So about those shackles

[scrapgege]

WHO: Xie Lian, Hua Cheng, Lan Wangji, Lan Xichen, Wei Wuxian
WHEN: ... I guess in a sort of nebulous time before the end of Moist Arc
WHERE:Somewhere in the village near the sea, we just need some scenery here
WHAT: Xie Lian tells the full story of the shackles so that some very smart people can try to find another way to break them
WARNINGS: LOTS OF SPOILERS FOR END OF THE NOVEL (and also potentially mentions of genocide and torture)


[Xie Lian made the appointment, and he greets each cultivator as they arrive, but he can't help being a little nervous, and his fingers are worrying the edge of his sleeves even as he takes a seat on a nearby rock to start explaining.]

I don't know how familiar you are with the concept of cursed shackles. They are a common way to punish gods, because their main goal is to both seal away spiritual powers and also be a visible symbol of punishment. The sealing of powers can have different effects, though.

I have two shackles on me right now.

[He removes his right boot, and the sock, to show the one around his ankle.]

This one seals away all of my good luck. And the second one...

[Now he unravels the bandage around his neck.]

The second one ensures that I do not die, no matter what. And yes, before you ask, it does work. It's been... tested.

Both of those were put upon me by someone who I thought was my mentor and someone I could trust. At the time, I knew him as the Heavenly Emperor. The first one was actually presented to me as an act of mercy during my first banishment. And during my second one, I actually asked for punishment because of what I had done and received a second one. The Heavenly Emperor has absolute control over the shackles.

It turned out... It turned out the Heavenly Emperor was not a god. He faked his whole identity. He was in fact an Ancient Calamity, one known as White No-Face. He engineered it so people thought he was the one who killed White No-Face and so no one suspected him. It took a long time to understand. He was... he was very, very old. Several thousands of years old. And very powerful.

When we broke them, Hua Cheng had to infuse almost all of his power in me to destroy them. It took so much of his power he couldn't even maintain his physical form anymore, and it took almost a year before he could manifest it again, so... if possible, I'd rather avoid that.

I'm quite used to having them on, so they don't bother me too much, but if you think you can find a good idea, I'm not opposed to trying things out.

[Now let him look expectantly at his audience, to see if they have questions.]

Comments

threadjack as you please

[weifinder]

I can volunteer that we've had some limited progress — ah, Xie Lian, your word on this is best? The shackles have been provoked into... tingling.

( His nose wrinkles, and his brief smile is more of an awareness of how little that sounds, but keep in mind his limitations and his incessant curiosity. )

We've been interrupted repeatedly due to events beyond ourselves, as I'm sure you've all been made aware if you haven't had to endure the reality of it. However.

( he looks to the three men, two living, one ghost, beyond the god for whom they gathered. )

You all have what I don't, and that, I believe, will help speed up our successes. I'm limited in my qi, and we've already had the word that a certain one who loses physical form isn't being allowed to pursue that end, no matter his immensity of spirit, but what each of you might contribute can work in ways that I can sneak into the workings of it, try to break through aspects of the curse at a time.

( wei wuxian could help the light in his eyes if he cared to, that spark of a challenge and a puzzle to continue applying his intellect toward, but he doesn't: there's nothing unkind in it, and it is practical to continue doing something.

his next question aims back at Xie Lian, along with his gaze. )

My guess is we're still looking to handle luck first?

[scrapgege]

It has tickled a little at times, yes, but nothing much.

[Honestly, any reaction at all is actually quite impressive.]

Hmmm, it doesn't really matter which one you want to try to break first, really. Fundamentally, they are both equal in the way they limit me, only the side effects differ.

[lanclan]

[ Xichen sits quietly as he listens, gaze flicking to Wei Wuxian when he speaks of integrating his own know-how into something more involved. He only adds his own thoughts after giving their limited options some consideration. ]

Perhaps we would not have to infuse the luck shackle with so much power that it breaks. If we could keep up the strain that causes the tickling sensation by creating a protective seal, disturbing its solid hold, then Master Wei could weave his own experimental notes out of our qi to see which resonates most effectively, like pouring hot water over ice to make it crack. It may not break the shackle, but we could attempt to wear down its effectiveness, little by little.

