Many centuries ago, deep in the Qianlian Forest, there lived a Prince. He was a handsome and noble man, soft-spoken and righteous. He was loved and admired by the people for showing himself wherever there was danger and swiftly thwarting it, his arrival in a troubled town like the first rays of light on the horizon after a long, dark night.
But this Prince was not without his own troubles. Despite being loved by so many, he was very often alone. He traveled without companions, without servants, without friends. He showed no interest in romance, in marriage, or in producing an heir. Suitors came from all over the land, hoping to capture the heart of the beautiful Prince, but none succeeded. Each one would be hosted politely in the castle for several days before they accepted the Prince's disinterest and returned to their homes.
Everything changed for the Prince on the day that a new suitor arrived, presenting herself as a princess from far away in the south. However, it was all a ruse; the princess was actually a huli jing in the form of a beautiful young maiden who had entered the palace in order to seduce the Prince.
That night, the huli jing snuck into the Prince's bedchambers, and climbed into bed with him, but her advances were defeated abruptly. With her identity and intentions revealed, guards quickly removed her from his room and returned her to her own, where she remained heavily guarded the rest of the evening. At the sign of the first light the following morning, she was escorted hastily from the palace.
The huli jing was infuriated by the rejection and offended by the withdrawal of hospitality. As she was removed from the grounds, an awful curse spewed from her lips in retaliation: "May the Prince live by the means he's denied me until he's unrooted from his frigid ways!"
Nothing happened right away. The palace seemed to remain as it always was, and after the murmurs of gossip passed that morning, everything returned to normal for the day.
And then the sun set.
The Prince was stepping down from his throne and crossing the grand room when... suddenly, his foot caught on something and he stopped in his tracks. A sharp tug removed it from whatever it had been stuck on, only for his other foot to suddenly get caught as well and when he shifted his robes and glanced down, he immediately discovered why; tendrils of roots had sprouted from the the soles of his feet, tearing out through the sides of his boots and burying themselves between the grooves of the stone floor.
He tried to move his other foot, but it was already buried too deep in the stone to lift. Disciples tried to cut the roots away only to find them invulnerable to their swords as the hard, unmoving bark seemed to slowly climb up the Prince's legs. The best doctor in the palace arrived swiftly, but none of his potions or balms seemed to do any thing to prevent the progression of the curse, and by midnight, the Prince was the Prince no more.
Appeals were made all across the land for the best doctors and apothecaries, for anyone who might have some way to return their Prince to his human form, but not a single attempt was fruitful, and eventually, the Prince and his palace were abandoned.
The Prince, however, in spite of his new form, never slacked in his duties to protect his people. Ever since the curse fell upon him, the forest remained a safe place to travel through, and the soil in the lands surrounding the forest was rich and fertile, perfect for growing, allowing the people living nearby to prosper from the plentiful food and trade they were granted.
The only catch was that, every so often, the Prince would need to feed... and the Prince had a very specific appetite.
~~~
That was the legend anyway. Wei Wuxian couldn't say any more than anyone else how much truth there was to it. He only knew what their reality was now.
The abandoned ruins of the palace in the forest contained something; something living, something that seemed to keep people from ever getting lost in the forest, something that seemed to make sure that the crops growing on the lands around the forest were always healthy and robust and only suffered occasionally because of extreme weather.
Something that claimed a young woman from one of their villages every few months.
The tradition itself was one that had been going on for centuries as well, one that the elders of the towns and villages surrounding the forest didn't question anymore. The ancestors had laid it out clearly; the cursed Prince in the forest was indeed a blessing, until he started getting hungry. And this was a problem because the Prince, or whatever it was in the forest, didn't eat in the traditional sense, so much as he... absorbed the qi of whatever was around him. According to all the texts, healthy crops would start to wither, the wildlife began to die off, and even foraging in the woods for food would become a more fruitless task, until... a sacrifice was made.
How their ancestors figured this out was unclear, but the instructions were anything but. Once the health of the lands appeared to wane, a young maiden was to be chosen. The two dozen or so towns in and around the Qianlian Forest were to take turns shouldering this burden, and each town could make their own decision on how the maiden was to be selected, but when the time came, the chosen maiden was to be taken to the palace ruins in the forest and left there as a sacrifice to the Prince.
What happened to these maidens? Well, no one exactly knew. None of the women ever returned home, so there were no first hand accounts of what happened once they were left at the palace, though... rumors were rampant about the sort of agonizing qi-draining deaths these maidens would experience.
Wei Wuxian's eyes swept across the tree line, looking hopefully for any movement, and he held Jiang Yanli's arm a bit closer to his side. They had left their home in Lotus Pier just before sunrise, and even now the sun was only just over the horizon, the first rays of pinkish golden light were filtering through the dense trees surrounding them on the narrow forest path. It was soon enough in the spring season that the air this early in the morning was damp and chilly and had left a light frost on the grass and trees as they walked slowly towards their destination.
