Thread by @lianziyun

AU where sunshot never happens because this is focused on #yuziyuan and #jiangfengmian reconciliation (sort of.)

This *will* contain a lot of tropes, I’m sorry

jfm never wanted this. He never wanted /her/.

msy was a small, well-known sect, far away on the edges of the map, not quite involved with the cultivation world. But what they lacked in numbers they made up for in sheer power, and yzy was the best, shining example.

As a teen she had accompanied her siblings to friendly competitions, each sect showing off their prowess and asserting their strength and wealth. Other sects brought huge delegations. msy showed up with a handful of disciples, most of them the SL’s children.

yzy was 15 when she attended her first competition. Men & women were usually separated, but SL Yu always insisted on her daughters joining the men in competition. No one dared question her, not when they were faced with shameful memories of being beaten by her years earlier.

Of her 3 daughters (with 2 more at home that were too young), yzy was clearly stronger than her elder sisters, placing higher than them in swordsmanship and winning the hunting competition at her debut.

All anyone could remember from the hunt was the purple lightning that appeared through the trees, and the 3rd daughter of msy eventually became known as the Violet Spider, the combination of whip and sword too quick for the eye, as if she fought with 8 arms instead of 2.

She met jfm at that same competition. They faced off each other in sword fight, the 2 of them evenly matched for a long while until yzy’s swing went too wide, leaving an opening that jfm immediately seized on, defeating her in only 3 more moves.

Afterwards she kept an eye on him as he placed 4th. She only placed 8th.

But it was his 1st place archery win the next day that really caught attention, and later that night when she and her best friend Meihui (later Mdm Jin) giggled over the young masters at the completion,

she had shoved Meihui and blushed when asked if any caught her eye.

“Of course not!” she shouted. “Why would I like any of these stinky men?!”

Meihui has known her since they were toddlers so she laughs right in yzy’s face. “Who is it? Is it Lan-gongzi? Or his younger brother?”

“No!”

“Nie-gongzi isn’t bad either - so tall and manly! But I think he’s engaged already. Best to avoid him, even if you like him.”

“It’s not him,” yzy says.

Meihui’s eyes light up. “So there /is/ someone!”

“What - that - no! And anyway, don’t think I didn’t see you making eyes at jgs.”

Meihui blushes; it’s her turn now to shove yzy. “He’s not bad looking. But there’s such a crowd around him; he’ll never notice me.”

“Hm...if you win then he’ll definitely notice you.”

“What? Ziyuan, that’s impossible. There’s only the hunt left.”

“Nothing is impossible,” yzy says confidently.

Meihui rolls her eyes. “Not for you. Knowing one’s limits is important too.”

“Believe in yourself, Mei-jiejie.”

“Ah, stop pretending to be cute! It doesn’t match!”

“What the - fine!” yzy smacks her with a cushion, and Meihui tackles her to the floor.

The two girls laugh and chat into the night, gossiping as only teenagers do.

The next morning, yzy flashes Meihui a confident smile, turning to wave at the msy podium before disappearing into the hunt.

Not long after that purple lightning begins to flash against the cloudy grey sky.

jfm watches it as he waits his turn to enter. Whoever it is, they’re very, very strong. He shivers when there’s a boom and the sky lights up in violet.

Very strong.

TBC (I’ll delete this later also)

Ah, I have a lot of Thoughts and Feelings about a young yzy