Peony for the Soon Departed - Part One is the sixty-ninth chapter of Mo Dao Zu Shi.
Synopsis []
Many years prior to the present day, a large night-hunt competition was held at Mount Baifeng, one of the top-three hunting grounds in the cultivation world. During the competition, clans both large and small could display their skill and recruit talents, and rogue cultivators and new disciples could also make their talents known.
At the base of the mountain is a vast square with ten tall watching towers so that onlookers can watch the hunting grounds. The quietest tower is the tallest, most embellished one, occupied by elder cultivators, clan leaders, and their families.
Every clan entered in a grand riding formation, although horses were not used during the hunting.
The Gusu Lan Clan enters first among the Four Great Clans. Flowers rain down upon Lan Xichen and Lan Wangji, but they only stop their formation when Lan Wangji senses that Wei Wuxian has joined the maidens to throw a flower at him.
Although Jiang Cheng expresses annoyance, Lan Xichen thanks Wei Wuxian for his kindness in his brother's stead.
Jin Guangyao announces the arrival of the Qinghe Nie Clan next. Nie Mingjue and Nie Huaisang enter, although most maidens are too afraid to throw flowers towards Nie Mingjue. Instead, the men cheer for him.
The Yunmeng Jiang Clan enters third. Wei Wuxian rides besides Jiang Cheng, enjoying the rain of flowers. Jiang Cheng, in contrast, wears a dark expression. However, they both eagerly accept flowers from Jiang Yanli, who throws them from her position besides Madam Jin atop the tallest tower.
The Lanling Jin Clan enters fourth, led by Jin Guangshan. Wei Wuxian scoffs as Jin Zixuan rides out dramatically, labelling him a "peacock."
Jiang Cheng warns him to watch himself, and Wei Wuxian promises that so long as Jin Zixuan does not make Jiang Yanli cry again, he will behave himself. Still, he resents that Madam Jin still aims to play matchmaker with Jin Zixuan and Jiang Yanli.
Still, without dropping his speed at all, Jin Zixuan shoots an arrow directly into the center of a target. His cousin Jin Zixun loudly dares anyone to shoot better than his cousin.
The targets present an obstacle before the official entry into the mountain. Those who intend on hunting can only become eligible to enter if they are able to shoot a target from a certain distance away. There were seven rings on the targets, in accordance with the seven paths of entry. The closer that the arrow is to the center, the more advantageous its respective entry path.
Observing Jin Zixuan's success, Wei Wuxian rides towards Lan Wangji to request that he lend him his forehead ribbon. Lan Xichen attempts to explain its significance, but Lan Wangji tells his brother there is no need.
Wei Wuxian then removes the black ribbon around his wrist guards and ties it over his eyes. He sends an arrow directly into the center of a target while blindfolded, outdoing Jin Zixuan to gain the Yunmeng Jiang Clan the most favorable entry into Mount Baifeng.
As Jin Guangshan jokes that they should watch out that Jin Zixun does not steal the prey, Wei Wuxian cryptically replies that he will not be able to.
After entering the mountain, Wei Wuxian separates from the Yunmeng Jiang Clan and, still blindfolded, plays a song on Chenqing. While resting on a tree branch, he is nearly lulled to sleep when someone approaches him.
Wei Wuxian senses no killing intent, so he is not alarmed. Suddenly, however, the person pushes him against the tree, and passionately kisses him.
By the time Wei Wuxian manages to remove his blindfold, the person is long gone, along with the flower given to him by Jiang Yanli. He is stunned to have had his first kiss at the age of twenty, and without knowing who did it. Supposing a shy maiden to be the culprit, he searches through the woods only to find Lan Wangji smashing a tree in frustration.
Wei Wuxian asks if he is all right, but Lan Wangji harshly tells him to leave, and even unsheathes Bichen.
Alarmed by his strange behavior, Wei Wuxian stays with him. After recalling the kiss, he asks Lan Wangji if he has ever kissed anyone.
He then teases him that he will probably die before kissing someone. Lan Wangji then asks if he has ever be kissed, and Wei Wuxian lies that he has much experience. Lan Wangji's expression immediately turns cold.
Just then, they are interrupted by the arrival of Jin Zixuan and Jiang Yanli. Noting Wei Wuxian's ire, Lan Wangji asks what happened between him and Jin Zixuan.
During the Sunshot Campaign, Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng visited Langya to aid Jin Guangshan. Jiang Yanli came along, but as her cultivation was not high enough to fight, she made herself useful cooking for the cultivators. However, she always made three extra bowls of soup: for her brothers, and for Jin Zixuan.
Unbeknownst to her brothers, Jiang Yanli had felt quite dejected over her dissolved engagement. Still, while she left soup for Jin Zixuan every day, she did not tell him who it came from.
Jin Zixuan thus believed another young woman responsible for it, and had the woman raised from a servant to a guest disciple. One day, unfortunately, he encountered Jiang Yanli in his room.
She admitted why she was there, but to her distress, Jin Zixuan "exposed" her as a liar and criticized her character. Jiang Yanli burst into tears, and Wei Wuxian happened to come by. After beating Jin Zixuan, he had the other woman questioned, and the misunderstanding was exposed.