This spring, it had been Lotus Pier's turn to select a tribute, and Lotus Pier had decided long ago that in order to maximize fairness, each family with an unmarried daughter would draw a lot; whichever family received the marked lot would select one of their daughters to send into the forest.
The Jiang family, the closest thing Wei Wuxian had to his own family since the long ago passing of his parents, had drawn the marked lot this year, and they only had one daughter.
Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng had issued their protests, and both Jing Fengmian and Madam Yu looked troubled by the outcome... but there were no arguments to be made. Either their sacrifice was made, or their family would be run from their home and their residence and possessions burned before they were exiled from the town. The decision was final... so Wei Wuxian immediately started putting together a haphazard plan.
When the time came just a couple days later, Wei Wuxian offered to escort Jiang Yanli into the forest, and the town elders agreed.
Now he walked beside her along the forest path in the misty morning. The mood between them was quiet and serious, though from the moment the lot had been drawn, Jiang Yanli had seemed resigned, ready to accept the fate handed down to her. The expression on her face was thoughtful and open and Wei Wuxian had seen the way she was looking around at the early spring foliage, taking everything in as if this would be her last time to do so.
It was enough to break Wei Wuxian's heart, but he wasn't sure he could tell her the truth until the right moment came, until...
The rustle of branches in the distance caught his ear and Wei Wuxian immediately perked up, his eyes darting in the direction of the sound, watching carefully until he could spot the movement in the trees. He slowed his pace down just a bit and was ready to reach for his sword if the person ahead of them wasn't who he expected it to be.
A moment later, a little ways ahead of them, Jin Zixuan and some cousin of his made their way out of the tree line and onto the path.
Wei Wuxian felt a wave of relief (it was the first time that seeing Jin Zixuan had made him feel anything other than annoyance) that lasted for about as long as it took for him to feel the sudden way Jiang Yanli's feet froze on the path beside him.
"Jin-gongzi, what..." she asked, sounding shocked, "what are you doing here?"
Jin Zixuan, who somehow managed to look both lovestruck and overwhelmed all at once as he slowly approached them, replied, "Wei-gongzi wrote to me. He told me what happened and asked me to meet you here."
"A-Xian?" Her gaze quickly darted to Wei Wuxian, the most bittersweet smile imaginable flickering onto her lips. She knew as well as anyone did how Wei Wuxian felt about Jin Zixuan; that he'd write to Jin Zixuan, even for her sake, must surely have been a surprise. "Did you do this for me?"
Wei Wuxian nodded stiffly, already knowing the direction her thoughts were heading, knowing that she wouldn't immediately realize what he intended to do.
"Thank you," she said sweetly, her warm hand reaching up to cup Wei Wuxian's cheek. "This was hard enough without being able to say goodbye." Her thumb stroked his cheek, the look on her face making Wei Wuxian feel soft inside, before she turned and took a step towards Jin Zixuan to close the gap between them. She bowed her head solemnly to him, before saying, "Jin-gongzi, I'm so glad A-Xian wrote to you. I'm... sorry that we won't have the life we'd planned together, but... I'm happy I get to see you one last time."
Confusion scrawled itself across Jin Zixuan's face as Jiang Yanli spoke, his gaze darting between her and Wei Wuxian, full of questions that Wei Wuxian's mouth felt too dry to answer... but he swallowed hard and pulled in a breath as he gathered his courage.
"Shijie..." he said, finally finding his voice, "it's not Jin-gongzi you need to say goodbye to."
She froze for a second, before turning slowly to look back at him, her brow furrowed as she asked cautiously, "A-Xian, what... what are you saying?"
His head fell a little more, trying to think how he could best inform her of what his plan all along had been... but it turned out that he didn't need to say it himself, as the realization dawned on her just a few seconds later and she asked with abject fear, "You aren't planning on taking my place, are you?"
He'd say he thought long and hard about this decision, but the truth was that it'd come to him in an instant. Within moments of realizing that she'd be sacrificed and that her parents would do nothing to stop it, he'd already known that he wouldn't let it happen. Jiang Yanli was the closest thing he had to a sister, her and Jiang Cheng were his family, and Lotus Pier would hardly feel like home without her there... and when it came down to it, he'd had only two choices: he could live on knowing she'd given her life in order for everyone else to continue surviving in comfort, or he could give up his own life knowing that Jiang Yanli could have the happily ever after with her betrothed that she most certainly deserved.
And ultimately, that wasn't really a choice at all for him. Wei Wuxian would sacrifice himself a thousand times over if it meant saving Jiang Yanli.
Of course, he'd known almost as quickly that he wouldn't be able to make this plan work on his own. Jiang Yanli wouldn't willingly accept Wei Wuxian taking her place on the chopping block, she'd fight him tooth and nail to protect someone even as unworthy of it as him, because that was who she was. Wei Wuxian knew that he would need someone else to help him, to keep her restrained while he went on without her, someone that could whisk her far away to somewhere safe so that no one would know what he'd done until it was too late to stop him...
Luckily, she had a fiancé who was willing to be just as selfish in their love of Jiang Yanli as he was.