[scrapgege]

Like I said, I am open to anything. Just keep in mind, those have been on me for hundreds of years, and they've been feeding off my qi as they siphon it, too.

[So while Xie Lian does have the time to wait for 'little by little'... he's unsure his current enthusiastic helpers do. But you can never know if you don't try.]

[lanclan]

Have you ever tried speaking to the shackles?

[ They must have some intelligence, base though it is. ]

[scrapgege]

I... What ?

[Excuse him, he's just going to blink at you and look... very confused, Xichen.]

... Those are spells. How would you even talk to them?

[lanclan]

Through their vibrations, I would like to try reading them through Liebing to see if she has any effect without trying to break them. If they were made by someone, they ought to resonate with that person's qi in order to follow their own instructions on how to behave.

[ A little like speaking to someone's dog instead of them, language might be impossible but he might be able to pick up a vibe or mood. ]

[scrapgege]

I told you before, I only studied cultivation for a few years before my ascension. And my focus was always more on fighting and swords than anything... arcane. I can use talismans and arrays, but this is very much not something I am well versed in.

[But then Lan Xichen mentions wanting to touch 'that person's qi' and he looks a little alarmed.]

... You'll have to be very, very careful. It's... I don't think I have words enough to tell you just how powerful he was.

[Yes, he did tell the story, but to a mortal, there's a limit to what their minds are capable of imagining when they haven't experienced it. Xie Lian's qi, as throttled as it is, is already massive compared to what they know, and Jun Wu's is so much more.]

It's fine if you want to try but if I sense anything wrong I'll stop it.

[lanclan]

I will defer to you in this, of course.

[ These are all brainstorms, after all, tossing out possibilities and viable avenues no matter how odd. His smile returns, less to be reassuring than confident. ]

Wangji and I studied the blade too, though in Cloud Recesses it is a little different. Wei Wuxian is the expert in talismans, of course, [ with a deferential nod in his direction where the Yiling Laozu sits, ] but we are trained to contain spirits, to disperse them if necessary. Arrays are our specialty, whether to keep spirits or the living in and out of a place; this is how we seal off our home from visitors who are not invited, no matter what they are.

[ Unless attacked by an army, which was ... really just very unfair, when you consider it. ]

If I try to get a sense of your shackles, I would like Wangji to oversee from within the same barrier I erect around us.

[scrapgege]

I don't really know how your powers work, so I'll let you decide how to proceed. It's just...

[He doesn't want to be dismissive because he has seen Wangji fight and he knows how powerful he is, but...]

Have any of you ever had to deal with a spirit that has thousands of years of resentment and self-loathing in him? It took me at my full power to eliminate him, so...

Besides, I still don't quite understand what happened here because the shackles are not supposed to exist if he doesn't... and he's dead. He's very dead.

[lanclan]

If they are not meant to exist without him, that works in our favour. [ No one is directly controlling them, thankfully. ] We shan't find out anything unless we try, I suppose.

[ But he doesn't sound disheartened. If anything, Xichen enjoys the problem-solving. ]

There is also another option, possibly a stronger way to read the make-up of the shackles' spell, but it is ... invasive. A last resort, if even that.

[weifinder]

I wonder if there wasn't some lingering sense of what his curses were that was activated by the process that brought you here. It's possible the solution this time involves working with the logic of this world, too.

( just his little interjection, since he's not commenting on anything the Lans are or aren't trained to do - they know far better than he, so why pretend otherwise? though he wouldn't put them at top of handling angry ancient ghosts. he would put no one but himself in a position that dangerous, and these days, not remotely out of ego. )

[lanclan]

[ !! Clever Wei Wuxian. Very interesting ... ]

The inherent spiritual laws of this realm?

[scrapgege]

Yes, it's true that it's all a bit weird, like... Some of the undead clearly died and came back and there's others where... I don't know how else to put it, but it feels like they just decided not to die and so they didn't.

And for a mortal like Matthias to somehow gain the power to create the undead lords... I don't think I have ever seen necromancy or sorcery on that scale before, so clearly, something is happening. Plus, the different areas that are their own time pockets, it seems...

[The whole place is quite messed up compared to what he'd consider normal, it's true.]