Wei Wuxian sat there on the mountain where he stood when he and Lan Wangji went separate ways. His grumpy donkey, Little Apple, still remained with him. He did wander around for a while after he and Lan Wangji parted. He went back to Lotus Pier to finish mending things with Jiang Cheng. After mending things with his brother, he went back to that spot he last saw Lan Wangji. He sat there with tears falling, wondering what he should do. He wants to be beside Lan Wangji, but he is now Chief Cultivator until his brother, Lan Xichen, comes out of seclusion.

Wei Wuxian still blames a lot of things that had happened on himself that being alone was his punishment. Death didn't want him so now the only thing left was loneliness. As he sat there on that hill, allowing his new friendship to grow with loneliness. The pain in his heart was real, he hurt so many people and the one who pushed all the bad things on him. He tried so hard to hate them, but he was already dead, and hate can't bring back those lives that were taken; Jiang Fengmian, Yu Ziyuan, Wen Qing and her family, Jin Zixuan, and Jiang Yanli.

He still blames himself for his nephew becoming an orphan. He had every right to stab him that night, he hid his identity from him, he was a part parents death. That guilt was so real but it was the only thing he had left to hang on to. That guilt pained his heart, and he felt he deserved it. The pain his body feels now, after his golden core was removed, sits there for his comfort. People will say he doesn't deserve this pain and he should be happy, but the pain is the only thing that allows him to remember his sins and accept them. He sat there and cried. He wanted this pain but he didn't want this pain. He was stuck in a dark place and he can't seem to find the light anymore.

"Why so sad, Child?" A woman's voice asked calmly.

Wei Wuxian jumped to his feet, "oh, it's nothing, just some personal issues that cannot be redone."

"It may not be redone, but self-forgiveness is important," the woman said and checked the young man, Wei Wuxian out, scanning him from head to toe, "what is your name and your parents names?" She asked.

"My name is Wei Wuxian, courtesy Wuxian. My mother is rogue cultivator, Cangse Sanren and my father is former head disciple of Yunmeng Jiang Clan, Wei Changze."

"You mother is Cangse?" The woman asked, "where is she now? Why are you alone."

"She and my father died on a night hunt when I was around four or five. I was taken in by the sect leader at the time, Jiang Fengmian, because he knew my parents," he answered her.

The woman was silent for a moment and then spoke, "if it is alright with you, I would like to hear more of your story. I will introduce myself soon but for the moment, are you willing to come with me?"

Wei Wuxian thought for a moment. He really had nothing to lose and this woman seemed to mean no harm, "Alright, I will go with you. Just by your presence alone, I feel I can trust you," Wei Wuxian told her.

"Good, come with me," she said holding out her hand, "and you can bring the donkey."

Wuxian let out a chuckle. He grabbed the reigns with one hand and the woman's hand with the other.

"Can you close your eyes for me?" She asked. Wei Wuxian did as she asked. With a whoosh of a sound and a gust of wind, it was as if they flashed to a different location, "alright, you can open your eyes now."

Once he did, he saw that he was standing outside a beautiful cottage. It was perfect for a single woman. It was even near the forest and had a lake just to the right of the cottage. Wei Wuxian followed the woman inside and made himself comfortable as she made her famous tea.

"Alright, why don't you tell me your story," she said, "I sensed spiritual energy but you have No golden core. Why is that?"

"I gave it to someone else," Wei Wuxian answered truthfully, "he was a clan leader who got his core crushed by someone who goes by 'Core-Melting-Hand'. It's almost impossible to run a clan without a golden core. Plus he is my sworn brother. If it weren't for him and his family, I wouldn't have cultivated in the first place. So I felt he needed it more than I did."

"That is such a big sacrifice for a cultivator. A golden core gives them a drive to do bigger and better things. I admire your selflessness, but giving a golden core was a big price to pay. You could have lost your life in the process," she told him.

