What to do when you become that which you hunt

[discountlan]

[Pain.

That was all he remembered at first.

He had felt quick and shattering pain, and then just as quickly-- Nothing.

No time to feel sad, no time to feel scared, no time to even give one last hopeful glance goodbye.

It went dark before he could see Guangyao escape, his last vision nothing but the menacing look of Nie Mingjue's fierce corpse so close to him.

So it was surreal when he opened his eyes. He could see the temple ground where they all stood at one point, now barely ruins of what it once was. It looked so lonely, so dead. And him?

Su She looked down at his pale hands, stunned but not surprised. Not being born into the cultivation world like most prominent families, he never got to have the purifying technique placed upon him. Perhaps this was all he would have ever eventually amounted to.

His white robes were translucent as he stared vacantly, hauntingly, from the demolished walls of what used to be the Guanyin temple in Yunping.

Now, he was nothing more than the ghost of someone long forgotten. Searching. Unsure. And unable to leave the place he still felt so attached to, but still hoping to one day get closure.]

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[discountlan]

[Days had passed, or had it been months or years? Time had felt as if it had all blended into itself at this point. Did it even really matter when all he had was time to meditate on the wrongs that occurred to him? How he was forgotten, ignored, ostracized, and blamed? About how the one good thing that had ever happened to him in this cruel land had faced the worst of paths?

They were supposed to run off together. They had a plan. And then once more the Lans had to interfere in his life and ruin all of it. All he worked hard for—all he did was try to make right what had been so wrong for so long.

Over and over, these thoughts circled in what was left in his consciousness. Hate. Jealousy. Anger.

So long did he see no one dare even approach where he was; his only company was the other tortured souls who had been so cruelly ripped from the world. (An unfortunate necessity) Not that any of the others would dare approach him. Not considering who he sided with.

All the better. He was used to the loneliness. He was used to not being liked. What difference was any of that compared to the life he once lived?

But then, footsteps. There are traces of change and disturbance in the ground soil. Something that reeked of life. Su She could not help but be curious. He could not help but feel infringed upon. How dare his mystery be bothered?

Even more so when he heard the words and picked up on who it was.

In all his time lamenting how the Lans had wronged him, he had forgotten the one who caused his downfall. The one who found the first arm and decided to start looking into it. The one who pulled on the thread that unraveled everything he aspired for.

Him.

Wei Wuxian.

His face distorted grotesquely, the usually ethereal visage he held seeming to take on an intimidating, dark tone. The wound on his chest aching, hurting, opening as the memory of the first punch clean through him permeated his mind.]

You.

[His voice echoed, malicious intent filling the air.]

What makes you think you have any right to revisit these grounds?

[zushi]

[ Oh, that was a long-forgotten familiar sensation that immediately raised the hairs on the back of Wei Wuxian's neck, shifting his attitude in an instant. He was no stranger to the resentment of vengeful spirits, having made it his most potent weapon a (rather literal) lifetime ago and having sorted through the chaos of murder and unfinished business in this one. It still felt like it pulled the air out of the room, making his lungs burn slightly as he breathed. It was a million blades pressed against his skin and just waiting for the chance to cut, characteristic of the most malevolent of lingering spirits. A reminder that even the slightest interaction could tear him apart if handled the wrong way.

He reached for Chenqing unconsciously to ground himself and brace against the flood. Mo Xuanyu's body didn't lack a cultivator's foundations so it wasn't necessary for him to use it for protection the way he had to back before his death, but it was useful for tempering any lingering fear the sensation might otherwise stir up in him. By its very nature it sought to make him feel that fear, and to fear it made it far more dangerous.

There was no question of if the spirit has noticed him: it seemed to have recognized him. And it was clearly someone left behind here who cares about this location very, very deeply.

One slow breath (it prickled at his insides) and he spoke again, his words as much a statement as probing. ]

You're not supposed to linger here. It's time to let go of your attachments and move on.

[ To make any protest over a right to be here would almost certainly only make it madder, so he didn't bother trying. ]

I live! So sorry to have vanished to a month and a half there :,D

[discountlan]

[Hah! Leave it to Wei Wuxain to speak with such assured arrogance! Minshan would have been cackling at the absurdity of such insinuation if he hadn't felt so enraged to his core.]

Let go?

YOU expect me to let go!?!

[His voice echoed harshly, reverberating through the very core of the building, emitting from what little of the structure still stood.]

How bold coming from you of all people...

[ Only with this was he willing to make his form known. A ghastly figure clad in white tattered robes, chest filled in holes, one bigger than all the rest. A cover of smoke still obscured his face despite the ethereal blue flames that surrounded him.]

You are not welcome here, Wei Wuxian.