"Jin-gongzi, came here to take you home with him," he said, putting on a smile because it was what he did best as he avoided her question entirely. "You'll be able to marry him, just like you've wanted."
"A-Xian," she said pleadingly as she stepped back towards him. She took his hands into her own and squeezed them tight, looking up at him with worry and desperation, "Please, you can't do this. This is my duty, you can't do it for me."
He knew she might be right. He'd done as much research as he could, and the sacrifices always seemed to be young virgin women, though there never seemed to be any justification for why this was the case--which was enough for him to be willing, despite only filling half of the maiden requirement, to at least make an attempt. He didn't know if the Prince would even consider him a suitable replacement, but... he wouldn't know for sure unless he tried, and he was most certainly going to try.
"Well, we don't technically know whether or not that's true," he said in an attempt at a light-hearted tone.
It only made Jiang Yanli frown harder, look even more fretful. "XianXian... you have your whole life ahead of you, you..."
"I could say the same for you, Shijie," Wei Wuxian countered with a reluctant nod towards Jin Zixuan. "You're already engaged. You're going to be a bride and have the family you've always dreamed of."
Wei Wuxian didn't have that, didn't have such lofty goals for himself. He'd been sure he was going to die young ever since he'd lost his parents, and the only family he had were the Jiangs. He wasn't so naïve to think that no one would miss him, but... dying now, dying to save Jiang Yanli... that would probably give his life more meaning than anything he would create for himself anyway.
"But what about A-Cheng? He'll miss you. Who will look out for him if we're both gone?" she asked urgently.
Wei Wuxian felt the sting of that, but... there was nothing to be done about it now. Despite fighting all the time, he and Jiang Cheng were close--though there was always part of Wei Wuxian that wondered if Jiang Cheng wouldn't have been better off if Jiang Fengmian had never brought Wei Wuxian to come live with them. Nothing could undo the past, but Jiang Cheng was an adult now, and Wei Wuxian imagined he would be able to live with Wei Wuxian's absence, especially once he learned his sister was still alive.
"Jiang Cheng will be fine," he told her. "In a few weeks, we'll know whether or not this worked and you'll be able to tell him you're safe. That'll mean the world to him."
"A-Xian, stop!" she said, the volume of her voice rising, becoming more determined. She was hardly a confrontational person, and Wei Wuxian was almost taken aback by the passion in her tone. "I'm not going to let you do this! I'm your senior, you have to listen to me, don't you? I'm ordering you to--"
Quite suddenly, Jiang Yanli stopped mid-sentence, a dizzy look falling over her face--a second later, her body started to go limp. Between Wei Wuxian and Jin Zixuan's quick reflexes, they each managed to reach out for her, catching her before she collapsed to the ground.
Both Jin Zixuan and Wei Wuxian's eyes snapped to the young man that had arrived with Jin Zixuan, and they shouted, "Zixun!" and "What did you do?" respectively.
Jin Zixun threw his hands up defensively, a talisman in one making it more obvious what he'd done, and he snapped right back, "You heard her, she wasn't going to just go along with this! I was just trying to make this easier!"
If Wei Wuxian wasn't supporting some of Jiang Yanli's weight between them, he almost certainly would have brushed right past Jin Zixuan to punch his oaf of a cousin--but instead, after a sharp glare, he forced himself to huff out a breath, and helped adjust Jiang Yanli more securely into Jin Zixuan's arms.
His hands held hers for a moment longer though, lingering because he couldn't help himself. This wasn't exactly the goodbye he'd wanted, but... it was for the best. Anything that got Jiang Yanli out of here safely was good enough for him, even if this was far from what he'd expected of their last words to each other.
He took a moment more to look down at her now-relaxed face, his expression soft and sad... but there was no denying the inevitable. After pulling her hand to his mouth and pressing a soft kiss to the back of it, he gently lowered it and then stepped away.
With a faint sigh, he took hold of Suibian and said a quiet goodbye to it before handing it over reluctantly to Jin Zixuan's cousin (only because Jin Zixuan's hands were full). He wouldn't need it where he was going, after all.
He aimed a sharp and somewhat desperate look at Jin Zixuan and told him, "Take care of her."
"I will," Jin Zixuan agreed without hesitation.
The tension between them evaporated for a moment, and... Wei Wuxian found himself trusting Jin Zixuan. For all the trouble between them over the years, for all that Wei Wuxian had hated Jin Zixuan at first... he could see now just how much Jin Zixuan had come to love Jiang Yanli, and on that, if nothing else, they could find some common ground.
"Yeah," Wei Wuxian replied, tone turning stern, "you better. Because if you don't, I'm gonna come back and haunt you, you hear me?"
"I hear you," he said, a weighted smile flickering at the corner of Jin Zixuan's mouth. Their eyes remained locked for another moment and a hundred unspoken words exchanged between their gazes in the silence, before Jin Zixuan added with almost heart-wrenching sincerity, "Thank you, Wei Wuxian."
With a final nod, Wei Wuxian forced himself to tear his eyes away from them, from Jiang Yanli, and continued along the forest path.
The Prince was waiting.