Fannish Fifty 2023: Rec #40

[the_other_sandy]

Title: Hills and Rivers Series
Author: LtLJ
Fandom: The Untamed
Category: M/M
Pairing: Lan Wangji/Wei Wuxian

Note: You must be a logged in to your AO3 account to read this fic. 😢


REC

These stories take place post-series and start with Jin Ling trying to get to know his uncle, the Yiling Patriarch, better by gifting him an abandoned property in Tingshan as a base for night hunting and teaching night hunting to juniors. Other stories include Wei Wuxian's fraught relationship with the Lan elders (and the Cultivation world in general), and a mystery fic where Wei Wuxian is abducted.

One of the things I love most about this series is the chance to see Wei Wuxian and Wen Ning fight as a team. There's not enough BAMF!Wen Ning fic out there. There's also some lovely banter and plenty of BAMF!Wei Wuxian.

And just in case you're not tired of me reminding you, LtLJ is a popular, award-winning author that I guarantee you have read.


TEASER

Jin Ling was so stupidly nervous at this point that he was grateful when Wen Ning whispered, "Oh, this is nice."

With the ice broken, Jin Ling cleared his throat. "Right, so, we should go inside--"

Wei Wuxian said, "It's violently haunted."

"Mm," Hanguang-jun agreed.

"Is it?" Jin Ling turned to them, aghast. "You're kidding, right? It's supposed to be warded!"

Wei Wuxian pointed with Chenqing. "Look along the roofline above the hall, see the movement? The distortion in the air."

All the Lan disciples nodded. Jin Ling didn't see anything.

Lan Sizhui said, "Senior Wei, do you think the He sect tried to take refuge here? Or was it something else?"

"Hard to tell." Wei Wuxian paced forward with a sudden predatory swing to his walk that made Jin Chan drop back behind Jin Lihua. He paused at the gate, lifting a hand but not quite touching the wood. "The wards were ripped away at some point. There was definitely a battle here."

He stepped through into the court. This time Jin Ling felt it, a weird shift in energy coming from the interior of the outpost. An old wagon wheel propped against a porch railing fell over, the sound way too loud for wood on stone. In the dead air, a woven mat fluttered in one of the windows, as though something had hastily climbed out of the room. A gate to the inner court banged. Wei Wuxian said aloud, "Yes, you'd better run."

Comments

[bibliofran]

"In all that time, [Jin Ling] had never imagined a future where the Yiling Patriarch was just weird Uncle Wei." My heart! Also, he got Wei Wuxian the perfect present, even if it wasn't quite how he intended.

[the_other_sandy]

I had such a hard time picking just one teaser from this fic, you have no idea.

[bibliofran]

From Part 3: "'It's not as bad as it sounds,' Wei Wuxian said. Lan Zhan looked singularly unconvinced." -- I think this describes at least 80% of their relationship.

[the_other_sandy]

I forgot to mention in my post that one of my favorite Untamed fic tropes is Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji settling somewhere and building something, whether it's a school, or a village for the Wen remnants, or just a little house with a garden that they use as a home base for night hunting and helping out the local community. I still have a few stories like that in the queue.

[bibliofran]

Yes -- I love the "found family makes a home for themselves" trope! (All the Avengers should have ended up living together in the tower, darn it.)