wei Ying, alone in the road, writing these words by firelight. Wei Ying, alone and breathing his last in some nameless river. Lan Wangji sets down the last of Wei Ying's letters, the world around him the quietest it's ever been.
On second thought will probably turn this into a full-fledged fic over the holidays because I CRAVE this terrifyingly very plausible post-CQL scenario. But still on the fence whether :
@nyanwanning I BLAME CQL WRITERS
@Cosmicmilktea WWX ALIVE AND LWJ FINDS HIM AND THEY SAY FUCK CULTIVATION WORLD AND ELOPE TOGETHER INTO WILDERNESS. THE END.
@Cosmicmilktea Pero LZ estaría tan tranquilo sabiendo que mataron a WY? La pasó re mal la primera vez. Yo creo que en el momento que se lo dicen perdería los papeles y dejaría de ser el Justo HanGuang Jun, y asesinaría a los culpables. Y el único q lo mantenía vivo era LZS, quien ya es adulto..