Wei Wuxian continued to attack Jin Zixuan, who stopped fighting back. Eventually, Jiang Yanli held up her hand and Jiang Cheng and Jin Guangshan intervened to pull Wei Wuxian away.
At Mount Baifeng, Jin Zixuan's attempts to make conversation with Jiang Yanli result only in nods, as Jiang Yanli has no desire to flatter him. Jin Zixuan invites her to the Lanling Jin Clan's private hunting grounds, but Jiang Yanli declines.
Jin Zixuan asks if she does not like hunting or does not like him. When Jiang Yanli attempts to leave, he grabs her arm, and Wei Wuxian interrupts.
Jin Zixuan pulls out Suihua in frustration, and Lan Wangji uses Bichen to block his attack.
Noting the sword glares of Suihua and Bichen, several cultivators rush to the scene. Jin Zixun asks if Wei Wuxian is troubling Jin Zixuan again, and Wei Wuxian asks Jin Zixun who he is.
Jin Zixun is infuriated. He had never interacted with Wei Wuxian during the Sunshot Campaign, as he defended the back due to an injury, while Wei Wuxian was on the front lines. Furthermore, Wei Wuxian has used his Demonic Cultivation to lure away all of the Fierce Corpses and Ghosts he was about to capture during the competition.
Madam Jin descends from the sky to harshly reprimanded Jin Zixuan for bullying Jiang Yanli. Jiang Yanli says that he did not bully her, but Wei Wuxian attempts to leave with his shijie.
Jin Zixun then accuses Wei Wuxian of arrogance and of taking one-third of the entire prey on the mountain, which, to Jin Zixun, is stealing more prey than he should. Additionally, as Wei Wuxian only used his flute to take the prey, Jin Zixun insists it is unfair.
Madam Jin tells him to stop, but Jin Zixun carries on. As Wei Wuxian attempts to leave, Jin Zixun only escalates the situation, mocking the discipline of the Yunmeng Jiang Clan.[1]
Characters []
in order of appearance:
- Lan Xichen
- Lan Wangji
- Wei Wuxian
- Jiang Cheng
- Jin Guangyao
- Nie Mingjue
- Nie Huaisang
- Jiang Yanli
- Madam Jin
- Jin Guangshan
- Jin Zixuan
- Jin Zixun
Events []
- Night-Hunt at Mount Baifeng
- Sunshot Campaign (mentioned)
- Night-Hunt of the Xuanwu of Slaughter (mentioned)
Locations[]
- Mount Baifeng
- Lotus Pier (mentioned)
- Cloud Recesses (mentioned)
- Langya (mentioned)
- Yunmeng (mentioned)
- Nanman (mentioned)
Creatures[]
- Xuanwu of Slaughter (mentioned)
- Measuring Snake
- Fierce Corpses (mentioned)
- Ghosts (mentioned)
- Yao
- Monsters
Cultivation Abilities[]
Cultivation Tools[]
Author's Note[]
Mo Xiang Tong Xiu's end-of-chapter note reads:[2]
That’s right, another flashback!
And this time it’s all new flashback material!
========
From the start of writing this, I’ve felt quite a lot of pressure. And now it’s to the point that it’s hard to catch my breath. Especially as of late, although I do have an outline, but I update every day and I am finding that a lack of time and energy is affecting my mindset when I put pen to paper. Honestly speaking, I’m exhausted and feel like I’ve reached a breaking point.
After these flashbacks end, there is still part five (not five chapters but an entire act) which occurs in the present timeline.
Thanks everyone for your support.
========
Regarding yesterday afternoon’s comments. I read them this morning and saw a lot of arguing, which I found unacceptable. From now on, if I see comments like this, they will be deleted. So I hope that everyone can use some discretion, consider the effect of your words, and find other, better ways to express your love for a character.
As a writer, I truly want readers’ feedback and to see a lively comment section, and so far I’ve done my best to respect readers’ freedom of expression. So thank you for the long comments. But in the end, coexisting peacefully with one another is more important. I want the comment section lively with discussion of the plot & sharing favorite parts without becoming a hotbed of conflict. So again my hope is that everyone can please keep the comment section to plot discussion, and I also hope that everyone will focus more on the interactions between Wifi & Wanjun.
As to the issue of shipping, I already emphasized very early on, and I’ll emphasize here again: Lan/Wei is the only ship in this canon, they cannot be swayed, no other character will be shipped and no other characters will have any romantic involvement with the main characters.
For a large part of this story’s updates I am flying by the seat of my pants, meaning I upload what I’ve written as I write it (lit. "naked," 裸更, luǒ gèng, slang). Although there is an outline, the quality is unavoidably rough. Once it’s done, I’ll definitely go back and work it over with a fine toothed brush from beginning to end. There are a lot of parts I find lacking and it bothers me. Anyway, thanks for willingly coming on this journey with me, readers who are seeing this story in its original form.
References[]
- ↑ Novel, Chapter 69
- ↑ Novel, Chapter 69 [Original Chinese, Trans. by @hopqer on Twitter]