[of course it does. of course he had to work out demonic cultivation here. Lan Wangji himself can see in these memories, in this nightmare, that even a powerful righteous cultivator alone would have a terrible time staving off the hunger of the dead. as Wei Wuxian once reasoned in Lan Qiren's classroom, it is a flood, and without some element of redirection it would be easy to be battered senseless. some of the less-damaging techniques Lan Wangji has investigated might have been enough alone, but of course Wei Wuxian reached for as much power as he could, after being made powerless.

of course he hid this when he returned. let alone showing weakness in front of another sect, Wei Wuxian would not want his brother to know that he had failed to rescue him when it was needed, or that Wei Wuxian was bitter somewhere at the failure. of course he was bitter.

of course Lan Wangji couldn't find him. he tried to come this way, but with Yunmeng to Yiling and beyond solidly in the Wens' hands, he ran into a patrol before he got more than a day's flight into the territory. he couldn't kill them all alone. the Wens were fighting to kill too; if Wei Wuxian had been captured here, he'd reasoned bleakly, he'd be dead, and Inquiry would be a safer bet to find him. he could only linger two more nights as close as he dared to Yiling before the Wens drove him back and he marked the area off as searched, with no little despair. he did not have the imagination to anticipate this specific torture, or Wei Wuxian's strategy to survive it.

he hates this. he hates this. he accepts it as fact and lets the acid shock of its reality trickle out in a breath between his teeth.

he has been standing here very still and silent for a noticeable space of time now.]

Wei Ying.