"I know," he replied, "at the time, I felt like it didn't matter if I died. I was blamed for the death of so many people and I even blamed myself."

"Why don't you start from the beginning. Start from what you can remember at your youngest age and tell me all that you can," she told him, "I want to hear your story. From what you told me so far, you are a remarkable young man who puts a lot of care into others before himself."

Wei Wuxian nodded and told her everything. His parents death and what he witnessed from it. His time on the streets as an orphan being chased by vicious stray dogs fighting for food. His time at Lotus Pier and his mistreatment from Madam Yu Ziyuan. His first meeting with Lan Wangji and how he loved him so dearly with all his heart, but he let him go because they live too separate worlds. He spoke of Lan Yi and the Yin Iron, the Wen clan and his relationship with Lan Wangji. The attack of Lan Wangji's home, Cloud Recesses, the indoctrination, the massacre of Lotus Pier in great detail so even he could convince himself it was not his fault, it was not much convincing.

Then the golden core, burial mounds, resentful energy and being able to control it with Chenqing, the Yin Hu Fu (Stygian Tiger Amulet) and his deaths. He told her that he was known to be dead for thirteen years until someone has had enough of his family to perform a sacrificial summon for his soul to be traded with his. The truth about the death of his family and the greed that fell upon the clans. He told her EVERYTHING.

"What people don't know is, yes I can control and manipulate resentful energy, but it takes far more energy and it is very painful, not just emotionally but physically," Wei Wuxian explained, "I didn't want to use it, but I had no choice at the time."

"This is why I left the cultivation world a long time ago. The politics and the clans are just too brainwashed for greed and power; they don't even realize how much they hurt others, and they do not care. And calling you selfish and arrogant, that is bullshit," The woman spat, "From everything that you said, you are the most selfless person and you have such a pure heart. No matter how much those clans chewed you up and spit you back out, you still stuck by them just to find the truth. And to risk your love and push that away, no one deserves that."

"Well, I appreciate all that nice things said, but I am just too broken to believe anything good about myself. I don't deserve love, I deserve this pain for my sins," Wei Wuxian said and was now crying.

The woman went to him and pulled him into a hug, "Wei Wuxian, no one deserves to be hurt like this. You were never at fault for any of it. You have too good a heart to waist away in pain. The pain you have is because with the golden core gone, the place it sat did not heal properly and it is just eating away at you. It is like you are constantly drowning in pain. I want to help you get your life back, and I want to see you smile. The smile that you say can melt a frozen heart. I want to see my grandson live a better life. I want to see him be with his Lan Wangji. I want to help you."

"Grandson?" Wei Wuxian asked and looked at her.

This woman, she did not look elderly as a grandmother should (no offense). She looked younger, in her thirties or forties maybe. Her eye were silver like Wei Wuxian's. She wore red robes with a black under robe. She had a red ribbon in her hair just like his own. He could see himself in her somehow, but he never thought he would ever have the chance to meet her.

"You, You are Baoshan Sanren?" he asked.

"I am, I am your mother's, mother," She said, "Normally when people leave the mountain, they make a vow to never return, but there are days where I wish or hope they do. Especially my daughter. I had no idea she had passed away, and I had no idea of my grandson, but now that I see you, I can see your mother in every way. She too was very selfless, mischievous and talented but she had a good and pure heart. The thing is, this does not see to be your body. It looks like it might be similar, but not the real one."

"My real body is nowhere to be found, and my soul took over Mo Xuanyu's body when he used the sacrifice summoning," He explained.

"Your real body should be within the burial mound, should it not?" She asked, "If it is found, would you like to be back in your own body?"

He looked at her, "If it is even in good condition?" He told her.

"Just let me worry about that. For now, to heal you, I would like to seal your spiritual energy for a few months and seal your core container. It will take the pain away. I can then help you get your soul back to your normal body and get you a new core," She told him.

"I make a new core?" he asked.

"You can, I have ways to help with that," She said, "Now come with me, let's get you healed and get your health fixed up."